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Worst Mistakes When Delayed by Weather
Delays due to weather/strikes happen. This list is what you should NOT do:
Panic, it will not help you to make sharp decisions.
Call your travel agent unless she/he booked the actual flight.
Pull out your credit card immediately.
Stand in a long frenzied line with screaming people.
Pack in luggage your phone charger; always keep it in carry on.
Here is what you SHOULD do:
Scan trip documents for the 24/7 emergency numbers of your trip. Always keep the 24/7 numbers for your flights/cruise/tour on hand.…
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Travel Shopping: Is it a Waste?
The women who travel with The Women’s Travel Group want to bring home something tangible. Our tours are full of experiences, sights, talks, and walks; however if there is a shopping experience truly unusual, we include it. We just added the high-quality Sabato Crafts Market to our Mexico City tour.
What are our favorite ‘worth the time’ recent stops?
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul November 2015
Handmade jewelry or fabrics spread on animal skin in Southern Ethiopia! March 2016) One spot left
Florence Central Food Market April 2016 (one room left for 1-2)
Dilli Haat in Delhi Annual India tour December 2016,
Balaaro Market in Sicily December 2014
Cashmere Markets in Mongolia ( Mongolia is part of our upcoming China trip).…
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Laughing Through a Travel Woe
Laughter should be packed in your suitcase and easy to reach. Laughter overlaid a jet-lagged face will open doors, create friendly helpful strangers and probably speed up whatever request you are aiming for.
Studies suggest that laughter causes blood vessels to dilate and thus increase blood flow and then inflammation. There are stressful moments in travel that can be assuaged with laughter.
Bargaining: in some cultures, bargaining can become aggressive if the vendor thinks you are dissing his merchandise. This happened in Turkey a year ago when I questioned the fabric of a scarf.…
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5 Tips for Navigating a Street Market
On some Women’s Travel Group tours we include a street market if it is exciting, local and has good products. Those might be Florence on our Tuscany Cooking/Seeing trip, an organized and both local and tourist market. Or they might b the Sabato market included in our Mexico City trip, the best crafts market in Mexico’s capital. Or finally it might be one of the more upmarket street scenes in Delhi on our India trip. You will never have either enough time or energy to feel you really ‘did it’.…
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Heavy packables to throw out
Travel clothes today are easy, leggings have replaced trousers/ washables have replaced cotton. So why is your suitcase so heavy? Travel doctors tell us that back issues are the number one health problem for traveling women. Moving your heavy case in the hotel room is one reason. So here are some weighty things to leave home.
Shoes: toss heavy shoes and replace with light walking shoes. Merrell is one brand that produces solid but light walkers. Also: Easy Spirit, some Rockports, Keen.…
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Dip in Tourism is Brief after Terrorism
I just returned from Istanbul with The Women’s Travel Group 19 women, and then London for a wedding. In both places, the tenor of life is very different from that in the States. First of all, people are not scared of their shadows, as they are veterans of both world wars in their backyards. Europeans do not stop traveling with each headline.
European newspapers reported in Paris, of course. However, front pages still included domestic politics, arts features, climate, etc. TV news was the same: balanced and matter of fact- not hysterical and frenzied.…
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Mexico City on the Map with a low Peso
Now is Mexico our new safe haven? Mexico has always been safer than news media wants to paint it. As writers confide quietly, they don’t get headlines by writing positives. They get headlines with fright and fear. Count the number of times scary words appear on google then count pleasant words, the scary ones have many more millions of mentions.
We will shortly be going to Mexico City, a global capital that spans pre Colombian times to 21 century art and architecture.…
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The 5 Items You Might Forget from Women's Travel Group
Here are the five items we risk forgetting. I just packed for The Women’s Travel Group Istanbul trip, so these important things are fresh in my mind!
Photo of everything important that I removed from my wallet. Always clear out your wallet with cards you will not need. Photograph others like AAA which you might need in a pinch?
An electric plug for the outlets in an airport where yo have a long layover. Say you have 4 hours in Britain and want to recharge your phone, you will need to pack a UK 3 prong square adapter.…
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Can You Travel if You are Overweight?
Since most American women are larger today, the issue of travel and overweight is important. Specifically, can you travel and be comfortable if you are very overweight? Some tips from The Women’s Travel Group:
Here are the Yes’s and No’s:
Can you fit into the seat? United, for instance, will require you to purchase a second seat if they determine you need it. If you buy 2 seats together, you should buy them at the same time. If you do this at check-in, you will pay whatever fare is then available and might have to fly on another flight if 2 adjacent seats are not free.…
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'Last Minute' Travel Woes
There are everyday issues which delay travel decisions. There are psychological ones which push us into last minute crushes. Everyday is obvious: house sold, lawsuit settled, health better, stock market up or boss had a good hair day.
But why do some women put off the decision to travel until the last second, pay more and fret longer?
Why?
Scared because of newspaper headlines? We recover from headlines quickly as soon as the next global crisis or celebrity news hits. Who was talking about anything other than the Pope for days ?…
