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Souvenirs Tips: Trash Them or Treasure Them
With our 22 years of women’s trips from The Women’s Travel Club and Group, all of us have loads of souvenirs brought back with love and memories from our travels. Some have true artistic value, some are true horrors. Here are some clean out/ hang up tips for your detritus.
Make piles of small cheap items, arrange by color/shape or materials. If you cannot see an evolving collection, toss.
Move flat items onto a sheet of paper and see if they might look better hanging on the wall.…
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Phyllis Stoller Honored: Top Influential Women in Group Travel
Phyllis Stoller, the founder of The Women’s Travel Group, was honored as one of the 14 most influential women in Group Travel by Group Travel Magazine. For those solo women travelers who do not know her, Phyllis founded The Women’s Travel Club and The Women’s Travel Group, both catering to women travelers and especially those solo on tours and cruises.
Phyllis’ site is www.thewomenstravelgroup.com and she will personally escort trips to Sicily and India this year. Yes, she will be coming solo!…
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Don't travel with The Times; Travel with Women who Read It
Why go on such overpriced trips as sold by prestigious newspapers, schools and museums? You might go to meet the speakers or be assured that you fellow travelers are informed. The NY Times Travel (probably operated by a generic tour operator) offers Tuscany at $5395 and Peru at $4395: hundreds of dollars more than The Women’s Travel Group does!
But if you look at the prices of these trips, here is what you get:
A possible one time encounter with the speaker. …
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Tips NOT to be Ugly on the Road
Most serious travelers pay little attention to how we look when on the road for vacation. We hate overpacking and the associated burden of unpacking once home. Solo women figure they will never see anyone they know! So here are a few ways not to be UGLY on the road.
Face and Hands: Bring your night cream and consider using it even before/during day flights. When on long trips, pay the fee to use an airport lounge for a shower/freshen up mid-trip.…
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Do Spa and Fitness Trips for Women Require Preparation
Spa and Fitness trips for women require preparation if you want to get the most out of your stay and your $$ investment? Each year we go to Ixtapan Fitness and Spa Resort. several times.
Clothes: This is not a fashion show. Don’t worry about your wardrobe. Bring what is comfortable, especially your shoes and/or walking shoes for rain days. Do not bring brand new sneakers or hiking shoes; you will regret your purchase if they are uncomfortable and you are not near stores.…
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What to do when Your seatmate is Unruly
Today a SWAir jet had to stop in Omaha to get a crazed passenger off the plane (he tried to open the read hatch). What can you do if someone near you is difficult, odd or actually talking scary? The answer is not really much. My experience was with a man who refused to let me lower my seat back on an 8 hour flight. He was aggressive towards me and then towards the crew.
The answer is here: first ask crew for help.…
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Festival Trips: What Never to Do!
This article was written for The Three Tomatoes site with interesting info and events for women in the NY and LA areas. Subscribe for great fun and good information.
If you choose to go on a tour that includes a festival, there are positives and negatives. Positives are you will see local people in their most colorful and joyous. In Pushkar in India, you witness weddings, dances, tribal clothes and jewelry, camel and other races. In Sicily in December, you will join a procession with lighted candles, brass bands and clergy to walk to the Basilica in Palermo.…
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Is travel for Octogenarians??
Arthur Frommer is back at the helm of his travel book empire which inspired many of us to travel to “Europe on $5 a day”. Yes, I did and (except for inevitable shopping) did Madrid on $5 a day and lodged and ate pretty well.
Frommer, long ‘a friend’ of The Women’s Travel Group and supporter of women travelers, is the owner once again of 340 excellent guides and other travel books. With Pauline, his charming and delightfully smart daughter, Frommer offers books that enhance your experience while being honest about safety, value, and trends.…
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Tipping and Women's Angst
Today in the New Yorker there is a cartoon of two people checking into their hotel room. One says to the other: “How much are we supposed to tip the guy who followed us to our room and flicked on the light switch?”. Ironically it is the man asking the woman of the couple.
Women angst over tipping: amounts? when? and how? I am not sure why this is, but suffer from it myself. I think somewhere as accomplished and professional as we are, tipping still brings out our insecurity.…
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What to Wear When You Complain at a Hotel
When you need to complain about your hotel situation, how you look can be as important as how you talk. Assuming you are traveling with minimal clothes, here is how to dress for this encounter. (We already printed a blog on How To Complain). Here is how to dress:
Pick out the most conservative shirt and or / jacket you have. Swirl around a scarf to make you look less formal but ‘dressed’. If you only have a tee shirt, then cover it nicely with the scarf.…

