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Regroup on a Group tour?
Have you ever wanted one quiet night on a busy tour? I have and here is what I do besides wash hair and get into jammies.I buy a light dinner from a nearby supermarket. Towards the front where workers buy their lunch one finds. cheese and fruit cut up already plus small bottles of wine- get only a screw top. Supermarkets overseas are often in basement areas of department stores so you need to ask. “Following other people’s bags” is a good way to identify a store or an open air market.…
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Packing for Summer Rain
Summer brings easy packing with light clothes and no coats, but how do you protect yourself again getting wet? And worse than that, from staying wet! A few ideas from The Women’s Travel Group:
Obvious: bring the tiny umbrellas now on sale. The Container Store has a lot of travel items and a slimline umbrella.
Next pack a few cheap or hotel shower caps and wear under a scarf or baseball cap. Mantra: never leave athe free shower cap in the hotel bathroom, they have many uses.…
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Travel Innoculations: Why bother?
When you go to a travel medicine doctor, your wallet will be shocked at the cost. But what is smart and what is excess? We, non-medical people, are usually scared into getting every shot possible, but first, be aware of the following:
Inoculations should be based on the climate of your destination: dry season does not require some shots which are critical in the wet season.
Exactly where you are going versus large swathes of the country. For instance, India where our group is going in October: this is a huge country and what is needed for Delhi is not the same for the Himalayan plateau or the agrarian south.…
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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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Reading Lists for Travel: Should you Bother?
Not everyone wants to study again and many of us consider travel a non-homework activity. I personally do believe in doing some reading before a trip. There are two kinds of books for travel: travel fiction and guidebooks. The former is just as informative in the way it opens your eyes to subtleties. An example might be what a headdress might mean? Travel fiction is written by women often covers myths or religious beliefs which are hard for us to understand.…
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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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Preparing for Italy Departure Minus 1 Day
Tomorrow some of our group leaves for Tuscany and our Villa/Cooking trip (the others are meeting a day later). Here is how I organize the day before a big trip:
Eat sensibly adding more salad and yogurt than normal (to balance out junk airplane chow and food impulses at the airport.)
Double check packing list against what was used today and what is actually packed.
Update/refresh all passwords and refile in my secret cave.
Check weather again for both New York tomorrow and for Pisa.… -
Travel Safety Clothing: A Big Fraud
The word, ‘safety’, gets the most attention in travel media. The word, ‘clothing’, gets the most attention in travel media from women readers. So it is all too frequent that article themes are ‘new travel clothing for women’! Today a google alert about women and travel, had another promo about a travel shirt for women. DON’T SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THINGS LIKE THIS.
The best safety tool you have is your common sense and your ability to go on a trip as rested as possible.…
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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.…
