Helen writes: It was like an itch that I had to scratch – this is how I like to describe the decision to start What to Wear on Holiday

whattowearonholiday.com

The idea came again and again every time I would be planning a trip. What to take to fit in? What to take to cover all my needs without coming back with lots of things unused only to have to wash them and put away? What would I need that I wouldn’t be able to buy there? I would call and email friends who I knew had been there to ask them and this could take hours and hours over days or weeks.

If I would find a resource like w2w useful maybe other people would too.

The great thing about travelling is that you meet amazing people and they helped me get the guide together, comparing notes, adding in extra notes or writing lots when there were places that they had travelled that I didn’t know. The website is a collaboration by people who love to travel.

Perhaps I’m a typical Sagittarian – I love to travel, I love to have lots of things on the go and can never sit still for long. I have had my own business since my early 20’s and at 52, I couldn’t imagine working for anyone else. The freedom to decide when and what I do is really important to me. I have recently opened a bar in Cape Verde as well as business interests in the USA and UK.

This year my son will be 18 and is off to university so it presents new opportunities for me too.
My advice learnt from my mum – is that you really can do ANYTHING …  if you want it enough.

Magda von der Heyde

In the land of the native “huarpes”
That Del Castillo conquered
Overlooking the snow
Of the amazing Ande
Close to Molina irrigation ditch, at the big “finca”
Stands my Casona
Alejandro von de Heyde Garrigós

Magda’s Wine Tours

Moments in Time

Lyn Baker the founder of Tiger Travel spent many years travelling extensively throughout India as a professional photographer  – she has an eye for the country, for its people and its culture.

The idea of sharing India with small groups of women travellers seemed a great way of adding to her relationship with India.  So Tiger Travel was born.

“The empthasis during our women’s holidays is on sharing our taste for adventure with you as a traveller and not as a tourist! In addition by keeping our travel groups small a personal touch is maintained in order to enhance the feeling of independent travel. It also enables us to take you to the more remote areas in an eco-friendly and sympathetic manner.”  Lyn Baker

CHECK OUT Lyn’s LATEST BOOK MOMENTS IN TIME
(available from www.blurb.com)

• about travel for in different countries
• Where are the Hottest Men – results of a survey
• Hostel Bookers blog posts about women and travel
• Results of survey of Women Travellers

Some Results from Hostel Bookers survey of Women Travellers

The results of our Women Travel Survey are in – and what an adventurous bunch of young ladies you all are!

Our survey of 100 women travelers conducted with Lost Girls World (who have a novel about their adventures coming out soon) found that more and more women are backpacking than ever before.

Solo women’s travel is more popular than ever – whether it’s to escape the recession, take a career break or go on a gap year, a staggering 74% of women consider themselves ’solo travelers’, and 67% travel alone once or twice a year.  MORE HERE

do these things sound like something you would like to experience? Well, read on, because your prayers have finally been answered!

As busy women we often have a myriad of (often feeble) excuses why we don’t do things for ourselves. But let’s face it: there is never an excuse good enough for not doing something positive for yourself – like taking a well-deserved short break somewhere!

Venus Adventures – Trips for Women – is now offering a range of short breaks within New Zealand (and Europe) for women who, well, just need a break! The breaks include anything from culture to adventures, and are always a lot of fun, and the website is a one-stop shop for short breaks for women.

The idea behind women-only trips is to help women escape their everyday roles and routines as busy mums, wives or workers, and to get away with the girls and have some fun!

“More and more women are realizing the importance of getting away from it all and letting someone else do all the organizing for a change”; says Julie Paterson, founder and owner of Venus Adventures Trips for Women. “Women naturally bond and network easily. Doing a trip which gets you out of your comfort zone a little is easier in a supportive women’s group. It’s a great environment in which to try new things. But, depending on the trip, we also indulge in fun things like spas and a little retail-therapy! Age also doesn’t matter as long as the spirit is there!”

All you have to do is get yourself to the trip starting point and all the rest is taken care of. So what are you waiting for? Your next adventure is just a mouse click away…for more information visit www.shortbreaksforwomen.com.

By Julie Paterson

Venus Adventures – Trips for Women

www.venusadventures.travel

www.shortbreaksforwomen.com

New Zealander Dianne Sharma-Winter is a poet, a peregrine (pilgrim), and a practitioner of the healing arts.  She was a late starter as a traveller, but it is now in her blood, and one of her passions in India.  Combining a passion and a business, Dianne has set up a small business welcoming women to New Delhi.

Landing at New Delhi Airport can be an overwhelming experience – the noise, the taxis, the touts.  She will meet you there, and escort you to your hotel, and show you the sights along the way.  She can even find accommodation and book it for you, as well as other tours of India.

Dianne says it takes a few days to get used to India, and another thing she offers is for women is some help along the way – she will take you to the markets, and cafés, to the out of the way places where you might not want to go alone – she will help you find your feet in India.

What a great idea – she will be the first one I contact when I head off to India, that is for sure.

Monsoon Ayurvedic Treatment and Leisure Packages.

Dianne also organises Monsoon Ayurvedic Treatment and Leisure Packages. High on the Western Ghats of Kerala, is Wayanad, Kerala’s green paradise. The monsoon season is the correct season for purification and enjoying these packages.

More on Dianne

Gobaz Tours - explore the Ethiopian Markets

Pam Robbie is a New Zealander living in Ethiopia who runs tours with her Ethiopian partner – Gobaz Travel. History, culture, nature, treks. Pam’s background is continuing education Travel and Learn programmes and events management, her local knowledge provides a good framework for travelling in the area – it is an area that fascinates me – having explored Morocco – Ethiopia is definately next on my list! Pam’s Website

Read the blog about the Ethiopian Beauty Treatment here

So here we are in this beautiful walled city, just one hour in the train from Florence. Rosanna has arranged an apartment for us, and kindly met us at the train station which is just outside the city’s wall.

Over a lovely lunch we caught up with her passion for travel (now a little limited as she has a five year old son), and her company Eliotropica which assists other women to travel. Among other things she helped to organise the first convention of businesses in Tuscany welcoming women. Rosanna is also involved in the local chamber of commerce and in organisations and support for women entrepreneurs.

Rosanna is passionate about helping women to travel – especially women on their own – she is a travel advisor rather than simply a travel agent. She organises tours for women both in Italy and for Italian’s travelling abroad. Her secret is to find out their budget, their interests and to put together a custom made tour itinerary that women can use or they can be diverted along the way and follow their own instinct.

This offers the best of both worlds – expert local knowledge as the basis of a trip, but with the freedom to follow your own inclinations along the way, with someone else doing the research for you. Researching can be fun, but it takes an awful lot of time, getting someone gifted and tuned into your needs, like Rosanna, can save you a of time and energy.

When we arrived in Lucca, Rosanna handed us an amazing 10 page introduction to the areas – about Lucca, what not to miss, where to eat out, where to shop, surrounding towns to explore and how to spend a day in Florence – it was packed with lots of useful information to enrich out trip.

So for your next trip to Italy, contact Rosanna at Elliotropica.

Read her blog here

The site is offering free listings for the first year to any women owned and run accommodation and tour companies around the world.

After years of planning and working with local web designer Jan Malone it is out there flying on its own. I can hardly believe it.

Read the press release here

Segou, in Mali, West Africa:

It was a hot, lazy day in Segou. I was traveling with an Irishman, Roy, who I had met in the capital of Bamako – it was a mutually beneficial travel arrangement: I was his French translator and he was my fake husband. So far his ability to be a fake husband was about as good as my French – average, but we were getting by! Arriving in Segou late the night before, we hit the streets early the next morning to check out what this dusty, enchanting riverside town had to offer.

Next to the Niger river was a small, makeshift tourist office containing a desk, a couple of chairs, and a list of tours stuck on the wall with some faded and curling photographs. Roy and I planned to take a longboat up the river for the day to visit various villages and tribes, and we were waiting for our guide. I plonked myself in the shade on a small clay fence. The heat had slowed me down to snail’s pace, and I sat mesmerized by the slow-moving, milky-brown river. As I sat and stared, a strange looking figure appeared in my peripheral vision. I turned to see a young Malian guy loping down the street in a very odd way: walking on all fours, sandals on his hands, one shriveled and thin leg completely straight, the other bent, his bottom pushed into the air, he was “walking” the only way he could. Obviously he had had polio as a child, not uncommon around here. It looked very awkward, and my Western upbringing told me not to stare. No less than 2 minutes later this poor wretch was sitting next to me on the fence, a huge white grin aimed my way, his cute black face framed with short, neat dreadlocks, and a colourful large shell choker adorning his neck. This was Mohammed, a local jewellery salesman…

After a short introduction, Mohammed whipped out some necklaces from a small bag, hoping to make a sale. His demeanor was instantly infectious, but although my white skin indicated to the locals that I was obviously “born to shop” and a “bank on legs” (making you a target for every salesman in town), I was not in the mood for haggling (or shopping, for that matter). So I just chatted with him, (in my bad French) because after all, I was here to meet the locals.

Later that evening Roy and I were sitting in a small, busy bar listening to some fantastic live Malian music (Mali has some of the best music and musicians in Africa). Mohammed crawled in and plonked himself next to us. It was nice to see him. We listened to the music, chatted and drank local beer. After a while, another local polio victim staggered into the bar on crutches, a huge, white smile a-blazing. Enter Amadou!

Amadou, a friend of Mohammed, made a beeline for our table, introduced himself and joined us. Mohammed looked a little miffed. Obviously Amadou was a bit of a show-stealer and he was “moving in” on his new friends. It turned out Amadou was a poet and wrote poems of love in French – and would we like to hear one? Of course! With one arm outstretched, the other hand on his heart, and his eyes locked into mine, Amadou recited a beautiful poem de l’amour – it was hysterical! (And probably beautiful if I had understood it!) He then pulled out a small photocopied book of his poems and sold me one. He was a real character.

Eventually it got late and Roy decided to go back to the hotel. I was enjoying Mohammed and Amadou so much, I decided to stay on with them. They suggested we go to the outdoor disco at my hotel – great idea! Roy was not going to be able to sleep with all that noise anyway! At the disco the dance floor was packed with local Malians dancing as only Africans do – magnificently! I was having a drink with “my boys” when Amadou suggested we dance….Er…I thought you needed two working legs for that? Wrong! We got up onto the dance floor, Amadou hopping around on his crutches and Mohammed jumping around on all fours like a mad dog, dreadlocks wagging. OK, so we needed a bit more room than everyone else, but noone batted an eyelid at this odd trio. I thought to myself, “if only my friends could see me now!” It must have looked hilarious. I realized that in our culture disabled people are expected to behave in a disabled manner. These guys were neither disabled physically in their heads nor in their attitude to life. I was loving hanging out with them.

I stayed another couple of days in Segou and visited Mohammeds family and met Amadou again also. What I admired most was that they both worked for a living. Using their disabilities as fuel, not brakes, all the while carrying a great attitude towards life. In so many other African countries they would have been beggars on the street, slaves to their disability. But here in Mali they had pride and self-respect. I will never forget those few crazy days in Segou and my two new friends, Mohammed and Amadou.

Written by Julie Paterson – Venus Adventures – Global Trips for Women who Love to Travel

julie@venusadventures.travel
www.venusadventures.travel