Servas – My Favorite Organization Ever

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Excerpt Reprinted with permission from “Female Nomad and Friends” by Rita Golden Gelman. Copyright © 2010. Published by Three Rivers Press/Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. BUY IT HERE

Being a part of Servas is like having family all over the world. It’s actually better than family. People join Servas because they want you to visit them when you are in their country. Not always the case with family. Read more

If I was feeling the wanderlust and didn’t know where to start,
this book would surely answer more than a few questions:
Wanderlust and Lipstick:
The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo

Beth Whitman enthuses about the joys of independent travel for women, of being open to new people and places and of finding yourself along the way. Her book is laced with enticing stories of women who have taken off into great adventures , experiencing ‘the sheer joy of these heightened experiences’.Travel is marvellous and energising, as well as sometimes scary and confusing. For the novice traveller, Beth Whitman offers everything from packing lists, to itinerary suggestions and handy healthy tips.Even for an experienced traveller there are some ideas, like uploading your photos to flickr as you go, creating and managing a blog to save those endless individual emails home and pre-printing a list of address labels to send home beautiful postcards.I enjoyed the section on love, romance and sex while travelling. Recently we hosted a German woman who was having a glorious holiday romance with a local – great for both of them! However Beth gives sage advice about letting coffee be the drink of seduction rather than alcohol.

One of her comments about New Zealand was inaccurate- she asserts that you can just pitch your tent on someone’s farmland- not a good idea at all. So maybe follow her other advice with caution.

A great book to read, to make you start giving up café lunches and luxury goods, to open that travel account, then begin reading other more country-specific books. Bon Voyage.

Ceridwyn Parr  

 

Wanderlust and Lipstick:
The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo

published by Dispatch Travels www.dispatchtravels.com Dispatch Travels is devoted to publishing travel books for women with the express purpose of encouraging them to stretch their travel boundaries and to pursue their dream journeys.

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Wanderlust and lipstick

Beth Whitman of Wanderlust and Lipstick has written another travel guide for women – this time for women travelling to India. Read more

Isn’t networking a fabulous thing. I was just reading the Journeywoman newsletter and followed a link to a local kiwi travel writer Heather Hapeta. I was intrigued by the name of her book – Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad.

One of my best friends has just started a travel writing and photography course. Travelling makes us wonder and ask questions of ourselves and the world around us, and sharing this with others is part of that journey for many of us.

Heather Hapeta: Freelance Kiwi Travel Writer New Zealand