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Best travel advice to save money and have fun on any budget!
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I'm tired of hearing whining from women and comments from others (including from my own adult children). You're/I'm too old to travel. You're/I'm too old for adventure. You're/I'm too old for what? Are we talking mentally? Physically? Nonsense. On almost every tour or vacation, I've met some extremely gutsy women who are disproving all of the above and at the ages of 55 through 80 plus! After all, isn't 50 the new 40 and, hopefully, my age bracket is the new 50.
I'd like you to meet just a few women in the over 50 crowd that are still on the adventure trail.
Continue reading "Gutsy,"Older" Women Who Adventure Travel" »
Blanche, from Cape Town, South Africa, was a member of our Uganda/Rwanda trip traveling with her friend, Margot, and impressed ex-Marine (husband Steve) and myself for many reasons. First, Blanche wasn't exactly young at 76 - in spirit, yes - and still up for this active, adventurous excursion. The Uganda portion included hiking through hot, humid forests looking for wild chimpanzees but the entire purpose of visiting Rwanda was to hike up into the Virunga Volcanic Mountains where Dian Fossey did her groundbreaking research, to visit groups of habituated gorillas on two separate occasions. The terrain is steep, slippery and no one ever knows whether or not they will have to hike for 30 minutes, one hour or four hours before coming to where the gorillas were last sighted by Park Rangers.
Continue reading "Blanche from Cape Town - A Gutsy Woman Who Travels" »
Why do people think that just because I force myself to go out and exercise, I love it? Thirty-one years of running, walking, hiking, aerobics, using weights (when I remember), skiing, cross-country skiing. Exercise tapes with Jane Fonda, followed by yoga with Jane Fonda. Health clubs, treadmills, a Nordic Track and elliptical. (I do own a Precor elliptical and have to browbeat myself to get on that.) Before that, the dreaded "gym" classes where I never could climb the pole or yank myself up the rope. Sit ups. Tennis and Racquetball. Actually, they were both fun until my knees decided that any lateral movement was out of the question.
Despite my moans and groans, I keep remembering that I have to use it or lose it. That's brought home by the yearly paperwork I receive from the N.I.H. (National Institute of Health) to fill out. I am part of the observational study launched by the Women's Health Initiative, in 1991. The other part of this study consists of clinical trials. This study involved 161,808 generally healthy postmenopausal women.
Continue reading "No One Hates to Exercise More Than I" »
Thea was part of our Annapurna Sanctuary Trek in Nepal and I dare anyone not be daunted by Thea's prowess and sense of adventure. Thea is in her mid- to late-50's (sorry, Thea) and can give anyone, man or woman, a run for their money. A widow from Johannesburg, Thea is awe-inspiring and fit to the max both mentally and physically. She is a personal trainer, all-around great athlete, travels the world hiking, mountain biking in competitions, funny, filled with personality and...I hate her! Life is simply not fair to pack all that into one woman...
And, as if life isn't tough enough around the Johannesburg area, Thea picks up and moves to the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest and craziest places in the world, to be with a male friend working there. (Of course, a person as vibrant as Thea would have men friends...) Her e-mails, filled with exploits of life in Lubumbashi (the second largest city in the DRC - formerly Zaire), could fill an adventure novel without trying. Here are just a few snippets from Thea's e-mails...
Continue reading "Thea from Johannesburg - A Gutsy Woman Who Travels" »
This is the first of articles about women who took travel chances and made a big impression on me. We met Annabelle in Nepal on our first "easy" trek in the '80's. Annabelle was from Adelaide, Australia (all these "A's" would make a good song). She was a basically unathletic person with a yen to see and trek in Nepal.
Annabelle tried for years to get her husband to arrange a trek for the two of them, but he had absolutely no interest in (a) visiting Nepal and (b) trekking. She finally got up her courage and said, "Okay. If you're not going to go then I'm going to make arrangements with a group...and go by myself." Of course, he humored the "little woman" and actually gave tips and helped her make the arrangements thinking Annabelle would back out or change her mind eventually.
Continue reading "Annabelle From Adelaide, Australia - A Gutsy Woman Who Travels" »
I've written about this before but it keeps on happening... DO NOT hand out pens, caramels, sweets, soap, balloons, "MAWNEE" or plastic water bottles to the children. In the Mursi village, an English couple handed out balloons to the children. Two days later, we're in a Karo village and the children are already asking for balloons. What good are balloons to an impoverished, subsistence village? They'll break or tear within a day and all that's left is for the children to ask every other tourist who comes their way for balloons. Henock and all smart guides say don't give ANYTHING! Make a donation to the local school, orphanage or hospital.
Even the plastic water bottles are a threat to their health. Their traditional wide calabashes can be washed and kept clean, worn on their heads as a hat when not in use and are easily available. It was always fun to see them sauntering along the road with a calabash on their head, or sitting in the market wearing one...never looking ridiculous.
 Hamer woman wearing a calabash
Continue reading "Please Don't Give Handouts While Traveling!" »
An article appeared in the Chicago Tribune Travel Section yesterday, Sunday April 13, with a full page of Rick Steve's recommendations on stretching your money against the Euro. Good suggestions with the exception of two.
Rick's Suggestion #6, was to skip your hotel breakfast with its 10 Euro charge and eat in a local cafe for 7 Euros, a 3 Euro savings and/or the breakfast buffet (approximately 15 Euros). I disagree because:
- A cafe traditionally serves ONE cup of coffee and ONE croissant with charges for an extra cup of coffee and/or roll. You will only save money if you are satisfied with this. We are not.
Continue reading "Saving Money In Europe" »
An article about hiking to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro appeared in today's Chicago Tribune Travel Section (6/17/2007) and really upset me. The writer, comically, wrote about "the 10 things she learned about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro."
I'd love to demolish each point she made, for example, "it's okay to be naive"..."climbing Kilimanjaro just sounded like such a hoot"...but I'll settle for plainly stating -- she had absolutely no business setting foot on this mountain!
Continue reading "Hiking on Kilimanjaro, Africa" »
I am livid...frothing at the mouth and vibrating over the latest ATM charges. If you are anything like ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and myself, we speed-read through the little bank information sent on occasion notifying changes in accounts, bank policies, etc. Of course, it doesn't help that you almost need a magnifying glass to see anything and any important change is hidden in a long paragraph.
We just returned from a trip to France and did the usual ATM charges expecting the usual good rates against the Euro versus using dollars to exchange and get a worse rate. How wrong could two people be. It seems that Chase Bank has now added an additional 3% surcharge on all ATM use outside of the United States for the privilege of allowing you to use your own money!! So instead of the official 1.34 Euro Rate on May 21 (I double-checked), the transaction came through as 1.39 Euros. The Euro takes a little getting used to and that meant it cost us $1.39 US to get 1 Euro. It may sound like pennies and is pennies but in the big scheme of travel can add up.
Continue reading "Hidden ATM Charges for International Travel" »
For those of you who have an interest in Mountain Gorillas and have been reading my set of articles, Steve and I read an extremely disturbing newspaper article recently.
A Mountain Gorilla was recently killed on the Democratic Republic of Congo side for bush meat. With the good old "Catch 22" situation, the Gorilla had been inured to visits by humans and showed no fear when it was shot. Most primates are then sold in the marketplace to be used as meat.
So very sad and one less Mountain Gorilla in the World...
It's difficult to keep our "giving/helping" instincts in tow when traveling through poor countries. Children standing along the roads in West Africa calling, "bickee, one bickee, one bickee" (Bic pens)..."cadeau, cadeau"..."bon-bon, bon-bon" (in French West Africa, cadeau is "present" and bon-bon a "candy")....East Africa, "gimme mawnee, gimme mawnee, gimmee mawnee" - repeated as quickly as possible until both words become a blur...beggers... hard not to give!
Don't do it! We recently came back from Uganda/Rwanda (watch for series on Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda in January, 2007) and witnessed an incident that was frightening and could have been disasterous for the children.
Continue reading "Hand-Outs While Traveling" »
I have met so many women over the years who say, "I'd love to travel, but my husband (or significant other) has no desire."
What are you waiting for? Do they consult you when a fishing, hunting, golfing trip is planned with the boys? I think not!
Go with a group...whether it's hiking, rafting, kayaking, trekking, painting, cooking classes, fishing, tennis camp, spas, volunteering, sightseeing....there is a group (or trip) for you. It doesn't have to be a specialized "women-only group."
Continue reading "Woman - Leave That Man at Home and Travel!" »
The comments I hear most often from friends and neighbors is "how can you spend so many hours on planes?" "Why don't you just travel around the U.S.?" "Drive?"
My theory - sooner or later - age and my body won't be able to take those distances. I haven't received any sign from above (or below), that I will live a very long time with intact knees and any kind of memory. I'm hopeful, when the time comes, the ex-Marine will push my wheelchair, carry the supplemental oxygen and bags of medications. Until then, go for it!
Another reason is the cost of flying domestic. My son lives in Oklahoma, and it is rare find a fare for under $350 round trip from Chicago! Right now, you can fly to London, Ireland, Paris and other places for the same Fares!!! No offense, Oklahoma City, but I'd rather fly to Ireland.
Continue reading "Flying Around The World" »
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