BlogHer - You Go, Girl! - Comments

TripHub

madtripper — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:21:54 -0500

Thanks for mentioning TripHub from me as well. Girl Trip will be doing an in-depth review of their services within the next week or so and posting a link, etc.

Since I started Girl Trip (one week ago today - yay!), I've spent considerable time on various websites targeted at women and I've been disappointed to find that women actually have very little to say about the importance of friends in their lives. Of course, there are stories here and there about "a trip I took with the girls," but no real focus on it, like it's truly secondary. Are our friends the B-listers of our support system? I hope not.

You can find tons of articles and sites about a woman's bond with her child, parents, and especially her significant other (we seem to revolve ourselves around that one until we get a child, then our orbit prompty shifts), but so little about our friends.

Sometimes I wonder if that's a bad sign for girltrip.org. Other times, I think maybe I'm lucky and I found that little niche that nobody noticed before. We'll see.

-MT
Girl Trip

TripHub agrees girls getaways are under-represented on Web

Jocelyn — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:46:04 -0500

Thanks for mentioning TripHub, Pam. I write their blog with group travel tips, anecdotes, resources, what-have-you.

I've traveled solo and with friends and family and much prefer non-solo travel, although a certain sense of self is confirmed by being bold enough to travel alone. I much prefer sharing travel with others now. Age? Probably.

Many of my girl getaways with friends have been spent camping, wine-tasting, planning bachelorette parties, hiking (or enjoying the great outdoors otherwise).

Thanks for the tip!Rose

rosenino — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:33:00 -0500

I'm heading to Denver in a couple of weeks & I'm glad I'm not flying solo. Thanks for the tip!
Rose Nino

Girls Getaway

Rhonda — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:35:30 -0500

Pam, thanks for mentioning Girls Getaway! My sisters and I have been going on girls getaways since we were old enough to travel alone. Our first trip was a cross country jaunt from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle and back in a VW bug. :-)

Thanks again,
Rhonda
Girlaway: The Girls Getaway Resource

Yeah, it's scary...

debra roby — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 09:21:25 -0500

And actually it's NOT the "out to get us" as much as the fear that something might happen, even quite innocent, and nobody would notice to do anything about it. I'm pretty isolated at home (odd, I know, living in the bay area, but there are just the two of us and the spouser is anti-social), so getting away alone isn't that much of a change.

I would love to travel more internationally, but haven't gotten a handle on the how's (cost is the big one).

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

I just discovered the joys

lauriewrites — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:57:01 -0500

I just discovered the joys (for me) of traveling alone last year, and it's definitely the phase of life that I'm in. I'm surprised by how lonely I don't get. Of course I love it when I can have fun with someone else, though. My sister went to the Bahamas with me last month and we had a blast. I guess I just got tired of passing up trips when other people couldn't go or weren't interested in doing what I wanted to do.

Thanks for the reminder!

lauriewrites — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:52:31 -0500

Debra - I totally forgot about Linda's book. I meant to pick it up when it came out. I was trying to come up with another great pick for my vacation and this is just the one.

Because it's scary, maybe?

Pam — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:25:58 -0500

It can be scary to travel alone. Plus, we are so pre-programmed to think that people are "out to get us" in some way - it's a hard thing to surmount. Especially in foreign countries: Watch out, "THEY" just want to rip you off/take advantage of you/etc...

And - I'll admit it - I don't do much traveling alone anymore. It's not because I'm scared, it's because after a while, I really do get lonely and want a friend to talk to about what I've seen.

Nerd's Eye View

Pickles

madtripper — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 01:12:22 -0500

Debra, So weird, I visited one of your blogs, A Stitch in Time, and saw the Immigration Debate video. I know the guy who created that, he lives here in my town. That's a weird coincidence.

Pam, thanks :)

-MT

Pickle weekends..

debra roby — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:03:31 -0500

My group of girl friends are know affectionately as The Pickles (long story)... and we try to get a get away weekend together atleast twice a year.

NOT the same as traveling... we go to the same spots. I'd love to travel more... with other women. Don't know why, but I'll admit I'm scared to travel alone.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Found your blog...

Pam — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:38:17 -0500

Looks like you're off to a great start!

For interested parties, here's Girl Trip.

Nerd's Eye View

In Agreement

madtripper — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:48:50 -0500

I am in agreement - there is nothing quite like a weekend getaway with the girls. My friends and I take a long weekend together once a year and this year will be our tenth annual trip. I recently started blogging on this topic, and have spent considerable time looking for "others like me." I know of several groups of women who do an annual trip and legions more who travel together when the urge strikes but girl trips seem to be underrepresented in cyberspace. Thanks for the tip! I'm going to add Girls Getaway to my own blogroll.

Shoes and things..

debra roby — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:16:14 -0500

Although I like Girls Getaways' shoe recommendations... I am a major fan of Keen Newport H2s. Support even my cranky feet, let me walk into the water, and can be thrown in the washing machine when they get a bit... uhm... ripe.

And any woman who loves to travel alone would completely enjoy Linda Ellerbee's book released last year: Take Big Bites.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

You Go, Girl!

Pam — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:57:40 -0500

There's nothing quite like a weekend - or longer - away with the girls. Girls Getaway - tagline: some trips are more fun without the guys - recommends and reviews destinations for those times when you want to ditch the guys and get girly. It's a fine source for reading about which spa to go to, of course, but there's also good common sense advice. Who makes the best walking shoes? What should you take on the plane? And lots more. Start here to plan your escape from Y chromasomes.

While you're at it, the challenge of getting everyone together for a week - or just an overnight - can be daunting. Try TripHub. It's sort of like eVite for your travel adventures. Your Trip Home Page gives you an online forum for organizing all those bodies and needs. You can see who's in and who's out, make plans, browse the Trip Hub library for travel information, and even make bookings. I haven't used it, but it looks like a great way to get your friends all across the planet involved in planning that group adventure.

Of course, not everyone likes to travel in company. There's are reams and reams of advice for women hitting the road solo. Women Travel Tips is a good place to start. Check out the Women Traveling Alone thread on Tribe for first hand experience. There are dozens of blogs out there by solo women travelers - try Robin Sparks. Also check out Young, Female, and Traveling Alone. And hey, before you find that your heart - or other body parts - have been warmed by a romantic foreigner, read this excerpt from Romance on the Road.

I've traveled solo quite a lot. When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, I used to inaugurate summer by going camping solo in the Quinalt Rain Forest. I toured Spain, Portugal, and France solo the summer after I finished college. I've traveled solo through the Himalayas - backpacking for part of that trip. The absolute worst thing that happened to me was when a street thief made a play for my watch and my wallet at the same time - and that thief, by the way, was a woman. Oh, and once, when I was hitchhiking in Israel, a truck driver tried to cop a feel. I yelled at him and told him to let me out. I was annoyed, but unharmed.

As a more sensible grown up person, I can not recommend hitchhiking solo, but I can't say enough good things about traveling alone. As far as safety is concerned, it's critical that you pay attention to your instincts. And common sense is essential. But if you're going to travel as though you're wrapped in armor, there's little point in traveling at all. Paranoia should not be your travel companion. Leave it at home.

Be smart, keep an open mind, and travel safely.

Pam blogs at Nerd's Eye View.