Solo Travel Hang-Ups and How to Fix Them
Updated: 2010-09-03 02:40:09
Traveling solo is one of those experiences that can be rewarding and life changing, but it can also be full of scary adjustments, even to the most seasoned traveler.
Evelyn Hannon, solo traveling expert and editor of journeywoman.com, knows all too well how challenging it can be. In the 80's, fresh from an amicable divorce with her partner of over 20 years, Hannon decided it was time to push herself further as a traveler.
“I thought I could die at home or I could die traveling.”
So traveling she went. She packed her bags for 35 days and just left. There was a lot of public crying involved, but in the end Hannon learned how wonderful it can be to be on your own. And she's been traveling solo and sharing her advice ever since.
For me photography and traveling go hand in hand, and just like most travelers, I am no professional photographer. When I look back at all the pictures I have taken of the beautiful places I have been, the pictures can never do those places justice. Although taking photography classes would be really interesting and exciting, it is pretty unrealistic for me.
Photography for Travelers is a website devoted to helping the average photographer get more out of their photography. It is not a technical website for photography students or enthusiasts, but a rich supply of ideas and useful information on how to enhance the quality your travel photos.
If your tastes are a little bit more refined and want to indulge in the cultural cuisine of far off places, start by taking one of the indulgent tours listed below. Luxury, class and pampering are a specialty for most of these tours. Don't dare worry about a single thing, just sit back relax and let your taste buds take on all the excitement.
Avid to amateur wine enthusiasts are able to visit wineries from South Africa to Thailand to Spain. Cook like the Italians in private kitchens all over Italy. Leave your recipe book at home, and mix your own ingredients for one delicious and hedonistic adventure. Let the cooking and tasting begin!
For travelers with special needs, planning any sort of vacation can be quite a production. With mobility equipment, oxygen tanks, medications, and service animals there is an endless possibility of potential packing and mobility problems.
Never mind that certain ports and countries around the world aren’t up to date on proper accessibility codes.
But traveling with special needs isn’t a pipe dream; it is possible. “Travelers with special needs assume that they have to stay home alone. Getting the word out allows people to start dreaming again and get out there” says Andrew Garnett, CEO of Special Needs Group.
Here at GoNOMAD, we receive hundreds and hundreds of top-notch travel photos. Every day brings a new suprise. In this section, we'd like to highlight our all-time top ten photos by some of the best photographers in the business.
Follow the links to the stories and you'll find many more.
Good travel writing not only tells you what you need to know, but describes the location with such sensory details that the reader feels the experience.
City of Stairways: A Poet's Field Guide to San Francisco, although a poetry collection, evokes a sensory experience so similar it must be good travel writing.
A product of the afterschool program WritersCorp, students write about seven neighborhoods of San Francisco, California. With maps detailing each poems origin, poetry and travel lovers alike can benefit from this field guide.
Some say the best way to travel is to take the train. Visit GoNOMAD's new Railroad Travel Page with links to all our railroad stories.
Ann Torrence's U.S. Highway 89: The Scenic Route to Seven Western National Parks is a beautiful coffee table book with lots of gorgeous photographs, and it's a self-published project no less! Here's a gallery of our favorite selections, and be sure to check it out on Amazon!
Send us your travel tips for the chance to be published online and in The
Sunday Telegraph's new travel section, Discover, and win a Flip MinoHD
Camcorder, worth £179.99.
Send us your travel tips for the chance to be published online and in The
Sunday Telegraph's new travel section, Discover, and win a Flip MinoHD
Camcorder, worth £179.99.
This weekend The Sunday Telegraph is launching Discover.
In honor of Labor Day, WildChina’s US office will be closed on Monday, September 6. We wish our friends, family and travelers a happy holiday. WildChina’s Beijing office will be open at this time. For inquiries, please send an email to info[at]wildchina[dot]com or visit our website.
It’s time to announce September’s contest! This month you can win a toiletry case (left) from Briggs & Riley as well as 2 travel pouches AND a passport pouch (below, Lara Bar not included) from Tom Bihn. Value for these 4 items that can easily be tucked away into your carry-on bag is… $80!
It’s [...]
Identify the location of this photograph for the chance to win a Briggs &
Riley suitcase worth £299.
Exclusive access to USA Pavilion content plus an interactive tour all in the palm of your hand. Sound appealing? It’s here! We’re excited to announce that we have partnered with the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo to offer users of the iPhone and iPod Touch our Expo Guide Shanghai application, which features exclusive USA [...]
I finally got around to seeing Eat, Pray, Love the other night. I have not read the book (nor do I plan to) but given that I write a travel blog I’ve had many people ask me what I thought about the movie, so I figured I should see it. To be honest I’m not [...]
Another selection of strange signs sent in by readers on their travels.
During the two days that I spent at the Mount Hagen Festival in Papua New Guinea, I saw tribes dressed in outfits that were surrealistic. Men and women painted their bodies. They drummed. They sang. They wore bird feathers and pigs’ tusks. And they looked fierce.
This tribal man from the Gor SingSing Group was probably [...]
After the failure of last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to deliver a legally binding global agreement on carbon emissions, the world’s countries have been left to come up with their own plans to reduce carbon emissions as much as they want (or don’t want). China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), [...]
I had the opportunity in Papua New Guinea to test out a couple of natural safe mosquito repellents. I am not one to take malaria tablets due to their side effects and I go running when I see a DEET-based mosquito repellent. While some might think this is irresponsible, I simply don’t like to ingest [...]
(Photo: Condé Nast Traveler) In addition to being honored to be one of Wendy Perrin’s 135 Top Travel Specialists for 2010, we’re a big fan of the related spread in Conde Nast Traveler‘s August 2010 print issue. Perrin not only describes each selected travel agent, but also provides guidance on how to use the interactive listing [...]
In the small Cambodian town of Skuon these creepy crawlies are a common snack, and any tourist sitting at a cafe may get a nasty fright when they first see the large plates of deep fried spiders being carried around, and being purchased by people feeling particularly peckish.
The small town is a mere 75 kilometers [...]