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Category: Solo Travel

Wok Your World with a Cooking Class!

Cooking classes are a top tier option for the solo, female senior traveler. I heartily recommend this as an easy (lots of online options) safe (read the reviews) entertaining and eye-opening way to explore the cuisine of a new country. Food preparation offers a unique and yummy peek into a national culture I took my first class on a trip to Southeast Asia, stopping in a small village for the …

All The Single Ladies: Ten Tips for Safe Hotel Check-Ins

Here are my ten best tips to make hotel check-ins, here and abroad, simple and safe. First, you’re at the Registration Desk. Take two keys. If they’re not offered, ask for the extra. Take a quick pic with your phone of the room key folder and room #. Easy memory trick. After a recent twelve hotel odyssey in France over three weeks, I was in “detail overload” and this helped! …

Flamenco: A Passionate Collision of Art and Music

It’s not about the castanets. Before my trip to Seville, I misunderstood the art form of Flamenco. I had visions of elaborately ruffled women clicking those little plastic gizmos in a face off with brooding matador-types in mock Andalusian ecstasy. It’s not. Flamenco is an art like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s raucous, joyous, passionate and great entertainment. Fun fact: castanets were not part of the original flamenco dance but …

Visit Petra: Magnificent Site of the Last Crusade

Located in the southwestern corner of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Petra was a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataen Empire between 400 BC and AD 106. My first question? Who the heck were the Nabataens? Brilliant, savvy, artisanal nomadic Arabs who performed engineering feats of singular merit. Some scholars feel that the ancient Nabataean gods may have become: Al-Qaum, the male god of the night (moon), Dushara, …

Eat Here: Bairro Alto in Lisbon

There are a million things to love about Lisbon and Portugal in general. But a recent visit introduced me to the city’s interesting and largely unheralded status as a jewel in the crown of the food and wine culture. Sure, Spain in general gets the nod but Lisbon deserves to be singled out for special distinction. I love this capital city and I’d call it a major player in the …

Seven Ways to Pack Lighter, Smarter, Faster

Here are my favorite, travel-tested tips culled from my own experience as a senior solo female managing her own luggage challenges with a few borrowed from my fav travel companions. Do your homework. Sounds simple, right? Check seasonal temperatures and precipitation for the region where you are traveling. A week or so in advance, add the major cities to your iPhone weather app and note variances in weather. Pack something …