On the Road Again
On this week's51%, we finally go out of the house. We speak with travel agent Jean Gagnon about how to programme alee this vacation flavour; cyclist and self-proclaimed "worldwide nomad" Rachel Yaseen discusses the drive behind her adventures; and Dr. Sharon Ufberg interviews Amanda Blackness, founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network.
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You're listening to 51%, a WAMC product dedicated to women'due south issues and stories. Thanks for joining usa, I'm Jesse King.
I have been sitting on this episode for a long time. I'yard very much a homebody, merely if there's one thing the coronavirus pandemic made me daydream of, it'southward travel – because, of course, COVID-19 pretty much stopped it. For the by two years or so, we've all been staying closer to dwelling house – for good reason, I might add together – just now that states are relaxing their COVID-xix restrictions, and the omicron variant appears to be on a refuse, more and more people are feeling optimistic nearly dusting off their suitcase. Overall, travel in the U.S. is bouncing back. Then if y'all're looking for advice on your spring and summertime vacations, some travel motivation, or just an excuse to daydream virtually the trips yous would take if it weren't for COVID-19 – today, we've got you lot covered.
Jim Levulis
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Facebook: Plaza Travel Center
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Jean Gagnon is a veteran vacation planner and president of Plaza Travel Center in Latham, New York. She says the pandemic decimated every corner of her industry, but slowly, the calls are coming in.
"We do a lot of international travel here, so we are very affected by the testing requirement that is nonetheless in place by the U.S. government, that you accept to examination [negative for COVID-19] 24 hours before you return to the U.S.," Gagnon explains. "As soon as that gets pulled, which nosotros're hoping will be fairly soon, and then travel volition really get blown out of the water."
When people are planning for their travels, what things should they be keeping in mind, still?
OK, they still have to book actually, really far in advance. That is the number one way to save money. People say, "Oh, I'll wait, because maybe the fares volition get down." Airfares don't go down. Once in a while a hotel offers a last-minute deal, but it'south usually not any place that yous get an airfare to. So you lot really, really should plan in accelerate. I will give you an idea: so you have not only the two year pent-up travel demand, merely so y'all have the people who ordinarily would take traveled this year. Y'all know, yous've got three years worth of people trying to travel. I had a family unit trying to get to Hawaii in July. At present you would think, "Oh, July, that's four months away," but I could not discover what they were looking for. People take to exist flexible. They have to volume far in advance. And they should endeavour to program to travel on the off times for their destination. And then for case, Hawaii is a huge family destination, and so July and August are very busy – fares are going to exist upwardly. You lot go in May, yous're gonna save a lot of coin, if you're flexible. Same thing with Europe: July and August, very, very expensive. Go in September or October, if you can, or once again in May. The Caribbean actually goes down in the summer, considering it's so hot. They're more popular in the wintertime, when it's cold hither. So if you lot want to go to the Caribbean, go like in June or September – you'll still have beautiful atmospheric condition, but you'll pay a lot less money. So if you desire to endeavor to save money and accept less crowded areas, you want to travel when it's non the acme time.
What's hot right now, where are people going?
The National Parks are still very, very hot. People are trying to stay within the U.S., the majority of people, because they are concerned about doing the testing before they return to the U.Southward. So everywhere in the United States is very, very hot. Florida is ever busy, and information technology's even busier this twelvemonth. Hawaii is very, very big this year. I've seen more people book Hawaii this year than ever before, considering it's even so a very foreign-feeling identify, and withal information technology'southward considered a domestic flight. The Caribbean area is starting to come back, cruises are starting to come back, and Europe too. Information technology'southward funny, because people think trips or vacations are similar, on a shelf, and I can just option theirs off the shelf – all trips accept to be built. Even if there's a packet at the hotel, you lot have to build it with the flights. And if you lot keep a weekend, information technology might exist more during the center of the week. And so every trip, you accept to sort of see what is out there. And likewise, people say, "Well, how much is an average hotel?" And it's like request, "How much is an average auto?" You know what I hateful? I mean, do yous want an erstwhile car, a little two-door economy? Or are you looking at a Mercedes Benz? So at that place'south no cookie cutter affair. We accept to talk to people to observe out what they desire to do, and how long do they take. If you lot merely have four days, you're probably non going to become to Hawaii. If you have iii weeks, that's enough time to become to Australia, New Zealand, or Africa. So your parameters guide united states into what we would propose for you.
When you're doing the actual planning, what's the beginning affair yous volume is?
Always air. Get-go we need people to decide what dates they want to become, so we can volume the air. Because of that, you really have to decide the itinerary get-go. So for example, if yous're going to Europe, if you lot're going to Italy, are yous going to fly into Rome and fly dwelling house from Venice? Which is a great itinerary. That'southward fine, but let's book those flights first. Then we fill it in with how many nights in each place, so we can volume the hotels. Then once we have that booked, we book the transportation – are you going to take the train between the 2 of them, are yous going to drive a auto. And then the concluding thing that nosotros fill in is usually like any kind of sightseeing. Similar, if you're going to be in Rome, y'all want to get a reservation to see the Vatican. But we usually exercise that later on the rest of the stuff is in place.
What are the ways that you lot're seeing people traveling? What are the reasons they travel?
That'southward a very interesting question. Um, I believe that different people travel for different reasons. Some people just want to get away from their everyday life. They want to relax. They want to lay on a beach. That's what they enjoy doing their holiday – they want to do almost as piffling equally possible. There are other people that want to do a combination of activities. Y'all know, I want to kayak, I want to hike, and I want to lay on the beach. Then there's a certain destination that fits them. And then there are people – I, for one, just love to run into new places. I love different food, I dear seeing dissimilar cultures, I dear the history. And for them, that's a dissimilar vacation. I mean, yep, you can get to Aruba, because there'southward sunshine 365 days of the year, but you're not going to come across vii days' worth of civilisation and history. It's a small island. So someone like that might desire to go to Europe, or they might want to become to South America. What I enjoy doing in the morning, which would be walking around a new urban center and going to the local market – somebody else might desire to slumber in bed until xi, and so have a light lunch by the pool. And then you really have to notice out why that person is travelling, so you can determine what destination is best for them.
My travel partner is probably the type of person who would want to lay in bed until like xi o'clock or apex, and I'm the person who would want to get up and explore. If you lot're trying to travel with somebody, but too mitigate those differences, do y'all have any tips for that?
Well, yeah, you accept to then say, "Well, what is the most important?" Practise yous still desire to travel together? Are you lot willing to compromise? If the example is yeah, you want to go somewhere [where] you tin can get up, feel comfy leaving the hotel by yourself, and going and doing something while the other person, you know, lays in bed. Which is fine. So if yous went to Paris, you could get up in the forenoon, go get a croissant, walk around the pocket-size little villages, and and so come up back at eleven o'clock.
I don't know if information technology's considering I've traveled so much, or if information technology's only my nature, but I would probably tend to be more on the fearless side. Whereas I feel that people say, "Well, I heard that at that place's a lot of law-breaking in London." Well, yeah, but depending upon where you are, there tin can be a lot of crime in Albany. So you take to know where to go and where not to go. I think women traveling alone have to equip themselves with the cognition of "What can I do? What shouldn't I do?" You know, walking around at iii o'clock in the morning time is not a good thought no thing where you are, if you lot're by yourself. Traveling in pairs and numbers is always skilful. During the day, though, information technology's usually non a problem, because people are living, people are working. Perceived danger is sometimes merely that – it's a perception.
You talked a niggling bit earlier about booking early to save coin. Are there places that would match a smaller budget? Or exercise yous have full general tips to travel on a budget? Considering a lot of united states of america are broke.
Well, the outset thing if you're traveling on a budget is you exercise want to plan as far as possible alee of fourth dimension, OK? Considering there are smaller hotels or Airbnb's that might exist less expensive – simply if they're skillful, and they're less expensive, they're going to be popular. People are going to know about them. Driving is always an alternative. And there are fabled places just to go in our area for great vacations that you could drive to. There'south a wonderful website, I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with it – it's called "Only in New York," and they accept them in each state. In that location's an "Simply in Massachusetts." And y'all can go on at that place, and they talk about interesting things to exercise in your state. And a lot of them are gratis. State parks that you lot may have never heard of, a lot of state parks have cabins. And so you could go to a country park on Cape Cod, and stay in a cabin on the beach for a ridiculously depression price. But you may have to book it 2 years alee of time, because information technology's going to exist popular.
Lastly, are at that place any underrated places that you retrieve people should be going to see more?
Portugal is an incredible small country. Information technology's piece of cake to get around, some of the cheapest prices you'll find anywhere in Europe. I hateful, ridiculously depression prices. Friendly, friendly people. Incredible history – Portugal, at once, was a huge naval power. But I retrieve Portugal is i of those places that is really, really underrated.
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I really spoke with our adjacent guest toward the end of last summertime, during a pitstop on her massive cycling bout from New England to Chicago. Rachel Yaseen is many things: a posture alignment therapist, life coach, public speaker. Simply at 45-years-quondam, she gave merely about all of it up to pursue her own take chances as a "worldwide nomad." The 836 miles between her sister's abode in Rhinebeck, New York, and Chicago, Illinois, seemed like quite an ambitious trek to me – but it's zip compared to the thirty,000-mile worldwide cycling tour she wrapped in Australia soon before our conversation. Her journey may non be for everybody, only as she cycles from city to city, Yaseen says her goal is to encourage others to exist their authentic selves and pursue their dreams — no matter what those dreams might be.
"I really wanted to share my stories and experiences and inspire other people to pursue their own adventures here in America," says Yaseen. "And when I prove up in communities on my fully-loaded bicycle, and I'thou like, 'Yes, I just came from 70 miles abroad,' people can really get it into their heads. Similar 'Oh, that's how this is working.'"
Let's go back to the get-go, and how yous got started doing this. Yous've been going around the world for the past three years? What prompted the conclusion to do that?
And so I spent nigh 25 years of my adult life living in Tucson, Arizona, and I did a lot of different entrepreneurial things. Merely it came to a time where I felt like I just knew that I needed something else. You know, when I was in my early 20s, I really had these dreams about living nomadically and traveling the globe. But I fell in love, and I married a man that didn't really have those dreams. And and then I decided to get to Espana and walk the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage in northern Espana. It's most five weeks, it's about 500 miles. While I was doing it, it was fantastic, and I really found out how strong I was. And so at the end, I had been walking with some people, and I was in the office where y'all get the document where it says, "Congratulations, yous've completed this." And the person that I was with wrote "traveler" equally their profession. I don't know why, only you had to write your profession. And I was just totally, like, struck. And I really started crying. Because I said, "I want to be a traveler." That seemed very difficult. I had a family. And when I came back to America, it simply seemed really clear to me that that life that I had dreamed about in my 20s was really what I needed to pursue, and that I couldn't actually exist the person that I was, when I was loving that other life. Quickly, when I got dorsum to America, I just realized that I needed to make a big alter. And, yeah, it was a transition. Merely at some indicate, I decided that I had to alive. I had to be a unlike sort of mom than other moms. I had an viii year old. And I had to but show him – and myself – that y'all're the best person when you lot pursue what you're passionate about, even when it'due south not pop with the people around you.
What was it like, having to make that determination? How did your friends and family react?
It was horribly uncomfortable. You know, it was funny, because someone might think, "You're going to requite abroad all your things and start living nomadically, how scary!" But that was easy. That was natural. That'due south what I feel like I was supposed to be doing all forth. Merely aye…I think to most people, I was living a model-perfect life, and to disrupt everything was very upsetting to family and friends. And especially for me, it wasn't clear what direction this was going. I didn't have a programme. That makes information technology fifty-fifty harder for people, and y'all kind of have to sit in that discomfort and be willing to be uncomfortable with yourself, knowing that, in my heart, I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Has the response gotten better, over the past few years?
Yeah, absolutely. While it isn't what any of my family unit members would choose for their own life, and sometimes I think that they wish that I would be normal, I do feel a lot of support from the people around me. Absolutely.
That'due south good. Then let'southward talk about some of the places you've been. Do you lot mostly bike, or do you hike? What's your preferred way of traveling?
So in the kickoff, it was actually unclear. I wasn't really sure what format that information technology was going to take. And so it took a niggling while to really first to realize that "OK, I would similar to make this a cycling trip around the world." It originally started with my new partner in Kingdom of denmark, and I route to Croatia with him. And it was really similar, "OK, this is interesting." And we already had a ticket booked to Thailand. So that was like, "Alright, nosotros'll officially showtime the trip in Thailand," and then just started riding in Thailand. And I actually wanted to set upwards challenges, because, for me, I feel like growth happens when you set up challenges for yourself – purposefully. Not all of a sudden, like, you get divorced, or a pandemic happens, or in that location'southward a tsunami, simply where you lot really ready challenges for yourself and reach them – or maybe fail, and that'southward OK, too. I've done that. Merely I think yous find out who you lot are, and you observe out how stiff y'all are. In the beginning, I said, "OK, we'll first in Thailand. Now I want to become to southern Myanmar." And no one goes to southern Myanmar, because there'southward very few places you're allowed to stay, and you take to wheel great distances, and there's actually no infrastructure for tourism. But I thought, "OK, this sounds interesting." The three web log posts I read, none of the people were successful. So I thought, "Yeah, now I really want to try this." And nosotros did, and it was incredible. Nosotros made it. And so nosotros continued cycling through Southern Thailand – y'all cutting back into Thailand from Southern Myanmar – and then downwardly through Malaysia, and Singapore, and then stopped at the different Indonesian islands. And and then nosotros got to Timor Leste and hoped to be able to get a sailboat to Commonwealth of australia, considering the whole concept was to be human-powered, and non fly. But it was the middle of cyclone season, and it just wasn't possible. So we flew to Darwin, which is in the northern part of Australia. And so it was COVID, and we spent the concluding year and a half in Australia.
Earlier nosotros get to what information technology's like travelling in COVID, I idea I'd ask – how do you get nearly making these plans and decisions? Do you lot have a certain destination in mind, where it'south like, "I know I'm gonna stay here." Or is it more like, "OK, I'm gonna bike to this urban center, and and so promise to find a place to stay."
So there'due south the larger telescopic, which is, "How is this gonna await over like the next half-dozen months?" And and so there's like, "Where am I going to go tonight?" And then typically, I'm really simply looking at the map and identifying where there'south places to stay. If I'm in the centre of nowhere, similar in Australia, there might non exist a choice – I'm loading a whole bunch of food and water on my bike, and I'k just wild camping. So when I'grand washed for the mean solar day, I'll literally pull off the road find a spot to camp in the center of nowhere. There's no humans, at that place's kangaroos and some birds. If there'due south towns, and then sometimes we'll stay in a hotel. If at that place's somewhere that we know information technology's like a school holiday, and so sometimes I'll program ahead. But not normally – I like the flexibility, because you lot don't know where you lot're going to end up each twenty-four hour period. And I like not knowing.
How much stuff do y'all take on your bike? How much are you bringing with you?
These are such skillful questions. So the more you carry, the more than you have to pull with you. And I am a minimalist, give thanks goodness, because information technology's heavy. I like to carry a couple unlike changes of apparel for cycling. Mayhap similar a little dress, and depending how cold it is, maybe some SmartWool top and bottom and some kind of like heavy coat. I've got a sleeping purse, my tent, a stove for cooking. Everything is super lightweight. Y'all saw my bike, it'south pretty minimally loaded. When I prove upward to places, people are ordinarily surprised.
How do you go along in shape for this?
I did not necessarily set for this. Information technology wasn't like I thought, "OK, I'm going to train for it." I think the training happens while you lot're doing it. That said, information technology'southward a lot of repetitive motion all the fourth dimension. I hateful, we're all doing some kind of repetitive move all the fourth dimension, whether nosotros're sitting around a bicycle, or even professional athletes are doing their move. Then as a posture therapist, that is a big deal for me. I am constantly advocating for doing the posture exercises, and I do them every single forenoon. I have like 30 minutes to do them.
So let's talk a little bit about what it was like traveling during COVID. How did that whole experience happen for you?
Oh, information technology was super interesting because I got in to Commonwealth of australia literally within hours of it closing to foreigners. And and then and then I was locked down for iii months in Cannes, Australia – which couldn't have been a meliorate place to exist locked downwards, information technology was absolutely cute. When we were released – and I say released because all of a sudden there was an annunciation that we could leave – then nosotros made sure that nosotros didn't go to areas where there was COVID. And so COVID was really isolated to the Melbourne and Sydney area, and we merely skipped that whole area. So I cycled about xv,000 miles over the class of a yr throughout Australia, merely just skipped the COVID. Traveling was only well-nigh making sure that I was in the right area at the right fourth dimension.
OK, so you're going to Chicago now. Why?
Actually, the northeast all the way to Chicago is completely strange to me. I'one thousand much more than comfortable in Europe and Asia and Australia than I am here, I was actually really intimidated by the ticks, and then I heard near the blackness bears. So I'thou actually not as familiar with this expanse. And really, the whole reason that I'm doing this is to connect with as many people as possible. So every bit I'one thousand cycling along, I'thou giving talks and workshops. The talks are meant to inspire people to pursue their own adventures, considering I believe that anybody has an adventure in them that's calling to them. Sometimes nosotros don't do them because we're scared. We don't know that we tin do information technology. Nosotros're scared that if we can practise it, the people around us might not exist supportive. Nosotros might not have the imagination to fifty-fifty similar know what [it is] – we know in that location's something, merely non exactly sure what information technology is. And sometimes nosotros merely don't desire to disappoint people. It's very easy to come upwards with all kinds of things about why you tin can't do something. I noticed it for myself, I am constantly coming upwards with reasons why I tin can't do something. And the truth is that, until yous come up to a point in your life where you feel like you only need to do something, you're probably not going to challenge yourself. But when y'all do, and you start to really realize the advantage of it, then it'south about addicting, and it actually makes you such a stronger person, and you lot really become to know yourself so much ameliorate. And when y'all do that, yous bear witness up better for other people.
I of the things that I've been thinking about lately is – y'all know your headphones, and how they get tangled upwardly? And how y'all can't just like pull them, yous take to carefully, like, undo them? For me, I think that's what moving through the world and cycling is. I think we get all tangled up, and moving and cycling is this slow way for me to untangle and to really see myself.
As someone who has seen way more than of the globe than I accept, what are some of your favorite places?
You lot know, information technology'southward funny, because in Australia, people wanted to know where my favorite identify in Australia was – because I think I saw more than of Commonwealth of australia than nigh Australians see. And so they're curious, like, where should they go? And my favorite was the heart of the Outback, where there was nobody. And the stars…It could nigh bring me to tears. The stars are like, you tin can't fifty-fifty imagine information technology, because at that place's no light pollution. And the sunrise and the sunset, and just hearing the birds. The magic of just being out there is absolutely incredible.
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Our last guest today is the founder of the Solo Female Traveler Network, a community of more 500,000 women travelers — or aspiring travelers — online. Members frequently share photos on Facebook from their adventures, solicit advice on everything from flight planning to homesickness, and occasionally connect on meetup tours organized past the network. Founder Amanda Black says it all started as a fashion to empower women and help them feel safer on their travels. She spoke with Dr. Sharon Ufberg, co-founder of the California-based personal evolution and wellness company, Borrowed Wisdom, for her 51% segment, "Force of Nature."
Dr. Ufberg: How did this group become started?
Black: I had been traveling solo for many years, and as a woman lonely in certain parts of the world, I found myself, once in a while, in a situation where I felt a little vulnerable. And I could take used some back up from people like me. My last straw was when I was in Mexico, and I had just gotten at that place. And I went out for a beer and a taco around the corner – and while I was gone, for those few minutes, somebody had broken into my room and stolen everything. Literally everything except my dirty clothes, and thankfully, my passport. But I recollect standing in the streets of Cancun, knowing no ane, and thinking, "OK, what do I practise now?" And I knew that in that location would be plenty of people effectually me who would be willing to help me out, but I didn't have a way to connect with them. And so every bit presently as I got dwelling, and as presently as I replaced my calculator, I started a Facebook group. And it was meant originally for my travel friends and their travel friends to accept a place to turn for everything in situations like this – for travel advice, for inspiration. And so a few years into having the grouping, nosotros decided we wanted to travel together, and we started operating organized tours.
Dr. Ufberg: I had that experience myself as a traveler, and then I totally can relate to that. So this travel network has now been going on for about five years. What would yous say you've learned about what women desire from travel?
Blackness: I started out actually just trying to provide what I really want from travel, and what my almost rewarding moments encompassed. That's first of all, community. It's hard to make friends as an adult, no matter who y'all are – and especially when you're doing something a little scrap off the beaten path, similar traveling to different parts of the world past yourself. So being able to connect with women who understand you, and women who have perchance found themselves in similar situations, is our number one value. 2nd of all, we actually believe in empowering women: empowering women to chase their dreams, to say yep to themselves, to detect who they are. And I believe that the best manner to exercise that is through travel. And when you travel, it teaches you lot things like gratitude, and humility. Those are two things that I've actually learned from travel and have changed me as a person. And so our travel experiences aim to give women the fourth dimension and the infinite and the experiences to feel all of those things: empowered, grateful, apprehensive and connected.
Dr. Ufberg: Amanda, tin can you give us a story that might illustrate how your network has accomplished this goal of helping individual women within a customs? Like you lot were and so needing in that moment in Cancun not too long ago?
Black: Yeah, so there are so many examples of this. If you lot get into our Facebook customs, which is gratis for everyone, and merely gyre, you'll encounter lots of examples. But one of my favorite, most powerful examples happened a few years ago. There was a woman who had met her partner, her boyfriend, somewhere in her travels. And she decided to go domicile with him. He lived in Turkey. Then she went home with him. And she had been traveling with him for a little while – and he turned abusive. After a large blow upwardly, she locked herself in the bathroom at his apartment, and she had her telephone with her. And she had tried to telephone call the police force. He was banging on the door trying to get in. She felt really threatened. She had been trying to telephone call the law, and they wouldn't come. Then she posted in our customs explaining what happened. And she got thousands of comments – then many that we had to close it down. We were all overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and dear and wanting to know if she was OK with what happened. But we had a handful of members who lived in Turkey, and even lived in the town that she was in. And so ultimately, nosotros had members from all over the world calling the law in Turkey – and most helpful, we had women who spoke the language calling the police. And in one case the police came, and they got her out safely, the women from our customs were at that place to greet her and to assistance her on her journey back dwelling house.
Dr. Ufberg: That is really fantastic. I would love to hear what'south next for you, and how people can find you.
Blackness: The all-time place to first if you desire to join our community is to just find united states of america on Facebook. We also have a gratis community off of Facebook that you tin can detect on our website, which is sofetravel.com. Our squad is working difficult to create more destinations. We take a volunteer program that we're working on, currently, to supply some more than direct assist to these organizations that we visit on our tours. And we take some big motion picture projects around aiding the cease of sex trafficking and gender violence – we're currently looking for a perfect fit and a partner for one of those causes. So anyone is welcome to contact me directly. My e-mail is Amanda@sofetravel.com. We look forrard to welcoming anyone who wants to join our community.
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51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blueish.
Source: https://www.wamc.org/show/51/2022-03-07/51-1702-on-the-road-again
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