Time for me to start harmonica lessons. Right quick.
A travel writer acquaintance of mine wrote this lovely story about how playing the harmonica during her travels in China, Turkey and elsewhere, quickly broke the ice with children she met along the way. Brilliant! Why haven't I ever thought of this?
People often advise travelers to bring gum, coins, pens, pencils and other small items to give to children. But sharing music seems like such a better idea. You hand over a pencil, there's not much of a bond.
But sharing music and bringing a smile to someone's face? Priceless!
In a third-hand account of spa-going, I offer you the results from this year's list of best spas, based on a reader poll done by Conde Nast. I tried going directly to the Conde Nast site, but they offered their results with that annoying web trick of forcing you to click here, there and everywhere to see all the results.
Instead, you can go to A Luxury Travel Blog and see all on one page, the top spas in the U.S., Canada, Hawaii (yes, I understand that Hawaii is part of the U.S., but I didn't make up the categories), cruise ship spas, spas in Mexico and Central America, spas in the Atlantic and Caribbean and top hotel spas.
Take the recommendations with a grain of salt...or with a sugar scrub. Theses spas are not being reviewed by us skilled and trained professional journalists, you know, those of us who majored in spa going and can write about it objectively.
But the list of top spas at least gives you some names of places to research if a solo spa vacation is in your cards. While you're researching, of course, investigate what the solo scene is to see if you'd enjoy going alone.
Visiting a new place? Ride a bus to the end of the line and soak up the sights while coming and going. Get off the bus if you see something or some place that strikes you. Maybe get back on and go to the end of the line after that. Or maybe not.
Bootsnall, a great travel site, recently published a post on 10 reasons to visit Iceland now. The photos are gorgeous and I agree with all their reasons. Except maybe #10. I'll get to that in a moment.
I've been to Iceland twice (as I've written here before), once in the winter and once in the summer. Many friends have been there over and over. One for business. He loves it. Another couple because it's so close. And they love it.
The Travel Belles post on 7 solo travel lessons is filled with luscious photos of the Loire Valley in France that I've borrowed (with permission) to use here. I practically cry, wondering how I could get my photos to look as stunning.
Her tips are good too. For instance: "Always leave room for a change of plans. They are going to happen anyway."
So true. Everyone had told the writer she needed to get to the Chateau de Chenonceau first thing in the morning. As soon as it opened.
She made plans to do so. But her innkeeper told her it wasn't necessary and that she should relax and take her time and go to the chateau at lunch when everyone was outside in the garden.
That she should visit the local market in the morning instead. It turned out to be a worthwhile change of plans. Would a travel partner have tried to talk her out of it? Would she have caved if she weren't solo? See other tips, and especially, more photos, at The Travel Belles blog.
As for tips for single-bag travel, many of the tips are common but it's worth a read to be sure you know them all.
The writer's reasons for why to take only carry on luggage had me nodding my head in agreement.
"No more long lines to check bags, no more wondering if your luggage will get lost along the way, no more waiting in line at baggage-claim areas, no more keeping track of large bags and small bags and no more fees."
Amen to that. I've had bags not show up. For days. At least twice while on vacations and once while on a business trip. One bag was lost for all time.
I used to check bags because it was easier than lugging my stuff through airports. The point is, then, to take less stuff. I get better and better at it. So can you.
So pack well and pack small. Save a lot of aggravation both coming, going and when the credit card bill comes. And the baggage fees are missing.
"Is London an extremely dangerous place to travel alone?" This was the question posed by a "young woman traveling alone" on a site called English Travel Deals.
If you'd been in the room with me you might have seen my eyes roll. And a smile appear. What kind of question is that? If you go to London and nothing happens to you, you will feel like you are in a safe city.
If you go and get pick-pocketed, you will forever think it's the Wild West of Europe.
But to tag a whole Western city dangerous? It doesn't make sense. Is Los Angeles dangerous? Is Dallas dangerous? Is Oklahoma City dangerous? Definitely at certain times and in some places. Particularly when terrorists strike, which they have in many tourist destinations such as London and Madrid.
You can't have the same experiences you get while traveling solo if you go as part of a pair. So says Elizabeth Gilbert, in a recent CNN travel piece on Eat, Pray, Love, the book she wrote that came out as a movie this past weekend.
Anyone who has traveled solo knows this. Traveling solo compels a traveler to open up more. See more. Explore more.
And be distracted less by conversations that could, and should, have been held at home because they weren't about the place being visited.
A story on the website Gadling says the movie has caused a surge in solo women's travel. "Suddenly, it's viewed by mainstream America as 'okay,' " the writer Laurel Miller says.
He thought traveling with his friends would be cheap, while having to provide his parents with creature comforts would take a bite out of his budget.
Turns out it was the other way around. It's a good read about the different things people like to do when they travel. And their different needs.
And it reminds me yet again why solo travel can be so much more relaxing in many ways.
For instance, he says that it's easy to skip meals when you travel alone. But when you travel with people and one of you is hungry, usually all of you stop and eat, he points out.
A debate rages in the travel writer community about whether to take freebies when traveling or not. The writer of this Huffington Post blog post on travel writing says she takes them and doesn't have a problem with it.
This is somewhat off topic for boldlygosolo but I'm interested to hear what you think.
As the writer says, the freebie topic is controversial in journalism circles. Hard-core news journalists don't take subsidized travel. No free food or lodging. No airfare. Major metropolitan newspapers ask freelancers to sign contracts that they haven't taken subsidized travel. (which often leads to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy by writers and editors who don't routinely ask if a trip was subsidized.)
And yet, newspapers pay freelancers mere hundreds of dollars for a story. If that. Not close to covering the costs of a trip, let alone allowing a writer to earn any money. So many, many travel writers go on press trips (read: free) or FAM trips (read: free).
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