Women on the Road - Book Review

I've gotten a little bit behind on some of my reading and after a few months of distraction I finally sat down to review the book Woman on the Road. 

The book is a guide for female baby-boomers looking to travel the world, with an emphasis on solo.  While I'm a few years younger then a baby-boomer, I still enjoyed this book and thought it would be a great value for travelers of all ages.  

While the book does lean towards supporting longer term traveler, the information in it is easily applicable to one or two week vacations too. 

They cover all the topics you'll face and in great detail in just 200 pages:

Saving money for your trip, choosing accomidations, travel options, packing, choosing destinations (including what time of year you'll be traveling), dealing with hagglers and beggars, volunteering, reaclimating to home and everything in between. 

What's even better they not only cover all of these topics in depth, they offer a wide range of considerations.  You're budget is tight, then couchsurfing might be better.  Heck, even if you have a bigger budget you might want to go to more expensive destinations and still couchsurf. 

Perhaps you want to integrate some cultural experiences into your trip, try a cooking class or language class.

At the end they conclude with checklists (based on time before trip starts), itineraries of varying lengths and what I think is the coolest element that you don't usually see in books like this.  Brief interviews with woman who actually did this.  How they traveled, what issues they had, budget, and safety.  I think this final section sets this book apart from others by adding a human element that makes a trip seem more tangable. 

Epic Studio Cabins, the good, the bad and the shower...

Studio cabins, did NCL accidentally get it right?

Yes and No!

I've heard that when NCL originally designed the studio cabins on the EPIC they were supposed to be small double occupancy rooms, but they didn't sell well so they made them solo passenger cabins, though you can still put 2 people in them if you choose. They have a private lounge area for only the studio passengers, it has a bar (open 1 hour a day), coffee, snacks and continental breakfast. There is even a member of the staff that helps to get the passengers to know each other.

It sounds perfect, and NCL absolutely got this right.  But it felt like now that they have this product they don't quite know what to do with them now, I think the concept needs a little nurturing to make it truely fantastic.
 
I'll start with the cabins...
The cabins, although small, are nice.  The bathroom is broken up - the toilet, shower and sink are separate.  The shower has a glass wall with frosting on it, but the frosting needs to be darker and cover more of the wall, luckily I was the only one in the room.  There are two closets in the room,with doors that slide (when open they cover the sink and the TV), each with a hanger bar and 2 shelves.  There are additional shelves in the room, but no drawers.  If you look hard enough, there are baskets under the bed for additional storage.  I thought there was plenty of storage for 1 person, but I think it would be tight if there was a second person in the room.  Actually, everything about this cabin was just fine for 1 person, but I couldn't imagine a second person in one of these cabins, except maybe a mother and small child. 

Vanity

Toilet

The room comes with "mood" lighting.  This was neat for about 2 minutes, then it was annoying.  Even more annoying was the panel to change the settings was next to the bed, not near the door.  Although there is no thermostat there is a panel that allows you to adjust the temperature to cooler or warmer, I think this is the first ship I've had this feature on and I like it!  My cabin had at least 3 sets of outlets, several of which were for european and american plugs.  There was a table and a bench in the room, but both were so small that I only used them to put stuff on. 

Mood Lighting

The Studio Lounge:

The studio lounge was a private area that offered a bar, drinks, food, sitting area and TV.  It was a nice sized space for the number of passengers in the studios, it was busiest in the mornings (continental breakfast was offered) and evening, but never crowded.  The space was used for the solo passenger meet ups, which was the only time the bar was open.  We had a member of the social staff assigned to us for the solo meet ups, Sol, she helped get everyone introduced and arranged for 1 group dinner. 
I think this is the area where the studio cabins fell short.  I met many wonderful people who were staying in the studio cabins, some were very outgoing and others were very very shy.  I think that the staff member who is assigned to the studio lounge should be organizing more activities.  I don't think this is the fault of Sol, from what I have heard everyone has had the same experience since the ship launched, so I think this is how NCL has designed the position.  I would have liked to have seen a few more dinners planned, particularly in the specialty restaurants, a session in the Ice Bar or bowling.  I think that would open up more opportunities for solo cruisers and it would generate more money for the cruise line - a win for all. 

The other thing that I thought was missing was a window or a balcony or anything involving fresh air and sunlight.  Since the studio cabins were inside I felt an extra need to go outside in my free time, I know other people expressed a concern about possibly feeling clausterphobic in these cabins.  I had no issue with clausterphobia.  There were a few occasions where I would have liked to have spent time in the lounge, but with no window or baloncy, I chose to go up on deck instead.  I think the interior nature of the lounge kept it from being a more popular place to congregate.  Not that it needed a big section of window or a large balcony, but anything would have been better.  The best example of this was on the last day of the cruise I ate breakfast in the lounge, got my things and debarked the ship.  To my surprise it was cold and raining and ended up not being dressed properly. 

Hallway for the Studios

I have written NCL a letter about all of my thoughts on improving the Studio cabin experience, so I don't mind saying it here.  They did write back and thank me for my input.  But since this post seems to be a bit negative, I do want to add that I absolutely LOVED this cruise and the studio cabins.  I made many wonderful friends and would definatley consider sailing on the EPIC again if I was traveling by myself.  I would also recommend this ship to anyone else traveling by themselves.  I just think there are a few things that can be done to make it an even better experience.

Reminder: I can be found on Twitter @Travelingiraffe

Edinburgh with and without friends

When planning my trip to England and Scotland I wasn't sure one day was enough time in Edinburgh so I added 2 extra days in Edinburgh at the end of the trip.  I had a chance to see the city with friends I had made and then a chance to return and see it as a lonely sad person.  Should I even continue with this post?

Ok, I'll continue.  Before the trip I had 2 days alone in London, and while it was a little lonely with no one to talk to, I was fine.  But the difference of being alone after your tour, after spending 2 weeks with a group of great people, it was a world of difference.

I left Glasgow after saying goodbye to all my friends, so I was sad as it was.  Then my hotel wasn't ready, but I was ready, I wanted to get myself going and seeing things before I got depressed being by myself.  I had to keep busy.  I eventually got into my room and was out and about to Hollyrood Palace.  I ended up keeping myself pretty busy for my 2 days.  The nights were a little hard though.  I did take a tour one night and stayed in the other night - I packed and watched some movies.

The worst part though might be that there is not one picture of me in Edinburgh from after my trip!  Glad I got some during the tour.

The good things I experienced were that I had freedom, I could eat at any restaurant I wanted, picking my own hotel (the Contiki hotel was a bus ride out of the city but I was staying a block off the Royal Mile).  Seeing whatever site I wanted and lingering over the little weird things that caught my eye. Having already been to the city I already knew my way around.  Free free time.  The time where you've seen all the big sites and you don't mind spending time in a little wacky site or at the internet cafe, or wandering into random shops because you could.

I've always found traveling by myself a little lonely, but after doing a tour that feeling is heightened.  The contrast of being around people 24/7 to being around only strangers is dramatic.  The moral of the story - plan for the solo days at the beginning of a trip.  I should take my own advice.  I planned to spend a day alone pre-cruise, but 2 days post-cruise in Barcelona.  But this did work out better as I did meet some people on my cruise who were also staying longer.

Ebook Review: Art of Solo Travel: A Girls Guide

I recently got an opportunity to read an advance portion of the ebook Art of Solo Travel, and since then have read the whole book. While this is touted as a Girl's guide, I found that the "girl" part was a small part of the book and it has a lot of information about general travel.

I found the book to be a quick, easy and informative read.

The good:
The most info I've seen about Couchsurfing.
It's encouraging.
Good information on dealing with your family.


The bad:
Not as much information specific to women.
Could have more information about other forms of lodging.
Thought the section on saving money and budgeting was a little thin.
It's a little light on recommending safety tips - such as read up on self defense. I've taken self defense classes in the past and even doing it it hard, reading about it isn't going to do much for you.

Overall it is a good book. I've read some similar stuff before which I found a little more information rich then this book. However, this book is more up to date and is handy in an ebook format. For those of you experience travelers, you can probably skip this book. But for a novice or someone who needs some encouragement you'll find great value in this book.

If you're interested in supporting my blog while purchasing the book, please use this link.

Wanderlust and Lipstick - Book Review

I just finished reading Wanderlust and Lipstick by Beth Whitman. It's a book/guide for women traveling alone. The book is pretty good and an easy read. Beth gives encouragement to women to travel outside the normal spots and to fight the excuses not to travel. The book simply covers just about every aspect of travel, guiding women to and through travel.

The most informative chapter, in my opinion, is the one about staying healthy. Everyone worries about pick pockets, how to get to the hotel, but unless people have medical problems they usually assume they will be healthy on vacation, which isn't always the case. This book makes you realize that things can happen and makes some suggestions to help yourself in case you do get sick.

What I didn't like about the book? It was basic at times.

An experienced traveler could skip this book, but its a great resource for more novice travelers or those looking for encouragement.

Dining Alone

When traveling, unless traveling with a friend or partner you sometimes end up eating alone – whether on a tour or when doing independent travel. For most people this is a departure from their typical lifestyle. For some it's a social stretch, how often do you eat alone?

 I first dealt with this on a conscious level when I had along wait in an airport. When you have 3 hours, there is only so much shopping and reading you can do so it’s nice to eat at the airport. But instead of just doing the fast food place I went to Fridays and had a nice sit down meal. An airport isn’t a bad place to try out eating alone. There are quite a few other people doing that already, you’re not in a place where you’re likely to run into people you know, and you probably already have something to distract yourself with - a book or a magazine.

When you’re on vacation alone you shouldn’t feel forced to eat fast food for every meal, or have to bring food back to the hotel or picnic just because you’re alone. You can and should eat in restaurants and enjoy the local cuisine without feeling subconscious or out of place. If it's hard for you, then try finding times and places, like the airport, where you can practice doing it, it's not as scary as it seems.

Traveling Solo or on a tour??

In the travel world there's a bit of a separation between those that travel independently and those that travel on a tour. I'm a tour girl. It's not that I don't like to travel independently, but I tours suites me better.

I'm often traveling alone, I occasionally find a friend to travel with; but I travel so much and sometimes quite far away that I can't always find someone to travel with. I don't really like to travel alone either, it's lonely. I know I could meet people along the way, but what if I don't? The thought of traveling to foreign cities for 2 weeks without meeting people, or constantly meeting new people but not connecting with any of them is daunting. Imagine having no one to really talk to for 2 weeks, to discuss the things you did and the things you want to do. If you're on a tour then you have instant friends (ok, I know that sounds bad.) But you're with people who are more or less in the same boat and with the same interests. And if you keep your tour in the 2-3 week range you're unlikely to get to know people's annoying habits. But there is a certain comradery that develops on a tour. Picking place to see in a city, helping each other with problems that arise, sharing knowledge, and getting to know another culture through meeting people from different places. There is a lot to get out of a tour socially, and I'm still friends with many of the people that I travel with.

Then there is the idea of planning the trip - hotels, transportation, dining, ugh! I don't mind it, but it is a lot of work and sometimes more then I have the time and patience for, especially if you're looking at seeing a lot of places in a short period of time. A tour makes all this easier.

But there are some cons to traveling with a tour: you do often end up being sheparded around in a large group (though there is a lot of free time too,) being stuck with annoying people, limited control over your schedule and time. Overall though, I've enjoyed all the tours I've been on, felt they were a good value, and the people were absolutely worth meeting and getting to know. I am however looking at expanding the types of tours I use. A bus of 50 people is great, but I think a smaller group of people is better.