| Adventure Travel for Women |
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By Patricia Corrigan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Concerned about using that plane ticket? Marybeth Bond, professional traveler, author and speaker, encourages people -- especially women -- to travel, even in these uncertain times. "Travel is an affirmation of our freedom, and I feel it is my patriotic duty to express that freedom," Bond said. "I'm not saying there aren't places to avoid just now, but I am telling women they should travel, and that they will be safe." Bond, 49, makes a living telling women how to make their way comfortably through the world. Her audience is larger than ever. "The fastest-growing segment of travelers is women ages 45 to 70 -- empty nesters, widows, retirees, newly divorced women and other women changing their lives," Bond said. Not all of these women are single, Bond added. "Many of them are traveling with the support and encouragement of their spouses and loved ones. Some husbands are giving their wives the gift of travel, urging them to go on trips from time to time." Bond has "hiked, cycled, climbed, dived and kayaked" her way through more than 70 countries, "from Katmandu to Killarney and from Ecuador to Tanzania." She has traveled alone, with her family and with female friends. Currently, Bond is a spokeswoman for Maupintour and the travel expert for "Evening Magazine" on CBS-TV. She is the author of several books, including Gutsy Women: More Travel Tips and Wisdom for the Road, Gutsy Mamas: Travel Tips and Wisdom for Mothers on the Road and A Woman's World: True Stories of Life on the Road, all published by Travelers' Tales. Early this month, Bond traveled to St. Louis to speak at an event sponsored by The TravelDen, a shop that specializes in travel books, maps and travel accessories. About 70 women gathered to hear her, many of them members of WINGS (Women In Need of Going Somewhere). Some 300 women have made trips with the year-old program, some of them far-flung -- Cancun, France and Italy. For more information on WINGS, call 636-227-6600. Bond told her audience that in spite of her many adventures, she has never considered herself courageous, even after a journalist described Bond as a "gutsy" woman. "I don't know about that," she said, smiling ruefully. "I just know that the older I got, the more I wanted to go places, kind of as revenge against aging. In light of my ever-shrinking future, I wanted to reconnect with what I call the Wow Factor. When you travel, when you pause in front of something you have never seen before to say 'Wow,' you sharpen your focus and you slow down time." Bond also noted differences in how women and men travel. "First of all, as women, we are more concerned for our safety," she said. Then she added: "We also pause more while traveling, linger to talk with people who live in other countries and with other travelers, too. Some of those conversations lead to lifelong friendships." Switching from a philosophic vein to one more practical, Bond listed items that travelers should always take along, such as a money belt, an ATM card, duct tape for broken sandals, Superglue for broken eyeglass frames, walking shoes, quick-dry clothing, a first aid kit, a rubber drain stopper, a rubber door stopper, Ziploc bags, a water bottle and a good book. "You also will need patience, courage, 'perspective' glasses so you can see things more than one way, a spare attitude in case yours isn't working and a sense of humor," Bond said. She also recommended learning a few words in the language spoken in the country you plan to visit, especially "hello," "thank you" and "beautiful." Bond's first trip on her own was from her home in Ohio to Williamsburg, Virginia. She was 15, attending a Junior Achievement conference. Bond remembers sitting at the airport before the flight, alone and scared. At 18, she took a summer job at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Tetons, working as a maid and a waitress, even serving dinner and making tips after she broke her finger. That experience gave her confidence that she could travel -- and survive -- on her own. She climbed a mountain for the first time, and paid for a pair of hiking boots with her own money. "I learned that I was strong, that I could do things I never imagined were possible for me," Bond said. That confidence took her from Ohio to Luxembourg for her junior year in college, which led to a summer job in Paris. Then she enrolled in the Sorbonne and earned a master's degree in comparative literature. After working as a teacher in New Caledonia, Bond moved to San Francisco with $300 in her bank account. She bought a blazer to wear to job interviews and joined the corporate world. "I wanted a career, and I cared about money," Bond recalled. "Then one day, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, I asked myself what had happened to my dreams. At the age of 30, I quit my job, sold my car and bought a one-way ticket to Bangkok." She traveled through India and Nepal, staying out of big cities. When she returned to the United States, she wrote an article for Self magazine based on her travel journals. That article led to a cover story in Outside magazine, and that article, also about women traveling alone, led to hundreds of letters from women. "Women from all over wanted to know someone who did what I had done. They wanted to hear 'You can do it' from someone who had done it," Bond said. "Those letters recharged me." Bond lives with her family in northern California. Her husband, Gary, is a lawyer. Their daughters are 10 and 13. "I have already told my 13-year-old that she has a skill that will see her through when she begins to travel alone -- she enjoys her own company," Bond said. "Also, I have told her that we are all works in progress, with aspects of ourselves that we don't know. When you travel, you discover those parts of yourself." Bond paused and smiled. "I say the same thing to women who want to travel but don't think of themselves as gutsy women. I tell them to pretend, and to go anyway." (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
RESOURCES :
Gutsy Women: More Travel Tips and Wisdom for the Road
Model: 1885211619
Author: Marybeth Bond
(2001)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Traveler's Tales, Inc.
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415-227-8600
Fax: 415-227-8605
Gutsy Mamas: Travel Tips and Wisdom for Mothers on the Road
Model: 1885211201
Author: Marybeth Hood
(1997)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Traveler's Tales, Inc.
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415-227-8600
Fax: 415-227-8605
A Woman's World: True Stories of Life on the Road
Model: 1885211066
Author: Marybeth Hood
(1995)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Traveler's Tales, Inc.
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415-227-8600
Fax: 415-227-8605
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