Widows: Your Wanderlust and Wishes
Please share with friends who have lost a partner!
Let me start by saying these thoughts come from talking to you out there and from my friends. Traveling as a widow is not the same kind of travel. It can still be a meaningful experience with highs, lows and new memories.
Some women use women’s travel as part of ‘re-entry’ after losing a partner. Here is our site: www.thewomenstravelgroup.com for reference.
Your home social circle talks to you with unwanted pity and empathetic glances. In a travel group, no one knows your situation. No one will judge. No one will pry.
Social interaction is easier when traveling. Everyone in your women’s travel group has the same itinerary, and the same initial conversations at our welcome dinner:
- What airline did you fly?
- How did you find this group?
- Where do you live?
Simple, easy, non personal.
You learn a new self sufficient way to deal with life. In a group you will have teachers. Some women know whether to tip in Paris, bargain in Istanbul, or order wine in Delhi? When overseas it is more comfortable asking for guidance from your travel mothers.
Afraid you will cry?
- Who doesn’t at the sight of the Taj Mahal? (We’ll visit in November 2015.)
- I’m sure there will be more tears when we see The Eiffel Tower lit at Christmas. (Our group goes in December 2015.)
- Most women find a quality trip brings tears at some point.
Concerned about the stress of independence? No one will replace your partner.
But women do, as a rule, watch out for each other as if they were old friends; it’s in our DNA.
Nervous about being alone in a hotel room? Ask for a share, many of us feel the same way.
So what is the best first solo trip?
- One that goes to a place your partner always made a face at? Men reject India, women love it. For our trip Colors of India; click here.
- One that is different in language, religion, landscape. To use our discount on South Africa Safari with a cruise: Click here.
- Include a difficult holiday? Join our group to Paris for this Christmas click here and Morocco for 2016 (almost ready).
Finally remember to take along a photo of your husband or partner. Put it on your hotel end table. Every morning and night, say: “See I did it. I know you would be proud of me.”
Travel Tip from The Women’s Travel Group, with upcoming trips to India, Paris, Turkey, Italy, S America, spas and more.
Call us: 646 309 5607. We are always happy to chat. And be sure to look at our site: http://www.thewomenstravelgroup.com for photos and lots of information.
Note: This article was originally published in Phyllis’s blog, The Women’s Travel Group Travel Trips and Tips. Be sure to check out the complete blog: You’ll find a wealth of great travel information there. For example, Phyllis has also recently blogged about traveling if you have been ill, myths about credit card travel insurance and how to recognize your worst travel companion.
Phyllis Stoller, NABBW’s Group Travel Associate is founder of The Women’s Travel Group, a tour operator which specializes in smart vacations for smart women, was recently honored as one of the 14 most influential women in Group Travel by Group Travel Magazine. The Women’s Travel Group works with travel agents and is a strategic partner of SITA World Tours.
For solo women travelers who do not yet know her, Phyllis also founded The Women’s Travel Club. Both it and The Women’s Travel Group cater to women travelers, especially those traveling solo on group tours and cruises.
Find more of Phyllis’ travel tips on her blog at and on Facebook at “toursforwomen,” where you can feel free to ask Phyllis your travel questions. Email Phyllis here: Phyllisnycity@gmail.com And remember to check out the Women’s Travel Group blog for many other travel tips and trips.
