Review
Women tend to have reservations about traveling on their own, Whitman observes. These anxieties range from fears about personal security and health risks to guilt about leaving a partner and kids to fend for themselves. But traveling alone can be a joyous experience, particularly for women, she notes, because it allows them to find a sense of self-reliance, adventure, and freedom. In her guidebook, Whitman offers a range of useful tips about packing, ticket purchases, tipping, and all the usual fodder that make up travel tomes. But blended with the practical advice is deeper, more compelling guidance designed to persuade women that traveling alone isn t selfish, dangerous, or expensive. It s difficult, Whitman acknowledges, and she travels with relentless gusto, like a well-versed travel agent who s sipped the local wine, slept on hostel beds, and camped in the middle of the Australian outback. Whitman has the experience to back up her claims, and before she launches into her recommendations, she relates her tale of a first solo trip from Seattle to Panama by motorcycle. The journey was challenging, but instilled in her a sense of wanderlust that s kept her globe-hopping ever since, logging hundreds of thousands of solo miles as both a backpacker and businesswoman. Once she realized that she could travel alone happily, Whitman began persuading other women to get out of their homes and into the great unknown. She is the travel blogger for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, and teaches workshops and publishes a website for women traveling solo. Perhaps the most useful sections are the first three chapters, including Why Travel Solo? and Getting Beyond the Excuses. With her brisk, persuasive tone, Whitman could convince an agoraphobe to consider a trek to the pyramids or the Great Wall of China. Although she outlines many reasons that table-for-one journeys are enriching from setting one s own agenda for the day to being more approachable to strangers looking to stri --Foreword Magazine - Elizabeth Millard
Women have emerged in recent years as a growing demographic of separate travelers either individually or in groups fueling growth in tourism by Americans. These three books, each with a helpful approach, are aimed at women travelers. For the planning stage and for first-time travelers, there is Whitman s (web site publisher, www.forwormentravelingsolo.com) book, which is full of specific details regarding how to pack and how to book a trip. This one is best for the nervous newbie. --Library Journal (Feb. 15, 2007)
About the Author
Beth Whitman has logged hundreds of thousands of solo miles around the globe as a backpacker and a businesswoman. She is an award-winning writer, a travel photographer, the travel blogger for the Seattle Post Intelligencer (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/travel) and the publisher of the website For Women Traveling Solo (www.forwomentravelingsolo.com).
