Tag Archives: inspire

Have you done anything Noteworthy or Mentionable?

Posted on by

Movies, similar to books and TV shows tell stories. Some are more thought provoking than others. Some help us with escapism. Some help us investigate new possibilities without leaving the comfort of our daily lives.

What if we are oh so comfortable in our lives that we do not realize that we are fading away into the background.

What if we are on the precipice of greatness but are too afraid to take the next step into the unknown.

What if we tried something new today. Continue reading →

She did What!?! ~ with Doris

Posted on by

Single Woman Travels! (SWT) is a place to inspire and motivate women (and men) around the world to travel. She did What?! is a monthly series of Q&A – asking women around the world to share their past travel experience. From this, I hope a few more women who are on the brink of expanding their world will be inspired and motivated to turn their dreams into reality.

Bio…    Doris – living in Toronto, Canada.

SWT:    Where was the destination of your second solo trip?

D:        London

SWT:    How old were you?

D:        22

SWT:    Were you single or attached at the time?

D:        Single

SWT:    What inspired the idea?

D:        Student Work Abroad Program (SWAP).

SWT:    What was your trip style? (backpack, tour group, comfort, meetup with family/friends)

D:        Hostel and rent a flat to share with fellow SWAP mates and find work!

SWT:    What type of accommodations? (family owned, B&B, tents, if a hotel, how many stars)

D:        Stayed in a youth hostel for the first 2 nights and then with 3 other Canadian girls, we rented a flat together.

SWT:    How long was your trip?

D:        2 months

SWT:    Who looked after the logistics?

D:        If I recall correctly SWAP organized the flight, work visa (VISA holiday maker) and first 2 nights accommodation at hostel.

SWT:    If you planned and/or booked the itinerary, did you enjoy the process?

D:        SWAP organized the initial contacts and then once I was connected with flatmates we did some day trips together including Brighton Beach, Dicken’s Old Curiosity shop and I also did a few trips on my own including Bath, Leeds Castle, and a ferry from Dover to Calais with train to Paris.

SWT:    If you worked with a travel agent, how was the experience?

D:        I have interacted with a few travel agents that are absolute gems.

SWT:    Would you / have you booked subsequent trips yourself?

D:        I have booked trips online to Christchurch, New Zealand and San Diego, California with my partner (neither of us is computer savvy and the last trip we used Priceline and saved quite a bit on hotels).

SWT:    What would you do different – in hindsight?

D:        N/A

SWT:    Did you feel comfortable traveling solo?

D:        Travelling solo was fine provided I had a destination to go to especially to meet up with people.

SWT:    How much research did you do in advance?

D:        I read up the Lonely Planet guidebook.

SWT:    What was the biggest surprise on the trip?

D:        N/A

SWT:    What did you learn about yourself during the trip that you weren’t totally aware of beforehand?

D:        In the space of a few minutes I learned about what is important in life (and how easy it is to forget).

SWT:    Was there any close calls or run-ins?

D:        N/A

SWT:    Where is your next dream destination?

D:        Nepal, Turkey or Machu Picchu

If you’d like to participate, please message me 🙂

She did What!?! ~ with Christine Part 2

Posted on by

Single Woman Travels! (SWT) is a place to inspire and motivate women (and men) around the world to travel. She did What?! is a monthly series of Q&A – asking women around the world to share their past travel experience. From this, I hope a few more women who are on the brink of expanding their world will be inspired and motivated to turn their dreams into reality.

Bio…    Christine Belanger or @chomba on Twitter. I am a Graphic Designer living in Toronto, Canada.

SWT:    Where was the destination of your second solo trip?

CB:        Belize and Guatemala.

SWT:    How old were you?

CB:        28

SWT:    Were you single or attached at the time?

CB:        Single

SWT:    What inspired the idea?

CB:        I love to volunteer travel, and I signed up for 10 days of volunteering in a small Mayan village in the mountains of Guatemala. The flight prices surprised me when I was looking to fly to Guatemala around Christmas. I found a much cheaper flight to Belize and decided to travel down and see many sites along the way.

SWT:    What was your trip style? (backpack, tour group, comfort, meetup with family/friends)

CB:        Backpack. (My first time backpacking.)

SWT:    What type of accommodations? (family owned, B&B, tents, if a hotel, how many stars)

CB:        Single rooms in hostels and cheap hotels. (Accommodations were quite inexpensive in Central America) When I was with the volunteer group, we stayed with local families.

SWT:    How long was your trip?

CB:        24 days

SWT:    Who looked after the logistics?

CB:        I did.

SWT:    If you planned and/or booked the itinerary, did you enjoy the process?

CB:        With my trusted companion of “Central America on a Shoestring”, the entire planning process became incredibly exciting! There wasn’t the time to do everything I wanted!!

SWT:    If you worked with a travel agent, how was the experience?

CB:        N/A

SWT:    Would you / have you booked subsequent trips yourself?

CB:        N/A

SWT:    What would you do different – in hindsight?

CB:        I wouldn’t have traveled over the Christmas holiday. Flights are much more expensive and traveling the day before, and on Christmas day can be dangerous in a third world country.

SWT:    Did you feel comfortable traveling solo?

CB:        Yes and no. Other people who worried for me prior to me leaving made me even more nervous. But when you’re backpacking, and staying at the hostels, you attract travel buddies. It is amazing how fast you buddy up and connect with fellow travelers. You are hardly ever really traveling alone. Luckily I chose single rooms in hostels, and being in backpacker-like hostels made it easier to meet fellow travelers in the common areas.

SWT:    How much research did you do in advance?

CB:        I did as much as possible and the book helped a lot. I also asked friends who were from there, traveled there, and other backpackers: What do I wear to look like the locals? What are the rules on tipping? What’s the best way to pack when you’re backpacking? etc.

SWT:    What was the biggest surprise on the trip?

CB:        In Belize: How safe some of the coastal cities were. Guatemala: How everyone is curious about you (as a foreigner) and wants to try to speak to you even though you have minimal Spanish. They want to know everything possible about your foreign country, what you think of their country, etc.

SWT:    What did you learn about yourself during the trip that you weren’t totally aware of beforehand?

CB:        Most of my learning came from the volunteer portion. That is another experience unto itself. The local experience was really the best part.

SWT:    Was there any close calls or run-ins?

CB:        I had an overnight bus that broke down. Although a fancy bus, the situation made me a little nervous. I’ll avoid overnight buses from now on.

SWT:    Where is your next dream destination?

CB:        Teaching Buddhist monks English in Laos 🙂

Next time, we’ll hear from Doris who chose to travel on her own…

If you’d like to share your story, contact me! 🙂

She did What!?! ~ with Christine

Posted on by

Single Woman Travels! (SWT) is a place to inspire and motivate women (and men) around the world to travel. She did What?! is a monthly series of Q&A – asking women around the world to share their past travel experience. From this, I hope a few more women who are on the brink of expanding their world will be inspired and motivated to turn their dreams into reality.

Bio…    Christine Belanger or @chomba on Twitter. I am a Graphic Designer living in Toronto, Canada.

SWT:    Where was the destination of your first solo trip?

CB:        England, with a stopover in Iceland.

SWT:    How old were you?

CB:        27

SWT:    Were you single or attached at the time?

CB:        I was attached, but the flight was booked before we met. It was a very new relationship, and he was unwilling/unable to make the trip.

SWT:    What inspired the idea?

CB:        In 2009, I had a knee injury that had kept me from traveling for a few years, but after surgery in the summer of 2010, I was ready for adventure! During this time I had come across this piece of paper with predictions from a psychic reading I had had years ago. (This psychic had mentioned that I had a past life in Glastonbury, England in the Victorian era.) I Googled the city name, and whether I had a past life there or not, this small town was ridiculously fascinating!! It was tiny little English town that had a huge history with the Christian church as well as the Pagan faith, and they lived side-by-side. The ruins of the oldest known Christian church was built here, but i also was the home of many ancient sacred Pagan sites. Most people travel to this small town on a spiritual pilgrimage. I was currently in a spiritual transition as well, so this place fascinated me beyond belief.

SWT:    What was your trip style? (backpack, tour group, comfort, meetup with family/friends)

CB:        The cheap flight happened before anything else. I just booked it on a whim! I originally tired finding tour groups, or meeting up with family/friends as part of it, but most of this didn’t work out. This by default ended up being a solo trip, and meeting up with my cousin at the tail end of it.

SWT:    What type of accommodations? (family owned, B&B, tents, if a hotel, how many stars)

CB:        I stayed mostly at small town B&Bs, single hostel rooms, hotel rooms or my cousin’s living room.

SWT:    How long was your trip?

CB:        10 days

SWT:    Who looked after the logistics?

CB:        That would be me.

SWT:    If you planned and/or booked the itinerary, did you enjoy the process?

CB:        I was freaking out! People weren’t responding, I couldn’t find information online from England that I needed… at the last minute, the man that I was seeing at the time showed up with a book called “Europe on a shoestring” that he had purchased as a present. He had backpacked around India before, and the shoestring series had been his trusted companion. With this book, I had maps, listings, phone numbers, reviews, historical references, etc. It was my saving grace.

SWT:    If you worked with a travel agent, how was the experience?

CB:        N/A

SWT:    Would you / have you booked subsequent trips yourself?

CB:        Yes

SWT:    What would you do different – in hindsight?

CB:        I wouldn’t have depended on meeting up with people so much, and just built a plan on my own earlier on. I would have booked more hotel nights in advance to save on the stress of not knowing where I would be staying the next night.

SWT:    Did you feel comfortable traveling solo?

CB:        I had moments where I was very nervous, yes. But overall, I felt very safe where I was traveling.

SWT:    How much research did you do in advance?

CB:        Quite a bit on the internet, but like I said, the book “Europe on a Shoestring” was my saving grace. It was a challenge to get the info I needed for touring certain parts of England until I was there.

SWT:    What was the biggest surprise on the trip?

CB:        Good surprises: How wonderful my sense of direction is. How many people were curious by me and wanted to chat with me. Bad surprise: Bed bugs.

SWT:    What did you learn about yourself during the trip that you weren’t totally aware of beforehand?

CB:        You surprise yourself with how strong you really are when you travel on your own. You return feeling completely empowered and smiling from your adventures.

SWT:    Was there any close calls or run-ins?

CB:        N/A.

SWT:    Where is your next dream destination?

CB:        Volunteer work in Central America.

Next time, we’ll hear from Christine again on why she chose to travel on her own…

If you’d like to share your story, contact me! 🙂

She did What!?! ~ with Rhona

Posted on by

Single Woman Travels! (SWT) is a place to inspire and motivate women (and men) around the world to travel. She did What?! is a monthly series of Q&A – asking women around the world to share their past travel experience. From this, I hope a few more women who are on the brink of expanding their world will be inspired and motivated to turn their dreams into reality.

Bio…    Rhona Dulay, Vancouver, B.C.; Environmental Planner/Coordinator; too many dream career, but definitely something artistic – singer/songwriter, professional photographer, painter (all of which I don’t excel at but would love to do! Creativity = Win!)

SWT:    Where was the destination of your first solo trip?

RD:        NYC – I went there in 2007 with the intention of attending a full-on 3-day ATHGO International Conference at the UN; ended up meeting my future husband and skipping out on days 2 and 3 🙂

SWT:    How old were you?

RD:        29

SWT:    Were you single or attached at the time?

RD:        Single for the first day or two! 🙂

SWT:    What inspired the idea?

RD:       I was in a 7‑year relationship with a guy I thought I was going to end up marrying. We moved to Northern BC to go to university, ended up buying a house, owned two cars, had a dog and a cat, and what I thought was a bright future together. As the years went by, I realized that he was a complete control freak and wanted to not only plan his own but MY WHOLE future – everything revolved around what HE saw as reasonable and right for himself: if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me – no exceptions. And I succumbed to that. Who knows why; I got complacent and overly comfortable. Any dreams of traveling to my dream destinations, getting another tattoo (which still hasn’t happened :P), writing, playing guitar or being creative were laughed at by him. I was sick and tired of his inhibitions on my life, and decided to end it during our last semester in university.

I had always talked about taking a trip to NYC which of course, he didn’t think was up our alley as far as vacations – he preferred 14‑day hiking trips in the middle of nowhere which I did for at least 6 summers straight – fair, right???

So I booked my flight to NYC in April 2007, after the break up. F**k him, I was doing something I wanted to do BY MYSELF and FOR MYSELF. We continued to reside in the same house just to finish school. Come May 2007, we wrote our final exam, didn’t go to convocation but instead finished packing up our house, drove down to Vancouver, and went our separate ways. That BY FAR was the best decision I made

SWT:    What was your trip style? (backpack, tour group, comfort, meetup with family/friends)

RD:        One luggage, a pocket full of cash and NO trip itinerary, aside from that pesky conference I was supposed to attend! No family, no friends – just me 🙂

SWT:    What type of accommodations? (family owned, B&B, tents, if a hotel, how many stars)

RD:        Hotel – 2.5-stars I think? (which doesn’t add up to much in NYC unless it’s a 4-star!).

SWT:    How long was your trip?

RD:        10 days

SWT:    Who looked after the logistics?

RD:        Me 🙂

SWT:    If you planned and/or booked the itinerary, did you enjoy the process?

RD:        N/A – I’m the worst at booking itinerary for touring because I procrastinate too much. I think I’d be good at it though??

SWT:    If you worked with a travel agent, how was the experience?

RD:        N/A

SWT:    Would you / have you booked subsequent trips yourself?

RD:        N/A

SWT:    What would you do different – in hindsight?

RD:        Not a whole lot – I’d probably set up a “schedule” of when to go see what attraction. I missed out on a lot of museums; even after I ended up moving to NJ and hanging out in NYC at least once a week 🙂

SWT:    Did you feel comfortable traveling solo?

RD:        Yes, I loved it.

SWT:    How much research did you do in advance?

RD:        Virtually none 😛

SWT:    What was the biggest surprise on the trip?

RD:        Meeting my husband 🙂

SWT:    What did you learn about yourself during the trip that you weren’t totally aware of beforehand?

RD:        That I was capable of being alone and comfortable on my own traveling in a different place. (Having said that, NYC isn’t exactly outside my comfort zone… if it were somewhere in South America or Europe, for example, I’d be totally lost and overwhelmed).

SWT:    Was there any close calls or run-ins?

RD:        Not on this trip.

SWT:    Where is your next dream destination?

RD:        Too many, but if I had to choose right now: Australia or New Zealand! I also want to go to Europe, the Nordic countries and South America 🙂

Next time, we’ll hear from Christine who chose to travel on her own…