1 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Hi, this is Annie and this is Budget and you're 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: listening to stuff Mom never told you. And in this update, Uh, 3 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: we have been talking a lot lately about travel and 4 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: specifically recently were we released an episode on traveling alone 5 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: as a woman, and Kristen and Caroline did an episode 6 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: on this a couple of years ago where they looked 7 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: into the history of it, kind of where did it start, 8 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: that the concern and fear around it, and then there 9 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: was a golden age of it. Um so kind of 10 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: a history bent to maybe give more context to the 11 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: modern day stuff that Bridget and I talked about in 12 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: our recent episode. Yes, so we hope you enjoyed. Hello, 13 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: And over the past few weeks on the podcast, we 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: have been delving into the world of women in exploration 16 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: and women adventurers who are going all around the world 17 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: doing all sorts of incredible things. And to close out 18 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: this series, partially because it's summer travel season and partially 19 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: because it just seems like the right and natural thing 20 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: to talk about, is the issue of women traveling alone, 21 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: women's wander lust, what it is like whether you are 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: a stem explorer or someone who wants to climb the 23 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 1: highest mountain in the world, or not. Just women leaving 24 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: their homes to see something they have never seen and 25 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: doing that alone. It's it's a super big deal to 26 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people for women to be traveling by themselves, 27 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: whether we're talking about women today, women in the golden 28 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: age of exploration, so like the nineteenth century, or whether 29 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: we're talking about women in fourth in the fourth century. Yeah, 30 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: Susan Jacobi at The New York Times writes about how 31 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: women traveling alone has always been looked at a little 32 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: suspiciously because there immediately all of these questions raised that 33 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: essentially repeat over and over again. Well why would a 34 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: woman want to travel alone? What is wrong with her? 35 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: And she mentions how in the fourth century, Christian pilgrims 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: were the first quote unquote respectable women who traveled alone, 37 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: and really, for a long time, religious pilgrimages and family 38 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: emergencies were the only situations when it was socially appropriate 39 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 1: for a woman to set off on her own without 40 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: any kind of chaperone or male companion. Yeah, God forbid 41 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: a woman travels without some sort of male protection, because 42 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: everybody's going to assume, whether we're talking about the fourth 43 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: century or where we're talking about today, people are going 44 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: to make some crazy assumptions as far as like her 45 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: sexuality goes. For instance, people are going to think like 46 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: she's a loose woman, that uterus is floating about, making 47 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,639 Speaker 1: her crazy, or she's just terribly lonely. She's either she's 48 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: either hyper sexual and looking for anonymous sex, or she 49 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: is just desperate and lost in the world, or maybe both. 50 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: Yeah and and Jacobi writes about these this this trope 51 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: of the solo woman traveler and talks about how even 52 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: today we have these lingering, internalized stereotypes about what it 53 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: means for a woman to travel unencumbered and unaided by 54 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: a man or family entourage. And this is something that 55 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: Sarah Hepola over at Salon echoed. She talks about how 56 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: a woman traveling alone threatens tradition and propriety, and because 57 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: women often doubt themselves, we tend to stay towards safe 58 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: harbors and soft landings, hiding behind the needs and wants 59 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: of others. And it was really in the mid nineteenth century, 60 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: which is considered by some the golden age of female travel, 61 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: that more and more women particularly well healed women started 62 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: to brave away from those safe harbors and soft landings. 63 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,160 Speaker 1: And it was partially due to advancements in transportation technology. 64 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: You have steamships and railroads that made travel more feasible. Yeah, 65 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: and this allows women to go forth to explore, to 66 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: learn to see the unseen and therefore gain some autonomy, 67 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: break some of those gender norms, that status quo. And 68 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: this is particularly true though, and we would be remiss 69 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: to skip over this. It's particularly true for white middle 70 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: class women. There's a lot of privilege at play when 71 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: you talk about exploration, particularly during this area of this era, 72 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,119 Speaker 1: because when you look at men, for instance, white upper 73 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: class men traveling abroad, seeing the Empire, their heroes, their heroes, 74 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: and the way they talk about the quote unquote natives 75 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: is very patronizing. It's very like a racist, very racist 76 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: as well. But you know what a lot of women 77 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: during that time, especially the upper class white women who 78 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: were traveling the Empire as well. I mean, they weren't 79 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: that far off either, and they by leaving the gender 80 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: norms of the modern West, they were able to go 81 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: into these you know, so called uncivilized societies and feel 82 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: as though they were at the top of some power hierarchy. Yeah, 83 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: it was interesting that if you read a lot of 84 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: the travel women's travel writings at the time, a it 85 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,039 Speaker 1: is usually coming from women who could afford to travel, 86 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: and so you have that element of privilege going on there, 87 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: and then you have the element of white privilege going on, 88 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: but you also have the subtext of them starting to 89 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: question they're email status, their gender role in the West 90 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: because in these other places, due to these elements of privilege, 91 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: they are higher on the hierarchy than they are at home. 92 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: And this is something that Aziza Ahmed, writing for the 93 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: post Colonial Studies Department at EMERY, talks about saying that 94 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: the East was seen and that's capital East. The East 95 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: was seen as a place for women to regain power 96 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: through race, which was lost at home because of gender. 97 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: And while that is that's not that's not necessarily something 98 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: to celebrate because it's obviously like the Indigenous people who 99 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: are being thrown under the bus, uh for the sake 100 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: of a woman finding herself a little bit more. But 101 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: but it's it's an interesting snapshot of the time of 102 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: how and sort of the socio cultural element of travel 103 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: in the mid nineteenth century, and these women were going 104 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: out in corsets and skirts and heavy clothes and hats 105 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: and going into these what they would call uncivilized foreign lens. Well, 106 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: you know, Kristen, you mentioned so as they go to 107 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: other lands and travel and see other things, and they 108 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: they find themselves on top of this perceived hierarchy, and 109 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: how that translated into the perception of how they were 110 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: treated at home. I mean, if we talk about explorers 111 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: the way we have defined it so far in this 112 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: series explores being those people who have to go out 113 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: and they have to find answers. I mean, it's not 114 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: as if women who did and wanted to research, It's 115 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: not like they were welcomed into explorers groups. So a 116 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: lot of the time, if you were a woman who 117 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: had scientific or mathematical or anything leaning you you kind 118 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: of did have to pick up and leave and go 119 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: elsewhere to perform research. Yeah, this was a lot of 120 00:07:55,280 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: kind of anthropological research happening under the guise of us 121 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: being a wealthy woman traveling. And there were a lot 122 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: of popular women travel writers at this time, which is 123 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: which is a little surprising that they were so well received, 124 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: But I guess it was because they were bringing back 125 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: news of an unknown land. And so you have people 126 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: like Isabella Bird Lady, Mary Wortley Montague, and Mary Kingsley 127 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: who wrote a lot and made their names in their 128 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: travel writing, which again tended toward objectifying indigenous people and 129 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: their quote unquote savage ways. And talking about these women's 130 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: writing um a lot of the time. And I'm not 131 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: saying that this supplies specifically to the women Christen decided, 132 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: but a lot of the times these women travel writers 133 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: would sort of maybe embellish a little, maybe make the 134 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: native people's seem more savage or uh, sort of outside 135 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: the norm than they really were. And so these travel 136 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: logs attracted a lot of attention and uh Rachel Friedman 137 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: over at Bitch cites Lady Helen de Friends eighteen sixty 138 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: three satiric Lispings from Low Latitudes, which basically makes fun 139 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: of this trend of women travel writers and their travel logs. 140 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: She writes about a trip made by the fictional Impulsia Gushington, 141 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: who when I first was skimming over this article, I 142 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: was like, there was a woman named Impulse. Okay, I 143 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: get it. I did the same thing. It's like, that's 144 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: the worst name, but I get it um, but impulse 145 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: THEA sort of stood in as a figure mocking the 146 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: era's upper class female travelers and their wide eyed, sort 147 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: of naive and shocked observations about the people that they 148 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: encountered in foreign lands. But it also served to sort 149 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: of I don't know, I think it kind of served 150 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: as a backlash to women having this freedom, like how 151 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: weird are you You're writing all of this like trite 152 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: stuff about traveling and how you're so a special on 153 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 1: how they're so shocking, and but the thing is dufferin 154 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 1: A is a woman writing this satire, and b was 155 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: inspired to write about Impulsia Gushington, which I don't know, 156 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: I find out a very funny Dufferin You're quite a whit, 157 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: But it was she was inspired to write this after 158 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: taking a trip down the Nile, which was a very 159 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: postioning to do at the time with her son, so 160 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: she herself a travel writer. To me, it read as 161 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: what today would be a satire on Eat, Pray, Love, 162 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,839 Speaker 1: you know, essentially saying, oh, here we have another white 163 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: woman going into a foreign land to find herself. If 164 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: only we could talk to Dufferin, Yeah, if we could 165 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: get dfferent on the podcast that could clear some things 166 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: up for us. Right, But there is another book that 167 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,959 Speaker 1: we found from eight sixty five called Woman Adventurers, written 168 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: by Meni Muriel Downey, in which she profiles I think 169 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: gets five women travelers of the day, and she writes 170 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 1: those in our book followed husbands and lovers for love, 171 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: so they say how much more might be made of 172 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: their stories if only they themselves were not the narrators. Basically, 173 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: she was saying, it's just too bad that these women 174 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: were not alone traveling, because if women are out alone traveling, 175 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: then you know, they realized so much more instead of 176 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: just following men. And that's still the refrain now, Yeah, 177 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,079 Speaker 1: I mean absolutely every you know, when you read uh 178 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: travel essays by young women on various websites, various travel magazines, etcetera, etcetera, 179 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: you know a lot of them do talk about these 180 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:47,559 Speaker 1: personal journeys of discovery, discovery of themselves, discovery of new places, 181 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:51,920 Speaker 1: discovery perhaps of a future husband or temporary lover. Right, 182 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: But but how rich the experience was for them to 183 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: go on their own. Yeah, And for that reason, I 184 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: would say that in the early twenty first century where 185 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: we are today, that we might be in this golden 186 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: er age of female travel and travel writing because you 187 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: have more women than ever before traveling alone. Uh. And Friedman, 188 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: for instance, reported in New York Magazine a two thousand 189 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 1: thirteen poll of travel agents which found that it's much 190 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: more common for women to travel alone than men, and 191 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: seventy three of the agents they pulled noted that more 192 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: female travelers embark on solo trips in their male counterparts, 193 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: and the average age of a solo traveler is not 194 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: the young woman fresh out of college, but a forty 195 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: seven year old female. Yeah, and usually, uh, you know, 196 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: something has happened in her life that's pushed her out 197 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: on this journey, whether it's just divorced or maybe the 198 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: death of a loved one or parent. And I mean, 199 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 1: I think those reasons, even if those are things specific 200 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: to a certain age group, I mean, I think that 201 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: those major life changes are what push a lot of 202 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: people out into the world on a journey of discovery. 203 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: And that reminds me of reading that Bitch article by 204 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: Rachel Friedman in which she talks to a travel expert 205 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: who started leading workshops for women travelers and her main 206 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: demographic was women in their forties and fifties. Who Yeah, 207 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: I had like hit some kind of dramatic point in 208 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: their life and just felt the need to flee. And 209 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: I've felt that before, just like I need to get 210 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: on a plane and be in a place that looks 211 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 1: nothing like my home as soon as humanly possible. And 212 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: I don't want anyone I know to come with me. Yeah, now, 213 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,199 Speaker 1: I um I after going through a breakup, well it 214 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: was actually like a super like tripoli doubly traumatic thing 215 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: of heartbreak for so many. Anyway, I ended up hopping 216 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: in the car and just driving to Charleston, South Carolina 217 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: by myself and just wandering around and eating all the 218 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: food and seeing all the sites because I was like, 219 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 1: I just don't want to I just don't want to 220 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: talk to anybody. I don't want to be at home, 221 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: you know, I want to go out and think about 222 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: things for a little while. Well and people might say, 223 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: but Caroline, weren't you so lonely eating all of the 224 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: food by yourself? No? No, Yeah, I did a similar 225 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: thing after a friend of mine died in a very 226 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: tragic car accident, and my knee jerk reaction was to 227 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: go to l a I'd never been there before, and 228 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: I went for my birthday. I also prefer to spend 229 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: my birthdays in places I have never been before because 230 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: it just makes planning so much easier. And like you, 231 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: I just wanted to be alone. I didn't want to 232 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: be around anyone. I wanted to observe and sort of 233 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: just be alone with my thoughts. And it felt and 234 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: it was lonely at times when you're surrounded by a 235 00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: lot of people, especially I think if you're in morabituristy area. 236 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: But it was a good kind of loneliness. Yeah, I 237 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: think that's that's the thing. I you know, I um, 238 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: I took a trip. I did study abroad the semester 239 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: after I graduated college, which is weird, but that summer 240 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 1: I went to England and then after everybody else went 241 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: back to school, I stayed over there by myself for 242 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, just traveling and seeing the sites. 243 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: And yeah, you get these like pangs, especially around meal time, 244 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: like I wish somebody was sitting across the table for me. 245 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: But it's it's so nice. Also, it's it's it's a 246 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: good feeling. It's like pressing on a sore muscle almost 247 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: that You're like, I'm doing something for myself. I'm focusing inward. 248 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: I don't know not to sound to Eat Pray Love 249 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: about it. But speaking though of Eat Pray Love, one 250 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: of the reasons why we're seeing more women travel memoirs 251 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: than ever before. It's become this hugely popular genre is 252 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: largely due to two thousands evans, Eat Pray Love by 253 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Gilbert. And I read Eat Pray Love. It might 254 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: have been because I was also going through a breakup, 255 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: so reading the book was perfectly timed. But I enjoyed it. 256 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I know it gets a lot of flak, 257 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: but I loved it and I cried. Yeah, I think. 258 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: I think it gets a lot of flak from people 259 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 1: who don't want who want to distance themselves from anything 260 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: that even looks or smells like chick lit. But Elizabeth 261 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: Gilbert is a very respectable writer, and while there are 262 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: more high minded books out there, I think I enjoyed it. 263 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: I've never seen the movie. I heard it was Yeah, 264 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: I I've seen parts of it on TV and it's 265 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: it's not great. But yeah, I think, Um, I don't know. 266 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: I think people need to not to get off on 267 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: a tangent I think people need to lighten up about 268 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: the book. It's her journey, it's her story. You can 269 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: tell yours too if you want. Yeah, I will say 270 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: that I enjoyed Sheryl Strad's Wild more than Eat, Prey Love. 271 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: They're often held up as like the two women travel memoirs, 272 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: but there's such They're also so different and written from 273 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,880 Speaker 1: like very different times and places, And Sheryl straight goes 274 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: out and hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, which is far 275 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: different than eating lots of pasta in Italy. Yeah, and 276 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:24,959 Speaker 1: I mean people forget that women don't all have one voice, 277 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: although a lot of times if you are a woman 278 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: travel writer, you're expected to have the voice of other 279 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 1: women travel writers. And so often women who are write 280 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: these books or these essays are expected to write about 281 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: their transformation, the personal journey, that the emotion and not 282 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: that that's bad, not that they shouldn't, but it is 283 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: interesting to see the contrast between what women do right 284 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: and are expected to write versus what men are expected 285 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:54,720 Speaker 1: to write and what they end up publishing. Yeah, I 286 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: feel like women's travel memoirs are also expected to spring 287 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: from a place of extreme heartache and despair. Whereas we 288 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: can jump right in with a man on a road 289 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: in the middle of his travels. At least that's what 290 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: Lavinia Spalding, who was the editor of the two thousand 291 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: eleven Best Women's Travel Writing Anthology, reported. She said, a 292 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 1: lot of travel writing by men is focused on what 293 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 1: I saw, did eight, where I went, what goal I accomplished, 294 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: whereas with women, it's who I met, what I learned, 295 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: how I felt, how I changed. And that might be 296 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,880 Speaker 1: due to men and women maybe traveling different, maybe traveling 297 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: for different reasons. Um, but it also might be due 298 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: to editors and publishers sort of pushing women travel writers 299 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: in that type of way. Well, this this got me 300 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: thinking about the travel shows, what types of travel shows 301 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: I enjoy watching, and like, I will watch for thirty 302 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: hours at a time Anthony Bourdain, but um, I cannot 303 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: stomach Samantha Brown, and I started thinking about him, like, 304 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: oh no, am I a woman? Hey her? And myself hater? 305 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: What's going on? Oh no? And then I thought no, no, no, 306 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: because I would watch a women a women's travel show too, 307 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: if it were led by a woman who was also 308 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: like Anthony Bourdaine, like maybe led by too feminist minded 309 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: young podcasters. But like if you put Janine Garoffalo on 310 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,560 Speaker 1: an airplane and center overseas, I would totally watch that. 311 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: I'm not as interested in what Samantha Brown is selling, 312 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: you know, but does she is it? Because she has 313 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: more of a like a gender stereotypical approach. Is that 314 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: what it is? I don't know what it is. Maybe 315 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: she's more touristy and more like, hey, guys, like pack 316 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: your Fannie pack or whatever, whereas Anthony Bourdane's very much 317 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: like I'm going to go into this back alley squid 318 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:47,360 Speaker 1: shop and I'm going to eat a bunch of squid 319 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: and then I'm going to go to a bar with 320 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,360 Speaker 1: the squid shop owner. You know. It's it's very much 321 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: more of like a more of it off the beaten 322 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: path type thing. Well, and that's such a good distinction 323 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: to bring up between the traveler and the tourist, because 324 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: the tourist is what you never want to be, But 325 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,400 Speaker 1: the traveler is the person that we you know, that 326 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: that you want to sit next to them at a 327 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: dinner party and hear all of their tales, whereas a 328 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: tourist you're going to be like, oh no, well, all, so, 329 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,080 Speaker 1: I I think, because we still even today, there is 330 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: the danger of falling into that trap of still looking 331 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: at people in the country you visit as like an 332 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 1: exotic other, you know, And so there is that danger 333 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,719 Speaker 1: of falling into that trap. And I I feel like, 334 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: and maybe I'm wrong, but a tourist is more likely 335 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,919 Speaker 1: to fall into that trap versus someone who is a traveler, 336 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: who is more willing to more willing and desirous of 337 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: jumping into that culture learning all that they can, not 338 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: looking at it from like a patriarchal You're this exotic other. 339 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: I have to to encapsulate somehow and put into a box. 340 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: But I want to join you, yeah, or I need 341 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: to come and change your problematic gender norms that I 342 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: that that I feel like hyper repressive. Instead a traveler 343 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: would go in and say, oh no, actually, I Am 344 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: going to go hang out with the women and see 345 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: how they live their lives and not try to insert 346 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: myself into, uh, into their way of life, but rather 347 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: absorb it and learn about it. But getting back though 348 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: to these differences in at least how travel writing by 349 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: men and women is marketed. Straight herself has talked about 350 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 1: how male travel stories are often seen as universal, perhaps 351 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: because of the thing of how they tend to focus 352 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: on you know what I did saw eight, whereas women's 353 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: and this goes for writing by women in general often 354 00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: is pigeonholed as being very particular and only for women. Um, 355 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: and that's one reason why when she was writing Wild, 356 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: she pushed for a gender neutral cover. So if you, uh, 357 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:10,719 Speaker 1: you know, if you have a copy of Wild, you'll 358 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: see that there's a boot on the front. She was like, 359 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,359 Speaker 1: I wanted I didn't want men on the subway to 360 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: be embarrassed having my book out reading it. Yeah, a 361 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: lot of women authors out there, travel writers talk about 362 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: how everybody wants everybody goes to pink first. They're like, 363 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:25,959 Speaker 1: let's make a pink cover. One author talks about how 364 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: well I finally succeeded by getting a yellow cover. Another writer, 365 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: a woman of color, talks about how her travel book 366 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,399 Speaker 1: was was not even given the broad audience of women. 367 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:41,439 Speaker 1: Hers was pigeonholed as African Americans studies. And She's like, 368 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 1: I'm not some anthropological like study your you know, I'm 369 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: a woman travel writer, Like what are you talking about? 370 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: And I'm pretty sure the title of her book is 371 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,439 Speaker 1: The Black Girl's Guide to Traveling, which clearly is a 372 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: travel book, not an African American studies book, but that 373 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: also touches our conversations about you know, women in literature 374 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: and marketing and all of that. But um it also 375 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,880 Speaker 1: leads us to these two major themes that come up 376 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: with women's solo traveling, where it has to be both 377 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: transformational and also terrifying. And so that first theme of 378 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,360 Speaker 1: transformation is one that we've heard a lot about. We've 379 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: already talked a lot about it. That often a woman's 380 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,640 Speaker 1: journey that ends up being whether it's published or whether 381 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: it's just you know, a woman who's not a writer 382 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,680 Speaker 1: going off and traveling. It's often sparked by some emotional 383 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: moment in her life or something something like heartache or 384 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: trauma that sets her off on this journey of self discovery. 385 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: And a lot of times, I feel like any women's 386 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: travel essay that you read, the resounding message is to 387 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 1: do it because it will transform you, and especially if 388 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,919 Speaker 1: you do it alone. You have Sarah Hepola at Salon, 389 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: who we sided earlier, who talks about how she essentially 390 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 1: just got in her car and drove around the United 391 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,199 Speaker 1: States for months alone, and you have Jill Philipovic at 392 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,160 Speaker 1: the Guardian writing about how I think it was post 393 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: breakup she went to Europe and Freedman, who we cite 394 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: all the time on the podcast. She's essentially the patron 395 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: saint of Seminty at this point. But she similarly talks 396 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: about how when she was in her early twenties she 397 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: went traveling alone and she was nervous at first, but 398 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,400 Speaker 1: so quickly relieved to be by herself. And so there's 399 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: that recurring theme over and over and over again of 400 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: travel fourth young woman for it will be transformative and 401 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: also feminist. Absolutely. Even Toby Israel at Salon talks about 402 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,719 Speaker 1: female hitch hiking about how you as a woman, uh, 403 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: you know, are much more likely to be hit by 404 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: a car than you are to be killed and raped 405 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: while hitch hiking, And so she talks about how that 406 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: was a major she she overcame a major hurdle of 407 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: fear and trepidation when she decided to accept that for 408 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,960 Speaker 1: that first hitchhiking offer, and how even though there were 409 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: some bumps along the way, that she was so glad 410 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: she did it. Yeah, and she ended up traveling more 411 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: than thirty seven thousand miles hitchhiking through Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, 412 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:19,160 Speaker 1: and Germany, which I cannot fathom. I don't know if 413 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: my bravery extends to the point of hitchhiking, because whether 414 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: you're a male or female, you know, how many times 415 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: have we been told since we were we children to 416 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 1: never accept the hide from strangers? Yeah, yeah, I don't know. 417 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: I don't know. She she does point out, like we've 418 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: already said, she does point out that she had this 419 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: double pronged privilege of being female, so she was not 420 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 1: threatening to people who might stop and pick her up. Also, 421 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: people like couples and grandparents would stop because they felt 422 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 1: protective of this young white woman out on the side 423 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: of the road. But also that whole white thing where 424 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:01,360 Speaker 1: she enjoys the privilege of being white female, and so 425 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: you know, other drivers don't, you know, feel threatened or whatever. 426 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: So she she points that out that there it's not 427 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:12,160 Speaker 1: the same for everyone, right, Um, But what does seem 428 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: to be the same for a lot of solo female travelers, 429 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: at least according to a two thousand to study out 430 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: of the University of Florida, is that, yes, indeed, setting 431 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,679 Speaker 1: out on your own is empowering. These researchers talked to 432 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: a number of women who had traveled on their own, 433 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: and they found that the women described the experiences is liberating, 434 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: not terrifying. Even though we're often warned over and over 435 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: again that oh, if you are a woman traveling alone, 436 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,880 Speaker 1: you had better watch out. You better put on a ring, 437 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: better get a ripe whistle, get to get and cute 438 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: in your mouth. Alto, Yeah, just get some bare repellent, 439 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,359 Speaker 1: because it is a grizzly world out there. I mean, 440 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's funny that they even 441 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: studied this. Well, yeah, I mean, and they found too 442 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: that after traveling alone, these women still prefer traveling alone 443 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: because it gave them more opportunities to make new friends. 444 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: Because when I went, for instance, I went on study 445 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: abroad in college with one of my best friends still 446 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: one of my best friends, and we had so much 447 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: fun together and we made lots of memories. But there 448 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: were also times that I know and like recognized as 449 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: it was happening that we were kind of so caught 450 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: up in like our own friendship, with like doing things together, 451 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: that we weren't making really friends outside of ourselves, which 452 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,640 Speaker 1: could have been cool there. I mean, we ended up 453 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: doing that more once we had been there for a 454 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: little bit. Um, but I think there there can be 455 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: some missed opportunities. Yeah, Like I UM, when I was 456 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: by myself over in England and Ireland, I lost my leg. 457 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: I didn't lose the luggage, the airline lost the luggage. 458 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: And so I get to Ireland after being awake for 459 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: thirty six hours, and I'm feeling a little down in 460 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:06,959 Speaker 1: the dumps because I don't have any underwear, you know, 461 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: like I have nothing, and I'm by myself and it's 462 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: raining because it's Ireland, and I'm just like, oh God. 463 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,360 Speaker 1: So anyway, I'm walking up to Trinity College in Dublin, 464 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: and who should I see but this girl that I 465 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: did study abroad with. And I was like, oh, oh 466 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: you stayed too, Hello. Can we be best friends for 467 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: the next couple of hours. And so she and I 468 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: um went all over the city. We saw a bunch 469 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 1: of things together, we ate together, we talked to a 470 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: bunch of like the local restaurant owners, and gotten to 471 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of great conversations. We eventually win our separate ways, 472 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: but it was great to have that experience of kind 473 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: of enjoying a foreign country and a new city with someone, 474 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: so you could rely on that that extra presence, but 475 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: then taking your own way and then diving deeper into 476 00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: all of these things you want to learn more about. Yeah, 477 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: I never traveled abroad by myself. I've gone places in 478 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,800 Speaker 1: the US, but usually I have some point of contact, 479 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: whether I'm staying with a friend or you know, somebody 480 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: to call someone to meet up with, because there comes 481 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: that point of the free time, the after the sun sets, 482 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: and is it safe to go out, where do you 483 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: go and eat alone? It can be I mean, it 484 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: can be kind of nerve racking. Yeah, And I mean 485 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: that leads us into the next major theme of anyone 486 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: discussing women traveling alone, which is danger. Danger. You've got 487 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: to wear all those rate whistles. Don't go out after dark, certainly, 488 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: don't go to clubs like watch your back, don't stay 489 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: on the first floor of a hotel. And while there 490 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: is merit to a lot of the travel advice, I mean, certainly, 491 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 1: don't be stupid, but you don't want to do stupid 492 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: things at home either. Yeah, I mean when you look 493 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: at the statistics of how dangerous travel for women actually 494 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: is compared to how much we hear about how what 495 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,959 Speaker 1: what a terrible idea? Essentially, it is because we're just 496 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: like putting ourselves at risk for the worst possible things 497 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: to happen to us. Apparently there's such a vast gulf 498 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: between the reality of traveling alone and what we are 499 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: warned about traveling alone. And that's one reason that women 500 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: are likelier to plan, like to overplan excuse me, their itinerary, 501 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: because we're so nervous about that free time because everyone's 502 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: been telling us that we're going to be murdered and 503 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: or raped. Well, I don't know, I mean, I think, 504 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: I mean not to totally go off on a tangent, 505 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: but I think that having that free time is so awesome, 506 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: that unplanned free time is so awesome, just as long 507 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: as you are smart about it and you're paying attention 508 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: to your surroundings. Well, and I have a feeling too 509 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 1: that you know, yes, be smart about it, um, but 510 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,400 Speaker 1: I also feel like there there's this undercurrent of victim 511 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: blaming in regard to the worst case scenario of being 512 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: murdered and or raped, which has happened. And I'm not 513 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: trying to make light of that. Um, but whenever the 514 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: worst case scenario happens, the blame is immediately focused on 515 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: the solo female traveler of well, why was she out 516 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 1: there alone to begin with? Right? An Alice Driver at 517 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: the Feminist Wire says that basically, by repeating these stories 518 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: over and over again and telling women not to go 519 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: out by themselves, we are limiting their movement. And I 520 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: would say that by then limiting women's movement, making them 521 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: too afraid to go out in the dark by themselves. Ever, 522 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: we're also not allowing that to become normalized. We're not 523 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: allowing the image of a woman at a cafe at night, 524 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,240 Speaker 1: or at a club or wherever she is at night 525 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: by herself. We're not allowing that to become normalized. Well. 526 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: And then there's also this deeper level too, as The 527 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: New York Times talked about of how if and when 528 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: a white female traveler, in particular, if something happens to her, 529 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: it's often amplified by the media, which makes individual incidents 530 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: seem like part of a larger pattern. UM And Christina Finch, 531 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 1: who's the director of Amnesty Internationals Women's Human Rights Program, 532 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: told The New York Times on average, attacks against white 533 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: women worldwide receive more coverage than attacks against women of color. 534 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: And then on top of that, you also have um 535 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 1: the response to violence against Western tourists being met with 536 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: a much faster response than violence against local women, right, 537 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: and then that leads us, of course to the story 538 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: of Sarai Sierra, who in was murdered while traveling alone 539 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: in Turkey. And so there's a lot of handwringing around this, 540 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: I mean, admittedly horrific story about like why was she 541 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: even alone in the first place, what was she possibly thinking? 542 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:07,479 Speaker 1: When in reality, like and it got a very fast 543 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: and strong police response in Turkey, but this was a guy. 544 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: This was like a crazy homeless man who tried to 545 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: kiss her and she fought back and then she threw 546 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: a rock at him, and he bashed her head in 547 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: with a rock basically, And so I mean, this is 548 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: something that could have happened to any woman, but it 549 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: happened to take place as violence against an American woman 550 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: traveling by herself, and people seemed so outraged, particularly at 551 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: her for traveling, because she not only was a woman 552 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: traveling alone, but she was also married, and people some 553 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: people were like, well, why wasn't your husband with you? 554 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: Why weren't you? Are you one of those going back 555 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: to that early trope, that mistrust of the woman traveling alone. 556 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: She must have just been out trying to cheat on 557 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,200 Speaker 1: her husband. Why was she even talking to a man 558 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 1: in the first place. It's so victim blaming, yeah, But 559 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: more level headed responses to that admittedly horrific incident is 560 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: the fact that when you look at things like domestic 561 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: violence rates, murder rates, and sexual assault rates in the US, 562 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,760 Speaker 1: a lot of times there is a statistically greater chance 563 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: of the worst case scenario happening at home rather than abroad. 564 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: So in Sierra's case, for instance, according to data collected 565 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,160 Speaker 1: by the U. S. State Department, which keeps tabs on 566 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: violence against American tourists, it found that there had been 567 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: three murders of US tourists in Turkey, and I think 568 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,319 Speaker 1: it was either five or ten year long period, And 569 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: Sierra was a New Yorker, which meant that in two 570 00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: thousand eleven alone, there were five hundred and two murders. 571 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: So statistically speaking, in a way, she was actually safer 572 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,839 Speaker 1: in Turkey than she was in New York City. Right, 573 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: And when we look over to Dysan McClain, who's the 574 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:03,879 Speaker 1: former York Times Frugal Traveler columnist. She talks about how 575 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: she has actually felt safest in countries that tend to 576 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 1: have a more patriarchal or repressive society because those cultures 577 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: tend to have lower crime rates and the local women 578 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,160 Speaker 1: tend to be more protective of traveling women, particularly those 579 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,040 Speaker 1: women that they see traveling by themselves. Now, obviously, in 580 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: those kinds of societies, women travelers need to pay attention 581 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: to the clothes that they're wearing. They need to be 582 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: respectful of the local customs and not just try to 583 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,240 Speaker 1: bulldoze in and say free the nipples. I'm just gonna 584 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: come in here and change everything. Um. And when you 585 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: are being a respectful traveler, tourists, whatever you wanna call it, Yeah, 586 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: it's a lot of women travelers talk about how local 587 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 1: women reach out to them and you know, try to 588 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: kind of give them help along the way. And this 589 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:59,239 Speaker 1: is not to say thumbs up to super repressive patriarchal societies, 590 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: but either to re examine, Okay, how realistic is this 591 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: overwhelming fear of women traveling alone. Is this rooted in 592 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:14,720 Speaker 1: reality or rooted in our fears about women traveling alone, 593 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: because I think one of the biggest fears um and 594 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,800 Speaker 1: and I've felt this fear before as well of traveling alone, 595 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: is the risk of sexual assault. We made a joke 596 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: about rape whistles, but I think that you know, putting 597 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: yourself out in the world, in a in an unknown 598 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 1: place does can make you feel very vulnerable. But again, 599 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:41,280 Speaker 1: when you look at the statistics, leaving your home doesn't 600 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,759 Speaker 1: necessarily make you less safe or more at risk for 601 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 1: sexual assault. So, for instance, um, there isn't hard data 602 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: on all sexual assaults reported by female travelers, but the 603 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,439 Speaker 1: New York Times reports that from two thousand and twelve 604 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: to two thousand thirteen, three British travelers requested consular assistance 605 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: after alleged sexual attacks. For comparison, the Rape Crisis England 606 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 1: and Whales Center estimates that thousand women are raped in 607 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:21,400 Speaker 1: those countries every year. So yet, again, what are we 608 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: so afraid of? Is it reality or is it just 609 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: our concerns about the general vulnerability of women being out 610 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:32,320 Speaker 1: on their own? Yeah, I mean, I do think it 611 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: says a lot about how society or societies view women 612 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: and how they move through those societies. Well, and it 613 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: could because it's that fear and the warning that we 614 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 1: shouldn't do that, and then if something happens, we are 615 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 1: the ones to blame. It's a bit rape culturally when 616 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: you think about it, and you know, we've we've already 617 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 1: said that. There are situations where, whether you're at home 618 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: or abroad, honestly you know you just want to be 619 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,279 Speaker 1: smart and be aware, and so there are some to 620 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: keep in mind when you are traveling by yourself. Um. 621 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: One that Jodie Edinburgh at Legal Nomad brings up is 622 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,240 Speaker 1: that it's a balance that you have to strike between 623 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: thinking smart and trying to stay safe and also not 624 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,560 Speaker 1: succumbing to the fear. She recommends carrying a rubber doorstop 625 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 1: to use in your hotel room, a safety whistle, staying 626 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 1: in well lit areas, watching your drink, which is just 627 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:29,440 Speaker 1: good advice for life. Dress conservatively. This is a common 628 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: refrain that we hear on a lot of travel tip blogs. 629 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 1: Don't give away details about what you're staying to strangers, 630 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,759 Speaker 1: be careful with your eye contact, and maybe opt wearing sunglasses. 631 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:44,480 Speaker 1: There's the example that one blog gave of being in 632 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,520 Speaker 1: like Northern Europe versus southern Europe, and if you're in Italy, 633 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,000 Speaker 1: there's the whole thing about eye contact and a smile 634 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,520 Speaker 1: being considered an invitation to engage and that maybe if 635 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: you're not looking to engage in conversation, put on some 636 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:01,719 Speaker 1: some big old sunglasses. Should you wear your sunglasses at night? 637 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:05,520 Speaker 1: Like the song goes totally, And going back to that 638 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: University of Florida study that we talked about earlier, some 639 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,279 Speaker 1: of the tips from the veteran women travelers who were 640 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,000 Speaker 1: involved with that talked about how important it was to 641 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,400 Speaker 1: really know where you're going, in the sense of knowing 642 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: the country, knowing the culture, and on top of that, 643 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,880 Speaker 1: and this is stressed over and over and over again, 644 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,719 Speaker 1: particularly for women traveling alone, to select accommodations in safer 645 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,920 Speaker 1: parts of town. You might want to spend more money 646 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 1: on going to say, a name brand hotel, rather than 647 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: staying at a hostle off the beaten path that might 648 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:43,560 Speaker 1: not have twenty four hour security. Um. And I think 649 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,560 Speaker 1: those are one of the things where it's not so 650 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:50,000 Speaker 1: much fearmongering, but that's just a basic safety measure that 651 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,160 Speaker 1: I hate it. I hate it. I hate it because 652 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,839 Speaker 1: like what I mean, I was a college student who 653 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: didn't have the money to stay in a hotel. I mean, 654 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:02,319 Speaker 1: you know, so I I picked hostels instead, stayed with strangers, 655 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,440 Speaker 1: slept in a room in on the west coast of 656 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,320 Speaker 1: Ireland with like twenty other people, one of whom was 657 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,280 Speaker 1: a ginormous man on the bunk below me who snored 658 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:14,799 Speaker 1: all night. But when you're like like a terrible level 659 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: of tired, you can sleep through it, I assure you. 660 00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:18,640 Speaker 1: But um no, but I hate that advice that you 661 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:20,880 Speaker 1: need to stay in a nicer hotel because that is 662 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 1: incredibly limiting. Well that's one thing that this came up 663 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 1: actually in the New York Times Frugal Traveler column, which 664 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:33,120 Speaker 1: is written right now by a guy, and he gets 665 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:36,000 Speaker 1: a lot of responses from people saying, we really need 666 00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:37,879 Speaker 1: to hear from women. There have been I think two 667 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 1: or three women before him who were at the helm 668 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,240 Speaker 1: of the column, and you know, he hears from people 669 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: saying like, well, sure you can go and live on 670 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: a dime because you're a guy and you can travel anywhere. 671 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:51,799 Speaker 1: And that might be more of a challenge for a 672 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: woman who really wants to be as take as many precautions, 673 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: I should say, as possible. I don't want to say 674 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: as safe as possible, because I feel like that also 675 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 1: still feeds into this whole, like, you know, threatening message 676 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: that women get who want to travel on their own. 677 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,360 Speaker 1: But if you want to take as many precautions as possible, 678 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: staying at the nicer spot in a well lit area 679 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:20,160 Speaker 1: is a big one. Yeah, just prepare yourself. Some hustles 680 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 1: like have dance parties all night. I'm just gonna warn 681 00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: you about that. And on top of that, there is 682 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 1: an even more depressingly common piece of advice, which is 683 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: to wear a wedding ring, real or fake. And even 684 00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 1: as a travel expert, Rick Steves suggested carry a picture 685 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: of a real or fake husband. And I feel so 686 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:47,840 Speaker 1: conflicted about this one, particularly going to the extent of 687 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:51,880 Speaker 1: carrying a photo of a husband, because it's yet another 688 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 1: example of whether you are abroad or if you are 689 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,879 Speaker 1: at a bar down the street, where if some one 690 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,319 Speaker 1: is giving you unwanted sexual attention, the quickest way to 691 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 1: stop it is to not say no, thanks, not interested, 692 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,640 Speaker 1: but to rather say I have a boyfriend. I have 693 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: a husband. Even if you were to say, and it 694 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,560 Speaker 1: is the truth, oh I have a girlfriend, won't stop it. 695 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: You got to say I have a boyfriend, you need 696 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: to show the presence of another male in your life. 697 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:25,240 Speaker 1: And I want to hear from listeners on that one, because, 698 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,879 Speaker 1: like I like, the feminist inside of me wants to 699 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: fight that one so much. But I mean, like we 700 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,120 Speaker 1: said earlier, we can't go into other societies, other cultures, 701 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,959 Speaker 1: you know, determined to change the way things are, because 702 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,480 Speaker 1: we're just not. Yeah, it's not our job to go 703 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: and fight the patriarchy, right, and so it stinks. But 704 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:53,080 Speaker 1: if you want to avoid hassle, you gotta wear your sunglasses, 705 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:55,279 Speaker 1: and maybe you got to wear a wedding ring. Well, 706 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,960 Speaker 1: And I could see, Okay, I could see if I 707 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:00,879 Speaker 1: was traveling alone, and particularly if I wanted to go 708 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,520 Speaker 1: out at night, then putting on the wedding ring, because 709 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,759 Speaker 1: I feel like that's when it, you know, the fear 710 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:12,200 Speaker 1: probably creeps in the most. Um, So if you wanted 711 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 1: to go have a nice dinner, have a drink at 712 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,360 Speaker 1: a bar, maybe it would just kind of you know, 713 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: it serves like put a radar shield around you. Um. 714 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:24,920 Speaker 1: But I mean I think too that just depends on 715 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:27,640 Speaker 1: what country you're traveling in, what type of culture you're 716 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:31,400 Speaker 1: traveling in. When I was traveling, I had zip zero 717 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,239 Speaker 1: problems with people harassing me. The only time I was 718 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 1: harassed is when I had been up for thirty six 719 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: hours or so in Dublin and some guys were hassling 720 00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 1: me about taking up an entire booth in a pub 721 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,919 Speaker 1: by myself. Like, listen, I'm sorry that I'm not really 722 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,279 Speaker 1: caring about etiquette right now as far as where I sit, 723 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,320 Speaker 1: I'm just so tired. But no, they weren't. There was 724 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:54,479 Speaker 1: no sexual advances there, so that's good. Yeah, because look, 725 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,759 Speaker 1: you are yet another one of the women who have 726 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,440 Speaker 1: traveled alone and come back to tell the aale that 727 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:03,160 Speaker 1: it is okay out there in the world. It's awesome. 728 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,799 Speaker 1: That's I I I enjoyed, I super enjoyed traveling by 729 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,320 Speaker 1: myself well. And they're also advantages of being a solo 730 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:12,239 Speaker 1: female traveler. I feel like a lot of times the 731 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,840 Speaker 1: conversation stops at the fear factor, but there are plenty 732 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: of advantages, such as, first and foremost, being able to 733 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,920 Speaker 1: see the world on your own terms and your own schedule. 734 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: You could sit in that booth at the pub in 735 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,200 Speaker 1: Ireland as long as you wanted, Caroline, well, until those guys, 736 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:30,880 Speaker 1: until they until they were complaining too loudly. Um. And 737 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 1: then there's the whole thing about women tending to get 738 00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:35,960 Speaker 1: invited to people's homes more often and maybe being more 739 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,600 Speaker 1: protected by locals. I this is absolutely something that I 740 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,840 Speaker 1: experienced when I was on the West Coast of Ireland. 741 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,080 Speaker 1: I wandered into this pub and I didn't have any cash, 742 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,240 Speaker 1: but they had a twenty five euro credit card minimum, 743 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:49,560 Speaker 1: Like just kill me, right, So I was like, Okay, 744 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,239 Speaker 1: give me all the fish and chips and as much 745 00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 1: guinness as I can swallow. So I'm sitting there and 746 00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:58,080 Speaker 1: I'm like stuffed to the gills and I'm drunk because 747 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,080 Speaker 1: I've been drinking all this guinness. And I walk up 748 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,920 Speaker 1: to the bar and I'm like, have I reached the 749 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 1: minimum yet? And this couple next to me, here's my 750 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:09,440 Speaker 1: accent and they start talking to me and they it 751 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: turns out they are a couple from New Jersey who 752 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:15,840 Speaker 1: quit the rat race. Their kids were done with school, 753 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:18,400 Speaker 1: they quit the rat race, moved to the West coast 754 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 1: of Ireland in this tiny town of Dulin, opened a 755 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:27,560 Speaker 1: stained glass shop and lived above it. And they were 756 00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,120 Speaker 1: so sad to hear my story about losing my luggage 757 00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:32,680 Speaker 1: and that all I wanted to do was take a 758 00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:34,680 Speaker 1: hot shower after a day of traveling, and they were like, 759 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:37,360 Speaker 1: well wait here, and the wife ran back to the 760 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,879 Speaker 1: house and got me a towel so that I could 761 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:41,600 Speaker 1: shower that night, and we just sat there at the 762 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:44,319 Speaker 1: bar and talked. Turns out their son, I don't know 763 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:47,240 Speaker 1: if he still is, but was a police officer from 764 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:51,560 Speaker 1: around where I am from, in Georgia. So small world, 765 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:53,680 Speaker 1: very small world. But I think there is something to 766 00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:59,160 Speaker 1: be said for being a woman traveling by yourself being 767 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: open to those experiences. I think it's important to not 768 00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:05,680 Speaker 1: shut yourself off, but to look and feel open to 769 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:09,000 Speaker 1: talking to strangers absolutely, because you never know who you're 770 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,479 Speaker 1: going to meet in a good way, in a good way. Yeah. Um. 771 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:16,240 Speaker 1: One tip that was brought up by traveler Emily Baron 772 00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,080 Speaker 1: talking to the New York Times Frugal Traveler was that 773 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,080 Speaker 1: one other advantage you might not think about of being 774 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,719 Speaker 1: a woman traveling alone is that you were likelier to 775 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,160 Speaker 1: have a tampon on you. And she talks about how 776 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:34,480 Speaker 1: tampons can serve as the you know, build the bridge 777 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,799 Speaker 1: between you and local women, because I mean, we've all 778 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:41,799 Speaker 1: been there. If you are in a situation where your 779 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:44,840 Speaker 1: period came, you don't have a tampon, and the woman 780 00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,000 Speaker 1: who has one and hands it to you, it's almost 781 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:50,359 Speaker 1: as if you can hear the angels seeing like that. Oh, 782 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 1: and you're bonded immediately. And also if you break your nose, 783 00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 1: you can shove one up your nose too. Yeah, they're 784 00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:59,480 Speaker 1: all sorts of survival uses for tampons. If you don't 785 00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:02,880 Speaker 1: believe me, google it. It's true. So I mean, guys, 786 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:06,680 Speaker 1: obviously you can carry tampons too. It's just you know, 787 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:08,680 Speaker 1: it might be if a guy hands at a woman 788 00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:12,400 Speaker 1: a tampon, a local woman a tampon, I don't know 789 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,000 Speaker 1: if it would necessarily be a bridge builder in the 790 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:18,640 Speaker 1: same way as if you or I were to hand 791 00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:21,120 Speaker 1: her one that might halt the conversation. Yeah, yeah I 792 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,239 Speaker 1: could a little bit um. And then on top of 793 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: all of it, the advantages obviously are just the confidence building, 794 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,440 Speaker 1: the personal transformation that we hear about so often. You 795 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:34,359 Speaker 1: can go, you can eat, you can pray, you can 796 00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:38,120 Speaker 1: love if that's what you so desire. That was my 797 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:44,440 Speaker 1: mom telling me about that. Yeah, I absolutely, I absolutely 798 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:47,319 Speaker 1: encourage people to do it. And there's plenty of resources 799 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,000 Speaker 1: out there for you to learn about traveling, whether you're 800 00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:52,600 Speaker 1: traveling solo with a friend whoever, if you want to 801 00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:56,160 Speaker 1: go do this as a lady explorer. Yeah, there are 802 00:47:56,200 --> 00:48:00,320 Speaker 1: so many women focus travel sites and travel magazines. Caroline, 803 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,879 Speaker 1: didn't we read that women traveling is so hot right now? Yeah? 804 00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,279 Speaker 1: Consumer Affairs quoted. Uh, someone is saying that it's the 805 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:13,799 Speaker 1: new trend in travel, to which I said, wrong. But yeah, 806 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:15,840 Speaker 1: it's good to see that that more people are actually 807 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:20,200 Speaker 1: paying attention to this this section of the population. Apparently 808 00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:23,600 Speaker 1: that woman had never heard of Impulsia Gushington, that's right. 809 00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:26,520 Speaker 1: I don't know, but yeah, they're all sorts of websites 810 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:30,320 Speaker 1: out there for women's specific travel tips, such as Women's 811 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:34,440 Speaker 1: Adventure Magazine. There's Wanderlust and Lipstick, which I know the 812 00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:37,160 Speaker 1: name might sound a little hokey, but it's actually really 813 00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:41,080 Speaker 1: good resource. There's Black Girl Travel. There's also You Go Girl, 814 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:44,000 Speaker 1: which is from the author of the Black Woman's Book 815 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,640 Speaker 1: of Travel and Adventure and Women on the Road, etcetera, etcetera. 816 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:50,760 Speaker 1: I mean, really, it's all just a Google search away. 817 00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,120 Speaker 1: And what's so encouraging I think about it is that 818 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: when you google like these types of resources for women, 819 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,680 Speaker 1: there's so many different kinds. There is stuff that's on 820 00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,399 Speaker 1: the girl group side, so you're going with a lot 821 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:03,880 Speaker 1: of women. It's a journey of self discovery all the 822 00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:07,000 Speaker 1: way to like the rustic strike out on your own 823 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:10,280 Speaker 1: to climb that mountain. So there's there's just everything in between. 824 00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:14,640 Speaker 1: And I like how people, whether you're a woman entrepreneur 825 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:18,080 Speaker 1: starting a group like this or whatever. I like that 826 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,040 Speaker 1: the fact that women are different is being recognized. Yeah. Yeah, 827 00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:25,200 Speaker 1: we want different things and we enjoy different things, and 828 00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:30,360 Speaker 1: that's fantastic. And I just love though I've honestly really 829 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:33,000 Speaker 1: enjoyed just sitting here listening to your travel stories that 830 00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:36,320 Speaker 1: I've never heard before. And I love hearing and reading 831 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:40,840 Speaker 1: other women's travel stories as well, because not to sound cheesy, 832 00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:43,920 Speaker 1: but they're very inspiring, you know, because it can be 833 00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:47,080 Speaker 1: I've been fearful before about hopping on a plane and 834 00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:49,080 Speaker 1: going to the other side of the world, probably why 835 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:52,440 Speaker 1: I've never done it alone before. But I tell you what, Caroline, 836 00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:59,000 Speaker 1: after this podcast, I am ready to go somewhere do it. 837 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:00,960 Speaker 1: My boyfriend might be Okay, what where are you going? 838 00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:02,799 Speaker 1: You and I should just go and then we'll just 839 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:06,160 Speaker 1: split off and come back together at the end of it. Yeah, 840 00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:09,360 Speaker 1: and then swap our swap our stories. But now we 841 00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:13,000 Speaker 1: want to hear your stories and not just women. Any 842 00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:17,520 Speaker 1: solo traveling adventures and photos we would love to read 843 00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,200 Speaker 1: and to see, so please send us all of them. 844 00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:22,520 Speaker 1: Mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com is our 845 00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:25,600 Speaker 1: email address. You can also tweet us places you've been 846 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:29,000 Speaker 1: pictures at mom stuff Podcasts. You can also message us 847 00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:31,000 Speaker 1: on Facebook. And we have a couple of messages to 848 00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:34,680 Speaker 1: share about our episode on World War two and Rosie 849 00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:41,400 Speaker 1: the Riveters. So Caroline, I have one here from Megan, 850 00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,040 Speaker 1: who writes My maternal grandpa dropped out of high school 851 00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:48,520 Speaker 1: in nine two and fibbed about his age to enlist 852 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 1: in the Marines. While on leave in late forty four 853 00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,239 Speaker 1: or early forty five, he married my grandmother, who was 854 00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,200 Speaker 1: sixteen at the time and not working due to her age. 855 00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:01,200 Speaker 1: She did take part in scrap metal drives and arden extensively. 856 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,040 Speaker 1: She became pregnant pretty much right away and didn't work 857 00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:08,120 Speaker 1: until the early nineteen fifties. However, her older sister, my 858 00:51:08,160 --> 00:51:11,200 Speaker 1: great aunt, did work. My family is from East Tennessee 859 00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,480 Speaker 1: and my aunt Vernell worked on the Manhattan Project. WHOA, 860 00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:17,960 Speaker 1: that's so cool. Workers in oak Ridge were not permitted 861 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:19,960 Speaker 1: to tell friends and family that they worked for what 862 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,040 Speaker 1: they were doing. Maryville, where my family lives. In oak 863 00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:25,960 Speaker 1: Ridge are some thirty miles apart, and it's possible my 864 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,400 Speaker 1: family wasn't aware that the secret city existed. My aunt 865 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:31,879 Speaker 1: has told me that none of the workers, including her, 866 00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:34,759 Speaker 1: had any idea they were building bombs. Each line of 867 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:37,560 Speaker 1: production was subdivided and kept hidden from the other lines, 868 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 1: and when the war ended, she married her soldier boyfriend, 869 00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:43,240 Speaker 1: had a couple of kids, worked as a hospital nurse 870 00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:45,840 Speaker 1: and collects a pension from the government for her help 871 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,040 Speaker 1: in aiding the war effort. Their oldest sister was a 872 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,239 Speaker 1: war nurse and has unfortunately passed away. I know I've 873 00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:53,719 Speaker 1: heard some of her stories, but at the time I 874 00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:56,839 Speaker 1: was too young to realize the significance of what I 875 00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:00,960 Speaker 1: was hearing. WHOA, yeah, so thanks so Megan for sharing 876 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:06,480 Speaker 1: those stories. And Ronell Well, I have one here from Laura. 877 00:52:06,719 --> 00:52:09,839 Speaker 1: She says. My great aunt, who I used to love 878 00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:11,960 Speaker 1: to visit, work during World War Two in a more 879 00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:15,040 Speaker 1: unusual setting. She was in the Air Force and station 880 00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:17,439 Speaker 1: for at least part of the time in Hawaii, where 881 00:52:17,480 --> 00:52:20,400 Speaker 1: she drew maps of enemy territory from descriptions given to 882 00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:24,640 Speaker 1: her by pilots. She was quote unquote older, being in 883 00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:27,080 Speaker 1: her mid twenties at the time, so I got the 884 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:29,560 Speaker 1: impression that she had a higher rank than the young 885 00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:32,600 Speaker 1: men she was stationed with. I believe it was during 886 00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:35,320 Speaker 1: this time she interacted with some of the higher up people, 887 00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:40,000 Speaker 1: including Winston Churchill, as they needed to view her work. Also, 888 00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:42,480 Speaker 1: from what I understand, you can see some of her 889 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:46,800 Speaker 1: work today at the Smithsonian. Her name is Mary Taylor. 890 00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:51,000 Speaker 1: Heis that's h I s E. So thank you, Laura. 891 00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:53,239 Speaker 1: I am so blown away by our cool listeners and 892 00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,680 Speaker 1: they're really cool grandmothers and great aunt and great aunts 893 00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:01,000 Speaker 1: and well, if you have cool stories about your Rosie 894 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,399 Speaker 1: the riveter grandmother, great aunt or travel stories, we want 895 00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,160 Speaker 1: to hear all of them. Mom Stuff at how stuff 896 00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:09,160 Speaker 1: works dot com is where you can email us and 897 00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:12,000 Speaker 1: for links to all of our social media's as well 898 00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:14,920 Speaker 1: as all of our blogs, podcasts, and videos to perhaps 899 00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:19,040 Speaker 1: keep you entertained on your travels and beyond. There's one 900 00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:21,560 Speaker 1: place to go, and it's stuff Mom Never told You 901 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:28,240 Speaker 1: dot Com For more on this and thousands of other topics, 902 00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:37,239 Speaker 1: Isn't How Stuff Works dot com