Top 10 Travel Tips for Women

Since the Lonely Planet editors in the end rejected my boxed text submission for the new Nicaragua book to come out next month, I've decided to repost my top 10 travel tips for women. Maybe this will one day be included in my own travel book. Who needs Lonely Planet anyway? Thanks Liz for the edit

Let's face it. Traveling as a woman has its challenges and men just don't understand. With such little room in our backpacks, we need to make the most of the space we have considering hygiene, beauty and safety needs. In order to make traveling easier, below are my top travel tips for women. The first few are not bad advice for a weeklong getaway. The last few will prove your mettle as a hard core travel diva. Guys, just be grateful for all that you don't have to deal with, and one tip for you-NEVER blame her mood on "that time of month".

1) Face Wipes-Although an obvious addition to bring these, this is more of a reminder. Face wipes keep your face clean at all times of the day especially on long dusty bus rides and so don't leave home without them.

2) Wristband Fleece Wallet-It has a zipper opening to keep money and keys inside and is fashionable enough to wear out on the town at night. No purse to worry about losing and it can double as a sweat band when jogging.

3) Fake Wedding Ring-Great distractor to keep local lurching men away. Just simply flaunt the ring when an unwanted on-looker asks if you would like a boyfriend, usually meaning him.

4) Leave-in Hair Conditioner-Being on the road can take a toll on your hair and leave it fried and frizzy. Leave-in hair conditioner or just leaving in the conditioner helps smooth out the tension to keep your hair looking healthy all the time.

5) Sarong- Use it as a towel, beach blanket, dress, wrap around to change into a bathing suit, shawl, and much more on the road. This one item serves multiple purposes and takes up very little space.

6) Tiger Balm-This little menthol cream is a catch all for everything under the sun. Put a little on your temples for a headache or for heat exhaustion, on your body for aches and pains and to relieve the itchiness of mosquito, bedbug or flea bites, under your nose to remove stuffiness, and even on your wrists as last minute perfume.

7) Tinted Eyelashes-For women with light colored eyelashes, tinting them avoids having to wear and apply mascara every day. Additionally, the panda look after swimming is not attractive. Each tinting lasts about a month.

8) Laser Hair Removal-Yes, it is expensive, but well worth the cost in the long-run. Forever you will be bikini-ready. Ingrown hairs and the ugly in-between stage are not an issue. Laser hair removal takes between 4-6 sessions over a 6-8 month period depending on your hair and so start early in your planning


9) The Pee Funnel-This is the ultimate in female empowerment-to pee standing up. Avoid squating over dirty outhouses during the day and searching for them in the middle of the night. You can even join the men as they line up on the side of the road during a long bus ride. Best part-you can write your name in the sand.

10) Diva Cup-No longer do you have to search every pharmacy for tampons and be weighed down by them. The Diva cup is all you need. It is a silicone based cup that fits inside you to catch your menstrual flow. It is reusable for up to 10 years and therefore environmentally friendly. It's simple to use and comes with its own carrying case. On a related topic, Multi-month Birth Control Pills can help regulate periods and simply life. With certain combo estrogen/progestin and progestin-only birth control pills, you only have to worry about your period once every 3 months by taking the daily pill. This provides so much freedom in traveling, however, it is not for everyone. Talk to your doctor for more information and for what is most appropriate for your body.

Cost of a Year (or really 13 months now) of Travel

FAQ: How can you afford to travel for so long? A: This is a common question and I really wasn't sure how much I had spent until I recently did the math. Given that I have never bought a new car, rarely go out to eat at restaurants back home, never buy clothes at full price and never buy drinks when going out on the town, I have saved for this trip since I would rather spend my money on travel than any of the above. I had anticipated $50/day for a total of $18K, but I have spent much less. I bought most of my flights with my 400,000 frequent flyer miles. These helped immensely since flying business class to China would have blown my budget otherwise. Plus, I made 4 trips home throughout the year. In terms of individual costs, to get scuba certified in Belize with 6 dives cost $300, to attend Burning Man (all expenses included) probably cost me about $450, my 24 tickets to Olympic events in China cost $650, 7.5 weeks of 150hrs of Spanish lessons ($5/hr) in Guatemala cost $750, and my biggest expense was the Galapagos at $2K. Since I traveled rather slowly staying in one city for awhile, couch surfing on occasion and eating the menu of the day meals, I have scraped where I can to expand my budget.

In total, I spent about $14K for the last 13 months, or about $35/day, including the above high ticket items and regular pedicures. ;-) For $14K, I can't even afford lodging in SF for a year and can barely buy a cheap new car. $14K is much less than the cost of 1 year of my college education. And yet I think I learned more in this last year about the world and myself than I ever did in college. If I had traveled through South East Asia, I probably could have spent half that amount over a year and I have often thought about continuing my trip in that region. Many other travelers I have met who are truly doing an around the world trip and who are visiting more expensive countries like the US, Europe and Australia are spending about $18-$20K for the year.

Granted, in this estimate my house costs are not included. To keep my house in livable condition and out of foreclosure, I have had to spend additional money that has nearly caused me to have a heart attack at times. But just purely to travel does not cost as much as one would think especially when staying in hostels and traveling through cheaper countries than the US. If you have ever thought about taking a year off, don't let money or even a jumbo mortgage be a deterrent. It is doable and so worthwhile!

Introducing Snowball

In SF, I had the pleasure of meeting two new people who came into the world. My friends had babies while I was gone and the munchkins are so adorable. I would like to take the time to introduce my own munchkin to the world. Introducing Snowball weighing 2lbs 4 oz. His face spans 8.9 in with approximate dimensions: 8.86 (W) x 6.90 (D) x 0.89 ~ 1.54 (H). I have to feed him every 5 hrs, but for the most part, he is self reliant. His 20 GB of memory are more than I need for my travels and his Linux apparel will hopefully keep future viruses at bay. He speaks Mandarin since I adopted him from the Tawainese orphanage Asus and he can easily translate mandarin into English for me. He is my perfect baby for China.

When going to Guatemala, I had no idea how connected the rest of the world would be, 10x more so than the profit hungry U.S. Free wifi is available in just about every cafe' in Xela. So, I decided to invest in a portable computer since I don't own one in the first place, and it would make it easier for me to blog. Already I have made 2 updates to my blog today. Best part, he is shock proof and immune to my clutziness.

What to Pack

When deciding what to pack on my year long trip, many things came to mind... Fairfax Scoop's ice cream, my fuzzy robe, Lu's sarcastic comments. However, my 50L carry-on sized backpack would not allow for them. Normally, I would travel with my usual two pairs of pants, two short sleeved shirts, and 1 long-sleeved shirt, but I had to consider variations in climates that factored in more weight. I threw in a fleece, a windbreaker, a bathing suit, and one skirt that converts into a dress. You can once again expect to see me dirty and in the same outfits in every picture. I am also bringing a pair of trail running shoes, Keen water shoes and I couldn't leave without my Haviana flip flops.

My clothes may not take up much room, but boy do all those drugs. I feel like I could set up shop on a street corner and sell out of my backpack. The pharmacy gave me Tamiflu should I catch the bird flu virus, a year's supply of malaria drugs and a bunch of other drugs for altitude sickness, random bacteria, and of course diarrhea. My organic vitamins will only last me 30 days and I may need to call in a FedEx shipment along the way.

Since I have traveled quite frequently, I was up to date on all my shots; Hep A, B, tetanus, typhoid, yellow fever, menigococcal, and polio. However, I have been avoiding the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine due to the bad side effects and Rabies shot because of the pain. I decided to check with the travel clinic 10 days before leaving to see what I really needed only to find out that I did indeed need both shots, but I also needed 3 weeks to get them for the 3 shots each took. Oh well. At least I wrote, notarized and had witnessed my last will and testament before leaving. Although, I'm not sure I have much to give away since I've resorted my life to the basics.

I've enjoyed downsizing my life into a backpack. In a whirlwind of activities, I've managed to divest my couches, my liquor cabinet that was quite extensive considering I don't drink, tupperware, just about every book I have ever bought since I was 7 years old including all the classics, half my closet, and a hodgepodge of random stuff. I am amazed at how many things accumulated in my life over the years. My backpack is purposely small so that I can focus my life on important things such as relationships and experiences. I really don't need another dress nor souvenir, but unfortunately, the pharmacist had no vaccines nor drugs for shopping addicts. I may be in trouble... at least I have this link that Ward gave me as a nice send off, which made me smile. http://june.fujimoto.youaremighty.com/ Thanks Ward!

Sliding Doors

For the last decade, I have considered taking a year off to travel the world. However, due to changing life circumstances, whether that be a person, job, school, or money, that year of travel has always eluded me. No more. My sliding door is now closed. I leave behind my friends, jumbo mortgage, In n' Out burgers, and family for my year of personal growth in order to journey within. I may not climb the corporate ladder as quickly as I would like, or make as much money or any money for that matter, but what will I really remember 20 years from now; I hope it is the life experiences that will shape me in the next year.

Why now? I say, why not? The bigger risk for me is in not taking it and always wondering, what if? I want to ensure that I'm always living life with purpose, passion and meaning. Last July, I spent several weeks in Tanzania and helped an all HIV+ community set up an HIV/AIDS educational seminar and hired a couple of doctors to test a village of adults for the disease. That experience has inspired me to give back to communities in need along the way and so my year off is not completely self-serving. ;-)

Although, friends may think that I am taking this year off in search of a man since I have now exhausted all of Minnesota and San Francisco in my dating spree, that is far from the truth. If time spent traveling through Nicaruagua and Nepal were the best routes to meet a future husband, I'm sure many more women would have written books on the topic by now. Even though I have been proposed to by a tomb guard in Egypt and by the local drunk in Tanzania, I don't plan to get hitched along the way, but I'm not discounting the notion. I do plan to keep a journal of my travels so that you can join me on this journey.

Typical, I have not planned a specific itinerary of my destinations and will wander aimlessly around the world until I either run out of money or have to do my taxes again. All I take with me is a carry-on sized backpack, my ticket to Guatemala and my sense of adventure. In terms of planning, I need to be in Beijing for the Olympics in August and the rest I will make up as I go. I am traveling alone and so wish me luck! I know you are wondering if I am crazy. No, I'm just sometimes delusional and thankfully myself will keep me company when I get lonely. I also know that my mom will be looking after me and I take this mental holiday in her memory and with her in mind; I commence my journey on Mother's Day, May 11th.