Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

This episode originally aired in February 2019.We didn't always feel so gung-ho about traveling the world with a group of strangers or about giving up control over the itinerary on a group trip. In fact, just like with almost everything in travel, it was the mental hurdle—the thought that we might not like group trips—that kept us from doing it. But, we all got over it. (Strip naked in front of a group of gals at a Japanese onsen and you'll get over those reservations really fast.) To commiserate and compare stories, we brought community editor and trip lead Megan Spurrell and El Camino founder Katalina Mayorga on to talk about the pros, cons, and what it took to change our minds.Join Women Who Travel on a trip to Colombia in September or November. Learn more here: https://www.elcamino.travel/women-who-travel Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week, as we kick off February, we're chatting about a major reason why *Traveler* editors have zipped back and forth across the globe: long-distance relationships. Joined by community editor Megan Spurrell and journalist Sarah Walton, we're diving into the ins and outs of making a cross-continent, let alone transnational, relationship work—all backed by some 10-plus years of first person, long-distance relationship experiences between us. Some key takeaways? Always have a plan for when you're going to see each other next. Don't worry too much if your friends and family don't understand. And since you're traveling already, planning a trip to a new destination may be better than visiting each other at home. Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-balance-traveling-for-a-long-distance-relationship-women-who-travel-podcast Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If you've been following Women Who Travel over the past two years, chances are you're familiar with Jessica Nabongo. The founder of boutique travel company Jet Black, Nabongo became the first black woman to visit every country in the world in 2019, and throughout her two-and-a-half year journey she's stopped by the studio (and called in from some very inconvenient time zones) to update us on her travels—the good, the challenging, and the downright exhausting.But one thing we haven't been able to chat in-depth with her on is what it takes to become a country counter in the first place. In the second installment of our How I Became series, we sit down with Nabongo to find out what motivated her to take on the odyssey in the first place, how she navigated borders while grappling with issues like passport privilege and carbon emissions, and what she's learned from taking more flights in two years than most people take in a lifetime.Thanks to Jessica for joining us this week. And thanks as always to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing. To keep up with our podcast each week, subscribe to Women Who Travel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And, if you have a minute to spare, leave a review. We’d love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date with our live episodes, meetups, and trips, too. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

"Plus-size fill-in-the-blank, but especially travel, is often not seen in a glamorous way," says Women Who Travel columnist Laura Delarato on this week's podcast episode. "It's often not seen at all." But thanks to communities and social media accounts that celebrate women's bodies of all shapes and sizes taking on the world, like Fat Girls Traveling, launched by our other guest this week, Annette Richmond, that's changing.Find a full transcription and more here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-taught-me-to-love-my-body-women-who-travel-podcast__________Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremereFollow Lale: @lalehannahFollow Annette: @fromannettewithlove & @fatgirlstravelingFollow Laura: @heylauraheyyy Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Being on vacation and flying to get to vacation—whether you're going to laze on the beach for days or zip around Southeast Asia on the back of a moped—are some of the only long, interrupted times we have these days to read. So, as you prep for your OOO for 2020, we tapped Jynne Dilling Martin, Riverhead Books' associate publisher, and Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, to give you a rundown of the best books they read in 2019 for a little literary packing list info.Find a full transcript of the episode and links to all of the books we mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-books-we-read-last-year-women-who-travel-podcastWhile many other books were discussed, here are the 11 favorites we suggested in this episode: Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom Severance by Ling Ma The Library Book by Susan Orlean Normal People by Sally Rooney Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

w It's a new year, which means more episodes of Women Who Travel are coming your way. In 2020, we're kicking things off with a new monthly series called "HoI Became...," where we'll sit down with master travelers who spend most of their lives on the road doing things those of us at our desks on a daily basis never thought possible. First up? Women Who Travel advisory board member, award-winning photojournalist, and author Lynsey Addario. We chat with her about picking up her first camera, taking less than stellar shots on her tour of South America in her early twenties, and spending her decades-long career photographing women. Delving deeper, we talk about how travel can heal the trauma of photographing war, death, and more—and how it takes years to learn to say "no" to risk. Find a full transcript, show notes, and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-a-photojournalist-lynsey-addario-on-life-on-the-road Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's time to have your credit card and calendar at the ready: the peak time for flight deals is here. With Travel Deal Tuesday—when airlines and hotels drop fares some 40 percent for late 2019 and early 2020 travel—approaching on December 3 and the end of the year (i.e. time to use up your last vacation days) coming in hot, there’s never been a better time to escape on a dime. But the last-minute panic and adrenaline rush of pouncing on a $300 round-trip deal to Tokyo can paralyzing. Who will go with you? How fast do you have to book? Is this even a good deal? We're here to help ease your flight deal anxiety, demystify what makes a good deal, and teach you where to find them.________We're going on a break! Expect new episodes to hit in January. Make sure you subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast so you know when we return with some fantastic episodes next year. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We say it a lot over here at Traveler: Americans are really bad at taking vacation. So much so that in 2017, we left 705 million vacation days on the table, the U.S. Travel Association reported. Think of all the walking tours, island naps, and life-changing meals that were missed! And while we always urge you to take all of your days—be they five or 25—we don't always practice what we preach, either. Thankfully, we've since learned the error of our ways—but we could all use the reminder that we're actually devaluing our salary by leaving those days behind. We tapped the keeper of our vacation days, Traveler's director of editorial operations Paulie Dibner, and contributor Cassie Shortsleeve to chat about vacation guilt, how to ask for time off, what to do when you have unlimited vacation, and what to actually do when you get it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When we caught up with Dina Nayeri over the phone last week, she was, quite aptly, rushing through the streets of Paris. If she had her way, the writer and author would probably never stop moving, she tells us, thanks to a constant itch for travel that has taken her all over the world. But that urgency to cross borders is deeply rooted in her personal history as a refugee: At the age of eight, she fled Iran with her mother and brother to Dubai, and then on to a refugee camp in Italy, before eventually settling in the U.S. "My formative years were about getting out of a place, and so the feeling of being stuck to a land, to a country, is one of my most deeply instilled fears," she says. "I have a French passport and an American one, and I carry them everywhere I go." We chat to Dina about how she chronicled her refugee journey in her most recent book, Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You. Plus, we learn about the present-day refugees she met while researching it, the travels that have shifted her perspective, and how she stays connected to Iranian culture decades after leaving her home. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the fourth installment of our FAQ series, we're joined by Traveler's community editor (and WWT advice columnist) Megan Spurrell and special projects director Lauren DeCarlo to answer some of your most burning travel questions, including how to figure the right time to start traveling with your kids (spoiler alert: it's different for everybody), the right way to adjust to post-travel blues, and where to go in Mexico over Dia de los Muertos. Plus, Meredith gives her two cents on why you should use every single one of your vacation days—and how to negotiate with your boss for more time off when you need it.Want to submit a question to the advice column or for a future episode? Drop it into the Women Who Travel Facebook group or email womenwhotravel@cntraveler.com. Not only could you hear from Traveler editors themselves, but you'll have more than 140,000 women come to your aid, too. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices