It’s super easy and really quite clever how this is all laid out. Just pop on over to the Intrepid Facebook page, answer their questions to determine what sort of traveler you are and they’ll provide you with a list of tours that fit your style (giving you a nice discount, too). Here’s a breakdown of their adventure gals…

The Culture Connoisseur – You like to expand your horizons and explore new places by getting to know the local culture. Recommended trips include Burma, Cuba, Iran and Guyana (wow!).

The Inspired Explorer – You never have enough time to see everything. You’re on the go but also inspired by people watching at your destination. Recommended trips include China, Morocco and Sumatra.

The Fun Lover – You like the best of both worlds. You take in the culture, but you also like your late nights and to sleep in. Recommended trips include Road to Zanzibar, Classic Thailand and Barcelona to Rome.

The Adventure Addict - No settling down for this gal. Climb those mountains, surf the sea or find yourself trekking from hut to hut. Recommended trips include the Serengeti and Kilimanjaro, Hiking Yosemite and Cycling the Backroads of Sri Lanka.

Fly-by-the-Seat-of-Your-Pants - No research but so what. You’re still going to have a blast. Recommended trips include American Gold Rush, Explore Eastern Europe and Mexico Unplugged (aaaaaah).

I took the test myself and discovered I’m all over the map and am a bit of each of the above. (Boy, and I thought I was the Culture Connoiseur all the way!)

Don’t forget to claim your voucher after taking the test and leave a comment below to share kind of adventure gal YOU are!

Travel Well,

Beth

When we determined that this was not a good fit, she went on to, I believe, try to get me to commiserate on how bad things had gotten for tour companies in the last year or two. She had recently decided to partner with a larger travel firm in order to minimize her risk. “One bad tour can ruin you,” Jane said. Apparently a cancelled tour to Egypt due to the recent uprisings had taken a toll on her company. There was another incident in Africa that she mentioned – something about a tour bus getting into trouble with locals. She implied that having this larger travel firm back her up was the only thing that saved the situation in Africa.

I didn’t tell her that we had just had our best month ever (January, 2012) with a record number of people registering for tours. Or that February was shaping up to surpass January.

Despite the all-good-news from WanderTours and Wanderlust and Lipstick, that conversation has hung over me for the last 2 weeks. Uncharacteristically, my mind has been racing with concerns about insurgencies, closed airports and accidents.

If you know anything about me, this mind-racing with what-if-situations is not me at all. I’ve traveled for 25 years without incident (OK, there was that one time in Cambodia in 1992). I’ve always believed that if you’re prepared for a journey and listen to your gut instincts, most situations are manageable. This philosophy (my husband calls it the no-fear gene) has served me well as an individual traveler and as a tour operator.

Hearing this woman’s concerns and noticing the effect it has had on me, made me realize that this is the way that many people approach life (not just travel). Mention to someone that I ride a motorcycle and the first thing they talk about is a disaster story about their friend on a bike. Bring up my travels to a particular place (India, Mexico, you name it) and someone will share a tragic story about that destination.

I’m sure these people would argue differently, but I think their comments have less to do with a concern about my safety than it has to do with their own fears about riding a motorcycle or traveling to said country. Why do they bring it up? Well, there’s more energy and interest in the bad news – good news is boring! Just spend 10 minutes watching a TV newscast or commercials – you’ll see we’re bombarded with negative messaging.

(As I think about this, I realize there are few destinations that elicit purely positive responses. Hawaii comes to mind. But even there people will remind you it’s expensive. Hmmm, where else? Think, Beth, think…)

In the Buddhist tradition, it’s believed that fear is based on your attachment to an outcome. Those thoughts that say, ”What if this doesn’t go the way I planned?” Well, guess what? Things rarely go the way we planned. But the beauty is in accepting what does happen and then making the best of that situation.

I don’t doubt that one bad experience (as in Egypt) can be devastating to a small company. And it’s likely that the partnership that Jane made with the larger travel firm was the best business decision she could have made.

But I also think we create our own realities (past, present and future) and that to live with a mind filled with fear, serves only to create more anxiety and ultimately attracts situations that perpetuate that fear.

No, you can’t control when and where an uprising will happen, but you can make lemonade out of it (Jane’s partnership might have been that lemonade). But spreading that fear, just causes others to get pulled in to your drama.

I’m very fortunate to live in a city where we have a high concentration of adventure travel companies. I regularly get together with other tour operators and brainstorm on how to make our businesses better. Though it’s an unspoken rule, we focus on the positive. We share information, contacts, experiences, and provide feedback. While we don’t sugarcoat the state of our businesses, we never tumble into the negative future of what-ifs.

These are the people I aspire to surround myself with. Those who see the world of possibilities rather than looking for the fine print and the what-if’s. Without a doubt you have to make sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s crossed. Have a backup plan. But being fearful about what might go wrong is a surefire way to stifle your travel, your life and your work.

Travel Well,

Beth

Photo credit:
Woman by spaceodissey
Reclining Buddha by joestump

So what might you win?

These 2 security items are body bands that are part of the Dovetail Travel in Peace collection. They include a waistband that wraps around your hips (left) as well as the wing in which you insert your arms through the loops and the pocket sits against your back and over your bra.

Both are great options for times when you want to keep your valuables safe and won’t need to access them at places like border stops or in a bank. Each will hold your passport, credit cards and money.

While the body bands look small right out of the package, each of these stretch enough so that a passport can easily fit inside.

So… wanna win your own?

Throughout February, you can enter to win your very own set of Dovetail Body Bands. Three lucky winners will be chosen on March 1, 2012.

And, you have TWO CHANCES TO ENTER!

1) Sign up for the Wanderlust and Lipstick newsletter. This goes out just once a month and your information is never shared.

2) Sign up for the RSS email feed (see the “subscribe me” box at right) to receive an email each time I post to this blog (usually no more than 3x per week).

Subscribe to both and you’ve got 2 chances to enter this month.

Oh, and be a good egg… forward this along to someone whom you think might like to enter and win their very own set of Dovetail Body Bands.

Approximate Value: $48/set

This contest closes at 11:59 pm PST on February 29, 2012 and the lucky winners will be chosen on March 1. We can only ship to North American addresses (sorry!).

The winner will have 3 days to respond before another winner is chosen.

Good luck!

Travel Well,

Beth

First, a big shout out to Nancy Mueller, our resident WanderBoomer blogger, who put her editing expertise to work and was responsible for reading all of the stories and sorting them before the cream of the crop were forwarded to the judges.

Of course, a huge thank you to our judges, Harriet Baskas, Rosalind Cummings-Yeates, Pam Mandel and Angela Nickerson. They were tasked with reading through these top entries (the easy part) and then scoring them (the tough part) in order to pick the Grand Prize and Category winners.

We send a special shout out to our lead sponsor, Secrets Huatulco Resort and Spa in Mexico. Our Grand Prize winner has won a week-long stay for 2 at this amazing destination. And our category winners have each won a BRX Explore 22″ Upright bag from Briggs & Riley.

So, now that you know how we made it happen… here are the winners:

Grand Prize Winner – Samantha Stanway for Running with the Winos in France

Category Winners:
Adventure – Lori Robinson for Lilac Breasted Roller
Off the Beaten Path – Judith Wall for Love in Yellow and White
Food & Drink – Judith Ritter for Hair of Dog/Bile of the Snake
Spiritual – Madeline Felix for Recognizing Grace

Congrats to all the winners and THANK YOU to everyone who submitted a story. Trust me when I say it was very difficult for all involved to choose these winners – the entries this year were of the highest caliber and we encourage you all to continue with your passion of travel and writing!

If you weren’t among the winners, don’t give up! Please, keep writing and, more importantly, keep traveling. I believe that learning about the world at large helps us to build our tolerance, compassion and understanding about the world just beyond our front door. And we could all use a bit more of that!

To keep posted on future travel writing contests, subscribe to this RSS feed (right) or sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Travel Well!

Beth

Photo credit: I Won by Search Engine People Blog

This 14-day journey highlights the best of North India with stops at the Taj Mahal in Agra, a walking tour of Delhi, a stop at the nature preserve near Chambal and stops in Jodhpur and Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan.

This itinerary differs from past women-only WanderTours to India in that it now includes:

• Experiencing a Bollywood-like extravaganza in Delhi at the Kingdom of Dreams – a cultural showcase of all things India.
• Lunch at the home of a local family in Rajasthan, where the group will experience unique culinary delights and have the chance to get to see inside a typical Rajasthani home and learn about their culture and lifestyle.
• Diwali celebrations in Chambal, where a host family will share their puja (prayer) time with the group and all will enjoy a fireworks display.
• A walking tour of Delhi by a young person familiar with life on the streets of this city. While this is not a slum tour, it will show you a different side to this of Delhi.

Participants have the option to add a 3-day trip to Varanasi on to the end of the tour.

Details:
Limited to: 15 women
Tour leader: Dianne Sharma-Winter
Land costs: $3,975
In-country flights: approximately $145
Varanais add-on: $745 plus flights

See full itinerary and inclusions for this women-only tour to India on the WanderTours site.

Travel Well,

Beth

Related links:
North India Women-only Tour
North India photo gallery
Best Books about India