As we mention in the intro to this week's episode, we recorded this installment of Women Who Travel well before the coronavirus has changed the landscape of our day-to-day lives. But in a world where we still dream of our next trip, we wanted to continue to share our tips on where to go next for you to squirrel away for when the time is right. So, this week, we're back with a Frequently Asked Questions episode, to answer your burning questions, pulled from our Facebook group. In it, we zip from where to vacation in Greece, what to do with a teenager and five weeks of vacation, and how to bring yourself out of a solo travel-induced funk.  Find more about this episode and a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/we-answer-your-frequently-asked-travel-questions-part-5-women-who-travel-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women Who Travel

We Answer Your Frequently Asked Travel Questions, Part 5

At 19, Jen Gotch had a panic attack in the airport, just ahead of boarding a flight back to college. "I, on a cellular level, felt like I was going to die if I got on that airplane," says the Ban.do founder and author of the soon-to-be-released Upside of Being Down: How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life. Now, years later and hundreds of flights under her belt, that anxiety has shifted, evolved, and—most recently—waned, as she's found strategies to stay calm on the road. (One life-changing tool? TSA PreCheck.) This week, we sat down with Jen to talk through how she continues to tackle her travel anxiety, why vacations (even if they're just on our own couches) are good for our mental health, and why she stopped working on her days off.  Find a link to preorder Jen's book, out March 24, and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/bando-founder-jen-gotch-on-anxiety-and-the-power-of-mini-vacations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ban.do Founder Jen Gotch on Anxiety and the Power of Mini Vacations

In the third installment of our "How I Became" series, we're focusing less about traveling around the world—and more about traveling up the corporate ladder. In conversation with Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Celebrity Cruises' president and CEO and the first woman to hold that title in industry history, we look back at how she started her career and rose to the top with no female mentors or advocates in sight. Along the way, we chat about handling rejection—both 35 years ago, when first trying to get into the cruise industry, and five years ago, when she was told "no" three times before finally getting her spot in the C-suite.  Read a full transcription of the episode and find links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-the-first-female-ceo-of-a-major-cruise-line-women-who-travel-podcast Follow Meredith at @ohheytheremere Follow Lale at @lalehannah Follow Women Who Travel at @womenwhotravel Follow Lisa at @lisalutoffperlo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How I Became the First Female CEO of a Major Cruise Line

When we read a preview of Everything I Know About Love, the debut memoir from Dolly Alderton, we knew we had to bring her on the podcast. The book, which charts her love life (romantic and platonic) from her teens until now, centers strongly on female friendships and the highs and lows of travel—both on your own and with friends. (There's a chapter near the end set in the Orkney Islands that is particularly moving. You'll just have to read it.) This week, we sit down with Alderton to celebrate her book's U.S. release, and chat about everything from the time she cried while interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert to why the world is still uncomfortable with women traveling on their own.  Find a full transcription of the episode and a link to pick up Dolly's book here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/author-dolly-alderton-on-growing-into-solo-travel Follow Meredith at @ohheytheremere Follow Lale at @lalehannah Follow Women Who Travel at @womenwhotravel Follow Dolly at @dollyalderton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Dolly Alderton on Growing Into Solo Travel

This week, we're having all of the awkward conversations that come with budgeting for travel. How do you even start saving for your next trip? What do you do when you can't afford a group trip? What do you prioritize spending money on when you vacation? What do you do when you don't qualify for a travel-friendly credit card and can't cash in points and miles? We've tapped the experts—Samantha Barry, Glamour's editor-in-chief and host of the She Makes Money Moves podcast, and Travel Channel's Oneika Raymond—to answer these and more. Find links to items mentioned and read a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/an-honest-conversation-about-saving-and-budgeting-for-travel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Honest Conversation About Saving and Budgeting for Travel

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All-Women Group Trips Bring Out the Best Parts of Travel

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Balance Traveling for a Long-Distance Relationship

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How I Visited Every Country in the World: Jessica Nabongo on Setting Records

"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: @ohheytheremere Follow Lale: @lalehannah Follow Annette: @fromannettewithlove & @fatgirlstraveling Follow Laura: @heylauraheyyy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Travel Taught Me to Love My Body

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-podcast While 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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Best Books We Read Last Year

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How I Became a Photojournalist: A Chat with Lynsey Addario

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Find—And Book—a Spontaneous Flight Deal

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why You Really Need to Take All of Your Vacation Days

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Author Dina Nayeri's Refugee Experience Shaped the Way She Travels

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 more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We Answer Your Frequently Asked Travel Questions, Part 4

Condé Nast Traveler editors Lale Arikoglu and Meredith Carey dissect the realities of traveling as a woman today, high-fiving all those shaking things up in food, hospitality, adventure, and travel journalism, and celebrating all the reasons why we refuse to stay home.

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