Women only holidays
 

Hi there,

I wonder if I can pick the powerful Fodor brains out there? Do you know of any good women only holidays? A bit of background: I am a gay woman in my fifties, fairly recently emerged from a 20 year relationship. So I'm having to discover the joys of solo travel after a long time of travelling with my partner. As part of the life changes I moved to a new area, a new job and have just settled into a new home. I have been lucky to make some great new friends but am feeling a bit isolated from my women's community - not many women "who wear sensible shoes" around where I am! So I am looking for some holiday ideas where I can meet up with other sensible shoe wearers - I have been checking out some walking holidays in Europe and have found a possible for November but the irony is that no-one else has booked on it yet and the idea is not for me to be on my own again! Anyway I would be most interested in any ideas, contacts etc. I love being outdoors so a walking holiday is high on my list. Probably in Europe because I am in the UK and don't have loads of money for holidays. I'll be interested to hear from you!

Casseopia, Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry I don't have any ideas for you, as I travel solo and have never done a group sort of activity. Hopefully others will chime in with some ideas. I just wanted to say welcome, and that your post is so sweet and made me smile. Wishing you all the best in your new adventures, Suze

Thanks Suze - that's a really nice welcome! I am looking forward to new adventures and hope there may be a few ideas out there!

I put your question into yahoo.com and this site came up, looks like it will be a good place to start.

http://www.transitionsabroad.com

Maybe you can contact a group that specializes in women with your same background for some tips. Maybe put this question on the Europe board too, there are more postings there.

Good Luck!

Definitely cross-post here at Fodor's onto the European board.

Also I recommend going to The Lonely Planet website, their forum similar to this one called The Thorn Tree. They have various forums in cluding Western Europe, gay/lesbian traveler, i think a solo branch also (not sure on the last one).

I know of two women only tour outfitters:

Adventure women

http://www.adventurewomen.com/

Gutsy women

http://www.gutsywomentravel.com/?sou...FQstWAodrhwoBQ

If you google "women only tours" I am sure others will pop up.

www.journeywoman.com is another possible resource

Thank you all so much for these suggestions - I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I will check them out and report back on any trip I manage to arrange.

Two other walking tour companies that have some women's only tours are www.countrywalkers.com and www.thewayfarers.com. They're not cheap though and aren't specifically for gay and lesbians. I did a wayfarer's women's only trip last fall in Umbria and loved it, but it was upscale and some of the participants definitely were not sensible shoe types. Pam