Old Broads Abroad

Just for the record, when I am overseas I consider myself one of the above, in case anyone takes this post's title as a slur. It makes sense that women of a certain age would be offering some of the best tips on budget travel. After all, women still earn a lot less than men do on average, and older women tend to be more adventurous than older men, at least in my experience.

Dru Pearson writes an interesting blog (www.tightwadtravel.blogspot.com) about her voyages and recently about how to travel in Western Europe at reasonable cost by renting apartments in expensive cities such as London and Paris. She is also the author of a book on retiring in Mexico, and another on travelling in Europe on a budget. I haven't read them, but based on the blog and a brief look through their tables of contents (courtesy of www.amazon.com,) they look worthwhile.

Rita Golden Gelman, whom I have mentioned before in this blog, is now travelling in Turkey and blogging about it. Check out her Website www.ritagoldengelman.com and scroll to the bottom for a no holds barred account of her experiences there. What I like about her writing is her willingness to let it all hang out, the bad as well as the good. She writes of the extreme heat and limited air conditioning, and of nearly panicking when she missed a connection with a woman who was to be her host.

In my experience Muslim countries like Turkey are among the most difficult for women travelling alone, especially those of us who don't speak the local language. That doesn't mean they are to be avoided--I've loved my trips to Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco. But it does mean you need to be prepared for more than an average degree of hassle. In the case of Egypt it seems to me prudent to avoid this fascinating country until the political situation stabilizes.