Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

This summer, we're leaning into seeing the world through rose-colored sunglasses; filling our days with roller skating, beach trips, reunions with friends and family, and more. Basically, we just want to have fun. So this week on the podcast, we're chatting all things summer fun—from the summer hobbies we picked up in the pandemic that we plan to continue, to the maximalist attitude we're bringing to the season. (We're expecting disco balls everywhere.) To guide us through a FOMO-free 2021 summer, we've tapped Jersey Banks, co-founder of Urban Cowboy hotels and the Dive Motel, and Marawa Ibrahim, a world-record-holding roller skater and hula hooper. Listen in for their tips and experiences—and how they're planning to have a particularly joyful summer. 

Read "101 Ways to Have Fun This Summer": https://www.cntraveler.com/story/101-ways-to-have-fun-this-summer

Find a full transcript of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/remember-fun-were-having-it-this-summer-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Marawa: @Marawa

Follow Jersey: @JerzBanks

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Follow Lale: @LaleHannah

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This episode was originally published in August 2020. 

When it comes to getting outdoors, gear can be a major barrier. Whether it's finding gear that comes in your size (let alone actually fits your body), knowing what gear is a must-have and what you can safely skip, or having the funds for what you need, there's a lot more at play than just walking into your local outdoor retailer. This week, we wanted to dig into women's gear—across hiking, climbing, dog mushing, and more—to find out how far we've come in opening up the outdoors to bodies of all shapes and experience levels and how far we have to go. With the most guests we've had on one podcast since we started recording at home, this episode stars Unlikely Hikers founder Jenny Bruso, Flash Foxy founder and climber Shelma Jun, and Iditarod competitor Blair Braverman, who share how they fell in love with the outdoors in the first place, how they overcome gear barriers today, and what they want from the outdoor industry.

Read a transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/womens-gear-still-isnt-where-we-want-it-to-be

Watch Blair's cold-weather gear reveal: https://twitter.com/blairbraverman/status/1082079705627426816?lang=en

Read Women Who Travel's Guide to the Outdoors: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-guide-to-the-outdoors-for-women-and-by-women

Follow Shelma: @shelmatic & @heyflashfoxy

Follow Jenny: @jennybruso & @unlikelyhikers

Follow Blair: @blairbraverman

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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Throughout the last year and a half, we've watched as beloved bars, restaurants, and gathering places have closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as writer Samantha Allen says on this week's episode, that wave of closures has been ongoing for years within the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, there are just over 15 lesbian bars remaining in the U.S., according to the Lesbian Bar Project, an effort to record and protect lesbian bars that's being spearheaded by filmmakers Elina Street and Erica Rose. (Editor's note: Since recording, the project has updated the number of U.S. lesbian bars to 21.)

To talk about how lesbian bars and queer spaces have fared during the pandemic and what is needed in the future to keep them around, we're joined by Allen and Lisa Menichino, owner of Cubbyhole, one of New York City's three remaining lesbian bars. One major takeaway? “You have to come,” says Menichino of post-pandemic visits to bars like Cubbyhole. “You have to support us. You have to be there. Because we're not magically going to be around without you.”

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-americas-lesbian-bars-need-our-support-more-than-ever-women-who-travel-project

Find them.'s Queer Spaces Project: https://www.them.us/story/queer-spaces-lost-covid-19

Find the Lesbian Bar Project's work: https://www.lesbianbarproject.com/

Follow Samantha: @SLAwrites

Follow Lisa at Cubbyhole: @cubbyholebar

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Try to define 24-year-old Australian-Zimbabwean musician Tkay Maidza's songs by a single genre and you may come up at a loss for words. But then again, so does she, telling us that her music is simply “alternative of anything.” 

“It's alternative pop, alternative, rap, alternative R&B,” she says from her new home in L.A. “It's left of center of anything because I'm always looking for something that's new and different and trying to make it my own.” 

This week, we sat down with the prolific singer to chat about how moving around as a kid prepared her for touring, how her family's musical interests have influenced her sound, and how she's stayed creative over the last year and a half. It's all part of our guide to new music around the world—and you can find Tkay and other incredible female artists on our Spotify playlist. 

Read a full transcription and find links to the artists Tkay mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/tkay-maidza-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Tkay: @tkaymaidza

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

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Charlotte Simpson had been traveling for decades before she took her first solo trip. She had visited all 50 states with her late husband throughout their 31-year marriage, traveled internationally with her daughter, and had adventures with girlfriends. But when no one wanted to go on a trip to Italy with her a few years after her husband died, she set out on her own—kicking off a new love for solo travel and the freedom that comes with it. “It was so liberating,” she says. This week, Charlotte, known online as @TravelingBlackWidow, joins us our I Deserve This series, talking about how she prioritizes traveling for herself, what she's learned about being more adventurous later in life, and how social media has influenced her travels.

Read a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/falling-in-love-with-solo-travel-after-retirement-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Charlotte: @travelingblackwidow

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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If, after over a year at home, you're thinking that the best salve for your sanity this summer is to pack up, get out of your house or apartment, and hit the road in a van to explore America's great outdoors, this episode is for you. With advice on what to pack, how to route your trip, and how to avoid the mistakes they made, our guests—van lifers Erin McGrady, an Asheville-based writer and photographer, and Noami Grevemberg, founder of Diversify Vanlife and one half of the @IrietoAurora Instagram account—can help you get started. But while this episode is in part a van life for dummies guide, it also gets at the no-filter realities of living in your van, the privilege that comes with choosing a voluntary nomadic lifestyle, and the responsibility travelers have to respect and understand the public lands they visit. It truly hits all the bases. 

Listen to "Why We Should Consider Whose Land We're On When We're Outdoors" with Jaylyn Gough: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-we-should-consider-whose-land-were-on-when-were-outdoors-women-who-travel-podcast

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-it-actually-takes-to-become-a-van-lifer-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Erin: @e.mcgrady

Follow Noami: @IrietoAurora

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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In January, our frequently asked questions episode saw us edging back into the world of travel—and with this week's episode, we're actually starting to plan those trips we've been dreaming about for this summer and into 2022. Joined by associate editor Megan Spurrell and transportation editor, Jessica Puckett, we're answering your questions about the outdoorsy domestic destinations to visit right now, the countries open to vaccinated travelers this summer, and where to reunite with your extended family after what has been more than a year apart for many. Plus, we chat about navigating the visa process for traveling long-term as a digital nomad. 

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/your-summer-travel-questions-answered-women-who-travel-podcast

Links mentioned:

"These National Parks Will Require Reservations This Summer," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/these-national-parks-will-require-reservations-this-summer

"The Best State Park in Every Single State," https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/the-best-state-parks-in-the-us

"These Countries Are Open to Fully Vaccinated Travelers," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/these-countries-are-open-to-fully-vaccinated-travelers

"7 Countries Where You Can Get a Passport Through Ancestry," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/countries-where-you-can-get-a-passport-through-ancestry

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Megan: @spurrelly

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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As temperatures begin to warm up and we start picturing the lazy park hangs and beach days in store for us this summer, our minds have already started whirring at the reading possibilities. Over the past year, we've turned to reading as both an escape from our current world and a way to explore without leaving home. While we'll be a bit more mobile this summer, our love for books hasn't changed, so we've once again tapped Jynne Dilling Martin associate publisher at Riverhead Books, and Lisa Lucas, senior vice president and publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books, to help craft the ultimate summer reading list of books written by women. Whether you're itching for a Greek myth retelling, a workplace thriller, a deep dive into the natural world, or a novel about a cannibalistic food writer, we've got you covered. 

Here's a full list of what we talked about:

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-books-we-cant-stop-talking-about-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Jynne: @jynnne

Follow Lisa: @likaluca

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Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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.

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This week on the podcast, we're joined by Michelle Zauner, most known as indie pop musician Japanese Breakfast, and whose memoir, Crying in H Mart, was released April 20. Michelle, who is Korean on her mother's side, centers her the book around her relationship with her mother—describing the foods that brought them together, their rituals on mother-daughter trips to Korea every other summer, and how she experienced the grief that came with her mother's cancer diagnosis. Listen in to hear her recount those summertime trips from her home in Oregon to visit her aunts and grandmother in Seoul and how she developed love for Korean cooking. Plus, she tells us about her love for Maangchi cooking videos on Youtube, the first dishes she'll eat when she gets back to Korea post-pandemic, and what she misses most about touring with Japanese Breakfast. (The short answer? All of it.)

Read a transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/michelle-zauner-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Michelle: @jbrekkie

Order Crying in H Mart: www.bookshop.org/books/crying-in-h-mart-a-memoir/9780525657743

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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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.

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As travel begins to open up for vaccinated Americans and we start making the trips we’ve been dreaming about a reality, Lale and I wanted to reshare an episode we recorded last July. Joined by the recently engaged Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy of BLK MKT Vintage, we chatted all things souvenirs and home decor. In this episode, learn how they shop for and curate their store, which maps the Black diaspora through vintage wares and collectibles. (Plus, how they style their own souvenirs and vintage finds at home.) Their biggest tips? Have patience: Whether you're shopping in your own town or have to travel halfway around the world, be prepared to leave a shop or flea market empty handed should nothing speak to you. And think about function and purpose before spending on something that won't fit in your home, let alone your suitcase.

Follow BLK MKT Vintage: @blkmktvintage

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Find a transcription of the episode and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-shop-for-meaningful-souvenirs-women-who-travel-podcast

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