“For all the women who sit at home or behind their desks bitching that they never get to go anywhere.”
Such was my first impression of “Sand in my bra and other misadventures” (edited by Jennifer L. Leo). Gifted to me by my well intentioned father (who clearly isn’t able to relate fully to the idea of solo female traveler), this book is a collection of stories written from the view point of various female travelers. Like-minded women are sure to laugh at Kathleen Walker’s bathroom predicaments (a common theme, it seems, in travel) as excerpted from her appropriately titled How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art. If that’s not your cup of tea, maybe Sandra Tsing Loh’s Tahitian holiday strikes a chord, where bonding with the French to avoid the Australians still beats dealing with young, perfectionist interns at home.
Overall, this 187 page book is a quick read, ironically best suited (in my opinion) for airplane travel or long train rides. Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the writing styles – many tales could have been much wittier, and my feeling was that the majority of the contributing authors were not experienced in humorous writing. Additionally, this book seems to be targeted primarily to older women (although I should mention that a one or two chapters were written by younger writers). That being said, at $15 a pop, it’s not a bad deal. A few good laughs, some nice stories, and the feeling of not being alone in one’s urge to travel.
A book which struck a better chord with me was “A Woman Alone – Travel Tales Around the Globe”. This book ventures into the inspirational, rather than humorous, area of travelogging and is (as the title would suggest) targeted towards women who are planning to travel alone. Written to assuage the many fears which arise during the trip planning stage (safety and loneliness being the primary two, in my case), this book is excellently written and a wonderful, wonderful vote of confidence for a solo trip. Robyn Davidson writes about her solo trip across Australia with four camels, Ginny NiCarthy finds her way through South America with Spanish capabilities “at the level of a cocker spaniel”, and Jamie Zeppa is taught how to cook rice by some nosy students in Bhutan. Coming in at $16, this book is definitely worth the money – especially for women looking for final encouragement before a big adventure.
