Farewell To Frommer's Guidebooks

If you're both a bookworm and a travel...worm(?), you probably already heard the news. Yesterday it was announced that Frommer's, a travel guidebook publisher that's been in business since 1957, will no longer be publishing print editions of their guides. From now on, it's all digital in the world according to Arthur Frommer, the veteran travel writer who began with The GI's Guide to Traveling Europe a couple years before publishing the first official offering in the Frommer's series, Europe on $5 a Day.

Even without ever picking up a Frommer's guide or having heard of the series, you can easily gather from that initial title that Frommer's specializes in budget-conscious travel advice. Though over the years the boast of $5 a day would creep up to $20 to $45 to $90 a day (and the "on" in the title would sneakily morph into a "from": Frommer's Italy from $90 a Day), after which point the series faced financial realities and just started titling them "day by day," leaving the penny-pinching up to you (Frommer's France Day by Day). A magazine called Budget Travel (still in publication) would join the Frommer's brand and, as with most publishers, so would a website with pretty much all the information you could find in the guidebooks as well as a travel blog written by Arthur Frommer himself.

The decision to stop printing guides really comes as no surprise, regardless of whether you have any insider knowledge of the travel industry or the publishing industry. It's just the way publishing has been going for a long while now. Everybody can probably think of at least one example of some publication or other that you used to be able to hold in your hand and crack open the covers or flip the pages of that you just can't anymore, simply because they don't make 'em like they used to. I used to work in publishing. Encyclopaedia Britannica, the company I worked at longest--and that had existed a full 240 years before I even pushed a few editorial pencils and marked up a few manuscripts there--made a big announcement last year that it would no longer be printing encyclopedia sets. It was something I'd say most of the company's employees and former employees and anyone who'd ever worked for a publishing company for that matter could probably see coming--yet it made world headlines (both digital and print kind) and it was hard not to feel some loss and shock, even for those of us who set down our red editorial pencils and closed the cover of the company style manual years ago.  

These days, as a part-time traveler/full-time travel dreamer/once-upon-a-time copy editor, I admit I get a lot of my info and advice online. A lot of it--but by no means all. I still buy and read actual travel guidebooks. And I still rely on guidebooks when I travel--much more so than any current or new technological device. In fact I probably rely on guidebooks exclusively for info and advice while I'm on the road--as I generally don't bring along my cell phone (it's a cheap one anyway with no apps whatsoever that I don't even know how to upload or install or use or whatever you call it) or laptop (it's too heavy and I'd be afraid to lose or damage it). Even when I've resorted to printing out articles or maps from online sources while preparing to go somewhere, note that I'm still relying on the good old-fashioned technology of print, of actual, physical pages that you hold in your hand, fold up in your pocket, spill food and drink on, scribble in the margins or on the backs of, tear up in fits of traveler's frustration or panic, use as toilet paper in emergency situations (uh-huh, you heard me...and fellow travelers, you know what I'm talking about), and about a thousand other actions.

As for which brand of guidebook I rely on, I'm not married to any particular brand. I usually flip through a few different brands on the same destination whenever I'm planning a trip before deciding if I want to buy one and which one. Sometimes it's size and weight that make the decision for me. Sometimes it's organizational style--things like good indexing, useful general info grouped together at the beginning or end of the book, color fold-out maps at the beginning or end with more detailed maps placed often throughout the book. Sometimes it's content--more advice and consideration than average for female travelers' concerns, more info on a lesser-known place or sight I'm planning on visiting, more history. Sometimes it's writing quality--does the text sound like it's been written by some stoned 20-year-old backpacker dude or a detail-obsessed architecture zealot or a cranky xenophobe or what? Budget almost always plays a big part in my choice of guidebook. If a guidebook lists no hostel options, it's out of my league. Sad fact. Hostels, B&Bs, budget motels, lunch cafes, sandwich shops, whereabouts of grocery stores, free days at museums, work-exchange options, local public transit stations, public restroom locations--these are the kind of deadbeat, er, I mean pennywise listings that speak to me. Conversely, the more a guidebook gives space to car rental and valet services, Zagat restaurant ratings, exclusive spa and salon getaways, high-end shopping recommendations, directions to high-rise rooftop nightclubs with swimming pools, and helicopter tour options, the more I know it's not meant for me. I don't think such guidebooks are even aware travelers like me exist much less share the world's roads with their kind of target tourists.

Being budget-conscious has usually meant I lean towards brands such as Lonely Planet, Let's Go, and Rough Guide. These brands are also better suited towards younger and solo travelers in my opinion. Their recommendations have certainly saved me a lot of money, and I've probably been able to travel farther, to literally get more mileage out of my dollars, with these brands than I would have with the advice of brands like Fodor's. I admit the budget brands of travel guides have also misled to me to the occasional forget-rustic-this-is-just-downright-scuzzy accommodation or eating place. I once heard a genuinely intrepid and fearless young female backpacker make a similar complaint about the Footprint guides, which I've seen but have never used.

Where do Frommer's guides fit in with all this? Frommer's has always been decidedly budget-conscious but with a step in the direction of comfort, cleanliness, and class-consciousness. A fair bit closer to Fodor's than to the Lonely Planet variety, a forerunner to Rick Steves if anything. For enthusiastic, adventurous, and frugal travelers, yes, but specifically for those who long outgrew the "charm" of sleeping in a dorm with a bunch of strangers or washing their clothes in the sink or shower (and using the complimentary soap and shampoo samples) to save on hotel laundry charges.

I think it was for this reason, as well as the brand's reputation for unpretentious yet good-quality writing, that I chose a Frommer's guide when I purchased my very first travel guidebook. It was in 1994, the year I first went to Ireland. I was 21, a student, and working as a store girl in a local Polish bakery for something like $5.50 to $6 an hour. My previous occupations up until this time had been an usher and candy seller at a movie theater and a book checker-inner and sorter at a library. You can see why I might have been drawn in by the promise on the Frommer's cover: Ireland on $40 a Day. In truth, I think I managed on a third of that--mainly by eating a full breakfast in the morning, which tied me over for hours, then drinking a bottle of Coke or a small carton of milk really fast for "lunch" (drinking fast, in a few gulps, tricks you into feeling full), and for dinner eating the 6 scones I had gotten for a pound in the Moore Street Market in Dublin--one scone per day, sometimes two if I hadn't managed the full breakfast in the morning. I ate the scones dry--no butter, no jam, no nothing. The older they got, the more they crumbled--but just as long as they didn't turn green. I remember eating one in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin and one on Inishmore, the crumbs falling all over the little patch of grass I had staked out in some field where I'd knocked over my rented bike and climbed over a wall to hide from the road. (Even though no one knew me in all of Ireland and so no one cared, I remember feeling I had to eat on the sly, like it was a vulgar thing to do outside of any restaurant--where I felt too awkward as a young foreign girl sitting by myself--and like it was something to be ashamed of that I was basically just consuming scones, milk, and Coke on my vacation.)

I cut corners in tons of ways that first trip outside my country. I wanted to supplement a reasonable but still somewhat costly for me tour I took for part of my trip. Taking a tour had been something of a compromise to easy my parents' worries about me being all alone in a foreign country for a couple weeks. I think choosing the Frommer's guide may have been a bit of a compromise as well--in the sense that while it suited my budget tastes, it was maybe meant for a more mature and secure traveler. By using the Frommer's guide at that very inexperienced stage in my life, I was being thrifty but also perhaps trying to make up for my inexperience with the security that came from following the decidedly sensible advice and middle-class recommendations of Frommer's well-respected and well-traveled writers. You might say that my Frommer's book served not only as a guide but also as a guard--likely steering me away from some of the edgier places and more reckless fun I might have gotten myself into had I taken a Lonely Planet guide along with me. (Or maybe it made no difference whatsoever. I did hitchhike during that first visit in Ireland after all. But just once. And just for maybe 5 miles. And I kept my hand on the passenger door handle the whole time and sprung out of the car and ran the second the driver stopped at my destination--just to be safe. I am a proper product of a Midwestern suburban upbringing, people.)

I know I still have my first Frommer's guide somewhere--packed away in boxes ever since I moved out of my Chicago apartment and essentially gave up a permanent address of my own for awhile to travel at length. It's a pretty tattered copy. Far more so than any of the guidebooks I've used since. It's well marked up with pages torn out and then shoved back in from those times I just wanted to carry one of the city maps around rather than the whole book. In many ways it's as much proof of my travel credentials as a stamped-up passport. Arthur Frommer would probably love the tattered sight of it--the wreck of it much more potent evidence of the good use I got out of it than a million personal hits on his website could ever be. It's like the difference between a battered suitcase and a brand new credit card. Both got you around the world. But while one's all about the money, the other's all about the journey...and has the scars to prove it. I'm hanging onto my old Frommer's and all my old guidebooks--and I'll keep buying them as long as someone's printing them. I'd no sooner be satisfied with digital-only reading than I would be with virtual traveling, with a paperless world than a roadless one.

Ireland Tour In August & September -- Spaces Going Fast!!

'Tis March! St. Pat's month. Got all things Irish on the brain? Fancy a visit to Ireland this year?

In August 2013 Wayfaring Women Tours is heading to this extraordinary island country of spectacular beauty, fascinating history and culture, and the friendliest people on earth for 9 days of craic go leor (that's Irish for "fun galore"). We’ll be visiting Ireland’s stunning western and southern counties, beginning in Galway and making our way down to Cork. You can join us--but hurry up!! The tour is filling up!!

Beautiful Dingle coastline in County Kerry

This tour is August 29-September 6, 2013 and starts at $1,950 per person (for double room sharing). You can read on for more details or check out the itinerary (and make your reservation) at the Wayfaring Women Tours website here.

Kylemore Abbey in Connemara

Best of the West & South Ireland Tour for Women: August 29-September 6, 2013

(9 days/8 nights)

Tour Includes

• Nine days of touring covering Counties Galway, Clare, Kerry, and Cork
• Accommodation for 8 nights in comfortable hotels and guesthouses, located in Galway City, Lisdoonvarna, Inis Oirr (the Aran Islands), Dingle, and Shanagarry (outside Cork City)
• Walking tour of Galway City to see its historic pubs and churches, the Spanish Arch and Lynch’s Castle, and the home of Nora Barnacle (the woman who would become Mrs. James Joyce and inspire Bloomsday)
• Visit to Brigit’s Garden in Moycullen with tour of gardens, tea break, and special workshop on the Brigit tradition in Celtic folklore and culture
• Tour of Connemara, including the charming village of Clifden and picture-perfect Kylemore Abbey
• Free night in Galway City for you to enjoy the pubs, sit in on a traditional Irish music session, stroll along the bay, venture out to nearby Salthill, whatever you fancy
• Tour of the Burren with a relaxed walk led by Tony Kirby, Burren guide and author
• Visit to the Cliffs of Moher, with plenty of time to take in the amazing views
• Two nights of music, dancing, and all-around merrymaking at the world-famous annual Matchmaking Festival in Lisdoonvarna
• Optional excursion day to Lahinch, a seaside town noted for it beaches, with opportunity to sign up for a fun surfing lesson
• Trip to Inis Oirr, the smallest and loveliest of the Aran Islands, with ferry transport from Doolin
• Overnight stay on Inis Oirr, with walking tour of the island led by Eoghan Poil of Aran Islands Walks and easy, engaging Irish language lesson led by Bríd Ní Chualáin of FEICIM
• Tour of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry and its many archaeological sites
• Afternoon cookery course at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, focusing on scone, jam, and bread making
• Visit to Blarney Castle and opportunity to kiss the Blarney Stone for the gift of eloquence as well as shop ‘til you drop at Blarney Woolen Mills
• Plus: All breakfasts (8) included (full Irish), welcome dinner on first night in Galway City and farewell dinner on last night at Ballymaloe House, transportation in a roomy, comfortable coach with reclining seats, professional driver and guide, and transfers from Shannon Airport to Galway City on first day of tour and to Shannon from County Cork on last day (for guests arriving in/leaving from Shannon)

Cobblestone street in Galway City

Traditional fishing currach (foreground) and Plassey shipwreck on Inis Oirr (Aran Islands)

NEW PRICE: $1,950 per person (based on double person occupancy)
Single supplement is $450
Required deposit is $500 per person

Making a deposit or full payment on this tour is equivalent to having read and agreed to our Terms & Conditions.

Meals included: All breakfasts (8), four (4) dinners, one (1) tea break, plus tea and generous tastings during afternoon cookery course. Some drinks and all alcoholic beverages are not included and factored into price of tour.

Not included in price of tour: Transportation (airfare) to Ireland; airport transfers not specifically stated in itinerary (only airport transfers to/from Shannon Airport on the dates of Aug. 29 and Sept. 6 are included in price); local transportation expenses during free time on tour (i.e., taxi fares); travel insurance; meals where not stated in itinerary; personal items/shopping expenses; fees such as room service, laundry service, telephone calls, Internet use in hotels or elsewhere, etc.; entrance fees or expenses for any activities engaged during free time on tour, including optional excursions; any expenses incurred for tour members spending additional time in Ireland before or beyond tour’s start and end; tips for tour leader, driver, and local guides; passport/visa fees (for tour members arriving from outside Ireland). No refunds will be given for any unused portion of a tour by a tour member.

No, this is not a pic of our passengers boarding our coach

Hot whiskey and Irish coffee -- together forever

Activity description: This tour involves several walking activities. We will be taking a 90-minute leisurely walking tour of Galway City, a 1-hour guided walking tour of Brigit’s Garden (at a very leisurely pace), and a 2-hour walking tour of the Burren (at an easy pace). Our time on Inis Oirr may also involve a walk or another easy but physical activity (depending on the weather). Many of the other sites we will be visiting involve some walking too, such as visiting the grounds of Kylemore Abbey or Blarney Castle (the latter also involves climbing narrow, winding stone steps to reach the Blarney Stone). The terrain we will be covering includes cobbled streets and sidewalks (in the cities and towns) and rocky earth (the Burren and Inis Oirr). None of the walking will be strenuous, but please be prepared and bring good walking shoes.

We will also be visiting beaches and cliffs, where the wind can be quite strong. There may be some opportunities for heartier activities such as swimming or surfing--these will be optional during your free time. There may be some dancing (wink). We will also be crossing on a small ferry for our visit to Inis Oirr and while traveling from Clare to Kerry (via a car ferry). If you tend to seasickness, please prepare accordingly when packing for this tour. Rain gear, an umbrella, and warm clothes are essential for this tour as well. If you can brave a dip in the bracing Atlantic waters, consider bringing a swimsuit too.

Note: This tour requires a minimum of 10 people and has a maximum of 15 people. The minimum age requirement for this tour is 16 years. Participants under age 18 must be accompanied with an adult (over age 18). 

Fuschia in bloom

In Connemara

This is a tour filled with the Emerald Isle’s best-known highlights as well as some of its hidden gems, making it ideal for both first-timers to Ireland and women who have been there before and want to see more. This is also a tour that was put together with a lot of care for what makes Ireland so wonderful and unique. Ireland has been a home away from home for me since my first visit there in 1994 and my first summer living and working there the following year. It is home to some of the best friends and happiest memories of my life. I'd love to have you along and see for yourself what makes Ireland so enchanting and easy to keep coming back to.

Your tour manager at Kylemore Abbey

Australia

Along the Great Ocean Road

Apparently where they make dingos, outside Perth

In 2009 I visited Australia for several weeks. It was during their summer, and an especially scorching one at that. I spent the bulk of my time away from the cities--in a very small town in the Flinders Ranges and on a cattle station in the Outback in Northern Territory--which should be taken into account when reading the poem below. I wrote this poem in the summer of 2009 (the American one, this time) while in a poetry workshop at the Poetry Center in Chicago. Today I'm sharing it in honor of Australia Day--January 26th in the land down under. Enjoy (?) the poem and the pictures of this very challenging and very beautiful country. 

Riverbed in the Northern Territory

Devils Peak, outside Quorn near Flinders Ranges

Australia

This has been the wrong place for a hushing holiday

for a 2-month break that was supposed to bring a bit of peace

an easy adventure after an especially disquieting year 
of leaking apartments and low-paying jobs 
and betrayals by men who were hard to leave 
even while hard to believe

What I’d had in mind on the way over

while keeping myself entertained on a 3-transfer 23-hour flight

was something along the lines of 8 weeks 
of lazy late-morning wakeups

zany beer-buzzed beach romps

and Kodak-captured kangaroo safaris

through the Outback on air-conditioned

comfortably cushioned backpacker buses

At Mackenzie Falls with fellow backpackers

Mackenzie Falls in Victoria

Me in the Grampians in Victoria...near the beginning

I hadn’t planned for this…

this country 
of bawling and blistered

newly branded calves

and screaming yellow-crested 
cockatoos

whose cries at sunrise

rouse you about as gently

as a burst of fireworks

or a blast of a grenade

this scorched land 
of sun-fried fields

desiccated trees too dead

and bare to even clatter together

a few desperately thirsty 
branches and leaves

and bring a little aural 
relief

to the deserted searing 
stretches of the midday 
Aussie bush

this place of poison waters

where sharks and snakes 
crocs and rays

lie in wait like underwater mines

to sting you 
bite you 
eat you

chase you out 
of the cooling waves

back onto the parched land

into the punishing heat

On the cattle station in the Outback...dry as a stone

A calf getting branded on the cattle station

My shadow on the station during a searing summer

With a local sheep rancher in Quorn

Oh and the flies

have I mentioned the flies

swarming round your ears

like a false lover’s lies

flies up your nostrils
flies in your eyes

flies rudely resting on your lips

as if they were just plums

ripening on a ledge

and the mosquitoes

merciless 
malicious
like the thorns

on a dozen indignant roses

plucked without invitation

and plastic-trapped into a bouquet

On the left is a spider's nest (about a foot wide), on the right a termite hill (about 2 feet high)

Ludicrous this country

for peace of mind and ease of being

curative as a cup of scalding coffee

or a stiff pair of wool trousers

on a 90-degree day

Murdering my mouth (and a tune) on a didgeridoo in Alice Springs

Statue near art museum in Perth, and how I felt near end of my holiday

Yet I wouldn’t say it’s a place 
totally bereft of tranquility

only that it selfishly 
or maybe wisely

tucks away its reserves of calm

in things fleeting and integral

as the exact middle note

of a magpie’s morning song

in things fleeting and arbitrary

as the exact moment 
a pepper tree

chooses to release a burst of its 
tang

for anybody or nobody to inhale

for any wind or no wind

to pick up and pass along

Magpie in Quorn

Tiny Quorn in South Australia

Windmill and well on the cattle station

View from the Pinnacle in the Grampians, where I nearly passed out from heat and climb

This is a country where you’ll learn how to earn 

your sense of composure

to concentrate on the hush

among the clamor and discomfort

to isolate it as you would

the wingbeat of a bird

and safeguard it like the echo of a hidden 
spring

in a dried-up riverbed

silenced by decades of drought

and layers of red dust.

Red dust, ghost gum tree, and me, Northern Territory

Deadliest of all in Australia is the Vegemite

Evens & Starters

Weird title for a blog post, I know. But I just wanted to share a few links--and I didn't think "Odds & Ends" would suit the first blog post of the year.

So...a few evens and starters for you:

If you've been reading this blog since my Camino de Santiago days--or if you've found this blog by way of searching for info about the Camino--you might be interested in a couple developments by two fellow peregrinos and friends I made on the Camino in 2011.

A friend I made on my very first day of walking the Camino has just launched her own "just get me started" Camino program: The Camino Experience.

Nancy (center) with fellow peregrinas from Ireland and Canada, 2011

I met Nancy in the Orisson albergue, where I learned she was the only other American pilgrim in the joint that night...as well as making her 6th Camino journey. Since then, she's made two more pilgrimages on the Camino and has decided to help other would-be pilgrims become bona-fide peregrinos. If you're interested in walking the Camino someday, you couldn't do any better than finding out how to get started from a genuine Camino expert like Nancy. Check out her website for more information and background about Nancy.

Meanwhile another friend I made on the Camino, a photographer from South Africa who currently lives in Ireland, where she officially began her Camino journey, has just published an e-book about her pilgrimage experience. Belinda's book, titled Simple Moments on a Journey, is available for purchase for your Kindle for $9.99 at Amazon. It's a lovely, thoughtful story by a very lovely, thoughtful person. Here's also a little video with some photos from her journey that tell more about her book:

Speaking of Ireland (sort of), I wanted to give a shout out to myself (yes, I can do that--it's my blog, people) and my tour company's upcoming women's tour of Ireland in August and September this year. If you've been thinking of signing up for the tour, and if your interest in Ireland or the tour stems from digging at some Irish roots in your family tree, you should know this year is the best year to visit Ireland. Why? Because of The Gathering 2013, that's why!

The Gathering is a special and huge initiative just launched by the Irish government and Irish tourist board to welcome people of Irish heritage all over the world back to their ancestral homeland. The year-long and country-wide celebration got going on New Year's Eve in Dublin. Events celebrating Ireland's diaspora and worldwide cultural influence will be held all throughout the year, in every corner and county of Ireland, north and south. Since this is Ireland we're talking about, what this means essentially is more warm welcomes, more music sessions, more parties, more fun, more craic than ever. That's saying something.

So if you've been thinking of visiting Ireland, this year is the time to do it. And if you're a woman who's looking to travel to Ireland, Wayfaring Women Tours is the group to travel with. It's not your grandfather's Ireland you'll see with Wayfaring Women Tours--it's your grandmother's your mother's, your sister's, your daughter's, your girlfriend's, and yours, Irish roots or no Irish roots. Here's a link to some pictures of places you'll see and go on our tour from our Facebook page. 

Kylemore Abbey in County Galway

Any questions about tour, give us a call at (773) 655-9514 or email us at info@wayfaringwomentours.com.

The Top 10 Posts Of 2012, Sort Of

Travel-wise, this was a quiet year--a mostly stay-at-home year. Even so, I managed to post a few stories about travel experiences past and present in 2012. Better yet, I managed to get a few of you to take a look-see at some of my stories.

The following are my top 10 most popular blog posts of the past year, going by how many hits each post got. With a little fudging. I had a few posts that got a lot of views but that I didn't include here, as they were more "timely" posts or strictly advertising. These would be a post on my tour company's upcoming women's tour of Ireland in August--September 2013, and a post on the Passports With Purpose fundraiser for Haiti I participated in a month or so ago by hosting a prize.

(By the way, that prize--a space on my Ireland 2013 tour--was won by a fellow travel writer named Kayte. We welcome her to the tour and can't wait to meet her in Ireland. In the meantime, if you donated to the fundraiser or entered for a prize, congratulate yourself on having helped raise a whopping $110,000 for Water.org to build much-needed wells in Haiti. That's a promise of clean and safe water for several communities in Haiti in 2013. The new year already looks brighter.)

But back to the top 10. Time's a running out on 2012. These were the posts that caught your eye the most this year. If you missed any on the list, click and take a look now...or as you nurse your new year's hangover or draw up your list of 2013's resolutions. Hope that list of resolutions includes some traveling--mine sure does.

10. The Last Four Years, For This American. Right after our most recent U.S. presidential election, I looked back on my last 4 years of traveling, which kicked off right after the historic 2008 election with a cross-country bus trip of my home country.
9. All Souls Rich and Poor: Chicago's Graceland Cemetery, on one of the city's most famous, beautiful, haunted, and fascinating graveyards.
8. Blue Views and High Dunes. Ever been to Michigan's mighty dunes? Didja even know Michigan and the Great Lakes had such amazing natural beauty? Go to this post and now you will.
7. Pictures for St. Patrick's Day. Check out these photos of beautiful Ireland over the last decade or so. Posted in honor of Ireland's main national holiday.
6. Dubuque: Of All Places -- on the familiar joys of eastern Iowa.
5. An Irish Trifecta. I wrote 3 articles on Irish topics for the Britannica Blog in the first half of the year. Here you can link to them and read 'em.
4. A Well Written Story, a link to a link. Read about the holy well on the smallest of the Aran Islands and its magic healing powers.
3. The Giant's Causeway vs. Golfers' Cashflow, about the very misguided deal to build a multi-million dollar golf complex on the doorstep of Northern Ireland's most popular and stunning natural attraction.
2. My Grandfather and the Eastland Disaster, a post on the Eastland boat tragedy in Chicago in 1915, which my grandfather Ostberg witnessed as a rescue diver.

1. And the top post of the year is... I Shouldn't Be Alive: Bolivian Edition -- a swashbuckler on the 3-day El Choro trek I took on the old Inca Trail in Bolivia.

Enjoy the posts. Hope to bring you more interesting stories and travel tales in 2013!

Help Haiti, Win A Trip To Ireland

Connemara, Ireland

So a couple posts ago I wrote about a fundraiser to help Haiti build wells and bring clean, safe water to some communities in need there through the aid of Water.org. The fundraiser is held by a network of travel bloggers coming together under the awesome name Passports With Purpose.  

Basically, Passports With Purpose (PwP) is an annual fundraiser held by dozens of travel bloggers that aims to give back to the places that travelers visit. PwP has been around since 2008, each year raising money for a good cause and topping its goal from year to year. This year PwP's goal is to raise $100,000 for Water.org, an organization working to make clean and safe water available to all countries and populations around the world. In the wake of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010--and the damage done all over again to the country during Hurricane Sandy only a few weeks ago--Water.org will be using the money raised from Passports With Purpose for building much-needed wells in two communities in Haiti.

Now there are lots of good reasons why you should consider donating to Passports With Purpose and helping out Haiti and Water.org. First, here are a few facts about water resources in the world:

• Nearly 1 billion people lack access to safe water.
• Two and a half billion lack access to improved sanitation.
• More people in the world have a mobile phone than a toilet.
• Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related illness--mostly children in developing countries. 
• Because of lack of safe water and adequate sanitation, an estimated 200 million work hours are spent each day in the world collecting water...almost entirely by women. That's enough woman-power to build 28 Empire State Buildings per day.

Those are the sobering reasons to donate. But if you're a traveler, there are even more reasons. For just $10 donation to Passports With Purpose, along with helping out Haiti, you'll be automatically entered to win a travel-related prize donated by all kinds of travel companies...including the one that hosts this blog, Wayfaring Women Tours.

Wayfaring Women Tours is donating a trip to Ireland on our women's tour*** in the fall of 2013 to the Passports With Purpose project. Think of that folks--donate $10 between now and December 11th, spend next autumn in the Emerald Isle drinking Guinness, looking out at the country's 40 shades of green, munching on warm scones and wild salmon, listening to great tunes in charming old pubs...I could go on and on.

Kylemore Abbey in County Galway

Window in Quiet Man pub in Cong, Connemara, Ireland

 Here is what you win from Wayfaring Women Tours: 

Free Trip for One (1) Woman*** on the Best of the West & South Ireland Tour for Women: August 29-September 6, 2013

(9 days/8 nights)

Tour Includes

• Nine days of touring covering Counties Galway, Clare, Kerry, and Cork
• Accommodation for 8 nights in comfortable hotels and guesthouses, located in Galway City, Lisdoonvarna, Inis Oirr (the Aran Islands), Dingle, and Shanagarry (outside Cork City)
• Walking tour of Galway City to see its historic pubs and churches, the Spanish Arch and Lynch’s Castle, and the home of Nora Barnacle (the woman who would become Mrs. James Joyce and inspire Bloomsday)
• Visit to Brigit’s Garden in Moycullen with tour of gardens, tea break, and special workshop on the Brigit tradition in Celtic folklore and culture
• Tour of Connemara, including the charming village of Clifden and picture-perfect Kylemore Abbey
• Free night in Galway City for you to enjoy the pubs, sit in on a traditional Irish music session, stroll along the bay, venture out to nearby Salthill, whatever you fancy
• Tour of the Burren with a relaxed walk led by Tony Kirby, Burren guide and author
• Visit to the Cliffs of Moher, with plenty of time to take in the amazing views
• Two nights of music, dancing, and all-around merrymaking at the world-famous annual Matchmaking Festival in Lisdoonvarna
• Optional excursion day to Lahinch, a seaside town noted for it beaches, with opportunity to sign up for a fun surfing lesson
• Trip to Inis Oirr, the smallest and loveliest of the Aran Islands, with ferry transport from Doolin
• Overnight stay on Inis Oirr, with walking tour of the island led by Eoghan Poil of Aran Islands Walks and easy, engaging Irish language lesson led by Bríd Ní Chualáin of FEICIM
• Tour of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry and its many archaeological sites
• Afternoon cookery course at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, focusing on scone, jam, and bread making
• Visit to Blarney Castle and opportunity to kiss the Blarney Stone for the gift of eloquence as well as shop ‘til you drop at Blarney Woolen Mills
• Plus: All breakfasts (8) included (full Irish), welcome dinner on first night in Galway City and farewell dinner on last night at Ballymaloe House, transportation in a roomy, comfortable coach with reclining seats, professional driver and guide, and transfers from Shannon Airport to Galway City on first day of tour and to Shannon from County Cork on last day (for guests arriving in/leaving from Shannon). Meals included: All breakfasts (8), four (4) dinners, one (1) tea break, plus tea and generous tastings during afternoon cookery course. Some drinks and all alcoholic beverages are not included and factored into price of tour.
  
  

  

  Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry

  
  
  Not included in price of tour: Transportation (airfare) to Ireland; airport transfers not specifically stated in itinerary (only airport transfers to/from Shannon Airport on the dates of Aug. 29 and Sept. 6 are included in price); local transportation expenses during free time on tour (i.e., taxi fares); travel insurance; meals where not stated in itinerary; personal items/shopping expenses; fees such as room service, laundry service, telephone calls, Internet use in hotels or elsewhere, etc.; entrance fees or expenses for any activities engaged during free time on tour, including optional excursions; any expenses incurred for tour members spending additional time in Ireland before or beyond tour’s start and end; tips for tour leader, driver, and local guides; passport/visa fees (for tour members arriving from outside Ireland). No refunds will be given for any unused portion of a tour by a tour member.
  This tour is for passengers age 16 and over. 
  Prize is only good for this tour, scheduled August 29-September 6, 2013.  
  ****This is a women-only tour. Should a man win this prize, he is free to gift the prize to a woman. It would certainly be a great gift!
  

     

So that's what you can win from us at Wayfaring Women Tours and Writing and Wayfaring if you donate. Now here's how to donate. Just go to this link, or click on the Passports With Purpose widget at the upper-right hand side of this blog. Donate $10 or more--and you're in! There are tons of great prizes on offer--and who knows, we might see you winning our prize and joining us on our women's tour of one of the most beautiful countries on earth.

A big thanks to all at Passports With Purpose allowing us to participate. And a big Thank you to PwP's 2012 Sponsors:

• Platinum: Expedia
• Gold: TripIt
• Silver: tbex
• Bronze: HomeAway. TravellersPoint, HostelBookers, Go with Oh

Now get donating!!