EPISODE LINK

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Carolyn Ray is the CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, the world’s original solo travel publication for women fifty and older. In today’s episode, we sat down with Carolyn to discuss JourneyWoman, how the travel industry treats midlife women, the top concerns of women traveling alone, and the ideal travel destinations of 2023.

First, we asked Carolyn to tell us all about her company JourneyWoman, the world’s first resource for women who want to travel solo. She explained that JourneyWoman was first founded in 1994 by Evelyn Hannon, a recently divorced woman who was seeking change and adventure. However, when she looked for resources for women’s traveling, she was disheartened to see a lack of them available. Determined to change the narrative, Evelyn created JourneyWoman as a way to document her experience and help educate other women who may be struggling with the desire to travel but the lack of resources to do so. Unfortunately, Evelyn passed away four years, and her family requested that Carolyn take over the company. Carolyn has been running it ever since and has loved learning so much about women’s traveling, especially for women in midlife and beyond. Carolyn even did a survey with Journeywoman to gather information about the lack of resources for women’s travel. Through the results, she found that in the traveling industry, older women are often ignored in favor of younger demographics. One of the ways in which the industry does this is through photography. Pictures of older women traveling often depict lying melancholy on a beach, standing with their male partner, or looking sad and incapable. Carolyn wants to encourage companies to show older women for who we truly are: capable and thriving. In another survey, Carolyn also found that 73% of women over fifty are going to travel internationally in 2023 and will likely do so in the off season. Many of those women will travel for longer periods of time and spend anywhere from $3,000-5,000 a week while away. This price can increase when a woman is traveling alone, for they often have to pay a single supplement, a fee that allows you to have a room to yourself when traveling.

Women who are traveling alone have a myriad of factors to consider, one of the most important being their safety. Carolyn herself has experienced having her emails and information hacked while she was traveling, and now wants to help other women learn to protect themselves. JourneyWoman recently hosted a self-defense training course and two webinars on cyber security and protecting your travel. One of the best tips given was to not post recent pictures of yourself when traveling. Instead, wait until you’ve already left the location before posting any photographs, that way people cannot track your location in real time. Pit-pocketing is also a big travel issue, and Carolyn recommended wearing a cross-body bag to store your essentials at all times. Most importantly, she encouraged women to trust their intuition. We also spoke to Carolyn about ideal travel destinations for 2023, and she told us that after asking women where they were going, she found that most were traveling to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, and Japan.

JourneyWoman not only supports women through their content but also by working with other women-owned businesses. Carolyn emphasized how for her, it’s vital to find other brands that specifically target women as clients and who understand women’s wants and interest. As a woman-owned brand herself, she understands the importance of championing other women and encourages traveling women to attempt to support women-owned businesses when spending their money abroad. Carolyn also spoke to us about Women’s Travel Fest. Last year, JourneyWoman was part of a panel called “Travel at any age”, where three women over 50 shared their experiences of what it was like traveling in midlife. After the panel, Carolyn realized how few midlife women were actually at the fest, and after speaking to the director, was able to create a new panel for a larger amount of women 50+ to attend. One of JourneyWoman’s writers was even a part of the panel. Along with the fest, JourneyWoman is also looking to write a book next year on the perspective of older women when they travel.

Finally, we asked Carolyn for travel agency recommendations for women over 50. She told us that some great agencies to work with are Jacada Tours, Intrepid Tours, and Wild Women Expeditions.

JourneyWoman

JourneyWoman is the world’s original solo travel publication for women, founded by the late Evelyn Hannon in 1994. With over 60,000 subscribers, we are the largest publication for women over 50 travel in the world, co-created with and representing the voices of mature women for almost 30 years.

In 2019, JourneyWoman was acquired by Carolyn Ray, who was recognized by TravelPulse as one of the most influential women in travel in March 2023. Carolyn aspires to help women live the life of their dreams by embracing conscious, sustainable travel that empowers ALL women – from traveller to community. Our most recent study, “The Influence and Affluence of Women Over 50 in Travel”, showed that showed that 70% of women over 50 don’t feel seen or understood by the travel industry. This is a missed opportunity for the travel industry to build relationships with women, improve the types of travel experiences they offer and recognize the value of mature women to the travel industry.

In addition to publishing award-winning travel editorial with our contributing writers, we create a safe, inviting place where women can research, learn and find inspiration to live the life of their dreams, with travel as a shared passion. Established in August 2020, our Women’s Travel Advisory Council represents expert views from our readers and travel experts on issues such as human trafficking, animal ethics, accessibility, ageism and financial planning. We also host a monthly Travel Book Club, Community Calls and private Facebook group, to help women connect and share their first-hand tips and inspiring stories. We also believe that women can and should support women-owned businesses, so we provide women with the first and only Women’s Travel Directory in the world featuring women-friendly tours, retreats, accommodations and guides – everything women need to plan their adventures.

Being a JourneyWoman is a mindset. It’s not just about age or experience. As JourneyWomen, we take the first step into the future, with curiosity as our compass, seeking authenticity in every experience and being intentional about where and how we spend our hard-earned travel dollars. We know the world is watching — and learning — from us.

In this episode, we discuss…

• [0:01] Introduction
• [0:34] Guest Introduction
• [3:50] Start of Interview
• [4:35] JourneyWoman
• [6:23] The Travel Industry and Midlife
• [12:32] Top Concerns for Women Traveling Alone
• [16:40] 2023 Ideal Travel Destinations and Working with Women-Owned Businesses
• [20:42] Women’s Travel Fest
• [25:59] Travel Agencies for Midlife Women Beginning to Travel
• [30:14] Closing Thoughts
• [31:43] Outro

Useful Resources:

JourneyWoman’s Website I [https://journeywoman.com/]

JourneyWoman’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/company/journeywomantravel/]

JourneyWoman’s Facebook

JourneyWoman’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/journeywoman_original/]

JourneyWoman’s Twitter I [https://twitter.com/Journeywoman]

JourneyWoman’s YouTube Channel I [

JourneyWoman’s Book Club I [https://journeywoman.com/journeywoman-womens-travel-book-club/]

Soul of Travel Podcast I [https://www.souloftravelpodcast.com/]

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Mail I [[email protected]]

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Twitter I [https://twitter.com/CoolFlashes]

YouTube I [https://www.youtube.com/@HotFlashesCoolTopics]

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