Holidays for women - more than just travel

It’s a fact: life these days is hectic, and as busy women, sometimes it is easy to lose sight of ourselves and who we are. Having some “me time” is so important – time where you can be yourself, get away from it all, and not be weighted down with roles and responsibilities. Women today are wives, mothers, bosses and employees. They wear many hats and adjust their personality to fit each hat. But sometimes it’s nice to take all the hats off for a while and find your way back to yourself…

One of the best ways to do this is on a women-only holiday. Travel is good for the soul, and going to places where nobody knows you allows you a certain unconscious freedom. But special things happen, albeit subconsciously, when traveling with a group of your peers. Women are able to share information about their lives in safe surroundings, but most importantly, it gives women the chance to just relax and be themselves, and not have to act in a specific way or take on any roles.

This is what happened to Jackie, Mary, Robin and Alison. All of them went on a women-only trip for completely different reasons – and all of them had a ball, and can’t wait to do another. Jackie was married for 30 years, but the marriage slid downhill, until it finished. She had married and had children at a young age, and now she was on her own. Going on a women-only trip meant that she was not the third wheel on a mixed trip, and it gave her the safety to find herself after all those years being a good mother and wife. Mary’s husband had died 2 years previously of cancer, and she needed to be amongst a group of peers who would understand if she needed some time out. Robin was in her early 30s, and did not always enjoy the flirtatious atmosphere that developed in mixed groups. On mixed trips her focus turned to the group dynamics, which detracted from her experience of the country she was traveling in. Going on a women-only trip solved this. And Alison (39) had just had a rough year with her husband and needed some “me time” - going on a women’s trip meant she could regain her strength, have some time out, and be happy just being Alison. However this in no way means that traveling with a group of women is like traveling with a mobile self-help group! "It's a non-threatening environment in which to talk about whatever you want, from child birth to capitalism, it's all a part of life," says Alison, “and we have a lot of fun and laughs along the way”.

Women just like to do different things, talk about different subjects, shop and have fun. Without the men around, women let their hair down, don’t worry about how they look or how good they are at something. They will move more easily outside the familiar, feeling under no subconscious pressure or criticism. A women’s trip is just pure fun, pleasure, satisfaction, indulgence, and most notably, relaxation!
"It's not about excluding men,” says Julie Paterson, founder of Venus Adventures, global trips for women, “It’s about the camaraderie that grows between a group of like-minded women traveling together. It's also about doing girls stuff together, feeling the freedom to be yourself and not worrying about what other people think."

Besides seeing new and exotic places, every woman has their own personal reason for going on a women-only trip. But there is no denying: it is a very liberating experience, and one that you cannot appreciate until you’ve tried it. After all, we only live once.
For more information: www.venusadventures.travel