Our Best 2002 Newsletter Tips

Evelyn Hannon

It is well-known that we send out a free award-winning women's travel tip newsletter to all the 1000's of women worldwide who are members of our Journeywoman Network.

Now, each year around December 31st it's become a ritual for us to list the best of the best of these newsletter tips at our website. We do this because so many of our readers have requested that we do and also because we want to entice first time visitors to the site to join our Journeywoman Network. It's free, it's fun and the travel tip e-newsletter you'll receive has won many, many kudos worldwide. See our shameless plug for registration at the end of this article. We welcome all new subscribers with open cyber-arms!

Now, from Italy to Australia and Canada to the USA here are a dozen of the best JW tips we received in 2002. Enjoy, and of course send this URL (http://www.journeywoman.com/travel101/best_tips_2002.html) to the other travellin' women you know around the world. They'll love you for it!

Shop where Chelsea Clinton shops in India -- writes Shannon from Calgary, Canada -- I wanted other JourneyWomen to know that New Delhi has some excellent tailors at very reasonable prices. Grover Cloth House (47-1 Khan Market - near the McDonald's) is where Chelsea Clinton had clothes made when she was in India. At the store there is a big picture of Chelsea with the tailor, and her visit was written up in the newspaper (the article is on display). The people who work there love to share the story of her visit - she apparently brought one of Hilary's suits with her so that they could make a bunch of copies. I, too, had a beautiful wool/silk suit made (jacket with hidden buttons and pants) for around $250 (Canadian) and it was made in less than 48 hours. They will also copy any clothes that you bring in, often in less than a day turn around time. The tailors are very friendly and helpful, and as a woman travelling alone I felt very comfortable being there.
Ed. note: Journeywoman has many, many more helpful tips from women who've travelled to India.

Eat well for less in Sydney -- writes Christa from DownUnder -- I live here and can offer you a tip that few tourists would ever know about. A convenient and delicious place for lunch if you're sightseeing near Macquarie Street in Central Sydney is the Courtyard cafe situated right in the courtyard of Sydney Hospital. They serve great pasta and other Italian specialties, all in heaping servings, all reasonably priced and brought to your table with an Aussie smile. Enjoy, everybody!
Ed. note: This excellent tip is just one of many found in our GirlTalk Australia Cyberguide.

Pack a hot water bottle -- writes Melody from Grand Rapids, USA -- Everyone laughs at me, but ever since I was a child I have owned a hot water bottle. I travel to Europe all the time and no matter where I go I always take my trusty pal. It came in handy when it was cold and damp in Scotland and also in Ireland where the heat source is by fireplace and is not always in the room where you sleep. It really came in handy in Hong Kong in the month of May when the hotel had their air conditioning on full force and I couldn't change the temperature gauge. A hot water bottle is flat and doesn't take up much space in your suitcase. Many of my friends have taken my advice, and now they, too, are very cozy travellers.

Looking for moderately priced Italian underwear in Rome? -- asks Laura from Rome -- The cheapest underwear, believe it or not, is bought on the street at vendor's stalls and an especially popular shopping place for this is Viale Trastevere. It's also available in the Sunday flea market at Porta Portese. However, if you'd like a big splurge there's a limitless number of underwear shops in Rome. Someone once told me that the only thing Rome has more of than churches is underwear stores. I guess we could say that, (in my city) there's underwear on every corner.
Ed. note: Need more fabulous woman-centered information about Italy? Click here for hundreds of tips.

Blow a lot of bubbles -- writes Barbara from Chicago, USA -- As an Asian art historian, I often travel to India and other countries where child beggars have become a way of life. I don't want to ignore these little people nor do I like to support their begging habits, either. Instead, I pack bottles of soap bubbles which solves my problem beautifully. Believe me, nothing is more fun than to share this bubble-blowing activity with village children. They have a great time, we all have nice memories and sometimes I get the best photographs while we play.
Ed. note: For many more ideas about dealing with begging children in other cultures, click here.

Boston, women and chocolate -- writes Laura from Northampton, USA -- It was clever marketing to set up a chocolate shop in the heart of Boston's Radcliffe campus, the Ivy League women's college. Isn't it a scientifically proven fact that women need chocolate to live? The stylish cafe/shop, L.A. Burdick (52 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617-491-4340) serves hot chocolate -- sumptuous, rich, intense, thick -- as well as pastries and handmade chocolates. The mostly-female patrons at this den of chocolate iniquity sit at tiny tables sipping from white bowls and nibbling on tarts, heedless of the clanging that emanates from the kitchen. Burdick's candies sell for $12 a pound. Choose a solid ingot or an assortment of bonbons, such as a boxed set of the company's adorable chocolate mice.