She gets physical...

Ever contemplate taking an active holiday but worry that you're not really fit enough to tackle the program? Now's the ideal time to get yourself into tip top shape and shed those extra pounds. Check out Journeywoman's latest Walking,Biking and Hiking Guide. You'll find oodles of ideas to inspire you to begin some serious physical training. Then, once you feel that conditions are ripe for you to travel again, you'll be ready in mind, body and spirit. Need more inspiration? Imagine horseback riding in Utah's glorious backcountry, escorted walks along Europe's pilgrimage route to the holy city of Santiago, yoga and bike maintenance in the USA , motorcycling fun in New Zealand and Australia, biking in idyllic Eastern Canada, as well as walking the Italian Riviera.

Be a tourist right at home...

No need for visa, passport or lugging heavy suitcases! Simply meander through the different ethnic communities in your hometown and gain insights into countries that intrigue you. My girlfriend and I just spent a wonderful day browsing through Toronto's Indian neighbourhood. Since we've both travelled to India before, we loved searching for some of our favorite vegetarian dishes, drinking lassis, finding new Indian spices in the corner groceries and buying small souvenirs to take home -- an antique wood cut for her and a brass tray for me. All great fun!

Not to be missed in Europe...

Rough Guides has just published a new guide called, First-Time Europe - Everything you need to know before you go. In it the author describes two excellent days trips -- JW chose to include them in this article in order to whet your travel appetite and inspire some Journeywoman daydreaming.

San Gimignano via Florence
"San Gimignano is a little town about an hour's bus ride from Florence and is most famous for its thirteen towers, which were built to store grain during times of war during the Middle Ages. Because the city is remarkably well preserved it is a magnet for tourists, most of them on day-trips from Florence. I advise just the opposite: stay in San Gimignano and take the bus into Florence for the day. Your quiet evenings here will make the twenty-first century seem like a memory".

Oxford via London
"The most well-known of all British universities is just an hour by bus from London, and has enough student and budget accommodations to house an army. Oxford University is actually made up of individual "colleges," most of which are centuries old, and housed in truly beautiful buildings. While the buildings are ancient, the students are not, and you will find a rocking good time if you visit during a festival or as the term ends."

Ed. note: I've been to both of these places and no matter your age -- 20, 40 or 60 -- you will find much to make you smile. Well worth the visits!

Women's love of travel...

Travel is as much a passion to me as ambition or love.
(Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1920)

All the earth is seamed with roads,
and all the sea is furrowed with the tracks of ships,
and over all the roads and all the waters
a continuous stream of people passes up and down --
travelling, as they say, for their pleasure.
What is it, I wonder, that they go out to see?
(Gertrude Bell, 1894)

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sites,
it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent,
in the ideas of living.
(Miriam Bird, 1930)

Loving life is easy when you are abroad.
Where no one knows you and you hold your life in your hands all alone,
you are more mistress of yourself than at any other time.
(Hannah Arendt, 1957)

Like love... travel makes you innocent again.
(Diane Ackerman, 1991)