Adventures of a Passionate Solo Traveler

 

Photo: Jann Segal
Waterfall flowing upward in Iceland

They say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. That has certainly been true during some of my travels, either independently or with a group, but always traveling solo. I've had a number of unplanned adventures during my travels which certainly added to the experience. Some were a bit scary, but all added to my exploration, and tested my skills at knowing what to during an uncertain travel situation.

 

My late arrival after 11 pm in Phuket, Thailand certainly qualifies, after the plane from Bangkok was running late for hours. A taxi drove me to a tiny Marina area in a jungle forest with a lone pier. There I was, late at night and nobody else around, where I was supposed to meet staff from my timeshare on tiny private Coconut Island. My taxi driver was just going to drop me off in the dark; he informed me he had ot catch the next ride from the airport.  I surveyed the surrounding area, and there wasn't even a hotel or restaurant nearby. Just jungle, completely unlit, no place to call if necessary. So, when he dropped me off at the dark and lonely pier, imagine my surprise when I saw a person standing next to a small boat saying," Are you Jann Segal?" 

Exploring Fez, Morocco: Time Travel in a Rich and Textured City

Photos: Jann Segal
Water salesman

When I went to Fez, Morocco with OverseasAdventure Travel, we were in parts 9th century, parts 14th century, in a glorious country that had the modernity of Tangier and Casablanca and the antiquity of Fez. We had left the 21^st century behind in the capitol city of Rabat where the base trip began for Morocco’s Sahara Odyssey.  Even our Riad, or traditional Moroccan guest house, was a step back into a different century with unique architecture, vivid colors, and artifacts from the past everywhere.

The first of our two days in Fez was a tapestry of traditional Moroccan sights, smells and sounds, but quite different from others we had already seen. They were perhaps the richest day of travel on the entire trip, although each day was unique. We spent the day at the Medina and started in the Mellah district also known as the Jewish Quarter. We visited the Aban Danan Synagogue, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The synagogue had a very simple door entrance as any other house in the same neighborhood, but the interior was somewhat elaborate and had undergone restoration. It even had a very old mikvah there, or a ritual cleansing bath. Our Trip Leader opened the Torah ark, and I was invited to take the dressing off the Torah along with one other woman who is Jewish. But she knew better than I... a Rabbi needs to be present, and a special blessing said, and she didn't know the blessings (nor was there a rabbi). Still, it was nice to have my heritage recognized like that, which I was hardly expecting. I left a donation in the tzaka box on the way out for charity.

Rethinking Genocide in Turkey as a Traveler

 

gen·o·cide

/ˈjenəˌsīd/

the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group

"a campaign of genocide"

 

Photo: Jann Segal
Fairy Chimney in Cappadocia

Definitions form Oxford Languages

 

I was heartened to hear President Biden declare that nearly a century after the systematic killing of the Armenians in Turkey which began in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, that atrocity is in fact considered a genocide by the United States. Turkish President Erdogan and the government of Turkey to this day flatly deny there was ever a genocide there. Rather, they maintain they were in a state of war at the time and both sides suffered casualties, with Turkey suffering as well. However, the International Association of Genocide Scholars affirms the death toll to be over one million Armenians.

Southern Africa: A River Runs Through It

Map Source: Wikipedia

 Any visitor to the Southern African nations learns quickly about the majesty of the Zambezi River; the fourth longest river in Africa; the longest river in the continent by some measures, but still only about half the length of the Nile. Having experienced both the Zambezi and the Nile rivers, the Zambezi is by far the most formidable, and certainly a completely different experience than the Nile.

 

Slow Travel or Adventure Travel?

  

Photo: Jann Segal
Lake Guatavita, Colombia

Slow travel. I love even reading the words. They calm my travel soul and remind me that there will be travel in my future, at an even and interesting pace. A pace where I can see the magnificence, smell the spices and flowers, watch the locals count buckets of money, learn how to cook a new dish from locals in their homes, meet their families, run into them by accident on the street of their charming town, or be greeted by these kind strangers during an accidental meeting at the airport.  All of these things have happened to me while traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel, sometimes as part of the group, sometimes on my own before or after the group adventure. These moments don’t require having a
camera to capture them. They require an appreciation of life and living, learning, wandering.

The concept of slow travel began in 1986 as a movement in Italy after a Mc Donald’s opened in Rome. People were afraid that interest in the culture and the food would start to wane and ultimately be forgotten rather than relished, savored, appreciated to the fullest. In fact, a whole slow movement began that many of us heard little about. Then the world was treated to a global pandemic, and even local traffic came to a grinding halt. But in the travel world, slow travel was talked about for when travel resumed. It includes a connection to people and their cultures, to educate oneself and to stay in the moment in a sustainable and lasting way. But of course, this education has lasting consequences for the future for those who endeavor to take the slow path, even if it’s in conjunction with a group tour, which is how I like to do it. 

The Blue City of Chefchaouen, Morocco and the Ancient City of Tetouan

The blue city of Chefchaouen in Spanish Morocco is about six hours outside of Casablanca by bus, and a glorious and colorful city to experience.  When I took this pre-trip with OverseasAdventure Travel on their Morocco Sahara Odyssey trip, we saw many colorful sights along the way. I never thought I’d be taken by the sight of casaba melons, but as with everything else in Morocco, it was a unique and colorful sight.

The Smart and Savvy Traveler: Travel Tips for All Experience Levels in Travel

 

No matter how experienced a traveler someone is, from a novice who wants to learn how to travel, to the most experienced amongst us, there is always more to learn. Just when we think we have it all together and can travel seamlessly, a major world event occurs that upends our well- honed travel patterns and brings us back to square one. The September 11 terrorist attacks and the global pandemic are two events that come to mind that certainly had me scrambling for travel tips on what to do. But getting a blood clot on an overseas flight, or not being able to successfully handle altitude, are two common travel dilemmas that can occur even when the world is running like clockwork.

There certainly is no recipe book, but I travel frequently with Overseas Adventure Travel, when a group tour makes more sense than independent travel. They provide a very comprehensive book of travel tips that was once more geared to the novice, but now includes tips also geared to the more experienced traveler. Don’t be put off by the title about 101 Tips for Solo Women Travelers. Men can benefit as well!  

I wanted to go into additional detail on four specific areas that aren’t addressed as much as I have written about, since I have done extensive research on the following topics which are of interest to all.

Of Travel and Timelessness

 

My name is Jann Segal, and I’m a travel addict. There, I said it. Writing is my twelve - step program, and thankfully, it’s not been working. I’ve given myself over to the higher power of travel and the tour companies who entice me. They constantly triumph, and I’m delighted with the outcome. But like any other addiction, mine has genetic roots.

I always knew it was my mother’s side of the family that was to blame. My mother Anita became a travel agent after I had started traveling, but the real culprit was her brother, First Lt. Edwin B. Kane, who died in Tunisia during World War Two.   Killed eight years before I was born, I obviously never got to know my late uncle. But when his affects were sent back home, included were his well-documented photos of the many places he was able to visit while on the European and African continents before the war took its toll. I looked at the photos constantly as a child, dreaming that someday I might get to visit Egypt, Libya, Africa, and Ethiopia, (the latter he documented as Abyssinia). These photos, in addition to his souvenirs which my mother eventually let me have, were absolute treasures to me.

Remembrance of Great Meals Past

Do you remember when you had your last exceptional and unforgettable meal during foreign travels? I surely do.

Photo: Jann Segal

 Local food and beverages are among the things we all look forward to enjoying when we travel to a foreign country. In Turkey one year I was quite taken by the pomegranate salad oil, which for me became a life changing experience I had to write about. Then there was the unexpectedly delightful risotto and mushroom sauce I experienced in Milan. When I classify a meal as life changing, that means I loved it so much, I had to go home and cook it! And now, thanks to an olive oil farm I visited in Israel, I know how to shop for higher quality olive oil to enhance my cooking. After my visit ot Vietnam one year, my food walking tour was such an eye opener in terms of both food and locale that I would normally never have experienced, I now always take a food walking tour in foreign cities. Food in all its unique varieties is truly the heart and soul of every culture. Other foods (in particular, spices) of which I have fond memories, are spicy fresh paprika from Croatia, fresh pepper from Southern India, which is along the Spice Route, and of course spices in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar.

 Food can be so much more than a meal. When traveling and experiencing new cultures, if can feed the human spirit, lift the world-weary traveler’s soul just enough to make it to the next destination, enhance new friendships forged through travel, and heighten a traveler’s awareness of new possibilities that go beyond the travel experience. In under- developed countries, the food purchased and served even in a restaurant, can elevate those whose livelihoods depend on the income.

Not Traveling….in Gratitude and Understanding

 

Food in·se·cu·ri·ty

noun

the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

"more than 800 million people live every day with hunger or food insecurity as their constant companion"

Definitions from Oxford Languages

 

Last year, amid the COVID-19 crisis and all that I experienced between shutdown and the inevitable life changes, I wrote a piece called What I Learned on my Coronavirus Vacation. Now it’s a year later, the pandemic has lasted longer than anticipated, and I now realize that somehow, according to some grand plan, I was supposed to be prepared for this time in our history. It’s been a wild ride, preceded in early 2019 with a premonition that many people were going to die around me, followed by what I refer to as“Covid Boot Camp.”

What I Learned During my Coronavirus Vacation

I thought 2020 was going to be a year of perfect clarity. A year when we could look back with

hindsight on all that we learned, and as travelers, all that we saw, and glean from it lessons that would move us forward in life. This is after all, what travel does to those who are paying attention. And it is the definition of 2020 vision. Instead, I have thus far learned something far more meaningful, as events this year kept me mostly indoors looking at the four walls in my home and my coffee colored carpet. I had much to think about during our period of lockdown and slow reopening, which was intensified by nationwide civil unrest and early curfew in Los Angeles and other major cities.

OAT Travelers Sharing Their Love of Travel Via Zoom

Photos: Jann Segal

OAT travelers just cannot stay away from travel and sharing their love of both travel and Overseas Adventure Travel trips. On April 29, 35 OAT travelers met for the first time all at once via Zoom. The invitation to join the Zoom meeting  was made in the Facebook group Friends of OAT Traveler Discussion Group (not sponsored by OAT). The meeting was successful, and everyone was enthusiastic about meeting regularly on Zoom and focusing on discussion topics. One popular suggestion was to have a topic per continent per week, and let everyone share their experiences on various OAT trips , Africa or Asia for instance, and the trips they enjoyed the most. This Zoom social gathering both let people become engaged with the thought of future travel, and it provided some  much needed  "travel therapy “ at a time when travel isn’t an option.

Exploring Cairo in Depth

Photos Jann Segal

When I took the Overseas Adventure Travel trip, Egypt and the Eternal Nile, I spent a few extra days in Cairo before the start of the trip. I personally found chaotic Cairo to be a highlight, along with Luxor and Aswan.

Explore Jordan and the Wonders of Petra

Photos: Jann Segal

When I took the Overseas Adventure Travels Israel trip, The Holy Land and Timeless Cultures, I also took the pre-trip to Jordan. Of particular interest was the two nights and one full day we spent at Petra. It was a fascinating set of Nabataean tombs, possibly established in 9,000 B.C. as a capital city. Of course, hiking to the Treasury thru the Siq was spectacular, and some in our group made it to the Monastery. I was happy with going to the Treasury, having lunch after just a little bit down the road but still inside the complex of tombs, and walking back. All of that was a seven-mile walk in the sun, even in early April. An early departure and return are highly recommended to avoid the effects of the heat and the inevitable swarms of people.

Exploring the Treasures of Luxor

Photos: Jann Segal

When I went on the Overseas Adventure Travel trip Egypt and the Eternal Nile, the most incredible of the sights we saw were in Luxor. This included the Valley of the Kings and Queens, and the Karnak Temples.  Our small ship up the Nile was headed North, so this was a great way to end the base trip before heading back to Cairo. I think the direction, either North or South, is really the most important in terms of how you want to remember the trip, and the Valley of the Kings was it for me. The other option would have been to end the trip at Aswan to see Abu Simbel.

Learning about the Indomitable Spirit of the Icelandic People

Photos: Jann Segal

They say if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans. On the Overseas Adventure Travel trip, Untamed Iceland, we were not only on the road less traveled, but true to the OAT travel philosophy, we met locals who truly embodied the spirit of the harsh and unforgiving nature of the country. But they did so with big and open hearts that looked into the optimism of future, warmer days.  And I got to experience first- hand the kind of harsh conditions that country had to offer, which made me appreciate the people we met even more.

Exploring Alexandria

Photos: Jann Segal

When I took the Overseas Adventure Travel trip Egypt and the Eternal Nile, at the end of the base trip we left the hustle and bustle of Cairo for the hustle and bustle of the post trip in Alexandria. It’s really a hopping resort town, albeit rundown by the elements and lack of money to improve the housing. But a traveler who has spent two weeks in antiquity gets a glimpse of a more modern but run- down Egypt.

Exploring Jordan: Amman, Jerash and Mt. Nemo

Photos: Jann Segal

I had very little expectation of  what to see during my one week of travels  in  Jordan, which was a pre-trip to the Overseas AdventureTravels Israel trip, The Holy Land and Timeless Cultures. Of course, I was very excited at the thought of seeing Petra. After having just spent three weeks in Egypt on their trip Egypt and the Eternal Nile, I was as equally taken by the trash I saw in the Egyptian countryside and cities as I was by the antiquities. Jordan however, was a completely different experience. There is always high expectation with Egypt travel, and not as much with Jordanian travel. And perhaps that is what made the difference. I was delighted with everything I saw in Jordan.

Finding Cultural Understanding in Unexpected Places

I had an unexpected experience while traveling independently in Asia prior to joining the Overseas Adventure Travel Heart of India trip in 2014. What started out as a breakdown of our transportation to the airport turned into an unexpected cultural exchange.

Exploring the Middle East and Finding Myself off the Beaten Path…and on the Fringes

Nubian men playing backgammon

Everyone goes to the Middle East to explore the antiquities, the world class sites such as Petra, the Pyramids, the Western Wall. I had been to Israel independently 25 years ago and promised myself a return trip. Back then, I also took a day strip to the Saini from Eliat and saw only a tiny bit of Egypt on a trip ot St. Catherine’s Momentary. So, I decided to return and see Egypt in full, as well to see things I wanted to see again in Israel, and to see what had changed in the intervening years. What I hadn’t expected was to travel so close to the edges of other countries in the region.  My total trip was a grand 45 days, from March 2, 2019 to April 17, 2019. I booked with Overseas Adventure Travel on their relatively new offering, Egypt: The Eternal Nile ($3895), and also booked the Alexandria post trip ($1995). I did this back- to- back with a nice secular trip they have called Israel: The Holy Land and Timeless Cultures ($3895), which I booked along with their Jordan pre trip ($1695).  Most notably, this trip took me ot the edges of Northern Sudan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.