Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

According to the FAA, women make up just seven percent of all certified pilots, and of those female pilots, less than one percent are Black women. Captains Kellie Young and Stephanie Hartsfield are among that percentage, having spent careers flying on international legacy carriers, cargo flights, and corporate planes. This week, we're catching up with Kellie and Stephanie to learn about their jour...

If you're sick and tired of winter like we are, sit down, breathe in, and picture yourself in sunny southern Ghana, where temperatures are currently a balmy 80 degrees and maximalist colors and patterns abound. That's where this week's guest, Akosua Afriyie-Kumi, is calling in from—and where she gets her design inspiration for her woven handbag brand AAKS.  We've been long obsessed with the brand,...

There are tons of questions swirling around travel in our Women Who Travel Instagram DMs and Facebook group these days, especially as we watch COVID-19 vaccines roll out and let ourselves start dreaming of those first big trips. To answer your questions this week—which range from where to go for a milestone birthday trip and the best credit card to help rack up points for future trips, to what the...

When we talked to Kopitiam's co-owner Moonlynn Tsai on the podcast last June, the reality of the longevity of the pandemic—and what that meant for her restaurant—was just setting in. Now, after nearly a year of pivoting to make do, creating outdoor dining, surviving the New York winter, and trying to keep her staff safe, she says running a restaurant feels about the same as it did in the pandemic'...

Inspired by the “Women Who Travel Guide to Getting Back Out There” package, which launched earlier this month, we're spending this episode looking to the future—whether that be tackling travel anxieties bought on by the pandemic, relearning how to meet new people, or redefining our comfort zones. Joined by Traveler associate editor Megan Spurrell and travel writer Jessica Poitevien, we also swap n...

When we last spoke to travel host Samantha Brown in 2018, a border-shuttering, flight-grounding pandemic was nowhere on our radar. Flash forward to March 2020, and a season's worth of filming and production planning for her show, Places to Love, was canceled in a matter of weeks. For the first time in years, she's been staying put in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and twins. “I always...

There may be no better time than winter to cozy up, ideally by a fire, with a stack of books and a cup of coffee (or something a little stronger). This particular winter, though, the escape and education we find through books will be even more necessary. Whether you're picking up books for yourself or sending hefty hardcovers to family and friends as holiday gifts, we have some suggestions that wi...

Introducing Checking In, the advice podcast where we answer real health and wellness questions from real people like you. Hosted by SELF’s Editor in Chief, Carolyn Kylstra, and featuring trusted experts, doctors, therapists, thought leaders, and even a few celebrities, we’re diving deep into what it really means to be healthy. Checking In launches on Monday, November 16th, with new episodes releas...

Watch surfer Nique Miller tiptoe to the end of her longboard as she rides the waves off the shore of Oahu's Waikiki Beach, and you'll be instantly transported to island time. But for Nique, a professional surfer and stand-up paddleboarder, surfing is more than just a way to relax. It's given her the confidence and security in her own skin to speak up about the sport's lack of diversity, from the s...

A special episode of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Lego. There are 56 business days between now and December 31, which means you have a little less than two months to use up your remaining vacation days. Count this as your reminder to start filing those days with your manager. (We shouldn't need to remind you that you're leaving money on the table if you don't.) Not sure what to do wi...

 “There have never been more questions around travel,” says articles director Stephanie Wu in this week's episode—and she's spot on, based on how many were submitted through the Women Who Travel Instagram alone. In our eighth installment of our frequently asked questions series, we're covering everything from how to talk to your family when you're on different pandemic pages to how to navigating q...

This week, as the weather starts to turn, we thought we’d give you a reason to look forward to the cold by resharing an episode with dog musher Blair Braverman. It was recorded shortly after she completed the Iditarod, a 938-mile long distance dog sled race which took her and her team of 14 dogs from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. We hope it at least inspires you to get your sweaters out of storage. F...

It was a different time in the summer of 2019 when Janée Woods Weber, an activist and social justice educator, joined BBC presenter Alvin Hall on a road trip tracing the legacy of the Green Book a travel guide published from 1937 to 1966 that shared safe road routes for Black travelers. But as this summer came around—dubbed the summer of road trips by many, but also filled with marches and social...

If you're an avid reader or home chef, you've likely seen In Bibi's Kitchen on many of the year's most anticipated book lists. The cookbook is filled with recipes from eight African countries that border the Indian Ocean and stories from 24 grandmothers, and brings a new narrative to the table, one that Somali author, sauce maven, and former model Hawa Hassan is honored (if not a little overwhelme...

Seven months into the pandemic, we wanted to take a look at what life—and travel, for that matter—looks like for those living abroad. In our latest episode, we catch up with four women based in very different cities to find out. Lale chats with travel writer Julia Buckley about her decision to ride out the pandemic in Venice, and Meredith compares notes with illustrator Lindsay Arakawa about cycli...

This week, we're bringing back our How I Became series to chat with Cristina Mittermeier—marine biologist, conservationist, photographer, and co-founder of SeaLegacy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the ocean. A National Geographic photographer known for her work underwater and among Indigenous communities in coastal areas, she's found a way to share her passion for our environment with the wo...

When we recorded our “Honest Conversation About Saving and Budgeting for Travel” episode back in February, we had big plans for saving for travel, sure, but even bigger plans for spending those savings. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of those big spender dreams have been dashed, but one of this week's guests, Bourree Lam, The Wall Street Journal's personal finance bureau chief, has found the sil...

A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay We've long admired Kimi Werner, a Hawaiian freediver and spearfisher, so we thought there was no better woman to join us this week. A new mom, she's had to find a way to balance her active new role above land and the regenerative power and calm she finds underwater. We chat about how she's found that balance, what...

When we last hosted a frequently asked questions episode back in March—recorded before most of the country began to lock down—we had far-flung adventures on our mind. Now, after a summer staying near home, we're looking with the same level of bated breath at 2021, with a few bright spots of hope for travel this winter. It seems you are too, as many of the questions we received from our listeners w...

This episode was originally published in January 2020. We'll be back next week with a new Frequently Asked Questions episode, but for now we'll leave you in the hands of Fat Girls Traveling creator Annette Richmond and Women Who Travel columnist Laura Delarato, to talk about the intersection of travel and the body positivity movement. In this episode, we're celebrating women's bodies of all shapes...

We have been big fans of author Yaa Gyasi's debut, Homegoing, which traces two branches of a family tree from 18th-century Ghana to present-day America, since it was published in 2016. (It has made an appearance at least twice on the podcast as a favorite read.) So, with her second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, out this week, we thought it was high time we get Yaa herself in the (Zoom) studio to ch...

When we want to be transported to Italy, we read Ruth Reichl's piece on a seafood lunch she had in the ancient town of Sperlonga. Her descriptions of "lively langoustines," stuffed squash blossoms, oysters as "lovely as orchids," and pistachio-dusted cannoli are enough for us to briefly forget that we are, in fact, still in our apartments, eating yet another meal we've cooked for ourselves. Of cou...

A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay This is a special Friday episode of the Women Who Travel podcast and the second installment in our three-part I Deserve This series, presented by Cloudy Bay. Designed to celebrate all the ways we treat ourselves when we travel, we hope to dispel the feelings of selfishness and guilt that often come with spending t...

When it comes to getting outdoors, gear can be a major barrier. Whether it's finding gear that comes in your size (let alone actually fits your body), knowing what gear is a must-have and what you can safely skip, or having the funds for what you need, there's a lot more at play than just walking into your local outdoor retailer. This week, we wanted to dig into women's gear—across hiking, climbin...

With major companies extending remote work through next summer because of COVID-19 and countries like Barbados offering year-long visas to U.S. travelers looking to switch their office view to an ocean view, it's understandable to be thinking about picking everything up and relocating for a bit. While international options are limited, living as a digital nomad (spending a few weeks or months in o...