When we started this network we created a survey that was intended to help “match” roommates based on personality, interests, sleep schedules, alcohol consumption and time management.  Women who register (for free!) as Travel Sisters  get a “code” and it helps us see who might be like-minded. Our monthly gatherings really help with compatibility matching, too!

Turns out, one of the most important factors is NOT a variable in that model and our gatherings don’t help either . . and for a good reason.  That key variable is SNORING!  Some of us snore, some of us don’t, some of us sleep like rocks and aren’t bothered by snoring, and some of us are driven crazy by it.  
The really tough part about this variable is that a lot of us don’t even KNOW if we snore.  Our partner may snore also and we “cancel” each other out, or we may not share a sleeping space with anyone who can tell us.  OR we might just not actually BELIEVE the person we share a sleeping space with, lol.  
So what is to be done?  I decided to lead by example since I strive to be the most flexible traveler on a group trip in terms of a willingness to share space or move rooms if needed due to illness, snoring, etc.  
I had to start with finding out IF I snore.  Here’s what I did:

1. I used my phone. You need about 1 GB of available storage on your phone to do this. I know some folks have cool health trackers that do this but I’m old school : )
2. I had a tool in my utilities called “Voice Memos” - you can also download an app that is a voice recorder - there are lots!
3. I put my phone next to my bed plugged into a charger and hit record and went to sleep.  
4. The next morning I stopped the recorder and went about my day.
5. Later, I opened the recording and analyzed it.  You do not need to listen to all the hours recorded.  You can visually analyze the sound waves as you fast forward through the recording. If you see something concerning you can stop and listen to just that part and discern how loud and consistent the sound was.  

I found out I have a very loud heating/air conditioning vent above my bed that needs to be tended to.  It rattles. I don’t appear to have a significant snoring habit (I’ll repeat this periodically to build a better date set) and that’s good to know!
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So, I’ve solved ONE side of the equation for me.  If I DID snore there are some snoring mitigation strategies I could test and try:

• Mouth tape
• Nose strips
• ​A night guard that holds your tongue in place or your jaw
• A chin strap that holds your mouth closed

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The OTHER side of the equation is what could I do if I find myself with a snorer? There are options there as well!  

• Ear plugs
• A tiny travel sound machine to help drown out the sound
• A headband with speakers built in to play white noise in your ears while you sleep.

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One thing Travel Sisters are consistently good at is being flexibly-minded problem solvers. It’s those characteristics that consistently amaze me when we are traveling together and endear me to our group. With a little assistance from technology, some innovative products, and a trial and error approach, we can head into a trip armed with self knowledge and strategies that will bring us ALL peace of mind - and a good night’s sleep - so we can PLAY ALL DAY!  As is our purpose and pledge : )
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Run the test, consider the best mitigation strategies for you, and girls, let’s get together and GOOOO!!!!

It’s been a while!  Just popping in with a quick update after a great Zoom meeting last night. Wow! This network is just humming along and we’re busy bees this spring!   Morocco was AMAZING, PHENOMENAL, EPIC . . . just all the things.  And it was not just about the location, or the itinerary; it was about the camaraderie and mutual support the Travel Sisters bring to every endeavor, whether it be a meeting or a trip.  
Last night Denise R and I were chatting after the Zoom trying to put our finger on what EXACTLY makes this model so powerful.  There’s lots of little things that are value-added - people there to watch your luggage, take your picture, help you haul some treasures home that won’t fit in your suitcase, share their battery charger.  But we were thinking about the bigger reality, and it hit me. 
It is very rare for women to experience freedom AND unity/togetherness simultaneously.  Often, when people gather and feel “together”, women are at work doing a lot of “shoulds.” Greeting, cooking, cleaning, serving, picking up . . . providing care. We love unity and togetherness so we do these things.  AND it is so very nice to have the peace and joy of unity without those “shoulds” whirling in our minds.  

​Denise and I were thinking how content we were in the Sahara in Morocco. Just sitting on a dune as the sun set, feeling safe, cared for, a part of something, and having the bandwidth to just . . . be.  Breathe. Feel. And know that later there would be a meal we did not cook, and a bed we did not make, and a sleep that would not be interrupted. It was just so glorious, and healing, and we all came home better people than when we left.  
Once you experience it, you are hooked. And that’s why we are so excited about the future.  About Spain, and Costa Rica, and the River Cruise, and Croatia.  Each of those represent another opportunity to feel that novel joy: freedom together.
Love to all who took the time to read this - be well and enjoy the journey!
Angie

It has been an action-packed 6 months for the Travel Sisters network and that’s been good for the network and bad for the blog!  We have many platforms we use to communicate - social media, our email list, Meet Up, Zooms, In person gatherings, trip specific meetings . . . but sometimes a good old blog post is just the right way to tell the bigger story of our network!  Here’s what we’ve been up to:

In May, nine “Greek Goddesses” (the name of the WhatsApp group for communication) had a wonderful time exploring Athens, the Greek Isles, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Venice!

In September, seventeen “Ice Queens” had an action-packed time in Iceland! My takeaway? Iceland is like if Hawaii, Ireland and Alaska had a baby, lol - amazing volcanic land forms, glaciers and waterfalls AND remote rolling pastures filled with sheep.

We’ve sold out our Morocco trip for March 2024, received deposits, booked flights, and purchased insurance!
Behind all that was a lot of other milestones - new swag, some power lunches for input and feedback, and creating new processes for tipping, group dining, and foreign currency needs!

We also are learning what is NOT working - top of mind on that is weekend getaways. We’ve floated out three of those (Sunset Beach, Luray Caverns, NYC) and had no luck filling them. Our takeaway for now is that we will focus on longer distance travel as there seems to be much more appetite for those experiences.

We also learned that while lots of our Travel Sisters are interested in Spain, they want an itinerary in Fall 2024 that involves staying multiple nights at each hotel. We’ve decided this fall might be a good time to hold some destination-specific Zooms to gauge what people want and then build itineraries around that feedback.  

We are learning that email is not going to work as a platform to “lift” significant work in the network and Zooms or in person meetings need to be very productive in terms of getting input and creating action items.  

In that spirit, we listened in our last in-person meeting and decided a rough outline for where we will likely go next and here’s the rough plan:

• Alaska Cruisetour - May/June 2024
• Southern Spain - September 2024
• Costa Rica- February 2025
• European River Cruise (Switzerland / Germany / The Netherlands)  OR Croatia- May 2025
• Scotland with Ireland add-on - September 2025
• Christmas Markets River Cruise - December 2025
• 2026 - Alaska, Iceland, a National Parks / American West option

We are scheduling the Spain related Zoom in the coming days; fill out this form if you want to be contacted  / included. 

I'll end ​with the toast delivered for the end of our Iceland adventure. That will always be a special memory for those helping to build this network - cheers!

To the Travel Sisters!
May the network grow wide, or may it grow deep,
Or may it do both!
And those gathered here keep
The story of the women
Who were fun and attractive,
But the most notable thing about them?
They are adaptive!
For they go together, and less money is spent,
So they can go farther,
And away they went!
To see the world and all its treasures,
sample its food, and gather its pleasures!
Three cheers for the women about whom they say
They truly knew how to seize the day!
Hip, hip, HOORAY!  Hip hip Hooray!

-In Honor of the 2023 Ice Queens

I was talking to a new Travel Sister on the phone the other day and she was just so excited to be a part of our network.  She came to our in person event at Panera this month and realized we were going to Greece and that that was a dream she had for her 60th birthday.  As we made plans to followup and everyone parted ways, she headed out to her car.  To her surprise, it wouldn’t start.  She realized it was the battery and she would need a service to come out and jump her car.  Two Travel Sisters saw her plight, helped her think through it, and then they decided to have lunch with her while she waited!  She said they had a delightful lunch and Barb and Caren were definitely the kind of people she would like to travel with.  Last night our group of nine going to Greece met on Zoom to make choices and share ideas about shore excursions and it was SO GREAT to see her beaming face!  We are going to have a blast!  

Meanwhile, while we were in Panera, one of our very first Travel Sisters was in . . . Antarctica!  She had a dream of going there and I helped her and a friend book the trip on a Viking Expedition voyage.  It was an AMAZING deal?!  Because she booked it with us, we will earn a commission (same price to her) and that will enable us to advertise and market the network as a whole!  We are finding (duh) that . . . marketing really works!!!  If we can funnel just $100 a month into digital ads we can grow the network pretty quickly.  As it gets larger, it gets easier to lift “niche” trips and meet very specific needs of Travel Sisters.  That’s ALMOST as cool as the videos of her next to calving glaciers and pictures of her surrounded by the cutest penguins EVER.  

Did I fail to mention we filled the Iceland trip and 20 women are booked and excited?!  Four Travel Sisters decided to add a post-trip to IRELAND that will be a great cost savings with Iceland Air’s stopover deals.  We've picked a perfectly located 4 star boutique hotel an some great tours and high tea at the Atrium!  A couple other Travel Sisters are looking at a post trip to NORWAY - cool train ride to see the fjords!  Our partners on the ground gave us a great price for solo accommodations and so Sisters can opt in as solo travelers for that portion.  

The goal of this project was HOPE and JOY and so far, I feel like we are meeting the mission and I could not be more pleased!  Teresa and I are putting our heads together at the end of the month to put together the February newsletter - look for big trips for 2024 in that edition!  In April, we will do another newsletter where we float out some weekend getaways for summer.  So much fun to come - thanks for coming along for the journey!

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We had a Zoom meeting last night and it was FANTASTIC!  The seeds we have planted and collectively tended are starting to bear fruit! 

There were about 14 people in attendance and the “regulars” are really starting to know each other and be invested in the stories we can tell.  For example, one Travel Sister could tell us all about the trip to Peru we planned and it was AMAZING to hear how well it all went!  I loved seeing my roomie from the Italy trip and the Italy group is going to have a reunion in January; I’m so looking forward to it!  We’ve booked a trip to Antarctica for one of our “OG” Travel Sisters and we celebrated that dream becoming a reality for her. Just a lot of great updates that make it feel like our mission is really happening: the girls are getting together and GOING!  More and more every season!

We also had some new faces in our meeting last night and THAT was exciting, too!  I love the way people discover our group, follow all the “bread crumbs” to the meetings and then seem so pleased to find REAL people, REALLY building a functional network of amazing women that are full of energy, ideas, and hope and are busy being about that life!  It’s so fun to hear their stories and interests and see how connections can be made.  We launched some Facebook ads this week and we had one woman that found out about us, registered, attended our meeting last night and registered to go to Iceland TODAY!  It also happened to be the week that a major life transition finalized, and so as one door closed this window on the world opened.  I just love that.  
Speaking of Iceland - we have just FIVE spots left!  I would LOVE to fill those before Christmas and New Year’s so we could slide into 2023 with DEFINITE travel plans on the calendar.  I also love the idea of women giving themselves that gift of travel.  It really lays the foundation for a 2023 full of planning, going and growing.  And what could make for a better new year plan than THAT?!  
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Hope to see you at our in person event next week if you can make it.  If you can’t, just know we are wishing you a fantastic holiday and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!  

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In Italia Andiamo!

We had been so busy with the other trips we had actually not spent a lot of time cultivating the Italy trip. I knew Teresa had put together a great itinerary and the price seemed right.  Tuesday morning we realized there were amazing women ready to GO!  Teresa and I talked it over and decided we could reinvest any profit from this trip back into the project and so . . I'm going too!  That way, we can start working to create a real sense of "we-ness" on these trips.  We now realize that's pretty critical. 

So - three "big" trips are happening in some form this year: Boston, Peru, and Italy!  Maybe not as big as we hoped in terms of size, but they are a huge sign of progress!  We sincerely thank EVERY woman that has helped us get to this point and we want to assure you we are just getting started!

With each of the trips we have tried to lift this spring, we have fine-tuned our processes and systems and now we can reflect on them and refine them.   It is clear we need to grow this network and we need to get many more people behind a trip before we drive it forward.  We need be much clearer about how "Crunch Week" works.  And we need to think about how we scale up those processes.  But it's been a great spring and we can't wait to send some of our "pioneering" Travel Sisters off on some amazing adventures!!

Tuesday was startling.  It was "Crunch Week" for Costa Rica and we had high hopes that 15 or so women would be on their way to Costa Rica in January.  Our supplier Daisy had created a great website for the group, the price was on budget, the destination was amazing - let's go!!!  

And then I opened my email on Tuesday and realized all the interest was dissipating.  By Wednesday we had to collapse the trip.  Teresa and I were kind if baffled.  What had gone wrong?  

One thing that is true but has never been the goal of this project is that if we get a large group of women to travel, Teresa and I can probably bargain for a low rate that will allow us to go with the group without breaking the bank of our fledgling business.  I like that idea because, in my previous life as a teacher, I know that sometimes you need a group leader who will create some norms and customs that make the group feel and act like a group.  Without that, you could feel like just a random group of people who happen to have the same itinerary. 

Teresa posited that maybe that was the issue.  Did we need the first few trips to be big, and have us along, to create that "group vibe" and make sure the norms and customs of Travel Sisterhood were firmly established?  Once established, we could let other women take the lead, having experienced it themselves.  They could be the "Moms" of the trips going forward, having seen at least once what a Travel Mom does on a Travel Sister trip.

Last night's live Zoom focused on that question and we got a lot of great feedback.  We realize a few things:

- Social media platforms are great for disseminating info and posting reminders but community is not going to be built and felt there.
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- Email groups are great for organizing groups but community is not going to be built and felt there.

- Live Zooms are great for introductions and building community but we need separate, dedicated meetings specific to each trip.

- Until the network is larger, we need to build one trip, it needs to be be "big", and Teresa and I need to lead it, on the ground.
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- For now, all our efforts, Zooms, emails and newsletters need to be driving towards that goal.  

The HARD question is - what trip will garner that kind of enthusiasm??  We need like 60 women to be interested and 40 to commit and go.  Is that possible?  There's only one way to find out - just try!  And keep trying. It's the American way . . . cue the Thomas Edison documentary, lol!

One thing that IS clear is there are a group of local women out there who understand the potential for this model and want it to succeed.  And they MIGHT even be willing to take a chance on a trip / destination that is interesting if not perfect and "vote with their feet" so this project can truly LAUNCH, grow and be sustainable.  

SO, we are going to start pitching ideas.  One every week or so.  A destination / a date/ a budget/ an itinerary.  And we are going to ask you to vote it up or down.  Share it with your friends, get them to register so they can vote on the next one.  I gotta believe, sooner or later, we will have that critical mass to do our first big trip and do it RIGHT.  Lots of excited women, lots of energy, and a true group experience.  

Thanks, team.  You keep voting with your feet, creating the story, helping us chart our next move.  We are listening and we are excited for what is next!