The Gender Gap in Travel: Myths and Revelations

Readers often write in to remark that I am a man, a fact of which I am generally aware. But then they point out something that often slips my mind: my travel experiences are those of a man, as well. Some say they would prefer the column to be written by a woman, a request I parry with reminders that two of the three previous Frugal Travelers were women, and many of Daisann McLane’s and Susan Spano’s columns are still online and just as packed with insight as when first published. But others have a strong argument: they say that the advice I give and the experiences I recount are not always as applicable or accessible to women. How would a female traveler feel about staying in my $4 room at Hospedaje los Arcos in Coatepeque, Guatemala? Or being invited to a family lunch by an older man in Intepe, Turkey? Or hitting working-class immigrant nightclubs outside Madrid? So I decided to talk to female travelers I trusted: Daisann, whom I consider one of the savvier adventurers on the planet; Amelia Thomas, who wrote the Lebanon section of Lonely Planet’s Syria and Lebanon guidebook (which I used and found insightful this summer); and friends, friends of friends and the always-responsive Twitter crowd.