Travel Details

Scroll down for CONTACT INFO please

Travel Details, Slide Show, Map, and 'Travel Zen' Essay are below

How to Get There

Travel to Cardiff, UK will be on your own and airfare is not included in the price.
We will begin the trip in Cardiff (or at the airport if you arrive in the morning) October 11, 2023. You can extend your travels in Europe easily by train to London from Cardiff or by flight to Amsterdam or Dublin from Cardiff.

Within six months of the trip, you should be able to find a flight into Amsterdam and then Cardiff. For basic flight information I find using www.google.com/flights/ to be very helpful and simple. For affordable flights within Europe, try www.skyscanner.com.

Joy and Andi both travel to Europe extensively, so if you need more specific help after giving it a shot on your own, let us know.

Trip Insurance

We highly recommend you purchase trip insurance for this retreat. This will cover you for the costs you incur in reservations and flights. Depending on what coverage you chose, medical and lost baggage expenses and emergency transportation back home may be included. Please closely check the Covid restrictions for any plan you choose. Each participant needs to review her own situation and risk tolerance to decide what is best for her. I buy different policies depending on how long I will be gone and what's happening at home with family members. You can get quotes immediately and they are based on your state of residence (I'm not much help with Canada or other countries, sorry). Do be aware that some of the options require you purchase insurance within 15 days of your first deposit, which would be when you sign up with us. We will not be engaged in any 'extreme' sports at all, as those questions will come up. We'll merely be walking! We can't 'require' insurance, but it's not expensive and a good investment.

Packing

You will be 'required,' however, to pack LIGHT! For those of you coming for only the retreat, that will be fairly simple. If you'll be staying in Europe after the retreat, you might have to work a bit harder. No fancy clothes will be required! Please limit yourself to one carry on sized bag, even if you choose to check it when traveling. We will be traveling in one van and need all available space. I find the Rick Steves' philosophy on packing light is very helpful. Take a peek. www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light/packing-smart If you dig a little deeper into that site you'll find a list for women to consider beside the list we will provide for you. Suffice it to say, that you won't need to purchase new things for this outing. A complete packing list will be uploaded at a later date for participants.

A little slide show to inspire you....

Inspired? Questions?

Contact Info

Andi: [email protected]
Joy: [email protected]

Below is a travel essay I added for our Women in Wales group and YOU since you have found your way here!
Photos and other info follow the words. If you poke around this website and would like to join our group please sign up!

The Zen of Travel
by Andi Schrader 22-02-2022

Having just returned from overseas after far too long on a Covid hiatus, I’m sharing a bit of my travel philosophy. Some of our group are novice travelers, plus I’ve had a request for some ‘travel lessons.’ When traveling, there are a few basic concepts I keep in mind which keep travels relaxed and engaging. There are plenty of good things online about the benefits of travel and ways to pack, etc. Those are well worth your time to seek out. This is my own brief contribution. If it can help send you off into the world with grace and eagerness, I will have offered something valuable.

Why “the Zen of Travel?”
After living on the road six months a year for several years as a ‘senior’ (how else to explain my white hair?) I realized that any time I set off for travel, I immediately shifted my perspective to what I call "Travel Zen.” To sum it up, I let go of control and often even of expectations. My curiosity quotient goes up a few notches. I notice all sorts of interesting details around me. That noticing also provides clues when trying to figure out directions and transportation. Beauty touches my heart in the most unexpected spots. I’m learning to tap into my somatic responses and to allow myself to BE in the moment, regardless of the ‘comfort level’ which can sometimes be quite low. I choose to keep an upturned smile on my face, (though traveling with masks it doesn’t matter as much.) Why is this state of Travel Zen necessary? When traveling I want to be an agent of light and goodness as much as possible. (Of course I fall short, like I did yesterday when the ‘system’ for accepting duty free purchases into the USA at the airport didn’t work. At all.) But, for the most part, I try to spread kindness and shalom. From my vantage point three core things are necessary for that.

PATIENCE
Travel means a LOT of waiting. Only a few countries operate super efficiently (I’m looking at you, Switzerland) and so you’ll find yourself with a lot of in-between time. Airport lines, lines to enter places, waiting for trains, waiting for your travel partners, waiting to find a bathroom. Rather than engaging with my phone, which isn’t possible anyway if I have data turned off OR in the line at passport control where phones may not be allowed, I people watch! In the VERY LONG lines waiting to enter Portugal (friendly and so very NOT Swiss) I conducted sociological studies. “Which people are disinclined to wear their masks properly? Are there similarities among groups?” The answer is yes, there are similarities! Most masks resistors/ incorrect wearers were young adult males, especially the athletic teams traveling together. The next most common group of mask resistors were all other adult males… but I digress…
People watching is fascinating, educational, amusing and helps me to see just how small my presence is in the world. I also learn that it doesn’t matter one bit what I wear. Those poor, poor instagram influencers who have to lug around giant suitcases of bright red, blue, teal and yellow fancy clothes! I wear dark clothes that cover a multitude of stains and grit, and always travel with a colorful scarf. Voila, instant outfit. Plus I wear hiking boots with almost everything; a senior necessity as my feet are not always happy with me.

TOLERANCE FOR DISCOMFORT
You’re going to have to pee and you’ll have to just hold it. You might have to buy a coffee and take a little wandering break to use the cafe loo. You might even have to pay to use one. All that to say, there are lots of ways you’ll be uncomfortable in different surroundings. You’ll be hot, sweating in that mask or cold on the train. You’ll be hungry and frequently lost. Travel Zen allows you to chill out and realize you’ll eventually be more comfortable. Your hotel room or your bed at the hostel will provide a respite. Being ‘lost’ is more a state of mind and the biggest risk in most countries is having to pantomime with a local to find your way again. Trying to navigate with your travel partner, especially when you are also hungry, can become the worst of times. So, be sure to allow Travel Zen to take over as you wander away and wait… Eventually you’ll learn to stretch your personal comfort zone and grow to be a better human. Being in a low level of comfort also helps us to identify with so many people who might not have a hotel room with hot water or a comfortable bed with a wool blanket to toss over a sleep sack. You might think of yourself like traveling with a toddler when you set out for the day. Snacks? Water? Crayons? You’ll be OK.

EMBRACING MISTAKES
When we are in a familiar culture, we know how it works. We can navigate roads, sidewalks, grocery stores, elevators and all the rest easily. Not so much in any other culture. Suffice it to say that my pride takes a hit on every single trip. I’m a relatively savvy traveler and want to get it all right. But, I don’t. This week I had a train ticket to the wrong station and I picked up a taxi for my hotel which ended up being across the street! Humbled indeed.

“Mind the Gap” “Look left” The first floor is not the first floor. The train schedule isn’t in English and you’re not fluent in Romanian. The streets aren’t in a grid. What I thought was in the soup was definitely not what it contained. The margin for error in any other culture is huge and you are going to screw up. An imperative for travel is to be willing to laugh at yourself and let yourself make mistakes. It helps to keep a loose time schedule so when you get on the train going to the wrong direction, you have time to embrace Travel Zen and enjoy the ride. You’ll have to spend some extra money to cover your mistakes, so consider yourself warned and relax. Once you get over being humbled, the worse the mistake, like the worse the weather, the better the story!

TRAVEL BENEFITS YOU
If you’ve read this far, you’ve been most kind. I hope something in here will be helpful to you on your next trip. Or, if you haven’t booked one yet, that you’ll go for it! Travel will make you a better human. Your tolerance for differences will increase, as will your ability to glimpse beauty in all sorts of places and people. You’ll touch the heart of God seeing places and history you never knew existed and welcoming new perspectives into your soul. Travel keeps your brain healthy (for me, it’s a lot more fun than Sudoku) because you are problem solving all the time. It also expands your creativity by unlocking new parts in your brain. All of a sudden things become possible that you may have eliminated from life had you never traveled. You’ll encounter kindness from others even though you’ll come face to face with the harsh realities in which many live. There are many more benefits, but I will leave you with one of the most important ones. Travel helps you to gain a fresh perspective on home. To leave home and familiarity allows us to return with new confidence and appreciation for place. I hope you’ll go see the world!