Beth Santos is the author of Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel. … [+]
Beth Santos, Founder and CEO of Wonderful, has twinning with over 45,000 solo female travelers around the world. This change-maker has now written a book to help more women see the world for themselves.
Available in early March 2024, Santos is the author of Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo. Through her debut novel, Santos takes a fresh look at what is often thought of as solo female travel. In addition to providing applicable tips, she delves deeper into what today's solo travelers need to know.
“It seems like we are now reconsidering our travels based on our ideas of what our travels should be or should have been,” Santos said. “In talking about redefining solo travel, I also wanted to encourage people to rethink the way they experience travel.”
“Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo” is the first. … [+]
The book also provides tips for dealing with solo travel scenarios, such as eating alone, managing money, meeting people, and getting out of your comfort zone. We go further by addressing current travel topics such as sustainability, cultural awareness and responsible tourism.
While Santos supports female travelers in general, she also uses her book to bring awareness to things BIPOC and LGBTQ+ travelers may encounter. Personal safety is often an important point and is addressed in the chapter. Santos explained that women are simply told that it's not safe to travel alone and internalize messages about which destinations are safest for them.
“A big part of the reason I wrote this book in the first place was… [that] I don't want anyone to be too scared to travel somewhere, and I don't want anyone to tell me that I should or shouldn't go to a certain place,” Santos said. “I think people should be able to make that decision for themselves. And I think people are smart enough to make their own decisions if they have the right information, but we don't currently provide that information. not.”
Founded by Beth Santos, Wonderful is an online and digital women's travel community.
Santos, who lives in Boston, founded Wonderful in 2006. At the time, it was called “Go Girl” (changed to its current name in 2013). Initially a blog turned into an online magazine. Santos first started posting her own travel stories and advertising on her Craigslist for submissions from other women writers, then she organized the network's first event in Chicago. did.
Wonderful has expanded to include more in-person meetups, the WITS Travel Creator Summit, and the Bessie Awards, which celebrate women and gender diverse people who have influenced travel.
“But at the end of the day, I sometimes tell people that 'Wonderful' isn't about travel at all,” Santos said. “It’s about creating community, sisterhood, and women lifting each other up, and the context in which we do that is travel.”
