Women’s Travel Reflects Spiritual Adventure
Posted Tuesday, Jun 28, 2005 @ 6:41 am by Side Door Communications
Contact Information: Debbie Lykins, Side Door Communications, at (847) 458-1091
Organization's URL: http://www.sidedoorcom.net

• New Book Provides Insight to Travel and Spirituality

Grand Rapids, Mich., June 28, 2005 (The Religion Wire™ ) — Women travelers are hot. According to www.womentraveltips.com, women make 70 percent of all travel decisions, and 75 percent of those who take nature, adventure, or cultural trips are women. But, whether it’s a business trip to New York or a solo pilgrimage on the El Camino de Santiago, traveling gives a woman an opportunity to discover more about herself, grow spiritually, and unpack the adventure within.

Author and journalist Marlee LeDai says “women travelers are seeking personal epiphanies” in her new release, Go Girl: Finding Adventure Wherever Your Travels Lead (Revell, 2005). LeDai, who has traveled extensively as well as lived and worked overseas in countries such as Israel, Denmark, England, and Switzerland, encourages women to “drop their pretensions,” step out in confidence, and venture across the world or across the street insearch of adventure.

“Travel is a mirror that reveals to you the best things about yourself,” writes LeDai. “Redefining your identity as you travel is absolutely life affirming, and one of adventure’s best rewards.”

Go Girl readers will walk away with more than just a list of the most luxurious hotels in Europe or the best places to eat in Boise. They’ll learn:

• How to discover the adventure within
• The intimate connection between travel and spirituality
• What travel can teach them about themselves
• How travel can lead to personal and spiritual epiphanies
• How to make a dream trip a reality, no matter the obstacle
• How to plan a girlfriend getaway
• How to make traveling with a children an adventure
• Stories of modern-day women pilgrims who experienced epiphanies backpacking in Nepal, caring for children at an orphanage in Liberia, trekking the El Camino de Santiago, driving cross-country on a motorcycle, camping yearly on the beach in Baja, working with the poor in Latin America, photographing a medical mission to Vietnam, and participating in a humanitarian trip to Chernobyl.
• Candid stories from the author about how her many travel experiences, including living and working overseas, have changed her.

“The one who travels—across town or across the country—will see clearly what others don’t even notice,” writes LeDai. “Isn’t this the heart of pilgrimage and spiritual adventure? It is to find a way beyond the non-seeing and not-feeling that dehumanizes the world.”

Throughout the book, LeDai includes sidebars featuring multiple tips for venturing out including suggested packing lists, advice on water consumption, flight considerations, uses for duct tape while traveling, journaling suggestions, no-cost souvenir ideas, and tips for traveling on a tight budget.

Marlee LeDai’s love of family, adventure, and women’s culture characterizes her life. With an eye on stories that offer healing and inspiration, LeDai has lived and worked in a variety of countries including Israel, Denmark, and England as well as at Francis and Edith Schaefer’s L’Abri community in the Swiss Alps. As a journalist, she has traveled widely in Israel (between the Munich massacre and the Yom Kippur War); behind the Iron Curtain (during the Cold War); through Turkey’s religious sites; and along Normandy’s D-Day trail, interviewing both locals and American veterans for the anniversary celebration. A former editor and columnist for the women’s magazine, Virtue, and a contributing editor to Aspire magazine, LeDai has authored more than 25 books, including her 2004 release, Living Spaces (Revell), published more than 150 magazine and Web articles, and contributed as an editor and writer to several other works.

For a review copy or to schedule an interview with Marlee LeDai, please contact Debbie Lykins at deb@sidedoorcom.net or 847-458-1091.

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