Yes, on all counts!

Janice (the author) enjoys a moment of pause while hiking in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile, with the Grey Glacier in the background. Photo courtesy of Janice Waugh

Solo travel is an amazing opportunity for adventure. It’s a chance to discover yourself as you discover the world. It is safe. It is fun. You’ll also meet more people – locals and travellers – than you would travelling with a companion. You’ll have amazing experiences you will never forget.

Janice (the author) shares a smile of relaxation at the Hacienda Tres Rios Resort on the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Photo courtesy of Janice Waugh

These are reasons for everyone, men and women, to travel alone. But there are additional reasons specifically for women to head out solo, especially those who are, or plan to be, partners and mothers.

So here they are, the top five reasons for women to travel solo:

In this self portrait, the author takes a bite of a hot bagel from the Fairmont Bakery in Montreal, Canada. Photo courtesy of Janice Waugh

1) Learn how capable you are before you get tied down to a partner and children; go out into the world by yourself. Make your own decisions and organise your own time. At home you have backup. Travelling, you are truly on your own and you’ll discover how resourceful you really are.

2) Have a last hurrah before you have children. Children are a very long-term responsibility that is often particularly demanding of moms. Before focusing your care on children, take a bit of time to take care of yourself.

3) Take a break from endless daily responsibilities and come back refreshed. While we’ve come a long way, women still juggle many of life’s details. I think of a woman’s life like a four-burner stove preparing a holiday family dinner: there’s rarely a burner free. Walk away from the stove, by yourself, relax and return refreshed.

4) Build confidence after a divorce or loss. This reason is particularly close to my heart. After losing my husband in 2006, I started travelling solo again. I know how much it builds confidence. It was part of my comeback to life.

5) Eat dessert first. On the road, you can do anything you want to do, when you want to do it, and without being judged.

Solo travel is an enriching, enjoyable way to travel.

The sun sets over Toronto, silhouetting its distinctive skyline. Photo courtesy of Flickr/paul (dex)

Now, one Toronto native has taken it upon himself to extend the wider green agenda even further by offering visitors to his city a more ecologically friendly alternative to existing Toronto transport options.

Steven Frei, a former business analyst at the Toronto Stock Exchange, founded his company, Eco Taxi, in 2007, originally operating under the name Green Limousine. Having been inspired by Tim Flannery’s seminal text The Weather Makers and E. O. Wilson‘s The Future of Life, he set out to make hybrid taxis on the streets of Toronto a reality.

Despite initial resistance from City Hall, Frei partnered with a group of independent drivers and succeeded in getting a fleet of Toyota Priuses certified as taxis. Today, the successful company continues to help Toronto locals and out-of-towners reduce their carbon footprints. Each Eco Taxi vehicle emits less than 50% of the carbon dioxide typically produced by the gas-guzzlers and high carbon-emission cars often used by the city’s other taxi services.

One of the Eco Taxi's fleet of Toyota Priuses. While considerably greener than other vehicles, they aren't actually wind powered. Yet.

The involvement of drivers at the senior management level is another a point of significant pride for Eco Taxi and adds to the stability and direction of the business. The company’s drivers all own and operate their own vehicles, further buttressing their pride in the company’s reputation for quality customer services and providing more economic security than might be the case for shift workers in other transfer companies.

Collaboration with the local community is yet another important component of Eco Taxi’s work. Frei has taken time to discuss the risks of climate change in several of Toronto’s public schools and hopes to be able to increase this type of activity as the company matures.

Now, Eco Taxi is partnering with Green Path Transfers (GPT), the first global environmentally friendly transfer service, as the local partner for Toronto. As part of an international network of local operators, Eco Taxi will be contributing to more than the environmental sustainability of its home city but has become part of a concerted global effort to reduce emissions generated by transfers.

An Eco Taxi vehicle parked before the Toronto skyline, featuring the instantly recognisable CN Tower, visible for miles around

“I’m very excited to by partnering with GPT,” said Frei. “It’s great to have the opportunity to join likeminded businesses and people across the globe, working toward a worthy goal, using a smart business model.”

“With such a strong track record in eco-friendly transport, having Eco Taxi join the Green Path Transfers network was a natural choice,” commented Adrian Cordiner, CEO of GPT. “We’re very excited to work with them and are proud to promote Eco Taxi as our exclusive partner for Toronto.”

One final advantage to be gained from travelling with EcoTaxi is the strength of the drivers’ knowledge about Toronto. Frei likes to recommend the popular Kensington Markets and the Toronto Islands, but for a slice of genuine Toronto life he tips Roncesvalles Avenue in Roncesvalles Village, which recently won a CBC (radio) contest that asked listeners to vote on Ontario’s favourite street/road.

With the rebranding from Green Limousine to Eco Taxi now nearly complete and the company’s inclusion in the GPT network, the road ahead certainly looks good for Eco Taxi. By offering a green transfer solution to visitors to the city of Toronto, the company is doing its part to improve quality of life, not just in its own city but for our pale blue dot as a whole.

Toronto is fast becoming the most popular 'body double' for Chicago and New York. It has become the location of choice when shooting a movie or TV show set in either of these iconic US cities.

The Canadian Big Apple

Toronto has spent years playing the part of other cities – most often New York or Chicago. While Toronto does not usually ‘star’ in a major motion picture, it has had a few celluloid moments. Off the top of my head, there are Owning Mahowny, Chloe, The Hurricane, the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs The World and the Canadian classic Down the Road.

But rarely do familiar Toronto landmarks (like the CN Tower or City Hall) actually make an appearance in movies since few are set in Toronto; the cameras cleverly keep those landmarks out of the frame. Most often, movies are shot on side streets, in back alleys, around old industrial sites and inside heritage properties (like a pub owned by a friend of mine) – parts of the city that only locals would recognize. I think you really have to be a certain kind of movie geek (like myself) to get a kick out of seeing an alleyway Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis ducked down in 1996′s The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Fancy a Little ‘Extra’ Work on the Side?

Having said that, there are a lot of movies being filmed in Toronto throughout the year and there’s a good chance you’ll see the white trucks and trailers used by production companies as dressing rooms, mobile makeup departments and equipment storage. Gaffers, key grips and teamsters are everywhere. Asking one of them for an autograph could be fun, since, unfortunately, star sightings are a lot less common.

The famous Toronto skyline does not get to feature in a lot of films, unfortunately, but if for Toronto natives, there are hours of fun spotting local haunts in the raft of movies and TV shows that are shot here every year.

While exploring the city, you just might also end up stumbling onto a live set and joining in with the rest of the extras as I did about 10 years ago during the filming of John Q, starring Denzel Washington. A large crowd had assembled around TV news vans and police cars and when I saw it was a movie shoot, I slipped into the crowd and followed the directions given to us (‘hide your jackets,’ ‘cheer like crazy when a hostage is released,’ etc). Did I catch a glimpse of Denzel? No. Can you see me on screen in the cheering crowd? Not unless you have HD TV and much better eyes than me.

Rubbing Shoulders with the Stars

One of the things that does make Toronto an exciting place for film buffs is the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). For a little more than a week every autumn, A-list celebrities, actors, fans and paparazzi converge on Toronto. Now one of the largest film festivals in the world, TIFF has become an important place to see new films and, for many, a place where you can rub elbows with stars.

Big names like coming to Toronto. They like the food, the shopping, the sights and sounds of the city (live music, art galleries, etc) and, most importantly, the people. Here, movie stars can let their guard down a little more than usual. They can walk the streets without being mobbed (unless you’re Brad Pitt or George Clooney, I suppose) and do some things they probably wouldn’t do in Hollywood.

The Toronto Film Festival is a great time for celeb spotting. The Hollywood A-list are said to enjoy the relatively relaxed atmosphere in the city and, judging by Tommy Lee Jones’s grin as he arrived to promote his 2006 movie, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, it must be true!

During last year’s TIFF, Drew Barrymore hopped behind the bar at Sweaty Betty’s and served drinks to customers. Also last year, LeVar Burton (who played Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: the Next Generation) sent a tweet to all of his Twitter followers in Toronto inviting everyone to meet up for a beer. I went (along with a few dozen others) and was actually able to have a conversation with him. As the former host of Reading Rainbow (a TV show I watched throughout my childhood) and a character on Star Trek, he was one of my favorite actors. Organizing the ‘tweet-up’ and chatting with all of us revealed that he was an incredibly nice guy and now ranks as one of my all-time favorite people. He said that he would never do something like that back in LA. He said Canadians were cool and he felt comfortable doing this sort of informal meet-and-greet in Toronto. He called us ‘chill.’

Toronto is a city that may look like other places on screen, but there really is a distinct feeling to it that you can really only sense when you’re here. We’re good at playing New York or Chicago on screen, but in real life we’re very unlike either of those cities. There’s a reason Toronto is popular with production crews, movie stars and film buffs, and I think it has more to do with the true character of this city, what its people are like and all the things that happen off camera.

Of course, there are many new partners who will be launching tours in their destinations over the coming months. Included in this mix are 13 established whl.travel local connections from Athens (Greece), Boracay (Philippines), Brunei, Cappadocia (Turkey), Dominica (Caribbean), Foz du Iguassu (Brazil), Jamaica (Caribbean), Madeira (Portugal), Riga (Latvia), Rio (Brazil), St Lucia (Caribbean), Thessaloniki (Greece) and Merida (Mexico).

Despite this incredible progress, the Urban Adventures sales team is far from at rest. They have been working hard to recruit and sign new partners in other major destination throughout Europe and North America including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Dublin, Florence, Rome, St. Petersburg, New Orleans, Ottawa, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver… among many others.

The Urban Adventures buzz has carried across to consumers as well, especially through the tester program, where travellers have the opportunity to win free Urban Adventures in select destinations each month. Almost 12,000 testers have registered so far. Every month, these testers receive email notifications of the freebies up for grabs on a first-in-best-dressed (i.e. first-come-first-served) basis. In addition, more than 12,000 travellers have registered to receive the monthly traveller newsletter –’The Urban Adventurer’.

Basically, if you haven’t yet heard of Urban Adventures yet, you will soon. Negotiations continue with various global distributors, some of which already list some Urban Adventures on their websites, including Expedia, Viator, STA, Isango, Keith Prowse, Virgin Blue Holidays and Flight Centre.

About Urban Adventures

Intrepid Travel and whl.travel have joined together to create Urban Adventures, a new style of travel experience for those who want to get off the beaten path and really connect with the destination. Urban Adventures are city tours with a difference! The experience can be as short as a couple of hours, or a whole day, but in every case, Urban Adventures will take you to interesting places to meet locals and really see what makes the place tick, getting to know it like a local. In fact many of our travellers are locals, seeing their own cities in a different way.

Whether it’s your first time or your hundredth, we’re confident that Urban Adventures will open up a whole new dimension on many of your favourite cities around the world. Every Urban Adventure is also designed to support local communities, their cultures and the environment. As such, Urban Adventures are fun, insightful and true win-win experiences.

Geotourism Challenge

As previously reported, the 2009 Geotourism Challenge: Power of Place – Sustaining the Future of Destinations, jointly sponsored by the National Geographic Centre for Sustainable Development and Ashoka’s Changemakers, in partnership with whl.travel, garnered 611 entries from 81 countries (double the number received in the first Geotourism Challenge 2008), from which a panel of expert judges – including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a co-founder of Lonely Planet and the editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine – selected 10 finalists.

The judges’ choices brought to the fore the kinds of innovators – individuals and organizations – who, through tourism, work to sustain or enhance the unique character of a place – its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the wellbeing of its residents. This direct and indirect support of good destination stewardship is called geotourism.

“We are trying to identify organisations doing great things…,” commented Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel. “This is not just to celebrate the innovation and commitment of the people and organisations involved, but most importantly to provide a window on ways we can all play a role to save what is left [of the planet].”

The 10 finalists then took to the warewaves to draw public attention to their work. Online voting took place during a four-week stretch of summer that ended on 12 August 2009 and pushed the following three initiatives to the top, takers of US$5000 each and a lot of global kudos:

• NatureAir – The programs of NatureAir – Costa Rica’s 100% carbon-neutral airline – limit emissions, pay for offsets and reduce company dependence on fuel in the air and on the ground.

• PEPY – PEPY is a busy educational volunteer tourist program in Cambodia. PEPY offers responsible voluntourism adventures, designed with rural community input, providing substantial funding for educational programs in rural Cambodia and inspiring life changes in travellers. (Read more about PEPY.)

• Wikiloc – Wikiloc, based out of Girona, Spain, provides local communities with an effective way first to create their own maps of georeferenced trails and points of interest and then to show them off in an honest fashion using digital maps on the Web and in Google Earth.

“We’re excited to support three new innovators stretching the possibilities of geotourism,” said Charlie Brown, Changemakers’ executive director. “These winners are pushing us closer to realizing and sustaining a kind of travel that will enrich cultures and environments across the globe.”

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, said “The winners are outstanding examples of geotourism practices that extend to good destination stewardship. They are committed to conserving and enhancing the quality of their locales while benefiting local people and providing visitors with authentic experiences. Geotourism is no flash in the pan: Travelers around the globe are seeking it out in both rural and urban settings. We’re delighted to showcase the winners and runners-up who are leading the way.”

Read more about all 10 finalists, including the seven runners-up.

Inaugural Urban Adventures Prize

In addition to the high honours of the Geotourism Challenge, other prizes were on offer to all entries, whether or not they made it to the finals. One of these is the Urban Adventures Prize.  Initially called the whl.travel/Intrepid Travel prize, it is co-sponsored by Intrepid Travel and WHL Group, who recently launched a joint venture called Urban Adventures, a new style of travel experience for those who want to get off the beaten path and really connect with a destination. Urban Adventures can be as short as a couple of hours or as long as a whole day, but in every case they take you to interesting places to meet locals and really see what makes the place tick.

In keeping with the companies’ shared deep commitment to sustainable travel and to providing travel experiences that engage, enrich and inspire, the Urban Adventures Prize rewards three outstanding local tour operators/travel organisations that best demonstrate how to integrate the ‘Power of Place’ into a travel experience – great examples of experiential travel product built around the unique qualities and core assets of a place.

Although many could also easily have prevailed, the 2009 winners, each of whom receive US$2000 and publicity support that reaches a collective audience of 450,000 travellers, are:

• Ger to Ger – In Mongolia, Ger to Ger offers amazing expeditions incorporating unique insights into the lives of local people along the nomadic routes travelled. They use tourism as a catalyst for sustainable poverty alleviation, rural economic development and community-initiated health, cultural and natural resource management.

• Context Travel – Based in the United States, Context Travel’s innovative walking seminars (tours) are led by architects, historians and art historians, who take visitors on unique trips through urban surroundings. Their Sustainable Travel Initiated looks for ways to mitigate the negative impact of tourism on the social, economic and cultural life of key cities in Europe and the U.S.

• Cobati – The Community Based Tourism Initiative of Uganda works in unique cultural sites and in rural homestay development in villages bordering conservation areas. Cobati also uses tourism initiatives to train and mentor rural women in artisanal, culinary and hospitality skills as a means of supplementing their household incomes.

“The three organisations we have chosen as winners of the Urban Adventures Prize are truly outstanding examples of experiential and sustainable travel,” said Len Cordiner, CEO of Urban Adventures. “All deliver exceptional traveller experiences, and all embody the Power of Place.”

2009 Tourdust Scholarship

Like the Urban Adventures Prize, the Tourdust Scholarship was open to all Geotourism Challenge entries, but looked specifically at rewarding three socially responsible geotourism businesses (such as tour operators and activity guides) with a cash reward and mentorship designed to help them grow their businesses internationally.

Tourdust is a growing directory of adventure holidays and cultural tours from specialist tour operators with local expertise, knowledge and passion. Tourdust helps independent travellers in off-the-beaten-path destinations find trips run by grassroots local operators who pride themselves on delivering genuine personal experiences and are keen to share their passion with travellers.

The 2009 Tourdust Scholarship winners are:

• Ger to Ger – In the context of deep cultural immersion tours in Mongolia through homestays, guided trekking and horseback expeditions along nomadic trails, Ger to Ger trains herders and then teams them up with local guides to give travellers a thoroughly authentic taste of Mongolia.

• Cape Race – As part of this unique eco-cultural experience in Newfoundland, Canada, guests stay in three spectacular historic coastal homes and use tailor-made professional guidebooks to explore unique and out-of-the-way nature sites, pubs and music venues under their own steam.

• RiverIndia –  RiverIndia offers culturally immersive white-water rafting, kayaking, and fishing expeditions on the undiscovered but epic Siang River. The holistic approach involves protecting the river environment and supporting the local economy by working against reckless development and damming through the empowerment of local communities reliant financially on the river’s health.

Read more about the Tourdust Scholarship winners.