Join our Book Club – What Wandering Women Read
Whether it’s quitting a job to sail the seven seas, pursuing a search for self across the continents, or overcoming tragedy through travel, the heartfelt travel memoirs of real-life women never cease to inspire us. Here’s 7 reads the Jane gals can’t wait to get stuck into.
Female travel is not a new phenomenon – women have been adventuring solo since the 1800s. Yet, as more women share their stories through travel blogs, social media groups and published memoirs, their intrepid travel tales are reaching a wider audience. By breaking down all kinds of social conventions, they inspire others to do the same. So if you’re thinking of setting off on an epic voyage of your own, or simply in the mood for a bit of armchair travel, let these 7 female travel picks from Good Reads light the way.
The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost – Rachel Friedman (2011)
“Rachel Friedman has always been the consummate good girl who does well in school and plays it safe, so the college grad surprises no one more than herself when, on a whim (and in an effort to escape impending life decisions), she buys a ticket to Ireland, a place she has never visited. There she forms an unlikely bond with a free-spirited Australian girl, a born adventurer who spurs Rachel on to a yearlong odyssey that takes her to three continents, fills her life with newfound friends, and gives birth to a previously unrealized passion for adventure. As her journey takes her to Australia and South America, Rachel discovers and embraces her love of travel and unlocks more truths about herself than she ever realized she was seeking. Along the way, the erstwhile good girl finally learns to do something she’s never done before: simply live for the moment.” – Rachel Friedman
How Not to Travel the World: Adventures of a Disaster-Prone Backpacker – Lauren Juliff (2015)
“I had no life experience, zero common sense and had never eaten rice. I suffered from debilitating anxiety, was battling an eating disorder and had just had my heart broken. I hoped by leaving to travel the world I would be able to heal myself. Instead, Lauren’s travels were full of bad luck and near-death experiences. Over the space of a year, she was scammed and assaulted, lost teeth and swallowed a cockroach. She fell into leech-infested rice paddies, was caught up in a tsunami, her motorbike’s brakes failed and she experienced a very unhappy ending during a massage in Thailand. It was just when Lauren was about to give up on travel that she stumbled across a handsome New Zealander with a love of challenges…”-Lauren Juliff
Uncanny Valley – Anna Wiener (2020)
“In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener—stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial–left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.
Anna arrived amidst a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the company ski vacations and in-office speakeasies, boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to emerge: one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building…”- Anna Wiener
Love with a Chance of Drowning – Torre DeRoche (2011)
“A city girl with a morbid fear of deep water, Torre DeRoche is not someone you would ordinarily find adrift in the middle of the stormy Pacific aboard a leaky sailboat – total crew of two – struggling to keep an old boat, a new relationship and her floundering sanity afloat. Set against a backdrop of the world’s most beautiful and remote destinations, Love with a Chance of Drowning is a sometimes hilarious, often moving and always breathtakingly brave memoir that proves there are some risks worth taking.” – Torre DeRoche
This is How I Save My Life: A True Story of Finding Everything When You are Willing to Try Anything – Amy B. Scher (2018)
“When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life–from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure–but it was highly experimental, only available in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her. Knowing the risks, Amy packed her bags anyway and flew across the world hoping to find the ultimate cure.”
Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad – by Firoozeh Dumas (2008)
“In the bestselling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the human condition. (Hint: It may have to do with brushing and flossing daily.) Dumas also documents her first year as a new mother, the familial chaos that ensues after she removes the television set from the house, the experience of taking fifty-one family members on a birthday cruise to Alaska, and a road trip to Iowa with an American once held hostage in Iran.” – Firoozeh Dumas
Confessions of a Paris Party Girl: A Humorous Travel Memoir – Vicki Lesage (2014)
Wine, romance, and French bureaucracy – the ups and downs of an American’s life in Paris. This laugh-out-loud memoir is almost too funny to be true! Drinking too much bubbly. Meeting sappy Frenchmen who have girlfriends or are creeps or both. Encountering problème after problème with French bureaucracy. When newly-single party girl Vicki moved to Paris, she was hoping to taste wine, stuff her face with croissants, and maybe fall in love.
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Sure you know your nasi goreng from you mie goreng, but have you ever delved deeper into Bali’s unique cuisine? Here are 5 quintessential dishes to try in Bali.
Sure, Bali might only be one of the hundreds of islands that make up Indonesia, but in reality, Bali’s culture, religion, and traditions are unique. And with that, comes a unique culinary approach you’re unlikely to find outside of the island.
Perhaps the reason why Australian tourists aren’t as exposed to Bali’s traditional dishes is that they’re a little harder to come by. This is largely down to the fact that Balinese dishes are complex and can require up to 24 hours to prepare. So if you’re keen to go authentic, do a little research.
Babi Guling
No doubt you’ve seen plenty of signs for babi guleng on your scooter rides.
That’s because babi guling, a suckling pig on a spit, is Bali’s most beloved dish.
According to a very specific recipe, the suckling pig is filled with lots of herbs and spice include coriander, chilli, garlic, ginger, shallots, turmeric, lemongrass, black pepper, shrimp paste and lime leaves. All this is served with white boiled rice.
If you’re in Ubud, make a beeline for Ibu Oka Warung, located opposite the former Royal Palace. This Ubud institution draws both locals and foodies from around the world, keen to try babi guling. The restaurant opens at around 10.30am and tables fill up quickly.
Want to know more? TripSavvy has the full scoop.
Since being ‘discovered’ by both Rick Stein and Anthony Bourdain, this local food stall has moved to larger premises with river valley views so as to cater to tourists. It’s famous for one dish: excellent Balinese-style roast babi guling (suckling pig). The set meal comes with pork, rice and soup.
– Lonely Planet
Sate Lilit – skewers of seafood on a stick of lemongrass
Sate Lilit
Familiar with the tangy peanut flavour of skewers laced in satay sauce? Bali has its own version called sate lilit. To make this popular street food skewer, all meat varieties are used including fish, however, the meat of choice is typically pork. Once again aromatic spices are part of the magic, like chili, turmeric, ginger, candlenut and coriander. To add even more flavour, the skewers themselves are sticks of lemongrass. Barbequed on a grill, sate lilit is served with peanut sauce or chili sauce.
Where should you head to devour sate lilit? Taste Atlas has done the groundwork for you with a comprehensive round up of warungs known for their sate lilit.
Bebek Betutu
Bali’s most famous dish is arguably bebek tutu – or smoked duck. Once the duck is seasoned with turmeric, ginger, galangal, lumbangana, nuts, coconut oil, onion, garlic and shrimp paste, its wrapped in banana leaves and smoked for around 24 hours. For authentic bebek betutu, look out for Bebek Bengil in Ubud.
This famous place is hugely popular for one reason: its crispy Balinese duck, which is marinated for 36 hours in spices, steamed and then fried. Those who don’t enjoy fried food can enjoy a duck salad, duck spring rolls or duck satay. You’ll eat in a huge open-air dining pavilion.
– Lonely Planet
Jaje Laklak
Laklak is a traditional Balinese cake made from rice flour, coconut flakes, and sugar.Flapjack -like in texture, laklak is round and flat in shape and either white or light green. To make green Laklak cake, Pandan leaves are added to the dough.
Vegan friendly Laklak is usually served with grated coconut sprinkled on the surface of the snack, which is soft which is then doused with syrupy brown sugar sauce. You’ll find laklak just about everywhere in Bali, from traditional warungs to street carts.
Bubur injun
Bubur injun is a Balinese sweet dessert made from black glutinous rice porridge with coconut milk and palm sugar or cane sugar. The black rice is boiled until soft, and then sugar and coconut milk is added.
