Carol Dimopoulos, the colorful CEO of Learning Journeys, recently returned from India. It was the latest of a dozen previous trips to India, but only the second to southern India. She came back super jazzed.

“They were happy to see foreign guests,” she said. “They believe the guest is God, you know. That’s their motto.”

Carol’s group in India received even more attention than they might have otherwise because foreign travelers are still somewhat rare in post-lockdown Southern India.

Every travel advisor has a few great stories to tell. But last week, Allison Sodha showed the world what she’s been up to while her agency business stalled due to Covid. She tells some of her very favorite tales, in a new book about travel to India.

It’s the eighth installment of “Go! Girl Guides,” a series dedicated to travel by and for women—and released, appropriately, on International Women’s Day.

Since March 2020, when “we literally shuttered overnight, then had a little break in December when India and Thailand reopened temporarily,” Sodha has been “developing YouTube channels and writing this book, which was a great distraction. It’s my love affair to India.”

And now travel is back; in the past three weeks, bookings have quadrupled. And her book is out! Read the rest of this entry »

When I was in India I took an elephant ride. It’s an attraction that is offered tourists in countries such as India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The elephants were decoratively adorned with colorful weavings. I sat over the shoulders and rocked with the movement as the elephant walked up a hillside toward a temple. It was a thrill to be on the back of such a big, wonderful animal that was generously allowing me to ride on his back. I felt gratitude and friendship for the gentle giant.

I admit, I didn’t give it a lot of thought. It was just a few moments of one day on a 10-day tour. I took the ride, enjoyed it, and then moved on to the next thing on my itinerary. Then one day I met Stephanie Shaw, the corporate liaison for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and I realized what should have been obvious to me in the first place. Of course. Why did I ever think that an elephant would work a day job carrying humans around on his back constantly of his own free will, hour after hour, day after day?

When I learned the story behind the elephant rides, I felt ashamed of myself for being so insensitive to the animal. I was sorry for having participated in it, for helping to perpetuate the practice of selling elephant rides, which requires a kind of captivity and treatment I can hardly bear to imagine.

I assume others who take the rides are like I was. They saw the elephant ride attraction and went on it, not thinking that much about how it came to be that the world’s largest land animal would be submitting itself to serving as a taxi at a tourist attraction Read the rest of this entry »