curated by Prime Sarmiento

I finally got away from my very busy work schedule and rewarded myself last night with a trip to the moviehouse and watched the last installment of the Harry Potter movie. This muggle is a mega fan of Harry Potter – I read the books and watched the dvds many many many times. I just can't get enough of the magic of story telling, the pleasure I derive from reading a story, the one thing that inspires me to write well. It's this search for stories that pushed me to read travel memoirs – in books, in blogs, in magazines. They inspire me to write, they inspire me to travel. So to celebrate Harry Potter – and the immense power of story telling – I decided to compile some of the best travel narratives written by solo female travelers that were published online in the past few weeks. Happy reading and enjoy your weekend!

A Moment in Time on a Toronto Subway by Nora Dunn 

A tale of connection and disconnection in a subway as narrated by a returning Toronto native.

Whale Watching in Alaska by Abigail King There’s suspense, there’s joy, there’s symbolism, I never thought that whale watching can be this interesting.

One Hot Tamale Filled with Page-Turning Fun by Lucy Neville An excerpt from the memoir of a twenty-something solo female traveler in Mexico. Note to women visiting Mexico for the first rime – ordering torta can be, ah, “sexual” experience – wink, wink 😉

Notes from a Revolution in Egypt by Jessica Lee A guidebook writer’s perspective of the Egyptian revolution – as she observes the unfolding of a political crisis not from Cairo but from an emptied-out beach resort zone

The old man and the Seine by Sue Joseph An Australian journalist went to Paris to trace Ernest Hemingway’s journey. What she found instead is her own Paris.

Experience Telling Principle 4: Verbal Rulership by Gwen Bell A snippet about the social web guru’s return to Colorado and her thoughts on writing and publishing.

Conversation with a Goddess by Prime Sarmiento Yup, shameless self-plugging. But if you’re interested on inner journeys and divination on Goddesses then this might be the travel narrative of your choice. 🙂