Wise Woman Travel

Last April, I received an automatic WordPress message, congratulating me on my 100th blog post. Whenever I reach a milestone like this, I can’t resist a look at the path behind me and the road ahead.

My first blogging experience started in 2012, the night before my husband and I travelled to Provence. Friends had been asking me to e-mail them pictures and descriptions of the trip, which I thought might be kind of unwieldy. So I created an account with TravelPod, one of the first blogging platforms on the web. I had so much fun with that account for a couple of years, and received so much encouragement to keep blogging that I decided to create Magpie Learner on WordPress in 2013. This blog had an expanded focus on lifelong learning and the many ways it can be accomplished. I thought that travel would only be one of topics I would write about.

And, from time to time, I did write about other things – live theatre, books, and trying new recipes and restaurants. My friend and former teaching colleague Christie Robertson contributed a couple of guest posts, and so did my young friend Joshua Moorgen. But mostly, I still blogged about travel. First love, and all that.

This realization was part of a larger shift in my life. I have been a teacher for more than 30 years, all of them in the education sector. I still love teaching, but I began to feel restless for a change, so I started to explore the possibility of linking teaching to tourism. I found study after study that said solo female travellers are one of the fastest growing demographics in the tourism sector, but that many women still fear travelling alone. I had taught classes on this topic in the early 2000s and found them really satisfying.

So, I decided to take the plunge and start a new venture: Wise Woman Travel, a consulting service which will help women who long to travel overcome their fear of hitting the road on their own.  I’m building the website with WordPress, and hope to have it up and running by mid-October.

But how to say goodbye to Magpie Learner? She’s been part of me for too long – and so have all of you who have followed, liked, and commented. A quick e-mail to the good people at WordPress reassured me that a final farewell didn’t have to happen. While it’s true that I will give up magpielearner.com,  WordPress will migrate all my content – and all of you – over to my blog at wisewomantravel.com when I’m ready to open its doors for business.

So, this isn’t so long – it’s au revoir. See you over at my new place.