female travel Archives | Atlas & Boots

The travel that changed me: Rachel Hewitt

24th June 202324th June 2023 by Atlas & Boots

In her new book, Rachel Hewitt honours the women written out of outdoor history. Here, she explains why it was important to tell their stories

Rachel Hewitt is a critic, broadcaster and the bestselling author of several books including Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey and A Revolution of Feeling: The Decade that Forged the Modern Mind. She has written for the Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times, New Statesman and Times Literary Supplement and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Beyond writing, she has appeared in the BBC’s Coast and Timeshift programmes and regularly participates in BBC Radio Three’s Free Thinking.

10 beauty tips for long-term travellers

10th April 2023 by Kia

After 70 countries and seven continents, Kia shares her tried-and-tested beauty tips for other long-term travellers

When I quit my desk job nearly a decade ago and set off on a trip around the world, I was rightly excited but also naive. I thought that life on the road would free me of the so-called ‘beauty tax’ – the price that women pay merely for being women.

Best travel books 2022: our top 10 picks

13th January 20235th January 2022 by Atlas & Boots

From a grumpy hiker’s outing in the mountains to the isolated shores of North Sentinel Island, we list the best travel books 2022

Travel memoirs are tricky beasts. In theory, 400 pages about someone else’s trip isn’t exactly appealing – like a protracted version of Jenny from Accounting’s week-long trip to Tuscany.

Ice work: 10 first ascents by female mountaineers

20th April 202224th November 2021 by Kia

In a world dominated by men, a select group of women have shattered the ice ceiling. Here we review some daring first ascents by female mountaineers

I’ll be honest: it rankles to write the words ‘the first female’ to do such and such. It feels patronising, as if to say you weren’t good enough to play with the big boys but I’ll pat you on the head anyway.

11 solo hiking tips for women

16th June 202311th November 2020 by Kia

We ask six expert climbers, thru-hikers and trail runners to share their solo hiking tips for women who want to walk alone

I’ve hiked all over the world, from challenging countries like Ethiopia and Lesotho to Pacific idylls like Rarotonga and Easter Island. I’ve done multi-day treks above 4,000 metres, day hikes under a scorching sun and gentle jaunts more like walks in the park. Throughout it all, there has been one constant factor: Peter.

5 travel problems only women will understand

23rd December 201916th March 2019 by Kia

For all the rhetoric about fearless female travel, there are certain problems that still endure. We tackle some below

It’s been almost five years since Peter and I packed up and left the UK for a year-long trip around the world. Many things have changed since then – some for the better and some for the worse, both at home and abroad.

books about obsessive searches lead image

22 books about obsessive searches

28th March 202226th March 2016 by Atlas & Boots

We list some excellent books about obsessive searches – perfect reading for your own journeys of discovery

All travel to some extent is about searching. It may be a deep and yearning search for fulfilment, a soul-wrenching quest for absolution, or something far more base (Thailand, anyone?).

For some, travel is a way to silence an echoing need, be it for knowledge, enlightenment, glory or revenge. These obsessive searches take travellers on great journeys across the wild, usually giving rise to incredible tales of incredible lands. At times, these tales are humbling; at others, they are exasperating but never are they boring.

8 tips for travelling as a couple

20th June 20226th July 2015 by Kia

After a year on the road and in each other’s pockets, Atlas and Boots share their top tips for travelling as a couple

I don’t tend to write about my relationship with Peter. We’ve been charting our year-long trip together but I’ve rarely talked about our relationship itself. As I explained in 7 things I struggled with in my first month on the road, this is partly because I haven’t always been 100% comfortable with publicly sharing our private moments.

More importantly, I haven’t felt the need to talk about our relationship. You don’t really when it’s right.

What travelling with a man taught me about street harassment

27th December 201917th December 2014 by Kia

I sat on the stairs of our Airbnb studio and laced up my trainers for my first run since leaving London four months ago. As I tied the bow I absentmindedly thought “I hope I don’t get harassed.”

And then it occurred to me: I hadn’t been harassed for four months and the only reason the thought had crossed my mind was because I automatically associated running with street harassment.

7 tips for travelling alone

2nd January 202024th May 2014 by Kia

1. Don’t feel like you have to make friends

All the travel experts bang on about how you’ll meet amazing people and make lifelong friends on your travels but sometimes that’s just not true. Granted, locals are usually friendly, surprising, eye-opening and delightful but fellow travellers are often of the single-serving variety.

I recently boarded a plane and chose a seat next to two young women, thinking they would potentially be good to hang out with. Almost immediately they began to talk 100 words-per-minute about bags and shoes and shopping, and which shoes to wear while shopping, and which bags are best to store shoes in when swapping shoes from heels to flats when shopping. Groaning inwardly, I put on my headphones and turned up the volume.