living | trends
a rried an d trav ellin g
w ith o u t th e
husb an d ? D on’t
w orry, th e m oral
police w ill n o t h o u n d
y o u an ym ore. M ore
an d m o re w o m en (yes, even th o se
w ho have tie d th e k n o t) a re p lan n in g
girlfrien d s-o n ly vacations. “G one are
th e days w h en w o m en u se d to say th a t
w e w o n ’t enjoy o u rselv es w ith o u t o u r
h u sb an d s. A bout
6 0
%
o f w o m en w ho
com e fo r o u r to u rs are m arried. M ost
o f th e m are econom ically in d e p en d e n t,
professionally qualified w o m en . A nd
th e ir h u sb a n d s are very su p p o rtiv e ,” says
S u m itra S enapaty, F o u n d er o f W om en
o n W a n d erlu st (W O W ), a club th a t
o rg an izes o n ly all-w om en to u rs. “W h en
I sta rte d a b o u t six y ea rs ago, I u sed to
organize a b o u t tw o -th re e trip s in a year.
N ow it’s g o n e u p to tw o -th re e trip s in
a m o n th ,” sh e says. W ith a n in creased
d em an d in re c e n t tim es,
m akem ytrip.
com
is also looking a t o ffering packages
fo r girls-only trip s. “O v er th e p a st year,
th e re h a s b e e n a d em an d fo r girls-only
to u rs, p articu la rly fo r shopping. If th is
c o n tin u es, w e’ll design such packages,”
says M ayank A huja, A ssistan t M anager,
O u tb o u n d T ours,
m akem ytiip.com .
G irls on th e Go
DESTINATION DESIRES:
W h a t d o es
y o u r w a n d e rlu st d e s ire — lu x u ry holiday,
a d v e n tu re trip o r sp o rty v acatio n ?
D ifficult to co m b in e ev e ry o n e’s n e e d s
in to o n e trip ? So ta k e a fam ily holiday,
p lu s tra v e l w ith g irlfrie n d s w h o have
sim ila r in te re s ts , su g g ests M anjiri
C h a tu rv e d i, a D elh i-b ased w riter, w ho
m an ag es to ta k e a t le a st tw o trip s a
year, in d e p e n d e n t o f h e r sp o u se an d
10
-y ear-o ld -so n . “M y h u sb a n d an d m y
h o lid ay e x p e c ta tio n s are p o le s a p a rt. I
w a n t to e x p lo re th e p lace, go to n o n -
to u r is t areas, se e ev ery th in g . L uxury
d o e s n ’t m a tte r. B ut fo r m y h u sb a n d ,
h o lid ay in g is a b o u t le isu re. H e w a n ts a
slo w pace, e a t g o o d fo o d , have a co u p le
o f b e e rs, basically ju s t relax a n d en jo y
h im self. So o n a fam ily holiday, w e do
th a t b u t th e n I go o ff w ith m y frie n d s
o r fem ale rela tiv e s to sa tisfy m y trav e l
d e sire s,” sh e says.
SHOP-A-HOLIC ABROAD:
W h a t’s a
v a c a tio n w ith o u t sh opping? B ut it’s
a n o go w ith h u sb a n d s an d k id s. B ut
w ith g irlfrien d s? “O f la te , th e re ’s b ee n
a lo t o f d e m a n d fo r all-girls trip s fo r
sh o p p in g , th o u g h o u r c lie n ts are usually
a m ix o f sin g le a n d m a rrie d w om en.
R ecen tly w e o rg a n iz e d a trip o f
10-12
w o m en to th e h a n d ic ra fts m a rk e t in
V ie tn a m a n d a n o th e r o n e fo r a g ro u p o f
15-17
to T h ailan d . O f c o u rse , w e th ro w
in so m e sig h tse e in g b u t th e fo cu s is on
sh o p p in g ,” says A huja.
RECHARGE AND REJUVENATE:
B eing a m o m a n d w ife is a
24/7
jo b ,
says R itu A rora, a h o u sew ife. “Y ou’re
alw ays a t th e ir b eck an d call. E ven
PH O TO GR APH : CU LTU R A /M ATELLY/GETTYIM AG E
