'Women-Only'

By Patricia Corrigan 'Women-Only' Trips

Represent a Growing Travel Trend

Benefits include 'no primping' and 'a different level of bonding'

Girlfriend Getaways” to spas, all-inclusive resorts or gambling meccas have long appealed to women who enjoy traveling with female friends and family members. More recently, though, groups of women are heading out to ride horses in Mongolia, learn burlesque dance moves in Paris or go on a photo safari in Tanzania.

On some trips, participants also get to know local residents. “A growing array of women-only tours, particularly to the Middle East, Asia and Africa, are giving Western participants a behind-the-scenes look at how local women live and work in societies quite different than their own,” reports Skift, a firm that “deciphers and defines global travel trends.”

Often, the travelers are women of a certain age. Barbara Rivera, 71, signed up for a women-only dog-sledding trip along the north shore of Lake Superior with Adventures in Good Company, based in Baltimore.

“I’ve traveled with women-only groups and with mixed groups, and I’ve found that couples don’t always integrate well with other participants,” says Rivera, a retired banking executive from the Chicago area who recently moved to Blairsville, Ga. “Also, on women-only trips, it’s not a competitive environment. There’s no primping, and everybody seems more like themselves. It’s just more comfortable.”

We had to ask: Was dog-sledding comfortable? “It was spectacular. We had a full day outside in sub-zero temperatures, but we broke trail in fresh snow, with no evidence of anyone having been there before us,” Rivera says. “I was excited to be in such a beautiful environment.”

Tour Companies Now Focus on Trips for Women ‘More Thoughtfully’

Marian Marbury, 67, founded Adventures in Good Company some 20 years ago, and her company has always specialized in women-only trips. “These trips are not at all about the absence of men,” she says. “They are about women being with women, enjoying the companionship. The connections that

women form are significantly deeper than on mixed trips.”

Itineraries planned for, and led by, women are “more an enduring trend” than ever, Marbury adds. “That’s because companies — even the big players in adventure travel — now are focusing on trips for women more thoughtfully than they once did.”

Marbury’s company offers more than 80 trips to destinations around the world, and most of her clients are between their mid-40s to late-60s, “with a fair representation of women in their seventies and eighties,” she says. “A lot of the women who go with us are widowed or divorced, or they don’t have friends who can travel. But they still are open to new experiences, and they want adventures and challenges.”

Some Travelers Want Workshops; Others Seek Out Retreats

Sometimes, women also want to learn something.

The founder and creator of “Go! Girl Guides” and the annual Women’s Travel Fest in New York City, Kelly Lewis also is the CEO of Damesly, which she launched in 2016 so she could offer workshopbased travel for professional women. Some destinations include classes in nature photography, creative writing, public relations or travel writing. A few focus on personal growth. Others are just for fun. Participants range from 35 to 65 and older.

“We all are more similar than we are different, and our trips bring together women in different stages of their lives to bond through one shared passion,” Lewis says. One of her favorite destinations is Hawaii. “We bring a life coach and we also offer lessons in surfing, snorkeling and hula, working primarily with womenowned businesses wherever we travel.”

Sage Advice on the Benefits of a Women-Only Trip

A women-only trip to three national parks last summer appealed to Darleen Kahl, 71, and Sue Poteet, 70, partners for almost 30 years and residents of Milton, Del. Austin Adventures, based in Billings, Mont., offers the eight-day trip.

Balanced Rock offers a “Women of Color Wilderness Retreat” once a year in Yosemite National Park in northern California. The four-day trip combines backpacking, survival-skill building and mindfulness meditation exercises. “A participant in one of our weekend workshops suggested this trip, and we’ve offered it for twelve years now,” says Heather Sullivan, managing director and co-founder of the nonprofit, based in El Portal, Calif.

“We go into the high country and set up a base camp near a lake. It’s all about being in a beautiful spot where we can have facilitated discussions in a safe place around social justice, equity and inclusion,” Sullivan says. “It’s always a powerful, transformative experience.” Balanced Rock also offers retreats for mixed groups at Yosemite, many focused Kahl, a retired educator, says she and Poteet chose the trip primarily to see Yellowstone National Park, “but all the scenery was phenomenal — truly a trip of a lifetime.”

Kahl notes, “We’ve gone on trips with mixed groups and on women-only trips, and both are fun, but you get a different level of bonding and communication on women-only trips.” Poteet, retired from a career in banking, agrees. “Sometimes in a pack of folks, someone always wants to be the leader, but this trip was just a bunch of women experiencing something together, having a good time,” she says.

That sums up my experience on a rejuvenation retreat for women last spring in the redwoods near Santa Cruz, Calif. Road Scholar offers that trip, and the company (formerly known as Elderhostel and geared to older adults interested in lifelong learning) is expanding its women-only trips for 2020. Two of the new options are the Camino de Santiago in Spain and a European hiking trip.

Other companies that offer womenonly travel include Adventurewomen Inc., Women Traveling Together and Wild Women Expeditions. Check with the companies for current destinations, travel dates and prices.

Wondering whether you should sign up? Marbury, from Adventures in Good Company, offers this advice: “This is the time to do it. Women our age know it isn’t going to get any easier.”

Source: www.nextavenue.org

By: Raley L. Wiggins | Attorney at Law | Red Oak Legal, PC Are you eligible to receive this valuable VA benefit?

One of the privileges of serving our country during a time of war is the potential eligibility for VA Pension benefits. These benefits are particularly valuable for veterans over age 65 who have large medical expenses, including prescription drugs, treatments, and even assisted living or in-home care. Recently, the VA has quietly taken action to attempt to reduce the number of Veterans who can qualify for these benefits by changing the rules. law provides that a veteran or surviving spouse cannot have “excessive” assets. While there is no specific formula to calculate what is excessive, the older the applicant is, the fewer assets they can have before they will be considered excessive.

claimant resides there, is an excluded asset for calculating “net worth” and will continue to be so under the proposed regulations. However, the proposed rules cap the “reasonable lot area” that the home sits on at 2 acres, a limit that does not exist under current law. Rural veterans will of course be Many veterans are incorrectly informed treated unfairly under this rule. that they cannot ever qualify for these benefits, but often that information is not The VA also hopes to impose a Medicaidentirely correct. Sometimes a veteran style penalty against veterans who have or surviving spouse may qualify after transferred property within 3 years before These VA Pension benefits are generally undertaking some estate planning with an applying. Currently, no such penalty exists. available to wartime Veterans (and their surviving spouses) who meet certain criteria. Before Attend Free Workshop To illustrate: A married Veteran applies for VA 1980 the Veteran must have Estate Planning and Asset Protection Workshop Pension with an aid and served at least ninety (90) days of attendance allowance. active duty, with at least one day For more information and to register please contact our office The monthly benefit he being during a “wartime period” by calling (334) 239-3625 or email Dana@redoaklegalpc.com. is trying to qualify for (as set by Congress). After 1980, This educational workshop presented by local attorney Raley is $2,120. During the the Veteran must have generally past 3 years, the Veteran served at least twenty-four (24) L. Wiggins covers wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance contributed $10,000 to months of active duty, with at directives, living wills, probate administration, protecting assets The Wounded Warriors least one day being during a from creditors, bankruptcy, divorce and remarriage, nursing Project, a nonprofit wartime period. In addition, organization. He also gave the Veteran must not have been homes, long-term care and Medicaid qualification. Registration is his only child $1,000 on dishonorably discharged. required. For more info visit www.redoaklegalpc.com. each birthday the past 3 years.

A Veteran must also be “disabled” in order to receive this benefit, but anyone over age 65 is automatically deemed “disabled” for purposes of determining eligibility. Of course, permanent and total disability at any age also meets this requirement. If the Veteran or surviving spouse has additional medical needs, then additional monetary allowances may be awarded, like an “aid and attendance” allowance.

The Veteran must also meet certain financial requirements. The Veteran must not have income in excess of the current maximum benefit amount. However, “income” for VA purposes is determined after deducting any unreimbursed out-of-pocket medical expenses. So, for example a veteran seeking a $1,700 monthly benefit, who receives $2,500 in monthly income, but has $3,000 in assisted living and prescription medication expenses, would have an income for VA purposes of zero. attorney. While attorneys cannot charge veterans to prepare or submit a pension application, a VA Accredited attorney can assist veterans by evaluating their case and making recommendations regarding future qualification.

But as mentioned above, these rules may be about to change.

The proposed VA rules changes include creating a one-size-fits-all number for determining the maximum amount of net worth a veteran can have in order to qualify, currently $117,000 (adjusted annually for inflation). In addition, the proposed rules would include income in the applicant’s net worth calculation. In other words, if a Veteran has assets worth $117,000 and receives an income of $2,000 per month, the Veteran’s “net worth” is calculated at $117,000 + $24,000, which is well over the “net worth” limit allowed. As a result of the charitable contribution and the cash gifts to her child ($13,000 total in 3 years), this Veteran would be penalized for 6.13 months when he applies for VA Pension under the new rules. If this same Veteran was not married, the penalty would be even longer—11.3 months. During the penalty the Veteran would not receive his benefits. This penalty would apply to all transfers, unless the Veteran could present evidence that a transfer was the result of fraud, misrepresentation or other bad act in the marketing or sale of a financial product.

If you know a veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran with substantial unreimbursed healthcare costs, now is the time to investigate whether they may qualify for this valuable benefit. After all, it may about to become much more difficult.

Raley L. Wiggins Attorney at Law, Red Oak Legal, PC 334-239-3625 | info@redoaklegalpc.com