June 14, 2008 The Stratford Citizen
30 YEAR JOURNEY FOR GLOBETROTTING WOMAN

Ever think about what it would be like to explore the ruins of a forgotten city, relax in the shade of a towering temple, wonder at the majesty of Kilimanjaro, or share that first glimpse of a place you have always wished to see?

Since 1979, Nancy Walsh has been designing and leading stunning tours to some of the world's most awe-inspiring destinations. It was soon after the birth of her youngest child that Walsh began to pursue this dream. Seeing how quickly the world was changing, and working to provide her children with all the opportunities a young mother could muster in a small Ontario town, Walsh approached the local Girl Guides association, where she was a volunteer, with a plan to take the 15 and 16-year-olds of the Clifford Pathfinders on an incredible adventure abroad. From London, to Paris, to Berlin, the young women in Walsh's charge found out for themselves what it was like to face the Mona Lisa, to hike in the Swiss Alps, and to meet other young people so far from home. Walsh also realized how much the experience of being a woman traveling with other women helped her understand her own place in the world. Since returning from that journey almost 30 years ago, women's travel has become the point on which much of Walsh's imagination turns.
For the first 15 years, Walsh continued to work as an artist and administrator while spending every ounce of her free time helping diverse groups of women prepare for their travels. It was in 1994, when her children began to make plans of their own, that Walsh formalized her services into Going Places Together
Going Places Together is not a travel agency. There is no storefront display to catch your eye and no staff of travel associates waiting with headsets at the ready. Walsh works from a home office, occasionally from her garden, and often she can be found on the South African Transvaal or overlooking the cliffs of Portugal's Alvor coast. With all this globe trotting, Walsh is surprisingly
easy to track down. "It's just so simple to keep in touch these days,” she says. “A client in Stratford can send a message to my inbox and I can answer within minutes from the other side of the world.”
In 1994, when Walsh established Going Places Together, women's travel was an entirely new field in a very large industry, but over the past 15 years more travel companies are launching women-only tours. "We definitely expected the big boys to muscle their way into
women's travel," Walsh explains, "and they have the resources to define the industry differently. That's why we have always worked to further specialize and personalize our tours." When you visit goingplacestogether.com you see the fruits of this labour. "Painting Portugal" is a traveling watercolour workshop, led by Walsh, with professional instruction by Stratford artist Victoria Shannon. "Reading India" is a book club and tour designed in partnership with Toronto bookseller Nicholas Hoare.
As well as limiting the number of travelers in each group, Walsh also limits the number of tours each season. "Many of our travelers work around limited budgets and very busy schedules. In 2009 we offer four excellent tours to reflect just what our travelers want." In addition to the tours mentioned above, Walsh has her travelers swimming off Australia's Great Barrier Reef and visiting Japan and South Korea, where they will sample sushi in Tokyo and gimbap in Seoul.
Walsh feels strongly that "the women who travel with Going Places Together are independently minded, they know what's important, and they love to share their adventures." So with an artist's imagination and 30 years in the field, Going Places Together and your travel plans could not be in better hands!
If you would like to learn more about tours for women, Walsh is hosting an information night and photo presentation on June 19th at the Kiwanis Community Centre in Stratford. Please email your rsvp to nancy@goingplacestogether.com or call 519-271-6037.

September 19, 2007 The Toronto Sun

June 23, 2007 The Hamilton Spectator,
Discover Columnist, Mary Nolan

You go, GALS
Revolving roommates isn't nearly as racy as it sounds.
It's just the name of a simple system that allows women travelling on their own to avoid paying a single's supplement by sharing a room with a like-minded traveller. They're matched up with a dfferent room-mate in each new destination, which means nobody gets stuck with someone incompatible and everybody gets to know the rest of the group better.

The system was devised by Nancy Walsh who leads the Travel GALore tours for Uniglobe Creative Travel in Stoney Creek.
There's a group of 12 women in China currently, and there are trips planned to Vietnam and Thailand in October, Las Vegas the same month, and, in 2008 India in February, Egypt in April, Newfoundland in July and South Africa in September.

The tours are open to all women, regardless of age, who don't have a travel partner but want to see the world. Accommodations are in three-to-five star properties and the trips tend to go at a leisurely pace.

An open house about Travel GALore is planned for Wednesday, June 27. from 3 tro 7 p.m. at the travel agency at 301 Fruitland Rd. Let them know you're coming by calling 905-643-4848 or 1-888-253-5573, oir visit the website at www.travelgal.ca

Feb.23, 2006 Travel Courier, Cover Story

By Aldo Petrone

Tourcan Vacations has formed a new relationship with "Going Places Together"-- a tour operator featuring women-only tours that the founder, Nancy Walsh, created when she temporarily lost her hearing a decade ago while travelling as a Girl Guide/Girl Scout.

"The people I've been travelling with said, 'Don't stop travelling, Nancy, you plan the rips and we'll go with you and pay your way.' So that's how it started." says Walsh.

While Tourcan has aided Stratford, Ont. -based Going Places Togetheer in the past, this season marks the first time Walsh's itineraries are available to agents along with a 10-per-cent commission.

Walsh started working with Tourcan in 1996 when the tour operator handled a trip to South Africa for Going Places Together. It was during planning of a second trip to South Africa a few years ago when Tourcan suggested a more permanent relationship with Walsh.

The result is a collection of nine itineraries: China, Greece, Peru, Scotland, India, Kenya and Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam and Thailand, and New Zealand.

Prices start at $2,200 for a Durga Tour in India from July 30 to August 22, while other rates range from $2,900 for an 11-day Peru "Festival of the Sun" tour to $6,600 for a two-week journey to New Zealand's South Island.

Walsh pledges that tour groups will not exceed 18 to 20 people and will do her best to double up participants travelling alone to avoid possible single supplements.

The age of participants generally range from 30 to 50, however women of all ages have taken part in Walsh's trips.

"Women are really easy to travel with, and they balance each other out," she says. "A women in her early 20s has o problem traveling with a women in her 80s because they just want to experience the destination," she continued.And it's the experiences that Walsh pushes foremost.

On a recent journey to China, Nancy's women stopped to make dumplings, providing participants a chance to meet and share with Chinese women in their homes.

On the July trip to India, clients will have the choice of spending a week with a local Indian family and learning about women's issues at the local university.

Walsh believes it's an option a majority of participants will choose, if her experience with past clients accounts for anything.

That's because many of the women who book with Going Places Together travel infrequently and relish the opportunity to say goodbye to their husbands at the airport. Walsh recalls one women who wanted to participate on a tour, regardless of destination, the trip's duration and cost.

"On the first day of a trip, a women in her 60s looks in the mirror and says to herself, "This is the first time I don't have to take care of anybody." And they're really excited about that." Walsh points out.

The operator employs the services of six women who've travelled with Walsh on previous trips. One of them is a Reiki expert leading the trip to Peru and Machu Picchu for the Festival of the Sun.

Despite the fact Going Places Together was not a planned project, Walsh is cutting back her travelling and committing her time to creating new tours for next year in a style that, Walsh feels, is quite distinct when compared to the excess of product focused on couples in the market. "There are many women my age who don't want to sit at a dinner table in some exotic country beside a husband and wife who only have eyes for each other."

Feb. 24, 2006 Oakville Beaver, Lindsay This Week, Peterborough This Week, Bellville Community Press, The Herald, The Metro, The Times, and The Lance in Manitoba

Sam Ion says:

I've finally found a tour operator I think I can recommend to women looking to travel with other women.

Tourcan Vacations has formed a relationship with Going Places Together -- a tour operator that has been putting togethr women-only tourss for 11 years.

Nancy Walsh started Going Places Together after she lost her hearing 10 years ago while she was travelling as a Girl Guide Leader.

Tourcan is a well known consolidator/tour operator in the travel industry, with 25 years of experience. Together they should make a great team.

I got curious as soon as I read about: The Durga Tour in India July 30to August 22nd

This is not one of those "Today is Tuesday, it must be Paris" type of trips.

Yes, you'll stay in hotels, but you'll also stay in guest-houses and a week with a family.

Sure, you'll see the Taj Mahal, but you'll also meet local activists for a discussion of the women's movement in India and then visit a women's shelter as well as a women's police station.

Better yet, these tours will happily stop while you explore something of interest; they aren't carved in stone. For example, on one recent trip to China the group stopped to learn how to make dumplings. The daily variety is part of the appeal.

One day in India, for example, you'll have a discussion on art and architecture followed by a visit to the hill-top Amber Fort.

After lunch you'll take a rickshaw to the old city and visit the palace complex and the Govind Dev Ji Temple.

You 'll go to the Teej Festival to honour the arrival of the rain, and, yes, you'll wear the sari and bangles you've bought and smear your hands with henna.

You'll even do a bit of trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The price of the tour includes all transfers, sightseening-tours by non-airconditioned mini coach, English-speaking local guides, entrance fees during tours, train tickets, a packed lunch during the trek in Dalhousie, all relevant taxes, home hospitality in an Indian home, hotel accommodation, based on double occupancy from 10-18, and they will do their best to match you up so you don't have to pay a single supplement.

As I said, The Durga Tour to India ws the one that first caught my eye, possibly because my great, great grandfather was an officer in thee British army in India and my great grandfather, Tom Salmon, was born in Lahore and was a schoolboy chum of Rudyard Kipling. That's probably why I've always had a certain fascination for the Indian sub-continent.

Another trip I liked is the Vietnam and Thailand Tour from October 20 to November 10. The estimated price of that tour is $3800, based on double occupancy, plus air.

And then I began looking at the Kenya Adventure and that sounded wonderful too. It goes September 11 and returns September 27. The $6700 price includes 20 breakfasts, 15 lunches, and 19 dinners, accommodations, domestic air, taxes, guides and small pop-top vans thatr hold six so everyone gets a window seat and can stand to take pictures of the animals.

And anyone looking to track down their Scottish roots might like this one -- a 14 day escorted tour August 12-25, with an estimated price of $4775.

You'll have time to visit the Scottish Parliament, and the next day you can visit the Registry House to check out your past.

Trip highlights include: Edingurg Castle, Holyrood House, St. Andrew's Castle/Cathedral, Dunferline Abbey and Palance, Caithness Glass Factory. Inverness,a cruise on the Loch Ness, Blair Castle, Glamis Castle the childhood home of the late Queen Mother, Urguhart Castle, culloden Moor Visitor Centre, Speyside Distillery, Inverewe Gardens, Corrieshalloch Gorge, the Isle of Skye, Glencoe, Isle of Arran, Borderick Castle, Glasgow, Bobby Burns cottage and Culzean Castle.

And yes, as usual this tour also offers lots of free time, two full days to do as you please.

You can get more information on any of the tours by visiting tourcanvacations.com or calling 1-800-263-2995

You can reach Sam by e-mail at sion10@cogeco.ca

Stratford City Gazette, my local paper did this article on Jan. 26, 2006
Going Places Together tours taking off
City entrepreneur's travel business opens women's eyes to exotic locales
Jan 26, 2006
Tori Sutton

Nancy Walsh loves to travel but when she does, she prefers to go places together.
For the last 11 years, the Stratford resident has operated Going Places Together, a women's-only travel company.
And a boom in the industry has seen her business take off in the last few months.
"A lot more of us have money. There's babyboomers and more educated women doing more professional jobs," said Walsh, of the interest in women's tours.
"Many of the women are single, some women are retired. We're seeing a larger amount of business women looking for something to do a few weeks of the year."
Walsh has accompanied groups of 10 to 18 people all over the world. She's been to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Singapore, China and Kenya. She's been to India 13 times.
For her, travelling with other women seems like a natural fit.
"Number one, I'm married to an entrepreneur," said Walsh, adding it's hard for her husband to tear himself away from his business.
Just over a decade ago, Walsh was working as a cashier in a local grocery store. It wasn't big business but she made enough money to travel - something that has always been her passion - and allowed her to continue her work with Girl Guides of Canada.
One morning, she felt dizzy and ill, but headed to work nevertheless. A few hours into her shift, her husband picked her up to take her home. Then living just outside Stratford, by the time she hit city limits she was "stone deaf."
"I couldn't hear a thing," she said.
Just before she lost her hearing, she had volunteered to plan a trip to India for a group of fellow Girl Guide leaders. Despite her hearing loss, she pressed on with the trip details.
However, she quickly found her deafness made it impossible for her to continue with her work at the grocery store. A friend, who was impressed with her work planning the Guiding trip, suggested she plan tours on a full-time basis.
She jumped at the chance and dozens of tours later, after meeting dozens of women from across the country and around the world, Walsh hasn't looked back.
Along with Walsh, Going Places Together has five women who work as tour guides on the international trips. Next month, a group is headed off to Kenya. Other trips planned for 2006 include Greece, India, Scotland, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Peru.
But the biggest boost for her business has been the recent partnership with Tourcan Vacations, a large national travel company which Walsh said should open doors for her business.
"Everybody I've talked to is very excited about the fact the business has been here, established, and has never full-bloomed, never become anything really big," she said. "We're hoping with Tourcan it will."
And the travel experiences open the minds of the women that participate, providing camaraderie and friendships that can last a lifetime.
"We laugh louder, we come together faster, we cry together," she said. "It's a very different kind of tour."
A good example is the upcoming Durga Tour to India, where travellers will be billeted with Indian families and exposed to women's issues in the area, along with Sikh, Buddist and Hindu cultures.
"India is a very visual country," she said."You can walk around and see the most modern thing, something you would see in New York City. Then you see water being pumped by a donkey walking around in circles."
Today, Walsh has recovered some of her hearing - in one ear, she has about 35 per cent hearing. Doctors have never been able to determine exactly what caused her hearing impairment, but suggest it is nerve deafness caused by a virus.
What some may view as a barrier, Walsh said her hearing impairment has led her down the path she walks today.
"We all have these things in our life that affect us differently. If I hadn't had problems with my hearing it may have led me in a different direction."
Watching her business continue to grow has given Walsh great satisfaction.
"Every woman wants to achieve one thing in her life that's hers. I have three great kids, I should be happy and that should be my success but that's them. They are their own greatness. I want to be mine.
"I would like to be a success so I can say 'I started this, I followed it through and it worked and it made a big difference in my life'."
More information on Walsh's tours is available at www.goingplacestogether.com.
Contributed Photo
Nancy Walsh, right, and her daughter Catherine Shantz pose in front of Mount Kilimanjaro on a recent trip to Tanzania.

Going Places


The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, February 04, 2006
ADVENTURE TRAVEL

GEAR TO GO
Chinese dumplings
There are easier ways to learn to make Chinese dumplings than going to the home of a Beijing family, but when it's part of a tour of China, why not? Going Places Together is a just-for-women tour company run by Nancy Walsh, a woman who cut her travelling teeth as a volunteer with the Girl Guides. Her company offers a variety of exotic tours for women only in Asia, Europe, North and South America and the Pacific. The 20-day China tour, for example, leaves from Toronto April 26 and includes visits to traditional attractions such as the Great Wall, as well as few homey extras like the dumpling-making lesson. It's $3,950 per person, based on double occupancy and not including airfare. www.goingplacestogether.com or call 1-800-263-2995.

Travel Week, January 12, 2006
Tours for women
Tourcan Vacations has teamed up with Going Places Together, a tour company focusing on tours for women. Headed up by owner and tour leader Nancy Walsh, Going Places Together started in 1994 and since then has taken women-only groups to India, Africa, China, New Zealand, Nepal, the UK and Europe and around the world. Going Places Together's average group size is 10 - 18 and participants can come with a friend or on their own, plus women can be teamed up to avoid single supplements. "Walsh understands that women travellers wish to experience where they are," says Tourcan's Lionel Rozario, noting that in China, a Going Places Together group had an opportunity to make dumplings with Chinese women in their homes. Tours coming up this year include: China, Athens and the Greek Islands, Peru: Festival of the Sun, Scotland, India's Durga Tour, Paris and Provence, Kenya and Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam and Thailand and New Zealand's South Island. Call (416) 391-0334 or 1-800-263-2995 or see www.tourcanvacations.com and click on 'Tours for Women'.