I don't love her take on the best places for women to travel:

I'm 5 feet 2 with blond hair, and I stick out like a sore thumb in Asia - I'm tall and fat! But someone else with darker hair and features isn't going to stick out as much, and the same goes for places like the Middle East. I've got a friend who's traveled all through the Middle East, and she just loves it. But for me, it would be a really difficult place.

Are the best places to travel really the one where you don't stick out? If I followed this logic, I'd never leave Iowa. And isn't part of the point of travel to expose yourself to new situations and people who may be different from you, including physically?

But far more obnoxious are Whitman's tips on luggage. When Frugal Traveler Matt Gross promised that Whitman would address "luggage dilemmas," I was psyched. As a small woman with a history of back injury, I often struggle with lifting and carrying my luggage when traveling alone. But here's Whitman's advice:

Gosh, I think that there's a mind-set that most women grow up with, that you have to have all of your shoes, and you have to have all of your nice clothes, and you have to stay in an expensive place to be safe. And so those are factors that require a lot of luggage, so you might think you need a couple of bags to travel around with, and if you're traveling on your own, it's hard to maneuver all that stuff.

Sorry, but Manolos are not my problem! Whitman seems to think that all women's luggage woes stem from frivolity, but you can be a really smart packer and still have trouble getting your bag into the overhead bin. When women travel on business, they may actually need more clothes than men because they can't get away with wearing the same suit every day. And most of my luggage troubles in the past have been caused by things like a laptop or books, not cases full of fripperies. I would've really appreciated some tips on the awkward situation of getting a stranger to lift your bag for you, or even some thoughts on how airports and train stations could be better designed for people with less upper body strength, but all Whitman offers are lame stereotypes about women acting princessy.

There's more to hate here, including some dubious claims about women's intuition, but one good thing about Whitman's Q&A is her assertion that neither gender nor money should stop women from exploring the world. She says that a bigger budget doesn't necessarily make travel safer, and that what really matters is "preparation in advance and learning those safety techniques." She also says she's never been in a travel situation where she wished she was a man. It's worthwhile to remind women that as long as they do their homework and practice common sense, they can travel alone safely and joyfully. And it's good to hear Whitman bust the myth that this is a big bad world and women need to hide themselves from it — or take shelter under the arm of a man. Still, she would be a much better myth-buster if she didn't buy into so many myths herself.

Q&A With Beth Whitman, A Woman's Perspective On Solo Travel [New York Times]

[But] I fell in love with Los Angeles! I found it to be a cultural treasure chest, with fabulous museums, architecture, and entertainment. And the weather was so sunny and sublime that I actually began to long for a cloud to pass by. Furthermore, I embraced the city as a pedestrian and greatly respected the jaywalking enforcements, which I wish were in place in my dear home of New York, because it makes navigation so much safer and civilized. Finally, everyone should experience Ralph's, a fabulous food emporium that's unlike anything that we have here in New York. I shopped there every day. It was my therapy!

Tim Gunn is a man of many talents. For one, he's a gleeful user of the word "celadon," and a correct pronouncer of sturm und drang — but he's also apparently a crack travel guide. I can't argue with his suggestions for a night in Hong Kong (view the city from the Peak, cross the harbor to Kowloon, shop) other than to add, kit yourself out in a 1960s sheath and pretend you're Maggie Cheung running around the city in the rain in In The Mood For Love at least once. Gunn's got some stories — he extra-politely describes a Chinese herbal "medicinal gruel" offered for his cough in Kuala Lumpur as "odiferous" — and, I'll bet, a tastefully-appointed apartment full of international treasures.

But if there's one thing this USA Today article made me want to do, it's ride the A train with Tim Gunn up to Fort Tryon Park to visit the Cloisters, the medieval art annex of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "I go there to depressurize and reenergize," Gunn explains. I bet, under the terms of our imaginary museum-based friendship, he wouldn't even mind dropping some knowledge about the history of medieval tapestry, or discussing iconoclasm and gardening in the herb patch — which, in an inspired touch on the part of the Met, actually contains living examples of all the plants depicted in the art inside. Tim and I would talk about all the other museums we like, and the differences in landscaping style between Frederick Law Olmstead and Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., and whether Washington was a good general or not, anyway. Then he'd impart to me a complete working knowledge of 20th century fashion history with a single nod. At last, as the sun was setting over the New Jersey palisades, we'd walk through the park back to the A station, and he'd farewell me on the downtown platform before disappearing, pouf, like a trim, silver-haired whirling dervish of taste.

No, the interview does not contain any new information about when, if ever, we are likely to see the already-taped Project Runway season six. I checked. But go to the Cloisters, or Hong Kong, anyway.

Traveling With The Stars: Tim Gunn [USA Today]

Doesn't seem like back in the day, airline "hostesses" were genuinely cheery? These days, when you hear the robotic "Buh-bye. Bye now," at the end of a flight, do you roll your eyes? Why don't more flight attendants act like they give a shit? Getting from place to place is stressful for everyone involved, booze doesn't always help. Safety is important, but traveling is supposed to be fun. (Once I took Song to Vegas. We played an {optional} game in which we all put a dollar in one bag and our boarding pass stub in another. A flight attendant pulled a stub at random and the person sitting in that seat won the bag of dollar bills. That was fun.) Props to Jewel Van Valin for figuring out a way to diffuse a stressful environment. She's actually looking for a place to display her "Just Plane Art." Notes the Times:

A few weeks ago, Delta staffers staged a guerrilla gallery in the terminal's corridors, posting passenger drawings on walls and support columns between Gates 56 and 59. They took down the unauthorized artwork at day's end, however, so it would not be confiscated… Airport officials said they are willing to work with Van Valin to create a gallery, but that there can be no more impromptu displays.

Funsuckers.

Pretzels, Peanuts And A Sky-Blue Crayola [LA Times]

But apparently the "holidate" is all the rage. Fairmont, a luxury chain of hotels, has packages designed for new couples — including "icebreaker" specials. Nothing says "I'd like to get to know you better" like a quick trip to the Caribbean! Here's the thing: Traveling is tricky business. Traffic sucks, gas is expensive, airports are hellish, hotel rooms can be cramped. Yeah, yeah, I know, you love adventure! And you love your new guy! Trust: A missed connecting flight or a wrong turn on a thruway can bring out the beast, turning your dream man into a nightmare. And that's just getting there. Wait until you're both tired and sunburned with morning breath and diarrhea and someone's disgusting bathroom habits and inability to read a map surface. No, seriously: Going away with a dude is totally romantic. Or at least, it can be. But is it a good idea to travel with someone you've been dating for six weeks? Are you asking for trouble? Is it an expensive "road test"? And how long should you be dating someone before you "holidate" together? (Not an overnight tip, not a weekend trip. A long weekend trip, a few hundred miles out of town. Three nights, minimum.)

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Giving New Relationships The Road Test [LA Times]

When you're prepping for holiday travel don't forget that the EU and the US now require you to keep anything remotely liquid (mascara, lip gloss, cuticle cream) in a clear plastic bag if you're carrying it on (and you cannot carry more than 3oz containers) http://www.tsa.gov. Try this charming little makeup case from NYC's Flight 001http://www.flight001.com/store/index.htm?SID. Far more fashionable than a Ziploc.

If you're planning a trip away this summer, this month's Glamour Magazine recommends three travel search engines, sidestep.com, kayak.com and mobissimo.com.

They search over 100 airline websites, bring you the best price and then link you directly to the airline's site to buy your ticket. And you avoid the user fees often levied by the search sites that book the tickets for you.

We gave them a spin, and they're all much of a muchness, with sidestep.com just ahead for speed and search flexibility.

And I want to show you why I love Soho! Which is precisely why you'll hate it because it's full of people like me! Haha!

Click

Luxury ensuite cells (don't worry, there's a bathroom, not just a bucket) go from £260 a night, but you'll need to bring your own torture instruments if that's your kind of thing. And if you fear for your karma bunking down at a former monument to death and misery, you'll be glad to know the hotel was exorcised by a priest before it opened.

You've reached that certain age when all your friends are marching up the aisle and preparing to enjoy a life of cozy couples vacations and you are increasingly friendless, never mind not being able to get laid two days running by the same guy. And it's the holidays and you've got nowhere to go and no-one to go with.

You could just hole up with several bottles of Chardonnay and cry softly for a couple of days, or you could head over to gutsywomentravel.com, where no-one will think you're odd and sad because you're on holiday alone. They've got women-friendly tours all over the world, from a cruise down the Yangtze River in China , to a Tango and Samba tour of Brazil .

Going by the pictures on the site, you'll probably meet a jolly nice bunch of lesbians too.