The Real Napa Valley Style
PF Chang's With a Clinton Accent

Vagabond Me

Moving home and job for a womantraveler isn't unlike a complex travel experience. It's necessary to be a visionary planner and a resourceful concierge, yet personally fearless, incessantly curious and comfortably adaptable. Skills as a manager are added value in the orchestration of huge amounts of activity, and it's ok to occasionally throw your hands in the air (or have a big cry) and say "help!" No wonder moving is high on the list of the major stressors of life.

Several times over the years, womantraveler has picked up stakes and moved on for the next creative adventure, usually a strategic business decision balanced by the opportunity to improve the quality of personal surroundings. As this weblog becomes more active again -- after the recent moving hiatus -- it will share the perspective that life is an adventure in which the skills of an informed and intelligent travel come in real handy.

Moving to new cities is an art supported by a science. The seasoned business traveler, whether in solo practice or flanked by a homebase of assistants, has what used to be called a fat Rolodex of options, now tucked in a cell phone, handheld, or laptop -- necessary resources like restaurants, hotels, hair stylists, nail salons, chocolatiers, cleaners, and fitness and spa facilities. Knowing the template is the science, applying it is the art.

Moving to a new city is not much different, particularly for a solo womantraveler not propelled by the constellation of family activities. How do you make a life out of this new wilderness?

I was told I was brave. No more brave, I thought, than going off to college, or becoming a parent, or trekking through Scandinavia, or taking a business trip to Seattle for the first time. The science of the essentials is always the same -- where to live, how to eat, who to know, what to do. The art is the strategic road map that leads to having a life.