Stephanie Elizondo Griest will read from her new book at Princeton Public Library.
By: Ilene Dube
Last winter, while a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University,
author Stephanie Elizondo Griest wowed us with Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing and Havana (Villard, 2004). That book was named Best Travel Book of 2004 by the National Association of Travel Journalists of America. Although off on different adventures these days, she’ll return to Princeton March 13 for a reading from her new book, 100 Places Every Woman Should Go (Travelers’ Tales, $16.95).
"Wanderlust pumps through my veins," writes Ms. Elizondo Griest,
who also has written for The New York Times, Washington Post and Latina Magazine. "I’ve
explored two dozen countries and all but four of the United States in the past
decade, and ache for more."
Reached recently by phone, Ms. Elizondo Griest admitted to
being on the road again, and hasn’t had a permanent address since she left Princeton.
100 Places is more of a service piece than the first
book, and in place of the heart-warming personal anecdotes and humor, 100
Places offers tips for traveling women, and is chock full of useful Web sites
and recommended readings. Her "Ten Tips for Wandering Women" includes the following:
- E-mail your itinerary to everyone you know to find out their contacts on these
foreign shores. Then, arrange to meet those contacts for the local nitty-gritty. - As
for packing, "Take only what you can carry half a mile at a dead run." (This
advice served Ms. Elizondo Griest well in her personal adventures in Moscow,
Beijing and Havana.) - How to deal with feminine hygiene issues in
foreign lands is treated in detail. - Invaluable advice on warding
off unwanted men. For example, when groped on a crowded subway, say loudly, "How
would you like it if someone treated your wife/daughter/sister like that?" - How
to stay healthy. - The last resort to use if, say, you need to stop
a plane.
In the chapter on Lesbos, Greece, we learn that poetess and
lyricist Sappho, often assumed to have been a lesbian because she came from the
island of Lesbos (from where the term lesbian comes from), was, in fact, married
to a man, although she dedicated much of her sensual words to women. Regardless
of orientation, Sappho was the first Greek poet to write in the first person.
Ms. Elizondo Griest’s book visits the cobalt blue home of artist Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan, Mexico, ("For
the Frida Kahlo look, fly to Oaxaca, Mexico, where you’ll be greeted in the street
by women carrying mounds of rebozos, or shawls, slung over their shoulders) and
tells how to apply for a job in Antarctica, because that is the best way to visit
it. There’s even a chapter on the Museum of Menstruation, although these days
it exists only on the Web, and one on lingerie shops in London, Rome, Paris and
New York.
In the end, if you can’t hit all these wonderful international destinations (including Beirut and New Orleans), the author recommends visiting New York City where you can experience them all, including soaking in a banya with a room full of sweaty Russian women in Brooklyn. Ms. Elizondo Griest quotes a New York cabbie: "Anything
you can’t find anywhere else in the world, this city has two of ’em. And if you
can find it somewhere else, we’ve got five of ’em."
100 Places Every Woman Should Go author Stephanie Elizondo Griest will speak
about "Traveling Sola" at the Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St., Princeton,
March 13, 7:30 p.m. Stephanie Elizondo Griest on the Web: www.aroundthebloc.com

