The Titanic Awards

Name Teresa Rodriguez Williamson
Who? Creator of TangoDiva.com, the online social network and travel magazine for women, and author of  Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone. She serves as the travel expert on KTRB 860 AM and ABC News 10 in California, and her advice has appeared  in such outlets as The Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ELLE, Marie Claire, Allure, SELF, Real Simple and just about every major TV network in the US.  A self-described jet-setter, her master plan, so to speak, is to connect and empower woman around the world with the wisdom gleaned from solo sojourns.
Age 40
Countries Visited Around 100

Titanic Nominations
1. Worst Ferry Ride Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania. There is not enough Dramamine in the world to stop one from getting sick on this topsy-turvy boat ride through the crazy Bass Straits.  They say it is “super-fast,” but nothing is super-fast enough when you are vomiting non-stop from 8 pm to 7 am.
2. Worst Café Café con Piernas, Santiago Chile. This is essentially a strip club for men that is packed – much like Starbucks – at 9 am. It is sexist, exploits women and is incredibly degrading. And I hear the coffee sucks too.
3. Worst Hotel for Solo Women Hotel Hana Maui. One of the best ways to make yourself disappear, or go crazy, is to spend a week at this remote hotel alone. The only life force you might encounter is the rude staff or a pair of honeymooners scrambling to get back to their hut. There is no socializing around the unheated pool, and remember: Hana is famous for its cold afternoon thunderstorms.
4. Worst Airline Meal United Emirates’ lamb curry dish. Imagine being stuck in a window seat in economy while the already-oppressive airplane air is thick with the putrid smell of boiled lamb and curry.  And only 11 more hours until you arrive in Dubai!
5. Worst Destination for Solo Women Monte Carlo. Unless you are recognized royalty, this place is ridiculously expensive, rude and unaccommodating for women travelers who come alone. You’ll find young Russian blondes hanging off the arms of rich old men driving rented Ferraris. It is quite frightening.

Famous Travelers Chile, emirates, fly solo, hobart, maui, melbourne, monte carlo, Santiago, tangodiva.com, tasmania

Name Tim Moore
Who? In 1998 Tim accidentally embarked on the therapeutic Arctic voyage that was to spawn Frost on My Moustache, a critically-acclaimed comic travelogue that regrettably took its name from the punchline to an offensive joke. This was followed by Continental Drifter, a retracing of the foolhardy round-trip to Venice made by Britain’s first Grand Tourist; French Revolutions, the best-selling and prize-winning account of his farcical yet strangely inspiring attempt to cycle all 3,630km of the 2000 Tour de France; and Do Not Pass Go, a history of his native London seen through the 22 streets on the Monopoly board. Spanish Steps patiently detailed how not to tackle the Camino de Santiago by donkey, and Nul Points was an account of Tim’s ill-advised attempt to meet those performers who have failed to trouble the scorers at the Eurovision Song Contest. Tim’s most recent book, I Believe in Yesterday, relates his globetrotting, time-traveling adventures in historical reenactment.  This would at least partially explain his photo.
Age 44
Countries Visited I gave up keeping tabs when Europe fragmented into 12 billion sovereign territories. Anyway, a trawl through the Wikipedia list suggests I’m currently on 62.

Titanic Nominations
1. Worst Aspect of Being an Unfit Englishman Cycling Long Distances in France The number of signs that yell ‘PAIN’ down every high street.
2. Worst Thing About Traveling through Spain with a Donkey The stupid and useless holiday vocabulary you pick up – ‘My animal requires barley’ hasn’t established itself as the phrasebook gift that keeps on giving. Though I still hope to get some use out of ‘I will clear up his night-mess in the morning.’
3. Worst Words to Hear when You’re in a Camp full of Kindly, Earnest Widows at a Civil War Reenactment ‘Sir, would you do us the honor of reading a little William Shakespeare?’
4. Worst Long-Term Car Park The cheapest one in Mestre, on the mainland outside Venice. It’s run by children: the sort of children who will put 47 miles on the clock during your absence, then summon large dogs when you point this out.
5. Worst Place in the Entire World Dubai is a gigantic expo of wrongness: everything that’s bad about modern life brought together in one place. The only way to cross the street that goes right through the central business district is to take a taxi. I spent five days feeling like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes. ‘We finally really did it! God damn you! God damn you all to hell!’

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Famous Travelers Civil War, donkey, Dubai, Santiago, Shakespeare, tour de france, Venice