Editor’s Note: When Kalin told me she’d met, flown with, and interviewed one of the few female helicopter pilots in the world, I couldn’t wait to read the interview and add it to our new Women at Forty Whirly Girls series. The series highlights women entrepreneurs in their forties who are doing great things on their own terms. It’s fitting then that today’s post features real-life Whirly Girl herself, Angie Griffin...

One of the best ways to see the geography and natural beauty of an island is by taking a helicopter tour. I really enjoyed getting a bird’s eye view of island destinations such as Barbados, Grenada, and The Dominican Republic. I was a bit nervous on my first flight, but since then I’ve never passed up a chance to view an island from the sky. All of my previous flights were with male pilots. But on my most recent tour, I had the honor of flying with Angie Griffin, chief pilot and owner of Dragonfly Copters Tours. She’s one of less than 1,700 female helicopter pilots in the world. (Photo: Angie Griffin)

At age 48, Angie will never forget her 40^th birthday. She remembers leaving for a birthday cruise and two days later the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred. Like many people after that date, Angie started taking stock of her life. But it wasn’t until a few years later that she took lessons to become a helicopter pilot. “Working at the University of Houston, I was really bored. I traveled to Alaska and did some dog sledding and we had to take a helicopter to get there. It was my first time in a helicopter, and right then and there I decided that’s what I wanted to do for a living,” said Angie. That’s when she became a “whirly girl” – the nickname for female helicopter pilots. “I never thought about doing it when I was younger, but looking back I remember I was always doing book reports on Amelia Earhart,” she laughed.

The native Texan moved to Atlanta where she lived for 17 years giving tourists helicopter tours from DeKalb Peachtree Airport to major sites like St. Mountain Park, the Georgia Aquarium, and Lake Lanier. Then she moved again – this time to St. Simons Island, Georgia where she started Dragonfly Copters. Angie says about 50 percent of tourists who take helicopter rides are women. I took a 15-minute tour of St. Simons and Little St. Simons Islands, going up about 500 feet. It was a little windy so the ride got a bit bumpy at times, but Angie is such a great pilot that she kept it in control and I felt comfortable the entire time. From the air I could see all of the lighthouse, beautiful private homes and resorts, and the topography of the two islands, with hundreds of trees and sandy marshes. A highlight was getting close  enough to see an alligator in the marsh.

“You don’t feel brave enough to do these things until you’re in your 40’s. Most information about being in your 40’s is negative, but I came into my own and no longer cared what people thought of me,” Angie said. But what people think is not really a problem for Angie since her customers love her! “Most of my customers have never flown before and I’m giving them their first flight ever. I even had a 93-year old woman fly with me,” Angie exclaims. And though I’ve taken helicopter tours before, Angie’s personality just made it extra special.

Dragonfly Copters offers customized tours like corporate events, PGA aerial tours, aerial photo tours, party rides, and even offers a flight school. If you plan to go, I suggest staying at the King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort. It’s less than a 10-minute drive from the resort to the McKinnon Airport where the helicopter tours start. And for those of you who get motion sickness, I swear by Seaband wrist bands – only $10 at your local drugstore. For more information visit www.dragonflycopters.com, and for more on women helicopter pilots visit www.whirlygirls.org.

Angie even gives back to the community by hosting a “Broaden Your Horizons” day every January, where she gets junior high school girls excited about math and science – something they need to know to become pilots. “I’m also a therapist and I believe I could have gotten the victims of Katrina off their roofs in my helicopter and then given them [trauma] therapy,” she laments. In the future, Angie would like to start a nonprofit to take school supplies via helicopter to children in Mexico.

“I’d tell women to grab 40 by the horns – it’s been the best decade of my life…It frees you to do what you want to do and not apologize.” Amen, sister! I hope Angie’s story has inspired you to go for your dreams in this decade, or at least consider taking a helicopter tour for your 40^th birthday. Who knows, you may even decide to get your pilot’s license. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

I joined several other international visitors in a van tour of SOWETO – Southwestern Township. The area is made up of about 33 townships southwest of Johannesburg. Though much of the news shows the shantytowns of SOWETO, there is a lot more to see than that. We chose to take “Jimmy’s Face to Face Tours” which allowed us to get out of the van several times and interact with the locals. (Photo: Kalin & her South African fortune teller)

During the tour we stopped at a monument to the black students who died after being attacked by white policemen during the infamous 1976 SOWETO Rebellion. The students were protesting having to use the white Afrikaans language in school.

We also drove by former president, Nelson Mandela’s boyhood home, which has been turned into a museum. From there we could also see the mansion of Mandela’s former wife, Winnie, who was a warrior in her own right while Nelson was in prison. Eventually we got out of the van to visit a family in one of the shanties. They were very friendly and welcomed us into the their home to see how they live. I have to say it was very sad to see how they lived in a one-room shack with no running water. And some of the other tourists and I started wondering if we were exploiting the people. But Jimmy Ntintili, our driver and tour guide, told us that the people of SOWETO love to see tourists and suggested we give sweets to the children or buy needed toiletries or household items for the adults. He said giving money to the people wasn’t wise, saying “We don’t want to turn the people into beggars.” I decided to spend my money by paying the grandmother in the family to tell me my fortune, since that’s what she did for a living. After telling me to blow on a handful of small bones and other trinkets, she shook them up and threw them out on a cloth on the floor. I was amazed when she started to speak: “You have really bad migraines” (true at the time), “You will divorce your husband” (true – four years later). As she continued telling me about my life, I was blown away by the accuracy. It was a fun, though a bit unsettling, experience.

As we continued to walk through the area, we saw children playing football (soccer), and people going about their everyday lives – some laughter, some tears. We also saw several churches and what’s said to be the largest hospital in the world. Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital was originally built for white soldiers during World War II, and became the hospital for blacks in SOWETO around 1948. Jimmy said a baby is born there every five minutes! But the biggest surprise was finding out there’s a middle-class section of SOWETO where people with much more wealth live. We stopped at one man’s home in Prestige Park who didn’t even know we were coming, but Jimmy asked if we could tour his home and he was happy to oblige. He seemed to want tourists to know that not all people in SOWETO are poor. “Please come in! I am very proud of my home,” he said. The house was very nice and looked like a small, middle-class home in the U.S. – with one exception – he had a leather ceiling in the kitchen! I had never seen anything like it. You could tell from the exteriors of some of the other homes that people were very creative in making their houses unique.

The tour was a wonderful way to mingle with the locals and experience a part of South Africa that you don’t usually see on TV. There are several township tours available for visitors, including touring Cape Flats just outside of Cape Town. For more information on Jimmy’s Face 2 Face Tours, go to www.face2face.co.za/. For more information on other township tours, including those outside of Cape Town, visit the South African Tourism site at www.southafrica.net/. The more you interact with the local people the more you’ll see that no matter our culture or economic status, we are pretty much the same – joys, sorrows, and all. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness” – Mark Twain.

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

Yoga is offered at the Baltimore Museum of Art each season. Classes are usually held in various galleries that include Contemporary, American Modernism, and African. The teacher is Brianna Bedigian, a certified yoga instructor with a BA in art history. She said yoga is an art, so it was a perfect blend to offer classes at the museum. The summer sessions are held in the beautiful Sculpture Garden. The entire experience was a feast for my senses as I marveled at the sculptures, inhaled the scent of flowers, listened to the birds sing, and felt the cool grass beneath my feet. Though the museum is in the midst of a bustling community, the trees help buffer the sound of traffic. (Photo credit: Kalin Thomas)

The class began with a moment of meditation, and I could feel the stress from my day start to melt away. As we started into our yoga poses, I could see how the art sculptures enhance the experience. Looking at something beautiful put me in a serene state of mind, and made me feel beautiful, too. I started to get back in touch with my body and give thanks for all that it has given me – even when I don’t treat it well. Half-way through the class Brianna read a little about the huge, red sculpture we were moving around, and read a quote from its artist, Alexander Calder – most famous for inventing the mobile. The class ended with another moment of meditation, but I hated to leave this oasis in the city.

I enjoyed the class so much that I’ve decided to drop-in whenever I visit Baltimore. And you can do that , too. Though full season sessions are $95 for museum members and $110 for non-members, visitors are welcomed to drop in on a class – just call in advance for cost and to be sure the class isn’t full. Classes are on Tuesday evenings, and the first summer session goes through July 6^th. The second session goes from July 27^th through August 31^st. After dropping in on a class, treat yourself to a nice dinner at the museum’s restaurant, Gertrude’s. All entrees are reduced to $12 on Tuesday nights.

Other unique places offering yoga/meditation classes are zoos and aquariums. Can you imagine the calming effect of fish floating by as you meditate? Ask the concierge at your hotel for the nearest yoga/meditation class. You’ll be surprised at how just one class can relieve travel-related stress and boost your mind, body, and spirit. For more information go to the museum’s site at www.artbma.org, or Brianna’s site at www.quietwindsofchange.com. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness” – Mark Twain.

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

1. Pack everything you would like to carry, then put half of it back!
2. Pack clothes which are complimentary to each other to mix and match oufits.
3. Leave the iron at home! Try to pack fabrics that don’t wrinkle.
4. Pack sample/travel sizes of toiletries – easy to find at drugstores.
5. Pack a small bottle of detergent to wash and re-wear clothing.
6. Try to limit yourself to no more than three pairs of shoes, and wear the larger pair on the plane. (As a shoe lover, this is still a challenge for me)
7. Stick small items such as underwear, bathing suits and socks in your shoes.
8. Instead of folding your clothes, roll them in tissue paper for less wrinkling and maximum space.
9. Pack a change of clothes in your carry-on bag just in case your luggage gets lost.
10. For hat lovers like me, instead of carrying multiple straw hats for the beach, select your cutest neutral-colored hat and carry ribbons, scarves, or silk flowers to accessorize with different outfits.

One last tip, leave any prejudicial baggage at home – a light-hearted attitude helps you better appreciate diverse cultures. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness” – Mark Twain.

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

In my opinion, cruising is one of the best ways to travel – especially if it’s your first time traveling internationally, because you can visit several countries on one trip. But for those of you who are new to cruising, and even repeat cruisers, here are my tips to help make your travels smooth sailing.

• Carry an updated passport — these days passport rules change so much that it’s best to just take it.
• Pack light – unless you’re in a suite, cruise cabins are relatively small.
• Carry sunscreen – even if you have dark skin, you’ll need it!
• Carry a lot of $1 & $5 bills – it’s customary to tip all of the people who helped you at the end of your cruise (cabin steward, head waiter, etc.).

• Be prepared to pay for bar drinks – they’re not included in the cruise price.
• Carry a credit card — the ship will run your credit card and give you a cruise card to charge bar drinks, cruise shop items, and excursions to your room.
• Be prepared to do an emergency test about an hour after the ship sets sail — though cruises are extremely safe, it’s required to prepare passengers for an emergency.
• If you wear contacts, carry an extra pair – things get lost on a ship.
• Zip Lock bags – they come in handy for everything from wet bathing suits to carrying your camera and other items to the pool.
• Baby Wipes – they work wonders in many situations.
• Power strip to add more electrical outlets, and a universal adapter for international outlets.
• A travel iron – most ships today have laundry rooms with irons, but if you want to iron in your room, it’s best to bring your own.
• Bring items like toiletries, camera batteries, OTC drugs, makeup, sunglasses, disposable cameras, etc. from home – they’re expensive to buy on the ship.
• Spend the $10 for motion sickness wrist bands, which you can find at any drugstore — I used them while sailing through the Drake Passage, the roughest seas in the world, and I never got seasick.
• Try to go beyond the tourist area of the ports and really tour the island – even if you just go to a restaurant where the locals hang out, you’ll get a more authentic experience.

If you’ve been cruising, send me your own tips for smooth sailing. Even with all the cruising I’ve done, I still may learn a thing or two from your travels. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” — Mark Twain.

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, visit www.seetheworldproductions.com.

My most fascinating and unique cruise was to Antarctica – which is a totally different type of cruise experience that I’ll discuss in a future post. However, most of my cruising has been through the Caribbean. Some of the lines I’ve cruised on include: Princess, Carnival, Costa, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean. In fact, I helped my brother celebrate his 40^th birthday on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Cancun, Mexico. A few months ago, Royal Caribbean launched its newest megaship, Oasis of the Seas – the world’s largest cruise ship (pictured left) with 16 decks and 2,700 staterooms.

Most of today’s cruises offer 24-hour buffets, Vegas-like entertainment, casinos, spas, pools, and even activity camps for kids. But megaships offer amenities that you wouldn’t expect to see on a cruise ship such as an ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, and mini golf course. I must say ice skating in warm weather, and seeing the ocean from the top of a rock climbing wall was extremely exhilarating!

Did you know that during a cruise ship’s naming ceremony there is a celebrity “godmother,” who smashes a Champagne bottle against the ship as part of its official launch? Well, Oasis of the Seas is so big that it had seven godmothers, including: Gloria Estefan, Keisha Knight Pulliam, and Michelle Kwan.

Each time a new mega ship is launched, it ups the game for all other cruise ships to compete for passengers. And Oasis of the Seas is no exception with amenities that include: Central Park – the first living park at sea, a carousel, 28 loft suites with floor-to-ceiling windows, nine specialty restaurants with cuisine from burgers to fine dining, an oceanfront amphitheatre, and like Royal Caribbean ships before it; an ice skating rink, casino, children’s play area, and several nightclubs. (image: an inside look at the Oasis)

The ship sails to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and Nassau, Bahamas. In May it will start alternating the eastern Caribbean route with a western one, with stops in Labadee, Haiti (a private resort on the northern coast); Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. Rates start around $729 per person/double occupancy, and now is a great time to book a Caribbean cruise because of the deals available online.

Here are some sample cruise deals for May 2010:

• 4 Night Caribbean on Carnival Imagination – $239 pp – www.cruisesonly.com
• 7 Night Caribbean on Crown Princess – $490 pp – www.cruisedeals.com
• 3 Night Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Sky – $169 pp – www.cruises.orbitz.com

In my next post I’ll offer tips to help you experience smooth sailing on your cruise vacation. And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain  (Left: Kalin and family on Royal Caribbean)

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, go to www.seetheworldproductions.com.

After interviewing Ms. Parks about her role in the Civil Rights Movement, I was able to tour the actual bus where, at 42, she made her powerful stand by staying seated. I can’t begin to tell you the emotions I felt sitting in the actual seat where Parks sat. A few years later, I traveled to Montgomery again to tour the new Rosa Parks Museum. It’s constructed on the site of the old Empire Theatre where the bus was stopped when Parks was arrested. The museum takes visitors back to the Jim Crow era with interactive exhibits that include: a replica of the bus Parks sat on, original photos of Parks being arrested and finger-printed, and film of church meetings planning the boycott. For more information visit the Rosa Parks Museum website.

And for more female inspiration during your travels, visit monuments and museums to the following women warriors…

• Mother Teresa: Visit the memorial room/museum in Mother Teresa’s hometown of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. See a statue and plaque honoring her devotion to the poor, along with relics of her life and a model of her family home.
• Josephine Baker: This famous entertainer was a U.S. Civil Rights activist and spy for the French Resistance during WWII. See her star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. And take a tour of Josephine Baker’s Paris, through Discover Paris!
• Susan B. Anthony: Visit the home/museum in Rochester, N.Y. which tells the story of Anthony’s life-long fight for women’s voting rights and equal rights for women. It is where she was arrested for voting in 1872.

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Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, go to www.seetheworldproductions.com.

February is also Black History Month, so I suggest visiting one of the following B&B’s that all have a connection to the Underground Railroad – the secret route leading escaped slaves to the Northern United States and Canada. In fact, by age 40, Harriet Tubman (the most famous “conductor”) had made 19 trips back to the South and helped at least 300 slaves escape to freedom. Makes you want to reassess your life at 40, huh? So why not mix a little history with romance at the following B&B’s…..

• Amelia Island Williams House: Fernandina Beach, FL – Built in 1856, this mansion included a trap door in the dining room closet, offering access to a secret room where slaves were allowed to hide during their journey to freedom.
• Christopher’s B&B: Newport, KY – Throughout 2010, stay in the Loretta or Beverly Rose Junior Jacuzzi room and receive two adult tickets to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, just over the river in Cincinnati.
• Cambridge House B&B: Cambridge, MD — Visit the nearby Harriet Tubman Museum, the Bethel Methodist Church where her family worshipped, and the Stanley Institute – a 19^th-century African American schoolhouse.
• Escape Guest House: Brooklyn, NY – Visit nearby Plymouth Church, known as the “Grand Central Depot” of New York’s Underground Railroad. You can still visit the tunnel-like basement where slaves traveling to Canada were reportedly hidden.
• Six Acres B&B: Cincinnati, OH – Built in the 1850’s by noted abolitionist Zebulon Strong, this home is close to Cincinnati’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

You don’t have to have a mate to enjoy a B&B. Get your girlfriends together to celebrate your 40th birthday or go alone for some much-needed quiet time. Visit www.BedandBreakfast.com for more information and a list of B&Bs.  And remember: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

Kalin Thomas is Women at Forty’s Travel & Leisure Editor. She is also Senior Writer/Photographer for SoulOfAmerica. Before starting her own multimedia company, Kalin spent 17 years at CNN where she won several awards for her work as producer/correspondent for CNN’s weekly travel program, CNN TravelNow. She is currently writing a book about her travels. For more information on Kalin, go to www.seetheworldproductions.com.

Editor’s Note:

An introduction from the maven herself – Hello you 40 and fabulous women! I’m excited to be a part of this blog and want to give you a little background on myself. My love for travel started with family road trips when I was about six years old. My parents would pack up the car with suitcases and sandwiches while my sister, brother, and I would pile in for our annual summer trip. We’d make the two- to three-hour trip north in my father’s ’65 mustang from Baltimore, Maryland to Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was in the days before casinos, when it was still a family destination.

Boy did I look forward to that trip. It was all I could do not to sleep in my clothes (and bathing suit) the night before. We were one big happy family, until the usual choruses of “Are we there yet?” and “She’s touching me!” made us all cranky. Atlantic City is where I first experienced the salty ocean and the city’s famous Salt Water Taffy. Those trips, which lasted until I graduated from college, also gave me a love for quirky roadside attractions.

But it was as a college student that I took my first flight. I had to travel to Milwaukee for the Society of Professional Journalists convention. I’d never traveled further than the east coast, so this was a true adventure for me. As the plane lifted for take-off I sang the U.S. Air Force song, “….Up we go into the wild blue yonder…” It’s a song I still sing in my head whenever I fly. I know it’s the 21^st century, but it still amazes me that I can be halfway across the country or the world in just a few hours.

After college, I was hired by CNN, and eventually became their first African American travel correspondent. It was through CNN that I was able to travel the world and really appreciate cultural diversity. After 17 wonderful years at CNN I was downsized, so I started my own multimedia company, See the World Productions, that includes travel writing for various print and web media such as Soul of America. As a result, multicultural travel has become my passion — a passion that I’m looking forward to sharing with you.

I’ll share tips and tales to help you experience travel with new eyes. Watch for future posts to include historic travel, budget travel, shopping tours, volunteer vacations, and travel safety. I also want to hear about your own tips and tales. So let’s take this adventure together. And remember: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness – Mark Twain.