Flora the Explorer
June 2026
Half-joking, Flora’s adult children say they’re going to put an electronic tracker on their mother. Since joining Women Traveling Together in 2021, Flora has taken three WTT tours a year, quickly moving from US trips to international destinations such as Morocco, Ireland, Costa Rica and India. While Flora has always loved travel, her globe-trotting with WTT is a fairly recent development.
Born in Alabama, Flora moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was young. She believes “traveling was in my blood.” Road trips to visit relatives down south as a child are fond memories. After she married, there were family vacations to both sides of Niagara Falls and Toronto. “That’s as far as I got when I was married,” Flora says
Later, after she split from her husband and her children were grown, Flora visited the Caribbean and Mexico with church members, but none of her friends or family wanted to venture further with her. Like many, Flora thought she’d travel more when she retired. As a member of a hospital’s administrative staff, Flora was on the front lines when COVID hit. She became seriously ill
with the virus which kept her out of work for months and damaged her lungs. After recovering, Flora returned to work but quickly came to the conclusion that it was time to retire. Travel became a top priority because, as she explains, “COVID taught me you don’t know when you’re going to leave this world, and I wanted to see as much as I could.”
With no travel partner and not wanting to wait, Flora searched online for “solo female travel” and found Women Traveling Together. The first tour she signed up for in 2021 was cancelled due to the ongoing shutdown. Undeterred, Flora took WTT’s Heart of the Southwest tour in 2022. The rest, as they say, is history. Flora will take her 14th tour with WTT this summer to view the solar eclipse in Iceland. Asked why she travels with WTT so often, Flora answers, “I feel like WTT offers extra activities that others do not. I always feel like I got my money's worth on every trip I have taken.”
Becoming friends with her first roommate, Sharon, the two traveled with WTT to Israel and Jordon in 2023, where Flora memorably slipped and fell into the Sea of Galilee. Dripping wet but unhurt, Flora later told folks back home she'd been "baptized" in the Sea of Galilee. Since then, Sharon and Flora have taken four other WTT tours together. Flora has also made other travel friends – joining one for WTT’s Dude Ranch Experience.
Flora tries to step out of her comfort zone on every tour: bungee jumping, snowmobiling, and riding a camel. Once was enough for some activities, but she’s glad she tried them. A self-proclaimed picky eater, Flora has also tried being adventurous with food. Dates and gelato, discovered in Morocco, are new favorites. And she’s a huge fan of Icelandic water. “Best water in the world, even out of the tap,” she adds.
Back home, sharing photos of her adventures with her 90-year-old mother, Flora was surprised to learn her mother wishes she had traveled when she could. Seeing new places and how other people live are a part of why Flora travels, but her biggest motivation is “I don’t want to be one of those people who wish they had traveled.”
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