Rhonda Carrier and Tracey Davies are the co-authors of the brilliant new book, Wayward Women, ‘a unique, searingly honest, devastatingly raw two-person memoir from veteran travel journalists about the friendship, travels and sex lives of two fiftysomething women finding their way again after divorce.’
Hi both, you’re co-writers of Wayward Women. How did the two of you meet?
Tracey: Rhonda was one of my first editors. She was (and still is) head of editorial at takethefamily.com, and I used to write for her.
We finally met in person about 14 years ago on a press trip to Finnish Lapland. Our group of epic women journalists bonded over much wine as our kids made friends, and I remember Rhonda being mortally hungover when she took her son to meet Santa. That’s when I knew she was a woman after my own heart.
You’re both seasoned travel writers, but you also run a Substack together (which is brilliant!). What inspired you to set it up?
Tracey: Ahh, thank you! We set it up because we have lots of stories we wanted to tell from our travels – juicy things that don’t always make it into commissioned pieces. We also wanted an outlet for other random thoughts and opinions. I particularly like writing rage pieces. It’s also really nice to write without editorial constraint.
Rhonda: And it was thanks to our Wayward Wimmin Substack that we have the book. A post I wrote about using dating apps to meet interesting people around the world – and a wonderful date that came out of that – caught the eye of an editor at Bedford Square Publisher, who suggested it could make the basis of a book.
How did it feel to share such personal stories in the book, knowing they’d be read by a lot of people?
Tracey: It’s petrifying! Now that it’s out in the world, it’s incredibly scary to know that people will have an opinion about how I live my life and the decisions I’ve made over the years. But saying that, every time I’ve read it, I just feel so proud of it – and us– and our stories.
Rhonda: It’s a very honest account of two women in midlife, and already lots of women are messaging us to tell us they identify with our stories. And men will learn something about the female psyche. So yes, while the self-exposure is nerve-wracking, every single time I hear that someone has found inspiration or consolation in it, it’s worth it.
Tracey: When I was going through a tough time in my marriage, I would have loved to have read a book like Wayward Women. It would have given me hope that things can be different.
Without giving anything away, do you have any favourite passages from the book?
Tracey: Oh crikey, there’s a few! I really like the part about our mutual love of tarot cards and meeting the sea witch (no, really!). And I love the description of us taking ayahuasca in Peru. It was such a bonkers experience. Every time I read it, I can’t believe we actually did it.
Rhonda: I especially enjoy Tracey’s chapter about going back to Hong Kong, the place where she first got together with her now ex-husband, alone. It’s brilliantly evocative as a piece of travel writing, but also very poignant.
And how did you end up becoming travel writers? Was it always the dream?
Tracey: For me, it was pure luck. Back in the early 2000s, I ran a website called PlanetReunited, which was like FriendsReunited but for backpackers (it was pre-Facebook). Through that, I met a few lovely travel editors, one of whom asked me to go on a press trip to St Lucia. And suddenly I was sitting on the balcony of a ridiculously gorgeous villa, with my own pool, thinking I didn’t even know jobs like this existed. I’ve just clung on to it ever since.
Rhonda: I graduated in languages, and in my first job in publishing worked with maps. Like Tracey, I hadn’t really computed that travel writing existed as a profession, but one day I had the lightbulb moment that maps plus languages was the perfect combo for getting involved with guidebooks, and I made the leap over to Time Out in London, where I worked on both guides and the magazine.
You must have visited some amazing places. Which trips have stuck with you the most and why?
Tracey: Learning to be mermaids in Florida has to be close to the top. Antarctica, of course – Seeing penguins skidding across icebergs blew my mind. I once attended a NASA Space Camp in Alabama. And trekking through the Andes in Peru, seeing Machu Picchu when the clouds lifted, was surreal.
Rhonda: Our road trips, including our Thelma and Louise style jaunt through the national parks of Utah, by Mustang, have always been epic, as have long train rides like those we did on our Interrailing adventure. Because really, it’s just as much about the journey and who you share it with as the destination itself. Even a plane ride with Tracey is fun.
Your work covers all things midlife, a stage of life that’s often overlooked by pop culture. What is your favourite thing about being a ‘middle-aged’ woman that you wish everyone would talk about more?
Tracey: I love being in my fifties, it’s definitely my favourite decade so far. It’s just so freeing. I’m more confident, I care less about what people think of me.
Rhonda: Ditto. I don’t have so many responsibilities and time commitments, and I feel like I’m finally coming back to myself, finding out who I really am after ticking all the boxes of prescribed life stages and understanding which ones didn’t serve me.
What advice would you give to your younger selves?
Tracey: I would tell myself to have faith in my own thoughts and opinions. And don’t get married.
Rhonda: Don’t follow the path expected of you. Sit with and through difficult emotions instead of trying to make everything okay to avoid discomfort.
Wayward Women (£16.99) is available now across bookstores in the UK and online, including Waterstones and Foyles
