Should You Stay Or Should You Go? - World Travel vs Day-To-Day Life

I'm in the midst of preparing for a move overseas, 

which means I have the excitement of travel and the reality of relocation on the brain.

On that note, I'm going to attempt the difficult:

To provide a variety of unconventional ways to spend your holiday season, 

and a real life perspective of what living conditions are like for Women the world over,

in one fell swoop!

I don't know about you, but almost every location I've vacationed in has romanced me to the point of contemplating a permanent stay.

To find out how good an idea it is to pack up your possessions and

transplant yourself in another country, you can skip all the fun stuff and go straight to the bottom,

or you can just read my recommendations for having a 

blast until you're sure you've avoided any chance of an awkward family gathering altogether. 

For the whole story, it's top to bottom, baby! 

Of course it depends on what kind of person you happen to be:

Optimist, Pessimist, or Realist.

Let's start with the fun stuff, shall we? If your usual Holiday consists of tolerating your Mama's opinions of what you should change to meet Mr. Right and choking down Aunt Gertrude's ambrosia salad while random, hardly known distant relatives get plastered and fight over who it was that screwed up your family the most,

there are better options awaiting you in the great wide world!!!

Something unconventional to do this Holiday Season?

One word: Festival !!!!

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

New Mexico, US

This year, this spectacular spectacle is happening on October 14th.

You'll have to act fast on this one! 

But there's so much more!

Festival of the Dead in Salem

Massachusetts, US

Probably the best way to spend America's favorite day to embrace the macabre,

at the home of the haunt. Check out the Witches' Ball October 26th.

Dia de los Muertos

Mexico

All Souls Day celebrates the meeting of the land of the living and the land of the dead.

Starts the last day of October, but is officially on Nov. 2

Diwali - Festival of Lights

India

This enchanting event falls on November 3rd-7th this year. It's a highly spiritual tradition of 

driving away darkness and ignorance. 

I'm on board for this notion to be adopted everywhere!  

Monkey Buffet Festival

Thailand

I can't think of a single thing that could make a good time even better than monkeys!!
This year on November 25th.

Natchitoches Christmas Festival of Lights

Louisiana, US

Louisiana knows how to have a good time, for a long time. This one goes from November 17th to January 6th. Lessez les bontemps roulez, Cher!!

Junkanoo, Nassau

Bahamas

This is goin' on December 26th and January 1st!

As the official site says, "Junkanoo is an energetic, colorful parade of brightly costumed people gyrating and dancing to the rhythmic accompaniment of cowbells, drums and whistles."

They had me at brightly colored costumes, gyrating, and cowbells!!

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

China

For once, I'm speechless... only thing that comes to mind is WOW!
Oh, and January 5th.

Up Helly Aa

Scotland

Hailed as Europe's Largest Fire Festival, leave it to the Scottish to come up with the best fire show on their continent! See ya there on the 29th of January ;)

Holi

India

One of my most favorite, Holi celebrates the coming of Spring.
People throw naturally obtained (and believe it or not, beauty-enhancing?!)
color in each other's faces as an expression of love! March 27th, 2013.

I wish I could pull off this form of P.D.A. on a daily basis!!

Rio Carnival

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Last but certainly not least, celebrate like never before from February 8th-12th.

Well, that's it for now. This is plenty for you to think about 'til the dawn of the New Year.

Tell me when you've visited them all, and then I'll post more amazing festivals from
around the world.

There are too many for one post, seriously.

Every single one of these destinations is sure to charm the pants off any girl, but what is it really like to live in any of these places, after the party's over?

Now that I've WOW'd you with colors and lights,

here's the real deal about living conditions for women internationally, 

from worst to best:

While I find India to be one of the most romantic places to visit, it's living conditions for women would be unbearable to most!! From intergenerational prostitution to arranged child-marriage, the truth is a hard pill to swallow.

And would you have guessed these countries are in lead of best places for women to live:
Canada and Iceland?!

To check out the global stats of life for women, visit these sites and you'll be surprised:

www.fundacionmepi.org - www.washingtonpost.com - fastcoexist.com
- www.independent.co.uk -

www.huffingtonpost.com - Best Cities for Women in America

As synchronicity would have it, as I sat down to write this, guess what came on my TV?:

Half the Sky Movement

Stats are stats. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, a documentary is worth a billion!

To get real goosebumps from real testimonies of women around the world, watch this

inspirational and informative documentary that is 

"turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide"!