The Amazing Wild Horses of North Carolina

A recent survey by Travel Guard North America, a travel insurance provider, aimed to shine a light on how women are traveling today. The company polled travel agents across the continent to find out what kinds of trips women were booking, with whom they were traveling, and their motivations for choosing the types of trips they did. The results, in my opinion, were surprising: Poll respondents said that 91% of women traveling with other women chose friends as their companions (as opposed to 8% who traveled with relatives), and that women over 45 make up the majority of small-group women-only travelers—with the proportions dropping dramatically with each decade of age. (Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it was simply the use of travel agents that was dropping with each decade of age, but it could be a little bit of both.) In terms of what these travelers aimed to do on their trips, the agents pegged shopping and sightseeing as the most popular activities at 27%, then history, culture, and education as the focus of 17% of the itineraries, beach retreats as the goal for 16%, adventure travel for 15%, and cruising as the trip of choice for 13% of women travelers. Of course, this travel insurance company had their own motive for producing the survey—to find out how many women travelers were also purchasing trip insurance. Their conclusion: A whopping 94% of women travelers bought insurance for their trips, according to the travel agents polled. So let's hear it from the ladies who read Budget Travel: Does this survey reflect how you plan and book trips with your friends (or, in the case of the odd 8%, with your female relatives)? We want to know! I'll start: I've been doing girls-only trips since my 20s, mostly with my mother, my sister, or both—although I have mixed in a few more traditional girlfriend getaways, like the RV adventure I dragged two college friends along for this summer. And I didn't use a travel agent—or buy trip insurance—for any of them. Does that make me the odd woman out? Tell us your trip habits in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Travel for Women Only 10 of Our Favorite Girlfriend Getaways Do Men Have Better Travel Experiences Than Women?

Whether your local airport is a modest domestic terminal or one of the nation's largest international hubs, we all have things we love and hate about our regional transportation facility — developments and setbacks, eateries new and old, efficiencies and inefficiencies. As I travel around the country, I am constantly struck by a fierce contrast of disappointment and pleasant surprise. I guess I, probably like many travelers, have long since given up on U.S. airports, which seem to have fallen so far behind some of their international counterparts that it appeared we had reached the point of no return. And yet, little by little, there looks to be signs of improvement both on a smaller scale — a revamped terminal here, an impressive new dining venue there — as well as on a larger scale with some airports undergoing major overhauls or being completely rebuilt, as is the case with the O’Hare Modernization Program. Anyone who has done the Delta shuffle, involving two terminals, a shuttle bus and several lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport as the terminal submits to a massive renovation project knows a thing or two about the two steps forward, one step back we are all experiencing on the airport improvement front. As a woman constantly on the run, I am often relieved to see an XpressSpa in my departure terminal for a quick massage or that mani-pedi I never got around to in between trips. The first XpressSpa opened in Terminal One at JFK in January 2004. There are now 33 locations in 13 airports across the U.S., and three locations at the Amsterdam Airport Schipol in the Netherlands. I have also been impressed with the upgrades to the JetBlue terminal at JFK (Deep Blue Sushi comes to mind) and the Delta terminal at LaGuardia (um, there's also a Five Guys in LaGuardia's Central Terminal), which both now have some notable dining establishments and convenient and cute wireless seating areas. And who knew that there is a great wine bar with great nibbles, Surdyk's Flights, hiding at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport? What about you? What do you love/hate most about your local airport? Any great hidden gems? Shops or dining venues you care to share? Let us in on your airport secrets. More from Budget Travel: Airport Hotels With Unexpected Perks We want to know your airport secrets! 5 airport innovations worth praising

The weekend of October 15-16 marks the ninth annual Open House New York Weekend, when regular Joes and Janes can get guided tours of some of New York City’s most famous buildings and monuments, as well as special reservations-only access to city spots normally off-limits to visitors. There’s a $5 fee for these top-secret spots, but all other tours are free. So what’s on the list? Anything you can imagine. Spread across all five boroughs, locations include the catacombs of Brooklyn’s famed Green-Wood Cemetery, the closed-to-the-public third phase of Manhattan’s High Line Park, Louis Armstrong’s home in Queens, the azalea gardens at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, and even a Tibetan art museum in Staten Island. How can you get involved? Check out the full list here. For those sites requiring reservations, act fast, as spots tend to sell out quickly. As of press time, there are still dozens of destinations with openings. And many museums and historical sites will be offering first-come, first-served tours—no reservations required. If you could get behind-the-scenes access to any space in New York City, where would you go? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: New York's Best-Kept Secrets 50 Reasons You Love New York City Great Classic Buildings

Escorted touring — that age-old form of travel by which you hop onto a bus for a mostly inclusive sightseeing vacation — is in the midst of a bit of an identity crisis. And that's partly because it's not quite clear whether you, the traveler, still want to travel on the same type of tour your parents and grandparents traveled on. Consequently, travel companies are torn between pushing the classic benefits and appeal of an escorted tour — the ease, efficiency and educational aspects — or creating and marketing a whole new generation of touring, one which caters to travelers' increasing desire to globe-trot on their own with a small group of friends, family or other like-minded individuals. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('28bb6bbb-80f7-4b5e-b469-762700a91058');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)Consequently, two iconic tour brands, Globus and Trafalgar, have just launched their marketing campaigns for 2012 with two completely different takes on touring. "The tour can have a complete rebirth," said Jennifer Halboth, director of marketing at Globus. "People understand what a tour is. So we're calling it a tour because that's what it is … And it's pretty damn good the way it is." The campaign revolves around the concept of the "world’s great misconceptions," explained Halboth, ticking off notions such as that Napolean was short (Halboth points out that at five feet and seven inches, he wasn't actually that short for his time). It uses that to segue into misconceptions about touring, including that tours aren't for baby boomers, they're for older passengers, and that tour goers spend the majority of their time on a motorcoach ("less than 20 percent of your time on tour is on a coach," said Halboth). Combating other misconceptions, Globus points out that 80 percent of its travelers are boomers or younger, based on a survey of past passengers. And the brand's most popular multi-country tour, European Tapestry, has an average passenger age of 44. Trafalgar is taking a slightly different approach to the evolving perception of touring. An escorted tour, said Trafalgar President Paul Wiseman, "does not represent the enhanced experiences that we're representing … we're transforming the product." As part of that transformation, some of the new features of Trafalgar's 2012 tours include a "Be My Guest" culinary experience, in which a local family hosts tour guests for a meal. Additionally, Trafalgar is doubling the size of its At Leisure program, which launched two years ago as trips with more free time built-in for travelers to go off and explore on their own. Wiseman said that Trafalgar is actively removing the term "escorted tour" from all the brochure and marketing materials and replacing it with terms like "vacation" and "experiences." What about you? What are your perceptions of an escorted tour? Have you been on one? Would you take one? Why or why not? Let us know by voting in our poll or commenting below. More from Budget Travel: Has your trip ever been saved by a stranger? 10 Coolest Small Towns in America 2011 Fresh-Air Fun in Europe: 3 New Outdoor Sights