JourneyWoman travel ebook now on Kobo, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble and Indigo-Chapters
by JourneyWoman staff
Some of travel’s most influential women in travel have joined forces to celebrate and inspire older women travellers over 50 with “Never Too Late: How Women 50+ Travellers Are Making the Rules”. Published by JourneyWoman, “Never Too Late” is co-created by JourneyWoman CEO and Editor Carolyn Ray and award-winning photographer and Hasselblad heroine Lola Akinmade Akerstrom. Other contributors include former National Geographic Traveler executive editor Norie Quintos, who wrote the book’s introduction “Women Reaching For the Stars: The Wisdom of Travel”, and Diana Eden, JourneyWoman’s Women over 80 writer, who celebrates female travel trailblazers like Freya Stark and Bessie Coleman in “Honouring the Women Who Came First.”
Announced in 2024 to honour JourneyWoman’s 30th anniversary, the ebook, which was made available on International Women’s Day 2025, is now available on Kobo, Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble and Indigo-Chapters for the first time. “Never Too Late” features women over 50 from around the world, including JourneyWoman founder Evelyn Hannon, as well as Joy Fox, Samantha Brown, Jill Heinerth, Stephanie M. Jones, Alice Morrison, Christine Osborne, Anna Pollock, Lei Wang and Loung Ung. (Full biographies are below.) “Never Too Late” also features 41 JourneyWoman readers, who share their wisdom and practical advice from their travels.
“Over the past year, we’ve sold hundreds of copies of “Never Too Late” through our website, showing us that this book is valued and appreciated by our readers,” says Carolyn Ray, CEO, JourneyWoman. “Now, we want to make it available to the broader community of women so that they too can learn from the wisdom of these women who generously contributed to our first ebook. Our aspiration is that we will be able to fund the production of a printed book in 2027 featuring even more women trailblazers over 50.”
Proceeds from “Never Too Late” will be donated to three of JourneyWoman’s Canadian non-profit partners including Ally Global Foundation (anti-human trafficking), The Period Purse (period poverty and menstruation equity) and wmnsWORK, a tourism accelerator for marginalized women.
Why we created “Never Too Late”
Lola Akinmade and Carolyn Ray began discussing the idea of the book in 2022 when both noticed that women’s voices in travel – particularly mature women – were often not heard or worse, ignored.
“Clearly, there is work to be done to break outdated stereotypes and provide new and diverse role models for what it means to be a woman over 50 in today’s world – adventurous, empowered and courageous,” says Akinmade. “Our goal is to provoke a conversation and disrupt conventional thinking.”
“This is much more than a book – it’s a movement to show older women that they are seen and that their voices matter,” says Carolyn Ray, CEO, JourneyWoman. “I’m deeply grateful to the women who shared their voices in it and hope it will help us start a healthy, positive conversation and be a catalyst to accelerate inclusion and diversity in the travel industry and ultimately, in the world.”
Carolyn Ray and Lola Akinmade talk about why they created the book (from 2025)
Trailblazing women over 50 in “Never Too Late’
Our first volume honours a group of trailblazing, gutsy women who have been at the forefront of change in their chosen careers. They share their sources of inspiration and strengths cultivated through travel and wisdom for their own travels.
The women who created this book
Carolyn Ray, Editor + Contributor: “Ageless Wisdom From Women Over 50”
As the CEO and Editor of JourneyWoman, Carolyn Ray was named one of the most influential women in travel in 2023 by TravelPulse and was the recipient of two SATW travel writing awards. She leads JourneyWoman’s team of 25 female writers. She is the past Canadian Chair of the Society of American Travel Writers, a TTC Herald and a member of Women Travel Leaders.
Lola Akinmade Åkerström, Creative Director and Contributor: “When It Comes to Travel, Age Is Only a State of Mind”
An award-winning author, Hasselblad Heroine and National Geographic contributing photographer, Lola Akinmade was featured on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2024 Women Who Travel Power List. She was named one of the 2023 Most Influential Women in Travel by TravelPulse and won the Newsweek Future of Travel Storytelling Award. Lola has published five best-selling books to date that explore topics related to travel, wellbeing, inclusion and women’s empowerment, including “Bitter Honey and “In Every Mirror She’s Black”.
Norie Quintos, Introduction: “Women Reaching for the Stars: Discovering the Wisdom of Travel”
Norie Quintos is an independent journalist and editor. She is a contributing writer to National Geographic and the former executive editor of National Geographic Traveler. She is also a consultant for the travel industry, advising destinations and travel companies on how to tell their unique stories. Her work focuses on sustainable, Indigenous, regenerative, transformational, and responsible travel. She believes in the power of travel to be a force for good and is on the board of the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund.
Diana Eden, Contributor: “Honouring the Women Who Came First”
Diana Eden is a Contributing Writer for JourneyWoman, focused on travel for women over 80. She was born in England, raised in Toronto, and lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, and now Las Vegas. She is a former dancer, actress, Emmy-nominated costume designer, and now author. She recently published her memoir, “Stars in Their Underwear: My Unpredictable Journey from Broadway Dancer to Costume Designer for some of Hollywood’s Biggest Stars” and is currently writing a sequel, which includes many stories of her travel adventures as a woman over 80.
About JourneyWoman
Founded in Canada in 1994, JourneyWoman is the world’s first solo female travel resource and one of the most trusted women’s travel brands in the world. In addition to creating award-winning editorial for women 50+ and JourneyWoman Magazine monthly, JourneyWoman hosts the world’s largest Women’s Travel Directory as a free service to women, providing hundreds of curated and vetted women-friendly tours, retreats, small ships and safe places to stay while supporting small tourism businesses around the world. To bring more visibility to women 50+, JourneyWoman created the travel industry’s first Women’s Speaker’s Bureau and the JourneyWoman Awards for Women Over 50 and the launched the “Ageless Adventuress” Travel Podcast in 2026. To learn more, visit Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn. JourneyWoman is a registered trademark of Journeywoman Enterprises Inc.
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