Aloha Wanderwell, 1920's world traveller

[Tiki Tom]

Love the photos. Love the outfits and the cars. As a big fan of "the golde age of travel", I'm surprised I've gone so long without hearing about this dashing woman. The only thing that would have made her story better is if she would have also been active in WWII. Unfortunately she seems to have dropped from view by then.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...veller-visited-80-countries-Model-T-Ford.html

According to Wikipedia there was some scandal in the 1930s when her husband was found murdered on their yacht in Long Beach, California. She subsequently married her much younger camera man, so tongues started to wag. But still, what a golden age character.

http://www.alohawanderwell.com/biography/

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Great stuff. Surprised I hadn't heard of her (rang a very faint bell, but not sure that I really knew about her before this article).

 

[MisterCairo]

I'd hoped to start a thread on this earlier, but you beat me to the punch! Well done you!

I had mentioned this briefly in the "vintage terms that have disappeared" thread:

https://www.thestar.com/entertainme...oha-wanderwell-great-canadian-adventurer.html

Although most of the refs note she was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she spent most of her childhood and youth in Qualicum, Vancouver Island (British Columbia). Her mother moved the family to Europe to follow their husband/stepfather around as he fought in the war!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-first-woman-round-the-world-driver-1.3841229

Those stories also fail to note her birth father was Canadian Robert Welsh, her mother re-marrying later to Herbert Hall who adopted Idris (even the Canadian Encyclopedia fails to note this). Her step-father, noted above as a "British army reservist", was a property developer from Vancouver Island who went overseas with the Canadian Army, transferring to the Durham Light Infantry of the British Army. He was born in Yorkshire, moving to Canada to take part in the development boom of the late 19th century.

An amazing story, an there's a new book out about her life and adventures:

http://wanderwellexpedition.com