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I Freed Myself From the Male Gaze on My Vacation, and It Ruled

I took a 2-week bucket list trip to Ireland with no makeup and a bunch of athleisure with absolutely no prerogative to meet men. Here’s what went down!

Rachel Presser
8 min readMay 31, 2022
Woman in gray sweatsuit, baseball cap, and glasses with oversized coat hanging out on the beach on a blustery day
Licensed via Adobe Stock // This is definitely how I spent my vacation.

As a single woman in my late thirties with a bunch of airline cards and a consulting career that was travel-heavy prior to COVID, I’m a pro at planning epic vacations by myself.

Having just done a massive voyage that kicked off with a hilariously bad time at the most miserable place on earth, LAX, there’s definitely things I would and wouldn’t do again after this long-haul trip. One of them is that I’m so not taking a 2-week overseas vacation literally right after 2 weeks of business travel and dashing around the East Coast, ever again.

But one I would repeat? Skipping the makeup, nice clothes, and just living in athleisure the entire trip. It was the most comfortable I’ve ever been!

It wasn’t something I initially planned, but decided on at the last minute while I was still in New York.

After continually strapping myself into my good clothes and doing a full face of makeup for days on end for a conference and meeting up…

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Rachel Presser
Rachel Presser

Written by Rachel Presser

Game dev, writer, small biz & tax consultant to indie devs. That loud socialist Frog Slut from The Bronx, now in Angel City. https://linktr.ee/sonictoad

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