Hats

When you travel, it's always a good idea to bring along some type of hat.  When you are busy walking around playing tourist, you may be exposed to hours of sun on your head and face and wearing a hat with a brim will help provide sun protection.

Don't forget to wear sunscreen on your neck and face.

Santorini Island, Greece

There are many different styles and features to consider in a hat, but we recommend something that is packable and lightweight or even your favorite baseball style hat.  Baseball hats can be attached to the exterior of your backpack until needed and many outdoor stores will have baseball style hats with folding brims making them easy to store inside your pack.  Hats may also have side loops allowing you to insert your sunglasses frame on top of the hat brim helping to prevent them from falling off when you are not wearing them.  For example of various styles of hats, see the REI Website: REI Hats.

Some things to consider in a travel hat

  • Packable
  • Lightweight
  • Side loops for sunglasses storage
  • Folding brim if applicable
  • UPF Rated sun protection
  • Adjustable
  • Water Resistant
  • Quick drying
REI Co-op Screeline Cap
https://www.rei.com/product/110953/rei-co-op-screeline-cap
Features
  • Adjustment strap dials in the fit
  • Brim folds for easy packing
  • Sunglass loops secure your shades
  • Side vents keep your head cool
  • Mesh liner
  • One size fits most

 

Technical Specs
  • Hat Style: Ball Cap
  • Fabric: Nylon (bluesign® approved)
  • Lining Fabric: Polyester
  • Sun-Protective Fabric: Yes
  • UPF Rating: 30
  • Moisture Wicking: Yes
  • Quick Drying: Yes
  • Visor/Brim: Yes
  • Gender: Unisex

Red Hat Society

The society is a social organization founded in 1998 for women over 50. As of October 2006 there are about 1.5 million registered members in over forty thousand chapters in the United States and thirty other countries.

Red Hat Society
Windsor England
2008 - Garter Day, Windsor Castle

The founder of the society is Fullerton, California artist Sue Ellen Cooper, who in 1998 gave a friend a 55th birthday gift consisting of a red fedora she had bought a year earlier at a thrift store along with a copy of Jenny Joseph's poem, whose opening lines read:

"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me."

Cooper repeated the gift on request several times, and eventually the group all bought purple outfits and held a tea party.  At first spreading by word of mouth, the Society received national publicity in 2000 through the magazine Romantic Homes and a feature in the Orange County Register that ran nationally. Cooper then established a "Hatquarters" to field the hundreds of e-mail requests for help starting chapters. She now serves as "Exalted Queen Mother", and has written two best-selling books about the Society.

***

The Red Hat Society fondly refers to itself as a "dis-organization" with the aim of social interaction, and to encourage fun, silliness, creativity, and friendship in middle age and beyond. The Society is not a sorority or a voluntary service club. There are no initiations or fundraising projects.

A founder or leader of a local chapter is usually referred to as a "Queen". Members are called "Red Hatters". Members 50 and over wear red hats and purple attire to all functions. A woman under age fifty may also become a member, but she wears a pink hat and lavender attire to the Society's events until reaching her fiftieth birthday.

Website: http://www.redhatsociety.com/