Pfeiffer Ida: - Ida Pfeiffer, née Reyer, was an Austrian explorer, travel writer, and ethnographer who became a famous early female traveler; her bestseller journals were translated into seven languages. Between 1846 and 1855, she traveled an estimated 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) by land and 240,000 kilometers (150,000 miles) by water across Southeast Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. Despite being a member of the geographical societies of Berlin and Paris, she was denied membership in the Royal Geographical Society in London since it prohibited women from being elected before 1913. Ida Laura Pfeiffer was born on October 14, 1797, in Vienna, to rich textile manufacturer Aloys Reyer. She was the youngest of five siblings. She preferred boys' clothing as a child, enjoyed sports and fitness, and received the same education as her brothers thanks to her father's encouragement. "I was not shy," she said in her memoir, "but wild as a boy, and bolder and more forward than my elder brothers." Her first extended journey, when she was five years old, was to Palestine and Egypt.