INTRAVELREPORT: 5 years since our first tour - Can we re-introduce ourselves? + Save the date!

I am in Kyrgyzstan on my month-long trip in Central Asia to visit Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

So far, I am loving Kyrgyzstan. The people are so warm and friendly, tourism is still pretty incipient here which means few people around, and very few aspects set up just for tourists.

The landscapes are just so beautiful here

And the landscapes...everywhere you look at towering mountains as high as 7,000 meters, horses roaming freely, cows and sheep own the country.

Heritage is valued and shared with visitors. From head pieces that are 40m long to Eagle Hunters on the back of horses, women making beautiful cosmetics from wild herbs and of course, yurt makers and felt artisans keeping nomad traditions alive.

We are planning to launch tours to Kyrgyzstan for end of July / beginning of August 2027.

I visited Uzbekistan a few years ago and loved the architecture, so I am excited to return :)

If you would like to join us at either in 2027, get on the waitlist here.

Me with our guide Begimai, yes, the place really looks like this!

On this week's email:

This week marks the 5th Anniversary of our first tour at Solo Female Travelers! Yay! So I wanted to re-introduce the team that has made it all happen.
Save the date: A reminder that we can also meet in person in London on the 31st of October! I am soooo excited to return to the city and to meet a few of you while supporting a fantastic initiative providing employment and economic opportunities to women in vulnerable situations. I cannot think of a better way to spend a Sunday, among strong and inspiring women, great food and a lot of fun! Plus 20-25% of the proceeds of the tours we will be on will be dedicated to financing the Tour Guiding Academy training of women in disadvantaged situations. Fun, food, dance and impact, what more can you ask for? Book your spot on one of the 2 half day food, culture and music tours we have put together for the community here.
This week's podcast episode has me interviewing Meg for a change, about traveling to Australia. Where to go, what to do, when to visit and how to organize your trip from a local in tourism and host of our Australia Solo Female Travelers tour.

#25 | What Women Want when T...

Sep 22 · Solo Female Travelers

59:09

Meet Solo Female Travelers

From the left: Mar, Anastasia, Jacobo, Stella and Meg

Meg and I started Solo Female Travelers back in 2020.

It all started with the Facebook community that was created by a friend of ours in 2015 and turned 11 this year.

At the end of 2019, she was going on a long trip and needed someone to take over the management of the community. I reached out to Meg, who I had met in 2015 at a conference, and asked her if she wanted to do it with me.

There was no business plan or idea, just the passion to help women travel solo and be surrounded by likeminded travelers who also enjoyed independence on the road.

The community was small at the time, fewer than 20,000 members if I am not mistaken but with the pandemic, it grew exponentially straightaway.

We were spending hours every day managing the member requests to join, the thousands of comments and posts that were submitted daily, and we still had full time jobs to take care of. Plus the community wasn't generating any revenue, so it could not sustain us.

By 2021, Meg got pregnant, Facebook admitted us into the Communities Accelerator Program and provided us with funding and we decided there was an opportunity to launch group tours for women that would address all the concerns women had when traveling solo: safety, boredom, challenges planning a trip, getting lost, not speaking the language, not having someone to split costs or share the experience with, etc.

But we did not want the tours to be just a business; we are feminists, Meg is a lawyer + journalist and myself a consultant + entrepreneur, we wanted to make a difference and contribute to a more equitable world, so we decided to use our platform to elevate women owned businesses, hire their services, spotlight them and give them the floor.

Because if you want things to change, you must start, or at least participate, in the movement that will cause that change, and we wanted to put our money where our hearts and mouths were.

This is how Solo Female Travelers Tours were born, out of the desire to shake things up, bring more women to solo travel and support women in tourism.

And we did so remotely, Meg in Australia and me in Singapore, without seeing each other until 2023, and with a globally distributed team.

We will all be reunited again in the Caribbean for our 10th anniversary island hopping luxury sailing this coming February; There are 4 spots left still, so you can come join and meet us in person.

Since that very first tour in October 2021, this is what has happened:

2,000+ guests have traveled with us and left us more than 350 5-star reviews on Facebook, Google and by email
We have offered tours to 28 destinations in 25 countries in all continents, including Antarctica which will be hosted for the first time this December
We have worked with more than 35 guides across destinations. Some have gone on maternity leave, some have decided to switch careers, some were just starting
We have supported hundreds of women owned or led businesses, from artisans and chefs to expert, spiritual leaders, yoga and meditation teachers, mountain guides, drivers, shop owners, community leaders, activists and so much more

And above all, we have seen women connect, grow and thrive - and it was all SO WORTH IT!

So HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY to US and to YOU for following along in this journey.

SEE ALL OUR TOURS

Meet the team

Jacobo, our developer, was the first person who joined our team. He originally helped us build the tech infrastructure pro-bono because he believed in our mission and had seen, first hand through his sister, the challenges women have traveling solo that men don't. He helped altruistically for a couple of years and then joined the team part time.

Jacobo is from Barcelona and lives outside the city with his wife and daughter. He works at an international school and continues to support our tech needs whatever they may be.

Stella has been our Greek tour guide since 2023 and joined our logistics team in 2024.

She was born in Athens where she lives today, and has over 25 years of experience in the travel industry as a writer, then event and wedding planner and tour guide across the country.

Stella is super fun and has the best dry sense of humor. She is uber caring and a maverick at organizing anything. She knows everyone and can give you recommendations for things to do, see and eat in almost any Greek island.

Anastasia started as one of the photographers on our group tours and later on joined our team as a logistics, podcast and social media media manager.

She was born in Belarus and migrated to the US as a teenager. She enrolled in the US navy where she spent 20 years serving before certifying as a yoga teacher and photographer.

She speaks Mandarin and Russian and is a single mum to 3 kids who are national gymnasts and actors. She loves the outdoors and knows how to capture the most beautiful images of anyone.

Gaby has been working with us since 2023 helping with social media and the group management at first and now managing the group and the podcast.

She is from El Salvador, where she lives, and was a cabin crew for a Middle Eastern airline for 5 years before returning home and focusing on marketing and social media.

Gaby has been to many countries solo and is a kind, fun and caring person that has many stories to tell from her years as a cabin crew.

Meg is Australian and lives in tropical Cairns, a single mother to an almost 5 year old boy. She is a trained journalist and lawyer, spent several years in hospitality and as a travel blogger and lived in the US for a number of years.

She takes care of all the back office work, from accounting and finances to customer management. She also hosts our Australian tour and is the best business partner and friend anyone could ask for.

I am Spanish, born in Barcelona and have spent 20+ years living overseas in Dubai, Johannesburg and Singapore and working as a telecommunications strategy consultant and at Google.

I take care of everything that has to do with tour management, from designing the itineraries to making sure our programs always offer the best experiences, build connections with local women and continue to have the same positive impact as when we started. Following ethical, sustainable and regenerative tourism goals we set out to start Solo Female Travelers for is not an easy task.

Since 2005, I travel a bit more than half of the year and visit about 15-20 countries annually. I have been to 143 countries, more than half of those solo, and would love to one day have been to all. But I am not in a rush, I am not ticking boxes and have been to several countries more than once.

Our guides are the soul of Solo Female Travelers. they are your friend on the ground, your bridge to new cultures and our best ambassadors.

We currently employ 18 guides that host our 24 tours to 23 countries across the world, from French Polynesia in the South Pacific to Iceland in Northern Europe, from the Caribbean to Antarctica, and from Georgia to Madagascar.

We also work with 5 photographers to capture our trips: Beth, Kim, Bea, Emily and Anastasia. Beth is British and currently on maternity leave and besides being a photographer, she is also an actress. Kim and Emily are from the US, and Bea is Hungarian-Romanian.