5 things I regret doing + Our dream trip is just 1 year away!

Hi Reader,

How are things going wherever you are?

I am in the Imperial city of Hue, in Vietnam, on my scouting trip to design our 2026 tour.

So far, I have spent 2 weeks between in Hoi An and Saigon and I am now at a wellness resort outside of Hue before continuing north towards Hanoi, my final stop in Vietnam before heading to Cambodia.

If you'd love to join us in Vietnam (and Cambodia) when the trip goes live, get your name on our waitlist for the trip.

And go follow me on stories for the behind the scenes shenanigans.

📩 On this week's email

5 things I regret doing on my travels. These are things that I did out of ignorance, that I should have researched more and avoided.
Our dream trip to celebrate 10 (+2) years of Solo Female Travelers and over 500,000 members is just a year away and we are working on some really cool activities and parties. Check out the Caribbean island hopping luxury trip here.

5 Things I regret doing on my travels

If you have been traveling long enough, you will have done things you regret.

On Meg and my list are things that we didn't know were just plain bad and that are now obvious to us, or mistakes that weren't, or aren't, so clear but that we now question the ethics of.

Riding an elephant

Over 15 years ago, I rode an elephant in India. This wasn't a typical elephant ride in a park but a very short elephant ride at the end of an elephant polo game. Elephant polo started in 1985 at a lodge in Nepal and ended in 2017 as a result of the pressure from negative media and wildlife conservation groups.

In those 35 years, it had participation by teams from India, Nepal, Thailand and the UK and was played with 2 players on the elephant, a mahout and a player and followed the same rules as regular polo but slower.

I watched a game in Jaipur, as part of my Maharaja's Express train trip in India. It was one of the stops on the itinerary, and then there were photo ops.

I wish I didn't participate in either, and have since spent hours researching every single animal interaction activity to make sure I don't repeat that mistake. There is something very powerful about making a mistake you regret that pushes you to avoid making it again.

What makes this extra bad is that this wasn't a tradition in India that I am criticising as foreigner with "higher standards" but a business idea started by a lodge in Nepal for profit. Doubly questionable.

Not letting someone know where she was

Meg was hiking the Larapinta trail in Northern Australia when a family member passed.

She had not left a detailed itinerary with her parents, and the trail is over 230 km long and has no mobile phone signal.

Going off the little information he had, her father has to call the Parks and Wildlife Commission and had one of the Park Rangers leave notes at every major trail intersection. They finally caught her on a fluke and transported her back to Alice Springs where she dealt with the tragedy.

Since then, she always leaves an itinerary, especially when heading out to a remote place where she won't be reachable.

Overbooking myself

You heard me a few months ago telling you how I burnt out from over-scheduled work.

It was a hard way to realise that I am not "that" young anymore and that I cannot pretend to be able to pull all nighters, let alone 3 overnight flights in 4 days. When I landed in Australia 5 days later after spending 3 nights in planes and 1 night at home I had no idea what day or time it was and I was even delusional...it was a rude awakening.

Since then, I am not making that mistake again. I am traveling slower and Meg and I are saying no a lot; no to business opportunities, no to launching so many trips, no to personal trips, no to being away from my bed so often, and I am traveling more with loved ones who can help out.

We are making sure we grow at a pace that is sustainable and that makes us all happy, not just richer, which was never the goal in the first place.

Checking in my luggage

I have always been a huge fan of carry on travel, because I don't like waiting for my bag, and because I want to head directly to the gate. Carry on travel means I don't have to check in at the airport and I don't have to wait for my bag.

There was also the risk of my suitcase being lost or delayed, but to be honest this was always a lower concern, because the probability is really low, about 1-2% of bags get delayed and an even smaller percentage get completely lost.

Until it happened to me.

Coming back from Malta, my suitcase didn't arrive. I did not think much of it. I filled the report and headed home expecting it would turn up the next day on the same flight. But then it didn't and when I called the airline, they had no idea where the bag was. It then downed on me that the chance of the suitcase being completely lost (or stolen) was pretty high.

See, when a suitcase is delayed, the airline knows where it is, but in this case, they had no idea.

Then started weeks of back and forth ultra frustrating emails with my insurance company, the airline and a law firm specialising in these kinds of claims that have not yet been resolved. I will keep you posted on the outcome and share it on this newsletter when it's finally resolved, but I can assure you this has made me even more obsessed with not checking in. I am currently in Vietnam with my carry on bag only.

A trip will have to be very long and require lots of technical gear for me to consider checking in again. And I will certainly implement many measures to minimise the risk of the suitcase being lost again.

The pervasive coloniser mentality

Putting on an abaya in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when it was still a requirement

I spoke about this at length in last week's email, but this is one of the biggest regrets of my travels. Some parts of this Western-centric mentality are so ingrained that we are probably not even aware of. I know we will continue to make mistakes, but we will keep trying.

Some parts of this are counter intuitive and go against everything we have learned about sustainable, responsible and community-first tourism, other parts are more obvious and easier to change.

Intuitively, I have felt some behaviors or actions were wrong even though I could not articulate them.

Being a fierce feminist but understanding that it is important to adhere to local customs even if they appear sexist in my mind. Or prioritising wildlife over people and seeing national parks taking over community land and displacing its inhabitants so that tourists can enjoy animals in their natural habitat at the expense of the local communities who inhabited that land. And so much more.

It's hard to question everything we do, think or know, and it can also be exhausting and paralising to wonder about every single decision or action, especially when the media and general consensus tells you it is right.

Unlearning to relearn is a bit of what we want to start implementing or at least keeping in mind.

Our dream trip is just a year awayyyyy!

As you probably remember, our online community reached a major milestone last year by turning 10 years old! YAY!

We wanted to celebrate this with as many of you as possible, so we chartered a luxury super yacht and created an itinerary that visits some of the most fun, beautiful and diverse islands in the Caribbean for February next year.

Our planning is in full swing as the trip is now less than a year away.

Here are some of the fun things we will be doing:

🥂 Beach caviar & champagne splash

Nothing says indulgence like enjoying morsels of premium caviar enjoyed in your swim suit, at the beach.

Picture yourself holding a caviar canape on one hand and a glass of champagne on the other, and don't worry about photos because our professional photographers will immortalise your joy for you, get another canape!

PS There will be plenty of non-alcoholic drinks too.

🍽️ Unlimited gourmet food and drinks

Our trip is all inclusive and a team of chefs and bartenders / mixologists will be at the ready, anytime of day and night, to satisfy all your cravings.

We aren't kidding.

Umbrella cocktail at 11am by the pool? Check

Gourmet burger for lunch? Check

Fine dining dinners with white tablecloths? Check

Dress up cocktail parties by the pool? Check

Sunset drinks with new and old friends? Check

Creative vegan feasts and entire vegan menus? Check

Lobster, steak, fresh salads, tropical fruit, anything you can think of? Check

Dessert buffet? Check. So you don't have to choose between chocolate cake or mango tartlet.

👗 "Nowhere to wear this" party

There will be many themed parties on deck and celebrations which we can't reveal yet. Some will be posh and refined, some will be crazy and fun like this one.

In case you haven't seen the trend, this is a party where you wear that outfit you bought and have never had an occasion to wear.

Think flashy costumes, long gowns, miniskirts your grandma may oppose, sequinned dresses, colorful wigs, and everything else in between. Or maybe that amazing outfit you wore to a Lady Gaga concert like Anastasia is showing off above.

✨ Nights on deck sleeping in plush Balinese beds

We love a night under the stars, which is why there will be Balinese beds on deck set up with bed sheets and plush duvets so you can sleep under the Milky way one of the nights.

Everyone will get a chance to, and there is nothing as magical as being serenaded by the waves as you doze under a blanket of stars.

Because we will spend several nights in remote places, the stars will be brighter than ever.

📸 Professional photographer(s)

As is popular on many of our tours, this one will also be accompanied by our professional photographer Anastasia B. who has met many of you on tour. She will be at hand to take all the photos so you can be in the moment and not worry about capturing memories for later.

Joy, happiness, surprise, laughter...all these will be captured so you can relive the feelings and the moment anytime.

Be in present, enjoy the moment.

🛝 A slide all the way to the sea

Yep, our luxury superyacht has an inflatable slide that you can go down on, all the way to the sea!

This will be So. Much. Fun!

There will also be banana boat, jet skies, kayaks, paddle boards, a deck pool to chill and a few jacuzzis to truly relax.

👭 100 of your new best friends!

The best part of joining our tours is that you will among women like you who share your passion for travel, for seeing the world and for supporting women.

You are about to meet your new best friends; the ones you will be traveling with going forward, the ones you'll call to chat about your day; the ones you will exchange memes and reels with; the ones you will plan your next adventure with.

Photo of the week

Last week's photo

Meg is on a guessing spree and guessed that this photo was taken at the Atacama Desert. The area is amazing, with salt lakes, geysers and lunar landscapes making you feel you are on a different planet.

This week's photo

Can you guess this week's photo?