A dedicated global travel website for women launched yesterday for International Women's Day, designed to celebrate and encourage travel addiction amongst women through creating content that connects women around the world.
The website was founded by three women: Jess from New Zealand; Meg from Canada and Natalie from Germany.
“How do you say that we're not your average travel site without sounding like an average travel site? I guess the best way to describe what you are sometimes is describing what you're not,” says Natalie.
“Travelher is not about being hardcore, fearless or unstoppable. It's not about creating envy. While you will see images of women climbing mountains, jumping off cliffs and throwing themselves out of planes, that is just a small piece of the Travelher puzzle,” she says.
“It's about connection and that part of you that comes alive when you go exploring,” adds Meghan.
“You know the light you see in someone's eyes when they talk about something they really love? That is what Travelher is about.
The website features personal travel stories, videos and images from women around the world. Topics range from travel disasters, moving for love, embarrassing and funny mishaps, risking it all for adventure and everything in between.
In planning the launch, Jess, Meghan and Natalie reached out to the women in their lives to share their travel stories – with no real rules except they had to write about a trip that produced a strong feeling.
“There is so much LIFE in these stories. There is so much joy, so many lessons learned. There is absolute hilarity and deep pain, bewilderment and excitement,” says Jess.
“What I love is that I get the sense people aren't asked to reflect often enough. It's what makes these stories so beautiful. All of a sudden someone is asking them to dig deep, and the result is incredible,” she says.
“People learn a lot about themselves by sharing their stories.
Meghan is employed full time outside of this project, while Jess is a freelance copywriter and Natalie recently transitioned to part-time hours so she could work remotely from her home in Germany (and make some time to cater for her travel addiction). The women call it their ‘passion project', and are dedicated to building a large community of like-minded ‘travelhers' over the months to come.
Their own life-changing travel experiences are what inspired the idea and they hope to encourage other women to step outside of their comfort zone and see the world.
“There is so much negativity out there in the media right now, so much fear. Travelher is about focusing on something positive and encouraging other women to embrace any and all travel experiences, which we think ultimately leads to a more informed, more connected world,” concludes Meghan.