It all began with a journey.

Dr. Sophia, a dental surgeon from South Africa, decided to embark on a group trip to Turkey. This wasn’t an ordinary vacation. It was an adventure with sixteen women who were complete strangers to one another. No family, no friends – just the unfamiliar, the unknown and the thrill of discovering a new part of the world side by side.

When Sophia returned, she described the experience as nothing short of transformative.

Traveling with strangers was liberating,” she recalled. “For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t playing my usual roles—the family caretaker, the friend, the colleague. I didn’t have to meet anyone’s expectations. I was just… me. And that was profoundly freeing.

Beyond the Journey

While describing her transformative experience to me, she also noted something else. The trip was deeply meaningful, but the logistics weren’t always smooth, and the sense of community could have been nurtured more intentionally. It got us both thinking: what if these journeys were designed thoughtfully—not just as vacations, but as experiences of self-discovery and connection?

A New Purpose

Sophia’s reflections carried even more weight when placed alongside her personal journey. During that very trip, she realized her true calling was not dentistry alone. She wanted to do something meaningful for her community, especially for women who often had no one to turn to in times of need.

She planned her early retirement with a new vision. In that time, she pursued a degree in Social Psychology, trained in NLP, and began offering voluntary support to women facing emotional and psychological challenges. Her mission was to guide, console, and empower those who needed it most.

Planting the Seed

Out of these two strands, her transformative travel and her community work, the seed of Travel Strangers was planted. It was not just about trips abroad. It was about journeys that liberate, connect, and transform. Journeys where strangers meet not by accident, but by design, and leave not just with photos, but with new perspectives, friendships, and possibilities for life.

And so, the story of Travel Strangers began, rooted in personal discovery, fueled by empathy, and built on the belief that travel can change lives.