Finding Your Best Friend on a Small Group Trip for Women Flying Solo
“Sometimes you just know things are going to work when you meet someone.”
Written by Emily Plug, Editorial Director of El Camino Travel. Originally published July 12, 2022
Meet Chelsea and Megan
Chelsea and Megan met the old-fashioned way… On Bumble BFF in 2019. 😉 On their third friend date, Chelsea popped the question, "Will you travel with me?"
The pair decided to join El Camino's November 2019 trip to Colombia, and both agree that it was this experience that solidified their friendship, forever uniting them as travel wives.
"I found a kindred spirit in Megan," recalls Chelsea. "We are so similar in our approach to travel. We're both planners but also easy-going. We're open to new experiences, and absolutely love trying new foods. I call her my travel wife now!"
"I knew it was going to be great when Chelsea created a shared Google doc for our trip so that we could plan activities for our free time in Colombia. Birds of a feather!"
On their trip to Colombia, Chelsea and Megan also formed friendships with the rest of the group. "El Camino plans their trips with experiences that make it easy to build relationships."
Prior to finding each other, Chelsea and Megan both embarked on many international solo adventures as well as group trips for solo travelers. "Since our SO's schedules don't allow for them to travel as much (and we are just totally obsessed with it), solo travel has allowed us to make some bucket list trips happen without waiting on others."
Chelsea and Megan agree that the transition to traveling as a pair has been smooth due to their solo traveling experience and shared worldviews. "We can spend time together on trips, but also be independent when we need to be.”
"One of the things I love about traveling with Chelsea is that she goes all in. She wants to experience as much as possible when she goes to a new country and is great at researching unique activities. She pushes me to try things out of my comfort zone."
Megan hopes that their story will inspire others to join a group trip as a solo traveler. "Group travel is the perfect way to visit a destination you really want to go to, especially if you've been waiting on friends or SO's to go with you. Don't wait, just go! A lot of folks have a hard time finding friends who like to travel. Sometimes, you need to travel to find them."
Since their friendship-forming trip to Colombia, the dynamic duo has traveled to Egypt together in a small group setting, and they're planning a trip to India in 2023. They've also got their eye on a few more El Camino trips to Cuba and Bolivia.
"Sometimes you just know things are going to work when you meet someone. There will be many trips together in our future."
Ready to meet your El Camino BFF?