The Coronavirus pandemic was a time when most people stopped travelling all together.
But, for Sophie Davis, it was just the beginning of her female solo travel adventures – as it was when she created Outdoor Adventure Girls.
The 32-year-old from Milton Keynes tells us: ‘Like everybody, I was feeling really isolated, and I didn’t have loads of friends nearby.
‘In my early twenties, I unfortunately went through sexual assault and didn’t talk to anyone about it at the time, and it was only during the pandemic that I decided I needed to make some changes and start moving on from it.
‘So I set up a walking group as a way of being able to connect with other women, get outside, which is great for mental and physical health, and make new friends as well.’
What started as one local walking group in Milton Keynes, in June 2021, has grown into what Sophie says is ‘the biggest female adventure community in the UK’ with 14 regional groups across the UK, heading to National Parks around the country.
Since 2022, OAG has also been running regular international group trips too – and Sophie has been lucky enough to go to many places around the world including Bali, Peru and Costa Rica.
For Sophie, it was Peru that surprised her the most, having initially thought it would be unsafe to go to as a woman.
Sophie Davis, 32, from Milton Keynes, set up Outdoor Adventure Girls in June 2021, after feeling isolated in the coronavirus pandemic. Here she’s pictured in Pragser Wildsee, Italy
What started as one local walking group in Milton Keynes, in June 2021, has grown into what Sophie says is ‘the biggest female adventure community in the UK’ with 14 regional groups across the UK, heading to National Parks around the country
For Sophie, it was Peru that surprised her the most, having initially thought it would be unsafe to go to as a woman. She’s pictured at Machu Picchu
‘Peru is a really epic country,’ she tells us. ‘Obviously it’s very popular for doing the Inca trail and Machu Picchu, but there’s so much culture in Peru that I just hadn’t really understood or realised before I went.
‘The food is incredible – you don’t really hear about Peruvian restaurants here in the UK – and the culture and the people as well.
‘It was a really surprising destination to me how kind people were, and how really safe it was.
‘I think I might have had misconceptions, pior to going, that maybe it wouldn’t be safe, but it was incredibly safe, and I always felt the locals were really kind and welcoming.’
Sophie’s favourite destination is Costa Rica, having hosted an OAG trip there in March 2024, ‘with an amazing group of women who have actually all stayed in touch since’.
‘Costa Rica is another one of those countries where it’s incredibly safe, but, because it’s in Central America, women don’t always quite feel confident enough to do it by themselves,’ says Sophie.
‘While there, we went into the Costa Rican jungle, and we stayed as a group with various different families in this community up in the mountains and split off into little groups for a couple of days, and we actually integrated with that family, cooked with them each evening and spent loads of time with them.’
Sophie has met some of her closest friends through creating OAG – and is constantly told by women who join the groups that they’ve made lifelong pals through it too.
Sophie’s favourite place she’s been to is Costa Rica, having hosted an OAG trip there in March 2024, ‘with an amazing group of women who have actually all stayed in touch since’
Sophie in Helvellyn, Lake District, where OAG often takes walking groups
Sophie has met some of her closest friends through creating OAG – and is constantly told by women who join the groups that they’ve made lifelong pals through it too
Sophie continues: ‘At OAG, we always say that we do solo travel, because the women attending any of our trips are coming alone, and we do go to a lot of destinations where women in general might not feel safe on their own doing it by themselves.
‘But they’re then being able to travel in a supportive and safe environment, so it’s like the best of both worlds.
‘They get to tick that solo travel thing off and say, “I didn’t go with a friend or family member, but I now have these other women around me who support me!”
‘When these women leave our events or trips, they tell me they’ve made best friends with the person they met 48 hours ago, and they’re planning to meet up with them in the next month or later on in the summer, and I think that’s the goal achieved, of what I set out to do.’
For more information about Outdoor Adventure Girls, visit https://outdooradventuregirls.com/.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .