Expedia Singapore’s exciting new campaign Women with Capes is a beautifully curated collection of compelling interviews with 10 fearless and inspirational female adventurers.

The Women in Capes project is designed to encourage and empower women to travel solo. As a powerful global travel platform, Expedia aims to promote independent travel planning to its female clients. These inspirational and in-depth interviews with awesome female travellers do just that. By asking probing questions – such as can travel transform your life? What are the benefits of travelling solo? Should women really travel alone? – the campaign really gets to the bottom of the joys and challenges that female explorers face.

Find out more about representing women fairly in the travel industry and as travellers in our post Women in Travel: Getting the Balance Right

As an expat living in Malaysia, I love how many Malaysians (and Singaporeans!) are featured in this campaign. It is great to read about how such a diverse group of women from all over the world are all united by their sense of wanderlust and adventure.

Perhaps the arresting part of Women with Capes is the incredible and visually stunning artwork and graphics. The illustrators Marie Toh, Elen Winata and Lihua Art are all female artists. Their designs really bring to life the tales of exploration and adventures.

An Overview of Women with Capes

Here’s a quick overview of all the fantastic female adventurers featured in the Women with Capes campaign as well as my favourite #strongfemale answers! Hop over to Women with Capes to read the full articles and admire more of the gorgeous artwork.

1. Mariellen Ward – a Canadian travel writer and an expert on travel around India who didn’t start travelling until she was 45.

My favourite quote from Mariellen’s interview:

“[Travel] changed everything. It changed me, and it changed my life. I discovered I’m a traveller, a free spirit, and Indiaphile, a writer – and much more bold, adventurous, and confident than I ever thought possible.”

2. Merel van der wouden – an intrepid #girlboss from the Netherlands. Merel’s a true digital nomad exploring the world as she works.

I love Merel’s answer to what she’s learned from travel:

“I think I learned to be more compassionate. Understanding that people come from different backgrounds and have different norms and values. My norms and values are not necessary the “right” ones. You have to be open to learn from anybody and flexible to adapt. As soon as you learn that, traveling can be so amazing. You meet people from all over the world and you learn so much”.

3. Nellie Huang – I’m a huge fan of Nellie Huang, the founder of Wildjunket. She is Singaporean, a mum and well on her way to becoming one of the few women to ever visit all 193 officially recognised countries.

It seems that Nellie’s daughter may have been to a few more countries than my children but they’re picking up the same life skills!

“We’ve been traveling with our daughter since she was 5 months old. She’s already been to 30 countries now that she’s three. And I can already see that travel has taught her to be adaptable and sociable. She adapts to new surroundings and new timezones easily. She’s never afraid to talk to new people, though she’s starting to get more shy these days.”

4. Rachel Jones – a 20-something American who loves to explore. She has lived in India and Mexico.

These honest words sum up Rachel’s experiences of dealing with online perceptions of women travelling solo in India:

“I do get people saying I’m going to get killed or raped for travelling India alone and that I’m “dumb” or “deserve it”. I just consider these people sadly ignorant and delete. I waste ZERO energy on that. They won’t get a reply from me.”

5. Vanessa Paranjothy – an inspirational female traveller and founder of ‘Freedom Cups‘ social startup which helps promote female hygiene in developing countries. In 2017, Vanessa was named as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 for her pioneering initiative.

For Vanessa, travel has changed her entire way of thinking:

“…it changed me from a homebody to a girl with the world as her playground. Travel to me now is so integral to my life. I do it for work, for fun, for a change in perspective, to see different ways of life, to get new ideas, to escape, to give myself a challenge, etc”

6. Mei Mei Chu – an award-winning solo female travel blogger from Malaysia. Despite her family pressuring her not to travel solo, Mei Mei has found true fulfilment and empowerment through her independent travels.

In her own words:

“I’ve grown very dependent on travel as a form of escape, education, and empowerment. If I didn’t travel, I’d still be that frog under the coconut shell who isn’t aware of what she is capable of achieving.”

7. Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas– even as a high-flying director at Expedia Singapore, motherhood hasn’t stopped this dynamic and talented woman from travelling at every opportunity she gets. In her free time, Shyn supports other women in the travel industry.

“I believe in the power of travel to open hearts and minds, break barriers and promote mutual understanding, sustain livelihoods and develop economies. The world is just too big and too rich for us to be inward focused; not exploring the world continuously would be a disservice to mankind.”

8. Vanessa Tevi Kumares– a model and female traveller from Malaysia.

“Traveling helped me realised my learning style. Which is experiential. When I travel, I get to speak to people from all walks of life, listening to all sorts of stories, learning about different cultures…and this is when I feel MOST EXCITED to be alive!”

9. Brooke Iseppi – an Australian Instagram star and mother of two girls loves taking her girls on educational trips to new places.

I love her wise words on travelling with young children:

“…when I had my children… I had a lot of people warning me off flying with young kids / travelling because of their own experiences or stories they had heard. But its all about being organised and preparing for the worst. Becoming a Mom shouldn’t mean you have to stop travelling!”

10. Ankita Sinha – a married Indian blogger and vlogger, Ankita loves adventure travel and sports. She often travels alone.

She made me laugh when explaining how she deals with people commenting on her independent, solo travel. I’ll have to remember this tactic!

“How come your husband allows you to travel alone?” is the most common comment I get. The word “allows” gets on my nerves. I point out that my hubby and I are happy to pursue independent interests. When they inquire further, I try to divert the conversation from how ‘sad’ (they think) this whole situation is, to how interesting my travel stories are. That usually silences them.”

If you’ve enjoyed this overview of Expedia Singapore’s Women in Capes interview series, head on over there to find out more about this fantastic and inspiring female explorers and travel influencers.

This article was written in conjunction with Expedia Singapore. All opinions are entirely my own.

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