Meet a trailblazing entrepreneur with a brand new tackle tourism within the Kingdom. Sara hopes to share a special aspect of her nation with the world by way of immersive experiences on Intrepid’s newest Girls’s Expedition.
Sara is a journey powerhouse. For starters, she’s visited greater than 70 nations. Whereas that alone could be spectacular, she’s additionally a power to be reckoned with, particularly for Saudi Arabia’s tourism business.
Because the co-founder of two tour corporations, Sara has led numerous travellers around the globe and thru her residence nation. Now, she’s sharing her ardour with Intrepid to launch a brand new Girls’s Expedition in Saudi Arabia.
You is likely to be shocked to listen to that Sara was shaken the primary time she flew by herself, however it modified one thing in her.
When the Saudi vacationer visa opened, it was like, okay, now I can present them as a substitute of simply speaking about it.
After her first solo airplane journey she stayed at a hostel in Berlin the place she not solely bought the prospect to attach with fellow travellers from around the globe, however she additionally bought to share her experiences and problem their prejudices. Sara has been compelled to assist different travellers discover significant connections like that ever since.
‘I normally discuss who Saudis are and what our way of life is like, and I can see the shock on peoples’ faces. They’ve stereotypes of their thoughts and misconceptions in regards to the nation,’ she says. ‘When the Saudi vacationer visa opened, it was like, okay, now I can present them as a substitute of simply speaking about it.’
After the pandemic introduced her outbound excursions to a halt, Sara’s consideration turned to travels inside her residence nation as a solution to share the actual Saudi Arabia with worldwide guests by way of native immersion and community-led experiences.
Teaming up with Intrepid to launch a visit to Saudi Arabia is a pivotal second for Sara, who was impressed by Intrepid in her early days as an entrepreneur. This 12-day Girls’s Expedition, led by certainly one of Sara’s staff of native feminine leaders, is filled with experiences she personally found whereas backpacking by way of the Kingdom. From assembly two sisters who run a citrus farm and visiting Madinah’s historic and holy metropolis to sharing tea and tales in a girls’s solely salon, travellers will discover Saudi Arabia like by no means earlier than.
I sat down with Sara to be taught extra about her journey from a reluctant solo traveller to an adventurous entrepreneur.
I actually wish to hear extra about your story and the way your travels led you to what you do now.
How a lot time do you could have? I’ll provide the quick story. I like to discover new nations, cultures and historical past. My husband is strictly the identical. Generally, I journey alone, and generally he does, after which we journey to sure locations collectively. He’s into historical past, and I’m into folks, in order that’s a fantastic mixture.
After each journey, everybody would ask questions like the place did you go? How did you go there? Can you propose my journey and assist me? So we began doing that for household, mates and their mates. Then we thought, why don’t we simply flip this right into a enterprise and make one thing out of it?
In Saudi, we journey in a really traditional means. Folks are likely to go to locations like London, Paris and Geneva to go to a restaurant or perhaps a landmark, store at one of the best mall and are available again with zero information of the nation, its historical past and the folks.
I really like the shock you see on folks’s faces once they uncover our Saudi way of life, particularly once they meet our girls.
So, my husband and I needed to introduce our means of travelling, which is connecting with folks, attending to know different cultures and going to the smaller cities as a substitute of the large cities. After we first began our firm we had been impressed by Intrepid and needed to create one thing comparable for Saudi.
These journeys opened the door for lots of ladies to begin travelling solo, however not alone. You recognize, they needed to get out of their consolation zone with out their dad and mom and mates and go someplace good on their very own, however they didn’t actually wish to really feel they had been fully alone.
How did you go from exploring the world alongside Saudis to inviting the world to go to you as a substitute?
[In September 2019, Saudi Arabia began offering tourist visas] after which COVID-19 hit like 5 months later. So, they didn’t have the prospect to introduce the nation to the world. When the pandemic got here, companies stopped, every little thing did. We stayed at residence for a yr and a half, virtually two years.
I used to be going loopy as a result of I couldn’t journey internationally so I took my backpack and began travelling throughout the Kingdom. We normally take our personal nation as a right, pondering I can see it any time, so I hadn’t actually explored Saudi Arabia.
I used to be actually shocked. I do know that Saudis are very hospitable. We’re extraordinarily beneficiant and wish to host folks. However I’m a neighborhood, not a foreigner, and even to me, they had been hospitable. I travelled to Hail and instructed somebody I used to be from Jeddah. They had been like, ‘You got here all the best way from there? Come and have dinner at my place. I’ll inform my mother; I’ll inform my household.’
Impressed by that and with the introduction of the vacationer visa, I needed to do no matter I may to introduce Saudi to the world and all of the folks I met on my travels.
So, I began leaping round each small metropolis and labored on creating interactive experiences that supported the native communities. When the airport opened up, I used to be prepared. I launched my web site and began doing excursions for folks from around the globe to come back and discover Saudi and expertise its historical past, tradition and structure.
What can travellers becoming a member of this Girls’s Expedition count on?
Belief me, from the second they land in Saudi, they may have numerous experiences. Each little expertise in Saudi Arabia has a wow issue, whether or not it’s a landmark, the folks we’re visiting or its historical past.
From a traveller’s perspective, Saudi Arabia has loads to supply as a vacation spot. Lots of people underestimate the scale of the nation. It’s big and really numerous. Jeddah is totally completely different from Riyadh and, likewise, with Hail and Al-Ula. The dialect, meals, folklore and dance change from place to put. What I really like about Saudis is that they love their tradition and traditions.
It’s completely different whenever you usually hear a few nation after which go to it. I don’t blame anybody for coming with misconceptions about Saudi as a result of everyone knows that the media solely places one story on the market… I really like the shock you see on folks’s faces once they uncover our Saudi way of life, particularly once they meet our girls.
Are you able to inform me in regards to the girls who travellers will meet on this journey?
My favorite a part of the journey is connecting girls with different girls. I need travellers to satisfy Saudi girls and find out how great they’re. There are many alternatives for this in our itinerary. For starters, they’ll be led by a neighborhood feminine chief, who can have their very own tales to share.
I don’t blame anybody for coming with misconceptions about Saudi as a result of everyone knows that the media solely places one story on the market.
Lots of people assume Saudi girls are unable to do something, that we’re not educated, that we don’t work and that we want human rights to save lots of us. Visiting is the one means for them to really perceive that it’s the precise reverse in Saudi. Assembly the locals is one solution to perceive what the life-style is like.
On this journey, they may get to do this by assembly completely different girls in our society. From the primary day, they’ll see individuals who aren’t carrying hijab, the people who find themselves and the folks carrying the niqab, and the way it’s a private selection. They’re similar to girls wherever around the globe. They’re hilarious, talkative and enjoyable.
I’d like to get your tackle how Intrepid’s Girls’s Expedition is completely different from different choices within the nation.
For most individuals coming to Saudi, the experiences supplied are associated to landmarks, historical past or UNESCO websites however none of that’s actually centered on the folks. For anybody who needs to do one thing in-depth, meet folks and spend high quality moments with them, this journey provides them that.
I’m excited and somewhat nervous, however actually, what’s making me snug is everybody I’ve met or talked to at Intrepid could be very good. I really feel like everybody at Intrepid has my again. There are folks to information me and lead me if something must be amended or modified.
I’ve curated experiences like going to a neighborhood residence and spending time with a household, visiting a citrus farm, visiting a ladies-only seashore and spending time at a girls’s salon.
You recognize, I’ve been to a number of salons around the globe the place you simply get your hair accomplished and go away… however for us, the salon is a spot for neighborhood. They’re girls’s just for girls who put on hijabs and wish privateness. All of us sit, discuss and join with everybody. We simply go as women collectively and spend one thing like two to a few hours doing one remedy after one other simply to maintain catching up.
So, the main focus of the Girls’s Expeditions is giving experiences with interactions with the local people as a substitute of landmarks. My staff and I wish to ship the usual, idea and imaginative and prescient that Intrepid has once they create journeys. It’s like, you could have this function mannequin, after which you’re a part of it. So, I’m very excited, it’s a dream come true.
Study extra about how Intrepid’s Saudi Ariabia Girls’s Expedition got here to be and take a look at the 12-day itinerary. Please be aware that Saudi Arabia’s tourism business continues to be in its infancy, so chances are you’ll have to take into account whether or not the journey is best for you.
