Why Do Women Crave Travel So Much?
Instagram feeds flooded with sun-kissed beaches, cobblestone streets, and perfectly posed café shots. The rise of #wanderlust, #solotravel, and #femmetravel hashtags. Friends planning their next escape before the current trip even ends.
When women have more career opportunities, financial independence, and freedom than ever, why does the urge to leave feel so strong? Why does travel – not just as a vacation, but as a lifestyle – dominate so many women’s dreams?
Here’s one perspective. (And yes, it’s not exclusive to women – but there’s something specific here.)
The Modern Grind
Performance reviews. LinkedIn personal branding. The pressure to "have it all." The modern grind isn’t just exhausting – it’s loud. And for women, it often comes with bonus tracks: Are you leaning in? Are you hustling enough? Are you settling down yet?
Many people are realising that climbing corporate ladders until their knees gave out isn’t what they wanted at all.
When daily life starts to feel like a cage, travel becomes the key.
The Freedom to Choose
Whether our grandmothers fought for the right to work or held families together through invisible labour, their battles were about choice. Now, the question isn’t just Can I? but Must I?
Travel lets us test the answer. Like when I traded 9-6 for a roaming career, it's about meeting versions of yourself you didn't know existed. The one who navigates foreign streets without Google Maps. The one who strikes up conversations with strangers. The one who follows whims instead of schedules.
The ultimate luxury isn’t a five-star resort; it’s time autonomy. The freedom to move, to change your mind, to be unreachable for a little while.
Do I dream of being constantly on the move? Yes – I took a job that let me roam straight out of university. Would I love to have a home base? Hmm.
I actually spend more time at home than my Instagram might suggest, and I want to soak up more time with my parents before life gets in the way.
Let’s be real: constant travel is expensive, and there’s magic in having the freedom to leave because you know you can come back.
My own definition of living well is to have enough stillness to write, enough movement to stay curious, and enough money for plane tickets but not so much that I forget how to take the bus. No, I don’t want to be a perpetually nomadic influencer. (Okay, I'm shy and my passport is embarrassingly underused these days – but that's not the point.)
I can’t speak for everyone, but I suspect that for many of us with this itch to leave, the passport stamps aren’t the real goal.
It’s the proof that we can survive without a five-year plan; that joy doesn’t have to be productive.
It’s okay to want things that don’t fit neatly on a LinkedIn profile. Sometimes the bravest career move is admitting the script doesn’t fit.
You won’t find yourself just by changing time zones. But you might remember how good it feels to make decisions based on curiosity instead of fear. That happiness can be as simple as finding a bakery that makes your favourite pastry exactly right. The exhilarating realisation that – holy shit – you’re capable of so much more than you thought.
So Here’s the Real Question
What actually makes you happy? Not what looks good on Instagram. Not what you think should make you happy. But what makes your pulse quicken when no one's watching?
Who are you when you're not performing?
What kind of life feels like yours – not just the default script you inherited?
The suitcase isn’t the goal. It’s learning how to bring that same sense of freedom into you daily life.
Maybe that’s a sabbatical. Maybe it’s working remotely for a month. Maybe it’s simply booking the damn ticket you’ve been eyeing for years.
You don't need a passport to give yourself permission to exist differently. You just need to start listening to that quiet voice that says: More. Different. Now.
What’s one tiny way you could chase that feeling this week? When was the last time you felt truly free?
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