During a webinar we hosted last year, someone asked an interesting question…

Why does it seem like women dominate the responsible travel space?

Is it because women are naturally more caring and nurturing?

Or because women are often the ones making the travel decisions and feel more connected to the impact travel has on people and places?

If you have thoughts on this, hit reply to this email. We’d love to hear them!

Whatever the reason, there are so many meaningful travel experiences around the world created by incredible women sharing their culture, homes and communities and we’re here for it 🤙🏻

xoxo,
Gabby & The TRAppe. Team

We’ve been toying with an idea…

Adding the occasional opinion piece to this newsletter. Think reflections, observations and the odd hot take from the travel world.

Would that be something you’d like to see here?

When a hotel blends design, art and sustainability and has a Spotify playlist, you know the music is going to be 👌🏻 This playlist from The Home Hotel in Zürich, Switzerland, is all smooth chill and deep house for the perfect laid back day. Press play and pretend you’re already there.

🎧 Share your go-to travel playlist or podcast with us. Whether it's road trip anthems or deep-dive travel stories, we want to hear and feature what fuels your adventures.

📱 Native journeys: Discover Indigenous led experiences across the United States with the app.

💃🏻 Who run the world: Explore women owned travel businesses around the world worth knowing about.

⚔️ Viking wellness: A new Nordic philosophy is transforming what a wellness stay means and this farm stay on Sweden’s island of Gotland is taking the lead.

💼 For job seekers: TRAppe is hiring 100% remote freelance, commission based Local Partnership Representatives to help us discover and onboard more meaningful travel businesses around the world.

📍Papua New Guinea
Website | Instagram | Google Map

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally rich countries in the world. And yet, not many travellers know much about it at all.

Along the legendary Kokoda Track, Indigenous Kokoda Adventures offers a way to explore that goes far beyond simply completing the trek.

Founded by Jessie, a local from the region, it is the first locally owned Indigenous tour operator on the Kokoda Track. For Jessie, guiding travellers across these mountains is not just about adventure. It is about sharing the history, culture and lived experience of the communities who call this place home.

The Kokoda Track is one of the most historically significant trails in the Pacific, known for its role in World War II and the resilience of the Papuan people who helped Australian soldiers navigate the terrain. Walking it with a local team brings that history to life in a way guidebooks never could.

Travellers move through dense rainforest, remote mountain villages and rugged jungle landscapes, guided by people whose families have lived in the region for generations.

Jessie and his team work closely with local communities along the track, ensuring that tourism supports village livelihoods, local guides and the preservation of culture and heritage.

In a place where stories are carried through the land itself, Indigenous Kokoda Adventures shows that the most meaningful journeys are the ones led by the people who know it best.

This week’s gem was recommended by none other than our What’s Hot & What’s Not real traveller of the week, Deborah👇🏻

In this week’s What’s Hot & What’s Not, meet Deborah, an advocate for regenerative tourism and Indigenous voices.

Deborah believes tourism has the potential to change lives and considers herself a living testament to this.

She believes learning happens in both directions when we travel and that both travellers and communities benefit when tourism experiences are led from the heart and guided by the soul of the community.

For Deborah, this creates opportunities for meaningful shifts in how we think about and move through our shared world, hopefully making us all better humans.

🔥 What’s Hot

Travelling deeper, staying longer, being curious, being open-minded, doing something outside of your comfort zone (may involve not telling your family all the details), doing something that makes you feel your 'aliveness' (again, see above), talking to people when you travel, using local tour guides, trying local food, staying in locally owned accomodations and meeting the owners, and probably more things that I'll remember later!

❄️ What’s Not

Anything involving animals being used for profit (wild or not), huge cruise ships and all-inclusive hotels, automatic assumptions about local people, extractive tourism, not hiring locally, assuming you know best, not being respectful of local cultures and customs, impatience, overnegotiating a price (ie. a must win at all cost mentality), judgement, loud music on the trail, and again, probably more things that I'll remember later!

Want to get featured too? Drop your details here.

Hook your friends up with Help! I’m TRAppe-d and score a free copy of our Bali e-guide! Just refer 10 people, and the guide is yours ✌🏻

Psst… want to see what all the hype’s about? Flip through the Bali e-guide preview, to get a little taste of what’s inside: 100+ curated stays, eats, and experiences that are kind to the planet and good to its people ✌🏻

Or refer just 1 buddy and gain access to our weekly updated TRAppe Travel Cheat Sheet.