Bharati 1shroff, an advertising consultant from Chennai, was surfing the Net when she came across a blog entry on Women on Wanderlust (WOW), an all-woman travelling club based in Delhi. Bharati’s husband was busy at work and she was desperately looking for a break. So, she dialled WOW’s number and immediately signed on for their trip to Egypt. “I’d never intended to go on holiday only with women, but it was wonderfully liberating. We chatted about everything, from lipsticks to shopping. It was my time, and I came back making friends with most everyone on the trip,” she says.   

Gayathri Upadhya from Manipal had a similar experience. A single mother of a six-year-old and an inveterate traveller, she has travelled alone, with family and with friends, but nothing compares with her trip to Egypt last year. Ditto for Lubeina Shahpurwala, a 32-year-old entrepreneur from Mumbai, who says: “I did things that I’d never imagined I’d do. Like belly dancing with a scarf tied around my hips, shopping for silly trifles, interacting with the local people and trying the local cuisine, and generally having a whale of a time with all the girls,” says Gayathri.

A survey has revealed that women find travelling alone (or with other women) more liberating than dangerous and that most of them are as much in love with their backpacks as their vanity cases. Cashing in on a growing demand for “girlfriend getaways”, travel companies are organising special packages for women travellers.

So, what is a “girlfriend getaway”? A trip filled with lots of shopping — without men sulking in the background — relaxing at spas, gossip sessions and girl bonding.

... contd.