If you’re looking for a good corner of the Internet to get your wanderlust flowing, gather inspo for your next vacation or simply feed your soul with tales of beauty from across the country and around the world, She Explores is the place to go. This travel blog is geared toward “the novel outdoors woman: curious and ready-to-go; invariably planning her next endeavor.” The best thing about She Explores is that it features female travelers of all kinds, from those traveling solo to those with a whole family in tow.
Perhaps the best thing about She Explores is how it so eloquently reveals all aspects of travel: the soul-soaring highs and the spirit-crushing lows, plus everything in between. Hanna Sadowski spent months traveling in a van with three guy friends. On all the togetherness in such a small space, Hanna says, “Believe me, there were times where I thought about pushing each one of them off a cliff (I am sure the feeling was mutual)… I mean, come on, living out of a van with four people is anything but easy.” At the same time, though, she shares the ultimate reward of her trip: “The most important thing I learned, though, on a personal level, was that Montana was it for me. It’s solidified itself as my true love. As soon as I got back home to Pennsylvania, I went to work on making my next move a permanent one.”
She Explores also digs into what got these ladies on the road in the first place. For example, Kate Jackson shares in her interview that she took off on a solo travel adventure after reading Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: “I’d never backpacked and I didn’t have to do quite as hard a reset on life as she did, but the need for a drastic change through adventure was incredibly inspiring.” Kate found herself bored with her Brooklyn life, so she decided that instead of taking a more “traditional” route to finding a new city, she’d hit the road and figure it out firsthand.
While the site skews toward van life, stories of ladies traveling by other means are peppered in too, like the story of Kate McBain, who is traveling the high seas with her beau. She and Matt met on a fluke when she took a cooking gig for him during a 10-day stop-over in Rhode Island. In Kate’s words, as soon as Matt clued her in to his plans to sail to Australia, “Needless to say, I was on board.”
If you think the stories on She Explores are only about single, un-settled-down youngin’s, think again. One of the most unique and inspiring stories is of Emily and her family, who make up Our Open Road. What started as a family road trip in 2012 has morphed into a life on the road for Emily, Adam and company: “When I was pregnant with Colette, Adam was working on a project that would have put us in India and Nepal for six plus months. When that fell through, we knew the time had come for us to plan our own grand voyage.”
The site also shares the some of the most beautiful and unique artwork you’ve ever seen courtesy of (yep, you guessed it) ladies on the road. In addition to massive travel inspo, you can also decorate your abode with pretty things that help these lovely ladies stay on the road. Check out the artistry section of the site and browse everything from these glorious illustrations by Abigail Gibson to handmade quilts by Laura Preston.
So the next time you’re bored at work or having a lazy Sunday dreaming of faraway places, She Explores is the place to go — you’re welcome.
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(Photos via Hanna Sadowski, Kate McBain, Our Open Road, Kate Jackson and Abigail Gibson/She Explores)
