Travelling, done right, is one of life’s great joys, and in my experience, peak travel often means exploring the world with your girlfriends. It’s genuinely hard to put into words, but a few days away with your best girls has this magical way of sending you home feeling physically restored, spiritually nourished, and mentally clear in a way that little else can replicate.

If you had asked me five years ago whether I’d travel to another country purely to work out and eat with people from my CrossFit gym, I probably would have taken a moment to decide. Yet, fast forward to January 2025, and that was exactly how I chose to kick off my year. A hobby-led trip built around good food, belly-ache laughter, real connection, and challenging workouts we all loved. And honestly? It turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself.

Reclaiming “Me” Beyond Motherhood

Bangkok street food: (Left) Women standing around a fresh fruit juice stall; (Right) A close-up of a local Thai street snack.
For a few days, I wasn’t the “default travel planner” or the one cutting up kid-friendly meals. I was just a woman on a street corner, choosing a sweet snack and a fresh juice simply because I wanted to.

Most of my travel looks the same: logistics for little ones, compromises with a partner, itineraries often built around everyone else’s needs, and I truly do love those trips. Watching my kids experience somewhere new for the first time, sharing a meal with my partner in a city we had never been to, are irreplaceable moments.

But if I’m being honest, there had been a part of me that had been craving something different for a while. A trip that was entirely mine. No bedtimes being factored into reservations, and no scanning menus for kid-friendly meals. Just me, making every single decision based on what I actually wanted. Whether it’s where to go, what to eat, or how long to queue in line, because with kids, you can never wait in line too long.

Travelling with my girlfriends wasn’t a break from my life but instead a reminder of who I am inside it. There’s a version of you that only shows up when you’re not being someone’s mum, someone’s partner or someone’s default travel planner. She’s usually still in there but just needs a passport and the right group chat to make it happen.

From Gym Buddies To Actual Buddies

Friends in Bangkok: (Left) A group of women seated at a high table outside a cafe; (Right) The same group of friends dressed up for dinner at a restaurant.
We transitioned from “the 5:15 pm gym crew” to actual friends. There is something about navigating a foreign city together—switching from sweaty gym gear to our favourite dinner outfits—that fast-tracks intimacy like nothing else.

Before this trip, we were JUST the 5:15 pm group. We shared a rack, cheered each other through workouts and did so genuinely, and exchanged the mandatory sweaty CrossFit fist bumps. We knew each other, but in that specific, gym-floor kind of way. Surface-deep in the best sense, but surface-deep nonetheless.

What we didn’t know was how each other really laughed when something went wrong. How we handled the chaos of an unfamiliar city, whether we were the kind of people who needed a plan or thrived without one. Or what we looked like when we were tired, full, and completely at ease.

Travel has a way of fast-tracking intimacy that years of regular life simply can’t. You learn more about a person in 72 hours of navigating a foreign city together than you might in years of side-by-side workouts. The little things really reveal everything, and it’s simply delightful.

Somewhere between the food stalls and our early morning workouts, something shifted in our group. We stopped being people who worked out together and became people who actually knew each other. For someone who thrives on connection, it was no small thing—it was everything.

Why Shared Passions Make the Best Itineraries

A group of women seated inside Raan Jay Fai restaurant in Bangkok; (Right) A portrait of Michelin-starred street food chef Jai Fai (Supinya Junsuta).
Waiting for the legendary Jay Fai was a lesson in shared purpose. Watching a Michelin-starred master at work in her 70s was just as satisfying as finally sharing that famous crab omelette together.

Let me be clear about something: I love my family deeply, and I would do absolutely anything for them. But eating out with a five-year-old and eating out with women who are just as serious about food as you are—are two entirely different experiences, and both deserve to exist in my life. This is what I concluded after my trip with the girls to Bangkok.

With my girlfriends, it was a full, enthusiastic yes to everything, and there was no negotiating over the menu. What a breath of fresh air. No “maybe somewhere a bit less spicy?”, no cutting up anyone’s food mid-conversation. Just a collective commitment to eating as well as humanly possible for the entire trip.

And then our Jay Fai experience. We half-ran through Bangkok traffic, sweaty, laughing, slightly feral, to make it to her Michelin-starred stall in time. We queued—actually stood in line, in the heat, without complaint, without anyone asking how much longer—because we all understood that what was waiting at the end was worth every minute.

The crab omelette alone could bring me to tears thinking about it now, but honestly, looking back, it wasn’t just about the food. It was the getting there together and sharing that experience as a group. The rushing, laughing, and “oh my god, we’re actually doing this” of it all. These aren’t just meals, but moments that you relive every time you’re all together for years afterwards.

Friendship Beyond The Barbell

(Left) A plate of Phat kaphrao (holy basil stir-fry), a classic Bangkok meal; (Right) An overhead shot of various shared Thai desserts and modern takes on traditional sweets.
Beyond the barbell, our friendship was forged over plates of spicy phat kaphrao and a table full of modern Thai desserts. Sharing these local favourites was where the “gym talk” stopped and the real, deep conversations began.

The gym often only shows you one very specific dimension of a person. You see their grit, their competitiveness, how they respond when things get hard, whether they show up on the days it would be very easy not to. And if you think about it, that’s actually a lot, and it’s why gym friendships often feel so solid even when they’re new.

But travelling together fills the deeper gap.

On this trip, I learned how my friends decompress after a long day, what genuinely lights them up when there’s no agenda, and how far they’re willing to go to try the best mango sticky rice in Bangkok. The answer? Pretty far. How they take their coffee, whether they’re morning people or night people, what they’re like when they’ve eaten well and laughed a lot and have nowhere they need to be.

There is no performance when you’re sweaty and full and slightly lost in a new city together, and it’s the best setting to learn about each other. When travelling together, the version of yourself at the gym can soften, and along the way, real connections are forged.

I came home from this trip feeling like I had really gotten to know these women better. Not just as training partners, but as this whole group of interesting people. And for that, I’d cross borders and lose sleep over it anytime!

Finding Community in Global CrossFit Boxes

A group of female friends posing for a photo inside CrossFit Arena after a workout; (Right) Women smiling and patting a golden retriever in a Bangkok establishment.
We found a universal language at CrossFit Arena—the same grit, just a different rhythm. And because no “unhurried” trip is complete without a local connection, we made sure to stop for some puppy therapy along the way.

There is a very particular joy in walking into a CrossFit box in another country and instantly gravitating toward the board, the barbell, the pre-WOD mix of dread and excitement that never really goes away, no matter how long you’ve been doing this. The language of it is universal. And then everything else is completely new.

There’s the different coaching cues, a different rhythm to the warm-up and definitely different energy in the room; the way this community pushes each other, celebrates one another and repeatedly suffers together.

It’s the same sport we all love, but a completely different experience, and getting to discover that alongside people you already train with is something I didn’t know I needed until I had it.

We debriefed over lunch like the nerds we are, comparing notes on locker rooms and coaching styles and “did you notice how they did their warm-ups?” We got to be beginners together in a space where we’re usually familiar, and it’s both humbling and exciting.

It’s one thing to travel together, but it’s an entirely different experience to train together somewhere new. To share that specific hobby-led cocktail of discomfort and exhilaration and then carry that memory back to your regular 5:15 pm class like a private joke that only you all understand (you can’t sit with us!)? It’s priceless, and every woman deserves a trip like this at least once.

Not instead of the family holidays or the couples’ getaways but alongside them, as something entirely her own. If someone asked me today whether I’d do it again, I wouldn’t even hesitate. In fact, we’re already booking the next trip!

All photos are by, and courtesy of, the writer, Emma Mallaburn.