They’re Still at It! O.A.T.’s Traveling Sistas

It’s been a while since we caught up with O.A.T.’s favorite group of traveling “sistas”—and as you’ll see below, they’ve been busy! Do you travel with friends you met on an O.A.T. adventure? Share your story in an email to [email protected].

By Arlene Wong, 14-time traveler from Oracle, AZ

Whether traveling with my husband, Mark, or the ever-growing band of “sistas”, travel fuels our daily lives and continues to expand us in every way, helping us shift our perspective and break out of a routine. Travel challenges our brains and has positively changed the way we all interact with the world and those around us.

The original sistas—myself and Karen Thews—met on O.A.T.’s Safari Serengeti in 2016, two years after Karen’s husband, Eric, had passed away. She was supposed to take this trip with him but instead brought her two adult children along. During that trip Mark and I met Karen and her boys, and we immediately formed a special bond. Ever since, we’ve been traveling together on various O.A.T. trips all over the world and are chosen family. 

Mark, Karen, and I have enjoyed such trips as O.A.T.’s The Baltic Capitals, Ultimate Africa: Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe Safari (the first time), Egypt & the Eternal Nile by Private, Classic River-Yacht, and Kenya & Tanzania Safari: Masai Mara to the Serengeti. In 2023, Mark started to sit out certain trips that weren’t of particular interest, and I sometimes became a solo traveler. Over the next few years Karen and I did Heart of India—including the Nepal: Kathmandu & Pokhara post-trip extension—and in 2024, Ultimate Africa (for the second time) and it was during those trips our growing traveling band of sistas took hold—which by then already included Karen’s sister-in-law, Jean Thews, who is also a solo traveler.

In 2025 a small group of us sistas enjoyed O.A.T.’s Morocco Sahara Odyssey, and on that trip we met Lisa Eddy who was traveling solo and, like me, sometimes travels with her husband and sometimes not. On that trip another sista, Deb Chinn, also joined us, and then joined Mark, Karen, and me as we enjoyed O.A.T.’s Turkey’s Magical Hideaways including the pre-trip to Azerbaijan. According to Karen, “The love, laughter and learning are precious to me. Some of my happiest moments are when I travel with O.A.T. and my sistas. Even though they live on the other side of the country I feel like I am with my family when we travel together.”

We found Turkey fascinating, occupying a unique geographic position partly in Asia and partly in Europe. One of the exciting highlights was gently gliding over Cappadocia with 100+ other hot air balloons and spending time on a gulet (small boat) sailing the Mediterranean. We also loved Azerbaijan—a beautiful and peaceful country whose people are proud of its tolerance.

Traveling sistas Karen and Jean, who are also sisters-in-law, went on O.A.T.’s Nepal and Bhutan trip last November and had a fabulous time hiking in the Himalayas, learning about the Buddhist way of life, and also enjoyed white water rafting among other things. During this trip they met Kathi Foreman, who had recently lost her husband. Since Karen had also lost her husband eleven years ago, she was able to relate to Kathi’s situation as she had walked the same path. They created a new sisterhood bond and vowed to travel again together.

According to Kathi (who had lost her husband of 46 years), she booked this solo trip in hopes of bringing some healing powers of the Himalayas back into her life. Karen invited her to join us on our O.A.T. trip to South Africa and Namibia (Karen also did the post trip to Madagascar) and during the trip the three of us formed a special friendship and appreciation of each other. Kathi and Karen will again travel together on O.A.T.’s China trip next year. According to Kathi, “The wonderful thing about aging and travel is recognizing when a truly heartfelt connection to others comes along, and O.A.T. and the traveling sistas have become that to me.”

Earlier in the year when Karen, Kathi, and I were in Namibia, we also traveled with a band of happy travelers through the country in 4x4’s for two weeks and were exposed to its multilingual culture, ancient indigenous traditions, pastoral lifestyles, a complex colonial history, and more. The country is visually stunning and rugged, and we were all challenged by climbing some of the sand dunes. The trip started in Cape Town and I’d been there before, but I could return countless times without feeling I sufficiently visited this area. There is just so much to appreciate, enjoy, learn, and marvel at. Karen also did the Madagascar post trip and marveled at all the different lemurs she encountered.

The sistas continue to be on the road with O.A.T.—Jean and Karen are soon traveling to Rwanda with the pre-trip to Tanzania in August and are excited to see the silverback gorillas in Rwanda firsthand and revisit the magnificent wildlife of the Serengeti in Tanzania. According to Jean, “Our relationships grow and the excitement of traveling together grows along with them.”

Arlene, Karen, Jean, Lisa (and her husband) and a friend of mine, Micaela Gibson (who like me and Lisa sometimes travels with her husband and sometimes not) is also joining the sistas as a solo traveler for O.A.T.’s South Korea and Japan trip during April, 2027. And later in 2027, Karen and Kathi will be on O.A.T.’s China’s Imperial Cities trip.

We don’t just travel to see new places—we travel to see them together. When you have travel sistas, the next adventure isn’t far away.

Whether you travel with old friends or new ones you haven’t met yet, you’ll bond over shared experiences from cities to the desert during Morocco Sahara Odyssey.