One morning in June, I opened my email to find an itinerary for a trip — a “transformational journey,” rather — that would begin that very day. I quickly packed a bag and caught a last-minute flight from Berlin, where I live, to Lisbon.

By the time I landed, I’d received another email, this one containing a bulleted list of questions: “What’s your ‘story’ about who you are, where you are from, what you do? Are you being the Victim or Creator of your life? Hint,” the email continued, “the best way to go from Victim to Creator is to ask yourself the very questions I asked in my previous email: ‘What do I want?’ and ‘What do I need to do now to get it?’”

The emails were from my “travel mentor,” Michael Bennett, co-founder of Explorer X, a Seattle-based agency that creates custom trips designed to provide a “life-changing travel experience.” Explorer X is part of a growing group of companies specializing in what’s known as transformational travel. If experiential travel signifies engaging meaningfully with the people, history, environment and culture of a destination (like a local, not a tourist), then transformational travel is supposedly the next step: Engage so meaningfully, the trip actually changes you.

This can mean extreme adventure travel, as with companies like Britain-based Pelorus, which offers heli-skiing guided by retired military on active volcanoes in Kamchatka, and immersions with indigenous cultures in Angola and Papua New Guinea. Or it can mean wellness-inflected, small-group trips aimed at building fellowship, as with a slew of female-focused companies like WHOA Travel, which connects its groups with local women to “create experiences and friendships that will change the way you view the world and yourself forever.” There is often a sustainability or public service angle. A newer iteration doubles down on the element of surprise. Black Tomato , a New York- and London-based agency, recently debuted a “Get Lost” service, which drops travelers into remote destinations, requiring them to find their way out (tag line: “You need to get lost to find yourself”).