Taking some time off from a tech job in Chicago earlier this year to contemplate a career move, Shannon Elarton signed up to visit Tanzania in May with AdventureWomen, a women-only tour company, on a hunch that she might gain some perspective from her fellow travelers.

She was also, she said, “craving something deeper than you would get in a basic tour,” and got it one day when the company owner, Judi Wineland, introduced the group to 12 women from a local Masai community. Through interpreters, the assembled talked for over two hours about subjects ranging from female genital mutilation in Africa to divorce in the United States.

“By the time it was finished, it was the biggest gift for me,” she said. “At the end of the day we all want the same things: to have work, to provide for our family, to have a family.”

Traveling to experience such personal connections and search one’s soul isn’t limited to women, of course. But a rise in the number of women-only trips, both from new companies and established ones, suggests women are keen to wander well beyond resorts touting girlfriend getaway packages and mother-daughter spa retreats.