We decided to create the Thelma & Louise travel community in 2006 because we believe passionately in the life-enriching value of travel and friendship. In our own lives, we have derived much happiness and fulfilment from various travel experiences – some profound like sailing the high seas of the Atlantic at the helm of a 68 foot yacht; some enlightening as we have experienced the golden sunsets at Ayers Rock in Australia; or some more sedate (and more cosy!) enjoying high tea with close friends at the Ritz in London – and so have many of our 1000s of members that have used the Thelma & Louise site to connect and travel with friends.
We are different to most other travel sites in that we are not an online travel agency trying to sell you travel packages or resources. On the contrary, our approach has been to establish an online and real-world community for our members.
Thelma & Louise is a place where women, friendship and travel come together. Our website connects and provides the tools for women to safely talk, plan, meet, inspire and share their travel and life experiences. Our community is a safe environment in which women can enrich their lives through travel and friendship. Once you have registered you’ll be able to fully utilise Thelma & Louise to get old friends together, make new friends, swap ideas and experiences, find like-minded travel companions and, most importantly, enjoy, discover and have fun!
Our members are a sociable, friendly and adventurous bunch. We’ve had members “trucking” through the US together, pairing up to follow China’s legendary Silk Road and even driving across the Sahara – all after meeting through Thelma & Louise.
Of course, Thelma & Louise is not just about “big” adventures. Many of our members simply use our website to arrange get-togethers in their local cities, towns and villages ... or to simply read interesting travel stories. Thelma & Louise can help you discover, plan and share outings, weekends away, evenings out, house-swaps, wine tastings, a walk in the country - whatever you fancy!
The idea for Thelma & Louise was conceived after our co-founder, Christine Davies, former film director on the BBC Holiday programme, decided to fulfil a life-long ambition to climb Ayers Rock during a trip to Australia to visit her sister. Finding that her husband was reluctant to join her outback adventure - “I don’t do rocks” – was his response, Christine’s sister put her in touch with an Australian friend who was in the middle of a divorce and who also dreamed of sunsets at Ayers Rock. Although they had never met, the two women made a plan via the internet and booked a five-day backpacker's bus trip through the Red Centre of Australia. The adventure was a complete success and lead to Christine and her new friend, nick-naming themselves “Thelma & Louise” after the classic 90’s film of the same name.
On her return, Christine approached her friend of twenty years, Grace Frankel with the idea for Thelma & Louise and the website was launched in 2006. Grace, now retired, ran her own award-winning travel company, IBC Travel, for 28 years and was inspired to join forces with Christine by the growing demand she had seen from her travel clients to organise special tours and events for women.
Christine Davies grew up in the Foreign Office, living as a child in places as diverse as Copenhagen, Rome, Baghdad and Kampala. She joined the BBC in 1976 from Sussex University, and worked as a researcher in the Travel and Exploration Unit; where her experiences ranged from living in the northern rice terraces of the Philippines with headhunters; to observing the samurai rituals of remote Japanese villagers, and uncovering the traffic in child slavery between the Cambodian border of Thailand and the brothels of Bangkok. During three years as film director on the BBC Holiday programme, travelling from Benidorm to Barbados, from Croatia to Cappadocia, Christine gained unique experience in organising teams in transit, and working at speed through interpreters. Christine is a widow with adult twins. She enjoys cinema, Yoga and Pilates. She has run the London Marathon twice and she sailed the Atlantic in 2009 in a yacht race to Brazil.
Grace Frankel was brought up and educated in India. After starting and building up a very successful business with her husband she decided to open her own exclusive travel company which she ran for 28 years. She set this up initially because she could not find the personal quality service she needed for her own extensive travel requirements. Grace's award winning company, IBC Travel, was one of the most experienced operators in the travel industry and in the Top 100 list of agents in the UK. Grace has now retired, but she is still a fount of knowledge on most things to do with travel.
Despite a number of tragic events in her life, including the loss of her two wonderful sons in tragic accidents and a separation from her husband, Grace is an indomitable survivor and a great believer in the power of travel to calm the spirit and the soul and an antidote to the stresses of life. She now has a new partner who is also retired and as a consequence does more travelling than she ever did before, including annual one-week trips with her two lively grandsons, a practice she recommends to all grandmas as a great bonding exercise. Her hobbies are golf, bridge, Sudoku and the theatre, and she loves to cruise particularly, now, river cruising.