Earlier this year, Mazoon Al Zadjali, Ruaa Al Suwaid and Ghadeer Al Mawali, gave shape to their shared passion for travelling by conceptualising a travel company that exhorts travel aficionados to ‘expect the unexpected’.
They pooled their passion for travel, adventure and fun to create Beyond Borders Oman (BBO), a venture that encourages both domestic and international travel, while campaigning for women’s empowerment and pursuing its main objective of adventure travel spiced with fun and exploration.
As a travel company dedicated to tailoring and implementing a wide range of travel and adventure packages for women and for families, BBO is fast finding its niche in the itinerant fold of the community. In the following interview, the team talks about their shared passion for travel and adventure, their expertise in creating interesting travel/adventure packages and their quest to reach out to all wannabe travellers.
How did it all start?
We ourselves have a lot of fun exploring areas in Oman and around the world, so we wanted BBO to be a platform to share this experience and bring women together: to empower, challenge, and encourage them to try new things and get out of their comfort zone and explore the world.
What is the focus of BBO?
Our focus is mainly to cater to women of various age groups – be it students or young adults. We offer national and international packages that are open to all women. The purpose of these packages is to encourage women to socialise, network, challenge each other, explore the hidden gems of Oman, and experience the outer world.
Although we are mainly targeting women, we also have customised packages for families and their friends, which are tailored to meet the needs and wants of our customers. Additionally, we provide international travel packages.
Why is travel such an important activity?
Students and employees work hard during the week. We believe that travel is one of the best ways to reduce stress, break the daily routine, relax, re-energize and have fun. BBO also gives women the chance to discover their capabilities, to meet other locals and other travellers from around the world; to learn about the diverse cultures, appreciate different styles of living, heritage and experience their local food. We try to make sure that our customers have an experience of a lifetime and help create unforgettable memories for them.
What are the adventure packages and options that you have on offer?
When selecting a travel destination, we look for destinations with rich history, spectacular views and beautiful landscape and scenery. We also look for adventure and thrill, all the while making it affordable with very competitive prices. We also look for places where our customers can discover new cultures, tribes, traditions and heritage and also taste new types of food, taking into consideration our slogan ‘Expect the Unexpected’.
What has been BBO’s best travel experience so far?
BBO, as a project, only started in 2018; however, we have been regularly organising trips and adventures for friends and family since 2013.
Our best travel experience so far was to Sri Lanka; it it was filled with adventure and activities. Not to mention that we had women from all over GCC join us on our trip, which was great exposure for us, personally. Furthermore, we put a lot of effort in organising the trip from the onset, so the entire experience felt like a breeze. Sri Lanka has great heritage and history; our guests got to experience different types of local street foods such as Kottu roti and Rambutan.
The trip was a success and we received a lot of positive feedback from our customers. We hope that we will have the chance to do even better in the future.
Is travel an expensive pursuit?
While it is true that travelling incurs a lot of expenses, there are plenty of destinations that are more affordable than people think. We aim for every package we create, be it locally or internationally, to not only be fun and educational, but, more importantly, affordable for our clientele.
How do you encourage your followers to make their travel dreams come true?
How do you encourage your followers to make their travel dreams come true? We encourage locals and foreigners alike to join our excursion trips in Oman. We offer beach activities throughout the year to Daymaniyat and Bandar Khairan. We also provide hiking and trekking in mountains, as well as desert and wadi trips.
Our tip to our followers is to save for our coming trips, and follow us on our Instagram account @beyondbordersoman for the latest updates on our upcoming International excursions.
