It was a Sunday evening in Rio when I saw their faces for the first time. The 2nd ever Packs Light travel Grant trip commenced with a vibrant energy and much anticipation filling the air. Three ambitious women of color were selected for the Packs Light’s Solo Not Solo Travel Grant.

• Andrea D., 24, California
• Anaya V., 27, Texas
• Mmachukwu O., 19, Tennessee

Learn more about each awardee here.

The grant was established with the mission to dip their toes into the transformative world of solo female travel via a “semi-solo” group trip to Carnival hosted by the grant’s generous sponsor, Intrepid Travel. They were joined by myself, grant host and travel influencer Gabby Beckford, and my team, which included Packs Light’s Operations Manager, Taylor Inglut, and photographer Eileen Salvador.

The three grant awardees arrived in Brazil never having met anyone else on the trip before—including me! Each arrived with different levels of travel experience, their own hopes and preconceptions, and fears and anxieties to conquer.

There are too many stand-out moments to recount, both from Carnival and our awardees' personal transformations, but here are our favorites:

• Staying meters away from the famous Copacabana boardwalk and walking every morning and evening
• Not just attending but dancing in Carnival’s Sambadrom parade, the world's most famous display of Rio Carnival!
• Learning about the favelas from our Intrepid tour leader who was brought up in them and found his way out through the tourism industry
• A food tour of Rio's most delicious local dishes in Lapa

To softer, personal moments including…

• Anaya’s sharing of how her military upbringing influenced her love for travel
• Mmachukwu connecting her Nigerian roots with Carnival’s rich African ancestry.
• Andrea’s growing confidence in her ability to solo travel and navigate the world

Dive deeper into this once into this once in a lifetime travel grant and our young awardees Carnival experience at the Packs Light YouTube channel.