I Trade Marriage Counseling For Camel Rides: Why Adventure Travel Heals Divorce Trauma Better Than Therapy
The best relationship therapy sometimes happens on a camel under the stars.
Zakaria HANIF | Pexels At 34, I found myself starting over after ending a decade-long marriage that had slowly eroded my sense of self. Like many women navigating divorce, I initially turned to traditional therapy, seeking answers in the controlled environment of a counselor's office.
Don't get me wrong — I'm not saying skip therapy. Getting professional help was crucial for me, and nothing replaces working with a licensed therapist. But my biggest breakthrough came from something I never expected: traveling.
When you get divorced, every part of your life feels marked by what you've lost—the cold, empty side of the bed, the couples' dinner parties you're no longer invited to, the phantom pain of future dreams suddenly amputated. But standing in the ruins of my marriage in 2017, I discovered unexpected clarity: if my life's map had been erased, I would draw a new one that stretched across continents.
The world, I decided, would become my compass for rebuilding.
I trade marriage counseling for camel rides: Why adventure travel heals divorce trauma better than therapy
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It wasn't the obvious choice. Most of my friends were settled into relationships or juggling young families. Most newly single and childfree people at that age were scrambling to re-partner as quickly as possible to make up for the lost time in a failed relationship. Solo travel as a woman in her late thirties wasn't exactly standard post-divorce advice. But I needed something different from just talking in circles about my problems.
Craving more than just escape in 2021, I embarked on three transformative journeys — to the vibrant streets of Colombia, the pulsing heart of Mexico City, and the ancient crossroads of Turkey. Each destination challenged me to face my fears head-on. The weight of divorce begins to lift when you're stumbling through conversations in broken Arabic, deciphering Turkish street signs in Istanbul's winding alleys, or witnessing the quiet resilience of locals who face daily struggles that dwarf your own heartbreak. Their grace in navigating life with far less became my greatest teacher.
While traditional therapy kept me tethered to a therapist's couch dissecting my past, travel thrust me into the present moment.
There's no time to replay the demise of your marriage when you're haggling in a bustling market or trying to determine if you've accidentally ordered tripe soup instead of chicken. The real world has a way of demanding your full attention, leaving little room for old wounds to fester.
In each new country, I shed another layer of self-doubt. Colombia found me submerged in the healing mud of an inactive volcano — an impromptu spa day that left both my skin glowing and my spirit lighter. Mexico City lifted me quite literally above my past as I soared in a hot air balloon over Teotihuacán's pyramids, their ancient shadows stretching across the valley in the golden dawn light.
In the otherworldly landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey, I slept in a room carved from volcanic rock, waking each day to the sight of hundreds of rainbow-colored balloons painting the rose-gold morning sky. Somewhere between the mud baths and cave hotels, I stopped introducing myself as "recently divorced" and started telling stories about the grasshopper tacos I recently ate in Mexico instead.
The best part about travel isn't just the distraction (though trust me, it's hard to obsess over your ex when you're trying to order a coffee in Turkish). It's that every small win builds you back up.
Every time you successfully navigate a metro system or make a new friend in an unlikely city, you remember who you are — and who you’re becoming — beyond your failed marriage.
This realization hit me so hard that in 2021, I did something crazy: I traded my safe, well-worn path of 14 years in higher education for the uncharted territory of entrepreneurship. I launched my own travel company, and now I guide fellow wanderers — many of them women navigating their own crossroads — through transformative adventures. I've watched them arrive with fear and anxiety in their eyes and leave standing taller with newfound confidence, their phones buzzing with messages from newly acquired friends who understand exactly what it means to rebuild a life one passport stamp at a time.
What makes travel better than sitting in a therapist's office? You have to be fully present. You can't just nod along and think about healing - you're too busy fumbling with how to convert USD to Moroccan dirhams or gathering the courage to point at that sizzling street cart and say "One of those, please." Each unfamiliar taste, each conversation in broken English, each sunrise over a new horizon screams the same truth: your divorce is just one chapter in a much bigger story. And you're already writing the next one.
The connections you make while traveling aren't forced. There's something about sharing a long bus ride or getting lost in a new city together that creates real friendships fast. Generally, everyone starts out as strangers on my trip, but by the end, we’re sharing tagine in Morocco or dancing salsa and playing dominoes in the Cuban countryside like old friends.
I could have let my divorce define me and my future. But what started as an escape from an unhealthy relationship evolved into an unexpected rebirth.
While my marriage ended, my world simultaneously expanded — first through passport stamps and chasing waterfalls in foreign countries, and then by reimagining my entire career and subsequently, my life.
Nowadays, I guide others toward the same revelation I stumbled upon: healing doesn't always happen in an office chair. Sometimes it happens when you're sampling spices in a Moroccan souk, watching the sun rise over ancient ruins, or sharing stories with strangers who are soon to become lifelong friends. Because let's face it — "that one time I camped under the stars in the Sahara Desert" makes for a much better story than "I found myself in therapy." The secret to thriving after divorce? Do both.
Laura Ericson is the founder of Laura Ericson Group Trips, where she leads curated group trips for solo travelers seeking authentic cultural experiences and personal transformation through travel.
