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Hi I'm Rachel Sales. I'm the co-founder and editor of Pink Pangea.
Pink Pangea is the community for women travelers.
One summer, I decided to book a ticket to the Ukraine in order to put my Russian speaking
skills from the classroom to use.
So I booked my ticket, booked my hostel, even got a money belt, and I just decided to go.
I got to the Ukraine and I was in Kiev and all of a sudden, everybody said no no, you
need to go to Odessa.
I said okay, fine. I'll go to Odessa.
I checked my travel guide; it said that it was fairly easy to get to.
I figured I'd taken an overnight train.
I was about to book my ticket when all of a sudden, I was like:
Wait a second. I'm a woman traveler. I'm 21.
So I turned to the locals and the tourists and I asked them if it would be safe to travel
overnight on a train to the Ukraine.
I really got a ton of conflicting information.
So of course I turned to my trusted travel guide, and I looked for information specifically
for women travelers.
Instead of giving information about transportation, stuff that actually might be useful,
It said don't forget your tampons, your birth control.
Don't go places at night. Or be careful at night.
Nothing that I actually needed for traveling in the Ukraine specifically.
So I decided better safe than sorry, and I didn't get on the train.
And it was too bad because when's the next time I'm going to be in the Ukraine.
I felt frustrated because I didn't have the woman-specific information I needed to have
the most fulfilling travel experience in the Ukraine.
After college, I got a job in the travel industry, of course.
I had a fantastic co-worker there named Jaclyn Mishal.
And we joked that we should create a guide for women about how to deal with Israeli men.
And just drove home the point that women truly need country-specific information for their
travels.
I went over to Jaclyn and I said we need to do something about this.
Out of that Pink Pangea was born.
The main goal is to create a community where women can share their travel advice with each
other and help make the world safer and more accessible place for each other.
We want them to be sharing country specific information.
For example: wardrobe concerns abroad, dealing with health concerns abroad, dating issues.
The things that women really need to safe and fulfilling travel around the world.