Take a book-inspired journey with BOOKED Trips
Immersive experiences that take travelers from the page to the place
Why BOOKED Trips?
BOOKED Trips are all about storytelling and authentic connection
BOOKED Trips connect curious and community-minded women through storytelling. Our book-inspired travel experiences take our travelers from the page to the place exploring cities around the world. As an immersive, small group travel company we attract women who are looking for more than just a vacation. Unlike traditional travel companies, we offer one-of-a-kind experiences that bring stories to life. This facilitates deep connections, unforgettable experiences, and a sense of belonging.
Your Next Storybook Adventures
Johannesburg & Cape Town South Africa
The Experience
April 16-26, 2026
11 Days & 10 Nights
Join us on an unforgettable 11-day, 10-night adventure in Johannesburg and Cape Town inspired by Trevor Noah’s book “Born A Crime.” Go beyond the typical tourist path, focusing on the rich history, culture, and ingenuity of Black South Africans.
SPOTS OPEN UNTIL FEB 16, 2026.
Nairobi, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania
by Troy Onyango
The Experience
August 5-16, 2026
Join us for an exciting 12-day, 11-night journey through Nairobi, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania inspired by Kenyan writer Troy Onyango’s short story collection “For What Are Butterflies Without Their Wings.“
SPOTS OPEN JAN. 16, 2026
Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, and Hoi An Vietnam
by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
The Experience
October 8-19, 2026
12 Days & 11 Nights
More details to come.
SPOTS OPEN MAR 27, 2026
What Make a BOOKED Trips Experience
Travel centered around a story
Prior to each trip our travelers receive a BOOKED box with our selected book, a curated playlist, and items from small businesses around the world that connect to the book and the country we’re visiting. On the ground our trip activities and meals are inspired by our selected book, taking travelers from the page to the place.
Travel solo, but not alone
Our literary adventures combine the freedom of solo travel and the joy of being part of a small group of book enthusiasts. With no more than 12 spots per journey, we’re able to dive into rare experiences that large crowds miss. When the day’s adventure ends, your private room is your haven to reflect and recharge.
Your trip, your way
Tailor your travel experience to fit your unique style. We infuse each trip with time for you to unwind, explore, or simply breathe in new cultures at your leisure. You can choose to do it all or pick and choose what speaks to you.
Support marginalized entrepreneurs
Our experiences are crafted to benefit the communities we explore. We partner with diverse local experts and contribute to the local economy by visiting local restaurants, using local drivers and tour operators, and supporting local small businesses
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Travel Through Books Guide: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
We have a lot of new people so I thought I`d reintroduce myself. I’m Jalisa and I’m the Founder of BOOKED Trips. When I’m not planning public book-inspired trips, I love to do my own mini trips with books by authors from the places I’m visiting. I recently traveled to Brazil (my 50th country!) and I wanted to share some of my recs.
📚 WHAT TO READ:
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junio is a great story of family inheritances & Black Brazilians reclaiming their land and self-sovereignty. Deep in Brazil’s neglected Bahia hinterland, two sisters find an ancient knife beneath their grandmother’s bed and, momentarily mystified by its power, decide to taste its metal. The shuddering violence that follows marks their lives and binds them together forever. I was shook from the first chapter and loved the ancestral revenge plot of the end.
Solitaria by Eliana Alves Cruz highlights how the unequal distribution of wealth and the legacies of colonial violence continue to play out on the large and small scale in modern day Brazil. The book is told through the lens of a maid and her daughter living with and working for a wealthy family when a number of tragedies unfold that push them to a breaking point.
🏖️WHAT TO DO & EAT IN RIO:
✔️ Visit Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, the Portuguese reading room with over 350,000 books!
✔️ Visit @muhcab.rio , a free museum that highlights Afro-Brazilian resistance, quilombos (maroon settlements), and creativity. It has a small but well curated library of books that detail the diasporic Black experience. It was a delight to see all the book covers from familiar to new to me titles. The book cover game in Brazil is A1!
✔️Casa Omolokum, a hybrid bookshop, cafe, and bar specializing in Afro-Brazilian cuisine that that`s homage to the orishas.
✔️ Eat at @yayacomidaria ,inspired by the acarajé stalls that enabled many women to buy their freedom & @ago_bardaencruza inspired by Candomblé
✔️Photo op at Escadaria Selarón, Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf mountain.
👉Let me know your favorite books set in Brazil and things to do in the comments!
SAVE & SHARE: A perfect weekend in Nairobi, Kenya w/ Samantha, Founder of @essenceofkenya and Sharon, luxury travel journalist, cultural curator and Founder of @wpst.travelclub
We chatted with Samantha and Sharon our partners for our upcoming August 5-16, 2026 @bookedtrips Kenya and Zanzibar trip, about the books that inspire them, their perfect weekend in Nairobi, Kenya, & what they`re looking forward to on our trip.
What`s your perfect weekend in Nairobi?
Sharon: A community run in Karura with @WeRunNairobi, Sunset drinks somewhere design-led like @dijo.nairobi. A supperclub at someone’s house who’s a coder/banker/lawyer by day and a self-taught chef by night. Nairobi’s magic lives in its living rooms, not only its landmarks.
Samantha: a morning game of padel to get the energy flowing, followed by a leisurely brunch at @talisman.nairobi . In the afternoon, I’d explore a gallery or join a creative workshop. As the day winds down, I’d enjoy drinks while watching the sun set, before ending the evening with a very indulgent dinner at @cultivakenya (which we`ll be visiting during our trip). Some of Nairobi’s most underrated experiences are those that let you connect with the city in intimate, unexpected ways - like attending a curated supper club or taking a hands-on cooking class.
What books do your recommend?
Dust by @flamboyant_tree, Havoc of Choice by @shirokoinange, Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s essays to understand Kenya’s history, the forces that shape it, and our political and emotional landscape.
What they`re most looking forward to:
Samantha: the opportunity to reveal Nairobi in a way few travellers get to experience. So often, people see the city merely as a stopover en route to other destinations, but Nairobi has its own stories and magic. This partnership allows us to explore its hidden corners and showcase the city as a destination worth lingering in.
Sharon: Telling Kenya and Africa beyond the safari postcard. I’m excited to spotlight contemporary Africa—its thinkers, creatives, homes, rituals, and food. That`s my idea of quiet luxury. The kind of stories you only access when you’re invited in.
UPDATED: Applications for the @bookedtrips Maya Angelou Scholarship are NOW CLOSED.
Inspired by the life and work of the iconic Maya Angelou, this scholarship honors women of color who embody her spirit of exploration, creativity, and social justice.
THREE travelers will receive $5,000 travel scholarships toward the 2026 BOOKED Trips Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa experience.
Applications are open to women of the global majority regardless of geographic location. We have already received 70+ applications from women across the U.S., Canada, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, Indonesia, Germany, Austria, and the UK.
Applicants must be women 21 years of age or older at the time of application. Priority will be given to women who have never traveled with BOOKED Trips and have experienced significant financial hardship in the past year that has prevented them from traveling.
SCHOLARSHIP TIMELINE AND DEADLINES
✔️Scholarship applications are due no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 29, 2026.
✔️Scholarship awardees will be notified by email no later than Monday, February 16, 2026.
Spots for our @bookedtrips Kenya and Zanzibar experience are now open!
Looking to travel with a community of readers? Join us August 5-16, 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania for a trip inspired by "For What are Butterflies Without Their Wings: Short Stories" by Troy Onyango.
Trip highlights:
✔️Single occupancy rooms at 4-star hotels throughout the trip. No sharing rooms!
✔️Welcome dinner and book discussion. Embark on a culinary journey through Kenya with an exclusive 7-course dining experience and book discussion where each course takes you on a flavorful adventure across the diverse landscapes of Kenya.
✔️Experience Nairobi’s energy and literary scene with a matatu tour, library and bookstore crawl, and participation in the African book fair.
✔️Escape the city for a day of nature, spotting hippos, giraffes, and zebras at Lake Naivasha.
✔️Dive into Zanzibar’s culinary scene from a rooftop multi-course dinner with Taarab music to street food, and spice markets.
✔️Set sail for an unforgettable day on the water during a special West Coast Sailing Experience with snorkeling and a sandbank picnic.
✔️Indulge in an exclusive Zanzibar Beauty Experience, featuring a secret garden lunch, a traditional spice scrub, and massage.
✔️Enjoy a reading retreat on the white sand beaches of Nungwi in Zanzibar.
And so much more!
Flexible payment options are available. Secure your spot with a $1,000 deposit.
Fill out the trip interest form in our link in bio and www.bookedtrips.com
Meet Natalie, our new BOOKED Trips Fellow!
We`ve expanded our team and brought on our first BOOKED Trips fellow @natalie.sifuma who will be leading our BOOKED Trips South Africa and Kenya and Zanzibar experiences!
Natalie is a BOOKED Trips alum, proud Kenyan, strategic communications specialist, and climate storyteller with a decade of experience working with global organizations, donors, startups, and consulting firms across the Global Majority.
She is a reader and writer with fiction published in literary magazines including Omenana, The Kalahari Review, and the Equipoise: 2020 Anthology. She`s also an avid traveler who has visited over 25 countries across five continents.
What she`s most looking forward to in this role: "I`m excited to see the places that are familiar to me with new company and to boast my Kenyan hospitality. I`m PanAfrican through and through, so very excited to be part of two BOOKED Trips` experiences on the continent."
Some of her favorite books:
📚The Woman with the Bouquet by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
📚What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
📚Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna
📚Love, Marry, Kill by Zukiswa Wanner
Say hi in the comments and help us welcome Natalie!
Spots for our @bookedtrips Kenya and Zanzibar experience open NEXT WEEK!
We`re excited to be partnering with @essenceofkenya, @officialsharonmachira and @amour_tours_safari for our first TWO COUNTRY book-inspired experience.
Join us August 5-16, 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania for a trip inspired by For What are Butterflies Without Their Wings: Short Stories by Troy Onyango.
Trip highlights:
✔️Single occupancy rooms at 4-star hotels throughout the trip. No sharing rooms!
✔️Welcome dinner and book discussion. Embark on a culinary journey through Kenya with an exclusive 7-course dining experience and book discussion where each course takes you on a flavorful adventure across the diverse landscapes of Kenya.
✔️Experience Nairobi’s energy and literary scene with a matatu tour, library and bookstore crawl, and participation in the African book fair.
✔️Escape the city for a day of nature, spotting hippos, giraffes, and zebras at Lake Naivasha.
✔️Dive into Zanzibar’s culinary scene from a rooftop multi-course dinner with Taarab music to street food, and spice markets.
✔️Set sail for an unforgettable day on the water during a special West Coast Sailing Experience with snorkeling and a sandbank picnic.
✔️Indulge in an exclusive Zanzibar Beauty Experience, featuring a secret garden lunch, a traditional spice scrub, and massage.
✔️Enjoy a reading retreat on the white sand beaches of Nungwi in Zanzibar.
And so much more!
Spots open to the general public on January 16th BUT as newsletter subscribers get early access TODAY! Check your emails. Flexible payment options are available. Secure your spot with a $1,000 deposit.
Link in bio and www.bookedtrips.com
FREE Travel Through Books Guide: Johannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦
📚 WHAT TO READ:
✨Born A Crime by Trevor Noah - a hilarious, informative, and at times heartbreaking memoir of Trevor Noah`s life as a mixed race boy growing up under the long tail of apartheid where his very existence is a crime.
✨Cape Fever by Nadia Davids. A gothic psychological thriller set in 1920s South Africa where a young maid finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its increasingly unhinged owner.
✨Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma a fast-paced thriller that cycles between present day Washington, DC & Johannesburg where a woman is transported back to the formative months she spent as an intern at a Johannesburg law firm attending sessions of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings that uncovered the many horrors and human rights abuses of the Apartheid state. She`s reunited with a person from her past looking for revenge.
WHAT TO DO:
✔️Visit the apartheid museum
✔️Visit Soweto and Vilikazi Street once home to Nelson Mandela & Desmond Tutu.
✔️Go on a bookstore crawl and learn about the first Black run print and the underground book economy, visit the largest bookstore in Southern Africa, and visit some of the best local indie bookstores.
✔️Go on a safari in Pilanesburg or Kruger National Park
✔️Take one of the most beautiful drives in the country to Cape Peninsula passing the beaches of Clifton & Camps Bays, see the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, and get the best views from the lighthouse at Cape Point, the southwestern tip of Africa.
✔️Enjoy award winning wine in the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine regions.
✔️Learn about South African culture from braais (BBQs), to local cuisine, to shweshwe fabric jewelry making.
✔️Enjoy the arts scene from first Thursdays in Johannesburg to the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town.
WHERE TO STAY:
✔️Sanctuary Mandela or Hyde Hotel in Johannesburg
✔️CURIOCITY Kloof Street or Cloud 9 in Cape Town
Experience all this & more during our April 16-26,2026 South Africa trip. www.bookedtrips.com
BOOKED Trips Founder 2025 Reading Recap 📚
Hi all! For those new to the space, my name is Jalisa and I am the Founder of @bookedtrips.
This year I read 83 books and here are my favorite books of the year (slides 2-4) as well as a recap of my year traveling through books (slides 5-7).
I read books from 17 countries this year!
✨A book that absolutely deserved the hype: One Day, Every One Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar Akkad
✨Because I love churchy mess: These Heathens by Mia McKenzie and Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
✨A book that spoke to my Black millennial heart (even though the ending took a turn): The Wilderness by Angela Flourney
✨A book that shifted my thinking: All the Black Girls Are Activists: A Fourth Wave Womanist Pursuit of Dreams as Radical Resistance by EbonyJanice Moore
✨My favorite memoirs of the year: The Legs Are the Last To Go by Diahann Carroll, Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles, Migrations of the Heart: An Autobiography by Marita Golden, Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross
✨Books that had me in a glass case of emotions: Alive at the End of the World by Saaed Jones, Zeal by Morgan Jerkins, Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat, and No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
✨Books that confirmed I am a thriller girl : All The Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby and Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma
✨A book that taught me history I didn’t know: Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper
✨Books about women writers that everyone should read: I Know What The Red Clay Looks Like: The Voice and Vision of Black American Women Writers by Rebecca Carroll and The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture by Courtney Thorsson
✨Uncategorized highly rated reads: On The Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, Skin & Bones by Renee Watson, Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor, The Message by Tanehisi Coates, Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
Do we have any favorite books in common this year?
