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
Follow Us On Instagram
Spots for our @bookedtrips Kenya and Zanzibar experience open TOMORROW!
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?
Don`t forget to add traveling to South Africa on your New Year`s resolution list 🇿🇦
Join us April 16-26, 2026 in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa for a trip inspired by Trevor Noah`s book "Born A Crime"
🛌🏿Single occupancy 4-star hotel rooms throughout the trip
📚 Learn about South Africa`s literary scene with a book crawl that takes you from Johannesburg`s underground book economy, to used bookstores, and independent bookstores in Cape Town.
🐘Encounter the Big 5 on a two-game drive safari in an open top 4×4 vehicle in Pilanesberg National Park.
🐧See penguins on Boulder`s beach and enjoy unparalled scenery in Cape Peninsula
🥂Enjoy included tastings at THREE award-winning Black-owned wineries.
🥣Delicious meals including a welcome dinner and book discussion, a pan-African storytelling dinner, a South African braai, and a 14-dish spice experience AND MORE!
💲Payment plans available!
More trip info at our link in bio and www.bookedtrips.con
Have you ever closed a book and wished you could experience the story in real life? That`s what BOOKED Trips is.
We`re more than a travel company. We take small groups of women from the pages of some of our favorite books to the places they`re set in.
We bring book lovers together for book-inspired experiences where each day of our itineraries is inspired by a quote from our selected book.
In a world that demands so much of women, a BOOKED Trip is an intentional pause. It is a space to reflect, connect, and immerse yourself in a new culture and community that restores rather than demands. You don`t have to carry anything here but your luggage and a book.
Swipe through to learn more about us and see our 2026 trip lineup.
Travel with us at www.bookedtrips.com
2025 Recap!
BOOKED Trips curates small-group journeys that transport book lovers from the page to the place. This year, we brought together a global sisterhood of women—ages 25 to 70—to explore 5 countries through the lens of literature.
📍 South Africa | Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
We traced Trevor’s childhood steps in Soweto and gave back to the Little Rose Center, a shelter and youth center in one of the poorest areas in Soweto. From private readings with poet Zama Madinana, to visiting the hometown of the two Nobel winners and meeting activist Antoinette Sithole, we bridged the gap between history and the present. We capped it off with a Pilanesberg safari, sunset champagne cruise at the V&A Waterfront, and a Cape Town braai.
📍 Panama | The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez
In Panama we started our trip with an opening dinner and book discussion at La Tapa del Coco led by chef and Founder Isaac Villaverde whose mission is to preserve the Afro-Panamanian culinary heritage and culture. We had a woman-led coffee and cooking class, had a leisurely day on a catamaran exploring the mangroves of Venas Azules, experiences Afro-Panamanian culture firsthand in Colon, and visited the Panama Canal.
📍 Ghana | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
A true "welcome home." We started with traditional drummers and a private book discussion at Chef Ruby’s home. We designed adinkra batik fabrics, recreated traditional Ghanaian dishes, walked the waters of the Assin Manso River where our ancestors took their last baths before being sold into slavery, and received our Ghanaian names in a traditional naming ceremony in Cape Coast.
📍 Morocco | Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
We learned calligraphy in the gardens of Jnane Rumi, ate our way through the backstreets of Marrakesh and shopped in souks and co-ops. We sandboarded in the Sahara and visited Maya, a woman-owned eco-farm inspired by Maya Angelou outside of Fez.
📍 Colombia | Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Our year ended with a visit to the first free Black town in the Americas, a reading retreat on the shores of Baru Beach, and a food tour that connected every bite of local cuisine to Gabo’s prose.
