About

Hello. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Zehra Wamiq.I grew up in Karachi after my mother migrated to Pakistan, where she met and married my father. Growing up in Karachi in the 1980s from a middle-class background, I had little exposure to travel outside the city bounds. Even though my parents were curious and passionate about traveling vacation was a luxury we could not afford, and the farthest we traveled was to my father’s village in southern Punjab when I was a child. I never imagined I would see the green shores of remote islands in Malaysia or the swirling lights of the Eiffel Tower—but that did not mean I did not dream.

As a teenager, my family and I embarked on a road trip in Pakistan. Starting in Karachi, the largest and southernmost city, through the quaint villages and small towns of Sindh, crossing the plains of Punjab, trekking the hills of the capital city of Islamabad, and feasting on Chapli Kababs in Peshawar, that trip took us to the most remote corners of the beautiful country. We drove through big, crowded cities and small dusty towns and crossed empty, vast deserts and blistering hot rocky terrain. Most importantly, we met people from all backgrounds who were strangers to me until then. The hospitality and love we received from many left a deep impression on me. I remember once we were staying at a family friend’s home in a tiny village in Sindh. When we tried to leave after a couple of days to get back on the road, we could not leave the house because their neighbor, a stranger, insisted on hosting us for a day to share the blessing of guests. After we relented and moved to their home for a day, we were treated as royalty. They prepared the beds with their best bedding, slaughtered a chicken from their meager stock to prepare a feast, and stuffed us with food and affection. Even after so many years, my heart fills with love and gratitude for the generosity of friends and the kindness of strangers we experienced. The lessons I learned, and the insights I gained from that trip sowed the seeds of wanderlust deep in my soul. These types of connected travel experiences inspired me to incorporate such hospitality and local understanding for those who travel with me on our tours.

I made my first international journey to the United States when I was twenty years old. This was not a vacation but a permanent move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to join my husband, who was specializing in medicine. Alone and isolated in a new environment, we both worked hard and struggled to build a life. I was bewildered and often lonely in a society that seemed indifferent to me and whose social roles seemed separate and removed from my aspirations. As a dependent on my husband’s J1 visa, a training visa for physicians, I was not allowed to hold a job or go to school. It took me years to learn and understand the norms of my new life. I put my dreams on hold to support my husband’s career pursuit, adopting his dreams as mine.

In his essay, Mark Manson describes the four stages of life: Mimicry, Self-Discovery, Commitment, and Legacy. “In Stage One, we learn to fit in with the people and culture around us. Stage Two is about learning what makes us different from the people and culture around us. Stage Two requires us to begin making decisions for ourselves, to test ourselves, and to understand ourselves and what makes us unique. Stage Two is a process of self-discovery. We try things. Some of them go well. Some of them don’t. The goal is to stick with the ones that go well and move on. Stage Three is all about maximizing your potential in this life. It’s all about building your legacy. … The goal of Stage Four then becomes not to create a legacy as much as simply making sure that legacy lasts beyond one’s death.” My life skipped the second stage of self-discovery and landed on commitment: commitment to have a family, raise children, and build a home. I am not alone; many women who share my background agree. However, the desire for self-discovery persisted, buried deep in my heart.

Always supportive, my husband encouraged my endeavors to discover my strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and goals. I worked in a Montessori school, studied interior design, and volunteered with non-profits. All that time, I knew there was more to life than staying in one place. From our small suburban home in Pennsylvania, I dreamed about seeing the rest of the world. For the first time in my life, I finally had the chance to make it happen on a trip to London, England, with my husband and three children. By the time I was in my 30s, I had traveled with my family to Turkey, Spain, Malaysia, France, Britain, Switzerland, and many other places that inspired my wanderlust. Initially, I planned the trips as family vacations with my husband, who shared my love of traveling, but gradually, those trips proved to be much more than mere vacations from ‘regular’ life. My travels influenced my outlook on life. I began to understand that traveling is more than just a pleasant vacation or a trip because you have nothing better to do. Traveling is transformative, changing how you think and feel about the world. When people travel, they become informed, engaged, and responsible citizens of the world. They overcome the limits of their own bubble and connect with people who look and speak differently from them. Traveling reveals our humanity by forcing us to confront the humanity in others.

In April 2011, I traveled to Saudi Arabia for a spiritual retreat with a group of people. The two-week journey helped not only with my spirituality but also enabled me to make a positive impact in my community. After September 11, 2001, suspicion and distrust of Islam and Muslims affected our daily lives in the United States, which brought the realization that living in a comfortable immigrant bubble was not an option anymore. In middle school, my daughter encountered hate and bigotry for her faith and race, prompting me to step out of my comfort zone and be proactive in countering the hate against my community. I worked with a woman I met at the retreat who helped me start a Speakers Bureau to educate about American Muslims and their faith, intending to build bridges between different groups and dismantle hate and prejudice. The work bolstered my belief that people have to connect with each other regardless of differences to find the shared values of humanity. 

During the same pilgrimage to Mecca, unbeknownst to me, a blood clot had formed somewhere in my body and traveled up to my lungs. Even in acute pain, I prayed at the Prophet’s Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, and finished my trip. The sharp pain in my chest did not subside even after arriving back in the USA, where I was admitted to the ICU. Doctors discovered a few clots in my lungs—a condition known as pulmonary embolism, which could be fatal! I was treated for pulmonary embolism and ensuing asthma for months. This brush with death caused me to realize how fleeting life is, and renewed my sense of urgency to live a life full of experiences and adventures.

The second journey that helped me push physical, societal, and mental boundaries occurred two years later in 2013, when my husband and I decided to scale the highest peak in Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro. The training and arduous climb challenged me in ways I had never been before. The long, exhausting hikes while carrying daypacks, the high altitude making each breath excruciating, and above all, the daily grind of using the bathroom tent, which was essentially a bucket with a wood plank cut in the shape of a toilet. And I was the only woman in a group of five climbers and twenty-two porters. Nevertheless, I persisted! The successful climb further evolved my perspective on life. I was grateful to have the courage to dream of climbing a mountain, astounded by the strength needed to train my body to achieve seemingly impossible goals, and amazed by the power of the mind to push beyond limits to accomplish wondrous feats. My greatest achievement was not scaling the summit at 19,500 feet but breaking the mental barriers of what I thought were my limits. If I can do this, I can do anything!

My travels caused a ripple effect of inspiration and empowerment among the women around me. This is precisely what inspired the creation of HER Palanquin. Many women, especially those of South Asian descent, often lack the means, confidence, support, or knowledge to pursue travel. I aim to change that narrative and build a community of female adventure seekers. Traveling is transformative, changing the way one thinks and feels about the world. When people travel, they become informed, engaged, and responsible citizens of the world. When women travel, they overcome the limits placed on them by themselves, their families, and society. Traveling reveals inner strength and fosters self-confidence.

Thank you for reading my story. I am excited for you to join me on my tours, where you'll see the value of pushing your boundaries and experience a transformation that will positively change your life.