About Us
“A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.”
When I was about ten months alcohol free, I discovered a roundtrip airfare to Copenhagen.
Yes, this is something I regularly do. Some people watch the stock market, I watch airfare prices. My time in Copenhagen included jumping on trains going in the wrong direction and spontaneous rainstorms. It also included meeting some incredible humans, visiting my first open flower market and partaking in one of the most beautiful race courses. By the end of the trip I was buzzing. Not because I had run a spectacular race or done anything too extraordinary. There is a feeling you get when you combine a challenge with a new experience. It’s, well, euphoric.
As I sat in the Copenhagen airport, waiting for my flight to depart, I couldn’t help but think how differently the weekend would have looked had alcohol been involved. I also realized I wanted to share experiences like these with other women. There is an unspoken bond you create with people who travel together. It just happens. Shared experiences. Shared memories. Laughter. Tears. There’s nothing quite like it. And so the idea, for creating a company, which allowed women to travel together, without alcohol being part of the equation, was born.
My vision for AFAR was born from the three things I am most passionate about; travel, connection and living an alcohol free life.
I want to change the perception that surrounds living and traveling alcohol free; that it is boring. Quite the opposite. Mornings become magical when you are not nursing a hangover. Instead of feeling deprived, your travel experience will be enriched and far more memorable.
I believe we need to constantly challenge ourselves in order to grow and deepen our relationship with life and others. This means leaning in to the fear that often surrounds change. I believe distance and difference are the secret ingredients. Travel and challenge WILL change you. When you return home your surroundings will be the same but something inside you will have changed. My hope is to be a part of that change with you.
Hi, I’m Margaret. Here’s my story.
Traveling and I seemed to be symbiotic from the get go. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland and moving every few years (my mother had a bit of wanderlust herself) my childhood primed me for a life of travel. Nevertheless, for years my travels would be contained to long weekends and summer vacations. Four young children, a dog, iguana and various other pets along with a self-employed husband are somehow not conducive to any sort of long term traveling.
Although I drank my fair share of beer throughout college it wasn’t until my first sip of chardonnay in my 30’s that I fell in love. Chardonnay and I became overnight best friends. As my kids grew older, my wine glass became my nightly companion. After 10 years of finishing each day with a bit too much wine, I finally awoke to the fact that consciousness is a wonderful gift. I never liked the word alcoholic. Attaching labels to ourselves is not a prerequisite to making changes and creating lasting, sustainable results, in any area of our lives.
Living a life without alcohol has allowed me to redefine my ideas of self worth. It has provided me with clarity and an insatiable appetite to experience all life has to offer. For years I was duped into believing that adulting required a certain amount of alcohol consumption. I now know that is simply not true.
