Celebrating 28 years in 2010, AdventureWomen, Inc. is the  oldest worldwide adventuretravel company for active women over 30. The company offers small, congenial, non-smoking group adventure vacations for all ability levels, catering to women traveling solo, or with sisters, mothers, daughters, and friends. AdventureWomen's trips are carefully researched and designed, and combine the best in women's travel with safety and comfort, luxury and adventure. The company encourages women to follow their passions for action, personal challenge, or well-deserved R&R, and to rediscover their fun-loving, confident selves.

When women travel with AdventureWomen Inc., they discover what owner Susan Eckert learned on some of her own first expeditions: the exhilaration of achievement as one stretches themself beyond their boundaries, the deep spiritual enrichment that occurs when one encounters diverse cultures and wildlife for the first time, the joy of camaraderie and spontaneous laughter as one learns new things about themself, their companions, and the world.

AdventureWomen's heritage, pioneering adventure travel trips designed especially for women travelers, began in 1982 in Chicago, Illinois. Fresh out of graduate school and a three-year stint in the Peace Corps, Susan Eckert (left) took her life savings and launched AdventureWomen when the adventure travel industry was still in its infancy. Targeting women over 30, Susan thought it was high time women benefit from the same travel opportunities as men who seemed to be having all the fun hunting, fishing and golfing with their “buddies.”

AdventureWomen has grown from offering a few trips a year—where Susan functioned as program director, cook, guide, dishwasher, driver and financier—to almost 20 adventures which span the globe. Based out of her log house in Bozeman, Montana’s Bridger Mountains, AdventureWomen has inspired a loyalty among its clients which is truly remarkable.

Over the years, AdventureWomen has received a number of awards and industry recognition for the company’s success, and has been featured in numerous general interest, travel, and women’s publications, magazine and newspaper articles, and travel books, including Travel + Leisure, Harper's Bazaar, Martha Stewart Living, USA Today, National Geographic Adventurer, The New York Times, NBC's Today Show, Frommer's Travel Guide, and Self, to name just a few.

Having been in business since 1982, Susan Eckert knows everything about her clients from how they want to travel, to what is important to them personally on each adventure vacation. She takes care in planning all of the details of each adventure vacation to create an unforgettable travel experience for each Adventure Woman.

Susan knows that many women have never traveled by themselves, which is why she tries to make it as simple as possible. All it takes to plan an AdventureWomen, Inc. holiday is a telephone call or email, and in some cases, an additional call to the company's air agent to book flights. Susan Eckert researches and travels to each destination, and meets face-to-face with her suppliers, guides and outfitters. Guests can be assured that each trip runs as smoothly as possible, barring weather or unforeseen circumstances out of her control.

AdventureWomen, Inc. offers exciting adventures for different ability levels throughout the year. There are exciting domestic and international journeys that are planned for 2010. Click here for a full list of AdventureWomen itineraries for 2010.

While AdventureWomen’s clients are primarily baby boomers (the average age is 55), the company's client base includes women between 30 and 75, and the occasional amazing octogenarian.

AdventureWomen are very satisfied with their lives and are successful in their current jobs or situations. They are single, married or divorced and are often mothers with between one and three children. These women are confident about how they look and feel and make an effort to stay in good physical condition. AdventureWomen are adventurous and like to meet new people or challenge themselves by learning a new skill or activity. These women want to take a vacation that is out of the ordinary, venture out on their own, unfettered by the responsibilities of work and family, and be physically active. They are not intimidated by a changing world or challenging circumstances in their own lives. In fact, the more exotic and adventurous a trip sounds, the faster they sign up!

AdventureWomen come from all over the country and the world. While most guests are traveling alone, some for the first time, many also share the experience with friends, mothers, daughters, or sisters. More than 70% of AdventureWomen clients are repeat customers.

Each talented, special guide and associate working with AdventureWomen is carefully chosen by Susan Eckert for their expertise in the area or country where the company's trips are offered. Most guides have more than 15 years of professional experience, and some have worked with Susan for over 20 years. They live in or speak the language of the countries, states or locales where they are guides, and know the culture intimately. They set the tone on every trip, are always prepared to take care of clients and their needs, and are trained in wilderness first aid and CPR. All are chosen for their good-natured personalities and excellent group skills.

In addition to outfitting and running their own specialized adventure vacations, AdventureWomen has built strong relationships with professional outfitters around the world. However, if a trip is not directly outfitted by AdventureWomen, guests will always be accompanied by a guide, associate, or escort from the company.

AdventureWomen's goal is to provide guests with adventure travel opportunities that are fun and safe. Vacation packages are designed with the first-time traveler in mind, but they are also exciting enough to thrill the most seasoned solo woman traveler.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle is something AdventureWomen believes strongly in. The company encourages women to stay active as they age, to create challenges and goals for themselves, and to be open to learning, both spiritually and culturally, during their travels, all the while confirming or rediscovering their fun-loving and confident selves. In 1995, AdventureWomen became the first adventure travel company to go 100% “non-smoking.”

Influenced by her years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa, Susan Eckert believes it is healthy to give back to the people of another culture who have welcomed travelers into their homes and hearts. In recent years, the company has added a humanitarian focus to many of their trips. These adventures (what she calls "humanitours") have an emphasis on giving back.

The company has offered trips in Vietnam and Bhutan that are “cultural and humanitarian” adventures—opportunities to give back to people in other cultures. In addition to hiking, cultural exploration, and sightseeing, special humanitarian projects are sensitively integrated into each trip. In Bhutan, AdventureWomen groups donated warm blankets and jackets to an isolated Buddhist nunnery, sponsored a special prayer ceremony at a remote temple, and donated children’s books to elementary schools. In Vietnam, participants donated a cow to help a Vietnamese family till their rice fields, and a boat to a newlywed Vietnamese couple so they could take their vegetables to market.