Gen Z Speaks: How social isolation and loneliness led me to start a travel company that brings people together

I would never have guessed two years ago that I would one day be the founder of a travel company that does social adventures, in spite of a pandemic that had decimated global travel.
Like many of my Generation Z peers, Covid-19 has turned my university experience upside down.
I was a second-year undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University when the world went into lockdown, with what was once supposed to be the highlight of my youth turning into a socially isolating one.
Instead of being a part of a raucous community of university students who could hang out after lessons, online classes and Zoom hangouts became the new norm. 
It was also a challenging time for my mental health. Without any physical connection to my friends, I was spending a good part of my time alone. 
The pandemic made me realise how much I had taken simple things like group dinners and school-wide activities for granted.
But as borders reopened, I was fortunate enough to be one of the first students to go for a semester abroad for an undergraduate study programme at Denmark Technical University.
So, I spent half a year in Copenhagen and my time overseas was transformative. I found myself immersed in a vibrant student community, where I got to learn with peers from all around the world. 
During my exchange, I travelled extensively and went on a ski trip to the French alps with 50 other students from Singapore. 
It was incredibly easy to connect with them as we had a lot in common. 
In particular, there were a few of us who were in the field of software engineering, and we quickly bonded over our interests. These connections lasted beyond the trip as we still meet up to work and eat together every now and then, more than a year later. 
The experience was a revelation: I experienced firsthand how an adventure could turn strangers into friends, and how it could expand our horizons in unimaginable ways.
The semester abroad was undoubtedly a highlight of my university life, as I experienced personal growth, developed meaningful friendships, and discovered the joy of being part of a like-minded community.
As I returned home to complete my last semester at university, I realised that upon becoming a working adult, I could lose such social experiences with large groups of like-minded peers. 
School would be the final opportunity for that, and my window of opportunity was shorter than most thanks to Covid-19, I thought to myself.
Of course, one might argue that working life can be social too, but I believe it won’t be able to provide the experiences that school life offered me.
The transition from schooling to the working world often comes with a shift in priorities and a lack of structured social experiences. 
Once we leave the familiar environment of school, there are no more classes or school clubs that give us the platform to meet and connect with other peers. 
I’ve read much about how it can be difficult for working adults to maintain existing connections, much less find the opportunity to make new friends.
When I entered the corporate world as a software engineer, I experienced another sense of deja vu from those pandemic years as my company was working remotely.
I wanted to meet new people and expand my network, but there were few meaningful ways to do so. 
Each day, I would wake up, log on to my computer, and go about my work day without a single face-to-face interaction. Most events and gatherings are short-lived, and the connections made there are often superficial and fleeting. 
My working days were pretty mundane and time seemed to slip away without anything memorable happening. I was reluctant to accept the reality that this would be my life for the next 50 years.
So, I turned to TikTok and started posting videos asking people to ski in the French Alps with me. I made sure to use a catchy title and that was the birth of The Great Singapore Ski Trip.
Soon after, sign-ups were pouring into the Google Form, which I used to gather interest in my ad hoc vacation idea. 
This overwhelming response from fellow Gen Zs and millennials in Singapore confirmed my suspicion: there was a strong appetite for social adventures. 
I realised that I was not the only one who had been feeling this way when we transition from being a student into our working lives. 
Many fellow Gen Zs and millennials want to expand their social network in an authentic and fun way. And what better way to meet new friends through travel, a pastime many young Singaporeans already love.
Thus, the idea for Sotravel, a community-focused travel platform, was born.
Nevertheless, starting the company came with its fair share of challenges. To obtain a travel agent licence from the Singapore Tourism Board, I needed S$100,000 of paid-up capital.
This was a daunting sum of money for a fresh graduate like myself. I pooled my savings and there was still a significant shortfall. 
For a time, I contemplated giving up and shelving the idea. But I pressed on in the end, knowing that I would be letting down the community if I were to do that. 
Knowing that there was great financial risk, I decided to borrow the remaining capital from friends and family who believed in the idea.
It was an incredibly daunting process to ask people around me for money, but it would be a huge regret if I did not try. 
I am grateful and privileged to have such supportive family and friends, and knowing that they had backed me up when I needed to kickstart my business idea drives me to work even harder to build something they would be proud of.
I also roped in two of my friends to become partners when I realised that this entrepreneurship journey would not be possible alone. 
The three of us were already friends thanks to a couchsurfing trip during our exchange, and despite our different backgrounds, we shared the same belief that our idea could work.
As Sotravel began to gain traction among travellers, we faced logistical obstacles as organising large group trips is a complex task.
But with every challenge we overcame, our determination to make Sotravel a success grew stronger.
Over time, we have become deliberate in how we designed our trips. 
We only host trips that are activity-based, because we understood that most Gen Zs and millennials do not want to sit on a tour bus shuttling them around monuments.
We concentrated on creating travel experiences that were more fun with larger groups, such as skiing, outdoor climbing and trekking.
More importantly, our itineraries were designed to break the ice, foster friendships, and create unforgettable memories. 
Because everyone on the trip would already have a common interest in the activity they are doing, that common ground helps build a sense of community.
In the coming month, Sotravel would have brought over 130 travellers to ski, surf and climb all around the world. I never expected a simple TikTok video to evolve into a platform like this.
Looking back, I’m reminded of the importance of connection, the power of shared experiences, and the magic of travel.
In a world where genuine connections can be hard to come by, I am grateful to be building a community that offers an opportunity for people to rediscover the joy of togetherness.
As American novelist Anais Nin wrote: “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Larry Lee, 25, is the founder of Sotravel, a social adventure travel company