Five travellers aged 25 to 30 recently came back from a group trip around Sri Lanka with a shared conclusion: the best travel experiences happen when you stop hedging and commit. Intrepid Travel calls it the 'All In' mindset, and their stories show what that looks like in practice rather than in a marketing deck.
Take Zach Bostrovas, a 25-year-old brewer from Melbourne. His standout moment wasn't a famous landmark but Colombo's night market on the very first evening — the heat, the smells, even a sudden blackout that sent the street into chaos. Later, at Hiriketiya beach on the south coast, he shared waves with local surfers despite not sharing a language. Sara Wu, a 27-year-old investment banker from New York, applied the same idea to her own nerves: not a strong swimmer, she signed up for surfing anyway and rode her first wave, with the instructor calling her one of his fastest learners. Her other highlight was a home-cooked meal with a local family in Kandy, learning traditional Sri Lankan dishes.
The trip also showed how much a good local leader changes the dynamic. Georgia Airoll, 29, cabin crew from Cheshire, credits Bachi — the group's Sri Lankan guide — with removing the usual logistics stress while leaving plenty of downtime. That included a spontaneous evening in Hiriketiya where the group ended up in the sea fully clothed at sunset, and a beach board-game session with local surfers. Melissa Godbold, 30, a music industry worker from Melbourne, says a 5am hike in Dambulla and the view over Sigiriya (Lion Rock) pushed her toward more adventurous choices on future trips. Photographer Alimba Pausigere, 29, said the group bonded almost instantly and that having a local leader helped him slow down and actually observe his surroundings.
The common thread across all five: phones down, experiences up. Several of them noted that Sri Lanka forced a break from the scroll — meals shared with strangers, waves, board games and night markets don't translate well to a camera roll anyway.
Why it matters for your next trip: if you're in your twenties or early thirties and group travel sounds like the clichéd coach-tour version, this is a different model. Small groups, a local leader who handles the planning, and itineraries built around participation — cooking in someone's home, surfing with locals, dawn hikes — rather than tick-box sightseeing. It's a useful template even if you travel independently: say yes before you have time to talk yourself out of it, let locals lead where possible, and measure the trip in moments you couldn't photograph, not the ones you did.