014. Adventures Fill Our Lives with Stories to Tell

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, I was wondering what, what [: 00:01:00

What, why, where did this start? And I was like, Hmm, this sounds like a wonderful podcast episode. Because I guess it's something that I kind of take for granted in the sense that I've always, always loved to travel. And so it really was a beautiful self reflection question. Thank you, Nicole, for asking me.

Because I have never really sat back and thought, Hmm, I wonder where this passion for travel has come from. Hmm. Hmm. And a lot of people that I speak to and that I interview on the podcast, a lot of them say they haven't really gotten into travel until their 20s, maybe even their 30s. It was post college.

The origin story of this all [: 00:02:00

He was born in Ohio. They moved down to Florida. His dad, my grandfather, moved around a lot for work. He worked for IBM. And I remember hearing stories of my dad telling me about how they would pack up their car. There was nine kids. They would pack up their car and head to different world fairs around big cities back, back in those days.

traveling around and on his [: 00:03:00

And so it's something that I've always taken for granted in my day to day life. It's something that I've, I guess, always taken for granted that we've been able to travel as a family, which I know is such a state of privilege to be in, but I don't really remember any super extravagant overseas trips growing up.

We didn't go to Europe often. We didn't go to, you know, Central or South America often. It was typically traveling around the U. S. It's a lot of trips around Florida. Of course growing up we went to Orlando and Disney because we were only a few hours away from there. But also my dad's biggest client at the time growing up was Royal Caribbean.

sometimes bash on cruises as [: 00:04:00

And so I remember at a young age being on cruises, we would go down to the Caribbean a lot. We went to Mexico. And Yeah, I guess there's just this like theme of adventure and travel growing up. I would always hear stories and like I mentioned before, stories of my uncle's traveling, stories of my grandparents taking my dad and his, and his siblings around, but also stories of my parents as an adult, they studied abroad in London and college and I just would hear stories of them.

You know, taking camper vans around Europe and sleeping on people's lawns and getting into all sorts of trouble. And so, I think there's just so much power in hearing these stories of the adventures that your parents went on. Even though I wasn't born yet, I wasn't even being thought about yet.

But, I remember growing [: 00:05:00

And this really reminds me of Growing up, again, I would hear stories of my grandma, after my grandparents had gotten divorced, I believe this is either in the late 70s or 80s, my grandma would go on a big international sister trip with her sister, who had been recently widowed. And they would go all over the world together, by themselves, without Google Maps, without Facebook groups, without Yelp, without TripAdvisor, [00:06:00] and they went to the Amazon, they went to Egypt, they went to Bethlehem, they went all over the world, and my grandma every place that she went, she was a devout Catholic.

She would pick up a Madonna, a little statue of a Madonna, and then bring it back home with her. That was her souvenir. And I remember going into my grandma's house and the first thing you see is this big hutch of Madonnas from all over the world. So I was really curious about that growing up, and I actually got a tape recorder when I was about 7, and I asked her if I could interview her.

ng myself because out of all [: 00:07:00

And again, it doesn't have to be something super, a super big overseas trip, but even just hearing stories of your parents having an adventurous, curious spirit, I think helps instill that in your kids. And I think that's really where this, this passion, this thirst, this drive to see the world started from.

I guess you could also say that I was obsessed with Mary Kate and Ashley movies, probably because of the adventurous side of the movies that they had. So we'd watch Passport to Paris, we'd watch Our Lips Are Sealed, Holiday in the Sun. And so I like to say that I can blame my parents for setting me up for a life of travel because they let me watch so much Mary Kate and Ashley.

eunions would always be, you [: 00:08:00

I'm not sure if that's the politically correct way of saying things anymore, but that's what it was called back then. It was run by the YMCA, and you would join groups or tribes of other fathers and daughters, and you'd all go camping. You'd go twice a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. You'd start when you were five, I believe, and you'd get an arrow when you start, and then When you graduate 8th grade or around 12 or 13 years old, you then break your arrow, which is symbolizing you are the point of the arrow and your dad are the feathers on the back guiding you.

h my dad. And so. Thank you. [: 00:09:00

We would leave in a pair of shirt and shorts and our hair in French braids and we would come back two days later in those same shirt and shorts and our hair in the same French braids. And it was just some of the most magical weekends of my life. Some of the happiest moments of my life. Really a time when you got to just get really steeped in nature.

m. As a young kid, the older [: 00:10:00

And it was just like stories that just my dad and me and my sister could tell to each other for the rest of our lives. And there's just these traditions and these things that we looked forward to as a family as we went and traveled. And so I think back to joining these groups of, let's say, joining Indian Princess or even going to a cruise.

I was always the kid that was excited to go to kids clubs. I would never was, I mean, maybe my parents might. I might say this is different, but I don't remember ever being sad to go to a kid's club. I was stoked. Like, I wanted to go meet new friends. I wanted to meet new friends from different states, from different countries.

anger, they're just a friend [: 00:11:00

So, this kind of leads into the story of me going to D. C. by myself. And so, when I was 12 years old, when I was in 7th grade, I was invited to join this leadership. Summit, I guess you could say, of, with, that invited a bunch of other 12 year olds from around the country to join this Leadership Summit in D.

C., and of course it was like fully organized and supervised, but we were in hotel rooms, and we were in D. C., and we would do different excursions around D. C., different museums. We went to different sites, historical sites around D. C., and then we were also grouped up with different people from around the country, and we were presented a problem that we had present to different members of Congress our solution as seventh graders.

d said, look, you can go. We [: 00:12:00

You need to figure out how to pay for this. So, you bet that I was out there knocking on every door, washing every car, walking every dog, selling every friendship bracelet that I possibly could. And I had to basically show my dad a presentation, like a PowerPoint presentation. If you don't know, he's in sales, so you can kind of understand where this is going.

fornia and I'm from Southern [: 00:13:00

We're from the complete opposite ends of the country and we can become really, really good friends. I'm still Facebook friends with some of these people. And again, it just kind of like leans into this. Like I've always fallen in love with potential. I've always fallen in love with possibility, the potential of meeting new people, the possibility of a new adventure or.

a new opportunity, what could unfold in a new city. You could fall in love, just falling in love not just with a person but falling in love with a place. I've left my heart in so many different places even at such an early age and that's kind of what continues to drive me to see more and more of the world.

And so taking it back a little bit of a step I guess, I remember I was like five or six and I don't really remember how the conversation of a bucket list It started in our family, but I hand wrote a bucket list at the age of five or six years old with like six, seven, maybe, maybe 10. I think it was like 10 places around the world that I wanted to go to.

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I wanted to go see it. And the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, Our Lips Are Sealed, definitely sealed the deal on that one for me for wanting to go. But, this. Concepts, this theme of travel kind of worked our way all the way through my life. And yes, we are very lucky and fortunate to be able to travel mainly just domestically.

years old and we went to [: 00:15:00

You know when you just like walk off the plane or get out of your car somewhere new and you just feel it in your heart that you've been there before or you're supposed to be there. And I remember we spent two weeks driving through the country. We had it. An amazing tour guide who would just stop on the side of the road and point binoculars and be like, that's a sloth, that's a toucan, that's a monkey, do you see that green frog?

And he would just show us everything and I was just so enamored with the natural life in Costa Rica, the friendliness of the people. That was the trip that I set in my head, like I'm going to do anything it takes to become fluent in Spanish in some aspect of my life. I became. Obsessed with the culture, with the language, we went down to Playa Hermosa for the Billabong World Championship and that really sparked my interest for surfing.

like, my first official surf [: 00:16:00

And, Two years later at my summer of my, after my freshman year, I got an opportunity to study Spanish in an immersive program with a host family in Costa Rica. And I spent a whole summer there. And I could go on and on about the stories of living, living in a small town outside of San Jose and Costa Rica.

But again, it's just this, this potential of being able to fall in love with new people, leaving your heart with people around the world. It almost feels a little bit of like a heartbreak every time you leave somewhere because for me, I love steeping myself in the cultures. I love immersing myself.

being able to really immerse [: 00:17:00

What would it cost to buy a place here? Because I just have this romanticized tendency in me of just wanting to be in the culture not just take a picture not just Just, you know, do the excursion. I want to like soak myself into the culture and the rhythm of life in these places. I just, I think in a long, long story short, that's just kind of how my passion for travel began has been woven into the fabric of my life since a very young age.

And even when we weren't traveling, I was hearing stories of travel. And I think it's where my love of talking to other people and hearing their stories and all the adventures that they go on. I get so lit up. Someone the other day told me, you know, I'm, I'm not really liking living in South Florida anymore.

a Rica. You should go to Sri [: 00:18:00

I've never really been averse to risk. I've never really been averse to trying something new. Yeah, I get, maybe I'm a little too spontaneous. That's also where I might get it from my parents as well. I'll talk about that in a little bit. But I'm, I am a little spontaneous where if you've listened to episode one where I talk about meeting my husband in Ireland, you'll get the gist of where that , what, what that story's all about, but.

I say yes to things and then of course I get that natural little bit of that snapback like, oh wait, what did I just do? Is this the right decision? But I always err on the side of excitement. Maybe not always. That might be a strong sentence. But for the most part, I am more so leaning towards the side of excitement than I am fear.

tion, Mark Bredner. He said, [: 00:19:00

There's someone new that you've never spoken to before. I've had some of the most transformative conversations in my entire life with a stranger having dinner in Vienna, with a stranger getting a cup of coffee. I had a life changing conversation with a stranger in line at the airport coming home from Greece in completely different stages of life than each other.

else has to know about that. [: 00:20:00

And I use my curiosity as my compass through my life. And so if I'm believing that people are inherently good, and I'm curious about the world and other people, it opens up more doors than you could possibly imagine. It opens up more levels to yourself than you can possibly imagine. And I think it's truly about being a like a forever student of life, and forever being open to the lessons that the world has to teach you.

And so I mentioned about my parents and being spontaneous. And so I guess you could say I get part of this like, yep, let's do it. Yes, let's go. Yep. Let's go to Costa Rica. Yep. Let's move to Australia. Yep. Let's teach English in Thailand. And not really thinking like too far along ahead of that. This might be more recent.

ing to Norway on Tuesday or, [: 00:21:00

Oh yeah. Okay. When are you leaving? Yeah. She's we've decided today and we're leaving tomorrow. Like, it's just this sense of, Always being open to the adventure. That's something that I admire so much about my parents, and it's definitely something that they've instilled in us. And so going back to, the stories that have been told my whole life, even when I didn't know what an airplane was, even when I didn't know what a passport was, or whatever, the hurdles that it takes sometimes to travel, I have been embedded in me.

Not just the stories of my grandma, the stories of my parents before I was born, but then as I'm old enough, like when I'm 7 or 8, then I'm hearing stories of when I traveled when I was 2 or 3 or 4, and I don't quite remember it, but my parents do, and they're telling me their stories of watching the world unfold for me.

telling me their stories of [: 00:22:00

They're not going to remember it. It's so expensive. It's a waste of time to travel with kids. It's too hard. It's too challenging. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I turn around and say, who cares if they remember it? Because you're going to remember it and you can show them photo books and you can tell them stories.

o start of the Thai new year.[: 00:23:00

Like it's a whole water day festival. And we got to the page of the Songkran page in the book. And Leila looks and says, Mommy and Daddy were there. Because she's seen a video of me and Sam squirting water guns in Phuket. That's how powerful it is to be able to have stories in your life to tell.

Again, it doesn't have to be a massive international adventure, but do something outside of your comfort zone. Have an adventure so that you have stories to tell yourself, you have stories to tell your kids, because that instills the values. Kids learn through stories, they remember through stories, they remember even more through photos and videos.

Take the chance to be able to build that sense of adventure, that sense of curiosity within your own kids because even though they might not remember it, you'll be able to tell the stories for years and years and years to come. I still don't tire of hearing stories of my parents adventures through Europe in the 80s.

the most valuable gifts I've [: 00:24:00

And so I really think about This question of when did you become so passionate about travel? Why is it such a big part of your life? Why are you dedicating such a huge chunk of your time sharing stories?

And it's not just that it's a part of my personality or a part of my identity, it's what brings me bliss. It's what literally lights me up inside. Travel is not as easy as it used to be, post pandemic for sure, with kids definitely. But just because something is challenging or hard doesn't make it bad.

it, and you remember it more.[: 00:25:00

Don't be afraid of going to with like just the logistics of it and the overwhelm and will they have diapers and all the things or if you don't have kids even if you're overwhelmed with planning a trip to Asia or overwhelmed about planning a trip to the next state. Just remember that these challenges and the discomfort of leaning into something that you don't know is well worth it in the long run.

It's going to make your life feel like you have these adventures. To fill your life. You have these adventures to tell the story of your life.

Since that encounter in Costa Rica with my family, I went back to Costa Rica and studied abroad.

r all those details. I moved [: 00:26:00

Like we've been all over the place. And it's not to be like bragging about where we've been. It's to say that this world is so open for you. Even just going to a different cafe down the street, even just going to a different park or a different beach, we get so caught up even about like, well, shoot, where am I going to park at this new beach?

Should, is it even worth it for me to go? Oh, there's a new park down the road, but I don't know if there's any shade. I don't know if I should go. Like we get so worked up about these details that it, it inhibits us from feeling the fullness and the richness and the depth of life. So I really encourage you to.

Take a little adventure this week. Fill your life with stories to tell through stepping outside of your comfort zone. Allow this sense of curiosity to be woven into the tapestry of your life so that you can be open to the world.

ah, so it really comes as no [: 00:27:00

personal development. Then also be able to merge our absolute passion for travel as well as our expertise in logistics and planning and itineraries and be really being able to hold space for groups in this capacity and we've been able to merge this into our business of Rising Nature Retreats.

ravel. We all know what that [: 00:28:00

We don't want that for you. We want you to feel rejuvenated and refreshed and seeing the world with new eyes and new perspective and feeling right. Like you're thriving after your trip. So we include daily yoga and meditation. We include breath work. There's sound healing. There's different personal development workshops every day.

There's a theme for you to work with and work through. And at the same time of this beautiful. wellness and healing environment that we're in, we're getting really steeped in nature. We pick places that are close to nature and that have a really thriving relationship with nature. We pick. Adventure excursions and cultural excursions so that you really get to feel like you're immersed in the culture that you visit.

ure, the pace, the rhythm of [: 00:29:00

And so I just absolutely love that I've been able to build my career in this way so that travel is a large component of my work and I know Chloe feels the same way. We both feel really ignited and, and alive when we're traveling and something that makes it even tenfold is when we're able to. I think it's really important that for other people and open the world up for other people who might have been overwhelmed to travel alone, didn't want to deal with the logistics, who want to go to Thailand but didn't want to do it by themselves, and being able to do it in such a It's really important.

ay from a retreat, I feel it [: 00:30:00

And so I just feel like I'm in a place where I'm feeling really aligned with my work, with my family, with my passions and being able to bring a lot of that along for the ride. Being able to bring my family along for the ride for a lot of our retreats feels really, yeah, just really aligned and really lit up to be able to do this work that I do.

And so with Rising Nature Retreats, I'm also hosting this podcast to be able to bring even more travel and more inspiration to as many people as we possibly can and I'm just really grateful that you've been along for the ride for the past few months We are steadily growing and if you could share this podcast with anyone that you think might be interested in and hearing an episode It's the best way that we can grow.

your friends some love, send [: 00:31:00

So, yeah, that's my story. Thanks, Nicole, for asking me what got me so passionate about travel. I hope this gives a little bit of background into me and who I am as a person, and if there are any stories in there that you want more info on, I can do more deep dive solo episodes. But if you have any questions about me or my story, I'm going to be sharing a lot more personal travel stories from going to different countries and the different challenges and mishaps and fun and adventure that we've had.

And this is your reminder to keep on exploring.

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