Episode 97- Becki Rupp, Trailblazer Wellness LLC

Travel

Oct. 5

Travel is important in life because it will open you up to a new way of living and being. Travel is important in life as it will broaden your horizons, take you out of your comfort zone, and allow you to experience all that life has to offer.

The benefit of travel helps us be more aware of cultural and social differences as we immerse ourselves in a different environment with new people and perspectives.

One of the most important benefits of traveling is the opportunity to make friendships and connections with people from all over the world. By traveling, we can see how people around the world live.

While traveling, you will not only learn about new places, but also learn how to communicate with people who live in different parts of the world, who may look and live very differently than you.

Whether you enjoy visiting the same places or exploring new ones, travel inspires the mind. The mental boost you get from adventure travel may be more important than the physical boost.

Physical activity is known to improve mental health, and travel provides ample opportunities for activity. Traveling is a great way to maintain your mental health and thus help make your life happier and more fulfilling.

Christine’s guest today knows firsthand the benefits of travel.

Becki Rupp is a Personal Trainer and Adventure Coach and owner of Trailblazer Wellness. She has hiked, biked, sea kayak and explored over 40 US states as well as several countries in Europe, Central America and South America.

She has guided sea kayaking tours in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina and Virginia, and searched the mountains and forests for missing people in five states as a member of wilderness search and rescue teams. Becki currently lives in the central Colorado mountains.

As a certified Personal Trainer and Adventure Coach, Becki loves to help people get physically and mentally prepared to make the most of their adventure trips. She creates personalized training plans and coaches clients to find the motivation, time and energy to get active so they can make the most of their adventure.

In this conversation, Becki shares how the grind of 60 hour work weeks left her longing for more time to travel and be outdoors. She explains what adventure coaching is and who it's for and how it enriches our travel experience.

No matter the level of adventure. Christine and Becki also share about the unique coaching and travel experiences they created together, how impactful and rewarding those were for the people who participated and how excited they are to create a similar container for growth and exploration in the future.

Join Christine for her soulful conversation with Becki Rupp.

In this episode, Chrsitine and Becki discuss:

How travel & adventure became an important part of Becki’s life
What adventure coaching is, who it's for and how it enriches our travel experience
The role Becki’s grandparents played for her love of travel
Travel experiences both Christine and Becki created together and future adventures
The meaning of community in business and life

Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode

Grab Becki Rupp’s free downloadable guide and sample training plan, Training for a Multi-day Hiking Trip

Learn more about how Becki can help you plan your next travel adventure, head to www.trailblazerwellness.com

Follow Becki Rupp on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

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We’ll explore the wilderness by snowshoe and dog sled, connect with members of the local community to learn about living in this remote environment, enjoy daily yoga practice and vegan meals all while keeping our eye out for the beautiful northern lights that like to show off their magic this time of year.

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WE WON A BESSIE AWARD! The Bessie Awards recognize the achievements of women and gender-diverse people making an impact in the travel industry. To view the complete list of this year’s winners, visit bessieawards.org.

About the Soul Of Travel Podcast

Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of women who are industry professionals and seasoned travelers and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart-centered change makers.

The guests work in all sectors of the tourism industry. You'll hear from adventure-based community organizations, social impact businesses, travel photographers and videographers, tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, and transformational travel experts. They all honor the idea that travel is more than a vacation and focus on sustainable travel, eco-travel, community-based tourism, and intentional travel.

These conversations are meant to educate, inspire and create community. They are directed to new travelers and seasoned travelers, as well as industry professionals and those who are curious about a career in travel.

If you want to learn about new destinations, types of travel, or how to be more intentional or live life on purpose, join Christine Winebrenner Irick for soulful conversations with her community of fellow travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe. These conversations highlight what tourism really means for the world.

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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor.) Becki Rupp (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing and production by Rayna Booth.

Transcript

KEYWORDS

people, travel, adventure, experience, hiking, trip, community, feel, explore, create, coaching, person, world, life, trailblazer, clients, grandparents, thinking, helping, women

Christine Winebrenner Irick 00:08

Thank you for joining me for soulful conversations with my community of fellow travelers, exploring the heart, the mind and the globe. These conversations highlight what travel really means for the world. Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. Each week, I'll be speaking to women who are tourism professionals, world travelers and leaders in their communities will explore how travel has changed them and how that has rippled out and inspired them to change the world. These conversations are as much about travel as they are about passion, and living life with purpose, chasing dreams, building businesses, and having the desire to make the world a better place. This is a community of people who no travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart centered change makers I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick. And this is the Soul of Travel.

Becki Rupp is a Personal Trainer, Adventure Coach and owner of Trailblazer Wellness, she has hiked, biked, sea kayak and explored over 40 US states as well as several countries in Europe, Central America and South America. She has guided sea kayaking tours in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina and Virginia, and searched the mountains and forests for missing people in five states. As a member of wilderness search and rescue teams. She currently lives in the central Colorado mountains.

As a certified Personal Trainer and Adventure Coach Becki loves to help people get physically and mentally prepared to make the most of their adventure trips. She creates personalized training plans and coaches clients to find the motivation, time and energy to get active so they can make the most of their adventure.

In our conversation, Becki shares how the grind of 60 hour work weeks left her longing for more time to travel and be outdoors. She explains what adventure coaching is and who it's for and how it enriches our travel experience. No matter the level of adventure.

We also share about the unique coaching and travel experiences we created together, how impactful and rewarding those were for the people who participated as well as us as the guys and how excited we are to create a similar container for growth and exploration in the future. Join me now for my soulful conversation with Becki Rupp. Welcome to the Soul of Travel.

I am so excited today I get to sit down with a good friend and like the co-creator of adventure. And we've had the good fortune of seeing each other multiple days in a row. So it's kind of weird now to be on Zoom. But I'm so excited to help. Welcome Becki Rupp of Trailblazer Wellness to the podcast. So welcome, Becki!

03:38

Thanks, Christine. Yeah, it's so great to be here. And yeah, this view looks somewhat familiar from being out here. It's got snow on it in this picture. But this is my backyard. So

Christine Winebrenner Irick 03:51

Yeah, so Becki is outside of Salida, Colorado and I finally got to take a mini sojourn and experience the city and the beautiful landscape around me. I definitely have some jealousy because it's really, really ridiculously beautiful. I think they maybe took more than their fair share. Well, Becki, for those of us listening, Becki is a personal trainer and adventure coach and we are going to talk about what adventure coaching is for those of you that might not know and why it's beneficial. But before we do that, I'll just give you a moment to quickly introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and then we'll go a little bit further from there.

04:36

Sure, absolutely. Thanks, Christine. So as he said, I'm a personal trainer and adventure coach and adventure coach is really a made up term but it's sort of more descriptive than my official credentials, which is a health coach. So I'm a certified personal trainer and a certified health coach. But what I really focus on is helping people explore ways that they can and prepare for their adventures both physically and mentally.

So, you know, sometimes when people look at doing some kind of big adventure, they think primarily of the, you know what, you know, how much do I have to hike or walk or bike or whatever to get ready. And that's certainly an important piece of it. But another big part of it is the mental part of preparing for something that you haven't done before, and something that's maybe a little bit of a stretch, stretch goal, or pushing some comfort zones or boundaries. And so that's where the adventure coaching piece comes in. So it's a nice combination to help people set people up for a lot of enjoyment and success, whatever success means on your journey. Awesome. Thank

Christine Winebrenner Irick 05:51

you. Well, before we learn more about Trailblazer wellness, and where you are now, I'd love to hear a little bit about what got you here. So can you mind sharing with us kind of how travel and adventure started to become an important part of your life, important enough to kind of shift gears and make that your profession?

06:13

Yeah, starting a little close to the beginning, I quit my corporate job a little over three years ago to start this business. But you know, and looking back, it's kind of I was thinking about this, you know, it's really a combination of threads from different parts of my life from way back in the beginning. So my love for travel came from my grandparents, my dad's parents, who traveled all over the world, when I was a kid, and they, you know, went to Peru, and China, and Amazon and all these amazing places in the 70s, and 80s.

So it was kind of incredible. Now I think back about it more, I have more of an appreciation at the time, I was like, oh, that's what your buddy's grandparents do, right? But they would come back, and we would sit in the basement, and my grandpa took a lot of pictures. And we'd sit and watch slideshows, all these places. And I think that just really, like, kicked off the travel bug for me. And that was like, wow, that looks incredible. I really want to see all these things and do this stuff. We're pretty poor, I guess. We didn't have the money to travel. So my, even my grandparents, they were, they were very powerful with their money. And they were not like what you would imagine as a world traveler at that time, they lived in a very modest house.

But they had saved and really prioritized that, that time and that money for their retirement. So yeah, my parents couldn't afford to take me and my two sisters, you know, three kids on these big travel adventures. So it was just kind of a dream of mine to get out and see the world and I was a journalism major, I thought, oh, maybe it could be an international reporter or travel writer thing like that. But then kind of the reality was, like, rehearsing me pretty much money in student loans to pay back. So I took a more conservative I guess, or traditional career path and communications in the marketing. So that my travel kind of got put off, or it was really more domestic until like, the early 2000s. And then I felt more comfortable being able to invest in and go to different places abroad.

So that's kind of how travel started. And then the physical activity and adventure piece also started when I was a kid when I was running around the neighborhood climbing trees, exploring as much as I could. Those who back in the days when you kind of cut kids loose and said come back in time for dinner. That wasn't a good bow right around it, I was always very active. I enjoyed sports, but I was never super good at them. But as I got older, in college, actually I started, you know, running and then after college and moved to the DC area, and I started hiking in Virginia. And I really found that love for being outdoors, and hiking and biking and doing that sort of thing. So then I know I really got into fitness and found it was a great way to relieve stress. It was a great way to gain confidence. Religion gave me a lot of things that were very valuable to me. So, yeah, I then got my personal training certification.

But I was still working full time, you know, 60 hours a week and it was really hard to do that. So that's where we get back to, you know, three and a half years ago, I worked with a career coach and figured out I wanted to just you know, cut loose and go help people with their health and wellness and left my job and then figured out how to put these pieces together to become a personal trainer and an adventure coach. So yeah,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 09:54

Thank you for sharing all of that. I was thinking I loved thinking about wild children. I feel like I thought that was such a great time, I'm so kind of a little sad for my kids that they don't have that same freedom, because I think it really does develop something in us, that's really important. And I'm lucky to be able to take my kids to Montana where my parents have a big ranch.

And so they can have a little little bit of that where they can run around the acreage and kind of explore and get dirty and be like real honest to goodness, kids. And then I was thinking about the fact that that's also I think, what so many of us love about travel, especially in the space of adventure and active travel is that you get to kind of tap into that again, and you find yourself doing things that you wouldn't be doing in your daily routine.

And then that like that in and of itself, like maybe sparks something you knew that then much like your journey, like, makes you realize, like, maybe this isn't the place, I don't want to be spending 60 hours a week in an office for the rest of my career. What do you think? I mean, I think also when people are planning travel, a lot of times when you look at the mass media, mass travel versus adventure, travel, nature isn't at the forefront of what we're planning in a travel experience. Maybe you're planning, snorkeling, or maybe scuba diving. But I think a lot of times, it's more like visiting a city, visiting a destination, visiting a beach, like people are really looking to relax. So they're not planning activities. What do you think engaging with nature adds to your travel experience or building in activity with your travel experience? How do you think that shifts what people get out of the experience?

11:47

Yeah, I love you know, I just love active travel and exploring, to me to sit on a beach is like, I mean, it's nice, don't get me wrong, but there's, there's nothing wrong with that, of course. But what really recharges me like, to me vacation is to like, kind of recharge your batteries and get perspective and just have an experience that really likes that fills you up and you know, gives you energy. And my old boss used to say, you know, just hearing about your vacations exhausting me?

Like, I don't like No, but that's not what I mean. Sometimes it's tiring, of course, when you're super active, but it really recharged me and like, gives me that, that off to get back and do whatever I need to do. So I think being again, for me everybody's different. But for me being in nature does, you know, just gives me that perspective. And that recharge and that grounding. And getting sort of back to Yeah, maybe who I was as a kid out exploring. And in, I don't know, my neighborhood wasn't exactly nature, but, you know, flood trees and things like that. So I think reconnecting with that really just adds a layer of context and deepens the experience, at least for me, in how I think about a place and how it impacts me and influences me. And just what I appreciate about it is just being out and about and being out there in it. So yeah,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 13:23

yeah, I think for me, too, like you said, not every place is, you know, you're not going everywhere for immediate access to nature. But I was thinking about when I just went to New York and my daughter and I took a morning and just sat. We climbed some big boulders in Central Park and just sat for a moment. Yeah, there was just something even about taking that moment of time to just be still and then be surrounded by trees. And then like the birds coming up and everything, like all of a sudden, I feel like it's a real natural state for humans that we don't create time for and so like, you just feel very healed very quickly, or very calm. And then, you know, in that particular setting, it was really fun to notice the contrast between the park in the city and we just started, you know, looking at different things to pay attention to. And I think maybe being in nature has us moving more slowly, even if you're, you know, even if you're mountain biking or something where you're not literally moving more slowly, but you're you're so immersed in where you are that you have to be paying attention and you're really present to everything that's happening around you. And I feel like that's maybe where the power of nature and adventure and travel lies. Yeah, absolutely.

14:42

I think that's true, too. And I just was reflecting on you know, even when we go to cities for travel, I seek out the parks. I seek out the Botanic Gardens. Yeah, I always seem to find that natural space, even in a city . I can't even think of one city that I've been to that hasn't gone to some kind of Park. Again, garden or preserve when we were just in Madrid, I like to get up early in the morning. I'm just a morning person, my husband is not. And so a lot of times they'll just slip out of the room and leave them a little note and just go explore. And in Madrid, I was like, Oh, I, you know, kind of read about this rose garden place. And I went for a walk and it was in this park that was really beautiful.

And then I kind of turned a corner and looked at the sign. I had a map of the different things in the park. And I was like, there's the Rose Garden. And so I followed the path down and walked through it and was like, there was literally like one other person there because it was, you know, it was still pretty early. There was like the groundskeeper. It was like we're doing stuff. I'm like, not even sure if I'm supposed to be in here yet. But it was really amazing. And it just there were the roses, there were signs that seemed to indicate they were from like the early 1900s. I'm like, oh my god, this is so cool. So again, some people love museums and going to see our stuff. We did not step foot in a museum in Madrid. But the parks and the beauty of those kinds of things are just what really hit home for me.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 16:21

Yeah. Well, when we met, we met right at the beginning of both of us launching our business, which was right before the pandemic. So that was so well timed. Unknowingly, unbeknownst to us, obviously. But I wanted to talk a little bit about the experience of holding on to a vision and the dream during that and really, more importantly, what the context of community plays for that. I know that we actually met in person with this big vision of where we were both headed and really quickly, like we could see how we could work together in creating experiences and supporting women on travel. And then, you know, things shifted, and we started finding ourselves in all of these online and virtual communities for people with travel businesses, who were trying to figure out how to stay afloat, feel like a lot of the coaching components, and the exploration and community were just vital to living. What does community like that mean, for you, in your business and in your life? And how does that kind of fold into the work that you're doing?

17:34

Yeah, I mean, guys, what a journey in and of itself, right? Yeah, read through all of this. Yeah, it was rare to go, ready to get out there and help people pursue their travel genes and go on their adventures, and then everything shut down. And, you know, in some ways, I mean, a lot of people say, I'm kind of a glass half full kind of gal. And I was like, Well, you know, this is the opportunity to connect with people in just a different way. Like, you know, I'll just figure out how to help people through this time in our lives.

And so, you know, I did, you know, online, you know, webinars and classes and things like that, to kind of stay in, you know, get into, and stay in that space of helping people to continue to stay motivated and healthy and things like that from a client perspective. But then from the tourism industry perspective, I felt like it was really an opportunity to connect more deeply with some other people who have become my most important partners, like you, like, you know, Michael Bennett, from explorer acts, Eleanor fetch from you know, running wild, and does all these amazing people that I got a chance to connect with, because nobody was traveling, everybody was out with try to figure out what to do.

And there's, there's nothing like a good crisis to bring people together, right and, and be vulnerable and be ourselves and, you know, help each other try to figure out where to go and what to do next, and get through this. So it really became like this unexpected way to connect, but it really just, yeah, jumped into it and was like, wow, this is what we're going to do. And I love problem solving. I love collaborating. I love you know, getting in helping people figure out how to make the best things are really just kind of played into all of that and again, really helps build some really fantastic connections that have followed through over the course of time and now we're now we're in a better place for travel fortunately, and in such a Still though, in this kind of transition space that people about getting back into it and getting their footing and figuring out what they want to do.

And in the adventure travel space, I feel like people are now craving these experiences even more, and coming into these communities even more ready to be a part of that to have those experiences because they were tied down and locked down for so long and restricted. And it's just this pent up demand and this realization that, you know, these, we, I feel like and I took it for granted that we've always been able to get out there and do these things. And now people are like, well, I want to do it now while I still can, and you never know what's gonna happen. And so it's kind of turned the tide in a different direction.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 20:47

I think it's been, it was kind of like an unexpected blessing was the community that we could pull from in a way that we wouldn't have, if we were all still kind of like going full steam ahead, everybody had time and space for each other. And as a newer business, to be able to then connect with people that probably wouldn't have had time for you or wouldn't have been willing to share resources and ideas like everybody came together in a way of like, the only way we're making through this together. And now that has created a very different energy moving forward, which I'm also really thankful for because you start seeing friends and colleagues who are having trips, launches and bookings, you know, trip sellouts and all of these things. And like, we now know in a greater way what it's taking to make that happen, because we've spent the time with each other to see that and now, I just feel like even such a deeper sense of community amongst the people that have gone through this journey together.

21:46

Yeah, absolutely. It's okay, we all went through kind of an adventure together, right? Yeah, that bonding experience of, you know, making it through these obstacles and finding ways to figure out how to survive and, you know, sounds very dramatic. It's in it, you know, it was a dramatic thing. It still is, in a lot of ways, then. And then we're still figuring it out. But yeah, being able to be there together with each other was absolutely, like, so amazing.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 22:19

Yeah. And I think also, the pivot to virtual was something everybody kind of resisted more, because it was unknown, maybe then, you know, the value of it. But as we've seen, it has actually opened so many doors. And I know for us, it ended up being able to create something really cool together. So I want to talk about that a little bit. I guess two years, two years ago now would have been Yeah, I was thinking about hiking the fourteener. And I was thinking How on earth am I going to do this? Is this an achievable or unattainable goal?'' I don't know what this looks like.

And because I knew Becki, I reached out and I'm like, Hey, I think this is a thing I want to do, I definitely think I need someone to help me get there. And so we started talking. And then because I am who I am, I'm like, I also feel like I want to do this in a group of women. And so we co created this experience to claim a fourteener. And then also, I think, because Becki and I both want to create community and deepen the travel experience. We also hatched this idea of training, obviously, physically and mentally to prepare for this trip, but also brought in some emotional, spiritual, and then layered in like some regional understanding to an experience. And for those of you listening, we created this three month program where people work with Becki one on one to do individualized coaching so everybody could start wherever they were at. And then we met every other week online. And we learned about everything to prepare for a trip.

So nutrition on the trail, what gear to use, really like we brought in an indigenous community leader to talk about the land that we were on and how we could be respectful to the space that we were traveling in and all these different components. And it ended up being this experience that I mean, I know I'm biased, but it felt pretty epic. Like the way that we created a community and created a deeper understanding of where we weren't going to be and who we were going to be with before we even got there kind of has blown every other travel experience for me out of the water and both as a participant and as a guide. But I would love for you to talk about what that was like for you kind of shifting into this like larger group virtual coaching for an event and what you think that added from a code she'd perspective.

25:01

Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was like, I guess, a year and a half ago, spring of 2021. And, yeah, you came to me with the idea. And I was like, Ah, why didn't I think of that? That's brilliant. Of course, I would love to do that. And I do think like, you just kind of sat down and talked about it. It was like, okay, yeah, I can do training. No problem. That's, you know, that's what I do. But this whole idea of doing it for the whole group, and then having the group component was something different that I, you know, hadn't really thought of her done before. So, you know, we just kind of made it up as he went, or we made up before and brainstormed and put it together. So that we would have this kind of dual experience, like you said, with one -on -one coaching, but also with this group experience to bring people together and help them get to know each other and get comfortable with each other.

I think part of what that really is like is that the educational pieces were absolutely awesome. You know, we had some really great resources, wonderful people who came in and experts in all those things. And that was, you know, priceless as well. But it really feels like the bonds that people build through those experiences. And don't forget, you forgot to mention you did some yoga sessions, virtual yoga sessions for us as well. So like, just this, like, multi layered experience that brought people together on different levels. Before we were in person together in Colorado. It was yeah, it was so special, it was so different. We're like, wait a minute, what did we just do here? Like, this?

Incredible, like, Why hasn't anybody thought of this before? Because, you know, you go on a group trip and and I've been on group trips, and they're great, you know, you meet new people, it's amazing to just like, you know, show up. And then by the end of the trip, you feel like you really, like you know each other or you, you know, maybe you bond with a couple people in the group. And yeah, there's not so much but, but whatever. But the special thing about this trip was like, we all showed up, and like, all we're giving each other hugs right away, right? It was, like, we already knew each other, we already had all this context, we already knew, you know, especially for this kind of experience, like we knew how to support each other. And, you know, as we were climbing that fourteener, you know, and somebody was having a little thing going on, it was like, Hey, we're all here for you. And we all kind of have, again, this additional context for, for what that means. And it made it all the more special from a community standpoint, as well as the specialness of doing nothing.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 27:53

Yeah, I think that like some of the people that did it with us, like arriving in a warm hug was the way somebody arrived, but described it, but it was like so true that there's a lot of Chittor sometimes when you arrive for a group trip as a leader, or as a participant to just like see how everybody's going to gel and start to come together. And it usually takes the first couple days of the experience to even get to that point. And we could just jump in, like it felt like this amazing, slumber party from childhood.

And exactly, it was just so good. And then like you mentioned to the way that because this was such a challenging thing that we set out to do to begin with, we think we didn't know how much we needed that base to start from. And then when people were facing challenges, you know, we kind of already knew people's fears that they had already that they were holding, like the things that they thought were going to be difficult for them. So as we approached any of those things, like we could be mentally preparing, we could, you know, pause and have a water break and talk ourselves through it. And it was just, it was like the coolest thing to see everybody together in it versus if you were on a group trip, and maybe you've just met and then you're starting to these activities, and you have the one person that can't do this thing and the one person who's speeding ahead and like then some tension arises because we don't already have that kinship and that foundation to build on. And so we don't have as much grace for those things.

Versus here. We're like, oh, we know this person's like, super agile, and they might want to get ahead here but also everybody's like committed to doing this together. So we really were just this group moving and then I know for me personally, I had a moment where we had a real narrow saddle that we had to go over and I was just like, oh my gosh, here we are. This is what I knew is my fear and of course not having Got then there before, I didn't know how high things would feel or how my nervousness and anxiety around heights would be. But I knew I had this group of women with me, which was so helpful. I've had all this coaching from you, and coaching from myself.

So I'm, like, literally coaching myself through this. And I'm like, okay, we can do this, or this is fear, this is not actual danger. And, you know, like, running through that in my mind, and, and then having the group saying, you know, we're good, if you can't go forward to go forward. And then for me to have this feeling of like, there is something that's going to happen when we all stand there together, and I am pushing through whatever I have to get there. And I think we all had a moment like that, whether it was fatigue, or, you know, heights hit a couple of us and the wind and emotions, one of us was dealing with some personal personal things that they kind of brought into the trail intentionally that they wanted to work through. And, man, it was like standing up there. And like, having spent three months there was like, I don't know, for you, it was the coolest, proudest, most awesome thing ever. And again, like not just as a planner, but as a participant and a part of the community that we had become.

31:22

Yeah, it was so amazing for me as well to be with my clients at that point. Because most of my clients, I, you know, I, we go through the training and the coaching, and then they go on their trip, and then you know, they have an amazing time they come back and we debrief and they hear all about it, but I'm not there with them. There's sometimes a question I get from, from people who you know, who care about my business, they're like, Oh, do you go on all your trips to tell your pupils like, I wish that would be lovely, but not usually. But this experience? Yeah, to be able to be there with you and all the people in the group and Oh, my God, it was amazing, incredible, like, just overwhelming joy and pride. And I don't know, like he even describes it. It was like the pinnacle of 70 things. And I was like, this, this is it. Like this is really, this is really something special.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 32:25

Yeah. And I think for me, that's what I believe travel can be because we can build so many things into the experience with personal growth and connection and community. And we did take time to the base of the mountain and I did a little ceremony in honor and recognition of the land. And like that ended up being something really intense and emotional, too. And it just added another layer of like, I just call everything magic, but another layer of magic to the experience. And I think it was really fun to kind of play with the intentional design. And what else can we do to just create more magic and connection out and like just make this a more powerful experience. And it was really great to see it come to life, especially for both you and I where we were in our businesses that we've been virtual and like we really got to just enjoy being with humans. And again, that was also probably pretty special. And then

33:30

reverser? Absolutely it was and I think, you know, like, sometimes when I talk to people about, like, what I help them do is I say yeah, how can I help you extend your trip, like, extend your experience, like, you know, you're paying all this money, and you're going to this place for like, a week, two weeks, maybe maybe three days, three weeks, you know, but this extends it so that you get to savor and get into the mindset and the you know, that space that helps you feel like, you know, it's it's more than just that vacation time. It's like really part of a broader lifestyle change.

And I was just talking to a client the other day and she was like, yeah, like this is like this is just part of my life now like going out and you know, doing my training heights, then my strength training and this and that and she's like, she had an injury she couldn't believe like, how much he was excited to get back to it. So it's so it extends beyond even the under the trap, right? So it starts before and then you have this incredible experience.

And then you know on the backside, you know or the after side I guess I should say you you have something that's really sustainable if that's something that you want to continue to pursue and, you know, you feel like the options are like many of my clients tell me they're like, I just feel like there's a whole other realm of possibilities that are opened up to me. So, it again, it's not just okay to show up, do you trip, and then go home and then go back to whatever it was you were doing before? It's really that, you know, changing your life, you know, to be maybe a little dramatic about it, but it is life changing when you have that kind of robust experience.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 35:33

Yeah. And I was thinking too, about, you know, people will put a half marathon or a marathon on their calendar, and they'll train for that. And then they, you know, that's kind of a way that people ease into maybe a different fitness or lifestyle or just set a goal and they want to achieve it and to think about what other ways could you do that? Could it be, you know, hiking a 14 or doing a part of a trail somewhere in the world or mountain biking or kayaking paddle boarding?

Like, there's so many ways to bring, like a love that you have, or that you're curious about into a travel experience. And then the travel seems kind of in nature, like amplifying that. And then it feels, I think, a little more integrated. Now, I'm not a runner. So I can't praise what it is like to do what I've completed in five day. Like, I just, I have, there's been all these times in travel, doing things that I thought I just didn't know myself as the person who could do it at the beginning, and then at the end, you do and then like you said, when you come back, it somehow opens a store to possibility for what else you can do. And, like for me, I'm probably not going to keep up a marathon style lifestyle training. Long term, like that's pretty intense.

But going to you know, walk around a city for 10 days or hike a trail or the things you do for that seems like they translate back into your life a little bit more easily. Like you can hang on to that. So I think it's kind of cool to think about, if people might say, Oh, my goal of running a marathon when I'm 50 is like I can Kilimanjaro or paddle boarding across this lake or something like that. Because it doesn't, I don't know, I'm addicted to travel. So again, it's speaking from a different, different place, but I just feel like it's such a cool way to think about how we can incorporate some of these life changing goals and fitness and mental well being and travel all together.

37:49

Yeah, absolutely. And I do see that and in many of my clients, they're like, I want to get on track, you know, to be more active to, you know, have a healthier lifestyle. You know, many of my clients have spent, you know, decades like in careers raising kids, you know, doing everything for everybody else.

And they may not be up for like you said, like, Okay, now, you know, some people run marathons. That's awesome, good for them. They, you know, that's their thing. But for many people that want this travel experience, and they want to go and do these amazing things, but they have hesitancy. It's like, oh my gosh, now I'm later in life and I haven't been active and haven't been doing these things. Is it still possible that I missed my opportunity? But you haven't, you know, that was like the story of my grandparents, you haven't missed the opportunity to turn your life around and go do all these things. When my grandfather was 55 years old.

He was a smoker, he was overweight. His doctor told him that if he didn't basically get his act together, he wasn't going to like, live to see his grandkids grow up. And it really kicked him in the pants. And he started running and race walking and doing all these things, and then the travel as well. Just like he got out kind of all new lease on life. And that's just, that's, it's so possible and it doesn't have to be running a marathon or climbing Kilimanjaro though if that's it, that's great. But it can be somewhere whatever it is for you and whatever that vision and that goal is for you. That's what I really work with people on his like, what does it mean to you and what does it mean beyond the trip? You know, what is that lifestyle goal that you want to achieve? Is it taking your grandkids on trips, you know, when you're older? Is that spending time with someone you love?

Who's you know, maybe a little more fit than you are and you really want to go keep up with them or do you want to just explore traveling on your own you know, Some solo travel, and that might seem a little intimidating if you, if you're not, you know, where you want to be with your health. So it can be whatever you want it to be. And it's kind of like the definition of adventure, right? Like, everybody's definition of adventure is different. And it could be, you know, getting out into your community and doing things or could be going across the world. So whatever adventure means to you, that's, that's the other thing I like about being an adventure coach is, you get to decide what the adventure is.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 40:31

Yeah, and I was gonna say that I like, for people listening and wondering if this kind of coaching could help enhance their travel experience, that it really can be beneficial for so many things. And like, just, I think a lot of us too, when we just decided to like, jump on a trip, we're not really thinking about who we're going to be when we're there.

We're just like, we're here now, and we can't wait to get there. And there's no line between these two, and then all of a sudden, you get there. And you even if you just find you're walking all day, you're like, oh, golly, I wish I had maybe walked a little before I left, or you know, if you end up doing something more adventurous or more active. And really, you could see where that benefit would have happened. And I remember, after I met you reflecting back on a trip I took to Peru, and like hiking and everything was pretty good.

But I ended up doing a lot of horseback riding. And there were just a lot of core muscles and leg muscles and things that I had not used in a long time. I hadn't ridden horses in a long time. But I had remembered thinking, Man, if I would have known I was doing this, I would have just done some more core work and maybe some squats and something else that would have helped me not to feel so uncomfortable after I did it. Now granted, like horse riding and bike riding, like the only way to not feel uncomfortable is to

41:57

I could have battle, I could have

Christine Winebrenner Irick 41:59

I did a few things, I think that would have just allowed me to have been a little bit more physically comfortable in those activities and transitioning between activities. And so I would really encourage people not to dismiss the idea that they wouldn't need this kind of coaching, if they're not doing some high level adventure. So like you mentioned, anywhere along the spectrum, it's really valuable. And also, for me, coaching in the context of travel, and you do it as well. But it's not so much about just the physical. But that mental piece is so important.

And yeah, to kind of go back to the experience, we created together one of the very first meetings we did I did like intention setting and like asking people what they wanted out of the experience, you know, what they thought it might bring to their life who, who they envision, like evolving into through the journey and the you know, one of the travelers like how I just like this was sounded kind of cool. And I just said yes. But I didn't really think about why I said yes or anything. And just asking that question really quickly shifted what she was going to get out of the experience, and then allowed for it to be so much more powerful.

And so, so cool to just see, I mean, I'm lucky to be your friend. I see this magic happen to me all the time you ask a question, and I'm like, oh, gosh, she's just done it again. But that way of tapping into yourself is so powerful. And so I think that component is equally important when you're traveling and when you're using travel as this kind of tool for self evolution and learning more about yourself as well as the place that you're going.

43:50

Yeah, it really acts as a catalyst. And like you said, sometimes people don't even think about it, they just sign up for the trip because it sounds cool. And I like to help people dig into the why. And that was one of the exercises that we did actually a webinar back way back seems like forever ago now. Yeah, like kind of doing the mind mapping of what does this really mean to you?

And why did you really sign up for this other than it sounded cool and I saw the pictures on Instagram and you know, whatever, it's it's beautiful and and it is all those things and but what really speaks to you like at your core about it and what is that subconscious wish desire, goal vision that you have, because you know when the going gets tough, and you know, especially if you are training for something that's a you know, a stretch goal. You know, having that why to tap into when you just don't feel like getting out of bed and doing the thing or, you know, you've got a bunch of other stuff going on in your life because hey, guess what life happens a lot Along the way, as you're getting ready, and it's easy to get off track, or as women, a lot of times you put other people first and it's like, oh, well, I have to take care of this for this person. And I have to respond to that.

And I have to do this. And being able to tap into that, that y and that vision and that, you know, intrinsic motivation, can really, like help you get over that hump. And even if you don't get to do things perfectly, that's another thing when working with clients is okay, this is the plan, but it's just because you haven't done all the things doesn't mean you get to check it and say, Oh, well forget it, you know, to move beyond that all or nothing thinking and, and be flexible and, and get into that experience through that that wide and that vision so that it becomes more integrated into your life and not just something that you're checking off the list. Yeah.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 45:56

Yeah, I think that's so good. Speaking of tapping into your why, one of the questions that I've really have been thinking about a lot, you're doing my book sojourn with me. So you've been reading, awakened woman. And one of the things that she talks about in it is what is your like, great hunger. And also, I listened to a podcast that was talking about, like, what, what is the change that you see yourself creating in the world?

And I think like, that is very much for me, that's the why I tap into especially the past three years, and like, that moment on that mountain, and the like, connection, and seeing people come alive, and like know, their strength was a part of is a part of my why, especially for women. But I'm curious, like, what do you tap into? What is that change you're trying to create in the world?

46:52

Yeah, really, is that, you know, helping people find their competence and their strength, and not just again, the physical strength, the mental strength, and helping them achieve something that is so meaningful, that it propels them forward and allows them to be more open, and to empower others. Because, you know, it's when we find our own power that we can give more to empower others. And so helping women step into that space and get to that place where they are like, hey, you know, this, this is doable, like, I can do this.

And then I can do this, I can do other big things. And it's that ripple effects, right, like, they do bigger things. And they do things that inspire other people, and so on, and so on, and so on. So goofy, but if I think about the old commercial, it's like, and they are filthy friends, and they have filthy bread, and it doesn't like that exponential impact that we all can have, and that we all do have without even realizing it. And when people are in that, like joyful, empowered, best version of themselves, that just radiates and creates more positivity and more power throughout, you know, throughout their circles and so on. So that's,

Christine Winebrenner Irick 48:30

I love that because I know, I know that that exists. Because I'm, you know, beneath the surface with many of the women I talked to, but I never had really thought to just ask that question. And I'm so excited to kind of be hearing that from people, because I think some of us really know what that is. And some of us just, like, feel it within ourselves. But we haven't named it yet. And so I'm really hoping that people listening, wherever they are in that process, that this is going to help them to kind of maybe dig into what, what it is.

And, you know, we get lost in this idea of having to have a great purpose. And that's, that's not what I mean, like, I don't feel like people letting humanity down by not having this great purpose. But like, I think there's something that really makes us come alive. And every person has a different spark. And when we tap into that, then we can serve others. And so I think it's great to begin to ask yourself the questions of what those are. And, and again, like I think a lot of times people feel like they ask themselves and maybe their purpose just doesn't feel grand enough. Yeah,

49:38

I get stuck by that too. Like I'm like, okay, you know, there's this amazing person doing these things like, you know, Oprah and facing millions and millions and millions of people. And well, if I can't be her, like, what difference does it make what I do, right? I'm just this little person who has this, you know, these clients and these people that are in my universe. So it is helpful to take a step back and realize like no are really like, it doesn't have to be following World hunger or God or saving the world. It's really what you can do with what you have.

Christine Winebrenner Irick 50:13

Yeah, and the other thing that's so cool about that, too, is that, you know, you if your thing is really wanting to see women feel confident, and you work with someone, and then they spread that competence to the, their daughter or their granddaughter, well, maybe their granddaughter needed to see that so that she's the person that solves world hunger, you know, like, we don't know what our real true impact is. And, like, I have three daughters.

So I witnessed like many versions of that all the time of me like, saying the things I say all the time, because they're important to me, and then how they translate that into their lives, or I hear them say something to their friends about like, you know, confidence or not, you know, speaking up for yourself or setting a boundary, which I'm like, I can't imagine being nine and being like, No, this is a boundary. Sometimes it does not work in my favor. When room cleaning is a boundary, they're not willing to cross.

But yeah, I just think, like, I feel like if we can just harness that in ourselves, and just let it be true, and not worry about what it means beyond that truth. And then, like, let it do its own thing. Again, the magic, it's always the magic, but I just believe that it is true, Becki, for people that are interested in learning more about what you do, where and I have in the show notes, a link to your download guide for multi day hiking trips, but where can they find you? And where can they inquire about what you do?