Speaker 1: There's a lot of talk about mindfulness these days, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic. I mean, we all want to be more
Speaker 1: present and self aware, more patient, less judgmental. We discuss
Speaker 1: all these themes on the podcast, but it's hard to
Speaker 1: actually be mindful in your day to day life. That's
Speaker 1: where Calm comes in. I've been working with Calm for
Speaker 1: a few years now with the goal of making mindfulness
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Speaker 1: help you build positive habits, shift yourself talk, reframe your
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Speaker 1: your Mind, Change your Life. We're not really clear on
Speaker 1: what's important to us, and so when someone else tells
Speaker 1: us what's important to them, we import what's important to
Speaker 1: others into our own likes. And dislikes. When you travel alone,
Speaker 1: you give yourself the opportunity, you give yourself the space,
Speaker 1: You give yourself the time to recognize what's important to you,
Speaker 1: what's meaningful to you, what's valuable to you, what's real
Speaker 1: to you. The number one health and wellness podcast.
Speaker 2: Say set Jay Sety lyous.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to on Purpose, the place you
Speaker 1: come to listen, learn and grow. I'm so grateful that
Speaker 1: you're back here with me. And today's episode is all
Speaker 1: about why you need to take a solo trip at
Speaker 1: least once in your life now before you turn away
Speaker 1: because you're too scared. Before you're like, hey, I don't
Speaker 1: want this, I don't want to go there. Hear me out.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've heard about your friends doing it, maybe
Speaker 1: a family member do it. Maybe your kids said to
Speaker 1: you that they want to do it. Solo trips are
Speaker 1: becoming more and more normalized, they're becoming more and more prevalent,
Speaker 1: They're more and more in demand, so much so that
Speaker 1: Forbes actually made a list of the ten most popular
Speaker 1: solo travel destinations for twenty twenty four, and the report
Speaker 1: went on to mention everything from Japan, Argentina, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Ecuador,
Speaker 1: You've got Jordan on that list, Thailand, Philippines, Bali, and
Speaker 1: maybe one more as well. But what's incredible about that
Speaker 1: list is that it's showing that there's this new found
Speaker 1: interest in traveling alone. And I know what some of
Speaker 1: your thinking, Jay, Traveling is always better when you're with
Speaker 1: other people. Traveling is always more fun when you're with
Speaker 1: family or friends or whatever it might be. But hey,
Speaker 1: I think that we're all feeling like we don't always
Speaker 1: have enough time. A lot of us are feeling we
Speaker 1: don't have enough time alone. A lot of us can't
Speaker 1: get schedules to match. Or maybe you've just gone through
Speaker 1: a breakup recently, Maybe you've gone through a life event,
Speaker 1: whether you're taking a sabbatical. Maybe you've been working for
Speaker 1: too long, or you want to get this in just
Speaker 1: before you start working, and you're the only one of
Speaker 1: your friends who actually has that time and energy and
Speaker 1: intention to want to do it. Maybe you're curious to
Speaker 1: what it might be like. Well, today I want to
Speaker 1: give you some of the reasons, maybe to reaffirm your curiosity,
Speaker 1: or if you've never considered it at all, to maybe
Speaker 1: think about why it can be really powerful for you
Speaker 1: and useful for you as well, And so I'm really
Speaker 1: excited that you're here with me and that you're taking
Speaker 1: a chance on this, because I do believe that travel
Speaker 1: is one of the greatest gifts that we've ever been given,
Speaker 1: and the fact that today it's become simpler and easier
Speaker 1: than ever before is truly an amazing blessing that we
Speaker 1: all have in our lives. And I wanted to share
Speaker 1: one of my favorite quotes about travel that inspires this
Speaker 1: desire that we all have, and it's this one. It
Speaker 1: comes from Lisa Ling, where she said the best education
Speaker 1: I've ever received was through travel. I love that quote
Speaker 1: because I realized that there are so many ways to
Speaker 1: learn today, so many ways to grow, but travel definitely
Speaker 1: is one of the most special ways. So let's dive
Speaker 1: in to the reasons I think you should take a
Speaker 1: solo trip, some of my experiences and also some of
Speaker 1: the best lessons I've learned along the way. Now, today
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk about self awareness. There's the
Speaker 1: need to understand who you are, and I think solo
Speaker 1: travel is by far the number one way to learn
Speaker 1: about yourself. You get to know yourself the quickest, fastest,
Speaker 1: most accelerated way when you choose to travel alone. Now,
Speaker 1: when you're traveling with others, you might be used to
Speaker 1: doing what everyone else does, or going along with what
Speaker 1: everyone else chooses. Someone else chooses the dinner spot, someone
Speaker 1: else chooses the bar, someone else chooses today's adventure, today's activity,
Speaker 1: and you might have, for a long time gone along
Speaker 1: with what's known as the bandwagon effect, or as we
Speaker 1: call it, herd mentality, the idea that if enough people
Speaker 1: want to do it on the trip, you're happy to
Speaker 1: go along. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. You can
Speaker 1: have some beautiful experiences because of it, and I've definitely
Speaker 1: had some of those. But I've also realized that it's
Speaker 1: so rare for us to know what we actually want
Speaker 1: to do, and one of the reasons we're indecisive, one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why we struggle to make choices is
Speaker 1: because of and we've just avoided it for a long
Speaker 1: period of our life. Maybe we've never been asked, Maybe
Speaker 1: when we were asked, we just deferred to someone else,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's been so long that we've actually disconnected
Speaker 1: from who we are, what we want, and what's meaningful
Speaker 1: to us. I mean, think about it for a second.
Speaker 1: If someone said to you you could do anything you
Speaker 1: wanted on vacation. You could go anywhere you wanted. What
Speaker 1: would you choose? Would you choose a city break or
Speaker 1: are you sure you'd want a beach now? Would you
Speaker 1: want an active day at the beach or would you
Speaker 1: want a sightseeing there at the city or are you
Speaker 1: actually looking for a city break with a bit of
Speaker 1: history and art, or actually are you looking for food
Speaker 1: and tourism. I think as we get older we get
Speaker 1: a sense of this, but when you're on your own,
Speaker 1: you get really close and connected to what it is
Speaker 1: that stands out to you. I know that when I've
Speaker 1: traveled on my own, it's given me a sense of
Speaker 1: how for so many years I might even have thought
Speaker 1: I liked what other people liked. I actually had this
Speaker 1: experience recently where me and a friend who were traveling
Speaker 1: somewhere actually and their friend had already been to that place.
Speaker 1: Their friend was on the call with my friend and
Speaker 1: they were talking to each other, and the other friend
Speaker 1: was saying, I can't believe you're not doing anything. I
Speaker 1: can't believe you're not going to see any of the sites.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that you haven't rented a car. I
Speaker 1: can't believe that you're not going to go to this
Speaker 1: landmark or whatever else it may be. And I could
Speaker 1: see that it was really getting under my friend's skin.
Speaker 1: And my friend even mentioned to me like, Jay, are
Speaker 1: we not going to rent a car? We're not going
Speaker 1: to do this? Are we not going to do that?
Speaker 1: And I could tell that they felt kind of uncomfortable
Speaker 1: and insecure. Now at this time, I didn't know where
Speaker 1: that was coming from. So I asked them where is
Speaker 1: this coming from? And they said, oh, no, nothing, And
Speaker 1: I said, no, no, like it feels like it's important to you.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know. And they were like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend who was here a
Speaker 1: couple of months back, and they made made me feel
Speaker 1: like I was missing out. And I said, well, let's
Speaker 1: take a look at what they recommended. And so there
Speaker 1: were a couple of sites and we mapped it from
Speaker 1: where we were staying and it was about one and
Speaker 1: a half our car journey either way. And so I
Speaker 1: said to my friend, I said, is that what you
Speaker 1: want to do? Do you want to take a one
Speaker 1: and a half hour journey either way to see the site,
Speaker 1: because we can definitely rent a car and do that
Speaker 1: if that's important to you. But I want to know
Speaker 1: if it's important to you. And I saw this look
Speaker 1: at my friend's face where they were reflecting, and then
Speaker 1: they said to me, they said, Jay, actually I don't
Speaker 1: want to do that. We're in paradise. Why are we
Speaker 1: going to spend three hours in a car. And it
Speaker 1: was really interesting to me where just a few moments ago,
Speaker 1: that fear of missing out, that insecurity of I'm not
Speaker 1: doing enough, that feeling of oh my gosh, they had
Speaker 1: all these amazing experiences. Am I wasting time? Did I
Speaker 1: get it wrong? Am I going to leave here feeling
Speaker 1: like I didn't make the most of it? We're creeping
Speaker 1: in and so much of that happens. So much of
Speaker 1: that occurs because we haven't got to know ourself. We're
Speaker 1: not really clear on what's important to us, and so
Speaker 1: when someone else tells us what's important to them, we
Speaker 1: import what's important to others into our own likes and dislikes. Right,
Speaker 1: We literally extract and adopt what they find valuable to
Speaker 1: be valuable to us. When you travel alone, you give
Speaker 1: yourself the opportunity you give yourself, the space, you give
Speaker 1: yourself the time to recognize what's important to you, what's
Speaker 1: meaningful to you, what's valuable to you, what's real to you.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the reasons why I love working
Speaker 1: with the Booking dot Com because they have this filter
Speaker 1: where it's easy to narrow down your search to find
Speaker 1: the perfect match for your preferences. And what's really amazing
Speaker 1: is that they we have this new AI powered trip
Speaker 1: Planner which offers personalized recommendations to help you get exactly
Speaker 1: what you need, and that might even be a great
Speaker 1: way for you to discover what you might want. And
Speaker 1: when you're doing this, here's a tip that I'd love
Speaker 1: for you to practice. And it may feel weird at first,
Speaker 1: but give it a go. When you're thinking about what
Speaker 1: you want, don't try and make a choice. Just sit
Speaker 1: with it for a second and see how both experiences
Speaker 1: feel in your body at this time. So let's say
Speaker 1: you're trying to choose between a city break or a
Speaker 1: beach break. Just sit with that for a second and
Speaker 1: see how thinking about a city break feels in your body,
Speaker 1: and see how thinking about a beach break feels in
Speaker 1: your body. What I love about this approach is that
Speaker 1: not only are you becoming more self aware, you're actually
Speaker 1: gaining the ability to tune in to what you need.
Speaker 1: And what I'm trying to say here is that we
Speaker 1: often kind of label ourselves as beach people's city peace
Speaker 1: or country people, whatever else it may be. And the
Speaker 1: truth is your body and mind may need something different
Speaker 1: right now. This is a great checking system. I'd love
Speaker 1: for you to try it out. Number two, This is
Speaker 1: probably one of the favorite things I've learned about traveling alone.
Speaker 1: I travel alone fairly often, both for work and for pleasure,
Speaker 1: and I found that it deeply grows your confidence. You
Speaker 1: know what it feels like to be in a random
Speaker 1: airport which you've never been to, probably one of the smallest,
Speaker 1: maybe one of the biggest airports you've ever been to,
Speaker 1: and navigate it. I remember years ago i'd gone to
Speaker 1: a retreat in Europe, a meditation retreat, and I was
Speaker 1: on my way back, and I was coming back before
Speaker 1: everyone else because I had to get to a different commitment,
Speaker 1: whatever it may have been at the time. And I
Speaker 1: remember that I got late to the airport, I missed
Speaker 1: my flight, and at the time I didn't have a
Speaker 1: lot of money, so I didn't really have enough money
Speaker 1: to book the next flo I remember waiting at the
Speaker 1: airport for nearly might have been like twelve to eighteen
Speaker 1: hours overnight in an airport that I didn't feel fully
Speaker 1: comfortable in and didn't know anyone in and didn't know
Speaker 1: how to get by. I didn't have enough money to
Speaker 1: book my next flight, and I got very, very lucky
Speaker 1: that I got to come home because the airliner was
Speaker 1: very kind and it really built my confidence. Now, first
Speaker 1: of all, it taught me never to come late to
Speaker 1: an airport ever again. So now I'm that person who
Speaker 1: turns up to every flight three hours early, and it
Speaker 1: drives my wife crazy because she wants to have that
Speaker 1: adrenaline feeling of running onto the plane. Whoever you are,
Speaker 1: you're all weirdos, right, like people who want to run
Speaker 1: onto the plane. I never want to be late again.
Speaker 1: I know what it feels like to sleep there without
Speaker 1: knowing what's going to happen and figuring it out. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be in that position again. And I
Speaker 1: find that traveling alone really builds your confidence. You choose
Speaker 1: your hotel, you book your hotel, you plan an itinery.
Speaker 1: You develop so many skills in the process. And I
Speaker 1: know you're saying that that sounds basic, Well it doesn't.
Speaker 1: When you travel alone, you have to have the skill
Speaker 1: of mapping out your day, mapping out your journey. You're
Speaker 1: learning to trust yourself. You're learning to build the skills
Speaker 1: and habits you need to function in the real world.
Speaker 1: And I found so many people that I've recommended solo
Speaker 1: travel to they come back and they say, I feel
Speaker 1: so much more confident. I feel so much more self
Speaker 1: assured in my abilities and my skills. And one thing
Speaker 1: I found is that your confidence also grows because you're
Speaker 1: getting to talk to people from different backgrounds, different walks
Speaker 1: of life. You have to navigate things not working out.
Speaker 1: And I'll get back to that in a second reason
Speaker 1: number three and lesson number three, is it truly expands
Speaker 1: your worldview. I find that often we can live in
Speaker 1: such a cocoon, and it's easy when you travel to
Speaker 1: notice different sceneries. It's easy to notice different architecture, it's
Speaker 1: easy to notice different you know, like the obvious things
Speaker 1: of whether there's a Starbucks there or not. But really
Speaker 1: what travel does is it shows you what a society,
Speaker 1: what a community, what a town values. It shows you
Speaker 1: what a place believes. In the way I'd like to
Speaker 1: think about this is think about what's at the center
Speaker 1: of a town. When you travel to certain cities, certain towns,
Speaker 1: certain countries, focus on what's at the center of it.
Speaker 1: It gives you an idea of the values of that place.
Speaker 1: It gives you an idea of the essence of that place.
Speaker 1: Think about what the tallest tourist attraction is there, what's
Speaker 1: the highest building monument, what is it? It tells you
Speaker 1: a bit about what that city sees as powerful and
Speaker 1: as an important thing in that city. So think about
Speaker 1: what's at the center, think about what's highest, and think
Speaker 1: about what the country represents in terms of figuring out
Speaker 1: what's the biggest festival that happens there. You learn so
Speaker 1: much about a city or a town or a country
Speaker 1: by the festivities, and ultimately you learn the most by
Speaker 1: speaking to the people there, which I'll get on too
Speaker 1: in a second as well. And so I really feel
Speaker 1: that there are certain methods, and those being my favorite ones.
Speaker 1: What's at the center of a city, what's the highest
Speaker 1: monument building part of a city? What is that? And
Speaker 1: how do they preserve nature. That's the third thing. How
Speaker 1: do they look after nature in that place? What does
Speaker 1: the nature say about that city, that town? And of
Speaker 1: course if you're in the countryside, what experience do you
Speaker 1: get of nature? What are the festivals, what are the
Speaker 1: key events that that city, town, or country hosts. This
Speaker 1: gives you a real sense of what that place is
Speaker 1: all about. And often we can miss it. We can
Speaker 1: just kind of get caught in, you know, going out
Speaker 1: to a restaurant and hitting a tourist attraction and not
Speaker 1: really getting to the since the roots of what defines
Speaker 1: that country. But it's a really beautiful, simple exercise to
Speaker 1: give that a go. And you know, traveling pushes you
Speaker 1: to adapt and grow in ways you might not expect.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I love about booking dot
Speaker 1: Com is that you can book the experiences that let
Speaker 1: you experience and explore different sides of yourself and the place. So,
Speaker 1: whether you want to relax or venture into a new territory,
Speaker 1: booking dot Com helps you plan for whoever you want
Speaker 1: to be on your trip. And I think that's a
Speaker 1: really important part of this idea of expanding your worldview.
Speaker 1: Are you trying to expand it historically, culturally, socially, food wise,
Speaker 1: language wise. It's a beautiful way to think about travel.
Speaker 1: It took me years to think about traveling that way.
Speaker 1: I used to think about travelers have been there and
Speaker 1: have been there, done that, And then I start to
Speaker 1: realize what a you know, what a not great way
Speaker 1: to travel. That was Number four comes from the confidence piece,
Speaker 1: but an important one nevertheless, self reliance and problem solving.
Speaker 1: This one's probably my favorite. I'm sure if you ever
Speaker 1: tried traveling on your own or even with a small
Speaker 1: group of friends, you're bound to encounter some challenges. Now
Speaker 1: this is not including safety challenges. And you know, I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're traveling safely. I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're traveling, you know, in a
Speaker 1: place and in a way that is protecting you from
Speaker 1: any harm. But what I mean is you may have
Speaker 1: to problem solve. You may have a flight get canceled,
Speaker 1: you may need to jump on a train, you may
Speaker 1: need to learn how to use the local system. I
Speaker 1: remember some really horrifying experiences as a kid where I
Speaker 1: saw my parents problem solving, and actually watching them problem
Speaker 1: solve gave me a sense of self reliance in seeing
Speaker 1: how they navigated very difficult things. I remember once in
Speaker 1: a city we didn't know how to take their subway system,
Speaker 1: and my parents maybe didn't get something stamped or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. And I remember like being separated from my
Speaker 1: parents and being held in a separate room, and I
Speaker 1: could see my parents being shouted at and they took
Speaker 1: our passports, and it was a really uncomfortable, nerve wracking
Speaker 1: experience for my parents and for me and my sister,
Speaker 1: who were very young at the time. And that isn't
Speaker 1: an experience I'd want anyone to have, but watching my parents'
Speaker 1: problem solve even I mean back in the day, I'd
Speaker 1: used to see my parents pull out a map and
Speaker 1: navigate it or ask for help. And I think all
Speaker 1: of those skills are really powerful in today's world, where,
Speaker 1: of course we've become reliant on Google Maps. We don't
Speaker 1: need to ask for directions anymore, we don't need to
Speaker 1: learn how to read a map. But I think there
Speaker 1: are a lot of other aspects that you grow in
Speaker 1: when you travel alone, of self reliance and problem solving,
Speaker 1: and I think that a lot of us today are
Speaker 1: looking for that. We've become so overreligned and dependent on others.
Speaker 1: We crowdsource everything from what outfit should I wear tonight
Speaker 1: all the way through to is this job right for me?
Speaker 1: Or do you think I'm going to get picked right?
Speaker 1: We crowdsource everything. When you travel alone, you get the
Speaker 1: opportunity to problem solve and be reliant on yourself. And
Speaker 1: one way to keep things stress free is by booking
Speaker 1: with booking dot Com because what I've loved is that
Speaker 1: they offer twenty four to seven customer service and helpful guides,
Speaker 1: so you can follow your itinery with these no matter
Speaker 1: how complex it gets. So you can actually take the
Speaker 1: stress out of travel by planning ahead so you can
Speaker 1: focus on the experience and take care of yourself throughout
Speaker 1: the journey. And I think that's a really important touch
Speaker 1: and a part of travel, especially when you're learning to
Speaker 1: travel alone. And sometimes we underestimate these things when we're
Speaker 1: traveling with friends. You know, you always kind of figure
Speaker 1: it out with friends, but you know when you're on
Speaker 1: your own, there's a deep sense of self reliance and
Speaker 1: problem solving that that gets filled.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Number five is mastering your mind. So this is the
Speaker 1: one I wanted to get to because I know a
Speaker 1: lot of you will be thinking right now. I have
Speaker 1: no idea how I do this, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to lie to you and tell you it's easier. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to just say to you, yeah, get on
Speaker 1: with it. I actually empathize with it. We're living at
Speaker 1: a time where we're so used to being surrounded by people.
Speaker 1: We're so used to having noise and clutter in our mind,
Speaker 1: in our space wherever we are, and I feel traveling
Speaker 1: alone actually helps you master your mind. The first few days,
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable, the noise and the chatter. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm bored. Oh my gosh, Why did I do this?
Speaker 1: Why did I come here on my own? What am
Speaker 1: I doing to myself? What is this? This is not right.
Speaker 1: I'm scared, I'm fearful, I'm insecure. Whatever it is right,
Speaker 1: You're going to hear all of that, and day two
Speaker 1: will get a little quieter, and day three it will
Speaker 1: get a little quieter. You're actually learning to master on
Speaker 1: the mind, to still the mind, to experience the mind
Speaker 1: in its most extreme sense of fear and then allowing
Speaker 1: it to dissipate, and noticing that you have the ability
Speaker 1: to calm and still your mind when you travel alone. Yes,
Speaker 1: there will be anxiety. Yes, it will be uncomfortable. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is taking you out of your comfort zone. For sure.
Speaker 1: It's doing all of that right, it's doing all of that,
Speaker 1: but it's also just giving you space to say I
Speaker 1: can actually acknowledge the voice of my head. I don't
Speaker 1: have to listen to it. I don't have to follow it.
Speaker 1: I don't have to be totally set of course for it.
Speaker 1: I can listen to it, I can hear it, and
Speaker 1: then I can choose what I want to do with it.
Speaker 1: Letting your mind slowly get quieter really allows you to
Speaker 1: build mindfulness. It really allows you to build that sense
Speaker 1: of I don't always have to listen to the voice
Speaker 1: of my head. I don't always have to follow the
Speaker 1: loudest shout in my mind. I can learn to allow
Speaker 1: it to come and go and then listen to what remains.
Speaker 1: Number six, you really challenge yourself to beat boredom and distractions.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have a long list of podcasts you
Speaker 1: want to listen to a long list of books. I'm
Speaker 1: taking a three day solo trip this week, and I
Speaker 1: am so excited because there are so many books that
Speaker 1: have been sitting on my desk in my bag, and
Speaker 1: I really haven't managed to open up, and I am
Speaker 1: so looking forward to diving deep. And I know that
Speaker 1: in three days I can do some serious damage onto
Speaker 1: my reading list, and I know just being present with
Speaker 1: that is going to be so powerful for me. Now
Speaker 1: I'm obviously reading a lot of growth, a lot of
Speaker 1: personal development nonfiction. But even if you've been waiting to
Speaker 1: escape into a book, I feel like when you solo travel,
Speaker 1: you get to almost feel like you're a part of
Speaker 1: that story. You get to feel like you're a part
Speaker 1: of that experience. And so challenge yourself to beat boredom,
Speaker 1: to beat distractions, to always be on your phone when
Speaker 1: you're in another country, another space, another environment, another energy,
Speaker 1: another city or town you don't have to travel to
Speaker 1: another country. It's incredible what you can achieve in terms
Speaker 1: of productivity, createivity, and just being able to disconnect from
Speaker 1: what you're used to disconnect from what you're usually surrounded by.
Speaker 1: It's super powerful. Number seven is vigilance. I think this
Speaker 1: is a really powerful trait and I think some of
Speaker 1: us have it, some of us don't, and a lot
Speaker 1: of us need to develop it. What I mean by
Speaker 1: this is can you read a room. I find that
Speaker 1: when you're surrounded by people you're used to being surrounded by,
Speaker 1: you're no longer reading the room. You're predicting the room. Right,
Speaker 1: It's like Google, where it's predicting your search. It's not
Speaker 1: reading it in the sense of it's not feeling it,
Speaker 1: it's not experiencing it. You are, but you're predicting it.
Speaker 1: You know how your dad's going to behave, you know
Speaker 1: how your friend behaves in a certain situation. What happens
Speaker 1: with that is we lose our ability to be hyper vigilant. Now,
Speaker 1: when you're new surroundings in new spaces, you're actually just
Speaker 1: getting a sense of the temperaments of the people. You're
Speaker 1: getting a sense of the energy and the space. You're
Speaker 1: actually high your ability to tune in to your intuition
Speaker 1: the energy around you, and how you feel about it. Now,
Speaker 1: you may say, Jay, that sounds like anxiety to me.
Speaker 1: It can be anxiety inducing, but it can also be
Speaker 1: a really powerful skill if seen in that way. You're
Speaker 1: learning how to navigate conversations with different people from different backgrounds.
Speaker 1: You're learning how to navigate a conversation with someone in
Speaker 1: a different language. You're learning to be vigilant in certain spaces.
Speaker 1: I remember getting lost in a town I was in
Speaker 1: a couple of a few years back now, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to find a way out, and I had to
Speaker 1: be extra vigilant about my surroundings to make sure I
Speaker 1: felt safe. And so I think you take safety more
Speaker 1: seriously and you can bring that back into your life.
Speaker 1: And I use the word vigilance because it's almost like
Speaker 1: you're good at reading your surroundings. You're good at knowing
Speaker 1: what's in your periphery, which sometimes we switch off when
Speaker 1: we haven't been to a new place for a long time.
Speaker 1: I think that number eight is obvious, but it's important
Speaker 1: for me to say getting to know diverse people potential
Speaker 1: friends for life. I think when you travel, especially on
Speaker 1: your own, there's a certain feeling that you want to
Speaker 1: get to know people. Now, of course, you want to
Speaker 1: be safe about this, but you start learning how many
Speaker 1: amazing people around the world, what kind of beautiful backgrounds
Speaker 1: around the world, the amount of trust we can build
Speaker 1: with other humans who are walking a different path and
Speaker 1: a different background from us. I encourage you to find
Speaker 1: people in places of similar value, service based projects, people
Speaker 1: who are involved in this particular sport that you love abroad.
Speaker 1: I think it's a wonderful way to connect with potential
Speaker 1: friends for life, and this one's one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: When you travel alone, there's no stimulation and no one
Speaker 1: else to worry about. A Lot of the time when
Speaker 1: we're traveling, one of the most anxiety inducing things is
Speaker 1: making sure everyone's happy. Has everyone eaten? Is everyone happy
Speaker 1: with how it's going? Is everyone having a good time?
Speaker 1: I think having a good time? On they're not having
Speaker 1: a good time. Are we having a good time. I'm
Speaker 1: not having a good time. Cliques develop, whatever it may be.
Speaker 1: You get to truly recharge, You get to truly focus
Speaker 1: on yourself. You get to give yourself the attention and
Speaker 1: the patience and the time that you deserve that you
Speaker 1: often don't give to yourself. I really hope this inspires
Speaker 1: you to take a solo journey. I hope you also
Speaker 1: tell me where you went and what you learned. That's
Speaker 1: what I'd love to know. If you're listening to this
Speaker 1: right now and you're feeling inspired and you feel called
Speaker 1: to go somewhere, tag me in a story, share it
Speaker 1: on TikTok, Let me know where you're going because I'm very,
Speaker 1: very excited for you. Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: I'm always rooting for you and forever in your corner,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad I've got to spend this time
Speaker 1: with you. I'm always traveling for work, whether it's for
Speaker 1: a podcast recording, a shoot, or a speaking engagement. But
Speaker 1: what I love most about traveling is that it allows
Speaker 1: me to discover new sides of myself. Whether I'm trying
Speaker 1: new foods, meeting new people, or stepping into different cultures.
Speaker 1: Each time helps me grow and learn in ways they
Speaker 1: didn't expect. That's why I always use booking dot Com.
Speaker 1: They make it easy to not only find the perfect
Speaker 1: place to stay, but also to explore new environments and
Speaker 1: discover parts of myself I hadn't tapped into before. With
Speaker 1: their AI powered trip planner, I get personalized recommendations that
Speaker 1: make every trip feel fresh, and the verified reviews give
Speaker 1: me confidence that I'm always choosing the right spot today.
Speaker 1: I want to use this time we have together to
Speaker 1: share my favorite lessons from traveling and why it might
Speaker 1: just be time for you to go on a solo trip.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. Let's go on this journey together to
Speaker 1: plan and travel with confidence. Use booking dot com to
Speaker 1: find your next destination. It's the perfect place to book
Speaker 1: any kind of trip. To get the most out of travel,
Speaker 1: go to booking dot com now to book your next trip.
Speaker 1: That's Booking dot Com Booking dot yeh.
Speaker 2: If you love this podcast, you love my episode with
Speaker 2: Lewis Hamilton. Lewis and I talk about why you should
Speaker 2: stop chasing societies definely of success and how to be
Speaker 2: more intentional with your goals. You don't want to miss
Speaker 2: it like. It's not about being perfect.
Speaker 1: It's about just every day, one step at a time,
Speaker 1: trying to be better, trying to do more.
Speaker 2: I'm learning a lot about myself.
Speaker 1: I have to break myself down in order to be
Speaker 1: able to be better.