This week, I was proud to be a repeat guest on the podcast “Thanks for Asking”, hosted by my inspirational friend, Helen Nodland of Virtuoso Travel . Helen is well known in the travel industry, and I was honoured to be a guest on her highly touted industry podcast. After 2 years of CoVid virtual meetings with Helen, I’m looking forward to an in-person toast when we see each other in Vegas at Virtuoso Travel Week next month.Travel is indeed back.
And one of the biggest trends I’m seeing in my business is wellness travel.
I’m not a fan of industry jargon however. I usually get glazed over eyes from clients if I tell them “wellness travel” is the latest and greatest trend. But, if I tell people that “wellness travel” just means focusing on “healthy living” as well as “self-care,” and finding ways to incorporate that in your travel as the world re-opens, it resonates.
There are CoVid jokes (coping mechanisms, of course – we all know how serious this disease is) – such as CoVid19 means you gained 19 pounds during the pandemic. Or – there’s also the four stages of the pandemic – where you can become a Monk, a Hunk, a Chunk, or a Drunk. Maybe all four at one point or another?
But as we re-emerge from the pandemic, and try to slough off the 19 pounds along with the rest of CoVid19, we are reclaiming our power too.
Many of my clients are looking at their own wellness, and are ready to embrace more healthy living and self-care.
When I hosted my river cruise group just before the pandemic started in December 2019, one of my group leaders was a fitness and nutrition guru, Kathy Smart. Kathy’s mantra was “change what you eat, and you can change your life.”
Wise words.
And while I didn’t necessarily apply Kathy’s lessons during the pandemic (I too had my monk, hunk, chunk, and drunk stages), I am ready to reclaim my power now.
Losing my mom unexpectedly at the end of May this year has certainly coloured my perspective too. My mom was only 20 years older than me. So, that personal loss has me thinking about where I want to be in 20 years, and want kind of shape I will be in.
I’m looking to “change what I eat” and also be more mindful about healthy living and self-care.
Funnily enough, the Canada wide Rogers outage last week has certainly heightened my interest in self-care too. The wild complete loss of my home phone, business phone, and internet just underscored how fragile this normally robust infrastructure system is. And, made me think about how fragile our health and our bodies are.
Time to regenerate – both the travel industry, and ourselves.
I will always still focus on adventure and cruise bucketlist trips for my clients. But, I also see the intersection of adventure travel (especially soft adventure) and cruise travel (especially small ship and expedition and river cruising) to really be where wellness travel lives.
You can take a walking and wine trip to Italy.
You can do a river cruise that offers morning yoga classes.
You can take a holiday to somewhere like The Body Holiday in St. Lucia, and learn new habits and ways of living.
It’s time to life your life lushly and as luxuriously as you can. And that begins with healthy living and self-care.
Let’s find a way to incorporate that in your travels too.