Intentional travel is about more than just visiting new places. It's about making a plan, understanding what you want to get out of your travels, and integrating those experiences into your life. Charlotte, or Charlee, as she's affectionately known, emphasizes the importance of traveling with purpose. Whether it's to learn, connect, or rejuvenate, having a clear intent can transform your travel experiences.
Charlee brings a wealth of knowledge from her extensive background in the travel industry. She started her journey 30 years ago and has since explored the world through various roles in the travel sector. According to Charlee, travel offers numerous benefits:
To make travel intentional, it's crucial to plan with purpose. Start by asking yourself what you want to achieve from your travel. Is it relaxation, adventure, cultural immersion, or something else? Charlee suggests creating a travel strategy that aligns with your interests and goals.
Many people have objections or fears about traveling, such as cost, time, or fear of the unknown. Charlee advises addressing these concerns head-on:
Today, many travelers are looking for more meaningful experiences, such as health retreats, cultural immersions, and sustainable travel. Charlee highlights the growing trend of combining travel with volunteer work or educational experiences. These trips not only enrich your life but also contribute positively to the destinations you visit.
Traveling with intention means making every journey count. It's about planning with a purpose, embracing new experiences, and enriching your life through meaningful travel. As we navigate our busy lives, integrating intentional travel can provide the much-needed balance and perspective we often seek.
So next time you plan a trip, ask yourself what you want to achieve, make a plan, and travel with intention. The world is a big, beautiful place, and it's waiting for you to explore it meaningfully.
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Kelly Berry (00:00) Hi friends, and welcome back to Life Intended. I'm your host, Kelly Berry. Life Intended is a podcast that explores what it means to be true to yourself and live an authentic and purposeful life. Each episode explores my guest's version of personal growth, self-discovery, and the pursuit of becoming the best version of themselves, as well as how to find the joy in the journey. Today's episode is about something I think everybody loves and everybody loves to learn about and talk about: travel. And if you don't love it, I at least encourage you to open your mind and your ears today and hear all of the good things that my guest has to share. Today, I've got Charlotte Tom here with me. Born a Texan, now living in the Sunshine State of Florida, Charlotte, AKA Charlee, loves all things travel. Her adventures began 30 years ago when she boarded a cruise trip as an assistant purser, which sparked a passion that continues to this day. With an extensive background in the travel industry, Charlee shares her insights through practical tips, exploring unique destinations, and finding those hidden gems in hopes of inspiring others to pursue their own dream travels. Her professional journey encompasses sailing on cruise ships around the world, managing transportation services in Alaska, leading shore excursion teams, and developing business through sales and marketing, all of which brought challenges and countless adventures. In a quote from Charlee, "I firmly believe there's a big, beautiful world to explore while we are living on planet earth. Traveling is not only a fantastic way to see the world, but an even better way to connect with new people in hopes of becoming lifelong friends. Travel definitely opens our eyes to so many different walks of life that we would have never experienced in our day-to-day routines." Let's inspire one another. Welcome, Charlee. So great to have you here today.
Travel Charlee (01:55) Thank you, Kelly. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about travel because yes, I do have a passion for it. I enjoy it, and I really like to inspire people to travel and get out of their comfort zone of being in our day-to-day lives. Just like I said in my quote, the big, beautiful world that we have, there's so much to see on our planet.
Kelly Berry (02:02) Yeah. And I love the things that you said about, you know, travel in itself is great and seeing new things and going to these dream destinations, but there's a lot of components of travel and getting out there. It's relationships, it's exposure. You know, I think it's more than just going somewhere to lay on a beach. There's a lot of life enrichment that you can get out of travel. And so I'm excited to dig into that today too.
Travel Charlee (02:48) Exactly, intentional travel. And today, more than ever since, you know, basically post-pandemic, a lot of people are now traveling intentionally, not just to go. I mean, obviously, we all want to lay on the beach, drink a pina colada, you know, that kind of thing, but a lot of people now since we were all kind of stuck in our, you know, in our, I say our four walls, behind our four walls at home, we all kind of opened ourselves up to there is more to life and maybe intentionally traveling is one of those things. It's a push now after all of that, people really want to make them, again, intentionally, but also to share that with others in their family or if they're traveling with their partner or even multi-generation families.It makes it easier to share with others in their family or if they're traveling with their partner or even multi-generation families.
Kelly Berry (03:41) Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. And I want to get into all of that and just help people think about travel and kind of their strategy as individuals, as families for what they want travel to look like in their life and the part that they want travel to play. So this is going to be great. And I think you brought travel stats, right? Can you share some of those with us so we can start off?
Travel Charlee (04:05) I did, I brought, yes. Yeah, I brought a few that get into the stats of why people travel. So one of the first things, it's ranked as one of the most enjoyable activities globally. And like I said, these days, many travelers are looking to travel and even meditation trips, retreats.
Kelly Berry (04:09) Let's get into them.
Travel Charlee (04:31) Health getaways for both mental and physical health when it comes to travel. And like I just mentioned with being post-pandemic, I mean, we had kind of a travel, you know, everybody was behind closed doors and nobody traveled because they were obviously afraid to travel. And then when everything kind of opened up, it went like bunkers. So we had a lot more people traveling. And, you know, there's a lot of benefits to traveling, which I think that if you wanted to get into why people travel and why should it be almost a form of therapy people, there's a, you know, a multitude of benefits for your mental and also for, well, one of the health benefits, which I don't think people know, it really does reduce the risk of heart disease up to 30% and also lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome and the symptoms of that. So that is one of the health benefits, which I think a lot of people don't even think about because obviously when you're at home and you have all that stress, you know, just traveling kind of, if it's a vacation, does kind of get you to relax a little.
Kelly Berry (05:48) Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of health benefits. You know, I guess if you are doing like a health retreat or a meditation retreat or something like that, you know, obviously I would think that it has health benefits, but I guess I wouldn't have just thought as adding travel into your life necessarily would especially have that kind of impact. So that's pretty neat.
Travel Charlee (06:10) Yeah, so some of the benefits traveling, which people don't, I think people do probably think about it maybe subconsciously, but not consciously, that the main, one of the first things is it reduces your stress so like people, obviously in our daily lives, we have the pressures of a career, of a family, of just your everyday life. And that really travel takes us away from that. So the daily routine that we have kind of pulls us away. So you have to be immersed in where you are and it changes, you know, changes your daily routine, so to speak, and distracts us from some of the stresses. So in return, it helps reduce our cortisol levels, which is obviously our body our main stress hormone. In general, it boosts your immune system overall. And there's many studies that show that after you come home, your stress levels are reduced from anywhere from four to six weeks after you come back from that in itself is a great way to deal with your stress, because we all have some sort of stress in life. So yeah. So a few of the others is boosting creativity. So travel stimulates, you know, creativity with, again, you're being exposed to different cultures, cuisines, you're trying new foods, you're hearing different languages that maybe people are speaking that you wouldn't hear at home. And then also some new ideas and perspectives. So like I'll give you an example, I went on just on a river cruise with my mother and my sister-in-law, and we did a Christmas markets and we learned all about the history. We thought it was just going to be kind of a Christmas markets cruise where we were going to go to the markets and you could, you know, buy all kinds of items that were holiday Christmasy. And it wasn't, we actually, most of it was very educational. We learned a lot about, you know, about their lives, their everyday lives, but then also the history of, you know, how they became their own, you know, countries when there was wartime. So that, it opens people's minds, and then maybe they come home and think of a better way to do things. And then, yeah, and so emotional stability is another one, of course, it increases our happiness most of the time. Hopefully you're going with someone that you love and that you enjoy being with. So an overall boost for a lot of people. And even, you know, some researchers have found that females who took vacations twice or more, two or more times a year, are less likely to report symptoms of depression and tension. So that's, you know, in and of itself a great way to, you know, to get, maybe to get rid of if you're kind of feeling down and just go on a quick little, you know, getaway.
Kelly Berry (09:11) So for all of those people who are living a life and feel like they're too stressed or too busy to take a vacation, maybe you should think about taking a vacation to alleviate some of that stress. And I do know, you know, as a business owner and, you know, somebody who works with other business owners, taking the time off to travel can seem stressful in and of itself. Sometimes you feel like you're working twice as hard before you leave, twice as hard when you get back. But to your point, the benefits of taking that time are really, really important. So a good perspective shift there.
Travel Charlee (09:44) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think people don't think about it. And so one of the other things that a benefit of travel is enhancing the cognitive flexibility. I know it seems like, but when I was doing my research a little bit more, I was digging in deeper to all the benefits of travel because you really don't think about it. And then when you do, it's like the cognitive flexibility of your mind, it switches to all these different things that are happening around you. So another country has the languages, has your mind is thinking of different ways. And I think a lot of people obviously don't think about that because when you're in your everyday routine, you get up at the same time, you work out, you do the same thing every day, eat lunch, go to work, come home, the whole, for most people that's their daily routine exercise. And so now when you're going, you're having to use other brain things in your mind that you have to do. So like unfamiliar environments can prompt you to think in new ways, how to do different things, to make different decisions that maybe you wouldn't at home. So like I use the example of a when you go to Mexico, like a lot of Americans go to Mexico and it's pretty easy because they speak English, but you also hear Spanish and you have to know a few words to get around. And so that really uses a different part of your brain to have to communicate in a different language. That I think people don't think about. And then physical activity in general, like we all, of course, most of us were sedentary for a few years. So some people got in great shape and some people didn't, you know, during that, but it really does promote, you know, physical activity. So you work a lot, you work a lot, you walk a lot more when you're on, you know, on a vacation or you're traveling because you have to get from point A to point B. And so a lot of people don't think about that either benefit, I mean, just physical benefit of you know, if you drive in your car a lot or you're behind a computer, you know, all day, which most people are, then it gets you kind of outside of that, that computer looking at our computers all...
Kelly Berry (12:08) Yeah, I was just going to say I'm always amazed at the number of steps on my watch when I'm on vacation versus when I'm at home. You know, especially when you travel internationally or to even like really big cities like New York, Chicago, of the walking that you do and all of the walking that really people who live there do all the time. It's very different, you know, than when I have what I would say is just like an average day at home, which is behind a computer.
Travel Charlee (12:16) Now. I know.
Kelly Berry (12:35) Yeah, unless I'm intentional at home about getting those steps in, they don't look like they do.
Travel Charlee (12:39) Right, and you get up and... No, it's so true. You don't think about it until you're there and you're like, wow, I'm doing a lot more. But it's fun. So you're in a different place and you don't think about it. So that's one of the benefits. And then the last one I think is the best one is the relationships with your partner, with your family. So if you're going with a group of people that you really love being with, it just, you know, it strengthens and it strengthens that relationship, especially with, you know, if it's a partner or a child or a family member, you know, because you're sharing those memories that you will talk about, you know, I say, even if some of them are not so good, you know, it's still that memory that you had when, do you remember when we were in, you know, wherever we were? So it kind of fosters that. And then my favorite really, because I really enjoy this part of travel is meeting new people. So in your, you know, our everyday life, we tend to gravitate to the people we already have, you know, relationship with our friends and our family, our neighbors. But when you travel, you really do have to meet other people. I mean, have to, but I, that's the part I enjoy because I like to hear, you know, other people's stories. And, you know, it's, it does make you kind of really think about your life and like what is happening in your life versus, you know, that's kind of, again, that to me, that's more. That's the intentional part is like I enjoy meeting whoever it is. It could be the waiter at, you know, in a cafe or, you know, just what is their story? You know, how did they get here or where are they from originally? So I think that that is the best for me.
Kelly Berry (14:19) Yeah, I think there are two things that you said there that things I would like to highlight are important things. And one is, you know, if you think about the time that you spend, you know, in your everyday life with your friends, with your family, at cookouts, you know, wherever you are, like the things that you talk about are the experiences that you've had. And so the trips that you've taken, you sometimes can bond over those shared experiences. So just thinking about like, what do you talk about with your friends or acquaintances? And a lot of times it's travel stories or talking about the places that you've been or the places that you want to go. So doing more travel gives you things to talk about in situations like that. More ways and more shared experiences to talk about. That's one. And then the other thing I think is important and you definitely have to be intentional about it is the people that you meet along the way. Your example of like a waiter at a cafe. You know, there are just so many interesting people in this world. The exposure that you can get to different people's stories and lessons they've learned or, you know, just incredible experiences. It opens up so much when you stop and take the time to engage in a conversation or listen to somebody or ask about it. And, you know, I just think that those are little things that enrich your life and they give you like more skills and more, you know, just ways of thinking about things, more perspective. Absolutely. Yeah.
Travel Charlee (15:48) Well, on a perspective, yeah. Yeah, and a perspective. Yeah, yeah, I think that, absolutely. I mean, some people say they don't like to, you know, I'm an introvert. Let's say I'm not an introvert, but I know I have introverts in my life and it's hard for them sometimes. But I feel like when you're traveling and you're away from your comfort zone, it does make it a little bit easier because some people think, well, I'm never going to see them again. You know, I can, you know, just ask questions or I feel like that some people maybe are more open to that just because of that reason. I mean, it's like, I'm never going to see them again. Or I'd like to know a little bit more about them, you know, and it just kind of makes it maybe a little easier. I mean, always the language part, which people are, you know, sometimes as people do have, you know, different languages. And also just the dialects of people, especially when you go outside the country. That is sometimes a fear for some people. But now there are so many different apps that you can use to help.
Kelly Berry (16:46) Yeah, so let's talk about, you know, like traveling and being purposeful about travel. I'm excited to have this conversation, like dig into it with you because I think from my perspective, what I see a lot is people either going to the same place as everybody else or going to the same place over and over and over, maybe because it's familiar. So, I want to talk about like how does somebody kind of figure out what they want their travel strategy to be for their life? What kind of travel, what kind of places and how can they make it more suited towards like who they are and what they want out of life?
Travel Charlee (17:31) Yeah, it's a great question. I actually came up with kind of a checklist. So I have questions when somebody comes to me and says, hey, Charlee, I don't know what I want to do. You know, I have no idea. I know, you know, obviously everybody knows what they like to do, right? So even if at home, they like to do certain things, usually it kind of spills over to vacation. And there might be some people that'll be a little bit spontaneous, but let's face it, most people, they want to do what they feel comfortable even at home, but then also traveling. So I start with a checklist. One that you have to start with is the budget and how much money you want to spend. I think that's a good start to if you don't have, really the time and the money are two of the things that really have to be considered. So how much time do you want to spend and then what budget is, because then that kind of narrows it down a little. But I think that like you said, a lot of people choose the same place because it has some sort of a comfort to them. Because, you know, they've been and they know it and, you know, I mean, it doesn't, it's not necessarily for me, for me, but for others, I feel like that that's one of the things that likely probably not you, you want to, you want to try new things and be open to new travel experiences. So I think a few things, like I said, the budget and then the time spent. But I think you think of the activities that you like. So like I say, write a list of all the things that you like to do, even maybe at home that you would want to do on vacation. So that kind of makes it a little bit easier to start. So if you're just a total beach person and you don't want to do culture, and you don't want to go to a museum and you don't want to, you know, that sort of thing, go to a location where it maybe has a little bit for you to do that, but then it also has some things. And one of the other things I think people don't think about is who they travel with. So they're partners. So I think that happens sometimes with couples or families. So there's a few things like, I'll give an example, a cruise or, you know, an all-inclusive where there's a lot of things to do for like a multi-generation family. So you can do a little bit of all of that and you hit different generations, but then also the different interests. So I think that that's one thing. And today there's just so many ways to research. I mean, I have trip planning tools like on my website that tell you that you can find things to do. I mean, TripAdvisor is a great one to find things. Where you'd want to do just by searching. Even of course, we're lucky that we have Google because we can look up things so easily about things and places that you want to go. I mean, like I said earlier, a lot of people now are looking for more mindfulness with retreats and places that have a spa option. Where you get some activity, but then you might go zip lining in the daytime, and then in the evening, you go to a nice wine tasting or a wine pairing. There really are all kinds of options out there these days, more than we've ever had really for travel.
Travel Charlee (20:53) You know, I think you start with those two. And then the other thing is, you know, the location of where you're comfortable with, because a lot of people, again, the language barrier, sometimes people, you know, are nervous about it. I mean, the big thing is fear, which, you know, we can get into a little bit more, but a lot of people, that's the main reason, kind of the objection to travel is fear. People just, you know, and it's difficult to figure it out and to plan it and... Even though one of the main benefits, not main benefit, but one of the beginning of a travel and a planet is the excitement and the anticipation of wanting, you know, going on your vacation. So I think a lot of people don't think about that. I think some people may dread that part, but that's where you seek, you know, someone that's an expert or someone that likes to do it. Because I have friends that love to do that part of it. You know, they're like, my God, I'd love to do the planning part. And so you kind of, that's the other thing I would say is, is like if you're in a relationship or you are a married couple or you have like a big family, you know, choose one, choose one person that maybe can be the ringleader and, you know, they kind of start the ball rolling, you know, writing kind of a list of the things that are important to you know, when you're traveling, I think that that really is number one, the key to doing so. Yeah, I like that example that stands out to me a lot is just, you know, people think of vacations and relaxing. So it's easy to just think of like, where can we go and go to the beach? But when we're talking about your life, you know, maybe you think about, well, only half of our vacations are going to be to the beach from now on, because we also want to expose our kids to different cultures or, you know, learn more or, you know, cross these things off of our bucket list. And so your travels start to look different. Maybe, you know, while you have young children and, you know, teenagers, maybe the beach is where you go every time because it's easy. It's what the majority of the people who you're with, that's what they want to do. But, you know, opening your mind to think, well, every single time we can go out of town, it does not have to be to the same.
Kelly Berry (23:05) And then how do we kind of like budget for that? How do we plan for it? What is that going to look like for us? And just start to think about it a little bit differently.
Travel Charlee (23:15) Well, I think that the other thing, even a beach, if you think about a beach vacation, you can go to a location that has a beach and you know that that sort of a thing. But then they also have like a, you know, like a city center or like a cultural area that usually places will have a museum. So those places, and I think that some people don't think about that because it obviously, like you said, they're kind of lasered into, I just need to go and sit on the beach and relax. You know, like we're just gonna sit and that's not really how it works, let's be honest. And you know, some people, that's what they want to do. I think that's great. But there's also a time, like you said, for if you have young children and you want them to see other cultures. And maybe, like I said, one of my favorite things to really do is to go to like the downtown or the main park, even like the old part of the town and see like where it kind of all started. So you see the buildings that are not so modern and they're not so, you know, pretty and manicured. But I think that you can incorporate a little bit of all of that when you travel. And like I said, I mean, just researching it or again, using someone, a travel agent that can tell you these are the things that you can do in this location other than just go to the beach. So that's another way to look at it. And as you know, it changes as you get older as well. You know, and you, like you have a little one. So as you grow, you're gonna be wanting to do different...
Kelly Berry (24:35) So that kind of makes me think about, you know, like I, Nick and I several years ago created like our bucket list of travel destinations that we want to get to at some point in our life. And, you know, I don't know now that we have a toddler, like, I'm really not sure when and what that's going to look like. But do you work with people to kind of figure out like, what are these big bucket list trips.
Travel Charlee (25:16) Yeah, I do help with that. I kind of, like I said, like I have my own checklist, but then I talk to them. A lot of, you'd be surprised how many people really know what they want to do. They just don't know where to start. So like, they're like, I want to go to Australia. I'll give an example. I mean, that's huge, but it just scares people to say that out loud. Like, I want to go to Australia, but I mean, it is a really long way and I don't even know where to start. So like that's kind of how I help people is like, is this something you really wanna do? And then that's where it comes in with the, you know, kind of a check like, okay, well, what is your budget for this trip? How many days can you be gone? And then what do you, what is, you know, the most important thing about, let's say Australia that you wanna see, you know, so that kind of helps them start thinking about really what they want to do and I mean some people still are like, I have no idea and but you I mean you really kind of have to know a little bit you can't just be you know like willy-nilly on that in my opinion because you want it to be the best trip and you're going to spend you know your time and your money and be away from your work so it's important you know it's as important as any you know other decisions that you make in your life is you know because again you you're taking that time off so and then you're also spending money to do these things and so to me it's just as important to be able to come back and feel like, that was a really great trip and really great memory too. So that's another way. I wanted to say the other thing that a lot of people are looking at now is the sustainability and going to places that basically are giving back. So that's another way of travel that people are doing now, like going to places where they can do some sort volunteer work. And so those are other ways that you can in a place that you go to. Like again, we'll go back to the beach. There are islands that need help and they have programs like that where you could go and do kind of... I'll give an example of that. I went, it's been years ago, but I went to the Dominican Republic and they had a program through one of the, in the cruise industry. And we actually built day, we built a, they had a floor that was dirt, a dirt floor. And they had a program where they went and obviously all the things that they had ready to make the cement. And then we, a group of us all made the floor in like a span of a few hours, but we all went as it is kind of, it was an excursion. And for us, it was an excursion for them. It was a new concrete floor for their very small house. And we met the people that were lived there, you know, you know, they had children, it was a, you know, a mother and a father and their children. And so those are things that, you know, again, for meaningful travel and kind of the mindful, you know, those are things that help another person, but they also help you as well to feel like you're giving back.
Kelly Berry (28:26) Yeah, I love that. Especially when you talk about, you know, exposing your kids to things too, you know, building that in because to your point, that was a part of a bigger trip. It was, you didn't have to go on a mission trip or something else like that and make it your entire trip. You could do something while you were there. So that's a great angle, I think, as well. Something good to think about for sure.
Travel Charlee (28:49) Yeah, because they're, they're really, yeah, there's really those kind of, I wouldn't say just excursion is the wrong word, but there's those kind of experiences that you can have, yeah, like you said, in a place, you know, well, everywhere, I think, you know, like in the Caribbean, for sure we did. And then, you know, some, some of the countries that need that sort offer.
Kelly Berry (29:07) Yeah, definitely. So we've talked a lot about, you know, the benefits of travel, how to kind of decide where you want to travel. I wanted to talk to you about the objections that you hear a lot, because what I would like to do in this podcast episode is for people to hear it and think differently about how they're traveling. You know, maybe if they're choosing not to or choosing to go to the same place or they haven't really thought about travel as a strategy for their life to kind of just start thinking about it in that way. And so it made me think about what are all the obstacles or the objections or the excuses that people make for not traveling? So what do you hear a lot?
Travel Charlee (29:47) Right. Well, yes, I mean, the top few are kind of going to be obvious to most people. But I say the biggest one is fear, because it all comes back to you're afraid to spend that money, afraid to, I'm too busy, behind in my job, kind of things I don't have anyone to travel with. Those are some of the big ones. Like I said, the fear one, and my first idea is to write down, if there's any kind of fears that you have with travel, I say to write a list of all of them. So you write them down so you can like see them. I'm a big list person. So you can see what really your fears are. And then I say like, just kind of look at it again and again, and be honest with yourself. Are these things that could really keep you from taking a vacation? And I say to that, to overcome one of those objections to me is to go somewhere that's local, that's like a driving distance. So almost like a staycation. So if you really don't have the money to go and you don't feel like you can afford it. You don't feel like you can take time off in the week. Then you take like a long weekend. So like we just have Memorial Day, we have Labor Day, we have July 4th coming, you know, those that you could jump in your car and go somewhere for a few days and at least get away from your, you know, your comfort. The other one is money. Of course, people always say, well, I can't afford it. I get that all the time in my years. Well, I can't afford to go now. Well, to me, you're never gonna, if you can't afford it now, you're like, we'll never be able to afford it. And that's how I look at it. So I still have a vacation make an account, just like with anything else that you do, have an account that's just for your vacation and set it aside. And whoever is going on the vacation does the same. And so you kind of, you know, you contribute it to every month, you know, $50, whatever it is. And then you can go. I just, funny enough, I just had a conversation with my aunt who she and my uncle and another couple, they would save their money. They would put it all together in a pot, like in a kitty kind of thing. And then they, when they had enough money together as they would go together as two couples and they would go somewhere. I just found this out like last month and I thought that's a really cool idea. So if it's like a couple that you love to travel with, then you guys like put so much money in and then you go somewhere that you wanna go together, even if it's just a short trip. So the money situation, you can't afford it, then I say, again, go somewhere for a long weekend, a short two or three night getaway. And a lot of people, again, use that excuse, well, then you have to eat and you have to stay in a hotel and you have to. And there is a lot of free, you know, there really are a lot of free things to do. You can go to a park, you can go, like I mentioned, the city center and just walk around. You can go hiking, you know, in a destination that has a hiking area. Biking, I mean, you may have to rent a bicycle, but it's minimal. And then of course, we go back to the beach and the ocean. I mean, that's pretty simple. You go and you can have a day and swim and, you know, frolic in the waves. So those are the main ones. And then again, the busy, too busy. A lot of people, and I felt it for years, of course, because you have your, you know, your career. And I was in sales, so it was obviously my financial stability was driven by my, you know, getting the sales and I worked with travel agents to grow their business. So you just don't want to be away because you don't want to miss that, you know, what if something happens? And I think that's one of the hardest ones. I don't know what to, that one's hard. I think one of the big things is to do the tasks that you can do before you go. So you kind of get as much done before you go on vacation so you have all of that kind of ahead of then. The other thing I think that people are on their phones all the time, obviously, even on vacation. And I don't recommend it, but I say if you really have to work, you set aside a few hours, like let's say two hours early in the morning, like you when your daughter was sleeping early in the morning, you and your husband do what you have to do before, you know, before it's time to start your day. And I know that's not the perfect, but I just, that's one thing to me. On a vacation and traveling is being mindful of being on that device all the time, which we, I mean, we're all guilty of it. But it's, to me, that's kind of one of those things that I think a lot of people need to stop and they need to look around at where they are. And I think we all don't do that enough. I mean, I mean, I, even adults, even seniors, you know, that are on their phone all the time. I'm like, just stop and look around at where you are. Yeah, I was just going to say, I think there are pros and cons to the working on vacation thing. It may be a situation where being able to set aside an hour or two a day and work allows you to take more vacations or allows you to take a longer vacation. There may be pros to it, but I do think it's like everything else. You should stop and think about, do I have to be doing this? Why am I doing this? What would happen if I'm not doing this? And just evaluate Is it actually necessary or is it just something that you're doing because it's a habit or you're letting it creep in to every part of your life? So a plug there for being really intentional about it.
Travel Charlee (35:31) Right, and I think that that sometimes is difficult for especially people that are really driven and the type A that have to be always, I gotta be on and available. But I think that there's some boundaries, especially on vacation. I mean, now, as you probably know, a lot of people obviously work remote, so you can work from anywhere in the world and even I've done it myself and I mean, it's great, but I think you still have to have you know, that boundary of I'm going to work from this hour to this hour and I'm going to work really hard during those hours and then I can take time off in the evening or go for lunch, you know, like an hour to lunch. I mean, and I mean, let's face it, Europeans and a lot of countries do this, you know, in their everyday life. You know, they take the afternoon, you know, off to enjoy their family and to go have, you know, a coffee and you know, as Americans, we're not so good at it. But it just kind of is, I think, especially when you're away and you're on vacation, take that time and be mindful. And I think especially of the other people that are in your life, I think that's the biggest, the hardest part. It's not really for yourself as much, but it's really for the people that you're traveling with.
Kelly Berry (36:48) Yeah, so what about people who have, you know, I think about people who have spouses who maybe, you know, they're always like, well, my spouse doesn't fly and I don't like to drive in a car, so we can't really decide on any place to go. Or we have young kids and, you know, that's not really, I don't want to travel internationally with them or whatever. So what are the types of things that you like talk to people about in those situations to help them not have to sacrifice what they want necessarily as a part of their travel because they have people who maybe like don't want the same things as them?
Travel Charlee (37:48) Yeah, that is that is difficult. I mean, because obviously there are people that don't like to fly. You know, there are a couple of different options. So yeah, I have someone in particular that I know that she travels like on a transatlantic, the ocean to get to Europe because she doesn't want to fly. I know a couple of people actually that do that. So there are ways to get around it. I would say if you have, you know, again, you kind of like in life we have to compromise. So I feel like somewhat some of it is is compromising. So if you will, you know, like someone that doesn't fly, they can take, you know, a train or a ship or another mode of transportation and then the other person flies there. I know people that do this too. And for different reasons. I know it's unconventional, but yes, I feel like that there are ways to get around that. But at the end of the day, you want to be, you know, together.
And you want to do things. So, you know, like I'll take you, you know, take you back to the beach option. I mean, not everybody wants to go to the beach. I mean, I live in Florida and you do too. We rarely, I rarely go to the beach, honestly. I love it. And I love being that it's so close, but I know it's crazy, but I know, but there are a lot of people that don't, don't love that. They want to go to a resort and they want to do all the things that are there, but they don't love, you know, the beach, they want the pool. They want the, and that sort of thing. So I think you compromise that with going somewhere that maybe there's a couple of options for, you know, like for couples or for a that's really gonna be my suggestion. It is difficult, I think, to do that because either people are gonna feel really strongly destination they wanna go to. And sometimes I feel like, that I tell people, well, if you want to do something else together that you both want to do, then here's how we proceed. You know, because obviously not everybody wants to go, you know, on a girl's trip to let's say Savannah or to, you know, Charleston to go shopping. So that would be something that you could do, but then how you tie it in with the, you know, the men is something in that destination that has something that they would want to do too. So I feel like that you, it just, it is difficult scenario, you know, at times and sometimes I say people, you know, well, let's do let's do vacation, you know, the one that you want to do and then we do the one then maybe your husband wants to do. You know, so maybe you you share you need to split it up. So you have two and then you make it maybe a smaller trip a few days, you know here and then if you only have a week then you know, that's tough So maybe you do, you know three or four days over a long weekend and then you do another trip. So I know couples that, you know, do that too. I think that again, it goes back to kind of compromising a little. And that's one of them that get through. But I feel like if you obviously if you love your significant other, that you'll be open to it. But it is a big, it's a yeah, it's a sometimes can be an expensive but you know, vacation, all of the ins and outs of it. Yeah.
Kelly Berry (40:56) Yeah. Always room for compromise. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I have some questions for you, some travel questions. If it's good with you, I'll just start throwing them your way. I'm sure the answer to this question is very broad and it depends upon a lot of things, but if you had to pick, like what are people spending on vacations right now? If we break it up into like maybe a few different groups, like domestic, international, or Europe, or whatever, but like how much are people spending on a vacation? So if somebody listening is thinking about, okay, well, I'm gonna start to be more intentional about my travel, how much money do I even need to save to be able to take a trip like this?
Travel Charlee (41:53) Got it, got it. So yeah, well a domestic trip, obviously between the two is gonna be quite different. But I would say, I mean, travel is definitely up. People are traveling more, but then travel is more expensive. So airline tickets are definitely have gone up and they are. And of course this time of year is gonna be the most expensive because summertime is always so starting now really June, July, August are the most expensive months really to travel just because obviously people can travel during the summer and people have kids teachers there's no school that sort of thing so but it just like again it depends on your you know your budget it's so hard to answer this question because if you're going to go on kind of a minimal a minimal you know something you know if you're going to do a short one then like a three or four day trip and you're gonna stay in a hotel that's kind of a mid-range, then you're gonna need, you know, $1,000. I mean, I would say, I mean, hotels are, I mean, you can get something that's But I would say, if you're just in general, I would say anywhere from, $1,000 to $2,500. That would be my, I mean, that's a big spread. And that depends on, that's just domestic and that's somewhere that could be, you know, just where you could drive to. And that's not really even airfare, because airfare is usually three to 500, like round trip. Again, depending on where you go. Now international is going to be, you know, I say five grand out of, you know, out of the gate for like a couple. I mean, that's minimal because I've just done a couple. So I'm kind of going back like someone is going to London for a week and they're about eight, about eight, about $8,000. And that's not even high end. That's kind of, kind of.
Travel Charlee (43:52) Middle of them and you could do the you know, you can do the the bottom layer, which is fine I mean you there's hostels and there's ways you can do it on a it just really depends on what you know Obviously what you you know, your your tastes are and what you can spend or what you want to spend So I
Kelly Berry (44:08) I know it's hard just, you know, trying to give people at least a starting point or a way to think about it. You know, if I want to take two vacations a year, you know, and this is my overall budget, like, how could I divide that up between maybe getting in a bucket list trip and maybe just something that's more of like a getaway? Yeah, what are, what are trips that you have seen people take that can be really amazing that I would say like people just don't always think about as an option for themselves?
Travel Charlee (44:40) They don't think of it as an option? Is that what you mean? Yeah, someplace that...
Kelly Berry (44:45) Yeah, like when you see these amazing trips and you probably see a lot more than we're exposed to, but what are some things that people could do that they probably aren't even thinking about doing?
Travel Charlee (44:56) Well, I think that some people don't think about, like places that have a little bit again like we kind of talked about that have a little bit of everything so you can drive trying to think of something like let me give an example like Santa Fe like I've been to Santa Fe New Mexico I don't know why that comes to mind and it's not something that people think about Santa Fe or New Mexico like in general I don't I don't know but they have a great they have a lot of history. So, you know, it's a very old city. And then, but then there's the mountains that you can go even in the winter, you could go and ski that's close enough where you could actually go ski there. But in the summer, I didn't go during ski season. But then the in, you know, in the town, it's very old, they have markets where you can go and you can buy different things. I mean, for shopping, it's great for shopping, I do like to then there's the history of it. So museum. They have several really good museums. They have an art gallery Street that is tons of art galleries. So it kind of encompasses a little bit of everything because they have the hiking so they have outdoor activities. But then they have kind of the culture and then they have shopping and then they have great cuisine if you if you like that cuisine. Like, I know that's an example. One of the other things that I think people don't think about is the national parks. I mean, those are great places to go to get all of that. You get the exercise, you get a little bit of everything, especially for families. And you get to go and it's minimal to get into the park. I mean, you can buy a park pass for a year if you do a bunch. So I mean, like I would give that as an example for somebody that they want to get away like one weekend a month. I mean, there's a national park, I think in every state. I mean, I don't know all of them, but I know I went to several when I was in Utah, Nevada, area of the country. And so it was within the US, it was a great way to see a bunch of different national parks and then you get the exercise. So those are a couple of things I think. I think even in a big. You know, like any of the big cities like New York. I mean everybody wants to go to New York City. Even in New York City, there are those little areas where that nobody, you know, the people don't necessarily go. So I think you look at things that are outside of what is the big draw. So like, you know, hidden gem. So you go to Paris, yes, everybody wants to see the Eiffel Tower. But there are all those little other places in the area that you can see and do. I think you kind of seek those out. Again, there's a lot of, when it comes to finding that today for us, a lot of that.
Kelly Berry (47:30) Yeah. Where is your favorite place you've ever traveled?
Travel Charlee (47:39) I know I get that question all the time. It's really hard to answer. I know people ask me. So I can give you a couple. In the Caribbean, I love St. John and the US Virgin Islands because it's still pristine. It's still kind of untouched. I mean they did have a hurricane a few years ago but they have rebuilt it back. And so I love St. John and the US Virgin Islands. The other one down there is Tortola or the British Virgin Islands which is amazing. Those are a couple in the Caribbean I would say. Now in, I know it's so hard, in Europe. I love Italy. And Greece, those are two of my favorites. Then I love doing Scandinavia, I did Scandinavia as well and it's beautiful. So yeah, I mean, those are a few, it's People ask me this all the time and I'm like, I guess I just need to come up with one answer. But I just like to, I find something positive and good about the location. But there's good about every place, so I know, that's a tough one for me.
Kelly Berry (48:42) Couple more things I want to ask before we are at time and wrap up. But do you have any really travel hacks or tips?
Travel Charlee (48:52) Yeah, in general, well, I think for packing, I mean, there's so much, I would say controversy in packing, because some people use the cubes, some people say no to cubes. I haven't used the cubes, the packing cubes. A lot of people swear by them. So I say I'm gonna try them and then I never do. So I need to actually, I need to try the packing cubes. But I think rolling, that's one, one for me, one thing for a suit, for packing and suitcase is rolling your clothes. So I think that always is something that I've learned to do. And I mean, again, less is more. I mean, I know people that take loads and loads and I, I'm guilty of it. And then you don't wear half of it. You tend to wear, you know, just certain things that are your favorites. I, my one suggestion is when you take everything out that you're gonna pack and then take away half of it and that's really what you should take. So that's always been a tip for me is take basically like half of what you put out. So like those shoes that you're probably not gonna wear but just in case, but you're probably not gonna wear. I would say now be practical with especially with footwear. If you're going somewhere where you're walking a lot and even if you're not, I mean, just comfortable, you know, comfortable pair of shoes. I mean, I've gotten to where I only take like three pair of shoes. One, you know, like a sneaker type or running, you know, walking shoe, and then some sort of sandal flip-flop, and then a nice, you know, dress shoe for the nighttime. And I mean, you really can get away with that. So I would say that is one of my, kind of a packing hack. Then for travel in general, I just, you know, be organized when you're, which is taking me time, but you know, be organized when you, when you're you know, traveling to the airport or to even in a car trip. I mean, because you don't want to be frantic and be like, my gosh, did I, you know, did I do that? Did I turn the oven off? Did I, you know, some people create a checklist, again, a checklist of all the things that they need to do before they leave. So, because I think once you leave, you really need to start your vacation instead of worrying about all the things. I didn't do that. I didn't send somebody an email or I didn't, you know, take the trash out or it's going to smell when we get home, things like that. So I think a checklist before you actually leave is a good idea.
Kelly Berry (51:12) Yeah, that's really good. I mean, I think we've all been there where we're worried about doing something, but we have left to go on a trip and, you know, a day later, our neighbors are texting us like, do you know the garage is open? And it's like, so I would definitely recommend a checklist. Yeah. Would like to talk about like, what is it? So,
Travel Charlee (51:20) Yeah, some of those.
Kelly Berry (51:41) Tell us a little bit more about what you do, what it's like to work with you, and what the benefit of working with somebody who helps you plan travel.
Travel Charlee (51:49) Okay, so I work with the, excuse me, the best way to find me is on my website and then there's a contact me so somebody can, and I'm on the social media channels as well to find me. But really, and truly the reason that I started with my own business was to kind of inspire people because I traveled too much. And everybody asked me a lot about traveling. And since I worked with travel agents in my past, basically my career, most of my career was working with travel agents to grow their own business. So it really was to inspire people to, like I said, to get out there and see the world, but then also to be mindful of where you go. I mean, like you said, don't just go to just anywhere just to get away. I mean, really and truly, especially now, I think that it's better to have, you know, kind of a plan and be a little more mindful of where you go. I mean, I believe in spontaneity as well, but I think that there's a way to do it. And so I really kind of help people to decide where, so kind of the planning part. And then I have some resources, like I said earlier, I have a few resources. So I work actually with travel agents and then I kind of decide. You know, like we have a conversation, like you and I would have a conversation and say, okay, Kelly, where, you know, kind of first of all, what's your budget? How long do you want to be gone? And then what are, again, like your activities, what are the things that you want to do on your vacation? I mean, what would give you most pleasure being on vacation? And then I come up with usually three to four, or, you know, people, obviously some of the agents that I work, like the land agent that I work with. She kind of comes up with three different options, three different locations. And so like I'll say, I think this would be good. So we kind of work together and then we kind of make a decision on, and then we send something to you and then you kind of look at, we kind of have an A, B and C really, so you don't get too overwhelmed with a lot of, that's what people tend to do is they get overwhelmed because they don't know where to start. And they're like, I want to all, I want to go to all these different places. And at the end of the day, you're like, well, this may not be a good option for you, you know, either because you don't have the financial means or, you know, you'll be you'll be you may be disappointed. So those are kind of and then again, always the financial part is the difficult one because everybody, you know, you really have to have a budget. And some people say, I don't have a budget. I'm like, no, you kind of you have to know what you can spend because it'll be disappointing. If you see something that costs $5,000 and you don't have $5,000 to spend on your vacation. So that's where we kind of work and I just use, you know, just the knowledge that I have from my experience, but then, you know, I obviously I do my research and if somebody, you know, wants to do something that I haven't, you know, I haven't done, obviously, I still have a bucket list too. But, you know, there are different ways to help them, so yeah.
Kelly Berry (55:00) Yeah. And so does it cost people to work with you?
Travel Charlee (55:04) It does an international trip, then we do charge kind of like a flat you get it back but like if it's an international it's a little more expensive because we really don't air is just most people want to do their own because they either have points or they want to use the points they just want to be in control of that part of it of the air part. So you but an international trip is usually, it depends, basically $100 just to put down to start the process. And then you get that back when you complete the trip and we do all the work for it. So for the most part, I know that that is a misconception of some people that in general travel agents, if you have a travel agent and anyone listening has a travel agent, continue to use them. I think it's important. Most of them are a lot of them are small businesses and So they will they will receive They don't receive the income from from you from the suppliers. So I think a lot of people know that they're they are actually getting a commission from the cruise line or the travel company so the tour operator if that helps because some people you know want to do it all themselves and think that they're gonna have to spend a lot of money to for someone to plan for that's just not the case, so they need an account, a bank account or something for their, you know, or a piggy bank, whatever it is that, you know, to for, you know, for travel. So yeah, I think unfortunately, a lot of people, I mean, one of the stats I read, like, people take 15 days, I think of their vacation, 15 days of vacation in a year. That's it in the US. I think the US is, you know, of not taking vacation days. But I think, yeah, it's a normal moment.
Kelly Berry (56:58) Yeah, yeah, way behind. Yeah. Well, this has been great. Is there anything else about travel or anything you know that you'd like to share we haven't gone over?
Travel Charlee (57:04) I know! I have a quote that I wanted to share actually. I have a quote that I found that I love and I think that I'll end with I want to say it correctly. It was actually from a prophet, the prophet Mohammed from 1400 years ago. I found it and his quote was, "Don't tell me how educated you are. Tell me how much you've traveled." So I think that's great. From a year and 1400 years ago. Yeah. So I think you obviously can do, I mean, you can travel and get a lot of education by traveling, which I think that people don't think of that. But so it's, you know, another way to, to have intention when you travel, you can learn.
Kelly Berry (57:38) Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah.
Travel Charlee (57:58) About different cultures, cuisines, all types, language, everything. So, and that's the best way to, one of the best ways to educate your children. Yeah.
Kelly Berry (58:06) Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yep. And then I have some end of the podcast questions that I would like to ask. Yeah. So two of them. The first one is, is something that you would like to accomplish personally or professionally this year?
Travel Charlee (58:12) Thank you, Kelly. Well, I think to continue to grow my business because I'm a small business and I've been a, been it's been two years to and change So I'd like to continue to grow that and find other ways to grow I enjoy being on podcasts. So when anybody has a podcast I'm like I love you guys I really enjoy talking about travel. So probably that would be one of them and then I have a few trips planned so I like to have more, I'd like to travel more, I know that sounds so, really work on getting some more partnerships. So that's really my, that's probably my biggest goal, yeah.
Kelly Berry (59:07) The second question is how do you unwind?
Travel Charlee (59:13) I like going to the spa believe it or not, so I normally spend my birthday Which I know you just had one. I normally spend my birthday. I try to I would like to go to the spa. So whether it be you know a luxury spa or just a massage or To take time to kind of be I mean even with someone but I really don't mind doing it by myself because it's kind of just it kind of makes me, yeah, breathe. And I've started meditating. So I have a meditation app that I'm using. And so I do that usually in the morning. I did it this morning and I'm trying to do it even once a day, either in the morning or the evening to really try to meditate. And I was gonna bring that up in our conversation because I think it's a good way for people that have travel anxiety. I think that if you have some anxiety before you travel, which people do just because of the, you know, just because they're on, you know, whatever it is, there's all kinds of ways. I think it's a good way to, I think meditation is a good way to maybe calm your anxiety. So I guess, yeah, those are the two. And then I, I guess the other way is I go, I visit my mother who I love dearly. And when I'm with her and I do things with her, it's kind of a, you know, I step back all the, you know, all the life throws at us.
Kelly Berry (1:00:36) Nice. Yeah, I love all of those. I too love the spa. I don't do as much of it as I would like to, but it's something that I love to do when I'm traveling, for sure.
Travel Charlee (1:00:42) Yes.
Kelly Berry (1:00:48) Awesome. Well, this has been great. I think some insightful things that we can share with people. And yeah, definitely just hopefully people will just start to think about being more intentional with their travel and how to make it part of their life, of their family's lives. And yeah, just get out there more. So thank you so much. We appreciate you, Charlee.
Travel Charlee (1:00:50) I know! Yeah. Yeah, thank you.
Kelly Berry is a strategic business leader and business coach. She is known for her operational excellence and her ability to drive growth and results across multiple industries.
She is also hosting her own podcast, Life Intended.
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