The 3 rules that turn any vacation into a transformational retreat.

**You deserve vacation time.**

But you know that travel can be risky- there is a chance you could end up with a nightmare story to share.

While some people love the thrill of the unknown, others, myself included, prefer to have enough plans in place to have a delightful, positive experience.

This is why so many people love the idea of an all-inclusive vacation. It seems like a safe bet. Yet more and more travellers recognize that all-inclusive resorts are missing key elements to make the travel experience feel authentic, connected, and luxurious.

Many all-inclusive vacationers have described being treated like an unimportant guest and even getting taken advantage of rather than cared for.

We deserve to feel both taken care of AND like an important guest when we travel!

Society has glamorized flying first class, private jetting, and yacht life as the way to feel important. But what is interesting about these experiences is that they too can feel empty just like an all-inclusive. Being sheltered in a huge fortress is just as lonely.

The sad part is some people get so stressed about not getting the luxury experience they desire that they don’t even plan to travel citing not enough money as the main reason.

Of course it takes some investment, BUT not just money), to get the deep benefits of travel. But keep reading and I will share how a well planned time away from your usual routine is transformational.

To start, a simple change of environment alone can improve stress levels and well being by A LOT! I love this study that highlights the truth that WFH is not all it’s cracked up to be: we need environment changes for mental health.

But how do you get the next level of vacation where you get to feel connected VS isolated in a hotel room or lost in a crowd?

After years of travelling and musing on these questions, I came to the realization that vacation time and travel was ready to be re-defined.

So, I did what any entrepreneur would do, I innovated the way I travel to fit my desires (the desire to be taken care of in a new place, while simultaneously feeling like I am living like a local).

I came across the retreat idea through the yogis in my life. I went on a couple of retreats and dabbled in offering retreats myself. The epiphany came one day while I was hanging out with my husband on a weekend away from city life.

There we were with our toes tingling in the hot tub after a refreshing, ahem, skinny dip, in the moonlit lake, the brilliance of millions of stars and a full moon shining down on us. We were glowing from the inside out, deeply in love and in connected conversation.

This is a retreat! We are on a retreat and I love that we just turned a simple weekend getaway into something deeper.

In fact, I started to wonder, could all vacations and all travel be turned into retreats. When you redefine your vacation time as retreat time you give yourself the space to create something new.

A retreat allows you to get really intentional about how you spend your time away from your usual routine and how you spend your money.

What is a retreat? Some may think that the only way to retreat is to join a yoga retreat and be forced into activities that may not fit your lifestyle with strangers you are not sure you want to be with. However, there is no defined travel retreat definition.

I encourage you to check out Queen of Retreats to get a glimpse of the magnitude, and diversity of retreats being offered today.

Do you want to sip wine on a vineyard with your spouse and go running every day with a trainer? There is a retreat for you.

Do you have a wish to paint every day and meet amateur artists like yourself? There is a retreat for you too.

Do you have a deep desire to be a VIP and get a retreat planned perfectly for your lifestyle, body, and mental needs? I definitely have a retreat for you that is an all inclusive hybrid.

This Transformational Retreats series of guides, tips, and travel awakenings is designed to break the rules of travel while simultaneously giving you some rules (as sometimes it is the lack of rules that causes the nightmare stories!).

I created three rules that constitute a retreat. Of course, break the rules if you must, but I would suggest trying out a retreat that has these 3 elements before doing so.

Retreat Rule 1.

A retreat has an intention.

I also love to call the intention “a mission”. This feels more like a fun game to me. Either way, stating the intention or mission is a way to gauge that the desired experience is actually happening.

Retreat Rule 2.

A retreat has activations.

These are different from activities. Activities are things you do to pass the time to be entertained, whereas activations are intentional events set up to elicit emotions, movements, or stillness in line with the retreats intentions.

Activations are the milestones of the retreat and do exactly what the title says, they activate you, so you achieve your retreat mission.

Retreat Rule 3.

A retreat has a guide.

A retreat guide is different from a tour guide. A retreat guide is guiding your internal experience. You may not even need to leave your accommodations to achieve your retreat mission. A great retreat guide will assist you to experience a transformation in your life.

In post-pandemic travel life I imagine we will all be looking to travel a little more cautiously. The future is not as certain as we once thought and travelling across country lines makes that glaringly obvious.

When you define your travel plans as a retreat you give your travel time a makeover and shine a light where there is unconscious desire to have a more meaningful experience.

So, as you make your next plans, think of what it would need to be to be called a retreat. And may all your vacations become luxurious retreats for your body, mind and soul.

Over the coming weeks and months I will share my favourite finds, incredible people I have met, and (soon) I will send you an open invitation to join a travel planning community.

I look forward to connecting with you.

xo