Power of Play
Power of Play
How to Plan and Embrace Traveling Alone
In this episode of Power of Play, entrepreneur coach, Kelly Clements, and travel visionary, Amanda Klimak, discuss the benefits and challenges of traveling alone. They share tips and tricks that can help to ensure a safe and rejuvenating journey.
Additionally, Amanda will share the destinations that her team of travel specialists suggest for the transformational solo journey we dream of. Whether it's New Zealand, Dubai or even Egypt, some of the destinations will surprise even you.
Check out Largay Travel at https://www.pleasegoaway.com/
Connect with Kelly
Email - kelly@theentreprenewer.com
Website - https://www.theentreprenewer.com
Complimentary Free Trip Planning Guide - https://www.theentreprenewer.com/free-resources/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EntreprenewHer/
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LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyclements/
Connect with Amanda
Email - amanda@largaytravel.com
Website - www.pleasegoaway.com
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute Travel Specialist Consultation - www.pleasegoaway.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pleasegoawaytravelcompany/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/virtuosotraveladvisor/?hl=en
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-klimak/
Welcome back to the power of play. I'm your cohost, Amanda, and this is, hi, I'm Kelly. Welcome back. Misfits. All right. We are broadcasting live nuts alive from the land of misfit toys. And we have a topic today which I think is near and dear to both Kelly and I. Women traveling alone or with girlfriends,
Speaker 2:but just women needing a flip and break away from the kids, the husband, the wife,
Speaker 1:whomever, whoever's at home, taking all your energy. Yes. A day to day life. And I think what I love about this topic is, um, you and I both travel a lot on her own for business. Um, every so often I'll take a trip by myself, but night usually. But it is like one of those dreams. We have that fantasy of getting away, getting a break and being able to just recharge. And I don't think it's actually specific only to women because I think men dream of this. Sure, yeah. And
Speaker 2:you know, historically I think men might have more access to it, whether it's her business travel, and we'll talk about that later. But you know, women today as we're climbing the corporate ladder and there's more and more of us doing bigger and better things in business, our workload at home has not necessarily shifted. You know, we still have this invisible workload. We're still the ones that are caring for aging parents. Our kids, we're the ones that know when we're running low on Cheerio's and when the toilet paper is running out and you know what's going on with the household and Johnny's coming over and he's got a peanut allergy, we got to scrub the kitchen. Like there's just a lot going on in our minds as well as running businesses and corporations and you know, it's a lot more stress in our lives. So now more than ever, women are really needing to disconnect and take a break. Self care rejuvenation.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And I think there's so many different aspects that go into it. It's actually this preparing for this segment was super fun because I got to actually send out a request from my team and said, where are the best destinations that you feel that women could travel to alone? And actually they gave me that. So we're going to share that information as well as some tips about safety and how you actually tap into that alone time in order to really create an experience that allows you to come back rejuvenated because you don't necessarily want to go be so busy that you come back and you're, you're even more drained from your vacation. Totally. Yes. Although some people love to have that active adventure, like being going and doing those hikes and the running and the, you know, whatever it may be. Maybe part of your,
Speaker 2:absolutely. It's, you know, it's as personal as our relationships are, is how we travel and how we disconnect. But I think one of the reasons, actually, the biggest reason I think women don't travel is guilt.
Speaker 1:Oh my God. So huge, so huge. And it's funny because
Speaker 2:[inaudible],
Speaker 1:you know, I had the guilt that came not making my current spouse though my ex husband. I had that guilt that came in and I think that was just, we were young, we were naive. We didn't communicate the way we should. Um, but it's that almost self imposed guilt. And I think that doesn't mean just women, that means men. That means anyone who's traveling away from a significant other. And I think that allowing yourself to release yourself of that guilt can make or break the trip totally as if you're on that trip. And every day feeling like, I can't believe I'm here. I feel so bad. I'd missing the school play and you know, I'm, I should be at home and I should be enjoying this time with my significant other. That guilt can almost make the trip not worth it when it's point. It's pointless. And if you are the significant other whose, whose spouse or partner is wanting to travel, support them, like take care of the stuff at home, let them completely disconnect. Right? She will come back a hundred times better when she's had time to just reconnect to herself. Well, and one of the things, it's funny, early on, um, so uncle Roland who founded our company, um, when he would travel, his rule was while I'm away, I only want good news. And he would say, don't tell me if things are going wrong, unless I need to intervene. And that's a request that I think it's really pretty cool and it's still, it's like a timeless request because you can give that request at home and you could get that request to your fellow coworkers, business partners, people that work for you. Because you know when they say, when you call in and they're like, Oh my God, everything is falling apart, the house is burning, you know, we've got this and that. Then you're like, Oh God, if I was there, I could fix it. And when you set that expectation ahead of time and say, it's not that I don't care, it's that I really need this time to kind of re-energize. So if you could hold those things back until I return, yeah, it would be super helpful. And I think that that is one of those timeless recommendations that I really appreciate it actually back that time, we would fact the hotel, we had a piece of paper, I was like, okay, sales are up 22% and this, you know, everybody's having a great day. Business is booming. When in reality you flip it over. It's like, Oh my gosh. But none of that changed by the time he came home. Right. So I think when you have that conversation ahead of time that says, you know, it's not that I don't care, it's that I really need this time to rejuvenate. And if you could just hold off, unless it's something important, if somebody's sick or you know, the kids need something. Um, and even having those discussions with your, your children to say, while I'm away, you know, if you could do me a favor and help me and allow me to really have a good playtime by myself, that would be really helpful. Make all the difference in the world. Totally. So one of the topics I want to touch on Kelly, cause you and I both travel a lot, is um,
Speaker 2:and safety's always a big concern. You want to make sure that you're being as safe as possible and doing things that can ensure your safety along the way. So let's talk about some of the things you do. Do you have any like, key things that you might do in order to kind of just ensure that you're being smart? Yes. And the first one always, and forever is my mindset. Like I go in with total positive expectancy. I've had really safe, good travel karma and I have no reason to believe that anything's going to happen to me. And there's reality, you know, like when you're traveling alone, like you can be a target, especially when you're, you know, I talked about being alone in Asia. Like I had tourists flashing all over me. So your outfit that you were having because you're taller than[inaudible] blonde hair, right? So the, you know, there are some realistic precautions, but first is I have total positive expectancy of being super safe. Um, the next one is, you know, I have like, I have my purses are backwards, whatever with, uh, with the pockets facing me. So nothing can get pickpocketed. Like that's always my fear. And so, um, like the backpacks that Largo gave out, there's, there's, um, the pocket is in the part of the backpack that faces your back. Right? Um, things like that that I just really make sure that my belongings are safe. Yes. So for me, um, one of the things when I check into hotels, and now a lot of hotels are very good about this, but one of the things I do is that when I'm standing at the counter, if there are other people around me and the person handing me my room key says my room number out loud, I pass the key back. And I say, now that everyone knows my room key, my room number, can you please change my room, write it down and hand it back to me so that everyone around me doesn't know. And you know, it feels awkward at first, but I'll tell you it's a lot better than, you know, having the other situation where everybody knows, or if I get into an elevator and there's someone in the elevator I'm not comfortable with and I stop at my floor and they go to get out, especially if they put pushed a button above me and they get out, I get out of the elevator, go, Oh Brown floor, get back on the elevator and ride the elevator past where they are and then go back to my floor. So I just like am very conscientious of my surroundings, not because I'm fearful, but because you know what, it's just smart. Yes. And you know, that brings up a really good point. Like we are super power as women is our intuition. And one of the great things about travel is it gets us out of our re, you know, we can get really unconscious and just kind of mindless when we're going day to day. Like we know exactly how to get to the office and when you're traveling, like you're forced to be super conscious and super mindful of your surroundings, right? Tune into that gut. Like your gut always knows. It's a really good exercise to really pay, like hone in that intuition. Women, we are untouchable when we have that, when we're zeroed in on that. So that's a really great point. Well, and the other thing that I tell people is ask people at the hotel
Speaker 1:to help you when you need help. I was with girlfriends, I won't say where I was in Hawaii, but at a hotel. And um, we were on a ground floor at a five star luxury hotel. Beautiful hotel. We got up at about 3:00 AM cause we were on East coast time and we were sitting just having this conversation in the room and it was one of those rooms that had screens. Um, it had doors, but we had it open and then it had, Whoa, it had the slots, you know, so you couldn't see out, but somebody could easily hear what was happening. So we were having a conversation. She said, let me see if I can see the, the um, the sudden rise. She opens the curtain and there is a man on the patio pleasuring himself. Okay. So this is getting a low up. Yes, he runs, we're like, so we call security. Well I have to tell you how incredibly well this hotel handled the situation. I was so impressed. They immediately moved our room. They immediately like kind of locked down the resort to make sure. And it was a maintenance person who, you know, I, it was just a bad situation, but they handled the situation so incredibly well. They said, would you like someone to stay outside your room? Always to make sure would they put us on a second floor? How can we help you? This is what we're doing. And they handled it so well. And I think we forget sometimes that when we're traveling, the hotel wants nothing more than us to have a safe and wonderful experience when we're there. So asking the front desk and saying, you know what? I don't want to walk back to my room by myself. Can someone walk with me if it's an outdoor corridor or I don't feel comfortable where my room is. Is it possible to move my room? Be asking those questions? They want you to have an amazing time. So being able to ask is one a thing that you need to be comfortable with? And if you have a question about safety in the area, talk to someone, talk to the concierge. If you're not comfortable with the concierge, find someone who you're comfortable with, whether it be a manager or you know, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:And you know what? It's not. It's not always like human Perper perpetrators that like we should be worried about. I went to Africa, South Africa and I was sitting in a room with a girlfriend and we were on Safari. And so it's, we, when we walk in, like there's the mosquito nets, you know, but look Darlene and pretty and it's like, Oh what did that nice feminine touch. And in the middle of the night I hear like the cellophane wrapper and I know exactly what it is. It's a chocolate from on my bed. It happened. Well monkey, I put it on the nightstand and I wake up in the middle night cause I can hear the cellophane and I'm like, Oh my God. And then I can hear it getting dragged underneath the bed on the floor. And I'm like, why is that? So my imagination is not your girlfriend. Well I go for my phone, I flip on
Speaker 1:the flashlight on my phone so I can see what's happening. And as I roll over, the light is illuminating all of the bugs and lizards. God, I have a piece, Quito ne. Oh my niece. Like she wakes up screaming. So we call the hotel like I'm like, I don't even want to get up to the, I don't want my foot to touch the floor. But they sent somebody into it like, and he slept on the like the, yeah, still on the foot of the bed. Like he sat there and I was like, I don't know what's worse. Oh my God. Well I have to tell you, Kelly, I've been to Africa 13 times and I have never had that experience. So for anyone listening, that's not a normal experience and we have a great story. I love that. So what I did was when we were scheduling this, I put a question out onto our forum because we, what we have here at our company is a forum for our advisors to share information. So say I get a question from a client, like what's a great restaurant in Rome? For somebody who wants casual dining, intimate, I can put it out there. And all of my advisors and my preferred partners can actually respond to that question. So what I did was last night I put out a question and I said, what are some of the destinations that you guys would recommend for a single woman traveling that you really liked? So let me put my glasses on here. Um, so Betsy wrote back the Nordic countries and I can't wait for this podcast. I love that. Um, uh, grace said Singapore's incredibly safe. So cosmopolitan, they have the best food scene on the planet. Um, she loved it. I love Singapore as a destination. It's so clean. It's like, it's almost like to me like the Disney world of like everything's perfect. It's so pristine. Um, Carol said Japan loves Japan. Uh, KT, New Zealand, Australia, great destinations. And actually I have a girlfriend who will be going in early December to New Zealand on a bike trip by herself. And I thought, wow, that's awesome. And actually she's doing the bike trip and then after the bike trip, she's going to do some things on her own, which we arranged, which was super fun. Um, Ashish from big five tours, uh, said we do this a lot in Egypt, which actually that was the destination I was a little bit surprised that you recommend, but he said the largest employer of women in tourism is in Egypt. Watch was an interesting thing. He also recommended Ecuador and Galapagos and also his third was Peru. I'll tell you, Galapagos is a great destination because most of the time when you're there, your with um, uh, either a tour or you're with, uh, on a cruise line or on a ship and everything's prearranged. Most of the time it's all inclusive. We have some amazing partners that do the Galapagos well, um, natural habitat
Speaker 2:adventures and Linblad and celebrity cruises has a ship there. Silver Silversea, so some great partners. Um, Janine said, uh, Iceland is a great destination. Um, Michelle had recommended the Galapagos as well. Um, she's actually taking us a solo trip for her 50th, or she sent a solo woman for her 50th birthday. I thought that was cool. Awesome. Sarah actually backed up New Zealand as a destination and also recommended Nepal, Bali, uh, and Bali as well. So I thought that was great. And then I was talking to Lydia this morning right before this and she said actually a lot of the middle Eastern countries like Dubai, um, are great destinations for women. And you know, it's funny cause I think we, you know, we sent kind of discount some of those destinations because of the news and, and things like that, but they really are great destinations and incredibly safe. Um, do you buy is one of those places I say like really nothing happens in Dubai as far as as it's crime that, you know, common crime that you might find in say other countries or New York. So I think it's great. Um, any other tips before we wrap up today or any other thoughts that you think for women thinking about this? Yeah, you know what, just do it. I mean it can be really overwhelming to think about taking a trip by yourself. And I mean it's such, you really want to see what you're made of and get back to who you are. Like there is no better way to put yourself out of your comfort zone and see what you're made of and really get reconnected. Like, I forgot how much I like this or gosh, I'm glad this is a part of my life anymore. Just getting exposed to that. And I've actually like one, when I was in Asia by myself, I was at one of these cafes, you know, and it was like, like these crazy cafes or the singing cats and then the fire shooting bras at the servers and I mean it's a wild experience over there. And I remember sitting at a table and hearing somebody next to me speaking English and I was like a friend and it was two couples and they were on their own traveling and I finished dinner with them. We went out drinking with them after they were couples from LA and we got to be really good friends. And now every time she comes to Chicago she's like, Hey, do you want to meet up? And so it's a great way to meet people. This was years ago and we're still in contact. But thank God it was social media. It's even easier. Yes. And if you know, going by yourself isn't your jam. Like find a group of girls. We're going to be doing retreats. So down the road if you want to get on our interest list, we'd love to have you on that because we love bringing women together who have the shared interests, who have the share, pass it and you know what? Very mindsets like getting exposed to other worldviews and and points of interest, but still have that common bond of right. Ambitious women who really like to travel. Get out there. Yes. Take a break. Guys, any of this pertains to you as well. So you know, I think that it's important that we're not just talking about women, you know, that's who we are. So of course that's our strong point with talking about it. But remember that, you know, getting away alone sometimes can
Speaker 1:really rejuvenate your soul and allow for some really interesting discovery. What I highly recommend is find some really good books that you know, or watch, eat, pray, love, or read it and you know, get that reading and some things that really enlighten your soul, whether it be business education books or soulful books, or you like a certain crime novel series. Read the crime novels, but you know, allow yourself to do those things that maybe you haven't gotten to do because of your busy life and your busy business. Yeah, and we'll do an episode for the guys too coming up. Absolutely. Well thanks so much everybody for visiting us on the Island. We look forward to seeing you on future episodes and, um, appreciate you taking the time to listen. Thanks guys. Bye bye. Thanks. Bye. Bye.