What is Intentional Travel?
Intentional travel, also referred to as "purposeful travel" or "mindful travel," is a conscious approach to going on a trip with specific objectives and goals in mind. Unlike typical tourism, where the primary focus may be relaxation or sightseeing, intentional travel involves self-awareness and a deeper understanding of travel motivations through travel coaching. When travelers can identify their “why” for travel, they can make better planning and booking decisions regarding where to go, whom to travel with, how long to travel for, and the types of experiences to have. Intentional travel offers a rich and rewarding way for women to explore the world while making a positive impact on their well-being, relationships, and even professional lives.
How Intentional Travel Can Benefit Women
Once women can identify why they are craving an escape or a getaway and can understand what they are seeking from a trip, they have a better chance of having the transformative travel experience that they desire.
Long gone will be the days when traveler interests, preferences, and past preferences are the only things taken into consideration when planning and booking a trip. Through the concept of travel coaching, travel experts can help their female travelers set intentions for their trips – whether it's to be more open-minded, get out of their comfort zone, connect with locals, challenge themselves, take risks, spend time in nature, travel solo, visit blue zones, journal daily, or another intention that is specific to their goals.
Setting intentions for a trip can be incredibly beneficial for women in numerous ways including:
Healing:
Research shows how beneficial travel can be to our mental, physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and overall well-being. Women turn to travel for healing purposes that not only include relaxation and rejuvenation, but also to help us cope with or overcome anxiety, stress, burnout, past trauma, heartbreak, and other feelings of distress in our lives. Being mindful of the type of healing that you are in need of and understanding why you are feeling that way can help lead to more meaningful travel experiences for women.
Clarity:
Intentional travel has the potential to help us gain clarity for different aspects of our lives including career paths, relationships, life transitions, purpose, belief systems, lifestyle (and more!) through the places that we visit, the inspiration that we gain, the people that we encounter, the stories that we hear, the breaks in our daily routine, the challenges that we face, and the self-reflection that we can do while on a trip.
Personal Growth:
It’s no secret that travel can lead to personal growth for women, especially for those who travel solo. Many women share the fact that they put everyone else before themselves oftentimes including their children, partners, family, friends, and colleagues. Solo female travel is a massive industry because of how beneficial travel can be for us as women. We can feel empowered, fulfilled, happy, confident, and independent by getting out of our comfort zones, facing challenges, learning our strengths and weaknesses, navigating new environments, being able to adapt, immersing in new cultures, meeting new people, and spending time alone. Exploring natural landscapes, practicing mindfulness, and engaging in new activities can promote a sense of fulfillment and balance. Traveling intentionally also fosters cultural understanding and empathy. By immersing in diverse communities and engaging with local customs, women can gain a deeper appreciation for different perspectives and ways of life.
Career Advancement:
Travel can inspire women professionally in many ways, including: learning new skills, meeting new people, increasing cultural understanding, being exposed to new ways of thinking, coming up with new ideas, sparking creativity and innovation, and boosting productivity, problem-solving, and cross-cultural competence. Women can set the intention to gain the confidence to go for a promotion, get inspiration for a project, or become more culturally educated, for example.
Overall, intentional travel can be a transformative experience for women, offering opportunities for empowerment, personal growth, cultural exchange, and wellness. By embracing the journey with purpose and mindfulness, women can enrich their lives through travel once they start their trip planning process with self-awareness and intention-setting.
How to Help your Travelers Identify their “Why”
Topics like wellness travel and transformative travel have been on the rise ever since the pandemic shined a light on the true value that travel has on our overall well-being and lifestyle. With that said, we cannot expect to have a transformation without putting in the necessary awareness and effort in order to tap into a trip’s transformative potential.
Travel experts can use the method of travel coaching to help their women clients travel more intentionally. This involves asking thought-provoking questions that encourage reflection, goal-setting, and action planning.
Here are some types of coaching questions that travel experts can help guide someone towards intentional travel:
Reflective Questions
Reflective questions get your clients to look within and self-identify where their motivations for going on a trip stem from. These types of questions include:
- What is driving you to want to get away?
- How do you want to feel during and after your travels?
- What past travel experiences have been most meaningful to you and why?
- How do you want your lifestyle/mindset/relationship/work-life to look like upon return?
- What values do you want to honor or explore through your travels?
Goal-Setting Questions:
Asking goal-setting questions can help your women clients get clear on the goals that they have for their trip and be more intentional with their travel decisions. For example:
- What is one change that you’d like to have made by the end of your trip?
- What does your ideal trip experience look like and what is one decision that you need to make to have that happen?
- Are there any particular fears or limiting beliefs that you need to overcome while traveling?
Action-Oriented Questions:
These types of questions lead into the travel planning phase of an intentional trip. Action-oriented questions can include:
- What steps can you take to break through your limiting beliefs?
- How can you incorporate elements of cultural immersion and local engagement into your itinerary?
- What strategies can you use to travel more sustainably and responsibly?
- How will you prioritize self-care and well-being during your trip?
- What support or resources do you need to turn your travel intentions into reality?
By asking these types of powerful coaching questions, you can help someone clarify their intentions, set meaningful goals, and take purposeful action toward traveling with greater awareness, purpose, and fulfillment. Using coaching questions is only one part of helping clients have more meaningful and transformative travel experiences. It is just as important to help clients be accountable for their goals during their trips. This could look like suggesting journaling sessions, mindfulness practices, virtual check-ins, email support, or group support.
Making Better Travel Planning and Booking Decisions
Once awareness is brought to the surface and intentions are set for a trip, women travelers can now be more mindful when it comes to their planning and booking decisions. Instead of choosing a destination because of its popularity, intentional travelers select destinations that align with their specific needs and goals. For example, a busy working mom who is now an empty nester and is recently retired may be in need of inspiration for the next steps in life and to finally put herself first. She may choose a destination like southern Italy where she can spend time in nature, relax on beautiful beaches, meet like-minded people, get creative inspiration from the small towns, and have time to self-reflect on what she really wants for this next stage of her life. She wants to travel more responsibly so she chooses modes of transportation, accommodations, and tours that are more sustainable and chooses experiences that benefit the local communities.
Next time that you are helping your women travelers go on their next adventure, tap into your travel coaching mindset to help them set intentions for their trip so that they can have the transformative experiences that they seek.
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