Can travel transcend transactions to become transformational?

Sahara Rose De Vore believes it can. A veteran traveler and the founder of the Travel Coach Network, she has built a career helping people craft trips that meet their inner needs for meaning, healing and well-being. She joins this episode of the podcast to share how intentional travel planning can open the door to transformative experiences.

Sahara explains how travel coaches differ from travel agents, how coaching can make trips more meaningful and how group leaders can build transformational experiences into their tours. Plus, we have news about faith-based tours in Italy; a Road Tip about navigating without cell service; and a Hot Minute about mixing politics and travel.

On the benefits of travel coaching:

“Travel coaches help people set intentions for their trips and really understand why they want to get away so that they can make better planning and booking decisions. It’s really about those underlying motivations and using travel as a tool for things like transformation, reaching personal or work goals, or boosting our overall well-being.”

On travel’s transformational potential:

“Oftentimes, these transformations and changes we get in travel come as an afterthought…. It’s proof that travel really has the ability to make an impact and change us.

“I have heard of so many different ways that travel can transform us… We hear about escapism and wanting to get away. Travel can give us human connection, self reflection and the realization of just how much more is out there. The empathy we gain, the stories we hear from the people we encounter — all of these are transformational. So how do we help people tap into that transformation and actually use it to better their lives and relationships?”

On the transformational potential of group travel:

“That group is made up of individuals, and each individual is looking for something different. Just because they have an itinerary doesn’t mean they’re looking for the same outcome from that itinerary. So doing an assessment of your individual travelers is really important so you can really understand what each one is looking for.

“Getting to that emotional aspect of the trip is really important for the business owner to gain insight on how they can make the experience even richer for their group.”

Follow Sahara Rose De Vore on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Find the Travel Coach Network on Facebook and Instagram.

Visit the Travel Coach Network online at thetravelcoachnetwork.com.

Find the Travel Coach Network Podcast here.

Apply for our OnSite familiarization tour in Savannah here.

1:36 — Travel News: New faith-based trips from Perillo Tours

2:40 — Road Tip: Navigating without cell service

8:14 — Join us for a trip to Savannah this summer

13:14 — How Savannah Rose De Vore became a travel afficionado

18:38 — What is travel coaching, anyway?

22:40 — How travel can be transformational

32:29 — Transformation vs. transaction

35:13 — Transformational opportunities in domestic travel

37:01 — Creating transformational opportunities in group travel

50:26 — Hot Minute: Mixing politics and travel

Thanks to our sponsor Visit Atlantic City for making this episode possible. Learn more about Atlantic City’s travel experiences for groups at visitatlanticcity.com.

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.

Have questions, comments or ideas for the show? Send them to us at podcast@grouptravelleader.com.

Thanks for listening!