Travel Coach Clara

Understanding what you want from your travel is essential to a fulfilling trip.

I am a seeker of interpersonal experiences and love to interact with people. Unless my travel is primarily for pure rest and relaxation, then I need this type of experience. This is one of my favorite photos from my time in Iran.

We are on the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, just off of Bandar Abbas in Iran. I was exploring an old Portuguese fort when I had the good fortune to chance upon Abbas and his friends. They were playing around kung fu fighting. He started talking to me in his limited English (my Persian was even worse) and we agreed to go around the fort with him kung-fu'ing everywhere and me taking lots of photos of him. We had a blast. At one point I was play kung-fu fighting with the whole gang of boys. What fun. What memories for all of us. I saw palaces, antiquities, and all sorts of amazing things, yet this was one of the highlights. This day brought great meaning and depth to my travels in Iran. For someone else, standing in the ruins of Persepolis might have been that most meaningful moment. Before you go, understand what types of experiences will ensure your travels felt meaningful.

If you want to know my backstory, check out my personal blog slomadvagabond.com. Briefly, I am a lover of traveling. I had the good sense to "chuck it all" in my mid 30's and spend 6 months backpacking on a "circle the Pacific" trip. I learned a great deal and learned that carrying around 80 liters of stuff on my back (and front) was waaay toooo much stuff for me. So heavy. Now I have a 40 liter pack. Much easier to travel with! Sometime after completing that trip I returned to college to finish my degree. As a result, I ended up spending a month in Iran. If you live in a culture that demonizes the Iranians, please look past the political rhetoric. The citizens of Iran are some of the absolute nicest people I have ever met. Hoping to return one day to see all the cool parts I missed on that first trip.

Some years back I engaged in casual (not making my living at it) life coaching. I did general life coaching, I also worked for a while with women who were coming out as LGBTQ in midlife and I dabbled around in pro-bono leadership coaching for leaders of small nonprofits.

As I turned my attention to my own "next chapter" I declared that my life was going to be one of international travels... global nomad. I set goals around preparing for traveling as a backpacker. I am a one bag and done type traveler. Part of my planning involved being able to work fully remotely and being self-employed. After some contemplation, the light bulb went off. Really it was a "duh" moment when the obvious became apparent. Of course I should return to life coaching and of course I should niche in the travel coaching area. Two loves of mine rolled into one.

I got out my old life coaching materials and books. Refocused myself. Scouted around for new material to give me a wide assortment of tools and methods to assist people with. I updated my coaching certifications and training.

So here we are. I am not yet on the road living as a nomad. I have a family member who is vulnerable and needs me. I continue to check off goals toward the main goal of global nomadic life.

Knowing amazing travels for you!

Clara