How Travel Inspired a Female Backpacker to Become a Pioneer in the Travel Industry
By: Sahara Rose De Vore
Tags: Travel Writing, Travel, Wellness, Coaching, Traveling

The idea of travel use to be nothing more than just an idea. Something that I thought about. Something that I dreamed of. Growing up as an only child to a single mom, traveling never crossed my mind. I mean, how could it when we struggled with not having enough money for our daily life. Traveling was so far out of reach for someone like me. Those people in photos and on T.V that I saw laying on a tropical beach somewhere in paradise or sailing on a boat in the crystal blue waters, those people were rich. They must be. Traveling is too expensive. So I thought.

In my third year of university, I was sitting in an international tourism course on the first day of class when we took turns going around the room and sharing our travel stories. Everyone talked about how they had traveled to 10, 15, 20 different countries. The foreign exchange students, the students who studied abroad, my fellow classmates who had been on multiple family holidays, and even my professor who had an extensive list of destinations. Then it was my turn. I quietly mumbled the number “3”. At that time, I had only traveled to three countries but honestly, it was as if I had only been to one. That’s because all of our family road trips down to Mexico to visit my grandma’s side of the family and the road trips up to Canada to visit my grandpa’s side, I barely remember. I was too little to recall much of anything back then. As for my third country, it was a vacation with my mom, her ex husband, and my best friend to the Dominican Republic. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that sheltered us from having an real authentic cultural experiences because we never left the gates.

I wanted more out of life. I wanted to see the places that others talked about. I wanted to swim in the waters that sparkled like glitter on T.V and in videos that I saw. I wanted to try the local foods that I watched on my favorite travel food shows. I wanted to make new friends who lived a life completely different than mine. I wanted to see cascading waterfalls, beautiful wild animals, and mountains reflecting onto lakes like I did in photos. I wanted to visit the places that others so passionately described with joy and awe. I knew that there was so much out there in the world that I wanted to explore and be a part of. I had no idea how I was going to get there, how I was going to pay for it, who I was going to go with, or anything about traveling all. But, I was going to figure it out.

And I did. I spent the remainder of my last year and a half of university working as many flexible jobs that I could and focusing on saving my money. Living and going to school in Chicago isn’t cheap but I learned how to increase my income and limit my expenses so that I could grow a savings to travel. I even did things like found, fixed, and resold used furniture, painted and sold crafts during the holidays to friends and family, and sold old clothing, and only shopped at resell and thrift stores. I knew that my desire to travel was far greater than any new phone, expensive dress, new pair of shoes, concert, new car, or anything else that wasn’t going to bring me a real sense of experience and growth.

I graduated in June and worked the remainder of the summer to save any last amount of money that I could. I put my $1000 a month studio apartment up for rent, I sold the majority of my furniture and belongings, and I moved to my mom’s apartment in my home town of Milwaukee. I then spent a few months researching and planning for my very first backpacking trip which was to Western Europe. I had no idea where exactly I was going to go, where I was going to stay, how I was going to navigate a foreign country, or anything else. But, I wasn’t going to let any uncertainty or fear hold me back. I booked my first flight and packed my bag. Off I went!

When I first started traveling, it was before all of the technology, blogs, apps, resources, tools, and websites that are popular and available today. I struggled in many ways. Traveling got rough at times. Navigating my way around. Communicating. Finding a place to stay. Finding the cheapest deals. Keeping up with writing my blog. Staying on budget. Even knowing what time it was. I had a flip phone that didn’t even turn on abroad so I was walking around asking locals for the time and trying to interpret their responses. Traveling as a solo female budget backpacker for several years taught me a lot. I faced various problems and roadblocks along the way that I had to find solutions for. I once almost was deported when flying from Qatar to Turkey because I didn’t know that Turkey required U.S passport holders to have a full empty page in their passport for a visa-on-arrival sticker to be placed. Luckily I had just one empty page left! I never made that mistake again!

I chose to travel because at 22 I had no concrete idea on who I was as a person, what I wanted out of life, what my dream career was, what my spiritual or life paths were, or what kind of lifestyle I wanted to have. I made time my best friend and I used travel to help me fill my life voids and find the answers that I was seeking. Travel taught me so much about myself, life, relationships, people, lifestyles, money, and the world. It helped me learn who I was as a person, what mattered most to me, what wasn’t important in life, what my passions were, what I was good at, what my skills and interests were, what I sucked at, and so much more. Travel made me realize what kind of freedom I wanted in my life and that I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than what I desired. Travel challenged me in many ways. It made me face my own demons. It made me feel. It made me deal. Travel also helped me heal. It made me strong. It made me excited for my future. You see, traveling isn’t always pretty, or easy, or fun. As someone who has struggled for several years with an anxiety disorder, traveling took me out of my physical and mental comfort zone. Traveling transformed me, my mind, my soul, and my life.

The more that I traveled, the more experiences I had, the more my passions grew, the more direction in life I had, and the more clarity I got on what kind of life and lifestyle I wanted. Although I didn’t have the answers to where I wanted to live forever, when I was going to find a life partner and get married or have children, it was ok. I had time to figure all that out and it would happen when the timing was right.

The only internal concern that I had that I couldn’t seem to kick was what career I was going to have. Despite having tons of skills and experience in various fields and a degree in hospitality and tourism management, I didn’t want any typical job that I had already known about, especially when it came to traveling. I didn’t want to be just a blogger despite loving writing and sharing my travel stories and experiences with others. I didn’t was to work for a corporation that “paid me to travel” because I wanted to have actual cultural experiences where I traveled to. I didn’t want to create an Instagram and fill it with inauthentic travel photos just to be a “travel influencer” and brand ambassador. I didn’t want to be just another freelancer trying to stay afloat and compete in the saturated online world of virtual assistants or graphic designers. Just like travel, I wanted more out of a career.

After years of traveling to over 80 countries by the age of 30, sharing all of my travel stories, experiences, tips, and advice in my blog, getting clear on who I am and what I wanted out of life and my future, I spent months learning even more. I found mentors, coaches, and successful entrepreneurs and studied everything about who they are and how they did it. I studied everything that I could about the travel industry and starting a business. I’ve always wanted to have my own business but, just like my career, I had no clue what, when, or how. I studied my blog traffic and did market research. I took all that I learned in those months and mixed it with everything that I learned and knew about the travel industry from my ten years of circling the globe. Over the years and after holding thousands of conversations with people on planes, in hostels, on buses, on beaches, and around the world, I saw industry trends and commonalities. People are quitting their jobs to travel the world, people are wanting to travel more and spend less, people are desiring more freedom and want to work remotely, people are turning to travel to help them heal or fill voids in their lives and within, and so much more. I realized the power of travel.

I had meet thousands of travelers throughout the years who all had unique stories to tell and special travel tips and skills that not every traveler knew. I had also met countless people who were seeking travel information and advice on specific topics such as mom’s looking to travel with their kids, travel photographers wondering what the best camera gear is and how to get the best National Geographic inspired shots, vegans with concerns on how to find vegan food options while traveling, people with a disability or in a wheelchair unsure of the logistics on how to travel with specific obstacles, and so many other niche questions. I wanted to be able to connect the two worlds of experienced travelers with those with specific questions who can best learn from and relate to them.

That’s when it all clicked. I knew exactly what I was meant to do. I became a Travel Coach. But, I then ran into another problem. How do I become a travel coach and how do I start my own coaching business? Unlike the busy online coaching world of life, health, fitness, and spiritual coaches, there wasn’t anyone paving the path for travel coaches. So, the natural problem-solver in me figured out a way and created the solution that I was looking for. I created the dream career that I was searching for for so long and the ideal platform that I wish that I had when I wanted to start a travel coaching business. I founded and created The Travel Coach Network.

As a travel coach, I use everything that I know, experienced, used, and love about travel that enabled me to travel as much as I have and how travel transformed me and my life to help others achieve their own travel goals. I put the power of travel into the hands of the traveler by equipping them with the tools, resources, and the know-how to design their dream travel lifestyles on their own while also tapping into why they want to travel and how to use the power of travel to find the answers in life that they are looking for.

As a travel coach, I help wanderers and experienced travelers, like I was, finding their unique niche and turn their travel knowledge, experience, skills, expertise, stories, and passion into their own customizable travel coaching business. I help others create the dream career that I have created for myself.

The travel industry has shifted immensely over the past decade which has caused a lot of struggles and voids for not only the travel and hospitality industries but corporations across all fields. Travel companies and brands are looking for new and creative ways to create more in-depth relationships with consumers so they can provide the personalized and transformative travel experience that they crave. Travel agents are practicing an enriched way to customize trips for clients and take them on an authentic journey. Travelers are no longer seeking just a luxurious one-time-a-year trip but rather a lifetime filled with meaningful and purposeful travel experiences.

Corporations are finding it difficult to attract and keep valuable talent. Employees are weighing the opportunity to travel above an increased salary. They want a job that offers unique travel incentives and the ability to obtain the worldly experiences that they desire. It’s time that corporations hire travel coaches and experts to help them maximize their corporate and business travel perks as well as integrate travel into their wellness programs.

People value their mental and overall health and well being more now than ever. Corporations are implementing corporate wellness programs to help improve employee work-life balance, increase productivity, fulfill their corporate responsibility, among many other reasons. Travel is a key ingredient for the ultimate wellness program. People can work anywhere and for anyone, companies need to start taking travel more serious if they want to stay competitive and skyrocket their overall success.

Travel is powerful. It has opened my eyes to so much about the travel industry and about humanity. It’s my mission to educate and inspire the power that travel has on the mind, body, and the corporate world through training and integrating travel coaches in corporate wellness programs, travel companies and brands, travel agencies, and travel entrepreneurs.