A Little Outside Your Comfort Zone

“I am not really a hiker.”​

Fair enough. I am probably not going to suggest we build your vacation around trekking Patagonia.

But would you take a beautiful two-hour walk through the Dolomites with a private guide, knowing there is a fabulous lunch waiting at the end? Maybe.

And that “maybe” is where some of my favorite travel experiences begin.

Travel gives us a chance to try things we might not normally choose for ourselves without suddenly becoming a completely different person on vacation.

You do not have to be outdoorsy to enjoy one spectacular hike. You do not have to be an art person to be completely captivated by the right museum with the right guide. You do not have to consider yourself adventurous to sleep under the stars in a beautiful tented camp. And you certainly do not have to love every unfamiliar food to let someone order a few things for the table that you would never have chosen yourself.

There is a difference between pushing someone beyond a genuine boundary and giving them just enough of a nudge to try something new.

That sweet spot is different for everyone.

It is also one of the reasons I ask so many questions when I plan a trip. I want to know what you love, of course. But I also want to know what you think you do not like, what you have never tried, and what might change your mind if we found the right version of it.

Because sometimes “we are not really hikers” actually means:

“We have just never hiked the Dolomites with lunch waiting at the end.”