Living With Intention in Retirement – As Featured on The Prestigious Initiative Podcast

The Prestigious Initiative - 181: Andrew Motiwalla | The Good Life Abroad

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Everybody, welcome back. Today, my guest is Andrew Motiwalla, founder and CEO of The Good Life Abroad, a company built to help people live with purpose, connection, and intention beyond the roles that once defined them. Andrew has spent decades traveling the world starting with the Peace Corps, leading meaningful lives, and traveling travel experiences with family students, and now adults 55 plus, offering immersive community life in places like Lisbon, Paris, Barcelona, and Florence. Today, we're going to be talking about

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how intentional life design, whether that's through travel, community, or even just the choices that we make, invites us to stretch joy, refine identity, and live with meaning, not momentum. So, whether you're thinking about that midlife crisis, you're pivoting to new purpose, or simply want to live differently, this conversation will help you to see what's next more clearly. Andrew, welcome to the show. >> Hi, thanks for having me. >> Every moment test you. Every action

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defines you. This is the prestigious initiative where mindset becomes muscle and character becomes legacy. I'm Chris Bynum, martial artist, coach, and relentless believer in growth. If you're here to sharpen your edge, lead with integrity, and build a life that echoes beyond your years, you're home. You can find the podcast on social media at prestigiouspod. You can find me at chrisbynumofficial, and the email for the podcast is prestigiousinitiative@gmail.com. >> Now, Andrew, why would why would

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somebody want to listen to our conversation here today? >> Well, as you hinted at, The Good Life Abroad, our company, is more about 55 and older, but the same principles apply to anyone who's intentional about designing their ideal life. And whether you're getting started in your career, or you're halfway through and you have some big questions about where you want to go. Or you're towards retirement or semi-retirement. Um these principles affect everyone. >> Now, Andy, your your career in travel

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began with the Peace Corps and then evolved over the decades. Can you bring us in? How did your early experiences shape your view of life purpose and community? >> Well, the Peace Corps experience sort of injected me with the love not just [clears throat] of travel, but of fully immersing myself in a place versus sort of skimming across the purpose. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I lived for 2 years in a village in in Honduras in Central America. And I realized that I was having a completely different experience of

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Honduras than anyone who kind of came through for a week to see like the best of Honduras in a week. And that stuck with me. And uh and then it got me into sort of immersive travel as an industry. But I was always getting pulled in many directions. When you're starting out in your career, sometimes there's just the practical necessities of like I need to make money. I mean to pay off student loans or whatever. So you you can't you find yourself torn. And at some point pretty early on I realized

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that I needed to design the my life the way I wanted it if I'm going to be truly happy. Um because I took a couple jobs that weren't for me and I found not just like oh I don't like going to work. I literally physically would shut down. And I couldn't even do the job very well. And I'm a reasonably intelligent person thinking I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to. I shut down and became really bad and at doing certain things and other things that I resonate with me became excellent at and

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flourished at. And so that then propelled me in the direction of okay, you can actually build a life around this thing that you like around cultural immersion and immersive travel. >> Right, because I think a lot of times people get pushed or maybe nudged or or even sometimes shoved into careers that their parents want for them or society wants for them or they think themselves that they might want. Then you get to college and you start taking those classes and you realize and I don't I

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actually don't want to do this at all. And I think that's why we live in a time where there are so many people right now that have degrees from college from from prestigious universities and they're working in fields that are completely opposite or completely counterintuitive to what they went to school for because you get pushed in sort of sort of that direction. So, how did you how did you beyond those experiences you had at work, how did you know that designing a life that lined up with

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something that you want to do was what you wanted and maybe the the prior question should be how did you find out what you wanted so that you could have that life that you wanted? >> Yeah, that's a great question and it's a major pivot point in my life and I can point to you very clearly what it was. I was in the Peace Corps but before that I was in college and I and I studied abroad I lived in South America and it was a really cool experience. >> Can you can you tell us how did you how

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did you get connected with the Peace Corps and why was that a a step that you even took? Cuz I know that's not that's not something that a lot of people do or think about doing. So, bring us in let us know about that too. >> Yeah. I found that people in my not just in my line of work but in people who are in international development or international education there's in everyone's life there's some event that turns them off onto some weird path, right? Like it's not normal. It's just not a normal thing

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like oh, I work like delivering food aid in Somalia, you know, that's just like not a thing that you just grow up dreaming as a little kid one day I'll be Maybe you will, right? But so for me, it goes back to study abroad, actually. So I I and I studied abroad You might ask, why did you study abroad? What drove you? I don't I was kind of just miserable in college. I'd been partying really hard for my first couple years, probably wasting a lot of money, doing pretty badly in school, not really

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focused. I kept changing my major, thinking that would I would find happiness in the right major, right? But I There's something more fun There was something more fundamental missing. Um so I was so sad, actually. And I said, all right, I got to get out of here, but my parents aren't going to Let me just drop out of college. So I went to the study abroad office. I was like, hey, uh Japan seems cool. I want to do that program. They're like, yeah, your grades are not good enough. The Japanese do not

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want you in that program. They We have this other program you can go to in South America. And I did that. And it was in that study abroad program where I completely just love fell in love with like indigenous cultures and learning about anthropology and uh all these things I didn't even know you existed. I didn't know anthropology was a thing you could do. Um you don't learn that in high school necessarily, at least not where I went to high school. And so that study abroad experience got me

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really into this get me out in the world. So then I came back after that uh semester abroad and all I could think about It was now junior year and all I could think about was, how do I get out again? That was great. I want I want to do more of this international stuff. And uh my college roommate was like, you should join the Peace Corps. And I didn't know what the Peace Corps was. My parents are fresh off the boat immigrants from two different continents. They didn't know what the Peace Corps was.

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Um But this guy was like, you should just do it. And then I I The recruiter came to our college. I sat down with him. I applied. I didn't fully know what I was getting into, but I knew it was a way to get out of the country and the US government was going to pay for it. Um, so that's I'm just being honest about this sort of uh the the things that kind of stumbled my way into the Peace Corps. Um, but it was in the Peace Corps one I learned what we do and I'm really proud of the US Peace Corps. I think it's an

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amazing institution. But along the way um, I had this one project I worked on. Uh, I don't If I'm getting too far on a tangent, let me know. All right. I like this. I ended up doing something that wasn't an official Peace Corps project. And I don't My job was to work with the the farming community, the peasants, to protect the old growth forests in this rural area of Honduras. But instead of teaching them about sustainable agriculture cuz I'm Chicago, what do I know about agriculture? And

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about, you know, uh you know, we got to protect the trees for the air. It was all very abstract. I ended up starting a business with these guys where we would protect the forest from burning because we would harvest the pine cones. And the pine cones I made a connection to a guy in the capital who would buy them, put them in a centrifuge, take the seeds out, and ship seeds from old growth pine trees to US nurseries. It's a little convoluted, I know, but the point is is that he would only buy

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these pine cones if they came from trees that were not burned because if they're burned, pine cone opens, the seeds fall, they're worthless. So, we created basically a market solution to a social problem. And that stuck with me. So, I went home back to my parents' house in Chicago after 2 years in the Peace Corps and before that in South America with study abroad. And I just sort of laid there. Like, now what do I do? I'm back in reality. And my dad said, "Okay, son, you had your

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fun changing your majors a million times in college. You wanted to go volunteer." He did not get this whole volunteer concept, but now you're back and you're an adult, you need to go get a job. You are not staying in this house if you're not working. And I said, "Well, what do I do?" And he said, "Go to a headhunter. They will put you on interviews." So, I did that. I had no else to do. Fast forward and I'm sitting in the conference room of the American Cup Company in suburban

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Chicago. Andrew, I'm happy to offer you a job selling paper cups Midwest territory. And I said, "No. I can't I can't take this job. Um I got to tell you about what I've been doing. I was doing this thing in Honduras and I was in the Andes. I was learning Quechua." And she And she said to me, "Why are you here? You should be like in the United Nations." I mean, this is a nice lady from suburban Chicago. I don't think she realized I'm not exactly cut out to be in the UN at that point, but

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but the concept which you planned is like, "Yeah, why are you here?" But I didn't know any better. My parents weren't pitching crazy ideas. They're like, "Yeah, go sell cups. Do whatever." They came to this country with nothing. They took jobs that they hated their entire lives. And they did it for me. So, that kind of blew my mind and then it said, "All right, how do we actually work in this field?" >> Okay. So, that's how you got from being in college,

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falling into the Peace Corps, going through doing all of that, and then establishing, "Okay, this is what I don't want to do. This is where I find passion. This is where I find energy. This is what I want to do." Then you you started to do that. Now, all right. With that kind of in mind, with that being the next steps for you, what what is your your core idea behind your business, The Good Life Abroad? And how does that differ from what other people do it as as travel tourism? >> Yeah.

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So, the core idea of The Good Life Abroad is essentially that many people, their whole lives, have this dream, I would go love to go live abroad. Maybe not permanently, but for some period of time. And they often say, I want to do that in retirement because I'm working too much before that. But they don't. They don't do that. And I when we had this idea, I put out just a post on my Facebook and I said, "Hey, who wants to do this but hasn't done it?" And then I and I got like 100 people

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like, "Oh my god, it's my age, right?" People older who still use Facebook. They're really active on it. And I so I sent them a survey. So, can you just take a survey? Why didn't you do it? And there was a lot of what happens if I get hurt or have a medical issue? What if, you know, I'm alone, I'm single, lonely? What if I'm lonely? I don't speak the language. You name it, right? There's a million things that people worry about. And I thought, how can we

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solve this to just make it easy for people to live out their dream, right? It's I get it, people all these things are overwhelming, we don't do anything, we're paralyzed. So, you know what? Whatever, it's a nice dream. So, we to solve that is I really drilled into the data and all the pain points. The solution came up is community. If you have community, it makes it fun. You're not going to be lonely if you have people around you that have similar motivation or intention to be

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there. It's a little safe, feels safer at least because you're like, "Oh, I have like people I do stuff. We can go out at night. We can go to a club or a bar or a restaurant." And then like we're going to walk back to the same neighborhood and you know, they'll go to their apartment. And then community also meaning our community managers, a local support person who's putting on activities and events for people to come together. It's not a tour, it's not scheduling your days. But throughout the

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month we we have a bunch of different activities that are fun like cooking classes, painting classes, happy hours, lunches. And then, those are moments to come together as a community, form connection, and we do try to facilitate that connection. And then, you can start to come out these friendships, right? And that's So, it's almost the opposite of a tour. We come together for lunch, but we don't get on a bus to do three more things that day. It's it's a independent experience

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where we form connections with other people in your community that allow you to have an even more enriching uh fun experience. And it's actually more joyful when you share these experiences with others versus just doing them on your own. That's one of the things we found, too. >> And what Okay, so when when you're going to these places on average, let's say how how long are you you staying in in one town before you move to the next town? >> So, our minimum minimum stay for our

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signature program is 1 month. >> Oh. >> So, it's it's you're committing to a month of living abroad and and living like a local in that we're giving you your own apartment. It's a nice, modern apartment. But, it's different from like a hotel. You know, we give you like a starter roll of paper towel, toilet paper, or soap. But, after that, you're going to the to the local market. You're buying your things. You're buying your food uh to cook. We have some meals that are

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included like different, you know, parties and [clears throat] events we have. But, you're you're on your own. And we teach you. We do an orientation. We teach you how to take the public transportation. We even give you like the metro card or or to get you started. Okay, you see how this is how it runs. The bus, it connects to the the subway. Um this is where the grocery stores are. These are the homewares. So, unlike a tour we're we're more trying to empower you to live on your own.

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In fact, when we have activities, we don't there's no bus that picks you up. It's here's a link to Google Map on Google Maps. Click it and it'll teach you how to get to where you need to go to meet the group for whatever we're doing. And for people who are getting older, that might sound scary, but it's a dream that many people have had, and once they do it, and they realize they're capable of doing it, it creates so much confidence in them. >> Okay, the really interesting thing about this

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I I think Andrew is I remember a study that I I I read a while ago. And it's been some time, so I might get some pieces of this wrong, but essentially was they took people from and I understand this is this is not what you're doing. I get that, but I I want to make this connection. They took people that were living in a senior citizen home, and they recreated a town that would look like it would like it would be in their past. So, if they're from the '50s, they created a town that

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would be like from the '50s, and they they had these people go and live there, and they got to see the effects of this. And the effects was essentially it it was almost like they started to de-age. They started to be more independent. They were doing more things. They were out walking. It It that connection for them was what they needed in order to kind of break them out of that shell. And I get that that's different, but the connection I want to make here is you're taking the people that are are 55

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plus, and so they're are in a a certain lifestyle that's almost kind of locked in. Like you you you're pretty much day-to-day is doing the same kind of thing, you know, it and you're you're breaking that, and it's almost like they're going back to what it was like when they were first stepping out of the house on their own when they're 18, 19, 20 years old. They're They're going out, they're getting an apartment, they're figuring these things out from this like they had

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to do then. And okay, so so I I set all that up, and and I say all that because I want to ask this question. Do you find that people who do this, they feel like they have more energy as they're going to do these things when they're on location, sort of say, as compared to where they were at home? >> Absolutely. They They In fact, they have to in one sense in that you step out of your apartment as a 20-year-old, you know, an older 20-year-old, and everything is just new. It's like all

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this new information. Okay, I just have to be alert and start processing. Okay, you know, oh, they're driving on the other side of the street. Oh my gosh, there's bike lanes everywhere. So, they're forced to just kind of learn, which is a great thing as you get older, right? Forcing yourself to learn. And then, they're also, as you said, they kind of have have their life set by that time, right? They maybe live in a suburb or a gated community or a 55-plus community or wherever. Suddenly, they

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find themselves living in the center of a European city. And like that alone takes some getting used to, right? Everything's a little bit smaller. You're not going to Costco and loading up your Costco-size groceries. You're You're going to the market every 2 days, buying fresh produce, cooking it in a smaller refrigerator. Um so, it takes some adaptation as well, right? That the the adaptation part is important. And then, I like think of it as like positive peer pressure. You know, when we were 20 or

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even in high school, right? Like, come on, man, all the cool kids were going to the But, you know, for these our folks, it's we're going to the the jazz club at night, you know, or the supper club, or come on, let's go see the thing at the local university that's happening. Now that we live like locals, we can check out these local events. And so, you have positive peer pressure as well to get out. And you could stay at home watching Netflix, or we could go out and do something.

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Um and we're only here for a month, so let's take advantage of this time. So, they are definitely, whether they want to or not Now, the beauty of this program, too, it's independent. So, I find a lot of our people, they they, you know, do the the siesta midday. So, they can they can now have the energy to go out and do things more at a European time frame. >> Well, and and okay, so that's that's an interesting counterpoint that you make because uh unlike in the states, a lot of times

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these other locations that you that I'm sure you go to, they have siesta times midday where all the shops close and like there's nobody that's working because you you're you're at home you're resting and that's your that is your time to take a nap before you go back for the the afternoon rush. Am I Am I right on that? >> Absolutely. And and they're closed often a lot of places on Sundays. >> Mhm. >> They're like, "Oh, why aren't they

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open?" Oh, no, it's the day of rest. It's the day to be with family. No, we're just closed. >> Yeah. Okay. Now, as you are are bringing people on this, so you said the shortest time was was 1 month. What's the longer time? What's the longest time? >> Well, because uh North Americans can stay in the EU Schengen area for up to 90 days within within any 180-day period. That's a visa without a visa. So, we say 1 to 3 months, up to 90 days. >> Okay. Have you ever had times where somebody

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just wants to stay or they end up coming back stateside and then they move back to that location? >> Yeah, I would say about 15% of our clients are actually thinking about becoming an expat and just making the move and we are like their scouting trip. Like, let's go this in sort of a supported controlled vetted environment and we'll check out the neighborhoods while we're there, the traffic patterns, the noise, all these things. Maybe they'll connect or we'll connect them to

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a local realtor to go visit properties and then they come back and make the move or they realize, "No, no, that's not the right town and we should try a different town." >> Okay. Does anybody I mean, you're there for a month. Does anybody ever feel the need or or actually do go get a job while they're there and work? >> No, our folks are they're done working. Well, you or some of them are are kind of into work or working remotely often or on part So, a lot of our folks are like it's 55 plus,

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but they're on boards of, you know, nonprofits or they're consulting or they've got a family business or someone's still into. But, what What have is some people who say, "I'd like to volunteer while I'm here." Um and our local staff can help facilitate that. >> Okay, so you so you have staff that's there on location and there that's like your your connecting party. So you get to connect with them about different events that are going on and they kind

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of get to help us set that up and connect with their your your um people who are participating in the travel. >> Yeah, we call them our community manager cuz they're managing the community. What they also do is they meet with each person one-on-one at the beginning of the program, right? It's a cohort program. So everyone arrives on the same day and then orientation and then we meet with them one-on-one, say, "What do you want to get out of this month?" And that's the beautiful thing cuz

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everyone's journey looks different. It's like a blank canvas. And some people want to get brush off that high school French and try to bring it back 50 years later. Um other people want to get into food or they're history buffs or art. And so then we try to help them make a plan of how to [clears throat] how to accomplish that. How to fill you know paint make that painting some So for for some people volunteering is part of that. >> All right. Community Community is is something you talked about a couple

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times already. What are some things you I mean yeah, you you connect together. You you you have that meeting in the beginning. You have these things that they can go to, but what do you have any any key insight to things that you're doing that build that community with an intentional side of it. So I know that the the building community with with especially with the with a intentional aspect with peers is is super helpful for the things that you're doing and makes that more meaningful, makes that transition uh nice.

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What are some some things that you're doing in order to facilitate that community building? >> Yeah. So the big thing is understand what people's interests and motivations are or their curiosities, right? At the very least I think people who thrive on our program have some curiosity. They're there to to explore some topic or something. And so, it's our job, our community manager's job, to try to learn what that is. So, on the one-on-one meetings and also in the first day, we do the

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orientation in the morning, we meet again in the evening for a welcome party. Usually at kind of a rooftop bar, beautiful view, some food. But, we'll do some activities to get to understand what people's interests and affinities are. You know, it's simple things like you form a circle, like, you know, does anyone here play a musical instrument? Step in the circle, right? Oh, wow, there's like some music lovers here, right? Does anyone here do any painting or sketching, anything?

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And so, we're making note of all these things. And then, uh we use WhatsApp. You're familiar with WhatsApp, the texting text message platform. They have a community feature, right, which is perfect for us. And the community feature has one channel for announcements. That's one-way down to the group. But then it has everyone in the community can make their own subgroups, like affinity groups. And so, we encourage people, and sometimes we'll even precede it with some some community affinities that we

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know people have, right? Like solo travelers, uh foodies, um and but then the group says, "Oh, oh yeah, like I I just saw that you love um like art galleries." Like they'll make a group, and then these people connect around shared affinities. And then our community manager is scanning what's happening in town and going like look at the university or different cultural institutions, say, "Aha, there's like this art gallery opening. You guys might want to So, they're suggesting things based on what

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the composition of the group is, and then that you can those people will be like, "Oh yeah, let's go to that thing. Why don't we meet for dinner ahead of time, and then we'll do" and so suddenly that community starts to take on a life of its own based on all these shared interests, uh and it goes from a program where we just have a few things scattered throughout the month to a very full month of people going out and connecting with local events and local cultural things. Um

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and this is what people love about our program, right? It's like it's you're you're not you're very much not alone. In fact, there's you found your tribe of people who want to go find cool local things. Um and for solo travelers, you can imagine they love it because there's built-in community. But even for a couple, we had a guy uh and in Barcelona, he created a group for cathedral lovers and he created a group for um sports bars. And I I said, "Hey, you're joking. I

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mean, come on. You're like you're just playing with our, you know, stuff." He was, "No, no, no. I'm here because my wife, all she wants to do when we go to Europe is go to churches. And all I want to do is go to the sports bars. I could care less about the churches. So, this is why we're here. So, she can have her fun with people and I can have my fun with my people." >> And I I have to imagine and I I think that this is is probably helped along because of of the location

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that you're in and and the environment change bolsters this, but the the friendships that the connections that are made, the friendships that are there are lasting well after just that month or or 3-month stay at wherever you're at because of the the different things that you do. Again, it I I think back to like like the the friends and the connections that you make in college. We still have some sort of connection with those people because we were all going through life at that certain time, all going through

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the same things. And and they were very fundamental change that helped us to be who we are. When you kind of travel back and you go through that again, the connections that you make with the people that are going through those same type of things are very strong. And I again, I imagine they extend well after that travel ends. >> Well, exactly. And it has to do with the creation of identity. >> Mhm. So, the one thing that everyone's going through at the same time is retirement essentially, whether they're

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fully retired or semi-retired. But, with that comes a lot of other things. So, I'm no longer now the accountant. I don't work as an accountant. I used to be an accountant. I'm not the guy who lives on the corner, the neighbor, because I downsized downsized when the kids, you know, left home and now I live in a a condo somewhere. Um you know, I'm not the parent at the PTA, cuz the kids are gone. Like, those are like often the pillars of one's identity uh and community. So, now now what is it? Now that I moved

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to this townhouse or condo and the kids aren't there and and I don't work. And so, what we find is the people who come on this program, they find they discover their tribe. Because the thing that everyone has in common is shared core value. And that core value is a deep appreciation for other cultures. It's important to their life. Right? Because who on earth would want to go on a vacation and stay in one place for an entire month? It's not normal, right? It's not what people do for vacation.

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They they travel, they uh tour, they cruise, whatever. So, this is like a unique subset of people who really want to go deep and appreciate the beauty of the day-to-day routines, the different form of life. Uh and they're like, this is my tribe. And now these friendships form and we have entire sessions, which is just alumni who have connected and said, oh, I I love the type of people this attracts. And we've got a whole session full now of alumni doing these things and that's their tribe. And they're

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going to just keep doing that. And we hear all the time, Andrew, now that I've discovered this form of travel, this is >> [clears throat] >> what I'm going to do with my years that I can physically do this. >> Mhm. >> I I I have to ask, cuz you talked about doing a video on their first day. Do you also do a video on the last day? >> No, that's a great idea. >> [laughter] >> That's actually a really good idea. No, we we don't even do you're right. We

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don't even really do like an exit interview. We we just do a survey like a you know, a web form but we don't really do and I guess when they get home we do send them an email saying if you'd like to offer feedback on your experience we'd love to schedule a time for a zoom. We can just feedback and we'll capture that and we use that feedback as a way of continuous improvement on the programming side. >> Well, I'm thinking you have that first and and I I this is just how my how my

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brain works. Then you have that that first intro video but then you also have that that exit video still on location and that is your your marketing material for new people. >> Um yeah, [laughter] you send the invoice over for the marketing side. I love it. That's great. That's actually really we should we should totally do that. >> Yeah, I mean testimonials are great especially if and the cool thing is if you can you can compare and contrast the beginning of the trip versus the ending

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of the trip. Um I think that I I mean that the trip is there the trip is magical for its own right and all the things are going to happen I'm sure all the time. And having that and of course you get to strategically design or make it however you want but I just that would be a I think a cool way kind of baked into the program so that person can see the beginning and end but also again that's that's marketing material for you. >> All right, yeah. Um it would be easy to do. >> Good. Now, can can you tell me about the

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about Joy Span? As a concept, how do you define it and and why why is it so important? >> So, Joy Span is a term that Dr. Kerry Burnette came up with. She wrote a book called Joy Span and that concept that we know what life span is the number of years you live and health span the number of years you have health. But what are the number of years you have joy in your life? Is it critical measure. And what we find and what she finds in her book, uh so she's a doctor, there's a lot of scientific stuff in

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there. It's basically if you have more joy in your life, you can actually also extend your health span. Like happiness and health have some correlation. And but for us at The Good Life Abroad, focusing on travel for people 55 and older, the concepts around joy span are like this is it. This is a This is a pillar on which we build our program. Um and so the fundamental idea is you can create joy in your life. There are practices you can do. You don't have to be 55. You don't have to travel

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abroad. There's things everyone can do to create and build joy in their lives. And we've just taken those principles and applied it to travel. Um and so for example, one of them is like just growing, grow, learn new things. It could be a skill, a hobby, uh anything. But when you travel, as we talked about earlier, like everything is new. You're just constantly learning. You're learning the local phrases in the local language. You're learning how the public transportation works. Everything

00:31:54

is learning. Uh another thing she talks about is connection. This is obvious in terms of what we're doing with community, connecting with other people. But if you're not traveling, you know, joining a club, volunteering, so or putting yourself out there and connecting with other humans versus sort of isolating yourself at home. Um adaptation. Uh she talks about this is like find pushing yourself a little out of your comfort zone and then adapt being able to adapt to that. Don't break

00:32:22

yourself, right? But pushing yourself so you have to adapt and you and you grow as a result. So with our program, you know, suddenly I Yeah, I'm like all everything is different different way of life uh from the physical space of the European apartment to physically being in a European city center, you're adapting. Um but [clears throat] then and you're and you're hopefully you're just pushed a little bit, right? But at the end of that month, you're like, "Wow, I I adapted to that." And now the world is

00:32:50

opening up versus the world closing in on you, which is often happens to people as they get older. The world feels smaller and smaller. Um another thing she talks about is giving, right? Giving but that can It could be volunteering, it could be giving to yourself, could be philanthropy, but it could just be like being kind to people. And when you travel, uh I don't know if you have the experience, but like you're almost a little bit more vulnerable. And you tend to speak nicer to the local

00:33:16

people cuz you're you're like, "I'm a child here. I don't know how things work." And you're nicer to other travelers. Like you meet people uh and you you share things that you might not have shared if you just met them at, you know, the grocery store in your hometown. So, anyway, these concepts um are are things that you can do at home, learning, adapting, growing. Uh but in in the travel space, it's like on steroids, right? It's just like everything is heightened. Um and

00:33:46

and there's another book that we we read. Um uh it's called The Good Life. It's actually a little bit of an inspiration for the company. But it it's a study of happiness and what that finds and also this joy span is when you do this in community, when you're sharing this and connecting with others, it like everything amplifies, right? So, community is so important cuz you could do these things by yourself, but when you do it in community, the the joy that's created is amplified. Um and

00:34:17

that's that's that's everything for us. And so, we're we're literally trying to redefine retirement for people. >> Right. And and what you've done is you've taken that joy span and and the good life and kind of connected those dots and and built the travel experiences to have those things not by default because sometimes travel has those things, but you've put those in you've injected those in on purpose so they're getting them with with thoughtful consideration as opposed to

00:34:42

happy happenstance. >> Exactly. Absolutely. >> All right. I I think that I'm not alone in this, but I think that a lot of times people when they think of traveling, especially traveling abroad, there are certain fears that they come with that. So, what are what are some common fears or hesitations people bring to having extended travel or even life design? And then what are some steps that you and your team do to help them to move past those? >> Yeah. The big one with people as we get older

00:35:18

is is health concerns. Uh for ourselves and at a certain period in our life we have aging parents that are quite aged and that is important, right? These are important relationships, important to take care of our health. And so, uh that's a big one. And so, what we can do in terms of your health is we have a whole risk mitigation risk management plan in place. So, if something were to happen to you, our local community manager, first of all, we include medical insurance while you're with us. Like that's just covered

00:35:49

for everyone. Secondly, if something happened, we have a whole network of English-speaking medical professionals based on the severity of whatever you have. So, if you get sick, if you go on your own and something happens to you, hurt your you roll an ankle on a cobblestone, for example, that's not the time you want to try to figure out the medical you that needs to be thought through well in advance. And that's what one of the things we provide is like no, we we we we thought it through, we know exactly

00:36:12

what to do, protocols in place. Um another thing, uh well, and then in terms of like aging parents, but things that could happen back at home, right? Uh people book with us um often like 9 months, 12 months in advance. But at our age, since we get older, things happen we we never planned. Oh, I need a new hip. I didn't know I needed that 6 months ago. Or oh, I'm going to have I'm going to be a grandparent. Didn't know that 12 months ago. Uh and so one of the things we try to do is

00:36:42

also have a just a flexible uh cancellation policy. So it makes it easy for you to oh, life happens. We understand that. We know who we're working with. We can roll that over to a future, you know, next year if you need or or if you cancel a certain time, we'll just refund you your money. No no big deal. Because that's who our audience is. Um Other things So those are very practical. I think at a psychological level, at a higher level, you know, I think one of the big tensions is between

00:37:12

the status quo, being very comfortable, right? And this new optimized or new life I'm trying to create for myself. Uh just the unknowns that could come with it. Um and so at a high level, that thing that happens to a lot of people who are trying to shape their life because it's very comfortable. We've optimized what for what the status quo, right? We've Um So what we can do, now we're going back to the Good Life Abroad specifically, is we can't we're not going to convince you. But

00:37:45

what we we have is this Facebook group, private Facebook group of our past travelers and and present travelers. And it's about it's thousands of people in there. And they are just going on and on about how this has changed their life and how this is an amazing way to travel. And they're And you go join this group and you're like, "Oh my gosh, that person looks like me. That's, you know, a 60-year-old from Texas who who now is going off and doing 3 months in the spring and 3 months in the

00:38:15

fall with the Good Life Abroad." And I they could see themselves and they talk to each other. How did you handle it? What about your pet? What about your, you know, your grandkids? Um Um And so, >> [clears throat] >> that is something we just can facilitate that conversation. >> Yeah, okay. As you're as you're talking about that, I'm I'm wondering how many or maybe even percentage of your How many of your your clients are repeat clients? I mean, meaning they do one trip with you, and

00:38:42

they come back stateside, and they said, "Man, I want to do that again. Let's Let's go again." How many How many times has that happened? >> Yeah, that number is growing uh consider every year cuz we have more travelers, and then that alumni number grows. Uh it's right now roughly 35%. of our travel total. >> Okay. Wow. >> Our Our goal is we we think it could be 50/50. We think it'll be at some point half the people just keep coming back, and then half the people are new.

00:39:10

>> Now, as you are as as these trips are happening, are you there personally on on each one of them? Or how does How does that work? What is your role in that? >> I wish. I could split myself. >> [laughter] >> No, we have programs in about 21 cities across Europe, and they're just sort of going um almost all year. Not Not all year in all the places. Um so, my role uh I'm the founder. It was my idea, and I uh oversee just I have a team in Europe that handles all the operations. As you can imagine,

00:39:45

there's a lot of real estate happening, right? We're subleasing apartments on behalf of people in 21 cities um different times of the year. So, there's a whole real estate operation happening there. And then we have people physically in all the cities, our local community managers um that are there that we manage. And they're about providing the most amazing experience for our guests, creating that community, fostering connections, and helping people make the most of their month in Europe.

00:40:16

And then we've got our US side. Uh, and I oversee them. Everyone from the moment you call our office just with a question, [clears throat] um, to once you've booked, like I said, it's 9 to 12 months before they actually go. And in that process, there's, um, not just like, oh, support, but there's actually a fair amount of education that has to happen because people are used to being tourists. They know how to go and land in a place and run around and see as many sites as possible. They're not

00:40:44

used to like how to live there, right? Or they're all or if they've been on a tour, they know the bus will just take them places, you know, get on, get off, check in the hotels. So, there's a lot of education, especially with the 55 plus audience, what is WhatsApp? How do I use it? How do I connect with other Will my phone work in Europe? What about Google Maps? Wait, there's no Wi-Fi in the street. No, well, what is Wi-Fi? What is a cellular connection? Like, you There's a lot of things, you know,

00:41:12

um, so we there's an education process we try to work with uh, each traveler during that pre-departure. And that is a whole team uh, of people that that does that as well. >> Okay. So, I have to ask, how often do you actually get to go out and and visit those places? That you know, that being the the thing that launched this whole thing. What what What about you? >> Yeah, so I tend to go out for a month in the spring and a month in the fall, and I'll visit a bunch of programs. Uh, I'll

00:41:42

be gone essentially the month of April. I'll be visiting a bunch of our programs for three or four days, three or four days, and then I'll do the same thing in the fall. Um, often I'll try to go for the launch of a brand new program to support that if I can, but a lot of times you have new programs launching at the same time in multiple cities. >> Okay. Now, what is What is a mistake that people make when they think about their life after work that would be helpful for you to talk about

00:42:12

so listeners can maybe avoid that from happening. >> Yeah. It's going to sound I think people might say, "Oh, that's not me." But I love my dad, but he's not doing retirement right. He is clinging to his job of I was an accountant and I was into financial stuff. And that continues to be his only real interest. So he watch spends his days in a chair watching MSNBC and trading stocks on his iPad. And he's not expanded his interests to other things and it's not said, "All right, this is Instead he

00:42:56

could say, 'This is a time where I need to maybe take better care of my health uh because my body's just getting older. So I need to double up on the you know physical movement activities. Time to to take on new hobbies or to stimulate my mind.'" Um and I I compare him and I look at my mom. Um and my mom is like a dynamo and she's uh they they moved to a 55-plus community and it's it's pretty much older than 55. It's on the the later side of things. You know, my mom is out

00:43:28

there helping people who are essentially in hospice in her community in the building. Um people die, she's out there helping clean out their apartments, helping you know, figure out all the kind of end-of-life stuff with the family. And you know, she's in the water aerobics, she's in Now, that's it. I'm not So people might say, "Oh, that's so extreme the way you painted your dad." But it's it's true. It's unfortunately true. The best thing that happened to both of them

00:43:55

um was about 6 years ago. They moved into this 55-plus community. Uh and then just having all these activities and people has been helpful. And so my dad, even though he, you know, isn't quite like my mom, but he does do the poker night with the guys on Mondays. So he does get out there and does some things, but it's it's a little bit less. Because before they moved into that, they're from we're from Chicago. Um they moved to San Diego, California, where I am, to help me with and to be

00:44:28

close to the grandkids, my kids. Um but my kids, they're in college now and, you know, as they got older, even in high school, they didn't want to hang out with grandma and grandpa all the time. It was great when they were little. Um and then grandma and grandpa were like, "Well, we don't see your kids very often and Andrew, you're traveling all the time for work and we're like twiddling our thumbs and we don't know anyone in San Diego, right?" So they became like bored and that's when I

00:44:49

think the the loneliness started to set in. You know, I I got more concerned about my parents. So them moving into this finding community. So I think underestimating the importance of community in your life at any point. Uh cuz community, you find it in work. I mean, it's like, yeah, work seems like a drag, but but it also provides community. Um so underestimate that and I think community should be first and foremost on people's minds uh once they get out of work. >> Yeah, and and you're right, because I

00:45:20

think that we go to work, there's people that we work with, we don't realize how much we lean on them, how much we have those conversations, sometimes pretty meaningful conversations. We we might share stuff with a work friend that we wouldn't necessarily share with a really close friend, just because of the different uh environment or different atmosphere. And having that and thinking about that as a community and then when you retire, not that you're cut off, but you you lose that

00:45:46

community, those people. And yeah, you hang out with you might, you know, especially early on, you'll connect with them, but as time goes, those connections will get less and less just because that's how things work. And so having a community, whether whether that's building that you move into to have that community or you go out on your own and and you connect with the people that are like you. You find people that are like you. You've talked about finding your tribe. You find your

00:46:09

tribe. You connect with those people and then you have those those people. Those are your people. You hang out with them. You talk to them. You you you have regular coffee meetings with them or or or um game nights or however you like to spend your time, but you build that community with them. And sometimes we are lucky enough to find ourselves where we can just step into another community. And other times we might have to realize that there's some people here that probably could connect and maybe would, but there's nobody

00:46:39

that's doing the connection. So, we might have to be that person that makes those connections ourselves in order to build that community. >> And it it it's it's subtle things. It's little things. You don't think, "Oh, I'm losing community." I don't think anyone thinks about it in these terms, right? It's you and I having a sort of philosophical discussion about this. But like my dad, it started very simple. He just said, "Oh, uh it's getting harder for me to to

00:47:04

walk, so I'm just not going to go to church anymore." You know, and but it's like, "No, you're losing a community. You're losing that." He's like, "I I I can see it on my iPad. I watch the church service." And my my mom, you know, she still goes, but but it's the people and she's volunteering the you know, Sunday school with the kids and the snack time. These communities exist in our lives everywhere. I think we just need to kind of be a alert to them happening and

00:47:28

realize that they're they are important whether we realize it or not. >> Andrew, what is the the intersection between purpose, identity, and community? We talked a lot about community today. Purpose, identity, and communion. A community. And and and why do you think those matter more than whatever destination you decide to land in? >> Right. The Yeah, that intersection sort of the the bull's eye, right? The the center of the bull's eye. And because you could have a group of people

00:48:07

in Paris just >> [clears throat] >> being there, right? But without any purpose. Right? So, there's nothing that unifies them. They're just a bunch of people in a hotel room or in a hotel building in Paris, sorry. That's Well, they're going to just do their own thing. There's nothing there. That's not a That's not a community, right? A community has certain things in Every community has certain things in common, right? There is a shared purpose, why we're here, but

00:48:36

also um community as we define it means we're looking out for each other, right? It's like you're going to be a fan club of like Taylor Swift fans, right? Doesn't mean we're going to look out for each other. It just means we all like Taylor Swift. Um but in a a real community, that means you're also looking out for each other. And then a community usually has shared symbols, shared language, right? Traditions that we observe that bind us together. Um and so the having that that shared purpose and

00:49:09

our case it's a love cultural appreciation and therefore cultural immersion to to get that, right? That you need that That That's our That's our mission. Now, everyone's immersion looks a little different, but then we can have rituals and traditions and language to bind us together. Um and that's what what's uh forms community. And that's what forms your tribe. And then you realize, ah, you see, every community, too, there's um like concentric circles, right? If a

00:49:40

community stands for something um then it it attracts people who come to try and check it out. And you've got people who step into the outermost circle. Is this for me? And some people come to us for example, like, what is this Tuesday lunch club tradition? And what is this like community thing? And oh, I don't Some people are like, I don't like this. I I I I want to go back to the Four Seasons. I was very comfortable in the Four Seasons. This I have to go and buy my own toilet paper

00:50:07

when I'm on vacation. I don't like this, right? And then other people begin and and they love it. And then they move to the center of the circle. And then within our circles, we have our evangelists who are telling the world about the good life abroad. We have our our helper types who help the people on the margins say, "Hey, let me explain to you how this works. You know, you don't have to do this or that." And then that guides people in. And so, um when you when you identify something as

00:50:33

a community, right? You realize that it should have these components. And then it's your job to then foster. And that's what our community managers do so well. They're They literally, part of their job is to identify who's the role What are the roles within this community? Each group is different every month, right? It's like, "Ah, John, he's our storyteller. He's taking pictures [clears throat] at everything we do and then he's sharing it on WhatsApp. And then like maybe he'll post

00:50:57

on our Facebook group. He's our storyteller. Oh, she's the helper. She's bringing people in and, you know, if someone's sick, often And it happens, people get cold, get the flu, you know, there's the community steps in. Are you okay, Mary? Can we bring you something? Uh if you're, you know, a solo traveler for example. And and that is that is it. That's the magic, right? When you you create this amazing thing. But you don't have it without the shared purpose and then without people

00:51:23

identifying saying, "Yeah, I'm I'm proud to wear that pin of that community. Like, I'm one of those." Um but it In order to get there, you've got to be clear about what you stand for. >> I I really really like that explanation of what community is. That was That was really really good. Thank you for that. I'm going to bring that with me because I like that so much. The The idea of the concentric circles and then you have the people that are on the outside of the fence sort of say looking

00:51:52

at, "Hey, is that something I want to do?" And they find the gate, they walk in, and they can see if they want to continue on. But then the the the part that often isn't talked about are the the people that are going out that are collecting the new people and bringing them in that the people that are being you know, that are evangelizing for whatever that cause is. That is really interesting and then moving closer and closer to whatever that shared interest is uh gives them a gives them the

00:52:19

community. That That is the the connection that they all want to move into that. And then they also the the connections about the rituals is the word that that we're going to use here because I think it's fitting, but it that's a weird word to to to say as well. But the the things that you do together as a team, as a community, helps to build those connections. You get to meet new people. But that all of that is predicated on you being able to be that type of person that is inside at least one of the

00:52:47

circles and not on the outside looking over the I I I think about like like Wilson from uh from Home Improvement. You're looking looking over the gate and you can just see, you know, just just his eyes. Um But if you once you move into that and then you move closer and closer. So that that is really good. I I thank you for that. Andrew, somebody Okay, let let's say somebody wants to start living more intentional, right? Cuz all of this all of this whole talk today we we talked about traveling,

00:53:12

we talked about all these things, but but we also talked about living more intentional intentional. And And as you're traveling, it's not just your your you're hanging out there for 2 weeks or something. You're going You're staying for you know, you're getting an apartment there. You're like you're you're essentially living in this place for for that time. There's some intentionality to that. There's intentionality to the the connection we talked about with building a community.

00:53:34

So if somebody wanted to start living more intentionally today, what would be a step in that direction, a step closer to the middle of that circle that you would recommend for them. >> The first thing and I do this on a pretty regular basis is just asking myself is the thing I'm doing today bringing me joy or not? And if it's bringing me joy, okay, how can I do more of that? And if it's not bringing me joy, why am I doing this and can I be doing something else? Um that's it's very simple and I do this

00:54:12

especially at the beginning of a year. Some people do like the New Year's resolution. I just sort of do a very simple like what were the things that brought me the most joy this past year. Um and can I do more of those things? And and lastly enjoy and I I think doing it at an annual basis or even a semi it's like the little dopamine hits don't count, right? It's like oh I like last night, you know, we had a great meal and too much wine. It was but like no, no, what do you remember at

00:54:40

the end of the year? Like oh, no, like that maybe it was that family reunion or it was or maybe it was that meal because it was amazing conversation with beautiful friends that you value so much. You're like, you know what? I want to spend more time with those people and that's going to be my that was that was me January which is I wanted to have more dinner parties cuz I don't see my friends as much as I'd like to see them. Um and and so what can I do? And then I combine that with my love

00:55:07

of food and so I'm going to start cooking more. I'm going to cook learn to make more dishes and that'll be a great way to entice more friends to come over and have dinner. We'll have more dinner parties. So >> Well, Andrea, I got to say thank you. Thank you so much because your work helps to remind us that life isn't a checklist. It's an unfolding story that's shaped by intention, connections, and probably most of all curiosity. Today today we talked about why slowing

00:55:35

down and living deeply even temporarily, even in a new place can reveal truths about ourselves that that short vacations or our routine living never do. And the biggest message is purpose doesn't wait until later. You have to start designing that now. So, whether you're approaching a new chapter or simply yearning for for more meeting in your daily life, the principle of intentional living, community, and openness to that experience are universal. And Andrew, we're getting ready to to wrap up here.

00:56:09

Do you have any any key thoughts or final takeaways for the listeners? And you know, if they wanted to learn more about you and your program, what would be the best way for them to do that? >> Well, I'm coming at this from the travel perspective, and I would say exactly what you were saying is when you travel, travel with intention. And it starts with having some curiosity. I find that the people with the best travel experiences have some curiosity, some itch they're trying to scratch, and that creates an

00:56:40

intention of why they're going versus just doing the checklist travel, which is fine. There's a time and a place for that. But intentional travel is so much more rewarding. So, I encourage everyone watching this to think about what do they want to get out of their next trip instead of just going through the motions of, "Oh, now that I'm retired, I have to go on another trip and fill my time." Um and so, whether that's with The Good Life Abroad or any way you travel, it's

00:57:07

it's something I encourage you. But if you're interested in getting in touch with us, our website is thegoodlifeabroad.com. And if you wanted to reach me, it's very easy. I'm andrew@thegoodlifeabroad.com. >> And listeners, if this conversation stirred you, share it, subscribe, and visit the prestigiouslabs.com for more episodes that help you live your life with clarity and courage. Until next time, keep living with purpose.