The Power of Adventure: How Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone is an Act of Self-Care and Rediscovery || with Brooke Eliason from Female Foodie

In this episode I sit down with Brooke Eliason, founder of Female Foodie, to discuss the transformative power of adventure. From my own experiences exploring London to Brooke's incredible journey of turning a three-month trip into an 18-month adventure across the U.S. and Europe, we explore how stepping outside your comfort zone can transform your life. We also dive into the benefits of organized travel and share some practical tips for reigniting your adventurous spirit, whether close to home or halfway across the world.

Join us as we uncover why you should say 'why not?' to new experiences and how anticipation for adventure can fill your life with joy. We also introduce an exciting opportunity for you to join our community on a special Female Foodie tour to Italy. This episode is perfect for anyone looking to feed their sense of adventure and gain practical advice on how to start exploring the world around them.

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TRANSCRIPT

Brooke Eliason: [00:00:00] I love that you said who know it's time because I think you do know when it's like, I need something, I need to explore or get outta my comfort zone or just appreciate right. So many things that we have around us.

Monica Packer: Hi. This is Monica Packer and you are listening to about Progress where we are about progress made practical.

When was the first time you got outside of your comfort zone as an adult? For me, it was when I went on my study abroad to London, England, where I turned 20 years old while on the trip. Now I'm the fifth of seven kids, but I was the first to take an international voyage outside of serving a mission for our faith.

Every morning in the classroom, we learned about the Great War World War I. Studying how its history inspired, the literature, art and music from the period while the afternoons were spent exploring the sites, spending [00:01:00] the little money we all had on nosebleed seats to any play, ballet or musical we could attend.

And seeing almost every piece of art we could as far as the transportation network could take us. This trip changed my life. It ignited a deep love for history, art, and culture. It pushed me to try new things.

It challenged so much of my existing worldview, and it instilled greater knowledge of who I was and who I wanted to be. When I think of London, I think of it almost as the beginning of my real life. And yet that first day, I clearly remember sitting on the bunk bed, scared to death the whole house had just departed.

Going to take in the Big Ben before dinner and bed. But I elected to stay back excusing myself because of some sort of ear ache I had at the time. But the truth was I [00:02:00] felt petrified and a rare for me moment of courage that set the why not tone for the rest of my time there.

I somehow rallied my determination, reminding myself that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I hurled myself out the front door running to meet up with the group before it was too late. I often think about what would've changed if I had stayed safe in my comfort zone.

Even while there, I had to learn to become an adventurer. Adventuring in one form or another has since become a great value in my life. Whether it's locally, a few hours away, or much farther and harder to come by prioritizing, getting out of my physical comfort zone has acted as a form of both self-care and rediscovery as it pushes me to get outside of my inner comfort zone in [00:03:00] that spirit. I'm so thrilled to share this episode with you. I am joined again by Brooke Lyon, the founder of Female Foodie, and someone who has learned firsthand how adventure, whether four hours away or across the ocean, can completely reshape how you see yourself and the world.

We talk about how to become a woman who adventures, even if it's not in your nature. The story behind how Brooke and her husband turned a three month trip with a newborn into a year and a half journey across the US and Europe, and how this adventure inspired them to create a way for now hundreds of women to reconnect with themselves via their hosted tours to Italy.

Whether you're itching for a big leap or just a baby step outside of your routine, this interview will inspire you to say, why not too? Brooke Eliason is the founder of Female Foodie, an amazing resource for restaurant guides, restaurant [00:04:00] inspired recipes and tours in Italy. Brooke and her talented team of food writers and recipe developers across the country Make food and adventuring more possible for all of us. Brooke loves to make any food hike and spend time with her family. She's married to Cody and they are the parent of three children living in Washington and spending their spare time, prioritizing friends, travel, and of course food.

You can find more about Brooke on her Instagram account, female Foodie on her substack at Female Foodie, As well as her amazing podcast. That was delicious. That interview is coming up after a quick break for our sponsors, including an announcement of how I am partnering with female foodie on something really special.

Brooke Eliason. Welcome to about Progress, Monica.

Brooke Eliason: Monica, thank you for having me here. It's an honor to be back on the show.

Monica Packer: Yeah, as I was saying, I meant welcome back, welcome back, and you always have an open door here , I'm so excited to talk to you today. Last time the episode we [00:05:00] recorded about how becoming a foodie can heal your relationship with food was so helpful to so many. we're going to go a little bit of a different direction and we're going to be talking about.

Adventure and how to become someone who is finding and building opportunities to adventure outside of the norms, which honestly goes hand in hand with being more of a foodie, I would say.

Brooke Eliason: Yes.

Monica Packer: let's, let me just start by asking you, I see an adventurous spirit in you, but has that always been who you, who you are?

Brooke Eliason: You know, I will say I think I've grown even more into it with the experiences. And yes, I do think that inherently I am a little more drawn to like, doing things that are fun, adventurous, slightly outta my comfort zone. , But I also feel like as I've done those things more, my confidence has grown.

I mean, even in into adulthood, I actually find that as an adult it can feel much scarier to do [00:06:00] things than like when I was a teenager or even in my early twenties. But I feel, you know, just kind of reflecting on that, I feel like. An experience I had that really kind of opened me to just like getting outta my comfort zone was when I first moved to West Yellowstone for a summer.

Um, I was in college. So again, like a little bit of that fearlessness element, I had never been there before to my recollection. I, I'm sure I had passed through, you know, as a kid maybe. But, um, a girlfriend just said, Hey, why don't you come up with me, and we could like wait tables for the summer. And I think I was just so excited to see and experience something different.

And honestly, that experience changed my life. One summer turned into probably four or five over the years. Um, I. And it was so good on for so many reasons. First of all, it was a different world than the world I grew up in, which was Salt Lake City, which I still love so much. Um, but gosh, [00:07:00] talk about a cultural difference with just a four and a half hour drive, you know?

Monica Packer: Mm-hmm. Um,

Brooke Eliason: this is a town where there's a thousand people that live there year round. And not only that, but millions of tourists from all over the world that come in and pass through each year. So. You know, I was just completely in a different world. I also feel like just, you know, as a young adult, , I didn't have a lot of commitments then.

I didn't have kids or a spouse, but I feel like it, I really kind of was at this point in my life where I got to decide like what kind of person I wanted to be.

Monica Packer: Um, so that was

Brooke Eliason: Um, so that was really cool to go up there and almost not feel like I had this identity and I really got to choose like. Who is Brooke Foster?

What is important to her? What does she spend her spare time doing? And then I think just, you know, realizing that like there's not one right way to do things right. That, you know, going from this life I had known in Davis County, Utah to a very much [00:08:00] more.

Blue collar or so many small business owners, right? Just seeing the way they live and the values that they have was so different. So I feel like just that act of even just driving four hours away and just really like embracing, you know, every part of that of West Yellowstone for all of its quirks, you know, for better or worse, I really do feel like that was a really good springboard for me.

Monica Packer: thing.

I like hearing that it's something you grew into because one of the ways I can dismiss people who do things differently than me, even though I have some inkling or desire to do or be similar, I always think, well, that's just who they are. Like they just were born that way. And while it does sound like you had some of those tendencies, it's something that you grew in both comfort and desire. That means we can do that too. It doesn't mean we have to necessarily be like, I'm going to hike Mount Kilimanjaro tomorrow, or I wanna see every single country in the entire world before I'm 40. I was gonna say 30, [00:09:00] but I'm like, I think we're all like 30 plus by now, so that's not as applicable. It doesn't have to be so big.

It's more about that. That desire in you and how that can grow because of the benefits you get from it, which I, I, you were touching on that a little bit. As a young adult, you also got to expand on those benefits as a family. So tell us a little bit about how that grew to taking big adventures, including once you did have commitments of a spouse and kids and going on big adventures and what that brought for you and your family, why it became. Not just something that was worth it to you, but like a way you wanted to live your life.

Brooke Eliason: Well, when Cody and I, we met in 2014 and we got married in 2015, so this is our 10 year this year, which is crazy. Thank you. I know it feels like a fun milestone, but.

After a couple years of living in Salt Lake, we moved to Texas and long story short, you know, I married a Texan and honestly, I think I just knew deep down that if we didn't like try [00:10:00] living there, that our whole marriage, you know, as a true Texan, right, like.

Monica Packer: yeah, Texans, Texas is awesome. I

Brooke Eliason: Well,

Monica Packer: You

Brooke Eliason: I love Texas, but Texans also like, have more state pride than anywhere else in our country, I feel like. And so I, I was like excited and curious about it and also. Yeah, I think I just knew deep down that like this is gonna happen at some point. Why don't we just like go see how it is. So we get to Texas and unfortunately it wasn't my, I love visiting Texas.

I love the people there. I love the food scene. I mean, we were in Austin, but I did, it was a little hard for me. It wasn't like my favorite place to live.

Monica Packer: my,

Brooke Eliason: I was pregnant almost the whole time. Year we lived there. We got there, you know, in, at the end of summer, which their summers seemed to last forever.

So it was a good, it was a definitely not an easy year. I learned a lot. We had a ton of fun. Um, and at the end of the year, you know, I. Uh, Cody came up to me and he said, [00:11:00] okay, our lease ends, like we can either renew our lease or he's like, you know, we could travel for the rest of the year. Which at this point it was September.

We had about a three month old baby. And we were living in a really cool neighborhood, in a really crappy house that I had picked. 'cause I wanted the neighborhood, but I didn't quite have the budget for like,

Monica Packer: mm-hmm.

Brooke Eliason: that I would've ideally lived in. I just leapt at that. I mean, when he was like, do you wanna travel till through the end of the year?

I thought, of course. Even though we had a baby, I just thought, this is gonna get harder. I knew we wanted to at least have, you know, two or three kids and I. He was working remote at the time. You know, now we work together in our business, but I absolutely had no idea we would be doing that.

And I just kind of thought like, when else are we gonna get this chance? And so our three months turned into a year and a half. Um.

Monica Packer: Yeah.

Brooke Eliason: I honestly, I, I'm so grateful. I mean, I think there was definitely a part of me that was, a [00:12:00] little, I don't know, maybe protective of the experience. 'cause I felt like, man, I'm such a true millennial, you know, I'm, it just felt so like, you know, hashtag van life of, even though we weren't living in a van,

i'm sure you know, there were people that, you know, kind of made their judgements or ideas about what we were doing, but oh my gosh, Monica, I have no regrets. I'm so grateful we did that. And the way we made it work, by the way, before I forget, is we would just get on Airbnb and find places that we could rent for a month at a time, which not always, but oftentimes a host will offer a discount for a two or four week stay.

So that was my job. I found places.

Monica Packer: downplayed

Brooke Eliason: we started in Montana 'cause I just love Montana. We went over to Seattle and then it just kind of snowballed and that those three months turned into 18 months and we, you know, we did go kind of all over the west side of the country. We stayed in la, San Diego, Phoenix.

The [00:13:00] Portland area a couple of times, and then it eventually did snowball into going to Italy, which honestly like changed my life because that was the springboard into our tours. But you know, even from just that domestic travel itself, going from Utah, or I should say Texas to even Montana, to then Washington, holy culture shock and culture change.

I mean, I will never forget. Accidentally cutting the fairy line in Seattle with my car like.

Monica Packer: Oh yeah.

Brooke Eliason: You know, like I, I was just like not quite sure where I was and I kind of like, just like wedged my way in and just the people were so angry and feeling so much shame and literally just crying

Monica Packer: Dang it,

Brooke Eliason: because, you know, I just didn't know what I was doing.

Monica Packer: Yeah.

Brooke Eliason: um, even a guy got out of his car and came up to me, he's like, it's okay. Like, I know you made a mistake, I don't think he knew how much that meant to me. But you know, I made a [00:14:00] mistake. I didn't know the rules. And I feel like even just stateside, right? Like having these experiences in these places that are within driving distance of where I grew up with, like, it really opened my eyes to the way people live.

And it also, like, it was just so fun, Monica. It was so fun too. You know, obviously I'm very food forward, so trying the seafood in Seattle and the tacos in San Diego and you know, all the quirky food carts in Portland, but even just like appreciating the little nuances of like how they live, I, I just feel like it was such a cool way to like shape our family culture from early on.

Monica Packer: Mm-hmm. You've been able to share some of those, those benefits already with, getting outside of your normal bubble. and I feel like anyone who's been able to do that, even driving four hours away from your home, just how eye-opening it is, like you said, and how fun, and you get those nuances of life and you experience new things that only.

Expand your [00:15:00] comfort zone and makes you want ready to try something else. But you know what I love the most about what you said, Brooke? There's still going to be some uncomfortable moments. Even with the good things. You're gonna be out of your comfort zone. There will be frustrations and mistakes made, and still you can leave any kind of saying, no regrets.

Brooke Eliason: Absolutely.

Monica Packer: that I did that, that I tried something different.

Brooke Eliason: Absolutely. And I think even like having those hard experiences. Yeah, you, you feel a little proud of yourself 'cause uh, you're like, I overcame

Monica Packer: Mm-hmm.

Brooke Eliason: Right? Like, I'm okay. And I learned from it. It of course gives you more compassion to people, right? When you mess up and do something dumb. But yeah, I think that is, you know, it's easy with travel.

I mean, even going to Italy, we take women to Italy and do these tours and it's so easy to. Think everything's gonna be perfect. And spoiler alert, when you get to a city like Rome, it's just like going to a big city anywhere else. There is [00:16:00] trash sometimes, right? And there is, graffiti here and there.

And I think that it is a choice. I know it's a choice to choose to just appreciate the good and kind of just. Brush away. Maybe the things you don't love so much because there's so much good.

Monica Packer: so much good. And yeah, I think at the end of the day you never regret trying and doing something different and new. And it's gonna be a story

Brooke Eliason: Oh.

Monica Packer: cutting, cutting the line to the ferry. It's now a story. So. gonna get into some tips on how people can lean into this side and develop this side of themselves as a way of kind of taking care of themselves almost a nourishing a new side of themselves and developing a new side of themselves, which I think is a form of self-care. Uh, you did mention Italy though, so I think we have to hit, just hit a quick pause before that and just say, you host Women on Tours to Italy, and that came about because of this three month. 18 month adventure [00:17:00] as a family. W like what? What happened there?

Brooke Eliason: I know it's honestly like I couldn't have cooked this up on my own ever. So it is so crazy to see where life takes you. you know, We kind of had this cadence and I think we were just enjoying it. And after we had been traveling, you know, we started in September and I would book these places out, you know, a couple or a few months in advance.

And I just asked Cody, my husband, I'm like. Could we go to Europe? You know, could we like do Rome? And I

Monica Packer: found

Brooke Eliason: a place, and it was a little bit above our budget, but it was still affordable. Um, it was like definitely up on a hill, which we, you know, fast forward we sweat and sweat and sweat walking up and down that hill every day, you know, 'cause it was like the summer in Italy, which is like going to the deep south, but I found a good place and then I found a place for the next month.

And we found affordable plane tickets. And so we were honestly just, we were going to create content for female foodie.com to add [00:18:00] restaurant guides. And also we were so excited to have the experience and I think what happened was we were, I was just sharing everything. I was just like.

Look at these water fountains and look at this restaurant and look at this pasta and pizza and oh my gosh, we're eating gelato every day. Like just the little joys of being over there. Right. I was also sharing how hot it was and how I hadn't even broken my jeans out of my suitcase. But, I think people could sense like how much I really, really fell in love, you know, with Italy. I had already been a couple times, but never at length. That, and people started asking early on, like, if I could organize a group trip, to which I said no. I was like, I don't, you know, I think I, I mean, even to this day, I just struggled with like, why me am, am I qualified to do that?

Like, what makes me qualified to do that?

Monica Packer: Yeah. And you

Brooke Eliason: just kept brushing that aside and then it was, I remember I was in Utah in December that year. We had finally, you know, we were [00:19:00] wrapping up this really cool adventure. Someone sent me a DM and I really should figure out who this person was, because I feel like this was like the, just the, the person that kind of, you know, uh, pushed that first domino over.

Yeah, it was a tipping point. But, um, they were like, will you please, I think I like did a q and a or something. They're like, would you please do a trip to Italy? And I told my husband, I'm like, this person is asking for me to host a trip to Italy. We haven't even been there in months. And he was like, why, why not?

I feel very blessed to have someone that's very supportive and adventurous. That's definitely a benefit.

Monica Packer: why not person.

Brooke Eliason: We all need a wide knot. It might, it could be your spouse, could be a parent, could be a sister or friend. Anyway. Long story short, Monica, I go over there.

I already kind of pieced the tour together, but there were things I wanted to like see and touch and feel. For example, like the villa where we stay in Rome, I flew and met Julio there, the owner, and he was like, wow, I can see that you're really serious about this. I'm like, yeah, I'm not gonna bring, you know, 25 [00:20:00] women over here without making sure it's actually amazing, which it was.

That was really cool though, to go over there and put it together but at this point, you know, now we have hosted over 300 women on our tours. And we are, you know, so excited to enter this new chapter where we are

Monica Packer: finding

Brooke Eliason: that.

We feel have incredible communities that really value things like travel and exploration and seeing something beautiful, and inviting them to host their own tours such as yourself, Monica. So I hope I didn't jump too far ahead, but that's, that's the short and sweet.

Monica Packer: the lead and, and we are definitely gonna talk about that. But I love hearing about even that, that initial kernel of wanting to do something outside of the norm to so many other things in your life and. Even though I'm not like doing something as cool as you that way, I [00:21:00] would say the same has been true for me. Anytime I've stepped outta my comfort zone, and I'm even talking about physically like and gotten out of that comfort zone and stretched myself, I have found new parts of myself. I've reconnected with old parts. I've had sparks for new things and, and new sides of myself that I had to develop. And I wanna lean into that before we actually talk about Italy a little bit more.

Brooke Eliason: Perfect.

Monica Packer: And how I'm going to be

Brooke Eliason: Mm-hmm.

Monica Packer: And because they're more used to these doable and small things, and traveling feels really big um. Perhaps out of reach, which we get. So let's go to the kernels of just adventuring first, and I would love to hear what tips you have for these listeners who know it's [00:22:00] time to get outside of that comfort zone and to stretch themselves and reconnect with themselves in that, in, in the process.

What, what can they do? Where can they start?

What, what can they do? Where can they start?

Brooke Eliason: Oh, I love that you said who know it's time because I think you do know when it's like, I need something, I need to explore or get outta my comfort zone or just appreciate right. So many things that we have around us. I first, you know, just to kind of preface. I think one thing that COVID did teach us was like, there is so much at an arm's length that we can do and see, um, that perhaps we haven't before.

So I would, that's kind of where I would start is like, what is near you that you haven't seen or experienced? I, I was probably 24 years old before I visited the Grand Canyon, which is a nine hour drive from where I grew up.

Monica Packer: I've never been,

Brooke Eliason: But like, you know.

Monica Packer: but

Brooke Eliason: You would love it, Monica. But that's, I think that's a perfect example of like, you could drive [00:23:00] there.

It wouldn't feel crazy, right? It's not like Niagara Falls, right. It's within your reach. You also, you also probably know a lot of people who have been there, so I'll get to that in a second. But I think just first of all, picking something that feels like. I could do this. Like I know a lot of people that have done it and something that's local that doesn't feel like too much.

And I think also picking your company carefully is important. I mean I do, I do love solo travel. I think it has a lot of benefits, but if you're feeling like maybe getting out of your comfort zone feels overwhelming, find someone that will be a good travel partner and a good travel partner A is just, I think just having another person there is gonna make it fun automatically.

Right.

Monica Packer: Mm-hmm.

Brooke Eliason: If you have an experience like I did at the ferry, you'll probably laugh instead of cry, right? Or you know, if you get lost like you're with someone, like you're going, it's always so fun to have that experience with someone else. [00:24:00] But if you can find someone that's either been where you're wanting to go or I think we all know that person that like loves to plan and loves to research, and maybe that's you, but if it's not hinge onto that person because they probably would really enjoy.

Kind of putting that trip together. So that's kind of my first trip is picking, you know, I guess that's kind of two part, but like picking somewhere that feels doable and that's nearby. And picking a travel companion that will enhance your trip for a myriad of reasons.

Monica Packer: Sounds like a why not buddy?

Brooke Eliason: Oh,

Monica Packer: built in buddy with your husband. Husband,

Brooke Eliason: yes.

Monica Packer: doesn't have to be a spouse. Find your why not buddy.

Brooke Eliason: It could be anyone. It could literally, I mean, yeah, I think I love that. A why not buddy? Just someone that's game to like try something new. Maybe someone like ideally that has the same interest. Like if you love to hike, find someone else that loves to hike. My husband loves to golf, so a lot of his friends like to golf, right?

So finding someone that wants to do [00:25:00] similar things to what you wanna do. The second thing I think, is don't stress so much about the details and lean on the experts and remember that everything's figureoutable. I know you've probably heard that too by Marie Forleo.

She's a total. You know, legend in the the business space, but she has this saying everything is figureoutable, which just lends to the fact that. You can figure out anything. If you want to go to the Grand Canyon, you can figure out the details, which are, oh, you either have to A, get the permit at the beginning of the year, or B, here's all these loopholes, right, that you can go through to actually go and hike the Grand Canyon.

You can also figure out, you know, the best driving itinerary and where to stay nearby. We are so lucky, I cannot believe the way chat GPT has changed my life.

Monica Packer: Yeah.

Brooke Eliason: Are you on chat GPTA lot

Monica Packer: Yep. I pay the monthly subscription now. They got me.

Brooke Eliason: [00:26:00] I mean literally like if I, I keep using the Grand Canyon example, but like I would put in chat GBT, I'm going here, where's a highly rated hotel or Airbnb nearby that I could stay by?

Oh, I want a pit stop, you know, two hours before we get there so we can buy groceries and stock up where, I mean, it is limitless what you can put in there. And the more you put in chat GPT, the more it will know you and your preferences.

And so, I hate to say it and it might sound a little harsh, but there's nothing that you can't figure out in this day and age if you're willing to put the time in. So whether it's YouTube or buying a Rick Steves book,

Monica Packer: Yes.

Brooke Eliason: asking a friend or using chat GBT, everything's figureoutable.

Monica Packer: outable.

Brooke Eliason: You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are, I can almost guarantee there's someone that has gone where you're going that either did a blog post or a vlog or something. And honestly too, if you have the time, I like to cross compare. So like, I might ask chat, GPT, I might read a book, I might look at [00:27:00] a blog.

And then when I notice trends. You know, we recently went to Kauai for my first time and I really wanted to kind of veg the whole time, but I was like, okay, the Nepali coast seems kind of like a non-negotiable, so we did it right. So that's kind of what I like to do is I'll kind of cross compare like, what, what are, what am I hearing from these different resources?

And then go for it. So you've got your travel companion. You have the confidence to know that you can figure anything out. And my third tip, Monica, is just, just to go for it. You know? I think that you could research every little weekend excursion or trip to the death of it. You could. You could.

You could spend, and that's some of the fun. I love the research. I think that's really important and it builds the anticipation, but. You just, there comes a point where you just, you just pick the place you're gonna stay. [00:28:00] You just pick the restaurant. You just pick the hike because you're gonna make it great and enjoy the journey no matter what you do.

And the more that you are able to just pick something and move forward, the more confidence you'll gain. And when you do it the next time, you'll, those abilities you've gained, they'll just kind of fall right back into place.

Monica Packer: You know, I was thinking about, as you were talking, how my first time adventuring was a big kind of adventure. It's when I went on my study abroad to London, and if there's like a before and after in my life, that's one of them. Like, that's. Arguably like the biggest one for me personally. The thing is though, like I had not been outside of my hometown and my college town. live in Salt Lake now. When we moved here, I knew where nothing was at all because we never went south of Bountiful,

Brooke Eliason: Uh,

Monica Packer: which was 10 minutes from my house in Farmington growing up.

Brooke Eliason: uh.[00:29:00]

Monica Packer: I did something bigger. here's the thing about that trip, I couldn't have done it. Been the one in charge. Like, so to go with some other, like another group everything was planned for me then to be attached to a smaller group every day and just be able to be like, where are you guys going? Where are you going? Okay, I'm gonna go with you. You know how to work the metro. Let's, or whatever they call it there.

I can't even remember now 'cause it's

Brooke Eliason: The tube. The tube,

Monica Packer: the two, there

Brooke Eliason: yeah.

Monica Packer: Um, you know, like I just. attached myself. I, I was that permanent sine to everybody else. And in the process, you know, not only did it expand my world, like in a blow up way, in a good way, like whoa, like a massive explosion. It taught me things about myself that I never knew, and it led me to have the courage for the next time I planned a trip. It was me, my younger sister who'd just graduated high school and it was before like we were gonna start our family. And so I knew this was my last chance, which I was not wrong at that point for me. [00:30:00] And then I was the one in charge and then I had to plan all of the things and it was hugely outside of my comfort zone. So I think when people think about traveling, they're thinking I have to plan everything. You don't have to have that. And that's where our tour that we're gonna do comes into play. But, but still. Getting out there will be your before and after. really will. It is life changing and I'm not saying that lightly. And I also understand that may seem in entitled in some ways or word, privileged too.

Brooke Eliason: Mm-hmm.

Monica Packer: We can still just what you said, start with where you are. Start with a couple hours. 'cause the truth is, I didn't have to go to London to expand my worldview. I could have done that even just. A little bit farther away from where I currently lived, would've done that same thing.

Brooke Eliason: I love that. I, I love how you point out how that was a big before and after. 'cause I think, like you said, you can experience those shifts in so many different ways [00:31:00] in the country, outside of the country, a couple hours away from your home. And I don't know about you Monica, but I do feel it just empowering.

You just feel like the world is yours when you're comfortable. Like just. A place and going for it.

Monica Packer: it. Yeah. Well, so let's talk to the woman who we talked about earlier, and readiness is an important part of being like, okay, I'm ready to get out my comfort zone and start to adventure to home or farther away if now's the time for far away. Join us. I'm hosting a female foodie tour to Italy in the, fall, October of 2026, but we are opening the spots up September of this year, 2025. And it's a female foodie tour. I'm just gonna explain a little bit, Brooke.

Brooke Eliason: Mm-hmm.

Monica Packer: a female foodie tour because it's your signature tour. The tour that you have taken over 300 women on and now you're expanding it.

With these selected partners of people who you love and are invested in their community. I'm saying you, Brooke, because she is, we are [00:32:00] one of those special groups and it's just gonna be our community who's invited to go on this tour? The signature female foodie tour, I get to add my own elements too. What I'm gonna do is instead of telling them about the whole trip. I'm gonna encourage them to get on the wait list because we're opening up only to the wait list on, uh, September 9th. And then as part of that, you and I are gonna do a q and a together. I.

Brooke Eliason: Yes.

Monica Packer: down the whole trip. So those on the wait list will get access to that q and a, so I will link to that in the show notes.

They can go to about progress.com/italy to get to it too.

Brooke Eliason: Okay.

Monica Packer: we'll, we'll save the info for all of that. let's go to back to the heart of why we're even talking about venturing. You've hosted well over 300 women. What has surprised you the most what women say these trips did for them personally, how they benefit from it?

Brooke Eliason: My mind goes to a couple things. So the first thing that I think has surprised me the most, [00:33:00] and maybe this is. Now I understand it because I've thought about this a lot, but the thing that I think when I started doing this that surprised me the most was that people would say, I love that everything is planned.

Monica Packer: Mm-hmm.

Brooke Eliason: Um, which I, I kind of felt like, okay, you know, I think they'll enjoy it. You know, I was, I was definitely, you know, and still do, try to find that perfect rhythm of having things planned and allowing people to kind of have their own moments in free time. But we have heard that. Again, and again and again.

And to me too, it speaks to the, the women that come on our tours, they are busy at home with careers or taking care of families or maybe a little bit of both, right? So it doesn't really matter what they're doing at home. They're the decision makers and they love that they literally get to just show up and .

Everything is planned from the transportation to where we're gonna eat, which by the way, are the best spots to the tours we're doing to who's gonna host us on those tours, right?[00:34:00]

Monica Packer: And

Brooke Eliason: only is it just like what's going on that they're taking care of, but it's literally things that I've hand pieced together as my absolute favorite.

We're extraordinarily particular about that. So I mean, we've even have, you know, some of the meals that we eat during the week, we'll pick a special menu because it can feel overwhelming when you get to a new country and you're looking at just this whole thing and you're trying to figure out what it is.

Like we, we not only curate each meal, but we look at the whole week and go, okay, if they have carbonora on Monday, then they need to eat something else, right? When we have pasta again the next day or whatever. So that was something that surprised me and I've evolved as these tours have evolved.

I, I, it's a huge compliment. The other thing that has surprised me is, we generally on these tours get to talk to every single guest about what their favorite part of the trip was, and. It's different for everyone and it's really, , such a privilege to see that everyone has their cup filled in a [00:35:00] different way.

And when I went on that initial trip, I. To piece the tour together, I just had one son and now I have three. And I think for me, like the more that life gets chaotic and the more kids we've had, and the more commitments that I have, the more I realize it's so, so important for women to fill their cup and to like.

Do something that really resets them and really helps take care of them. And a lot of those things are similar for women and some of those nuances are slightly different. But you know, we have a lot of like slow, relaxed meals where everyone's eating their food hot. If they're not in a rush and they can really visit with their travel companion or the person sitting next to them when they're at a museum, they're not like, oh, I should probably go because you know, we love our kids and our spouses.

Right? But, oh, my kid isn't loving this. Right?

Monica Packer: Yeah.

Brooke Eliason: Or they can just enjoy, like if they want to sit and stare at the Sistine Chapel for 15 [00:36:00] minutes. They can. And then just having time to reflect, I think is so important. So that really has surprised me. Monica, just, I think I,

Monica Packer: I,

Brooke Eliason: I, I set out to piece together this perfect trip and I'm so proud of the itinerary.

I'm so proud of the flow of the week, but I just didn't anticipate seeing that kind of transformation over the week within each guest.

Monica Packer: I'm just taking that in because that's why. We're doing this, this is, this is why I know for some people who have never been outta the country like me my first time, it will be a major leap to do it for other people who've had the chance to adventure close to home or far, you know, already what this can bring to you. But it truly is your opportunity to be taken care of. In ways both deep and practical, which really resonates with our community. This is what we've always been about, both deep and practical. So I mean, so much more to come in terms of information side. Make sure you're on the wait list so you can come [00:37:00] to the q and a.

Brooke and I are gonna do together, but I really hope people will come and if not still find ways to stretch themselves and adventure they can and how they can. And on that note to Brooke, first tell us where people can go find you. And then let's end with the final question, which is always, what is one small way listeners can take action on what they learned today?

Brooke Eliason: Monica, thank you. I absolutely love any chance I get to talk with you. So it's been a huge honor to be on your show again. I'd love to connect with you guys either on Instagram at Female Foodie, or my [email protected]. And one way that listeners can take action on, you know, what we've discussed today is,

my husband's grandpa who passed away about seven years ago, he had a saying that he shared a lot, especially around the holidays, but it was, it's all about the anticipation and I think anticipation is really powerful. I think it separates our. Okay. Days from Good Days. I think it gives us hope [00:38:00] for something because I think so much of us, it is hard.

We live in a world where social media, , I think it kind of skews our perception of like, what should every day look like. Um, and I think it's really powerful to have something to look forward to. In light of our topic and conversation, Monica Adventure. Is, you know, it could be a date night, like a really fun date night, or it could be a weekend getaway, or it could be a big trip to Europe that you're gonna take in a year or 18 months.

And I think.

Monica Packer: Think,

Brooke Eliason: My one way that people can take action is just like start moving forward to something today. Pick something, find something that fits in your timeline or budget or whatever it is that you know, like you said at the beginning of the episode, Monica, you'll know when it's time and you'll know what you need.

I think we all kind of inherently know. We might not know how we're gonna get there, but we know kind of what we need and what our heart is set on and just pick that and work toward it. [00:39:00] Just take a little step each day. You know, either book the Airbnb or book the flight or just text the friend, whatever it is.

But I do, I do find that having something to anticipate is so important. It's so interesting, but after our tours end, a lot of times the women will say, oh, like what am I gonna look forward to now? I feel sad that the tour ends, but I feel so happy that they've had joy.

Not just on the trip, but looking forward to it all year long.

Monica Packer: And we're gonna get that. We're gonna get that. Oh, Brooke, this was just a fabulous conversation. Again, thank you for returning to about progress and I'm so grateful for your time and can't wait for this tour.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Brooke Eliason: Thank you, Monica. We're so honored to have you host a tour and I'm so glad we could chat today.

Monica Packer: oh, you were fabulous. That was

Brooke Eliason: I.

Monica Packer: better than I.

I hope this episode gave you the hug and kick in the pants you need to grow. I'll now share the progress pointers. These are the notes I took [00:40:00] so you don't have to, you can get them in a graphic form each week by sending up for my [email protected] slash newsletter.

And that graphic form is an expanded version of the simplified notes you'll hear. Number one, adventure doesn't have to be big to be meaningful. Number two, find your why not buddy. Number three, everything is figureoutable. Number four, let anticipation fuel your joy. And number five, you grow when you go. I would love to be your why not buddy and go to Rome with you to find out way more details on our exclusive tour partnering with Female Foodie.

And get on the wait list, which also means you can attend the q and a that Brooke and I are going to do together. You can go to about progress.com/italy. This trip is a companionship model. But if you're a single [00:41:00] rider, there still may be an opportunity for you to come. You simply need to fill out a special survey that I have linked in the show notes so that I could potentially pair single riders from our about Progress community.

This podcast is listener supported, members of the Supporters Club, make my work with about progress free and available to all. In return, they get access to three levels of exclusive benefits from more time to more content with me, including an upcoming hike we are doing in person and a garden party.

Also in person and a book club This fall with our Ride or die members. You can check it all out by going to about progress.com/support. You can always support the show for free. This month I turned 39 years old. And if you wanna give me and the podcast a little boost, I would love for you to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts as we've only had two left so far this year at the time of the recording.

I really appreciate you doing so. Thank you for listening. [00:42:00] Now go and do something with what you learned. Today.

Brooke Eliason: You know, one, I'm so sorry, Monica, like, can you hear that machine?

Monica Packer: No,

Brooke Eliason: That means my mic is doing a good job. Okay. There's someone like drilling something outside and I'm like, okay, I'll just keep going.

Monica Packer: can't hear it. You're

Brooke Eliason: Okay. Do you want me to, um, talk about Yellowstone now and segue into that? Okay.

Monica Packer: We

Brooke Eliason: Okay.

Monica Packer: them.

Brooke Eliason: Um,

Monica Packer: you're saying I grew, I I grew into it

Brooke Eliason: yeah. Yeah. I, I feel like even though my personality does naturally lend to adventure

 

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