Guest Bio
Kaitlyn Shinney is an Adventure Guide with Adventures in Good Company, a company specializing in women’s active travel experiences. Kaitlyn balances her full-time career as a union firefighter with guiding trips that offer women unique opportunities to connect with nature and each other. Her background includes growing up near the ocean and a lifelong affinity for the outdoors, which she blends with her dedication to creating supportive, judgment-free travel environments.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Kaitlyn Shinney about her journey from a childhood spent exploring the outdoors close to home to becoming a guide for Adventures in Good Company. Kaitlyn shares how a spontaneous invitation to join a discounted trip to the Grand Canyon led her to a life-changing experience, igniting a passion for guiding women’s adventure trips around the world.
The conversation explores the unique atmosphere of women-only travel and how Adventures in Good Company fosters a sense of community and empowerment among participants. Kaitlyn discusses how the company’s supportive approach helps women of all backgrounds and fitness levels feel welcome and encouraged, emphasizing that the trips are designed to make adventure accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
Listeners also learn about the variety of trips offered, from domestic to international destinations, ranging in difficulty and style. Kaitlyn highlights how AGC’s attention to detail in logistics allows travelers to focus on being present, while the guides nurture connections and confidence among group members. The episode captures the essence of travel as a means of personal growth and meaningful connection.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Many guides at Adventures in Good Company started as participants, creating a deep understanding of the company’s community and values.
- ✓ Women-only trips provide a supportive, nonjudgmental space where participants of varied experience levels can feel comfortable and empowered.
- ✓ The company offers a range of trips rated by difficulty, from gentle hikes to challenging expeditions like Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest base camp.
- ✓ AGC emphasizes connection and shared experiences, often leading to lasting friendships and repeat trips among participants.
- ✓ Guides tailor trips to individual needs, allowing flexible pacing and options so everyone can enjoy their own best experience.
- ✓ The company provides thorough logistical support, handling details like accommodations, transportation, and packing lists to ease travelers’ planning burden.
- ✓ Adventure travel with AGC often serves as a catalyst for personal growth, helping women build confidence and explore new possibilities.
- ✓ Trips include a variety of activities such as hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, and even dog sledding, accommodating diverse interests and adventure levels.
- ✓ Weather challenges and unexpected moments are embraced as part of the adventure, often becoming the most memorable and bonding experiences.
- ✓ AGC also offers private and co-ed trips, providing flexibility for those who want to travel with family or mixed groups.
What You’ll Find on Adventures in Good Company
- ✓ Women-focused guided adventure trips fostering empowerment, connection, and community.
- ✓ A wide range of trip styles and difficulty levels across domestic and international destinations.
- ✓ Comprehensive support with trip logistics, including detailed packing lists and pre-trip guidance.
- ✓ A welcoming environment that encourages participants to be their authentic selves without judgment.
- ✓ Opportunities for both rustic camping experiences and more comfortable stays in guesthouses or eco-resorts.
- ✓ Private trip options that can be co-ed, accommodating families or mixed groups seeking tailored adventures.
Learn more about Adventures in Good Company and connect with Kaitlyn at:
https://www.adventuresingoodcompany.com/
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (01:23.854)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Super excited today to have two ladies here with me from Adventures in Good Company. We’ve got Lainey Reisman and Kaitlyn Shinney Did I say your names right? Yes. Yes. All right. Very cool. We’re off to a wonderful start. So excited to have both of you here today. Super fascinated about Adventures in Good Company, well -established company that’s doing something, you know,
that not everybody is doing. And I was quite impressed with just the depth of programs and the variety of guides working on the team. So just excited to learn about that. And before we talk too much about the company, I really want to kind of help our listeners get to know both of you on a personal level. So, Lainey, let’s go first. I’m looking at you here on the screen and it looks like you’re ready to go. So I would love to hear a little bit about kind of,
how you got to where you are now from wherever it was you started. Most people in this adventure travel space have some kind of interesting story. Some of it were born into it and others took, you know, radical life changes to get into it. So tell us your story and how you got into all this. Well, I would be probably lumped in with those who were not born into it at all. So I grew up in New Jersey.
My family wasn’t outdoorsy at all. The closest we got is we had a trailer, we pulled behind our like 1970 old mobile. And I just recall my mom really didn’t like it at all. So I have kind of an interesting story in the sense of I went to university and I actually studied finance. So, you know, nothing at all even remotely linked to.
any of the work that I’m doing at the moment. And I guess it was almost 20 years ago, maybe more. I was just kind of looking for a different outlet, kind of expanding what I was doing. And so I started doing women’s outdoor trips in the Washington DC area. I lived there at the time. I actually currently live here at the moment with my partner, two kids, two dogs.
Jason Elkins (03:45.966)
And in between the two Washington stints, I’ve lived like on four continents. So I’ve been on there. But anyway, so looking for something different, a different outlet started signing up for Women’s Outdoor Day Trips and they ran a leadership, a weekend leadership course. And it was run by Marion Marbury who is the founder of Adventures in Good Company. And I wrote her this 10,
page handwritten impassioned plea about why I wanted to be a guide. And she was actually moving a few years ago and sent it to me. She had kept it. And I just really felt like I found something that combined a real passion of being outdoors that I can explore, but also kind of the interpersonal elements of working with women, being around diverse women.
And so I started with Mary and she sort of was ramming through the ropes, if you will. I think I spent quite a bit of time as like an apprentice and then an intern and then a this and a that until I made it up and all the while learning from her. She was an incredibly experienced outdoors woman. And yeah, that’s kind of how I got started. Tell me one thing you remember from that letter. I would just love to read that letter at some point.
And what do you remember the most? What do you think it was? Maybe Marion shared with you. What was it that kind of got you on the door with that letter? I think it was just very heartfelt. And I think Marion always was looking for opportunities, you know, for people to grow and make connections. And so for her, Adventures in Good Company came out of a…
of a nonprofit organization. And I think she just really sort of valued the commitment. And she was also very clear that probably the more important skill was the interpersonal skill rather than the outdoors skills. And over the 20 years or 25 that we’ve been in existence, we have shifted significantly, I would say, from a much more kind of rustic outdoor camp model.
Jason Elkins (06:06.446)
to a model where it’s more common than not for us to be staying in guest houses or hotels or huts or condos or things like that. And so, yeah, I think it was just sort of the impassioned plea and the begging to let me in the door. So I think I touched her heartstrings somehow. I think that’s an important part of it. You know, as somebody who has hired people in the adventure travel space and have been hired,
as well. It’s that passion. It’s that kind of that twinkle in the eyes or whatever that can come through in a letter. And it’s just like, you kind of got to really want it. You know, people can sit back and say, oh, wouldn’t that be great to go be an adventure guide or, you know, lead trips around the world or whatever. Might kind of sound like fun. May kind of even sound like vacation to some people. The reality of it when you get it. And I’m not saying the reality is not a good reality.
but the reality of it is oftentimes quite different than what you might think on the front end. So if you don’t have a tremendous amount of passion at the front end, you’re not gonna make it, right? So I think I can see where she might’ve got that from you. So that’s very cool. And you said a lot of things that are really super interesting. You lived on four continents. So give us a rundown of that. I…
We can probably do a bunch of episodes just about that in itself, but I’m curious, what was that all about? Well, so all of the guides at Adventures in Good Company were all part -time. So we all have other work or other things that we’re doing. In my case, since the late 90s, I’ve been working in international development. So kind of think United Nations,
poverty alleviation sort of work. My area is very specifically youth violence prevention and basically looking at supporting young people in finding alternatives, young, very vulnerable people. So, and I’ve worked a lot in Central America, trying to look at kids who are vulnerable to recruitment into gangs. I’ve worked, I lived in Africa and Kenya. So at that point it was working with young people.
Jason Elkins (08:28.622)
to sort of look for alternatives to recruitment into Al -Shabaab, which is a kind of, you know, terrorist organization, extreme, sorry, extremist organization. So yeah, I lived in Guatemala and Kenya and Papua New Guinea and Turkey. And my most recent stint was in Mexico, in Mexico City. So I was working on the border areas in between Mexico and the United States where there’s a lot of,
gang and organized crime violence. So that’s kind of what took me into all these different regions. And so I do guide, I think, you know, a good number of our international trips, because I’m just very comfortable in whatever international setting you put me in. Whatever you put me through this trip. I expect you’ve been in… I’ve been in worse. Yeah, I kind of gathered that just based on what you said. Now, is that, is there a connection there to why you’re…
currently living in Washington, DC as well. I imagine some connection there or is that just coincidence? Okay. All right. Well, very, very cool, Lainey. And I want to jump over to Kaitlyn and hear your story because I’m sure it’s equally interesting and diverse. And what was your story? How did you get from where you were to where you are now? A little different than Lainey’s extensive travel. I grew up with five kids. So,
Our vacations would be Cape Cod, which is just an hour from our home or up in New Hampshire. So every day was we were outside kids, which is different than a lot of children’s now, nowadays. We’ve always lived right on the ocean and the state park was right there. So being outdoors, absolutely loved it. My mom hung one of those old natural geographic, the massive globe fold out printouts you used to get.
I had one of those. Yeah, on my wall when I was a kid. Yeah. Cool. That was actually in the dining room. So you’d subconsciously and consciously see it all day long. And given, you know, 30 plus years ago, we didn’t have the 24 hour news. So my dad would really be into the news, especially when he could just get it about one glimpse, you know, at six o ‘clock or whatever time it was. So it was always nice to have the map laid out because then you just turn and look and say, oh, that’s where they’re discussing.
Jason Elkins (10:53.23)
So seeing that my family are not as adventurous, my dad would call me weird and say, just go to Florida like the rest of them. And the first time I was on a plane was thanks to the public school system and Mrs. Lavery, she was my eighth grade teacher and she took us to California, a handful of kids. And that, you know, just getting on an airplane and seeing that there are like -minded people that want to travel and explore.
Then after that for college, I went out to the University of Hawaii in Manoa for a while. And thanks to another school trip, I did almost three weeks in Japan with another professor. So I think trying to align my interests with common like -minded people, which wasn’t family -based. My uncle, my dad’s brother was a school teacher, has a library named after him, was amazing man.
And he traveled extensively. So at least I had that one person that I could see that you can do this. You’re not the only one. And AGC definitely brings that sense of community together of like -minded people, which is amazing. Like trip after trip after trip that they have various stories, various opportunities to travel, and they sign up to come with us. So I love it. My mom was able to take us to Ireland while I was in high school.
And that was my first international trip. So it’s just, you gotta save money, collect money, tuck it away, and then get to go. So AGC, we have such a wide variety that there’s definitely gonna be something that hopefully connects with a listener. And we’ll get to see you on one of the trips. I love, and actually, so as I just heard both of your stories,
And Kaitlyn, you said, well, mine’s not quite like Laney’s, but I see a lot of similarities there. And I see similarities even to my personal life that growing up with that desire and that thinking, oh, I want to see this. I want to go. But it wasn’t normal, right? Like you mentioned your mom said, I think you said your mom or your dad, your dad said, just go to Florida. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (13:13.068)
I mean, I’m 50 and two years ago I sold all my stuff and started a kind of a nomadic journey. I live in an Airbnb, I’m in Columbia right now. And two years ago, I came to Columbia two years ago, I kind of fell in love, so I keep coming back. And my mom denies this conversation, but I remember it clearly. I was so excited to go, got my ticket, sold all my stuff, I was getting my bags packed. And I remember her saying, can’t you just like go to Seattle?
Seattle, Seattle’s fine, but Columbia and Seattle, it’s not like they’re anything similar. And she denies to this day she ever said that, but that’s what I remember hearing. And so yeah, it’s that kind of like, OK, I’m in this space. I’m not sure I felt anyway. Do other people feel the same way I do? And when it’s not, I’m like, OK, I’m in this space.
You know, and when I got into tourism many years ago and started leading trips and going places and meeting, like you said, meeting people that are like, like minded, I guess, my tribe, you know, it meant my tribe. And it was so much fun to have the conversations. And that’s, and that’s kind of what we’re doing here today is just kind of like getting together and, you connecting with the tribe and anybody that’s listening to this, that, you know, maybe one of your stories resonates with them. And, you know, I don’t know, Kaitlyn, are you.
So Lainey, you mentioned you’re still working. You’re kind of doing some projects. Kaitlyn, are you doing other work as well or are you doing full -time tourism or how do you mix things together? So I am a full -time union firefighter and I in February of 2006 and a short time after that, I was looking for more. My friends are fun, but they’re not adventurous fun. And I joined the AGC mailing list.
One day I happened to check it and it said half off leaves in a couple days if you want a backpack inside the Grand Canyon. So I called the office right away. I spoke to this wonderful woman Jan who’s fortunately just retirement phase right now and she was like, okay, we’ll hold your spot. You know, try to figure out your airfare call us back in about an hour or two. So I call my
Jason Elkins (15:33.678)
dad and I said, it’s too expensive to fly out of Boston. Could you drive me to Providence tomorrow, Providence, Rhode Island? He says, okay. Then I emailed my brother who was in the military and I said, can I take your sleeping bag and your polypropylene, your long underwear, everything. Fair enough. That night packed up. The next day I went to Rhode Island and flew to the Grand Canyon, went a little bit early. I caught the Diamondbacks game and then joined up with the group, had a fantastic week. So,
Mine was very sudden. And honestly, it’s the best email I’ve ever received in my life. It really was a life -changing email because fortunately to know Marion over the years, she hired me after I did several trips. And then to now work for Kelly, who is our owner out of Colorado Springs, it seriously has changed my life and has given me so new perspective and empowerment and confidence.
and just being in this position and it’s really fortunate. So I do my 24 hour shifts at the firehouse. I collect some swaps and I use my vacation time to then guide the trips, which sometimes can be about four or five trips a year, depending on the year. One year I did like seven, that was the one coming out of COVID, because we were all just so missing that part of my life.
Jason Elkins (16:59.694)
That’s, I see a trend already. I’m starting to think if I interviewed five or six or all of the guides on the guide staff, I see a trend here. And it’s pretty cool because both of you kind of refer to this as like life changing. And especially the way you said, Kaylin, I can imagine you influencing somebody on a trip, right? Somebody goes on a trip with you.
when they go home with the same like energy, maybe they don’t become a guide, but you don’t have to become a guide to be influenced by adventure travel and by these connections. And curious, I don’t pitch on the spot, but I suspect you know some people that have traveled with you, that have been on trips and that you’ve seen profound changes and maybe we don’t need to discuss personal details or whatever, but do you have any…
Either of you have any stories that kind of come up around that? Because I’m just curious. I think one of the stories that, first of all, to say that I also went on an AGC trip, that was also discounted, which is how I got involved. So there might be a trend there. You know, I think that.
just building off of what is Kaitlyn was saying is that a lot of the guides came and started as participants on the trip. So we understood the ethos. I do think AGC, we are different in terms of our probably level of kind of attention and client care that goes into every trip. So we’re one of the few companies that we will send a guide on international.
where there is an outfitter and that’s just to kind of maintain the energy of AGC, which is so much a part of it. And I think the word sisterhood is sort of corny. However, I can’t really come up with a better word because, you know, the groups of women on our trip bond in a way, which is just incredible. I had one trip, actually the trip Kaitlyn and I did where we met, our very first trip.
Jason Elkins (19:16.206)
I was very intimidated because here was this fire warning that I was coming to guide with. I was like, oh my gosh. We just hit it off immediately. But on that trip, I think it was 10 out of the 12 women, none of them had ever met each other, signed up right then and there for another trip. We had to call our office because half of them had gotten on a trip and the other half couldn’t. And we had to call our office and say, can we open another trip? Because we’ve got 10 people here that want to go together.
And I think that that kind of community amongst, you know, the participants in our trip is what makes it so special. We have tons of repeat clients. They always are coming back. We have people that have been on 20 trips, 25 trips. And we have groups that meet and then they keep traveling on their own indefinitely. So I think that that is really super cool and speaks a lot to the company and the environment we create.
But the example I would give about profound changes is that often the women on our trips are at sort of shifting points in their lives. I don’t know what our average age is, but it’s probably, I don’t know, around 50, maybe 45. And so we have women who are either thinking about retirement or moving into retirement. We have a lot of women who’s now empty nesters and looking to do different things.
And so I think that that also is a space where people are looking to move into a different and willing to take risks. We also have women who are divorcees or, so we have this really wide variety of people that are looking to sort of have a different experience. So anyway, one of the things I was gonna say is that it’s not uncommon for us to have mother daughter groups.
And it’s usually the daughter is kind of like dragged around along because the mother is like, Oh, I don’t know what I’m getting into. I don’t want to do this. I’ve never done anything outdoorsy. So I probably had five or six mother daughter trips. And what I love and has happened to me on several of those is the mother will sign up for her next trip on her own. So she wasn’t confident enough doing that. And then after doing it once she is out there doing whatever it is she wants to do and doesn’t rely on.
Jason Elkins (21:39.822)
her daughter or friend going with her. And I just think that’s really cool and empowering opportunity. And I don’t know. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. It’s super cool. And let’s get real. Let’s just jump in because there’s adventures of good company, great organization. I know you’ve got a lot of energy things going on. And I think I’d be remiss if we didn’t also discuss their women’s only groups.
Right? So that has a dynamic as well. There’s the company, but then there’s also women, women only groups. Adventure’s a good company could open up and do a bunch of co -ed groups. And I’m just guessing they wouldn’t quite be the same. So let’s talk about that. Share with me. I’ve never been on a women’s only group. So I have no idea. I have traveled with groups that have a lot of women. I’ve traveled with groups where, you know, like,
couples that go on a fishing trip and the guys all like to go fishing. Maybe some of the women as well, but oftentimes you’ve got, or a lot of the women, just sometimes you’ve got a mix of people. And I always kind of enjoyed going with the, I guess the less Syrian, the non -anglers. I hate that word because nobody wants to be a non, but it’s the terminology they use in the fishing business. And oftentimes it’s the spouses that have a lot more fun than, than.
let’s say the guys, but they’re just so much more open -minded and you get a group of women together and I can feel the dynamics. I’m sure I’m there. So maybe it changes the dynamics a little bit, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. I don’t know if either of you have been on a coed group. I’m sure you’ve talked to a lot of women that have been on coed groups. So let’s just jump in. What different about a women’s only group that someone that hasn’t been on one, whether it’s a guy or a woman that’s considering it.
What should we know?
Jason Elkins (23:36.046)
I think it goes back to Kelly’s mission for Adventure to the Company. It’s to bring inspiration, empowerment, and community to women through expertly guided active adventures around the globe. So you definitely join this tribe for the week, or more or less, depending on what you pick. And the level of encouragement and judgment -free zone is impeccable.
You don’t have to be the best hiker. You don’t have to be the best biker. You don’t have to be the best anything. We want you to come exactly how you are. And it’s very evident in the multi -sport one. Multi -sport could be several activities over the course of the trip. And honestly, when was the last time most people were on a bike? Maybe in their 20s. When was the last time someone was doing kayaking? And we break it down, give you the basics and build you up.
and we go out and do it together. So I’ve only traveled with all women. I also am the first and only female where I work and I’ve been with all men. And I can tell you, I looked for AGC and it’s my perfect match. I think what landed with me was kind of no judgment zone. I think that that’s, I’ve been around long enough and I’ve led women’s only groups, but I know that that’s important.
in a lot of places. It’s kind of that place where like, look, it can just be me. I don’t have to worry about what I’m wearing, what I look like, what I say. I can ask any question I want. And there’s not going to be some guy over there rolling his eyes or just, or whatever. And I get that. And I’ve traveled with my mom. I’ve done trips with my mom and I’ve seen.
her interacting when there’s other people around a mixed group. And I sense kind of some discomfort and even her, she’s super intelligent, educated, knowledgeable woman. And I’ve seen her shut down in conversations because there’s some body in the group that’s just loud and obnoxious or whatever. And so I can, I can appreciate that. Lainey, what do you…
Jason Elkins (25:57.454)
What are your thoughts on it? Love to hear kind of some insight from you as well. Yeah, well, I mean, I never really did much in the way of group travel. I’ve traveled a ton independently and sort of personally. So when I started with AGC and the all women model, I just felt like it was a really supportive and safe environment. I’ve never.
guided and have really no interest in guiding co -ed trips. And I think that what winds up happening on almost every trip is that the group itself really starts fostering a level of care and teaching and learning amongst themselves. So I have definitely had women on my trip who are better hikers or more experienced.
better Kyger, you know, whatever it is. And they wind up also often kind of playing a really interesting role. One of the things that I would say that does set us apart as well, and that, you know, really has come through with Marion, with Kelly, is we, you know, we will basically do whatever we can to ensure that everyone has a fantastic trip.
And so that means we often are going at different paces. We’ll split the group if we need to, we’ll adjust the itinerary, we’ll give people options if they want to take a day off, and we’ll encourage it, right? So it won’t be like, oh, you can’t handle the harder hike, so we’re putting you on this, this hike. So I think that often a guide sees their job. And I guess I’m speaking about guides that I’ve been a client with.
as getting you from point A to point B. Our job is not getting you from point A to point B. That’s probably the most relaxing part of our day and our time, because we actually can be on trail and just kind of doing our thing. But our job is to make sure you have the best experience you can. And when I say a you, I mean a collective you. And your experience, Jason, might be entirely different than Kaitlyn’s experience and then my experience. And so…
Jason Elkins (28:13.998)
I think that is also what really sets us aside and what sets aside all women travel. We were one of the first or the first, and I know there are more all women’s groups out there. And I do think that as we know, there’s sort of yin yang, different energies out there, male, female, you can call it, I guess, whatever you want. But it does become a real sort of uniting common bond. And because…
We have such diversity. We have women from all over. We have women with different sexual orientations, different political views. We start the whole thing and say, no politics, no religion. And people comply with that. And we try to encourage people to sort of leave their technology behind. But one of the things that I love about guiding with AGC is just the diversity of women. And so one of the reasons I love doing it is because,
I inevitably learned so much about things I never like would have given a second thought, like never even crossed my mind. I had one of the first women who worked on the railways in the 1950s, you know, crazy stuff, things I never thought about, a woman who runs her own bull stud farm in Texas, like just.
Just things and I find it fascinating because I feel like I and many of us have lived in our little bubbles and don’t necessarily think about all the like diversity out there. And so for me, I think that’s one of the real draws. And I think it comes out really well in sort of women’s groups. And Leanie, you brought up a great point, if I may add, Jason, how different the women are, where…
professionally in May, or sorry, in September, I had a three -star general. And on another trip, a woman had a quilting business and she made me a stunning Christmas one that I was so excited to put out prior, I think I did closer to Halloween, but prior to Thanksgiving. So it is not one size fits all. And I really hope that is one of the takeaways about how fabulous Adventure School Company is. And I think the other part is the authentic self. Trip after trip, people come.
Jason Elkins (30:32.974)
And I think it also adds to being a woman only travel. You are who you are. And we see it right away as guides. Like for me, I know it’s gonna be a good week when on the first night, if I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner and I hear chitter chatter, chitter chatter and some laughter, I’m like, perfect. You’re jelling, you’re connecting. And the connection part is what sets us apart, I believe, because people come, they don’t generally know anyone or they might come with a friend or a sister or a niece.
or a coworker, but everyone else, they can be themselves. They can talk about struggles, whether it be aging parents or their children going through some issues or their maybe changing occupation, changing a life decision, whether it be divorce or relocating. And when you’re sitting around these tables, you hear real conversations that honestly might not happen at home because I might bump into your sister at the food store or I might see your brother.
month at the kids soccer game. And with this trip of not really knowing who you’re going with, we get a mailing list to say here are their states that the participants are from. And it’s immediate bond and that confidence of sharing what you want to share. And also being a guide, it’s also great to listen to be like, wow, my family has some hiccups. I’m glad I’m not the only one. People share it.
and they’re not afraid to share it. And so I believe we deliver a whole package of athletics, nature, delicious meals, and the soothing of the heart that I trip in August, there was a young woman that was having some marital issues and she happened to be roomed with another woman. And it was amazing to see the bond that they had. And the younger woman was going through some pretty significant struggles. And it would just…
It was nice to have her find that person she needed in her life at that moment and that connection and the confidence of sharing her true self. The word I keep – The true self thing and being able to share that I think is really interesting. Because like Kaitlyn said, there’s a reason often women are signing up to go.
Jason Elkins (32:53.272)
because they don’t have anyone else to travel with for whatever reason. That’s one of the, I mean, the other reason is we make it really easy. We say, just show up the airport, we’ll take care of everything else. You don’t literally don’t need to do anything else. But yeah, it’s those tender moments when two women who maybe have recently lost a partner and they suddenly have a connection. I’ve had women who have come out on the trip.
and had never mentioned in their lives publicly that they were gay, or they had been married previously. And that just speaks to the safe space that we create. It’s connection, isn’t it? Yeah, it is connection. That’s the word. It starts with the guides. Yes. And our connection. Exactly. And you as guides are connected.
Oftentimes, you know, maybe if you’re leading a trip with another guy, there’s already a strong connection, but also it’s creating that connection. I, even as a man, I believe for me anyway, travel, adventure type of travel really is all about connection for me. It’s like the mountains, yeah, the mountain’s cool. The river’s cool, whatever, but those are really kind of just oftentimes excuses to get together and create a connection.
Sometimes that’s with yourself. I travel a lot by myself and I’ve created some connection with myself by putting myself in interesting places where maybe I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone. I get to learn a little bit about myself. But ultimately for me anyway, I feel it is about connection. And I hear both of you using that word repeatedly. Lainey, you mentioned kind of getting from A to B as an organ as a guide.
I think there is a difference. My perception is there’s a difference maybe with the women’s group. It’s like, let’s say A to Z, right? A to Z, well, no, A to B by way of D, and K, and L, and Z, and then back to B. And each person in the group is kind of taking their own route, but it’s all together. And I think, I feel like women maybe just have more ability to be kind of.
Jason Elkins (35:18.19)
flexible and not so linear. And they can bounce around to what’s important and that creates a strong connection. Where oftentimes guys are just like, I’m literally going from A to B. And I don’t, you know, fishing is a good example. I’m here to catch fish and take pictures of big fish. And it’s like, but look around you.
Look at the bald eagle, look at the, you know, let’s have a conversation, talk about whatever’s bothering you. Like, nope, they’re just going to talk about fishing for a week. And very little other conversation comes up other than maybe their business, you know, finances or whatever. And some of it, and maybe sometimes that’s status seeking. I don’t know, maybe. So yeah, it’s pretty cool. I suspect it would be, I’m never going to be able to go on one of your trips, but I suspect it’d be pretty cool. So.
Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, Kaitlyn. Jason, maybe we should have added this in the beginning. So Adventure to the Company offers private trips that can be co -ed. Whatever you like, whenever you would like, as long as we can try to match your dates and requests. And sometimes if you have a particular guide in mind. So Adventure to the Company does have a side little allotment of co -ed trips.
And it’s also really fabulous because we’ve taken women on trips that say, I’d love to do this with my family, whether 20 -ish year old kids or so. And we’ve done it. We’ve had on our schedule every year, we have multiple private trips. So to all the viewers or listeners, pardon me, AGC can work for you. Red, I’m happy you mentioned that.
Kaitlyn, I think you maybe need to join the marketing team at AGC. Pretty good. Going up with a lot of good stuff. Yeah. Thank you for adding that in. I totally slipped my That’s super cool. And I mean, I’m not involved in AGC. And yeah, I could see a scenario where, I don’t know, it’s just what’s coming up for me is you’ve got
Jason Elkins (37:30.35)
And some people like that say, oh, I’d love to take my husband on a trip like this or my son or whatever. Right now it sounds like you’re doing, I guess what we call FITs, private departures. Okay, sure. How many people in your group are going to set up a trip for your group? And I wonder if, you know, maybe in the future at some point, it’s more of a kind of like, hey, we’ve got a set departure that is co -ed. So for all of you who always wanted to take your son or your husband or whatever, but there’s only two of you.
We’re doing a couples group or something like, what do you think? Think that’s in the future, Halen? You’ve got an in with the marketing team. So what do you think?
I think the core of us will always be women empowerment. My husband is so jealous of this trip, of every trip, he wishes he could come. So grab six or eight, 10 friends and you can come too. All right. Very well, very well thought. So, very cool. So, GIF.
I’d love to give our listeners, because we’ve talked a lot about kind of some of the dynamics, why somebody might want to go on a women’s trip. I touched on some of the things that make AGC unique. And I want to make sure that we give our listeners a real idea, like, OK, what kind of trips are we talking about? Is it only backpacking trips in the Grand Canyon? Or so if one of you would like to just kind of give us an overview of
you know, destinations, locations, types of trips, just to really help our listeners figure out if this makes sense. Sure, I can jump in on that. But before I answer that, I will circle back. I would say that, and pretty much if you asked any of the women who have been on our trips, and I would agree, what makes us special, they would say the guides. And often you have a relationship where, you know, like,
Jason Elkins (39:31.31)
I met Kaitlyn, we spent four days together. I was like, she’s my new best friend. We are going on a trip, just the two of us in two weeks, just for fun. And so I really do think that that is usually the response that you get. Now, back to our trips. So we have now, we started and we used to have like, I don’t know, 10 trips, a couple of them. Marion, our founder lived in a splitter time between Minnesota and Baltimore in Maryland.
So we started with like eight or 10 trips and a couple of them were sort of boundary waters in Minnesota and a couple of them were sort of the Appalachian Trail. So, and we still have trips in both of those areas, but I would say over the past 20 years, maybe about 10 years ago, we branched into international trips. So about half of our trips are domestic and half of our trips are international. We go all over the country and we go all over the world.
Um, and our trips are ranked from like a one to a five. So a one trip would be, you know, relatively little kind of physical exertion and, you know, an hour or two of hiking or walking a day up to a level five, which would be our trips, you know, which sort of Mount Everest base camp or summiting Kilimanjaro or, or the W in Patagonia. So we have a pretty wide range of trips, um, that are offered and they can go anywhere from.
you know, backpacking for a week and camping and the rest of it to, you know, frankly, fairly luxurious options where you’re staying in gorgeous, you know, Airbnb’s or eco resorts. You know, one of my trips coming up is to Belize and we’re staying in an eco resort for a while. And we’re doing a combo kind of snorkeling, kayaking, et cetera. So I think that there definitely is something for,
everyone out there. And I love the fact that people typically know what they’re getting into with the rating system. It’s not perfect. Nothing’s perfect, right? But for the most part, we have that. So I would say we have a pretty good balance now between East Coast and West Coast in the United States. And we also have most of our international trips, not all, but a lot of them are in Europe.
Jason Elkins (41:56.974)
but we have several trips in Kenya and in Tanzania. We have trips in Japan and Vietnam. So we are, one of my favorite trips that was really off the beaten path was to Greenland. So we have a pretty wide range of options out there. So I’m gonna ask you what may be the dreaded question. Some people in this business try and avoid or sidestep this question and I understand why.
You mentioned one of your favorite recent trips was Greenland, but the question is that I know you’ve heard probably several hundred times. Where’s your favorite place, Lainey? Where’s your favorite place to go?
like as a guide or to live? I don’t know, I’ll just answer. I just love to hear your answer, I don’t know. Okay, well, I recently lived in Mexico City and if you’re interested in a city trip, which is not what we’re talking about, but I do think it’s one of the coolest cities in the world and has so much to offer. I am really interested in getting well off the beaten path because I have traveled so much and I have lived overseas so much. So,
you know, places for me personally, like Greenland, but, you know, Lapland, the sort of Northern Scandinavian countries, Mongolia, not that I’ve been there, but hopefully one day, those are places that, you know, draw my attention. I recently just did a trip to Bulgaria. I mean, Bulgaria, right? Who would have thought it was fantastic? Part of the reason it was fantastic is because there was no one on the trails. We were like the only people on the trails. It was so cool.
So I was at a group trip. Was that a group trip that you had a trip? Yeah, that was an HV trip. So, you know, to have the opportunity to go to places that, you know, you wouldn’t normally go to and are really difficult to do on your own. You know, both. If the if the if agency operations team can be it’s okay, Lainey, you can put together group.
Jason Elkins (44:06.464)
Anywhere you want, we’ll give you all the marketing resources. You can send out emails to the list and you just get to basically pick a spot and, you know, and, and go where would it be? It could be a place you guys already have. I don’t know. I’m not just saying this, Jason, cause you mentioned it early on. However, what comes to mind is I would love to put together a trip in Columbia. I think Columbia.
amazing and it has a level of ecotourism you cannot find in North America anymore because it wasn’t developed because of a 40 -year armed conflict. But I also recognize that there’s concerns about security. So I think I’ve pitched a couple of trips in Mexico as well and sort of Northern Mexico.
But yeah, I don’t know. I think I’d love to put together a trip to Columbia, but it would take more of a leap of faith, if you will, and figuring out whether our client base, that would be something that they’re comfortable with. So. I think it’s a fascinating idea. I’m a little partial. We mentioned before, I believe it was before we pushed the record button that I spend a lot of time here. And I think it’d be an amazing group.
an amazing place to bring a group of women because it’s freaking beautiful. The people are amazing. It’s not really as complicated as you might think. And reality is it’s a confidence builder, I guess. You know, because you mentioned creating confidence. Like to go to Columbia for most women, like you said, your average age group is 45, 55, something like that.
Well, that’s the age group I’m in. And maybe you, you’re both probably a little younger than I am, but I grew up watching stuff on the news, you know, the, you know, Kaylin, you mentioned watching the news. It’s like, okay, where is this Columbia place? Oh man, I don’t want to go there. And so I had a lot of barriers when I started traveling full -time two years ago, I actually chose Columbia. I’d already visited 20 some countries that worked in the tourism business. And I chose Columbia because it was the place that, that I
Jason Elkins (46:28.366)
Well, it was the place that was almost frankly most intimidating in the Western Hemisphere. When I worked in tourism, I was invited to visit Colombia to potentially put together a group trip. And my employer at the time said, no, I don’t think Colombia is where we need to be going. My ex -wife was like, no, I don’t think Colombia is where you need to be going. So when I’m self -employed and single, I went to Colombia.
So I think it’d be great. I think a lot of women would just love it here. And okay, I went to Columbia. It’s kind of cool. And so I’d encourage you, I won’t be able to join your group, but if I’m here, I can give you any insights. I’d love to. Haleyne, I guess same question to you. Where’s the place you would like to go or your favorite place, maybe you’ve already been there, or the place you’d like to go?
And if you were given kind of a blank check to put together group trips somewhere, where would you want to go? I love the ocean and why I’ve lived on this little peninsula my entire life. So I’m driven to a lot of those type trips. And if I may just sort of add a little bit about how expansive we are, we also have a fabulous week kayaking in the Adirondacks. And it was the first time in my life I ever went in silence.
because you kayak far out, you go to upper, middle, and lower Saranac lakes, and it was stunning. But if you’re not into tents and kayaking from island to island, we have super posh trips like the St. John one, which kayaking, snorkeling, paddle boarding for a week, and these ultra fabulous villas with private pools, looking down at the bay. So we have a little of everything. And AGC is committed to continuously growing.
So we’re adding new trips constantly. We have a large group of participants that love to hike the Appalachian Trail and to keep up with demand, we keep adding new itineraries. So last year we added Massachusetts and I believe we ran it three times. For 2024, we added Connecticut. So designing a trip, I have done it. I just created the one for Newport. We ran it last, or this June and it was fantastic. It was really great working with our amazing office staff.
Jason Elkins (48:49.39)
They are always available, always supportive and helping us. So that one was throwing together some ideas and some suggestions on housing. And one of the places I wanted to go was the Bird Sanctuary. It’s just stunning. And the office partner, she ended up finding out that they have a farmhouse that you can rent, which I didn’t even know about, even though I’ve been to the property multiple times. So if you have an idea, AGC wants to hear it.
We have guides that will very quickly sign up to scout the trip and eight months later, we hope to have it up and running, but I have not been to New Zealand. I’ve been to Australia. So New Zealand is most definitely on my sooner to to do list and I haven’t been to Antarctica. So I’d like to do that. That way it could be on every continent. And I just did ever a space camp and that was fantastic last month.
So there’s plenty more to go. There’s all kinds of that is. I’m sorry to do this guys, but I just realized we’re like over time and I’m supposed to be on another meeting. So I will let you please cut this out, Jason. Hey, Lainey. No, no, no. I appreciate I’m very happy to reschedule like another time because this is super fun. no, no. Let’s appreciate you. Appreciate you being here. And what we’ll do is I may have a couple more questions for Kaitlyn. We’ll wrap up.
Lainey, is there anything you want to add before you take off? Well, just ask Kaitlyn to tell a funny story about the two of us and when we’ve been guiding together. We’ll see which one she says. All right. Yeah. OK. I think that’s it. Lainey, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Appreciate you taking your time to be here with us. Again, though, I am very happy if you want to jump back on at some point. This was super fun. So thank you, guys.
Thanks, Lainey. We’ll talk to you soon. We’ll just do another episode later with you as well. So we’ll just keep doing this. That’s good. We’re ready. Have a great day. Thank you so much for joining us. Bye.
Jason Elkins (50:56.942)
All right, so Kaylin, I guess you’ve got a story in mind. Which one are we going to go with since she’s not here to listen to it?
Jason Elkins (51:08.206)
It’s just, we’ve had so many funny stories. We’re fortunate to guide together. Um, fortunate, I only live in Boston, so we get to see each other. So we’ve gone like scooter. Uh, what do call it? The segue tours and electric scooters. We’re going to go to Paris in two weeks. Um, and I don’t know. I’m sure she had one in mind, but there are so many. I’ll wait till we’re regrouping.
Ah, no, no, I get it completely. Well, I certainly appreciate both of you being here. I’m curious, are there any questions I should have asked, forgot to ask, or just anything that you want to share with our listeners, either about AJC Adventures of Gun Company, yourself, or Lainey that she’s not here now, or anything at all that you want to share before we wrap up? We have a lot of unique trips. Like one great one that I absolutely love is dog sledding in Minnesota.
and is really one of those once in a lifetime opportunities where you do dog sledding and it’s actually a substantial full day where you drive the sled for an hour and then you switch with your partner. We have a cookout in the middle of really nowhere. The guides just pull, we set a fire, hot chocolate, brats, everything. It’s fabulous. And then you run the sled for the next hour and then I do the next hour.
We also do cross -country skiing, snowshoeing, and hiking. And a lot of times people may look at that trip and say, no way am I going to Minnesota in January and February. But AGC is so thorough. We sent you a packing list. All you do is follow it. And on that itinerary, we start the day a little bit slower. We start our activities around 10 a .m. So it’s warmed up a couple more degrees. And most of our, when we go cross -country skiing or snowshoeing,
for hiking in the snow. We do about two, two and a half hours. And then we come back, we have gourmet lunches and regroup in the afternoon. We stay at a gorgeous resort with hot tubs right on the lake. And it’s really unique blast. I did a few years ago and we had a woman from Florida who had never experienced snow before. And she was in New York city and it was like early December or so, and it wasn’t snowing. And that was her goal.
Jason Elkins (53:30.99)
And on the pre -trip calls, which I’ll go over that in a second, she was like, I don’t know where to buy this stuff. I live in Florida. And it’s just like, all right, go to an online vendor. So when you sign up for a trip, like Laney said, just show up at the airport. That is 100 % how EGC works. We take out all the stress, all the planning. So we say, please meet us at this spot at the airport, say at 12 o ‘clock. We pick you up and we shuttle you either to the hotel or the first activity. And.
Every day is well -planned, structured, organized, that the night before we say, all right, this is the itinerary for tomorrow. This is the weather. This is what you need in your day bag. And this is the time we’re leaving. And it’s thorough. If it’s hiking, we go over how long we’re hiking, what the elevation gain is. If it’s kayaking, make sure you bring your snow, sorry, sunblock. Make sure you pack whatever you need, a change of clothes. And it – Right.
one day at a time. So we don’t want you to sign up for a trip and think about the hike on Thursday that might be 14 miles. We just want you to do one bite at a time. And it really makes it manageable. And the whole key is we want you in the moment and to absorb it all. And by slowing it down, sorry Jason, you say something? No, no, I hear you. And what’s coming up for me is, you know, I’ve been around long enough. I’ve got women in my life, but historically for whatever reason in my family anyway,
you know, when a vacation comes up or Christmas or pretty much anything, the women in my life tend to get really wrapped up in all of the planning and worrying about what’s going to happen every single day of the itinerary. And like, it’s hard for them, it’s difficult for them to be present because, okay, everybody’s happy right now, but now I’m worried about…
dinner, where are we going to go for dinner? What’s, you know, what’s on the agenda for the next day? I got to make sure I pack not just my stuff, but everybody’s stuff because kids can’t pack their own stuff. Often times can’t pack their own stuff. And yeah, so just listening to you that you described, I’m imagining women listening to that thinking, oh my gosh, wonder what that would be like to actually go on a trip where I just kind of need to pack my own stuff and show up and.
Jason Elkins (55:55.79)
and not worry about, Dave, it’s a pretty good business model. I can see why it’s working so well. Did you work in public relations or marketing before you got into firefighting or? Nope, I taught eighth grade science waiting on the fire department. And I love working for the union as well. So, but I just – Very cool. It’s just, it’s such an amazing, honestly, it’s just such a unique company.
And when I did that very first trip in the Grand Canyon, I was quite young and in my 20s. And the trips after that, so many women said, Kaitlyn, I wish I started when I was your age. I wish I didn’t wait. Why did I wait for this or that? And I get it. Life gets busy. But I just I just feel so privileged to have had all of these adventures already at 41 and to know.
I’m still gonna be working for the company into my seventies, hopefully. It’s just a great thing that if someone that’s listening that feels they could just take a little bit more, whether it’s more time for themselves, more time to have quiet, more time to be removed from all the busyness of your immediate life, this is definitely the company for you. And like I said, we have such a varied itinerary. When you go to the calendar, you can try to narrow it down.
if you want to narrow it down to a season first or an activity first or a region, whether it be domestic or abroad. And then think like, I could never do that and be like, yes, you can just show up at the airport. And we have all of it covered, honestly. Our office staff is amazing. They handle all the logistics, whether it be the rent a car, the hotels, sometimes we do dinner reservations. Oh, they handle it all. So that way they really empower us as the guide.
to strictly be the guide and be in the moment. And the business formula is working. All their guides come back. If anything, sometimes we get a little like, oh no, you got that one. I wanted that one. I want more. Because we do get it. And part of our season, the busiest two months are September and October. And then I do get a little seasonal sadness when AGC wraps down because I wrapped up the fall and I have to wait this year.
Jason Elkins (58:18.082)
or 2024, I’m starting back with Belize at the end of February. But it’s like, oh man, I got to wait through the whole winter. So for those of our listeners that aren’t fortunate enough to be watching this on video, I just want to point out that I’ve been looking at your face for the last hour or so as you’ve been describing all this stuff and you’re just lit up. So I just want to describe that. When you speak about this stuff, I believe people can hear it in your voice.
But I’m also fortunate to be able to see it on your face. You truly are passionate about what you’re doing with a company and empowering and sharing this with women. And when you said, you’re fortunate that you’ve been able to do so much and you’re 41 now. And I think the message I got, or that I believe you were sending is like, don’t wait. It’s not too late. So start doing something.
now. And I suspect, because you also mentioned like you can go on the website, you can sort by this, you can sort by that. And I suspect that it’s also equally effective if someone doesn’t. Sometimes we over research stuff, right? We overthink stuff. And we could spend four hours on the website and not take any action because we get overwhelmed. There’s so many options. I’ve never done this before. So I want to say it because I suspect you’re saying it is
Don’t do that. Just reach out to someone on the team because I have a feeling if a lady called and said, hey, I’ve never taken a trip like this. I really don’t know what I want to do. I don’t know where to start. I suspect they could have an amazing experience without ever looking at the website. Is that an accurate statement? Most definitely. So you just call our number and one of our project managers will answer and.
To say, I’m flat out nervous. I don’t know if I can do that six mile day. I definitely think I can do the two, three, four mile days in between, and we’ll talk you through. We have our guides take amazing notes. So the project managers pull up the notes and then go through that one day that you might be nervous about and talk you through the elevation, talk you through, generally on our hiking trips about the hour mark, we take a break. And then on some of our hiking trips, we generally do a picnic lunch or backpack lunch.
Jason Elkins (01:00:39.822)
So there’s breaks in between. We always know the water supplies, whether you have to carry it out with you or where the water would be during the hike. It’s manageable. We are encouragers. We believe in you. We want to make you be able to do it. We also have contracted with a personal trainer and she will help you get fit and ready and to that point. So by the time the trip is here, you already know the opposite. If it’s a trip that they need to prepare like that, because they’re not all.
physically demanding. And I’ve always found in my life and other people that I’ve been in relationship with, sometimes it’s just about taking some action because one action tends to create another action, tends to create another action. So anybody that’s listening to this, like, oh, maybe I’d like to do that, take an action. Going to a website is a little passive. It’s going to a website is, it’s kind of that.
thinking, dreaming type of thing. Take an action, pick up a phone call, have a conversation with someone. Then it’s more real. Anytime you share something with someone else, it has a tendency just to become more real. I’m sure your program managers are not like the high pressure. It’s not like they’re calling a solar panel company or something to ask questions. It’s just call, have a conversation. That’s an action. Going to the website, okay. You know, that’s it.
Nobody’s unless you’re telling all your family, I’m going to go book a women’s only trip. And maybe that would be a good action as well. So anybody that’s listening to this, my invitation is to take some sort of action. Do you have anything to add to that, Kaitlyn? I think also looking at our social media feed, we have Instagram and Facebook. And the 20 look at that feed, it’s not staged. It’s it’s real photos.
Um, also I think it’s important that our company highlights that not every day is sunny and 75 degrees. I think it gives a real perspective of what is going to happen. And that’s why we packing lists. I did Acadia again this September and it was pretty rainy. The hurricane was coming up. I forget what the hurricane’s name was, but guess what? We went biking. We still went hiking. We still maintain the itinerary. We might’ve just started the day a little bit later to, you know, the match, the forecast, but.
Jason Elkins (01:03:04.782)
We asked you to bring rain pants and a rain jacket. It’s great now you actually got to use them. So rain or shine, we do our activities. And I think it’s an important part of life that this might be your first time doing it. We’re gonna be there. We want you to succeed. And I’m curious if you just kind of think of generally maybe you have a specific idea in mind, but generally let’s say you’ve got a week long itinerary.
I know in my experience, typically the day I remember the most, it seems like involves the crappy weather. And not like remember it in a bad way, like remember it in a connected way. I remember floating down the Yellowstone River in my drift boat. I had these two kids, like it was a whole big family. We had five or six boats and I got these two kids that weren’t really even into fishing or anything. So we were pretty much, they left all their jackets, they left everything in one of the other boats.
They’re pretty much swimming down the river the whole day. And a big thunderstorm came in with hail and all that stuff. And they didn’t have their, they didn’t have any clothes. They had like their swim trunks and me with my rain jacket and me and these two, two kids, they were like probably 12 and 13 and underneath, you know, some covers best we could find on the banks of the river with like sharing my raincoat, the three of us just, you know, during the, in the hail storm. And it was fricking miserable at the time.
But when we got to the takeout, they were so excited telling their parents about the hail storm and da da da da. I guarantee that that’s what they remembered about their trip to Montana. It’s what I remembered about probably the whole season. So embrace those things that can create connection. That was what we were talking about. So. 100 % right. We’ve run two trips to Ireland. I’ve been fortunate to guide both of them. On one of them, the day prior, we had the hottest day on record in Ireland of that year.
fantastic day. I promise you the following day it was atrocious and we were hiking point to point from one lodge to the next lodge and usually we have a large bus or multi -passenger van so the Irish guide and I had already shuttled it to the next lodge the first thing in the morning say at like six in the morning. The van was there. We come back, we do breakfast, we do the group meeting again to be like the afternoon’s gonna be really unpleasant so
Jason Elkins (01:05:27.182)
Let’s just push through. We start the high misty rain that goes to a new type of rain and then it’s lunch break. So we’re deep into the woods sitting on these beautiful moss area, having probably ham and cheese type sandwiches. And then we continue up and we get almost to the summit point where we then have another team meeting to say, cause now it’s sideways rain. It’s crazy. Gray sky is turning around. It was just.
Let’s just push through. Cause once again, AGC asked you to pack all the appropriate attire. So there’s no hypothermia or anything. Sure enough, we get up to the top and now we can see the little village down below. And I have this video of the sideways rain. It is mayhem, absolutely mayhem. And I just keep saying they’ll have the stove, the fireplace going, we’ll have some hot. Like we can do it, we can do it. And one of the lighter women to the point where she was almost blowing away.
because we’re at the summit. Down into the beautiful B and B, they have the hot toddy, the fireplaces roaring. That was everyone’s favorite day of the 10th. Because no one remembers the hottest day on record. They remember it and they laugh and be like, I can’t believe I’m out here, but I’m doing it. And we did it. And you overcame something as a group, overcame something individually.
probably several of the women, and this is not a man or women thing. This is just a people thing. When we push through challenges together, it builds confidence, it builds connection, it creates all those things that we’ve been talking about. So I get it completely. So what I hear you saying is there’s no reason not to go. So just do a little bit of research, not too much research. Call your team, book a trip. Thank you so much. Great, great stories. Great, great connecting with you and Lainey.
And I certainly appreciate you taking time out of your day to share some stories with us. I’ll have some information, some links and stuff in the show notes so anybody that’s listening can click through to the website. And obviously, they’ll have your namesake. I’m sure they can connect with you on social media as well. So Kaitlyn, thank you so much. Appreciate you joining the show. Have a great holiday season. And I love your podcast. It’s the true thing and what the whole world is about. Oh, I love it. Yeah. It’s…
Jason Elkins (01:07:50.062)
I, you know, I create it because I went to Asia for the first time this past summer. And like this whole like big world, it’s like, oh, such a big world, Asia’s so far away. No, it’s not once you’re there. It’s, it is when you’re on the plane. Yeah, man, this is a long trip. But once you get there and you kind of realize, you know, we’re all in the same world. My backdrop here that people can’t see is some wall art in Penang in Malaysia. And it’s just, was an impactful trip.
for me and I just want to encourage people to get out there and explore and make the world a little smaller. So thank you so much. Appreciate you supporting me in that endeavor. Thanks, Galen. You have a great day. Bye.
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