The Power of Travel to Create Awe and Renewal. Tour of Nepal with Stacey of LHAdventure Travel

What do a physician, a coach,

a global traveler, a wife and

2

mother, all have in common?

3

Well, you're going to find out because

that's who my guest is this week.

4

Welcome to Travel That Touches Your

Soul Podcast and video channel where

5

we bring you the people and places

around the world to help you connect

6

with something greater than yourself.

7

Something that will help you

fulfill your heart's desires.

8

I'm Karen Cleveland, and

today's guest is Stacy Font.

9

Now she is, as I mentioned, physician,

coach, global traveler, wife and mother.

10

She is someone who believes deeply in

the power of travel to transform us.

11

She's going to share with us her story

because she's been drawn to adventure

12

and connection and wellbeing her whole

life, and she has molded this into.

13

the perfect travel opportunities.

14

So welcome Stacy.

15

Thank you so much.

16

I'm so happy to be here.

17

It's really great to have you on the show.

18

I'm really excited to hear

you tell some of your stories.

19

, I know you've created some , amazing

trips for people to experience as

20

well as the one that started you.

21

I'm very excited about what's to come, but

we will talk about those in a little bit.

22

I want to start with, , how

you started in all this.

23

, What happened?

24

And I'm going to share a picture

for the people that are, watching.

25

There's stairs, there's places

for bodies, and then there's the,,

26

I guess crematorium, where they.

27

Burn the bodies in the back.

28

Those, these that look like temples?

29

Yes.

30

Is that what they do there?

31

Just a little context.

32

I have always been an adventure

traveler my entire adult life, and

33

in, I guess this was about three and

a half years ago, I have two twins.

34

They left for college.

35

We became empty nesters about

a month before they left.

36

My father, my husband's father

died, and about a month after they

37

left, very sadly, my father died.

38

And so it was a deep time of

loss and grieving in my life.

39

And it was so many shifts.

40

And I was also 58 years old.

41

I was going to be 59, which

is the age my mother died.

42

My mother died young.

43

Wow.

44

So it brought up all these

feelings of loss and death and

45

grief and I was really in a funk.

46

And Karen, for the first

time in my whole life.

47

I started to question if

the best was behind me.

48

Oh my gosh.

49

Which I never felt like that before.

50

Mothering was over and death felt so near

because of all these experiences, and I

51

was so sad for the people that we lost.

52

And I think a lot of

people in that age range.

53

Feel that way.

54

So I think this is really important.

55

Yeah.

56

And I tried so many things and nothing

was helping like my, my, like my

57

whole being just ached and felt sad.

58

And I've always been a traveler and

I always joke, I don't pick a trip.

59

A trip picks me.

60

And this was, I guess at this point

it was like November and I just.

61

I just knew I had to go trekking in Nepal.

62

I'm not in the greatest shape.

63

I enjoy movement, I enjoy hiking.

64

I do moderate, but I felt a

very deep calling to go there.

65

I'd known about it.

66

I wanted to go in the past, and

it just became very prevalent.

67

And I asked my husband, I said, do

you want to go on this trip with me?

68

And he said, sure.

69

We were going to be going in April.

70

And just having a goal.

71

Just having something that excited

me started to bring me back to life.

72

Right?

73

Oh yeah.

74

The passion, the planning.

75

We had to train, we had to start moving.

76

Yeah.

77

Right.

78

So moving and so much of it

started to bring me back to life.

79

So before the trek, we

landed in Cat Mandu.

80

This is from Cat Mandu.

81

And Katmandu was wild and

electric and I loved it.

82

We had to wear a mask because of the smog.

83

I'm usually a nature person, not a city

person, but it was so electric and raw and

84

cows and cars everywhere, but no honking.

85

Like it was just, it was

so interesting to me.

86

And we had a wonderful guide

and we went to the crematorium.

87

If you're not Hindu, you can't go

inside most of the temples, but we

88

couldn't go inside the crematorium,

but we walked around it and.

89

This was so meaningful to me

because he told us in depth a lot of

90

spiritual beliefs and practices of

the Hindus around death and dying.

91

And it was very different from my beliefs

and my concepts and, hearing them talk

92

about how the whole family comes together.

93

The oldest son actually sets.

94

Is the one who sets the body on fire.

95

They wash the body together,

the family, they burn the body.

96

That's actually considered like

a good deed because they're

97

releasing the soul from the body.

98

And then the body, the body is

released and turned to ashes and

99

sent back to, the water and the

earth, and then the soul moves on.

100

And it was such a sense of a cycle

rather than an ending where I had.

101

Just felt such an ending with the two

deaths that had just happened in my

102

family that it was very healing on a level

to have these alternative perspectives

103

of life and death that just this one

visit here, it was the right time,

104

the right moment in the right place.

105

That expanded my mind to other

possibilities, and even though

106

they're not necessarily my beliefs.

107

It was healing on some level for

the loss of the people we missed.

108

Yeah.

109

Yeah.

110

That's very powerful.

111

So you land in this place that

is just bustling, the crematorium

112

area here looks pretty slow sole.

113

Yeah.

114

Did you witness a burial or a,

what do they call it a burial

115

because they don't burial?

116

No.

117

It was a, he called it a burning.

118

We did not.

119

Okay.

120

There was one earlier that day.

121

Okay.

122

We did not, the red on the steps,

by the way, is not blood Right.

123

To be going, that's, they

paint things certain areas.

124

I was grateful for the quiet

because I got to use my own.

125

Imagination of what the process

of passing on meant to me.

126

Oh yeah.

127

So it was really, it was

a very spiritual place.

128

It just felt sacred and it felt like

a real privilege to be able to have a

129

glimpse at, the moment of death and the

moment of birth are such sacred moments.

130

To be at a place where

something so profound happens,

131

felt very stirring for us.

132

And of course the guide was

wonderful and he shared so much.

133

This was his home and his ritual.

134

So it was really powerful for us.

135

So I might point out in my mind

that there, there was probably

136

a death of sorts going on.

137

With you.

138

You had mentioned, you were worried

because you were approaching the age

139

that your mother died, and you have this

whole new life ever since that time.

140

So something new was born out of you, out

of this trip at that age, it sounds like.

141

Yes.

142

That's perfect.

143

This was, I've had quite a few

transformations throughout my life on

144

different trips, but this is one of the

most profound that led to such change.

145

Yeah.

146

It was, it's a whole new cycle of my

life now I want to share, this, there's

147

a picture of just, it's bright orange

and stairways that go down and circular.

148

And where did you say this is?

149

So we landed in Katmandu, then we went,

then we flew to ra, which is another part.

150

It's right next to India because

that's where we were going to be

151

starting it and ending our five day

trek through the Anaperna region.

152

We were going.

153

It's the area of kill of, the main

mountains but we were going on smaller

154

ones, so we were going on the trek.

155

So this is in ra and

this is a Hindu temple.

156

It's very interesting though.

157

It was all underground.

158

You walk down these spiral stairs

and then it was these caverns.

159

With these special rock formations.

160

That was a very spiritual

place for the Hindus.

161

They had great meaning of this.

162

We stumbled upon it.

163

We had no idea it was a holiday.

164

We went without a guide.

165

We just took a taxi there.

166

I read about, it seemed interesting.

167

We had no idea it was going

to be one of their holy days.

168

We just walked with the herds because

we didn't speak any English and

169

we we just experienced the energy.

170

From what we felt and what we saw because

we could not understand a thing and we had

171

no context and we had no guide with us.

172

So it was really fascinating to you

are only seeing the outside place.

173

The real event took place

in the caverns underneath.

174

But I didn't want to disrespect

the moment with a camera.

175

Right.

176

But to experience a place with without

the main sense of your brain understanding

177

the language it was very unique for us.

178

So you were allowed to go in

those caverns, you're not allowed

179

in some of the temples, right?

180

Yes.

181

But you could go into

the, through the caverns.

182

Yes.

183

And you just you just take your shoes

off and everybody walks through these

184

dark, wet caves and there were certain

rooms with a very basic little lamp,

185

and they had what to us looked like.

186

Rock formations that obviously

had great meaning to other people

187

because most everybody else,

they were coming to pay respects.

188

They were honoring their

deities in this region.

189

Oh, okay.

190

And they were bringing offerings

of mangoes and flowers and gold

191

coins and different food, and

they would place their offerings.

192

On the altars, that, the reason I shared

this photo, even though you can't see the

193

inside the thing that was most touching

to me was the level of pure devotion.

194

Like, that's the word that came to mind.

195

It was such pure love and pure devotion

of something outside of themselves.

196

Oh that we don't usually get to witness.

197

Right.

198

Something like that to me, I don't,

anyway, that it really touched me.

199

There was like a very it seemed

like almost just a very pure a pure

200

love to me that was very moving.

201

That's beautiful.

202

That's beautiful.

203

So where are you here?

204

Are you about to start your trek?

205

Yeah, so I had just, I just gotten

up a lot of stairs at this point.

206

So we did a five day trek

in the Anaperna region.

207

We went up to about 10,000 feet.

208

We start, I think we climbed like.

209

I think we climbed 8,000 feet over three

or four days or something like that.

210

Maybe 9,000 feet.

211

It was like three or

4,000 foot a climb a day.

212

One day was a lot less for me.

213

That's a lot.

214

For other people, that might

not be for me, that was a lot.

215

So I went slow.

216

We were a small group.

217

We had a few sheers carrying our bags.

218

We were just four guests, me and my

husband, and there were two other women.

219

Okay.

220

We were Americans living in Thailand.

221

We had a guide and we had two sheers

carrying all of our belongings,

222

and I was the slowest of the group.

223

I just took my time and I, I also did that

on purpose because I got to walk alone.

224

They weren't far away.

225

But I felt a great need to be

in solitude on this journey,

226

and you'll see from other.

227

Pictures what I was surrounded by,

but that was a moment of getting

228

up the steps, and that was a huge

accomplishment for me because it

229

was an enormous number of steps.

230

Okay.

231

And took, it took me like

eight hours to get up there and

232

seven or eight hours really.

233

Yeah.

234

Wow.

235

It was a big, it was a big T track.

236

Wow.

237

It was a far distance and a

that particular path had more

238

steps than path on this day.

239

Okay.

240

This is on that same t track.

241

Yes.

242

Yeah.

243

All the pictures of the mountains are

during those five days of the trek.

244

Okay.

245

Okay.

246

So here you are, and I look at all

the prayer flags that are up there.

247

Yeah.

248

And those mountains.

249

Yeah.

250

So it was five days till you saw the

mountains or how long before you No,

251

I saw the mountains on like, day two.

252

I think day three they

started to be snow capped.

253

It was two or three, like, the

first full day we didn't, but

254

then after that we, we did.

255

Okay.

256

Yeah, this is the Everest region, but

we didn't do, like, we didn't do the

257

base camp to Everest, but if you did,

you'd be starting from the same region.

258

Oh, I see.

259

It was just magnificent.

260

And then to see, and then periodically

you'd see the prayer flags and it was.

261

Just majestic is the

only word I can think of.

262

It was like bold and raw and majestic.

263

And I also walked a little

behind on purpose right.

264

Because I needed healing.

265

I needed soothing.

266

And I, me personally, I.

267

I needed my soul to open

up to the next phase.

268

'cause I had felt so

closed before I came here.

269

And I don't use that word lightly, I

don't walk around using that word so

270

often, but it really was such a pivotal

time in my life that I needed to find my

271

life force again, my life energy again.

272

I don't know how else to say it.

273

And I and this is what fed me.

274

Walking and being surrounded by this

and just letting feelings wash through

275

and then not even have feelings,

like just being present among such

276

raw beauty and powerful nature.

277

Right.

278

I want to look at the mountains real fast.

279

How amazing to be surrounded by that.

280

Were you able to just, and

maybe it's not your thing to do.

281

I know that I would want to just sit

and be with the mountains for a while.

282

I felt I was with them,

walking through them.

283

That's, yeah.

284

Okay.

285

I felt I, it was a

moving meditation for me.

286

Yeah, that makes sense.

287

That makes a lot of sense.

288

Now, on some of your trips,

just a quick question.

289

Do you take people to places like this?

290

Is this, I know you were not you weren't

even taking people on trips at this point,

291

but because of your experience on this

trek, do you do similar experiences?

292

I do, I had thought of starting a

travel company for a long time and

293

all of my trips are very different,

but all of them have the awe factor.

294

Okay.

295

'cause that that, I create

trips I want to go on.

296

So that's just very important to me.

297

All of my trips take place in

awe-inspiring natural settings,

298

whether it's, in Peru, in the Andes,

or we're going on safari or we're

299

walking in Camino or we're kayaking

on Lake Lan in Guatemala, or.

300

Wherever, wherever it is in Morocco,

we go to the Sahara under the

301

Stars in the desert in Morocco, and

they all have moments of that deep

302

connection with an awe-inspiring place.

303

Yeah.

304

Yeah.

305

So next, here's the beauty of travel.

306

We can plan.

307

Everything we want.

308

Like you said, you didn't

know that it was a holiday, so

309

tell us about this fun scene.

310

Yeah, this was stone.

311

This just makes me smile to see this.

312

So this is when we went to po.

313

We didn't even know.

314

It ended up being the lunar New Year.

315

It was their New Year's celebration,

so all the streets were closed.

316

This was the main street in downtown

and they set up this stage and

317

this is their big entertainment.

318

And what was so beautiful, again,

there were very few tourists there.

319

This was mainly local people.

320

And it was such simple joy,

like this was their whole

321

entertainment and it was gorgeous.

322

There were no big flashing lights, there

was no fireworks or magical, it was just

323

this kind of dance and these pure smiles.

324

And as we looked around the crowd,

there were families, there were

325

teenagers, like boys holding

hands 'cause they're friends and.

326

I didn't.

327

I didn't.

328

There wasn't much drinking.

329

There wasn't much partying.

330

It was dance and it was communities

out together celebrating.

331

And it just, again, it

brought up that whole idea of.

332

Simplicity and joy.

333

And this music just makes me happy.

334

It does.

335

It makes me happy too.

336

And you had another experience here.

337

This was right after the trek.

338

This was just walking through a park.

339

These were local families camping out

for the celebration and they just.

340

Some musicians started playing and

they started dancing and they pulled

341

me into the circle and we danced.

342

And again, it was just expression and

movement and it was authentic joy.

343

That's what it was.

344

It was beautiful and

it was also connection.

345

Yeah, it was beautiful.

346

Yeah.

347

And that all of that is

the beauty of travel.

348

You just never know what's

going to present itself.

349

Yes.

350

All you want.

351

Yeah.

352

Yeah.

353

Tell us a little bit about your business,

what it's called and what you do.

354

Got it.

355

So my company's called

LH Adventure Travel.

356

The LH stands for Lifestyle Health.

357

So I am a physician and a health coach.

358

And so this brings the magic of travel

together with wellness and self-care.

359

And all of my trips have certain aspects

to them based on wellness and wellbeing.

360

So all of my trips take

place in beautiful.

361

Inspiring places that I want to go travel.

362

They all have movement.

363

They have moderate movement.

364

Most of my guests are, this is for women.

365

It's mainly forties through late sixties.

366

I get older, I get younger.

367

The age doesn't matter.

368

I just want a 20-year-old to know

we're not running up Kilimanjaro.

369

Right.

370

It's moderate movement.

371

We have different guides,

but there is movement.

372

They all have hiking.

373

Some have hiking.

374

We e-bike through Tuscany.

375

There's different things,

but they all have hiking.

376

Then there's food, there's

healthy Whole foods.

377

We have farm to table meals.

378

We take a cooking class.

379

We do food tours, all

different sorts of things.

380

Then the third component is relaxation.

381

So all of my trips take place in a spa.

382

We go to a spa, there's yoga in Nepal.

383

I have a Nepal Bhutan trip coming up.

384

We have Sound Bath,

the sound bath healing.

385

And then the fourth, and to me

the most important in a lot of

386

ways is community connection.

387

All of my trips, some women, some women

come alone, some come with a friend, but.

388

I talk with everyone before they come

and just to make sure it's the right

389

energy level for them if they want

to get to know me and, and we form a

390

sisterhood and we go as a community.

391

We eat our dinners together.

392

We have conversation.

393

I have certain questions and

prompts, and it's a really.

394

Supportive group of women who want

to be together experiencing these new

395

cultures and these new experiences.

396

And some women have transformation,

some women have a lot of fun.

397

And we all experience

beauty and nature together.

398

Yeah.

399

That's fantastic.

400

Tell me when is your bouton trip?

401

When is that coming?

402

That's sold out already.

403

Sorry to say.

404

405

Okay.

406

And it's sold out already.

407

That's sold out already.

408

I am going to do another, yeah.

409

It's been wonderful.

410

Most people want to come again, but I

am, I'm going to continue to do that.

411

I lay out on a second.

412

I also, I go to all my trips.

413

Before I run them to make

sure it's exactly what I want.

414

So I'm running that trip this October

and then I'm going this October, and

415

416

417

I'm, I have a decent waiting list.

418

419

I'll see.

420

But that will be Nepal for four days.

421

We're not going to the same region.

422

I did.

423

'cause we're not doing

that same type of trek.

424

We're going to go to Cat Mandu.

425

Okay.

426

And then we'll go trekking in

just an area an hour from Cat

427

Mandu that's a little easier.

428

Trek a two day trek.

429

And then we'll go to Bhutan and

we'll spend seven days immersed in

430

Bhutan and we'll sleep overnight in

a monastery and we'll do a trek and,

431

all the different aspects of that.

432

A lot of my, like we go to Peru we

hike the Inca Trail, but we do one day,

433

we do the last day of the Inca Trail.

434

Oh, okay.

435

And then, we go to the Sacred Valley.

436

We stay in Ola Tombo, which is a

beautiful, ancient Inca town and we

437

do very culturally immersive things

there as we're acclimating and then

438

we go to SCO at the end, or Morocco.

439

All of them to me have that

same arc of culture experience,

440

welcome, exotic, and then.

441

A deep dive into a raw

beauty nature moment for that

442

really deep connection, nice.

443

And then back home.

444

Yeah.

445

Oh yeah.

446

That's wonderful.

447

And what is your website, or how

do people find out more about it?

448

Yeah, so it's lh adventure travel.com.

449

My name is Stacy Font.

450

My email is info@lhadventuretravel.com.

451

I imagine you'll have the

links, anything like that?

452

Yes, I do have a newsletter and in my

newsletter I like to share insights

453

or observations or sometimes in,

sometimes recipes and things like that.

454

But I, I just did a newsletter that.

455

I really loved my, one of my kids are

about to graduate college and one of

456

them is planning a journey right now,

right before she starts her big job.

457

And I'm going to Africa on January

8th and oh, I'm changing my work from

458

part-time to per diem my medical work.

459

Okay.

460

So it just, it made me think how.

461

Travel so often marks these

big transitions in our life.

462

The newsletter is about that.

463

What, why is that and what travel

affords that allows or marks these

464

moment of transition in our life for

us or opens us up to new possibility.

465

Things like that in the newsletter.

466

That's fantastic.

467

You're right.

468

It they do of it does often

mark transitions in our life.

469

You're right.

470

I want to thank you and I want to

close with this video be that I love.

471

So if you want to once I get it

shared, say a few words about it.

472

I just think it's such a fun

amazing little video here.

473

Yeah.

474

So before I start it, we have

Stacy and a gentleman from Nepal.

475

Well I can let Stacy describe it.

476

Yeah.

477

This is in the middle of our trek.

478

This was a free afternoon.

479

This was my Sherpa and my husband

and I, we had some, a few hours

480

free, and we walked by and we saw

him and our guide sitting having.

481

A drink and they invited us in and we

just sat and talked with them, and he just

482

said, do you he just offered me a glimpse

of their, one of their love dances.

483

And again, such an unexpected, beautiful,

authentic moment of connection as he,

484

you could see how joyous he looks.

485

Yes.

486

I love this.

487

I love this video.

488

Absolutely.

489

Nice.

490

thank you so much for being here and

sharing your experiences with us today.

491

I'd love to have you back

some time to talk about some

492

of your other ones as well.

493

I'm grateful and thank you for being here.

494

Thank you so much.

495

It was my pleasure.

496

Yeah.

497

All right.

498

And to um, the listeners and the

viewers out there, thank you for

499

being with us as well and, I look

forward to connecting with you later.

500

Bye-bye.