IN CONVERSATION: Daisy Finer talks about the changing state of travel with Jake Haupert, who explains why we all need to see with new eyes and view ‘travel as a process, not a product’...

By Daisy Finer, TTC Herald & Contributing Editor, CondeNast Traveller

If good health can be not only newly valued but also newly harnessed as a ticket to

experiencing life more deeply then travel can, at last, return to what it has always

been: an exploration of both the outer and inner worlds, a pilgrimage even,

approached with intent as something sacred. Jake Haupert heads up the

Transformational Travel Council which unifies a global ecosystem of destinations,

tour operators, life coaches, and environmentalists who all speak the same language

and are seeking to create an opportunity for a more value-driven, conscious travel

space “We’ve had a crisis of good travel, which has become disassociated from the

things that matter most to us. I think a lot of travel in the past has been based on

entertainment, entitlement, and extraction. We’re shaping the future of tourism

around the concept of transformation. We’re looking with new eyes – seeing travel

as a process, as opposed to a product’. Like many mid-lifers, Jake has more than

one string to his bow. His Explorer X travel company organizes trips where the entire

journey is based around the call to adventure and follows the model of mythologist

Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’. Clients have gifted a ‘Transformational Travel

Journal’, which acts as a guide whether they’re heading to Stillpoint Lodge in Alaska

or backpacking in Tokyo. This journal is about the modern art of ancient travel,

covering qualities such as honour, participation, resilience, humbleness, and

disconnection as well as an encouraged pledge to travel with your heart open to new

ways of being. As Phil Cousineau (a protege of Campbell and author of The Art of

Pilgrimage) writes in the foreword: ‘once we’ve encountered the soul of the world, we

shake and shiver, and are never the same person’. Every trip is approached with

intent and attention, carefully designed to meet the client’s needs. For one mid-lifer

who felt she was too much of a control freak and needed to let go, the prescription

was Project X: it wasn’t until she reached the airport that she found out where she

was going (Zimbabwe). It’s clear that the Hero’s Journey is our journey and one

which we deeply crave. It’s all about unleashing the explorer within, falling into a sense

of awe, wonder, and perspective, connecting deeply with nature and wildlife as well

as our fellow man, overcoming obstacles and challenges, and enjoying the

subsequent rewards: newfound wisdom, meaning-making, and the cultivation of the

traits you feel you are missing in your life. ‘Understanding that travel can be a

catalyst to that sort of personal growth is really, really powerful. It has a positive

impact on you, your family, your community, the communities that you visit, and then

humanity at large. We have a lot in front of us, but we’re happy to be on the edge of

the movement” says, Jake.

The invitation has landed for older generations to forget the ostrich approach. The

time is now. We can set the pattern when it comes to an awareness of the impact, pro-

conservation behaviour and travelling differently, and we can ask the questions

needed – what does change look like? And how do both generations come together

to create this change?