One of my favorite recent travel memories was a trip to the Cappadocia region in Turkey. It's long been on my list of places to visit and the region did not disappoint. The cave homes and buildings were as incredible and unique as I imagined they would be and the almost desolate nature of the beauty is stunning.
I could have walked and climbed into the various homes/pigeon homes and explored the region for days on end. Then there was the food and the people. An incredible place!
One of the biggest things that I've realized is that change on a micro-level is where things happen. It's fun to imagine these big, sweeping changes where everything falls into place immediately, but really the change and benefits come from interactions with a single person, or for a few moments. And in the process of becoming involved in hundreds of these micro-changes, you open the world up to the possibility of those macro-level changes.
One of the tenets of the Strive programs is learning and participating in service-learning. A student of ours took the time to reach out after a program and write a very heartfelt thank you in response to all of the learning that took place on the program.
She said she took the information from our service learning curriculum, brought it back with her to her school community service club and worked directly with the club advisor to restructure the entire community service club with the service leaning philosophy that we at Strive teach.
It's cool to watch these young folks go out and start positive changes. They are our future and I'm happy to play a very small part in their mindsets and outlooks.
Being that I've spent so much time in Latin America both teaching, traveling and working with Strive, I'd probably have to choose that one. The mountains and scenery in Peru are close to unbeatable. Couple that with the perfect weather, great food and all of the Incan ruins and sites and it makes for a fantastic trip.
The warmth from the people of Kenya makes it a close call but Peru just slightly edges it out because of my history with the culture and area.
The running and training and all things athletic make our company unique. We have a fantastic service-learning and community service curriculum and projects and engage with the community and culture as well, but what makes us stand apart is our commitment to supporting athletes in their international endeavors. Sharing our passion and supporting fitness and health through travel is what we do best.
Our team is the best at providing individualized attention. We make sure everyone is having the best possible experience and take the time to tailor the program to each individual as much as we can.
I believe it has to do with the amount of passion that your team members have for your mission, vision and overall purpose. If you have a motivated team pushing forward with ideas and programs that they love and fully stand behind, the natural progression will be towards success. If your team members like going to work every day, that's a pretty good start!