Episode 67: The Bold Move

Are you thinking about making some changes and taking a leap into the unknown? I'm Alessia Tenebruso, and in this chat, I'm speaking with Santana Inniss, a Master Certified coach, speaker, and mentor. We're talking about her journey from the busy streets of Washington DC to the peaceful scenes of Portugal during a global crisis. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions and bravery as she figured out what she really wanted in life.
 
 We'll chat about the ups and downs of personal growth, Santana's adventures in Portugal, and how she found balance and wellness along the way. Plus, we'll get real about the challenges of changing relationships with friends and family when you're on your own path. If you've ever felt like you're going through changes all by yourself, this chat is a little reminder that you've got what it takes to keep going.
 
 Towards the end, we'll dive into the nitty-gritty of solo travel, especially for women. We'll share some tips on staying safe, overcoming fears, and figuring out your true motivations. And if you're curious about building connections in a new place, we've got some practical advice on finding your tribe in a foreign land. Whether you're about to embark on your own adventure or just looking for a bit of inspiration, this chat is an open invitation to hang out with us and celebrate the courage it takes to chase your dreams.

More about Santana:
Santana did everything "right." She got the degrees, got the titles, got the bag. But after a decade of leadership in the non-profit and tech sectors, she realized that her life was just... off. She felt stuck, stressed, and unfulfilled. Driven by her decade-long personal development journey, Santana took the bold step of leaving a successful career to align her work with her life's vision. She's now a Master Certified coach, speaker, and mentor, helping folks create more alignment in their personal and professional lives. 

She moved abroad in 2021 in pursuit of greater wellness and balance.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Solo Traveler's Courageous Journey Abroad
• 8:47 Navigating Personal Growth and Change
• 18:28 Overcoming Fears to Achieve Dreams
• 33:31 Building Connections and Community Abroad

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the One Girl Travel Podcast, episode number 67.

Speaker 2: 0:05

Welcome to the One Girl Travel Podcast, your passport to the world of solo travel with certified life and travel coach, Alessia Tenebruso. Join Alessia as she shares her own journey of self-discovery through solo travel, while also focusing on topics such as life coaching insights and travel tips along the way. Now here's your host, Alessia Tenebruso.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Welcome my friends to episode number 67 of the One Girl Travel Podcast. Today's podcast is an exciting one because I have our first-ever guest. My friend, santana Enis is a life coach and she is somebody who I admire because in 2021, during the pandemic, she moved from Washington DC to Portugal by herself, and I wanted to talk to her today about her experience with making such a huge move in her life and following her dreams, and especially exploring and adapting to a new country by herself. And this conversation is just so enlightening and inspiring and I hope that you really get the value out of it that you need to push you to go after your goals and follow your dreams. So let me share a little bit about Santana before we get started.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Santana did everything right. She got the degrees, got the titles, got the bag, but after a decade of leadership in the nonprofit and tech sectors, she realized that her life just was off. She felt stuck, stressed and unfulfilled. Driven by her decade-long personal development journey, santana took the bold step of leaving a successful career to align her work with her life's vision. She's now a master, certified coach, speaker and mentor, helping folks create more alignment in their professional and personal lives, and I am honored to have her today, so let's get started with the interview. Well, welcome, santana, for being my first-ever podcast guest. I'm so happy to have you here.

Speaker 3: 2:14

I'm so excited to be here and to be the first guest. I love it.

Speaker 1: 2:21

So I want to talk to you today about your journey from moving from the states to Portugal by yourself, and I think it's so admirable. I love that you just followed your dreams on this journey. So can you tell us a little more about that?

Speaker 3: 2:36

Wow, I mean, that's a big question. I mean, you know, I guess I kind of found myself sitting alone in my studio apartment in a studio. I was sitting in my studio apartment in DC during the pandemic, like so many other people, and I thought, you know, I've been thinking about this for a while. I want to do this on my own terms. Is it possible? Like you know, let me just see. So I think it very much started with a perspective of like this feels like it would be a good supportive move for me and then, holy heck, like this is a really big thing to accomplish. How am I going to do this? So I think that was like my early mindset going into figuring out where and how and what and all that jazz.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Yeah, so going into it, of course, like it's overwhelming, I'm sure, but what really helped you make that decision to go forward with it?

Speaker 3: 3:36

You know, I just recognize that I've, you know, you, we've all done big shit. It's like, you know, for many people it's college, for some people it's, you know, getting married or finding a partner Like we've all accomplished something. And I guess I just had the sense of like, well, I mean, I've done X hard thing, I can do Y hard thing. I've done B hard thing, I can do C hard thing, I can do C hard thing. So I didn't really, I didn't really have the mindset of like, what would it look like to fail? It was like, okay, if I apply myself here, I will be able to achieve this dream. That's sort of how my mindset was.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Yeah, I don't know that answers, because that's truly like finding the evidence that it's possible.

Speaker 2: 4:24

And I tell my family.

Speaker 1: 4:25

I'm like find the evidence of what you've done in the past. It doesn't have to be the exact thing, but to show that you're capable of doing hard things.

Speaker 3: 4:34

Yeah, well, I imagine it must have been similar for you, like making the first like travel trip alone, by yourself. Yeah, Starting a business, all of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 4:45

Exactly, and I didn't have the evidence for that in terms of travel. But the thing I've always pulled from for my life was joining the boys wrestling team. So I was the only girl in the boys wrestling team did it on a whim, didn't know what I was doing. It was the hardest thing I ever did, but I did it and I didn't quit and I grew from it. So I'm like, if I can do that, I can do this. That's incredible. Always such powerful tool to have in your back pocket, like to have that evidence, because I think it's so easy for us to find evidence of why we can't do something, but to find why we can is just so powerful.

Speaker 3: 5:18

Yeah, and I think just building off that, building the habit and the skill set or the muscle memory of looking for what's possible or looking for the evidence that it's possible, it's just a way to shift into a different approach of the mentality and once you master that, like your what's possible in your life, just like exponentially increases, because when you train your brain to look for how can I make this thing possible instead of why is this thing not possible it's a very subtle nuance in the question, but it changes everything. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: 5:57

So once you made that move and you landed in Portugal, what was going through your head? When you probably got there and you arrived?

Speaker 3: 6:08

Well, there were like 100 million steps that went from the decision to move to the process of like applying for the visa and all of that jazz and all of that jazz. And then like the emotional component of processing, like, okay, what does it mean to say goodbye, what does it mean to pack up all my stuff? So it's like skipping through all of that. I think like getting on the ground. I remember landing.

Speaker 3: 6:36

I moved during the pandemic so I couldn't see the apartment that I signed a lease on before I went. I didn't have friends really and I just I paid a guy to pick me up from the airport and like transport all my bags and stuff with me. And there was just this moment where he was like driving me around just to see some quick sites, because everything was closed, it was a pandemic, you couldn't go like to the tourist site, so just did like a little mini quick thing. And I just remember having this like feeling that first day of like holy shit, I did this, yeah. So I think that was the first kind of like OK, I can allow myself to feel that this is real. And that's really. The first thing that went into my mind is like, oh shit, like I'm really in it now, I'm swimming in it and after that it's sort of like OK, well, how do I make this a life?

Speaker 1: 7:32

Exactly. Before we get into that, I'm curious. I know we were chatted earlier, but like what do people have to say about your decision? I, because everybody has their opinions about everything we do, absolutely I feel uncomfortable to them. So I'm curious you went through with your loved ones, with strangers, whoever who had opinions about it.

Speaker 3: 7:54

Yeah, well, I mean, like with my mom it was it's on brand. For me it's like something that I would do, right, if I'm like I have a big idea. I have a dream. Like one thing you need to know about me is like it's going to get done. So for my mom she was just sort of like well, ok, it's kind of far, but like it's not farther than we've been a part before. Right, I'm from California. I went to school in New York City, so it was like it's basically the same flight, it's the same distance.

Speaker 3: 8:21

But from other people I got a lot of things like are you sure, are you crazy? Like are you going through some kind of crisis? Like people don't just do this. Or my favorite way that people pass judgment in like American English, without actually passing that judgment, is by saying, oh, that's interesting. So I got a lot of that too.

Speaker 3: 8:47

Yeah, I think that people sometimes they just can't confront what it means when they see someone else achieving something that they would like to or that they don't think is possible for themselves, because when you then go do that thing, it creates a lot of like emotional cognitive dissonance, like I've told myself that that's not possible. Now I see a person doing that. A lot of people don't make the next step of saying, ah, here's evidence that it's possible. Right, the reaction. Very often in my case and I don't know if this is true for you as well, but in my case people went into a judgment space, Like there must be something wrong with Santana because Santana is doing this thing, versus there's maybe something that I should sit with or look at when this uncomfortable feeling arises in me.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Exactly. It's their own fears, it's their own projections that they're expressing to you, because you're the one physically doing it and they're not, and that scares them. Also, I think it's they're not recognizing the person or the version of you that they're familiar with. You're growing, we're evolving, and that's uncomfortable for them because they might feel like they're losing you or you're going to distance yourself from them, and that's really not the case. It's just you're evolving, you're doing what you want to do and they're welcome to come along with you. They can join you on your journey, they can cheer you on.

Speaker 1: 10:22

But not everybody can feel that the way that they're expressing is just a totally different vibe from what somebody I'm sorry I'm fumbling my words here because it's such a tricky situation for people. People aren't comfortable with unfamiliar. Basically, that's just what it comes down to. So, especially when it's somebody that loves you and cares about you or they've known you for a really long time, it's so hard for them to see you change and make those big changes in your life without them. So it's having that empathy for them but also staying true to yourself and following through with what you want to do and loving them anyway and being like I'm still doing this. I love you and you have to keep going.

Speaker 3: 11:16

I think you're touching on something so important. Like for me, it's moving abroad. That's kind of what we're talking about here, and for you and your work, you're talking with amazing ladies that are figuring out how to travel on their own for the first time or how to grow in confidence around that. But underneath both of those things there's personal development. My move to Portugal was a move toward wellness and balance. This was intentional, or I hoped that that would be the result and that hidden in that, under the surface of that iceberg, is personal development and personal growth.

Speaker 3: 11:51

And as people start to change, there's this very lonely period where you're sort of in between two mountains. You've just come down the mountain of. This is the way that people are used to me showing up. This is the way that people are used to interacting with me, and now I'm moving toward more alignment with the ways that I feel good and I want to show up and I want to grow and I want to change.

Speaker 3: 12:19

And there's this in-between space where that network around you of friends or loved ones that are used to relating to you in the old way they're struggling to relate to you in this new way, and sometimes that can be just like not feeling connected to this new version of you. Sometimes it can be a bit darker, for example, if they were benefiting from some of the ways that you showed up before, like, for example, if you're part of your story includes people pleasing or these kinds of things. So you'll get some feedback from those types of folks. But then also you haven't quite built that new network of connection with folks that love this new version of you or love this evolving version of you and want to support that and help you facilitate that growth.

Speaker 3: 13:17

So there can be this period where you're kind of walking in the middle, this valley between these two mountains, and that might mean that you're going through a period of time where you don't have as many people around you in connection and friendship and relationship to you as you would like or as you would need. And I think a lot of people stop there. A lot of people stop there and I see a lot of folks move abroad for the first time and confront that and you have people that either drive through it and get to the other side, or you have people that kind of top tail and get back to the comfort zone. No judgment on either path, but yeah, I think you're naming something really important about that discomfort that can come with a personal development path, and it's so true what you're saying.

Speaker 1: 14:08

Also, like making big decisions to get outside your comfort zone. It always comes with personal development, like things that we might not think are that big. It's always going to teach us a lesson. We're always going to grow from it, if you're willing to take those lessons on, of course. But it's so powerful to make these decisions to enhance your life, to grow, because you're going to learn more about yourself and what you're capable of. So I'm curious what have you learned from yourself with your big move to Portugal?

Speaker 3: 15:16

Oh, my goodness. Well, one of the most unexpected consequences although this is going to sound silly, based on what I just said moving here and being outside of the United States created a lot of space and a sense of spaciousness, and what I mean by that is I didn't realize how much emotional and physical labor existing in the United States had become. We had things going on in the US like George Floyd and these things. I'm a woman of color and so just walking through space or just being a woman walking through space sometimes in the United States and we have to put our keys and our knuckles when we leave the bar or things like that. I don't have to do that here. Oh, okay, right, like, those kinds of things aren't here.

Speaker 3: 16:13

It's a very safe place. Of course, every country has problems and crimes, but it's a very safe community. It's a safe place. I feel comfortable walking home at all hours. I don't put my keys and my knuckles like these kinds of things, and so I wasn't prepared for what would happen when I wasn't occupied with thinking about those things, and it created a lot of spaciousness and in that spaciousness where more of my basic needs for like safety and well-being were met, then other things started floating to the surface. You've been on a personal development journey for a while so have I, and so you know that you go through periods where you're like I'm learning a lot, and then you're like I got this on lock. And then you're like, oh shit, I still have shadows.

Speaker 1: 17:02

Exactly, it throws you some curveballs.

Speaker 3: 17:05

It throws you some curveballs, so that spaciousness that developed like just from not having to worry about like being grabbed in a crowd or you know gunshots or these kinds of things and you know not to get like overly political on your podcast queen, but it's like the US is a lot more dangerous than people realize. When you're just, you're in it, it becomes desensitized and it feels very normal, and so being here that's just like those things are gone, and so I learned a lot more of the nuances of who I am and the parts of myself that you know. You call them the shadows, the parts of yourself that you maybe hide from yourself. It created the opportunity for me to go even a layer deeper into getting to know myself and who I am and who I aspire to be and how I'm growing, and that is a phenomenal gift, and I think the folks in your network probably experience a little bit of that every single time. They go and they get outside and they and they travel and they have that time alone to sit with themselves.

Speaker 3: 18:17

I imagine. How is it?

Speaker 1: 18:19

Absolutely. And it's really interesting what you said about being surprised by how you can kind of let your guard down when you move there. And I learned that because, you know, as a solo traveler, I'm always trying to protect myself. So I constantly resting bitch face on and, you know, walking fast and like not talking to people, looking straight, just all these precautions, right? Yeah, sometimes you forget to like release them and be in the moment.

Speaker 1: 18:50

I remember I think I was in St Martin on like an excursion and the guy told, like I got on a boat, it was a great day. And he's like, why are you so angry? Like why do you look so angry? I'm like, oh my God, like I just had my default resting bitch base on because that's how I protect myself. And then the reminder to like OK, you're safe, now you can enjoy it. And like that feeling of like OK, like I'm all right, I don't have to always be in protection mode, I don't always have to feel scared. So for you to have basically your entire lifestyle release from that like that had to be such a good feeling and, like you said, freed up so much space for you and, yeah, it provides you with your wellness and all that. I think that's amazing.

Speaker 3: 19:36

It is amazing it was just like a really shocking realization to feel how much space is occupied in our minds as women about keeping ourselves safe.

Speaker 1: 19:51

Yeah, that's the biggest concern I know for a lot of my clients, for a lot of people in my community. Absolutely, that's always the main concern. Absolutely, with anything, it's great to be educated and to know and prepare, but there's a difference of letting it consume you and because some people get so consumed with fear that they don't do anything that they're scared to take the step, whatever it is they desire to do. And that is where this work comes, where you talk about you know how do you get over those fears Like what's the underlying fear here? And working through it and then grant yourself that freedom to actually feel at ease and enjoy yourself while also being aware.

Speaker 3: 20:38

Absolutely. I mean, again, it's looking at how do I make this possible, right, how do I make it possible to travel alone? How do I make it possible to move abroad alone? A lot of people would ask me questions like I'm sorry, I don't know how to turn off these Apple, if you're watching this podcast, please tell me. No, you know people would ask me some questions sometimes that I would just, you know, you kind of almost chuckle at. But you know, someone asked me if there was Uber in Portugal, someone asked me if there was running water, someone asked me if there was 911. And I love these questions. A lot of, you know a lot of people throw shade at these questions on the internet. Peanut butter I get that question a lot. Do they have peanut butter in Portugal?

Speaker 3: 21:26

But it's like when you're in your comfort zone, it's difficult to imagine being comfortable in another zone. It's difficult to imagine a life outside of your life. And so, you know, the first time that I left the United States on travel, I was terrified. I had this idea like every place in the world is going to be some like very dangerous place with, like you know, machine guns and Molotov cocktails. I don't know, I don't know, I watched too much TV. I don't know. This is what I thought. And finally, like getting outside and saying, okay, well, how can I feel safe here? What do I need? Oh, okay, do I need? Do I need, a little special lock on my hotel room door and that'll make me feel safe? Cool, buy the lock, queen, you know, do you need? You know?

Speaker 3: 22:16

For me moving abroad, I was like I need to make sure, like several people have my you know GPS location at all times. Here is my personal safety dossier, like that's. Here's the contact to the US Embassy. Here is my landlord's name. Here's contact my personal number on the ground, my US number, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This isn't a Google Drive, somewhere that people have access to in case anything you know were to go wrong, or I were to need consular support, or my mom wouldn't have to Google what that was or how to find that.

Speaker 3: 22:48

And so that was part of the way that I asked myself the question of how do I make this possible, and not how is do I make this impossible? Like I know, I have needs for safety, so let me just sit down and brainstorm through what those needs are and how I can meet them or not meet them. I tell people all the time I have a little bit of a project management background. I worked in digital strategy for a number of years and so I'll tell people your dreams are a Gantt chart away, that's it. It's like your dreams are like a project chart. You are, that's it.

Speaker 3: 23:28

And the safety thing is a project contingency. Right, it's something that has to happen before I can move on to other things, and that's true for many people around traveling or moving abroad. Like I need to know that if I do this, I'll be safe, and I need to know that before I go any farther. So how can I accomplish that so that I can move on to the next task, versus letting the fear stop me there, because that's not how dreams get achieved? Yeah, dreams get achieved by creative problem solving. And when a roadblock comes up and this happened many times on my path and I had an interesting conversation with my mom about this she's like, when a hiccup comes up, like how do you just keep moving forward? And I'm like, if a roadblock comes up, it doesn't make me think, okay, stop. It makes me think, okay, slow down, handle this roadblock, see what needs to be done here and then get back on the road.

Speaker 1: 24:34

Exactly, yeah, and I feel like a big part of that also is your reason for why you want to achieve that dream. So knowing your why and really letting it be powerful enough for you to continue forward and have that momentum, I think that's huge, because it's easy to hit a roadblock and be like I'm good, this is too hard, I don't want to do this. Yeah, I want to dig deep and you're like okay, I want to do this so I can make a difference in this world, or I want to do this so I can make a better life for myself, whatever, that's what's going to push you over those barricades and help you navigate and move forward. So knowing your why, I think, in addition to that, is really important.

Speaker 3: 25:16

I think so too, and I mean, we all have dreams, right? I'm a big fan of the book Stick With it by Sean Young. Have you read that?

Speaker 1: 25:28

I haven't. I'm going to write that down though.

Speaker 3: 25:30

Add it to the list, everyone. It is fantabulous, but I mean, the premise of the book is like, okay, there's so many voices, so many books, so many podcasts out there about how to change your life and they're like you change your life and here I have the secret and everything. And yet, despite this huge, huge, huge industry around behavior change or achieving dreams, hello, people buy these books and listen to these podcasts and then proceed to not change their lives. Right, so if it were that easy? Right, Like, clearly there's something off there. So he talks about different systems. He has a seven step process for really sticking with something and achieving a dream, and a lot of it goes into the psychological processes. Like, so, if you're trying to achieve a dream like traveling abroad for the first time or moving abroad, and you're feeling very discouraged, it doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a person who has a brain that evolved in a way that it needs certain things in order to keep motivated. And so, yes, the why and the dream is so important to rededicate yourself to when the times get hard. But if you wanna climb Mount Everest, you don't just roll out a bed on a Tuesday and summit Everest on a Wednesday. It's not how it works, and so he talks about breaking things down from goals, from dreams. At the top, in the middle is goals, and then there are steps and the steps go to the goals and the goals go to the dreams. It's like project management hacking your brain. But when you have and you must have, you experience this all the time you have a big a stream. You wanna go on a solo trip, Like I know. You have a big trip coming up with your group to Italy and like all of these other big things that I've watched you do over the years, Because we've been connected for a few years now and you have this dream, this vision and this why, and that's great.

Speaker 3: 27:47

But also in order to launch a newsletter, you don't start the newsletter with the content. You start the newsletter with huh, I wonder what platform I'm gonna use. What's out there? Okay, so I wanna pick a platform by the end of this month. Okay, great, I picked the platform. I wanna learn how to use that platform by the end of next month. Okay, great, I got that All right. Now I want to post about my newsletter and start getting people to give me their email addresses. Wonderful, I have 100 email addresses. Now I wanna start sending my newsletter. Boom, now you've achieved the dream of having a newsletter. But it took all of those little steps. So that's how my brain approaches a problem or a dream or a goal.

Speaker 1: 28:33

And I can only imagine how many little steps that you needed to take to get you from DC to Portugal, because that must have been some sort of spreadsheet. I don't know how did you do that? I'm just curious. Google Drive, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 28:51

Google Drive. There were some spreadsheets involved. Sean Young also talks about community, and so I found a community of people that were either living in Portugal or wanting to move abroad to Portugal, and so the entire community was just talking about, like, ah okay, I made my appointment for my immigration. Oh, okay, I need to get my fingerprints for the background check, like, where do you recommend? And so building that around myself of people that were talking day in and day out about achieving the same dream was incredibly supportive. But, girl, I love a spreadsheet, I love handwritten notes. Right, I always start with writing something out by hand. A Google, a good old Google folder, a Google Drive folder. I'm like all right, here's the checklist. I tracked how much it cost me. I tracked what all the steps were, what I needed to do, those things. I live for the dopamine of crossing something off a list.

Speaker 1: 29:51

I hear you on that one.

Speaker 3: 29:55

And I don't care how small the step is, I'll write it down. If the step is wake up, scratch, brush teeth, scratch, yup.

Speaker 1: 30:03

I'm in the exact and the same thing. I have my handwritten one that I list out everything, and then I have a digital one and then checking it off, done, done. It's such a good feeling. I love it, it's such a good feeling.

Speaker 3: 30:16

No, it's literally what your brain needs to do a thing, and it needs those rewards more often than if you focus on the dream alone. If you focus only on the dream and you're waiting for this big dopamine payout when you accomplish the dream, you will fail. You won't achieve the dream because your brain won't receive the intermittent rewards dopamine, et cetera that it needs to keep you motivated toward that goal. Incredible book. You should read it. Thank you, Appreciate it, but anyway, it also comes from my lived experience and the work that I do with my clients, where we're talking about questions like the dream instead of travel. The dream is what is the purpose for your life? This is a big question.

Speaker 1: 31:10

It's a big question yeah, not everybody thinks about that For you to address it and break it down and just uncover all the things that's so powerful. Can you share more about the work that you're currently doing?

Speaker 3: 31:26

Yeah, thank you for asking. I'm an alignment coach. I love that. What I do is I work with driven, usually professional folks that they set out to achieve some dreams, some work goals, some titles, some amount of money. They get there and they feel like, is this? It?

Speaker 3: 31:50

A lot of disconnection from the sense of their why, why they started the work that they're doing, indeed, from a sense of purpose. I work with them in one-on-one coaching to help them reconnect to that purpose and then build a roadmap of aligned action to keep them living in that purpose and living in connection with that purpose for their life. The inspiration for going into this work is that this was my own story. I got the dream, I got the bag, I got the buddy, I got all the things and sitting again alone in that DC apartment in the pandemic really put a mirror up of like is this? It Is this title so important that it's keeping me warm at night and it's keeping me laughing and it's keeping me connected to what I want to do on this earth. Now I get to help people form that reconnection and support them on that path every day.

Speaker 1: 32:49

Yeah, that's huge. I love that. You're truly living in alignment with yourself, so you have that experience to share with others and the knowledge. So it's so exciting to see you just develop this and you're so incredible. I got to meet you in person finally after all these years.

Speaker 3: 33:07

Well, I know I'm excited, it's so fun Three years I don't know it's been three years or so since we've been connected.

Speaker 1: 33:15

We've been on this journey together and it's just so exciting and I will just come visit you in Portugal, for sure.

Speaker 3: 33:21

Yes, I mean, italy's not that far, you're already coming to Europe.

Speaker 1: 33:28

So I have one last question for you. So you moved to Portugal on your own. How was it with interacting with other people and making connections? Because I know you said community was a big part of your experience with going and traveling there, and I truly believe community is everything. So I'm just curious, because this can be the same with solo traveling also when you're going to somewhere new, how do you find interacting with other people?

Speaker 3: 33:58

Yeah. So I'll be honest with you, this is one of the things that I have to bring the most attention and the most focus and effort to Just me personally. The pandemic taught me that I'm a lot more introverted than I thought I was Right, I thought I was heavy on to the extra. I'm really smack dab in the middle, and the pandemic also taught me to really enjoy my own company. So inside is warm and cozy and fun and I'm happy here. So for me to build the connection in the community that all human beings need to thrive, I have to be very intentional, because if I'm not, I will stay on this couch.

Speaker 1: 34:42

Anyone on your solo trip? Where'd you go on your solo trip?

Speaker 3: 34:46

I went to the Azores, which is an island chain that belongs to Portugal, and that was actually. I've traveled a lot, I've traveled pretty extensively, I've been to 48 countries, but never alone, and so, yeah, you definitely inspired that trip and there was a lot that went into just like being, you know, being there and being alone. But so what I would say is some of Santy's top tricks for you know, exploring, connection or meeting other people or things like that. This is not Spon Con. I love Bumble BFF. I've been a Bumble BFF user for like almost 10 years. I've used it in many countries and many cities and it's a lovely way to connect one on one with other women that are looking for friendship Can be women that are locals, women that are new there, and it's a great way to just connect with, yeah, other ladies that are on a similar path. So I love Bumble BFF. I'm an old school meetup friend like fan.

Speaker 3: 35:52

I will go to meetups, right, because you can connect with folks that have some kind of shared interest with you, whatever that thing may be, and even if that thing simply is new. In town, yes, expats, yeah, expats. And then in Portugal specifically, you know, there's such a thriving sort of digital nomad community, which I don't consider myself a digital nomad If I were, I'd be like an ice mad, like moving at a glacial pace. Right, I've been in Portugal for over three years now, but there's a lot of digital nomads here, so they have their own sort of like Slack group and these kinds of things. So you can find like ready made local communities that are for people that are, you know, exploring at a faster clip than you know, maybe living abroad. So those are the three ways that I will typically look for community and look for meeting people and starting to foster those connections. And then, yeah, the rest is up to you. Elbow grease, yeah, no, I think Elbow grease.

Speaker 1: 37:08

Exactly, and everyone's going to have their own flavor of wanting to meet people and doing things Like yeah. I think those are three great tips, though, so thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 37:21

If I could leave folks with one last tip that I had to learn the hard way, and I think it's so important if you're moving abroad or if you're solo traveling or you're a digital nomad.

Speaker 3: 37:35

When I first moved to Portugal, part I mean part of that, I'll be honest it was it was scary to be alone in another place and I looked for connection for connection's sake, which means I wasn't always as judicious about making sure that the people that I was connecting with were completely in alignment with who I am and the path that I'm on and how I'm growing. And it's not some cautionary tale I mean it doesn't have to be a horror story. It wasn't for me but you are the sum total of the people that surround you, and so you can be choosy and judicious and intentional about the kinds of connections that you're making and the kind of community that you're building. If it doesn't feel good, girl, get out, find another community. There are more people, there are more open hearts that are looking to connect with you, and so this is, this is part of the intentionality that I still bring to making connections, and I'm leaning into that much more as this year unfolds, even.

Speaker 1: 38:49

Love that. Thank you, and can you tell everybody where they can find you?

Speaker 3: 38:55

Give them a word of things On the interwebs, but of course, you can find me on Instagram at Flow Foundations FLO. That's also my website, flowfoundationscom FLO. I am a LinkedIn girly, I stay in LinkedIn, so you can find me there, and I post a lot of kind of thought pieces and content around building more alignment and purpose in your personal and professional life. Yeah, that's where you can find me All the lines.

Speaker 1: 39:30

Look her up. She's incredible and thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate it and it's so fun chatting with you. I love hearing your story and I think you're just so amazing for making that move and being in alignment with yourself.

Speaker 3: 39:45

Oh my gosh. Thank you for having me. I have loved watching your journey unfold over these years. I always love connecting with you. It was beautiful to be here.

Speaker 1: 39:53

Thank you. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Bye, thank you. I love that conversation so much and I hope that inspired you to be in alignment with your dreams and just get outside your comfort zone and take action on whatever it is that you desire to do in your life. If you want to learn more from Santana, you can follow her at flowfoundationscom is her website. You can go to flowfoundationscom slash freebies. You can go on LinkedIn and look up Santana S-A-N-T-A-N-A-I-N-N-I-S-S or on Instagram. Flow foundations as F-L-O foundations. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you have experience in solo travel where it changed your life for the better and you have a story to share, I would love to have you on the podcast as well. So please reach out to me at contact at onegirltravelcom and I will talk to you next time. Bye.

Speaker 2: 40:57

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the One Girl Travel Podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can find out more about your host on our website, onegirltravelcom, or follow her on Instagram, facebook, pinterest and TikTok. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.