Episode 16: Interview With Sonia Cruz Oro: A Transformational Travel Coach

The Travel Coach Network podcast is your weekly dose of travel coach info, inspo and news from around the globe. Tune in to each episode to hear inspiring stories of successful travel coaches who are building their lives and business around travel, all while exploring the world. You'll also learn all about travel coaching, setting intentions for your trip, adding meaning to travel, and how you can grow your own travel coaching business. Because remember, there is more to a travel career than just blogging and booking. Now join us as we reshape how and why people travel. 

Sahara Rose: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Travel Coach Network podcast. It is I, Sahara Rose De Vore, the founder of the Travel Coach Network and the creator and instructor of the Travel Coach Certification Program. I am so excited today because I have my very first guest with me on the podcast, Sonia Cruz Oro. She is one of our founding members of the Travel Coach Network and an amazing travel coach. 

Sonia Cruz Oro is a Transformational Travel coach and founder of Travel Awakens. Having experienced her own transformation through travel, Sonia connects people with a deeper understanding of travel, helping them to figure out where to go to next with their lives, their careers and their relationships so they can create a life that's more aligned and authentic. With her background in psychology and executive leadership, Sonia is also the author of how to Create the Life You Desire. She is originally from Spain, but she lives in Ireland with her husband. 

Sonia, I want to welcome you to the Travel Coach Network podcast. I am so excited because you have been such a key component of our network, our community, and our program for quite a few years now. So tell us about yourself and where your passion for travel even stems from. 

Sonia: Hi, Sahara. It's a pleasure to be here, and I'm so honored to be the first guest on the Travel Coach Network podcast. So thank you for inviting me and of course, I will be happy to share my story, my background, and as you said, I was certified by the Travel Coach Network a couple of years ago. I believe in the middle of the pandemic. Well, that's another story. Before COVID and after COVID. 

My passion for travel, I would say comes from my father, because my mom would tend to go to places that she knew. We used to go on holiday to the same places. But my father, I saw that he was always curious to go to new places. 

I think an awakening happens when we explore outside of the familiar. That happened to me on my first international trip when I traveled to London in my late twenties. The place when I was there, I felt very different. So it's not something I had experienced before. I felt like all my life I was observing, like being a passive observer of my life and at that moment I was like the main character of a movie. I felt like I was in a movie and I felt like one day I will be living here. Now I'm not living in London, I'm living in Ireland but it is curious. You know how places when you are there, and what you experience is very unique. So I think that trip was special for me. It was a before and after. 

Sahara Rose: I love that! As you were sharing that, I thought about when you said about how it's like being in a movie. I remember when I took my first solo trip and I was in my early twenties,  I was 22 after university and I bought a one-way ticket to Ireland which is where you live now. I remember getting off that plane and having that feeling. I've heard it in stories or I've seen it on TV when other people traveled. But I love that that's something that you kind of turn into reality. And I love that you got that from your dad. Not everyone grows up in a family or has relatives - I know I didn't - that traveled. It took me a long time in life to get a spark for travel because I wasn't exposed to it. What was it about London that drew you to it? 

Sonia: Yeah, I cannot explain. It was something like in the environment, I was walking and I felt like I was more present. I was observing also because the culture is different, even the buildings, the streets, and the cars. So it was so new, it was so different. I felt like time stopped and it came out of nowhere. I don't know where from, but I was confident that one day we would live there. I was so in love with the place. I suppose it's also to experience a new culture. I don't know what would have happened if instead of London it was, I don't know, India or another different place. Maybe then I would be living there. I don't know. 

Sahara Rose: What part of Spain are you from? 

Sonia: I'm from west of Barcelona. 

Sahara Rose: Okay. I was trying to think that maybe it was because London is such a big city but I completely understand. London is a very unique city. It's so rich in history and the buildings are so grand and it's a very “hustle and bustle” city too. So it depends too, like where you were brought up. But I love that. And as you're explaining that, I heard you talk about how you have this feeling of being awoken and I know that's the title of your business. Can you describe to our listeners, what you mean by “awakened”? 

Sonia: Yeah, well, that's a good question. Okay, so my understanding of how travel awakes you is when we live in our familiar environment, when we live in our routine, we create by repetition because if we think about our days, they are very similar. So we wake up, we go to have a shower and breakfast and we use the same cup and we have the same coffee, we sit in the same chair, so it's all very similar. Then we go to work and see the same people and then we go to sleep and the day after it's the same. 

So by repetition, how our brain works is it creates automatic programs. It’s like when you walk in a field of grass and you walk once, nothing happens. But if you walk several times, then it creates a pathway. So this is what we are creating in our brains by repetition, by routine. What happens when we are on autopilot, when we are in this automatic program is that our subconscious knows better than us. So maybe you experienced that you were driving to a place that you've been driving to many times and you don't even know how you got to your destination because you were thinking about another thing. So you don't need to be conscious, you don't need to be present. Your mind is not here because your body knows. So this is what happens when we are in a routine. 

When we step away and we are in a different environment (this is what travel means), suddenly this is new. This is new information that we never experienced before. Everything slows down, you are present. Suddenly you start spotting the small things. It can be like a flower or a tree or the sky or nature or even your partner or the person you travel with, you look at them differently because you are more present. And this is what for me travel awakens means because your brain is not sleeping anymore. Suddenly what's happening here is this feeling that you are more alive. You are living life when you are away from your routine, from your comfort zone. 

Sahara Rose: Love that. And I'm just sitting here mesmerized because you explain that so well. There are so many questions I want to ask you about that. Do you want to find that your background in psychology helps you formulate that idea?

Sonia: Yeah, definitely. I have always been interested in personal development, in mindset. So I'm a psychologist, a neurolinguistic NLP practitioner. Coaching has always been a passion of mine and I have a growth mindset, always learning and improving. And my other big passion was travel. So when I discovered that, I'm sure you will also ask me about this, but when I discovered travel coaching, I was like, oh my God, this actually exists?! This is a profession?! Because it was like the two components that are my two passions put together and everything made sense. After experiencing my own transformation as well through travel, I started doing research and connected the pieces and everything I learned and the more I go deeper, the more fascinating it is for me. Of course, when I get also the results of my clients and I see, wow, it feels like magic, combining these two pieces. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah, we're definitely going to jump into that question about travel coaching and also the results with your clients. As you were explaining the idea of breaking up a daily routine, as a wellness travel coach myself, I've done so much research as well and I've learned about those types of benefits from travel. That's what I talk about in the corporate world with corporate wellness and business travel too, you know, just how powerful travel can be to break that daily routine which ultimately can help boost your creativity and learn new skills and get you in a different mindset and how beneficial that can be to your work life as well. That's so interesting the way that you explain it in that way because it just reinforces all the things that I've read about and then I share this type of data with my clients too. 

So why did you become a travel coach? I know that you're saying that you have a background in psychology. You love the mindset, you have a passion for travel. But where did the concept of travel coaching for you stem from? 

Sonia: Well, my background is in the corporate world. I used to work in I.T. as a team manager. Through this role, I was also using my skills in leadership and management. But I arrived at a transition point in my life career-wise because I was not sure what I was doing all my life because I was doing this in Spain, I moved to Ireland with a promotion and after a couple of promotions there, I felt I was in the same place again. What's next? What's next? I was moving up the ladder, but I saw my boss and how he was always the first to arrive and the last to leave, having all this stress and everything, and he was leaving the company. I saw an opportunity for myself but when I imagined myself there, I didn't feel right. It was like a moment that was difficult for me because it was like all my career, all my life doing the same. And at that moment I felt but it was very deep. All my body was like, no, you don't want that, why do you want that? 

But it also was scary because if I was not going in this direction, then what? Because I didn't know anything else. So I didn't know what to do. So what I knew was not the right path. 

I also was going through transitions in relationships, health and other stuff that was going on in my life at that time. This is when I went back to my passion for travel, I always wanted to travel. Since that first international trip in my late twenties, I made the decision that I wanted to do more of this. But actually, I was not following through with this commitment to myself. Yeah, I was doing one trip maybe a year, but life is too short and I was prioritizing work. And at that moment work was not my first priority anymore because I didn't know what to do, so that’s when I reconnected with this passion and I decided to prioritize travel. 

So in that year I put travel first, put myself first, and my happiness first. I started traveling to different countries and I was doing 15 trips in 12 months. I did 15 trips to 11 countries,  so it was nearly one international trip per month. So I thought this was already amazing. I was like, oh my God, I can do that, this was mind-changing because I was still working full time. But what happened afterwards was what actually told me there is something more here because between my trips I met my husband and also I quit my job. I decided I don't want to do that. I decided I want to be my own boss. 

I knew I wanted to do something with coaching, something with travel. I didn't know what, but I knew what happened to me in that year that I invested in travel was not a coincidence. So I started doing research and it's when I discovered, you know, the Travel Coach Network and I discovered transformational travel, travel coaching and I was like, how didn’t I know that? I think this is part of our work now is to get this visibility and let people know these exist and how travel and coaching together can change lives because I think intuitively people know that. So they feel drawn to travel, but they don't know exactly the science behind it. So it's very important. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah, that's amazing. The fact that you could realize within yourself, what you need in your life to make you happy and to move forward with that because not a lot of people do that. They are afraid to quit the corporate world or they're afraid not to do what others have already paved past and said is doable before. But for you to kind of sculpt and design your lifestyle and combine your passions like travel and coaching and helping people is really admirable and obviously, I can relate to that, but that's something I really hope gets through on this podcast for others. Whether you're a travel coach or if you even use the word coaching and what you do in your travel business, like be you, create what you want to do in your career because really anything is possible. Especially moving forward in these next years of innovation in the travel and hospitality industries. 

Sonia: I have to say that I was working with coaches as well. So I'm not sure if I would be able to do all these on my own, to make these decisions and all that. I’m always invested in personal development and also in working with coaches in different areas of my life. But coaches from one side or travel from the other side, this is what together made the transformation. So to travel alone, I'm not sure without the awareness, I would have the same results. 

Sahara Rose: Oh, completely. I mean me starting the Travel Coach Network and in my wellness travel coaching business, I had to work with countless coaches and mentors and advisors and even just leaders, whether I paid for them or they were just kind enough to give me their time of day, just mentorship to learn from can really inspire and help you pave your path and find your way. Thanks for mentioning that. Tell the listeners what kind of travel coach you are, and what you do in your business. 

Sonia: Yes, this was also a big decision to define the niche. But since I discovered transformational travel and I felt like this is what happened to me and I love the idea of transformation. I define myself as a transformational travel coach. I knew about transformational coaches and then transformational travel. So I think the combination of both is my passion. 

So I help people that are looking for a change, a positive change in their lives, a transformation in life, in their relationship or career, to use travel as a catalyst to become this person, to leave behind the old self or the old things that they don't want in their lives and reconnect with these positive changes that are already inside of them. 

I call it the “authentic self” because it's the person who's always been there. But the layers of the roles and what we learn and society and all these beliefs that we create are like layers that we don't know who we are anymore. So it's reconnecting with who we are. It's like a means of self-discovery as well. And when we know who we are, then of course our relationships improve and everything around we can connect with something bigger than ourselves and make an impact, a positive impact in the world as well. 

Sahara Rose: Yes. That really is truly how powerful travel can be. Right? I would say not everyone's an avid traveler, not everyone's a travel expert, and not everyone can really grasp the greater impact that travel can do and make on your life. I know people will admire those who do travel a lot, or they do admire the nomads or the backpackers and they can read stories and hear about it but until you can experience something like that or see the change that travel can make on your mindset, your body, your lifestyle, your life, your personality, everything, so it's really taking people through that true transformation, right, from point A to point Z and becoming who you want to be or feel how you want to feel about your life and about yourself. 

I know travel has really done that for me as well. When I graduated from university at 22, right when I first started traveling, I personally didn't have a background in travel. I didn't have family who traveled. I saved enough money to travel and I'd always heard about this thing of backpacking Western Europe coming from being someone in the States. And I was like, well, that sounds really cool. Not really sure. I was very naive back in the day. 

I remember my first stop, I stayed with a family in Ireland, so I was able to have at least someone to show me around but then my first place by myself in a hostel was in Paris and I was naive to think that I could just walk into any hostels and there'd be hostels on every corner that would fit my budget and to stay in. It was like midnight by the time I got there. I was in awe of the city and it was raining. It was now like 1 am and I had no place to sleep, so I ended up meeting this girl on the street and she let me sleep in her parents' attic for the night. 

But it really was a catalyst, like finding myself and traveling really just transforming me from someone who struggles a lot with anxiety and depression and was unclear of what I was passionate about in my twenties to becoming an entrepreneur and the person that I am today. So I love that idea of transformative travel, which is huge and transformation coaches I've heard of as well. Share with our listeners, how is it that you use coaching methods in working with your travelers? 

Sonia: Yeah, and it's important because as you said, travel is transformational by itself. But if we’re not prepared that's where coaching is important. This is where I need my clients, before the trip, but also after the trip to bring the benefits back because otherwise, it would be like a temporary fix. So if you are for example, burnt out and you travel and you go to a spa or something that will make you feel nourished and recover but if you change nothing, eventually you will go back to your current life and start doing the same patterns, the old patterns that put you in this situation. So if you change nothing you will be burned out again and you will need to travel again and it's going to be like a vicious cycle. 

So what we want to do with the coaching as well is not only prepare trips that are more intentional and aligned so they can make the most of this experience but also help them learn how they can use everything that they will discover on the trips about themselves, about the world, about others and apply this to their lives. It is not just a temporary thing that happened during the trip and then we forget about it. We bring it back with us and we implement it in our lives, we set some actions and then we grow from that. 

Every trip what you learn there would be also the next intention for the next trip and then you grow and you are not moving in circles, you are growing trip after trip. You are growing your awareness, you are growing as a person and with all these experiences you will be much more present. You will notice when there are synchronicities when you are being emotionally triggered by something so you can take notes or journal about it and learn more about who you are. 

As a coach, you will not get the same answers if you ask them in the living room, on the comfort of their sofa, versus if you ask them when they are traveling, when they are far away from their house. All this information is priceless but we have to do something with it. So this is where I implement the coaching, to create, you know, a trip that is more aligned and intentional or purposeful before the trip, and also what they will do during the trip. 

I also created a travel journal that I can share with everybody who's listening with the seven steps to make sure the trip is transformational because I think it's important also the way we travel when we are there and then after the trip, we can integrate all this in our life so we don't go back to the status quo. This is what I think happens to many people, they go and then they go back to where they were and it's a pity because it's a waste of the potential that travel has. 

Sahara Rose: How would you define or separate travel coach from a travel agent? And do you include any planning and booking of trips in your services? 

Sonia: In my case, that's a question that I get a lot because when people don't know what a travel coach is, they say “yeah, a travel agent!” For me, the big difference is a travel agent is a person that you will go to when your end goal is to travel. When you go to a travel coach, you want something out of it. In my case, I talk about transformational travel coaching, I'm sure everybody, every travel coach will have their own definition. But for me, the person who will come to me is someone who wants to change, they want a transformation and travel is the way to achieve it. 

It's not all about the trip, it's about what you will get out of this trip and how you can set this trip up in a way that is a catalyst for the transformation that you are looking for in your life. So that's for me the main difference. In my case, I'm not a travel agent, I cannot book trips. I can help the person, of course, if they want to book the itinerary themselves, but it's not my focus and it's not what I enjoy either the most, the part of narrowing down the itinerary so usually people come to me more for the coaching part and transformation and of course destinations, what are the best destinations for them, activities they can do in the destination that align with the goals and the results they want to achieve. Of course, we can do the budget planning and how they’re going to afford it and the action planning afterwards so all this is more focused on the transformation in my case.

Sahara Rose: Yeah, I completely relate to that because I know within the Travel Coach Network, there are tons of travel agents that come in because they want to incorporate coaching into their services. But I know for myself and for you, I've never been interested in the booking process. I've never wanted to be a travel agent. I've never been a travel agent. Of course, I've experienced doing it, I’ve traveled to 84 countries, and I've planned and booked trips for others. But it's more of the booking process that is kind of nix out of the travel coach definition which makes total sense because in order to be a travel agent anyways, you have to go through a certain type of license and training and access to certain booking systems and usually have to work under a host. 

But travel coaching oftentimes has the planning of travel very much involved. So those who, like myself, like I enjoyed the planning, I like telling people and recommending where they should go based on their desires and their needs and their interests and their budget, and things they should do based on their wellness goals. That sounds like what you said here as well. Can you give us an example of an outcome or transformation that a client of yours has achieved as a result of working with you? 

Sonia: Yes, well it's quite diverse because there are people quite in transition so I can tell you from deciding where to live, they are in a country and they don't know where to go next. They might be changing a career that they are in, a career that they don't know if it's going to be the career of their life so they want to take the headspace and the time to focus on what they are really passionate about. 

They might be attracting love. I have a client who's never had a boyfriend and now is nearly engaged to a guy that is treating her like a princess. I also have clients who are getting out of toxic relationships so it can be anything that is like a change in career, relationships or life that you can do through travel. 

It can be like different ranges of people that are in transition or maybe they are not in the place they expect to be in their life so it's also people who are turning maybe 30 or 40 or 50 that they say oh, “by this age I should be there and I'm not, why?” and then they want to because the answers are inside. We have the answers but there is so much noise around us that we don't hear so we need to take this time to listen to our truth and travel helps brilliantly with that. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah, like the epitome of coaching, right? Pulling the answers from within. That really separates coaching from something like advising or consulting. How do you find your clients? That's a question I get a lot from travel coaches and travel professionals, “how do you find clients?” or “I'm chasing clients all the time” I hear. How do you find your clients? 

Sonia: Well in my case I think there are two main areas I invest in which are marketing and then the other one is networking. I do the marketing on social media and I have a website and I promote it on the platforms and then the other side for me is the one that works the best,  especially in the beginning when you start your business, the networking and referrals. It can be like people you meet in a networking group or maybe family or friends who refer you to somebody and go, “Oh my God, you need to talk to my cousin or whoever”. 

Referrals can also be happy clients who are telling other people about you because they have results and they recommend you. So I would say that it's marketing and it's networking. For me what works the best is referrals so it depends, every person has a strength and I think that’s what you need to turn the volume up on. So if you're good in relationships then talking to people would be where I would focus and if you are better at marketing, promoting videos or writing or having a blog then it's more the marketing that might work for you. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah, definitely. There are so many different avenues for marketing and as you said, it's really up to the individual, the travel coach themselves to figure out what they're interested in and also trying different ones and seeing what works for your ideal audience, right? Where do you see the future of travel coaching going? 

Sonia: Wow, very far. Especially after COVID, I think people are more aware of traveling more meaningfully so they are going to do it in a way that's more intentional. I mean maybe it's just my opinion but the touristic kind of “tick, tick, bucket list, picture, picture, picture” I think is history. 

I think people now have realized that there is much more power and are maybe visiting fewer things but going deeper and spending more time in places living like a local (within the timeframe and budget they have, of course). They are also having moments of slowing down and connecting with nature. I think travel coaches are key to creating these kinds of experiences because again, it's quite new. I think we are the beginning of what people will discover, how powerful travel is to help us to achieve our goals. Typically when people think about taking a vacation, they say things like “I cannot afford it” or “I'm too busy”, if only they knew that this could be a solution and give them the answers and the energy that they are asking for. 

It's just so easy to take time out and have fun and be intentional during this time but I think people think that traveling intentionally can be a waste of time. On the contrary, doing it with purpose is life-changing. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah, definitely. Well, I’m just sitting here smiling because, obviously running the Travel Coach Network, I have such a big vision for what I'm creating for all of you, especially in the next couple of months. There is so much more to come to open more doors and opportunities for all of you in the Travel Coach Network to get your services out there, get your names out there, and get what you do out there because every single travel coach focuses on something so different and so special. 

It really blows my mind as I learn from all of you what it is that you do and who exactly you help. I know that you've been so busy, you have so many exciting things going on. Share a couple of those things as we wrap up here. What have you been working on? I know you a cool announcement you did on Facebook. Share some of that with our audience. 

Sonia: I'm hosting a workshop coming in a couple of weeks which is about transformational travel. If somebody is interested, they can join, it's totally free. I'm also working on a three-week program that I am creating for people who struggle with the common travel barrier of budget, so that workshop is money mindset focused.

Of course, I have my signature program, Journeys of Self Discovery, which I designed to help people intentionally create travel experiences. 

I have a client from the US who is traveling on Sunday to Europe. I've been working with her over the last few months and I'm so excited about her trip as well because we are going to meet in Ireland since she's coming to Ireland for a pilgrimage, then she's going to France. I’m excited about that as well and following her in her journey because she's taking a big trip. Other clients usually travel over long weekends or for one week or ten days but she's taking a year off. So I'm very excited about her following her story as well. 

Sahara Rose: Oh, I love that. That's exciting. I can't wait to hear how that all goes. You're going to have to report back on some of the transformations and the revelations that she's made by the end of her journey. Again, I love having you in the Travel Coach program and you being one of our founding members. Can you share with our audience what was one of your biggest takeaways from being in the Travel Coach Certification Program? 

Sonia: Yes, I think when I joined I was looking for more understanding because it was a totally new profession for me, so I resonated with your messaging and what you shared and was following you on social media, of course, and was subscribed to your newsletter. I wanted to make sure that it was what I wanted because I was looking to start my own business and all the signs seemed to tell me that this was the right path. 

So I joined the Certification Program and I was studying and learning more and the more I was learning, it's like all the pieces aligned and went together. After the certification, I just was reaffirming what I wanted to do with my life so it gave me clarity and it gave me confidence that I was not alone and that my transformation was not random, that there was actually something behind that and knowing that there was a program and somebody who was certified by the International Coaching Federation made it real. The fact that there are people who are making a living from it gave me reassurance and confidence. 

Additionally, having the community, of course, is very powerful as well, to be connected with like-minded people and have conversations with them one to one and potential collaborations that will happen. I think also this is priceless. 

Sahara Rose: Yeah. The number of times I hear within the network about people who connect with one another and collaborate and just become really good friends is amazing. I've made such good friends through the network too, and it's something that only we in this community or like if you have friends online that you really understand because I know my friends and family are like, “who are these people? How do you know them?” I’m like, “they're my friends. I know them.”

But I love watching your journey and your transformation as a travel coach as well over the past few years. So I really am so proud of you. I admire what you do. I admire your determination, your motivation, and really just creating what it is that you know lies within your heart. I relate with you so much on that too. So before we go, is there anything else that you would like to share with the listeners? Tell us how we can also find you and follow you. 

Sonia: I appreciate that Sahara. And I also want to thank you for being a role model and leading the way because it's true when you have somebody who's already done it before and that it's like a few steps before you, it gives you the courage to follow. So I want to acknowledge you as well and all the work you're doing with the Travel Coach Network. 

And of course, if somebody wants to connect, I'm on social media, Sonia Cruz Oro, mainly on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, so we can connect there. You can also check out my website www.travelawakens.com and if you're interested in downloading the travel journal you can go to www.travelawakens.com/journal/. If you check out the website, you will also find other freebies that can help you get extraordinary results from travel. 

Sahara Rose: Sonia, I want to say thank you so much for joining us today. It was so lovely to have you. 

Sonia: Thank you, Sahara. It's been a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me. 

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