Experiences that last a lifetime
For the past few days I have been reading “Powershift” a new book published by FUBU Owner/Shark Tank Host Daymond John. The past two books he published “Power of Broke” and “Rise & Gri nd” offered significant guidance which helped lead me to where I wanted to be. Both books essentially influenced me to hop back on my high horse and to put myself into the driver seat of my life.
After I left Paragon Expeditions, my life was consumed in a corporate downtown office working at Facebook. Indeed, this was a great opportunity for me to work at one of the biggest companies in the world, but something was missing. I did not feel fulfilled in my journey of life and was continuously anxious as to why.
Looking Back to My Early Days
I’ll never forget what was going through my mind the day that I officially quit football at Texas Lutheran University my freshman year of college at the age of 18. After walking out of my coaches office, thoughts of adventure flooded my mind. I remembered my true passion of exploring the outdoors and realized without football, I needed something to do in order to keep me sane. Therefore, I purchased a mountain bike with some student loan money and returned to the trails.
Uncovering an Issue, Where Do I Find Authentic Outdoor Experiences?
As I kept seeking new places to explore in the Texas Hill Country, I began realizing something incredibly frustrating… There were no websites that offered authentic hill country adventure experiences unless you wanted to take a bus to wine country. The only information available were through outdated blogs or through the Texas Parks & Wildlife data bases. Essentialy there were hardly any trail maps, no guides offering day tours besides fly-fishing, and very little information as to where I could find the best mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, or any adventure outdoor experience in the Texas hill country region — beginning in Austin, San Marcos, or San Antonio — three cities I like to call “gateways to the hill country.”
For me, exploring the outdoors was something I did naturally growing up. My parents moved to Lake Travis when it was a tiny lakeside community in the hills and were able to score property near the lake at a great price. This enabled my sisters and I to meet other kids who loved the outdoors. Our parent’s couldn’t stand when we were inside watching television, they would constantly encourage us to go outside and run around by the lake.
Looking back, I now realize how incredibly lucky we were to be raised near the lake and it absolutely shaped me into the outdoor-loving person that I am now. Whenever I became upset, angry, or confused, I always had the trail and lake as my accessible escapes. Anything that was on my mind would instantly be overcome with inspiration of adventure and creativity when I would hike to certain places that I enjoyed. Even though these places were all I knew back then, they meant so much to me. As the band O.A.R (Of a Revolution) says “we all have a black rock, that’s in our mind, and we go there all the time.”
Why Am I Telling You This?
As I was reading “Powershift” tonight, I stumbled across a quote by the author Daymond John that literally made me stop what I was doing to come write this blog.
It read “And it’s not just about setting off on that dream vacation—it’s about what you hope to discover about yourself, or the person you’re traveling with that will help to recharge your batteries and power your days going forward.”
After reading this quote multiple times, I interpreted my own meaning of it which answers a question that I’ve been trying to decipher perfectly for years now.
The question that I’ve received for years, and which I’ve struggled to provide a consistent answer towards is this: Why? Why do I sell travel experiences to Latin America?
Well thanks to Powershift providing me with a sudden epiphany after an hour of self-interpretation, I now know. The answer is congruent to the text I mentioned previously in this blog and written within Daymond’s quote…
I sell adventure travel because exploring the outdoors and creating authentic experiences with memorable people can change your life.
Questions like the one below were struck to me often…
“Why don’t you get a job where you can make a lot of money, so you can travel whenever you want, or whenever you want?
Recharge Your Positive Mindset
For the longest time I struggled with the concept of the previous question mentioned, and it continuously eats away at me. Although tonight, I see the answer clearly for once. Those times where I’d escape to my nature nooks in Lake Travis deeply engraved something into me that I didn’t even realize is what drove me to become involved in the luxury adventure tourism industry. That something was my recharge zone. Every time I found my thoughts zip-lining into a deep hole of overthinking, where one negative thought spirals into a pessimistic attitude of failure, I could stop myself and say “Turney, go bike that trail or swim that lake.”
To this day, that coping mechanism instantly works for me. There is never a time where escaping to explore nature doesn’t enlighten my mood and bring back my optimistic, forward-thinking attitude.
No Hill Country Tours – Screw it, I’ll do it Myself
Once I realized there were no Texas hill country tours to purchase with a guide, I said screw it, I’ll do it myself! Therefore, I began exploring the Texas hill country every weekend far and wide by myself. If no one was going to take advantage of this beautiful region, then hell I would go see it for myself and map it out. Naturally this evolved into friends wanting to join me, and before I knew it, great people were joining me weekly! Not only was this one of the happiest times of my life because my soul was being fueled with what I’m truly passionate about, but I was getting to see how much my friends enjoyed these authentic adventure experiences as well. We visited beautiful locations that you would never find on the internet, it made me realize that I had acquired true insider knowledge of creating these amazing, real-life memorable moments.
Becoming a Scuba Divemaster
Never in my mind did I think that my guiding services would actually become what I did for a living, so scuba diving became my next step in making that dream become a reality. I figured obtaining a beginner certification would open doors to more adventure options that I could offer, and boy I couldn’t have been more correct. After falling in love with this wonderfully peaceful sport, it became another outlet to maintain my mental happiness. So, I started feeling the desire to share this experience with others to help improve their mental happiness as well.
Long story short, I became a NAUI Scuba Divemaster over the course of 2.5 years in San Marcos, Texas. In one of my final classes, I was able to dive with a group of ex-soldiers who participated in Scuba Diving to help alleviate their PTSD, and it was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life to see how an activity which keeps me mentally sane, helps other people in the same way.
Suddenly, my blurred vision of being an adventure guide become more clear. I wanted to help improve the lives of others by allowing them to participate in some of the best adventure experiences this planet has to offer.
Conclusion – Tying it All Together
I believe that we are all wanderer’s looking for our long lost souls and basically wondering where to go. We always seem to want to go somewhere but don’t always know where, or sometimes have to embrace the fact that we are temporarily stuck in a situation (like a pandemic). What I do know is that we all humans are products of our environment and how we were raised, but at the core we all have similar fears and insecurities.
Getting invited into the adventure travel industry as an intern occurred right after completing my Scuba Divemaster certification. I had built up enough credibility through my close network to be known as a local hill country adventure expert. Therefore, I was offered the opportunity to sell amazing programs to see Machu Picchu in Peru or Patagonia in Argentina/Chile. For the first time, I was brought to a foreign country and led by Peruvian adventure experts for the experience of a lifetime. I’m currently editing a book that I wrote about exploring Peru (to be released in the very near future).
Ultimately, something magical happened here. I realized that chasing my passion of discovering the best regions of Texas to explore and offering my friends to come see them next, led me to a complete reciprocation of actions. In my book I go into detail, but here in Texas I showed Holly and Dante some great spots to explore, in return they brought me to Peru and showed their appreciation by taking me to a remote (very little explored) region of this country as a friend, not just a visitor.
So, why did I never give up to work a job that pays more and might enable me to “purchase” more vacations? The answer is simple. I’m one of the few 26 year olds that has discovered my passion and understands what recharges me. I simply want to use my ability to design these life-changing experiences for other people who can grow from them.
All in all for me, selling or going on these amazing adventure experiences has never been about “setting off on that dream vacation” or posting cool photos on instagram for likes and attention. It has always been about discovering the most unique locations and experiences in the world, and offering my services to people who are looking to grow as an individual.
I promise that the people you meet, the food you try, the new landscapes you discover, and the memories you make will last with you forever. Then, you can use those lessons and continue to apply them in your every day life. Turney’s Journeys are never about escaping from yourself, they are about disconnecting from society to reconnect yourself with nature and the simple things in life we seem to so easily forget.
Life is an inconceivable word, and it will inevitably end one day. The end can either rip you out of your storybook or unfold like a 1,000 times retold fairy tale. My promise is that Turney’s Journeys will help paint some color into the black and white of your story, so that those colors can become the vibrant hues of your soul.
Peace & Love to all –
