There’s a moment I look for when I travel. It isn’t the postcard view or the headline attraction. It’s the pause, when something familiar suddenly feels new again.

After travelling extensively over many years, I’ve learned that the first-time feeling doesn’t disappear. It simply shifts. It becomes quieter, more nuanced, and far more meaningful.

For many of my clients, semi-retired, well-travelled, curious, this is exactly where they find themselves. They’ve seen the world, but they don’t want to rush through it anymore. They want travel that feels considered, not crowded. This is where soft adventure travel comes in. Soft adventure is not about pushing limits. It’s about opening doors.

It might look like:

• Exploring a destination beyond its obvious highlights
• Spending time rather than racing through
• Experiencing culture through people, not performances
• Knowing that comfort and care are built into every step

Staying in Yudanaka, a hot spring town nestled deep in the mountains of northern Japan, offered a perfect example of how pace and place can transform an experience.

Most visitors pass through this region on a tight schedule, arriving by the busload from Nagano, focused solely on seeing the snow monkeys before moving on again. We chose a different rhythm.

By staying in a traditional ryokan at the foot of the mountains we became part of the place rather than just observers of it. The morning was unhurried, as we made our way along the trail.

We reached the snow monkeys before the crowds arrived, just a handful of people sharing the path, and when we arrived, there was space to simply sit and watch. No jostling for position. No rush. Just time.

For nearly an hour, I sat quietly, front row to something extraordinary, watching these remarkable animals go about their lives in the warm springs, completely unbothered by our presence. It was calm, intimate, and deeply grounding.

When the buses eventually arrived and the noise followed, I felt nothing but gratitude, not relief at leaving, but appreciation for having experienced it the way we had. Uninterrupted. Peaceful. Unforgettable.

It was a reminder that how you travel matters just as much as where you go.

Click Here if you would like to read more and be inspired by my recent trip to Japan!

Every journey I design is powered by personal insight, knowing when to linger, when to move on, and how to create space for moments to unfold naturally. Because the most unforgettable experiences are rarely planned to the minute, the moments that stay with us are the ones allowed to unfold, not forced into a timetable..

If you’ve ever returned from a trip feeling like you saw everything but didn’t truly feel it, this is your invitation to travel differently. To slow down. To lean into curiosity.
And to answer the call of adventure, gently, confidently, and on your own terms.

If you’re ready to rediscover that first-time feeling, I’d love to help design what comes next. All that’s required is a “Sense of Adventure.”