September 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Goals are often talked about in the same sentence as coaching. April Peregrino set herself a goal to travel to all 193 countries in the world. And she did it!
Join Claire as she sits down with April to hear about her incredible journey, from her early days working in a deli to becoming a global explorer. Discover how they met on the Camino de Santiago which was a place that played a pivotal role in April’s personal healing and growth, and learn about the challenges and triumphs she faced along the way.
April's story is a testament to the power of setting ambitious goals and the importance of resilience and community. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or someone dreaming of your next adventure, this episode is sure to inspire and motivate you to chase your dreams.
Follow April’s journey on Instagram at @everyotherweek and stay tuned for more inspiring stories by subscribing to The Coaching Inn. Share this episode with friends who need a dose of inspiration and adventure!
Contact:
- Contact April through Instagram @everyotherweek
- Contact Claire by emailing info@3dcoaching.com or check out our Substack where you can talk with other listeners.
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Keywords:
world travel, Dr. April Peregrino, global journey, Camino de Santiago, travel goals, every country, inspiring story, resilience, personal growth, adventure, travel inspiration, global explorer, travel challenges, community, healing journey, travel tips, international travel, travel podcast, motivational story, travel experiences, 193club
We love having a variety of guests join us! Please remember that inviting someone to participate does not mean we necessarily endorse their views or opinions. We believe in open conversation and sharing different perspectives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of The Coaching Inn.
I'm your host, Claire Pedrick.
And today we're going to be talking about goals because I have for three years wanted toget my friend April on the podcast and we finally made it.
uh So April, how did we meet?
(00:35):
Hi Claire, thank you so much for having me on.
I'm so honored.
We met in Spain doing the Camino de Santiago.
We did.
And we met you more than we met anybody else.
Then the universe wanted us to meet for this reason I think
(00:56):
You were in front of us, you were behind us.
sure.
I was eating a lot of my lunches like on the beach.
I was carrying it around.
and then you met us in Santiago and you were there to celebrate when we finished.
I was so happy to see you.
(01:17):
So we've had lots of deep and meaningfuls.
We have also some health related conversations.
I did.
I remember that very clearly.
so you, that was part of your journey to travel to every country in the world.
(01:42):
Partly and partly not.
If you want to talk about the Camino, I always felt like that was separate, I had alreadybeen on the journey to visit every country in the world before, and I didn't really tell
many people while I was on the Camino because when you're on the Camino, you're aperegrino, and that's my last name, so it just was fitting that I was doing the Camino.
(02:04):
But I did the Camino separately for another reason, and we can talk about that if you'dlike.
Before I met you, had been, I had created the school, okay, maybe seven years prior,because I just finished the school now.
So 10 years ago, so we met about three years ago.
So seven years prior, I had decided that I wanted to visit every country in the world.
(02:27):
And obviously, during the pandemic, everyone was going through a lot of emotional ups anddowns.
And so I worked for my company for 25 years and decided to retire.
And part of that retirement was
doing the Camino because my father had just passed a few months before and I always mademyself, I made myself a promise saying like, if my father ever passes, I would love to do
(02:53):
the Camino because when I learned about it, the walkers were called Pellegrinos and thatwas my last name.
So I wanted to honor my father and my parents.
And that's when you met me, I was dealing with a lot of my ups and downs while we weregoing up and down and I can see that.
The world has just fallen off your wall.
(03:17):
Yeah, and I remember the day that you got your credit card out to pay for something and wefound out that your name really was Peregrino.
Oh, it's so funny because when I was checking into some of the Elbergues, they were, Iremember one specific, they said, apellido es Peregrino, tu eres Peregrino.
And I was like, see?
(03:38):
Your last name is Peregrino and you're a pilgrim, you're a Peregrino.
Yes.
Oh, it's tu destino, it's your destiny.
said, oh yeah, you'll see.
Yes, I know.
Thank you.
And it really was.
Yeah it was and it was amazing to watch you change because I think we met you on thesecond night.
(04:03):
Your second night, I think I might have been on the communal maybe 10 days prior, perhaps.
I'm not sure.
Okay.
was our second night and we had dinner in that square.
yes, that's right.
Was it Bill Bowe?
Okay.
(04:24):
Yeah, well, it wasn't that long time.
And then we kept meeting you.
And of course, all of us were on our own personal journeys, weren't
had maybe rightfully or wrongfully assumed that everyone was going through somethingbecause it was right after the pandemic sort of was lessening.
(04:44):
I had figured that a lot of people either had loss, personal loss, loss of family, friend,lover, whatever, know, business, all of these things are tied to your personal identity.
So I think we were all going through something as we walked.
Up and down, up and down, up and down.
Gorgeous views though.
(05:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and lots of beer, I seem to remember with you.
Oh, I, but I locked it off though every single day as we all did.
You did.
And we all had lovely names for people, didn't we?
Because we had names for people.
So we were Andrew and the English ladies.
(05:28):
Oh, but you were almost like a band, you know?
That's right.
you were friends with Dutch Peter.
That's right, he's my Kamino dad.
still call him my Kamino dad.
Actually, he came to my party and he gifted me this beautiful Kamino shell.
Yeah, so I wore it just today because I knew we were probably going to talk about theKamino.
(05:54):
Of of course.
And I flaked out of your party because I knew what a five day party with you would belike.
So can we wind back 10 years?
What was the question you were trying to answer?
(06:14):
What was the thing behind the global journey?
I think that's a very good question because I think it probably started happening before.
And my mom passed away when I was 30 and I felt that she was rather young and had as animmigrant, she had sacrificed her life to obviously support her family, her children, but
(06:42):
also her brothers and sisters.
So many of them came over from the Philippines.
so when she passed, I felt that
She had done everything for other people, but not for herself and she didn't get a chanceto travel.
And so I realized life was very short.
So that was 2009.
And then 2015, I read a book, I downloaded a book right before I left for Easter Islandwith my father.
(07:09):
It was called Chasing 193.
And it was about profiles of travelers, maybe 20 travelers who had visited every countryin the world or
were in the quest to visit every country in the world.
And there was one person mentioned at the back of the book, he was the last story.
His name is Johnny Ward, and he's of Irish descent.
he, I was fascinated because he was still in the middle of the quest.
(07:33):
I looked at his, you know, statistics or biostatistics, and I thought, well, this guy isonly a couple of years younger than me.
And I have a good salary, I have a decent like work schedule.
Why can this guy go to every country in the world and I can't?
That was really the thinking.
I don't understand why this person can do it, but I cannot.
And I just said, well, I'm going to do this too.
(07:55):
Not having a clue of how to do this.
I just thought, well, I'm going to do it.
Why not?
But when I made that decision, I had already been traveling.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to go to my first country after reading this book.
My parents are of Filipino descent.
So at six, I had gone.
on my first flight, not to a different state, but all the way to the Philippines.
(08:17):
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I don't know where I missed that.
I see it now.
so I think, and my father was a seafarer before he became a father.
So I think naturally there's some genetic alignment there.
Or genetic disposition, genetic influence, don't know, or some adventure influence.
(08:43):
um By the I had decided this, had already been to 70 UN countries, had been to all sevencontinents.
So it seemed only natural for me to think...
uh I loftily sort of said this in pharmacy school, I'd like to visit every country in theworld.
I had no idea how...
(09:03):
how this would be, how much time this would take, how much money it would be, how long Iwould have to wait for visas, how difficult sometimes it can be for a woman, a woman that
looks like me.
So I just like, like, yeah, okay, I'm going to do this.
Like I had no clue.
So here we are probably about May, 2015, 10 years ago.
(09:27):
Well, I guess, but you know, that seems very...
like sort of frightening, intimidating when you think about it.
I didn't think about 123 as I thought, oh, I going see every country in the world.
Wow.
So what did chasing that goal feel like?
(09:49):
I will tell you now, I'm still on a high from my party, that my party was May 1st.
This is almost three months later and I have never felt so much love in my life or fromfriends and family who decided to not only spend the money and time to come celebrate this
(10:10):
with me and my birthday, but also just for people to see that um
somebody that looks like me can do it.
ah Somebody that came from sort of a disadvantaged background as well.
You when you think about it, my parents were immigrants.
And when people, what people don't understand is when you're an immigrant, you don't havethe base that other people have.
(10:32):
You have to build from scratch.
And so my parents spent a lot of time and their own money, you know, educating my brotherand me.
And so.
I started with nothing.
My first job was at a deli making $4.25.
Now the minimum wage is much more.
But yeah, just like step by step.
(10:55):
I felt so much incredible love.
And so I'm still on this high because every time I feel like I'm a little bit down, thinkthinking about I've done this, but I've also shown people that I can do this and they can
do this too, or they can fill any of their own goals.
It's just been an amazing thing.
now in the last two or a half months, I've also been to some of the travel club meetups.
(11:20):
And so I've been honored by visiting every country in the world.
And it's been incredible as well seeing that I'm one of the only women that are a fewwomen that show up to these events.
also somebody, again, that somebody looks like me.
I'm definitely the underdog.
Nobody would ever expect when they meet me that I visited every country in the world.
it's been a...
(11:41):
don't want say gratifying, it's just been a very interesting take on the culture of thisNishiko, I guess.
Yeah, so there's privilege in the niche gold community.
I think so.
mean, you obviously have to have drive and ambition, but you also have to have some kindof financial means to pay for this because it's, you know, traveling is, as we all know,
(12:04):
it is a privilege and it's not.
um
It can be budget friendly, but over time it can add up and but you know with any kind ofgoal not to excuse anything, but with any kind of goal you have to sacrifice and I don't
know how many people ask professional athletes how much they paid for X amount of camp oras you know, or CEOs how much time they spent on their own business.
(12:32):
So what does it matter if it's this other kind of goal?
Yeah yeah and you're coming to the UK to write you tell me oh sorry
no, no, it's okay.
I've, I've slowly started telling people this because I started doing the artist's way ahlast week and it's a 12 week program.
(12:56):
ah It's a book and um I'm in week two now.
And so it's really about unblocking your creativity and your mindset so you can fulfillyour creative goals.
And so since I was a pharmacist for
in my career.
I thought, well, this might be my only year to pursue my creativity because I suspected Iwill go be going back to work next year.
(13:20):
And I thought, well, this might be the only time because if I try to do this while I'mpursuing my career again, the creativity will be off to the side.
like with any kind of goal, I thought, well,
I need to be somewhere where nobody knows where I'm at.
Can hide.
Because you can see I'm very extroverted.
(13:42):
uh And not distracted.
So I am coming to the UK to write and not really disclosing to anybody where I'm going tobe.
I hope so.
I'll let you know.
But I will be spending the winter months there.
But I'm also from Chicago, which...
(14:03):
makes me a little bit more accustomed to horrible winters.
I think yours will be a lot milder than mine.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think you're very right there, April.
Yeah, so what an amazing thing.
Thank you.
The day you arrived in your final country, what did that feel like?
(14:29):
my goodness.
ah I came to Vienna a couple days before to adjust possibly to jet lag and ah my friendDon, who has been my travel partner since we were in Afghanistan, so that was 2018.
So we've been travel partners for about seven years.
(14:49):
He had decided he was going to rent a car and that he would drive me over to the border.
But the day he arrived, he called and he said,
you at?
you in Bratislava?" And I said, what are you talking about?
You know you're supposed to pick me up tonight, right?
said, oh, God.
Okay.
said, all right, please pick me up around eight o'clock.
(15:11):
We will go to dinner.
And then we had to pick up my last friend who was coming into Vienna.
we could, and then uh we'll cross over the border after midnight.
I specifically wanted to cross on my birthday.
So really wasn't really thinking too much about
what it would feel like, but I had already prepared myself by like wearing an arrivaloutfit about.
(15:37):
About maybe five or six months prior, went to Senegal and I had, over the years,accumulated all these patches that I had bought and I found a tailor and I had him sew
these patches on a pair of jeans and like a jean jacket that I had bought in Tbilisi,Georgia.
And I thought, well, I'm not gonna do this myself.
I barely know what to sew.
(15:57):
And this might be a little bit more affordable here in Senegal while I'm learning to playthe djembe, the drum.
um
this guy can do it and it worked out great.
So I had already had this mentality of what I wanted to wear.
And when we crossed the border, I was like watching the time religiously because I waslike, I don't want to cross to 1159.
(16:18):
Hey, we have to cross after midnight.
I want to cross on my birthday.
But I think Don might have done the logistics beforehand because he said, Oh, I saw thisone area looks like a border.
spot.
when we picked up Carrie, my friend, we were near a airport.
(16:44):
Yeah, hotel that was by the airport.
So I ran in and changed into my clothing.
So I already was in the mindset.
We had about a less than an hour drive and I was watching the clock and then we passed theborder because you could see there were buildings and then I was like, oh my God, this is
so exciting.
And then we stopped because there was a sign that says Slovenko.
(17:04):
um So we were obviously in Slovakia.
then Don, who had just visited every country in the world too last year, he was like, myGod, this is a fantastic congratulations.
And I just was in shock.
I was in complete shock that I had finished because you sort of...
Maybe think about this moment, but you know the moment is also fleeting and you don't knowhow you're going to feel.
(17:28):
But I don't think I was relieved.
I was just like in shock, just in shock.
And we took a few photos and then after my cousin had decided that she was going to throwme uh an arrival party at the hotel in Bratislava.
So I thought we had still 30 minutes to go and really it was only like 10 minutes.
(17:50):
So I thought, oh, okay.
There was another shirt I wanted to wear and my friend Gina had my shirt and it's uh ofmost travel people.
It's uh a shirt that you receive when you visit every country in the world.
So it had 193 on it.
Gina had my shirt because the um MTP staff sent it, but I had not received it in Chicagoyet.
So because she lives in Portugal and the administrator is in Portugal as well, she got myshirt for me.
(18:14):
So she met me outside.
So I was already like...
Oh my God, it's so good to see you.
I haven't seen you in like seven years.
This is fantastic.
And Gina also visited every country in the world.
it was, was like a nice greeting.
And then after Don parked, we all went upstairs and he let me go through first.
And I look at the video now and I see that my cousin sort of arranged everybody by the waythey met me in my life because my goddaughter was first.
(18:42):
Um, and she's at the time she was 25 and she greeted me with two shots.
And then my cousins were a couple cousins were around and then like my friends and thenlike, you know, high school friends and then like my travel friends and now the way at the
back was Dutch Peter, my Camino dad.
So it was just like this beautiful like I was like bawling by the middle because I washugging every single person that I had seen and met and there was probably about 35 people
(19:10):
here.
And at the end,
there was a big banner which was back there now fallen.
A lot of balloons, a cake, know, congratulations 193 and I was like bawling hysterically.
I just, I was so touched.
It like hit me that I had finished but not only that I was surrounded by so many peoplethat have like that supported me, loved me and this is why I'm on a high still.
(19:40):
Yeah, I'm not surprised.
So you're talking about your family, but you're also talking about your soul friends whoyou met on the way.
Yes, of course.
I've invited these people because I had, you know, I had been traveling for at least 10years.
So I met some people while traveling and then we became travel partners or friends and,know, became like this little community.
And then I, I realized I created my own community.
(20:02):
This is so like even now, uh, three months later, I'm still texting this like WhatsAppgroup that weirdly has a picture of me as the icon.
And I'm like, why am I texting myself?
That's weird.
But like I'll ask questions and
everybody just seems to respond back because then if I don't have an answer, I haveseveral friends that have the answer for the person that needs the question answered.
(20:23):
Nice.
Nice.
What a most amazing thing.
And then the next morning, um I had rented a 50 seater bus and I will explain this becausenot everybody knows what happened.
uh I originally put the invitation on a wedding website called The Knot and I made a jokesaying, I'm getting married to the world.
(20:52):
please, so the first destination is my birthday party and it's a secret.
So I called it Globetrotter Gala.
But I did tell people where you would wear to a wedding.
Nobody knew who was coming.
I made the guest list private.
nobody knew, nobody knew anything until they might have seen the people at the arrivalparty because, but not everybody had been there.
(21:17):
And so around 11 o'clock, I said, okay, we're all going to meet in the lobby of the hoteland we're going to go away and ah just.
this is the price of your accommodation, but they didn't really know what was going onexactly.
So it's kind of nice that my friends trusted me or let me be in control of my owncelebration.
(21:38):
Although I did have some friends that said, what are we doing?
You know, they were freaking out and I said, they were annoying me so much in like oneweek that I said, oh, well we're recreating the movie Hostel.
I don't know if you remember this movie, but it was like filmed in the early 2000s andit's a movie about
Travelers that go to the house to like stay in a hostel and they eventually get murderedand I didn't realize that this movie was also based in Slovakia Yes, I didn't know this
(22:05):
until I checked IMDB like like a week after the party nothing.
my god uh
So we get on the bus.
can I just say to tell everybody in my Thursday supervision group my loyalty to theThursday supervision group meant that I didn't go to this party.
It's okay.
(22:25):
Everybody has reasons not to join the party.
I was not offended.
I was not offended.
um So there's 50 seats on this bus, which includes the driver.
So 49 seats and almost all of them are filled and nobody knows how long the timeframe is.
so eventually there's a break around two hours.
(22:46):
We still have two hours to go.
This is almost a four hour drive.
And my friend Leela starts asking people what their breakfast order is going to be forSunday.
She was helping me organize the breakfast because by that point I had lost all drive tofinish.
I was like, oh, I don't what we're eating.
(23:06):
Somebody help me.
So she helped me and it was so lovely.
Anyway, so she sits in front and we're very close to the castle because as we're driving,we see castles here and there.
And one of the greatest things about Slovakia is that it has the highest amount of thegreatest number of castles per capita in Europe.
That's narcissistic.
I've heard differently from other friends.
(23:28):
That's what they say.
So, okay.
And then we're driving on this flat road and all of a sudden we see this humongous castleand my friend Lila screams, is that it?
Because I think by this point,
This was like three and a half to four hours in and all my friends probably startedtalking like, what are we doing?
Does anybody know what's going on?
(23:50):
I didn't know what I booked.
I booked everything online.
So I was just going off pictured.
I couldn't book a party in a place that I had been to before.
So everything was blind.
And I said, oh wow, wow.
And all my friends, could see them start taking out their cell phone and start recordingor taking photos.
(24:12):
So we stop and I say, okay, so we park the driver parks the bus and I say, okay, we'rehere as you can see.
And we are at a place called Galicia Nueva, also known as Hiles Castle.
We are partying in a castle tonight and the bus erupted.
(24:32):
So all my friends were game.
They had no idea that I had booked a party in a castle to celebrate my last.
country.
And I am so appreciative that they trusted me to do this.
amazing how to meet your goal April
(24:55):
I think that when you create a goal like this, it requires a little bit of characteristicof being delusional.
uh And also starting to break it down in your small steps.
When I first created this goal, I had no idea what I was doing.
(25:19):
And I started following Johnny.
on social media, think on Facebook, and I saw that he was in Algeria.
And this was maybe a few months after, so maybe July or August, and I had read that bookin May.
And I thought, oh, Algeria, I've never thought about Algeria.
And I immediately booked a trip.
(25:40):
Now I know that sounds crazy, but I will give my work background to offset this.
I was an overnight pharmacist and that might be a little bit weird for people to thinkabout, you know, in America, things are open 24 hours.
And so I had a, I was working in a location, a retail location.
uh Actually my company and Boots had merged.
(26:03):
So my company was Walgreens and I worked in an overnight location.
So I worked seven nights in a row, 10 PM to 8 AM or 9 PM to 7 AM, 10 hour shifts.
And then nobody wants to do a graveyard shift.
It's horrible.
The company would give us seven days off to do whatever you want, to rest.
(26:24):
And so I used that time to travel at the time I was married and my partner was supportiveof this goal.
So it didn't seem weird when I said, well, I don't know anything about Algeria, I want tosee every country in the world now.
So I'll just book a trip to Algeria.
Not knowing that I needed a visa, I needed to figure out how to get a visa.
(26:44):
I needed an English speaking guide because I didn't speak any French at all.
Uh, so, you know, research, little research and, know, and when you meet more people thatare visiting all these different countries that you've never heard about, and maybe it's
Algeria is a viable option for Europeans, but for Americans, I didn't know anybody who wasout, one who was Algerian or had visited Algeria.
(27:11):
This was before I knew anybody in the travel community.
So I went in.
I went on another single girl wanting a tour by myself because I didn't know anybody tocome with me.
I didn't even know who to ask to who would want to even join me to some country thatnobody knew anything about.
um Other than like, you know, this is just like when if people remember people were stillsort of guidebooks and also maybe TripAdvisor, but I did not have this travel community
(27:42):
yet.
So I had no information.
And it took me weeks to find somebody that could help me to get a an English speakingguide and also help me apply for a visa.
I had no idea how to do any of these things.
Even though I had applied for visas before, I had no idea how to do these things.
I'm so sorry I'm having problems with my one ear for ear bug.
(28:07):
So.
And then that was part that was maybe the first trip and then.
As you get comfortable, started planning more trips and then the year I turned 39, Idecided I wanted to take advantage of my work schedule and I wanted to travel every other
(28:29):
week, even though I knew the cost would be absolutely astounding.
for me, was probably a few more months, three more years into it.
So I thought I was already fully into the goal and fully obsessed.
And I think that's really the
the whole thing is that this starts out as a small idea, it becomes just sort of steps andthen you become so obsessed with it that you can't stop.
(28:53):
And so you can't even stop the momentum.
And that's where the frame is.
it's like, now I'm at a point because I finished, like, how do I roll this momentum backand like, how do I take care of myself and my energy so that I'm like a normal, instead of
chasing like this high all the time.
Yeah, that's really amazing story.
(29:16):
Thank you so much.
And it was absolutely delightful to meet you on the way, even though we met you on adiversion.
But it wasn't really a diversion because I needed to work on my mental health then.
So it was really just a way to...
I always tell people that the Camino saved me.
(29:36):
It really pulled me out of my depression.
I mean, I had a number of things that had led to that depression because my father hadpassed away.
I had gotten divorced.
I had a breakup.
then, you know, obviously leaving work is...
I left on my own accord.
because I didn't want to be there more than 25 years, but that's also a loss of identity.
So people don't understand why grief exists.
(29:58):
But when you have so much grief and you're just walking through it, really it just pulledme out of that depression so I can work on more things on a deeper level.
But I can see why people do so many caminos because they've probably done worked on onething in their life and then there's more to work on.
And so this is their therapy.
Yeah, yeah, really extraordinary.
(30:21):
can remember quite early on we walked up a really long road.
I don't know where we were.
And you were on one side of the road and we were on the other and you didn't want to talkto anybody.
And we kind of waved at you.
ah I can see that.
think, I don't know if I was in my, you know, I was in my head and weirdly enough,everyone that I've met before who's done the Kamino has like these great stories of all
(30:49):
these friends, but I don't know.
I didn't feel like I was meeting anybody.
And honestly, I was, and maybe I was just.
I a lot on the Camino.
was listening to music and crying and crying and just releasing so much.
I think the day I met you or maybe two days before, I might have even talked to myspiritual advisor asking, I need help.
(31:17):
I feel awful and I've been walking for at least 10 days.
I you need to sit with us.
You've been on the go for so long and even though you're walking,
you're actually stable and this is why you're releasing so much.
And so that really helped to talk to somebody because, even though my Spanish was okay,it's not like I can go to a priest and say like, you done?
(31:41):
Like help me.
And everybody else had their story.
So it's, hard to ask people to hold your story when they have their story to hold andrelease.
And so I'm glad that I had my spiritual advisor to call and, and that
Actually, she released a lot for us.
She helped me release a lot.
So that helped me like keep going.
(32:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I remember you met at, were in a pulpo restaurant really close to the end andyou, me and Margaret, do remember we had a bottle of wine and you said, I'm not ready to
get to the end yet.
Which is probably why I Finisterre for three days after.
(32:25):
Who wants to hike 90 more K?
Me!
Yeah, but yeah, that was extraordinary.
I wasn't ready.
was happy that I finished at Santiago de Compostela.
Beyond thrilled, but I wasn't, I knew that I still had so much stuff.
(32:48):
And after taking a few days off there just to rest and relax and you know, meet all of youbeautiful people and just have a nice setting where not like eating on the go and running,
you know, it was, and just like sort of honoring the process of
being together and not really understanding what has happened, but we were all clueless inthe fact that we don't know what change has happened.
(33:13):
We know we've changed, but we know we're not yet ready to talk to a person who hasn't donethe Camino about it.
ah Yeah, I just thought, well, you know what?
I still have time.
I don't have to be in Chad until this time.
I'll, what's three more days?
And by that point, I was so fit, because we also did the Primitivo together.
(33:35):
that I thought, why not chill in my body?
And I was kicking ASS on this trail.
I mean, was like week seven and I was like so fit.
I was doing 30 K per day and my legs were so strong.
I was mentally strong.
I was like eating healthily.
I was really doing so well.
(33:57):
I felt, I mean, obviously it had to end somewhere, right?
But I did feel more of a...
ending at Finasterre versus Santiago.
It wasn't that Santiago wasn't ending, it was just more like, I did it.
So listeners, Finisterre is on the west coast of Spain, on the Atlantic coast, whichbasically means that if you go any further, you're in the sea and then you're in America.
(34:22):
Yes, and it is literally translated to end of the earth because that's where the boatswould leave from Spain to go to America apparently.
Wow.
So April, our listeners, our listeners work with people around goals and you've got themost extraordinary goals.
(34:46):
So as we finish this conversation, what would you want to say to somebody who's listeningabout goals?
That is a really good question.
I think we can get overwhelmed with this goal in the beginning.
And I also think if it's a long process, it doesn't matter what kind of goal you have.
(35:11):
A goal like mine, a fitness goal, a business goal, financial goal, relationship goal,relationship within yourself goal, self love goal.
um There are many days where you can feel burned out, tired.
(35:32):
Think that it's worth it and I think the biggest thing you have to tell yourself for thebest thing you have to tell yourself is let me manage my energy.
And like, we can let the set today.
And when I'm ready to pick it up, whether it's tomorrow next week.
It won't deter me from my goal and when you're so focused on things, I think it can feellike if you're taking a day off or.
(36:00):
Taking some time off.
that it's defeat and it's not a defeat.
Like I think that when you're so focused and you don't give yourself time to do somethingelse or rest, it can start to feel not fun.
who wants to make their goal not fun?
That's life is so short.
(36:21):
Why would you want to be pursuing something that's not fun?
So I would say, I think the best thing to do is just assess what your energy level is.
If you need to just take a bubble bath, read, walk,
Just draw, do whatever else that doesn't have to do with your goal and just distractyourself for a day, week, an hour or two, whatever your timeframe is.
(36:43):
And once it feels right, you'll go back to it.
And that's how I felt over the years.
I was so busy maybe chasing things and thinking, sort of being jealous of people when Isee social media, like, why are they there and I'm not?
I think the...
The nicest thing about my depression was that I was forced to like hold back and like workon myself before I worked on my life goal.
(37:08):
And I'm also glad that I spent six months between my penultimate country, which wasMarshall Islands at 192 in Slovakia, reflecting on all the steps that had occurred before
I visited my last country.
So I think it's just time with yourself and
that precious time to manage your energy.
(37:30):
think that's the biggest thing to think about when you're managing a goal like this.
Yeah, nice.
I love that last six months space to process.
That's beautiful.
So something about pacing.
And also, we met when you had taken a big diversion ah and the courage to do that as well.
(37:55):
So thank you, April Peregrino, my friend, the pilgrim.
Very easy to remember my name now.
So if people want to have a look at your journey on socials, where's the best social forthem to look at?
best social would be Instagram.
My handle is @everyotherweek.
(38:16):
All one word because I used to travel every other week while I was working the other everyother week.
I'll pop that on in the show notes.
Thank you, April, for coming to The Coaching Inn.
Thank you.
Thank you, lovely listener, for listening and making us have an excuse to have a reallygreat conversation.
(38:42):
We'll be back next week with another episode.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of The Coaching Inn.
I'm your host, Claire Pedrick.
And today we're going to be talking about goals because I have for three years wanted toget my friend April on the podcast and we finally made it.
uh So April, how did we meet?
(00:35):
Hi Claire, thank you so much for having me on.
I'm so honored.
We met in Spain doing the Camino de Santiago.
We did.
And we met you more than we met anybody else.
Then the universe wanted us to meet for this reason I think
(00:56):
You were in front of us, you were behind us.
sure.
I was eating a lot of my lunches like on the beach.
I was carrying it around.
and then you met us in Santiago and you were there to celebrate when we finished.
I was so happy to see you.
(01:17):
So we've had lots of deep and meaningfuls.
We have also some health related conversations.
I did.
I remember that very clearly.
so you, that was part of your journey to travel to every country in the world.
(01:42):
Partly and partly not.
If you want to talk about the Camino, I always felt like that was separate, I had alreadybeen on the journey to visit every country in the world before, and I didn't really tell
many people while I was on the Camino because when you're on the Camino, you're aperegrino, and that's my last name, so it just was fitting that I was doing the Camino.
(02:04):
But I did the Camino separately for another reason, and we can talk about that if you'dlike.
Before I met you, had been, I had created the school, okay, maybe seven years prior,because I just finished the school now.
So 10 years ago, so we met about three years ago.
So seven years prior, I had decided that I wanted to visit every country in the world.
(02:27):
And obviously, during the pandemic, everyone was going through a lot of emotional ups anddowns.
And so I worked for my company for 25 years and decided to retire.
And part of that retirement was
doing the Camino because my father had just passed a few months before and I always mademyself, I made myself a promise saying like, if my father ever passes, I would love to do
(02:53):
the Camino because when I learned about it, the walkers were called Pellegrinos and thatwas my last name.
So I wanted to honor my father and my parents.
And that's when you met me, I was dealing with a lot of my ups and downs while we weregoing up and down and I can see that.
The world has just fallen off your wall.
(03:17):
Yeah, and I remember the day that you got your credit card out to pay for something and wefound out that your name really was Peregrino.
Oh, it's so funny because when I was checking into some of the Elbergues, they were, Iremember one specific, they said, apellido es Peregrino, tu eres Peregrino.
And I was like, see?
(03:38):
Your last name is Peregrino and you're a pilgrim, you're a Peregrino.
Yes.
Oh, it's tu destino, it's your destiny.
said, oh yeah, you'll see.
Yes, I know.
Thank you.
And it really was.
Yeah it was and it was amazing to watch you change because I think we met you on thesecond night.
(04:03):
Your second night, I think I might have been on the communal maybe 10 days prior, perhaps.
I'm not sure.
Okay.
was our second night and we had dinner in that square.
yes, that's right.
Was it Bill Bowe?
Okay.
(04:24):
Yeah, well, it wasn't that long time.
And then we kept meeting you.
And of course, all of us were on our own personal journeys, weren't
had maybe rightfully or wrongfully assumed that everyone was going through somethingbecause it was right after the pandemic sort of was lessening.
(04:44):
I had figured that a lot of people either had loss, personal loss, loss of family, friend,lover, whatever, know, business, all of these things are tied to your personal identity.
So I think we were all going through something as we walked.
Up and down, up and down, up and down.
Gorgeous views though.
(05:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and lots of beer, I seem to remember with you.
Oh, I, but I locked it off though every single day as we all did.
You did.
And we all had lovely names for people, didn't we?
Because we had names for people.
So we were Andrew and the English ladies.
(05:28):
Oh, but you were almost like a band, you know?
That's right.
you were friends with Dutch Peter.
That's right, he's my Kamino dad.
still call him my Kamino dad.
Actually, he came to my party and he gifted me this beautiful Kamino shell.
Yeah, so I wore it just today because I knew we were probably going to talk about theKamino.
(05:54):
Of of course.
And I flaked out of your party because I knew what a five day party with you would belike.
So can we wind back 10 years?
What was the question you were trying to answer?
(06:14):
What was the thing behind the global journey?
I think that's a very good question because I think it probably started happening before.
And my mom passed away when I was 30 and I felt that she was rather young and had as animmigrant, she had sacrificed her life to obviously support her family, her children, but
(06:42):
also her brothers and sisters.
So many of them came over from the Philippines.
so when she passed, I felt that
She had done everything for other people, but not for herself and she didn't get a chanceto travel.
And so I realized life was very short.
So that was 2009.
And then 2015, I read a book, I downloaded a book right before I left for Easter Islandwith my father.
(07:09):
It was called Chasing 193.
And it was about profiles of travelers, maybe 20 travelers who had visited every countryin the world or
were in the quest to visit every country in the world.
And there was one person mentioned at the back of the book, he was the last story.
His name is Johnny Ward, and he's of Irish descent.
he, I was fascinated because he was still in the middle of the quest.
(07:33):
I looked at his, you know, statistics or biostatistics, and I thought, well, this guy isonly a couple of years younger than me.
And I have a good salary, I have a decent like work schedule.
Why can this guy go to every country in the world and I can't?
That was really the thinking.
I don't understand why this person can do it, but I cannot.
And I just said, well, I'm going to do this too.
(07:55):
Not having a clue of how to do this.
I just thought, well, I'm going to do it.
Why not?
But when I made that decision, I had already been traveling.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to go to my first country after reading this book.
My parents are of Filipino descent.
So at six, I had gone.
on my first flight, not to a different state, but all the way to the Philippines.
(08:17):
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I don't know where I missed that.
I see it now.
so I think, and my father was a seafarer before he became a father.
So I think naturally there's some genetic alignment there.
Or genetic disposition, genetic influence, don't know, or some adventure influence.
(08:43):
um By the I had decided this, had already been to 70 UN countries, had been to all sevencontinents.
So it seemed only natural for me to think...
uh I loftily sort of said this in pharmacy school, I'd like to visit every country in theworld.
I had no idea how...
(09:03):
how this would be, how much time this would take, how much money it would be, how long Iwould have to wait for visas, how difficult sometimes it can be for a woman, a woman that
looks like me.
So I just like, like, yeah, okay, I'm going to do this.
Like I had no clue.
So here we are probably about May, 2015, 10 years ago.
(09:27):
Well, I guess, but you know, that seems very...
like sort of frightening, intimidating when you think about it.
I didn't think about 123 as I thought, oh, I going see every country in the world.
Wow.
So what did chasing that goal feel like?
(09:49):
I will tell you now, I'm still on a high from my party, that my party was May 1st.
This is almost three months later and I have never felt so much love in my life or fromfriends and family who decided to not only spend the money and time to come celebrate this
(10:10):
with me and my birthday, but also just for people to see that um
somebody that looks like me can do it.
ah Somebody that came from sort of a disadvantaged background as well.
You when you think about it, my parents were immigrants.
And when people, what people don't understand is when you're an immigrant, you don't havethe base that other people have.
(10:32):
You have to build from scratch.
And so my parents spent a lot of time and their own money, you know, educating my brotherand me.
And so.
I started with nothing.
My first job was at a deli making $4.25.
Now the minimum wage is much more.
But yeah, just like step by step.
(10:55):
I felt so much incredible love.
And so I'm still on this high because every time I feel like I'm a little bit down, thinkthinking about I've done this, but I've also shown people that I can do this and they can
do this too, or they can fill any of their own goals.
It's just been an amazing thing.
now in the last two or a half months, I've also been to some of the travel club meetups.
(11:20):
And so I've been honored by visiting every country in the world.
And it's been incredible as well seeing that I'm one of the only women that are a fewwomen that show up to these events.
also somebody, again, that somebody looks like me.
I'm definitely the underdog.
Nobody would ever expect when they meet me that I visited every country in the world.
it's been a...
(11:41):
don't want say gratifying, it's just been a very interesting take on the culture of thisNishiko, I guess.
Yeah, so there's privilege in the niche gold community.
I think so.
mean, you obviously have to have drive and ambition, but you also have to have some kindof financial means to pay for this because it's, you know, traveling is, as we all know,
(12:04):
it is a privilege and it's not.
um
It can be budget friendly, but over time it can add up and but you know with any kind ofgoal not to excuse anything, but with any kind of goal you have to sacrifice and I don't
know how many people ask professional athletes how much they paid for X amount of camp oras you know, or CEOs how much time they spent on their own business.
(12:32):
So what does it matter if it's this other kind of goal?
Yeah yeah and you're coming to the UK to write you tell me oh sorry
no, no, it's okay.
I've, I've slowly started telling people this because I started doing the artist's way ahlast week and it's a 12 week program.
(12:56):
ah It's a book and um I'm in week two now.
And so it's really about unblocking your creativity and your mindset so you can fulfillyour creative goals.
And so since I was a pharmacist for
in my career.
I thought, well, this might be my only year to pursue my creativity because I suspected Iwill go be going back to work next year.
(13:20):
And I thought, well, this might be the only time because if I try to do this while I'mpursuing my career again, the creativity will be off to the side.
like with any kind of goal, I thought, well,
I need to be somewhere where nobody knows where I'm at.
Can hide.
Because you can see I'm very extroverted.
(13:42):
uh And not distracted.
So I am coming to the UK to write and not really disclosing to anybody where I'm going tobe.
I hope so.
I'll let you know.
But I will be spending the winter months there.
But I'm also from Chicago, which...
(14:03):
makes me a little bit more accustomed to horrible winters.
I think yours will be a lot milder than mine.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think you're very right there, April.
Yeah, so what an amazing thing.
Thank you.
The day you arrived in your final country, what did that feel like?
(14:29):
my goodness.
ah I came to Vienna a couple days before to adjust possibly to jet lag and ah my friendDon, who has been my travel partner since we were in Afghanistan, so that was 2018.
So we've been travel partners for about seven years.
(14:49):
He had decided he was going to rent a car and that he would drive me over to the border.
But the day he arrived, he called and he said,
you at?
you in Bratislava?" And I said, what are you talking about?
You know you're supposed to pick me up tonight, right?
said, oh, God.
Okay.
said, all right, please pick me up around eight o'clock.
(15:11):
We will go to dinner.
And then we had to pick up my last friend who was coming into Vienna.
we could, and then uh we'll cross over the border after midnight.
I specifically wanted to cross on my birthday.
So really wasn't really thinking too much about
what it would feel like, but I had already prepared myself by like wearing an arrivaloutfit about.
(15:37):
About maybe five or six months prior, went to Senegal and I had, over the years,accumulated all these patches that I had bought and I found a tailor and I had him sew
these patches on a pair of jeans and like a jean jacket that I had bought in Tbilisi,Georgia.
And I thought, well, I'm not gonna do this myself.
I barely know what to sew.
(15:57):
And this might be a little bit more affordable here in Senegal while I'm learning to playthe djembe, the drum.
um
this guy can do it and it worked out great.
So I had already had this mentality of what I wanted to wear.
And when we crossed the border, I was like watching the time religiously because I waslike, I don't want to cross to 1159.
(16:18):
Hey, we have to cross after midnight.
I want to cross on my birthday.
But I think Don might have done the logistics beforehand because he said, Oh, I saw thisone area looks like a border.
spot.
when we picked up Carrie, my friend, we were near a airport.
(16:44):
Yeah, hotel that was by the airport.
So I ran in and changed into my clothing.
So I already was in the mindset.
We had about a less than an hour drive and I was watching the clock and then we passed theborder because you could see there were buildings and then I was like, oh my God, this is
so exciting.
And then we stopped because there was a sign that says Slovenko.
(17:04):
um So we were obviously in Slovakia.
then Don, who had just visited every country in the world too last year, he was like, myGod, this is a fantastic congratulations.
And I just was in shock.
I was in complete shock that I had finished because you sort of...
Maybe think about this moment, but you know the moment is also fleeting and you don't knowhow you're going to feel.
(17:28):
But I don't think I was relieved.
I was just like in shock, just in shock.
And we took a few photos and then after my cousin had decided that she was going to throwme uh an arrival party at the hotel in Bratislava.
So I thought we had still 30 minutes to go and really it was only like 10 minutes.
(17:50):
So I thought, oh, okay.
There was another shirt I wanted to wear and my friend Gina had my shirt and it's uh ofmost travel people.
It's uh a shirt that you receive when you visit every country in the world.
So it had 193 on it.
Gina had my shirt because the um MTP staff sent it, but I had not received it in Chicagoyet.
So because she lives in Portugal and the administrator is in Portugal as well, she got myshirt for me.
(18:14):
So she met me outside.
So I was already like...
Oh my God, it's so good to see you.
I haven't seen you in like seven years.
This is fantastic.
And Gina also visited every country in the world.
it was, was like a nice greeting.
And then after Don parked, we all went upstairs and he let me go through first.
And I look at the video now and I see that my cousin sort of arranged everybody by the waythey met me in my life because my goddaughter was first.
(18:42):
Um, and she's at the time she was 25 and she greeted me with two shots.
And then my cousins were a couple cousins were around and then like my friends and thenlike, you know, high school friends and then like my travel friends and now the way at the
back was Dutch Peter, my Camino dad.
So it was just like this beautiful like I was like bawling by the middle because I washugging every single person that I had seen and met and there was probably about 35 people
(19:10):
here.
And at the end,
there was a big banner which was back there now fallen.
A lot of balloons, a cake, know, congratulations 193 and I was like bawling hysterically.
I just, I was so touched.
It like hit me that I had finished but not only that I was surrounded by so many peoplethat have like that supported me, loved me and this is why I'm on a high still.
(19:40):
Yeah, I'm not surprised.
So you're talking about your family, but you're also talking about your soul friends whoyou met on the way.
Yes, of course.
I've invited these people because I had, you know, I had been traveling for at least 10years.
So I met some people while traveling and then we became travel partners or friends and,know, became like this little community.
And then I, I realized I created my own community.
(20:02):
This is so like even now, uh, three months later, I'm still texting this like WhatsAppgroup that weirdly has a picture of me as the icon.
And I'm like, why am I texting myself?
That's weird.
But like I'll ask questions and
everybody just seems to respond back because then if I don't have an answer, I haveseveral friends that have the answer for the person that needs the question answered.
(20:23):
Nice.
Nice.
What a most amazing thing.
And then the next morning, um I had rented a 50 seater bus and I will explain this becausenot everybody knows what happened.
uh I originally put the invitation on a wedding website called The Knot and I made a jokesaying, I'm getting married to the world.
(20:52):
please, so the first destination is my birthday party and it's a secret.
So I called it Globetrotter Gala.
But I did tell people where you would wear to a wedding.
Nobody knew who was coming.
I made the guest list private.
nobody knew, nobody knew anything until they might have seen the people at the arrivalparty because, but not everybody had been there.
(21:17):
And so around 11 o'clock, I said, okay, we're all going to meet in the lobby of the hoteland we're going to go away and ah just.
this is the price of your accommodation, but they didn't really know what was going onexactly.
So it's kind of nice that my friends trusted me or let me be in control of my owncelebration.
(21:38):
Although I did have some friends that said, what are we doing?
You know, they were freaking out and I said, they were annoying me so much in like oneweek that I said, oh, well we're recreating the movie Hostel.
I don't know if you remember this movie, but it was like filmed in the early 2000s andit's a movie about
Travelers that go to the house to like stay in a hostel and they eventually get murderedand I didn't realize that this movie was also based in Slovakia Yes, I didn't know this
(22:05):
until I checked IMDB like like a week after the party nothing.
my god uh
So we get on the bus.
can I just say to tell everybody in my Thursday supervision group my loyalty to theThursday supervision group meant that I didn't go to this party.
It's okay.
(22:25):
Everybody has reasons not to join the party.
I was not offended.
I was not offended.
um So there's 50 seats on this bus, which includes the driver.
So 49 seats and almost all of them are filled and nobody knows how long the timeframe is.
so eventually there's a break around two hours.
(22:46):
We still have two hours to go.
This is almost a four hour drive.
And my friend Leela starts asking people what their breakfast order is going to be forSunday.
She was helping me organize the breakfast because by that point I had lost all drive tofinish.
I was like, oh, I don't what we're eating.
(23:06):
Somebody help me.
So she helped me and it was so lovely.
Anyway, so she sits in front and we're very close to the castle because as we're driving,we see castles here and there.
And one of the greatest things about Slovakia is that it has the highest amount of thegreatest number of castles per capita in Europe.
That's narcissistic.
I've heard differently from other friends.
(23:28):
That's what they say.
So, okay.
And then we're driving on this flat road and all of a sudden we see this humongous castleand my friend Lila screams, is that it?
Because I think by this point,
This was like three and a half to four hours in and all my friends probably startedtalking like, what are we doing?
Does anybody know what's going on?
(23:50):
I didn't know what I booked.
I booked everything online.
So I was just going off pictured.
I couldn't book a party in a place that I had been to before.
So everything was blind.
And I said, oh wow, wow.
And all my friends, could see them start taking out their cell phone and start recordingor taking photos.
(24:12):
So we stop and I say, okay, so we park the driver parks the bus and I say, okay, we'rehere as you can see.
And we are at a place called Galicia Nueva, also known as Hiles Castle.
We are partying in a castle tonight and the bus erupted.
(24:32):
So all my friends were game.
They had no idea that I had booked a party in a castle to celebrate my last.
country.
And I am so appreciative that they trusted me to do this.
amazing how to meet your goal April
(24:55):
I think that when you create a goal like this, it requires a little bit of characteristicof being delusional.
uh And also starting to break it down in your small steps.
When I first created this goal, I had no idea what I was doing.
(25:19):
And I started following Johnny.
on social media, think on Facebook, and I saw that he was in Algeria.
And this was maybe a few months after, so maybe July or August, and I had read that bookin May.
And I thought, oh, Algeria, I've never thought about Algeria.
And I immediately booked a trip.
(25:40):
Now I know that sounds crazy, but I will give my work background to offset this.
I was an overnight pharmacist and that might be a little bit weird for people to thinkabout, you know, in America, things are open 24 hours.
And so I had a, I was working in a location, a retail location.
uh Actually my company and Boots had merged.
(26:03):
So my company was Walgreens and I worked in an overnight location.
So I worked seven nights in a row, 10 PM to 8 AM or 9 PM to 7 AM, 10 hour shifts.
And then nobody wants to do a graveyard shift.
It's horrible.
The company would give us seven days off to do whatever you want, to rest.
(26:24):
And so I used that time to travel at the time I was married and my partner was supportiveof this goal.
So it didn't seem weird when I said, well, I don't know anything about Algeria, I want tosee every country in the world now.
So I'll just book a trip to Algeria.
Not knowing that I needed a visa, I needed to figure out how to get a visa.
(26:44):
I needed an English speaking guide because I didn't speak any French at all.
Uh, so, you know, research, little research and, know, and when you meet more people thatare visiting all these different countries that you've never heard about, and maybe it's
Algeria is a viable option for Europeans, but for Americans, I didn't know anybody who wasout, one who was Algerian or had visited Algeria.
(27:11):
This was before I knew anybody in the travel community.
So I went in.
I went on another single girl wanting a tour by myself because I didn't know anybody tocome with me.
I didn't even know who to ask to who would want to even join me to some country thatnobody knew anything about.
um Other than like, you know, this is just like when if people remember people were stillsort of guidebooks and also maybe TripAdvisor, but I did not have this travel community
(27:42):
yet.
So I had no information.
And it took me weeks to find somebody that could help me to get a an English speakingguide and also help me apply for a visa.
I had no idea how to do any of these things.
Even though I had applied for visas before, I had no idea how to do these things.
I'm so sorry I'm having problems with my one ear for ear bug.
(28:07):
So.
And then that was part that was maybe the first trip and then.
As you get comfortable, started planning more trips and then the year I turned 39, Idecided I wanted to take advantage of my work schedule and I wanted to travel every other
(28:29):
week, even though I knew the cost would be absolutely astounding.
for me, was probably a few more months, three more years into it.
So I thought I was already fully into the goal and fully obsessed.
And I think that's really the
the whole thing is that this starts out as a small idea, it becomes just sort of steps andthen you become so obsessed with it that you can't stop.
(28:53):
And so you can't even stop the momentum.
And that's where the frame is.
it's like, now I'm at a point because I finished, like, how do I roll this momentum backand like, how do I take care of myself and my energy so that I'm like a normal, instead of
chasing like this high all the time.
Yeah, that's really amazing story.
(29:16):
Thank you so much.
And it was absolutely delightful to meet you on the way, even though we met you on adiversion.
But it wasn't really a diversion because I needed to work on my mental health then.
So it was really just a way to...
I always tell people that the Camino saved me.
(29:36):
It really pulled me out of my depression.
I mean, I had a number of things that had led to that depression because my father hadpassed away.
I had gotten divorced.
I had a breakup.
then, you know, obviously leaving work is...
I left on my own accord.
because I didn't want to be there more than 25 years, but that's also a loss of identity.
So people don't understand why grief exists.
(29:58):
But when you have so much grief and you're just walking through it, really it just pulledme out of that depression so I can work on more things on a deeper level.
But I can see why people do so many caminos because they've probably done worked on onething in their life and then there's more to work on.
And so this is their therapy.
Yeah, yeah, really extraordinary.
(30:21):
can remember quite early on we walked up a really long road.
I don't know where we were.
And you were on one side of the road and we were on the other and you didn't want to talkto anybody.
And we kind of waved at you.
ah I can see that.
think, I don't know if I was in my, you know, I was in my head and weirdly enough,everyone that I've met before who's done the Kamino has like these great stories of all
(30:49):
these friends, but I don't know.
I didn't feel like I was meeting anybody.
And honestly, I was, and maybe I was just.
I a lot on the Camino.
was listening to music and crying and crying and just releasing so much.
I think the day I met you or maybe two days before, I might have even talked to myspiritual advisor asking, I need help.
(31:17):
I feel awful and I've been walking for at least 10 days.
I you need to sit with us.
You've been on the go for so long and even though you're walking,
you're actually stable and this is why you're releasing so much.
And so that really helped to talk to somebody because, even though my Spanish was okay,it's not like I can go to a priest and say like, you done?
(31:41):
Like help me.
And everybody else had their story.
So it's, hard to ask people to hold your story when they have their story to hold andrelease.
And so I'm glad that I had my spiritual advisor to call and, and that
Actually, she released a lot for us.
She helped me release a lot.
So that helped me like keep going.
(32:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I remember you met at, were in a pulpo restaurant really close to the end andyou, me and Margaret, do remember we had a bottle of wine and you said, I'm not ready to
get to the end yet.
Which is probably why I Finisterre for three days after.
(32:25):
Who wants to hike 90 more K?
Me!
Yeah, but yeah, that was extraordinary.
I wasn't ready.
was happy that I finished at Santiago de Compostela.
Beyond thrilled, but I wasn't, I knew that I still had so much stuff.
(32:48):
And after taking a few days off there just to rest and relax and you know, meet all of youbeautiful people and just have a nice setting where not like eating on the go and running,
you know, it was, and just like sort of honoring the process of
being together and not really understanding what has happened, but we were all clueless inthe fact that we don't know what change has happened.
(33:13):
We know we've changed, but we know we're not yet ready to talk to a person who hasn't donethe Camino about it.
ah Yeah, I just thought, well, you know what?
I still have time.
I don't have to be in Chad until this time.
I'll, what's three more days?
And by that point, I was so fit, because we also did the Primitivo together.
(33:35):
that I thought, why not chill in my body?
And I was kicking ASS on this trail.
I mean, was like week seven and I was like so fit.
I was doing 30 K per day and my legs were so strong.
I was mentally strong.
I was like eating healthily.
I was really doing so well.
(33:57):
I felt, I mean, obviously it had to end somewhere, right?
But I did feel more of a...
ending at Finasterre versus Santiago.
It wasn't that Santiago wasn't ending, it was just more like, I did it.
So listeners, Finisterre is on the west coast of Spain, on the Atlantic coast, whichbasically means that if you go any further, you're in the sea and then you're in America.
(34:22):
Yes, and it is literally translated to end of the earth because that's where the boatswould leave from Spain to go to America apparently.
Wow.
So April, our listeners, our listeners work with people around goals and you've got themost extraordinary goals.
(34:46):
So as we finish this conversation, what would you want to say to somebody who's listeningabout goals?
That is a really good question.
I think we can get overwhelmed with this goal in the beginning.
And I also think if it's a long process, it doesn't matter what kind of goal you have.
(35:11):
A goal like mine, a fitness goal, a business goal, financial goal, relationship goal,relationship within yourself goal, self love goal.
um There are many days where you can feel burned out, tired.
(35:32):
Think that it's worth it and I think the biggest thing you have to tell yourself for thebest thing you have to tell yourself is let me manage my energy.
And like, we can let the set today.
And when I'm ready to pick it up, whether it's tomorrow next week.
It won't deter me from my goal and when you're so focused on things, I think it can feellike if you're taking a day off or.
(36:00):
Taking some time off.
that it's defeat and it's not a defeat.
Like I think that when you're so focused and you don't give yourself time to do somethingelse or rest, it can start to feel not fun.
who wants to make their goal not fun?
That's life is so short.
(36:21):
Why would you want to be pursuing something that's not fun?
So I would say, I think the best thing to do is just assess what your energy level is.
If you need to just take a bubble bath, read, walk,
Just draw, do whatever else that doesn't have to do with your goal and just distractyourself for a day, week, an hour or two, whatever your timeframe is.
(36:43):
And once it feels right, you'll go back to it.
And that's how I felt over the years.
I was so busy maybe chasing things and thinking, sort of being jealous of people when Isee social media, like, why are they there and I'm not?
I think the...
The nicest thing about my depression was that I was forced to like hold back and like workon myself before I worked on my life goal.
(37:08):
And I'm also glad that I spent six months between my penultimate country, which wasMarshall Islands at 192 in Slovakia, reflecting on all the steps that had occurred before
I visited my last country.
So I think it's just time with yourself and
that precious time to manage your energy.
(37:30):
think that's the biggest thing to think about when you're managing a goal like this.
Yeah, nice.
I love that last six months space to process.
That's beautiful.
So something about pacing.
And also, we met when you had taken a big diversion ah and the courage to do that as well.
(37:55):
So thank you, April Peregrino, my friend, the pilgrim.
Very easy to remember my name now.
So if people want to have a look at your journey on socials, where's the best social forthem to look at?
best social would be Instagram.
My handle is @everyotherweek.
(38:16):
All one word because I used to travel every other week while I was working the other everyother week.
I'll pop that on in the show notes.
Thank you, April, for coming to The Coaching Inn.
Thank you.
Thank you, lovely listener, for listening and making us have an excuse to have a reallygreat conversation.
(38:42):
We'll be back next week with another episode.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
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