Adventure Travel with Gilly Gwilliams - Retreats In Greece

Guest Bio

Gilly Gwilliams is the founder of Retreats In Greece, a travel agency focused on wellness retreats throughout the country. After a career in the British Army as an intelligence analyst, Gilly relocated to the island of Kos where she transitioned into fitness and Pilates instruction. Combining her love of holistic health with her deep connection to Greece, she created a platform that offers carefully matched retreats emphasizing healing, fitness, and personal growth. Her work also supports other retreat hosts by helping them connect with travelers seeking meaningful wellness experiences.

Show Summary

In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Gilly about her journey from a military career to founding a specialized retreat travel service in Greece. They explore how Gilly’s early experiences, including her time as a fitness instructor on Kos, led her to create Retreats In Greece—an agency that curates a wide range of wellness retreats beyond the usual yoga and fitness options.

The conversation delves into the unique qualities that make retreats different from typical vacations, such as their focus on healing and providing tools for long-term well-being. Gilly shares insights into the diversity of retreats offered, including a mythology-based healing retreat that uses the story of the Minotaur to help participants process trauma. She also discusses the challenges and rewards of building her business, the importance of personalized retreat matching, and how her own health journey influenced her approach to fitness and wellness.

Listeners gain an understanding of the practical steps involved in booking a retreat through her agency and the supportive community she has cultivated among hosts and travelers alike. Gilly’s story reflects a thoughtful evolution from military discipline to nurturing wellness and connection in a place she describes as deeply healing.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of
the Big World Made Small podcastfor the adventure traveler.
So happy to have each and everyone of you back here today and
super excited to have my guest.
Today we've got Jillie Williams.
She is the founder of Retreatsin Greece.
Jilly, welcome to the show.
Happy to have you here.

(01:25):
Yeah, it's going to be a lot offun.
I I do want to touch on yourname because when I say it, I
don't know if people hear it orif they they see it in the show
notes.
But your last name is Gwilliams.
And you were telling me before Ihit the record button that it's
it is popular in some places.
I had not come across it before.
But tell us a little bit aboutyour last name.

SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
So my name originates from Wales.
I am not from Wales.
I am actually from the north ofEngland, but we do have Welsh
heritage.
But a lot of people of theWilliams name did emigrate to
Canada, I don't know, about 50,60 years ago.
So I seem to see their name popup in Canada more often than I

(02:04):
do actually in the BritishIsles.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Okay.
Do you think or have you?
I'm just curious, becausesometimes names morph.
Is that the original version ofWilliams?
Do you think?
They dropped the G to make iteasier for some people?

SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
So it's the Welsh language.
Maybe Williams was the original,and in Wales they put the G in
front.
So it could have gone eitherway.
Because in Welsh, I don't knowif you're very familiar with the
Welsh.
No, not at all.
There's a lot of gwet sounds inWelsh.

SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
It could be that the evolution of the Welsh language.
It could have gone either way.

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Very cool.
Well, I learned something newevery day.
And we're we're so just startingthe conversation.
I've already learned something.
So, Julie, thank you so much forthat.
And the other thing we discussedbefore I hit the record button
was you'd mentioned your I'm notused to being on this side of
the conversation because I justhappen to know that you've got a
podcast as well.
So before we get into your storyand all the other amazing things

(03:03):
you're doing, let's let's sharethat with our listeners.
Uh so if right off the bat theyknow they want to hear your
voice more, they'll go look thatup.
But don't leave down.
Don't wait till the end of theepisode and then go check it
out.
We'll have uh we'll have someinformation in the show notes
later.
So, Julie, what's uh tell usabout your podcast?

SPEAKER_00 (03:18):
So my podcast is called the Evexia Effect.
So Evexia actually meanswellness in Greek, it's an
ancient Greek word.
And my company that I originallystarted here when I moved to
Greece is called Evexia becausewe do everything about wellness.
So when I decided to do apodcast, I was trying to think

(03:39):
of what the best name it wouldbe because we're talking about
everything in Greece, we'relocated in Greece, and we're
talking about everythingwellness.
So that's how the name cameabout, the Avexia effect.
So all our episodes are to dowith people that are either
Greek or doing something inGreece to do with wellness,
whether that's breath of work,nutrition, fitness, all

(04:00):
different types of things, yoga,anything that can be
incorporated into the wellnessworld, we talk about it on our
podcast in order to try and helppeople if we can.

SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
Very cool.
What's your favorite part ofpodcasting?

SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
Learning.
Honestly, that is the best part.
So every podcast, I learnsomething new, and something,
and things that I canincorporate into my own life as
well.
One particular podcast was aboutnutrition and healing the gut.
And some of the things that wespoke about in that podcast, I
now do in my everyday life.
It's great.
I just love the learning.

SPEAKER_01 (04:36):
Me, me too.
And I would say the same,including learning a little bit
about the Welsh language.
So thank it, there's alwayssomething.
So it's uh it's very cool.
Let's and so now let's get intoretreats in Greece.
What is that all about?
Let's give our listeners kind ofuh, you know, the I don't know,
we can go 60 seconds, sixminutes, whatever, just to help
them get a feel for what you do,and then we're gonna dig back in

(04:58):
time and figure out why you doit.

SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Okay, great.
So retreats in Greece is exactlywhat it says on the packet,
okay?
We're a travel agency that sellsretreats in Greece, okay?
But those retreats can beanything.
So you can have your standardyoga retreats, but they can also
be something more meaningful andin-depth.
Of course, it's everything inGreece, but there's more to

(05:21):
Greece than the Greek islands.
So they can be happeninganywhere in Greece, any time of
the year, not just in summer.
So that is the the concept orthe main concept of retreats in
Greece.

SPEAKER_01 (05:33):
Makes makes sense.
I'm just gonna ask you the wordretreats.
You've given this a lot morethought than I have.
And for retreats might be reallyobvious to some people, but what
is a retreat?
How is a retreat different thanjust a trip?
And uh help our listeners kindof get their head around that,
or help me get my head aroundthat.

SPEAKER_00 (05:53):
So a retreat is something that's meaningful to
that person.
It's something a lot of peoplethat go on a retreat, per se, is
somebody that they're looking tobe able to heal themselves,
they're looking to be able toescape from the rest of the
world.
Maybe they're stressed in theirlife.
And your standard beach holidayis great, but it doesn't give

(06:17):
you the tools to actually fixthe problem.
Most retreats will give you thetools to fix what's actually
going on.
So maybe you're overwhelmed oroverworked or burnt out.
Yes, you can go away for aholiday for two weeks, you feel
great for two weeks, but whenyou go home, you go back into
the same old situation that youwere in before.

(06:38):
Whereas a retreat should allowyou to learn how to not let that
problem happen again.
But it's every retreat isdifferent, and every retreat
offers something different.
So you've just got to think ofit.
With retreats in Greece, forexample, we match you up to the
right retreat for you.
So we don't, we're not a bookingsite.

(06:59):
So people come to us and tell uswhat they're feeling, and we
will say, Well, this is howyou're feeling, this is how you
want to feel, this is the rightretreat that's gonna hopefully
help you on your journey.

SPEAKER_01 (07:12):
Okay, very cool.
And to kind of compare that to atraditional uh tour operator,
agent, that type of thing, arethese retreats that we I'd call
them a group trip that peoplecan book into, just in my in my
vocabulary.
Or, but then there's thecustomized kind of private
itineraries.
So is a retreat always kind of agroup trip that's already set up

(07:34):
and you book spots into it, orcan a couple call you and you
can book a private retreat justfor the two of them with what
does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
So both options are available.
Okay.
A lot of retreats are groupactivities and they can range
from two to 10 to 20 people.
The smaller retreats aregenerally your better retreats,
the more intimate ones, but wedo also offer the solo options.
So we do have hosts in Greecethat are willing to tailor make

(08:02):
a retreat suitable to the personthat's coming.
For example, we have a greatretreat center in Galaxidi,
which is in the mainland ofGreece.
It's a solo retreat, and ourhost will speak to the guest,
see what the guest is lookingfor, and tailor make that to
them, whether they want to comeon their own, come with their
friends, or come with theirpartner.

(08:24):
And then we have your groupretreats where you can just come
along and join.
And a lot of people, when theygo on retreats, they want to
meet other people as well.
So it's a great opportunity forsolo travelers, for solo
travelers to come away and be ina group, not be alone, meet
other people as well.
So that gives you two optionsthere, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
Okay, very cool.
So it's there's a lot ofparallel to kind of the
traditional group trips, uh,what we call FITs or individual
bespoke or whatever you want tocall that.
I would love to, I heard you saykind of a lot of different
things, the you know, differentthings that people can address,
the different types of retreats.
Um, I'd love for you to shareone with us, maybe that's just a
little bit different that mostpeople wouldn't even would maybe

(09:06):
is there one that people wouldsay, oh wow, I had no idea that
they even did stuff like that.
Or are there some on your radarthat you think would just maybe
surprise some of our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
To be honest.
To be honest, that we we offerour standard yoga retreat, but a
lot of our retreats aresomething very different and
very unique.
Like I said, the one in Galaxy,the the group trip at the
moment, which I actually had thepleasure to join earlier in the
year, it's attached to Greekmythology.
So they use the stories of Greekmythology to help you understand

(09:40):
your traumas and move on fromyour traumas in life, which is
really fascinating.
And they're using the story ofthe Minotaur in Crete.
I don't know if you're aware ofGreek mythology.

SPEAKER_01 (09:54):
A little bit, but tell us, tell us the Minotaur.

SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
Yeah, so the whole story is how the Minotaur, his
story of the Minotaur, how hewas captured and kept in the
labyrinth, basically, how he wasborn, why he was there, and the
whole process for the entireit's four to five days.
This retreat, you go through thejourney of this mythological

(10:21):
story, and it allows you to dealwith your traumas in your head
and deal with issues.
And one of the best parts ofthis retreat, which I it was
absolutely incredible, it waslike a it was a reading that
they did, and um but they did itto music, and it was a very
intimate situation, but this wasthe story from the minotaur's

(10:45):
point of view rather than thepeople and the gods point of
view, and it totally changedyour w way you thought about
things because you're looking atit from a different perspective,
and it was in I don't want tosay so much about it because I
think you have to be there toreally experience it, but it
allows your brain to thinkcompletely differently rather

(11:08):
than a one-track situation,which a lot of us are in, and
we're stuck in our own minds alot of the time, and we can't
get out.
And this is a lot of the reasonwhy we need retreats or therapy
or something.
It allows us to come out of ourminds, and this take teaches you
to do things from a differentperspective and to see things
from another way around.

(11:31):
And it was really fascinating.
So this is a really unique, butvery true to Greece, okay?
And this is what I really likeis that the fact that it's so
true to Greece and it's anancient past and the ancient
healings, and you visit Delphi,which is one of the most healing
sites in Greece, it's a reallyfascinating retreat.

(11:52):
But then you've got otherretreats which are about couples
coming together, and maybethey've had problems in their
sexual relationship, etc.
And they come together and dealwith that situation.
So there's lots of differentthings that we have on offer,
and there's something foreverybody.
There's definitely something foreverybody.

SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
All right.
So it's it's not just yoga, notthat I would not that I was
suggesting that it was, but Ithink yoga is the one that
people immediately go to.
Yoga retreats.
I've had a guest on the showthat does yoga and surf
retreats, which is pretty cool.
And uh, but yeah, there's a widevariety.
I love what you were sayingabout using the story of the
Minotaur to, did I say minotminotaur?
That's how I would say it.

(12:33):
Is that yeah?

SPEAKER_00 (12:34):
I think every nationality pronounces it
differently.

SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Don't don't we all?
But I I love using stories likethat to help people connect with
their own story becausesometimes we're so guarded and
so unaware of some things.
And I remember I went to somesort of workshop and the
gentleman was describing how ifI bring someone in and work with
them to share their story,people in the in the audience or
the people that are listeningare are going to be able to

(12:59):
connect to their own elements intheir own life that they might
not otherwise connect with.
And it was just about, you know,outside stories sometimes help
us reflect on, oh wait, I I'veyou mean I'm not the only one
that has that thought in my heador or whatever.
And also I remember someone hadsaid something.
I I think the quote was, I readso that I know I'm not alone in

(13:20):
the world or something.
So that's about kind of hearingother people's stories as well.
So that's very cool.
Okay, we got to figure out howthe heck you got into this.
Because it didn't, it didn'tjust happen.
I don't I don't think you wentfrom northern UK to Greece and
started running uh doing retreatstuff.
So let's go back to let's goback to your childhood.
We can unlock some of yourtrauma so anybody listening can

(13:43):
can feel like they're not alonein the world.
So Jelly, tell us about yougrowing up in northern, you said
in the northern UK, right?

SPEAKER_00 (13:50):
Yes, so I'm from Leeds, which is in Yorkshire,
and which is like middle northof the UK.

SPEAKER_01 (13:56):
So Alright.
What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
So I had a fantastic childhood from being up to a
teenager.
We had a normal childhood, quitefree-spirited, I'm a very
free-spirited person, playingout on the streets, etc.
Nothing like children grow upnow, I don't think.
Yes, yeah.
We didn't have the computerworld.
Maybe we had like a place, thefirst PlayStation, but it

(14:19):
literally just stayed there whenwe maybe played on it in a rainy
day.
But I was, I will 100% say I wasa bit of a tomboy.
So I was always out playingsports, rugby, football,
climbing trees, riding bikes.
You never really saw me in thehouse.
So I was a very adventurous umkid.

SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
And then you have I remember when I was young.
I'm a little older than you, soit's even more different back
then.
But it was kind of, you know,you'd hear things like, okay,
well, you knew you had to behome when the streetlights went
on.

SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (14:49):
Or there was some sort of like because you because
your parents couldn't just textyou or use your location on your
phone to figure out where you'reat.
You were just out and about.
So what kind of do you rememberwhat kind of like what the
trigger was?
Okay, I know I need to go homeand eat, or did your mom just
yell out the front porch out thedoor, or what was that?

SPEAKER_00 (15:06):
My mum used to yell.

SPEAKER_01 (15:08):
Isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 (15:10):
So it depended on how old we were, depended on how
far we were allowed down thestreet.
So I think when we were reallyyoung, it's like you had to be
between the two lampposts.
So my mum could see us all.

SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
Two lampposts.
And then as we got older, wecould go to the end of the
streets, then we could go aroundthe block.
But my mum.
I remember, yeah.
It was very adventurous when wecould go around the block.
We felt so grown up.

SPEAKER_01 (15:33):
It's it's so funny because because now if if if a
parent, you know, father,mother, whatever went out on the
front doorstep and just startedyelling for their kids, people
think they're crazy.
They're like, what is wrong withthat person?
What are they doing?
Can't you just text?
Yeah, so it's it's changed abit.
Do you did you have siblingsgrowing up?

SPEAKER_00 (15:54):
Yes, I've got two older sisters, very different to
me.
So my eldest sister's actuallynine years older than me.
So she was a bit more motheryrather than sibling-y.
But my other sister is who we'reincredibly close now, is uh two
years older than me, but we havevery, very different
personalities.

(16:14):
She is your stay-at-home, read abook kind of girl, and I'm your
go-out.
She never played out on thestreets, or very rarely.
She was inside with her book.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:23):
Okay.
And where do you was this justkind of normal?
What did you, if you reflectback, you're like, yeah, I was
other than the tomboy part, Ilike to be out playing sports,
doing all this stuff.
Was that pretty normal for theneighborhood?
I mean, do you remember otherpeople that were like you, or
did you always did you feel likeyou were kind of a little bit
different?
Because they didn't all move toGreece.

SPEAKER_00 (16:46):
When I was a kid, I would say like the majority of
my friends were boys.
So it didn't really matter thatI was a tomboy.
Um, I had some girlfriends aswell, but I don't know.
I never felt like I didn't fitin when I was a child.
It's when I became a teenagerthat I felt like I never fit in.
That was, but I think thathappens to everybody.
I think looking back now as anadult, you look back to your

(17:08):
teenagers, it wasn't just methat felt like I didn't fit in.
I think everybody feels likethat.

SPEAKER_01 (17:14):
Yeah.
Even even the ones that, youknow, if if I reflect back to
think of the the kids thatseemed like they fit in.
I think if I had a conversationwith right now, with them right
now, they'd be like, yeah, Inever fit in.
I'm like, what are you talkingabout?
Everybody, you know, you werecaptain of the football team or
whatever.
And they're like, they're like,yeah, but it man, the pressure,
the this, the that, and just Ionly did that because I wanted

(17:35):
to fit in, or that, that type ofthing.
What uh what about your parents?
Did they grow up?
Were they born and raised inthat area, or what was their
background?

SPEAKER_00 (17:44):
So my family were all from the same area.
My mum, the so basically thehouse that we grew up in, my
grandma lived around the corner,and then et cetera.
My mum was born on the streetalong the way.
Everybody lived in the same areaand grew up in the same area.
We all went to the same schools,etc.

(18:04):
So it was unusual for somebodylike me to come along and say, I
don't want to live here.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
What about do your sisters still live in that area?

SPEAKER_00 (18:13):
Well, surprisingly, my eldest sister lives in the
same house I was born in.

SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
And um my I don't know if it's a surprise based on
what you were just telling me.

SPEAKER_00 (18:22):
Yeah, and my other sister, she has moved away from
the area, but I do think shewill move back eventually.
I think she's only moved awaybecause of her husband.
So, but I think she does missthe area.

SPEAKER_01 (18:35):
Would you ever move back?

SPEAKER_00 (18:37):
My intentions of ever moving back to the UK at
all.

SPEAKER_01 (18:40):
Wow.
All right, let's talk about yourteenagers.
I want to connect the dotsbecause you seem very, very firm
on that.
When you were in, you know, Idon't know, high school,
secondary school, whatever you,whatever you called it there
when you were a teenager.
What what was going on?
I was like, what did you thinkyou were gonna do when you were
finished with school?
What was what was your life likeas a teenager?

SPEAKER_00 (19:01):
So when I was a teenager, I was I don't you do
have the same where you're from.
Um we I was an air cadet and airforce cadet.

SPEAKER_02 (19:10):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
So my teenage years was literally being a cadet and
going to join the military.
So my whole life revolved aroundgoing to join the military.
And also during my teenageyears, my parents separated as
well.
So it was quite a turbulenttime, but the military aspect to
it always gave me some kind ofstructure, and at the time in my

(19:34):
life, I liked structure.
Okay, it was really good, andyou got to do amazing things.
Somebody with my personality, Iwould go away on summer camp, we
would go flying, we would doshooting, we'd go camping,
hiking, all that kind of stuff.
It was literally my world.
If somebody was asking me what Iwas doing on the weekend, I was
doing something like that.

SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
So I'm curious, I'm curious about that, because I
joined the military at a notrelatively young age, as most
people do.
And my motivation was go see theworld.
It was at the time, it was notlike I want structure.
It was I just want to go see theworld.
So you mentioned structure, youmentioned activities, but if

(20:17):
they had said to you, okay, whenyou're finished with your cadet
training, we're going to stationyou in Leeds and you're gonna do
20 years in Leeds.
So like I'm trying to figure outhow much mo how much of the
motivation was to go see theworld.

SPEAKER_00 (20:29):
It is mostly to see the world.
Like in me, I always wanted toleave.

SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (20:34):
So as soon as I because I eventually did join
the army, that's what I did.
I joined the army.
Um my first posting was toGermany.
So I left and I requested to beposted away.
That was my choice.
And every option that I had togo somewhere, I was volunteering
to go somewhere else.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (20:54):
Okay.
I think I wouldn't be doing agood job if I didn't ask why the
heck did you want to get out ofLeeds so bad?
Was it just be just the desirejust to go see things that's
pervaded through your life, orwas there something about Leeds
you really did not want to be?

SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
To be honest, there's nothing particularly
wrong with Leeds and the home.
I lived life on the countryside.
It was an amazing place.
I'm just have this desire to seeplaces and experience places,
experience cultures.
I think the best education inlife is experiencing other
people's cultures.
You do not learn as much from atextbook as what you do from the

(21:29):
actual experience of beingsomewhere.

SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
Yeah, I I agree.
And I suspect most of the peoplelistening to this conversation
right now can relate to that aswell.
So it makes sense that you'redoing what you do.
What it How old were you whenyou joined the Army?

SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
I was 22 when I joined the Army.
So there was a little bit of agap from leaving school to
actually joining.
I tried to join when I wasyounger and I didn't pass all
the tests at the time.
So eventually I was actually 29,did join.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
What were you what were you doing in the meantime,
other than maybe preparing andthat type of thing?
What was going on?
Like from when you finishedschool until you went and joined
the army.

SPEAKER_00 (22:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (22:05):
You don't have to tell us all the details, but I
just want to get a feel for it.

SPEAKER_00 (22:09):
I never felt settled.
Okay.
So I jumped from job to job.
I worked in a supermarket, Iworked in an office, and then
eventually I worked for a bank.
And I worked for a bank for agood few years.
And I think that was thebreaking point.
Like, get me out of here.
I need to really pursue thismilitary career to see where it
goes.

SPEAKER_01 (22:30):
Yeah, banking generally probably doesn't
fulfill those desires fornovelty and and uh experiences
and spontaneity and and stufflike that.
I get that.
All right.
We won't go too deep into that.
What did you, when you signed upfor the army, was it one of
those things where you just weregonna do whatever they told you

(22:50):
you needed to do, or were youable to choose a specialty, or
what was it?
Was there something particularyou did?

SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
The process for joining the British Army is that
you do a variety of tests andthen they tell you what you'd be
suited to.
So I thought I'd go and be amechanic or something like that.
My dad was a mechanic, so Ithought I'll go and be a
mechanic.
Okay.
That's what I liked.
I liked engineering, I liked thethinking, that kind of thing,
and I liked doing things.
But when I went and did thetest, they said, you can go and

(23:17):
join the intelligence.
So I ended up joiningintelligence.
Yeah.
So I was an intelligence analystfor seven years.

SPEAKER_01 (23:23):
Seven years.
So how did that the job itself?
Was that stimulating enough foryou?
Or what was that like?
Because I think of analystsbeing spending a lot of time
looking at numbers and things.
I don't know.
And maybe you can't tell us allof it, but we are.

SPEAKER_00 (23:41):
So you've got to use your brain.
But it it's also the one job inthe British Army that gets you
posted to different places.
So whilst I was in the army, Iwent to Germany.
We lived on the Dutch border.
I went to Afghanistan.
I went to Nigeria.
I went to Cyprus.
I went to many different placesthanks to my job.
Every six months I was somewhereelse.

(24:03):
So yes, your main job is sat onthe computer doing a lot of
analytical work.
And it takes a lot of brainpower.
It's quite a stressful job, butit's the one job that will get
you to everywhere in the world.

SPEAKER_01 (24:17):
All right.
Very cool.
And when you were doing that,did you was there a place that
you went and you said, Oh yeah,when I am finished with the
military, this is where I'mgoing to live?
Or were you ready to settle downat that point?
I mean, I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_00 (24:31):
So Greece was where I was going to move, but Greece
is somewhere where my familyalways holidayed.
So it has no relevance to themilitary at all.
So when I was like done with themilitary, stressed, etc., I had
a few health issues during thetime and I needed to leave
really for my own health andsanity.

SPEAKER_02 (24:51):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
I had like this thing.
What am I going to do withmyself?
I had no idea what I was goingto do.
So I was a fitness instructor,personal trainer.
I'd done all this training andit was an impulse decision,
really.
I was like, I'm just going to goto Greece.
I'm going to go to COSS, whichis where I live.
This is where we've always comeon holiday.
This is somewhere that feltfamiliar to me.
It didn't feel daunting or newor anything like that, but it

(25:13):
was somewhere, it was still anew adventure.
So I came to COFS as a fitnessinstructor in a hotel.
And that's when this life began,basically.

SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
Wow.
Was it easy for you to do thatas part of the EU, I guess?
And probably, I don't know.
Was it easy for you to go thereand get a job doing that at a
hotel?

SPEAKER_00 (25:33):
At the time, yes.
Before Brexit happened, youcould easily just come to Greece
and just do a job at work.
It was really easy to do.
You just found yourself a job,got on a plane and came.
Really, really easy.
And it's not so easy for peopleto do that now.
They can't do that as a Britishperson.

SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
Yeah, when Brexit happened, did that you were
already there, you were working.
Did that create a situation foryou where all of a sudden you
weren't?
Or did you already how did thatwork?

SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
Because I'd moved here before and I'd become a
resident before You'd become aresident, okay.
There's a situation where if youwere a resident before Brexit
happened, you're still entitledto all the previous rights that
we had before.
So it's not affected me in anyway, shape, or form.
I've just lived my life anddifference.

SPEAKER_01 (26:20):
Did you did you enjoy that new opportunity
immediately?
Like, okay, I'm finished withthe military.
Here I am.
Did you did it feel like yes,I'm home, this is where I
belong, or were you just kind ofokay?

SPEAKER_00 (26:32):
There was something there's something about Greece,
and there's something for meabout cost that is healing.
And I needed that environmentwhere I needed to heal.
I'd suffered from depression,mainly because I had an
autoimmune disease that I didn'tknow about, but I needed
somewhere that made me feelrelaxed.
The UK has never made me feelrelaxed.

SPEAKER_02 (26:51):
Right.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (26:52):
But Greece always had done.
And I think a lot of people thatcome to Greece, for whatever
reason, they will feel thisconnection to the land.
Um, and so every day I wake upnow.
I'm not perfect every day, but Ifeel wake up feeling the
gratitude, grateful for where Ilive.
It's an amazing place.

(27:13):
I live two minutes from the sea,two minutes from a golden beach.
I work on the beach.
Um right now I have my ownbusiness.
To start with, I worked forsomebody, but it was still
amazing.
It was still an incrediblefeeling to work in the I think
it was a childhood dream cominghere to live here without really

(27:35):
knowing because I'd always beenlike dead set on joining the
military that I'd never reallythought moving to Greece was a
serious prospect.
But then when I've got here, itjust feels so natural to be
here.

SPEAKER_01 (27:49):
I hear you, and I sense that you're the person
that it's very a feeling likethis feels like the right place.
I heard you say it that a minutea few times.
But I'm curious, are you able toput your finger on you mentioned
you're close to the ocean,you've got the beach, you've got
just you seem very, very happy.

SPEAKER_00 (28:06):
Are you able to put your finger on what it is for
you that Greece brings to you,or is it just to me there's I
can't put my finger on anything,it is just the feeling, and I
think people do just have thatfeeling, and I think it's a lot
of things combined, to beperfectly honest.
I do think it's a lot of thingscombined, not just one thing.

(28:28):
It's the lifestyle, it's thepeople, it's the environment.
Um, there's a lot of thingswrong with Greece as well.
I can't live it in Greece, it'snot the easiest place to live
with the economy and thebureaucracy and things like
that.
But everything else just makesup for it.
And for me, like the islands, Ilive on an island and the

(28:50):
islands shut down in winter, andeverybody's like, oh, how can
you live on the islands?
But for me, I think that'ssomething that's important.
That for that six months of theyear, it's not hectic, it's not
crazy, it's really peaceful.

SPEAKER_01 (29:04):
Do you think that I suspect it played a role?
I don't know, but do you thinkthat you know you did your time,
you did seven years in themilitary, and you felt like you
needed to, you know, recover onsome some things.
And and if you'd gone somewhereelse, do you think you would
have had that, okay, themilitary's behind me, so I just
feel better because themilitary's behind me?

(29:25):
So maybe you fall in love.
Because sometimes people fall inlove with a place because maybe
they leave a bad relationship,they leave a bad job, and they
go someplace and they're sohappy to have change in their
life.
They just fell in they just fallin love with wherever they are.
I'm not suggesting that's thecase, but I'm curious if you
think that was part of it.
Have you considered that?

SPEAKER_00 (29:45):
To be honest, I've never considered that, but I
think the connection to Greecehappened as a child.

SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Yeah, that's what you said.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (29:53):
I think that's the connection that I came here
already knowing it felt like asafe place.
Because when I'd come on holidayas a child or as a young adult,
I always felt like relaxed andcalm.
And even like when I was in themilitary, I used to still come
on holiday here, and it was anescape from my hectic life.

(30:14):
And it just I think it's more todo with that connection than it
is to do with escape from themilitary.
Although I was very happy to putthe military behind me, even
though it was like a career thatI wanted, it was a career that I
also exhausted.
So by the time I got here, I wasready to do my own thing.
I was ready to be my own person.

SPEAKER_01 (30:35):
Very, very cool.
Did you was it obviously,obviously, just from the sound
of what you're saying, you feltvery comfortable right off the
bat.
It sounds like it.
There's some challenges.
What about making friends,connecting?
Was it was it easy for you?
You're pretty friendly, outgoingperson.
So I'm just curious, was werethere cultural challenges to

(30:56):
make friends, or what was thatlike?

SPEAKER_00 (30:58):
I already had friends before I came here, so I
already knew people.
So I had that small network ofpeople.
And because of the job I do, somy everyday life, forget about
the retreats in Greece, myeveryday life on courses.
I teach Pilates, I do fitness.
So I meet people daily.
And whether that's the Greekcommunity or the expat

(31:19):
community, I meet the mostamazing people on a daily basis.
And those people are the peoplethat have become my close
friends.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
Did you, when you first got there, did you did you
think that the training and thewellness stuff would be what you
would continue to do?
Or was it, I want to be in costsand this is the the skill set I
have right now, and I can get ajob and I'll figure it out
later?
Or did you kind of already knowthat this was gonna be a common
thread?

SPEAKER_00 (31:47):
This is what I was gonna do.
I think this is what I wasnaturally good at, this is what
I enjoyed, and this is it's whatI want to help people.
So, my whole goal in my life,now after my like stresses,
etc., I want to help as manypeople as I can.
So what I started off doing waslike military-style fitness, and

(32:09):
I've evolved as a person.
So I'm still doing fitness,wellness, etc., but in a
different way because how I'veevolved.
But my ultimate goal in life isjust to help as many people and
make as many people feel good aspossible now.

SPEAKER_02 (32:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (32:22):
Because I don't want them to feel how I felt in the
past.
So it's just it is the mostnatural step for me to do what
I'm doing.
And it would be crazy for me notto do this.

SPEAKER_01 (32:34):
Tell me more about the military style training,
because I've seen some of thatwhere you know you've got it's
like a boot camp thing, andyou've got people that dress up
like they're in the military andthey yell at you and they you
make you do push-ups and allthat stuff.
Was it like that?
Because it's hard for me toimagine you doing that.
I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 (32:54):
Very much so.
At the end of the day, in themilitary, you're training for a
purpose, you're training for areason.
You're not training for yourhealth, you're training to
essentially go to war.
That is what you're trainingfor.
So your level of fitness needsto be at a really high standard.
But that also isn't necessarilywhat I've learned now, is not
necessarily good for you as aperson to train that hard.

SPEAKER_02 (33:17):
Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
Not everybody needs, you do not need to train that
hard.
To be healthy, you just need tomove and exercise, lift some
weights.
You don't need to overdo it.
For me personally, I have thisautoimmune disease called
Hashimoto's.
Military training is literallythe worst type of training I can
do for my body.
And I've learned thisafterwards.

(33:39):
Okay.
You learned it the hard way.
Yeah.
Creates my symptoms, makes mysymptoms even worse.
And there's a lot of people,especially women, for example,
perimenopause, menopausal, theydon't need to be doing these
hard workouts.
They think we've been told foryears, if you want to lose
weight, you need to really beastyourself, really work as hard as
you can.

(33:59):
But that's not actually true.
So if you want to lose weight,we need to lift weights.
We need to metabolize our bodybetter.
So it's you've got to think ofit as a better way of working
out rather than really doing themilitary workout.
If you enjoy that thing, if youlike training like that, fine,
train like that.
We've got to do what we enjoy atthe end of the day.
But how many people really liketo be dying at the end of a

(34:22):
workout?
I don't think they do.

SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
Well, you know, you you bring up a really good point
that I had never consideredbefore, but anybody that's been
in the military, especiallymaybe the army.
I'm gonna say maybe especiallythe army.
I don't know.
I've I was in the army, so I'm alittle so in my mind, I think
maybe the Air Force doesn'ttrain quite as hard as maybe
sometimes you do in the army.
But where I'm going with thisis, you know, you take a I was

(34:45):
in the infantry, so I was mostlyaround young men, and you take
the cross section, and at anygiven time, you've got a you
know, a group of people that arelimping around and walking on
crutches and and have shinsplints and have all these
physical things that theseailments, like at a much larger

(35:06):
rate than you see in the in thethe population.
And you gotta think, yeah, isthis really good?
I mean, it's so many of them endup getting out for over-training
injuries and stuff like that.
So yeah, I never thought aboutthat, but it makes sense.
It's it's not uh necessarilyabout making people healthy.

SPEAKER_00 (35:23):
No, it's uh you're training for a purpose.
People are getting I've got a Idislocated my shoulder whilst in
the army.
I still have a problem now withmy shoulder.
You're training for a purposeand you're pushed to your
limits, and you're pushed toyour limits for a reason.
And it's it is an acceptableway, but it just doesn't mean
that we need to train like thatin the civilian world.

(35:44):
There's no need for it.
It's not gonna make youhealthier, it's gonna break you.

SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
You know, it's maybe a good example of that is uh,
you know, I was in the theairborne, so I was a
paratrooper, and the parachutesyou jump with are designed to
get you to the ground as quicklyas possible with a certain level
of expected casual, you know, acertain casualty rate, because
they know they got to get you tothe ground quick because when
you're in the air, you're atarget.
But you also hit the groundreally hard, you know, and so

(36:12):
it's like if you were gonnadecide, okay, I want to get into
parachuting, if you're smart,you don't go get a military
parachute because you're notgonna be able to do it for very
long because you hit the groundso damn hard.
So when you say there's areason, but it doesn't
necessarily mean it's what'sbest for you overall in the long
run, especially if you don'thave to worry about getting shot
at, I guess.
Exactly.

(36:32):
So all right.
So how long did you how long didyou do the kind of military
style training before you?
It sounds like you shifted gearsbecause you realized it wasn't a
great fit for most people, ordid you just adjust the way you
did it?

SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
So after I came out of the military and I started to
learn, like you said, I likelearning.
So I started researching, Istarted looking at things for
myself.
I learned about my ownautoimmune disease, what works
for me, etc.
And I was working a lot withwomen.
Being a woman, I was working alot with women, started to
understand what they do, likehormonal issues, women are

(37:08):
complicated to work with when itcomes to fitness.
So I just educated myself andthe shift happened pretty
quickly, really.
And I started to teach Pilatesas well, which to me is the most
amazing thing anybody could everdo is Pilates.
And that really changed mymindset as well, because that
actually allowed me to slowdown.

(37:30):
That taught me that you can likework hard, but in a really
controlled way and get amazingresults.
You don't have to be workinghard, like fast.
You have to just be doing thingscorrectly.
And that was a huge learningcurve when I started to teach
Pilates, and I still teachPilates to this day.
I think it's literally everyperson on the earth should do

(37:51):
Pilates to some level.
It doesn't change people'slives, really does.

SPEAKER_01 (37:56):
You know what?
I think there's enough peoplethat kind of are aware of
Pilates.
Yes, now they've never done it.
But they but a lot of them havenever done it, and it kind of
looks intimidating, I'm gonnasay, even as a former infantry
paratrooper, I go by a Pilatesstudio and there's these tables,
and and I'm like, what is goingon in there?
And maybe it's maybe theintimidation part is it just

(38:18):
looks like I don't know what I'mdoing.
I feel weird ask walking inthere and asking questions.
So, what should people know thathave walked by a Pilates studio
or and and want to go in buthave that intimidation?
What what do you say?

SPEAKER_00 (38:31):
If you've got a good Pilates instructor, it's they
will make the session and it'saccessible to everybody, no
matter what level you're at.
It doesn't matter whether you'venever even exercised before,
never been for a walk more than500 meters, for example.
Pilates are accessible to everylevel, and we can ch we can

(38:51):
adjust everything to suit everysingle person.
I personally don't teach muchreformer Pilates, which is the
beds you're talking about.
I do a lot of the matte Pilates.
I'm still with the traditionalbeds, which is great, which I
think is less intimidating andmore open to people.
And I recommend that you don'tneed a reformer to do a good

(39:15):
Pilates class.
A reformer was created to helppeople that were struggling with
the other exercises.
You can do everything on themap.
You don't need to be intimidatedby it because you can be a
complete beginner and still havea fantastic class, and you can
be an absolute advanced personand still get an amazing class.

(39:38):
It's it's open to everybody.
I have beginners all the time.
In summer, I teach tourists.
I have tourists come to thebeach to do Pilates, and a lot
of them say I've never donePilates.
But I was like, don't worry.
It's all about just listening toyour body and listening to what
your body can do, comparingyourself to the person next to
you, to what you can personallydo.
And what you can do today willbe different to what you can do

(40:01):
in three months' time.
Progression.

SPEAKER_01 (40:03):
So it sounds, it sounds like what you're saying
is you can have a class withbeginners and people that have
been doing it for a long time,all in one class, and everybody
can get something out of it.

SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Yeah, you can do.
If your instructor's good enoughto manage the class, definitely.
Because every c every exercisein Pilates has levels.
So there's a basic level andthere's an advanced advanced
level.
So Pilates is based around a setcore of exercises, and there's
different variations to eachexercise.

SPEAKER_01 (40:34):
Okay.
Okay.
So is but is it more common tohave different?
Would you have like we're doinga beginner's class at nine and
then at 10 we're doing theadvanced classes, or is it
usually mixed together?
What's help me understand that?

SPEAKER_00 (40:47):
Each studio is different.
It depends how busy the studiois, really.

SPEAKER_01 (40:51):
Okay.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (40:52):
So it will depend on that.
For me, my beach classes are allabilities.
I teach all abilities classes.
That's how my program works.
But for example, during COVIDwhen I was doing things online,
I had an advanced class everyday.
We did an advanced class.
It all depends on the area thatyou're in, how popular the

(41:13):
studio is.

SPEAKER_01 (41:15):
You you made it clear that you don't do the
reformer Pilates.
But I'm like that word justsounds like a torture device.
I mean, it kind of looks likeit.
Am I the only one that thinksreformers like we're gonna we're
gonna punish you until you getit right, until you align with
everybody else?
Or do you know where that whythey chose that word?

(41:36):
Am I is it just me that thinksthat?

SPEAKER_00 (41:38):
Pilates isn't originally called Pilates.
Pilates is the name of theperson that created it, Joe
Pilates.
Um the actual exercise itselfwas originally called
Contrology, which is movementreformer.

SPEAKER_01 (41:52):
That's a little bit like torture too, but okay.

SPEAKER_00 (41:55):
Yeah, so the history of Pilates, Joseph Pilates, he
was a physiotherapist and he wasin, I believe, a concentration
camp, something of the sortduring the war.
And um, in order to help peoplethat were injured in this camp,
he used the bed and springs,which is what the reformer
essentially is, to rehabilitatethem, basically.
And this is what he did.

(42:16):
So this is where the reformeridea comes from, is because he
used what he could get hold ofin the camp during the war to be
able to help rehabilitatepeople.
So the reformer is justbasically a tool, one of many
tools within the Pilates worldthat can be used to help people.
It's not a torture device, it'sthere to help people.

SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
I think he should have picked a he's probably a
really smart guy, but I think heshould have picked a different
word for that.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (42:43):
That's just whether he called it a reformer, I'm not
100% sure, to be honest.
Okay.
I don't know where the actualreformer that we use today
actually came into play, to behonest.
I can't tell you that.
I don't know the answer.

SPEAKER_01 (42:58):
But it's also, you know, I mentioned walking by the
studios and seeing the tables,it feels a little intimidating,
but it's not really that muchdifferent than walking by a gym
where there's a bunch ofequipment in there.
You know, many, many people willnot walk into a gym because of
the equipment, too.

SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
Yeah.
If you're not familiar withsomething, you're immediately
like concerned and scared aboutit.
And I tend to get that a lotwith women mostly.

SPEAKER_02 (43:22):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (43:22):
With lifting weights, for example.
All women should lift weights.
It's really, really essential totheir bone health, their just
general health.
But they're all intimidated byweights because over the years
we've been told you don't wantto lift too many weights, you'll
get too bulky, for example.
So we it's changing people'smindsets and understanding that

(43:43):
these things don't need to beintimidating.
But it's also having the rightinstructor.
Having the right person to teachyou is really, really important.
You've got to have the personthat you gel with.
Not everybody gels with me, forexample, but the people that do
gel with me, they they flourishin Pilates, in the gym, etc.

(44:03):
So I would say 90% of the timeit's the person that you're
working with that makes thedifference.
So forget about the equipment,forget about everything like
that.
If you can get a good trainerthat that fits your personality,
the intimidation goes away.

SPEAKER_01 (44:19):
And presumably you you work with men as well.

SPEAKER_00 (44:22):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (44:23):
Okay.
I I recognize maybe not as manymen, but I the question I want
to ask you is do you think womenare a little bit more likely to
kind of ask for a little bit ofhelp and and and maybe initiate
a conversation with you?
Whereas I think of men thatmaybe think they should be going
to the gym.
They they w but they reallydon't want to be the guy that

(44:45):
walks in the gym that's nevertouched a weight set before.

SPEAKER_00 (44:48):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (44:49):
And to walk in and ask for help is is yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (44:55):
Women are more open to ask for help, and women are
more open to group activities aswell.
So if you've got a class, forexample, women are more.
Produce that just like retreats.
Retreats are more popular withwomen because they're happier to
go in a group activity.
And surprisingly, they'rehappier to travel solo as well.
They're less intimidated totravel solo, which surprises me

(45:19):
because men believe that they'reall these confident kind of
people.
But when it comes down tothings, they're actually not as
confident as the majority ofwomen.

SPEAKER_01 (45:28):
Yeah, that's a whole nother conversation.

SPEAKER_00 (45:30):
Yeah, that's a whole we could talk hours.

SPEAKER_01 (45:33):
I'm trying to think if I even want to, you know, as
a as a male solo traveler forthe last four and a half years,
I actually kind of get it.
You know, I mean, there aremoments where, you know, it kind
of taps into your ident uh youridentity a little bit when you
show up in a place and thingsdon't go well, and and you can
be a little bit like, ooh, geez,I don't like this because, you
know, but anyway, that we'llsave that conversation for

(45:55):
another another day.
But I'm curious about like theretreats.
Let's get back to the retreatsbecause I want to learn more
about kind of what you're doingthere.
And I guess the first questionthat comes to mind is like, for
example, the couples' retreats,because that doesn't always mean
a man and a woman, but it itit's more likely to involve a
man and woman than maybe some ofyour other retreats or just

(46:16):
couples in general.
Is do you notice, like, again, aa couple can be a couple, but if
you've got a man and a woman, isthe woman usually the one that
sets it up?
Are they the ones doing allthis?
And does their does their ifthey've got a male partner or
any partner, does their partnerknow what they're getting into?
Do you do you like do you feelsometimes like they're getting

(46:38):
ambushed?
Because, you know, I thinksometimes guys think they're
going on one type of trip andthen they they all of a sudden
are being forced to deal withtheir emotions and feelings and
all that stuff.
So I'd love to hear about that.

SPEAKER_00 (46:49):
I feel like women are the instigators.
Like the majority of myinquiries come from the women, a
very small biorision comes frommen.
Whether they feel like they'rebeing ambushed, I don't know,
because I don't know theconversation that they're having
on the other side.
And I'm personally not on theretreat, so I'm not, I cannot
tell you the experience of thoseparticular retreats.

(47:09):
We're just the the company whichis setting you up with the right
retreat, where they'rein-between people.

SPEAKER_02 (47:16):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 (47:17):
So it's definitely the women that instigate, but I
would I'd like to think thatit's been a mutual agreement to
go somewhere like that.
I know if I was to take myhusband somewhere, couldn't the
thought of telling him he'sgoing somewhere and not being
the right place would be adisaster.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:35):
I I remember maybe it's on the other side of it.
I worked in the fly fishingbusiness and I managed a fly
fishing resort, and uh thiscouple showed up and actually it
was a family, but the woman gotoff the boat and she looked me
straight in the eyes.
The first thing she said to meis, Hi, my name's Mary, and I do
not want to be here.
So, like, like maybe draggingyour wife on a fly fishing trip

(47:56):
is kind of like some womandragging their husband on a
couple's retreat in Greece orsomething.
I so I can imagine being on thereceiving end, they probably
have some stories.
But I'll also tell you, at theend of the week, she was the
social butterfly.
She was like giving the bighugs.
Oh my gosh, I had so much fun.
I didn't think I would like it.
So you get that on the otherside too.
So that's uh that's pretty cool.

(48:17):
How did you go from well?
Let's because you started at thehotel as a fitness trainer,
instructor.
How did you get into the doingit for yourself and then walk
me, walk me forward intoretreats in Greece and how you
started doing that?

SPEAKER_00 (48:32):
The hotel job was just like literally my key to
get to Greece, get to cost.

SPEAKER_02 (48:38):
Yep.

SPEAKER_00 (48:38):
And when I I decided I didn't want to work for
anybody, basically, when Iworked there, I was like, I'm
done with doing stuff for otherpeople in that sense.

SPEAKER_01 (48:49):
So after the season had finished, I think how long
did it, how long did it take youto figure that out in that job?

SPEAKER_00 (48:55):
About a month, I think.
Not very long, not very long.

SPEAKER_01 (48:59):
You're quick, you learn quick.
Good job.

SPEAKER_00 (49:01):
Yeah.
Um, so at that point, when theseason finished, I decided that
that was it.
I'm gonna start setting up on myown.
So I attempted, first of all, toset up an online personal
training business.
It was the craze at the time.
Whether it still is the craze, Idon't know.
It didn't really work out, itwas really not for me.
I like personal interaction.

(49:23):
So I started to personal trainpeople, and then I did go and
get a job in a gym, but as afreelancer.
So I just went and taught myclasses.
I didn't work for the gym, I wasa freelancer, and then I just
expats basically came to me andsaid, Can you we do some
classes?
And I was like, Yeah, why not?
So we picked a like a communityplace that they all hung out and

(49:45):
we started to do classes.
And to this day, these classesare still going, slightly
different location, but it's notin a gym.
One's in a dance school, one'sin the back of a cafe.
Um it's because these are thepeople that don't want to go to
a gym.
So it just kind of evolved mysetting up on my own and people
asking me, and the expatcommunity, and then the Greek

(50:07):
community going to a gym.
And then my personal training, Igo to people's houses.
I'm not based in a gym, I'll goto people's houses and work with
them at their own home.
And then my dream was always toset up my own fitness retreats.
So I thought I've got thisbeautiful island, let's bring
here specifically to doretreats.
And through what I was doing, Imade some fabulous connections.

(50:30):
And they said, You go and speakto this person, go and speak to
this person before I knew it.
I was hosting my own fitnessretreats um here in Kosh, and
they were incredible.
But it's not so easy here to setup a business, and to actually
have a retreat business, youneeded to be a travel agent.

(50:52):
So to sell a retreat packagebecause you're selling, selling
accommodation, you're sellingthe activities, you're selling
it's really by law, you need tobe a travel agent.
So I went through this processto become a travel agent, but it
costs a lot of money, it's not acheap venture to do, and it was
a lot of stress.
And I was like, well, if I'mhaving to be a travel agent, why

(51:14):
not do something a little bitmore with it as well?
Because I wasn't making a returnfrom my retreats to make it
worthwhile, if that makes sense.
I'd set up a Facebook groupcalled Retreats in Greece
because there was nothing onFacebook for retreats in Greece.
There was yoga retreats, therewas retreats in Europe, retreats
everywhere else.
And this group grew prettyquickly.

(51:35):
And then off the back of that,and the fact that I had to be a
travel agent, and I thought, youknow what, why don't I do a
travel agency for retreats inGreece?
So I set myself up my ownwebsite, a Wix website where I
built it myself.
Worked great, and the interestwas there, and lots of hosts
came to me saying we'reinterested in advertising with

(51:58):
you, and it just grew that year.
And so eventually I investedinto building a nice site, which
is a workable site, which iswhat you see today.
And it's just everything's justorganically grown.
It's not being something like Iwant to do this, so I'm gonna go
and do this.
It's just it'd been an evolutionfrom one thing to eventually get

(52:19):
into where I am today.
And I've built this not justselling retreats, I've built a
community of hosts of peopledoing things with retreats in
Greece.
So people that have venues,people that do services, like
maybe they're instructors, maybethey're caterers.
So I've built this community upand it's constantly growing
every single day.
And retreats in Greece is a newventure.

(52:41):
It started last year.
We're still very, very new, butit's constantly growing, and
it's just amazing, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 (52:50):
It's yeah, I can see the look on your face.
It this is not something thatyou're just Yeah, you can I can
tell that.
What's the what's the typical sopeople that are listening to
this, they're yeah, yeah,exactly.
And so the people that arelistening to this are gonna go
to the link in the show notes,they're gonna go over to your
website.
What does the process look like?
Is this a very consultativething?
Like, are they can they go onthere and just book a retreat?

(53:13):
Or is it best if they reach outto you and and have a
conversation with you?
Or what do you what do you thinkis the best way?

SPEAKER_00 (53:19):
So they can just go onto the website, look through
the website, see a retreat,what's what they think is best
for them.
But what I personally I'd reallyrecommend is that they go onto
the website.
The front page of the websitehas a discovery form.
Click the discovery form, fillin the form.
It lets me know how you'refeeling, how you want to feel,

(53:40):
what you like doing, the datesthat you want to travel, your
budget, etc.
So it's a full discovery form.
And then I will review all thatinformation and try and find the
right retreats to match to thatperson.
Sometimes I'll need to ask morequestions.
So we it tends to be done viaemail or WhatsApp.

(54:00):
Um, if people want to talk to meon the phone on the phone, they
can do.
I'm more than available to talkon the phone.
But most people, because they'reso busy in everyday life,
email's generally better format.
And then hopefully we find theright retreat for them and book
them onto the right retreat.
And because they're bookingthrough a travel agency rather

(54:20):
than a booking site, they'realso getting this sort of travel
security, which a lot of,especially people that don't
travel a lot, like to know thatthey're being secure when
they're traveling.
They've got their insurance,they've got everything, they've
got somebody looking after them.
We at the moment we don't doflights, etc., but we do work
with a team that can arrangeflights, transfers, etc.

(54:42):
So you can do everything prettymuch all in one place if you
really want.
Or you can just book the retreatand you can organize your own
flights.
A lot of people, for example, ifthey come from the States or
Canada, they'll come for theretreat and then they'll stay,
go and visit some other placesin Greece as well.
They'll make the most of theirtrip.
Do you so we can maybe useeverything?

SPEAKER_01 (55:04):
Okay, that's what I was gonna ask.
It it sounded like if they wantto do three or four days
somewhere else, not on theretreat, you can help them with
that as well.
I just want to make sure I wasclear on that.
Okay, all right, all right,that's very, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 (55:17):
Not me personally that will do that.
It was being my team that wework with, which will help them
do that.
We hope in the future that wecan do that.
Um, that in my my goal for nextyear would be the next step that
we can do that element as well.

SPEAKER_01 (55:33):
It just seems like you've got you've got partners
you can work with that can thatcan help them make that make all
that happen.
All right, cool.
So you're still doing the thePilates and the wellness
training.
Are you doing any of your ownretreats or are you have you
really shifted to working withother with partners and their
programs selling their retreats?

(55:53):
Or help me understand that?

SPEAKER_00 (55:55):
So I do do my own retreats and I help other people
host retreats hearing costs aswell.
So if people come from otherplaces, they want to host a
retreat and they don't knowwhere the first place to start,
I help them put their retreatstogether.

SPEAKER_02 (56:08):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (56:09):
This year I'm not doing any retreats hearing
costs.
I'm actually taking my IvexiaPilates community to another
another island.
So we're going to Kalimnos to doa retreat.
That's just a Pilates weekendaway.
But this year I've not done anyfitness retreats.
I hope that in the future we doget back to them.

(56:30):
But the retreats in GreeceTravel Agency has taken up so
much time.
Yeah, yeah, we'll do that.

SPEAKER_01 (56:38):
Very, very cool.
All right.
Julie, we covered we covered abunch of stuff.
I I suspect there were somethings in there that I didn't
get I didn't pick up on and Imissed.
And but I so I guess I want toask you this.
What do you before we wrap up,what do you wish I would have
asked you, or what do you thinkI forgot to ask you that you
want to make sure that ourlisteners hear before we wrap

(56:59):
up?

SPEAKER_00 (56:59):
To be honest, I generally think you've asked
everything.
We've covered everything.
We've covered the main thing isthe retreats in Greece.
Check the website out, really,and come and see what we can do
for you.
Um, especially if you've neverbeen to Greece, discover how
magical Greece actually is.
Um, it is a place to heal.

(57:20):
There's so much energy, ancientenergy, ancient healing.
The sea.
There's so much to gain fromGreece, not just from retreat,
from just visiting in general.
But I think we've coveredeverything.
You've asked me more questionsthan anybody's ever asked me
before.

SPEAKER_01 (57:36):
I'm a curious, I'm a curious kind of guy.
It doesn't, it's not on purpose.
They just they just come out.
I open my mouth and thequestions come out.
So thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's been so fascinating.
I just realized there is onequestion that I that I missed.
Are retreats like families withkids?
Is it a non-starter or shouldthey go look at your website
anyway?

(57:56):
Do you have options?
Can you help somebody with afamily traveling with kids?

SPEAKER_00 (58:02):
At this moment, we don't have any retreats with
kids on our website with us, butthat's not to say that we never
will.
We're open to advertising alltypes of retreats.
And there's a lot of people dooffer mother-daughter retreats,
father-son retreats.
It's just that we're notspecifically advertising them at
this time.
But I hope in the future that wedo.
We're constantly getting a fewyears.

(58:23):
This is a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (58:24):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (58:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So if you do if you're hosting aretreat in Greece, please get in
contact with us and let usadvertise for you.
So yeah.

unknown (58:34):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (58:35):
I'd love to advertise mother-daughter family
retreats because I think everyretreat has a place.

SPEAKER_01 (58:41):
Very, very cool.
I do too.
Thank you so much.
I learned so much today.
And it's going back to thebeginning of the conversation,
that's you mentioned that that'spart of what that's what you
love most about doing yourpodcast is learning things.
And I'm you and I are so alignedon that.
And so thank you so much forsharing some of your your
stories, your wisdom.
And that was a lot of fun.
Let's do it again sometime.

SPEAKER_00 (59:02):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been a real pleasure.
And I'd love to do it again.
Thank you so much, Jason.

SPEAKER_01 (59:07):
Thanks, Jelly.
We'll talk to you really soon.
All right.
Thanks.
Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 (59:11):
Thank you.
Bye bye.