¶ Adventures in Travel and Exploration
The Bay of Naples in Italy is known for its beauty , with volcanic hills surrounding it , including the still active Mount Vesuvius . In the story the Last Leaf by O Henry , the Bay of Naples symbolizes life . For my guest , becky Lukavich , the Bay of Naples has also served as an inspiration to her in her career in the travel industry .
Let's see what adventures we can find with Becky Lukavich . Welcome to Journey with Jake . This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way . While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you .
Each episode will feature different guests or guests as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on . Not only will you be entertained , but you'll also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way .
My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day-to-day challenges . After all , it's not all about the destination as it is about the journey . Welcome back to the show . I'm so happy you're here .
My name is Jake Bushman and I'm the host of Journey with Jake . Before we get into my conversation with Becky Lukavich , if you have not done so , please subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to your podcast . I would also love it if you could leave me a rating and review . That would mean a lot to me . Journey with Jake is available on YouTube .
I'm still learning and growing on YouTube with my editing skills , but it's getting better and I know some of you like to watch the episodes on YouTube . So just search for Journey with Jake podcast on YouTube and check out the show over there , and be sure to subscribe and like the show on YouTube as well .
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Becky Lukavich is another impressive adventurer and traveler . From guerrilla trekking in Uganda to hiking in Patagonia , she loves to get out and travel , so much so that travel is her career . Becky is the owner of Bella Travel Company and it was fun to dig into the career side of travel as well with Becky .
If you like this episode , you will also enjoy episode 84 with Jamie Edwards about her explorations around the world . Okay , let's get to my conversation with Becky Lukavich . All right , I'm excited today I have Becky Lukavich on the show with me today . Becky , welcome to Journey with Jake .
Hey , thanks , thanks for having me . I'm excited .
Yeah , me too . This is always fun for me when I get to meet different people .
Someone like you who's traveled all over the place , always have fun because you have so many different stories , different experiences Before we Razorbacks definitely an SEC football fan , of course , and you know , growing up in Arkansas , it really fostered in me this love of adventure and this curiosity about the natural world , about different cultures , because in Arkansas
we had this you know kind of confluence of , you know , french explorers , spanish explorers , native Americans and then just a hodgepodge of you know hill people and Delta people who lived on the Delta and all that . It really growing up there and spending my summers in the lakes and the rivers and the mountains really fostered in me this , this need to explore .
You know you want to be Pocahontas on the canoe , like looking for , you know telling the guys where to go . You know that kind of thing .
So you know , fast forward into my adulthood , I found that after backpacking through Europe a few times , I found that I really wanted to see more of the world and I found that so many things on my life list had to do with travel and had to do not just like checking things off my list .
I'm not really a list checker as far as destinations , but I want to see it . I have FOMO .
It's like , oh , I want to do that , I want to do that , I want to go looking through National Geographic as a kid I don't know if you did that but it's like , oh , I want to go there , I want to go to Tanzania and Madagascar and Lake Titicaca and Peru and the Andes , all that jazz . I realized that this thing called travel was calling me .
I was planning my travel travel for friends , as many in my industry do . We kind of found ourselves in the spot of a consultant with other people for free , just because it's the overflow of our passion .
So I'd spent hundreds of hours on this trip to go to the Amalfi Coast in Italy and I'm sitting there it's right at the beginning of the 2000s and I'm overlooking the Bay of Naples , standing there , going doggone . This is awesome . I could do this for a living .
I'm like I don't even know who would hire me , and for me , travel agents were the people who did things that you know , that offered things I didn't want to do . They offered very pre-planned , very programmed . I just wanted to teach people how to be more intrepid and curious travelers . And so I'm like you know what ?
I'm going to be a consultant , I'm going to tell people work on their itineraries how to do things . And so I'm like , all right , well , let's get some education and let's , let's do it , let's , let's start a business . And so I did . I went to travel school .
It was an online travel school , yeah , so learned a few things and then said , all right , I'm in it to win it and started my career in travel . Eventually , after a few years , I realized that in the beginning , although I was , I thought it was too cool for school in that , oh , luxury travel .
If you stay in a luxury hotel , you're so insulated from all the people and you can't have an authentic you have to stay in a hostel to have an authentic experience .
if you travel in a very high level way , in a very high end way , you can spend time with a local artist who has friends who are artists and learn to paint , and take lessons with the best baker in Saint-Germain in Paris and learn how to make baguettes on the coals there , you know , in the sixth arrondissement , and all that , and so I'm like .
So to me , the more I got into travel , the more I realized that the luxury space was my space , not because of the money , but actually because I can do really cool stuff , like really cool stuff .
That's cool because I think you know , and you packed a lot there and there's a bunch of stuff I want to get to . But going the most recent thing about the luxury part of it , I think that's what a lot of people think of , even me in my mind , like , oh , luxury , yeah , they're insulated , they're just often their little high end suite .
I didn't realize all the specialty experiences and things you can do with luxury , like you said , working with a chef or doing an artist , things like that that I never even thought of before .
Yeah , you know , meeting with a local , having dinner with a family , going into India and Cochin and being on this houseboat with you know , and get to know these families , and things like that , there's so many things that you can do experiential wise .
You know , all luxury properties aren't just right there on the Champs Elysees , there's also in Paris , there's also ones that are tucked away in these little villages and I mean , yeah , it's , it's definitely , you know , something that I had to come to find that you know , just price point does not mean either way that you can't have an authentic experience .
All right , let's go back to Arkansas . That's where you grew up Rivers , lakes , trees , exploration and I know on your Instagram it says your name and then it says Explorer
¶ The Joys and Struggles of Exploration
. What is it about exploring ? What is it that you know got you excited ?
You know I think , oh , that is such a good question For me . Exploring , I mean especially as a woman , and I mean as a person too , but you know , as a woman sometimes , you know we're not afforded the luxury of wanting to be an explorer and so we ended up being more of a caretaker or , oh , I'm going to hurt my nails and all this stuff .
And so that really resonated with me because as an explorer , you matter , you get to discover and you get to find the secret trails and see the vistas and just hang out there and scale the rocks , and there's this feeling of accomplishment with exploration in a finding something new , be sometimes living through it . It's like , oh my gosh , I didn't die .
You get a precarious situation . You're like whoo , that was close , you know , and all that .
So I think it just really , you know , hits my heart in this way that you know that you're an important part of that story and I think it just really , you know , hits my heart in this way that you know that you're an important part of that story and I think , as a woman , you want to be an important part of this big , epic story , right .
The other thing you talked about . You talked about going to Europe and backpacking Before I get to that , even siblings , anything like . What was the family situation like ?
I have a younger sister . She's about three years younger than me and we are . I love my sister . She's one of the smartest women I know . We're built differently . You know I'm more the explorer , she's more . You know yoga , pilates and all that . I mean she will definitely explore . I love it . She's always ready to do that . But you know we're definitely .
You know I'm the extrovert , she's the introvert . But you know we were close in age but but not , you know , not like right there together .
And now married kids . Anything like that for you personally .
At the moment . No , oh , kids . Yes , I do . I have two grown kids . I'm sorry , kids , I almost forgot about you .
They're just the kids right .
They're overrated . So , yeah , my son just got married this year . My daughter has been married for a number of years and she and her husband have two kiddos . So I'm a Mimi , but yeah , so I have two kids not married , living the life here in atlanta , you know , living the buckhead life .
so , yeah , atlanta , love it all . Right , awesome . So you live in atlanta now . So you went from arkansas . I think at one point you're in indiana , if I'm not mistaken .
I saw that on your bio okay yeah , I lived there 20 some odd years so raised my kids there on a very , very , very large farm . So farm so like 1,800 , 2,000 acres , something like that .
Wow , and now you're in Atlanta doing the Buckhead thing , awesome . So you went off and explored Europe , backpacking whatever , but then you talked about the Bay of Naples , I believe is what you said , and that's where you kind of had that moment where you're like I can do this Kind of describe that to me a little bit what was the temperature like ? What ?
I mean , what were you feeling ? What was the , what did ?
you see , kind of give me the details of what that experience was like . Oh sure , okay , so , yeah , so we were walking into town , our , our little , our little hotel , cozy little hotel , overlooking the a little baby sliver of the ocean , was just , I don't know , maybe like a 10 minute walk from town .
So I was walking into town and then there was just this small little traffic bridge with a little sidewalk on the side , and in temperature it was a brisk April morning , I was wearing my favorite jean jacket that had a little sparkle and I looked , and so , in the Bay of Naples , how that situates itself is it was morning , and so you have that where I mean
it's not too misty but you have a little bit of morning misty because it's spring and it's it's clearing , so it's not quite foggy but just a little misty
¶ Personalized Travel Planning Services
. So you see Vesuvio , the volcano . So some of the old-timers um , they're , you know , they name . His name is Vesuvio . He's a man , not Vesuvius or Vesuvius .
So Vesuvio was there and he makes this like cone shape , like this , and he looks almost like a , like a purpley color , because he's kind of back in the background and he's the color of lava rock , but it makes him look a little purpley .
So he's standing there and I'm looking at this , seeing him on the other side of the water just going , man , wow , you know it's like I'm in paradise . And then you know being the kind of person I am , you know I I being an extrovert . If I do anything , I want like 50 of my friends with me doing it you know , the more the merrier .
So I'm like , how can I get more people to do this ? And so I immediately wanted to share this experience with other people . And again it's it's that experience of exploration , of seeing this view and I have this thing about views that make me feel small .
I love to have a view where I feel tiny , tiny , tiny and everything feels big and it just opens your mind because you're just like , wow , the earth is really big and I'm gazing on something super special . So I wanted to share it .
And that's kind of how that , why I wanted to start this business , because it was out of , again , out of that abundance of my passion , because I wanted other people to experience .
Well , I love the fact that you took your passion , you took something that you love and are making that a career out of that . I think so many people would like to do that and I don't think they've been able to do that . I know I've struggled with that . I commend you for doing that , for taking that risk and doing that .
I look at travel and I think how do people , how do they make a living at it ? Like , how do you do it ? Because you know you , when I was a kid growing up , there were travel agents but you had to have them because they're the ones who booked the airline tickets . You couldn't . There was no such thing as internet .
When I was a kid , you know , it was like you had to go through travel agents . And then you know , internet comes along and next thing you know , travel agencies are just going away . So how do you do it ? How do you run your business ? What are you all ? What's your business all about ? I guess is what I'm asking .
Oh sure , and I think you'll find if , if you look at the numbers today , the number of people in the travel industry , it's really booming . And because it's becoming more of a consultative , the internet kind of takes you for your word of , okay , I want the cheapest room with a pool and an ocean view . That's there .
And then you look at a few pictures and like done , you know kind of thing . And then you know you look on you know various sites to see oh , okay , what kind of activities do I want to do ? You know you're like , okay , done , for example . And then I'm going to jump into what you say .
You know , for example , some people will say , oh , I want to go to the red light district in Amsterdam . I just had a friend say that to me and I'm like , okay , well , tell me what you're seeing . And I'm looking at them . I'm like , okay , you know these , even though they say red light Amsterdam tours , they don't do that anymore .
And then in the fine print it's like we actually don't go to the red light district . We have the tour and we say there , it is Bye , bye . And because there's so many options and and so many decisions to be made , I mean your vacation , even if you have a bazillion dollars , it's an investment .
It costs a bazillion dollars to go anywhere and to have a great experience , and so why leave it to chance for reviews of people you don't even know ? You don't even know if their idea of a great restaurant is Waffle House because it's cheap . You don't know where they're coming from .
A professional gives you that perspective , because I plan trips every single day , usually over the weekend , usually at night too . Every single day . I have my hands in travel . A lot of my friends , my colleagues . I have my hands in travel . A lot of my friends , my colleagues , we're sharing . They're planning travel every day .
So we hear it , we see it , we see the pitfalls . We meet with the people who are the director of sales , the general managers , the owners of these properties . So we get to say I get to sit in front of them at dinner and go hey , what do you love most about your hotel ? What are you most excited about this year about your hotel ?
To me , that's the best part about my industry . Then , fast forwarding into . You know how the business works . There's different ways of arranging . There are different business models in the travel industry . My personal business model is I'm fee based , so you pay me , you know , a planning fee or yearly subscription fee .
Basically , you get me , you get my advice , you get my recommendations and then , when you're traveling , if something happens and your flights delayed or there's a train strike or whatever , I'm just a text away or a WhatsApp away and so you have somebody to say I got you . It's like I know , I know there's volcanic ash everywhere . I've had this happen before .
Here's the next step I've got you . That's the model that I have . It's it's that that you have a person who helps you .
That's cool , I like that and I think so . I'm sitting here thinking cause I'm in my mind , I'm like my mind's kind of spinning . You know , like what would I do ? What do I need help with ?
When you are talking to prospective clients or someone who wants your service , how much effort are you putting in to get to know who they are and what what's involved with that part of it ? Because it seems to me like you would want to know kind of some of their likes , dislikes , before you can just say otherwise .
You're just doing the same thing as the internet without just in person .
Yeah for sure . So when somebody pings me and we have an exploratory call or email or virtual call , some kind of Zoom or some sort of situation like that , the first thing I do is I rattle off , I call it my 20 questions . There may be 20 , there may not be 20 , but somewhere around in there .
But I'm asking questions like , say , you want to go to Thailand and I'm like , okay , so tell me what draws you to Thailand , like what's interesting ? Why Thailand ? What do you hope to experience there ? Not what destinations do you want to see , but you know , what do you hope to experience there ? You know , do you ?
And then it's like like the would you rather ? You know ? Okay , tell me city or country . Or do you want to drive ? Do you want to not drive ? Do you want wildlife ? Do you want to not drive ? Do you want wildlife ? Do you want spa ? Do you want all these things ? And so . But I started asking all these questions beyond what's your budget ?
How many nights we have that discourse ? You know ? How active do you want to be ? So some people need and want to be . They want to be , go , go , go . If they have a blank space , they are , they are freaked out about it and they honestly want to go , go , go . And some people it's like I just can't every day .
And so it's like you know how do you want the pacing , do you ? You know , do you want to stay in one place the whole time , this and that and the other ? And sometimes they have an idea in their mind already what they want to do .
And you know , a lot of times we talk about that because it's like okay , so you have 10 days and you want to see six countries and two cities in each country . Because it's so close , I'm already there , so I , let's talk about that , you know .
Or you want to go to Hawaii and in your mind you're thinking Maui , but you're like , hey , I want to go to Waikiki Beach . Well , let's talk about that . Are you okay with being in a city with a beach ? Do you want to be more out ? That kind of thing . So a lot of that happens .
And then , when I send my onboarding documents , I also have things like tell me your best vacation and why . Tell me your worst vacation experience and why it's like what stresses you out about travel experience and why it's like what stresses you out about travel , what excites you about travel . What kind of restaurants do you like ? Do you like trendy restaurants ?
Do you like casual ? Do you like you know world class , you know Michelin star , you know top 50 , top 100 restaurants . So we ask so many questions Because , like you said , I want to get to know my people , you know , and that's important to me .
Yeah , I like that Because I think sometimes I think people like me , if I want to get to know my people , you know , and that's important to me .
Yeah , I like that Because I think sometimes I think people like me , if I were to ask you like I want I've never been to Europe and I want to go to Europe I don't know if I would know some of the stuff to even ask , or some of the stuff to tell you without you asking me certain things Well , do you like this or do you like that ? Do you like ?
And so I love that . I love that approach because that's a consultative I guess . I mean , that's the whole idea behind it . And I love that because I know for someone like me who's like never been to Europe but wants to go , that would help me out because I don't really know what to do . You know , do I go here ? Do I go there ? How do I get around ?
Do I , you know this ?
that Certainly . You know some of the other questions I'd ask . For example , I'd ask you , you know , are you a soccer fan ? Do you want to go see a soccer game ? And that would even depend on you know the time of year you would go . Do you want to see a soccer game ? Do you want to go do wine appointments ? Do you want to go to a brewery ?
Do you want to go for a run ? Do you want to drive a Ferrari in the countryside of Italy ? You know , just like naming these things like spaghetti to stick on the wall and go . Yes , I want to do that . Yes , I want to do that . I'm not into that . You know that kind of thing , those things you know . Do you want it to be warm ?
Are you okay with cool ? Do you want ocean ? Do you like mountains ? Do you want to be in the countryside ? Do you want little markets in some little town that you walk to every single day and you have this little coffee place ? You know , but as we converse , I start understanding what you want . That's how I make my recommendation .
What's cool about travel to me too , is there's all types of different kinds of travel . You've got family outing type stuff . You've got like romantic getaways . There's a segment that I hear about quite especially cause I do this show , but I hear about adventure travel .
And so when someone says , hey , I want to go , I want adventure travel , what does that spark in your mind when you first hear that ? What are you kind of ? What kind of goes through your mind when you hear adventure travel ?
I mean for me , since I'm in the industry , I mean it just brings up all kinds of questions . It's like , well , what kind of adventures Somebody's adventure is going to ?
One person's adventure may be going on a hike or maybe going on a hot air balloon ride , you know , in the South part of Spain , and ending with a glass of cava and breakfast , and that was a great adventure . And some people want their hikers on for an entire week and maybe not even shower and see all the animals and hike all the peaks and all that .
So it really depends . There's really not one bucket for adventure , because one person's adventure may be on a cruise ship going to a few really cool ports . It really
¶ Gorilla Trekking Adventure in Uganda
depends . For me , adventure I like to do those moments , to experience those moments that just make you go , wow . Like gorilla trekking , I went gorilla trekking in Uganda . I've been to Antarctica and walked on the continent , which was way more spectacular than I even thought , because I'm not a cold girl .
I went for the penguins and fell in love with the mountains . I didn't know there were mountains there . How did I not know that there's these gorgeous mountains here , you know , and all that there . There's so many things you can do . You can be an elephant keeper for a day in Thailand . To me that's adventure , you know .
Well , that's perfect , cause you answered my question . The one question I typically ask on the show is what does adventure mean to you ? And you kind of spilled it right there with that . I do want to dive into this gorilla in Uganda . If you don't mind , give me the background and kind of tell me about this , cause it , it seems , incredible .
Oh , my goodness , I it has been on my list forever and ever and ever when I , when I had the opportunity to go , I jumped on it . I'm like my schedule was so full and everybody's like , are you , you're going somewhere ? I'm like , yes , schedule was so full and everybody's like , are you , you're going somewhere ? I'm like , yes , I'm going .
Gorilla , gorilla and chimpanzee tracking . So the chimpanzee tracking actually was super freaking cool to . Both are off trail . But you know , the gorilla tracking definitely has the most wow factors because they're such huge animals you're , you're up in a mountain . So only a certain number of gorilla families . So gorillas have this little family unit .
They habituate them the rangers , they have doctors , they have scientists and they have this whole program . We spoke to this researcher , doctor , guy who lived there , visited or visited there a lot and lived there part of the year focusing on , you know , gorilla habituation , diseases , things like that . Some gorillas stay wild and they're not .
They don't ever have people there , but the families who do , they have . I don't know how many times a week , but they get one small , small group of people like six , seven , eight people a day , not every day of the week . Come and visit them for one hour , one hour and one hour only .
So basically what happens is you get up in the morning and then you're assigned a family . There were I don't know a handful of groups and then we each had our own family .
And so then we met our ranger and our you know , our other guides and porters and things like that , and basically it was like you saw this little , this piece of paper , it was like the Brady Bunch , and so it showed okay , here's this silverback , he's the head silverback . And then here's we had two silverbacks , and then here's all .
They all had names and when they were born , how old they were . And then you know all the mamas , and there was a little baby and there was some little teenagers , you know , and this one is a troublemaker and this one's really nice , and you know all that jazz .
So they gave you kind of it was like a paper that showed , like , the family that you were about to visit . Basically , very cool , Okay , I like that .
If you look on Instagrams I think it's either on my stories or my pictures . I think I have that on my Insta , either stories or the pictures , just that picture of that , I think . Or it might be on my blog , but yeah , and then you go up , so ours .
What they do is they start the trek from where they last saw them the night before , and so the guys go and kind of check and say , yep , they're still kind of in this area .
So our family was at the tip top of the mountain , so it took about I don't know 25 minutes to get to the top of the mountain via car and then we made the way down until we found them . And so you're off trail and you have to wear all this gear .
So you have to wear gaiters and then you have to like tuck your pants in your socks because the ants , the ants are biting ants . They like you have to cover your neck and everything , Cause I got bit a bunch of times . It hurts . So there's these like biting ants . There's also these like the palms , like you know how like the house plant palms are .
You know the , you know , and so they're like that . And then there's like the bamboo and there's just all kinds of flora , flora and fauna there . We were going down the mountain and then we were off trail , so the guys , our guides in front of us had machetes and they're like , and then we see the .
We see the first sighting of a gorilla , which was a youngster , up in a tree , and I'm like , oh , gorillas are in trees . I didn't know , gorillas climb trees .
I didn't know that either .
Yeah , well , the little ones I don't know that the big ones go , but the little guys were kind of swinging up there and then they alerted everybody and you know we get around and then you just everybody just settles for a minute and then you take pictures , you hang out and they're just quietly like chomp , chomp chomping on their leafy breakfast yeah , what are
they ?
I mean , are they wandering around you guys ? I mean you're just kind of sitting there while they wander around , or they were more .
They were a little spread out , but still kind of together and we were kind of in one little quadrant watching them , but we weren't far . I mean mean we were probably . I mean it depends . I mean I couldn't reach out necessarily and touch them , but probably 20 feet from them , something like that . So they're right there . And then I actually had .
There was a youngster who came up and touched the person next to me , like ran up , like you know , little kids do , and they come and they touch you and they're like , oh , you're it , and they run off . So he did that . So the youngster ran up and touched the person next to me and like , ran in the other direction . So you're just like that , you know .
So , yeah , so you got to take pictures and then the gorillas kind of okay , let's , let's move on down . So then they move , they move , you move , they move , you move , so yeah . So we got to see the little , little tiny baby . We got to see the silverback hugging on one of the mamas , which is very rare to see . So that that was super cool .
Yeah , it was just . It was like breakfast with the gorillas and yeah , and then the hour was done . Your , your guides . Really , you know they'll tell you stand here , stand here , do here , you know . And then occasionally you know if one of them you know they can tell they're with the gorillas all the time , so they can tell if somebody's getting agitated .
You know they start making some comforting noises , some kind of little grunty gorilla grunty things , you know , just to kind of calm them down like hey , we're good , we're simpatico , and then you know it kind of calms down a little bit . But yeah , it was , it was great , it was a lot of fun .
Since it's limited families of gorillas , the habituated ones what kind of process is it to ?
is it some sort of lottery to get selected ? Like , how does this work ? No , what they do is they have a limited number of permits per day . Permit does not guarantee a sighting . A lot of times you'll have you'll do two days of permits , so maybe , on like one day , have a day between the other day .
So that way , if you strike out on your first day , you know , then you know you'll be able to see , see them on the second day . It doesn't happen a lot that you strike out , but it can happen , you know , and you may have to . I mean , we liked out because it took us maybe 15 minutes before we saw them , but you could .
You could hike for an hour or two at least or longer to see your gorillas . So yeah , so there's , there's a finite number of gorilla permits and they're they're pretty spendy . So in Uganda , I think right now , they're like $800 or $900 per day per person . If you go to Rwanda they're about twice that .
And those are the only two spots . Right , rwanda and Uganda are the only two spots you can see gorillas , if I'm not mistaken . Okay , that's someone a while back , jamie , who talked about just briefly about seeing the gorillas . I think she went to Uganda as well , but that's incredible , and when they're there , close to you , I mean what I mean ?
What are you thinking ? What's going through your mind ?
Honestly , I'm like this is making a great picture . I , you know , I I think I mean , of course , you know the obvious , where you just it almost feels surreal Are these really gorillas ? Am I really here ?
Am I really here , standing in front of these beautiful creatures and you're trying to soak it all in , and then you're also smacking all the ants who are biting you on your neck and you know , trying to get these great pictures and all that , but it just , you know , when you see them , it does take your breath away .
You know , because they're , they're just , they're so big and so beautiful . I'll contrast that with the chimpanzees , because same but different situation . It was more in a bog situation , so it was a little more swampy and , and I mean I got all kinds of muddy on on that track .
We followed a couple of different families , so it's not , as you're not , assigned a family with the chimpanzees , but chimpanzees are hunters , they hunt other monkeys , they can be aggressive , they're not just the cute little cheetahs that we see .
All this and what I felt , and part of the reason I say in some ways I was even more jazzed with the chimpanzees , is I , you know , I had my adrenaline going because they're way taller than you think they are .
You know , if you've ever watched , like the , the newer Planet of the Apes , and you know Caesar , with that look in his eye , like you know I got you , you know I'm coming , and they look at you and they have that steely look in their eyes and you're like , don't hate me , it was a lot , it was very .
I felt I was very intimidated with the chimpanzees and so we did the chimpanzees first . So the gorillas were like , oh , they're leaf eaters , they're just having breakfast . So as long as we're cool , you know , as opposed to Hmm , what are you doing here , you know , kind of thing .
Was the chimpanzees . Was that in Uganda as well ? It was , was that somewhere ? It was . Okay , very good , so you can do both . Wow , incredible . All right , what other kind of adventurous travels have you that you would like to share ? Cause this is fun . I enjoy hearing these stories .
Well , let's see . Okay , so we talked about Antarctica . You know , patagonia is beautiful , it's . It's some great hiking , just all kinds of beauty there . South Africa , seeing lions and elephants and giraffes . I love seeing the giraffes , they're just so graceful to me . Africa is just
¶ Hotel Preferences and Travel Challenges
so , it's just so fun that way , gosh . I mean there's just so many places , you know , even in Europe you can find places that skew a little more adventuresome . So like you've got the Camargue there in France that nobody goes to . That's you know . You have the canyons and and you have cowboys and things like that , you know .
So I mean there's , there's so many cool opportunities to be adventuresome . Once in Costa Rica we went . We went rappelling down waterfalls . That was fun , that was really cool .
Since you're into travel . I travel quite a bit for work and so I'm always interested in like where I stay . As far as like hotels and things like that . Since you meet with a lot of these hotels , do you have a ? Is there a certain hotel somewhere where you're just like , wow , this hotel just has everything that Becky loves , that you love .
Is there a certain place or a certain hotel that you love ?
You know it's so , it's so depends . I mean , and I feel like the , you know it's always like . The last hotel I went to was my favorite kind of thing . You know , to me I'll just name a few it's not Adventure , but like in London , I just went and met with the new Raffles Hotel at the OWO in London , owo's old war office , and so it's the war office .
It's not the war rooms , not the Churchill war rooms where they went underground , but it's the overground office . So that's where the James Bond characters were true life came from . Winston Churchill was there . You've got all the spies , all this kind of stuff . So that hotel there to me was like vintage perfection .
It was just so cool , there was so much history and it's brand new and it's elegant and that was cool . I really . You know something a little different in the Seychelles , the Maya , it's just gorgeous outside spaces and outside pools and just the views there in the Seychelles , I mean .
I think to me hotels , I like small hotels , I like somebody who knows my name , you know where they're friendly , where the answer is yes , I want the answer . It's like oh sure , yeah , we got you , we'll take care of it . Those are some of my favorite hotels .
Where they get it , they make you feel seen and known and they have beautiful spaces and beautiful views . Casa de Casole in Tuscany , it's that beautiful Belmont property there . I mean , I could just name so many . I don't have a favorite . I have lots and lots and lots .
Lots of favorites . As you're doing your traveling , as you're helping other people travel . What are some of the challenges and difficulties for you ?
As I'm helping people travel . What are some of my difficulties ? I think some are mismatched expectations . I spoke about that just briefly earlier , especially as far as pacing . A lot of times it's so tempting to want to see so many things in one area .
It's like , oh , we could go do this and we could day trip here and here and we're going to go hotel hop and all that . And sometimes it's hard to help people understand yeah , it's only four hours away , but that's far .
So it'd be like if you're looking at , let's say , indiana and it's like okay , so that would be like flying into Indianapolis and then one day going from the airport to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , taking the tour of the Speedway and then driving up to Louisville , which is , oh , it's only two and a half hours away same day to see the Louisville Slugger
Museum . Just to see the museum in one day . That's a lot , and so that's definitely a challenge , having that kind of ROI of your time , being able to create something where somebody feels like they've seen all these things that are on their list . So that's definitely a challenge . Other challenges can be over-tourism is such a huge challenge .
Other challenges can be over . Over tourism is such a huge challenge . I mean huge , huge , huge challenge because you have this vision of how a place looks in your mind , or maybe you've seen it years ago and then you go there and there are so many people . There are so many people there . You know the funny ?
The funny thing is certain prominent authors of travel books keep saying , oh , go to this cute little Italian region . It is so full of people . Stop saying it's a cute little town .
It's not so cute and little anymore .
Not . You've got this town of population of a couple thousand people and they have 20,000 , 30,000 people descend on it every single day from little thing they can find to sit down so they can eat their gelato , and then they're just everywhere and it's just a sea of crowded people .
And then the funny thing is you walk just a couple of blocks down and there's nobody . So over-tourism . And it's hard , it's not good for the communities . A lot of the money doesn't even stay in those locations . The money's given to some of the other companies and things like that . So over-tourism is definitely a challenge .
And then weather , disease , high prices , strikes oh my goodness . Strikes , train strikes , air strikes , air traffic controller strikes , garbage men strikes , taxi strikes . You know all that . There's a lot .
And I'm guessing it's your job to keep up on all that . That way you can inform your , your customers , your clients , and be like hey , they're going on strike , by the way , or whatever the case may be , and just so people have informed decisions .
It's true , and I'm super thankful of the way that thankful but not thankful , the way , at least in europe when they strike , they're like okay , so we're going to strike on the 12th and the 15th and the 22nd and we're going to start at 7 am and we're going to end at 11 pm and then that's it , and then wait till the next day , the next strike day , and
so it becomes a little easier to advise that way . But yeah , but you know , if you've lived through the strikes and you kind of know how to , you've been through it a few times and so you're like okay , so this is what we're going to do . This is , this is the plan B . Here's the plan C , this is how we're going to approach it .
And you've been traveling for quite a while and you talked about the over tourism of places . Is there any particular place where you're like you remember going back , you know in the early 2000s or late 90s , and then you go back now and you're just like wow , I mean , it just totally got killed with over ?
tourism A good one for me and it's seriously one of my favorite places on the planet , just for the views and the food and everything . You know , I feel like the Amalfi Coast is definitely definitely that way . You know , the prices have just they've soared , and just the number of people visiting .
To me , the biggest example , at least in Europe , is like Cinque Terre , poor little Cinque Terre . It's gorgeous , it's gorgeous and there's so , so many , there's so many people who descend on that every single day .
What's the name of it ? Again Cinque .
Terre , c-i-n-q-u-e-t-e-r-r-e , five lands , it's like all these little coastal towns kind of in the Liguria area . Yeah , I mean , it's beautiful , it's stunning and it's it's so stinking crowded . You know , that's definitely an example . And Venice , venice is a another example of that .
And , and again , what happens is I was just speaking to a really good friend of mine who , who , um , is partners at a Greek destination management company , dmc , and she was saying that
¶ Future Adventures and Travel Planning
some of the islands they're going to start charging just a surcharge for people who come day trip , because what happens is they get off the ship , they get off the train , they get off the tour bus , whatever , and then they hang around . They might buy an inexpensive t-shirt from a vendor or maybe a gelato , and then they get back on .
They're just descending on the main public areas , they're leaving trash , things are getting torn up just from use and all that , but they're not spending the money there , and so that's kind of the problem with that .
For you and we've been chatting for quite a while now for you , what does the future look like ? I mean , what do you kind of want to do as you , as you move forward , and do you have any other particular plans or anything that you want to any adventures that you want to go on ?
Oh gosh , those are . Those are two big , two big questions . So adventures on my list , you know , definitely on my list is Cambodia I'm talking to a friend , maybe , maybe next summer we'll see you know , kind of a Singapore , thailand , cambodia , you know , experience , some fun things and and all that . So that's , that's high on my list .
Also Tanzania , kenya I really want to go back to Africa . There's so much I haven't seen there . Egypt I want to go to Egypt so incredibly badly so I may just get a wild hair next year and just hop on over to Egypt because you know I've got to go . I've just got to go .
You know , as far as me and my company , it's always a , you know , it's like , oh , I want to build my empire . It's like , oh , I want to keep it small . Oh , I want to build my empire , oh , I want to keep it small , that kind of thing . So you know , definitely .
You know , looking , so definitely looking at a very intentional growth of my team , nothing crazy . But the biggest thing that we have going is two years ago we launched our travel club for women called Chapella , and so just having that expand . We do a number of trips every year with them .
But the most important piece we just had a event last night is we have local events in Atlanta . We love to connect women who love to travel , who love to travel in this curious , explorer kind of way that we do . I just want to connect them . Whether or not they ever go on a trip with us , I don't care .
We want to have some wine , have some snacks , we're going to talk travel , we're going to do some fun activities together and then we'll go on some trips together . I definitely continue to expand on that and to grow . That that's really where my heart is and kind of full circle from where we started is out of the abundance of my passion .
I want people to experience some of these things with me because it makes it more special .
Where can people find you ? If someone's thinking , hey , I need to be consulted on a on a trip or what I want to do , when can they find you ? Or maybe there's some , some women who want to be part of this Ciao Bella travel group that you have . Tell us , yeah , Where's your ? Your Instagram or your website , all that jazz , if you don't mind .
Absolutely . So . You can find me on Instagram , my Bella travel . You can find me on Facebook , Bella travel planning , and then my website , my Bella travelcom . So those are the three best ways to find me . Of course , I'm also on LinkedIn , like the rest of the world , all that , but you know , those are . You know , I never check it .
So anybody , sorry if you message me through LinkedIn , Sorry , I never see that . But Insta , I'm on Insta . But yeah , those are the best ways to find me .
All right . My final question . This is going to be a tough one for you because you've been to so many amazing places , like you said , with the hotels . You have so many that you'd love . If you can only go back to one place , a place you've been , you can only go back to one place and that's it , and then you're done .
Where's this place that you're going back to ? Told you , it's going to be tough .
I know it's , it's really hard . You know , part of me wants to say Jordan probably wants to say I'd love to go back to Uganda . I'd love to go back to Uganda , I'd love . I mean , there's just so many places . But I mean , to be honest , you know , my , my heart's in Italy . I , just , I just love Italy .
You know , along the coast , where you have that , that turquoise water meets those , meets the cliffs , meets the , the beautiful food and and all that . And you know , my former stepdaughter would say , even the garbage men are beautiful . It's like , yes , I know , right , if I had to pick one place , just because it checks all the boxes , that's ,
¶ Appreciation for Listener Support
you know , I I would . I had to pick one country , I would go back to Italy every single time , every single time .
Wonderful . I love it . Becky , thank you so much for coming on Journey with Jake .
You're welcome , Jake . Thanks for having me .
Thank you , becky Lukavich , for coming on the show and sharing your love of travel and adventure with all of us . Be sure and give Becky a follow on LinkedIn . Just kidding .
Well , you can follow her on LinkedIn if you want , but she is active on Instagram at MyBellaTravel , and if you want more information on her services as a travel consultant , check out her website bellatravelplanningcom . Thanks to all of you for listening to the show each and every week . It means a lot to me .
If you could leave me a review or give me a follow on social media , that would be awesome . But I'm just happy that you're here . I appreciate it . I have a great episode next week with Dave Letterfly . Dave is such a fascinating guest . Dave is an artist horse trainer and was in the circus .
Oh yeah , my conversation with Dave was a lot of fun and I know you will enjoy it as well . So be sure and tune in next week . Just remember , it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .