Journeys of Intention: Zach Smith's Transformative Travel Ventures

Hello listeners and welcome back to The Science of Self, where you Improve your Life From the inside out, I'm Russell, and today we have a guest, Zach Smith. Zach is the founder and CEO of anywhere.com. Zach, fill us in on who you are, what you do, and what we should know about you. First off.

Sure thing. Yeah. I actually struggle with, the term even travel agency, but that is kind of the role that we play. however, my partner and I have, been trying to use Our naive, awareness and some level about the industry to create what we think the way things ought to be done. And so, in this case, we kind of lean more into being a trust network, and, integrated, experience for people to, with an intent of visiting of. Particular destination. We help match them to all the different experiences that are possible. And we do that through a network of local experts and suppliers in each geography that we've activated and we're steadily adding more geographies. So it's just been a organic, emergent process. I would say we've just had to learn as we go. And that's kind of. the way a lot of us, find our niches and find our way in this world is we, have to take, these learned experiences and adapt and try to keep making the next best choice.

Your bio information says that, the concept for anywhere.com or what built into anywhere. Dot com was a trip to Oaxaca. us through that experience just to give us a little background on how, where this, where the seed was planted for this organization.

Sure. it was, post-college, trip to a warm part of the world. a friend and I, took a one-way ticket to Oaxaca, Mexico, and we, were, moving along the Pacific Coast. I was reading lots of books, enjoying the way of life there, practicing my Spanish, and really just sensing and absorbing and experiencing the surroundings a series of encounters Occurred throughout my time there I remained open the whole time and that was probably why these things happened to me. I, had told my friend, I'm open to not going back to Oregon until the summer because it's rainy and cold I don't really wanna rush home to anything. I'd rather experience this while I'm here. And so that led to a conversation in Nicaragua that led to a relationship that I encountered in Monte Verde, Costa Rica. which led to someone offering to give me a job, which, then led to me learning about tourism. all those, different encounters, gave me this opportunity to, really learn about what I wanted. you know, to, to experience in, in life all along was just a journey, an interesting life. and I just remained open. as I was learning about answering emails and helping people, I. Figure out what they wanted to do while they were visiting this one little town in Costa Rica. I thought the business had some potential and so I had made a handshake agreement with the gentleman that had owned it. he was kind of a little older and a little burnt out, I think he was open as well, but a very difficult personality I mean, it just was really tough and I was only 24 at the time. So what ended up happening was I went to another couple towns and was, exploring the country just to see if I was really able to do this and if I really liked it. it ended up not telling my parents, not telling my friends, not telling any of the other, colleagues that were there. But I had already made it clear in my mind that this was something I was gonna pursue Sure enough, I'm on an aerial tram going through the rainforest, just taking pictures, enjoying myself and a stranger across from me on a package trip. asked me what I was up to and there was this brief little moment in my head, do I really want to communicate that? this would be the first person I told what I planned to do. So I did. I just said, well, I'm thinking about buying this, this website in this little town. It's kind of tourism related. And he was curious and he gave me his contact information and said, I think we should really stay in touch. I'm a software engineer. We were of a similar age, and so I just, basically started. Sending him the sort of information and the, the ideas that I had and what I wanted to develop, what was lacking in the current business and where we wanted to take it. and so it took, you know, about a year or so later before we were able to actually go into business together. But, That relationship was also just very much a, you know, the universe just showed up and gave me the right person at the right time. And again, I think it just was because I was open So, but again, that was way back in 2006. And the first real expression of what we wanted to do as a business was anywhere Costa Rica. So that was the goal as just an online guidebook for the whole country. So more visitors would have more awareness about what was possible. And so that then became. our information layer about the country doing things that weren't transactional, doing things that weren't focused on sales the whole time. So we were doing species profiles or profiles of all the national parks I was going to, every destination I was meeting, every hotel, people that you know might be in. the budget range or the mid-range, they could find, accommodation. we would go the full spectrum, Hilltop hotels or beachfront hotels or, remote resorts, all these different categories. So then people would have a better sense of what choices they actually had versus just seeing a package or going to just a typical. website and making all these independent reservations. So we tried to summarize the whole country and then empower local experts to help design the trip for those visitors. So then they were, the visitor was having a cultural experience right from the very beginning with that geography. And then upon arrival, the network was empowered to. Make any adjustments in real time for that client because they were in the same time zone. We, had relationships with all these suppliers so we could advocate on behalf of our customer if something went wrong. So that just made sense to me. it seemed like the way things ought to be done, and so we just have had to keep building technology and tools to try to facilitate that. And yeah, there was a lot of. challenges that came up, but ultimately that's kind of the orientation and, the original seeds of, what we started.

And the person you met on the rail car on the, tramway, is the person you're in business with now or that you formed the

Yeah. We're still business partners today.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's fantastic. one question just to give us a little, insight into your worldview, these. meetings and people that you came across, events that happened to you in your worldview, do you view them as serendipitous, as, fateful that they were meant to happen? If you have a religious background, would you see them as ordained or predestined or just personally do you them as chance and you met the opportunity at the right time just you happen to be there.

Yeah, that's, one of my favorite questions. if I have to go back even further in my own life, To look at what led me to that point on the aerial tram or what led me to that point in Oaxaca or what led me to, be the person I was in university and before that. So in general, I think, our intentions are pretty much the most powerful thing in the world. they drive relationships, they drive choices, they drive, a lot of what shows up in this world. I think my parents had certain intentions about, what they wanted and because They were idealists that, left the city and moved to, the west coast. They got five acres out in Oregon. My mom was a ceramicist making pottery, selling stuff, my father's last name was Smith, and they wanted to do something more interesting and come up with a fun middle name for me and my three brothers, I'm the oldest so they named me Zachary Bonaventure Smith. And so, they, they in some ways like set my course in some, in some ways, But then of course I had to learn many lessons along the way to figure out, how I could play my role and be who I'm meant to be. which I don't think is, pure destiny, but it's not also pure chance. And so I do think there's an aspect of serendipity and I think there's a little bit of The natural laws of this world cooperating with you when you bring, intentions that are aligned when you have certain core values. And I mean, this just brings up like a really, like we've talked about intentions a little bit, but like just a childhood story. I remember. We were at our house, there was, a few kids and one friend brought over a slingshot. I had never held a slingshot in my life. and I was like, wow, this is a fun toy. And so I wanted to turn playing with the slingshot. And so I got the slingshot and we're just standing there and there was a little pebble. Loaded it. And at the time there was this beautiful yellow finch that flew into this apple tree. And all of a sudden I was like, well, now I have something to aim for. I'm gonna aim for this bird. And so I was at least 20 yards away. I was not that close. But then I was like, I'm gonna hit that bird. And so I aimed shot this thing, and just like in the cartoon, this bird spiraled right down to the ground, perfect shot on the neck, and I was devastated. I was like, oh my God. I didn't intend to kill that bird, but I did try to hit it. So my intention was a powerful force. It caused death. So, I felt guilty and shame and bad. me and my dad buried it. that was a lesson that I felt like I internalized and never really wanted to, cause, that type of. Reaction in the world through my own kind of thought or intention. so I believe that there are, those lessons that are hard and painful and they do show up in our life and then it's how you navigate after that. you can't avoid that feeling of guilt or shame. It can't, it already happened. It's in the past. But then you got to move forward with those next best, best choices. And I think that's an adaptive, natural way. And, so in the case of, you know, different people that you meet and when you are able to. Share values or share common ground, you know, those relationships can blossom. Like the business partner relationship that I had, I met my wife on an airplane. she was sitting next to me. We just got to talking. We had all this common ground. We were both flying from Seattle to New York I mean, I can't explain why that person showed up there, but if I wasn't in my right head space and she wasn't in her right head space or we'd been sitting anywhere else, we wouldn't have met. but we met at the right time and we were both, in an open place. That was more than 10 years ago, and we joke that it's been one long date ever since then. And so sometimes, when you live your values, you do have a co collaborator, in the field of, other people or nature's laws or whatever you want to. Call it. I do think that there is some alignment that just shows up. I don't know, I don't study that, but I do believe that that's, something that I've felt and I think it's real.

I was admitted a little confused because, and I had marked for a follow up question on what it meant that intentions drive so many things in life, but your story, I. with the slingshot really fantastic. I had a very similar experience with a, gun that with the rifle, with the barrel was so bent were

Mm-hmm.

Of the barn So I took aim at a cardinal, with a very underpowered BB gun and hit it just at the right, wrong spot on the elbow of the wing.

Mm-hmm.

As you know, this was, many, many years ago, so obviously left a, a mark there. So that's

Mm-hmm.

Of how your intentions, that your statement, that intentions drive so many things in life. Are you familiar with the book, the Gift I believe it's called, or the concept of the law of attraction. Do you subscribe to that kind of thing, but stay on the kind of a spiritual, side of things here, the woohoo side of things for a minute. Does Law of Attraction present

Yeah,

Do you subscribe to or is it just book?

I think there's something there. no doubt. but, you know, One thing about some of those, so you know, some of that is, is yes, okay, we do have the power to manifest. We do have the power to, you know, on some level create our, the reality or, you know, become who we're meant to become. but it, I think it requires. A lot of patience and a lot of, understanding that it's not meant to be just, you know, results based, you know, or like, I've been repeating this mantra and, you know, why isn't this happening? Or when one thing happens, you think you're done and you know, it's all over. The pop science of some of that stuff, is, important to get out there, but sometimes it's not well understood by the reader. Maybe. you know, I'm, I'm not sure because again, I it's sometimes dropped as if it's like this trend or this, yeah, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I just think that if you're in the present moment, and if you live your values and you know yourself, that it's a natural byproduct for good things to start showing up in your life. Whether you wanna, whatever you wanna call it, whatever, you know, media, you want to sort of build around that. I think that those things, it's good to put it out there, I suppose. Yeah, I don't really follow too much with, social media or what is, being amplified at certain points. familiar with that concept. and I think that came with good intentions for people to understand that they have a lot of, power over their life. And it starts, with just that subtle listening. but sometimes the ego gets involved and people want like, oh, I just want more, more, will make me happy. and then you're filling this void, or, oh, I wanna manifest all these material things. And you know, that to me is, Not really the goal, but you know, sometimes that's just where people put their attention. back to one of the most powerful things I think we do know about, the nature of life. our intentions really matter, but. Where we put our attention is actually changes the nature of, the world the entanglement of, people, relationships, ideas, whatever. So that's another big area that, People should be more cautious, of where they put their attention. because it has many ripple effects. I just think that as long as you're conscious of, okay, yeah, I'm ingesting, two hours of mass media on. Social media or the headlines in news, I'm ingesting all that information. I have to metabolize that. thoughts are gonna enter my mind that I now have to reconcile with. is that emerging from within or is that something that is externally showing up and I think. that's where it gets a little tricky as far as, people being aware of what, the power that their attention has. and how they're able to focus on, building their own internal kind of compass of, how they want to move through the world. So anyway, yeah.

you say you don't do much social media or you stay away from the current trends and fads and that kind of stuff. How do you go on a day-to-day basis about keeping up with the outside world but making sure it doesn't corrupt or tarnish or blemish your own values and your own attention and intentions?

Yeah, I mean, again, it comes back to like, well, what, what can I control about the headlines showing up on a day-to-day basis? Pretty much nothing. so, you know, do I wanna, be aware? Sure. I mean, I'll scan a few things here and there. I talk to people. I'm not saying that like the answer is to just check out, but what I will say is that, knowing how to metabolize it, meaning, okay, this is interesting. I'm feeding my brain a few facts, or I'm feeding my brain some perspective that helps me understand, maybe why some of this stuff is going on. is it gonna help me be better with my kids? Is it gonna be, is it gonna help me be a better community? And remember, is it gonna help me stay focused on the Priorities in the business? Is it gonna help me? Remain in a state of wellbeing? Well, it just depends. Like if you know how to metabolize it and not internalize it too much, then sure you can take a dose of negativity or whatever, and it's no big deal. however, I just think there should be more, consciousness around, that there is a, Impact that can insidiously work its way in, over time. And I think that's just something that I've learned, with my own experience. So, yeah.

there's a difference between knowing what's going on and fretting or being overwhelmed by what's going on, and there's a balance to be had between both of those. I think that's a great explanation. I never have heard the middle ground of that conversation. to take it in, moderation probably, but to be able to understand internally what you need to do with that and how much you can or cannot let it affect you. that's fantastic. Thank you. let's lighten the mood a little bit. your middle name since you mentioned it. Bonaventure. Is French?

It is French. Yeah. So my parents, gave us, long and somewhat meaningful, middle names. So I'm Bonaventure, my middle brother is Belvedere and my, youngest brother is Beaumont. they just were having fun with, trying to give us a little bit more spice in our names, rather, you know, 'cause Smith was obviously pretty common and still is, probably always will be. So, yeah, I was always told it means good ventures through life. That's what my mom told me. and then I, you know, later on. Realized it's a really common name for travel companies and stuff. Bonaventure Travel is a really common name I don't think about it that often, but every now and again, I'm like, gosh, this thread is just still there, you know? I can't, I can't get it. It's like, it's, it's just there. So, yeah. And, and. Again, I, I just, I think that there's a few things in that, name that I just, I have internalized, the, you know, the concept of just, you know, good, you know, like generally good. meaning, cooperative or, win win or win, win win, balanced, versus extractive. and then venture, you know, it can mean many things like, you know, a venture or really just any kind of. Collaboration or pursuit, business venture. it's a journey. so I suppose it just gave me a bit of, again, just like probably contributed to my own inner voice that, you know, that's. That's how I want to be. And I have the name, so I just have to live it. and so they kind of set me up in this way that, you know, it's just part of my identity, I guess. most people don't know my middle name. I don't really talk about it that often, but it's like now it is just kind of interesting, I suppose. that thread is connected.

Trying to put the timeline. in my head with what you said about the years and how many have passed and so forth, but your parents, it sounds like they were maybe toward the middle of the end of the baby boomer Is that

yeah,

timeframe for them

So they were city people from Chicago. And moved out west in the late seventies, bought five acres with a house, and no foundation. my parents had a lot of family, concentrated in Chicago and they had nobody out in Oregon. and so they kind of just had to, figure things out. And, as far as, role models, they took on a lot. They worked really hard, the amount of stress that they were able to metabolize and, live the real life. I find to be, just amazing. so, yeah, they were, really down to earth, still down to earth people, and they're still around, thankfully. moving a little slower, but, you know, still out in the garden, still working, still doing art projects. so, you know, they're great. And, I definitely think they had a big impact. as a parent myself, I am starting to realize that I think so much I. Of human development really does start with parenting and, and it's such a huge responsibility and, I definitely take it very seriously and really try to, be the best version of myself for the kids and give them, you know, boundaries and lessons and things like that. I want them to, be present in the real world, not on devices as much, which again, is now more normalized definitely than when I was growing up. I don't necessarily want to, prevent it, 100% because again, you can't change the na I mean, people, we socialize and the kids see stuff and okay, they wanna. they wanna watch a video, sometimes that's okay. but it's balance and so, I feel like my parents did a great job of balancing, letting me kind of go, and make my own mistakes. And, you know, giving me some core, foundational values and, examples of the way they were living to help me, make those next best choices and try to move forward as best I could. But it's a very, dynamic process. as most parents would probably understand, there's so many variables involved and, when they're young, they're, They present so many tests, of your patients, of your, you know, ability to, just, yeah. yeah, just, just try to keep it all together. they're really tough on parents,

great story about your parents. I grew up in Chicago as well. If they had both maybe been born, five or 10 years earlier, they would've just been hippies instead of, those that move west and found their own lives. I'm glad you have such a heritage that you're willing to share and, that you see the importance of carrying it on within your own family. did you carry on the tradition of middle names with your children?

Yeah, we did. I think that that's. Yeah, it was a lot of conversations with my wife, but it's, you know, we, with our son, it's middle name is Jet, 'cause we met on a plane and we thought, if he doesn't like his first name, at least he's, got a short, middle name that, has meaning. and then, yeah, we did Okay. and our daughter, we feel like, she will grow into her name at some point. right now she's just a wild, almost 5-year-old,

One of the phrases I took from your website or from your introductory email focusing on travel as a tool for transformation. can you expand on that phrase as a tool for transformation as far as travel goes?

Yeah. basically I've, I've always felt that, perspective generating experiences are very valuable for humans to go through. and. I mean, this traces back when I was, I'm gonna give you the backstory and then I'll give you the current. So when I was, 11 or 12, we had to do a big class project. And it was just like an independent study come up with any topic and research it and I told my mom, she was in the art studio and I remember this, and I said, I think I want to do my project on perspective. And she's like, what? What do you mean perspective? and then she, she's like, well, that's tricky. Well, maybe it should be about. Perception. 'cause then that, that gets into the mind and the eye and all this sort of stuff. And so we landed on visual perception. So I've always been interested in. How people see the world. And, so I, you know, modeled the brain and did a little heart HyperCard program and, you know, it was like a interesting, cool project. but then yeah, of course, as I, that still was always with me and. As I was traveling to different places, in Central America and I had done a study abroad in Europe. So I traveled around Europe and I, you know, it just naturally, you just, wow, there's a lot of ways to be in this world and I think that that's interesting. when you realize that. There really isn't any other, there's just lots of people going about their day, focusing on their routines, their family, generally being extraordinarily peaceful. as I got into the travel business in Central America, I really wanted people. To realize this tiny little country of Costa Rica has its own story. they're not just like an, you know, people confuse it, oh, it's an island, or Oh, it must is a food spicy like Mexico, or all these different things. And it's just like, no, they're not like that. They're, you know, they're their own culture and so, just understanding that, In my opinion, it is kind of a sacred thing to help people experience another culture or another geography. I treat it like that, and so I treat it as how can people be present and aware and relaxed enough to absorb their surroundings The welcoming people absorb the good natured, ecosystem that they're within. And then maybe if they can be in that relaxed present state, they can come to their own conclusion that, wow, this really is peaceful. this is really interesting. I'm now. Learning about the other, and it's primary information. It's not a narrative, it's not a headline. It's not something that just shows up or you hear someone say, it's like, no, you've lived it. You get it. You know that those people are genuine and so that's why we really are very conscious about, understanding all the. Intentions the client has, like, who's coming on the trip for how long? what is your budget? What is gonna make you feel comfortable? What do you wanna experience, while you're here? what are the dietary restrictions? All these many things that then we help match them to a sequence of events. So maybe 10 days, 12 days, where They're going to three or four locations. They're staying at four or five different hotels. They're, doing a bunch of activities. They're doing a bunch of transportations, all facilitated by our coordination of these local suppliers. when all the sequence of events start getting stacked on each other, I do think. People just then understand that the world is safe. The world, there's at least that period that they're experiencing in the world far away from home in a foreign culture, in a foreign geography that they can just be. that's my contribution of trying to create that type of experience within the visitor, where they really are able to absorb the culture. a lot of travel is very commoditized. It's very transactional. a lot of visitors are pretty stressed out. They're trying to keep track of everything themselves. or they've got a package and they're stuck on a tour bus with a bunch of other people, and they're going around taking pictures and just. getting maybe some information from a good guide here or there, but it's not the same as independently experiencing, the vibe of a place. And, that's what we really want people to do. these are not, there's some trips that people would go on where, oh, I'm living with a family for three months. Okay? You're gonna have kind of a transformative cultural experience in that circumstance, but how do you do it in a seven day period or a 10 day period with a family? You know, where they don't wanna stay at a host family's house. They don't, yeah. That's not them, but then how do you get them to that state of mind where they have a better understanding of where they're at and who they can feel, connected to? so, you know, we really feel like, the visitor is very unique. They have their own unique preferences and. Experiences that they're trying to achieve. The hosts and this culture, each culture, they're all unique people too. So we value that and we've tried to be really wonderful matchmakers and take that role extremely seriously and take accountability for the state of mind of that traveler all throughout the process. And then as far as the feelings that people get is they're gonna feel connected. That's the goal, is that they feel that there's a connection, a human to human connection, as they're experiencing, the trip. And then that the world itself is a platform for adventure and journeys and experiences meant to be lived.

You have a fantastic way of communicating a concept and then closing it out. With a practical application. I really appreciate that. HyperCard, though my listeners are not gonna know what HyperCard is.

Oh my God. It was, in our middle school that was like the future I remember. I had a computer class and, learned how to, Do very basic little, programming of, like things would vanish and appear and show up

It like magic at that point.

Yeah.

do you have certain habits, meditating, reading, exercise, whatever, mindfulness practices that are, and I use the, you understand the usage of the Lord's sacred to your day-to-day success. if so, would you share two or three of those things just in a list form or elaborate however much you'd like on those?

Great. I really do prioritize sleep. seven-ish hours is pretty core. I have A mattress that records my sleep. that's something that I track and I, you know, just, just know that I got a bank hours there and, you know, make sure I'm getting enough good deep sleep and REM sleep. yes, like exercise from. Time to time. I'm not religious about it, but, I like, pushing myself, or even just going on a long walk, but just moving the body, using the body. I like to play basketball sometimes, but that's harder on my body as I'm aging. I mean, I'm 44 and, you know, it's like all of a sudden getting bumped around or the herky jerky actions are just a little less congruent. And I think that, consciously eating is important. I don't eat just because it's, lunchtime or, you know, oh, it's breakfast. I think the body, responds really well when you're disciplined with it. so, you know, recently I've been, Not eating three meals a day. I pretty much eat, twice a day. have a nice long 16 or 18 hour period, where my body's just processing, whatever it's processing. I feel like that also helps balance out the mood and balance out, Extra weight or stuff that you just don't need. there's, Discipline I think and again, everyone can, you know, it's, I like to enjoy life. there's nothing about me that is so restrictive or so dogmatic about this is the only way. I just think that if you kind of listen to yourself and, There's probably something in there that you already know that would probably be a good thing for you to change. So, you know, I think everybody sort of. Generally has had enough stacked life experiences to, if they are curious or are, thinking that they wanna make a change, they probably know the first couple things that they should do. so, you know, I, I'm not really here to preach on that stuff. and then. Yeah. but I, but again, I do think the main thing is, is people, just being patient with themselves and trying to embody their values. So if you, are someone that, wants the world to be a better place. Well, you know, start with each relationship that you have in your community and, be a good listener. be available, respond, be proactive and again, that has an effect that is immeasurable, because that gets passed on to other people so you just gotta think, you know, just be the change you want to be. I mean, I know that's very dated and whatever, but I actually do think it's kind of true. yeah, I don't have a, plug, I mean, we're anywhere, we have a number of published countries that we, are activated in. we have, about a dozen more that we are quietly in the process of activating, to our repeat and our referral clients. the goal. is that we become, that trusted source to, use your precious vacation time as wisely as possible. your budget and your resources as wisely as possible. We are a co-creator with you to make sure you get what you want out of your experience. these are. Oftentimes, big once in a lifetime trips, you know, going to Peru or the Galapagos, or, taking your family to, eco lodges in Costa Rica. these are rare and we treat them as being special, each and every time. So that's our role. And, we also want. Tourism to be supportive of the communities that are hosting rather than extractive. I think there's an awareness from the visitor, that needs to also start to, emerge, that their choices really matter. will culture be more sustained or will it erode, to more of a homogenous, all-inclusive type model where, people just show up and they, are eating and drinking and that's it. they're going home and that's travel. And the truth is that's not travel. That's, That's, that's gluttony. doesn't mean that, you know, it's not okay to go take it easy. Sometimes it's just don't confuse the two. You know, that's not travel, that's not experiencing culture. You know, being on a cruise ship with 5,000 people, you know, cruising around is not, not real travel. So, You know, we're, we're just trying to play our role and, you know, call it as we see it.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for that. listeners. This was Zach Smith, founder and CEO of anywhere.com and appropriately. You can find them@anywhere.com. thanks listeners for joining us today. Thank you, Zach, for being with us. enjoyed it very much and hopefully maybe in a few months we'll have a chance to do it again. If you feel interested in doing that. Appreciate you being with us today in this episode.

Pleasure to be here.