Turning Passion into Profit: How One Man Made Travel His Business - Ralph Velasco
Transcript
Ralph Velasco - 00:00.076
We went down to Peru as volunteers and it was a social justice program. So was a way to show these kids from the U S what life is really like in the rest of the world. After a week or so, some teenage boys, and of course we're going to start complaining. And, it's like, I miss my bed. I miss my mother's cooking. I miss my friends and family kind of thing. So one of the priests eventually got fed up and he said, you know what guys?
You have the most incredible opportunity to be on this trip. Be here now. And those three words just stuck with me all this time. So as I got older, it took me getting older and traveling a lot and wanting to slow down and understanding the value of slowing down to understand the importance of that concept. And as you get older, you start to think, well, the time ahead of me is less and less.
What am I going to do with that time? How am going to maximize it? And worrying about the past or the worrying about the future is not productive. Let me concentrate on the here and now.
Theme Music - 01:19.166
Welcome to the Ownership Game with Gary Montalvo. What would it take to get into the driver's seat of your life and leave your mark? The Ownership Game starts now.
Gary Montalvo
For many of us, life can feel like a roadmap we've been handed early on. Get good grades, get into a good college, land the right job, climb up the ladder. It's almost like our lives have been planned out before we've even really had the opportunity to start living them.
What happens when you step off that carefully planned path? What if instead your path is set by following your passions, even when the way forward isn't at all clear? My guest today, Ralph Velasco, knows what it means to forge his own way.
Following the breadcrumbs of passion led Ralph from running a successful Chicago restaurant to combining his love of travel, photography, and culture and becoming one of the world's most sought after leaders in cultural tours. Some of us, Ralph didn't start out with a big, bold vision. Instead, he followed small steps and trusted his curiosity, letting each experience lead him to the next. Today, he's built a thriving business
that takes travelers off the beaten path, creating deep, intentional connections with the world around them. This episode is for anyone who's ever wondered what might happen if you stop planning and just started following your curiosity and where that curiosity and wonder may just lead you.
Gary Montalvo - 03:05.506
So, Ralph, the moment I saw you and what you did, I couldn't help but think about you're almost living a dream life because you feel like you're doing this thing that so many people talk about, that so many people aspire to, but it's risky, right? And I just was fascinated by your journey and what you're doing. So I wanna really just start at the beginning for you. How did you get into photography and how did you get into putting together these tours where you're just taking people all over the world, taking beautiful pictures and shooting beautiful things?
Yeah, it was a long, long road. I'll tell you that. I always say it only took me 45 years to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Most people never do. So I'm glad it only took me that long. I've always been a traveler. So since I was 15 in high school, I studied in Spain for a summer. The next summer I was a volunteer in Peru. The next summer I was a volunteer in Venezuela.
And the next summer I studied in Mexico City for language classes. So I, from a very early age, I've been a traveler and I've always enjoyed photography as well. And so I always dreamed of figuring out a way to make a living from travel and photography. And back then it was, you know, in the eighties,
This was obviously way before digital photography, the internet, computers almost, cell phones, things like that, social media. So all these things kind of came together in the early 2000s. And at that time, I had just opened my second restaurant in downtown Chicago in 2001. And I was coming up to the end of my initial three year lease.
Ralph Velasco - 05:17.08
where I had to decide if I was gonna sign another five years or if I was gonna sell the business or just get out. And I'd opened right before 9-11. So this was May of 2001. Of course, 9-11 was in September that year. So I'm in downtown Chicago and people think that Chicago is gonna be hit next, you know, after that happened in New York City. So it was pretty scary for a while and the business...
was doing okay, had to introduce catering to even survive because it was just in downtown Chicago, which kind of dries up. There's no breakfast, there's no dinner. So it's just a lunch thing in the loop. Anyway, to make a long story longer, digital photography was just coming to be, I would say, at least consumer digital photography in the early 2000s. So I was starting to get into it.
And I saw an opportunity to help people with these new digital devices, these new cameras that they were coming on the markets and our cell phones eventually. And so I said, you know, it'd be interesting to create some walking tours where I could show people how to use their cameras in the place. So I'm thinking downtown Chicago, which is very photogenic and beautiful.
six months out of the year. so, yeah, so I ended up, I took a pad of paper and I said on the left side, I said these are the things that I dislike about the restaurant business. I have to have employees, I need a physical space that costs a lot of money and rent. I'm feeding people something that could make them sick. So there's a liability there.
I came home smelling like a french fry every night. So it was on the right side that I set out the opposite of those things. I want to work for myself, no employees. I want to work from wherever I am, wherever my laptop is. So not have that big overhead. I want to take a shower before work, not after. So all these things. And it just it was like a perfect timing. So I ended up selling the business and moved out to California where I had been before, but I moved back out to California where I thought I could do this full time and more year round. So I became a financial advisor just to have some income, just to...
Had you started the tours? The walking tours? Did you ever start that?
Well, I-
Not in Chicago. So I waited till I got out to California. Exactly. Yeah. I waited till I got out to California to do it. Cause I knew that I'd be able to do it more year round and have more variety and things like that. um, yeah, a friend of mine said, why you move back out to California? I've got a financial services business, get your licenses and you could, you know, sell stocks and bonds and, uh, not something I, I mean, I enjoy investing, but not selling them. Wasn't that big of an interest to me. Uh, so.
I did it just to have something to do and at night and on weekends I started this little business of teaching people one-on-one how to use their new digital cameras. And these, if you remember back then it was the, one megapixel Kodak, easy share, point and shoot kind of camera. And, you know, super basic, but I would sit across the kitchen table from someone and go over their camera top to bottom and then we'd go walk out into the beach and.
Ralph Velasco - 09:02.242
in Southern California and show them how to use it. So it was pretty nice, but it was a side hustle. But then I realized that, you know how you get those quarterly magazines typically from the city, wherever you live probably, where you've got those adult education programs and things that they put on. And so I was getting those and I saw some guy teaching how to use the camera. And so, okay, maybe that niche is taken, but what if I could teach people
how to see, how to, you know, he's teaching the technical part of the camera itself, the buttons and dials. Now let me teach people what to point it at. What's an interesting subject, composition, lighting, things like that, the more creative side of it, which I was more interested in anyway. And so little by little I did that. And so a tip for your listeners is if you wanna test a business idea,
That's a great way to do it. Those adult education classes that you see at your local city that they probably offer at the library oftentimes, that's a great way to test your business idea. See if there's a market for it, make your mistakes with smaller groups of people. And that's exactly what I did. Because this was early on, not a lot of people were doing this. So it was quite a learning experience.
And this part wasn't clear. Did you have any previous photography experience or, you know, was this, how did you make, how did you get into that?
Yeah, certainly not professionally, but I enjoyed photography and I traveled a lot. So, and I was starting to get, you know, people were complimenting me. Boy, your photography seems, you know, better than average. And so was being encouraged that, okay, maybe I've got a pretty good eye and I've got something to teach. Yeah. So that's kind of how it came about.
Gary Montalvo - 11:01.396
Yeah, so what really stands out for me is you just seem to be very practiced at just following your passions.
I try to be, you know, I'm single, I've never been married, I have no children. So I kind of only have myself to worry about as far as, know, if I make a mistake, I don't have a family that's, you know, maybe going to be financially affected. I'm a digital nomad or, you know, location independent. So I don't have monthly expenses of apartment or mortgage, cars, things like that. I'm...
I've created this life that I really like that is, you know, I can take a lot of chances because I don't have a lot at stake other than, you know, my own, I guess, happiness and financial well-being. So it works out.
Okay. Yeah, but even I, you know, I feel like a lot of us struggle with that, the idea of following our passions because we have, well, yes, responsibilities is definitely one of the reasons I think it's in the way, but also there's just fear, right? Because every time you follow your passion, can, it doesn't mean you're going to monetize it. It doesn't mean you're going to, you know, make money from it. You can fall flat on your face. There's no guarantees. And so
Most of us are, as we, think the older we get and the more ingrained we get in who we are, the less comfortable we are taking risks and following our passions. And what seems to, what's just very present for me in what you're sharing is this business was really born out of you following these breadcrumbs.
Gary Montalvo - 12:51.558
and following your passion and one thing led to the next and led to the next and led to the next. It wasn't like you set out to go, I'm gonna build tours that go worldwide, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think that's also another, it's something I've spoken about on the show as well, the idea that I feel like now especially the… incremental.
Gary Montalvo - 13:19.438
I think it may be a product of the internet and Instagram. It's like people tend to start a business and they want to think of the end result. They want to think of like, let me now go build a business where I'm traveling internationally and taking people with me. But very often what happens is it becomes a much bigger task. There's much bigger liability. There's, you know, much bigger infrastructure, much bigger startup costs. And this route of following the breadcrumbs, testing the product, like you said, testing the interest, you know, smaller, less risky environment, I think it's really beneficial. And I think people, you know, we had, I think of, we had a previous guest, Joel Gandera, who built a multimillion dollar
know, undergarment, underwear business, but the man started selling it, selling underwear in a Cofley market, you know, and then little by little it grew to that. So it strikes me of the same that you just follow your passion, follow an idea and then do that to the best of your ability and take what you're learning and go to the next level.
Yeah, and if I could say two things about that, one is environment. So I grew up as a third generation restaurateur. My parents for my whole life were entrepreneurs. They owned restaurants. So I grew up in that business and I grew up with mentors, my parents, people that were taking a risk and opening restaurants and this was something fairly new for them.
So I grew up in that environment where it was okay to take risks, where some of us grow up, you know, parents might be career people and that's all we know. you know, being an entrepreneur is forget about it. You know, it's so risky. But I grew up in that environment. So that definitely helped. And as far as passions go, yeah, this, this is something that I love to do is photograph and travel. But
Ralph Velasco - 15:32.546
you have to be careful when you turn a passion into a business because it kind of changes that interest. So photography is probably like three to 5 % of what I do. And so it's not like I'm just shooting all day long and that's it. I mean, it's a very small percentage of what I do, but I do love it, of course.
Yeah. So you are taking people around, you're showing them how to use cameras, you're taking them outside in their neighborhood. What was the next evolution of the business?
Yeah, so then I started to bring, so this was just in the neighborhood, you know, so I was living in Southern California and Orange County, and so beautiful, you got beaches and mountains and canyons and everything. And so a lot, a lot to photograph. And so eventually I started expanding and I ended up having something like 20 or 25 short tours in Southern California.
And then they just got kept expanding. you know, went from a two hour one on one to a half day, we would take the train from Orange County down to San Diego and back. And you know, I do one on ones with everyone we'd photograph there. So you know, make a half day out of it, then it was full day. And then we started doing weekends to Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley. And I say we, I was teaching at a local camera store. And so we partnered on
doing some of these weekend trips, Death Valley. Then I started bringing groups back to Chicago, my hometown, just to get a free ride home. And so, you know, that was now a four day trip. And then eventually, I got approached by a big, big tour company, asking me if I wanted to bring a group to Europe or kind of anywhere they went. They said, you know, we know that you do groups.
Ralph Velasco -17:40.674
Would you like to bring some groups on our trips? And they do trips all over the world. So I ended up doing a trip to Egypt with them. And then I also did a, actually my first international trip with a group was to the Central European Christmas markets with this company. But now we're a subgroup of their bigger bus tour. So I have zero control over anything. We just kind of have to
do what the group does. And it was a good way to get my feet wet. But I realized very quickly that that's not what I wanted to do. I mean, that's not how I saw these trips going. I wanted to be in control of, you know, getting out earlier in the day before the crowds, good light, all that good stuff. And so but it was a good lesson learned.
Yeah, what were as you're expanding and, you know, leveling up, what were some of the, I guess, challenges you had to resolve or lessons that you were coming up against, you know, obstacles that you were hitting along the way?
Well, I'll tell you, so here I am a financial advisor. It's 2005. Don't forget about that. So yeah, that's my full-time job. So I'm a financial advisor. It's 2005. Now we all know what happened in September of 2008. We had the major financial crisis. So here I am a newbie financial advisor, like just trying to
That's right, you're still doing that.
Ralph Velasco - 19:18.552
get people to trust me to give me their money to invest and not doing real well, you know, doing this other thing on the side that I really enjoy. And so the day after the financial crisis in September is the day that I say that I went full time into what I'm doing today, which is organizing and leading small group trips around the world. So that was kind of the best thing that ever happened to me was the financial crisis.
But because it just was the kick in the pants that I needed to get out of that and really go all in on this other business.
And so as you're scaling the business, it just organic? That it just kind of kept growing? Did you have to start changing your strategies for how you were bringing in more people?
Yeah. Yeah. It was all those things. Uh, I, it was growing very little by little. Um, and, I had six people on that first trip and then, uh, you know, trying to be as a new person in that business, trying to get people to come, you know, spend four or $5,000 to come and travel with you around the world. Uh, that, that takes a lot. And so as people got to know me teaching these classes, that's another good reason for teaching those types of classes is that
people get to know you personally. They're with you in the class, they get to know your personality, they learn to trust you hopefully. And so that's kind of, it was just little by little, very gradual. But I would, to build that following, I would and still do, and here I am on your podcast, but I am very much interested in getting in front of anyone who may be interested in travel and photography.
Ralph Velasco - 21:13.642
and talking about what I do and the incredible trips that I create. that, but that happened very little by little. And, know, kind of like that frog in the frying pan or, yeah, boiling water and kind of doesn't know it's heating up and the next thing you know. So.
So now, how many trips are you doing a year now?
Anywhere from 10 to 12 trips, I think this year I've got 10 and Yeah, all over the world, excuse me
Almost every month you're out.
Yeah, about an average of every month. Yeah. And I try to combine the trips. So I'll do like India and Vietnam neck back to back so that I'm in that region and you know, I don't have to fly back and forth. So trying to minimize the amount of flying that I'm doing. Although I do love the miles.
Gary Montalvo - 22:14.958
We do love some miles. Okay, so we're not now I'm getting all excited about these trips. So where are we going this year?
Yeah, so this year I've got a trip coming up to Antarctica in about two weeks. So I went there this last year myself. I got down there for the first time myself last year and it was out of this world literally.
Did you go ahead to scout?
I did not scout the, I scout almost every trip that I do. Antarctica wasn't one of those ones that you could scout. It was virtually impossible to like, otherwise I would just had to pay for a trip to go down there and see it. Where when I scout, sometimes I'm hosted by the local tour operators and things like that. But this was not that case. So I actually sent a group down the year before.
where I didn't go, but they went and they got to enjoy it. Then last year I went with a group. This year I'm sending another group where I'm not going. So this is one of the few trips that I kind of set up where I don't go on the trips, although I do do custom tours, where if you and your partner and a spouse or whoever, know, family group or organization wants to put together a small group trip to anywhere, I can help arrange that.
Ralph Velasco - 23:45.486
So those are custom tours. But the other trips I have coming up after that, I'm going to Cuba. That'll be my 20th time to Cuba. I do a finish in Swedish Lapland. We're going to Norway as an optional extension after that. Then I have Spain, France, and Italy in April, May. I go back to Cuba before that, second time this year. And then I just introduced Tanzania and Zanzibar for late.
June, early July. It's a great time to be down there for the migration. And what else? Armenia, Georgia, India, and Vietnam. I think that kind of wraps up the year.
my goodness. what can people expect when they go on one of these trips with you? I mean, obviously it'll be different from country to country, but just in terms of the photography and the experience you provide and the point of view that you bring to it, what can they expect?
Yeah, good question. I'm getting away from the photography part. So these are not photo workshops or I don't even call them photo tours anymore because that implies that it's all photography. So I call them cultural tours with a focus on photography, but it's fairly casual. So we're not doing every sunrise and sunset and all those imagery views and photo walks and things like that.
So if you're a hardcore photographer, may not be the best trip for you, but if you're casual or not a photographer at all, my trips are great. So the photography is, you know, we're all some sort of a photographer, because we've got our cameras with us all the time now with our smartphones, but I'm really into the food, the culture, people, getting into people's homes, their places of business.
Ralph Velasco -25:46.368
learning about their perspectives and outlooks on life, artisans, food, we talked about the food, wine tasting, we actually do vodka tasting, caviar tasting, walnut and hazelnut oil tasting, olive oil. So I'm really into the experiences, having these experiences and doing what they do in these places and learning about that from the people who do it.
Yeah. So it sounds like for, um, from someone considering this, is like, you know, the, it's like going against the crazy tourist experience in a way, right? Because very often you go to these places and you just kind of pick the top 20 sites and you're there wrestling with all the tourists to, you know,
to try to see them on a lease sale or something. And a lot of these places, I think for when you are a tourist, it's kind of hard to get out of the tourist path, especially if you're an American, you're not really trained to be adventurous and go to the back alleys, it's very common for.
people to go and try to go eat at the fast food restaurants that they know and you know, which is awful. Don't do that. Why would you do that? Why would you go to another country and go eat fast food? But it sounds like you're really looking to curate intimate experiences off that tourist path, right? And more on the beaten path. Yeah, sounds like
That's right.
Ralph Velasco - 27:40.942
Yeah, my clients tend to be pretty well traveled. So they've done the typical Rome Venice Florence trip to Italy now they're looking to do something off the beaten path and I'm as I get older and do this more I Am appreciating the art of slow travel and so instead of like like my trip to Morocco
I think that was 14 days and we might go to six or seven different locations where you're packing and unpacking at each one and driving six, eight hours in between locations. And that just gets too much. Like I said, if you're doing 10, 12 trips a year and you've got to do that 10 or 12 times, it's kind of brutal. And I know, cause I've been doing this for 16 years.
So when you're just doing it for a vacay for for tour as well, honestly like yeah, I There's only so many times I want to pack and unpack my bag
You said it. You said it. So I'm starting to do more. Let's go to one, maybe two locations, do a deep dive, pack and unpack once, maybe twice. And then we do like a hub and spoke. And so we just check my France's magical Dordogne trip. We stay at a private 11th century castle and we stay there for the full week and we just do hub and spoke and visit nearby villages and towns and
go 20,000 year old cave paintings and walnut oil caviar tasting. It's absolutely spectacular. But people really appreciate that idea of not having to pack and unpack every two nights. So it's that deep dive travel deep, not wide.
Gary Montalvo - 29:36.162
Yeah, yeah, cause there's, when you're looking for the quality, it's like a quality thing, right? When you're trying to get to the experience and the essence of it, you know, versus like, let me try to see as much as possible so I can check it off my Bingo card, my travel Bingo card.
No, you're absolutely right. these recent series of books that I've written, the mindful and intentional traveler series is about that slow travel, being more intentional, being more present, getting more out of the place that you are. And it doesn't have to be on an international trip necessarily, this we can do in our own backyards or at home. And it's a good habit to be in.
is to be more present and appreciative of where we are instead of always thinking about where we're going or what happened in the past. Because we only have the presence. So that's concept I'm trying to put a spin on for travel.
I love that, because I feel like one of the crises that we're having in our society, in our world, in our culture is it's increasingly difficult to be present because we have all these devices in front of us. And we weren't really designed to be this stimulated, to have things pinning us every five seconds, every five minutes.
So that's getting increasingly difficult. And I find that that shows up when you're traveling as well.
Ralph Velasco - 31:15.996
more than ever.
I always when I travel now, I always go, okay, it takes me like two days just to detach, right? Because the first day is like traveling and checking and unpacking and you know, you're still in the hustle and bustle and then it takes you like another full day just to kind of leave the world behind to leave your phone down to not be checking your emails to not be checking your social media, you know, to really unplug.
Some people don't even ever do that. They're traveling and they're like going live and take your
It takes me three days, Well, that's a big part. So these digital devices that we now have are fantastic, but they're made to take us away from where we are. You know, we're watching a TV show or something and we want to Google the actor or, you know, we need some information. I mean, they're unbelievable. So they're wonderful for that sense, but that's exactly what we
don't want or what I don't want. I think, you know, most people is, you know, we go to these amazing places, we play up, pay a lot of money to get there. But then we're back somewhere else, maybe at home or who knows where. And can I tell a quick story about this? Yeah, so the reason the way that the series came up was when I was 16 and on that trip to Peru, I mentioned earlier, we were a group of nine
Ralph Velasco - 32:48.398
15, 16 year old boys from my high school. went to an all boys Catholic high school and we went down to Peru as volunteers and it was a social justice program. So it was a way to show these kids from the US what life is really like in the rest of the world. So we go down there and after a week or so you got some teenage boys and of course we're gonna start complaining and it's like.
I miss my my bed. I miss my mother's cooking. I miss my friends and family kind of thing, you know, and so one of the priests eventually got fed up and he said, you know what, guys, you have the most incredible opportunity to be on this trip. Be here now. And those three words just stuck with me all this time. And so.
That's remarkable.
Okay, and your books, where can they find them?
Ralph Velasco - 33:39.566
As I got older, it took me getting older and traveling a lot and wanting to slow down and understanding the value of slowing down to understand the importance of that concept. And as you get older, you start to think, well, the time ahead of me is less and less. What am I gonna do with that time? How am I gonna maximize it? And worrying about the past or worrying about the future,
is not productive. Let me concentrate on the here and now. So that's how the series came about. And so I wrote the first book is 60 affirmations for travel. So it's affirmations having to do with travel. Second book is a travel activity book that's sort of a low content. It's got adult coloring pages. There are gratitudes for travel, inspiring quotes, mazes.
But yeah, we'll definitely include those in the show notes and we'll include a link to your Continental Drifter site. It's the schedule for the shows of being, excuse me, for your trips there as well.
Ralph Velasco - 34:37.87
crossword puzzles, word searches, having to do with travel. So I imagine people sitting on an airplane wanting unplug, but wanting to stay in the travel mindset and diving into this book. And then the third one in the series is called how to be a mindful traveler using your five plus senses. And that's about, what I recommend is that people
Yeah, we'll include all that and I think you said you may have a gift for the listeners
set a timer for themselves when they're traveling every hour or two, even at home. And that reminder is meant to tell you to just stop, look, listen, feel, smell, touch, taste where you are and take it in intentionally. Because it's very different. The intention is the key part because I've got another concept. It's not my concept, but the idea of
looking at something and seeing it is very different. You know, I'm looking at you, I'm looking at all this stuff in my studio here, but I'm not seeing any of it, right? I'm seeing you, because I'm concentrated on your face. So that's that concept of, it's kind of the same concept when it comes to the being here now.
And how do they claim the $200 by reaching out to you?
Gary Montalvo - 36:12.642
Awesome. Go get your discount. I think what you're doing is so fascinating and I love that you turned this passion into a business and I love that you are providing a space, probably one of the few experiences where people can just kind of like let go and be present and get to know.
different life. And I think it's underrated that, you know, that there's something that happens for people when they step out of their own environment and go completely somewhere else. And in some places, it feels like you're in an alien place, right? Like the culture is so different, the world is so different, the lifestyle is so different. And, you know, you just got to go create some new
Yeah. mean, I love that you said that because it's such a good points and, yeah, you, you get to just go into this experience, not have to worry about all the details, giving you time to experience the place. You're absolutely right. I kind of never thought of it that way. To be honest, I provide a pretty good service.
you know, brain path synapses, like, you know, it forces your brain to work differently. It forces you to be inspired differently, different smells, you know, sensations, different sounds. It expands you, it grows you as a human. I'm a big fan of traveling. And I think that it just, the only magical things happen from it. And so I'm excited to...to go on one of your tours soon.
Gary Montalvo - 38:06.476
Yeah. Well thank you Ralph, I appreciate you coming on the show and sharing so much of your story. Absolutely, talk to you soon.
Yeah, isn't it like 10 by 15?
Gary Montalvo - 38:16.776
What struck me the most in my conversation with Ralph wasn't just the story of how he built his business, but the philosophy he brings to his work and his life. In a culture that glorifies busyness and checking off boxes, Ralph reminds us of the power of just slowing down and being present. Whether it's travel, building a business, or simply living your day-to-day life, there's incredible value in being intentional.
A thousand people staring at it. Yep.
Gary Montalvo - 38:46.64
how you spend your time and what you focus on. Braav's concept of deep travel, choosing to explore fewer places but with a greater connection, it feels like an antidote to the overwhelm so many of us face. It's not about how many places you can see, it's about the relationships that get created, the experiences that you have, the things that you learn about yourself in the process.
That was a great point. And I think as a younger traveler, I was all about that checking bucket items, you know, you just want to do and see everything and mark it off. Yeah, I did that. But as we get older, as I get older, I realized the importance of the like you said, just maybe sitting in a cafe watching the world go by or sitting on a bar stool that's older than the United States of America.
When we slow down, we open ourselves up to moments of clarity, of inspiration, of connection. And those moments may otherwise pass us by when we're not present. So my question for you this week is, where in your life are you rushing? Where in your life are you missing the breadcrumbs of passion and curiosity? See if you can step back.
in a pub in England and talking to some old timer sitting next to you and learning about his life and perspective. To me, that's travel. That's real deep travel. It's not ticking those bucket list items necessarily.
Slow down and approach the situation with more presence and intention. Whether it's a big project, a relationship, or maybe it's just the way that you're spending your downtime. See what might open up for you if you just gave it your full attention.
Gary Montalvo - 39:54.146
Well, thank you. is our show for this week. If this episode spoke to you, don't forget to hit follow or subscribe. It really does a great deal to help me grow the show and it helps you stay up to date when the new episodes drop every Tuesday. As always, also share it with someone who might need a reminder to slow down and savor the moment. Until next time, friends, stay present, stay connected and keep playing the ownership game.
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Yeah, writing is very difficult for me. It's not an easy thing. Now these books are what are called low to medium content. So they're not novels. They're like I said, they've got puzzles and you know, they're kind of activity books, adult coloring pages, mandalas, things like that. So this idea that
you know, writing, I'm not writing novels. I've written other books, my 101 tips for developing your photographic eye and more was more tips with examples of pictures. So I enjoyed writing those books, but to sit down and write some sort of a novel or biography would be very difficult for me. But today with the new tools that we have, I mean, certainly AI and chat GPT and
It doesn't make the writing of the book that much less. I'll tell you that and I've used it. But there's so much involved in creating these books, even the simplest book, that it's quite an involved process and takes a lot of time. But I've really enjoyed it and I love seeing them out there and I love seeing all the incredible reviews. I think I've got...
Ralph Velasco - 41:49.166
for books, I've got all five star reviews except one person gave me a four star review. But all my trips have all 100 % five star reviews over 16 years.
Yeah, I'm very happy.
Ralph Velasco - 42:14.082
Yeah, so they're on Amazon. If you search for, I wrote them under the Continental Drifter sort of byline, but they're called 60 affirmations for travel, travel activity book for adults, and how to be a mindful traveler. And I could certainly send you direct links to them if you want to put them in the show notes. But because there is, there are some other, there's some books called Continental Drifter. There's
You know, I'm not the only continental drifter. think I'm the only continental drifter author.
Ralph Velasco - 43:04.418
Yeah, if you go to the homepage, you'll see them all there. Tours tab, there's a dropdown that shows you all the trips I have coming up. Click on one, you'll get all the information. You can download an itinerary, see the costing and everything. So pretty much everything's there. I've got a YouTube channel, slash Continental Drifter, all my podcasts that I've been on.
blog posts, a of good information there. And you can also go there to buy the books if you just go to, I think it's the store tab and there's a dropdown for books. I'll be glad to give you those links.
Ralph Velasco - 43:48.084
I do. do. First of all, if anyone goes to my website, which is continental drifter.co, there'll be a pop up there. You could join my mailing list. get a free download of my 52 categories of a shot list ebook, which is based on an app that I created about 14, 15 years ago. It's no longer in the app store. But yeah, so that's one thing.
But the other thing is I'd like to offer your listeners $200 off of any trip coming up this year. So bring as many people as you like. Everyone gets $200 off and feel free to reach out to me, Ralph at continentaldrifter.co. Glad to answer any questions or, you know.
Ralph Velasco - 44:38.862
Yeah, so reach out to me tell you know, just mention the your show and that you heard about the offer on your show and I'll be glad to honor that.
Ralph Velasco - 46:19.51
Love it. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's no education like travel. Yeah. So get out there, expand your world. There's a whole world out there. And I, I just completely get off on that, you know, different language, food, culture, time zone, et cetera. you know, that's why I travel is because of those differences and because I like to be out of my comfort zone.
Ralph Velasco - 46:49.016
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.