FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE™️: TRAVEL DIFFERENTLY IN MIDLIFE & BEYOND - TIPS FROM A TRAVEL ADVISOR (PART 1)

Welcome to FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE™️! In this episode, I chat with travel advisor Claudia Goettig. She’s the Director of Concierge and Guest Experience at the Arizona Biltmore and has her own travel agency, too! 

With over 30 years in hospitality, Claudia shares her take on how to make travel experiences meaningful and memorable, especially for women in midlife and beyond.

Claudia shares her insights on:

• Why midlife is the perfect time to focus on travel that creates lasting memories
• How to simplify the holiday season by gifting experiences instead of things
• The benefits of using a travel advisor to plan hassle-free trips
• How her personal journey has shaped her approach to travel planning

Get inspired by Claudia's advice on creating deeper, more intentional travel experiences that bring joy to this stage of life, AND hear about a river cruise that could be your next unforgettable adventure!

For more tips and to hear part two of my chat with Claudia, join my ELEVATE membership at https://www.flipsideofmidlife.com/elevate-membership

Connect with Claudia:
Email: claudiag@travelconciergecorner.com
Website: travelconciergecorner.com
Instagram: @travelconcorner

Transcript

FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE™️: TRAVEL DIFFERENTLY IN MIDLIFE & BEYOND - TIPS FROM A TRAVEL ADVISOR (PART 1)

{MUSIC INTRO}

Karli: Welcome back to FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE™️. I'm Karli Newman, your host. I'm so happy to have here with me Claudia Goettig. She is the Director of Concierge and Guest Experience at the Arizona Biltmore, and she's been in the business of exceeding the expectations of her clients for over 30 years.

Now, during the pandemic, she didn't only make sourdough bread and binge Netflix. She earned her travel agent certification and in 2022 she actually started her own travel agency. She helps her clients create memories that last a lifetime. 

So yes, Claudia is a very busy woman, so that's why we are so fortunate to have her here with us today. She's going to talk about travel, the trends, and I'm just so excited, so let's dive into our conversation. Welcome! 

Claudia: Thank you, Karli. It's so nice to be with you today. 

Karli: It's so great to have you here. Thank you so much for being willing to join me and to share all of your experience and your knowledge and your advice around travel.

This audience of women in midlife and beyond is very interested in travel and I can't wait to hear your take on it.

Claudia: Yeah, it's the best stage of life. 

Karli: It really is and we are going to talk about that as well. 

This is part one of my conversation with Claudia. If you are a part of my ELEVATE membership, you will also be able to watch and listen to my part two conversation with Claudia. And that is, again, only available to those of you who are part of my ELEVATE membership.

Let's dive into this part one of our conversation. Claudia, you have so much experience in the hospitality industry. Tell me what you love most about what you do. 

Claudia: Gosh, what I love most, and I think you and I briefly talked about this when we first met, was that I love creating memories for people that last generations.

I lost my father eight years ago and I tried to rack my brain when he passed away, like, what was a gift he gave me? Something tangible, and the one thing that kept coming to my mind was all the trips and vacations from childhood to adulthood that we got to experience together.

I just thought, you know what, when we leave this life, that's what we take with us. And that's what we leave behind. Are those impressions, those memories, and doing that through travel tasting the world, feeling the world, seeing the world. That's what's exciting to me and helping people plan that.

I just feel like I'm a part of their family or a part of their journey. 

Karli: That's such a great thing to think about. I'm sorry to hear about your father. I know that that's a really tough thing to go through, losing a parent. And that is something that women in midlife and beyond are going through, definitely.

That's one of our struggles is losing people that we love. and how amazing to have those memories that you can look back on of when you were a girl, when your dad was with you, and those are gifts. Gosh, That's such an amazing way to think about travel it's the experiences that you're building and the memories you're sharing with others. 

Claudia: Yeah. 

Karli: How has this phase of life influenced what you do? 

Claudia: I feel like this stage of my life, everything feels deeper, more connected. I feel like I want to make those connections meaningful. I have this clear perspective, after raising kids and I was a mom and I guess you would say I was a married single parent for a lot of years. I know many of us GenX women can relate to that where, we were married as a duty, but we didn't have that life partner.

So my whole focus was always my children and not that it isn't anymore. It's just shifted. 

So in this phase, when I think of giving my children gifts, I will give them gifts of memories. For Christmas, we'll plan a trip together. A girl's trip with me and my two daughters. Or my son, I'll give him, tickets to the Saints game in New Orleans, and we'll go, check out that game together. Or whatever it may be that they're into or invested in, in that part of their life, I can help them build that memory.

And so, the shift for me in this part of life is, not chasing, all the little things, and looking for the deeper, meaningful things. 

Karli: That's a really, really good insight. In conversations I have with women in my events or just one-on-one, that is something that a lot of us, in midlife and beyond are coming to terms with letting go of kind of the fluff, if you will, that we've been holding on to.

We've come to the realization that those things really aren't what's important to us anymore. And being able to create those shifts in our identity to find that deeper meaning exactly what you're talking about. And I love your idea of, when you're thinking of gifts, you're really consciously trying to create those memories with your kids. Do you find yourself doing that, with other people in your life too? 

Claudia: Yeah, I try and do it with everybody in my life that I want a connection with. I really stopped several years ago trying to buy gifts for everybody. It was too much. It became overwhelming.

It's not that I didn't care about these people, I didn't care about giving things anymore. The materialism especially so close to the holidays, I think about it all the time how frustrated I get. It's just so materialistic that the joy of Christmas is gone when all you're doing is stressing about the next gift or what am I gonna give or are they gonna like it? Are they gonna re-gift it? So I just really cut that outta my life. 

My fiance and I, this past year, my in-laws, or soon-to-be in-laws, they're getting older, they're in their 80s, and they really wanted us to go to Hilton Head with them. I'd never been to Hilton Head, and I thought, great. So this was our Christmas present to them, we went with them to Hilton Head. Such an experience. Those of us, in our midlife that travel with older parents or the older generation, it's a lot of work, you know,

They're well traveled and sometimes I think, how have you traveled your entire life? You're pushing wheelchairs and trying to find luggage.

But such a joy, we made such great memories and, that to me is what I try and look at when I'm looking at the experiences and the gifts that I want to give to people.

Karli: It's interesting that you say that. We are recording on November 4th, so the holidays are basically upon us and I've been talking a lot over the last month or so about how when we do get into midlife and beyond, our perspective on the holiday season changes and shifts and you have a perfect example around gift-giving of how it became something you wanted to let go of because it was not bringing you joy any longer.

So you found a way to edit what you do and shift what you do for gift-giving and make that, an element of joy for yourself and for the person you're giving it to. So I think that's lovely. 

Claudia: Yeah. 

Karli: Yes traveling with older parents is challenging. I would probably guess that my kids say traveling with me is challenging. Actually, I know they might - I know for sure they would say that. All 3 of them. 

Claudia: Yeah, yeah. It's interesting as you get to this part of your life, what your priorities and perspectives are, and my kids, I really have to be conscious about where I travel with my kids, because what I want to do and what they want to do are completely different. I have to go into it knowing that, hey, they're not going to want to go to the museum with me, and that's okay.

I can go to the museum and enjoy, and they can go to the concert or the bars. I'm way past that. It's not that there aren't times when I'll go with them. It's just it doesn't bring me joy. But knowing that at the end of the evening, we'll meet back up, we'll have a cocktail together, and still be able to make memories. I think that's the biggest challenge is okay, we don't need an itinerary to travel. We can travel and have separate experiences in the shared travel experience. 

Karli: That's really good advice that I am trying to learn, take to heart. Type A, I will fully admit, and so I've always wanted to have you know, plan everything, leave some white space, but have plans, what are we going to do, how are we going to do it, and, as our kids get older and become adults, that's definitely harder and harder to do, but family is still so important to me.

I think that's also part of being in midlife and beyond. we are learning, we are growing, we are changing, we are shifting, and we need to be compassionate and kind with ourselves and know that that's okay.

And maybe what used to be meaningful, important, just isn't anymore and that's okay. So all of those things probably model themselves in a travel environment. 

Claudia: They for sure do. They for sure do. 

Karli: Why don't you talk to me a little bit about the benefits of using a travel advisor or concierge versus trying to do all the planning on your own.

Claudia: I have a lot of friends that just are like, I can't afford you. There's nothing to afford. I don't charge. I don't charge anybody to do anything. If you have a travel advisor that's charging you, it's probably the wrong travel advisor. But don't take their work either. Because I've had a lot of people where I'll give them a full itinerary and then they'll just go book it themselves.

Time is money, especially at our age. I always say I hit 50 and I realize I'm closer to the end than I am the beginning. So, when people take my time and are willing to waste it, I feel like I don't want to help you again. The benefits of a travel advisor is a good travel advisor has a lot of really great connections.

It's the same with a concierge, right? I just happen to be both, so I have connections in both areas. As a travel advisor, I'm going to be able to give you those secret places to go eat. I'm going to be able to give you what you should do and what you shouldn't do. I'm going to have the knowledge of the country that you're going to and what paperwork and documents and everything that you need to have.

I'll be able to give you the best options for flights. It's so overwhelming. You have to go to each different company and compare the rates and compare your notes. And a travel advisor does that work for you. They take all the guesswork and legwork out and you can say, you know what, no, that one's just not really fitting my needs.

Can we tweak it? Can we look someplace else? Again, time is valuable. So, your time is valuable. As a consumer, how much time do you want to spend making those plans? That's really what it comes down to, in my opinion. A travel advisor, a good travel advisor, is going to give you the knowledge, the help, and give you back your time. 

One thing I will say about travel that people don't understand or don't really know, is that you go to Expedia and you go to all these third party and you think you're getting a great deal because they have all these packages that they put together for you.

They get these great packages because they do bulk packages with these companies, flights, and all those things. So when you go through those third parties, if something happens along your travel, the company is not responsible or liable to you as the consumer. The third party is.

So if you're taking a trip to Europe and you booked everything through Travelzoo or Travelocity, and I'm not knocking those they have their place and their purpose, but let's say you're on a flight and the flight gets canceled and you booked it through Booking. com.

The airline is going to say, so sorry, you're going to have to call Booking.com to fix this problem for you, or you're going to have to pay a full fare ticket. When you have a travel advisor, everything is the responsibility of the travel advisor. So if something gets canceled, or booked, or changed, the travel advisor takes ownership and responsibility and goes after that company on your behalf. That's a big difference. 

I've had lots of clients that they started out by stealing my itinerary and booking it themselves and calling me midway because something happened in mid-travel. And that's when I do charge. That's when I say, well, now because you took my information, I'm going to have to charge you to help fix and get you out of this situation. 

So that's one thing I always tell consumers to look at. If you're booking through a third party, make sure you know what you're booking and what you're getting into. And they charge fees just like everybody else. You think it's a hundred dollars and then you go to finally book it and it's $175, so you're paying it somewhere.

Karli: That is very good advice. You mentioned at the beginning of your answer that, you don't charge a client.

So can you share how you get compensated? 

Claudia: Yeah, absolutely. So, with me, it's booking your hotels, booking your airlines. So all these companies, for the most part, will pay a commission to the travel advisor. So that's how I get paid to do travel bookings is I get commission off your total travel depending on what we're doing, if it's a package, it's a tour, if it's a cruise, it's those companies because I work directly with them, will pay a commission. 

Karli: That's really good to know because that is a misconception that to work with an advisor, it does cost a lot of money.

To know working with you specifically with Concierge experience and the Travel Advisor experience, the connections that you do have, and the knowledge you have because you have been in that world for so long. Tell me about how you learn about properties and things like that for clients.

Claudia: Yeah, I mean a lot of it is just research. I'd like to say I've been everywhere around the world, but I haven't yet. Sometimes there are occasions where companies will invite me to try and experience their product or come and see what it's all about. But as you mentioned in the beginning, I'm pretty busy, so traveling is something I love doing, I just don't have the opportunity to do as much as I like. 

So it's just doing a lot of research and then having the connections with people in the areas, especially as a concierge. I can reach out to concierge in other countries and other cities and say, hey, tell me about the hidden gems or where would you go personally, versus sending, everybody to the same place.

it is really about relationships to me at the end of the day, building those relationships, building the trust, and then being able to reach out and connect so that I can get all the information for my clients. 

Karli: All that legwork. That is a lot of time. There is a lot of work as Claudia described, that goes into creating those itineraries and doing that research and working with you to plan the perfect thing that works so well for you and you are not paying her to do that. So booking your trip with her is a way of paying for the trip. 

Claudia: Yes. 

Karli: Who are your ideal clients? Who do you love to work with?

Claudia: Ideally, I love the adventure seeker. I love women my age. Right now I'm planning a Christmas market cruise next December 2025. I have 15 rooms available to me, and it's something that's on my bucket list, going from Basel to Amsterdam and stopping on the Rhine River and going to all the little Christmas markets along the way and seeing all the little, no kids.

So I try and plan things that are on my bucket list and invite anybody who wants to join me, but ideal clients are going to be those that are up for adventure, want to look for something new, are open to possibilities that come to me and say, I don't know what I want to do, help me out. What do you suggest?

I have people that work with me that specialize in different areas of the world or different products. I don't specialize in everything. I have the resources to find out for people what they want. If you've never river cruised, this time of life, it's amazing because it's different than ocean cruising.

Ocean cruising, you're on the ocean for so long, and you stop at a port for a day and then you're on the ocean for a long time. Where river cruising, you're really at a different city, a different culture every single night, or every day. And, the boat becomes your place of sleep and eat, and that's it.

But then you're also eating and tasting your way through these countries. In ten days, you've gone through five countries and twelve cities. And you just can't do that by land. You can't do that on an ocean. So, I really, love the people that love adventure. 

Karli: I think that that's going to appeal to a lot of the women who are listening and watching this today.

I am going to fully admit that I get completely seasick and I had the worst cruise experience ever. It was only a three-day cruise, thank goodness. Cause I wanted to jump off that boat. 

Claudia: Me, too. 

Karli: I felt so miserable. And that was on a cruise from Florida down to the Bahamas and back. So can you tell me, is a river cruise different than an ocean cruise in that sense?

Claudia: A hundred percent. I get seasick, terrible seasickness as well. I have to do the patches I love cruising, but river cruising is it's just a slow, gentle, you're just following the river. It's not rocky. It's not bumpy. You don't have the waves. It's not the same.

And you see land the entire time. There isn't a point where you don't see land, which is a lot of part of the seasickness, right? It's because you, there's nothing in the horizon. There's nothing to look at. So river cruise is definitely, if you can go on a lake, then you can go on a river. 

Karli: Well, that's food for thought.

Because just what you were describing, the whole Christmas market, along the Rhine, that sounds amazing.

Claudia: And the thing I love about the Christmas market cruise is, so all the little villages that you get to stop at, you couldn't do in a day or even a few days because you have to drive around mountains to get to each one. And then there's all the castles along the way that you wouldn't typically get to see that you get to stop and go explore.

And river cruises are definitely much different. 

Karli: Okay, so we have some things to talk about.

I'm so happy that you mentioned that today. We are getting close to our time frame for this first episode. I just want to remind listeners and watchers that if you are part of my ELEVATE membership, you will have access to Part Two of my conversation with Claudia, and she's going to dig a little deeper into some more travel advice, some travel trends that she's seeing, and what she thinks women in midlife and beyond might like for travel itineraries and some options to go out and explore more. 

So Claudia, before we end, I do want to ask you, what is your favorite thing about this time of life, the FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE™️? 

Claudia: I would have to say it's that I care less. sounds terrible, but I do. I just, I care less. I'm not so worried about what others think and how they feel and what they're, it's not that I'm cold-hearted. That sounds really cold-hearted. I am more passionate about the things that I'm passionate about and I'm less concerned about the things that don't bring me joy.

Karli: That is an answer that I hear frequently when I ask that question. It's, I think we know ourselves better. And we are more comfortable in our own skin and willing to stop people-pleasing and willing to let go of that perfectionism and willing to just be who we are, be more authentic in our entire whole lives. It's not selfish and it's not unkind and boundaries serve us really well and we tend to get better at setting them and sticking to them at this phase of life. 

And I love that that's your answer because it is, it is one of the beautiful things about being in midlife and beyond is, caring less about what others think and caring more about what we think.

Claudia: Yeah, yeah, I think we lived through a generation where women were silent. It's good to not be silent anymore and be okay with it. 

Karli: Finding our voice again is a big thing because I do feel like, GenX and up, I'm going to say, women were taught to suppress, be quiet, be polite, be respectful, all of those things and we're teaching the younger generations below us that that's not the way it has to be and we're starting to model that. So, yay for us. 

Claudia: Yeah. Yes. 

Karli: So listeners, who want to contact you, claudiag@travelconciergecorner.com and I will share her email address and her website which is travelconciergecorner.com in the show notes and transcript of this episode. 

So please reach out to Claudia. 

I'm assuming you help people all over the country. yes? 

Claudia: I do, yes. 

Karli: Okay, so you do not have to be in Arizona. You do not have to be in the Phoenix area. 

Claudia can help you and I encourage you to please reach out to her because travel expands our life experience, expands our fulfillment with life, our purpose, and our meaning, and helps us share beautiful memories with people we love like Claudia has talked about.

Claudia, thank you so much for being here today. I really, really appreciate your time.

Claudia: Thank you, Karli. 

Karli: Thank you so much. Don't forget, you can listen to part two of my conversation with Claudia if you become a member of my ELEVATE membership. See you soon.

Claudia: Bye.

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