As Thanksgiving nears, gratitude moves from idea to experience. It shows up in small exchanges — in how we speak to one another, how we slow down to appreciate, how we recognize the many ways life gives to us.
Travel has always reminded me of this. Gratitude expands when you see the world through someone else’s eyes, when you share a table far from home, or when a landscape humbles you.
In this newsletter, I want to share journeys that offer a different kind of perspective — places where nature, culture, and meaning intersect. Expeditions across the Antarctic Circle. The remote worlds of New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands. The coastal histories of the Scottish Archipelagos and the Faroe Islands. The living traditions of Papua New Guinea. The ice-laden stillness of Greenland and the North Pole. Nepal, where reflection and renewal meet in the quiet presence of the Himalayas. And New Mexico’s Vermejo Reserve, a high-desert expanse that offers space to breathe, consider, and begin again.
Each experience is an invitation to give thanks — for beauty, for insight, for the chance to keep exploring.
SOJOURN EXPLORERS HIGHLIGHT BOX PONANT x The Explorers Club
Voyages for the Curious, the Courageous, and the Deeply Alive
Photo Credit: Ponant Explorations
Some journeys expand your sense of abundance in an instant — standing at the edge of the Antarctic Circle, drifting through the Chilean fjords, or witnessing the raw beauty of Papua New Guinea. As a long-standing member of The Explorers Club, I am pleased to offer expeditions with PONANT EXPLORATIONS that bring you into the heart of the world’s most remote regions with intention, care, and genuine insight.
These small-ship voyages are guided by scientists and field researchers who share their work as you travel. You step into landscapes most will never see and come away with a renewed sense of gratitude for the planet we call home.
A glimpse of what awaits:
Beyond the Antarctic Circle
New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands
Inuit Spring of Ammassalik
Scottish Archipelagos & the Faroe Islands
Australia’s Kimberley
The Geographic North Pole
New Guinea Odyssey
Chilean Fjords
Belize & Caribbean Nature Sanctuaries
Each voyage is purposeful, immersive, and deeply reflective — a rare chance to witness the world with both curiosity and reverence.
A Sacred Journey Through Nepal’s Living Traditions and Mountain Stillness
February 20–27, 2026 | 8 Days All-Inclusive | Limited to 16 Guests
Photo Credit: The Dwarika’s Collection
Nepal invites a way of living that feels spacious and present. Your journey begins at The Dwarika’s in Kathmandu, a heritage hotel shaped by artisans whose work preserves centuries-old craft. You wander courtyards, visit sacred sites, and step into rituals that have anchored Nepalese life for generations.
Midweek, you travel to Dwarika’s Sanctuary in Dhulikhel, surrounded by hills that open to the Himalayas. Days begin with meditation, breathwork, and reflection. Evenings bring mantra chanting, sound healing, energy work, and writing that helps you hear your life more honestly.
You photograph moments that draw you in, meet with an Ayurvedic doctor, explore local villages, and experience conversations that linger. You return home clearer, lighter, and more aligned with what matters now.
An Adventure for Clarity and Renewal on Ted Turner’s Private Vermejo Reserve
All-Inclusive | Limited to 10 Guests April 8–12, 2026 | 5 Days | All-Inclusive | Limited to 10 Guests
Photo Credit: Ted Turner’s Vermejo
Vermejo offers a landscape that creates clarity the moment you arrive. Set on Ted Turner’s 550,000-acre private reserve, this retreat brings you into wide open space, firelit evenings, quiet mornings, and time in nature that invites real reflection.
You stay in the historic 1900s Bartlett Cottage, originally used as men's quarters, walk among elk and bison, breathe in the high mountain air, and let your photographs show what is already stirring inside you. Creative practices, meaningful dialogue, and time on the land help you see your next steps more clearly.
You return home with renewed focus and a more profound sense of direction.
Every Sojourn Explorers journey is shaped with one intention: to help you experience the world in a way that feels personal, meaningful, and deeply human. Travel becomes more than movement when it invites insight. You step into landscapes that shift how you see yourself, your choices, and the path ahead.
My background in storytelling and wellbeing guides the design of each journey. Place meets purpose. Nature meets reflection. Experience meets awareness. The result is travel that stays with you long after you return home.
Photo Op + Action Opportunity: A Moment of Thanks
As you travel through your day, take a photograph of something that draws you in — a view or detail that slows your pace. Thanksgiving opens a similar pause, inviting you to recognize what has guided your journey so far.
Write a single sentence about what this image reflects in your life right now.
Let this be a practice in acknowledgment — noticing what supports you and what brings a sense of warmth.
May this week remind you that gratitude grows through presence.
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