Podcast: Ageless Exploration: How Health and Travel Intersect for Women Over 50 with Doni Belau

Introduction

Dreaming of globe-trotting adventures but worried about keeping up? 🌍✈️ 

In this eye-opening episode, we chat with Doni Belau, founder of Girls Guide to the World. Discover how women of all ages are exploring 40+ countries, making new friends, and prioritizing their health to fuel their wanderlust. 

From gorilla trekking in Rwanda to savoring wine in Turkey, Doni shares inspiring stories and practical tips for embracing travel at any stage of life. 

Tune in to learn how fitness, cultural immersion, and laughter can lead to transformative experiences and lifelong friendships. 

Don't let age or fitness hold you back from your dream destinations! 🧘‍♀️🥾

Connect with Doni and Girl's Guide to the World

https://www.girlsguidetotheworld.com/

Sign up for Dr Orlena's free event "Healthy Amazing You Boost":

https://www.drorlena.com/healthy-amazing-you-boost 

Transcription of Podcast

Dr Orlena: Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena I am super excited today to welcome Doni Belau. Doni, hello and welcome. Hello, how are you today? It's just lovely to be talking to you. Yeah, it's lovely to be talking to you. Doni tells me she's in Paris. She's going to tell us all about her exciting adventures and one of the reasons I was excited to welcome Doni onto the show is because she is a travel enthusiast and she's going to tell us all about travel and how we can travel later on in life.

Dr Orlena: Doni, do you want to just start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Doni: Sure. Why not? I started a travel tour company for women only 15 years ago. We're actually having our 15th anniversary next week. And it's called girls guide to the world. And it is for women only we take about 60, we actually launch about 65 trips every year to 40 different countries.

Doni: And we are seeing that women in the U S anyway, they're 53 percent of us are single. Yeah. I am not one of those, but if you were single, if you were divorced, if you're if you're a widowed perhaps recently, or your husband or partner does not want to travel to that location, or just doesn't really like to travel, can't travel.

Doni: There's a myriad of reasons why you might find yourself on one of our trips going solo because a lot of people are then sick of waiting for the sister and the friend and so forth or they just don't want to go to that particular location. It's actually a big booming business in the world of travel is women.

Doni: And we take women from 21 to 88. Or older, if you can still walk. And that's what we're going to talk about is how important it is to keep up. So you can walk. But that's what we do is we, we create these really magical experiences for women all over the world.

Dr Orlena: Sounds absolutely amazing. And my own personal story is.

Dr Orlena: I, when I was younger, I loved, loved, loved to travel. I worked in various places. I worked in Australia and traveled whenever I could. Basically, I always used to say you either have money or you have time, but you very rarely have both to travel. And then, well, I live on travel. I now live in Spain, but since I've had my children, I have four children and it's much more difficult to travel with children for various reasons, not least because there's so many of them, which really pushes the price up, but it becomes less.

Dr Orlena: Easy with children. I guess it depends on your kids and how old they are. But I am now looking forward to being able to travel a little bit more, either individually with my kids or with my husband and really getting back to traveling. Now, I am super excited about this, but I know that I am fit and healthy, and for me that's really important so that I can travel and see the world in a way that I want to.

Dr Orlena: Now, I know that you have a personal story that you'd like to share a little bit about, because I don't think that has always been the case. Is that true? So yeah,

Doni: I would not call myself a fitness freak in any way, shape or form, even though my mom was a dance teacher and I grew up dancing and I do love there's a whole bunch of different types of, you know, fitness, including dance, including yoga and all kinds of things that I love to do, but I've not I would say disciplined in doing them daily or, you know, three, four times a week.

Doni: That's always been my problem is I love it when I work out, I love the feeling, the endorphins and all of that rush that comes. And then you're also really proud of yourself and you feel like the whole day is better, right? If you start the morning with the workout, we recently started doing Pilates, but but, but for me, just getting having a reason to do it.

Doni: Getting it, so just the impetus to do it, the discipline, all of that that it takes that seems to be a chromosome that I am lacking. So you know, that's, it's always been a struggle for me. I don't know. I I'm disappointed in myself for that reason. But it has gotten better. Of late and, you know, it's really because of what I'm doing now for living and seeing, seeing how important it is, particularly like right now, I'm going to be going off on a leading a tour to Croatia, Slovenia, and then we're going to be trucking with gorillas in Rwanda.

Doni: .You need to be fit to do that. And then going to Prague Budapest via train. And also it's just stamina and you know, making sure that I have some good immunity because when you're in airports all the time I actually did a big health deep dive starting last year, cause I was burnt out in October of last year, I got some COVID, but something, and I was.

Doni: Really sick for two weeks. And it was also my daughter's wedding in March. So I had another really good reason to look good. Cause they do take a lot of pictures at weddings, as you might know. You don't know yet, but your kids will get older and you'll go through that. But so I, I, I said, you know, it's not.

Doni: Really so much for vanity. It's for I have to be in much better shape. So I went to one of these integrative holistic doctors and just did everything from soup to nuts, from diet to exercise to getting all of my, Blood tested. And you know, we, we developed this whole big, huge program started on hormones and all kinds of stuff.

Doni: I mean, I could go on and on, but gosh, I feel like a whole different person now, and I know I'm going on and on, but it is so hugely key. And you don't think you really need to be that fit to just go to Europe, but man, especially for Americans, we really sit a lot and we're in our cars a lot.

Doni: We're watching TV a lot and you think, Oh yeah, you know, I can walk three to five miles, but you haven't done it maybe in 15 or 20 years. Then you find yourself on one of these trips or, you know, with me or with someone else or on your own and you, you know, you're winded when you're walking up the stairs.

Doni: The flight of stairs to that temple or whatever it is. And so some I've seen women who really can't like two ladies went to Egypt with us and they just didn't see half of it because they were out of shape.

Dr Orlena: Yeah, that's really sad, isn't it? It is. I speak to so many people who Want to enjoy that second half of your life and travel now that your kids have left home and you do need to be able to be in shape.

Dr Orlena: Just personally, like what are some of the, what's some of your favorite places that you've been to? Oh my gosh.

Doni: The list is long. I've been to 80 countries. Yeah, I Japan is one of my favorite places in the world. It's such an intricate fascinating culture that could take years, decades to really understand and explore, but it is such a beautiful place.

Doni: A profoundly different place than anything in Europe or, or North America. Or even Australia. It's just so unique and I absolutely adore Japan. I'm a huge fan of the food. Of course, I have to say France, we have two different places here. We, that was my first love. Is Paris and we have a place near Bordeaux.

Doni: I love I think, you know, as we get older, I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I'm navigating I'm getting more and more interested in being in nature, in the country. I love our place down in Bordeaux because we can sit, it's not in the city. It's it's on the Dordogne river. So I sit outside and watch the the river go by watch the birds as they start to depart. Those probably start pretty soon departing for, you know, places down South. I do think part of health and wellness is is not just diet and exercise. Of course, it's mental wellness, right? So nature brings so much to you, of course, meditation and all of the different practices that are now out there that we can learn.

Doni: And, but just sitting. Quietly in nature, listening to the song of birds, it really puts you back right, even if you're having a bad day, just take 15 minutes. So, you know, being and getting more and more of these trips in nature. I am, I am really getting into that. And of course, I still love the city.

Doni: You know, I'm going to Dubrovnik tomorrow. And love that. Croatia is amazing. Really a surprising how great the food and wine are there. I was just in Turkey where we're doing a Turkey tour this year. And also I didn't know how wonderful the wine was in Turkey. So you can see that I need to balance as I love wine and food.

Doni: food. I need to balance that out with walking and you know, staying in shape and doing every possible thing that I can to do that. Cause you know, when you're doing all these trips, it is hard to stay on a particular diet. You know because all these different places you know, It's hard to be gluten free in France, let's say not impossible, but it's, it's a little more difficult.

Doni: But you know, I've, I've, I'm learning, I keep, I keep learning. And I think that is the key to life, health and wellness is to, you know, to keep learning and keep trying and, and, and and not give up on, on yourself, your body, your wellness.

Dr Orlena: Perfect. I love it. Yes, definitely. Prioritize your, your health and wellness.

Dr Orlena: I think that's a really big key. How much of the year do you spend in Europe as opposed to in North America?

Doni: Problem is I have no typical year. There is no people say, how long, how many weeks do you typically spend? There is no typical. I think it's because I am a gypsy at heart. I am addicted to the new, I am, I'm here, there, and everywhere.

Doni: We tend to. To spend the summer on our sailboat in the Northeast. However, I'm hoping to change that. I'm hoping we're going to move that down in the Caribbean. So we can do some winters down there. Another reason I have to stay in shape cause you know, sailing is a sport. And. Also, we like to spend the winters in New Orleans.

Doni: It's a really fun town. We love music. So we're really into just the joie de vivre that, that is, is is New Orleans. And I, you know, we're spending more and more time in France now that we can and you know, now that our kids are grown and all that we have had a place here for 25 years.

Doni: So I feel very blessed that we've. You know, brought France, which is my first country you know, that I cheated on on from the U S shall we say my first love but I, you know, gosh, I, I, I feel like as, as we get older and we've developed this business where we can kind of be anywhere we're we're really toying with.

Doni: You know, spending a month in Japan, spending a month in South Korea, spending a month here and there, just because the longer you spend in these various places, the more you can soak in the culture. And it's a different thing than when you go for a week and you're trying to see a lot. And we've done that.

Doni: We've had. I've been lucky enough to be able to do that a little bit in Mexico and, and, and in France and in other places. So yeah, it's just going to keep keep changing.

Dr Orlena: You are definitely leading your bestest life and very inspiring for anybody who is thinking, Oh my goodness, it's downhill from here.

Dr Orlena: And I think my message to people is it's definitely not downhill and you are definitely inspiring people. To show them that it's not downhill. Here's another question for you. Like, I'd love to know what differences you notice between North American and European culture. And I know that, you know, there's a big blanket statements and that, you know, the whole of North America is huge and the whole of Europe is huge, but roughly, do you notice any difference between the two

Doni: cultures?

Doni: Oh my gosh. There's so much, so many differences, so many differences, you know, you could write a book about that. And people have met quite a few there, there's a difference in, in all cultures. I, I think that, you know, the unfortunate thing there is a little bit of a side note to traveling a lot.

Doni: And I was just talking about this on a, on to someone the other day, it's important to. To get to a point, I think if you travel a lot and if you really are a lover of the journey and of soaking in other cultures is to try as best as you can, not to judge, because yes, you're, it's just a normal human thing to say you know, In France, you know, the markets are more beautiful.

Doni: They care more about fresh produce, organic produce, you know we do a little bit of that in the big cities, but it's harder still in the, in the middle of the country, in the, in the U S and, and so, you know, you start to notice these differences and then you start to categorize them as good. Or bad, or I would prefer to have the trains.

Doni: I was just in on this unbelievably beautiful train ride in Sweden. Wow. I mean, all the things they thought of, there's a little plastic bin here, a plastic container for your trash. And, you know, the chairs are just so much more luxurious and expensive. This was expensive, more comfortable. I meant, and this is not even in first class.

Doni: This is in regular class. Just. Cleaner, you know, everything, of course they get 485 days off. If they have a child in, in Denmark or Sweden in the U S. Guarantee that you get any time off, you know, and we, but what I noticed particularly, cause we probably have about 75 percent of the folks who join our trips are Americans and that we have Canadians and Brits and Australians and so forth, but we start getting a little bit down on our culture, you know, and we're like, why, why don't we do this?

Doni: This makes so much sense. But. I don't want to have people return and be depressed that you know, they're in their own country. So it's, it's, if there's a way you can notice differences, appreciate the differences like we do with each other and then say, you know, it's just, this is cool to see how different, different people live, how they figured this out here, how they figured this out here and try and remove the judgment from it.

Doni: I think that is the key to appreciating it. Other cultures without you know, coming home depressed,

Dr Orlena: if you absolutely, absolutely. And I, I totally agree with you, but I, I think it's really about celebrating differences because if everybody was the same traveling, wouldn't be as exciting. Like, okay.

Dr Orlena: It's lovely to see natural features like forests and mountains and different. Seas, I love swimming, but if all people were exactly the same, it would just be about the countryside. It wouldn't be about different cultures. So like one big aspect really is the different. the different cultures that you find yourself in the different ways of doing things like here in Spain, for example life is very different than in the UK.

Dr Orlena: And you know, some of it you could classify as good and some of it is bad. But as you say, I totally just see it as different. But for example, they do Like morning and evening in the UK, we have a day, which is basically from nine to five, but in Spain, it's in France as well. It's morning and then a rest in the afternoon, which you can totally understand because it gets so hot here in the summer that it's very difficult to do things at that period of time.

Dr Orlena: So then all the shops open again at five. And I'd love that evening time when the shops are open between five and eight. And things are beginning to cool, but in the UK, all the shops are closed by five o'clock. So totally different, but I wouldn't say one was good. One was bad. I think you can see why different cultures have these different.

Dr Orlena: Aspects of their culture.

Doni: You 100%. And I actually think, you know, they've done a lot of studies on, on sleep. Sleep is so, so important for your health and wellness actually add the years onto your life, but having that natural sleep. Siesta time after lunch, you know, we're all tired if we've had anything more than just a salad at lunch.

Doni: And everybody really wants to lay down. I mean, our body wants to lay down. So I love the Spanish culture for that. We're losing that a lot here in France. Now where our house is down in the countryside, you will find everybody closes right at noon sharp.

Dr Orlena: they reopened with the French culture. It's like, it's lunchtime.

Dr Orlena: Everyone in France has lunch at exactly the same time.

Doni: Exactly. And you've got to run to the place. Cause they're going to run out of food as well by one o'clock, you know, there would and they all say bon appétit. But talking about different cultures and, and your I love this idea of just talking about them as differences.

Doni: The, the, the thing I noticed and why I love Japan so much and really urge everybody to try and put it on their bucket list, because they have such an incredibly polite culture. They're very polite here in France. We are not as polite, unfortunately. We're very casual in the U S and that has some advantages as well.

Doni: But in, this is the, the great way to describe. A big difference Japanese culture versus let's say European or Western culture in, if you go to the bathroom in a hotel restaurant or, you know, in your room they will have so first of all, of course you take your shoes off. Any, any place inside Japan and you put on slippers that are there for, for everyone.

Doni: You, you don't bring your own slippers and then you put your slippers on. You might, let's, let's say we're at a restaurant. We go and sit down. Usually you're a lot, a lot of times you're just going to sit on the floor, but there'll be a place for your legs. You're having a beautiful, gorgeous dinner almost all the time.

Doni: And then you have to go to the loo. So you get up. You go to the bathroom with your slippers on, and then you'll notice that you take those slippers off and you're going to put different slippers on in the bathroom. But when you get to the bathroom, you'll notice that those slippers are facing you. So if it was in a Western culture and somebody said, well, we have bathroom slippers.

Doni: People would just discard them by the, by the door and then walk out, right? If you are going to the bathroom in Japan, you go to the restroom, you use those plastic That's it. Bathroom slippers. So you don't have to sully your inside slippers with, you know, icky bathroom floor, whatever. And then, and then you back out, basically you go back to the door and then you make sure that those slippers will face the right direction for the next person who's coming in.

Doni: So you're always thinking about the person who comes after you and being thoughtful And that is just, to me, that describes everything about the Japanese culture.

Dr Orlena: Wow. That's amazing. I have never been to Japan. Well, that's not true actually. When I flew back from Australia, once I spent one entire night in Japan, but it was not really, I went to a karaoke bar and of course I would love to go back and actually explore it a little bit more, spend a little bit more time there.

Dr Orlena: Thank you so much for spending some time with us. I think. I really love your message of health and wellness so that you can travel and enjoy yourself. And you really encapsulate that. And it's been fascinating talking to you. Would you like to tell people a little bit about where they can find you and how they might come and go on one of your amazing trips?

Doni: Thank you so much for the opportunity. It is Girls Guide to the World. So. T. O. Spelled out the word. So girls guide to the world dot com. You can find everything there. You will also see on the contact page. Please go to the contact page there. You can sign up for our newsletter, but also we, I didn't invite anybody who's listening to sign up for our private Facebook group.

Doni: It's called Girls Guide Traveling Sisterhood. So there we don't really advertise our trips. It's just a place to champion each other as women to get out there and go lead your best life, lead your most healthy well life so that you can walk You know, through the temples of Egypt so that you can hike you know, type with the gorillas, track the gorillas that I'm going to do in a couple of weeks.

Doni: So it is really important to, you know, inspire each other. And that's what we're doing on that particular space. And the other thing we offer is just the ability to come talk to us. So shoot us an email at info at girl's guide to the world. There are 65 trips. There's 40 countries. If you're just, you know, a newbie traveler, you may want to just make an appointment to talk to one of my team.

Doni: They will, you know, figure out what trip is right for you. Because that's important too, to figure out what, what is your style of travel? Cause everybody is interested in something different and we have retreats. We have you know, that are kind of discovery retreats. And then we have. European trips and safaris and all kinds of different explorations where we're going to go deep, soak in that culture.

Doni: And really the idea of my trips is to make sure that you come home with some new friends because we keep them small so that you can meet and get to know everybody on the trip. And that. You know, laughing with women or laughing in general and making new friends is another part of health and wellness.

Doni: That is soothing to your soul and laughing they've found is just, it makes you live longer. It makes you happy. It cures diseases. It's, it's the magic cure all.

Dr Orlena: Perfect. Fabulous. so much. Thank you so much, doctor.