Transformational Travel - Trip to Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Makes, and the Reminder to Embrace Life

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company. I'm the espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You, too, can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life Transformational Travel. So the last few weeks, or maybe even a month, have been intense in many ways for me, in the sense that they are. It's a. It's been a growing experience. And I know that sounds a little bit vague, but just to give you a little bit more detail as to what exactly that means, I've been pushing forward and questioning or asking new questions with regard to my coffee business, but also starting to step into a new role in a new path as a life visioneer, or creating a course for life visioning. And this is all about spreading my passion and purpose to get people to live the fullest expression of their lives and to take that moment for enjoyment. Because I feel that so many people, they go around about their day, never stopping to give conscious thought as to, you know, what do I really want? Like, what really matters to me? What do I want to experience in this lifetime? And something that happens when you fail to ask that question is that you just get. You get lost in the rut, right? You start doing something all of a sudden, years, decades pass by, and you're like, shit, I don't even remember the last year. Because you were so busy, you never took the time to stop to say, well, what is it that I want? You never gave your mind the pause to recollect and reorganize itself and say, okay, well, am I going on the right path? What. What is it that I want to do for the rest of my life? Who. You know, who do I want to become? But this one is. This post here is about experiencing life. And I just booked a trip. So the trip I booked. Drumroll, please. I just booked a trip to Asia for this coming fall. So I'm going to be going from Seoul, flying into Seoul, South Korea, then going down to Hong Kong and then over to Taiwan before heading back to New York City. The trip has been one that was kind of like nervous, right? Because it's long flights, a 15 hour flight or something like that, and the Transit would be 20 hours on some of them. And the reason why I'm sharing this here today is because there are lessons to be learned in this, right, transformational travel. What does exactly that mean? It means that by understanding and just really seeing what are the themes and booking a trip such as the one I just booked, what are the themes that can help you live a more exciting, passionate and fulfilling life? And I'll give you three examples in terms of how they played out in this trip right here. The first, pay attention to what inspires you. Right there was, as I was looking at this, there were certain things I was looking and researching online that I'll go into that inspired me and made me want to book the trip. Secondly is the unknown is scary, right? You, you might see something you want and you decide to go for it. But then with that becomes a lot of uncertainty. So it could be scary. And what you do in that exact moment is going to determine your future. And then lastly is about faith, about trusting that everything is going to be all right. So let's go back to the trip. So I, I noticed, I was looking. I've had Asia on my radar. I love Asian culture. I love Asian cities. They're very dramatic, futuristic. And the culture, I mean, if you know me and you see me eating at farmers markets when I'm vending, when I take the break to eat, I literally, I'm eating with chopsticks. I even eat my Italian food with chopsticks. So I am very, very enthralled by Asian culture. And I have. One of the things I'd always wanted to do is I always wanted to visit Hong Kong. And the reason I wanted to visit Hong Kong because I just have this mental image of sitting on top of Victoria, Victoria Peak, overlooking Victoria harbor, watching the sun go down or up. I don't even know which way it faces. And there's just the experience I've seen in photos and I want to experience that. So it's been on my list as well. As for the food, I know they have this thing called white, I think it's called white tea, which, or milk tea, which incorporates coffee into it. So that was another thing I had wanted to try and get off my bucket list. So I was looking at this trip for Hong Kong. I was like, all right, well, if I'm going to go all the way over there, I know I want to do Hong Kong. Right? There's. I heard that you can do Hong Kong in several days. Well, what else can I do, right? So I started looking into Taiwan, and Taiwan, to be honest with you, Taipei didn't really have. It didn't really inspire me all that much. But then I started just researching, like, different things about the city, different food, like markets and night markets. And then I started to look into. I think it's called Busan, if I'm pronouncing it correctly, Busan. And another one called Gyofin, if I'm. I'm not sure if I got the pronunciation, but it was one of the inspirations behind the anime Spirited Away, the movie by Studio Ghibli. And so when I saw this, I was like, that looks fucking awesome. Like, I. I gotta go see that, right? It's a day trip to Jiffin and then to Busan. That's like. That's a few hours away as well. And I could always fly to the next destination. And then I always started getting excited because I love cityscapes that have these dramatic coastlines, right? Like, you have mountains as well as water. It's just in there. Something about that that really lights me up. So then looking at this, I was like, what else can I do? Like, well. Huh? Well, South Korea wasn't even an option at first, right? And I was thinking. I was like, well, let me just look to see what. What there is in Seoul. So I. I searched Seoul, South Korea, and I'm like, all right. And I might even be messing the mess up. Busan, I think, is actually Korea. So I correct myself. I'm sorry. And. But when I was looking at Korea, I saw Korea, I saw the city. So that made me want to go to Seoul, experience Seoul for a couple days, go to Busan, then fly over Taipei and do a couple cities of Taipei. So I have. Now, I had inspiration for three countries when I was expecting. Expecting to only travel to one, Hong Kong. So every time I was doing a little bit of research, looking up natural parks, all of a sudden I just kept getting this, like, this burst of emotion. And I was like, oh, my God. Yeah, I have to do. How can I squeeze all this into what is going to be essentially like two and a half weeks? For some reason, I could have just gone the third week, but I kind of squeezed it into two and a half weeks. And looking at all this, I was like, oh, my gosh. So then it comes to the second part. I had the inspiration. I saw exactly what it was I was paying attention. The things that were lighting me up about these places. Now the next step, right, the next step is actually taking the action. I was sitting there, I had my flights booked. I had a flight going into Seoul out of Taipei. That's the only thing I booked. Now I'll book the other flights from, you know, from Seoul to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Taipei. But I just needed, like, the shell. I just need the. The. The flight in and the flight out night, and I could figure out all the other details, which also gives me flexibility, right? Because now if I want to spend a little bit extra time in. In. In Korea, I can do. So if I want to cut my time store in Hong Kong, I can do that. But so now we're at the. I'm at the place where I'm ready. I gotta press the button. And I'm like, oh, fuck breathing right now. I'm like. And I'm feeling hesitant to actually press the button to press the buy button to get the ticket. I'm like, oh, my gosh, am I doing this? I'm thinking, thinking. I'm like, looking at. And then I remembered. I was like, well, why did I want to do this in the first place, right? Remembering the first point I made. Why was I inspired to do this? And what was the feeling I had when I was looking up these photos, looking at the videos, thinking of the experiences in my head I was getting? I was like, hell, yes, this is going down. I am doing this. But when it came time to actually press the trigger, I was. I kind of froze. But then going back to the vision, the inspiration, why I wanted in the first place, all of a sudden I said, you know, I know that's why I wanted, like, it's going to be fucking awesome. You know, like, there's always some nerves that come into play because I'm like, all right, well, oh, my go of my family. I'm being away from my family. I'm being a completely different freaking. Three different countries. I don't know anything about them. You know, the language. I don't know how easy it is to get around. I don't know anything. So of course there's going to be some nerves. But I was like, you know, but I know why I want to do. I know the feelings that I've been associating with this trip just in the last couple days. And I know that just by locking it in, once I lock it in, yeah, I might be nervous and scared for the next few days, maybe even few weeks, but then Once it comes and I'm on the trip, I know it's going to be freaking phenomenal. Remembering why you wanted to do it and what inspired you in the first place and then taking the action forward. Because you have two options. You can move forward or recoil and go back to where you were. Only one is going to get you to the place you want to go. And then the last place I kind of already touched upon it was just having faith, having trust, you know, like you can't do anything, you can't do anything without trust. You have to have faith that everything is going to be okay. And I don't think anything bad would happen, right? I mean, I've traveled quite extensively. I feel comfortable in dropping me into like literally any location in the world, almost any location in the world. South America kind of creeps me on just because I don't speak the language and I find it easier for Asian and it's easier to get around Asia too. But, you know, it's just having faith that everything is going to work out and everything is going to be okay. You can't drive down the street in your car if you didn't have faith, right? Because there are more car accidents than there are. I can't remember what the likelihood of you getting in a fatality in a car accident versus an airplane, right? It's much, much higher in a car. And I'm using that just as a way of one. Just like looking at statistics, most people probably afraid to take that long of a flight. And then whatever happens when you're on the ground there, there's a lot of unknowns. But the only way you can move forward, the only way you could really grow and enjoy the process is to trust that everything is happening for you and that you're the best scenario for yourself or the best outcome is always what is going to happen. So that's where I am now. Right now I'm in the place of faith. The trip's been. I saw the inspiration, I took action in spite of the fear that I was feeling. The. The feeling that I want to recoil. And now it's just acting in faith and just saying, I trust that everything is going to be all right. I trust that everything is going to be all right. So let's look at your life, right? You know, we're not that different. You're very similar to me. You may look and be like, well, my God, he travels the world, he does all this stuff, he's fearless, and I love when I hear that. But the truth of the matter is that every time I book a trip, there's always this little bit of apprehension, right? I always get a little nervous when I don't think I've ever booked a trip that I haven't been nervous. Usually, like the next trip I booked now, which is going to be South America sometime early next year. Then, you know, once I. Once I've done something right and you start to get the momentum, then all of a sudden, now the next trip becomes easier. But I've always, after taking a long period of time, like, you know what? I've gotten comfortable in the routine. That next trip has always kind of left me feeling nervous. The next steps. For you, it's completely normal to feel nervous, to feel like you're afraid, but you move forward anyway. What is it in your life? The fact that you're listening to this means that you are someone who wants more from life because you want to be taking the time to hear me talk about a story about booking. I still think it's funny, the fact that I booked this trip to three different countries. But booking three countries, right? And then what? You could learn from it. You wouldn't be here today and listening to this if you weren't in a growth mindset, if you weren't desiring more joy, more experiences, more passion, more fulfillment, more growth, whatever it is for your life. So look at your life right now. Like, where have you felt that inspiration? Like, where have you felt the emotion stir up where you're just like, fuck, yeah, this is a yes. And just make a note of that. Because if you, if you aren't becoming aware of it right then all of a sudden, shortly after you, you fall right back into the old, the, oh, shit, I got to do this again. Let me get up, go to work, eat, sleep, and repeat, right? You, you fall back into that, that, that, that, like that zombie like living. So it's important to notice those inspirations and in some way to capture them, whether it be a journal or something like that, just making notes. This way, you know what is feeding you. And then the next step is, well, what is the action that you're being called to take? Because there is something, right? If you, especially if there's something reoccurring. Like every time you, Every time you go buy a cafe and you're like, oh, my God, it would be awesome to have a cafe, you get all excited, you get, you leave, you go back to your corporate job, you're like, oh, fuck life. This sucks. And then you go to a cafe and you get like, oh, my God. And you start talking to cafe owners, the baristas, and just realizing, man, I would love to have a cafe. But then you go back to work and you're like, all right, this sucks again. Notice the themes that are happening in your life and take some kind of action. It doesn't have to be like, oh, quit your job, open a cafe tomorrow. No, it means just maybe start to get some information, ask some questions to someone who's currently doing it. So this way you can just take. I mean, that alone is a step. It's a move towards that direction. And the last thing is just trusting when you say, okay, you know what? The next step for me is to speak to Donnie. Because I know Donnie, you know, has coffee experience and, you know, he's worked with cafes. He must know something, right? So reaching out and having faith that the person who is going to, you know, that you're. You're being guided the entire way, right? Because it could be. It could be triggering. It could be scary just reaching out and asking a question to someone. I'll give you one. Not to go off on a different tangent, but I was one of the consultants I was talking about for my cold Roman espresso. We were talking and he was asking about the volume, right? Because I was like looking to go from where I am being self produced to going to a CO packet, and it's actually quite a large gap to close, right? Normally people do that. They grow their own facility, then they go to a CO packing facility. But I was like, yeah, I want to skip. I want to go right to the end. And so looking at the volumes, I was scared when I emailed them. I still haven't got an email back from this consultant. But I'm like, all right, well, what if I email him and he doesn't get back to me? Or he says, hey, you're too small right now. What if? I mean, what if. Then I know I have something else I have to do, maybe another direction to look at or another consultant that I speak with. But why was I being scared? So do the step, have the faith and do that enough and just watch your life go somewhere where you won't even recognize it. So that is all I have for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Hit that subscribe button. Please share this with someone you whom you feel may benefit from listening to this. And then also, if you were listening to this. September 4th, I'm going to be launching my One Life blueprint, right? So this is about getting super crystal clear about your life, what it is for you want, what it is that you want for your life. And just to give you a brief taste of what exactly that does for you, right? Think of your life, right? When you have so many options available to you, like how do you choose? You can't possibly, right, because there's too many options. So as a result, you go in a bunch of different directions, never really getting anywhere. But what happens when you have specificity? What happens when you know exactly what you want for your health? What happens when you know what you want for your career? Now all of a sudden, when all of these inputs start coming in, right, you know which ones are distractions and which ones you have to pay attention to. And as a result, it moves you forward in the place you want to, in the direction you want to go faster. It also gives you crystal clarity as to why it is you want what you want, right? You want your relationship to be fun, playful. It gives you a strict set of actions that you have to action in order to get that thing. And the only way you can do it is by having a clear vision for your life, knowing why, the belief systems behind it and the strategy in order to get it. And all of that is available within you. We each have it, right? We look. It's so easy to look to places outside of ourselves to try to gather this information. But the really, the only place we really have to look is within. But you need a little guidance to get you there. So that is going to happen September 4th. You can visit my website at www.donnierous.com. d o n n y r a u s.com again-o n n y r r a u s.com hit that subscribe button, hit the top link. You'll be added to my mailing list. You'll get more information about this and if you have any questions or comments, just drop them there and I will address them. God bless you guys. I hope you enjoyed this. Remember, you only get one life. Live it. Thank you so much. God bless and I will see you again next week.