The Transformational Travel Council defines Transformational Travel as “intentionally traveling to stretch, learn and grow into new ways of being and engaging with the world.”

Transformational travel is any travel experience that empowers people to make meaningful, lasting changes in their life and positive impact in the world around them. Ultimately, it’s a new philosophy on travel that connects travellers to their truest self and to others, cultivating a sense of purpose and belonging. It is often identified as a missing link in today’s social purpose and sustainability movements. It is about regeneration of self, planet, and people.

Welcome! In this section we will introduce you to your educators, the TTC, and what to expect in this course. We will go over any special considerations and summarize learning objectives for this course.

As we dive deeper into design principles and execution of Transformational Travel creation, it is important to root ourselves in an understanding of where these ideas and concepts come from. This way of travel is not new. In fact it has been happening since the dawn of human beings. The fields of science, philosophy, anthropology, and ancient wisdom lend pieces to what we call Transformational Travel and it is important to understand their basis.

The Transformational Travel Council has developed two tools, PATH and HEART, that we use to describe the full scope of the traveler’s journey as well as the ideal persona for experiencing Transformation through travel. We will walk you through what these tools are and how to use them to better grasp what your travelers are going through and how you can support them on that journey.

A transformational experience creation is one imbued with soul and passion and the desire to connect people deeply with themselves, with others, and something beyond themselves. We can not promise the Transformation will take place, all we can do is prepare our travelers, design with intention, and carry that work through well beyond the journey. In this section we will explore the first of our three pillars of Transformation Design: Introspection. This is connecting to the self, a deep exploration of the inner world inside the traveler.

A transformational experience creation is one imbued with soul and passion and the desire to connect people deeply with themselves, with others, and something beyond themselves. We can not promise the Transformation will take place, all we can do is prepare our travelers, design with intention, and carry that work through well beyond the journey. In this section we will explore the second of our three pillars of Transformation Design: Bridging. This is connecting to others, a deep exploration of how our interconnectedness with other people we meet while we travel holds tremendous power for transformation for both travelers and communities.

A transformational experience creation is one imbued with soul and passion and the desire to connect people deeply with themselves, with others, and something beyond themselves. We can not promise the Transformation will take place, all we can do is prepare our travelers, design with intention, and carry that work through well beyond the journey. In this section we will explore the third of our three pillars of Transformation Design: Expansion. This is connecting to the infinite, something beyond ourselves. We will explore how connecting with nature, spirituality, ritual and ceremony, and challenge can deepen the travelers' understanding of their position in a world larger than themselves.

Any exploration of travel in general, but especially Transformational Travel, is not complete without a discussion around the impacts of our travel on both ourselves and the world around us. This section is not a complete conversation, but just an overview of a few of the complex relationships that play out in travel.