Dumped and despondent, Capsule’s Emma Clifton knew that something needed to change following a broken engagement. Powered by a life-changing Intrepid Travel experience, she knew exactly what she needed to do to heal – dive head-first into travel once again. Turns out, the universe had a WILD plan for her – meeting her now husband. Here, she shares her experiences of small group adventures and how curiosity and connection changed EVERYTHING.
Capsule x Intrepid Travel
There are certain rites of passage that are supposed to help you get over a rough patch in your love life and on the pristine, absurdly picturesque island of Palawan, I am currently experiencing a slightly unpredictable one, involving public karaoke.
It’s 2015 and I am days into an eight-day Intrepid small group adventure through Palawan, the sliver of an island off the coast of the Philippines. It’s so stunning it feels like a dream – at one point while snorkeling, the tropical fish are so beautiful I accidentally swim head-first into the boat that’s taking us between the small but towering white-sand islands that dot around the water.
The boat’s captain fishes off the side, cooking us fresh fish on a fire on the beach. There are 10 of us and we have reached the perfect stage of a group trip where you know everyone well enough to fall into an easy chat with whoever you are seated next to.
Throughout the week, we have experienced so much of the Palawan culture, thanks to the perfectly curated itinerary from the Intrepid team. From the natural beauty through to visiting one of the local tribes in the middle of the jungle, where we drink fresh coconut water from coconuts that are plucked down in front of us. I have discovered a love of mango that is so powerful, I eat too many and then spend the serene trip through a glow-worm cave clutching my stomach in panic.
One day, we are circled by curious baby monkeys, before going into a cave filled with bats, and then we encounter a Komodo dragon on the other side. But nothing is as adrenaline-spiking than when the karaoke machine is brought out to our beach dinner, and we are lovingly instructed that we will ALL be singing a song.
Our wonderful Intrepid trip host insists that I join him for an enthusiastic rendition of Journey’s Faithfully and, despite how mortifying it is to have to EMOTE A BALLAD in front of a group, I have one of those perfect synchronistic moments you only get while travelling, where you think: I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
(The woman after me does an incredible performance of Fiona Apple’s Criminal and so no-one even remembers my song anyway).
At the time of my trip, I am a month away from my 30th birthday and I am terrified about how single I have been for the past few years and what it means to turn 30, alone. Naturally, I have built this tiny reality into a full existential crisis. The opportunity to leave my life and go to the Philippines is a welcome escape and the first example of a pattern I will repeat continuously for the next five years of my life: when in doubt, go travelling.
This is the trip that gave me the confidence, the empowerment and the drive to see what the world has to offer me – knowing I don’t need anyone else, apart from a small group of strangers, to travel with me.
This is the trip that would eventually change my life.
Off To The Middle East, I Go
Four years later and turns out, the existential crisis that was soothed by a week in the Philippines was but an emotional amuse bouche for the total devastation I am now attempting to escape from.
Three months before my 33rd birthday (what IS it about birthdays?) my then-fiancé breaks up with me, and I am back living with my parents and sending our wedding vendors some overly intimate cancellation emails.
Coinciding with this, I pick up a side project to work on a travel book, which gives me two of the greatest tools to fend off sorrow: extra money and extra work. It also means that while 2018 is a Year of Misery, I can afford for 2019 to be a Year of Travel. And in what Taylor Swift would call an Invisible String of circumstances, it kickstarts a series of events that ends up leading me to my husband. YES THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
In early 2019, an opportunity comes up for me to do a small group trip through the Middle East and, buoyed by my last absolutely incredible Intrepid adventure, I jump at it immediately. It’s a longer trip – three weeks – so it needs someone with no responsibilities, who can suddenly leave the country in a fortnight. DING DING DING, here I am, childless cat lady at your service.
Like with most of my life decisions, the first thing I do is ring my mother. “Oh, this is wonderful,” she says. “We’ll have to have your father’s lovely PhD student round to tell you about the Middle East, he’s from Iran.”
I lovingly roll my eyes at this, because my mum has been mentioning this “lovely PhD student” for a while now and each time, I have rebuffed her. But I am eager to learn more about what to expect from an area of the world I haven’t been to, and so I agree. “Try and look attractive, maybe wear a dress?” she says to me on the eve of the family dinner, which is savage and accurate, as I would usually wear some sort of pajama/activewear hybrid to visit them.
Well, wouldn’t you know it. The Lovely PhD Student really is lovely, and very handsome, and touches my elbow when I tell a joke, and we exchange numbers by the end of the night. One week later, I am on a flight to the Middle East, joining up with my group for a three-week tour through one of the most beautiful, most welcoming and most misunderstood parts of the world with an amazing group of women.
And because we are all women and love to chat, we all become overly equated with each other’s lives very quickly. Every night, we sit together over tea and biscuits – in late-night markets, in ceramic shops, in the orange-blossom scented courtyards of our boutique hotels, with the stars glowing above us.
As the conversation meanders between discussions of politics, bread, religion, Persian rugs and more, I let the ladies know what’s going on with me and Shahab – how we are texting constantly, how I am sending him photos of famous landmarks, how he is very funny and kind.
We visit the city where some of his family members live, and I meet them for dinner. The group turns into a kind of mass Fairy Godmother to my disorganised Cinderella. “You can’t turn up empty handed,” one of the mother hens on the trip frets, and so she packs me off with some of the NZ treats she had taken with her – Whittaker’s chocolate, of course -and I update our WhatsApp group chat as the night goes on it.
It is the same WhatsApp group chat that I will update a month later, when Shahab and I go on our first date, and a year later, when we get engaged. I send a photo of our baby boy a few years after that. The WhatsApp group chat remains a time capsule of one of the most magical, kismet events of my life – where the story of my life took a sharp right turn and ended up with a plot twist I didn’t see coming.
I never would have gone on this trip if I didn’t go to the Philippines all those years ago and experienced the joy that is small group travel. It’s confidence-building, it’s awe-inspiring, and it connects you with something bigger than yourself. Sure, it’s a little Eat Pray Love but hell, isn’t that what we all need a bit more of in our lives right now? When you say yes to travel, you start a new chapter – and you have no idea where it will lead.
Need your own travel adventure after these last few *trying* years? Why not get a little Intrepid?
My travel MO is to over research everything in the lead-up to departure, then let the winds of fate decide what happens when I’m actually away. This vibe is perfect for Intrepid, where you are given an- itinerary but a flexible local -leaders who knows the secret to a memorable trip: you have to leave room for the magic. Here’s what I’d recommend if you’re after a similar vibe to my own story:
Philippines Palawan Island Getaway
Starting off in Manila, you take in the friendly chaos of one of the busiest cities in the world – and experiencing the colourful joy of a Jeepney, my dream car – before heading to the serenity of El Nido, the most perfect looking place in the world. Don’t believe me? Here is a photo of El Nido.
Right?? There’s a reason I swum head-first into a boat because I was basically drunk on beauty. Experiencing freshly caught crayfish (in this economy!!) and drinking a Wangwang cocktail on a sandy beach was one of the most glorious food experiences of my life. The Intrepid trip also takes you into the jungle to meet the Batak tribe, one of Palawan’s indigenous groups, so you get to know the heart of the island, as well as basking in the scenery.
As I slowly get to know the Middle East, Turkey is one of the countries at the top of my dream trip list. Split between Europe and the Middle East, it’s a beautiful country that straddles two ancient cultures. It is invaluable in countries where you don’t speak the language, and where you are experiencing a new culture, to have a local guide who can bridge the gap between what you know and what you want to find out.
Intrepid not only takes you into the famous landmarks like the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, but what sets it apart is that local insight that knows where the best food comes from. Home cooking in Middle Eastern countries is ANOTHER LEVEL to what you get in restaurants – and how to really get to know the people you meet along the way.
My first introduction to the deserts of the Middle East was indescribable – it was almost an out-of-body experience to see land that is so different from what I grew up with. Oman is a diverse mix of landscape – from the port town of Muscat, where you can experience the souks and spice markets, to heading into the deserts. Part of this trip involves spending time with the Bedouin tribes, where you are welcomed into their homes.
The hospitality in Muslim countries is unlike nothing else I had experienced – it’s literally part of their religion, so you will be invited in for tea and food by total strangers. True story: I hadn’t even started my proper trip into the Middle East before a local invited me into her shop, while I was waiting to board the plane!
Also, part of Intrepid’s kaupapa is helping create opportunities to make tourism more sustainable in countries that are a bit more off the beaten track, like Oman, and this trip supports their partner Eden Reforestation Projects, helping fight against climate change in areas that need their support. As we move into a climate change reality, it’s important we all take responsibility for where we choose to go – and support those doing the good work.
