Driving across the Gillies Range, Australia on our way to Cairns years ago, something happened which caught me completely off guard.

After months travelling through Asia spending time under clear blue skies, the clouds rolled in.

Within minutes, my mood shifted. To feel the sense of the drop was unnerving.

Nothing in my life had changed.

Only the environment around me.

I thought, “how could something outside of me, have such an immediate impact inside?”

It stayed with me a while. Then I tucked the experience away.

Years later, I found myself leading a group of holiday makers as Tour Director. An international blend of Aussies, New Zealanders and Canadians. The tour-around Cornwall.

One particular day we stood within the Minack Theatre near Porthcurno Bay looking out.

A clear blue sky, warm weather, no wind. Reggae music playing in the background.

The sea beneath a glorious turquoise, lapping gently onto the sandy shoreline next to us.

The guests slowed, lingered, as they listened to the music. Relaxed.

The next day in Charleston the wind arrived.

Cold, relentless. The mood of the group changed almost as quickly as the weather.

Shoulders hunched, Dour faces. Coats pulled tight as the wind cut straight through. They huddled close to each other.

That was when I realised I’d been observing the same pattern, I’d experienced years earlier in Australia. ‘This is the closest you will get to understanding the British psyche. I exclaimed.’

We often think our wellbeing comes entirely from within us. But our environment is quietly shaping us all the time.

Light.

Temperature

The sound of the sea.

A landscape. The pace of a place.

Travel has taught me that destinations do more than change our scenery.

They change our state.

As someone who now works at the intersection of travel, wellbeing, mental wellness & hospitality. I recognise that our environment can invite us to feel a certain way. Yet we need to be open to what we learn.

Just like relationships. Us Brits can only build trust in the weather to a certain extent.

Trust that it will change and when it does, we will have to adapt.

I think that’s why many are simply happy to holiday abroad in a place where they can get food similar to home but with consistently warm weather.

It’s a reminder that trust is built in a variety of different ways.

Travel is such a great medium to learn by and through don’t you think?

Yet our moods. Such an experience like this allows us to go a little deeper.

What is the environment we’re staying in, inviting us to feel and what is it telling us that we can learn from.

The most memorable locations don’t simply give us a place to visit. The conditions invite people to connect with something deeper inside.