Meet Juli
Travel advisor. Small business cheerleader. Mom of two teens.
For five years, I owned and operated a wedding venue in Georgia.
In 2019, I made the difficult decision to close it down. Working 60+ hour weeks and almost every weekend of the year was taking a huge toll on my family. With two teens in their final years of school and burnout at an all time high, I knew something had to change.
In my years of hustle, I was so focused on helping other people celebrate the biggest day of their life that I was losing sight of the joy in mine! I was always tied to my laptop and phone and my priorities were all off balance.
Through these challenging years family travel was our saving grace.
Travel is a huge part of our family story and trips together were the best way for us to disconnect from the stresses of life and reconnect with each other. We explore the world as a family to celebrate life, from big milestones to small moments. Travel proves to us, over and over again, that experiences are so much greater than things.
I started Celebrate and Explore to share our adventures and inspire others to celebrate life in the moment and stop waiting for the perfect time to explore the world.
Still, it can feel daunting. When people tell me, “I don’t have the time to plan a trip” or “I’m so overwhelmed with where to start” or worse, “we’ll just wait until the timing is better,” my heart breaks a little every time I hear that. Time is not guaranteed to us and it’s so important to live in the moment because there will never be a perfect time to do things, so I made it my mission to help.
With a few simple steps, I can turn overwhelm into excitement just by taking the research part of travel planning off the plate. It’s time to experience the joy of travel, capture the time to relax and connect with loved ones to build new memories together.
Why I went from venue owner to travel advisor
Every time we return from a trip, I have someone say to me, “how do you do that?”
I get it, travel can be intimidating, especially if you are new to international travel, are traveling with kids or contending with busy schedules. Sharing our travel stories started with the intention to inspire others to take the trip, because if we can do it with two kids in public school and two parents that work, so can anyone else.
Connecting with others in travel is truly what makes the experience memorable.
Community is an integral part of travel. Whether it is the people you travel with or the people you meet along the way, travel reminds us that we are in this world together and we can grow, learn and explore more when we share it with those around us.
If you love to travel and connect with other women to travel, you should check out Wanderful. Wanderful is a travel community that empowers women to travel the world by helping connect, nurture and support each other through local and global communities.
As the Atlanta Chapter Director, I create events each month to connect in person and learn more about this vibrant, cultural and diverse city that we call home.
All are welcome.
If you are interested in learning more…
email me today or jump over to the Wanderful page to learn more. You are always welcome in Wanderful.
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