Welcome back to our next feature in the “Who Is Parallel” series! If you’re new to these posts, head on over to our inaugural Who Is Parallel blog post where we introduced the campaign.
Today, we are happy to introduce Joanne M, who embarked on an unforgettable journey with Parallel Adventures in the fall of 2023. Let’s dive into her experiences and insights from her Parallel trip to Costa Brava and beyond.
IN A COUPLE OF SENTENCES – TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF:
I live in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, with my husband, Chris. I am busy with my two local grandchildren, along with tennis, scrapbooking, and travel. Chris and I, along with our son and daughter-in-law, went to Bowdoin College, and our youngest, Jack, lives in Brunswick [ed. note: Brunswick is home to Bowdoin] with his family, so we go to Maine as often as we can!
WHAT PARALLEL TRIP(S) HAVE YOU BEEN ON?
Chris and I went on the Costa Brava trip last fall. We had told so many people about this trip that we ended up having enough friends to fill our own trip* – which was really fun!
*Note: Did you know that you don’t have to just stick with the dates listed on our website? If you want to gather your own group of friends/colleagues/etc., we’ll plan a custom trip for your group! Reach out to inquire about private trips HERE.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE PARALLEL?
My son, Jack, works at Apogee Adventures, so I have heard about Parallel since its inception as both Parallel and Apogee share a common director in Chad Olcott. Based on what I knew about Apogee and also about Chad, the director, I was sure this would be a quality experience. We had a lot on the line, having talked it up to our friends – but it definitely exceeded everyone’s (very high) expectations!
MOST MEMORABLE MEAL FROM YOUR TRIP?
Every dinner was an experience! The food was excellent and Chad picked wonderful restaurants (and often suggested food for us, too!). One of the best was at Batalla in Cadaques – right on the water under the lights. There may have been some spontaneous dancing involved…
WHERE IS YOUR NEXT BUCKET LIST TRIP SPOT (WHETHER WITH PARALLEL OR NOT!)?
We have several places that are priorities, but one of the next ones will be to Portugal next spring with Parallel again! Our only problem may be having too many people who want to come along!
PERSONAL ADDITIONAL NOTE FROM JOANNE:
You didn’t ask it in your questions, but everyone asks me the same question: how difficult are is the trip really? None of us knew what to expect (even with all of Parallel’s great preparation information). You never really know how you personally will feel and we all [in the group] had varying degrees of general fitness (in particular, a couple of the guys are ‘real’ athletes and some of us were a little intimidated at the prospect of hiking each day). But… It was all fine! We were definitely challenged on this trip, but we all felt such satisfaction and pride to have accomplished each hike. In fact, Chris says he never wants to take another trip again without including vigorous hiking! (We’ll see about that…)
Thank you, Joanne, for sharing your Parallel journey with us! It was a treat having you and your group in Spain last year.
If you’re curious to learn more about Parallel trips or Joanne’s Costa Brava experience, don’t hesitate to reach out or explore our website for more details. (Additionally, if you weren’t able to join us last week for our webinar, please reach out to chad@parallel-adventures.com and we would be more than happy to send you the recording.)
