Last fall, I took a group of four women on an adventure of a lifetime to Georgia. It was the inaugural trip for my transformational travel business, Adventure Awake, and before even arriving, I was sure Georgia would be the best place to launch this new business, a concept aimed at using the experience of travel to teach emotional intelligence and be guided on the inevitably inward journey that parallels the outward one.
Reputed for being an inviting place for the adventurous traveler, relatively easy to get around, and a reputation for some of the most beautiful polyphonic music in the world, I figured it'd be pretty difficult to be disappointed, and that there would be lots of available content that could be used for coaching.
And boy was I right. Not only are all those things true, but in one week we had what can only be described as a profoundly intimate experience with the astonishingly wonderful people, food, architecture, and nature of this country.
Georgia is like the lover you can't quit. A place you visit where time stands still, and you keep going back, over and over again. And since it was also our first Adventure Awake trip, it has left an especially strong mark on my heart.
Keeping that in mind, it feels important to dutifully prepare the travelers that follow in our footsteps for the authentic experience of Georgia.
More info: adventureawake.com
It's important to be prepared for the fact that people are basically constantly offering you food.
No seriously, it's important to be prepared for all the food offerings.
And beverage offerings.
Even dried beans are up for grabs.
Grandmas may attempt to get your drunk on the local alcohol (chacha) while they feed you homemade cheese and bread if you so much as set foot in the market in Tbilisi.
And if you're a woman - men will likely offer you pomegranates as a celebration of your femininity and as a blessing toward your fertility.
No. Not kidding. I got three. Still no kids (though I'm not currently trying to have them).
When you're sick of eating your pomegranates, you'll probably be able to switch to pomegranate juice fairly easily.
It's not uncommon to buy produce out of someone's trunk.
And it's literally impossible to get sick of eating Khinkali (Georgian dumplings).
You will be taught at least a dozen times how to suck the broth out of them like a local, in between about 25 toasts to basically anything worth celebrating.
And it's entirely likely that your driver is also a winemaker who plays classical guitar and sings polyphonic music and knows the best khinkali place in town - so don't hesitate to ask him.
It is unbelievably cheap to eat in Georgia. This is the price in lari for 7 people to eat enough food for 20 people ($40). As you can see, there were a lot of leftovers.
Georgian souvenirs are amongst the very few souvenirs in the world that you actually will want to buy. So make sure to come with space in your bag.
Like these hats, for example.
And these ones.
Georgian socks are an actual thing. Buy as many pairs as you can before returning home.
You heard me: As. Many. Pairs.
S.O.C.K.S.
As if all that wasn't enough, there's more. The architecture in Tbilisi could keep your eyes busy for hours.
Hours.
But do yourself a favor and go galavanting in the mountains.
The road to get here (Gergeti Trinity Church) is unbelievably bumpy, but it's *probably the most gorgeous place in the entire country.
*There are so many beautiful places in Georgia that it's very hard to pick the most gorgeous - we are definitely biased but we also didn't see everything.
You might wake up to this terrible view while you're out there.
And on your way back, you may notice a lot of semi-trucks. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
There are of course some risks to traveling to a place like Georgia. Sometimes there's really bad traffic.
Random shepherds may stop you on the street to give you a ride on their horse.
A Georgian Grandma could kidnap you and force you to go to church.
But no jokes Georgia has the best churches.
They have great acoustics if you like to sing.
You may spend hours having to stare at this awful view that feels a little like being on the moon on your way to a monastery that was built inside of a mountain!
The road to David Gareja monastery complex borders Azerbaijan.
But once you get there, you'll never want to leave.
By far the absolute best part about Georgia though is the people.
From professional dancers...
To professional street vendors
Georgians have the most enormous hearts.
From souvenir salesmen...
To musicians
To grandmas at the market.
One look in their eyes felt like being wrapped up in a big blanket of love, and we absolutely cannot wait to go back.
(PS: I wasn't joking about the food.)
