Today we explore a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Dolomite mountains of northeast Italy.   Striking in beauty, this amazing mountain range once sat under the sea and are part of the Southern Limestone Alps.

On the first episode, our guest, Annie, an avid world adventure traveler, describes her multi-sport adventure in the Dolomites as the “perfect†vacation:  outstanding natural beauty, fantastic food and drink, wonderful people and challenging but doable adventures! Annie says that hiking and cycling through the Dolomites is the best way to experience these magical mountains!

We also learn about the Dolomite mountain’s importance during World War I, and the via ferrata climbing cables installed to avoid land mines.  And we see how Annie conquers her fear of heights by climbing a via ferrata as well!

Annie sold me on this adventure, so I did it myself and you can hear my take on this outstanding tour with my affiliate Active Adventures in the episode below with the flowers.  Annie’s interview is the second show below.  After listening to these shows, you, too will be booking your own Dolomiti adventure!  Scroll down below for the complete itinerary.

Where are the Dolomites?

The Dolomites are located in northeastern Italy and are part of the Southern Limestone Alps.  You can see the mountain range on this map of the Dolomites.

How Do I get to the Dolomites?

You can fly directly into Venice.  Alternately, you can fly into Milan or Munich and then either drive or take public transport from there (this can be a bit clunky).  Here’s a link that outlines the different choices for you.  This region is fantastic, so be sure to extend your stay!  Plan your extended stay in Venice HERE.

Out guest today, Annie used my affiliate tour company, Active Adventures, who picked her up at the Venice Marco Polo airport and then whisks her up to Cortina, a picture perfect mountain village where she then took a intro hike of Cascade di Fanes and a cable car to get a breathtaking overlook of the Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Why Visit the Dolomites

Annie, a world adventure traveler who has been to all seven continents, rates her Dolomite adventure as the ‘perfect’ trip!  The Dolomite mountain region of Italy offers incredible scenery and hiking, fantastic food, fascinating history, fun loving people.  While our focus of today’s show is on hiking with a little biking in the Dolomites, this region is a four season destination with outstanding skiing!

What are the Dolomite Mountains made of?

Mystery solved! These magical limestone mountains are actually formed from old coral reefs that over the millenia pushed up from the ocean floor – amazing! More details about this in this podcast episode (hit the player button above).

No wonder its a UNESCO World Heritage Natural Area!

Dry Room

The refugios had heated dry rooms that we could put our wet boots and gear in so that they would be toasty warm and dry in the morning for our next hike.

Kit climbing up a via ferrata in the Dolomites.

Noma ordered this omelet:  can you believe it’s only TWO eggs?  They whip it with flour, and I think, cook it on a cast iron pan to give it the nice, crisp crust.

The Dolomites were the front line of the Italian and Autro-Hungarian forces during World War I. You can explore their old tunnels and visit many open air museums while trekking the stunningly beautiful Dolomite mountains.

While hiking the Dolomites, you will come across many tributes, memorials, and signs of former battles, like barbed wire, trenches and tunnels.  The via ferratas (steel cables anchored to the rock) helped troops move more safely through these rugged mountains, giving them a firm cable to hold onto whenever they were on an exposed ridge or edge, or needed to climb up a rocky mountainside. 

Wildflowers in the Dolomites

You will see the most wildflowers in the beginning and the end of hiking season:  mid to late June, and September.

I also love Active Adventures! So much so that I reached out to partner with them. If you want to support Active Travel Adventures, one way you can do so – at no additional cost to you – is to use my links on the website and travel planners. On some of them, I might earn a small commission which helps defray the costs of this website and the podcast – thanks!  Email me for an exclusive Promo Discount Code for 5% OFF any Active Adventures tour (and now Austin Adventures too, now that they’ve merged).

Short video highlights the gorgeous scenery (and the tasty food!) of a Dolomite trek.

Active Adventures told her to get a pair of hiking boots and break them in before the trek. That adventure trip changed her life and now she has adventure travelled all over the world, to all seven continents, including eight MORE TIMES with Active!

Links Mentioned on Today’s Podcast

How to Train for Adventure Travel Tours

How to Train for Altitude

Adventures in Quebec

Costa Rica Camino 2022 Hike with Kit

Costa Rica Camino podcast

Promo Codes and Recommended Tour Companies

Travel Insurance:  Quickly and easily compare rates and policies from different companies

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SUGGESTED ITINERARY – 9 DAYS

This is Active Adventures tour company’s itinerary (not to be confused with this ActiveTravelAdventures.com site):
Day 1 Arrive Venice. Take a cable car above Cortina valley for lunch and hike back down to Cortina
Hike 3m(5km) Ascend -0 Descend 1937′(560m)
Day 2 Hike circumference of Tre Cime de Lavaredo – Dolomites most iconic landmark
Hike 8m(13km) Ascend 2000′(610m) Descend 2000′(610m)
Day 3 Bike from Cortina to Dobbiaco or take a free day in Cortina
Bike 17m(27km) each way Ascend 780′(240m) Descend 780′(240m)
Day 4 Hike from Cortina to Rifugio and see Fennes Sennes Braies National Park
Hike 8.5m(14km) Ascend 540′(164m) Descend 2100′(640m)
Day 5 Hike to Rifugio
Hike 9m(14.5km) Ascend 2300′(701m) Descend 1000′(305m)
Day 6 Hike to Alta Badia
Hike 7m(11.5km) Ascend 2556′(779m) Descend 3645′(1111m)
Day 7 Hike Setsass Dolomiti Range
Hike 9.5m(15km) Ascend 2395′(730m) Descend 2575′(785m)
Day 8 Via Ferrata Cinque Turri and Hike WWII tunnels of Lagazuoi
Hike 8.5m(13.5km) Ascend 2135′(650m) Descend 2135′(650m)
Day 9 Return to Venice and depart

Hiking The Dolomites In Italy with Annie Allen

“Once I found out what that was, I spent four nights not sleeping and googling death rates on Via Ferratas.â€

I told you I’ve never do anything that you’re going to die from. However, just because you’re not going to necessarily die from something doesn’t mean it still doesn’t scare you to death. We interview Annie who conquered one of her greatest fears on something called the Via Ferrata. What is a Via Ferrata and why didn’t our guest, Annie, get any sleep about it? Also we want to find out why Annie, who has traveled all seven continents and has adventure traveled her way around the world, why does she consider this destination the perfect trip?

We’re going to go to Northeast Italy to Dolomites. It’s up in the Italian Alps. I’d never even heard of the Dolomites until a girlfriend of mine, Sherry, went several years ago and loved it. I would love to have also get Sherry on the program, but that woman is traveling all the time whether for work or play. She’s hard to pin down. I was lucky to find Annie who shared with us her experiences in the Dolomites. Annie went with Active Adventures on the Ultimate Dolomite Adventure, so that’s the adventure that we’re covering where she mostly hiked but also did a little biking and did the optional Via Ferrata. That Via Ferrata is the cause of her multiday insomnia. Annie’s going to tell us about her trip and why she chose to overcome her fear of heights by tackling that, which she was most afraid. It’s a great interview.

—

Could you start by introducing yourself and tell us maybe your age and a little bit about yourself?

My name is Annie Allen. I’m 55 years old. I have two grown daughters. I started doing adventure traveling a few years ago once my girls graduated from high school, and went off to college. My first trip with Active Adventures, I went to New Zealand for three weeks. It said you needed a pair of well-worn hiking boots, and I bought a pair and walked around the block and I haven’t stopped since.

What made you decide that you wanted to experiment with adventure travel versus what I would call regular travel?

I’ve always liked nature and things, but when my kids were smaller, one of them didn’t want to go. The other one didn’t want to do this. It was hard to get them to participate. I’ve always liked pushing myself physically but it wasn’t possible raising my two kids. It was something that was delayed for a long time and it was just waiting to come out.

How did you choose New Zealand? What was the thought process? “Now I’ve got some freedom. I’ve got some time. I’ve got a little money.†What was in your head? How did you come about and say, “New Zealand, that’s the one?â€

It’s far away and I hadn’t been there and beautiful. I just started ticking off places that I wanted to go and that was the first place that I decided to go to, as far as adventure travel.

It sounds like you’ve done a lot since then. We’re going to be talking about the Dolomites. You’ve done multiple trips since?

I’ll be going on my ninth trip with Active Adventures back to Nepal for the third time. I was in Antarctica kayaking and exploring and looking and visiting with penguins and jumping in the Antarctic Ocean.

You can kayak down there? You’re able to do that?

Yeah, it’s amazing. You launched straight from the expedition boat and you’re paddling pretty much through blue slushy. I would recommend it to anybody. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

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I did not know you could do that because I was thinking I wasn’t going to cover Antarctica. I might have to get you back on.

It was stunning.

Let’s get back around to the Dolomites, which is our topic. Can you tell us a little bit about what you were anticipating before you actually got to the Dolomites and then what it looked like once you finally got there?

I’ve been to Italy a few times and then when Active Adventures decided to venture into the Dolomites. I had been to Mont Blanc the year before circling that and spoke with a few people that said that perhaps they would try the Dolomites next year. I had honestly never heard of the Dolomites before. That’s usually how I choose my next destination just by talking with people. I had no expectations. I had no idea that there was going to be such another beautiful place as this. It really exceeded any expectations I had because I had none.

I found that a fun way to travel myself and I’ve been doing more of that, particularly if I’m hiring a company such as Active to do all the arrangements for me. I don’t have to worry about the logistics. It’s fun to wake up each day and be surprised at what the day is going to bring.

I’ve gone on trips like that where I didn’t read the itinerary at all, but I’ve also gone on trips where I planned every single detail. Still, you’re surprised because it’s different from reading about it than to be there in person.

Give us a brief overview of the trip of what you did.

We started in Venice in Italy, the history, the crowds, the whole ambiance of Venice. Then we got on the bus and started leaving civilization and gone into the mountains and turning into this spectacular, incredible, beautiful place where you feel like you’re on The Sound of Music or something. Within maybe two hours, we’re in a completely different location. It was spectacular. It was good to get away from Venice. I’m not really into crowds. I like history and everything, but I prefer to be in nature. Within a few hours, we’re on top of a mountain.

From the photos, because I’ve not been to the Dolomites myself, they look different than what I consider normal-looking mountains. Could you describe them for us?

I believe that they’re made out of coral. The thing is, coral has these properties that are healing and makes you feel good. By what the mountains are made out of, makes you even feel better being there. Supposedly, it worked for me. I don’t know.

When we finished our interview, I decided I better do some research into what exactly this funny limestone in the Dolomites is. It turns out that Annie is correct. It is from the coral reefs. How they came about discovering, what on Earth this was and what made these mountains so unusual came about in the late 1800s, a geologist or naturalist, published an article saying about this peculiar limestone he found in the Alps. Unlike typical limestone, the rock in the Dolomites does not react with acids. This was a big geological mystery for a good hundred years. Even though the fossils gave clues that they were rocks and sediments from the sea, at that time, the scientists knew nothing about the bottom of the sea. They were perplexed.

In 1770, the famous explorer, James Cook, who coincidentally is an ancestor of my late husband, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef and discovered these massive mountains of limestone underneath the water. He was unclear as to how they were formed. If you remember our good friend, Charles Darwin from the Galápagos episode, he was working on trying to figure out how these atolls are forming off of the Galápagos Islands and all that. He’d read about James Cook’s discovery and was fascinated by it. He started putting together some of the research and his theories that he was forming with these islands that he was seeing off the coast of Ecuador and Chile, and thought maybe of some violent weather reactions. He was there for an earthquake and he saw how the land has shifted several meters. He said perhaps with these massive weather or catastrophic events that the land was able to shift up or down over time.

He put forth this theory. It stayed out there for a while until an Austrian geologist, Baron Richstalfein, suggested that the mountain peaks themselves are actually the remains of those coral reefs based on the theories that he had first obtained from Charles Darwin. That theory was considered so revolutionary that the regular publishers wouldn’t publish it. He had to go and privately publish it. Eventually, it was proven to be true that the mountains that Annie hiked were actually the remnants of the corals from the sea. It was fascinating. Let’s get back to your trip. I saw that you had to take some cable cars or cable car. Tell us about that.

We were on several cable cars. The one thing that I did on the trip was the Via Ferrata that is offered on the trip but it’s just in passing. I had never heard of a Via Ferrata before. Once I found out that we would be in harnesses and climbing pretty much straight up the face of a mountain via fixed cable, I had a real fear of heights and it took me a lot of self-negotiating to do it. It’s not easy by any stretch of the word. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but I did it. It is an option on the trip. You don’t have to do it, but you should think about what it means before you do it.

That’s what I was talking about. That’s what Via Ferrata means?

I think it means like iron or something. You’re going up the side of a mountain. It’s spectacular. Once you get down, it’s quite a sense of accomplishment. For me anyway, since I had such a fear of heights, but it’s not easy. You’re climbing straight up the side of a mountain. You are locked in with a harness, but you have to have a good deal of agility and good cardio I would think and not be afraid.

With your fear of heights, what possessed you to say, “I’m going to do that?â€

Once I found out what that actually was, I spent four nights not sleeping and googling death rates on Via Ferratas and what exactly it meant, and texting back to the States with my family and friends saying, “Should I do this or not?†My motto is to face my fears and do anything that scares me because otherwise, every time I give into or anybody gives into their fears, it lessens your range. You’d just get smaller and smaller. The more I’m afraid of something within reason, the more I’m going to do it.

If you determine something is just a fear in your head rather than a fear that you should be afraid of, you go push yourself to do it?

Yes. I found that there were very few, if any deaths on Via Ferrata. I met some great people on the trip and they were very encouraging. Our guides were very encouraging. It was a great experience. There weren’t that many people in our group that chose to do it. I’m very proud of myself for actually doing it. I was reduced to absolute tears before putting my first step on to the face of the mountain and started climbing. Once you start climbing, you can’t think of being afraid. You have to think. I was proud of myself.

Doing something that might be a little out of your comfort zone with somebody that you've never met before instantly creates that bond. Click To Tweet

How did you feel once you had done it?

There’s a photo of me skipping with my poles after that. It’s so exhilarating. It’s a high to do something that you’ve been afraid of and actually survived. It’s bonding too with the people that you do it with.

I find with adventure travel in general you tend to bond with the people quickly and rather deeply. What is your experience with that?

There is a certain type of person that you will meet that does adventure travel that goes off the grid, that takes chances and doesn’t want to just sit around on the beach with a drink or shopping in a city. There’s a certain type of person. I feel that we are just more adventurous and more open to new experiences maybe, so quicker to meet people because we bond over stories, experiences, just the sense of adventure. Just doing something that might be a little scary or out of your comfort zone with somebody that you’ve never met before, you instantly bond with them.

I like what you said about how you learn about future trips by the people that you meet in and tell you about things. That’s generally speaking how I get my next trip. I meet somebody on one trip and they said, “We’re going so and so. You want to come? Sure.†That’s how I’m going to Bhutan.

That’s how I’ve been traveling since I was a teenager actually. I will admit there were a lot of places that I’ve never heard of and then it’s mentioned in passing. I’d be like, “I’m there next, sign me up.â€

My motto is always try to say yes no matter what. Generally speaking, it hasn’t let me down. On a physical rating, how hard was this trip?

I’ve done things like summited Kilimanjaro, reached Everest Base Camp, summited Mount Whitney. Those were extremely physically demanding. Even Mont Blanc on some days was pretty hard. The nice thing about this Dolomites trip was it was the perfect amount of physical exertion. I’m a crier. Some days I’ve been on certain trips and it’s pushing me beyond my limits, I’ll cry. It’s okay. The Dolomites never reached that point. It was always like, “I’m getting tired,†and we would be done. The most that we would do is maybe nine miles. For me that was perfect. It was never like super lot of altitude change. The views and the location were just stunning. I never reached a point of being exhausted. It was perfect. At the end of any day, we had the most comfortable beds to sleep in and the most amazing food to eat. All in all, there was no negative part of this trip.

Does this also include a homestay? Active usually tends to mix things up a little bit so you’re not always hiking. What other activities did you do?

Not homestay. When we were in the nature park, we would stay in refugios, which are little hostels or something where you’re provided with a room. Sometimes they’re like group rooms and food and things like that. We would stay at those types of places. What else we did was one day we did a bike ride on an old train track while the pathway where the train had been. It was so much fun because we rode our bikes through the old train tunnels and going downhill into a tunnel that was pitch black and not being able to see your feet or the ground and trusting that everything was going to be okay. It was so much fun. It was like you’re flying through the tunnel. That was one thing we did was the bike ride.

Another thing we did, and this is another bit of history I’d never heard of, was exploring these tunnels that were created in the mountains where the two sides had dug this whole maze of tunnels high up in the mountains. They were fighting each other across these valleys. We got to go down into these tunnels. It was mind boggling that people lived in there and fought for such a long period of time and even actually that they even made these. I’m tall, so I had to scrunch down the whole time and you wear a helmet and it’s dripping water inside. You see where these people lived for long periods of time and they were fighting. How they even thought to dig these tunnels and how long it took, it was incredible. The views when you can peek out from a hole are stunning. It’s quite a bit of interesting history that I’d never ever heard of before.

You’re so well-traveled. How high up the list with the landscape of the Dolomites be compared to the other places you’ve been?

It’s very high because there was just no downside. It was idyllic. The one place, Tre Cime, with the three tall peaks is mind boggling. You’re staring and looking. I’d be hiking and I’m turning around not wanting to miss a moment of the views. In every place we went was 360 degrees clean and crisp and beautiful. No down sides.

What month of the year did you go?

I went in September.

Would that be a good time of the year to go?

It worked great for me. I don’t believe we had any bad weather at all. Honestly, a little rain on a hike, I actually like that. Maybe one day was a little overcast, but it was a beautiful time to go. I’m sure there are other times. You never know about the weather, but it was a perfect time.

Is it something you need to be prepared for cold? I’m not sure how high up you are.

Pack in layers. I was never particularly cold and the lodging was so cozy with down comforters. It was warm and welcoming. There were no down sides. I was never cold at night. I’ve slept freezing in a tent on the side of a mountain or something. It was all about comfort, just the right amount of physical activity and fantastic food at least three times, sometimes four times a day if we stopped for coffee. It was fantastic.

The comfort rating is pretty high. On a scale of one to five, how would you put the difficulty rating where number five would be the Mont Blanc and number one being a couch potato?

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Maybe three and a half.

What kind of preparation would you recommend people do or did you do as far as any training?

I’m training constantly, I’m always looking ahead to my next adventure. I’m fortunate to live next to a small mountain, 3,800 feet elevation, so I’m going up and down that thing all the time. The normal amount of training, the more you get out, the more you hike and train, the better, the easier it is. Everybody has their own training levels and training abilities of where they can go. I’m always training.

That also allows you to be spontaneous if an opportunity arises. I also find that the more I train, the better time I have.

That’s never been an issue. For me, this was easy compared to other things that I’ve done.

Let your body do its job during the day, so at the end of the day you’re not dead. Tell us a little bit about the composition of your group and maybe their ages, where they’re from around the world or just a little bit so people get an idea?

They were mostly Americans. They were all people that had gone on at least one or more trips with Active Adventures before.

You were on the inaugural trip.

We were the inaugural group. They weren’t young. There might have been a couple of people that were younger, but there were in age I would say 30 to probably 70. All ages in that aspect. Sometimes you can be surprised. One of the guys in the trip, he looked out of shape. He’s got a belly and everything and looked like a couch potato but turns out he was an expert mountain climber. He was one of the very encouraging people on the Via Ferrata. I don’t know that I would have been able to do so well if he hadn’t been behind me telling me where to put my foot and things like that. You could never judge a book by its cover as far as physical abilities for people.

What’s on the plate for future adventure travels?

I’m going on a hike in the John Muir Natural Area. It’s below Yosemite. Somebody has else put together this group. It’s called Hell for Sure. I’m just trying to keep pushing myself as far as I can and it’s going to be four days, 45 miles and will be summitting 12,000-foot peaks. It’s a lot of like hand over foot scrambling, hearing my own pack, sleeping in this tent and that sort of thing. If we have anything left to do the end of that, we get to go two more days

Are you going to be on the John Muir trail itself where you have to get the permit or something nearby?

Nearby. This guy who runs this company is called TSX Challenge. He did design the challenge through the Sierras up to Mount Whitney, and I did that. Then a challenge in Grand Canyon. He designed this off-trail Hell For Sure Challenge. Honestly, I’m getting a t-shirt out it. Then I’m going back to Nepal with Active Adventures for the third time. This is going to be an expedition through the Mustang region. It’s a very remote area near Tibet where we’ll actually have a caravan of donkeys carrying our things. It’s 115 miles of hiking and very remote. A lot of time to think. There are caves that the monks carved into the side of the mountains maybe a thousand years ago. I keep saying, “I’m never going back to Nepal,†and then I keep going back.

It’s funny you should say that because I finished an episode on Nepal and it’s from a woman who’s been there once and it’s going back. I interviewed another woman, and both of these women are well-traveled like yourself and they keep going back to Nepal. I was like, “What is it about Nepal?†What is it about Nepal?

You can’t say anything because it’s not clean. It’s hard. It’s not comfortable. The food is not good, but I don’t know. The first time I went to Everest Base Camp and people were like, “Are you going to go back?†I’m like, “No way am I going back.†Six months later, there I was. It’s the energy. I can’t explain it. I was going to do the Active Adventures, The Lake Districts. I knew it would be comfortable. It would be a walk in the park but at the last minute I’m like, “No, I have to go back.â€

When you say the vibe, is it the vibe of the people there or the vibe of the culture or just the mystique of Nepal?

It’s hard to explain. Certainly, the people, the children. I don’t know, maybe I’ll keep going back until I figure it out.

I’d be curious because we all have limited time and money. It ends up being expensive to get there and all that to keep going back there. There’s got to be something that’s drawing people.

It’s a spiritual thing, I guess. Going back to that crying thing after I finished the Everest Base Camp and that was fourteen days of nonstop hiking. I cried for six hours. It was a relief to know that I didn’t have to put my boots on the next day and keep going. It’s cleansing. Also to me, I like pushing myself as far as I can physically and mentally. It helps you grow. It’s good to know what you think are your limits are not necessarily your limits. I never thought that I would be able to do eight years ago, I never thought that I would be doing what I do now. You never know what’s around the corner. I have my health and I am able to afford it. Might as well do it now because you never know what’s coming.

There’s an empowerment and I think also too on the ones where you rough it, the appreciation you feel for all the little things in life we take for granted here. Be it a shower or a bed or a pillow, it wears off after a few weeks.

If you resign yourself to the worst thing that can happen, then there's nothing to worry about. Click To Tweet

Just being able to get out of your bed and go to the bathroom. You have your bathroom close by and not have to freeze, and clean clothes.

To drink the water out of the faucet or all those little things all combined to make adventure travel special for me. I don’t know that I’ll do much of the regular travel until I can’t do it anymore. When I’m back-packing, I carry along some dried-out Baby Wipes that I’ll rehydrate to clean myself because obviously you can’t shower. What’s the longest you’ve had to go without taking a shower?

The longest I went was nine days on Kilimanjaro without any bath or shower. I used Baby Wipes every night. It does help you to appreciate greatly what we have. Also then give back to those that you meet along the way and to help other people and see that something that doesn’t mean a lot to us, it could make a big difference in somebody else’s life.

I do a survey and so a lot of the audience wanted to do it but they’re a little bit scared. What advice would you give somebody that has kept themselves in decent shape but they’re afraid to pull the trigger and do something?

First of all, you have to figure out what you’re afraid of. What is there to be afraid of? Especially if you’re on a tour, everything is covered. They pretty much will meet you at the airport and hold your hand the whole way. There’s literally nothing to be afraid of as far as like, “What if you’re going to get lost?†No worries because somebody has got your back the whole time. If something happened to you, you have health insurance or travel insurance the whole time, so that’s fine. There’s literally nothing that could go wrong that there’s not an answer to. There’s no reason to be afraid. That used to be my biggest fear was to be alone in life. Now, it’s what I seek. I seek to be alone.

I’m not sure I seek it, but I’ve found after I lost my husband, he died a couple of years ago, if I want to travel, I’ve got to do it by myself. My friends don’t want to do what I do anyway and they don’t have the time. I was like, “If I’m going to go, I’m just going to go. I’m going to dip my toes into it.†I like to backpack. I said I’m going to go to Hungary I believe. They’ve got a long-distance trail there, so I’ll be back-packing in a country I cannot speak the language and that most people don’t speak English. That should be interesting.

Sometimes you have to jump off the deep end and go. I started a couple of years ago with Active Adventures and I’ve been all over the place. I was afraid to go by myself. I get pointers and think, “I can do this and let’s plan.†I planned and went by myself to the Glacier National Park in Waterton National Park in Canada for nine days, and I went completely alone. I hiked 84 miles and did something really scary. I did another Via Farreta cable. I was all by myself. There was no actually hook there, just a cable. To me, it was like the culmination of all of this going by myself and pushing myself to overcome my fears of being alone and of heights and of the unknown. I finally did it.

Even in Glacier, grizzlies on top of it.

I would be out there hiking at 8:00, 8:45 at night. The signs were like, “Don’t be by yourself especially at dawn or dusk.†If you resign yourself to the worst thing that can happen, which is being eaten by a grizzly bear, then there’s nothing to worry about. It was so stunningly beautiful. After two days, I did get myself some bear spray and five black bears did cross my path during that period of time hiking. I wasn’t afraid. It was so incredibly beautiful and I was so proud of myself for doing it all by myself. I felt good about myself.

That’s another good part of this whole adventure travel thing because you feel empowered. You get your confidence up. Interviewing my sister, she was like, “When I got back to work, I felt like I could deal with everything, bring it on.â€

I have Wonder Woman painted on my garage door. People that follow me on Instagram or see me at the gym, they’re like, “You’re an inspiration.†Actually people have started saying to me, “I’m going to do an Annie or I know how old you are. I have this amount of years to turn into you. You’re amazing. You’re inspiring.†I know several people that have actually taken the leap, done something out of their comfort zone because they’ve seen what I’ve done. That’s cool.

I’m sure you’ve inspired a lot of people. Tell us about your Instagram and a little bit about that side of you.

My Instagram is @TravelAnnie. I post everything about my life, which is traveling, gardening and hiking on my mountain and my two daughters. That’s about it.

You and I have a lot in common, Annie. I’m a gardener too. I used to have a plant nursery. Finally, I bought the farm and built a nursery. I don’t do it anymore but I did it for fourteen years. That was my favorite job I ever had.

That’s one hard thing about traveling so much because I’m out of the country probably three months of the year. It’s keeping my garden. I pay somebody to come and take pictures of flowers that I know that are going to bloom while I’m gone. I don’t want to miss them. Also water, just caring for my garden and my fish and things like that. I have two sides of me. I like to be gone but then I like to come home too.

I know exactly what you mean. In fact, this house I’m living in, I’ve made myself not plant flowers. I have my potted plants I’ve carried around for a couple of years, I put them on automatic watering and hope that they make it. So far so good. They don’t look as good as when I’m here, but at least they’re alive. Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you want to let the audience know about your Dolomites trip?

The only thing is that of all the places I’ve been, and like I said I’ve explored every continent, it was the most perfect trip that I’ve been on because it was a balance of physical beauty and exercise and comfort. Maybe it was because the mountains are made of coral, it feels so good being there that I recommend it 100%. Active Adventures train their own guides. REI does it a lot where it’s not their guys. They’ll contract out. Active is all like a big family. Within hours, you’re like you’re with friends. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. I want to take my daughters there. It’s a beautiful place.

You always want to take the perfect trip and it sounds like you’ve found the perfect trip in the Dolomites. I appreciate Annie’s time and telling us about her experience in the Dolomites. If you want to follow Annie, she’s @TravelAnnie on Instagram. She’s an amazing photographer and a true artist, so I encourage you to follow her on Instagram. She is so good, in fact she actually won a free trip from Active Adventures and that’s how she found them in the first place was by entering a contest in which she won. Obviously, she must be happy with Active because she has now gone on nine trips with them. When I reached out to Active and I said, “Who do you know that’s been to the Dolomites I could talk to?†They were like, “You’ve got to talk to Annie. She’s incredible.†I think you’ll agree after reading her conversation and how inspirational she is and encouraging us all by the way she encourages herself to get out there and step outside of her comfort zone, to push herself that one little bit further so that she can be the best Annie or the best Kit or the best you that you can be. You can also download the free travel planner if you’re not already getting that with our monthly newsletter.

One of my key takeaways from this interview is I love how Annie raised her kids and once they’ve fledged the nest, she actually fledged the nest herself and started traveling the world. She’s been to all seven continents. After her first adventure trip, she never looked back. They told her to get a pair of hiking boots and break them in before that trip and she has just hiked the world since then. She’s conquered her fear of heights on the Via Ferrata. Her motto is to face your fears. She’s a real inspiration to all of us. I like too that she’s always training. I think that’s a great idea. In fact, I’ve picked up on that and started doing that myself so that when an opportunity comes up, I can go right away and not worry about hurting myself like I did when I went to Scotland without training and carried too much weight on my back. I like too how she says that doing this adventure travel and the slow pace of hiking or whatnot gives you time to think. I found Annie very insightful about how she pushes herself to find her own limits and how gratifying it is once she achieves her goals. Remember, if I can do it and Annie can do it, you can do it.

All in all, it was a great interview. I’m very grateful to Annie and I look forward to seeing you all soon. If you haven’t done so already, can I ask you to please go to the website, ActiveTravelAdventures.com, and on the home page or the Directory page, there is a link to take a survey. It takes two to three minutes at the most. It’s ten multiple choice questions that will help me to better prepare shows for you. If you give me a couple of minutes, I can provide much better content for you once I get to know a little bit more about you. It’s completely anonymous, but it helps me to gauge future content. I would appreciate it. Thank you so much. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of the Dolomites. I look forward to seeing you soon when I’ll be back with another great adventure. Until then, adventure on.

Important Links:

• Active Adventures on the Ultimate Dolomite Adventure
• Annie Allen
• Galápagos episode – previous episode
• Hell for Sure
• TSX Challenge
• episode – previous episode
• @TravelAnnie on Instagram
• Active Adventures

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The map of the Dolomites above is By Lencer – own work, using:Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) with SRTM3 V2 Relief-FilesUnited States National Imagery and Mapping Agency data, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Hike the Dolomites in the Northeast Italian Alps by Kit Parks Adventure Travel Specialist is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://activetraveladventures.com/hike-dolomites-italy/ .
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