Answering the (Dreaded) Question, "How Was Your Trip?"

Welcome back to the last episode of Season 1 of Weatherproof! In today's episode, we dive deep into the dreaded question many of us face after a trip: "How was your trip?" We explore the delicate balance between giving surface-level responses and opening up to create genuine connections. Stay tuned as we navigate the vulnerability of answering this question and discover the power of sharing authentic experiences to foster deeper connections. 

As always, don't forget to rate, share, and let us know your own strategies for answering this question. Happy adventuring! 

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Transcript

Answering the (Dreaded) Question, "How Was Your Trip?" 

[00:00:00] Claudia: Have you ever been midway through a story only to realize that the person you're talking to’s eyes have glazed over and you're not quite sure when you lost them, but feel like you should wrap it up quick. On today's episode, we're talking about determining in a split second, just how much your loved ones really wanna hear when they ask the question.

How was your trip? 

[00:00:18] Hannah: We'll also dive into ways in which you can ask more specific questions of your adventure friends and family to draw out the best stories and moments of their experience. 

Welcome to Weatherproof. [00:00:30] We are your hosts, Hannah and Claudia. Join us as we talk about the raw, real, and relatable elements of outdoor adventure.

[00:00:37] Claudia: Before we get into that, we are going to beg you to join our email list@weatherproofpodcast.com and to hit that follow button wherever you listen to podcasts. 

[00:00:45] Hannah: We are recording on the unseated territory of the Squamish and Lil'wat nations. We acknowledge and honour the stewards of this land on which we live, work, and play.

Today we want to level up our answers to the question how was your trip? I really [00:01:00] struggle with answering this question in an interesting way. I want to give like a genuine, interesting answer without giving a long-winded answer that they didn't ask for. But I never managed to summarize my trip in much, more than just, it was awesome.

[00:01:15] Claudia: Yeah, I can relate to that. I think I have a terrible memory. And so it makes it so hard for me to remember what I did the day before, let alone five days previously. And I, I also struggle with [00:01:30] storytelling when it comes to my own experiences, which makes podcasting a really interesting pursuit for me.

But I think in the moment, It can be really overwhelming to kind of scan through all of the experiences that you've just had, especially if they're fresh and you're still processing them to kind of pull out the most interesting or relevant nuggets to share with the person who's just asked you that question.

[00:01:57] Hannah: Totally. There's people that ask you [00:02:00] because they're like, oh my goodness, how was your weekend? You went to say last weekend, and I went to Jasper and went on a hiking trip. How was Jasper and. It's not just like, how are you? And then you suddenly download your entire trip. They're genuinely wanting to know how your trip was, and I just, oh yeah, it was great.

We had a really good time. Like it's such a rubbish response. 

[00:02:21] Claudia: And I think, I mean, okay, so let me clarify. Are you saying that your response "oh, it was awesome", is the same, whether or not you [00:02:30] feel like the person who's asking you the question genuinely wants the details or maybe has some experience in backcountry travel and can meet you on a fairly detailed level as when someone who knows nothing about the backcountry and is maybe not that genuinely interested is just asking out of politeness.

[00:02:49] Hannah: Yeah, it's the same. Interesting. Even with people that are genuinely interested, I still just struggle to give. A concise summary. Mm-hmm. If someone is like, how was your weekend? And [00:03:00] maybe they're not that interested in, or they're not that into backcountry adventure, just giving them something that's like maybe will inspire them to do it or something interesting that's outside what they normally do.

Just a really quick summary. It's not, it's not about telling a whole story of your trip, but just saying something more than, it was awesome, especially because it isn't necessarily always awesome. Totally. Yeah, that's very true. And it, you don't just wanna download on them about how much of a struggle your adventure was.

Yeah. But just being able [00:03:30] to be a little bit more open, honest, vulnerable, funny, as the situation allows, whether it's a one sentence impactful summary of your weekend or a 10 minute conversation unless someone asks me more questions. It was awesome, is kind of all I've got and I wanna be better at being more interesting, having more interesting answers and also just giving people something that's inspiring or memorable or whatever about, about what my trip was.

[00:03:57] Claudia: Yeah, I think the follow-up [00:04:00] question tactic is really great and we'll dive into that a little bit deeper towards the end of our episode. But I think, you know, to give you credit and in fairness to you, The question, how was your trip? Is kind of as lame as the response it was Awesome. I'll take that. Great.

You did some research as you always do. What did you come up with or what was the goal of the research?

[00:04:28] Hannah: Some of the motivation for doing [00:04:30] this episode for me was like, I wanna get better answering this question, and so I sat down to do the research and like nothing, I really struggled to find anything helpful in how to answer it.

And I tried to look up how to answer how your through hike was or how to answer how your big overseas year long trip was. And I just couldn't really get any solid answers. So either nobody else struggles with this and, and if this is just a me problem, can everyone please tell me how you answer this question [00:05:00] or everyone's just okay with saying, awesome.

And that's all. Maybe that's all anyone wants and I'm overthinking this, or it's just something we don't talk about. In which case, this episode is gonna give you information that you can't get anywhere else. 'cause I couldn't find it. 

[00:05:18] Claudia: I love it. Let's start with how to determine whether or not someone really wants to know and then how much they wanna know.

Because we all [00:05:30] know that situation where someone that you may or may not know particularly well, you run into them and they're like, how are you? And everyone knows that that's not an invitation to Launch into all of your grievances and your, you know, life's problems and your journey of self-discovery, et cetera, et cetera.

 It's a colloquialism, it's a expression... 

[00:05:53] Hannah: it's like a greeting rather than a question. Totally. A lot of the time. How are you? Good. Yeah. Sweet. Okay. 

[00:05:58] Claudia: Yeah. So there's that person, right? [00:06:00] There's the like, I know you've been on a trip. I maybe saw something on Instagram. It's the thing that makes the most sense for me to ask you right now, given that maybe we don't know each other particularly well or we have a superficial relationship. But then there's the person who is genuinely curious about what you're up to and wants to know kind of the broad strokes.

Then there are other people like your friends and family who know how much time you spend in the [00:06:30] backcountry, know how much it means to you to spend time in the backcountry and they are deeply invested in knowing how your experience was. 

So I kind of think of it as those three categories and being able to spot which one is, which is the trick I think right off the bat.

[00:06:47] Hannah: And. I think part of having an interesting answer is that the person that says, how was your trip? And they don't really want much more detail if you give them something interesting, they have the opportunity to ask more [00:07:00] questions if that sparks interest for them. Yeah. Whereas if you say it was awesome, that then puts it back on them to ask an interesting question.

And if they don't have the desire or the ability or really know what to ask, 'cause they don't know anything about the outdoors or whatever it is. Then that conversation is over. Whereas at least giving like a one sentence interesting answer to how was your trip? Even if the person isn't that interested, keep it short and sweet. Gives them the opportunity to have something to ask about. 

[00:07:29] Claudia: Yeah, [00:07:30] yeah. Absolutely. Okay, well let's role play. I'm someone you've run into in the grocery store that you haven't seen in six weeks and they saw on Instagram that you were recently in Jasper, and they say, how was your trip?

What do you say? It was great. No, what's your one liner? 

[00:07:49] Hannah: That's the bit that I, I guess it's like a, a struggle to condense something into one sentence and then to pick out what are the [00:08:00] good bits, what do I wanna say about that? It was great. I really enjoyed spending three days in the back country. We saw some incredible views. It was awesome to do a couple of extra scrambles along the way.

[00:08:12] Claudia: I think right there, you could talk about a goal of your trip, right? Share a goal and then summarize whether or not that goal was met. Scrambles. 

You can talk about wildlife sightings, right? Those are always, yeah. Really exciting. People love hearing about wildlife sightings. And [00:08:30] then you were also just telling me about how you are so stoked to be more intentional about filming on your trip. And so you could talk about the fact that this was the first trip where you were also a director and were filming clips intentionally with a finished product in mind. 

[00:08:49] Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. I feel like what I need to do is spend some time being like, what are a couple of adjectives that can summarize this trip that is not awesome and amazing. And [00:09:00] what are a couple of awesome moments that I had, or some surprising moments or some interesting moments that I can share with someone so that then when someone asks me, I have it in my head. 'cause otherwise, when someone asks, how was your trip? I'm like, ah, awesome. 

[00:09:15] Claudia: I think the word awesome gets a bad rap. It covers so much ground. It's such a great adjective. And okay, maybe we can flush it out a little bit with some additional detail. 

[00:09:27] Hannah: You know what I mean? 

Yeah. It loses its power [00:09:30] because it's so overused or something. 

[00:09:31] Claudia: Yeah. Maybe. 

[00:09:32] Hannah: So what do you do to tell if someone wants more? Do you tend to like launch into a story and see if they're interested?

Or do you give them like a snippet and wait for more questions? Okay, 

[00:09:41] Claudia: so my conversation style is , ask all of the questions so that I don't have to talk about myself. That's my general conversation and communication strategy. 

[00:09:52] Hannah: Noted. 

[00:09:55] Claudia: So it's rare for me not to be the one asking questions. But when I'm on the [00:10:00] receiving end, it, it's usually pretty easy for me to come up with, you know, 25 words or less to talk about something within my experience.

And then usually my strategy, if they haven't glazed over at that point, or if they're not, you know, looking vaguely in the direction of the exit over my head you know, then, then I, I will ask a question. I'll be like, do you know the area? Have you been hiking recently? I'll kind of test the waters with some questions of my own [00:10:30] to see whether or not my trip or the topic of trips is going to be common ground for us to connect on. 

Yeah. Or if it's like, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. We're just, we're just gonna let this one go, you know?

[00:10:42] Hannah: I've been noticing it in social situations a little bit lately, where you watch someone in conversation and someone will ask a question and then the other person like launches into this really long answer and I can tell that the other person doesn't wanna, doesn't wanna be there. And I think my thing is give people little bits, [00:11:00] whenever you're answering a question, unless it's like your best friend, and then go on a monologue for as long as you want. 'cause they'll interrupt you if they stick of it anyway. But always answer in small chunks and if they're interested, they'll keep asking questions. And if they're not, they'll be like, sweet. 

[00:11:14] Claudia: Yeah, I was thinking about what you were saying about wanting to, at the end of a trip, kind of spend some time reflecting on what you might say to somebody, what that one line or response might be to that question.

And I think whatever your [00:11:30] debriefing process is , it's just one more kind of affirmation that being able to debrief, being able to process your experience is so important because that stuff will come out. It'll kind of crystallize the longer you get to sit with it. And so whether it's in your tent on the last night going over your trip notes or it's on the drive out in the morning, kind of just taking some time to, to like think about what was most memorable to you.[00:12:00] 

Or what was most impactful?

Being able to hone in on some of the feelings. Mm-hmm. Whatever was most salient and impactful and important to you. Yeah. Like that's where I would start. And then if the person you're talking to is like, eh, Then, you know, save your breath.

[00:12:16] Hannah: Yeah. And I, I like that point of feelings. I think that's where using something other than awesome can be really good. Thinking of different adjectives to use, like humbling, [00:12:30] surprising, fascinating, breathtaking, unbelievable. Trying to pick out something that. Encapsulates your experience, but also that puts a bit of feeling in there, a bit of, a bit of you, I guess, how, how that trip impacted you.

[00:12:44] Claudia: Yeah, and I mean, I'm getting hung up on this because I love the word awesome, but in its true usage, it, it is to be filled with awe. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Or awestruck and [00:13:00] we misappropriate it all the time because of where we live and our, again, colloquialisms. But I think, I think you're right, trying to find words that reflect the feelings that you experienced on trip is probably the easiest way to connect with somebody, especially someone who doesn't have a lot of experience in the backcountry.

[00:13:24] Hannah: Yeah, and I think having a little bit more of an interesting adjective, you don't necessarily even then have to [00:13:30] summarize your experience or talk about what happened. Even just saying it was, it was really breathtaking. Gives them the opportunity to be like, oh, what did you see? Or what was breathtaking? Whereas when you say awesome or amazing, or something like that. It feels like there's nothing really to ask unless you, unless you really wanna ask. 

[00:13:52] Claudia: And so the vague quality of the original question, how was your trip is reflected in the vague [00:14:00] quality of the response. It was awesome or it was amazing. And that leaves you both with nowhere to go. Totally. 

[00:14:06] Hannah: You're like, okay, cool. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:14:08] Claudia: Great chat. The art of conversation with Hannah and Claudia. Yeah. No, I, I get that. Okay, so what were some big feelings that came out when you were on your Jasper trip? 

[00:14:22] Hannah: Great question. Things that come up is the views, like really [00:14:30] breathtaking getting going on some of the side trips that we did to get to the top and see just the expanse. I think that's the thing that always blows my mind in the Rockies is the expanse. When you get to the top of a peak and you just see, just peak after peak, after peak, as far as the eye can see, that for me is just such a magical moment.

Yeah. And then 

[00:14:55] Claudia: just before we move on from that one, I don't wanna go all Brene Brown on you, but [00:15:00] none of those words that you just said were feelings. 

[00:15:05] Hannah: Oh. 

[00:15:05] Claudia: So. Wanna give that another shot? What do you feel? I guess what I'm getting at is like, I, I totally hear you people hike for the views. I just spent the weekend in the Alpine and was totally blown away. But what is that feeling? Hmm. What is the expansiveness of that view make you [00:15:30] feel?

[00:15:30] Hannah: For me, it's calm. Mm. I feel connected to myself and there's a calmness that I find when I get to those points. 

[00:15:42] Claudia: Yeah. Like an ease or a relief. I think sometimes that my problems and I, in the grand scheme of things are so small. Yeah. In comparison to the vastness of the earth. 

[00:15:59] Hannah: Totally.[00:16:00] 

[00:16:00] Claudia: Yeah. Cool. Okay, great. Thanks for appeasing me. And then what else? 

[00:16:07] Hannah: I'd found this guy online who had done seven peaks as part of his Jasper skyline hike. Some of them were crazy scrambles much outside of my Nervous system's, ability to cope with exposure. But I chose a couple that looked really good and doable. And so one of the first one that we were gonna do, well, the second one I guess, was a supposedly three and a [00:16:30] half hour two peak traverse. So a loop from the trail, you kind of do a loop around this ridge line and back down. And it took us like three hours to get to the first peak.

And looking at the ridge line, we were like, absolutely not and yeah, the guy's description of it was like, you know, relatively easy, blah, blah, blah. And then when we are looking at it being like, that's all wild. Which was kind of entertaining, going in with various expectations of, of how I thought, what I thought we would achieve.

Then being like, [00:17:00] I don't understand how you can move that fast. Right. And then also on the last day, my body did not handle it as well as I expected. Oh, interesting. There was probably disappointment, feelings around it because the last day was about 25 Ks and I was just in the hurt locker, like I was sore, I was slow, I was struggling and I didn't expect to feel like that. 

I knew I wasn't super hike fit, but I'm generally pretty fit at the moment [00:17:30] and I didn't expect to be that much in, in the pain cave. Yeah. 

[00:17:35] Claudia: Hurt locker and pain cave in the same sentence. Oh my god, I love it. 

I think that disappointment is so standard for me on trips. Not necessarily about fitness, but like, you know, Having expectations and then realizing there's no way you're gonna meet them, you know, for whatever reason. Yeah. 

We've talked about this before, but philosophizing that that's like one of the healthiest [00:18:00] lessons that we learn by spending time in the backcountry is that often our expectations in reality are not aligned.

Yeah. And we just have to cope with that. Or risk putting ourselves in dangerous situations that we don't wanna be in. Yeah. Yeah. 

Do you think part of your body not responding well was trying to keep up with Lewis?

[00:18:23] Hannah: Probably. No, I think I haven't hiked since both of my ankle [00:18:30] surgeries. Yeah. And so I think expectations of myself versus reality were probably a little bit different. Just being realistic about the fact that a 25 kilometre day is actually quite a long way. 

[00:18:40] Claudia: Hell yeah. Especially if you're talking about any significant elevation gain.

[00:18:43] Hannah: Yeah. And. It was my first hike of the summer. I was planning to do some overnights and stuff before we went on that trip and that just didn't happen. And yeah, I've been patrolling a bunch and biking a bit, but I just probably didn't have the fitness and the stamina that I thought I did. 

I did this with all my holiday [00:19:00] planning, cramming in a whole bunch of staff. Yeah. And it's just sitting back and being realistic. That's one of those things where, for me, a bit of the overhanging, overshadowing thing about Jasper was, yeah, that last like 10 Ks was tough. And so when someone asks me about it and I go, awesome. I feel like disingenuine because my last feeling of Jasper was like, I just wanna crawl into a hole and die.

[00:19:23] Claudia: Right. But. So happy to leave Jasper in the rear view mirror, 

[00:19:27] Hannah: Also, I love being out in the mountains and I did [00:19:30] kind of remember that as I was hurting, and I think giving negative responses to people's questions about how your trip was, unless there's someone really close to you that really wants to know, I don't love doing that. And so part of it probably is a bit of dissonance where I'm like, I wanna be honest, but also I don't really wanna tell you that that I was hurting and that I struggled, , yeah. 

So summarizing things in ways that give people what they're looking for. It doesn't necessarily all have to be about how you [00:20:00] wanna share your experience.

If someone says, how was your trip? Give them something. I don't know. Give them something a bit uplifting with maybe a little dab of, oh yeah, I really struggled at the end. 

[00:20:08] Claudia: Then you're talking about being vulnerable. Yeah. Right? Yeah. 

How was your trip? Seems like a really innocuous, safe question, but if you're like, debating how vulnerable you're willing to get in that moment, it's maybe not such a safe question.

Totally. And I think that's the thing to [00:20:30] consider too in your response is how vulnerable does the person asking the question want me to get with them? Yeah. And how vulnerable am I willing to be in my response? And so finding some middle ground, like, " oh my God, we saw a Marmite, we saw a bear, we saw a cougar. We saw two goats. The theme of our weekend hike this past weekend was wildlife done." 

There's my 25 words or less. Yeah. How was your trip? Ah. [00:21:00] Signed, sealed, delivered. Yeah. No vulnerability required. Yeah. Yeah. But I think, I think in some ways, answering that question with someone that you're happy to remain on the surface with is much easier at times than answering the question from someone.

Who is expecting a more detailed response from you, [00:21:30] especially if it was a hard trip, especially if you struggled, because then there's more on the line, right? There's kind of more at stake in regards to your response, both from a vulnerability standpoint and also from a true connection standpoint. Do you know what I mean? 

[00:21:45] Hannah: Yeah. So, If I'm someone close to you and I'm saying, how was your trip from this past weekend? What would your answer be?

[00:21:54] Claudia: I would probably start with something along the lines of, I [00:22:00] felt more like myself this last weekend, in the last four days than I have in probably the last six months. And the minute I set foot on the trail, I wondered why I hadn't been prioritizing backcountry travel in those last six months.

And like, it makes me wanna cry just thinking about it, but like, I have been genuinely unhappy this year and being in the backcountry is the answer. It's the [00:22:30] cure. It's the thing that makes me feel like me. It's the thing that I know how to do without a shadow of a doubt. And I loved it and I loved being out there with women in particular who were of a similar mindset but also had different expectations, different ways of doing things, different quirks and preferences and We all got along and managed to communicate and had [00:23:00] some great conversations about all of the things that you and I love to talk about too.

And so it just was like fuel for my soul. And even now I feel like I've just been monologuing about my trip and , I love it. You're not glazed over, which is great. Like I'm reading the room. But at the risk of oversharing with someone who's not as invested in knowing about how my trip is. That's a lot of vulnerability I think. Mm mm And yeah, it might be a lot of information for someone to take on who's not expecting to hear that I have been unhappy and that[00:23:30] I didn't really know what to do about that. Yeah. And that I'm now only really realizing it, having come out the other side a little bit and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

[00:23:37] Hannah: And I think that is the challenge of being honest and sharing our stories so that we are not all living in this world where all we hear and see of other people is the positives. And so we then feel alone because no one is talking about how they really are or what they're really struggling with. But at the same time, [00:24:00] not giving people vulnerability that they maybe don't deserve or that you can't trust them with or that that isn't shared. 

[00:24:07] Claudia: Yeah. And again, Brene is coming up a lot today, but she warns against the danger of vulnerability for vulnerability's sake. Mm. The point isn't to be vulnerable. Just to be vulnerable. Yeah. There's like a, a trust and a relationship and a connection there that needs to exist. Otherwise it can be a manipulation or it can be [00:24:30] awkward or inappropriate at times.

[00:24:31] Hannah: It's like a dance. I feel like vulnerability is a dance. You kind of, you step in one direction and if someone kind of mirrors you, you're like, okay, we can keep going there. You don't just like run across the room and share everything. 

[00:24:41] Claudia: For some reason I thought of streaking when you just said that. 

[00:24:44] Hannah: I love it.

But at the same time, some of the times that you get the opportunity to maybe open a connection or a friendship that you didn't realize was there was when you do ask a question and someone [00:25:00] gives you something a bit more raw than you were expecting, and suddenly you're given this opportunity of being like, oh wow.

I didn't realize that you trusted me enough to share that, or I didn't realize that you felt like that. And now I get the opportunity to share something back where if we are always. Only sharing as much as what the other person is vulnerable with. You never get that opportunity to, to take that next step and to get into that next level.

And that's where I think being able to answer the question of how was your trip in a bit more of an [00:25:30] authentic, open, honest way gives someone the opportunity to get to see a little bit of who you are or ask a few more questions or realize that, wow, that sounds amazing. Like the moment when you share that this is the first time I've felt like myself in like six months. As soon as I stepped foot onto the trail, I realized, you know, who I was and, and what I've been missing. That's a vulnerable thing, but it gives the person the, the opportunity to be like, oh, wow, I didn't, I [00:26:00] didn't know that about you, or, that makes so much sense.

What are you gonna do in the future to, you know, make sure that you're prioritizing that? Or how are you feeling now that you've come back like, Whereas if you just said, it was great, I love spending time outside, it's like cool. 

[00:26:15] Claudia: Yeah. But not really revelatory of your experience. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think also, and I've had this conversation with a couple people recently where increasingly, I think because of my age and [00:26:30] also my experience in life, I have so little time for the superficial surface level chat. Like Yeah. Small talk. Small talk. Yeah. That's the word. And that increasingly, I just wanna get to the good stuff. Like really wanting to surround myself with people who aren't afraid to get into, not necessarily their dirty laundry, but like the stuff, 

[00:26:55] Hannah: the real, the real shit.

[00:26:56] Claudia: Yeah. The, the day-to-day trials and [00:27:00] tribulations of being a human being. Mm-hmm. You know, with flaws and needs and, unfulfilled goals. 

[00:27:08] Hannah: Totally. And that's where I think your, your answer can be a litmus test. Mm of like, do I wanna have a conversation with this person? If they say, how was your trip? And you say, yeah, I saw some incredible views. We saw a bunch of animals. But really, for me, it just made me realize that I haven't been spending enough time in the outdoors lately, because it just makes me feel like myself more than anything else. 

If [00:27:30] they go, "oh, cool," you're like, Rad. Yeah. Whereas when they engage with that, that gives you a chance to be like, okay, there's, we can be a bit more real here. We can have a bit more of a conversation. Yeah. 

[00:27:44] Claudia: Yeah. I think my mom is someone who I appreciate so much in those conversations because she is so happy to know that I'm home safe. She's probably the first [00:28:00] person I text when I get back into cell range, whether she's my emergency contact or not. But you know, she always wants to know and she knows me arguably better than anybody else on this planet. And she's invested in the conversation and she does such a good job of asking me questions.

Chances are when we do talk and catch up, I'm like, have a million other things on the go or I'm, you know, in the car and I'm driving and I'm kind of distracted but she, [00:28:30] she really hangs in there and does a great job of asking me follow-up questions. And so when I think about the advice that I would give someone asking the question, how was your trip? I think about her. And I think being able to ask specific questions to tease out good information, the good stories, good is such a shitty adjective. The interesting or relevant kind of stories to what you wanna hear. That's a [00:29:00] skill. 

[00:29:00] Hannah: Totally. And that's where you can demonstrate shared vulnerability. If you are asking questions, if you're asking simple questions like, how was your trip? What was it like? Those kind of questions aren't opening the other person up, and they're also not being vulnerable yourself. Whereas if you ask a little bit deeper questions, it shows the other person that they're, that you actually genuinely interested.

[00:29:20] Claudia: Even the question , tell me a highlight. Yeah. Like what was a highlight of your trip versus how was your trip? Yeah. Highlight immediately kind of culls out all of [00:29:30] the struggle, all of the challenge, all of the , maybe shitty bits of the trip. If you're not really interested in those highlight is a really safe place to start. 

[00:29:39] Hannah: Yeah. And it gives some, it gives the answer is something to answer. Yeah. Rather than how was your trip? And, and that's where I kind of fall into this. My brain goes Up into the cloud of my memories and I feel like this is this person running around being like, ah, when someone asks me that question, I hope you [00:30:00] can all visualize that.

Whereas if, yeah, if they say, what was your highlight? I can go to that section of my memory and be like, oh, I can choose something from there. 

My sister loves asking the question: positive, negative, interesting. Oh yeah. And I like that 'cause it gives you a framework.

It shows that you actually wanna hear more than just one thing about their trip and it gives them something to answer. Like, I like that. 'cause it really makes me think when someone asks me that. One of my [00:30:30] friends asks me it on the weekend about Jasper and it was like, Yeah, positive was the scrambles and the views and negative was how much I struggled on the last bit on the way down. That was an internal struggle as well as a physical struggle. 'cause I wasn't expecting to struggle that much. So many struggles in there. 

And then I think interesting was taking that little bit of time and research to find the other spots and go on those scrambles was just, it opened up a whole other part of the skyline. And that was really cool to, to explore and see. 

[00:30:59] Claudia: In the [00:31:00] outdoor ed world, there are so many versions of positive, negative, and interesting, and they're all a little bit Punny, for lack of a better word. Yeah. But rock, stick, leaf is one. What was something that rocked, what was something that's gonna stick with you and what's something that you are going to leave behind from your experience?

And so for my trip this weekend, what rocked was the female companionship on the trip. Mm-hmm. Like we crushed it. It was so good to be [00:31:30] surrounded by women. Really powerhouse intellectual women. Yeah. And then something that will stick with me is how, and I mean this is something that I knew, but it's so nice for it to be reinforced regularly, is that like you don't have to go far outta the sea of sky corridor to find really awesome hike options that, you know, aren't really challenging to get to [00:32:00] and aren't overrun but that are just slightly off the beaten path. 

[00:32:04] Hannah: You mean I didn't have to drive nine and a half hours to Ja train for three to hike? 

[00:32:09] Claudia: No, and I think about that all the time. I love that you have your list and that you're so into crossing things off your list . That's a great approach. It's also really nice to know that you don't have to do the nine hour Yeah. Trek out to, to Jasper. But, what a mind blowing location to go hiking in. 

And then something that I'm gonna leave [00:32:30] behind is the, the fear that I think I sometimes feel about being in the backcountry without a plan. We initially had decided to go to the Chill cos we'd planned a big hike and then the fires came in and we were like, we don't really need to be there. Regardless of whether or not the place where we wanted to go was actually on fire in that moment, it just didn't make sense to us to go there given what is happening in that region. 

So we're like, okay, well we'll stay local. [00:33:00] We pivoted, came up with a plan B, but even the morning of the hike, we met at Zephyr in Squamish, got a coffee and we're pouring over the maps and we were like, okay, do we wanna base camp or do we wanna do this traverse? Do we want to map out our scrambles? Or if we do this traverse, are we going to just put our heads down and go? Are we gonna take two cars? Are we gonna do a shuttle? Are we going to take one car and [00:33:30] hitchhike back to our car at the end of the hike? And just trust that somebody would be coming down the Duffy.

We were thinking through some pretty big questions in the moment. Kept it simple, decided to base camp, took one car and we're like, we'll just figure it out. Then we got there and what really worked in our favour was our communication was really good and our goals were pretty much the same. So there wasn't a lot of debate or dissent. Mm-hmm. In terms of those crux decision making moments. 

But we got to camp [00:34:00] on our second day, looked up and we're like, that looks like a great scramble. Let's just send that. We were like, if it doesn't work out we'll turn around, we'll come back. Mm. And you know, that felt really within our scope and didn't require a huge amount of planning beforehand and, just like checked all the boxes in terms of what I was looking for out there. So, you know, letting go of, of the fear of not having a plan. Rock [00:34:30] stick leaf. 

[00:34:30] Hannah: I like that. I really like that analogy. 'cause positive, negative, interesting. Is good. But I like that what rocked you? That really brings something special out. And then what stuck with you, because that can be a view, that can be a feeling, that can be something that you learn along the way or something that you wanna carry with you.

And then, yeah, I like the, what are you gonna leave behind because. Part of being in the outdoors is that every time you go, you do learn something or you have moments that you wish [00:35:00] didn't happen or whatever it is. And that's, that's a really good way to share that. 

[00:35:04] Claudia: Yeah. I think what's great about it is that it offers varying degrees of vulnerability. You can choose to be really vulnerable. You can choose to keep it surface level. You can interpret "rock, stick and leaf" in lots of different ways, but essentially it gets to that idea of like, what was something great? What was something impactful or memorable? And yeah, what's something you're gonna let go of that's not serving you anymore?

[00:35:28] Hannah: Yeah, I love 

[00:35:29] Claudia: it. 

Yeah.[00:35:30] I also do love the idea of “what surprised you?” You and I are opposites in the sense that you love to do all the research, and I love to spontaneously encounter things. My fear of doing all the research is that I will have all of these expectations and then they either won't be met or I'll be trying to live somebody else's trip, not my own. Was, was there anything that was surprising to you or took you by surprise?

[00:35:55] Hannah: The main thing that I keep coming back to is just how much I hurt on the way down. Yeah. That was, that was definitely [00:36:00] the surprise for me. But in terms of the trip itself yeah, the views were just incredible. Doing those little sad trips, we just saw some awesome places.

When I do research, I do look at photos to see what we're kind of in for, but then, we booked Jasper in January mm. And so I tend not to look at stuff closer to the time. 'cause I don't wanna be hiking towards a photo. I wanna see the view for, for what it is.

Yeah. So yeah, balancing that so that, yeah, you're not going in with a [00:36:30] bunch of expectations. 

I always wanna know what the side trips are, especially on these kind of really popular trails. There's so many other options. You don't just have to stick to the one route. And so I like to research on what the side trips are. 

But I'm way better these days at not going in with expectations of , we have to reach this, like that three and a half hour loop that we wanted to do as we were walking past it. It was like, where is it? Where do we go? is it up there? And it was very much like, we can do it. We can not do it. I don't mind. What does everyone wanna do? 

Whereas I used to Hold really tightly to, [00:37:00] no, I really wanna do this. This was part of my trip and I don't care that no one else wants to do it. I still really wanna do it. And I'm way better now at just being a bit more like what happens, happens. And that's okay. 

[00:37:10] Claudia: I think that makes me think too, you of another question. It kind of along the same lines as the, what was surprising to you about the experience is what is the like instagram take versus the reality take, you know, on the trip. 

Typically, I would see evidence of someone's expedition or [00:37:30] trip or experience on Instagram, maybe before I saw them or before I heard firsthand from them. You know, we get home from a trip and we're going through photos. I, I mean, literally last night. I got home, I dumped my bag. I had the best of intentions of putting everything in the laundry and pulling my tent apart and putting all my gear away. And instead I got sucked into this beautiful shared album like photo album.

Oh, lovely. Yeah, we all had iPhones, so it was super easy. Maya created a shared album and then we all almost [00:38:00] immediately dumped our photos. Amazing. Into the album. And so, I sat down and started looking at these photos and an hour went by and I was like, oh shit. I haven't even showered yet.

Because I was so stoked to post to Instagram and I haven't posted anything to Instagram in a long time. But I feel like our generation, we all have this awareness that what ends up on Instagram is not necessarily. It's not the whole picture.

It's not the whole picture. It's definitely not the whole picture. It's not even necessarily indicative of [00:38:30] the overall theme. Yeah. Of the experience. Right, totally. So being able to be like, oh yeah, I saw your photo on Instagram. Gimme the backstory. Or, how was it really, how was it really?

Did it look as amazing as it was? Being able to kind of play off that, that Instagram versus reality idea. Funny , yeah. Yeah. You mentioned a book that you referenced in anticipation of this episode. Did you wanna talk about that? 

[00:38:57] Hannah: When I was doing research for this, I was just trying to find [00:39:00] anything and I couldn't find, because obviously a lot of this is just conversational skills and so maybe I wasn't googling the right phrases.

And so I looked up the summary of How to Win Friends and Influence People which is a book by somebody. We'll find out. And one of the things, one of the themes out of that book is being open, friendly, and honest is, Basically the easiest, most effective way to win people over. 

Dale Carnegie.

 It's a great book. And [00:39:30] I think that kind of encapsulates the theme of how to answer these kind of questions. Open, friendly, honest, and you can take that as deep or as surface as you, as you wanna be. But The summary for me of how I wanna answer these questions going forward is to think of an adjective that isn't amazing or awesome.

Yeah. Think of a real adjective that captures my experience. And then as my elevator pitch answer, [00:40:00] just think of the moment that best describes why I chose that adjective, and then depending on the person, just trying to put a little bit of that honesty or vulnerability into it.

Like just something real. Yeah. Yeah. Again, that's reading your audience, reading the person that's answering the question. But it gives you opportunity for connection. If you constantly give surface level answers to everything, you're not opening up that opportunity. And especially, you know, some of my colleagues at work is who I'm thinking of when I, I say [00:40:30] this, they knew I was going on a trip because I took some time off and then I get back and they're like, oh, how is Jasper?

And I wanna be able to answer that in a way that gives a really. Clear, succinct answer of how the trip actually was, but also gives them the opportunity to dive deeper if they want to because they were genuinely interested. Yeah. 

Like Jasper was breathtaking. We did some extra scrambles on the hike. The trail itself was amazing, but the extra peaks we went to, [00:41:00] we just saw incredible views where the Rockies just go forever, and that always makes me feel so calm and just really connects me back to myself.

[00:41:08] Claudia: I love that we've come full circle and you have a beautiful answer to that question. How was your trip? It's great. 

I think the other thing, and we haven't talked about this really, we've kind of stuck to verbal answers, but I bring my Polaroid camera on expeditions frequently. I think sometimes being able to pull out a couple photos [00:41:30] or have a specific image in mind maybe that you took on trip or of your trip, and being able to describe that image, that moment is also a really nice way to answer the question, how was your trip? You're giving a snapshot. Yeah. Either physically showing the snapshot or a verbal description of that snapshot, but you've got it kind of crystallized in your mind. Yeah. That's what you wanna share.

Yeah. 

[00:41:53] Hannah: I like that. And I think it all comes back to just like you said, [00:42:00] processing your trip and so that you've got a clear idea of how was it really, and how do you feel about it? And then being able to share that in an engaging way that allows them to ask more questions if they want to, or allows them just to, if they walk away from that one sentence, they have an idea of how your trip was.

Yeah. Whereas if they ask, how was Jasper? And you say, awesome. They have no idea how your trip was. Yeah. Cool.

 Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please go [00:42:30] ahead and rate the podcast. Share your favourite episode with a friend that really helps us to get this podcast into more ears. I would also really love to hear from you and how you answer "how is your trip?" What do you say to people? And What are the questions that you ask people to pull out those really genuine answers? 

[00:42:51] Claudia: Yeah, let us know! Happy adventuring.