Empowering Women to Reconnect with Their True Selves

Empowering Women to Connect With Their True Selves
September 19, 2025
Solo Travel | Travel Coach Contributor | Travel Coach Network | Travel for Women | Travel Tips

My journey started on July 31, 2024.

Before that, there is a blur of meetings, projects after projects, teams following teams, emails, boardrooms, uncomfortable heels, neck pain, tight jaws, negotiations, trying to fit 12 months into six as if it all were so important.

Those years also held beautiful moments with my now-adult children, but also difficult ones, like me tightly gripping the steering wheel, heading to the lakeside cottage alone, separated.

I managed everything alone, setting up things for summer or putting them away before the Finnish winter came and turned my fingers blue.

I surrounded my life with work and filled my quiet moments with news, podcasts, or audiobooks until I understood I could take a six-month sabbatical while it was still allowed.

So, last August I flew to Iceland to meet a friend who was excited to show me her chosen country’s breathtaking scenery.

I was exhausted, but I vividly remember the amazing light of the barren land, the black volcanic soil, and the power of water in the cold waterfalls and the upward-gushing hot geysers. I shivered sensing the energy.

About the Author

I’m Mirka Kristiina Rahman, a certified Transformative Travel Coach and founder of The Journey Studio.

I help women reconnect with themselves, uncover their inner calling, and strengthen their well-being through intentional travel and mindful reflection.

I walk with you before, during, and after your journey, guiding you toward clarity, confidence, and presence.

I changed my life at 54 during a 180-day sabbatical across eight countries, reconnecting with my creativity and purpose. My Luontopolku method – A Journey Back to Your Senses and Yourself – can help you do the same.

I split my time between Finland and Spain, where I coach, write, and lead transformative retreats.

I’m also the author of All That is Yours, a novel about transformation while living in Bangladesh.

Having lived in both the East and West, and holding an MBA from the USA, I bring a global perspective to my work.

When you’re ready to go deeper on your journey, I’m here to guide you.

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My Journey Continued

From there, I flew down to Peru and headed to my bucket-list destination, Machu Picchu.

I held on to my belongings, looking straight ahead, unable to pay attention to any book.

My solo travel had previously focused on meeting friends or staying an extra day during business trips; escaping to see an old town, a museum, or just roam around.

I had never traveled alone until I felt it calling me, something I needed to do on my sabbatical, the big trip I would take. I had decided I would not ride a train but climb the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Within an hour from the start, I collapsed under my heavy backpack, not fit for trekking, gobbled a chocolate bar, and guzzled my water.

I ditched a few layers, got up, all dusty, and continued hiking up to 2,700 meters, my weight lightening after lunch and drinking another two liters of water.

I started to see the amazing rainforest climate the Andes were turning into; copulating butterflies fluttering around me, orchids reaching my height.

There was an amazing sense of calm reaching the Sun Gate and descending the ancient path down to Machu Picchu.

I felt free, surrounded by otherworldly mountains, feeling the stone walls and glancing at the butterfly that
had landed on my hand.

Finally exiting, I stared at the sign: un solo sentido, connected to life and the world around me in a way I hadn’t in years.

That transportive moment stayed with me and got me journaling again; just short notes, intuitive reflections, taking steps back to my creativity.

My Sabbatical Journey

My sabbatical journey continued through a few more countries:

  • Road 1 in California
  • The United Arab Emirates
  • Thailand

All adding to my sense of calm, allowing me to rest and recoup, fading the work life and changes in the office away.

I had warm encounters with family and friends along the way, listened to the news scarcely.

I had not understood how disconnected and burned out I had been until I finally started sleeping: hours and hours, now throughout the night.

In November, I returned to Spain, familiar from my teenage years and honeymoon.

There, I embarked on a solo road trip in a stick-shift Fiat without a navigator, following the coastline south. Cumbersome at first, senses alerted in traffic, I found my way, adding stops for horses tables and marking destinations.

I loved driving by the Mediterranean and hiking mountainsides, returning to my broken Spanish, laughing at mistakenly buying boiled eggs.

I started listening to the silence.

By accident, I returned to Alhambra in Granada, where I had been before in spring when I was young and in love with my fiancée.

Now I roamed the ruins alone in the autumn sunshine.

People smiled at me, and I took a photo of a joyful group of ladies who approached me.

They insisted on taking a photo of me there as well.

When I looked at that photo, I was taken aback by how happily I smiled in it.

The next day, driving back north, I realized how my driving style had changed, how light I felt, empowered at the wheel.

And I knew I would not leave Spain.

A New Home

The following week led me to my second home by Denia’s mountainside, the green area shielded by Montgó, I immediately recognized my home.

Settling in this January, thinking about what travel can do and the industry I had been working in, The Travel
Coach Network popped up on my radar.

After reading about the program, I enrolled in a day.

My mind was bursting with ideas from the beginning, inspiration fueling my steps on mountain trails.

My thoughts took me back to moments at my Finnish villa, where I had learned to be alone in the first place. Picking up a pinecone, I remembered laughing when one fell on my head there, as if reminding me that I was
not alone.

I stopped at my tracks, feeling at home within myself.

By the end of January, I filed for divorce and knew there was something else I needed to do.

I felt I needed to close some doors to let new things in.

Day by day, as my coaching studies advanced, my wisdom grew.

I saw how I had reconnected with my senses through pausing and becoming mindful.

I had returned to my own nature through reflective walking and intentional self-questioning.

Becoming a Travel Coach

I realized how I could help others do the same: gain consciousness, reconnect with themselves, and have the courage to make bold decisions.

I thought about my growing-up novel living in another country, my lecturing and cross-cultural team building, empowering
others, especially women whom I now could help to lead lives meant for them, and find their calling beyond family and work.

I founded The Journey Studio, where I help you reconnect with yourself, uncover your inner calling, and strengthen your well-being through intentional travel and mindful reflection.

I drafted my Luontopolku Method—A Journey Back to Your Senses and Yourself, a life reconnection guide for intentional travel.

Now, in August 2025, as a certified travel coach, I remain a fellow traveler, continuing my journey of transformation, walking beside others for shorter or longer periods.

I am grateful I remained curious, as travel led me to understand that in the end, it is not the distance we travel but the depth we gain.

Having lived in both East and West, I now split my time across Northern and Southern Europe, living a life I cherish every
day.

I write again, coach, and build retreats—the first of which will be held this October at a boutique hotel with an olive grove I stumbled upon on one of my Montgó hikes.

I am here to walk with you, harvest the olives together, and guide you toward clarity,
confidence, and presence.

When you’re ready to go deeper on your journey or consciously seek courage, I’m here to guide you.

If you are ready to reconnect with yourself through transformative travel, explore the Luontopolku method or book a discovery call.

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