EP #87 - Big Sister - Ally McDonald-Bull

Well, it looks like my family wants a piece of the podcast now too, so here we are. I had my big sister, Ally McDonald-Bull, calling in from Dahab, Egypt!

My big sister is multi-talented across a range of pursuits. She owns a Pilates studio in Dahab and wears many hats as an entrepreneur, English teacher, and lifestyle coach.

We talk about her experience travelling the world, how she found Pilates, why she chose to settle in Dahab, and much more.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Oh I'm here with my big sister, Alexandra, or Ellie. Um, I don't know if anyone here uh might know about my big sister. She does a lot of cool things, guys. She uh lives currently in Dahab, Egypt, and she is across a lot of different things. But one of the most exciting things she's got going on right now is that she has built uh Sinai uh uh Pilates studio. She has been in Egypt now for um like a year, is it over a year, is it a year?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Uh it's coming up to a year of properly being based here, um, with a little trailer uh tester period I did for three months prior.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

And uh yeah, my sis is pretty cool, guys. She's traveled like all over the world, you know? Like she's been all over, she lived in Paris for a bit, then she like worked in the UK, she's been in South America, she went to went to Thailand, and now she's yeah, settled in Dahab, Egypt, and uh was in Sinai for a bit and uh I'm doing lots of cool things. So welcome to my show, big sis. What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Well, first I need to correct your geography because Dahab is in Sinai.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Ah, well, there we go. Dahab is in Sinai. For some reason I feel like Dahab's, I just haven't like looked at like the map, but I thought Dahab is a different town city, but no.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

It's in it's in the the South Sinai region, if you like, of Egypt. And what a lot of people don't know is that Sinai is actually in the continent of Asia, not Africa, because Egypt is across two continents. So it is also what's known as a land bridge because it bridges the continents. So this is the other Egypt, is is Sinai. And yes, I live in an Egyptian village called Dahab.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Well, all those geography lessons I heard, what did they uh actually I know I did geography at uni? Well, we didn't learn anything about countries, but um that clearly shows.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I also know that you left uni.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Um I I also I also did drop out of university. And I did not do very well.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I'm here to correct you. I'm here to to to just you know pull you back. Pull you back on.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I know, I know. I I didn't I didn't I didn't do too well at university or school, but I finished it. So, you know, that's something. Anyway, there's a lot of things we can talk about right now, but let's, you know, let's start at the beginning. Start at the at the at the beginning, not of like when you came into the world. We don't want to worry about that detail. We just need to hear about you know where we've ended up. Ending up in somewhere like Dahab is very interesting, I think, especially coming from New Zealand, uh, you know, where we grew up for most of our lives, and then ending up there. And I think it would be really interesting for a lot of listeners and viewers to like talk about how you ended up in a place like Dahu from, you know, obviously I know your most your whole journey, but starting as a Pilates instructor in Auckland, New Zealand, and then now having a business, having brands, and lots of other things going on for you in Dahub.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

It has been a long journey. So let's let's try and sum it up. Um so what is a little bit different, I think, about you and I, despite coming from the same origin, is that I was born in France and I had a little bit more of my childhood in the UK before we moved to New Zealand. And as a result, I always had a dream or an ambition to move back to Europe. So I had originally planned to do that, uh, I think in my early 20s, doing music, and that didn't happen. That's another whole story. Um, but after I made the decision to not move back to Europe or to the UK in my early 20s, I then carried on doing a few of my part-time university jobs. Uh, one of them was in events and entertainment, and Scott actually ended up working for that same company in a in a different role. Well, in the same role and then a different role. Um, and I did still do some performing freelancing for a while. I was a Disney princess for children's parties, and I worked at an Audi dealership as a receptionist on the weekend, and I did some music teaching at the clarinet, and I don't know, I ended up in a few little random jobs. But in those final years that I was at university, I discovered Pilates. It was actually Mum who introduced me to Pilates. I was a bit resistant to going, to be honest. Um, and I was also at the same time in a really bad place mentally, and I did go along, and from the first class, I fell in love with Pilates. So I was 21 at the time. And I ended up doing Pilates during my last year of university, and then when I took some time away to sort of decide what was I meant to be doing, which was, I think, an ongoing question that a lot of us have, especially if I wasn't going to do performing arts anymore. And the other degree I should also add that I that I did at university was in business, in management and marketing. And so I thought if I wasn't going to do performing performing, I was going to go into arts management or events, which was also the sector I was already working in part-time as a university job, let's say that. And then it was becoming obvious to me that my time even doing that was uh limited, let's say, and I also really wanted to do travel. So there were a few little things going on here, and I was I was confused, but then after having done Pilates as a student myself at the studio for two years, I was invited to do the training school, the training program that this particular studio offered. And I thought, well, to be honest, I love Pilates, and at the moment I feel that I need to do something as a sort of bridge to, again, whatever this thing was that I was meant to be doing. So I thought, well, it's not gonna, it's not gonna hurt me to um to take on this training and to teach, I don't know, maybe one class a week or something. So that's that's kind of how it started, is that I really thought it was going to be like this, I don't want to even say side hustle. It was just going to be a string to my bow that I did until I figured out the the proper thing, whatever that was. Um, so that was actually 10 years ago that I then did my training. So this was in 2015. Who would have thought that that would have taken me on so many adventures and now be sort of what is what is what is my main offering here in in Daha? Because at the time that we are recording this, there there is no other Pilates studio in Sinai.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Yeah, which is which is crazy. Like it's so awesome that you could be like the the driver of Pilates. Well, and other things, but having that is it's pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

It's uh it makes me smile. Let's let let's say that. So yeah, the road, I guess, in the last 10 years has been um not straight. It has been quite a wild ride. And yes, I have also been doing other things around Pilates, but excuse the pun, Pilates has been the literal core of my of my earnings, and in many ways has also held me together, both mind and body, as I've gone about the last 10 years. Um spending the first four still in Auckland and really developing my craft there, working with physiotherapists a lot, and also really getting into fitness because actually New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand were really at the beginning of the sort of boom of uh you know, boutique Pilates studios and it becoming a lot more mainstream. So I had so much exposure at the beginning, which then meant when I moved to Paris, I I was already an experienced instructor and ended up working at you know the first Pilates, well, not first Pilates studio, but the first sort of contemporary, more modern New York style studio. And also, as you know, I taught dance fitness because I have a background in a lot of performing arts, and so I was teaching ballet bar and dance fitness, which was also so much fun. So it was very easy for me to find work actually. But again, moving to Paris, the plan had not been to teach Pilates, it had sort of been to do anything but I wanted to leave New Zealand and do all these other things that I was also interested in. I wanted to um uh work in a in a chocolate shop for a while and then open my own chocolate shop. I thought about becoming a mountain guide in Scotland or across the Alps.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I had the clarinet with me as well, so I thought I could go and just play the clarinet somewhere or go and work at Disneyland Paris as a Disney princess. I don't know, there were all these things that I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

And um somehow Pilates has been this boomerang that just kept coming round, and it has ended up being the vehicle for a lifestyle that ultimately has given me so much freedom, but also all of the sort of other things that I really craved from life, and so even in moments where I fell out of love with Pilates or teaching, I had to be honest that it was the lifestyle that it gave me that was what then reminded me how how blessed I was to do it, and then I fell back in love with Pilates and was also so like in love with Pilates again and loved help helping people and being a forever student also of the Pilates method.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Yeah, that's really good. Actually, I have a few questions actually just in that. One of the things I I didn't actually know this until you just said it was that it's New Zealand and Australia were at the forefront of Pilates. So when you went over to Paris, did you you felt like they were a bit behind? Like that there was not as much knowledge around Pilates and this sort of style of um yeah fitness.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So I wouldn't actually say it's at the forefront of Pilates. For those who don't know anything about Pilates, I'll tell a very, very quick history. Pilates was uh started by a man called Joseph Pilates, German man, and he was interned in a in a war camp during the First World War, and he developed this method, and he has a lot of literature, which I encourage people to read. He very much was a man before his time. I often call him the Shakespeare of movement. Um, he created a very solid original method or text, if you like, but that has now been adapted very much in so many different ways, you know, with so many different types of Pilates. And so he used his method to help rehabilitate his fellow war uh colleagues, comrades. And then when I think it was about the time of the Second World War, he then ended up immigrating to America and then started working with dancers. And this is how Pilates became associated with dancers and the feminine. But when I tell people that actually it started with men in the war by a man, um it changes uh it changes people's um point of view or perception of Pilates, I think. Um, but Pilates, Australia and New Zealand definitely were not the the leaders of Pilates. This definitely was New York um really was the the beginning sort of hub where he was and where his almost called them Pilates disciples, they're also called elders, his original um students, and then it gets passed down. There's like generations of Pilates students, if you like. And um what I was meaning by what I said before was more so that Australia and New Zealand were up there with adopting this sort of contemporary um uh studio uh that a lot of people were going to, you know, with like the the group classes, the multiple reformers and and all of that. There were already classical studios and people well trained in Pilates, definitely. But I guess it was more like making it mainstream is what New Zealand adopted really quite early on. Like you could find Pilates already spreading. Whereas when I when I moved to Paris, um it was again there were the classical studios, there were the smaller studios, and then there was like one or two that were new where the the owner uh had gone somewhere else and trained, like New York, for example, or spent time in London, and then they thought, I'm gonna come back to Paris and open the first blah blah studio, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Right. That's yeah, I I that it's interesting as well, like saying in the beginning, well, about the the the uh what was it so Joe Pilates? What was his name?

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Joseph, Joseph Pilates.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Let's call him Joe, Joe Pilates, Joseph Pilates. But it like it was for men in the war, and then because for a lot of people, especially in the West, if if you ask people about who Pilates is for, like the average Joe blog who might not know, you'll be thinking, well, it's for it's for women. Um and I what I'm wondering now is like when did that change happen where it was like marketed or branded and sold mainly for for women? Like, because a lot of um even like girls I know who I who I work with, when they say, Oh, I want to start working out and going to the gym, I'm gonna go to Pilates. And this episode is sponsored by me. Do you struggle with sleeping and particularly struggle with light and sound while sleeping? I think it's time you get the sleep that you deserve. My business Infinity Sleep specializes in sleep well-being products to enhance your sleep quality. I've been using sleep masks and plagues for the past three years to help improve my sleep, and I'm so stoked to finally have ones that have been created for my own sleeping needs. If you would like to learn more about my business Infinity Sleep, please visit our website www.infinitysleep.co dot nz. By making a purchase, you are directly not only supporting a local kiwi business, but also this podcast. Use the promo code only scot15% and receive 15% off your first order. Go to www.infinitysleep.co dot nz to get the sleep that you deserve. Really interesting. It's like I want to go to the gym, but by the gym they mean Pilates. But so I I just Yeah, I wonder when that happened. Do you have any idea of like when that where when it became like more like I don't know how that how it was sold to people or talked about, and it's more for like initially, well, for a change more for women, like to be involved?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Well, in using the example you just used, that is definitely a very recent thing that women would actually be using gym and Pilates so sort of interchangeably, you know. Um, I think this is this is great that Pilates is the gym because that's actually what Joseph Pilates created. He created like a Pilates gym. And if you look at old footage of other exercise modalities, because Pilates is also based on many things. It's based on uh weightlifting, it's based on gymnastics, it's based on even some parts of yoga and stretching and all of this. So it was all these different elements, even boxing, there's elements in there because he he did all these things. Um and I don't really have the exact dates of when it was marketed to women as such, but if we think back to um like our parents' generation, I'm thinking more so like 70s, 80s, uh, and then those exercise videos started coming out. And there I know there's Windsor Pilates, and so like even at home, we had a Pilates DVD or video or something. So somewhere along the line, this was created. Yeah, yeah, this was this was this was like created for women to do at home, you know, to be in shape and to trim your waist and like whatever, all of these things, more associated with the sort of I guess the aesthetic perspective. Um, but I guess what I want to say is that all of these different views of Pilates, they have existed for quite a while, like quite a few decades. But I think that certain things have trended in the last while, even since I started teaching. And some of these trends I really do not agree with at all because they have come so far away from what Pilates actually is. Uh, like the mega forma, Legree. This probably means nothing to you, but um, this is like a type of reformer fitness that has taken an adapted reformer and created a killer workout to burn everything. Now, I don't have a problem with exercise modalities being inspired by Pilates, but I think what has happened is there's just so much confusion around what Pilates actually is now. And I think it's so wonderful that, you know, what I what I love about having my little Pilates studio here, private studio, is that I can offer something that people wouldn't otherwise at this time anyway be able to experience. Um I do believe one day there'll be a whole commercial studio of 10 reformers here, you know, and that's that's not my that's not my thing. I've I've I've done my time doing that. But I know that in a lot of a lot of places, even now in in Cairo, for example, uh they are they are starting all of these uh reformer Pilates studios, they're all pink. Um they've all got all and they've got a martial bar, of course.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Oh yeah, that's yeah, right? Like just leaning into that.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

So we have created through marketing this uh this image. And uh I can't remember if you know that I used to train members of military and members of all blacks and things like that. So what's interesting there is that is that Pilates has been used a lot, uh sure, for dancers who are athletes, as well as um men um doing uh sports uh at this high performance level. And so they probably are the people who have been exposed to Pilates um for a bit longer, in again a way that is meant to complement their sport. Whereas now we've created this sort of yes, this whole Pilates matcha era that we're in. And the thing that I struggle with is that I love matcha too, because I don't drink coffee and I have been into matcha for quite a long time because otherwise I'm always just asking for an expensive tea bag.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

You were into it before it was cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

And the same with uh Pilates again has been along um here for a while, but before it trended like this, I was doing it. So I I feel like I'm put in a box because I am Pilates Marcha girl, but I'm not doing it at all because it's it's trending, and that because it's trending, that actually like makes me want to not drink matcha or to not uh some certain I wouldn't say not do Pilates, but I feel sometimes a bit misunderstood when I say that I I teach Pilates and that I like matcha. And here I've even created the the Pilates Pilates Latte, um, which is uh a matcha latte with peanut butter in it, uh, at a local cafe. So that was a a a sort of brand business collaboration that I did. And I guess you could say because it's trending, this has helped me in some sort of way.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Yeah, it's um yeah, it's two sides of a coin, two sides of the coin there, right? That's that's tricky. Do you do you but do you still feel conflicted with it? Like in this moment?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Do you mean about myself teaching Pilates or about the image of Pilates in general?

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Both. What about yourself? Like you teaching Pilates, is it still kind of the same? Or do people have like an expectation you find?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Oh, everyone comes in with an expectation of some sort. And um my my favorite thing is to not give them the experience that they expected. Probably especially if they if they are, I will say it, if they are a man, I probably will try to just show them what really is possible for them, what they can really take away a value of Pilates if they have come in with I guess I want to say a very limited view of what Pilates is, or they've just been dragged along, or their girlfriend or wife said, You must go to Pilates. Because you've got a sore back or something like this. And I want to show them that it is just so, so much more. Um, and what's also interesting about men is that they're often the hardest to get to start Pilates, but then they become the greatest, greatest ambassadors for it afterwards, and then they tell all their friends about it. And um, you know, I know quite a few men who are sort of, let's say, like around like our parents' age, and they are just obsessed with their regular Pilates practice because they know it is helping them, you know, with let's just say the aging process, but also just feeling better in general. And um, that's that's all what we want really in life is just to feel better in this human body. Um, and then for my own teaching style, I mean, this has also been quite a roller coaster. Um, I trained in a what I want to say a comprehensively contemporary style, which means that I did not train as a classical teacher, which is more true to Joe Pilates method, um, but I did what's called a comprehensive training, which meant that it wasn't just a weekend course. I trained, you know, a long amount of hours on all of the Pilates equipment and um for both a sort of fitness lens and a rehabilitation lens. So that gave me quite a wide scope of practice, which meant that I could work in like a clinic, I could work in this like athletic setting, I've worked with celebrities, I've worked with people who are recovering from crazy injuries, and then I've done these wellness festivals. And sure, I've also adapted Pilates into my own sort of method that I sort of traveled around with, and um I've done a lot of things. But what's interesting is after 10 years, I then actually came back more to my original training, which was let's use this equipment. Yes, we can do fitness, but it's also really about correcting the body so that it moves more in alignment and we can recorrect people's posture, people's injuries, uh, and all the other stuff that we gather in our human life experience. Um, and this is not about being trendy. Uh this is this is about feeling good and feeling well. And Pilates is definitely a type of therapy, and what I love the most about teaching Pilates is the conversations that I have with people, getting to know them, um, also hearing how quickly they start to feel better or they notice differences in their lives.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

What do you reckon, like for if people start Pilates, uh this could be with anybody you've taught, but what would you say after like a month? Like obviously this is for long term, but what I'm trying to get at is what's the first thing people notice after they've done Pilates for a certain amount of time?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I want to say that they have increased awareness about themselves. So normally I will draw their attention to something that I notice when I see them. And obviously, I now have seen a lot of human bodies. And so they may come in for a reason. So that is sort of like my focus, is what they have told me. But I'm also doing sort of a data analysis at the same time. I'm also listening to the dialogue that comes out of their mouth while watching what their body is doing. A lot of limiting beliefs come out as well, and a lot of sort of like people trying to make sense of everything, want to do it perfect, want to do it right. And I ask lots of questions like, um, what are you feeling right now? Or what is doing the work? Or questions like that. Are you breathing? And a lot of the answers I get back in the first session is I don't know. People don't know what their body is doing, they don't know what is working, they don't know what they're feeling. So my first thing is to get them to have that mind-body connection, and then I say to them, before you come in next time, I want to hear about where you noticed yourself, where you felt yourself. Now it could be in the queue at the supermarket. Were you standing on like more on one side than the other? Were you breathing? Um, what were your shoulders doing? And that is what people start to notice. And then what happens with that awareness is that they are then able to better integrate what we do in the studio. So then suddenly they're like, Oh, I need to slightly tilt my pelvis to take um the effort of my movement out of my back and into my core, so mainly into your abdominals and into your glutes, or oh, my shoulders are right up by my ears, and I'm holding my breath, um, and then I need to relax that. So they start to pick up on that type of thing, and that is what then actually keeps the work and the method working for all of the other days of the week.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

The general awareness, that's true. I think that like especially with the modern day working world that we're in, people don't have people just aren't thinking about their health like that with their body. And probably I think it's becoming a bit more normalized now. I think, especially with people around our age, people are thinking about health, but for a long time, like current generation, the one below that, people aren't thinking about the day-to-day, like, oh, this kind of hurts today. Like, shrug that off, keep going, and then obviously keep going, keep going, keep going. Problems happen later in life. So um yeah, I think general awareness is uh just with like so many, so many things, right? But that's um that's really cool. And then afterwards they stay on and they really see the value. Um and yeah, have you because you you've had what how long's your longest running client? Selling point, but uh how long's your uh longest running client you've had?

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Well, this is a good question. Um, because obviously I moved around a lot, so that's that's hard for client retention.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Oh, I'm going to just move here now or move there, or like whatever. So actually, the longest client I've had is someone that I still see on Zoom. But we started on Zoom, obviously, because of COVID, and they are actually in New Zealand. But the reason they're also my longest um client is because they were at the studio that I first taught at in 2015. So they were a client of mine then. Then I left and you know started all the things that I started over in predominantly in based in Paris and then elsewhere as well. Um, and then I spent a little bit of time in New Zealand, as you know, during COVID. I went I went backwards and forwards. I did specialize in a little bit of pandemic travel. Um, but I did spend uh actually, I think I spent even a year in New Zealand.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Yeah, you're in Queenstown.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Yeah, during during one of the COVID periods, both back in Auckland and then down in Queenstown, where I also set up that's funny. That's Pilates is a good example there. Pilates, when I spent my time down there, there was only like two boutique studios and then a few gym sort of Pilates classes, and now I see that there's just like so many reformer studios and there's everything down there. But anyway, that was the tangent. But um I then started teaching uh this client again at her home privately because she's actually a doctor, so she has you know changeable uh schedule, and then we went online because of lockdown, and then she has stayed with me ever since. So um I've got a few people who've done that uh that um switch who came online because of COVID and then stayed, which has been really great because it has in a way it sort of turned me into a little bit of a digital nomad. It did mean that I could travel and still earn some income. And uh I would go and stay with clients in LA, in I mean, where have I taught? I taught in some very interesting places. Kampala in Uganda. Um I'd gone to Serbia, I've taught in Dubai and um yes, Mexico City. And then I've also found myself going to places for another reason, and then when they find out I'm a Pilates teacher, then suddenly I'm teaching Pilates there too. Um, and then like living in Thailand for a few for a few months, um, working out of a retreat center where I also offered other mind-body practices at the time. Um, but Pilates was always, again, it was the core. So I picked up people along the way and picked up their email addresses as well. And social media uh has also been wonderful. So even if they aren't currently my client, I'm actually in touch with so many of my clients from around the world. And that is just so wonderful. It's the relationships, really. Again, that that just I think keep me going with with this work.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Hmm. Establish so many connections, so many people from all from yeah, like probably almost every not every continent, but you'd be you'd be up there, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Um what would I say yet better? Maybe the penguins.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Oh yeah, yeah, there might be someone down there who needs it. Maybe, yeah. I mean, I imagine being in the freezing cold, you probably have people are probably pretty stiff, I imagine. So I don't know. Um I wanna ask about with all your travels and of all the different places you've gone to um what let maybe just do two places that have stood out to you the most um just in general that you've traveled to. Like stood out to you could be culturally, could be um how people are there, or the conditions people live in, or it could be like the lifestyle, like yeah, like out of all the places you've traveled to, what are the two ones that you reckon have had the biggest impact on you?

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Well, what a question.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Okay, so I guess I have to start with Egypt, because Egypt started speaking to me when I was about seven or eight when I used to play Tomb Raider 4, the last revelation, and I wanted to become Lovecraft.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

So ever since that game still gives me nine years.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Yes, Scott used to used to think the skeletons were gonna come out of the wardrobe. I as a result got banned from playing the game for a while because of this. Anyway, anyway, um, I played the game secret, and then I decided I would like take it upon myself to just live the life of Lara Croft.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Um but there was something about maybe her and and especially Egypt, that I don't know, both both her, whatever she stood for, I guess is sort of like action girl was a contrast to me being a sort of good girl as well. Um, and she was British, and you know, she put on her boots, and you know that I call my hiking boots, my Laracroft boots, because they're like my adventure boots. When I put them on, I'm like I'm going on an adventure. And I think for me, Egypt always looked like the ultimate adventure desert, pyramids, the lost library of Alexandria, the temples, all of this. But it wasn't until Christmas uh 2022 that I finally made it to Egypt. And I did the temples and I did the pyramids, and it was wonderful. It was such a wonderful experience. Um, but there was something there that really opened I don't know what in me, opened some part of my heart, or maybe my purpose, or something like that, which was this was just the beginning. Like, yes, you've done the tourist trip for Egypt, but there is more. And then I started talking about myself being Ali of Arabia or Alexandria of Arabia. And I would read books about the Lawrence of Arabia, and then all of these female adventurers who um were the first women, educated women to come over to uh Arabia, um, the Arab world, in um like around the time sort of of the First World War, actually, and their diaries and stories and the impact that they actually had on drawing up the borders of what we now know in the West as the Middle East. Um, and I was so inspired by this as well. So let's just say Egypt, but Sinai was something not on my radar at all. Um, that's a whole nother story, but maybe we'll get to that, I'm not sure. Um, but but let's just answer this question. So Egypt. Um and then where's another place?

SPEAKER_01 35:40

There are so many, there are so many places.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Um I did really like Mexico. I nearly actually moved to Mexico or was planning on spending like six months a year in Mexico just before COVID um happened, and then that sort of changed my path a bit. Um this is actually a really hard question for me to answer. Um, I think Egypt and in general the the Arab world has had a huge impact on me. Um, I'm still now learning about um the parts like from between here and let's say Russia. So more of the Silk Road and um Central Asia and other parts of Arabia, if you like, and then all of these influences that as a result of you know the trade routes and then globalization and everything, how the impact has has traveled across to Italy, for example, to Spain first, first and foremost. So this is this is super interesting. I'm always about connecting the dots, which is probably why I think Pilates is a good job for me as well. Um I don't know, Scott. There are too many, there are too many places. Um, but let's just say something like Mexico, it's got warm people, good food, good weather, again, a nice blend of of um culture as well. There's so much, and then also some ancient stuff. I think I I need to go somewhere where there's ancient stuff.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Very long, long hist long histories, long histories, thousands of years.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Exactly. Like when I did the Inca Trail, you know, you're you're walking this ancient path with these ancient ruins, and you get too much Yupicchu, and it's it's I like I I do like a bit of ancient history.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

Yeah, like um what was I gonna say? I think like with uh traveling to that many places, um did because you would have experienced and seen so so many like your different walks of life and how people are and I I want to ask as well, what out of your travels, like let's start with um I don't know, if you can think of a country that you travel to, what's something that people get wrong about? Let's say, for example, like just Mexico, right? The immediate kind of thing is like, oh, probably nice food and stuff that's dangerous. Um, you know, like I guess just trying to maybe people make stereotypes and assumptions about a lot of places, and what would you say um in your experience is like not correct about maybe the general broad breaststrokes of people's assumptions about certain countries?

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Another good question. Um, so as a woman, uh what you said about it being dangerous is obviously something that has been kind of thrown at me a lot. I receive a lot of people's fears in general, which normally comes from a very good place, you know, that they care. So they're like, oh, isn't that dangerous, or should you be going there? Or um those types of things. So I guess I I respond to that by normally looking at who's asking me this question, and I think, are they somebody who would do some adventuring themselves? Maybe not in exactly the same way that I do it, but are they someone who maybe has not really traveled that much? And so where are they getting their information from? Is it just mainstream media? Is it focusing on, as global news likes to do, like something that's been negative or a bit of a tragedy or something that's happened in a place? And so the media just focuses on this, and we see that place just through that lens. You know, there's been an attack of some sort there, or there's drugs there, or something like that, you know. Um, I can only speak for myself, obviously, but I have not had any experience in any of, let's say, countries that are have a reputation of being slightly dangerous or dodgy. I have not had any experience where I have felt unsafe. In fact, experiences where I felt unsafe have happened more in places like Paris. Um, but there is a difference between being unsafe and also feeling uncomfortable. And people feeling uncomfortable can happen just from like being in a place where you maybe are the only woman, or maybe you're the only one of your skin color, or something like this. Now, again, I don't really feel like I've experienced that much, but I know from being in some situations, like for example, here in Egypt, when I come out of an airport, there are all of these taxi drivers like waiting to you know to like get me. And um, and again, none of them are dangerous. I mean, again, again, I'm gonna be speaking for myself, I've never had a negative experience. But I know that I have to now like you know put on my most confident self because there is now a negotiation process that normally has to take place. This is if I haven't like organized a ride in advance, right? So it's like, okay, I've got to go in and I've got to now like negotiate the price and not be taken advantage of in this way and all of that sort of stuff. And this annoys me more than anything else that because it's effort, and I have to kind of put on that sort of like like I don't know that that not facade, but that really like strong version of myself where here we go, got to go and do this. It's it's not like um it's even like going to shop sometimes, not that you just go to a shop and then it's like this is the price, and I pay for that, and there we go. It's it's it's a bit more process.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

Yeah, it's not it's it's though they're always bartering and they're trying to be like, no, no, no, it's actually this price. And it's like, no, it's not that price.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Exactly. So that's that type of thing is something that is um, I don't know, it just takes a lot of energy sometimes. But again, that doesn't make me feel personally uncomfortable, but I understand why that would make some people feel uncomfortable, and um, it definitely doesn't make me feel unsafe. Um, and then I think that there are other things to do with um faith, religion that also people are scared about because people also focus on differences. And what has been been quite cool with um let's just say like smaller influences starting their own travel companies and be able to take people with them through social media and really showing off some countries that were lesser known or less traveled to, you're able to see that largely it's it's not dangerous. Largely, people are really friendly, and they're actually normally so delighted to have tourists come to their country and show them like there's the hospitality in I know we're talking about Mexico, but again, I think this actually applies more to the part of the world that I live in now. The hospitality in this part of the world is just incredible, and people want to learn about you and they want to tell you about themselves. And I think that we just have to remember that danger exists everywhere. And again, I'm saying that I have not experienced something that I would say is like, oh, this was really dangerous. Um, and again, the times where I think I was a bit like, oh, these happened in places like, like I said, like Paris, like LA. Um, not in in the the sort of lesser known, lesser traveled places. But also, I will say, I do not go looking for danger.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

I do not go looking for trouble.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Um, so that's another thing.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Yeah, and I and I also know you that you're you're not out going to bars and you're not going to, you know, party and uh all that. You know, you're looking for the next matiba, you know.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Well, maybe, Scott, but maybe there are also some stories that I haven't shared with you. Um I thought I knew everything about you.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

You don't tell your brother everything. What do you mean we got secrets?

SPEAKER_01 44:02

Don't get me wrong. These days I definitely am like a grandma.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

But but along the way, like uh like uh I do I mean I'm not a wild child. That isn't that is not who I am, but I think that I'm a curious person and I've met again some very interesting characters. And maybe that was also a client that I was working with. They've taken me out somewhere. I don't know, or I've been on a date and I've ended up in some place that would be a little bit outside of my normal life, you know. So um, but also I don't think it is the bars where you're going to necessarily experience uh danger.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

You know, no, no, but I I guess what I'm trying to say is like if you're going like nightlife, often, often, if things happen, generally it's in nightlife scenarios. Let's just, you know, broadly speaking. That's why I say that. But of course, like, yeah, I mean danger can happen. Oh, yes, it can happen whenever. Like I remember, like, for me, when I was in Budapest, and like I remember, like, I never thought I'd ever see this in my life, but I saw two rival um like tourist bus companies, and both the bus drivers just got in the middle of the road and had a full-on fight because of the parking, and I was just like, wow. Uh but you know, obviously I'm not in danger, but I'm trying to say is like, yeah, I mean, shit happens all the time. So you're in Paris doing Pilates, you're you're you know, teaching, mean lots of people. What uh what made you want to leave Paris to then go be in Egypt?

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Um not to live for the for the you know foreseeable future.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

Yes. So again, I think when I moved to Paris, this really was about could I set up a life in the city that I was born in? That I had this sort of I don't want to say it was romantic, so I don't think I had a a naive idea of Paris just because we had visited a few times and also because mum and dad had lived there for a few years, I think I was quite like um up to speed with the hardships, if you like, of living in Paris, which is different from if you just go for a holiday. Um, but it was um a challenging city to set your life up in. Also, it's another language, and even though I had uh done French at school almost a decade before moving there, speaking and listening is very different to reading and writing, which is what you probably predominantly do in a classroom environment. So there was all this setting up of my life in this new language, again as a self-employed person, I've been self-employed my whole working life actually. Um learning how you just do all these things, and so I think at the beginning, what was exciting about Paris was it was hard, and I sort of thrived on that, and then it kind of became easy, and maybe that made me a little bit bored, but when I say easy, there were still the things that were really frustrating about it. I mean, there were frustrating things about every place on earth, so this is not trying to just uh just speak badly about Paris here, but I think like anywhere, you you then decide like you've got to weigh everything up. So I felt like I had achieved what I wanted from why I went there in the first place, and I had I had made a whole community from yes, my classes that I originally set up, but then I also started other entrepreneurial uh projects that also gathered people, and then I started traveling a bit more again as well with some of my clients with some of these opportunities that I I got given. So then I was spending less time in Paris, and what happened with that is that I felt that the the community aspect um sort of disbanded a bit because I was abandoning my community every time I left. And I would come back to sort of like a new project, which was exciting, and then I kind of sort of felt like I was running out of um inspiration, and I wasn't into all of the cliches about Paris either. That wasn't the life that I that I lived there, even though I loved watching other people who were coming on holiday or the Americans in Paris who were just loving everything, Paris. Like I love that. I love watching people enjoy the good things and the the unique things about a place. It's lovely, it really is like living in some sort of novel, but that wasn't my life, and um I also struggled with weather, I struggled with the cold and the gray weather, and um just in my personal life, I I went through a hard time actually with with um a few people there, and I think I was just becoming I don't know, stagnant is not it, but I just I was I was just running out of like freshness to to to to keep me going. Like, why am I still here?

SPEAKER_02 49:33

You didn't feel like there was much purpose for you left.

SPEAKER_00 49:35

You feel like you'd fulfill the main goals. Yeah, and and you know, talking about the chocolate shop, I had actually trained as a bean to bar chocolate maker, and I was doing like this cross between something chocolate themed and well-being as well. So I had my little chocolate moment, and um I had um done a few other entrepreneurial little projects as well, and so I really felt like I kind of squeezed everything out of Paris that I that I needed to really. Um I'm not saying that I would never live in Paris or in France again, but again, I need to really know why that is. I am a very intentional person, so um I need to know what the intention is. So, what was happening is I then was feeling like I needed another base. So maybe it was X number of months a year I'm in Paris, and then the rest of the time I'm somewhere else. And this is why I took up opportunities to spend time, for example, in Mexico, in LA, in Thailand, in Dubai, in all these places. But in February 2024, I then went to Dubai to spend a few weeks with some clients. And this was a time where I'd completely packed up an apartment in Paris, and I really was like a nomad. I had what I needed on my back, and the rest of the things were in storage. And uh I was there, and a woman I met said to me, You're going to hear the place that you were meant to be in three times. And I knew by this stage it wasn't Dubai. And I had thought, if in doubt, I would come back to Egypt and I would go to Alexandria because I hadn't been there yet and I wanted to go to the library. So I didn't hear this place said to me while I was in Dubai, which I was quite disappointed about. So I then went to Egypt, came back to Egypt, went to Alexandria, went to the library, had a bit of a mental breakdown and cried in this library because I was really tired and I was a bit stressed, and I was just disappointed that the answers to my problems were not in one of these books. Why not? So um, this was a bit of a low moment, but in the three days that I had in Alexandria, three people who I just met said to me, I think you would like this place called Dahab in South Sinai. And I had never heard of Dahab before. It is known amongst free divers and I don't know who else is known amongst, but because some people know of Dahab. They know of Shah Meshek, which is where the airport is, which is an hour, about an hour drive from Dahab. Anyway, I I I I flew from Alexandria to Shah Mashek, like the day after, my little three-day stint in Alexandria. And um, I remember descending down upon the mountains, and my my heart just was like, oh, this is this is it. It's a little bit like descending down somewhere like uh Queenstown, you know, you go over the mountains, it's just all traveling over the Alps. It's just it's just amazing. And so again, I'd booked three nights in Dahab, and um the second night I went up Mount Sinai or Mount Moses, um, as it's also called here, which is the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. So I went up this mountain thinking, okay, God, what have you got for me?

SPEAKER_01 53:11

God did not give me Ten Commandments. God didn't, I think God does not give anyone anything when they go up Mount Sinai with the expectation that they're going to receive something, because this is the whole part of it.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

So, anyway, it was a wonderful journey. It was an overnight hike, and I had a full moon, and then you get the sunrise um when you get up there. And I had some really great conversations with the group that I went up there with, and basically they were saying to me, look, if you've got a three-month visa for now, why don't you just stay here? I would stay here, I wouldn't go back to my job and wherever they were from. So I thought, okay, then I'm gonna stay. So I came back down the mountain and I spoke to the person who owned the hotel I was at, and he actually gave me accommodation straight away. And I stayed here for three months. Um, and I also visited Jordan as well, which was also fantastic. So I I did this like trial period of living here. But and but what happened towards the end was I knew I wanted to be away for summer because summer here is you don't want to be here for summer, it's too hot. And the landlord of this apartment in Paris that I had really wanted, it was this beautiful little apartment um on the top floor in um in the Latin quarter, if you're familiar with Paris in the fifth, um View of Notre Dame, and I really wanted this apartment, and suddenly it became available, and this landlord messaged me, and I saw this as a sign that I needed to go back to Paris. And mum and dad were also visiting France, and I also needed to get my stuff out of my friend's basement because she was moving, so it was like everything was saying you need to go back to Paris, and I was able to do this whole apartment signing from here. So I left, and I spent well, I then spent six months in Paris before I actually moved here properly because what then happened in this six-month period was I went back and Paris was Paris was great. It was the Olympics, it was summertime, all of this, and then came the end of summer and the back to school period, which in France is called La Rentre. And I love La Rentre because it's like back to school, back to projects, back to these things. And I was living in the most idyllic part of Paris. I would go walking in the morning in Jardin and Luxembourg, and I would walk across the Seine through the Louvre over to the private Pilates place where I did still teach out of to see some of my VIP clients. And I felt so uninspired. And I was like, How can you feel so uninspired in all of this? You know, and that to me was a sign that I really had to leave because I had this lovely apartment. I had so so much of the picture perfect um life in a way, and obviously life is not about picture-perfect at all, but I think when you lose the connection with your gratitude and your blessings, this is a sign that you you do need to, you there's there's something that needs to be done, some inner work that needs to be done. But for me, I also really felt it was environmental as well. So, what was happening was I was suddenly feeling this homesickness for Egypt or for this part of the world. And um, so I ended up coming for a week in November uh last year, and even before the plane took off to come for this week, I gave notice to my landlords in Paris that I was going to be leaving um on New Year's Eve, and I booked the flight before I even came back for the week. I just knew. And I came here for a week, and in that week I found this house and a supplier for Pilates equipment. Again, my idea was not to move to Egypt and to set up a Pilates studio, but the fact that this has all happened tells me this was part of the park, you know. Um, and so I did this week here, and then um yeah, the the the one-way flight was booked for New Year's Eve. So I moved here on New Year's Eve last year, and um that's how that went.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Such a um such a such a like with you know, people go from yeah, even like Paris to end up in Egypt to to live, it's like wow, but um like why would you do that, you know? But like, yeah, it's the greatest, you're already getting the greatest part of Paris, like you said. And that's always what's interesting, right? It's like um people I think I don't know, even I think about this, like even like say for example, uh go like New York City and you end up in like the bit Manhattan top level apartment, or maybe you're living like you know, the best life you could in New York. But at the end of the day, it's still New York, right? Like I I mean I've I I I went there a long time ago and um I know you've been there as well. Um and it's just it's so intense and the the culture there, and it's like, man, like maybe you get the best parts of it, but are you prepared to you know, like either we want to be to live that lifestyle, be in that sort of place. So yeah, it's interesting. Like I think people romanticize what they don't have right, and then when you get it or you get you reach that level of um I don't know, I don't want to call it success because it's not. It's like, oh what you believe success is, I suppose what you believe your success is. And for most people it's financial always. And then it's like is it really like obviously not saying having money is not successful, but I think people have these crazy dreams about being in certain places and life will be a lot better. But that's not always not always the case.

SPEAKER_00 58:45

Um I mean it used to actually really frustrate me at the beginning when I was setting up things in Paris, doing all these quite hard sort of bureaucra bureaucratic processes, and everyone was just like, Oh, so nice you live in Paris, like I can tell our croissants. I'm like, mmm.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

A little bit more to it than that.

SPEAKER_00 59:03

Every day is is is that. And I think it's it's true, like people, yeah, we do romanticize a lot of well, actually, I think as humans, we have this condition of looking at what we like, we see in others what we lack often. Um, and then when you put somewhere like Paris or as you said, New York or Rome, or I don't know, these places that have a lot of sort of romance about them in general and are just amazing places, people just see it through that lens or just remember their holiday there, and it's just very different. Um so, yes, and I think the other thing is that I'm very good at reinventing myself, and I reinvented myself a lot in Paris, or you could say became more myself. You can look at it through different angles. And at the end, I really was considering, you know, with where I was working and some of the connections I had, I could live a very different life. I could totally live a very fancy, fancy, fancy life. Um, I could specialize in a certain type of client, or I could even go more into the world of I don't know, like fashion or art or something that Paris is also really known for. And I really did consider so many of these things. And I also consider other parts of France too. Um I love France as a country. Um and again, maybe one day France will have an you know, will play another role in my life. But um I I did need to go and apparently I needed to come here.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

Yeah. I I've on that, um, when you were uh speaking about like uh you know where when you moved, but also your your career of what you could have pivoted to to you know do these different things, you know, work in the fashion or the arts part of Paris, what it's known for, or more of these like I guess glorified sort of places. And I I suppose for some people who might look at you now, um, and maybe I think I don't know, I I I would say just anybody really, maybe not just young people, I'd say everybody, but would be like, oh wow, traveling a lot, all these things, done all these things, wow, incredible. Like what a lifestyle, like wow, like so exciting and adventurous. But there's also like a drain on it, right? Like it's not you know and I I I guess uh for the for the you know your lifestyle on Instagram, people will be like, oh man, look at that! Like, wow, look at what she's doing. But I I I guess um zoom out of the Instagram lifestyle. Um, what would you say, like, because of what you've done, digital nomad moving around uh different places, uh, what would you say one of the biggest uh I guess things you've learned along the way that you wish you knew earlier when you started this journey?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

To be honest, I I don't wish I'd known anything earlier because I think that it I may therefore not have done certain things because they did end up being really hard. And I think if I'd known how hard some of them were going to be, I may not have done them.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:03

Look at that look at that answer. It was all a part of the process, man. No, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Well, I mean, also like I'm just I'm about the journey, not the destination. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's some of it too. So when people also say, What would you have told your younger self? I'm like, my younger self would not have listened. So it doesn't matter. Um, but I know I know what you're really you're you're really asking. Um I think that um it does, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:32

I mean we know that the body keeps the score, and um there are just there are just times where I've I've just felt a little bit like I've been falling apart, so I think maybe sometimes um I physically put my body through a lot and then mentally as well. And I think that also part of my own particular journey has been feeling um lonely, but that's something that I've I've I've felt since I was a teenager, actually. Um and what this whole journey has taught me, and as you know, like I have great faith as well, and actually my journey has only strengthened my faith, is that I actually went on a uh a journey with that, and I've I realized that wherever I am in the world, I'm not alone, whether I am actually physically with people or not. So that's actually been a huge thing, is that I've actually really learned to be with myself wherever and know that I'm not alone. And that also I think has led to me making better decisions because when we feel again like we're lacking something, we sometimes just make decisions that really serve the the short term or the moment, uh and they don't serve us in the long term.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

Yeah, the short-term pain for the long-term game as it goes. But I I think that's important, and it goes with entrepreneurship as well. Um, and you know, with you know, you're a combination of doing entrepreneurship in your own brand, but digital nomad and a lot of things. And I think it's because of the nature of what you do and how it's obviously showcased to people online. I think people might interpret it like, oh, I need a lifestyle like that. But I don't think you know, people obviously just see the positives, right? They're just like, Oh, Alexandra, she's at the top of uh Val Sider, like, oh, she's over here on the Inca Trail, oh man, she goes Pilates Studio, like damn, I want to do all that stuff. But it's like, well, yeah, the like you said, like the lot of loneliness and a lot of things, and you know, like the body, you know, keeps score, um, and moving around a lot is not always good for is not always good for the body either. And I think it's just like, yeah, I you know. But people see what they want to see. That's something else I've been thinking about all the days.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:51

That's actually what I was gonna say. Um, you put it very well. Um, people see what they want to see because, as you know, also with my own social media, and we're talking about my social media, like it's not I haven't got hundreds and hundreds of followers or anything, but I have enough of a platform to have an audience, and um, I think people do see what they want to see. So I have been quite vulnerable, as you know, about sharing a lot of my my personal sort of learnings or experiences on there as well. I have had a Substack for a while, and um, this comes very natural to me. I used to do this even for my first blog that I ever wrote in 2012 or something. I used to talk about mental health, and so I've I think this is another one of the gifts I've been given is to share and do storytelling. Um, so on my social media, there have been many posts that have been about heartbreaks or about my health or about, I don't know, X, Y, and Z thing that are not necessarily positive. But some people choose to not look at any of that. So again, they will look at oh. at the end of the Inca Trail, there's my Chu Picchu. We don't want to hear about like some of this other stuff that happened on the way. We don't want to hear about the the not great stuff about Paris, for example.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

And so it's almost it's almost like it's it's like it's like the Rocky montage. It's like I just want to just get the montage out the way and then we'll I want the I want the the the piece at the end of like the the pretty picture. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

I mean it says a lot about humans all all of the um social media as well and the usage of it. And just in general it says uh you know maybe even the news the way news is portrayed and shared communication it's just it's it's it's a very interesting medium. But I've really tried for a long time to really balance uh uh and to give like realness on it. Uh I want because that those are the people that I also liked following as well. I want to hear about not everything that goes wrong but I want to hear about the truth actually as close to possible as as that person has experienced the truth of this experience I want to therefore share that. I have also you know learned where also is a boundary for how much you should share and there are certain things I did not talk ever about also on my social media to keep them private. Normally also because they will involve another person and I don't have permission to share their story you know but there are also some things just about myself which either I say to myself oh this actually could be a something that I want to share later but when I'm going through something I don't want to share this because it does make you vulnerable but whoever decides they want to comment back or respond. Even if it's coming from a good place you become vulnerable when you go through something um to just like what that person has to say.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

I can also amplify it I think as well the tough situation.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

Yes and something you can become like a whole narrative for yourself or a whole identity like you are this and it's like I don't want to be that I mean you know me like I am so multipassionate and uh I I don't want to be put in a box about anything. So okay maybe I might talk about this and this one day but then it'll be this and this the other day. And what I realized for you was you you um refer to it as my personal brand but if I if I talk about myself from that lens I guess people engage with me or follow the journey because they're there for a bit of it all um because it's just about like my experience or my offering. And that's actually why even now what I do with my work is that it's it's quite private, it's quite one-to-one you know whether it's Pilates or whether it's um the business coaching I do or language work or other things that I do I really try and create keep the group as small as possible so that it's an experience that is really it's you know it's it's a it's not just the product or service as a general thing but it's it with me. That makes sense. It's an extension of you yeah and and that's what I feel like everyone has that ability as well. You can offer whatever it is but it's with you that can make it completely unique and completely special and um and something that is no one else can can can copy really. And that is why I am so into supporting other people who also do very similar things to me. Or just you know blowing the trumpet of another small business whatever they're up to especially living in community like here there is a place for everybody and um there's a place for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:39

No one can take away what is what I have to offer and give value you know um with for yeah and I I think what I um talk about personal brand in that I I think what I've admired what you've done as being because you have posted so much about your journey and all the things on on socials um but also building yourself up explaining who you are so people easy for people to understand I suppose kind of what you're doing what you're about but then you can kind of go into all these different other verticals and sort of just easily well not like always easily but slide into some some different things like you're doing your language teaching but um you're also doing you know like you've got your shop um you got these different like groups you have and it's just a nice way to set up all the things that you really want to do and I think like for me I look at that and like I'm kind of trying to do my version of that as well. I guess yeah that's kind of all I really have. I suppose before we wrap up is there anything you'd like to say promote or say what's going on in your side the world I don't really have anything to promote to be honest um from like my my own my own self.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:58

I think if you're just interested from this conversation and following along then um we can obviously insert my my details um for people to follow along some people but yeah I'm not really promoting though like um I know I know follow along my my different business ventures um but in general like my as you know like my main account for myself is really just like just welcome to my life sort of thing. If if someone was visiting Sinai or visiting Dahab in particular you want to come and do some Pilates that's cool and um learn about the other things that I do or even if someone's visiting this area and they just want help planning a trip I'm also really happy to help. Who knows how long I'm going to be here for um the idea is sort of that I live seasonally for now anyway. So sort of be based here for um I don't know let's say approximately nine months a year and then be based more like in Europe for the summertime but also still travel. I mean I'm traveling in the next few weeks anyway um because I want a little bit of European Christmas vibes. So that's sort of the idea. But yeah so so um yeah just follow along for the adventure and if anything that I do from a professional sense interests anybody then you can also ask me questions about that. But uh um that's not my main focus actually um though I do think everyone should do Pilates but you don't need to do that with me. It's just I think Pilates can benefit every person.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:34

Everyone who has a human body you would benefit from Pilates it's a nice way to nice way to end it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:41

All right well thanks for coming on how fun everyone can know a bit about you know like uh even a bit about me probably so it's uh yeah that was a lot of fun it's been a pleasure and um also I should just add for people listening Scott is one of the few people on earth who still will call me Alexandra and I love it. And it's not because I'm in trouble it's because it's my name.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:05

Exactly Allie was always the nickname and I'm just like no it's so funny isn't it I'd love to be called Alexandra by everybody but they just can't deal with how long the name is so I think it's wonderful that that um Scott will either call me Alexandra or when um when he's I don't know imitating one of my friends he'll be like Allie yeah I haven't done that in a long time but I forgot I used to do that. I used to do that and I'm like ah it's Allie that's the brand Scott that's now the brand that's the brand that's the brand man yeah yeah yeah yeah um but no it's been a pleasure this is this has also been a long time coming because Scott is so busy himself you know with all his own entrepreneurial projects so to get this schedule then wow and we just pray now that it actually recorded yeah come on Google we spent enough money you can you better work now it's good thank you bro it's been it's been a it's been an absolute pleasure and um we'll have a good aftermath conversation as well I'm sure sure oh yeah I bet I bet all right well um I can uh yeah we'll end it there um and yeah all the best with your endeavors