Pack Your Bags: Partner With Away Retreats To Create Personalized Travel Adventures By Lindsay Eldridge

By Lindsay Eldridge

Note from agebuzz founder Connie Zuckerman: For many of us, travel and exploring new cultures is a top priority for our later years. However, planning a trip that satisfies everyone—especially when traveling with friends or multigenerational family—can be daunting. The goal is to design an itinerary that accommodates every traveler’s expectations and limitations.

That is why I was thrilled to meet Lindsay Eldridge, founder of Away Retreats. Her company specializes in curated, small-group excursions tailored to your group’s specific interests and needs. I’ve invited Lindsay to share the story behind Away Retreats and the unique travel adventures they offer. Please enjoy her essay below.

Can a soccer game change your life?

For me, it did.

It wasn’t really about soccer. It was about the people in the stands.

When I was ten years old, our family of five piled into our Ford Aerostar minivan and drove eight hours from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Orlando for the 1994 World Cup. If you’ve never been to a World Cup, it’s hard to describe the energy. Imagine people dressed head to toe in the colors of their country’s flag, faces lit up with excitement, passion, and the joy of sharing a common bond with thousands of others at the same time.

To say it was eye-opening would be an understatement. I had never experienced anything like it. I spent the entire game people-watching, completely captivated by the mystery of other cultures. I couldn’t tell you who scored, the names of any players, or even who won. What I can still recall vividly is the sound of Dutch fans stomping their wooden shoes against the stands, and the “Dima Maghrib” chants rising from the Moroccan fans.

That game changed something in me.

Until that moment, I hadn’t truly been exposed to another country’s culture in such a joyful, embodied, and communal way. From that day forward, I became deeply curious about the world and the people in it.

Looking back, what stands out most to me isn’t the contrast between cultures, but how fully everyone belonged. No one was performing. No one was apologizing for who they were. There was room to show up exactly as you were, and that was enough.

I grew up in North Carolina and had a beautiful childhood filled with beach trips, mountain visits, and road-trip vacations. Even so, I longed to go farther. That curiosity led me to travel abroad for the first time at nineteen, nearly as far away as possible, to New Zealand.

There, I was introduced to Māori culture, vast deserts, farm life, and wild landscapes. I wanted to stay, but knee surgery was waiting for me back home. It didn’t matter. My desire to explore the world had taken root.

Around that same time, I was studying outdoor education, travel, and tourism through a Recreation Management program, an experience I loved. I continued leading hiking and caving trips for a local high school and later spent seventy-five days living in the Alaskan wilderness through the National Outdoor Leadership School. That experience deepened my connection to nature and showed me what happens when people slow down, test themselves, and grow.

The following year, I led multi-week adventure trips in California for teenagers. In just three weeks, I watched their confidence and self-esteem shift dramatically. I was hooked.

In the years that followed, I led trips to Ecuador and the Galápagos, Thailand, and Australia. In Thailand, students traveled with just one backpack, moving from village to village. We met with elders and offered our help, often scrubbing algae from water tanks or helping build new structures. In Australia, I spent two weeks on a research boat with PhD students studying dwarf minke whales, logging data, scuba diving, and swimming alongside them.

After college, I worked as a kayaking instructor in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a backpacking instructor in Colorado, and a kayaking guide in California. I later taught English in South Korea. Everywhere I went, I was pushed outside my comfort zone. Through that discomfort, I gained perspective, compassion, and a clearer sense of purpose.

I knew I wanted to stay in tourism and adventure travel and landed a role with a private study-abroad company called Broadreach. There, I led groups, trained instructors, managed logistics, handled emergencies, worked with colleges so students could receive academic credit, and learned how to run a business. I was constantly thinking about what made an experience truly meaningful.

Over time, something became clear. These experiences weren’t just impactful for students. Adults began asking if there was anything like this for them. At the same time, people were constantly coming to me for travel advice, where to see gibbons in Laos, which dive sites to visit in Bonaire, which trails to hike in Italy. I found myself planning trips for friends, family, and acquaintances again and again.

That realization led me to create Away Retreats. The first retreat took place in Sámara, on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, a place I had lived in 2022 with my husband and our then-toddlers.

Away Retreats was created to offer what I believe is the most well-rounded kind of travel experience. At its core, every retreat is built around freedom and acceptance. Freedom to rest, explore, move, or not move at all. Acceptance to show up without pressure or expectation. When those conditions are in place, connection and enjoyment tend to follow naturally.

Every retreat is a partnership. Away Retreats was created for thought leaders, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the friend who always ends up planning the trips, those who want to bring people together through meaningful, in-person experiences.

We work closely with our partners from the very beginning, starting with questions addressing how participants should feel when they leave and what they’ll carry with them long after the retreat ends. Together, we shape the experience, from the level of comfort to the details that make it feel thoughtful and intentional. From there, we take care of the planning, including research, itinerary design, budgeting, reservations, marketing, sales, legal paperwork, and trip preparation.

An Away Retreats instructor is on-site throughout the retreat so our partners can relax into the experience alongside their community. That support shows up in small but meaningful ways, helping with bags, making sure everyone is fed and cared for, and quietly keeping things on track so no one has to think about logistics.

We choose our locations intentionally and research them thoroughly before any retreat takes place. Safety is always central. Our instructors are experienced group leaders who understand the terrain, the local resources, and how to respond when something unexpected arises. Much of this preparation happens behind the scenes, but it’s what allows participants to relax, trust the process, and fully show up for the experience.

Most retreats are open-enrollment, so you don’t need to know the instructor to join. They’re designed for people who want to travel with friends or make new ones, and who are drawn to thoughtful, well-curated experiences. Activities are always offered with choice in mind, with options that meet a range of comfort and fitness levels. Our groups tend to be open-minded, curious, and willing to try a different way of traveling. Many participants are women between the ages of forty and eighty, though men are welcome on certain retreats, depending on the partnership.

A significant number of women who find their way to our retreats are in their sixties and beyond, and they bring a depth of lived experience that makes the journey richer for everyone. At this stage of life, travel isn’t about proving anything or keeping up. It’s about staying curious and sharing meaningful time with people who have lived full lives of their own. Traveling now often feels more intentional and grounded, as new places and new relationships add perspective to the wisdom you already carry. Our retreats are designed to meet you exactly where you are, making this kind of travel feel both meaningful and completely doable.

One of the most common things people share afterward is how unfamiliar it felt not to be responsible for anyone else’s experience. To not be the planner, the organizer, or the decision-maker. For some, that freedom is joyful. For others, it’s emotional because they realize how rarely they give themselves permission to simply show up.

We’ve experienced a sound bath on the beach in Costa Rica. We’ve explored the Azores’ dolphin-filled waters and natural hot springs and shared unforgettable meals. In Bali, participants have immersed themselves in culture and spirituality. Each retreat has a theme that adds depth and helps the group naturally align.

Some of our 2026 retreats reflect the partnerships we’ve built over time. Read & Restore invites guests to New Mexico for quiet reading, bookish gatherings, and an in-person author visit. True Taste of Portugal blends movement sessions with long meals, local markets, and a deep sense of place. Women’s Island Retreat: Renew in St. Martin offers time by the water, Pilates, and curated adventures on the French side of the island. We also return to Morocco for Culture & Desert Luxury, with optional continuing education credits for veterinarians, and Intuitive Immersion, a Morocco-based experience focused on cooking, sensing, and listening to what the body knows. Many more experiences are coming soon, including England’s Cotswold Way: A Walking & Reading Adventure and Culinary Immersion & Reading in Oaxaca (details to follow).

At its heart, Away Retreats exists because I’ve seen, again and again, what happens when people are given freedom and acceptance at the same time. I’ve seen how powerful it is when leaders step into shared space with their community, not as hosts managing logistics, but as humans connecting in real time.

I first understood this at that soccer game, watching people from two cultures show up fully as they were, carried by the moment rather than any obligation. That’s the kind of space I’ve been building ever since.

If you’ve been holding onto a travel idea or a dream destination, we’d love to help you bring it to life through a custom-designed trip. With your group in mind, we work alongside you to shape the magical experience you’ve been envisioning.

As you can imagine, I love chatting about travel. Please reach out to connect!  Schedule a call with me or email me at [email protected] to start the conversation.

Lindsay Eldridge is the Founder of Away Retreats, a boutique travel company specializing in curated, small-group experiences around the world. She partners with individuals, thought leaders, business owners, and continuing education providers to design retreats rooted in connection, cultural immersion, and thoughtful planning.

With a professional background in global education and program operations, Lindsay and her team bring extensive experience in travel design, risk management, and seamless on-the-ground execution. Explore upcoming journeys at www.awayretreats.com or connect directly at [email protected].