Travelling your heart out means “trading the filtered experience for the real one,” says G Adventures’ David Green

Everywhere you look, February is traditionally painted in very specific shades of red and pink. It’s the designated month of love, after all, but it usually comes with a fairly predictable script focused on heart-shaped chocolates, overpriced bouquets, and the pressure to find a perfectly polished backdrop for two.

This year, I want to challenge that script and replace it with a new drive for inspiration: ‘Travel Your Heart Out’.

This isn’t just a catchy phrase; it’s the G Adventures way of seeing the world, which is why we’ve officially adopted it as our new global slogan.

But what does it actually mean to travel your heart out? It’s travel that’s full-hearted, full-throttle, and fully immersed. It’s the pursuit of what you truly love with the people you love most, whether that’s a romantic partner, a group of lifelong friends, your family, or maybe making new friends on a G Adventures tour. It’s about trading the filtered experience for the real one.

So, how do we actually adopt this mindset? More importantly, how do we ensure that when we return home, we return fully changed, together?

We’ve been taught that the goal of a romantic getaway is to remove every single ounce of the unplanned. But, after a lifetime of watching people move across the globe, I’ve realized something: The unplanned is usually where the magic happens.

“A TOTAL POWERHOUSE TEAM”

Let’s be real, anyone can be a charming partner when the margaritas are flowing and the WiFi is strong. But the actual romance? That’s found in the hysterical belly-laugh when you’re navigating a chaotic night market in Bangkok. It’s the triumphant high-five after course-correcting a missed train in Tokyo. It’s supporting each other when you’re miles out of your comfort zone navigating a Costa Rican jungle oasis. It proves you aren’t just in-sync when life is filtered, you’re a total powerhouse team when the unexpected decides to crash the party.

Making tortillas in Yaxunah, Mexico

At G Adventures, we see this every day. On a small-group tour, ‘romance’ isn’t a staged photo op, it’s a partnership. When you trade the all-inclusive bubble for the unknown, you see your partner, and yourself, at your most raw and resilient. You learn how to communicate through language barriers, problem-solve on the fly, and find awe in the bizarre, beautiful moments that no brochure could ever promise. And of course, our CEOs are there to support those moments every step of the way to make every new experience meaningful.

I recently got back from a G Adventures trip to Mexico with my partner, and the highlight wasn’t some fancy hotel room or meal. It was sitting in the local, Yaxunah community-run kitchen, surrounded by the smell of fresh corn tortillas, sampling Escabeche (a savoury chicken stew infused with local spices), and realizing that our shared values were being reflected back at us by the people we were meeting. We weren’t just ‘tourists’ ticking a box; we were part of something bigger.

Seeing how proud the local community was, as we participated in a cookery class, was really special, and that shared sense of purpose did more for our connection than any heart-shaped rose-petal-swan-towel arrangement ever could (seriously, what is it with the towel swans?). It made me really proud to work for G Adventures, and my partner loves G for the same reasons as me.

“TAKE THE PATH OF MOST CONNECTION”

As travel advisors, our job is often to smooth the path. But maybe, just maybe, we should be selling the real, and the gloriously authentic this year. Instead of the path of least resistance, let’s challenge our clients to take the path of most connection. Let’s encourage them to be teammates rather than just seatmates. Flowers fade and chocolates get eaten, but that local meal we had in Mexico? That’s a story my partner and I will be telling for the next 50 years.

A cenote swim with G Adventures in Mexico

So, even after the Valentine’s cards are recycled, let’s help our travellers trade the predictable for the purposeful this year. Let’s help them to travel their hearts out. Because, the strongest foundation for a relationship isn’t a week of avoiding the world, it’s a week of discovering it together, one missed train at a time.

G Adventures’ VP Customer & Sales Operations and Managing Director, Canada, David Green, shares his industry insights, anecdotes and wisdom every month in his monthly column, ‘G in 3’. It’s a 3-minute read running exclusively in Travelweek Daily in 2026.

Lead image caption: All smiles in Mexico, with G Adventures’ David Green (who’s holding the second ‘A’ in YAXUNAH)