Carly Fillis - Living a Freestyle adventure lifestyle. Tour leader in the Middle East. Running horse riding trips in Mongolia and hiking in Jordan while creating her own fast packing adventures in-between.

Tough Girl Podcast

After many years of adventure Carly found work as a Tour Leader in the Middle East for a couple of years and Syria became her home, immersing herself in to the community and culture she lived in Aleppo, Syria until March 2012.

Adventure, solitude, nature, and love for the deserts draw her back to the Middle East again and again. Gaining further knowledge and experience she worked as a freelance guide and led horse riding tours in Jordan and Georgia, and hiking and adventure tours in Sudan, Pakistan, Algeria, Oman, aswell as guiding in the ‘No go’ areas of Southern Iraq and finally back into Syria.

Over 10 years experience as a Tour Leader in the Middle East she is Qualified HEFAT (Hostile Environment Awareness Training) and Wilderness First Aid trained, an experienced horse rider and Paraglide licence holder.

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Show notes

• Who is Carly
• Living a unique lifestyle
• Working as a freelance guide in the Middle East and Central Asia
• Wanting to simplify her life so that she can live it
• Her love for adventure and travel
• Moving every 2 years due to her dad being in the Army
• Turning 18
• Deciding not to go down the university route and wanting to travel instead
• Feeling liberating
• Being a scared child
• Deciding to face her fears
• Going on lots of solo adventures and being inspired to do even more
• Figuring it out as she went travelling around the world
• Facing the fear by doing it
• Changing in a shared dorm
• 42 years young!
• Wanting to explore the world and keep on travelling
• Henry David Thoreau quote
• Age 27 and having another pivotal trip in Namibia
• Being inspired by other people living as guides
• Working as a tour leader in the middle east
• Living on the brink of the unknown
• Wanting to experience and feel communities
• Going with her feelings
• Falling in love with the middle east
• Knowing there was more than her 9 to 5 life
• Living in Syria before the conflict (2010)
• Why it’s all about the people
• Making friends and building a community
• Working as a tour leader
• Living in different communities in Canada, Switzerland and Florida
• Why time is more important than money
• Her love for running in the mountains, sleeping in a bivvy bag
• Wanting to live a life, where she is able to do all the things that are really important to her
• Learning how to paraglide
• Saying yes to lots of things
• Living a frugal life
• Riding horses and taking a horse riding tour to Mongolia
• Women and safety while travelling in the middle east
• The importance of having respect
• Setting up downtoearthtravel.co.uk with Kara Cheshire
• Can you travel too much?
• Feeling travel burnout
• When travel lost its purpose
• Advice for women who want to make a change
• Letting go of attachments
• Starting to doubt her life choices during covid
• Training to run around Mount Blanc
• The covid years
• Having a routine and taking a big rest from the world
• Feeling scared and anxious before travelling again
• Getting older and dealing with the future
• Building a tiny home in an orchard
• Doing mini adventures and finding the sweet spot
• Guiding in Mongolia
• Getting serious with her running and building up time on feet
• Ultimate Direction - Fast Packing Pack
• Advice for women who want to be more adventurous and travel more
• How plans can change and evolve and why you don’t need to have it all figured out before you start.

Social Media

Website: www.downtoearthtravel.co.uk

Instagram: @carly_fillis