Embracing Transformation: Julie Ulstrup's Journey on El Camino de Santiago

Grace Simmons: 00:00:00

Hello travelers. My name is Grace Simmons and this is the Random and Wonderful podcast.

Settle in and listen to stories of wanderlust and transformation as you gain tips to inspire your next travel experience. The Random and Wonderful is brought to you by the Amethyst Palava Hut llc. Welcome Julie Allstrup to the Random and Wonderful podcast.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:00:30

I am so delighted to be here, Grace. Thank you so much for having me.

Grace Simmons: 00:00:35

Absolutely. I'm glad we're connected over the the power of social media. So good isn't is very helpful.

Before we get started into your journey of travel and how it's inspired your life, could you please tell us just a little bit about yourself and then we'll dive into your story.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:00:54

Of course.

So I'm a business strategist and a coach and I work with experienced educators, medical professionals and other leaders in mission driven businesses who want to start or grow a profitable business so they can have more time and money. Freedom.

Grace Simmons: 00:01:11

Okay.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:01:12

Yeah, it's great.

Grace Simmons: 00:01:14

How did you even get into that? Because you seem to have a specific group actually that you tend to work with, especially those who have a mission themselves.

How did you connect with those people and how did you realize those are the people that you wanted to help?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:01:29

Well, because I realized that I have a mission and my mission is really to help people who have experience, who are passion and purpose driven to have more of what they want. Because I believe when we have more of what we want, we're able to give more, you know, of what we desire.

And I believe I worked as an educator for over 20 years, close to 25 years, as well as in secondary education as a school counselor. And I grew programs and things like that. And then it just wasn't working for me anymore.

I know that I have these gifts and talents to share and oftentimes people forget that. They forget that they get stuck. Stuck in a place that is maybe not healthy, maybe not serving them and not serving their highest potential or genius.

So I help them get clarity about what that is and how to put that out in the world so that they can do the work that they are meant to do.

Grace Simmons: 00:02:37

Yeah, yeah.

When people come to you and they kind of feel like there maybe is that draw they want to do more, but they're not sure how exactly what are some of the concerns that people have? So I have this purpose. I feel like I have this mission, but I'm stuck with this. What are some of the things that come up for others?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:02:58

Yeah, and stuck is a word that they Use often. And they're like, you know, I just don't know what the first step is or what the second step is or what the third step is.

And how can I ever make a living doing this? Like, they don't have this belief in themselves that they have big value to offer. So. Yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:03:26

So speaking of taking those first steps, I'm also curious to hear how your journey of travel weaves into what you do. Was it inspired by your work or was travel something that, like, you had a personal interest in?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:03:41

Well, I've always had a personal interest in travel. When I was five, my family moved across country from my mom had all of her family lived in Southern California.

I'm like a fourth generation Californian and my dad's family.

Grace Simmons: 00:03:59

Cali girl here too.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:04:01

I loved it. I looked. I'm a Los Angelena. Are you a Los Angelena?

Grace Simmons: 00:04:04

San Jose.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:04:05

Okay. I'm a Los Angeleno. So. And my dad's family is all in Norway. In Norway. So, like, pond.

So I always traveled as a child and my father traveled a lot as well for business. So I've always been a traveler. I've always visited family. I've had opportunities to travel many, many different places.

And the opportunity for me to walk on the Camino de Santiago happened while I was working, working in the public schools. And an email came across my desk for sabbatical.

And I just knew in my heart of heart, in my gut of guts, that kind of sounds funny, that I was going to go on sabbatical. And so I applied right away. And I had always wanted to live abroad. I'd always wanted to study abroad, and I didn't do that when I was in college.

It wasn't like the thing that everybody does. It kind of seems like it's the thing that everybod everybody does right now. And so I applied and I was accepted.

There is a university in my community, in my city, and I took. I wanted to learn Spanish language and culture because we have a large Spanish and Mexican population, immigrants here in my community.

And I wanted not only to speak the language better, but I wanted to learn more about the culture because I just feel like that is such a powerful way to know people. Yeah. Yeah. So I took three classes at university here, and I was able to audit them. I rode my bike every day.

I was with college students and I had one teacher from Venezuela, one teacher from Mexico, and one teacher from Spain. So I had, you know, a really nice, diverse group of Spanish teachers to give me some context.

And we talked a little bit but in one of my classes about the Camino de Santiago, and my daughter had graduated from college within a few years and walked the Camino. And I thought, you know, it just had this little spark in my mind at that point.

But I didn't have the idea that I was going to walk on the Camino de Santiago. And so I went and I studied and I lived with a family, and it was this beautiful, remarkable experience. I was really well cared for.

I lived in a city on the ocean, which I'm. Well, in the Mediterranean, on the beach, which I love. The ocean that might be from my California calidaries. Yeah. So I lived with them.

Like I said, I had a great experience. I traveled all around the country. I learned Spanish very well. And then after five months and I was there for.

I was like, I need to do something different. Actually, it was about after four months, and I thought, I'm going to walk the Camino de Santiago. So I just.

And this was a few years ago when, you know, you couldn't find everything online. You couldn't, you know, make reservations. There wasn't a lot of information about this out there.

So, you know, I asked a few people about it and decided that I was going to. So for people who aren't familiar with the Camino de Santiago, it's an ancient pilgrimage that leads to the Compostela de Santiago in northern Spain.

And people have been walking this for millennia. It has been guarded by the Knights Templar.

I mean, lot of rich history, Napoleon, Roland, you know, and there are walks from all over Europe to get to the Compostela de Santiago, which is northwest Spain. Yeah. And so I decided that I was going to start in France in Saint Jean Piedaport, which is right over the French border and along the Pyrenees.

So I took a.

A friend drove me to the airport, and then I took a flight and a train and a taxi, and I arrived late night in St Jean Piedre Porbd, and I had my first experience in an albergue.

And again, if you're not sure what an albergue is, think of it as like a combination of a dorm room, an Airbnb, and I don't know, it's a place where pilgrims can go, pay a very small amount and stay for the evening. And then oftentimes dinner's included and. Or breakfast the next morning.

And they're sponsored a little bit by the Spanish government because it's a big attraction. People want to come and walk on the Camino de Santiago. And people do it for different reasons.

Historic Reasons, Cultural reasons, exercise as well as for religious reasons. The Compostela de Santiago is a Catholic tradition. However, there are religions from all over the world, people from all over the world.

And for me, it was very much to have a cultural experience and a spiritual experience, which I absolutely did. Wow.

Grace Simmons: 00:09:40

So going from wanting to learn the language to then embarking on this pilgrimage of your own.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:09:48

Yes. Yeah. That's how it happened. It's, you know, quite a quick, like, oh, yeah, I'm going to do this. I'm going to.

And, you know, it was one of those things where it was like, I followed my heart because that's what I wanted to do.

Grace Simmons: 00:10:04

Yeah.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:10:05

Yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:10:06

One of the other guests that I've chatted with about this experience, he mentioned that. He talked about how intense it was, especially with the walk, and all the different things that he encountered.

And then when he was done, he said, and as soon as I was finished, I wanted to do it again.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:10:23

Oh, wow.

Grace Simmons: 00:10:25

So what were some of your takeaways from that experience as far as you dove in with the culture? Kind of like an open heart also. But you went in for the culture, you went in for the language, for the experience.

What were some of the things that you gained?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:10:39

So, really. So I had an experience. Well, first of all, a huge sense of community.

My idea for walking the Camino, I didn't take a cell phone, but I did take my camera, and I took my computer. And the idea. I carried everything on my back. A backpack. And the idea is not to carry more than 10% of your body weight.

And I had, like, two pair of pants, two pair of underwear, two pair of socks. I had, like two or three different shirts. And, Megan, a pair of shorts and then a pair of flip flops.

Because you wear your hiking shoes during the day, and then you want to. I. We wanted to take them off. And I. And so my idea was to. And I share all of this with you because there's a point to it.

But my idea was that I was going to walk it alone. And I got up in the morning, the very first morning in France. I had never been to France before.

And this man, a man just a little bit younger than me, shows me the back of his camera, and he's like, oh, look, I took a picture of you while you were sleeping. I was like, okay, what cultural. He seemed nice, and he was kind of cute. He wasn't creepy. I love it, because you're cracking up.

And obviously, you know, the listeners aren't going to hear that I was like, okay, you know, I had learned enough being there for five months. I was like, okay, this is a religious pilgrimage. It is safe. This guy, like I said, he didn't seem creepy.

And I ended up calling him my hermanito, my little brother.

Grace Simmons: 00:12:16

Oh, yeah.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:12:18

Because the short version of the story is there were people of us, you know, people from around the world that ended up walking together loosely, you know, meet up for lunch or for coffee, stay at the same albergue in the evenings, and he would inevitably lose a piece of clothing. Like I said, you know, we brought two pair of clothes, two pair of socks, and you'd wash them at night and then dry them overnight.

And sometimes, you know, tie them to your pack so they would, you know, like, I'd find a sock. It'd be hermanito. So, yeah, that was a beautiful, beautiful surprise.

I have a friend who's German, another friend who's Irish, a woman from South Africa. There was a man who.

I think he was Russian, and he didn't speak any Spanish or English, which, you know, it's like, there were people there doing things, and he was diabetic, and he. So there are people there doing things that were, like, really, really courageous. One man was Korean. He only spoke Hangul.

And he would wake up early, early in the morning and be out before anybody else was out. I met a nun who was 70 and was walking. She was on sabbatical as well.

Grace Simmons: 00:13:37

Okay.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:13:38

She was walking with her niece, you know, so just, like, the richness of the people that I met and the community, and there would be people that I met early in my walk, and then I met them the very last day. I mean, it was remarkable. And I had made a decision to walk the whole 500 miles in 21 days, because that's when my flight back to Madrid was.

Oh, wow, sorry. From Madrid back to Denver. And at the time, I'd been running marathons and training for marathons and half marathons and all of this kind of thing.

I was like, it'll be fine. I can walk 40 km a day.

Grace Simmons: 00:14:19

Okay. Because that's about to be my next question, which I think you're gonna answer.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:14:23

Yeah, yeah. So that changed. Well, now I am a very driven woman. Okay. I am like, I've run 10 marathons.

Like, you know, and after walking over the Pyrenees the first day, and people were like. And there was one man who was doing it very quickly, and I just decided, you know what? I don't want this to be a fast experience.

I want it to be a fat experience. I want to have all of the experiences that I can. And it wasn't that. I mean, I walked 15 miles a day. It wasn't that.

I was just, you know, skipping along and eating. Crumpets. Yeah, crumpets. In Spain anyway. But, you know, I just.

I had this really beautiful experience with meeting people, meeting locals, trying new food, learning new customs, and just really connecting with myself in a way that I had not given myself permission to do in the past.

Grace Simmons: 00:15:32

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How long did you take for the entire walk? Did you do it in the 20?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:16:10

So I did. However, okay.

However, what I did is I took a bus across the middle, and my friend Tobias from Germany, he's like, julie, you don't need to walk across the mestiza. It's boring. The middle is the mestiza and it's a prairie. And he's like. And he had walked it the previous year. He had walked the Camino.

So I was like, okay, I'll take a bus across the mestiza.

Grace Simmons: 00:16:35

Okay.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:16:36

Not need to do that. And I was still walking at a pretty, you know, robust pace. I walked, you know, 10 to 15, 18 miles a day. But. Yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:16:49

Wow. I'm curious also to hear about what the spiritual impact was for you.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:16:57

So one of the big things that happened to me there was one night where we were staying in an albergue, and I was the only person who spoke both Spanish and English in the group. Most people speak Spanish or English on the Camino.

So the owner or the person who managed the albergue asked if we would like to have a Pilgrim's Mass. And so there was myself, and there was my friend Tobias, who was German. There was an English. I don't know if he was a priest or a minister in our.

In our place, there was the Spanish man who ran the albergue, and then the Korean man. And so I asked everybody, would you like to have a Pilgrim's Mass, knowing I wanted one. And so everybody said yes.

So we go down to this little church that the Camino de Santiago is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and there are churches upon churches with gold and magnificence, just like beyond anything that we have in the United. It's just. It's remarkable. And we go to this tiny little church in this town in northern Spain, and he unlocks the door, and we go sit in this.

It doesn't even really look like a church. It looks like a what you would imagine, you know, like a. A temple. Like a medieval temple kind of thing.

Grace Simmons: 00:18:28

Okay.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:18:29

And so we walk in and, you know, like, all of a sudden, the tired is starting to seep in, and we sit up in the front row. And I had gone to, you know, many masses when I was in Spain, and I just. I sat on this bench, and it was.

I was tired and it was cold, and I'm listening to the words of the Mass, and all of a sudden, I hear the sweetest song in the most beautiful voice Singing Amazing Grace how sweet the sound to save a wretch like me and I just start crying and crying, and it was beautiful.

I once was lost but now I'm found Was grace that made me see and so I sat there, you know, through the rest of the Mass, and, you know, I got the ugly cry off. And after Mass, I went back to my friend Tobias, and I know that he sings in his church choir at home in Hamburg.

And I said, thank you for singing Amazing Grace. That was beautiful. And he's a big German guy, and he puts his arms over his big barrel chest, and he says, I wasn't singing Amazing Grace.

He said, besides, that's an American hymn. I said, but you heard it. And he said, no, Nobody. Amazing Grace. So again, the ugly cried. Oh, my God, just for me.

And it was such a message from God, from spirit, from the universe, you know, saying, julie, there is so much more for you, and you are so loved, so beloved, and it's time for you to see, and it's time for you to start showing up in bigger ways. So that's what I did.

Grace Simmons: 00:20:31

Wow.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:20:33

Yeah, it was pretty. Pretty remarkable.

Grace Simmons: 00:20:37

That is incredible. How do you come back to your day after an experience like that? Like, what was that after you got back?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:20:47

Yeah, I mean, I went back. I mean, Tobias and I talked, and, you know, we had dinner with the rest of the group and drank some wine and.

And the next day, got up and walked again. And that was life on the Camino. It is this.

One of my friends, the woman from Ireland who was living in Berlin at the time, we were eating something, and she said, it's so simple and it's so good, and So I wasn't plunged right back into life in America, you know, my life as an educator. At that point, I was plunged into.

I continued to, you know, get up every morning, have something to eat, put one foot in front of the other, walk into holy places, meet people, you know, so that. And you are very correct, coming back to life in as we know, it was a bit of a challenge.

Grace Simmons: 00:21:53

Yeah, I'd imagine so.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:21:56

Yeah. I mean, it was just there were a lot of things that were shifted. And the reason why is because, as you can imagine, I had changed so very much so.

There were relationships that fell away, that no longer served me or served the people who I was with. And when I came back. So I have been also my entire life, I've been a photographer.

And it's something that I'd always wanted to do as a career, but I was also a school counselor, as when I was worked as an educator. But I knew that I wanted to do something that would make a difference for people, and I didn't know how I was going to do that.

So when I came back, I started my photography business and I just thought, some way, somehow, I'm going to make a difference for people with my photography. And I photographed high school seniors and families and all of this kind of thing. And it still, it took a while for me to. To realize.

To kind of get my groove about it, I guess, that I was really passionate about photographing women who had experience. And here's what I found. Women over a certain age hate to be photographed.

And what I can do is I can reflect back to them how powerful and how beautiful they are. And so making a difference and making an impact in that way really skyrocketed my entrepreneurial journey.

And then it came full circle in having my desire to have more depth and breadth of experience for the people who I work with and bringing that back to educators as a counselor and being able to see in them what they can't see on themselves, the gifts they have to offer.

Grace Simmons: 00:23:56

Wow. And that also connects.

So you're able to do that through photography on the outside and on the inside, but then you're also doing that as a coach as well. Right. So helping people to connect back to their purpose.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:24:08

Yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:24:09

Do you now have this sense of maybe, like, fulfillment? Like, have you reached that? Do you know that you're walking aligned within your purpose?

Or is there still something that you could work towards or like, are you in that good flow?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:24:28

Yes and yes.

Grace Simmons: 00:24:30

Okay.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:24:31

Yes. I mean, I know that I'm living my life Purpose with purpose that that can shift and change and adjust. And something else can open up for me too.

I also am writing a book, and I wrote a chapter in a book and it was a bestseller. It was specifically for women over 50. But I'm also writing a book that combines all of these experiences that I've shared with you.

So that'll be coming soon.

Grace Simmons: 00:25:00

Do you have a title yet?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:25:02

Well, I do have a title. I've got the title of Alchemista. And an alchemist is, you know, someone who transforms things into gold.

And I feel like my whole life purpose is to transform my own life as well as to help others see possibilities for transforming their lives.

Grace Simmons: 00:25:25

Wow, that's beautiful, Jilly. I love that. If ever there's a tagline, I think that's beautifully put.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:25:35

Thank you. Well, what would be the tagline very specifically, what did you hear that was.

Grace Simmons: 00:25:43

There'S something about creating things into gold? I think that that is what registered with me.

So sometimes we take situations and we kind of drag them on as like hard lessons as opposed to being able to say, okay, I've made it through this and now this is the wonderful thing that I can. This experience is now a gift.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:26:06

Yes.

Grace Simmons: 00:26:06

And I can help other people through it, I can learn from it, and I can support others who are maybe going through the same thing. So, like having that transition and being able to say, okay, now this is what I have to offer to other people.

Yeah, you're making your experience a gift.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:26:24

Yeah, yeah, that's. And I think that's here for all of us if that's, you know, if, if we're open to it.

Grace Simmons: 00:26:36

Well, before we go, I need to ask, what is a self care practice that you use maybe as you're traveling or something that you've acquired from travel?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:26:49

Well, one of the things that I do is I journal. And I've done that for a long time, even before I walked on the Camino de Santiago. But journaling is one of the things that I do. And I also movement.

I walk. I love. I used to be a runner, but now I walk. And my husband and I, we tandem bike ride. We ride a bicycle built for two.

So that's part of my self care as well.

Grace Simmons: 00:27:17

What do you get out of that walking and do you have like a specific place that you walk or is it just the ability to walk?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:27:25

It's putting one. When I'm at home, I walk in my neighborhood or, you know, but it's the. It quiets my mind. Movement quiets my mind. And the bike packing, that.

That does, too. I'm on the back, so he does all of the, you know, the navigating and that kind of thing, and I can enjoy the scenery and.

And get my heart pumping, you know? Yeah. Being the stoker in the back, do.

Grace Simmons: 00:27:53

You know what I feel like? I always imagine tandem biking as, like, first off, it's adorable. It's a very cute look first off.

But I think that there is some, like, extra thought to that. Like, you're not just hanging out in the back. You also need to. You can take in the scenery, but you're also helping the drive, that.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:28:13

Oh, yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:28:14

Movement for the two of you.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:28:16

You gotta lean. You gotta go with the flow. Yeah. It's so much fun. And we have. It's funny because we'll have. We'll see couples.

I live in Colorado, and there, it's a big bicycle. State bicycle area, and we'll see couples. And the wife will be like, I want to do that. And I'm always like, you should. Or, you know, the woman.

I don't know if it's the way, you know, you should, because it's so much fun. And then we'll also see little kids. They'll be like, mama, look at them. Look what they're doing. You know, kind of to your point. It's.

It's a little unusual, but it looks fun. Yeah, it's really fun.

Grace Simmons: 00:28:56

Julie, what is next for you? I know you're working on your book, but what else is coming up for you?

Julie Ulstrup: 00:29:02

Well, some more travel. My husband and I love to travel together, and we're looking at some international travel.

We spent a month in Spain last year and just had this incredible experience. So we'll, you know, we'll travel to Europe. We'll.

We'll do some travel to Central America and, you know, continue to build my business and serve people, to help them, you know, see why they're here and see what they have to share. Yeah.

Grace Simmons: 00:29:35

I think just talking to you, you have a very calming and welcoming presence, and I imagine that the people that you work with, you'll be able to support them in a, like, strong but soft way.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:29:47

Oh, thank you.

Grace Simmons: 00:29:49

So I. Yeah. I wish you the best of luck with that.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:29:53

I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Grace Simmons: 00:29:55

You're welcome. Before I stop the recording, I knew you had some questions for me, so.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:30:01

I would ask you, besides this podcast, what do you do? How do you use your gifts to change the world for good?

Grace Simmons: 00:30:10

My business is the Amethyst Palaver Hut, so my mission is to get people building up their confidence through travel. And so I do confidence coaching, but also conducting retreats. Well, starting to conduct retreats. That's what I'm working on this year.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:30:27

I love that. So is that the random and wonderful part for you? Is that the travel or how does that fit together?

Grace Simmons: 00:30:35

The random and wonderful. So the podcast falls under the business, but I think I love travel.

And what I started to do was I was trying to combine my coaching with travel, but my path to confidence was traveling.

However, it's not everyone's path or everyone doesn't have that desire to travel or to do a solo travel as a way of, you know, creating their own, like, personal change. However, what I do enjoy always is talking to people about their emotional balance. And so that is where I direct my coaching.

And I think having this podcast is me showing people a way that you can grow in confidence.

You can take baby steps to get to, you know, the next version of yourself, and then you can just hear other people's stories of their experiences, their mistakes, their lessons. And I want to remove any excuse from anyone who wants to travel by listening to this podcast.

And they can say, oh, well, I remember hearing about that from this person. Or, you know, oh, I have to travel with my kids. But here's an episode about someone traveling with their young kids or whatever.

So, yeah, I want to give people options to experience travel for themselves. That's the purpose of this podcast. And random and wonderful is it's life. It's the best way I can describe life. It's just.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:31:57

That's true.

Grace Simmons: 00:31:58

Things end up being seemingly unconnected, and when you look back on it, you're like, oh, my goodness, what a great experience. What a wonderful experience.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:32:06

So, absolutely. I love it. Well, thank you so much for having me as a guy. Appreciate it.

Grace Simmons: 00:32:13

I'm glad. I really appreciate you taking the time to sit with me and just share your experience.

I hadn't heard of the El Camino before, and now I'm loving just digging into the way that everyone has had a different experience, like a deep experience with this pilgrimage. So I appreciate you sharing your story.

Julie Ulstrup: 00:32:34

Yeah, you're most welcome.

Grace Simmons: 00:32:37

Hey there, Grace. Here. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some useful takeaways. Thank you so much for listening and staying until the end.

Don't forget to rate the show or share it with some friends. Have a wonderful week. Take care, and remember, be bold, be curious, be ready to tell your story. You never know. Who needs it?

Grace Simmons: 00:32:57

Bye.