Zoe's Mission to Live Life More Adventurously

Published on: 20/03/23

"There’s no rush to accomplish everything in one day, and even if you did, what would you do tomorrow?"

Welcome to the Go Ape Tribe Tales Series, a collection of interviews and stories from members of our team who live life to the fullest. 

At Go Ape, we're passionate about adventure, and we believe that everyone has the potential to live an adventurous life. In this blog series, we'll be speaking with different members of our team to learn about their unique experiences and perspectives on adventure, as well as giving some insight to the different roles within Go Ape.

From exploring the great outdoors to taking on new challenges, our team members have a wealth of knowledge and insight to share. So join us as we delve into our wonderful world and get inspired to take on your own thrilling experiences.

We’re excited to hand over the reins to our Customer Care Specialist, Zoe, who's going on a mission - and that is to live life more adventurously! But she isn't just talking about it. She's already taking steps towards an exciting journey of exploration and pushing herself out of her comfort zone. 

Hear what she's got up to so far...

My journey with Go Ape started back in 2020, where I began as an outdoor instructor at Margam. My other job role as a play worker was temporarily put on hold as a result of Covid-19, so I was looking for something fun to do for a bit of extra income, and I thought Go Ape was absolutely perfect. What better than being paid to swing through the trees, and help others overcome fears?!

I began my training and loved every minute of it (even being outside in the pouring rain, soaked through!), but unfortunately after only a few weeks in the role, Wales went into the fire break lockdown where all non-essential businesses had to temporarily close again.

I started another job in the meantime with the hope that we would be able to reopen Margam again soon, and it just so happened that Go Ape started recruiting for a Customer Care Specialist. I thought what better way to develop my knowledge with the company until Margam reopened, and I was fortunate enough to get the job; where they’ve been stuck with me ever since! I’ve since continued in my role as a Customer Care Specialist, and helped our customer experience manager put together an internal support team.

I’ve also joined along on training trips with other support teams and site managers within the company; and of course, been a part some of the incredible adventure trips that the company has put together too. Overall, I’ve just had the best time throughout my journey. I’ve also stayed with the Margam team too, in addition to now being their social media manager, so I guess you could say I’m keeping busy!

One of the things that really stood out to me when I first joined the company was Go Ape’s values, and how much they encourage their staff to live life more adventurously. I’ve always been amazed by the Adventure Fund especially, and how the company even has this scheme set up which can help you reach your adventure goals. Like what other company has this!! I’ve personally not got round to applying for this since joining the company as I wanted to make sure I had an adventure planned that would be worth it, and something the adventure fund could really help with, but I’m hoping to apply this year to reach one of my adventure goals. It's also been so amazing to meet so many like-minded people, which for many, have no doubt become some of my life-long friends.

Last year was a massive year for me, after finally graduating from my masters (which I did alongside full time work), I wanted to try relax as much as possible, and just ease myself into normal adult life (i.e. not constantly thinking about studying). I had a few trips and holidays away which helped, but it just got me thinking about how I can do more in my day-to-day life, how adventures don’t always have to cost a lot of money, and it doesn’t always need to plane ride away either (although it has its perks!).

After also listening to Alastair Humphreys talk about micro adventures, and how you can still live an adventurous life even when working a 9-5 job back in January 2023, it really got me thinking about this, and just how many possibilities are out there that we don’t always realise, or keep in mind in our day-to-day life. I therefore set a mission for myself this year that no matter what or how, I would try my best to live life more adventurously and just do things that make me happy. There are a few challenges I’ve set myself throughout the year, but if I’m honest, for the most part I’m just going with the flow, and seeing where life takes me!

One of the challenges I set myself this year was to start sea dipping. After a lot of convincing, I managed to rally up some friends to join me for 6am wake ups, and 7am sunrise beach dips. Albeit it didn’t need to be so early in the morning, but the sunrises have definitely helped during the cold mornings! The first morning we did it, we actually tried to record footage of us running into the sea as a keepsake memory –but we actually run out of the view of the camera before we’d even got to the sea -so talk about fail...- you can still hear the laughing and shrieks in between the waves crashing though, so it’s still a memory to keep hold of. Plus, the second take was a lot better haha.

Throughout February 2023, I was also a part of the Future Steps challenge to raise money for the Princes Trust Charity. This is where teams within the company got together and pledged to walk or run a minimum of 10k a day for charity. Some days this was made up from running errands, or from going to the gym, but on other days it consisted of hikes, beach walks, walking more instead of driving, and of course the good ol’ trip to the coffee machine every so often throughout the day. I actually got kicked out of the gym on more than one occasion for not realising they had closed and still being on the running machine with my headphones on! My team not only raised £307, but we stepped a total of 2,727,519 steps throughout the whole month!

Going back to 2022, I started my journey in learning to figure skate as an adult. I taught myself for a while using YouTube videos, before paying for some lessons (which happened to “pay off”, pun intended, as I went from Level 1 to 4 within 3 weeks!). I had to stop for a while due to my nearest ice rink being a 1-hour drive away, and not having the time or money to commute; but I’ve restarted my journey this year, after 3 lessons back I’ve already moved up to Level 5! I can’t wait for what’s in store, and to push myself further this year.

I also climbed Pen-Y-Fan for the first time this year. The weather was absolutely dreadful, and there wasn’t much of a view, but I was lucky enough to return a few weeks later where we not only had a 4am start to get up there for sunrise, but we also litter picked while there which made the journey that much more rewarding.

My most recent adventure was trying snowboarding on a dry slope down West Wales. There were a few falls at first (surprisingly, only when I got to the bottom on the flat surface...), but by the end I’d managed to control both edges, and descend from 50-60m with quite some speed! I absolutely loved this, and I’m already planning the next trip.

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