One look at Emma Lovewell’s Instagram account and it’s clear to see that the Peloton instructor travels nearly as much as she exercises. Hiking in St. Lucia, riding a motorcycle in Nicaragua, canoeing in Patagonia, wielding a samurai sword in Japan (yes, a sword)—the 35-year-old has seemingly been everywhere and done it all. But for her, traveling the world and having these experiences is about so much more than just the photo opp. “I didn’t travel internationally until I was 18, but once I started I was hooked. My mom is an immigrant, and there’s something about traveling that helped me understand her—and myself—better,” she says. “Growing up in a multicultural environment and comparing myself to my other friends, I always felt ‘other.’ But once I started seeing the world and realizing that there are so many different ways of living, I felt more resolve within myself.”

Lovewell’s social media posts also make it abundantly clear that her travels almost always involve some type of physical activity. Snowboarding, surfing, horseback riding—you name it, she’s done it. Yet despite her career as a fitness instructor (if you haven’t yet taken one of her Intervals & Arms rides, you’re missing out), Lovewell’s attitude towards staying fit while traveling is surprisingly relaxed for someone with a killer six-pack. The goal: Doing things that allow her to move her body, without having to spend time in a hotel gym. 

Here, Lovewell talks to STYLECASTER about some of her all-time favorite vacation destinations, how she stays active while traveling, and how to squeeze in a 10-minute workout anytime, anywhere.

Source: Instagram

SC: Based on your Instagram, it looks like you’ve been all over the world. What have been some of your favorite destinations and travel experiences?

EL: I recently went to Japan and that was the trip of a lifetime. It was incredible. The culture there is so strong and the people are so nice. We were there for 11 days and spent a few days in Tokyo, then the rest in Northern Japan, which isn’t really a common spot for people to go. We went to Niigata, where they’re known for their knives and went to these Japanese knife factories and saw incredible craftsmanship and metalwork. We saw a Maiko performance of apprentice geisha. We stayed in a Buddhist temple and took a cooking class.

It sounds like you really immersed yourself in the local culture. Is that something you prioritize when you travel?

I feel like it’s so important for people to travel and get away from their homes in order to get a better perspective on life. When we can experience another environment and culture it really helps us understand ourselves, and the world, better. So seeking out authentic, cultural experiences when I’m traveling internationally is incredibly important. I’m from Martha’s Vineyard, a super popular tourist destination, and so I know that the locals always know what’s best. Whenever I travel somewhere, I always like to talk to locals and ask what they suggest I do, so that I can really get that local perspective. 

Source: Instagram

Let’s talk about how you’re staying fit during all of these travels. Are you making it a conscious priority to carve out time to exercise?

My boyfriend Dave, whom I travel with a lot, and I are both generally active people. We love to move our bodies. So when we’re traveling, I’m totally a proponent of adding in that movement and physical activity and fitness into things we’re doing and experiences we can have. I’d rather do that than spend an hour in a basement hotel gym. Like in Japan we did this samurai class, where we got to learn martial arts moves and hold a samurai sword. When something like that is a part of my vacation, then I consider that my workout. I’m up and moving. 

What kinds of physical experiences have you had at other places you’ve traveled?

We recently went to San Sebastian, Spain and there we rented electric bikes. Everyone was making fun of the fact that I’m a spin instructor and was riding an electric bike, but it’s an amazing way to see a city. I’d also go for runs there. I’d be stopping every five minutes to take pictures so it wasn’t my most intense workout, but I was moving my body and seeing the city at the same time.

On beach vacations, I’m always swimming or wake surfing and staying active in that way. We’ve been to the Galapagos twice, Dave’s sister used to live there, so we really got the local experience. The scuba diving there is incredible, I got to dive with hammerheads all around me. We’ve also done surfing trips to Nicaragua and Mexico. Those were trips planned specifically around the destinations being good surf spots, and surfing is the hardest workout ever.

One of my favorite US trips was Alaska. I went in the middle of winter and had pretty low expectations, but was completely blown away. It completely surpassed my expectations. You see mountains coming straight out of the ocean into the sky and the most incredible sunsets. There I was hiking and snowboarding every day.

So, what happens when you’re on a trip and there isn’t a lot of physical activity built in? Do you still work out?

There have definitely been some vacations where I wasn’t moving that much. And I do start to feel kind of stuck and like I need to do something. So that’s when I’ll literally take just 10 minutes to do something in the hotel room that gets my body moving. Even just some planks, squats or lunges, and push-ups—that’s abs, legs, and upper body. I have to plug the Peloton app, because there are great 10-minute core classes on there. I’ll do those, even if it’s my own. All of the Peloton body weight classes, even the five, 10, or 15-minute ones, are great. You can also put on some music and have a dance party in your room. Most songs are about three minutes long, so cue up three of your favorites, and that totally counts as a 10-minute workout right there.

Photo: Weston Wells. Design: Sasha Purdy/STYLECASTER.

In our younger days, I’d watch the older couples next to us in restaurants – and I’d vow we’d never be like them. Those folks who sat across from each other and ate their meals in silence.

I’d nudge my husband. “We won’t be like them. That won’t happen to
us.”

Never say never.

As we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, with white
tablecloths, soft music, and a menu loaded with French dishes, we floundered.
Once again.

Perfunctory conversation lasted through cocktails. We rattled off
updates on obligatory topics – our sons and their girlfriends, necessary repairs to our
50-year-old home, work calendars, and elderly parent care. But then – after we gave our orders to the attentive waiter – we struggled.

How Had We Run Out
of Things to Talk About? 

Before kids and mortgages, our younger selves had a steady stream
of thoughts we couldn’t wait to tell the other. Peppered with “Can you
imagines?” and “What do you thinks?” our conversations lingered long past
dessert.

With our boys grown and gone, I suppose we both exhaled and took a
rest from always being on – racing around at full speed between jobs and soccer games and
grocery stores and parent meetings. We finally allowed ourselves to relax – too much so. 

According to my confidantes – the girlfriends I meet for coffee and
wine and long walks – our quiet existence was not unusual. 

“Marriage is hard, and the excitement doesn’t last forever,” I
heard over and over again. 

Their assurances made me feel better. But I wanted more.

The therapist we visited did not think we were falling apart. Still, I winced when she used words like ‘complacent’ and ‘stale’ and ‘stagnant’ to describe our relationship. It seems we expected our marriage to hum along in a happy rhythm without a lot of effort or energy on our parts.

I flinched when she compared our marriage to a withering plant.
According to this wise woman seated across the desk from us, our relationship
craved a good shot of nourishment and sunlight and fertilizer – tender loving care in the form of novelty. 

Like humans are wired to do, we gravitated toward activities
requiring us to stretch ourselves the least. We chose restaurants where
reservations and parking spaces were easy to come by. We hung out with those
friends we knew the best – the comfortable ones – and were the most like us.

Novel Experiences
Reboot a Tired Relationship 

Newness injects excitement and passion and brings couples back to life. 

My husband suggested our next date night activity. As I stepped
through the door of the rock climbing gym, the smells of perspiration and wet
sneakers greeted me.

“You can do this. It’s a good workout. I bet you’ll want to do it
again,” he said. 

I wasn’t so sure. 

As I wiggled into the special harness and climbing shoes,
butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I fumbled with the carabiners and belay
equipment and rubbed chalk between my sweaty palms.

I was first-date nervous – the sort of emotion between excited
and anxious. The same feeling I had when our relationship was fresh and
emerging. Back when all we experienced was new and different.

Inching my way up the beginner wall – a vertical twister game, of sorts – I strained to reach the zigzag assortment of foot ledges and
handholds. Time and time again, I slipped and lost my grip. Or my strength gave
out. I pushed off from the wall with my feet, whooshed down to the base, and
creeped back up again.

Beside me, my husband wrestled his way up a more difficult wall.
Together we grunted and struggled and smiled. We were having fun.

Still in workout clothes and baseball
caps, we rehashed our evening’s adventure over burgers and beers. We were proud
of ourselves as a couple. We’d needed a kickstart, a homework assignment, to
rediscover the joy of exploration and experimentation.

Newness Brought in
Our Spark –
and Conversation 

Novelty, we discovered, didn’t have to be on a grand scale.

Cooking new recipes or sipping coffee
in a trendy neighborhood or watching a wildlife documentary all contributed to
our relationship’s reboot.

Nowadays, we are the older couple in restaurants. We’re the
ones the younger diners may notice. But we are talking. We converse
about the long list of things we want to do and learn. And how we can continue
to grow together.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

When was the last time you and your spouse tried something
completely out of your comfort zone? Can you remember an occasion when you
dined with new friends? Have you made a list of activities you’d like to do
together? Please share your stories with the community!

Have you had those days when you just can’t stop reading? It seems I’m in just such a period! Spurred by a client who writes humorous short essays, I keep finding wonderful, funny women to share. And there are lots of other women from Queen Elizabeth II to Josephine Baker, a queen in her own right; so much to learn, so little time.

Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure by Rinker Buck

As we watch the mighty Mississippi getting shallower and shallower in the fall of 2022 due to drought, I’m glad I read this book. I now understand that above Cairo, IL, where the Ohio meets the Mississippi, both rivers are bucolic, with more or less natural banks and local docks. Below that, the Corps of Engineers has groomed the Mississippi into a shipping channel.

Muddy banks are now unnatural and unwalkable rip-rap of huge concrete blocks. There is no pleasure-boating. Amateurs are a danger to themselves and the huge barge conglomerations that are precisely powered up and down the river by professional pilots in huge tug boats. Rinker Buck is an affable tour guide, and I enjoyed joining his foolhardy trip in a flatboat.

Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis

What a woman! And I knew little about her except photos of the topless banana dance from her early Paris career. Tracing Baker’s life from birth in St. Louis, Lewis emphasizes her amazing work from 1940 through 1944 as a spy for the British and the Gaullists.

Beloved entrainer in Europe and North Africa, her ability to travel and perform served as the cover for information gathering and communication at the highest secret levels. This is an informative read, but I did not love the writing. Lewis seems compelled to repeat endlessly the dangers faced by Baker and her entourage.

Once you get the hang of the repetition, you can skim at will. Unfortunately, many of the sources used by Lewis are long out of print, and never translated from French. It would be interesting to read these original accounts written by Josephine’s fellow spies.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

In my last set of short reviews, I covered Lisa Taddeo’s new book of short stories, Ghost Lover. It was not a favorite, but I wanted to read her previous best seller non-fiction book, Three Women. It’s about a portion of three women’s sex lives. It is billed as non-fiction, but from the beginning it read as fiction.

The three women: Maggie from Fargo ND who is sexually involved with her high-school teacher while in high school, Lisa from Indiana whose husband won’t touch her, and Sloane from Newport RI, who enjoys threesomes with her husband either watching or participating.

It’s a quick read, the subject matter is interesting. My takeaway is that women still come out on the short end of the sexual revolution, feeling guilty about their pleasure and protecting their exploiters. Granted, no men were able to present their points of view in this book.

The Palace Papers by Tina Brown

The Queen died one week to the day after I finished reading The Palace Papers. I was prepared for the funeral. Brown covers the last 20 years of the Royal Family, picking up where her first Royal Family book, The Diana Chronicles, ends.

Brown’s writing is engaging; she’s a journalist by trade. She’s British, she’s connected, and she loves a good story. If you are “Royal curious”, as I was, you will enjoy this book. As for Diana, except that she seems to have been a better mother than most royals, this book turned me off to her entirely.

The End by Salvatore Scibona

Aghhhh, this book was so dense. When it was published, it was shortlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the Young Lions Fiction Award. I picked it up because I read his second book, The Volunteer. In ’08, the literary folks went wild for Scibona’s style, a combination, they said, of T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce. Now that should have told me not to read this book.

The End is about Italian immigrants at the turn of the 20^th century through the mid-50s. Mostly set around Cleveland, the locus is as dim as the city where the sun shines only 166 days a year. The plot, if there is one, is told in flashbacks from the August 15^th Feast of the Assumption.

But I only figured this out after I completed the book and was compelled to reread the first several chapters, trying to understand the sequence of events. Don’t waste your time unless you are forced to write a term paper on novels that needed better editing.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

And so, this is my list of books. What are you reading now? Have you recently discovered an author you were curious about? Who was it? What books grabbed your attention?

Every time I grow my curtain bangs out, someone super chic comes along and chops theirs, inspiring me to reach for the scissors and do a tiny little trim. I can’t help it. Just look at Sophie Turner’s new bangs, for example. The former Game of Thrones actress was seen walking around NYC last week with husband Joe Jonas rocking a new set of fringe you’ll want to copy ASAP.

Turner’s eyebrow-graving bangs even have a name: Birkin bangs. The French-style fringe was popularized by Jane Birkin in the 1960s. The Parisienne model, muse and singer continues to be a style icon, as are her daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon. They both sport a set of bangs similar to their icon mother. You’d think Sophie Turner was a part of that family with her new look.

James Devaney/GC Images.

Other than being eye-grazing, Birkin bangs have a wavy, natural-looking texture. It’s all about that “just rolled out of bed” vibe that French women do so well. The rest of the hair is natural-looking as well, which Turner pulls off flawlessly with her long, wavy strands. And in copper red —the hair color of the season — she’s making the look all her own. The oversized trench coat and classic black sunglasses just add to the model-off-duty appeal.

Turner has become a bit of an icon herself as of late. Her hilarious character Erica in Netflix’s Do Revenge turned out to be a popular Halloween costume. And it’s all thanks to the brilliant way Tuner played the mean girl. It was just a small cameo but became one of the best parts of the film. Girls wore her country club-chic costume and yelled her line, “This is insane! I don’t even do coCAINE,” making for some seriously hilarious TikToks.

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We have to wait until July for the second half of the last season of Stranger Things. That feels like forever. But the fever for the show isn’t slowing down, especially if Halloween is any indication. (How many as Eddie Munsons did you see?!) Now, Lush is getting into the spirit with The Hellfire Club Gift Box, a new kit featuring two limited-edition bath bombs fit for any Stranger Things fan.

The D8 bath bomb is a 3D replica of the dice used by the Hellfire Club to play Dungeons and Dragons. It features numbers relating to both Lush and Stranger Things. For example, “11” is of course the real name of El and 29 is part of the address of Lush’s first shop in Poole, Dorset UK. Roll it into your bath water and be enveloped in the scents of peppermint, grapefruit and vetivert oils with two colorful paths.

The Rift is an all-black bath bomb split with red and orange “fire” beneath giving “the upside down” vibes. This scent is warm and spicy, with orange slices and cinnamon leaf oil. When placed into the bath, flame-colored water crackles, swirls and pops.

Lush.

The kit includes more than just bath bombs. You also get two collectible playing cards compatible with the Dungeons and Dragons game played in the show. Even if you don’t totally understand what the game is (like us), it’s an important part of the show and new fave character Eddie Munson. (We’re trying not to cry again.)

Lush.

The Hellfire Club Bathing Duo is available to shop now on Lush’s website and will ship out the week of November 14. While you’re there, pick up the brand-new holiday collection, which includes a Candy Cane bubble bar, White Elephant bath bomb and Salted Carmel lip scrub. Yum.