Beyond yoga & smoothies: This travel advisor helps clients reset their lives

Jessica Renshaw has built a career helping people unsubscribe to burnout – one itinerary at a time. 

Based in Vancouver, she works at the intersection of luxury travel and something far less superficial: human wellbeing.

Think five-star resorts, yes, but also nervous system resets, grief processing, and the occasional Arctic cold plunge.

Renshaw didn’t arrive here by accident. She’s a third-generation steward of her family’s boutique luxury travel company, Renshaw Travel, founded in 1948 by her grandfather.

“I feel very proud to work with my family and carry on the legacy that my Grandfather started,” she says. “Running an independent travel agency is a bit like David versus Goliath as many travel agencies are getting gobbled up by giant corporations.”

She follows in the footsteps of her Grandpa and her Dad, who has been the owner of Renshaw Travel, a member of Virtuoso, for many decades now.

“My Grandfather loved to work and would hug everyone when he came into the office. I believe that is why he lived such a long healthy life,” she says. “My Father is also one with the business, he loves his work and it keeps him sharp as he is now in his 70s!”

Renshaw works alongside her mom and sister, who she joined in developing a wellness-focused brand: The Renshaw Wellness Collection. 

It highlights transformative travel experiences, top wellness resorts worldwide, and journeys designed with intention rather than impulse.

But at its core, the collection reflects a simple but powerful shift: travel isn’t just about where you go, but why you go there.

Unplug, reset, rediscover

Renshaw’s approach is part strategist, part listener, part wellness detective.

“I specialize in listening to clients. It is my job to figure out where someone needs support in their life,” she says.

Her categories of wellness are surprisingly structured for someone whose work often involves emotional reinvention: active adventure, detox (physical, emotional and digital), wildlife & wilderness, rest & rejuvenation, and connection & culture.

Before travel entered the picture, Renshaw studied Kinesiology, earning an honours degree, and briefly worked as a certified personal trainer. That foundation still quietly shapes everything she does.

“Both my sister [who has two degrees in nutrition] and I were raised with health as a number one priority, so it certainly does impact how we assist our clients in designing their travel,” says Renshaw.

In her world, travel planning is not that different from personal training. You identify goals, understand limitations, and design something that actually works for the individual.

And over the years, Renshaw has seen travel do more than relax people. It has shifted life trajectories. Some clients arrive in crisis, others in transition, all in need of something they can’t quite name.

“Travel is wonderfully impactful to our compassion and empathy,” she says.

She recalls a client grieving the loss of her husband, who travelled to Africa for the first time and found something unexpectedly grounding in the experience.

Another client, recovering after a myocardial infarction, used travel as a catalyst to completely rethink his lifestyle for the sake of his young daughter.

These are not postcard moments. They’re turning points. 

Not just yoga & green juice

If there’s one misconception Renshaw is eager to dismantle, it’s the idea that wellness travel is solely about detox smoothies.

“It’s not just yoga and green juice,” she says.

Instead, it can look like silence, movement, wilderness, or even discomfort – if it leads somewhere better.

And for those who feel “stuck,” her first recommendation isn’t a meditation app. It’s a plane ticket.

“I think a trip is the quickest way to become unstuck from habituated patterns,” she says. “When you travel, you get out of your own way and begin to change the habit of being yourself.”

Nature plays a central role in Jessica’s philosophy – especially water. From warm seas to polar plunges, she sees it as both symbolic and medicinal.

“Any destination where you can go in the sea embodies this concept. In Hawaiian tradition, the vitamin “Sea” is the best medicine,” she says.

She’s also fond of extremes. “There is nothing like a dip in the Arctic or Antarctic waters to bring yourself to life!” she says.

At the heart of Jessica’s work is a belief that travel can interrupt patterns we didn’t even realize we were stuck in. Not by escaping life, but by re-entering it differently.

Or, as she frames it: “Giving yourself the time to figure out your truth and how to get back on the path towards loving your life.”

In other words, Renshaw designs the interruptions. 

Intentional ones that happen to come with expert knowledge, and occasionally, an Arctic ocean dip for good measure.

This article originally ran on May 6, 2026, as part of PAX's annual "10 Most Fascinating Travel Advisors" list to mark Travel Advisor Appreciation Day. To read the full feature, click here.

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