Erasmus
TTT "Journey as a Tool": Trust the Process
Sixteen trainers from Poland, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Germany and the Netherlands spent the week hiking, mountain biking, canoeing and hitchhiking across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany — but the real journey was internal.
Netherlands, 15.-21.06.2026. Facilitators Floris and Floor flipped the usual script from day one: instead of leading, they handed the group the framework and stepped back. “We’re not the trainers, we’re the facilitators — you’re the trainers.” That reversal unsettled as many participants as it energised. Some arrived expecting concrete tools and techniques; instead they were left to design their own first day, hike their own route and even manage a day without a scheduled reflection — until they asked for one themselves.
Every activity doubled as a mirror. A biking day where the group decided for their own reflection method turned out to be one of the week’s biggest lessons. A theater exercise pushed participants to examine what being a trainer actually means. When one canoeing group failed to show up, the rest were left asking a harder question: are we even a group — and do we need to be?
By the midpoint, the group turned to the meta-level: why do you do what you do? The insight that emerged was clear: most Train-the-Trainer courses hand you answers. This one handed out (new) questions. Participants couldn’t copy a facilitator’s style — they had to find their own, learn from themselves, and sit with discomfort rather than resolve it too quickly.
Tools like personal diaries, phone-free stretches, and a “wooden travel pawn” — checked in on halfway through — gave the group ways to track their own shifts in perspective without leaning on outside guidance.
The final reflection days brought it together: individual talks tied to personal learning goals, small-group work balanced with shared meeting points, and a genuinely warm closing session. As one participant put it, the training’s greatest value was the connections made — the chance to build “long-lasting friendships” and expand a network of like-minded, outdoor-oriented people she hopes to see again at future trainings or by simply visiting each other.
Facilitators acknowledged room to improve and learn themselves — sharpening how the concept is framed in the info pack, and considering a dedicated train-the-trainer moment during the expedition itself. But the consensus was firm: this project isn’t finished. Plans are already underway to run it again.
Bleib auf dem Laufenden
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