Have you ever wondered what it's like to take on an intense physical challenge?

Do you want to find more meaning and purpose in your life?

In today's episode, Kelly speaks with Chris Astill Smith, an ex-long distance marathon swimmer, world traveller, entrepreneur and father. Chris took on the challenge of swimming the English Channel in 2017, and we talk about his lifelong journey of rising up to challenges in the name of a bigger purpose.

We discuss:

• How Chris met my husband Sam back in 2009
• Studying at the top hospitality management school in Switzerland
• The Journey & Training for the English Channel Challenge
• Taking a Boris Bike around the world to raise money
• Swimming for 11 hours and completing the channel 
• Post-Challenge Depression
• How his purpose is his compass, guiding his life

Connect with Chris:

• Instagram - @chrisastills
• Instagram - @hang.cure

Resources:

• Charity: Dreams Come True
• Boris Bike Video: Watch Here

Connect with Kelly:

• Instagram @kelly.tolliday.yoga
• Instagram @risingnatureretreats
• Website

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Thanks for tuning in!

Travel with Kelly on an upcoming RNR Retreat!

SPONSORED BY CHILD & COMPANY

Mentioned in this episode:

Child & Company

Rising Nature Retreats

Kelly: /All right, here we go. Welcome to the podcast, Chris. I'm so happy to have you here. This is the transform with travel podcast and we have Chris Astle Smith here. He is a ex long distance marathon swimmer. We'll get a lot into that. I'm really excited to share about that story. You're a world traveler since a very young age and a serial entrepreneur.

The first adventure is really how we've met, how we've known each other. And that's through my husband, Sam. I'd love for you to share how you and Sam got connected and how, you know, you and I have become friends throughout this journey.

Chris: Yeah, sure. First of all, thanks for having me. Yeah, happy to be here.

Not an awful lot goes on in a small village. And then a friend that was living close to me, Sam just sort of rocked up on her doorstep. Yeah. One day. Sounds like him. [00:02:00] Yeah. And he didn't actually even know her either. It was through a mutual friend. So she calls me up and she's like, there's this Australian guy, random guy at my house.

Can you come with me? I was like, yeah, sure. So then I basically got to know Sam, met him, and then we kind of took him under our wing in the local, like, in our kind of local town and friendship group and yeah, then we started going out on nights out and yeah, just became friends from there and I think it was about sort of six months later, a friend and I traveled to Australia and then, yeah, part of that leg of that journey, I think we spent there.

A couple of weeks in Sydney and yeah, Sam put us up at his house with his parents as well.

Kelly: Yeah, he told me all about that. You guys having adventures through Sydney and then you became really close with his friend Mel and you know, you guys have met up through Europe together when Mel lived in France.

Chris: first met. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's when we first met.

Yeah. Just randomly. I didn't know that you guys were there. And then I sort of saw something on Instagram about Sam being there and I just messaged him and he was like, yeah, I'm still here. Yeah. We met up for drinks.

Kelly: Yeah, we went out to Old Man's in Chengu and kind of went around that whole area and it was really fun to be able to meet you too and then watch your, at the time, fiance, now wife's journey and having a baby and it's just been really cool to like see each other grow over the last, the last few years, I guess way more than a few years for you and Sam, but I'd love to talk a little bit about your background, just, you know, traveling as a kid and having the world kind of opened up to you as a kid, as a young adult, really taking a lot of leaps of faith of adventures and that eventually lands you in a hospitality school in Switzerland.

I'd love to hear like that origin story for your passion for

And then yeah, he started working and I started sort of helping him out on some of the work trips as well. So I'd go, him and I would go away and, and yeah, it's kind of just sort of deciding what I wanted to do when I kind of got older. I enjoyed staying in five star hotels. It was such a passion for mine.

I don't know why just like that sort of hospitable nature. I just really, really enjoyed it. So that's why I wanted to ultimately one day my dream back then was to own my own sort of hotel. And that's why I went on to study hospitality management.

Kelly: Amazing. And so you studied in Switzerland, correct?

That's right. Yeah. So obviously Switzerland's the number one hospitality programs in the world. But was there anything in particular about Switzerland as a country that drew you to it?

Chris: No, not really. It was literally that. Like that was the reason why we had heard that it was the best place to study it.

Like just completely move away at the age of 18 to go and live in another country. And yeah, so it was because we knew that that school was supposed to, supposedly one of the best for studying that. And then it was like my parents that actually pushed me to go to that school. And then we went out over there to go and visit a couple of them in Switzerland.

And yeah, I was pretty drawn on the one that I chose, which was La Roche in the end. Yeah, which

So you were studying in Lausanne. I think that's where La Roche is. And then I was [00:06:00] studying at Swiss hotel management school in Lausanne. And we were at the same time, the same year, just a couple train stops away from each other studying hotel management, so I think that I love that connection. That's weird.

Yeah. For me, Switzerland was just such a beautiful place. Like, it's very, very expensive, especially as a uni student. But I just love the nature aspect to it. I love the people. I love how clean it was. So it was a really good launching point for me, especially being able to travel through Europe and being from the U.

S. not having really been to Europe before. So you said that you wanted to own your own, you said you wanted to own your own hotel. And from just following your journey over the past few years, I've noticed that you've had your hand in the flourishing and thriving of. so many businesses. So has the entrepreneurial spirit has that, that idea of always wanting to own something of your own?

Has that been something that's been ingrained in you since you were little?

We were family business at home. We're launching sort of a supplement line. And so I would take the trials of that over to Switzerland and sell all the protein powders at school to all my friends. Definitely always something I've had in me and I think it won't ever change. I'll, I'll be sort of making businesses till the day I die, I think.

Kelly: Yeah. And what about it? What about the, from ideation to execution to like constantly reinventing brands? Like, what about it do you

Chris: love? Just all of it, to be honest. I like the creativity a lot. Like, I really enjoy the, yeah, sort of that coming up with an idea and then forming that into something tangible.

Yeah, I really enjoy that side of things. Enjoy branding and yeah, just sort of growing something I think from scratch and Just doing something every day that improves that and makes it grow.

And I think that's a really great transition really to talk about your journey and marathon swimming and swimming the English channel is that desire for something more and really putting a purpose and a meaning to what you're doing. Can you dive into a little bit into like. What sparked that in you to decide, okay, I'm going to swim the English channel and what, what the cause that you did it for and just all the whole journey, it's such a mission.

And I'd love to hear a little bit more about that adventure

Yeah, finished uni in 2014 and after that was just really sort of into the gym and then yeah, doing that for a few years and I just kind of got a bit bored of it to be honest. I didn't really feel that there was that sort of end goal to work towards. So I wanted to give myself a challenge to do something bigger really.

And then I did another one hike. It's only a small sort of climb in the uk in Wales. One Snowdonia, so it's not that big. But yeah, I did that with some friends and just came off of that and I, I was with a friend in the car and we were talking about challenges and things like that, and, and then I said, oh, I reckon it might be possible to swim.

The channel. And then it was just sort of a joke conversation at the start. And he was like, well, why don't you do it? And then he started looking up on his phone, what you need to do, all the requirements that are needed. And then it was a long journey back. I think it was like six hours. So that whole time he had, basically almost convinced me to do it by the time we got back.

Do you need a support boat? Who do you take on the boat? What do you eat? What do you drink? Can you wear a wetsuit? No, there's all these different kind of questions and you just have to take it day by day, really step by step. So yes, started doing a lot of kind of personal research and then found a coach within the next A couple of weeks, I think, and then I met with him and yeah, went through quite a lot of my questions and I was pretty convinced that I was going to attempt it by that was in the around April 2016.

Kelly: Okay, cool. And so. Walk me through that training because you've been a swimmer before you know what that's like. It's super intense. I was a competitive swimmer for 12 years. I know what that's like. It's morning, morning practices, afternoon [00:11:00] practices, dry land training.

It's constant. But I'm also training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So it's a little bit different to training in indoor pools or in or you're now you're training, I'm assuming outside a lot to train for the channel. What was that like for you to like now get your head back into gear for like full blown athletic competition training?

Yeah.

Chris: Yeah, well, I mean, when I say I used to swim, that was when I was a lot younger, so probably from 10 years old to 16, 17, and I hadn't really kind of done too much swimming training after that. And so at this point, I'm age 24. And then, yeah, just get kind of I got back in the pool and I swam two kilometers, which is about 80 lengths of a 25 meter pool.

And then again, and then just keep progressing and keep training. And then as the weeks go by, you start to get faster. You start to swim further. And then I started meeting up with my coach more regularly and he had a swim training. squad that specialized in marathon swimming. So all the guys that were in that team had a goal of some sort of open water swim.

Really many of them on the team had done the channel before they had done loads of other oceans, long distance ocean swimming. So it was a great, great group of people to immerse myself with shout out red top swim in east London. It was a great group to immerse myself with while I was training. Made some really, really good friends, actually.

And so that's half the distance of the English Channel. So I thought, right, if I can do half the distance in, you know, a year out of the channel, then I'll feel confident that I can do the full distance in 2017. And so I attempted that, and it was honestly one of the most painful experiences of my life. I really wasn't ready to attempt something like that long.

My coach wasn't with me. I just had a couple of friends in a kayak, or sort of like rowing boat, alongside me. And they obviously weren't kind of trained to know when. I should stop swimming. I actually encountered a lot of issues along the way. The food that I was eating wasn't being digested properly.

Oh my god. I didn't think I was gonna make it to be honest. About 10 kilometers in my shoulder started playing up and then it started to get worse every kilometer and so I felt like sort of quitting because it was so painful, but I knew In my mind that if I can't do half this length, then I won't be able to do the full length next year.

It's going to really throw me off mentally. So I pushed through it. And actually, that was probably the worst thing to do, to be honest, because I made it way worse. And I actually like tour one and bicep tendons. So disrupted all of my training for the next year. I had to completely learn a new style of stroke that would enable me not to get so much shoulder pressure.

But everything happens for a reason. And if that hadn't have happened, maybe that issue would have come up during the channel. And then I wouldn't really be able to overcome it because my. stroke technique would be completely wrong. So, yeah, I went through that whole period of training throughout the year and then just getting progressively harder and harder.

So, around sort of January time, I think I was doing 30 kilometers a week. By March, I was doing 50 kilometers a week of training. By June, July, I think the maximum I got up to was about 100 kilometers one week. Yeah, so it just kind of got progressively harder and harder. As it got on, I had to gain 10 kilos of fat as well, because when you actually do the channel, you're not allowed to wear a wetsuit.

So that was one of the things that we found out to to have the whole thing properly ratified. You can't wear a wetsuit,

Chris: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it helps with insulation and buoyancy. So it kind of to make a level playing field, they just say no wetsuit for men, you're only allowed.

A pair of speedos, a hat and goggles, and that's it. Wow.

Kelly: For a Florida girl, I can't even imagine because I'm like cold in 80 degree water. So I can't even imagine being immersed in the far North Atlantic waters like that. And just being so cold and just swimming, like it's just, I can't even imagine. So you had to put on 10 kilos of fat just to be able to sustain yourself through this challenge.

Chris: For the insulation. Yeah. So the plan is there really for the insulation. Yeah. Yeah, and you have to qualify to do the swim as well. So that means you have to do a six hour swim in less than 15 degree Celsius. So I don't know what that is in fact. But yeah, so you had to do that for six hours. That was actually also really difficult because then it's a real, real mental game of battling the cold.

So during the swimming training in the water, you, you can't really rest. Well, first of all, that's against the rules of the channel swimming. sort of association is you can't rest, you can't touch the boat, you have to tread water. But secondly, if you actually do take time to tread, tread water for a few minutes, have a chat to people on the boat, then you're going to get cold because your body's not moving.

So you're going to then, you know, the risk of hypothermia is going to go up. So you have to really just keep moving all the time to keep the body generating the heat. Of course, the more fat you have, the more time that you can sort of spend in the water having a laugh. Some people that do hold more body fat.

Kelly: That's incredible. So before we get to like the actual challenge itself and that day, you talk a lot about the physical training that you did, and then you just touched on a little bit of that mindset training that you had to kind of move through, right?

On top of the physical training, did you have any? Mindset coaching or therapy or any sort of coach besides the physical aspect of it that was kind of helping you through these like Mindset hurdles that you really have to get through it's way more of a at the end of the day Like your body does what it does and you have to physically prepare, but it's that the last 20 percent that last 10 percent is truly mind over matter.

Chris: Yeah. So I think you just sort of train your mind that comes with all of the long distance training, all of that immersion in the cold water cold showers every day. So you're sort of training your body to do things that are super uncomfortable and then just, yeah, doing longer and longer distances.

So I did do

Kelly: that. Yeah. And so Previously, you talked about this desire for something more and setting yourself a challenge. And it kind of seems like a common theme with everything that you do. The challenge of starting a business, the challenge of doing these hikes, the challenge of the English channel.

I know you did, but I, and I want you to be able to share it yourself, but what was the cause that you kind of like attached to this channel? And I know you did a lot of fundraising and a lot of social sharing around this cause. I'd love for you to share, what was your why beyond setting yourself a personal challenge

Chris: for this?

So the charity I chose is similar to make a wish foundation, but it's a lot smaller kind of business. It's a real low, small UK local charity. That helps kids with life limiting conditions achieve their dreams up from the young age up to age 21. And I also wanted to feel part of it as well. So I met with them and I wanted to know what Children are directly benefiting from from my fundraising efforts as a real.

Part of it along the way was the fact that I got really close with them and they told me all of the children that had been directly helped and what sort of activities and dreams they had to go and watch. And it can be as small as going to watch an Arsenal game or going on a trip to Disneyland or becoming a mermaid for the day, you know, things like that.

So yeah, it was super fun and super, yeah, kind of warming, rewarding for sure. Yeah, very rewarding. And I'm so glad that I picked that charity was the name of that charity. Sorry, the name was called dreams come

Kelly: true. Okay, I'm gonna link it in the show notes at the end so people can go and check it out as well.

And you did a specific publicity stunt for this charity and to raise money for the challenge that you were doing. I'd love for you to share a little bit about this awesome Almost like a little bit of a prank. Like it was pretty funny and I share it with everyone that I see. I'm like, I know this guy that did this really cool thing.

And so I'd love for you to one, tell us what you did. And then two, how'd you come up with this idea? And also how'd you get away with it? How did you pull it off?

And so I knew that we had to do some something bigger to get in more awareness to really get the additional fund raising that we wanted to hit that goal. And yeah, I came up with this idea with a friend of mine. So a friend of mine who was actually working With our company at the time, he was very good at like videography and video editing.

yeah. Take it around the world to different areas. Something that hasn't really gone there or been there. Nobody's seen it in other areas of the world. It's super iconic to London, but would somebody recognize that in Dubai or would someone recognize that in San Francisco? So we came up with this plan and we put a bit of a budget down together of taking the Boris bike, basically stealing it and.

taking it all around the world and making a viral video of it. The last clip will be me down in Dover cycling along the cliffs in Dover and sort of explaining the purpose of the video. And, you know, for anybody that's seen it and wants to donate to the charity, then to link, put the link in the bio. The story was me and Alex, my friend, we took this Boris bike all around the world.

So we did that and then we found this bike box that was big enough to take this bike because it's also huge and they weigh like 20 kilos. Yeah they're huge. Yeah they're not light either and so we found a way to dismantle it and then we put it in this massive bike box and we just put it in the oversized luggage in Heathrow.

And so the first stop was New York and then we made it to New York and funny enough as well we were so scared that we were going to get caught with a Boris bike because in the UK. People know what it is, but nowhere else they would know what it is. So, our biggest fear was like leaving London with this Boris bike.

So we did that. We spray painted this whole bike pink and then landed in New York and spent hours peeling this like this stuff off. Oh

Kelly: my God. This is so much more elaborate than the original story that I knew. So this is so good to hear this side of the story. The effort it took is incredible.

Chris: Yeah, it was a lot.

A lot of thought went into it. And then we got to New York and then we got all the shots. It was super good as well because everywhere we went. Either Alex had a friend or I had a friend that we could stay with. So we weren't sort of staying in hotels and things. We was keeping the budget low and staying with friends.

And yeah, and then went to New York, got all the shots of the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Central Park, and then went on to Las Vegas was next and stayed with a friend there. Went, got a video clips of going down the strip, meeting Elvis. Then we ended up in. San Francisco got some shot. This one we did actually stay in a motel for this one.

It wouldn't look good on camera at all. So complete of. On the day that we were supposed to leave, I think our flight was at like 1 p. m. But then it cleared up around sort of 5 a. m. or 6 a. m. So we got up really early on the day that we were supposed to leave. Spent like two days in a motel just going to a coffee shop every day because there's nothing else to do.

Yeah. And then we woke up at 6 a. m. and went and got the shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, the one that we were really after. And yeah, and we got it and super crystal clear day, blue skies and got the shot and then got on the plane to was a stopover in London. And then we were off to Paris and then we stayed with Mel, Sam's friend in Paris.

Kelly: India. Yes. This is my favorite one. I love this clip.

Chris: Yeah. So that was our favorite. It's definitely the best part of the trip because it's like neither of Alex or I had been to India before. We didn't know what to expect. We took this bike to the streets of Delhi. We went to the Taj Mahal. 'cause we really wanted a clip with the bike at the Taj. But when we got there, there was like really high level security.

You couldn't get in, I don't even know if they were letting people in with cameras. Like you had to go through the body scans. You, there was no way they were letting us in with this big, massive bike. Yeah. And so we went in, we saw the Taj because we were there. And then when we were out the back of the Taj.

We got there and it was also guarded but not in the same level of high security. A couple of guys there guarding the gates of this sort of plot of land. And we just said to them, can we go in quickly to get a shot? And they were like, no drones, no drones. And we were like, please, can we go in to just get a shot on a normal camera?

Then he was like, how much? And so basically, yeah, we bribed them. And I think it was the equivalent of like five pounds or 10 or something really low. And then they let us in for like 10 minutes and we got the shot that we needed, got back and that was it. And we did it all in two weeks, two and a half weeks.

Oh my

Kelly: gosh, Jesus, your body would have no idea what time zone you were in by that

Chris: stage. Yeah, exactly. And then we put it all together. It took us a while to kind of put it all together. And then we just put it on YouTube and then just started trying to get it some attention by reaching out to local tabloids and yeah, news outlets.

So

Chris: Yeah, exactly. I looked into the terms and conditions when I did it, and they have like a flat rule if a bike is lost or stolen, then they charge you 300. Oh, okay. So I knew like the maximum I'm going to lose is 300 pounds and I was like I took the hit and sunk cost and then it was funny when actually the sort of tabloids and stuff picked up, picked up the art like the took a while.

It took a couple of days. We were like. messaging loads of editors and nobody was really pushing it. And then it took one, I think it was the Evening Standard, which is like a free kind of newspaper that goes all across London underground. They got in touch and they were like, yeah, actually, this is a really cool story.

We want to share it. And after they shared it, then it was like a snowball and like all of the other places started sharing it. The Daily Mail, other things like the Ladbible, Unilad, things like that. Yeah, at the Metro. So all these other kind of lonely planet, people like that started picking up business insider.

So kind of... It's just funny how the media really, yeah, how they twist things, it's just, they completely twist things. Yeah. But it was pretty funny. The

Kelly: bike, did they turn around and say, all right, fine, for a good cause, we'll

Chris: let you get away with it. That was part of our intention was that the bank was going to get so much publicity from this and the type of publicity that money can't buy, you know, banks as people.

Yeah, it's such a

Kelly: human story. It's a human story that banks have a really hard time spinning. So

They thought it was all paid for by the bank. Yeah. They basically got so much free publicity for it. And so we thought, Oh, well they might donate to the swim or something like a big chunk of the 25, 000. In the end, they just gave me 500 pounds obviously I had to 300 for the fine, and then they donated 500 to the charity, which was still grateful for it.

But I mean, it's a bank, come on. I mean, they're a bank, yeah, come on.

Kelly: They had a really great opportunity there to make the story even bigger. So they

Chris: could have capitalized on it massively, but they didn't, yeah. Okay,

Kelly: well, first of all, I think that's like one of the best adventures I've ever heard. I can't even believe that was done in two weeks.

Tell me a little bit about you leading up to that day and then the swim itself. Self. And then we can talk a little bit about life post swim. Yeah.

Chris: It's a two week window really. There's four people in this kind of heat. So when you book your slot, you might be, you know, number one, if you're really early and you book the slot very early in advance, you might be number one in that heat.

So that means during that two week window, The first person in the heat will go when the conditions say that it's safe to go. So I was number three initially in the heat and then over getting closer, I think one of the people dropped out. So I moved to number two, which is really lucky. And then number one had gone.

I can't remember what date it was. I think on the That 12th or the 13th of August and so then I was up next so it's a two week window, but actually it's only really one week of a spring tide, I think. It's either one week or two weeks of the spring, the neap tide. Sorry, the neap tide is the weaker tide and then the spring tide is the stronger tide.

So 2 a. m. on the 14th. So I had to prepare myself mentally. I had told the charity that I was. You know, going tonight, they had planned to come down and see me off in Dover. I told my family, they all came down, my friends, loads of people came down. So we were ready to set off at about 2 a. m. Mentally preparing myself all day, felt so ready for it, was super hyped.

We were on the boat getting greased up with the Vaseline and the sun cream. Everyone that came to see me were down on the beach. And then this is a crazy part of the story, but as we're just about to pull in Onto the beach. So you kind of got to pull in about 100 meters from the shore and then you you're supposed to swim to shore and then clear the water and start in England and then go.

Super hyped. I'm on Facebook live talking to everyone about, you know, how excited I am and thanks for joining. And then. After sort of five minutes, we weren't going anywhere and I was starting to worry what's going on and then we found out that actually the complete kind of freak accident, the prop shaft of the engine had sheared off of the engine.

Oh my god. This is like unseen in like channel swimming history, like nobody has ever seen this happen, like a boat actually kind of break down. So super rare. The conditions were supposed to be perfect as well. When we were out there, it was super warm. The water temperature was warm. The water was flat.

You prepared for 18 months for this and then you're told, oh, you're not swimming tonight. And so I said, Oh, when am I swimming? And they're saying, well, you're not booked on any other boats so that you have to wait for this boat to get repaired. Oh my God. And if it goes over the two to the other people again, who are, who are booked on another window.

So. The next kind of 10 days were a real whirlwind for me. I didn't know when I was going. My coach didn't know when I was going. He didn't really kind of know what to advise me to do either because nobody had been through this before. And then this was a real mental battle. This was really, really tough.

So yeah, and then I'm calling up every day. Is there any news on the boat? Is there any news on the boat? And then they're like, no, no, no. And then it gets real close to the end of the window. And then at this point, the tide is just turning from the neap tide to the spring tide. So, which is like the basically a stronger tide.

My coach phones me up and says, Look, the boat's ready now. You can go, but it will be on a spring tide, which is a stronger tide. But he said, You know, I think you're quick enough to swim up on a spring tide. Do you want to go for it? And I said, If I don't go for it now, then you know, the only other option is to potentially go next year, isn't it?

And he's like, Yeah. And I said, I can't. I cannot. Train myself mentally for another whole year for this. I have to go now. And so I was like, okay, let's do it. And this was on the 24th of August. He phoned me up and said that. And so it was the same again. We were going to leave it around sort of one or 2 a.

And then, yeah, got in the water. I think it was like quarter to two and then swam over to France and then off I went and yeah, and then I was swimming for four hours in the darkness and that was the hardest part, really, of the swim was Swimming at night time.

I hadn't done too much of the night swimming training got stung in the face by the jellyfish when it was dark. And it was also a bit choppy, so I couldn't really find my rhythm. So I was worried, you know, that I wasn't I was going to compensate my shoulders work. We're going to flare up again after a while.

And then after about four hours, the sun comes up at around 6 a. m. 5 or 6 a. m. And it was like the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. And the water just went like a mill pond. It was just completely flat. My shoulders were fine. Everything was good. I saw my friends on the boat. People were waking up as well.

And so, yeah, after... 11 hours and 43 minutes. I landed on a rock in France,

Kelly: 11 hours. Oh my God. So I remember watching you. It was like on Facebook live. And I remember Sam the whole time. He's like, he's got it. He's got it. Like you were just like we were watching. And I mean, I just got chills as you told the story.

Cause it really seems like such the epitome of like dark soul. The night you started off in the dark and the jellyfish in the face and it was choppy. And then you just found your rhythm and you went for it. And yeah, I'm literally have chills right now. I just think it's such an incredible story and you had such a purpose behind it.

I

m. And I don't think we actually got collected from the boat until. 6 a. m. or 5 or 6 a. m. So we were on the boat for a few hours and then out of nowhere, this unexpected storm came over like completely unplanned and then it started raining like crazy and you could see lightning and thunder going all across the channel, like lighting up the entire channel and it was a complete like I would have not like to swim on that day anyway.

So Actually, it was so weird because it was almost like something was, someone or something was looking out for me, a higher power was really looking out for me that day to say, no, you're not swimming today. It's not your day. Wow. So yeah, that's the really crazy part. Absolutely.

Kelly: And so, so you land in France.

Chris: sure like landing on France is actually really just kind of surreal.

It was almost like a dream state I climbed aboard the rocket because you're also on a cliffside. There's nobody there on like watching You know, saying, Oh, well done, you know, from the sidelines, it's like you clear the water and then you just sort of have a little kind of cheer to yourself and say, yeah, I did it.

And then it's like, kind of, what do I do now? And then my coach is like, right? Yeah. Like, let's get back on the boat. I was only up there for about 45 seconds, I think, in France, and then I got back in the water and got on the rib and went back to the boat to head back to England. So It was weird. I still remember it clearly though.

You know, what's the challenge that you have next? What's the next challenge you have after this? You have to prepare, you know, something else ahead because when you reach it, you know, you might feel very lost without it. And I was just thinking in my head, that's not gonna be me. I just want to get this swim done and just that's it.

That was my challenge. I wanted to do it, complete it and that that was it. I couldn't imagine like planning anything else. That was it for me. And then I had a kind of a few months of my goal was really just to lose the weight that I had gained. So my housemate was a PT and he helped me like get back on track and lose the weight quite quickly actually within kind of two or three months.

So that was quite like kind of a low part of my life and it lasted probably like nine months. So yeah, and then, and then I got a job offer after that nine months actually for the university in Switzerland that I used to go to. And it was a role that I really got excited about. It was about sort of recruiting new students and helping recruit new students to to study there and experience, you know, they may have experienced the, the amazing things that I did.

So I, yeah, I got really excited about that role and I took that on. And, and then after that, I slowly started to feel a lot better about myself and it gave me that kind of purpose again, sort of to wake up in the morning and, and then, yeah. I did that for a couple of years, two and a half years, I think.

Her channel just skyrocketed from 30, 000 subscribers to a million, 2 million, 3 million. So yeah, she got quite well known on YouTube. She became the UK's largest Fitness YouTuber. Wow. And Alex and her then decided, right, we want to, you know, we want to, we've got a massive audience now that follow Lily.

We want to create some supplement brand off of that. And then I have had background in supplements. And yeah, he said, do you want to come in and manage that side of the business? And then I was like, yeah, absolutely. Couldn't think of anything more exciting than basically just to come up with products and set them up from idea to Thank you.

Kelly: And so it really sounds like to me, like for you, it's like a story of the importance of purpose, whether it's through work, whether it's through a challenge, your physical wellness with family, now that you have a child, like purpose to you just seems to be such like your North star, your compass that helps you move through.

Life's challenges is like you can overcome anything, literally one of the hardest challenges out there. Swimming the English Channel, you can overcome anything if you have that purpose in mind and driving you, you know, to a bigger, bigger meaning.

Chris: Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, exactly. That's what I've really come to learn is having that.

Purpose in anything really, and I think at the moment it's very much to do with, you know, my work and also my, I have another business running on the side and I'm being a new dad. And to be honest, that's really the biggest one that is my purpose now. And I feel like that's probably. Purpose that many people have when they have Children, they'll get this almost the second life.

Yeah.

Kelly: A hundred percent. I think that's a beautiful way to look at it. You mentioned a side business that you're working on. Can you explain what new and exciting businesses does Chris Astle Smith have up his sleeve?

Chris: Yeah, sure. So this is actually a business I opened with a friend of mine, Ed. It's a hangover prevention type supplement.

The ingredients inside of this product I used to take on nights out with me with my friends and I'd not wake up with a hangover the next day. All the ingredients inside of it that I would take are studies to show that you don't wake up. Feeling rough the next day. So I started taking all these supplements on nights out with me, giving it around, passing it around the friend group.

And so, yeah, then we started this new business. It's called Hank here. It is going really well. We're starting to learn and master the tick tock kind of algorithm. And yeah, so it's super fun learning all of that stuff as well. You know, lots of things there have applied to my work with what I do for a full time job as well.

So yeah, just continually learning and yeah, feel a whole sort of sense of fulfillment now. Yeah. It seems

Kelly: like the health and wellness has just been such a core pillar in your life through the supplements, through all the health challenges and athletic challenges that you've done. So the name of the business is Hang Cure, and I'll make sure to link that in the show notes for everyone listening.

Yeah,

Chris: we're not in the U. S., we're not in the

Well, I am so excited to continue to see your adventures, to see all the exciting adventures and challenges and all the things that you're going to rise up to, and especially going on the journey with your young daughter and your beautiful wife.

And hopefully we'll be able to connect in person soon somewhere around the world. So I always end these episodes with quick rapid fire questions and they're just based around traveling. So we'll just see what pops up for you. So number one is if you could only go back to one country, place, or town in the world.

Just one place for the rest of your life, where would it be? And why?

But I know if I went back, it wouldn't be the same because they wouldn't be there, although the scenery and everything would be, you know, they're in the fresh air and the mountains, which I think is what I love the most about Switzerland, they wouldn't be there. So I think the thing I would say is, it's probably where I have the closest friends, to be honest with you, but as long as it's not in a.

Big city. I'm not really too fond of big cities anymore. Yeah. Not now. I'm a father. Oh, I'm

Kelly: the same. I'm not a big city girl. I remember Sam telling me a story once when he visited you in Switzerland and he rode his bike home from you guys. I guess you guys had bikes from wherever pub you were at down to where your dorm or wherever you were staying.

Chris: Huh. I can't remember the story. I think it may have been a scooter. Yeah, it was

Kelly: something, a bike, a scooter or something. Yeah, it was funny. Something

Chris: like that. Yeah. Okay. Lots

Kelly: of crazy stories. Number two is what's number one on your bucket list right now? What?

Chris: Somewhere to go

Kelly: and see. Somewhere to go and see, a business or whatever, family, whatever it is, number one on your bucket

Chris: list.

Where we really want to go as a family and travel and visit one day is Japan. Yeah, we've never been there. It's somewhere that's always kind of excited us, but we'll, maybe we'll wait till our daughters are a bit older and can experience that. Yeah. I

Kelly: love that. I haven't been to Japan either, so it's definitely on the list.

Okay, so number three is what's the biggest life lesson you've learned while

So it's his brother. So it's all kind of, everything's connected throughout life. And you know, if you don't go out there and meet new people and become friends with, you know, new people, then your life may be. A little more closed than open

Kelly: or like your friend calling you saying, Hey, there's this Australian guy at my doorstep.

I need, I need someone here. And then you go and live with his family for a month or two. So, yeah,

Chris: exactly. Another crazy, like, yeah, full, full circle story. And here we are now chatting on a podcast that I was traveling around on a Boris bike and visiting, staying with his friend Mel in Paris. Amazing. And we were good friends when he was in London, so yeah.

Chris: where to go? I guess pick your destination, maybe the right, the right answer to that is, you know, there's lots of destinations that are, make it easier for people to travel to.

Also depends on your age, so it depends who's asking, but you know, if somebody was 18 and telling me where should I go and travel. I might say somewhere like Thailand because, and Southeast Asia, because it's really set up for backpackers and, and it may seem kind of daunting, but when you get there, things are very easy.

You meet people easily. You're, it's built for backpackers really. It's easy to get on a bus and travel from one end of the country to the other.

But yeah, I think that's what I would say is, is make your destination.

Kelly: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much. So I would just like to open it up for you to share how people can connect with you, how they can find you on Instagram or social or your, your business Hank here. How can people. Connects with you.

Chris: Sure.

Kelly: I'll link to everything in the show notes as well, but thank you so much, Chris.

I've enjoyed listening to your story so much and I can't wait. For our listeners to hear and I'm excited to, yeah, like I said, hopefully meet up somewhere around the world. We'll pick somewhere cool and, and we'll bring all the kids together.

Chris: That would be nice. And if you ever come over this way to Europe, you're obviously more than welcome to stay.

We are actually

Kelly: planning next year. We're going to do, I think, Ireland and Scotland. So maybe we can make a little pit stop in England or you guys can come up and see us in Scotland. That'd be fun.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. We want to go up to Scotland. I've been, yeah, been a few times but Selena's never been so. Yeah, we'd

Kelly: like to do it.

We'll see you next year then.

Chris: All right. Brilliant. Sounds good. All right. Take care, Kelly.