{"id":14637,"date":"2019-12-09T11:15:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T19:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/?p=14637"},"modified":"2022-06-27T17:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T21:00:20","slug":"world-traveler-grandmother-turo-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/turo.com\/blog\/canada\/community\/world-traveler-grandmother-turo-host\/","title":{"rendered":"World traveler, grandmother, & Turo host"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Turo helps Debra live on her own terms<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice as an older woman to be in control and empowered in your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Debra G.<\/span><\/a>\u2019s life is a testament to the power of a \u201ccan-do\u201d spirit. During the 90s, Debra worked as an RCMP officer while raising two daughters as a single mom. After retiring from the force and remarrying, she enrolled in university where she earned two bachelor\u2019s degrees and a Master of Education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, she\u2019s travelling the world, thinking about a possible Ph.D., and spending as much time and money as she can on her grandkids. She thanks Turo for much of the freedom and flexibility she currently enjoys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTuro gives me the opportunity to free up my time and to be flexible to babysit because I don\u2019t have to worry about anything. If my car\u2019s being rented for three days, great! Now I can be a grandma and hang out with my grandbabies…It frees me up to have a little bit more money to spend on them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From the RCMP to the University of Lethbridge to Turo<\/span><\/h3>\n

When Debra returned to school in 2003, computers made her cry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a learning curve. I didn\u2019t grow up with them,\u201d Debra explains. \u201cI never took computers in high school, because in the eighties they were just introducing them when I was leaving high school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could see her now, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to believe it. Today, the 55-year old Lethbridge resident is a <\/span>certified All-Star Host <\/span>on Turo. In fact, she bought the first car she ever listed \u2014 a <\/span>Fiat 500<\/span><\/a> \u2014 on Facebook Marketplace. Currently, she\u2019s sprucing up her basement to list on Airbnb.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say she\u2019s a big believer in the sharing economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting. It gives me something to wake up to every day,\u201d Debra explains. \u201cI get to meet people every day. It closes the generation gap that I\u2019ve noticed because I was outside of things. It\u2019s a great way to connect and open up with people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After working for the RCMP in BC for over a decade, Debra went back to school, earned three degrees, including her master\u2019s degree in Education, <\/span>and embarked on a career in counselling youth and families. But she quickly became frustrated with the bureaucracy and politics that got in the way of meaningfully helping her clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After quitting her full-time position, she continued working as a private practitioner, but she was eager to find ways to supplement her income.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turo wound up being the perfect introduction to the sharing economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really drawn to cars,\u201d Debra says. \u201cWhen I was a young woman, I worked in a garage for a year and a half. I used to do oil changes and tire changes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like <\/span>\u2018Oh, we want you to become a mechanic\u2019<\/span><\/i> and then I was looking at my hands going, <\/span>\u2018No, I don\u2019t think I could do this full time\u2019.<\/span><\/i> So I had this experience being around vehicles. I\u2019ve always liked them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When her daughter and son-in-law mentioned Turo, she was intrigued. She\u2019d been eyeing a yellow 2012 Fiat on Facebook Marketplace and Turo would be one way to keep the costs manageable. So when she bought the car, she listed it on Turo straightaway.<\/span><\/p>\n

What started off as a summer experiment quickly turned into an opportunity to meet new people in addition to making more money. Since then she\u2019s added more vehicles, including her husband\u2019s <\/span>Jeep Wrangler<\/span><\/a>, and is loving the experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For people from her generation who want to get started on Turo but fear technology, Debra suggests getting used to one key activity: texting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet really comfortable with texting and get comfortable with responding in a timely manner because people now want instant gratification and they want to know <\/span>now<\/span><\/i>, like, do I have a car to rent?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Turo taught <\/span>her <\/span><\/i>how to become more responsive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I always felt like I was treading water and trying to respond and get through. There\u2019s so many texts coming. I want to buy something on Marketplace and now I\u2019ve got to manage that. With Turo what happened was I actually started to feel like I was more on top of things. Because I was like, \u201cIt\u2019s my car. I better own this. I better figure this out.\u201d\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the many admirable things about Debra is how much pride she takes in creating a delightful experience for her guests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Turo, it\u2019s connecting with people. Even though it\u2019s very brief, you end up connecting,\u201d Debra says. \u201cI always put little perks in the car for them. Like bottles of water and chocolate like, <\/span>\u201cHey, here\u2019s my Turo experience!\u201d<\/span><\/i> I just want people to enjoy themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Expanding the realm of possibility<\/span><\/h3>\n

In addition to giving her the time and money to spoil her family, Turo\u2019s also given Debra the freedom to pursue one of her biggest interests: travel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With Turo supplementing her income, Debra has the flexibility to explore more of the world. While Debra loves her corner of Canada, she\u2019s endlessly curious about the rest of the world. Some of her previous travel destinations include Japan, Mexico, Australia, Germany, England, and France. She even participated in an archeological dig in Poland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It comes as no surprise then that she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Destinations on her travel wish list include going to Italy and Spain where she\u2019d like to walk El Camino de Santiago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWho wants to work full time, right? I want to travel. I want to experience life. I\u2019m kind of excited by that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Start your own hosting journey<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Turo helps Debra live on her own terms \u201cIt\u2019s nice as an older woman to be in control and empowered in your life.\u201d Debra G.\u2019s life is a testament…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[68,19,51],"language":[2],"class_list":["post-14637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-alberta","tag-canada","tag-member-profiles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t