A Couples Retreat in Porto & the Douro Valley, Portugal
Step away from everyday life and intentionally create space for
connection, growth, adventure, and the relationship you want to build together.
Make room for each other.
Careers. Businesses. Children. Family. Travel. Responsibilities.
Life fills up.
And often, without realizing it, two people who love each other become very good at managing the life they have built together.
You coordinate schedules.
Make decisions.
Solve problems.
Support children and family.
Run businesses and careers.
And your relationship can quietly become the place that receives whatever time and energy are left. .Relationship By Design creates room for something different.
Time to notice each other.
Time to be curious again.
Time to talk about things that rarely fit between meetings, dinner, travel, family obligations, and tomorrow's schedule.
Not because something is wrong. Because something this important deserves your attention.
Relationship By Design is created for couples who believe that extraordinary relationships require intention.
Understand yourself differently.
Notice what consumes your capacity, what you carry into your relationship, and how you tend to respond when life becomes demanding.
Become curious again.
Who is the person beside you today? What matters to them now? What are they thinking about, hoping for, worrying about, and becoming?
Recognize what happens between you.
Learn to see the patterns you create together, particularly during stress or disagreement, and discover better ways to find your way back to each other.
Talk about what comes next.
Step outside everyday life long enough to ask: What do we want the next chapter of our relationship and our life together to look like?
The strongest relationships don’t become extraordinary by accident.
They are strengthened through intention, attention, and a willingness to keep growing together.
The most important conversations happen exactly where they belong: Between the two of you.
The destination isn’t just where you’re going. The adventure is part of the experience.
Your journey begins in one of Portugal's most captivating cities.
For the first part of the retreat, you'll stay at The Yeatman, a luxury wine hotel overlooking Porto and the Douro River.
Porto gives you permission to step outside normal life.
New streets.
New food.
New experiences.
New decisions to make together.
It is the beginning of the shift from managing life to experiencing it together.
For these first days, the goal is simple:
Arrive. Exhale. Notice each other.
From Porto, the experience continues by train through the breathtaking Douro Valley to Pinhão.
Surrounded by vineyards and the Douro River, you'll stay at The Vintage House, a historic riverside hotel in the heart of the Douro Valley.
Here, the pace changes. There is room to breathe, explore, reflect, enjoy exceptional food and wine, and simply be together.
Each day has a purpose, but not every moment is programmed. Guided relationship experiences are woven together with extraordinary food, local culture, exploration, adventure, and time for the two of you.
Arrive in Porto and settle into The Yeatman. Take time to relax, explore your surroundings, and reconnect before gathering for the opening of the retreat.
Tonight is simply about arriving, leaving everyday life behind, and beginning the experience together.
Before we can better understand each other, it helps to notice ourselves.
Today creates opportunities to step outside your normal routines and pay attention to how you move through life, what has your attention, and what you may not notice when life is moving quickly.
Between guided experiences, Porto becomes part of the day. Explore the city, share exceptional food, try something new, and enjoy being somewhere unfamiliar together.
Sometimes a change of place helps us see ourselves with fresh eyes.
Today the landscape changes, and so does the conversation.
Leave Porto behind and travel by train through the Douro Valley to Pinhão. Watch the city give way to the river, hillsides and vineyards as the pace begins to slow.
Along the way, the focus shifts toward the person sitting beside you.
After years together, it is easy to know someone's history and still miss who they are becoming.
Today is about listening, discovering and perhaps learning something about each other you didn't know before.
Then settle into the Douro and enjoy the beginning of a very different kind of Portugal.
With the quieter rhythm of the Douro around you, today turns toward the relationship itself.
Every couple develops ways of navigating stress, decisions, disagreement, responsibilities and change. Some serve us well. Others simply become familiar.
Through guided experiences, you'll have an opportunity to notice what happens between the two of you and consider how you want to meet those moments differently.
Then step away from the conversation.
Experience the Douro together. Enjoy its wine, food, culture and extraordinary landscape. Walk. Explore. Sit beside the river. Have a glass of wine.
Because sometimes an insight that begins in a session becomes meaningful hours later when it is just the two of you.
By now, you've had time to step outside everyday life, look inward, rediscover each other and see your relationship from a different perspective.
Today turns toward possibility.
Against the backdrop of the Douro Valley, you'll have space to talk about what matters now, what you want more of, what may need less of your attention, and what you want the years ahead to hold.
There will also be time to enjoy Pinhão and the Douro together.
This isn't about creating a perfect plan.
It's about making sure the future you're building includes the two of you.
Before leaving Portugal, we'll bring the experience together.
Reflect on what you discovered, the conversations you want to continue, and the small choices and rituals that can help protect what matters when everyday life begins again.
You won't leave with a binder full of things you're supposed to do.
You'll leave with a clearer sense of what you want to remember, continue, and create together.
*Itinerary details, timing, activities, and experiences are subject to change as we finalize the retreat experience.
Brian and Jean are celebrating 38 years of marriage with their three adult children and seven grandchildren. They have traveled to over 60 countries and delivered programs in many of them. In addition, both of them are retreat facilitators and curators of executive education programs through Legacy of Significance.
Jean and Brian have been active in Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) for many years. Brian served as Chairman of the Global Board of Directors for EO, and they traveled the world interacting with EO members and spouses.
Building strong teams and fast-growing companies is what Brian is known for. He successfully led two companies, to spots on Inc. Magazine’s list of “Fastest Growing Companies”. Advanced Facilities Services, Intl. was ranked #383, employed over 300 employees and was ranked as one of the top private companies in Western, New York for eight years straight. Brian’s proudest award is when this company was named one of the best companies to work for in WNY. Brian sold this company in early 2014.
PURE Wellness Rooms, started in 2005 helps people be their best while traveling by converting living spaces to healthier, wellness environments. PURE ranked #502 on the Inc list and was the 2008 recipient of Cornell University’s Innovator of the Hospitality Industry award.
Brian is extremely active in the entrepreneurial world. He recently served on the Global Board of Directors for the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) which serves over 14,000 members worldwide. Brian held the position of Chairman of the Board for EO, where he worked hard to bring his vision to life of mobilizing entrepreneurs around the world to leverage their skills and passion to make the world a better place. This culminated in a partnership with the United Nations. He also serves as a chair and facilitator of the Entrepreneurial Masters Program. In 2012, Brian created the Key Executive Program to facilitate executive level education for entrepreneurs and their leadership teams. He has played several other global leadership roles in EO including Global Forum Chair, Chaired the Global Learning sub-committee on executive education and served as the Global Learning Committee Chair. He recently led the EO- UN collaboration working group. He is also part of the team of Formators guiding the Leadership Academy programs around the world in EO.
In 2018, Brian launched a new company, Legacy of Significance, based on living out his purpose of creating a positive impact in the lives of others. This company helps guide people on a journey of self-discovery to help them live their best life. With this, he teaches leadership, executive education programs, is an executive coach, speaker, and incorporates having been forum trainer and retreat facilitator since 2007.
A graduate of the University of Buffalo’s School of Business, Brian is very active on community boards and very active in his church. He has three adult children and six grandchildren. Brian has been happily married to his wife Jean since 1987.
Jean has spent her entire career helping people through coaching, teaching and facilitating. Her experience spans the globe where she has helped entrepreneurs and CEO’s to dig deep and find clarity in their lives. She has found her passion lies in working with spouses of entrepreneurs and CEO’s to become more self-aware and find insight in the important issues of their lives.
Having grown up on retreat centers, Jean comes to the role of retreat facilitation naturally. Jean is professionally educated as a registered nurse and trained as a wellness coach on how to shift the impacts of stress on our daily lives to a more positive outcome. Jean has been active in facilitation since 2003 working with many cultures and communities to promote learning and foster change. Jean has mastered the art of being present, effective listening, relationship development and has a passion for seeing others thrive.
Married to a successful entrepreneur for 32 years, Jean also has experienced the varied ups and downs of being self-employed. Jean has been actively involved in the Entrepreneurs Organization by attending numerous learning opportunities around the world for almost 20 years, as well as being a member of a Spouse and Life Partner forum.
Jean is a co- founder of Legacy of Significance, designed to lead people on a journey of self- discovery through executive education, leadership development, and retreats.
In addition to being impactful in the lives of others, Jean loves to travel with her husband and spend time with family.
Katty and Jamie recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. They are both entrepreneurs and members of EO, as well as facilitators who work together and independently to bring a variety of content to forums, teams, and groups.
Jamie is a certified StrengthsFinder, Discover Your Why and C-IQ coach. Katty is a certified EO Forum facilitator and xChange Approach Guide. They have held workshops and retreats for couples, teams and entrepreneurs in the US and internationally in Latin America and India.
Jamie Douraghy is an executive coach and team facilitator. His career draws from over 25+ years as an entrepreneur and competitive fencer. An EO member leader since 2004, he has served in many capacities, including Chapter President, Regional Director, Chair for the Global Growth Team focused on new chapter launches in Africa, China and South America, and recently served as EO’s Global Leadership Committee Chair.
With an MA from Syracuse University, Jamie is also a TEDx speaker, author, and as an athlete has represented Team USA 9 times at the Veteran World Fencing Championships and is a 3-time US Veteran National Champion.
Katty Douraghy is the President of Artisan Creative, a digital and creative recruitment agency with a focus on creative, marketing, and design talent.
Noticing EO’s positive impact on Jamie, Katty sought out a similar experience and joined an EO LA SLP forum in 2008, and then joined EO as a member in 2016. She has served in several EO leadership roles and is currently EO’s Products Portfolio Chair and overseeing Forum, MyEO and Learning.
Katty is a certified EO Forum trainer who helps new members begin their EO journey and facilitates established forums to strengthen and evolve.
Katty believes we all have a story to share and that our greatest journey is through self-discovery. She is the author of The Butterfly Years, a journey through grief toward hope.
Raised in San Francisco, England, and Iran, Katty brings a multi-cultural perspective to her interactions. She earned a BA in English Literature from UC Santa Cruz and a Merchandising Degree from FIDM in San Francisco.
Travel to and from Porto is not included. Individual purchases, such as gift shop items, premium wines, or personal expenses, are also not included.
Your relationship is one of the most important things you'll ever build. Make time for it. Invest in it. Design it intentionally.
This retreat is designed for couples who want to intentionally invest in their relationship, deepen their connection, create meaningful shared experiences, and consider what they want their next chapter to look like together.
The investment is per couple and includes accommodations, meals, retreat experiences, and the curated experiences included throughout the retreat.
No. Travel to and from Porto is not included in the retreat investment.
No. Personal purchases such as gift shop items, premium wines, or other individual purchases are not included.
From May 16–18, couples will stay at The Yeatman in Porto. From May 18–21, couples will stay at The Vintage House in Pinhão in the Douro Valley.
Couples will travel by train from Porto to Pinhão through the picturesque Douro Valley, making the journey itself part of the retreat experience.
Yes. The retreat is intentionally designed to balance guided relationship experiences with time to relax, explore, and enjoy Portugal together.
Yes. Activities, timing, and specific experiences may change as the retreat is finalized. Any significant updates will be communicated to registered couples.
The years ahead will happen whether you plan for them or not.
Why not intentionally decide what you want them to look like?
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