Wander By Proxy – A Women's Travel Story Podcast

Adopted as an infant from Colombia to Minnesota, Mary Schreier finds her biological parents and gets on a plane to Colombia to meet them for the first time. 

Follow Mary’s adventures on Instagram at @mary_onthemap.  

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For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

About this episode:

Kristen Glazer shares her study abroad story—a time where she was so focused on immersing herself in a different language and culture that she started dreaming differently

Follow Kristen’s adventures on Instagram at @expeditionkristen.  

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Since Wander By Proxy is officially one-year old, this bonus episode compiles some of the best quotes from each episode that ran in 2020. Having a bad day? This clip is stacked with inspiration and perspective. 

Wander By Proxy will be releasing new episodes every other Wednesday throughout 2021, so be sure to subscribe and follow on social media and wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Quotes attributed in order:

• Lauren Gabel 1. Trekking in Vietnam @theoutofofficegal
• Autumn Spredemann 2. Love in Bolivia @travellingamazon
• Maddi Brown 3. Dude Ranching in Montana @maddicbrown
• Cienna Richards 4. Group Travel in Germany @cienna_travels
• Taylor Mills 5. Film Festival in the Netherlands @tmillsj
• Amy Conroy 6. Day of the Dead in Mexico @amysmundo
• Jennifer Parnall 7. Quarantine in Spain @jlynnparnall
• Stephanie James 8. Digital Nomad in Ecuador @justavessel22
• Jenna Z 9. Chronic Wellness in a Bus @highspiritsjourney
• Sara Lynch 10. Sparks in Chile @planetwithsara
• Melissa Miller 11. Running Down Mountains @miss.rover
• Elizabeth Hensley 12. Generosity on the HWY @thelizapproach
• Estrella Quiroz 13. Strangers on a Plane @estrellaq95
• Emily Theisen + Jordan Mileski 14. The Adventurous Spirit @emilytheisen_  @jordan.mileski
• Manupalooza + Sofia 15. Host A Sister @manupalooza  @lamagaa

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

Lauren Gabel 1. Trekking in Vietnam: [00:00:00] this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t feel fortunate, you know, don’t, don’t get me wrong, we should all feel fortunate, but,  I think that there is a lot of ways to live happy. And I think there is,  it simple doesn’t necessarily mean lesser. 

Autumn Spredemann 2. Love in Bolivia: [00:00:15] Well, she’s a friend of ours, but she’s the one who introduced us and she’s like this beautiful, tiny, perfectly proportioned Latino woman with a very glorious hair.

And when I saw them dancing together at, at the club we were at, I, when I saw them, I like, and I use very good looking of course. And I was like, you know, my, with my luck, that’s his wife. 

Maddi Brown 3. Dude Ranching in Montana: [00:00:35] I’ve when I’ve had some hard times and I kind of will equate it to, well, hiking can be really hard too, and you still made it to the top nine times out of 10. So I think you can, you can get past whatever, whatever other obstacle you have in your life, whether it be grades or, you know family issues. Like anything I’ve, I know I can come out in the other side. Yeah. I might have to stop a few times and kind of take a breather. Like, I went on a hike. But I can still make it to the top. 

Cienna Richards 4. Group Travel in Germany: [00:01:03] I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for the experience to, to watch these surgeries, to learn these different things that I have been able to learn, but what I’m most grateful for  is knowing who I am, knowing what I will and will not put up with, and recognizing my value and my self worth as a woman and as a person.

Taylor Mills 5. Film Festival in the Netherlands: [00:01:23] I was like in the middle of the nap and I woke up and kind of like wobbled to the, to the bathroom, go to the bathroom, and I somehow managed to drop my phone in the airplane. Toilet. And like without even thinking, I’d just like stuck my hand in this like very blue water. And if I was ever to get COBIT, I think it would have been from that.

Amy Conroy 6. Day of the Dead in Mexico: [00:01:40] I never would have done that had I not been in that place of of like, I have nothing to lose. I better live my best right now.

Jennifer Parnall 7. Quarantine in Spain: [00:01:51] I saw a bunch of people in Italy singing songs or playing your saxophone or like all getting together in their neighborhood just out on their, on their balconies. And I was like, you know what? I’m going to do that. I feel like music. Well just help me. It always does. When I’m in a mood, it always makes me feel better.

Stephanie James 8. Digital Nomad in Ecuador: [00:02:05] And so when you’re able to appreciate the differences in religion and culture in love in life and every aspect of life, It opens you up and widens your horizons, right? That’s why, when people say like travel was the only thing that you can spend money on, that makes you richer.

Jenna Z 9. Chronic Wellness in a Bus: [00:02:22] I don’t know what exactly came over me, but fueled with adrenaline. I left the place where I was being cared for and took off on a ride from my life across the country. The mantra that stuck with me was I have to have things to look forward to. So I’ll keep moving forward.

Sara Lynch 10. Sparks in Chile: [00:02:38] So being more aware, more compassionate, more understanding of other people and their situations has been something that was very eyeopening 

Melissa Miller 11. Running Down Mountains: [00:02:49] instantly, as soon as I checked the weather and saw that like severe thunderstorms rolling in, it just started down pouring. So I just like threw everything in my bag. Just started like running, basically running down the trail.

Elizabeth Hensley 12. Generosity on the HWY: [00:03:04] it was such a theme of this hospitality of meeting people, where they are in the world and in their situations and just being generous, you know, being generous with what we did have, which was time and a new outlook on life, which was to downsize guys and just hit the road.

Estrella Quiroz 13. Strangers on a Plane: [00:03:23] for the most part, it’s a chain reaction. You know, you speak to one person, you have a conversation and for you, it could just be, seem like another day, but for that person, you never know what they take from it. 

Emily Theisen + Jordan Mileski 14. The Adventurous Spirit: [00:03:35] I remember just like going to her room one day and just being like, you know, what. You know what I am, I’m going a little nuts. Like, let’s just go outside, let’s take your cameras. And let’s just like take portraits of each other in the backyard, even if we can’t go anywhere. And that’s exactly what we did.

Manupalooza + Sofia 15. Host A Sister: [00:03:54] I find that traveling in this way allows you to stop. And really feel the, the atmosphere of the place and staying with a local, apart from the fact, you will get all this knowledge that you don’t get from guidebooks. But you also get a, really a sense of the daily life.

Lauren Gay shares her experience going solo (and I mean solo) at a resort in Antigua and how her time away from phone screens & expectations strengthened her inner guidance.  

Follow Lauren’s adventures on Instagram at @outdoorsydiva. 

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

About this episode:

In collaboration with Host A Sister, a global community of women sharing their homes and experiences with one another, episode 15 features the stories of two women and how their lives and travel experiences have been enriched by the travel network. This episode is split into two parts:

Part 1 features Manu of @manupalooza shares how when she couldn’t be with her mother over Christmas, she posted on the Host A Sister Facebook group. Two women stepped up to the plate.

Part 2 features Sofia @lamagaa, who has hosted five HAS members! She shares how one guest visited at the most opportune time. 

Join the Host A Sister group on Facebook to get acquainted with amazing women from around the world. 

This is the last episode of 2020! The next episode will be released January 20, 2021. 

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

About this episode:

This episode is a little different from the rest. I talk with two creatives on how they’ve been keeping the adventurous alive through the hum-drum of life during a pandemic. Emily Theisen and Jordan Mileski are two Minnesota-based photographers, but their creativity flows through a variety of outlets. Today we emphasize that creativity is a form of adventure. 

Follow Jordan Mileski’s projects and adventures at @jordan.mileski. See even more at www.jordanmileski.com. Jordan recently released a new font! (The creativity seemingly doesn’t end)

Follow Emily Theisen’s projects and adventures at at @emilytheisen_. She’s a wedding photographer at @litecreatives. Learn more at www.LiteCreatives.com.

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription

Emily T: I remember just like going to her room one day and just being like, you know what. I’m going a little nuts. Like, let’s just go outside, let’s take your cameras, and let’s just like take portraits of each other in the backyard, even if we can’t go anywhere. And that’s exactly what we did. 

Leah Falyn: Welcome to Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves in the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn, and today’s episode is a little different. I thought I’d take a step back from travel stories this week and dive into another topic I’ve been thinking a lot about since March, which is: how to keep the adventurous spirit alive during a pandemic.

In this case, we’ll be talking with two photographers about how creativity can fill that cup adventures love. Jordan Mileski and Emily Theisen, two Minnesota-based creatives that happen to be roommates, seem to just ooze creativity. Here’s Jordan first, then Emily will be the second voice you hear.

Jordan M: we’re really lucky because we’re roommates. So social distancing still means that we get to be together quite a bit. And that’s a huge blessing. I think for both of us, the challenge was definitely you shut down happened. And it was almost this like, wow, I’m going to get so much time to work on all these projects that I haven’t had time for before.

And then the few weeks. A few weeks into it. It was like, Oh my gosh, I have no motivation. And my creativity is gone. I don’t know where it went. So at first I would say maybe even the first three months, it was really a challenge to have any, any desire to work on anything creative. And I think that was a lot of people that also experienced that with us.

I don’t know that it was just me. And I know Emily can also say a few words to talk about this. And then I got a few jobs. I got a few, photo jobs, which I was really fortunate that we were all cool with wearing masks and social distancing, and it was outdoors, so worked out. Okay. And I think it kind of kicked my butt back in gear.

So I was like, okay, I’m going to, like, I’m going to pick up film photography. I’m going to do a few logo designs, more for fun than anything. And then after I started just pushing myself, then it all sort of, the flow came back a lot faster than I had expected it to. And it was just a matter of pushing through for me.

Emily T: Yeah. I think for both of us, it was just amazing having each other as roommates during this hard time, because there so many people that were, just alone and going crazy, courting themselves and all that kind of stuff.

And, I definitely think the first couple months were very hard on both of us and, didn’t know really where. my business was going at the time because this is like my third professional year in wedding photography and, all of that. And it kind of put a pause on. my business for a little bit, and I didn’t know how scared, you know, I didn’t know where it was going.

you know, I wasn’t making any money during this time and just really nervous and shook. And, so I kinda shut down myself a little for a little bit, but then, I think we started to both, you know, speaking for both Jordan and I a little bit on this and it just kind of had to kick each other in gear and, kinda just.

It had to re like woke up one day almost. And it was just like, okay, got to get back to business here. Like, come on, like positive, trying to just stay positive and keep that mindset going. because a lot of it is mind over matter. and I think what definitely helped me through that time was having Jordan too.

I remember just like going to her room one day and just being like, you know, what. You know what I am, I’m going a little nuts. Like, let’s just go outside, let’s take your cameras. And let’s just like take portraits of each other in the backyard, even if we can’t go anywhere. And that’s exactly what we did.

and we just kept pushing each other and ourselves to just keep that creative mindset going. And, I was also just doing a lot of. Like, reading a lot of books, not like book, book books, but more like poetry books, I guess kind of just keeping the mind, going in the flow, going and the creative juices going, and just drawing every once in a while for fun on my tablet and, Recently, was kept me kind of going to was, watching a lot of documentaries and just kind of keeping up on that.

And one of the most recent recent things for me has been watching, Charlie Sally’s, ah, creative workshop. I got that as a birthday gift.

Put back in gear again, and you’re just going, which feels amazing. So, but it was definitely key having each other, I think during that time, that was probably number one for me, that kind of kept, both of us going.

Jordan M:  Do you remember too? One thing that we did that really didn’t have a lot of creativity to it, but we started fishing.

Emily T: Oh yeah, that’s right. We did.  we were fishing like every day we would go down to the dock. wouldn’t catch much. Yeah. so Jordan, she, she actually, heard her husband live on the river here in Brainerd, I should say. And I rent from them. And so that was another thing.

Just going down in our backyard and going down to the dock and just putting some leaches and worms on our line and just casting it out and catching some fish.  it was so relaxing and just like,

Jordan M:  it was a huge blessing because I know, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say this, but we both need the outdoors.

Yeah. And we need to be able to get outside. And whether we’re taking pictures or not, I think fishing is. It was a really good thing for us. Yeah, totally. I not a Fisher woman.

Emily T: No. And I was like, I, you know, I haven’t fished since I was so young and it was like, just bringing back all these fun memories and nostalgia and just kind of just, I dunno, it was something random that took us out of the creative or took us and got us back out of, or took us back from that creative area and got us back into that creative mindset.

So that was really. Really fun to have that. That’s so cool. Yeah. No, and I, I completely understand what you’re saying and, I find that. Probably many people are kind of going into those like simpler activities that you don’t have to be around a ton of people and you’re enjoying the outdoors and not sitting inside your apartment or house or anything.

Leah Falyn: And yeah. So that’s great. That sounds like a great activity to kind of, and especially to spark that, creative video that you guys wanted. and I also really liked what you guys were saying about like, as a creative, you don’t always have those juices flowing. And so it’s kind of that balance between having the creative bursts and like other times you just have to put your foot down and do the work type of thing. so Jordan, like how did you overcome that obstacle?

Jordan M: I think at first it was really hard even feeling like I was going to get past that. That sort of creative block, but after the day where we both kind of just decided it was time we needed to get out and shoot, even if we didn’t end up with any photos we liked, it was just time to get out there.

It sort of started the ball rolling, and it was a very slow roll at first. And I think maybe I didn’t even notice it, but after a little bit, it’s like, Oh yeah, I have those photos. I need to take a look at those on my computer. And then after that, it’s like, Oh, I actually kind of liked this one. And then.

After that you’re like, Oh, you know what would be really cool? We’ve got a close line. What if we like, put some sheets up on the clothesline and just did a sunrise or, or something, you know, even if it’s not significant, it’s not like, Oh, we’re going to the North shore for the weekend. Oh, we’ve got models and we’re going to go do this.

Fabulous shoot. It’s you know what? The light looks kind of nice right now. And I think I’m just going to go in the field and, you know, do a little dance or whatever. So it was a really, really small steps. But then after a little while your brain sort of starts figuring it out again. And I think for us to fishing was great because we didn’t need to have any creativity.

We could just go sit on the dock and enjoy being outside. But then after you get enough time where your brain is relaxed, it’s like, Oh, you know what? I kind of had this cool idea. And now I’m a little bit more motivated, so I think I’m going to try it.

Leah Falyn: That’s great. That’s awesome. and it’s kind of funny cause this conversation started as like about adventure, but we’re now we’re getting into more the creative process.

So do you find that being creative fuels your adventurous spirit or what do you think the parallel is there?

Jordan M: I really think so. I would have probably never started traveling if I didn’t want to go take the photos at those places. So for me, photography is almost more of an excuse to travel then the opposite.

And so many times you go to take that photo and you don’t end up ever taking it. You end up somewhere totally different. And that’s part of the adventure. And that’s why it’s so fun. So I’ve grown to appreciate traveling more and more, but I don’t think that if I. You know, wanted to go to a certain spot or wanted to go take a certain photo.

I don’t know that I would really have traveled as much as I have.

 I’m curious now, do you think for me, it’s like, okay, the motive is the photo. Like, I want to take the photos for you as the modem where like, okay, I have this vision. I want to go execute. Or is this like, I need to go to this place and explore it.

I’m going to take photos.

Emily T: I think it goes both ways. Cause sometimes I totally have a vision and like, I’m like, Oh my God. I have this idea of this like, photo that I want to take and I’m going to go chase it. I’m going to go get it. and then other times, and you know, and that’s kind of what gets my foot out the door.

And other times I just have to completely tell myself, just go. And like, you don’t know where you’re going to get, but that’s fine. Just like go enjoy nature. It’s almost like. Those are almost the days where I, you know, contemplate even bringing my camera with me. It’s like, you know, go on this hike without your camera for once or do this without your camera or whatever.

So sometimes I think it’s important to also do that. And when to put your phones down, social media down, take a break from social media, all of that stuff. and then it kind of refuels my adventure, adventurous juices when I can just completely put everything down and clear the mind and have a completely fresh mind the next week or the next month or something like that.

so yeah, that’s kind of. Kind of, for me, I guess sometimes

Leah Falyn: Absolutely kind of reminds you of why you are doing what you do.

Emily T: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. our good friend, Ashley fwho I’m sure you, follow on Instagram she’s has amazing work. she, she, does like meditation’s, and all that kind of stuff and yoga retreats.

So, there’s that side too. I think that that’s really important too. like tapping. To your, like what your third eye kind of a thing. Just kind of breathe, meditates, and get out there.

Jordan M: And I think I’ve, I’ve seen a lot of other creatives. It’s simple things like, okay, I’m buying a bunch of plants today.

And I know we both did that too. Okay. Gardening. the fishing, Ashley and her yoga and her retreats and stuff has been really fun to watch. We’ve seen a lot of people take up these sort of, sort of more simplified outdoor. Hobbies, because as there’s the need and there’s the drive to go outside, like your brain wants it so bad.

And so it’s like, okay, well maybe I can’t try five hours from the North shore. Maybe I shouldn’t go be, you know, in that small community that could get COVID really easily. If I go up there and bring it to them, what’s something I can do. That’s more simple. Okay. Like let’s, let’s start a garden. Let’s do something.

I’m going to build a tree Fort. And I, I we’ll see that with a lot of people that are friends with us, just people we meet on social media and they’re like, Oh yeah, I haven’t taken photos on forever, but Hey, I got like all these cool peppers growing up.

Emily T: Yeah. Well, and it’s funny that Jordan brings up the guardian thing too.

we both were, we both got into gardening, heavily during COVID at the beginning. And this was something that kind of, I don’t know, it just felt nice and peaceful to go get plants and like put our hands in the dirt and just like in touch with mother nature and just kind of.

Do something else. And, It just felt good. so that was really, I kind of spaced on that part and I don’t know how, but the gardening was definitely key a key part too      

Jordan M:  I had a bridal shoot, like a stage shoot, right? It’s not. Not a real bride. She’s, she’s, they’re married. They’re a beautiful couple. And I just messaged them.

I said, Hey, like, I’ve got this idea. Would you be, if, if I got it, if I got it all put together, would you be down to be my models? And they said, sure. it was really fun to work with these guys. So that was a great shoot and was really glad with the, with the end result.

I think what it was is I had so much. Sort of like, I don’t want to overuse the term creative juice, right. It’s actually kind of a weird term to me, but I had so much of that stored up from not being able to shoot for a while that I ended up kind of going all out with a shoot. So we had, you know, smoke bombs and we had, my husband made us backdrop and we had all these flowers and these props that I had bought is really fun.

So that was a great sort of way to almost like vomit out all the things that I’d been wanting to try for a long time. And then also, so that was kind of like, okay, let’s speed things up a little and get really creative here. And then also shooting film more and more lately has been sort of a, okay. It’s like, let’s take a step back.

Let’s breathe a little bit. Let’s think about everything that we’re, trying to do a little bit more carefully. So I recently got a funerals, a film back that had been really fun. Just shooting up on the North shore and. Kind of appreciating, taking things slow a little bit more. So those have been two really fun things for me lately.

Emily T:  I’m actually, it’s great that Jordan brought up the, film stuff again, because, she’s, she’s kind of getting me back into that realm as well. which is awesome. I have a couple film cameras from my grandparents. they gave to me before they, will be for my grandpa, passed away.

so I’ve been diving into getting some film for those and Jordan actually for my birthday, bought me some film and some gift cards and stuff to kind of finally dip my toe back into that. Cause foam can be expensive and it’s definitely a, a different investment that you’re making and stuff. So, as she’s kind of helping me get, get my foot back into the door with film as well, which I’m super thankful for.

 Jordan M: I’m drawing a lot more lately as well.

Emily T: Drive. Yeah. Yeah. I’m really into drawing for a while on your iPad. Yeah, I was, I was getting back into, I got this cool, the iPad tablet with, you know, it’s got procreate on it and I was just. Going to have at it for a while. And, once which was awesome, it definitely helped me during COVID.

but then, and then after. You know, things kind of slowed down a little bit, like with COVID stuff. I wouldn’t say like completely slowed down, but, people were still trying to get married obviously. and not a lot of my clients wanted to push that back a couple of years. So they, more went towards the low payment side, which is fine by me.

I had so much fun doing that and I had a really be busy. Busy crazy season, which I was so fortunate and so happy to have that. so then I kind of stepped away. Back from my drawings a little bit, because I was so busy with my photography. but now that my photography is kind of slowing down and wedding season is coming to an end.

I can finally dip my toes back into drying and as well as getting back into film, which will be, which will be a lot of fun, a lot of fun.

Leah Falyn: That all sounds really fun. I can’t wait to see more. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Jordan M: To anybody who’s listening, who might be still feeling that block just. Reach out to some friends or even reach out to us. We’ve been there. You can’t be creative without creative blocks at times. So just know that that’s a thing like.

Every creative goes through it. It’s not a solo experience to see you. And the best way, the fastest way I’ve found to get out of it is to connect with some other people. So feel free to reach out to either of us at any time, if you are feeling stumped or, you know, maybe you need to choose a different media for a little bit.

Like I got really into the, to the hand-drawn design stuff, which shameless plug I’m still working a lot with. And it’s been just a huge, a huge blessing and a lot of fun to work with a few different media. Digital film and hand-drawn design has been really fun. Switch it up a little, you know, and invest in yourself.

If you need some nice new pens or you need some great cotton paper or whatever you need, if it’s going to help you get out of that, like, Don’t feel like you’re not worth investing in a little bit. If it’s going to get you back on your groove, you know, that’s something that I had a hard time learning, but I’m there now.

I figured it out.

Emily T: Yeah. Great sentiment. Yeah. Yeah, I would, yeah, I would say the same, just reach out anybody that is listening and having a hard time or whatever. please reach out to us. we’d love to chat. it’s just so awesome. Like talking with new people, meeting up with new people, and you know, we can always meet up sure.

Or around our area or whatever. and it can be. Safe, you know, outside, which is kind of nice with COVID. You can be outside and practice, social distancing, and, you know, dive out of that creative route and get back to it and stuff. So, yeah, reach out to us. We love to chat,

Jordan M: not being a creative is you have this great community behind you.

I know there’s not, not everybody’s great. We’ve run into that individually, but for the most part. It’s a really great community. It’s fun. They love everybody. You know, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. If you’re digital or not, it’s fun to collaborate and just piggyback off of other creatives, no matter.

What type of, you know, we’ve got friends who do pottery, we’ve got friends who do all this kind of like flower pressing. I know Emily’s even getting into like the dried flowers and stuff, and it’s really fun to see where she’s going with it. So, yeah, just reach out, have fun. Like, remember why you like doing it.

It’s it’s fun.

Leah Falyn: Thank you. and remind me, you guys… you’re not in Duluth anymore, right?

Emily T: I, I am not. I am now living with, Jordan pillager now in pillager, Minnesota. It’s right outside of Brainerd. I was in Duluth for, like around six years. When I went to, I went to university of Minnesota Duluth.

so yeah, I lived there for six years and then I did Vanlife, and then when I came back, it’s, that’s kind of where, what brought me to. the Brainerd area, cause I got back from van life and was like, Oh my God, like, Hey, I’m kind of looking for somewhere to live, you know, all this stuff.

And I was really getting into my business and Jordan, I was thankful to have met Jordan, actually through Instagram. And when we met up, we. she was like, yeah, well I have an extra room come and just live with me. And I was like serious. I was like, yay. Cool. And so ever since that, she opened her, her home to me, I’ve been so thankful and fortunate for that.

Jordan M: So definitely.

 Leah Falyn: Thank you for listening to this episode of Wander By Proxy. Checkout Jordan Mileski’s projects on Instagram @jordan.mileski and Emily Theisen’s projects @emilytheisen_. Handles will be in the show notes. Be sure to follow along with Wander By Proxy @wanderbyproxypodcast and subscribe, rate, and review wherever you’re listening.

About this episode:

Sitting on the plane of her first solo travel experience, Estrella Quiroz meets Erin, a true wanderer who changed Estrella’s perspective on travel with one conversation. 40+ countries later, Estrella still wishes she had Erin’s contact information to thank her for that conversation. I end there. No spoilers.

**Update**Estrella grew up in Texas, not Nicaragua.

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @estrellaq95.

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

Estrella:  For the most part, it’s a chain reaction. you speak to one person, you have a conversation and for you, it could just seem like another day, but for that person, you never know what they take from it. So that’s what it was because of that chain reaction.

That Erin kind of started with her conversation. She ultimately led me to give these same types of conversations to other people I’ve met.

Leah Falyn: Welcome to Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves and the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn, and today we have Estrella Quiroz, who grew up in Nicaragua believing that education was the ticket out of poverty. She moved to Miami for this reason, but a few days after her 18th birthday, she found out her father had passed away back in Nicaragua. And that’s where her story begins. Here’s Estrella.

Estrella:  People in my community had raised money so that I could take a flight to Nicaragua and it was expensive at the time. It was 600, $700, but they had come together and, and, and I ended up being the only one of my siblings to fly and he got off for the funeral.

So when I sit in Nicaragua, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never left the country. I had only been on a plane once to move States. And that was it. And by the time I arrived, I was greeted at the, at the airport, by my mother’s side of the family. And that was really what struck me. There were there in my mother’s side of the family, there’s about 150 people and they all live very close together and a very close-knit community where the houses are the roof circles out of aluminum.

They don’t have much, they don’t have there’s. Sometimes the toilets don’t work really well, or there’s not really good running water, but they have enough to survive. And I had never missed the side with family, but obviously I’ve heard, and my grandparents had visited once, but I hadn’t really paid attention to them when they had come.

So for me, it was all brand new. It was a lot of emotions. And at that time my family treated me so welcoming. They, they hugged me, they prayed for me and I just felt so loved and comforted. That I couldn’t believe it. These people that are a hundred really ever know me were showing me this unconditional love and they supported me.

One of my cousins went with me to my dad’s funeral and I was really by cheating. As I said, I was by myself with my new family, that I had an a and I wasn’t around the comfort of my siblings or any friends. So it was a lot of them to take in, but I know that trip really changed me because I saw in me that I was a country that’s developing.

there’s been a lot of things in the news lately. But for the most part, it was what I thought was a school of these people who may not have much, but they’re willing to give this full support the school of even if it’s a strangers. So I went in and I was on the plane and I’ll never forget that I started writing myself these notes and I said, what have I been doing?

You know, I hadn’t answered my dad’s phone calls. And three days before he passed away, it was my birthday. I remember looking at a phone and I did an answer because there was out. With friends. And after that phone call, he left me a voicemail and the voicemail was so powerful for me because he’s like, happy birthday.

I love you. Things are going to change soon. Just wait and see. And I started crying, but I, now I always have this voicemail to refer back to. So I made this list on the plane and I said, how I’m going to change and what am I going to do? And I vowed to put on my list that I was going to go see more of the world because it’s, for me, if people in need that I wore like this, then I had been still focused on things in the U S things.

And just my general community, Miami, that I hadn’t really been looking out farther. So I ended up. Graduating a few months later, six, seven months later. And I got a full ride to the university of Florida. And the first thing I did the second week of my university was I went to go speak to the, my admissions person and she helped me find programs.

So I got out, I started looking for government scholarships and student loans. And how could I finance a trip? And I was able to do my first. All right. So I was able to wait, let me start over. I went to the missions counselor, if you talk a little slower, sorry, I’m really sorry about your dad, by the way.

That is very no it’s. I mean, it’s a very lucky, but it was something with my dad. Is it really changed? Shape the way I see the world because when I was on the plane, And I, I always told myself, well, do I want to do, I really wanted to focus more on my communication with people. I had always been a person some with that was very anxious, very reserved, but I was still social in that sense because I wasn’t these extracurricular activities, but it was more just education-based and it wasn’t really am I focusing on my communication with this person?

Am I truly enjoying this moment? And I want it to be more free spirited, like my dad and that’s okay. The bull that I was trying to make the shift. So the reason for going abroad wasn’t just to go to another country. It was, can I go to these cultures and just dive in deep and try to get to know the people who live here?

So when I went to, when I went to my first program, I was able to fund it through government scholarships, student loans, and savings because my mom, at the end of the day, she saw the housekeepers and my family wasn’t able to help me in that and the program. It was only a month long. It was in Florence, Italy, but I decided I want to maximize my time.

And it turned into, maybe I should go from Italy degree. Oh, hungry. So close. Oh boy. Germany’s like train order away. And then it ends up being a whole itinerary of 10 or 10 to 15 countries around two and a half months. So I extended my time in Europe after my program ended and I’ll never forget I got on the plane.

I had just gotten off on the plane by myself. My program, the people in my program had left back home. And I was alone in grief, and then I wasn’t sure how to navigate. I had never done fill the travel. So I was just kind of winging it. I was really scared, but I kind of just got the courage and just said, okay, it’s gonna be okay.

And I got on a plane and it was going to Hungary and they’re on my plane. I met this girl. She was sitting next to me. Her name is Erin and she was a few years older than me, but she had been telling me all about her adventures. She had gone. She had gone through Latin America. Now she was in Europe. She was just, and I told her what’s the best advice.

And she was like, just, don’t be scared. Just talk to people. And we had about an hour conversation. And in that conversation, I, for me and inspiration and art, our conversation was brief, but she told me a lot of her adventures when she was solo traveling. And I was just so inspired. I got less scared. And after we got off the plane, I really wanted to get her contact info, but when we were getting our luggages, I think we got separated and I didn’t see her again.

So, but I’ll never forget that conversation because at that point in my life, I was taking notes every day. I said, what is happening today? What’s going, Oh, how did this day? What happened in this day? That was remarkable. And I always remembered Erin because she was the first truth, a little traveler, female that I had encountered.

And ever since that time, I I’ve been to 40 countries by myself. And she was kind of like for me, the first role model I had because of that time in my life, I hadn’t ever encountered another woman who had traveled alone or had done these adventures or have gone against, you know, the stereotype and had avoided like her had conquered.

The fear is, so I want to say the people that we meet on our journeys, they play, especially new roles. Whether you don’t know, you can have a conversation with somebody and. It could be life changing for them. And you’re just going about your day. And for me at that point, that’s what Erin was. She has had a conversation with them, another stranger, but she didn’t realize that she had given like another stranger, like the motivator, the fear, or to not be scared, the courage to not be scared.

ever since then, I, any person I come across with, whether it’s just on a plane ride on a bus ride, I, I speak to them and I speak like wholehearted heartedly. I give them my attention. I give them, I, we talk about anything and I give my advice where they need it. So I that’s the way I’m living my life now.

it’s beyond seeing the, the number of countries. It’s more just am I really connecting with the culture and my finding new ways to really be present in the moment. And now most recently I was able to get jobs in the travel industry. One was that a travel engine search, a travel search engine, go abroad.com.

They let me become a content specialist there in their Colorado office. And then I spoke to the CEO and he gave me the opportunity to go backpack through Latin America for work. It started in Bolivia. I ended in Mexico, so I spent four and a half months consecutively traveling from city to city on both complaints, finding new clients for them, creating new content.

And just trying to, like I said, it’d be present. And then I recently, or a year and a half ago, I switched to the luxury travel industry, which is kind of a shock for me because I had always been used to backpacking and just kind of winging it. And then I was at a luxury travel office with people who are used to the four seasons, the Ritz Carlton and so many, so much luxury.

So it was, I’ve definitely gained. Oh, I have a wide experience in the spectrum of travel. I think from based from backpacking, from couch surfing to the other end to being a five star resort. And now where I am in life, I’ve decided to kind of take a break from the luxury, travel and go move more towards social justice and see how I can play a part in what’s happening today.

Leah Falyn: Going backward a little bit. What about Erin’s conversation inspired you so much?

Estrella: So that day that I met Erin on the plane ride, it was, she was giving me advice on, on traveling alone as a woman. Okay. Her experiences. And most, she did tell me her, her love story, which was something that was really had that had really intrigued me. She had told me about how she met a man and she wasn’t sure, but for me, it was just fascinating because when I asked her.

She was what fascinated me the most was that all she had with her was just a small bag. And I’ll never forget because I had a huge bag, but Osprey battling backpack. And it was, I thought I needed more than I actually did. And she had minimized her travels into one bag. So I asked her about that. How do you travel?

And she’s like, well, I don’t really need much. And from there, I think that’s what really kind of pushed me, like clean packing what I need the essentials and re in, and stopping because at the same time, we’re just kind of. A lot of people tend to overpack more than they need, or there’s so many outfits.

And I think she really taught me how to minimize what I’m actually taking it. And that really helps you kind of focus on what you’re learning and you need to country, but the inspiration and back then what I got the most of was like, wow, this girl can do it. So why can’t I? And that’s kind of where our conversation led.

And I was just fascinated by her experiences. And she got me so excited for my travels because I’d, like I said, I had just started the little traveling. At that point. So she had to really like put me up and it was just, I can’t really explain. There’s not really like a word that like I will remember, but what I remember is the feeling, the feeling, when I spoke there, I was just, it was admiration and it was like inspiration that somebody else could do it so I can do it.

And people do forget what you might say, but they won’t forget the feeling you made me fall. You made them feel. Yes. I like live by that. It’s absolutely true. And I think it’s so fun. Just obviously one of the greatest parts about traveling is meeting the people along the way and just having those really unexpected connections.

So it’s fun that you had that on the plane and it led almost to this new chapter. Yeah, I haven’t taken one selfie with her. I don’t never forget. Cause I love pictures because I have, I tend to have a pretty bad memory. So unless I write it down or I take a picture, I might forget and somebody else has to remind me.

So that’s why I try to document as much as I can. But for her, I took a picture and I never asked her for her last name, which I was always being myself for three years. Instead of whole, this is girl. I kind of want to reach out so she can see my growth. because I, I think I had told her my life story with my dad and we, we, like you said, we shared that connection and those connections are really what I mean the most to me beyond the glamorous travel and Instagram photo ops, it’s just having those simple connections, whether it’s by the beach at a bar and having a cocktail or just meeting someone even though, and you know, you’re, you might never see them again, but you’re, you’re glad you came.

Like you crossed paths on the same journey of life.

Leah Falyn: So I know you said you haven’t gotten her contact information, but have you been able to reunite with her in some way or like tell her how inspirational she’s been?

Estrella: Yeah. I woke up one day back in August, I think. And I don’t, I thought of her and I guess maybe it was because I had been at my nine, my nine to five job in a way and had gone to the office and hadn’t been traveling as much.

They kind of re, re reminded me of like the people I had met and I was scrolling through my photos and I saw the photo and I said, wow, like, I want to more than anything to just kind of tell her, like, Hey, your conversation in that moment. And like, What we spoke about and how do you make me feel really kind of impacted me.

And I wanted to reach out to her, but I didn’t know how, but I do know I was, I was I’m part of the girls love travel group on Facebook. And I was like, well, maybe I can just post your selfie or selfie there. And somebody will, will, will not her. So I posted it and it did get a lot of attention that I had a lot of people like, Oh, this girl, like, Oh, let’s try to find her.

And the community on there really, really helped me first for her. And within less than a day, they found her and they tagged her. And she, and she reached out to me and we set up a call a whole 24 hours later. And we just caught up and now she was, she was living in Europe. She’s still with the guy that she was telling me about some of the plane ride, which I thought was like, amazing.

So happy it worked out for her. Yeah. And so that was amazing for me. And she was an artist and she was just all really great about it. She’s a good person to know. and we, I, that was the last time I spoke to her, but I feel like with those types of friendships, you know, with those people, you meet, like, you can catch up once a year and just say hi.

And it really doesn’t feel like time with us because when I have spoken to her, it feels like I, we had just, I had just seen her the last week on the plane. So that’s the beauty of the people you do meet abroad that you can get these relationships and get these moments and then breathe, connects. And it’s like, no time has passed.

And then each person is doing their own thing, but you know, at the end of the day, I can just pick her call, call, call her up and just be like, Hey girl, what’s up. Absolutely. That is so cool. I’m so happy with her, her, her man. She’s she seems very, very happy at where she’s at right now. thanks as a bad ass person in general,

Leah Falyn: So fun. Wow. Obviously, you’re in Florida now. So how have you been trying to keep that travel spirit alive during the pandemic?

Estrella:  I actually just quit my job last week and it was, a shift in my mind.

I’ve done a lot of travel, but I want to do something that’s more that’s beyond just my personal travel. And I love helping the clients, but at the same time, I knew that there are things the community is facing right now that I just feel like I want to dedicate my time to whether it’s with marketing or communications.

So I’m, I’m, I shifted it literally industries and I’m looking for something different, but actually part of my, when I quit right now, I actually put the tickets to those to meet that I want next month for a month. And part of that is because I’ve always been either working came or been out, or anytime I go to Nicaragua, it’s only for a few days, days or a week max.

And I really want to reconnect with my family there because I know I can learn so many things well lessons, and I want to see how they, how they can help or how, how I can help them. What’s the best way. So next month, I definitely will be. Hopefully if the pandemic I’ll just be quarantining at my grandparents’ house and trying to learn as much as I can, because I know they have so much wisdom to go.

Leah Falyn: Wow. And that was just last week or a couple of weeks ago?

Estrella: Yeah. Yeah. I had a quarter life crisis. Is, you know, a foreign team has been definitely for me out of the household here. I helped my mom with a bill. I helped my family Nicaragua. And one of the things actually that really bothered me when I traveled is I can’t sometimes truly enjoy the moment because I do know that I’m so lucky to have so many cousins who would have wish they could be where I was.

And every time I posted a picture, I kind of had like a Traveler’s guilt. Just because I’m here. I have the opportunity, thanks to my dad who left, but what about my family who never left her couldn’t leave. So I always think about how I kind of had my fun in a way right now, these last few years, I’m going to these destinations and just kind of being careless and just enjoying the moment.

But now I kind of just want to really. Focused on a career. That’s going to help, first of all, the community here in the United States and further along, or do you want to start a business because I want to provide for my family over there. And the best way to provide is to help them get jobs and kind of build their own resources.

So that’s my main goal. We’ll see how it goes. But honestly, this whole month, the rest of the quarantine is just going to be focused on learning as much as I can. is it, it is within travel kind of, but I’m okay with not being in travel for awhile, just to help where I worked to help, where I’m most needed.

 I still have a lot of really great friends. I met things thankfully in the luxury travel industry, which is the, like I said, it was an industry that I wasn’t expecting to go in. And it was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it really helped me to see the levels. And there’s still kindness in all types, in all levels of the industry, which I really liked.

And I really think that’s because no matter what, at the end of the day, you’re a traveler, whether you’re a backpacker, whether you’re a five star resort person, You’re still a traveler and you’re still exposed to these new cultures and you still need the people, the staff. So I think everybody more open minded in our industry at least.

as far as Aaron story, no, but like I said, I think it’s, for the most part, it’s a chain reaction. You know, you speak to one person, you have a conversation and for you, it could just be, seem like another day, but for that person, you never know what they take from it. So that’s what it was because of that chain reaction.

That Erin kind of started with her conversation. She ultimately led me to give these same types of conversations to other people I’ve met. And I’ve had people reach out to me saying, thank you so much. You’ve motivated me. I’ve gone here now. I remember our conversation. thanks for all the tips you gave me about solo travel and that’s the changing option.

I really enjoy about the most about the travel community. Like getting other people out there. So I think one conversation really just makes it really does make a difference, even if it’s 10, an hour, 10 minutes or an hour long, but that’s, that’s my biggest takeaway from meeting Aaron and reconnecting the digital community.

You don’t really have to be traveling to be connected there. Thankfully, we have such big virtual platforms that really can connect human beings all over. I’m part of girls love travel, but I’m also part of this group called. Yes theory. the other theory family group on Facebook and basically their whole purpose is to seek this comfort to really go for the human.

So once every week I’ll just get on a zoom with random people from all over the world. And they’ll break us out into zoom party, zoom your moms, and you have these really deep conversations with, well, this person you never would have expected. I had last week, I had a conversation with a girl from Guatemala and another girl from Columbia.

And we were talking about our deepest insecurities or life stories within the hour. So those are the types of conversations you can still have without meeting people in person or physically. And that’s kind of the way we have to adapt now in the pandemic and quarantine, if we don’t have to be alone, there’s like I said, there’s still the bridge to the big virtual community, like growth of travel or the yes.

People that, and there’s always people willing to connect. So now when I travel, I actually reach out to the, the, the different groups in different countries. I was actually going to Egypt in March, but the defendant canceled the flight. But before I was going, I had reached out to the group and I reached out to the yes, spam and Egypt. And they had all reached out and they said, yes, we’ll pick you up from the airport.

We’ll take you on the river. We’ll go. Sure. Pyramids. And these, like I said, these people, strangers are just because you never, as strangers can be a friend, you know, any, everybody, every, anybody can turn into fun as you get kind of get to know them. So there’s people willing to pick you up and show you around and show you such a great time without them ever expecting anything or even knowing you to begin with, because it’s just kind of a trust. That you have your part of this group. So I trust you.

It’s really just the power of yes. And getting out of your comfort zone and smiling at people more, a lot of people are more reserved and especially on a plane, I think people kind of think kind of cold on a plane. But it’s just really nice when you smile at the person. Like, I don’t know. I think talking to strangers is very frowned upon, at least, because you don’t know where that person sends is that person at Corona, there’s been a lot of fear instilled now.

And it makes sense because you don’t want to get sick. Hopefully things can the new normal, so like talking to strangers and kind of being open minded about who you come across.

Absolutely. I’m with you there. I hope that doesn’t go away just cause we have a hundred percent. I know. That’s what I think that was my biggest, like for me, my favorite thing is my smile and then I have to cover it up. So I have to try to smize. Right. I know. Yeah. That’s all I have on that.

Leah Falyn: Thanks for listening to this episode of Wander By Proxy, you can follow Estrella’s adventures on Instagram @estrallaq95. Handles are in the show notes. Please consider subscribing to Wander By Proxy to avoid missing another travel story, and follow the Instagram page @wanderbyproxypodcast. Next week, we will be taking a break from the travel stories. Instead, I will be talking with two photographers on how they’re keeping the adventurous spirit alive through their creative outlets. That episode comes out Wednesday, December 2nd.

As Elizabeth Hensley tours the U.S. in her Skoolie, the generosity of strangers inspires her to give it right back. 

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @thelizapproach.

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

Leah: Welcome to Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves and the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn. And today we have Elizabeth Hensley, a writer and editor of Bus Life Adventure, who experienced the generosity of strangers and gave it right back as she toured her Skoolie around the U.S. Here’s Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth: we looked at RVs, we looked at vans, we looked all different sorts of things. a lot of them are very expensive and then we were on Craigslist one day and we fit around a school bus in Florida, which was about. Eight hours from our house and it was on sale for $2,500. So we talked about it and we had looked up different ways that it could be converted.

And we really liked the idea that you can, it was a blank canvas. So you could do anything with it that you would want, unlike an RV, which is pretty much a, a set in floor plan. so I finished up. The year teaching. And I remember at the end of the year, I even told my students, I said, well, you might wonder what’s going to happen to me.

I’m going to be living on a school bus. And I showed them the picture of what we hope to do with it. What was going on and that sort of how this trip started.

Leah: Wow. That’s cool. You said students, are you an educator?

Elizabeth: So I was, I had an assistantship at the time, so I was not only taking classes. And then I was writing my thesis and then I was teaching, for two days a week. So I had all that on my plate. And then I knew for the final semester, which actually happened when, after I was on the road, all I had to do was write my thesis.

 I was, the class was called American identities. And so it was all about looking at race, class, gender, all of these different things for freshmen students. And for me, that was so great because I got to sort of curate the class of, you know, what was really important. And my undergrad was in communication.

So I always wanted to start out with interpersonal communication skills and how that affects your identity. And so. at first I didn’t even have life on my radar at all. It was my partner’s idea to it. It involved in minimalism and downsizing and hitting the road. But I was a little bit resistant because that meant selling like, Almost everything that we owned to do this.

And, but as it got closer and as it became so unclear what the next step was, I started to embrace it. And then it was just really great because I could see a lot of the, the practical things I would tell my students, I was now going to be. Hitting those things head on by traveling and going into communities and seeing what’s really going on on the ground rather than just hearing it on the news every night, which in a lot of ways is kind of scary.

Like they make it pretty scary as far as, you know, what’s going on and what we are always hearing about.

 Leah: Especially for women.  So where was your first stop?

Elizabeth: So our first stop on the bus. And that’s actually where my story comes in is we went from Atlanta, the Atlanta Metro area to Savannah. And I will also say just as a practical tip for nomads, this was really helpful for us. We got memberships with boondockers welcome. And that way you can park on people’s property.

And. They just kind of are open to that. And so we didn’t know what we were doing and where we were going. as far as like staying overnight in the bus. So this was really helpful. And, the person that we ended up meeting her name was Susan. and she’s a retired, peace Corps nurse. And she had lived in Africa and traveled all over the world and she was just super fascinating and super accommodating to us.

Leah: And so that was right off the bat. Great start. where else did you go? No. And did you kind of sense a, a common theme amongst like the people and the strangers you were meeting?

Elizabeth: well, something sort of stood out when we had that first stop. so our first stop was with Susan and outside of Savannah. And we meant to only stay a couple nights with her, but because she was so accommodating and fascinating and she had, she needed some help around her house.

So, me and my partner decided to stay and just work on her house and work on the bus. And she was so a fascinating, and she would always cook for us. And we didn’t know really how to take that because it was our first stop in this lifestyle. We didn’t know we’re taking advantage or what, but she would, in addition to like explaining all of her travel stories, she would say, Well, people along my travels were always so generous to me.

I want to be generous to you and, and you will be able to pay it forward one day. And so that was a big deal for me to just kind of. Put that in my mind, not knowing what this trip was going to be like, but it was also again in contrast to what you hear on the news and what you hear about strangers and things like that, and how close we became in such a small amount of time.

So I that’s something I always kept with me very close and that ended up being a theme throughout our travels.

Leah: I mean, it has to be because a statement like that is so prophetic, you have to like, Almost fulfill it or you a statement like that almost bronze your mind to the possibility that you will also become like one of those well-traveled people that other may be novice travelers will then like, Seek to also become maybe like you viewed Susan as, I don’t know what your travel, so that’s really cool.

And I like that she almost helped you set the stage for the rest of the adventure. So, what else happened along the way?

Elizabeth: So to answer your question about where did we travel? So, because I was working on my schoolwork, I, we stayed. So my school was in Georgia, Metro Atlanta, and then we took off. Then I had to continue writing. And then, I had to come back and defend in the, in Novem, no December. So we stayed on the East coast of the United States and we traveled all the way up to Maine on the coast, which was beautiful.

And then by the time we got to, I mean, it was October and we turned around and we followed the fall. All the way down through like the Shanandoah, like all like kind of inland, we went through Asheville, North Carolina, and then came back. but this was. But along the way, because we were traveling you can’t really high, like maybe in band life, you can hide it and a little bit more, be a little bit more selfie, but in a thirties, four foot long bus that’s painted.

And it says little house in the highway on the back. And there’s, you know, ways for people to find us. We became, pretty comfortable giving tours all the time and just meeting people and always sort of meeting people where they are. And. and that was a theme throughout our, our trip, especially in the early days, going to tiny house shows, inviting people into our home.

And so I think. Susan didn’t really know what she was saying when she first said it or maybe she did, but I didn’t. but that, it was such a theme of this hospitality of meeting people, where they are in the world and in their situations and just being generous, you know, being generous with what we did have, which was time and a new outlook on life, which was to downsize guys and just hit the road.

Leah:  So you would go to tiny home shows and bring your bus and people would. Come in and we like to, or your bus and they maybe want to then do Vanlife themselves.

Elizabeth: Yeah. So over the two years that we did this full time together, we had met people at tiny house shows that said, we’re thinking about getting a bus, or we just looked and got a bus. And then we would actually later in our time, like we would see them in their bus and we would be in tiny house shows together.

So it was, it was this amazing sort of. reciprocity of getting to meet the community and then also, you know, growing the community and just trying to be real stewards of that, because there’s also a stigma of people. Like, I mean, not as much now because it is getting more mainstream, but you know, you, you live in a bus and that’s gonna be a topic of conversation and people are going to bring in what they think that, that looks like or put labels on you.

That. they think are true, but that was also another reason why we did it is because we could be the best people to talk, to speak to that subject, you know, to just be like, Hey, this is what we did. This is why we’re doing it. And it’s super fulfilling and you can do it too. And that was always a big part of, of what we wanted our messaging to be.

even when we were not at tiny house shows like officially showing our home, we would always meet people out there, whether it’s at gas stations or on the street, or they drive by and just see us. But one day there was a woman that came in and we were in a parking lot, like a supermarket parking lot in Maryland.

And. I mean, it wasn’t uncommon for people to wander and just kind of peek in and we’d always just let them in. and just kinda, Hey, what, what’s your story? You know, and she came in and she looked around and then we invited her to sit down and she started crying and she said that she had a really tough day at work.

She was a social worker and she. Had thought about doing this. She had watched things on YouTube or on TV, and she said, she’d never actually met anybody that was doing it. And because she was here, even though it was just a random parking lot in Maryland. And we were, had happened to be there that now she knew it was possible because she could meet us and see that we were okay.

And that we were doing it. And that, we could answer a lot of her questions as well.

Leah: That’s a really great impression, too. What do you think can help people kind of overcome their fears and how can people maybe test their agency a little bit more?

Elizabeth: Yes. So I, like I said earlier, I didn’t imagine that this was even a lifestyle that I was going to actually take on until it was happening until we found the bus until we were like, okay. But it’s a process. I think that. When people would meet us on the road, they would look at what we did and they’d see it as a very physical process.

Like, Oh, you took this bus, you physically turned it into something else. And now you’re physically traveling somewhere, but I will tell you that it is like way more psychological of a process. And so I think just getting ready for that. If you can train your mind, if you can be open to something that you didn’t expect,  Like you have to sort of imagine what your life is going to look like and then create the life that works for you. You know, because we did have a lot of choices along the way. And so we were able to say like, okay, this is going to work for us.

This is not. but yeah, I definitely think just preparing psychologically. And curating the life that you want to live within that.

 we downsized from, and I think this is important that we love. California. So I’m originally from California was going to school out here, went to grad school in Georgia and out there it’s cheaper. So when we first moved out there, be like two years before the bus, we had a night.

Oh, Mike, really kind of like the quote unquote American dream where it’s like. You know, more space than you need the two car garage, all of that, that stuff. And we found that it was almost isolating. Like we didn’t have that many people over there. We didn’t really know our neighbors well, and it wasn’t as fulfilling as.

A lot of people make it out to be, or are maybe it’s just that that’s the benchmark is where you want to be. But once we started downsizing and once we got the bus and that’s when we stopped, we were meeting our neighbors. We became like the focal point of the neighborhood, like, Oh, what are they doing today?

we sold a lot of our stuff on Facebook marketplace. So even though we. Left here to be part of like another community. We didn’t actually feel that sense of community until we started sloughing it off and getting it away from that and getting onto the bus.

Leah: How did you build that community?

Elizabeth: it started just by being really open because it’s such a big icebreaker, like even before we were living on the bus, but you just say that to somebody and all of a sudden they start. Telling you about themselves, because I think what I realized out of this whole trip and this experience is that it wasn’t about us in the bus anymore.

It was about. Other people on how it affected them and being there for them so that they could share that experience in a really authentic way and hearing that and listening to that, we would hear people that all, they wanted a bus because maybe they were in there fifties or sixties, and they wanted to go and do it in the sixties, but their parents wouldn’t let them do it.

And now they want to do it. Or they are just. Telling us that this is the lifestyle they’ve always wanted to live, but they never knew how to do it or, that they just can’t do it. And so it’s being there for people to let it be about them. , has been, just really edgy, like a big education for me in this process.

Leah: I like what you’re saying about how your experience almost became about sharing it with others.

how did little house on the highway come up?

Elizabeth: So this came up really early on as we were, actually. Grinding rust out of the bus I’m in front of our house. And I was thinking, it just occurred to me that we were actually homesteading, that we were building our own house. We had rented a house where we were moving out of, but this was something completely different.

And for me as a writer and as someone that’s always interested in literature and American culture, Of course, the Laura Ingalls Wilder books came into mind, the little house on the Prairie books, and then it was, it just kind of went from there. It was sort of an ode to that, but then of course, a little bit different as we were homesteading in a mobile space.

so overall and little house on the highway, we traveled for two years and went to 47 States and. Traveled about 30,000 miles, but we ended up back on the West coast right before, the pandemic began and we were at a tiny house show in San Diego. And that was sort of, it felt like it was such the golden age because we had so many people, like, we love the community.

We had so many people in our bus that weekend and just really good vibes. It was like a really nice way to be, To have that last memory before everything changed. And so since that happened, we came back to my family’s house in, orange County and stayed here. On the street, which was something we didn’t expect.

It’s always hard to park, especially in California, but we were here for about five months. And within that time, just my priorities really rearranged. My mom is older and she has. lung lung issues and issues, and a lot of health issues though. I know now that it’s, it’s a good time for me to stay here and, but we try to stay up with little hospital highway by doing, we did a T shirt fundraiser for the United way, orange County, and we just try to, you know, stay active with the community as much as we could even.

So that travel was kind of out of the question.

as I mentioned, I’m going through a really big transition in my life and I love that this every pretty much anybody else that’s reached out has been about, Oh, best life couple. And how do you, both of you and dah, dah, dah.

And I felt like this was like a really nice reminder of, of. You know, women’s stories and focusing on women’s stories was really, definitely something that stood out to me. And I want to thank you for that, because it also reminded me that even though we did it through a partnership, that this was also a, solo expense for me as well.

Leah: Thanks for listening to this episode of Wander By Proxy. You can follow Elizabeth’s adventures on Instagram @thelizapproach and @littlehouseonthehwy. Links will be in the show notes. Don’t forget to rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy and follow on Instagram  @wanderbyproxypodcast. 

Melissa goes on her first solo trip hiking in British Columbia, where she learns to trust her instincts and find solace in solitude. 

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @miss.rover. Check out her travel blog at www.missrover.com. 

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy wherever you listen! 

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Twitter @wanderbyproxy
• Pinterest www.pinterest.com/wanderbyproxypodcast 

Do you have a travel story that changed your perspective? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Leah Falyn

Transcription:

(Intro quote) Melissa: Instantly, as soon as I checked the weather and saw that like severe thunderstorms rolling in, it just started down pouring. So I just like threw everything in my bag. Just started basically running down the trail.

Leah: Welcome to Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves in the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn. And today we have Melissa Miller, who jped hurdle after hurdle to get to British Colbia. Here’s Melissa. 

Melissa: So I decided to move to Alaska. , On this trip, my ex was supposed to come with me. He broke up with me, like, I think it was like two weeks before we were going to leave together. So that was the first thing. So then I frantically just started reaching out to people on Instagram, like, Hey, do you want to come backpacking with me?

I’m going to Alaska. Like how much of this journey do you want to come with me on? Like, I was just so. I feel like I got caught up and just like, I can’t do this alone. Like, why would I do this alone? And just started frantically yeah. Reaching out to people. So I was able to get my friend to commit, I thought to this.

 so it was a one nighter planned. , we had one planned for like just North of Vancouver, British Colbia, like the tunnel Bluffs. And then the next night we were going to do Garibaldi Lake, which is pretty popular. There’s Panorama Ridge up there that everyone goes to like so many viral pictures of that.

So it, yeah, it’s very popular, definitely needed permits.

So I got the permit, all this, , ah, got it ready. And the day I was heading up they’re from Seattle. She just was totally nonresponsive on the phone,

which kind of made me panic, but I was like, Oh, it’s okay. Like I’ll get into Canada. And then, you know, just kind of wait and see if she responds and nothing. So the first backpacking trip I did alone and it was fine and I didn’t sleep at all. But then this, the story I want to tell is for actually the second night of backpacking solo, which was a more intense hike.

The first one wasn’t that big of a deal. This next one, Garibaldi Lake was it’s like seven miles in 3,300 elevation gain. I had to, I had to look it up cause I couldn’t remember if I was just making it up in my mind that it was difficult or if it was actually kind of difficult. And I think 3,300 feet elevation gain is decent.

And it’s, it’s interesting because before all this, before I left to go to Alaska, I was starting to compile stories from other women that had traveled solo. I wanted to make this like magazine spread of these women that had traveled solo and did all these cool things. And I had never traveled solo.

So it was kind of like, it felt like the universe was like, ha ha you will. , so yeah, I got to the trail head packing up and just instance what, like it, they don’t mess around on that trail. It’s just like instant elevation. There’s, you know, normal chatty old men that felt like they needed to converse.

So I was trying to either speed up or go slow, but I did to camp, I set up and I rest for a bit and make dinner. And I decide since I was feeling all energized and empowered, backpacking solo for the second night in a row that I was going to go hike to Panorama Ridge and try to get pictures for my blog and for Instagram.

Do it kind of do it? No, I it’s. It’s actually hilarious. Cause I have zero pictures from this trip. I really get into that. So this from the camp spot, so seven miles up to the camp and then to Panorama Ridge, it was another four miles and 2000 elevation gain. So I started, I like timed it out.

I was like, all right. Sunset will be around this time. So if I get there like this, look, it’d be more time. You know, I just planned out at the time and left and, , I brought my tripod and my camera and it was gorgeous. But as soon as I hit, like, I think I was a mile and a half or two miles. And I realized, yeah, like, no one CA like hiking towards the same destination as me, everyone was coming back from it.

I was like, okay, that’s fine. Like, they just. They wouldn’t need to get back or maybe they were just day hiking. It’s fine. , I’m trudging along and it’s like, there’s no one out there. And it was kind of just, it looked like bear country too. It was just like, you know how some places just like, it just looks like bears live there.

 This was one of those places. , aye. I, so my tripod turns out. Is too lightweight for my camera. I had like a new camera. It was a Canon add and it was it’s big. So this camera, this tripod was designed for like a small camera. And as soon as I put my camera on it just like fell and broke. So there were no, yes.

I couldn’t get any photos, like, unless I propped like it on a rock, but there were no rocks. Like it was just miserable. I was like, all right, this is not for photo content. So I put my camera in my bag. I did like a lot nose, like a half a mile from this viewpoint. And I don’t know, like if the listeners are familiar with Panorama Ridge, but you Google it, it’s like, You did up to this top viewpoint and it’s just sweeping views of mountains and the water below.

So it’s like this really blue water and like snowcap mountains, it’s breathtaking. I think photos that I’ve seen. So I’m a half a mile from the viewpoint and I just start seeing these dark clouds, like really quickly rolling in. So I pull out my. Little Garmin GPS and I do is like, cause I just got this, this Garmin.

So I was like, Ooh, fancy. I will check the weather on my Garmin and yeah. Extreme thunderstorms. , which I like, I’m a pretty. Type a like prepared person. So like I had checked the weather before and it was smer. Like it had been really hot and warm and dry. And so I just, honestly didn’t really even think about like rain, like rain gear at all.

Like I didn’t have it jacket on me. I didn’t have sly for my backpack with my camera. Like I didn’t have. Anything. And it was like instantly, as soon as I checked the weather and saw that like severe thunderstorms rolling in, it just started down pouring. So I just like threw everything in my bag. Just started like running, basically running down the trail.

Cause I, my camera’s in my bag. I have no waterproof care and I knew I had like three and a half miles to get back to my tent. Thank goodness. I was smart enough to put up my rain fly on my tent before leaving. That would have been anyway. So running down the trail, I think it was like a half a mile into my frantic, like rain running that I’m like, wait, what if I startled a bear violet running up onto them.

So that that’s what started going through my brain. So it was like, okay, I need to be. Loud and alert the bears of my presence, my very distressed presence. So I’m pretty sure I was trying to think today of what songs I ended up singing. I honestly think the Sylvan Esso die young song was like the first one that popped into my head.

, Yeah, right. Some others that were nicer were like Maggie Rogers, Alaska, I think towards the end of my, just like I was just so exhausted and like frantic, it turns into more like alt J style where I’m just like rambling jibberish.

Leah: I can actually see that that seems like a perfect fit.

Melissa: Oh my gosh. There was even like an outhouse. I think it was like two miles down that I was eyeing and I stopped for a moment.

It was like, should I just like hide out in this outhouse for a minute? And I think I got close enough to it where I like caught a whip and I was like, Nope, I’m just gonna going to face my destiny here. And my fate and keep going. So, yeah, I made it back camp with no pictures and I got into my tent and it was still just down pouring.

And I just remember getting in there and was soaked and just started lying, laughing hysterically. But there was no one there to judge. There was no, like, you couldn’t hear me, even if there were like, the brain was still loud and. Yeah, it, I think it was just like that whole trip. Wasn’t about like, making sure someone else had a good time.

It wasn’t about it. Well, it started off, you know, like, Oh, I could create some social media content here, but quickly became not that. And then it was just me and my thoughts and making myself laugh and being, yeah.

Leah: you said something about like, , that’s the day you started trusting yourself. How about if you could go into that a little bit more?

Melissa: Yeah. So I  just, up to this point, I was. Collaborating with so many people. And I was honestly just never really alone. Like I never had spent much time alone leading up to like my breakup and leaving Seattle, like my friend group. So just like, I mean, one just being alone with like my own thoughts and like having to reflect on everything in my life was like, that was a big moment for me.

And then. Just throughout that whole experience of like making it down this mountain alive. And, you know, I was, yes. Maybe I was a little overdramatic. Yeah. But like, this was my second night packing, solo something. I thought I was never going to do like that near something, you know, I thought it was like maybe after another year of backpacking, like with friends, maybe I’ll do it, but.

Just being  forced into it and doing it anyway, even though I was terrified,  I learned to rely on myself and it  pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could do, , what I was capable of. So I think that day I really learned to trust myself and trust what I was capable of.

Leah: That’s awesome. And what you were saying about being alone almost reminds me about what a, myself included in. Probably a lot of other people went through with quarantine, whereas like, I just had a full calendar January and February, and then all that went away. And regardless of if you have social connections around, you’re just saying like, Oh wow, it’s just me here.

  do you think you’re an extrovert or an introvert?

Melissa: So like that was at my height of like extroversion. I was like networking so religiously. , but I feel like. That experience and starting to backpack solo and spend time on the road solo. Like it made me honestly more of like an ambivert that like, up until that I would have totally claimed extrovert, but finally having time to myself and realizing the value of that, like made me crave it more and kind of, I still to this day, like want to spend more time alone.

So now I’m claiming ambiverts.

Leah: I am with you a hundred percent. So what have you, what have you taken from that day? Even that night, where you were running by yourself down a Hill singing songs for your life, you thought at least which I completely understand.

, what did you take. From that from moving forward the next day, even.

Melissa: Yeah. I mean, it was just like the rest of my road trips seemed less scary. Like just adventures in general by myself. Like it was something I always told myself I would do like, Oh, I’m not gonna. You know, not do something just because someone can’t come with me. Like, I don’t want my life to be controlled that way, but yet my life was controlled that way up until this point.

Like I always had to find someone to go with me. So I really just think like that self reliance and self trust was just, Oh, it’s priceless.

Leah: Okay, You live in Eureka, California, which is really coincidental because I. I’ve been working remotely for two and a half years. And for about a year and a half of that, I was just jping around the United States for every three months.

Pretty much. So one of those three months slots was me in Eureka, California in it I’ve been daydreaming about it ever since, not specifically Eureka, maybe, but like just the parks, just like this crazy adventure. 30 to even 10 minutes away is amazing. And I’ve just been daydreaming about it all through quarantine because in my head it’s the most perfect place to be one of them anyway.

And I just think it’s so funny that you’re there.

Melissa: That is so amazing. I mean, yeah. Eureka has the redwoods, the dunes, the coast, like the mountains are not that far away. So, so lucky.

Leah: It’s amazing, like red, I just driving through Eureka redwoods in people’s yards, which

Melissa: Oh, I know.

Leah: blows my mind.  I’m back in Minneapolis now. And the trees are just so subpar to me even like a more a year and a half later. , so I think that’s awesome. What have you been doing to keep the adventurous spirit alive?

Melissa: Yeah. So, I mean, since I’ve only been in Eureka since February, I mean, all of this is pretty new for me. So local exploring hasn’t been a problem for me because it’s all brand new, beautiful. I mean the redwoods, but also like packing up the car and going out East to the rivers spots like exploring locally, making sure I’m not acting in a communities by just in it, in the car.

It’s adventurous and it’s, it’s, it gets me out exploring.

Leah: Thank you for listening to this episode of Wander By Proxy, you can check out Melissa’s travel www.missrover.com and follow her beautiful adventures on Instagram at
@miss.rover. If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and review wherever you’re listening! To see guest photos and episode recaps, follow Wander By Proxy on Instagram or Facebook. 

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Excerpt from the Inspired Influencers article:

Wander By Proxy brings stories from women who share their priceless experiences collected while traveling—moments where, while they left the safety of home, they suddenly felt more connected to themselves, the people around them, and the world. When women exercise their power through travel, chances are they’ve recaptured something in themselves or have discovered something completely new.

Leah Falyn is a lifelong storyteller and story consumer of many forms. With a career background in broadcast journalism, copywriting, and public relations, and a personal background of being a lifelong reader, writer, and traveler, her skills collected to form the creation of Wander By Proxy. As an Enneagram type 7, Leah is always eager to hear new ideas and stories that provide a thrill for both her and her listeners. She’s always keeping the adventurous spirit alive, and her podcast is one of her chosen creative outlets.

Sara and her partner go on a trip to Chile to explore, but the local protests spark compassion, reflection, and so much more. 

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @planetwithsara. Check out her blog of travel itineraries and inspiration at planetwithsara.com.

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

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Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

leah: Welcome to Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves and the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn and today we’ll be hearing from Sarah, who went to Chile with her partner to hike Patagonia but found that her trip would entail much more. Here’s Sarah. 

Sara: my partner, Ryan and I have been traveling internationally together since 2012 every year, we would say. Typically pick a new country and a new state in the United States to travel to. And so each year it just kind of became part of our routine and we really got to expand our travel significantly when we moved abroad to London for two years and did a lot of travel around Europe and Africa in the middle East.

And so when we returned to the United States in 2018, we wanted to focus more on visiting countries that were North and South of us here in America. So largely focused on South America. So in 2019, we had the chance to back off about three weeks from work and take a trip down to Chile. And the main motivation for choosing chili was to go hiking in Patagonia.

And then a couple of bonus sites that we wanted to check out was exploring around Santiago and then the desert of Tacoma.

 So Chile has a lot of income inequality, similar to many parts of the world. And so there are people who are at the upper income that holds a lot of the power and a lot of the money. And then there’s a much larger base I’m kind of at the bottom of the income scale. And so there was already a lot of frustration building at that lower level.

And in October of 2019, the government had announced that there would be a 4 cent increase in the public. Subway fare. And that was really the spark that started a whole bunch of protests. And a lot of people came out to protest around the city and the subways, and, , it really ignited. And we thought by watching the news that it would be something shorter term.

But it continued pretty extensively through the month of October and into November. And we felt a little helpless because all we could really do was check the news, , and, and see what was happening. And it was hard to get a read for how it actually felt on the ground, but we did our best to stay really connected, , to what was happening.

So did you guys have to walk everywhere? How did you guys get around? What’d you guys get to see.

So we really per sure, , To get around by public transportation. When we travel abroad, it really helps us get a sense of what it’s like to live in that country. And we get to know people a little bit better that way, too, because we can strike up conversation and just kind of really integrate more into the local lifestyle.

And so we knew when we went to Chile that we would want to walk around and it would have been nice to take the subway and take more of the public transportation modes. But when we ultimately made the choice to still go to Chile, even though the entire country was largely in this civil unrest, we knew we might have to take more private, , like taxis or.

Uber operates there, but really unofficially. , and so we knew we’d have to look more for more options beyond just the typical walking around and subway.

leah: Okay. It’s funny that you say that because when I was in Rome, my first time traveling abroad, I went to Italy and a similar thing happened. There were a ton of protests going on. They shut down the public transit. And, , my friends and I, we had to walk everywhere, so we’d walk hours to get to the Colosseum and to Vatican City, but it was almost kind of more fun that way, because it was a walking tour of the city.

It ended up being a fantastic way to experience the whole city. What was your experience in that way?  

Sara: yeah, still, we, , we had. Stay on top of what the situation was because people were protesting in pockets throughout the city. And, , we wanted to try and stay as safe as possible. So, , there were subway lines that were still running. So we actually did take the subway in some cases, although it felt very empty in general and.

The rest of the time we would walk. And as you mentioned, it would be pretty extensive. Some days we would cover over 10 miles of walking, but it really didn’t help us get to see the city. And then, , one day we took the subway down into kind of the heart of the city in Santiago, and we try to stay on top of if there were going to be any potential protests, we didn’t really have an indication that there would be that day.

And so we had gone into one of the art muses. And by the time we came out, the protests were really starting to ramp up such that they had shut down the subway. And ultimately we had to walk all the way back to our hotel, which was just fine. But the route back to the hotel was actually through. Groups of protesters and people were coming out, , in large massive groups.

And the way that the government was handling the protest, there was by using tear gas and, , when drives through and kind of these big military vehicles. And so it was actually extremely intimidating in that moment, walking through tear gas, walking through. , largely peaceful protesters, but it was still intimidating just because it was a large crowd.

And by the time we got back and kind of out of that, , central protest area, it took us a little bit of time just to decompress, , because we had never really been in a situation like that before.

leah: I’m sure it did. Did you participate in the protests? 

Sara: We did not, we didn’t feel like it was our place because we weren’t really a part of, kind of the broader implications of what were happening. And so we were more observers and we were able to see the protesters and the signs that they were holding. And, , You know, thankfully we weren’t there when there was much destruction, but we did see the leftover effect of a lot of graffiti and a lot of shops that had been broken.

So there was glass in a lot of places and, , a lot of signs that had been put out. So we saw a lot of the after effects of it. And we’re able to just really observe and kind of take in what, what the protesters messages were.

leah: what about that experience? Did you bring home with you? Anything.

Sara: Certainly it’s that will stay with me forever. And just hearing, you know, largely in the crowds, there was kind of a. A way that people would honk their horns or a lot of people were wearing whistles and they would whistle a certain cadence of sound. And that will stay with me probably forever, just because it was such an intense moment to be a part of.

And as Ryan and I were reflecting on the situation, we kept thinking, well, what would, what would cause something like that to happen in the United States? Because there are places here where there. It’s certainly large income inequalities. There are other types of Sydney qualities. And so for us, it was more just like, there is a very fine line for what might spark protests like that to happen.

And so we thought, could it be here because there are certainly many different inequalities could constant thing like that to happen.

leah:  what kind of opened your eyes after that experience? Just about society and, , kind of voicing opinions and doing what people think would be right.

Sara: Yeah, I think, you know, something that was really eye opening for me, there was. From where we are in the United States of 4 cent increase does not feel very significant, but being aware of that, there are different purposes and people in different situations that even if something doesn’t feel significant to you personally, or you may not be affected by it, there are many people out there that are affected by different.

, issues and different implications in society. And so being more aware, more compassionate, more understanding of other people and their situations has been something that was very eye opening from our time in Chile and has carried forward to back here in Minneapolis, where we’re learning and reading and trying to figure out ways to get more involved so that we learn and understand more, both, , What’s happening in society at large, but also for our neighbors in particular and what their life experiences are like so that we can be more supportive of them and make sure that there’s not such disparity, that people feel just totally, , like society is against them, because if they do, then you see situations play out like they have here.

leah: What have you been doing to get through social distancing and to keep the adventurous spirit alive? 

Sara: Great question. There are certainly many challenges right now in maintaining that adventurous spirit. So, , what my partner and I have been doing as a lot of day trips and trying to do more active day trips, then we’ll go biking or hiking. , most recently we were up in Kiruna, Minnesota, where we went mountain biking and paddle boarding.

And all of those activities are largely ways is that you can stay away from other people, but still have the sense of adventure. And despite living in Minnesota for the majority of my life, there are so many places that I haven’t, and so planning these day trips, , and in some cases, an overnight trip, if we’re able to stay somewhere that we feel like has proper cleaning protocol and it enables us to maintain our distance.

Has been a great way for us to maintain that spirit and also check off places that we’ve been meaning to get to, but like most people in the last place that you typically travel is where you’re from. So it’s been a great time to check off those places from our list.

leah: That’s so fun. I love that. And I’ve been trying to kind of do that too. I have a little Minnesota bucket list and I’m checking things off each weekend and it’s, it’s all good. You can really do so.

Sara: I love it. Yes. And sometimes like, you can be really surprised by just the beauty or the excitement of activities here sometimes again, like you just think I want to go on a big adventure. Let me get on an airplane for. 12 plus hours. That’ll take me to the other side of the world, but sometimes you can maintain or emulate that same sense of adventure in your own backyard.

leah: Absolutely. What advice would you give to women who want to adventure? Through as a local.

Sara: I would say research different activities that you’re interested in and where parts of. Your community or state or nearby cities, half those activities, and then go out and have it again. Sure. So I really love biking. I’ve been exploring a ton of new biking trails this smer. That I can just bike to from where we live, but also we’ll, we’ll drive a little ways so that we can explore new bike paths.

So taking something that you’re passionate about and then finding new places to do that I think is a great way for women to get out and explore, especially right now.

 leah: Thank you for listening to the 10th episode of Wander By Proxy, you can check out Sarah’s adventures at planetwithsarah.com for travel itineraries and inspiration. Links will be in the show notes. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to Wander By Proxy for bi-weekly travel stories.

About this episode:

In the thick of her ongoing battle with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Jenna Z climbed out her window barefoot and road tripped across the country to seek chronic wellness and peace of mind.

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @highspiritsjourney.

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Twitter @wanderbyproxy
• YouTube

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

Leah Falyn: Welcome to season two of Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves in the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn and today we’ll hear from Jenna Z. She lives in a converted school bus in Colorado. But before that, she took the ride of her life in the thick of her battle with Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Here’s Jenna. 

Jenna Z: Ehlers Danlos syndrome is a genetic connective tissue disorder and it affects like, All of the systems of my body. So my joints can dislocate very easily. I have digestive problems from it. I can faint because of it because it affects the veins and the valves and everything. That’s the main thing is a lot of chronic pain is something that I have to deal with all the time.

And a lot of sensitivities to life itself, it seems like. , and I was only diagnosed with that fairly recently, about five years ago, but I’ve been dealing with the symptoms for about half of my life now.

there was so many years of seeing all sorts of doctors and specialists and just people shrugging their shoulders and saying, we did the same test that we already did on you. And we didn’t find anything. So it must be stressed.

It’s like, yeah, I’m stressed because I’m miserably sick and nobody’s. Doing anything significant to help me. So, yeah, that, that was a really big thing in my life for a long time. It still is. But, , having a diagnosis doesn’t change anything other than like a confirmation that I’m not crazy. And my body is actually doing all of these really strange things.

 at the end of 2017, , like November, December, I started getting really, really sick and with my health conditions, as they are having these chronic health problems, , I have auto immune issues. And when I get sick, I get really sick. So the end of 2017, I was having these seizure like episodes and excruciating pain and loss of function of my limbs and my body.

And it just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse. , There was months of this, where I was completely bedridden. , and I was disoriented. I was confused as an excruciating pain. Nobody could figure out what was wrong and it was a mess. It was a very stressful mess for everyone involved. Everyone who’s caring for me, everyone who cared for me and just.

Existence itself was nuts.

  so I had written some journal entries after I left and a piece that really stuck out to me. I wrote I’m so disoriented. So confused. Why am I doing this? Why am I doing it alone? Because I have to, because I must follow this path where it leads me. I can no longer be influenced by the minds of others.

This is my journey. I parked my car outside of a Walmart in rural Pennsylvania, got out and shakily painfully stood on my own two feet for the first time in a long time. It’s not just a metaphor. I was quite literally bedridden for four whole months proceeding this moment, having to slowly and painfully watch as my body disintegrated before me and my soul tried to shrivel up and die.

I don’t know what exactly came over me, but fueled with adrenaline. I left the place where I was being cared for and took off on a ride from my life across the country. The mantra that stuck with me was I have to have things to look forward to. So I’ll keep moving forward. I did, I found so many things to look forward to.

I found help from friends and strangers alike. I found something within myself, but I had already lost, I found peace on the road and I witnessed some of the most beautiful parts of what it means to be a han on this earth. And if you had told me any of this was possible, while I cried out in agony on a foam mat on the floor a few weeks prior, I might not have heard you.

And most certainly would not have believed you. This trip was a lesson in trust, trusting myself to get through whatever came my way. I trusted my intuition to get out of a place where I was being covertly abused, and so much healing was possible in that space. I found. Driving alone, down a seemingly endless highway.

Leah Falyn: Wow. I want to know more.  so the right of your life, where was your first stop and where did you go from there?

Jenna Z: my first stop was.  that Walmart in rural Pennsylvania, , my, my Oregon’s, it felt like they were crushing under their own weight. And I taught myself to drive with my left foot because the right one stopped working.  and I was headed West.  , so I spent a night in Pennsylvania in a hotel. And from there I saw a snow storm was blowing in soon.

So I left the next day, drove for nine hours through Ohio in Indiana and arrived in Chicago for the night. On my way there, I had remembered a friend flesh acquaintance, who I had met when I was living in Miami, whose mom was a doctor in Chicago. And I reached out to them and was able to get in contact with dr.

Isabelle. She’s just this magical healing woman. And. She agreed to meet me. When I got out there, she came to the hotel where I finally made it after all sorts of loop dealers and potholes and weird Chicago roads. She came to the hotel that night, took one, look at me and said, you’re not going anywhere.

I’m going to treat you. And I wound up spending close to three weeks in Chicago, , getting all sorts of treatment, like cold laser therapy and acupuncture, , after receiving acupuncture from one of her, her own acupuncturists, , it was a six hour session and. I went in all twisted up with my legs, like this purplish blue color.

And when it was done, my legs were peach colored. And like, I felt like I was a corpse reanimating back to life. It, it was, it was wild. And I really like for the first time, got to recognize these really powerful female healers.

I felt a lot less alone.

There was the four months on a foam mat on the floor in excruciating pain. , my partner at the time was with me day in and day out, not taking any breaks and my family was trying to be supportive, but also just dealing with the stress of the whole situation and their own various strange ways.

, and my partner just hit a breaking point and, , he, he got violent and then he left and I was there, left with my mom and her friend taken care of me who were in their own space and need appealing. And, , I just knew that I needed to go. Aye. Aye. I felt like there was nothing left. I was absolutely ready to die. And I’m an old friend who lives in Portland now reached out to me out to me, kind of out of the blue. On the same night that I was trying to end things and he told me, come out here, I’ve got you just get here and I’ll do what I can to help you.

And next day I climbed out of the very low window. And left with no shoes and the spare key to my car.

Leah Falyn: Wow. What a way to get away from your situation. And how does your dog factor into your life? 

Jenna Z: she plays a huge factor in my wellbeing. Just overall. She’s. Trained as my service dog. So she creates so much more freedom for me to be able to go for a hike and have it just be the two of us and not have to worry that what if something happens and I’m alone.

Cause I know that she’s there and she knows what to do in case I faint or have another emergency, she can help me up. She can try to wake me up. She can go get help. And just knowing that she’s there really, really helps to allow for that freedom to move around and just be in my life without eating another person to do it.

Leah Falyn: That is powerful and a great companion.  So tell me about your school bus a little bit.

Jenna Z:  Three years ago, this August marks three years was just insulation and flooring and nothing else futon on the floor seems to be, yeah, a theme. So I’ve been living in it for about three years now and it’s come a really long way. I’ve taught myself how to run electrical and I put in a solar system.

I taught myself the basics of plbing and I have water tanks and running water. I’ve been learning carpentry. I’ve been working on cabinets in there.

After I left Chicago. , I was still very weak and still in a lot of pain. , my brain was still swollen from encephalitis. That was what had actually caused that long spell of being bedridden and in such a messed up state. , after I left Chicago, I was just a little bit physically and mentally better and able to really start to be present with myself and what was going on.

And there’s this moment driving through Iowa of all places. There’s all these places. And in the United States that we just like breeze right over, don’t even think about, but like actually being there. There’s this magic in the land. And like Iowa was just so pretty. It was like this, this patchwork of these farms that are all trellised around the Hills and everything was this fresh green of early spring.

And the clouds relieving these great little abstract shadows scattered across the landscape. And I remember just like bursting out in laughter and happiness and like really feeling like, wow, like I’m here.

So I, after I drove through Iowa and Nebraska, I wound up in Colorado and stayed with a friend in their apartment for about two months. And did a lot of killing them, spent a lot of days just sitting in Barnes and noble reading books too, and two months.  Then I continued my way West and got to see a little bit of Utah, which was another one of those places to me like Iowa, where it’s just like, Whoa, where did this come from?

Like this Utah was just. Wild. Like I had no idea to expect that kind of landscape and this almost like a spiritual feeling that comes with the lands and how ancient all those geologic features are. Mmm. And all this time I was, I was walking with a cane still. But a friend of mine took me camping for a weekend and we went to Bryce Canyon and I got to see the hoodoos up close, like just hobbling, very, very slowly down.

And from there I made my way out to Portland. I spent, , two or three weeks out in Portland and. Did a lot of like just walking around parks and trying to do what I could to continue strengthening my body and to get back to being able to move again. , from there I went North and visited a friend in Washington and then to Montana and spent another week or two with a friend who’s out there.

And from there made my way. Back down to Colorado. And then I flew back to New York where my bus was at the time, my bus and my dog and my partner. And we all drove the bus back out to Colorado in September of 2018. So I’ve been in Denver since then in and around Denver since then.

Leah Falyn: What have you learned from that? And what have you taken into your present situation or your current mindset?

Jenna Z: I learned that things will always work out and regardless of what we had in mind, things will always work out. , I learned that there’s a lot of kindness in the world, especially from strangers. There’s a lot of weirdness too, but predominantly kindness and that by allowing myself to be vulnerable and to be open to sharing what’s going on for me, that.

It resonates with a lot of other people too. And it, it opens up a deeper level of connection and communication and understanding between people. And a lot of people are going through things that they think nobody else is, or nobody else would understand. And just by opening up it. It reminds me and it reminds us that we’re not alone in whatever we’re going through.

Leah Falyn: Thank you for listening to Wander By Proxy, you can check out Jenna’s school bus adventures on Instagram @highspiritsjourney. The tag is in the show notes. Don’t forget to subscribe, to Wander By Proxy. We have an amazing lineup of travelers coming every other Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.

Suddenly, I’m craving the sound of an unruly child on an airplane. Give me that window seat.

Fortunately, I’ve been cooking up season 2 of Wander By Proxy! Digging into travel stories through this podcast with amazing travelers, as well as reflecting on my own experiences, has been such a fun way to keep my adventurous spirit alive.

Season 2 Episode 9 will be released bright and early Wednesday, August 26 and episodes will continue to roll out every other Wednesday. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts—and don’t forget to rate and review! Follow on Instagram or your preferred social media platform to see extra images from Wander By Proxy’s guests (especially if beautiful views are your love language).

The upcoming lineup of travelers are fantastic—I can’t wait to help share their stories. In the meantime, past episodes are available to spark the explorer in everyone. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Leah Falyn

About this episode:

Note from Leah: This is the season one finale of Wander By Proxy! Thank you so much for listening and sharing the podcast with your loved ones. The stories will return in August! 

Stephanie James, a poet and singer, shares how working remotely has given her the freedom to share her poetry around the world. 

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @justavessel22 and visit her website justavesselpoetry.com. 

Rate and subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Twitter @wanderbyproxy
• YouTube

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription of this episode:

Stephanie: When you’re able to appreciate the differences in religion and culture in love in life and every aspect of life, It opens you up and widens your horizons, right? That’s why, when people say like travel was the only thing that you can spend money on, that makes you richer.

Leah: Welcome to the season finale of Wander By Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves and the world around them. I’m Leah Falyn, and today we have Stephanie, who’s a full-time digital nomad, but it’s her poetry that has taken her around the world. Here’s Stephanie. 

Stephanie: I was working for a fortune 50 company and I started to travel and I went to Greece and I went to Italy and I just started to have like this instinctual desire to travel.

So I was like, I have to do something different.  so I started looking up please like wait jobs that you can travel with. Ways that I could travel full time.  so I was, Accepted into this group and the group was going to 12 countries and in 12 months, and I was accepted into it. I was super excited.

I was trying to get my company to allow me to work remotely.  but they couldn’t at the time. It just wasn’t progressive enough at the time for that. So I ended up quitting my job and. Going with the group, in the first place that we stopped at was Quito Ecuador. So that was like the very first country on my, my travels on my journey.

So in 2017 I visited 18 countries.  and to date, I’ve been to 38 countries and counting.

 Leah:  What kind of things did you see in Ecuador and what was like the most memorable thing?

Stephanie:  Yeah, for sure. I mean, Ecuador is a really interesting, country, just because the people are very, very suspicious. So you have to build rapport, but relationships with them before they kind of like open up and let you in.

So that was a fun challenge.  just to start and. One of the most memorable experiences was going to kill it SOA, which is a massive Lake near where the indigenous people of Ecuador live. And they typically don’t allow outsiders to come see their city or their homes.  but luckily one of our tour guides, he had a friend that was an indigenous family and they made a deal with him that.

If the tourists, if the tourists provide like, you know, a small donation, we would be able to come and visit the home.  so, you know, w once we saw Kyla SOA, which was an amazing experience, we, we stopped at the indigenous, Ecuadorian family’s home. And it was so by changing to say the least, when you walk up to the front door, there’s like 150 Guinea pigs that greet you at the door.

And, Guinea pigs are actually a cuisine. They’re a delicate delicacy in Ecuador. So they sell them, for consumption, but they also had them in their homes as a source of,  heat. So they lived in a very small shack and the Guinea pigs, like. Ran at the bottom. And they kind of lived at the bottom of the home and that was like for body heat and to keep the home very warm.

 so that was just a humbling experience in and of itself. And it, it was interesting because a lot of us were like, wow, you know, they don’t have much. And. Almost feeling sorry, you know, for the family and the, our tour guide said, you know, they actually feel sorry for you all, because you have so many things and you don’t appreciate like the simple things in life.

So he’s like, you know, some people in the world are so poor. All they have is money. And,  that was just such a life changing experience to me. And also to note that things aren’t weird, they’re different. And I learned that early on in my travels and it really helped me to embrace every difference, every, you know, variance that I saw as unique and not weird

 you know, sometimes when you see different things or you’re in a different place, you say, Oh, that’s weird. We don’t do that.

Or this, we don’t do it that way. I, from that point I embraced like very early on that it’s not weird, it’s just different. And so when you’re able to appreciate the differences in religion and culture in love in life and every aspect of life, It opens you up and widens your horizons, right? That’s why, when people say like travel was the only thing that you can spend money on, that makes you richer.

Like, I really believed that I really resonate with that because if you’re open to learning and growth, you absolutely grow exponentially. When, you know, in your travels, undoubtedly.

I started writing poetry in 2004 so long time ago.  and I would perform like all over the country, different locations, different venues, open mics.

I was an open mic host.  I lived in the DMB for like eight years and hosted an open mic there. So I kind of just continued to, I carry that with me in my travels and I’ve actually performed in every country that I’ve visited.  I have two albums of poetry and song, And they’ve traveled around the world.

And so I love to see the different responses and reactions to my poetry, to my singing in different countries.  so whether that’s, you know, under the, an old, an old town split in Croatia, On stage in, Paquette in Thailand.  I’ve performed all over all over the world. And so that’s been, an amazing experience.

I’ve had people in Ottawa buy my CD that don’t even speak English because they liked the delivery of the poetry. So I’m super grateful for that, but that’s one of my passions. Something that I will continue to do in my travels is, is seeing and share my poetry with the world. And I do inspirational poetry.

So it’s more motivating. It’s uplifting. It’s feel good poetry that I write.

Leah: Oh, that’s amazing. And can you give me example, you said that you get different reactions in different countries. Can you give me a few examples?

Stephanie:  For sure. So once I’m in Vietnam,  I did, , there’s a backpacking street in ho Chi Minh city, and I had no idea that.

This gentlemen that was leading a karaoke on the street was very famous in Vietnam. So I just walked up to him and I was like, Hey, can I, can I sing with you? And he was like, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no problem. So I get on the mic. I also beat box and people love beatboxing right. So I beat box. I’m singing, I’m doing my poetry and little did I know this guy’s famous, like in Vietnam.

So like, We’re going. I check on YouTube. We have half a million views on our video. I’m just hanging out, having a good time. Like in Vietnam, the crowd was going crazy. It was, it was,  an amazing experience.  I’ve had people tell me my voice sounds like honey and glitter that maybe like they don’t speak English as well.

Right. So that’s how they articulate it. What they felt from it.  but yeah, I just, I love the responses and I love to see smiles on people’s face, like when,  you know, during my travels.

 Leah: That is really interesting.

Stephanie: Yep. I used to be a wedding singer for three years, actually, as well. In addition to working for the fortune 50 company, I’ve have serenaded over 80 weddings in my lifetime.  And yeah. So I do, like, I used to do a lot of cover songs from journey to Whitney Houston, to Nikki Menashe.

So that was a good time. And then,  so it’s yeah, really with my poetry, I intertwined poetry and song. So most of my poems have a song and then it goes into a poem and then it goes it back into song. So I kind of mix the two in my, in my own art  The other thing that I like to do is, is film my videos abroad. So I actually,  met videographers,  online, just would reach out to people in the different countries I went to. So I have three international videos of poetry and songs.

So the first one is in,  coming Neato. And, , when is ours Argentina? The second one was filmed in Budapest, in Hungary, and then the third one in ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. So that was really fun to like meet other videographers internationally and come up with different concepts for my poetry and bring them to life abroad, you know?

So that that’s been an amazing experience as well. I’ve recorded songs and Lisbon Portugal.

Leah:  Yeah, so it’s been fun. So then COVID hits. How has this mess impacted your plans?

Stephanie: Oh massively. I think like three days before I was headed to Peru.  and this is actually the second time that I was supposed to go to Peru and something happens. I was like, maybe I’m not supposed to go to Peru, but I just really want to go to rainbow mountain Machu Picchu and experience the food.

Like I’ve heard such wonderful things about it. My Spanish is pretty decent. It’s grown, you know, over the past three years. But, yeah, I was headed to Peru. I was planning to go to Estonia, which a lot of people don’t know about or think about, but it’s growing, from a digital nomad perspective, I want it to go to building and Lithuania, which is also growing from a nomad perspective.

 and then go to Ghana and South Africa. So those were the plans for this year.  and they were derailed just a little bit, but you know, I’m taking this time to road trip to visit family and friends and just spend more time with the people that I love. Right. And I come home often, but this year has really just been a chance to hunker down, you know, take a course online, learn something new, embrace being home, and, you know, I’ve taken it, taken it all in stride,

  but I do think that it has put people, put the simple things in life, back into perspective and made people really appreciate and value what’s most important in life.

 and even expressing gratitude, right? Like, although I wanted to go to more countries this year, I’ve been to 38 countries and I’m so grateful that I’ve had those experiences. You know,  with everything that’s going on. So I think it’s been a very humbling gear for many people and an opportunity to be grateful for the things that you have had and the things that have happened.

And then hopefully, you know, we’ll all appreciate what’s to come and when those things open back up and when we are able to go to different places again, we’ll appreciate that much more. Hopefully from this experience.

Leah: Thanks for listening to the season finale of Wander by Proxy. I’m going to take a beat, gather more stories, and Wander By Proxy will be back in August. Be sure to check out Stephanie’s poetry events and more on her website @justavessel.com and on her Instagram links are going to be in the show notes. Be sure to rate and subscribe, to Wander By Proxy and follow on Instagram for bonus travel stories. I know we’re all eager to get back on a plane, but until we meet again, 

About this episode:

Jennifer Parnall is a Canadian music teacher teaching in Spain. Now, of course, she’s quarantined in her apartment in Barcelona. Jennifer shares how she’s building a community in her new neighborhood from afar through music.

Follow her adventures on Instagram at @jlynnparnall. Her balcony concerts are posted there! 

Subscribe to Wander By Proxy on your podcast app of choice.

For more insight from guests, travel inspiration and recommendations, and episode teasers, follow Wander By Proxy on:

• Instagram @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Facebook @wanderbyproxypodcast
• Twitter @wanderbyproxy
• YouTube

Do you have a travel story that changed your perception? Visit the website and fill out the story pitch form! 

For more information on Wander By Proxy, read a transcription of this interview, or contact Leah Falyn, visit the website at wanderbyproxy.com.

Don’t forget to rate and review Wander By Proxy!

Thank you for listening!

Transcription:

Leah: Welcome to Wander by Proxy, a podcast featuring women’s travel stories that connect them more to themselves and the world around them. 

I’m Leah Falyn, and today we’re hearing from Jennifer Parnell, a music teacher from Canada who will be teaching for two years in Spain. Now, of course, she’s quarantined there, but she’s maintaining a sense of community by performing music from her fifth-floor apartment every day. Here’s Jennifer. 

Jennifer: I’m from Canada and music has obviously been a huge part of my life and I’ve been teaching now, this is my fifth year, fifth year teaching. And in Canada, it’s quite difficult to get a permanent position as a teacher, especially in Ontario anyway. And my parents had always been traveling when I was, when I was younger, so I kind of had that like wander bug.

When I went to teacher’s college and I was looking at jobs, I was just like so impatient and I wanted to go and explore the world and I wanted to have my own classroom and all this. So I actually moved to China for my first year of teaching and did a bunch of traveling in Southeast Asia, which I’m so grateful for.

But I didn’t last much longer than a year in China. It was quite challenging. So, then I moved to Luxembourg, and for those three years, it was incredible. I loved my position there. I loved the people in the family that I need there. And yeah, so much of Europe. but as you said, yeah, it’s incredible that my job kind of led me to travel and, and work as well, which is great.

Now I’m in Barcelona. But not traveling because of quarantine.

Leah: Wow. So how long were you intending on staying in Barcelona?

Jennifer: I have a two year contract with the school that I’m at. So, who knows. I mean, it could be extended or it could be taking me somewhere else. I don’t know where my path is leading just yet.

Leah: How did you find this opportunity in Barcelona?

Jennifer:  Because of my experience in Luxembourg at the international school there, I met a lot of people. It’s all about who you meet. And there’s this organization that I’m a part of, it’s called AMIS, and it’s the association of music and international schools. And so you just make contacts through this organization. And I saw that there was a job posting in Barcelona and I’d been to Barcelona once before on holiday, and I loved it. And yeah, I came out here for an interview and just kind of fell in love with the city and thought, Oh gosh, this could be amazing.

So far, I mean, it’s obviously quite challenging to live in a country that you don’t speak the language and just culturally too, it’s quite, it’s been challenging, but I have to say like, I know how strange this might sound, but this quarantine is probably the best thing that could have happened for me and Barcelona and our relationship.

Leah: Really? How so?

Jennifer: Well, for the longest time, but like last several months, I just felt quite out of place here. So as a Canadian, like I speak some French because that’s one of our national languages. So, in Luxembourg, I got around just fine. I could speak French, I could speak English.

Here it’s Catalonia. So, there’s a lot of Catalan, there’s a lot of Spanish, some English, but, not a lot. And so I was struggling really to like connect with people besides the people I work with who are all American Canadian, English speakers. I was, yeah, finding it really, really difficult to kind of find my place here.

And I always felt like everyone in the street was always in a rush to go somewhere and like, people would bump into you. And again, coming from Canada, it’s always these cultural differences that are coming from Canada. You, you are like super polite and you’re, he respects people’s faces and all this.

And yeah, I just really felt I, I just didn’t belong. But, now since. Like our quarantine were all taken aback. Like we’d have to step back and just relax and breathe and we can’t go anywhere. We can’t be running around. And now with these like quarantine concerts that I’ve been doing, I know my neighbors and like I’m feeling connected to people and it’s just.

Really beautiful thing because that would never have happened. It really wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have known the people across from me. I wouldn’t have connected with them, like on social media and they wouldn’t have, anyway. And with the little English that they know and that like super, super minimal Spanish that I know we’re still connected and we’re still communicating somehow and it’s really cool.

Leah: Why did you start the concerts?

Jennifer: I think it was only like three or four days after we were completely locked down, after they called the quarantine in Barcelona.

I’d started virtual lessons on school and I really just, I was struggling with it. I was having a really rough day. We were having so many meetings and. On like Zoom or Google chat and it was just so overwhelming and I was just feeling like, Ugh, I can’t, I can’t go on like this.

So, I had seen a bunch of people in Italy because they were locked down before us. I saw a bunch of people in Italy singing songs or playing your saxophone or like all getting together in their neighborhood just out on their, on their balconies. And I was like, you know what? I’m going to do that. I feel like music.

Well just help me. It always does. When I’m in a mood, it always makes me feel better. So I just started singing, all you need is love. By the Beatles, cause that that song, they sang on a rooftop and I’m like on the fifth, on the fifth floor. So I thought that’d be kind of cool. And that’s all I intended to do is just to do that one song.

And then people like started opening their doors and their windows and coming out on their balconies. And then they were like shouting out requests like Elton John. So then I did Your Song and then one guy wanted the Cranberries. And of course, like, I only know one song Zombie. And yeah, I just was using my like ultimate guitar app on my phone and finding the chords and lyrics, and then they were saying, come same time tomorrow, same time tomorrow.

And so it just kept going. And then I kind of panicking because I would realize that our corn team is going to keep getting longer and longer. So I was like, I should probably just limit it to four songs a day, because I don’t want to like run out of songs that I can play, you know?  So today was the 33rd quarantine concert and I’ve been singing and playing either on my ukulele or my guitar, or my piano and singing four songs a day.

Leah: That’s so fun. What did you play today?

Jennifer:  So today was a musical inspired day because, I don’t know if you knew this, but Andrew Lloyd Webber has been, streaming his musicals for free, during the weekends. So it’s like 24 hours. On YouTube, and I found, or I think it’s on YouTube, I saw mine on YouTube.

Anyway, so I watched the Phantom of the opera this morning, and I love that musical. It’s, Oh, and I had the privilege of watching that in London, England, but not with the original cast. This is the original cast. And anyway, so I was like, Oh man, I haven’t sung the songs in forever. So I started getting into that.

So today was, yeah, today was a musical day. Sometimes I have themes, sometimes it’s completely random and be like, between, not rap. I’ve never done a rap one, but, just between like crazy ballads to like super poppy songs. But yeah. I think too, yeah. Sound of music. I started with, and then there was mama Mia and I ended with Phantom of the opera.

Leah: I’m a huge Beatles fan and, I saw your video where you’re singing, with a little help from my friends and I’ve been thinking about that song so much with quarantine that it was just perfect. I like woke up and saw the video and it just warmed my heart

Jennifer: Yes, I thought, I thought that was like the perfect, and I definitely was thinking about my friends and well, and people now that I, that I have become friends with just by like posting that on girls love travel, it’s a, it’s a great song. The Beatles, just everything. They just nailed it.

Leah: They really did. Are you able to speak with your neighbors after these concerts or do you get feedback somehow?

Jennifer: Well there was this one day cause someone was like, why don’t you put your Instagram tag out there and you know, then they could send you requests for songs.

So I made this really, really awful sign and someone helped me translate like send requests. And so yeah, they found me on Instagram and so some of my neighbors have, sent me requests or like really lovely, lovely messages saying, like we know that you’re alone in quarantine if you ever need anything, we’re right here.

You know, it was really, really sweet. Obviously like this. It’s not easy for anybody. Even if you are living with somebody in quarantine and have, a family like that’s tough on its own and being alone in quarantine again, like we’re all having those, those struggles. So it was really sweet of them to like reach out and, and say that they’re there even though like, we can’t physically be there together.

It’s funny because my neighbors across the street, they’re, they’re the ones who can truly only see me because I can’t put my keyboard out on the balcony. It’s too small. The balcony is too small. So the people who look at me, give me feedback just by like looking at me and smiling at me, and I love that. And just seeing that, and then others who can’t necessarily see me, they take a video, of. Like the street and I guess just get like the street sound cause it’s, it’s really interesting.

It’s not a stage. It’s like I’m battling the street sounds and the fact that we’re like, you know. A neighborhood. So it’s really cool that they will send me some of the, some of the audio that they hear from their balcony, where whether it’s up the street, down the street, across or like on my side of the street.

And so in that way, it’s really cool because then I get to hear what it sounds like from their perspective. So that’s in some ways that they tag like my concert or, or they tag a video that they’ve, that they’ve, recorded from their balcony. And then more or less, they just send me requests, which is really great because sometimes, like the inspiration doesn’t really always come like, what do I want to sing today?

It’s every day, right? So it’s nice to know what they want to hear. And sometimes it’s really challenging because it’s like a super rock and roll song that I don’t have like an electric grungy guitar to play on or, yeah. But I love to, I love the challenge. And, even though it kind of started off for me, kind of releasing some of that negative energy, I really love that it’s started to be part of them too, and what they want to hear and they want to be involved.

Leah: Do you think you’re still able to experience Spain in some way, even though you’re kind of in a limited situation?

Jennifer: Yes, I think so. When Catalonia anyway, they have this, I actually don’t know what it means or, or what it, where it came from, but sometimes people like bang, pots and pans together. And every night at eight o’clock, we all go outside and clap for the healthcare workers. And I dunno, it’s just. You still, you still get the sunshine­­—that’s very Spanish. You still get the language. I can hear it outside when I have my windows open, my neighbor right directly across from me here, they speak to me in Catalan or Spanish, and we have a conversation.

Even though I’m kinda like, I don’t know what you’re saying. So I do definitely feel like I’m still experiencing some of Spain, some of Catalonia, but, it’s definitely like me and my little bubble here as well. I’m looking forward to the, the day we opened the doors, for sure.

Leah: Yeah. How do you think your experience is going to change after all this?

Jennifer: I’m definitely a lot more positive. I’m not gonna lie, I was in a negative space for sure. I’m just, I mean, it’s just the challenges of moving to a new place and especially not understanding the language and especially not connecting with people.

But I am feeling way more positive and I think I’m just, you know, going to go for it. If people don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine, but I’m just still going to make an effort to kind of try to connect more with the people who live in my, and my Barrio here. I like grassiness so wonderful. It’s like such great vibes and you know, who cares if we don’t speak the same language, I have to be a little bit more.

I’m confident, and I, I do feel that now, so

Leah: That’s great. What do you think about quarantine kind of made that switch?

 Jennifer: Well just the concerts, honestly, it was just me putting, I guess like it is confidence, right? It is. It is. Putting yourself out there, especially with music, it’s the most vulnerable thing.

Because I didn’t think they would like it. And you’re just doing it for you. And then if they do, and then they want to hear more, you’re like, Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. And no other opportunity like this would have ever arisen had it not been like everyone’s stuck in their homes, you know, have no choice but to listen to me.

But if they’re still coming out each day and Oh my gosh, the little girls across the street, they’re so sweet and they, you know, “Jennifer, Jennifer.” And so if it’s something that, that brings them joy and positivity. It’s, it’s brought me so much joy and positivity. So that’s, that’s honestly what I think has changed for me in quarantine.

Leah: How long do you think you’ll continue the concerts?

Jennifer: Well, I have this vision. Just like the Beatles, I wanted to do on the last day, like whenever that is how, but it’s, it’s going to be tricky because I think it might be a very spontaneous thing as this whole quarantine was like, Oh, right away in a couple hours.

Like everyone’s locked down. So I have a feeling it might be the same with when we’re allowed to leave, but. Anyway, on the last day of this quarantine, I want to go to the roof. Like I have rooftop access and I’d love to go up there. I just need to figure out some kind of power outage situation and just like rocket, I just want to have like a finale concert, and just do a bunch of like the best hits of the quarantine series or the quarantine concert series and just have.

And then just go out in the street and have a celebration and party and dance and have a good time.  

Leah: As a huge Beatles fan with no musical talent performing on a rooftop, that sounds like a dream to me.

Thank you for listening to Wander By Proxy. I heard of Jennifer when she posted a video of one of her concerts on the Girls Love Travel Facebook page. Check out her concerts on Instagram. Her handle is in the show notes. You can see her neighbors in the background of a few of them, and they are so heartwarming.

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