Captivating conversations featuring people whose lives have quite literally been changed by travel: businesses have been inspired, love stories have begun, perspectives have widened, life purposes have been found, and new beginnings have been discovered. The Trip That Changed Me, brought to you by Full-Time Travel, features a bi-weekly interview with entrepreneurs, entertainers, activists, authors, influencers, and everyday adventurers, recounting the personal tales of life-changing travel â uplifting stories that will inspire listeners to take on the world.
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Central America with Bruce Wallin: How spontaneity and effort coexist to create a better travel experience.
Season 4 ¡ Episode 13
Thursday, November 2, 2023 ⢠Duration 40:51
Today we are speaking with Bruce Wallin, an award winning editor, writer and producer and the host of the podcast, Travel That Matters, which was named one of the 10 Best Podcasts for 2022 by Men's Journal. Bruce has made a name for himself as a leader in travel journalism, a reputation that began when he and a group of friends launched their own publication called, Trip, in the 1990's. It was an incredible experience but eventually they ran out of funds. It was right around this time when Bruce and his former girlfriend decided to travel through Central America to enjoy what they imagined to be their last big adventure before settling down. It was a trip that gave Bruce a new travel ethos, that travel gets better the more effort you put into it. This episode outlines all of the ways effort paid off on that trip, from planning a very romantic proposal to discovering Mayan ruins off the beaten path. It's also worth mentioning that Esme and Bruce did a podcast swap! So after you finish this episode, head over to Travel That Matters where you can listen to Bruce interviewing Esme on a trip that changed her life.Â
Check out Bruce on Instagram @brucewallintravel and his website, www.sweetwallmedia.com. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting https://www.fulltimetravel.co/ and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!Â
Argentina with Kristin Newman: travel romances, the wanderlust gene, and taking a vacation from ourselves
Season 4 ¡ Episode 12
Thursday, October 19, 2023 ⢠Duration 49:51
This weekâs guest is TV writer Kristin Newman, who has spent the last 25 years working on shows like, How I Met Your Mother, That 70's Show and Only Murders in the Building. As a lifelong traveler, Kristin used the breaks between seasons to explore the world, often alone, as more and more of her friends settled down. Her memoir, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, details her years as a single woman traversing the globe and enjoying commitment-free romances along the way. In this episode, Kristin shares two very different trips to Argentina. The first, a two month stint in which she attempted to live like a local, fell in love, and decided to commit the next decade of her life to travel instead of marriage and babies. Eighteen years later, she returned to Argentina to shoot a TV show based on her memoir, this time with her parents, husband and child in tow. (Spoiler alert: She did eventually breed.) Join us as we discuss how to meet people as a solo traveler, the complexities of memoir writing, the weird feeling Kristin experienced while watching her life story acted out for the screen, and the ways travel lets you try on new identities and take a vacation from yourself. Â
Check out Kristin on Instagram @theotherkristinnewman and her website, www.theotherkristinnewman.com. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting https://www.fulltimetravel.co/ and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!Â
Iran with Travel Writer Pico Iyer: the search for paradise, traveling with the Dalai Lama, and the appeal of complex places
Season 4 ¡ Episode 3
Thursday, June 15, 2023 ⢠Duration 55:03
This week Esme speaks to Pico Iyer, the prolific travel writer and brilliant mind behind 16 books, hundreds of essays, and several TED Talks. Pico's work touches on globalism, Islamic mysticism, the Cuban Revolution, and the Dalai Lama - a personal friend and travel companion of his. In his latest book, The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, Pico weaves together travel experiences with the decades he's spent in monasteries to explore how each of us can find paradise amidst the complexity of real life. In this episode, Pico shares stories and impressions from Iran, a place he's been fascinated by since he was a boy and which defied his expectations in the best possible way.Â
Check out Pico's website https://picoiyerjourneys.com. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting https://www.fulltimetravel.co/ and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!Â
Cycling Around the World with Juliana BĂźhring: escaping a cult, learning to trust strangers, and cycling 18,000 miles across 19 countries
Season 4 ¡ Episode 2
Thursday, June 1, 2023 ⢠Duration 53:40
This week Esme speaks to Juliana BĂźhring, an ultra-endurance cyclist, best-selling author, and children's rights activist. Juliana's life story is one of triumphing over adversity. Raised in a cult known as the Children of God, Juliana developed the necessary survival skills of resilience and adaptability from a young age â qualities that would prove instrumental to her future achievements. After escaping the cult at the age of 23, Juliana wrote the book, Not Without My Sister, which contributed to the group's eventual demise in 2010. While building a new, radically different life for herself in the wake of all this, Juliana reconnected with an old flame â an explorer named Hendri â and the two developed a long-distance romance. In another tragic turn of events, Hendri was killed while on an expedition in the Congo after being pulled from his kayak by a crocodile. His body was never recovered. Reckless with grief and determined to make the most of her one precious life, Juliana embarked on her first ultra-endurance ride â an 18,000-mile journey through 19 countries which she completed in just 152 days, earning her a world record. In this episode, Juliana discusses using mental fortitude to push through physical pain and meet her goals, learning to put faith and trust in strangers, and being coerced into rum-filled evenings in Australia in exchange for free accommodation.
Sri Lanka with Laurie Woolever: writing with Anthony Bourdain, traveling sober, and working with food
Season 4 ¡ Episode 1
Thursday, May 18, 2023 ⢠Duration 53:37
Welcome to Season 4 of The Trip That Changed Me! Our first guest of the new season is Laurie Woolever, writer, editor, public speaker, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center) in New York, and former assistant to Anthony Bourdain, with whom she co-wrote several books. The most recent of those books, World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, Laurie sadly had to complete alone following Bourdainâs death in 2018.
In this episode, Laurie shares memories from Sri Lanka, where she joined Bourdain (or âTony,â as she affectionately calls him) on a shoot for the TV show âParts Unknown.â For Laurie, this trip was part business and part pleasure; an opportunity to explore the lush island nation with her friend and mentor while working on a story about Sri Lankan home cooking, but it was especially significant because she was newly sober. Navigating triggers and travel rituals that involved alcohol was challenging, but the experience shifted Laurieâs perspective. To her surprise, the world was bigger and better without the booze. This interview is full of wonderful, personal anecdotes about Anthony Bourdain the traveler, plus loads of insider tips that food-obsessives will appreciate.Â
Follow Laurie on Instagram @lauriewoolever and visit her website lauriewoolever.com to find her books and more information. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting https://www.fulltimetravel.co/ and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure! Â
India with Elizabeth Becker: discovering a new world, addressing overtourism, and life as a war correspondent
Thursday, December 15, 2022 ⢠Duration 55:05
Elizabeth Becker is an award-winning journalist and author who started out as a war correspondent at The Washington Post before going on to work for public radio and The New York Times. She is also the author of three books including Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, which was an Amazon book of the year, and You Donât Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War, which won the 2022 Goldsmith Award from Harvard. But long before the achievements and accolades, Elizabeth was a graduate with a dream of visiting India, a country sheâd never been to but knew a lot about thanks to her degree in South Asian Studies. In this episode, Elizabeth shares the story of the eventful year she spent living and learning in India, and how that first real travel experience would go on to shape her career and views about tourism. Buckle up, because Elizabeth has got some wild anecdotes to share! Â
You can learn more about Elizabeth and purchase her books by visiting https://www.elizabethbecker.com. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting fulltimetravel.co and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure! Â
Around the World with Colin OâBrady: rejecting comfortable complacency, goal setting, and having a possible mindset
Thursday, December 1, 2022 ⢠Duration 01:01:19
Colin OâBrady is probably best known for being one of the worldâs most recognized endurance athletes and explorers. Heâs a 10-time world record holder and two-time Everest summiteer, and the first person in history to cross the continent of Antarctica solo, unsupported and completely human-powered â an experience he wrote about in his best-selling memoir The Impossible First.
In this episode, Colin shares the story of a post-college, round-the-world trip that, unfortunately, ended in tragedy. In Thailand, Colin was severely burned in an accident. His injuries were so bad that doctors believed heâd have trouble ever walking normally, but Colin proved them all wrong thanks to what he calls a âpossible mindset.âÂ
Esme and Colin also discuss rejecting comfortable complacency, the importance of goal setting, and the concept behind his latest book The 12-Hour Walk, which aims to inspire 10 million people to take a one-day transformative journey to conquer their minds and unlock their best lives.
You can learn more about Colin by visiting https://www.colinobrady.com/. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting fulltimetravel.co and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!   Â
Iceland with Gabby Beckford: finding paid/free travel opportunities, female solo travel, and cultivating a âWhy not me?â mindset
Season 3 ¡ Episode 24
Thursday, June 16, 2022 ⢠Duration 53:06
Gabby Beckford is the Gen Z travel opportunity expert behind Packs Light, a content brand designed to empower others to seek risks, seize opportunity, skip debt, and see the world ASAP. Although Gabby was raised in a family of travelers, it was her first solo vacation â a backpacking trip through Iceland which she took right before starting college â that solidified her aspirations to see as much of the world as possible. Gabby is now a TEDx speaker and a travel expert whose work has been published in Travel + Leisure, National Geographic, Lonely Planet, and Huffington Post. In this episode, Gabby shares with Esme the highs and lows of her experience in Iceland and how even the terrible parts were instrumental to her personal development. Plus, how she used scholarships, grants, and contests to travel the world while in college, the transformative effects of solo travel, and how to cultivate a âwhy not me?â mindset and go after what you want in life. Â
You can find Gabby on TikTok and Instagram @packslight and visit her website packslight.com. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting fulltimetravel.co and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!   Â
Burgundy and Paris with Rachel Signer: discovering natural wine, creating relationships with cities, and following inconvenient love
Season 3 ¡ Episode 23
Thursday, June 2, 2022 ⢠Duration 54:56
Rachel Signer was an aspiring author living in Brooklyn and cobbling together a living by freelance writing and working various jobs in hospitality when she was invited on a food and wine themed press trip to Burgundy and Paris. It was a trip that would affirm her deep appreciation for the French language, culture, cuisine, and wine â specifically, natural wine. Rachel spent the next few years following her heart, first to Paris where she dreamed of opening a bar with her best friend, and then to Australia to pursue a relationship with a natural winemaker â the story she recounts in her book, You Had Me at PĂŠt-Nat: A Natural Wine-Soaked Memoir. As she tried to figure out which life path and which place to commit to, Rachel channeled her knowledge and her passion into launching a natural wine-themed publication, Pipette Magazine, and her own label of hand-produced natural wine, Persephone. In this episode, Rachel shares with Esme how that trip to France took her deeper into the world of wine and inspired her to move to Paris, the importance of listening to her gut and making inconvenient choices, and how a relationship with a city can be its own kind of love story.Â
You can find Rachel on Instagram @rachsig and her magazine at @PipetteMagazine, and purchase her memoir wherever books are sold or by visiting her website www.rachelsigner.com/book. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting fulltimetravel.co and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!   Â
The US by Train with Cheryl B. Engelhardt: creating music on a train, becoming a master passenger, and getting emotionally unstuck
Season 3 ¡ Episode 22
Thursday, May 19, 2022 ⢠Duration 46:11
Cheryl B. Engelhardt is a composer and songwriter whose new age, ambient music has been featured in films, ads, tv shows, and on meditation apps like Insight Timer. Cheryl began music lessons as a toddler; since then, her career has taken her all over the world but itâs always been unique places and experiences that inspire her most creative work â experiences like a nine-day, cross country train trip from New York to Los Angeles and back, during which she composed and recorded her new album, The Passenger. With nothing but a laptop and a USB keyboard, Cheryl created twelve tracks while passing incredible views and roving wildlife. In this episode, Cheryl shares the highs and lows of that journey, which served as a creative experiment and an opportunity to process grief following the recent loss of a dear friend. Plus, Esme and Cheryl discuss the magic of train travel, how being physically in motion gives us the momentum to get emotionally and creatively unstuck, and the importance of relinquishing control in travel and in life.
To learn more about Cheryl and listen to her music, visit her website www.cbemusic.com and her Instagram @cbemusic. You can purchase The Passenger on Amazon at www.cbemusic.co/amazon. Learn more about Full-Time Travel by visiting fulltimetravel.co and follow us on Instagram @full_time_travel. Be sure to rate, review, and follow so that you donât miss out on travel tips, inspiration, and your potential next adventure!Â
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