Freedom Now! Travel

The impact of walking 500 miles, especially, El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, is life-changing. How do I bring what I experienced while walking El Camino into my everyday life experience? After listening to fellow pilgrims' stories and lessons about their experience while walking the Camino, in this episode I share my own: what I gained, what I learned, and what ongoing transformation I ex...

Finn Vergalen is just 26 years old and has spent time walking El Camino, not to think about the past, or figure out the future, but from what he discovered -- to be present in the moment. In this episode he talks about having the things that he thought he wanted, then taking the risk to leave what he had become accustomed to but knew was not what his life was about. He also shares how he tries to...

El Camino is a great 500 mile walk to experience peace and enjoy self-reflection. And along with that comes a journey of laughter, community, and self-discovery! Lisa Mitchelson began the Camino for the first reason - self-reflection - and ended up experiencing an abundance of the latter and the transformation that it brought her. Lisa lives in Kent, England and is a South African native. She work...

For the first episode of season 5, Antonio shares his own words of wisdom while walking El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. He explains transformations, what they are, and how they work for us in life. Listen as Antonio talks about his experience looking for areas that live him and how belief and expression drive the processes of change. The most important message, however, is to get out of the b...

From an injury to epiphany. Dustin is an Alaskan Native, German military officer. He studied in Germany and has lived there so long that I've dubbed him my favorite “Germanized-American”. From "security pins" (safety pins) to "mosquito screen" (regular screen in a window), he has his own vocabulary that I love highlighting. Riddled with the effects of COVID-19 for 6 months...

Coming from Holland to Spain, this episode features a true global citizen: Rene de Neef. An uncomplicated person who loves the simple things in life; like skydiving in Dubai, seeing the New Year fireworks on a ship in Sydney, and walking the El Camino de Santiago. In this episode, Rene talks about what it took for him to get to this point in life. He has worked extra hard to support his family and...

One of the best things about travel is the connections made with other people. And the best way to be at the center of it all is to work in hospitality. Elise and Leo are the proprietors of Villa Harriet, a hotel with a bed-and-breakfast feel, in Uhart-Cize, France. In this episode, we sit down and talk about their joint venture and its role in the community. With a combination of expertise in gue...

Jeffery Bowden is a 20-year Veteran of staff interpreter for the Department of State. He started out at the world’s only liberal arts university for the deaf, of the deaf, and about the deaf: Gallaudet University. Here he was immersed in the deaf community before journeying on to become an interpreter for the Department of State. Within a short period in his career, he was able to travel to 27 cou...

Not everyone is blessed to grow up with knowledge of the beauty of travel. Sometimes it takes a little time and a lot of growth, but that’s only the beginning of the story for Janice Crowley. Janice served 27 years in the Air Force and during those years traveling abroad was not exactly at the forefront of her mind. Today she shares with us how it’s never too late to go do something. Janice shares...

Janet Solly is a 30-year army veteran who lived overseas for 24 years of her career. In this episode, she talks about her jobs in the embassy and as a diplomat. From Europe to Africa, to Asia, to South America, Janet has lived there and survived to tell the tale in this episode. Throughout her time overseas, she stood out as a tall, professional black woman, but that did not keep her from being th...

This episode’s guest is military veteran Lorenzo Easly IV. His mother had always wanted him to have a successful life and knew that the military was just one of the ways to get there. So, after graduating from college and starting a family, the desire to join the military ran strong in him. Listen as he talks about the goals he set for himself during his time in basic training and how he accomplis...

Guests Jeffrey and April Dunlap have more to share in the second half of this 2-part episode. The Dunlap’s are professional American Sign Language interpreters who travel all over the world providing ASL services. Calling in from their cozy cabin on a cruise ship, the Dunlaps talk about everything from frequently visiting Thailand to their first time in South Africa. Hear the couple talk about how...

This episode's guests are Jeffrey and April Dunlap. The Dunlap’s are professional American Sign Language interpreters who travel all over the world providing ASL services. After freelancing, they have settled into a semi-retired lifestyle working on cruise ships as interpreters. Jeffrey knew he wanted to do bigger things with his life. He achieved that by finding a job where he could travel th...

Although travel can involve "the unknown," our guest knows the benefit of educating yourself on culture. Burnie Roper served in the military for 35 years and is now the Superintendent of the Lackland Independent School District. In this episode he talks about his military days, learning to observe other cultures and connect with them by understanding and respecting their values. He discu...

The air force was robbed! In this episode army veteran and travel agent Corita Cooper tells us how her career took her out of Jackson, Mississippi, and into the world of travel. While it started with a short flight to South Carolina, her career led her to places like Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Greece. Corita discusses raising her first daughter in another country and its positive impact on her fa...

Tales of travel from a man attempting to bring peace to the Middle East. This episode’s guest is citizen diplomat Matthew Lakenbach; founder of the Middle East Peace Civic Forum and host of his own podcast Peace Tribe Rising. Listen as he talks about using the arts to create experiences of peace and expand what he calls the "peace tribe." Working as a citizen diplomat, Matthew has traveled many ti...

People always say that life is too short, but Sidra Blackwelder knows that life can be long and full. With a set of military parents, she’s a military kid who appreciates all the opportunities it gave her. After settling into her move to college – her 8th move by the way – Sidra shares with us the value in experiencing new things by highlighting how the places she’s gone back to regularly (ie Mary...

Here are the "Top 10 advice and wisdom" given from this season's guests. From the island of Hawaii to the land down under the wisdom of these travelers reaches far and wide and there is plenty to share about living life as a vacation. Some guests have found this freedom through their jobs and others have found freedom in it. They’ve taught us to be genuine to ourselves, but also to t...

“Why don’t we move somewhere we like to vacation?” Mark is a true outdoorsman who moved his family a thousand miles away to live their lives as a vacation. Listen as he describes why travel makes him feel alive and how intentional travel makes it a rewarding experience. Mark is passionate about family and travel and expresses that by renting out his newly purchased trailer to families. At the time...

Good news: Boredom does not exist. At least not to this episode's guest: filmmaker and artist Jayme Aronson. She explains that boredom is a guise for something more cyclical, but she also talks about how she broke that cycle for herself. Living her life as a vacation relies heavily on consciousness. Conscious thought and intention, living without a guilty conscience by forgiving yourself, and...

Vacations are some of the most anticipated events in our lives. For this episode's guest, it drives the desire to travel. Linda King is a travel writer, author, and founder of the “The Smart Travelista” blog. In this episode, she recalls how her passion for travel emerged during a trip that made her ask: “can we do this forever?” Through her work as a travel agent, Linda came to appreciate the...

From sailing in his Sea Nest along the Mediterranean to taking wild baths outside of his land nest, Ludovic has crafted his life into a vacation. Ludovic works in payment processing, and while not the most glamorous job, it allows him to work from wherever and however he pleases. He has sailed the Mediterranean in a fixed-up sailboat and is currently traveling Europe in his tricked-out Land Rover...

How often have you heard people say that their home is a vacation? Well, this episode’s guest Matthew Gray has had the pleasure of living like that for 30 years. Speaking from Honolulu, Hawaii, Matthew Gray is a gourmet chef, entrepreneur, and radio show host. He’s also “survived” (and loved it) multiple tours as a crew member in the Rock and Roll scene. In this episode Gray tells us about his lif...

When it comes to living his life like a vacation, Luke is like a kid in a candy store, only the store is as vast as he wants it to be and he can try whatever he pleases. In this episode, we sit down in Mexico City for a talk with Luke, a solo traveler from Brisbane, Australia, who found that travel allows him to be his truest self. Listen as Luke recalls one of his trips - how that planned trip to...

From fighting to get an innocent man out of prison to VIP Parties -- it all starts with a computer and a location of your choosing. This is the life of globally-renowned, award-winning publicist and founder of Lamourie Media Incorporated: Tracy Lamourie. In this episode, we hear about how Lamourie’s path led her from a life as a young activist with a radio show to a traveler who spends her days am...