Solo Travel Adventures: Safe Travel for Women, Preparing for a Trip, Overcoming Fear, Travel Tips
Equipping Women over 50 to Safely Travel in Confidence
Is fear holding you back from traveling because you don’t have anyone to go with? Are you concerned about being a woman traveling alone? Not sure how to prepare for a solo trip? Do family and friends think you are crazy for even considering solo travel in this day and age?
In this podcast, you will become equipped to travel safely by yourself. You’ll learn things like tactical travel tips and how to prepare for a trip, and how to overcome the fear so you can discover the transformation that travel can bring. My mission is to see more women over 50, empty-nesters, discover how travel can empower them. If you want to enjoy your next travel adventure solo, then start your journey here.
Hi Sister Travelers, I’m Cheryl, solo travel advocate and coach. I spent nearly 20 years putting my family/children first and felt guilty about even considering solo travel at the time. After my divorce and transitioning to an empty nest, I began to rediscover my passion for travel, built confidence in myself, and started to explore again. I have experienced life-changing adventures through travel and I want the same for you.
If you are ready to find freedom through travel and build your confidence while safely navigating new places, then this podcast is for you!
Pack your bags, grab your plane tickets and check one more time for that passport. It’s time to explore the world!
Email: adventuresredheadrambler@gmail.com
Solo Travel Adventures: Safe Travel for Women, Preparing for a Trip, Overcoming Fear, Travel Tips
Transforming Travel into Positive Impact: Stephanie Zito's 153-Country Odyssey
Stephanie Zito takes us on an extraordinary adventure from a childhood with little travel to conquering the globe with 153 countries under her belt. Sparked by her grandparents' tales and a teacher's mesmerizing slideshows, Stephanie's journey truly launched when a friend encouraged her to study abroad in London. Her story is a testament to how travel can transform us, offering lessons in embracing the world's endless possibilities and turning exploration into a force for good.
Step into the world of travel evolution with Stephanie as she reflects on how technology and accessibility have reshaped journeys over the decades. From the frugal days of backpacking to indulging in luxury escapades, Stephanie's experiences span solo adventures, family trips, and expatriate living. She shares the challenges of aging as a traveler and the importance of adapting one's approach over time. With a guiding mantra of "See the world, change the world, have fun doing it," she is committed to making purposeful and positive impacts on the places she visits.
Stephanie is not just a traveler but also an entrepreneur and humanitarian. Learn about her venture, Color Cloud Hammocks, a fair trade company that supports women seamstresses in Ethiopia. Her humanitarian work spans water and sanitation projects to tackling social issues like child marriage, offering insights into the complex world of responsible travel. As she shares tips for solo adventurers and imparts wisdom on navigating international trips, you'll find yourself inspired by her balance of nervousness and excitement—an invitation to embark on your own journeys with newfound courage.
Follow Stephanie @wanderingzito
www.wanderingforgood.com
https://colorcloudhammocks.com/
Instagram @solotraveladventures50
Facebook community: Solo Travel for Women Over 50
Send me a message or share your solo travel story with me.
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solo-travel-adventures-safe-travel-for-women-preparing-for-a-trip-overcoming-fear-travel-tips/id1650161410
Well, hello, sister travelers, I have an incredible guest on today. Her name is Stephanie Zito. She is a lifetime traveler, full-time humanitarian consultant, author, entrepreneur and professional travel hacker, who lives according to her mission statement of see the world, change the world have fun doing it. Originally from the US, stephanie lived around the world have fun doing it. Originally from the us, stephanie lived around the world traveling full-time from 1997 to 2013, before dropping an anchor in portland, oregon, where she currently stores her orange to me. Carry on between trips along the way. She has lived on ship for five years, founded color cloud hammocks, a fair trade woman-run hammock company in Cambodia, authored two travel guides the Honeymoon Hack and Upgrade, unlocked the unconventional guide to luxury travel, starting her own consulting business. She's a certified travel agent. Stephanie has also worked for numerous humanitarian organizations around the world and has now been to brace yourself 153 countries and all seven continents in her long, lifelong quest to go everywhere. So enjoy our conversation, folks.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures for Women 50 and Older. I'm Cheryl Esch, your host, solo travel advocate, freedom traveler and coach. This is your passport to adventure. Yeah, so I just loved your bio and I'm so glad we had a chance to connect. You've just been really I've been following you on Instagram, so you've been a little inspiration to me, but I always like to start my interviews with just an origin story having you go back to tell us, share with us, what got you into travel. What is your earliest memory? Maybe you know what sparked this passion that you have as this world traveler, as we will find out soon.
Speaker 2:Well, I, you know I actually didn't grow up traveling. My family I grew up in the Northeast and my family went to Florida twice a year for vacation and the only part of the world I saw was the parts in Epcot when it opened. I went to Epcot the year it opened and you know my mom used to laugh joke because when we went to Disney World, small World was always my favorite ride.
Speaker 2:And my sisters hated it and they would let me ride it by myself and I would just ride it in circles as a kid. She's like I should have known you were going to wind up the way that you did, but I didn't travel. It just never seemed really accessible to me and my grandparents traveled. So that's some of my earliest memories of like being aware of travel. My grandparents are Italian and we'd go back and visit family members and we'd sit in their basement and watch slideshows. But there was never any part of me that felt like, oh, I really want to go here or like I could do this. And then I remember in sixth grade I had this social studies teacher who was a world traveler and he show us slideshows in school of the places he went. And I think my very first memory of me wanting to go somewhere was when he showed his pictures of his trip to Egypt at of the pyramids in Egypt Wow, and I was like, oh, yeah, that would be, that would be cool. But it never even like there was no spark, like I could do that. And you know, fast forward, I studied French very poorly in high school and I used to think there was a picture of Mont Saint-Michel on the front of my French book and I was like, if I could go to Paris before I die, like that's my dream, like maybe I'll go to Paris on a honeymoon or something, and yeah. So I kind of had that like Paris before I die, you're not alone, nothing. And so I was like, yeah, okay, and you know, went ahead, went to college and my freshman year in college I became friends with another person in my French class actually, and she had kind of grown up with traveling parents and she like, like pushed me and was like you should like do this study abroad trip, you should do this study abroad trip. And I was like, whatever, anyway, I got a scholarship to do the study abroad trip.
Speaker 2:Oh, and I went to London January 26th uh, 1993 was the date of my first passport stamp and there was something about that trip where I was like like your life is not the same. And I think to me it wasn't that. Like I discovered I had a wonder for travel. I think for me that trip was like it's accessible to you, like it's not far, like it wasn't hard to do this. And we, I mean we traveled every spare chance we got during that trip. We urled across Europe and we went back the next January. That was actually my first points and miles trip. Was that next January? We went back and you know, I just like I just haven't stopped since. So it's been 30, 31 years and I just keep, adding on, keep adding on and I haven't lost any of the wonder.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I just had a similar story. I didn't. I grew up in East coast Same thing. Florida was pretty much pretty much for Virginia, sometimes Virginia beach, but yeah, that's similar and it sounds about the same time. I got my first stamp I think it was 91, though and so I've had that passion probably since. But I love your story and I hear a lot of folks that you know they didn't necessarily start in, you know, with any kind of travel experience, and then suddenly this world opened up, as you said, like finding out that it is accessible and it is accessible. Finding out that it is accessible and it is accessible, and you just have to, you know, be creative sometimes, maybe, in finding that way to get to where you want. So love that. And you, like you said, you have not stopped. So you have 153 countries under your belt, which is so impressive. I'm, like so many people you know they had had this goal to like see all, all the countries the UN recognizes before they die, and you are really close.
Speaker 2:I've been to Paris a lot of times. You've been what and I had a repeat. So I've been to Paris a lot of times.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I'm sure, I'm sure, you've been to other countries more than once, so that's amazing. And out of those countries, I'm not going to ask you what your favorite is, but I always like to hear which one surprised you the most.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, so many have surprised me. You know just one that just comes to my mind. I recently went to El Salvador and I loved it. I was like this is Central America's best kept secret. I mean, obviously El Salvador hasn't been safe for much of our lifetimes to travel to, but I love the places that are still rugged. I loved traveling back in the day when you had like a book and you had no idea where you were going and you just got lost and whatever you found was what you saw. El Salvador was a little bit like that. There's some areas where there's some infrastructure, but because it hasn't really been touristed like Guatemala and Honduras, it's like it feels still like that magical, like you're actually exploring just the way people live versus like you're exploring this, but there's lots of handicraft shops that are there for tourists at the same time.
Speaker 2:I really loved it. It's kind of a magical place and you could find yourself just at places where there was no people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, and I'm so thrilled that it's becoming a more safe place.
Speaker 2:I've actually been to El Salvador.
Speaker 1:Wait, but back in the 90s, so when it was not like you said, the infrastructure was not there. But you know, we lived among the locals, which I do love that when I go to visit a place. So you know there was no, no touristy, anything about it.
Speaker 2:So it's still like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I love that. Excellent. I want to know how has since you've started traveling. So we were probably in your I'll just your twenties, maybe right, when you started traveling roughly 19. Okay, you're 19. And I won't say how old you are now, but I obviously the way that you travel.
Speaker 2:This is an over 50 podcast. Right, it is yes, yes. So, of course, yes, I make the cut.
Speaker 1:You make the cut. Okay, from that you know early years of traveling to how you travel now. How has that changed?
Speaker 2:You know, I feel like it is. It's always changing, right, like you change as a person, and I mean think about how much has changed since 1993.
Speaker 2:Yes, you know, like I used to have to, you know, I joke with my niece in 1994, I went to China and my niece was born when I was, and I had no idea she was born, because you had to go to the post office and make a collect call was the only way you could communicate with people. So like there's it's so different, like technology has changed so much stuff and I think technology almost in a way has has made you had to be have to be a little more planned, especially if you're going to busier places, because there's like people book things in advance, whereas you couldn't do that before you got off the train and, you know, looked for a place to stay exactly um.
Speaker 2:So I would say there's that bit like just the way technology has changed, um the number. I feel like the number of travelers has really increased in just recent, just recent years. Travel I feel like travel has become a lot more accessible and for me, like when I first started traveling, I did do a lot of like backpacking, super on a budget. I had zero money. You know, we would eat rice, because if you ate rice then you could spend like well, I was a student, so we had like a, we had like a food allowance and if you spent all your food allowance on rice then you could use your food allowance to travel on the weekend. So just going from a place, from having, you know, scraping by to get places, and then I have. So I also do humanitarian work and for me, like I, so I've done like budget, super budget backpacking.
Speaker 2:I've done like expat living. I lived in Thailand and Cambodia, I lived in Sudan, I lived on a ship in West Africa, so I lived in lots of different places, kind of as more of a, an expat, and still traveled from those different places. But that's like a whole different type of travel, like really kind of being immersed in a place for a longer period of time. And then, you know, I've also done I do a lot of work in teaching people points and miles as a way to make travel accessible to them, and so I've done the whole gamut of, you know, luxury, luxury travel.
Speaker 2:You know, flying on the Emirates 380 and taking a shower and doing all that crazy stuff, and so I've really gotten to experience everything from, like the grubby backpackery, you know, eating bread to taking a shower in the sky, everything in between very short stays, very long stays, and I like doing it all. So I met my partner during COVID and up until then I had almost always been a solo traveler or had traveled with, you know, friends here and there and and have done a tiny bit of group travel not that much, but since I met him I've also been able to. I do still solo travel, actually quite a lot, but have been able to do trips with him and trips with the two girls as well. So I've been able to like experience like the joys and the highs and lows of family travel as well.
Speaker 2:You know, traveling with a partner too. So that's kind of my evolution too.
Speaker 1:So you have experienced, like you said, from all the gamuts of budget to luxury and solo family. You know a couple that's amazing.
Speaker 2:And I also feel like what you're willing to put up with when you're 18 to travel might not be what you're willing to put up with when you're 51 to travel. I agree with that 18 to travel might not be what you're willing to put up with when you're 51 to travel. I agree with that. I just did some crazy long haul overnight flights on the last trip I took and I was like it is not as easy for me to do a 15 and a half hour you know flight in economy and get off the plane and go side seeing the next day.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, I felt the same way For some reason when I came back from my trip this past fall. I had three planes, long layovers and literally it was 24 hours of travel and after I got off the plane and I landed back in the U S I was like, yeah, I don't think I can do that again anymore you know, I'm just like too old for that one. Maybe one layover is fine, you know, but this is, this is too much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty harder for the upgrades now and I sleep on less air airport floors.
Speaker 1:Oh well, that's good to know. Less airport floors oh well, that's good to know. You have an amazing mission statement. First of all, I love that you have a mission statement, but I also love the middle part of it. So I'm just going to say your mission statement is see the world, change the world, have fun doing it. So I want to talk about the change, the world part, because I actually feel like timing of talking with you is perfect, because when I came back from the Camino trip I just did this fall I felt just this longing to have some of my travel be more purposeful in that it would have a more positive impact of wherever I'm going. Right, so just kind of feeling that nudge to really investigate. That's more for my own self. So I'm curious to how did this? First of all, how did your mission statement come about? And then I want to talk about that middle statement and how you are actually living that out.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Well, my, you are actually living that out. Well, my mission statement came about just out of my own confusion, because I feel like in modern times it is very normal that people have like side hustles and you know, you might like be a traveler and you know a banker and different things. But yeah, I would say, like a decade ago, when people asked like what do you do? And I'm like, well, you know, I work for a humanitarian organization and I started a hammock company and I teach people how to use points and miles and I write for credit card websites, I was like which one, which one of them? They're like huh, and so I was like a little bit like, and I was working on, oh, and everybody was a blogger too. So I was working on, on creating my website and I was just like, how, how do I, how do I tell one story about what I do?
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I was like, and so I thought, like, what, like, what drives me to do the things that I do? What is kind of what is my umbrella? And you know, because, like, being a person who, like, writes about credit cards and being a person who, like, lives in Africa and, like, helps people understand poverty and war you know, like they't normally like the same, grouped in the same category, and I was like you know what? The reason I like to write about credit cards is because I think it's a way that makes what I get to do and see accessible to other people.
Speaker 2:So if I can help make the world accessible to people, that is going to help people broaden their worldview much more than anything. I can, like, tell somebody that they should think, and so that was just kind of my umbrella of like all the different things that I do kind of fall under this see the world, change the world, have fun doing it. So, and I was like so, and when I think about things that I want to do, I'm always like, do they kind of fall into that, you know, and is that part of who I am? So that's kind of that's where it came about and it's just something that's really stuck with me and has resonated. I think I wrote that like 20 years ago now, and so it's just something that has resonated and kind of continued to guide me.
Speaker 1:I think it's important that people have their own personal mission statement, even if it doesn't relate to work, because, like you said, it then helps you filter through, you know, things that might not fall under that. You know, should I do that? Well, it doesn't really encapsulate this part of my mission. So you know, having that yeah.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I've been very lucky that I have been able to kind of build a life and a career that kind of just go together. And you know that's not, it's not necessarily the way everyone does it and it's not the way everyone wants to do it or should do it, and but yeah, but I think even I just want to encourage people who have a very different life. I know I listened to podcasts and I'm like I'm doing it all wrong, you know. But I just want to encourage people who you know, who have a my life is not normal, who have like a normal life, that there are lots of people who still travel, who you know live, can live a very mission, who do live a very missional way and have a have a nine to five job or a more more typical job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, you're right, yeah, and with remote work, you know anymore it's it's pretty pretty easy at this point. Yeah. So let's talk about apparently, uh so, the the change the world part. I would imagine the color cloud hammocks was part of that part of that. You know, maybe that inspiration tell us about the color cloud hammocks.
Speaker 2:Color cloud hammocks is a. It is a women don't fair trade hammock company that I started with two of my friends. I started it while I was living in Ethiopia. The inspiration for it actually came about in Washington DC. I lived in Washington DC for a couple of years. I owned a really fun colorful hammock that I had bought when I was in Africa somewhere and I loved this travel hammock. I took it everywhere and I moved to DC after living in Sudan and it wasn't the easiest place for me to live. You know people talk about like reverse culture shock and oh yeah, I literally was living in Darfur. I went from one of the most difficult places of the world to one of the most prosperous places of the world and I will say DC has also changed a lot in the last 20 years. But when I moved from Sudan to DC I was like Sudan is was one of the worst places and the people were so happy and so kind and I moved to DC and literally no one looked up from their blackberries blackberries.
Speaker 2:That's when it was yeah, I was just like I was just kind of dumbfounded when I was there and I really just struggled and I lived in. I lived on Capitol Hill in a little row house and on our corner we had a tree and our front porch and I would hang my hammock between our front porch and our tree and I would sit in my hammock and people would come around the corner or walk down the street and they'd like look up from their Blackberry and they would talk to me and I was like hammocks are magic, oh. And I was like we need to sell hammocks in Washington DC. Hammocks make people happy. And so, um, my friends and I, my two roommates I was living with at the time um, we like bought a sewing machine and we like figured out how to buy ripstop nylon and we, um, we sewed our own first hammock and it took us about four days and we were like this is really cool. But you know what? There is no business plan here, because we'd have to sell these for like seven thousand dollars a piece to ever make any money. Like it took us so long to do it. So we were like that was a fun idea and kind of like you know, pack, pack shit up, set it aside, and I moved.
Speaker 2:I was working for a humanitarian organization and moved from DC to Cambodia. And I'd been living in Cambodia just a few I don't know, probably a few weeks, month or so and I met some women who had started their own seamstress shop and I just I don't even, and I was walking through the market looking for linen to make pants or something and I found nylon and I was like I found a way I can make hammocks. And so I did. I bought nylon in the market and I took it to these women who had just started their own little shop and drew pictures of what I wanted. And that's honestly like it just started really small, and it still is small. But you know, it was like in the very early days of Facebook. We just we launched the whole thing over Facebook. Okay yeah, and it's just kind of gone over time, and my friends were still back here in the States and I would ship the hammocks and they would sell them, and that's kind of how we, that's kind of how we started. And so we were able to support those women who had started their own little shop and, you know, pay them a fair wage to make, and then so we did that for quite a while.
Speaker 2:Eventually, I left Cambodia we still did it for from Cambodia for a while, and then one of my business partners moved to Ethiopia and she does. She and her husband started a company that does investing in businesses in Africa. Okay, it's another super interesting, but they actually wound up investing in businesses in africa. Okay, is um another super interesting, but they actually wound up investing in this family-owned, uh sewing company. Oh gosh, um, we actually were able to, um get fabric made.
Speaker 2:It was one of the problems that we had in ethiopia, in cambodia, was you could you only got whatever, whatever was in the market and, um, you know, like a company like cotopaxi that makes everything in whatever random colors and random colors is part of their market, right.
Speaker 2:But when we were selling to like the university of minnesota and they wanted hammocks in red and yellow, right, well, they would put in an order for 30 hammocks in red and yellow. Well, they would put in an order for 30 hammocks and we'd be like, sorry, there's no red in the market today. So it became a challenge and so we were looking to kind of like shift so we could be and do a little more retail. And we found a way that we could do it in Ethiopia. And then one of the partners was based in Ethiopia. So then they were made in Ethiopia by women, but we could do it in Ethiopia. And then one of the partners was based in Ethiopia. So then they were made in Ethiopia by women, but we could do them in more quantity and control the colors. So wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just continued. Just a different country and yeah, that's amazing. Are there some other? You said you were involved with a lot of humanitarian. What's some other ones that you've done?
Speaker 2:Well, so for a long time I mean professionally I've worked kind of for NGOs for most of my career I currently in 2013 is when I left Cambodia full time and moved to Oregon, which is where I'm based now, and in 2013, I just started I went out on my own as a consultant.
Speaker 2:So I work for different humanitarian organizations now and my like water and sanitation projects and I just did a big project on child marriage, kind of just like different, different issues, but not from a marketing perspective where I'm telling you like a sad story, so you give me money, from a perspective of like how are we, how are we telling, how are we explaining the issue to people so they understand it? And understand it in a way that they can kind of know what the challenges are and what some of the good practices are and what some of the goals are, without being, you know, a super nerdy technical expert in that area, being a, you know, a super nerdy technical expert in that area. So but before I started consulting, I worked. I worked full time in human in the humanitarian world. In Cambodia I worked as a regional communications manager for.
Speaker 2:World Vision, which is a child focused organization. Um, we covered in our region. We covered 16 different countries and we worked with the local. So in each country we had local communications people and they're the ones who are gathering the stories going out in the communities. Um, but I had some really interesting experiences getting to work with them, coming up with, like strategies for their country, helping do training and capacity building on like how to tell different stories. You know what kind of stories were interesting to people Did like it was in the very. I mean, I helped so many countries like learn how to use social media and start to use social media, because that was the era that I was there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, so lots of different things. We did a lot of, like emergency communications training. You know, in Asia there's all kinds of cyclones and things that you never hear about typhoons and cyclones and um, so making sure those offices were equipped in, like how to communicate when those different kinds of crises occurred. You know that they were prepared like if CNN was there. There's also, I also feel like there's, like you know, a lifespan for everything, and one of the big goals of some of those jobs, too, is, like, if you're there in like the role of an expat because you have a skill set that someone else doesn't have, you know to like to to bring it to a place where you've imparted that skill set to another person who already lives there, and we can do that work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's so rewarding in being able to pass that on and use your skills that you've acquired, you know, to use it sort of in that travel industry, humanitarian industry, you kind of like put it together. I love that. I love when people are able to do that you know, use like some skills that they've gotten, you know, like you said, from a normal job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I worked in a PR high tech PR firm was my first job. Okay, so joy or fulfillment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're using all these skills and you know, keeping it, you know, involved with your travel is is so exciting for me, as I I would love to be able to sort of be able to do that, you know, with some skills that I have.
Speaker 2:I will say so. Just another thing is, like you know, that's it's not something that everyone's able to do, like the world needs lots of people to not work in the humanitarian industry because there's many other industries. But I will say like I think it's just as important to be a good traveler when you travel.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about that, yes, treat a place like like you would treat your own home, or you would treat better than your own home and leave places you know in any way you can like better than you found them. And you know, for me, one of the things I try to remind myself is like you know, you know like I'm a, I get a good kick out of bargaining. Like I just find it fun, and you know I have lots of bargaining experience because I had a bargain to buy tomatoes when I lived in Cambodia and I'd get really mad if they were charging me more than they were supposed to. But also just like remembering like that when you're, when you're buying things in different countries, like like, pay a fair price. Like it's fun to get a deal, but like so many of the people who are selling things in markets are living like hand to mouth. Like, like you don't, you don't want to get ripped off.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying like get ripped off, pay them too much or you know, but like, just like, educate yourself. Like learn about like as much as you can. It's hard, but like like learn what's a fair price. Make sure, when you walk away from something, that the person who's selling it to you also feels good about the transaction. You know, be respectful about the transaction. You know be respectful like take care of, take care of places, and I mean it's silly to say that, but you know like I, like walk around. I'm like, oh, you know like I, sometimes I feel like we, as travelers, are just completely clueless because we're operating in our own little world.
Speaker 1:So, just like being being aware, you know, yes, no, I love that and thinking, you know, obviously, buying local and, you know, trying to support the local economy, versus, maybe going to a big grocery store or something that might be in the area. You know, go to the, go to the markets, you know, go to the farmer's markets and stuff. Yeah, yeah, I love that advice. Yeah, I'm a true believer of that too. Just really being mindful of the you know where I'm traveling and how I'm, you know leaving. If I'm leaving anything behind, you know making sure it's, you know, positive. Yeah, exactly, just, you know, and I think that leaves you, as a traveler, to feeling fulfilled, as, I mean, I personally would feel that you know that you're not just countries that you know were demanding or you know were just rude or whatever. You know, whatever it might be Right. So I'm trying to be mindful of that when I travel as well. So, yeah, love that.
Speaker 2:One other thing I would say is I think one of the places people immediately jump to when they think about like doing kind of humanitarian things when they travel is like, oh, can I volunteer somewhere? Can I volunteer somewhere? And it's, it's, it's not. It's a little bit of a tricky one too, and I would say, if that's something that you're interested in doing, um, take time and do some research, yes, and ask the local organizations about it.
Speaker 2:And you know, like when I lived in Cambodia, I know there was like one of the organizations there was like kind of doing like a anti-voluntourism campaign, because there was there was really negative stuff going on and like they would, they would like people would come into town and they'd feel bad because there were so many street kids and they'd want to go volunteer at these local orphanages where there were these options to volunteer. But what the average tourist who's coming in, is going to be there for a couple of days and wants to do something didn't know in Cambodia was a lot of these kids in these orphanages aren't orphans and they're just like you know, it's like a money making operation and parents are putting their kids in these in these places to as a way to kind of generate.
Speaker 2:It's like a tourism industry and you know you come one day and you teach them the alphabet and then you move on to your. You know, you move on to Bangkok and then the next tourist come one day and they have some white person who comes in and teaches them the alphabet, and um, so just I would say, do some research to find out, kind of like, if there's anything dubious in that area. There used to be some good resources around it and I can maybe look for them afterwards, Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's, I think it's. I agree it's important to do your research and make sure you're I mean, I would say, work with a reputable company that actually kind of organizes those kinds of things, so that you know you're not. You know, cause if you think, if you do it by yourself, you know you have that there's that chance you're going to be getting scammed, as we call it. You know, and I wouldn't want you to have that kind of opportunity. You know that's that sort of experience. So I agree. So, yeah, if you have some resources, I would love to, um, you know, maybe include those in the show notes. Um, I, I know a few um, but I'd be curious to know what kind of what you're recommending um as well. So that'd be great. Um, well, what would you? What advice would you give to a woman solo traveler going out, maybe for her first solo trip?
Speaker 2:I would say, if it was a first solo trip I actually gave this advice to someone yesterday Okay, good, I would say, do a practice trip. That's what I always tell people. You know, if you are, you know you're thinking about going on a trip and I mean it could be. It could be that you're very experienced doing solo trips at home and this is your first international trip. It could be that you've done a lot of international travel but you've never gone solo. It could be that you've never traveled before at all but you really like this is the bucket list thing for 2025 for you.
Speaker 2:So recognize that everybody starts in a different place and so blanket advice, you know, might not be the best thing for you. So remember, you're starting where you're starting and I would say, you know, do something that stretches you to the next step, like if you've never been anywhere. I would not recommend, you know, taking a solo trip to Saudi. You know, but if you know, if you have traveled a ton internationally in group trips and this is just your first trip and you're already like comfortable navigating international airports and taxis and that kind of stuff, you know, then yeah, it will be, you'll stretch yourself. But that might be this you know, going solo from already international traveling isn't a giant step.
Speaker 2:If you've never really done a big, a big trip solo, you know maybe like take a smaller step before you like take your next step, like, have you ever done a solo trip at in this, in the US, in your own state? You know, like right, like think about what are the things you're worried about. If you're worried about, like what am I going to do? Like, if I have to, like eat by myself in a restaurant, or people worry about different things, like are you worried about being lonely? Like do a week-long trip, just like a week-long road trip.
Speaker 2:Or you know a week-long, a couple days, like somewhere else in the US and do a trip and just like kind of address that thing you're scared of or the thing you think you're worried about Before you, you know level it up, yeah, and you know if you're doing, if it's like a first international trip, you know then maybe start somewhere that you have some affinity towards. Or you know, like you speak the language, like going to the person who I was talking to yesterday they want to do their first trip to Ireland and I was like that's great, you know, and she was like Well, I'm worried that you know I've never traveled international solo before and I'm like you're a great solo traveler. You drove across the country twice this year, like, like you're not going to be scared in Ireland you know she will be fine, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so so. So start with a trip that's. That is already going to be a great trip, right. So the so, the like, lessen the challenges and, you know, take a take, take the right size, step for you.
Speaker 1:I like how you put that. We're all starting at a different place. That's very true. You know, like you said, there's different levels of what your experience in travel in general has been right to start with, and then you know where, where you've been. You know, like you said, is it local? Is it your first international?
Speaker 2:You know, I love it, it's perfect, it's perfect, don't listen to the negativity of people who are, who want to, like, put their own fears on you. Amen to that. Sorry, I just yeah. Yeah, it's true, like, and you know being nervous is the right feeling. You know, like you don't get nervous if you're doing something that you've done before. You know you get nervous when you're doing something a little bit new.
Speaker 2:But I will say, like, even when I went on my trip to El Salvador and I just went on a trip to Timor-Leste, you know people are like. People who know me, who know I've been to 153 countries, are like are you sure? Like isn't that really unsafe? And then I go to sleep at night and my brain's like am I going to die? Should I not be going on this trip? Am I dumb? And I'm like I know it so and I'm like no, you've done your research, you know it's the same place and you know you have to. You have to take chances and you're always going to be nervous doing super exciting, amazing things. So be prepared to be nervous, but don't let anyone project their fears on you.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you. I love that. And they say nervousness and excitement are actually built from the same. You know feeling and emotion, you know so. You know you might feel nervous but there's an excitement in there too. So where are you off to next? Anywhere special or any any new place.
Speaker 2:I just came. I did 14 flights in November. I'm so tired oh my goodness, and then I hosted my family for Thanksgiving, so I do well today, actually, that we're recording. This is travel Tuesday.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly I have a list of flights that I'm going to check out today. I have a lot of things on the. These are my on the wall. These are my trips I'm planning for the year. My niece is getting married, so I actually have quite a few trips that are related to to that. So a lot of US-based trips. But for my next international trip, I haven't exactly figured it out yet. A little bit harder once you've done.
Speaker 2:153 countries and you're trying to do new ones. Yeah, about 40 left to. Yeah, and I try to do five to six a year. I'm not trying to do like everything as fast as I can. My dream is to do it before I die and, um, hopefully, you know, if I need to do it while I finish, while I'm 90, one of my nieces, who are both travelers, will take me um, but I think I would really like this year. I would really love to go to Dominica. It's my only country left in the Caribbean. I have not been to Guyana or Suriname, so those are two that are high on my list. Um, there's some really hard ones that I'd love to go to Venezuela, to Angel Falls, not a super easy one. It will also be interesting to see you know just how things change, correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because right now Venezuela is not safe.
Speaker 2:Exactly. And to see how that changes and also just to see how things you know shake out internationally over the next month with the change in administration and stuff. I have a friend who wants to go to Saudi with me, and so that is high on my list. I'm saving. I haven't been to Peru or Ecuador, which are two pretty easy ones, oh well. So, I'm saving those for when I need them.
Speaker 1:Peru was amazing and actually it is. I just did an episode. So you know, it's becoming a trend in 2025 to go to Peru, because supposedly I didn't realize this, but the movie Paddington was filmed there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, so people are being inspired by this movie, like to go to peru, and I'm like, oh, wow, okay, well, you know, yeah, yeah, that's really funny that is funny right, I do a project for uh, unicef uk and paddington is their spokesperson.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, I'm a huge. In fact, we we have a Paddington instead of an angel on the top of our Christmas tree.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I hate to say this, but I think that needs to be your next place.
Speaker 2:So I feel like that one might need to be a family trip, though. Okay, okay, I've shared the Paddington love with these, with this group. Okay, well, awesome, that's really interesting. Yeah, I think it comes out here on January 8th.
Speaker 1:I really am a Paddington nerd. Okay, we'll see. There you go. Where can people find you? Do you have a presence on social media where?
Speaker 2:they can follow you. I'm easiest to find on Instagram. Okay, it's at wandering Zito Z, like zipper, I T O and I also have a website, wanderingforgoodcom. Okay and um, I the the hammock store still open. Colorcloudhammockscom. Awesome. Okay and um. Yeah, those are my main, those are my main places.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right I think you have a few blogs up there, a little bit.
Speaker 2:there's a few there I I had to rebuild it after COVID, so it's growing and changing a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, it's been amazing. I just love this. Thank you for sharing your experiences, your expertise and even just the whole heart of how you travel. I think I love that and it's come through in our conversation here. I've enjoyed it. Stephanie, thank you for your time.
Speaker 2:Lovely to talk to you too.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I'm sure we will. I'm hoping we cross paths honestly, oh, definitely.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:I would love that. All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thanks, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Hey, sister Travelers, did this podcast inspire and encourage you or move you to get out there and travel? Wonderful, there are three ways you can thank me. First, one is leave a written review for the show on Apple Podcast. Two, share the show with your Sister Travelers, your friends, your family. And three, subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode. And thank you again for listening to the show. Sisters, be fearless, take the leap and get out there and have an adventure.
