The Fit Founder Talks Solo Travel and Medical Tourism with Taylor Wallace | TNN73

When costly dental or medical procedures became unavoidable, many people from countries with a higher cost of living are willing to consider getting it done overseas. Cost is one of the main reasons why people travel overseas for medical procedures. In some countries, elective procedures can cost a fraction of the price of getting it done in the US or Europe. Medical tourism is not for everyone, but it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Taylor Wallace of The Fit Founder joins Andrew Jernigan and Allen Koski in talking about the realities of medical tourism in this week’s episode of The New Nomad. They talked about their own experiences and reasons why they preferred having a procedure done overseas and the risks it involves. Whether or not you choose overseas or have the procedure done locally, remember that you're financially responsible for costs incurred during and after treatment overseas. So tune in to The New Nomad for tips in your travels.

[1:12] Medical tourism: Nay or Yay?

[8:58] Knowing when to move forward or turn back

[12:29] Why keeping yourself healthy is vital when traveling

[17:28] Being honest with yourself and accepting your reality

[21:54] Low-cost medical treatments make people travel abroad

[26:38] Knowledge is what makes you feel confident in your decisions

GUEST BIO:

Taylor Wallace is a millennial thought leader, Business Strategy Consultant, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, and founder of #thefitfounder global movement. Her mission is for every human to actualize their dreams of a lifestyle by design through Emotional Intelligence, Personal Development, Self Awareness, and Self Love. 

She moved to New York to join the evolving startup ecosystem, where she honed her product & team as part of the Founders Accelerator program. Since then, she's taken her passions on the road, embracing a work/life harmony philosophy as an international Digital Nomad. Taylor and her works have been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, General Assembly, and Skyscanner. She regularly collaborates with Cowork/Co-living startups, lady boss bloggers, entrepreneurs, social innovators, and thought leaders from around the world.

LINKS:

The Fit Founder: https://www.thefitfounder.com/

Taylor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorwallace/

The Fit Founder Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefitfounder/


Follow Insured Nomads at:

Instagram: @insurednomads

www.insurednomads.com

Transcript

Allen  

Hello, and welcome to The New Nomad. We have a really interesting guests today, The Fit Founder, Taylor Wallace will be joining us. Really interesting story. And I'm sure we're gonna have some very interesting tips for you. And actually, I think we're gonna have a very interesting conversation about medical tourism and, and other sundry topics. You know, I myself have had, you know, people ask me about traveling about health care. And a lot of times, it's, you're going to places like, you know, Thailand, Costa Rica, there's some medical tourism locations around the world. But also, more importantly, it's about staying healthy, staying fit and having a good support group when you're in a different location. And I know, Andrew, you ran a hospital in Ghana, you've you've dealt with many people, have had to travel for various reasons. And the health care system, it's interesting, everybody who, especially Americans and Europeans, I don't think you have to run home all the time anymore, especially for many of the cosmetic type of procedures that many different countries do very, very well at a fraction of the cost your thoughts,

Andrew  

right? Yeah, I've had surgery in Africa, I've had surgery in, in South America, it's it's one of those things to where there are fabulous health care systems around the world, and the cost is radically lower. That's why health insurance can often give much lower rates for care outside of Indonesia, Canada, us some of your higher cost countries. So this is gonna be good to hear what Taylor says about medical tourism and other aspects of being fit, living the global lifestyle. So yeah, this is gonna be good. Thank you, everyone, for joining us again, this week on The New Nomad. So Taylor,

Allen  

we're gonna bring you into the conversation. And really, you know, you have an interesting story, you've been to different locations, you're able to share some of your advice, and counsel through The Fit Founder. And, really, to me what I was reading about your story, the light, the freedom of the lifestyle, the adventures that you've had, would love you, before we get into any of the particulars, tell us a little bit about your journey to where you are today. As somebody who's travelled to different countries and made really the big move to a, I would almost say a nomadic, but exciting lifestyle.

Taylor  

Yeah, for sure. So I guess my location independent lifestyle started back in 2017. When I say started as in like, that's when I made the decision, for a little background there. At the time, I was two months out of a business accelerator program that took me from Boston to New York, and allowed me to get to a point where I was no longer working my corporate job and building my company, I was focusing just on my startup, it's really exciting. But something kind of shifted mentally. Specifically, since I was only working on my company, I no longer had the stability of earning that corporate paycheck, or on top of being able to work on on the business, and that most blatantly hit me when looking at rent prices. So again, going from Boston to New York is already spending too much money on rent is spending way too much money on rent. But once I got to a point where I can kind of look at all the pieces of the puzzle, and being able to trace like, okay, how can I justify this cost of living, when there was nothing about like my current professional lifestyle, my personal lifestyle that is keeping me in this one place. 

Taylor  

And so once I started to kind of like, once my mind became open to the reality of like, where I chose to live, was a lot more flexible than I'd ever realized. Kind of just felt like the universe could just tell that my mind was open. And so like opportunities and ideas and inspiration started flowing in. And so I made the decision that I was going to spend the entire year of 2018 both working on my business but doing it on the road. So my plan was to do like the typical like one year Nomad journey, which at that time was as many places as you can while still structuring yourself up for professional success. So what that looked like was about one month in each city. So enough time to like, join a gym, you know, do a one month free if you're strategic enough. Enough time to kind of make some friends to get the financial benefit of signing a one month, rental versus, you know, days or weeks. And so I began looking at some different, like digital nomad companies, and seeing what cities they had identified as you know, remote friendly, entrepreneurial, friendly, like hubs around the world. And so I've kind of put together this itinerary. Again, my plan was one year just working on the business, my whole team was remote at that point. So it really was kind of falling into place. 

Taylor  

So fast forward four months into that 12 month journey. One thing led to another, which led to us selling the company, which was both great, but also kind of terrifying, because one of the things that allowed me to have like one of the key pillars of the confidence to make that jump was like having stability in some verticals, so that I could feel like I had the freedom to take more risk in others. So going from having a very structured like professional life and like feeling like I had a clear trajectory, to kind of losing that was a little bit scary. But by the four month point, I'd had enough experiences and like these little mental tests, were like my confidence that I could continue on this journey, even though my, you know, endpoint was not as clear as it was four months earlier, really inspired me to be like, you know, what, I made this commitment that I was going to do this for a year. By that point, I'd already been in four different co working, you know, hubs and four different startup entrepreneurial communities, I'd made so many friends and contacts, many of whom were at different stages in their, like startup adventure that were really reminiscent for me. But when I bet them, I didn't really have the time to connect beyond that surface level. And so once I realized I had this like whole new level of free time professional, Okay, sweet. I can go through these hundreds of emails that have been in the to read later folder. And that is what I did for the rest of 2018. Just worked as a consultant for all of the global entrepreneurs that I have met, that laid the foundation for The Fit Founder and kind of just grew into a movement and initiative on its own. I was so many words.

Allen  

No, it's great. And you could pick up the passion for the jolly yield. You know, a lot of our folks listen to podcasts and love that kind of the travelogue portion. Could you go through some of the different countries that you went through? And maybe a couple quick thoughts on that, because I was very interested, as I'm traveling to Hanoi, next year that you spent some time in Hanoi, and some of the things that you learn from those different those different locations to where you are today.

Taylor  

Definitely. So, in the first year, in 2018, I kind of broke my travel up by the regions. So four months in South America, four months in Europe, and four months in Asia. So I started in Buenos Aires, so went from Buenos Aires to Lima to Valparaiso in Chile, and then finished up that fourth month in Medellín. I will say Valparaiso I intended to spend a month. But yeah, after two weeks, I kind of had to cut my losses.

Allen  

I've had a couple of trips like that myself that year, like Yeah, I think I'm gonna call Lufthansa now and move and speed this thing up a little bit.

Taylor  

Yeah, it's definitely a funny dynamic, because if you're like me, or my personality type, you kind of have to really, like it's a whole nother level of self honesty. Because your instinct is like, you know, I'm not a quitter. I made this commitment I, you know, paid a non refundable on this apartment. So you kind of have a bit of that like, sunk cost fallacy. And so that's a lesson I learned pretty quick on the Nomad journey is like, having your stopping rules and being able to identify like when a certain place or certain situation is like, not compatible, either energetically or with your logistical needs or whatever. Being able to be like, okay, like, it's no longer meeting these requirements. It's time to iterate. Because it's always a situations where you you start compromising compromising in a way that's like not constructive. Like, that's kind of when you start to get off track. 

Taylor  

So when I left Medellín, my first stop in Europe was Budapest. And that was a little hard going from such cultural extremes. But it just, you know, was another learning experience, got acclimated. But to fast forward a little bit, I think Southeast Asia is really where my that was the phase of the trip where I really realized that this was not just going to be a one year experience, getting to be a part of the world that up until living in Southeast Asia, I never really thought of like, huh, I was always curious. But I could not fathom the reality in which I could be, like thriving in a country like Thailand or Vietnam. And Thailand is actually where my first slowmading adventure really took its legs, I guess I moved back to Thailand after that year, and stayed for four months, as opposed to one month at a time. And I think one of the most exciting things for me, was that, you know, I've always been an extreme sport athlete, a very active person. And up until that point, something that was really worrisome was getting hurt, getting hurt abroad and having something happened that I couldn't afford to handle on my own. Or that just in terms of the access to care, you know, I was setting myself up to be at a disadvantage or turned a minor problem or injury into something catastrophic. Something happened when I was traveling in Vietnam, where, you know, an injury that I had, I think three years ago, had gone completely dormant, like started flaring up. And it was pretty terrifying, because up until that point, it was just like, high after high after high. And I'm sure you've heard the expression, you know, health is wealth. So there's nothing like getting sick or hurt in a physical place, or in an emotional place where that's the last thing that you expect it like everything kind of goes crashing down. And so, in Vietnam, I was really nervous because obviously, speaking Vietnamese, and while I had an awesome support network, I didn't know how far that would go. And one of my friends brought to my attention that, okay, you know, the history of Vietnam, like I said, in history, so yes, they do. Okay, so there are some of the best French hospitals in the world. And like two of them are here, Vietnam. Like, obviously, when they said it made a ton of sense. Up until that point, I definitely, I didn't realize how much of a limiting belief I had around like anything worth getting done has to be done in America. If I wanted something great like, America's the only way and through that experience I learned not only is America, like not the only way, but in a lot of situations, it's not even the best way. But it takes like, I didn't feel like that was a lesson that someone could tell me. Like I kind of had to experience it on my own to be open to it. And that's when like the research started happening. It's like, okay, what are all the other things that I've been putting off because of what they cost in the US or what the lead time is? That's a whole other chapter of my nomadic journey.

Andrew  

Well, Taylor, this is this is so fascinating from Vietnam to all these other places, the things you've experienced, I know in one of your blogs, you you referenced, you know, some of the the things that you do for are tips for folks traveling. Can you expound on probably the the number one thing that you think that people should know about when they're getting ready for this kind of lifestyle? If there was like a top thing that comes to your mind. I know I've put you on the spot on this, but you've written so many good blog articles on your site. I felt that that was probably one of those things, whether it's related to diet, exercise, healthcare. There, there are a number of topics there that I think you've you've dropped some nuggets on in your writings. 

Taylor  

Okay.

Allen  

And by the way, my favourite, I'll throw I'll give you a little bit of yours. I loved your bill realistic about your physical health and your language skills. As I've traveled some places and you're like, man, we've got to cover a lot of ground, we're going hiking at altitude, right? You got to know you're in shape, or, you know, we're in this country, do they speak enough of the language that they understand or not had some religious things, but I do love your alter your risk reward analysis that you you put out there.

Taylor  

For sure. It's like a little bit of I don't know that engineering systems thinking sprinkled into like real world situations. I think if I were to look at like a high level, like, the most important thing to consider before taking this, this jump, is the concept of this is something I reference often, like self honesty. So being able to kind of take a look at your life, like prior to taking the jump, and like having an honest conversation with yourself like, Okay, where am I financially? Where am I professionally? Where am I interpersonally? Like, what are the things that bring me joy? What are the things that really stressed me out, and so like, being able to kind of like, check in, and doing the best possible job, like preemptively to set yourself up for success abroad. So if you're someone like, for me, something that I really, really enjoy, and enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, is like playing field hockey. That kind of sounds like silly, maybe. But from when I graduated through college all the way until, you know, even through my accelerator in New York, I was playing hockey, like once a week in some way or another. And so when I began thinking about my journey abroad, I looked at like my calendar over the past year, of like, what are the things that I made time for that? Like, I could immediately see that brought me joy. How can I make time for them abroad? Because I think that sometimes we have these stories in our mind that, okay, I'm new country, new life for your new timezone new life. Like, that's really the reality. It can be in some ways, but sometimes there are aspects of who you are, or who you aspire to be that you don't want to change, just because we're in a new country or in a new time zone. And so I think that's kind of like the, if I were to put everything under an umbrella, you know, it's like, how do I weave in the things that I like, you know, the skills that I want to keep building, the types of relationships I want to keep cultivating, and kind of prioritizing certain logistical aspects of your travel around those things. So like, if you know, you get lonely sometimes and do like having people around, just because you can afford to live very comfortably isolated and alone, and let's say Thailand, or Vietnam or in Europe, that's actually maybe not a dynamic that's going to serve you if you're used to having, you know, hearing someone walking around and going to the bathroom, makes you feel comfortable, you know, it's all these little idiosyncrasies about, you know, your emotional home and kind of honoring those things, no matter where you are.

Andrew  

Yeah, that's, that's interesting. I hear that and I reflect on the times in my own life, because I've single than married than with kids, I've spent a lot of time in this nomadic lifestyle. And you, you do get to kind of start with a fresh foundation at times. So you have the same person in that new location. Right? You get to decide what type of people am I going to take out to dinner? What type of people am I going to meet with? Where am I gonna go find these people? Yeah, what sport am I going to pick up in this place? Am I going to you know, what's, what's going to happen here. And, and that's one of the exciting aspects of it. I'm even with healthcare. One of my most recent trips, I decided, Okay, I'm going to see a cardiologist here because it's been over the years since over a year since my last checkup, so amazing, all the medicines prescribed, that would have cost a fortune back home, I was able to pick up for a year and a half for next to nothing almost free. That would have cost, you know, 1000 bucks back in the day in another country. So I think you've experienced the medical tourism aspect of that cost savings as well, haven't you?

Taylor  

Oh my gosh. It's honestly it has been so significant that when I'm back home, it's almost difficult to like, I have to, like, have a little pep talk with myself and remember, like, Okay, you're gonna be back in the US, that doesn't mean that we're going to neglect like, you just think about things through a completely different lens. So I went through the transition, I'm not sure if the majority of your listeners are based in the US or Europe. But the time I don't know what the system is now, at the time, I think you could be covered like under your parent's insurance until 26, 28 or 36. Correct? Yep. 26. Yes. So I actually went through that transition as a nomad. So there was a time where when I left the US to one particular stent, I was insured with like, the best insurance, I never even thought about the cost of most basic things. Like, I want to get a dental cleaning, okay, you know, I want to get this weird pain in my back when I do this, like, okay, you know. It wasn't until things shifted, meaning I aged out of that inclusive insurance. And I was footing the bill for super simple things, you know, or like, urgent things. And I started to notice that over time, my proactiveness, about something not feeling right or not being as optimal as I would like for it to be and like, the level of severity that it took for me to get like to seek, like expert advice on these things started growing, growing, growing, and like, Okay, this is very dangerous, especially with my lifestyle. 

Taylor  

And so I think the biggest, like milestone for me, occurred with my first elective surgery abroad. And that was when I was living Medellín. Up until that point, I've been wearing glasses for, like 10 years. And I wasn't someone that had a genetic vision issue. Like basically over time of reading too many books in the dark, when my parents said, lights out, kind of begin to compound. And you know, as a nomad, as an athlete, like, you really start to look at, like the 80-20 80-20s in your life. So wearing contacts and like being on a multi day hike the jungle, just like, not an option. Or it was an option, but a very uncomfortable, dry eye, potentially dangerous. And so getting LASIK was something that had been on like the nice to have list for probably three or four years. Before I had the epiphany of like, Wait, you're telling me I can get this done, and it's not going to cost me $6,000. And so, I had heard a lot about medical tourism, specifically in Colombia. Because like once you go into this world, you start to notice like different countries kind of are well known for being exceptional and specific things. So for like LASIK, for cosmetic work, for dental work, and so Medellín is very popular for LASIK. And I knew I had intended to be there for a good chunk of time. And so I said, Okay, I feel like the pieces are starting to align for how this could work. And yeah, just like my decision to go abroad, like once I decided that getting LASIK was something that was important to me, and that I was open to getting more information as to how it could happen. I started seeing like, relevant ads on like Instagram and like friends from home or from Medellín that were like sharing like top 10 things I've been able to do since getting LASIK chances. And yeah, ultimately I ended up getting my LASIK done in Medellín, and it cost me from first appointment to last follow up $762 total.

Allen  

Which is like amazing, because it took to put a counterpoint on that. I had LASIK in the United States. Now I was under a health care plan but mine was over $5,000 And when I like I said when I saw your blog on that, you know one of the things for our Nomad audiences, you know if you're like me who's active and wants to go surfing, wearing contacts is not easy to your point. Taylor about walk, you know, doing a long hike with contacts. It's not that easy. easy. But LASIK can you know, it's so amazing, it's almost a miracle. But getting it done overseas, you know, we have a lot of people that only get LASIK, get the teeth whitening, get other cosmetic procedures done and everybody goes back from vacation or wherever it's a man, you look marvellous what happened on that vacation and like, oh, well, just great relaxation there. And I really like your tips. and I were going to put it in the show notes. But Taylor's tips, I mean, you know, the risk reward analysis, be realistic about your physical health, know your tribe and network you need somebody that might need to help you out right after that and take your time. And be confident in your decision. I read that I'm like, That's exactly the way I felt myself on that procedure. So, you know, as that Andrew and I both are in healthcare in Insured Nomads, we salute you, because we keep trying to tell people you don't always have to run back to the countries with these amazing reputations. Like you don't have to run to the United States, Switzerland, or Hong Kong, or name another place, you've got great health care in so many locations, you just got to find the right spot. Correct? And you've had a good very good experience with this.

Taylor  

Yeah, very much so. And looking really good point that kept faith in your decision. I think one of the most impactful epiphanies that I had as a nomad is like really developing a whole new level of confidence in myself, and my decision making process. Because, you know, early on, even from the initial decision to begin traveling as a digital nomad, and all the way through, of course, to during medical procedures abroad, like everyone has an opinion. And the majority of the time like, they're unfounded, let's let's go fat as a PC qualification. And so, you know, I remember just posting about the fact that I was planning to get LASIK. Because I've kind of had have such had a personal mantra of like, I think social media should be about documenting, like not creating. And so throughout the whole process, you can kind of find this like series of posts, and quandary is the first wave of responses that I got when I first said that I wanted to get LASIK abroad was like, this is so irresponsible, like, you know, if is this a financial decision? Like if so, here's a quick hack for you to make more money so you can get your procedure in a safe country. And I have to say, at first, it was a little disheartening, because my first question was like, Do these people know something I don't know? Because I did my research. I consulted all these, you know, reviews and people that have done it. But if 80% of people think this is the bad idea, like maybe I could not have been more wrong. And so I think that's another big aspect of the medical tourism thing. I think when you hear that term, it sounds a lot more sketchy. Like almost there's a connotation that like, you're gonna go get, like open heart surgery, and like, you know, some roofless facility in the jungle somewhere, it's like, no majority of I mean, the woman who performed my LASIK went to like, medical school and the UC system. Like, she just felt that she could do a more impactful job and, like, have a more exciting practice in Colombia. And so I think this is highlighted in the post that you're referencing, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, there is a large number of procedures that kind of tick that 80-20 box of like, you know, if you're someone that for the last 10 years of life, your biggest stressor or insecurity has been like, oh, this gap is like one centimetre too big or like, I just wish that it's like, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. Like if there are these little things that you have the kind of done your due diligence and have decided like, the impact that it would make in your life is so much more significant than like you may be realised. I think that the realisation that it may be more accessible to you than you than you ever knew, especially when you can look outside of the limitations of your like singular town or city or even country. In my experience,

Andrew  

Well, let's say that we've reached the point of the show to where I've, I would just love to ask a question that we asked most of our guests. And that is, if you think back across your journeys around the world, for our audience, which some of them are currently living in another country other than their birth country, but others are planning, they're dreaming of it. What is the one overlooked experience place, you can even say book or person that they should know about, but that our audience should look into what's the bit overlooked place, experience?

Taylor  

I struggled with over lift because I have noticed this massive push of nomadic like post COVID, where, you know, friends who up until 2020, have never left the country are now like, four months into their journey of becoming a resident in Portugal, or in Thailand, which is so cool. I would say, Vietnam. And I pause for a second because I think most people maybe know someone, or by two degrees of connection, have heard of someone that, you know, move to Vietnam to teach English or, you know, have done some sort of chapter. But I think until going there myself, I never realized just how warm and accepting a culture that was so different from not only anything that I've ever, like, personally lived in, but anything that I've ever experienced, could be. And I guess for me, going through that, like personal aha moment really opened the doors across so many other aspects of life. And so I guess, like the overlooked thing here, would be like the joy of being uncomfortable, but uncomfortable in the sense of like, historically, I've always kind of like, prioritise a place where like, Okay, I speak the language, or I know someone who's there, or I have some, like, some connection. And so living in Hanoi was the first time that I had none of those things. Very good. I think it was the most rewarding experience.

Allen  

Now fantastic. It's perfect. I spent some time in Saigon now Ho Chi Minh City, and I, Nelly, totally backwards to say, but it's a really unique place, given the history that that we've had there. And actually, it's also the Buddhist culture where you've had this bad experience, but people have moved beyond it. So we'll we'll pick that up on another podcast. As we wind down in time, we'd love for you to share where people could find more about you and The Fit Founder and obviously a bunch of the advice and counsel you give others so mention this will be in our show notes. But the other I assume people could find you on LinkedIn and thefitfounder.com Any other locations that you'd like to mention out there?

Taylor  

Um, yeah, so of course, LinkedIn if you want to connect formerly, and then super active on like Instagram, my handle is @TaylorWallace. So it's just my name. And there I tried to do you know, the condensed fun version of a lot of the things that we're talking about to make them more digestible and accessible. So yeah, LinkedIn, thefitfounder.com or on Instagram @TaylorWallace or on Instagram @thefitfounder.

Allen  

Perfect, perfect, wonderful conversation today. We appreciate the comments. We'll have to have you back in with that. I think we should tie together The New Nomad today. I know many of you out there looking for exciting stories and places to go. We've given you a few today. The best way people can understand and get to this podcast is through word of mouth. Please tell others we appreciate that. And with that, please travel safer safely and continue your nomadic travels. Thanks again for joining us on The New Nomad.