Embark on a journey of discovery as we plunge into the crisp waters of England's South Coast with our guest Jude Liddle, who explains the transformative power of cold-water swimming. Within our conversation, Jude's anecdotes highlight not just the personal benefits she's reaped from this practice but also the sense of camaraderie that emerges among those who share this passion.
As we navigate through the episode, she shares the open road adventures of a newly retired wanderer who's turned a customized camper van into a vessel of exploration and liberation. Driven by spontaneity and a love for the untamed outdoors, Jude describes beach gatherings and the serendipitous connections that enhance our travel experiences. These stories are not just about discovering new destinations but also about the rich encounters with fellow travelers and locals that add depth to every stop along the way.
From the vast landscapes of Australia and the UK, join us for an episode that's a celebration of travel, community, and the invigorating pursuit of a life well-lived.
Embark on a journey of discovery as we plunge into the crisp waters of England's South Coast with our guest Jude Liddle, who explains the transformative power of cold-water swimming. Within our conversation, Jude's anecdotes highlight not just the personal benefits she's reaped from this practice but also the sense of camaraderie that emerges among those who share this passion.
As we navigate through the episode, she shares the open road adventures of a newly retired wanderer who's turned a customized camper van into a vessel of exploration and liberation. Driven by spontaneity and a love for the untamed outdoors, Jude describes beach gatherings and the serendipitous connections that enhance our travel experiences. These stories are not just about discovering new destinations but also about the rich encounters with fellow travelers and locals that add depth to every stop along the way.
From the vast landscapes of Australia and the UK, join us for an episode that's a celebration of travel, community, and the invigorating pursuit of a life well-lived.
So are you looking for more inspiration and possibility in midlife and beyond? Join me, leslie Maloney, proud wife, mom, author, teacher and podcast host, as I talk with people finding meaning in Moxie in their life after 50. Interviews that will energize you and give you some ideas to implement in your own life. I so appreciate you being here Now. Let's get started All right. Well, welcome Jude, so glad you could be here today.
Speaker 2:Lovely to meet you, Leslie.
Speaker 1:You're the first Jude that I've met, and every time I see your name for our email conversations and things like that, I start singing, of course, the Beatles song. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that when somebody new sees me and starts singing at me, I'm like yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll have that. Yeah, you probably had that most of your life then. Huh, yeah, it's great, it's great. I love it. I've got the song playing in my mind right now.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:So glad you could take the time here to chat with us about all your adventures, because you've had a lot of adventures. But I first want to talk about that. You, because we have something in common you like to cold plunge, or you like to do cold swimming, as you're calling it and my husband and I and family, we have just really started to get into that in the last six months ourselves and love it.
Speaker 2:It's the most incredible thing I've ever done.
Speaker 1:So explain to somebody who's listening, who might not be familiar, what that is.
Speaker 2:So, essentially, I'm lucky enough to live on the South Coast of England and we've got a gorgeous beach and go in the sea all year round. So in the summer the water might be 18, 19 degrees, nice, and we just keep going and go through the winter when I think six and a half centigrade is the lowest. I've dipped in and often in the winter, although it doesn't feel it, the waters warmer in than the air out. Right, and most, if not all, of us just swim in our normal costumes. We don't wear wet suits. We will put on wet suit gloves and boots just to let you be in there a bit longer. And it's just. It does something to the body to get in that cold water? It does, and it's it's. We are addicted to it. That's all we can say. Because why would you keep getting in the cold water if?
Speaker 1:it's not doing you good you know, and it's just amazing. Yeah, so you do it every morning. It sounds like you have a group you go you do it with, or yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We've got a really good sort of social swimming group and there may be 10 of us that swim, there might be 50 of us. Some get to do it every day, some once a week. It just varies. Some, you know, get in and swim, some get in and dip and chat and whatever it is you want to do, you do. There's no judgment, it's just enjoying that cold water.
Speaker 1:So, on average, how long are you staying in?
Speaker 2:This time of year is kind of like 10, 12 minutes. A lot could depend how cold or windy it is when you get out, because that can really increase the coldness. But yeah, it's amazing. What about you? How are you managing to do in Florida?
Speaker 1:It's so good for you. Well, and for those listening who aren't familiar, just start to Google some of the benefits of the cold plunge. It is so good for you mentally and physically, and it's of course been something that some cultures have been doing for centuries and it has kind of become a trendy thing. But we it's funny we were out in Montana this summer visiting our daughter and son-in-law, and we had our dog with us, and so we were doing all these hikes and things like that, and he does it Usually we fly.
Speaker 1:This time I drove out there so that we were able to bring him, and during our hikes out there, he, we were along streams and such, and he would. It was warm, you know, at that time of year, and so he'd get in the stream and he'd be just like, ah, and then he, you know, just and for those of you who can't see me, I'm kind of spread out like a fog and um, and he just, and then he'd be good to go for another few miles, and so we were looking at him one day and we said, wait a minute, we should be getting in there too. And so we started cold plunging in the streams out there.
Speaker 2:This summer Lovely.
Speaker 1:And then, um, my husband went back sooner than I did, and so he ended up buying. We bought, like from a tractor supply store, a horse trough, nice. And then we added at first we were just putting ice in it and that became kind of you know, if you're going to do it every day, getting putting ice in and and schlepping that around is kind of you know, that's, that's not sustainable. Let's put it that way yeah.
Speaker 1:So we bought a chiller to be able to chill the water. Perfect, yeah. So, and it is, it feels so great and it's one of those things it's like, okay, I got to go do it, I got to go do it, and then, once you do it, you're just like that feels wonderful.
Speaker 2:It's just amazing. So we had a. There was a documentary on one of the English TV channels a couple of years ago and it's not been proven scientifically, but they're essentially saying, because you're going to the cold water, you stress your body and you cope, you're fine, nothing goes wrong. And then you do it again and your body starts to learn oh, actually it can deal with stress, yes, and that you start to deal with other stress in your life in a, I know, a calmer manner or a better way, which to me made a lot of sense. It's not been proven, nothing scientific, but I was kind of like I get that logic. It sounds, you know sure, and there is.
Speaker 1:There is a lot of science out there. Now you know you got people like Wim Hoff. I don't know if you're familiar with him.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am.
Speaker 1:He's just, you know, he's really popularized it, but there's a lot of other people doing it too and there is the science behind it and it just, yeah, it's really good stuff. So when I saw that in your some of your information you sent me, I thought, oh good, yeah, yeah it, it. It's one of those I heard something the other day paging is the relentless pursuit of comfort, and so, as you're mentioning that, when we have an opportunity to stress the body because if we were, just if we weren't living these comfortable lives and buildings and things like that and we were out in nature, we would be feeling more extreme heat and extreme cold and things like that- and so it can have a positive effect on the body.
Speaker 1:The body is reacting to that Exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly no, it's amazing.
Speaker 1:So there's a whole group of you in your community that go down and do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so in there there's probably, I'd say, 200 active members. Whoa, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we did. We did the summer solstice a couple of years ago and we did the sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice of the longest day and there was 100 of us on the beach at 430 in the morning.
Speaker 1:Oh cool, that's wonderful, which was quite incredible.
Speaker 2:It was quite a magical time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you've recently retired. How many years have you been retired? About six months, oh, six months, okay, six months yeah. I knew it was a short time, but I didn't know it was that short Or….
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and I've just been lucky with how my life has panned out that financially, I was able to retire at 55. And if you can, why the heck wouldn't you?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And you outfitted a. You got a bottle of van and you turned it in. You outfitted it into a camper van. Did you do some of that work yourself, or did you have that done?
Speaker 2:I had that done. I kind of looked at it and part of me was tempted. But I thought you know the plumbing, the electrics, the gas, and I thought you know what, have someone do it. So I designed it all, picked the colors, the furniture, the everything, and just got someone to do it. And he, he understood my vision brilliantly. So I'm just incredibly lucky.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because you want everything to be working. I mean, it's a bit much bigger project if you're trying to. I mean some people yeah, I don't have those skills, but I admire those skills, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so now it's amazing.
Speaker 1:So your van now. I know I want to talk about the Australia trip too, but you didn't that. That is kind of a. I mean you've been in a van over there. So, yeah, let's just talk about your van here. So you're cruising around in your van, camper van, and so describe some of that. What trips have you taken and what's that been like for you?
Speaker 2:So it's. I've just done some quite local trips so far because the van's only just really been done and the weather's not the ideal for camping, but it's been good and I've just found local places where I can just parked up, done a walk I'll try and loop it in with swimming on a beach or a river or a lake and just get out into nature, walk, dip back in the van, warm up and then come end of March I'll be heading off for three or four months.
Speaker 1:Throughout Europe, or kind of leaving the UK and going across.
Speaker 2:So this time I'm just going to do the UK because I think we're incredibly lucky. The countryside is amazing. We can go mountains, you know, rugged, coastline, pretty coastline villages. So I think I'm going to explore Wales, lake District, northumberland, maybe into Scotland, and I'll see how the mood takes me and I'll be searching for places to swim. Yeah, that's my. You know the people ask me oh, where are you going? What are you doing? I said, well, I'm going to go somewhere and swim. I haven't, you know, I don't need to plan it, and that's what's amazing.
Speaker 1:So you're just going to kind of wing it and go and stay here for a few days. Stay there for a few days, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's so many different options for you know, parking up and camping in the UK, whether it's in an official site, lots of pubs and bars. Let you stay in their car parks as long as you eat dinner in the restaurant. So there's so many people. Your farmers rent out fields in the summer.
Speaker 1:So many options, so I'm just going to roam and see where it takes me yeah, that's what I was going to ask you, if there was a community that supported that. Because we, you know we've got some of that here in the States. You know we've got our national parks and our state parks and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:But there are other places Walmart, parking lots and different places, restaurants same thing, Exactly, there's absolutely loads, and you know, with the power of things, like you know, facebook and social media there are so many groups that talk about free stopovers, pubs that you can stay in. There's a women with camper vans group, so there's always resource for you to tap into. Think well, I'm going to be near this town or this place, what options do I have? So, yeah, I think it's just going to be. You know they'll help. There'll be challenges, for sure, but I'm just so excited I can't wait.
Speaker 1:Yeah, have you always been an adventurer like this?
Speaker 2:Um, I think I have. I've never been one for sitting on a beach for a week or two for a holiday. I just can't sit still and I love, I think I love nature and countryside more than like towns and cities. I, you know, architecture is lovely and I'll have it for a day, but I, I, I like to be out, walking, you know, hearing the birds and just being out and about and exploring, and I think I'm very curious. Some people say I'm nosy. I like to say it's curiosity and there's always, you know, some something new to see. And I'm, I think, you know how, how my career, when I had to, you know, talk to people and just get on with people. So I, I can walk up to a total stranger, ask for help, directions, chat, and you can find out local information, which is invaluable when you're doing that.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, and that's important to have be able to do that and be comfortable doing that. What do you say to people who, uh, men or women who would like this idea sounds really cool to them, but they're a little bit hesitant and and they're, you know, not sure about the safety of it or just all the stuff to bring. What would you say to them? Yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I, I, before I actually bought the van, I hired a couple of vans. So you can hire a van for a week that comes equipped, kitted out, and that gave me valuable insight into right. I really like that bit. I don't like that. Don't like that. You know that's a waste of space. I didn't use that. So that was really useful. But I think for you know, going away in a van, you just don't need that much stuff. That's the beauty of it. You really don't. You know you'll have limited storage so that you can't take many clothes. So you know, whenever I've had a way you know, been away in a van, I just get very comfortable at putting on whatever clothes are clean that day. They may match, they may not, but frankly, don't care, right, right and so you know. Just I'm not sure Exactly. So so yeah, and so it's it's. You know it's obviously a big, it's a big financial plunge to go straight into buying a van. But you know, hire one, have a go see what it's like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know we did that. We did that out west at one time. It wasn't a very big van but it was outfitted and we went to several parks out there because we wanted to try that as well.
Speaker 2:And you do.
Speaker 1:You learn some valuable things about what you need, what you don't need Exactly what. Was there anything that really sticks out for you in that process? That, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think for me personally, knowing that I was going to be traveling around the UK, I had a lot of the. You know, converted vans or motor homes are just too big to fit in a conventional parking space. So if you're going into a town for a day or doing something, how do you park? You've got to buy multiple tickets or, and I just thought, no, I. I hired a van that was the same width as mine but longer, and I didn't need that extra space. So for me it was. I want a small van, so it was easy to drive around, easy to maneuver, get down the little country lanes, park it up easy. So then it was like, right, where do I go from there? So it doesn't have a shower, it doesn't have a toilet.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because there's enough facilities that you'll be able to find them. And I've got a little emergency bucket just in case. You know and it was just you just don't need that much. I've got two gas rings, I've got a fridge, I've got a sink and I've got water. Yeah, that's it. I mean everyone's different. You know, some people want the big van with the shower and the toilet. Absolutely fine, and test hiring lets you know what it is that you need.
Speaker 1:Right and I think that is an important consideration is I'm going to be driving this on the road, I might be driving this in the mountains or areas, and I you know that. That consideration of how much do I want to be maneuvering around.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:And then I'm going to get out into the countryside, into very rural situations. I wanted to keep it small, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you retired six months ago. Was that a tough transition for you?
Speaker 2:Luckily it wasn't, um, the kind of previous sort of five years in my career. I already dropped down to just three days a week, um, so that pulls you back a little bit. Then, maybe three years before I retired, I got made redundant and then went back as a self-employed contractor. You know, five, six months later, again three days a week, and I consciously asked for not such a big role. I didn't want the responsibility. So I was involved, but not as involved as I had been as a full-time employee. So when the time came to retire it was so easy, yeah. And I think had I been working full-time, five days a week big job it would have been a very different situation.
Speaker 1:So you were already starting to pick up the other things in your life that you were going to be transitioning to.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. The hobbies were there, they were coming in and, you know, work was just getting in the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, yes, and that's that's kind of how it's been for me too. I mean, I kind of have a part-time gig going, but it allows me a lot of flexibility, so it's not even really in the way I mean, it's just kind of there and aside.
Speaker 1:I think and I think that's a nice way to kind of back out of your career is to start picking up Instead of you know, so many people just do it and that's an option you know to. Just okay, I'm work, work, work, work and I'm out, and I think that makes it a little harder.
Speaker 2:That would be so hard. I yeah, so that gradual withdrawal was just perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just perfect. And socially you were able to make that transition and everything else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got. Yeah, but so many friends down where I live, some are retired, some are still working, so there was a you know, a ready-made group of ladies that would like to lunch. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Perfect, yeah, and because a lot of what this podcast is about is helping people, you know, find that meaning and that moxie in their life and make that shift over from their careers. And we're not. Maybe they keep working, maybe they love what they do, but making those because I don't think we talk enough about that transition and kind of preparing for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I was lucky that I had, you know, worked for three days a week for a few years, which gives you the time both you know physical time and headspace time to find the hobbies, find the things you enjoy doing when you're working full time and running at full health life, that they can just go by the wayside.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't have time to think about it.
Speaker 2:So, having that, you know I've got the sea swimming. I've got an allotment where I grow my own vegetables. You know, I started doing some creative things, so it just they were filling the time and it was soon so obvious that work needed to go to give me more time to do those things. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it's, you know it's the right time when you're like this is getting in the way. Exactly, you took this trip over to Southern Australia and that's where I found you online and I was just so fascinated. You were over there about six or eight weeks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, six weeks.
Speaker 1:Six weeks. Yeah, it's about why you chose Southern Australia and then that whole process of the trip and what you learned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I, when I, you know, retiring, I was like, right, big trip at the time of the money, let's do it. And I said I retired at the end of June and I wanted it this year, so to book on any organized tours in South America or further from place. It was just getting too complicated. So I thought, right, I love Australia, I've been before 15 odd years ago and did the classic Ula-Ru, darwin, cairns, brisbane, that loop on the on the Eastern coast. And I've got two friends that live in Sydney who were, you know, come see us, come see us. One had been over in the summer and had seen me here. I just thought, right, australia, let's do it. So I thought, well, I've done that coast. And the West Coast is quite far from Sydney. So I thought, well, let's do the bottom. It's got coastline swimming. I love my swimming. Right, there we go, that'll do so.
Speaker 2:I just jumped on and looked at dates for flights. I thought six weeks is about. You know, it's not too long but it's not too short. So got the flights booked, got the van hire booked and told my friends I was coming and I saw I had I had, out of those six weeks I had 31 days in the rented camper van, and again, it was only a small little van, very similar to what I've converted here, but it, you know, for me, especially going to Australia, it's the same language. That makes it easier. They drive on the same side of the road, so there was none of that stress that can often be with traveling. So I knew it was going to be for me an easy to do trip and it was just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I found a great little travel app that let me plan what the route could be, because you think, oh, you know, 30 days in a van, that's a long time, but I had a long distance, okay. And before I went I just said, right, I know I want to go to Canberra Island, right, I have four nights on there, then that looks a good place. I have two nights there and there, and so roughly planned in a long and I had maybe two days give. So it was planned to some extent, but nothing was fixed in stone, right. So there were a few times where I got somewhere and I read the right type of where I was going and you get there and you think, oh, it's not quite what I was expecting. Just one night here will be fine and moved on quicker. Others it was like oh no, I need to stay here longer.
Speaker 2:So there was a little bit of you know, give and take and my, my, I guess, objective. My plan was to drive along coast, see the amazing scenery and, you know, jump in the sea whenever I could, which is basically what I did all the way around. And then when I got to Sydney so one one's been there 30 years, one's a native Sydney, they hardly swim and I'd warned them we're going swimming and we were in every day maybe two or three beaches around some of the different seapools, and they've now kept it going. Oh, that's fantastic. You converted them. I have they. They meet every Wednesday morning and they'll go and have a swim somewhere, which they hadn't been doing. And they lived in Sydney for decades. Yeah, huh.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, so. So what did you learn about yourself in that journey?
Speaker 2:What did I learn about myself? It's funny, it's. I always knew that I preferred countryside to cities, as I mentioned before, but I guess I'd kind of forgotten that. And the way I first arrived into Melbourne, when I had two or three nights in Melbourne and got up the first morning and I'd looked to see, you know, main sites in Melbourne and I was like, yeah, let's go to the botanical gardens first, let's get outside, let's, you know, do that, and you know that was fabulous. Then got, I went to the art gallery and then, when he got to the main bits of the city, it was like, yeah, it's nice, but it's not.
Speaker 2:It wasn't exciting me, it wasn't, you know, making me feel wow, and so that that was a good reminder and I guess maybe it's a bit through, like, you know, lockdowns and all of that, you know, pandemic craziness. I think we had forgotten to be a bit how to be social because we'd have to be distant. And so, you know, I found myself I'd be in a campsite and invariably there'd be an Australian family or couple towing a big caravan and they'd have a big fire going. That was nice and I, you know, walk up, some go. Oh my God, yeah, that fire looks amazing and that pretty much I think every time they were like oh my God, bring your wine over, bring your chair, come and join us and you just sit and talk, and I can't think of one single time but I spoke to anybody to ask them anything, that I got a funny reaction, and so that was that was. That was lovely.
Speaker 1:Making those connections. I think that's one of the things for me that makes that's why I loved. One of the reasons I love to travel is because of the people you meet and the connections you make and the insights that you get from people that are kind of just spontaneous and so yeah, and you do find those at campsites and places where people are just kind of they're having their adventure.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it was so so many times I would, you know, arrive at town, either I'm staying there or I'm driving through and there's the beach and I'm going to go swimming and for me the water was quite warm compared to what we have here and I just, you know, just jump down in because I'm walking in and there are, you know, locals.
Speaker 2:You know long trousers, hats, gloves, scarves, coats, looking at me like I'm an absolute nutter. In, I go, I'm a little swim, and invariably you'd have a conversation with them because for them they're like what's going on, you know Right, and again, I'd chat to them or any other good swim spots around in your beaches and get a bit of insight that way. So, yeah, I just and I think it really, it really reminded me how much I love just to talk to new people and you know some of them, you know it was fine, it wasn't, you know, wouldn't have been the best conversation in the world, but it was fine. Others, you just got really good nuggets of information or, you know, found out new things, and I just think that's quite invigorating.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Was there any particular conversation or person you met that really sticks out for you in the end your journey there?
Speaker 2:There was when I was on Kangaroo Island. I went to there's a wildlife centre and I paid to go and hold the koala because why would you not? Lovely, and it was pretty quiet there. I got chatting to the guy who was doing it and he said well, he said I've got to go on my round. He said, you know, one's around behind me so and I was just chatting to him and he was talking a lot about the bushfires that had happened out there in 2019, 2020.
Speaker 2:And I'd driven through the areas that had been, you know, decimated by the fire and they're just massive areas. You know, you drive for an hour and you're still going through it and just talking to him about how you know the injured animals and how the community came together. And that was something I've never experienced bushfires, we just don't really get them in England. So that was that was really quite moving in terms of you know they were at risk but they, you know, were staying to help the animals and you know, try and do what they could. So that was, that was quite incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sure, and that was. That was crazy, the way those fires were and so many animals. Animals were in some people too, but you know animals yeah.
Speaker 2:And there was, and pretty much along the almost I almost say the whole length of my drive from Adelaide back to Sydney. Most of it was through forests that were clearly regenerating after fires.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, yeah, because it's really not been that long.
Speaker 2:No and it was just, and there was. There was one where it's clearly been a more recent fire and it wasn't regenerating, and it was just the blackness of the trees and no leaf on it. And it was just. It was quite eerie.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think what that whole stretch of you know southern and round you know Eastern Australia must have been like Just oh, incredible.
Speaker 1:When you see those. That's the other thing about travel. When you see those things firsthand, they have a whole different impact.
Speaker 2:They do, they do. We've seen it on the news. We've talked about how many hectares or acres, but when you're driving and you've started to drive through a forest that's clearly regenerating and an hour later you're still driving through it, yeah, and it's still a regenerating forest. That's what you just think Wow, that is crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you got back right before the holiday, right in early December.
Speaker 2:Yes, I got back towards the end of November and then two weeks later I went down with the cold, right right. But you know, at least I got to Australia, got the trip done and got back home without getting a cold or falling ill. So that was fine. If that was the way it's going to happen, that suited me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean that's a lot of flying that you had to do to get there Exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah, it's a long way.
Speaker 1:It is. It's a long way from here too. I have not been to Australia. I'd like to get there and I would like to do it the way you did. It is to do it in a van. My only hesitation is the driving, because of course, we drive on the right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and seriously it's so easy so far. So in the, let me say, three out of the four weeks in the van, pretty much on the straight roads.
Speaker 2:Oh, really Because there was nothing in Australia for them to have to curve around, so most of them were straight. Ok, that's good to think Really. And then, you know, as I turn sort of turn the corner to go up the eastern coast, it got a bit more wiggly, but they're not. It's not crazy, and maybe because it was still their spring time it wasn't as busy. But there's just a lack of towns and people. So I could literally drive for two hours and nobody's overtaken me.
Speaker 1:OK, wide open spaces.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. Much so, and I shouldn't say this. It was so quiet. I had my little phone in the middle of me and I could take it up and take pictures as I'm driving along.
Speaker 1:In little videos there's nothing on the road, right, you didn't have to worry about yeah.
Speaker 2:So really really easy. And there's the campsites, they're all dotted along, so really so it was pretty convenient If somebody wanted to do that.
Speaker 1:It was pretty easy to put together. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that the longest I drove any day from one campsite to another was about two hours.
Speaker 1:All right Interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's really good.
Speaker 1:What is your family think, or your friends think, about what you did there and are you inspiring anybody in your circle?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think there are some of my friends are just like oh my god, dude, I can't believe you flew all the way there and you did that all on yourself and I'm going. Well, you know I've done it, it was easy. So some of them are thinking, oh, but you know I could do that and it's just. It's to me, it's thinking about what it is you want to do as an individual, Because we all like different things, you want to do different things. We've all got different levels of risk acceptance and you know, yeah, it was not scary, but something could have gone wrong, but it didn't. You know, I had some yeah, I tried to be lucky breaks and things just happened perfectly, you know, but before I got the phone, internet, there's always a way of finding help.
Speaker 1:And I think you have to do what you did there and it seems like it comes natural to you. But you have to be comfortable with the unknown, because there are some unknowns there, yeah, and you have to have the confidence in yourself to go ah, I'll figure it out. If these unplanned things happen, I will figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah and it's also, I wouldn't have and I wouldn't do a solo, unorganized tour around Peru, for instance let's just use that as an example or Vietnam, because for me there'd be too much maybe not stress, but too much effort or energy required to work out right. What's the bus I've got to catch? I can't read that language. What have I got to go next? Where's the? And to me that's like unnecessary waste of energy, yes, yes. So that's where I think well, if I'm going to go to Peru or Vietnam, whatever, I'll be in a small group organized tour and I might arrive a bit earlier, stay a bit later, but it's I guess it's being aware of what works for you. And I think maybe with kind of social media, you put things out there and then people think that's what they have to do as well. But it's not, is it? You just do what makes you happy.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and knowing yourself and knowing where you're most comfortable, and thinking about the fact that, oh, is there a language barrier and how much would it? I mean just balancing all those details out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but even with language barriers, there are translation apps on your phone that you talk into. They talk back to you, so that can take that away from it. So it's, yeah, I just think, do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's so. Your enthusiasm really comes through and you are inspiring and I think people listening to this will say, yeah, if she can do it, I can do it, kind of thing. And so your next big adventure is around the UK. Yeah, yeah, and what about beyond that?
Speaker 2:So I guess again I'm lucky I'm going to be summer months in the van traveling, and then in the winter months I'll look to go on a long haul something. So on my list I've got Patagonia and Easter Island. Again amazing scenery.
Speaker 2:I just want to do that I want to do Peru, Ecuador and Galapagos, which was going to be my next one, but with the current situation in Ecuador, we may decide to move the order. Then I'd love to do Vietnam and Cambodia. I'd love to do Western Australia. I'd love to go back to Canada. Yeah, I'm literally. I will keep traveling until my body or money runs out.
Speaker 1:It just lights you up. It's one of those things that, yeah, you got to be moved, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm very much. I'm lucky enough to be doing this at a relatively young age. There's no point in waiting.
Speaker 1:That's right and I think that's a really really good point is why wait? Do it while you're feeling good and all of that Sometimes people wait too long to do some of these things. I've always found Europeans to be very well traveled in general, though, I mean I think that I think it's so easy to travel around Europe.
Speaker 2:You could fly for an hour and be in a different country and culture, so I think that makes it easy. I think for us it's quite. I think for maybe Australians and Americans maybe you're used to driving the bigger distances, whereas we'll jump on a plane. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:I know, when I was going through Australia and I finally left the state of Victoria and got into New South Wales, I was like I've been driving for weeks and I roughly, I went back in and roughly worked out how long I'd gone and it was like me driving from the South Coast of England to the North of Scotland and back again and that was one state in Australia. Yeah, oh, my God, you know. So, yeah, crazy, it's all relative, it is Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to finish up interviews with this question what does? Well, actually I'm going to add a question. I've been thinking about adding, so two questions. Yeah, what would you tell your 20-year-old self?
Speaker 2:What would I tell my 20-year-old self? I would say I guess it's that I'm trying to think of the words. I kind of know how it, how, how, how the feel is. It's almost like you know that the, the wisdom will come, the confidence will come. I think when you're younger, you're a little bit, you know I can do this. It's a bit of a false privado, I think in some ways, and I think it's that you'll, you'll grow into your own skin. I like that. You'll, you'll grow into it. You'll not understand what your purpose is, but you'll, you'll forge your life path and don't worry about which way it's going to go. It's just going to happen. It's going to happen through the things you do, the decisions you make. That forms it and so, yeah, I think just to that you'll, that you'll grow into your skin. So good.
Speaker 1:So good. And the final question is what does a meaningful and moxie filled life look like to you?
Speaker 2:What is it I? I, I have to smile and laugh every day. That that's just what I do, and I don't always need to interact with people every day. It's funny. I'm very happy in my own company as well, but I like to get to the end of the day and go yeah, that was a good one, whatever that good meant it was. That good meant sitting and reading the book or digging the garden or being out with friends or doing an amazing swim or something, but getting to the end of the day and going, yeah, that was, yeah, that was good. I made the most of that one. And then, you know, looking forward to waking up the following day Love it, love it.
Speaker 1:I made the most of that one Exactly, day by day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's the old, the old saying we're only here once, that's right. You know, it's not a dress rehearsal, just get on and do. And people have got so many friends of you met down here and then, oh God, you're always smiling. And I go, yeah, you could too Make that conversation to smile and laugh. And people will smile and laugh back at you and they're like, oh yeah, I'm so happy, I'm so happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all we got is today, anyway, all any of us ever, ever have is right now. So exactly, exactly, exactly, well, this has been such a delightful chat that we've had. Oh, I'm pleased, I'm pleased and you're, you're, yeah, your enthusiasm and light just really shines through and you're mocking us. You got spun Fantastic. Do you have a blog, or travel blog or anything like that, where people can see what you're up to?
Speaker 2:So so I have an eye when I start doing my van traveling. I've set up a separate little Facebook page page called the swim seeker, which is going to I'm going to be almost like documenting this is the swim location, that's how you get into it. That's what I've seen as a danger. That's the good bits Go at high tide, don't go at low tide, and just do a little bit of a narrative around where I'm going.
Speaker 1:Okay, so people could Google swims. Is it swim seekercom or is it a Facebook? Facebook the swim seeker, the swim seeker. All right, Well, I will. I will put that in the show notes. That describes the conversation and all that. The swim seeker.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just tend to put my travels on Facebook. When I, when I was in Australia, I did lots of like videos of me getting into the water to swim, so and I was putting it on Facebook and my swim buddies were like, dude, it was like we were with you, it was fantastic and I was like, oh, that's, that's fantastic yeah. It was really nice.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I so appreciate your time and I've been lovely chatting to you it really has, and I feel like we'll stay in touch and maybe we can talk again. Yeah, love to. Okay.
Speaker 2:Love to.
Speaker 1:All right, thanks everybody for listening. Another great guest. Talk to you soon. Bye now. If this podcast was valuable to you, it would mean so much if you could take 30 seconds to do one or all of these three things Follow or subscribe to the podcast and, while they're, leave a review and then maybe share this with a friend if you think they'd like it. In a world full of lots of distractions, I so appreciate you taking the time to listen in. Until next time, be well and take care.