In this heart-to-heart with the charming Marjoline Hendrikse, we journey through the chapters of her life. Marjoline, a Dutch expat with stories as rich as the cultures she's immersed in, recounts her youthful trips across Europe, influenced by a nomadic mother, and how these adventures have made her into the purpose-driven, spirited individual she is today.
She shares stories that are heartwarming —the spontaneous family escape to Bali that brought solace during illness, and the ascent to Everest Base Camp with her children, marking her son's 30th birthday.
Marjoline presents a trove of travel wisdom and encouragement, appealing especially to those setting out later in life. She demystifies the art of navigating language barriers, the embracing of cultural idiosyncrasies, and the use of technology as a bridge to understanding. The episode closes on a note highlighting the crux of a meaningful, peaceful existence—inner calm and balance—wisdom that Marjoline has gleaned from her global perspectives.
In this heart-to-heart with the charming Marjoline Hendrikse, we journey through the chapters of her life. Marjoline, a Dutch expat with stories as rich as the cultures she's immersed in, recounts her youthful trips across Europe, influenced by a nomadic mother, and how these adventures have made her into the purpose-driven, spirited individual she is today.
She shares stories that are heartwarming —the spontaneous family escape to Bali that brought solace during illness, and the ascent to Everest Base Camp with her children, marking her son's 30th birthday.
Marjoline presents a trove of travel wisdom and encouragement, appealing especially to those setting out later in life. She demystifies the art of navigating language barriers, the embracing of cultural idiosyncrasies, and the use of technology as a bridge to understanding. The episode closes on a note highlighting the crux of a meaningful, peaceful existence—inner calm and balance—wisdom that Marjoline has gleaned from her global perspectives.
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. Welcome back to another meaning in Moxie after 50.
Speaker 1:And I have such an interesting lady here with me. It's actually evening for me but morning for her, because she's all the way over in Australia. So I was teasing her about she's from the future. I have Maro line Hendrik Sa. She is from the Netherlands and she moved to Australia a couple of decades ago, two, three decades ago with her family. So she brings a blend of some beautiful cultures, two beautiful cultures there, raised her two kids in Australia and she's quite the traveler. I've come to know her from her traveling adventures, so I asked her to be on the podcast and share with us some of those, and so I guess I want to start with. Have you always been how the role of travel? Did your parents travel a lot?
Speaker 2:Both of my parents traveled a bit. I think it was very easy living in the Netherlands. It's a small country so it's easy to look over the borders and travel to other places and especially my mother, she lived in other places. She did a au pair year in Paris and she studied French at the Sorbonne University and she lived in Sweden as a nanny and she learned Swedish and then she moved to Spain, to Madrid, and she learned Spanish and she taught the new immigrants that will come to the Netherlands how to speak Dutch and she was very inspirational in that respect. I thought when I grow up I'm going to live in other countries and I'm going to speak five languages as well, I didn't realize how hard it is to learn a second language. So I speak Dutch and English.
Speaker 1:Hey, that is still quite an accomplishment. I wish I could say that I'm bilingual. I know some Spanish, but I wouldn't say I'm fluent in it. So that's quite an accomplishment. So she was your inspiration. She moved a lot around Europe. That's one of the beautiful things about being over there and, like you say, the Netherlands is sort of right in the center of so many North, Southeast, West that you do have an opportunity to move around pretty easily. So that was your, as you were a child, and so then you began. You entered young adulthood, and how did travel play a role at that point?
Speaker 2:Well, we lived very close to the railway station and in the 1970s people from all over the world came to Amsterdam and started to travel to Asia, the hippie trail. So our house was between the youth hostel and the station, so whole groups of young travelers would walk past our house. And I think after all her traveling, my mom married her high school sweetheart and had five children in seven years and she loved that. But she would always walk to the window and go oh look, there's travelers from Sweden and from Denmark and from Finland and from America and from Canada, because the travelers used to have the hikers, used to have little flags on their backpacks. So I think some part of her was still very engaged with the traveling world. And we also had an uncle, one of her brothers, who did the whole hippie trail. He traveled overland through the Middle East to India and to Malaysia, indonesia and to America, to Australia, and he would send letters home and my mother would print those letters in the local newspaper. So there was always a lot of international influences.
Speaker 2:And when I was 16, I wanted to go on a holiday and I had an uncle in Paris and my parents let me and my girlfriend go to Paris together. We stayed with our uncle and that was an amazing experience for two 16-year-olds to take the local bus from our uncle's place into the city and travel around in Paris. Also on the train there was a Swiss girl who had an interrail ticket and she was traveling on her own through Europe and I thought I want to be her next year. So the year after I was 17, I found another friend that was happy to travel with me and we saved up money for a year and we bought the interrail ticket for 400 guilders at the time and we saved up another 500. And we traveled all the way to Istanbul, first to Paris again and then to Rome and then to the south of Italy and to Greece and to Istanbul and then on the train back, and I found so much freedom and so much culture and I really found myself. It was wonderful.
Speaker 2:So the year after I was off again, I saved up again and I went as far as Marrakesh. I always went as far as I could, yeah. So once I finished my school, everybody was aiming for a house in the suburbs with a boyfriend or a marriage or a career, and I couldn't really see myself doing any of that. So I decided to go to Israel, to a kibbutz. And also I was 19 years old and my lovely mom passed away. She got a stroke and a heart attack and she passed. She used to love Israel at the time. So I thought, yeah, I'll go to Israel. And that was a year of traveling in Israel and Greece and in Egypt. It was wonderful. And then when I came back, I decided now I want to travel further and I traveled more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is just so. I mean the education you must have gotten doing. That I mean because travel is so much you know, that's the best education of all Just all the different cultures, and so what were some of the cultures that stood out to you during that time as you were cruising around? No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Actually it was the travel community, the people, because, as I just said, my mother died when I was 19 and I was already into traveling. But then I met a lot of youngsters at the time who had gone through something similar. At some point I realised I was sitting in Australia in a place and I made a best friend. He's still a best friend and his father died young as well. We were with another friend and his father died when he was a child. He was really young. So I found a lot of like-minded people that were looking for adventure, but they also had some form of trauma, I think you would call it.
Speaker 2:Nowadays I also made up my mind because once my mother passed, I was very aware that I wasn't only forever. So what do I want in my life? Because we went through shoeboxes of photos of my mum and I could see she lived in all these beautiful places and then she married my dad and my dad made a bit of business in the meantime so I could buy her a house and have a nice car. It was a quite lovely pathway in some ways and I said what do I want to get out of my life? How will I feel? My shoeboxes, that's what.
Speaker 1:I thought at the time yeah.
Speaker 2:So I thought I want to travel the world and I was very romantic and very naive. I thought I want to find Mr Wright and I want to marry and have children. I also want a business, or I want to go to uni, one of those things, and I didn't really mind what order, but that's what I wanted out of life and I think that when people pass in our lives, that is one of the.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's all the loss and the grief, but there's also this thought that, yeah, life's time is short, I better get moving here because it's going to end for all of us. And so, yeah, what do I want to do while I'm here?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You moved to Australia. Were you and your husband at that time or did you meet your husband in Australia? I moved in Australia.
Speaker 2:He was English and he was just fit the perfect, the picture perfectly. And we traveled back to Europe together and then we married and we had the babies, a boy and a girl, and it was very romantic. It was also a bit of a struggle because we were more romantic than practical in many ways. But together we immigrated to Australia and we set up a life in Australia After, yes, in my 30s, in my 20s I also, before I moved to Australia, I went to uni and I became a school teacher because I was a teacher.
Speaker 2:So I need an education and we need to do this together. I cannot be a homemaking mother and rely on my poor husband who was trying so hard. So I went to uni in the Netherlands. I became a school teacher. So in my 20s I studied, I had the two babies and, yeah, just did the family thing. And then in my 30s we managed to immigrate to Australia, which was wonderful. That was such a dream come true. So we moved to Australia. We did the raised children. They were in a nice school. We did the backyard barbecues, we made nice, lovely friends. It was all very suburban and lovely. We did make a few holidays to New Zealand and Europe, but it was very domestic. Then in my 40s, our marriage stranded. It was a lovely marriage and a lovely divorce. So in my 40s that's way to put it yeah, it was. You know, it was just another chapter that turned out like that.
Speaker 1:The renaissance course.
Speaker 2:The renaissance course I moved back to Europe and I stayed in Australia and I raised two teenagers and then I hit the big 50. And I thought I could really see the chapters in my life and I thought what am I going to do? My children are growing up and they moved around the world as well. My daughter and I went back to Europe to study. My son found a job on a big yacht as an electrician. They were out of the country and so what am I going to do? I'm 50. And I didn't really have a plan. But I thought maybe I should be a bit more career focused or maybe do something for my Before I retired, get a bit more wealth. So I moved to another town. I got another job and I realized when I moved that it was not what I expected. I was in another town where it rained a lot. It was a beautiful house in a rainforest where I could live, but no rainforest without rain. So it rained and it rained every day.
Speaker 1:I was a bit depressing. And the job. Can I ask you what part of Australia are we talking about?
Speaker 2:there Are we on the west side, or what?
Speaker 1:part are we talking about?
Speaker 2:Just for those who are familiar. Far north east coast.
Speaker 1:So that's where we would find the rainforest in Australia.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lots of rainforests and lots of rain. Also, the school where I worked was not really what I liked. So I thought, oh, what have I done? And while I was thinking on what to do, I also figured out I had breast cancer. So I had this scenario that I just did not sign up for and I couldn't really oversee. So I thought what to do?
Speaker 2:That was not what I expected from 50. I was going to be young forever. I lived really healthy. I'd never been ill. I was so I'm not going to get older, I'm going to get younger. I'll stay fit and happy and healthy. So, yeah, that ship sunk and I dealt with breast cancer. First, I did all the treatment and once I was finished with that, I moved back to my previous hometown because I had to go back to work and the principal of the school where I worked before was very welcoming and supportive. She said come back and we'll find you a nice job here. So I moved back and it was hard because I moved back to the same house and to the same job and I looked a bit different. And, yeah, I really had to reinvent myself again and I started to travel again.
Speaker 1:That's where you found your mojo. Huh, you had to get your mojo back. Can I ask you before you get into that part? So what if you had to summarize that? That was a heck of a spirit. The universe, whatever, was based. Yeah, you were getting kicked around there a little bit. So what did you learn from that experience? When you look back on it now, what do you think the lessons were for you?
Speaker 2:One lesson was that anybody can get cancer. I was miss healthy. I lived so fit and healthy and people were shocked that I got cancer. Another thing I learned was that bad things can happen, but gratitude for the small things in daily life can help you through the day. Yeah, I was very grateful for the small things in life. Also, I didn't have to work, which was really wonderful because I could claim an insurance that came with my work. I had taken some insurance out so I could just relax. I could hike in the rainforest where I lived. I made the most of it. That was one lesson. And job yeah, keep going.
Speaker 1:Oh and keep going, yes. So then you realized okay, I got to get my mojo back here. What's always been the foundational thing that's helped me with my mojo traveling?
Speaker 2:Traveling and daily routines like get up in the morning, eat your healthy breakfast, put your lipstick on and do what you can do per day. Yeah, keep that up. Yeah, find your own. Poor like what makes me happy on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so where did you start? What were your trips that you started at that point?
Speaker 2:One trip was to Bali. My family in the Netherlands was very concerned when I got ill and they said we come and see you and look after you. But I explained that it was going to be a long pathway, it wasn't going to look pretty either, and I said maybe we can meet up after you know, once they have something to look forward to. So they I bought four brothers and a sister and they sort of put a live on hold for two weeks and they all flew to Bali. It was lovely, it meant a lot, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was one thing that I did, and if I still look at those photos, that to be in a different environment, different food, different music it just takes you out of your daily rucks of things to do. Yeah, yeah. And that they did that as well. It was such a gift that they left their parties in their children for 10 days and just shared his family time was just amazing, yeah. So that was fun. And then I also traveled to Japan with my daughter for two weeks and I went to Nepal recently because my son was turning 30. So a year ago I asked him I said what do you want to do for your 30 years? You know I like to build in this landmarks in life of joyful experiences. And he said I want to do a base camp Mount Everest. Okay, let's do it. So I started training and hiking and, yeah, we all flew to Bali me, my son and my daughter to Nepal.
Speaker 1:And yeah, so so you're a big high. It sounds like you're a big hiker to begin with. Is that would you? Would you characterize yourself that way? You hike a lot, you're out in nature, a lot and things, and now you had to really amp it up to get ready for something like that. So I mean that's of course, the whole base. So you're at base camp at Everest and seeing those hikers coming and going, and just you know Katmandu right. So that must have. What kind of impressions were you left with with that?
Speaker 2:I've been in Nepal before when I was in my twenties. So when I landed in Nepal I thought I'm going to do some pre hikes because my tumor pretty fit and I need to be fit too. And then it was raining the most soon was late, so it was pouring down and, just like in the rain for I'm I don't cope very well with rain. It makes me a bit miserable. So, okay, here I am.
Speaker 2:I felt very much that I wasn't the same person that I was 30 years ago. I was a middle aged woman with blonde hair. I stood out very differently. I thought what can I do in the rain? And I bought an umbrella and I started walking through Kathmandu and I started to find the places back where I'd been 30 years ago. And that was amazing because I recognized a lot of places. I felt a deep sense of gratitude, Something went on. I felt a deep sense of sense of gratitude that I was in my fifties and I was back in Kathmandu. I was still doing what I love and, yeah, I felt really accomplished for being there, even if it was raining.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and I'm sure the altitude there takes a bit getting used to, Because at base camp what are you at 910, what is the 9000?
Speaker 2:feet In meters, it's 5300 meters. Okay, that's right, I have to convert Right, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's an American thing. Sorry, it's high, it's very high.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the higher we got the thin and the air and at the end you could only talk like that. It was like it took a lot of breath. Yeah. It made everybody very quiet. So it was. It was quite busy, there were lots of people walking, but everybody was very quiet. It was a very unique experience.
Speaker 1:Were you there during the time? The little bit I know about the people who climb Everest? There's only certain times that they can do it right. There's a season for that. Were you there for that season?
Speaker 2:You don't want to be there in a rainy season because you can't see a single mountain. They're all hidden in the clouds and there's leeches and it's slippery. You don't want to be there when it's minus 25 either. So we were in the autumn season. It was at the end of the monsoon, the rain was gone and it wasn't too cold yet.
Speaker 1:So you all were able to do some of your own hikes, and around there Is it common? That was one of the things I was surprised about with your story that I was I didn't was familiar with. It makes sense that there's a bunch of different hikes around there. You're not necessarily summoning Everest, but you can hike around and get the experience of Everest in other ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's like a valley that you can hike along a river to the base of Mount Everest, and I didn't go up Mount Everest because it takes a lot of resources and a lot of money and it's just more climbing rocks. Basically, I love the villages on the way, the change in climate and the change in vegetation and the culture of people living there.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the Sherpas, yeah, and the people, yeah, the different people living there. What were a couple of things that were your favorite things about that?
Speaker 2:I was with my children they were 28 and 30 and I felt so accomplished. Like you know, through life you go through some issues growing up together, growing up and growing old and I felt so accomplished that they were happy to do this with me and happy to do this together and that we made these amazing experiences together.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I mean that's, and really it's. To me, life is all about the experiences, right, it's not about the stuff, it's about the experiences we have, and especially with loved ones, and so what a special special thing, yes, so how long were you all there for?
Speaker 2:I was there for about three and a half weeks. My son booked a beautiful hotel in Kathmandu because I when I fly in I go like medium style, I don't go to the range and I don't go totally grubby anymore as I did when I was 20. But my son likes nice hotels, so he booked a beautiful hotel and, yeah, we took off from there together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's a pretty, that's a pretty long time. You hung around for a while then and really got. We were able to, you know, immerse into the culture then for sure, yes, yeah, now didn't you also travel? Was it the same trip where you were down in Thailand, and or was that a separate trip? So you kind of made your way up to up to Nepal from the Thailand trip?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was the same trip. Because my son is a seafarer. I asked him a year ago where would you like to go for your 30th birthday and when will you be off the boat? Of course he is some weeks on or some months on, some months off, and he said well, I'll be around my birthday, I'll have time off, but I didn't know exactly when. So I booked my long service leave. That's an amazing Australian thing that every seven years, I believe, he can take extra time off, work fully paid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I booked a few weeks before and a few weeks after his birthday, and then it turned out that I had more time by myself.
Speaker 2:So I flew to Bangkok, first with a friend of mine who liked to go there, and I stayed in a lovely hotel and again I visited the sites where I used to go when I was 20, and some of the temples were not changed at all and some of the little restaurants around there were still the same. It was beautiful. And then he wanted to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia. So we went to Cambodia together and we saw the temples of the Angkor Wat, and then he flew back to Australia and I thought, okay, I got three weeks by myself. What shall I do? So I looked for a fitness resort or a meditation and yoga resort either in Thailand or in Cambodia, and I found Hari Haralaya, the yoga and meditation resort, yeah, which did some beautiful, beautiful meditation and yoga work with people. I stayed there for a week and I met some amazing people and I learned to meditate, and it was a lovely thing to do just by myself, because I could truly focus on the content of the week and really immerse in the situation. It was amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that sounds so beautiful and but you know, as I was saying to you, I think, before we started, you're very and you can, I can. Your enthusiasm telling these stories, you know, shines through and you can tell that this is the thing that gives you the mojo that lights you up. What are your plans now as far as travel in the future?
Speaker 2:Well, I have to be very honest. When I started this last holiday, I was struggling a little bit at work and I wasn't in the best place at all and I thought, well, I've got to just do this and then I will go and travel. But I wasn't even overly excited about traveling. When I landed in Bangkok, however, I thought right, this is what I really like doing. And then the meditation course gave me a great sense of self, regulating in my peaceful feelings, and the hiking in Nepal that was such a landmark in life. So I felt that I came back as a new person, or actually as myself again, and I'm so. I'm going to travel every year, I don't. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, I thought I'm going to put a bit of a bit less effort into my work. I'm 55 now I'll have to work, but I don't think I should focus too much on it. I should focus more on all of my life and, yeah, there's many holidays, as I can.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, in the final days of our lives, nobody wishes they had spent more time working right. So that is really, yes, very, very important to keep that in mind, because sometimes work can get in there and we get in our routine and it's just go go, go, go go, and then we blink and five years have gone by you mentioned something about, and I wondered if this is an Australian thing. I don't know, I didn't quite catch what you called it where you get you get a period of time where you are allowed to be away from work. Is it a week? Is it months?
Speaker 2:It's, I believe, 10 extra weeks in 10 years or something, and it's called long service leave. Long service leave, so you need to stay within the department for a long time to earn it, but it's been amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So it's a season. 10 weeks is like, yeah, that's like a summer or a fall or a winter or spring, and so is that to encourage people, so people do whatever they want with that period of time. But it seems to me that a company that offers that is encouraging people to travel, to have that lack of time Do a lot of people use it for that, I think so, yeah, people use it for that Also.
Speaker 2:They use it to look after their old parents. Sometimes it's just for whatever. You need that time off, you'll have some time and I work as a school teacher for the government, so, yeah, it's a wonderful thing that's been given to the Australian school teachers. Really, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's for the, okay, it's for the teachers, Okay, yeah, so what would be for somebody who maybe doesn't have a lot of travel experience? Maybe a little here, a little there, but you know and this podcast is for men and for women but what would be some tips that you would say for somebody who really wants to kind of start getting out there and traveling a little more and maybe going to different continents they haven't been, you know, visited before. What would be some things that you would advise?
Speaker 2:I would advise to plan it, especially if you go by yourself. When I was young it didn't really matter, but now I'm older, I don't want to look lost in a new place, so I do a bit of research of what's available. I also know myself what I like, maybe totally different to another man or woman. I like to be fit, I like to be calm, I like to meet people. So for me, a meditation and yoga resort was ideal. My son goes to fitness resorts in Thailand where he can have the right diet and the right exercise. Actually, another lady that I know has also been to Thailand for a fitness and weight loss resort. They tailor your program. I know people who like cities and they just go for a city tour, you know, to see the museums and to listen to the concerts. Know what you like and build a program according to your likes.
Speaker 1:Do you do much traveling with tours or do you prefer the solo traveling better?
Speaker 2:I only been with it two or once and it was fun because a friend invited me. Other than that, I also went on my own trip. I went to Japan with my daughter. We only had 10 days and I thought again what do we like? We like secondhand shopping and there are amazing secondhand shops in big cities in Japan. I like hiking, so I plan to hike in the Kiso Valley between Osaka and Tokyo. We both like the Onsen, the hot springs, so every hotel I booked had Onsen. So I filled in what we liked in every day that we planned.
Speaker 1:How do you handle language barriers and also money exchange differences?
Speaker 2:Everybody speaks English nowadays. Back in the days I traveled with the dictionary. Now you can find translations on Google. And the money you need enough money. In Cambodia, for example, they had two financial systems next to each other, so I had a pile of reels in my wallet and a smaller pile of American dollars and I knew I wouldn't pay what a Cambodian person would pay. But you know what? I was only there for a few weeks and they made a nice income. I didn't make the biggest deal out of it.
Speaker 1:Right and helping to uplift the community that you're spending time in, absolutely Not worrying about trying to get that best deal. So I imagine there's apps too now. I mean, I know when I've traveled internationally that's been one of the biggest money differences and figuring all that out, but I would imagine there's apps now to help with that as well.
Speaker 2:I haven't really found a money app. One thing I do when I arrive in a new country is get my phone sorted so I can call and I have internet and obviously other one oh yeah, they have taxi apps, a bit like Uber or every country has their own one and that really helped with the taxi system that I could already see the price of the taxi and I could check with the taxi driver was going to the destination that I wanted to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Do you have any particular websites that you use when you're doing research for a place that you're going to visit? Do you have any particular websites that you use that are very reliable?
Speaker 2:that kind of thing I use Bookercom, they sort of sites, to book my accommodation and usually I type in what I like to do. So, for Japan, I typed in hiking between Tokyo and Osaka, which led me to the Kissel Valley, which led me to blogs of people that had done it, which showed me that it would rain a lot there, and you know I don't like rain. So I decided, from the 10 days we were going to hike, only two days with good accommodation. Yeah, so I started my own interest and then I find the sites, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what would you say to somebody that's over 50 and beyond and wants to travel but is a little bit tentative about it, not really sure what would be some inspirational things that you could say to motivate them or make them feel like it's not as hard as you think, I think what I would suggest is go online, pick a country that you have an interest in and start filling out your own interests, like I did with yoga, meditation or fitness.
Speaker 2:I researched every fitness resort in Thailand between Phuket and the islands, koh Samui and Koppongan, and I liked it, but it wasn't 100%. And then I started to do the same thing in Cambodia and I found this yoga and meditation place and it was just perfect.
Speaker 1:So yeah, figure out what you like, pick a country that you like and start to look for your interests, because then I would imagine that when you kind of have that foundational piece and you can build other things around it, they make recommendations and they can help you know the area better. Yeah, so you have somebody. That's the other thing. When I've traveled, it's always so fun to meet locals and to talk to the locals and the people. That's where you get your best recommendations from, and oftentimes when you're on a tour, besides the tour guide, you know you're staying in the bubble. You don't really get a chance to get in there and really feel the culture in a deeper way.
Speaker 2:Which can be nice for people that like to travel and like to make other traveler friends. You know there can be a goal for someone they like to engage with the travel community, so that could be interesting, like international friends or friends from their own country. But if you really want to Reinvent yourself or really your mercy in a culture, I would advise to find your own way. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. So do you have any trips planned for the new year that you're looking at?
Speaker 2:I'm going on a big hike with some friends here in South Australia. That's one thing, and Other than that I've been to Japan last year and I've been on this long service holiday. I haven't planned anything big next year, but at some point in my life I was considering what I wanted and I Decided that I want a big holiday every second year. So next year I'll be more in Australia, and then year after I'm going far away and I'm gonna do something really adventurous again.
Speaker 1:That's a beautiful goal. Yeah, yeah, I like that. So I always like to wrap things up with this question for my guests what does a meaningful, moxie filled Life look like and feel like to you?
Speaker 2:For me, a meaningful moxie life Means that I have inner peace. I do Everything to have a beautiful, calm Life, and that means peace in my house, please, with my neighbors. Little adventures Also create a sense of peace in me. Yeah, I think that's what I aim at. What I'm aiming for, yes, yeah. In all parts of my life, in my family life, my financial situation, the balance of everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's so beautiful and I, I so. Yeah, I mean, you know that that expression. I have a bumper sticker that says peace begins with me. Yeah, if we want peace in the world, we have to feel peace inside, right, yeah, that's that's. That's something that we do have control over. So Beautiful words, yeah, and traveling also helps me with that feeling of peace.
Speaker 2:When I leave, I feel excited, and when I came home I've also found a great sense of peace with my humble home that has everything Good internet, good running water, my beautiful bed. I really appreciated everything again.
Speaker 1:It's nice to come home, isn't it? Yes, after all the adventures, it's nice to, and it does I. It really does make you appreciate what you have. Yes, so good, so good. I thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, marlina. It's. It's so fun for me to Get to talk to people from around the world and hear their perspectives and their and their stories, and it's just really special.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for asking me, and it was just lovely talking to you.
Speaker 1:Oh good, all right, everybody. Well, thanks for listening and we will 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 there, 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.