Meaning and Moxie After 50
Looking for more inspiration and possibility in midlife and beyond? Join host Leslie Maloney, proud wife, mom, author and teacher, as she talks with people finding Meaning and Moxie in their life after 50.
Meaning and Moxie After 50
#7 of Top Ten from 2024/Discovering Connections and Courage in Travel
What happens when a lifetime of routine gives way to spontaneous adventures on the open road? Join me, Leslie Maloney, as we uncover the exhilarating tales of Jude Liddle, a newly retired wanderer from the UK.
Travel isn't just about the places you visit but the connections you forge along the way. We chat about heartwarming encounters with fellow travelers and locals, shining a light on the joy of shared stories and spontaneous bonds. This episode is a celebration of courage, the thrill of risk-taking, and the quest for a meaningful life over 50 and beyond. You will be inspired to start your own adventures!
Find out more about Jude Liddle on Facebook under The Swim Seeker.
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Hi, it's Leslie. This week we're on number seven of our top 10 countdown of our favorites from 2024. And the podcast we're featuring this week is just pure fun. I interview Jude Little from the UK and she is a newly retired wanderer and who's re-outfitted a van that she plans to travel in, which she has done since this interview. I've been following her. She's been having a blast and we just talk about all the things that she has planned for her retirement and all the things that she has put in motion in order to make those dreams essentially about this part of her life come true. It's just a really fun, uplifting interview and we find that we have several things in common. So check it out. I know you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 1: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 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, I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that when somebody new sees me and starts singing at me, I'm singing, of course, the Beatles song. Yeah, I love that. I love that. When somebody new sees me and start 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, yeah, it's great, it's great, I love it, I've got, I've got the song playing in my mind right now. So glad you could take the time here to chat with us about all your adventures, because you have you've had a lot of adventures, but I first. 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, cold swimming, as you're calling it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And my I just my husband and I and family how we have just really started to get into that in the last six months ourselves and love it it's the most incredible thing I've ever done so explain to somebody who's listening, who might not be familiar what that is 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 water's warmer in than the air out. Right and um, most, if not all, of us just swim in our normal costumes. We don't wear wetsuits. We will put on wetsuit gloves and boots and wear wetsuits. We will put on wetsuit gloves and boots just to let you be in there a bit longer.
Speaker 2:And it's just. It does something to the body to get in that cold water? It does, and it's it. We, we are addicted to it. That's all we can say. Because why would you keep getting in the cold water if?
Speaker 2:it's not doing you good, you know, and it's just amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you do it every morning.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you have a group you go you do it with, or yeah, yeah, we've got a really good, um, sort of social swimming group, and there may be 10 of us that swim, there might be 50 of us. Some get get to do 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:so, on average, how long are you staying in? Uh, this time of year it's kind of like 10, 12 minutes. A lot could depend how cold and windy it is when you get out, because that could really, yeah, um, increase the coldness, but yeah, it's amazing. What about you? How are you managing to do it 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 plunger 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 is kind of become a trendy thing. But we it's it's funny we were out in Montana the 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 doesn't. 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 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 you can't see me, I'm kind of spread out like a frog 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. This summer.
Speaker 1:And then 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, horse trough, horse trough, nice horse trough. 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 schlepping that around is kind of you know, that's, that's not sustainable.
Speaker 1:Let's put it that way yeah so we bought a chiller to be able to chill the water. Perfect, yeah, so, and and so it is. It feels so great and it's one of those things it's like, okay, I gotta go do it I gotta go do it, and then, once you do it, you're just like ah, that feels wonderful it's.
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 go in 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 sounded yeah, you know sure, and there is.
Speaker 1:There is a lot of science out there. Now you know you got people like Wim Hof. I don't know if you're familiar with him yes, I am others 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 some of the information you sent me, I thought, oh good, it's one of those. I heard something the other day aging is the relentless pursuit of comfort.
Speaker 1:And so, as you're mentioning that, when we have an opportunity to distress 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. The body is reacting to that exactly exactly. No, it's a whole group of you in your community that go down and do this yeah, so in there's probably, I'd say, 200 active members.
Speaker 2:Whoa okay, yeah and we, we did. We did the summer solstice a couple of years ago. We did the sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice of the longest day and there was a hundred of us on the beach at 4 30 in the morning oh cool which was quite incredible. It's quite a magical time yeah, so you've recently retired.
Speaker 1: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.
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? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely tire at 55 and if you can, why the heck wouldn't you? Absolutely, absolutely. And you outfitted a. You got a, bought a 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 just you know the plumbing, the electrics, the gas and I just 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 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 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 ran a van over there, so 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 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 uh, throughout Europe, or kind of leaving the UK and going across so this time I'm just going to do the UK because I think we're incredibly lucky.
Speaker 2: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 know. When people ask me, oh, where are you going? What you're doing? I said, well, I'm gonna go somewhere and swim.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't need to plan it, and that's what's amazing so you're just going to kind of wing it and go and and yeah, stay here for a few days, stay there for a few days, yeah yeah, and there's.
Speaker 2: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 um pubs and bars let you stay in their car parks as long as you eat dinner in the in their restaurant. So there's so many people. Your farmers rent out fields in the summer.
Speaker 1:So many options, so I'm just gonna, I'm roam and see where it takes me yeah, that's what I was going to ask you if, 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 right, I'm going to be near this town or this place. What options do I have? So, yeah, so, yeah, I. 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 yeah, have you always been an adventurer like this?
Speaker 2:um, I think I have, I've, I've, I've never been one for sitting on a beach for a week or two for a holiday. I, 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 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. You know some something new to see and I'm. I think you know how, how my career went. I had to, you know, talk to people and just get on with people so I, I can walk up to total stranger, ask for help, directions, chat, and you can find out local information, which is invaluable when you're doing that oh yeah, and that's important important to be able to do that and be comfortable doing that.
Speaker 1:What do you say to people who men or women who would like this idea sounds really cool to them, but they're a little bit hesitant and they're not sure about the safety of it or just all the stuff to bring. What would you say to them?
Speaker 2:yeah. So 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. 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 been away in a van, I just get very comfortable putting on whatever clothes are clean that day. They may match, they may not. I frankly don't care. Right, right, and so I'm an adventure. Care right, right and, and so I'm an adventure, 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 yeah, we did that.
Speaker 1:We did that out west, um, 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. And you do you learn some valuable things about what you need, what you don't need Exactly. Was there anything that really sticks out for you in that process?
Speaker 2:Yes, so I think, for me personally, knowing I was going to be traveling around the UK me personally, knowing I was going to be traveling around the UK quite a lot of the, you know, converted vans or motorhomes 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 and 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's easy to drive around, easy to maneuver, get down the little country lanes, park it up easy.
Speaker 2: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? Right, 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, um, 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. 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 and I you know that, that consideration of how much do I want to be maneuvering around.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Exactly Because.
Speaker 2:I know I want to get out into the countryside, into very rural situations.
Speaker 1:I wanted to keep it small, yeah, so you retired six months ago Was that a tough transition for you.
Speaker 2:You luckily it wasn't, um, the kind of previous sort of five years in my career I'd 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 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 you were already starting to pick up the other things in your life that you were going to be transitioning to exactly.
Speaker 2:So the hobbies were there, they were coming in and, you know, work was just getting in the way yeah, yes, yes, and that that's that's kind of how it's been for me too.
Speaker 1: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 a side thing, yeah, and I think that I think that's a nice way to kind of back out of your career is to, and then you 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, 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, I, yeah, so that gradual withdrawal was just perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just perfect. Just perfect, yeah, just perfect. Socially, you were able to make that transition and everything else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got so many friends down where I live. Some are retired, some are still working, so there was a ready-made group of ladies that would like to lunch. No-transcript know, work 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 life that they can just go by the wayside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't have, so having that so I have, 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.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you know it's. You know that it's the right time when you're like this is getting in the way, exactly exactly. You took this trip over to southern Australia. That's where I found you, um on online and I was just so fascinated. You were over there about six or eight weeks yeah, six weeks six weeks. Yeah, tell us about why you chose southern Australia and then that whole process of the trip and what you learned yeah.
Speaker 2:So I, when I, you know, was retiring, I was like, right, big trip at the time of the money, let's do it. And I said I retired 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 Oogleroo, darwin, cairns, brisbane, that loop on the on the eastern coast. And I've got two friends that live in Sydney who 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 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. 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 so 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 van, very similar to what I've converted here um, but it, you know, for me, especially going to Australia obviously 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 with traveling. So I knew it was going to be for me an easy to do trip and it was just phenomenal. I found a great little travel app that let me planned what the route could be.
Speaker 2:Because you think, oh, you know, 30 days in a van, that's a long time, but I had a long distance, okay, now, before I went, I did say, right, I know, I want to go to Kangaroo Island, right, I'll have four nights on there, then that looks a good place, I'll have two nights there and there. And so roughly planned it along 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, when I read the write-up of where I was going and you get there, you think, oh, it's not, not quite what I was expecting, just one night here, I'll 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 the coast, see the amazing scenery and, you know, jump in the sea whenever I could, yeah, 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 sea pools, and they've now kept it going. Oh, that's fantastic, you converted them. I have 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 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 I first arrived into Melbourne when I had two or three nights in Melbourne and got up the first morning and I'd look 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 I went to the art gallery and then when I got to the main bits of the city, it was like, yeah, it's nice, but it's not. It wasn't exciting me, it wasn't, you know, making me feel wow, and so that was a good reminder.
Speaker 2: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 had 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 looks nice. And I, you know, walk up and go, oh go, oh, my god, yeah, that fire looks amazing and that pretty much. I think every time they're like oh my god, bring your wine over, bring your chair, come and join us, sure, and you just sit and talk, uh-huh, and I and I I can't think of one single time but I spoke to anybody to ask them anything that I got a funny reaction and I and so that was that was, that was lovely, yeah making, making those connections.
Speaker 1: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 the people you meet and the connections you make and and the insights that you get from people that are kind of just spontaneous, yeah, um and so yeah, and you do find those at campsites and places where people are just kind of they're doing, they're having their adventure exactly and and it was so so many times I would, you know arrive at town.
Speaker 2:Either I'm staying 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 stripped down in my closet and 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 scarves, coats, looking at me like I'm an absolute nutter. In I go have 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 chat to them or any other good swim spots around any good beaches and get a bit of insight that way. So, yeah, I just and I think, I think it really, because 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, you know, found out new things and I just think that's quite invigorating, yeah.
Speaker 1:Was there any any particular conversation or person you met that really sticks out for you in your journey there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was. When I was on Kangaroo Island, um, I I'd went to there's a wildlife center and I um paid to go and hold a koala because why would you not? Lovely, and it was pretty quiet there. I got chatting to the guide who was doing it and he said well, he said I've got to go and go on my round. He said, you know, wander around behind me.
Speaker 2:So, and I was, you know, just chatting to him and he was talking a lot about the, the bushfires that had happened out there in 2019, 2020, and I'd driven through the areas that had been, you know, dec the fire and they're just massive areas. You drive for an hour and you're still going through it and just talking to him about how the injured animals and how the community came together. And that was something I've never experienced bushfires, you just don't really get them in England. So that was really quite moving in terms of, you know, they, they were all at risk but they, you know, were staying to help the animals and you know, try and try and do what they could. So that was, that was quite incredible yeah, sure, and that was.
Speaker 2:That was crazy, the way those fires were and so many animals animals were people too, but you know, yeah, and there was, and pretty much along the almost, I'd 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 sure yeah, yeah, because it's really not been that long.
Speaker 2:No, and and 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, the blackness of the trees and no leaf on it, and it was just. It was quite eerie to think what that whole stretch of you know Southern and round you know and round you know eastern australia must have been like, just oh yeah, incredible when you see those.
Speaker 1:That's that's the other thing about travel. When you see those things firsthand, they have a whole different impact they do, they do.
Speaker 2:You know, we've seen it on the news you know we talked how many hectares or acres, but when you, you, you're driving and you 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 when you just think, wow, that is, that is crazy yeah, so you're back.
Speaker 1:You got back right before the holiday, right In early December.
Speaker 2:Yes, I got back towards the end of end of November, Um, and then, um, two weeks later, went down with a cold. But you know, Lisa, I got to Australia, got the trip done. I got back home without getting a cold or falling ill, so that was fine If that was going to. Got the trip done and got back home without getting a cold or falling ill, so that was fine If that was going to. 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 it is.
Speaker 1: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, I my only hesitation is the driving, because of course, we drive on the right.
Speaker 2:yeah and um, seriously, it's, it's so easy so far. So in the let me say, three out of the four weeks in the van, pretty much on, they're straight roads because there was there was nothing in Australia for them to have to curve around, so most of them were straight.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's good really. And then, you know, as I turned, sort of turned 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 okay, wide open spaces, exactly so, and I shouldn't say this, it was so quiet.
Speaker 2:I have my little phone in the middle of me and I could take it up and take pictures as I'm driving along and little videos. There's nothing on the road, right, you didn't have to worry about yeah, so really, really easy. And there's, the other campsites are, all you know, dotted along.
Speaker 1:So it was pretty convenient If somebody wanted to do, to do that it was.
Speaker 2:It was pretty easy to put together, yeah, yeah, I think that the longest I drove any day from one campsite to another was about two hours all right interesting yeah no, it's really good what are your?
Speaker 1:what does your family think or your, your friends think about what you did there and are you inspiring anybody in your circle?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I, I, um, I think there were. You know, some, some of my friends are just like oh my god, dude, I can't believe. You flew all the way there and you, you did that all on yourself and I'm going. Well, you know it, I've done it, it was easy. So some of them are thinking, oh, but you know, I could, I could, you know, do that, um, and, and it's just it, it's to me, it's 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 you know, something could have gone wrong, but it didn't. You know, I had some incredibly lucky breaks and things just happened perfectly, you know.
Speaker 1:But we've all got the phone, internet, there's always a way of finding help and I think you have to, to do what you 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 yeah, yeah, yeah and it's also I, I wouldn't have, you know, and I wouldn't do.
Speaker 2:You know, a solo, you know, unorganized tour around Peru, for 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 so that's where I think right, I'm going to go to Peru or Vietnam, whatever, I'll be in a small group, organized tour, and I might, you know, arrive a bit earlier, stay a bit later. Yeah, but it's it's, it's it's, I guess it's being aware of what works for you, and I think, maybe with kind of social media, you, you put things out there and that 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 and knowing yourself, and knowing where you're most comfortable, and thinking about the fact that, oh, is there a language barrier and how how much would it? I mean, you know you're just balancing all those details out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. But even with, you know, language barriers, there are translation apps on your phone that you talk into. They talk back to you so that you know can take that away from it. So it's, it's, yeah, yeah, I, I just think you know, do it yeah, well, it's so.
Speaker 1:Your enthusiasm really comes through and you are inspiring and I think people listening to this will say, yeah, she can do what I can do it kind of thing. Yeah, and so your next big adventure is around the uk. Yeah, yeah, and what about beyond that?
Speaker 2:so my I'm, I guess again I'm lucky I'm going to be, you know, 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.
Speaker 2:Amazing scenery, I just want to do that I want to do Peru, ecuador and Galapagos oh yeah which was going to be my next one, but with the current situation in Ecuador, we may decide to move the 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. 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.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm very much. You know 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 that's a. I think that's a really really good point is yeah, why wait? Do it while you're feeling good and all of that. Sometimes people wait too long to do some of these things. Yeah, 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:You know I know when I was, when I was going through Australia, when I finally left the state of Victoria and got into New South Wales. 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 so.
Speaker 1:I'd like to finish up um interviews with this question what does? Well, I too, 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 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 bravado, 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 that you'll, that you'll grow into your skin. So good, so good.
Speaker 1:And the final question is what does a meaningful and moxie filled life look like to you?
Speaker 2:What is it? It's I, 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.
Speaker 2: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 even that good meant sitting and reading a 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 good, I made the most of that one. And then you know, looking forward to waking up the following day, love it.
Speaker 1:Love it. Yep Made the most of that one Exactly, day by day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the old saying we're only here once, that's right, you know it's the old, the old saying we're only here once.
Speaker 2:This isn't. You know, it's not a dress rehearsal, just get on and do. And people, I've got so many friends I've met down here. And then, oh God, you're always smiling and I go yeah, you could too Make that conscious decision to smile and laugh, and people will smile and laugh back at you and they're like oh, yeah, yeah, and laugh and people will smile and laugh back at you and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, all we got is today, anyway, all any of us ever ever have is right now.
Speaker 1:So exactly most of it, exactly exactly. Well, this has been such a delightful uh chat that we've had. Oh, I'm pleased. I'm pleased and you're, you're, yeah, your enthusiasm and and light just really shines through. And you're, moxiness, you got spunked Fantastic. Do you have a blog, a travel blog or anything like that, where people can see what you're up to?
Speaker 2:So I have an when I start doing my van traveling, I've set up a separate little Facebook page page called the swim seeker, which is gonna I'm gonna 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 okay, okay, so people could Google swims.
Speaker 1:Is it swimseekercom, or is it a?
Speaker 2:YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: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 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 sit and I was putting it on Facebook and my swim buddies were like, jude, it was like we were with you, it was fantastic, and I was like, oh, good, that's.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic yeah which was really nice, all right well, I so appreciate your time and it's been lovely chatting to, which was really nice, all right. Well, I so appreciate your time. And it's been lovely chatting to you it really has, and I feel like we'll stay in touch and maybe we can talk again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love to.
Speaker 1: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 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, thank you.