Twin Wings and Story Strings

In this episode of Fairy Tea, I sit down for the final episode with my co-host Sydney to share our enchanting journey across America, exploring the magic of travel, friendship, and self-discovery. We discuss how our trip unfolded, the serendipitous moments that shaped our adventure, and the impact of nature and new experiences on our perspectives. From camping mishaps to finding beauty in the mundane, our conversation encapsulates the essence of exploration and the transformative power of travel.

Highlights:

-Meeting and Traveling Together

-Planning the road trip

-Turning a west coast trip into a east coast trip mid-travel

-Finding the magic in every place we travelled

-Embracing Imperfection and Exploration

-Connecting with People and Experiences

-Camping Adventures and Learning

-Transformative Travel Experiences

This episode was produced by six-two.studio

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Fairy Tea is a deeply personal podcast where I share the raw, honest messiness of life—exploring how to break free from societal expectations and follow the heart’s calling. Blending storytelling, spirituality, folklore, and self-discovery, Fairy Tea is both magical and real, whimsical yet grounded. It’s a space to embrace uncertainty, face challenges without fear, and stay curious about the possibilities ahead. Through my own experiences, I invite listeners to see that a new way of living is possible—one that is intuitive, soulful, and uniquely their own.

Instagram: @fairytea.podcast or @akayourfairygodmother

Email: akayourfairygodmother@gmail.com

Transcript

Sophie (00:00.364) Welcome to Fairy Tea, where we sip on the thorough wisdom of the fairy realm and uncover its ancient secrets for healing, pleasure and rest. I'm your host Sophie, here to sprinkle a little enchantment into your everyday life. Think of this as one great unfolding experiment. An invitation to dance with magic, trust the unseen and let curiosity lead the way.

Sophie (00:35.202) Hello everybody. Welcome to a new episode of Fairy Tea. I'm so happy that you're here. I reflected a little bit on the last episode and I think after we finished recording it, Sydney and I were like, okay, that was messy. That was all over the place. But, you know, I'm messy and I'm all over the place and I feel like my podcast is just like...

an extension of myself and the people that I'm with, obviously. And so it only makes sense that it's, you know, its own little craziness. So I'm here again with Sydney. Hello, Sydney. Hello. Thank you so much for being here again. Thank you so much for being my temporary co-host. So fun. Yeah, we're having fun.

it's so fun. It's... fun. Of course we are.

So I originally when we started talking, like we started talking about making podcast episodes together already like months ago. Like this was always the goal that we would go on this trip and make the episodes. And I really early on knew the first two episodes that I want to record with you. And the third one was kind of like...

I knew I wanted to do a third one, but for a long time I didn't know. And then eventually it just hit me in the face and I was like, we have to talk about this trip.

Sydney (02:02.734) I mean, it's really the most obvious thing we could talk about, and I understand why it took so long to get here also.

Yeah, it came to me while we were on the trip, I think about midway in. And then I was like...

Yeah. Obviously. What else are we talking about?

What else? So I really want to go back to the details how this trip came about and I think we've talked about how you and I met.

Have we really talked about how we met?

Sophie (02:32.738) I think not in detail. Yeah, I did. I told them about how I was at a cafe with friends. You would take the photo. That was our little me-cue. And then we went for two coffees.

Time to take a photo. My little meat cube.

Sydney (02:50.51) Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let's rewind. So I was only in Cali. I wasn't going to go because everyone talks about how it's not too safe. And I was there and loved it. I wouldn't go back and would recommend it to anyone. But as just a girl of my own, I was probably going to skip that stop. And then I happened to make great friends the stop prior. And I was meeting them on the Pacific Coast, which has no roads to get to. You have to fly there. And Cali is a major city, of course. And so my flight was going to be out of Cali.

So was only there for one night and I got there about five o'clock ish. And I, especially in this place that everyone was telling me was so dangerous, I wasn't ready to go eat and then walk back in the dark. So I figured I would just go get an early dinner. It was a really weird time to eat. But this was the first restaurant I went to and Cali was around the corner from my hostel and this is where we met and we ended up talking for about three hours. And my whole plan to not walk back in the dark kind of went out the window, but I got a lovely escort.

Yeah, it was around five o'clock.

Sophie (03:48.832) Yeah, I obviously then made my friend and I walk her back to the hostel. That's what we do. Girls stick together.

do, that's what you do. They're so sweet. So then I left and I was gone for probably a week and my flight was in and out of Cali. So I ended up coming back to Cali. It would have made more sense to go further up north, but I just had a feeling that my time there wasn't quite done yet. And so I went back and I had briefly texted her. was like, Hey, like I'm back in town, but like didn't really elaborate much on that. It was maybe, you know, traveling travelers are so fickle. Like you find people, you leave people at just name of the game, really.

So I was thinking about meeting up with her, but like not that much, if I'm being honest. So was like, yeah, I like, she was cool. But like, is everyone that I meet. And then I ended up walking into a second restaurant in Cali and not one that I picked, but one that friends that I had made at the hostel had wanted to go to. And this restaurant had a few more people in it, there were like six tables instead of one or two others, but she happened to be there. And so the only two restaurants in Cali that I went to, and this is weeks apart too.

She happened to be there and I was like, well, this is obviously a sign.

Yeah, that's how Sydney was convinced.

Sydney (05:04.342) Yeah, so then we got coffee a couple times, got dinner. She invited me to get her hair done with her. I was like, she's...

We got dinner.

Sophie (05:12.686) Well, that was the last day. So it was the last day before you were supposed to So I was like, the only thing I can offer you because I already have the hairdresser's appointment. And like, if you want to, we can like, you know, make a thing out of it and just hang out. Sure.

was like... Then I was there, I was like, this is kind of long, but fun. was fun. We had fun. Of course, we always do. And so that day that she was getting her hair done, I had just found out that morning that my flight that I had booked to the Amazon, I actually didn't. And so I was going to be, I just didn't have like any next steps anymore. I knew I needed to leave Columbia. I needed to, not because I just, it was time to leave, but that was how I was going to cross the border and get to Peru. And then I...

It was fu-

Sophie (05:55.426) Well, Ecuador first and then Peru. yeah.

I don't know, the Amazon were just taking a But I decided just to go to Ecuador instead. I added a whole other country to the trip. But because of that, I was going south. And that meant that we were able to travel with one another for a little bit longer.

Yeah, exactly. And that's a funny aspect of the whole like how we got to know each other because in the very beginning, Sydney tried to convince me to come to the Amazon with her.

There's this boat, it's sick. And it leaves from a port in Leticia. And then it goes down to Aquitos and takes three days. It's a cargo ship. You need a hammock. It's pretty boring during those three days. You don't have electricity or power. You're just floating on a boat. And I was like, this seems like the only way I'm going to leave Colombia. I love it here so much. But I'm scared to do it on my own. And I think that I just might need entertainment for three days. And I want it to be like Life of Pi.

Did you?

Sydney (06:48.238) You know? Just me going crazy on a boat alone. Hallucinating friends, right? So I was like, please just come with me. You know you're have so much fun. You wanna go, I wanna go. She did wanna go, by the way.

What a crazy analogy.

Sophie (06:55.434) Yeah, yeah,

Sophie (07:02.702) Yeah, funnily enough, I had the same plan to do, not the same cargo boat. I wanted to do it from the Andes in Peru, right across the Andes and then up to Iquitos. It would have ended at the same place. So it was interesting that we both kind of like fantasize about that boat ride. it didn't feel right to me. At the time I had like...

it felt so goddamn right to me.

I had like so many things going on in Cali and I just did

She was like, I have physical therapy actually. I was like, are you serious?

Then you make it sound like...

Sydney (07:45.996) Anyway, I know you've it out perfectly.

No, but what I'm trying to say is that it didn't feel right at the time. I didn't feel ready to leave Kali for such long time. I have things that I was getting done there. It was mainly also like getting this podcast ready. But I told her, that was at the dinner, like after dinner, after we had dinner for the first time, I told her, I have a feeling that we're going to travel together. And at this point, there was no plan in sight whatsoever.

was like, okay, sure.

Yeah, she clearly thought I was just saying to like, you know.

Yeah, mean, again, you travel, meet people, you leave people, it's like the name of the game. Yeah, including us, both of us. But, so we ended up going to a farm in Popeyan. Yeah, through our south, so it was en route for me. And we had a lovely time there.

Sophie (08:27.798) Yeah, people are fickle for sure. Including us.

Sophie (08:35.501) 3 hours outside of Cali.

Sophie (08:40.75) I a lovely time there. It was a beautiful farm.

We painted a gorgeous butterfly in the hostel. We asked, they were like, sure.

They let us paint the hustle.

Yeah, they gave us all the pain. They were really, they were so cute. The sweetest family. Like, I really want to go back there.

We witnessed a cow be born, we fed the chickens, we milked a cow, we went on a hike to a waterfall. It was idyllic.

Sophie (09:04.874) It It was idyllic for sure. No, we had such a good time and that kind of like, I think that was when the idea of the road trip came.

Yeah, so I had planned to go on a road trip with a different friend a while ago. And then she got a job. Rude. Rude. And then it just became obvious that like, you know, people talk and it's really easy to talk about big grand plans, like taking a six week road trip or traveling for four months. But when push actually comes to shove, there's not very many people who are able to follow through on that. So I was kind of like, you know, it was an idea that I had that I really wanted to do. And then she brought up the idea of a road trip and I was like, actually, I've been planning one.

for sure.

Sydney (09:43.246) but it's out the window now. And things just kind of worked in the serendipitous way that they tend to. And you keep your pieces close together and towards the middle, know, sometimes things just come up that work out. We're both pretty good at that. And lo and behold, here we are. Now it's July. We're in Ohio, the most exciting place, no demand. The only thing I know about Ohio is glee. I don't know what you know about Ohio.

Nothing. Just a beautiful bird flew past a car. Anyhow, yeah, that's kind of like how this whole idea came up. So when she asked me about the boat ride, like in my heart, it just didn't feel right. I knew I wanted to travel with her. knew she was one of the coolest people I've met. For real. I knew that, but that particular plan didn't feel right. But when she mentioned the road trip, I was like, hell.

Bye. Bye.

Sophie (10:38.21) Yeah, like my heart was immediately like, yes, we have to do that. She, she doubted.

skeptical for sure. There's no fucking way this shit happens. Yeah.

She really was like, are you like, I'm in it. Like, are you in it? I'm like, yes. Yeah. She said like, I think she said like that she's serious for like 10 times. Um, and I always told, I always try to like, like make it. Yeah, me too. But it like, I get why people, I get why it's like, it was a stretch for sure. I mean, I, it took.

I'm serious though.

Sydney (11:02.04) her feel good be like yeah

Sydney (11:09.664) Down to, it took you what?

It was like, it was a big flight.

Big flight, we talked a lot about how fickle we both are.

We talked a lot about how fickle we both are and also, I mean, we decided on going on this trip in March.

Yeah, and it's in June and that's not a lot of time, but it is, you know, a chunk for sure. And we're not with one another. Sure, of course. And two days before the actual trip, I got a text that was just a photo of an ankle saying, don't know what's going on, might've broken my ankle, a trip might be off. Okay, so.

Sophie (11:30.638) A lot of things can happen in three months.

Sophie (11:44.746) Yeah, fast forward two days before I was supposed to embark on that plane to Chicago, I walked down the streets. like in my head, I even remember what thought I had. I'm not going to elaborate enough.

Girlie sometimes has her head in the clouds, that's so hard to believe.

And I slipped off the pedestrian board. It was the weirdest thing how I tripped because I slipped and then I tried to like save myself with my other leg and then kind of like my flip-flop got all like messed up and then I slipped there as well. And I really like... Yeah, a double slip and I really like landed like basically face forward. I mean, it was my head.

double slip.

Sophie (12:34.894) was fine but like I really like there was this lady walking by this old lady and she comes up to me and she was like in Spanish girl you really felt ugly and I was like thank you I was there and then

This is right outside of your place? Like where I fell?

No, no, no, no. fell in San Antonio in the area, like, anyhow. So I get up again and like in the beginning I was like, okay, I'm fine. And you know that feeling when...

fuck, this actually hurts.

When it like comes like it starts hurting and it hurts more and hurts more when you're like, fuck, actually something might be wrong. And that was when I texted you, was like, oh my fucking God, I don't know whether I'm going to be able to go on this plane. Because everybody was telling me like, like I have this friend who's a flight attendant. She was like, no, if like the swelling is too bad, like you can't fly, you're going to make it even worse. I was like, I got so scared. and I mean,

Sydney (13:35.064) Bye.

Immediately my head goes like, this a sign? What am I supposed to do with this? Like, am I not, like, should I not go? Like, what is happening? And my head was like going all crazy. But luckily,

I'm in the office. like I'm supposed to quit in like three days too. So if I'm not gonna quit anymore, please let me know. Yeah, no

I felt so bad, I felt bad about making you worry, but I also wanted you to be in the loop. Yeah. So I was like, okay. And then luckily I have this amazing doctor that already treated me for my knee and my wrist. And I call him up, I'm like desperate at this point. I'm like halfway crying. I'm like...

needed to be in the loop.

Sophie (14:24.256) What should I do? Like my ankle is really bad. I'm flying in two days. So he, the Latin that he is, was like, you come in right now, we get you x-ray done immediately. And then we're going to look at it. if everything goes right, and this is, bear in mind, this was 10 hours before I was supposed to fly. I was like, no way this is going to happen. Okay.

Yeah.

Sophie (14:50.242) I go in, I get the x-ray done. By the way, an x-ray in Cali costs 20 bucks.

crazy insane so you get on the plane and you come meet me customs gives you a bit of a hard time well

Get on the plane.

Sophie (15:04.344) The doctor gave me green light. I was so happy to be able to go on this plane. And then that's how I came over. And then we started a trip. And we started, like, I started a trip at Sydney's family's place and they're like, okay, you guys need to have a plan. You need to have a plan. And we were like, yeah, maybe we should make a plan.

And then we started the trip.

Sydney (15:25.198) Well yeah, we were always going to make a plan, but both of us, like we weren't going to make a plan in advance.

Yeah, but we didn't have up until then, like, our only goal was literally to find magic. And we knew that, like, we already had like a feeling of like, if we are going to be together and spend some time and like, like let us take wherever, you know, things take us, we're going to find magic. I think we already knew that.

Sure, of course. I was like, obviously, I'm from the US. Clearly, if you can't tell by the way I talk. But I was like, I know where the cool shit is, and it's not in the Midwest, and it certainly is out West. And I had never been really to a lot of, I had never been to most of the states that we went to on this trip. That's part of the reason for the trip too. I like, I've traveled to all these random countries, I haven't traveled my own yet. But we made a grand plan, and our plan was to go down south to Atlanta, because she had a friend in Atlanta from years ago.

that she also met traveling. And then from there, we were going to go all the way out west to like New Mexico, Utah, whatever, which again would require driving straight through Texas. Sounds so fun. She hadn't driven in like two years either. So there was that to keep in mind. And then we were going to go back and this whole supposed trip was going to take us about four to six weeks. A little ambitious, we could say. I would. So it took us a week to get to Atlanta.

Yeah, literally.

Sophie (16:48.706) Yeah, well, we originally we thought it would take us one day to get to Nashville, which ended up being three days.

So it took us three days get to Nashville. We stopped in Indiana, we stopped in Kentucky, and then we stopped in Nashville. And then from Nashville, we ended up going straight down to Atlanta. But by the time we got there, we knew that things were taking a longer time than we had anticipated.

And we also like to take our time.

We, I always joke when I travel, like, I only go where people tell me to go. And that's true. And part of the beauty of this trip has been we've really been able to go where people have told us they like.

Yeah, which was really nice. But it was really funny how this whole like change of plans came about because I had a friend of mine, shout out to Solinda, I had a friend of mine reaching out to me. I haven't heard from her in ages. We used to be really close in the beginning of our studies. We used to study together and then we kind of like it kind of like fizzled out. She also moved abroad.

Sophie (17:46.51) I always kept a really dear in my heart, but we kind of like weren't really in close contact anymore. And then all of a sudden she writes me, she's like, hey, if you pass by Charleston, let me know. And I didn't, at the time, I didn't even know that she was in Charleston, South Carolina. And I mean, I didn't, I asked you, was like, where's Charleston? You were like, that's totally off our route.

Like we're already down south, we just need to get out west if that's actually what we're trying to do.

And then I was like, I was a little sad, but I obviously didn't want to like, I already made you go to Atlanta because of my one friend. I didn't know, course, but like, I wasn't going to say, let's like completely change her out and go meet up girl because I really want to see her because we already had that plan. So I didn't say anything, but in my heart, I was a little bit like, I would have loved to go see her.

You didn't make me do anything.

Sydney (18:37.73) Yeah, now.

My parents are always, drive as least as possible, really. They get worried about the whole driving outside, which makes sense. Their parents, of course, for sure. But they had said to me on the phone in Atlanta, they're like, you know, there's like pretty parts of the US everywhere. And they're like, you could just drive up the East Coast and like that would work out. And then I started thinking, and of course my girlfriend was going, we have the same birthday and she was going to be in New York for her birthday, which would be about a month from when we were. So that was.

timing would actually work out pretty perfectly. And then we didn't want, we don't like to drive that much in a day. We realized how big the US is. I was trying to map out how we were going to get out west. was like, hopefully it'll take us a week to get to New Mexico. I was like, so it'll take a week if we have two 11 hour days driving through Texas. She's laughing. And for a road trip, that's not crazy. For our road trip, that's absolutely ridiculous.

We don't. drive.

Sophie (19:36.024) Yeah, absolutely like no fucking way not in a million years

We don't drive where, four and a half hours I think is our limit. I think four and a half hours is like, oh my god, that's a really long driving day for us. Three hours is typical. Today was four hours, it didn't feel like that, we didn't really stop. Two hours would even be a typical day. Can you imagine two 11 hour days driving through Texas?

I have to say I didn't drive. I've driven two hours in total.

at less. were, and maybe in those two hours you went 40 miles. Like, we were on the highway in Georgia, we were getting passed from every which way. I was like, mm-mm. You missed being on your phone, I missed driving. We have our roles and we should stick to the status quo, you know? I'm the driver, please. Not gonna lie. So.

not gonna have.

Sophie (20:20.886) I agree, agree. She's a driver. She's a great driver.

I, after this phone call, my mom had the gears, like starting to turn a little bit, walked in and said, hey, I have a proposition.

I remember that so distinctly.

I had just gone to the bathroom actually and then I came back I was like hey I have a proposition and she was like what I was like what if we just change our whole entire route. was like hear me out we just go up north we go up the East Coast and we go back and you're like how long ago did you have this idea and I said how long was I in there pointing at the I was like I was talking to my mom and then I went to the bathroom and here we are.

time.

Sophie (21:06.91) I did so not expect this whatsoever, but I was so happy because that meant we could go see my friend in Charleston. We ended up spending my birthday on the beach in Charleston with my friend and her family and that was so...

It was perfect. I did look really. And so we took that night to quote, think about it. And then by the end of the night, both of us were like, okay, so we're driving east tomorrow, right? Our plan to go west is a little bit boarded. And that is how our route was born. You know, it was always meant to work that way.

It was. I think it just was. It felt so right for both of us. So it couldn't possibly be wrong. And we ended up meeting the loveliest people. We're still on the road currently. We're on our very last day. We're camping one more night tomorrow. We're driving back to Chicago. We're on Lake Erie in Ohio.

We're in Dali, the car that's taken us through this whole trip, who we love with all of our hearts. Yeah. And we named her back in Pigeon Forge around Daliwood. Yeah.

Dolly has been

Sophie (22:20.396) She's been such a great car. It's kind of hot, it seems so... It seems so fitting to the last episode. In the car, in our dear car, we spent... You guys, have to think we spent...

We're burning up. We're burning up.

Sydney (22:28.746) We had to.

Sydney (22:34.912) Used to sleep in this car back when it was raining.

In this car, we spent so many hours in this car. This is the most home we've had in almost six weeks.

So in talking about this trip, we're talking about twin wings and story strings and the birth of this trip and our quest to find magic, because we know how that sounds. I would ask you, have you found magic? I've magic. everywhere, I would say. Everywhere. Even in rural Georgia for a week, even... Rural Georgia... Pittsburgh was tough.

I found.

Sophie (23:08.292) gorgeous like rural Georgia is freaking fairy land.

Mm-hmm, but even even so Vanna

We wouldn't

Savannah was gorgeous. Savannah's where I learned that I could do a Southern accent. can do a Southern accent. Anyway, we tell people, we know our audience. We don't tell everyone this because if you tell people in passing the story, if you strip it down to its barest bones, because people say, like, where are from? Like, what are you doing? And down to its barest bones, she's Swiss. I'm from Chicago. We met in Columbia and now we're on a six week road trip across the US.

she can do it.

Sydney (23:49.206) So we're in Ohio or Georgia or North Carolina or some random ass place. And that is jarring to some people. For sure. We met a man down in Georgia who ended up hearing our story a little bit. He looked at us, he goes, gel work? So valid. And no, sorry.

For sure.

Sophie (24:06.645) such a fair q-

Not really. I mean, we do and we don't, you know? I mean, we were actually very productive on this road trip. started a newsletter. So we both kind of like connected very much over this idea of like creating a space that is like so soft and so open and so free because I think this world is missing that. that's kind of like what we collaborate on as of now. Sydney.

has become the written voice of the fair universe, is so cool. Her writing is amazing. I love it.

I'm honored to be here. I'm excited for our second newsletter. I'm just happy it's all working out.

Uh-uh, me too.

Sophie (24:51.434) Everything I do at this point is, you know, I try to do things first and then figure them out later. It's like, it has become almost this like game of like playing around with things that spark my interest and then like, I'm going to perfect them further down the line. I used to be like so anxious about doing things good enough and like, are they perfect? Can I put this out? And at this point, just like, you know, put it out and see what happens.

Donna's Better Than Good, big magic right there. That's the book that I'm quoting. most people figure out where they're going when they arrive. That's the Calvin and Hobbes guys' graduation speech.

That's it.

Sophie (25:27.086) Exactly.

Sophie (25:31.15) Exactly. So we're having a lot of fun playing around with whatever comes to

But I think even from our first day, even from the first sunset that we watched in Indiana, we were in the Methodist Church parking lot. We pulled out our little dinky chairs that we got from Facebook marketplace, our like 70s wide chairs. And we were just watching the sunset. was a frantic drive because the train had stopped. We finally got there. And the fireflies were there and there were deers crossing through and we were in the middle of bumblefuck Indiana.

Which is cool to you still because you're not from the US. To me I'm like, okay, so I'm from Chicago, I made it all the way to Indiana. And I have no job anymore. But I think even our conversation that night, even just watching the sunset that night, we were both like, this trip is going to be cool. And we're both just happy to be here and happy to have our paths intersect where they are.

Yeah. Yeah, we witnessed so much like beautiful nature. think that really... I've never considered the US like a particularly beautiful country because I've, you know, I've been very much like educated through TV series and movies and those usually take place in cities. So I never really thought about the nature parts, but the nature of witness here really blew my mind.

And we haven't even been out west. This is up, this is Smokey Mountains, Shenandoah, this is the Appalachian Mountains. We saw a bear. A scraggly little guy. Don't worry, we're safe.

Sophie (27:02.306) Using a bear.

We saw a bear.

Yeah, we luckily we like were escorted by two people from Washington state that told us that they grew up with like bear.

They had bear spray. I like, trust you. Big strong man. Please save me, I'm just a little girl.

they always come when you need them.

Sydney (27:26.977) But our trip somehow has worked out as beautifully as it could. And I think the people, when our trip changed to be this direction, we were able to really take a deep breath and take things more slow, which is more up your alley than mine. I do like a bit of a pace, but I don't like as much of a pace as we would have had to keep up. And then I was just sitting in the car on the way here. I'm like, I think the people that we met along the way are for sure some of the highlights.

And then more than that, I think the people who opened up their homes and let us stay with them, those are by far my favorite stops on the trip.

for sure those stops will have a space in my heart forever.

And that includes Charlson and your birthday. And your wonderful friend and her family. Yeah. And that includes my family friends in Asheville who were so, so sweet. I stay there. That includes New York also. But those are really our highlights for sure. And I wish we could have stopped by a friend in the DC area who was out of town when we were driving through.

We love it.

Sophie (28:28.142) Yeah, that was sad. That would have been cool. But yeah, like the trip was just so... There was so much, I don't know, so many components that came together. Like we visited friends, we saw so much nature, we went hiking, we explored cities. we learned, like I learned so much about American culture.

We learned a lot.

Sydney (28:54.73) I learned so much about American culture.

It was crazy because you're American. I'm not, but you also are really cool.

Yeah, and I was talking to my dad at some point in this trip when we were in Georgia for a while. And he was like, at least when you're in, he was having a hard time with the trip. He was like, at least when you're in other countries, like you're learning a new culture and you're in a new place. And I didn't say this on the phone necessarily because it wasn't the time and I was trying to not keep the conversation going. But I was like, if you think that where I'm at in rural Georgia, quote unquote, is the same culture as back home, you could not be further off.

Yeah.

And for somebody who studied politics like I did, especially at a liberal arts school in California, I was seeing parts of the country that you really only read about. And clearly we didn't see everything. We didn't, I don't know, we were only in every place for a couple of days, but the culture itself changes so much. And it was really, really cool to see first of all, just how big the U.S. is and how cool the U.S. is. really just, I don't know, just talk to people also who think in a

Sophie (29:43.534) Mm.

Sophie (29:52.802) Yeah.

Sydney (30:03.138) different way. And obviously it's like scary and freaky sometimes if you know that like they really would vote a certain way. Sure. We were playing backgammon at some point so you're like who do think they'd vote for us? I don't need to guess I know. It's if you can safely explore and talk to people of different cultures and different walks of life. I don't see any way in which that would not broaden your world in some way.

For sure. Yeah, and I think that's also one thing that like you and I really have in common is like we love to talk to people. And to...

Even just understanding how other people think or they're perspective on a certain issue.

Or like, for me, it's always like, I always feel so honored when people let me in on their personal thoughts, on their personal magic at the end of the day, you know? So we talked to a bunch of really interesting people. We talked to a postman. We talked to a lady that was working at a farmer's market and she sold baked goods that... Slay. Slay.

Dessert Diva.

Sydney (31:06.894) Our first night, our first time camping, we tried to put our gas into our camping stove. And we realized that we probably got the wrong gas, but we also had no idea what the fuck we were doing, so we couldn't say for sure. And we walked over to the two old men who we had been chatting with earlier, tail between our legs, like totally with no idea what to do. And we're like, can you help us please? And they totally were like, of course. And if you can't then have some of our food. And from there we ended up meeting.

another wonderful woman from nearby, Kentucky or Tennessee, and she gave us a canister of gas that we really needed too. She was like, just take mine. And so right out of the gate, we A, had no idea what we were doing whatsoever. And B, we're making friends and asking for help along the way. And through that, just kind of picking up tidbits of stories and therefore magic everywhere we went.

Agreed, agreed. Let's talk more about our camping experience because I think our camping experience was such a quintessential part of our trip. We now end our trip with one last night camping. It only makes sense. I was not an experienced camper whatsoever before that trip. I think you had a little more experience, but that goes a while back.

It only makes sense.

Sydney (32:22.286) I had been taken out camping when I was like 10. Yeah. Age was like 10 to 14. I like, you know, could in theory make a fire and sometimes pitch a tent.

So I have this one camping experience with my dad. So my dad took me camping when I was around maybe five, six-ish. And it ended up raining and then like all of a sudden we were like circled by cows. And then my dad kind of like aborted the mission and like took everything, including me and took me to a hotel. So that's my only camping experience that I have.

I had never been the adult on a trip. had always been taken out by somebody who clearly knew what they were doing. Yeah. So it was...

For both of us, it was new.

We got a camping lot off Facebook Marketplace. It came, it was 40 bucks for the whole lot. And with that lot, we got a two-person tent. It's really pretty. We call her Wendy. It's turquoise and purple. We got a big blue cooler that we've never actually used as a cooler, but we keep all of our cooking stuff in there. It works in a pinch to keep our food safe or garbage safe from the animals. Not the bears, don't worry. We don't do that. And then we got these two.

Sydney (33:31.424) cherries that we've talked about these like 70s style like fold up cherries that are giant but they're really cool. Yeah and then last but certainly not least I had a sleeping bag for my time camping with a broken zipper that she's been using but we needed another one of course and so this lot came with a sleeping bag both of us were like perfect we needed one of those anyway and then we opened it up and it was blue and green and had dinosaurs all over it and it was four feet tall and eight inches tall.

And so comfortable.

Sydney (34:00.578) So it was a child's sleeping bag for sure. I'm 5'6". How tall are you? Do you know what inches and feet? You're probably 5'10", more or less. Yeah, so you're like 5'9", 5'10", probably. I'm 5'6". Both a foot taller than this bag. But we made it work. So that with outdoor blankets, we got these thermorests from somebody else. And then we got the little...

like 30.

Sophie (34:12.429) the near.

Sydney (34:27.138) camping stove and all of our stuff was gotten so last minute we didn't really know how any of it worked. But our first time camping was in Kentucky. What did we have for dinner that night? Nothing.

Yeah, like beef sticks. Beef sticks and bars. We there. I don't know what we were thinking. I think nothing. But we went there. Food.

Yeah, we went

Sydney (34:44.174) without she was like, I'd probably be fine with bars and yeah.

I think we were overwhelmed at this point because we had to like, it was just so early into the trip. didn't be, so we got all this, like we literally, I mean, we prepared, but we prepared in the sense of like two people that have never camped before thinking what could be necessary for camping. That was kind of like how we went about it. Like, could we have done it better? Sure. Yeah.

We have done it much better, many times.

No, no, no. But I mean, like in the beginning, we were going to get this stuff. We were not sure whatsoever whether this stuff is like everything we need or we needed something else. Turns out we actually got like a sick setup for like less than a hundred dollars.

I mean, the camping lot was 40 bucks and that was most of everything and then we got a stove. The stove was 30 bucks.

Sophie (35:33.078) and then does two thermost.

Those were 15 each, 30 bucks. Yeah, so for 100 bucks we had everything that we needed to camp for the last month.

Which is so cool because I feel like not enough people know like how accessible that is. You don't really need more than that to have like a great trip.

I mean, our camping days, we look around and we see these huge RVs and tents and fairy lights and everyone who's super, super experienced, really. And our first couple of times, it was just us with our little tent and not knowing how to work anything. And the buy-in really is low. And camp sites are cheap. They're like 30 bucks a night. They're for a maximum of six people normally. And so if you want to camp, really, it's a great... And we love our camping days.

Yeah, it's a great way to get around the... We had such a good time always.

Sydney (36:23.178) Yeah, so now we only stay in state parks or national parks. We learned that early on from our first camping trip. We were in the first campsite, so practically on the side of the road, and every car that drove by I was like, my god, like some drunk driver's gonna come and hit us. I was really freaked out. I was like, some man could come up to our tent, no one would have any idea. I was more scared than you for sure.

Yeah, it was scary. I just tried to switch off my head because I knew at this point there's nothing we can do anymore, so we just have to get through that night.

For sure. I was real freaked. I know. Then our second camping experience is when we broke out the stove. We had to sleep in the car because there was a lot of rain. Our tent did not come with a tarp for the ground. And so before our first time camping, we were like, we should probably get a tarp. And we sat by Dollar General just because that was on the way. And we were far from everything else. And they didn't have a tarp, but they did have a shower curtain. And I was like, those are waterproof. That'll do. It was between like a little plastic tablecloth and shower curtain. I was like, it's got to be the shower curtain. That seems more.

durable really. And so we still use our little shower curtain under the tent. Yeah, it's the perfect size. It could probably be a couple inches longer on every side but no more than a foot. anyway it's crazy I think so funny way of working out. Yeah. And we've just gotten so good at camping.

which happened to be the perfect size.

Sophie (37:34.734) We just, yeah, and we really made it work. And we, like, it was funny how over time we kind of like built our own routine around camping, around like cooking our meals. I think cooking our meals was really a highlight for both of us.

I love our camping meals. I love our camping breakfasts where we coffee and oatmeal. Yeah, I love our camping meals. I love our camping days. There were so many days where it was just so freaking hot outside and we're camping. So you like, I would go on like a little hike in the morning and then a little hike in the afternoon and then just pass out. then if you read your fairy book, like it's just, it's so, I loved, and I think you don't have an issue with it either. It's just getting dirty, almost being like covered in dirt and like just so happy.

I have my fairy books.

Sydney (38:18.774) in the tree. Like we were able to make it work and we really did those days when I saw magic everywhere.

for two days.

Sophie (38:26.306) No, I agree. And it was so nice also because we spend a lot of time also in cities and like to shake it up a little bit every now and then and to get into nature and to rewind and come back to like what's really essential. And then afterwards, like I said, in a lot of those camping stays, we didn't really shower because the showers were either... Showers or gross or... So we didn't shower. And then when you get back to like, quote unquote,

They're either gross or not there.

Sydney (38:52.846) Civilization. in our safe haven.

Exactly, we have to touch on that briefly too. It was always just so nice, the appreciation, the new found or refound appreciation you have for like a shower and a bed was just insane. So was really fun.

And if we had stayed in those places like those shitty hotels like the whole time both of us would have not been able to do that. We would have been like losing our minds by the end. Yeah, but something about the balance was really it worked out. It worked out well.

And yeah, we, so it was a really funny combination because we're trying to keep the cost low. So they more than I, but I'm 31. I'm, I'm a classy girly. I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie. I like the good stuff. I like the good food.

Well, sure

Sydney (39:33.794) job.

Sydney (39:43.086) I'm nearly 24. I travel like a rat. My mentality is always the less money you spend, the longer you can go for.

What are we thinking? Yeah, in this sense we don't align whatsoever.

We're at the store, I'm like, this one's 50 cents cheaper. It doesn't matter if it's a whole lot worse, we're getting it.

We made it work, but you know, my mom used to joke always that I was about twice as expensive as my sister. Interesting. Text out, I would say. But yeah, we made it work. We found a middle ground for both of us. So what we did was we stayed mostly either on campsites or at like mediocre shitty motels. Yeah, in, it was an in.

Interesting.

Sydney (40:25.506) Hotels. We are not at a motel.

It was a hotel. Yeah. It was called Sleep In.

Yeah, and it's a chain that's everywhere in the US and it looks...

Is it everywhere? It's everywhere we went in the US. It might not be everywhere in the US.

Well, but like wherever we were there was a sleep in. We love like, yeah, it started to become like our comfort thing because it was like, it looks the same too, too even like the smell.

Sydney (40:42.87) And boy do we love them.

Sydney (40:52.398) The the floors, the breakfast, the person working at the front desk, though the last one was much elevated. The layout of the rooms, the beds, the smell of the shampoo, of the body wash. When you're changing where you are every couple days, it is so nice to have a familiar place. And that is what sleep-in became for us. And we had a routine, know, camp a couple days, go to a sleep-in for a night or two. At the free breakfast, gather as much as we possibly can. So we had breakfast for our camping days.

and then keep it moving really.

That's basically our trip. I I don't know, I would like to talk to you about what did you have like things that made you, that were essential for you during the trip. So for me, for example, it was very necessary to have like everything in order. Well, beef sticks also. I ate so many beef sticks. You guys, let me know if you eat a lot of beef sticks, do you think that you're like part cow?

How much of the energy of the cow are you absorbing once it goes through the whole processing process?

Please write to us. Please let us know what you think. Because I think there has to be some cow energy in me at this point. Anyhow. So for me, it was really necessary to have like my stuff really organized. Like I really got like anxious when I had the feeling of like my stuff was everywhere. It was like, clearly you didn't have that issue whatsoever. Whoa. So basically you have like sides in the car. Like there's like my side, which is like,

Sydney (42:24.814) The passenger seat side, by the way. I mean, the driver's side, I wonder why that is. Okay, sure.

Okay.

So I have my side and then like Sydney stuff is wherever my stuff isn't. Basically.

So I didn't even take a bag on this trip because my typical travel bag I have to sit on to close and I thought that's just not conducive really with car life. So I my four packing cubes. Those have stayed consistent. But that organization certainly was not helping me through this trip. I think I had routines that I would follow. I think getting up and going on a walk. Yeah, walks, even just like the people I talked to and the schedule at which I talked to them was just many.

Yeah, your early morning one.

Sydney (43:06.912) was just maintaining some sense of normalcy. was kind of the same comfort as the sleep in.

Yeah.

Yeah, I get that. It's necessary. listen, and I think that's kind of like the last thing I want to talk to you about is like, no, I mean, I want to talk to you forever, but about this trip and like we briefly touched on this earlier when we drove over here. I think this trip has changed me fundamentally as a person. And I think, and we talked about this too, I think every trip does that. Like, course.

Because it just takes you so much out of your comfort zone and you have to just flow with what's going on. And it inevitably takes you somewhere where you haven't been before. Literally and metaphorically.

Yeah, I think for me this trip taught me a ton just because it was the first trip that I've done with another person too. And so the things that you learn when you travel with another person are so different than the things that you learn when you're on your own. It was also by car. So I feel like we really got a sense of the land that we were driving through. feel like we were very connected really to every part of this trip. And that just really added an element for me and made it really cool too. And then there's just, there's a weird American...

Sydney (44:25.422) historical cultural thing that's really a love affair with the open road and the grand outdoors. And it like is for sure rooted from some racist propaganda, I'm sure, of like just trying to make this country colonizers when it really shouldn't have been. But it's just so deeply rooted in American culture of like the idealization almost of the open road and a romanticism of like a full tank.

and a car and just being able to like freedom and being able to go like wherever you want. And so that part has been just fun and cool and like stopping at a gas station at a small town that I never really thought that I would find myself in and things like that. We stopped everywhere really, but I will point out and then we'll actually wrap it up. We're in Baltimore, Maryland and you had gone out and you were eating a meal on your own and it was the only time that you had eaten alone that trip. I didn't get to a restaurant on my own this time.

Bucky.

Sydney (45:23.288) this trip, but I had, I had gotten there and you were like, I just had the most pleasant evening, like sitting here, looking at the water, thinking about how I, a little Swiss girl ended up all the over here. And to me, some of the favorite parts of every trip is the, the fuck did I get here? Moments because it happened so much, especially when you're somewhere so random and like you're here because you wanted to be here. Like that's the only reason why you're here. Which is just because you ended up here. Yeah. But that was just a lot of this trip too, is you're like, how did I get here? Why am I here?

And what am I taking away from here, really?

Yeah, it's beautiful. I, yeah, I remember that moment so distinctly. was sitting in the port of Baltimore in a beautiful, cute, quaint restaurant. had a good meal, a glass of sparkly rosé, and I was like, this is sick.

Yeah. Yeah. Would I.

take away from this trip. Also definitely like I've never traveled with anyone for this long either. think we both are very accustomed to solo traveling, which is in a lot of aspects easier, but in a lot of aspects like harder. I think what you and I both mentioned to each other was like, once if you're accustomed to traveling solo, and then you're with another person, you really feel like you're invincible.

Sydney (46:21.07) We're solo travelers.

Sydney (46:42.134) As far as like safety goes.

When you're solo traveling as a girl especially and then like the added layer of like Latin America, you're like so aware of your safety and...

This, let's give some context. This conversation happened whilst it was night and we were walking home in a city. And we were like, should we call an Uber? And we're like, there's two of us. Are you kidding?

Yeah, that was literally the context. So think that is like, not constantly being worried about your safety is really cool. Yeah. Really, really cool. And it just like lets you relax also in a different way.

is nice.

Sydney (47:18.286) For sure. I also think, and this is a little bit veering off, but I went into my last trip with the idea of like, and my last trip being the South America trip, with my mentality really being this is going to be my last big trip, and I just need to do the biggest, coolest, most insane things and get it all out of my system really. When I was on that trip, obviously I was like, okay, so this isn't going to be my last trip. It might look different, it might take a different form, but it's not going, it's not going to be the last one.

But when I was there, my whole thing was like, I'm just trying to do the most to run it out, basically. And this trip was a huge shift, especially once we changed our route and once we weren't going west anymore. And all those really cool sites that we were going to see and really cool things that like, know, Zion and Taos and like those rocks and all those things that you see when you go to those really cool parts of the US. And we saw beautiful, beautiful places, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't...

necessarily the same shock value as what it was going to be. And so for me, this trip was such an essential pause almost of like pause, refocus. There's beautiful things actually all around you. And walking with your ice cream in Atlanta is just as magical as getting to the top of the hike at Zion or Yellowstone or whatever. And watching the fireflies in the Methodist Church parking lot is random, yes. And yeah, you quit your job for this, there's something just so beautiful in it.

and also in being able to appreciate the beauty in that. And so I think my biggest evolution this trip was really, one, again, and of course, but we're both pretty good at that, just making peace with the change of plans. And then two, just really finding the love and the beauty and the magic with what your plan ends up being and how it unfolds, because it unfolded perfectly, I would say. And I think that that's just such, especially as I go back and as I get a consistent job that will work me and make me.

It did, it really did.

Sydney (49:10.88) not super, super happy. But there's just, and I worked in hospice too, I've talked about this, but to me it always like, stuck out too in some ways. Like I would meet patients from every walk of life and I would hear their stories and some of them had of course been to war, had traveled or, you know, just had all these like crazy life experiences in some way. And a lot of them, the stories that they still chose to tell me were the cups of coffee and were the moments of meeting other people and just being with their.

with their friends and their family and the people that they loved. And it was their favorite thing to cook their kid for dinner. And it was bringing breakfast and bed to their husband and things like that, which was so not, you know, I still love doing the crazy extreme stuff and I'm always going to. But I think for me, it was really important this trip to take a step back and just slow down and really appreciate the beauty of where we look.

Yeah, that's a beautiful takeaway. I think for both of us, was just like trusting that we are on the right path and where we are supposed to be at all times. And for me also, was like, it was really, it added a new level of like freedom to, in a sense that I like, I think before I was more bound to a certain place that I was.

And I feel like now, with this trip, I feel like an even crazier level of untetheredness because I struggled for a long time with the feeling of not feeling home anywhere. And the older I get and the more trips I make and the more I get around, I really feel like I can feel home literally anywhere. And I think...

As long as there's this car and a sleep in, I'm totally on your side.

Sophie (50:55.648) As long as there's this car and a sleep in, but really like this feeling of like not relying on any outside structure and really like having like this common piece within me that then translates to wherever I go. That for me was like a huge, yeah, huge takeaway.

Interesting. Yeah. But I feel like, yeah, and that just goes back to keeping your pieces close together and towards the middle, I'd say, because once you realize that you're just the middle. Exactly. There's just such a dynamic middle and that's you. Then keeping your pieces close to one another is just what feels most right for you in the moment.

Yeah, and I really like this trip made me feel so alive and obviously it was challenging at times. Obviously we had like, you know, but really not that much. I mean, we really had like such a great time.

And that was the tragic moment where my computer died in silence. And in hindsight, we kind of could have seen it coming and it probably wasn't the best setup of it all, but we figured, you know, it was our last day before we were heading back home. And it just felt so fitting. But let me tell you, like we recorded this episode in the car with the car being

off so like no air conditioning around three o'clock in the afternoon in plain sunlight. We were dripping sweat and my computer was about at like 17 percent so it's actually a miracle that we sort of got to record the episode and we talked for like maybe five more minutes so it really wasn't too bad but was it ideal? No. Is it kind of fitting?

Sophie (52:44.984) for sure. And I'm recording this now about two and a half weeks later. I'm still in the States. I'm currently in New York, in Brooklyn, whole other story. But I just want to express my gratitude towards Sydney that she did this with me, that I got to do this trip, that I got to learn so very many things about myself, but also about

the States. I got to see so many places. So like before that, I've been to the States before, like I've been to New York for a couple of days, like the classic touristy stuff. Like I've been to San Francisco, I've been to Florida, like, well, Miami. So really like the eccentrics, the places that are so well known through, Europeans through like movies and TV series. But this time around, I got to see so much of like

the quote unquote mundane America or like what impressed me the most was definitely like the nature, like the Cypress, the pond Cypress trees in Georgia, Shenandoah National Park, the Smoky Mountains, like the Spanish Moss in Savannah, like nature here truly profoundly touched me.

And I'm so happy I got to see all of this and also like the small town America, yeah, like places you would never get to see on like just like a regular tourist trip. And that is so freaking cool. And I'm looking forward to more adventures, more stories. Sydney and I will definitely stay in contact. We have.

Very many projects planned together and you're definitely gonna be part of it. So we'll talk again soon, little fairies, and I love you all.

Sophie (55:01.996) If this episode stirred something in you, I'd love to hear about it. Send me a little whisper on Instagram at fairyt.podcast or just write the words fairy wings in my DMs. That's how I'll know you were here.

This was a 6-2 studio production. Find us at six-two.studio for all your creative sound needs.