Conversations for Curious Travelers

Experiencing Interconnectedness Through Travel with Krista Fabian DeCastro

Trip Scholars | Erica Forrest Season 2 Episode 2

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0:00 | 27:23

In this inspiring conversation, I'm joined by Krista Fabian DeCastro, founder of Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences. Through powerful stories from Senegal, Poland, and Tanzania, we explore how travel can create meaningful connections rather than being a one-sided experience.

With a background in cultural exchange and travel experiences in more than 45 countries, Krista designs thoughtful, personalized itineraries that balance adventure, connection, and sustainability while helping travelers create meaningful experiences together.

Episode Highlights:

  • The interconnectedness of history, culture, and travel
  • Why travel is inherently self-centered — and ways to gently shift that mindset
  • What it means to see ourselves as guests in the places we visit
  • Supporting local communities through thoughtful travel choices
  • Questions to ask about who is telling the story and where the money goes
  • Involving kids in travel planning to create deeper engagement and learning
  • A meaningful experience traveling with a Maasai-owned safari company in Tanzania
  • Simple research tips to help you travel more thoughtfully
  • A powerful story from Senegal that helped shaped Krista’s travel philosophy
  • The unexpected emotional experience that transformed a visit to Poland

Next Step

Before your next trip, begin reading the news about the places you hope to visit.

Understanding what is happening helps you connect more deeply and travel with greater awareness and empathy.

Reflection

Krista shared the Bantu concept of:

 "Ubuntu" often expressed as: “I am because you are.”

It emphasizes our interconnectedness and that our identity can be found in our relationships with others. How might this idea impact the way you think about both travel and life?

Connect with Krista

Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences Website

Krista's Responsible Travel Guide
Instagram @fortunareduxtravels

Links Mentioned in the Episode

Kipe Adventures (Maasai-owned tour company)
Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Map
Transformational Travel Council 

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Introduction To Experiencing Interconnectedness Through Travel 

[00:00:00] Welcome to Conversations for Curious Travelers, a Trip Scholars podcast. I'm your host, Erica Forrest. In each episode, we explore how travel helps us learn more about the world and ourselves. If you travel, not just to escape, but to grow, connect and understand you are in the right place.

[00:00:24] Erica | Trip Scholars: Hello, and welcome back to Conversations for Curious Travelers. Today I am very happy to welcome Krista Fabian DeCastro to the show. Drawing from her world travels both solo and with her family as well as a background in cultural exchange she founded Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences, which encourages families to travel in more meaningful, respectful, and sustainable ways.

[00:00:50] She's also an arts administrator, a travel coach in training, ESL teacher and Mother. Krista, welcome to the show.

[00:00:58] Krista: you, Erica. It's so fun to be here.

[00:01:01] Erica | Trip Scholars: So you and I first connected online because we kept finding so much overlap in what we were each sharing.

[00:01:07] And so I've really been looking forward to today's conversation

[00:01:10] Krista: Same.


How A Connection Inspired A Trip To Senegal

[00:01:11] Erica | Trip Scholars: I would love to start by hearing a little bit about how you got started traveling, and then kind of how those early experiences led to what you're doing now.

[00:01:20] Krista: how I really got into, I guess, traveling the world had. Backpack across Europe when I was 20, like, like many people did. But I was thinking about this exchange that I had when I was younger and it was so interesting to me because it was an example of one of those interactions that are very minimal in your life.

[00:01:37] A person that I knew. I was dancing at the time. I was living in New York City and I was working in a restaurant. And for me, that was the first time in my life where I was really immersed in this incredibly multinational, multicultural environment. People from Bangladesh and Ireland and Mexico and Senegal and so many other countries.

[00:01:56] And I remember this one person who worked there. name was Mor Thiamand he was from Senegal. And he was just telling me stuff about his homeland and he was like, Krista, you have to go to Senegal.

[00:02:06] And I was like, yeah, you know, I think I do. And I had only been to Europe at the point, so we both stopped working at the restaurant. It took me a couple years to get to West Africa, but my next big trip on my own was throughout West Africa. In many ways because I don't know, he kind of like stuck something in my head.

[00:02:21] Right. then from there, after traveling around West Africa, that was really, I think what started my broader travels around the world. But the story has a really interesting coda, which is, I had mentioned that it took me two or three years to get to West Africa, to get to Senegal, and. Of course this was before it was even before text messaging. I didn't have Mor's contact is my point. I had no way to look him up on Instagram or, or LinkedIn or anything. We fully lost contact and I am in, in Dakar, there's about 3 million people in Dakar. I'm in the middle of the market. bustling market in Dakar, which is the capital of Senegal.

[00:02:56] And I hear someone start calling my name, they're like, Krista, Krista, you [00:03:00] finally made it to Senegal. And I turned around and Mor Thiam was there, right? So 8 billion people in the world, 3 million people in Senegal. it was such an interesting, you know, if that doesn't make you believe in like travel angels or synchronicity or whatever you believe in, These travel things and people that you connect with have this incredible power behind them.

[00:03:21] I bet that just lit you up to get to see him there, and I bet he was so excited that you have made the journey. And then how did that lead into what you're doing now? Everything from teaching ESL to being an administrator at a history center, to being a travel coach Yeah, you mentioned that I have a background in cultural administration, so I, early on I trained as a dancer and then when I stopped dancing, I went into arts administration. I worked on presenting and curating performing arts festivals, sometimes working with artists from Africa Asia and Latin America and cultural exchange programs. the History Center work for me is a little bit new, but I feel it's very connected in terms of, cultural administration and also people

[00:04:06] Erica | Trip Scholars: one point felt like, oh, how do I talk about these three different things that I do?

[00:04:09] Krista: And now it's starting to feel like, oh, it's very easy because it's all essentially the same thing. I guess creating opportunities for people to learn and grow and exchange across, borders and histories and decades and centuries,

[00:04:23] Erica | Trip Scholars: That lights me up because that is a huge reason why I do what I do too. Just the opportunity to look at something from so many different faucets, so many different perspectives, makes it makes it so much richer and more powerful to experience. So I love that you tie all those things together.

[00:04:42] Krista: I think my work as a historian enables me to see travel experiences more deeply. My travel experiences. I bring that into the history center. So it's these three different aspects build the meaningful layers up.


Cultural Exchange, History, And The Origins Of Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences

[00:04:55] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah. And now you're able to support other families in creating this rich tapestry around their own travels. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you're doing?

[00:05:06] Krista: I started a small travel company. It's called Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences. It's a bit of a mouthful even for me, but Fortuna Redux is or was the Roman goddess of, of safe return, and I really wanted, again. pulling in the history, I wanted to evoke travelers of the past and women with power So it is a, a travel planning service. It's, it's rooted in travel coaching a bit because it really is not just about the logistics and the transactional aspects, but I also do that as well. so I have two children. They are now older teenagers, but we've been traveling as a family with them since they were little.

[00:05:44] And I noticed that people would just often come to me for advice, you know, how are you going to places like, like Nicaragua or Borneo or Senegal? And we don't travel on a huge budget. I mean, I think we're kinda like in the [00:06:00] middle. We're not like. cheap backpackers, but we're not spending a lot of money on our travels.

[00:06:04] And I feel like people, a lot of travelers, especially busy parents, were like, we want to do these kind of enriching experiences for our kids, but either we don't have the knowledge base or. The time to like sift

[00:06:17] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah.

[00:06:17] Krista: of the resources that are out there online.

[00:06:20] So that's why I started the, the company and I think the focus on, supporting local cultures and, and environmentally responsible travel was always in it, but just became greater

[00:06:32] Erica | Trip Scholars: Thank you. That's very inspiring story. Going all the way from backpacking Europe in your twenties to what you're doing now and supporting other travelers, I know you have had so many rich travel experiences. Do you have a story you could share with us about a time that you learned something about yourself or our world through traveling?


Ancestry Travel In Poland

[00:06:52] Krista: Yeah, at first I didn't have an answer for this. I was thinking about this and I was like, oh, I don't have one aha moment. I have these, like, I kind of look at it as like layers, right? It's these little tiny experiences that build up. but then I was thinking, I did actually have this story. I was traveling by myself in Eastern Europe and my family's Slavic. So this was a bit of my own, you know, roots tour. And I, at that moment, I had one living grandparent. It was my maternal grandmother. And her family's from Poland.

[00:07:22] She's a second generation American. And Eric, I know you do like great work with like ancestry travel and this is something that I'm really interested in as well, but this was way, way back when I was younger. So I was like, grandma, I'm going to Poland. Like, what do you know? And she's a second generation, so she was of the generation of being intentionally Americanized and not having that part of her be important. And so she asked her older sister, and she found that they were from this town called, butcher the. Polish pronunciation. Kielce

[00:07:53] near Krakow in Poland. So I was like, yeah. So I went to Poland. I had a backpack, I got off the bus and I'm just walking around Sia and apologies for anybody who's Polish speaking.

[00:08:04] I don't think I can say anything in Polish the right way. And came across a cathedral, I walked inside and there was this, beautiful music. It was a bit sad. and this cathedral was just gorgeous. I had all this stuff wrapped up in my head about my ancestors being from here, and I just started like a. Weeping uncontrollably

[00:08:25] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah.

[00:08:26] Krista: and I'm a bit of a crier in like movies and stuff, but I don't like usually cry when I'm trying, and this was not cry, this was not tearing up.

[00:08:31] This is weeping. So much so that this, this lovely Polish woman like came up to me and in whatever English she knew, she was like asking me if I'm okay, do I need anything? I'm like, My great grandparents worshiped in this church and it was so visceral. Right.

[00:08:47] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah.

[00:08:49] Krista: Before I tell you what I learned from it, the funny thing is I took photos, you know, developed the film, came home.

[00:08:56] The first thing I wanted to do when I came home was go to my grandmother. I go to [00:09:00] my grandmother's house, she's like 80 at the time. She's sitting at the kitchen table smoking, and she's like, oh yeah, Kielce wasn't the town we were from anyway. And I was like, how could I, what? How is that even possible? I think the two things that I learned from that on a more surface level, I really, really get so much out of visiting, spiritual sites and, and of course understanding that you need to be allowed to, and invited to and being respectful in them. But when that is possible God, my family gets annoyed. Like we can't drive by like or walk by anything when we're traveling and mom has to like go in On a deeper level, I think that I discovered that a, a travel experience can be really meaningful just by feeling it, not by necessarily understanding.

[00:09:45] And that's not to say we shouldn't try to understand. I mean, understanding is a big point of why we're doing this, but sometimes just let feeling take over even if you don't understand anything that's happening. There was clearly something in my, you know. Genetics or epigenetics or psyche or whatever that was, that was speaking to me at that moment.

[00:10:03] And I think that those kind of travel moments are rare. Right? But that's almost what we, you know, hope for in some way when we're doing this.

[00:10:09] Erica | Trip Scholars: That's a fabulous story. Thank you so much.

[00:10:12] I think that really highlights how some of the most profound experiences we sometimes have when we're traveling related to our own mindset and what's happening inside.

[00:10:24] I've had those experiences also in places where my ancestors were from, even though I hadn't been able like to track down exactly, the precise town. and then being in that space and imagining their lives, and that very personal connection to history which is so powerful.


Removing Our Ego From Travel

[00:10:43] So thank you. Yeah, it's a good story. So I know you have also spent a lot of time thinking

[00:10:50] about traveling better, not necessarily traveling more, could you share with us what that means to you

[00:10:57] Krista: I have a lot to share there. Some of it's kind of some practical tips, but like on like the first level, I feel like travel inherently is a very self-centered thing. You know, all of the language we use, it makes me crazy when people say like, I did Brazil.

[00:11:11] Like you did, you did like that. you're the subject and yes you are. And, makes sense, right? Like, we work really hard, we save our money, we want to have these beautiful experiences. And even, on the more transformational travel end, like who's being transformed is about your transformation,

[00:11:27] Erica | Trip Scholars: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:27] Krista: about you as the traveler. I get that. I've done that, I get that. That's important, right? But I think there's something even more meaningful if we shift away from that a little bit. What happens if you take your ego out of your trip, out of your trip planning?

[00:11:41] You know, you're still having the experience. What I found, I think, and I hope for other people, is that it can lead to even more interesting and meaningful experiences by just kind of like stepping back. This is not all about me. It is, but it'll, it, it's this weird like flip that you [00:12:00] can have the most personally. Enriching experiences by kind of decentering yourself. That's what I believe.

So many of these mindset shifts, they're really subtle. Right. love the one that you had mentioned, I think in your gratitude episode about instead of, I have to, I get to, and I


Seeing Yourself As A Guest In The Places You Visit

[00:12:16] Krista: another similar one here that I like to think about is and I, I believe I did get the gist of this, from the Transformational Travel Council, which is an organization that I've really learned a lot from and respect a lot. But the mind shift there is, I am here because the people who live here are letting me into their home. And that obviously doesn't mean a physical home where they live, but their their town, right? I found that when I started kind of doing that when I was traveling or when I was talking with my clients I would walk out onto the street where I was, And instead of being this is me here in this town, it's like, wait, I'm only here because of these people. That's why I came here. I think it's led to just kind of like powerful shifts in how I see, world in places when I travel. And I think it has kind of engendered that sense of what we were talking about. More of a focus on, you know, what are the choices that I'm making and that my clients are making, and how are they affecting the communities that they're traveling to? Because There's so much good that can come from it. And we also, I'm sure we're all aware of all the kind of really awful, difficult things that can come when travel is done, without this respect and sensibility. So.

[00:13:26] Erica | Trip Scholars: That's so well said. Thank you. Yeah, I I like you also think a lot about language. I remember when I first started my website, I used the term destinations and over time really recognizing, I, I want to call them places they aren't there for. Me or the reader just to experience as a goal, but that they are, of obviously of inherent dignity and worth I on their own right.

[00:13:56] Whether or not I get to go and visit them.

[00:13:57] Krista: true. I think you're right, like destination is like, that's my destination. It's not the destination for, for the people who live there and create all the cool stuff that you want to go see. Yeah, it's important.


Helping Children Become Better Travelers

[00:14:08] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah. I really appreciate you highlighting that. do you have any ideas about how we can kind of model this way of thinking to younger people?

[00:14:19] Our kids, when we're traveling with them?

[00:14:21] Krista: I think the first step that we try to do, he. Here and, and I will be transparent that like, you know, I've done this well with my own kids and not so well with my own kids. You know,

[00:14:32] Erica | Trip Scholars: all parenting. Yes.

[00:14:33] Krista: But I think that the first thing for me, and I, do this in our family, but also try to do it with our clients, is involving kids in the planning process. if they can feel invested from earlier on in terms of where they want to go and what they want to do and what they want to get out of ithaving conversations about the people who live there and why and that kind of thing. So then this whole thing that we're talking about this like not about me mindset [00:15:00] can also filter through to them from, hopefully from an early age.

[00:15:04] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah, that's awesome. And again, so well said


Supporting Local Communities Through Thoughtful Travel Choices

[00:15:07] Thank you. And then I know you have also talked about how tourism can be helpful to different local communities, but also can be harmful.

[00:15:17] Do you have any suggestions for our listeners about how they can be supporting local communities

[00:15:24] Krista: So, I'm not an economic development specialist, right? But this all has to do with money, right? I mean, once you start traveling the world, it just brings in a lot of really big things about colonialism and post-colonialism and inequities and money and power, right? So to me, at least, these kind of questions. Are really, really big questions and not just small questions about you and your trip. I think what we can kind of get down to is how are we as travelers not doing more harm and hopefully doing some good, right. And I think that would be with our relationships, but also with our, our money. two of the questions that I like to ask myself is, who's telling the story and where is the money going to?

[00:16:06] Erica | Trip Scholars: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:06] Krista: to? Right? And I think those are questions you can ask when you're on the ground traveling. There are also questions you can ask when you're doing the planning and then try to make the choices that are Funneling the funds into local communities rather than big multinational corporations, that kind of thing. It often takes a little bit, a lot more research to do that, but I

[00:16:29] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah.

[00:16:30] Krista: you know, that's some of the things that my company offers and, and that we encourage and kind of guide people to do on their own as well.

[00:16:37] Erica | Trip Scholars: I love the clarity in just recognizing those two questions. Thank you. I know you've actually used that approach to plan some of your own travels and have had some pretty remarkable travel experiences.


A Transformative Connecting Experience With A Maasai Travel Company Owner 

[00:16:51] Krista: this has been a learning journey for me as well through decades of traveling. I, wasn't always aware of focusing on where the money went to and who was telling the stories. But it's definitely been a more of a focus lately as I've learned moreabout a year and a half ago, summer 2024 my family and I went to Tanzania. It was a place that my husband and I had been to many years ago, and we wanted to bring the kids back to.

[00:17:14] And because of what I had learned I was just searching out for locally owned safari tour companies. It was a Safari in Zanzibar like many, many trips to Tanzania. I was really lucky slash led to a company that was locally owned. And as I started talking with the guy, it was actually not only locally owned, but Maasai owned. And I think, just to give a little bit of a context of Tanzania there's over 2000 Safari tour companies. Nobody knows exactly how many.

[00:17:43] because they come and go over 2000, right? Only under 5

[00:17:46] Erica | Trip Scholars: Wow.

[00:17:47] Krista: are fully founded and owned by the Maasai. the Maasai, for those of you who don't know, are nomadic people who live across Kenya and Tanzania. Their traditional grazing grounds where they have their [00:18:00] cattle cross through between Kenya and Tanzania.

[00:18:03] The Serengeti the Maasai Mara, all of that. So they're very intertwined deeply with the land and the wildlife. Also relatively disenfranchised in within the power structures in Kenya and Tanzania because of their maintenance of their nomadic lifestyle and their traditional ways.

[00:18:19] Right? So the fact that there was a few Masai led tour companies was really amazing, and the fact that we were able to start working with one was great. the experience that it provided was just so. an amazing example of how supporting local communities can lead to more meaningful trips. the name of the company is called Kipe Adventures. And Kipe met us at the hotel. He took us on the first day, even before we left his office. We had lunch with him and all of his staff got to get to know them. and Kippe is a Maasai warrior There was another Maasai warrior who traveled with us all the time on Safari. And what I think is so interesting about that is Kipe was telling a story of how he went to tourism school and he was sitting in these classes for other Tanzanians to learn about animals and wildlife. And this is something that he's known from the time he was a kid like this was, this was literally inherently their life, right? he is the only Maasai in the class. So the information and the perspective that we were able to get from having a Maasai Warrior, his name was Lebahate was amazing with us. The entire time was extraordinary. And then beyond that, after the Safari, we went to Kipe's Village. I very much recognize that interactions with local cultures when you travel, can be wonderful and also can be problematic if they're objectified. And you really have to understand, you know, what the context is that you're seeing. There is a lot of kind of drive by Maasai tourism and that's all not terrible, but it's not really. Great either. But this was very different because we got to visit Kipe's Village. We met his mom and his dad and saw the school that a percentage of the funds from the travel company are going to and had meals together. And it was a wonderful example of supporting local communities and also getting, a much better experience out of it. So much so that I was talking to Kipe at the time and he's like, I've never been outside of Tanzania and I really want to go to the US and. Learn about Americans, because a lot of my clients are American And I was like, well if you ever want to go, let me know and we'll try to work it out.

[00:20:29] So we were able to help him come here get his visa and he was here in this spring. He went to Chicago where I am, LA and some other places. So it became this actual connection that we had walking around the streets of Chicago with, Kipe a Maasai warrior is More than I could have ever thought in terms of actually making some kind of, actual human to human connection with a community that you're traveling to and hoping to learn from and about.

[00:20:56] Erica | Trip Scholars: I love that story that you were both able to share your [00:21:00] own cultures with one another in such an authentic and powerful way. I just love it. we'll link to their company below and then if anybody's interested in moving forward with a trip like that, Krista would be your perfect person to help you plan it.


Research Tips For Finding Locally Owned Travel Experiences

[00:21:15] For our listeners who might be interested in having travel experiences like that, do you have any resources or suggestions

[00:21:24] There's not a lot of like clearing houses that I found I wish there were, especially for accommodations. There's one resource that I really like. It's called Tourism Cares and you go to their meaningful travel map and it's an actual map and you can see different places around the world where their experiences. That are fully vetted by them and really fit into their mission of supporting local communities, environments and, and that kind of thing. So that's one of them. Beyond that, I think that. It's just like we mentioned before, digging deeper into the research like I do. I mean, I do use Airbnb myself, maybe a little hesitantly.

[00:22:02] Krista: I do recommend it to clients, but I try to always search the owners. I wouldn't just, you know, choose an Airbnb, but I'm gonna go in and see is that person actually involved? Is there an actual owner here?

[00:22:13] .

[00:22:13] does this person own 20 properties? That's usually a red flag for me. So digging deeper. I have a a friend of mine who's, she's Guatemala and she's organizing some friends to take a trip to Guatemala. So she was there doing research in Antigua told me, she was like, Krisa. I was going around to every restaurant and being like, where's the owner? Can I meet the owner? And if she couldn't meet the owner on site, then she wasn't like taking her group there.

[00:22:37] And I'm like, not that I'm recommending everybody do that, but I guess the point is like, however you can find out more about, about the ownership, Because it's a little hard to tell, especially online it's like a hundred percent natural Products like that can mean anything.

[00:22:50] You know, local owned,

[00:22:51] Erica | Trip Scholars: Indeed.

[00:22:52] Krista: mean anything these days. So it's about just digging a little deeper.

[00:22:56] also, I always go to the about page, especially if it's like a like a tour

[00:22:59] Erica | Trip Scholars: Yeah.

[00:23:00] Krista: just like who, who is the person you know, at the forefront who is the director or the founder of this company? And that usually gives you some in helpful information.

[00:23:08] Erica | Trip Scholars: That's great. And then for people who are interested in working with you,

[00:23:12] you are able to help people find these resources and plan their trips in this way.


One Small Step Toward More Thoughtful Travel

[00:23:17] do you have one suggestion for people who want to travel this way that they could bring with them into their week? One small step we could take.

[00:23:26] Krista: You know what I would say? Hmm. Read the

[00:23:29] Erica | Trip Scholars: Hmm.

[00:23:30] Krista: news a little bit more or more than you do. You know what I mean? I think that lot of this comes back to like not understanding the complications of history I can only speak for myself as Americans, we're just so unaware of all these other things that are happening.

[00:23:46] I'm sure your listeners are coming from all over the world, but I'm speaking from a very, United States perspective. read what's happening in some of these countries right now and, and either the countries that you're thinking about traveling to, or maybe that'll just kinda spark some interest that you didn't know you had about going [00:24:00] to some place that's maybe beyond where the popular destination is or where everybody else is going right now.

[00:24:06] Erica | Trip Scholars: That's super advice

[00:24:08] Yeah. And I certainly find that for so many of us, the more we travel, the more we want to learn about the news in other parts of the world. You have a personal understanding and relationship that you don't have before you go there.


Connecting With Krista Fabian DeCastro & Fortuna Redux Travel Experiences

[00:24:21] And then Krista, before we wrap up, can you tell our listeners where they can learn more about all of the wonderful work that you're doing?

[00:24:28] Krista: Yeah, so my website is fortunareduxtravels, and so you can see more about what I do. I'll also post kind of a overview of some of the tips that we talked about today and go a little bit further into some of the things that we didn't have time for. Just taking it one, one level beyond terms of step tips and steps for. Supporting local communities and local environments while you're traveling. I'm also on Instagram fortunareduxtravels, and I have a mailing list. I'd love for you to sign up for that. I don't send out very many emails, so you don't have to be worried about that. But also just contact me.

[00:25:04] I mean, I don't see this as like a one-way transactional thing. since I founded the company. Coolest thing for me is this like community of travelers and how your clients and, and people like Erica, just like this kind of hive of people really wanting to travel the world in meaningful ways and sharing that with each other.

[00:25:21] Erica | Trip Scholars: So feel free to reach out to me even if you don't, want the services, but have, you know, some kind of conversation to start.Oh, I love all of that. Thank you. So we will link to all of those in the show notes below. I do encourage people to visit her website and follow her on Instagram. You'll get all kinds of inspiring tips. I know, I always do.


The Meaning Of Ubuntu And Travel Interconnectedness

[00:25:42] Before we close do you have reflection that you could leave our listeners with either a question or a quote about travel?

[00:25:50] Krista: Yeah, I used to do a lot of cultural exchange with artists from, from Africa. And there's a, a Bantu word that's used in South Africa, but across all of other parts of Africa as well. It's Ubuntu, U-B-U-N-T-U as a word. It means essentially I am because you are. But I think it's more than a word. It's kind of just a whole way of seeing. The world of being really. And I think that it's even hard to kind of think about those of us who were raised in America or other places that are very individualistic. I don't think that's like a, a concept that we are raised with. But this concept of Ubuntu I am because you are, is just encapsulates

[00:26:32] Krista: interconnectedness.

[00:26:34] And I think that that's something that A Travel can bring about and that B, that I hope to kind of bring to my travel work.

[00:26:44] Erica | Trip Scholars: I love that Thank you. That's a Beautiful idea to leave us with.

[00:26:48] thank you so much. Really grateful you were here today.

[00:26:51] Krista: me, and thanks for doing this incredible podcast. I've learned a lot from it myself.

[00:26:55] Erica | Trip Scholars: Thank you. [00:27:00]