Episode 26: Travelling

Rozhovor s Američankou Laurou, cestovatelkou a autorkou podcastu "Travel Along With Laura", při kterém se vydáme na cestu kolem světa. A to mimo označené turistické trasy! Od noční jízdy vlakem přes Saharu, projížďku lodí po řece Mekong, až po hledání lenochodů v Panamě a úprk před kobrou v Laosu.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:29

Thank you very much for tuning in to this channel and we can start. Hi everyone and welcome to today's episode, and today we're going on an adventure with my guest, laura Lisansky. Hi Laura, how's?

Speaker 3 0:42

it going. Today I'm doing great. We have a sunny day.

Speaker 2 0:45

Yeah, so you are all the way in Portland, that's right, portland Oregon. So it's evening for me, but you have your whole day ahead of you.

Speaker 3 0:53

Yeah, I've got my coffee right here Amazing.

Speaker 2 0:56

Getting started, yeah, okay, and so today we are going to be talking about probably your biggest passion. Maybe, definitely yeah. So the topic of today is traveling, and while you write about traveling, you talk about traveling. So does traveling define your current lifestyle?

Speaker 3 1:15

I mean, I have a lot of aspects to what I do now. I'm also a high school teacher, so traveling is my passion and what I do in most of my spare time and, as you mentioned, I have a well, I have a travel podcast that I love to spend my time on as well. What time I have? But, yeah, pretty much every time I get a break from school I'm buying plane tickets to head off somewhere.

Speaker 2 1:38

And so you truly are a globetrotter. So if you could teleport to any place in the world right now, where would it be?

Speaker 3 1:45

Oh my gosh, I think it actually might be. So I did the Peace Corps. If your listeners don't know, the Peace Corps is a program for in the United States. That's like a government volunteer program where you go and live somewhere for two years and to a developing country two years and to a developing country and do work like environmental work or business work or health. So I lived in Benin in West Africa for two years and have. That was 20 years ago and I have not been back since. So I think that is where I would go to see how things have changed over the last 20 years, get a peek at what what it's like now.

Speaker 2 2:25

Oh, that's so nice. And so, as you mentioned, you also spent some time in West Africa, but also in Kenya or in Scotland. So if you had to live in a foreign country now for a year, where would you choose?

Speaker 3 2:40

Oh, I would now choose somewhere Spanish speaking because I'm trying to learn Spanish. I would now choose somewhere Spanish speaking because I'm trying to learn Spanish. So I think I would make that practical choice of. I find it so hard to learn a language without being immersed. You know, I've been working on Spanish for so many years now but, yeah, going somewhere where I could speak Spanish all the time. I've been traveling to Central America a lot recently, so I feel like I would go to Panama or Costa Rica, somewhere with some good jungle and some good beaches, and learn Spanish.

Speaker 2 3:11

You also speak French, right.

Speaker 3 3:12

I would put that in the past tense I did speak French. I took French growing up, in high school and then in West Africa where I lived for two years, I spoke French, but then, since moving back to the US, french is just not as useful, so I haven't had the opportunity to speak it as much. So I've lost it a little bit and been working on Spanish, which in the US is a much more useful language.

Speaker 2 3:40

Yeah, of course, and so what's the strangest or most unexpected thing that has happened to you while traveling?

Speaker 3 4:05

myself. I find this is much easier to do when you're traveling by yourself, and this was after Morocco had just opened up after being closed for COVID, and so I was, weirdly, in a lot of places where I was the only guest in a hotel because so few people were traveling at that point. So I remember staying in this place. They had opened up just for me when they received my reservation and they sent this local Moroccan guy there to run the place, so it was just the two of us staying in this huge, empty Riyadh. At first I was a little bit nervous. I thought this could be a strange situation, but he ended up being so cool and would just take me places on his motorcycle, showed me aspects of this, was in Fez, showed me aspects of Fez I never could have discovered on my own. You know, yeah, meeting locals and being able to have adventures and see things in a different way, I'd say.

Speaker 2 5:04

That's so sweet. And so have you experienced a major cultural shock while traveling.

Speaker 3 5:09

I feel like the more I travel, the less this happens, but it's still. I love going to places that I I think this is one of my favorite things about traveling is. I love going to places that I don't understand and being completely confused at first and then figuring it out over time. You know, even a week later being like look at all the things I understand now.

Speaker 3 5:32

I know how to take a bus, I know how to do this and so I love going to those places that I don't understand. But it can also be really scary. I think that recently, the time I had the biggest culture shock was Morocco. When I first got there I didn't really understand. I felt like all my usual parameters for what's safe and what's not safe didn't work anymore, just because, like normally, I wouldn't go down a really narrow, winding street that felt kind of claustrophobic and I didn't really know how to get out of.

Speaker 3 6:08

But that's all there was in these little old central towns in Morocco. That's all there was, and so it was like I just couldn't quite tell what was safe and what wasn't, and it was really easy to get lost. So when I first got there I was kind of afraid to leave my hostel and I ended out there was a. The guy that worked at the hostel said well, I'll make you breakfast here. I'm going to go out and get some ingredients. And I said can I come with you so that I can kind of learn the lay of the land with someone?

Speaker 3 6:42

who knows what's going on. So that really helped. But yeah, it happens to me all the time and I think part of it is fun.

Speaker 2 6:49

Yeah, yeah, and so so now that you mentioned that you travel on your own quite often, so so why, or what's the reason behind it?

Speaker 3 7:00

Yeah, well, initially it was out of necessity, because it was like, well, I had just gotten divorced, actually, and I was like, well, I don't have anyone to travel with. I was tired of waiting for friends who kept saying they would travel, and then it never happened. So I was like, if I'm going to do this, I just need to go. So that's how it started. But it was so rewarding to travel by myself, because everything, every adventure I had, every place I made it to, I knew that I had done it. You know, it was because of me that this cool thing happened, so it was really empowering and I feel like I can. I can do anything now. So it's fun. I still love traveling with friends. I do that too, but there's something about solo travel where you meet people more easily and I tend to get into adventures that I don't think I would get into if I were traveling with other people.

Speaker 2 7:50

Yeah, you can do whatever you want to do, right? You don't have to like.

Speaker 3 7:53

Yeah, it's true. What do I want to eat right now? What do I want to do today?

Speaker 2 7:57

Yeah, Exactly, and so how do you make sure to stay safe while solo traveling?

Speaker 3 8:04

Well, I make sure that somebody always has my itinerary. It's usually my mom, and you know I'm communicating with somebody. Is she over there? Yeah, she's in Wisconsin. Okay, but I'll communicate with her while I'm gone and let her know when I get places that I'm safe.

Speaker 3 8:20

Good, but I also travel a little differently when I'm by myself. I will be more careful, Depending on where I am. I might not go out at night or I might try to meet people in the hostel. If I want to go out at night, I do travel a little bit more carefully. But I've also found that strangers are usually pretty kind and amazing and if I get lost or if I need help, I've always had really positive experiences.

Speaker 2 8:44

Nice to hear, and so do you. Well, you've kind of just answered, but so do you prefer planned itineraries or just spontaneous adventures when you travel?

Speaker 3 8:54

Well, that's a good one, Because I also love the planning aspect of travel. I get excited about going to a place and I listen to travel podcasts, podcasts, and I plan everything out to a ridiculous degree, I think. But then I go somewhere and I feel like I just kind of have a menu of ideas and things that I might do, and then I totally throw out the plan and do whatever I want.

Speaker 2 9:19

So you don't get disappointed. Okay, oh no, In my itinerary I saw this very differently.

Speaker 3 9:23

Oh yeah, it's always different than I expected, I think that's kind of one of the cool things yeah.

Speaker 2 9:29

But not disappointing.

Speaker 3 9:30

No, it's just you never. You never really know what a place is going to be like and you discover new things you can do, and some of them don't work. That you had in mind, and that's okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 9:40

And so is there a destination you initially had low expectations for, but ended up loving.

Speaker 3 9:46

I feel like I never have low expectations, but what's a place that I that? I have been a lot of places that surprised me. I feel like one of those places is Bolivia. I, a long time ago, spent 10 months just traveling South America and I started in Chile and Argentina. Just traveling South America and I started in Chile and Argentina, and then I remember crossing the border into Bolivia and being like whoa, I'm somewhere really different. Now it was Chile and Argentina are a lot more developed and Bolivia has such just a rich culture. All of a sudden, everyone was dressed differently. There was street food again. There was just so different than I expected.

Speaker 2 10:26

Bolivia is a fascinating place and so what's the most underrated travel destination you've been to Underrated?

Speaker 3 10:33

If there is one. Yeah, maybe Panama. I feel like people talks Costa Rica is so popular right, and for good reason. Costa rica is amazing. The biodiversity there is incredible and it's easy to travel there. There's a lot of good travel infrastructure so you can go and just have hostels or hotels set up things for you. It's really easy. I feel like panama is very similar to cost Costa Rica, but not everybody thinks about going there. There's so many cool things to see there the Panama Canal, obviously, and they have jungle with, you know, sloths and the same biodiversity that Costa Rica has. They have islands that are incredible. The San Blas Islands in Panama are, if you picture that, like idyllic. I'm stranded on a tiny little tropical island with like two palm trees. That's the San Blas Islands, with just the turquoise blue water. It's so beautiful.

Speaker 2 11:33

Have you ever seen a sloth?

Speaker 3 11:35

Oh, yeah, oh really, oh, my God, I love them. Yeah, I've seen a lot of them. Mostly, you see them like at the top of a tree, in a tiny little ball, not doing anything. Yeah, because they're sloths and your guide says that's a sloth and you go okay. But I have seen a couple up closer. Yeah, they're pretty cool.

Speaker 2 11:54

Yeah, they're so sweet. And so what's the most breathtaking natural scenery you've witnessed during your travels?

Memories of Travel and Adventure

Speaker 3 12:01

I mean the Sahara Desert is pretty amazing. I did the coolest trip in Mauritania. So Mauritania is not a very traveled country. It's just south of Morocco, north of Senegal. It has kind of an interesting mixture of West African, sub-saharan culture and then Arabic culture from similar to Morocco. But the Sahara Desert goes into Mauritania and I did this amazing train journey.

Speaker 3 12:32

I love a train. Anytime I can get on a train I do and this was this crazy overnight train. That was not a touristy thing to do at all. It was just so simple and in the middle of the desert and so barren. It was just really striking Like I just remember the seats were just two wooden benches along the side, so people sat on the wooden bench or on the floor and the only light in there was like a kerosene lantern hanging from the ceiling and I just remember this image in my mind of the lantern just swinging. So the light was crazy and just looking out the window at nothing but sand and everyone you know wrapped in in their desert clothing, white, white cloths around their faces to keep the sand out, and just such a stark difference. I love those moments when you're like this is something I've never experienced before.

Speaker 3 13:32

I think that's how long was it? It was overnight. Um, it was cold. It was also cold. Yeah, uh, we bought blankets to have with us, which was a really good thing to do because it was really cold. Yeah, it was just one night overnight, but one of the most dramatic things I've ever seen.

Speaker 2 13:52

And now that you mentioned Sahara, because I don't know, in my head I always picture like these desert snakes. So are you afraid of these wild creatures or like wild animals on your travels?

Speaker 3 14:05

wild creatures or like wild animals on your travels, right? Well, I feel like the Sahara is so barren that there's not really. I've never seen anything but sand in the occasional tree in the Sahara. But I do love to go to these tropical rainforests where it's very rich with life. I'm not too afraid of it, so I'm a biology teacher and love all things, so I'm not really afraid of snakes or bugs, but there is reason to fear the poisonous ones.

Speaker 3 14:31

I was hiking in Laos this summer, did like a three day trek, and our guide that was with us was terrified of snakes. But he, he was ahead of me and came across a cobra, which is like if you get bit by a cobra, you have hours to live, and we were in a situation that you don't have hours to get some like we couldn't get anywhere within hours. So that was a scary moment. He was like, uh, he just froze. I'm like what's going on? He's like there's a, there's a cobra, it went that way. And then he just like, uh, he just froze. I'm like what's going on? He's like there's a, there's a cobra, it went that way. And then he just like ran ahead and my friend is behind me still. So I'm like, okay, I know which way the cobra went. I'm gonna wait for gail and I'm gonna tell her the cobra went that way so we could just walk by really carefully and I never even saw it. But yeah, every now and then you have a moment like that where you're like, what am I doing?

Speaker 2 15:26

Yeah, and so what's the one travel tip or hack you swear by for a good, smoother journey?

Speaker 3 15:35

Yeah, this is a you know kind of silly thing, but it makes such a big difference. I recently bought the best travel pillow. It's like a camping pillow. That my problem is. It's nice to have a pillow when you're traveling, especially if you have a long plane flight, but then I hate to carry it and it drives me crazy. So I got one that is inflatable. You blow it up with air and then it folds down to nothing and that pillow has been my best friend. Like, sometimes I find myself in a in a bed with a gross pillow. I use that one instead. It's really nice to have.

Speaker 2 16:11

So are you an overpecker or an underpecker?

Speaker 3 16:13

Under yes, I pride. I pride myself on packing less than I than I need, probably, um I. I feel like my least favorite part of a trip is when you get to a new place and you've got your bag and you have to find your way to your hotel and, depending on where you are, sometimes I don't feel safe trying to walk around with my bag really obviously a tourist Not that I'm fooling anyone the rest of the time but when you've got your bag and everything, you just feel like more of a target and so I am always nervous in those situations and I feel like the less stuff I have, the more fun my trip is, because I can just get places easier. I can carry my bag with me on a bus instead of having to put it on top, for example. So it makes my trip so much better if I have less. So I tend to bring very little and I do laundry as I travel. You know I'll bring like three days worth of clothes and just do laundry as I go. Yeah, less is better.

Speaker 2 17:18

And so do you collect souvenirs from your travels.

Speaker 3 17:21

Yeah, I always find it again with the not liking to carry stuff. It's hard to figure out what to bring home, so my usual is just fridge magnets. I have fridge magnets of everywhere I go, but I do love when I can find a local piece of art is always very special. I have from Morocco. I have a painting that is made from. It's made from tea and they paint with tea and saffron and the tea has sugar in it and then they put it over a flame and it caramelizes the sugar, it cooks it so it turns brown. So it's just a really like unique way of making art with all of these different natural colors. So I did get a painting from Morocco like that. That's one of my favorite things.

Speaker 2 18:17

And can you still open your fridge? There must be like a gazillion magnets.

Speaker 3 18:22

Right, there's a lot. Well, for a long time I was doing shot glasses, so I filled up my cupboard, and then I switched to fridge magnets recently, so it's not too bad yet.

Speaker 2 18:32

So what have you learned from solo traveling?

Speaker 3 18:35

I think just the confidence is pretty cool. Knowing that I'm capable of figuring things out on my own, I think is pretty cool, and I just love meeting people. You meet so much more people when you travel solo and I find other solo travelers tend to be pretty adventurous, amazing people. I met a woman from Turkey recently who has solo traveled all around the world and they just have the best stories and it's pretty cool to talk to people who are not afraid to travel like that.

Speaker 2 19:12

And so you also do you like to travel with your kids, right yeah, Is it important for you to like broaden their horizons?

Traveling Adventures and Flexibility

Speaker 3 19:19

Absolutely. I think that's the biggest gift I can give them is seeing other places. In the US, we're pretty privileged, right, and to understand that not everybody lives this way, I think is incredible. And just to see other people's perspectives and other places around the world 2012. And we did a big trip to Italy and Croatia this summer and just it gives them a perspective of the world, but it also gives them flexibility. You know, traveling can be hard and unexpected things happen.

Speaker 3 19:53

My credit card got taken by an ATM machine while we were there, so we had no money for a couple of days. That was a big adventure. What did you do? Well, so we were in Croatia and, luckily, well, for a day we had no money and we luckily I had gotten breakfast for us that morning. I cooked breakfast, so we had some leftover eggs and bread. That got us through the day. But I was pretty worried. I spent the entire day on the phone with my bank and they couldn't figure out how to get us money. They were like, we can send you a credit card, but that doesn't help the immediate problem.

Speaker 3 20:39

Like three weeks, was at home in my drawer and I managed to add it to my phone, like my Google wallet, because everywhere in Croatia takes like tap payment with your phone. So I managed to add a credit card to my phone that then I could use, so we could only go places that took credit cards. We had no cash, which was still a challenge, but we were able to do a lot of things until I was able to get some cash.

Speaker 2 21:07

How amazing that you remembered I know. Oh man, I don't know a single number.

Speaker 3 21:12

It took the entire day and a lot of false attempts, but I finally was like wait, maybe I know this one.

Speaker 2 21:20

Oh my God. And so what fascinates you about traveling?

Speaker 3 21:24

Oh my god. And so what fascinates you about traveling? I think, just understanding. There's just so many different places in the world. Like I love nature, I love animals, so I love to see a new ecosystem. Snorkeling is amazing, but also like the rich cultures in the world.

Speaker 2 21:49

you know you go somewhere and you can't assume anything, and there's just so much to learn For sure. And so is there anything you actually don't like about it, that you hate about traveling.

Speaker 3 21:54

Yeah, um, no, coming home, yeah, I think you know if I it can get tiring when I'm on a long, a long journey to be just moving around so much. But I think if I was traveling long term like that again, you know, you just find ways of slowing down for a little bit to help with that. No, I love everything about traveling.

Speaker 2 22:17

And so has it changed your life and to you as a person.

Speaker 3 22:21

Yeah, absolutely. And to you as a person yeah, absolutely, yeah, just that perspective of understanding a lot of people around the world and their different perspectives, and understanding the privilege that I have. You know, I lived two years without electricity or a toilet or a shower. Every time I take a hot shower, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 22:40

Okay, Laura, thank you so much for taking us on this amazing escapade, on this amazing journey.

Speaker 3 22:47

So where are you going next? Oh my gosh, for once in my life, I do not have any plane tickets purchased right now. I do not know where I'm going next, which is an exciting place to be. The world is open. I did just go to Belize, though, and so do you do these really fast decisions?

Speaker 2 23:07

Very, you know. Are you instantaneously suddenly buying stuff online, or do you like think about it?

Speaker 3 23:13

Yeah, it depends. I mean, I tend to kind of go down a rabbit hole for a few days trying to narrow down where I want to go, and sometimes it's for a completely random reason. Like I really wanted to take a river journey last summer that's how I ended out in Laos was because I wanted to go down the Mekong River and the only stretch of it I could find that I could do that on public transport was Laos. So all of a sudden I decided on Laos without a whole lot of reasons for that.

Speaker 3 23:41

Yeah, I love buying a plane ticket. I'll have to be thinking about that.

Speaker 2 23:45

Exciting yeah.

Speaker 3 23:46

Okay well.

Speaker 2 23:47

Thank you very, very much. This has been great. Yes, thank you, and thank you to everyone who's listened to this episode as well, and I'll see you next time. Bye, thank you.