0:10

Welcome back to the Pivot Point podcast , where we

0:12

explore the pivotal moments that shape our

0:14

lives . I'm your host , jessica

0:16

McGann , and today I have a question

0:18

for you . Have you ever sat

0:21

at your desk wishing that you were somewhere

0:23

anywhere else ? Perhaps

0:25

you dream of making money from your fingertips

0:27

on your laptop , from some exotic

0:29

locations around the world . Well

0:32

, you are not alone , because so does

0:34

my guest today , and not only did she dream

0:36

it , she's doing it . My

0:38

guest today is Laura Pope , who's

0:40

a travel content creator that's been traveling

0:43

the world solo for over a decade

0:45

. After returning home from a year-long

0:47

backpacking trip , she decided to

0:49

sell all of her belongings to travel

0:52

the world full-time and pursue her quest

0:54

of visiting every country

0:56

in the world . She started

0:59

her own travel blog in 2018

1:01

and is now a regular contributor to

1:03

some of the most popular travel

1:05

websites . Laura lives a nomadic

1:08

lifestyle , always on the lookout for new

1:10

adventures , hidden gems and

1:12

dogs to pets . If you are

1:14

a traveler , ever dreamed of long-term

1:16

travel or have been curious about how

1:18

to achieve a nomadic lifestyle , this

1:21

episode is for you . Laura

1:23

has lots of great insights for you

1:26

, so , without further ado , let's

1:28

dive in . Laura

1:36

, I am so excited to have you on the podcast

1:38

today because you are living one

1:40

of my dream lives so I swear

1:42

, there was such a period of time in my

1:44

life where I wanted so badly I

1:46

wanted to be a digital nomad and I was like dead

1:48

. I was traveling and I was trying to

1:50

become a travel blogger , couldn't figure

1:53

it out , but there was so much juice in that

1:55

life . I think I'm not alone in

1:57

that and you're doing the thing . You are

1:59

completely sustaining

2:01

a life as a digital nomad .

2:03

Yeah , I mean , it's definitely not an easy

2:05

road to be a travel blogger , but

2:08

it is a very rewarding one .

2:11

Well , I'm excited to hear about your journey

2:13

and how you got to this place . Perhaps

2:15

you could tell us a little bit about

2:18

your life before you

2:20

started traveling .

2:22

Well , I've always kind of been obsessed with

2:24

traveling . I took my

2:26

first solo trip of Rob when I was 19 years old

2:29

. It looked like a working holiday in

2:31

university and I lived in Ireland for a year and

2:33

that was kind of like kicked off my travel blog

2:36

. But then I was always kind of pushed back to you know

2:38

, like oh , you have to go to university and do

2:40

the normal thing . So like I did that , and then I graduated

2:42

and then I got offered a job with the government the

2:46

federal government , and like this town in New Brunswick

2:48

and like what were you doing ? Oh

2:51

gosh , payroll . Yeah

2:53

, it was so boring it was and

2:55

like oh my God , and the town was small and everything

2:57

about it was awful , except it was like a good

2:59

paying job and I literally had zero

3:01

work experience and I was a broke student

3:03

. So I'm like you want to pay me like this

3:06

much a year , like oh my God . I was just like excited

3:08

, you know , because I wanted

3:10

to give me a job . So I took it

3:12

and I actually like was very

3:14

successful in my federal government

3:16

like career , like I moved up very quickly

3:19

from like payroll to like I got in skeptic

3:21

to like an HR advisor , kind of like development

3:23

program . And then it was cool because I got to like live

3:25

all over Canada . Like I lived first in New

3:27

Brunswick , then Alberta , then I lived in Toronto

3:29

where I met you , and so

3:31

there was definitely perks to it . But

3:34

yeah , I had sort

3:36

of this like wander less the whole time

3:38

that I had this like feeling that I should be doing something

3:40

else and I would take a lot of vacations

3:43

, like because I worked in HR , I knew all the rules

3:45

of like leave we could take . So

3:48

yeah , I was constantly , like

3:50

you know , like on vacation , so to

3:52

everyone , and then of course it's like all I would post online

3:54

. So to everyone else they were like oh my God , you have a dream life

3:57

, but I'm like not really , because I'm actually like so miserable

3:59

three weeks of the year .

4:02

I had three weeks of vacation each

4:04

year .

4:05

Three weeks technically , but

4:07

like because of like statutory holidays and

4:09

like I did like compressed workweek

4:11

, so I had every second Friday off , so I would take

4:13

. I was just so good at maximizing

4:16

leave that I basically was taking like

4:18

a trip every month , which is really like , really

4:20

cool and like for people who , like

4:22

I think it's amazing that you can do that in

4:24

a way , but , like for me , I just wanted to travel full

4:26

time , like it was a dream of mine .

4:27

So I feel so impossible

4:30

to coming from Canada because it's actually

4:32

so expensive even just to travel within

4:35

Canada . And also I want to go back

4:37

a little bit . You're like you . You you moved

4:39

Ireland at 19 . And

4:42

I , as a traveler myself , I just remember

4:44

like not really getting exposed

4:46

to travel here in Canada , like it's not

4:48

. I remember feeling it wasn't our part of our culture

4:51

to like in

4:53

the UK or Australia or New Zealand

4:55

. It's like there's something about the culture is like you go to like

4:58

and you travel the world for a year or two and then you come

5:00

back and you do all the rest of the things . What

5:02

, how did you even like think to

5:04

to move like that , to

5:06

travel , to go out by yourself with

5:08

your family full of travelers

5:10

or like what even

5:13

clicked in you to want to do that ?

5:16

And that's really strange because , like I mean , I did travel a

5:18

bit like my like within Canada

5:20

with my family and like I went on like a high school Europe

5:22

trip . But it wasn't like I grew up traveling the world

5:24

. But I grew up with like an obsession for traveling

5:26

the world , like I used to have like a subscription to like National

5:28

Geographic and I would cut out all the maps and

5:30

paste them on my wall and it's just

5:33

like all I ever wanted to do was travel . I

5:35

think it's actually like I have a theory that it's kind of

5:37

genetic , because everyone on my dad's side

5:39

of the family is like that , like we're all really

5:41

big travelers . My cousin lives in Japan , my sister

5:43

live in Berlin for years . So , definitely

5:45

like a genetic component to it .

5:47

Okay you're a bit of a traveler family

5:49

.

5:51

Yeah , so maybe I got some inspiration from like my older

5:53

cousins . But but yeah

5:55

, and then basically I did go to university

5:57

after high school and I

5:59

was failing . I was doing like

6:01

science because you know they're just like pick something you like

6:03

and I'm like , okay , I like animals will do biology I

6:07

, but I'm really bad at . Just because I'm interested in biology

6:09

doesn't mean I'm doing it . So like I was

6:11

failing like chemistry , like math , like I was basically

6:13

on the verge of being kicked out of university

6:16

. So I just told my parents

6:18

like look , I want to take a year off to kind of figure out

6:20

. This is like the right path for me . I found

6:22

this like program where you can work abroad and

6:25

thankfully that they were really supportive of it .

6:29

So was that still in biology ? This program in

6:31

Ireland .

6:33

It's no , it's not like for a specific thing . It's

6:35

called swap students working abroad program

6:37

. I think I just found out about a campus fair or

6:39

something . It's just like you can

6:41

get a visa for a year in certain

6:43

countries Like

6:46

I can't remember all of them , but there's a bunch at like a working

6:48

visa if you're a student and yeah

6:51

, that's basically , I think , the requirements .

6:54

So you went and you did this exchange program , came

6:56

back , got the corporate job

6:59

, working for the government in HR , finding

7:02

bits and pieces of time where you could go back out

7:04

and get that travel

7:06

fix , so to speak . What

7:09

was the the aha moment

7:11

, or the pivotal moment that led you to

7:13

go ? You know what I need . I

7:15

need to be out of this environment .

7:18

So it was definitely like a gradual

7:20

build up of like I hate

7:22

this , this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing , like

7:25

I had this feeling . But it was really hard

7:27

for me because , like I had , like I had

7:29

it really good . I had a really good job . Like

7:31

it was cushy , it was like allowed to take a

7:33

lot of vacations but

7:35

then pain well , which can be very

7:37

hypnotizing , yeah

7:39

, and like to you know , in Canada , like everyone's like oh , you have

7:41

a government job like so secure , like

7:44

it's like the dream right . So

7:46

it's like very hard to just be like no , I don't want

7:48

this . Like my parents thought I was like insane

7:50

. So it took

7:52

a lot . So basically , what happened is I

7:54

decided that I was going to take a year off

7:58

my job . So one of the perks of working in the government

8:00

is that there's this thing called personal leave that you can take once

8:03

in your career . Your job okay

8:05

, paid for it , but your job is safe . So

8:07

I had a few things happen in my life that

8:09

kind of caused

8:12

me to be it

8:14

kind of put me in this like really depressed state , and

8:16

then I decided , okay , screw it , I'm

8:18

going to take this year off to

8:20

travel . But

8:23

the idea was that I was going to travel and get it out of my system

8:25

and go back to

8:27

my job . Of course that didn't happen , but

8:29

that was like the original .

8:31

So you were going through something , you were depressed

8:33

, you were unwell and you were like taking

8:36

a step back from work and maybe traveling

8:38

was a way for you to heal during that

8:40

time , and then , once you felt healed , you were going

8:42

to go back . Am I hearing that correctly ?

8:45

Yeah , like basically I was going through like sort

8:47

of like double grief at once and

8:49

it was very hard . So , like I already didn't like my job

8:51

and then I had taken a bit of like

8:53

leave , like sick leave , cause I was just like

8:55

so mentally unwell while I was grieving , and

8:58

then I went back and it was just like after

9:01

that , like it was just even more , like

9:03

I just hated it even more than

9:05

before and I was like I can't do this . But I knew about

9:07

this leave thing . So I'm like okay , I

9:09

, and because also , like part of it was that I had

9:11

just like lost my boyfriend

9:14

at the time . So that was kind of like I had this

9:16

idea that I wanted to leave before , but

9:19

I didn't . It never felt like the right

9:21

time . You know , like it was always like oh , I have this

9:23

going on , I have this going on . But after all those

9:25

things happened , I was just like you

9:27

know what , like there's really nothing to me

9:29

here , like I might as well just go and

9:31

take this year . Yeah

9:34

, and it was incredibly helpful for healing

9:36

and yeah , the plan was to go back .

9:39

Where did you go during that year ?

9:43

I went , oh my gosh . I went so many places

9:45

because I thought like I literally genuinely

9:48

thought , this is the only year I'm ever gonna have to travel

9:50

, so I must see everything . And

9:52

then , if I had my time back , I would have gone a lot slower

9:54

, though I don't regret it . But I started basically

9:57

in Guatemala and I backpacked

9:59

because I was on a tight budget . I had saved

10:01

up money to travel for the year . I wasn't working

10:03

like online or anything at the time . So

10:06

it was not really like digital nomad lifestyle . Then it

10:08

was more like backpacking . So

10:10

I started in Guatemala and I went overland

10:13

all the way to Argentina . That

10:15

was like , oh , by yourself . Yeah

10:18

, like all solo travel , I met

10:20

a lot of people like along the way , as you do , I

10:22

had very , actually very very . Lee was ever alone

10:25

.

10:25

And like a lot of .

10:25

I would meet people , especially in , like Latin America

10:27

. There's steps that like backpacker trail , so

10:30

you know , I would like pick up friends and we'd go a certain

10:32

distance together and then

10:34

I would make new friends . Yeah

10:37

, and then I actually spent my summer in Canada . I took

10:39

the train across Canada . I won tickets

10:42

, which was just like super serendipitous thing that happened

10:44

to me . You won tickets

10:46

. Yeah , I won Like

10:48

it's so crazy . I won the URLs

10:50

like 40th anniversary contest , the

10:53

year that I was like traveling and I wanted to go across

10:55

Canada that summer because I was in Vancouver for

10:57

a wedding and I wanted to go to Newfoundland , where I'm from

10:59

, and I didn't know how I was going to get there because

11:02

I had was like four and

11:04

it's expensive . Yeah , and

11:06

they literally called me and they're like you won our contest

11:09

. You can take round trip tickets anywhere in Canada

11:11

. What ? Yeah , that's

11:13

amazing , I know . And they were super

11:16

accommodating . I'm like can I go next week across Canada

11:18

? And they're like , ah , okay .

11:21

So you took a train across , like

11:23

a via rail train , across

11:25

Canada ? Yeah , exactly , and

11:29

was that so you did ? Central

11:32

and South America , and then you went back

11:34

for the wedding and then came back . Was that the year

11:36

or was there any anywhere else you went

11:38

?

11:39

Yeah , no that was a summer

11:41

, like I started in the New Year , so like winter

11:43

in South America , then I did summer in Canada , then I flew

11:46

in the fall to Asia and

11:49

I did like Sri Lanka and India

11:52

, nepal and the

11:54

Philippines . Oh my gosh , you

11:56

went everywhere . Yeah Cause

11:58

again I thought it was like the only chance I'd ever have to

12:00

travel . So I was just going

12:03

so fast .

12:04

You weren't in the mindset of creating a life for yourself

12:07

. You were like I need to live as much as I can right now

12:09

because when I get home I'm going to be stuck at a

12:11

desk working nine to five doing

12:13

that life . And so you finished this amazing

12:15

trip . What

12:18

did it feel like to come back home ?

12:21

Um , not great . Definitely

12:24

was hard and , like , I guess , prior

12:26

to coming , so I had

12:29

I did start my travel blog right

12:32

before I started that trip

12:34

, like at the beginning of 2018 . And

12:36

I did . I was technically blogging , though

12:39

, but it was like for you . Oh

12:42

yeah , it was just like a personal

12:44

diary and like I wasn't using a spell

12:46

checker , it was just . It's just like really embarrassing , like

12:49

the old post , and I hadn't really figured out

12:51

like the business of blogging before that , I guess , because

12:53

I think it was like an option . Honestly , it's like

12:55

a pretty new field . So even in like 2018

12:58

, it wasn't super knowing , like that

13:00

you can make money doing this . Whereas

13:02

now it's much more knowing

13:04

, I guess , and also like

13:06

the influencer industry . Anyway , that's changed dramatically

13:09

. But yeah

13:11

, so I had this blog , but it

13:13

was definitely not making any money . Barely anyone was

13:16

reading it , thank goodness

13:18

. And then , I

13:21

guess , a couple of months before I went back , I

13:23

started feeling like , oh my God , like

13:25

I can't , I can't like go back to this

13:27

, you know . So I started taking my blog a

13:29

little bit more seriously . I'd

13:31

like the near the end of my trip and I was like joining

13:33

some Facebook groups and like trying

13:35

to like figure it out , but again , like I was traveling

13:38

so quickly that I didn't really have like the time to

13:40

dedicate to learning it , because it takes a long

13:42

time to set it up Correctly

13:44

. So , yeah , so

13:46

I went back to my job in January

13:49

and , yeah , I was even then more

13:51

depressed Well , not more . Like I

13:53

had the traveling and healed me a lot , but I

13:55

guess the disconnection feeling

13:57

to my job was

14:00

even stronger and I was basically

14:02

like completely checked out at that

14:04

point of it . And like I decided

14:06

, like I went back and I was like I'm going to quit

14:08

, like I'm , and I guess I'm going to pursue

14:10

blogging . So I started taking like blogging

14:14

courses and really like Anyways

14:18

, I'm never going back in government , so it doesn't matter . But basically

14:21

I was just working on my blog while I

14:23

was at work , like I was , yeah

14:25

, gave up my job , kind of thing , you were out of it , I

14:27

was out of it . I completely checked out and then in

14:30

June I quit officially

14:32

and pursue , started pursuing it .

14:34

Wow , I so relate

14:37

to that feeling to have . I

14:39

think this is something that's common for travelers

14:41

when you travel for such an extensive

14:43

amount of time and then you go back

14:45

to where you grew up or where you started

14:47

. And , at least for me , I remember

14:49

feeling this sense of like I have changed

14:52

and I have grown and I have seen so

14:54

much , and now I feel like I am

14:56

back in time almost

14:58

because nothing else here seems to have changed

15:00

and grown with me , and

15:03

that gives a lot of travelers that travel depression

15:05

, that post travel depression period

15:08

of what's next

15:10

. So what kind

15:12

of emotional and mental hurdles Did

15:15

you need to cross in

15:17

order to keep going with your blog because

15:19

you went from a secure , stable

15:21

income to ? I'm

15:24

going to figure this out , I just know

15:26

I'm going to figure this out .

15:29

I definitely jumped off the deep end of

15:31

it . I guess this

15:34

really random thing had happened that I had been invited

15:36

to like go on this press

15:38

trip to Pakistan . That was like a month long

15:41

, which is so random

15:43

because at the time I had like 3000 Instagram followers

15:45

and like still my blog wasn't very

15:47

popular at all . I don't know . I actually

15:49

I was a scam when they like reached out to me

15:53

and it was for the month so like at that point I had

15:55

literally used every possible

15:57

amount of leave that you could , so I

15:59

had like leave left and

16:02

I was like I got to quit if I want to do this .

16:05

So that was like part of like my motivation

16:07

to and

16:10

the pivotal change was that , like the

16:12

moment where you're like this is possible

16:14

for me , like would you say that that was the

16:16

switch .

16:19

I think like , yeah , that kind

16:21

of period that I was back like the after

16:23

, like between January and June , I

16:25

started really focusing on like okay , how can I

16:27

make money from my blog ? And like I started

16:29

taking courses and I made like

16:31

a little bit of money and like affiliate marketing

16:34

and I got invited on that trip

16:36

. So I guess that was like enough security

16:38

for me that , like , like most people wait

16:40

until they have full time income . I was

16:42

not making anywhere close to a full time income , but

16:46

I had some savings and I knew that because I worked

16:48

for the government . Like I had I knew if I quit , I

16:50

was going to get part of my pension

16:52

, which was some cash that I could use to kind of keep me going

16:54

. So , yeah

16:56

, I just took like a huge leap of faith but

16:58

, yeah , basically , like those little trinkets

17:00

of like wow , I can actually

17:03

make money doing that was like enough for me to

17:05

be like no , I can do this kind of thing

17:07

.

17:08

We're friends and family supportive

17:10

of this change . Or were they looking at

17:12

you like you were crazy ?

17:16

I think , like

17:18

I would say they're supportive but most people just didn't understand

17:21

it . Like a lot of people still don't really

17:23

understand it . They're like wait , how can you make money

17:25

? Because it just seems so dreamy , right , like you can get

17:27

. Yeah , that's insane . Even

17:31

I sometimes like , wait , is this legal Overall

17:35

? Like my family has always been supportive

17:38

of me , I'm very lucky like they . Yeah

17:40

, they're like , as long as you're happy and you

17:42

can support yourself , like we believe in you , kind of

17:44

thing . My

17:46

ex boyfriend at the time , or my wife at the time he then

17:48

became a supportive , supportive

17:51

. I remember him being like what

17:53

am I going to tell my mom ? Like that you're a

17:55

travel blogger and I'm like yeah , what

18:00

was that not the coolest thing to say

18:02

ever ?

18:03

coming home from my travels and I genuinely

18:06

, after living abroad for multiple years , I remember

18:08

coming home being like everyone is going

18:10

to want to date me . I am the coolest person

18:12

ever . I had so much love

18:14

for myself after so much travel

18:17

. I thought it was the coolest person ever . No

18:19

one wanted to date me . It was not that

18:21

dreamy landing home , but I really

18:23

felt like the coolest person because travel

18:26

is like you are so cool . Doing what

18:28

you do , you live a life that a

18:30

lot of us , like you said , dream of .

18:32

Yeah thank you , I

18:35

know I felt the same way . But yeah , I find when you go home

18:37

, like people are just kind of like so stuck in their

18:39

own world , that like they don't even want to hear all your travels

18:41

, and you're like , but I've seen all these cool things

18:43

.

18:44

Can I tell you all about them ? How

18:47

has travel and the

18:49

ability to live wherever you want changed

18:53

your life and your mental

18:55

health , even ?

18:58

It definitely helped me

19:00

a lot , like mentally . Like I

19:02

said , I was really like grieving before I went on

19:04

that trip and like I was just kind of stuck in

19:07

this like cycle of depression living

19:10

in Toronto and like working this job . And

19:12

then , yeah , like when I started

19:14

traveling and I just started meeting so

19:16

many other people that kind of had these like different views

19:19

on life and were living like alternative lifestyles

19:21

, and it was just like this switch , I

19:23

was like , oh , I feel like these are like my people

19:25

, like I feel like I finally like fit in where

19:27

I never felt like I fit in in Canada . And

19:32

yeah , it just helped me a lot Like get over

19:34

not get over the grief , but like work through the

19:36

grief . And

19:38

yeah , I mean I just

19:40

feel like I'm so much happier when I'm abroad

19:43

. And I think a lot of it has to do with like the community , especially

19:45

like since slowing down and like

19:47

becoming more of like a digital nomad versus backpacker

19:49

. I really really love that

19:51

community of people because I feel like we're all just kind

19:53

of like on the same wavelength of wanting to , you

19:56

know , see the world , while still

19:59

like building up like an actual business

20:01

and not just living off savings kind of thing .

20:04

For anyone who's unfamiliar with that term

20:06

, like what does it mean to be a digital

20:09

nomad ?

20:11

All it really means is that you have a job that you

20:13

can do online and you're traveling

20:16

well working .

20:18

And your job is . Your job specifically

20:20

in this title is travel blogging

20:23

.

20:23

Yeah , like my job is travel blogging , which I guess

20:25

is , like you could say , like the ultimate digital

20:28

nomad job , because it really is traveling

20:30

. But I mean , there's tons of people who just work

20:32

very normal jobs that

20:34

I need , especially since the pandemic and everything's

20:36

gone online . So like , yeah , most digital

20:38

nomads I would say just have , like you know , regular nine

20:40

to five jobs . They're just living in a different country

20:42

, which is so cool that you can do that .

20:45

So cool that you can do that . I feel like a lot of people don't

20:47

even know that you can do that . Like you can get

20:50

a working holiday visa especially if you're

20:52

in Canada Like we have really great relationships with

20:54

so many countries to get a visa

20:56

or get a working

20:58

holiday visa . It's like actually quite simple

21:01

a lot of the times from here , would you agree

21:03

?

21:04

Yeah , well , the working holiday visa program I think

21:06

you can do until you're 35 . But

21:09

to be a digital nomad , you don't even like need

21:11

that because , like I mean , each

21:13

country is different . So , like , a lot of countries have

21:15

not actually come up with like digital nomad visas

21:17

where you can stay

21:20

for like whatever

21:22

, like a year , or sometimes it's up to five years . But

21:25

honestly , like I don't really even bother with those

21:27

because I just kind of but I guess I

21:29

move around a lot more than most people because

21:32

you can stay on a tourist visa right .

21:35

Like six months , sometimes Like there's a lot

21:37

of Asian countries at six months .

21:39

Yeah , mexico is six months . There's

21:43

a lot , so like , if you just like move

21:45

like every six months , you don't really need to

21:47

even bother with visas because there's no problem to

21:49

like work remotely as long as you're

21:51

not like working in that country . Disclaimer

21:54

none of this is legal advice .

21:55

Yes , absolutely . What

21:58

has been what was like the biggest adjustment

22:01

, do you think , to stepping

22:03

into this new lifestyle for you

22:05

?

22:08

Really

22:13

I don't know , it didn't like I

22:16

have to adjust that much , like I feel like it was so

22:18

natural to me that it

22:20

just kind of felt , I

22:23

mean , I guess like I'm trying to think back because

22:25

it's been so many years now that everything feels natural

22:27

to me . I guess the biggest

22:29

adjustment I think for me was transitioning

22:31

from backpacker

22:34

to digital nomad

22:36

.

22:36

Like isn't transitioning to like not

22:39

just straight traveling all the time , but like

22:41

traveling and working

22:43

and balancing that is like very

22:45

still to this day is very challenging for me

22:47

, yeah , people underestimate , like

22:49

they see how glamour it is , they see

22:51

the glamour shots in these beautiful locations

22:53

, but everything it takes to get to

22:55

point A to B from like the actual

22:57

taking multiple buses , figuring

23:00

out the transit systems in these towns

23:02

and the fares and how it all works

23:04

Like that is a whole other kind of struggle that

23:06

a lot of times people don't see when

23:08

they look at travel bloggers how much

23:10

work actually goes into what

23:13

you do and having to make time for

23:15

that . What

23:18

have been some of the biggest lessons

23:21

and learnings that you have

23:23

taken away from this

23:25

lifestyle change ?

23:29

You just like elaborate , like on that question .

23:32

You had to do and

23:35

be a different person than your HR version

23:37

of you in order to be Laura

23:40

the nomad today

23:42

. I

23:45

guess I'm looking for what mental

23:47

shifts or life lessons or

23:50

points of use did

23:52

you need to step into or take

23:54

on or learn to get to

23:56

where you are now ? Does that make

23:59

sense ?

24:00

Yeah , yeah , that makes sense . Yeah

24:03

, I guess for me I kind of felt like there was

24:06

like two versions of myself that existed

24:08

when I was still working for the government and like

24:10

literally , you know , because you know how my name is like

24:12

L-O-R-A . Yeah , so

24:14

my name is L-A-U-R-A and

24:17

they wouldn't let me , like in

24:19

the government , they made me spell

24:21

it that way .

24:22

Wait , they made you spell your name wrong .

24:26

No , no , legally it's L-A-U-R-A

24:28

. So they were like oh , legal way

24:30

, like I haven't officially changed it , but

24:33

like it's , I've been spelling it L-O-R-A since I was

24:35

like 13 . Anyways , it's a whole thing . It's

24:38

kind of funny because it kind of became as like dual personalities

24:40

, where like L-O-R-A was like fun

24:43

travel Laura and

24:46

. L-A-U-R-A was like boring

24:48

, like nine to five , like responsible Laura

24:50

oh interesting . Like

24:52

when I took that like jump to

24:54

get into this lifestyle , like I was just like

24:56

, okay , well , like L-A-U-R-A , laura is like dead

24:58

to me and I'm just like

25:01

fully embracing like this other version

25:03

of myself , that like I've always wanted

25:05

to be . But yeah , like

25:07

it definitely was like a lot of shifts and

25:09

even still , like I still struggle with like my mindset

25:12

shifts of like you can make

25:14

money doing this , like I deserve to make

25:16

money doing something I love .

25:19

It's a constant . So what I'm hearing is it's a

25:21

consistent , consistent

25:23

practice for you to remind

25:25

yourself that you're okay

25:27

to be doing what you're doing .

25:29

Yeah , absolutely , and I think also just being

25:31

like a female entrepreneur

25:33

, like we have a lot of like built-in things

25:36

from society that like we shouldn't be able to like

25:38

earn certain amounts of money . And it's crazy

25:40

because like I know , like rationally

25:42

that we should , but like I totally catch myself

25:45

like I've had to do so much work just like on my money

25:47

, mindset and stuff To

25:49

keep going .

25:52

What do you do to work on that kind of stuff ? Do you work

25:54

with a therapist or a coach , or

25:56

is it community reading , like

25:58

how do you maintain that

26:01

?

26:03

All of the above I would say I did

26:05

do a course . I don't know if you know manifestation

26:07

, babe , no , but I love manifestation

26:09

. Yeah , so she's

26:12

like a manifestation coach specifically

26:14

sort of for like wealth and money and

26:18

yeah , she actually has like a course on this whole thing

26:20

like money mindset . So I did that and

26:22

that really helped me and I did that with a group of

26:24

blogging friends that

26:27

I had met and kind of like all of it together . I

26:29

would say community like for sure , is so

26:31

important in the blogging world . I think that was where

26:34

I really went wrong . The first year was that I was just like

26:36

doing it on my own and once I started like kind

26:38

of getting involved with the blogging , community was

26:40

when I started more thriving

26:43

in the industry because it's just like , yeah

26:46

, like there's really no standards for it . It's not a

26:48

normal job , so but the best

26:50

, one of the best parts about it , honestly , is the community

26:52

like all my best friends are travel bloggers now

26:54

and it's just such an amazing group of people

26:57

and everyone like supports

26:59

each other and shares information and

27:01

stuff . So that's really nice .

27:02

That's awesome . Community makes a whole

27:05

a massive difference . No matter what

27:07

kind of change or transformation you're stepping into

27:09

, having people by your side really

27:11

really does matter how

27:13

. And actually so

27:16

many people , when they think about traveling

27:18

by themselves , feel this sense of I'm going

27:20

to be alone , I'm going to be alone , I'm

27:22

not going to have any friends . That's going to be boring , like I can't do

27:24

that , and what I'm hearing from you consistently through your

27:26

story is you've never been alone , like you're not really

27:28

alone at all when you're traveling . Is

27:30

that fair ?

27:31

Yeah , no , that's absolutely true . I would say I'm

27:33

more alone , like when I'm in Canada

27:36

is actually when I feel the most alone

27:38

. I believe that , yeah

27:40

, yeah , no , I find

27:42

it so easy to meet people traveling

27:44

, especially like it's easier to meet people when

27:46

you're a solo traveler . I know it seems so counterintuitive

27:49

but honestly , the times that I've traveled with

27:51

my friends , like it's like nobody wants to talk to us

27:53

because they just assume or like we're just doing

27:55

our own thing . But if you're a solo traveler

27:57

, like people just approach you , like you just

28:00

and you're also , I feel , a little more open

28:02

to meeting new friends and

28:04

like I really love that about the solo travel

28:06

community or even digital in that community in general , like

28:08

everyone's just open to like

28:11

living experiences and trying

28:13

new things and I

28:15

love that . Because at home I felt like I was constantly

28:18

like trying to drag my friends out and

28:20

people were always like canceling me , planting

28:22

me , and it just really , really irritated me

28:24

.

28:26

I find that people are like

28:28

I

28:30

mean , most of the time the best versions of themselves

28:32

. They're just so happy , they're excited to go out

28:34

and explore and no one's like shy

28:36

or they're just like a community

28:38

at these hostels . Do you have

28:41

I know I had a trick for making friends because

28:43

I was a solo female traveler myself . I know

28:45

I had a trick for making friends

28:47

at these hostels . Do you have any tricks

28:49

or things that you lean on or

28:51

go to when you're making new friends at new

28:53

places ?

28:56

I wouldn't say I have like tricks , but it honestly

28:59

took me a long time to figure out that you

29:01

can just go up and say hi to people Like

29:04

I used to be so afraid to

29:06

just talk to people and then

29:08

, yeah , I just eventually got to the point where

29:10

, like I would go into a hostel and then just

29:12

like yeah , if you see a group of people hanging out , just

29:14

walk over and be like hi . That's what

29:16

a hostel is . It's a place to meet other people

29:19

, and I've never had anyone like

29:21

be like what are you ?

29:23

doing .

29:23

Yeah and they're like , oh cool , Hi , sit down . I

29:26

mean , honestly , most of the time if they just like see you , like a smile

29:28

goes a long way , they'll probably just invite you

29:30

to sit down anyways . But yeah , it

29:32

does take courage , Like literally . I went like years

29:35

Luckily like I would meet people and they would kind of

29:37

invite me .

29:38

But it took me years to be able to build up the courage

29:40

to approach people , which is really silly . It's

29:43

not silly , like that's a huge fear that I'm

29:45

sure a lot of the people listening are like , oh my

29:47

God , I could never do that . And

29:50

I feel like my networking skills are so

29:52

much , so much stronger because

29:55

of the years I spent doing that , of just getting

29:57

used to talking to strangers and putting

29:59

yourself into those conversations and getting

30:01

comfortable with the small talk . I

30:04

know for me I used to the

30:06

sounds like aggressive . It's not actually , but I would like corner

30:08

people in my dorm room , like if

30:10

I saw that's where I would start is . I could put my bags

30:12

down and I'd ask like oh , have you been

30:14

like around the area ? Like what

30:16

would you recommend ? And I would just start with that , just

30:18

like , oh , I'm new here , tell me what you know . Or

30:20

where are you going today ? What are you doing today

30:23

? Can I join you ? And I would just kind of start

30:25

with whoever's in my , my dorm

30:27

room .

30:28

Yeah , yeah , no , that's definitely

30:30

a good strategy . I don't really stay

30:32

in hostel so much anymore Cause , like , I kind of moved away

30:34

from like the backpacker scene . Yeah , it's

30:37

easier to make friends as a digital nomad

30:39

if you're cause there's so many strong communities and

30:41

places like Lisbon or like here

30:43

in , like Puerto Verde , mexico or Bali

30:45

, like where there's just these already existing

30:47

huge communities and there'll be like a Facebook

30:50

group , there'll be multiple WhatsApp groups and

30:52

there'll be events going on all the time . So , like

30:54

, if you just go to like one of those events , you'll

30:56

meet friends right away .

30:59

Great hot tip you just dropped there into

31:01

the podcast . Thanks so much for that . How

31:04

many countries have you been to ? Now ? I've

31:07

been to 71 . 71

31:10

countries . Holy congratulations

31:12

, that's massive . Do you have a favorite

31:15

? I hate when people ask me this . I do have a favorite

31:17

, but just wondering Do you have a favorite

31:19

?

31:21

I don't really . I don't like the question either . I

31:24

mean , I guess Mexico is

31:26

definitely has my heart , like that's

31:28

kind of where I've decided to settle

31:30

as my new home and travel from here . I

31:33

adore this country so much . I

31:36

also really liked Thailand . I was living there before

31:38

this , but you know

31:40

there's so many countries that I absolutely

31:42

love .

31:43

It's like picking your favorite new movie

31:45

. It's like it's different for different things , like my favorite

31:47

city is here , my favorite beach is over

31:49

here . You know , it can be multi-faceted

31:52

, japan .

31:54

I did not have a favorite Pardon , I'm

31:56

actually going to Japan like on Saturday oh my

31:59

gosh , I'm so jealous

32:01

.

32:02

Have you been before ? Is it

32:04

one of your 71 ?

32:05

I have been , but it was a very like short

32:08

trip . That was kind

32:10

of not great for . I won't get into it , but

32:12

yeah .

32:14

Just oh that's experience .

32:15

So I'm really excited for this trip because it's for the Adventure

32:17

World Summit and I'm going with the tourism board , so like

32:19

, yeah , it's going to be amazing , everything's planned

32:22

. I don't have to like worry about trying to

32:24

figure out how to get around .

32:26

The level of jealousy that I am experiencing

32:28

right now is immense , because

32:30

Japan is truly just . I

32:32

didn't have a favorite country until I hit Japan

32:35

and I was just like . It is

32:37

so incredibly beautiful , the people

32:39

are incredibly kind , the food

32:41

is amazing . You're going to have an amazing , amazing

32:43

time , laura

32:46

. What do you hope

32:48

anyone who's listening , who

32:51

is maybe nervous to travel

32:53

or nervous about stepping into

32:56

a nomadic life , might

32:58

take away from our conversation today

33:00

? Or maybe a message you have for

33:02

them ?

33:04

Just that you can do it , don't be afraid

33:06

. I know it seems really scary to

33:08

jump into it . I felt that way

33:11

when I was 19 and I moved to Ireland

33:13

and sometimes it can be really hard at first . I

33:15

remember that trip . My first few days I was

33:17

literally on the phone with my mom being like

33:19

I want to come back . And

33:21

then I met the first friend who

33:23

I'm actually still in touch with today

33:26

. I just saw her in Montreal . I remember it was like 15

33:28

years Anyways . Once I met one person , I was like

33:30

wait , this is amazing . Once

33:33

you kind of realize that there's other

33:35

solo travelers out there and that you

33:37

can make community , it's just getting over that

33:39

initial hurdle of wanting to do it . But

33:43

yeah , don't be afraid , it is an amazing

33:45

thing and you will never regret it .

33:49

And you actually now teach other people

33:51

to do what you do , correct ?

33:55

Yeah , well , I have my travel

33:57

blog , which is sort of like about the digital nomad

33:59

lifestyle , so I have a lot of tips on getting

34:01

started , how to find community , how

34:03

to different remote jobs

34:06

you can get started with . I have a newsletter as well

34:08

where I send out different digital nomad

34:10

tips and cool remote jobs that I see .

34:13

That's so incredible . I'm going to have all

34:15

of Laura's social media and

34:17

her website and her blog and everything

34:19

linked in the show notes . So

34:21

if you're listening and you want to connect with her or see

34:23

all of her adventures , you don't have to second guess

34:26

. Just go to the episode notes and click the links

34:28

and you can connect with Laura right now . Thank

34:30

you so much for coming on and sharing

34:33

your journey and

34:35

I'm lit up . I'm kind of like I need to

34:37

look at Skyscanner and go book a flight

34:39

somewhere right now . The traveler in me

34:41

wants to join you on the road

34:43

sometime . If

34:52

you enjoyed today's episode , please consider

34:54

liking , subscribing and letting us know your thoughts

34:56

in the comments below . It truly

34:59

means the world to me to hear from you

35:01

. New episodes will be available

35:03

every Saturday , both on YouTube

35:05

and wherever you get your podcasts . And

35:08

if you would like to learn more about my work as a coach

35:10

today's guest or have a story that you

35:12

would like to share on the pivot point , check out the

35:14

episode description for more information

35:16

. Now

35:22

time for the legal stuff . This podcast

35:24

is presented to you solely for educational

35:27

and entertainment purposes . I may

35:29

be a professionally certified coach myself

35:31

, but hosting a podcast is not coaching

35:33

. This podcast should not be used

35:36

in substitution of working with a licensed

35:38

therapist , doctor , coach or other qualified

35:40

professionals . Copy that Amazing

35:43

. See you on the next episode . Nothing

35:45

but love . Bye .