The Detached podcast
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Sophia
The Detached podcast
EP 105 : From Hostel Floors To Leading Journeys In Iraq, Iran, And Beyond - Janet Newenham
The moment Janet sings by the rivers of Babylon from the roof of Saddam’s abandoned palace, you realize this isn’t a typical travel story. It’s a blueprint for turning curiosity into a career, fear into discernment, and far-off headlines into human moments you can feel. We invited Janet Irish traveler, founder of women-centered group adventures, and former OG travel blogger to unpack how she built a thriving tour company guiding people through places like Iraq, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and Sri Lanka.
If you’re looking to travel smarter and braver, to see places with your own eyes, and to feel the world’s complexity without flinching, hit play. Then share this with a friend who needs a nudge. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: where would you dare to go next?
Check Janet out on instagram below :
Welcome back to another episode of the Detached Podcast. Today I have an Irish lady on, Janet. Thank you for coming today. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Lucky that I'm in town and lucky. Grateful to be on the podcast. But you haven't done many podcasts, so this feels like a real treat. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I haven't. I have got asked quite a few times, but I travel so much that I'm not really free. I'm never really available. So you caught me just like one of the one days that I'm actually free.
SPEAKER_00:Do you know? It's actually really rare for me to have females on the podcast and also Irish females. I did have Siobhan on before, actually. Oh amazing. And uh yeah, I uh find it's quite difficult here in Dubai to manage to get females on the podcast. Really?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's surprising. Yeah. Yeah, I thought there'd be a lot of people available.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um I'm literally only here for two days. So kind of crazy that you caught me.
SPEAKER_00:Well, to go back to how I even found you, I think it was just because of your travel scenarios that you have. And for the listener, I'd love to let them know and understand what you do for a living.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a bit crazy. Yeah. Um, yeah, so my I'm Janet, I'm from Cork in Ireland. And for the last five years, I've been running group trips mainly for women. So, but they're not your normal group trip. We go to very adventurous destinations. So we go to Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Papua New Guinea, you know, like not your regular holiday destinations. And then before that, I was a YouTuber. And before that, I was a travel blogger for 10 years. So I would say I was at the time one of the OG travel bloggers. Like I started my travel blog 15 years ago. Wow, that's incredible. That's at a time when people weren't even really travel blogging and they definitely didn't think that it could be a full-time job.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_01:It's kind of there's been an evolution, you know, obviously. And now there's a lot of content creators and Instagramers and all this. So yeah, I've definitely pivoted a lot, a lot of times over the last 10, 15 years.
SPEAKER_00:So before you even started, could you even imagine you would be in the position you are right now?
SPEAKER_01:In the position I'm currently in, with like the group trips going so, so well and like really, really expanding and scaling. No, definitely not. But at the same time, it is a bit crazy. But I started traveling when I was really young. And I think like when people often asked me, like, was it after college? Or, you know, for me, like it wasn't. And I'm talking solo trips. I'm not even just talking like family trips. Like, I started proper solo traveling when I was like 15.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Yeah. Okay, let's let's get like my mom, or well, my dad hardly let me out of the house when I was 15. So tell me this. What kind of child were you? And what family did you grow up in?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, a pretty normal family. Like my dad is a farmer from Cork. Um, my mom is a florist, you know, so like super normal parents, like, but um I think a lot of it has to do with my school. There was just people would come to my school and give talks and try and persuade us, like, oh, like, would you be interested to go volunteering in Belarus for the summer? Or would you be interested to go um and spend a year in school in France? And I'm just like, me, me, like that sounds amazing. Most of the people in my class were like, oh yeah, it sounds cool, but why would you bother? And for uh reasons unknown to my parents, I must say, I just volunteered for everything. So yeah, like went and volunteered in Belarus when I was 16, went to school in France for a year when I was just 15. So like lived abroad essentially. When you know, people don't normally do that till after college.
SPEAKER_00:It's quite odd for an Irish person as well to kind of be that adventurous.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, I mean a lot of things, sailing. I sailed around Ireland, I sailed to Poland when I was like 15, sailed to Denmark when I was 16, and then when I was 18, I moved to Africa for a year by myself.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Oh my god, oh my god.
SPEAKER_00:So, like at any stage, what was your parents like? Did they ever try to put a cap on any of your adventures?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think they were really surprised when I told them I was moving to Africa when I was 18, you know. But I think after that, definitely they were really accepting of travel, you know, they just thought, well, that's it now, she loves travel. But with the job aspect, like with travel as a job, or like say blogging as a job, um, I'll always remember there was a turning point. I think it was about maybe 10 years ago. And it was mainly my parents' friends. They'd be like, oh, is Janet still up to the blogging thing? Is she still doing the, you know, the hobby blogging thing, the what is it, like website thing? You know, they never really understood it. And I think that made it hard for my parents because, you know, your parents want to be proud of you and proud of the job that you do. And so they were always like, Yeah, yeah, she's still doing it. Like, she'll probably get real job soon, you know. And then I remember I won um an award. It was probably 10 years ago at this stage, but it was um journal, uh digital journalist of the year. And I remember Catherine Thomas, who was like quite a famous uh travel journalist in Ireland, she was the one that was doing the award. But I wasn't in Ireland because typical Janet, I was traveling. And so my parents didn't really understand what the awards was or anything. So I sent my mom and my sister, and I think it was only when my mom was on the stage with Catherine Thomas receiving this award on my behalf, she was like, wait a second, like Janet has a real job. Like this, this isn't some fake blogger, I don't know what. This is a real job. She's won in a real award for being a travel journalist. So then, honestly, from that moment on, now they're just like super proud, um, always telling everyone now, oh, wait till you see what Janet's up to. And you know, like in a really nice way, very supportive.
SPEAKER_00:Was your parents at any stage though, kind of questioning your uh your idea around traveling and creating a job out of travel before that moment?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, they were. I think they just didn't believe it was a real job. And I had a lot of other job opportunities, like I did a master's degree, like I did what did you master's in? Um, in humanitarian action. So I worked for NGOs for a while. I worked in like water and sanitation, hygiene in Africa and India. You know, I had what would have been maybe a promising career in maybe the United Nations or NGOs in Ireland. So for them, they saw it as me just throwing that all away at the start. But I think they it changed quickly. I think once you can prove that you can be successful at something that's not the normal, something different, that they really start to understand that then that takes time.
SPEAKER_00:How did she cope with that? Like, what was the the Janet back then doing?
SPEAKER_01:Was she ignoring it? Or was she retaliating? Uh most of the time ignoring. Um, but just always knew that I had to prove myself. Yeah. And like me and my sister, I feel like we're always quite competitive. And she was quite successful. Like she wrote a book and she was really uh into um technology and like working for startups in Ireland. And um, so I felt like she was kind of drove me on, maybe without even knowing it. Um, and then yeah, trying to prove to my parents like I can do this, and also just not wanting to give up because I love travel so much. So, like turning travel into a job always felt like a dream. So honestly, I just didn't quit. And like, girl, do I have stories? I won't go into them, but like when you're broke and you're in like Cambodia or South Korea and you've literally got a hundred euro in your bank account, like you will look for the most crazy jobs to do. Like, so it was this I wasn't always making money from travel. You know, I was working as a receptionist in a hostel, or I was cleaning a party hostel in Sydney. And how do not want to clean a party hostel? How does that describe that picture? Disgusting, like, I mean, worst job probably I ever had. Like vomit on the stairs, think about like a dormitory with eight guys that never wanted it clean because who knows what they were doing in there. And finally, like at the end of two weeks, my manager would be like, Janet, I'm really sorry, but you need to go in there and clean that dormitory that those eight English lads have been in for the last three weeks doing who knows what. And I'm like, So, like I did the horrible jobs, like I did door-to-door sales, you know, I did yeah, working at party hostels, and I did a lot of tough jobs. But um, and then I I was clever as well, though. Like I was doing content writing, and I remember my travel blog was outranking skyscanner, you know, the search engine uh or airline search engine. And my blog was outranking skyscanner for the word skyscanner. No. So if you put skyscanner to Google, my blog was coming up before Sky Scanner. And I was like, geez, I'm onto something here. Like I must be pretty good at this SEO thing. Yeah. And so I was really cheeky. Like, I was so broke. And um, I remember I emailed Skyscanner. I tweeted them first to get their email. And I emailed them and I said, Are you aware that my tiny travel blog from Ireland is outranking your giant website? And they were like, Oh, wow, like that's crazy. And I said, Yeah, so don't you think I should be working for you? I was just so cheeky. And they were like, Yeah, I guess you should. So I started with like a part-time job writing content articles for like their SEO. And it turned into like, I wouldn't say it was a full-time job, but it was a full-time income. So it was, it was almost 2,000 euro a month I was getting writing between, say, six and ten articles. I'm a really fast writer, so it was nothing for me. So I would just be full-time traveling and just submitting these articles to Skyscanner. They were paying me, and I'm like, this is the life.
SPEAKER_00:That's incredible. Yeah. So when we go back to those like really tough and difficult moments, what was the happiness level like? Were you still happy?
SPEAKER_01:There was some very tough times. Yeah. I do remember, I remember sitting on the floor of like a bad budget guest house in South Korea, actually, and just crying because I thought my dream was gonna end, my dream of like full-time traveling and working from a laptop. Before digital nomad was even a term, you know, but uh it just didn't seem like and then it was when that the skyscanner first paycheck came in, you know? And then but even then it was still a struggle because you never knew what the next month they were like, Oh, we've enough content articles. Yeah. Suddenly then I've no income. And by the way, I had zero savings. This is at a time when I was I had no savings, I had no cushion, no backup plan. Like I just was willing to do anything. I remember even like other people had content writing jobs, and I would say, say if they were getting like 100 euro per article, I would be like, I'll write your articles for you, and all you have to pay me is 40 euro. Which is ridiculous when I think back. But I was like underselling myself so much that I was willing to do anything. So I was them writing all their articles for them for another travel website. Their name was on it, they were getting the credit, but I was writing the articles.
SPEAKER_00:So, how do you go from that extreme to actually being potentially now correct me if I'm wrong, but financially stable? Like it is quite difficult to kind of put that mindset away from scarcity. For sure.
SPEAKER_01:And it's only something I've learned in the last, honestly, like four to five years. Um, so there was definitely a time, even when I was blogging full time and I had these content writing gigs and everything, but I was still very much living month to month. I was never investing any of my money. I was definitely not like never thought I'd be able to buy a villa in Bali or you know, stuff like this. And like over the last five years, like my life has totally transformed. Like you you couldn't even tell five years ago, Janet, what she was going to achieve in five years. Like, it's crazy. Um, but yeah, just so many different factors to be honest. Yeah, like my my social media, I like I learned how to make reels, little things like that, and like really, really grew. My social media really improved my storytelling. Then I started landing like honestly, just like paid brand deals that you could never even dream of. Like, I can actually tell you one if you want. Like I think this one is crazy. This was my highest ever paid. So this was it was actually during COVID, and Tourism Ireland in America were trying to promote people to go to Ireland, like when COVID was ending, and you know, tourism had really suffered. And they were looking for TikTokers. And I had really just gotten into TikTok during COVID, like a lot of people, and kind of grew it quite fast with doing silly dances and like stupid videos, really. And um, yeah, they contacted me and all I had to do was make one TikTok video, essentially like promoting Ireland. I didn't have to post it on my TikTok, which like so do you know what it was? I guess UGC before you I'm telling you, before UGC was a thing. It was essentially UGC user-generated content. And so I did three days around Ireland. What do you think they paid me for one TikTok?
SPEAKER_00:Oh I have no clue.
SPEAKER_01:13,000 euros. Shut up. Shut up. No, even I was like, are you sure? Like I was like, are you sure? Like did you add an did you add an extra zero by mistake? Like, right? I was like, how is this real life? Yeah, so just like one TikTok. And then that was that was honestly a changing point, turning point for me, because I took that 13,000 euro and I literally used it as the pot deposit to buy my first villa in Valley. Oh, straight away, put it down, and then like started renting that villa out, set up a company, started renting that villa out, and then was able to use the money from renting that out to buy the next villa, you know. So I had like it started this whole financial stability thing for me.
SPEAKER_00:Incredible.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but stuff like that, like that you never could dream about. Yeah. Suddenly was just being handed. I didn't even apply for it. Like they emailed me. I'm like, how did you even find me? Do you think these things happen for a reason? I mean, that one for sure. I just feel like that one, like that was it sounds crazy, but it was life-changing. And then another one was like, um, if I can tell this story, but so my group trips company is called Janice Journeys, and we do group trips mainly for women. And it all started by mistake. And I do think that the reason or how it started was totally meant to be, you know, like this you couldn't have planned it, but it was meant to be. Like um, it was during COVID, my travel blog that I've just talked about in all these lovely paid deals, it was before that. So I was really broke again. And um, my travel blog wasn't doing very well, and I wasn't really making much money. And I was actually thinking to move back to Ireland. That was only like 2021, right? It's like four or five years ago. And uh on my way back essentially to Ireland, I wasn't sure if I was gonna go back the whole way to Ireland, but I flew to Turkey and I was really crying and I was upset and I didn't know where my life was going. And I met a guy that I'd never met before, but knew him from online, and we met for a drink in um Istanbul. And he said, Oh, I'm actually going to Iraq in a few days. And I was like, Iraq? Like, what are you talking about? You can't go to Iraq. Like, is there not war there? Like, and is it like not really dangerous? And he said, No, no, it's actually just opening to tourism. It hasn't opened in 20 years, and last week they opened tourism. And I said, Whoa, he's crazy. So go back to my hotel and I Google, can tourists go to Iraq? And they can. And then I called him up. This, I don't even know this guy. And I'm like, Can I come to Iraq with you in two days? And he said, Yeah, totally, why not? And it turned out another guy did the same thing, this guy, Doug, and he said, I want to come too. So the next thing, three of us didn't know each other. Two days later, we're on a plane to Baghdad. We were three of the first tourists to land in Iraq in probably 20 years. And that trip totally changed my life. Like my so I think I went from 30,000 to 100,000 followers on Instagram in one week.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:It was just a life-changing trip. My TikTok, I went from zero to I think 150,000 in one week, just because our content went so viral from traveling in Iraq. And the day I got back from that trip, like stories and everything of Iraq aside, like fascinating, devastating place, but like one of the most amazing places ever. But so many people messaged me and were like, I want to go to Iraq, but I'm scared to go by myself. Do you think you could organize a group trip? And I was like, what? Like people want me to take them, like as a tour guide to Iraq? Like that's mental, you know? But obviously that's where the idea came from. So I said, okay. And I thought maybe like five or six people would sign up. So we lot I launched that Iraq trip. 45 people signed up. Wow. So we did three trips and I was like, we're into a business idea here. And yeah, and then like everyone just had such a good time. They were like, where are we going next? Should we go to Sri Lanka, Namibia, South Africa? They were the ones coming up with the idea. It wasn't even me. I was like, okay, where do you want to go? Antarctica? Let's go. Like, yeah. And so it just happened by accident.
SPEAKER_00:So, how does it feel to have that responsibility of that many travelers to go to a country like Iraq? It's a lot of responsibility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a lot. And back then when I had never done it before, I was super worried. I was so stressed, so anxious, like, especially that very first group, you know. You know, but now we've done, I think I worked it out today, 80 trips. We've got a thousand people on group trips in the last four years. Congratulations. Uh, thank you. I know it's crazy, but now we're just so organized now. You know, I have a team and we have amazing tour partners that we partner with around the world, and like this not saying there's no stress because there's definitely still some stress. Um, but we're just so organized now, and I feel like we have it all kind of like clockwork, so different to when we just first started. But yeah, still like when we do go to some interesting destinations, you do get a bit worried, you get a bit anxious. And and stuff happens in in these countries all the time, you see, like the the political landscape is changing all the time. So even though maybe it was fine when you were there, a month later, like we were we were in Iran in June. I booked onto there, right? So you booked onto the September trip, right? I think it was, and we had to cancel it because the political landscape changed without getting into too much detail. Um, so yeah, these things happen, and then we have to cancel, we have to refund everyone, and that's stressful, you know? But you have to make the decision and you have to you have to keep people safe.
SPEAKER_00:So when you just mentioned there a minute ago about Iraq and some of the devastating things that you saw, can you elaborate a little bit?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So um in Iraq, we go to one city. I mean, there's stories all over, but in Mosul, that's one city. And I mean, not even that long ago, I guess eight years ago, nine years ago was when it it finished. But essentially ISIS took over the city of Mosul for I think three years and devastated the city. And then the Americans came in to help the Iraqi government to get the city back, which was good because they needed to get the city back, and there's no way you can let ISIS take over a city. But the way they went about it, the way everyone went about it, was a bit of a disaster. So there was a mass, mass bombings, rockets, almost the entire city of Mosul got flattened. 30,000 women and children were killed, all innocent, you know? Um, and so when you go there now, they're rebuilding the city of Mosul, but they're still demining, they're demining the airport, they're demining hotels, um, there's still rockets and dead bodies under the buildings. And so you go there and like you we go to this tea house and we meet these people that are very involved in the community and very involved in rehabilitating and rebuilding Mosul. And it's really inspiring. Like, of course it is sad, but it's really inspiring. And they just tell you the craziest stories, you know? You'll just be sitting there all drinking tea, crying, crying, listening to these stories of bravery, or how maybe like they might say, like, oh, like I lost two of my sisters or lost my mother, and like maybe we never found their bodies. So we're still clearing buildings, looking for them. It's really devastating, you know. But then they they also show like all the work that's been done and all the amazing renovations, and how the Pope came to Mosul a few years ago, and that really put Mosul on the map, and how their um tourism is restarting, and like that Mosul used to be like the most beautiful city in Iraq, and so many people would travel there, and now slowly, because of like groups like us coming, that we're slowly starting to put Mosul on the map again, not just as a city that ISIS took over. Um, but yeah, crazy stories and like stories of children getting abducted, and we went to this hatro, it's outside of Mosul, it's an ancient archaeological site, and it was supposed to be fully protected because it is a UNESCO site, so you're not allowed to bomb. There's actually rules of war, you know, you're not allowed to bomb apparently UNESCO sites. But apparently, because of that, because they knew it would be safe from American bombers, ISIS actually used it as a headquarters. It's like my using, it's almost like using the like inside of the Great Pyramids of Giza as like a headquarters, and then they would like teach people like young, young, young recruits, like child soldiers essentially, like sh shooting techniques and really awful stuff. And again, there and you know it it you come in as a tourist and they're oh, we're closed for the day, like they might might not be interested to see you at first, and then you're very polite, you're very respectful, and you chat a little bit. And next thing you know, the soldier who didn't want to let you in, the security guard, is opening up about how he escaped ISIS or how he crawled across it through a river for 10 miles. And you know, things can really switch like that. Like we we often have Americans on our tour, and like the Americans are like, sorry, sorry, sorry for being here, you know, like just always apologizing because America did such awful stuff to Iraq, you know. American soldier is in this awful documentaries about what they did in the prisons and stuff. But we have this one guy again, and he works at in Babylon at Saddam Hussein's abandoned palace. So we go to Saddam Hussein's abandoned palace, and he's like a tour guide there. And I remember him like putting his hands on the American guy's shoulders, and he's like, I forgive you. It's not, it's not you. I've I forgive you, I forgive your country, like you're my friend, like I want to hold your hand, like and the guy, he was like this, you know, muscly, strong American dude, just burst out crying. Just so sad, just crying and just like how forgiving they are and how resilient they are. And yeah, so it's just like it will always have a special place in my heart. Like I've been there six times now, and like I'll definitely go back again. And it it it's a country that you would never think of going as a tourist, but there's actually so much to see there. Like ancient sites like Babylon, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, what you know, what once was, and the Euphrates River, and yeah, there's amazing places to see.
SPEAKER_00:When you walked into that palace, like what kind of energy did you feel? Because I feel like when you walk into these types of places, you immediately get a feeling. You do, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think for that one, I just find it really surreal. Like, how are we allowed to be in Saddam Hussein's abandoned palace? Like, to be honest, that sentence alone is just like, and his bathtub is there. I sat in his bath. I sat in Saddam Hussein. Sorry, it's not even funny, but it is funny. Like, I sat in I sat in Saddam Hussein's bathtub. Jesus. What is that? Like, yeah. I was like, take a photo of me. Like, you know. Uh, we had a picnic in there, lay it out, and then um we sang. So right behind is the river, and you could see it from the top of his palace. And I remember one of the very first groups we ever had there, um, we started singing like by the rivers of Babylon, which is quite funny. We're all just singing, a big group of Irish people. We love a sing song, and we recorded it, and we're like, is this real life? Like, are we here right now? And are we like we the security guard led us up on the roof and we had this view all of like the the maze and where where it used to be the hanging gardens of Babylon and this whole you know area. There's so many moments like that in Iraq where you'll be like, is this real life? Like, are we, is this am I here?
SPEAKER_00:Am I sitting in this bathtub right now? Like, how is this real? It's incredible that like you've been to so many different places and you still have moments like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, oh, for sure. Yeah, surreal moments where you like pinch me moments where you're just like, how is this real life, you know? And it's just so nice because like sometimes when you travel a lot, you might get a bit burnt out and desensitized. Yeah, desensitized, yeah. So I think it's so important that you still do get excited about things like this. But for me, it's definitely about the stories and stuff. I love meeting people and hearing their stories.
SPEAKER_00:So, how do you manage your emotions when you come across situations that are devastating? I cry.
SPEAKER_01:I don't I don't manage them at all. Um, yeah, I'm a crier. I'm definitely a crier. Um because it must be really difficult. You've been to really crazy places. So honestly, sometimes they help you manage them. So I have a quick funny story, actually. And a few, a lot of them are from Iraq, like, but you know, when we first went, it was way stricter than it is now. There's a lot of security checkpoints, um, military tanks everywhere. They ask for your passport like every 45 minutes driving. Some cities you literally aren't allowed in. Or they confiscate your passport when you're driving into the city and on the way out, they'll give you your passport back. Normal tourists probably not into that. Hanging over your passport to a militiaman in Iraq? No. But we were on our bus and we were driving, and um, this guy got on, he had an AK-47 gun, you know, this militiaman essentially, and he gets on, and we're all quite worried because it was in a kind of very strict conservative area of Iraq. Everyone stand up. We were like, like we didn't, we were about to, but we were like, what? And he's like, everyone sit down. And then he's like, that's all the English I know. Oh no way. It turned out that's all he had learned in school. He wasn't trying to be mean or like he wasn't trying to, he was just like, stand up, sit down. And then it turned out in English class that's all he remembered, you know? And then another time, this guy got on the bus, and uh, this was like my third trip to Iraq after, say, like I had been there a few times. I want to see everyone's passports. We hand over the passports, and he's like, looking, and he's looking, and he's like, Okay, you, and then he looks at me and he's like, you, and everyone's like, uh oh. And he's like, you tick tock, you, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. I'm like, yeah, me, tick tock. He's like, you, tick tock, me, selfie, my wife, selfie. And so he wanted a selfie with me to send his wife, and this was like a top, top level security guy, like entering ancient city of Samara, and so like, yeah, so like you go from being scared to laughing very quickly because they're they're just such lovely people, and even if you think you're should be scared a few minutes later, you're actually gonna be laughing.
SPEAKER_00:Has there been any situation where you have been a bit scared and you weren't wrong in a scenario?
SPEAKER_01:Um tried to think, probably like when the very first visit to Iraq, there was definitely a few situations because that was when it was just me and the two guys. So it wasn't like a fully organized tour. Um, it was definitely a few situations on that trip. But no, not that I should have been. It wasn't it didn't turn out that I should have been that worried. I mean, I think when I posted my stories, people were very worried for me online, and there was definitely situations where people think that I should have been worried, but I actually wasn't. Yeah, I guess in some ways I am a bit desensitized because I've traveled so much in in interesting parts of the world, you know. Um, but no, I don't think so. I not that I can think of off the top of my head. There probably is, but I can't think of I mean, like I've got robbed in the past, but like in South Africa or in Mexico or whatever, but yeah, just robbed in South Africa in Mexico.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:No, honestly, like, yeah, uh there probably is, but I can't think of it right now.
SPEAKER_00:Has there been any situation where your curiosity has gotten you in a bad place? Um curiosity has got me in a bad place.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think so. Honestly, I think the more questions you ask, the better. And the they they people in general appreciate that. Um and yeah, like I've definitely taken a lot of risks over the years, like hitchhiked to interesting places when probably I shouldn't have, or like gotten in a truck with a guy when I shouldn't have. Some of those stories were actually in America. I did a lot of hitchhiking in America, in America. I think hitchhiking's actually illegal in America. And probably some of my scariest incidents were in America, which is crazy because I travel like so much, you know, in the Middle East or Africa, stuff like that. Um incident in particular that is like uh yeah. Once I was hitchhiking from Canada down to Detroit, and uh the guy essentially locked the doors and then tried to put his hand on my um knee. Oh, I thought that was the gear stick, and I just like this is not going to go end well. So the next time we pulled in for petrol, like I just unlocked the door and ran, like grabbed my backpack from the back and ran. And there were a few other incidents similar enough, like where another one of this trucker picked me up. Like sounds so bad, but I was younger, like and the trucker picked me up. Wait, wait, do your parents know about this? Yeah, no, they do, they do. Like they yeah, they had a lot of worry when I was younger for sure. Like I did a lot of stupid things for sure. Like, yeah, like I hitch I tried to hitchhike to Sudan before hitchhiked across Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, which you shouldn't hitchhik in South Africa. But hitchhiking is so fun because you always meet such characters. And yeah, it's not like gonna be 90% safe, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, no, I feel like most most of it ended ended okay in the end, but only because I had the instinct to like get out when I should have, like to get out or to run. Or I remember one guy actually We had one funny incident. Me and my friend, we were crossing the border from um from Canada into America to go to Detroit. And we were couch surfing. Do you know couch surfing? And when you stay on people's couches. And um, this was like 15 years ago, probably. And the immigration person, she was like doing our fingerprints and she saw, she was like, Oh, well, where are you staying? And we're like, Oh, we're couch surfing. And she's like, I don't understand. And we're like, Oh, we're like staying with people from the internet. And she's like, Y'all are staying with strangers from the internet, and we're like, Yeah. And then she was like, What area? And the place was called Corktown. She was like, Wait, y'all are staying with strangers in the internet in the ghetto? We're like, yeah. And then she's like, Okay, where's your vehicle? We're like, we don't have one. She's like, Well, how did you get here? We hit giants, you know? And she was like, Oh my god, like and uh then she was like, um, she kind of got quite strict then and quite serious. And then she was like, Do you have a gun with you? And I thought she was like trying to catch us out. I was like, no, of course we don't have a gun. Why would we bring a gun into America? And she's like, I would if I was you. This is Detroit. We're like, oh my god, yeah. She just stamped it and let us in. So we like crossed the border into America and then like had to find another lift, like the ghetto.
SPEAKER_00:And how was that trip in America? Was there any other sticky situations? Was she correct?
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, she was a bit correct. She was a bit correct, yeah. But in Detroit, no, we had an amazing time in Detroit. Um, but yeah, more like Florida and like, which is funny because you think going all days to Florida and stuff, but yeah, just a few like tricky situations, so weird truck drivers or just kind of strange people picking up, picking me up. But I shouldn't have hitchhiked by myself. That's stupid.
SPEAKER_00:So, what what kind of advice would you give to a solo traveler now? Because I know you're like yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I always say to everyone, like, do do as I say, don't do as I do. Because like in my group trips, I like to be very organized and the itinerary is super detailed. But then I think like it's very important for people to understand that my main Instagram and my adventures is very different to my company Instagram trips because I like to be a spontaneous traveler, I like adventures. I like when things go at least a little bit wrong because I think otherwise it's a boring trip. And that sounds crazy. But like I think often the stuff that goes wrong is the stuff you end up talking about the longest, you know. Um, actually, last year me and my friend Ashling had attempted to hitchhike from Djibouti to Somalia, just because we thought it would be fun. And um, I ended up breaking my front tooth because they had squashed two of us into the front seat because we couldn't use the seatbelt. And he was driving through the desert 14 hours driving through the desert, and we were just bumping our heads all over the place, and I ended up spashing my head on the window. Oh no, broke my front tooth, but yeah, so I think like sometimes I'm like, no, nothing real bad has happened when I've traveled. And then my friends are like, Yeah, Janet, like you could write a book about the bad things that happened to you when you traveled, and like, yeah, there's definitely probably a few more I'm forgetting.
SPEAKER_00:Well, your risk profile is like relatively high when you're exposing yourself to like a million different travel scenarios that you're in, you know, to the average person. So your exposure of something going wrong is gonna be high. It's gonna be a lot higher than normal people. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Remember once me and my friends had to pretty much walk through a crocodile-infested river in Kenya, and we had to decide whether we would lose an arm or a leg. Like if the crocodile was coming at us, like would you lose it? What would you choose? Your arm or your leg? Because are you gonna like grab it or are you gonna kick it? Yeah, definitely your arm. Yeah. Because I need to be able to challenge it. I need to be able to walk. Yeah, yeah. So definitely that was the same. I decided I would grab its eyeball and I would just like, oh, like, it's so stupid as if I would have, but like, yeah, it was a total crocodile-infested river. And even the local kids, like, we got to the river and then we walked through. We had to, we had like our bags on our back or in our heads, and even the local kids stopped. And they all like it was about a hundred of them following us. They just stopped right at the riverbank and we're like, crocodile, crocodile, don't cross. And we're like, we have to cross, because if we don't cross, we're gonna miss our bus. If we miss our bus, we're stuck at this random lake in the middle of northern Kenya. And we were teachers in uh school at the time. I was like, if we miss our bus, we miss school tomorrow, and we're the teacher, so it's just like we got ourselves in the craziest situations, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Where was the most difficult place that you went to?
SPEAKER_01:Most difficult place. Um, well, earlier this year, I mean, it was an organized trip, so not difficult in that I didn't have to organize anything, but so I went to North Korea. Not very many people go to North Korea. Um, so I went to North Korea in February of this year, and it had just opened up, but had been closed for like six or seven years. I mean, North Korea is not exactly a place that's very open. Yeah. Um, so many documentaries. Yeah, and it's a weird place, I'm not gonna lie. And it had been closed, and I found out that they were opening, and I just knew I had to go. I always wanted to go. It was just somewhere I know not normal people want to go to North Korea, and I was like, I have to go. So I emailed this company. Two days later, I was on a flight to China and then got my visa processed, went into North Korea. The day before we were meant to leave North Korea, North Korea closed the borders. Totally like closing down to tourism. They'd only been open for three weeks. Only two groups went a group before us and my group, or like a group I was with. Um that was scary. By the way, there's no internet in North Korea. So like that was really scary for my parents because like when I was going in, I was like, you're not gonna hear from me the whole time I'm in North Korea, and you're not gonna know if I'm out of North Korea until I message you and I'm out of North Korea. And it was all over the news while we were in there that North Korea had closed their borders. So then, like, people, my friends and family at home are like, Well, is she gonna get out of North Korea? They've closed the borders while she's in there. And I could even tell that our tour guide was anxious, and the whole vibe changed. It was like our second last day in North Korea. And I think genuinely that's one of the most scared I've ever been. And like, because it's North Korea, you don't know what kind of weird rules they have. They could make stuff up for any reasons we don't even know, and decide actually you did something wrong, and we're not gonna let you leave. And like we had heard from certain people in the group, had done kind of minor things, but had done stuff that they shouldn't have done. Very minor, but as a group. We all talk. What kind of stuff? Um so, well, this is uh an example. So while we were in North Korea, we were very, very close to the Russian border, and we were visiting the Russia-North Korea peace house. So all got pictures of um Kim Jong-un and Putin shaking hands, all these photos all over the wall. But it turns out we were so close to the border with um Russia, there was this Venezuelan guy on our trip, and for him, it was the it was the final country he had visited. It was so he was celebrating, he had been to every country in the world. And when we got close to the border with Russia, his Russian e-sim uh activated. Right. So he had internet. And by the way, it's like totally illegal to have internet in North Korea. So didn't he post on Instagram saying he was in North Korea? And he he said it to me, and like so everyone knew about it. And uh then it was later that day, like literally later that day, that they announced North Korea was closing. So we were like, is it because of this guy? Like, is it because of what he's done? And he was freaking out, like when he found out that he could he just didn't think, he just didn't think. He just said, Oh, I got internet, and I just posted, like, it's the huge achievement for me. I'm like, could you not have waited two more days? Like two more days, you know? And um, yeah, so I don't think it was that in the end, like no one will ever know for sure, but because like he didn't get trouble or anything, but there was a lot of tense, anxious people that day, and he was really, really upset in the end, and yeah, the guys were obviously upset with him. Um, but yeah, North Korea was a weird experience. Like, in in some ways, it was not as strange as I thought it was gonna be. And in some ways, you have no idea what was real and what wasn't when it comes to what we saw.
SPEAKER_00:Did it feel super orchestrated?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a lot of it's a Truman show. A lot of it felt super orchestrated, like a lot of it is just laughable. Like, so we were a group and there was two Irish people. Um, it was literally there was 20 of us in the group. I was the only girl. Apparently, solo girls don't want to go to North Korea. Who knew?
unknown:Who knew?
SPEAKER_01:Um, but yeah, there was another guy actually from Ireland, and he so there was two of us from Ireland, and we went to this restaurant and they put on a performance for us, right? And about five minutes in, I'm like, I said to Andre, I'm like, I think I, or I said to Lewis, sorry, I said to Lewis, I recognize this song. Like, do you not recognize this song? And then he's listening a bit more. It was oh Danny Boy in Korean. So, oh come on, why would they be singing oh Danny Boy? They're what? They're randomly singing Oh Danny Boy in a North Korean restaurant. That was for us for sure. That was orchestrated for us. And then like there was an Italian in the group, and one of the songs was like a famous Italian song, but in North Korea sung in Korean and just things like that. You're like, there's no way this is coincidence. Yeah. And like quite a few things like that, like little things like that. And then you'd ask the tour guide questions, and like their answers were just so orchestrated. Like, you'd be like, but not always, you know. So, like a lot of the stuff was genuine. We met some genuine people, we met some amazing students. They were obviously like quite well-to-do, very successful students, so it's not a reflection of the average school child in North Korea. You know, they were they were super intelligent. But say our tour guide, we're like, What's your favorite song? My favorite song is the national anthem of North Korea because it is the best song in the world. What's your favorite book? My favorite piece of writing would be the Constitution of North Korea, because it's probably the best piece of writing in the world, you know? And I'm like, all right, what countries would you visit if you could go anywhere in the world, if you could leave North Korea and go anywhere in the world? Probably Russia or China, because they are friends with North Korea, you know? So it's like, but then the school children were really intelligent. Like, I said, Oh, they said, Oh, you're from Ireland. And I said, Oh, I am from Ireland, and they're like, North or South? I'm like, Oh, wow. I said, I'm from South, but I actually live in Indonesia. And they're like, Oh, do you live in the island of Bali? I'm like, Yeah, I do. Like, I did not think North Koreans knew about Bali. They showed me their textbook, and their textbook has two pages about every country in the world. And so, yeah, they knew. And these, like I said, these were special kids. No, but we were allowed to go wal walk into classrooms. But yeah, some of the stuff then was super orchestrated, and it was so we it was a weird place. But yeah, well, leaving, leaving was scary. And when we were leaving, they wanted to check all our phones and they went through all of our photos, and all the guys that had big cameras, they checked them, and we were stuck at the border for three hours while they went through all our phones and all of our cameras. And like, if you brought a book into North Korea, they recorded it and you had to bring the book out of North Korea. If you brought a laptop in, you had to bring the laptop out, and that caused chaos because some of the people on our trip had like brought books in but didn't register it, and then we're trying to bring books out or the other way around. And so, like, you can't leave anything behind. They're really strict, like, say on your phone, you can't have any anything to do with um South Korea on your phone, you can't have any movies downloaded, any podcasts downloaded. So I was like wiping clear my phone before I went in. Like, but you'd be paranoid, wouldn't you? Like, maybe I forgot something. Like, have I deleted my trash? You know, like all this kind of stuff. And some of the guys did get in trouble for some of the photos they took of showing poverty, and they just deleted all the photos. Was there a lot of poverty there? We did see not a lot, but we did see it. But I think they didn't bring us to the places where you would see it. You know, we were just in this one town and this village and city, and but uh when we were driving between the towns, you could see it, like people working in the fields and like what looked like a lot of forced labor. But you don't know. You don't know, I guess. It's so hard to tell. But you know, they don't have internet in North Korea, but they have intranet, which is like an internet just for North Koreans, and so they even have smartphones made in North Korea, they have apps, they have like dating apps, they have um like a news app. And we were like talking to one of the guys, we were like, What? I mean, it's kind of bad, but you're like kind of testing them almost. And we were like, uh, what do you know what's happening in the world? And he's like, Oh, I heard Trump is trying to buy Greenland. We're like, what the hell? Like, it's crazy that even North Koreans know that. And uh they were saying like that, they weren't saying, but our guide who was from uh America was saying that, you know, in the past, potentially, like North Korea had to make up stories about America to make America look bad. But apparently now they don't even have to make the stories up anymore. So they actually just shared the truth. Yeah. He's like, Oh yeah, I heard Trump's surrounded by Greenland, and he knew about Israel-Palestine, and he knew a lot of he had heard a lot of main news stories. But yeah, they said, like, oh yeah, they they you know, we were conscious of them checking our phones about checking what was on our phones when we were leaving. And I shared about that online. People are like, that's so crazy, like only in North Korea. And I said, Well, actually, have you checked the news? Because the very same week Trump was doing the exact same thing for even Irish people that were trying to go to America. They were checking to see even your WhatsApp, they were checking to see if you had any negative anti-Trump propaganda. It's like, guys, Trump is literally doing what North Korea does.
SPEAKER_00:It's kind of crazy. So, what's been the biggest lesson that you've learned through like going to these types of countries?
SPEAKER_01:My biggest lesson is you absolutely cannot judge a country until you've seen it with your own eyes. That is just absolute, there's no way you just can't. Like, that is why I just keep going to new countries, keep going to places that maybe other people don't go to. You just can't. Even even if my close friends went, or even if a YouTuber I admire went and I watched their videos, you still can't judge it till you go there by yourself. You cannot, you know. I just feel the most the destinations that people probably tell you not to go to are the ones that will surprise you the most.
SPEAKER_00:For sure. I think as a human, anyway, you naturally judge. You uh you naturally have this like conception inside your head of what or perception of what the place is gonna be like, right? For sure, for sure. Uh has there been anywhere in particular that you've uh been proven wrong that has really stood out to you? Um that you thought maybe I'm not gonna enjoy this, but let's go explore.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I uh I do try to go into most places with an open mind. Probably the most one recent one would have been Iran, you know, because so many people, especially recently, like, you know, are are so fearful of Iran, especially Americans. And, you know, you hear it so strict, and and it can be, I'm not gonna lie. And you know, you have to wear the mandatory hijab and the headscarf, and that scares people. And it's such a normal place. Like, I can't tell you how modern it is. Like, uh me and my group, like, everything shocked us about Iran. Like in Iraq, like, they're not used to tourists, they're like looking for a selfie, and they're like, everything's wow. They don't care about tourists, like, they don't look at you differently. You know, they have the most phenomenal restaurants, the hotels are beautiful, there's so much to see, the shopping is unreal. Like, for me, Iran is one of the most beautiful, interesting, amazing places I've been in the last probably five years. And so, like, for me, like, I don't know, I just I thought I was gonna have to be so careful and like the way I dressed. And they were just like, just wear jeans and a t-shirt, it's fine. Jeans and a t-shirt, wear the headscarf, get have even your hair sticking out, it's fine. Um, yeah, you have to wear the headscarf, and that you just have to, okay? And um, yeah, so like that one just really, really surprised me. Really like, oh, I just didn't think it would be so normal and just normal, fun place.
SPEAKER_00:What's your thoughts on it now? Like, do you think it's safe to go and travel there now? Because they know you're gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we've we've just launched ever. So yeah, I cancelled the trip in September and actually really regret cancelling that because I cancelled it so impulsively because of what was happening, and I think it was the right decision at that time. But I think if we had waited a few weeks by the time the September trip actually came around, it actually would have been totally fine to go. We've also just launched two trips for next year in case you want to join. Yeah, so we've just launched two more Iran trips for next year. So early May and end of May. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So check it out. Um, yeah, and you know, check out the page because in the next few weeks we'll be launching another interesting destination, which I won't mention yet.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Okay, so what has been the easiest destination that you've traveled to with your with your crew? Yeah, yeah. Um there's a few easy ones.
SPEAKER_01:Um Peru, Colombia, South Africa. For me, those are really, really easy. They're super safe countries.
SPEAKER_00:I know probably it's not everyone. Yeah, it's like it's such a bad report. Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01:No, they're so safe and like just so much fun. Very easy to organize trips there. And Namibia is another one, another African one, Namibia, um, Sri Lanka.
SPEAKER_00:People love Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, it's so close to here as well. Yeah, it's so easy, and it's just some areas are just so untouched. It's just so diverse. The people are so amazing. People are amazing, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I love Sri Lanka, and that's a very popular trip. So, yeah, we've got definitely quite a lot of destinations that are quite easy and very safe, and like people don't have to go to the extreme ones.
SPEAKER_00:What are some of the cultural differences that you've ha experienced that you thought, oh geez, that's a bit odd, but uh I Oh god, yeah. Because I remember being told a few different things of like before going to a country, and you're like, you know, you don't know these things until you go to the country. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So is there any even like stuff like um handing over money with the wrong hand? Like I remember in Nepal, you know, because uh if you hand it over with the wrong hand, it can be seen as like really, really rude. So you always need to like just little things like that, like make sure you're not losing your left hand that you're handing it over with your right hand. Um uh and taking your shoes off, you know, that's a big one. A lot of countries are just shoes, especially Muslim countries, you know, shoes are just taboo, like absolutely and Japan, that's huge. You know, Japan, a lot of bowing, a lot of taking your shoes off, you know, allowed talk loud in Japan. That's a huge one. And you got a group of 14 people, you gotta control as well. You got a group of 14 Irish girls, and like it's really hard to tell them not to chat on the train. You know, like you're not really supposed to chat on the train in Japan. You gotta be quiet. Yeah. Talk, talk in a whisper, you know. Um, so a lot of stuff like that actually is is sometimes tricky, like just kind of controlling the group, but you want them to have fun, like they're there to have fun, but the culture dictates that you have to be quiet. So it's kind of it can be kind of tricky like that. Um, and then food things, you know, obviously in some countries, like what we would consider normal food, they wouldn't consider normal food.
SPEAKER_00:What's been the craziest thing that you've eaten?
SPEAKER_01:Uh well, like for example, on the Namibia trip. Really sorry to any vegetarians that are listening to this, but on the Namibia trip on the first night, we have a uh we have a five-animal platter. Um, so it's five animals. So we have crocodile, uh, zebra, springbog, uh, wild beast. I don't know what the fifth one is. But they're all wild animals, but they are there's certain animals in Namibia that there's too many of. And so they have to do controlled culling, essentially. Zebra is actually one of those animals. So I know for us you'd be like, oh, that's crazy, but tastes like steak. And I'm gonna get in so much trouble for saying that. But it's not, yeah, it's like obviously totally legal and it's in a controlled environment. And they said if there's too many of an animal, that can cause um that can cause problems for the environment as well. Yeah. So um, those are some weird ones. And like, yeah, I mean, in China they eat like just absolutely everything. So we I've been to China and mainly just tasting stuff, you know. But um, yeah, definitely mainly we meat stuff, you know, just weird meat stuff. And then I think for Irish people, Irish people love like breast meat, and like they don't even like dark chicken. Like, so like when you go to some countries and they're like, oh, oh, I don't know what that is. I'm like, it's literally just chicken, but it's not the chicken breast. Like, it's okay, you can eat it. Like, don't don't stress about it, you know. Um, but yeah, and like a lot of the trips as well, like um not really cultural, well, it is a cultural difference, but we we we meet a lot of tribes, you know, like really, really remote tribes. Like we we do a trip to Papua New Guinea, and actually there's a girl with me here in Dubai, and um, she was on that Papua New Guinea trip. We were talking about it last night, and we were reminiscing because, like, I don't know if you know this, but there's a tribe in Papua New Guinea that only stopped being cannibals 50 years ago. No, yeah in the 70s, and that's what they say. So, like you don't know. Yeah, so like we met some like really, really interesting tribes in Papua New Guinea, and you know, each one we met, you you'd be like, This is crazy, like this, this like this is real life, you know.
SPEAKER_00:In a scenario like that, did you ever feel unsettled? Again, no, I guess I'm too desensitized.
SPEAKER_01:Like, you know, I don't look good, I'm not gonna be get eaten. That's I didn't do anything wrong. Um no, we I really didn't. Like, I'd be more scared in a place that'd have guns or something like that, you know. In that I just yeah, I just didn't. But yeah, all the different tribes we met there, and then like we were in Vanuatu uh two months ago, and they have something there called cargo cults, and it's very specific to the Pacific Islands, and it's just fascinating. You learn about these different this one tribe there that worships Prince Philip, or they were worshipping Prince Philip as a as uh as their god. I know it makes no sense. Like, how did this tiny tribe in Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands think that Prince Philip is a god, but they have this whole story behind it, and they have all these framed photos all over the village of Prince Philip and now Prince Charles or King Charles, should I say. Um, so yeah, like definitely going to these tribes and meeting them and learning about like the way they live and like their their traditional dress, and like we met one tribe that like part of their tradition is to shoot a bow and arrow through each other's tongues. Like, you know, uh actually, like where we're going next week, and also uh when we do a trip to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, their national sport there is kokbaro. Well again, I'm very sorry to vegetarians listening to this, but their national sport is like polo on horseback, but instead of a ball, it's a dead goat carcass. That's the ball, and that's their national sport.
SPEAKER_00:I didn't know that I do know they're into equestrian, but not to that. Yeah, look it up.
SPEAKER_01:Kok boru. And they have a huge uh World Nomad Games, which is for the nomadic people of like Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and they have it's like their own mini Olympics, and that's the main sport that they play, and all the different countries, uh Afghanistan, all the different countries come in and they play. And yeah, you're throwing this giant carcass and all the way up and down a pitch on horseback. It's heavy, it's like 30 kg, you know. The men are small, you know, and so yeah, some crazy, just different sports and different traditions, and like we then another one at that is uh the rejected princess upside down archery competition. No, so they explain that one. So it's um uh in some of these countries, uh you can it's kind of it's hard to understand, but you can kind of become a princess when you're like 13, 14, but they're only looking for specific people that are say very pale and have certain eyes and certain hair. And so some of the kids, their parents will like apply for them to become a princess, they get rejected as princesses, and then there this competition is only for people that got rejected as princesses, and then it's upside down archery. So they do a handstand and then they do the archery with their feet. No, like how is that a sport? No, yeah, so like it is fascinating. Like, that's like it's not like it's not like a cultural difference in that, like it's not weird, like you know, weird or whatever, but yeah, it's fascinating. Like you go to these countries and you learn about stuff that you never in a million years would have even thought was something real, you know what I mean? So tell me this.
SPEAKER_00:Are you writing a book? Because this is yeah, you know, I really want to because whilst it's fresh in your head and you're living in the moment, the smell, the taste, the touch.
SPEAKER_01:I just think this is I really, really want to, and like, yeah, everyone keeps saying it to me. I just gotta find the time. Because I feel like you almost have to stop traveling to find the time to write the book. So maybe a bit next year. I'm definitely gonna try and travel a little bit less. Next year.
SPEAKER_00:Do you ever crave a bit more like maybe you find stability in like the travel of chaos?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I feel like I do. I yeah, I know what you're gonna say. Like, do you ever miss routine and maybe but I do live in Bali. I have a house in Bali, and all my friends are in Bali, and that is my base, and I go back there a lot. And sometimes I do wish I was there longer, but then the minute I get back within three weeks, I'm bored. I'm bored. I have a lovely routine when I'm there. I play paddle, I play a lot of paddle, and you know, go to the beach and watch sunset, and I work and I'm on my laptop, and then I just get bored. I mean, it would be great if I didn't get bored and I could just stay there and live a normal life, but I crave adventure and interesting countries and interesting stories, and I don't think I can last more than a month without traveling.
SPEAKER_00:Would you say you're addicted to travel? Definitely. Yeah, yeah, definitely. How does travel and make you feel?
SPEAKER_01:Just so happy, just so excited, and like I get an adrenaline rush. I think every time I go somewhere new, I get an adrenaline rush, and not even somewhere new, like for example, I love South Africa. I've been to South Africa like 12 times. I'm going back there in like six weeks, and like I'm so excited to get back to South Africa. Like, I know where I want to eat, I know which restaurants I want to go to, like, I can't wait for specific drives. Like, I can't wait to be on this road, driving this road. Like, I'm excited about it. I'm being more excited about that. Like Christmas, don't even care. I don't even like I don't even know where I'm gonna be for Christmas. Actually, I'm thinking to fly on Christmas Day because it will bring me more joy than sitting in my house. Yeah. I know it sounds like I sound like the Grinch. Uh, I'm not into Christmas. I'm not into Christmas. Uh so yeah, and I heard flights are really cheap on Christmas Day.
SPEAKER_00:Do you think do you think Christmas is it sounds for me as an outsider looking looking in, it sounds like you just want to do your own thing. You do not want someone to put you inside a box. And I feel like Christmas Day is the box that you don't want to sit inside.
SPEAKER_01:It could be, yeah. I think when I was younger and like when my grandparents were still alive, and when we used to have very big Christmases with like, you know, a large family. I think I enjoyed it then. But then there was kind of a few years where I mean, I love my parents. I get on so well with them and my sister and stuff, but it just I guess it just didn't feel as special for me. And it just felt like a lot of stress with all of the cooking and so much money had as well. I think for so many years I was so broke, so that was probably like negative connotations. Like, if you're really broke, the pressure of Christmas. And obviously, now not really broke, but I still like give me a lot of people. I will send home presents, I'll do all that, like I'll do that, but I just not that into it. I think I'm not very materialistic. Like, I would always rather spend my money on experiences, and that's kind of how I lived my whole life. So I guess like for me, Christmas and the way it is in Ireland, like it is very materialistic, and how much money you're spending, and people over and it's on stuff that none of my family want any of the things, probably that I get them either. So I just I just feel like that part of it just waste of money.
SPEAKER_00:So I I agree with you. I think experiences are like priceless, and I think traveling teaches you so many things that you're not gonna read or learn from a book. For sure, for sure. So, what is different about Janet before she travelled to the Janet Now? I just feel like I can't really remember that, Janet.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, I mean, before I was though, I would have been in my teens, you know. Yeah, so I don't know. Like I just and I still think I was always adventurous. Like, even when I was, I think I was 13 and I persuaded my friends to like hire a uh a caravan in West Cork and like how my parents let us go, I have no idea. But we were 13 and we went off for a week and went down to this caravan and like you know, by the beach and whatever, cooked our own food and all that. So I think I was always like adventurous, even say if it was just within Ireland. Yeah. So I I just don't remember. We did travel a lot as a family, even this year. Like, you know, talking of experiences, I always say, okay, I always say presents over presents. So like if I fly home for Christmas, that's your gift. Yeah. Me. But lately I've been getting my parents' trips instead of anything else. So like uh it was my mom's 70th birthday this year. So I took her to Peru and the Galapagos for her dream trip. And three weeks ago, I ha I hiked every space camp with my dad. Congratulations. That's incredible. That's such an achievement. Yeah, major achievement for my dad as well. So he is now a local celebrity where where he lives, and I think everyone is so, so impressed with him because he's 69, you know, and he's hiked every space camp. It's like one of the hardest hikes in the world, you know. So, so, so impressive.
SPEAKER_00:How how do you stay present when you're constantly on the move and looking for the next trip? It's hard. It is hard.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think I need to learn to be better at it. Um, I think just putting the phone away is a huge one. Yeah, putting the phone away, putting the phone on, do not disturb, you know, whether that's at mealtimes or with heading out with your friends, like leave the work phone, leave the work phone. I do have two phones, that helps, like, but leave the work phone at home. Um, but I'm not gonna lie, it's hard. I'm nearly always like here's an example like this is wild, but like straight after every space camp, which Was a group trip. So I brought 12 people. Three days afterwards, I was organizing and leading a group trip to Madagascar. Three days afterwards. More normal people go home and have to relax for two weeks, right? That would all be fine if the political situation in Madagascar was fine, which it decided not to be while I'm hiking to Eperspace Camp. So we're like six days into the trek, and everyone else is like one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. My dad is like suffering from altitude sickness. He's like one front. And I'm like, oh my God, they've cancelled all the flights to Madagascar because there's been a military coup and they've just the president of Madagascar has just left the country. And now I don't know if my trip's going to go ahead. And my dad's like one foot in front of the other, and I'm freaking out. And I'm like managing a business and like managing this trip while hiking to Air Force Space Camp. And yeah, I had to sort with that. I had to like deal with my group potentially thinking that the trip in literally eight days' time is going to be canceled because there's been a military coup and there's a huge protest in the capital. And literally Emirates and Air France cancelled all flights to Madagascar. You know? And at the same time, I had a group in Jordan, you know, and they're like, oh, what time is our airport pickup tomorrow? And I'm like, I don't know, I'm on my way to Everest Base Camp. But like that's not good enough, of course, because that's my tour company. I am responsible for your airport transfers. So yeah, there was like a lot going on. And like I juggle a lot at all times. So in some ways, like you could say, oh, that's kind of bad because you weren't present. But like I was present for more for most of the trip. I just, when I got internet, I had to do some work.
SPEAKER_00:So during these times, do you ever feel like that's it? I've had enough. Has there been any moment where you're just like, oh, I can't do this anymore? I'm just gonna stop blogging. Like I just live a normal life and just enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the odd time, the odd time when I like when I'm really, really stressed about it. When I say normal, I don't think there's no everyone has a different normal. Yeah, yeah. The very odd time. Honestly, I just love my job so much. I truly do. And I love like it's so rewarding because you see how much the trips change people. So, like, so I mean all these WhatsApp groups, and we have like a WhatsApp group for every trip. And like I love seeing their messages. Like, we had a girl recently uh that went on an Namibia trip, and she, yeah, she posted in the group and said, This trip changed my life. She said, I've you girls, I wasn't even on the trip. Like I I I take no credit whatsoever, but like, you know, we organized the trip. And she said, Yeah, like it was just a life-changing trip. And you, your, you girls and the connections I made persuaded me to quit my job that she'd been in for 20 years and was miserable. And she finally handed in her notice. And like, you know, there's a there's so many stories like this. There's so many stories of like just people saying, like, oh, going on that trip changed my life and gave me the confidence to travel or gave me confidence to quit my job and friendships made. So, no, I mean, I do when I get really, really stressed, and it's normally something to do with Iran or Iraq or you know, one of these ones, um, and I get like really, really, really stressed. Yeah, at the very odd time, I'll be like, Why am I doing this? This is this is this stress level is too high. This is this is not healthy. Yeah. And I am now very conscious about stress levels and about managing stress because I had periods in the last two years where I made myself very ill from stress. So now I know, I know my limits now. I have a team as well, like they help me, but no, I know my limits. And so, like, if something's stressing me out and we we will figure out a way to solve the problem, sometimes we will literally just throw money at the problem. You know, we'll we'll go from making a profit to making a loss on a trip. This has literally happened in in the last few weeks just to make the problem go away, essentially, you know, to make sure that the group still has a good time, that my stress level goes back to a zero. Just take the money, fix the problem. Yeah. It has to be done sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:Because this is called the detached podcast. What would you detach yourself away from that's limiting you today?
SPEAKER_01:Ooh, okay. Um I don't I don't think I have a good answer. I think like I just a lot of the time I just say like I don't have time for that. Like I don't have time for dating. I don't have time to write a book, or I don't have time. And it's bullshit if I can say that. It's such bullshit. Like, how do I not have time for that? But I have time to watch four episodes of criminal minds every evening. Literally. I love Netflix. Um, yeah, so I just think sometimes like I always say, oh, I just don't have time for it. And I think that's really, really bad. Like, I I think I really need to detach from that, especially to do with writing the book. Because I I think the longer I leave it like that, it might not never happen. God, do I have some good stories? So yeah, maybe that. Just like always telling myself that I don't have time for it. Dating, especially. Oh, I don't have time for that. Well, when are you gonna make time?
SPEAKER_00:I know, I know. Dayton is a universal thing. I think that's the universal thing. I think people are becoming are enjoying their lives more that they've taken the focus away from hyper-independent.
SPEAKER_01:Like, I know that I'm too independent. I know that for a fact. So maybe that's another one, like detach from my independent hyper independence, but it's really hard. And like people often say, like, oh, but you travel too much, that's why. And then I say to them, Oh, yeah, how's it going for you? Yeah, like you live in Valley, you never leave. How's it going? They're like, Oh, I'm still single. So, like, I don't know. You could blame it on the travel, of course you could. I I more I mainly do. I'm like, oh, it's because I travel too much. But I've got friends in Ireland that are still single. Of course I do. Like, I've got friends everywhere, and they're all complaining, all struggling.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know. I think it's a 2025 thing. I d I don't think it's a situational thing. I think it's like a society's thing now that people just aren't as needy for it, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:You know, they're just like they're living such a good life and they have a really good friendship group and a really rewarding job, really rewarding travel. So yeah, I just haven't uh I will see. We'll see.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna hold you to that. I'll hold you to that on an Iranian trip. Yes, yes, you have to join. You have to join. You would love it for sure. Anyway, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. You've been amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.