One year ago, Montana photographer Andy Austin bought a converted van and moved his life onto the road. Since then he has chased countless sunrises and sunsets, dealt with check engine lights, had coffee over campfires, and collected endless stories under the stars, sometimes down by the river, sometimes in Walmart parking lots. Today, he joins us on the show to share the highs and lows of the not-always-glamorous experience he wouldn't exchange for anything: the reality behind the romanticized #vanlife.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/80

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Game show? Yes! Because I love games, I am going to be hosting travel themed game shows more regularly on the BMT podcast. For each game show episode, I will have guests who work in the travel industry, whether they are bloggers, podcasters, or other travel media influencers, all of whom are well-experienced in travel, with plenty of stories and advice to share. We will take turns answering randomly selected questions about travel experiences and preferences, some of which were asked by YOU in the BMT Community. Some are light and fun, some are big and serious, all are entertaining.

Today's guests are Derek Loudermilk, host of the Art of Adventure podcast, and Hayden Lee, host of Travel Stories Podcast. Hayden is also our audio engineer for the BMT podcast, so for the first time, we get to hear his voice on the show! Join us for a round of laughs, interesting facts about ourselves as travelers, thoughts about travel, stories, advice, and more.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/79

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Two years ago, John Owed declared (on the podcast) his intent to break away from his office job to explore the world and realign his daily life with his personal priorities. He is from Ohio and was working with a company in Australia at the time. According to him, his life was a script written by someone else. After his declaration and change of mindset, he rewrote everything, and he's here to share about his last two years of establishing himself on his own in Australia, and even meeting the girl of his dreams.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/78

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Remember Maddy from episode 66? She was about to graduate college and pick up her life and move to Israel, where she had accepted a teaching job at an American school. Now, nearly a year later, she is here to share about her experience teaching English and her life in Israel so far and how much has changed, including what she thought her career path was going to be.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/77

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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That's right, they're back! We first met the Bensons in episode 67, when they were planning to sell their house and hit the road for a year with their three boys. This adventurous family of five has now been on the road for six months and is here to catch us up on their experience thus far. Today we get to see how things have turned out for them on their travels, including the good, the fabulous, the bad, and the very ugly. Find out what they have learned, where they're going next, and how this trip has changed everything for them.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/76

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Two years ago, young professional and adventurer Chris New decided to take his life on the road long-term. He is slowly making his way through our beautiful continent of North America, in his truck, which he recently took on an Alaska road trip. I caught up with him after he spent a few months exploring nearly every road Alaska has to offer, and he's here today to share advice about itinerary, budgeting, activities, and more in the last frontier.

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/75

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Today we head across the pond to Chișinău, Moldova, where entrepreneur and American expat David Smith is making positive changes in community development by starting his own small businesses. He started as a Peace Corps volunteer and has set up a life there, and he's here today to share his trials and triumphs along the way, along with some meat, beer, and goofy people stories.

 

View full show notes http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/74

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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Jodi Ettenberg left her job as a corporate lawyer to pursue her dream of traveling the world for a year. That was over eight years ago, and she is still on the road. In today's episode we get the inside story about why she left, what struggles she has faced along the way (including an emergency trip home), what she has learned about traveling with celiac disease, how she uses food to connect with people and cultures, and why she isn't planning on settling back down any time soon.

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/73

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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No matter what your individual fears may be, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is a great exercise for personal growth. I have been using adventure travel to challenge myself lately, and in this special episode we dive into my journey of recently attempting two via ferratas, even though I have a pretty significant fear of heights. Follow me on my journey as I share what I was feeling, get a sense of what was going on in my head during the tough parts, why I wanted to attempt these via ferratas in the first place, what it took for me to get through them, and why I believe the takeaways and lessons I learned can be applied to anyone, anywhere, in experiences all across life. We can leverage travel to safely find these challenges and push ourselves to be stronger, more courageous, and more confident. 

 

View full show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/72

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

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In today's episode, we move across the pond - westward, with Ian Ord, a Canadian expat who built a new life in Thailand. Though he only planned to stay for a few months at the beginning, he is still there over five years later, with a couple of businesses, a new fiancee, and a life full of adventure. Hear his story about how he did it, struggles he faced along the way, and whether he plans to stay in Thailand in the future.

 

View show notes at http://thebudgetmindedtraveler.com/71

Take a leap with Jackie IRL - join us in Greece and Norway in 2025 at JUMPadventures.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands