Most memorable journeys

I met Monica in a Facebook group of Swiss living abroad because I wanted to talk to someone who was born in my homeland but grew up in another country and so I asked in the group if someone would be interested in talking to me.

Monica came forward, not only was she born in Switzerland but also in my hometown Lucerne but only until she three years old and I wanted to talk to her about a recent trip down memory lane with her family.

When I started doing a little research, which I always do before I speak to my guests, I discovered something amazing: Monica and her husband William are both survivors of the TANS Peru airliner that crashed in 2005 near Pucallpa, Peru. They were on their honeymoon. In the crash, over 40 people were killed while 57 survived, some of them ended up badly burnt. The plane crashed in Peru's northern jungle during a storm.

Definitely worth listening to.

His Instagram handle is @aptraveler and we met on Clubhouse. He has explored 107 countries so far and loves the world. His Swiss roots come through when he talks about punctuality, correctness and being polite.

As a cancer survivor, Andre has realised how precious our time on earth is and has decided to see it all and savour every moment. His stories are heartwarming and colourful.

His pictures have won several photo competitions even though he just uses an Iphone 12.

Initially I thought he was a country counter but he is not, he enjoys every country with all his senses, find out and listen.

I met Irene in a Facebook group of Swiss Women Abroad and loved her positive and joyful manner. In September 2018, my kids and I travelled to Canada and started a road trip from Calgary to Vancouver through Banff and Jasper National Park. On this occasion, we met with Irene for dinner and she gave us lots of great tips for our tour.

When I asked Irene to be my podcast guest, she was a little hesitant and not so sure because she felt that her English may not be good enough or that she won't be interesting enough. Little does she know that she has so many amazing stories to tell, like that she visited Zurich airport with her parents at the age of 6 and ended up unexpectedly on flight. She tells stories about her life as an au pair girl in England or how she invited her husband for a dinner at the River Cafe in New York and sat next to Steve Martin.

She talks about her work as a bus driver through the Canadian Parks and driving a school bus in the Canadian winter when the temperatures are way below zero. She also talks about her love for baking and that life is not meant to live in only one place.

She is amazingly entertaining and I so enjoyed recording this episode, It's definitely one that you must listen to. Check out her cakes and creations.

I met James Hammond because he invited me to be his guest on his travel podcast "Winging it" where he talks to travel aficionados about anything to do with globetrotting.

Originally from the UK, he is currently based in Vancouver, Canada but he has plans, big plans indeed. So far he has visited 50 countries and talks about his experiences and the different kind of travellers he has met.

James has a great sense of humour and talks about things as they are. His stories are inspiring and will make you book your next trip.

Here are the answers to his quick fire favorite things

Quick fire favourite things

Favourite beach? – Anywhere on Aitutaki in the Cook Islands

Favourite coffee? – Tanna Coffee in Vanuatu

Favourite city? – New York City, USA

Favourite trek? – Poon Hill, Nepal

Favourite country? – Japan

Favourite party place? – Thailand

Favourite landmark? – Temples in Bagan, Myanmar

Favourite cuisine/food? – India

Favourite activity? – Skydiving in Taupo, NZ

Favourite country to live in? – Australia

Favourite lake? – Lake Moraine, Alberta, Canada

Which country is the best value for your money? – Bolivia

https://jameshammond.org/wingingitpodcast/

Martina Kwan is an International Best Selling Author. Born in Hong Kong to a German mother and Chinese father, Martina Kwan was destined for a life that was different. She spent her childhood in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, but credits living in war torn Beirut, Lebanon between the ages of 8-10, as an experience that defined much of her fearlessness today. Her unique path in life has shaped her into a woman of drive and determination.

After earning two Master of Science degrees, she worked in the male dominated finance and accounting fields in New York City with KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Wall Street’s Lehman Brothers. Eventually, she landed Senior Management roles with Ian Schrager properties, the Hudson Hotel and the Paramount Hotel. Ultimately, Martina's strong entrepreneurial spirit led her to leave the corporate world to open her own business, the award-winning furniture company, Neoteric Luxury Outdoor Collections. She had previously won Telly and Emmy awards with the first company she founded, So! Animation.​

Daring to be different is what drives Martina today...literally! Three years ago, at the age of 50, Martina knew it was time to take a car racing hobby she occasionally enjoyed to the next level. Proving that it’s never too late, she decided to become a race car driver.

Her marque of choice is Porsche, which she drives exclusively. She started going to racetracks in California in 2015 with the Porsche Owners Club and quickly picked up the right line around a track. She’s earned a first place with the Porsche Owners Club MS racing class in 2017 and a first in the Club’s M4 racing class as well as picking up the Most Improved Time Trial Driver Award. She holds track records and is a National Certified Porsche Club of America Driving Instructor. Martina’s goal is to inspire young women and girls to be themselves and Dare to be Different!

https://www.martinakwan.com/

Did you know that Veronica Tan was an arms dealer? (only joking but in fact in her first job she worked for a company that was selling arms. Her first long distance flight ever was from Singapore to Athens (Greece) which is very near me and I hope that she'll visit me in Cyprus soon.

Veronica co-founded Success Resources with her husband Richard Tan in 1992 and little did they know that their company would turn into the world's largest education seminar company. Annually they host and produce 500+ entrepreneurial events across 37 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, USA, Europe, Middle East, South America, and the UK. SR will empower 350,000+ entrepreneurs this year alone and have impacted 12 million people over its history.

Success Resources has attracted internationally acclaimed speakers for its events, including Tony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, Michael Porter, Tom Brady, Sara Blakely and former US President Bill Clinton.

Veronica's mission is to be a force in helping individuals, enterprises, and organizations to succeed. She believes in life-long learning and with Success Resources she works to establish this culture globally. She loves discovering new places and combining business and pleasure.

Jennifer K. Hill is a successful entrepreneur, author, speaker, TV & Radio host, and thought leader. She has written two books, and has authored two popular white papers.

In this episode, she shares many travel stories, covid adventures with us and how she moved to Lisbon.

Hill built and sold her first company by the age of 38 to Marcum Search LLC (a subsidiary of Marcum LLP), where she became President of their California Division. She has hosted popular TV shows on Awake TV Network with Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Rollin McCraty, Dr. Dain Heer, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr. John Demartini and many other leaders from around the world.

Hill has also moderated events including a 2020 talk at UCI with Dean Bill Maurer, Professor Don Hoffman, and Dr. Deepak Chopra. She recently hosted the Global Coherence Initiative’s largest event of the year with over 600 people from around the world, which featured Gregg Braden, Howard Martin, and other noted thought leaders.

Hill has worked for years with renowned celebrity vocal coach, Arthur Samuel Joseph. She recently collaborated with Joseph to create the “Achieve, Reclaim and Command your Destiny” program.

When she is not hosting or speaking, Hill loves to give back and has built two schools in 3rd world countries.

She recently co-founded Om-Heals.com, an energy medicine marketplace platform to connect energy practitioners with users seeking to reconnect with their health and vitality.

https://www.vocalmasteryforleaders.com/

https://metabizics.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkhill/

https://www.instagram.com/jenhillspeaker

I love talking to Caroline and we zoom quite often, this time we recorded our conversation and turned it into a podcast episode. She gives great natural heath tips and makes every exchange valuable.

Caroline is a trained Master Herbalist, Naturopath, Nutrition Consultant, Holistic and Behavioural Iridologist with over 25 years of experience in the natural health field.

We are talking about how she grew up in Oman, how she ended up in a small village in Cyprus looking after a huge herb garden and creating her own little heaven on earth but also how she found the love of her life in Cyprus and travelled in a double cabin car over land from Cyprus via Turkey, Bulgaria etc back to the UK where she lives with her husband and three children and works now.

Caroline is well trained in seeing the connections between symptom manifestation, their physical, mental and emotional origins and the root cause of any dis-ease in the body. She works by unravelling the layers, bringing you back into symptom less health-filled balance.

She believes strongly, “Your health is your greatest wealth” and educates and guides her patients to achieve this.

I am talking to Paul Lambis who is an award-winning screenwriter, author, playwright and director, born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Educated at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, he is based in Cyprus and is the Founder and CEO of Silver Thespian, an independent theatre and film production holding company.

As an established and award-winning playwright in Cyprus, Lambis has written, produced and directed theatrical productions such as 74 and Melina: The Last Greek Goddess to widespread critical acclaim.

​In 2016, Lambis received the “Best International Screenplay” award from the Screenwriter’s Guild of Greece for his full-length feature 74 – based on his original theatrical production of the same title.

In 2018, his theatrical production Melina: The Last Greek Goddess received first prize at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York and was awarded the “Best International Show” on Broadway. In 2019, his multiple award-winning screenplay 74 received first place for "Best Screenplay" at the 14th International Cyprus Film Festival. The screenplay is currently in development and planned to be filmed on location in Cyprus.

​Paul Lambis is also the host of #Culturescope - a lifestyle and entertainment web show, exclusive to Cyprus Mail.

https://www.paullambis.com/

Dimitris Pierides is 85, an absolutely charming gentleman of the old sort with a beautiful mind and a heart full of amazing stories. We talked about Art, cars, Cyprus and life, definitely worth listening to.

He is the son of one of the most emblematic families of Cyprus, born in 1937, luckily in a house that mostly resembled a museum and belonged to his grandfather Dimitirs Pierides, who also bore the name of his own grandfather, a renowned scholar of the 19th century, who was one of Kapodistria’s partners and an antiquities collector. Their colonial home in Larnaka was filled with antiquities that on one hand made it hard for little Dimitris to play in the house, but on the other, prepared him to welcome his illustrious destiny. “Those were the years of innocence” he remembers. “Growing up in a big home, filled to the brim with ancient Cypriot artifacts collected by five generations of Pierides’, it was obviously not the ideal playground for my friends and I.

At the age of 18, Dimitris Pierides enrolled at the University of Lausanne where he studied Economics and Law. He soon became very popular and during the period between 1957 and 1960 he served as chairman of the Greek Students’ Union. According to him, those were wonderful years that formed the basis of his subsequent cosmopolitan spirit. “I studied in the heart of Europe, in an exquisitely civilized place. I frequently travelled by car to many of the neighboring countries, very often to Paris and London. I also travelled to Germany, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. As for Italy, the European jewel, I have visited her dozens of times over the years” he adds with emphasis.

In the summer of 1974, the Turkish invasion changed everything. Dimitris Pierides emerged from the ashes, not unscathed though: “A huge part of my fortune (approximately 85%) was simply gone in just a single morning of August 1974. I was bluntly told then, that whatever I had created during my most productive years, no longer belonged to me” he remembers. But the great damage to Cyprus’ historical heritage had already started in the mid-60’s. According to him it was some years before the invasion, in 1964 to be precise, when Turkish-Cypriots isolated themselves in their villages and systematic large-scale illegal excavations took place, making antiquity smuggling a thriving activity. “I managed then and for a period of 10 years, to prevent the smuggling of over 600 unique ancient Cypriot artifacts, by buying them”. From then on, “things went from bad to worse”.

https://www.visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/discovercyprus/culture/museums-galleries/111-pierides-museum-bank-of-cyprus-cultural-foundation