Travel With Meaning

This is a solo cast episode where Founder of Travel With Meaning, Mike Schibel shares about his yearly family summer reunion at their cabin in Northern Minnesota. Mike gets real and personal with his experience and why this year's trip was so different than any other before. We'll also hear some of Mike's thoughts and wisdom around making choices while being on the open road and the mindset of a traveler. As Season One of the TWM Podcast comes to a close Mike reflects back and reveals about the road ahead for Season Two with a new partner creating inspiration for future episodes. All this and so much more on this episode of the Travel With Meaning Podcast.

Jesse Billauer (born February 24, 1979) is a well-known surfer from Pacific Palisades, California.

Billauer suffered an accident at the age of 17 on March 25, 1996, hitting his head on a shallow sandbar after being knocked off his surfboard by a wave. The force broke his neck, severing his spinal cord at the C6 level and instantly rendered him a quadriplegic.

Billauer was told by doctors that he would never surf again. However, Billauer eventually did return to surfing, adapting his surfing technique and equipment to the situation of his current condition. He has become a role model guide to many other surfers, both professional and amateur, on how to live life to the fullest, despite a life-changing injury. Through these efforts, Jesse has gained sponsorships from companies including Hurley, Channel Islands Surfboards (who developed a "Jesse Billauer" model), LoFric, Wavejet and Shoe City.

After graduating from Malibu High School, Billauer eventually enrolled at San Diego State University, with an emphasis in Communications. He graduated in 2002. He is also a motivational speaker, and is Executive Director of the non profit foundation he founded, "Life Rolls On." Through this foundation, Jesse is taking a leading role in awareness and activism for spinal cord injury related quality of life programs.

The 2003 Docs-Film Step Into Liquid featured his story and his friendship with Rob Machado Billauer was also featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Dateline NBC, Good Morning America, While You Were Out, E! True American Story and more. In 2004 he won the 10News (San Diego) Leadership Award for his commitment to Life Rolls On Foundation. His life story is featured in the book Bouncing Forward: Transforming Bad Breaks into Breakthroughs.

In 2005 Billauer became the first quadriplegic surfer to surf the dangerous waves of Cloudbreakin Fiji. He now surfs utilizing a power-assisted surfboard created by Wavejet.

The inaugural "Jesse's Story on Tour" speaking tour began in April 2006. This Tour has traversed the country and Jesse has delivered his message of Overcoming Adversity to over 100,000 people.

In December 2006 Billauer broke his femur while surfing large waves on the North Shore of Oahu (Hawaii). This injury led to the development of improved equipment for disabled surfers. He has recovered and is back in the water surfing again.

In September 2013 he took over as Executive Director and CEO of Life Rolls On Foundation.

On December 6, 2013 Billauer became engaged to his longtime girlfriend Samanta Pearson and on October 26, 2014 he married her at the historical Adamson House in Malibu. They Live in Los Angeles with two beautiful twin boys.

Richard Bangs is co-founder and Chief Adventure Officer of http://www.Steller.co

Richard Bangs has been a pioneer in travel, digital media, e-commerce, and other frontiers.

In the early 90s Richard produced the first internet travel site http://www.mtsobek.com, the first travel CD ROM (The Adventure Disc), and the first virtual expeditions http://www.terra-quest.com.

He was founder and editor-in-chief of Mungo Park, a pioneering Microsoft travel publishing effort. He also founded www.terra-quest.com. He was part of the founding executive team of Expedia.com (www.expedia.com), and served as its Editor-at-Large. He was creator and publisher of Expedia Travels Magazine (published in partnership with Ziff-Davis), and executive producer of Expedia Radio, and founder and executive director of Expedia Cafes. He also served as president of Outward Bound; Founded Well-Traveled.com for Slate, and was founding editor and executive producer of Great Escapes, another Microsoft Travel initiative (www.greatescapes.msnbc.com). He also ran and founded First and Best for MSN, and founded Sobek Expeditions, which in the early 1990s merged with Mountain Travel to become Mountain Travel Sobek (www.mtsobek.com).

Richard Bangs has oft been called the father of modern adventure travel, and the pioneer in travel that makes a difference, travel with a purpose. He has spent 30 years as an explorer and communicator, and along the way led first descents of 35 rivers around the globe, including the Yangtze in China and the Zambezi in Southern Africa.

He recently co-directed the IMAX Film, Mystery of the Nile, and co-authored the Putnam book of the same name. His recent book, The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death and the Transformation of Wild Water, won the National Outdoor Book Award in the literature category, and the Lowell Thomas Award for best book.

Richard has published more than 1000 magazine articles, 19 books, produced a score

of documentaries and several CD-ROMs; and has lectured at the

Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, the Explorers Club and many other notable venues. He writes a semi-regular feature with the NYTimes. Richard served as executive producer of Richard Bangs Adventures on Yahoo.

He executive produced and hosted the Emmy-winning PBS series, Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose (www.adventureswithpurpose.tv), and his companion book, Adventures with Purpose, won the 2007 best book award from NATJA. His latest books are Quest for the Sublime (2008), and Quest for the Kashah (2009).

Richard won the Mark Dubois lifetime achievement conservation award in 2007.

Richard won the CINE Golden Eagle Award in 2008 for the special, Quest for Kaitiakitanga, and six Tele Awards for Quest for the Nile, Quest for the Sublime, and Quest for the Kasbah. Quest for Kaitiakitanga was nominated for an Environmental Media Award ("The Green Oscars") for best documentary, and won the annual Platinum Award from HSMAI (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International). Richard's film Quest for the Viking Spirit won the 2009 Gold Lowell Thomas award for best documentary; and the same award for 2010 for the India show. Also, the series won two Emmys in 2010 in the History/Culture categories.

In 2011 Richard won the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award for Hong Kong: Quest for the Dragon—2011; the 2011 CINE Golden Eagle Award for Greece: Quest for the Gods; and two Telly Awards for Hong Kong: Quest for the Dragon.

Richard's show Quest for Harmony won the Gold in the Destination Marketing Category of the 2012 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards, as well as two Bronze Telly Awards, and the 2012 Lowell Thomas Award. His special, Richard Bangs's South America: Quest for Wonder, won two Telly Awards for 2013; and the Cine Golden Eagle for 2013.

Richard Bangs' Quests for PBS

He is co-founder of www.steller.co, now the world's largest travel storytelling platform and app.

www.richardbangs.com

www.adventureswithpurpose.tv

www.mtsobek.com

www.whitenilemedia.net

Destined to shine, her bright personality, experience, and sunny disposition led Angela to break boundaries in the world of sports and media as the first Asian-American female sportscaster to appear on ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Tennis Channel, Fox Sports and NBC to name a few. During the time Angela hosted the "YAHOO! SPORTS MINUTE", it became the longest running and #1 daily sports show online, won a Webby Award, and garnered over 600 million streams. Angela also co-hosted Season 4 of NBC's "AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR". She is currently host of "FOREIGN IN THE U.S.A." travel show that can be seen nationally and in-flight on Delta Airlines.

As a world traveler, the award-winning journalist's passion for storytelling and love for the oceans led to the creation of her first independent feature documentary, "PLASTIC PARADISE: THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH". Angela directed & executive produced the film which has received critical praise and won 13 awards worldwide and been in over 40 film festivals, with supporters such as former VP Al Gore, Bette Midler, Jackson Browne, Forest Whitaker sharing about it on social media. The film helped start a #plasticparadise social media movement of thousands worldwide taking the pledge to say no to single-use plastics. The film has wide distribution and can currently be seen on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Itunes, Vudu, Pivot TV (US), LA7 (Italy), SBS2 (Australia), Taiwan & Sweden. For more info: www.plasticparadisemovie.com

Angela has appeared in USA Today, Tedx, Fox Business, NYtimes, Maxim, Bleacher Report, Salon.com, Answers.com, Forbes, Audrey Magazine, Men's Fitness, The UK Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal, the cover of Experience Life Magazine and more.

David has been working at the edge of sustainability and the forefront of regenerative architecture for over 35 years. As a systems thinker, he engages a variety of fields through design and believes in expanding the conceptual limits of architecture.

Throughout his career, David has connected the art of building with responsible stewardship of the Earth. A LEED accredited professional, he serves on the board of Heal The Bay and is a member of the City of Santa Monica's Task Force on the Environment. David taught sustainable design and mentored students at his alma mater, SCI-Arc, as well as Art Center College of Design and USC, and currently serves on the Academic Advisory Committee for UCLA's Extension Program.

A lifelong passion for surfing has made David keenly active in issues regarding water quality and access. He and his wife Laura founded Skysource to develop and distribute atmospheric water generation technology, and their efforts culminated in winning the Water Abundance XPRIZE. Since then, they have focused on making communities more resilient through better design, planning, and products. Since the Woolsey Fire devastated their community, David is committed to helping friends and neighbors rebuild their homes and lives.

Welcome to the first official solocast of the Travel With Meaning podcast. I've been enjoying bringing you conversations with interesting guests sharing travel stories and don't worry we have three more interviews coming up with David Hertz, Angela Sun and Richard Bangs to close out season one. As I promised in the intro episode I was going to share some of my travels throughout the year and how travel has always shown up for me when I needed it. Something else I shared in the intro episode was I lost my job the end of January and I was thinking travel was going to play a big part of my life for the next few months. This episode is some of my thoughts, experiences and meaningful moments from travels my travels over the first six months of 2019. I found doing the interviews so much easier. Which means I'm going to have to lean into being even more vulnerable on my next solocast. Hope you enjoy…see you on the open road! Mike

Angela Sun

David Hertz

Richard Bangs

Angelique Velez, growing up in New York City dreaming of seeing the world. The former model and professional poker player life of travel began to unfold in front of her. It was traveling the world playing poker where she crafted the concept of Remarkable Places. Creating a visual vision board through her Instagram account. founder of Remarkable Places. With 55 countries visited to date, Angelique is constantly seeking out the most unique and unknown locations in the world. Remarkable Places is now a full fledge independent travel agency and experience company that brings her audience with her on her remarkable travels. For more information visit remarkableplaces.net

Never one to sit still, Kinga has tested herself for the past 19 years by traveling the globe...scuba diving, free diving, spear fishing, surfing, jumping out of airplanes, spelunking and swimming with sharks as a writer, producer and on camera journalist for networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, USA, AMC, Travel Channel, Fox Sports, Universal Sports, Food Network, Current TV, Syfy, EPIX and National Geographic.

Kinga was born in Warsaw, Poland into a family of explorers and adventurers. Her dad, a geologist, trekked repeatedly across Europe and her mom, trained in botany, can give the Latin name of every plant. Expeditions are in her genes. Her folks believed in regular road trips, camping, cultural exploration, photography and natural sciences. She didn't stand a chance of becoming anything other than the world wandering, adventurous, story telling soul she grew up to be.

She has traveled the world reporting on intense subjects like police corruption in Mexico, gangs in LA, women in the sex trade, humanitarian and environmental causes, world conflict and natural disasters. On the flip side she has explored the night life, festivals and exotic eats of the world's most vibrant cities.

Kinga was one of the original on air journalists to launch Al Gore's Emmy Award winning Current TV, where she covered everything from travel, car culture and entertainment to current issues and hard hitting vanguard journalism stories that put her in the line of fire…sometimes literally.

As an on air producer for Syfy's Legend Quest, a Da-Vinci-Code-meets-Indiana-Jones style adventure show traversing the globe in search of mysterious artifacts, Kinga traveled to 13 countries in two months exploring some of the world's most exotic destinations. The team investigated sunken churches in Ethiopia, trekked the Andes in Peru, went spelunking in the Philippines, dived Mexican cenotes, rode camels through the desert in Jordan, located one of the oldest known churches in a maximum security prison in Israel and braved rough seas to access remote islands off Scotland's west coast.

For National Geographic Kinga co-hosted America's Lost Treasures, traveling across the United States in search of hidden links to America's past, authenticating artifacts and telling the stories that connect our past to our present. The items from the show went on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. Kinga's background includes a minor in anthropology and a fascination with history.

Kinga has done several projects for Travel Channel including The Wild Side with Kinga Philipps, which had her kite surfing, bungee jumping, free diving and mountain biking across the US; the network's yearly special The Trip, where Travel Channel talent team up to show off exciting destinations; Travel Hacks, an animated multi part series written and hosted by Kinga and based on her more off beat and comical adventure travel moments and the award winning THE REAL, a comprehensive locals perspective of exotic destinations...repeatedly nominated and winning Tellys, Webbys and the Cynopsis Model D...among others. THE REAL is currently one of Travel Channel's premier shows on Facebook Watch.

Her latest project with Travel Channel is the new series Off the Map, which will go into production in June 2019 and air in late fall. Kinga, along with co-host JJ Kelley, will travel the world investigating unsolved mysteries that took place in some of the planet's most harrowing and remote locations.

Currently, Kinga is on the road working on the six episode documentary series, Enslaved. As a journalist and scuba diver she is part of the team diving shipwrecks all over the world to tell the profound stories of the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved will premiere on EPIX in early 2020. The series is being hosted by Samuel L. Jackson.

Kinga is also the regular travel expert for Beond TV, a morning program on KDOC LA, ROKU and online that is viewed by almost 6 million viewers weekly.

As a writer, she has two columns for Real Clear Life and Inside Hook: Off the Beaten Path, a modern nomads guide to a world less traveled that explores some of the last bastions of wilderness this planet has to offer; and the acclaimed Real Life Laura Croft series that highlights inspiring and accomplished women. She is also a regular contributor to Adventure Journal and her travel expertise has appeared in a variety of publications including Travel + Leisure, Martha Stewart Weddings and Readers Digest.

Kinga is a member of the prestigious Explorers Club. She joins the likes of Elon Musk, James Cameron, Neil Armstrong, Robert Ballard, Silvia Earle, David Attenborough and many others in this extraordinary family of explorers, who over the past 114 years, have dedicated themselves to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, resource conservation and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.

In her free time, Kinga explores a singular fascination with the ocean, free diving (see below), scuba diving (she is advanced open water, nitrox and dry suit certified), surfing, spearfishing to harvest her own food, exotic travel and sharks (those are her two friends from Guadalupe Island, MX swimming up top)... followed just slightly by a love of solo adventure travel, charity work, exotic foods and action sports. She lives in Malibu, CA to be close to the beach at all times.

Kinga is a board member of the nonprofit environmental group, Shark Allies, dedicated to changing the image of sharks and conserving our oceans. She gives yearly shark talks aboard the HORIZON, a live aboard eco tour that visits white sharks in their native habitat off the coast of Mexico. She is also a board member of Now Art LA, a non profit dedicated to curating and supporting public art and an ambassador for Waves for Water, on org committed to providing clean water to those in need.

Erin Fish is Co-Founder of Wanderwell, a social enterprise travel insurance agency committed to guiding travelers towards comprehensive, yet cost-effective plans, giving you peace of mind on your adventures. Wanderwell is a certified B Corp dedicated to offsetting the environmental impacts of travel by giving 10% of annual revenue to established non-profit members of 1% for the Planet, an organization focused on social impact and environmental stewardship; as well as other non-profits that promote sustainable travel. You go, we give...

Erin and his family live in Portland, Oregon and a graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Environmental Studies. He has 13+ years of insurance industry experience as an agent/broker for health insurance, employee benefits, travel insurance, and international health insurance. In previous decades, he was a middle school and high school teacher. As an active participant in local and national B Corp and 1% for the Planet committees, Erin is a strong advocate for using business as a driving force for making a positive social and environmental impact.