Sahara Rose DeVore is someone I've been connected to in the travel industry for over four years, but we've never met in person.

She's a fellow Wisconsinite, founder of the Travel Coach Network, and the creator of the world's first ICF-accredited certification program for travel coaches. She's traveled solo to 84 countries--and not from privilege, but from sheer determination, working five jobs while finishing college to save enough for that first one-way ticket. Her story is a reminder that the desire to travel will find a way.

But this episode isn't really about the countries. It's about the why behind the wanderlust. Sahara has spent years studying the psychology of why we travel, and the conversation we had honestly changed how I think about the trips I plan, the travelers I lead, and my own deeply personal reasons for doing this work.

We're talking about what we're really searching for when we book a flight, how travel builds confidence in ways nothing else can, what to do with post-travel depression when you land back in reality, the difference between using travel as escape versus using it as a tool for transformation, and how to actually bring those hard-won lessons home with you instead of losing them in the laundry pile.

Sahara also shares something she rarely talks about publicly — the real, raw reason she started traveling in the first place.

Links & Resources (Sahara)

Learn more about Sahara: https://thetravelcoachnetwork.com/

Follow Sahara on socials: @saharaRosethetravelcoach and @thetravelcoachnetwork

Links & Resources (Laura)

Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey

Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips

Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast

Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com

Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast

Join our Facebook group for women: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

What happens when everything goes catastrophically wrong while traveling abroad? You get the best stories of your life.

In this episode, I sit down with Jenna Farber, a travel industry professional who represents luxury safari operators across Africa, but whose real education in travel came from years of beautifully messy cultural exchange programs in Latin America. From living with host families in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador to navigating language barriers that led to truly catastrophic miscommunications, Jenna shares the kind of vulnerable, hilarious travel disasters that most people are too embarrassed to talk about.

If you've ever been too afraid to share your embarrassing travel stories, or if you've been playing it safe because you're terrified of looking stupid abroad, this episode is your permission slip to embrace the chaos and laugh at yourself. Because the truth is, your most mortifying moments are often the ones that shape you most as a traveler and give you the best dinner party stories for the rest of your life.

Links & Resources (Jenna)

1. Find Jenna on Instagram
2. Find Jenna on Facebook

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

Emmanuel LaRoche is the kind of person who makes you look at a vanilla bean, a jar of honey, or a tincan of caviar completely differently. He's a flavor industry insider, a podcaster, and now a two-time author, and this conversation genuinely changed how I think about the ingredients in my kitchen.

We talk about Emmanuel's fascinating journey from growing up in France, learning to cook quiche Lorraine from his mom, landing in the flavor and fragrance industry, and going to Madagascar for vanilla but staying for so much more.

Emmanuel's second book, A Taste of Madagascar, is part travel log, part ingredient deep-dive, and part love letter to the farmers, beekeepers, and entrepreneurs who rarely get credit for the extraordinary things we eat every day. He also shares what responsible food travel actually looks like, both in your own grocery store and halfway around the world, and why understanding where ingredients come from can genuinely change lives, including your own.

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Mexico City Foodie Tour Waitlist
2. Japan Waitlist

Links & Resources (Emmanuel)

1. Learn more: flavorsunknown.com
2. Podcast: Flavors Unknown
3. Book: A Taste of Madagascar
4. Conversations Behind the Kitchen Door
5. Instagram/Facebook/TikTok: @flavorsunknown
6. LinkedIn: Emmanuel LaRoche

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast IG: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

When I had eight hours to decide whether to send someone to scout Ecuador as a potential group trip destination (while I was in the middle of a move, prepping for several weeks of back to back Cuba trips, and basically in the midst of total chaos), Krista Parks was the first person who came to mind. Not because I had a formal plan, but because I knew she'd say yes without blinking — and she did.

What started as a small group scouting trip with other travel industry professionals ended up being a private, one-on-one tour of Ecuador with our incredible guide Jose, and it couldn't have gone better. Krista went in not knowing what to expect and came back a self-proclaimed bird watcher, cacao convert, and Ecuador evangelist. She hand-fed hummingbirds at sunset with the Andes as her backdrop, crawled through a cave that only four people know how to find, met with an all-female Amazonian tribe and their shaman, got a medicinal cacao facial in Mindo, and ate octopus in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. That's the pure magic of Ecuador.

We're officially taking a group there for New Year's Eve 2027, and after hearing everything Krista experienced, I am convinced this was meant to be. Listen in to hear everything we'll be doing on our upcoming group trip, and then make sure to claim your spot ASAP. There's no promise we'll be doing this one again!

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Ecuador: NYE 2027 (December 26, 2026-January 2, 2027)

Links & Resources (Krista)

1. @krista_kat901
2. Episode 19: Trusting Your Gut: How Body Wisdom, IFS, and Astrocartography Guide Travel Decisions

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

If you know me at all, you know that my six-year-old self would have absolutely lost her mind knowing that one day I'd get to interview the Rick Steves of cat travel. Jeff Bogle is a freelance travel writer and award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, BBC Travel, Good Housekeeping, Fodor's, and more — but the reason I had to get him on the podcast before I left for two months of travel was his book: Street Cats and Where to Find Them, a travel guide covering 20 destinations across 5 continents, all built around finding, photographing, and connecting with street cats.

What I love most about this conversation is that yes, we absolutely geek out about cats — we swap stories from Turkey to Morocco to Old San Juan, debate the ethics of wet food versus dry food for street feeding, and rate destinations by cuddliness (Lima, Peru gets five toe beans, for the record). But the conversation goes so much deeper than that. We talk about resilience, slowing down, and how the smallest, scruffiest creatures can be the best travel guides you never planned for. Jeff also shares the story of Tilly, his soul cat, and why this book is partly his way of making sure she's never truly gone.

Plus, Jeff tells us all about his upcoming street cat cruise through the Mediterranean, which is exactly as amazing as it sounds. And stick around to the end because Jeff and I are doing a co-branded giveaway: a signed copy of Street Cats and Where to Find Them, some cat gear from Jeff, and a couple of my favorite cat t-shirts from my merch store.

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Cuba (TBD for future group trip when possible)
2. Kenya
3. Morocco: September 4 - 13, 2026

Links & Resources (Jeff)

1. Street Cats & Where to Find Them
2. @owtk
3. Muckrack

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Giveaway for a signed copy of Jeff's book and a cat t-shirt from our merch store

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

If you've ever looked at business class prices and immediately closed the browser tab, this episode is for you. I sat down with Ashley, founder of Ashley Gets Around — the only woman-owned, premium-only flight deal service out there. Ashley has visited over 90 countries on seven continents, and she built her entire business by obsessively solving her own problem: how do you fly business class without paying $5,000 to do it?

We got into everything — how Ashley stumbled into entrepreneurship after losing her job and landing in Thailand, why airline loyalty is often working against you, the truth about points and miles (spoiler: she's kind of over it too), and how to actually think about finding and booking premium flight deals. We also went deep on the wild world of flight deal theft, Instagram trolls, and why she once cried on a Delta inaugural flight over Wi-Fi. It's a good one.

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Morocco: September 4 - 13, 2026

Links & Resources (Ashley)

1. Ashley Gets Around
2. @ashleygetsaround

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

Emily Paulsen is one of those rare humans who makes you think differently about life choices - not in a preachy way, but in a "wait, I never thought about it like that" kind of way.

She's the host of Curious Life of a Childfree Woman, a podcast she started because she was tired of feeling invisible. Whether she was tuning into shows about marketing, fitness, or travel, parenthood somehow wove its way into every conversation. So she built the space she wanted to see - content where that just wasn't part of the equation.

This conversation hit me at a particularly interesting time. My life is shifting in ways I never expected, and I'm learning firsthand how quickly circumstances can change and how uncomfortable it feels when you don't fit neatly into any of the boxes you thought defined you. Emily fully understands this complexity - she talks about building intentional lives, filling our time with what actually matters, and giving ourselves permission to evolve without apologizing for it.

We're diving into why waiting for the perfect moment is a trap, how travel fits into designing the life you want, why representation matters (especially when you're coloring outside the lines), and what happens when life refuses to stay in its lane.

Links & Resources (Emily):

1. Podcast: Curious Life of a Child-Free Woman
2. Substack: Emily Paulsen

Links & Resources (Laura):

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you’re listening.

I've been hinting at big life changes for months across episodes, emails, and social media, and I kept telling myself I'd explain it all eventually, but time never slows down for me.

Well, eventually is now. This is my first solo episode — and probably my last for a while — but it felt like the only way to finally put it all in one place. I'm sharing what's been happening behind the scenes over the past year—and why things need to change.

After five years of running a travel business, I've hit a crossroads. The business I built to give me freedom and flexibility has become something that's depleting me instead of filling me up. And ironically, just as I finally found the relationship I'd been searching for, I have no time to actually live my life.

This episode is about the reality of solo entrepreneurship that no one talks about—the burnout, the guilt, the realization that success doesn't look the way you thought it would, and the courage it takes to admit that something needs to change.

If you're in your own version of "under construction" right now, I see you.

This episode is for you if:

1. You're an entrepreneur questioning whether your business is serving you anymore
2. You've been told to "hustle harder" but you're already exhausted
3. You've built something successful but don't feel successful
4. You're wondering if it's okay to change your mind about what you want

If you've made it this far in reading these show notes, thank you. And if you listen to the full episode, thank you even more. This was uncomfortable to record, but I hope it resonates with someone who needs to hear it.

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. India
2. Kenya
3. Morocco

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

Andrés Asevis is someone I genuinely cannot stop rooting for — and if you've ever traveled to Cuba with me, you already know exactly why.

If you haven't listened to our first episode together, listen here—I can't recommend it enough. It remains one of our most listened-to episodes on this podcast, and it's the kind of conversation that stays with you.

Andrés spent his entire life in Cuba — all 38 years of it — and in that first episode, he gave us one of the most honest, raw portraits of what daily life on the island actually looks like. The blackouts, the internet restrictions, the economy, the feeling of living behind a window: able to see the outside world, but never quite able to reach it.

Since I was in Cuba this past January, things on the island have only gotten worse — a humanitarian crisis triggered by the Venezuela conflict, streets gone quiet from fuel shortages, flights canceled due to oil scarcity. I'll be honest: I genuinely worried he might get stuck before he ever got his chance to leave.

But he made it. Andrés is in Spain. And he's here to tell us all about it.

This episode is the raw, one-week-in version of what life looks like on the other side of that window. We talk about the state of Cuba as he left, catching what may have been one of the last regular international flights out, and then his first week in Madrid — the food, the technology, the culture shock, the smells, the joy, and the profound experience of walking into a store and simply having options.

You can support Andrés and his husband Yunior as they start their new life in Spain here: http://spot.fund/ANewLifeInSpainForAndres

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Cuba (TBD for future group trip when possible)
2. Spain: 2027

Links & Resources (Andrés)

1. @andresasevis (Instagram)
2. Purchase your copy of Andrés' book, Cosa Negra
3. Episode 13: From Havana to Spain: A Cuban Guide's Journey to Freedom w/ Andrés Asevis

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.

I'm always fascinated by people who've turned their own travel frustrations into solutions that help millions of others. That's exactly what Sara Margulis did with Honeyfund.

Sara is the co-founder and CEO of Honeyfund, and her story started with a simple problem: she and her then-husband wanted to honeymoon in Fiji but didn't need another toaster. So they created a way for friends and family to fund their honeymoon instead. That personal solution has now helped nearly 1.6 million couples receive over a billion dollars in wedding gifts - and completely changed how we think about gift giving.

What I love about this conversation is how it challenges the traditional wedding playbook. We talk about why couples are finally prioritizing experiences over stuff, how the wedding-to-honeymoon spending ratio is shifting dramatically, and why Gen Z is rewriting all the rules. Sarah breaks down 2026 honeymoon trends (spoiler: Japan just knocked Mexico out of the top three), shares creative ways couples are using Honeyfund beyond just travel, and explains why unscheduled time might be the most important thing to include in any honeymoon.

We also get into the psychology of why travel strengthens relationships, the surprising data showing couples who honeymoon are more likely to be happily married a decade later, and why asking for what you actually want shouldn't feel taboo.

Upcoming Trips Mentioned:

1. Georgia: October 2 - 11, 2026

Links & Resources (Sara)

1. Honeyfund
2. @honeyfund (Tiktok)
3. @honeyfund (Instagram)

Links & Resources (Laura)

1. Follow my personal IG: @lolawhiskey
2. Follow my business IG: @lauraericsongrouptrips
3. Follow our podcast: @type2travelpodcast
4. Learn more about upcoming trips: lauraericson.com
5. Check out our podcast page: lauraericson.com/podcast
6. Join my Facebook group: @lolalovestravel

Thanks for being here! As always, rate, review, share with a friend, and tag us if you're listening.