XX, Will Travel: A Podcast for Independent Women Travelers

Wendy McClure has visited nearly every Laura Ingalls Wilder-related site in the US as part of her research for her book, The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie. From Pepin, Wisconsin (the Big Woods) to Walnut Grove (the setting of the Little House TV series) to Burr Oak, Iowa (a lost chapter in Ingalls family history), Wendy has seen it all. She's visited dugouts and lean-tos and even Almanzo Wilder's boyhood home in upstate New York. Kathy also discusses her recent literary tourism pilgrimage to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, the home of Laura, Almanzo and Rose and the place where the books were written. Kathy and Ines were thrilled to expound upon their love of the Little House books with a kindred spirit. They also discuss their love for the Little House on the Prairie TV show, including the more over-the-top episodes (anyone else remember the mime rapist?). Listen as Wendy busts some myths and shares some laughs and helps you decide once and for all: are you an Almanzonian or a non-Almanzonian? 

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Sometimes the worst part of planning a trip happens after the trip. Coming back to reality can be tough, but we have a few good ways to cope. In our final installment of our How to Plan a Trip from Scratch series, we sit down with mindfulness expert Kristen Brendel of Per la Vita Wellness. We discuss what we can do before a trip to make our return easier, how to relax in a new setting, what to do if we fear flying, how to deal with a stressful travel partner, and more. 

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Just in time for Halloween, we have spooky travel stories from our listeners! The tales of terror include haunted business trips in New Orleans and Puerto Rico (sooooo many haunted business trips), a creeped out camper, animal spirit guides in the Himalayas, mind readers in Quito, ghostly hotels in Illinois, a Cambodian island of doom, and more! 

Thanks to all those who submitted and were willing to share their tales of horror with our listeners!

Interested in learning more about the Howard House Hotel? Read the story here.

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Check out where we've been traveling this summer and what's ahead in Season 3.

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XX, Will Travel is currently on a hiatus until the fall. In the meantime, we're sharing some of our favorite episodes. Enjoy!

It's a flashback to our first guest, writer and archivist Anita Mechler! Anita recounts her harrowing experience during the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. Anita talks about the kindness and take-charge attitudes of her Japanese hosts, her post-traumatic stress, and the new life path she discovered as a result of this experience.  

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XX, Will Travel is currently on a hiatus until the fall. In the meantime, we're sharing some of our favorite episodes. Enjoy!

We sit down with guest Jessica Kent to talk about travel epiphanies. Why does travel help us see life so clearly? What have we learned about ourselves through travel? About others? The world? We tackle these questions and discuss other deep issues including trips that inspired us to relocate, the uncanny way travel puts relationships in a new light, the self-awareness that stems from a solo journey, and the struggle between Vacation You and Daily Life You.

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We close out our second season by discussing the place where we begin and end our travel journeys: home. Home means different things to different people. And as more people find themselves living as digital nomads, expats, and immigrants, the meaning becomes even more complex. What makes a place a home and what can you do to make it feel more like one? How does the concept of home influence the way you travel? With help from our listeners, we discuss what makes a place home and whether, like soulmates, it's possible to have more than one. 

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We discuss the ideal timeline for planning a trip: what to do 3 months out, 1 month out, 1 week out, the day before and day of. We also discuss the realities of sticking to that timeline and the challenges that may pop up, ranging from visa issues to coordinating competing schedules to an acute case of procrastination. Learn what is best for the budgest-conscious traveler, when to make hotel/excursion/restaurant reservations, why you may want to hold off on leaving a clean home and other mishaps we've been through (so you don't have to). 

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Ann Becker has been leading experiential group trips to Costa Rica for 11 years where she takes travelers off the beaten path and into the heart of the Central American nation. Ann discusses her journey to becoming a Costa Rica expert after unexpectedly “being bitten” by Costa Rica on a family vacation in 2005 and her recent experiences leading tours Nicaraugua and Panama. Ann also talks to Ines about why she should give Costa Rica another shot, despite her "everything that can go wrong did go wrong" vacation to Costa Rica during Tropical Storm Otto. We also touch upon about how traveling doesn't stop after 30 (even though social media makes it look otherwise) and the importance of traveling where your heart leads you no matter what age you are. 

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Formed by composers Talía Vega and Ana Cabrera and music producer Orieta Chrem, Menores has been taking the local Peruvian music scene by storm and has extended their fan base to all corners of Latin America. We talk to Talía and Orieta about what it's really like to be touring musicians in an industry that's still pretty male-dominated. Find out more about Peru's burgeoning DIY music scene, what it's like to shoot a music video in the middle of the desert, what they pack before they go on tour (less bathing suits and more crazy makeup), and their experience playing at Festival Yavería in Bogota, Colombia. Don't worry, we also asked the one burning question about the rock n' roll lifestyle: groupies. 

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