Most of us say "I can't afford it" about a trip before we've ever sat down and worked out what it would cost. What if the number you keep saying no to is one you've never actually looked at?

Jillian Johnsrud, author of Retire Often, has taken more than a dozen mini retirements, and she explains why a month away rarely costs what we imagine. She gives us a surprisingly easy way to turn a someday trip into a real decision you can make.

In this episode:

• Mini retirements, not holidays
• Chipotle or salsa dancing in Mexico
• The $12,000 math mistake
• A $20,000 week in Paris
• Starting with a one- or two-week trip

This episode is for you if:

• You've said "I can't afford it" about a trip you've never actually priced
• You're a woman over 40 who wants to travel solo and money feels like the wall you keep hitting
• You only have a week or two of leave and wonder whether any of this applies to you
• You're curious how a mini retirement or sabbatical could fit around your work and your life

Resources mentioned:

• Retire Often by Jillian Johnsrud: her book on planning a month or more away from work, available wherever books are sold
• Jillian's website and newsletter: https://www.jillianjohnsrud.com
• Jillian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillianjohnsrud/

Support the show

Freedom Looks Like This is a podcast for women over 40 who want to travel solo, or who already do, and want to go deeper. Host Damianne President explores self-trust, decision-making, and what it actually takes to stop waiting and start moving. New episodes every Wednesday. For solo female travelers, midlife women, and anyone who suspects that the real barrier isn't logistics.

Email: contact@freedomlookslikethis.com

Join Skool: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/community

Even when the place is beautiful and you are grateful to be there, a trip can still leave you depleted.

I used to think that meant I had chosen wrong.

What I have come to think is that it is a question of fit, between what a place asks you to carry and what you were already carrying when you arrived. This one is from the vault, and it starts with a very long day in Kandy.

In this episode:

• The twelve-hour tour
• Two measurement systems
• Rain on the museum roof
• What you're already carrying

This episode is for you if:

• You came home from a good trip more tired than when you left, and you have never quite worked out why
• You're a solo female traveler who keeps adding one more stop because somebody said you should
• You're a woman over 40 fitting travel around work, and the weekends are not restoring you
• You have let somebody else decide what counts as worth seeing

Take my fit finder quiz here: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/solo-trip-personality-quiz/

Support the show

Freedom Looks Like This is a podcast for women over 40 who want to travel solo, or who already do, and want to go deeper. Host Damianne President explores self-trust, decision-making, and what it actually takes to stop waiting and start moving. New episodes every Wednesday. For solo female travelers, midlife women, and anyone who suspects that the real barrier isn't logistics.

Email: contact@freedomlookslikethis.com

Join Skool: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/community

I was on a walkway in Brazil, soaked through, my raincoat sitting on the bus, walking back as fast as I could and repeating under my breath, "This is crazy." Most weeks I talk about solo travel as practice for self-trust. But that Saturday at Iguazu Falls wasn't about practicing anything. And it made me wonder why so many of us need a reason before we let ourselves have the thing we love.

In this episode:

• An update from the road
• The coati and the alfajor
• Two sisters from below
• A raincoat on the bus
• Three frontiers
• Love is a reason

This episode is for you if:

• you only let yourself go when you're burnt out enough to have earned it
• you're a woman over 40 who keeps putting the thing you love behind everybody else's needs
• you travel solo, or with friends, and are intrigued when you hear "pure delight"
• you've ever felt you had to justify a trip before it felt allowed
  
  

Resources mentioned:

• Iguazu Falls blog post with photos
• Live Lab founding cohort available for $147.47, closes September 28 at 12:00 UTC. Email contact@freedomlookslikethis.com.
  
  

Support the show

Freedom Looks Like This is a podcast for women over 40 who want to travel solo, or who already do, and want to go deeper. Host Damianne President explores self-trust, decision-making, and what it actually takes to stop waiting and start moving. New episodes every Wednesday. For solo female travelers, midlife women, and anyone who suspects that the real barrier isn't logistics.

Email: contact@freedomlookslikethis.com

Join Skool: https://freedomlookslikethis.com/community