The most meaningful legacy we leave the next generation is found in the compassion we share and the difference we make in the lives of others.

Travel can change the way we see the world. But sometimes the most extraordinary journeys are about the people we meet and the understanding that grows when we make room for someone else's world.

On this very special episode of Speaking of Travel, meet Kimberly Haley-Coleman, Founder and Executive Director of Globe Aware, a nonprofit creating meaningful, community-led volunteer travel experiences since 2000.

Kimberly has spent decades helping travelers connect with local communities through service and cultural understanding. From education and environmental stewardship to cultural preservation, Globe Aware supports projects shaped by the communities themselves.

Through her work with Globe Aware, Kimberly reminds us that meaningful travel has the power to open our hearts and change how we see the world and shares how those experiences inspire us to live with greater compassion and purpose.

Her work is also a beautiful reminder that we all have a role in shaping a better future. A must listen! 🎧

Thanks for listening to Speaking of Travel! Visit speakingoftravel.net for travel tips, travel stories, and ways you can become a more savvy traveler.

I've always been fascinated by science. Perhaps because the more we understand about our planet, the more we realize how much there is still to discover. And volcanoes? Well, they are something else entirely. Imagine the incredible forces moving beneath our feet, shaping the very world we call home.

My conversation with Dr. Tamie Jovanelly (Dr. Jo) takes us into that fascinating world, but it also takes us somewhere much more personal.

A geologist, professor, international researcher and author, Dr. Jo made a remarkable decision to leave the security of tenure and embrace a completely different way of living. Today she travels full-time in a camper van with her husband Joe, exploring Europe, teaching, leading Adventure Geology Tours, and sharing her love of science with the world.

Her new book, Volcanoes: What Everyone Needs to Know, brings us closer to understanding these extraordinary forces of nature.

Our conversation explores what happens when curiosity takes us in a new direction and we find the courage to discover a life we never quite imagined.

And somewhere along the way, I found myself thinking about how much of life we might miss when we stop asking questions.

Perhaps the greatest lesson is that life doesn't have to follow the path we've always imagined. Sometimes the most remarkable discoveries happen when we trust ourselves enough to take a different one.

A must listen! Only on Speaking of Travel.

Thanks for listening to Speaking of Travel! Visit speakingoftravel.net for travel tips, travel stories, and ways you can become a more savvy traveler.

Every once in a while, you meet someone whose way of seeing the world makes you stop and look at your own world a little differently.

That was my experience with photographer Cade Martin.

I am honestly in awe of the way Cade sees people, places and the unexpected moments that most of us might walk right past. His photographs don't feel posed or manufactured. They feel alive. They pull you into a moment and make you wonder what happened just before and what happened after.

Cade has spent his life chasing characters and following his curiosity wherever it leads. His work has taken him from India to Berlin, Mexico and Thailand, into movie sets and unfamiliar communities, and into the lives of people whose stories stay with him long after the camera is put away.

In this conversation, we go far beyond photography.

We talk about his childhood surrounded by artists, writers and freethinkers and how that shaped the way he learned to look at people. We explore his fascination with faces, his “aversion to labels,” and what happens when curiosity becomes a way of moving through the world.

Then there is Thailand and the extraordinary story of the Wheelchair Mafia, where rescued dogs, resilience, movement and unexpected human connection came together in a journey that became something much bigger than a photography project.

There is also a quieter, deeply moving side to Cade's work. We talk about veterans, the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, and his changing understanding of heroism, memory and the stories people carry silently inside them.

What stayed with me most is Cade's belief in being fully present for whatever, or whoever, is in front of you.

Maybe that is why his photographs feel so different. He isn't simply taking pictures. He's paying attention. And in a world where we are constantly scrolling past one another, there is something powerful about someone who still takes the time to truly see.

This is a conversation about photography, travel and adventure. But at its heart, it's about curiosity and humanity. And the extraordinary stories that appear when we stop trying to control the frame.

Tune in for this special episode!

*photo by Cade Martin

Thanks for listening to Speaking of Travel! Visit speakingoftravel.net for travel tips, travel stories, and ways you can become a more savvy traveler.