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.

I loved this conversation.

Nancy Shear is one of those people you meet and immediately want to know more about. She is smart, funny, curious, completely engaging, and she has lived an extraordinary life surrounded by some of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.

Her story began when she was just fifteen years old when curiosity led her through a stage door and into the world of classical music. What happened after that is an incredible journey.

Nancy spent decades behind the scenes, getting to know the people behind the music, their personalities, their passions, their struggles, their brilliance, and their very human sides. She worked with legendary figures, including Leopold Stokowski, and experienced a world that most of us have only seen from the audience.

Her memoir, I Knew a Man Who Knew Brahms, brings those stories to life, but our conversation went far beyond music. We talked about following your instincts, finding your place in a world that wasn't always ready for you, the unexpected turns a life can take, and what we learn when we have the privilege of looking back.

Nancy has so much to share and I came away from our conversation inspired by her curiosity and her spirit. And especially the beautiful way she has continued to embrace life.

I think you'll understand exactly why I loved talking with her.

Tune in! 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.

There’s a new idea taking shape around the way we experience places and it’s called Scenic Travel Moments.

Justin Belleme, Publisher and Partnerships Manager at RomanticAsheville.com, joins Speaking of Travel to talk about where the idea came from and why he believes there is an opportunity to create something different for travelers.

Scenic Travel Moments begins in Western North Carolina with extraordinary landscapes and some wonderfully unexpected places to stay. But the idea isn’t simply about finding another place to visit. The conversation takes us into the importance of community and the growing desire to experience travel in a more meaningful way.

Justin talks about the future of Scenic Travel Moments and into his bigger vision for creating a community around the kind of travel that invites curiosity and connection.

It’s an interesting conversation about where travel may be headed and why creating experiences that feel genuine and memorable matters. At the heart of Scenic Travel Moments is the simple idea that the places themselves should always remain at the center of the story.

Come along as we explore a different way of experiencing the places we visit. There’s something really special about this idea and I think you’ll enjoy hearing where it’s headed.

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.

You got what you wanted. Now what?

It seems like we spend so much of our lives moving toward what’s next, always looking ahead to where we’re going and what we’re supposed to accomplish along the way. We work toward the goal, reach the milestone, check the box, and then one day, sometimes, we actually get there.

And what happens then?

For Michael Yang, that question opened the door to a whole new chapter.

He came to America from South Korea as a teenager, built a successful technology company in Silicon Valley and achieved what many would call the American Dream.

But somewhere along the way, Michael began wondering what else life might have in store. In his sixties, he got on a motorcycle and started riding. The farther he went, the more he discovered. About the world, certainly, but also about himself.

His memoir, Coming Alive on the Ride, is the story of that journey and of a man who decided that getting older didn't mean his most interesting days were behind him.

I loved talking with Michael because there is no rush to his thinking. He has a way of looking at life that makes you want to slow down and consider your own.

Michael's story reminded me that there may never be a point when we've truly arrived. There is always another road and another part of ourselves waiting to be discovered.

“The most important journey is the one that keeps us curious about what comes next.”

Tune in and enjoy the ride. 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.

There are fascinating stories all around us and many are in places we least expect to find them.

On this episode of Speaking of Travel, I’m joined by award-winning travel journalist and National Geographic contributor Ronan O’Connell, author of Hidden in Plain Sight. Ronan takes us beyond the postcard view to uncover the forgotten stories, mysteries, history, and human experiences hidden within some of the world’s most iconic places.

Our conversation becomes a deeper exploration of curiosity and what happens when we slow down enough to really see what’s around us. Ronan is thoughtful, wise, funny, and endlessly curious, and his perspective may make you look at familiar places, and perhaps even your own life, a little differently.

As Ronan reminds us:

“Even in this modern age, there’s still a lot of mystery. There’s still a lot of things right in front of your face you might not be noticing that are fascinating and important.”

Maybe one of the greatest gifts of travel is not simply seeing somewhere new, but learning how to truly notice.

Tune in and discover what you may have been missing, hidden in plain sight.

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.

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, we continue to remember the lives that were lost and the lives forever changed by that day.

And that's why I’m revisiting a very special conversation with Abigail Carter, a gifted writer and artist whose husband was killed in the 9/11 tragedy.

For years, grief became part of the landscape of Abigail’s life. But eventually, something inside her began to whisper that it was time to go. Not to forget. Not to leave the past behind. But to find a way forward.

That journey led her to a château in the southwest of France, where the quiet beauty of the countryside gave her something she desperately needed: space. Space to breathe, to create, to dream, and eventually, to discover pieces of herself she thought might be lost forever.

Among sunflowers, rolling fields, old stone walls, and the gentle rhythm of French country life, Abigail began to imagine a different chapter.

Her story is not about leaving grief behind. It’s about learning to carry it while making room for life again. As we mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, this conversation feels especially meaningful.

Abigail reminds us that healing doesn’t follow a straight path, and sometimes a new beginning begins with the quietest voice inside us saying, It’s time. This is a story about loss, courage, reinvention, and the possibility of finding beauty again even when you never imagined you could.

Tune in and never forget. ❤️

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