Globe-Trotting with IBD: Josie's World Adventure

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What happens when you decide to throw caution to the wind, decline your PhD acceptance, quit your job, and travel the world for 10 months—all while managing Crohn's disease? Friend of the show and health psychologist Josie McGarva takes us along on her extraordinary global adventure, revealing both the challenges and profound joys of pursuing dreams despite having IBD.

From the medication logistics nightmare of switching from the medication she was on for a long time to one that she can more easily travel with, to having her mother smuggle medication internationally hidden inside fluffy socks, Josie's preparation for this journey was an adventure itself. With refreshing candor, she shares her experience navigating living and volunteering abroad while traveling on a tight budget of just $1,000 per month.

Josie's travels have taken her from the breathtaking mountains of Patagonia to the vibrant temples of Thailand, with meaningful stops volunteering at hostels, dog rescues, and teaching English in remote villages along the way. Through food poisoning in Thailand, 28-hour bus rides in Argentina, and confronting roosters at dawn in remote villages, Josie demonstrates remarkable resilience while never losing sight of why she embarked on this journey: "I'm finally healthy, which is why I have to go."

Beyond the travel tales lies a deeper narrative about identity and chronic illness. Having been diagnosed at 13 and sick throughout her formative years, Josie reflects on how being in remission has allowed her to question how much space IBD should occupy in her future life and career. Her powerful message resonates far beyond the IBD community: limitations are real, but with creativity, determination, and support, dreams remain within reach.

Links: 

• Our first episode with Josie
• Our Research Roundup episode with Josie and Stacey Collins, RD
• Josie's Instagram account
• Workaway- volunteer while traveling site
• The Workaway opportunity with Dani and the dog rescue
• Fundacion Animal Chile

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Alicia and I'm Robin and you're listening
to Bowel Moments, the podcastsharing real talk about the
realities of IBD Serve on therocks.
This week we brought backfriend of the show, josie
McGarva.
Josie is a health psychologistwho's living with Crohn's
disease and right now she is onthe adventure of a lifetime.

(00:20):
She and her partner have beentraveling around the world, and
so we talked to her all aboutpreparing for her trip, getting
her medicine while abroad andall of the amazing things that
she's seen.
We know you're going to enjoyit as much as we did.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Cheers, Hi everybody.
Welcome to Bound Moments.
This is Robin.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey everyone, this is Alicia and we are absolutely
delighted to welcome back to theshow for the third time.
Josie, I think right.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Third time Great times.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Josie McGarva.
Welcome back, Josie.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
I love you guys.
I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
You've had so many things happen, and so we are
very, very excited to have yougive us a life update in just a
moment and to talk about all ofthat.
But first, of course, questionfor you is what are you drinking
?
I'm drinking a cup of coffee.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
It is 8 am where I am in Thailand right now.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
So coffee.
That is so funny.
It's like the exact oppositetime for Robin.
So Robin, what are you drinking?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I am her usual regular water and sparkling
water and I have fancy TopoChico sparkling water, lime with
mint.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Oh, that's good.
I love that one.
It's so good.
So I got real excited.
I decided to go a little wild.
I am drinking I had to look itup A blackberry sidecar.
Oh, I know right, it's gin.
A little bit of bitters, sometriple sec and muddled
blackberries and that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
That sounds very good .

Speaker 1 (01:47):
It's sour, guys, it's real sour.
And I'm also drinking water aswell, Because this is again my
new year's resolution every yearis to drink more water.
I fail every single year, but Icontinue to try.
But so, so, so excited for alife update from you, Josie.
So next question for you istell us your life update story
instead of your IBD story,because people can go back and
listen to your episode aboutyour life story and the other

(02:08):
episode we have with you if theywould like to know more about
that side of it.
So life update please.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah for sure.
So last time we talked, I cameon with Stacey and we talked
about our research that wepresented at Crohn's and Colitis
Congress, and I did thatthrough Northwestern.
I was in a graduate program forhealth psychology, from which I
obtained a master's degree, andthen I moved back to Denver,

(02:33):
was living in Denver, I wasworking at Children's Hospital
on the inpatient psychiatricunit where I met my wonderful,
beautiful, perfect girlfriend,hannah, and I was there for two
and a half years working inpediatric mental health crisis
management.
It was an intense job and a job.
Years working in pediatricmental health crisis management.
It was an intense job and a jobI've done before.
I might have talked about itbefore, but I came back in a
different role this time, nowthat I had a fancy master's
degree.
I was working there and mygirlfriend was in a master's

(02:57):
degree for social work and I hadbeen accepted to a PhD program
for clinical psychology at UCDenver.
This was like a year ago,actually almost about a year ago
.
I got accepted and that was ahuge, huge thing, because that's
hard to get into a PhD programis hard and it's what I thought
I had been working for, what Ithought my dream always was I

(03:18):
was going to be researchingcardiac health and spirituality
and the relationship between thetwo, which was super cool and
super exciting, drifting awayfrom IBD a little bit.
But there's not many peopledoing IBD psych research, as I'm
sure you people know, youlisteners know.
So there's not a lot of placefor me to do that specific niche
thing as a student.
If I were to get a PhD, that'swhat I'd do, but in the meantime

(03:40):
not a lot of room for it.
So I got accepted.
It was a whole saga actually.
I had the interviews and it waslike three months of time
before the decision date for allPhD programs across the country
.
I hadn't heard anything withinthat time.
This was the only school that Igot an interview to, so I had
this one chance.
I hadn't heard anything back.

(04:01):
Two days before they needed afinal decision, they told me I
was accepted to this program,which means I probably wasn't
the first choice.
There were probably peopleabove me that they asked and
then those people then declinedand that's why it took a while
to get to me.
But in that time I had justconvinced myself that I wasn't
going to get it because I hadn'theard anything.
Why wouldn't they have told meif I didn't get it yet but turns

(04:22):
out I was accepted?
Wouldn't they have told me if Ididn't get it yet but turns out
I was accepted?
Um and two days to decide isnothing.
I was like me and Hannah were onour way to Florida to go to
Disney world with her family.
They're a big Disney family.
It's new to me, but I'membracing it.
So we're on our way there.
I'm like how am I supposed tomake a decision right now?
But I told them yes, because ifI said no I couldn't take it

(04:43):
back.
But saying yes, you know Icould always change my mind.
I told them yes and a few weeksafter that I was just like so
anxious for that.
The next few weeks I couldn'tsleep.
I was like did I make a wrongdecision?
And I'm a very decisive person.
I like take pride in my abilityto decide and like know the way
that I'm going.
So not knowing was feelingreally uncomfortable in my body.

(05:06):
Like not knowing if this wasright.
Meanwhile, my girlfriend wastrying to decide if she wanted
to continue her master's programright now, being that we both
work in mental health.
Already, we were both 12 hourshifts every day at the hospital
.
We were already burnt out.
So we're both like, oh my God,we're going to more school to
learn to do more of this stuff.
Like, why is this what we'rededicating our lives to right
now?
It's just trying times,especially in such an intense

(05:28):
setting.
So one night we were justtalking and I have to pay
tribute to my sister and mycousin A year ago they did a
trip around the world.
They're three years youngerthan I am, but they graduated
college, saved up some money,and they both just went
traveling.
So I had some sort of glimmerof hope that this was possible.
Like, oh, you can do this.
You can just leave everythingand go see the world.

(05:49):
Okay, that sounds pretty cool.
So one night Hannah and I weretalking about if we wanted to go
to school or what we wanted todo, and I said I just want to
travel the world, and she said Ido too.
I was like okay, wait, whyhaven't we ever talked about
this before?
Why is this the first timewe're saying this?
So we decided we would workthrough the summer and then at
the end of October we had moneysaved up.

(06:11):
Hannah sold her car.
We moved all of our stuff backinto our parents' houses.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
And we started traveling the world.
Where did you start?
And then, where did it godownhill?
Because I mean, you made thisplan, but you still have IBD.
Where did it go downhill?

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Because I mean, you made this plan but you still
have IBD.
Oh, yes, still have IBD.
So we made this plan.
At the time I was takingStelara, which I've been on
Stelara for.
I don't even know how long itwas probably five or more years
at this point.
That's the medication that gotme through all of my abscesses
and fistulas and an ostomy bagand 20 plus surgeries.
I was on Stelara throughoutthat whole thing.
I've been in remission forprobably two and a half years

(06:47):
now.
I don't know.
That's kind of crazy.
I don't even have to count howlong it's been because it feels
like stable.
But I've been in remission withthe Stelara, so that was like
my tried and true.
I love this thing.
But Stelara is a medication thatcomes in the mail.
I was taking it every eightweeks and it has to come
refrigerated and packaged at acertain temperature and then you
have to store it in therefrigerator until you

(07:08):
administer the shot.
Obviously, united Statesinsurance companies don't ship
abroad.
I actually I didn't know ifthey would.
I had no idea what was going on.
Oh, and I quit my job, so Idon't have insurance anymore
because I'm over 26.
My one word of advice if youwant to travel the world, do it
before you're off of yourparents' insurance, because it's
a bitch to get your own figuredout and without work helping

(07:31):
you.
So anyways, I talked to mydoctor and said I need to get
off of Stelara or I need anotheroption because I'm traveling
the world.
What am I going to do?
At first we thought maybe Icould convince someone from home
to come visit me every eightweeks and bring me my Stelara
medication to take.
But going through customs indifferent countries, the
regulations are just differenteverywhere you go, like one

(07:52):
place they'll take away yournail clippers and another place
you can get through with a fullbottle of water and your
whatever.
So that wasn't the best idea.
My doctor pitched Rinvoque,which was a medication that I'd
only seen commercials about.
I hadn't ever really heardabout it much because I've been
in remission.
I've been like kind of absentfrom what's new on the scene in
as far as drugs go.

(08:13):
My doctor pitched Rinvoque andwe decided I'd switch to
Rinvoque because it's apparentlyeven better than Stelara.
It's a once a day pill.
It does all the things thatStelara is trying to do, but
without having to poke yourselfwith a needle, and way easier to
carry around when you'retraveling.
For RENVOQ they recommend youget a shingles vaccine because
it is really deteriorating onyour immune system, more so than

(08:34):
a lot of other IBD drugs, andyou have to get the shingles
vaccine within a certain amountof time before you start the
RENVOQ, because the shingles isa live vaccine.
So if you get it while you'retaking the RENVOQ, because the
shingles is a live vaccine, soif you get it while you're
taking the RENVOQ, then you'lllike get shingles basically.
So this was a whole otherordeal.
I wanted to start the RENVOQ agood few months before traveling
, just so I could see if itactually worked, if I actually
liked it.
Because who wants to be abroadon a new drug but with having to

(08:58):
get that vaccine, my insurancechanges and pharmacy changes, I
started RENVOQ like three weeksbefore I left for traveling,
which was pretty nerve wracking.
Everything's been fine so far.
As far as taking it, I haven'thad many side effects.
When I first started it I gotreally bad acne, which is a
known side effect of RENVOQ, andI've been blessed with no acne

(09:18):
my whole life.
So I started like breaking outon my face and my chest and my
back and there was one night.
I was just, oh, I was freakingout, I was like look.
I have bumps all over me.
I've never had this before.
I was on Stelara before andStelara was doing fine.
So now, why did I switch?
It was like a whole breakdownand it's scary.
It's scary when you've been ona medication that's worked for
you for so long and you'rechanging it for no medical

(09:41):
necessity.
I didn't need to go on RENVOQ.
It was just a kind of a gamble.
If I wanted to live my life theway I wanted to, I needed to
make this change.
So I did it and, like I said,it's been good.
Renvoq has been treating mewell.
Receiving the RENVOQ is a wholedifferent story.
On my old insurance that I hadthrough work, I was with Acredo,
which I don't know if you guyshave experience with Acredo, but
I think they are the absoluteworst pharmacy to exist.

(10:04):
They're the only ones I've everhad, but they're horrible.
They used to not be.
I don't know what changed.
Something changed and it'sphone call after phone call.
No one knows what you'vealready said to the person that
you've talked to before, and itwas like whenever I wasn't at
work, I was on the phone withAcredo trying to figure out how
to get my medication.
It's like what I was sayingbefore we started recording

(10:24):
having IBD is a full-time job,even when you're in remission,
like I thought, oh, I'm nolonger sick, everything's fine.
No, if you're taking medicationand you have to deal with the
healthcare system, you have awhole nother job.
So that was super stressful.
Like I didn't even have achance to be excited about
leaving on this travel journeybecause I was so stressed out
about figuring out how I wasgoing to get medication and stay

(10:45):
well enough to travel.
Oh, and before I left, my momwas like, are you sure you want
to go?
Like you're finally healthy,are you sure you want to make a
medication switch and go do thisthing?
And I told her, which I thinkis a good message for people.
I said I'm finally healthy,which is why I have to go.
Like I've been held back somuch because I was sick and now,

(11:06):
yeah, maybe I'll get sick again, but I'm not sick right now, so
I need to take advantage of thetime that I'm well enough to do
this thing and honestly if itmeans that I'm going to have a
flare, at least I'm in Thailand.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know like I'm not sitting on my couch.
You could have a flare againanyway, so you might as well be
in Thailand.
Yes, I'm not sitting on mycouch at home.
You could have a flare againanyway, so you might as well be
in Thailand.
Yes, exactly.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
So that's why I took the gamble, switched the meds,
whatever.
Okay, so I'm jumping all aroundhere, but I was using a credo
for a pharmacy.
Then, because I quit my job, Ihad to switch to Medicaid.
So I am off of any insurance.
I'm on Medicaid, which isawesome, like Medicaid honestly
does really great things if youcan get on it.

(11:46):
It takes some time to go throughthe application process and you
like can't apply until you'reunemployed, until you have no
income coming in or are makingunder a certain amount.
So that was also kind of scary.
We like I quit my job a week mylast day was a week before I
was leaving for this vacationand you can't apply for Medicaid
until you're no longer employed.
So there was like a week timeperiod that I had to find out if

(12:08):
I was going to qualify forinsurance.
If I didn't, I would have paidfor some private insurance.
But it's crazy amount of money.
Even without a job.
It was going to be like $300 amonth for what I needed, and I'm
on a tight, tight budget here.
I'm going to have no money whenI get back.
Like I'm using my money forthis trip.
So any money that I could savewas worth it, so I switched to

(12:30):
Medicaid.
I know I'm on the RENVOC.
When I was on a credo I wasstruggling to get 28 days of
medication filled in time of myRENVOC, like I was.
It was coming up close to whenI had to leave and I had only
the amount of medication Ineeded until I had to leave.
I wasn't going to have any tobring with me, so I called my
doctor.
I was like Dr Nichols shout outto him Please help, I have no

(12:50):
medication, what am I supposedto do?
And he let me come to theoffice and pick up some samples.
So I had extra meds from himand then we leave.
But our first stop was Florida.
Again, a Disney family with mygirlfriend.
So another little trip toDisney, we're in Florida.
I was hoping that Acredo wouldsend my meds to Florida because
they can ship.
We're in this country still andI was trying to get a 90-day

(13:11):
supply also so that I didn'thave to get it as frequently.
But it didn't come in time.
So I call up Stacey good oldStacey and I was like what do I
do?
She said I have some extrasamples, I'll send them to you.
So she overnights me somesamples of Enroque.
So I'm stocked up for like 60days from my doctor's samples
and Stacey's samples.
Nothing from my actual pharmacy, actual place I'm supposed to

(13:33):
be getting my medication.
No, and I've been working onthis for two months.
It wasn't like I started thislast minute it was.
I can't, just thinking about itmakes me stressed.
It was horrible.
That time was horrible.
Anyways, as soon as my Medicaidhit, as soon as I got switched
over to.
Now I think I'm with CVSspecialty pharmacy.
I was in Argentina.

(13:54):
That was our first stop.
You asked where we went first.
It was Argentina, which I'll goback and tell more about it.
But I'm in Patagonia, argentina, sitting in this hammock, this
hostel, and I get a call fromCVS and they were like hey,
what's your address?
We have 90 days ready to shipto you.
And I said what A credo couldnever do that.
Thank you so much for this call.
This is like the best news Icould have ever had.

(14:15):
So I have them send it to myparents' house.
Now our plan with Renvoke isthe medication will get sent to
my parents and then my parentswill send it to me wherever I am
.
International mail isquestionable depending on where
you are by the time I need mymedication.
I was in Chile and my mom isgoing to the FedEx to go ship my
medication.
So she goes to start looking upthe laws of sending mail

(14:37):
internationally and it's like donot ship drugs, you cannot ship
anything.
You will go to prison if youship any drugs internationally.
So she calls me freaking out.
I can't send this, I'm going togo to jail.
I don't know what we're goingto do.
You need to find someone to flyto Chile to bring you your
medication because we can't sendit in the mail.
She's freaking out.
So I go on my Instagram on ittakes guts, shout out, follow me

(15:01):
, and I asked a poll.
I was like has anyone ever hadmedication shipped
internationally?
Please give me some advice?
A ton of people responded, likepeople who have studied abroad,
people who don't even have IBD,who just needed, like whatever
their prescription medicine is,people who went on mission trips
, all these different people.
They're like yeah, I've done it, it's fine.
If you're worried, here's sometips and tricks.
One of them was individuallywrapping every pill in a cotton

(15:25):
ball and then putting the cottonballs in the package to look
like like um, packing peanuts,you know?
Like who's going to questionthat.
Another one was like get reallythick socks and just like put
the pills in the socks, or orlike disperse them throughout a
bunch of different things.
So my mom is asking me, likewhat are some things you need?

(15:47):
What can I send you that I canhide this medication in?
Anyways, by the end of thewhole thing, she sends me a
package to Chile and it costslike $200 because of the amount
of extra stuff she put in hereto hide all this medicine.
And it comes.
It gets to Chile, at this housethat we're staying at, what
this family we're staying at.
They try to deliver it and hadthis extra unexpected tax on it

(16:08):
that I had to pay in order toget the package.
I wasn't in Chile yet.
It just showed up to thiswoman's house and she's like
they're asking for money and Isaid, okay, I promise I'll pay
you.
Please Can you just give themthe money I need this package.
She pays the FedEx people.
I get to her house, there's thepackage.
I open it up.
There's like two pairs of huge,fluffy socks that, like I

(16:31):
couldn't even wear in thewarmest weather and we're in
Santiago, chile, in the summerlike nothing I could do with
these socks, and one pair wasfor Hannah.
So Hannah's like putting thesocks on.
She's like, oh, there'smedicine in here.
It's like taking all the pillsout of everything.
But luckily my mom was able tosend me almost I think she sent
me 60 days of medicine to Chile.
So I got that medication thereand then we had a layover in LA

(16:54):
on our way to Asia and we stayeda few nights in LA.
Hannah has family there, so wegot to see her sister-in-law and
my mom sent more medicine there.
That was way less drama becausewithin the United States we
didn't need the big socks oranything.
And now I'm good until April.
Right now it's February, so Ihave enough medication with me
until April, and at that point Ido have family coming to visit

(17:15):
me.
So someone will just bring themeds and luckily there hasn't
been issues in getting them fromthe pharmacy.
Knock on wood, you guys too,please knock on wood, for and
yeah, renvoke's been working.
I figured it out, but theamount of stress it was to make
this happen was almost almostnot worth it.
There were a lot of times Iwanted to just throw in the
towel and be like okay, let'sjust go on short trips here and

(17:38):
there, like this whole 10 monthsabroad thing is I don't know if
it's going to work.
I don't know if it's worth it.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Okay, but now you have to tell us about the trip,
because it's totally worth it.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yes, it's worth it.
Okay.
So a big caveat to this wholetrip.
Like I said, we are on verylimited budgets.
We're trying to travel with$10,000 each for 10 months, so
that's $1,000 a month, which isreally hard when you're buying
plane tickets.
I don't know if we're going tomake it.
We're like 10 months was thegoal, but also, $10,000 is how
much we have.
So if we don't make it, wedon't make it.

(18:10):
We see what we see and it'sgoing to be great regardless.
But how we're managing at leastto save a lot of money is we're
doing volunteer opportunitiesthroughout our travels.
So there's this website that weuse.
It's called Workaway, wherepeople from all over the world
can sign up as a host.
So maybe you have a hostel oryou have a school, or you have a
farm or even just a family homewhere you need extra hands, and

(18:33):
you put up this ad and inexchange for someone coming and
doing work for you like four tofive hours a day of work you
give them a free place to stayand a lot of times they also
feed you.
So that saved us a ton of money.
And also Hannah and I both arepeople who really like to help
and we'd get bored if we werejust being tourists all the time
, like there's places for us tobe tourists and it's awesome and

(18:53):
we love that part of our trip.
But we also want to feel likewe've lived in a place and like
gotten to know the culture, andthe best way to do that is to
hang out with the people whoactually live there.
So Workaway was like theperfect solution for us for both
of these things Saving moneyand seeing the world the way we
wanted to.
So we signed up with Workawayand we're at our fourth Workaway
right now.
We've been traveling for threemonths and each of them is about

(19:15):
two weeks, maybe a littlelonger.
Some of them want you to stayfor longer, but the ones we've
done have been about two weeks.
So our first Workaway that wehad scheduled was in El Calafate
in Argentina, which is inPatagonia, the very south of
Argentina, but we left a fewweeks before that.
Our plan was to go to BuenosAires because we wanted to see
the big old city.

(19:35):
So we're in Florida, we leaveto go to Buenos Aires.
We had a layover in Atlanta,but we get.
Our plane was delayed toAtlanta.
When we got there we were likerunning to make our plane to
Buenos Aires and it pulled awayfrom the gate as soon as we make
it there.
So we missed our very firstflight out of the country.
And then the next flight wasn'tuntil the next day, but the
airline luckily put us up in ahotel for the night, so we were

(19:57):
fine.
But then we learned that ourflight that we got rescheduled
for had been canceled.
And then we're trying to lookto reschedule other flights to
Buenos Aires.
Nothing is going to BuenosAires.
We somehow get rerouted throughPeru.
So we're on a flight fromAtlanta to Lima, peru, and as
soon as we get off the plane inLima we see that our next flight
to Buenos Aires is alsocanceled.

(20:19):
So at this point we're like inour first foreign country in
Peru.
We're like how do you get onthe Wi-Fi?
How do you charge a phone?
The outlets here are different,like we're not cut out for this
.
And turns out that there was astrike in Buenos Aires for
transportation workers, so therewere no flights going into the
country.
The airport was shut down, butno one told us that until we got

(20:41):
to Peru and someone was able tosay yeah, you can't get there.
So we had the option of eitherokay, let's just scratch Buenos
Aires for now, let's stay inPeru.
That'd be cool.
But Hannah's dad had lived inPeru for a while.
So Hannah wanted to wait to goto Peru with her dad, like down
the line, sometime, andexperience it with him, which
totally fair Respect that aslong as I get to go with them.

(21:02):
So then we decided to go toArgentina.
The only place that we couldfly into in Argentina was a city
, more like a town, called Salta, which is in the very north of
Argentina, and we'd heard aboutSalta.
We'd heard it was a cool placeto go, but it was just like we
didn't plan on it.
So we ended up in Salta, whichit was a very cool place.
Actually.
It's just like a little townwith big cathedrals and like

(21:27):
people wearing cowboy hats, likethe gaucho people of South
America.
It felt like what I envisionedSouth America to feel, like
there's, like donkeys on thehills with all this fog behind
them.
We were like driving throughthe mountains.
It was so beautiful and so cooland we were there for five days
about.
We booked a flight out of Saltato go to Buenos Aires.
Turns out, the strike was stillgoing on five days later.

(21:49):
So that flight also gotcanceled and the only way we
figured out that we could get toBuenos Aires was on a bus.
So we took a 28 hour bus ridefrom Salta to Buenos Aires and
this bus was, honestly, morecomfortable than an airplane.
It had like seats that reclinedand you could put your feet up.
But 28 hours on a bus is tough,really tough.

(22:10):
So we took the bus, we slept alot of the way, we like
downloaded some shows so wecould keep ourselves busy, but
it's just like the adventuresthat you come across.
The things that we're doing arejust things we never would have
expected, but I think that'skind of part of why we're doing
this.
We made it to Buenos Aires,which is a beautiful, beautiful
city.
If anyone is looking for aplace to go that's like feels

(22:30):
European but isn't as mainstreamas Europe.
Buenos Aires is really cool.
We were there for probablyabout a week too, and we met a
lot of really cool people.
That's also part of what'sawesome about this trip is just
meeting all of these awesometravelers.
In Salta, I was fine as far aseating the food.
Handling my food was fine.
Buenos Aires was a little bitof a different story.

(22:50):
I had a lot of digestive issueswhen we got to Buenos Aires.
We're just eating things thatI'm not used to, you know.
Just a lot of like needing touse the bathroom, and Hannah is
a perfect travel companion.
She's like helps me find thebathrooms anywhere we need to be
.
I'll like tell her I think I'mgoing to need the bathroom soon
and she's like okay, let's findone right now.
We don't want to like bewaiting until the last minute.
So there was a lot of sneakinginto restaurants or Hannah

(23:13):
buying a little coffee so Icould go use the bathroom.
There's not a lot of publicbathrooms, which I think is an
issue in the United States too,but I've found it even more
abroad like less publicbathrooms even in the places
we've been, which is always alittle bit stressful.
Even when I'm doing okay, it'sstill.
It's like okay, what am I goingto do in the case that I'm not
doing okay?
But Buenos Aires was beautiful.

(23:33):
And then we ended up at ourfirst work away in El Calafate
at a little hostel called RedHouse.
If you ever are going toPatagonia, you will likely be in
El Calafate.
It's like one of the mainplaces people fly through to see
all of Patagonia.
Please stay at Red House.
It is amazing, you will notregret it.
They have hostel-like dorms, solike bunk beds where you can

(23:54):
sleep in a shared room, butthere's also private rooms.
So if you're wanting to go fora little more luxury, there's
private rooms, but it was justthe most awesome place.
So we were there for two weeksand our volunteer duties were
just helping set up thebreakfast every day and then
helping clean up at the end ofthe night, and we did some
housekeeping here and there too,but I just I would love to go
back to that time.

(24:14):
Everything we've done isawesome, but that was just like
such a first awesomeintroduction into this
volunteering that we're doing.
And El Calafate is situated onLago Argentino, which is the
biggest lake in Argentina.
It looks like an ocean, butit's like bright blue glacier
water and I just loved it.
Look at pictures, look at myInstagram.
You'll see it there.

(24:35):
It was awesome, and we went onso many hikes.
And Patagonia has been like mydream place to travel since I
was a kid.
I grew up in Colorado.
I love the mountains.
Mountains are where I find mymost peace, so it was just a
dream.
So our time in ArgentinianPatagonia ended.
We moved over to the Chileanside of Patagonia.
We were in a city, puertoNatales, which is the closest

(24:57):
town to Torres del PaineNational Park, which, if you
like, see pictures of Patagonia.
It's probably in Torres delPaine, the photos that you're
looking at.
We stayed there just for a fewdays.
We didn't have a volunteer jobhere, we just were here so we
could hike.
Puerto Natales was really cute.
It was on like fjord land.
It reminded me of New Zealand.
If you love New Zealand, it wasvery similar to that Lots of

(25:19):
water, just really cool place tobe.
And we went into Torres delPaine National Park.
You just take a bus in.
Oh, a good caveat People don'ttell you how much it's going to
be to be in Patagonia, argentinaand Chile.
Patagonia is an expensive placeto be.
It's like a huge touristdestination, so that makes sense
.
But they get you every way theycan Like.
You have to take a bus to getinto the park and that bus costs

(25:40):
$30.
And then, once you get into thepark, you have to take another
bus that costs another $10.
It's just like it adds up whenyou're traveling on a budget.
So be prepared, we're pickingexpensive places to go and it's
not the best for our budget, butyou know we want to see what we
want to see.
So we did a hike in Turisopaine,which was also beautiful, but
that was like a really tryingday for us.

(26:01):
There were a lot of clouds andwe didn't get to see the big
view at the top of this like 13plus kilometer hike that we did,
and we had also hiked more than13 kilometers the two days
before.
So we're like tired, we'd liketo hike, but we're not like
let's go, get on, let's do everymile we can, sort of hikers.
That was a trying day for usand for our relationship there.

(26:22):
We travel really well together,but on some days it's just like
oh my God, you're the onlyperson I ever talked to and
we're hiking up this mountainright now and everything sucks
and I'm just going to takeeverything out on you.
So if you're choosing to travelwith your partner, make sure
it's someone who you're reallysolid with.
I give that word of advice.
Anyways, ended up being abeautiful hike.

(26:42):
We ended our time in Patagoniaand it was really sad to leave
Patagonia because both theArgentinian and Chilean side
were beautiful, and then we wentto Santiago, chile, which is
where this whole saga with mypackage came, with the pills and
the socks that my mom sent.
We were in Chile and we did avolunteering job here in
Santiago.
We worked at this family'shouse the owner of the house her

(27:04):
name is Almendra.
She was wonderful.
She's like a singer and she'sjust like a homemaker, but she
had this beautiful garden in herbackyard like plum trees
everywhere and tomatoes andpeaches and just everything
growing.
You would walk out the door andyou would just smell like fresh
peaches.
It was so perfect.
We were there with three othervolunteers there was a man from

(27:27):
Albania, a woman from Taiwan, aguy from Germany and when we
first got there, there wasanother girl from Germany and
also people from Romania therevolunteering.
So, like we've learned so muchabout Germany and we haven't
even been to Germany, but it'sjust because we come across all
of these German travelers whojust tell us all this stuff.
Anyways, we worked there at thisplace, and the family was vegan

(27:48):
that we were staying with,which I tried to be vegan once
and it didn't go well.
I just I don't like to haverestrictions on what I eat
because of all the trauma I havewith what you can eat, what you
can't eat.
Like as an adolescent with IBD,my whole life was are you
eating enough?
Is it the right amount ofnutrients?
Is this going to make you sick?
So any sort of dietaryrestrictions that I've tried to

(28:11):
put on myself as an adult justout of like curiosities or
morals, have been harder than Iwanted them to be.
So I was nervous coming intothis house.
I knew they were vegan.
I knew that we had to eat vegan.
They made us food, but alsosometimes we'd have to cook our
own and also like to get protein.
As a vegan, you have to eatbeans and lentils and things
that usually don't sit well inmy stomach.

(28:31):
So I was really actually quitenervous to go here.
Turns out I was great.
My stomach was better than ithad been this whole trip eating
this really clean diet, whichwas cool.
I'm still not vegan, but it'sgood to know that if I need to
be, I can do it in a way thatworks for me.
The food was so good.
That was the best part of thatwork away.

(28:51):
After being in Argentina for solong, too, it was really nice
to have like really good,flavorful cooking.
Shout out to Almendra and her.
Okay, this is confusing.
She lives with her son and thenthe father of her son, but
they're not together.
Almendra dates girls and thenthe dad is just there to also be
in the son's life, which Ithink is so cool, so modern and
it was really awesome.

(29:12):
But Ricky, the dad of the son,also made great food.
We ate really good there and wejust helped in the garden.
We helped like around the house, we helped cook.
We were just there to help thiswoman take care of her huge
garden.
Then we went to every work away.
Every volunteering hasn't beenso good, but I do think that
this next one was probably myfavorite one.

(29:33):
We were in the hills of Chile.
In between if you're looking ata map, in between Santiago and
the coast, a town called Quintayis what's on the coast in this
little tiny.
It wasn't even a town, it wasjust like residential area with
lots of land.
But we worked at a dog rescueand there were 46 dogs and four

(29:54):
horses and Hannah and I areobsessed with dogs, like a stray
dog on the street where they'repetting it for 10 minutes
before we're going on to thenext thing, like we cannot get
enough of dogs, so we were soexcited to be here.
The dog rescue is calledFundacion Animal Chile.
You can follow them onInstagram and they take
donations.
Actually, and it's just onewoman named Donnie who, out of

(30:16):
the goodness of her heart, justrescued dogs and set up a whole
shelter for them.
She took dogs who were on thestreets, like living in bad
situations, dogs who had beenabused, like dogs who had been
really traumatized, really olddogs who just weren't getting
the care they needed.
They're not like dogs up foradoption, they're dogs who just
like needed a better life.

(30:36):
So if you have the means andthe heart for animals, this is a
really good place to look atand send some money if you want
to.
But we were there for againanother two weeks and it was the
most beautiful thing.
It looks.
It's weird being in othercountries and being like, oh,
this looks familiar, like youthink that other places of the
world are going to be sodifferent and foreign and new,
but it like it looks like whereI grew up, like pine trees and

(30:57):
hills, and which was really niceit felt.
When you're away for this longand living out of a backpack, it
feels really cool to have areminder of like where you've
been.
We would wake up in the morningand we would walk the dogs
through the hills, like takethem on a hike.
We'd have to do them in batchesbecause some dogs couldn't see
the other dogs because they'dfight, or some dogs were just
like really angsty.
We joked that it felt like ourold job at Children's Hospital,

(31:18):
like we were in the inpatientpsychiatric unit for dogs.
You had to make sure that thedoor was closed for the one
kennel before you'd open thedoor to the other kennel.
We never had any fights,everything was fine.
But we're like, okay, of course, this is where we ended up, so
we can't escape what we're meantto do the acute care.
But we were there for two weeks.
There was this one dog that Ifell absolutely in love with and

(31:39):
was like trying to plot how Icould take this dog around the
world with me so that I couldhave it as my own at home.
But alas, the dog is stillthere.
Yeah, that was an awesome place.
Also, if you are interested intraveling, a really sustainable
way to do it is this work awayand volunteering, and you don't
have to do it long term like us,like you could go for just two
weeks to Chile and volunteer andthen go home and, if you like

(32:00):
dogs, this is a good place to beLike.
Seriously, I can't plug itenough.
It was awesome, awesome,awesome.
And then after that, we went tothe coast of Chile and we stayed
in a city called Valparaiso,which is the, I think, the
second biggest city in Chileafter Santiago.
Hannah said it reminded her ofSan Francisco.
I've never been to SanFrancisco, but it's just like a

(32:20):
lot of hills and a lot of colorand a lot of like culture and
grit and like passion.
It was, that was our favoritecity that we've been to so far.
It was so beautiful and it'sright on the coast.
So we got to spend time on thebeach, which we both love, and
just like feel the culture ofChile, which was cool To compare
Argentina and Chile.
Argentina felt cleaner, feltmore European and like the

(32:43):
people, there are a lot ofimmigrants similar to the United
States, like white people withblonde hair.
Like Hannah and I didn't stickout.
Really, it didn't feel like, oh, you're in Latin America.
Chile is like, yeah, you're inLatin America.
Like we're playing ourreggaeton and we're like eating
our spicy food.
You know, chile was a littlemore what we thought, what we
expected from going to SouthAmerica.

(33:03):
Those were the two countries wespent time in down there and I
speak Spanish, which was reallyhelpful.
Hannah does not speak muchSpanish.
She knows some, but she waslooking to me a lot.
So if you're ever going toSouth America, they don't speak
English as much as if you werein Mexico or somewhere closer to
the United States, like theSpanish was helpful Chilean
accent impossible to understand.
We got there and people weretalking to me and I was like I

(33:26):
don't think I actually know howto speak Spanish anymore.
After being in Argentina andbeing fine, it was like such a
shock.
The Spanish is so different.
But we loved our time there andthat got us two and a half
months into our travels and thenwe took a plane from Santiago
to LA.
We had a few days layover in LA.
Unfortunately, we were thereright when the big fires were

(33:46):
happening.
Where we were you couldn'treally tell that it was going on
, but it was just like you couldfeel it in LA.
So that was a shock anddevastating.
We're in Los Angeles, fires arehappening.
We were there for only a fewdays.
I got my next batch of medicinesent to me and we got on a plane
to Japan, which we had plannedto go to Japan on this trip.
But we were going to originallywait to go in the spring to see

(34:08):
the cherry blossoms and also,hannah's brothers already had a
trip planned to Japan, so wewere going to go meet them there
.
But after Chile, we thought ournext stop would be Thailand.
But every flight had a layoverin Japan, and I'm a big skier.
I have been skiing since I wastwo years old.
It's like my favorite thing inthe world to do.
So, hannah being the bestgirlfriend she is, she was like

(34:30):
why don't we just stay in Japanfor a few days so you can ski?
Like we're going to have alayover there anyways, why
wouldn't we just go?
I was like wait, really, you'reserious.
And she said yeah, of course Iam Like, let's do it.
So we booked a flight to Japan.
We ended up in Hokkaido, whichis like the island.
Well, hokkaido is a state, butit's on the island at the very
north of Japan, and we werethere for five days and Japan is

(34:58):
so freaking cool.
I think it might be my favoritecountry that we've been in yet,
even though it was only fivedays.
It's just like South Americawas a different culture than
what we're used to, but it waslike things I'd seen before I'd
traveled to Mexico, I'd traveledto Central America Like I kind
of knew what to expect.
Japan is just like okay, youare somewhere else, like, first
of all, I don't know whatanything says, this isn't even
our alphabet, you know, it'slike that could be a picture I

(35:21):
don't know what it is andthey're just.
Everything is so orderly,everything is so clean, the food
is so good.
It was just.
It was like awesome.
So we went there and we wentskiing at a ski resort called
Moiwa, which is like part ofNiseko, and a lot of skiers will
know this stuff because Japanis like the?
It place to go skiing right now.
But we stayed at this tinylittle lodge with this amazing

(35:42):
little couple who owned it, theman of the house.
His name is Shinya and he isthe avalanche forecaster for all
of the Niseko mountains.
So he's like 70 something yearsold, but he's been doing this
for 50 years and it was so cool.
He like barely spoke anyEnglish, but like the words that
we could exchange were great.
He would just tell us storiesabout, like, all the stuff he's

(36:03):
done.
He's traveled to Patagonia,he's traveled to Nepal.
He goes all over the place todo these amazing adventures.
I like, so wish that I couldhave spoke Japanese to actually
hear about his life, because Igot a sliver of it.
But yeah, he's the avalancheforecaster, so every morning he
goes out, he like tests the snowand then he writes a whole
report and sends it out to themountains, so you know what to
expect if you're going into theback country.

(36:24):
It was really cool, really cool.
He told me I was a good skierand that's like the highest
compliment I've ever received.
But we skied in Japan.
Japan was great and we wereonly there for a few days.
We are going back.
And then we came to Thailandand that's where we are now.
In Thailand, we started out inChiang Mai, which is a city in
the North of Thailand wherethere's a ton of temples, like a

(36:46):
temple on every block, the mostbeautiful Buddhist temples, so
ornate and just like.
I can't even believe that it'sreal because I've never seen
anything with my own eyes.
That's like actually real.
You go to Disney World again.
Who thought I would have talkedabout this this much and like
Epcot and you see, the likeThailand land and like
everything just looks fake here,because I've only ever seen it

(37:08):
in a fake way, but it's real,and we walked into this one
temple when there was a worshipgoing on and these monks were
just like chanting the song andthere were civilians in there
too, just like sitting andpraying and singing the chant
and it was so beautiful.
I do yoga too and like my yogastudies were really rooted in
Buddhism and like the tenets ofyoga rather than like here's how

(37:28):
you do downward dog.
It was the best yoga teachertraining I've ever done.
But it feels so cool to be herein Thailand and like see where
this lineage has such deep roots.
The first day we're in Thailand,we were staying at this hostel
that was like known for partyingand Thailand is a huge party
place.
I did not know that Hannahdoesn't drink.
I like have left my party agesback in my ski town days and

(37:50):
tell you Hannah doesn't drink.
I like have left my party agesback in my ski town days and
tell your I'd have like I'm tooold for this, but Thailand knows
how to party.
So one.
The first night at our hostelwe went to a lady boy show,
which is a drag show, but inThailand they call them lady
boys, and let me tell you thatwas the best drag show I've ever
been to.
It was so amazing.
These girls were working hardand they were like seducing this

(38:12):
old man in the audience thewhole time.
It was so funny.
Anyways, I got very drunk andthe next, oh, we sang karaoke.
It was the whole thing.
The next day I was so hungoverso I laid in bed like the whole
day.
Hannah went out and explored andthen it was Lunar New Year.
That's why we came to ChiangMai at this time, because it was
Lunar New Year and theycelebrate here and we were like

(38:32):
how cool would it be to be in aplace that celebrates Lunar New
Year?
So I'm hungover.
Finally I get enough strength.
We go out to Chinatown for thenight and we saw this like oh,
we watched this like childbeauty pageant.
That was the highlight of theChinatown Chinese New Year.
It was like a literal, a kid'sbeauty pageant, like picture
toddler and tiaras.

(38:52):
That's what we were watching.
But we sat through the wholething because we needed to know
who won.
It was so great.
Some of them, like theirtalents were like this one girl
did a little pom-pom, like cheer, for like two minutes and that
was her talent.
But some of them, like, did awhole dance and it was really
good.
It was hilarious to watch.
But we ate food from the streetstalls and we were trying to be
safe.
We were trying to say, okay, weneed to eat the things that are

(39:15):
, like, cooked in front of ourface because we don't want to
get food poisoning.
Lo and behold, that night Iwake up in the middle of the
night with food poisoning andwe're in a hostel in a dorm room
that has 15 beds in it.
So it was like it was a lot.
I was sweating, I was in thebathroom for hours, pooping,
throwing up at the same timejust horrible, and for anyone

(39:35):
that sucks.
But for a person with adigestive illness, like the
flashbacks that are coming backwhile you're throwing up it was
horrible.
I think it was neurovirus.
We've deduced that we think itwas neurovirus because
neurovirus has a certain smellto it.
Sorry, I'm getting graphic, butmaybe this is the good podcast
to get graphical.

(39:56):
Anyways, triggering Hannah wasfine.
She was like helping me, shewas bringing me my medication
Thank God, I have a lot ofZofran Zofran saves lives and we
ended up moving to a hotel room.
So we were like double payingfor our hostel and our hotel.
But we just needed a space thatwas not with 15 other people
and with my own unlimitedbathroom.
And the next day I was feelingbetter.
And then we like got some food.

(40:18):
I ate some toast.
We were walking around a littlebit, we were sitting by the
pool and Hannah went to thebathroom and she came back and
she said I just had diarrhea.
I was like, oh no, here it goes.
And then 10 minutes later shewent back to the bathroom and
texted me and she said I justthrew up.
I was like, oh shit, okay, so Igo back to the hotel that we

(40:38):
had just checked out of and Isaid, hey, we need the room
again.
So we get to the hotel roomagain.
Hannah was sick for the next 24hours.
Luckily I was feeling better soI could take care of her.
But anyways, our first fivedays in Thailand I was hungover
and then I was sick and thenHannah was sick.
So we've been in Thailand forlike a week and a half and I
haven't seen much of it becauseit's been a rough go and I

(40:59):
expected that I was going to getsick on this trip.
Did I think it was going to bethe first night in Thailand?
No, but it was just a matter oftime.
Thailand has just it's beenhard on us so far.
We it's just a matter of time.
Thailand has just it's beenhard on us so far.
We had some mix up with ourflights.
We had a long layover in theairport.
We didn't get to our hosteltill really late.
It's been a trying country forus so far and also so different,

(41:23):
like probably the most cultureshock yet.
But now we're at our nextvolunteering place where we're
teaching English in a littletiny, tiny village in the really
far north of Thailand, on theborder of Laos.
It's called Puchipha, is thevillage that we're in and we're
staying in this house, if youcould even call it a house.
It's like there's rooms,there's four rooms, but there's
no furniture.
It's like all wood, like thefloors and the walls and the

(41:45):
ceiling are all made out of thesame kind of wood.
We sleep on little mats on thefloor, which I think is
traditional for an Asian culture.
Our toilet is a hole in theground, our shower is a bucket
with a scoop that you pour yourwater over you, and we've been
here for two nights and it'sgoing okay so far, but it's only
been two nights and we have twoweeks here, so we'll see how it

(42:06):
goes.
But the kids are lovely.
The families, like the parentsof all the kids that we're
teaching, make us food andthey'll bring us food at our
little house because we don'thave a kitchen there or we'll
eat with them.
Right now I'm in one of theirhomes doing this call because
there's no Wi-Fi at the housewe're staying at.
She came this morning to pickme up on her little scooter and
I got on the scooter with mylaptop and came over to her

(42:27):
house.
She gave me coffee and it'sreally nice because in the work
that we did at the hospital weboth taught like mental health
education to these kids.
That was like the bulk of ourjob.
So we both love kids, we loveteaching.
It's really hard to teach alanguage to people whose
language we don't speak, butthey know their ABCs and some of
them know past, present andfuture tense.
So we're getting there.

(42:48):
Yeah, some of the kids are ourgo-to people to like communicate
things.
They have to speak between usand the parents because they
know more English than theparents and definitely more Thai
than we know.
Oh, and it's a Hmong villagewhich Hmong is like started in
China, I think, hmong culture,but they've since immigrated all
over the place, so they'respeaking Thai here, but they

(43:09):
also speak Hmong.
And I think tomorrow we get togo to like a durian farm and we
get to dress up in classic Hmongoutfits and pick durian and
it'll be great.
It's just an adventure.
We really do not know whatwe're getting into each day, but
that's why we did this.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
I am curious, as you've been plotting where
you're going to go, have youalso, because of your
inflammatory bowel disease, kindof done a little like sneaky
look to say, if something wereto happen, here's the place I
know I could go to get care?
Or is that not factored inbecause you are doing so well?
Yeah, honestly no.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
I have not been looking at that stuff and maybe
I should be, but also I haven'tneeded to so far.
Part of the insurance battlewas that because we're on
medicaid.
Medicaid only covers care incolorado.
Bear insurance wouldn't reallycover out of the country care
either, but they have likeemergency procedures if you need
it, like different privateinsurances, but medicaid

(44:06):
strictly covers in colorado.
So additionally, we had topurchase travel insurance, which
if anyone's doing a trip likethis, you should get just
because it helps for, like, if Iwere to die, my travel
insurance will ship my body backto the United States and that
would be covered.
So that's good to know.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Or if you had a ski accident, then you'd have
something to fall back on justin case.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
Yes, exactly.
So the travel insurance shouldbe able to support me if
something were to happen.
But also, in a lot of countries, healthcare works completely
different than what we know Inevery country it does.
So I don't even know if they'dask to look at my insurance,
truly, if something were tohappen.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
It's a lot more affordable in a lot of countries
.
So yeah, I think you probablywould be okay, for sure, I hate
to say that.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
America.
I've heard from people who gotreally sick in Thailand and
Thailand's healthcare systemisn't great, just like the
facilities of a hospital isn'tvery good so they've been flown
to Malaysia to get better careor I think Malaysia is what she
said.
This was one person who gotdengue virus from a mosquito and
told me this whole story thethings that can happen.

(45:11):
There's a point where you justhave to not think about what can
go wrong, because so much cango wrong and if you're thinking
about it all the time, you'regoing to have no fun.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
You know Exactly.
Yeah, you can't live your lifewith anxiety.
I mean I think there's.
I mean don't go do stupid shit,like there's.
Just in general, it's wise ruleto just not do stupid shit, but
at some point also, you justhave to say like stuff can
happen every, I could fall downmy stairs now and hurt myself.
Like it doesn't, I'm not goingto not live in my house or climb
stairs, you know.
So you have to decide what youwant to do and make compromises,

(45:42):
you know, and not live inanxiety.
It's that's wise, exactly.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
I don't think we ever imagined being in a place quite
as rural as we are right now,in this little village Like
Chiang Mai is the closest cityand it's five hours away, a
five-hour drive.
But this work away that we did,we thought we were going to be
in Chiang Mai and then we gotthere and they were like we
really need help in this village.
Would you come to it?
And we were like, okay, surewe'll come to it.
Like we're doing this becausewe want to see the culture and

(46:09):
this is quite a differentculture than anything I've ever
seen.
There's like rubber tree farmsall over the place and chickens
walking across the street allthe time and like, like I said
earlier, roosters crowing outthe window.
Like I couldn't sleep lastnight because a rooster was just
going on all night long.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
So it's really cool.
I'm sorry, I really do.
I really hate roosters.
They're yeah, I'm sorry, Ireally do.
I really hate roosters.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Yeah, I don't think I really like them either after
this.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
They're a menace.
I know it's like even if youwere a vegetarian you'd be like
I'm going to eat that sucker, sookay, so you're going to be
there for two weeks.
So then have you already sortof plotted out where you're
going to go?
Or like is this a spur of themoment?
Like, okay, next is this one?
Like, where are you going next?

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Yeah.
So we have a rough idea of,like the countries we want to
see and that's about it.
We're really doing spur of amoment travel, but I truly think
that's the way you have to doit.
If you're traveling this way,because you can never like we'll
get to a place and people willsay, have you heard of this
place?
Like just word of mouth, of thebest things to see, the best
places to go, so if you were toplan it out and like book all

(47:09):
your flights, you know you'dmiss out on a lot of stuff.
I think we're going to spendmore time in Thailand.
We have to go to the South andlike see the beautiful islands
and the blue waters, and thefood is very different
regionally in Thailand, as it isin many places.
So up here, I think, what we'reeating is mostly Hmong food.
And then next we're going toVietnam, where there's this

(47:37):
famous trip called the Ha GiangLoop and you ride on the back of
a motorcycle or you can rentyour own motorcycle and it's
like a four day journey throughthe hills and the mountains of
Vietnam and then, along the wayyou like, stay in different
families' houses.
So we're doing that and then,along the way you like, stay in
different families' houses.
So we're doing that, and thenwe have another volunteer job in
Vietnam, and then after thatwe'll go back to Japan, where

(47:58):
we'll visit Hannah's siblings,and we're going to go to Disney
World Japan, because we're aDisney family now.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
That is so weird.
But okay, I'm not a Disneyperson, so people that are the
Disney people, I do think it'slike some sort of weird cult
that you've joined but it'sreally cute, Like it's a cute
cult For sure a cute cult, forsure a cute cult.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
I like give it a lot of hate, but I have so much fun
when I'm there.
It's a cool place to be.
They know how to do it.
I'll tell you that, yeah, theydo.
They know hospitality for sure.
And then, after Japan, we willhead to Europe, which I know.
Europe is like a wholecontinent, so we're in Europe.
I don't know, italy is at thetop of our list.
Neither of us have been thereand I'm like saving up all my
money to eat pasta.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
How long were you with Hannah before you decided
to do this?
Because this is the ultimatetrial for a relationship, is
what you are doing, so I am socurious how long you were
together.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
We've been together now a year and a half a little
over a year and a half, and weleft three months ago, so we'd
been together over a year beforewe left, which for me, that's
my longest relationship.
For Hannah, that's her longestrelationship.
So for us it's like okay, we'rein this, but that's like
nothing in the grand scheme oflife and relationships.
Right Before we left on thistrip, we traveled to Iceland

(49:12):
together, which we had plannedbefore.
We decided to do this aroundthe world whole journey, and in
Iceland we rented a van anddrove around the ring road for
like 12 days.
So we were living in a tinylittle space and it was like
raining all the time andeverything was wet, and we
didn't really have a plan forIceland either.
We're just like not I love aplan, but I've learned to let go

(49:33):
of a plan for traveling Likeit's so much easier to not know
what you're doing every secondof every day, at least the way
we're traveling.
So Iceland gave us a reallygood insight of like are we
going to be able to do this for10 months together?
And the answer was yes.
We just work really welltogether, and maybe because we
met at work where we had to workso closely as a team.
We like naturally we alreadyknew that we knew how each other

(49:55):
functioned and worked.
Yeah, it's been really so easy.
A lot of people that we meet aretraveling alone, like solo
traveling big trips around theworld, and that's so cool, but I
don't think I could ever do it.
I just I need someone to likebe bouncing my ideas off of and
something that feels like homeand, as cheesy as it sounds,
like Hannah, is that for me?

(50:15):
Yeah, it's a newer relationship, but it's also like the most
serious relationship either ofus have ever had and the most
like future that we see with aperson.
It's been great it has.
I wouldn't want to do it withanyone else.
Like I said, my sister andcousin went traveling the world
together and I was invited to goon that trip and it didn't line
up with, like what was going onin my life.
But also, I just truly don'tthink I would have been able to

(50:38):
do it like the way that mysister and I she's my best
friend but we hang out for twodays and then we're like have
had enough of each other.
We need a break for a littlebit.
So if you're going to travelwith someone, you got to pick
the right person for sure.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
It's definitely a test of your relationship,
especially being gone, as longas you are Like it's not, like
you're like, okay, well, we onlyhave to make it three more days
and then I can, you know, poopin my own bathroom or I can do
my own laundry, or whatever.
It is Right, you know, likeit's definitely uh, uh, it's a
very different.
So, yeah, she's like a treasureyay, she is.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
Yeah, it's like we're the only people that each other
sees some days, you know.
I mean, we see all the peopleon the street, but like the only
person that the other persontalks to.
Luckily, we like to talk toeach other.
On this trip, I'm like tryingreally hard to not have
expectations.
I think that's a really biglesson that I've learned Like no
expectations for what we'regoing to do, for how long we're
going to be traveling, for wherewe're going to go, and also

(51:35):
trying to not have expectationsof like a huge epiphany, like
this is what life is about, youknow, because I had a really
great life before this and nowthis is also a really great life
and everything can be true.
This traveling can be just 10months of traveling.
It doesn't have to be like I'ma whole new person, like I eat,
pray, love and all of a suddenI'm like better than everyone
else.
You know, that's not what I'mlooking for out of this trip.

(51:57):
It's just what I wanted to doand I was able to make it work,
and when I get back, I'm goingto have maybe a thousand dollars
to my name.
Hannah won't have a car.
We have nowhere to live Like wehave our parents' houses but we
don't have like a place to goback to.
So the when we get back is likemore intimidating than the
traveling is right now.
And also to say, like part ofthe reason I decided not to do

(52:19):
the PhD, I think, and part ofwhat I realized when I was in my
grad program at Northwestern isthat my whole life has been IBD
.
I was diagnosed when I was 13and I was really sick until I
was 21.
Like I, there was no relief inthat whole time.
So my whole adolescence was IBD.
It was doctor's visits, it wasthe hospital, it was like I had

(52:41):
blinders on.
So I thought, of course Ithought I wanted to be a
gastroenterologist Like that'sthe job I saw happen all the
time.
It was that or my dad owned atree service, so it was like
cutting down trees or being a GIdoctor were the paths that I
saw in front of me.
And then in college Idiscovered health psychology and
that's how I then got into thatfield of things and I still

(53:02):
love it.
I still have a passion for it.
But being in remission and beingaway from the doctor's office
for myself has really given meanother view on, like, how much
space do I want IBD to take upin my life, now that it doesn't
have to?
Before that was like so it wasso healing for me to be so
involved in the foundation, inadvocacy, like having my

(53:23):
Instagram page, talking to otherpeople with IBD, like I needed
that because that was my life.
But now that it doesn't have tobe my life, I really have to
ask myself the question of wheredoes this fit in?
And I'm sure it's going to bemy life again.
I'm in remission right now, butI am in no way under the
impression that I'm in remissionforever and that's just the way
that you have to look at it.

(53:44):
As someone with a chronicillness, I think it is, and
getting sick scares me more thananything because it was just so
hard on me and like I'vefinally had enough space to
unpack what happened when I wassick, to like think of all the
trauma that I went through andhow it changed my development,
how it changed my friendships,how it changed who I am Some of

(54:04):
it for the better, some of it Icould have done without.
So it's just it's like a lot ofbig life questions right now.
You know, I always thought thatI was going to do this thing
and I was on this path and likeI was always looking ahead, like
I said.
So being in the present momentis something that's been really
challenging for me.
That's why I love yoga.
Yoga is like the one time I canget present and be okay with
being present and also be in mybody and feel good in my body,

(54:27):
which was so such a foreignfeeling to someone who was sick
all the time.
But yeah, like I want to be inthe IBD space, but do I want it
to be my whole life?
And then what if I do get sickagain?
Also, I go home and I have togo to the doctors and talk about
my own IBD.
I don't know, it's just it'sI'm at a, I'm at a crossroads
and this traveling is giving melike a good chance to not really

(54:48):
think about it.
But then when I get home, it'slike okay, kick it into gear,
let's figure out what's next.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
I do think that's a hard debate and I'm sure you are
not the only person to facethis.
There isn't a right answer.
There's just the answer that'sright for you, and I think
figuring that out and just beingin the present moment and
living in the time that you haveright now is just such a
beautiful way to honor whereyou're at.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
It's a question and it's a debate that I'm lucky to
be able to have, like I'm solucky that I am in remission and
able to think about puttingCrohn's in a box, because I
never thought I'd be able to dothat Like it never felt like
that was possible.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Josie, I'm so grateful that you came back on
the show.
Thank you so much for sharingall of your adventures with us
and your challenges with us, butunfortunately it's time for me
to ask you the last question.
So, for the third time, what isthe one thing that you want the
IBD community to know?

Speaker 3 (55:40):
I think right now, what feels most pertinent to me
is that you can do the thingsthat you want to do even though
you have a chronic illness.
It's going to be challenging,it's going to be harder for you
than a person without a chronicillness, but you can make it
happen if you want something badenough.
And would I have said this whenI was sick and getting surgery
every six weeks?
No, hell, no, I wouldn't havesaid this.

(56:01):
But I've gotten to the placewhere I can do what I want to do
and even if I was still reallysick, there's like little
pockets of joy that you can findto do the things that you want
to do, whether that's go see amovie or, like, eat the freaking
popcorn, even though you're notsupposed to eat popcorn when
you have Crohn's disease, youknow like, do the things that
you want to do because IBD isjust a little piece of your life

(56:22):
, not your whole life.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
Thank you, josie, so much for coming on.
We can't wait to continue tosee your adventures on your
Instagram account.
Thank you, everybody else forlistening and cheers everybody
officially.
If you liked this episode,please rate, review, subscribe
and, even better, share it withyour friends.
Cheers.