September 17, 2024 • 44 mins
In this episode of The Wayfinder Show, Luis Hernandez interviews Cole Sjoholm about his extraordinary solo travel experience in 2023. Cole shares how a spontaneous question led him to visit all seven continents in a single year, covering 71 flights, 110,246 miles, and 167 nights. He discusses his planning process, the power of vision boards, and the profound personal growth he experienced. The conversation also touches on travel logistics, including working remotely, making friends on cruise ships, and navigating language barriers. Cole's adventures led to memorable moments like hosting makeshift karaoke sessions and interacting with wildlife, while his story inspires others to embrace solo travel and pursue their dreams.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Trust me after my year, lastyear, I put figuring out how to
get to outer space on my visionboard and I have no idea how
it's going to happen or whatwe're going to do, but that's
what we're working towards atthis point.
Oh, I love that.
And you know, what's funny isthat now seems feasible, right?
Like 10 years ago, that might'vebeen unrealistic for anybody.
Yeah, it's becoming morefeasible for sure.
It's still a very expensiveventure, but we're going to
(00:21):
figure out how to do it.
Welcome to the Wayfinder showwith Louie Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that led them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
(00:43):
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the Wayfindershow.
I'm your host, Louis Hernandez.
today we are here with ColeSjoholm.
When someone asked Cole, wouldyou go?
The question changed his life.
In 2023, he spent the yeartraversing the globe, stepping
foot on all seven continents ina single calendar year solo.
From Australia to Europe andAntarctica to the Far East, 71
(01:30):
flight segments, 110, 246 milesflown, and 167 nights later, he
learned that he isn't checkingthings off a bucket list,
instead he's filling his bucket.
The backstory and how the yearcame to be is as inspiring as
the travel itself.
The lessons learned continue toshape his life and his career.
(01:51):
And the travel game.
He captured these experiences inhis new book, Filling My Bucket,
a year of solo travel across theseven continents.
Cole, welcome to the Wayfindershow.
hello there.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great, I'm reallyexcited to have you on when I
saw, your profile.
come across my desk.
I was like, I got to get you onbecause to be completely honest,
(02:14):
you have done what my wife and Ihope to do in a couple of years.
We're going to be empty nestersoon.
And we're starting to prepare.
We're starting to, you know,envision traveling the world,
because, it's not something wewere able to do when we were
younger.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, my story is a littlebit different and I'm sure we're
going to talk about that, but myplanning in advance was limited
(02:36):
to five days.
it was definitely a wild journeygetting there, but, I can't wait
to be here.
Can't wait to see what you'regoing to ask me.
Tell us about how that happened.
So yeah, I've always lovedtraveling growing up in rural
northern Michigan I always knewthat the world was bigger than
where I was and was fortunatethat my parents took us on
summer vacations as a family IHave always loved traveling to
(02:59):
the point that hotel restaurantmanagement was my major in
college.
I really thought that was theway forward.
However, 2023 and how it came tobe was a simple question from a
friend.
On New Year's Eve of 2022, wasin Blackhawk, Colorado, in front
of a slot machine, gambling,having some fun, ringing in the
new year.
(03:19):
a friend messaged me and askedif I had ever seen these videos
on TikTok about the DrakePassage.
I don't have TikTok, but I knowabout the Drake Passage.
And then she asked me, have youever been to Antarctica?
You know, she knew I liked totravel No, I haven't.
Not a lot of people have beenthere.
then she asked, would you go?
And that one question changed mylife.
(03:40):
kind of the backstory of how,how that came to be then is, I'd
already had a trip to Australiabooked for March of 2023.
I knew that I wanted to go toEurope, to Norway, Finland,
Sweden, and explore some of myfamily heritage, during the
summer.
when she asked me this question,I had already had the trip to
Australia booked, I knew I wasgoing to go to Europe.
(04:00):
I'm like, well, if I go toAntarctica, that means I'm going
to South America also.
So I only have to go to Africaand Asia, and I can go to all
seven continents in a year.
And I think I replied back toher about three minutes later,
I'm going to go to all sevencontinents next year.
walked up to my hotel room,started doing some quick
research to see if it was reallypossible or not, and about 30
(04:21):
minutes later, I had a list ofwhen and where I was gonna go,
and it all came together thatquickly.
I saw an opportunity, I took it,little impulsive, yes, but the
year has zero regrets.
Wow, I love that.
there's so much there, but Igotta ask.
I don't know what the DrakePassage is.
what is that?
the Drake Passage is known asthe most rough waters in the
(04:42):
world.
three oceans come together.
The Southern Ocean, the PacificOcean and the Atlantic Ocean,
and they come together at theCape of Good Hope in South
America, just known as the mostrough waters in the world.
Some days it's known as theDrake Lake, which is very smooth
seas.
still more rough than typicalwaters, but then other days it's
(05:03):
known as the Drake Shake wherewaves can reach over 30 feet
tall and really move thosecruise ships around down there.
Wow.
Really good watching.
If you haven't ever seen videos,I highly encourage you to look
at them on your favorite videoviewing platform because it is
pretty wild.
Interesting.
Never heard of that.
So let's get into the meatpotatoes of this because you say
(05:24):
it just happened in five days,but You're also a really high
performing mortgage lender.
Am I right?
Yeah, correct.
I'm still, been doing mortgagefor more than 10 years, banking
finance for 20 years.
definitely a huge part of mylife.
you can't just take off and golike that.
You had to have prepared in someway.
it's unfortunate, and I guess alot of this is a derivative of
(05:46):
COVID and a lot of those changesthat have happened in the
mortgage industry since then.
clients don't typically tend tomeet face to face anymore.
A lot of it is done virtually,or over email and text messages.
So it's really opened up a lotof flexibility for me to work
remotely.
my employer was very supportiveafter going through some
(06:06):
necessary safety protocols aboutaccess and consumer financial
protection, security measures,we came up with a plan about how
it was possible.
I still worked, this was not 167days of vacation.
I was still working while I wastraveling in these different
continents.
time zones were a consideration,but it all came together in a
(06:27):
way that was remarkable andperfect can't wait to try and do
it again.
How many countries did you endup traveling in total?
The official count from lastyear is 25.
my total country visit over mylifetime is at 36.
So it was a lot of travel lastyear, a lot of new destinations
and new sites.
(06:47):
You had mentioned somethingbefore we got started about you
had actually started thinkingabout something like this long
before this.
I was transitioning from asalary position as a bank
manager to a commission only jobas a mortgage lender.
part of that transition, I wentinto a professional coaching
service where a vision boardbecame one of the exercises
(07:10):
thinking about what I wanted mylife to be as part of that
change.
I created a vision board back in2012 that was largely based on
travel, as well as some personaland financial goals, travel had
always been an important part ofmy life, and it really was a lot
of my why, about why I wantedto, do things and how I wanted
to make my life better formyself and my family Fast
(07:31):
forward to 2023, I lived so manythings that were on that vision
board that I never thought werepossible.
my coach encouraged me to putthings on there that were
stretch goals or, things beyondmy wildest imagination.
I put it in a place where Ilooked at it on a regular basis
for a good number of years.
(07:52):
I'd say the vast majority of theitems that were on that vision
board came true in a singleyear, and it really was a vision
board for my life, not just ayear, I'm so thankful for the
exercise.
I have become a champion forvision boards.
I really think that they'reimportant, stretching beyond
what you think is possible.
And really, if it's important toyou, what I've learned is that
(08:13):
time and place are important.
But when you give somethingspace in your life, it creates a
very powerful connection betweenwhat you want and what you do.
And it's really life changing inthat way.
we've talked about visioning alot in this, show, and we've
brought on numerous people whohave different strategies, and
they do some amazing things withit.
(08:34):
myself, at the times I've beenmost successful, it's usually as
a result of a vision I set off,years before So it's really the
right, having the clarity andknowing what to do and how to
get there.
it's a very powerful thing andit gives you that focus that you
need to execute.
Yeah, and what's most fun issome things like you said that
they could be, you were asked toput in some stretch goals and
(08:56):
sometimes that can be scary whenyou put them on, right?
Like you, you put something onthere and it almost has to, if
it isn't scary, it almostshouldn't even be on there,
right?
Cause you're thinking how canthat happen?
No way, right?
And then before you know it,it's happening.
Well, trust me after my year,last year, I put figuring out
how to get to outer space on myvision board and I have no idea
(09:16):
how it's going to happen or whatwe're going to do, but that's
what we're working towards atthis point.
Oh, I love that.
And you know, what's funny isthat now seems feasible, right?
Like 10 years ago, that might'vebeen unrealistic for anybody.
It's becoming more feasible forsure.
It's still a very expensiveventure, but we're going to
figure out how to do it.
I love it.
Oh, wow.
we're going to have to have ashow recorded with you from out
(09:38):
of space.
That would be amazing.
So, About that board.
I just want to talk about thatprocess a little bit So you
started doing this board 12years ago would you look at it
regularly how did you actuallymake it Ripped out pictures from
a magazine.
Did you have a professionaldrawer for you?
no, it was all homemade.
my little tip that that I liketo use is I like to use binder
(09:59):
clips And I kind of paste thoseon the board and then add
pictures to it.
as you accomplish one thing,your vision might change or
evolve.
I never took something off, butI sometimes added to it.
I like having a threedimensional thing.
So I'd make, some backgroundsfor a picture I cut out.
sometimes I make a little paperpicture frame that I'd put
(10:20):
around the image and just tryand do a little bit more than
just, pasting things onto aposter board, but making it a
living, breathing document whereyou can add or subtract, whether
something was accomplished orwhether, the vision has evolved
or changed or expanded, I coulddo that without having to redo
the board itself.
Yeah, and I did.
I mean, I put it in my office.
(10:40):
I looked at it every day.
Another fun tip that I'velearned over the years is
putting it in your garage, whereyou have to look at it every day
as you're coming and going inand out of your everyday work
life into your home life is areally powerful place to put it.
But I think having it visible,is so important.
You know, as technology'schanged, a lot of people will
(11:01):
take photos and then use it astheir home screen photo on their
phone.
So they're forced to look at itevery time they pick up their
phone.
But I just think that visibilityis really important, even
subconsciously, if you're notpaying attention to it, it just
helps that vision come together.
I love that.
I think that is key to, youknow, have it somewhere where
there's the garage or on yourphone.
(11:23):
Yeah.
Well, you, well, you are lookingat it every day.
If you put it away and forgetabout it, you could easily
forget your vision.
Right.
And you're doing exactly.
And you're not providing thatclarity that you need in that
focus.
So, yeah.
And, and it gets you excited,gets you positive, gets you
motivated towards something, youknow, so.
It's great.
tell us about the actual travelsnow.
(11:43):
you did this solo, right?
I did.
I did all seven continents bymyself, that's not to say I
didn't meet hundreds ofwonderful people around the
world that I now get to callfriends.
Yeah.
But the actual travel, was alldone solo.
Wow.
So, how would you make friends?
I did a lot of cruise vacations,logistically.
That was an easy way to travelas a solo person.
(12:05):
I knew I didn't want to spend aton of time packing, unpacking,
ground transportation.
And really that was a factor ofbeing able to work remotely.
when you're on a cruise ship,you might have a sea day where
you're just sailing betweendestinations.
those were great days for me tostay focused on work.
And then when I was sayingthose.
You know, cities around theworld getting to see and do the
(12:27):
highlights of those, thosedestinations.
I could be less focused on workand rely on my team back in
Grand Junction to pick up someof those day to day pieces for
me.
so cruising became the way to doit.
And then because of that,everyone's on holiday or
vacation and they're allfriendly.
They're all like to sit down andchat and learn about where
you're from and what you'redoing.
(12:49):
I was able to meet.
Literally hundreds of differentpeople from all different walks
of life all around the world,largely due to cruise traveling.
Oh, interesting.
So that answers one of myquestions.
I was going to ask where youstayed.
So you were always on a cruiseship?
Not always.
there was a land component whereI'd fly into a destination and
spend anywhere from three tofive days in a city.
(13:09):
Then I would get on a cruiseship.
Then I would typically stay afew days at the departure port
and do some land based things.
but a cruise ship was home for agood majority of the year last
year.
Interesting.
So that would mean that all ofthe places you visited were, on
a coast, I'm assuming.
a good number of them.
one of the stops, though, inGermany, you stop in Wormundi,
(13:32):
which is up on the northerncoast, and then, take a two hour
train ride into Berlin incentral Germany.
So, it depends on, how longyou're there.
some ports, You're thereovernight, which allows you to
explore further or longer thanjust a one day stop.
But, you know, I, I tried to flyinto destinations that I had a
big desire to do some more landbased vacations and further
(13:55):
exploring, a couple of days inadvance.
that allowed me to combine thebest of both worlds.
how would you pick them?
Well, because it was allhappening so quickly, literally,
like, I went up to my room 30minutes later, I had it loosely
plotted out.
A lot of the schedule was setfor me based off of what was
still available.
I had this trip to Australiabooked already, and then, I
(14:17):
started searching destinations,cruise lines, prices that had
availability.
That worked into this mastercalendar of visiting all seven
continents in a year.
the Antarctica cruise season,for example, only goes from
October through March.
which shrunk it down for mebecause March I already had
things planned, so I couldn't goearly in 2023.
(14:39):
I had to move that to the end ofthe year.
Which then meant I only hadOctober, November, December to
do that segment of the trip.
and then based off of some otherthings, like Asia was best done
in November, I only had Decemberto do Antarctica.
going in October, it's a littlebit more risky to actually set
foot on the continent, becauseit's still early in the season,
(15:02):
and there's a lot of ice.
my goal was to not only visitall seven continents, but to
actually set foot on all sevencontinents.
so that left December and justall these pieces, you start
moving the puzzle around andthey all fit together and voila,
five days later, all the travelwas booked and I was out on my
first vacation.
Nice.
(15:22):
What about a visa arrangementfor all these?
How is that handled?
Part of that was learn as I go,which there was a few stressful
moments, but, travel agentstypically aren't responsible for
advising whether visas arerequired or not.
we do have some benefit as UScitizens where typically most
places don't require visas.
(15:43):
check your State Departmentwebsite.
A lot of countries that dorequire visas, you can apply
electronically and get a visa inas little as 24 hours.
that was the case for everywhereI visited.
I purposely didn't choose someother places, like China which
have a much more extensive andrigorous visa requirement.
Because I just didn't have thetime available in my year of
(16:04):
travel to dedicate to obtaininga visa for that country.
But you know, I did visit HongKong, which is, part of China
now, which does not require themainland tourist visa.
So you still got to experiencesome of those different places,
just with some lessrequirements.
And that's still the case.
Yeah.
It's Hong Kong.
Oh, I didn't know as of Novemberof last year, that was the case.
(16:27):
Oh, neat.
I went to Hong Kong like 10years ago and for grad school
program and we went from HongKong, you could easily go on to
the mainland.
but it was a little bit harderthe other way, I thought that
all changed when China tookover.
I was coming from Tokyo or fromJapan to, and then in through
Taiwan and then visit Hong Kong,but I still wasn't required to
(16:48):
have a tourist visa that, youknow, the cruise ships do a good
job of communicating what'sgenerally required, but they
push responsibility to thepassengers to make sure they
have the required documents,whether that's your passport or
visas.
What about, so it sounds likeyou pretty much stuck to the
general.
Tourist destinations withinthese places, right?
(17:10):
So you weren't really going outand integrating into the
communities or anything likethat, right?
Yeah, it just depended.
certainly when you're only in acity for, anywhere from 8 to 12
hours, you don't have a ton oftime to get out and meet a ton
of local people.
I do like to venture off on myown some when I'm out exploring
(17:30):
and would frequently hire alocal tour guide versus, someone
sponsored through one of theship shore excursions.
There are some risks to doingthat as far as liability for
getting you back to the boat.
if you miss the boat, yourresponsibility to transport
yourself to the next destinationbecomes your own unless you do
one of the ship tours, but, youknow, it worked out.
(17:51):
Well, for me, I didn't ever haveany issues.
I'd spend a lot of time in thoseland based segments before the
cruise ship, trying to get toknow some of the local cultures,
better and, spent close to aweek in Australia, same in
Northern Europe and Amsterdam.
my Africa trip was really allland based.
(18:11):
so there was no cruise componentthere.
And then South America, spentseveral days in Buenos Aires,
flew up to Iguazu Falls at thenorthern border of Argentina and
Brazil, and, then flew down toUshuaia to catch the cruise ship
to Antarctica.
Interesting.
What do you think, one of thethings I think about with
travel?
A lot is the idea of going deepversus going wide, right?
(18:35):
Oftentimes, we were just inJapan for 12 days and we spent
half of that time in Tokyo theother half in Kyoto And he and
we we purposely a lot of Otherpeople went and hit the whole
country They just want to go inand out.
I've learned to want to spendmore time and go deeper.
the deeper you go, the more youfall in love with these places
and you want to spend more timethere, Versus if you're there
(18:56):
one day.
that is the downfall of, acruise type vacation.
you really get to see what Icall the highlight reel of a
destination.
if I told you the number of,UNESCO World Heritage Sites that
I saw in a year, It's a hugelist.
well over 20 different, maybemore than that.
certainly I couldn't have goneto 25 countries or, over 50
(19:19):
destinations without cruising.
because I was still working,that was the best option for me.
I do value and appreciate, Adifferent, more immersive type
experience, but that wasn'tpossible at this stage in my
life.
with that said, I like cruisingin general, so it was all good
and fun for me, but I dounderstand and appreciate the
(19:39):
differences between those typesof travel.
I think it just depends on whatyou're trying to accomplish and
it all works great either way.
And it sounds like you get thecommunity built in from the
cruises anyways.
my Australia cruise was almostall Australians.
the European cruise, there was asprinkle of Americans, but
(20:00):
obviously heavy European, beingthat it sailed out of Amsterdam
or Rotterdam.
it depends where that happens,but I am really glad I had the
land based components to tie inwith that.
So I need to have some more ofthat.
More local immersive experiencethat you talk about.
Interesting.
because of that, are thereplaces you'd want to go back to
and immerse yourself more intothe community?
(20:21):
There are certainly, I mean, I'mreally fortunate that I would
say there was nowhere that Ivisited that I didn't like.
There was certainly areas that Iliked more than others or would
want to spend more timeexploring and the destination
that comes to the top of mind isNorway.
I loved Norway.
I was.
on a Norwegian fjord cruise, soI spent about seven days in
(20:42):
Norway, and I can't say enoughgreat things about it.
the fjords are beautiful.
The people were wonderful andwarm.
I love how they take a break intheir afternoon around two
o'clock every day to meet theirfriends for, a coffee and a
pastry, it's just a differentway of life that I really
appreciated.
It's Part of that culture that Ienjoy and I'm familiar with
(21:03):
because of where I grew up innorthern Michigan.
it felt like home in a weirdway, Oh, neat.
our listeners don't know, butyour name, I'm assuming is
Norwegian, right?
It's actually very Swedish, butI have Swedish, lineage as well.
so they probably didn't have ahard time pronouncing your name.
people were excited and they'dstart talking to me in Swedish.
I don't know anything,unfortunately, so, that was
(21:24):
always fun, but, like, when thetour guides would see my names,
they, they would all starttalking to me in Swedish or
Norwegian Yeah, that's funny.
that's a great segue to talkabout language.
I think with today's technology,it's something that's always
scared people from traveling,but it's so much easier now.
I'm assuming you became a verycapable user of Google Translate
and such.
(21:45):
Yeah, it was surprising howlittle I had to use it.
I know some Spanish, which getsaround, in a good chunk of the
world.
But there was a meal I had inBuenos Aires, completely through
Google Translate.
I know like Portuguese, orstrong enough Spanish with the
different conjugations of verb.
And, he really didn't know anyEnglish.
(22:07):
So we had an entire meal,through Google Translate.
And it was one of the most funenjoyable and memorable
experiences of the year.
it's remarkable how technologyhas enabled travelers to do that
and really taking down barriers.
So it's not perfect, but you getenough of a sense that it can
really work.
when we were in Japan, none ofus knew any Japanese.
(22:29):
in Tokyo, you almost don't needit.
A lot of people actually speakEnglish, but in Kyoto, that was
not the case.
we depended on that app, and Iam blown away by how far it's
come.
you pretty much just put it inbetween you and, The foreign
language speaker in front of youand you each talk back and forth
and it does it for you.
it's just so amazing.
Now it is, very fun.
you do have the benefit where alot of tourists sites, they
(22:51):
definitely have signs andmultiple languages and things
like that.
So you figure out how to getaround, you know, as a solo
traveler, I did have thebenefit.
Of figuring it out on my own.
I didn't have anyone else torely on.
that's where a lot of thatpersonal growth comes into play
where, you learn what you arecapable of and how capable you
are to figure things out.
(23:12):
And it was just a really greatexperience.
You know, sometimes my phonedata plan wouldn't work and
you'd have to figure out how tonavigate from point A to point
B.
When I was really stuck, somelocal was able to help me and
knew enough English that wecould figure out where I was
trying to go and how to get methere.
So it worked great.
Yeah, it's amazing.
So I'm curious, did you have anypreconceived biases?
(23:35):
when you went towards anycertain countries or cities or
places you were going, that wereproven wrong, or right.
Yeah, I did write about it in mytravel blog a little bit.
I had no idea what to expect inAsia.
I was really nervous about thelanguage barrier there.
I had known some friends thathad gone to Tokyo and then
(23:56):
talked about how friendly thepeople were and how helpful they
were.
And that definitely came true, Ireally loved Asia, just the
entire continent and my entirevisit there more than I ever
expected.
I think that's a little bit ofignorance, a little bit of
unknowing, but, you know, likeVietnam, for example, it's a
controversial topic in Americanhistory and, a lot of people,
(24:19):
you know, it's painted with thisdark jungle, you know, negative
connotation.
And my visit in Vietnam was, youknow, It's more opposite than
any other thing that I everwould have thought or learned
through American history books.
I found the people incrediblyfriendly.
The culture and, you know, justlifestyle was so vibrant and
colorful.
(24:40):
And, that's one of thosedestinations, again, that I
would really love to spend moretime and go back to.
just, you know, I think thehistorical context versus the
current day modern situation is,can be different.
And there was no unexpectednegative surprises.
There was only positivesurprises.
Yeah.
What part of Vietnam did you goto?
(25:00):
I was in, Huan, you know,historical, heritage site and Oh
wow.
Went to a cooking class there,learned how to prepare and, use
local ingredients and, you know,that's kind of one of those ship
sponsored shore excursions thatit kind of goes beyond what you
think you're gonna do on a, on acruise ship.
And it was one of the mostenjoyable things I did all year.
(25:23):
It was just a really fun day,exploring this beautiful city
and also, getting to learn aboutlocal culture that way.
Yeah, during that trip when Iwent to Hong Kong, we also went
to Vietnam as part of my programand we spent a week there I was
blown away and we were in Ho ChiMinh City, which is a former
Saigon, right?
So, to be fair, it's not theprettiest city in the world,
(25:44):
right?
It's very hustle and bustle.
And, you know, it's notaesthetically very pleasing, but
the people, You just can't helpbut fall in love, with how
gracious they are, howenterprising they are.
There's something about theenergy there that just, blows
your mind.
and it's so safe, like you don'thave to worry about anything.
we have this preconceived notionthat it's going to be dangerous,
(26:06):
it was a war zone, all thisstuff.
No, and I fell in love withVietnam too.
I mean, one of my memories fromVietnam is how much they like to
honk.
It's like a little honk honkevery time they pass someone
just kind of a warning becausethere's so many people on
scooters So they want to letthem know that there's a bigger
vehicle coming.
And you kind of become numb tothe honk honk over Half a
million people or whatever, andthen you contrast that to Tokyo,
(26:29):
which I call the silent city of40 million people, where there's
like no honking, no sirens, likemass chaos just because of the
number of people, but also veryorderly and, silent in that way.
So even within Asia, there wastons of contrast.
It's so funny, man, that you'rebringing back a lot of memories
for me, too.
In Tokyo, I went to run themarathon, the Tokyo Marathon,
(26:51):
and my wife and kids were therewith us.
it's a massive, it's a worldmajor, right?
So you get, like, 40 plusthousand people there, and the
streets are so crowded and allthat.
But it's so quiet.
And my wife, she's not quiet,right?
She's cheering everybody on andall this stuff.
And I'm just used to going toother marathons where you see
all these people and obviouslyit's loud.
(27:15):
You know there you see all thepeople and it's so quiet it's
just amazing and my wife saidshe kept getting dirty looks and
had to move to other placesbecause she was cheering
everybody on when They're allquiet, which is kind of funny.
it's totally memorable andunique that way, Which is
awesome.
It really is one of thosemarathons.
I hope they're all memorable butyeah that extra little asterisk
or something special that youget to remember that one by
(27:36):
that's neat.
So give us the top, threememories from this trip.
You mentioned, the cooking classin Vietnam.
You can't use that one again.
But, you know, memories likethat.
Yeah, there's a lot.
I sang karaoke at a bar inTokyo.
I'm not a singer, but you know,they, they require that I sing
(27:56):
some American country.
So for all you Garth Brooksfans, there may or may not be a
recording of Cole singing acountry song in Japan.
Karaoke became this weird memoryof the year just because I'm
really not a very good singer,but part of that personal growth
was I just don't care anymore.
Like I'm here to have fun, youknow, life is meant to be lived.
so on the Antarctica trip, I wason a Viking cruise, which is,
(28:19):
much different clientele than atypical cruise ship.
It was an expensive holiday togo on.
I found this rowdy group ofpeople that aren't a typical
viking passenger either, becausein one of the bars at the front
of the ship, we were down therehaving cocktails later one
evening, and myself and anothergentleman kind of spotted a
microphone over in the distance,which they use for lectures and
(28:42):
daily activities and we lookedat each other and we're like,
karaoke?
And he was like, oh yeah, we'regonna do So we went and picked
up this microphone and we madeour own homemade karaoke bar in
this bar and sing songs, youknow, in Antarctica, who knows,
maybe the very first karaoke barever to exist in Antarctica, but
it was just so memorable.
And, you know, one of thosethings that, I'll never ever
(29:05):
forget just because it was, Kindof frowned upon, but then also,
we just did what we wanted to doand we're having fun.
So that's funny.
That's two.
One more.
Yeah.
Another one at the, Aladabratortoises and the Seychelles,
Africa.
Ooh, there's some of the largesttortoises on land.
They live to be hundreds ofyears old and they were so much
(29:26):
more inquisitive and curiousthan I ever anticipated.
Like, they'll brush up againstyou with their head, kind of
like a cat, or they'll followyou as you walk away like a dog
would.
And the interaction with thewildlife there was, absolutely
incredible.
And one of those memories that Iwill never forget.
Wow.
(29:47):
Okay.
So, you know, was there ever atime you felt unsafe?
No.
I was cautious and careful.
you hear like crime in BuenosAires is maybe higher than other
parts of the world, but a lot ofother countries don't have guns
or don't allow guns, so youdon't have to really worry about
gun violence, And I wascautious.
(30:09):
I was careful, with mybelongings.
I tried not to, be flashy oranything like that.
but I really didn't feel unsafeanywhere.
It was a very remarkable time.
it doesn't mean that therewasn't probably times that I
wasn't in unsafe situations, butI was aware of myself and my
surroundings and, took care toexit them when I needed to.
(30:31):
What about, advice for peoplewho are what's most courageous
about this is the fact that youdid it by yourself.
that really is the unique partof the story.
I've actually met anothergentleman just recently that
actually also went to all sevencontinents last year.
he would go on some of the tripswith friends or family.
So really that solo component isthe part that makes it so
special and unique.
(30:53):
when it.
comes to, my encouragement ofsolo travel.
I have fallen in love with solotravel.
I also appreciate going on tripswith other people because having
that built in friend group orcompanion or partner is so
powerful.
if you knew the number of timesthat I would see the most
amazing sunset when I was in theSouth Pacific, and my first
(31:16):
thought was, I don't have anyoneto share it with.
versus like you see a cafe inAmsterdam and I want a coffee
and I just walk across thestreet and go in and order
without having to tell someonewhat I'm going to do or explain
why I want to do it or why we'regoing to take three minutes out
of the day to do that.
It was very freeing and powerfulin that way.
(31:36):
those are the parts that I love.
if you're tired, you get tosleep in when you want to, if
you want to get up at 6 a.
m.
and start exploring, you can dothat.
You're only responsible foryourself and what you're going
to do that day.
that was the great part aboutsolo travel that I've learned to
grow in love.
Yeah.
Neat.
What, so what's next?
Are you going to travel somemore?
(31:57):
Yeah, I'm actually setting outhere in a few weeks.
I'm going on another cruise.
from Los Angeles up throughAlaska, we'll explore several
places in northern Japan beforeI get off the cruise ship in
Tokyo.
Yeah.
So I'll get to visit some newsites in Japan.
Also, Alaska is one of thosedestinations in the U.
S.
that I haven't been topreviously.
(32:18):
So I'm excited to get to Alaska.
And I'm really excited to beable to compare what I now know
about Norway with Alaska to seehow they compare.
Because I loved Norway so much.
So yeah, there's a lot of greatthings.
Trip through the Panama Canal.
Are there any places you wouldmove to?
Yes.
I mean, the world is a big,beautiful place and there's
(32:40):
probably more places that Iwould consider moving to than I
ever thought possible, butAustralia, like, Completely
wonderful.
So friendly people.
I really loved my time.
I was up in Brisbane and GoldCoast.
I can't wait to see Brisbanehost the Olympics, in 2030.
I think it's gonna be a reallygreat Olympic, host city.
(33:01):
would love to live in Norway.
it's really difficult forAmericans to get visas.
to work there because of theireconomy, but I would love to
spend more time there.
I'm definitely hoping to plotout a full 90 day European
tourist visa stay in Norway atsome point.
Okay.
I guess before we go on to thewayfinder four, like I'm
wondering, is there any like biglessons you think you got from
(33:25):
this that just change your lifein the way you think?
Yeah, I mean, it, the year wasall about self discovery and
growth, I had been inrelationships most of my adult
life, and this was the firsttime in my life that I was
single, so spending time tryingto figure out who I was and what
I wanted out of life, became thegoal of the year, I had the
(33:45):
fortune of, Doing it inbeautiful surroundings, places
that people only dream abouttraveling.
And that was the backdrop for mystory.
So the visual complementarynature of the surroundings just
became such a strong part of mypersonal growth.
that was really the biggesttakeaway in figuring out who I
am and what I wanted to do withmy life Love that.
(34:09):
Well, Cole, on that point, It'stime to get on to our now world
famous Wayfinder 4.
I'm sure you heard thiseverywhere you were, right?
Absolutely.
Famous questions, famous hosts.
I'm excited to be here.
Thank you.
So give us a hack and you can'tuse Google Translate app or
(34:30):
something like that, No, I meanI really found a lot of benefit
in brand loyalty and it soundssimple, but sometimes price is
only what you pay.
I have a former manager that ifhe ever is listening, I owe this
to him.
price is what you pay.
Value is what you get.
I became very loyal to AmericanAirlines, for example, I have
limited options for my localairport.
(34:52):
American Airlines was thepartner that I chose, but
because I traveled so much andso much with their themselves
and their partner airlines, Ivery quickly grew up, or went up
the ladder of, loyalty.
And there was three differentinstances where I got upgraded
from like a normal main cabineconomy seat into a business
class seat.
It's a pod, which if I werepaying for that would be
(35:15):
somewhere in the seven to 9, 000range of an upgrade.
I got three of those for freelast year.
Wow.
Even though I might not have thelowest price ticket for a single
segment somewhere in the world,by staying loyal to that brand,
it really became a benefit forme long term.
Yeah.
That, that's a great one.
(35:35):
I, I never really thought ofthat, that consciously, but it
applies to everything, right?
It really does.
To somebody, you and I are bothin the real estate world
essentially, right.
people might shop you for rates,me for commission prices.
they don't understand the valuethat we provide if they're
loyal.
there is so much that weprovide.
Provide and negotiate everythingto discount their other expenses
(35:59):
and bring them otheropportunities.
Peace of mind is a big part ofit.
you are maybe willing tonegotiate for a repeat client or
for friends or family versus,someone that just picks up the
phone we obviously work hard forall of our clients regardless.
There is added benefit to thatrelationship, I view myself in
the business of building arelationship with my clients,
not just transactional.
(36:20):
That's it.
how about a favorite?
Could be a book or show or, youknow, my favorite book, it's
actually an autobiography by theactor, Michael Caine.
he's written severalautobiographies, but it came out
in 1993 and it's titled, what'sit all about?
And I read that book as afreshman in college, freshly out
(36:42):
of my own from Michigan and flewthe family, family nest and was
out of my own for the first timeliving in Las Vegas, going to
school at UNLV.
there's something about the wayhe tells his story that's so
powerful, When I read the book,I read it in his English accent
and, it's just, it's a very funway and also ties in very well
(37:04):
with my own story about personalgrowth and figuring out what
life is all about.
even though I read that book,more than 25 years ago it still
is my favorite book, even afterall these years.
Oh, I'll have to check that out.
I love good biography,especially an autobiography when
it's told well.
How about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
(37:25):
Yeah, I really struggled withtrying to be perfect when I was
younger.
my advice would be perfection isnot the key to life.
You know, life is meant to belived.
Sometimes that means it's cleanand tidy.
Other times it means that it's alittle messy.
if you're growing from yourexperiences, I think that's so
much more powerful than tryingto be perfect.
(37:46):
That's profound.
actually on that, I'm justthinking what comes to me, mine
to me is, you know, there's, Ithink, another, quote, and I'm
butchering it but, you know,perfection is the enemy of
execution.
Yeah, exactly.
how much do we not get donebecause we're trying to be
perfect, it ties into this storythe same way, if I had tried to
spend years plotting out thistrip to all seven continents, it
(38:08):
would have never happened.
I saw the opportunity, I tookit, planned it in five days,
went out and started going forit, and it turned into the most
remarkable year of my life.
That's amazing.
I think about the Wayfinder showwith this.
when my, Adam, who's no longeron the show, but it's still a
good friend and listener andadvisor on this, when we started
this, we had no idea what wewere doing and we screwed up
(38:29):
everything.
now it's me who still screws upa lot of things, what an amazing
year and a half it's been.
I met so many great peoplelearned so much and been able to
share that with people.
And now I go places and peoplelike, Hey, I heard that show and
they got something out of it.
it's just incredible.
if I focused on it, beingperfect, you know, like because
I stuttered or I, the, ah, orbad edit or something like would
(38:50):
have never been out there.
So here you are, and here weare.
I appreciate the opportunity,likewise.
Thank you.
Likewise.
I appreciate having you here.
So, last one, what is a bigopportunity that you've now been
around the world so that you seeout there in the world that
you're going to pursue?
You know, I'm really excitedabout this transformation with
(39:11):
AI.
I think there's a lot of peoplethat are really scared about
what it's going to do and,potential job changes but I've
started using it in very simpleways in my life, whether that's,
creating an outline for apresentation or thinking about a
book launch plan and like, whatare the steps that I need to
take being that I self publishedthis book, I didn't hire a
(39:32):
traditional publisher to dothat.
And it consolidates andsimplifies a lot of talking
points or thought provoking.
steps that you need to take todo it.
So I view it as a big enhancerto how we increase productivity,
not a detractor or somethingthat's going to take away jobs.
(39:53):
I'm sure that's going to happen,but just like self checkout at
the grocery store.
Some people love it.
Some people hate it, but eventhough there's not a checker
there, scanning your groceries,there's.
Still people behind the scenesthat have to keep those things
running and upgrading softwarejob replacement or knowing
what's coming is important, butI'm excited to see what happens
with AI and how we can integrateit into our everyday lives.
(40:14):
Yeah, I agree.
it's a great tool that we'reonly starting to, tap the
opportunity for productivitywith.
Right.
well, I'm curious.
are there any particular AItools that you use?
You know, chat GBT is probablythe most popular one that I use,
but even Microsoft has their ownnow.
Apple's coming out with its owntechnology in its next release,
I think in September.
(40:35):
we're just at the beginning tosee what that looks like and how
it's done.
for me last year in travel, itcould have certainly been much
more useful if I was thinkingabout what are the certain sites
that I really must see if I'mvisiting a destination versus
scrolling through websites ortrying to pick different pieces
and place them together myself.
I would totally plan some travelagendas differently than what I
(40:55):
did before.
Well, Cole, this has been a realdelight.
If people want to know moreabout you, if they want to get
your book, how can they reachyou?
I have a travel blog or awebsite that I created to
document a lot of the last year,and that's
mortgageguytravelstheworld.
com.
the book, Filling My Bucket, AYear of Solo Travel Across Seven
(41:18):
Continents, that's availablethrough Amazon and Barnes Noble.
it's also linked on the blog ifyou're a picture person, please,
Follow my Instagram account.
I love posting photos from ayear of travel.
my camera became my travelbuddy.
I have over 30, 000 photos fromthe year.
I really have only looked atabout 000 of those.
(41:38):
So there's a photo book thatwill be coming in the near
future as well.
I hope to have that publishedlater on this fall, but until
Instagram and like, and sharewhich, what photos you like.
Thank you.
What is your handle?
It's Cole period show home.
So again, S J O H O L M.
(41:58):
or if you look at mortgage guidetravels, the world.
com, it's also linked there.
Okay, perfect.
Well, Cole, this was really alot of fun.
Thank you for being here.
I'm inspired.
the more we've traveled, themore we want to travel.
And my wife and I are committedto having a nomadic life for a
few years after our kids leavethe nest and we're in our empty
(42:19):
nester year.
So, I love, you know, havingthese conversations and giving
us ideas of how to go about it.
Technology is a wonderful thingand it's only going to improve
how we're able to do that goingforward.
I'm excited to hear your storyand watch you travel and grow in
that way.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Luis.
Have a great day.
(42:43):
We hope you've enjoyed TheWayfinder Show.
If you got value from thisepisode, please take a few
seconds to leave us a 5 starrating and review.
This will allow us to help morepeople find their way to live
more authentic and excitinglives.
We'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Trust me after my year, lastyear, I put figuring out how to
get to outer space on my visionboard and I have no idea how
it's going to happen or whatwe're going to do, but that's
what we're working towards atthis point.
Oh, I love that.
And you know, what's funny isthat now seems feasible, right?
Like 10 years ago, that might'vebeen unrealistic for anybody.
Yeah, it's becoming morefeasible for sure.
It's still a very expensiveventure, but we're going to
(00:21):
figure out how to do it.
Welcome to the Wayfinder showwith Louie Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that led them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
(00:43):
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
(01:06):
Welcome back to the Wayfindershow.
I'm your host, Louis Hernandez.
today we are here with ColeSjoholm.
When someone asked Cole, wouldyou go?
The question changed his life.
In 2023, he spent the yeartraversing the globe, stepping
foot on all seven continents ina single calendar year solo.
From Australia to Europe andAntarctica to the Far East, 71
(01:30):
flight segments, 110, 246 milesflown, and 167 nights later, he
learned that he isn't checkingthings off a bucket list,
instead he's filling his bucket.
The backstory and how the yearcame to be is as inspiring as
the travel itself.
The lessons learned continue toshape his life and his career.
(01:51):
And the travel game.
He captured these experiences inhis new book, Filling My Bucket,
a year of solo travel across theseven continents.
Cole, welcome to the Wayfindershow.
hello there.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great, I'm reallyexcited to have you on when I
saw, your profile.
come across my desk.
I was like, I got to get you onbecause to be completely honest,
(02:14):
you have done what my wife and Ihope to do in a couple of years.
We're going to be empty nestersoon.
And we're starting to prepare.
We're starting to, you know,envision traveling the world,
because, it's not something wewere able to do when we were
younger.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, my story is a littlebit different and I'm sure we're
going to talk about that, but myplanning in advance was limited
(02:36):
to five days.
it was definitely a wild journeygetting there, but, I can't wait
to be here.
Can't wait to see what you'regoing to ask me.
Tell us about how that happened.
So yeah, I've always lovedtraveling growing up in rural
northern Michigan I always knewthat the world was bigger than
where I was and was fortunatethat my parents took us on
summer vacations as a family IHave always loved traveling to
(02:59):
the point that hotel restaurantmanagement was my major in
college.
I really thought that was theway forward.
However, 2023 and how it came tobe was a simple question from a
friend.
On New Year's Eve of 2022, wasin Blackhawk, Colorado, in front
of a slot machine, gambling,having some fun, ringing in the
new year.
(03:19):
a friend messaged me and askedif I had ever seen these videos
on TikTok about the DrakePassage.
I don't have TikTok, but I knowabout the Drake Passage.
And then she asked me, have youever been to Antarctica?
You know, she knew I liked totravel No, I haven't.
Not a lot of people have beenthere.
then she asked, would you go?
And that one question changed mylife.
(03:40):
kind of the backstory of how,how that came to be then is, I'd
already had a trip to Australiabooked for March of 2023.
I knew that I wanted to go toEurope, to Norway, Finland,
Sweden, and explore some of myfamily heritage, during the
summer.
when she asked me this question,I had already had the trip to
Australia booked, I knew I wasgoing to go to Europe.
(04:00):
I'm like, well, if I go toAntarctica, that means I'm going
to South America also.
So I only have to go to Africaand Asia, and I can go to all
seven continents in a year.
And I think I replied back toher about three minutes later,
I'm going to go to all sevencontinents next year.
walked up to my hotel room,started doing some quick
research to see if it was reallypossible or not, and about 30
(04:21):
minutes later, I had a list ofwhen and where I was gonna go,
and it all came together thatquickly.
I saw an opportunity, I took it,little impulsive, yes, but the
year has zero regrets.
Wow, I love that.
there's so much there, but Igotta ask.
I don't know what the DrakePassage is.
what is that?
the Drake Passage is known asthe most rough waters in the
(04:42):
world.
three oceans come together.
The Southern Ocean, the PacificOcean and the Atlantic Ocean,
and they come together at theCape of Good Hope in South
America, just known as the mostrough waters in the world.
Some days it's known as theDrake Lake, which is very smooth
seas.
still more rough than typicalwaters, but then other days it's
(05:03):
known as the Drake Shake wherewaves can reach over 30 feet
tall and really move thosecruise ships around down there.
Wow.
Really good watching.
If you haven't ever seen videos,I highly encourage you to look
at them on your favorite videoviewing platform because it is
pretty wild.
Interesting.
Never heard of that.
So let's get into the meatpotatoes of this because you say
(05:24):
it just happened in five days,but You're also a really high
performing mortgage lender.
Am I right?
Yeah, correct.
I'm still, been doing mortgagefor more than 10 years, banking
finance for 20 years.
definitely a huge part of mylife.
you can't just take off and golike that.
You had to have prepared in someway.
it's unfortunate, and I guess alot of this is a derivative of
(05:46):
COVID and a lot of those changesthat have happened in the
mortgage industry since then.
clients don't typically tend tomeet face to face anymore.
A lot of it is done virtually,or over email and text messages.
So it's really opened up a lotof flexibility for me to work
remotely.
my employer was very supportiveafter going through some
(06:06):
necessary safety protocols aboutaccess and consumer financial
protection, security measures,we came up with a plan about how
it was possible.
I still worked, this was not 167days of vacation.
I was still working while I wastraveling in these different
continents.
time zones were a consideration,but it all came together in a
(06:27):
way that was remarkable andperfect can't wait to try and do
it again.
How many countries did you endup traveling in total?
The official count from lastyear is 25.
my total country visit over mylifetime is at 36.
So it was a lot of travel lastyear, a lot of new destinations
and new sites.
(06:47):
You had mentioned somethingbefore we got started about you
had actually started thinkingabout something like this long
before this.
I was transitioning from asalary position as a bank
manager to a commission only jobas a mortgage lender.
part of that transition, I wentinto a professional coaching
service where a vision boardbecame one of the exercises
(07:10):
thinking about what I wanted mylife to be as part of that
change.
I created a vision board back in2012 that was largely based on
travel, as well as some personaland financial goals, travel had
always been an important part ofmy life, and it really was a lot
of my why, about why I wantedto, do things and how I wanted
to make my life better formyself and my family Fast
(07:31):
forward to 2023, I lived so manythings that were on that vision
board that I never thought werepossible.
my coach encouraged me to putthings on there that were
stretch goals or, things beyondmy wildest imagination.
I put it in a place where Ilooked at it on a regular basis
for a good number of years.
(07:52):
I'd say the vast majority of theitems that were on that vision
board came true in a singleyear, and it really was a vision
board for my life, not just ayear, I'm so thankful for the
exercise.
I have become a champion forvision boards.
I really think that they'reimportant, stretching beyond
what you think is possible.
And really, if it's important toyou, what I've learned is that
(08:13):
time and place are important.
But when you give somethingspace in your life, it creates a
very powerful connection betweenwhat you want and what you do.
And it's really life changing inthat way.
we've talked about visioning alot in this, show, and we've
brought on numerous people whohave different strategies, and
they do some amazing things withit.
(08:34):
myself, at the times I've beenmost successful, it's usually as
a result of a vision I set off,years before So it's really the
right, having the clarity andknowing what to do and how to
get there.
it's a very powerful thing andit gives you that focus that you
need to execute.
Yeah, and what's most fun issome things like you said that
they could be, you were asked toput in some stretch goals and
(08:56):
sometimes that can be scary whenyou put them on, right?
Like you, you put something onthere and it almost has to, if
it isn't scary, it almostshouldn't even be on there,
right?
Cause you're thinking how canthat happen?
No way, right?
And then before you know it,it's happening.
Well, trust me after my year,last year, I put figuring out
how to get to outer space on myvision board and I have no idea
(09:16):
how it's going to happen or whatwe're going to do, but that's
what we're working towards atthis point.
Oh, I love that.
And you know, what's funny isthat now seems feasible, right?
Like 10 years ago, that might'vebeen unrealistic for anybody.
It's becoming more feasible forsure.
It's still a very expensiveventure, but we're going to
figure out how to do it.
I love it.
Oh, wow.
we're going to have to have ashow recorded with you from out
(09:38):
of space.
That would be amazing.
So, About that board.
I just want to talk about thatprocess a little bit So you
started doing this board 12years ago would you look at it
regularly how did you actuallymake it Ripped out pictures from
a magazine.
Did you have a professionaldrawer for you?
no, it was all homemade.
my little tip that that I liketo use is I like to use binder
(09:59):
clips And I kind of paste thoseon the board and then add
pictures to it.
as you accomplish one thing,your vision might change or
evolve.
I never took something off, butI sometimes added to it.
I like having a threedimensional thing.
So I'd make, some backgroundsfor a picture I cut out.
sometimes I make a little paperpicture frame that I'd put
(10:20):
around the image and just tryand do a little bit more than
just, pasting things onto aposter board, but making it a
living, breathing document whereyou can add or subtract, whether
something was accomplished orwhether, the vision has evolved
or changed or expanded, I coulddo that without having to redo
the board itself.
Yeah, and I did.
I mean, I put it in my office.
(10:40):
I looked at it every day.
Another fun tip that I'velearned over the years is
putting it in your garage, whereyou have to look at it every day
as you're coming and going inand out of your everyday work
life into your home life is areally powerful place to put it.
But I think having it visible,is so important.
You know, as technology'schanged, a lot of people will
(11:01):
take photos and then use it astheir home screen photo on their
phone.
So they're forced to look at itevery time they pick up their
phone.
But I just think that visibilityis really important, even
subconsciously, if you're notpaying attention to it, it just
helps that vision come together.
I love that.
I think that is key to, youknow, have it somewhere where
there's the garage or on yourphone.
(11:23):
Yeah.
Well, you, well, you are lookingat it every day.
If you put it away and forgetabout it, you could easily
forget your vision.
Right.
And you're doing exactly.
And you're not providing thatclarity that you need in that
focus.
So, yeah.
And, and it gets you excited,gets you positive, gets you
motivated towards something, youknow, so.
It's great.
tell us about the actual travelsnow.
(11:43):
you did this solo, right?
I did.
I did all seven continents bymyself, that's not to say I
didn't meet hundreds ofwonderful people around the
world that I now get to callfriends.
Yeah.
But the actual travel, was alldone solo.
Wow.
So, how would you make friends?
I did a lot of cruise vacations,logistically.
That was an easy way to travelas a solo person.
(12:05):
I knew I didn't want to spend aton of time packing, unpacking,
ground transportation.
And really that was a factor ofbeing able to work remotely.
when you're on a cruise ship,you might have a sea day where
you're just sailing betweendestinations.
those were great days for me tostay focused on work.
And then when I was sayingthose.
You know, cities around theworld getting to see and do the
(12:27):
highlights of those, thosedestinations.
I could be less focused on workand rely on my team back in
Grand Junction to pick up someof those day to day pieces for
me.
so cruising became the way to doit.
And then because of that,everyone's on holiday or
vacation and they're allfriendly.
They're all like to sit down andchat and learn about where
you're from and what you'redoing.
(12:49):
I was able to meet.
Literally hundreds of differentpeople from all different walks
of life all around the world,largely due to cruise traveling.
Oh, interesting.
So that answers one of myquestions.
I was going to ask where youstayed.
So you were always on a cruiseship?
Not always.
there was a land component whereI'd fly into a destination and
spend anywhere from three tofive days in a city.
(13:09):
Then I would get on a cruiseship.
Then I would typically stay afew days at the departure port
and do some land based things.
but a cruise ship was home for agood majority of the year last
year.
Interesting.
So that would mean that all ofthe places you visited were, on
a coast, I'm assuming.
a good number of them.
one of the stops, though, inGermany, you stop in Wormundi,
(13:32):
which is up on the northerncoast, and then, take a two hour
train ride into Berlin incentral Germany.
So, it depends on, how longyou're there.
some ports, You're thereovernight, which allows you to
explore further or longer thanjust a one day stop.
But, you know, I, I tried to flyinto destinations that I had a
big desire to do some more landbased vacations and further
(13:55):
exploring, a couple of days inadvance.
that allowed me to combine thebest of both worlds.
how would you pick them?
Well, because it was allhappening so quickly, literally,
like, I went up to my room 30minutes later, I had it loosely
plotted out.
A lot of the schedule was setfor me based off of what was
still available.
I had this trip to Australiabooked already, and then, I
(14:17):
started searching destinations,cruise lines, prices that had
availability.
That worked into this mastercalendar of visiting all seven
continents in a year.
the Antarctica cruise season,for example, only goes from
October through March.
which shrunk it down for mebecause March I already had
things planned, so I couldn't goearly in 2023.
(14:39):
I had to move that to the end ofthe year.
Which then meant I only hadOctober, November, December to
do that segment of the trip.
and then based off of some otherthings, like Asia was best done
in November, I only had Decemberto do Antarctica.
going in October, it's a littlebit more risky to actually set
foot on the continent, becauseit's still early in the season,
(15:02):
and there's a lot of ice.
my goal was to not only visitall seven continents, but to
actually set foot on all sevencontinents.
so that left December and justall these pieces, you start
moving the puzzle around andthey all fit together and voila,
five days later, all the travelwas booked and I was out on my
first vacation.
Nice.
(15:22):
What about a visa arrangementfor all these?
How is that handled?
Part of that was learn as I go,which there was a few stressful
moments, but, travel agentstypically aren't responsible for
advising whether visas arerequired or not.
we do have some benefit as UScitizens where typically most
places don't require visas.
(15:43):
check your State Departmentwebsite.
A lot of countries that dorequire visas, you can apply
electronically and get a visa inas little as 24 hours.
that was the case for everywhereI visited.
I purposely didn't choose someother places, like China which
have a much more extensive andrigorous visa requirement.
Because I just didn't have thetime available in my year of
(16:04):
travel to dedicate to obtaininga visa for that country.
But you know, I did visit HongKong, which is, part of China
now, which does not require themainland tourist visa.
So you still got to experiencesome of those different places,
just with some lessrequirements.
And that's still the case.
Yeah.
It's Hong Kong.
Oh, I didn't know as of Novemberof last year, that was the case.
(16:27):
Oh, neat.
I went to Hong Kong like 10years ago and for grad school
program and we went from HongKong, you could easily go on to
the mainland.
but it was a little bit harderthe other way, I thought that
all changed when China tookover.
I was coming from Tokyo or fromJapan to, and then in through
Taiwan and then visit Hong Kong,but I still wasn't required to
(16:48):
have a tourist visa that, youknow, the cruise ships do a good
job of communicating what'sgenerally required, but they
push responsibility to thepassengers to make sure they
have the required documents,whether that's your passport or
visas.
What about, so it sounds likeyou pretty much stuck to the
general.
Tourist destinations withinthese places, right?
(17:10):
So you weren't really going outand integrating into the
communities or anything likethat, right?
Yeah, it just depended.
certainly when you're only in acity for, anywhere from 8 to 12
hours, you don't have a ton oftime to get out and meet a ton
of local people.
I do like to venture off on myown some when I'm out exploring
(17:30):
and would frequently hire alocal tour guide versus, someone
sponsored through one of theship shore excursions.
There are some risks to doingthat as far as liability for
getting you back to the boat.
if you miss the boat, yourresponsibility to transport
yourself to the next destinationbecomes your own unless you do
one of the ship tours, but, youknow, it worked out.
(17:51):
Well, for me, I didn't ever haveany issues.
I'd spend a lot of time in thoseland based segments before the
cruise ship, trying to get toknow some of the local cultures,
better and, spent close to aweek in Australia, same in
Northern Europe and Amsterdam.
my Africa trip was really allland based.
(18:11):
so there was no cruise componentthere.
And then South America, spentseveral days in Buenos Aires,
flew up to Iguazu Falls at thenorthern border of Argentina and
Brazil, and, then flew down toUshuaia to catch the cruise ship
to Antarctica.
Interesting.
What do you think, one of thethings I think about with
travel?
A lot is the idea of going deepversus going wide, right?
(18:35):
Oftentimes, we were just inJapan for 12 days and we spent
half of that time in Tokyo theother half in Kyoto And he and
we we purposely a lot of Otherpeople went and hit the whole
country They just want to go inand out.
I've learned to want to spendmore time and go deeper.
the deeper you go, the more youfall in love with these places
and you want to spend more timethere, Versus if you're there
(18:56):
one day.
that is the downfall of, acruise type vacation.
you really get to see what Icall the highlight reel of a
destination.
if I told you the number of,UNESCO World Heritage Sites that
I saw in a year, It's a hugelist.
well over 20 different, maybemore than that.
certainly I couldn't have goneto 25 countries or, over 50
(19:19):
destinations without cruising.
because I was still working,that was the best option for me.
I do value and appreciate, Adifferent, more immersive type
experience, but that wasn'tpossible at this stage in my
life.
with that said, I like cruisingin general, so it was all good
and fun for me, but I dounderstand and appreciate the
(19:39):
differences between those typesof travel.
I think it just depends on whatyou're trying to accomplish and
it all works great either way.
And it sounds like you get thecommunity built in from the
cruises anyways.
my Australia cruise was almostall Australians.
the European cruise, there was asprinkle of Americans, but
(20:00):
obviously heavy European, beingthat it sailed out of Amsterdam
or Rotterdam.
it depends where that happens,but I am really glad I had the
land based components to tie inwith that.
So I need to have some more ofthat.
More local immersive experiencethat you talk about.
Interesting.
because of that, are thereplaces you'd want to go back to
and immerse yourself more intothe community?
(20:21):
There are certainly, I mean, I'mreally fortunate that I would
say there was nowhere that Ivisited that I didn't like.
There was certainly areas that Iliked more than others or would
want to spend more timeexploring and the destination
that comes to the top of mind isNorway.
I loved Norway.
I was.
on a Norwegian fjord cruise, soI spent about seven days in
(20:42):
Norway, and I can't say enoughgreat things about it.
the fjords are beautiful.
The people were wonderful andwarm.
I love how they take a break intheir afternoon around two
o'clock every day to meet theirfriends for, a coffee and a
pastry, it's just a differentway of life that I really
appreciated.
It's Part of that culture that Ienjoy and I'm familiar with
(21:03):
because of where I grew up innorthern Michigan.
it felt like home in a weirdway, Oh, neat.
our listeners don't know, butyour name, I'm assuming is
Norwegian, right?
It's actually very Swedish, butI have Swedish, lineage as well.
so they probably didn't have ahard time pronouncing your name.
people were excited and they'dstart talking to me in Swedish.
I don't know anything,unfortunately, so, that was
(21:24):
always fun, but, like, when thetour guides would see my names,
they, they would all starttalking to me in Swedish or
Norwegian Yeah, that's funny.
that's a great segue to talkabout language.
I think with today's technology,it's something that's always
scared people from traveling,but it's so much easier now.
I'm assuming you became a verycapable user of Google Translate
and such.
(21:45):
Yeah, it was surprising howlittle I had to use it.
I know some Spanish, which getsaround, in a good chunk of the
world.
But there was a meal I had inBuenos Aires, completely through
Google Translate.
I know like Portuguese, orstrong enough Spanish with the
different conjugations of verb.
And, he really didn't know anyEnglish.
(22:07):
So we had an entire meal,through Google Translate.
And it was one of the most funenjoyable and memorable
experiences of the year.
it's remarkable how technologyhas enabled travelers to do that
and really taking down barriers.
So it's not perfect, but you getenough of a sense that it can
really work.
when we were in Japan, none ofus knew any Japanese.
(22:29):
in Tokyo, you almost don't needit.
A lot of people actually speakEnglish, but in Kyoto, that was
not the case.
we depended on that app, and Iam blown away by how far it's
come.
you pretty much just put it inbetween you and, The foreign
language speaker in front of youand you each talk back and forth
and it does it for you.
it's just so amazing.
Now it is, very fun.
you do have the benefit where alot of tourists sites, they
(22:51):
definitely have signs andmultiple languages and things
like that.
So you figure out how to getaround, you know, as a solo
traveler, I did have thebenefit.
Of figuring it out on my own.
I didn't have anyone else torely on.
that's where a lot of thatpersonal growth comes into play
where, you learn what you arecapable of and how capable you
are to figure things out.
(23:12):
And it was just a really greatexperience.
You know, sometimes my phonedata plan wouldn't work and
you'd have to figure out how tonavigate from point A to point
B.
When I was really stuck, somelocal was able to help me and
knew enough English that wecould figure out where I was
trying to go and how to get methere.
So it worked great.
Yeah, it's amazing.
So I'm curious, did you have anypreconceived biases?
(23:35):
when you went towards anycertain countries or cities or
places you were going, that wereproven wrong, or right.
Yeah, I did write about it in mytravel blog a little bit.
I had no idea what to expect inAsia.
I was really nervous about thelanguage barrier there.
I had known some friends thathad gone to Tokyo and then
(23:56):
talked about how friendly thepeople were and how helpful they
were.
And that definitely came true, Ireally loved Asia, just the
entire continent and my entirevisit there more than I ever
expected.
I think that's a little bit ofignorance, a little bit of
unknowing, but, you know, likeVietnam, for example, it's a
controversial topic in Americanhistory and, a lot of people,
(24:19):
you know, it's painted with thisdark jungle, you know, negative
connotation.
And my visit in Vietnam was, youknow, It's more opposite than
any other thing that I everwould have thought or learned
through American history books.
I found the people incrediblyfriendly.
The culture and, you know, justlifestyle was so vibrant and
colorful.
(24:40):
And, that's one of thosedestinations, again, that I
would really love to spend moretime and go back to.
just, you know, I think thehistorical context versus the
current day modern situation is,can be different.
And there was no unexpectednegative surprises.
There was only positivesurprises.
Yeah.
What part of Vietnam did you goto?
(25:00):
I was in, Huan, you know,historical, heritage site and Oh
wow.
Went to a cooking class there,learned how to prepare and, use
local ingredients and, you know,that's kind of one of those ship
sponsored shore excursions thatit kind of goes beyond what you
think you're gonna do on a, on acruise ship.
And it was one of the mostenjoyable things I did all year.
(25:23):
It was just a really fun day,exploring this beautiful city
and also, getting to learn aboutlocal culture that way.
Yeah, during that trip when Iwent to Hong Kong, we also went
to Vietnam as part of my programand we spent a week there I was
blown away and we were in Ho ChiMinh City, which is a former
Saigon, right?
So, to be fair, it's not theprettiest city in the world,
(25:44):
right?
It's very hustle and bustle.
And, you know, it's notaesthetically very pleasing, but
the people, You just can't helpbut fall in love, with how
gracious they are, howenterprising they are.
There's something about theenergy there that just, blows
your mind.
and it's so safe, like you don'thave to worry about anything.
we have this preconceived notionthat it's going to be dangerous,
(26:06):
it was a war zone, all thisstuff.
No, and I fell in love withVietnam too.
I mean, one of my memories fromVietnam is how much they like to
honk.
It's like a little honk honkevery time they pass someone
just kind of a warning becausethere's so many people on
scooters So they want to letthem know that there's a bigger
vehicle coming.
And you kind of become numb tothe honk honk over Half a
million people or whatever, andthen you contrast that to Tokyo,
(26:29):
which I call the silent city of40 million people, where there's
like no honking, no sirens, likemass chaos just because of the
number of people, but also veryorderly and, silent in that way.
So even within Asia, there wastons of contrast.
It's so funny, man, that you'rebringing back a lot of memories
for me, too.
In Tokyo, I went to run themarathon, the Tokyo Marathon,
(26:51):
and my wife and kids were therewith us.
it's a massive, it's a worldmajor, right?
So you get, like, 40 plusthousand people there, and the
streets are so crowded and allthat.
But it's so quiet.
And my wife, she's not quiet,right?
She's cheering everybody on andall this stuff.
And I'm just used to going toother marathons where you see
all these people and obviouslyit's loud.
(27:15):
You know there you see all thepeople and it's so quiet it's
just amazing and my wife saidshe kept getting dirty looks and
had to move to other placesbecause she was cheering
everybody on when They're allquiet, which is kind of funny.
it's totally memorable andunique that way, Which is
awesome.
It really is one of thosemarathons.
I hope they're all memorable butyeah that extra little asterisk
or something special that youget to remember that one by
(27:36):
that's neat.
So give us the top, threememories from this trip.
You mentioned, the cooking classin Vietnam.
You can't use that one again.
But, you know, memories likethat.
Yeah, there's a lot.
I sang karaoke at a bar inTokyo.
I'm not a singer, but you know,they, they require that I sing
(27:56):
some American country.
So for all you Garth Brooksfans, there may or may not be a
recording of Cole singing acountry song in Japan.
Karaoke became this weird memoryof the year just because I'm
really not a very good singer,but part of that personal growth
was I just don't care anymore.
Like I'm here to have fun, youknow, life is meant to be lived.
so on the Antarctica trip, I wason a Viking cruise, which is,
(28:19):
much different clientele than atypical cruise ship.
It was an expensive holiday togo on.
I found this rowdy group ofpeople that aren't a typical
viking passenger either, becausein one of the bars at the front
of the ship, we were down therehaving cocktails later one
evening, and myself and anothergentleman kind of spotted a
microphone over in the distance,which they use for lectures and
(28:42):
daily activities and we lookedat each other and we're like,
karaoke?
And he was like, oh yeah, we'regonna do So we went and picked
up this microphone and we madeour own homemade karaoke bar in
this bar and sing songs, youknow, in Antarctica, who knows,
maybe the very first karaoke barever to exist in Antarctica, but
it was just so memorable.
And, you know, one of thosethings that, I'll never ever
(29:05):
forget just because it was, Kindof frowned upon, but then also,
we just did what we wanted to doand we're having fun.
So that's funny.
That's two.
One more.
Yeah.
Another one at the, Aladabratortoises and the Seychelles,
Africa.
Ooh, there's some of the largesttortoises on land.
They live to be hundreds ofyears old and they were so much
(29:26):
more inquisitive and curiousthan I ever anticipated.
Like, they'll brush up againstyou with their head, kind of
like a cat, or they'll followyou as you walk away like a dog
would.
And the interaction with thewildlife there was, absolutely
incredible.
And one of those memories that Iwill never forget.
Wow.
(29:47):
Okay.
So, you know, was there ever atime you felt unsafe?
No.
I was cautious and careful.
you hear like crime in BuenosAires is maybe higher than other
parts of the world, but a lot ofother countries don't have guns
or don't allow guns, so youdon't have to really worry about
gun violence, And I wascautious.
(30:09):
I was careful, with mybelongings.
I tried not to, be flashy oranything like that.
but I really didn't feel unsafeanywhere.
It was a very remarkable time.
it doesn't mean that therewasn't probably times that I
wasn't in unsafe situations, butI was aware of myself and my
surroundings and, took care toexit them when I needed to.
(30:31):
What about, advice for peoplewho are what's most courageous
about this is the fact that youdid it by yourself.
that really is the unique partof the story.
I've actually met anothergentleman just recently that
actually also went to all sevencontinents last year.
he would go on some of the tripswith friends or family.
So really that solo component isthe part that makes it so
special and unique.
(30:53):
when it.
comes to, my encouragement ofsolo travel.
I have fallen in love with solotravel.
I also appreciate going on tripswith other people because having
that built in friend group orcompanion or partner is so
powerful.
if you knew the number of timesthat I would see the most
amazing sunset when I was in theSouth Pacific, and my first
(31:16):
thought was, I don't have anyoneto share it with.
versus like you see a cafe inAmsterdam and I want a coffee
and I just walk across thestreet and go in and order
without having to tell someonewhat I'm going to do or explain
why I want to do it or why we'regoing to take three minutes out
of the day to do that.
It was very freeing and powerfulin that way.
(31:36):
those are the parts that I love.
if you're tired, you get tosleep in when you want to, if
you want to get up at 6 a.
m.
and start exploring, you can dothat.
You're only responsible foryourself and what you're going
to do that day.
that was the great part aboutsolo travel that I've learned to
grow in love.
Yeah.
Neat.
What, so what's next?
Are you going to travel somemore?
(31:57):
Yeah, I'm actually setting outhere in a few weeks.
I'm going on another cruise.
from Los Angeles up throughAlaska, we'll explore several
places in northern Japan beforeI get off the cruise ship in
Tokyo.
Yeah.
So I'll get to visit some newsites in Japan.
Also, Alaska is one of thosedestinations in the U.
S.
that I haven't been topreviously.
(32:18):
So I'm excited to get to Alaska.
And I'm really excited to beable to compare what I now know
about Norway with Alaska to seehow they compare.
Because I loved Norway so much.
So yeah, there's a lot of greatthings.
Trip through the Panama Canal.
Are there any places you wouldmove to?
Yes.
I mean, the world is a big,beautiful place and there's
(32:40):
probably more places that Iwould consider moving to than I
ever thought possible, butAustralia, like, Completely
wonderful.
So friendly people.
I really loved my time.
I was up in Brisbane and GoldCoast.
I can't wait to see Brisbanehost the Olympics, in 2030.
I think it's gonna be a reallygreat Olympic, host city.
(33:01):
would love to live in Norway.
it's really difficult forAmericans to get visas.
to work there because of theireconomy, but I would love to
spend more time there.
I'm definitely hoping to plotout a full 90 day European
tourist visa stay in Norway atsome point.
Okay.
I guess before we go on to thewayfinder four, like I'm
wondering, is there any like biglessons you think you got from
(33:25):
this that just change your lifein the way you think?
Yeah, I mean, it, the year wasall about self discovery and
growth, I had been inrelationships most of my adult
life, and this was the firsttime in my life that I was
single, so spending time tryingto figure out who I was and what
I wanted out of life, became thegoal of the year, I had the
(33:45):
fortune of, Doing it inbeautiful surroundings, places
that people only dream abouttraveling.
And that was the backdrop for mystory.
So the visual complementarynature of the surroundings just
became such a strong part of mypersonal growth.
that was really the biggesttakeaway in figuring out who I
am and what I wanted to do withmy life Love that.
(34:09):
Well, Cole, on that point, It'stime to get on to our now world
famous Wayfinder 4.
I'm sure you heard thiseverywhere you were, right?
Absolutely.
Famous questions, famous hosts.
I'm excited to be here.
Thank you.
So give us a hack and you can'tuse Google Translate app or
(34:30):
something like that, No, I meanI really found a lot of benefit
in brand loyalty and it soundssimple, but sometimes price is
only what you pay.
I have a former manager that ifhe ever is listening, I owe this
to him.
price is what you pay.
Value is what you get.
I became very loyal to AmericanAirlines, for example, I have
limited options for my localairport.
(34:52):
American Airlines was thepartner that I chose, but
because I traveled so much andso much with their themselves
and their partner airlines, Ivery quickly grew up, or went up
the ladder of, loyalty.
And there was three differentinstances where I got upgraded
from like a normal main cabineconomy seat into a business
class seat.
It's a pod, which if I werepaying for that would be
(35:15):
somewhere in the seven to 9, 000range of an upgrade.
I got three of those for freelast year.
Wow.
Even though I might not have thelowest price ticket for a single
segment somewhere in the world,by staying loyal to that brand,
it really became a benefit forme long term.
Yeah.
That, that's a great one.
(35:35):
I, I never really thought ofthat, that consciously, but it
applies to everything, right?
It really does.
To somebody, you and I are bothin the real estate world
essentially, right.
people might shop you for rates,me for commission prices.
they don't understand the valuethat we provide if they're
loyal.
there is so much that weprovide.
Provide and negotiate everythingto discount their other expenses
(35:59):
and bring them otheropportunities.
Peace of mind is a big part ofit.
you are maybe willing tonegotiate for a repeat client or
for friends or family versus,someone that just picks up the
phone we obviously work hard forall of our clients regardless.
There is added benefit to thatrelationship, I view myself in
the business of building arelationship with my clients,
not just transactional.
(36:20):
That's it.
how about a favorite?
Could be a book or show or, youknow, my favorite book, it's
actually an autobiography by theactor, Michael Caine.
he's written severalautobiographies, but it came out
in 1993 and it's titled, what'sit all about?
And I read that book as afreshman in college, freshly out
(36:42):
of my own from Michigan and flewthe family, family nest and was
out of my own for the first timeliving in Las Vegas, going to
school at UNLV.
there's something about the wayhe tells his story that's so
powerful, When I read the book,I read it in his English accent
and, it's just, it's a very funway and also ties in very well
(37:04):
with my own story about personalgrowth and figuring out what
life is all about.
even though I read that book,more than 25 years ago it still
is my favorite book, even afterall these years.
Oh, I'll have to check that out.
I love good biography,especially an autobiography when
it's told well.
How about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
(37:25):
Yeah, I really struggled withtrying to be perfect when I was
younger.
my advice would be perfection isnot the key to life.
You know, life is meant to belived.
Sometimes that means it's cleanand tidy.
Other times it means that it's alittle messy.
if you're growing from yourexperiences, I think that's so
much more powerful than tryingto be perfect.
(37:46):
That's profound.
actually on that, I'm justthinking what comes to me, mine
to me is, you know, there's, Ithink, another, quote, and I'm
butchering it but, you know,perfection is the enemy of
execution.
Yeah, exactly.
how much do we not get donebecause we're trying to be
perfect, it ties into this storythe same way, if I had tried to
spend years plotting out thistrip to all seven continents, it
(38:08):
would have never happened.
I saw the opportunity, I tookit, planned it in five days,
went out and started going forit, and it turned into the most
remarkable year of my life.
That's amazing.
I think about the Wayfinder showwith this.
when my, Adam, who's no longeron the show, but it's still a
good friend and listener andadvisor on this, when we started
this, we had no idea what wewere doing and we screwed up
(38:29):
everything.
now it's me who still screws upa lot of things, what an amazing
year and a half it's been.
I met so many great peoplelearned so much and been able to
share that with people.
And now I go places and peoplelike, Hey, I heard that show and
they got something out of it.
it's just incredible.
if I focused on it, beingperfect, you know, like because
I stuttered or I, the, ah, orbad edit or something like would
(38:50):
have never been out there.
So here you are, and here weare.
I appreciate the opportunity,likewise.
Thank you.
Likewise.
I appreciate having you here.
So, last one, what is a bigopportunity that you've now been
around the world so that you seeout there in the world that
you're going to pursue?
You know, I'm really excitedabout this transformation with
(39:11):
AI.
I think there's a lot of peoplethat are really scared about
what it's going to do and,potential job changes but I've
started using it in very simpleways in my life, whether that's,
creating an outline for apresentation or thinking about a
book launch plan and like, whatare the steps that I need to
take being that I self publishedthis book, I didn't hire a
(39:32):
traditional publisher to dothat.
And it consolidates andsimplifies a lot of talking
points or thought provoking.
steps that you need to take todo it.
So I view it as a big enhancerto how we increase productivity,
not a detractor or somethingthat's going to take away jobs.
(39:53):
I'm sure that's going to happen,but just like self checkout at
the grocery store.
Some people love it.
Some people hate it, but eventhough there's not a checker
there, scanning your groceries,there's.
Still people behind the scenesthat have to keep those things
running and upgrading softwarejob replacement or knowing
what's coming is important, butI'm excited to see what happens
with AI and how we can integrateit into our everyday lives.
(40:14):
Yeah, I agree.
it's a great tool that we'reonly starting to, tap the
opportunity for productivitywith.
Right.
well, I'm curious.
are there any particular AItools that you use?
You know, chat GBT is probablythe most popular one that I use,
but even Microsoft has their ownnow.
Apple's coming out with its owntechnology in its next release,
I think in September.
(40:35):
we're just at the beginning tosee what that looks like and how
it's done.
for me last year in travel, itcould have certainly been much
more useful if I was thinkingabout what are the certain sites
that I really must see if I'mvisiting a destination versus
scrolling through websites ortrying to pick different pieces
and place them together myself.
I would totally plan some travelagendas differently than what I
(40:55):
did before.
Well, Cole, this has been a realdelight.
If people want to know moreabout you, if they want to get
your book, how can they reachyou?
I have a travel blog or awebsite that I created to
document a lot of the last year,and that's
mortgageguytravelstheworld.
com.
the book, Filling My Bucket, AYear of Solo Travel Across Seven
(41:18):
Continents, that's availablethrough Amazon and Barnes Noble.
it's also linked on the blog ifyou're a picture person, please,
Follow my Instagram account.
I love posting photos from ayear of travel.
my camera became my travelbuddy.
I have over 30, 000 photos fromthe year.
I really have only looked atabout 000 of those.
(41:38):
So there's a photo book thatwill be coming in the near
future as well.
I hope to have that publishedlater on this fall, but until
Instagram and like, and sharewhich, what photos you like.
Thank you.
What is your handle?
It's Cole period show home.
So again, S J O H O L M.
(41:58):
or if you look at mortgage guidetravels, the world.
com, it's also linked there.
Okay, perfect.
Well, Cole, this was really alot of fun.
Thank you for being here.
I'm inspired.
the more we've traveled, themore we want to travel.
And my wife and I are committedto having a nomadic life for a
few years after our kids leavethe nest and we're in our empty
(42:19):
nester year.
So, I love, you know, havingthese conversations and giving
us ideas of how to go about it.
Technology is a wonderful thingand it's only going to improve
how we're able to do that goingforward.
I'm excited to hear your storyand watch you travel and grow in
that way.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Luis.
Have a great day.
(42:43):
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