August 25, 2024 • 38 mins
Join us as we celebrate our three-year anniversary! In this episode Kristen and Carol step away from our usual interviews to share personal stories, passions, and dreams. Carol reminisces about her favorite past residences, from the chilly beauty of Minnesota to the majestic mountains of Colorado, while basking in the pleasant Michigan weather and indulging in her love for baseball. Kristen shares her excitement for an upcoming Girl Scouts backpacking adventure and our mutual love for slow travel and the great outdoors, reflecting on how our podcast has become a cherished part of our lives.
Have you ever tried wake surfing? We dive into the exhilarating world of wake surfing and the meticulous preparations for competitions like Worlds. We discuss the serene control of lake conditions versus the unpredictable ocean waves and our dreams of owning a lakeside property. From horseback riding to dirt biking, we share personal anecdotes that highlight our joy in embracing new hobbies, all while reflecting on our career paths and the ultimate pursuit of financial independence to focus on community support and passion projects. It's a celebration of personal growth, new experiences, and building a life filled with passion.
The world is vast, and our love for exploring it knows no bounds. We take you on a journey through Japan, Thailand, and Belize, emphasizing the importance of immersing oneself in local cultures. Learn how to balance remote work with true exploration and get practical tips for affordable travel arrangements. Whether it's staying with friends or finding cost-effective destinations, we share our insights on making the most out of your travels. Plus, don’t forget to support our podcast by following, rating, and reviewing us on your app, and join our community on Instagram at "Where Next Podcast." Thank you for being a part of our adventure!
Please download, like, subscribe, share a review, and follow us on your favorite podcasts app and connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherenextpodcast/
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So, kristen, yay, yeah, where next is what we're
celebrating three years Yay.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Three years.
We're going to just talk alittle bit about ourselves, a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's so fun to do just us?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, so, yeah.
So we thought we'd like try toget to know each other a little
bit.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I mean, kristen, I obviously know each other, but
figured we 'd share about kindof us, your hosts, since we
always talk about all our guests, and so now you get to learn a
little bit about us for ourthree-year anniversary.
Yeah, and learn about where areyou?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So that's like yeah, so I'm actually in Michigan
right now for a week, you know,watching some baseball.
So it's very fun.
That's awesome and the weatheris so funny, the weather's like
so perfect here, you know, andeverything's like less expensive
, and I'm like maybe this wouldbe a good place to move to.
I'm like maybe this would be agood place to move to, but it's
the middle of July and it's cool, and it's not.
(01:27):
It's not crazy.
Hot sun is up, but this is notnormal.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, let's say that maybe California, where I'm at
is, is a swap the wet we gaveour weather to you because it's
been like almost a hundred everyday and it's very hot and, um,
although it's been okay, it'sbeen better, but we've had a lot
of heat waves lately.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you guys still get the cool nights in the East Bay
there?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, last night I took my dog hiking.
I was like 8.30 and it was likeyou know, those warm summer
nights where you it's just itwasn't too hot, it was just
perfect, it was so.
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, Kind of my big draw to like where I want to go
is is it comfortable?
Yeah, I like when you can.
Inside and outside are the same.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You want to start first and talk about who you are
Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, yeah, who am I?
Well, I'm a Midwesterner, fromMinnesota originally, oh yeah,
you know and then led Minnesotabecause it was so old, in the
winter I just couldn't handle it.
So I've lived in a couple ofdifferent places and that's also
one thing that it got me soexcited about this.
Like, where else do I want tolike go live for a little bit?
(02:36):
And that's really what I'mhoping to learn, and I have
learned a lot from the podcast.
But I lived in Honolulu forthree years.
I lived in Los Angeles forabout a year and a half and then
I lived in the Bay area KristenI met for 11 years, and now in
Colorado for a good 14 years or18 years, 18 years, yep.
And I love outdoorsy stuff andthat's one thing I really like
(02:59):
about living somewhere that'swarm, not hot, or just like
comfortable, right, and that'swhat California is so great too.
It's like just you can gooutside all year round.
You know there's never likelike Arizona, like you don't go
outside in the extreme summer,and in Minnesota, like you don't
go outside in the extremewinter.
So I love living places whereyou can just like go outside and
you know, run, walk, bike,whatever.
(03:21):
So I really love doing that andI love doing sports and I am not
really I don't excel at onething, but I just love hiking
and biking and I like playingtennis and I think sports not a
very crafty person, you know.
It's so weird because I alwaysthought, like some people have
all these hobbies and I don'treally have any hobbies, but I
(03:43):
guess I do.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I love yoga, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Podcast is definitely a hobby.
You know, not everyone has apodcast and I don't get paid for
it, right.
So it's definitely a hobby andit's so fun, like I just love
meeting people and traveling.
I guess it's a hobby and I'm amom with children in college, so
that's exciting.
Um, and that's part of why westarted the podcast.
It was like what do we do whenwe're empty nesters, we have so
(04:07):
much more freedom all of asudden to like go live somewhere
for a while.
And I am based in michigan, likeright now I'm watching some
college baseball and, you know,been here for like almost a week
.
It'll be, it'll be like eightdays total and it's really
interesting because I consider Ilove the idea of slow travel.
So I'm not necessarily goingall to see the sites in the area
(04:28):
.
I do want it, like I have seena few things in Michigan, but
what's it like?
What are the people like,what's the food like, it's the
cost of living and it'sdefinitely like more
multicultural.
Here we're just kind of breathof fresh air from where I live
in Boulder, colorado.
That's why I just I, I justlike learning about new cultures
and different people and I saylet's pass the wand to Kristen.
(04:48):
Kristen's got a lot ofinteresting hobbies and habits
and things she does every yearand she's going on a big, big
adventure next week, right?
I?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
am, yes, backpacking which I was exciting with Girl
Scouts for 10 days in the woods,so it gets nights on trail.
How far do you hike in?
Actually, I don't even lookuntil I get there.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And you're just like prepared.
Huh, she's like miles piece ofcake.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Here's my packing list my two page packing list.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yep, so I've got my backpacking packing list and
then my camp packing list, so,um, I've got all my stuff down
here right now and in the otherroom, so I'm trying to have your
own.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Like, do you have to bring your own stove and your
flashlight and water filter andthings like that, or yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
but we do group gear, so I can't remember girls.
I think we have probably 12 12girls this year.
Sometimes it's 10 to 15 or so,maybe more, depending on the
group, and then done it for 10years and we just take Girl
Scouts out.
It's a camp called TwoSentinels.
Highly recommend it for anyonewho has kids.
(05:55):
How I got involved?
I was a Girl Scout leader andthen I wanted to bring both my
kids and my son.
It's a Girl Scout camp, so ifI'm a leader they can bring what
do we call them Tags.
So there we bring all thelittle kids and then once they
get older which my daughter'sfirst year, she was old enough
and then they go into I thinkshe was seven or so and she was
(06:17):
a what they called a water bug,and then it's a metal lark and
then it kind of like each agegroup gets its little names and
super cute, and then theygraduate up into bigger hikes
and then a little backpackingwith the older girls and then a
three-day one and then it kindof graduates from there to like
the rovers group goes outfurther.
And then I'm on the fireflies,and so the fireflies is a newer
(06:40):
one named after our beloved campdirector who passed away.
My daughter did the first year.
I think so very exciting.
I'm excited to go.
This is my first longer trip togo, so I really like
backcountry camping too.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I haven't don't do it very often, but yeah, so that's
, that's cool that you can do iton a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, so my my first.
As the years have passed, I'venoticed one of the very first
things I like to do is I go intowhat we call the garage and I
pull out the bins of all thefood and I lay that out, because
one year we had too much, welltoo little food.
The second year, I remember, wehad too much food, and just
having that right amount of foodis so crucial.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And then do you guys have to put them all in the bear
coolers or do you have like setcamps that have like bear
things?
So we have to like hang it fromthe tree yeah, we, we teach
that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
But bear bins is usually what we do.
We just do and then put themall off to kind of away from
where we're sleeping and go fromthere.
But it's desolation, wildernessout of kirkwood.
Can't recommend the camp highenough.
It's highly, highly recommended.
It's just such a camp and justto get unplugged and off the
grid and having your kids likenot be on their video devices of
(07:49):
all kinds, yeah, it's reallynice.
But yes, so I'm Kristen Revell.
I live here in the Bay Area inConcord, california, in Southern
California, near Redondo Beach,so grew up at the beach my
whole life.
I didn't surf very much but,funny enough, I I roller skated,
I served a little bit but veryactive and cheerleaded for many,
(08:12):
many years eight years throughcollege, you know moved up here,
worked in corporate America,put my head down and noticed
aches and pains, but I alwaysliked to run and I was like
what's going on?
So I started working out andpaying attention to my body and
it's kind of, and I love theoutdoors, I love to be active, I
love doing lots of differentthings and grew up as a tomboy.
(08:34):
I skateboarded in junior high.
All the girls moved away on myblock and it was just me and
about five or six boys, and so Ijust kind of did what they did
and they were super fun.
So and now I yeah, I compete inwake surfing, so do.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And yeah, so explain to people what the difference
between wake surfing andwakeboarding.
I think there's often a lot ofconfusion.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Lump it in your head, like when you don't hold on to
a string.
Yeah Well, you initially.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Exactly so the wakeboard.
You have bindings on the board,kind of like a snowboard, and
you are going probably like 18to 20 miles an hour a lot faster
and you know you're always onthe rope and binded to the board
and then wake surfing is.
There's no binding, it's amodified surfboard glassglass
(09:26):
fiberglass.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Fiberglass coated.
It's very similar to a regularsurfboard, but it's modified and
you pull up on the rope andthen, once the boat hits 10
miles an hour, the wave clearsfrom being kind of frothy and
then you can throw the rope backin the boat and then you can
surf the wave.
One challenge is getting up.
(09:49):
A lot of people cause I alsohave taught it before and I run
clinics.
I've run clinics before.
So pulling, you know getting up.
If you're able to get up,that's one feat.
It's like check the box you gotup on the board, great yeah,
that's absurd.
Then it's staying in the wave,in that sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, cause if you're not in the sweet spot,
then you just fall down and theboat goes ahead Right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
No, when you're in the sweet spot, then you can
surf.
So, it's clear.
And then the rope.
You know if you're surfing andyou notice the rope kind of
dangling like it's there's slackin the rope, oh okay.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Exactly.
That's a big thing that I thinkyour speed can change while
your weeks are being all daylong Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So you just and it can also adjust with just moving
your hips forward and not sojust slightly moving, because
again your shoulders, your hipsand your feet right, your ankles
, keeping that in line andmoving forward, just a little
adjustment like that, and thenyour arms too you can move them
forward and pushes you forward.
Okay, it's very, verytemperamental, I guess in a good
(11:00):
way.
So once you figure that out andyou can stay in the sweet spot,
then you can throw the rope inand then you can surf without
the rope.
Once you get good at that andyou can stay in the wave and
figure out that sweet spot, thenyou can do lots of fun moves.
Then you can do 360 hairs andjumps and and when did?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
how old are you when you started this exactly?
I actually.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I learned in 2002 and then I had kids so stopping for
years, and then in 2016 I sawsomeone in Bass Lake do it and I
was like, oh my gosh, there'sthat thing that made me feel
like disneyland, my name wellinto your like, okay in your 30s
, 40s, yeah, yeah okay, yeah,wow, wow so so many people were
(11:43):
afraid to like try somethinglike that.
Oh, that's for 20 year olds, sothat's awesome from like five
years old till 95 years or 100,you could still surf.
And there was a 92 year oldthat my friend, marco Thompson
in San Diego, taught how to wakesurf.
So, yeah, you can do it in yourseventies, eighties.
And then I also compete and Ihost my own event in California
(12:06):
called Cali Comp Festival.
So we have clinics that teachwake surfing.
A couple of days we're actuallyon the news Sacramento news.
It's super fun.
And then we have a two daycompetition as well.
So, and it's all ages and it'sso great to see families and
everyone gets along and it'ssuper fun and I bring our V's
there, so it's like you haveyour own hotel room on the on
(12:27):
the water and I get a chef tocook meals and so, oh, wow,
that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh, okay, and then when is that coming up?
That's in October.
You said yeah, it's usuallyaround Halloween.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Oh, okay, Very cool.
Yeah, it was earlier in theyear, but we have to do it after
Worlds and frankly for me,because I'm now competing in
Worlds, so it's nice to be ableto get back.
And then you know, I have twoweeks.
They want two weeks becausethey also have to bring all the
equipment over and get it allready for my event.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So okay, when is the worlds?
Where is that?
Uh, this year it's in texas,okay last year?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
where is it's been in um?
You know, I think utah was lastyear.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Uh, yeah, utah haha, you remember that.
It wasn't that.
It was a little chilly, huh itwas, it snowed, it hailed.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It was 20 degrees when I surfed and the sun wasn't
up yet.
It was like 7 am, I think, whenI got.
Yeah, it was quite, quiteinteresting.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And then, um, yeah, oh, so I was thinking the wake
surfing boat.
It's a different type of boatthat makes these bigger waves,
so thinking it's probably lessdangerous than trying to surf in
the ocean because of theconditions.
You can just go slow.
You're not like oh my gosh, I'mstuck in this wave and I can't
get out and like I don't knowhow to catch it.
You know which, surfing in theocean it could be very scary,
(13:46):
but then you're at the mercy ofthe calmness of the lake.
Does that matter?
Or if it's like kind of choppycalmness?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
is fantastic.
Um, it's kind of funny.
So they they talk about likewater.
Skiers need like glass, theylike glass.
Um, wakeboarding, it's a littlemore forgiving, so you don't
need glass, but you also stillwant calm waters.
And then wake surfing it cantake.
You still want honestly calmwaters, I like yeah, yeah but
(14:12):
it's more forgiving because theboat sort of you know it creates
the wave and the hull of theboat it sort of like calms it.
Yeah, so someone I was talkingto they're like we first water
ski, then we wakeboard and thenwe want or wake surf, I mean,
but I still like wakes, oh kindof depending on the.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
As the morning gets choppier, then you can
transition to another oh yeah, Iheard that lately you like
lakes, then it sounds like.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I love lakes, I love pine trees, I love the outdoors,
I love.
It's so funny because I waslike what would be my perfect?
It would be buying land on alake, creating like place for
people to like.
I want several like cabins orsomething like that for people
to come, with a big dock.
I miss horses.
I rode horses for 25 years andperfect day would be like wake
surf in the morning, have food,breakfast, whatever, and then go
(15:00):
horseback riding or hiking oryou know, go do something.
Would be awesome.
But no and it's funny because myson's now dirt biking.
He just we had a lesson.
He's like always since he'sthree years old, he's always
asked to go motorcycle dirt,dirt biking.
So now he's like always sincehe's three years old, he's
always asked to go motorcycledirt, dirt, biking.
So now he's like mom, will youdo it with me?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And so I think oh, my goodness, wow, I heard that's
one of the actually the moststrenuous activities is dirt
biking.
Oh yeah, and it was just somany of your muscles, oh yeah
absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It's like you have to be conditioned.
The guy was saying you stillneed to go to gym and work out
because it uses a lot of coremuscles.
So so yeah, I do wake surfing.
Uh, also, I I did horsebackriding.
I never have owned horses.
I just kind of like dog walk,uh, like a dog sitter one family
would, or one guy with twohorses I took care of every
(15:52):
other week because he was oncall every other week and he
couldn't get out and then heunfortunately passed away.
The horses passed away and thenanother gentleman who was
retired said hey, I saw you takecare of Bill's horses, can you
take care of mine?
So I had two horses namedPrince and Sam, and I used to
pick my kids up from horse backfrom school isn't that cool,
yeah, actually.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I remember like I visited your horses.
I like helped you brush themonce and you let me ride.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh really.
Think a minute, yeah, that'sprobably when I had the first
set, which was Doc and Dumia.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Those were the that sounds kind of familiar.
Yeah, that's so crazy.
All right, so, and then, whatdo you do, did you?
How do you make money?
Yeah, so wealthy, right.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Won the lotto.
I wish I could say that Won thelotto and now I just give back.
That would be my.
That would be a dream too.
Is just to like.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I want to get to that point where I just don't worry
about income anymore and justyou know, can I say I love
working.
So, like, continue to work, butnot like have to make so much
money.
You know, like, and then youcould just help people a bunch
yeah, teach them be a, be a partof community and help.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So I yeah, I'm a recruiter been recruited.
That's how Carol and I met.
We were at account temps, whichwas part of Robert, half way
back in the day, and you were inthe Walnut Creek office.
I was in the apartment complex,which was fun and had our
Melrose place.
We called it totally, so yeah,every Wednesday we have dinners
with Jen's and his roommate, meand my roommate and you, so we
(17:25):
only have every fifth week,which was awesome, and then you
moved on and I didn't.
I still don't do it Basicallysemi-retired from Robert Half
right, and then yeah, and thenstarted your own little bit of
Robert Half or not your ownexecutive recruiting right.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That's awesome, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
On my own for four years.
I got.
I had a startup within RobertHalf that got shut down right at
March of 2020, right at thebeginning of COVID.
I was transferring into thebranch and our CEO, max Mesmer,
had retired and our CFO, keithWaddell, had taken over and he
had said no transfers If you'reout, you're out.
And I got out within a 24 hourperiod of like being employed
(18:09):
for 24 years at Robert half,which I adored and loved.
I had a great time.
I mean, for 24 years at RobertHalf, which I adored and loved,
I had a great time.
I mean, the last couple ofyears were more challenging, but
it is what it is.
And then I was off and I hadtwo kids at home and and then my
then has been got laid offApril 2020.
So it was back to back.
So we were both out of jobs,covid was just happening and two
(18:30):
teenagers and you know all theall it was.
It's funny to think back, likewhat are we going to do?
It's like I am going to start myown and I want to do a podcast
about just um.
It was called the future ofwomen at work and so I started
that and um, just put my headdown and I really do remember
doing a very deep clean of thehouse in the attic I had to like
(18:52):
scan and broom and I found allof these old resumes and files
that just you know in terms oflike old stuff and I just
thought, well, let's, let's getthis done.
Got to work.
The rest is history.
I've been in business for fouryears on my own and I love it
and I've gotten a chance to dosome pretty amazing things with
the department of energy andloan program office DC.
(19:13):
It's kind of like Shark Tanksort of for clean tech space and
a couple of companies and beingable to be a mom, work and, you
know, take care of my familymyself.
And then I've gotten a chanceto do more wake surfing and
hiking and I do this outdoorcamp.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I'm going backpacking next week and, um, you know, I
get to yes do a lot of fun stuffand it's yeah, well it sounds
like, yeah, you're in control ofyour life and your time and
your schedule, which is I try,you try to control, but you have
no control right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
hence my, and then I bought a fourplex and I've had a
lot of, a lot of, uh,landlord-y kind of things,
although I have a propertymanager, but it's just been some
stuff with, um, my, my place inthe front that I needed doing.
So hopefully those will kind ofcalm down.
And then my Maui condo.
I have a condo on the beachacross the street from the beach
in Maui.
That's awesome that there was athere was a leak that, uh, you
(20:10):
know, went downstairs and so I'mfixing that, but I've owned it
for 18 years, almost 19 years.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
OK, so it's pretty awesome.
My dream is to be able to livein different places throughout
the year, so Maui for a couplemonths, california for a while,
you know, just kind of to beable to travel and I feel like
I've kind of created my life.
I could be doing this exactthing anywhere in the world
(20:40):
right now which is awesome.
My goal is to keep growing that, so then I can possibly then
start to visit these places thatwe have been interviewing,
which is the whole point rightexactly we could get sponsors
and share.
I mean, there's a lot of growthyeah and that's that aspect and
I know we've talked about thatand definitely would love to to
(21:01):
do more of that as well and justshare the I think for oh, I
think, everyone you get socaught up in your life that you
forget to dream and grow anddream big also right.
It doesn't have to be littledreams like, oh, I want to do
this.
It's like no, expand that, likeblow it up, like why not?
(21:24):
Right, and so I try to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You got it, you got to live.
So I you know, right now mykids my son's going to be a
senior, my daughter's going awayto UC Santa Cruz.
I'm so excited for her and soit's coming up soon, that you
know some of those things willcome true.
And I know, for my daughter'sgraduation we went to South
Korea and Bali, which is a combo, and the reason Bali got
(21:50):
slipped in was because of thegal we did one of our episodes,
Hong Patterson.
So when I was going to SouthKorea and we'd done that episode
and I thought, well, I calledher and said, or probably
messaged her, and said hey, Iwant to meet you and she's like
two things.
First off, come stay with mewith your kids.
Secondly, you have to go toBali.
(22:11):
Because she knows I surf.
She hooked me up with the RipCurl Pros and got to go there,
and without this podcast, Iwould have not gotten that
opportunity to be able to put abucket list item on my bucket
list after it happened, whichwas to wake surf on the Han
River in South Korea and then goto ocean surf in Bali with the
(22:32):
Rip Curl Pro Garut, who, him andhis family, we stayed with.
And not only that, but thethird part of that was because I
do my own events Cali CompFestival every year to do a wake
surf event.
But he said, oh, I forgot totell you, I have an ocean surf
contest I'm putting on, so theday we arrive is his day, he
does an ocean surf contest.
(22:52):
And so being able to comparethe two and see it firsthand and
see the families and the kidsand the parents competing just
like how mine, is oh, okay, itwas so profound for me to
actually visually see that itwas.
it was just an awe.
I'm dying to go back, but itwas just like so amazing.
So that was, that was a verybig highlight for me as an
(23:16):
episode coming true.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
My son's gonna be a senior this year and I keep
poking him like where?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
are we going?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Where next?
So it's you're graduating nextsummer, we're going somewhere,
so I don't know if it'sAustralia or New Zealand or
Whistler.
He's a big, he loves mountainbiking and things.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We'll see, not sure, yeah, yeah, cool.
Well, I'm, let's see.
So I don't know if we're readyfor rapid our two rapid fire
questions.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Well, either that or two things I think you were
talking about is what episode Iguess I started it with an
episode that wastransformational or that you
really that stood out for you.
I know I guess I kind of SouthKorea was an important one
because my daughter wanted to gothere, and so that was that
part.
So I guess I'd say that, butwhat was there one that was for
(24:09):
you that really stood out?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Well, I guess, like that, probably Gosh, this is so
hard.
So is it like eye-opening.
I kind of think Ecuador, justbecause and this is what I have
on my list Ecuador.
Look at that, because I alwaysenvisioned Ecuador as by the
beach, you know Spanish speaking, you know, lower cost of living
(24:34):
, developing country Like I, Ididn't think of it as like a
mountainous, and that was thefirst country.
And now, as we talk to people inother countries, so many
countries have mountains, like Idon't know, because, like
Colorado is so big with themountains, even when I went to
Los Angeles, I'm like, oh my God, there's so many mountains here
, like I forget there'smountains everywhere.
(24:55):
And what I'm starting to see islike the landscape in different
countries is very much likelandscape in different parts of
the US.
And the US we have so muchbecause it's so huge, right, so
you have, you know, swamplands,you've got desert, you've got
(25:16):
you know alligators and you'vegot big cities.
We have everything you know,and so they really like, why do
we need to go anywhere else?
Right, but it's learning aboutthe different cultures and like,
like japan and thailand, likethe culture of the people there
are so interesting to me.
So it's like, even though welearn about it.
I think those are the couple ofplaces like you need to go to
really experience it.
(25:37):
Um, and so funny enough, lookjapan, yeah, so like now I I
really want to go and I alwaysthought japan's so expensive,
but actually, like right now, Ithink the exchange rate is
actually pretty good.
I don't know if I'll getthrough that soon, but I want to
go to japan.
Um, I definitely want to go tothailand, but I still like want
(25:59):
to spend, like, I want to spendtime places like I want to like
go to portugal.
I don't want to go for a week,I want to go like for a month
and I'm grateful you want totalk about.
So what I do for a living.
I do um sales force consulting,so we help people on sales
operations, sales training.
You know technology consulting,this tool called pardot,
marketing automation, so this isall done on the computer.
(26:21):
So most of my work is justdoing stuff on my laptop and
then, you know, having Zoommeetings with clients.
One thing I do miss is like mymultiple screens, like not
having a big screen when you'retraveling is hard to get used to
.
So I think there's I sawthere's something you can like
put on the back of your computerthat like sticky, and then it
(26:43):
like can come out.
I don't know how it doesn'tfall off, but there some, you
know, there there's solutionsout there for sure you just need
bigger and bigger glasses tosee the little print.
Yes, we get older, it's justlike I can't see it.
You know, I put on my bigscreen to see and I can.
I'm like, can you blow that upfor me?
But yeah, so I am like super,super stoked to uh, you know,
(27:06):
explore and then also, like Idon't have like a lot of
destinations, like to checkthings off, but like when the
offer I think it was like Nora,professional hobo or one of
these other guests that we hadwhen there's an opportunity
being able to go, if my, mysister, has a friend that's, you
know, moved to portugal and youknow now we can stay with her,
(27:30):
you know, and who knows, on howshe's going to be be there and
like this hong, like you happento be there and she lives there
and be able to take advantage ofthat opportunity where someone
else is there, you're going tomake it makes it more affordable
to like we can easily spendfour thousand000 a week or some
of these, like these morecommercial tours.
Five $6,000 doesn't includeairfare and it's like a week to
(27:51):
10 days and I'm like, yeah, itsounds great If I really want to
like immerse myself in a minute, but like I want to get to know
the people, I don't want tonecessarily be hanging out with
other tourists.
Probably the other big thing Ireally learned is there are
certain countries.
Doing tours is a smart idea,right?
Because Egypt is one like.
I don't think I'd want to tryto do that on my own.
Maybe the some of the placeslike in Colombia.
(28:15):
I think it's good to be withsome kind of organized, but you
know Mexico, anywhere in EuropeI think I would feel fine.
You know traveling alone and Ihave in the past.
You know, and I know enoughabout enough people now that you
know traveling alone and I havein the past.
You know, and I know enoughabout enough people now that you
know in Asia to know whichcountries that's good to do and
not good to do.
So and then also, I think kindof one of my big learnings is
(28:37):
knowing some, because sometimeswhen I travel like I try to like
go visit my mom, you know, orsomething, and go stay with her,
and then we end up goingvisiting all these relatives and
then I find out, you know, I'lljust work from there and I
can't because it just gets toobusy.
So just really, I think it'simportant to like know when it
makes sense to try to work whiletraveling.
And so, like Thailand and stuff, since the time difference is
(29:02):
so big, I kind of think when Igo to Thailand I just want to
take a month off of work or twomonths off of work and go there
and just really absorb it and,you know, maybe write some blogs
or something for the business,but not try to like have client
client meetings or anything.
Work at two in the morning,that doesn't sound very fun.
(29:22):
But you know, costa Rica orBelize like I've been to Belize
a couple times and I believethis, actually I saw like 350
around trip from denver injanuary, which is their prime
season, and you can like you canrent a place easy for two grand
a month down there.
So it's like huh, so like forunder three and food is insanely
(29:42):
cheap.
Down there the wi-fi is good.
They all speak english.
So for like a couple thousanddollars you can spend a month in
belize, versus spending fivethousand dollars on a you know
trip to iceland, for example.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, actually I just wrote that down.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm like that's where I'm gonna go for a month yeah,
it's very, but you know, itdepends what you want to do like
you want to.
And then there's islands orthere's, you know, the, the
inland area, there's jungle,like Belize has so much going on
.
Yeah, that sounds incredible.
You know, in Slovenia I'venever really been to, or I
haven't been to, and I've justheard so much about it.
But so do you have a new firstchoice then, kristen?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Goodness Ecuador.
I thought was reallyinteresting, but now I'm like
Belize like actually.
I mean I was thinking NewZealand, australia, because of
Ian um and I was just reallyimpressed.
I mean Portugal, I was reallyimpressed, and also the big wave
.
I thought that was kind ofinteresting oh yeah, um, but uh,
I was trying to see Baja Mexicoand it's funny because my
(30:42):
sister has houses, uh propertiesin Todos Santos and when we did
, we've done, I think, two onBaja Mexico and I was just like,
wow, I didn't really thinkabout that area as much and it's
really close, by I mean thetime differences, you know.
So there's more, but it'sinteresting.
You say about going somewhereand just taking the time away
(31:04):
from work, which is kind of hard, I think.
You know we get programmed forwork and it's really tough to
like relax, which I'm lookingforward to on the trail next
week.
I was in Yosemite volunteeringthrough the Sierra Club for, you
know, seven days this year.
It was fun, but it was I got.
It was really cold, it snowedand it was beautiful.
I mean it melted the next daybut I was having trouble because
(31:28):
I was trying to work and thewifi was down because the snow
had taken it out, and so thatwas really troubling, trying to
like balance those things.
And so I think, thinking morein advance of where you're going
and what the wifi is and what'syour, what's your goal to go
and are you going to work andhow much percentage, like really
(31:49):
sort of thoughtfully think thatthrough a little bit more, I
think I would have done a better, I could have done a better job
.
I thought, oh, I'll just work,fine, but it worked so well.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, the wifi, yeah.
And then I mean like sometimesI want to be on like my private
VPN, and sometimes I'm at likeat my mom's, like for some
reason I can't get on the VPN orit just like breaks, and so
then I have to choose like whichInternet, or then just go
through my phone and then I canuse my hotspot, but sometimes
(32:21):
the hotspot, the cell phone, isnot in a good cell phone area,
so then you're relying on that.
Do I really want to be stressedabout this?
right, exactly, so I I like I'mkind of jealous of people that
are writers, because like youcan write, you know write on abm
wi-fi to write.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You just write all day long yeah, although it's
still hard because they havewriter's block or you know just
yeah, there's always alwaysgreener?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
yes, exactly, but it's good to appreciate then
also being having what we havetoo right and the flexibility
and uh, oh, yeah, yeah, I'mreally grateful for flexibility
and not having you know bosstell me you can't take the time
off, you can't work remote.
That's not a thing, so it'sgood.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I know exactly you need to look at starlink.
That's's one suggestion, andI'm I actually am highlighting
it right now to see if I want itfor my backpacking trip.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah, while we're here, audience like if you
have anything you'd like tohear from about us, we have this
new thing called fan mail and Isaw one come through, but it
was a test from Kristen.
It's just at the top of theshow notes.
It says text text the webcast.
So, yeah, feel free to do thatIf you have any.
It's a one way communication.
(33:31):
So if there's something youwant to talk about, let us know.
And if you want us to writeback, be sure to give us your
email address or give us yourphone number.
We will not know that otherwise.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, yeah, it came through andit didn't.
It showed like the last fourdigits and says you're from
California, but it didn't, like,didn't put your whole phone
number down.
So it keeps, keeps it private.
So, yeah, exactly, it can betotally anonymous if you share
(33:55):
something about letting us knowwho you are Exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I would say one episode that I was really
impressed that stood out wasAntarctica, with Kristen in the
wheelchair and being able to.
I think just it was soinspiring and wonderful to to
see and hear what she was ableto do.
That and Joe with the standuppaddleboard in England, those
two really, you know.
And then I asked to I think I'mgoing to launch Joe on my
(34:20):
podcast next week.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
So tell us about your other podcast.
What's the premise of that one?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, Curiosity with Kristen.
So it's more businesses andcareers and pivots and careers
and life and companies and whatthey're doing and CEOs to move
their people forward, andchallenges.
But exciting things too, andeven one I did with raising kids
, teen mental health, which is abig thing.
And then I've also done somesports ones.
(34:46):
I had a girlfriend of mine andthen someone else I just also
it's so cool One that didsynchronized swimming.
I think it was the same year in96.
And then one that was soccerand both of them got gold medals
, oh wow, and the synchronizedswimming got a perfect 10.
So my friend Heather and thenmy new friend, it was really
(35:09):
cool to get a chance to do those.
So I have lots of differenttopics, just very inspiring and
it just kind of honestly Istarted it just to help me as I
was creating my business andjust realize how much I get out
of it.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
So, as much as I love where next, so I to do this
podcast queen Kristen, I know Igot both of those going yeah,
exactly all right.
Well, um, thanks again forlistening and um, we will see
y'all soon yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Thanks for making our three years so memorable and
wonderful.
We couldn't do this without ourguests and our audience
listening, and of course, we'restill doing it, obviously
posting.
But we would love to hear ifyou can subscribe.
What is it?
Little little thumbs up or abell, whatever it is.
You may know more I'm horribleat that part, but I would love
(36:17):
to kind of look more at that andsponsors, if you're interested
and you have something that youwant a part of our show, we've
played around with that as well.
So we're very open and we're sofortunate and, Carol, you're so
awesome.
I love doing this and I'm soexcited that we've gotten a
chance to grow our friendship.
Um, you know, we had such a funtime when we lived together and
you know, now we get a chance toum hang out on a regular basis.
(36:40):
Yeah, right, yeah so and evengotten to go to stay with you in
boulder several times over thelast couple years and go hiking
in the evening, and you guyshave been so wonderful yeah,
next year, since I'll be emptynesting, I think I'll be
spending more time in californiaas well.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Go stay with my cousin for like a month or
something yeah, exactly, can'twait great.
Great Cool All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Thank you so much, everyone.
Thanks, carol.
We'll see you next time, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
(37:34):
Thanks again, bye.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So, kristen, yay, yeah, where next is what we're
celebrating three years Yay.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Three years.
We're going to just talk alittle bit about ourselves, a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's so fun to do just us?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, so, yeah.
So we thought we'd like try toget to know each other a little
bit.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I mean, kristen, I obviously know each other, but
figured we 'd share about kindof us, your hosts, since we
always talk about all our guests, and so now you get to learn a
little bit about us for ourthree-year anniversary.
Yeah, and learn about where areyou?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So that's like yeah, so I'm actually in Michigan
right now for a week, you know,watching some baseball.
So it's very fun.
That's awesome and the weatheris so funny, the weather's like
so perfect here, you know, andeverything's like less expensive
, and I'm like maybe this wouldbe a good place to move to.
I'm like maybe this would be agood place to move to, but it's
the middle of July and it's cool, and it's not.
(01:27):
It's not crazy.
Hot sun is up, but this is notnormal.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, let's say that maybe California, where I'm at
is, is a swap the wet we gaveour weather to you because it's
been like almost a hundred everyday and it's very hot and, um,
although it's been okay, it'sbeen better, but we've had a lot
of heat waves lately.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Do you guys still get the cool nights in the East Bay
there?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, last night I took my dog hiking.
I was like 8.30 and it was likeyou know, those warm summer
nights where you it's just itwasn't too hot, it was just
perfect, it was so.
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, Kind of my big draw to like where I want to go
is is it comfortable?
Yeah, I like when you can.
Inside and outside are the same.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You want to start first and talk about who you are
Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, yeah, who am I?
Well, I'm a Midwesterner, fromMinnesota originally, oh yeah,
you know and then led Minnesotabecause it was so old, in the
winter I just couldn't handle it.
So I've lived in a couple ofdifferent places and that's also
one thing that it got me soexcited about this.
Like, where else do I want tolike go live for a little bit?
(02:36):
And that's really what I'mhoping to learn, and I have
learned a lot from the podcast.
But I lived in Honolulu forthree years.
I lived in Los Angeles forabout a year and a half and then
I lived in the Bay area KristenI met for 11 years, and now in
Colorado for a good 14 years or18 years, 18 years, yep.
And I love outdoorsy stuff andthat's one thing I really like
(02:59):
about living somewhere that'swarm, not hot, or just like
comfortable, right, and that'swhat California is so great too.
It's like just you can gooutside all year round.
You know there's never likelike Arizona, like you don't go
outside in the extreme summer,and in Minnesota, like you don't
go outside in the extremewinter.
So I love living places whereyou can just like go outside and
you know, run, walk, bike,whatever.
(03:21):
So I really love doing that andI love doing sports and I am not
really I don't excel at onething, but I just love hiking
and biking and I like playingtennis and I think sports not a
very crafty person, you know.
It's so weird because I alwaysthought, like some people have
all these hobbies and I don'treally have any hobbies, but I
(03:43):
guess I do.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I love yoga, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Podcast is definitely a hobby.
You know, not everyone has apodcast and I don't get paid for
it, right.
So it's definitely a hobby andit's so fun, like I just love
meeting people and traveling.
I guess it's a hobby and I'm amom with children in college, so
that's exciting.
Um, and that's part of why westarted the podcast.
It was like what do we do whenwe're empty nesters, we have so
(04:07):
much more freedom all of asudden to like go live somewhere
for a while.
And I am based in michigan, likeright now I'm watching some
college baseball and, you know,been here for like almost a week
.
It'll be, it'll be like eightdays total and it's really
interesting because I consider Ilove the idea of slow travel.
So I'm not necessarily goingall to see the sites in the area
(04:28):
.
I do want it, like I have seena few things in Michigan, but
what's it like?
What are the people like,what's the food like, it's the
cost of living and it'sdefinitely like more
multicultural.
Here we're just kind of breathof fresh air from where I live
in Boulder, colorado.
That's why I just I, I justlike learning about new cultures
and different people and I saylet's pass the wand to Kristen.
(04:48):
Kristen's got a lot ofinteresting hobbies and habits
and things she does every yearand she's going on a big, big
adventure next week, right?
I?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
am, yes, backpacking which I was exciting with Girl
Scouts for 10 days in the woods,so it gets nights on trail.
How far do you hike in?
Actually, I don't even lookuntil I get there.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And you're just like prepared.
Huh, she's like miles piece ofcake.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Here's my packing list my two page packing list.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yep, so I've got my backpacking packing list and
then my camp packing list, so,um, I've got all my stuff down
here right now and in the otherroom, so I'm trying to have your
own.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Like, do you have to bring your own stove and your
flashlight and water filter andthings like that, or yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
but we do group gear, so I can't remember girls.
I think we have probably 12 12girls this year.
Sometimes it's 10 to 15 or so,maybe more, depending on the
group, and then done it for 10years and we just take Girl
Scouts out.
It's a camp called TwoSentinels.
Highly recommend it for anyonewho has kids.
(05:55):
How I got involved?
I was a Girl Scout leader andthen I wanted to bring both my
kids and my son.
It's a Girl Scout camp, so ifI'm a leader they can bring what
do we call them Tags.
So there we bring all thelittle kids and then once they
get older which my daughter'sfirst year, she was old enough
and then they go into I thinkshe was seven or so and she was
(06:17):
a what they called a water bug,and then it's a metal lark and
then it kind of like each agegroup gets its little names and
super cute, and then theygraduate up into bigger hikes
and then a little backpackingwith the older girls and then a
three-day one and then it kindof graduates from there to like
the rovers group goes outfurther.
And then I'm on the fireflies,and so the fireflies is a newer
(06:40):
one named after our beloved campdirector who passed away.
My daughter did the first year.
I think so very exciting.
I'm excited to go.
This is my first longer trip togo, so I really like
backcountry camping too.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I haven't don't do it very often, but yeah, so that's
, that's cool that you can do iton a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, so my my first.
As the years have passed, I'venoticed one of the very first
things I like to do is I go intowhat we call the garage and I
pull out the bins of all thefood and I lay that out, because
one year we had too much, welltoo little food.
The second year, I remember, wehad too much food, and just
having that right amount of foodis so crucial.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
And then do you guys have to put them all in the bear
coolers or do you have like setcamps that have like bear
things?
So we have to like hang it fromthe tree yeah, we, we teach
that.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
But bear bins is usually what we do.
We just do and then put themall off to kind of away from
where we're sleeping and go fromthere.
But it's desolation, wildernessout of kirkwood.
Can't recommend the camp highenough.
It's highly, highly recommended.
It's just such a camp and justto get unplugged and off the
grid and having your kids likenot be on their video devices of
(07:49):
all kinds, yeah, it's reallynice.
But yes, so I'm Kristen Revell.
I live here in the Bay Area inConcord, california, in Southern
California, near Redondo Beach,so grew up at the beach my
whole life.
I didn't surf very much but,funny enough, I I roller skated,
I served a little bit but veryactive and cheerleaded for many,
(08:12):
many years eight years throughcollege, you know moved up here,
worked in corporate America,put my head down and noticed
aches and pains, but I alwaysliked to run and I was like
what's going on?
So I started working out andpaying attention to my body and
it's kind of, and I love theoutdoors, I love to be active, I
love doing lots of differentthings and grew up as a tomboy.
(08:34):
I skateboarded in junior high.
All the girls moved away on myblock and it was just me and
about five or six boys, and so Ijust kind of did what they did
and they were super fun.
So and now I yeah, I compete inwake surfing, so do.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And yeah, so explain to people what the difference
between wake surfing andwakeboarding.
I think there's often a lot ofconfusion.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Lump it in your head, like when you don't hold on to
a string.
Yeah Well, you initially.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Exactly so the wakeboard.
You have bindings on the board,kind of like a snowboard, and
you are going probably like 18to 20 miles an hour a lot faster
and you know you're always onthe rope and binded to the board
and then wake surfing is.
There's no binding, it's amodified surfboard glassglass
(09:26):
fiberglass.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Fiberglass coated.
It's very similar to a regularsurfboard, but it's modified and
you pull up on the rope andthen, once the boat hits 10
miles an hour, the wave clearsfrom being kind of frothy and
then you can throw the rope backin the boat and then you can
surf the wave.
One challenge is getting up.
(09:49):
A lot of people cause I alsohave taught it before and I run
clinics.
I've run clinics before.
So pulling, you know getting up.
If you're able to get up,that's one feat.
It's like check the box you gotup on the board, great yeah,
that's absurd.
Then it's staying in the wave,in that sweet spot.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, cause if you're not in the sweet spot,
then you just fall down and theboat goes ahead Right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
No, when you're in the sweet spot, then you can
surf.
So, it's clear.
And then the rope.
You know if you're surfing andyou notice the rope kind of
dangling like it's there's slackin the rope, oh okay.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Exactly.
That's a big thing that I thinkyour speed can change while
your weeks are being all daylong Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So you just and it can also adjust with just moving
your hips forward and not sojust slightly moving, because
again your shoulders, your hipsand your feet right, your ankles
, keeping that in line andmoving forward, just a little
adjustment like that, and thenyour arms too you can move them
forward and pushes you forward.
Okay, it's very, verytemperamental, I guess in a good
(11:00):
way.
So once you figure that out andyou can stay in the sweet spot,
then you can throw the rope inand then you can surf without
the rope.
Once you get good at that andyou can stay in the wave and
figure out that sweet spot, thenyou can do lots of fun moves.
Then you can do 360 hairs andjumps and and when did?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
how old are you when you started this exactly?
I actually.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I learned in 2002 and then I had kids so stopping for
years, and then in 2016 I sawsomeone in Bass Lake do it and I
was like, oh my gosh, there'sthat thing that made me feel
like disneyland, my name wellinto your like, okay in your 30s
, 40s, yeah, yeah okay, yeah,wow, wow so so many people were
(11:43):
afraid to like try somethinglike that.
Oh, that's for 20 year olds, sothat's awesome from like five
years old till 95 years or 100,you could still surf.
And there was a 92 year oldthat my friend, marco Thompson
in San Diego, taught how to wakesurf.
So, yeah, you can do it in yourseventies, eighties.
And then I also compete and Ihost my own event in California
(12:06):
called Cali Comp Festival.
So we have clinics that teachwake surfing.
A couple of days we're actuallyon the news Sacramento news.
It's super fun.
And then we have a two daycompetition as well.
So, and it's all ages and it'sso great to see families and
everyone gets along and it'ssuper fun and I bring our V's
there, so it's like you haveyour own hotel room on the on
(12:27):
the water and I get a chef tocook meals and so, oh, wow,
that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh, okay, and then when is that coming up?
That's in October.
You said yeah, it's usuallyaround Halloween.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Oh, okay, Very cool.
Yeah, it was earlier in theyear, but we have to do it after
Worlds and frankly for me,because I'm now competing in
Worlds, so it's nice to be ableto get back.
And then you know, I have twoweeks.
They want two weeks becausethey also have to bring all the
equipment over and get it allready for my event.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So okay, when is the worlds?
Where is that?
Uh, this year it's in texas,okay last year?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
where is it's been in um?
You know, I think utah was lastyear.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Uh, yeah, utah haha, you remember that.
It wasn't that.
It was a little chilly, huh itwas, it snowed, it hailed.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It was 20 degrees when I surfed and the sun wasn't
up yet.
It was like 7 am, I think, whenI got.
Yeah, it was quite, quiteinteresting.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And then, um, yeah, oh, so I was thinking the wake
surfing boat.
It's a different type of boatthat makes these bigger waves,
so thinking it's probably lessdangerous than trying to surf in
the ocean because of theconditions.
You can just go slow.
You're not like oh my gosh, I'mstuck in this wave and I can't
get out and like I don't knowhow to catch it.
You know which, surfing in theocean it could be very scary,
(13:46):
but then you're at the mercy ofthe calmness of the lake.
Does that matter?
Or if it's like kind of choppycalmness?
Speaker 1 (13:52):
is fantastic.
Um, it's kind of funny.
So they they talk about likewater.
Skiers need like glass, theylike glass.
Um, wakeboarding, it's a littlemore forgiving, so you don't
need glass, but you also stillwant calm waters.
And then wake surfing it cantake.
You still want honestly calmwaters, I like yeah, yeah but
(14:12):
it's more forgiving because theboat sort of you know it creates
the wave and the hull of theboat it sort of like calms it.
Yeah, so someone I was talkingto they're like we first water
ski, then we wakeboard and thenwe want or wake surf, I mean,
but I still like wakes, oh kindof depending on the.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
As the morning gets choppier, then you can
transition to another oh yeah, Iheard that lately you like
lakes, then it sounds like.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I love lakes, I love pine trees, I love the outdoors,
I love.
It's so funny because I waslike what would be my perfect?
It would be buying land on alake, creating like place for
people to like.
I want several like cabins orsomething like that for people
to come, with a big dock.
I miss horses.
I rode horses for 25 years andperfect day would be like wake
surf in the morning, have food,breakfast, whatever, and then go
(15:00):
horseback riding or hiking oryou know, go do something.
Would be awesome.
But no and it's funny because myson's now dirt biking.
He just we had a lesson.
He's like always since he'sthree years old, he's always
asked to go motorcycle dirt,dirt biking.
So now he's like always sincehe's three years old, he's
always asked to go motorcycledirt, dirt, biking.
So now he's like mom, will youdo it with me?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And so I think oh, my goodness, wow, I heard that's
one of the actually the moststrenuous activities is dirt
biking.
Oh yeah, and it was just somany of your muscles, oh yeah
absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It's like you have to be conditioned.
The guy was saying you stillneed to go to gym and work out
because it uses a lot of coremuscles.
So so yeah, I do wake surfing.
Uh, also, I I did horsebackriding.
I never have owned horses.
I just kind of like dog walk,uh, like a dog sitter one family
would, or one guy with twohorses I took care of every
(15:52):
other week because he was oncall every other week and he
couldn't get out and then heunfortunately passed away.
The horses passed away and thenanother gentleman who was
retired said hey, I saw you takecare of Bill's horses, can you
take care of mine?
So I had two horses namedPrince and Sam, and I used to
pick my kids up from horse backfrom school isn't that cool,
yeah, actually.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I remember like I visited your horses.
I like helped you brush themonce and you let me ride.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh really.
Think a minute, yeah, that'sprobably when I had the first
set, which was Doc and Dumia.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Those were the that sounds kind of familiar.
Yeah, that's so crazy.
All right, so, and then, whatdo you do, did you?
How do you make money?
Yeah, so wealthy, right.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Won the lotto.
I wish I could say that Won thelotto and now I just give back.
That would be my.
That would be a dream too.
Is just to like.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I want to get to that point where I just don't worry
about income anymore and justyou know, can I say I love
working.
So, like, continue to work, butnot like have to make so much
money.
You know, like, and then youcould just help people a bunch
yeah, teach them be a, be a partof community and help.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
So I yeah, I'm a recruiter been recruited.
That's how Carol and I met.
We were at account temps, whichwas part of Robert, half way
back in the day, and you were inthe Walnut Creek office.
I was in the apartment complex,which was fun and had our
Melrose place.
We called it totally, so yeah,every Wednesday we have dinners
with Jen's and his roommate, meand my roommate and you, so we
(17:25):
only have every fifth week,which was awesome, and then you
moved on and I didn't.
I still don't do it Basicallysemi-retired from Robert Half
right, and then yeah, and thenstarted your own little bit of
Robert Half or not your ownexecutive recruiting right.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That's awesome, Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
On my own for four years.
I got.
I had a startup within RobertHalf that got shut down right at
March of 2020, right at thebeginning of COVID.
I was transferring into thebranch and our CEO, max Mesmer,
had retired and our CFO, keithWaddell, had taken over and he
had said no transfers If you'reout, you're out.
And I got out within a 24 hourperiod of like being employed
(18:09):
for 24 years at Robert half,which I adored and loved.
I had a great time.
I mean, for 24 years at RobertHalf, which I adored and loved,
I had a great time.
I mean, the last couple ofyears were more challenging, but
it is what it is.
And then I was off and I hadtwo kids at home and and then my
then has been got laid offApril 2020.
So it was back to back.
So we were both out of jobs,covid was just happening and two
(18:30):
teenagers and you know all theall it was.
It's funny to think back, likewhat are we going to do?
It's like I am going to start myown and I want to do a podcast
about just um.
It was called the future ofwomen at work and so I started
that and um, just put my headdown and I really do remember
doing a very deep clean of thehouse in the attic I had to like
(18:52):
scan and broom and I found allof these old resumes and files
that just you know in terms oflike old stuff and I just
thought, well, let's, let's getthis done.
Got to work.
The rest is history.
I've been in business for fouryears on my own and I love it
and I've gotten a chance to dosome pretty amazing things with
the department of energy andloan program office DC.
(19:13):
It's kind of like Shark Tanksort of for clean tech space and
a couple of companies and beingable to be a mom, work and, you
know, take care of my familymyself.
And then I've gotten a chanceto do more wake surfing and
hiking and I do this outdoorcamp.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I'm going backpacking next week and, um, you know, I
get to yes do a lot of fun stuffand it's yeah, well it sounds
like, yeah, you're in control ofyour life and your time and
your schedule, which is I try,you try to control, but you have
no control right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
hence my, and then I bought a fourplex and I've had a
lot of, a lot of, uh,landlord-y kind of things,
although I have a propertymanager, but it's just been some
stuff with, um, my, my place inthe front that I needed doing.
So hopefully those will kind ofcalm down.
And then my Maui condo.
I have a condo on the beachacross the street from the beach
in Maui.
That's awesome that there was athere was a leak that, uh, you
(20:10):
know, went downstairs and so I'mfixing that, but I've owned it
for 18 years, almost 19 years.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
OK, so it's pretty awesome.
My dream is to be able to livein different places throughout
the year, so Maui for a couplemonths, california for a while,
you know, just kind of to beable to travel and I feel like
I've kind of created my life.
I could be doing this exactthing anywhere in the world
(20:40):
right now which is awesome.
My goal is to keep growing that, so then I can possibly then
start to visit these places thatwe have been interviewing,
which is the whole point rightexactly we could get sponsors
and share.
I mean, there's a lot of growthyeah and that's that aspect and
I know we've talked about thatand definitely would love to to
(21:01):
do more of that as well and justshare the I think for oh, I
think, everyone you get socaught up in your life that you
forget to dream and grow anddream big also right.
It doesn't have to be littledreams like, oh, I want to do
this.
It's like no, expand that, likeblow it up, like why not?
(21:24):
Right, and so I try to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
You got it, you got to live.
So I you know, right now mykids my son's going to be a
senior, my daughter's going awayto UC Santa Cruz.
I'm so excited for her and soit's coming up soon, that you
know some of those things willcome true.
And I know, for my daughter'sgraduation we went to South
Korea and Bali, which is a combo, and the reason Bali got
(21:50):
slipped in was because of thegal we did one of our episodes,
Hong Patterson.
So when I was going to SouthKorea and we'd done that episode
and I thought, well, I calledher and said, or probably
messaged her, and said hey, Iwant to meet you and she's like
two things.
First off, come stay with mewith your kids.
Secondly, you have to go toBali.
(22:11):
Because she knows I surf.
She hooked me up with the RipCurl Pros and got to go there,
and without this podcast, Iwould have not gotten that
opportunity to be able to put abucket list item on my bucket
list after it happened, whichwas to wake surf on the Han
River in South Korea and then goto ocean surf in Bali with the
(22:32):
Rip Curl Pro Garut, who, him andhis family, we stayed with.
And not only that, but thethird part of that was because I
do my own events Cali CompFestival every year to do a wake
surf event.
But he said, oh, I forgot totell you, I have an ocean surf
contest I'm putting on, so theday we arrive is his day, he
does an ocean surf contest.
(22:52):
And so being able to comparethe two and see it firsthand and
see the families and the kidsand the parents competing just
like how mine, is oh, okay, itwas so profound for me to
actually visually see that itwas.
it was just an awe.
I'm dying to go back, but itwas just like so amazing.
So that was, that was a verybig highlight for me as an
(23:16):
episode coming true.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
My son's gonna be a senior this year and I keep
poking him like where?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
are we going?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Where next?
So it's you're graduating nextsummer, we're going somewhere,
so I don't know if it'sAustralia or New Zealand or
Whistler.
He's a big, he loves mountainbiking and things.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We'll see, not sure, yeah, yeah, cool.
Well, I'm, let's see.
So I don't know if we're readyfor rapid our two rapid fire
questions.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Well, either that or two things I think you were
talking about is what episode Iguess I started it with an
episode that wastransformational or that you
really that stood out for you.
I know I guess I kind of SouthKorea was an important one
because my daughter wanted to gothere, and so that was that
part.
So I guess I'd say that, butwhat was there one that was for
(24:09):
you that really stood out?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Well, I guess, like that, probably Gosh, this is so
hard.
So is it like eye-opening.
I kind of think Ecuador, justbecause and this is what I have
on my list Ecuador.
Look at that, because I alwaysenvisioned Ecuador as by the
beach, you know Spanish speaking, you know, lower cost of living
(24:34):
, developing country Like I, Ididn't think of it as like a
mountainous, and that was thefirst country.
And now, as we talk to people inother countries, so many
countries have mountains, like Idon't know, because, like
Colorado is so big with themountains, even when I went to
Los Angeles, I'm like, oh my God, there's so many mountains here
, like I forget there'smountains everywhere.
(24:55):
And what I'm starting to see islike the landscape in different
countries is very much likelandscape in different parts of
the US.
And the US we have so muchbecause it's so huge, right, so
you have, you know, swamplands,you've got desert, you've got
(25:16):
you know alligators and you'vegot big cities.
We have everything you know,and so they really like, why do
we need to go anywhere else?
Right, but it's learning aboutthe different cultures and like,
like japan and thailand, likethe culture of the people there
are so interesting to me.
So it's like, even though welearn about it.
I think those are the couple ofplaces like you need to go to
really experience it.
(25:37):
Um, and so funny enough, lookjapan, yeah, so like now I I
really want to go and I alwaysthought japan's so expensive,
but actually, like right now, Ithink the exchange rate is
actually pretty good.
I don't know if I'll getthrough that soon, but I want to
go to japan.
Um, I definitely want to go tothailand, but I still like want
(25:59):
to spend, like, I want to spendtime places like I want to like
go to portugal.
I don't want to go for a week,I want to go like for a month
and I'm grateful you want totalk about.
So what I do for a living.
I do um sales force consulting,so we help people on sales
operations, sales training.
You know technology consulting,this tool called pardot,
marketing automation, so this isall done on the computer.
(26:21):
So most of my work is justdoing stuff on my laptop and
then, you know, having Zoommeetings with clients.
One thing I do miss is like mymultiple screens, like not
having a big screen when you'retraveling is hard to get used to
.
So I think there's I sawthere's something you can like
put on the back of your computerthat like sticky, and then it
(26:43):
like can come out.
I don't know how it doesn'tfall off, but there some, you
know, there there's solutionsout there for sure you just need
bigger and bigger glasses tosee the little print.
Yes, we get older, it's justlike I can't see it.
You know, I put on my bigscreen to see and I can.
I'm like, can you blow that upfor me?
But yeah, so I am like super,super stoked to uh, you know,
(27:06):
explore and then also, like Idon't have like a lot of
destinations, like to checkthings off, but like when the
offer I think it was like Nora,professional hobo or one of
these other guests that we hadwhen there's an opportunity
being able to go, if my, mysister, has a friend that's, you
know, moved to portugal and youknow now we can stay with her,
(27:30):
you know, and who knows, on howshe's going to be be there and
like this hong, like you happento be there and she lives there
and be able to take advantage ofthat opportunity where someone
else is there, you're going tomake it makes it more affordable
to like we can easily spendfour thousand000 a week or some
of these, like these morecommercial tours.
Five $6,000 doesn't includeairfare and it's like a week to
(27:51):
10 days and I'm like, yeah, itsounds great If I really want to
like immerse myself in a minute, but like I want to get to know
the people, I don't want tonecessarily be hanging out with
other tourists.
Probably the other big thing Ireally learned is there are
certain countries.
Doing tours is a smart idea,right?
Because Egypt is one like.
I don't think I'd want to tryto do that on my own.
Maybe the some of the placeslike in Colombia.
(28:15):
I think it's good to be withsome kind of organized, but you
know Mexico, anywhere in EuropeI think I would feel fine.
You know traveling alone and Ihave in the past.
You know, and I know enoughabout enough people now that you
know traveling alone and I havein the past.
You know, and I know enoughabout enough people now that you
know in Asia to know whichcountries that's good to do and
not good to do.
So and then also, I think kindof one of my big learnings is
(28:37):
knowing some, because sometimeswhen I travel like I try to like
go visit my mom, you know, orsomething, and go stay with her,
and then we end up goingvisiting all these relatives and
then I find out, you know, I'lljust work from there and I
can't because it just gets toobusy.
So just really, I think it'simportant to like know when it
makes sense to try to work whiletraveling.
And so, like Thailand and stuff, since the time difference is
(29:02):
so big, I kind of think when Igo to Thailand I just want to
take a month off of work or twomonths off of work and go there
and just really absorb it and,you know, maybe write some blogs
or something for the business,but not try to like have client
client meetings or anything.
Work at two in the morning,that doesn't sound very fun.
(29:22):
But you know, costa Rica orBelize like I've been to Belize
a couple times and I believethis, actually I saw like 350
around trip from denver injanuary, which is their prime
season, and you can like you canrent a place easy for two grand
a month down there.
So it's like huh, so like forunder three and food is insanely
(29:42):
cheap.
Down there the wi-fi is good.
They all speak english.
So for like a couple thousanddollars you can spend a month in
belize, versus spending fivethousand dollars on a you know
trip to iceland, for example.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, actually I just wrote that down.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm like that's where I'm gonna go for a month yeah,
it's very, but you know, itdepends what you want to do like
you want to.
And then there's islands orthere's, you know, the, the
inland area, there's jungle,like Belize has so much going on
.
Yeah, that sounds incredible.
You know, in Slovenia I'venever really been to, or I
haven't been to, and I've justheard so much about it.
But so do you have a new firstchoice then, kristen?
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Goodness Ecuador.
I thought was reallyinteresting, but now I'm like
Belize like actually.
I mean I was thinking NewZealand, australia, because of
Ian um and I was just reallyimpressed.
I mean Portugal, I was reallyimpressed, and also the big wave
.
I thought that was kind ofinteresting oh yeah, um, but uh,
I was trying to see Baja Mexicoand it's funny because my
(30:42):
sister has houses, uh propertiesin Todos Santos and when we did
, we've done, I think, two onBaja Mexico and I was just like,
wow, I didn't really thinkabout that area as much and it's
really close, by I mean thetime differences, you know.
So there's more, but it'sinteresting.
You say about going somewhereand just taking the time away
(31:04):
from work, which is kind of hard, I think.
You know we get programmed forwork and it's really tough to
like relax, which I'm lookingforward to on the trail next
week.
I was in Yosemite volunteeringthrough the Sierra Club for, you
know, seven days this year.
It was fun, but it was I got.
It was really cold, it snowedand it was beautiful.
I mean it melted the next daybut I was having trouble because
(31:28):
I was trying to work and thewifi was down because the snow
had taken it out, and so thatwas really troubling, trying to
like balance those things.
And so I think, thinking morein advance of where you're going
and what the wifi is and what'syour, what's your goal to go
and are you going to work andhow much percentage, like really
(31:49):
sort of thoughtfully think thatthrough a little bit more, I
think I would have done a better, I could have done a better job
.
I thought, oh, I'll just work,fine, but it worked so well.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, the wifi, yeah.
And then I mean like sometimesI want to be on like my private
VPN, and sometimes I'm at likeat my mom's, like for some
reason I can't get on the VPN orit just like breaks, and so
then I have to choose like whichInternet, or then just go
through my phone and then I canuse my hotspot, but sometimes
(32:21):
the hotspot, the cell phone, isnot in a good cell phone area,
so then you're relying on that.
Do I really want to be stressedabout this?
right, exactly, so I I like I'mkind of jealous of people that
are writers, because like youcan write, you know write on abm
wi-fi to write.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You just write all day long yeah, although it's
still hard because they havewriter's block or you know just
yeah, there's always alwaysgreener?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
yes, exactly, but it's good to appreciate then
also being having what we havetoo right and the flexibility
and uh, oh, yeah, yeah, I'mreally grateful for flexibility
and not having you know bosstell me you can't take the time
off, you can't work remote.
That's not a thing, so it'sgood.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I know exactly you need to look at starlink.
That's's one suggestion, andI'm I actually am highlighting
it right now to see if I want itfor my backpacking trip.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah, while we're here, audience like if you
have anything you'd like tohear from about us, we have this
new thing called fan mail and Isaw one come through, but it
was a test from Kristen.
It's just at the top of theshow notes.
It says text text the webcast.
So, yeah, feel free to do thatIf you have any.
It's a one way communication.
(33:31):
So if there's something youwant to talk about, let us know.
And if you want us to writeback, be sure to give us your
email address or give us yourphone number.
We will not know that otherwise.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, yeah, it came through andit didn't.
It showed like the last fourdigits and says you're from
California, but it didn't, like,didn't put your whole phone
number down.
So it keeps, keeps it private.
So, yeah, exactly, it can betotally anonymous if you share
(33:55):
something about letting us knowwho you are Exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I would say one episode that I was really
impressed that stood out wasAntarctica, with Kristen in the
wheelchair and being able to.
I think just it was soinspiring and wonderful to to
see and hear what she was ableto do.
That and Joe with the standuppaddleboard in England, those
two really, you know.
And then I asked to I think I'mgoing to launch Joe on my
(34:20):
podcast next week.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
So tell us about your other podcast.
What's the premise of that one?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, Curiosity with Kristen.
So it's more businesses andcareers and pivots and careers
and life and companies and whatthey're doing and CEOs to move
their people forward, andchallenges.
But exciting things too, andeven one I did with raising kids
, teen mental health, which is abig thing.
And then I've also done somesports ones.
(34:46):
I had a girlfriend of mine andthen someone else I just also
it's so cool One that didsynchronized swimming.
I think it was the same year in96.
And then one that was soccerand both of them got gold medals
, oh wow, and the synchronizedswimming got a perfect 10.
So my friend Heather and thenmy new friend, it was really
(35:09):
cool to get a chance to do those.
So I have lots of differenttopics, just very inspiring and
it just kind of honestly Istarted it just to help me as I
was creating my business andjust realize how much I get out
of it.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
So, as much as I love where next, so I to do this
podcast queen Kristen, I know Igot both of those going yeah,
exactly all right.
Well, um, thanks again forlistening and um, we will see
y'all soon yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Thanks for making our three years so memorable and
wonderful.
We couldn't do this without ourguests and our audience
listening, and of course, we'restill doing it, obviously
posting.
But we would love to hear ifyou can subscribe.
What is it?
Little little thumbs up or abell, whatever it is.
You may know more I'm horribleat that part, but I would love
(36:17):
to kind of look more at that andsponsors, if you're interested
and you have something that youwant a part of our show, we've
played around with that as well.
So we're very open and we're sofortunate and, Carol, you're so
awesome.
I love doing this and I'm soexcited that we've gotten a
chance to grow our friendship.
Um, you know, we had such a funtime when we lived together and
you know, now we get a chance toum hang out on a regular basis.
(36:40):
Yeah, right, yeah so and evengotten to go to stay with you in
boulder several times over thelast couple years and go hiking
in the evening, and you guyshave been so wonderful yeah,
next year, since I'll be emptynesting, I think I'll be
spending more time in californiaas well.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Go stay with my cousin for like a month or
something yeah, exactly, can'twait great.
Great Cool All right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Thank you so much, everyone.
Thanks, carol.
We'll see you next time, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
(37:34):
Thanks again, bye.
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