Solo Female Traveller Stuck in a South Sudan Airport

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Hi! I’m Tara, a Canadian traveller with a thirst for knowledge and connection. Welcome back to Season 2 of Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go, a fun and quirky show from Travel with TMc that delves into all things travel and adventures from the road, in the air, and in between here and there.

This week on Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go I chat with the hilarious and enthusiastic Heather from Nova Scotia, Canada. We talk about everything from growing up on the East Coast, with family road trips to Ottawa and DisneyWorld, to falling into international teaching and living on nearly every continent, to sketchy flight situations in South Sudan, and getting tattoo’d around the world. Heather had story after wild story to share on the podcast, along with a lot of really helpful travel tips. Enjoy!

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CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction to Heather 
07:57 First Trips & Childhood Experiences
12:54 Life as an International School Teacher
17:24 Passport Stamps
20:33 Getting Tattoos Overseas
25:09 Travel Traditions
27:56 Pandemic Effects on Travel: Third Party Booking Sites and Staycations
35:54 Missing Flights
42:19 Scary Travel Experiences: Were We Just Kidnapped?!
48:21 Solo Travel vs. Travel Companions
53:19 Falling in Love While Abroad
55:33 Language & Travel: Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, & Korean
01:06:54 Impact of Tech on Travel Style: 
01:11:08 Personal Impacts of Travel: Self-Sufficiency & Conversation Skills, 
01:13:51 Untried Types of Travel:  Cruise, All-Inclusive, Antarctica Excursion
01:16:09 Learning About Other Cultures While Living Abroad
01:19:53 General Travel Tips
01:20:50 Where is Home? Living vs. Travelling Abroad
01:21:51 How to Maintain Long-Distance Friendships
01:25:54 Weirdest Sleeping Spot: Chicamocha Canyon Hammocks & Treehouse in the Amazon
01:28:03 Necessary Travel Items
01:30:02 Safety Tips for Solo Female Travel
01:33:04 Best Airport for a Long Layover
01:33:26 How to Deal with Post-Trip Blues
01:33:42 Spotify Travel Playlist: Heather's Choice
01:34:51 Speed Round: Synchronicity and Welch's Grape Juice
02:02:34 Until Next Time!

© 2025-2026 Travel with TMc. All rights reserved

Transcript

Tara (00:06)
Hello, hello. Welcome to Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go. I'm your host Tara and the founder of the blog Travel with TMc which is where this whole adventure began over a decade ago. Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go is a fun and quirky show that delves into everything travel and adventure, whether from the road, in the air, or in between here and there. And if you listened to Season 1 of the podcast, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Make sure to subscribe to Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go wherever you listen, and please leave a 5-star review. It makes a huge difference in helping this show reach a wider audience. It takes next to no time. Like you could go do it right now and it's free. So thank you so much for your support of the show. In Season 2, my guests and I cover a wide range of travel topics. And it's my hope that you'll hear one or a few episodes that personally resonate with you.

and that others will pique your interest to make you go, ⁓ that's super cool. I think I want to try travelling that way. This week on Travelling Through Life: A Podcast on the Go, I chat with my friend Heather who's from Nova Scotia, Canada. When I tell you that Heather is one of the funniest people I know, I was literally rolling with laughter this whole conversation. And I'm pretty sure that you're going to be too, as you listen. She also has some of the wildest travel stories that I've ever heard. And it feels like every time that we talk,

she has a new one to add to the mix. We discuss everything from growing up on the East Coast of Canada with family road trips to Ottawa and Disney World, to how she fell into international teaching and has now lived on nearly every continent. We also get into some of the scary stories like sketchy flight situations in South Sudan and getting pulled aside for questioning in the US. We also talk about her opinions on falling in love while abroad,

how she was repatriated to Canada at the beginning of the pandemic and what it was like quarantining in those early days. And we talk about her tattoos, which she has from around the world, including a janky, technically illegal one that she got in Egypt and the inspiration behind the Toronto bathroom art for another one. This conversation, it's next level. It's why we're starting Season 2 with it. And yes, admittedly, it's a little bit longer.

but there was just too much good stuff. I couldn't cut anything out. So thanks for listening. I hope you enjoy and let's dive in.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (02:32)
Heather, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Welcome to Travelling Through Life! Yeah, I'm pumped. Season 2 we've got some awesome guests and Heather is definitely one of them. Heather and I, Heather and I met through our friend Chloe. God, how long ago was it? At least a decade? Yeah.

Heather (02:37)
I'm so excited to be here.

Yeah!

Must be like 15 years, at least,

no, it's more than a decade.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (02:59)
Not 15,

because Ireland was 2012, 2013, and that's where Chloe and I met. But it's between 10 and 15 years, we'll go. Yeah. We met a long time ago, and a year ago, I went to go visit Heather living in Bogotá.

Heather (03:06)
Okay, okay, yep, yep.

She, yeah, you texted me a week

before and we're like, ⁓ what do do it next week? Do you want to hang out? And yeah, a hundred percent. Come on. And we had actually only, we counted the amount of times that we had hung out in person before that. And I think it was 4 or 5 times in the times that we, yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (03:22)
And you were like, yeah, sounds great.

Yeah, I think you're correct.

We literally went through and found all of the pictures of the event that we had hung out. Always with our friend Chloe, never just the 2 of us. So this was a gamble on Heather's part to say yes. So kudos. But honestly, that was a blast. Yeah. ⁓

Heather (03:40)
All of the evidence.

Yeah. Yeah. And it was great. It felt like I known you for years and it felt

like it was easy. It wasn't like I was hosting this for person. was like, ⁓ my one of my best friends is here. It was great.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (03:58)
It was.

I agree,

I agree. We got to do it again soon. I most definitely will. I was just saying yesterday to another friend in the travel space that I'm dying to go see China because I feel like we know so little about it. I'm fascinated. Yeah. But why don't you, I know you, but the listeners don't know you. So why don't you tell us who you are, what you do.

Heather (04:09)
Yes, well you'll have to come to Shanghai.

And it's so different. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (04:32)
where you're calling in from today.

Heather (04:34)
Okay, I

do want to start by saying ⁓ I love the name of your podcast and whenever I think of the name it reminds me of the song from Wicked, Dancing Through Life. Dancing Through Life, so I always think Travelling Through Life! It's such a good, yeah, yeah, it's so good. So good.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (04:47)
⁓ my god

Oh my god, I love, okay, that

was another thing you and I figured out on the trip was how much we both love like, uh, choral music and Broadway. And I love that cause Wicked is one of my favourite musicals. Aw, thank you.

Heather (05:00)
Yeah. Yeah. It's so good. Okay. So yeah,

no problem. ⁓ So I'm Heather. ⁓ I am an international teacher. I've been living abroad in different countries teaching for about 10 years, but I also lived in Australia. I did my Masters in Australia.

I ⁓ worked as a bartender at Leeds United Football Stadium for a year in England. ⁓ I taught English in Korea. So I've lived in all the continents except for Antarctica. That is my last one. But unless I'm a scientist, I won't be able to live there. You're never too old. ⁓ So...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (05:43)
Please do. Please just change your career so that you can say that. I agree.

Heather (05:52)
I right now am teaching in Bogotá, Colombia. I've been here for 6 years. ⁓ I love it. I love it here. ⁓ And before that, I was teaching in Kuwait and Egypt before that. And then next year, I am moving to Shanghai. So I, it's very bittersweet. I feel like I've put down some roots here. I have, I've created a great family. ⁓

all my friends and I'm very excited for a new chapter but I'm very sad to leave at the same time. Which is normal.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (06:29)
Definitely and I'm I met your family your chosen family your friends there and they were lovely so I can see how that's gonna be hard to say see you later, too, but I'm sure you guys will cross paths again.

Heather (06:33)
Yeah.

I know. But the good thing is one of my

good friends here is also moving to Shanghai. So, yes, so she's going to a different school, but we're going to be, it's in the same area of the city. So we'll still see each other, which is great. And then a few other people from my school are going to Shanghai as well. So it's very, yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (06:42)
⁓ no way!

Amazing.

be amazing because then

you'll be able to like meet people from other schools too and not just them. Oh, this is great. Amazing. And where are you from originally?

Heather (07:02)
Yes.

Yeah, it's gonna be great.

Okay, I am from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I grew up in the same house all my life. My family ⁓ is mostly in Nova Scotia, some in other parts of Canada. And then my sister, my younger sister also lives in Halifax. So going from, I think that's probably what led me to travel was because I lived in the same place all my life and it was always

It was a really great place to grow up, but it was always the same and I've been sort of craving the new and unexplored parts of the world.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (07:48)
I'm with you on that too. I grew up and went to university in the same place. And after that, was like, peace! What else do we have out there? Yeah. Did you guys travel as a family? Like where did the travel bug come from? What did that look like?

Heather (07:53)
Bye. Yeah.

Well, so when I was growing up, we went to Florida a lot. We went to Disney World. My grandparents had a timeshare there. So for March Break, we would go there. We did a few trips. My grandparents lived in Ottawa. So we went there. One time, my mom bought us tickets to take the train.

And so I was really young and my sister was young and we got like the sleeper pod beds, I guess. And we took the train up. It was super cool. And then we did a trip out west to visit my cousins, I think only once and then drove down to Montana, which is really cool. It's beautiful. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (08:47)
Everybody's been talking about Montana lately. That literally just came up yesterday too.

Have you heard the whole men-tana thing? Is that what people say? There's just men there? Okay, side note, continue.

Heather (08:57)
I have not heard that. Maybe I need to go again. ⁓ And then

as a kid, we did a road trip on Route 66 from Arizona to California. So that was really interesting. And then my grandma, she used to travel a lot. She's from England and she had a job.

that she would travel for in the late 40s, I guess. And so her, and then when she married my grandpa, they travelled a lot all over the world. They didn't make it to Asia though. They didn't make it to Africa. I can't remember. No, they didn't make it. I don't know where they didn't make it to. They made it to most of the world. And so they travelled a lot. And then my mom went back 

packing across Europe when she graduated. didn't, when, around the time that she would have graduated university, she ⁓ went backpacking. And so I think it's always sort of been in my blood. And I think I, I saw my grandparents doing it when they were older and I,

knew I wanted to travel, but I didn't want to wait for retirement. I wanted to be able to do all of the activities ⁓ when I was young and I could do it. And I wanted to be able to stay in hostels and meet people and do that sort of thing. It never really made sense to me to wait for retirement. ⁓ Because it's a way different travel experience then.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (10:42)
We are twins.

Yeah, okay. I didn't even realize maybe that your grandma had travelled that much. She sounds like a phenomenal woman. Happy.

Heather (10:53)
She has some wild

stories. She also was in London during the Blitz. They lived just ⁓ south of London, ⁓ but she did some crazy stuff. She was a code breaker at Bletchley Park. ⁓ Yeah, she has some really interesting stories. ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (11:00)
Whoa.

Maybe we need to have her on the pod too.

Heather (11:20)
Well,

she's turning 101 very soon. Yeah. She has some wild stories from the war times. Yeah, for sure.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (11:23)
No, she's not. you kidding me? Wow, we should definitely have her on the podcast.

Wow, my gosh. Okay, so you've had a life full of travel and amazing experiences thus far. Do you have a standout memory from your childhood?

Heather (11:46)
I'm travelling. I think the train really was really cool. ⁓ Taking the train across from Nova Scotia to Ottawa. I really liked that.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (11:48)
Yeah

Heather (11:58)
We went to Disney World really often. So I think the last time we went, think I was about 15. And my sister and I were allowed to go around the parks ourselves. So that felt really, really cool. I also, our road trip through the States was also really cool. We ended up meeting up with some of my parents' friends and my friends as well.

⁓ Who had just happened to plan a very similar trip at the same time and so we travelled for them for a bit Which was really really cool. We only really travelled in North America, so I think it would have been really cool if we could have travelled internationally when I was a kid, but the Florida stuff was really cool. We would always come back to school with a big tan and always felt like the

Hot shots.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (12:49)
Yeah, for sure. Amazing. And talk to us about teaching a little bit. Did you know when you got into the education world that you would literally want to go into the world with it? Was that part of your career choice or?

Heather (13:05)
No.

⁓ My dad blames himself for this. So I kind of, I fell into this. And a lot of international teachers will tell you the same thing. Like they didn't know it was a thing and they just kind of fell into this. So I did my teaching degree and then I didn't want to be a teacher right then. So I did another degree in Autism and Behavioral Science. I did that for a bit.

I did my Masters in Australia and when I came back I couldn't find a full-time job. I couldn't find a teaching job. They were just so hard to find at that time as you know. ⁓ And then I was working 5 part-time jobs. I was working every day. I was working at least 2 jobs a day. It was too much. And my dad was helping me trying to search for jobs because I just didn't have time. And he found

a job fair for international schools and it was no it was downtown Toronto ⁓ and so I didn't know it was a job fair so I had emailed and set up an interview and I never got a confirmation so I wasn't gonna go and about a half an hour before the interview time I got a confirmation I'm

Tara (Travel With TMc) (14:05)
At Queens?

⁓

Heather (14:27)
laying in my bed in my pajamas and I'm like, ⁓ no, it's going to take a half an hour to get there. So I get ready and I go and I got all this information about different schools and I didn't really think anything would come of it. And then I got an interview for school in Egypt and even then I didn't know it was a career. So I went to Egypt and I thought it was more you teach English in Korea for a year or 2 and then you go back and that's

Tara (Travel With TMc) (14:34)
god.

Heather (14:57)
That's what I thought it was, but I met people who had been doing this for years and they had kids and their kids were then going to the school and growing up in this environment. it was a way different thing than I expected. And so ⁓ after ⁓ my one year in Egypt, I went to Kuwait and ⁓ then I realized it's a great...

opportunity to travel at the same time. I find living in Canada, really hard to travel. It's really expensive, ⁓ at least when I was trying to do it a long time ago. So living abroad this way and doing the travels a lot cheaper and being a teacher, you have a lot of breaks. So even on a long weekend, you can still go someplace, which is nice. When I lived in Kuwait, Kuwait was a really tough place to live in.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (15:33)
Yep.

Heather (15:54)
And so my friends and I, we would travel internationally most weekends, just for like a normal 2 day weekend. So we were spending a lot of money and having a lot of fun and we were exhausted all the time, but it was great.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (16:09)
I want to know

how many passports do you have? Like they must fill out quickly for you.

Heather (16:14)
Yeah, in, when I was in Egypt and Kuwait, I had to get one. I think I had to get 2 new ones in 3 years because I was just, ⁓ filling them up really fast. in Canada, you can't get extra pages put in your passport. You can only get like the 5 year or the 10 year. So yeah, you get the same amount of pages. And then some countries will put their,

Tara (Travel With TMc) (16:26)
Whoa.

Heather (16:44)
stamp right in the middle of the page. And so you can't stamp around it. And in Egypt, ⁓ kind of illegal, but we were only on tourist visas, not on work ones. And so you pay for a... Yeah. It was sketchy. ⁓ And so the visa that you got is like about this big. And so it takes up more than half of... ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (16:46)
Yeah.

What? For the year?

HUUUU

Heather (17:13)
Passport page and you would get one every time you left the country and came back in. So I pretty much have a passport of just those, which is insane.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (17:22)
my god. Do

you have a favourite passport stamp? Are you somebody who likes checking those out? Yeah.

Heather (17:28)
I do like the passport stamps. used to be

really, ⁓ I used to try and hold my passport open so that they would stamp on the place that I wanted them to, but sometimes they did not take that hint nicely and they stamped on a random page, which I did not like. I don't like when they stamp over each other. Now I find they're better at that. But ⁓ all the ones in the Middle East, they have,

Tara (Travel With TMc) (17:46)
Yeah.

Heather (17:59)
⁓ these beautiful sort of I don't even know how to describe it it it's similar to like

It's like swirly, decorative.

stamps and so they have this beautiful sort of stamp and then they have the information in the middle. So those I really like. ⁓ I do, a lot of countries in Africa do like a full page visa which is nice and I do like it but it takes up a whole page in your passport rather than just a stamp. But now I've noticed in South America at least

Tara (Travel With TMc) (18:21)
It's like art.

Heather (18:41)
They don't, they're doing everything automatically so they don't stamp when you enter or leave a country. And so I'm so sad. So I just went to Peru a few weeks ago and there's no stamp saying that I entered or left the country, which I find is super weird. Yeah, I'm super sad.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (18:56)
I hate that. I

hear you on that one. I went to Australia for the first time. went through customs, yada yada, and was just about to leave that area. And I was like, wait, I didn't get a stamp. And I turned to my ex (then partner), who I was travelling with, and I was like, did you get a stamp? And he's like, no, it's probably electronic.

Heather (19:13)
Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (19:17)
And so I went over to one of the security and I was like, excuse me, I didn't get a stamp. Where can I get a stamp? Yeah. And they were like, ⁓ we don't really do that. But if you want to go back through, you can ask. So I literally made my ex wait, went back through security, stood in line, went back through, and I was like, can I please have a stamp? And I got it.

Heather (19:20)
Can I have a stamp? Please?

don't know what.

That's good. Were they weird about you going

back in there like you were just here?

Tara (Travel With TMc) (19:40)
Yeah, they were a little confused, but I was like, this is the best souvenir. Yeah, I. Yeah. I don't know about you, but did you have the Carmen San Diego like ⁓ computer game growing up? ⁓ Did you?

Heather (19:43)
This is important. This is why I love to have all my whole passports full of stamps.

I'm going to be real real with you. I did, but

it wouldn't work. It wouldn't load correctly or something. And so it couldn't actually play it. So every time I would try to play it, you would put the floppy disk in and it just wouldn't, there was like the homepage and then it wouldn't let you do anything.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (20:04)
Yeah, it wasn't good.

Yeah

Yeah, it was a little janky, but I think that's why I like passport stamps so much, is because of that game.

Heather (20:20)
Yeah, very.

because of that. That makes sense. It's nice to collect

them. It's a great souvenir. And it's something you can keep forever. Actually, ⁓ a girl I met travelling years ago, ⁓ she is from Canada, actually. ⁓ She had a tattoo of her passport stamp. So it wasn't exact, but she had brought her passport and was like, this is the sort of thing that I want.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (20:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Heather (20:53)
And so it wasn't, it didn't have the exact ones that she had in her passport, but it was the essence of it. And it was so cool. And she was like, but you have to promise me that you will not do this. And I was, I've been very tempted, but I have not. have. Yeah, I do. I have 5. Yeah. I got one in Egypt, actually in Egypt, it's illegal to get them because you're harming God's gift, which is your.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (21:08)
forget. Do you have tattoos? You do. You have several. Yeah.

Okay.

Heather (21:24)
body so I got it done and ⁓ it was not done well. Actually the guy who did it, he was a guest artist and I guess they cancelled his, it's not an internship, I don't know what it's called but they cancelled it because apparently it wasn't great. ⁓ So I had to go back to the same company to get it done again and then I had to get it done a third time in And actually this place in

Tara (Travel With TMc) (21:44)
⁓

Heather (21:54)
Egypt was like, they wouldn't give you the address. They would say, okay, meet me on a corner here, because it was illegal. So they didn't want the cops to find them. so my friend and I went and we met them on a street corner and then they brought us back to their studio. That was a bit of a wild time.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (22:03)
about it.

Amazing.

What did you get for that tattoo?

Heather (22:15)
⁓ I got this like follow your heart. ⁓ So the lettering and the heart part, not the colours, ⁓ is graffiti from the bathroom of a bar in Toronto that I used to love. So I took up. ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (22:19)
aww

Which one?

Heather (22:33)
It was called Parks and Rec, I think. was on, it was, no, the same name, yes, but not, this was before the show. ⁓ It was Queen West and Roncy, I think. ⁓ it, was it Parks and Rec? No, there were 2 bars with a similar name. was something and something. ⁓ I can't remember. ⁓ And, ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (22:39)
Like the show?

Okay.

Heather (23:03)
So my friend and I used to go there often and I took a picture of the graffiti and ⁓ he printed it off and then made a stencil. And then the colours, ⁓ I told him I wanted an explosion of colour and that's exactly what he did.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (23:12)
you

this that might be the best tattoo story I've heard. Amazing. There's a million off shoots of that. Do you get do you get a tattoo in each place that you've lived?

Heather (23:25)
For real, for real.

I know. I know.

No. No, I... No, most of them are from Canada and then I got one in Australia. got, my friend and I got the same one. So ⁓ it's, well, what I like to say is what do you think it is? And then I get guesses. ⁓ So it's the sun, surf and sand. But when I...

got it and I went home to my housemate and she said, why did you get a hamburger? yeah, and so now I get people to guess what they think it is. And I have had some great things. So they think it could be a fireplace. could be a phone with the cord on a table. It could be a phone on the wall. It can be a fishbowl. It can be a hamburger. What are some other things I've gotten?

Tara (Travel With TMc) (24:12)
I knew that was coming. ⁓

Heather (24:37)
I've gotten some great things and I'm like, yeah, it definitely looks exactly like that. So my friend and I got the same one. She got it in a different place. And then I'm going to get one of a hummingbird. ⁓ Colombia is known for hummingbirds. So I'm going to get one of those before I leave here in a few weeks. Yeah. So I'm very.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (24:53)
Yeah.

That's so special. Very cool. You'll have

to send us a picture when it's done.

Heather (25:03)
Yes, I will.

I don't know where it's going to be at, but yes, I definitely will. I'm very excited. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (25:07)
Very cool.

man, so is getting tattoos one of your like travel, well, I know you've said you've gotten a bunch in Canada, but would you say you have travel traditions maybe if that's not quite it? Or is there anything, or before you move somewhere since you do a lot of living in other places?

Heather (25:19)
⁓

I don't do any research for the places that I live. I've done, my sister, yeah, my sister is always like, how did you not know this? And I'm like, don't, why? I'm gonna move there, so why do I need to look up information before I go? I've actually done a lot of research for Shanghai though. But when I travel, when I travelled Africa, I started a collection of animal figurines.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (25:29)
You and me both!

you

Heather (25:51)
So a lot of them, ⁓ the first one I got was in Egypt and it's a camel. And then, so I've gotten animals that sort of represent the country. And then I moved on to fridge magnets. So I get a lot of those. And now in South America, the textiles here are just gorgeous. So I've gotten a lot of ⁓ blankets. I've gotten a lot of tablecloths, a lot of...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (26:01)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Heather (26:20)
I got one carpet from Peru. I really sort of collect those textile things. My friend, Natalie, she has so many from each place and her apartment is colourful and mismatched with all these, this art and the textiles. that is what I want my apartment to be. And actually I do collect art as well.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (26:43)
It is what your apartment is. It is like the brightest, most happy,

cheerful place I've ever been in. It's full of- your place is full of art and colour.

Heather (26:53)
It is, yes, yes. My friends is more so though. But yeah, I collect art as well. ⁓ Art from local artists from the places that I go to or my own art or my friend is also an artist so she's made me some, well one really nice thing that I'm gonna take with me. And then a lot of my stuff is Colombian ⁓ art or my friends are photographers so they'll take pictures and then

Tara (Travel With TMc) (27:15)
amazing.

Heather (27:22)
put them on a card for birthdays and stuff. So I've saved those as well. So I have a lot of, a lot of really cool art that I'm gonna take. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (27:27)
⁓ beautiful.

Awesome, awesome.

I was pointing at those ones back there because those are the ones I got with you in Colombia. And behind me, I have all my little knickknacks from my travels. This is the door from the market. Do remember? Yeah. Yeah. They are. Yeah, yeah. Very cool. Nice.

Heather (27:36)
⁓ yeah!

The doors! Yeah, from Usa Ken! Those are beautiful. I have a lot of friends that collect those. Yeah, they're super nice.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (27:56)
Curious to know, because you've been gone for a decade, how did the pandemic affect your living abroad slash travel lifestyle? Like, what was the impact of that?

Heather (28:06)
The thing that I've learned from that is to not book flights through a third party website. It's easier to book them through the airline. My family and I booked a trip to Peru and we had to cancel and so then going through that whole cancellation process was insane because we had booked through a

third party website, so that is the biggest takeaway from that. I also realized the importance and joy that comes from a staycation. So usually in this life, I try and travel as much as possible, but in the staycation, or in the pandemic, I found hobbies. I started to paint.

bought a lot of more plants and I started to propagate them. I really, I found some passions in the house. So I think that that was a really important takeaway for me. Here, the restrictions were really strict. The restrictions were strict. We couldn't leave our apartment unless you had a kid or a pet.

we couldn't leave our apartments, not to get groceries, not to just have some time outside. We were not allowed to leave our apartments. So that was really tough. So I think ⁓ I really enjoyed having a good view. My apartment had a great view so I could open the windows. I didn't have a balcony so that kind of, that sucked, but I was able to open the windows.

and I found hobbies and ⁓ I really just tried to like an in, tried to change to an inside life. ⁓ But pretty soon into the pandemic though, I went back to Nova Scotia. I got on one of the embassy freedom flights that the embassy organized. And it was wild to go to the airport because the airport was closed. ⁓ And so it was only our flight.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (30:23)
Right.

Heather (30:27)
And so I got a taxi to drop me off, but there were buses that had picked people up from all over the country to drive to the airport. And we got there and nothing was open. And there were people from the embassy who had organized the flight and they were on megaphones like telling us.

like where to go and giving us like at one point there was like a ⁓ speech that one of them gave and it was so surreal it felt very like doomsday-ish to be in the airport at that time and then I went from here to Toronto and then Toronto to Halifax.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (31:18)
yeah, you had the quarantine and all

that, right?

Heather (31:21)
The next year I did. I was able to go, well, yes, I was able to go straight to Halifax and then I had to quarantine for 2 weeks. So luckily my sister and my parents live there, but separately. So my sister was able to live with my parents so I could quarantine in her apartment and then they would drop off groceries to me, which was, I wouldn't have been able to go home if that wasn't the case. It would have been too expensive.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (31:23)
Okay.

Heather (31:50)
⁓ And then the next year I went home for the summer, but I had to quarantine in Toronto for 3 days in a hotel and then I got to Halifax and I had to quarantine for another 2 weeks. So that was also crazy. So that was the same thing. I stayed at my sister's place and they dropped me groceries when they could. So the pandemic was really crazy. It really

made me appreciate my family and we all were safe and none of us got COVID. And so I wasn't super affected by the hospitalizations and that stressful part. So I was very lucky in that way and that my family was able to reconfigure their living so that I could be there as well. So that was really, I was really appreciative of.

that opportunity.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (32:48)
What a wild time. What would you do during quarantine? How did you keep yourself occupied in the hotel or in your sister's place?

Heather (32:51)
I'm sorry.

⁓

when I was in the hotel, I took a lot of naps.

⁓ and I played games on my phone. read, I...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (33:02)
You

Heather (33:11)
illegally, got my friends, you were allowed outside if you had a pet and you could take like a 15 minute walk around the parking lot. So I got all my friends to drive up and meet me in the parking lot so they would stay in their car and then I would stay on the sidewalk so I could see them. So Chloe came, my friend Britt came, my friend Ashley came.

and they all just came in their cars and then I talked to them through the open window. So that was nice. And then at my sister's place, one of the times I was still teaching online, so I was working. And then another time, think I... What did we do? I think I drank a lot.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (34:04)
You

Heather (34:05)
⁓ and then I think I tried to exercise. ⁓ she has a piano. So I downloaded a teach yourself how to play piano, like app. Like I used to play when I was younger. So I taught myself again, how to play piano. My guitar was there. So I played guitar. so I tried to stay busy with like the hobbies. I crocheted a bit. think I brought that stuff home so I could crochet. ⁓ and then I

Tara (Travel With TMc) (34:15)
Yeah.

Yeah, I can't

see you being a person who does nothing. You're very much like into digging into things and learning about things and doing things and experimenting.

Heather (34:37)
I do like to do

that, but I am ⁓ a doin' nothing person as well. Like I soak up that life, in my, as I've grown older, I can't do that for long. I can do that for a day and then I need to do stuff. I need to see people, I need to be in the world. So ⁓ yeah, I started to do a lot of hobbies in, I started to bake as well. I'm a baker now.

Shocker!

Tara (Travel With TMc) (35:07)
You hopped on that

screen. yeah, when I was in Colombia, you were telling me about all the treats that you were making people. Is that because of your pandemic? ⁓ Yeah, okay.

Heather (35:12)
Mm-hmm. Yep, yep.

So I started to bake, ⁓ actually, Jennifer Garner posted on her Instagram a cornbread recipe. And I was like, ⁓ that looks good and super easy. And I made that and then I was like, ⁓ I'm a baker now. ⁓ I know. ⁓ And so now I bake the birthday cakes for all my friends. ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (35:31)
Shout out to Jennifer Garner.

Heather (35:42)
I bake, yeah, I bake a lot. I have, and I started to cook as well. I used to just order food and now I can cook and I can bake. So I'm very self-sufficient.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (35:54)
I love it. Changing tracks completely. You have travelled, like we've said, a ton. Have you ever missed a flight or been close to missing a flight?

Heather (36:01)
Fantastic.

Oh yeah. Okay, the first time I travelled on a flight, it can't have been the first time. I used to work at a camp in the States and I was taken to that side room for questioning. I don't know why, maybe it because I was young. And they questioned me about

⁓ it's because the year... It's because you used to get a visa and they used to staple it into your passport and then when you left the country you had to take it out and give it to them but I didn't know that. thought if they needed it they would take it. So I went in the next year and I still had this and they thought that I had been in the country the whole time so they questioned me, blah blah blah. So I missed my next flight and that was the first time I had ever been like in an airport by myself. My friends got on the flight and then...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (37:00)
no.

Heather (37:01)
I don't even think I knew how to read a boarding pass because I'd always been with somebody who knew. And so I asked this like stranger, I was like, where's my gate? Like, how do I know? So I had missed my flight then and I had wait for the next one and I was panicking. But my friends, thankfully, they waited for me in the airport.

when I, so they were there when I got there. ⁓ And so that was my first experience with that. I have missed like layovers. I've got my bags lost. ⁓ I like, I've, I've travelled a lot. I also had this crazy experience. I was, I had been on a safari with my family in Kenya and this is when I lived in Egypt. So I had to, they were staying for a few more days.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (37:42)
⁓ no.

Heather (38:00)
and I had to leave to go back to work. So I had a flight on, it was a Saturday night, because in Egypt we worked Sunday to Thursday, and I was gonna go from the airport straight to work. And so I have a layover in this airport cord that I don't know. And so I was going into the airport in Kenya and I was like, do you know where this airport is? And he said, you'll find out. And I was like, that is a weird response to that question. ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (38:29)
You're gone.

Heather (38:30)
So

I land in South Sudan. And yep.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (38:36)
What? ⁓ yes, you did tell me this.

Keep going. This is wild.

Heather (38:41)
So I land and it's where you get off the plane and get onto a bus and go to the building and usually when you get there, there's a sign that says connecting flights and there wasn't. And everybody was waiting and going through immigration and I was like...

But I'm not going to do that because then I would be like out of the airport, like I'm not leaving the airport in South Sudan as a white woman.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (39:17)
travelling by herself.

Heather (39:18)
Travelling

by myself and I kind of went back and forth I was like, what do I do? What do I do? And I was like, maybe if I go through then they'll be signs. But no like I could see like the baggage claim and so was like this is no so I asked somebody and they don't speak English I'm pretty sure they were speaking Arabic and So I was like I have a connecting flight. I showed her the boarding pass she was like ⁓ a connecting flight and she looked at me as if she had never heard of a connecting flight before in her life and so

I was like, I can't be the only one that this has ever happened to. So she takes my passport, she photocopies every page, because she brought back my passport with all the pages. And then, yeah, so I'm freaking out. And then she takes me back to where the buses are and where the planes are. And we get on a bus. It's her, me, and a man with a machine gun. And she won't give me back my passport.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (40:02)
my.

Heather (40:17)
And I'm like, this is it, I'm getting kidnapped, this is it.

And so they take me to another gate ⁓ and then I have to go through the airport backwards. we get to... And this airport is also set up, most of the ones in the Middle East that I've experienced, you don't go through security to get into where all the gates are. You go through the metal detector right before you get on the plane. So I get out of this bus and I have to...

put my things through the security thing and we go through the airport backwards and we get to this desk and he's like, she needs a transit visa, go talk to this guy. And we go talk to that guy and he's like, she doesn't need a visa, go back here. And we did that a few times. And so then it turns out we were fine with it and I didn't get one. so I had to go all the way back to the front of the airport to check in again. And so I think what happened

to begin with is I needed to leave and buy a tourist visa to then go back into the airport, but there weren't any signs that said that. Like, how was I supposed to know? So I checked back in and I go through again and then we got to the desk again and he's like, you do need a visa. You don't need a visa. You do need a visa. You don't need a visa. Don't need a visa. So then I get back to the boarding gate and I board just in time. Just like I made it just in time.

and I had had like 3 hours of a layover. So this whole process took 3 hours and I'm freaking out because if I miss this flight, I have to call in sick for work, but there's no wifi at this airport and I don't have data. So I don't know what I'm gonna do. So then I get on the flight and I was able to go straight to work and I had to change of clothes at work. So that was wild.

⁓ But it wasn't the only time I thought I was getting kidnapped. was in... Remember I told you? Okay, so I was in Egypt and my friend and I, it was when we first got there. This is wild too. So, ⁓ my friend was the best traveller that I knew. I had never travelled this way before. She was the type of traveller to...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (42:23)
What?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Tell this story.

Heather (42:47)
kind of book a flight and not have a place to stay or have a place to stay for the first night and then figure it out. She was great at that and I had never travelled like that before. ⁓ So we had booked a flight, we had ⁓ a week off, we had booked a flight ⁓ to go scuba diving in Egypt as well. ⁓ they somehow, she had booked the flights and somehow the

our flights were booked but not confirmed or something and so we weren't on the flight. And this was a holiday week for everybody in the country so there were no flights for another 3 days. So we were gonna miss our course so we decided to take a taxi to the bus station and she has done all this stuff before. I've never done any of this bus stuff. ⁓ We get to the bus stop but it was the type of bus that doesn't ⁓ leave until it's full.

And so we were like, well, it's already like 7 p.m. We don't really know. Like, we don't know. So we asked the taxi if he would drive us and he said yes. So we're like, great. It will take just as much cash as we have in our wallet. We'll just have to find a bank machine when we get there. Amazing. So he starts to drive and we've been driving for like 2 hours, I think. We were...

just going under the Suez Canal. We were going through the tunnel and ⁓ we were just on the other side of it. I don't remember. And so it's night at this point and he pulls over on the side of the road and we're like, what's happening? And he doesn't speak any English. We don't speak any Arabic. I don't know how we had organized this drive. And it looks like...

He gets out and he flags down a van. And my friend and I are like, like, what do we do? Do we get in this van with a stranger or ⁓ do we stay on the side of an Egyptian highway at night? Like, what do we do? And so we're like, we get in the van. And, right? It seemed like the better of the 2 options. So we get in this van and her and I are both like, okay, we are getting kidnapped.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (45:04)
What else?

Heather (45:13)
How can we mentally prepare for this? And so this guy drives and then he stops off, he takes an exit ramp and he stops. And I vividly remember we're in the middle of the road and he's parked the car. My friend is like, what are you doing? Why are you here? What are we doing? And he spoke a little bit of English and he was like, I'm waiting for my friend. And we're both like, okay, this is it. We are getting kidnapped now. His friend comes.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (45:35)
⁓

Heather (45:44)
and they're driving and in Egypt, the Mount Sinai or the Sinai Desert isn't super safe to drive in like by yourself. So there's checkpoints and then you have to wait for other cars to drive together. So we were at these different checkpoints. We get to one and one of the guys changes the SIM card out of his phone. And I was like, okay, now it's happening. Now is the time.

But then at this point it's like 3 o'clock in the morning and I'm tired. Like I've tried to stay vigilant this whole time, but I'm like, okay, really? If I'm getting kidnapped, I need to like nap first. Like I need to be at my best for whatever's happening. So I take a nap and I wake up and we're there.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (46:37)
you

Heather (46:38)
Such a relief,

but it was still dark. And we didn't know where the hotel was. And it's this type of place where there's, ⁓ beachfront places are like super nice. And it's like stores and restaurants and hotels. And then everything back is like dirt roads and there's chickens and there's stray dogs. So we're just driving around these like back roads. And my friend and I had woken up and we're both like, and the guy was like, where is your place? And we're like,

Well, we don't know, but we don't think it's a place with like these chickens and these stray dogs. But he, ⁓ I don't know, somehow we found it and he dropped us off and we lived to tell the tale. It was wild. And we, so our course, our scuba diving course was starting in the morning. So I think we arrived at, I don't know, maybe like 5 in the morning and our course started at like 7.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (47:37)
Good thing you got that nap in.

Heather (47:38)
But I don't even know how

we would have been led into the hotel because it was still dark. I don't know. But we arrived. It was wild. And my friend and I, that friend, I haven't talked to her in a while actually. She was such a good traveller. She was so good at figuring things out. And I had never travelled that way before. Now I'm fine with that.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (47:49)
And now you can scuba dive.

Heather (48:05)
She was so good at that and ⁓ we travelled a lot after that for that year in Egypt. We did some great trips and she was always the one to be like, okay, let's go here, let's go here. And she was, yeah, she was great to travel with.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (48:21)
That is so nice to have a travel buddy that either can introduce you to a different way of travelling or a different way of working things out or that matches your travel style. Yeah. Do you have many people that are like that or do you prefer to travel alone or what is your or does it depend on the trip?

Heather (48:26)
Yeah.

Yes, yes.

⁓

I travel by myself quite often. ⁓ Usually I'll get it in my mind and sort of mentally plan it out for me travelling myself and then I'll invite friends and if they can't go then I'll do it myself. ⁓ But I do have a few friends that I travel really well with. ⁓ And actually my mom and I travel well. We've done a few trips together. So her and I like to

have a very busy day and then we go to bed at like 8. Like it's amazing. But the friends, ⁓ the friends who I've travelled with are also great. Like I don't love to hike, but I find myself on hiking trips often. And so I like going on those sorts of trips with people who know that I don't like to hike.

and are okay with either not doing the hard hikes or going really slowly. I travelled with a friend to a place called Caño Cristales in Colombia. We did this trip ⁓ last year and it has a big hike one day. And the guy who had, we have a friend who's like, he has a travel company. So he booked this trip for us and he came with us because he hadn't

He hadn't booked this trip before, so he wanted to kind of see. And so he went with us on the first day of the hike and it was hot and it was, it wasn't hard, it was flat, but it was just so hot. And on the way back, it's a loop and on the way back you stop at all these different like pools, natural pools to swim in. And that was my favourite part. I loved it so much.

And so he had said to us at the end of the day, he's like, so I noticed that you guys like don't love the walking part of the hike. You like the swimming part of the hike. And I was like, a hundred percent. I am a water baby. I want to be in and around the water. ⁓ And so the next day he, he, he changed the whole next day so that we could, we hiked a small hike to get to this like beautiful, ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (50:42)
you

Yes. Yes.

Heather (51:01)
natural waterfall with a pool and there were these like beautiful trees all around and ⁓ these blue butterflies in Colombia. They have these gorgeous like electric blue butterflies. And so they were there like it was just a magical day. So it's also nice when you have a friend who can adapt to what you both want to do as well and not like stick with the direct plan.

yeah, I think I just, I choose travel partners because I'm friends with them and I know kind of how they are. ⁓ but I've also travelled when I was in Australia, I, I did this like road trip with this girl that I knew through friends and we didn't really know each other. And I just, we just didn't get along and we had rented this like

Tara (Travel With TMc) (51:54)
⁓ no.

Heather (51:56)
camper van type thing. And so we were just together.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (52:02)
All the time. In a tiny space.

Heather (52:02)
All the time.

for 3 weeks.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (52:08)
For 3 weeks? ⁓ god.

Heather (52:09)
Yeah, we did the road

trip for 3 weeks. So that was really, really challenging. It was ultimately a great trip, but we didn't know each other super well before. And I just, I don't think we were good travel companions. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (52:28)
That can

go either way, Like, I've travelled with friends who I was good friends with, who I will never travel with again. And I've also had positive experiences with friends that I know well. And then I've had the opposite, where I've travelled with complete strangers and it's been a freaking blast. yeah, for sure. Like, yeah, it's interesting how that works out.

Heather (52:40)
Mm-hmm.

and it's been great.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (52:52)
Another thing that you and I have in common is travelling with our moms. I love travelling with my mom. We've done it a ton. Yeah.

Heather (52:55)
⁓

My mom and I only really started to do it since I've lived in South America. So last year we went to the Galapagos and then this year we went to Peru. it's, yeah, we have super similar travel habits, I guess. Yeah, so it's easy.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (53:05)
Okay. Yes.

Yeah, yeah, that helps.

Yeah, have you ever fallen in love on a trip or while living abroad?

Heather (53:25)
⁓ I have fallen in lust. I, not so much as I've gotten older, but when I was younger and travelling, ⁓ or even when I started this international teaching journey, ⁓ I would meet people and it would feel like this magical connection and

Tara (Travel With TMc) (53:28)
Hahaha!

Heather (53:46)
then obviously like it wasn't, it was like a travelling thing. But at the time I was like, my God, it's the love of my life and whatever. And they love to travel too. ⁓ very naïve. But now as I'm older, really, if I'm travelling by myself, I really prefer it to be a me trip.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (53:51)
Yeah.

Yeah!

Yeah. ⁓

Hmm.

Heather (54:15)
Being able

to like spend the time with myself. ⁓ I really like that. And if I'm travelling with friends, I really just prefer it to be in the moment with the people that I'm there with. ⁓ Yeah, find, yeah, as I've gotten older, I've been less ⁓ like have fairy tale ⁓ expectations from meeting people when travelling.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (54:28)
Yeah, yeah.

Right,

right, right.

Heather (54:44)
And you're only

with them for such a short time and it's always such a unique situation that you're in, like the travelling, the doing, like you're busy and ⁓ you're not sleeping as much because you're like, it's just such a unique ⁓ experience. I find, but I do know people who've met people while travelling and they're married.

it's worked out for them, which is great, but I really, yeah, I prefer to have it ⁓ to be in the moment rather than seeking out other opportunities. I love to talk to people and meet friends and all that stuff, but I really, don't prefer the trying to meet romantic people that way.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (55:23)
Yes. Yeah.

Right. Yeah, ⁓ Okay. You have lived in Colombia for, what is it, 4 years now? Five? Six? my God. Okay. So when I was there, you were speaking some Spanish. I'd love to chat a little bit about... Podemos hablar en español si quieres!

Heather (55:39)
Six, 6.

You see? Claro! Claro, que si.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (55:57)
Did you know Spanish before you left? And did your French growing up help at all? And what's your experience with languages other than English?

Heather (56:08)
So, I didn't know any Spanish before I moved here. My school offered English lessons for free for the first year that you're here, so I found that super helpful. Oh, Spanish, sorry. So, I took the free Spanish lessons and then I had a tutor for 3 years. And then I kind of plateaued and I was like, I don't really, I feel like...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (56:18)
English or Spanish? ⁓

So amazing.

Heather (56:37)
What I know is fine. It's getting me by. I don't need to be fluent. ⁓ I don't need to know all the tenses perfectly. Because those are a lot and confusing. ⁓ So I... And my school, I teach all in English. The school is all in English. So I ⁓ don't have a whole lot of time to practice. ⁓ So it's just in the community. Which is...

Fine, the amount of Spanish I know there is fine. And French growing up has helped a lot, actually. In French, I really only learned foods, like how to read a menu and how to answer the phone. I feel like that's a very typical Canadian French experience. ⁓ Yes. So, but as I was learning Spanish, I found...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (57:21)
and how to introduce yourself as a pineapple.

Heather (57:33)
As I was speaking Spanish, if I didn't know the word in Spanish, somehow my brain has remembered the word in French. And so I would just say it and then usually it's similar enough that people will know what I'm saying or it will help me figure out what the Spanish word is. So I have no French grammar. I just have French vocabulary. So it's helped a lot. And I think my favourite saying in Spanish is qué pena.

It's like sorry, but not like, my gosh, I'm so sorry. It's more like, I bumped into you, qué pena. I can't understand what you're saying, qué pena. ⁓ And it's, they just throw it around and I love it. But it's only, that's only in Colombian Spanish. Like it translates to sort of like, what a shame. ⁓ So when I'm travelling in South America and I say it, it doesn't mean the same thing.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (58:16)
you

Heather (58:29)
Um, and so I really have to remember to not use it as much when I travel because it means just like, Oh, it's a pity. It's a shame. And it doesn't translate the same. Um, I am starting to take Mandarin lessons for my move to China next year. Um, our school, uh, ni hao. Um, I really don't know much. Uh, yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (58:40)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

HUUUU

Ni hao!

That's all I know.

Heather (58:58)
I know,

xixi, ni hao. I've learned all the phrases for I don't understand. I don't speak Chinese. Can you say that again? Do you speak English? But I don't remember any of those. Thankfully, my school offers Mandarin ⁓ for the students. So that teacher is giving me and this other girl I work with lessons before we move. So it's really helpful and she's great. So I've...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (59:09)
Those are vital phrases.

amazing.

Heather (59:28)
I've learned some... I've spoken some phrases. I definitely would not say I've learned them yet. So... But then, from all the other countries that I've lived in, I've learned how to count at least to... It used to be to 10, but now most of them is just to 5. So I can do probably like 6 or 7, maybe 8 languages just counting to 5. Like it's wild. And then...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (59:35)
Yeah

Heather (59:56)
Every so often a phrase will just come into my mind from another language that I've dabbled in in the past. And I'll be like, yeah, that's what that means. Or I'm in a situation and I'm trying to speak Spanish and I'm like, that, what is a phrase for that? And it will come to me in, usually it's Arabic. They have a few that I remember from there. Just like, yeah, so.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:00:21)
Cool.

Can you say something in Arabic for us?

Heather (1:00:26)
⁓ Not a full phrase. I just know some words. Halas means like stop, but they'll say it on the phone when they're trying to like get off the phone. They'll be like halas halas halas halas. They'll also say wala, which means... I can't remember. I think it means like okay. And so they'll say both of those a lot. We used to throw around the term wasta a lot, which just means you have like good connections.

So if like you have wasta you're able to like Yeah, you just know the right people in the right plate places. So in Spanish, they don't have a word for that So when I'm trying to describe that I use wasta and there's also a word for that in another language that I can't remember but I used to know as well that mean the same thing and Some things in like Korean like they don't have a word for please. They'll just say shoot

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:01:15)
That's so cool.

Heather (1:01:24)
Juseyo, which means like give give to me, which I always found really cool. Actually what I found the coolest is in Mandarin I'm learning the phrase for like I don't speak Chinese. It is just like I don't Chinese like they don't have a word like the whole phrase. So a lot of their stuff is really cool because it's like just a shortened phrase rather than all all of the words, which is cool.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:01:51)
Yeah,

will you learn how to write or read the script as well? Because the characters, that's a whole different ballpark rather than having letters.

Heather (1:01:59)
Yes. So in my classes, she's going over ⁓ kind of how they're made up. And if you see this sort of tree in the middle of it, it means this. And so you can kind of figure out the main ones that you're going to see often, or there's one that has like an eye in it and it's for the left-hand side, because she's like, the eye is for isquierda in Spanish and...

That is how you remember that. not, I don't think the whole thing, but I think certain parts, I'll be able to recognize certain things to figure out, like airport signs and stuff. I think I'll be able to figure out that sorts of thing, those sorts of things. But apparently Shanghai is so multicultural that they'll have English anyways. So hopefully that is the case.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:02:56)
Yeah. Do you have any ⁓ funny or embarrassing stories around language? I can see your face. That's a definite yes.

Heather (1:03:05)
So, I like to tell my students that I'm fluent. And so, in my first year ⁓ learning Spanish and working here, I was trying to be fancy and I was trying to say my email address in Spanish to my kids. But I said, like, Gmail p*ta com instead of punto com. Punto means, like, dot. P*ta means b*tch.

And so I just said this and all my students were like, and I have to like force them to tell me what they said so that I wouldn't say it again. And they're like, promise we won't get in trouble. And I was like, yeah, like I need to know. And they told me and I was like, my God, you guys, I'm so sorry. And then I went to the Shakira concert here in February. So the next day I was singing one of these songs. I was singing one of her songs.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:03:36)
I that here.

You

Heather (1:04:06)
completely wrong. And I thought I was saying, well, I don't know what I thought I was saying because I was just singing this song and I was like, it's Shakira. Like, it's not going to be like a bad word. So my students were like, what, what do you, what do you sing in there? And I was like, ⁓ a Shakira song. went to her concert and they're like, no, like, like what do you think you're singing? And I was like, well, I don't really know what the word is. And I was like, just tell me what it is. And they're like, no, like you have to Google that.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:04:28)
no.

Heather (1:04:36)
Like they wouldn't tell me. And pretty much I was just saying like, f*ck it and like f*ck off to my students.

Thankfully, they're in sixth grade, so it's not the first time that they've heard this. ⁓ And they're really cool about it. But I've had a few times like that. And it's usually just in class where I'm trying to like show off my skills. But another story is my doorman for my apartment building is learning how to speak English. And so he...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:04:46)
You

Right.

You

English, yeah, I remember him!

Heather (1:05:13)
Directly translated from from Spanish like sweet dreams Dulce sueno sueno is how you would say in Spanish so it directly translates to Candy dreams and so he said it to me when I moved in he said it for a few months before I kind of It clicked what he was trying to say And I just be like, yeah. Thanks like bye

⁓ And then it clicked and I was like, my gosh, it's 3 months into this I can't correct him now and also the cutest thing ever. And so now whenever anybody comes comes to visit I'm like He might wish you a candy dreams and you just mind your business and thank him and be on your way. Do not correct this lovely man

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:05:49)
Yeah.

Hey.

Heather (1:06:03)
And so now

my friends and I will refer to him. ⁓ All the porteros like they all have very similar names and I can't figure out like which one is which. So we just refer to him as Candy Dreams. It's so cute. Yeah, I love him so much.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:06:16)
Aww. That is very cute.

He was very friendly. Yeah. He was, he was. A little. I was trying to speak Spanish with him, so we muddled through together. Yeah.

Heather (1:06:24)
He was! And did he try to speak English with you?

Yeah. Yeah,

that's fair. He... So usually we just have a conversation about the weather and so I'll be like, it's sunny today and he'll say, yes, do you like the sun? And I'll be like, yes, I do like the sun. Do you like the sun? Or it was rainy earlier or maybe it will rain later or it's raining now. I don't like.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:06:46)
Yeah.

Yeah.

That's cute. Yeah. I love those little connections. In the course of like the, well, your life, I guess, since you've been on the road for a while, how has the use of tech changed in your travels? Like from when you were a kid to now?

Heather (1:06:57)
It's really cute. Yeah, it's really cute.

⁓

so I, when I was in Australia, my friend came to visit and we went to visit one of her friends. And her friend knew, us Google Maps and I had never experienced this before. And I was like, ⁓ my God, it shows you which bus to get on, when the bus is coming and where exactly to stand. This is insane.

⁓ That was a game changer. ⁓ Wild. So before that we would just like Google things and then like try to like figure out where it was. Like I don't, I don't know. Google Maps has been a game changer. Also, ⁓ I really like Airalo for eSIMs. So when I travel, if I'm travelling by myself, I'll usually get an eSim just in case.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:08:06)
Okay.

Heather (1:08:13)
⁓ So that helps with the Google Maps and all that. The Uber if you need to get an Uber, especially if you're like arriving at night. I don't like to take the bus just if you're going to a new place, like I'd rather just get a cab. So I find that really handy. ⁓ when I travelled down Europe, ⁓ I found Flixbus really cool. It's an app for buses and trains so you can book tickets.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:08:24)
Mm-hmm.

Right, yeah.

Heather (1:08:42)
to plan your trips that way. I really like that one. What else? Those are like the main ones. Google Maps really made a difference. Google Translate as well. I find even if I'm travelling in different parts of South America and their Spanish is different than the Spanish that I've learned, Google Maps, the conversation tab.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:08:52)
Yeah.

Heather (1:09:09)
or the conversation option that you can do on the app is really good. Especially when I first moved here, it was really good for like doctor's appointments, ⁓ because they would only speak in Spanish. And so having the conversation rather than translating like word by word or like phrase by phrase, I found that really helpful. ⁓ and if you're travelling with people Splitwise. I always really like that. I find it so easy and it just keeps track of everything.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:09:17)
Hmm.

I love Splitwise. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And if you go, people can pay for the pro version, which also does different currencies, but the free version is excellent.

Heather (1:09:39)
And yeah, I've.

yeah, so my thing with the different currencies, I just usually open up a different trip and so I'll do it like whatever or I'll ⁓

Conjugate is what the word that came to mind. Oh, I'll do like the exchange. Convert, yeah. I'll convert it online and then just put in the equivalent. So it's all in one thing, which is, yeah, I find that super handy. Yeah. Jenna, if you're listening, you still owe me 14 euros from 6 years ago.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:10:01)
Convert?

Yeah. Yeah.

with you, definitely.

She doesn't keep track, folks.

Heather (1:10:27)
Well, it just always like comes up with your, with your like, yeah, or if you're putting in a new trip, it'll come up with your previous ones that haven't been closed yet. So every time I travel, always see Jenna hasn't paid me. God.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:10:31)
⁓ the updates each month. Yeah.

you

Jeez Jenna, come on.

hilarious

Heather (1:10:52)
Actually, I think

on my last trip I was like, I'm not gonna message her about this. I think I just said that we're even. I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:10:57)
Yeah. I'll just shout it on the podcast instead. We'll save it for the big one.

Yep, yep, so true. Okay, so some tech has like really changed the game for you. What are some ways that living abroad and ⁓ travelling a ton has impacted your life in terms of like skills you've gained or biggest surprise you've learned about yourself or somewhere else? ⁓ What has that been like?

Heather (1:11:31)
I think just being able to do hard things and figuring hard things out myself, I've had a lot of weird like travel stuff that I've just had to figure out on the fly. So I think knowing that I can do that and that I can be really self-sufficient is something that I've learned. I've learned that I'm really good at organizing trips.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:11:52)
Mmm.

Heather (1:12:00)
When I used to travel with one friend in particular, I just used to plan all the trips, all the bus tickets, all the Airbnbs, all the everything. hostels and stuff. So that was also nice to know that like, I can do it all myself. Exactly, exactly. So I find...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:12:22)
Yeah, that's teacher planner in you.

Heather (1:12:29)
And it's really helped me. find sometimes I have a bit of social anxiety when I get to a new place and I'm like, now I have to like meet people and I have to talk to people and I have to go out and do stuff. I, when I first started, I find travelling by yourself as a skill that you need to work on. ⁓ When I first used to travel by myself, I used to be like too scared to like go out and do things unless I had like a booked tour or something. And so I find,

I've gotten better at going out and exploring, going out to restaurants, not just staying at the hostel to eat what they have there and ⁓ talking to different people as well. find like I'm usually great at that, but I find sometimes I find it really difficult to initiate a conversation. So I've really gotten better at that. And I think it's just a skill.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:13:05)
Hmm.

Heather (1:13:28)
that you need to practice. I have a friend actually who is just sort of starting to travel by herself and she's like, but I don't really know like how to do it and how do you do it and you seem so good at it. And I'm just like, I've done a lot of practice. You just have to practice and do it and then you will get better.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:13:45)
Yep. Yep, definitely.

Yeah, that's such good advice. Is there a type of travel that you haven't tried yet?

Heather (1:13:50)
Yeah.

I haven't done like a cruise. I think, or like an all-inclusive. So many people from Canada, they do that for their one week that they have off or 2 weeks or whatever. I haven't done those types of things. I'd like to try it to see if I like it. ⁓ but because I've done so many other types of travel, I think that a cruise would feel...

like the excursions on a cruise. Like I feel like it would feel too small. But I think I'd like to try it just to see. I also like the idea of an all-inclusive, like having everything there. It would be more of like a beach vacation. So that might be nice, but I really, I don't think I'd like it for a while. Actually, I went surfing last weekend with my friend and.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:14:29)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Heather (1:14:51)
we were talking about the longest sort of beach vacation that we've had. And I was like, I love a beach vacation. I've done it so often. But then I was thinking like, I think the longest actual beach vacation I've ever done was like 2 or 3 days because I get really antsy. you kind of need to, I love just laying by the pool. I love laying by the beach, but I also like, I have also found this out about myself that I like to do stuff as well. So.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:15:17)
Yeah.

Heather (1:15:18)
I think being at an all-inclusive or on a cruise would just feel too much like the same thing each day. So I'd like to try it. I also, I need to go, I want, I really want to go on an Antarctica trip. My friend just did it for Christmas this year and she just had the most amazing time. So I'm really hoping to be able to fit that in in the next like few years. That's the only continent I have left to do. And yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:15:45)
See you soon.

Heather (1:15:47)
I really, I think it would be such a cool experience.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:15:52)
Well, you, and Chloe aren't making it to Europe together this year. Maybe we should tackle Antarctica. Udit can take care of the kids. Decision made.

Heather (1:15:54)
⁓ yeah. For sure. Yeah. my God. A hundred percent. Yes. I think yes.

In the next few years that will be happening for sure.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:16:09)
Very cool. Yeah, I could see you doing that. Definitely. ⁓ Given that you are living in other countries and have travelled a ton, how much do you think about your impact on these places or you being a visitor to them and what does that mean to you and does it ⁓ factor into your travel prep or your travel experiences?

Heather (1:16:32)
⁓ I think what I really loved is learning the different cultural parts of the different places that I travel to. Even in Colombia, I've, I have a group of friends that love to do, they go to sort of smaller towns or villages and then they do.

these really cool outdoorsy trips and the sort of the cultural part in those small areas is really cool. So I really enjoyed sort of learning about the culture and living, being able to travel and live in the place at the same time. I think you really get to know the culture and the way that the people are and ⁓

You learn so much more about it when you're able to be in a place for a longer amount of time. And there are so many cultural things like from Colombia that ⁓ I think I'll take with me. Like, ⁓ I think I'm now a really huggy person. I don't know. I think I was-ish before, but I really, love the hug and the kiss when you meet every, like when you see your friends and stuff. Like I love that.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:17:31)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Heather (1:17:57)
So I'm going to take that. Colombia has a really cool celebration. I'm going to be real with you. It's a really weird one, but you like the meaning is weird. It's a religious thing. It's like for like whatever, whatever, but they light really cool, like small little candles that burn fairly fast. And then you light them and you kind of make a wish for your family or for yourself or whatever. And then you watch them burn.

But people do this on their balcony or all along the barrio as you're walking like to and from school. And so the next day, it'll just be like puddles of multicolored wax everywhere you go, which is, as I say it out loud, it does sound a bit weird, but it's beautiful. And so I bought a few packages of these candles that I'm going to take with me to China next year so that I can light the candles. ⁓

and watch them burn? Does that make me sound like a pyromaniac? So yeah, there are some cultural things that I will take with me for sure. And the food. Every place I travel, they have such interesting and new foods that I love.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:18:59)
No, not at all. What's ⁓ Yeah.

Heather (1:19:25)
When I move to China, I'm gonna have to find an Argentinian bakery to get alfajores, because I love them. And Colombia has some really cool fruits that I had never known existed until I moved here. So ⁓ I love being able to try all the different ⁓ styles of food and the unique foods to the area that I am. And the wines too, and the drinks.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:19:50)
Mm-mm.

Yeah. Do you have any tips for somebody who's going to travel through either Colombia or Korea or Kuwait or Egypt or any of the places that you've lived that you have a better understanding of the culture?

Heather (1:20:11)
Like, don't be afraid to interact with the people. The people...

In most places that I've travelled to, the people are great. The people are lovely and so nice and willing to help you and really receptive to you trying to speak the language. So I think just try to get off the beaten path and try to experience more of like the traditional culture with people, try to meet.

Locals. Yeah, and try to really experience it that way.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:20:50)
Cool. What does home mean to you at this point? Do you have several homes? Is a person a home? Is a feeling a home? Like the world is your home, kind of. What's home?

Heather (1:21:02)
It is.

I would say home is one part of home is always gonna be Nova Scotia where I grew up. But I think home is the people and the communities that I've made as well. It's where I feel safe with the people. Like I've built up these relationships and I really connect with these.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:21:28)
Mm.

Heather (1:21:35)
people that I've made into this family. So I really think that home is the feeling I get when I'm with the people that I've made my family.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:21:51)
Very cool. And how do you maintain or nurture relationships that are now spread all over the world? Because I can relate to this. A lot of my closest friends are in different places, and it's not like we can call each other up on Friday at lunch and be like, let's go grab a drink afterwards, or let's go for a walk. How does that look for you?

Heather (1:22:06)
Yeah.

I I

find it really hard. ⁓ I'm really not great at it. Thankfully, I have a lot of good friends who will just continue to message me until I talk to them. So I find it overwhelming now. I have so many friends in so many different places and so many different time zones that I'll read their message and then I'll be like, okay, I need to respond to that, but I don't have time right now. So, but then I forget.

So thankfully, my friends don't care, don't mind double texting me or triple texting me. I have a friend actually, this morning, she responded to my message and she was like, I have been waiting for you to respond to me for weeks. Turns out it was me who forgot to respond to you. I...

I am really not great at that. really, this past year, I've tried to put in more effort, because I really don't want to take these friendships for granted. really want to, I really don't want it to be people that I'm friendly with but are strangers. I really want to,

Continue a close friendship. So I'm really I'm really trying harder, but I really find it hard ⁓ one of my friends and I we send on Whatsapp you can do a video a one minute video so it's like a voice note, but it's a video so I find that easier than a phone call because I find a phone call you kind of have to devote Time to it and you have to block out

and you really have to be there, but I find these like video, I don't, a video chat, I guess. I don't really know what they're called. ⁓ Yeah, ⁓ it only lets you do a minute at a time. So I find it easier to kind of give her like a one or 2 minute update and then she can respond when she wants. But then I still get to like see her face and hear her voice and those types of things. So I like that. My other friend and I do video. ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:24:09)
Mm-hmm.

Sure. Video message.

Heather (1:24:36)
voice notes, which I love. I love when I get a juicy one and it's like a 9 minute long one, which I, well, I love it because I know that she has something to like there are there's juice in there. Like there's something happening and we're going to get into it. I love that. But I do. I find. I find it hard.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:24:42)
I hate those.

Yeah... Yeah... Yeah...

Heather (1:25:05)
to keep up with friends and be like, what did you have for breakfast? I really like the friendships that I have where we can be like, okay, here are the big highlights, here are the big updates. I find it very hard to have frequent conversations with people, you don't have anything to say. You don't have anything new to say. So I like the meat and potatoes friendships.

or the friendships that I have, yeah, or the friendships that I have in person where I can, I prefer to text to like make plans to meet up. So I find the the meat and potatoes video chats or voice notes are better than just like the texting stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:25:34)
I love that. That's a good little quote.

Just for the sake of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. ⁓

Where's the weirdest place you've slept?

Heather (1:26:00)
So.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:26:01)
I sense some meat and potatoes coming up.

Heather (1:26:05)
Well, 2. the school that I work at, they have a program called Classroom Without Walls. So we take the students on like a field trip somewhere for a week or like 5 days. So with the students, we had to sleep in hammocks one night. So we're all in these like hammocks. So that was pretty wild. It was so hot and I just like, couldn't sleep. It was, I didn't like it.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:26:35)
This was in Bogotá or out of the city.

Heather (1:26:35)
⁓ This was

in Chicamocha, so like the deepest canyon, I think in South America, one of the deepest in the world, I believe. So we like hike down it, you sleep there for the night and then you hike back up the next day. Yeah. And so I just like, I like, I can't sleep when it's hot out. And so it was just like too hot.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:26:50)
Yeah, you told me about this too. You were not happy.

Heather (1:27:03)
⁓ another weird place. So my family came to visit me a few years ago and we did a trip to the Amazon river area. And one of the nights we stayed in a tree house. ⁓ so you, it wasn't quite a ladder that you climbed up, but it was like stairs and then it was a 2 story tree house in a tree. ⁓ so that was.

pretty crazy. There were beds and stuff ⁓ and mosquito nets and there was a shower. It kind of came out of like a hose. ⁓ So like a very like rustic shower. ⁓

But that was, I think that was probably the weirdest place that I've slept, a tree house in Amazon. Yeah. It was cool.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:27:57)
Cool. And the Amazon. Yeah. That

paints a picture. Yeah. What are 2 or 3 items that you always travel with?

Heather (1:28:10)
Okay, so it really depends. I travel differently for city versus adventure. ⁓ But I always travel with packing cubes to keep my bag organized. I have found those a lifesaver. It's just everything is organized. You can have one for your dirty clothes afterwards. I love that. Yeah, I always...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:28:18)
Mm-hmm.

Totally with you.

Heather (1:28:40)
⁓ I realized the best way to travel with like face wash or creams that you need is to put it in a contact lens case. So it's small, but it holds a lot of like liquid stuff and it packs up really small. So I put all my liquid, all my like face washing and face creams and stuff in there.

It would save so much space. So I always travel with that. ⁓ I have this really good sunscreen that I always travel with. It's a Neutrogena gel sunscreen and it soaks in super fast. It is the best. It stays on and it's not like greasy and white. It's great. ⁓ What else do I always travel with?

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:29:20)
Mmm.

Heather (1:29:33)
I always travel with ⁓ an adapter, just in case. ⁓ Even if I'm going to a country that has the same plugs, it's always good to have one that has an extra USB place. Because some places I've found I've been, don't have anywhere to plug things in, so you just need extra space. I find no matter where I go, I always take that.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:29:48)
Mm-hmm.

Smart. What about

any safety tips for either someone who's travelling in general or a woman who's travelling by herself or if she's travelling with other people too?

Heather (1:30:12)
In hostels and stuff, ⁓ always bring your own lock. Even if it says there'll be locks, I usually take one anyways. And actually I've had this lock since high school and this is a point of pride. I can now undo this combination lock in the dark.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:30:35)
Hahaha

Heather (1:30:38)
I just know it so well and I know where I just yeah, I can do it in the dark. I feel so great about that. ⁓ I think, what's a good safety tip? Always trust your gut. I feel like I've been in situations and I'm like, ⁓ no, this doesn't feel good. This isn't, no. ⁓ Always, if you're getting into a cab, especially at night,

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:30:38)
you

Heather (1:31:04)
when you're going to pay them in don't...

I've got scammed a lot in cabs. Like, hold the bill out to them and like point to the number on it and then give it to them so that you both know what you gave him. Because I've had it a lot where you take out the bills and you just give it to them and then they have given me back another one and be like, no, you didn't give me enough. And so you have to end up paying them more because you're like, well, what?

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:31:33)
No.

Heather (1:31:36)
else am gonna do? And then I second guess myself. I'm like, well, I'm sure I gave them this amount, but did I actually give them that amount? So I find either having ⁓ a car app where you can like book a car and it's paid on your card. I do like having a tracked car, ⁓ like just in case, or ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:31:56)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (1:32:00)
handing them the bill and making sure you're all on the same page about what the number is there. I would say as well with your phone, have it in a bag that is like attached to you that can't be like, don't put it in a pocket, like always kind of have it in a place where it can't be pickpocketed easily.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:32:20)
Mmm.

Heather (1:32:30)
And even for your bags, like if you're going on the subway, ⁓ put your bag in front of you so that you're holding it. I've seen people get pickpocketed even from their fanny packs that they have on them. So even like just like kind of holding it to make sure that no one can open it. ⁓ And just be like aware of your surroundings, like especially at night. In the daytime, not so much, but in the night, always kind of know your

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:32:30)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (1:32:59)
destination and what route to go just so that you're safer. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:33:02)
That's a good tip on the route there.

Yeah. ⁓ You've been in a lot of airports, so is there a best airport for a long layover?

Heather (1:33:11)
⁓ I really like the one in Doha. They have good restaurants, good wine, and they do have chairs without armrests you can lay down on a bench chair if you want. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:33:25)
that is a plus. Definitely.

I would ask you how you deal with the post-trip blues, but I feel like you always have another trip in the works. Yeah. ⁓

Heather (1:33:32)
I always have another trip planned. That is the best thing. You always just have

to have a new trip planned and then you will never get sad.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:33:42)
Yeah, it's true. ⁓ Speaking of ends of things, we're coming to the end of our chat. There are 2 sections left. So I'm putting together a playlist, like a playlist that people can listen to as they're doing their own road trips or on their own travels. And to make the playlist, I'm getting all my guests to contribute a song that either represents a trip that they were on or their travel style. So what's yours?

Heather (1:33:46)
GASP

such a good idea.

Um, mine would probably be Bon Jovi, It's My Life. It's my life, it's now or never. And I ain't gonna live forever. I just wanna live while I'm alive. It's my life. Yeah, I would say that one.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:34:15)
Thank

You

My life.

Okay, amazing. That is a great song. I saw him perform that live at ⁓ Bayfest in Sarnia, Ontario, like back in the day. I know, I know. They had a lot of good artists there, but anyhow, we'll definitely be adding that. Thank you. Okay, last part. We're going to do a speed round. So in one word or one sentence. I know.

Heather (1:34:34)
GASP

my gosh, so cool! Such a small place for him to go.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Stress, stress!

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:34:58)
It's intense, intense. Buckle up everybody. Okay, where was your last trip?

Heather (1:35:04)
Palomino

Colombia, I went surfing last weekend.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:35:11)
Where's your next trip?

Heather (1:35:14)
Next weekend I'm going to Guasca. It's a place about an hour drive away. So we're going for one night.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:35:24)
Cool. Dream Destination?

Heather (1:35:27)
The Maldives. Mm, so bougie.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:35:32)
Very bougie. ⁓ Do you prefer to see many places or to get to know one really well?

Heather (1:35:38)
Ooh, that's a great question. I... Both at the same time. Many places, I like to do like a 3 week long trip and do a week in 3 different countries if I can. ⁓ But I do like to live in the places and spend a lot of time. But then even in Colombia, I get to visit a lot of places around, so I would say both.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:36:04)
I'm so with you on that. ⁓ This is in an aside, this is not part of the questions, but we're going to tack it in here. Of all the countries that you lived in, which one's your favourite so far? Yeah, that you've lived in, because that's different than travelling through someplace.

Heather (1:36:13)
that I've lived in.

I would say Colombia. Colombia is a beautiful country. It's so diverse. And the people are great. The food is great. And also because of the community that I built here. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:36:34)
Fantastic. ⁓ Bougie or budget?

Heather (1:36:37)
It really depends. As I've gotten older, I do like to splurge on a bougie trip, but because I travel so often, I do a lot of budget as well so that I can afford a bougie trip when I want to splurge. So I would say also both.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:36:56)
Solo chat? Yeah.

Okay, solo travel or travelling with others?

Heather (1:37:09)
That is, I also would say both. I really like to do it myself because you don't have to wait for anybody. You don't have to talk to anybody about your decisions. You just do it and you do what you want and when you want it. But I also like the social part of travelling with people that you travel well with. And they also want to do some stuff that maybe you wouldn't want to do, but then it turns out to be great. So again, both. I feel like that's...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:37:29)
Mm-hmm.

So true.

Are you a Gemini?

You're a Gemini too, aren't you? okay. Okay. Is indecision? No, I'm just joking. Moving on.

Heather (1:37:39)
No, I'm a Virgo.

Yeah.

I feel like

the more you travel, more you're kind of on the side of both because you have so many good experiences with all of the different things.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:37:57)
Yeah, I'm with you. I'd be right in the middle as well. ⁓ Okay, would you prefer to choose ⁓ travelling in the ocean or outer space?

Heather (1:38:07)
the ocean. I love everything about the ocean. The ocean is dark and mysterious and I love it. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:38:08)
You

Cool.

Favourite travel YouTuber, blogger, podcaster, content creator.

Heather (1:38:21)
I am gonna be real real with you. I don't follow a lot of them, so I'm gonna say you.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:38:27)
People are going to think I'm digging with this question going forward. Thanks?

Heather (1:38:33)
You're welcome. But you're

also really cool because you travel in different ways. I love all your van stuff that you do. You are a really good ⁓ advice giver for travel on a budget. So I think you're great. You're great at talking to all the people. You are great.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:38:51)
Thanks.

shucks. Favourite mode of transportation.

Heather (1:39:00)
The train. I love the train.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:39:01)
Have you been on

many like train trips or do you have one that you'd like to do?

Heather (1:39:06)
So, well, when I backpacked around Europe and we did it mostly by train, which was great. I love the train, it's just so easy. I would like to at one point do the Siberia, like the Russia one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would love to do that. I met a girl travelling a few years ago and she was actually the one that had the postcard

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:39:25)
Yes, Trans-Siberian! Yaaaah!

Heather (1:39:33)
or the stamp tattoo. She was a tour guide but did so many like different things and at one point she had been a tour guide for that train and she did say it was pretty boring until you got to like Moscow I think. But I still think, yes, but I still think that would be such a cool experience. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:39:49)
Okay, so bring a book.

Definitely epic.

⁓ Planned or spontaneous trips?

Heather (1:40:04)
I really spontaneous I can't wrap my mind around that I I no... I

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:40:12)
But it sounds

like you have though with that one friend you talked about like when she was leading the pack you were game for it.

Heather (1:40:15)
I have, yeah, I was just about to say that. She was so good at that.

She was so good at that. I was really outside of my comfort zone on that. And I haven't travelled that way without her. But she was so good at that. It was really outside of my comfort zone. But that's also important. In the last 10 years, I've really done a lot of things outside of my comfort zone.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:40:35)
Okay. Are you an under?

Heather (1:40:44)
which I think you also need to do.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:40:47)
Preach! Are you an underpacker or overpacker?

Heather (1:40:51)
I used to be an overpacker and now I think I'm just right. I've gotten to the point where I can, yeah, I can plan the outfits out and I come home and I'm like, okay, I wore everything and I used everything that I brought. So I think I've nailed it.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:41:08)
Amazing.

What's the most overrated destination you've been to?

Heather (1:41:16)
⁓ my god, what is the most overrated destination that I've been to? Okay, I'm gonna be real real real with you. I was underwhelmed by the pyramids. I thought they were gonna be bigger. Yeah. That is a wildly unpopular opinion.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:41:17)
You

Okay.

Doesn't matter, it's your opinion, you can have it.

Heather (1:41:44)
I still think

they're really cool and you should obviously go, but I got there and I was like, ⁓ okay. Yep.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:41:57)
Okay.

Alrighty. Teeny tiny. ⁓ Most underrated. Okay. huh. Okay. And for context, Heather is a ⁓ teeny person. So they would be... Sorry. Hey, I'm a giant, so there's no judgment on this end.

Heather (1:41:59)
Yep. They're still very big though. We're still very big. I thought they were going to be gigantic.

Thank you. I am 5 one and 3 quarters, excuse you.

I know.

you

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:42:26)
Okay,

most underrated destination you've visited.

Heather (1:42:35)
I've been to some really cool places. I really think I went to a volcano in the Congo in Congo and ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:42:37)
Mmm.

Heather (1:42:51)
That was really cool. We hiked to the top of it. You stay overnight and it's like an active, you are on the edge and you can see like the lava inside. And then you stay overnight there and then you hike down the next day. And I do not love a hike. I hated every step of that. And usually I get to the end of a hike and I'm like, not worth it. This was worth it.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:43:16)
Okay, all right.

Heather (1:43:18)
This was really cool.

was called Varunga, Varuga. ⁓ It was a national park. It was really cool. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:43:27)
Amazing.

Okay. All right. What home comfort do you miss the most when you're on the road? Which is kind of a funny question because... Yeah.

Heather (1:43:36)
Yeah.

The snacks, I love All Dressed Ruffles chips as every Canadian does. my God, last year when you came to visit me, you asked me what I wanted you to bring and you brought a bag of chips and they popped on the plane. And so obviously I had to eat them immediately so that they wouldn't go stale. So I sat there, I think she was in the shower and I was just sitting in my chair at like 8 a.m. just.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:43:45)
my god,

Yeah.

you

Heather (1:44:09)
eating these chips, a whole big bag of chips.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:44:12)
I found, I brought you the biggest one I could find because they are good chips.

Heather (1:44:16)
They're good chips. ⁓

I like, whenever I'm away, I always sort of miss the ease of getting the foods that you want at the grocery store. Like even when I'm in Colombia, there are some things where I'm like, they don't sell that here, or it's not the same. Like they Kraft Dinner is a great hangover food. And here they have mac and cheese.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:44:31)
Mmm.

Heather (1:44:46)
Technically the same, but definitely not the same. The cheese is different. So I miss the comforts of the known things that you have. I obviously love to try new things and to explore and all of those things, but I really, sometimes you are hungover and all you want is Kraft Mac and Cheese and a Caesar in a can.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:45:12)
Yep, true.

Heather (1:45:14)
and you can't find those here. And actually,

when I was in Korea, they had this, it was Welch's Grape Juice, but in a soda form. Yeah, it was, and it wasn't just carbonated. It was like a pop version of this. And I have never been able to find it anywhere else. And it was the best. And I crave it. And it has been probably 15 years since I lived there.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:45:27)
Really?

What?

Heather (1:45:43)
And I still, I can't find it anywhere.

Tara (1:45:47)
Okay, Tara from the future here. It's January 17th of 2026. This episode is supposed to go out tomorrow and I totally forgot that I hadn't put into this episode the most important wild and crazy part of the story. If you're watching on YouTube, you saw the photo of the Welch's Grape Juice, but I didn't mention obviously when I put it up about where it came from. Let me just show you.

When I tell you what happened tonight blew my mind.

This is too coincidental to be a coincidence. don't believe that there are coincidences in life. This is synchronicity at its finest. So this week I started editing Season 2 of the podcast. Get excited, it's coming. And tonight I started editing the 2nd episode with a woman named Heather. The episode is hilarious. Heather's fantastic. You're gonna love her. We recorded on May 20th. Today's December 20th. I have not touched her episode since May 20th. She was living in Bogotá, Colombia at the time. She now lives in China.

And in the episode, she was talking about this Welch's Grape Soda that she used to get that she loved when she lived in Korea. She hasn't seen it in 15 years. Well, she's on vacation in Vietnam right now. And I just got a message from her saying, you'll never guess what I just found. She has no idea that I was editing her episode tonight. It was the Welch's Grape Soda. How?

What followed next was just a series of texts between Heather and I. I'll pop them up here on the screen, but basically both of our minds were blown because we were like, how is this timing even possible? Anyhow, that's the backstory. We'll get back to the episode now.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:47:29)
I wonder if T&T Supermarkets would have it in Toronto or we have it in KW as well. I'm going to go on a little hunt today when I go do my errands.

Heather (1:47:35)
So good. I've

searched online. Like I have searched, well, I haven't searched stores, but I've searched, I've scoured the internet, if you will. So if anybody has a hookup, send it to Tara and I will get it in the summer.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:47:45)
Okay.

Yeah, my god, you and I have to meet up in the summer. Side note, I forget, where did you live in Korea?

Heather (1:47:54)
Me too.

So I lived, it was a 45 minute bus ride outside of Gangnam. So in Seoul-ish. ⁓ I was like a 20 minute bus ride from the last subway stop, but now the subway has expanded. I lived in a place called Dongtan. ⁓ So I really like, it was a small place, nobody knew about it. Now people might, I don't really know. I tried to look for it on a map once. I tried to show my students like each place that I've lived, and I could not.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:48:09)
Yeah.

Heather (1:48:29)
find it because all the references that I knew kind of are different now and the subway stops have expanded so much that I just like I don't know how to find it so I don't know

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:48:41)
Wild.

We have that in common with Korea too because I lived on Jeju-do Jeju Island and on some globes the island isn't present. It's too small on some the spinning globes. But it's been interesting in the last, I would say, 2, 3 years. The more travellers I've met, the more people are aware of it. Whereas when I moved there and for several years after, nobody heard of it. It was like Seoul and that was it. Maybe Busan.

Heather (1:48:46)
Mmm! You did!

that's so weird.

And yeah,

yeah, and that was it. Actually, when I worked in Kuwait, I had met a guy who also had worked in Dongtan before. in this, yeah, it was, that was super weird. Cause I was like, ⁓ I've worked in Korea too, but in this small place, like whatever. And he was like, no, but like what place? And I was like, ⁓ it's a 45 minute drive from Gangnam. was about a half an hour from Suwon-si. He was like, but like what?

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:49:11)
And that was it. Yeah.

wow!

Heather (1:49:38)
place. And I told him, and we had been in the same like Facebook group for this specific place, like, but never had crossed paths before.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:49:39)
Yeah.

wild. Man, I love stuff like that. That's the best. It gives me goosebumps. Yes, it is. It really is.

Heather (1:49:50)
Yeah. Such a small world. Such a small world. I

was in Korea. It was one of my first nights there. My boyfriend at the time, him and I had gone out for a night on the town and we were walking into this bar and walking out of this bar was a guy that we had used to work with, that we worked with at camp years before that.

and like no idea that, yeah, just met up with him. His name was Jake. And then, and then in Korea as well, we, the boyfriend and I were at this Canadian bar and in walks one of his brother's best friends.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:50:17)
What?

What? I love that stuff!

Heather (1:50:36)
Yep, wild.

And actually

in the international teaching community, you're you know somebody who knows everybody Yeah, it's such a small world You just know everybody. It's wild. It's really cool.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:50:44)
Mm.

Yep, so true. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yep.

Okay. Alrighty. I'm doing very poorly at keeping this a speed round, but I haven't talked to in so long and this is so enjoyable. Okay, best piece of advice you've received.

Heather (1:51:00)
⁓ I know. It's so good.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:51:07)
Like travel advice.

Heather (1:51:08)
Yeah, yeah.

Don't be afraid. Just do it. Even if it's by yourself. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:51:16)
Cool, worst. Yeah, worst,

worst piece.

Heather (1:51:22)
I don't know if I've had any bad pieces of advice. I feel like, no, don't think I've had any bad pieces of advice.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:51:33)
Amazing. If you had to choose one, house sitting, couch surfing, hostels, Airbnb or hotels?

Heather (1:51:40)
Okay, no. Okay, so I would say it used to be hostels. ⁓ Now I will only do a hostel if I can have a private room. The mixed rooms, can't do that anymore, I'm too old. Also, I'm old and I have a CPAP machine, so that's it. Like I have to wear like the full like face mask, so I prefer to have like my own space for that. So I still like the hostel for the social part. ⁓ I do like,

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:51:41)
Don't say all of them, pick one.

Heather (1:52:09)
Airbnbs, ⁓ they are a little bit more expensive, but I do kind of like that you can have your own space and you can find one that's not in like the touristy parts so you can kind of get a more of like a lay of the land. I don't prefer hotels. I would rather choose an Airbnb or a hostel. I have couched surfed before. A weird experience with that. I was staying with this guy.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:52:17)
Mm-hmm.

Heather (1:52:38)
when I moved to Australia and he had housemates but he all of his housemates were gone for their summer vacations and I was there for like 2 weeks so the end of their summer vacations. He didn't tell any of the housemates that I was there so one day a girl who lives there shows up and thought I was a thief and she was like okay I really have to pee just like wait and then we'll sort this out and so and then we became like really good friends but like why wouldn't he have told

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:52:55)
HUH!

my god!

Heather (1:53:08)
people that I was staying there. So bizarre. I don't know if I would couch surf anymore. House sitting I've never done. So I don't know. So I would say ⁓ hostel for social, but I like my own room and my own bathroom. I'm too old to share. I'm getting old.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:53:09)
That's bizarre. Yeah.

You are not old.

Heather (1:53:32)
⁓ But I

like, and if I'm travelling with somebody, I like the Airbnb and then we can like make our own meals and stuff. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:53:39)
Cool,

Window seat or aisle seat?

Heather (1:53:42)
Aisle! I have a really small bathroom. I have a really small bladder. I really like it really stresses me out to be trapped in a window seat. I really like to have the freedom to go. I don't mind being woken up to get out to let someone out, but I really I don't want the stress.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:53:50)
Okay, okay.

Okay, okay, cool. Describe yourself as a traveller in 3 words.

Uno, dos, tres.

Heather (1:54:09)
Okay,

⁓ in 3 words. Adventurous, sleepy, and open.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:54:23)
Bingo, bango. That was great. Three characteristics that make a good travel partner.

Heather (1:54:23)
⁓ that's hard.

⁓ funny, ⁓ open, and...

sleepy. I want somebody who is the same as me. Who doesn't want to stay up until like I don't want to party. I'm I don't want to do that whole thing. I can have a few drinks then I want to be in bed by  like 9, 10 at the latest.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:54:41)
So yourself. ⁓

What is the best part of travel?

Heather (1:55:05)
I think the food.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:55:06)
Mmm.

Heather (1:55:08)
So many different places have so many different types of food. I think trying the new foods and drinks. South America has a lot of like local unique spirits that have been made in that place. So like ⁓ not mezcal, but viche is a Colombia one, pisco, mezcal for Mexico. I think like trying, getting to try those sort of different unique things as well.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:55:26)
Mm.

Yep, worst part of travel.

Heather (1:55:46)
⁓ Early wake up times like or like having to get to the airport For like a 7 a.m. flight, and then you're like okay well, it takes an hour to get to the airport, and then I have to be there so far in advance I think I don't like those. Actually the flight from La Paz Bolivia to Bogotá is a 3 a.m. flight so pretty much you have to like leave at midnight to get to the airport yeah

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:56:15)
Although I feel like that would be easier because I don't know about you. I'm a night hawk. Well, it sounds like you're an early bird. I'd be like still awake. So I'd be like, OK, fine.

Heather (1:56:21)
I am great at like

noon.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:56:27)
Yeah.

Heather (1:56:28)
I don't like to wake up early.

I will when I travel, but I don't prefer it. And I don't prefer to stay up late. I prefer it to like noon to 3 p.m.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:56:39)
⁓ okay. Alrighty. Best travel app.

Heather (1:56:46)
 I think Airolo for the eSIMs. That is, I think. Or, yeah, I think that. I also have like the Kayak app to look at flights. So I'll look at flights there first and try and find a good deal. And then go to the airline and book directly through them if it's not too much of a price difference.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:57:09)
That's a good tip.

You, from what I remember, are a pretty prolific reader. No, you love books, don't you? Yeah. Do you have a favourite book? It can either be about travel or set somewhere or a favourite movie, but I know you love your books.

Heather (1:57:14)
I love, I love books. Yeah. I love books.

I prefer fiction. So I read a lot of like World War Two books. I like to read books set in like the battle places. I just read one about Vietnam, ⁓ the Vietnam War. like reading about like those sort of locations was really cool. But like a travel book. ⁓ Yeah. So

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:57:40)
Mm-hmm.

It could be the one that you just read.

Heather (1:57:56)
Yeah, I like

I love all sorts of books.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:58:03)
Do you have a title you would toss out?

Heather (1:58:04)
Oh! You want me to like a book? I

see, I see, I see, I see, I see what's happening now. I full circle, I've caught up to the moment. I know what we're doing here. ⁓ do I have a title? Okay, I...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:58:16)
Yeah. ⁓

Heather (1:58:22)
The, okay, I really liked Cloud, no, what was it called? I have an app for books actually. Read, okay. I just read The Women by Kristin Hannah. That was about the Vietnam War. Another one that I loved was... my gosh, have you read the...

100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Okay, this author, Jonas, Jonasson, I think he's Swedish. This book is fantastic. It's written as if this man is like telling you a story, kind of. It's about this 100-year-old man who lives in a nursing home and he's like, ah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:58:55)
No, should I?

Okay. Okay.

Heather (1:59:22)
go outside so he like jumps out the window and nobody can find him and he goes on like this journey

He just like happens to be in the right place at the right time for all of these things. And so cool.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (1:59:32)
Okay. All right. We'll add those to the show notes. I have one for you that I think you might like. It's in my top 5. I don't usually share my books on this podcast, but I know how much of a reader you are and I know you've lived in Korea as well. It's called The Island of Sea Women and it's by... Have you read it? Yeah, the haenyeo. Yeah. And The Island of Sea Women.

Heather (1:59:34)
Couldn't put it down. Couldn't put it down.

Okay.

About the ladies who dive? No! Is it about the ladies who dive? Okay. What is it called? I'm gonna put it in my ass.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:00:00)
and the author is Lisa See. Like S-E-E. And it is hands down one of the most stunning books I've ever read. I literally recommend it to everybody, but I think you'll especially appreciate it considering that you live in Korea. Yeah, yeah. Okay, very last question. You ready for this? Drum roll. That's a good Spanish R over there.

Heather (2:00:05)
Yeah, I found it. Okay.

Okay, I will, thank you.

I love good book. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. I

only learned how to do that in Colombia since I've learned how to speak Spanish. Okay, well.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:00:32)
Que bueno. ⁓

Best gift for a traveller.

Heather (2:00:36)
Okay, so best gift to give a person who is travelling? I think...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:00:49)
It could be, if you want, can add to the question a little bit, because this has been answered very differently by people. It could be a traveller in terms of someone who's about to go on a trip, somebody who loves travel in general. Take it how you will.

Heather (2:01:06)
Okay.

Okay, so a really good gift, so my friend who's moving to Shanghai as well, she just got married and so we found a travel company that we could buy a gift certificate for, and so we gave her that. So it's a travel company in China that does walking tours and food tours and all kinds of stuff, so a gift certificate for that was really cool. You could also...

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:01:28)
Mmm.

Heather (2:01:41)
Like packing cubes also I think if a person hasn't travelled before and they're going to either telling them about packing cubes or giving packing cubes ⁓ It really makes a difference in how you pack and you can be a lot more organized with that ⁓ A travel adapter also a great gift ⁓ I have a few different ones ⁓ One's a bit more bulky, but has more things on it. So I think that that is also a great gift ⁓

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:02:11)
That's good. That's Thanks. Awesome. ⁓

Heather (2:02:12)
⁓ that's a great question.

Also like a

travel bag, like a day pack or like a fanny pack that has a lot of like different pockets. I think that's good for a traveller. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:02:23)
Hmm.

Yep.

Good call. ⁓ Heather, somehow we spoke for 2 hours, but I'm also not surprised by this given the 2 of us. So thank you to anybody who's still listening. It really did. I mean, we had a lot to catch up on, but it's been cool to hear some of your stories I've heard before and hear some new ones and your energy and enthusiasm is always just like you're a ray of sunshine. I love talking with you and I had such a great time with you.

Heather (2:02:34)
Alright, that's insane. I'm not surprised.

It actually like flew by.

Yeah.

Mmm. You're so easy to talk to as well.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:02:59)
This

was awesome. We will definitely have to meet up when you're back in Canada this summer. And yeah, good luck with the move to China and stay awesome. Yeah. Do you have, if anybody wants to follow you on social or find you somewhere in the interwebs or if you don't want to, that's fine.

Heather (2:03:05)
Yes.

It's a lot of work. Yeah. Thank you.

I would say, because I'm a teacher, so I have to have all my profiles closed. I would say ⁓ if you do want to follow me, send your information to Tara (@TravelwithTMc) and then I will follow you. And then we can do it that way. Only the most important and the vetted ones. No strangers. Yeah.

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:03:40)
I like that. That's a VIP route. Yeah. You shall pass.

Heather (2:03:50)
Huh!

Tara (Travel With TMc) (2:03:51)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. It was so good to see you. Way too long. Yeah. But we'll chat again soon. Take care. Bye.

Heather (2:03:55)
It was so good to see you too, it's been way too long.

Yes, very soon. Bye!