Ep 11: How Work Exchanges Make Solo Travel Possible on a Budget, with Brooke

Brooke (00:00)
so I think about that. I don’t want to be on my deathbed or in the hospital when I’m older, dying and being like, dang, like I really wish I did that, but I was scared or I wish I did that, but I was worried what people would have thought. And that just instilled fear in me. So was like, I don’t want that fear of missing out. I don’t want the fear, the fear of what if I would rather do something and

not necessarily regret it, but I’d rather do something and be like, oh, I actually didn’t like that as much, or I didn’t have as much fun, than wonder what if. I think the fear of what stronger than the fear of failure the fear what other people will have to say about

Kelli Wall (00:39)
Welcome to Solo Travel Unpacked, where we explore the world one solo travel story at a time.

I’m your host Kelli and I believe that solo travel.

is a journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and connection.

Each episode, we’ll meet a different solo and hear their insights, experiences, and lessons learned.

We’ll also take a look at a key solo travel topic

to give you the tools and inspiration for your own adventure.

It’s time to hear from today’s guest and unpack another solo travel story.

Kelli Wall (01:09)
Welcome back to Solo Travel Unpacked. I’m your host Kelli, and today I’m joined by Brooke.

A creative, bubbly adventurer who made the decision at 19 to leave college and follow her passion for travel.

With a tight budget and a fearless mindset, She turned to work exchanges to see the world.

summer she completed three exchanges in places like Seattle.

British Columbia and Puerto Rico.

gaining not just travel experience, but deep personal growth.

Turns out, Brooke’s not the only one finding freedom this way.

recent World Packers report found that 85 % of travelers.

Said that work exchanges helped them travel longer.

And more affordably making it an ideal path for anyone starting their solo journey.

brings so much insight, energy, and honesty into this conversation. Let’s get started.

Kelli Wall (02:00)
Brooke I’m so excited to have you here when I first connected with you I could immediately feel your energy and your emails you’re one of those people who’s just full of life curiosity and great stories but before we dig more to travel can you tell us a little bit about yourself outside of travel

Brooke (02:06)
So.

⁓ thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. Okay, me outside of travel. I actually like love answering that question because people look at me and they’re like, she just travels. But I’m like, wait, guys, like there’s more to me than traveling, like I promise. ⁓ So well, currently I’m a student at VCU. I graduate soon. VCU is a university in Richmond, Virginia. I’m graduating May 9th, so super soon.

Yeah, I am a Christian. I am in the Young Life Club here and I love it so much. Being in community and fellowship with them has been absolutely amazing this past year. I absolutely love sports. Just hanging out with my friends, doing literally whatever. Like if you want to go do something, I’m down. Like you don’t even have to tell me what it is. Like I’m down. Like I want to go. Yeah, I can’t sit still. That’s kind of also why I love to travel is because I like to go.

just everywhere and I just I like to help people. I love my family. I just always love to be doing things and I’m very passionate about video and my major is advertising so I’m very passionate about that but yeah I just I just love life and I’m so happy to be here.

Kelli Wall (03:27)
Amazing, have,

I know already said this, you have the best energy and congratulations on graduating in a couple of weeks. Yes, so whenever this airs, I’m sure you’ll have graduated and probably out seen the world. So as we dig into travel, let’s start at the beginning. You were a college student at the University of Miami, then you made a huge pivot. What was the moment that made you go, nope, I’m out, I’m traveling instead?

Brooke (03:30)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Bye.

Yes. Yes.

So I thought I was gonna love Miami because I was like wow perfect school because beach, city, suburbs, like the big three you know I feel like I would love it and when I toured there I loved it so much but then I got there and I was just really like wow like everyone’s just drinking and partying and like yeah I went out ⁓ a few times but it was rarely ever fun and I also just really struggled to find people to explore with.

Because the reason I went there is because there was just so much to explore and it was so beautiful and was warm and that’s what I wanted to do, but it was hard finding people to do that with. And I also just kind of felt like the friendships were a bit superficial, lots of social climbing, people trying to get on the best yachts, the best clubs, the best promoters. And I definitely did find some good friends that I’m still in touch with, but I just kind of felt like that was rare. And I also didn’t really like the school in general. I just felt…

Like it didn’t necessarily have its students’ best interests in mind. Hot take, I know lots of people love the University of but I’ll say it, I don’t care. Anyways, that, just being there, I just realized the place wasn’t for me and it wasn’t a place that I could grow as a person. And I decided that there was just so much more to life and I didn’t want to spend my four years of college just being in college, just being a college student.

Kelli Wall (04:54)
That’s okay.

Brooke (05:11)
So I moved home and I did community college online. So since I was doing school completely online, I just worked all the time and I would do my schoolwork at night or just walk in for one day straight and get all my work done. And so when I was working, I was saving up and then I was doing those work exchanges over the summer. I was also traveling a little bit throughout the week, just, you know, kind of close by, just exploring.

And during that time I started exploring by myself because I didn’t have many friends here since I moved home and all my friends were gone.

But yeah, I just realized it just was not the place for me and I wanted more out of life and I knew there was just so much more out there to learn.

Kelli Wall (05:53)
Well,

first of all, that’s amazing. I know we say 18 and then you don’t feel like you’re so young, but when you get older and you look back, you realize it is really young. But for taking that opportunity and also being brave enough to say, no, this isn’t for me. And that’s OK. I mean, sometimes you give it a try and it just doesn’t work. That’s amazing. So you’ve moved back home. You’re doing community college. What gave you this courage to take that leap so young? And how did you find your first opportunity to say, OK.

Brooke (06:08)
Thank you.

Kelli Wall (06:22)
I’m gonna go see the world.

Brooke (06:24)
I think what gave me the courage was honestly the fear of missing out on the possibilities. knew I needed to step out of my comfort zone to grow and…

I always want to push myself and always want to challenge myself. And so it was a lot easier for me to just like go ahead and do it and sign up. felt like the real challenge or really took courage is actually going to do it. Like I can sign up, I can say I’m doing it and everything, but actually going to do it, that’s what took the courage. But I’m also the type of person where I don’t really think everything through to the very last detail. So it didn’t really hit me until I was there and I was like, wow, I’m really doing this. Like, what am I, what am I doing? Like what?

Kelli Wall (06:49)
Mm-hmm.

Brooke (07:06)
But anyways,

wow.

Kelli Wall (07:07)
No, and maybe that’s a good thing, right? Like if you don’t do

every detail, you’re like, let me just jump, you know, as long as you’re safe, you’re like, let’s just do it.

Brooke (07:12)
Yeah, right.

I love that perspective. ⁓ And so how did I find it? I don’t even remember how I found out about World Packers. It was probably

but I just started looking on there and I found I went to Seattle first and it was like a co-living space. So there was a host who was about like 60 years old. His name is Gene, loved him, great guy. And then there was a bunch of people from all over the world living together. There was a couple, one was from Turkey and the other was

from else. There was just people of all different ages and from everywhere. And so it wasn’t like a family I was staying with. I was just staying with them. And that I was there for like two weeks. That was just awesome. And that was honestly a great way to jump into it. Like living with like other people. It’s not like I was going and like with like a family, you know?

So that was really cool.

Kelli Wall (08:04)
Yeah.

So you go to Seattle, and I know you did three exchanges in that one summer. What were these jobs? What kind of work were you doing in these spots? And what did your days typically look like?

Brooke (08:08)
Yeah.

So

I was just helping around with chores around the house. This was probably the most chill one I’ve ever done. Literally, sometimes I would work like 45 minutes just sweeping or cleaning the house, taking the eggs out of the chicken coop, washing them. I did do lot of like pruning and landscaping. So when I would do those, sometimes that would be like three hours, but.

Yeah, there were some times where I literally worked for like 45 to 30 minutes just kind of cleaning around the house. It was just general house help. And then I got a few days off as well. And they would take me and do fun things. Like in the morning we woke up and we did a cold plunge at sunrise, which it was freezing. It was like 50 degrees out. It’s also like Seattle water. It was so cold. And I think this was my first cold plunge.

I thought they were joking when they said that they were going skinny dipping and I turn around and I see my host butt naked and I’m like my gosh we weren’t joking. But just to pathos, yeah, no, just to, I was not skinny dipping. I do want to say that. Please put that in there. But that was an experience for sure. My like freshly 19 year old eyes seeing these random older people I just met running butt naked into the cold water. ⁓

Kelli Wall (09:11)
Not shy.

No shame.

Brooke (09:30)
Honestly, I literally loved the confidence and just yeah, no shame. But so that one was super chill. And then straight from there, I went to British Columbia, Canada. And that one, I was actually only there for like two or three days. We’ll get into that. I was supposed to be there for like three weeks. But anyways, I was staying on a huge farm with pigs. There’s like 100 chickens, horses, but they also were a dog boarding like small, small business. They had 40

Kelli Wall (09:33)
Absolutely, yeah.

Brooke (09:58)
They had 40 dogs inside of their house and the description said there was like 10 to 12 and I love dogs. I love animals. I was so excited. My dream as a kid was to roll around in mud with pigs. I was like, yes, this is my opportunity. That was not the case. I was just kind of cleaning the house all the time because there’s 40 dogs. There’s pee, there’s hair, there’s poop. I was scooping poop. was washing eggs because literally…

in one day since there’s hundred chickens there was so many eggs probably like a hundred I mean a hundred chickens a hundred eggs I don’t know there was was a lot of eggs yeah just kind of cleaning a lot and then after this is the part that I didn’t really think through after work I didn’t really have much to do because we were kind of in the middle of nowhere we were in Kelowna British Columbia but in the like that kind of has its own like town or whatever but we were far out from that so you couldn’t get anywhere

without a car, it’s not like there are any trails or anything around. So if they were busy and couldn’t take me to do something, I kinda didn’t really have much to do. was a couple there with which was cool, so I wasn’t the only one there, but then they kinda just hung out with themselves. And then in Puerto Rico, that was my favorite one ever. I was living in a rainforest just outside of El Yunque, but there was the rainforest on their property.

I learned so much just about cultivation and gardening that we did so much. So much gardening, pruning. We’re cutting down trees in the rainforest that were dead. I was cutting down a tree, I don’t know if I cut it someone else cut it, but then a huge branch came and hit me in the head. That was a fun time. And then we were planting fruit, we were cleaning the chicken coop, we were cutting the chicken’s wings, which I did not know that was a thing. And I was like, oh my gosh, these poor chickens, is this gonna hurt? But no, it’s just like giving them a haircut.

Kelli Wall (11:28)
Okay.

Brooke (11:41)
we just did lots of stuff in the garden, in the yard, help around the house. And that was like every day. We had some days off. That was like every day, ⁓ eight to 12. And then we had the rest of the day to explore. So it was great.

Kelli Wall (11:54)
I’m just thinking about how much your

life changed from Miami to now you are picking up eggs and the chicken coop. It’s a total flip, but it sounds like, you know, rolling around with pigs and mud is what you wanted to do. So maybe it was the gateway to your dream.

Brooke (12:02)
Right?

Yeah, right. Like I definitely was not the type of person like you would think to

to University of Miami and my friend, like I was so excited to go and all my friends were like, like excited for me but in their head they’re like, she’s not gonna like it and they didn’t tell me that until I went. I’m like, why didn’t no one tell me that I wasn’t gonna like it? And they’re like, we didn’t want to like crush your dreams. And I’m like, okay, that’s valid. thanks guys. But it’s just funny that everyone knew I wasn’t gonna like it besides

So true. So true.

Kelli Wall (12:32)
Sometimes you gotta figure it out for yourself, right? Yes, but

money is such a barrier, especially at a younger age for so many people who want to travel. So how did work exchanges help you travel without this big budget?

Brooke (12:48)
the best example I can give for this is when I was in Puerto Rico I spent less than $400 to be there for like two, three weeks because since I’m doing a work exchange I’m getting free room and board and also meals. Not all of them. Like for anyone who’s watching this, double check and make sure that you get three meals a day. Like if you want three meals a day make sure it is three meals because some exchanges they vary and they might just give you one. But

For all the ones I had, was three meals a day, and free room and board. And so all I was paying for was my flight ticket to get there. And this was also at the time where I didn’t really know about travel insurance. Like I was new at travel and I didn’t know that was a thing. So I didn’t get it. I probably, yeah, if I would do a work exchange now, I would do it. But there’s a lot of cheap ones you can get. But yeah, basically all I paid for was my flight there. And then I just ate the food there. I didn’t do any shopping. didn’t…

really eat out because I had food and a lot of the activities we did, you they would take us to the beach or I would take the, when I was in Seattle, I would just take the bus into the city and walk around. There’s just so many free activities you can do. I also, when I was in Seattle, they had ⁓ a pass for college students where you get into museums for like $5. I forget what the pass is called, but if you look up like Seattle student discount pass, I’m sure you could find

So yeah, I was just trying to find cheap activities and free activities to do. And I think that’s pretty great. Two, three weeks for less than $400 in Puerto Rico. And not only are you getting to experience Puerto Rico, but you’re getting to experience the culture and just the locals and how they live. That is what I value about traveling. I don’t care to go stay at a resort and just sit around. To each their own. I know some people love that as their vacation. They earn that, they deserve it. Good for you, but like…

I’m super active, I want to be moving, so ⁓ just having that kind of first-hand experience was just so valuable for me. And it being even cheaper than just going and staying at a resort just blows my mind.

Right.

Kelli Wall (14:49)
Yeah, and really being immersed in the culture. So

check the details, see how many meals you’re getting, get your travel insurance. So you’ve got your meals, you’ve got your room and board all included.

Brooke (14:54)
Yeah. ⁓

Kelli Wall (15:00)
What’s something you gained from those experiences beyond the free room and board?

Brooke (15:05)
I would say a different perspective, just like stepping out of my comfort zone and really truly realizing how capable I am. I also think I just realized how small my problems are at home. think traveling, Traveling doesn’t necessarily fix your problems and I don’t think you should use travel as an escape to run away, but I do think it does give you amazing perspective of wow, like.

There is just so much more out there. The world is so big. There are so many greater issues out there. My problems are not the end of the world. like, it will pass. It will move on. I’ll figure it out. The world is so big and I am so small. It’s not that big

a deal.

Kelli Wall (15:46)
It’s very mindful and thoughtful of you. So it sounds like you’re already learning all of these amazing, wonderful things through these exchanges, but I want to rewind back a little bit because you’ve also said you hate being alone, but you’ve done solo and group trips now. What flipped that switch for you?

Brooke (16:04)
Yeah, so I used to hate being alone. I have ADHD and my mom has always told me that like, even as a kid, I just hated being alone because I always wanted to be entertained. It’s like I hated being bored. And so I associated, you know, being alone with being bored because I didn’t have anyone to entertain me. But what kind of flipped the switch was I didn’t I never had, well, not never, but like at Miami, I didn’t really have people to

go out and explore with and then when I came home all my friends were at college and I was doing school online so I wasn’t really making friends so didn’t have anyone to explore with so I was like I want to do all these things but I don’t have anyone to go with and so was tired of missing out on them so I really just I just started going by myself and I just learned to entertain myself and really enjoy my own company and that kind of goes along don’t know if I like mentioned this to you before but I used to care a lot about what people thought about me and just our perspective

I was just kind of always thinking about that in the back of my head. But then realizing that like, you know what, I actually don’t care what you guys think. Like it really doesn’t matter. Like I said, the world is so big. I’m so small. It doesn’t matter. That helped me go and do things alone because I think that’s a big fear when it comes to doing things alone. It’s like, you’re sitting at a restaurant alone and people are thinking, ⁓ someone is thinking, look at that girl. She’s a loser. doesn’t have any friends. She’s eating by herself. know, like no one thinking that. And if they are like, that’s weird that they’re thinking that.

And so that was able to translate into me being able to have fun by myself because if I want to go to the river, I’m going to go to the river. I’m going to hang out. I’m going to do whatever. I’m going to do some yoga, whatever. I don’t care what anyone else is thinking. I don’t care what they’re, what they might have to say about me. I love to dance. If I want to play some music and dance in the river, I’m going to stand there and dance in the river. I don’t care if there’s people around. Like that is how I entertain myself. I love to dance and I love to have fun. And I don’t need other people to do that with because it’s a lot more comfortable. You know, if you’re in public and you’re dancing, you’re dancing with someone that’s lot more comfortable.

but I was alone and I wanna dance, I wanna have fun, I wanna entertain myself. so I just, you know, dance like no one’s watching, dance like no one’s around. just kind of having that really helped me have my fun and realize that I don’t need anyone and realize that I can’t entertain myself. And then I also kind of, I’m still working on this, but just learning how to be bored. Like you shouldn’t be stimulated and entertained every second of your life. Like in order to actually…

reflect and grow as a person, you do need to learn to be bored and stay with your thoughts and stay with your feelings. So that’s definitely something I have been working on. My life has been insanely crazy busy. So I haven’t really had much time to be bored, but I’m definitely still working on that. And I think that helps with like still learning to love and be comfortable being alone.

Kelli Wall (18:42)
I

was gonna ask you the next question is what did you learn about yourself? But in that answer you gave it and I think that’s so beautiful to be able to be like, look, I don’t care what you think. I’m gonna go here alone and I’m picking up a lot of that on the podcast when I do these interviews because people don’t wanna wait. So it’s like, why would I sit around and wait if I can just do it myself? So it’s getting over that fear like nobody’s looking at you and if they are, let them look. You’re living your life, do you? I think that’s really amazing that you were able to pick up on that and

Brooke (19:02)
Man.

Thank you.

Kelli Wall (19:12)
Obviously it hasn’t slowed you down at all. So I do want to ask though, because maybe

someone is listening that does feel that way and is trying to work through that. So if you could tell them any advice on how you work through not worrying about what anybody was thinking, not feeling this uncomfortability when you’re solo, any advice you might give?

Brooke (19:20)
Alright.

you

I would just say as far as not caring about people think, if you don’t want to be in their shoes, you shouldn’t care about their opinion of you. If you don’t want to be them, what they have to say or think doesn’t matter. I say that, but I also do want you to kind of take it with a grain of salt because say you do look up to somebody, say you would want to be in Angelina Jolie’s shoes. So it’s like, I would care what she thinks, but you still shouldn’t care what she thinks.

Take it with a little bit of green and salt, but also, I love this saying, I don’t really know if it’s a saying, it’s more just kind of like something to think about. On your gravestone, the only thing is your name, maybe something like loved by or whatever, and then the year you were born and the year you died. And the only thing in between that is a dash. It’s not all your accomplishments, it’s not all your failures, it’s not all the embarrassing things you did, it’s literally just a dash to represent your entire life.

and then in a hundred years from now, in the 200 years, like no one is going to be around to remember anything you did. And that’s just, that just really stuck with me. That’s very powerful because it’s like, this is my life. This is my one and only life I’m ever going to get. Why am I worried about what other people have to say or think I’m going to do what I want? And I don’t want to be on my death bed. You you hear so many people who are older saying like, I wish I didn’t care so much about my outfit or what people thought of me, all this. And it’s like, we hear this.

And then we’re going to say that again when we’re older, like, why don’t we actually take that advice and put it into place now?

so I think about that. I don’t want to be on my deathbed or in the hospital when I’m older, dying and being like, dang, like I really wish I did that, but I was scared or I wish I did that, but I was worried what people would have thought. And that just instilled fear in me. So was like, I don’t want that fear of missing out. I don’t want the fear, the fear of what if I would rather do something and

not necessarily regret it, but I’d rather do something and be like, oh, I actually didn’t like that as much, or I didn’t have as much fun, than wonder what if. I think the fear of what if is stronger than the fear of failure the fear what other people will have to say about

Kelli Wall (21:38)
I am absolutely right there with you. I’d rather take the chance and it not work out and then know because I tried versus always wonder. I wonder if that would have worked out if I would have tried. So I totally hear you. I think that is the right mindset to go. I want to rewind back because you started talking about your British Columbia experience. So I was going to say pick one, but I’m curious. You talked about it didn’t work out maybe the way you thought. Can you give us just a little bit of maybe why that didn’t go quite how you were expecting?

Brooke (21:45)
Right.

So literally right when I landed in British Columbia, it already threw me for one because I landed and I’m at customs. The guy is giving me such a hard time. He’s asking me all these questions and I’m just telling him like I’m here for a work exchange. Like I’m just volunteering. He’s asking all these questions and he sends me off to, you know, I guess the waiting room and they call me back and they’re searching my luggage.

They’re asking me more and more questions and I’m just telling him like I’m here to volunteer like I’m not getting paid. I’m staying on some farm. I’m like there’s dogs there like here just here’s the description. This is what the job thing is. I’m just volunteering like I don’t need a work visa or anything and he’s looking into it and he’s they’re all searching my bag and everything he’s telling me that I’m not allowed to be there because I’m taking jobs away from someone else. That was basically the dumb dumbed down version of it.

that he told me. I think it’s more complex than that. But but what he didn’t understand was like, I’m volunteering, like there is no job. Like I’m not taking away someone’s paid job because they’re not paying anyone. Whether it’s me volunteering or somebody else in Canada volunteering, like no one is getting paid. Like I’m just here to help. I was just very confused and he was just getting mad at me as I was trying to explain it to him. And I’m partially 19. Like this was when I wasn’t very good with conflict.

I used to, I would still say I’m a little sensitive, but I used to be very sensitive. Like I was crying. I was, it was like 9 PM. I was tired. This was like my kind of like really one of my first experiences. was like, Oh my gosh, what is going on? I’m like, they’re trying to send me back to Seattle. I was like, I’m not from Seattle. Like I don’t have a place to stay. Granted I could have just called up my host and been like, Hey, I got kicked out of Canada. Like, can I stay with you again? But he was like,

can send you back to Seattle tonight or tomorrow they have a flight back to Richmond. I’m like, what am I supposed to do, sleep in the border patrol office? I was freaking out, I didn’t know what to do. And so then, literally by the grace of God, I called my host, and so they actually weren’t originally supposed to pick me up from the airport, I was supposed to take a bus, but my…

Kelli Wall (24:00)
Yeah.

Brooke (24:13)
silly self accidentally booked a bus that was like an hour away. Like the bus station was an hour away from the airport. So it just didn’t make sense. So I asked them like, what do I do? And they’re like, we’ll just come pick you up because they were also an hour away from the airport. And they’re like, it just makes sense. We’ll pick you up. So thank God that my host was there. So I called my host and I’m like, they’re not letting me in the country. I don’t know what to do. I’m trying to tell them I’m volunteering, but I don’t think they’re getting that. And then my host asked if he could come back and talk to the border patrol guy.

So my host comes back and starts talking to him. But like right when he walks in, he was like, my gosh, hey dude. And I was like, what’s going on? And turns out he used to work with the border patrol guy back in like 1999 or whatever. And so they get to talking and the border patrol guy was like, you know, like, sorry for giving you guys a hard time. Like, I know you’re a good person. You have good intentions. Like, cause he does have

It’s up to him if he can let me in or not and I think he was really just busting my chops. It really was not that big of a deal. And so my host explained it to him and he was I think just what I said about the dogs made it. Because it was something about them having a commercial business on the property. But it’s like I wasn’t really helping with the dogs. My job was to farm animals. But since I saw the dogs on the volunteer thing, was like, ooh, yeah, I’m coming to help with dogs. Because I was just excited there was going to be dogs there.

Kelli Wall (25:33)
Great.

Brooke (25:35)
I just didn’t fully understand the extent as to what I was doing and so what I said really triggered him made a whole thing of it. But thankfully I was able to get through and I did not get deported from Canada and I was able to go but then I only stayed for a few days because it was just too much. was very overstimulating. So many dogs in the house. Like I said, I thought there was only going to be 10 or 12. There was 40 and

There just was not really much to do there. just kind of started getting homesick. I feel like people don’t really talk about getting homesick as much. I feel like some people might feel ashamed of being homesick because it’s like, you purposely went to go travel. You purposely went away from your home and now you’re feeling homesick. But that is so normal, especially your first work exchanges or your first travels. This is totally something new. It’s so normal to be homesick. And I’m not afraid to say I’m homesick. I’ll get homesick.

still to this day, like it’s normal. You’re out of your comfort zone. You’re out of your home. Like your home is your safe place, your comfort. It’s totally normal. So yeah, that was just a crazy time. And I just canceled my, I just canceled it and rescheduled another one. I don’t even know, went home, literally bawled my eyes out. But I saw my dad, but I mean, it happens. Like I didn’t have a good, really good experience in British Columbia.

But that was kind of my fault. I really did not do my research and I should have known myself better that I was not going to have fun on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no other volunteers. But I had a great time in Seattle so it was literally all worth it. I would honestly do it again in a heartbeat.

It did.

Kelli Wall (27:11)
It balanced out and it goes back to

what you were just saying before that. Like, okay, yeah, sure. Maybe you should have done your research, but what’s done is done. And now you know, now you know, you don’t have to, you don’t have to wonder if you would ever have made it on a farm with 40 dogs. I love dogs too, but I think I’d be right there with you. So yeah. So I was going to ask too. So you’ve talked about dancing and being active and I can feel your energy. What is just a quick rapid fire question. What’s the most.

Brooke (27:18)
Yeah, like lesson learned.

Yeah, it’s a good story too, so well.

Kelli Wall (27:38)
random thing you’ve done on one of these trips that ended up being unforgettable and really just captures this energy that you have.

Brooke (27:46)
my.

I feel like I’ve done like a lot of random things, but guess that captures the energy is me and one of my best friends I actually met studying abroad in Florence. We were in Cinque Terre and we were listening to the song Too Sweet by Hosier in our AirPods. We were sharing AirPods and we were just dancing down the street. were like, we were walking back from the train station and just.

Absolutely dancing like no one was watching not a care in the world literally the biggest smiles on our face Everyone was looking at us, but like we don’t care and I know they’re probably thinking like my gosh She’s annoying Americans, but I was like I’m not gonna let you dome my sparkle I’m having the best time my best friend right now this place is beautiful, and we’re not bothering anyone We’re not singing out loud. We’re literally just dancing down the street So it’s like I could dance house here. I could walk down the street either way it shouldn’t bother you So I don’t think we were bothering anyone and people were actually some people were actually like

kind of like cheering, like some guys were like, you guys are awesome. And so it was cute. And personally, I would literally love to see somebody dancing down the street. That would make me so happy. And just spreading that positivity. But like I said, I don’t care what these people think. I’m having the best time. So I just think that just kind of the energy. And I was so thankful that, I mean, I would have done it by myself for sure, but it just honestly made it so much better to have her, somebody doing it with you.

Kelli Wall (28:43)
Yeah.

Yeah, I was just there this past summer and it’s beautiful. And yeah, I fully support the dancing around. You’re living your best life. I love it. So you’ve been to so many different places. What’s next on your travel bucket list now that you’re graduating from college here soon?

Brooke (29:11)
my gosh!

Yes! ⁓

Mm-hmm.

have always said after college, I want to like live in a van and do van life and road trip. So unfortunately, the van is not in the budget, but I do have a SUV. So I’m going to be road tripping in my SUV. I have I’m not doing really I’m not doing a build out, but I do have something to sleep on. I’ll have storage containers, all that. I’m to put a roof rack on my car and I’m just going to send it out west. a bunch of hiking, all the national parks.

I also mentioned earlier that I’m a part of Young Life, a Christian organization on campus. If anyone is listening to this and you have Young Life at your college, it’s literally the most fun thing ever. Please just go to one club. You don’t even have to be a Christian. I promise they will welcome you and open you with loving arms. It is literally so much fun. So I’m serving on summer staff there for two and a half weeks. I don’t know what job I’m doing yet there. It could be like ⁓ waterfront. It could be landscaping, kitchen, ropes, course, just really anything. ⁓

So I’m serving there for two and a half weeks in Oregon. And I’m so excited to do that. That’s gonna be a lot of fun. And then I plan to go to Hawaii at some point because my friend lives out there. So I would just like leave my car at her house in California and go visit her in Hawaii and then come back, road trip back home all the way to the East coast of Virginia. And then I wanna do a working holiday visa in Australia. So then once I’m out there, I plan on being out there for a while, going to Southeast Asia, just kind of bopping around.

Maybe I’ll do some work exchanges. do my own freelance business online. So I’m that that still works out so I can continue to fund all of this. But if not, I have made some wonderful connections here in Richmond that I’m confident I’d be able to find a job here. But I don’t want to have to because I like doing moving. So let’s hope this all works out and I can continue traveling. But I definitely will be working. People think that a lot of travelers don’t work, but.

Trust, I will be working, but I will also be traveling.

Kelli Wall (31:23)
It sounds amazing. I love this plan that you have laid out. I’m very proud of you and I hope that it does work out. And definitely give us, I’ll make sure to put your Instagram on my website so people can come check out and follow your travels.

Brooke (31:29)
⁓ thank you.

Thank you.

Kelli Wall (31:39)
And as we’re starting to wrap up here, Brooke, I’m curious, what would you say to the younger version of yourself from where you are now when you look back to you getting ready to head to Miami? What would you tell her?

Brooke (31:53)
Oh, that’s good Back to my younger version. Oh, I thought of an answer and now I’m getting teary-eyed.

would just say like, it’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna work out. You are gonna be fine. There were so many nights at Miami I would cry myself to sleep because I felt like I didn’t fit in. I was homesick. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t fulfilled. was just sad.

It was really hard because I was so excited to go there I had this beautiful picture in my mind everything I saw on social media everyone’s having so much fun. I just had really high expectations Which something I have learned is to always lower your expectations, so you’re not disappointed just like knowing how just sad and disappointed she was

I just want to tell her that it all worked out because I feel like if I didn’t go to Miami and I didn’t decide this isn’t for me and I didn’t make that decision to leave, I would not be living the life I’m living. Like if I went somewhere else and I actually liked it or liked it enough to stay, I would not be doing this. Like I didn’t even apply to VCU when I originally applied to college. I was like, I am not staying in Richmond. I’m going somewhere else. And now I’m just so in love with VCU. I love the community here. I love the school. I just love everything about it. I love being close to home.

I think it’s funny because you think you have a plan for your life and you think that’s going to happen but God has something else in store like girl. Yeah, so I would just say it’s all going to work out. It’s going to be okay. So honestly if anyone else is out there in a similar position, just any position where they think the world is crumbling, they think the world is falling, you will get through it and you will be able to look back in a few years.

Kelli Wall (33:17)
Yeah.

Brooke (33:35)
hopefully in a few months and be like, it was worth it. I understand why this all happened. Like did work out and it will pass.

Kelli Wall (33:44)
And like you said, had you not gone to Miami and had it not worked out, you wouldn’t be where you are now. So just because something is not working does not mean that you are on the wrong path. Sometimes that’s what launches you where you’re supposed to be. So what amazing journey it’s been for you. So Brooke, we are getting towards the end here, but before we wrap.

Brooke (33:55)
Right.

Exactly, that’s beautiful.

Kelli Wall (34:07)
I always ask everyone to share one of their favorite solo travel stories. I know that we’ve heard a few, but is there one that you’re like, I haven’t told this yet and I have to share this?

Brooke (34:12)
I don’t know.

maybe, okay, I was in Lagos, Portugal and I showed up to my hostel and there’s like no one there. I was like, ⁓ first of all, I couldn’t find it. And I was walking around forever trying to find it. And this sweet guy

He was also a tourist, he wasn’t like a local and he noticed me looking lost and he was like, here, like give me your bag, we’re gonna find it together. Now that I’m thinking about it, I maybe shouldn’t have handed him my bag because he totally could have ran off with it, but he saw me lugging it around. So then he helped me find it, so sweet of him, just loved the fact, you know, just like travelers looking out for travelers, thought that was beautiful. I get there there’s like no one there and I’m like, wow, like I’m here alone, like I wanna make friends, like I don’t wanna be here alone. Like this was not a trip that I wanted to.

do alone. I wanted to come here and to make other friends. So I ended up canceling that and booking a hostel down the street. And when I got there, I checked in and this other girl and I got the last room, this other girl checked in like 20 minutes, like she already had a booking. She checked in 20 minutes after me. So I was unpacking and she walks in the room and just immediately like we start talking. She’s here solo. We go up to the rooftop pool. We start talking. And then we ended up spending the rest of the four days together because we had the same dates for staying there. It just worked out.

Her name is Talia, she’s from Australia. Love her energy so we still talk, she’s really just the best. We had the best adventures, the most fun nights ever. it was just one of those beautiful friendships where it just kind of all fell into place. And I’m just so grateful to have met her. And I was gonna say this as well, but then I realized this was in Lisbon, not Lagos. This is quick. I took some bolts or whatever, because the bolts are really cheap. I got a discount to a beach.

outside of Lisbon and he just dropped me off kind of in the middle of nowhere and said go that way but that’s what I think he said that he didn’t speak English I didn’t speak Portuguese I was kind of stranded with no service in the middle of some random place for quite a bit but I just kept walking and I eventually found the beach and found people so that’s kind of two different ones but yeah Portugal lots of great memories there

Kelli Wall (36:12)
it’s such a beautiful country. I love those stories. And going back to your first one, right? Your Airbnb didn’t work out, but it introduced you to a great friend in the end. Yeah.

Brooke (36:15)
So beautiful. Yeah, right. Like it

just, everything works out.

Kelli Wall (36:25)
Brooke, thank you so much again for coming on today. I absolutely love your stories and your energy and I am so excited and cannot wait to see what the world holds for you.

Brooke (36:30)
Thank you.

Kelli Wall (36:34)
But before we close out today, I wanna end with three final questions that we ask all of our guests. So starting with the first one, the advice I’d give to someone considering solo travel is.

Brooke (36:50)
The advice I would give to somebody considering solo travel is start small. Go and do things by yourself, whether that’s just going to your local beach, your local cafe, if you have a river or lake in town, just go by yourself, start doing things by yourself, small, and then eventually work yourself up to traveling solo. And I think a work exchange is a great bridge from doing those things alone by yourself, just in your hometown, to actually

traveling on your own and staying in hostels alone because a work exchange you can message with the owner and also see if they accept other volunteers so you can kind of almost guarantee that there are going to be other volunteers there you can be friends with and you can hang out with.

Kelli Wall (37:34)
My favorite part about solo travel is…

Brooke (37:38)
My favorite part about solo travel is definitely the freedom. I love to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. And if I want to go make friends and hang out with people, I can. But if I want some time to myself, then I can be by myself. I’m not obligated to do anything. So that’s my favorite part.

Kelli Wall (37:56)
Something I learned about myself during my solo travels is…

Brooke (38:01)
Something I learned about myself through my solo travels is just how capable I am. I think in this world a lot of people we carry self-doubt because we also compare ourselves to people a lot. But just putting myself out there stepping out of my comfort zone and realizing like hey I can do this, I can do hard things, and I can do things that I have never done before was really powerful to me. And also one of kind of like my life sayings is if you don’t know what you’re doing keep doing it until you know.

what you are doing. So basically it’s fake until you make it, if you just keep doing it, you’ll eventually pick up on it and get it.

Kelli Wall (38:37)
love it Brooke. I am only just getting to know you and I’m very proud of you. I think your story is inspiring. Yes. Well Brooke, thank you again for coming on today. Your energy is so contagious and your story is such a great reminder that solo travel doesn’t have to be expensive and there are other ways to do it. So if you’re curious about trying a work exchange yourself, I hope this episode has given you a little inspiration to take that first step. And of course, check the show notes. I’m going to put Brooke’s Instagram in there so you can watch.

Brooke (38:42)
Thank you so much.

Yes. Thank you. ⁓

Yeah.

Kelli Wall (39:06)
all

of her adventures and support her. Brooke, I wish you all the best and I cannot wait to see what’s ahead for you.

Brooke (39:12)
⁓ thank you so much. I enjoyed talking to you so much. Thank you for doing this.

Kelli Wall (39:17)
You’re very welcome. Take care.

Brooke (39:20)
Yes, you as well. Bye.

Kelli Wall (39:22)
Bye.

Kelli Wall (39:23)
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