Ever wanted to break free from the 9-5 grind and roam the world at will? You're not alone. Our guest for this episode, Ali, has been blazing that trail for three years. Tech professional turned global nomad, Ali now runs her own holistic wellness businesses, indulges in the planet's diverse cuisines and enjoys the freedom of slow travel. Adventure isn't just a buzzword for Ali - it's a way of life.
During her travels, Ali has mastered the art of navigating language barriers, building relationships with locals and even finding vegan food in the most unexpected places. Her journey through East Africa, the bustling cities of Mexico, and the tranquil shores of Thailand provides a wealth of stories, advice, and inspiration for every aspiring wanderer. From learning local cuisines to establishing homestays, Ali’s tales are a testament to the joys and challenges of solo travel.
However, it's not all about the external journey for Ali. She dwells on the importance of mental wellness and how to maintain it while on the move. She shares her unique perspective on love and how she manifested her desires while abroad. So, if you're keen on transitioning from a tourist to a nomad, this episode is for you! Ali's invaluable insights and the lessons she's gleaned from her own journey will surely inspire you to take that leap of faith and start your own travel story.
Ever wanted to break free from the 9-5 grind and roam the world at will? You're not alone. Our guest for this episode, Ali, has been blazing that trail for three years. Tech professional turned global nomad, Ali now runs her own holistic wellness businesses, indulges in the planet's diverse cuisines and enjoys the freedom of slow travel. Adventure isn't just a buzzword for Ali - it's a way of life.
During her travels, Ali has mastered the art of navigating language barriers, building relationships with locals and even finding vegan food in the most unexpected places. Her journey through East Africa, the bustling cities of Mexico, and the tranquil shores of Thailand provides a wealth of stories, advice, and inspiration for every aspiring wanderer. From learning local cuisines to establishing homestays, Ali’s tales are a testament to the joys and challenges of solo travel.
However, it's not all about the external journey for Ali. She dwells on the importance of mental wellness and how to maintain it while on the move. She shares her unique perspective on love and how she manifested her desires while abroad. So, if you're keen on transitioning from a tourist to a nomad, this episode is for you! Ali's invaluable insights and the lessons she's gleaned from her own journey will surely inspire you to take that leap of faith and start your own travel story.
Hey everyone. I am so excited to have our guest today, miss Ali. But before we get started, this is Hughes of Africa. We offer trips to places such as Ghana, colombia, mexico and much more, and this podcast will be all about solo travel. I love solo travel and the reason why I love it is because I ain't got time to wait on nobody. That is simply what it's all about, and I'm getting on that plane, whether you can go or you can go, or whatever the case is, we go in, and Ali definitely puts me in that mind frame. She is all over the world, literally all over the world. You all can't see her hashtag right here, but it says where's Ali? And I think that is a good question that I probably would ask her. Hey girl, where are you at this time? Hey girl, hey, okay, ali, tell us a little bit about who you are and where are you.
Speaker 2:Where am I? What's up? Thank you, tiffany, for having me, first and foremost of all, like giving honor to Tiffany for this moment. But, yes, thank you. Who am I? So? First, my unofficial official title is I'm your global eccentric nomad, but I think I'm going to change that to slow mad because, as you mentioned, I kind of travel and I do slow travel now, which is like I love it, and we'll talk about that. I'm sure I was like amazing.
Speaker 2:Slow travel is amazing, it's so different from just quick traveling, all of that. But we'll get into that. I am 51 years young, 51.5 years young.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't see my eyes. I mean, looks good. You know what they say black don't crack. And that is so true. Like what can you say, ali, look good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just take it for a little bit, thank you, I am a technically not retired, but I just quit my job three years ago at 48. And I was in the IT industry for 27 years and I have one fantastic grown son he's 32, two G babies, okay, and so that's my, that's my, that's my life back over there in the States, my fam and all that. That's that's that back in the States. And I also run a couple of, you know, wellness businesses. So my focus with pretty much everything I've done, including my radio podcast travel. Everything is circled around wellness and well being.
Speaker 2:So a lot of the things that I do are about, you know, holistic living, plant living. I didn't become a plant based eater until 2018. So this is still fairly new. It's just that's all I kind of am now. But I have a beauty and bath holistic beauty and bath. It's called Zewedica Central, so I make all my own beauty and bath.
Speaker 2:I have a lifestyle transformation business where it's health and wellness, it's. I assist people who want to transition to a more plant based diet. I do meal planning and meal prep things like that Yoga CYT guide as well, and now that I am truly living this life, I am what I call a travel guide or travel coach. So I assist people who want to go from the tourist to the nomad or the slow mad. They're wanting to kind of live this life outside of their home and right now there's so many people wanting to exit somewhere that you know I can assist, like I do a lot of onboarding and show people how to get started.
Speaker 2:And I kind of have a friend who just got here. I'm in Thailand, chiang Mai, and I got a friend who just got here a couple of days ago and so I part of that is I walk the streets with them, I show them how to get around, how to get your SIM card, if visas are involved, getting acclimated, meeting people, knowing you know, all of those kinds of things. So that's that's who I am and kind of what I don't know. If that's who I am, that's what I do. But the who I am is I'm just eccentric. I'm out here living my life, living my best life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say living your best life. I was like my motto is living my best life one country at a time, so I can definitely go along with that. So I met Ali in Tulum, mexico. We met at a meetup that was by black. It was a black in Tulum.
Speaker 2:I believe this night. Now I can't think of her name. It was Nubia that was yeah, I knew you.
Speaker 1:I had a ball in Mexico. I was there for two weeks, ali. How long were you there? Four months, okay. So Ali was there for four months.
Speaker 1:I was just just dropping in a bucket for a minute, but I think that was one of the greatest trips. I was saying and I feel like all the trips are great, but I think it was good because it was in the middle of the pandemic and we have been stuck inside for forever, y'all, and Mexico was the only place that was letting us in. That was the international. It was like, okay, covid still exists, y'all, but it was like COVID didn't exist, in a sense, that we were just hanging out and having a good time. And I think that's why I had such a good time, because we had been so caught up in the house and I was like, yay, we're free. We weren't really free, but we were free in Mexico, okay. So that night there was like a rooftop pool party. Yes, ali, I think I met you in the rooftop pool. I think that's where I met you at. We were all sitting there hanging out. Yeah, see, at least she forgot about it, because it's been about two years now.
Speaker 2:I remember I thought I was going to say it was on the beach, but it wasn't on the beach, it was at that rooftop.
Speaker 1:Yes, because I have to go to the beach.
Speaker 2:It was a tribute to.
Speaker 1:Chadwick, oh yeah, they did do that at the end. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So that's how it be. So this is and, speaking on that topic, I was solo at the time, ali. You were living there, but you were still technically solo, right, and so that's what solo traveling is all about. I always say this all the time, if people keep hearing me say it solo travel doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to be solo or necessarily going to be by yourself. The whole point is that you can meet other solo travelers and you never know where that relationship can end up. Maybe it's that one time that you see each other, but then you keep in contact. So we've kept in contact with each other on Facebook and different things like that. So I'm super, super excited about this conversation and I'm excited that you are in a Thailand, so tell us more about Thailand and the community that's there, okay, so first, I am 12, 11 to 12 hours ahead of Central and Eastern Standard Time.
Speaker 2:So it's almost eight o'clock am. My time is daylight for me right now, and I know, you know, we're a 12 hour difference. So depending on the time of year, it's either 12 or 13 hours. So that's how it starts like realizing that you're in literally a whole nother world and know y'all, I cannot get the lotto numbers in advance, otherwise I'd already be a billionaire if I could. That's one of the things is like do we like will they roll out the numbers over here first?
Speaker 1:Right, it ain't like that. And you're in Chiang Mai. I love Chiang Mai. Now I don't know, is there a huge black X back coming? There was before the pandemic.
Speaker 2:So apparently I'm in a couple groups. So you were talking about being solo and not really being solo, and I'm so glad you said that because I think people are get really stuck on this. Are you lonely? Are you alone all the time? And I'm like there are. I'm not even alone on the plane, like it's 165 other people, plus the pilots, you know whatever, and the pets underneath. Like you know you're not alone and you can. You can become acquainted with anyone, like you can actually go and talk to bar staff, like they're always there, they're consistent, and this is how you start to develop relationships, and I talk more about that in some of my guidance that I give around you know people who want to start this thing, but for me, I joined two Facebook groups the first time I was here last year.
Speaker 2:I was here for four months, not in Chiang Mai, but I was in Pataya, bangkok and Phuket, and I joined Brothers and Sisters of Thailand and I ended up meeting a group in Phuket and we are still all connected to this day. And then here there looks like in the group there is a big commitment not huge, but I'm thinking like 40, 50 people that are physically here, that actively attend groups. Now, I haven't run across none of them, but I think it's because I'm staying in what some people would consider and more of a touristy type area. But it's the low key, really inexpensive. It almost feels like you in the local area because you're walking up and down alleys and stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm in Old City and so I don't see, I don't see us in clumps, but they do have meetups and things like that and it's pretty easy to reach out and say, hey, anyone want to grab coffee? You know that type of thing. But what I've learned over time is to not limit myself to group activities. You know, kind of like. You know, even in Tulum, the folks I ended up hanging out with newbie and those guys and then when we ended up trying to dodge the storms because you know I was only going to Mexico for two weeks, I was literally going for seven to 10 days and then when they said the visa is good for six months, oh you decided that that was my visa stamp situation, so I stayed.
Speaker 2:but I ended up meeting people on the streets. Literally I still hang out with my other friend, tiffany, with, you know, just other people that I met along the way, and so I don't really limit it to whether or not I can find a group of people, because a lot of times it's so structured, you know, or they only meet when it, you know, everybody's kind of doing their own thing. I'm a I'm a street walker and I find people as I go.
Speaker 1:And not that type of street walker. Wait, if you, if you wanted to you, could you know.
Speaker 2:I don't think the pay good enough here, right.
Speaker 1:Right, it probably ain't so many of them out there yet. You'll be better off doing what you do now. But no, I like that. You said that because I often mention groups a lot, but it's also, like you said, if the groups are not there or if you don't want to be tied down to those particular groups, that you see, yes, walking the streets and either talking to some of the locals or something like that. That's a completely different, different experience. And, honestly, you're there in the country because I assume that you want to learn and know about where you're at, and so, walking around, you may find the best food spots, you may find, you know, some clothes, like whatever you need. I feel like that is also a good way to actually get to know the city as well. So I'm glad that you mentioned that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I, when I got here, I do something pretty much everywhere. I land anywhere and I send a meetup kind of note hey, anybody want to meet up for coffee? And then this time I actually listed all the things I was looking for nail shop spas, where's everybody hang out, plant based foodie places. I just wanted to hear what people like, because then you can also find out where people also hang out. So you just bump into people organically and the feedback was tremendous.
Speaker 2:I got so many tips and options Muay Thai gyms and you know all kinds of stuff. So when I pass these places I'm like oh, three people preferred this, three, you know that kind of thing, and so that assists as well. So, even if you don't physically like I don't have to go and eat with anybody, you know I'm, food is food. I can sit at the table. Plus, like you know, I feel it's really easy for me. But it's kind of neat because you you don't know, you might actually run into people in some of the spots. Some people are very particular or they go to the same places over and over. I know I do Like I have certain places I go and have my coffee and stuff like that and they are so used to seeing me. Like when the guy checks me out, he's like I'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Right, you're regular at this point.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and they're in. Locals are great. I'm going to tell you guys, that's the difference between tourist traveler and getting into the nomad thing. I'm not an expert, I'm still moving around, that's why I'm in that mad area. But getting to talking with locals you were mentioning is something that I think is really important, because we experience things from an immigrant standpoint, from a tourist standpoint. So even if I'm engulfing myself, I'm immersing myself in the communities, I still don't know nothing. I don't know anything. I know based on what I see and what my perception is. My perception is going to be based on my background.
Speaker 2:The more I travel, the more I learn and the more open I am and the more I'm just like oh, I can explain that. I can explain that different things, but it's amazing to sit and speak to someone, especially if they speak a little English, because I'm telling y'all I can't get tied in. When I was here last time I could say more. This time I can say thank you, god bless and good night, I'm going to work on it. But in Asian countries I struggle because more of their languages pitch, they sing, I sing, but I don't sing well. But anyway, speak to someone who speaks a little bit or very good English and what I mean by speaks that they can comprehend, because a lot of times, when we find someone who could speak our language, we forget that it's not their first language and so we go off into our world of conversation. But to have someone that can, like, roll with you and understand where you're going and what you mean, like if you're asking why does this happen? Why is this?
Speaker 2:And I'm in Thailand now and they just last year I think it was August, july, august timeframe they made cannabis legal, even though they already had it here. They already had shops and places that, like everything was infused with it. It wasn't like I just got back. This is 2023 now, and the last time I was here was March of 2022. And every single store almost has cannabis and it's a really. So you could.
Speaker 2:You could have it anywhere, and I'm not a partaker in cannabis per se, but I know a lot of people and I know it because it's one of those things is like not hush, hush, you don't have to like you know, worry about it and I filming it is somebody gonna get upset. It's everywhere you go to a coffee shop. They offer coffee and we they offer these. You know everything, every you know they have pop, they have all kinds of stuff. And I think that's interesting because I was out in this area hanging out one night. I was just strolling around I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to this spot, this live music, and it's a whole playground out here. I don't know if it was here when you were here. It's the Zozo in yellow and they have a rege bar and then it's like it's just a nucleus. It's like all of these spots in this circle kind of area, tons of bars and stuff and everybody comes out on the streets and it's packed.
Speaker 1:Okay, I didn't see that.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's an old city and so they were shutting down some of the places at 1230. I don't know why some of them have a early you know shut down kind of thing. And it was on a Saturday night. The cops actually were there the wheat shops were still open, people were still smoking.
Speaker 2:They didn't care about that. They would go and be like, okay, you got to leave there because that's closed. And I was like, wow, the focus is so interesting, you know, to be in the street and so understanding, like I wouldn't ask somebody. I was like, why is that? And they were like, oh, because that's legal. But you know they have to follow the letter of the law when, in terms of keeping businesses open and closed and that kind of thing, and the police enforce that. And so getting certain types of information from locals is really helpful, because then it keeps you out of trouble too.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly. So I will say, when I was in Thailand, I don't know, I was trying to get on the train and I don't think we're a log, we're just trying to get our way. I think we're going to a cooking class and I don't know how much English she spoke, but I know I pointed and was like I need to get this place, how do you get there? He was supposed to help me. So I will say point and use pictures is another way to communicate. And I was also going to ask you I know you mentioned about you know a couple of people knowing language so that you can converse with them, but people always want to know how do you navigate without knowing the language, because you're working on a noun. So what do you use to use Google translate? Do you use pictures like? What are you using now to translate for those who don't know English?
Speaker 2:Lots of Google translate. But you know what it's funny I've been. I was in Vietnam for four months this year and then I went to Korea. I did like probably six other Asian countries in the four months and I have not pulled out. First of all, I realized in Vietnam Google translate does not. I don't know what I was saying, but it was not proper.
Speaker 1:And so when I realized, that wait really quickly for Google translate. They probably are using proper terms and not using slang terms or anything like that. So there could be realized that there could be some glitches as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, and that's important to note that. And you have to look at when they download that language. That could be because there might be updates or just transitionally. And the way you can find out if it transitions properly is I look at ingredients and I because it's all in Thai or whatever, or Vietnamese, and you translate it and you know that's not. You know it does not say the moon being or the sky has fallen, and I like it translates to stuff like that and I was like, oh my God, it's not translating properly. And so I ended up asking some people that I knew. But one of the things Google translate was my always my go to.
Speaker 2:Now I, like you said, I point, I pull out my map. If I'm trying to find where I'm going, I'll pull out my map. Most of these places do have rideshare and at the very least, they understand rideshare because you put your destination, you don't have to have cash here In Africa you have to. You have to have cash more because they do took tooks and stuff like that and so. But they speak very good English. In Kenya that's almost their second language, first language almost, and then in Tanzania it's Kiswahili and you Kiswahili.
Speaker 2:Now that I've been traveling other places is easier than it's seen when I was trying to learn it right. But yeah, so I use photos. I use, like you said, I use pointing, I try to explain myself and like if I'm not getting it. So, for instance, I wanted to have some skirts made and I know I can't explain a wrap around skirt, like you know. So you try to do it. I'm very good at my hands. But I just downloaded photos and I said you know, can you make this? And they get it? I mean, you're at a seamstress shop, you want to make something, so it can be a little bit tougher.
Speaker 2:The other thing is to establish relations. This is why it's important to know locals. When you do Airbnb's, I do house sitting and when I house it I got my first house sit here. My first two weeks yeah, first 15 days was at a house sit. I can go to Hannah and ask her anything. She's Korean, but she's been here for eight years and she teaches English, so she has to know Thai right and so if I need someone, she can take me around or she can introduce me to someone. Then I met her neighbors who know her in their time, but they speak very good English. So that's the benefit of actually immersing yourself with the locals, because if you do need something, let's say I actually move here.
Speaker 2:Now I'm getting my house set up and I need furniture and I need to understand how to have things delivered, because it's different than it is in the States. You know you don't go to. They might have like a store, like a Home Depot is just not called that here. They have them in Phuket, like they have home zones and stuff like that, but to deliver it might be. You know you'll get it in a month or something like that.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but you can hire someone. But so to know how to do that and know how they're not going to rip you off and make you sure that you've got the right people and not to say that they would do that, because I haven't experienced any of that. But you have to use caution. I mean, you got to use a little bit of common sense. Don't give everybody all your money up front. It's the same pretenses that we have in the States Wait until you your products are delivered. But having someone for those types of things that can translate or ensure that you're getting what you're asking for, it's really helpful to know someone from the local community.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, those are definitely good points about knowing a local there and that's super cool. Like you said, it started off as a house set, but now you can call her a friend or you can call her if you need her, and so I really want to talk about the language piece, because a lot of people are scared that they want to go to an English speaking country or something like that, because they're like I don't know the language, where there's different ways around a whole lot of stuff. Okay, so another thing I want to talk about. Moving on, I want to talk about the food.
Speaker 1:Thailand has a really, really good food. We took a cooking class, so now, ali, I know how to make pad thai, so I've made it a couple times for my family and they've enjoyed it, and so I was super happy, and that's one of the reasons why I take cooking classes everywhere I go, because food is a big part of the culture. Okay, and Thailand has great local food. If you don't like local food, for whatever reason, they have the food that we have that. But I wanted to make sure you know we try the local foods, and so you mentioned that you are now plant based or you're a vegan eater and I know there are a lot of vegan eaters in plant based. So how do you navigate, finding the foods that you need or you want? And I know veganism is a big thing now so it may not be that difficult, but I know there are people. That's another reason we want to talk about the things that are stopping people from traveling or doing certain things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Go ahead and talk about how do you navigate these, eating differently from most people.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, okay. So you're absolutely right. Cute keywords, veganism, vegetarianism and all of that, and you would think that it's everywhere. It ain't it ain't everywhere, okay. So part of it is one being open to trying cultural dishes and understanding cultural food. Right, that might mean that you have to do a little bit of homework, you know, I'm going to tell you this to everybody. There's a Burger King or McDonald's, like everywhere, and I used to hear people say, oh my God, I was so happy to see McDonald's and I was like, ew, you're in Tokyo, right.
Speaker 1:Okay, wait wait wait, let me stop you real quick on that one. So this one wasn't my fault. Okay, which I don't mind traveling down other places, but talking about scamming, okay. So I took this tag you mentioned. Right, Cher, I took a taxi from the hotel, so I'm thinking all is good. Well, you will hear that in Thailand they have these scams where the taxi drivers will take you to where they want to take you or a friend or somebody else. That's not your destination.
Speaker 1:Yes, so this man took me to about three different places. Almost let me out. And I was like in my head. The guy, the concierge, said it will look like this when you get there. So again, we stopped at one place. It was like a back alley. I said I know this ain't the place. I say you need to take me to my place goes to another place. Still the same thing. I said you know what? I don't know if he understand English, and I did understand time but I say you better take me back to my destination. When I said forget it, just take me back to the hotel. I say all that to say that he did end up taking me back to the hotel and was asking for money along the way as well, but that's another story. But he never took me to my destination.
Speaker 1:My destination was a show and food. So at this point, Ali, I'm hungry, I'm like, oh, what am I going to eat? Is getting late at night. So what was closest to the hotel? A McDonald's. And that's exactly where I went. I think I got some chicken wings I don't know if I tasted the mango and the sticky rice. So I said all the say that I wasn't trying to go to McDonald's, but that's where we ended up. So McDonald's can be clutch and McDonald's they are they. Some of the food is different. On the main, like you know, sticky rice and mango in LA here, right. So that is another reason why to try it. But that's, that was just a size story. I had to tell you about my McDonald's story.
Speaker 2:But that I was going to say. The one thing that you will find is, when you go to these places, they're so different. When I was in Lake Como, italy, there's I don't know if it was a McDonald's or what it was, but I was walking by and I was looking at all the bird. This is when I ate meat. So, yeah, this was 2014, ish, I think. So this one I ate meat. And I remember going by and I was like I had eaten fast food and probably 20 something years or whatever, I still was eating meat, but I wasn't frequenting Burger Kings and stuff like that. And when I saw, you know, so it's intriguing. So you're like wait a minute, how did the? I got to ask you how did the McDonald's taste? Like you said, you got wings, nuggets or whatever.
Speaker 1:It tasted fine it was, but I was like we don't have wings at home. Yeah, I'm going to try the beer. So they were decent, so it was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's crazy. So that's one of the things you can't. And another thing if you can't find like a KFC is big, now Burger King is big.
Speaker 1:It's a hug Everywhere as well, is true and the line be out the door.
Speaker 2:Even in Tanzania their pizza hut, the line be out the door. But 7-Elevens. In Asia 7-Elevens are everything and they're like many grocery stores. So you can go in, you can get the rice, patty thingies with the beans and the stuff inside. If that's going to cost you like a dollar, you know you get a whole meal from the little refrigerator area, whereas when we go back home we're not usually walking in to get a hot dog. We usually don't do that. Some people do. We're not buying sushi. Everybody tell you, don't do it At these. You can Like I literally will go in and stuff my refrigerator with food from a 7-Eleven. I'll get all my facial stuff that I need. Everything here got collagen in it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, but what was the question? Oh, the food.
Speaker 1:The chips too. Have you seen the chips in Thailand? They have. When I say you every flavor and it actually tastes like what it says on the bread, I think I got a chicken sauce they want and it tastes just like it. But I got mad because I wanted the real thing. I'm like I want the actual food. That's how much they got them flavors down pat Going at 7-Eleven and that's just what. The KitKat bars they got a million different KitKat Like. Yeah, I got to try the food out there. So, Ali, the question was how do you find your vegan food? And again, for the other vegan travelers that are out there, how do you help them out while they're traveling?
Speaker 2:Okay. So with vegan food it's kind of like anything. I use Google Maps to do a little research, and this is also how I determine what area I'm going to stay in. I'm a person who loves to walk. I will walk.
Speaker 2:I usually try to plant myself about a mile away from a grocery store because I will walk and that's part of my get my exercise in every day, because I do partake in liquor and so I try to offset that you know, but I usually try to place myself in close proximity that if I don't have a kitchen because I'm in a hotel right now because this is a short stay here in Chiang Mai it's a month but it's split but where I'm going for two months, I'll have a kitchen and everything. So I say, if you're going to be in a hotel room, first Google, look specifically for vegetarian or vegan and don't limit it to vegan restaurants, places that actually have vegan options. There are certain places where it is really hard pressed unless they are vegan style places, and those are usually more expensive. I was in Korea and Korean barbecue is real. Everything is Korean barbecue, which means it's meat. Everything is meat.
Speaker 2:I found one place, me and some ladies that I met, one at the airport and one on a Facebook group called host sister. We met up and they wanted hot pots and I was just like as long as there's vegetables somewhere, I can get it. It's hard pressed to find them. We were in one of the areas that's just like buildings and restaurants and bars and everything, and we stopped because they wanted the hot pot. I ended up getting a hot pot. It had pork, but I just said can I? They understood good English. I said can I have this Because it had so many vegetables? I said no pork, no meat, just extra kimchi or whatever. I had a whole hot pot of all veggies.
Speaker 2:So that's the other thing that you can do is if you can go to a place and you look at the menu, you see that they actually have veggies. You can go and ask them if they will conform their menu for you. I paid the regular price. I was like I'll still pay the 17. I don't know, I can't remember the dong or whatever the currency was. I'll pay the same amount, but I just don't want the meat. And so sometimes you have to compromise in those types of things. If you're looking for like vegan food, like you want soul food but it's vegan, you might have a hard time finding it. But, like in places like Thailand and even Korean stuff, just to go get noodles, you can get noodles and say hold the meat. You know, you could say I don't want the pork in it, I don't want the beef in it and you can have, like you said, pad Thai, you can have ramen, you can have pretty much anything that is of that local cuisine.
Speaker 1:Ali, did you have a harder time in Africa finding vegan food?
Speaker 2:I was going to get to Africa. So, when I spent a year in Kenya and Tanzania and because I had an apartment, it becomes easier, so I shopped and I had just had fruit and stuff delivered to me. I can share y'all the services. It's like a lot of people end up meeting locals and stuff that helped me with that. But the hardest thing in Tanzania was if you go to a restaurant and you could and this was something also I noticed in Mexico as well was really interesting.
Speaker 2:They'll tell you that they don't have vegetables, but they have a vegetable bar for tacos, and so I would just pay for tortillas, plain tortillas with a potato in it, because they couldn't conceptually understand that. That's one of the things that'll happen. Is I? This is what I said be open and also start working on your chi and patience, because sometimes they don't understand when you say I don't want meat. That's sometimes very confusing to them, right, like when I was in Tanzania and I remember I went to a comedy show and the guy was talking and I don't know how he got on me and being oh, I don't know, oh, because I said I was from Texas, and he was like, oh, our beef is better or something. I was like, I don't know, I don't eat meat. Oh, my God, the oxygen that left the room and we were outside. They were like, oh, I'm so sorry. I was like help me.
Speaker 1:Right. What is funny because I probably feel like that was a devil in you endo what he said, but you, you caught him on the other end of that.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay, so I'm back. I don't know where I cut off, tiffany, but in Tanzania and in Kenya one of the things that I struggled with was if I would go. So they had something called Kachambari, which is basically a cabbage tomatoes. Sometimes it had cucumber in it, you know, and it was just a lime juice dressing and all that. It was the bombcom because they would marinate it, whatever, but they would put like this much on the side that was like their balance to a plate of meat or plate of eggs or whatever.
Speaker 2:And so I would ask because you could go to the little carts and they would have all of that Kachambari ready to be made, because they mix it up and put it in on your plate then and then the meat, and I would say can I have a plate of that, like a three point, that right. And they would like I don't understand. I was like I don't, I don't want the meat, I just want this. And a lot of times I couldn't figure out how to charge me and I would just pick something and say charge me this like you know. Whatever you know, you can, I'm willing to pay, I just don't want the meat. And once they got it and I would order fries and I would make like a whole nacho thing and then I'd show it to them and they'd be like oh, you know, you're helping the next vegan eater that comes along.
Speaker 1:You're like oh okay, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just you, with anything traveling and I'm sure, tiffany, you can attest to this you got to be open minded, like you really have to consider that. First of all, you're in a different place, words are different, you know. The way that we would eat is different. Like a lot of places, they don't mix fruits and vegetables. They don't mix putting vegetables on meat, because the way our body breaks things down it's not, it does, it makes it harder for our body to break down. So the way we eat with all of the combo foods is actually tough for our bodies.
Speaker 2:We should technically eat separately and within you know, at least an hour of each other fruits and hour from each other, because they do different things. Fruits are more detoxing, whereas vegetables are muscle building, you know, and meat as well. Meat is protein building, so you know, builds up, you know all of that. So when you think about it, you combine it. Now your body is confused and when you go to other places you start to realize that that's actually how they eat. I don't know if it's like scientifically. They go. Well, you know we can't eat this within an hour. They just don't do it, so they call it. They don't eat like a burger with salad on it. They say salad for for tomatoes and lettuce and you're like what do you put on it? So you go to a place that's more Western and they give you all the fixings and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And they start to cater towards the tourists. At some point, they're like oh, this is how they like their food, so this is how I'm going to do it as well. So let's go into that next topic. Since you already mentioned, you talk a lot about wellness, and that's kind of what you focus on as well. So talk to me about what part of wellness you focus on. You mentioned yoga and you mentioned some other things. So what do you do to make sure that you are staying healthy? Well, at this point, these are like your home, so it's not just a quick oh, I'm going to go to the gym. So how do you incorporate wellness into your life? And to helping other people with that while you're traveling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like I said, it's very I'm very strategic. I place myself where I can walk, even if it's not a walkable city. Like I figure out, places are not walkable. Once I get there and I'm walking, I'm like, oh, they're about to run me over, but I'm going to.
Speaker 1:There's no, there's a sidewalk.
Speaker 2:Like saying because, in Vietnam, the sidewalks are for motorbikes. You don't. You don't walk on the sidewalk, maybe looking at you because they're pulling in, and Vietnam's one of those. But every Asian country is different in terms of courtesy, slash, rudeness, what we would consider courtesy and rudeness. You'll never understand in this about my walking thing, which you'll never. I never understood why, if I'm walking in this direction, why somebody coming on a bike just wouldn't go around, go behind me to park because I'm going to pass where they're going, why they will cut. I mean, they literally will cut and stuff and you have to go. It's the weirdest thing, right? Anyway, so I place myself in areas where I know I have to walk, so it forces a walk.
Speaker 2:When I was in Vietnam, my walk to the area that I like to be in was about 40 minutes in the burning hot sun, but my route I ended up finding the boardwalk by the ocean, and the boardwalk by the river was very walkable.
Speaker 2:They make it for people who are walking, running or whatever, and that gave me an opportunity to go by the ocean, which is a health rejuvenator for me. I need water and so that was part of how, because mental wellness is just as important as physical wellness. A lot of times we can't be in a good physical state or we don't maintain a good physical state if we're mentally stressed, and I experienced that last year. I came back to the States to handle some things and it definitely flipped me upside down, and so I'm recovering and, and you know, resetting myself from that time that I was there, so strategically placing myself where I'm going to be. Someone asked me yesterday why I don't ever rent motorbikes, why I stay in places for months and months on end and I never rent a motorbike. I said because then I won't walk, because one, because if I'm a formal bike, it's complete.
Speaker 1:It's completely true. I, when I lived in DC, I didn't have a car. I was there for school. Here I have a car. What do you think? I jump in my car everywhere I go. I'm not walking anywhere, except for you talk about 711. I have a 711 across the way. For me, that's about the only place that I walk. And so it. When you have no choice, you have no choice. So in DC I didn't have a choice. So what do we do? Everybody's walking in this city, everybody's getting on the train.
Speaker 1:So it is very true, if you don't have these tools, that ain't gonna make you and you ain't gonna do it. So that's, that's a good way that you said that and you mentioned mental wellness. I think a lot of people assume that just all their travel is great, we love travel, makes us happy. We also put we have to realize, when it comes to our mental health, just because you go to another country does not necessarily mean that there's a quick fix, in that the mental health issues maybe that you have at home is going to automatically go away. So how do you, how do you take care of your mental health, because maybe your family's not around, I don't know, if you use a therapist like, how do you also make sure you're mentally okay as well?
Speaker 2:Find your vices, the things that you love. Part of getting out into this world is understanding who you are, and I think when we're surrounded in, you know what we've been conditioned to do every day. I mean I'm I didn't leave the workforce until I was 48 and I worked for 36 years. So that's a lot of reversing right, reversing mentally what I think I'm supposed to be doing to be successful and to be happy. Now I do nothing. When people ask what do you do and aren't you bored? No, not at all, because we've been trained to believe that we have to be physically doing something all the time to work. We have to justify our existence.
Speaker 1:That's the culture in America. We are taught to work, work, work. I guess it happens in other places, but I find the other places at least definitely gonna give you more than two weeks of vacation. So that tells you what the how they value us and the amount of pressure that they put on us to work. So it is true, and I'm glad you're retraining your mind because most of us will work 30 something years. You know what I'm saying. So now and then the other thing, which is, uh, you know, sometimes you hate to think about these things. So somebody talked about midlife. Right, we always say midlife is 5060s, but somebody pointed out that what is our lifespan? If our life and we only gonna live to 7080, then our big life is 40 or 50. So it's kind of like I need to make sure that I'm living. You find a lot of people that retire and then they're gone a couple years later, but they never got a chance to enjoy this life as they had, because they're always working.
Speaker 2:Our conspiracy theory is the United States is very smart with that retirement age because people were dying at 70. So they only paying retirement for three years, but you've paid into in your entire working life, right, so enjoy it Like I wish I could take it out when I want to take it out, I you know, like if I you know want to take it now.
Speaker 2:why can't I take it now, even though it's going to be less than it would be whatever, you know? Why can't I decide when I want it right? So this is all these systems. We gonna talk about that another day.
Speaker 1:Part of the other way is Right, but no, that's a good point though, but keep going. I know what you just said.
Speaker 2:I'm like hmm, Like I had to do research and understand how retirement dollars work, because I have not legally been in the in the workforce for three years and so I was thinking I was like, oh my God, is this going to affect?
Speaker 2:No, they take your top 35 years of working and that's how they calculate and you can go on the Social Security government government site and actually pull up your account because if you legally work, your account is going to show you, if I take my money out at 63 6567, what I will get each month right, and it's based on my top paying 35 consecutive years. So it's going to go from when I made the most money, when I made six figures back, and that's what is going to calculate it off of now. If I go and I'm making six figures in the next year or something, it'll tally those in. But I'm not penalized for having no, you know, my income dropping tremendously because I completely, when I quit, when I say I quit, I quit- which is which now I'm thinking about a person like myself or my generation.
Speaker 1:That's a problem. And I say that's a problem because we are not working consecutively anywhere. We are generations like if I like something, I may stay for two years, I may have to the other job. Not everybody is doing this, but we are in the era where my mom which my mom and you maybe around the same age I've been in her job for 20 years. You know what I'm saying, and so she'll look at me like why are you switching jobs? But I feel like this new generation is that's just not who we are. We don't stay in one position because we want to grow or want to do this or we do that. So that's. That's another interesting topic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not staying at one job, it's just consecutive years. So they just look at your top paying 35 years, whatever those years were broken up. Yeah, and when you go and research it and then I tell people all the time, if you want to know where you stand right now, just go on the on the social security government site and it'll show you how much money you'll be receiving and the reason that that's important. I know you're like what do I do for mental health? And it's the walking, it's the ocean, if there is one. I'm in a place where there is no ocean, but I walk around, I meet people and I do yoga exercise. We have a little gym downstairs. I started actually getting into weights because I really I've lost a lot of weight, muscle mass. Muscle mass is so important. I used to be a person where, you know just, my physique was more muscular, so I was like I don't want to lift weights because I don't want to look all bulky, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 2:You build the muscle so that you extend your life. Muscle helps your body, your bones stay mended, that a lot of people end up with osteoporosis and all kinds of things because their muscles aren't strong enough to support their bus, their bones. Our bones and stuff grow and mold when we're young and then they also do the same thing as we get older. That's why you start to see people hunching over. You start to see people. You know you're cricking in the arthritis and it's because the muscle density is not what it used to be. So if you're lifting weights and you're you're also creating oxygen in your muscles and your muscles need oxygen to stay flexible. You know you start to do try to do them that squat and that whole everything start.
Speaker 2:Listen, the oil is not oil. And so I'm getting back into weight training. You don't have to do a lot. Literally go and buy a 10 or 15 pound dumbbell or kettlebell and the the I have one sitting here. I was gonna pull it out, but the brace thing, I carry that with me. I have a jump rope that I travel with and I have a yoga band that I travel, travel with, and that's really all you need on your whole lot of stuff, and so that's how I include trying to stay physically.
Speaker 1:I was also gonna say it was funny because I've seen I don't have you did that. It was like a gym in Tulum. But it's funny how we like the stuff that we use for exercise. The people in other countries are so innovative at the things that they use. We may use a dumbbell, but they may use a huge rock or whatever. It doesn't have to be like the machinery that we use long. It's heavy and can be like something else than that is what they were used to. I really like that. They also kind of think outside the box. So my other question for you is in terms of slow travel, how many places have you been where you slow travel and what makes it home? Because you have to make these places your home now.
Speaker 2:So what are those places and how have you made it you know where you reside at so I started more slow traveling in when I left my job in 2020, right at the heart of COVID. I had planned on doing that before COVID even became a thing, so my slow travel was supposed to start in Spain and I basically what keyed off me deciding to resign from my job like 100% is I didn't want to come back. I wanted to start to make my way down the east coast of Africa. Had been on the west side only to Senegal and Morocco, but I hadn't you had hit that curve yet, but I'd done that and I wanted to check out the east side, really because I really believe that my ancestry is from the east side. Like I just I haven't done. I don't do ancestry stuff like I just I that's not my thing, but I believe in looking at people and you can look at, you can look at features and things like that and, quite honestly, we don't realize how close we are to Asia. If you just look west, if you go to California, you we are closer than I am to the people in New York because of the distance that you know, but it's cheaper to anyway. That's all the distance that you know.
Speaker 2:So my, my slow travel started in 2020 and I started in Mexico and it was a fluke. It was I needed to get out and because I typically travel every so many months, when I had my job, I had over 50 days of vacation and I was taking two weeks, three weeks in December every year and I was doing the what I call air cruising. I would hit five countries, multiple continents, 10 plus cities, in three weeks, hitting spaces. You know different countries and places in. You know three days every three days moving around, and I loved it.
Speaker 2:And then I went to Mexico and the the immigration guy was like, how long are you staying? And I said no, seven to 10 days, because I didn't research. I didn't research staying longer, because I was just going to get away and I was going to come back. I went on like a $40 exchanged American airline flight and got changed back. So I was like, oh, this is dope, let me go down here, right. And when they said 180 days, I did quick math in my head and I was like that's half a 360. So I said, oh, that's six months. And then it occurred to me, oh, we can stay in Mexico for six months and they just let us in, we don't need no visa, we don't need to show paperware, we didn't need anything and I went when we was shut down, like everything was still closed for the most part when I got to Tulum, so it was very peaceful, it was super quiet and little by little, it started opening.
Speaker 2:What I decided is I just decided not to come back. I decided to stay for four months. So Mexico was my start, and then my goal was always to get to East Africa. When I realized Tanzania had never shut they never shut down, they didn't. We did. We needed a visa, but we get a year visa. In Tanzania, you still have to leave every 30, every 90 days, but our visa that is grant to us is for a whole year. So you're good, you don't have to apply for another visa and it's only 50 bucks if you do it online. At least, that's what it was in 2021.
Speaker 2:And so I went to Tanzania and I stayed there for about seven months. I went in December. I went to Egypt while I was there for like about three weeks and now, like my travel is minimum three weeks to a month. I'm at that point in time and now I'm at a space of it needs to be at least two months, preferably six, because time goes by so fast and other reasons for that is as you, as you can establish like your home stay and actually get much cheaper rates. So I was written in Tanzania and then I went.
Speaker 2:I we had a situation that happened in our family and I needed to get away July of 2021. So I took a bus from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa, kenya. That's a whole story in itself because we got stopped by immigration, all of that. They wouldn't let us across. Some people I knew from another city happened to be on the other side of the wall. It's a you need to meet people. You have to meet. These people got me across the board and they waited for us to drive us across because the bus left us. Listen, travel with Ali, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you got stories like that. Yeah, so craziness that ensues at borders. Yes, yes, but I don't want to.
Speaker 2:I don't want, like that's another conversation, because I want to make sure it's not a terrifying thing, because it doesn't have to be. Everything can be. Most things can be avoided. A lot of times listening to the wrong people and things like that, who I've learned how to take information. I learned how to discern information, and those are things that I teach my clients when they're wanting to go off on this venture. I'll be extending my visa here in Thailand next week. The lady who's here. I said hey, do you want to wait until I get back and we'll go together so I can show you how to do it, because I've done it before so I know how this works. She was like oh, I don't have to hire anybody. I was like no, you just go up and do it yourself. Takes 20 minutes to an hour if you go to the right immigration offices. But anyway, I was in Kenya. I ended up going to Kenya for a couple of weeks. I stayed for six months. I left almost a few days.
Speaker 1:That's your story. I was only going for and I stayed for. That should be your tagline. To be like tagline how long am I staying?
Speaker 2:That's why I like where's I'll leave just stuck right, because it's like, okay, wait a minute. You know, that was something I had way back in the day. People would say they would put a APB on me because they were like when are you?
Speaker 1:Right, which is, which is funny, my YouTube name is actually where in the herd is Tiffany?
Speaker 2:Where the herd?
Speaker 1:is.
Speaker 2:We are the same thing when we at, you know. But I went to Kenya and Deani became like my official home. I did seven, six cities on the coast. I went to Nairobi as well, and Deani Beach is the place that I love the most, so I spent a lot of time there. I ended up having all of my stuff friends. A local friend from Tanzania shipped, went to my apartment I had stuff in two places in Tanzania and he packed up my stuff, bought bags, put it on a bus, it was delivered to me in Kenya and I just went and picked it up from the bus station. I had a driver and he was always available if I needed him and he and he sat and waited for four hours for us because the bus, be saying, is going to be there at a certain time. You just need to wait for the bus. Okay, so tomorrow works. Establish some patience, start doing your meditation, get your mind right, because life is different, it's so beautiful Once you embrace ease, once you embrace pure Vita, once you embrace go slow.
Speaker 2:You know it's going to be here tomorrow. That's why you go to some places like in Belize, and they have one hospital, two cemeteries. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to die, but a lot of people don't need to go to the hospital because they don't have a live life with ease, slow down, enjoy life, and it takes time to get out of that pace. So Kenya is a place that I definitely will call a second home. I spent a lot of time in Belize. I've been in Belize like three or four times. Belize will be one, and that's partly because it's easy for my family to get there, because everybody for the most part is in Texas. It's a two and a half hour flight. They speak English, so a lot of people can feel comfortable going there in shorter vacations and it's very easy to buy land forever in Belize. So that became one. I recently went to Columbia for two and a half months, something like that. Columbia will be a third home. I don't know what you're ordering again, but Columbia is one, and I spent some time there.
Speaker 2:I was. I love, I loved, loved, loved it and I was so surprised. I was surprised, I love Kali as much and it was inland, there's no water.
Speaker 1:That's where I caught COVID at, but yeah. So I didn't get a chance to explore where I was stuck in, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Kali was amazing. I'm actually producing a video now about comparing Santa Marta to Cardi Hanna, and so people be surprised about what I say about that. And then. So I've been to 16 countries in the last 35 months and Panama, probably Panama, and then some of my little pass-through places in Asia because I have to do, you have to do border runs. In Vietnam, we were only getting 30 days. Next month the visas increased to 90 days. So you apply for the visa one time and you get 90 days in Vietnam. So now Vietnam, and I didn't know I was going to like Vietnam. This is before. This is when they had 30 day visas and I'm making border runs. That's the reason I left was because of the border runs every month.
Speaker 2:I don't like somebody telling me I have to do something at a certain time all the time, and so it just became. It's like you know this is annoying. You could do border runs like bus border runs, but I was like, if I'm going to pay the money and go somewhere, I want to see some other countries as well. I don't want to just go to Laos, and then I have a whole video on why that became an issue for me, not for everybody else per se, but that became an issue. But I stayed in Vietnam for four months. Vietnam is so much a home. I'm going back on Sunday for like two days to reset my Thailand visa and I could have gone anywhere. I had to apply for a visa to get to Vietnam, but I know how to do it, like clockwork mail, so it takes nothing. I'd rather go and do that than just run to Malaysia or Singapore because I got friends there so I'd rather just take a quick trip. This is like going from Dallas to Oklahoma. You know Cali to Right.
Speaker 1:What you make friends all over the world, then hey, it's always a good place to go. So we should we talk about dating really quickly before we get out of here, should we? Sure, why not, let's do it. So we. I love talking about dating. We have a whole separate season on dating abroad, but while we have Ali on here, we might as well just talk about it for a couple of minutes. So tell us, what is it like dating? And you've been to a bunch of different places. You just had 16 countries. So what has it like been dating in those different places? And is that something that you look to like when you're deciding where you want to go? I mean, like, how are you meeting these people? And like, do you think it's easier like abroad than in the States? I got so many questions I'm sorry, I threw like four or five at the time so we may need to have you on on the other season about dating abroad. We may need to have you on that, I'm available, I'm going to let you decide which one.
Speaker 1:Do you want? To talk about it here? Do we want to do? We need a whole new session for that one.
Speaker 2:We need a whole other session, but I will answer a couple of things because it also bleeds into the question you just asked me around how I decide what would be a home for me.
Speaker 1:Because it definitely-. Okay, let's tackle that question and then we'll have you on for another conversation. Just so little, yeah.
Speaker 2:So so part of deciding where I'm going to go now, at my age not my age, but at my point in life One of the things I always say is, in my travel course, I ask the first thing is, just know your why? Why are you doing? Whatever it is that you say you want to do, or you have this big dream in it. Now you want to make it more than a dream. If travel is your thing and you're really talking about relocating, we can't ignore this thing called love. You can want to ignore it, all you want. You can say I'll never date anyone, ever again, and that's your choice. But that doesn't mean that it won't present itself Right. And so I had.
Speaker 2:Of my last 35 months, I've been in 16 countries, but overall I've been at like 35 ish, 34, some places more than once, and I Didn't really pay attention to the dating part until I was in Kenya in 2021 and I Finally settled down like mentally, you know, really releasing all this stuff I've been working on since 2018, resetting my mind right and I was like, why wouldn't I want it? Like I love, love, like I love. And we ain't gonna say everything I love, but you know, I'd like you know the reality of this is a silly.
Speaker 2:A lot of people I know use dating sites. I haven't used any since I've been abroad. I have met people organically. But if you want to, like I know somebody. She keep me up to date on all her fiasco's and I'm entertained, highly entertained by it.
Speaker 2:But one of the things that I look at I go to a place and spend a couple of months, and this is part of why I walk around. I look for walkability, I look for access to things, I look for Genuinely kind, open, local people, because those are the people that you have to rely your life on. Like are they going? Are they welcome, welcoming of me? Do they look at me funny outside of? You know, sometimes you'll get like the stair but I got more stairs in Kenya Like people would literally stop and stare and I had to ask someone about that was like, why do you stare? I'm like I'm black and I like no, you're not. That's one of the conversation for another day Um, yeah, whoo, it's, it's tougher. It was tougher there for me. Then it has been anywhere else in the world and I've been to probably 10 Asian countries and you're all in and I also start paying attention to. Are the men there Datable? So sometimes you'll find places where you'll get the, the 20 to 32 age, 35, age gap grouping and then the retirement.
Speaker 2:I Realized that I'm not in retirement company and I tend to attract 30 issues Right, but there's a fine line. So I had to start defining what am I looking for? What would I be looking for? Because of course I would like a companion. Why not?
Speaker 2:You know, when I started thinking about what I really wanted, you know, in life, me wanting a companion didn't go away. It just wasn't the forefront, it wasn't what I was trying to do for me, and so I kind of lost Track. It like it wasn't, wasn't high on my list of things, and now it is. So I kind of manifested this whole what I want to when I was in Kenya and I was like this is what I want and Honestly, I was presented with it. I'm gonna leave that. What ended up happening when I was in Thailand last time? But I was presented with it and this is the part about being open, because it didn't look like what I had to find. It was supposed to look like, but it was everything that I literally say it, when I went down was just like.
Speaker 1:You're like, oh, this is right, it's actually coming true, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so being open in those, because, you know, a lot of times we don't realize that opportunities are there and presenting themselves, because and we miss out on things because it's not what we want. But then we, we and I'm a ring look Christ into this. You know, we said we put everything in the Lord's hands. But do we really? Because the Lord be feeding us stuff? And then we'd be like, but I don't, I don't, don't want that, okay, well, do you want him to lead? Because manifestation the same, as you know, people just use different words it's the same as allowing God to place in your lap what you call for, what you're asking for, you know, and if you're gonna consistently deny what you actually want, then what do you want? Do you really know what you want? Right?
Speaker 1:You know what you want, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I realized that that is a big part of Me, establishing where I want to go, and then also cost is a big part of it. Can I stay there long term? What's the flexibility of a country in terms of visa? Because you guys, when we leave the United States or wherever home is now, we are immigrants and Just like anybody else going anywhere else with that and this is not our home, we are not legally supposed to be like and I can't figure out why the world has borders. That's my biggest question is why do I need to? Why can't I go where I want to go? As far as long as I want to go? It just tax me. You know I'll pay taxes anywhere. You know if I'm not living in a certain place, I shouldn't pay taxes. If I'm living somewhere else, I should pay. That's my, that's my, my view of it. The world should not have borders. Right, we should be able to live wherever we want to live. But I know that throws up the constructs of how everything is designed. But part of that is understanding Costs for me, including visas and things like that. But then also, if I sit down, is it a place that it might not have the companion Situation that I'm really looking for, but it's set up in a way that cost-wise, I can move around and use it as my base. That's why I am right now in my life I'm looking for a base home, and right now the short end, the easy end, is Thailand, in Vietnam, because of the price point, because it's so easy, because they don't I'm, I walk around like any old other person. They don't look at me twice, you know, and I'm saying it's not like I mean, it's just the free-ness of being in those spaces of free that I've never felt in the United States, because that's my home base and so it's it's the peace of mind, is Part of the one of the real drivers there. And so if I can get close enough to all of those things, then dating becomes easier, because then you're at peace a little bit more. You can, you can move around.
Speaker 2:And if I want to go and visit people that I've met because in this space, you know, tiffany, you meet people you meet people that you could have romantic relationships with, plutonic but really good friendships, business partner type options that you want to explore and stuff like that so you kind of have to move around. Somebody. That from Tanzania just messaged me. I haven't talked to this person in two years and he sent a message. He's like oh, my house is almost done in this area. You know you're welcome to come. And I was like, yeah, and so dating becomes a has. Dating is a big part of what I look for. I walk around the first thing I do is look at the man. Do I, would I date any of them?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna keep this now. This is good. So we are so y'all that that's gonna be the cliffhanger on the dating part. You guys will have to watch the other or listen to the other season, where we actually go into death. We'll take a whole nother hour just to talk about that alone. So, ali, give us some any last final words or advice you want to give. We talked about wellness, language. We talked about food, veganism. We talked about mental health. We talked about physical health. So any last words. And then also tell us, where can we find you in? If the audience is interested in your services, how can they reach out to you?
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you. Um. So yes, my last words here. I'm gonna actually Type in my link in my name so people can actually see it.
Speaker 1:Um and we'll also have all of your stuff Um in our nose, so they'll be able to physically see it as well. So now you can just kind of say it out loud, and then we'll also make sure that okay.
Speaker 2:So the easiest way to find all of my links in contact and Anything that I'm doing Is on link tree, and it's where's Ali W-h-e-r-e-s-a-l-i and my kind of walking away comments and thoughts are Simply get out of your own way. Get up and do it. If you're a black woman, understand that, and this is for anybody. But just kind of talking about us, because I think we hold a lot, um to our heart of you. Know what other people expect of us. I know everybody does and somebody will be like well, men do too, and I get it. But as a black woman, I want to talk to other black women in this instance and say it's okay to negate the path that other people have given you if, if truly deep down inside, you are at angst and In angst and you know it's not what you want. I don't mean you don't. You got to cut cold turkey, because there's ways that I got to this point to do what I'm doing right now. Um, and and we could talk about planning and different things like that you do have to position yourself. So I say get out of your way. Um, stop sabotaging when you want to go, stop sabotaging your dreams.
Speaker 2:A lot of times we say we want something, but every action we have does not align With what it is we truly desire and truly should be doing. What you shouldn't, what you should be doing is what you naturally do, without even being asked. No one has to go and say, ali, I'm gonna you know where I'm gonna sign up. A lot of times I have to catch myself and realize you just gave like a three hour consultation and you ain't charging for it. You know like I have to sometimes catch myself because it's it's who I am, naturally I can.
Speaker 2:You could point to a rock on the road and I can explain why this rock Is important to skip. You know I'm just playing, but you know, because it's just something that's just so in me. That's what I should be doing and it's retraining this idea around um purpose and what you're good at versus what you truly love. So really start honing into those things, understanding who you are, why you want something and getting out of your way so that you can achieve it. I call it get out of house into the car, bus, train, plane or boat so that you can start your own personal journey.
Speaker 1:I love that. That is a great way to end this has been a very great discussion. Thank you so much, ali. Um, don't worry y'all, she will be back on to tell us all the tea and the juicy details, but this right here was a wealth of information in itself as well. So thank you so much for coming on. And again, this is cues of Africa. Join us on any of our trips and don't forget we also have books. Um, I want to thank Ali to. She bought our first book, cues of Africa. Um, I've seen her color in it and all of that. So I'm super, super thankful for her support. I really appreciate it. And again, thank you again for coming on and we'll see you soon. Thank you.