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Welcome to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint! I’m a former Spanish teacher turned travel advisor, passionate about curating unforgettable experiences. My expertise lies in European adventures (with a special love for Spain), cruising, and all-inclusive Caribbean getaways. I specialize in creating tailored trips for families, multi-generational groups, and teachers—whether they’re traveling solo, with colleagues, or leading student groups.
In this podcast, we celebrate the joy of travel, uncover hidden gems, share practical tips and tricks, and embrace the spirit of adventure. Each episode features inspiring conversations with fascinating guests from all walks of life as they share their unique travel stories, lessons, and favorite destinations. Whether you're planning your next getaway or simply love to dream about the possibilities, this is your place to explore the world from wherever you are.
Let’s embark on this journey together! 🌍✈️
What if learning a language was more than memorizing vocabulary? What if it was a gateway to becoming a global citizen? Well, OK, guys, today we have in the studio with us two wonderful people, two of my children, Brittany Johnson. That's me. And Alexander Johnson. That is her. Yes, indeed. And so today we're going to be talking a little bit about, you know, their backstory. We—and just to kind of give you a little bit of information, they went to, along with their sister, Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School from kindergarten all the way up through fifth grade. And I thought it was just a wonderful experience. We really, as parents, thought it was important for them to have that opportunity so they could learn a second language. And one thing about Milwaukee is that they have, how many immersion schools? There's two, well, there's French Immersion, that was an elementary school as well, and German Immersion, an elementary school as well. And then for middle school, I don't know if it was six through 12, or just six through eight, MSL? Yeah, Milwaukee School of Languages. Milwaukee School of Languages, where you could still continue learning a language based off the foundation that you had at maybe Milwaukee Spanish Immersion, or French or German Immersion too. I always wonder why I didn't get to go to MSL. I wanted to, but that wasn't up to me. No. But what can you guys, since you have been through the program, and we're gonna talk about In a little while, we'll talk a little bit about how it affected things down the line. We've got a chance to do a lot of traveling throughout our time, throughout your childhood. So we'll talk about that in a little bit. But why do you think language matters beyond just communication? What do you think? I would say it's a real gateway to the world, right? And I think gateway goes beyond just communication. I know I've told you this story a bunch of times, Mom, but being able to have the background in another language makes it a lot easier to go someplace else and learn another one. And that's basically what happened to me when I went to Italy. And being able to just go into a random park and sit down and talk to an old man who has probably lived three or four times a life that you have. And to just to get the insights from that person, like you truly used the word before, but global citizen, like that, in my opinion, is the definition of being a global citizen, being able to go someplace and learn from all different people. And sometimes you're not going to do that in your mother tongue. So for sure on that. No, I absolutely agree with that. And I'd also say just being able to travel and speak the language in another country. Um, And just learning about another language exposes you to different cultures and you can create connections with people that even if you've never met, you have respect for their culture, their language. You can talk to them about something that you learned about their culture. You're not going into things blind. You know, you have a foundation of topics or conversation and just building a human connection with people and empathy. I think it can definitely foster that, too. Absolutely. I would agree. And I hope that, you know, We wanted you to start early because we wanted you to be able to become fluent in a language. And we knew that it was important for you to start right from the beginning. And so that was that was important for me. But I also feel that it helps you to shape your worldview. When you start a language early, you're exposed to all of those different things, you know, from from an earlier age. And I just maybe it makes you more empathetic. I think it makes it easier to, um, you know, having a basis, like if you want to trying to learn a language as an adult compared to learning it as a child. it's just infinitely easier as a child, I feel like. Yeah, I wish I had had that opportunity as a child. I mean, I think I did okay, but having learned it, you know, I was 16 when I started learning Spanish, but if I had started, you know, when I was your, you know, when you were, you started at four, and I just think that it's, I think it just builds different pathways in your brain. So yeah, I just think that's kind of cool. There's no doubt about that. I just also think that, you know, you don't realize and boom, maybe you can, you know, talk about your experience with this too. Like, I think when you're going through it, I think going through, at 16, mom, you made a conscious decision to go to pursue it, right? At four years old, five years old, six years old, It wasn't always the most fun thing to do, right? And so you don't actually appreciate the skill until you get out into the world. And then, you know, you realize that, oh, this is actually a gift that I have. Like I can go anywhere, anywhere and be comfortable. It's just, it just, yeah, it just opens your mind in ways that you just can't, you can't go back. Right. I would agree. And it's even, even though it's only one language, it's still, it still makes a big difference because you can, even though you can't, you know, you didn't learn five languages when, at that age, it's, I think it still opens up pathways and appreciation, you know. I have a question. I'm just curious if you thought, found any challenges or surprises when you were, when you started out, were there any surprises to learning a second language or? You know what? I, this is, so, My experience was different than Boo's or Sinéad's. Because I got started the latest, right? So, and I mean, I guess I can tell the story, but I don't know the whole story the way you know it, mom. Like, I got started in first grade, right? So I was what, six or seven or something like that. And so, and the only reason I got into the program was I think because Cynthia got accepted. into school, right? So if she would have never gotten accepted, I wouldn't have had a shot. And so I think for me, one of my biggest challenges was just getting, like, just getting comfortable, you know, because basically I pretty, you know, I had pretty much done all of my TK and preliminary education in English, right? So, like, that transition I know was tough for me. And then even going through, like, middle and high school, like, you know, you have the words, you know what's going on, you have the understanding, but it's the comfort, right? Like, at least if you're starting at three or four, you're learning English and you're learning Spanish at the same time, right? I started learning Spanish, as I had already developed a pretty decent enough foundation in English that that was, you know, going to be my mother tongue no matter what, right? So I think that was probably my biggest challenge. Okay, I think mine. Math, dude. Dude, math. Oh my God. We all know, we all know that math has never been my strong suit. We know this. But oh my God, I remember, I have this distinct memory of having to go up, like we were learning multiplication, like timetables, you know? In Senora Williams' class, third grade, I went up there, oh my God, I had to recite it in Spanish. I already wasn't good at it, and then I had to do it in Spanish. It was just such a stressful experience. But man, ultimately rewarding and worth it, absolutely. 10 out of 10 would do again. But math really kicked my butt. I really had a hard time with math. English and Spanish didn't help that part, did not help. Well, I honestly think math is definitely a language. It is its own language, absolutely, because all the rules it's got, I mean... It's a language, for sure. We're not gonna get into that. No, we won't. This isn't the math podcast, you know, but man, that was a little difficult. Yeah, it was. I think the only other... distinct challenge I can think of is like summer break for three months, not practicing your Spanish as much, and then you come back and you're like, oh, what was that word again? So that's the other challenge that I can distinctly think of. Well, that brings me to another topic because in our summers, we got a chance to do a lot of fun things. The first, well, this happened actually before you started at Spanish Immersion. We went to Mexico for, was it a month or two? I don't know if it was one month or two months, but we went to Mexico and you guys had a chance to, this was your first true immersion experience in another country with people that did not speak English. We had a host family and Sonia was the mother's name and she had a son named David. And so you got to meet both of them. I don't remember her husband's name right now. I don't know why I can't remember it. Maybe his name, no. I don't know, I'm not even gonna try. So we got a chance to spend time with them and it was such a wonderful time. And we also had students with us from my school that came along for that. And man, that was just, there are so many things, so many things. What kind of memories do you have from that experience? I mean, I was, I don't know how old I was at the time. You were four. I vaguely remember some things. I remember tomato soup with alphabet letters in it and Sonia would put little words in Spanish for me. I loved that. I remember going to some sort of school and learning and playing with dolls, things like that. And everything was in Spanish, yeah. Yeah. Going to the movies and seeing a bunch of bumblebees by the soda station. I can remember that very vividly. I remember that day very well because we went to see Fantasia 2000 and it didn't have a lot of words in it. And the other thing is like so Brittany here has not, you know, she's four years old at the time and she hadn't and she was meeting all her milestones, of course. But when we got to Mexico, she just stopped talking. She was and I was kind of worried because she wasn't speaking. And and then after that day, the day we went to the movie theater, it was like the breakthrough for you. Do you remember that? No. Well, we were. I bet you do. Right after the theater, after the show, I remember you said, It was so funny because there were, I don't know how many people have seen, I don't know if you guys are even remember Fantasia 2000. Isn't that the one with like Mickey Mouse and the little wizard hat and a red robe and he's like, stuff is going on. Okay, that's a bad description. It's a lot of vignettes. Like there were, I don't know how many, but each they had four or five maybe or six different stories and there was not a lot of vocabulary. But I remember there was one scene and I don't remember the whole thing, but it was, It was in the wilderness. It was cold on a mountain. And they were on a volcano or something. I don't remember the whole thing, but I remember after the movie, you were just like, you hadn't said thing one. There's like hardly anything this whole trip. And you just said, no me gusta the volcano, mami. And I was just like, she lives, you know. it was so cool, you know? And so after that, she was just like, the Spanish and the English, I mean, it just came to you. So those were great times. Yeah. I was going to say, shout out to Daniel. Daniel was, he was imperative, I think, in my own growth that trip. So he, so like I said, my challenge, I think, was just getting comfortable. would just speak, like, speaking and then being confident about it. Daniel, that whole trip, never spoke to me in English. I don't even know if you remember that, mom. He, and we roomed together. We roomed together. Do you remember that? And he did. And I remember him saying to me, like, I will not speak to you in English this whole trip. and when I, if I needed anything from him, if I had a question, he made it a point to, he was like, you have to say it to me in Spanish. And he's like, if you don't, he's like, that's okay. I will correct you. He's like, I will help you. He's like, I want to help you. And so I think he was so, he was so mission critical for me, him. And then funny enough, Boo, you brought up the school. I have two distinct memories about that school. I think we were in Cuernavaca, no? Right? Like, I think it was like, We had a pool, which I know we jumped into many a time. And I had one really, really good friend. And mom, do you remember, he was a blonde kid from like Mississippi or something like that. He was the only other like American in the whole school. And he and I became, and his Spanish actually at his age was really good because we were the same age. But I think like his parents were expats or something like that. And so like, he also really, really helped me. So that, you know, those are, I mean, outside of those bumblebees, man, at that movie theater, I'm pretty sure I spilled popcorn and soda everywhere trying to run away from those things. That was crazy. But shout out to the homie at the school. I still have those memories because it was, it was, I thought it was life changing, you know? Yeah. And speaking of life changing, I just want to take a moment to just switch gears a little bit. And, you know, I'm a travel advisor. So I know that we have some, I know that people are always looking for travel opportunities, Mexico, the Caribbean, you know, the Caribbean in general, just the world. And I want to let you let the listeners know that right now Virgin Voyages has a special going on. So if anybody's interested in taking a cruise anywhere that they travel, they have a 70 % off on the second sailor. And and also an additional $600 in savings. So if you're interested in taking a trip with Virgin Voyages, you can go to tinyurl . com slash bookvirgintoday, or you can just go to the show notes and find that booking link. and get on top of that. Open that description below. Click that link. Get your discount. I know you guys are looking for a deal. I always am. Anytime you can get some cash off, go ahead and take advantage of that offer. Click the link in that description right now and also leave us a like and a comment. And also, if you're not interested in cruising, United Vacations is offering five hundred and fifty dollars off on European destinations. So they're booking now. through I believe the end of October. So you might want to take advantage of that to get it while you can. It's not going to last forever, guys. You want it. get on that. Who doesn't want discounted travel? I always do. Absolutely. So, but back to the immersion experience, in addition to Mexico, I know that you spent, we all spent several summers in Spain, and I just thought, and it was interesting to see it from a child's perspective, because you guys were, obviously you were different ages, and so you had different interests, and the things that you did, I was studying, you guys were with your grandmother. And you got to do a lot of fun things in that immersion experience. You know, you were a little older, you weren't in school, but you got to do all kinds of everyday things and experience that cultural immersion. So I wanted to kind of talk about that a little bit. You know, this is from a teenage perspective, at least in your situation. Do you remember some of the things that you did? For sure, for sure. For starters, well, and funny, And I know Boo remembers this, our weekly grocery store trip runs with my mom. To bring that up, I wish I could remember the store that we would go to. It was like a little corner store. They had some good snacks in there. Was it Super Soul? It was one of them. Super Soul, they had good stuff in there for sure. Get you a little orange Fanta. Get you some Mentos. Whatever you needed, that store had it. And it was so fun going in there. Yeah, it was. It was funny because grandma made me she was like, in addition to Trent doing all the translation, like, obviously, we all did the translations for her. But when it was my turn, she was like, Hey, watch your sister. Why don't lose? Don't lose sight of Brady. Wandering off just looking at whatever I could find. There was no way I wasn't. Yeah. Or you did for sure. Oh my god. And then, I mean, obviously one of the highlights for me was having Nya Jane there. That first, that was so much fun. That show, I think it was called Art Attack? Yeah. I used to love watching that though. I was like, why don't we have this back home? Like this show is amazing. Yeah, good arts and crafts ideas on there too. Like it was so much fun watching that too. Yeah. We also started watching One Piece too also in Spain. That was the first time we started watching that in Spanish too. I didn't realize we could play it in English on the laptop. But I think we stuck with it in Spanish for quite a while. There's so many memories. There's so many. There's so many. I remember and also that's the Raven. You guys loved that so and I remember the and you know, what does she say in English? I just had a vision. No, she would just know in the in the in the song. She was like, yeah, that's me. Yeah, that's me. See so yo. Yep. I remember that. It was so cute. So, um, well, I know that, you know, we could probably go on for hours talking about these wonderful experiences that that you guys had and what kinds of things would what kind of advice would you give for people that are thinking about doing an immersion experience in general. Like, do you have advice for someone that's, hey, I'm thinking about traveling here because I want to improve my language, no matter what the language. I would say going into it, don't overthink it in the sense that it's very easy to get wrapped up in your head, especially when you're learning another language, trying to speak another language, and you're in a situation where you have to speak that language in another country. It can be very intimidating. You worry about, am I saying it right? Like, are they going to understand what I mean? Do I sound stupid? I think it's very easy to get in your head. be very self -conscious. But I mean, if you're going to another country and you're interacting with locals there or wherever you are, people aren't going to be thinking, oh, this person doesn't know the language. They're probably going to assume you know the language. So you just got to roll with it. Don't be afraid to say the wrong thing. I mean, chances are you will come to some understanding with whoever you're interacting with, even though it's intimidating and scary, you just gotta put yourself out there and don't be afraid to get things wrong. Because, I mean, if it's bad enough, depending on what it is, you'll be corrected, but chances are it's never gonna be that bad. Nah, I think Boo will wrap that up in a pretty little boat, right? Mom, we've talked about this before, you almost have to go into it with a childlike mindset of, I know nothing, everyone knows everything better than I do, so I just need to do everything I can to be a sponge and soak it all up. And that is all, what Brittany described is exactly, I think, the sentiments of probably 99 % of folks. Like, I'm gonna mess this up and look like an idiot. And I think that's actually the biggest blocker. I think that's why so many people have trouble learning another language as an adult. Because after you've crossed over into adulthood, in your mind, your ego and your pride are established. in every way, pretty much. And it is hard to let go of that, to return to a childlike approach to learning when you, like you might know something, but you can't communicate it. So now it's like, okay, I got to go back to first principles. Having an adult go back to first principles for anything in daily life is very, very hard to do. And I think that's what's tough for adults to learn. But if you can return to that mindset, mind state, it'll be just like learning as a kid. And that's how I feel, because I just started. I started my courses for Gajigo, and it has similarities to Spanish, right? And even in deep roots, also in Portuguese. And it's the Portuguese that throws me off every time. But it's like, you know what? If you gamify it, if you find ways to make it fun, and like Brittany said, you don't worry about messing it up, you'll pick it up quick. You can. You will. Absolutely. And I feel like you need to look at it from the perspective of the person that's listening to you speak. We've all had interactions with people who are speaking English to us, and it's not their first language. We don't laugh at them. I mean, when someone's talking to you and they're trying to say something to you, most people are helpful, they're sympathetic, and they will... Correct you if they want. You know, sometimes you don't want to be, you know, depends on if you want to be corrected or not. But I think that's the key. Just think about how you would treat someone that was learning a second language. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Absolutely. It takes time for you to get. And it's one of those things that most people go through the embarrassment. But, you know, I would suggest look at it that way. Look at it the way someone who's listening to you would look or how you would look at someone who didn't speak English as their first language. And you're not. you know, it's awesome when you when somebody is making that kind of an effort. Absolutely. You have to respect it. You know, they're putting the effort in. They're trying. Nothing to laugh at there. Absolutely. Well, you guys, we have time for one last thing, and that's the rapid fire round. OK, so I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. First word you learned in Spanish, Brittany. I have no idea. Hola. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. What about you? I definitely can't remember that. I don't know. I don't know. I actually don't know. Well, I know the first sentence I learned in Spanish. What was that? It's a question, actually. ¿Qué es la rosa? La rosa es una flor. I don't know why I remember it, but I do. What's your most embarrassing language mistake? I feel like there's been so many. It's hard to pick just one. Wow. I mean, I don't know. I feel like usually my embarrassing language mistakes come from moments where I'm trying to remember like I was at work. This was relatively recently. And this person was speaking Spanish and they were trying to figure out like, oh, like I'm interested in getting a job, but at my job, like the way it works, you kind of do everything online. There's not really like an in -person place that you go to for an interview or anything until you're contacted first. And so I'm trying to tell him this in Spanish. It's not working. There's a disconnect. There's definitely a disconnect. We're trying our best, but it is not, it is not smooth sailing. But, you know, eventually through enough, you know, Through enough attempts, we were able to come to an understanding. I was like, hey, you're going to have to contact this person. I hope you have a great day. Eventually, we got to where we needed to be. Eventually. It wasn't pretty. Yeah, but I mean, I'm sure he appreciated your efforts. I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. Yeah. How about you? I love that story so much. So I mixed up. I was in Italy and I was taking maybe my first couple of core classes, right? and I went out into the wild. and mixed, so mixed up casa and casa, which is like, or casa, sorry, not casa, casa. Casa obviously is home, domicile, that kind of thing. Casa is like the equivalent of like whorehouse. So like, I don't even remember exactly what the, Oh, I think she was, but I think my pronunciation came off wrong and I got the craziest look, man. And then my roommate, his name was Giuseppe Ferraro. And he's from Colombia and southerly. And he's like, Alex, you mixed up your words. And he told me and I was like, oh, oh, I was like, no wonder I got the look that I did. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what it means, if my memory serves me right. Okay, well, cool. This was cultural, what comes to my mind. I remember being in Spain when I was in high school, on that high school trip that I told you about, Alex. Right after high school, we went to several countries in Europe, and we were there for a month. So we get to Spain, we're in Madrid, and I remember standing in, we were in Seoul, And I remember I was just talking to somebody. I think he worked at one of the stores or something. And at the end of the conversation, I was just so proud of myself because I had a conversation in Spanish. And at the end of the conversation, I was just like, OK, see you. And he goes, he goes like this. And I thought he was telling me to come here. That just means bye. And I didn't know that cultural tidbit. So I felt kind of silly because I thought he was like, telling me to come over. I got halfway there and I realized, oh, he's not calling me over. So it wasn't it wasn't words, but it was, you know. Yeah. Well, this has been a blast. I've enjoyed talking to the two of you. So always a pleasure. Yes. Until we meet again. Yes. Anytime. If this journey through language and culture resonated with you, we have so much more to share. Subscribe to Nostalgic Travel Talks and be sure you hit that bell. Give us a like so you don't miss any updates. And you'll never miss an episode exploring travel and how it transforms lives. Next week, we're talking shop with a professional travel agent who will reveal industry secrets, hidden travel hacks, and insider tips that will revolutionize the way you plan your next adventure. You won't want to miss it. Be sure to hit that bell and give us a thumbs up.