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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 would it take for you to walk away from your stable life, sell almost everything you own, pack a backpack, and leave with no real plan, just curiosity and courage? Today's guest did exactly that, long before Google Maps, social media, or constant connectivity made travel feel safe. Candace McPhee is a writer whose nonfiction books chronicle a year -long backpacking journey she took in her late 20s. Her stories are raw, funny, heartbreaking, romantic and deeply human. And they've been described as Bridget Jones goes backpacking. Candace, welcome to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you. I'm excited to be here too. Excellent. So let's start at the beginning. You quit a steady job, sold everything and left home with a backpack and a couple thousand dollars. What was happening in your life that made that leap feel necessary? Yeah, there's always a catalyst, right? There's always something. And my something, I guess, was my mom died a couple of years before and it was a long journey. She was sick for a long time and my family, we pulled together and looked after her. And then I I kind of just had this void, this space void in my life because I had spent, she got sick when I was 14 and spent so much time looking after her that I didn't really know myself. I didn't, I didn't have time for hobbies. I didn't have time for much of anything. So I, after she died, I went and got this good job and I was all set to go and, you know, living my life, but I still wasn't able to fill this space. I didn't know. what I like to do, and it was so much work, you know, figuring out what I liked and what I didn't like. What I knew I did like was traveling. I had backpacked one summer after, between university, and I just had such a good time, met so many great people, and I thought, you know what, maybe I don't need to be here. So that's what made me leave. Did you have any fear or did that come, did that ever come? Oh my god, I was so scared. I was so scared that I, you know, and I always know that if something really makes me want to vomit, then I know I'm on the right track. Like, I'm on the right track for something to change, something to do, something that makes me very uncomfortable, then I know I'm going to be just about to step into something really cool for myself. And I, I did everything I could to make myself not back out. Like I told the cool guy at the gym, I'm like, yeah, so, and I quit my job and I thought I could still get my job back, like everything. I sold my car. I just, I thought, okay, I have to do everything I can to make myself do this. I was so scared. I got on that plane and I just thought, oh my gosh, what the heck am I doing? There was a lot of fear, but I think the desire for a change in my life was stronger than my fear. And that's what made me really do it. Wow, that's powerful. And what makes it especially powerful is when it took place. Just to be so young, your journey took place in the 90s before the internet was widely available. No instant reviews, no constant reassurance. How did that change the way you traveled and the way you connected with people? Yeah, so we didn't know any different then, so I guess there's a little bit of that. But You know, a lot of it was about the location of where you'd stay. So I would put myself in positions where I would stay in the dorm room. I would pick the dorm room, you know, even if it was only like 50 cents cheaper or something, just because then I knew I would meet people. And the more folks you have, you know, you can kind of shop around. You start to get to know just by the way people move and by the way people act and if they hold the door open or if they're kind of just by their posture, if they're someone who's more relaxed and someone who you might want to spend time with rather than someone who's kind of uptight and sort of marching around. That was not the person that I would saddle up to and say, hey, you know, and introduce myself. So I would be very, yeah, it sounds awful, but I think you need to figure out. For me, the learning was that The trip was much more fun if I connected with someone, if I was able to share it with someone. Because, as we said, it was such a different time period and there was no instant like, oh, I'm lonely, I'll just FaceTime someone or I'll, you know, send a text and you get a text back. So you're not so alone because you have that connection with someone somewhere in the world. But you don't have that. You have postcards and letters and, you know, if you can afford long distance calls, because they were so expensive, that was pretty rare. It was like a treat to call home. You know, so I would make sure that I would stay in places that availed me to other people with similar mindsets who were just like, you know what, I'm here on a budget. You know, I wouldn't want to hang with someone who had loads of money either, because then I, you know, you don't want to sponge or just put yourself in a position when you'd spend more than you could afford. So, yeah. So, you know, those sort of dorm rooms were the place where I found most of most of my friends. And it was great. It's so smart to do, you know, and have that lack of, you know, the kind of information, the technology that we have now can, obviously, we didn't have the knowledge that that would come. So I would think that that makes the experience just richer, just having to, having to do all of that. When you roll into something, because you could say all you had was a book with words, so you would say, OK, well, what is there to see here? You know, you would go through and make your choices and say, OK, well, these ones sound good based on the description and then take notes. and, you know, find your way there. But it was, you know, extremely rare. Probably nine times out of ten, I hadn't seen what I was going to see before ever. You know, there were certain things like the pyramids. You had seen those, you know, in a magazine or Red Square in Moscow. You know, you'd seen those in movies and stuff like that. But other than that, it was very rare to be acquainted with anything you would see before you would go. So a lot of the journey for me was the sort of journey to get to these places. And then when you get to those places, whether you were like, well, okay, well, maybe that wasn't worth it. Or I don't know about you, but these days when I travel and I go somewhere, I have everything all planned out right down to where I'm getting my coffee and right down to where having lunch here. Okay. Then we're going to take the bus and it's going to take 20 minutes and then we're good. We've got our, cause you have to buy everything ahead of time. Say I must check in. I'm going to visit this museum from 2 to 4 because that's the time slot I bought. So you have to kind of be more structured with your travel, whereas then it was just like roll up, you know, buy your ticket and go in. So yeah, it's a very different, very different time period and good and bad, right? You know, you were much more on your own, but also there was this real freedom of, of, of, just going where you needed to go. And I think the only sort of benchmark, if you will, one of them other ones benchmarks was other travelers who said, Oh, you went to, you know, this place, did you see this? No, I didn't. I didn't see that. But that's okay. I didn't want to see it, you know. So there was all that they go, you missed out. It was really good. you know, so next time I'll have to make sure I go. But yeah, so you'd have to, you know, do that was your research with your fellow travelers and then, you know, whatever information you could glean from the hostel or whatever. and then your travel book. And that was it. Yeah. And that sounds so radical now compared to how things are, the way things are today, which it's so great. I mean, people don't know what they're missing out on when they, when we have so many tools at our disposal. I know, you know, there's this missing thing. And even now, I find, you know, I'm in a different phase in my life, got kids. And, you know, when we roll up to a venue, we're not staying in a hostel. We're not, you know, we're staying in a hotel or staying in an Airbnb. When you stay in an Airbnb, you don't meet people, you know, there's not like a lobby where you can go and have a drink and maybe meet someone if you're at a hotel. It's such a different way of traveling. unless you are very chatty and you might meet someone at a site. But these days, people would be like, we're weird. I'm not going to really talk to you anymore. So it wasn't the same, you know, like it wasn't the same just to strike up a conversation and to also, I don't know about you, but when I'm out, I always am most fascinated by folks with their phones. And I'm I'm not saying I'm saying with my phone because I'm the same way. But their heads down so much and people are looking at their phones and they're not looking at what's happening ahead of you. Whereas we didn't have that, right? You didn't have that distraction. So you spent time people watching. You spent time, you know, sitting at the edge of the fountain and listening to it sort of, you know, the tinkling of water behind you and, you know, watching the birds or the people go by or whatever. and you see folks nowadays so locked into their phone and missing out. I saw this one guy he was very handsome young guy and this beautiful girl walk and he completely missed her because he was looking at his phone and I thought oh my gosh that's so sad and I just you know, I just think, anyway, I just think that there's a lot we miss because we don't look up anymore. And this was all about looking up. Yeah, this is all about looking up. And this adventure was, and that's kind of why I wanted to share it because for me, it's such a, it's so long ago now. it's that I look back at the time and everybody feels more like a character because you know that that's what they are to me now because I'm so different than the person I was then and I wanted to share so that someone could pick it up and just enjoy that time period and to be able to say okay this is what it's like to just travel and just not to say, I'm just going to put down everything and just go. I'm not sitting there getting my great social media photo for everyone back home. And you know, you do get your photos, but you don't see what they look like. So you're just like, well, I hope my head was in that one. Or, you know, I don't know how that one's going to turn out. Or you ask someone to take a photo and they don't click the button or whatever it is. And you just kind of go. So that's what I wanted people to experience, the heat, the frustration, the happiness, the joy. It was different, right? And I went to a lot of places that people didn't travel to back then. and that are much more wide open like Lithuania and Latvia. Nobody was going to Lithuania and Latvia 25 years ago. It was very rare. We stayed at a place where circus performers stayed. And, you know, it was a very weird sort of anyways. So it was very, very different. So in terms of time period, everything seems much more open now than it did before. So you're pretty much a trailblazer. You know? Well, I wasn't alone. So it wasn't a trailblazer because there was lots of folks who have done it as well. I think for me, where the trailblazing is, is that I was an avid driver. big nerd, loved to write. You know, there was a lot of time to fill, there was a lot of time, a lot of long train trips, a lot of long bus trips. So I had a lot of time on my hands. And when I wasn't sort of staring out the window, there was, you know, a lot of writing happening. So I was able to capture that. And I also had the Not the time, but I made the time to write the story. Definitely not unique by any means, because loads of people did this trip, but I don't know how much time people have to share it. So that's kind of my trailblazer difference, if you will. Well, I still think of you as a trailblazer. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. So I want to pause for just a moment because if you're enjoying Candace's story so far, this is a great time to support the show. Please like this episode, subscribe, and leave a comment. I love reading them and they really help this podcast reach more people who care about meaningful travel stories like this one. And just a reminder, I host a monthly prize giveaway for listeners as a thank you for being a part of this community. You'll find the details in the show notes, so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it. All right, let's jump back in. Your books don't romanticize travel in a glossy way. You write honestly about physical and personal trauma, grief, romance, and uncomfortable moments. Why was it important for you to tell the whole truth, not just the highlight reel? Yeah, well, I think obviously a movie trailer is very interesting, right? And, you know, being able to just go through from a highlight reel perspective. I didn't feel it was real if I just stuck to the things, the good, good, good canvas, if you will. There's a lot of flaws that are on the pages and a lot of times where you'll go, what are you doing? And I wanted that, you know, because that's real to me. And I don't find a story as compelling and rich. I think this was the challenge I had in terms of learning how to take all of those sort of sequence, sequence of events that happened and turn them into a compelling story, something that you're going to want to read and not just go, okay, well, this is like, you know, someone just telling me or showing me their vacation pictures and I can't connect with them. I feel that in order to connect with a story that you have to believe the person. You can't just say, oh gosh, they're so perfect. Like who wants, who wants perfect? You know, I don't know. I don't want perfect. I want a bit of grit. I want a bit of, you know, something else. And it was, um, It wasn't always easy. There was a lot of pacing and a lot of, do I really want to say this about what happened? Do I really want to share this part of the story? Yeah, it was tough, but I thought, you know what, this happened, and I am going to put it out there and going to say, and if people judge me, then OK, sure, no problem. And yeah, exactly. I figure folks have to, you know, go into this, but it is real. It is someone who's just out there taking some chances and putting themselves out there and not always good things happen. So, but there's a lot of fun. And I think for me, the banter between the characters and the funny things that happen there is I want people to laugh out loud. And I've had people, you know, write to me and say, oh my God, I laughed out loud at this part. And I thought, oh, I didn't think that was very funny, but good. And someone else, you know, might have laughed at something else or someone else might have had a tricky time reading one part that I thought was pretty straightforward. So everyone can relate to it. Differently, there's a lot of themes going through each of the stories. who spent her life looking after her mom who died and then saying, Oh my God, and you know, where am I going? Like, I'm just gonna go and see, see who I am, see, see, I like and learn about myself. So a lot of it's learning about yourself, but the Bridget Jones goes backpacking part to me is that I just honestly I I don't know I think what made me laugh was that like how could so many crazy things happen during this like a day lasted if I look at one of my days back then versus it would go a whole week before or maybe two before those kind of things happened to me. It's a it was just a very when you're out there every day and you're walking around and you're doing stuff and you're having interactions, things are going to happen and announce what these books share. And they're supposed to make you feel laugh and cringe and enjoy. I think so many people feel seen when travel stories admit that growth can be messy. I think, you know, someone said to me, well, it's not a rare thing, but you learn more from your mistakes than your, you know, the good things you do. And you do, you know, and when you go through and have your experiences and I was always on my guard from a safety perspective and thought, OK, I've got this. And, you know, something quite not, you know, not very nice happened to me in broad daylight and somewhere in a train station where I thought I would be fine, you know. So you just don't know where or when you're going to encounter something that's going to challenge you and shape you differently and think, OK, how am I going to move past this? How am I going to? Does this? make a difference to my plan or am I going to change something or am I just going to keep going and say okay that was just a really shitty situation and I'm going to move on from there. So yeah, I think we've all had those trials and you know, you've lost your luggage and then maybe you thought, wow, this trip was so much easier because I had like one backpack with, you know, a couple pairs of underwear and a t -shirt and it was so easy to get around and, you know, you can spin something into something good, you know? Yes, definitely. Well, your five books are each a segment of the same journey, each one a continuation, yet able to stand alone. How did you decide to structure the story that way? Yes. So this is something I brought with me from my career, which was good because there wasn't a lot I could rely on in my my career. So I did this trip and then I got a job again, and then I worked for 20 years in the corporate world. And one of the things I was able to take was my ability to work superpower, which was to be able to take a big problem and to break it up and to structure it. And so that people could understand it and work on it, whether it was a project or a problem or a risk or something we were trying to tackle. So that was one thing I was able to apply to this. So when I looked at the whole journey and said, OK, here it is, what is this? So I was able to kind of break the trip into chunks to say okay as I started to write it I thought well To be fair, I thought it was one book when I started to write it, but once the word started to kind of grow, I thought, oh my gosh. In order for my goal, which was to be able to tell the story so people could experience it, I wanted to experience the time. I wanted you to have the travel experience. And I don't spend a lot of time, you know, waxing poetically about sites because I figure you can do that in a travel guide. What I wanted was the journey. So I wanted you to experience the journey and then I'll flip you up. in certain places that, you know, of interest that there's a paragraph, like it's not huge as some pages. you know, just talking about something that you already know what it looks like. That's not where I'm at here. So when I started to put the words together I thought oh la la this is way too much. So breaking it apart into these five pieces and I thought oh my gosh this is crazy that's such a lot of books to tell one story but it is a lot of time and as I said a lot happened every day and some days were quieter but they were full, full days, and I thought, okay. So, and then my goal was to say, okay, my plan is to be able to, for you to take, if you were to pick up any one of them, just to enjoy them. If you thought, you know what, I don't really mind the other parts. I just like to read about your Africa trip, because that's the book I'm writing now. And you might say, okay, I'd really, I was thinking about taking a safari. It'd be interesting to see what happened on safari or whatever. So, My goal is to be able for folks to be able to do that. And each book has its own arc in terms of what happens, like in terms of what the character overall development is, what's moving along. So each one is, they're not repetitive, but they each have their own segment of that personal growth journey, if you will. and then each cover a different geographical area. And then each of them also have sort of things to overcome because there is a lot of cultural differences as you go through and how you have to adjust. For example, the Africa one, I was in tents for six weeks and I had camped two days in my entire life. And it wasn't the camping that you sort of portage your canoe and backpack. It was the open your trunk, pull the stuff out, and camp beside your car. So it was never a full -on in the bush, oh running water, oh, you know, it was just, and I didn't even own camping equipment, I went with other people. So this was a new experience for me, and there was a lot to learn and get used to. So people call it Bridget Jones goes backpacking. How do you feel about that comparison? I love it. I love Bridget Jones. I love her chaos. I'm always someone who enjoys and thrives in chaos. And I, I like the, uh, the bumbling part of it because I wasn't, I was really naive. I, you know, I had, I was very good at hospitals. I was very good at talking to doctors and understanding medical procedures. But by the time I had stepped out into the world and sort of said, okay, I'm doing this, I'm going to travel. I don't know anything. I didn't, I didn't have a lot of cross -cultural experiences. I didn't, I hadn't, you know, I, I didn't have I'd taken the bus to school, but that was part of the event, the sort of the crazy part of my sort of adventure in terms of touring around. I was completely naive to the challenges of traveling in another language. For example, one of the first places I went to was Russia and, you know, they don't even have the same alphabet. So, you know, It's, it's just, there's folks walking around with rifles and guns and military just walking around, stopping people randomly on the street. It was like being in World War II, what I would imagine. And it was just crazy, crazy, crazy. So, and trying to navigate, I would go to busy, you know, you'd go to a busy restaurant because you couldn't meet the menu. And then I would casually walk around and go, I'll have that. " So we would point to the meal we wanted and thought, okay, well, hopefully that will work out. So, yeah, there was no take your phone and translate. There was nothing. It was more of a, you know, and a lot of times it was just eating sandwiches on a park bench because it was just easier to get like a loaf of bread and some cheese and red peppers and then eat the sandwich. Yeah. Anyway, so that was that. But even in Russia, like they made it more difficult because all the food was behind glass, like a jewelry shop, and the glass went right up to the roof. So you had to point and sort of ask for your stuff. So everything was an adventure. Yeah. What an educational adventure, too. Well, it was very humbling and I think you realized pretty quickly that, you know, what a sheltered life I had lived and how fortunate I was to grow up the way I did, even with all the challenges we had in our, in our, with my mom's medical history, just growing up in this nice neighborhood and, you know, where you could ride your bike and no problem to sort of really having to be aware of where you are at all times and just, you know, to get through the day. So it was very different. For sure. Well, so many listeners are in a second act, rethinking who they are, what they want, and what they still have time for. What do you hope readers and listeners today take away from your story? I hope that folks, and I appreciate that it's not, it's not an easy thing to do. What I did, I, you know, I had some like a small bucket of cash and, you know, a wing and a prayer and a budget. And I just had, I said, okay, it's very different than how you would travel now. Like I, I had time, I had time for, like, I could just go and go and go, but I had money, only so much money. So I could only go as far as my money would take me. So that made choices around how I would travel instead of how I would travel cheaper. So I think for me is, um, anytime, uh, like, and I quit my job. the second time in my second re -up to start writing these books. But I don't think it's something I could have done if I didn't have a good financial position in terms of saying, okay, I can't just wait and hope this is going to work out. You know, you have to do it with an open heart. So there's always a way to travel cheaply and there's always a way to experience. And if you're if you're in this point in your life and you want to do something different, I would sort of take that step back and go, OK, what am I willing to give up? Like, what am I willing to give up to make this dream come true? If it's that important to me, will I downsize? Will I not, you know, live, look differently, live differently? And sometimes it's not always going to be the same answer. You can't just sort of say, oh, I'm going to flip that baby on. It's an ability to look at where your life is. And sometimes it's a phased approach. So, okay, I'm going to start doing a little bit of this in terms of planning and phase out another part of my life. So I would say plan full and make sure that you don't put yourself in a position where you're, you know, like if you buy a house, you can't afford it and your house porn can't go anywhere. It's probably a similar situation just in reverse. Like, okay, I'm going to go and do all this stuff, but. then you put yourself in his position. So we're stuck with the realities of things cost money. And in order to, for me to, what am I willing to give up to make this happen for myself? And I think that would be an interesting question to start with, in terms if you wanted to reframe your life and do something different. But don't do it, don't not do it because it scares you. You know, don't, don't, you know, if it scares you, then I think maybe that's pretty good. And maybe you need to give it a go. For sure. Do you think everyone has a backpacking moment, even if it looks different? Oh, absolutely. I think you could have a backpack moment going to the grocery store. I think it's just something unique and something fun that happens and something that is a memorable moment for you, you know, or if it's just something that you think, you know, wow, what, what a thing, like, what a thing that happened. And you just, it's something that you look back on and something that makes you smile. It could be a nice hike you took. or it could be anything or you know, but I always find my fondest memories are coupled with interesting people. You know, it's that It could be the worst place, it could be the most boring thing, but if you're with someone fun and you just think, oh my gosh, and you look back and you thought, wow, that was super fun. But also my most memorable moments are when things went terribly wrong. And when things just go completely off the rails and you had this big expectation and this grand plan and everything just goes, and you have to rally and you have to make something, dig out a different adventure for yourself. And those are the times that my kids and I, we don't talk about, you know, the great things that happened on some of the trips we've taken. We talk about this one camping thing that we did, and it was this one camping guy, and he was so funny and so odd. We still quote him, you know, we still have quotes from him. So I think you can have those moments in your life. We just have to be open to them. And what would you say to someone who feels like it's too late to start over? It's never too late to start over. Honestly, I think... As long as, even if you can't, I was going to say as long as you can move around. And I thought, you know what, even if you can't, you can start, you can, you can reframe your life and try to, it's about wanting it more than where you are. And I think I go back to when I left and I thought, you know, when I first, first left home, I had this great job. I had a great car. I had a great life. I had, you know, my boss was like, Oh, we'll promote you. And then you can start doing this. And, um, I looked at that path and thought, Oh, Yeah, sure, you know, sounds good. But it's not what I want. And I wasn't, I wasn't happy. You know, I wasn't happy. But if you have looked at me from the outside and you'd put all the pieces together and thought, oh, tick. Well done, you. That's a very thoughtful, well, good life. And I was so miserable. I was so miserable. And I thought, if I keep on this path, and if I keep doing this, I am going to end up married to some Joe Schmo, and I'm going to end up divorced, and then I'm going to end up as a miserable old sort of... I just thought all those paths just does not interest me. And I don't think it's too late, I think. But it's not going to come without a sacrifice. And I think that's the, that's the wherewithal that you have to have. Unless you have buckets of cash and you've got like this deep, deep savings account or some sort of backlog of stuff that you can rely on, then sure, it's easy to pivot and make a change. But being able to understand what you're, you're willing to sort of compromise and to be able to reframe yourself and, and just, and would you be happier? You know, I remember when I was working that job in corporate, I was, I had a nanny, I had a gardener, I had, I had everything. And I just looked at my job and my friend said, how many handbags do you need? Like how many, you know, how many, you know, what, how many nice, like, what do you, like, is that going to make you happy? And I was like, no. And, and it was a real eye opener for me for my second pivot to say, you know what, if I'm not working. What's our life look like? What do we have to change in our life? And if I'm there when the kids come home from school and I'm able to write and sort of to live my next dream, what does that have to do? And we we had to change quite a few things. It was a it was a discussion. It was a debate. And my husband and I had to have those hard conversations. And we had to. And it wasn't easy. It was an easy time for us, but I was that unhappy that I thought if I don't change something, I'm not. You only got one chance. You know, why are you going to be swirling around this unhappy vortex of yourself if you've made, you know, and and you think, OK, oh, well, I'm not happy right now. You know, what makes you happy? So not only a trailblazer, but also gutsy, you know, being true to yourself. Yeah, and I don't, if I'm not happy, I can fake it for a while, but I can't fake it forever. And for me, I, weighs heavy on my heart if I'm not happy. I just, after watching my mom struggle and, and sort of, claw her way through years and years of chemotherapy, just trying to live one more day. I thought, what am I doing? Living a life I don't want to do when that woman struggled every day just to have another few minutes with us. And I thought, you know what? No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not going to live like that. Yeah. Again, that's so brave and such a wonderful story. Although obviously there's a lot of sadness, but at the same time, you found a path to get to where you needed to be. That's beautiful. One thing though, where it's not sad, was that my mom died when I was 22, but we spent so much time together and we had such a deep connection that I look at some people I know who don't know their parents as well as I know her, just in that short time period. From a positive perspective, we really soaked our time and I miss her deeply, but I got that time with her. And yeah, so it's not all bad, you know, and she, and because her legacy me is that make sure you live and live. And I'm sure she'd be so proud knowing what you turned into. Well, Candace, thank you for your honesty, your humor, and your willingness to tell the real story, cringey moments and all. Your work reminds us that travel doesn't have to be polished to be powerful. To everyone listening, if this episode resonated with you, please like, subscribe and leave a comment. Sharing what stood out most or where you were in life the first time you felt the urge to start over. And don't forget, I host a monthly prize giveaway just for listeners. So check out the show notes to see how to enter. It's my way of saying thank you for spending part of your day here with me. And I'll link Candace's books and updates below. And as always, keep traveling with courage, curiosity and heart. Thank you so much, Candace. I appreciate you taking time from your day. Thank you for having me. That was lots of fun. Me too. I agree.