Quitting the 9-5 and Seeing the World (Ep. 34)

Drew (00:13):
Hello everybody and welcome to Travel Fuel's Life, the show we share stories, tips, and inspiration to help you live a travel lifestyle. I'm your host, drew Hamish. I am back from the Sunshine State, which was not very sunny, but it's fine. It worked out really well for me anyway, because I was spending the week at podcast movement and I've got some interesting and exciting information coming up at the end of the show, so stay tuned for that. I also had a chance, thanks to the advice of today's guest, to go tour St. Petersburg and see what that was all about. And also head down to Miami and see South Beach and stay in a really cool hotel and get some information about the neighborhood called Winwood, which has to be the street art capital of the United States. I have never seen so much street art in my life, and Vicky Sosa, my guest, was the one that pointed out all of this stuff and actually took me on a little tour of Miami as well, and got down to Bayside and got to see some other areas of town.

(01:18):
So I really appreciate what she did for me and giving me that tour, and I appreciate her being on the show. She is actually known by the name Buddy, the Traveling Monkey, not because that's her name, but because she actually travels with a stuffed companion who's cute little monkey who she takes with her in all the different places that she goes. She's got a very interesting story as a South Florida native. She decided that she wanted to start traveling more, sound familiar, and she decided to take a part-time job. And then she asked her boss if she could have a little bit more time to work offsite so that she could do some traveling. She started doing some house sitting, and then next thing you know, she's got a blog up and she is living a digital nomad lifestyle and one that came as somewhat of a surprise to her. So we're gonna find out how that became a surprise to her. We're gonna listen to some of the adventures that she's had with Buddy and we're gonna find out where Buddy came from. So that's all coming up. So let's head to South Beach Miami, and my interview with Vicky Sosa. And buddy, the Traveling Monkey. Welcome to the show.

Vicky (02:37):
Thank you. It's good to be here. It's my first podcast. Yeah.

Drew (02:40):
Well I appreciate the tour around Miami. That was Sure. That was nice. So you're native to Miami,

Vicky (02:48):
Born and raised. So anytime I get a chance to take people around and show them different parts of Miami, not just typical things, I always jump at the opportunity. And it's always good to meet someone else that blogs and someone that you know, only know from Twitter or any of the other social medias. Anytime you can do a little tweet up as it's called. Yeah, it's always fun. So

Drew (03:10):
Very nice. Well, if you ever come to Greenville, South Carolina. Awesome.

Vicky (03:14):
Thank you very much. I've never been, so you're all set. I'll take you up on that. There

Drew (03:18):
You go. There you go. So you have been, as I read through your website, you became a digital nomad, but that wasn't really what you thought you were doing initially, right?

Vicky (03:31):
No, no. So for the last two years, I've been nomadic, but I hadn't given myself that official title of digital Nomad <affirmative>. And I just kind of consider myself a house sitter, <laugh>. Cause that's what I've been doing for the last two years. I gave it my apartment and I've just been going from city to city house sitting or pet sitting. So in my head I just thought digital nomad means, you know, see what Instagram creates, all these ideas of these people that are living remotely and on a beach somewhere, making all this money from their blog. And I am not <laugh>. I make a little bit from the blog, but it's not enough to sustain myself. And so I didn't think I was where those other people are. So I didn't consider myself a digital nomad, but I do work remotely for a small company. And like I said, I do make a little bit of money from the blog. So technically I am a digital nomad. And I just realized this a few months ago. <laugh>,

Drew (04:34):
Even though you have the blog up and you've been blogging for quite

Vicky (04:37):
A while, I've been blogging for about five years. This will be five years,

Drew (04:42):
Yeah. Oh, nice. <affirmative>. So how long has it been that you've had this dream of traveling?

Vicky (04:49):
Since I was a baby, I've literally had a passport since I was a baby. My dad's family's from Guatemala, so I've been on planes for as long as I can remember. My mom had encyclopedias and I remember just sitting on the floor in the living room and just going through these encyclopedias and Oh, I wanna go there and oh, I wanna see this one day. And so I've just always loved to travel and I just always wanted to travel.

Drew (05:16):
So was there a particular place that when you were a kid you said, oh man, would I ever get to see that and then you've actually seen it?

Vicky (05:26):
Yes. So Italy was a big one. <affirmative> for me especially. Cause I love pizza, <laugh> <laugh>, but just, I've always loved history as well. And in Italy there's the Roman Empire. You read about that in school and world history. And so I got a chance to go to Rome a few years ago and I was just, man, I'm not gonna lie, I got teary eyed <laugh>. There was one point where I was at Paron and I just kind of put my hand up on one of the columns or the wall and I just stopped to think. I'm like, what if at one point back in the day, Julius Caesar stops here, <laugh> to tie his sandals or something. And that really hit me and I was like, I'm here now and this is a place that I had always read about and always wanted to see. So I got a little choked up. It was pretty amazing.

Drew (06:29):
That's funny that because my dad used to travel around take us to all of these different American history locations, and I remember being at Mount Vernon in Washington, <affirmative> standing there putting my hand on the wall saying, I wonder if George Washington ever put his hand there. <laugh>. Awesome. It's amazing. Did it feel surreal to you? Oh yeah. I was like,

Vicky (06:52):
Definitely, yeah, I couldn't believe that I was finally there. Yeah. Yeah, it was incredible.

Drew (06:57):
So everything you hoped it would be?

Vicky (06:59):
Oh yeah, yeah.

Drew (07:00):
<affirmative>. So where else have you gone on your far flung travels?

Vicky (07:06):
So to date, I've been to 35 countries.

Drew (07:09):
Okay, wow.

Vicky (07:10):
Yeah, so <laugh> nice. I was in the Army <affirmative> and I was stationed in Germany for three years. So during those three years I tried to really take advantage of any three or four day holidays. So I did a lot of weekend trips around Europe, <affirmative>. So I've been to England and France and just most of the bigger countries. And then since then I've traveled more because I've love to travel. So yeah, I've been to Asia, I've been to South and Central America, Europe, Africa. Hopefully one day I'll get to Antarctica, Australians, New Zealand too.

Drew (07:51):
There's a lot of us that have that on our list, but I sometimes wonder whether it's, we really want to go to Antarctica or if we want to hit that seventh continent.

Vicky (07:59):
I think it's a little bit of both. Okay. Yeah, it's definitely an achievement Yes. To say, because not, it's not something everybody can do, but also just to be there where not a lot of people have been. And penguins, I mean, right. Yeah. Penguins need I say more

Drew (08:19):
Now. You went to South Africa though? Yes, <affirmative>. Did you see penguins there?

Vicky (08:23):
I did. Okay. Yes. In Boulder, I believe it was called. And they're called Jackass Penguins. Okay. There's another name for

Drew (08:31):
Them. They just have an attitude or

Vicky (08:32):
Something. They make a noise that sounds like a donkey. Oh wow. So I'm not gonna try and do that for you right now. <laugh> <laugh>. But it really does sound like a donkey. But they're adorable and they walk around in little pairs and it's just so cute. So yeah, it was

Drew (08:49):
Awesome. Now, something else I read that you did was sailing. Yes. Tell me about that experience.

Vicky (08:57):
Okay, so abs sailing, also known as repelling. So I guess depending on where you're from you're just going down a rope <affirmative>. And when I was in the Army, I repelled a couple times just for training, but it was like a 40 foot wall. It wasn't any, I mean it was still scary at the time. But in South Africa and Cape Town, they have Table Mountain, which is amazing in and of itself. You know, can take what? Gondola or, yeah, to the top.

Drew (09:29):
That's the word that always escapes me to,

Vicky (09:31):
For some reason they always get called something different, but you can take that little tram or whatever up and then you get some great views of Cape Town and the ocean and everything. And if you want to take the adventurous way down, you repel. And I just figured, screw it, or here do some crazy.

Drew (09:56):
Do you consider yourself an adventurous type person?

Vicky (09:58):
No. Okay. <laugh> and people have asked me if I'm an adrenaline junkie. I also did great white shark diving off of South Africa as well.

Drew (10:10):
You just had a death wish on this particular trip. So

Vicky (10:14):
That particular trip, I was married at the time and my ex-husband, his one bucket list item was to see great white sharks. So me being the wonderful wife that I was <laugh>, I planned this whole trip around the shark diving. But while we were there I was gonna throw in stuff that I wanted to do too. So we did some other things around town, but I saw that repelling attraction and I was like, you know what? We're here kind of like when in Rome kind of situation. And I thought it'd be cool and I'd have cool stories to tell after, but it's seriously the most scared I've ever been in my entire life.

Drew (10:49):
So I think back to the days when I was at the community pool and I would get onto the high dive <affirmative> thinking, oh yeah, I can do this. And then I get to the edge of the high dive and I look down and I go, no, no, no. Was that where you were at?

Vicky (11:09):
Yeah <laugh>. So my ex-husband went first and then I went and just that first couple of steps, cuz you have to make your body into an L. So from your hips down to your feet are horizontal <affirmative> and your feet are touching the side of the wall of the cliff. So as an L you're kind of slowly making your way down, but if you don't do it just right, you're gonna slam your face into the wall, which I did a couple of times until I could get my feet back in the right place. But I slowly was making my way down. But I was terrified <laugh>, and I was actually breathing so hard that my mouth completely dried out. And then I started coughing and choking cuz I had no spit in my mouth. Yeah, <laugh> it. Yeah. And then the worst part was at one point the cliff face went into a cave <affirmative> and I didn't realize that was going to happen. So I hear my ex-husband from below screaming, look down <affirmative> and I thought he was just being a jerk and trying to scare me or

Drew (12:25):
Whatever. Oh yeah. Cuz everybody says never looked down. Right,

Vicky (12:27):
Exactly. So am I allowed to curse on here? <laugh>,

Drew (12:30):
So I'll bleep you.

Vicky (12:32):
Okay, well, so he's yelling at me to look down and I say, beep you <laugh>. And he's like, no, really, you need to look down. So I looked down and I realized that a few feet below me was where the cliff wall went inward into a cave kind of thing. So my mind just froze and I was like, well what am I gonna do now? I'm stuck. It didn't occur to me that I could just keep lowering myself with the rope without my feet touching the

Drew (13:01):
Wall. Oh man.

Vicky (13:02):
So it finally did when my ex husband kept screaming at me to keep going, <laugh>. So I kept letting off rope, letting off rope, and then I was just kind of dangling there. But it kept going down slowly, slowly, slowly and slowly because I wasn't with my feet up against anything. I started to turn on the rope a little bit and I actually turned and faced outward towards the city and the ocean and everything. So I would've appreciated the view more if I wasn't just trying to get the hell down <laugh>. But eventually I got down and my legs were jello, I completely crumbled the floor and I had to sit there for a good five minutes before I could start the

Drew (13:42):
Walk. What was that feeling when your feet first left the rock and you're now dangling?

Vicky (13:48):
I, I'm telling you, I was terrified. It's the most scared of my entire life. Yeah.

Drew (13:52):
I can't imagine. It

Vicky (13:54):
Was great. Yeah I'm glad I did it. Yeah, I wouldn't do it again <laugh>, but I'm glad I did it.

Drew (14:00):
So you're not gonna be jumping out of airplanes anything?

Vicky (14:02):
I actually have jumped out

Drew (14:03):
<laugh>. Have you? So which was more scary

Vicky (14:06):
Still the repelling. Really? Yes.

Drew (14:09):
Wow. Why? Because you had a buddy with you when you were going down or

Vicky (14:13):
I think the scary part about the airplane is the first few seconds but it actually isn't very long <affirmative> when you're first just falling because then once they open the parachute and then you're just floating, it's so peaceful and calm. And if you're lucky to be doing it over a nice area, in my case, I did it in central Florida in Titusville <affirmative>. So I could literally see Kennedy Space Center. If I strained my eyes, I could look towards Disney World. So yeah, it was a shorter time of panic <laugh> versus the very long time it took to get down Table Mountain.

Drew (14:54):
Oh man. Yeah,

Vicky (14:55):
I can't imagine. But I swear I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I really am not <laugh>. Well,

Drew (14:58):
If you're like me, I just like to test myself every once in a while just to see. Yeah. I say I'm, I'm not really scared of heights. I'm more scared of sudden falls and quick death. So I mean, I try to get my mind around the idea that I can do this, other people have done it, I can do this.

Vicky (15:18):
For me, it's more of a, like I said, when in Rome, if this is what people do in this area for fun. Alright, yeah, I'm gonna do it too. <laugh>. I mean, sometimes it's repelling off a mountain, sometimes it's eating pizza in Rome or Naples.

Drew (15:34):
So let's talk about your friend that you have along Buddy. Yes. I got to meet Buddy there for just a moment. Yeah. All right. So tell me the inception of this idea of Buddy as being your travel companion and where he came from.

Vicky (15:52):
So I bought Buddy in December of 2012 at a Miami Dolphins football game, <affirmative>, which we won. I always point that out.

Drew (16:01):
<laugh>, who were you playing? Buffalo <laugh>. Okay. All

Vicky (16:04):
Right. Which is one of our rivals. So

Drew (16:07):
A rare win for the Dolphins.

Vicky (16:08):
Yes, exactly. So I always point that out <laugh>. But as I was leaving the game you know, go through the souvenir shop or whatever and I saw him and I thought he was adorable. I thought it was a cute little monkey. And I had recently gotten out of a very bad relationship where I got rid of all my stuffed animals and everything. So it was more of a get my own stuffed animals. Yeah. And so I had him with me and I traveled around with him a little bit and I would take pictures of him here and there, kind of like the traveling, no kind of thing. And people would see me taking pictures of him in front of things and Oh, that's so cute. And everybody would kind of laugh and I didn't think anything of it. He was just my slipped animal. And then a few years ago when I thought about starting a blog, I thought, how am I going to stand out from all of the millions of blogs that are out there? Yes, they're all about travel and wander and this and that. How can I be a little different? How can I be a little bit more memorable? And I was like, you know what? I already have pictures of Buddy in all these different places, <affirmative>, why don't I name my blog after him? He'll be the star of the show. So that's how Buddy the traveling monkey came to be.

Drew (17:28):
Nice. Well you were also telling me a bit before about that you were, I guess you're introverted and that was kind of like maybe it's better to have a different voice out there other than mine.

Vicky (17:41):
Yeah, so originally Buddy was, like I said, he was gonna be at the forefront. My original blog stories were gonna be more from his perspective and then I would talk to my friends or other bloggers about it and they would tell me That's great and all. Yeah, it's memorable. People remember the Monkey <affirmative>, maybe not always his name, but they remember, Hey, that's the girl with the Monkey

Speaker 3 (18:10):
<laugh>. So

Vicky (18:11):
It works as far as being memorable. But a few people suggested to put myself out there as well because people want to relate to someone <affirmative>. And I get that and I feel the same way when I'm reading or seeing other people's things or I wanna relate to that particular person. So I did start putting myself, and I do travel solo a lot of times, so I'm not in a lot of photos myself. <affirmative> sometimes it is more buddy in the photos than

Drew (18:41):
Me. You're the in Instagram girlfriend?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Exactly.

Drew (18:45):
Instagram monkey yet.

Vicky (18:47):
Yes, exactly. Nice. That's a good way of putting it. That's

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Awesome. That's

Vicky (18:50):
A good way of putting it. I like that. But no, I have put myself in it and when I write, I write as far as we <affirmative>, I don't say I always, it's

Drew (19:02):
Not the royal we like I do

Speaker 3 (19:03):
<laugh>.

Vicky (19:05):
No, in my writing I always write. We went here and we went there. So he's always included. So we're more of a team now. And it's not just him so much, it's not me, we and Buddy.

Drew (19:20):
Have you ever had a situation where you were in fear for Buddy's safety?

Vicky (19:26):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
<laugh>? Yes.

Vicky (19:30):
Actually, the first time that I went to Huntsville, Alabama, I was there for a conference and one night a bunch of us went to a pizza place and I got to talking with the owner and we had a bunch of things in common. He had been in the Army as well and a couple other things. And I talked about Buddy and blog and everything and he's like, oh, we should take a picture of him near the brick oven with the pizza. And I was like, uhoh. Oh

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Okay, <laugh>.

Drew (20:02):
So we have to,

Speaker 3 (20:04):
So he

Vicky (20:04):
Kinda propped him up and he buddy doesn't really sit up unless you have something behind him, <affirmative>. So the guy propped him up, but then he started, he fell flat backwards and it was just a little too close to the fire for my comfort. And as soon as we snapped the picture, I grabbed him really

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Quick <laugh>. But

Vicky (20:27):
Other than that I have pictures of him on top of, from the Eiffel Tower on top of the Empire State Building. And I always say whoever's holding him, I'm like, I swear to God if you drop him, I will kill

Speaker 3 (20:41):
You. <laugh> <laugh>.

Vicky (20:42):
So very, very cautious.

Drew (20:44):
Well he stayed remarkably clean for all of it. Yes. How many countries has Buddy been to?

Vicky (20:49):
I don't know. No, I <laugh>. I've never sat down to count.

Drew (20:54):
Does he ever get caught in immigration or does TSA ever give you a headache over

Vicky (20:58):
Him? No <laugh>. I always wonder what people think when he passes through the x-ray machine or sometimes people, the random, supposedly random checks where they have to actually go through your bag. I always wonder what they think. Here I am a grown ass woman and then I've got a stuffed animal in my <laugh>. So I always

Drew (21:19):
Wonder, it's got a monkey on my back. I'm

Vicky (21:21):
Sorry, I always wonder what they think. But no trouble so far. Yeah,

Drew (21:26):
Yeah. Nice. So let's talk a little bit about your nomadic lifestyle. And you're doing house sitting. Yes. So that's, that's not really a form of income, but that takes care of something that's usually I

Vicky (21:42):
Don't pay rent.

Drew (21:43):
Yeah, exactly. For people. So I just had a couple on who travel Europe and do a lot of the house sitting and they also have some extra jobs that they do as well. So where do you get your income to be able to continue on, do the,

Vicky (22:00):
So before I became completely nomadic, I was working for a small insurance company that let me work remote two or three days out of the week <affirmative>. So when I told them that I wanted to become nomadic and I initially thought I was going to quit that job and cuz I didn't think they would be okay with me being 100% remote but my boss was actually very cool about it. And I think at that point he trusted me as an employee too, knowing that I was doing my work when I was remote two or three times a week, he could trust that I was doing what I had to do <affirmative>. So we came up with a plan and instead of being full-time, I would be part-time and 100% remote. So the company is here in South Florida, so when I am in the area visiting family or friends or whatever, I do pop into the office here and there just to let they know I'm still alive. <laugh>,

(22:59):
Yeah. But they know they can always reach me by phone or email so that it's not a lot because it is part-time. But because I don't have a mortgage or rent to pay, I don't have that many expenses. <affirmative> I have my car but I just paid it off. So obviously I have to pay for insurance and my phone and food, food is a big one. But for the most part, because I'm house sitting, I have a house so I try and cook meals, I try not to eat out very much. I always tell everyone and people laugh, but I eat a lot of cereal and grilled cheese sandwiches because I am on a budget. But so I might not make a lot of money, but I also don't have a lot of expenses.

Drew (23:47):
And you get a chance to see places you normally wouldn't get to experience Exactly. Quite as much as you're getting to experience

Vicky (23:53):
Them. And I've been to smaller towns and it's been great because it's not normally some place people think to, oh let me go to whatever town <affirmative>. So yeah, I'm seeing new places that I would have never seen before. And then other places, even big cities like Atlanta people, people go to Atlanta all the time, but I've been there for almost two months at a time. And so you get to experience a city more and a local <affirmative>, you know get to know neighbors and they recommend a certain little restaurant down the street and it's not something all the tourists go to. So you get to find all these little hidden gems and it just, like I said, experience it more like a local when you have that slower travel.

Drew (24:38):
So the thing that I always wonder about when doing nomadic travel like that is how do you make sure you always have a place to stay? Do you have a strategy that you use to make sure that there's always gonna be a house for you? Because otherwise the expense budget goes way up in a hurry at hotels and that

Vicky (24:56):
Sort of thing? Yes. So I do try and plan as best I can. <affirmative> as far as house sits go. So I use the website, trusted House sitters, <affirmative>. There's a few websites out there for house sitting, but Trusted House Sitters is the one that I use and people start posting, sometimes they post last minute things, but if you were traveling and going out of town and gonna leave your pet somewhere, you'd wanna make sure that that was taken care of right ahead of time. So you'll find House sits listed out for a couple of months in advance. So I've had house sits that I've planned six months out. Wow. So I have an idea of where I'm gonna be and then depending on the area of the country luckily through my time in the military. And then also now because of blogging, I know people in a lot of different areas, different states.

(25:51):
So sometimes I'll look for house sits that are near a friend's house or near house or whatever. So that if I do need a couple days before or after I know I can crash at somebody's house, <affirmative> or because of my blog, I also do press strips sometimes where in between two house sits. If I know I'm gonna be near a city, I'll reach out to them and see if they wanna work together and I'll end up spending two to three days in that city and I'll work with the tourism board so that I get a hotel comped and I see some attractions while I'm there. So that'll break up the time in between house sits. So worst case scenario I think one time last year there was gonna be a week in between. So I did find an Airbnb <affirmative> and it was just a room.

(26:39):
I didn't get the whole thing just to be on the cheaper side. And one time I actually just reached out on Facebook and I said, Hey, I'm traveling from point A to point B. Is there, do I know anybody anywhere in between because I am making this long drive and I'd rather not sleep in my car. And a friend of mine actually said, Hey, my parents are actually exactly halfway and they would love to have you. Oh nice. And I had never met them before and they were Italian as soon as I walked in, they're like, are you hungry?

Drew (27:13):
Welcome to the family. Yes,

Vicky (27:15):
Yes. And I had meatball subs waiting for

Drew (27:17):
Me. Oh, that's awesome.

Vicky (27:19):
So yeah, I've been pretty fortunate because I do try and plan ahead that I haven't had to spend money really on hotels or I guess one time in Airbnb. And I've also done couch surfing a couple of times too.

Drew (27:34):
Now what is couch surfing?

Vicky (27:35):
So couch surfing is same thing. You go on a website and sometimes it has a bad reputation of, so couch surfing. The idea is someone says, Hey I have a free place to stay if somebody needs to crash <affirmative>, they don't charge. Sometimes it is literally you're just sleeping on someone's couch, which is why the name is couch surfing. And sometimes it gets a bad reputation cuz it could be a guy just trying to get girls to come over or whatever. But

Drew (28:06):
Is there a website for it?

Vicky (28:07):
It's couch surfing.com. Oh,

Drew (28:09):
Okay.

Vicky (28:10):
But you can filter for hosts, <affirmative> to be female. You can see how many reviews they've had, how many people have stayed and all that. So if you're careful and you do your research I've house or not house set, I've couch surfed a few times and I've actually become good friends with a couple of them. I'm still in touch with them now, <affirmative>. And I've actually visited them afterwards just traveling. So I've used couch surfing as well. If I needed just a place to crash for a night in between driving from one house set to another or something like that. So there's multiple ways that you can get around without having to pay for accommodation.

Drew (28:54):
Do you think that because you're an introvert, it makes it easier for you to be on the road doing these long trips by yourself or?

Vicky (29:06):
I don't think it has. As far as the driving goes, I don't think me being introverted has anything to do with it. <affirmative>, I like driving and I like music <affirmative>. So some people sing in the shower, I sing in the car. And

Drew (29:23):
Do you hold a tune? Is that why you're single <laugh>? I dunno. Is that why you're driving solo everywhere? No, maybe it's a, yeah

Vicky (29:32):
I think I sing great. Okay

Drew (29:33):
Buddy.

Vicky (29:34):
I

Drew (29:35):
Think we all sing great. Yeah, but I'll have to ask Buddy later when you're not in the room.

Vicky (29:38):
He thinks I sing great

Drew (29:39):
<laugh>.

Vicky (29:41):
But no, there's just something about, people have asked me if I do audio books or things like that, but honestly no. I still have my old book of CDs from high school, so I pop in those old CDs and I just

Drew (29:58):
Go with

Vicky (29:59):
It. Go with, yeah,

Drew (30:00):
Just lose yourself in the music

Vicky (30:01):
And the scenery. Yeah, exactly. The scenery too. So unless you're driving through Texas or something or there's no scenery,

Speaker 3 (30:08):
<laugh> <laugh>,

Drew (30:10):
Sorry to my brother, he who lives in Texas. Of course. I'm sure if he was driving to El Paso from Dallas, he'd probably agree with you. Exactly. Yeah,

Vicky (30:18):
I did that a few months ago. It's not a great drive

Drew (30:21):
<laugh>. Yeah, I haven't tried that one yet. <laugh>. So from the loneliness standpoint, do you think having Buddy along also kind of helps you out a bit? You have a friend Yeah. A friendly face wherever you go.

Vicky (30:35):
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I never feel like I'm totally, totally alone. Yeah. Like I said, I, I've had him since 2012 and he's always with me. People think we're attached to the hip though. Yeah, I don't take him to the grocery store. Okay. Let me just be clear. <laugh>. Yeah. But yeah, he's usually close by.

Drew (30:56):
Nice. So give us a little bit of information on how people can keep up with you along the way, your website and also any social media kind of

Vicky (31:08):
Stuff. Sure. So my website is buddy the traveling monkey.com and on Instagram buddy the Traveling Monkey and Facebook buddy, the Traveling Monkey. And Twitter's the only one that's a little different. It's traveling 1223 and that's because I got him on December 23rd.

Drew (31:26):
Oh nice.

Vicky (31:27):
Yeah, <laugh>.

Drew (31:28):
Okay, that'll help me remember that one

Vicky (31:30):
A little bit better. But if you just look up, if you're just searching buddy, you'll probably find him. But yeah, my Twitter handle's 12 or traveling 1223. Okay. And everything else is just buddy the Traveling monkey.

Drew (31:42):
Very good. Yeah. Well I appreciate Buddy and you Vicky for coming in. Thank

Vicky (31:47):
You so much. Like I said, this is my first podcast. This was

Drew (31:50):
Fun. Fantastic. Great. I think lots of great information. Awesome.

Vicky (31:54):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Drew (31:56):
Thank you. Well I hope you enjoyed this week's episode with Vicky and Buddy and Buddy was the silent partner in that one. If you wanna check out more information about them and start following them on social media cuz they do have a lot of great information or check out their website, just go to the show notes page of Travel Fuels life@travelfuelslife.com slash podcasts and then look for this week's episode and you should find all the links and information right there. So here is that exciting information that I was going to tell you about. Two bits of information actually at podcast movement. I finally let the cat out of the bag that the whole idea behind whiskey lore is not YouTube channels and is not, I mean that's all stuff that is an important part of whiskey education. But the two things that are most important to me getting done with Whiskey lore one a podcast and two a book.

(32:55):
So the podcast is something that's gonna take a little time for me to produce. I've got lots of storylines, in fact I have over a hundred storylines to do with this. It is not going to be an interview based show, but instead is going to be a legacy and history and stories, things that will help you get the essence of whiskey and understand its heritage and some of the details about it. And I mean I've just really, I love history so this has been fun for me to dig into. And I've actually started connecting with people in the whiskey industry and I'm going to get some little clip interviews that I'll use during the shows as well because there's some amazing stories that I will be following. So details on that coming up and if you wanna keep up with anything that's going on with whiskey lore, you can just go to facebook.com/whiskey and I spell it W H I S K E Y L O R E.

(34:03):
So whiskey with an E and you'll be able to keep up with everything that I'm doing with whiskey lore and when the new podcast is gonna drop, which will be sometime probably in November. And the other thing that I'm doing is working on a book I have committed to writing my first book. I've hired a coach, I have got a self-publishing team that is going to be working with me on getting this book out before Christmas. And the book is gonna be about helping you craft your very own bourbon tour across Kentucky. So it's part of the reason why I'm going back to Kentucky this week is cuz I want to get a couple more distilleries under my belt. I've got 17, but by the end of this I want to be up to 25 because I would like to profile those 25 distilleries and give you tips and the best advice I can to help you set up your own Kentucky bourbon experience.

(34:58):
So all of this stuff you can follow facebook.com/whiskey lore and lots of details on the way and travel fuels life. The podcast will continue as well. I will say that there's probably gonna be a couple of weeks in between here before the holidays while I'm working so hard on these other two projects that I will probably have less episodes but I'm try to keep up as much as possible. I'm going to TBE in two weeks in Montana that is a travel conference and I am going to be loading up on some great new guests that I can have on the show. So lots of great stuff coming for 2020 for sure, and definitely the end of 2019 as well. Gonna go out with a bang for sure. So check out all that stuff coming up as it releases. And thank you so much for listening to the show today. Have a great week and safe travels to you and thanks for listening to Travel Fuels Life.