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What It’s Really Like Living on a Sailboat: Six Months from New York to the Bahamas · Inspired Travels With Patti

• 0:00
  Imagine living on a 42 foot sailboat with your husband, your dog, and another couple while chasing adventure across the open seas.
• 0:09
  My guest today travel from New York to The Bahamas on a 42 foot sailboat, and I'm so excited to have her on and hear all about it.
• 0:20
  I'm Patti Hunt, and you're listening to Inspire Travels with Patti.
• 0:24
  Today is going to be an exciting interview because the idea of sailing on a sailboat for a couple weeks sounds amazing, and my guest did it for six months.
• 0:37
  When I first heard about this adventure and I saw pictures on Facebook, I thought the beauty, the sunsets, the sunrises, and all the fun.
• 0:47
  What I didn't think about was the weather not always cooperating.
• 0:51
  So today we're gonna hear the highs.
• 0:53
  The lows, the challenges, and all the unforgettable moments of life on the water.
• 1:00
  So today I have Valerie Acio and her husband Andre Dairy, who I've known this couple for, oh my gosh, it's gotta be 10 years.
• 1:12
  And so they are no strangers to adventure.
• 1:14
  They have traveled extensively across the US and internationally.
• 1:20
  After a successful career in corporate America, Valerie ventured into entrepreneurship.
• 1:26
  The decision came while she was a busy single mom of two young children.
• 1:32
  She realized that this was not the lifestyle she wanted for her and her family, and then after losing her mother at.
• 1:40
  59 Valerie focused in the entrepreneur world on health and wellness, and we'll hear a little bit about that because not everybody could pick up and take off for six months, you know?
• 1:53
  So we're gonna talk about how you manage that.
• 1:57
  Valerie, welcome to Inspire Travels with Patti.
• 2:00
  Hi, Patti.
• 2:01
  Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:03
  Am I coming through loud and clear?
• 2:05
  You are coming through loud and clear.
• 2:07
  Thank you for being here.
• 2:09
  So tell us about your travels.
• 2:13
  When did you start traveling?
• 2:15
  Has this been an thing?
• 2:17
  Well, you know, no, actually, um, you know, raising a, a family and stuff like that, traditional, you know, lifestyle.
• 2:24
  It wasn't until, uh, my kids were a bit older, um, and I joined the world of network marketing or direct sales, relationship sales, you know.
• 2:34
  Got out of the corporate arena and became my own boss, became an entrepreneur that a whole new world opened to me.
• 2:42
  Um, I was in my four early forties when I traveled for the first time to Europe.
• 2:47
  So, you know, that was, you know, yes, I traveled with my family when we were kids, you know, cross country to California, did Florida, those, you know, national things.
• 2:58
  Um, but I always loved the idea of going international and, um.
• 3:04
  And when I joined my first, uh, direct sales company, they had an international convention slated for that later that year and I to Germany and I said, oh my God, this is my chance to get to Europe.
• 3:17
  And so I figured out what those qualifications were.
• 3:19
  I made sure I won the trip.
• 3:21
  You know, and, you know, went to Europe for the first time ever and that just opened up a whole, you know, want within me to experience culture.
• 3:33
  Um, because going to Europe is very different than you, you know, the states.
• 3:37
  We have so many beautiful places in the States and we've been blessed to travel.
• 3:41
  Pretty much throughout the states.
• 3:43
  Um, but now to say that we've traveled pretty much all through Europe, you know, and Japan and Mexico, and you know, a lot of the islands and you know, Iceland, you know, just beautiful places and there's a lot more on my bucket list.
• 3:58
  I'll have, you know that.
• 3:59
  But, um, you know, 10 years plus ago we started sailing and, um.
• 4:06
  We were able to purchase, um, our sailboat with dear friends of ours.
• 4:10
  My husband's best friend, my husband's Canadian from Montreal.
• 4:14
  Um, so they live up there and we decided to make Lake Champlain our home for our boat.
• 4:18
  So we've been sailing and I, I grew up with motor boats, so I never sailed.
• 4:24
  So this was something new for me, um, to learn.
• 4:27
  And so we sailed for the last, you know, several years plus, I don't know, seven, eight years, um, on Lake Champlain.
• 4:35
  And it was a dream of especially, um, a couple, the couple that we bought the boat with Michelle, he's a consummate sailor.
• 4:43
  Um, it was a dream of his to when he retires, you know, to take the boat down, you know, to the Caribbean.
• 4:50
  'cause he always watched a lot of those shows like Below Deck and all those others.
• 4:54
  so it's one thing when it's a couple and one person's trying to convince the other person, Hey, like in my case, hey, let's sell everything and travel in an RV full time.
• 5:04
  And literally I laughed.
• 5:06
  I thought Dan was kidding.
• 5:07
  I never really spend time in an rv.
• 5:09
  Now you wanna travel full time.
• 5:11
  So now not only is it you and Andre, but you have this other couple and the couple comes to you and says, let's, let's sail from New York down to the Depa to The Bahamas.
• 5:23
  What was your, I wanna hear your response.
• 5:25
  Well, it wasn't, that wasn't, it was always something we all discussed.
• 5:28
  The four of us, like remember for the past, I don't know, 6, 7, 8 years we've been traveling, we've been sailing on weekends.
• 5:34
  You know, we would go up and spend a week on the boat, you know, during boating season, may through September.
• 5:40
  Right.
• 5:40
  'cause it gets cold up there as sooner, so.
• 5:43
  So it was always something we discussed.
• 5:45
  It really was something, oh yes, one day.
• 5:47
  One day.
• 5:47
  One day.
• 5:48
  Wouldn't that be fun?
• 5:49
  'cause we would spend.
• 5:50
  The weekends together, maybe a week together, and we, of course, that's so much fun.
• 5:54
  You're eating, you're drinking, you're having fun, you're selling, going to Burlington, all nice little places on the lake.
• 6:00
  It's a huge lake.
• 6:01
  So, but then, you know, um, Michelle had a health scare.
• 6:07
  You say you'd always take something right?
• 6:09
  There was a health scare and it's always one day, one day, one day.
• 6:13
  Right.
• 6:14
  Right.
• 6:15
  one day someday.
• 6:16
  Well, someday became, let's do this now.
• 6:20
  You know, you start to realize at our age that, you know, life is short.
• 6:24
  You know, your kids are now starting to get grown or becoming grandparents, you know, you know, we're in our sixties.
• 6:30
  And so it was really, um, it was a decision that we just said, okay, you know what?
• 6:37
  Let's do it.
• 6:38
  And this was, you know, two, two years ago now, I can't believe the time has come.
• 6:43
  But we spent a year pretty much planning for it though, Patti, this was a thing, so it's not something you just up and go, you know?
• 6:52
  right.
• 6:52
  And I wanna talk about the preparation part of it, but I also wanna go back a little bit because I, I think this is a great lesson.
• 6:59
  It's why I am doing this podcast, because there is always that someday, someday I'll travel, someday I'll do this, that, or the other.
• 7:08
  Um, and so it, it's really important to me because I hear story after story after story of people who lost, you know, somebody retired and then they, they.
• 7:20
  Passed away, or you know, parents who passed away young, like your mother passed away relatively young.
• 7:26
  So the message of someday, were you really, when you guys talked about this, did you really feel like you were going to do this?
• 7:35
  Or was it so far down the road?
• 7:37
  Wasn't a realistic, a real thought.
• 7:40
  It's interesting you said that because my husband didn't think that, uh, this would be for me.
• 7:45
  Like, he's like, there's no way that you're gonna be able to be in a confined spot, blah, blah, blah.
• 7:49
  And I was the one that said, come on, you know, Michelle, you just had this scare.
• 7:54
  You know, let's, let's do this.
• 7:56
  And, because here's the thing, Andre and I are self-employed as you know.
• 8:00
  So we get to you know, build our business wherever we are, um, which is a beautiful thing.
• 8:05
  I'm so glad I made that decision 25 years ago because we were able to, and then Sonya and Michelle, they were at Reti getting close to retirement age, so it, he decided to take a leave of absence from work, you know, um, his wife was, you know, she does, she's self-employed, so it was okay for her.
• 8:23
  Um, and.
• 8:24
  And we said, okay, we're going to do this.
• 8:26
  Um, it was the winter of 2023, I guess so.
• 8:30
  So that whole summer, like that whole, you know, summertime I guess the boat was, we were re outfitting the boat to be able to have this journey.
• 8:43
  let's talk about the preparation because it's not just the physically preparing the boat, but mentally.
• 8:49
  So Andre didn't think this would be something you would do.
• 8:52
  Just like Dan wasn't sure about me being in an rv.
• 8:56
  I wasn't sure about me being in an rv.
• 8:58
  Wait, nobody was sure about the idea of me being in an rv.
• 9:01
  'cause you don't know what it's like till you do it.
• 9:03
  So let's talk about some of the mental emotional preparation.
• 9:08
  We're talking about life on.
• 9:11
  So what, and you said you did a year of preparing.
• 9:15
  Yeah.
• 9:16
  Well, because we've been, had been sailing for several years, you know, and I grew up always on a boat and loving the water and respecting the water.
• 9:24
  Um, you know, this was just, we just said, okay, we're gonna do it.
• 9:29
  This is the time to do it, you know?
• 9:31
  Um, and.
• 9:34
  With technology, like I said, we can do our business wherever.
• 9:37
  Michelle was able to take a leap of absence and so we said, okay, this, this journey is gonna begin, you know, September, September 11th, nine 11 because our son got married on the 10th up in, so, so that was it.
• 9:51
  So that whole summer, pretty much prior to, you know, at whole spring and summer, um.
• 9:59
  We were preparing the boat.
• 10:00
  Like Andre would go up like all the time to Plattsburgh.
• 10:03
  I would be working, you know, or whatever.
• 10:05
  And he would be spending a lot of time like we.
• 10:07
  We really, we, we brought in compost heads so we wouldn't have to go to pump out.
• 10:13
  So we changed all that.
• 10:14
  That gave us a whole bunch of storage space.
• 10:16
  I mean, we really, I must say my husband's very good with organization and things like that.
• 10:22
  Both he and Michelle really made a plan to make sure the boat was outfitted properly for the four of us to be on the boat for that long, um, safety wise, provision wise, all that.
• 10:33
  So all that time.
• 10:35
  You know, all that time gave us an opportunity of being together.
• 10:39
  'cause I would go up and help or whatever, and then we would talk about it and.
• 10:42
  And it was, it was becoming a reality.
• 10:45
  And then we started to think about, wow, I mean, we're best friends, you know, but like, even family, I mean, how many, how long could you be together?
• 10:53
  And so we talked about there's gonna be times where we're probably not gonna like each other much.
• 10:57
  We're gonna have issues, we're gonna have things, we're gonna need our own space.
• 11:01
  And you know, 42 foot thing is not too small.
• 11:04
  And if it's not like a hundred foot yacht, you know.
• 11:06
  But it's nice as we each had our own bedrooms, our own.
• 11:09
  Our own state rooms, our own bathrooms, you know, like, so we had our own space, um, however we talked about it and we said that no matter what, we're gonna come back.
• 11:21
  Best friends, you know, we'll get through what we have to.
• 11:23
  We don't wanna talk to each other for whatever we wanna say a few words, whatever, but we're best friends.
• 11:28
  And so that mutual respect had to be there, that emotionally, you know, when you're away from family for that long.
• 11:34
  You know, it can be tough.
• 11:35
  And for us, for them more so because they had a new grand baby or two at home, you know, so they were, she, you know, thank God for technology, FaceTime, whatever, but she was really missing her grand babies, you know, and I was missing the family and, you know, so, but the adventure was so worth it because, you know, we can get into that late, but it was really something else.
• 11:59
  and I knew that we'd be coming home.
• 12:01
  So you made a decision to, okay, now let's sell everything and just live the army life, which I have plenty of.
• 12:08
  I actually have at least a dozen people that I know that have done that, believe it or not.
• 12:12
  Very different animal, very different when you know you're gonna come home to the house.
• 12:18
  Uh, again, the preparation.
• 12:20
  So mentally, and people ask me, you know, when, when we, when I talk about going into an rv, and um, I would imagine it's the same for you.
• 12:29
  Was it scary?
• 12:30
  Yes, it was scary.
• 12:32
  There were so many what ifs and things.
• 12:35
  You don't know what you don't know.
• 12:37
  So all the planning in the world, but there are things that happen or stuff that comes up that you just don't know.
• 12:43
  There's only so much you could read about and you know what YouTube videos about, so.
• 12:49
  A big thing that you know, you and I have talked about a lot is yes, things are scary and you do it anyway, is kind of the message.
• 12:57
  And this idea of not waiting is certainly a. A big message for us.
• 13:03
  When you and I met, um, things were not good for Dan and I financially, and we were looking for other answers.
• 13:11
  And yeah, you take that leap and I took that leap probably what, 15 years ago?
• 13:17
  It actually has I know.
• 13:19
  I know.
• 13:19
  Um, and, and decide that, you know, my day to day just wasn't working.
• 13:24
  So with anything, the point here is with anything, even though you're scared, there are things you're gonna learn.
• 13:29
  There are mistakes you're gonna make.
• 13:30
  You jump in and do it.
• 13:32
  I want people to not wait.
• 13:35
  You said at our age, I want people to not wait till they're our age.
• 13:40
  I want people to not wait for that scare.
• 13:43
  You know what?
• 13:43
  And.
• 13:44
  That's usually what happens, right?
• 13:46
  We've seen that and, but what was so refreshing being on the, you know, at the marina and meeting, um, when we were traveling down in The Bahamas, we had, we saw quite a few young families, you know, homeschooling their children.
• 14:00
  So here we were talking about our generation making, you know.
• 14:03
  Retirement age, whatever, doing whatever.
• 14:05
  But there are people out there and you see it sometimes on these YouTubers or on shows or whatever, but we met real life people that had children.
• 14:16
  Children, a dog, you know, whatever, on a boat.
• 14:21
  Smaller than ours.
• 14:22
  Smaller than ours, you know?
• 14:24
  Um.
• 14:26
  Living life.
• 14:27
  They didn't want traditional schooling for their kids.
• 14:29
  We had great conversations.
• 14:30
  They wanted homeschool and they homeschooled.
• 14:32
  We again, with technology, homeschool their children.
• 14:35
  They weren't just out vagabond, you know, whatever.
• 14:38
  They were homeschooling, they were whatever, and they made a decision.
• 14:41
  Take the year to do it, and there are ways, there's certainly a lot, you know, within the RV community, I saw a lot of people homeschooled.
• 14:49
  There's so many programs out there and for anybody thinking about doing this that has children, there are a lot of programs for kids.
• 14:57
  To be homeschooled, or there's all different names for it now too.
• 15:02
  And so I think the experience for children is amazing.
• 15:06
  Whether you're an boat or in an rv, the things that you can see and teach your kids, you know, and again.
• 15:14
  That's not for everyone.
• 15:15
  Some kids going into a classroom every day is better.
• 15:19
  you're preparing, you took a year to prepare.
• 15:21
  What were some of the more complicated, what are some of the things that you did to prepare that you would, you know, recommend, give some suggestions?
• 15:30
  I'd love how you said you talked to your friends about.
• 15:33
  We are best friends.
• 15:35
  We're gonna remain best friends, and as almost silly as that sounds, you have to set those parameters before you.
• 15:42
  I think even with a couple, you have to set Oh, for sure, for sure.
• 15:46
  Um, and those kind of like times, those like un uncomfortable times were few and far between.
• 15:53
  I mean, like I two or three, like, you know, where you're disagreeing about something or this or that.
• 15:58
  'cause remember.
• 15:59
  it's about safety.
• 16:00
  Like when you're out in the seas, you know, and you don't see, you know, anything for miles, for miles, especially, we had a few of those moments when you're crossing over through the Atlantic to The Bahamas, it's gonna be pretty scary.
• 16:10
  I mean, you're just this little nothing in the midst and you really realize just how small you know you are.
• 16:17
  Um, anyway, but then again, the excitement of seeing land and then, you know, doing all that.
• 16:24
  You know, again, I think it's really important.
• 16:27
  Like we all made sure that we were up on our, you know, CPR and you know, making sure we knew at first aid and different things like that and making sure, you know, we were always with our life jackets on and you know, there was certain like must dos to ensure our safeties, right?
• 16:44
  Our safety lifelines attached when the weather was bad.
• 16:47
  Just different things where people take for granted.
• 16:49
  We made sure that that wasn't the case.
• 16:51
  You know, and the, the, the dinghy was perfect and functional and every 'cause you prepare for.
• 16:58
  The things you don't wanna ever happen.
• 17:00
  And hopefully they don't, you know?
• 17:02
  Um, 'cause you see capsized boat, you see things, there are accidents out there, just like there is on land, you know?
• 17:09
  Um, so we made sure that we, we, we outfitted the boat.
• 17:13
  We, like we said, we went to composting instead of having to go to pump outs.
• 17:17
  And that was just amazing, you know, people like, wow.
• 17:20
  And so I recommend that for people.
• 17:22
  And I mean, I know in RVs they, you know, do a lot of that, but, um, so that was cool.
• 17:27
  And.
• 17:28
  Just being able to, you know, provision properly.
• 17:32
  You know, kind of think of what we're gonna need.
• 17:34
  Not that you can't go grocery shopping and stuff when you get to the islands, but it's very, very different um, than here again, we don't take things for granted when you're going to some smaller communities and what we're used to.
• 17:47
  Let's talk about the beauty you get in the boat in New York.
• 17:51
  In the sailboat in New York, and let's talk about some of the amazing things, the amazing adventures, the beauty of it, because then we're gonna talk about some of the challenges Well, we'll start from the beginning.
• 18:03
  I mean, of course we left Lake Champlain and you have to, for those that maybe know or don't know, their area, come down this big, big lake and then you have to go through the locks to head into the Hudson River.
• 18:14
  Okay.
• 18:14
  And the Hudson River comes down into New York.
• 18:17
  So just, you know, you're going through like Keps and Newburgh, like there's just down the Hudson.
• 18:23
  Through the Adirondacks is just beautiful.
• 18:25
  Okay.
• 18:25
  For people who've never been, it really is quite stunning.
• 18:29
  So that was an experience having to deal with lock the lock system, you know, that was pretty cool.
• 18:35
  You know how to maneuver that.
• 18:37
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:37
  And so, mm-hmm.
• 18:38
  But then you end up into New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty and the buildings of Manhattan and that.
• 18:44
  That was just we, you know, how many times have I gone over the George Washington Bridge?
• 18:48
  Well, we anchored under the George Washington Bridge one night.
• 18:51
  You know, how cool was that?
• 18:52
  You know, I mean, for people who maybe don't know the area, they don't think that it's that cool, but I'm sure you do because you're a native to.
• 19:00
  So people who don't know the area, go, go look at pictures and yes, yes.
• 19:04
  And I, I have many, many pictures, but, um, but, so going through New York City and, you know, day and night, just seeing the buildings and everything, the skylight skylines lit up, it was just stunning from that point of view.
• 19:16
  Um, so I think that was one of the highlights.
• 19:19
  Um, and then of course, you know, maneuvering our way around that.
• 19:24
  And we decided to come up to our, we have a summer home in Connecticut.
• 19:28
  Um, that's where we live in Connecticut.
• 19:30
  Um.
• 19:31
  So we, we brought the sailboat up to our beach house in, um, old Saybrook, Connecticut.
• 19:37
  So we had to come through the Long Island sound, you know, so we had to go around Manhattan, up the East River into the Long Island sound.
• 19:44
  So that was all pretty cool, very cool.
• 19:46
  And then having our boat here so family can see it, and friends and stuff like that.
• 19:51
  We spent a couple of weeks here.
• 19:53
  Um, and then actually now, like this, it was a couple days ago, we then, um, provisioned up the boat, um, here in Connecticut and started our journey down to down south.
• 20:07
  You know, we got on the boat and.
• 20:10
  Crossed over, back out the Long Island sound through the Verano Bridge into the Atlantic, and then through, you know, first stop Atlantic City and, and then, you know, continued down the Intracoastal, which was very, we did some blue water sailing, but pretty much we were, we, we got into the Intracoastal and we went and be able to experience all that going through the, you know, um.
• 20:36
  Maryland and the Carolinas, and then, you know, Georgia and Florida, you know, so just stopping in in so many like Charleston, Savannah, you know, um, Annapolis, we boat show there that year.
• 20:50
  I mean, it was just, it was really cool.
• 20:53
  You know, really cool.
• 20:54
  All So to understand this, and again, you know, thinking about RVs, I would drive, you know, I never drove, but we would drive for four or five hours sometimes, or go from one state to another and then stay somewhere overnight or a couple weeks.
• 21:08
  When you're out in the boat, you're picking ports to go into and stop at.
• 21:14
  You're not stopping every night.
• 21:16
  You're just, I guess, when you're sleeping.
• 21:18
  So I know nothing about that.
• 21:20
  okay.
• 21:20
  Yeah.
• 21:20
  Well, actually very good.
• 21:22
  We, we made a point, because remember, this was a journey.
• 21:25
  We didn't, we weren't rushing, you know, to get to a place.
• 21:28
  So we, and safety was always first, so we were not, even though people do do that and transition both down south in a couple of days, they, they have crews and they go through the night, through the ocean, and they're there.
• 21:40
  Right?
• 21:40
  That wasn't our situation.
• 21:42
  Every night we were gonna stop and we, we didn't always go to a marina, you know, we would just anchor or take a mooring ball or something, you know?
• 21:51
  Yes.
• 21:51
  We, we planned the stops along the way, you know?
• 21:54
  So we always had a destination, you know, and, um, we would stop then for the night or get up early the next morning, very early, sometimes before sun sunrise and start heading out again.
• 22:06
  And so everything was planned, you know, and then.
• 22:11
  For the most part, especially going through the Intracoastal and everything else, um, we held, you know, we had that plan until we got down to Florida and then we have to cross over, you know, the Atlantic.
• 22:23
  To The Bahamas.
• 22:24
  You have to wait for a certain weather window.
• 22:26
  And we were stuck, actually stuck, stuck in Fort Lauderdale.
• 22:30
  Um, for like two and a half weeks because the weather was not cooperative, you know, to a couple times we attempted to cross in seven, eight foot, 10 foot waves.
• 22:39
  Like, you know that nope, I guess we're not going any place now, you know?
• 22:43
  So, um, so we had to wait for Mother Nature to say, okay, now it's a good time.
• 22:48
  now you said you left it in September, that's hurricane season, right?
• 22:53
  Uh, yeah, it was the end of September, I think.
• 22:55
  That was kind of the time.
• 22:56
  Thankfully there wasn't, you know, we had some squally weather, but nothing, you know, nothing major, thankfully.
• 23:03
  And there's like certain things, like you can't, you, you're not supposed to travel past the whatever, meridian until a certain day.
• 23:11
  And we, we, we plant accordingly for certain things, for boat insurance wise and everything else.
• 23:17
  So again, there's a lot of planning, there's a lot of charting, there's a lot of all that that goes in.
• 23:22
  Now, of course, there's advancements in technology where you can use your iPad, your phone, you can, you know, you have your radar, you have everything else.
• 23:29
  Um.
• 23:30
  And believe you me, it's must, it's needed because there are days where you couldn't see from me to you because the fog was like pea soup and you know, bad weather and stuff.
• 23:39
  So you rely on your instruments, you know?
• 23:41
  Of course.
• 23:42
  So it's not all glamorous all the time.
• 23:46
  Right, and that's why I wanted to set up with the beauty.
• 23:49
  And you said you got up sometimes before Sunrise and you took off, and so watching the sunrise has to be amazing And sunrises and sunsets and things like that.
• 24:01
  And, and just visiting all these little communities like alligator Alley.
• 24:06
  Guess what?
• 24:06
  There are alligators in alligator.
• 24:09
  Yes.
• 24:09
  Yes, there you don't wanna be like in the, you know, water, you know.
• 24:14
  But those, there are such beauty from, you know, quaint little cities or towns to just rural, like nothing for your eyes can see marshland, you know, as you start to get down in down south and Georgia and things like that.
• 24:30
  It's just.
• 24:31
  Like, you see these things in movies, but like you're really experiencing, I mean, that sometimes at night you're like, you're just anchored and you're like, Ooh, what's, what's around?
• 24:40
  I don't know what's around.
• 24:41
  Or, you know, people, oh, what about people coming onto your boat or you're afraid, or, no.
• 24:47
  I mean, I think if, if you, if you get too fearful, you'll never do anything you guys, Exactly, and that's what we talked about and that's what you know long ago.
• 24:55
  And for people who don't know, you were one of my mentors.
• 24:59
  I was, just to give the background, I was a teacher for 20 years.
• 25:02
  I had my master's degree continued on, um, almost my doctorate degree.
• 25:09
  I keep saying I'm three classes and a dissertation away from my doctorate degree, and I knew it wasn't working.
• 25:15
  You know, fear because I was, this is what I had planned my life to be.
• 25:19
  And when I met you, it was more about, you know, yeah.
• 25:23
  Fear.
• 25:24
  And so you and Andre were probably the first, were definitely the first two people that got me to think outside the box of being a teacher for the rest of my life.
• 25:33
  So that was a big thing.
• 25:35
  And overcoming the fear and just Do it we all go through that journey, right?
• 25:41
  Whenever we have some life changes, I mean, I was.
• 25:44
  A single mom of two little kids, you know, leaving corporate America to start my own business.
• 25:49
  I had no background in that.
• 25:51
  You know, I so talk about fear and you know, and then of course you lose a loved one.
• 25:56
  There's depression that sets in different things that we have to just overcome.
• 26:01
  And you know, it's not easy at all and when you go through things like that.
• 26:06
  So I get it, and I'm glad I experienced all that because I wouldn't be where I, I am today or having conversations like with you if I didn't take that leap of faith and step out outside of my comfort zone to talk to you about, hey, that, that there are possibilities.
• 26:21
  And even doing something like selling your home and moving into an RV, or us taking a six month journey, you know, or.
• 26:28
  You know, hello.
• 26:29
  How do you do that?
• 26:30
  Well, you don't always have to worry about the how.
• 26:33
  You just have to make a decision, tell every, tell the world and then figure it out as you go, And understand that when you tell the world and they laugh at you, you keep going anyway, because sure.
• 26:43
  too.
• 26:43
  It's like you just, and and certainly when I started out, when you started out, I didn't just say, let me sell everything.
• 26:50
  Let me drop everything.
• 26:51
  I stayed working as a teacher for a few.
• 26:54
  For me, it was a few years.
• 26:56
  It was honestly sucking the life outta me, so I knew I had to make a change.
• 27:00
  Um, so it, there were some baby steps there.
• 27:04
  You know, I don't think people, most people go out and just say, let's sell everything, buy an rv.
• 27:08
  There are some steps there that it, and I just want people to know that they don't have to make a huge decision to quit their job.
• 27:15
  Go in an RV sailing or sailing for six months, takes, take some little steps and, and go out.
• 27:22
  There is and enjoy life.
• 27:24
  Let's talk about it.
• 27:24
  It's a question I would get asked all the time.
• 27:26
  Being in an rv, how do you go grocery shopping?
• 27:30
  You obviously had a full kitchen with a freezer with meat, so you could cook.
• 27:35
  You have full ability to cook.
• 27:37
  Where?
• 27:38
  Where do you go grocery shopping?
• 27:39
  I know We provisioned before we left Connecticut.
• 27:42
  And then of course along Annapolis.
• 27:44
  I mean, there's cities that we're in, right?
• 27:46
  So you would go to a grocery store or a Costco and then provision up, right?
• 27:50
  And then that would last you until you know you got to your next port or whatever.
• 27:55
  Um, of course when we were in Florida, um, we, we provisioned as much as we could before crossing into The Bahamas.
• 28:02
  Now.
• 28:03
  It's so funny because we had way too much stuff that we thought, oh, we're not gonna ever have this, that, or the other thing.
• 28:08
  I mean, even water, getting water is up there because, um, you know, you have to pay for water, you know, So, in an RV there is a tank of water, fresh water.
• 28:18
  Is there that on a boat Yes, You could fill up your tanks with water.
• 28:22
  Yes.
• 28:22
  Or if you are at a marina, you could hook right up to the city water, and then you're not using your tanks.
• 28:28
  But when you get to The Bahamas, how, how, the other question is how long did it take to get from Florida to The Bahamas?
• 28:35
  How long was that journey?
• 28:38
  Oh, well, once we started, once we were able to cross, I mean, it was really a couple, you know, like two days to Bimini, you know?
• 28:45
  And then, and then, so it's due, yeah.
• 28:47
  Yes.
• 28:48
  And we installed a water filter.
• 28:50
  So our water was filtered, like we would put the fill up our tanks, and then the water was filtered, so we would.
• 28:55
  We didn't wanna be, we didn't wanna buy bottled water and stuff like that.
• 28:58
  Of course we had provisions for that, should we need it.
• 29:01
  Um, and um, but then, you know, where, you know, here was what you had to do.
• 29:07
  You had to get on your dinghy, go to shore, go shopping, and then bring everything back on the dinghy.
• 29:15
  Same with your laundry.
• 29:16
  You know, we didn't have a washer dryer on the boat.
• 29:18
  We had to go to a laundromat.
• 29:20
  I think that was the first times going to a laundromat.
• 29:22
  My whole life, I don't.
• 29:24
  You know, so, I mean, so you had those excursions to the, to the shopping center to, to get your, you know, groceries or to do your laundry.
• 29:33
  But one day it was a beautiful day, Patti, we were like, okay, we're gonna go get our gro groceries, and the four of us end up in the dinghy and we go and get her groceries and we're coming back and the sky is turning black.
• 29:48
  This was not forecast.
• 29:50
  You know, there was no rain in the forecast, so we had to get, we had to get back to the boat.
• 29:56
  So we gotta get on the dinghy.
• 29:58
  Torrential downpour, torrential, like the SCO towel was floating in the ding.
• 30:06
  And, and all of our food.
• 30:08
  Like, I mean, it was, that was a pretty scary thing because it came, we, we probably should have waited it out or something.
• 30:14
  I don't know.
• 30:14
  But it is what it is.
• 30:16
  It we, you didn't know until, and we had a, a little bit of a distance to get to our boat from where we were, where we had a anchor.
• 30:23
  Um, so that was a, a very interesting.
• 30:27
  Fun, scary.
• 30:29
  At the same time experience.
• 30:31
  You know, you just spend all this money on some groceries and you don't want it floating out of the dinghy, you know?
• 30:36
  No, no.
• 30:37
  That's rule number one.
• 30:39
  And you could laugh about it.
• 30:40
  Now, I'm sure you weren't laughing then.
• 30:42
  no, no.
• 30:43
  It was cold.
• 30:43
  It was, it was like rainy.
• 30:45
  It was like scary and you couldn't see where the boat was'cause of, you know, so, but anyway, so that was one of those experiences.
• 30:52
  Not the fun part of the journey.
• 30:55
  And again, I think the same thing when people hear about the things in an RV that happen that could go wrong, you gotta decide does the good outweigh the bad?
• 31:05
  And that's why, you know, I wanted to share those beautiful moments, but there are always gonna be the in life that is just how life is.
• 31:13
  There's gonna be those, those challenges, those things that are just not fun.
• 31:18
  Um.
• 31:19
  Let's talk about, first of all, community.
• 31:22
  One of the things people say in an rv, oh, you're gonna be away from family.
• 31:26
  Which, you know, at times we were, um, and you're, you're gonna be alone.
• 31:31
  There's no community.
• 31:32
  Now you were on board with your best friends and sometimes that's good and sometimes not so good.
• 31:39
  Is there community around boating people who Just like there is, I'm sure with the rv, you know, it's a huge, huge community.
• 31:48
  Um, and that was very comforting.
• 31:50
  I mean, we actually, um, when we were in, um.
• 31:54
  Florida waiting for that weather window.
• 31:56
  We met other boaters that were doing the same thing.
• 31:58
  So we actually created like a buddy system if you can, you know, have some buddy boats as you're man maneuvering.
• 32:05
  Um, so we always did that as we maneuvered across to The Bahamas.
• 32:09
  And then while we were in The Bahamas going to the different islands of The Bahamas, we always had one or two buddy boats like you.
• 32:15
  We kind of made make friends with some people and, and then you know, you're doing on going on the same journey.
• 32:21
  And so that was nice'cause then you would.
• 32:23
  Go into explore an island and there'd be more, you know, a couple more couples or whatever too.
• 32:30
  And we would have dinners together.
• 32:31
  So there, of course, there's a huge community and certainly down when you get down to Georgetown and everything else, I mean, there's so many boaters, I mean.
• 32:41
  'cause it's, the season is what it is and there's so many boaters that are down there and packed harbors.
• 32:47
  So you, you're meeting a lot of great people from all over the place that sail, you know, I didn't, I couldn't, I never knew it was so big, you know, whatever.
• 32:57
  But it is just like RV life is for those that experience it.
• 33:00
  more importantly was the, you know, meeting the locals, you know, meeting, you know, yes.
• 33:06
  You know, you're with yourselves, but we believe very much in getting out and meeting the locals and living the local life.
• 33:13
  You know, I mean, yes, we came back to sleep on our boat, but we were, we were in the communities and meeting the people and you know, hanging out and I have to say beautiful people, you know, I really enjoyed that and always felt.
• 33:27
  People say, weren't you scared being all this crime here?
• 33:30
  And Nassau is really bad.
• 33:31
  Yeah, there's areas, just like in New York or any place else in inner cities, there's gonna be areas, right?
• 33:36
  So you just stay smart and you're, you're careful and you do what, you know, stay away from areas where the people say, no, that's a crime area, whatever.
• 33:45
  But for the most part, I always, we always felt very safe and met some beautiful people.
• 33:51
  And that is really what I would tell people to do when they're looking to venture out.
• 33:57
  Not to be afraid to connect, right?
• 33:59
  I mean, this world that we're living in a, with AI and all, you don't know what's real, what isn't.
• 34:04
  You know, and everyone's saying, you know what, enough online, let's just get together.
• 34:08
  We have to have a sense of community, and I think I. After COVID and everyone going online that I think people are realizing a few years later now, at least that's what I feel is that people wanna get back to the way it was before, you know, you know, all this great technology, you know, because, and our people are missing so much when it comes to socialization, I think.
• 34:33
  I totally agree.
• 34:37
  Yeah.
• 34:37
  People talk about, you know, again, traveling in an rv, what are those big places?
• 34:42
  I tell people when we started out, Dan's idea was to go to every national park in the country and to date I've been to zero.
• 34:51
  And a lot of that was because we would go to the little towns and experience the local, you know, culture and what they were doing and the different foods and those things just became so much.
• 35:05
  Bigger and more important.
• 35:07
  Now, not to say I don't wanna get into some of the national parks, but that should.
• 35:11
  It wasn't necessarily the focus, it was about experiences.
• 35:16
  We would go into towns that nobody's had, you know, really heard of.
• 35:20
  And just some of the things we saw and did was just not something that was on the bucket list.
• 35:26
  It wasn't on the list.
• 35:28
  We didn't.
• 35:28
  You don't know what you don't know.
• 35:30
  And I, it sounds like the same thing within the sailing community really getting out, being present.
• 35:36
  I'm not gonna go on a soapbox, but yes, we need to get back to connecting.
• 35:41
  And community.
• 35:42
  Sounds like community when you're sailing and the boat world is similar to the RV world.
• 35:50
  For me, like you said, you know, I miss the idea of family.
• 35:55
  For us it was full-time.
• 35:57
  So we made plans to come back to the area.
• 36:01
  We spent a whole summer in the area where the kids were, we had the ability to go visit the kids that were scattered across the country.
• 36:09
  And sometimes we just, you know, leave the RV and fly and see family.
• 36:13
  So that is one of the things, you know, they, they, you kind of plan, I know people in RVs that, you know, every month and a half or.
• 36:21
  Flying to see the grandkids or whatever the case may be.
• 36:24
  There's ways to make it work for sure.
• 36:26
  Now I want, I want people to be able to connect with you, but we're not finished because we do have to talk about the fact that not only were there four people, four human beings, there was a dog on board.
• 36:38
  So we're gonna talk about that and so much more.
• 36:41
  Um, where can people reach out to you?
• 36:44
  I'm sure people are gonna have questions.
• 36:46
  Oh, well, they could just reach out to me at, um, I.
• 36:50
  can put my, uh, my email there, my first and last name at Gmail.
• 36:54
  People could certainly reach out to me there.
• 36:57
  Um.
• 36:58
  Valerie lucio.com.
• 37:00
  That's my website and you can, you know, certainly call me or, um, reach out because yeah, it really was a, a lot of right.
• 37:11
  We'll put all of that in the show notes.
• 37:13
  Let's talk about the dog.
• 37:15
  I wanna talk about the fact that you were able to do this because you know, you were able to work remote, which is again, a question people get in an rv.
• 37:24
  So Monty yeah.
• 37:27
  on board.
• 37:28
  Monty is a little, what was he?
• 37:30
  Yes, yes.
• 37:31
  And uh, for the audience, this is a hard thing for me because we did, he did cross, um, the rainbow last week.
• 37:39
  Um, he was 17 and a half and just gave us so much love.
• 37:44
  Um, for those years.
• 37:45
  We miss him so, so much.
• 37:47
  It still hurts more than I can Yeah.
• 37:51
  but, um, anyway, um.
• 37:53
  The thing two years ago, you know, and Monty was always very healthy, you know, he just, he just got old.
• 37:58
  I look at, he was like almost 90 in human years.
• 38:01
  Um, and he just, his body was giving out and, you know, it was time.
• 38:06
  But two years ago he was dancing.
• 38:08
  I. On a sailboat and in The Bahamas and swimming and exploring because he was only a seven pound sharkie, you know?
• 38:17
  And so he came with us all over the place, you know, and if we, when we had to do provisioning, he stayed on the boat.
• 38:23
  And, I mean, look, people were shocked that this, you know.
• 38:29
  You know, our pet came with us, but there are quite a few of people that have pets, I'm sure in RVs and boats and stuff like that that we say.
• 38:36
  Monty was not the only one, but, but, but in RV, I could take him outside.
• 38:42
  So you had to figure out what to do.
• 38:45
  How did you manage that?
• 38:47
  People it's so true.
• 38:48
  I mean, Monty at 16 years old, what was he, 15 and a half, 16 at the time.
• 38:54
  He had to relearn how to use a peepee pad.
• 38:58
  You know, we had to retrain him to like, you can't go out.
• 39:01
  When we were in port and stuff like that, of course we walked him and he went outside, you know, and he got his grass time.
• 39:07
  But he had to learn from to, we would set the peepee pad up in our, you know, in our shower and that's where he would go and heran himself.
• 39:16
  And he learned he had a few little accidents, but that's.
• 39:18
  Okay.
• 39:19
  Um, but he learned that this is where, what was his space now.
• 39:23
  And that was really, and yeah, you can teach an old dog new tricks.
• 39:26
  Yes you can.
• 39:27
  And uh, but it was so special that he was there with us, especially.
• 39:32
  So now that we don't have him, and it's hard, you know, right now, but, um, we were so glad that he was with us on that journey.
• 39:39
  Thank you for mentioning it, Patti.
• 39:41
  Yes.
• 39:41
  And I'm sorry he was the sweetest little dog.
• 39:44
  And we won't go too far.
• 39:45
  I don't want this to get emotional.
• 39:47
  Um, it's tough when somebody's, you know, an animal's part of your family, so.
• 39:53
  yeah.
• 39:53
  he was.
• 39:54
  He was cutie.
• 39:55
  And we're gonna put some pictures in the, we'll have on social media, we'll have pictures.
• 40:01
  We'll have pictures in the YouTube video, so we'll put pictures.
• 40:05
  We're gonna put pictures of not only Monty, but you guys and the boat, and Yeah.
• 40:10
  And if anyone has questions that we can help with, of course, you know, we would love to provide that perspective in more detail.
• 40:17
  Whatever questions people have, anybody wants to know about.
• 40:20
  Okay, well, how did you, you know, change your career to have the flexibility?
• 40:25
  We can show you how to do that also.
• 40:26
  So, Yeah.
• 40:27
  And.
• 40:27
  As we're starting to wrap up, we're not finished yet, but we're gonna start wrapping up.
• 40:31
  Let's talk a little bit about that, because again, the four of you had the flexibility to go out.
• 40:38
  You used, you said you used starlink, which is something that we use in rv, so that seemed to be the great wifi connection, whatever the word is, internet system, so it works out on a boat, which is good to know.
• 40:52
  I'm sure there are Yeah, I'm sure maybe now.
• 40:54
  But that was great for us to stay connected.
• 40:57
  Yeah.
• 40:57
  Yeah, we used it in the rv, but you were able to work from the boat.
• 41:03
  You guys didn't all just take six months off.
• 41:05
  You were able to work through being an entrepreneur.
• 41:09
  So just briefly, let's talk a little bit about that and then like you said, people could reach out to you because it did give you the freedom to go travel.
• 41:18
  Yeah.
• 41:18
  Yeah, I know it.
• 41:19
  It's been awesome.
• 41:20
  Um, you know, being in, in network marketing, you know, we have obviously a product that we are very passionate about.
• 41:26
  We launched the whole CBD hemp derived CBD industry 10 years ago.
• 41:32
  Um, so that's been very exciting.
• 41:34
  And from that, now we're now in over 46 countries.
• 41:37
  So, um, between time using technology, between time zones.
• 41:42
  Um, because we've developed a great business, we have leaders all over the, the country and around the world that, you know, I figured that I tried to organize myself where I would show up on Zoom and if I needed to travel someplace, I could always get on a plane and go, um.
• 41:58
  That wasn't something that I wanted to do because especially when you're in The Bahamas, it's harder to get flights and different things.
• 42:05
  I was able, I did travel down to Mexico like a, we came home, um, during a few weeks around, um, Thanksgiving, you know, to be with family.
• 42:15
  Like we left the boat in Florida before we made the journey across.
• 42:18
  Had an, um, Thanksgiving, early Christmas for about a, a week, and then we got back on the boat.
• 42:24
  And during that time I did a little bit of traveling before meeting them up, before we crossed over.
• 42:29
  So you just try, you know, with the flexibility of a business like this and, and having a, a great team of people and everything else, that it just allowed the opportunity.
• 42:39
  Now, if I was a, you know, an accountant or if I was, I mean, other types of jobs where you have to show up, it wouldn't be.
• 42:47
  Teach, like you couldn't do that.
• 42:49
  But in a business of ours where you can have the flexibility, um, to work from wherever, um, it worked out really, really well.
• 42:58
  So.
• 42:59
  Um, or people take sabbaticals or people can, there's a lot of ways that you don't have to quit your job to have an adventure.
• 43:07
  Like Michelle went back to work.
• 43:09
  Um, he took us a time off and then he went back and he was able to get another job position within his company.
• 43:17
  Um, so you never know come, you know, people, you know, companies today are more, some of them are more oriented to work life balance and others are not.
• 43:27
  So.
• 43:28
  right.
• 43:28
  And from the entrepreneurial side, I know again, for a lot of RVers, they're looking for ways to make money while on the road and you know, if somebody wants to travel more or go out on a sailboat for a month, whatever that looks like.
• 43:44
  So there's that opportunity and people could reach out to you and, and talk about Happy to talk about him or guide you.
• 43:50
  I have so many friends in, in this type of industry.
• 43:52
  It all just depends on what you're interested in.
• 43:54
  I'm in the health and wellness arena.
• 43:56
  Somebody may be interested in makeup or something.
• 43:59
  I mean, I don't clothing.
• 44:00
  I mean, there's a lot of different companies where you can be an entrepreneur, um, and still reach out and connect with people.
• 44:08
  So, um, but for those that are interested in health and wellness and are very interested in that, you know, hemp and cannabis space, I'm your girl.
• 44:17
  There you go.
• 44:18
  So as we wrap up, are there any last thoughts that you have that we didn't cover or something else you want to share?
• 44:27
  Did we get it all covered?
• 44:28
  I think we did Patti.
• 44:30
  I mean, I just tell everyone, just take a leap of faith.
• 44:32
  If you have a dream, work towards that dream, right?
• 44:37
  I mean, life is short.
• 44:39
  I don't wanna get myself all upset, but it is, we've lost all, we've all lost loved ones.
• 44:44
  We've all we have, have had, you know, hopefully few and far between illnesses or this or that, or challenges in life, right?
• 44:52
  We all have had them, some more than others.
• 44:55
  Um, but you know what?
• 44:57
  There's something that you really wanna do.
• 45:00
  You know, make a decision.
• 45:02
  Tell the world that that's what you're gonna do, and then figure it out.
• 45:05
  There is a plan, there are ways, there is information out there.
• 45:09
  You just have to kind of take that leap of faith.
• 45:11
  And if you can, you know, get a buddy to do it with you, or there are plenty to do it on their own, fine.
• 45:17
  You know, it just depends what kind of person that you are, what your life.
• 45:22
  You know, throwing at you.
• 45:23
  Um, just do it, you know, look at you, Patti.
• 45:26
  I'm so proud of you.
• 45:28
  I mean, going from school teacher to entrepreneur to now podcaster, extraordinaire in the travel space.
• 45:34
  I mean, hello.
• 45:35
  I mean, that's wonderful.
• 45:37
  Um, I think that's, I, you know, just the world is so beautiful with all the chaos and stuff.
• 45:45
  The world and the people are beautiful for the most part, so enjoy Yes.
• 45:50
  Thank you.
• 45:51
  Thank you.
• 45:51
  And thank you for saying that because it's certainly the mission of this podcast.
• 45:55
  And you know, again, we want people reach out.
• 45:59
  I'm on social media.
• 46:00
  Inspire travels with Patti, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, you know all of your connection.
• 46:06
  We'll put in the show notes.
• 46:09
  It, it, it takes that first step.
• 46:11
  I mean, and again, if nobody heard anything else on this whole podcast, even when you're scared and you're not sure of how there are ways, just get started.
• 46:20
  So I wanna thank you so much, Valerie, for being on, for sharing such an amazing adventure, giving my listeners so many incredible tips.
• 46:30
  I really appreciate Uh, I'm you as well.
• 46:33
  Thank you so much for having me, and go out and enjoy everyone.
• 46:38
  We'll see you soon.
• 46:40
  I wanna thank my listeners.
• 46:42
  As I mentioned, there are episodes, I just posted an episode on Hidden Gems, so people who are looking for those out of the way places.
• 46:51
  There are actually two episodes, part one and part two.
• 46:55
  If this podcast resonates, please hit the follow button.
• 46:59
  It's of great support to me and for anybody who's looking for adventure, certainly share it.
• 47:04
  And I'm gonna end with this thought.
• 47:06
  Travel isn't just about where you go.
• 47:09
  It's about how you live.
• 47:11
  Live each day to the fullest.