Paradise Perspectives
Welcome to "Paradise Perspectives," where island vibes meet personal transformation! 🌴
I’m Riselle, the Traveling Island Girl, and I’m thrilled to have you here. This podcast is all about helping you live your best life—whether that means traveling the Caribbean. starting a new business, shifting your mindset, embracing change, or simply finding the courage to chase your dreams.
Drawing from the beauty and inspiration of my Caribbean home, St. Maarten, I bring you real stories, practical tips, and a whole lot of motivation to help you step into your power. Every episode is designed to empower you to create the life you truly want, with a little bit of island sunshine and a lot of heart.
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Paradise Perspectives
Staying Safe While Traveling Solo, Engagements, and the African Continent with Lisa Shakespeare
Solo travel is empowering and nobody knows this better than special guest, solo traveler, group trip host, and travel influencer, Lisa Shakespeare from Shakespeare Agency.
Lisa shares how she stays safe while on the go, finding love, and her absolute favorite African countries to visit.
Join Lisa's Group Trips to Africa. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook, or visit her website.
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I love me a good solo trip. I still go on solo trips when. I'm doing boards and boards and, if you know, my fiance can join me, so I it's. It's something that I think everyone should try at least once in their lives, even if you're not big on traveling by yourself. But just try once. And I'm still trying to convince my fiance to go on a solo trip by himself, cause he's never done it and I'm like, yeah, something about it that's just so rewarding and you learn so much about yourself.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Paradise Perspectives. I'm Rizal, the traveling island girl, and I'm here to help you start living your best life, no matter where you're at, whether you're dreaming of traveling to exotic destinations, starting a business or even making big life changes, this is the place for you. From the beaches of the Caribbean to your own backyard, we'll explore how to shift your mindset, find your purpose and take bold steps towards the life you deserve. So grab your favorite drink and let's dive into some real talk about living your best life, one sunny day at a time. Well, what's up, my good friend? And thank you so much for listening to another episode of Paradise Perspectives. You know it's the podcast all about transformation, personal development, conquering our fears, mindset shifting and, of course, travel.
Speaker 2:Now, speaking of the latter, today's conversation is with none other than my very good friend, lisa Shakespeare, from Shakespeare Agency. Now, she, too, was able to make a living from traveling the world solo. So, as a solo traveler, one of the things that I had to ask her and you probably are thinking the same thing when the idea of traveling anywhere by yourself pops up, it's the one thing that all women think about is how do we stay safe? Well, that's exactly what I asked Lisa because, as a pro, I'm sure that she has her tools and her favorite methods of doing just that. So we're going to talk about staying safe as a woman traveling the world by herself, but we are also going to dive a little bit into her personal life, because she just recently got engaged to an amazing human and I wanted to know all about that. I'm not sure if you realize this, but as a woman that is always constantly on the go, constantly creating content, hosting group trips, etc. It is not easy to find love. But she too, just like Alyssa Ramos. In about two episodes back, we've talked about her recent engagement. I wanted to know a little bit more about how Lisa did it, but also how she is maintaining a healthy relationship while she's on the go.
Speaker 2:But we're not stopping there. So if you are somebody who is very interested in traveling to the African continent, lisa is a pro when it comes to traveling to African countries. She has visited many, many before and, better yet, she hosts travel groups to the African continent. So if this is something you want to know more of, then this conversation is definitely for you, and I am so happy that you're joining us. Hello, welcome, lisa. I am so happy that you were able to make some time because I know, honey, you have been traveling all over the place you have been zooming from like one place to the next to the next.
Speaker 2:you just came back. From what was it? Two weeks, three weeks in europe. So the fact that I have you now in the virtual studio is just a miracle. It's a goddamn miracle. So welcome to Paradise Perspectives, and I am so happy that you are here. Seriously, thank you again. So for the listener who is unfamiliar with who Lisa Shakespeare is, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Just give us a little bit of a background story us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1:Just give us a little bit of a background story, yes, of course. So hello, hello. Well, go on everybody. I am your caribbean jamaican, yada galaborn and raising the islands jamaica all day, every day. So shout out to my yada people now and all my fellow caribbeans I love you guys all. So, yeah, um, I'm l'm Lisa Gay Shakespeare and I am a travel influencer, content creator and group trip host under my brand, shakespeare Agency. So I work a lot with just different brands within the travel space, from hotels and tour companies, airlines, luggage, anything that has to do with travel and I also plan trips for people to the Caribbean and specifically to Africa, which ties into my group trips that I offer throughout the year specifically to Africa as well. So I'm a travel guru. I love everything travel. I love, you know, showcasing the motherland that's really important to me and also going back to the Caribbean and, just, you know, inspiring people to get out of their house and, just you know, live their best lives, because you have one life to live.
Speaker 1:And why not see the world? And I'm here to help.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I think that is one of the big things that attracted me to your account to begin with. It's just your joie de vivre, as they say. You know your joy for life, and just how you come on Instagram and the social media platforms every single day with a smile on your face with some really amazing outfit. Girl, I don't know how you do it to keep the fashion trends while you're traveling. I just pack shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops. Honey, I just have no time for all that glamour, but every single time I watch your stories I was like where is?
Speaker 1:she getting these outfits from oh, I could give you all the tea. I, I mean, I don't date keep. I shop on Amazon, shein, pretty Little Thing. Fashion Nova, I mean JLux label everywhere. I will give you a whole list. I'm all over the place.
Speaker 2:And I can tell you one thing If there's one thing that really stands out from all of your outfits, it's the jewelry, the african pieces that you have like, you have these big african continent earrings and you have this big like gold plated um necklace or maybe it's real gold, I have no idea.
Speaker 1:whatever it is, it looks fine those you get in the motherland though. So, yeah, we don't have to take you to africa to get those real hard pieces that are just very representative of the continent. Yeah, I go, I go crazy whenever I'm there. It's ridiculous I always get stopped when I'm going through security because they're like what is all this metal in here?
Speaker 2:and you're like one of those that I know. You know when you go, when you follow travel influencers, usually you'll see them pack as light as they can. You, not you no sir not lisa shakespeare. I saw you dragging these two suitcases and I and it backpack. No, it wasn't a backpack, it was like another purse with you throughout Europe. I mean because I like options.
Speaker 1:You know and I don't know. Like, my trips are usually two and a half weeks, sometimes three, sometimes two, three, four different countries, different weather, so I don't know. Yeah, I try, I try and it just it never works out.
Speaker 2:So I know that I'm gonna need my check back and I'm gonna get a small bag and then pray that the check bag actually reaches where you need it to be, because you've had a couple of incidents where it was always like touch and go with a suitcase Is it going to arrive? Is it not going to arrive?
Speaker 1:I never got my. No, not this last trip, but the trip before. I lost my check-in bag. The airline lost it. I didn't lose it, the airline did, and that was just a whole.
Speaker 2:You never got it back.
Speaker 1:No, Roselle, I never did no.
Speaker 2:No way. Okay, that is traumatic, that is definitely traumatic. Okay, so what do you do now?
Speaker 1:So now I use air tags. I use air tags. I think, um, I take pictures of my luggage. Every time I'm about to check it on, I take a video and I take a picture and say three hail marys. And just like thank the lord that it makes it. So this last trip it came back to me. No, but for real, I'm not kidding, I'm so.
Speaker 2:Yes, I can imagine it's like and you just said it, you know it's like usually it's like two weeks worth of uh, travel accessories and clothing, underwear, all of that good stuff that you pack up and then to get to the destination, and usually it's for work. You rarely travel just for pleasure, so it was just work related as well. I remember that when I did see it on your Instagram stories when you lost the bag, I just assumed that you eventually got it back, but now you're telling me that bag was just completely gone. Oh, wow, okay, all right. So now listener you have heard it from Lisa, a professional Make sure you get them air tags if you are planning to, especially in the summer, travel to Europe or anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2:Make sure you got them air tags because you want to make sure that you can track your suitcase for sure world. Make sure you got them air tags because you want to make sure that you can track your suitcase for sure, all right so we're gonna go in into a little few more of your tips, because I know like you have so, so many.
Speaker 2:But before we go into all of the tips that you can give to an aspiring solo female traveler, I just need to dive into something juicy that I have been meaning to ask you about, because, well, it's just so juicy you just got engaged, miss Thing, I know.
Speaker 1:I'm like what we need to talk about that? Yes, yes, yes, I'm so excited. You know it was coming up, you know it was coming up. It's been what we're in July. It's happening in February, march of the 18th. I do math Four months, yep Five months.
Speaker 2:I think it was the 14th of February. Your fiance is just so darling because he is just the cutest. He planned the entire thing with your family. You had absolutely no idea and all of us got to witness it on the gram, but I want to hear it from you. I want to hear how was it? When you turned around? I think you were blindfolded, weren't you?
Speaker 1:I know. So the thing is it was my birthday trip and I'm never not going to not want to go to Jamaica. He said, babe, you want to go to Jamaica for your birthday? Yes, absolutely, that's home, let's go. And you said it. My fiance, he's a darling, he's a true romantic at the heart. He's always, like you know, going to go beyond to make me feel special. So on my birthday he was, like you know, he planned like a nice dinner for us and it's going to be special, and it's a sunset thing where he doesn't want me to see where we're going, so he's going to blindfold me In my head. I'm like, of course I'm going to go with it, like this is amazing.
Speaker 2:You're thinking birthday, you know? Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:I'm not questioning any of that. I'm just like, I'm just excited that, yeah, where are we going? And I'm trying to figure it out as we're walking. I'm listening to everything around me, I hear the ocean, and I'm like, if you see the raw video, not the edited video, you will crack up Because I'm chatting the whole time, like, oh, I hear these people. Oh, we're walking by a bar, oh, I think I hear the ocean. Oh, so we're walking down a pier. No, but like he's probably in his head saying shut up. But like it was so funny.
Speaker 1:So then when I finally got to I guess where we're going and he takes the blindfold off, I didn't even talk anything. To be honest. I saw the table, the setup of the table, and I just looked up and I saw my mom and my dad and I was like, wait a minute, what are you guys doing here? But I still didn't even pluck it. Then I was like, oh my God, you guys came for my birthday. That's so sweet. Like let's all celebrate. Yes, I love it, you know. And then they're like surprise, look to your left. And then I look it, you know. And then they're like surprise, look to your left, and then I look to my left and he's on his knees. Then I lost it. I was like no way. I, literally I even walked away from him because I couldn't believe it. Yeah, and he was like come here.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it was just, it was so sweet oh my gosh and I even gave the man the wrong finger, like I was so like caught off guard within my right hand. Nobody clocked it till like the next day for the whole night I'm showing off my hands, my right hand. We go out after and I'm telling everybody I'm engaged with the ring on my right hand. It's a mess, but I wouldn't change it for the world. It was well, actually, if it makes you feel better.
Speaker 2:If it makes you feel better. And I think in the netherlands you wear your your ring on the right hand. If I'm not mistaken, this may have changed over the years, but yes, so anybody listening who is tuning in from the netherlands please correct if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, you wear it on your right, so you weren't entirely altogether wrong for that 24 hours.
Speaker 1:I was just rocking a Dutch style.
Speaker 2:We read that yeah, exactly, Listen, this is like giving me like throwback to when you were here and we spent like I think it was like three days that you were here on st martin and we spent those three days just cracking up about everything we had so much fun on that trip. You need to come back. I need to come and meet you. I need to go on one of your travel groups to africa. Like seriously, it has been way too long since we got to hang out together.
Speaker 1:I agree, I agree.
Speaker 2:All right, so to continue this conversation, I know that we are now in July as we're recording this, but this is not going to air until September, so you have, at this time, you have a trip coming up to. Oh my gosh, help me out.
Speaker 1:I have four trips coming up actually Well, five if you include Ethiopia. So by the time September comes around, one will already be passed, and that's the Zim trip. I'll just skip over that. But in October is the South Africa trip, and that's October 12th to the 23rd, and we're doing two cities, johannesburg and Cape Town. Fabulous, south Africa is like a gem to me, so I love it. I've been there, you know about, three times now, and if I was going to move to any African country, it I've been there, you know about three times now, and if I was gonna move any African country, it would be South.
Speaker 1:Africa hands down just because I just like I love the diversity of South Africa. You can get, you know, the safari life, you can get the city life in, you can get the beach life in Cape Town. You can can go to the Winelands, you can do the adventure, you can do the party life, like it's just such a well-rounded country. I really, really love visiting South Africa. So that trip is going to be a 12-day trip, 11 nights, you know, and all excursions are included breakfast, lunches and almost all dinners too. Like it's a pretty fully incapacitated trip and I mean it's still open. If anyone wants to still book that, you can go on my website. So that's in October. November I have Sierra Leone, which is a shorter trip.
Speaker 2:That is super interesting.
Speaker 1:Yes. So it's November 1st to the 7th and I'm hosting it with a colleague of mine, my travel sister, queenie. Oh, yes, I do love her too. Yeah, she's great, she's really awesome. If you guys are looking for someone who's fully immersive as well as I, travel and love Africa content, visit her page at fly with queenie. She's super, super, super amazing, and so we are.
Speaker 1:We are hosting that trip together under our brand, the spanko experience, and it's a seven-day trip to sierra leone and it's really, you know, it's again fully immersive in the culture, because that's how we travel. So we're gonna be getting into the nitty-gritty of the of the culture of sierra leone and freetown and going to the beach and checking out, you know, the slave coast, and we're going to the island to learn about the history of the culture of the country. So that's gonna be pretty awesome and we still have space on that trip as well. Um, and then December is Ghana Dead to December? So Ghana is my favorite African country. It's like my second home. I know I said I would live in South Africa, but Ghana is where it my heart is. Yeah, that's where my peoples are. You know, I did an ancestry test and, like my highest counts. I think I'm at like 20 something percent from Ghana. So that's my peoples, you know.
Speaker 2:And it just reminds me of Jamaica.
Speaker 1:I remember the first time I landed in Ghana, the immigration officer opened my passport because I gave him my Jamaican passport.
Speaker 2:He said welcome home, sister oh my gosh, seriously, and you know it's too funny that you say this. It's too funny that you say this because I remember the two of us sitting in the pool there on the frank side of Saint martin, at les planade, with our good friend, frank the bartender, and we were talking I think you had just come back from ghana, from like your first trip to ghana then and this is years ago, right, yeah, I mean it's gotta be like five, five years ago or something, yeah it's definitely around five years so, because it was after the hurricane that we had in 2017.
Speaker 2:So I think it must have been like 2019 that you were here something like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was there in 19.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so, either 2018 or 2019. It was one of those that you were here, but I remember that so clearly that we were talking about it and I remember that one story that you said you had that feeling when you went to I don't remember what it's called, but the gates before the african slaves were to leave the motherland to get on the ships, and you were describing that feeling to the t and I had goosebumps sitting at that pool bar every single time.
Speaker 1:This december is going to be my fifth time going to ghana and the feeling that I get goes. So it's the elmina slave nestle. And every time I go there it's an indescribable feeling. I know exactly what I'm gonna gonna through, but going through it every single time it just gives you chills.
Speaker 1:And I mean, you know, as an African-American, a Caribbean-American, just a Black person in general, descendants from Africa, you really embody everything in that moment and you feel all the feelings. You know. You get angry, of course, because you're seeing the atrocities that happen to your people. You're also just kind of sad because it's like man, how can people keep going? Humane.
Speaker 1:But then you also feel some kind of resilience and power because now I am going back into that space, not as a slave, as a free person, being able to understand what my ancestors went through and to share that with people and empower my people Like, listen, this is where we came from, but they're not keeping us here. We're rising up above this and we're moving forward. We're not looking back and that door of return is exactly what it is you go through. They never returned. We're here today and we can walk through and we hold that space, so it's so powerful and every time I go it's included in my trip Like it's a must visit because I want people to understand the depth of our history and how far we've come as a people. So yeah, ghana man hits my soul, it really does yeah, ghana man hits my soul, it really does.
Speaker 2:So there's one thing that I you know. There's so much that I want to pick your brain on and that I want to share with the listener today. But there is one thing that I really wanted to know um, how do you deal with the ins and outs for travel? Because, yes, it is your life, yes, you've made, you are making a living out of this, but, at the same time, how is it on your mental health, the traveling the? You know, when you have to take, you have to deal with delays or missed flights or lost luggage. How do you center yourself to be able to then get in that destination and still have a smile on your face and perform like how you're supposed to perform? Because, let's be honest, that's what we all do when we're into travel influencing. It's like you go, you have a brand and you need to sell that brand. That is why you were hired, so, at all costs, smile on your face and just go for it. How do you? How?
Speaker 1:do you do it? I mean great question. I think people will. If, if. If you know me and you follow me, you know that I share it all. So I'm going to take everything with stride and show everything.
Speaker 1:So for me, I literally do not like the travel process as much as I travel. I hate it so much and I keep saying to myself one day I'm going to have a private jet and I don't have to deal with the drama of travel because it's so stressful. But the love and passion I have for the destinations and the things that I'm going to experience and just like the immersiveness of that it, I can pull myself out of just travel drama. So, even okay, this last trip, when I went to Ethiopia on my, I landed and the airline did not have my luggage. I was supposed to be there for six days, the entire six days I I did not have my luggage, but did I sit in my hotel room and mope and cry and the minute I landed I went straight to the market and hit the ground running and I met my friends, we got some stuff and we just like, literally we went through maybe four or five cities and I kept it going the whole time Because I am somewhere where I know that I want to have a deep connection with.
Speaker 1:I want to have a deep connection with, I want to learn the culture, I want to meet the people. So you know I'm not going to hold on to travel mishaps and let it ruin my entire trip or yet alone ruin my friend's trip. So you know, even though I might miss a couple underwear here and there, you know like I'm going to like go shopping or just rewash my stuff or just figure it out along the way.
Speaker 1:But, you know, I'm that kind of person Like I roll with the punches and and that's how you have to be as a traveler you just expect anything and go with everything and just try to keep a positive attitude and if your itinerary allows for it, include a free day where you don't have to worry about anything. You can just do whatever the heck you want, whether that's sleeping in to catch up on the time change, reading a book, going to the spa, getting a massage, you know, doing yoga, listening to me, whatever it is your guilty pleasure. My guilty pleasure is reality tv. So I will veg out in a hotel room with my laptop and close the blinds and do nothing, if I can, just to regroup, and that's kind of like, I guess, how I, you know, settle my mind. Or I might go for a massage. But yeah, you know, it's just important for people to know that not everything is going to go your way all the time, especially when you travel.
Speaker 2:And with my foodstrips as well.
Speaker 1:I let people know that I'm like listen, the itinerary can change at any point, whether it's weather related or it could be something going on in the country. You know just just so many different things, so you have to be flexible. You really do and you can't hold on to certain mentalities, especially like Americans.
Speaker 1:Man, we have such a get it now, get it now mentality that you go somewhere and you get the first right away. But when you're in Africa, or even in the Caribbean girl, when you're in Jamaica, you go to the store. People don't even look at you to greet you, you know. So like it's like you just got to change your mentality sometimes. But I don't know, I think it's just important to let things roll off your shoulder and keep it moving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And you know, you just mentioned the group trips again and I just hosted a retreat here in St Martin and that was the third, actually, group thing that I've organized and I've got to tell you, like the first two, I was in such a different mindset that it was really really hard on me having to be around people 24, seven for five days. How do you do it? I mean this last one, I, you know I recently started doing a lot of meditation. I do daily meditation in the morning, I do journaling. You know I'm a much more Zen person than I was then. But how do you stay positive, stay smiling, how are you still approachable? Because I can imagine that, even for somebody who seems are you an introvert, extrovert, cause to me you're an extrovert.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely an extrovert.
Speaker 2:That's, that's, that's part of it, yeah, but even as an extrovert I can imagine that at times it can get to be a little much when you're constantly and especially as you are the host. People are constantly coming to you with questions, you know how do you keep a level head during group trips?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think, like I said, I think it helps that I'm an extrovert, so I genuinely just love being around people and I love talking with people and for my trips they're so strategically planned that you know, first of all, I'm not the only one on the trip running it, so I work with local guys in the countries that I visit, so I'm not on a trip with 20 people, 15 people, 10, however many by myself. I always have someone to help me out so they can help me navigate a group setting and you know we divide the group, or someone asked me a question that I don't know. I can rely on my host, so you know we have that dynamic, which is great. Um, and I guess for me, how I handle, like just having so many people all in my space at once and for a long time, is I unwind during the night, like I? I literally like, yeah, after the's over, because most of my trips are planned during the day. Nighttime is free and you can do whatever you want.
Speaker 1:So I usually just take a couple hours after a day to just kind of, you know, regroup, think about what happened during the day, plan for the next day, and I have those few hours to myself and I'm good, and then I'm ready to go again. I have those few hours to myself and I'm good, and then I'm ready to go again. And then after the trip, you know, I make sure that I have at least, you know, two weeks, three weeks or so, before I'm going on another group trip. Like I'm not, my group trips aren't back to back like that. So you know I have time to online, but I mean, I genuinely love hanging out with people and getting to know people and I think you know people are excited also to travel with me and so it's. It's never I don't really feel like, oh, it's a burden that I have to be on or whatever, but it's just I, I genuinely connect with people and I have like zoom calls before the trip starts. So you know, we're all seeing each other, we're building that we're building that rapport.
Speaker 1:You know we have our whatsapp chats. You know we're getting excited and and you know, like I mean I, I, I don't mind it at all my longest trip is coming up. Actually, I've never been on such a long. So this is south africa trip. It's going to be 12 days, so my longest trip was nine and you know like I, I felt it. But the good thing with long trips is that there's free days sprinkled in here and there, so the free days are a complete like mental day for me to just again do whatever, as with my guests they can do whatever. I still kind of I'm around just in case anyone, you know, is trying to do something last minute, but usually people are they take advantage of that free day as well and everybody just disappears. You know, because we're all human at the end of the day and you know we all want more. So I love the free days and I think that's a big thing to include in a trip, especially if it's one of those longer trips.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good big thing to include in a trip, especially if it's one of those longer trips. But, yeah, absolutely yeah, that's good to know and I think that's how most people do it as well. I know that I always need my especially nighttime. I just need that time to kind of like just, you know, come down from everything and also plan for the next day as a host. You got to be on the entire time, not to mention that you still have to do with, I don't know. You probably have, you know, some, um, some things that you have to do for, for social as well. So you got to go on your instagram stories. You got to update those also. So you need that time too.
Speaker 1:I don't post live though.
Speaker 2:No, that's exactly what I was going to go on, because I remember you mentioned this in one of your recent stories, which is the same thing that I do as well. If I'm traveling, I never post live. I have so many people. People are like looking at my stories and then they see me in the supermarket here and say Marta, I was like I thought you were so-and-so. I was like nope, I'm back already. There is no way that I'm going to be posting as I am going through. Whatever it is that I'm going through, it's just safety reasons.
Speaker 1:But that's, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to stay safe. That is our main priority as solo female travelers. So that is one thing that I wanted to talk to you about is safety. What are your personal favorite things that you can recommend to somebody who is thinking about starting to travel solo? What would be one of those things that you would advise to them what they need to take care of and absolutely do? The do's and the don'ts is what I want to hear from you.
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, I will always recommend solo traveling. Like I love me a good solo trip.
Speaker 1:I still go on solo trips when I'm doing stuff for boards and boards and, if you know, my fiance can join me. So it's something that I think everyone should try at least once in their lives, even if you're not big on traveling by yourself, but just try once. I'm still trying to convince my fiance to go on a solo trip by himself because he's never done it and I'm like, yeah, something about it that's just so rewarding and you learn so much about yourself, you, you will meet people and you just, you know, even if you're the most introverted person, I'm telling you you will meet at least one person. So I highly recommend it. But obviously there's a lot, lots of things you can do before.
Speaker 1:The main thing for me is research. You know, do your research, learn everything you can about visiting a country before you actually visit it, because you know you want to make sure that you are prepared. You want to make sure that you understand what the language is, what the, what the culture is, the dress code, what the food is like. You know the currency, where the bad areas are, where you should stay away from. You know what kind of a political climate are you going in. Is there civil unrest? You know, just like I said, their cultural norms how they dress.
Speaker 1:You don't want to go to a country wearing booty shorts and crop tops when they're mostly a Muslim country. That's the quickest way you can get your ass in jail and you know like I can't feel bad for you because you went over there like that. So it's just you know you gotta do your research. Then know a lot of. It's kind of a touchy subject to when people are like well, but I'm not, you know a certain religion or why do I have to do, do it like that. But it's just a respect you're in're in their country and you're in their country.
Speaker 2:If you want to do it at home, no problem, but if you're in somebody else's country, you better behave yeah absolutely yeah, and you know, be aware of your surroundings just like you would, anywhere you would go.
Speaker 1:You know, don't go down a dark alley by yourself or wandering at night by yourself. You know I have. I use my. I share my location with several people. Whenever I travel, I find my iPhone. If the country that I'm in is using Uber, I always share my Uber location, my Uber drives, with my fiance or my best friend so that they see when I get in and when I get out. I always download Google Translate if I'm in a country that I don't speak the language, so I get that as well. Google maps and I get the offline version, so if I don't have data, I can still use it to try to get around. Um, what else do I do? Get, um, an international phone plan or or maybe like an e-sim if, depending on you, know your carrier so that you can have data, because having data is important. You don't want to necessarily be abroad and can't contact anyone, so that's pretty important. I use GigSky a lot for my eSIM. You know uses and then you know it's like we just talked about Kind of also be smart on social media.
Speaker 1:If you're gonna be sharing stuff while you're traveling, please don't share real time or don't tag locations. While you're actually there, especially if you're a solo female traveler. You know you don't want to share your hotel or restaurants you're eating at and you know the just. Or, if you do, do it at least two to three days late so that by the time people are watching it you're already off to another city or off to a different hotel or something like that. Just just you know, just just to be safe and be smart with people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like you know a lot, there's a lot of solo travelers out there. I remember when I went to Marrakesh for the first time it was it was it was one of my first solo trips and I met four other girls because I tried the hostel life. This was like way back when I was like this and I tried the hostel thing.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to visualize that you in a hostel, I'm having trouble.
Speaker 1:I came a long way but I did it and I met the sweetest girls, four girls we were all in. I guess they call it a pod, or what do they call it?
Speaker 2:A dorm. They call it a dorm yeah, a dorm yeah.
Speaker 1:When you're in the dorm room with others and you know, I chose to stay in an all-female dorm hostel or whatever, because it can be co-ed.
Speaker 1:And I think that's weird. I don't want to be sharing a room with a male, male stranger, but whatever. So what the point is, though, all of us we'd arrived within one to two days of everyone arriving, and we just kind of banded together and it was like okay, so this is what my itinerary has, this is what my itinerary has, and we looked at each other's itineraries and just, kind of like, made a little group for ourselves and bam, there you go, it's no longer a solo trip, and if someone really wanted to do something that somebody else didn't want to do, it's like okay, well, you go, do that, you know, share your location so that we can keep track of you, and then you come back and we regroup for dinner, and it's like, honestly, my solo trips never end up being solo for more than the first day, because you just meet people you know, um, and it's just important to like, read reviews of places that you're going to. Reviews are so, so key, and this is why I also love leaving reviews whenever I visit somewhere, and it could be somewhere as simple as a restaurant.
Speaker 1:I mean, you don't want to go somewhere and waste your money and get bad food Again. Same thing with the hotel. You know just yeah, read your reviews so you're not. You don't end up in like really terrible situations. Let me see what else I don't know.
Speaker 2:Fake it till you make it. I think you kind of like covered. Yeah, fake it till you make it. I think you kind of like covered the most important parts. You know, always trust your God. Your God is really never wrong. Follow your God Seriously. If something is feeling icky or wrong, get out of there. You know there's also that, especially now online, there are so many weirdos out there. Man, oh my gosh, it's like that you gotta be like so, so careful with it. What you put out there on social media and especially for us that depend so heavily on social media because that's what we do um, yeah, it gets you gotta be like extra careful, so pay attention. But you know, having said that, I would never not solo travel. It is my passion, it is I absolutely love it from the first time I tried it, and I think it's the same thing with you as well yes, yes, oh, and get travel insurance.
Speaker 1:That's important too. Oh yes, travel insurance just in case it happens while you're abroad. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Always a good idea, Do you? Um? So now that you have a fiance, how does that work? Because I can imagine, I mean, it takes a certain kind of man to be able to be with somebody with a hectic schedule like you do. So how, how does that work within with you and your fiance, Cause he seems already like super, you know, super good. I mean, he knows he probably, you know you, he met you while you were doing this, so he knows. How do you and your fiance deal with the constant, you know the, the big gaps between years that you don't see each other. There's always like a big gap where you don't see each other, where you're only on the phone together. How does that work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Listen, first of all just.
Speaker 1:God bless him, man, he I have a great, great man, because he not only is excited when I have all these travel opportunities and trips coming up, even if he can't go on it, he supports me every single time. And it's so important to have someone in your corner when you are in this space, because if they don't understand it, it won't work, because you're gone a lot. So what would that said? So he's a chef and he owns two restaurants here in Connecticut, and so he, you know he can come with me whenever he really wants to, but sometimes he chooses, he picks and chooses when he wants to travel with me, let's put it like that. And for him, he loves going on trips that are out of the country, that are like places that he probably wouldn't go to on his own, and so he loves like my Africa trips. He loves going to Jamaica. He'll go to Jamaica all day, every day.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know my little, maybe weekenders on, you know, to small states or so he'll come with me on that. So you know, it really just depends on when he feels like he's coming. He's open to all of them. Any opportunity I get, if I have a plus one, because sometimes a brand will sponsor me and I'll get a plus one I'm like, Dave, do you want to come? It's all expenses paid for you and he makes the decisions. It's always up to him. I don't pressure him to join me and I don't pressure him not to join me. It's always up to him. So I think we have a really good understanding of what my job is and how he fits into it. When I, when I am gone for long periods of time. We talk to each other all day, every day, like constantly, like it's almost like I didn't leave, like we FaceTime each other, we're texting, we share every single thing. I wake up, I'm texting him or calling him. He burns his hand in the kitchen.
Speaker 1:He's calling me oh my God, I just burned my hand on the, you know. So it's not like I'm gone too long and there's no communication. You know, we're literally still talking to each other and I think the most important thing is when I come back home, I'm spending that time with him. So I'm dedicating. You know, whether it's a whole week or two or however long I'm home for, I'm focused on him. You know, we're going to build in our date nights and we're going to build in our veg on the couch nights and our little romantic nights and just like you know, making sure to spend time with each other before I go on another trip. So that's how we do it and and you know it works every single time. And and he, he always comes to the airport with flowers for me, it's so cute. Or I'll come home and there's a bouquet of flowers waiting. He's a true romantic man, this man I swear I'm telling him like he needs to go be like a romance novel or something it is just so beautiful.
Speaker 2:Every single time I see the two of you together, I'm like oh, like, seriously, the two of you are just adorable, I love it. Uh, before I let you go, there is one more thing that I was meaning to ask you, and now, since we were talking so much and I was so deep in the conversation, it kind of like escaped me, because now it's like that's why you write things down yeah, right girl we can't rely on the brain anymore.
Speaker 2:What is wrong with me? But let the listener know how they can get in touch with you, how can they follow you, where can they find information about your travel groups, because I am sure you already have a couple set for 2025 as well.
Speaker 1:So where can they find you? Yes, so, um, shake, so my instagram, almost everything is shakespeare agency. And, by the way, guys, yes, my last name is shakespeare for real, for real, um, so my hand I saw.
Speaker 2:I saw her passport.
Speaker 1:It's legit I know right. You know, what's funny is that I'll get back to the real quick. So my fiance's first name is William.
Speaker 2:No way I swear, I swear.
Speaker 1:It's the funniest thing, but we sometimes like love to joke around and check in as the Shakespeare's and he's William Shakespeare and people freak out, that is hilarious william shakespeare is just so funny.
Speaker 2:But anywho, um so my, maybe you should take your last name when you get married. That's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:He should take your last name I was like, what's up, let's be be modern. I don't got a ticket Right.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 1:God, yeah, yeah, too funny, but yeah, I mean, that's my handle, shakespeare Agency and my website is also Shakespeare Agency and you know, once you go on the website there's tabs at the top. You can click on group travel. You'll see all the upcoming trips for this year. Like I said, there's south africa, sierra leone and ghana, and then next year.
Speaker 2:Uh, we've launched ethiopia, um, and I'll be doing a bunch more for next year as well too.
Speaker 1:But yeah, next year september is ethiopia, so ethiopia is going to be fully immersive, like that trip I'm super, super excited about because I've never had a trip where I'm so immersed in the culture and we met over three different tribes the Mursi tribe, dorsey tribe, bana tribe and I've always wanted as long as I can remember I've always wanted to meet the Mursi tribe, and these are the tribes in Ethiopia that have the lip plates.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I've seen them on, like the channel and just like learned so much about it and I was I almost cried when I saw them, like I can't believe I'm meeting them in person. It's like understanding the meaning behind it and you know, the bigger the plates cause the plates usually mean that the women are ready for marriage or already married, and the bigger the plate, the more attractive they are to the men in their tribe and it's just so beautiful.
Speaker 1:And it was like we weren't sure we were going to be able to meet them because, you know they just they're on the move all the time because they're actually now the smallest tribe in Ethiopia and they never stay still so and they're known to be a little aggressive because, like I said, they're the smallest tribe. So, sadly, you know, there's still some kind of tribal wars going on, so sometimes the tribes attack each other and they don't. You know, the, the, the Mursi tribe specifically, do not know who's like foe or enemy, so we had to like when we walked in, yeah like no one was smiling at us, like no one was.
Speaker 1:Everyone was so serious and just like mean mugging and me and my friends. But I, like I know us, we're so like bubbly and personal, like we were so excited, like we just started like talking to them and interacting with the kids and, like you know, showing them the, the, the jewelry we had on. And one girl came up to me and I will never forget, she literally did this and touched my nose because I had a nose ring in and I was like, cause I don't speak the language, of course, and they don't speak my language, but she just kept pointing at my nose ring and I'm like, what you want my nose ring? That's kind of weird. And she was just like boop and she took it off because my nose isn't pierced, no, mom, my nose isn't pierced, oh, okay. And she literally went boop, everybody calm down and put it on her nose. And I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, all right.
Speaker 2:And then she had the biggest smile on her face and I'm like all right, well then, big hug, bring it in, bring it in.
Speaker 1:You know, and like, we started hugging and then they started warming up to us, then we started dancing. And the kids came over, the guide looked at us like I have never seen this in my entire life of bringing people to see the movie. They never smiled. He's he gave us the heads up from before. He's like don't take it personal, they're just not gonna smile or talk much to you. And then we were like, okay, girl, by the end of it we were besties, we were hugging.
Speaker 2:It was amazing I mean, you've probably seen the videos and I was like, oh yeah I did wow that is definitely one of one of those experiences for the books, definitely one of those experiences that you will never forget, and that is the reason why we do this. That's the reason why we travel as much as we can, and I think, for people like you especially, I don't think you know how the people say travel is a luxury. I don't think it's a luxury anymore, as a necessity.
Speaker 1:I think it's not only educational.
Speaker 2:It opens your awareness. It opens you know who you are. You discover so many different things about yourself when you travel. It is the most eye-opening experience you can have. So definitely, definitely. If you have never considered solo travel, then this is take this as a sign. Take this whole episode as your sign to try it go for it lisa, thank you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, go for it absolutely, lisa. Thank you so so much for making the time to be here. I am so happy to see your pretty face again and I hope that next time I see you it will be irl definitely in real life, we're not doing this virtual thing anymore.
Speaker 1:It's about it's about time we meet up again absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I mean, when you reached out, I was like oh, oh, my God, no brainer. Yes, like, let's do it. You know, like this know the hard work that we put in behind the scenes. They just need, like, the stuff on the forefront and the pretty things.
Speaker 2:But I know you're grinding.
Speaker 1:I get your blogs, I get your newsletters, I get it all. So I see it and I'm proud of you. Oh my gosh, thank you, keep going, keep going yeah.
Speaker 2:That means a lot.
Speaker 1:That means a lot, lisa, again, again, thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart, honey. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, this was great and that was the lovely lisa shakespeare from shakespeare agency. I know, isn't she just a delight. I told her you would love her as much as I do. Anyways, if you are interested in traveling with lisa the African continent and you want to discover some of the amazing African countries that she is about to travel to this year and next, you need to hurry up to the show notes as soon as you finish listening to this episode, obviously, and click on the links, because I have left all the links there for you. There's a link to her Instagram, her Facebook and, of course, her website, so you can get in touch with her and get yourself in one of her travel groups to Africa. My name is Rizal, the Traveling Island Girl on social media, your transformational and travel coach. I hope to see you next week. Bye, bye, sayonara, goodbye, ciao, tot. Later you next week. Bye, bye, sayonara, goodbye ciao.
