Caroline Makepeace Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast


To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:

Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes

Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)

If you like the show, we would be so grateful if would consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio.  A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely!  Thank YOU!

Introducing Caroline Makepeace

Caroline Makepeace is our guest today joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.

This is a lady who believes in travel, more travel and then when she is finished and wants a bit of rest: Travel.

And this is not the pack your bags for two weeks each year, or for as many weekends as you can get, kind of adventure.

She is a believer that “Your life does not have to fit in a box. You don’t have to live behind the picket fence, slave away at that full-time job that sucks you dry, and the monotonous peak hour traffic runs.

You can have the picket fence and a job you love of course, but, we’re pretty sure you at least want to escape your everyday life for weekend getaways or a three-week vacation every year.”

But what is the fascinating thing about today’s guest, is how close she came to buying into the status quo that life seems to be lived by.

Settling into the routine or a life lived on other peoples terms.

How The Dots Joined Up For Caroline

After meeting each other, falling madly in love and then beginning a five year honeymoon as they travelled the world teaching English, things came to a halt

As she says “We returned home after the honeymoon and hit a major slump. This travel life we loved was over.

That thinking changed everything and before we knew it we were chasing money making schemes all over the world trying to get the riches we needed to keep travelling.

Let’s just say $500,000 and no self-esteem later we woke up.”

“Why do we need to wait until we have the money to live what’s in our hearts? Why not just start with what is in the heart today?”

And with that thought, and I’m sure more than a touch of apprehension they set off on what has become their life, travelling, blogging and helping others to buy into the start the dream today mentality with their top ranked blog “Y Travel”

and now with two children in tow, their success, and ability to grab more experiences in a month than most of us have in a lifetime is assured.

So what was it about the nomadic lifestyle that had such a pull on them?

And is it something that they think everyone can do, or does it take a certain type of mindset?

Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Caroline Makepeace.

Show Highlights

During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Caroline Makepeace such as:

Why the words of Steve Jobs send shivers down her spine, as she has learnt from life that everything works out for the best. You may not know how this will happen but it does.

How she is so aware that she can’t escape the mundane routines of life that everybody else has to deal with, but can make sure that the experiences of life in between are so much better than everyone else.

Why it is so important to get back to the things that you really loved as a kid, to build a life around the passion. Doing this helps you push through the hard times so much more easily.

How her parents were so supportive with her dream to travel the world, although they would have been very happy for to get a safe job too.

And lastly………

Why it is so important to watch out for the energy vampires in your life, and to ensure that you pull away as much as possible from the naysayers, and dream slayers.

How To Connect With Caroline Makepeace

Website

Facebook 

Twitter

LinkedIn

Return To The Top Of Caroline Makepeace

If you enjoyed this episode with Caroline Makepeace then why not check out other inspirational chat with Jim Sweeney, Wesley Chapman, Simon T Bailey, and the amazing Rikke Hansen

You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy

Full Transcription Of Caroline Makepeace Interview

Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.

David Ralph [0:25]
Yes, hello bear world Hello there everybody, wherever you are listening to us listening to Episode 474 of Join Up Dots. Welcome to you. It’s gonna be a good one today because I’ve already been flirting big time and the lady’s going for it. I can feel but my powers are working from around and she likes to have a drink at any time of the day. It seems it makes no difference to her. So she she’s come to the right place. That’s what we’d like to do on Join Up Dots and she is a guest who is joining us and her passion I suppose. And her belief is travel and then then more travel and then when she’s finished and once Bit of rest, yeah gone in a bit more travel. And this is not the pack your bags for two weeks each year or for as many weekends as you can get kind of adventure. Herman a partner Craig are believers but your life does not have to fit in a box. You don’t have to live behind the picket fence slaving away in that full time job that sucks you dry and the monotonous peak hour traffic runs. You can have the picket fence and a job you love. Of course, they’re not taking that away from you. But we’re pretty sure that at least you want to escape your everyday life or weekend getaways, or a three week vacation every year. But what is the fascinating thing about today’s guests how close they came to buying into the status quo, but life seems to be lived by settling into the routine of a life lived on other people’s terms. After meeting each other falling madly in love. And then beginning of five year honeymoon as I travelled the world teaching English things came to a halt. As I say we returned home after the honeymoon and hit a major slump. This travel life we loved was over that thinking changed everything before we knew it. We were chasing money making schemes all over the world, trying to get the riches we need to keep travelling, let’s just say 500,000. And no self esteem later, we woke up. So why do we need to wait until we have the money to live? What’s in our hearts? Why not just start with what’s in the hearts today. And with that thought, and I’m sure more than a touch of apprehension, they set off on what has become their life travelling, blogging, and helping others to buy into the start and buy into the start of the dream to die. Now, with their top ranked blog, y travel, she is inspiring the world to greatness. And now with two children in tow, their success and ability to grab more experiences in a month and most of us have in a lifetime is assured. So what was it about a nomadic lifestyle that had such a pole on them? And is it something that they think that everyone can do or does it take a certain type of mindset? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining outdoors, with the one and only Caroline Makepeace. How are you Caroline?

Caroline Makepeace [2:56]
I’m great, David, thank you What a great introduction. You get more and more attractive to me as we go along.

David Ralph [3:02]
It doesn’t take long does it? It really doesn’t take long. No, no. He is one of those introductions that when I started writing it, and I started writing a couple of weeks ago when we first connected, I got five kids now some of them are grown up. Two of them are younger ones, but I love what you’re doing. I don’t think I could do it. I love the thought of travel, but the thought of taking my kids away from sort of certain schools and that routine, is it hard? Or is it easy? Am I making it harder than it should be?

Caroline Makepeace [3:38]
Yeah, I I do think people make it harder than what it is. And and I do speak about this quite a lot and I have a lot lately. I don’t think it’s as hard I think parenting is hard. So for me, I it doesn’t matter where I am, it’s still going to be hard. So my perspective is I might as well go and travel and have this amazing experiences in between the difficult times. Otherwise I feel like when I’m at home and I’m not travelling them the bits in between I just feel weird you know running around to extracurricular activities or going to school or housecleaning and all these other stuff that don’t really create great memories for me. So I feel that the challenges don’t stop. It’s just the moments in between get better when I travel.

David Ralph [4:27]
Oh, that’s quotable, isn’t it? Have you used that before? Or if you just spouted that off the top of your head?

Caroline Makepeace [4:33]
Now I don’t know if it was exactly word for word, but something very similar. I have said before. Yeah,

David Ralph [4:39]
yeah. Because that that is true, isn’t it? Because, you know, as I’m recording at the moment, and it’s just coming up to Christmas, but this show for the listeners is just after New Year, and I’m just about to go off to Euro Disney for a few days with the kids. And it’s been my first break this year. I’ve just been involved with work and I said to my wife, I said 2016 is going to be different. I’m going to make more of an effort to squeeze in. But do you know when you’re saying something and you kind of think I’m not sure I’m going to do that anyway. But it’s nice to say, what was different about you? How have you managed to go from what I’m saying? Yes, I’m going to do it in 2016. I’m going to travel the world with my microphone. So juicing beautiful ladies in bars and getting them on the show to just where I am at, at the moment not doing anything. What’s different about you?

Caroline Makepeace [5:29]
Well, I think it comes down to how big is your burning desire? And why do you have it? So for me, sometimes I feel like I’m not sure I can quite explain this burning desire. It’s just something I’ve always had this feeling within me that my life is not complete unless I’m travelling. So I think when you and whatever that is for anybody, for me, it’s travel for someone else. It might be writing another one a musician, someone an artist, but whatever that burning thing is within you where you don’t feel like you’re Leaving completely unless you’re doing it once you tap into that, and it’s easy to kind of follow through because it’s less of kind of wishful thinking but more of drive and determination. And and you have a very clear understanding of why you’re doing it. And so then it doesn’t seem like something you have to do. It’s just something that you naturally do each day.

David Ralph [6:24]
And are you somebody that naturally travels light? Or when you travel? Do you take your whole home with you, dude, where do you keep it all? Because as I say, I’m going to do a Disney. I’m already having an argument with my wife that we’re only going for four days, and we can do it in hand luggage and she said, I can’t take. I’ve got to take everything. You don’t know what you need out there. Now you’re travelling constantly. So how do you do that?

Caroline Makepeace [6:47]
Yeah, well, it is challenged or do you like to take a lot of things when I was younger and I was backpacking, I could easily live out of the backpack and just have a few changes of clothes and I was more than happy now. I have kids, I like to take a little bit more because I like to keep them comfortable, the more comfortable they are, the less drama there tends to be. And a lot of we just finished an 18 month road trip around Australia. So we had a car, we had a camper trailer that we towed, which was our home so we could carry a lot more with us. But if I’m just travelling somewhere on a short getaway, two weeks, etc, I like to just fit what I can in the suitcase and sort of the rule of thumb that we have is we pack a suitcase and then we reduce it by a third. Then we pack it again and reduce it by a third. Because you find it you throw in so much stuff that you really you think you’re going to need and you really don’t. So if you pack it with the intention of everything you want in the beginning and then say okay, what can I reduce this by, you can then make the kind of better decisions about what is worthwhile taking. And you the backup plan is that really doesn’t matter where you’re going. Most places do destinations that you’re going if you get stuck and run out of something, you can easily purchase it somewhere.

David Ralph [8:04]
But whose third, is it your third or Craig’s bird? Because I couldn’t do that. I’d be going we don’t need that. And she’d be going, we do need that and we wouldn’t get anywhere, we’d argue. So how do you decide on what foods aren’t going to be taken with you?

Caroline Makepeace [8:19]
Uh oh, maybe just flip a coin, or pack your own suitcase. You decide your third and she decides her third. And then you have to carry your own

David Ralph [8:30]
suitcases not gonna work Caroline, it’s not gonna work. You’re naive lady who’s obviously been drinking already in my life. So if I pick you back because obviously at the moment you’re travelling the world you’re living your life but there was that point where it could have stumbled it could have dried up where you you’ve done the backpacking you’ve done the honeymooning and you could have easily become Mr. or Mrs. suburbia raising your kids in a nice little house somewhere. Doing what most people do going to work and coming home and flopping on to the soap or in the evenings until you get up and do it again next day. Tell us about that. Tell us about how you broke free from what everybody else does in life.

Caroline Makepeace [9:17]
Yeah, I think the fortunate thing with with me was I started travelling when i three days after I graduated from university. So I guess my first experience out in the world as an adult was this grand adventure, exploring and travelling the world. So I didn’t really know any other way of being so when our honeymoon finished with my husband and I, and we sort of settled and so pregnant and sad is the slip into that lifestyle. I just felt really disconnected and really last and I just thought this there’s there’s not there’s nothing here for me like every day. I was just becoming the same. And I had lost that adventure in that discovery and that real connection to life. And I and I’ve said before, it felt like I was trying to, you know, drink through a straw that had holes all in it, it just didn’t work. I just couldn’t get anything out of the straw. That’s what life felt like for me. And I was like, there has to be another way I can’t, I just can’t keep living like this. I just feel like there’s no purpose or point to my life anymore. I need to make a different choice. And you mentioned in the introduction at this stage. I thought I had to chase the money then. Because my husband and I had followed the strategy of working around the world so we could go and live in another country on a working holiday visa. And that was how we sustained our travel. We were earning money as we were travelling, but we hit our 30s and those options dried up for us. So for me, I then was like, well, we have to we have to get rich because I’ve got to get this money. So I can continue travelling. And we just went down the wrong path after the wrong path chasing dodgy internet schemes and investing in the wrong areas, which led to total devastation. We lost everything. We’ve had a couple of investment properties and we, we lost everything all up. It was about a half a million dollars in assets. So I was at a Justin, I couldn’t get any lower. I was totally shut off from travel, disconnected for life. And now I was absolutely broke on the verge of bankruptcy. So at that stage, I had to dig even deeper, what am I going to do? How can I turn this around? I can’t let this be my legacy. And I just bought it back to what is it that I really love and it was travel. And so I just started writing about travel. And that’s how we discovered the travel blog and that that kind of pulled us out of out of that. But to get back to your original question, I’m not sure if I kind of went off track there. But um, there was Just I just couldn’t see myself living any other way. It just didn’t make sense for me and it just didn’t work. And I knew that I had to do something in order to make my life worthwhile.

David Ralph [12:10]
So for the listeners out there, but it’s a nugget of gold that you shared was, you got down to that base level of what do I love? Let’s let me be Caroline, Mike, please not not try to be the internet guru trying to follow other people’s schemes, not trying to be something that I’m not but getting right down to the nuts and bolts. What do I like doing, and then starting to build an income around that basically.

Caroline Makepeace [12:37]
That’s it. And I remember sitting at my dining room table in 2007. And I had this idea and I mapped it out to create a travel blogger only just heard of travel blogs and of blogging, chat and even heard of travel blogs, to start a blog. And I mapped out this idea of creating a community and I scrunched up, threw it in the bin. And I was like, That’s ridiculous. You’re not the Lonely Planet, no one’s going to care about your stories. It’s not going to work. And that’s when I then decided to chase money schemes all around the place. And, you know, it comes down to a lack of doubt. But also, it just seems too simple. When you say we’ll get back to doing what you really love. For most of us, we’ve grown up and the things that we really love are our hobbies and our passion. And we’ve been taught that a job the way we wait, the way we make money is through a job and career. We’re not taught about exploring the idea of making money around things that we love, we kind of separated into a hobby and that’s why a lot of people struggle with this ID that you actually can create an income around something that you love, and it’s why many people don’t even give it a try.

David Ralph [13:53]
I think you’re absolutely right on that. And I’ve been I’ve been on the same journey. I started this podcasting game because I thought I would enjoy it and I didn’t know what else to do in my life. And as it panned off and it’s become very lucrative. A lot of people been saying to me, we build a community around it, you know, teach people show them how to do it as well. And in my heart of hearts, I was thinking, I don’t know if I fluked face maybe it’s just me that that this works for maybe that I’m just the lucky one. So I’ve kind of held back on this now we’ve got a platform that we’re promoting big time in 2016 called dream starters Academy where we teach people to get back to their basics, their core essence and start working it out by taking incremental steps every single day. And now I grasp the fact that what I was saying in Episode 123 is actually true. I kind of I was saying it before I I fully grasped it myself. And then once I grasped it, I had to start believing in it. And now I totally believe in it. Everything is becoming easier and easier. As you say, because we know what we’re good at, we know what we like. And it’s just having that ability to power think your way through those concerns those doubt. So who’s gonna listen to my stories? Who’s gonna listen to me? This UK guy on a microphone talking into the cars. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, but the 7.8 billion people out there and you only need a few crumbs down here to make a living?

Caroline Makepeace [15:24]
Well, absolutely, I mean, you don’t need to speak to millions and a lot of people think that’s what they have to do. But it’s not it’s just connecting with people who resonate with your story and and connect with your beliefs and your passions. And it’s about sharing what you love, sharing what you’re good at what you’re talented at, in order to help other people. And there’s so much power in that and it is really simple. And you mentioned about that you you’ve still felt that maybe you were just lucky and I’ve gone through the similar kind of feeling When people would ask me and I’m like, Well, I kind of don’t know how I did it. This is basically it. And it did feel a lot of the times that oh, I did just get lucky. But that’s it’s I don’t, I don’t actually believe in luck. I don’t think it’s just about following your heart, which you spoke about in the introduction, and really having an intention to share that with other people. Because there will be people out there who will resonate, and that you can connect with. Now,

David Ralph [16:29]
I know you don’t believe in luck. But did you think it was lucky that you just happened to be I think it was in a bar in Ireland, and a sexy guy walked in at that time, who not only connected with you physically, you know, he fancied Yeah, common cause he fancied you, but he also liked doing the things that you do as well and he wasn’t somebody that was gonna anchor you to the fact that no, I want to become an architect and just go to the office every day. Do you think that was luck, but the two of you kindred spirits found each other

Caroline Makepeace [17:00]
No, I don’t think it’s luck. I think it’s

serendipitous. I think there’s greater things that work there that are moving things around, to help line you up with the right people that you need in your life in your journey to help you create what you your purpose is and to create that life that you’re dreaming of. And I think the more we tap into following our heart being guided by our inner voice, the more those serendipitous encounters happen, or the more that we’re aware of them and see them.

David Ralph [17:38]
So when you were younger, and somebody said to you, that phrase, the universe works in strange ways. I used to think to them lunatic, you’re a complete lunatic. Cult member? Yeah, absolutely. And all that kind of woowoo stuff. But now I better bring it into my show very often, but I’ll be honest with you, and I can be honest with you, Caroline, because no one’s listening to It’s just you and me. It’s just us. I do believe that now I do believe that there’s a kind of cause and effect thing going on. And by getting out and rippling the poll enough, those ripples are going to go out and then start coming back towards you. Because some weird stuff happened to me now, that wouldn’t have happened five years ago, but then again, I’m taking more action every day. So it does work, doesn’t it?

Caroline Makepeace [18:25]
It does. And I’m a really big fan of the woowoo. And I and I talk about this a lot. And I love how you mentioned about the taking action part because I think, you know, the law of the law of attraction. The Secret came out as this huge thing a few years ago, and I think a lot of people, myself included, got sucked into that. Well, I can just kind of hang around and dream about this car that I want and create a vision board and it all arrived into my life. I don’t it didn’t really dive into the importance of taking action to actually walking towards what it is that you want. And having a hand in creating it. And I think that’s such an important thing for people to understand this there’s so much power in you taking action but in big dreaming as well and doing all that it opens up those doors of possibility for you, so that those lucky sort of things can happen.

David Ralph [19:23]
I have something weird happened to me every single day. And and for years, I used to say to people, I don’t believe in ghosts. I don’t believe in this. I don’t believe in that. Because nothing weird has ever happened to me. I’ve never walked into a room and the chairs moved across or anything and I’ve always got people even my wife says to me, Oh, no, I’ve seen a ghost I think,

Unknown Speaker [19:41]
yeah, well, I would.

David Ralph [19:42]
I would love to I’d love to see a UFO. I would love to see something strange. So I could go, I can’t I can’t understand that. But I saw it. And now nothing’s ever happened to me. But now literally every day I open my inbox and weird things, emails, I have weird emails, where I might be thinking to myself that’s Guest would be good to have on the show. And I make no effort towards it. And then I get an email going. We would like to know if you would have so and so on the show and I think, Oh, that’s a bit strange how that happened. Yeah, but, but it’s happening. my inbox is like spookiness.

Caroline Makepeace [20:15]
It’s amazing. And this happens to me all the time as well. And I think the more you see it, the more you celebrate it and get excited about it, the more it happens, but I am the same as happened to me a couple of months ago, I decided, you know, I want to join some podcasts and be interviewed on some podcast. So I let my assistant know we came up with a plan to work out to get on to some podcast shows. And then my inbox just was flooded with requests from people asking if I wanted to be on their podcast show and we had a mutual friend that connected the both of us and then last week I was saying to myself, I really want to be featured on Forbes and I was interviewed on a podcast The other day by a lady over in the US and then she contacted me after and said, Oh, I write a column for Forbes. I’d love to feature your story in it. And I was like, Wow, that’s amazing. I didn’t even have to really do any work. I just sort of stated what I wanted. And it came to me. But being typical me, that’s kind of the sceptical. You have got a fascinating story. That’s what appeals isn’t it. If you wanted to go on loads of podcasts, and you was a PA for a media company or something, it probably wouldn’t work. The fact that you’re getting a loan and you’re doing something unusual. That is the hook, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah, it is. And I think that’s where the value comes with pursuing. You know, what you’re passionate about what your heart is, and because there’s just so much there’s, there’s a that’s an interesting story in itself, because that is going against the status quo. Most people don’t do that. And when you when you follow that, and you’re a perfect person template of that as well. And what you end up creating from it is something I’m sure you never predicted when you first started. It’s like this whole new world unravels for you, and you create something amazing. And that becomes the interesting story.

David Ralph [22:14]
But let’s play some words now and then take us on to the next stage of the conversation. These are words that I played every day on the show, just because I love them. And I think the listeners love them as well. So listeners you’re gonna keep on giving it This is Jim Carrey,

Jim Carrey [22:26]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.

David Ralph [22:53]
Now, I love the fact that most of us well, I think all of us have got family of some sorts and with Jim, he was saying that he was influenced by his dad’s kind of inherent lack of belief. Somehow he played the safe route. When you said to your parents, I’m gonna go and travel the world and I’m gonna just, you know, come back when I want. Did I sort of say, Oh, hang on No, you’re better off getting a safe job and playing the route that everybody else does.

Caroline Makepeace [23:25]
I yes and no, not so much my oldest brother travelled before me. So there he kind of ease the path, I suppose. But I’ve always had my parents fortunately have been quite supportive, although I do know that they do worry in the background, and they they were always concerned about this idea of are you going to get a real job? But they did know that it was something I really wanted to do. And so they’re very supportive. And I know I think a lot of it stems from my parents. Kind of when they were younger, when against the status quo in a, in a way they lived in, in, in a Sydney, and they moved away a couple of hours up north in search of a better life because they they thought it would be better for their children to be raised out of the city. And so they had that kind of aspect for themselves knowing that sometimes you make decisions that you know is best for you, or for your family that everyone else around you might not think it is. But it’s important that you you go with what you think is best. So I know that that was that part of them. They understood that so they supported me in that way. But there’s also another part and I think this is really influenced me in a lot of ways. With my own father. He had a ambition and drive to play cricket. And it’s his number one passion and but he didn’t pursue it as a young man because If he didn’t have the right mentors, he didn’t believe it was possible for him. He didn’t know how to do it for whatever reason. And I know that because he didn’t follow that path of his heart. life ended up being quite a struggle and quite challenging for him. He wasn’t happy. He was, you know, quite bitter and angry and upset. And I lived with that as a consequence growing up. But when he reached his 60s, I think he was maybe about 6065. In between those ages, he ended up making the over 60s Australian cricket team. So he finally got to the dream and I saw a completely different man, a very happy, a very open and free man as he played cricket and you know, he travelled over the UK, you play Test cricket over there in the 70s team. So that sort of has had a huge influence on my life and I believe that’s why my parents in a way have always supported me even though I’m sure they worried they have supported me many wise, is a lovely

David Ralph [26:01]
story, but also it depresses me as well. But he’s love his passion, that enjoyment he gained. He didn’t get it earlier somehow.

Caroline Makepeace [26:13]
Yes, and I and I think of that myself, and I think that’s one thing that’s really driven me to, to live a life where I don’t shut off my heart so much. And I think that’s why I’ve chosen a life that is constant travelling as not like a job because I saw how my father jumped into that life and it made him really unhappy. And so I was determined for that not to be my reality.

David Ralph [26:42]
So have you ever got to a place where you’ve sort of settled in and actually, I like it here if this I could be here for five or six years or do you sort of go in there? Knowing your exit plan?

Caroline Makepeace [26:55]
Yeah, we we loved we lived in Raleigh, North Carolina in the US. We had about four years in total there. And we really love that we would love to go back and live there. We just struggle with visas. But currently at the moment in our current place here on the Gold Coast, we’ve been we stopped here after a two month road trip. So we’ve been here for about eight months now. And when we arrived, I was like, this is it. This is where I can settle now. I’m happy here. This is a great place to live. And then, after six months, the itchy feet were back and it was like, Nah, I’ve got to go again. And we’re planning out for us road trip next year. So I don’t I haven’t quite hit that spot yet. And I’m not sure if I ever will. I mean, I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years now. Maybe your time will come. I don’t know. I’ll just roll with it.

David Ralph [27:45]
I had a lady on the show and I’m desperately trying to think who this lady was they they after a while Caroline they kind of all blend into one.

Unknown Speaker [27:53]
But you might forget me though. Hi. Won’t they

David Ralph [27:55]
get you? I’ll just remember you is that flirty, 1474 flirty. This girl said to me, and it was fascinating. She was travelling the world on her own. And I said, what was the worst place that you’ve ever been to? And she said, China, she said China was dreadful. They kind of poo in the street, and they do all these kind of things. And it was just horrible, horrible, horrible. And I went, well, that doesn’t sound very fun. I said, Where’s the next place? You’re gonna go? And she said, China. Well, what’s what’s the point? It was dreadful. It was dreadful. They put in the streets. You don’t want that, do you? And she said, Yeah, but that was when I was at that point in my journey. I want to go back to see if I’ve developed. I’ve expanded my my knowledge, my experience, can I cope with it now? And I thought, that’s fascinating that she wants to go back just to see if she’s kind of become a different version who can accept things? Can you understand what she’s saying on that?

Caroline Makepeace [28:50]
Yeah, I can, very much though. And I think when you travel long term, it’s you can see how you change. It’s quite easy to see how you change because you’re in a new environment all the time. And so she’s very aware that she possibly has changed a lot. And she will be seeing the place with different eyes, probably more accepting eyes, which then leads to a different experience. I have the same with Athens, I went to Athens, or that was 98, I think and I hated it. I didn’t like it at all. And I always think to myself, I’d love to go back there now, because I am a different person. And I’d love to see it through my eyes now and I could possibly really enjoy it.

David Ralph [29:36]
I went to I used to do a lot of road trips for America. And I used to just get a car and when we first went there, it was very much like we would plan every single stop and by the time you’re done a couple of them, you didn’t plan anything. You just got to an airport, got a car and off you went. And the stories of me and my friends if we do meet up talk about it’s not the sort of wonderful experiences. It’s those horrible experiences. Is that when you go into a really dodgy hotel, and we went into this place, and it was somewhere in Texas, I believe, and it was like a truckers stop. And we’ve been driving all day. And we thought there was going to be a decent town and it wasn’t. So we got to this place and it was loads and loads of lorries and it was also just banged out with truckers. And normally we were three of us, we would share a hotel room to sort of keep the cost down. And it’s one time we went there. And you know, when you’ve been travelling with people for a long time, you can’t bear how they breathe, or they eat.

Unknown Speaker [30:31]
Yeah.

David Ralph [30:33]
Yeah, and when you go into McDonald’s, you want to get a plastic fork and wrap it in their heads because you just had enough of them. So I went into this place and I said how much for the hotel rooms for the night and the woman said $10 a night and normally we were paying that and $50 or something like that for the three of them. So I said three rooms or three rooms. I can’t bear these guys. I want a night away from them. And so we went into our different rooms and I think we were we were escaping each other just for the night. They had these kinds of doors but didn’t close between the two different rooms. And so I was a bit panicked by that. So I got a lot of furniture and piled it up because I was in the room next to me, not knowing that they swing both ways. So the person could have just pulled it towards them and jumped over and merge. I was gonna say, and I was in this room, and it was freezing cold. So I climbed into bed. And as I was laying there are somethings itching by my feet. And I put my hand down the bed, and when I pulled it out, it was a human scalp. And it was like, Oh, my God, like, you know, like the Indians used to cut off in the old days with like, the blood and the flesh and everything on there. And so I went back to the reception, and I said to him, Look, I just found this human scalp in my bed. And they went, well, what would you like, I can give you a discount on the room. I said, No, I want a different room. I want a different room. Oh, we haven’t got a different room. So I had to go back and it was no sort of change of sheets or anything. So I just slept in my clothes. And all night. The couple next door. We’re going for it big time now. It’s Kids listening don’t ask what that means to your mom and dad going for it just doesn’t mean anything. Just pass that by. But we we still laugh about that now. And that was a horrible experience. The whole night was just dreadful. But I don’t remember the good stuff. Somehow I remember the adversity in the journeys. Is that with you? Do you remember the things that didn’t quite go? Well, but do you remember when that happened?

Unknown Speaker [32:23]
Yeah, a lot.

Caroline Makepeace [32:26]
And the travels I’ve had with my friends as well, I mean, when we made up again, and we made up every, you know, year or so when we can reuse sharing the same stories, and it’s always those challenging times the stories like yours, although we’ve never had a scalp in the bed, but those kind of stories. I guess they just make you laugh so much now because at the time, they weren’t funny, and you may have been frightened or annoyed and had enough but now you can look back on it and see it as a funny experience. So I guess They’re the ones you laugh about the most and want to talk about the most.

David Ralph [33:04]
And which one of your friends was the one that was most annoying to travel with?

Caroline Makepeace [33:08]
Oh, I travelled ran into a year a van, a camper van Ranger for a couple of months with at one stage there was six of us in this camper van that only slept for. So there are a couple girls in there that were annoying. I ended up I left early because I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I was like, that’s it. I’m gone. I’m going on my own adventure

Unknown Speaker [33:31]
in took

Unknown Speaker [33:32]
off it was just too hard to contemplate.

Caroline Makepeace [33:36]
So the most annoying ones I’m probably not that I’m not really friends with anymore or sharing stories over campfires with

David Ralph [33:44]
you do have to move on, don’t you? Because part of my coaching at the moment we’re talking about clearing the decks and looking at your friends and the people that you’re surrounded with and going are they actually bringing anything to my life? I just rooting me Are they negative Looking at all the books on your shelf thinking I’m never gonna read those and try to sort of like clear the decks now you must be quite frugal. So did you mentally have to get rid of people to be able to free that space to move into?

Caroline Makepeace [34:12]
Oh, yes, I mean, I’m forever decluttering my life and I think we and I think as a traveller I’m very good at I’m very good at very used to having people coming out of my life so I can very easily let people go. And I think it’s really important that we protect ourselves in a way that we watch the air energy space and who we’re allowing to come in and out of that, because there are I guess, you can call them energy vampires or people that come in your life that are there to kind of bring you down and and the nice size and drain stealers. And they can easily destroy your dreams and destroy what it is that you know is best for you that you’re looking to create. So you do have to be very careful and it doesn’t have to be done in In a negative or main way, you can just kind of distance yourself. And, you know, we were all evolving beings were moving through life and changing all the time. So it makes sense that we’re going to drop people out of our sphere as we move through and welcome new people in who are better suited to our personalities at the stage of life that we’re in.

David Ralph [35:21]
Did you think actually, but that is the way forward, we’ve already touched on the fact that you delved back and you found that core essence the thing that you love to doing, but by then decluttering and surrounding yourself with the right people, does that create a kind of vacuum for success somehow?

Caroline Makepeace [35:40]
I think so. I mean, it’s all it’s all energy, and it’s all raising up and lifting up. And I think that’s what happens when you when you’re moving, you’re creating a different lifestyle, you naturally draw in people who are kind of on that level with you and who are going to support and encourage and help you move to the next stage. I do think that a large part of my success and anyone’s success really comes down with the get down to the relationships that they build with other people. It’s very powerful. And it’s very important. And that’s why it’s important to build relationships with the right people. And as you mentioned, is this person in my life contributing to it in any valuable way. And it’s not as important to see that and to clear them out and then look for those relationships that do contribute something valuable to your life, or that you can contribute in value back.

David Ralph [36:34]
It is fascinating though, because in this environment, everything’s very positive. I speak to positive people doing positive things, and everything is great. Now, every now and again, my parents have a family business and if there’s staff shortages, I used to work in there years ago, when I was a kid, I go out, go in and do a day our cover and the customers that come in just seem to be kind of beaten up by life. How much is that? Oh, it was so much cheaper last time. Oh, oh, and it was just moaning groaning and I’m really struck by certain environments are just conducive for moaning and groaning and I sort of stand there thinking, Oh, shut up and go elsewhere. And if you don’t like it, but I don’t say that obviously because their customers, but it’s I’m really aware of the more positive and enthusiastic you are, the more positive and enthusiastic the people around you and the more miserable you just surround yourself with miserable people. It’s self fulfilling prophecy, isn’t it?

Caroline Makepeace [37:28]
Oh, it absolutely is. And I noticed the same thing. And if I and I find it’s very rare that I do come across those people or groups of people situations where those groups of people are now just as you as you said, because you draw, you know, the like, attracts like sort of thing. And I find if I do end up in that environment, I’m very quick to get myself out of it because it’s like a very thick air and you just notice the negativity and how awful it makes you feel. Because you’re so used to being in a different environment where you’re feeling so much happier and a lot more positive. And it’s not to say that challenges don’t happen, they’re always going to be there. That’s a part of life. But you don’t you see your challenges and opportunities to grow and learn rather than something that’s miserable and to complain about.

David Ralph [38:21]
So obviously, we’ve we’ve kind of painted this journey you’ve been on as hugely positive and enthusiastic. And that’s the problem with shows like this. We talk to people that have got a success around them. So you know, we bring out the success, but at the very beginning, how hard was it to get why travel going so that you could get readership?

Caroline Makepeace [38:41]
Well, so hard, and a lot of people don’t see that they don’t see the behind the scenes, they just see that the highlight reel and how it is now but a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of changes within myself and I think that’s the biggest thing. It is possibly not spoken about as much people want to know what the step by step secrets are. And I think the biggest secret is to put a lot of your time and resources into growing yourself because you are you you you are the centre of what you’ll create creating your your business your success story. So if you’re working on yourself and and it means confronting a lot of things perhaps that you don’t want to confront and, and learning new skills and and doing all these really challenging difficult things learning how to manage fear and rejection and failure because you’re going to fail over and over again. They’re the tough parts. I mean, the other hardback parts are the the grunt work you have to do the writing, the photo editing, the administration, the building, designing all of that, but that can be learned that the hard stuff is is many Enjoying yourself in the way your business grows.

David Ralph [40:04]
And certainly the hard stuff isn’t that hard if you’re playing within that environment that you love, if you were turning up every day to do a job that you hated, and then doing the hard stuff at work as well, that is really difficult, almost impossible. But if you find that thing that you love doing, you can kind of get through it. Maybe not every day I say to my coaching clients, the key thing is to turn up, turn up every day and do something and don’t worry about hitting a home run. I saw this thing the other day and he was brilliant. And it was said something along the lines and I’m paraphrasing there. So many people stop because of slow progress without realising but slow progress is still progress. And I thought that’s it, isn’t it?

Caroline Makepeace [40:48]
Yeah, that’s it. And another one I say it doesn’t matter how slowly moving as long as you’re moving, then it’s going forward and it goes There’s no such thing as an overnight success story. I know that because I’ve followed those sales pitches and ended up in nearly losing nearly half a million dollars in assets. So it is a slow progress and you have to work with it and there are days generally most days I’m bouncing out of bed I could sit I could sit at my desk and I could work 16 hours straight and totally be happy could never have done that in my previous job. That would have been absolute misery. I was busting to get out the door as soon as time was up. And there are days you don’t you tired? Maybe you don’t want to do it. But as you said, just show up and do something. And it all helps you to make those steps forward.

David Ralph [41:43]
Well, what about the actual disconnecting from it? Obviously we say turn up but I realised on my journey, but my desire to turn up actually was killing me. And I was doing 20 hour days getting up the next morning doing it again, thinking to myself I’m gonna be getting there quicker. But then when I realised that actually by disconnecting totally, it’s like I’m talking about your Disney, we’re talking about Disney at the beginning going away. I’m not taking a computer or a phone or anything. I’m just gonna close it all off. And if it all goes belly up while I’m gone, then Hi. You haven’t got a show for about six days live with it. You know what I mean? Well, before I would have gone, oh, I’ve got to make sure it’s going out. I got to make sure that the show is there. The people are lying. If the dots aren’t going out, there’s gonna be you know, there’s gonna be upheaval, countries are gonna be overthrown. Do you think you actually have to go? Yeah, enough is enough. I know. It’s my passion. I know. It’s my drive. I know. It’s what I want to bring to the world. But at the end of the day, let’s just go and get drunk for six days and forget all about it.

Caroline Makepeace [42:47]
Yeah, and I think they’re really important parts of the progress and the journey because I think that’s the rest. The pause is the places where you re gather your strength. gain extra clarity and focus. And you need those those rest periods. Otherwise you can’t get the fuel that you need to to grow again. So it is really important that you do disconnect and do take time to shut off. And if people are struggling to do that, just just force yourself to do it for one day. And then at the end of the day, you’ll you’ll see, you’ll realise that it all didn’t fall apart, and then you’ll go, Okay, so maybe my fees were just fees, they weren’t real. It didn’t fall apart, everything’s still working fine. So next time, I might take two days off, and we’ll see what happens in

David Ralph [43:38]
and then three days and then four days. You’d never get back to it and you become a downer now living on a beach with your hair, dreadlocks. Absolutely. We’re on a slippery slope there, Kevin, when we’re gonna meet each other in a box under a bridge somewhere and I’m gonna blame you for putting that fight in my head

Caroline Makepeace [43:58]
off your fault, David. jumped on, Join Up Dots and look what happened to me.

David Ralph [44:03]
That’s right bow. were fun together, our box will be the best box that anyone’s ever seen. It will it will. I’m gonna play some words now but as a man who’s no longer with us, but he created the whole theme of the show back in 2005. He said these words, and these words are going to live longer than I am. I think these are going to be the words that are there to the end. This is Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs [44:27]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. That will make all the difference.

David Ralph [45:03]
So we’ve travelling obviously you have created your own path, but how do you get past those those obstacles as he’s talking about? You’ve got to trust in something Avia got faith, Destiny karma, whatever. How have you managed to do it?

Caroline Makepeace [45:18]
Yeah, it’s not easy. I think the travel for me has been such a gift because I just love listening to that then I just got goosebumps because the connecting the dots and have an argument over again for me with my travels where, you know, I was thrown in situations where I was I do not know what to do. I’m kind of in London, I have no money. I have no friends. I have no job. What am I going to do here? And I learned through these experiences of my travel, I learned that everything works out in the end and that too worry less and trust more. And when you trust more, you enjoy life more. And you do get to that point where you do look back and you can see how the dots connected and how you were being guided to these experiences. And you were going there for a particular reason to learn a particular lesson to help you progress to the next stage in your life. So the travels been the key for me in helping to develop that trust because I’m always out of my comfort zone. I’m always out of the box. So you’re more inclined to be able to see I guess, your own strengths and to have faith in that and to have faith in how things work and, and and everything kind of works out okay in the end.

David Ralph [46:44]
And do you have a big.in your life I always love asking this question, but when you look back on it, you kind of go Yeah, that was kind of it. That was it when when things started going the right way.

Caroline Makepeace [46:57]
Um, in regards to our blog,

David Ralph [47:00]
In regards to anything that makes up your life,

Unknown Speaker [47:03]
yeah, I mean, there’s sorry, there was so many

Caroline Makepeace [47:09]
wanting Well, there, these dots are quite connected. But when I was living in London, I was in a really bad relationship. emotionally. I was in a terrible state and I gone away with some girlfriends down to Brighton for Bryson for a weekend away, and we ended up getting out pounds raped by a Romanian Gypsy lady there. And I’ll never forget what she had told me and she told me you know all about my life and how I wasn’t very strong and all these things were happening. And she was looked at my palm and she said, You’re worried you’re just going to be another mug left on the shelf. And I thought she was talking about in regards to relationships. And she just kind of looked at my hand and kind of chuckled and said, you don’t have to worry about that. And then lifted it that didn’t tell me anything else. And so I kind of went back to London I split up with my boyfriend, I moved to Dublin and I started a new life on my own. And then a couple of years later, I met my husband, Craig and we travelled, etc, and then went to when our life crashed. Without investment, all our investments went wrong. And we were standing at a, this MIT This is so clear in my mind at a friend’s Christmas party. And I was so frustrated and I was so irritated by what we had done with our life in the position that we had got ourselves into. And I just said to my husband, I just feel like we’ve totally wasted our travel experiences. And I just feel like I’m gonna be another mug left on the shelf. And it was like, bang, I suddenly remembered what she had told me and I knew in that moment, that’s what she was saying. That was his vision. And I got the lesson in that moment. Was that all my experiences and all my travel experiences hadn’t been just for me. They had actually been in order for me to learn so that I could share. And that’s when everything changed for me because I suddenly realised my purpose was centred around this lifestyle of travel. But it was also focused on sharing what I knew and helping other people to create a similar lifestyle.

David Ralph [49:23]
What a lovely story. And so the message of the whole show is for all the listeners, go out and find yourself a Romanian Gypsy and it will change your life. That there must be one on every corner nowadays, isn’t there?

Caroline Makepeace [49:39]
Think sorry. I think so. Oh, anyway, you can’t connect the dots now. You’ll have to wait for a few years time.

David Ralph [49:47]
Yeah. And if you can’t find one go on Amazon or eBay. I’m sure you’ll be able to get one part used on on eBay. Every one of you want to use them once and they changed your life. Well, this is the end of the show and the is another journey that we’re going to send you on. But this is one back in time. This is the part of the show that we called a sermon on the mic when we send you back in time to have a one on one with the younger Calvin Klein. And if you could go back and speak to the younger version, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the theme tune. And when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.

Caroline Makepeace [50:46]
Caroline, listen up. You’re sitting on your kitchen table. You’re 30 years old, you’re stressed, you know, things aren’t working for you. You understand what’s going wrong. It’s because you’re not travelling anymore. But you don’t want to admit that to yourself. Because you doubt yourself, you don’t believe in yourself. You think your dreams can’t be possible. And those visions you have in your head, what you’re writing down in the paper now about sharing your travel dreams and the lessons that you’ve learned through travel, you really believe in something that’s bigger than yourself, you have a dream. And it’s an important dream, and you’re dreaming for a reason. You’re dreaming it because the truth is, the universe wants you to live it. It’s your special purpose. And I want you to stop doubting yourself and stop believing that you can’t do it and stop listening to that critical voice that says that you’re worthless and not good enough because it’s not true. You can believe in that you’re travelling set your life on fire. It’s what makes your heart feel so joyful. You can leave that live. I want you to Follow your heart and listen to your inner voice and be guided by that. And only that and not that nasty voice that wants to tell you you’re not good enough.

David Ralph [52:10]
Caroline, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?

Caroline Makepeace [52:15]
Sure, they can come on over to our blog. It’s why travel blog.com that’s with the letter Y. And we are on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest at y travel blog with the letter Y.

David Ralph [52:31]
We’ll have all the links on the show notes. Caroline, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up the dots and please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining those dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Caroline Mike Pease Thank you so much.

Caroline Makepeace [52:48]
My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Dave. It’s been a lot of fun chatting with you.

David Ralph [52:53]
What a lovely lady Caroline make peace. Yeah, she was the other side of the world but you won’t believe it. put you in Beauty about being able to connect virtually. And it really does give you opportunities to create a lifestyle for yourself that you wouldn’t believe she’s done it. I’ve done it and every single one of you out there if you are of the belief that you’ve got to get 100 million people to follow you and huge global power, yet, doubt you don’t, you’ve just got to touch on that thing that you love doing. And then find other people who love doing that thing as well. And then your life can change overnight. It’s so important that all of you make the most of your life and go out and get the dream which leads me seamlessly and I’m probably gonna do this on every show now because it’s very important to me. And it’s important to you guys as well. Don’t just keep on listening to the shows because it shows a lot about people that got off their backsides and Danny, but if you’re lacking support, if you’re lacking motivation, come over to us at Join Up Dots, look at get the dream. See the information that we’ve got on there and see if we can connect with you and start changing your life because it’s the Very easy to do, you’ve just got to find that thing. Surround yourself with people who are like minded, motivational, be challenged on a daily basis so that the routines don’t drag you down to what you’re currently getting. And you will see magic occurs. So that’s Join Up dots.com get the dream, and hopefully we’ll see you on the episode. Cheers, guys. Thank you, bye.

Outro [54:21]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you or wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.