Scott Barronton (00:00)
Well, we're back home. The holiday travel to visit family is behind us. The Christmas decorations are now packed away and the house is quiet. And for us, this moment right here is usually when the next chapter starts. We're not standing in an airport lounge right now or discovery lounge on a cruise ship. We're at home looking at our calendars, talking about what the year ahead could look like. And to me, 2026 feels I think
just a little ambitious. Part of us wants to slow down, to stay longer, to immerse ourselves, to experience places beyond the highlights.
And then there's this other side of us, the side that still loves the cruising aspect of travel, what we call the hop on hop off tour of the world. Seeing parts of the world we might never visit otherwise. And in 2026, those two sides really collide. We have a couple of trips planned that feel bigger than anything that we've ever done before. And we also have a long list of ideas
that don't quite fit neatly yet. And this episode isn't about dates or logistics. It's about how we're thinking about travel, balance, and about what it actually means to chase big dreams while still living real life. And I think that's really where this conversation starts. Not with plans, but with the mindset.
Speaker 2 (01:25)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (01:27)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
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No matter where you are on your travel journey, we've got first-hand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
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So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Scott Barronton (01:52)
So Scott, think one thing that feels different is that we're not just talking about where we want to go anymore. Yeah, it feels like we're asking how we want to travel and how that fits into the rest of our lives. And that's changed a lot over the last few years, I think. So we have always been curious about what slow travel would look like.
kind of planting ourself in a certain place, but then also going on the cruise and having done a couple of cruises like that where it's like, oh, it really is cool to get to, see these places and immerse ourselves. Even if it's not for a long period of time, I feel like we do it intentionally so that we get out a lot out of that, but then we get a lot out of...
being able to go to Tasmania and Sydney and Brisbane and the Great Barrier Reef and Malaysia and Indonesia, like all in one trip and not even name all the places. And so one of the things we really talked about on our last cruise was how fun this would be to have a goal of trying to travel on the different cruise lines so that we could familiarize ourselves with them.
and help other people travel on them and be able to share that and then be able to book people on that. But doing it in a way that it's going on some unique itineraries, right? So that we have access to some of these places that you otherwise might not be able to go. So what do you think? Well, I think there's a definite conflict that arises inside of us because we...
went to some really amazing places. And then as we were looking back of course you all always get served content for the places that you've been after you get back. And you're like, Oh, I wish we'd had time to go and do some of these other things. So I think that's kind of the, the conflict that we have to try to figure out in our style of travel.
and many people are probably facing similar things is they're limited in how much time they have to travel. They're torn between doing lots of different things and seeing lots of variety or really getting to know a specific culture and immersing yourself within that. And I think that's kind of where we find ourselves.
And so I definitely think that you can do both, right? Because you could book one trip where it's literally, spending a week in Umbria or Tuscany, or we talked about when we went to the wine country of South Africa, it'd be cool to like literally just plant yourself here, And sit back and relax. But then also another trip could be...
one of these cruises. So it's definitely not an either or, it's just a conflict. It seems like, well they like to travel this way, but they also like to travel this way. Because I think both of those interest us a lot. And so when we look at 2026, I think that shift really shows up with the trips that we already know are happening as well. Well, that's a great transition because Antarctica is on our 2026 plan.
It's just a couple of months away, less than a couple of months before we leave to go on that trip. And this has been on my list for forever. Honestly, longer than Sunshine Travelers and longer than the podcast has existed. This has been on my bucket list of things. We went back and reviewed our chalkboard wall that we've talked about in episode one and
Definitely some other episodes throughout the years, but if you go back and look at that picture of that chalkboard wall that we had in our kitchen, Antarctica is on there. Yeah, Antarctica slash Patagonia. It was interesting that that was there.
And so that's definitely something that has now been a long time coming. And we actually did that chalkboard wall in our kitchen, I think just as something fun. Let's put our bucket list up here. And it started when you were traveling all over the world to different places for work. And even our son had a few things on there that were very specific to him. But we've checked off a lot of those things, but this is, like you said, a big one.
So when we first started the podcast, one of the big things was we're going on a 30th anniversary trip the next year. Do we want to do a safari or do we want to do Antarctica? I think those were the two, like, huge things that we wanted to plan. We actually, in episode 10...
We interviewed a friend, a neighbor of ours who had been to Antarctica and talked to her about that. We ended up deciding to do the safari for various reasons. And then after we went on the safari, we started talking about the possibility of going to Antarctica and doing that as a group trip as well. Because we had told several people and several people on the podcast. So if you go back and listen to some of those episodes where we had guests,
A lot of them would say, Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica is on my bucket list too. So we started kind of opening up the idea of, if you want to come with us, we'll plan it. We'll go as a group. Yeah. That's when we made the decision that we wanted to bring you the listeners with us, not just to hear about all of the amazing places that we visit, but giving you the opportunity to come along with us and make it a reality for you as well.
it really wasn't a big stretch to go from planning a trip for ourselves to bringing others along with us. most of that planning has to be done anyway. And we want people to just be able to say yes and to leave the stress of planning up to us. And that's why we decided to do this as a group trip and invite our listeners to come along.
And so what's interesting, so one of the people who are coming along is actually my sister Stephanie, who you have heard several times on the podcast. She is an avid traveler as well. And so she has done a lot of episodes with us about various places. And what's funny is, I mean, years ago, I don't even know how it started, but years ago, the two of you were like, we're going to have a race to see who can get to all seven continents. I think because you had traveled a lot.
She had been to Australia, she started traveling a lot. And I think that y'all were kind of missing, she had been to Africa, you hadn't, you had been to South America. It was just kind of like neck and neck, even though there's only seven continents, but y'all were neck and neck. And so it was just always funny, who's gonna get to Antarctica first? So in my head, I have always envisioned this like chariots of fire. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. The two of y'all in slow motion.
in like your Antarctica clothes, like seeing who can like get on there first. That's funny that you vision it as Chariots of Fire I think of it like NASCAR. And I'm sure there's going to be a little bit of bumping in this race to get down onto the continent first. But we made it more difficult because we brought you up to speed with us. So now it's not just Stephanie and I competing to get there first. It's you as well.
I envision me videoing, because that's what I like to do. And this has been kind of y'all's thing. So anyway, so I'm super excited for that. So definitely wait for a video, a story about, that I think that we'll definitely do something like that. I don't know if it's going to be like a gangplank where we go down onto land or what, but I can almost envision someone going over the.
rail so that the other one could get there first. You're ridiculous. here's the other thing though, is that you've been to Buenos Aires, you've talked about Buenos Aires on the podcast a bunch of times, told the stories. We actually have had a friend of yours come on and who is from there and tell us. And so that is where we will be flying into, Buenos Aires. We're all going to go, the whole group is going to go like a day early so that we have a
whole day in Buenos Aires. And so we've got a private tour guide all day to take us to these major sites, to the cemetery. And ⁓ of course we'll do some other things, tango show, make sure that we have some steak. well, that's kind of been a big thing for you is you've always wanted me to go back.
Buenos Aires and experienced that. that's funny because it's one of those places that on a fluke you always said, I went on these work trips and I went and then I didn't ever see anything and I came back. But you got down there and there happened to be a holiday. So it's like, okay, you got to see a little bit more than you normally would see. So I think we might have talked about it in the episode when we interviewed Santiago, but we'd made all these plans to go down there for a work event that was going on. And we get there.
Santiago's like, ⁓ the office is closed tomorrow. it's a public holiday. We were just like, did you not know this when we planned it? And he's like, I just forgot we have so many public holidays. So, ⁓ we ended up with a nice opportunity to go and to, do some sightseeing. He had put together a great little tour for us. of fact, we even tried to get Santiago to see if it would work out where he could come back and do.
the tour of, Buenos Aires for us, but that, that just didn't work out, but we've got a great tour planned. Melissa's been working on that and so we're excited. and like I said, we're just less than a couple of months away from leaving for Antarctica. And I can't believe that we're here in the spot getting ready for that trip. It just seems like so long in the planning.
So Antarctica really does feel like a milestone for us in a lot of ways. But what's interesting is that the next big thing that we're going to do feels completely different and a little bit on a more personal level.
So it's also amazing to think that we're actually gonna make it back to Kenya this year. There was a point in the past year when it didn't seem like that we were really gonna be able to make this happen. Yeah, we had put together the constructs of doing a group safari. And for just whatever reasons, it didn't work out. The timing wasn't right.
Some of the people that we really wanted to join us weren't going to be able to go. And so we just made the decision that we weren't going to force the trip to happen. we've got still a lot of interest of people that want to go with us on a safari. So we will be doing a group safari in the future. I mean, that's something that, that is still very high on our priority list.
It's exciting because We're going to get to go back to an area that we're very familiar with near Solio Ranch, which is where the rhinoceros preserve was. And we're going to get to do a trip that your sister Stephanie again is leading doing a habitat for humanity building. Yeah. So I went with her to Paraguay last year. We
You've probably heard a good bit about that. And ⁓ so she wanted to be able to lead another trip. There were a few different options and this was one of them in the Laikipia area. And so this is the one that ended up panning out because there's a lot of behind the scenes to plan one of these as well. And so when she was like, do you want to go back? You know, it's in this area. You don't want to go to Kenya with us. And so of course it was immediately a yes. Just because I mean, obviously Kenya, but
being able to do a trip like this where you're having a travel impact. I guess you're getting to travel, but you're having an impact and then getting to getting to know people as well. And so it's really no hesitation, It was just like, yes, we'll, figure this out, the, timeframe works and so we'll figure this out. And then there are a few people who are going, who are like, Hey,
We'd love to do a safari. Can you give us some information about, your last safari? Kind of talk to us about what you did and all that kind of stuff. And really just kind of turned into, okay, well, we can, we can plan that and we would love to kind of do that as a group. So we know that we have a couple of people at least going and because we're trying to finalize kind of all this. The habitat trip is getting finalized and then the safari. So it's just, it's neat because
We get to return to a place that we know that we already love. We'll experience, obviously, every safari is different. We're not going to stay in the same places either.
And so, yeah, I'm just, really excited about that. And I guess we should mention too that there are a few spots left as far as the habitat trip. So if that's something that you have ever thought about doing, please reach out to us, info at sunshuntravelers.com or Scott at sunshuntravelers.com, Melissa at sunshuntravelers.com. Those are the places that you can always reach out to us. If you have comments, you have, anything. But if you're interested in that, just the habitat part or...
⁓ doing both of those while you're there. let us know because there are a couple of spots on that. So Scott thoughts about returning to Kenya. Well, returning to Kenya makes my heart happy. for lots of different reasons, but I think it's neat to go back to this area, where Laikipia is because really that was our first venture into.
experience in the culture. And when we went to that Solio Ranch and we met the, the people who lived there that ran the glamping Kenya. And then we met the people who worked in the office when we went in, to the preserve for the first time. And then, you see the rangers and you start to just realize that it's more than
the animals that you see there, there's a whole range of people that make this place so special. And so now we're going to get to go back and not just take in the sites, but we're going to be able to give back to the area as well. Scott, you didn't even mention that car that got stuck in the river and then all the kids that were there and the people that were trying to help them out. Because this area is different because you're not
Like you're not inside the Masai Mara, right? You're not inside Amasele or Sambu, you're not inside a national park. Like you're where people live and work and go to school that's separate from Safari. And so 100 % agree with you. And we, like you said, we got a small taste of that. So it's exciting to return back in and help and make some of those connections too.
And that's something we talked about earlier in the year is being able to give back in our travels as well and not just constantly, consuming and taking from our trips. But in this particular opportunity, we're going to be able to go back and serve the people of that community.
And so I guess we really, at the beginning we talked about two, slower travel and cruising travel, but it's, I guess it's really three because I do think that this is something that we really enjoy as well.
So there's this other piece that's consumed a lot of my thoughts and time over the last couple of years as we're trying to build this up and we're trying to go to all these wonderful places and create the content around it. But there's the tension of real life versus aspiration.
I think for me that's the hardest part to actually talk about. Not because it's dramatic, but because it's real. I still have this corporate job
And that job shapes more than just the time off or vacation that I have. It shapes my flexibility, the timing of when we can do stuff, and then how big some of our ideas can realistically be. Because I think we have a lot of really big ideas that we have for the podcast, we have for our travel, and just for our lives in general.
But there's this little piece of reality that always sinks in that puts a boundary around all of that. And I think that's the one piece that most people listening to this podcast will be able to really understand because I think most people fit into the same situation.
all these things that you really want to do and then you have the reality of what you can do and whether that's financially, whether it's the time that you have available, whether it's the flexibility to just say yes to an opportunity that comes about, We are all hampered in some way and Melissa and I are no different in that situation.
Yeah, because, you know, the irony of it is that your job is what makes a lot of what we do possible, just because either, you know, financially or the trips have, you know, we tack on things for work or we tack on things of trips that you might be taking for work. So we, you know, like make other things happen. But the travel is what also
allows us to be able to create more content and share more content. But then it's also, besides the podcast really, because you do a whole lot of work. But beyond that, a lot of, what we share and do and create, which takes a lot of time, I share and create. And so it is, it's a catch 22 between those. And so, like you said, I do think a lot of people resonate with that, right? I have a job.
and that limits my time off. I have responsibilities and so that limits my time, but you have to do that to be able to fund the travels and figure out, yeah, figure out how to make that work. there's not a, I don't think there's a clean answer for everybody. And I guess a lot of the times, like as you were saying that, I guess a lot of times when we say, just say yes and just book the trip.
I think we're really more talking about because we run across a lot of people in our family that don't, they don't have any reason not to, except for just, I'm scared to leave home or I, I have the time and just, they just don't do it and don't do it and don't do it. So it's, it's not about that. I think for those of you who, desire to travel more, that's easy, but, like you said, so yeah, just trying to figure out those pieces. And I think the.
really the key here is we don't have a solution to this. That's why it's called real life. But it is something that we even struggle with. And so we just wanted to share that and, almost in vulnerability to say, we want to do so much more. And so when people ask us, have you done this or when you were there, did you do that? Sometimes it's an internal strife within this because we won't
to be able to slow down. want to be able to do all of these things, but we also don't always have the time to be able to do it. And so those are just some of the things that we're looking at, but it also leads us to a good point now to where we talk about our wish list of things that we want to do in 2026.
Yes, because if you know us, our hope and our wish is that then we will fill in those gaps, with other things. And sometimes that's fun to be able to do that, more last minute. So that's where this wish list comes in. And we throw these out there to kind of set a challenge for ourselves, is how can we add these things into our travel plans?
in 2026 and that list is pretty long. And last year we kind of did it more of a, okay, here's our list. Like how are going to manifest this? We made it to a lot of those places. We didn't make it to some, but then we added a whole lot more places. But I do think it's good to have that as a challenge. All right. So Scott, where else? Well, one of the things that we're looking at is TBEX in Asia. So
We did TBEX in Europe this year, or last year when we went to Donegal, Ireland. We've done TBEX in North America when we went to Puerto Rico two years ago. And so this year we're looking at TBEX in Asia. And when I say TBEX, this is the travel creators conference that we go to and that you guys have supported us in the past when...
you voted for us and podcasts the year and those type of things. But this time we have an opportunity to go to Kazakhstan. And wow, what a great opportunity for us to try to chase. Yeah. And what I really like about this conference is that they provide
opportunities to connect with a place, connect with local operators, connect with opportunities that you maybe wouldn't get to do. And so on both cases, we've got to do tours and experiences and gone and done things. And so that's why this is of interest because you get to do that and then connect and share ideas and learn things as well.
⁓ the other one that was on the list for this past year that we didn't get a chance to do just because the cruise, which obviously it had to take precedent so that we could do Antarctica is the seventh continent, right? So priorities, is doing the Christmas markets. but after seeing all the videos just recently, I definitely want to find the off the beaten path, hidden gems, smaller towns. I mean, yes, we want to go to some of these, you iconic, but just thinking about like the town where
people that you work with live smaller towns in Germany that we visited and being able to maybe find some of those smaller things and hidden gems that feel
more traditional. Yeah, more traditional, more local. We had talked about doing it in terms of a river cruise, but we've heard a lot of people talk about that one of the challenges in doing that is that you're not there in the evenings. And that's when a lot of these places are really special. And so while we may still do the river cruise,
just because it would be awesome to do the river cruise in general. We may focus on doing the Christmas markets separate as well. And then we have a couple of opportunities to meet our daughter and her family this year in Europe as they are doing a slow travel experience in Spain.
Yeah, so they have been actually talking about this for a couple of years. We talked to them on the podcast after we went to London and Germany and Greece with them. And ever since then, this has kind of been in the back of their mind. We would love to try to do this, remote work and homeschool and those kinds of things allow it. And of course, also saving points and miles. when you stay at a place in Spain off season,
for a longer period of time, it's more affordable. So they've always said, but you're gonna come see us, right? But you're gonna come see us, right? So there will be a couple of opportunities to do that, to see them in Spain and then probably meet them in Paris as well. Our granddaughter has ever since the other trip to London, she's kind of always had Paris on her list, but she would like for her Nan to come see her in Paris, which will work out as kind of a...
on the path to get to Kenya. So we can kind of combine some of these things too. And then we obviously want to do a lot more MACS adventure trips. We enjoyed our walking through Umbria so much. And you guys know I've been dealing with some issues with being injured over the last few months. Knock on wood, that is starting to get better. I'm starting to get well.
able to go out and do some walking again. And so we're so excited to get re-engaged with MACS and seeing how we can potentially put some other MACS trips together with some of our travel that we already have planned. Yeah. And like I mentioned before, the good thing is that we're okay with planning things. Like, it doesn't have to be way far out. And I know a lot of people
are like, well, if you don't book it so far out, the price is going to go up so much, but that's not necessarily true. And then sometimes you're just not agonizing over the price either. So some of this may be about, you know, flight deals and what comes up and stuff like that too. then I'm certain there are going to be other things that pop up, new opportunities. And that's when we said having the flexibility to just say yes. so,
We're going to manifest that again this year is that we will be flexible in our travels and when those great opportunities come about, we're going to figure out how to say yes to them.
And so these are the trips that we're trying to work toward. Definitely not cram in, but definitely have on the list.
And so the more and more we talk about this, we just realized that we're not the only ones, navigating this between time, between responsibilities, between income, finances, to be able to, you know, travel more.
We really want this to be more of a conversation with our listeners. If you're listening right now and you're trying to balance some big travel dreams with real life, just know that we get it. We understand.
So let us know, where are you struggling to find that balance? And what keeps getting pushed off and how can we help you to travel more and better? one of the things that we really enjoy and we would be happy to do with you is to have some one-on-one conversations, even about starting with just your bucket list.
Yes. So please reach out and let us know, what is on your bucket list. A few people have kind of done that, I put that out there several times over the holidays And a lot of people responded with the things that they wanted to do. I, responded with, here's this podcast episode, here's this blog post, here's this guide that we've, created, to go and take that. But,
You can reach out to us there, Sunshine Travelers podcast on Instagram. But of course, like I said, always email us. Those links are in the show notes, but info at sunshinetravelers.com and we'll get it there. yeah, we would love to just like Scott said, just chat with you about, what your bucket list is and where to next. And we've figured out now how to respond to some of the comments that people leave in places like Spotify. And so,
just leave us a comment ⁓ where you listen to your favorite podcast. Obviously go out, leave us a review, share the podcast with some of your friends. Those are things that are very helpful to us. As we continue to try to grow the podcast and to,
Be able to share the knowledge and the tips and really just this information about all these amazing places that we get to go to so that we can inspire other people to do the same.
And I think this really just feels like the right place to kind of land this conversation. Talking about 2026, it's right here. We're now in 2026. We're getting prepared for our first big trip of the year.
And we just wanted to share this episode with you, not in the terms of we're doing all this major planning for a trip or, we're trying to figure out the logistics of things, but really just to know a little bit more about us and the things that, we're thinking about as we're moving into 2026. And we just hope that you'll just continue to come along with us on this journey.
We don't have everything mapped out for 2026 as we just talked about, but we do know the direction that we want to move in. We want to be more intentional. We want to stay curious and we want to keep having these conversations out loud Because figuring it out is part of the journey. So if you're listening and you're in the same space, you're trying to balance.
aspiration with reality. Just know that you're not alone and you're not behind. You're just figuring it out like we are. And we'd love to do that together.
We hope that 2026 will be the year that you take your travel aspiration beyond the familiar.
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Well that's it for today's episode. Wherever you're listening from, we hope we've added a little spark to your travel dreams today.
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