Thank you very much to the Extraordinary Traveler’s Club for including me in their Extraordinary Traveler Profile series!
November 2024
Q: How old were you when you began to dream of and imagine extraordinary adventures?
LN: When I was twelve, my mom tucked a book about Darwin’s adventures in the Galapagos inside my trunk for summer camp. All summer I imagined him discovering new species. In 2019, I finally saw the blue-footed boobies with my own eyes when I sailed with EcoVentura Galapagos. I was thrilled to also see red-footed boobies and the Nazca boobies with their gray-feet and orange beaks.
Q: What is one of the more extraordinary travel experiences that you have had?
LN: One of the best adventures I ever had was an 11-day journey by van in Mongolia. When we booked it in Ulaanbaatar after traveling for two days overland from China by overnight bus and train, I was told we were going to the vast expanse of nothingness. I asked, “How will I know when I get there?” They said, “You will know.” By the middle of the first day, we were long gone from roads of any kind, electricity and anything resembling civilization. I loved every minute of the trip but especially walking up the dunes of the Gobi desert and finding a few small purple flowers. It is amazing to find life and beauty in the most seemingly desolate places.
Q: Have you had a close call while traveling, and if so, did it motivate a re-assessment or change in behavior?
LN: After working on board cruise ships for seven years and backpacking in Asia for three, I have had many close calls while traveling. A few memorable ones were being in a hurricane during my contract on Rhapsody of the Seas and the solution was to head to Trinidad and Tobago which was not one of our ports that season. The crew were thrilled for somewhere new! When I was on safari in Tanzania with Abercrombie and Kent and Sanctuary Retreats, which was the 100th country I visited, our jeep was stopped near several elephants. Somehow oddly when I changed the battery in my camera, the SD card with all my photos jumped out of the camera and onto the ground next to our vehicle. I started to get out to pick it up. My guide said very calmly and extremely seriously, “Lisa, sit down NOW. When it is safe, I will retrieve it.” Mostly I have learned that when you are traveling, you need to always pack your common sense. Planes will be late or get canceled. Sometimes the food won’t be so great. When I was in Kathmandu, they only had power 12 hours a day so we made sure to have flashlights and candles. Once when I was teaching science at Brawerman Elementary School in Los Angeles, the power went out. My students and I opened the blinds and eventually the lights came back on. I have learned that when you travel you always need to use the “F” word which of course is FLEXIBLE!
Q. Who are extraordinary travelers whom you admire? If you could sit down and speak with any extraordinary traveler, living or dead, who would it be?
LN: I have been so fortunate to meet and travel with some of the most incredible travelers. Without the care and mentorship of some of the travel greats, I would not have a travel book or a vibrant travel YouTube channel. Lisa Napoli, author of Radio Shangri-la: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth, introduced me to Richard Bangs who agreed to be the key note speaker for the Los Angeles 2011 Meet Plan Go event. When I emailed Richard that I was starting a travel writing competition on my site, We Said Go Travel, he said, “I will be the judge!”
I published over 2500 writers from 75 countries across 13 competitions. Having a famous judge gave my brand new contest credibility! Richard has always offered me opportunities including bringing me as co-host for his Orbitz Web series Quest for Adventure to both Puerto Rico and Bermuda!
Patricia Schultz has also been an amazing mentor to me and because of her I have spoken many times at the Travel and Adventure Shows across the USA in New York City, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles. I first met her with Richard Bangs in Los Angeles at a JNTO event.
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Photo: Lisa Niver with Patricia Schultz, Richard Bangs and Andy Bender, 2016.
Q: As a veteran explorer and extraordinary traveler, any advice for a young traveler just setting out?
LN: When people ask me about starting a blog or becoming a travel writer, my advice is:
You can have an adventure in your own backyard.
You do not have to travel far to find something new to do. Drive home from work on a different street. It is good for your brain and you might discover a new restaurant that has Thai food and after you try a new dish, you think about traveling there or studying a language at a local college or on a free app. Follow your interests.
Small steps lead to BIG changes.
You do not need to book an around the world flight for 6 months to get started. One year, I decided I would go to one museum a month in Los Angeles. I go to museums when I travel to new places but do not always make it a priority at home. It was the best choice. I planned in advance. I searched for the best exhibits. I learned which ones had a free once a month on Saturday or were open late nights on Thursday. It led to so many great opportunities. Start small.
Start for FREE.
People often tell me they are going to buy hosting and pay for a logo and one million other costs to get started for their book/blog/trip. I started We Said Go Travel for free on blogger. When you write more, you can change the url, buy hosting, get a logo. In the beginning, the most important thing is to just START and be consistent.
Remember, Fall down 7, Get up 8! For the first 100 who use the coupon, Lisa offers a gift of a complimentary class on UDEMY called Travel Writer 101. Here is the coupon
More about TRAVEL WRITER 101 and please contact Lisa on social media if you have questions about her class, book, podcast or if you need another complimentary link for my class.
Extraordinary Travelers’ Bookshelf
Lisa’s charming and heartfelt adventures will captivate and inspire.
What reviewers say:
“This was an inspirational memoir of a woman’s journey from a very low place in her life to finding her own inner strength and going on the most amazing adventures. It is easy to lose our way and as she points out is never too late to re-center ourselves. I really admire her strength, determination and grit. It also shows that even the strongest have self crippling doubt that can prevent us from living our best lives.” Liz Taylor
| Extraordinary Traveler – Lisa Niver |
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| Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award-winning global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded five Southern California Journalism Awards and three National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist thirty-one times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2024, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her award-winning memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty. |
