13 Comments

This interview was delightful for me, a fellow world nomad with a likewise compatible husband for a travel partner, a recently discovered love for Vietnam and Cambodia, and a frequent quoter of THAT particular Georgia O'Keefe bit. "Nobody sees a flower - really . . "

So glad Claire's Substack led me to you today, Tom. I'm a new subscriber.

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Thanks! Again we have a lot in common.

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Love these answers, especially about Angkor Wat.

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Thank you! I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience while it was happening.

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My husband used to live in Cambodia, so when we all went for a trip, I could sense it was both exciting to share Angkor Wat with us and a burden to see it again - not that it wasn’t spectacular but that it didn’t hold the same amazement. He had take several trips there with visitors but I think he enjoyed being able to give others that amazement in any case.

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It's wonderful that he was able to do that. I can imagine that I would return there for similar reasons, to share the amazement. Never say never, right?

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I went to the Galapagos 10 years ago and got so seasick I couldn’t keep a single meal down the whole week. Still worth it honestly!! Such a cool place and a bit of an adventure!

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That’s too bad you got so sick, but I’m glad you enjoyed the journey regardless. Currently living on a boat for a month. Perhaps that will prepare me in some way :-)

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Sounds like you have a much stronger stomach than I do if you’re living on a boat right now, Claire! That will definitely prepare you. If you ever need relief, I found that sea bands (the little wrist bands that have a bead that rests on your pressure point) helped, but I have no idea how they work.

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Thanks for the tip, Samantha!

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Claire! Lovely to see you here. I so very much enjoyed the interview, especially your depiction of your time in Angkor Wat. It's wonderful, isn't it, those experiences that come to us just by having been there then. And I resonate very much with the way you pick where to go next. So many factors.

Thanks for another great interview, Tom.

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Thanks Holly! Nomad life can be difficult because it’s unpredictable yet the unpredictability can also make it magical.

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Agreed. And I think it magnifies what is true about life in general—that it’s more unpredictable than we are always comfortable with and that finding the magic in that is, thus, a wisdom we might as well embrace. ;)

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