Guest Bio
Laura Hagler is a Senior Travel Specialist at Global Basecamps, bringing over two decades of experience in curating personalized adventure travel experiences. Her journey began with a passion for exploration, leading her to study abroad in the UK and travel through Europe and Africa. She completed her degree in Sculpture at Florida Atlantic University before moving to rural Japan, where she lived and worked for five years. During this time, Laura immersed herself in the local culture, exploring hidden corners, hiking mountains, and engaging deeply with the community. Since 2002, she has dedicated her career to adventure travel, specializing in destinations across Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and more.
Show Summary
In this episode, Laura Hagler shares her evolution from an art student to a seasoned travel specialist. She discusses her experiences living in Japan, the cultural insights gained, and how these shaped her approach to designing immersive travel experiences. Laura emphasizes the importance of sustainable tourism and building genuine connections with local communities. She also reflects on her role at Global Basecamps, where she assists clients in crafting unique journeys that align with their interests and values.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Immersive Cultural Experiences: Living abroad fosters deep understanding and appreciation of different cultures.
- ✓ Sustainable Tourism: Responsible travel practices are vital for preserving destinations and supporting local communities.
- ✓ Personalized Travel Planning: Tailoring trips to individual interests enhances the travel experience.
- ✓ Continuous Learning: Embracing new cultures and experiences contributes to personal and professional growth.
- ✓ Community Engagement: Building relationships with local communities enriches travel experiences and promotes cultural exchange.
What You’ll Find on Global Basecamps’ Platform
- ✓ Custom Tours: Personalized itineraries to diverse destinations worldwide, focusing on authentic experiences.
- ✓ Sustainable Travel Options: Tours designed with eco-friendly practices and community support in mind.
- ✓ Expert Travel Specialists: Access to professionals like Laura, who provide insights and personalized planning assistance.
- ✓ Adventure Travel with Kids: Family-friendly itineraries that cater to all ages, ensuring memorable experiences for everyone.
- ✓ Cultural Immersion Experiences: Opportunities to engage deeply with local traditions, cuisines, and communities.
👉 Visit Global Basecamps’ Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Laura Hagler’s contributions to adventure travel.
Learn more about Global Basecamps and connect with Laura at:
https://www.globalbasecamps.com/
Send Laura a Message
Send a short message through this guest feature page. Your email address will be included so they can reply directly.
No need to mention this page. They’ll see your note came through their Big World Made Small guest feature.
Message Sent
Your message has been sent.
Big World Made Small guest features are invitation-only and selected based on story, experience, and fit with the show. Guest support helps make the episode possible, but it does not determine who is featured. This helps keep the show free of third-party ads and interruptions while keeping the focus on real, story-driven conversations.
Guest access: enter your password to unlock your resources.
Incorrect password.
Guest & Partner Resources (Private)
Thank you Laura, for being a Podcast Guest with us.
We’d love to have you join us at the next level and get even more out of your appearance on the Big World Made Small Podcast.
Below you will find access to tools to help you promote your episode and get the most from your partnership benefits. This section is only visible when you use the link we sent, or by entering the password BWMS8873. Do not share the email we sent, or the password, unless you want the person to access the following resources.
Follow, Rate, or Provide a Testimonial
Please use this tracking link to share with your audience:
https://bigworldmadesmall.com/guest/laura-hagler/?ref=guest8873
Cover Art
This is available to all podcast guests.
Download the file to use on your website or social media posts.
Buzzsprout Audio Player
This is available to all podcast guests.
This is the best option for website embeds, especially prior to the release date. Guests can listen to your episode on your website. This player keeps listeners on your site, which is why I use it.
Use this code to embed your Buzzsprout Player directly on your website:
<div id="buzzsprout-player-14330242"></div><script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/2216718/episodes/14330242-adventure-travel-with-laura-hagler-global-basecamps.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-14330242&player=small" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>Full-Length YouTube Video Player
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute One-on-One Website Review
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Big World Made Small Podcast Pitch Portal©
This is available to Expedition & Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
All Video & Audio Files with Rights to Repurpose
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute Content Strategy Session
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Custom Branded Video Clips (12 clips)
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
2 x 45 Minute Digital Marketing Strategy Sessions
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Review & Suggest Topic Tags
Review Episode Topics
These topic suggestions help keep this episode profile accurate and easier to find. Your suggestions will be reviewed before any changes are made.
Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:32.677)
All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Today, we’ve got Laura Hagler. Laura is a senior travel specialist with Global Basecamps. I know many of you will recognize the name Global Basecamps. They’re a big player and they do a lot of cool stuff. And we’re going to learn a little bit about that. And before we learn about that, we’re going to learn a little bit more about Laura. Laura, welcome to the show. So happy to have you here.
Laura Hagler (00:58.151)
Happy to be here. Thanks so much.
Jason Elkins (01:00.037)
Yeah, it’s when we first spoke, you shared some things with me that I thought were super interesting for our audience. And we’re going to touch on those, but let’s start with, so you’re a senior travel specialist at Global Basecamps. So first thing I want to learn about is how did you get into that role? So let’s start way back at the beginning, however far back you want to go and just kind of share with us, how did you get from where you were to where you are now?
Laura Hagler (01:11.779)
Yes.
Laura Hagler (01:19.35)
Oh.
Laura Hagler (01:22.879)
Oh, it’s quite a tale and it involves Kazakhstan roofers. So, fate leads us in strange directions. So I worked on the JET program. I was selected to go on the JET program, which is a Japan exchange and teaching program. And I applied for that after I graduated from university with my art degree thinking, I don’t know what I wanna do.
Jason Elkins (01:29.093)
Okay.
Laura Hagler (01:48.979)
I liked Japanese art, so I thought, sure, why not? And I moved there with one word of Japanese under my belt, and it was the word for cat, because my friend happened to name his cat Neko, and so there you had it. So it did not come in handy at first, but I lived there for about five years teaching English, and I studied Japanese while I was there, and had Japanese local friends that really helped push me to use the language and learn
about the culture and absolutely fell in love with the country, with its people, and met my husband there who is not as excitingly also American. And we really just have a passion for it and we traveled all around the country doing road trips and hiking and just exploring and I came back to the US.
Jason Elkins (02:29.733)
Thanks for watching!
Laura Hagler (02:41.883)
and I was actually teaching yoga full-time and started looking for another gig because sorry all of you dreaming to teach yoga for a living it’s really tough to make a good living doing it. So I ended up working for a small travel company and worked for them for about a year before they laid everyone off and was searching online from Manhattan where I was working temporarily and
Jason Elkins (02:49.861)
to teach yoga for a living, it’s really tough.
Laura Hagler (03:09.463)
found another company that specialized in Japan travel. And I was filling out the application and I’m like, whoa, this is perfect for me. I know all these things. And they were about to hire me.
Jason Elkins (03:12.869)
and I’m filling out the application. I’m like, this is perfect for me. I know all these things. And.
Laura Hagler (03:21.223)
but I had promised one of my yoga students that I would go and train her new teachers at a studio in Kazakhstan. And the roofers were taking too long to finish the construction of her studio. And so I missed the opening at the first place and they recommended me to Global Base Camps. And I have been with Global Base Camps ever since. So a random, yeah, it was a random kind of meandering road that led me here and I absolutely love it.
Jason Elkins (03:22.885)
that I would go and train her new teachers in the studio in Coleslawstone. And the roofers were taking too long to finish the construction of the studio, and so I missed the opening in the first place, and they recommended me to the base camp.
Jason Elkins (03:40.037)
Wow.
Jason Elkins (03:50.725)
And how long have you been with Global Base Camps?
Laura Hagler (03:53.411)
just over 10 years.
Jason Elkins (03:54.789)
Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. So that apparently worked out well for you. Yeah. Very, very cool. I’m curious. I’d like to learn a little bit of, I want to go back a little further if we can. So you graduated school and got a job over in Japan teaching English. Where are you doing? That’s primarily teaching English was the job. Okay. So when you were in school studying art, you said, okay. So.
Laura Hagler (03:58.051)
Yeah, it was a good fit. It is a good fit.
Laura Hagler (04:15.794)
Yes.
Laura Hagler (04:20.719)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (04:23.013)
Did you have thoughts of travel, tourism? When did it first, like when did the idea first enter your head that maybe you could actually work in the travel space and really help share with other people?
Laura Hagler (04:37.819)
Well, I mean, I dreamed of traveling from a really young age because my family didn’t really leave the US. I went to like we went to Florida every year and I got to go to New York, which is kind of like as foreign as you can get within the US. And I just I loved every opportunity of getting away from where I grew up. And I was from the Midwest. No offense. St. Louis is a great town. I love it. I love to go back and visit, but I don’t want to live there permanently.
Sorry, my sister. So I studied abroad in England, which was inspired by an old soccer coach who did it. And I did that. And then I, in university, was really jealous when this girl I knew came back from Thailand. And it sounded like the most exotic thing in the world. She was like, oh, and I think it was a Contiki tour. Not to rag on Contiki, but you know, like bus tours where everybody kind of hooks up with the old.
Jason Elkins (05:18.821)
I was really jealous when this girl I knew came back to Thailand. It sounded like the most exotic thing in the world. She was like, I think it was a contiki tour.
Laura Hagler (05:33.395)
thing back in the day and she’s like, I went on this exotic tour of Thailand, we went to a full moon party and it’s like, whoa, must have been crazy. College. And then I had this opportunity and I went over there and what happened was I started arranging trips for other people. So I would take.
Jason Elkins (05:37.861)
We went to a full moon party and it’s like, whoa.
Jason Elkins (05:45.669)
opportunity and I went over there and what happened was I started arranging trips for other people. So I would take trips and plan on
Laura Hagler (05:51.987)
trips and plan out road trips and things in Japan. And it was always so much fun for me. And in university, I headed an organization where I arranged two organizations, one where I arranged an annual trip to Key West to do volunteer work and one to New York to do art studios and things. And so I kind of knew how to handle groups a little bit in that regard. And it just was a natural step, I guess.
Jason Elkins (05:55.173)
which one for me. And then university, I headed an organization where I arranged two organizations, one where I arranged an annual trip to Key West to do volunteer work.
Jason Elkins (06:17.477)
It just was a natural step, I guess. I started arranging things for people to come and visit. And yeah, I never thought I would be in sales.
Laura Hagler (06:22.071)
started arranging things for people who came to visit and came home and yeah I never thought I would be in sales and it just fit like a glove which kind of it surprised me.
Jason Elkins (06:35.397)
That’s, um, that’s very cool. What did you, so why did you take this on helping people arrange their trips? What was it about that? That, that was rewarding for you because you weren’t probably getting paid or making a lot of money doing it, right?
Laura Hagler (06:48.839)
So I give off Big Mom vibes. I am very much like the mother of, I was like the mom of my best friend’s fraternity back in the day. I was like, you know, the, she has everything in her bag that you could need. The snack person, the water person, but I have a screwdriver. So I kind of just enjoy planning. I’m not a type A, I’m much more of the, my desk is chaos, but it makes sense to me type of person.
Jason Elkins (06:52.005)
Thank you very much.
Jason Elkins (07:13.829)
My desk is chaos, but it makes sense to me.
Laura Hagler (07:18.519)
And just, I really love plans. And I think that perhaps stemmed from my father who we would go to Florida every year from Missouri. And it was about a two day drive, we stopped. And he had this list. And this list is like forever lodged in my mind of.
every place we would stop to get gas, where the cheapest gas was, the places that my mom would eat at when we go to certain restaurants along the route, places that had clean toilets for stopping to use the restroom, like everything. And then this list of every utensil or like omelet pan, I remember being on and off the list at different times, of the things we’d need for a two-week stay at a condo in Florida. And this list was just perfectly honed.
Jason Elkins (07:39.493)
Every place we’ve been to, I guess, has been the same as you guys. The places that my mom would eat at, we’d go to certain restaurants along the route, places that had clean toilets. So, we’ve been to like everything, and then this list of…
Jason Elkins (07:59.013)
different times of things we need for a student to say it or not. And this list was just one.
Laura Hagler (08:06.431)
over the years to just be everything we’d need. And I was always amazed by his ability to organize things. And I know it does not sound very sexy, but organization and lists are, they’re just absolutely wonderful to me. So I think I just gravitated toward it.
Jason Elkins (08:07.333)
to just be everything we need. And I was always amazed by his ability to organize things. And I know it does not sound very sexy, but organization and lists are powerful things.
Jason Elkins (08:24.453)
It’s, it’s interesting because I think perhaps you and other people that work as travel planners or get involved in that it’s a unique skillset or a unique personality mix, because sometimes people that like lists and structure and organization can be kind of, we maybe classify them as the cautious analytical types, you know, and they’re not typically the ones that are going to pick up and take a job in Japan.
or, you know, go travel and go to these exotic places. So it’s always interesting to meet somebody that has that interesting mix. Where do you think that part of it comes from, the adventurous part of it? Is that a conflicting thing for you or has that just been natural too?
Laura Hagler (09:14.515)
I mean
I’ve always liked things being organized, but I’ve never liked things to be easy. I’ve always enjoyed puzzles. So when I see a list or if somebody emails me and they say, I want to go to these five places or I want to go, I want to do these three or four activities while I’m in Japan. This is my bucket list. This is my dream. Or if it’s in Myanmar or Iceland or wherever, I get excited. I start putting the pieces together in my head.
Laura Hagler (09:46.509)
me and I joke with one of my bosses who created our system that we build our itineraries in. He created it for us so it just it works. We were the guinea pigs. It’s just very natural and it’s a video game to me. So I will look at things and I’ll organize everything and I’m like, oh did I do my contacts lately? Oh oh I gotta catch up and I organize it all and I don’t know how but in my brain that’s the way it is with these trips and things as well. And when I travel
Jason Elkins (09:56.325)
This is just very natural. And it’s a video.
Jason Elkins (10:03.493)
I do have contacts lately. Oh.
Laura Hagler (10:15.811)
I’ve gone through the, I have to do everything, everything. I’ve gone and done the lazy trips. I kind of am a mixed bag with it, but I also am a collector of sorts. So I like to collect experiences. I like to collect destinations that I’ve traveled in. Um, and I think for me it’s. Yeah. It’s a puzzle.
It’s a game. And I think if someone likes games, like board games, video games, anything of that nature, you can kind of abstractly look at trip planning and traveling as well as a game. Like, okay, I am in this place and this thing has occurred to me. How am I gonna fix it? Do you choose A or B? Like those choose your own adventure books back in the day? Do you remember those? Loved those. They’re always horrible, but I loved them.
Jason Elkins (10:40.453)
in your games.
you can kind of abstractly look at tripple landing and traveling as well as a game. Like, okay, I am in this place and this thing has occurred to me, but I can fix it. Do you choose A or B? Like, those future adventure books? Right. Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (11:03.015)
and this way you’re in it, you know? You’re like, I’m in the middle of India and I have been bitten by a dog. Do I go to the place and get malaria medication? Do I panic? So yeah, I don’t know. That’s the way.
Jason Elkins (11:03.973)
this way you’re in it.
Jason Elkins (11:16.069)
curious. I’m curious if like the idea of getting on a plane flying somewhere and maybe you’ve got your first night booked and you’re gonna let’s say you’re gonna be in Asia somewhere for three weeks. And is all you have is your first night booked? Does that like freak you out that idea? Do you have to have it all kind of planned? Or are you able to just show up in a place and say I’m going to do the first night and then figure it out from there?
Laura Hagler (11:43.655)
Hold on, because I think I said malaria when I meant rabies before. Somebody just correct myself. You don’t get malaria from dog bites. You don’t do it. Sorry. We’ll catch that. Nope, nope. Rabies, rabies. Anyways, so I’ve done it. It wouldn’t freak me out if it was a country that I’ve been in before. Like, if it was somewhere in Asia that I’ve traveled before, I wouldn’t really have any qualms with it. But there are a lot of factors that you need to know going into that. So if I was an inexperienced traveler, and I just
Jason Elkins (11:46.373)
Yeah. Good for you for catching that. I heard it, but I wasn’t going to call you out. Ha ha ha.
Laura Hagler (12:13.991)
booked a flight to, let’s say, Thailand. And I didn’t know anything about the country. I didn’t check the weather. I didn’t check any national holidays. You might be in a bit of a pickle, because if you don’t know the area, you don’t know where you’re staying. You don’t know any of those details. So for me, yeah, it does kind of seem like traveling with your pants down. But I’ve also…
you know, I’ve done this. I showed up to the airport a day early and got laughed up by the attendant. And he’s like, this has never happened before. You’re a day early for your flight. And we’re like, oh, I did. I was like, well, this was before. This was when my husband was living in Thailand like a year after. And I was like, I’m an idiot. But we didn’t have anything to do. So we’re like, let’s just go back where we were and we can get a room. And if we can’t find one there, we’ll find one somewhere else. So knowing what I know now, not a problem. I would do it. But.
Jason Elkins (12:47.685)
You didn’t tell him you were a travel planner, did you? Ha ha ha ha!
Laura Hagler (13:07.631)
There are just too many, is it Lunar New Year? Is it Songkran? Like what is happening? Where am I? So yeah, you could do it if you have no standards as far as what you need. I don’t mean like slumming it.
Jason Elkins (13:23.013)
Well, I was just, I was just thinking I kind of enjoy that type of travel. And then you said if you don’t have any standards, I’m like, OK, I get it.
Laura Hagler (13:31.027)
I mean, like, if you have to have air conditioning, if you have to have a private room with an attached bathroom, if you have to be in a walkable distance of sites and restaurants and things, then yeah, it’s going to be much, much harder, but it’s still doable. And if you want to just have an adventure and go for it and you don’t have kids and you don’t have special requirements, you’re good. But yeah, how many people are completely un-
abated or unchained by something at this stage in life, you know?
Jason Elkins (14:03.653)
Yeah, no, you’re, you’re absolutely right. And I, I enjoy both. I have like when I went to Thailand the first time I was like, okay, I’m going to Chiang Mai, that was pretty much all I knew. And I booked a place for a week, got on the plane, never been to Asia, got in the plane and then quickly realized, okay, the place I booked was horrible. But, but I tend to do that. So at least I only booked it for a week instead of one. So then it was like.
Laura Hagler (14:17.331)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (14:21.095)
Ah, mmm.
Jason Elkins (14:27.909)
first two days there was okay now time to find a different place. And of course I showed up during smoky season and it was, you know, the people that I was hoping to engage with weren’t really there because anybody that could leave had left and, um, so that it, I think about three weeks in, I sat down and booked a ticket to Bali for the next day, of course, with no plan for where I was going to stay in Bali either. Um, so I enjoy that and yeah, there’ve been many times I’ve kind of regretted not having a little bit more of a plan.
which is interesting because I’ve worked as a planner as well and in sales and tour sales and I would never let my clients go do that.
Laura Hagler (15:05.351)
Yeah, there’s a day and an age for it. I think when you’re first traveling and you’re a backpacker and you’re kind of just flying by the seat of your pants, not to just keep referencing pants. We’re talking trousers if you have any listeners in other English speaking countries. Yeah, I mean, I’ve done it.
And I’ve had some really fun experiences because of it, but I’ve also run into some issues with it. So I feel like the more you know about your destination and at least having a couple of things, like a skeleton itinerary in place, is significantly safer and better than going in blind. Now, when I went to Japan, I didn’t know anything, but I was taken care of by the government because I had a…
Jason Elkins (15:40.741)
of a skeleton.
Laura Hagler (15:56.159)
apartment for me and I had a supervisor and did I have to eat fish as a previous vegetarian and cry when I got to my apartment? Yes, yes I did. But within a week I was golden. So it’s, it really just depends on the person and their ability to be flexible. And again, like what are your standards when you travel?
Jason Elkins (16:02.789)
I’m not sure why when I got to my apartment.
Jason Elkins (16:17.637)
And like, what are your standards when you go? Right. I think that flexibility is a key. Because even if you have the well-thought-out skeleton itinerary or some sort of plan in place, I’ve noticed that many of my really good experiences have come from when I’ve deviated. So for example, just when you’re walking down the road.
to get from point A to point B. And then you look down an alleyway and you’re like, there’s a bunch of people down there. There must be something interesting down there. So you kind of forget about point B for a minute and you go take this, you know, the CDEF route and come back and I’m always so happy whenever I step away from the itinerary and go do something like that. I always, I find something that I never ever would have found and you couldn’t have planned for it. So I, yeah, I mean, I’m sure you’ve experienced that as well.
Laura Hagler (17:05.687)
Yes. Oh, God. I mean, the
One that just popped into my head, we planned a trip to Thailand and Cambodia. And I was with two of my friends who I lived in Japan with and one of them lost their passport in Thailand, so they had to stay there. And I went with the other friend to Cambodia and we were staying in Sihanoukville. And we were on the beach talking and just being friendly. I can make friends with a wall. So my husband’s like calm down and stop making friends. But I was talking
professional swimmer. And he was from Kansas and I’m from Missouri. So I’m like, Hey, neighbor. And we were chatting and it turns out he and his friends who are both swimmers were planning a fundraising event to swim from CNU Phil’s beach out to this island like a mile or two away. And he was just randomly grab our gathering a boat full of people to kind of root for them and cheer them on from the boat. And he’s like, Do you guys want to come? So we got invited to go out on this boat. And then we swam the last portion with them. And we
Jason Elkins (17:45.989)
Sorry.
Jason Elkins (18:07.653)
you guys want to come. So we got invited to go out on this boat.
Laura Hagler (18:12.481)
up staying out on this island and they forgot about us and we’re like oh it’s really late it’s getting dark and so we’re on this island and they were sunburned and we’re you know still happy and they picked us up it’s pitch black but the bioluminescent uh was it the plankton were in the water that night it was magical and it was all purely because the boat forgot to pick us up and
Jason Elkins (18:18.981)
and they were sunburned and were still happy and they picked this up. It’s pitch black, but bioluminescent. Ah!
Laura Hagler (18:34.755)
you end up accumulating so many of these stories because it’s like this bizarre thing happened and I was like, you say yes. You’re like, yeah, why not? Let’s go do this thing. And yeah, that’s part of travel and part of life is just saying yes and not knowing what the hell you’re getting yourself into. And it’s beautiful.
Jason Elkins (18:35.877)
I was like, you say yes, why not, let’s go do this thing. And yeah, that’s part of travel and part of life, just saying yes and not knowing what you’re getting yourself into. That is so cool. What a great story to share. So what I’m taking away from all this is, you know, is, okay.
have a plan in place, but I like to leave, you know, leave some gaps, leave some opportunities because you don’t want to miss something like that because you’ve got a dinner reservation that you feel like you have to keep. And then also just that ability to accept that, okay, I have a plan. I have somewhere that I’m quote unquote supposed to be. I’ve already made a dinner reservation or I’ve got a room booked in the next village over.
Laura Hagler (19:06.255)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (19:29.797)
But having that ability to say, you know what? Okay. I’ve got a room booked the next village over, but there’s a place right here. There’s something interesting happening here. So let go of that, that sunk cost idea is like, look, I’ve already paid for that room. I don’t want to miss this opportunity because I have a room booked somewhere else. So just that, that flexibility in traveling, I think is pretty important. Do you go ahead.
Laura Hagler (19:53.283)
It’s, it’s mandatory. Like when I build itineraries for my clients, I, if it is a place that is safe for them to do so, I work in free time for wandering and I discuss exactly what we’re talking about, you know, you need time to just delve into that destination on your own and see what it has to offer you because we can’t plan for everything.
Jason Elkins (20:13.221)
I think that’s so cool because I think sometimes people having done that type of work for quite a while, people sometimes look and they see a gap in the itinerary and they just think, what, you couldn’t come up with anything for me, Jason. You guys are being cheap. You’re just like, oh, you got the whole afternoon on your own. Why is that? You know, and it’s and when you explain it the way you just did, that’s really, really helpful. So I think it’s great when anybody listening to this looks at our itinerary.
hour by hour every day, you might want to question yourself or have a conversation with your planner and say, look, if I were to take some time to go explore and I, you know, forgo some of those planned things, which ones should I drop? Which ones should I skip? And, um, and leave yourself some space. That’s a, that’s really cool advice. I’m curious about, so you met your husband in Japan. He was working there as well. Was he an English teacher as well?
Laura Hagler (21:12.239)
He was. So our prefecture was kind of notorious for couples. I could rattle off probably eight couples off the top of my head that met there. And there were couples where it was a foreign, like an expat girl and a Japanese guy or vice versa. But we had a lot, I think we had about 90 foreigners teaching in that program there during my first couple of years. And my husband, it was his third year when I was there.
my first year and I was a newbie and the funny story and I have a picture of this night is I had found out like the sad story of he had broken up with his ex girlfriend and he was bombed and his friend who was leaving the next day was telling me and I’m like oh that really sucks and he was just kind of bummed out I went over to him and I put my arm over his shoulder and I said you’re gonna be my best friend and his first words were like get away from me newbie
Jason Elkins (22:03.461)
Thanks for watching!
Peace. Ha ha ha.
Laura Hagler (22:07.471)
He likes to bring it up because I clearly knew what I was talking about.
Jason Elkins (22:12.293)
funny. And does he still enjoy traveling? You last time we spoke, you’d share that you as a family have been traveling. So let’s let’s touch on that a little bit. Because I think that’s fascinating because you’ve got some young children.
Laura Hagler (22:22.371)
Yes, I do. They’re both homesick today downstairs. I’m being very good, knock on wood. And I have a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, and this year they have been to three countries, not including the U.S., but one of them’s Canada, so it’s kind of like cheating. But yeah, I mean the, I had these big dreams of traveling a lot with my kids because my parents
Jason Elkins (22:28.613)
Yes.
Laura Hagler (22:51.347)
They traveled to Florida, which was pretty big for growing up in the Midwest, but they never really traveled internationally. It wasn’t something that was done as often, I think, in the middle class back when I was growing up. And I wanted that to be an opportunity that my kids had, particularly since, you know, my husband and I met abroad. And my youngest, or I’m sorry, my eldest, we took him to Japan with us when he was nine months old. And…
Jason Elkins (23:15.621)
Wow.
Laura Hagler (23:16.663)
our friends were just like, they were yelling at me like, bring the baby. And they were just gushing over him and he had a blast because he had everyone fawning over him. And we had a great time with him there and it was wonderful. And then the pandemic happened. And my youngest was born like,
Jason Elkins (23:36.709)
Thank you.
Laura Hagler (23:38.743)
in July of 2019, so we barely finished breastfeeding and all that jazz by the time the pandemic ended, and we were supposed to go to Japan that summer. We pushed it another summer, we pushed it another summer, and we’re going this summer! So we got an opportunity to go to Indonesia with my company, and we went in spring.
Jason Elkins (23:41.221)
So we’ve barely finished RussFeed and all that chat as much as the pandemic has ended.
We’re going this summer. Very cool.
Laura Hagler (24:03.751)
had an amazing time. So the kids got to see Komodo dragons and orangutans and just my eldest is like, I want to see a dragon, I want to see a dragon. And, you know, I, I trust Asia implicitly, the places that we’re going, I know the deep love of kids that they have in all of the cultures, pretty much any culture loves kids. And it was amazing. It was so good. They did great on the flight. And then
Jason Elkins (24:07.909)
I think it’s just my eldest is like, I want to see a dragon. I want to see a dragon. And I trust Asia implicitly, the places that we’re going, and the deep love of kids that they have. And we’ll just connect any culture with these kids.
Laura Hagler (24:33.327)
The whole time we were there, my young one is like, are we going to the airport? Can we go to the airport? And then we went to Costa Rica in early November for my seven-year-old’s birthday. And that was really nice too. So I’m just beyond happy that they can have these experiences and we’ve traveled around the US with them as well.
you know, like New York, we lived in Colorado before we went to Seattle last year, visiting family in different states. So they’re pretty well traveled already. So they’re accustomed to sitting still for long periods of time if necessary. And, uh, yeah, I have big hopes for them.
Jason Elkins (25:01.573)
year to visiting family in different states. So they’re pretty well traveled already, so they’re accustomed to sitting still for long periods of time if necessary. Yeah, I have big hopes for them. That is so cool. And I recognize that a lot of people, I won’t say most, but maybe it’s most, that like to travel. They’re adventurous, they’ve been traveling, and then they decide, okay, we’re going to start a family, and the traveling thing just stops.
Because maybe when they were traveling, they were on an airplane with a screaming baby and they created this story, I don’t want to be that person. So we’re not going to travel. And then maybe they go to Disneyland when their kids are, you know, 13 or something like that. And then they tell themselves, well, when the kids move out and go to college, then we’ll start traveling again. So what would you say to those listeners?
Laura Hagler (25:56.055)
I would say that kids get accustomed to things the more they do them. And if you start early and you kind of acclimate your children to moving around in different environments and different things, and this doesn’t work for everybody, like, I understand that, but test the waters. I mean, my, my
eldest was, I think we were on 10 or 12 flights his first year, because we were just like, let’s go see this family, this family, this family. And it was just timing wise, everyone wanted to meet the baby. It was our first and family lives all over the US. And out of all of those flights, he only had one meltdown. And that was because it was he couldn’t go to sleep. And once he did, it was he was out cold. So yes, things are going to happen and you can’t prepare for everything. But
Jason Elkins (26:45.061)
Mm-hmm. So yes, things are going to happen.
Laura Hagler (26:51.375)
If you keep putting it off, it takes a back burner in your life. It’s just like anything else. If you stop following a passion or a hobby, it kind of just fades away. It’s out of sight, out of mind to a point. And I desperately wanted to travel and to have these experiences. And that’s an important thing that I want to foster in my children because I firmly believe that everyone can greatly benefit from seeing their country from outside.
Jason Elkins (27:00.389)
It kind of just fades away. It’s not a sight out of mind to a point. And I desperately wanted to travel and to have these experiences. And that’s an important thing that I want to foster in my children because I…
Laura Hagler (27:21.167)
looking in. And I want to provide that perspective for my kids. I want them to learn about other cultures in a natural way as opposed to just from a book. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it. Yes, airfare is crazy right now. I get it. I am feeling it. But you could, you know, we went and dug for amethyst in Canada. Like it’s not a huge cultural shift, but it’s just something new.
Jason Elkins (27:31.845)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (27:39.909)
and we went and dug for amethyst in Canada. It’s not a huge cultural shift, but it’s just something new.
Laura Hagler (27:49.339)
talking about it, planning something a couple of years in advance and getting your kids pumped about it. And you know, my kids came back from Costa Rica counting in Spanish and practicing things that just, it is such an important, important part of my life that I want it to be part of theirs. And I…
think that it’s one of the best gifts you can give your kids is travel.
Jason Elkins (28:17.637)
Yeah, no, I agree with you completely. It’s, I’ve been fortunate to travel with my teenage son last couple summers on his summer break. You know, first summer we did Latin America, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico. And then this past summer was Southeast Asia for two months. And the opportunities are just so cool. And it’s fun to watch him reflect. For some reason, it’s, it’s really fun to watch him reflect when he gets back to the States.
So for example, you know, this fall he started back to school and he’s like, dad, there’s, there’s a kid here from, from Guatemala, you know, in my, in my class, and he was all excited that there was this kid from Guatemala in his class because he felt this connection because he had visited, you know, he’d been to Guatemala. Um, there’s a game called GeoGuessr. Are you familiar with GeoGuessr? Okay. So that’s, you know, anybody that’s listening to this, it’s one of my favorites and it’s been a lot of fun to share with, with my son and
Laura Hagler (29:01.972)
Aww.
Laura Hagler (29:07.936)
Yes, I know GeoGuessr. Hey baby, come here.
Jason Elkins (29:16.869)
Maybe you’ve shared it with your kids as well.
Laura Hagler (29:16.883)
Speaking of the devil, I haven’t yet. Give me one quick second. You okay? Yeah, but the thing is I’ve used my computer and I got them on something which you can do. Can I put them on the tablet? Sure. 8118. I don’t know where it is. I’ll help you later, sorry. 8118. So that’s my eldest.
Jason Elkins (29:34.085)
That’s OK. We’re good. I’m going to do this. And hopefully, it will show up on the edit. It will be a little bit easier. Cut it out. Yeah, no, no problem. It’s easy. OK. So GeoGuessr is this great game. If anybody, a game I’m not sure, but anybody listening to this, it’s worth checking out. Where for our listeners, basically, the program drops you on a random spot using Google Street View, I guess.
Laura Hagler (29:41.095)
Thanks. Sorry about that.
Laura Hagler (29:46.264)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (30:01.733)
just drops you in a random spot somewhere in the world. And you get to kind of move your way down the road, look at signs, look at clues and try and figure out where you’re at. And my son is totally addicted to this. And he was at school playing at school and he sent me a message and he’s like, dad, dad, look where they, look where they dropped me. And he sent me a screenshot and it was right in front of peddling, peddling street in Kuala Lumpur where he had been, you know,
Laura Hagler (30:29.096)
Nice!
Jason Elkins (30:29.445)
a couple months earlier. He’s like, Dad, they dropped me right in the spot right there. I stood in that spot. He was so excited about that. And he was sharing it with all his friends at school. And he was just, and it opened up these conversations about things. And there’s just it’s so much fun to watch him get excited about the places he’s been and the things he’s done. And, and, yeah, it’s just it’s been an icebreaker for him. He’s sometimes socially awkward at school. And sometimes these conversations come up about places he had been
Laura Hagler (30:46.362)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (30:57.957)
He has been, and it’s just fun for him. He gets excited about it. And to see him able to engage and be more sensitive to other people, you know, because there’s a reality. When you’re sitting on the subway in Bangkok or whatever, and, you know, two white guys that are about six foot tall, we kind of stick out a little bit. And for him to just kind of appreciate and understand the, you know, different cultures and different things and eating the street food.
You know, like going out and just having an amazing, like amazing meal for like $2.50 and sharing that with the staff and the people that are excited to talk to us. And it’s just been so much fun. And I’m so happy that he’s been able to see that. And you’re going to see that as your kids get older too.
Laura Hagler (31:28.051)
Thanks.
Laura Hagler (31:44.539)
Oh, I love it. I mean, I think one of the important learning aspects of it, and my husband and I are both teachers, like I studied education as well as art and I am teaching in Japanese or in Japan as well. But watching it from that perspective of having them move out of their comfortable culturally dominant place of living and be a minority. So important because
Um, am I ever going to understand what it’s like to be a minority in my own country? No. Am I going to just get a little glimpse of what it may feel like? Yes. And that is so much stronger and more impactful than, like I said, than reading a book, it’s to be able to feel that and, and be like, okay, I’m an outsider here, but you know, these are the good things. These are the bad things. And just.
You learn so much. It’s just amazing. And yeah.
Jason Elkins (32:42.949)
And it doesn’t stop as you get older, right? I mean, this was my first trip to Southeast Asia just this past year. And I spent about a total of six months there. And actually, honestly, one of the biggest takeaways for me was when I was in Malaysia. I spent a good month and a half, a good chunk of that with Jackson. And Malaysia is the first Islamic country, really, that I’d been to. I’d been to Indonesia right before that, but I was in Bali and it was a lot of exposure to the Hindu.
um, faith, but in, in Malaysia, you know, people dress differently, different customs, different traditions, different beliefs. And what I noticed was, you know, these families walking down the street with their kids and holding their hand and, and hugging them and picking them up and carrying them around the mall. And it was like, yeah, okay. Cause people are just, they love their kids just as much as we do.
They were very, very gracious. I’ve got pictures of where Jackson and I were invited to family get-togethers for religious holidays and the people, it just really opened my eyes to, you know, we’re not all that different. And I’ve traveled a lot of other places and I’ve had that experience, but for some reason that trip to Malaysia just kind of really drove the point home. It was a lot of fun. So I think it’s super important to share that with our kids.
Laura Hagler (34:06.479)
Yes, I think being a parent, they say, you know, watch, you get to discover the world through your children’s eyes. And it’s even more so when you’re traveling, honestly, I’m so excited to let them go to Japan with us and show them all these places and they’ve got all these plans and they’re so excited. Even the bad experiences too, but like bad. We were in Costa Rica and we had an evening rainforest walk and like photography walk planned.
Jason Elkins (34:07.237)
and do it ourselves.
Jason Elkins (34:12.741)
Hmm.
Laura Hagler (34:36.513)
pouring and I’m talking like we were going up a mountain and the guy’s like we should probably head back because we’re gonna get struck by lightning so we’re heading back
And we had gotten them ponchos and we were sort of dry and we’re looking at tarantulas and frogs and all kinds of stuff and scorpions. And my, we saw this toucan that was sleeping, which was not really that exciting because you can’t really tell it’s a toucan, it’s like this. And he’d seen an awake toucan already. So he was just like, mom, can we go back now? Can we go back now? Oh, I wish we hadn’t done this. And you know, miserable seven year old, normal reaction. He was wet and tired. But then.
I was reading one of his papers that he had written at school and they’re working on sentences and he said he wants to go to the jungle to discover a sleeping toucan and I’m like oh he remembers and it’s a positive memory and that’s kind of what I take away too is even some of like some of my favorite stories about travel are at the time I was miserable.
Jason Elkins (35:41.701)
Mm-hmm. Miserable, or like a mistake.
Laura Hagler (35:42.375)
miserable or like a mistake I made or something and then later it makes a fun story.
Jason Elkins (35:48.613)
It’s, it’s interesting how that works. I’ve had a few experiences like that as well. I mean, I got robbed in Mexico and it’s like one of my fondest memories. Well, it cost me 60 bucks or whatever. I had about $60 worth of pesos in my pocket and the police officer was nice enough to stop me and liberate it, liberate me from my money. And, you know, it was like, okay, I spent 60 bucks for an interesting story. And
Laura Hagler (35:59.795)
You’re like, check.
Laura Hagler (36:12.734)
Oh.
Jason Elkins (36:17.701)
And I’m not sharing that to scare anybody about doing things. It’s at the point is things happen. You know, when you put yourself outside your comfort zone, sometimes there’s surprises and most of the time they end up being kind of fond memories. At the time I was like, Ooh, that was weird. But after like the day after I was laughing about it, I was like, okay, fine, you know, you know, it is. Yeah. It, it, it just, it happens. So when you, I want to discuss a little bit more about Japan because that’s a huge.
Laura Hagler (36:36.536)
Yeah, you gotta roll with it.
Jason Elkins (36:47.677)
area that you work with. And I’d like to learn a little bit about some of the other areas. So our listeners are real clear on what it is you do for global base camps. Kind of what some of your favorite itineraries are, some of the ones that you think that people might not think about. Because Japan’s a lot more than just Tokyo and sushi. Which are both amazing, great things. And actually Jackson and I, we on our way back, back to the States from Bangkok.
Laura Hagler (37:05.339)
Yeah. Which are both great things. They’re both great.
Jason Elkins (37:17.773)
He insisted, he’s like, dad, I really, really want to go to Japan. So we booked like a 12 hour layover in Japan. So we got to the airport and hopped on the train, fell asleep on the train on the way into the city and, and woke up and went, walked around and had lunch and had our, you know, few hour Tokyo experience that was, was pretty cool, but it sure left me wanting to go back. So what, what did I miss? Tell me a few things that we missed. And I know there’s a lot.
Laura Hagler (37:41.443)
Oh yeah.
Laura Hagler (37:45.455)
Well, Japan is comprised of 47 prefectures. So it’s tough. I mean, Japan has something for everybody, which is the key. Everything from history dating back to its isolationism and opening to trade down in Nagasaki, to the bombing, to post-war kawaii. There’s just, there’s massive youth culture interest with anime and manga.
and I like it too, and gaming, and there’s fashion, there’s such beautiful art, which is my initial connection to Japan was through the art world, and music, wine, the thing with Japan is that the Japanese are incredibly
devoted to their hobbies and interests. So they very much identify with this. And this is not everybody granted, I mean, individuals still, but from my experience working in high school, I worked at a sports school. And so my kids would, some of them would come and stay in dormitories and they would play soccer or baseball were the primary ones. But they would practice from like after school until midnight some nights or 10 PM. And they were just
Jason Elkins (38:44.226)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (39:05.465)
my life. Baseball is my life. Soccer is my life. I had people who were like jazz focused or ikebana flower arranging or tea ceremony or whatever it was. They devoted tons of time and energy into what their passions were. I’ve met hikers, I’ve met gardeners, cooks. People just really hone in on it. And you see that in Japanese culture with like restaurants that open up and specialize in one very specific type of food because you have to study for years as an
to learn how to make the tempura exactly the right way so it’s this crisp bite and it’s it is just passion and honing in and things being passed down through generations and it’s just created such a variety in the culture as well. The amount of pride and love that goes into products that are made from tofu to samurai swords is astounding and
Jason Elkins (39:42.007)
It is true.
Jason Elkins (40:03.518)
Wow, Laura, I’m curious because there’s a bit of a stereotype that Japanese children have tremendous familial pressure to exceed in something. So there’s this kind of idea comes maybe from the parents like you will be a this, you will be a that and they push, push to get their kids to do it. But I’m curious what your thoughts are.
generational, you mentioned generational, is this generational pressure being handed down or do these kids that go in and practice soccer until midnight do it because they really are just passionate about it? What do you think it is that creates that kind of intensity?
Laura Hagler (40:45.607)
So I think there’s a little bit of a crossover there between South Asian and East Asian Chinese culture that might be being confused with Japanese culture because you do have like the Chinese and the South Asian, you need to become a doctor or a lawyer. Like, don’t you dare get a B or yeah, my friends’ parents were like, it’s your, your blonde friends you’re hanging out with. That’s why you got a B.
So Japan doesn’t quite have it to that extent. And I think part of that was because of the war. It kind of broke some of that traditional pushing down. I think there’s a little bit more desire for creativity and things in Japan. There is definitely a, you need to respect your elders. You need to continue the line of
this art or the skill and so you will see nine generations of people creating this particular craft or you know making a particular product and there is pressure there to the point that there was like a special type of Adoption process that could take place if you didn’t have a child to carry on You could adopt someone and like train them and they would be part of your family
Jason Elkins (42:03.254)
Hmm.
Laura Hagler (42:03.559)
And there is also part of that with last names. Like, it’s becoming a little bit more common for the man to take the woman’s last name if there’s no male in their family so that the family name continues. And so there is pressure there, but I feel like nowadays there’s a lot more freedom for the Japanese students to decide what they wanna do on their own. What you see is as…
babies and up until about the age of six or so, kids are doted on and they have a lot of freedom in Japan. They are to the point of almost being spoiled. They’re not bad spoiled kids but they get a lot of love and attention and like oh you do what you want to do yay! And then the schools starting around Shogatsu which is elementary
start kind of upping the militaristic aspects that came about over the past century or so. And that’s why they have the uniforms the way you have them. And the little kids when they graduate from kindergarten walk like this, and it’s super cute, and they take their corner and they keep walking. So it’s all very…
Jason Elkins (43:07.447)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (43:14.699)
organized in that way. And then as you get up into high school, it’s still very organized, and there’s a lot of pressure for getting into a good school. So it’s not what you’re going to do and study sometimes. It’s just in order to get past the exams, you have to push yourself. And if you’re not smart, then maybe you’re really good at this craft or this, and we’ll put our energy behind you there. But I’ve never seen a big push from the parents in my experience.
And again, my school wasn’t exactly like a super academic school, so I can’t say for sure. But college, university in Japan, unless you go to a very high, high level like Tokyo University level school, college is considered party time for a lot of students because the pressure has been so great up until then that college is to let off steam and maybe find a partner and…
Yeah, it’s very different, I would say. I mean, yeah, you party here too, but it’s known for that in Japan by the Japanese, where if you go to a regular university, you’re probably just gonna relax, and yeah, take some classes. Yeah, but if you’re at Tokyo University, or if you wanna be a doctor or something else, then it’s still tough. So, yeah.
Jason Elkins (44:11.411)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (44:32.457)
Right. No, something when you were sharing that something came up for me that I’d love to touch on. I remember I actually had a girlfriend. She was an exchange student from Japan in college. Back. I was, it was in Wyoming, central Wyoming colleges, this girl from Japan ended up in the middle of Wyoming. And the biggest, the biggest athletic program at the school was rodeo. So yeah.
Laura Hagler (45:02.362)
a natural connection with Japan.
Jason Elkins (45:03.205)
Yeah, what an interesting fit. And so of course I was intrigued because she was definitely different than the other girls there. And anyway, I remember, you know, very smart, very, very smart young lady. And the topic of conflict between the United States and Japan during World War II came up and it became fairly clear. We had to use her dictionary to really have a conversation because
Maybe that’s why they sent her to middle of Wyoming, because she didn’t do well on her TOEFL or whatever. But anyway, the story she conveyed to me, or the insight that she shared with me was that she was very aware of the bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki had no concept of Pearl Harbor or no concept of how the war started.
Laura Hagler (45:36.061)
Oh, yeah.
Jason Elkins (45:59.389)
real recollection from her education anyway, was that World War II was all about two bombs that were dropped on Japan. Horrific event. Absolutely. I get it. I can understand why someone growing up in Japan would be heavily focused on that because that was a huge thing, huge event. And I remember just thinking, you know, maybe a lot of governments, a lot of cultures kind of educate for a particular reason. Did you experience that in Japan or has
Have you had experiences with that in Japan where maybe the education system is, I mean, it’s definitely like that here in the U S. Or, you know, where it’s like, okay, this is, this is the story. This is how we’re writing our history books. Or is it just me being just kind of, obviously that’s what they’re going to write about in their history books. And, and I, I grew up in the States, so I heard my history. What are your, what are your thoughts?
Laura Hagler (46:37.913)
Um, yeah, I mean…
Laura Hagler (46:52.915)
Well, my husband’s a history teacher, so just put that on. He’d be ashamed of me if I do this wrong, so I’m like, deep breath. So I didn’t teach history in Japan, so that’s one thing. I can’t really speak to that too much. I can tell you that they are… there is a generational divide about guilt.
and accepting responsibility and things. And I believe that the older generation is very aware of what happened. I spoke to some of my favorite people to speak to in Japan. And some of my good friends are older Japanese, like in their 70s and 80s, and they’re sheer delight. And they know that I am of a different generation and they know I didn’t drop the bombs. They know that I had nothing to do with it. And they got to know me as a person.
and I only had one person that I ran into who treated me badly and it was an old drunk man in the middle of the night at a train station who was just like, foreigner! And I answered him in Japanese and I’m like, what?! Just waiting for the train, man! But no, no one ever, like there was no guilt or no one ever made me feel bad about it. I went to Hiroshima, I went to Nagasaki, I’ve been to the museums. Overwhelming, incredibly powerful.
I think everyone should go at some point in their lives. But I think the way Japan kind of focuses on it right now is they’re trying to put their energy toward looking forward. And so it’s not that they don’t know what happened. They just don’t go into the deeper aspects of why Japan was…
was siding with the Axis forces and like what was going on and why Japan wanted to expand into China and Manchuria and all of these things. And it’s, it’s a fascinating time in history and those of you who are not aware of it, I highly recommend digging into it. The US did some messed up stuff historically, we lots of coups in our past that we were responsible for. Japan did some really, really dark stuff too.
Jason Elkins (48:43.313)
and Japan wanted to expand into China and Syria and all these things. And it’s a fascinating time in history.
Laura Hagler (49:07.107)
I think every country’s history has darkness and badness. And I think that they’re trying to distance themselves from it because they realize, I think a lot of people kind of took the bombing as a.
Jason Elkins (49:10.809)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (49:21.579)
okay, this is punishment of some sort for what we have done in the past as a nation and let’s move past it. And I don’t think that that’s what everyone thinks and I don’t think it was it was required as a punishment per se, like anything along those lines, but they kind of don’t want to talk about it. It’s like, you know, if you did something really crappy back in the day, you don’t really want to think about it, like that thing that wakes you up in the middle of the night and
Jason Elkins (49:28.287)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (49:41.413)
like, you know, if you did something really crappy back in the day.
Laura Hagler (49:51.371)
I think that it is there and it is available for them to learn about. It’s not that it’s hidden. It’s just that’s like the next layer of history. Because I would I would say most Americans don’t really know much beyond Pearl Harbor happened we bombed Japan. So I think that Japan very much, especially the younger generations, don’t have that deeper history. They don’t know about the country kind of being controlled by.
Jason Elkins (50:06.605)
No, you’re right.
Laura Hagler (50:20.775)
by the government and by the emperor, who they thought was God. And I mean, there’s just so much wrapped up in religion and it was like a cult to a point. And it’s hard to look back and be like, wow, this is my history.
Jason Elkins (50:34.2)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (50:34.267)
you know, and they choose to look forward and say, these things have happened to us, but we also have this really proud history of, you know, all of these years prior to that, that Japan was amazing and has so much to offer with art and culture and everything else. And I think it’s just more of a, let’s just not really focus on that as opposed to ignoring it. So I think that would be the way.
Jason Elkins (51:01.221)
That makes a lot of sense. I appreciate that insight. And as you were speaking about that, it, you know, it occurs to me, you know, the German people are very similar approach. The Columbia, I spent an awful lot of time in Columbia and there’s things that have happened down there in the past that they’re not, they don’t really want somebody like me to show up and ask them a bunch of questions about Pablo Escobar or, you know, there’s, there’s so many, yeah, exactly. There’s so many other cool things to experience.
Laura Hagler (51:09.555)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Laura Hagler (51:24.827)
Talk about as hippos, that’s always safe.
Laura Hagler (51:29.267)
Thanks for watching!
Jason Elkins (51:30.577)
And the other thing though is, is what does travel do for that? What is, you know, our conversation is about travel and learning cultures and expanding horizons and, and introducing my son to Asia, your children to Asia, to just different cultures and different people. And that’s something that wasn’t really happening back in the, you know, twenties, the thirties, um, you know, the most Americans that were alive in the
Jason Elkins (52:00.249)
to go fight, you know? And now we’re having conversations about our kids going to, to meet other people and to learn cultures and to learn languages and all these special things. And that’s pretty cool. And in fact, you know, interestingly that we’re speaking about this, this topic when I was in Guatemala with my son, the summer before last, we stayed at a little hotel on Lake Atitlan and the guy who owned the hotel was Japanese.
and didn’t speak in English and I’m working on my Spanish. And we actually had, and he’s about my age, come to learn that he grew up in Hiroshima. You know, so a Japanese guy from Hiroshima, American guy from, you know, the US, meeting in Guatemala. And we sat down and had this, as deep of a conversation as you could have with my limited Spanish, but it was pretty good.
And he pulled out the photo albums, showed me pictures of his kid who’s off in military school in Guatemala. And, and we talked about his childhood in Japan and, and his experiences in Latin America, and it was just such a cool thing to be able to experience that. Just the way that all, all kind of came together. Um, and I, I’m just sharing that because I just think it’s super cool that when we travel and when we, I guess where I’m going with this is the language part, right?
because had I not made the effort to learn some Spanish as I was traveling, I wouldn’t have had a conversation. He would have been some Japanese looking guy in a hotel in Guatemala that I never would have connected with. Right. And a story and you’re a language teacher, you know, and learn Japanese in Japan. So I’d love to just hear your kind of your thoughts and insights about the importance of learning languages.
Laura Hagler (53:37.059)
Right, end of story. Ha ha ha.
Laura Hagler (53:53.151)
languages are scary. I think for people who only speak English there is very much a wall. I refer to it as the wall, that it feels like you just can’t get over it, because you can’t see over it. You don’t know what’s on the other side, and you know people who are fluent in two languages. And for me it was growing up in St. Louis, didn’t really know anybody who was fluent in two languages, and then all of a sudden I realized, oh, my friend’s parents are Chinese.
Laura Hagler (54:22.985)
oh they’re from Gujarat I wonder what they speak oh and I realized that some people who are raised with parents who are first generation or who come over from these other countries could speak these other languages and I was so jealous but I think nowadays they’re starting to open up more and have kids learn at an earlier age which is wonderful. I kind of use Japanese around my kids and we try to my little one has picked up katakana and hiragana already and he’s kind of
But I think that it’s so key to understanding just the world. Because it’s like, you know the colors in the rainbow, roysie biv, right? But what happens when you learn that there’s yellow, orange, or turquoise, or silver, or oh my god? It’s like your palette becomes that much bigger. And it’s not just.
Jason Elkins (55:13.952)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (55:17.239)
um like the words but the way that the words are strung together like finding out that there are phrases in these other languages that just make perfect sense and they say something or a feeling that you didn’t know there were there were words for and you can get access to poetry and music and you start to understand or understand aspects of like their seasons and the way that they perceive food and so many things and then you start realizing oh well we borrow words from
these other languages so we already have access to a lot of these other languages. And English is a bear. English, having taught English for years, it’s a tough language to learn because we have so many borrowed words and so much slang and oh my god it’s terrifying. And then I see that it’s one of the most commonly spoken second languages around the world and I am just in awe of everyone who’s trying to learn English. It’s so hard. I’m incredibly impressed.
Jason Elkins (56:13.005)
Yeah.
Laura Hagler (56:16.315)
Um, so I think that wall exists and you go into school and you learn your, you’re like, uno dos tres and all of that. And then you don’t really push past it because, you know, Mrs. Marconi, my Spanish teacher didn’t exactly sit us down and have a conversation about life and the world. And so you’re stuck just repeating stuff and it doesn’t have that, that connection. So I really love. Um,
Jason Elkins (56:19.061)
Thanks.
Laura Hagler (56:44.731)
I want my husband to work on this at his high school that he’s teaching at, but I love promoting classes going abroad and being put into those situations and being in France and having to order at a restaurant is a completely different experience than sitting in class, you know, with my Japanese students saying, okay, we’re gonna run a store. And they’re like, no, press down, press down. It doesn’t work like that. So I think having those real world experiences, it opens doors.
Jason Elkins (57:06.703)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (57:12.271)
And we talked before a little bit, like I have used my Japanese in bizarre places. In like the bathrooms at the Grand Canyon, I ran into a Japanese mom and her daughter and her daughter’s like, oh my god, you understood me. In Sri Lanka, in Myanmar, when I was in Costa Rica, I was helping our guides learn more Japanese to work with their clients. Like it just, language, no matter what language it is, you will use it. You will find…
Jason Elkins (57:39.127)
Mm-hmm.
Laura Hagler (57:40.619)
make connections and just it opens these synapses in your brain and I’m not saying I’m fluent in Japanese. Like I lost a lot when I left because you don’t use it regularly but my god like the doors that have opened from studying Spanish or Italian or Japanese or Sanskrit even when I was studying yoga there are just there’s so much out there.
Jason Elkins (58:04.465)
Yeah, I agree. And I would never want to discourage someone from traveling because they don’t have a language. So let’s say Columbia is a good example. There’s not a lot of English speakers there. Would I recommend it to somebody that doesn’t speak Spanish? Yes, of course. Absolutely go. You’ll figure it out. You know, just
hand and arm signals and facial expressions, you’ll get, you’ll eventually you’ll get there, you know, maybe you want to have a little better plan in place. Like you don’t want to be looking for a place to sleep if you don’t speak Spanish, but, but at the same time, when you do speak some Spanish, or even when you make an effort to speak some Spanish, it opens up, like you said, doors. So let’s say, for example, let’s say I only have 10 words of Spanish.
Laura Hagler (58:41.991)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (58:50.317)
Well, let’s say I don’t have anything. I walk into a tienda in Columbia and I have no Spanish and I’m just like Coca Cola, you know, and I hand out a, hold my hand out with a bunch of money in my hands, whatever they can pick through it. And, you know, whatever that’s one approach, but what I found and the person working there will be like, I don’t speak English. He clearly doesn’t speak Spanish. We’re just going to figure this out. When you walk in with 10 words of Spanish, all of the sudden, now this person.
Laura Hagler (59:03.123)
Thank you.
Jason Elkins (59:18.237)
is willing to share their 10 words of English that you didn’t, you know, they, I don’t speak English, but all of a sudden, when you start to try and speak some Spanish, it gives them, I believe it gives them permission to try their English because otherwise they’re intimidated. They don’t want to carry the whole conversation. If you don’t speak any Spanish, they’re probably not likely to try very hard to speak English. They’re just going to look at you. But when you make an effort and your Spanish sucks,
Then they’re like, OK, his Spanish sucks. So I’m not going to be embarrassed that my English sucks. So I’m going to go ahead and try. So you just you get so much further. But more than that, it’s like the connection as human beings. You’re both in the same boat. You’re both making an effort to communicate. And when you have two people making an effort to communicate, guess what you have connection, right? Yes, it is. And it’s.
Laura Hagler (01:00:09.519)
It’s an exchange of humility, right? It’s, and that’s the wall. I found studying Japanese was the one language that I studied more than anything else. And I had a sensei who, Yamashita sensei, shout out. She, we called her the dragon lady because she would whip like kanji stroke order and grammar into your head, but she would dumb down her speaking to your level and kind of move up with you.
I was terrified of making mistakes because she was so grammar oriented. So then I got another sensei who I just sat and talked to. And that took me a couple of weeks to just get comfortable with that humility. And I know that he was a language lover. He was studying Portuguese at the time and talking about how he was trying to learn that and the mistakes he was making. And it makes you more comfortable. And so my ability to speak…
with that and befriending his son who didn’t speak a lick of English, he and I would just bounce off each other and be like, ha ha, we’re dumb. And that is what gets you over that wall because that wall feels like you can never get beyond it. It feels like that is the native speaker wall. And you don’t really have to be a native speaker. You just have to kind of get to the top and be like, oh, okay, I see it’s just communication over there. That’s it.
Jason Elkins (01:01:12.389)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (01:01:30.293)
need to be so incredibly terrifying. And it’s fun when you’re able to have those casual conversations that there’s no pressure. I’ll be speaking my Spanish, making an effort to communicate, and then all of a sudden I start to hear these English words coming back from the other side. And then I’ll hold on a second. I don’t know if you can hear it, but this printer next to me is
decided it needs to make some noise, so I’m going to edit that out too.
Laura Hagler (01:02:01.221)
Oh.
Jason Elkins (01:02:05.473)
Yes, it’s done. So anyway.
Jason Elkins (01:02:12.577)
As I, you know, I’m working on having a conversation in Spanish, all of a sudden I start to hear these English words coming back from the other side. And before long, there’s a moment of like, you know, creo tu, creo tu Ingles es mejor que mi Espanol. You know, and I’m saying, I think your English is better than my Spanish. And they get all tickled. And it’s just like this fun thing. And it’s like, no, your Spanish is better. No, your English is better. And then it’s just like, we’re both in the same boat. We’re sharing an experience.
Laura Hagler (01:02:42.235)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (01:02:42.241)
and shared experiences or what, you know, that’s connection. That’s what it’s all about. So I just always encourage people, you know, try and don’t just try and memorize some words, just to memorize some words, like just, I don’t know, you know, do spend a little time. There’s apps on our phone. It’s so easy now, you know, Google translate. You’re like, you want to say, I would like a Coca-Cola. You can pull out your phone, put that into Google translate. It’ll give you the words.
Laura Hagler (01:02:59.031)
It’s so easy now.
Jason Elkins (01:03:09.537)
and make an effort to use the words. And eventually you start to pick up on it and people just wanna connect with you when you show up trying to communicate with them.
Laura Hagler (01:03:20.015)
And can I note that one thing I found really made a huge difference was having a common interest. So my friend, Kazuto, who my cat is named after, he and I became friends because I was taking classes with his father, but we started snowboarding together. And that bonded us because we started talking about it and just having conversation. Another one of my friends, we started gardening together. She had this massive spread and we would just trade seeds
from the US and give her recipes and just having things that you have in common if it’s dancing. Dancing is a huge one. I randomly just started swing dancing with some guy in a in like a club one time because he’s like, you dance? And I’m like, yes. And we had a blast. And I mean, you don’t have to speak to connect. It can be so many different things like play a game of volleyball with somebody basketball.
Jason Elkins (01:04:06.76)
Hahaha
Laura Hagler (01:04:18.383)
those are the ways that I saw people developing friendships when they were traveling or living abroad. And you know, if you have something in common, you don’t have to speak, but then the words will eventually start coming.
Jason Elkins (01:04:21.733)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Jason Elkins (01:04:30.241)
Yeah. And people are, when you show an interest in something they’re interested in, they naturally open them. I’ve, I’ve found one of my favorite things to do is in a restaurant is to, to try and have some sort of conversation with, with the server about what they like. You’re like, I’m okay. I can read Spanish. So you give me a menu in Spanish. I can sit there and read it. I can get a pretty good idea of what everything’s on there, but why would I want to?
Laura Hagler (01:04:45.307)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (01:04:57.193)
When I can just, you know, what is your favorite? You know, what is your favorite or kids? Tommy on recommendation, but for you know, give me a recommendation. And their eyes just light up. And this is in English, too. I mean, this could be anywhere. Right. Is you just ask somebody what do they like? And then they get excited. They want the oh, yeah, I really like this one. And then they bring it to you and then they’ll come back and check on you. How was it? How was it? You know? Yeah. They’re like, oh, do you like it? Do you like it? And.
Laura Hagler (01:05:20.231)
They’ll watch you or like, take a bite, take a bite.
Jason Elkins (01:05:24.217)
when you can just light up and like, oh, it’s a Marvijosa or whatever. And, and that creates, that creates a connection there. And you’ll try things that you otherwise probably wouldn’t eat. You know, I mean, I, when I was in Bali, I, one of those things where I looked down the street and it looked like there were a bunch of people down there. So I went down there and there was some food carts and there was this young lady getting some food from, I guess, one of the warangs, warungs, I’m not even sure I’m pronouncing it right. But she’s picking out stuff and I have no idea what I’m looking at. And I’m just like,
Can you help me? I wanna eat whatever you’re eating.” And she’s like, really? I’m like, yeah, any, whatever you’re eating. So she helped me order, we got two plates, two identical plates and I paid for hers. I said, you’re my guide. So there’s a guide fee, right? And she’s like, oh, can I take a picture with you? So she pulled out her phone and handed her sister so we could get a picture, I guess, I don’t know where it showed up, but.
Laura Hagler (01:06:10.136)
Aww. Nice.
Laura Hagler (01:06:21.073)
Aww, you’re famous somewhere now.
Jason Elkins (01:06:21.257)
And then I’m like, well, I need a picture too, right? So we got a picture and it was really cool. Cause I took a selfie with her standing next to me. And in the selfie later on, I could see she was holding her phone and I could see the picture that her sister had just taken of us on her phone as we’re doing the selfie and it was like, you know, such a cool, cool experience. So just asking people for, for help and suggestions. There there’s so many cool things that you can do when you travel. So I think, yeah, absolutely.
Laura Hagler (01:06:46.847)
Ugh, it’s unending. There’s, yeah, it’s endless.
Jason Elkins (01:06:51.105)
You know, we talked about a lot of things and I have a feeling we could probably do a bunch more episodes about a bunch more things. Um, I don’t know if we really touched on all the places that you do, you know, that, that you specialize with global base camps. I want to ask you what questions should I have asked or what have I forgotten to ask, or what would you like to make sure that our listeners know about you global base camps or just anything in general?
Laura Hagler (01:07:14.947)
Um, I would say that, I mean, I focus on Asia primarily, but we do work in a lot of different destinations. Um, I would say the key, the key points are, um, plan your travel, but leave time. Uh, travel with your family because it’s only going to do good. Um, and I think if you have questions, there’s no bad question when it comes to travel.
And I think especially when it comes to traveling with your family, if it feels like something you want to try and do, reach out and ask. Reach out and talk about destinations. I find more people are relieved to find out they can continue to travel. Because it is something that they, like you said, give up. And a lot of people feel that their lives have to completely change when they become parents. But you don’t want to lose yourself. And if traveling is a part of you, and a part of your personality and your life,
Keep it, keep it and share it with your kids. I mean, you want your children to be proud of you and who you are and be interested in you. And you know, I might be boring mom most of the year, but then I could be exciting mom who gets to take you to the kaiten sushi place and fill you up on random raw fish. Like it’s, there are so many opportunities out there that if you have a chance, just…
them and I think that hesitance is what’s holding so many people back or maybe they’re using their kids as an excuse?
Jason Elkins (01:08:48.173)
You know, I guess a fairly related topic is if you’re single right now listening to this and you’re pursuing to change that, or you, you know, you want a partner in your life. If travel is important to you, I would strongly suggest that you first of all, take advantage of the opportunity maybe to travel while you’re single. But more importantly is take that into account when you’re looking for a partner, for a life partner.
Laura Hagler (01:09:07.964)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (01:09:13.901)
So anybody that’s younger, listen to this. If travel is important to you, if you feel like it’s part of your identity, avoid relationship advice, but maybe, maybe take a trip, go do something with your potential partner before you decide, okay, this is the one, uh, because speaking from experience, it can be challenging when your passion and energy is all about travel.
Laura Hagler (01:09:23.48)
Throw it out there.
Yes! Ugh.
Jason Elkins (01:09:38.465)
And then you, you meet somebody, you get married and you have kids. It’s really hard to take the kids traveling when your partner doesn’t want to travel either.
Laura Hagler (01:09:45.359)
Yeah. And I would put that a step further and say, I know so many of my friends met their partner abroad or met their partner traveling. Go and do what you’re passionate about doing. If that’s traveling, if that’s kayaking, whatever it is. And that’s, I’ve met so many of my friends that way and my partner, I met him abroad.
Jason Elkins (01:10:06.991)
Mm-hmm.
You know, it’s, it is interesting because it’s pretty easy for us to get our head around like, well, if I like to bowl, if bowling is my thing and I want to meet somebody, the bowls, I’m going to go to a bowling alley. Right. If I’m, if I’m into religion and church and I want to meet a religious person, I probably want to go to church to meet that religious person. So if you want to find somebody to travel with, guess what? The best place to meet people that like to travel is traveling. So, which is basically what you just said. So, uh, thank you.
Laura Hagler (01:10:36.435)
precisely. And if you don’t meet a life partner maybe you’re gonna meet a lifelong friend. More excuses to travel to go visit them?
Jason Elkins (01:10:41.221)
Oh, friends. Yeah, friends, connections, just enrichment. Yeah, you know, there you just go travel, do the stuff you enjoy. If you do meet somebody that’s a good match, you’re likely to meet them somewhere where they’re traveling as well. And it increases the chance of you both enjoying that thing or skiing or snowboarding or whatever. Right. Yeah. Oh, on that note, yes, it is a great big world. Let’s make it a little bit smaller. So thank you so much, Lars. Anything else you want to throw out there before we wrap up?
Laura Hagler (01:10:57.715)
It’s a great big world. Make it smaller. Ha ha ha.
Laura Hagler (01:11:12.675)
My little one is saying wrap it up, mom.
Jason Elkins (01:11:15.143)
Yes
Laura Hagler (01:11:17.731)
I would just say if you have any hesitation, ask a travel expert because they’ve probably been through it. And you know, if we work in so many different destinations, there’s a correct place or a great place for every time of year. But also, even if you show up somewhere and it is the smoky season and you know, there are all these things that are negative, they’re going to be positive. They’re going. There’s no bad time to go anywhere.
You can always have a cool experience, no matter where you are, especially if you have an open mind.
Jason Elkins (01:11:51.573)
I love that. And we’re going to have a link to global base camps here in the show notes so they can reach out to you guys and connect. And I think some people, if they haven’t traveled a lot, they might be a little intimidated to speak with someone like yourself. Um, hopefully after this conversation, they won’t feel that way anymore. That’s the idea, but I would just encourage people. Yeah. Just reach out. Like you said, there’s no dumb questions. I’m happy you mentioned that.
Laura Hagler (01:12:08.433)
Yes.
Laura Hagler (01:12:13.317)
Cough, cough, cough.
Jason Elkins (01:12:14.645)
So let’s, let’s get them connected with you and you can give them some advice. If you have a trip that’s good for him, that’s great. And if not, I trust that you’ll point them in the right direction. So.
Laura Hagler (01:12:23.215)
will do. And yeah, we were all wide-eyed and curious and not knowing what we were doing at some point. So join us! Become a traveler.
Jason Elkins (01:12:29.397)
Yeah. And yeah. And there’s a lot of people that have life transitional changes at some point in their life and didn’t have the opportunity to travel before. And maybe, you know, maybe they need to get hooked up with a group trip or maybe not. I don’t know, but I just encourage them to reach out. So Laura, thank you so much for taking time and I’ll let you go back and hang out with your sick kids who those of you that are listening to it and don’t see the video here. I’ve seen both of her kids now.
Laura Hagler (01:12:51.043)
Oh my gosh, thanks.
Jason Elkins (01:12:58.569)
on this call, they’re super cute. And Laura, thank you so much for taking time away from them and sharing your stories. Appreciate you.
Laura Hagler (01:13:05.959)
Thank you.
Follow 205+ Leaders and the Stories That Shape the Adventure Travel World on the Big World Made Small Podcast
Access the stories here, or on your favorite platform; wherever you prefer.
Get Expert Interviews Delivered Directly to Your Inbox
Join the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast community and we’ll send you new podcast episodes weekly, and make sure you hear about exclusive and relevant opportunities that you won’t find elsewhere.