My name is Barbara Weibel and I’m the owner/publisher of Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel. I’ve always envied people who love their jobs. Unlike those lucky souls, my various careers over the years (marketing, advertising, selling real estate, working in a retail store, owning a public relations firm, and selling snow cones in the largest water park in Puerto Rico, among others) were just means to an end – a way to earn money and have a comfortable lifestyle. I never loved what I did and I can’t really say I was ever really happy, but I plodded on because I was raised to be dependable, to always give 110%, and to work hard in order to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. All of which meant going to work every day, regardless of how much I despised my job.
I knew I wasn’t being true to myself. My inner voice constantly nagged, “Who am I, why am I here, and what is my purpose in life?” I had often heard that we should do what what we love, what makes us joyful. So I asked myself, “What makes me joyful?” But I had no answer. I knew there had to be something better out there; I just didn’t know what it was. Then I got sick. Really sick.
My health had been failing for some time but the doctors couldn’t determine what was wrong. More than once it was implied that my illness was all in my head. Finally, after five years of suffering, I was diagnosed with what had by then become chronic Lyme disease. During the initial treatment I was practically bedridden. Since I could barely drag myself from the bed to the couch (much less go to work) I had a lot of time to examine my life. I decided that things had to change. I was like a donut – a wonderful outer shell with an empty, hollow inside. I could no longer ignore the need to feel that I was living a purposeful life. I needed to fill the hole in my donut. Again I asked myself, “What brings me joy?” This time, I had some answers. Photography. Writing. And travel. I promised myself that when I recovered I would find a way of living that focused on those things that bring me joy.
As soon as I was healthy enough, I left my job, strapped on a backpack, and traveled solo around the world for six months, determined to visit the places I’d always wanted to see. I traveled without major plans, took thousands of photos along the way, and blogged about every place I visited. Upon returning to the States in September of 2007, I rented an apartment in Florida and continued to travel more than half of the time, while simultaneously pursuing freelance writing opportunities. By the end of 2009 I was traveling so much that it made no sense to maintain a home base, so I sold or gave away my remaining furniture and hit the road full time.
For the next eight years I traveled perpetually, staying long-term in many countries in order to immerse in the local culture. But with age came some new challenges. In my early sixties, I began to experience hip and knee problems that were likely effects from my long bout with Lyme disease. More and more, I found it difficult to carry a suitcase up and down the stairs of railway and Metro stations around the world. I began to worry that my traveling days were over.
Fortunately, I was able to correct my joint problems through stem cell therapy. But the mobility issues I had suffered convinced me that it was time to have a home base again. Thus, in December of 2017, I rented an apartment and became an expat in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’m still traveling a significant amount of the time each year but now I can return to my home base whenever I need a rest, and I no longer need to carry everything with me all the time. It has made a world of difference, and I once again believe I will continue to travel well into my 70’s or even my 80’s.
Throughout my years of travel, I have continued to publish stories on Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel that feature the destinations I visit, the interesting people I meet, the crazy (and often humorous) things that happen to me along the way, and the never-ending spiritual lessons that come from travel. With its self-deprecating humor and focus on the inner journey as well as the outer, Hole In The Donut has attracted a loyal following of readers who travel with me vicariously. So grab a chair and settle in for some unique and interesting travel stories.
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Hi,
I am aiming to move to Zurich once I [hopefully] become a Veterinary Surgeon, and I thought to say the pictures that I have looked at of yours of Zurich are amazing. I love photography too and hope can produce such good photos one day.
I give you my best wishes and hope your health gets better as much as it can, good on you for not beating yourself up about what the doctors initially said too. (:
Kind regards,
Alicia
Thank you so much, Alicia, and best of luck with your plans for your career
and move to Zurich.
Thanks for sharing the article. I was really wondering and i get here and get amazed by the article. Hope that we will get more ahead.
I admire your bravery, guts, spunck….to just get up and go….for not letting your illness break you but allowing it to push you to …..LIVE …and see what life has in store for you. Go, girl! Dara Vega
Thanks Dara – I’m in Nepal at the moment, after China, Hong Kong, and
Malaysia.This has been perhaps the hardest trip ever, so I really
appreciated your comment.
I am planning to visit Asia in December, and saw your article on China, posted on the lonely planet website. Reading it helped a great deal in figuring out if I wish to go to China on this short 3 week trip. I think I’ll stick to Thailand, Malaysia, and India (I know the latter well).
I’ve just read your blog, and am happy that you did what you were meant to do. Caged and restless in my own varied 14 year corporate America life, I started backpacking in South and Central America 3 years back on unpaid leave, shooting documentaries and taking photos. I have lived with a tribe in Panama, danced with locals in the ferias of Colombia, been drawn to the incredible solitude of Machu Pichhu again and again, stunned by the joy and energy of Brasil. I have learned a decent bit of Portuguese in Rio, by far my favorite city, and Spanish in Colombia and Ecuador.
While I still have my marketing-sales job, I have been able to fill a bit of that ‘hole in the donut’ gradually. Fortunately, I have also been able to travel on my present job across the US and the Caribbean. I intend to launch my own business and keep traveling for as long as I can. The friendships, sights, and experiences of international backpacking are unparalleled in my life experience…as many other backpackers such as yourself also testify to.
This was just a note to acknowledge a kindred spirit. I hope you are doing well, as I know that Lyme disease can be a deadly thing…my buddy just came out of a 1 year recovery. Happy trails.
Hello Kindred Spirit Andy! Thanks so much for writing. I’m having a tough go
of it at the moment; for some reason this particular trip through China,
Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Nepal (so far) has been the most difficult travel
I’ve ever done, and I’m no stranger to Asia. Just some weird energy in the
Universe at the moment. Always helps to know there are others out there like
me. When I get down and think about quitting and going back to the 9 to 5
grind, comments like yours always keep me going.
thanks for sharing your story. like you i’ve had this life long dream to see the world and i tried to do it for 6 months. i wasnt able to go out of asia but it’s enough to give me memories that will lasts a lifetime. however, my reality is i still have to figure out a way out of the cubicle life. i quitted my job and currently on a short trip but will soon go back again. ’til i find my way out (i hope permanently) from the kind of life i dont like. though unlike most travelers, i have a family that i need to pseudo-support so im looking for a balance between my responsibility and my aim to see the world. hopefully i find that balance.
Flipnomad: I wish you all the luck in figuring a way to pursue your dream. I
know what it’s like to feel trapped and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Hi Barbara,
I need to admit you truly have an inspirational and motivational gift and I am so grateful, that you had the courage to share your story …for
I was just about to give up my dream one more time, when I run by chance into your site and I was drawn to read it all the way through…
I feel exactly the same way right now. I was amaized to find out that someone else did, too…
The only defference is that I never had a successful job or money behind my back…
I just move from one stupid office job to another with big gaps of unemployment in between, when actually I dream of being a writer, journalist, explorer…just like you!
May be help other people in some way, too…
But how I am going to achive my dream without means and money, how I am going to travel for exampel, when I can’t even pay the bills…?!
I tried for so long to find a decent job, to safe something, and postopone my dream for later, that indefinite ” later”,the one that never comes, again and again…
The truth is, I can’t live this way any longer. I am depressed to the point that is painful. I strive for meaningful life NOW!…But I don’t know what to do about it.
Where do I start? What is the right thing to do?…
Can you help me? Please,…
Hello Barbara,
Here I am strugling in this jungle trying to find my own path. 56 years of (good?) services on this earth. Still trying to find out “who I am”, “what is my pourpose on this single way voyage on earth”.
What animates me and makes me joyful ? … That’s what it is all about !
Some persons don’t have too many questions about living their life, someother are not that comfortable and have this uneasy privlege to question their life !
Would you come and help me out on this one ?
Here I am : http://freebrainspirit.blogspot.com/
My Old Auntie Tante Leonie aked me once “Es-tu curieux ? Alors tu viveras longtemps !
Yes curious of life, other ways of living and doing.
I’d better stand up and strap my backpack to go and see the world. A huge programm for my next 50 years on this earth.
Just do it. Yes I can.
Is it that easy ?
Pierre-Yves
Lemanic Arc
Swiss jungle
Hello Barbara,
I was an avid hiker and backpacker in my time, and really haven’t found anything since that has given me the same sense of fulfillment. Only now I have flat feet and the usual aches of a 58 year old, but nothing serious. As for women travelling alone, you may at least be sure that your appearance in new places probably is an advantage in one sense…the “stranger danger” reaction of dwellers is less acute than for us solitary men. Also, you are much less likely to be harried by police as a vag suspect. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Hi Pyewackett: Yes, I agree. A woman traveling alone is much less suspect
than a man. I had one male friend, who is also a solitary traveler, tell me
how lucky I was to be a woman and be able to take photos of local children
without being suspect. He said that if he tried to do that, he would have
immediately been suspected to be a pedofile. Sorry times we live in,
sometimes.
Hi! when i read the post above, it’s like im reading my own thoughts. i dont like my job, but it is my means to an end, that is to travel and volunteer around the world. at this moment, i feel that is what will give me joy and purpose in life. im so happy to have come upon this blog. as i once saw in a movie, “it’s not you who finds a book, it’s the book that finds you”, i believe this is so with your blog to me 🙂
Hi Berenice: Thanks for leaving a comment. It really helps me to know that I
am helping people in some small way – makes it all worthwhile. Hope you find
a way to follow your dream.
Hi barabara, we connected thru LinkedIn but somehow I never got your blog yet. I live in Holland and work as a writer, journalist and teacher. I travel as much as I can and blog about that. Unfortunately in Dutch:) Someone has to do it. I enjoy reading your blog a lot. Take care. Anneke
Hi Anneke! So glad you finally found my blog.Now you can enjoy my travels
vicariously! Welcome.
Hola, we have a lot in common. I enjoy reading about your travels. I retired after 26 active and 5 reserve years in the military. I spent nearly 20 years living overseas but never really had time to do any serious traveling – I mean traveling for fun and enjoyment, it was all work all the time. Now, in my fifties following some serious medical conditions resulting from a crazy career; I want to travel with my camera and pen at my side. I find your experiences inspiring and something to look forward to. Thanks for sharing your travels. I’m looking forward to reading more.
Hi Rworfel: Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment; it always helps
me to know there are people out there reading what I write and who are
encouraged by my experience. I hope you are able to manage your health
problems well enough to hit the road; it is an enormously rewarding
experience, even when I struggle, as I am here in China.
I just happened upon your site and its wonderful. So happy for people like you. 🙂 I quit my corporate job to work doing something I loved. Was a big leap and worth it more and more every day as my work feeds my soul… That which we are searching for is within us, sometimes those miles has to be tred around the globe for us to realize it though. Safe travels.
Thank you Teresa. You are so right that what we are searching for is always within us. We just have to travel inward to find it, be willing to recognize and accept it when we do find it, and then take steps to make the necessary changes. Not an easy process for most of us, but as we both now know, worth the struggle. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. Barbara
WHAT A BRAVE AND HONEST STORY. SORRY ABOUT THE LIME DISEASE, THAT”S NOT GOOD. BUT PERHAPS THE LIFE SATISFACTION YOU NOW ENJOY CAN KEEP IT AT BAY. I AM 77 AND STILL TRYING TO GROW UP! I HAVE TAKEN TWO SHORT “ESCAPES” AND LONG TO THROW MYSELF INTO SUCH AN ADVENTURE. I KNOW THERE ISN’T THAT MUCH TIME LEFT! I AM SO GLAD I FOUND YOUR BLOG!
Thank you, Faye, for taking the time to leave a comment. Trust me, if I’m still going strong at 77 I’ll still be out there traveling, so go for it if you think it’s for you.
I love your photos!!!
I just found your website and I think you are great! I traveled extensively to India, UK, Ireland and 200 places in the US for the past 20 years. Then I developed issues with my hip and had 3+ hip replacements (long story). I can’t wait to read the rest o your entries! Thanks!
Dear Barbara,
My name is Michele and I live on the east coast of new south wales Australia – 150 kms south of Sydney. The area is of great beauty and I am lucky to live here, surrounded by mountain areas, seas and a beautiful river, gloriously lush and green.
I like yourself about 18 months ago was a bit of a mess, having had a stroke 4 years ago, which luckily I have mostly recovered from, just have been left with chronic pain, then after that had an operation, after that they found out my heart was failing, with aortic stenosis, so again another operation to save my life. At this stage of my life I was now 57, and was getting to the point of asking “why”, “what’s going on” I have had a very hard life, until all this as well, so you can imagine I was at the end. Then my psych took me over to the Shoalhaven Campus, a part of the Wollongong University here. She had more faith than I did, I never even contemplated studying, let alone starting University. But it captured my attention, for some strange reason, and after completing an entrance period of where I had to go to the Uni I got through, surprise, surprise! I am now in my second semester and studying for a BA (Bacheler of Arts, in Community, Culture & Environment), and so far am doing well.
When I was younger over 35 years ago, I travelled the world from Australia overland to Britain. It was an epic affair, and sometimes quite dangerous, but it is something I will never forget, and glad I did it!
Your video of the seal on South Georgia Island, cuddling the woman, was a rare opportunity to see mother nature at her best – to think that in 1800-1820, seals were slaughtered for their fur on Macquarie Island, is very sad, but to see that they are now protected, and doing well makes my heart fly!
Good luck in whatever you do, and always follow your dream! I will be 60 next year, and I am still doing it – hard work but rewarding!
If you ever come to Australia, let me know, it would be lovely to meet you,
regards Michele Goetjes (that’s a Dutch name) my family came out here when I was 4.
This ws lovely. I’ve been in the travel industry all my professional life,and while I haven’t made much money I’ve seen a good portion of the world. I’m now semi-retired but I still develop and escort international tours for women every year since 1980…this year it was the Cotswolds, the year before Normandy, and before that Russia. There’s just too much of the world to see and so little time. Please keep me on your list.
Thank you, Marty, for stopping by my blog and for taking the time to leave a comment. You echo my favorite statement: “So many places, so little time.” But I’m doing my very best to see them all before I die. Good for you that you’ve kept on traveling. The intrepid travelers among us have to pass along the message that international travel is not a dangerous occupation.
Well I’m jealous. I thought I’d be a brave soul in my old age and be healthy. Well neither has happened. I landed here as a result of watching an old show about unusual houses and found the one about the bowling balls. Well I love the house and it’s on my list of must sees. Yep that’s how small my list is. While checking out the article on the house I found the information about Barbara.
What a brave soul. At 63 I’d like to be braver about challenging myself. How sad to think I might die in my craft room.
The idea of traveling alone sort of scares me but I think it’s more about who I can be excited with. My biggest adventures were going to Sales Meetings for Bali bras but then again I wasn’t alone but did go to places I’d never been. In San Diego I did get brave and toured the zoo on my own as well as walking adventures on my own. Surprised myself.
While at my Stampin Up convention in Salt Lake City, I toured the morman temple and learned a lot and again I surprised myself.
What I found that I missed was having someone to say, wow, check this out. Coming home to tell someone else who really doesn’t care just takes the fun out of your excitement of new things.
I love meeting new people. I’d like to go visit my friend in S.Africa but that’s a very long way.
So easy to just settle for the life we have because it’s comfortable. I pass up things because my husband isn’t interested.
I’m not a reader but I’ve been reading all the responses. Watching Oprah in Australia was so exciting and I’m sure many of those folks will never come close to matching that adventure.
Life should be many adventures as we build memories for our old age. Thanks to all for sharing.
Hi Joan and Michele Thanks so much for telling me a little bit about
yourselves. I find it interesting that one of you is pursuing a new,
passionate path, while the other is feeling a bit like life is passing you
by. Life is so short that we soul do what we love, but I also fully
recognize that fear can get in the way. If you truly feel like you are not
living life fully, take a look at the fears that are behind this. It is not
necessary to travel like I do – a solo backpacker who roams the world
without reservations. It is just as acceptable to hook up with a tour where
you can share the experience with other like-minded people. The very best to
both of you in your endeavors and wishes for great happiness.
I think you have gift of living and writing. It was wonderful to hear about your life. You are absolutely a SURVIVOR!! God bless you Michele! If you ever travel to the States I would love to meet you!
The famous words of Bob Marley: Don’t worry, Be happy!
Kim Cryan of Boston, Massachusetts
Hi, I am 40 and have found myself in the same place. I have been working a constant corporate grind for almost 20 years and I am unhappy and burnt out. I am searching for my passion. I want to live before I die. I want to travel and volunteer abroad, but as I began my research, it all became so overwhelming. I am nervous to be a woman travelling alone. I read your itinerary and it sounds amazing. How much did you plan, and to what level of detail, in advance? Do you know of groups where people travel together or an organized, extended trip around the world, like yours? You have inspired me to JUST DO IT.
Is it your blog that expressed an interest in poetry? If so, my mother, Ernestine Cobern Beyer, was a world class poet, published during her lifetime in all the popular children’s magazines. You’ll find her career on Wikipedia, which gives the example “Sunbonnet Babies” (published in the Ladies Home Journal). In 1987, Good Apple, Inc. published my activity book based on Mom’s poems and sold over 22,000 copies before I lost track. If you would like to see more examples of her work, I’d be glad to send you some of my favorites.
Barbara Malley
[email protected]
Wonderful site and inspiring story! I hope you are well again and that you are truly living life as you wished!
WOW! Amazing site, I am so pleased to have come across this website! 🙂 Thanks. Follow your dreams, Nicole.
How awesome a choice you have made. For me, it took a lot of courage to take this step and a path I would love to follow. I too, would love to travel, explore and document my experiences … how cool! I am honored and humble to read about your experiences. I hope to one day, show my passion of insights to the world in a galery showing ……….. somewhere. Time will tell if I can make that happen, but you have giving me hope. Thank you.
I feel fortunate to have been introduced to your blog by an animal loving friend who forwarded the video of the seal. I am struggling to know the path to the next phase of my life and have an open mind and heart which I believe always leads me to see the possibilities. I look forward to reading your blog and following you on your journey.
Hi Nancy,
My name’s Michele, just wanted to say you will know your path, because it will show you, when it is ready.
Good luck
Michele
This is true Michael. I guess to find your destiny, you have to start walking somewhere…