Leech-filled Jungle Treks, Water Fights, and Other Adventures While Traveling

In this Ready Living Podcast episode, writer Melissa Rodway recounts how she immersed herself in wild, unpredictable, and often hilarious adventures during her four months traveling through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China at age 35. The weekly emails sent from internet cafés to friends and family back home formed the basis of her new book The People You Meet: Luxury, Leeches, Love, and Lao-Lao With a Host of Interest.She shares how she survived a 3-day jungle trek in Laos with leeches climbing onto her pants and shirt, participated in Thailand’s Songkran Festival (“the craziest water fight you could ever imagine”), and learned the hard way that hydrofoils can cause mass seasickness in passengers.She also explores what it means to travel responsibly when visiting other countries and communities.She notes that travel is a privilege, not a right, urges people to observe with sensitivity and respect, approach every interaction with curiosity rather than entitlement, and engage in ways that honor the humanity of the communities they visit.She highlights how travel is a powerful teacher, exposing us to different ways and rhythms of life, and how unexpected challenges can clarify our relationships to material things, comfort, and control. She reflects on the deep happiness and generosity she has witnessed in places with fewer material resources. Her experience hiking in the Dolomites with travelers in their seventies and backpacking with older explorers who embraced life with the spirit of twenty-year-olds taught her that adventuring belongs to people of all ages, especially with technology makes exploring safer and easier than ever.Packed with practical advice, Melissa reminds us that travel isn’t just about the places you go, it’s about the people you meet, the limits you push, and the parts of yourself you uncover far from home.LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST