Rats, Kayaks, And A Naked Greek With Cheese with Joy Owens

#210 - What if travel wasn’t a checklist but a classroom? I sat with Joy Owens—mother of two, CEO and co-owner of Butler Travel, and veteran of 60 countries—to explore how faith, service, and slow travel can shape a family and a life. From a grandmother who’s visited more than 80 countries to Joy’s first trip at three months old, her story moves through mission work in Zambia and Kenya, a scrappy road journey toward Argentina, and a solo $10-a-day push to Panama that turned from a rat-infested night into radical hospitality.Joy walks us through teaching in Honduras and Taiwan, the culture shock of moving to Alaska, and why she and her husband bought Butler Travel to serve nonprofits and missionaries with complex ticketing and group logistics. She shares a gripping emergency reroute for a family in Tanzania that helped their daughter reach lifesaving care, and she opens up about surrendering control when December bills loomed, only to witness the agency’s busiest month on record. For Joy, faith isn’t an accessory; it’s how she navigates risk, money, parenting, and purpose.We also dig into the messy magic of traveling with little kids: babies on planes during the quiet months of 2020, a six-week Europe adventure with bikes and tents, and the art of choosing your hard when tantrums and missed trains collide. Joy makes the case for slow travel—one hub, deeper days, fewer repacks—and tells unforgettable stories, from crossing open water in foldable kayaks to a budget misadventure on a Greek island complete with a kindly, very unbothered nude local offering fruit and cheese.If you lead mission trips, plan family journeys, or crave meaningful travel that builds resilience and empathy, this conversation is your map. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves adventure, and leave a review to tell us: what trip changed you most?To learn more about Joy check out www.butlertravel.com and use the code JAKE10 to get a 10% discount. You can also follow Joy and Butler Travel on Instagram @butlertravel1.You can follow me and the podcast on Instagram @humanadventurepod and check out my website www.thehumanadventure.net.