Traveling in Wonder with Autumn Carolynn

Photographer and author Autumn Carolynn’s relationship with wanderlust started early in her life, with a semester abroad in England. From there, she’s held a variety of travel-related positions, including flight attendant and travel agent, and all of them have allowed her to pursue photography around the globe. During the pandemic, she combined her photography with her travel stories, and the result is “Traveling in Wonder: A Photographer’s Tales of Wanderlust,” which encourages readers to embrace exploration and life’s everyday challenges. Autumn joins me to talk about the surprising gut instinct that changed the direction of her life, the realities of life as a flight attendant (including the wide range of life skills required for and learned on the job), the importance of traveling now rather than putting it off for retirement, and how she sees the intersection between travel and creativity. If you’re looking for inspiration to buy that plane ticket, this is it! Episode breakdown:  00:00 Introduction 05:15 The alchemy of photo development 09:59 13 countries in 13 weeks 12:53 Secretive travels shared via Facebook 14:57 Exploring global fast food menus 18:13 Lost in Budapest 23:14 Gut feeling cancels Australia trip 25:44 Intense flight attendant training 29:34 Moving abroad: Not so simple 31:57 Adventure in Australia 38:10 Handling in-flight medical emergencies 41:53 "Traveling in Wonder" book release 43:28 Building a creative art business 47:20 Capturing memories for mom 50:05 Seize opportunities while able 55:48 Embrace new experiences   Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.   Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack. Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks! If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.