Travel in Peace - a Podcast

In the Season 1 finale, we reflect on the four years since losing our son Patrick to suicide — and the long, uneven path from survival to rebuilding a life we never could have imagined in the immediate aftermath of grief.We talk honestly about how loss reshaped our identities, our marriage, our priorities, and our understanding of home. Looking back year by year, we explore the realities of early grief, feeling stuck, navigating change, and eventually finding the courage to reinvent our lives.We also share how travel and living abroad became an unexpected part of our healing. Not because grief disappears in a new place, but because stepping outside familiar surroundings created space to question old identities and imagine a different way of living.Spain, in particular, became a place where we could begin again — slowly creating a life that could hold both profound loss and new possibility at the same time.To comment on episode or podcast, please subscribe to our substack at https://laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/s/travel-in-peace-a-podcastAnd of course, please follow/like/review this podcast wherever you listen to it! Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

Money was one of the things we thought we understood before we moved to Spain…and one of the things that turned out to be more complicated than we expected.Now that we’ve come through another tax season, we’re talking about what it really looks like to live here financially—day-to-day expenses, Spanish taxes, and what we’re learning as we head into our first full year as tax residents in 2026.But this episode isn’t just about numbers.It’s about the emotional side of money—how spending decisions feel different now, how uncertainty shows up, and how money can quietly shape a relationship in ways you don’t always expect.We reflect on what we planned well, what surprised us, and what we would do differently if we were starting again.If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to actually live abroad—not just the dream, but the financial reality—this episode is for you.To comment on episode or podcast, please subscribe to our substack at https://laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/s/travel-in-peace-a-podcastAnd of course, please follow/like/review this podcast wherever you listen to it! Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

Note: Travel in Peace is a space for both outer and inner journeys. Some conversations, like this one, go into the deeper terrain of grief, loss, and meaning-making.In my second video with Esther, we explore how the loss of a child reshapes our relationships—and how, even surrounded by people, grief can feel deeply isolating. When our pain is too much for others to witness, it can leave us feeling even more alone.We share what truly helped: being seen, having our grief witnessed, and hearing others reflect the life and impact of the person we lost. We also speak honestly about what can feel painful or retraumatizing—when support lacks sensitivity or attunement.This conversation is about learning to live differently in grief—with more gentleness, compassion, and truth—and discovering that healing isn’t about fixing the pain, but about being held in it.Please share with anyone you feel might benefit from this message.With Peace & Gratitude,Laurel Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

Travel can shift how we see our lives — especially after loss.In this episode, we explore the intersection of grief and travel and why stepping outside the places where our loss occurred can sometimes help us see our pain from a new perspective. When familiar routines fall away, deeper questions often arise: Who am I now? What matters now? How do I want to live?These questions can feel disorienting at first. But they’re also the beginning of something important. They are the questions through which meaning slowly begins to rebuild itself.We discuss how new landscapes can create space for reflection, healing, and the slow rebuilding of meaning after life’s map has been rewritten.---------------------------------------------------------At the end, we talk about our first foray into the Spanish healthcare system!---------------------------------------------------------To comment on episode or podcast, please subscribe to our substack at https://laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/s/travel-in-peace-a-podcastAnd of course, please follow/like/review this podcast wherever you listen to it! Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

This episode explores what “home” really means—especially in the context of leaving Girona and arriving in our next home in Spain, Mallorca. For Tim, leaving Girona stirred something deeper than logistics; it felt like being retraumatized, similar to leaving the U.S.—a reminder that change can reopen old wounds of displacement and loss.For Laurel, the journey has been different. Over the past several years—especially through grieving Patrick—she discusses how she had to learn that home isn’t a place or even a person. It’s an inner state.We’re also holding the larger question: what happens when your country of origin no longer feels like home? If the U.S. doesn’t feel like home anymore, and each move brings both hope and grief, then where do we belong?This conversation isn’t just about Girona and Mallorca—it’s about whether home is something we find, lose, carry, or become.Mentioned in Podcast:Bar Mallorca: https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/bar-mallorca/5586339249913856To comment on episode or podcast, please subscribe to our substack at https://laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/s/travel-in-peace-a-podcastAnd of course, please follow/like/review this podcast wherever you listen to it! Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Travel in Peace, Tim and Laurel reflect on how Tim’s Celiac diagnosis three years ago reshaped their lives and their approach to travel. What once felt like ordinary routines now comes with an added layer of vigilance, planning, and awareness — and a constant negotiation with uncertainty.The conversation explores how travel amplifies both the joys and the challenges of living with something that can’t be left behind. Eating out becomes a constant mental calculation: which menus are safe, how much to prepare in advance, and when to accept the loss of spontaneity. Everyday decisions — from eating out to navigating new places — become exercises in balancing caution with curiosity. Both share how supporting each other has made it possible to adapt without losing the spirit of adventure, while finding ways to continue “traveling in peace” despite life’s unpredictability.Mentioned in Podcast:Find Me Gluten Free: http://findmeglutenfree.comCeliac Project Podcast: https://www.celiacproject.com/the-podcast/Restaurante Alfileritos 24 (Toledo, Spain) https://alfileritos24.comPlease subscribe to our substack and like or review this podcast wherever you listen to it. https://laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/s/travel-in-peace-a-podcast Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

In our first episode, we talked about why we moved to Spain — and the idea that after catastrophic loss, you have to grow your life bigger than your grief.In this episode, we talk about what that actually requires internally.A few weeks after arriving in Girona, we began navigating the Spanish residency card process — something many people warned us would be frustrating and opaque. What surprised us wasn’t the bureaucracy.It was our response to it.We explore how repeated loss recalibrates your relationship to control, how accepting the unknown becomes less optional after grief, and why curiosity can become more powerful than certainty.This episode is about paperwork on the surface.But underneath, it’s about learning to live with what you cannot control — and discovering that grief may prepare you for more than you expected.---------------------------We love comments, please visit our free Substack page for this episode. Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore what it really means to feel settled and “at home”—in a town we had never visited, or wherever you find yourself. We talk about the daily rhythms that helped ground us, and the different things each of us needed to feel established and secure during a season of starting over. We reflect on how our experiences with loss shaped our ability to accept and adapt to the unknown, and how nature, quiet, and a growing sense of community through unexpected friendships helped us create an internal sense of peace. While our story is rooted in travel, the themes of creating home, navigating uncertainty, and beginning again are universal. This episode is an invitation to reflect on what helps you feel settled—wherever you are. Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Travel in Peace, we share the unexpected story of how we landed in Girona—a place that wasn’t even on our radar when we began imagining a move to Spain. We talk about choosing a town we had never visited, finding a home through pure intuition, and what it felt like to arrive—each of us experiencing that first day very differently. Girona quickly became a symbol of stepping into the unknown after loss. What unfolds during our very first walk into town becomes an unplanned initiation into this new chapter—one that reflects the deeper theme of this journey: letting go of certainty, listening for what you truly need, and allowing life to meet you in ways you couldn’t have predicted. Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

Packing is supposed to be practical — suitcases, clothes for the right temperature, must-haves items, and what you’d turn around for on the drive to the airport.But as we prepared to leave our life in the U.S. for Spain, we discovered that packing is rarely just about things.In this episode, we talk about the emotional weight of deciding what comes with you into the next chapter — and what stays behind. We reflect on memories tied to past dreams, the grief that resurfaces when downsizing isn’t entirely voluntary, and the quiet realization that shrinking our belongings doesn’t have to mean shrinking our lives.Join us as we explore packing not just for a move, but for a new beginning.With gratitude, Laurel & Tim Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe

In this first episode, we share our “why” for moving to Spain for a year. After enduring catastrophic loss, we realized the only way forward is to grow a life bigger than our grief. For us, travel has always been a place of expansion—a space to breathe, reflect, and step into the unknown. Join us as we explore how embracing new places can open pathways to healing, transformation, and a life lived more fully. Get full access to Lost & Found- Discovering Yourself After Loss at laurelosullivanjd.substack.com/subscribe