Welcome back to Greatest Hits Week. Today we’re switching gears a little bit and diving into the most recent episode of our sister show, Stacking Adventures, with a focus on how travel can shift your retirement mindset. Please disregard any mention of current events and any advice. The original show notes can be found here.
What happens when you stop treating retirement like an ending… and start treating it like an expedition?
On this episode of Stacking Adventures, Joe Saul-Sehy and Crystal Hammond connect with retirement mindset mentor George Jerjian (creator of the DARE Method) from London to unpack the 80-day, around-the-world journey that reshaped how he thinks about identity, courage, and life after 55.
George didn’t just plan a bucket-list sprint. He worked with a travel agent, chose mostly countries new to him, and intentionally left space for serendipity. Along the way, he learned to stop “ticking boxes,” listen to his body, skip prepaid tours when needed, and even find peace wedged into a middle airplane seat. Because sometimes the biggest shift isn’t geography—it’s mindset.
This isn’t just a travel story. It’s a retirement reset.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
🌍 Travel With Intention (Not Just an Itinerary)
Why George chose unfamiliar destinations to stretch himself
How leaving room for spontaneity created the most meaningful moments
Why slowing down and listening to your body matters more than “getting your money’s worth”
🦁 South Africa: Awe, History, and Perspective
Reflecting on Nelson Mandela’s legacy at Robben Island
Five days on safari in Timbavati near Kruger—witnessing both the beauty and brutality of nature
What wild places teach us about humility and resilience
🇦🇺 Australia & Identity
The Great Barrier Reef near Hamilton Island (yes, wetsuits required—sharks and jellyfish are real)
Melbourne’s Immigration Museum and Australia’s “populate or perish” story
Driving the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles
Why exploring national identity helped George reflect on his own
🇳🇿 New Zealand: Nature as Teacher
Digging hot-water pools on Coromandel beaches
The train ride from Christchurch to Greymouth
Milford Sound, the Southern Alps, and swimming with dolphins in Kaikōura
A Māori dance lesson that challenged the need for approval (hint: wrist-shaking beats applause)
🇯🇵 Japan: Service and Resilience
Learning from a samurai historian in Kanazawa about service in Japanese culture
Visiting Hiroshima after reading John Hersey’s Hiroshima
What rebuilding after devastation teaches about forgiveness and human strength
🇨🇦 Canada: Awe as the Final Lesson
Vancouver’s rain-soaked greenery
The sleeper train to Jasper
Banff, Lake Louise, and the Icefields Parkway
Quebec City’s French character and layered history
George closes with a simple but powerful idea: travel restores awe—and awe restores perspective.
The Retirement Mindset Shift
For listeners in that 55–75 sweet spot (and honestly, anyone thinking about what’s next), George shares how extended travel can:
Help you shed old identities tied to work
Build courage in small, repeatable ways
Reframe uncertainty as adventure
Replace “What am I without my job?” with “Who do I want to become?”
Retirement isn’t a withdrawal from life. It’s a redeployment.
Basement Fun Along the Way
The ongoing “Where in the World Is Crystal?” listener game (she’s not in the continental U.S. or Aruba…)
A nod to the show’s Gear of the Day archive at stackingadventures.com/gtd
George’s memoir recommendation—his own book, Odyssey of an Elder: Around the World in 80 Days, written so you feel like you’re traveling beside him
Adventurer Question 🌎
If you had 80 days and the courage to go somewhere unfamiliar, where would you go—and what part of your identity might you leave behind?
Share your answer in the comments or in the Stacking Adventures community. Because sometimes the biggest journey isn’t around the world.
It’s into the next version of yourself.
FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/greatest-hits-week-retirement-mindset-shift-through-travel-1811
Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201
Enjoy!
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Join Us Friday!
Tune in on Friday as we wrap up this edition of Greatest Hits Week with a very relevant throwback to 2017!
Written by: Kevin Bailey
Miss our last show? Listen here: GREATEST HITS WEEK: World Record Holder Jenn Drummond on Planning, Resilience, and Goal Setting (SB1810)
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