Why Cape Town stole our hearts (Part 1): Friendships for a lifetime (E53) Artwork

From Sumplace New: The Long-Term Travel Podcast

Curious about international travel? Want to leave everything behind and become a digital nomad? We — Karen and Jon Sumple — did just that, leaving the USA in July 2018, and our open-ended, long-term travel journey has taken us through Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina Scotland and, now, South Africa. We enjoy living "Sumplace New" every few months because it provides perspective, awareness and understanding. We meet amazing people and witness how they live, work and play. We visit well-known destinations and wander roads less traveled to see where they lead. So why and how are we doing this? What are the obstacles, frustrations and lessons learned? The highlights and insights gleaned from living abroad, yet living locally? Listen in as we share all this and more. We continually challenge ourselves to "do the new" — and we encourage you to do the same, whether it's close to home or the other side of the world.

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From Sumplace New: The Long-Term Travel Podcast

Why Cape Town stole our hearts (Part 1): Friendships for a lifetime (E53)

September 22, 2021 • Jon Sumple • Episode 53

Episode 53 of From Sumplace New is an homage to the friendships we made during our time in Cape Town, South Africa. While some might say eight months is a long time, we left feeling like it wasn't enough. We also left with a heavy heart and shed a few tears because we made great friends -- friends for life, and friends we can't wait to see again. And it's all because we're open to creating connections during our travels. We don't travel with our heads down; we travel with our hearts open. We want to connect, we want to learn and we want to grow through our travels, and being open-hearted is important to creating deep connections. Because we're work from anywhere travelers, we spend 3-4 days a week working at coffee shops. And when we find a place with great WiFi, food and coffee, we're happy to set up shop. Our eight-month stay allowed us to create friendships with baristas, servers, and managers. They became friends we looked forward to seeing. We also connected with people because they were interested in where we were from, and once the conversations start, we're open to where it might lead, and Jon shares several stories about how easy it was to connect with the locals. We've never been somewhere in our lives – yes, our entire lives – that made us feel as connected to the people as we did in Cape Town. We miss Cape Town, and we miss our friends at Bootleggers, Origin, Willoughby's, The Old Biscuit Mill, and the V&A Waterfront, to name a few. We miss Victor and Brandon and Stacy dearly; and we can't wait to see them again.

Links:
Bootleggers
Origin
Willoughby's
Tinariwen

Credits:
Intro/Outro Music: The World at Large by Daniel O'Connor
Intro VO: Laura Welsh

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