Wayne Schmidt Interview: A Traveling (Un)Retirement Adventure 92 Countries and Counting!
Diana Landau | May 13, 2025
"Digital Nomad" Wayne Schmidt pauses long enough for Carl to interview him in this episode. Wayne and his wife, Sally, decided to resign from their jobs in 2017 and began a new lifestyle by traveling the world. So far, they've been to 92 countries! Wayne, a former corporate exec and entrepreneur, has crafted a business that lets him and Sally wander the globe and live their travel dreams.
Wayne grew up in a small town in Australia. "I was a good country boy," he tells us. In high school, he taught himself computer programming. A teacher noticed and even though Wayne's family was poor and he wasn't planning on college, the teacher enrolled him and secured a scholarship. "Thanks to my teacher, he changed my entire life."
After college, Wayne worked as a corporate exec in the accounting and insurance industries as well as founding his own computer start-up company. After 18 years as an entrepreneur, he went back to working in corporate. At the end of 2017, he and his wife were on a long vacation and he started thinking he wanted to keep on traveling. He and Sally talked it over, resigned from their jobs and sold the majority of their assets (including their home and cars) in 3 weeks. They began 2018 "....with no plans, no direction, no jobs--absolutely nothing!"
Wayne says he's made every mistake possible but has no regrets. "There's nothing I haven't done wrong in 8 years!" But he also emphasizes that people in their 50's and 60's have the net worth to travel. He acknowledges that since his parents have passed away and they have no children, that frees them up in a big way. He adds that the traveling life has really improved their marriage and they couldn't be happier. "We have a greater tolerance for other cultures, we have a much slower pace of life and we have become much less focused on a life of consumption and more on giving."
Wayne and Sally call Belgrade, Serbia their homebase now. They say the people are wonderful, it's very affordable and centrally located. "We can fly to Vienna in an hour and have lunch!" They have a website, Travel.Dine.Stay to share what they've learned and he now works about 2.5 days per week providing marketing consulting for accounting firms. Wayne says, "I call it a leap of faith. Be prepared to fall over. It's alright!"
Wayne's (un)retirement tips:
-
"Don't plan. The more you plan, you set yourself for failure. Go with the flow. I'm a much nicer person than I was eight years ago."
-
"I am not rushing to my grave. We want to go slow. Give me a three-hour meal any day!"
-
"Avoid the mainstream media's "top 10" lists of places to visit. Personally, we love a language barrier."
-
"Get a financial planner and be prepared to take some risks, even doing something unusual."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog
"Go-Go" Years
Carl Landau | April 08, 2025
While we all may be taking a pause right now due to the economic uncertainty, at some point you to need to focus on YOUR own (un)retirement plan.
The fact is I'm spending more money at this stage of life. Specifically, I mean that I am spending more than I probably should according to the target "100% success rate" of my retirement financial plan. My current spending level means that as of today, there is only about a 70% chance I will still have money at age 92. But I still think these are pretty good odds. I want to do all the things in life I've worked hard for and dreamed of while I have the time and energy. Yes, I want to enjoy it all while I'm healthy, which means TODAY. I don't know what my future health situation is going to be.
What about you?
Personally, I'm not spending my money on things. I'm spending my money on experiences. For my wife Diana and me, our passion is travel. We're taking a couple of international trips and many in the U.S. Ideally, we want to experience new countries, new cultures, new experiences all over the world while physically fit. I know that at some point, we're not going to be able to do all this traveling. So, I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity now.
Go figure out what you have a passion for and do it NOW! For you, it can be something totally different from travel, but don't waste this special time of your life. One of the saddest things to watch are these soon to be or retired people depriving themselves of all the fun things they can be doing and instead are fixated on the amount of savings they have. They say, "I'll do all those fun things when I'm older". Really? How much older? Why not have amazing experiences now when you can fully experience your life's bucket list? Plus, then when you really are older, you'll have those memories to savor much longer.
My wife hates when I (occasionally) talk about how long I have to live. To me, it's a good reminder to fully live out my (un)retirement years. I encourage everyone to look at a life expectancy calculator based on your age and your current health. In my case my life expectancy is about age 84 That's 16 years for me! Trust me that I'm doing my best to live a long and healthy life. But that statistic doesn't scare me, it motivates me! And let's get real. Our travel expenses will drop considerably when we're in our 80's and 90's, so that's why I'm spending and doing NOW!
Note: I do have a budget set aside for any future health stuff.
What do you think? What's your plan for your Go-Go years?
Travel Like a Rock Star
Carl Landau | October 20, 2023
My wife Diana and I just came back from a 16-day trip to Portugal. We planned it ourselves and had an amazing time! Before we left, my wife scoured online for every blog and magazine article, looking specifically for travel tips for Portugal.
But I just wanted to share with you some travel tips for international trips that we learned on our own, just by doing it.
• Get Global Entry: It takes some paperwork and a few months or so to get approval, but for $100 you get 5 years of TSA pre-check status for ALL flights domestic and international. On our arrival back to San Francisco, going through Customs was a breeze! While the regular line was very long and slow, we just walked up to a kiosk for Global Entry that simply took a photo of our face. And in 2 minutes the Customs officer waved us on and we were out.
• Use whatsapp: If you need to communicate with someone internationally, whatsapp is widely used. WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption makes it more secure than texting and other messaging apps. It's a free way to send messages to people all over the world and we used the app to communicate with hosts at the various places we stayed before our arrival---like, "Where the heck do we park?"
• Yelp no help: Yelp reviews are not a big deal outside the US. We found very few reviews and many were from 4 years ago. Other countries use apps like TheFork from Apple and others.
• It's OK to hang: I'm not a fan of too many one-night stays when traveling to a new country. In the bigger cities, I'd rather stay 3 or 4 nights to get a better sense of the city. I'll take quality vs. quantity when it comes to sightseeing. And build in some down time. Yes, it can be a relaxing vacation too.
• Try booking.com: This was another app we used quite a bit. We didn't have every single night planned out and this app was easy to use and helped us find good deals quickly for places to stay.
• Lighten up: We traveled for 16 days and just used carry-on suitcases (international carry-on can be even smaller). Go with ALL wrinkle free, light clothes that can be easily layered. Oh, and washing clothes in the sink and hanging them on your balcony or patio works just fine.
• NO on Google Maps: Google Maps suck. For car travel, Waze is waaayyy better and more accurate! You can also Use the Apple Maps app on your phone for everything else, including finding public transportation.
• Check out Airbnb experiences: Airbnb is a great app to find all sorts of tours (boat ride/wine-tasting/walking, etc.) of any kind. You can pick the group size and price range you desire. They even have private dinner parties at locals' homes if that piques your interest.
Pro tips from our audience:
• Andy Robin, author of Tapas Life suggests going to the same place for a month at a time to really get into the local life.
• Adriane Berg, Chief Cheerleader of The Ageless Traveler says to look for free stopovers from airlines like Air Maroc and Turkish Airlines. Stay a few days and get a bonus vacation within a vacation. Also ask for airline and hotel upgrades, get separate, unbundled cost quotes on organized tours, sightsee on your own on cruises vs pricey excursions.
There are plenty of travel resources available out there. But no matter how prepared you are for your trip, you will probably make a couple mistakes. It's all okay, traveling in a learning process! And if you do it right, you'll feel like a rock star!
Teri Fahrendorf Interview: From Suits to Suds
Diana Landau | August 09, 2022
Carl interviews Teri Fahrendorf, who left her high-tech career to become one of the first few women brewmasters in the craft brewing industry in the U.S. She says she's never been cut out for the "cubicle life" and left her well-paying job to forge a new path in the craft brewing industry. She is also the founder of the Pink Boots Society, a network for women in brewing. Teri has a tendency to forge ahead, always willing to follow her intuition to a meaningful life.
Teri has German roots, growing up with her siblings in Wisconsin. She says her parents provided an upper middle-class life until the Oil Embargo of 1973. Her father quit his job and suddenly the family's income level plummeted during her teen years. She says this experience shaped her outlook on life. "Always have a side hustle. Act like you could lose our job at any time." (It is interesting to note that many of our guests had a similar childhood experience that shaped their lives.) "I learned to be an entrepreneur at a young age," Teri tells us.
She attended the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, studying management information systems with an emphasis on COBOL programming. During college she started experimenting with making wine, but she was to follow that passion later. After graduation, she dove into the world of high tech. Over the years she began to hate it. She started home brewing on the side. In 1988, she quit her job as a programmer to attend the Siebel Institute of Chicago, where she earned a degree in brewing technology and then began her new career at Golden Gate Brewing Company in Berkley.
During her time at Golden Gate, Teri was in an accident, when boiling water caused severe damage to her legs and feet, needing surgery and skin grafts. Following that experience, Teri began speaking all over the country to brewers about promoting safety within the industry. She has also worked for Triple Rock Brewery as Head Brewer, then moved to Oregon to work for Steelhead Brewing Company. During her tenure there, she won many awards for her creations.
After 19 years in brewing, she decided to take a road trip to visit other brewers, traveling to 73 breweries across the country. While meeting some of the women in the business, she realized there was no network for connection. Teri founded the Pink Boots Society in 2008. The organization has grown from 35 members to over 2,500 members today. As the organization grew, Teri began to make an (un)retirement plan for her next creative act in life.
Today Teri lives with her husband in Portland. She started Rain Dragon Studio to pursue her passion for pottery and also to meet other artists and travel to art festivals to expand her network. Teri continues making connections and expanding her world. " I'm working at what I want, when I want!"
Teri's advice for (Un) Retirement:
-
"It was important to me to have a plan in place before I (un)retired. Otherwise, I'd just be taking trips all the time."
-
"Listen to your intuition--it will steer you towards your best future."
-
"Keep yourself challenged, interested and excited!"
-
"It's important to find new friends and tribes. When you're working, you don't necessarily have time to develop friendships."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.
