THE WANDERLUSTERS MIND PODCAST

Abby Lewtas 7/5/19 Abby Lewtas 7/5/19

Aligning her life through travel and school bus living with Laura Banks

Laura sold her house and left her corporate job to get the most out of living her life. She now lives on a school bus and runs her own business as a life coach, continually being an example for her clients to show them how getting outside their comfort zone leads to a truly rewarding life.

About Laura

Laura is an internationally certified coach and Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner for humans who are ready to let go of their limitations and live into their potential.  Her unique approach to creating powerful and lasting transformation can be summed up as mindset, magic and mechanics.   Mindset focuses on subconscious transformation, helping release the deep-seated beliefs, habits, thoughts and emotions that are holding you back, then re-wiring your brain with new programs.   Magic is about learning how to connect with and trust your truth - your intuition.  And mechanics is about taking the inner and outer action to create a life and business on your terms, one that feels good AND gets results.

After a car accident Laura went on a journey to become the sort of person she wanted to be and live a life she wanted to live – not the life she thought she ‘had’ to live.  Now, she loves challenging herself to get out of her comfort zone, which has seen her compete in a half-ironman triathlon, get a mystery haircut and convert a bus into a tiny home with her husband.  

“To be living this lifestyle [on the bus] was a huge step outside my comfort zone.”

— Laura Banks

In the episode...

Laura’s first experience of travel was when she went to Japan on a school exchange.
She was originally going to travel to Japan but ended up meeting a ‘Kiwi’ and moved to New Zealand instead.
Laura has had many variations of stepping out of her comfort zone whilst travelling and the first was moving to New Zealand where she only knew her partner Matt.
Laura uses travel as a way to look at her values and they way she lives her life at home.
Laura and her partner Matt sold their house, brought a bus which they renovated and moved into to live in.
Minimalism was not originally part of something they had intended however it happened naturally when they moved into the school bus.
They get out and about every week in the bus to explore Tasmania.
Laura does have to think about all the challenges such as where to park the bus, emptying the composting toilet and managing transport to work.
Traditionally in her family they followed the ‘normal’ way of life and so living this style of life was outside her comfort zone however she always likes to ‘get outside her comfort zone.’
Laura was concerned that she would let her parents down when she would tell them they had sold their house and brought a bus to live in.
When they share their lifestyle with others, Laura recognises that their lives challenges others to think about the way they live their life.
Laura shares that the big changes were really just a collection of small steps towards something that she wanted.

Why Laura continue to seek out travel and live abroad? Because of the potential and possibilities that travel can bring in you and your life.

“You can just do YOU in the world”

— Laura Banks

Travelling the US in their RV with Sarah and Zach Varnell

Sarah and Zach work from anywhere (remote information security consultants) with their 2-year-old Yorkie. They love all things travel. Their podcast Thinking Liberty seeks ways to encourage others to get out there and explore.

Sarah and Zach lived in an RV travelling the US for 2 years. They spent two months in South America, with their dog, working remotely and then vacationing in Patagonia. Exploring new cities and state parks was a highlight. They believe there is something so freeing about knowing that you could just pick up and move somewhere new at any time.

Instead of buying house Sarah and Zach bought an RV and moved in full time to travel the US

About Sarah and Zach

“Think through your processes and thoughts and dont let them overwhelm you.”

— Sarah Varnell

When coming home...

Emotions and differences Sarah and Zach faced - Realisations of all the family and friend 'life' events that they had missed whilst they were away. Peoples lives had gone on and they had missed part of it.
Biggest stress Sarah and Zach encountered - Fear of missing out on things happening at home but also when returning home what they were missing when not travelling.
How Sarah and Zach supported themselves - They had each other and felt blessed that they will be able to lean on each other during this transition.
How Sarah and Zach's mindset changed after their travels - More mindful of whats really important (physically), what adds value and what will matter to them in years from now.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Experience over material things - the more you experience the more you value.
Make the most of your time.
Open to learning new skills such as languages and fixing and maintaining the RV.