Good day, and hello, wherever you are.
Episode 13 felt like unwrapping a handful of small treasures — stories about family, resilience, learning to travel on your own terms, and how journeys (both planned and unexpected) shape who we become. My guest this week is Sonja Preston, a woman whose life has been stitched across continents, seasons, and hard-won choices. She’s warm, frank, and quietly fearless — and I loved every minute of our chat.
Roots, Loss, and the Taste of Two Cultures
Sonja’s early life was already a voyage: a British father, a Danish mother, born in Canada, and then a move to Australia. Her mother arrived in Canada knowing almost no English; Sonja’s family language and food carried the grain of Denmark into their new life. That cross-cultural thread stayed with Sonja — small rituals, a different rhythm at Christmas, and an early curiosity about a world beyond the familiar.
Tragedy came early: her father died when she was very young, leaving her mother to care for three girls in a new country. Sonja remembers not feeling poor as a child, but she now understands the sharpness of those years — living on charity, missing relatives, and feeling the limits that money places around travel and possibility. Yet even then, the seed of curiosity had been planted.
First Flights and the Frisson of Being Somewhere New
At 14, Sonja crossed the oceans to visit her dying grandmother in Denmark — that first plane trip was a revelation. She remembers the dizzying mix of excitement and discomfort: not understanding the language in shops, clutching strange coins, and the overwhelming sense of being a small person in a very large world. Travel, she says, has always carried that dual nature for her: exhilarating and a little bit terrifying — like the moment before a roller-coaster drop.
That feeling stuck. Later, even when life settled around kids, work, and building a house, the idea of going away never quite left her.
Adversity, Freedom, and Finding the Courage to Go
When her marriage ended, Sonja faced a raw choice: stay safe, or re-shape her life. Over time she realised she could make the decisions. She began travelling: a Cook Islands trip inspired by a craft workshop, a Bali family trip where her children learned about stark contrasts in wealth and culture, and — much later — the Camino de Santiago.
The Cook Islands story is pure travel theatre: landing on a dirt runway with seven dollars in her pocket, no reliable electricity or ATMs, and the kind hospitality of island people who quietly looked after her. It’s a reminder how travel strips life back to essentials — and how strangers often arrive as unexpected guardians.
The Camino: Rhythm, Reflection, and the Lessons of Slowing Down
One radio programme — and a seed planted years earlier — finally became Sonja’s 60th birthday plan. She walked the Camino with a friend and later with her sister joining. She describes the daily rhythm: small breakfasts, walking in stages, short rests at cafés, shared pilgrim meals, light packs, and the camaraderie of albergues. It was meditative, social, and elemental.
The Camino taught Sonja an important lesson: the value of slowing down. She realised that although she’d always been busy and involved, the walk asked her to be present, to listen to her body, and to tend the small things. Walking alone sometimes — and sometimes together — offered a balance that changed how she sees travel and life. And though the end in Santiago felt strangely flat at first, she understands now that finishing a goal can also invite a new one — another lesson in how transitions feel.
Servas: Travel That’s Human
Sonja also told me about Servas — the international peace hosting network she belongs to. Hosts and travellers exchange culture, not money. People leave a profile, arrange a two-night stay, share meals, stories, and neighbourhood secrets. Sonja and I both agreed: the best corners of a place are often the ones you don’t find on Google but discover through human recommendation.
Through Servas, Sonja has hosted travellers across continents — swapping meals, showing off hidden spots, and building trust the old-fashioned way. These hosted stays produce the kind of travel memory that lasts: the trust, the small gifts, the shared kitchen stories.
Travel as Resilience — and an Invitation
Throughout the conversation ran one clear theme: travel builds resilience. Sonja framed it beautifully: each awkward, frightening, or embarrassing moment — like the Cook Islands ATM debacle — becomes evidence that you can survive and work things out. That history of problem-solving becomes muscle memory for future uncertainties.
Her stories are practical, funny, and full of heart: bargaining in Bali, goats turning up where you least expect them, kids gleefully counting their newfound wealth in a new currency, and the sharing of pilgrim soups and thin meat slices on the Camino.
Sonja’s final message is simple and generous: travel opens doors not only to places but to people, and the most meaningful parts of travel are the human ones.
Click here link to listen to the full podcast with Sonja
Until next time
Bron
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