Meet the Wanderlust Authors

Dawn in Oman arrives with a soft rattle—camel bells skimming sand like wind-chimes. Agathe unzips her tent to a gaze of long-lashed curiosity, the first of many moments where she is both “curious, yet cautious”—a foreigner welcomed into a land that still feels timeless. She packs the 4x4 and heads toward Wakan, a high shelf village tucked into the eastern reaches of Al Jabal Akhdar, where mountains rise from the plains like a stone wall and the sky seems close enough to touch

While staying in Bled, Slovenia, Christy Renee Stehle set out to hike Triglav Mountain in the Julian Alps—a 2.5-hour ascent gaining over 700 meters, from exhilaration to tear-inducing terror. Clipped to a steel cable, she climbed inch by inch, her breath syncing with the wind as she faced her lifelong fear of heights. “Every ledge I pulled myself over mirrored a part of me that was learning to hold on,” she writes. By the time she reached the summit, the world opened into sno

For Lisa Taylor, Bali was more than a postcard dream—it was a promise she made to herself and finally kept. Pinned to her vision board in 2019, postponed by a pandemic and a season of family strain, the trip became a marker of healing and divine timing. When she finally clicked “book,” it wasn’t just a flight; it was permission.

Some journeys are planned on maps; others are charted by the soul. For Súl Ra Stewart, the road began in the ashes of a life she thought would last forever. After the dissolution of her marriage, she set herself moving—first through the forests and mountains of Western Canada, then across the world to Aotearoa/New Zealand—following a tug older than logic and softer than grief. What she found there wasn’t escape, but initiation.

For Vivi Blair, change has never been optional—it has been a lifelong companion. From the sudden goodbyes of childhood to the brave leap of moving across borders in midlife, her journey has been one of learning to let go, again and again, until freedom no longer felt like loss but like coming home to herself.

For Virginia L Lehay, travel has never been about ticking landmarks off a list. It’s about hearths and hearts—the warmth of shared meals, the lilt of conversation, the feeling of belonging that rises when strangers become kin. So when her daughters gifted her a month-long adventure to Ireland, it wasn’t just a long-dreamed homecoming to her ancestral land—it became a deeper journey into relationship, lineage, and the tender distance between head and heart.

For most of her life, Rusti L Lehay walked a fine line between independence and caretaking—between her love of solitude and her desire to serve others. Then, travel came along and changed everything. It shook her out of routine, out of self-doubt, and into a deeper understanding of who she really was.

When Sue Marshall set out to travel the world at 51 years old—with nothing but a backpack and a spark of faith—her friends called her brave, bold, even a little crazy. But after two decades as a single mother raising two daughters on her own, she knew it was time to rediscover herself. What began as a visit to see her daughter working in Australia became an odyssey of courage, curiosity, and personal rebirth that spanned continents and transformed her outlook on life.

For years, Deepa Gleason burned with a kind of relentless energy—passionate, ambitious, and always in motion. Yet beneath the surface, that fire began to consume her. Searching for balance, she set out on a journey that would take her from the roaring waterfalls of South America to the silent expanse of Antarctica. What she discovered there changed the rhythm of her life—and her relationship to herself—forever.

From the lush gardens of her New York childhood to the sun-washed landscapes of the American Southwest, Marianne Belardi never expected Arizona to become the backdrop for one of the most transformative chapters of her life. What began as a simple visit to her sister in 1988 turned into a journey of rediscovery—of home, heritage, and self.

For most people, walking for hours on end through sun and rain might sound exhausting. For Arlene Laskey, it’s where she rediscovers her peace. A nurse, wife, mother, and grandmother, Arlene found herself craving something beyond her busy, responsibility-filled days—something that would reconnect her with silence, with nature, and with herself.

Under a dark Guatemalan sky, Teena Clipston lay awake in a lone tent at the edge of camp, listening to the hush between howler monkeys and her own heartbeat. Spiders traced the rainfly. Somewhere out there, maybe a jaguar padded past like a shadow with teeth. Fear pressed in—then curiosity pressed harder.

When Wendy Moore finally stepped onto the island of Bali, she wasn’t just arriving at a destination—she was answering a decade-long call from her soul. For years, Bali had lingered on her bucket list like an unopened gift. Between raising seven children and running a thriving business as a retreat mentor and coach, there was never time to unwrap it.