Traveling in Wonder with Autumn Carolynn

Photographer and author Autumn Carolynn’s relationship with wanderlust started early in her life, with a semester abroad in England. From there, she’s held a variety of travel-related positions, including flight attendant and travel agent, and all of them have allowed her to pursue photography around the globe. During the pandemic, she combined her photography with her travel stories, and the result is Traveling in Wonder: A Photographer’s Tales of Wanderlust, which encourages readers to embrace exploration and life’s everyday challenges. Autumn joins me to talk about the surprising gut instinct that changed the direction of her life, the realities of life as a flight attendant (including the wide range of life skills required for and learned on the job), the importance of traveling now rather than putting it off for retirement, and how she sees the intersection between travel and creativity. If you’re looking for inspiration to buy that plane ticket, this is it!

Episode breakdown: 

00:00 Introduction

05:15 The alchemy of photo development

09:59 13 countries in 13 weeks

12:53 Secretive travels shared via Facebook

14:57 Exploring global fast food menus

18:13 Lost in Budapest

23:14 Gut feeling cancels Australia trip

25:44 Intense flight attendant training

29:34 Moving abroad: Not so simple

31:57 Adventure in Australia

38:10 Handling in-flight medical emergencies

41:53 “Traveling in Wonder” book release

43:28 Building a creative art business

47:20 Capturing memories for mom

50:05 Seize opportunities while able

55:48 Embrace new experiences

Show Links: Autumn Carolynn

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Transcript: Autumn Carolynn

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Photographer and author Autumn Carolynn’s relationship with wanderlust started early in her life with a semester abroad in England. From there, she’s held a variety of travel related positions, including flight attendant and travel agent, and all of them have allowed her to pursue photography around the globe. During the pandemic, she combined her photography with her travel stories, and the result is “Traveling in Wonder: A Photographer’s Tales of Wanderlust,” which encourages readers to embrace exploration and life’s everyday challenges. Autumn joins me to talk about the surprising gut instinct that changed the direction of her life, the realities of life as a flight attendant, including the wide range of life skills required for and learned on the job, the importance of traveling now rather than putting it off for retirement, and how she sees the intersection between travel and creativity.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:11]:
If you’ve been looking for inspiration to buy that plane ticket, this is it. Here’s my conversation with Autumn Carolynn. Autumn, welcome to Follow Your Curiosity.

Autumn Carolynn [00:01:23]:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:25]:
So I start everybody off with the same question. Were you a creative kid, or did you discover your creative side later on?

Autumn Carolynn [00:01:33]:
I would definitely say that I was a creative kid. I was kind of the child that was very heavily into arts and crafts, and I was always talking to everybody. I wanted to make friends with everyone and, was very outgoing as a kid. So I think it definitely is something that I’ve kind of been something that has always been in me.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:03]:
Were you encouraged to follow that?

Autumn Carolynn [00:02:06]:
I think so. Definitely. My parents, I started playing piano when I was 7. And my dad, he, is a musician. And so I grew up always watching him, and I always wanted to be like my dad. And so I just started with playing piano, and I played it for ten years. And then I also was a singer, and, I was reading up about how you are in the same boat. So I was in choir from second grade until, high school, and I did it in high school as well.

Autumn Carolynn [00:02:48]:
And then, I sang with my dad, in college as well. And then, I played p or I played guitar. And I started guitar when I was, eighth grade and kind of been playing it with my husband now on and off. So I think it’s been definitely encouraged to be creative as I continue to get older. And my mom is not musical, but she is definitely the 1 that picks the tunes. So I have, I have a good knowledge when it comes to trivia of music and and all that fun stuff.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:33]:
Well, that’s really cool. You got you got a lot of different different stuff going on there. Thanks. So how did you end up taking up photography?

Autumn Carolynn [00:03:46]:
Yeah. I started photography. My dad was a photographer, and, he we have this old Nikon in our basement, and it was a Nikon n 70. It was a film camera, and I had this film photography course in my high school. And you could take all these different electives, and I just thought, I think I would really like it if I could take it. And so I took it, and I learned how to develop film in the darkroom. I learned how to roll film and just have fun with being creative in a way that I wasn’t really that much used to. I mean, I was used to, like, a Sony point and shoot for your Mhmm.

Autumn Carolynn [00:04:29]:
Myspace profile, but I wasn’t used to anything that was, you know, in a creative sense. And, basically, I learned I learned a lot of the basics there, but then I also had a lot of my really good, friends came from that photography course that I’m still best friends with to this day. So it’s kind of been something where it started when I was 15, but I didn’t realize that this would be kind of like the catalyst for everything, as I got older, which is kind of cool to to reflect back

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:09]:
on. Isn’t it funny? You never really know which things are gonna be that catalyst.

Autumn Carolynn [00:05:13]:
Yes. Yes.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:15]:
Yeah. And I’m I’m just sitting here thinking about how, like, I’ve always sort of thought that developing your own photos was like being able to do alchemy. You know, it’s like normal people, you just stick the film in the bag and you send it off, and then Yep. They magically arrive back at your house. And young people, I know that makes me sound really old, but that’s how it used to be before we had digital cameras and phones that just did it for you, or Polaroid, which, you know, kind of took the middle man out of it, but still, you had to at least wait and shake the thing and, you know, but but, yeah, all of that with the different the different little pans and putting things in there, and you had to be in the dark, and it was like it was like witchcraft, You know? Like, how how did you make this thing magically appear on this piece of paper? It’s just just wild. I’ve always been a little jealous of people who know how to do that.

Autumn Carolynn [00:06:15]:
Thank you. It’s it was really fun. And, also, you know, when you’re kind of learning how to do it, you’re, you know, adjusting. You you get in and you have this big, huge, like, adjustment that you put down. You put the paper down, and you have to make sure it doesn’t see any lights for all of these different, like, angles that you’re using. So just being able to, like, put it into, like, the developer and the stop bath and, like, watching the image come to life is a really amazing thing to witness because when you are shooting and you’re kind of trying to figure out things and you’re really young and you’re like, I don’t even know if I’m doing this right, but then actually seeing the image, it’s like, oh my gosh. I got it. It actually worked.

Autumn Carolynn [00:07:04]:
Yeah. Well, that’s the other thing.

Nancy Norbeck [00:07:05]:
Now it’s instant. You just look and you know. Yes. But back then, you you did not you did not know. There was this mystery and wondering, and and by the time you got it back, was like, did I did I remember what I took the right way? Does does what I’m seeing here actually match what I remember taking, or is it, you know, oh, I thought I had this thing, but it’s more this other thing. And how did that happen? And strange things like that.

Autumn Carolynn [00:07:38]:
Yeah. And nowadays, I have friends that are getting back into the film photography, and it’s really exciting to be able to be in pictures. And for myself, not get those pictures immediately the night, you know, the day after or the night of saying, oh, here are the pictures from tonight, and then having to wait weeks or a month or so, and then having it be, like, 1 photo that I received back from it. And, yeah, it’s just really nice. It kind of makes those moments when they’re captured in that way just that much more special.

Nancy Norbeck [00:08:20]:
Yeah. It’s it’s not always instant gratification. Mhmm. You know, we’re so primed for everything to be right now and exactly the way we want it. And, oh, I messed that up. I’m gonna just do it again and get it exactly right. And that was a luxury we didn’t have

Autumn Carolynn [00:08:38]:
Yes.

Nancy Norbeck [00:08:39]:
Way back. Way, way back. I’m not that old. I feel like it sometimes, but I’m not. So then where did you go from the photography class?

Autumn Carolynn [00:08:53]:
Sure. So when I did the photography course, I had a this group of friends that I started to develop, and we would have these homework assignments. And so at the homework assignments, we would have to go and take pictures. And I I grew up on, the outskirts of Chicago in the suburbs there. So we would take the the metro train and go, kind of all over the suburbs of Chicago and into Wisconsin and take the train and go into these little towns and use these new places to explore and take pictures. So it kind of got this idea of traveling in me at a young age when I’m 15 and 16 and with a group, and I don’t have my parents. And it’s really exciting and fun. And then when I kind of got older and I graduated from high school, I went to college and, I got an English literature major, and I studied abroad.

Autumn Carolynn [00:09:59]:
And when I studied abroad, it was in England, and I decided that, I wanted to go to 13 countries in thirteen weeks. So every week, I would fly to a different country and go to the country from Friday through Monday and then, fly back in time for my courses that was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So it was more along the lines of kind of being having this exciting moment of traveling by yourself and meeting up with brand new friends when you are across the pond for the first time. But the thing that made it really exciting is that for the big gift when I graduated, I was given a, a DSLR camera for the very first time. So this was a digital camera. This was not a film camera anymore. And, my dad got a really good deal on it, and it was a Nikon d 5100. And so it was, I I felt like I was a part of, like, the photographers now.

Autumn Carolynn [00:11:13]:
Like, I have a really nice camera that was a Nikon. And, I when I went to all these places, I brought my camera with me. But when I took these pictures, it was more along the lines of just taking it for fun. It wasn’t something along the lines of me taking it to actually create a business or thinking of that down the road. It was just, you know, I wanted to capture these memories that were happening in in front of me. And, I ended up being able to do the 13 countries in thirteen weeks and, took all the pictures, was able to get that done. And I also was writing a journal, while I was going through this. So I would journal on all the trains and the, flights and the downtime and then take pictures as well.

Nancy Norbeck [00:12:04]:
I am I am so green over here. It’s unbelievable. Because I mean, this just sounds like my dream semester to me. Every single thing about it, I would love to have done. And I I always wanted to do a semester abroad, and I was I was not allowed to do a semester abroad because for some reason, my parents thought that I would just go party all the time. I have never been a party girl in my life, so I’m not sure where they got that idea, but I was not allowed to go. I had to find my own way to live abroad for a while, which I did, but it wasn’t that. Sure.

Nancy Norbeck [00:12:43]:
But but, you know, I don’t know if I would have thought to do something like 13 countries in thirteen weeks, but boy, do I wish I would have if I’d had that chance. I mean, that’s amazing.

Autumn Carolynn [00:12:53]:
Thank you. Yeah. I didn’t quite really let them know what I was doing. I mean, I did tell them and, you know, they knew on Facebook I would be uploading it because, you know, this is back in the times where everyone would upload the pictures from over the weekends and, like, think of a really fun album name for your pictures to post on Facebook. And so, you know, they were they were watching me vicariously through this, and I think it was really neat, to be able to have these moments. But, you know, I don’t think that they really knew all the different things because I just didn’t really want to kind of let them know until it was done and then say, oh, yeah. This is what happened because I had a feeling that they would probably be very afraid or scared because I did a lot of the traveling, you know, by myself or with people I had just met. So, yeah.

Nancy Norbeck [00:13:59]:
Yeah. The the name for that photo album is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Autumn Carolynn [00:14:04]:
Yes. Exactly. And

Nancy Norbeck [00:14:07]:
you put that name on it after the thirteenth trip.

Autumn Carolynn [00:14:10]:
Yes. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yep.

Nancy Norbeck [00:14:13]:
But I also love going places by myself, and and a lot of people don’t don’t get that. But, you know, I think was the last time I went on a group tour? I think was in 02/2. It was a choir tour. And that was pretty much when I was like, yeah. This is a lovely idea on paper, but, you know, two straight weeks with the same group of people Yeah. Is way too long with the same group of people. And, you know, three or four three hour walking tours is at least 3 too many. And I wanna be able to go do my own thing and see my own stuff.

Nancy Norbeck [00:14:57]:
I’m the weirdo who likes to go and visit all of the American fast food places in other countries. I don’t necessarily wanna actually eat there, but I wanna go see what’s on the menu because it’s always more interesting than what’s here. You know, I wanna go do weird things like that. I wanna go visit the grocery store and see what’s in the grocery store. And, you know, nobody else on the trip is that weird. I wanna go see cool sights too, but I wanna go see ordinary things that are different, and other people don’t wanna do that. So it’s hard to do that on a group tour, especially if you don’t have a car.

Autumn Carolynn [00:15:35]:
Yeah.

Nancy Norbeck [00:15:36]:
So so, yeah, there’s there’s a lot of merit to traveling by yourself. I mean, you have to pick your destinations more carefully, but there’s a lot to be said for it. So my hat is off to college age you Oh, thank you. For doing that.

Autumn Carolynn [00:15:52]:
Thanks. I always met people or I either travel like, I tried to travel with groups or I tried to do things so I wasn’t completely and entirely alone. And a lot of them, I was able to was able to fly over and go into different places with people I had met through studying abroad. So it was kind of like a mix. It wasn’t entirely all alone, but there were some places that I did fly to that were alone. And it was, you you know, I think back on it. Like, 1 of them was Amsterdam. I went to Amsterdam by myself, and I stayed in the Red Light District.

Autumn Carolynn [00:16:33]:
And I look back on it, and I’m just like, wow. Like, everything worked out, and I met a really amazing group of, of guys that were really kind and nice, and we hung out the whole day. And, you know, it just little things like that where you kinda think about what you’re doing after the fact of when you’re younger.

Nancy Norbeck [00:17:01]:
Yeah. And there are places that I’ve been to in The US where, you know, I I I was with a friend in New Orleans right before hurricane Katrina, like, literally days before hurricane Katrina. And we went we tried to find a a seafood restaurant 1 night, and we decided it wasn’t that far away. We were gonna walk. And the farther we walked, the the more the the hairs on the back of your head stood up. Yeah. And finally, you know, we reached a certain point and we’re like, yeah. We’re gonna call for a cab now.

Nancy Norbeck [00:17:34]:
And that was before smartphones, but I had a PalmPilot that had a directory on it. And so I was able to look somebody up and and call, and the driver was like, what on earth are you doing here? You’re like, yeah. That’s a really good question. How about we answer that after we get in the car and get out of here?

Autumn Carolynn [00:17:47]:
Yep. Yep.

Nancy Norbeck [00:17:48]:
You know? So it’s it’s not just foreign countries that you have to be careful in, but a lot of them, you know, I don’t have a problem going to London by myself. You know, I went to Edinburgh A Couple Years ago. You know, plenty of places are just fine on your own. And then there’s then there’s other places where you need to know where the heck you’re walking in the evening at the dinner hour by yourself.

Autumn Carolynn [00:18:13]:
Yes. Exactly. There was this 1 instance that I had when I was in, in Budapest in Hungary, and I was trying to find my way to a hostel. And I was alone with, my carry on bag in a roller, which normally I always had a backpack on, but I had a bunch of, items in it that I had purchased, souvenirs because I was doing, different countries in, one week. And so I had this roller bag with me, and it was getting dark. I was in I’ve had no cell service, had no clue where I was, trying to find this hostel. And I could tell that it was not the best part of town, I think, and I just was lost. And there was this group of men that was behind me, and they kept on looking at me.

Autumn Carolynn [00:19:07]:
And it started to rain, and I was looking back. And then the group of men started to follow me, and they were getting closer. And then half of the group split into 2, And half of the group went in front of me. So I have a group that’s in front of me who’s slowing down, I have a group that’s behind me that’s speeding up. I’m caught in the middle with this really large luggage bag with a map out and trying to find where I am, and there was no nothing open. And I just remember praying. I was like, god, please get me out of this situation. And then there was this 1 meat shop that was open.

Autumn Carolynn [00:19:54]:
And I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t eat meat. And I walk into this meat shop, and there is, like, you know, the meat hanging from the rafters and this, like, little old lady with, like, a, you know, cleaver thing. And she was trying to talk to me, but I don’t speak Hungarian. And I was trying to say to her, I’m lost. I don’t know where I am. Can you help me with the hassle? But she didn’t quite know what I was saying. So I just kept on I just waited it out, and I kept on looking outside because she had this little window that I could look out to see where the men were. And I kept on waiting, and I was like, okay.

Autumn Carolynn [00:20:39]:
I’m just gonna be in here. Like, thank god she’s here. And, like, I’m I’m gonna just stay in here for a little bit and just act like I’m, you know, keeping dry from the rain that’s now pouring. Eventually, I get my map out. I show her where I’m trying to go. She helps me, to tell me where I am. And twenty minutes goes by, and the group is gone. And I still think about that to this day because if I had been enwrapped in, like, my phone or if I had not been really aware of my surroundings, I really have no clue what would have happened.

Autumn Carolynn [00:21:18]:
And thank God for that Hungarian woman in that meat shop who was desperately trying to get me to buy the meat because she was really helping me out and a true hero in this story.

Nancy Norbeck [00:21:32]:
Yeah. Oh, that’s terrifying. And I have to think that that meat cleaver kind of looked welcome in a way when you

Autumn Carolynn [00:21:38]:
say it. I know. Right?

Nancy Norbeck [00:21:40]:
I might need that. I need that more than I need

Autumn Carolynn [00:21:43]:
the meat lady.

Nancy Norbeck [00:21:45]:
I need to arm myself in this moment before I go back outside. Oh, that’s terrifying, but I’m glad it turned out okay. But, yeah, that’s that’s the thing. Though at the same time, if you had had a smartphone, probably Google Maps would have made sure you didn’t get a loss. So That is true. I see. There’s that. Yeah.

Nancy Norbeck [00:22:06]:
So I’m curious to know how photography became a bigger thing, and I’m also curious to know how you ended up working for an airline. And I don’t know which 1 Sure. You know, the chicken or the egg, which 1 came first.

Autumn Carolynn [00:22:20]:
So when I graduated from college, I came back straight from studying abroad and the week after, I graduated. And then I started putting in my application to all places all around. And I kind of had this idea that I was going to move to Australia, and everything was all set. I had a 1 way ticket booked. I had a apartment that I was going to be staying in, a place that I was going to be working, and I packed up everything and put it all in boxes. I was staying at my parents’ house, and three days before my flight, I got this gut feeling that I shouldn’t go. And I didn’t quite know what it was about, but I just kept on thinking, like, why do I feel this way? Because I everything is all set. I’ve got it all.

Autumn Carolynn [00:23:14]:
I’ve been waiting for this. I worked 4 different jobs to save up the amount of money that I needed to pass to get into this work program because you need a copy of your bank statement, then they need to see that you have that money in it in case of any emergencies. So I had worked like, you know, a year after I got home from graduating. And then three days before, I had this gut feeling, and I decided to let the 1 way ticket go. I I it was nonrefundable, and I couldn’t do anything with it. And I kind of remember being in that moment. I was so embarrassed because I told all of my friends, my family, everyone that I was going to Australia. And then all of a sudden, it was like, oh, I’m not going anymore because I have this gut feeling.

Autumn Carolynn [00:24:07]:
And I know that makes me look kind of weird, but it just feels different. And then I just started putting in applications everywhere because I was like, okay. I’m gonna listen to this. I don’t know what this is, but I’m just gonna put in applications. And I do not even remember putting in my application for this particular airline to be a flight attendant. All I know is that I put it in for all these different ones, but I got a call for a phone interview. And it was ten days from the day that I let my plane ticket go. And they had a phone interview.

Autumn Carolynn [00:24:46]:
I passed the phone interview, and then I think it it was so quick. It was like I don’t know if it was a week or how quickly it was, but they asked me to fly down, to the base hub and go through interviews. So for one day. So I had 6 interviews in one day, and, it was like it was really intensive interviews, and you had to prep for everything. And they had 60 interviewees, and they only read 5 names. And my name was the last of the 5. So it was something that I was just like, if I would not have listened to the gut feeling, I would have missed this entire chance to be able to be a flight attendant. I would have been living in Australia, which would have been amazing, but it wouldn’t have been what I really wanted.

Autumn Carolynn [00:25:44]:
It would have been something that would have been a different aspect, and there was something better for me that I didn’t realize was out there. And so, I was picked, and then I went through this intensive training. And it was three months of intensive training, six, days a week, twelve hours a day. And I learned how to administer CPR, fight fires in a cabin, on, to be able to evacuate the plane in less than ninety seconds in case of an emergency. And all of these things that you don’t really think of when you think of a flight attendant, you think of a flight attendant as helping you with your bags and helping you get to your seat and, you know, in flight service, but you had to learn so many survival skills in case you, you know, crash and to a island and you have no nothing to you know? Just it was mind blowing and extremely hard. Every single week, I thought I was not gonna make it. And then, you had to pass with a 90%. At the end of the week, you take a test.

Autumn Carolynn [00:26:58]:
And if you do not pass with the 90%, you, don’t get to go on to the next week. So someone in my group or in my class had a 89.5%, and they did not let her go. And she had to go home because of that point 5. And it was so sad because she works so hard to study for this. And so it was just something that every week, I was like, alright. I’m gonna go home. I gave it my best, but every week, I kept on continuing to go, and it was like this huge I was just amazed. And then at the end of, the three months, I graduated from, that training, and then I became a flight attendant.

Autumn Carolynn [00:27:44]:
And I was based in Minneapolis, which is where, I’m in Minnesota now. And so it just kind of sparked everything. It was, you know, starting with me being able to go to studying abroad and then becoming a flight attendant. And when I would be a flight attendant, I would bring my camera with me on layovers to take pictures of different places. And that was really exciting too, because at that time, it was a different career, but I was still able to travel. But I was still able to do what I really loved, which was take pictures and do photography of places that I wanted to go to. So that’s kind of how it was all incorporated into 1.

Nancy Norbeck [00:28:29]:
That’s amazing. And I I wanna just clarify 1 thing. When you said that there were 60 people when you went for that that interview and they read 5 name, does that mean that only 5 people actually got to interview?

Autumn Carolynn [00:28:42]:
Yes. No. That means only that means all 60 interviewed, but only 5 people got passed Okay. And got to go into training.

Nancy Norbeck [00:28:52]:
Okay. So because I thought, man, if you went that far and you didn’t even get to interview.

Autumn Carolynn [00:28:57]:
Oh, no. No. No. Sorry. I’m sorry.

Nancy Norbeck [00:28:59]:
No. It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure that

Autumn Carolynn [00:29:02]:
We yeah. All the 60 people did interview, but it was just the 5 names that at the end, they counted. Okay. And then that went through. Wow.

Nancy Norbeck [00:29:13]:
Yeah. So The whole thing almost sounds like a reality TV show. Yeah. You know? It really does.

Autumn Carolynn [00:29:21]:
It was really I feel really lucky and blessed. Because it was just I didn’t think that that would be what would happen.

Nancy Norbeck [00:29:30]:
Right. So,

Autumn Carolynn [00:29:32]:
so I flew oh, sorry.

Nancy Norbeck [00:29:34]:
Oh, I was just gonna say, I think it’s worth mentioning for a second for people who don’t know that it is really hard to move to another country since you mentioned everything that you had to do and set aside and and all of that. It’s it’s not easy. You know? People like to say, like, oh, if you don’t like it here, just leave. It’s it’s not like moving from, you know, Pennsylvania to Vermont. Mhmm. It’s not that easy. Even to visit Australia, you know, they’re you have to even as an American, you have to fill out a little sort of visa ish thing before you go. It’s cheap, but you have to do it.

Nancy Norbeck [00:30:13]:
And then, basically, when you get there, it’s, good day. Welcome. Come spend all your money. What are you leaving? Uh-huh. You know? It’s essentially how you’re greeted at the airport. They Yeah. Wanna know exactly when you are shoving off. Yeah.

Nancy Norbeck [00:30:28]:
So, you know, they’re they’re very fussy about that.

Autumn Carolynn [00:30:31]:
Yeah. There’s a lot of hoops that you have to go through when it comes to, working and being able to find a position that, you know, you can be able to work, but then also, get paid and have it be like a program. And and it it for this particular program, it was only for those who had just graduated within a certain time frame. So because I had graduated from college, I only had the certain amount of years that I could be able to take this program. So not being able to do that was kind of like, that’s just how it goes. You just don’t

Nancy Norbeck [00:31:16]:
Yeah.

Autumn Carolynn [00:31:17]:
So that was really it was very scary.

Nancy Norbeck [00:31:19]:
I was Yeah.

Autumn Carolynn [00:31:20]:
Honestly, really worried.

Nancy Norbeck [00:31:22]:
Yeah. And as an added bonus, if you’re as as an American citizen working somewhere else, you still get to pay taxes to The United States, even though you didn’t earn the money here. And if you decide that you’re going to become a citizen of another country, they will pre bill you for all the tax money that you are not earning here for the rest of your life. Fun things you’d probably didn’t know about taxes as an American citizen. Anyway, please carry on from where I interrupted you. How you know?

Autumn Carolynn [00:31:57]:
But when I was a flight attendant, they one year from the day, I was able to go back to or I was able to go to Australia. It was a hundred and $20 round trip. I just had to pay for the international fees. And when I went there, I was able to go bungee jumping. I bungee jumped off of, like, from up above, like, 17 stories and, like, went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and did all of these exciting things that I had always wanted to do. And it was just kind of like everything came to a full circle because I was able to look back on making that decision and then having it be the one year anniversary of of letting the 1 way ticket go through and then being able to be on a plane and having it be, like, a hundred and $20 for the entire thing and saying this was the right choice. Like, I’m really happy I listened to the intuition. And so, yeah.

Autumn Carolynn [00:33:06]:
So that was really fun. Yeah. It came back

Nancy Norbeck [00:33:09]:
to you in its way.

Autumn Carolynn [00:33:11]:
It did. Yeah. So I was a flight attendant for a few years, and then I, I met my husband. I got married, and then I quit because he got a job at a different state, and so we moved. And it was also at a time that flight attendants, it’s it is a dream job. It is also very hard. Yeah. And it is something that you don’t realize how hard it is on your body and waking up in a different time zone every day and going to sleep and not realizing where you are.

Autumn Carolynn [00:33:51]:
And then, you know, when I would leave, my animals would be so confused because I’d be home, and then all of a sudden I’d be packing up and leaving. And, and then I also got hurt on the line. I was helping a woman with a bag, and she was she was telling me that well, she was she I don’t believe that she spoke English, and I was trying to tell her that I can’t lift the bag because I have a herniated disc in my back. But I can assist her. And so I was saying I can help you, but I can’t lift it. And so this bag was so heavy. It was the heaviest bag. So I’m helping her rehab it up above our heads, and then she lets go of her side completely.

Autumn Carolynn [00:34:43]:
And it goes straight onto me. It, like, goes my back gets all messed up, and then it, like, falls onto the floor. And instantly, I, like, felt that crunch. You know? And I’m like, this is gonna be really bad. And I was out for months. I had to go through physical training. And I had after that happened, it was just like, yeah. This is not gonna be good.

Autumn Carolynn [00:35:11]:
So just little things like that where it all added up. And, you know, when when we move to a different state, I know technically you can deadhead and you can go and fly to your hub. But when you are flying for eleven days straight and you are constantly on the go, it is so tiring to be having to do a commuting from a different state away. It just adds on time there.

Nancy Norbeck [00:35:41]:
Mhmm.

Autumn Carolynn [00:35:42]:
That was kind of my my time that I knew that I was going to to depart. So I said goodbye, and then I became a travel agent. And I started using all the different places that I went to and booking it for other people. And I also used those discounts to be able to go to places like Machu Picchu and, go on these amazing excursions and then bring my camera with me, while that was happening as well. So I still stayed with the travel theme. And so we were gone, and lived in, in a different state for a few years, and then he got a job back in Minnesota. And guess who moved back here? And that’s how we ended up back here.

Nancy Norbeck [00:36:38]:
Wow. Yeah. I think I think flight attendants do not get anywhere near enough credit for what a tough gig that is. I mean, even just from what I’ve seen on planes with difficult passengers and, you know, my undying gratitude for flight attendants who have dealt with situations, you know, cleanly and easily, not not always to the happiness of other people on the plane, but, you know, is there a problem here? This is how it’s gonna go. And yeah. Just I I don’t know. I mean and maybe it’s maybe it’s worse now just because people seem to be fussier now. But, you know, maybe it’s not on every flight, and maybe it is.

Nancy Norbeck [00:37:34]:
But, you know, it’s gotta be tough when you’re dealing with a lot of that all the time. Mhmm. And I knew a guy fifteen, twenty years ago who had been a flight attendant, and I remember him talking about, you know, how to handle a drunk passenger. And, you know, pouring them the drink that has way less alcohol in it than they think it does because you do not want them getting any drunker, you know, and all all of that kind of stuff. I mean, you you must end up with phenomenal people management skills after that, whether you want them or not.

Autumn Carolynn [00:38:10]:
Thank you. Yeah. You do learn a lot of different I don’t know if you would say talents or tasks, but I’ve, you know, I’ve kind of had to learn how to how to handle what happens when someone starts seizing. I had a passenger have 2 medical medically induced or 2 seizures that happened, and we had to do an emergency landing, onto onto an airport, and the paramedics had to had to come and get him. And he was, you know, blue, and it was, I mean, it was really scary because his wife was there, and she was crying. And I still remember everything because it was like that training just put it instantly in my mind of, like, I have to do this, this, this, this. And there’s not even any time for you to think of what do I do next. It’s just you instantly, you know, focus on it, and you just get it done because that’s your priority is to make sure that everyone is okay.

Autumn Carolynn [00:39:20]:
But then you have other instances where, you know, I was we were going into Detroit, and there are 2 passengers in first class who were fighting over 2 presidential candidates, and they were really getting into it. And it, like, got physical, and then I had to restrain. And the Detroit police got involved, and I had to give a witness statement. And so you have different aspects of that where you’re you’re just trying to figure out, you know, what to do to make sure everyone is safe on their flights. But sometimes things happen, and you just have no clue that they’re gonna happen until they do, and then you just have to handle it when it comes to you, which I think has been kind of a really interesting way to think. So if you are looking for friends, try and find friends who are flight attendants. Because maybe they might be good in intense situations. I don’t know.

Nancy Norbeck [00:40:29]:
We certainly know how to handle the unexpected.

Autumn Carolynn [00:40:32]:
Yeah. Yeah. It it was weird. There were some really weird, strange stories that I’ve got. But I bet. Yeah. So, yeah. So then we moved back to Minnesota.

Autumn Carolynn [00:40:45]:
I became a travel design manager, and I was creating, trips for corporations around the globe, for them to use as incentive packages, for them to hit their quotas. And that was a really fun and exciting job, but then the pandemic hit. And a lot of travel, people got laid off, and I was 1 of them. And so I kind of had this, free time to do whatever I wanted, and I didn’t quite know what to do with it. But I knew I had a closet full of photography that no one had ever seen. And I had journals of just entries of funny, weird stories that have happened throughout these 30, you know, these 30 countries that I went to. And I started when I was 22, and then I end when I’m 30. And so I started to create this idea of having a bit a small business that would sell my photography.

Autumn Carolynn [00:41:53]:
And then this earlier this year, I came out with a book, traveling in wonder. And so each chapter is about a different country, and it also includes the photography in the, in the book as well. So it’s just something that has been a really fun and creative process throughout all the years. And it’s interesting how it all comes together in the end, and you don’t realize it as you’re going through all these different careers that are in photography and travel and, you know, funny funny stories when you’re studying abroad. But then when you come out of it and, you know, all these pictures that I took, that you that are in the book and on my website, none of them were really for anyone to have in their house as, like, canvases. They were really just, for enjoyment. And so now it’s been just a really fun joy to be able to watch photography that I’ve taken over the years become something for someone else

Nancy Norbeck [00:43:05]:
Mhmm.

Autumn Carolynn [00:43:05]:
Where they want to be able to have it in in their house or, you know, on a luggage tag or in a calendar that they want to have. So it’s it’s been really fun.

Nancy Norbeck [00:43:17]:
It’s really cool too to be able to pull it all together that way and see it as a whole. I bet that there were surprises for it for you in that when you were putting it all together.

Autumn Carolynn [00:43:28]:
Yes. There have been a lot of surprises along the way. I had to learn how to start my own art business and basically learn, you know, how to start a website and what does that mean to do a website and what is SEO and how do you you start a blog and social media tactics, things like this that I really didn’t know that much about and pricing and sales and also with making sure that the main focus is the number 1 thing is to be creative in it because that’s what was the whole driving factor of it in the first place. So I think it has been a lot of challenges, but I think it’s been really fun as well. And I I this actually today, I, earlier today, I’ve been working on a course that I just started, selling that it’s, how to establish your own art business. And so it kind of, like, takes people through what it’s like to create, and use the pieces that you’re creating and then establish it into a business so that way it can become profitable for you. So, yeah, it’s just been it’s been really fun to watch it all come together for sure.

Nancy Norbeck [00:44:51]:
Yeah. Well, and I’m curious too because, you know, since you include the word wonder in the title of the book, wonder is the thing that really fascinates me because I think that, you know, we think about it a lot like with kids at Disney World, you know, seeing Mickey Mouse in front of them for the first time or watching fireworks or something like that. And I I think we kind of lose touch with wonder as adults, and I put awe and wonder largely in the same category. But I’m I’m wondering, like, what what how has wonder influenced your photography, and and how did it kind of come together in the book?

Autumn Carolynn [00:45:30]:
Yes. So it’s actually funny because traveling in wonder, this phrase, I came up with when I was, like, 18. I had this blog on Tumblr, and it was traveling in wonder, twirling in grace, and it was like this quote that I thought of. And, you know, when I was writing in my and doing all these journal entries in my Word document, I kept on thinking like, oh, I bet you that that I think traveling in London is gonna be a really good title for this. It feels like this is, like, the right thing. And then it felt like I was, like, able to talk to, like, you know, my 18, 19 year old self and be like, look at what, you know, your thing is now on a book. Like, you’re oh, like, you know, you thought of this when you were younger. Now it’s, like, coming to fruition, which is really amazing to to see that.

Autumn Carolynn [00:46:28]:
But throughout all of it, I think wonder is kind of seen in everything because I didn’t quite know what the end goal would always be in these in each chapter. I didn’t really think that I would always be a flight attendant forever. I never really thought that I would be a travel agent forever or travel design manager. And I you know, studying abroad was always something that I knew was gonna be a certain amount of time. So in each of these entries, I always think of it as, well, this might be the end of my time being able to travel because I never know what’s gonna happen. So I’m just gonna try and do as much as I can now to see what I can and experience it because I don’t know what could happen in the future.

Nancy Norbeck [00:47:19]:
Mhmm. So

Autumn Carolynn [00:47:20]:
I think that kind of made wonder that much more important to me because I think also on a different aspect of it, my mom has, she has macular degeneration. And so she’s, like, she’s legally blind, and she is her eyesight is getting worse and worse, and I know that it’s genetic. And so it is something that when I was younger I mean, she was diagnosed when I was really young, and I always had this idea that, you know, I don’t know what could happen to my you know, I don’t know what can happen to me. I don’t know what could end up happening. So I just wanna see everything while I can now. I wanna be able to live in this because I want to be able to have these experiences, and I want, you know, I want my mom to be able to see what I have done through my images and videos because, you know, she doesn’t travel. She’s, you know, she’s she’s not really 1 to travel as much and, you know, she’s just kind of she, yeah, is a little afraid of it. And so to me, it’s just like, if I can be able to bring that to her and be able to, like, talk about these things and tell her all these funny stories, maybe that can, like, bring her some kind of joy.

Autumn Carolynn [00:48:55]:
So that way you know, just things like that that you don’t really think about until, when push comes to shove and you’re like, wow. Things could change very quickly, and you don’t even realize it until it’s already has changed. And I just I think that was you know, there are many different factors, but, those are just a few of them.

Nancy Norbeck [00:49:17]:
Yeah. And I think you’ve made you’ve raised a really good point, which is, you know, when when I was a kid, what I heard a lot was that, you know, you should save all of the big traveling for, like, when you were retired. You know? You should you should go to work, do your job, and save up your money so that you had the money to do that. And that’s basically what my grandparents did. You know? They were taking all of their trips in retirement, and and that was my parents’ plan. And I remember and I don’t I don’t think I was much more than maybe 12 or 13, you know, sitting there thinking, y’all knew you could be hit by a bus tomorrow. Right? Like, you don’t know if you’re gonna be here then. Like, obviously, grandma and grandpa, okay, they they made it.

Nancy Norbeck [00:50:05]:
You know, they can go and do all this stuff now, but anything could happen. And my dad now has mobility issues. So the kind of stuff that my grandparents were doing, they’ve they did some of it, fortunately, but, you know, not to the degree that I think they expected to be able to do. And I sort of think that that’s why I didn’t get any pushback when I declared that I was going to New Zealand and Australia in 02/17, because I was like, I’m going now because I know I can. Yeah. You know? Like, I I don’t think you should put that stuff off because life is short, and you don’t know how long you’re gonna have. And so, you know, do it while you know you can. Don’t do it to the point where you end up in abject poverty.

Nancy Norbeck [00:50:52]:
You know? Be smart about it. But but do it while you know you’re able to so that you don’t end up regretting it later because you never got the chance.

Autumn Carolynn [00:51:02]:
I agree. You give me goosebumps.

Nancy Norbeck [00:51:08]:
I I just I I don’t know. I don’t know that I was necessarily a particularly wise 12 or 13 year old. It was just kind of obvious to me that that didn’t really make a whole lot of logical sense, you know, but I obviously wasn’t gonna tell people older than me that that sounded stupid. But but, yeah, I would never tell anybody to put that stuff off. Mhmm. Mhmm. I agree. Yeah.

Nancy Norbeck [00:51:36]:
Great. So another thing that I’m wondering about and that I often ask people who’ve traveled a lot on this show, But it might be a I I don’t know if this is gonna be an easy question for you because travel has really permeated everything you’ve done, but I’m I’m curious to know what you think about the connection between travel and creativity and how it influences creativity.

Autumn Carolynn [00:51:59]:
I feel like I when I am traveling, I feel I am at my peak at creativity 100% to me because that’s when I don’t have to think about, okay. I have this schedule today, and then tomorrow, I have this, and I have to prep for this, and then I’ve gotta do that. In the moment when I’m traveling, I am able to just be there. I have my camera with me. It’s almost like this nostalgic factor of, like, alright, girl. Like, you’ve done this, you know, however many times. You’re gonna do it again. Like, you have your thing.

Autumn Carolynn [00:52:41]:
You know how to do it. You you take your time. You take, you know, some time to shoot, and then you take a break, and you take some time to be in the moment without being behind the camera so that way you can soak it up with your own eyes. And I think it’s something now that, you know, with writing and with journaling as you’re traveling, it means a lot to me because I can feel way more in tune with myself. On the flip side of that as well, because I know a lot of people say, well, I can’t travel. I don’t have the money or I or I don’t have the mobility. You know, same with my mom. She has mobility issues as well now.

Autumn Carolynn [00:53:29]:
And so, she’s not able to do that either. And I think even if you are not able to go to a different country and explore a different place, I always think of just going to a different town or just going to a new grocery store that you’ve never been to before. Some place that’s around that you’ve not explored. You can still be creative in it because it’s something that’s new and exciting to you that you’ve not experienced before. You’re able to take pictures. You’re able to journal. You’re able to write about what you smell and what you see and, you know, what you taste and, you know, the different things that you feel and stopping and pausing and being in that moment. I think that’s what I think that’s why I keep going back to it because it is something that forces me to stop in where I am.

Nancy Norbeck [00:54:29]:
Yeah. That’s a great point. And and the you know, checking out things nearby that you haven’t been to before is a great suggestion too. And I think a lot of us probably started doing that during pandemic lockdown because we couldn’t we couldn’t really go anywhere else. So I’m gonna go outside and go for a walk because I’ve spent too much time in my own house, but I’m gonna drive to a neighborhood I’ve never been to before, and I’m gonna take a walk there. You know, it can be that simple just to to go see something different and new. You’re absolutely right. For those who suddenly feel a little bit more inclined to travel, having listened to this interview, do you have any words of wisdom?

Autumn Carolynn [00:55:14]:
I would say to go. If you are thinking about traveling, go while you can. To remember to be financially responsible about it. But in that way, to save up and to even if it’s just purchasing a plane ticket and having that goal of saying, okay. I’m gonna go in one year. And I purchased my tickets. I don’t have a hotel. I don’t have anything else booked, but I purchased this ticket.

Autumn Carolynn [00:55:48]:
So I’m gonna be good about saving everything until then. And and then, you know, being strict about it. But I think for those who aren’t able to travel, still being able to go to places that you’ve never been before. I just think experiencing something that’s new, putting yourself in a different position that you’ve not been before, and kind of stretching through your comfort zone is really important because you can have experiences that you would have never had before if you wanted to have taken the chance. And I think taking that chance and taking that risk, it may be scary and maybe, you know, starting off going to a new place that you’ve never been before that’s closer to home and then building up that courageousness to be able to start, exploring a different state by yourself or exploring a different country. I think it’s a process, but I think that sticking true to it and and being able to do it when you get through and when you’re when you’re in it, you’re gonna feel so much better that you did it than if you were to just stay home and not do it. That’s that’s kind of how I feel.

Nancy Norbeck [00:57:14]:
Sounds good to me.

Autumn Carolynn [00:57:16]:
Thanks.

Nancy Norbeck [00:57:18]:
And I think that’s a a great note to end on. So Thanks. Thanks so much for coming in and sharing all of this with us today. I think this was just like for a travel nut like me, it was great to talk to somebody else who’s who’s done all of this, and I hope that it inspires more people to get out and see more parts of the world.

Autumn Carolynn [00:57:39]:
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on. And is it okay if I do a plug about my book?

Nancy Norbeck [00:57:47]:
Yeah. And we’ll put a link to it in the show notes too.

Autumn Carolynn [00:57:50]:
Okay. Thank you. So traveling in wonder is on my website, www.autumncarolynn, and it’s carolynn with2 Ns, .com. And I’m on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, all the fun stuff at Autumn Carolyn Photography.

Nancy Norbeck [00:58:09]:
We’ll have all that in the show notes too. So

Autumn Carolynn [00:58:11]:
Thank you so much.

Nancy Norbeck [00:58:13]:
Go check out Carolynn’s work. It’s gorgeous, so you definitely wanna take a look.

Autumn Carolynn [00:58:17]:
Thank you.

Nancy Norbeck [00:58:18]:
You’re welcome. That’s our show. Thanks so much to Autumn Carolynn and to you for listening. You can find links to Autumn’s book and socials in the show notes. Please leave a review for this episode. You’ll find a link in your podcast app, so it is really easy and will only take a minute. If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend. Thank you so much.

Nancy Norbeck [00:58:43]:
If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.