Blogger spotlight: Beth Whitman

Beth Whitman has been traveling for almost 30 years, and has logged hundreds of thousands of miles around the world. She is the founder of editor of Wanderlust and Lipstick and WanderTours, a small-group adventure tour company. She also serves as the women’s travel columnist for Transitions Abroad, and was co-founder of the travel bloggers’ community fundraising organization, Passports with a Purpose. At last check, Beth was in the process of establishing a nonprofit, the WanderWorld Foundation, to support charities in the locations where WanderTours visit.

While we were exhausted just reading about Beth’s accomplishments, we are even more exhausted when we consider that right now, she is on the trip of a lifetime: a 220-mile, 25-day hike in the Himalayas (the hike is known as the Snowman Trek). This tromp often is referred to as one of the worlds toughest treks because of high altitude and difficult terrain. Many would be intimidated by such a challenge. But the indomitable Beth Whitman embraced it, prepared for it, and will surely conquer it.

Beth grew up in New Jersey and always dreamed of moving away from the city. She moved to Seattle, and, somewhere along the way, was “bitten by the travel bug,” as she likes to say. She hasn’t stopped since. We interviewed Beth on Road Trip Radio, where she gave us the inside scoop on some of her hair-raising adventures. Then we asked her some other questions to get to know her a little better.

Midlife Road Trip: What project or accomplishment do you consider to be the most significant in your career?

Beth Whitman: Leaving a really well-paying job to work in the travel industry. It’s hard to walk away from the golden handcuffs but I was so miserable. What I now lack in money I’ve made up in experiences and being surrounded by fantastic people.

MLRT: How would your friends describe you?

BW: Intense. Focused. Directed. Healthy. Short.

MLRT: If you could try any job for a day, what would it be?

BW: My dream job is to work at a coffee shop, pulling shots for people. “The usual today, Bob? Breve macchiato?”

MLRT: What would be the title of your autobiography?

BW: You Can’t Hit a Moving Target. (Don’t read too much into that, I wasn’t an abused kid or anything.)

MLRT: How/where did you celebrate your latest birthday?

BW: In Seattle, with a group of friends for a catered dinner at home. It was wonderful!

MLRT: Next to whom (famous or notable) would you most like to be stuck on a long flight?

BW: Um, Ewan McGregor.

MLRT: If you were to have the opportunity to live anywhere in the world, which place would you choose and why?

BW: That’s hard because I live in beautiful Seattle, in a perfect neighborhood. But sometimes I dream about Kauai. I’d love to have perfect weather every day so I could be outside all the time and have access to tropical fruit year round.

MLRT: What makes you laugh out loud?

BW: Cards Against Humanity and Jerry Seinfeld