The Budget-Minded Traveler Podcast Has a New Name!

Episode #100 of The Budget-Minded Traveler podcast was quite a milestone in more than one way.

In this reflective solo episode, I celebrate the first 100 episodes of the show, share a story about something that happened recently that made me consider the podcast’s very existence, and announce and explain the new name for the show: JUMP with Traveling Jackie

If you missed it, listen below to hear the news and the full story behind the name change. Or if you’d prefer, you can read it! Scroll down to read the full (almost accurate) transcription of episode 100.

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You can still listen to all past and future episodes and browse past show notes on the podcast page here on this site or via your favorite podcast player, OR you can check out the podcast’s new home online here.

We have the same feed, so if you’re already subscribed, stay put! Not subscribed yet? Click here to choose a preferred player. 

Here’s to 100

When I uploaded this 100th episode and put it out to the world, I was suddenly overwhelmed with unexpected tears. I could’ve kept that moment to myself, but I know that this podcast affects so many more than just me.

Even though I record alone, it’s never been a solo project. This show has been life changing, for me, and for many of you, and I’m happy to take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge that. I’m not sure what the tears were. Accomplishment? Fear? Overwhelm? Gratitude? Reflection? So many feelings. 

Thank you so much for continuing to support me and my work, for showing up to travel with me to the ends of the earth, for listening to my podcast and reading my blogs. Without you, none of this would exist. What a moment. Here’s to 100 more.🍻

See what people are saying about the change.

Transcription of Episode 100

Please excuse any typos! 

My dear listeners, welcome to Episode 100 of The Budget-Minded Traveler podcast. I’ve so been looking forward to this, counting down, I told you it would be a milestone, and it is, and here we are. 100! Before we start, go get a drink, please, doesn’t matter what it is, although alcohol is preferred, just if you can, get a to drink, because there will be a toast later in this episode! 

100 episodes ago, I started this show off with a solo episode, just you and me, and I’m going to do the same thing today, I have some things I want to share with you, and a story to tell you, and I also have some pretty BIG news to announce regarding this podcast, which makes me a lot nervous, but, one thing I’ve learned through producing this podcast, through messages I get from you, is that I can be open with you guys and speak my truth, and experiment with new things, even when it’s scary, and you guys are still here, supporting me and the show and tuning in, which gives me so much confidence, this is definitely a two-way relationship we have here, regardless of the fact that I’m sitting alone in a room right now with my microphone, so, here we go…

I have a confession, a behind the scenes confession, I actually scripted out this episode today, because I have particular things I want to say in this important episode. Normally I don’t script, I definitely don’t script my conversations, and if I do script something, I’m pretty sure you can’t tell, at least, I like to think you can’t tell, but I’m just saying straight up this time, I definitely scripted this. Fun fact. But I’ll try to make you forget that now. 

When I started this podcast 4 and a half years ago, I had no real expectations, because I had no idea what it would end up looking like, if people would listen, if it would be “successful” whatever that means, if I would even like it or want to continue doing it, if it would be a bust, I just had no idea other than that I had things I wanted to teach and share about travel, I had something to say, and that was enough to get started. And I started it because people I respect and look up to, who have been in this industry much longer than I have, told me I should and that I’d be good at it. I just took their advice and figured it out. 

When you launch a podcast, there is a TON of stuff to do up front for it, like design cover art, an intro with music if you want it, come up with tags (title, subtitle, author info, etc) find an audio file host and set up the entire back end so you can have an actual feed, which is what you use to submit to iTunes and all the other places that feed should be syndicated, and I know I’ve already lost some of you just with that, then if you also want it to show up on your website, you need some sort of plugin to syndicate that feed to the blog pages, show notes, or wherever you decide to put it. Not to mention, you need to have a mic and recording software to be able to create the shows in the first place. And then if people like it and want more of it, you need to keep creating, editing, tagging, uploading, publishing, etc. It’s a lot of work. Especially when you are a one-woman show. I started without help, no editor, no setter upper of all the things, just my own determination to do a good job and two really good tutorials from people who have gone before me in the industry. 

And 100 episodes later, here we are. I have a story to tell you guys today, this episode, some of you might have noticed that it’s a little it late, and that’s because I’ve just been on a month long trip to Europe, and the day that I was supposed to record and publish this episode, episode episode 100 such a big deal, I found out that my podcast had disappeared from iTunes, I don’t know if you guys had even noticed that, it depends on of course where you listen to it, but I totally freaked out because it wasn’t there, and long story short, iTunes has change da few things in the way that they are now titling and subtitling shows, and a whole bunch of shows, including mine, got caught in the cross fire of that, and so I had to deal with all of that, but you know, I want to tell you this story because it really made me think about the timing of that happening, and my news that I’m about to announce on this show, and publishing episode 100, it really made me think about the life of the show, and I thought the timing was so coincidental, why would this happen on the day I’m supposed to publish episode 100.

I was sort of paralyzed by this for a minute, so right after that, I did get it sorted and the show was back up in a day or two, nothing was lost, everything is the same, it’s all fine and dandy and good, and you might not have noticed anything which is great. But it really challenged me to think about the show and where I wanted to go with it, and am I certain that I want to keep doing it, you guys know I’ve had breaks in the last couple of years, that I’ve taken a couple of breaks, and I always come back, because you guys are the ones who have always encouraged me to come back, I mean, your messages and comments are so incredible, and now that I’ve started leading my own group trips, and most of you guys who come on those trips are podcast listeners. It’s such an incredible thing to me to have this show and an audience like you who’s real and shows up to Patagonia and other corners of the world to travel with me, and it really made me realize, I really want to keep this show going, and so that’s why there was just a couple weeks of a break right there, because of course right after that I went into a super busy couple weeks of travel in Italy, and I’ll tell you about that in just a minute, but basically it helped me realize how important this show is to me, I know that it’s important to you. So thank you for expressing that to me, those of you who send me messages and leave positive reviews and reach out to me and comment on Instagram, thank you for that. Because you are the reason that this show will go on.

Before I continue, I have to point out that I realize this might be the first time you’re ever listening to this show, and that might be a strange time, I mean welcome, welcome to the podcast, it might be a strain episode to be listening to the first time though, so I would encourage you if this is your first time listening, to listen to some of the other shows maybe before you decide if you want to keep going or not, because this is a special episode, episode 100, it’s quite a milestone, and I want to take a minute to talk about some things, so I feel like this is sort of like a reflection over the last 100 episodes and where the show is going, so if this is your first time listening, I would invite you to keep an open mind while you’re listening to this episode, and then go check out some of the other ones, I’m going to mention a few other episodes within this show today so maybe you could start there, or even with 99, some of my favorite travelers were in that one, this is kind of a personal one, so thanks for bearing with me for listening through this, and by the way, I shouldn’t have told you this was scripted because the last 5 minutes was definitely not scripted. 

So recently, this show surpassed 1 million downloads, which is a milestone in itself, super awesome, and on the day that I found out that this show surpassed 1 million downloads, I shared a post about it on Instagram, and a lot of you guys reached out to me and commented, and that was so awesome for me, and as I’m reflecting on this show and sharing some stories, I hope you don’t mind if I share some of those comments, in honor of what this show has done since its inception, since that day when I had no expectations and had no idea what it was going to do, here are some of the things that you guys have to say about it, and I’m not going to share names, I’m just going to read these: 

I love your podcast!!! I learn something every time to make traveling a bit easier, packing easier or to have a better experience…and you’ve made some long drives go by faster. Thanks for all the info!

Thanks for letting us be apart of your journey…and thank you for helping me find the journey spirit when I needed it.

Well done and well deserved! Congrats! I always enjoy listening while on the bus train or plane somewhere new! Here’s to a million more! 

Awesome milestone Jackie! Glad you’ve stuck with it for this long – I know it’s a lot of work 

Congrats!!! I’ve always wanted to travel and your podcast really gave me that extra push to actually do it and now I finally got my passport!

FELICIDADES Jackie! You are such an inspiration and love love your podcast!! ❤️ You make the interviews so entertaining and your laugh is so contagious 

I am so glad I found your podcast! From the first episode, I felt like we were kindred spirits. Italian and Spanish majors unite!

Congratulations Jackie! The Budget Minded Traveler is my favorite podcast. I can tell you deeply care about spreading the wonder, magic and growth that can only come from traveling the world and opening oneself to new cultures, food and experiences. I appreciate you and can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and this impressive brand that you have created.

Best podcast ever!!! You are so inspiring and my travel goals keep increasing. Thank you for your work, it has changed my life 

You got this! Your podcast changed something in me and made me stronger 

I first listened to your podcast two years ago this fall. You helped me find the courage to solo travel internationally and change my life more than I could ever imagine. Thank you so much and PLEASE keep it coming

Congratulations! You gave wings to my dream of traveling. Always loved the idea but got the courage to do it every year now with my family. So THANK YOU for your time, stories, ideas, encouragement. Keep on traveling !!

Muchas felicidades Jackie!!! I love your podcast, it is THE BEST, thanks so much for all the work you put into recording it, editing it and getting awesome guests! And thanks for coming back from all your “podcasts breaks”!!! Thanks for all the traveling and life inspiration you give to so many people!!!

and finally:

Told you that you are a Super Granddaughter with good reason! Keep doing your thing! Love Gran 

you guys remember her from episode 48? Thanks Granny 🙂

From the bottom of my heart, thank you guys for saying that, it’s so encouraging to me to hear that coming from you, and that is exactly why we have episode 100 today and why we will have episode 101 coming up here. 

Another little secret here, and I don’t know if you guys ever saw this, but, my very first review on this podcast ever, meaning like four days into the show, was really mean spirited, and the guy who wrote it, actually I don’t know if it was a guy, was basically making fun of my voice, and I wanted to crawl under a table and never come out. 

I’m so glad I didn’t let that Troll put an end to all of this… this is a collective adventure. And I’m so glad that it has been able to transform and become what it is and produce comments like that, thank you guys. You guys are seriously the GREATEST. I can’t express that enough, all of these comments just make me say WOW, over and over. So thank you. 

Long time listeners know that my life hasn’t been a smooth ride throughout the life of this podcast, we’ve been through a few breaks and have worked through some changes, listen to episode 63 if you have no idea what I’m talking about. Since the start of this show, I completely changed my life, went full-time nomadic, started another blog TravelingJackie, and I’ve started organizing and leading my own trips as well, which is a long time dream come true for me, and if you’ve been on one of them, you have experienced the same magic of these group trips that I have, and that is something I want to continue doing. A lot of what I do for my work, and a lot of my life, has changed in huge ways since I started this show. Change is good, and I’m in a good place now, it’s just a different place than before.

5 years ago when I started BMT, I was super poor, but traveling a ton on the cheap, wanting to share with others all my secrets for how to make it happen, inviting guests on to share their secrets, and my overall goal was to inspire you and equip you with the practical tools you need to travel abroad sooner than later. I feel like I’ve done that. We’ve covered SO many topics in these first 100 episodes, if you have a question about logistics of travel, it’s probably answered somewhere.

And, this is where I get into my big news. No drumroll, actually there should be one but I’m not having Hayden edit this episode so, you can do your own drumroll for me right now, go…. 

I’m changing the name of the show. This will be the last episode with the title “ The Budget-Minded Traveler “, BUT, the show will go on. Starting with episode 101 it will be called… maybe this is where the drumroll should have been:

JUMP with Traveling Jackie

Since Day Zero, my goal has been to get you off your couch and into the world. Since Day Zero, I’ve been talking about taking the leap and making it happen. And, very fittingly, since I honestly can’t remember when, but very much prior to Day Zero, I’ve been doing my signature “JUMP” photos. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just go to travelingjackie.com/trips, and you’ll see at least like 6 of them. I used to do them alone, but now I get to do them with you guys when you travel with me, which is so super fun.

So, in a nutshell, JUMP, is meant to shake things up. It’s mean to inspire movement. Get up, take a leap, (take a literal leap with me if you come on one of my trips), just move, and make it happen. Go see the world, go for it. JUMP. I love the simplicity of it, I think it speaks to both men and women, and bonus, everyone knows how to spell it and I don’t have to point out that there is only 1 L in traveler. The tagline for JUMP is going to be Inward. Outward. Onward. and more of that will be explained further along as I develop more that’s going to happen under this name of Jump, which I’m not necessarily ready to share everything at this moment, but the idea is that travel is about yourself, self reflection, it’s about reaching out to those around you, and it’s about moving forward. So the theme of the show is fall under all of those things including all of the same great topics that we’ve already covered in the past, we’re going to continue with all of that as well, just under this new name. So like I said, there is more that I’ll be doing with this brand, with JUMP, down the line, most of which I’m not ready to announce yet. In fact, even just announcing this is scary, knowing that, I can’t change the numbers, 100 is coming, and I decided to do it at episode 100, and it’s here, and it’s scary, so thank you for allowing me to share this with you guys. 

I’m not ready to announce this yet either, but I’m going to anyway, because there will never be a perfect moment, so I’ll just go ahead and share that I’m also branding my trips to be called JUMP trips, and once I have a website and a logo for that, I’ll share more of all that with you. In that same one million downloads post on instagram that I was just talking about, one of you said “You’re a testimony to the power of taking action instead of trying to “learn and research” everything up front.” and I loved that, because I feel like a lot of what I do is exactly that. Entrepreneurship is a crazy arena. When you’re your own boss, there isn’t anyone to tell you what’s right and wrong for your next step, to reassure you that you’re doing the right thing, to give you direction, etc. I make all these decisions, and I feel responsible for a lot, a lot of people i.e. YOU, you guys look to me to keep creating and keep things moving, so it’s an intimidating arena to be in. I don’t want changing the name of the show to be a big deal, because it’s still my show, it’s still me, it’s still my content, but shaking it up and breathing new life into it is something I NEED to do with this show. I’ve actually been considering a change for a while, and it was either going to be a change of name, or stopping the show altogether, and I think I know what your vote is 😉 so let’s shake it up and move forward with a new name.

What can you expect with the new name? Well, pretty much the same things as before. Honestly. I’m still traveling, still interviewing people about subjects I find interesting that I think you’ll enjoy too, it’s still the same me asking the questions, and generally, it should still be the same travel-inspiring content you’ve been listening to for a hundred episodes now. 

About halfway through the life of the show I put out a listener survey, and one of the answers I kept getting for the question “what do you want to hear more of” was that you were interested in more of MY travels, because I’m constantly traveling, yet you’re constantly hearing stories from my guests, which is great, but I get it, you’re curious about what I’m doing too, and I loved that. I want to share more of that with you. 

I’m currently at home in Montana, which is going to be my home base going forward, I’m slowing down my nomadic travels a little bit. I just returned from a month long trip to Europe which was, half work half play. I started in Hamburg, visiting my German sister – she was a foreign exchange student in my house when I was a senior in high school, and we still keep in touch and try to see each other as often as we can. SO I was in Hamburg visiting her and her family, because she has 3 kids now, then I went to Berlin for a night, then Leipzig for a night to visit my friend Steph, you guys will remember her from way back in episode 17, then.. I went to Oktoberfest in Munich, for my 5th time in the last 10 years. You might also remember me talking about Oktoberfest in episode 14, some good news there, I’m actually going to record a new episode with my friend Anja, who is Bavarian, which pretty much means she’s an expert at Oktoberfest and beer, so we’re gonna get her on the show to talk about our recent experience there together, that’s coming up in the next couple episodes. After Munich I went to Switzerland for a week of cycling across the Swiss Alps with BikeTours.com, and my friend Carley came with me, I actually met her at a BMT meet up and she’s been to Ecuador, Jordan, and Patagonia with me now, and of course, Switzerland too! Super cool to be able to make connections and friends like that. SO, Carley and I also recorded an episode to chat about our experience cycling over the Alps, that’s coming up as well, and then finally, I went to Italy to attend my 4th Adventure Travel World Summit, so I spent 4 days in a little town in Tuscany called Montecatini Terme, and I also spent 4 days on the island of Elba, and finally I’m back home. It feels good to be here. This weekend I’m heading back down to Patagonia to lead my 3rd group trip down there, we’re spending 10 days trekking in Southern Patagonia, both Chile and Argentina, and I know magic will happen, I cannot. Wait.

So! My point is, I still have so much to share on this show, and most of all, I feel like this change will give a new energy to ME for producing this show, and you guys…. that’s important. 

So, let’s raise a glass to The Budget-Minded Traveler podcast, for kicking ass for as long as it has, and for the grace to make positive changes and move forward, as we all must do in life, here’s to JUMP – I sure hope you’ll take this leap with me.

I know that was cliche and I’m owning it.

Cheers!

Important housekeeping notes – the rest of The Budget-Minded Traveler brand will remain completely the same. It’s just the name of the podcast that is changing.

So the blog – thebudgetmindedtraveler.com, the community on FB, the Instagram account, everything else that is The Budget-Minded Traveler is still precisely the same. You can even still call the podcast by the same name if you want because the first 100 episodes will still show up as the budget-minded traveler.

Also, the feed of the podcast is still the same too, which, in normal speak, means there is absolutely nothing you have to do to keep listening, when a new episode comes out, it’ll show up in your feed (as long as you’re subscribed, which, you are right? If not, please hit that subscribe button), and then episodes will continue showing up for you like normal, they will just start showing up under the new name and artwork, but, it’s the same feed, the same me, or maybe it’s a new me, but either way, new name, that’s it. Onward we go. 

I would appreciate your feedback, I want to know what you want to hear more of going forward, I still want this to be a helpful and inspiring show, so feel free, always, to communicate with me. Instagram commenting is the easiest way to do that, so if you’re not already connected with me on Instagram, find me there @travelingjackie (with one l), and comment on a photo, because I respond to all those comments. 

Alright, I’ve been talking at you for 25 minutes now, thanks for letting me share all that with you, thanks for sticking with me for all this time, through the ups and downs and changes and adventures! Thanks for all your messages and “positive” reviews over the years, please keep them coming, they are the reason we are all still in this together, right this very second. And if you’re new here, well this might be a strange time to be new here, but welcome to my show. Please enjoy 100 episodes of The Budget-Minded Traveler and look forward to Jump with me.

Cheers again guys, thank you so much for being here, and here’s to moving forward into the hundreds and into…. JUMP