5 Minutes With Betsy Wuebker, PassingThru.com

For McCool Travel’s 62nd travel profile, I am pleased to introduce you to Betsy Wuebker. Betsy and her husband Pete are full time travelers and in the midst of a 2 year long RTW (round the world) trip. They are currently in Darwin, Australia. I admire people who follow their dreams to travel around the world. She operates a travel website with a great name: Passing Thru.
Betsy’s bio:
“Betsy and Pete Wuebker are location independent entrepreneurs who live a simplified travel-centered life. Since 2008, they have built a variety of online businesses to provide their keys to happiness: travel, simplicity, and freedom. ”

Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com
Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com

Betsy Wuebker

Hometown…
Pete and I met in Minneapolis where we both lived for most of our lives. I was born and raised in Michigan. A couple of years ago before we began full time travel, we relocated to the island of Kaua’i in Hawai’i, and consider it our home now (although we’re really “homeless”).
Always in my luggage…
Our MacBooks (he has a Pro and I have an Air) and our iPads for reading.
3 favorite home-away-from-home places…

  • The North Shore area of Minnesota up by the Canadian border on Lake Superior. We love the Gunflint Trail which goes inland for 50 miles before ending in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness.
  • Interestingly, another North Shore, but this one’s on the island of Kaua’i, away from most of the tourists who tend to flock in the resorts around Poipu. We love the majestic Wainiha Valley west of Hanalei where we were blessed to live for a couple of years.
  • The Wuebker family cabin in Northern Minnesota is Pete’s favorite, with happy childhood memories and family traditions.

A favorite travel memory is…
We braved all the so-called odds and went to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. It was a terrific experience all around. We’re glad we didn’t listen to all the naysayers – a good lesson to keep in mind always.

Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com
Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com

3 favorite travel brands…
We’re really not brand people, unless it comes to technology, and then we’re Apple folks all the way.
3 money-saving travel tactics I use are…

  1. We collect hotel and airline points by utilizing branded credit cards for expenses, which makes many of our hotel stays and flights free.
  2. We leverage timeshare ownership by exchanging in areas we’d like to visit.
  3. We like shopping for fresh food at farmer’s markets wherever we are.

3 ways that I have fun while traveling are…

  1. We’re history buffs, so it’s imperative that we have a historical context and see things through the buffer of what has come before.
  2. We love eating and drinking in new places, so we generally seek out the watering holes and cafes where the locals hang out.
  3. And we’re avid people watchers wherever we are. We play a doppelgänger game called “Who Is It?” When one of us spots someone who looks like a famous person, we’ll whisper “who is it?” and then the other person has to look around and guess. Occasionally, we’re brave enough to approach the person. The last time we did this, Pete went over to this guy and said, “It’s an honor to be in the same bar as Chuck Norris!” and the guy’s friends just howled and confirmed he gets that all the time! Too fun.

8 word (or less) travel mantra…
“Do it now.”
favorite non-travel website…
Wow, with over two hundred in my reader, it’s hard to narrow it down. I’ll give a shout-out to Powerline Blog, I suppose. I’ve been reading them for a very long time.
most memorable souvenir…
As full-time travelers, we can’t spare the space for shopping and souvenirs, and because we’re homeless, we don’t have a place to keep them. But we do have a favorite memory of fishing for sea urchins and eating them fresh and raw with a Fijian family in Korotogo one evening, and then watching the sun go down. That’s the kind of souvenir you just can’t buy.
favorite cheap eat…
My new favorite here in Australia is the cob loaf. It’s what we’d call a bread bowl in the US. Filled with a creamy, cheesy dip with corn in it.
recent discovery…
Savusavu, Fiji was paradise on earth. Hard to beat.
I am fortunate to have met…
Years ago, when I was an exchange student in Norway, I happened to be at the Akershus fortress when the King drove up to lay memorial wreaths on the graves of his parents. There were very few people there, so he took the time to chat with everyone. Very unassuming man who drove his own Buick convertible. Now that I look back, what a crazy thing to have happen!
We both were fortunate to have been introduced (very briefly) to Lech Walesa at an event in Minneapolis years ago. Such an inspiring person who is proof an ordinary individual can have an extraordinary effect on the world.
I would like to meet…
Author David McCullough. We attended one of his lectures a while back and it seemed like history came alive from his prodigious research.

Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com
Betsy Wuebker and Pete Wuebker, PassingThru.com

Thank you very much, Betsy.
Follow Betsy and Passing Thru on FacebookTwitterInstagramGoogle+Pinterest, and Passing Thru.


Check out McCool Travel’s previous profilesMcCool Travel presents tips from travel experts in our 5 Minutes interview series—featuring travel industry giants, super frequent travelers, and adventurous persons. Previous 5 Minutes post: Bente Vold Klausen.


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20 thoughts on “5 Minutes With Betsy Wuebker, PassingThru.com”

  1. I love reading interviews of other travelers. I would love to find out more about how they use timeshares. It’s something I’ve considered getting into.

  2. It’s great to learn more about Betsy and Pete as I enjoy reading “Passing Thru” – I love those keys to happiness: travel, simplicity, and freedom!

  3. I also love hearing other traveller’s stories. We all do it for different reasons and in different ways, but we all have something in common. I particularly like Betsy’s mantra – ‘Do it now’. I believe that says it all.

  4. Thank you so much, Charles, for featuring us in your series. We’re glad to have kindled a friendship with you. 🙂

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