Episode #203 | Eight Years In & Still Underway.

About this episode

Alison Gieschen discusses her eight-year journey sailing around the world, sharing insights on life at sea and the challenges faced along the way.

Eight years ago, Alison Gieschen and her husband — a merchant marine — made a deliberate decision most people never will. They planned a ten-year circumnavigation of the world and committed to it.Not on a whim. On purpose. In this episode, Alison joins me from a friend’s boat in Bora Bora — her own Wi-Fi wasn’t cooperating, and instead of forcing it, she chose not to intrude on the show. That alone tells you a lot about who she is. We talk about what life underway actually looks like — not the romantic highlight-reel version. From the reality that there’s no such thing as downtime on a boat, to one-hour dinghy rides and five-mile walks just to get groceries, to sailing through COVID when they could keep moving but no ports would let them in. We get into being stuck in Ireland with the pubs closed, why the sailing community is as tight as it is, her favorite place so far — the Corinth Canal — and the hardest places they’ve been and why. Alison also shares why documenting the journey through blogs and books matters, her love of scuba diving (including an upcoming trip diving with sharks), and yes… why she wanted a chicken as a pet — with a diaper — and why her husband shut that…

People in this episode

Host: Walt Blau

Guest: Alison Gieschen

Topics covered

• sailing
• commitment
• travel
• lifestyle
• COVID-19
• community

Keywords

• sailing
• circumnavigation
• Bora Bora
• COVID
• lifestyle
• scuba diving
• travel
• commitment

Sponsors

RishiClean

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Bora Bora, Ireland, Corinth Canal, merchant marine