Hosted by Joanna Filmer

Transformational Travel Educator and Lifelong Explorer

What if midlife wasn’t a crisis… but a calling?

This podcast is for women who are ready to step out of the roles they’ve outgrown and into the adventure of rediscovering who they truly are.

Hosted by Joanna Filmer, each episode is a journey into the heart of midlife reinvention. Through raw reflections, soulful conversations, and powerful stories from women around the world, you’ll explore how travel, transitions, and truth-telling can transform your life from the inside out.

Whether you’re longing for your first solo trip, dreaming of leaving behind “shoulds” and starting fresh, or simply seeking inspiration to reclaim your voice—this is your space.

✨ Come for the stories.
✨ Stay for the sisterhood.
✨ Leave feeling inspired.

Tune In; 

Watch the latest podcast edition. 

EP1.

Welcome to Butterfly Journeys: Midlife Adventures

This podcast is about courage and reinvention in midlife, told through the power of travel. I believe travel is the most powerful tool for transformation — it helps us awaken, emerge, journey, and evolve.

In this short trailer, I share my philosophy, The Midlife Butterfly Effect™, and why midlife isn’t the end, in fact it is the beginning of your best chapter yet!

EP2.

Embracing Uncertainty in Midlife

What happens when you trade  a successful law career in the Netherlands for a life of freedom, nature, and sisterhood in Spain?

In this inspiring conversation, Gwen shares how she followed her intuition, moved her family to the Spanish countryside, and eventually launched Chica Travel, a boutique travel company for women in midlife.

We talk about:

✨The courage to embrace uncertainty

✨Building soul-sister connections abroad

✨How travel fuels reinvention in midlife

✨Advice for women ready to take their own leap

Whether you’re dreaming of moving abroad, starting over, or simply craving more “me time,” this episode will remind you that it’s never too late to reinvent your life.

Beyond her personal story, Gwen now helps other women create their own unforgettable experiences through her boutique company, Chica Travel.

 
Each trip combines:
✨ Charming hand-picked accommodations
✨ Hidden-gem restaurants and local flavors
✨ Time for relaxation, reflection, and connection
✨ Rich cultural experiences — from villages and vineyards to coastal escapes
✨ A sisterhood of like-minded women to share it all with

Every detail is tested and chosen with care, so you can arrive, exhale, and feel at home while exploring the beauty and joy of Spain. Whether you crave rest, adventure, or simply a glass of wine in the sun — Gwen makes sure your experience is unforgettable.

Check out Gwen's upcoming tours:

https://chica-travel.com/our-trips/

Use the code MIDLIFE to receive a 10% discount on Chica Travel tours

🌍 Follow Gwen’s Chica Travel:
📸Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/chicatravel_

📘Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/chicatravel

🌐Website
https://chica-travel.com/

EP3.

Trusting the Leap

When everything fell apart, Gina did something bold — she booked a one-way ticket to Paris for her 40th birthday.

What began as escape became a powerful rite of passage. From heartbreak to healing, from Egypt to Bali, Gina shares how travel helped her rebuild her confidence, reconnect to joy, and eventually create Wanderlust Solo Women Tours, guiding other women to do the same.

In this conversation we explore:
🌍 How travel can be the ultimate reset in midlife
💔 Turning heartbreak into empowerment
💫 Why group tours do count as solo travel
🧭 The courage it takes to trust the leap

This episode is your reminder that courage doesn’t wait — it begins the moment you decide to trust the leap.

Check out Gina's Upcoming tours https://wanderlustsolowomentours.com/retreats-and-tours/

🎁 Use code MIDLIFE for a special community discount on any 2026 tour or retreat.

🌍 Follow Gina Wanderlust Travel:
📸Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/wanderlust_momentum/

📘Facebook:

Wanderlust Solo Travel Tribe-Women’s Travel Empowerment | Facebook

🌐 Website:
https://wanderlustsolowomentours.com

EP4.

What’s the Worst That Can Happen?

When her long legal career came to a sudden halt during COVID, Heather found herself at a crossroads. Instead of retreating, she asked a simple question that has guided her ever since: “What’s the worst that can happen?”

That question led her from the courtroom to the Sahara — and into a new life built around freedom, connection, and travel. From Bhutan to Morocco, Heather shares how stepping into the unknown helped her rediscover herself and create Moroccan Escapes, a boutique travel company designing meaningful journeys for women in midlife.

In this conversation we explore:
🏜️ How travel creates the space to rediscover who you are
💫 Starting again after a long career
🧭 The power of curiosity and courage in midlife
👭 Why community and connection matter when we travel

This episode is a reminder that freedom often begins with one simple question — what’s the worst that can happen?

👉 Explore upcoming journeys:
Small Group Tours in Morocco | Moroccan Escapes

Members of Solo Sister Travel in Midlife receive an exclusive discount on 2026 tours — just use code MIDLIFE when you book.

🌍 Follow Heather at Moroccan Escapes:

📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/moroccan_escapes/

📘 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/moroccanescapestravel

🌐 Website:
www.moroccanescapes.com.au

EP5.

Burnout, healing, and rediscovering freedom through travel 

In this inspiring midlife conversation, I sit down with Tammie Day, founder and CEO of Vibrant Women Homestay & Travel, to explore what happens when burnout leads to breakthrough — and how creating time for yourself can reignite self-trust, courage, and joy.

From social worker to travel entrepreneur, Tammie shares how healing her nervous system through yoga helped her rediscover what truly mattered — and how travel became her way to support women in doing the same.

In this episode:

✨ Finding clarity after burnout — the importance of slowing down
✨ The healing power of travel and how to start again in midlife
✨ Creating community and safety for women through her new Vibrant Women Homestay platform
✨ Why time for self is where freedom of mind begins

Whether you’re craving a reset, dreaming of travel, or simply needing a reminder to trust yourself again, this conversation will leave you feeling inspired and ready for your next chapter.

👉 Explore Tammie's upcoming tours:
https://vibrantwomentravel.com/tours

 Special Offer for Solo Sister Travel in Midlife Members
Use the code MIDLIFEBUTTERFLY to receive $100 off any Vibrant Women Tour or Retreat.

🌍 Follow Tammie at Vibrant Women Travel:

📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/vibrantwomenhomestayandtravel

📘 Facebook:
Vibrant Women Travel

🌐 Website:
https://vibrantwomentravel.com

EP.6

Courage, Intuition, and Following Your Heart in Midlife

In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Tracey, founder of Follow Your Heart Travel, to explore what it really means to reinvent yourself in midlife — and how listening to your intuition can lead you to the life, the country, and the version of yourself you were always meant for.

From humanitarian work in the Philippines, to life on the Greek islands, to finding a soul-home in Morocco, Tracey’s story is a reminder that it’s never too late to begin again — and that courage grows every time we choose ourselves.

In this episode:

✨ How living across the world shaped Tracey’s resilience, adaptability, and courage
✨ Why Morocco became her place of grounding and belonging
✨ The power of intuition and why it becomes louder in midlife
✨ Creating meaningful, culturally respectful travel experiences for women
✨ Why following your heart is never a mistake — even when it leads somewhere unexpected

Whether you’re dreaming of travel, craving a life reset, or simply needing the encouragement to trust yourself again, this conversation will inspire you to take your next brave step.

👉 Explore Tracey's upcoming tours:
https://followyourhearttours.com/signature-trips/

Special Offer for Solo Sister Travel in Midlife Members
Use the code MIDLIFE to receive your discount.

🌍 Follow Tracey at Follow Your Heart Travel:

📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fyhtravel

📘 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/fyhtravel

🌐 Website:
https://followyourhearttours.com/

EP.7

Becoming Brave at 50: The Real Journey Begins When You Choose Yourself 

Pamela turned 50 and made a decision many women only dream about — she sold almost everything she owned, stepped out of her old life, and began a brand-new one through solo travel.

She believed travel would “fix” everything. Instead, she discovered something far more important: True change begins when you finally choose yourself.

In this beautiful and authentic conversation, Pamela shares:

✨Why she left at 50

✨The fear and freedom of starting over ✨Becoming brave in Guatemala

✨The pain of loneliness vs the beauty of chosen solitude

✨What travel can heal, and what always comes with you

✨How Hong Kong became her hardest and most transformative season

✨Scuba diving for the first time at 53

✨And the moment she realised she was stronger than she ever knew

This episode is for every midlife woman standing at the threshold of her next chapter.

📥 Receive your free Midlife Reawakening Guide Sign up to the newsletter to get your copy: https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/mailing-list-opt-in

🦋 Follow the journey: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themidlifebutterfly?

Join the Solo Sister Travel in Midlife FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/solosistertravelover50/

🎧 Listen to more episodes of Butterfly Journeys: Midlife Adventures:

https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/podcast

About Pamela🦋

Pamela Grant is a life-long educator, traveller, and the voice behind The Analog Nomad. A teacher of dance and English across Canada, Guatemala, Tanzania and Hong Kong, she now blends online teaching with house-sitting and long-term travel.

As a late-to-life nomad and mother of three adult children, Pamela shares honest stories about courage, reinvention and choosing yourself at any age.

🔗 Follow Pamela:

https://theanalognomad.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/ms.pamela.grant/

https://www.facebook.com/pamela.grant.392986

EP.8

Why Not Me? Choosing Adventure, Creativity & Confidence in Midlife

Pamdiana Jones set off on what was meant to be a three-month trip in her twenties.
It accidentally turned into three years of solo travel and quietly shaped the rest of her life.

Decades later, in midlife, she made another brave decision.
She chose to write her story and say yes to a new creative chapter.

This conversation isn’t just about travel.
It’s about intuition, resilience, curiosity, and the moment a woman stops asking “Is it too late?” and starts asking “Why not me?”

In this powerful episode, Pamdiana shares:
✨ How a three-month trip became three years of solo travel
✨ Trusting intuition before phones, maps, or apps existed
✨ Why most people in the world are good
✨ Coming home and realising you’ve outgrown your old life
✨ Navigating illness, uncertainty, and midlife perspective shifts
✨ Why curiosity and spontaneity are essential for a meaningful life
✨ Saying yes to becoming an author in midlife

This episode is for every woman standing at the edge of her next chapter and wondering what’s possible now.

📥 Receive your free Midlife Reawakening Guide
Sign up to the newsletter to get your copy:
https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/mailing-list-opt-in

🦋 Follow the journey:
📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/themidlifebutterfly

👥 Join the Solo Sister Travel in Midlife Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/solosistertravelover50/

🎧 Listen to more episodes of Butterfly Journeys: Midlife Adventures:
https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/podcast

About Pamdiana 🦋
Pamdiana Jones is an author and lifelong traveller who writes about her accidental international adventures with humour, honesty, and heart. Through storytelling, she shares the joy, awkwardness, and growth that come from following wanderlust and learning along the way.

Find Pamdiana here:
https://pamdianajones.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pamdianajones
https://www.instagram.com/pamdianajones/
https://www.tiktok.com/@PamdianaJones

EP.9

Why Not Me?
A Year of Showing Up Without Knowing. A Midlife Reflection

As I say goodbye to 2025, I wanted to share a quiet reflection from inside my unplanned year.

At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know where I would end up, where I would go, when I might make it home to Australia, or what challenges I would face.

What came through again and again was showing up for myself, even when I had no plan.

This reflection is for women in midlife who find themselves in between chapters. When the old patterns stop working. When certainty feels out of reach. When something is shifting, even if you don’t yet have words for it.

We’re often taught that not knowing is something to fix. But at this stage of life, not knowing can be a purposeful and empowering place to be.

This is a reflection on curiosity, movement, travel, learning, and the quiet courage it takes to keep showing up for yourself, even when you don’t know where you’re going yet.

If you’re in a similar space, then welcome. We are on this journey together.

🔗 Connect with me here

🦋 Follow the journey:
https://www.facebook.com/joanna.filmer.1

🦋 Follow the journey:
📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/themidlifebutterfly

👥 Join the Solo Sister Travel in Midlife Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/solosistertravelover50/

🎧 Listen to more episodes of Butterfly Journeys: Midlife Adventures:
https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/podcast 

EP10.

Let’s Not Play Small: Divorce, Courage, and Becoming a Solo Nomad at 56

What happens when a woman realises that no one is coming to save her?

In this episode, I’m joined by author and long term solo traveller Dawn Ritter Fischer, whose reinvention began after divorce, fear, and the quiet unraveling so many women experience in midlife.

We talk about:
✨letting go of fear and judgment
✨loneliness, and how it moves through us
✨solo travel as a path to self trust and self sufficiency
✨sisterhood found across cultures
✨listening to intuition, even when it leads you away from expectations
✨why it’s always okay to leave what no longer fits

Dawn shares stories from Belize, Morocco, Argentina, the Camino de Santiago, and India, along with the deeper lessons that came from movement, being still, and learning to trust herself again.

This conversation is not about escape.
It’s about courage.
And the small steps that change everything.

If you’re standing at a threshold in midlife, this episode is for you.

📥 Receive your free Midlife Reawakening Guide
Sign up to the newsletter to get your copy:
Join My Mailing List

🦋 Connect & continue the conversation:

👥 Join the Solo Sister Travel in Midlife Facebook Group:
/ solosistertravelover50

🎧 Listen to more episodes of Butterfly Journeys: Midlife Adventures:
https://www.midlifebutterflies.com/podcast

About Dawn
Dawn Ritter Fischer is an author and long-term solo traveller who has spent the past seven years living nomadically around the world. After divorcing in midlife and taking early retirement at 56, she chose an unconventional path, travelling solo across multiple continents and learning to trust herself in unfamiliar places. Her book, Let’s Not Play Small, explores courage, loneliness, self-trust, and reinvention through the lens of solo travel.

Find Dawn here:
https://www.instagram.com/letsnotplaysmall
https://www.facebook.com/dawn.ritterfischer

Dawn's Book:
'Let’s Not Play Small '
🛒 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPCM1R1D

Watch the Midlife Butterfly, as seen on....