In this inspiring episode of EPIC Begins with One Step Forward, host Zander Sprague welcomes solo travel coach and global citizen and storyteller Tsvety Roo. From leaving behind a corporate life to living in 22 countries and counting, Tsvety shares the empowering truth about traveling alone – and thriving while doing it. Whether you’re a seasoned adventurer or just dreaming of your first solo trip, this conversation dives deep into conquering loneliness, making meaningful connections, and embracing the unknown. Learn practical solo travel tips, hear unforgettable travel stories, and discover how “not yet” can be one of the most powerful phrases in your journey. Packed with wisdom, laughter, and honest moments, this is a must-listen for anyone ready to step into their epic life – one bold, brave step at a time.
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From Cubicle To Global Citizen: An Epic Leap With Tsvety Roo
Solo Travel Coach Tsvety Roo
I am so excited to welcome Tsvety Roo to the show. Tsvety, tell us who you are and what you do.
Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor. You pronounced my name perfectly.
Thank you.
Huge kudos to that, Tsvety Roo. It’s a little tricky of spelling. I’m a solo traveler. I’m a podcaster, public speaker, and a global storyteller, if that’s even a job title. With my background, I’m also a creative person too. For many years, I was a graphic designer. I lived in New York City, San Diego, and Detroit, Michigan is where I grew up. I know what it’s like to follow a traditional path and to have the corporate 9:00 to 5:00 job. I know what it’s like to take steps off the corporate path. We can get into that. I’m sure.
A few, a few years ago, I made the bold decision to leave behind the expected and take one epic big step towards the unknown. Since then, I’ve lived in 22 countries. I have visited 37 countries in my entire lifetime. I built a life grounded in creativity, intention, and mostly courage. It takes some bravery to do the living that I’m doing. My passion is to help others begin their solo travel journeys. I offer one-on-one coaching and tips, and I tell my story all in the mission to help others get inspired and to have their own sustainable, enriching experiences. That’s my goal. I’m living proof of it.
That is awesome. Yes, I definitely want to get into the solo travel thing. I think that’s huge, but it can be really hard to do solo travel. There are so many things. I’ve been fortunate to travel and see many places in the world myself. Some of it as a solo traveler, and there are times that it’s awesome. There are also times where it’s not so awesome, where it’s a little more challenging.
Going On A Solo Travel
It can be. I want to start off with just the definition of solo travel to set the groundwork. It helps most people to understand. When I say solo travel, I don’t just mean that you’re traveling solo for in your car for three hours to go see your best friend down the road, like in a new city. No, it’s not so much that type of solo travel. It’s more than you’re going to, let’s say a day trip. It’s a deliberate intention to spend time by yourself.
Maybe it’s a new city, maybe you’re taking a day trip, maybe it’s a whole new country, but it’s mostly to a place where you don’t have someone else, where you don’t have contacts, where you’re forced to spend time alone to explore something new. A new country, a new culture, and explore in that sense. What I found out explore different parts of yourself too. It’s not going so much from the comfort of your home to then the comfort of your best friend’s house.
No, absolutely. When you said it, in my mind, it’s like, “I’m going someplace all by myself and it’s just me. I’ve got to figure out where I’m staying, where I’m eating, what I want to visit.” Also, some of the often fun, but sometimes scary, meetings with new people. Like, “Here I am. I’m going to be in this place, not just for a day or two, but I’m planning to stay here for a week, two weeks, a month, whatever. I’d like to meet local people.”
That does take a bit, for most people, to step out of your comfort zone. I need to talk to someone who doesn’t know me, but I need to find out. Again, I was fortunate to travel in places by myself, and I met incredible people. That’s in part because I’m an extrovert, and I’m like, “I want to talk to people. I need people to talk to. I want people to go come explore with me.” Like we’re both visiting. I’ll take one of my experiences was in the Cook Islands with Rohingya back in the last century.
I don’t want to date myself. I wanted to go see stuff, but I’m a social person, so I’m like, “Does someone else going to visit this historical site or something? Who’s at the hostel or the hotel I’m at? Do you want to come with me, and we’ll both visit it together?” Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s all part of that epic adventure.
That’s exactly it. There are three things that I learned over the course of this travel and having this lifestyle. One being that we can talk more about being comfortable in your own company by yourself, and not really having to always fill your moments with talking to people, with doing something with people. Just being able to sit with your own thoughts, which is super scary for so many people, especially, I would say I’m also an extrovert, so we can relate to that.
It’s tough. It was solo travel because you spend a lot of time by yourself. You tend to find out about yourself. You discover yourself a little bit better in this journey. That’s one of the things. I can talk about that, like figuring out solitude and how empowering that can be. The other thing is meeting new friends, what you just alluded to, or making these deep connections that were so surprising for me. I just had no idea that if I put myself in the situation where I am alone and I don’t have the friends or the partner or somebody to just constantly turn to, that means that I’m opening up myself to make those connections.
Solo travel allows you to spend a lot of time alone so you can discover yourself a little bit better.
That’s the first step. I had a mind shift of saying, “You know what? I’m going to try to start those conversations like you did.” You wanted to have someone to go with. You said, “I’m going to start that conversation. It is a mental challenge and it’s a mental shift.” I’m here to tell you that the majority of the time, I don’t know the exact statistic, but I’m saying 90% of the time, people are very open to responding back.
We’re looking for a connection. If someone else starts the conversation, there’s the invitation, and they’re like, “Yes, definitely.”
If you’re traveling there together, they’re also coming from a different location or a different country. You have that in common that you’re both visiting. It works. You just start off the conversation super easily. Like maybe, “Where are you from? Did you just arrive here?” I have started so many stories. I’ve started conversations outside of a bathroom on an airplane. I started a conversation just waiting for the bathroom on the flight. It’s a long flight. Somehow ended up becoming close friends with the girl that we were just chit-chatting and we had some similar stories.
She was from Greece. I was born in Bulgaria. It just ended up being close friends from there. I’ve started most recently a conversation just being on the beach in Thailand because there was no shade or minimal shade on this beautiful beach, but the sun was so hot. It was just burning my skin. I had SPF probably 50 on, and I said, “I cannot take this. This is too hard for me.” I ended up seeing a woman, and I just went up to her and I said, “Do you mind sharing your shade?”
Exactly. It is those moments where maybe you need something, and it is a great icebreaker because it’s not necessarily invasive. It’s like, “The face of the sun out here. I just cannot stand it.” I absolutely get that. It was back in my university days. I took a semester in Australia, and I was traveling around Tasmania on my spring break. I was on the airplane, and I ran into this woman who was very nice.
She was sitting in the seat next to me. I was talking and she goes, “If you ever get out to X, Y, Z, look me up.” Like, “Yeah. I had no idea where I was going.” I was over by I believe it was Nelson National Park or something like that. Anyway, I was out there. I was staying at a bed and breakfast, and I’d been there for a day. I came down in the morning, and the proprietor of this was actually above a bar, but I was going down there for breakfast, and she’s like, “You’re in trouble.”
I’m like, “What’d I do?” What it was is perhaps I’m a little memorable, Australia is a tiny place. People talk. I was in this woman’s town, but I did. I was like, “Yeah. I’ll look you up,” but I just honestly didn’t remember. I didn’t have the piece of paper where she said she was from, and I just didn’t connect it. She’s like, “You met this person and they’re upset with you because you’re here and didn’t call them.” I’m like, “My God.”
I called her up and I’m like, “Look, this is Zander. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” She’s like, “If you’d let me know, you could have stayed with me.” I’m like, “Look, don’t be mad. I’m sorry.” I didn’t realize that in Australia, if someone says, like, if you’re into, they do mean it. They’re going to be a little offended if they find out that you’re there and you didn’t call them. Whereas here in the United States, we’ll say that.
I mean it. If someone’s like, “ I’m in the San Francisco Bay area.” I’m like, “Give me a call.” I’m not like, “This is cool.” Some people, you say it in the moment, but then you’re at home, you’re living your life, and then you’re like, “Yeah. Oh, sure. Wow.” Sometimes you’re just not available. You’re like, “Sorry, I’m busy. I cannot see you. I’m sorry.” Anyway, that all started from a plane conversation. I didn’t like getting in trouble for not calling her, but it turned out that we had a great time.
Yes. On planes at the airport during layovers, sometimes, there are so many opportunities. If people are a little bit more on the shire, maybe they’re not like us entirely, just starting conversations.
Solo travel gives you many opportunities to start conversations and create connections.
This is probably not the way because we’re all like, “We’re totally in Korea. Let’s talk to people.” Some people are like, “Yeah, no.”
Exactly. I have a lot of friends who would just shake their heads at me. They’re just like they would never do any of the things that I have started conversations. Thankfully, nowadays, they are groups, for example, every time I go to a new city, especially in Europe, there are walking tours that you can join, and they’re free. All you have to do at the end is just do like a tip, like $10 to $20 or something. They’re like an hour or two. I’ve met people when I did a walking tour in Lisbon or when I was in Finland in Helsinki. I try to do a walking tour. I just did 1, 2 in Singapore.
That must have been humid.
It was very humid, but I really liked Singapore. I don’t mind hot weather. I’m such a beach, hot weather person. I like it. I don’t mind the extreme temperatures. I like snow.
Except for the beach in Thailand, where it was too hot.
I was there for three hours. After three hours, I feel like anybody will melt.
Totally.
I love the extreme temperatures. I’m not one of those people that loves the 50s temperature just like the rainy, doesn’t know what its identity is, that type of thing. You’re either cold or you’re hot. For the people that are a little bit on the Shire, you can go to those walking tours. Also, I met people wine tasting. I signed up for a wine tasting event and I met, funny enough, an Australian through that. I was wine tasting in Spain, and she’s Australian. She lives there.
We have become such close friends, and this happened two years ago, and now we’re inseparable. We were just basically drunkity drunk at this wine event. I then told her I was traveling to Greece and just invited her after meeting for a day because I felt such a strong connection. After ten hours spending together and a lot of these stories may seem a little crazy, and people that know me now are not fazed by it, but it’s just you being vulnerable with strangers. I mean, not dumping all of your trauma on them.
No, but again, being open to honestly saying hello.
Yes.
It is, honestly, everyone, it is that easy. Hi. Hello. How are you? Maybe you want to make a comment about the weather. “Will this torrential rain ever stop?” Anything like that. Seriously. I’ve been places where it’s like raining so hard. Yes, you could talk about the weather. You could start off talking about the weather. If someone wants to talk to you, they will. My experience is that people are looking for connection, especially when you’re on vacation, you’ve stepped out of your normal life.
You’re like, “All right.” You do meet cool people, but it does require someone to say hello. Again, if someone doesn’t reciprocate or they shut you down or whatever, you’ll know quickly and you’ll just be like, “That’s fine.” Here’s the thing. You’re no worse off than before you said hello. “I’m still alone right now. I’m still or whatever. I’m still here.” I’m not like, “I said hello and it got worse.”
Also, there’s a sense about that you probably won’t see this person ever again.
Why do you care if they, if they don’t talk to you, don’t take it personally, because we all have that time where it’s for whatever reason, it’s that hello, it’s not the right time. People are like, “They were so rude.” Sometimes people are really rude, but I try and keep in mind, I don’t know what else is going on for them.
Exactly. You don’t have to read a whole lot of social cues and observe these people for a long time. If they respond quickly and have things on their mind, you can see that. You just leave them alone.
You don’t know later on, let’s say you’re wherever you’re staying, hostel or whatever, A couple of hours later, the next day, they may go, “I’m sorry.” They say hello back to you. Now you have another opportunity.
I’ve also noticed that, because I do thorough research for solo travel, it’s important as a female, especially as a woman from a safety perspective, that I do my research about the countries that I go to and the neighborhoods. I also research gluten-free bakeries. I’m gluten-free. It’s just that I do a lot of homework, and I read reviews and everything.
If you also approach somebody who, let’s say, you’re at a restaurant and say something like, “There’s a gluten-free bakery. I know that we’re in a gluten-free restaurant,” so you’re offering information to them. That’s cool too, because that’s a value. They’re saying like, usually all the time they’re super grateful, like, “I haven’t heard about that place that wasn’t on my Google Maps.” That’s also a way to start a conversation.
That’s one way I started a conversation in Spain with an Italian couple. I met them at a gluten-free little bakery, and then we ended up exchanging numbers, of course, and Instagram. It was all because you were offering something that you’ve already researched. You’ve already done the homework, and you’re just like, “We’re in a situation with these people who could use this information to probably.
Tips For Solo Traveling
Absolutely. Two different questions. I’ll ask the first one, that I’ll ask the second one. The first one is what are like, 2 or 3 tips that you would offer people who want to go do some solo travel?
This is good. I would say first, think about the destination that you’ve always wanted to go to. It’s not, don’t just go, because everyone else is going to a certain place, but be passionate about this specific place. It’s that way, this is something that you’re looking forward to for so long. You have good intentions towards it. Don’t just follow the pack and say like, “Everyone else went to Barbados, so I’m going to go,” when you’re picking these places. Let’s say if you’re struggling with loneliness, don’t let that be your deterrent to go.
If you are struggling with loneliness, do not let that be your deterrent to go on a solo trip.
What happened with me is that I was very lonely before I started this whole lifestyle and adventure, and I decided to just, “I’m going to take loneliness with me. It’s going to be another checked bag that I’m going to just carry with me.” It ended up transforming. Don’t think that you have to be in a good place in your life to book a solo adventure. I feel like a lot of people are putting it off. They don’t want to go alone because then they’re just like, “I don’t know if I have the finances. I don’t know if I have this.”
It’s all part of your epic journey.
Maybe you’re the destination you want to go to is super affordable. You just got to look into it and then open your world to “Maybe I don’t need an infinity pool at my next location.”
It’s what I talk about in the book, epic does begin with one step forward, and people’s epics all the time. Someday I’d like to go to Barcelona, Barbados, Singapore, or Thailand, whatever. You want to know what? Tomorrow never comes. It’s always today. It’s like, if you make that decision, and you put thought and you create structure for “I’d like to go here,” you do your research, “Here’s how much it’s going to cost me.” Now I have a goal to save the money. “I know what I’m doing. I need to have this much money.” The other thing is, if you’ve been fortunate to travel before, you might have an idea of what you’re comfortable with.
For example, when I was traveling through Australia, New Zealand, and stuff while I was studying and after I got done studying, I discovered that although I stayed in some youth hostels, those really aren’t my jam. Some people love youth hostels, and they are very affordable. I just felt like I was open to having my stuff possibly stolen. It never was, but possibly because it’s like I always was trying to figure out where they’re like, don’t walk around with your passport and your plane tickets, but I certainly wasn’t leaving it in my bag in a youth hostel, unsecured. I’m like, “No, I’m carrying it with me.”
The great thing is that now there are so many alternatives.
There are absolutely.
There are so many.
There are airbnbs, there’s and breakfasts.
Apologies to interrupt you, but I discovered the homestays. I did homestays in Bali, which I didn’t know much about. What homestays for your readers are generally the family, it’s like a property, and they have, let’s say, 3 to 6 separate rooms with bathrooms. You have your privacy there with your own room and bathroom. What they do is the family stays on the property.
They have their own house that’s right there in the courtyard, and the kids are running around, and the roosters and the chickens and everything. It’s so much more affordable that way, too, but you still have your room and your private bathroom. You still can lock it up. It was very educational for me when I went to Bali that way, because not only are you exposed to the locals as part of you’re seeing how they’re living because they’re literally right door. Also, you have your own space, and it’s affordable.
Homestays expose you to locals while having your own affordable space.
My point was to understand, like when you’re traveling, where you feel your comfort is. As you said, just because everyone’s going to Barbados doesn’t mean that’s your dream place to go. Maybe like you talked about, you’re like, “I don’t like the beach and I don’t like heat.” Maybe you want to go to Norway or someplace.
In the mountains.
Tsvety’s Top Epic Destinations
The other question I have for you is, because I love talking about and sharing epic destinations, places that I’ve been, that I’m like, “That’s so cool.” Having gone to 30-plus countries now, and this can be hard for you. What would you say are your top 2 or 3 epic destinations?
I love that you said 2 or 3.
No. That’s why I’m like, there’s no way. I couldn’t do one.
I love this. First one that pops to mind, I just went to Thailand and I did the South and the North. The South is where everyone talks about Phuket and the beaches, and it’s from the famous Leonardo DiCaprio movie. The beach. That’s a lot of it. There’s there it’s filmed there. I liked it, but I loved the northern part of Thailand, which was Chiang Mai. I spent some time there, and I even went to Pai, which is a smaller hippie town. I love the northern part of Thailand because it is just so authentic with its culture. I saw Buddhist monks walking around to a point where there was a Buddhist monk, and he had this amazing orange bag. I was like, “I want that bag.” I ended up finding it.
That’s awesome.
I love Thai food. The food was incredible in the northern part of Thailand. The people were so nice and relaxed. It was great. I highly recommend it. Coming from there, I’d say South Africa is another one.
I love South Africa. I’ve been fortunate to go there a few times, and yes, South Africa is phenomenal.
Cape Town is out of this world.
It is.
It offers so much. There’s Table Mountain. You can just hike up and go and have this gorgeous view of the city. I particularly am. I love wineries, hence why I go to wine tastings.
Isn’t it that they’ve got a good wine country up there?
There are places like Franschhoek and Stellenbosch that are in South Africa where the stunning wineries you can do wine tours. I feel like I’m selling the country hard, but it is beautiful.
I sell it hard to trust me. I love Cape Town. I’ve been fortunate to go on Safari and being able to see these wild animals and frankly get much closer than you might even feel comfortable. You’re like, “There are lions.” They’re like five feet away from me, and they don’t care.
Again, the food. I’m a foodie. It’s so fresh. The fruits are incredible. The fruit and veggies. I feel like a testament to a country’s culture is through the food. That’s why Anthony Bourdain is back, rest his soul. That was why he was also so popular, because he was introducing a lot of those countries through their culinary heritage. I’d say my third one is Finland. I liked Finland. I went there during their midsummer celebrations.
I spent two weeks there about two years ago. Finland is a Nordic European country, but it’s not Scandinavian, which a lot of people think it is. I was told by the Finns. “We are not part of Scandinavia. We’re Northern Europe, but we’re not Scandinavian.” They also speak a very different language than Sweden and Norway. I thought that their culture was super cool. I’ve also met a lot of other Finns, like Finnish people, while traveling too.
I met one in Thailand, and I made a great friend in Porto, Portugal, when I was there. We met in the square, and we were both surrounded by construction, and I randomly turned to her and had never met her before. We’re in the middle of the square, and I was like, “Are you also looking for like a brunch place?” Five hours later, we were like best friends.
That’s awesome.
She’s from Finland. I feel like they’re really down-to-earth people. They don’t beat around the bush. I like that. Like direct wholesome people. I’d say those three are my top.
Tsvety’s ‘Not Yet’ Destinations
I absolutely agree. I’ve not made it to Chiang Mai yet, but I did go to Ko Samui and had a good friend who was from Thailand. I cannot recommend South Africa enough. Yes, it is a long way to get there, but it is so worth the trip. The people are so incredibly warm and friendly, and there is so much beauty. That country is spectacular to be able to travel around. One last thing. I cannot wait for your answer. In my book, I talk about two really powerful words, not yet. When it comes to travel, what are 1 or 2 of your not-yet destinations, places that you want to go to, but have you gone there? Not yet. It’s not that you’re not going to, but not yet.
This one is an easy one. I was supposed to go to Vietnam while I was just in Thailand. I think the universe had other plans. There’s also something about that I’ve learned over the last two and a half years of solo traveling, or so, that you have to follow the signs if in your intuition and if things aren’t aligning. In this case, for Vietnam, I completely missed that I had to get the visas.
In Thailand, you don’t need a visa for Bali. I was just like plopping around. All of a sudden, I got to the airport and they’re like, “Where’s your visa?” I’m like, “What do you mean?” That was the complete dud on my part. I was like, “Okay.” I got the visa, and I did the slower one. I stayed a little bit longer in Chiang Mai. I was going from Chiang Mai to Vietnam.
Finally, I get back to the airport. I was like, “No big deal. I’m going to stay longer in Thailand. I already love it. This is fine.” I get to the airport on that Friday, five days later, I have my visa ready. Great. I had a connecting flight in Bangkok. It was delayed. It was delayed so much that I missed my layover in Vietnam. I’m like, “This is strike number two again.”
It kept going bad, worse and worse. I couldn’t find the next. I definitely had to stay the night in Bangkok, which was also not an issue. I liked Bangkok. The days kept minimizing for my time in Vietnam. I said, “It’s not worth it for me to go to Vietnam for just two days.” At this point, I lost five days in Chiang Mai.
Getting the visa.
Exactly. All of this stuff. It wasn’t meant to be. Vietnam is still on my to-do list. It just wasn’t supposed to happen this year.
I get that. Yes, especially when you’re traveling, listen to your gut. I just had some fabulous women a couple of weeks ago on my podcast, and they’re all talking about listening to your own intuition and to your gut. Look, folks, there are hundreds of thousands of not a million years of our own evolution where our bot like we survived and got here because people listened to their gut, “That looks dangerous. That doesn’t look safe. I shouldn’t do it.” In this day and age, where we’re overwhelmed by so much input, we don’t necessarily listen to that as much.
When you’re away from all of that, listen to it. If something doesn’t feel right, actually pay attention to it. Now look, sometimes it doesn’t feel right because you’re scared. You talked about if you were more introverted, like, “I’m scared to say hello.” Sometimes we push through that but there’s other times where you’re like, enough signs are like, “I don’t think I’m supposed to go right now.” There’s enough signs coming up. One thing. “I didn’t have a visa. No problem.” Now, as you said, “It’s not my time.” I think that’s really great advice.
It was the delay. The next flight wasn’t until the next day. They just kept on and on with all of these signs. Like, “I cannot ignore these.” This is when you’re supposed to say, “I’m going to be flexible.”
Get In Touch With Tsvety
Not yet. “I’m not supposed to go yet.” Anyway, Tsvety, I want to thank you so much. Such a fascinating conversation. Quickly, the time goes by when two extroverted travelers like, “My God.”
Yes, I know we’re very giddy. We have to do this again.
Thank you so very much. If people want to learn more about solo travel, they’d like some help with that. How can they get hold of you?
Please, I’m on Instagram @TsvetyRoo. I have my website, TsvetyRoo.com. The spelling is a little tricky for my first name, TsvetyRoo.com. On there, it’s a one-on-one session. We can chat. I can help through that initially. That’s the scary part. As you said, it begins with one step, is that’s just taking that step is the scariest part. I can relate. I was there in your shoes. If you think you are too old, I am 39 years old. You are not. I can tell you.
I will tell you, you’re never too old. My mom, who’s going to be 85 at the end of June, got back from a safari down in Brazil in the largest wetlands. She was looking at all kinds of wildlife, and Jaguars.
85.
She’s out there and she’s like, “Look, if I can do it, I’m going to because I know at some point I’m not going to be able to travel anymore.” You are never too old. You just have to have the will and be brave.
I know that a lot of people think solo travelers are in their early twenties, and you’re going to feel old out there, and all this stuff. Let me be a testament. Yes, there are a lot of twenty-somethings like you were saying, when you went to Australia, but there are also a lot of us. I’ve met a great woman on a train in Germany, and she was 65, and she had her husband pass away and so she was alone. She said, “I wanted to visit Germany and Switzerland.” She booked the flight, and she did, and she’s 65 and she didn’t join like a group thing. She’s like, “I think I’m going to be okay.” I’m like, “Yes, you are.”
Absolutely. Tsvety, thank you so very much for joining me. Truly an epic conversation. I want to remind everyone that if you’re ready to begin your epic journey, go to EpicBegins.com. As always, remember, epic choices lead to the epic life that you want.
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About Tsvety Roo
Hello! I’m Tsvety Roo, a digital nomad and solo traveler on a mission to explore the growing issue of loneliness and the challenges of self-discovery in today’s fast-paced world.
My journey started when I made the bold decision to leave behind a well-established career at a NYC agency, embrace minimalism, and become a nomad.
For the past two years, I’ve been living without a permanent home, exploring 22 countries and visiting 37, all while learning how solo travel can lead to deeper connections with others and a more meaningful relationship with oneself.
Through my own transformation, I’ll share how I broke free from the isolation many of us feel, stuck in situations where we think we have no choice but to stay. By making the uncomfortable—and often scary—decision to travel alone, I was surprised by the heartfelt connections I made along the way—connections that changed my life.
I’m excited to share my story with as many people as possible, in the hope that it inspires others to step out of their comfort zones and embrace the adventure of self-discovery through solo travel.