Meet Barbara: An Inspiring Blogger Who Traveled to Cuba With Us

In our bi-monthly profile series, we’ve introduced you to our founder, members of our international staff, and cool grassroots projects. This week, we’re excited to introduce you to someone who is not technically part of the Discover Corps family, but who we’re now proud to call one of our own.

Her name is Barbara Weibel, and she’s the mind behind the popular travel blog Hole in the Donut.

Barbara’s Story

If you’ve ever thought it’s too late to make a change, just look at Barbara for inspiration.

For her entire life, she’d worked in a series of unfulfilling jobs.

As she writes on her blog: “I never loved what I did and I can’t really say I was ever really happy, but I plodded on because I was raised to be dependable, to always give 110%, and to work hard in order to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. All of which meant going to work every day, regardless of how much I despised my job.”

Sound familiar? She kept going, wondering if there was more to life. “I knew there had to be something better out there,” she says. “I just didn’t know what it was.” Then she got sick — so sick that she could barely get out of bed. She was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, and though it was a difficult time for her, it was important. Because it was her illness that motivated her to finally change her life.

[bctt tweet=”Ever feel empty on the inside? Let @holeinthedonut inspire you –> “]

 “I was like a donut – a wonderful outer shell with an empty, hollow inside,” she explains. “I could no longer ignore the need to feel that I was living a purposeful life. I needed to fill the hole in my donut.”

So she asked herself what brought her joy. The answer? Travel, writing, and photography. Once she felt strong enough, she set off on a six-month round-the-world trip. She eventually sold all of her stuff and has now been traveling full-time since 2009.

She chronicles it all on her blog: the destinations she visits, the people she meets, the crazy things that happen to her, and “the never-ending spiritual lessons that come from travel.”

A Review of Her Trip to Cuba with Discover Corps

We know a Discover Corps traveler when we see one, so we invited Barbara to join us for our inaugural cultural trip to Cuba in April. It was a meaningful and exhilarating trip — one that we won’t soon forget. We loved having Barbara along, and she calls it “one of the best tours” she’s ever taken.

You can read Barbara’s review of her Discover Corps trip to Cuba in these fascinating blog posts:

• The Cuban Embargo, Through the Eyes of Cubans
• Paladars: Changing the Face of Cuban Cuisine
• The Art of Cuban Culture
• Cuban Music, A Spiritual Experience

And you can also click here to see a series of beautiful photos of Cuba.

We’re delighted to have Barbara as part of the Discover Corps family and hope you’ll start following her adventures on her fantastic blog.

[bctt tweet=”#Travel to #Cuba with us. Why @holeinthedonut calls it one of the best tours she’s ever taken:”]

Are you inspired by Barbara’s story? What questions do you have for her? (Or for us, about Cuba?)