Hannah Cox - minimalist & adventurer who travelled 18,000 miles overland from the UK to Bhutan on a journey to discover happiness!

Hannah, is a 34-year-old creator, minimalist and adventurer living in Manchester, UK. Last year she got rid of everything she owned except what would fit in a carry on backpack. She travelled overland from the UK to Bhutan through eighteen countries with her partner Phil to document and discover what makes people happy. 

Hannah has scoliosis and deals with chronic pain, although she wears a permanent back brace, this does not stop her from getting out side and hiking on a regular basis. In her early twenties, she was £20,000 in debt and working in a stressful, badly paid job. Her Dad dying suddenly encouraged her to become debt free and focus on doing work with purpose that helps support other people. To date, she has travelled to forty-five different countries. 

Hannah is now back in the UK writing about her experiences at betternotstop.com. Hannah shares stories about how to enjoy everyday life through work, friendships, travel, and adventure. Hannah believes experiencing different countries and culture is a way to discover more about ourselves and how to make the world a better place.

During this podcast we focus on the expedition the ‘Road to Happiness’ and in Tough Girl Extra coming out on Thursday we focus on the money, how she got into the debt, the mistakes she made and how ultimately she turned it around by getting out of debt and saving £15,000 in a year to pay for the ‘Road to Happiness’ Expedition.

Show notes

• Being based in Manchester
• 34 year old, minimalist adventure
• Where the idea came from for the ‘Road to Happiness’ Expedition
• Being kept accountably for what she wanted to achieve
• Having no money and no idea how she was going to make it happen
• How she started to plan to turn her dream into a reality
• The visa machine
• Having to be flexible with the planning and how the idea evolved and anchored over time
• Dealing with a head injury that makes planning hard and having to put systems in place
• To do lists, Trello, Evernote and how they all work together
• Getting the date to leave and being delayed for a few months
• The run up to leaving and dealing with the imposter syndrome
• Packing for the trip while taking into account her chronic back pain
• Documenting the trip - trying to figure out the best way to do it
• Getting rid of everything she owned apart from what she carried on her back and a small suitcase she kept at her mums
• Starting to write a 3 part book series about the journey 
• The European part of the adventure and the moments that stand out
• Working in Europe on Organic farms
• Spending 6 weeks in Denmark!
• What happiness means to Hannah
• The correlation between money, time and happiness
• Being open to new experiences and why she’s much happier now than when she was in her twenties 
• Taking a short break from the trip and coming back to the UK for 3 weeks
• Attending an adventure conference and feeling like she wasn’t doing adventure right
• Why she loves to travel by train 
• The Trans-Siberian Express and being able to travel on the first train line in Cambodia
• Arriving in Bhutan after 10 months, crossing the land border from India into Bhutan and the difference
• The culture shock of being in Bhutan
• Wearing a back brace and the final stretch of the journey making it up the mountain to visit the Paro Taktsang monastery/‘Tigers Nest’ Monastery.
• What she learnt from going on this journey 
• The significance of her bee tattoo and why she got it 
• Why her blog is called better not stop
• Why there is no better time to take control of your life
• Starting to do monthly income reports and why talking about money in the adventure world is important

Social Media

Website - www.betternotstop.com

Support Hannah on Patreon

Instagram: @betternotstop

Facebook: @betternotstop