TOPIC – KEYNOTE
Saying Yes to the Unknown: Human Connection Across Borders
At 19 years old, Michelle stepped away from the version of life many American college students are expected to pursue and began building a life around uncertainty, travel, and saying yes to the unknown.
In this talk, she shares stories from 3 years of on and off solo travel through remote regions, unfamiliar cultures, and unpredictable situations where strangers often became family. Through moments of discomfort, risk, and complete uncertainty, Michelle reflects on the deep human connection that can emerge when you open yourself fully to the world and the people within it.
More than a collection of adventure stories, this talk explores what happens when you continually say yes to experiences, to people, to discomfort, and to the unknown, and how those choices can completely reshape the way you see fear, freedom, and humanity.
BIO
Michelle is a solo traveler from the U.S. whose travels revolve around overland routes, local immersion, and the kind of experiences that happen far outside of organized itineraries. While studying at the University of Wisconsin, she started realizing pretty quickly that the life she was supposed to want didn’t really make sense to her. Around the same time, doctors warned her that she was at high risk for retinal detachment and could potentially lose her vision in the future, something that deeply shifted her perspective on time, fear, and the way she wanted to live her life.
That realization eventually pushed her toward the unknown and into years of independent travel shaped by uncertainty, discomfort, and human connection. Over the past several years, Michelle has traveled extensively through remote parts of Asia and beyond, often prioritizing staying with locals, traveling overland, and spending extended time inside communities rather than moving quickly from place to place. Her travels have taken her through isolated mountain regions, difficult border crossings, and unpredictable situations that forced her to become comfortable with uncertainty.
What continues to draw her back to the road is not adrenaline or escape, but the people she meets along the way. Much of her travel has centered around shared meals, conversations across language barriers, staying with families, and discovering how quickly strangers can stop feeling like strangers. Her storytelling focuses less on “seeing the world” and more on what happens when you fully step into the unknown long enough for it to start feeling familiar.
At the Extraordinary Travel Festival, Michelle will share stories and reflections from years of solo travel as a 22 year old woman and explore how saying yes to uncertainty ultimately changed the way she sees fear, freedom, and human connection.