How to Travel and Perform All Over the World as a Poet: Stephanie James, “Just a Vessel,” Tells All
Stephanie James, “Just a Vessel,” is bringing the world together as a traveling poet and musician. Life is about who you know and who knows you. And that’s led her on quite the journey not only as a poet and singer, but also as a traveler and human being.
Stephanie worked a corporate job for eight years before getting to a place where she could quit and pursue her dream of traveling the world full-time. It wasn’t easy, of course. These things never are, right?
“When you take that leap of faith, you’re going to have people that are naysayers. You have to jump anyway,” Stephanie says. “Say what you want until you see what you said.” This is something she tells herself regularly, “because you have to really believe.”
And you can trust her word. She has made this life work for her. She went to 38 countries in 3 years. 2020 would’ve added another dozen or so but, of course, we all know why that couldn’t happen.
So how does this travel bug make this minimalistic, poetic traveler lifestyle work? Let’s dive in.
You have to plan ahead to be a travel poet
Actually, let’s let Stephanie explain this one:
“It’s really you figuring out what you want to do in addition. Like if you don’t have a publicist that’s putting you in shows and getting you enough money that you need to be where you are. You need to make substantial money. You also want to be saving while you’re doing all this and having fun.”
She continues, “determining what you want to do and how you are going to do it. If you want to work remotely, that’s fine, but what are your skill sets? As long as you have wifi, you can work anywhere. … There’s so many different avenues that people can take to do what they love and still eat.”
Overall, Stephanie says the strength is something within you. And if you want it enough, you’ll figure out how to make it happen. She also notes that people don’t always realize she did work for a corporation for eight years. She put aside that comfort to take her leap.
“You have to plan it,” she says. “It takes a lot of preparation, a lot of sacrifice.”
What exactly does planning look like for Stephanie?
The saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” But what that phrase leaves out is that you need to be able to plan ahead and be able to adapt on a whim.
Stephanie left for Ecuador in 2017 with her second album in hand and carried it with her to 38 countries. She had quit her job without another job lined up — something she does not recommend — sold her car, rented out her place, and took one backpack and one suitcase on the road. That’s where the minimalist side of her kicks in. She prefers to focus on the experiences, not the stuff.
Two months in, she spent her time in Ecuador and Chile searching for a job. When she got to Uruguay, she was able to find remote work in sales, her previous line of work. However, in order to be adaptable, she got a digital marketing certificate in case she ever needs to shift gears.
So how does travel and poetry work in this scenario?
“Everything involves people and networking and building a strong network around yourself,” she says.
Anywhere she went, Stephanie was searching for events on social media and through her connections or people she met in the new country. It sometimes took quite a bit of digging to find the right people to connect her with the poetry community in a new space, but she says it was always worth it. Those people she met are the connections she needs to be able to perform on new stages.
Something that was reassuring to hear Stephanie say is that “every country [she] visited, everybody was super friendly.” Which tells me, the supportive poetry family can be found anywhere. Those relationships she built are what allowed her to do international videos with local videographers and other creatives. She’s even been able to tap into the expat community to build relationships and even work with them on projects.
Bonus: Her experience performing abroad has allowed her to raise her prices too, while remaining humble about receiving donations rather than paychecks. She says, “It’s kind of cool to see the growth in yourself from doing stuff to get exposure to what you’re charging now and being on that bigger stage.”
How do you perform poetry in a country that doesn’t speak English?
According to Stephanie, it’s similar everywhere because “energy is energy.” She says that if it’s a warm environment, you’ll know and join in. And if it’s not, you’ll know and just keep moving and find somewhere else.
Sometimes people can’t speak English, so she is trying to keep practicing Spanish and hopes to learn her poems in Spanish. But she says sometimes people just love your delivery and your cadence, even if they don’t know what you’re saying.
Pop stars do this all the time, right?
Traveling can impact a poet’s pen
Traveling allows Stephanie to take it all in in addition to performing. She’s learning from poets in other countries and taking in the cultures. That’s exposing her to all these different poetry styles, cadences, and terms. Her horizons have been widened from traveling and performing in other countries.
Stephanie says it beautifully, “The most beautiful people that you’ve met don’t look like you anymore, and that does something to your psyche -- what you’ve always been told is wrong or right. It does something to you when you see so many beautiful people that don’t look like you.”
Final thoughts: “Pivoting is a traveler’s name”
You have to remain diligent and alert when you’re traveling and visiting a new place for only a month. Stephanie says she had to immediately know where the nearest Metro bus station was, grocery store, gym, and then events in the area. She had to start connecting with people right away. Because if you don’t do it immediately, you’ll not notice that two weeks have gone by, and your time there is almost over.
“Pivoting is a traveler’s name,” Stephanie says. “Nothing ever works how you think it’s going to work. Maybe the airport is different, they move slowly in this country and now you missed the bus. So many things happen all the time. As a traveler, you have to be able to pivot, go with the flow, handle change when it happens, and smile while being grateful for the present moment.”
Stephanie strongly urges travelers to ease back into traveling when things are safe and opening again. She says, “You have to be mindful that a lot of these economies rely heavily on tourism. So they haven’t seen tourists for six-plus months. So when they see tourists, they may be very aggressive. … I don’t want to be the first tourist that they see when I’m back out there. And being an American is not received as well right now because of the state of our country. You do have to be quite mindful.”
Look, we could go on and on about Stephanie’s incredible accomplishments. But you’d get a lot more out of it hearing it from Stephanie herself. Listen to her full episode on Poet Life Podcast now to dive even deeper into her tips and experiences. You won’t regret it.
Let’s close this out with Stephanie’s quote one more time, and let it sink in:
“Say what you want until you see what you said.”
Stephanie James ( “Just A Vessel”) is a poet, vocalist, speaker, and host. Her mantra is “If I inspire you, you are my inspiration.” As a digital nomad, her lifestyle is to spend 1-2 months in each country and continue exploring and sharing her gifts with the world. Her ultimate goal is to continue encouraging her peers to step outside of their comfort zones and embrace the beauty in the differences and similarities that we all share. Discover more about Stephanie and her travels at justavesselpoetry.com
