7 Epic Travel Fitness Adventures (For All Levels) and Solo Travel for Transformation with Heidi Nicklaus (+ Jason’s Ultimate Travel Blunder)

·1 hr 12 min·3 clips

Heidi says she lived “one big era” and can now make “a big life change” within a year.

1. Zero To Travel Podcast centers this episode on Heidi Niklaus, solo travel, and fitness-focused travel adventures. 2. Heidi Niklaus is the guest, Jason Moore is the host, and Heidi’s site HeidiRunsAbroad.com is named as her travel-fitness platform. 3. The episode asks how travel can trigger reinvention while still supporting movement, wellness, and adventure. 4. Heidi says she lived in Central Jersey her entire life before meeting a Bulgarian man and moving to Sofia, Bulgaria. 5. She worked in housing and residence life at Rutgers University for about 10 years, after roughly 11 years in higher education. 6. After the pandemic, she left that job, took a four-and-a-half-month solo trip, and spent two months in the Balkans. 7. Heidi says she couchsurfed for three quarters of that trip and met a host in Sofia who later became part of her life there. 8. She returned to the United States, sold belongings on Facebook Marketplace, and chose Sofia for a three-month stay before extending the plan. 9. Heidi describes using all of her tourist Schengen time in Europe while working through the visa process to live in Sofia full-time. 10. She says the move felt natural, that she loves walking, the metro, and living without a car in Sofia. 11. Heidi and Jason discuss a major relationship transition that happened after her trip and during a year of heavy change. 12. She says she and her ex-husband still care about each other and remain good friends. 13. Heidi says she wanted the solo trip for herself and did not want to miss the chance because of restrictions or expectations. 14. She summarizes the period as living “one big era” and moving into “something completely different.” 15. Jason connects that idea to the possibility of making a big life change within one year. 16. Heidi says she was not healthy growing up, avoided running, became a field hockey goalie, and later moved toward 5Ks, half marathons, and group fitness. 17. She has been a group fitness instructor for about eight and a half years and teaches weightlifting, core, yoga-based, and mixed martial arts classes to music. 18. Heidi distinguishes intentional exercise from simply being physically active while traveling, using examples like kayaking in Stockholm and running tours in Bucharest. 19. The interview feels conversational and personal, with Jason using follow-up questions to move from life transitions into practical travel-fitness advice. 20. Listeners who like solo travel, active travel, or life-reinvention stories will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting only destination guides may skip it.

As heard by us

A conversational look at staying active and balanced while travel keeps testing appetite and habits.

The episode keeps travel fitness practical. It treats movement on the road as a set of tradeoffs: keep moving, pay attention to nutrition abroad, and accept that a short trip can stir up appetite in a way a longer stay does not.

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Why you'd press play

For keeping your travel habits intact without turning the trip into a discipline test.

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