Send us a Text Message.
This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Sarah Gallo AKA The Five Foot Traveler. I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah for a feature in my second cruising book Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y, in a section called The Globetrotters, featuring travelers, passionate cruisers all, who transcend cruising in traversing the globe. The others featured in The Globetrotters—John Robert’s of In the Loop Travel Ep 6, and Mr. Scott Eddy Ep 29—have since been guests on The Joy of Cruising Podcast. Life happens however, and there have been some major developments in Sarah’s already busy life, so we are just now getting the chance to catch up with The Five Foot Traveler.
Sarah Gallo is professionally known as a Destination Marketer and Travel Expert to the many audiences she stands in front of at international travel and hospitality events and symposia. She is a writer, content creator, keynote speaker, and photographer. Sarah is also known as The Five Foot Traveler to the travel blogosphere, her legion of fans on social media, and to the digital marketing world where she reigns among the elite when it comes to travel influencers. Launched in 2013, The Five Foot Traveler specializes in luxury accommodations, adventure activities, and cultural immersion worldwide.
It was fun to interview Sarah for Cruising Interrupted, especially when she shared about a major cruise line hiring Sarah to do a marketing campaign where she got to sample each of the line’s Caribbean excursions. Sarah was featured in a series of destination excursions commercials to be shown on their ships’ television. She got the opportunity to do every excursion available from swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman, to bobsledding in Jamaica (4000-foot sled coaster ride down a mountain and through a rainforest), to snorkeling in Cozumel, to the Flying Dutchman in St. Maarten, the world’s steepest zip line,
Now I am looking forward to hearing what fun things Sarah have been up to since we spoke several years ago.
Support the Show.
Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingPodcast-BookACruise
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain
Intl Orders via Amazon
Paul C. Thornton started writing at 58 years old incited by the task of delivering a father-of-the-bride speech at his daughter’s wedding. Told to talk about memories of Kina growing up; among Disney trips, high school sports, proms, and first boyfriends, Paul divulged the most powerful memory of all, when Kina was six and his life changed forever. At the end of the talk—as they say—"there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.” It was both liberating and cathartic to release secrets that had tortured Paul for 30 years. Needing to hold on to that feeling of release and empowerment, when he returned to his hotel Paul started his memoir, provocatively titled White Man’s Disease.
Paul’s just completed book, The Joy of Cruising Again, is his fourth; the third in The Joy of Cruising trilogy, and follow-up to the fun, upbeat, award-winning The Joy of Cruising, and Cruising Interrupted. The Joy of Cruising Again is the finale of the series but Paul won’t give up his passion. Besides continuing to cruise as much as possible, Paul hosts The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a weekly conversation with one of the dozens of passionate cruisers featured in the books and other global cruise personalities.
The cruise-themed books are a stark departure from Paul’s debut: White Man’s Disease, a memoir described as “gripping and inspiring” in the press release announcing it as the winner of the North Street Book Prize for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction about Paul’s harrowing brush with death, the journey of recovery from trauma, resilience and ultimately transformation. White Man’s Disease is at once poignant, sad, tragic, funny, and compelling. (And, if I could get a dollar for everyone who asks what White Man’s Disease means, I would be a wealthy man!) Despite their very different subjects, at the heart of White Man’s Disease and The Joy of Cruising Trilogy is passion and how passionate people do wondrous things. Paul just started a sequel to White Man’s Disease; a fun, and hopefully inspirational tale called Gracefully. In addition, he is planning a podcast series that deconstructs White Man’s Disease.
Paul is originally from Brooklyn and Long Island, New York. After serving in the US Army and simultaneously earning a bachelor's degree in business, he attained his MBA and then spent concurrently, 17 years in corporate management, and 23 years in small business ownership. After leaving corporate, he started a career in higher ed. He earned a doctorate, attained tenure as a business professor, and subsequently moved into administration in Dean or Executive Director positions before retiring in 2021.
Paul lives in Mooresville, North Carolina with his wife Cheryl and considers cruising with their children and grandchildren life’s ultimate escape. Paul longs to cruise as much as the people he writes about in The Joy of Cruising Trilogy.
