Round Trip Stories Podcast

Home
United States
Fresno, CA
Round Trip Stories Podcast

Tracy Vilanova and Melissa Ens host a podcast interviewing guests about moving abroad and back again.

10/23/2025

It has been a while since we've asked for YOUR stories!!! We are getting ready to make a customs episode about GIFT-GIVING around the world! We know that giving gifts is a way to express appreciation, care, respect, and gratitude in every country. We want to hear YOUR stories about gift-giving, whether it’s a story about a specific custom related to gift-giving you experienced or an unusual gift you gave or received.

We will publish in December, and we would love to share the GIFT of YOUR STORIES with our listeners.

Share at www.roundtripstories.com by November 7! (Link below/ in bio!)

10/17/2025

This week we shared Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Ken Martens Friesen, professor of history and international studies and coordinator of the global education program at Fresno Pacific University. Ken grew up in India and continued to go abroad throughout his life. In this episode, Ken shares about his return to the U.S. as a ten year old and feeling like people looked at him like an alien. Time helped him adjust to the U.S., and once he was done with university he was overseas again working in a school in Lesotho, a refugee camp in Lebanon, and as a missionary in Vietnam. Through his current university position back in the United States he is able to help others see the world through history and study abroad experiences which continually keep him connected to his growing up years and passion for helping others gain a global mindset.

Listen to Ken's stories in episode 67 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

10/09/2025

Our guest in today's episode is Dr. Ken Martens Friesen, professor of history and international studies and coordinator of the global education program at Fresno Pacific University. Ken grew up in India and continues to go abroad throughout his life. Ken’s parents were missionaries from the United States, and he attended Kodaikanal International School until the age of 10 when he moved to the U.S. In this episode, hear about Ken’s growing up years in the south Indian mountains in the 1960’s, eating curry and rice on a banana leaf with 400 classmates after sports day, and how he probably shouldn’t have purchased that monkey to take home with him on the train.

Listen to Ken's stories in episode 66 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

10/02/2025

Last week we shared Part 2 of our interview with elite water polo player athlete Branko Pekovic from Serbia. After twelve years of playing in Italy, Russia, and Kazakhstan and with many medals earned, he and his wife decided it was time to retire to Serbia and to begin to coach. With their five year old daughter and eight year old son in tow, they packed up Branko’s international water polo life. Upon return to Serbia, he wasn’t perceived quite as interesting anymore, and he needed to figure out how to manage life for his family without the perks of being a professional athlete. Listen as Branko describes how his family made it work, and where they are now. In this interview, things get a little shaky!

Listen to Branko's stories in episode 65 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

09/19/2025

Our guest in this week's interview is Branko Pekovic, an elite professional water polo athlete who grew up during difficult times in Belgrade, Yugoslavia which is now Serbia. He found a love and great success in playing water polo, so much so that he played for Serbia’s national teams and teams in Italy, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Branko shares about how water polo was his amazing job that took him to the Olympics and all over the world.

Listen to Branko's stories in episode 64 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

09/09/2025

Don't miss part 2 of our interview with transitions coach Carolyn Grant. Carolyn knows deeply about transitions after moving from South Africa to London for ten years and then to Texas, USA for fifteen. Along the way she developed her expertise as a physical therapist in London, but she was not able to practice after the move to Texas. This loss of identity and change was the painful catalyst to redesign her personal and professional goals. While she raised her three daughters, she also began raising others up by mentoring them in their difficult life transitions. Carolyn is now a transition coach and offers our listeners compassion and tips. Get ready for notetaking and be sure to mind your Rs, Ps, and Ns as Carolyn shares practical steps to move through those heart wrenching stages from transition to reinvention.

Listen to Carolyn's wisdom in episode 63 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

09/01/2025

Welcome to Season 5! Last week we shared part one of our interview with Carolyn Grant, physical therapist, writer, and transitions coach originally from South Africa. Carolyn knows deeply about transitions after moving to London for ten years and then to Texas, USA for sixteen. Along the way she developed her expertise as a physical therapist in London, was not able to practice after the move to Texas, lost her mother while being half way across the world, and reinvented herself by becoming a transition coach, all the while raising her three daughters. In this episode, Carolyn explains why she is an accidental immigrant, why she resists change at the same time as loving adventure, and why she needed to grieve.

Listen to Carolyn's stories in episode 62 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

06/13/2025

This week on the Round Trip Stories Podcast we shared our TCK series finale "Third Culture Kid Advice" episode! We learn so much from the guests on our podcasts, and our two-season Third Culture Kid, or TCK, series has given us stories to ponder and enjoy! Our guests show the variety and diversity of the TCK experience. They come from six continents and spent time as children overseas because of diplomacy, education, missions, or business. They are now in their 20's to 50's, and as adults, they have spent lots of time thinking about their TCK experiences. This episode is a compilation of our twelve TCK guests’ responses to our last interview question asking for words of wisdom for our audience. We can't wait for you to hear their combined recommendations! Our guests’ advice help us get to know the world, and ourselves, a little better.

Listen to some great TCK wisdom in episode 60 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

Thank you to all of our amazing guests!

06/03/2025

Last week we shared Part 2 of our interview with Amanda Bates, employer branding strategist, storyteller and transitions consultant who is also the founder and creative director of The Black Expat, a website for black identity and international living. Amanda is also the host of “The Global Chatter” podcast and happens to be a third culture kid who spent her growing up years in Cameroon and then returned to the U.S for university. In this episode, Amanda shares about how she at first disliked college back in the U.S., was grateful to grow up in an African country, and that her black identity did not fit into a box. Listen to when it finally got good for her and how she turned all that was hard into soft skills like counseling, guiding, and even creating her own brand to help normalize black expatriation.
Listen to Amanda's stories in episode 59 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

05/23/2025

Our guest this week was Amanda Bates, employer branding strategist , storyteller and transitions consultant who is also the founder and creative director of The Black Expat, a website for black identity and international living. Amanda is the host of “The Global Chatter” podcast and happens to be a third culture kid from the United States who spent her growing up years in Cameroon. In this episode, Amanda shares about spending her teen years in her parents’ country of birth, where her black identity was affirmed and she became aware of her American privilege. She attended international schools where her global curiosity was launched and David Po***ck planted the seed that Amanda was a third culture kid.
Listen to Amanda's stories in episode 58 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

05/02/2025

This week we shared Part 2 of our interview with Marie Suazo, host of the podcast “Talks with a TCK friend” and author of Tales of a Diplomat’s Daughter. Originally from the Philippines, Marie grew up in South Korea and Egypt because she was part of a diplomat family. After college in Seoul, Korea, she moved back with her family and eventually returned to the Philippines. Not only was it difficult moving into a monocultural environment, but it was also challenging living with her family as an adult TCK. Thank you for sharing your heart and stories with us!

Listen to Marie's stories in episode 57 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

04/24/2025

Our guest today is Marie Suazo, host of the podcast “Talks with a TCK friend” and author of Tales of a Diplomat’s Daughter. Originally from the Philippines, Marie grew up in South Korea and Egypt during her family’s assignments. She loved being part of the expatriate communities in both places, and did not know any difference until she was on a rough home assignment in the Philippines for several years in her preteens. Thank you, Marie, for sharing your stories with us!

Listen to Marie's stories in episode 56 of the Round Trip Stories podcast at www.roundtripstories.com or in your favorite podcast app.

Address

Fresno, CA

Website

https://www.roundtripstories.com/p/gift-stories.html, https://www.roundtripstories.com/, https://creators.spotify.com/po

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Round Trip Stories Podcast posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company in Fresno?