(Barcelona Hostel Garden, 2019)
You’re invited to join me in a year-long "armchair" journey through this travel memoir and spiritual autobiography. Explore your insights while traveling with me to 52 worldwide locations, integrating life’s developmental stages with spiritual insights.
"Peregrina" is the Spanish word for a female pilgrim. Being a pilgrim is different from being a tourist. Fr. Henri Nouwen coined the phrase "Voluntary Displacement" to describe one’s willingness to move from familiar places to the unknown.
I encourage you to open your heart to discover how external journeys can mirror interior ones for growth and healing. I’ve provided over 160 reflection questions for journaling or discussion with a book group.
Susie In the NEWS
FRONT PORCH:Travel that transforms
The Spokesman Review, July 5, 2025
by Cindy Hval
When I think of Susie Leonard Weller, the first word that comes to mind is “vibrancy.” From the brilliant turquoise color she favors to her beautifully bright smile, she exudes energy and intelligence.
We met almost 20 years ago at a writers group. She taught parenting and life skill classes for Head Start parents enrolled in the Community Colleges of Spokane and I was a fledgling freelance writer.
She was in the early stages of drafting her book, “Why Don’t You Understand? Improve Family Communication With the 4 Thinking Styles,” and I was writing columns about my boys burping entire conversations at the dinner table. I’d leave the group inspired by our conversations, and I think she at least left entertained. After retiring from the community colleges, she left the group but continued to write and, more important, travel.
The travel bug arrived on her 10th birthday when Susie received a threepiece set of powder blue vinyl luggage.
Two years later, she lugged it through the LAX Airport with her 10-year-old brother in tow as they changed planes on their way to Mexico City. Her parents had arranged an informal exchange with a family in Mexico. She’s pretty much kept her bags packed since.
Recently, she sent me a note to let me know, that her latest book, “52 Global Reflections: A Pilgrim’s Travel Memoir,” is scheduled for release on June 18.
We caught up over the phone. “I see myself as a global citizen,” Weller said. “The book is part spiritual autobiography, part travel memoir.”
Over the years, she’s explored 34 countries, ranging from Australia to Turkey, and she typically stays in youth hostels. “They’re for the young at heart, not just the young of age,” she said.
Weller has hiked over hills, trekked across trails, kayaked across bodies of water, and soared above the ground. “To commemorate my 50th birthday, I paraglided over the Swiss Alps.”
In “52 Global Reflections: A Pilgrim’s Travel Memoir,” she documents her experiences in 52 locations around the world and includes over 150 reflection questions. Her reason for penning this book now is simple. “I’ve survived Stage 3 colorectal cancer, Stage 1 breast cancer, a ministroke and brain surgery,” she said. “I want to share my story before I die. If I don’t share it now, it will be gone.”
Weller’s story isn’t one of tourism but of connection. “I believe in connecting with people at their sacred sites and spiritual places,” she said. “So many communities across the world are searching for that connection to something bigger than ourselves.”
Her pilgrim travel memoir integrates her 1981 master’s degree in pastoral ministry from Seattle University and a 2006 certificate in spiritual direction from Gonzaga University to provide insights into visiting sacred locations, shrines and labyrinths.
In a world divided by politics, ideologies and religion, Weller’s experiences offer much-needed hope. “I’ve experienced the kindness of strangers and the generosity of people,” she said. “I’m so glad I traveled earlier because if you wait till you retire, health issues can limit you.”
In 2023, she spent nine weeks in Greece, Jordan, Malta and Turkey. While visiting the home in Ephesus, Turkey, where Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to have spent her final days, she writes of experiencing a profound healing of childhood wounds.
But her favorite country remains the first one she visited at 12. For 18 years, she and her husband, Mark, wintered in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. “We’ve traveled by bus all over Mexico,” she said. “When I’m there, I don’t feel like a visitor.”
Weller’s goal in sharing her travel experiences is to encourage others to step out of their comfort zones and enter the unknown. “Let us build bridges to increase our compassion and respect for others, recognizing that they are a part of us, that we don’t yet know,” she writes in the memoir’s conclusion.
Neither illness nor time has dimmed her vibrancy. “Travel transforms my head, my heart and my spirit,” she said. ”52 Global Reflections: A Pilgrim’s Travel Memoir” will be released June 18 through Kindle Direct Publishing with a special 99 cent promotional offer. For more information, visit 52globalreflections.com.
(Susie’s photo from a house and tourist attraction in the Pamukkale neighborhood of Türkiye)
Choosing to go on a pilgrimage is an ancient ritual practiced almost universally throughout history and across various cultures. Walking the various Camino Routes in Spain has become a popular trek. Even with a colostomy and other health challenges, I hiked with my husband, Mark, the final section of the Portuguese Camino in 2016 to earn our Compostela Shell.
Similar to Joseph Campbell's description of the Hero's Journey, pilgrims are willing to undergo transformation through their travels. Although pilgrims might return to a place similar to where they started, they are not the same person they were before leaving.
While navigating these winding paths, there are often signposts, like the Camino's Shell Markers, to help guide us.
The Shell Marker
Although I’ve returned home with beautiful travel keepsakes, my most significant souvenir is a new viewpoint. I’ve become a global citizen.
Pilgrims choose to explore a new place geographically and interiorly with their minds, hearts, and spirits. They are open to discovering fresh insights from visiting new locations and interacting with diverse people and cultures.
If you’d like to share the experience enjoyed by pilgrims over the centuries, travel can be a spiritual act as well as a political one.
Rick Steves, author of TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT: How to Leave Your Baggage Behind
Our kitchen wall has a large laminated Peter's World Map illustrating a more accurate geographical perspective of countries.
Approximately 100 pushpins mark the places our family has visited around the globe.
My international travels began at age 12 when I accompanied my 10-year-old brother to live in Mexico City for six weeks with a family we’d never met. Since then, I’ve visited all 50 states in the United States, nine Canadian provinces, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, 22 European countries, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Türkiye, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Our adult children have visited these additional countries: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Iceland.My outward journeys have become a catalyst for interior exploration. Similar to the cyclical seasons, unfinished tasks from childhood often repeat every 13 years until we learn their specific skills.
While teaching Head Start parents attending the Community Colleges of Spokane, I met Jean Illsley Clarke, a parenting specialist and co-author of Growing Up Again. She reminded me: “It’s never too late to grow up again.”
(Susie on the labyrinth outside the Ta’ Pinu Basilica on Gozo, Malta)
The Compass Rose design for my book cover reminds me of the labyrinths I’ve walked worldwide in Ireland, France, Malta, and the United States. Even though there are often numerous twists and turns, what appears to be an endpoint can also become a new beginning.
My travel memoir is divided into the four primary compass directions and life’s stages of development. I summarize the core skills to be learned during early childhood, youth and young adulthood, adulthood, and elderhood. Using the Celtic Calendar, I organize 13 reflections to correspond with a specific season in my life.
Each reflection includes a photo, an inspirational quote, and three questions for journaling or discussion in a book group. You’ll discover that I’ve traveled by hiking, car, hitchhiking, bus, train, plane, ferry, ocean and river cruising, paddleboarding, kayaking, ziplining, hot air balloon, and even camel riding.
You can read this book chronologically, pick a specific geographic location that interests you, or select a particular quality that catches your attention.
I have a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction. Recently I completed a certificate in “Recognizing and Healing the Wounds of Spiritual Abuse and Religious Trauma” from Jamie Marich, PhD, author of You Lied to Me About God.
They strengthen my ability to provide insights into sacred geographical locations, shrines, and labyrinths. Additionally, I explain the differences between a healthy and an abusive spirituality.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts about my book!
52globalreflections@gmail.com
+1 (509) 499-1423
