On a walk with Mel Robbins, an 89-year-old guest describes a plan: rent out the houses, put on backpacks and spend a year traveling Europe by train with her partner. The Short's description identifies her as Robbins' mother-in-law. The clip is embedded above.
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
It is important to say what this is: a plan, as she describes it, not a trip that has happened. This article covers only that segment of The Mel Robbins Podcast.
"Drop everything and go away for a year"
The guest says she had a vision and brought it to her partner, John. In her telling, she asked why they don't just drop everything and go away for a year to Europe. She says there are places she has already been that John has never seen, and that they would "put a backpack on" and get on a train.
Robbins checks the details. How old is she? She says she will be 90 next September. How old is John? He will be 85, she says, which draws a joke from Robbins about a "cradle robber," and the guest cheerfully goes along with it, calling herself a cougar.
Robbins then restates it to be sure she has it right: the guest is 89, proposing that she and her partner rent their houses, get backpacks and go to Europe. For how long? "A year," the guest says.
No walking sticks required
The guest says she and John do not have to use walking sticks, and she says so many of her friends do. She explains that those are walking sticks, which people use when they have no balance. Her argument is about timing: if they are in as good a shape as they are now, she tells John, "let's take advantage of it."
That is when she asks the question that became the Short's title: "Why wait?" She says so many people tell themselves they will do something next week, and she asks what they are waiting for.
A memorial that changed the timeline
She also says what pushed her to act. A very good friend of theirs, 62 years old, died in a car crash three weeks before the conversation. At the memorial service, she says, his cousin told the room to remember one thing: "Don't wait to say I love you." The cousin continued with other examples, including not waiting to go to a favorite restaurant or to take the trip you have always wanted to take, and then: "Just do it."
She says that is what she wants to do now, because she can.
What Robbins adds
Robbins adds a practical point: at 89, she says, the guest can do it because she has been walking every day for the last 30 years and does resistance training.
Notice what the clip does not say. It does not give an itinerary, a departure date or a list of countries. It does not claim that the trip has been booked or completed. It shows a decision at the planning stage, made out loud on a walk.
A note on sourcing
All of this is what was said in the podcast segment, and the guest's plans are her own. This article does not verify any of it or report on whether the trip took place. The full conversation is linked below for anyone who wants the rest of what she and Robbins discuss.
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FAQ
How old is the woman planning the trip?
She says she is 89 and will be 90 next September. Her partner, John, will be 85, she says.
Has she taken the trip yet?
No. In the clip she describes it as a plan: rent out their houses, take backpacks and a train and go to Europe for a year.
What does "Why wait?" mean in the clip?
She says that if she and John are in good shape now, they should take advantage of it, and that people put things off for next week. A friend's death three weeks before, she says, pushed her to act.