🎙️ The Map Is Alive: 75 Countries, New Voices, and a World Expanding in Real Time
April arrived in motion—across continents, across platforms, and across milestones that feel both expansive and deeply personal.
The biggest headline is one that still feels surreal: Make Your Own Map is now streaming in 75 countries, and what’s unfolding feels bigger than numbers.
🌍 75 Countries. The Map Is Alive.
In the past few weeks alone, the map has expanded across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America, with new listeners joining from:
Just days after welcoming listeners in Iran, Vietnam, and Iraq, the reach continues to grow in real time—each new country a reminder that stories don’t just travel, they connect.
This moment isn’t simply about scale. It is about presence across borders, languages, and lived experience. The map is not just expanding—it is alive.
📺 On Air, In Print, and On Stage
That sense of expansion has carried into every corner of my work this month.
On Jet Set TV, I shared conversations around sailing with Windstar, exploring travel that slows you down just enough to see the world differently. In print, my feature on Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort appears in Pasadena Magazine, highlighting luxury as a gateway to deeper discovery across Central Florida.
https://youtu.be/B920tOemB1s
At the same time, new stories continue to reach audiences through Bored Panda and Deer Valley, extending the conversation across digital platforms in unexpected and exciting ways.
There was also a meaningful moment of recognition with a DotComm Award—earning a Triple Crown—which I celebrated while in Ireland, a place already filled with memory, history, and connection.
🎤 Speaking, Signing, and Showing Up
This month has also been about connection in person and in conversation. From speaking with the Brandeis community in Tucson to signing BRAVE-ish at SXSW, these moments are a reminder that storytelling lives not only online or in print, but in the shared space between people. Each conversation, each book signing, each question asked across a table reinforces why this work matters.
San Jose brought collaboration, reflection, and connection, including time with Carl and witnessing the continued impact of his work.
A special congratulations to Dr. Carl Law, featured in the “Inspirational Black Men and Women in Medicine” series. His leadership through Doctors First Staffing, now celebrating its one-year anniversary, reflects a thoughtful and intentional approach to transforming healthcare staffing with care and purpose.
✈️ Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy
The journey continued with the Travel Classics Magazine Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, then on to country #103: Liechtenstein, and time with friends in Italy. I am grateful for the ability to move through the world, to witness, to listen, and to share.
Videos from Travel Classics Ticino are live and more photos, stories and videos coming soon!
💛 Gratitude, Health, and Joy
And yet, the most meaningful update this month has nothing to do with distance traveled. My mom is out of the hospital and was home in time for her birthday. There is no greater milestone than health, and no deeper gratitude than being together. This month, that is the wish—for her and for all of us. More health. More freedom. More joy.
🌎 Looking Ahead
With 75 countries now listening and new voices joining every day, this moment feels both like a milestone and a beginning. The map is alive—and there is so much more to come.
My students are from 13 countries: Australia, Canada, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA! Join us on the adventure of travel writing!
THANK YOU for watching my award-winning podcast, Make Your Own Map: Are YOU ready to be BRAVE? It has now been seen and heard in 75 countries on 7 continents.
People always ask me where is it best to buy my book. I recommend you go into or call your favorite local book store and ask them to order it for you and pick it up IN THE STORE! You never know what other treasures you will find. Any bookstore can order my book because my publisher is Post Hill Press and it is distributed by Simon and Schuster. My book is now in the library on Quark Ultramarine, Windstar StarBreeze, NCL Escape and in the store at Dubray bookstore on Grafton in Dublin, Ireland! Brave-ish is available all over the globe!
In the face of growing anti-Israel and antisemitic conduct in public schools, the L.A. Unified School District has delivered an important victory for our community.
In the face of growing anti-Israel and antisemitic conduct in public schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District has delivered an important victory for our community.
The site is now home to Milken’s Upper School, serving students in grades 9 through 12, and expands the school’s footprint across its three campuses to 28 acres.
A well-designed Israel experience cannot resolve every question. But it can give young people context, relationships, language, and a sense that they belong to a people and a story larger than themselves.
Some have accused me of anti-Muslim bias. Let me answer that plainly: I have none. My issues with El-Sayed would be the same whether he were Jewish, Christian, Hindu or Baha’i.
I write to you, all you first and second generations, and I assure you from generations five, six and seven that if we keep doing what we need to do, if we stand together, keep our traditions, educate ourselves in our ancient wisdom, keep Hebrew spoken and sung in our midst, we will not only endure. We Jews will thrive.
Kwall, the Raymond P. Niro Law Professor at DePaul University College of Law, argues for a center defined by enough common commitments to make communal life possible.
If we want our younger generations to love our faith, our culture, and our peoplehood, we need to be welcoming when they show interest and have a spark of curiosity.
It turns out that claim about Israel being a democracy wasn’t just propaganda. The two million Arabs who live in the world’s only Jewish state really do have the power to vote.
Niver’s Spring News 2026: 75 Countries, New Flags, and a Map That Keeps Expanding
Lisa Ellen Niver
🎙️ The Map Is Alive: 75 Countries, New Voices, and a World Expanding in Real Time
April arrived in motion—across continents, across platforms, and across milestones that feel both expansive and deeply personal.
The biggest headline is one that still feels surreal: Make Your Own Map is now streaming in 75 countries, and what’s unfolding feels bigger than numbers.
🌍 75 Countries. The Map Is Alive.
In the past few weeks alone, the map has expanded across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America, with new listeners joining from:
🇨🇴 Colombia 🇪🇬 Egypt 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 🇲🇦 Morocco 🇴🇲 Oman
Just days after welcoming listeners in Iran, Vietnam, and Iraq, the reach continues to grow in real time—each new country a reminder that stories don’t just travel, they connect.
This moment isn’t simply about scale. It is about presence across borders, languages, and lived experience. The map is not just expanding—it is alive.
📺 On Air, In Print, and On Stage
That sense of expansion has carried into every corner of my work this month.
On Jet Set TV, I shared conversations around sailing with Windstar, exploring travel that slows you down just enough to see the world differently. In print, my feature on Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort appears in Pasadena Magazine, highlighting luxury as a gateway to deeper discovery across Central Florida.
At the same time, new stories continue to reach audiences through Bored Panda and Deer Valley, extending the conversation across digital platforms in unexpected and exciting ways.
There was also a meaningful moment of recognition with a DotComm Award—earning a Triple Crown—which I celebrated while in Ireland, a place already filled with memory, history, and connection.
🎤 Speaking, Signing, and Showing Up
This month has also been about connection in person and in conversation. From speaking with the Brandeis community in Tucson to signing BRAVE-ish at SXSW, these moments are a reminder that storytelling lives not only online or in print, but in the shared space between people. Each conversation, each book signing, each question asked across a table reinforces why this work matters.
🌴 Stories from the Road: San Jose and Beyond
San Jose brought collaboration, reflection, and connection, including time with Carl and witnessing the continued impact of his work.
A special congratulations to Dr. Carl Law, featured in the “Inspirational Black Men and Women in Medicine” series. His leadership through Doctors First Staffing, now celebrating its one-year anniversary, reflects a thoughtful and intentional approach to transforming healthcare staffing with care and purpose.
✈️ Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy
The journey continued with the Travel Classics Magazine Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, then on to country #103: Liechtenstein, and time with friends in Italy. I am grateful for the ability to move through the world, to witness, to listen, and to share.
Videos from Travel Classics Ticino are live and more photos, stories and videos coming soon!
💛 Gratitude, Health, and Joy
And yet, the most meaningful update this month has nothing to do with distance traveled. My mom is out of the hospital and was home in time for her birthday. There is no greater milestone than health, and no deeper gratitude than being together. This month, that is the wish—for her and for all of us. More health. More freedom. More joy.
🌎 Looking Ahead
With 75 countries now listening and new voices joining every day, this moment feels both like a milestone and a beginning. The map is alive—and there is so much more to come.
Learn more about my events: click here and my articles here
Want to travel more? I have a Travel Writer 101 class on Udemy.
My students are from 13 countries: Australia, Canada, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA! Join us on the adventure of travel writing!
THANK YOU for watching my award-winning podcast, Make Your Own Map: Are YOU ready to be BRAVE? It has now been seen and heard in 75 countries on 7 continents.
Have you heard my recent podcast episodes?
WATCH my podcast, “MAKE YOUR OWN MAP: ” on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Podcast, Google Podcasts, Audacy, Audible, Anchor, Pandora & iHeart Radio
WHERE CAN YOU FIND MY TRAVEL VIDEOS?
Here is the link to my video channel on YouTube where I now have over 2.7 Million views on YouTube! (now at: 2,710,468).
I hope you will join me and subscribe! For more We Said Go Travel articles, TV segments, videos and social media: CLICK HERE
Find me on social media with over 150,000 followers. Please follow me on social @LisaNiver TikTok, X Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, BlueSky and at LisaNiver.com.
Do you LOVE my book BRAVE-ish? PLEASE WRITE A REVIEW!! Click here to go directly to rate or review BRAVE-ish on Amazon (now at 66 reviews. Help me get to 75) You can find my book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Schuster, Post Hill Press, Target, Walmart, BookShop, BAM! and wherever you get your audiobooks!
People always ask me where is it best to buy my book. I recommend you go into or call your favorite local book store and ask them to order it for you and pick it up IN THE STORE! You never know what other treasures you will find. Any bookstore can order my book because my publisher is Post Hill Press and it is distributed by Simon and Schuster. My book is now in the library on Quark Ultramarine, Windstar StarBreeze, NCL Escape and in the store at Dubray bookstore on Grafton in Dublin, Ireland! Brave-ish is available all over the globe!
You can also find me now on SUBSTACK!
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