What do you do when life breaks your heart open?
For writer, traveler, and storyteller Barry Hoffner, the answer was not to retreat from the world, but to step more deeply into it.
In this moving episode of La Vie Creative, Barry Hoffner shares the extraordinary story behind his book Belonging to the World — a journey born from devastating loss, profound grief, and an unexpected path toward healing through travel, connection, and curiosity.
After losing his wife in a tragic accident, Barry made a choice that would change his life: he began traveling again, one country at a time, eventually visiting every country in the world. But this story is about far more than passports, borders, or bucket-list travel. It is about what happens when grief untethers you — and how human connection can slowly bring you back.
Who Is Barry Hoffner?
Barry Hoffner is a writer, global traveler, and storyteller whose life and work have been shaped by decades of international experience. His career first took him abroad in the 1980s, beginning with a formative chapter in Paris and then expanding into years of living overseas in multiple countries.
Travel had long been part of his identity. But after the sudden death of his wife, Jackie, travel became something else entirely: a lifeline.
That journey eventually became his book, Belonging to the World, a deeply human reflection on grief, resilience, and what it means to feel connected again after profound loss.
Barry Hoffner’s Connection to Paris
Like many guests on La Vie Creative, Barry Hoffner’s story has an important Paris chapter.
In the early 1980s, while between years at Columbia Business School, Barry spent a month in Paris before beginning his training program with J.P. Morgan. That month changed everything. He fell in love with the city and became determined to return professionally.
That dream came true in 1987, when he moved to Paris for work. Though he only stayed for a year and a half before being transferred to Japan, Paris became the true starting point of his international life. It was where his global career began, and where a broader life of movement, language, and cultural discovery first took shape.
The Loss That Changed Everything
At the center of Barry Hoffner’s story is an unimaginable loss.
As he and his wife were entering their empty-nest years, they had begun planning a new season of life filled with travel and possibility. His wife, a wildlife biologist, was in Africa when Barry received the devastating news: she had been killed by an elephant in Botswana.
The shock of that moment shattered the life they had built together.
In the aftermath, Barry describes feeling untethered. Home no longer felt like home. The future they had imagined had vanished. And like so many people navigating grief, he needed a way to survive the emotional aftermath.
How Travel Helped Barry Hoffner Heal
After some time, Barry took a trip to Tajikistan to run a half marathon. It may have seemed like an unusual place to begin, but that journey marked a turning point.
Travel did not erase grief. It did not provide a neat or simple solution. But it did offer something essential: movement, perspective, and connection.
Barry realized that being in the world again — meeting people, hearing stories, and stepping outside his own pain for moments at a time — was deeply healing.
What began as one trip soon turned into another. And then, eventually, into a bold and unexpected mission: to visit every country in the world.
Visiting Every Country in the World
Barry Hoffner has now visited all 193 UN member countries, a feat few people accomplish.
But what makes his story so compelling is that this was never just about the number.
In our conversation, Barry explains that while he may have set out in search of countries, what he really found were people.
That distinction matters.
This is not a story about checking boxes or collecting flags. It is about discovering hospitality in places the headlines teach us to fear. It is about being surprised by kindness. It is about learning that even in the most unfamiliar corners of the world, there are people longing for dignity, connection, and welcome.
Belonging to the World: More Than a Travel Memoir
The title of Barry Hoffner’s book, Belonging to the World, says everything.
After losing the person who had made home feel whole, Barry began to experience belonging in a different way. Not in one house or one country, but in the world itself.
Through his travels, he found connection in conversations with strangers, in the hospitality of people from vastly different cultures, and in the realization that grief is part of the shared human experience.
His book is not simply a travel memoir. It is a meditation on what it means to keep living after loss. It is about allowing the world to hold you when your own life has fallen apart.
The Places That Changed His Perspective
One of the most powerful parts of this episode is hearing Barry speak about visiting places many people perceive as dangerous, especially countries in the Middle East.
He shares a particularly moving story about traveling in Iraq, where his mother was born. At a military checkpoint, after revealing that he was Jewish and that his mother had been born there, he was told: if your mother was born here, then this is your home too.
That moment stayed with him.
It was an experience of acceptance in a place where he had expected distance. And it reshaped his understanding of identity, belonging, and the stories we inherit about the world.
Throughout the episode, Barry Hoffner returns to this idea: that headlines flatten places, but real encounters restore complexity.
What Grief Taught Barry Hoffner About Humanity
One of the greatest gifts of this conversation is Barry’s honesty about grief.
He does not present healing as linear. He does not suggest that loss can be overcome neatly. Instead, he speaks about grief as something that becomes part of your life — something you learn to carry.
What changed him most, he says, was connection.
Loss broke him open. Courage helped him move. But it was connection — to people, stories, and something larger than himself — that began to heal him.
That insight makes this episode especially meaningful for creatives, expats, travelers, and anyone navigating a season of change or disorientation.
Honoring Jackie Through Purposeful Travel
Barry continues to honor his wife Jackie in deeply meaningful ways.
Some of his travels took him to places they had wanted to visit together, including Madagascar, where he finally saw lemurs — Jackie’s favorite animal she had never gotten to see herself.
He also carries her legacy forward through the Bourse Jackie scholarship program, which supports women in West Africa through education and language opportunities. The program has grown significantly and reflects a beautiful combination of remembrance, purpose, and action.
Even more moving: 100% of the proceeds from Belonging to the World go to scholarships for women in West Africa in Jackie’s name.
That detail alone makes this book even more powerful.
Why This Episode Matters
This episode with Barry Hoffner is about so much more than travel.
It is about:
- grief and what it does to identity
- the healing power of movement
- curiosity as a path back to life
- human connection across borders
- challenging fear and inherited narratives
- using storytelling to create meaning after loss
For anyone feeling stuck, disconnected, or uncertain of how to move forward after heartbreak, Barry’s story is a reminder that healing does not always come from having answers. Sometimes it comes from taking the next step.
Listen to the Full Episode with Barry Hoffner
If you’ve ever wondered whether travel can change a life, or how people rebuild after devastating loss, this episode is for you.
Barry Hoffner’s story is tender, wise, and deeply inspiring. His journey reminds us that even after unimaginable grief, it is still possible to find beauty, belonging, and purpose again.
Listen to the full conversation on La Vie Creative and discover the story behind Belonging to the World.
Where to Find Barry Hoffner
You can connect with Barry Hoffner and learn more about his work here:
- Website: Belonging to the World
- Instagram: @barryh99
- Substack: Barry Hoffner
- Book: Belonging to the World
Final Thoughts
There is something deeply comforting in Barry Hoffner’s story.
Not because it avoids pain, but because it meets pain honestly and still chooses life.
His journey across every country in the world is remarkable. But the deeper journey — the one from grief to connection — is what makes this episode unforgettable.
If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who may need it.
And as always, thank you for supporting the storytellers, artists, and thoughtful voices we feature on La Vie Creative.
