This is the story of how the Wall Street Journal Discovers Cajun Explorers. We are featured online.
We both love shopping at Costco, especially when traveling. So, when planning our trips, whether within the U.S. or abroad, we always make time for a Costco stop to explore local products and snacks we can’t find in Texas. You never know what will turn out to be the perfect souvenir to bring back home.
We also love to check out the food court to see what regional snacks are available for a quick treat. I’ve posted several times about our Costco adventures. We explored food court items and regional products on our visits to Canada, France, Australia, and Honolulu pictured below.
The Wall Street Journal discovers Cajun Explorers through our travel blog.
First contact…a spam email?
I received a surprise email in my inbox allegedly from a reporter based in Singapore with the Wall Street Journal. This email described a potential story about Americans who visit Costco while traveling the world. The reporter mentioned discovering our post after we visited Costco in France. He asked to interview us about our foreign Costco adventures.
Coincidentally, we just returned from Singapore the prior week. I immediately suspected someone had compromised my email ID while on Wi-Fi in Singapore. I assumed the email was spam or a phishing attempt of some kind. So, I visited the Wall Street Journal website and searched for the reporter’s name, Stu Woo. To my surprise, I found him listed as a journalist along with pages of links to his published articles. He attached a photo of himself in Costco in his original email and the photo matched the one on the Wall Street Journal site. So, I guess the email isn’t spam after all. The message piqued my interest, so I decided to reply.
FaceTime interview and more
I responded to his email and mentioned that we are interested in speaking with him. We scheduled a FaceTime interview to discuss questions like: Why do we love shopping at Costco? Why do we visit Costco when traveling? What are some of the unique things we discover at locations around the world?
We enjoyed a fun conversation for about an hour, followed by more emails and questions. Next, he introduced us to his photo editor. We shared several photos for possible use in the story. We now know the contact is real, and the article will mention us.
It’s published online!
Click the following link to read the entire original WSJ article by Stu Woo, “Americans Travel the World Only to Wind Up in Costco”. It published online today, but will be in the printed edition in a few days.
Honestly, we are a bit stunned that The Wall Street Journal discovered us through our travel blog. We are honored by their recognition.
Final Thoughts
Danny originally encouraged me to create our travel blog, Cajun Explorers, as a creative hobby in my retirement. I thought it would be a way to include our friends and family on our trips. You can follow along with us through our travel posts as we discover the beautiful places we visit. Plus, I can share any funny stories and mishaps we experience. Well, mostly Danny’s mishaps as he seems to fall into them often. 😀
We are thrilled that a few of you read our posts from time to time. Thank you to everyone who follows us as we continue our retirement travel journey. We love reading your comments, so please keep them coming.
We’ll update you on our next series of adventures beginning in March 2026. We are sailing with friends on a transatlantic cruise from Galveston, Texas to Spain. Afterward, we will spend another two months touring France. We hope you follow along with us.
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