Strangers Abroad

If you loved episodes one and two of my new audio adventure A Race Around the World: Based on the True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland, then head over to these feeds linked below.  New episodes are out and you can listen to the full series at these links.  Listen here -----> Apple Podcasts  Listen here -----> Spotify  Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you all are inspired to do your own race around the world once you listen to the full season ( eleven episodes and counting!)  Please rate and review and spread the word!

Please go to A Race Around the World feed for the remaining nine episodes.  ___________________________________________________________________________ Nellie Bly isn’t the only woman to leave New York on November 14th to race around the world. On the same day, the editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine, John Brisben Walker, recognized the potential for a sensational story. He dispatched ( aka bribed, badgered, and threatened) his literary writer Elizabeth Bisland to jump into the race as well. But, instead of following the same path, Elizabeth took a westward route. She packs her items and jumps onto a train headed to San Francisco. While many know about the historical race from Nellie’s perspective, Elizabeth Bislands story is often left in the shadows and will provide an alternative perspective to going around the world. This episode sheds light on Elizabeth Bislands upbringing, her ambitions and talents, and how she got roped into this wild goose chase of a race.

Please go to A Race Around the World feed for the remaining nine episodes.  _______________________________________________________________________________ On November 14th, 1889, Nellie Bly left Manhattan to go on a race around the world in under 80 days. In this episode, host Adrien Behn will delve into the background of this extraordinary woman. She will explore Nellie Bly’s upbringing and aspirations, the obstacles she summersaulted over to become a female investigative journalist, her groundbreaking reporting, and what drove her to embark on a journey that defied the norms of her time. By the end of the episode, Nellie's bags are pack, and she is headed to London on a steamship.

NEW SHOW ALERT    Hi Strangers! I have been working on a new podcast series and wanted to share the trailer here. Take a listen! ________________________________________________________________________________ On November 14th, 1889, two female writers entered a race to go around the world in under 80 days. Nellie Bly went east, and Elizabeth Bisland headed west. Nellie couldn’t be more excited. While Elizabeth was annoyed because she had to reschedule a tea party.  This eleven part series will unpack their whirlwind of an adventure, how these two women ended up in the race, and what it was like to travel the world alone as a women.  Storyteller and travel writer Adrien Behn brings Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bislands’ experiences, emotions, and adventures to life.  This serialized podcast works to bring the incredible accomplishments of these two bold solo female travelers to life, go through every country, every feeling they experience while braving the world on their own. 

Adrien and Sam hear avalanches. Adrien reflects on her trip and the last year of stillness as her and Sam make their way back home. 

Adrien describes a day in Bryce Canyon with her partner Sam that tests their relationship. She then interviews Sam about their time on the road and how well they faired as travel companions. 

Adrien and Sam head out west. Adrien talks to managers of Indy Hostel in Indianapolis and Food of the Mountain Motel in Boulder to see how COVID has effected their business and how they have learned to roll with every changing mandate. We discuss post-covid travel predictions, roadside attractions, and never ending stretches of desert. 

This episode kicks of Strangers Abroad Road Trip mini-series. Listen to why Adrien had a sudden urge to go into the desert and how she started planning her trip across the country with her intrepid partner Sam. 

Although our American passports give us all equal access to the world, we don't come back with the same experiences. In light of the Black Lives Matter protests and shifts, we talk to travelers of color who share their stories about being a person of color abroad. We discuss common frustrations and how to be a good ally at home and onboard.  Featured Guests: On She Goes Podcast 

We talk to travelers to reexamine their relationships with themselves and their home as they wait through quarantine. Adrien get's used to seeing more of her family and long walks through the woods. Featured Guests: Ticket to Anywhere Podcast

Adrien escapes to upstate, and we speak to travelers who had there plans canceled due to the pandemic   Featured Guests: Full Time Travel and Delux Life Media

Thank you to all of my listeners and guests for an incredible second season! I hope you all enjoyed it and I would love to hear your thoughts and desires for the next season.  Email me at strangersabroadpodcast@gmail.com  PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW THE SHOW You can do it by going to Strangers Abroad under Apple Podcasts LASTLY, if you love what we do here and would love to support the penniless podcaster who produces this show, check out our Patreon under Strangers Abroad. 

The more we travel, the more we find that home becomes more illusive. Home is a place we crave in our most harrowing moments and forget in the spontaneous bliss.  But, the farther we travel from it, the more foreign it seems. It slowly becomes but a dream to us. Our lives consist of backpacks and tickets instead of a bed and a mortgage.  Many of us left because home doesn’t provide all that it could for us.  Others find gratitude in the homes they were raised in.   Travelers begin to define home differently. It may no longer be a physical place, but a person, a landmass, a journal.  We have to leave in order to find what needs to be discovered about ourselves or the world.  Some of us don’t return. Others do. For those to choose to come back, they reinvest in their communities differently. They bring new ideas to old places. They teach those who don’t have as easy access to alternative ideas or traveling. And if we do choose to return, it won’t feel the same as when we left. We are more sensitive now to the p

Home is  hopefully a wonderful place to grow. But it can keep us stagnant. Never challenge us for bigger things in life.  Travel has ways of challenging us and forcing us to grow in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. We see what we are good at and where we can improve and reveal to us what our full potential is.  But growth is not a singular moment- it is a series of moments, that build up over time- a gradual slope- like the ever wearing of wrinkles on a face, like the singular gray hair- like the singular leaf that turns orange before the rest. This episode will explore the theme of change in a new place. Who were you before and how did travel transform you? Featured Guests: Travelprenur , Bryan Berlin, Jon Barr, Traveling Vagabond

When we travel, many of us come back with more photos on our phones and souvenirs in our bags. We may feel a deeper shift within us. We have experienced things that we cannot unsee. We have to do better; we know we can. This could be as simple as giving more compliments to people, being kinder.   Or it could be enough to evoke a humanitarian career.  But ultimately, how can we make sure that we are helping, and not falling into the lens of white saviorism. How can we construct true conversations around areas that are in need without tokenizing them. In this episode, we will talk to travelers who were inspired to make the world a better place.  Featured Guests: Ray Blakney- Creator of Live Lingua, Anne Davis-Creator of Venture with Impact, Kat Najera- Creator of Manos Con Amore, Evita Robinson- Creator of Nomadness

Sometimes we don’t know we are sick until we have left our homes. New environments have ways of challenging us.  We can push our strengths to a new limit. We can see how adaptable our bodies are in new territories.  We get over the limitations our bodies and minds put on us. We see what we can and cannot do without sacrificing our joy and need to travel. Travel can help us see what pieces need to be put back together.  Guests: Obligatory Traveler, Find Your Shine, The Deaf Traveler, Tiny Globetrotter

Travel invites us to climb mountains, internal or external. And once we leave the small backyards we were raised in and are exposed to the great landscapes of the world, something shifts within us.  Our egos crack.  Our  minds quiet. Our true selves show up.  Today on the episode, we are humbled. We talk to people who begin the transformational process that happens when we leave our comforts and discover who we are on our own.  Featured Guests: Richard Cardillo, She Explores Podcast, Lisa Morales Photography 

“What are the chances?”  is how it always starts. We bump into a middle school friend in Prague, book the same hotel as a high school friend in Argentina, or end up sitting next to someone from home on a bus in Ireland.  When we travel, we sometimes find ourselves running into people we already know but didn’t expect to see.   Your brain is shocked because it is breaking your expectations.  For a moment, in a time where you have volunteered to be uncomfortable and out of your element, you have a moment of familiarity.  Or maybe the same thing keeps happening to you, you see the same person over and over again, hear the same topic come up in conversations, or keep being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But what do these coincidences really mean?  Featured Guests: Yann Iunga, Sandi Marx, Sam Dingman   Are they just a sign from the universe or us just flipping the least unlikely coin? 

Strangers are an inevitable part of our trip. Their presence is like oxygen: invisible but breathes life into our trips.  These random interactions  Being pointed in the right direction ( or often wrong) by someone sitting next to you on the bus.  Sharing a dessert with someone you met on a tour Having a small laugh with the barista in a cafe  Make a quick conversation with a cab driver who tells you where the best meal is in the city Sometimes even staying in a strangers home for the night Are what tend to define our trips.  We will talk to travelers who have had their trips defined by the random acts of kindness they have experienced from around the world.  Featured Guests: Anita Florez, Juan Pablo Villarino, Casey Fenton

er, it seems that when we travel to new lands, what we are afraid of is more that we don’t know our surroundings. We are unfamiliar with the customs, our surroundings, the cultural mannerisms, the speed of the city, or even how to order. Our discomfort in a new place can prick our brains to believe that mischief looms behind every door.    But that’s not to say that these malevolent moments don’t happen. They do.  We get our passports stolen, Hopelessly lost Pickpocketed  Scammed  Grabbed at  Lied to  These moments are part of the process. Our travels aren’t always filled with Instagram ready pictures, there are plenty of alarming moments in between.  In this episode, we tell the stories we don’t want to share with new travelers.  All of the fears that we have around travel will bubble to the service, and we will do our best to burst the misleading stories on how dangerous the world is. Featured Guests: What the Pho, Punk Dads Abroad, Adam Selbst, Dawn Fletcher