Strangers Abroad

We have finally arrived at our final destination, Peru, where I find the people who are so similar to me I was surprised we aren’t blood-related. This episode is with my chocolate soul mate, Jen, whom I shared a room with while working at a chocolate shop in the south of Peru. The friends you meet on the road are a special breed- they see you at your most uncomfortable, your most scrappy and sometimes desperate because of the extremeness of living life abroad. While we were living together, Jen got her backpack stolen and I got painfully sick; we experienced each other at more overwhelming points that not even our own mothers would have known how to handle. When you are abroad, you open yourself up to the curveballs of the world-testing your resourcefulness and perseverance. You don’t even know who you are in these situations or how you will respond. So, when you make friends who witness you at this simultaneously euphoric and tumultuous point in your life- and they still like you afterward- it is a bond like

This is an excerpt of our conversation with Graham Hughes where we both get kind of ranty and I wanted to give it its own space now at a time when our thoughts about the world have been challenged. We recorded this conversation pre Trump and pre Brexit- so neither of us had the knowledge to know the outcomes of those elections but as you can here we do have foresight to feel that something was happening. In this mini episode we discuss the elements that have made the world seem more dangerous than ever and the hysteria people have against traveling due to these skewed perceptions. I hope mine and Graham's’ stories of our global interactions show some proof of how the world isn’t as bad as it seems. You can read all about Graham stories with strangers from all over the globe travels in his new hilarious book “Man of the World” which we will link on the website.

He holds the Guinness World Record for visiting every United Nations recognized country by traveling by land and sea. Like a turtle, Graham carried his home on his back for the better part of four years over every sanctioned United Nations country. Like the Mansa Musa, Marko Polo, or Zheng He, who only had their feet, a boat, or a few camels to further them on their explorations, Graham's trips emulate the wonders and lessons of ancient travelers whose slow journeys had them span thousands of miles away from their homes and forced them to engage in other cultures’ ways of life. Graham has seen a lot for someone his age and for someone who has traveled to ALL of the allegedly dangerous countries in the world, he has come out unscathed and with both of his kidneys intact. In our conversation, Graham and I bypass the superficial aspects of travel and dig right into the deeper questions: is the world as dangerous as it seems, how did it shift his world perspective, and what has travel taught him that stay at home

What would you do if everything you worked for- successful company, healthy body, living in a great city-was suddenly taken away from you? Many survive the setbacks of unpredictable chaos and unpleasant events and are able to return to a normal life. But what about those who not only get back to where they were at, but grow even more? Who see life for the fleeting opportunity that it is and take these setbacks as a challenge to grow? We call those people antifragile. Deano’s story is the quintessential example of being antifragile- living in LA, having a budding tech company, being at physical peak and then all of that was taken away when he got into a horrible accident. After a year of physical therapy, instead of returning to the grind, he packed his bags and took full advantage of his new found strength and the opportunity to do what he was never able to before. Deano bought a one way ticket to Central America, lived abroad, learned spanish, hiked erupting volcanos, jumped over waterfalls and experienced t

I met Gaby while I was volunteering in a hostel in Costa Rica.  Born and raised in San Jose, Gaby thought she was going to go down the traditional path of education right into a career. However, her choice to work in a hostel, just to get some dinero on the side, has unintentionally challenged the way she thinks about her future.  She has formed a new perspective on homeland by seeing it through the eyes of people who are experiencing it for the first time. She has become endlessly inspired by the travelers who wander in and out of her hostel who are far from home and perceive her normal to be vastly different. She strikes up a conversation with everyone, whether it is asking them questions about their explorations or native soil, guiding them to the bus station to their next destination, or cluing them in on where to get the best cup of coffee in San Jose. We would spend hours during the quiet afternoons of the hostel having little music jams while doing the daily chores. She would create a warm and welcomin

Sara and I also met at the hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica where she was working at a program that teaches English to locals. Sara says exactly what's on her mind and has a specific pep about her that is emulated by the bounce in her curly red hair. Although far from Scotland, Costa Rica was not her first rodeo. As a well-traveled woman, she is attuned to the complexities and subtleties of new places and is thrilled by how vastly different locations in the world can share so many similarities, exposing the elegant simplicity of our earth. This love of learning combined with a travel competition she has with her brothers keeps her on the move. She strives for a genuine travel experience and is not interested in seeing a new terrain through a window, she wants to get her feet on the ground, breath the air, and chat up anyone that comes her way. Here is her story.

Sarah and I met in Costa Rica while I was working at hostel Beku. From the moment we met, we immediately broke into a long conversation, as if it was unfinished from years ago. Like a hummingbird, flying from one flower to the next Sarah gave a scattered synopsis of what brought her to Costa Rica and how she was leaving in a few weeks. Keeping my feelings to myself, I selfishly got upset at that news because we had just met and there was already too much to talk about. Since we parted in Costa Rica she has continued to bounce around the world, going from teaching in New Zealand to being a Divemaster on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where she was residing when we had this conversation. It reminds me of the planet the Little Prince lives on, taking only 15 minutes to walk around the entire floating piece of land, gently bobbing in the middle of the sea. She has become enamored with the discoveries of the underwater world, one that mirrors the great depth she finding within herself. Here’s her

Karyn and I bumped paths while still working in a hostel in Costa Rica. She is hard to miss between her immeasurable height, voice, and personality to match. As boisterous as her presence is, she is attracted to the relaxed, Caribbean sway that is hard to come by in frigid Minnesota. I bring her on initially to tell a regional American joke that I had never heard before. This is a little snapshot of the energy and playfulness that is bouncing out of her and I will let it speak for itself. In this podcast episode we discuss -What it is like to live in Minnesota -Why she travels to Costa Rica -What the Pura Vida life provides her -Her favorite food in Costa Rica -What are Lina and Oli jokes? -Where did Lina and Oli jokes originate? -Why are these jokes so damn weird? Lena and Ole jokes became popularized around the 1940’s in the Northern Midwestern states of America. They are born from the Norwegian and Swedish immigrants who landed in the US, playfully making fun of their cultural misunderstandings in their ne

Tina, from Finland, needed to find a place that was a 180 from her 9 months of snow, before becoming complacent with her beautifully simplistic life above the arctic circle. She decided to go and explore a climate and people on the other end of the world away from her reindeer eating folksmen. Flying in with a come what may attitude, Tina has not been disappointed with the challenges she has faced and exposure to new perspectives that have blossomed within her in a warmer world without snow. This trip has generated great reflection and better understanding about who she is fundamentally, and how she wants to construct the scaffolding of her future. Here’s her story.

Do you resist office jobs the way cats resist pools of water? Do you need a life that keeps you moving, questioning, and searching for yourself outside of the bounds of the conventional path? David had those same questions and drives. In this episode, he opens up about the struggles and exhaustion of not fitting in or knowing what to do, which resulted into a lifestyle that harmed his body and mind. He realized that all of that was a way to escape something larger within himself, a way to distract the discontentedness of ordinary life. The drinking, the late nights, the lack of sleep, and rough lifestyle was wearing on his body/mind and he realized he needed to reconnect and take care of it, which led him to a more nurturing activity: yoga. At the time of this recording, David has been able to unite his passion for yoga and travel and was a yoga teacher at a hostel I stayed at in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. In this episode, he discusses the rewards he has found by stepping off the trail and walking down an unpav

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala Are you about to finish university and have a future that is unsettlingly open? Are you afraid you don’t have a clear direction and are nervous about leaving the structure of school? Are you uncertain on whether you should take a little time to go find yourself and journey to someplace new? These were all questions that were plaguing Lisa from Germany, who I met on a tiny boat late at night in Lake Atitlan Guatemala. We talk about her research, her decision to travel and be out of her comfort zone. Hear her story and reflection about choosing to travel a distance corner of the world instead of jumping right into a career- and the rewards she would have never received had she stayed in her homeland. Hear her story on Strangers Abroad! Download and subscribe to Strangers Abroad on iTunes! This episode was edited by Jay Dixit, sound engineered by Sean Sullivan, and music was provided by Josh Brechner.

Tulum: Mexico Have you ever felt that all the gadgets and things you have bought for yourself still leaves you emotionally unsatisfied? Have you ever thought of selling everything you have to hit the open road?Ed and V Noriega were having those same feelings too. They realized that they were running out of time to see the world before committing to the biggest responsibility of all:children. So they sold all they had ( profitable companies and all their tech toys) to go and explore other corners of the world. They have made a vow to not have children until they have been to 50 countries together. Listen to “ 50 Countries before Kids” and see whether the choice to abandon their stable lives to explore for a few years has paid off. Hear their story on Strangers Abroad! Download and subscribe to Strangers Abroad on iTunes! This episode was edited by Jay Dixit, sound engineered by Sean Sullivan, and music was provided by Josh Brechner.

We now journey north through Mexico, through Chiapas to Palenque, which is where we meet Georgia and Martin. There are often times when I meet people who I have to tear away from in order to stop talking to them and I am often curious about other people’s travels. Travel is the truest test of any relationship and can make it or break it ( I ended a year long relationship after a week in Mexico with my now ex-boyfriend). Travel provides new and vastly different experiences or challenges, forcing you both out of your comfort zone and exposing different sides of each other. These two are a great example of how travel can strengthen the bond between two people. They move to an invisible rhythm that they both can only hear and dance to together, created by spending so many hours beside each other. They have spent six months of exploring the expansive continent of South America, absorbing all of it’s beauty and pain, and are finally ready to settle in at home with a nice cup of English tea. Here is their story.

Puerto Escondido:Mexico The Texans are the last group of people I interviewed at our surfer hostel community in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. They were the mom and dad of our volunteer community and in charge of the organic garden, always tending to both people and plants. They had decided to abandon the American dream long ago- filled with too many catches and contradictions-and aspired for a new life where they can propagate their own food and philosophies. We talk about the ways they are living their aspired alternative lifestyle:engineering their car to run on biofuel, cultivating their own superfoods, and living as DIY as possible in their sunny spot by the sea in southern Mexico. This episode was edited by Jay Dixit, sound engineered by Sean Sullivan, and music was provided by Josh Brechner.

Nidhi was also working at the surfer hostel in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Though she be but little- she is fierce! and is challenging how people perceive solo female travelers in her homeland of India and around the world. We discuss the benevolent sexism we as women experience when traveling on owr own, and how frustrating it is when people question your ability to explore the world solo. We talk about what she has learned about people from leaving her home in India to receiving an education in the United States and traveling around on her own in Latin America. This girl has big plans and isn’t letting her gender or size get in the way of her aspirations. This episode was edited by Jay Dixit, sound engineered by Sean Sullivan, and music was provided by Josh Brechner.

Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Jay and I met while working at a hostel in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. I would often watch him shimmy up the surrounding coconut trees, shading our little volunteer village, and together we would make coconut milk and attempt to make oil. Jay decided to pause his college career, which many people protested with the exception of an unlikely figure: his father. Jay's father ( who also backpacked in his youth)encouraged Jay to go and explore as much of the world while he is young and able to take more risks and wreck his body. We hear about how exploration runs in the family and how Jay has decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. He is guided by the adventure in his blood, busting out of the conventional path, ready to see what the world can teach him. This episode was edited by Jay Dixit, sound engineered by Sean Sullivan, and music was provided by Josh Brechner.

Mexico: Puerto Escondido This episode is an interview with a German couple I met while volunteering at a surfer hostel in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Being together for five years and fed up with the city life, they booked one way tickets to Canada to see what life was like on the opposite end of the world. They let their journey take hold of them as they slowly made their way down the west coast of the United States down to Mexico. We would stay up late around a bonfire they meticulously created and nurtured, passing around coffee mescal, travel stories, advice, hand rolled cigarettes and encouragement for future travels. They have asked to remain anonymous. Here is their story.

This is the first episode with the moi bonita Adrianna from Mexico City. She was my couchsurfing host during he first week of the journey and helped me fall in love with North America's largest metropolis. It was a bit of a chance because she had never hosted anyone before and had no references, but we both decided to risk it. From the moment we met each other we couldn't stop talking. We spent hours wandering around the city, late into the night, discussing conflicting facets of our experiences as women in our respective countries. We bonded over the stark similarities: the corruption, the oppression against women, but the comfortness of home and embracing the ugly and beauty of it all (especially after a few shots of mescal). A fellow history nerd and feminist, she gives us a glimpse of what it is like living in Mexico City as a woman. She explains the female experience from a personal and historical lens from the inception of feminism into Mexican culture to modern times. Adrianna is a beautiful soul and a

This track is a brief description of the inspiration and philosophy behind this podcast. If you are looking to take a break from the conventional life and want to find insights and how-to travel cheaply, while meeting incredible people along the way, then this is the podcast for you! This is a podcast that attempts to illustrate the importance of what we can learn from those around us or on other corners of the earth-especially in a time when the world feels stranger than ever. Throughout this podcast we come to realize that, although some of us grow up thousands of miles away from each other, we aren't so different from one other, especially once we give ourselves the chance to learn about ourselves and the ways that the world works by interacting with strangers.