Travel Wisdom Podcast -travel and learn languages for success and money

Nate Ritter is a failed expat who was unable to live in France. Since then he has founded a company called Room Steals which is a hotel booking search engine which allows you to find wholesale prices of hotels. He has seen savings of many hundred dollars on a single night but savings are often 20%. Use the following Coupon code for 20% off your first annual fee travelwisdom Top 3 Takeaways: "The night before we left, we were like, what do we do with all this paperwork?We don't need it because we got our visa. And we literally burned all of the paperwork. It was like a book of paperwork that proved who we were and what we were doing and all this kind of stuff. So we burned it in the fireplace that night, thinking this is a fun story to tell people later" "My favorite story that we had is that we spent $250 to send four of us round trip to Europe, and we stayed for a month and paid zero on accommodations. So for 250 bucks to fly to Europe for four of us, and then stay there for a month, like it's definitely, people are spending three, $4,000, easy on that kind of a thing." "So that's Room Steals. I took that inventory source and I said, "this needs to be public." Instead of doing what everybody else does, which includes Expedia booking, they say here's what the wholesale price is, and mark it up to that and then they keep the difference. So I thought we should be a little bit more transparent than that. We make all of our money like a Costco model. We're doing a membership." 1:00 "Failed expat, how does that work?" 7:00 "What happened in between then and now with Room Steals?" 9:00 "What kind of travel hacking were you doing?" 12:00 " You found an unused inventory of rooms?" 18:15 "So what kind of savings do people usually get?" 20:15 "Do you mostly get the savings on the higher end?" 21:45 "So how do you book a room?" 23:15 "I'm also very curious about the RV lifestyle and how you transferred into this" 25:00 "Any tips that you wanna share with the listeners about RV life?" 29:45 "Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you wanted to mention?" Use the following Coupon code for 20% off your first annual fee travelwisdom

Francis Tapon rejected his normal Harvard Business school life and instead chose to hike the Appalachian trail and travel in Africa for 5 years. He hosts the Wander Learn podcast where he talks about the benefits of being a wanderer. Top 3 Takeaways: "Sometimes I think the best way to learn is just to forego college and then just go travel the world and spend a few years going traveling around. This probably costs you even less than college." "That is a more important question than how to make a billion dollars is what you do once you have a billion dollars, because once you have a billion dollars, how you spend your time is extremely telling it shows whatever you're spending your time at that point is your passion is what you really want to do." "The protest during the Occupy Wall Street and people are saying like "the top 1%, the top 1%, top 1%." And I felt like walking into that crowd and just saying "You guys are all in the top 1%, every single one of you protesters, because compared to most of this planet, which lives in India, China, Asia, and certainly Africa, you guys are way wealthier than most people out there."" 0:45 "Do you want to do a brief synopsis of all the travel you've done and then why you think why you like this name wander learn?" 7:45 "Have you continued doing robotic vision stuff or have you done only the travel stuff?" 13:45 "So you haven't grown tired of this?" 16:15 "Let's talk about Wander Learn" 21:45 "Sounds like you like hiking" 23:45 "So what's the point of walking so much for weeks and months? What do you get out of it?" 30:30 "How about you for the meditative hiking stuff? Does time go by quickly?" 38:15 " Is there anything that you wanted to talk about that you wanted to cover?"

David Axelrod is the author Get Away: Design Your Ideal Trip, Travel with Ease and Reclaim your Freedom about the best way to plan a trip. David has been to over 50 countries and has written other books about the wild situations he found himself in. Top 3 Takeaways: "They, are chasing their whole itinerary and feeling like they're never really in control of it. I've heard that story way too many times. And I think what it comes down to is insufficient planning." "Planning enables spontaneity. I think that when you have a plan that's an airtight plan you've earned the freedom to deviate from that plan without suffering" "Even more important than the number of companions is that you are very clear with the person you're traveling with about your goals and their goals, and trying to align as much as possible." 2:00 Tell us a little bit about your story 5:00 "What are some step-by-step what's the step by step walkthrough for a trip?" 7:00 "Did you see a lot of people not follow these guidelines or did you see a lot of people make a lot of mistakes or what's the motivation behind this?" 10:15 "So how do you balance that, the planning and the not planning the fun versus structures?" 12:30 " So you're not saying as far as go to as far as booking hotels or booking hostels?" 14:30 "What's your kind of sweet spot. What do you recommend for going between cities?" 17:00 "In terms of companions, what do you suggest for people?" 19:30 "You've done a lot of travel writing and travel photography too. Did you want to talk a little bit about this?" 23:30 " You're starting consulting doing this travel planning?" 25:00 "Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you want to mention?" https://www.davidaxelrod.co/

Kathleen Peddicord wrote a book "How to Retire Overseas" where she talks about some of the research going into the best places to spend your twilight years. Top 3 Takeaways: "The average social security check right now for an American is about $1,500 a month. And that's enough budget to live well in a lot of places." "The best place to retire overseas in 2022 is a town called Comporta on the coast of Portugal, about an hour and a half outside Lisbon" The cost of healthcare can be 5-10x cheaper in other countries with even higher quality 1:00 "Do you want to introduce yourself a little bit?" 2:45 "How are you covering retirement for the last 37 years? Have you been retired for the last 37 years?" 4:30 "What's maybe the top five on the retirement index?" 9:30 "This retirement index how focused is it on retirement? And how transferrable is it to other things?" 11:30 Do people get bored of retirement or can they move to another place? 15:30 "Do you find that people that have traveled before or have lived abroad maybe that are maybe more open to this kind of thing?" 19:30 How does the healthcare cost and quality compare with the US? 25:30 "If people are interested in living abroad retiring overseas, how do they do that?" 28:15 "How has COVID changed everything? How has it changed the index, for example, is it still possible to go out? How does it work?"

Mike Bown is the "most traveled man in the world". He has written an essay called "Skins of Ill-Shaped Fishes", where he discusses how his travel across the globe has exposed him to a very wide spectrum of human life and have taught him in detail about the history and current reality of human society. In this episode, Ladan reads this essay and shares his opinion on it. Top three takeaways: It is a fallacy to assume that if everyone were to have had equal enfranchisement from the dawn of history, that humanity would be better off. In fact, the way out of societal stagnation is industrialization, which is dependent on the unequal system of capitalism. Had everyone had equal rights from the birth of civilization, we may have actually been less scientifically advanced than we currently are. Just as with the earlier industrial revolution, now that we are in the midst of a new revolution, the IT revolution, the unique facets of revolutionary capitalism are again under attack. Fascist and colonialist ideologies are resurging and reviving during this time when capitalist principles are under fire. Globalism is essentially colonialism 2.0. A lot of the problems that caused the first wave of colonialism to fail have been fixed, and colonialism is effectively being rebranded as globalism. In this sense, it is being referred to as a de-colonialism effort, with the belief that "diversity is our strength" widely spreading and influencing this new rise. An essay I recently finished: skins of ill-shaped fishes We are rag dolls made out of many ages and skins, changelings who have slept in wood nests, and hissed in the uncouth guise of waddling amphibians. We have played such roles for infinitely longer ages than we have been human. Our identity is a dream. We are process, not reality. Loren Eiseley Satisfying an interest in the process and experience of reality, and over thirty years of continuous backpacking, I've explored our planet's varied and fascinating life-ways. The first 23 years of travel served to take a friendly look around every country. The last 7 years has necessarily been return visits to regions, landscapes and tribes already familiar from earlier trips. Heraclitus claimed that no man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. In this sense, nations and tribes are akin to Heraclitus's rivers - especially in our era of revolutionary transformation. Village and regional Feudalism gives way, painfully, to a somewhat bewildering mix of economic and political systems: cronyism, socialism, communism, fascism, market capitalism, democracy, and related doctrines not so honestly named but functionally equivalent. My wandering has exposed me to a broad spectrum of human reality, from living in leaf huts with spear-and-net hunting pigmies in the Congo rain forest and Yakuti reindeer herders in the Russian arctic; to drinking sake and enjoying gooey octopus balls with Tokyo tech specialists. Many of these niches of human development fall into categories recognized by socio-economic experts, such as nascent artisanal mining communities. Others support cultures beneath their notice, such as squatters in the liminal spaces of decaying mega cities, surviving by drug dealing and scavenging. This has induced in me a taste for the quirkiness of raw reality as opposed to euphemism, politically expedient obfuscations and outright lies. The saying goes, liars should have good memories. But, on a global scale, those who make the decisions and disproportionately benefit from the resulting doctrines can't manage to keep their stories straight, over oceans and deserts, tundra and forests, fraught by dissension, suspicion and war. Comparative history and immersive experience unveil and embarrass these locally well-crafted fables and just-so-stories. Hunter gatherers were stable for hundreds of millennia and largely egalitarian, so had scant need to come up with new doctrines every generation. And Feudalism was likewise fairly stable for millennia despite spiraling inequality, so baffling doctrines had time to settle in to work their magic. Nowadays, however, revolutions and the doctrines that justify them are ubiquitous; a process and a dream of a swifter sort, sprinting, mind-driven, ahead of our biology toward Progress with a capital P, seemingly as sure-footed as the apocryphal fish crawling out of the Devonian ocean to stride and lord it over the land. Locally-crafted fables inveigle themselves just as insideously in Western minds, such that educated readers might wonder what there is left to observe in person on earth, and why bother. Isn't it the case that the populace is better informed than ever and the arc of history bends toward justice? We've established, surely, that underdeveloped countries want to develop. So advisors and NGOs show up to assist. Sadly, progress is slow because of Western military adventures, and plundering of nature's resources by devious multi-nationals who

Jake Steiner used to have severe myopia (shortsightedness) and wore glasses with a very extreme refractive power. However, he has overcome his myopia on his own, and he now teaches others how to do so as well. In this episode, he talks about how lenses can actually worsen myopia over time, and how to restore your eyes' functionality by changing habits and lifestyle choices. Top three takeaways: The eye will adjust its axial length based on what it sees in the environment. Placing a lens in front of the eye will cause the eye to adjust and change its axial length, which will alter its focal length. In this sense, minus lenses can potentially induce myopia by causing the eye to elongate more and more. Myopia is not a medical condition, but a refractive state. The eyeball elongates because there is a lens in front of it. People who have myopia have healthy eyes whose axial length has the ability to shorten back to its normal length. The word shortsighted is used both literally and metaphorically, and when used metaphorically, it can refer to the things that can make us literally shortsighted. Due to the culture of instant gratification and quick fixes, it is easier to go out and buy a corrective lens than it is to reduce screen time and change bad habits that strain your eyes.

Derek Loudermilk is the host of the Art of Adventure Podcast, a podcast that teaches about leading an adventurous life. In this episode, Derek and Ladan catch up and interview each other about what they've been up to recently and what they've learned from their adventures. Top three takeaways: When traveling abroad, you not only gain a new set of skills related to independence, but you also understand how the world truly works beyond your hometown. As an example, one may start off as having social or liberal points of view, but may have a different informed opinion upon seeing how those ideologies work in practice. There are a lot of interesting theories about dreams and how you can control them. One of these involves lucid dreaming and how you can control your dreams to help you solve real problems. By tasking your subconscious mind with focusing on a certain issue before falling asleep, you can potentially train your mind to help you interpret the issue better and make a clear decision. As people, we are our own worst critics. However, one thing that Ladan and Derek have learned is that if you are confident, competent, and follow up on your word, you'll go very far in life and things will work out in the end. And above all, the universe never gives you anything you can't handle.

Luca Fantuzzi is an Italian citizen who has recently returned to Italy from the US in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Italy is one of the countries most strongly affected by the outbreak, and Fantuzzi has gone back to be with family. In this episode, he discusses his recent experiences traveling and observing how this outbreak has affected Italy. Top three takeaways: Fantuzzi had some family friends who recently contracted the virus, and it was at this point that he realized the gravity of this situation. You understand best the effects of the outbreak once it affects you or someone in your family. This is an interesting situation in that some people are effectively displaced from work, whereas others are working twice as hard, in particular people in the healthcare industry. This ultimately depends on your profession and whether it is considered "essential business". The best thing to do in this situation is stay home and not interact with too many people. Staying home is the best way to be "generous" and help in this situation. Even though this means not going and hanging out with friends, it is much more beneficial to just stay home and spend time with family.

Inés Ruiz Navarro is a teacher of Spanish language and translation. In this episode, she explains how she uses meditation to help students learn and retain language more effectively and in a more positive way. Top three takeaways: When learning language through meditation, visualize someone you know, keep the image in your head, keep breathing, and describe the physical characteristics of the person in the new language. The whole thing has a positive effect since you learn while remaining calm and not worrying about mispronouncing or saying the wrong words. Meditation comes in many distinct forms, but in this context, it refers to a space where students can relax and enter a more positive mode of thinking, while simultaneously being active and responsive. This method of learning language can potentially be applied to other subjects, such as math and chemistry, as the method of meditation combats the anxiety that comes with learning a new subject.

Tamara Marie is a certified language coach who uses songs to teach language. She has developed a course called Spanish Con Salsa, which teaches Spanish through interactive lessons and uses Spanish songs to aid in retention of the learned material. In this episode, she discusses how she came to find music as an effective tool for learning languages, as well as how to best use music to learn more in-depth about a language. Top three takeaways: Using music to aid in learning a language can also expose the learner to the culture, dialect, and various accents a language is spoken in, and can teach a language beyond merely the grammar that is taught in a school setting. One should take a targeted approach when learning language from songs. This involves sitting down with song for a while, taking it section by section, identifying unknown words, and slowing down the song to better understand them. The sleep process consolidates memory, so take breaks and don't try to cram all in one session. When listening to the song later, you will notice and recognize a lot more of vocabulary and speech patterns of native speakers. When learning a language, it is important to be aware of the region you live in and how native speakers within that region tend to speak and enunciate words based on where they come from. For example, when learning Spanish, people who live in the southwest US would be better off learning the Mexican accent.

Lawrence Leyton is a therapist who has helped people overcome fears. In this episode, Ladan interviews Lawrence Leyton and one of his clients, Mark Wein, whom Leyton has helped to overcome his fear of flying. Lawrence Leyton and Mark Wein have since created a course to help people overcome the fear of flying. In this episode, they discuss the fear of flying in detail, what it is, and how it affects people's lives. Top three takeaways: People don't realize how small the risk of being involved in an aircraft accident is. There is a higher chance of dying from falling down stairs or being kicked by a donkey than there is of dying in a plane crash. However, the fear of flying often stems from the perception of a plane crash, rather than the actual statistics. A phobic creates fear by concentrating on the worst-case scenario of a situation. Whereas most people would view a vacation as a positive experience, a phobic person focuses on what can go wrong, like for instance the plane crashing on the way to their destinations. Sometimes after gaining new major responsibilities, such as having children, people become more conscious about the risks they take. In the case of flying, people worry more about being involved in a plane crash and not being able to be there for their children.

In this episode, Ladan discusses his trip to China. He discusses the sights he saw, the experiences he's had, as well as how China is modernizing. Top three takeaways: A lot of China's advancements, such as the proliferation of electric vehicles, bullet trains, and more modern ways of paying for goods and services (such as facial recognition) are mostly a matter of the last 3 or so years. China is not a democratic country, as is clearly illustrated by the "Great Firewall", which censors the internet for its citizens. VPNs are required to access common sites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. However, the lack of democracy may be how China is able to advance so quickly without much hindrance. The best way to know what a country is truly like is to go and see it for yourself. Propaganda and hearsay do not paint the true picture of what a country is like. By visiting China, one can see how modern and advanced they truly are. GoogleFi: 7CKFM4 (Save $20)

David Wood is a coach who teaches people to have tough conversations. These conversations are the most important things you can do otherwise you will repeat the thing you didn't want to happen over and over.

After a long hiatus here is my first episode talking about my trip to Thailand this summer

Shawn Paris has spent the last 4 years of his life essentially homeless. He has stayed with around 200 couchsurfing hosts in the US, France and Japan while going around and performing. I hosted him for a few days and we ended up talking about the benefits of living like this. I had done something similar in 2017 and although I got sick of it after a year, it definitely had its benefits. It is definitely possible to save rent money or money on a mortgage and spend that on travel instead.

I talk to my friend here in Gainesville, Joe Uong. We met because of his great language ability in German which he had only been learning a few months. His secret was using a service called Lingoda. Here they offer group language lessons in German, French, Spanish, or Business English. You have a teacher and go through specific language lessons with up to 4 other students via a video Zoom meeting. Joe ended up doing their quarterly language half Marathon where you if you complete 15 hour-long classes per month for 3 months then you get half of the 109 euro (~$122) monthly course fee refunded!! For the language full Marathon you would get all of the 219 euro (~$245) monthly charge refunded if you completed 30 hour-long courses!!! You can get free language lessons! Joe and I talk about the service and some of the benefits over using a free service like Duolingo. Each has its purpose. I ended up using Lingoda for the half Marathon also and I really ended up enjoying how much my language learning improved. Get a $75 discount off the first month using the code G-7CEA3R This also gives me a few free lessons, everyone wins!

I met Tom at a conference last year and we really hit it off because of both of our travels. Turns out he travelled all around the world many decades ago when the world was a different place. He was able to go to Iraq, Afghanistan, and saw India as a different place than it is now. This conversation was very interesting to see how things have changed over the last few decades. It was also interesting to see the change in him, going from travelling hippy to successful in his profession.

Mikkel Thorup is the host of the Expat Money Show where he talks about the advantages of setting up many of life's things abroad. "PROTECT THE MONEY YOU WORKED SO HARD TO EARN FROM AMBULANCE CHASING LAWYERS, NEFARIOUS CREDITORS AND GREEDY UNJUST GOVERNMENTS"

It was a pleasure to talk to Casey Fenton, the founder of Couchsurfing again. We had met a year ago in Bali but with a tight schedule and us celebrating his 40th birthday we never ended up recording an episode at that time. Luckily, he is now writing a book about his experiences building my favorite community for travel. Couchsurfing allows you to stay with strangers for free while travelling and its all backed on a review system that makes sure you stay safe. I've used it over 100 times and I have to say that some of my best friendships have come from the site!

Matt Ward is the host of the Disruptors podcast which was formerly Fringe FM. He had built a company to a million dollars within about a year all while maintaining his love for podcasting. Now he is working on a podcast around the future of humanity, scientists, education, healthcare and manned space travel. In this episode we talk about how he started on his path by going to go travel and knowing he couldn't work for anyone else.

Robert Hartline has built several successful businesses and was able to grow it to $100 million in revenue. He now lives in a location independent lifestyle and is able to work whenever and wherever he wants. He thinks of diversity as being more than skin deep but the way that a person thinks and acts. This can come from different life experiences such as travel

Tom Gose is the host of the Peanut Butter and Passports podcast as well as the author of the book by the same name. In this episode we interview each other on the best places that we have travelled in various categories.

Sue Hollis must have a butt made of iron to have survived 83 days and 23k kilometers of riding across North America. She was fed up with her entrepreneurial life and wanted to start something new. She considered this the third phase of her life where her first was corporate life.

I was very happy to have Jim Rogers on the show since he is a legend in the investment world. I have always kept my eyes open on interesting possibilities to invest in even though I never have while I have travelled. I always thought that have your boots on the ground would give you much more of an insight into what was really going on in a country. Jim actually did this and set 2 world records where he travelled around the world for many months and years, first on a motorcycle and then in a car. I hope this will be the first of many talks that we will have! Finally, I want to give a shoutout to the Brave Era 100% Silk Travel Sheet. They sent me their sleeping bag liner and I really enjoyed it. It is very compact and can be used instead of a sleeping bag if you will be sleeping indoors. Check it out!

This has been a long time coming but we finally have a cryptocurrency themed episode. I have invested in it a few months ago and am really excited about the potentials in it, especially after paying ridiculous sums of money to get cash wired to me when I was in Indonesia earlier this year. Andreas Antonopoulos was kind enough to speak with us and give us a bit of a high level evaluation of what is going in the crypto market nowadays. Finally, I want to give a shoutout to the Brave Era 100% Silk Travel Sheet. They sent me their sleeping bag liner and I really enjoyed it. It is very compact and can be used instead of a sleeping bag if you will be sleeping indoors. Check it out!

After many months of planning and a failed recording attempt, I was finally able to talk to fellow podcaster, Eric Trules. Instead of becoming a doctor he instead became a clown who performed on the street and followed wherever life took him. That ended up taking him to a position as a professor at USC teaching improv classes. Eric sees many parallels with travel and clowning in that it is really important to stay spontaneous and to always say yes! Finally, I want to give a shoutout to the Brave Era 100% Silk Travel Sheet. They sent me their sleeping bag liner and I really enjoyed it. It is very compact and can be used instead of a sleeping bag if you will be sleeping indoors. Check it out!

It was a pleasure to talk with Peter Sasin of NLP Akademia about his new book "Waves of Magic." I am actually a longtime listener of his podcast which is in Slovak. But now he wrote a book in English about how to use mindset to achieve what you want in life. He has a very motivating and uplifting way of talking which makes you realize what you want in life and how to get it.

Having gone to the Polyglot Conferences I always heard the name of Ellen Jovin brought up. Since I love learning languages and this show has had so many polyglots I knew that I had to have her on! She was an admin and extremely active in a Facebook group for a number of years and built a reputation. It was a pleasure to talk to her about experiences in the community and how she learned the 25 languages she had studied.

Eric Hunley is the host of the Unstructured podcast and Facebook page which is a bit of a spinoff of the Mixed Mental Arts Facebook page and podcast. Both of the podcasts take deep dives into ways of thinking and problems that we may have with seeing other people's point of view. People think and act the way they do because of their culture our job is to understand their point of view In this episode, we talk about the best way to evaluate arguments, how to listen to people and understand people by understanding their culture, and even a bit of politics.

Antesa and I actually had two calls which were merged into one. Usually, I don't like life coaches very much but her message is very close to mine so it resonated very well. Our stories were so similar that I had to have her on again. The first interview I was actually in an In And Out burger, I actually hadn't planned to record it. The second one was in my studio that I had set up a few weeks later. The key takeaways from this episode is that Travel is a form of escapism for most people but the next step is to integrate what you learn into your daily life. We talk about some of our special experiences while travelling to extreme places that you might have experienced as well!

I met Tetsu last year at the Polyglot conference in Iceland and I loved his talk about how he was able to teach his children 5 languages. Through a combination fo OPOL (One Person One Language), living in foreign countries, and having au pairs (live in nannies) in the target language the children were able to effortlessly learn all those languages. In this episode, we talk about his Pampers to Polyglots Facebook page and his book which helps supports parents or parents to be to have the most multilingual children ever!

I talked to Tofe about his dip into depression and mental health issues. Then one day he decided to run a marathon and then within about 6 months of doing these kinds of events he had pulled himself out of depression. We talk about how travel and doing races are actually very similar things, they both help you get out of the environment causing the depression. Both of us had the experience of getting better after about 6 months of moving our ass! So whatever you do, if you feel the pull of depression or mental health issues the first thing you should do is get out of the environment that is causing it. Whether it is running a marathon, going out to travel, or anything else you might want to do - move your ass! So if you like what he talks about then check out his book "Everyone has a plan until Sh!t hits the fan"

I talk to the founder of Bolt Collective, Dan Pierson, about how their community is redefining group travel. Using collective purchasing power, they're making other inaccessbile trips like boat charters, National Park treasure hunts, and private island takeovers happen. They do about a dozen trips all around the world per year, focused on giving you the freedom to explore on your own, with just the right amount of structure from a group. It's a curated group that's designed to attract curious, adventurous, adaptable, really nice people.

Since I last gave updates on things in my life it has been about 6 months (since I recorded the episode, not since I published it). Lots has happened! I have now gotten a job and moved to Gainesville, Florida. It is a cool project designing injectable brain implants and I am very happy. It was almost 2 years since I finished my Masters in Germany and it has been a hell of a time finding a job I would be happy in. I am already thinking that I could spend a few years here even though I was skeptical at first. I had broken up with my girlfriend and that has weighed heavily on my heart. I had never been so heartbroken and am hoping that we will get back together someday. I think it may have been for the best because this way we can both follow our dreams before getting back together. Otherwise it is a big transition going from being on the move all the time and living out of one backpack to settling down. I can now get 10 backpacks worth of stuff!!

Travel Wisdom friend Andrew Miles of Botanical Biohacking talks about how to keep healthy while travelling. Especially long flights can be quite harmful to your sleep, your gut microbiome, and ultimately your health. He infuses some Eastern wisdom explained in a Western way so that you don't become more unhealthy after travelling. The key is to train your body and eat as little as possible before travelling. Then when you arrive you need to get on the same eating schedule (breakfast, lunch, dinner) as the local population as soon as possible. He also notes that there are more important things than health including maintaining strong social contacts.

I only had 2 hours to meet Graham while I was passing through London "ok, let's meet at a Chinese all you can eat buffet." We met and in between bites we talked about what Graham was working on, Orchestra of Samples. He and his music partner have travelled to over 30 countries and sampled over 200 musicians over the last few years to be able to put together some really interesting music. These people never met and may have even recorded on other sides of the planet a few years apart. It's really cool stuff and I think if you are listening to this you should think about cool projects like this that you could take a part in!

Andrew Miles of Botanical Biohacking is a friend of the show and he is back to talk about language learning. He has learned Chinese and Szechuanese to a very high level over the many years of his travel there. This is Travel Wisdom so it wouldn't be complete without a language episode! In this episode, Andrew gives some funny advice on how to make friends that think you speak fluently, which is better than actually speaking fluently!! Tips include speaking with lower class people due to their smaller vocabulary, learning colors early, and having a few really funny colloquial expressions to sprinkle in now and then.

Have you ever gone outside of your country only to return a few years later? Did some things that you used to do or see no longer seem normal to you? This was my experience coming back to the US after 3 years. Everything felt so big and commercialized. It was really strange! There were many things that I didn't like and would ideally get rid of in the US. It is interesting because I had the exact opposite response a few years earlier. I wanted desperately to go back to the US (to eat Mexican food) after about a year of being away. But now when I came back I realized I like Europe better. Have you had experiences like this? Write me at [email protected]

Andrew is on the show again because I loved what he talked about last time! I have listened to every episode of his Botanical Biohacking podcast because he has an ability to explain Eastern medicine with Western vocabulary. Maybe you heard things like Chi from Tai Chi which means gas or energy which flows through the body. Turns out, there's something called gasotransmitters which send signals throughout the body. They just didn't have the Latin vocabulary for it! Andrew talks about many philosophies behind his book EnlightenWeight, a book I absolutely loved! We talk about bringing your body back into balance based on the environment you are living in as well as the role of gasotransmitters in the body. I really liked this episode which is the first in a series of 3 shows with different topics.

2017 was a very interesting year for me! After coming back from being deported to Russia in late 2016 I ended up moving in with an awesome girl. Actually, I only stayed with her half of the time to make sure that I wouldn't have visa problems. So I did odd jobs around Europe and bounced around to prevent border control from getting mad at me! So during 2017 I lived in England, worked in France, Ukraine and Slovakia, and travelled to Norway, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Iceland, visiting family in the US before going to India! So many places but many were out of necessity! Anyways, 2018 will probably have more nomadic times because my girlfriend had quit her job in late 2017 to follow her dream of travelling for 6 months in South Asia. I, of course, would accompany her since I had already been there. After that we might do a documentary in the US before settling there and working in a lab. I hope the travel wisdom will continue and I will always be ready with a backpack in hand with many more interesting people to talk to! Note, this episode was recorded in November, almost 3 months ago, but I think it is still pretty valid.

In this last of the series of recordings I have with Mike Bown, the most travelled man in the world. We recorded this in a bar during a storm but it was really interesting so I wanted to publish it. This wide-ranging conversation goes over things such as the Google monopoly, capitalism and feudal society, my theories about phrenology, why US slavery wasn't so bad, and the sacred view of rule of law.

Kelly spent more than 15 years doing aid work in Latin America and now has written a book which is based on her interviews and experiences in the drug trafficking world of Colombia. She lived in many of these places and went to areas that no tourists go to and conducted thousands of interviews. In this interview, we talk about some tips on how to get into aid work and what you can get out of it.

Peter started MyExpatsWorld 5 years ago with some meet ups in Mallorca, Spain when many people said he should do it everywhere! He has now grown it to a network of people helping each other out when people move to a new country. Many times when you move away from your family and friends you need a new support network that can help with small things like how to get a doctor visit in the language that you speak. Peter put this network together which has a global reach and now reaches about 4 million people!

When I met Mike in Ukraine in September I was able to record only a few hours out of our 50+ hours of philosophical discussions. This was the first of those. We talk about many things with someone I consider to be the top 5 most intelligent people I have come across (that includes baby Jesus!!). We talk about how when you are in the more interesting places you often meet very interesting people you would have no chance of meeting at home. Travel can act as a filter for interestingness

Some volunteer organizations charge thousands of dollars for the privilege of donating your time. Bianca talks about how to avoid this by being a bit smarter and being a more responsible traveller. She talks about this in her Altruistic Traveller blog where you can learn to do things like WorkAway and other things to truly volunteer in an impactful way.

Ok, so Chase totally doesn't condone this but he was talking about how he was in a low point in his life and decided to do risky things as a subconcious way to commit suicide. He learned to love life in the process and is now very happy. But I had to laugh when I imagined the most crazy way to kill yourself. I came up with attacking a hippo in Kenya holding an inflatable balloon and singing the Pokemon theme song. What can you come up with? In this episode we talk about how to create your own life and to come back from depression using adventure and to create a Bucketlist lifestyle.

Ka Sundance says that true life doesn't end when you have kids but that you can keep travelling even with 8 kids. He sees himself as being a good dad to give the attention and learning experiences to his kids by living this lifestyle. We also debate a bit on whether or not its good that his kids are not going to a traditional school. Learn how he went from being on food stamps to building a million dollar business over the last 7 years

Rick Rosner has the 2nd highest IQ in the world at about 199. He is a hobbyist that loves to take intelligence tests and has gotten really good at it. Some of these tests at the very high level are super time consuming, taking dozens of hours to take it. He does say that anyone can improve their IQ by 30 points within a few months, but his question is: why do you want to do it?

TRIGGER WARNING! If you are sensitive or do not want to hear viewpoints which you may not like then do not listen to this episode! We take a very objective look at many topics related to the topic of the death of tradition: failures of native cultures, the death of homosexuality, and the death of travel. We look at what has been happening with an objective viewpoint, we do not have a dog in this fight and have nothing to prove. I find it interesting because I have not heard this kind of reasoning and its refreshing to hear something that's banned in mainstream media. I like to say that half of what we know is untrue. I expect some of what Mike says will be truer than the stuff you thought you knew and half of what he says is untrue or only has a kernel of truth

Hi Adventurers! This is a special bonus episode featuring some of my top travel podcaster friends! You will hear from each host for a couple of minutes so you can get a better feel for what they are like. Immersing yourself in a variety of travel, lifestyle, digital nomad, expat, and adventure podcasts is the best way to accelerate your learning on the topics! Of course, there are some great shows in addition to this list, but have a listen and see what piques your interest! The 6 Packs w/Expats is a podcast by CP Travels which discusses global politics, fashion trends, myths, or just share stories about their time abroad hosted by Carl and Patrick. Travel Like A Boss podcast is the radio show all about traveling like a boss by being your own boss – featuring guests that have built their own online businesses. This podcast is hosted by Johnny FD. The Expat Happy Hour is the podcast that draws on the realities of expat life to offer you smart and simple solutions so that you can quickly (and painlessly!) adapt. Be successful, find your purpose abroad and stay connected with those who mean the most. This podcast is hosted by Sundae Bean. As Told By Nomads podcast features interviews with global nomads, Third Culture Kids, entrepreneurs and multicultural individuals who are leaders in business, culture, travel and global affairs to discuss what it takes to embrace your global identity and become a global leader. This podcast is hosted by Tayo Rockson. Check out his website at tayorockson.com Also, there is the Art of Adventure with my friend and former guest Derek Loudermilk. Our shows are very similar in that we both try to find the exciting things around the world in order to grow as a person. I actually stopped by his house for a week in Croatia a few months ago and we had a great time!