Zero To Travel Podcast

Why have more people been to outer space than to every country in the world? Ric Gazarian grew up in Boston and spent years in financial services before a 2008 layoff sent him on a year-long trip and into a remote real estate business that has funded his travels ever since. He has now visited around 190 countries on his quest to reach all 193 UN member states. Ric hosts the Counting Countries podcast, organizes the Extraordinary Travel Festival, and has turned his tuk-tuk and rickshaw road trips through Cambodia and India into films. In this conversation, Ric and I talk about what traveling to every country in the world really involves, less crowded destinations worth visiting, unorthodox road trips by tuk-tuk and rickshaw, and how to get comfortable traveling to less visited places. Only around 500 people have ever been to every country on Earth, and Ric spends a lot of his time with them. That gives him a rare view of where the world's most traveled people actually go, and which places deserve far more visitors than they get. It's also a reminder that the best travel stories rarely come from the smoothest trips. If you've been craving something a little less mainstream for your next adventure, Ric makes a strong case for stepping a bit further outside your comfort zone. If you built a road trip around something you've never tried before, what would it be? I'd love to hear your ideas, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn What keeps Ric going on his quest to visit all 193 UN countries, and why some people give up along the way How the most traveled people in the world debate what actually counts as a visit How one book about a priest in the slums of Bangkok changed the course of Ric's life What Thailand's visa crackdown means for digital nomads and long-term visitors Where to find a Thai island with no 7-Eleven and barely a working ATM Why Ric calls Uzbekistan his favorite country in Central Asia, and the Tajikistan road trip he ranks as the best of his life How a $1,000 tuk-tuk that keeps breaking down can beat a luxury road trip Advice for getting comfortable with less visited countries, plus the safety systems Ric relies on Advice for leaving a career behind to take a year-long trip Which country surprised Ric most after he expected the worst Resources Sign up for our FREE newsletter GlobalGaz Counting Countries Podcast Extraordinary Travel Festival (code ZERO for $100 off!) Instagram Hit the Road Films Mercy Centre Mumbai Xpress Rickshaw Rally Every Passport Stamp Facebook Group Want More Visiting Every Country in the World…TWICE! With Gunnar Garfors Finding a Quest That Can Change Your Life: An Interview With Chris Guillebeau Independent Travel Gold With Graham Hughes Thanks To Our Sponsors Explore 100% human-made itineraries at exploreworldwide.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you be culturally religious without being religiously religious? What if happiness had less to do with what you believe and more to do with what you notice? Hiroko Yoda is a Tokyo-born author, translator and folklorist who first came to the US at 17 as an exchange student in rural Indiana. She went on to earn a master's degree in international peace and conflict resolution and co-founded AltJapan, a localization company, with her husband. A former Tokyo editor for CNN Go and a certified Shinto cultural historian, she has coauthored several books on Japanese folklore and is the author of Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan. In this conversation, Hiroko and I talk about the Japanese idea of 8 million kami, how spirituality became part of everyday culture in Japan, and how travelers can visit Japan's shrines and temples with more understanding. Most of us grew up with the idea that you either believe or you don't. Hiroko offers a different way of seeing it, where Japanese spirituality and happiness grow out of a worldview that treats the sun, the wind, and even the words we speak with quiet respect. It's a worldview that shapes everything from how people eat to how they relate to nature, and it's hiding in plain sight for anyone traveling through Japan. Hiroko is honest that none of this makes life easy, which is exactly what makes her perspective feel useful. What's one small thing in your everyday life you could start noticing, and appreciating, a little more often? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: How an exchange year in rural Indiana in the 1980s sparked a lifelong mission to build bridges between cultures What the ancient concept of 8 million kami reveals about the Japanese worldview Why most Japanese people struggle to answer the question "Are you religious?" How a Shinto priest's definition of kami turns gratitude into a daily practice How losing her mother led Hiroko back to Japan's spiritual traditions What Japan's mountain ascetics, the yamabushi, can teach us about our place in nature Why the Japanese words for seafood and vegetables say so much about happiness How the Seven Gods of Happiness reflect Japan's radical inclusivity Advice for visiting shrines and temples respectfully, plus one major Tokyo spot Hiroko calls a textbook example of Japanese spirituality What a 107-year-old calligraphy master taught Hiroko about happiness and perspective Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Eight Million Ways to Happiness HirokoYoda.com Japan Happiness Newsletter Hiroko Yoda Instagram AltJapan Youth For Understanding Want More: Exploring Kyoto Japan, Creative Expression Through Street Photography, Connecting With Your Heritage Abroad with Taro Moberly How A Pilgrimage Can Transform Your Life w/ Paul Barach The Spiritual Journey + Travel and Creativity with Karan Bajaj Thanks To Our Sponsors: Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Explore 100% human-made itineraries at exploreworldwide.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Norway is already known for its fjords, Northern Lights, and wide-open nature, so what makes Northern Norway an even better place to have it all to yourself? Joël Schwalenstöcker is a Northern Norway native who grew up in Tromsø with a German father and a French mother. For about 15 years, he has worked as a music agent, booking tours and shows for artists across Norway and Scandinavia. He is also the founder of Noraventura, which designs tailor-made trips through Norway for travelers who want to see the country beyond the usual tourist stops. Joël shares seven hidden gems in Northern Norway that most visitors miss, and why the region’s best-known spots have become so crowded. We also share Northern Norway travel tips on renting a car, packing for changing weather, and choosing when to go. Northern Norway is bigger, emptier, and wilder than most people expect, with the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights in winter shaping the rhythm of life there. It’s also a region where a short drive can change the entire feel of a trip. If you’re planning a visit, or you like the idea of seeing Northern Norway off the beaten path, this conversation gives you plenty to think about. Have you ever skipped the famous stop on a trip and found something you liked even better? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why a sailing trip toward the Arctic ended with Joël’s parents settling in Northern Norway for good How Northern Norway’s light, milder-than-expected climate, and freedom-to-roam traditions set it apart from the rest of the country Why the same few places dominate every search and social feed, and what that does to the travel experience Why the stretch of coast most people just drive through might offer the best mix of beaches and mountains in the country Where you can catch a concert inside a natural cave on a remote island community that has been inhabited for thousands of years What you’ll find when you turn right instead of left on a famous island chain How locals near the region’s biggest city escape to sandy beaches when the sun finally comes out How to trek the far northeast by following reindeer trails, close to the Russian border Advice on getting around, packing for weather that changes by the hour, and timing a summer trek to avoid the region’s fiercest insects How to get a real shot at the northern lights, plus one Lofoten stop worth adding to any itinerary Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Noraventura Unlisted Cheat Sheet (use code ZERO) Instagram Trænafestivalen Ytri Island Retreat Hov Gård Varangerhalvøya National Park Want More? Hidden Norway: 7 Off The Beaten Path Gems You’ll Love, Popular Norwegian Concepts Worth Stealing, Trekking In Bhutan, & Living At The Crossroads of Magic & Science w/ Torunn Tronsvang from Up Norway How To See The Northern Lights In Norway Top 7 Hidden Gems in Oslo, Norway with Curtis Rojak of Viking Biking Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Explore 100% human-made itineraries at exploreworldwide.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the way you were taught to read stops working the moment you step outside your own culture? Ann Morgan is a UK-based author, speaker, and editor best known for reading a book from every country in the world in a single year, a project she chronicled on her blog A Year of Reading the World and in her book Reading the World (published in the US as The World Between Two Covers). In her newest book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, she looks at what it actually takes to read well across cultural and linguistic lines. Ann returns to walk through five techniques for relearning how to read, covering how to notice your own hidden bias, why every reader fills in a story's gaps differently, what a book's assumptions reveal about who it expects you to be, and why this should all matter to us curious travelers. This conversation gets into something bigger than books: what it actually means to sit with not knowing, and why that discomfort might be exactly where the growth happens. Ann pushes back on the idea that understanding everything is the goal, and the reframe she offers reaches well beyond the page. If you've ever wondered what it actually looks like to get better at reading books from other cultures, this episode lays it out step by step. What's one time you filled in a story's gaps completely differently than the writer intended? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why the way Ann was taught to read stopped working once she started reading internationally How growing up in a culture that caters to you can hide how much of reading has been made easy for you Why she encourages readers to hold onto their questions instead of rushing to answer them How paying attention to what annoys you while reading can reveal a hidden bias Advice on knowing when to push through a challenging book and when to just put it down How noticing what a book explains, and what it assumes you already know, tells you who it was written for Why every reader fills in a story's gaps differently, and what that reveals about you How AI and shrinking attention spans are reshaping the future of reading and storytelling A story from Ann's recent trip to Greenland with her friend Tété-Michel Kpomassi, sixty years after his first journey there Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing A Year of Reading the World Ann on Instagram Reading a Book from Every Country in the World with Ann Morgan Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland Want More: Traveling While Black with Nanjala Nyabola The Geography of Bliss With Eric Weiner The Vagabond's Way: Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel w/ Rolf Potts Thanks To Our Sponsors: Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Explore 100% human-made itineraries at exploreworldwide.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With centuries of layered history and some of Europe's most uncrowded natural beauty, why isn't Bosnia and Herzegovina on more travelers' radars yet?  Nermin Numic grew up in Sarajevo and spent over a decade living and working abroad in South Africa and Europe, where he met his wife Kathrin, who is originally from Germany. In 2020, the couple returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina during the pandemic and decided to stay. They went on to found .Cheyf, a boutique travel agency built around the Bosnian concept of ćejf, showing travelers the local side of Sarajevo and the country beyond it.  Nermin and Kathrin share seven hidden gems in Sarajevo, Bosnia, that most visitors miss, along with the history behind the city's mix of Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Yugoslav influences. They also talk about day trips into the surrounding mountains, must-try local food, and starting a travel business together as a couple.  Sarajevo is a city where four major religions have lived side by side for centuries, where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand helped ignite World War I, and where the Bosnian War left scars that are still part of daily conversation decades later. Nermin and Kathrin don't shy away from any of that history, but they also refuse to let it be the only story visitors hear. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why they believe this is exactly the right moment to experience it for yourself.  What's a place you discovered by accident that ended up being the highlight of your trip? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  Why Nermin and Kathrin decided to build their life and business in Bosnia after meeting abroad  What the Bosnian concept of ćejf means and how it shapes the way they run their tours  How Sarajevo's layout reveals itself once you leave the old town behind  Why a quiet riverside walkway just outside the old town is worth the detour  How a centuries-old bridge and a Viennese-style coffeehouse capture the city's cultural blend  A thousand years of Sarajevo history, from the Bosnian kingdom through Ottoman rule, Austro-Hungarian rule, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that helped spark World War I  Why Nermin and Kathrin built their tours around food and culture instead of the Bosnian War, and how that decision paid off  Why a mountaintop observatory and a rooftop terrace offer some of the best views in the city  How to see one of the world's most valuable religious artifacts during a narrow weekly window  Advice for exploring the mountains, canyons, and villages just outside Sarajevo  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  .Cheyf  Insgram  Want More?  Top 5 Alternative European Destinations (to Avoid the Crowds) with Joseph Reaney  Hidden Norway: 7 Off The Beaten Path Gems You'll Love, Popular Norwegian Concepts Worth Stealing, Trekking In Bhutan, & Living At The Crossroads of Magic & Science w/ Torunn Tronsvang from Up Norway  Tbilisi Travel and Hidden Georgia Gems with Local Guide Levan Giorgadze  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel  Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app  Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to become the first person ever to complete a full source-to-sea kayaking trip down Madagascar's longest river?  Oscar Scafidi is a history teacher, travel writer, and expedition leader who has lived and worked across more than 30 African countries since 2006. He has written guidebooks to Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Tunisia, and holds a Guinness World Record for the first source-to-sea kayak expedition along Angola's Kwanza River. In 2022, he and a fellow expedition partner completed the first source-to-sea kayak trip along Madagascar's longest river, the Mangoky, an adventure now documented in his book and film.  In this episode, I talk with Oscar about his years living and working across Africa, and the story behind his recent Madagascar kayaking adventure.  This conversation moves between two very different worlds: the classroom, where Oscar spends his days teaching, and the wild, unmapped stretches of Africa where he pushes himself to the edge. There's a real thread of humility running through it, a reminder that no expedition succeeds without the people who make it possible along the way. It's also a great reminder that a regular person with a full-time job can still build a life full of big, audacious adventures. If you're drawn to stories of grit, humor under pressure, and what it feels like when a plan falls apart in real time, this one's for you.  Have you ever pushed yourself into a situation where you genuinely weren't sure how things would turn out? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  How a string of rejected job applications accidentally launched a two-decade career in Africa  What it was really like moving straight from Western Europe into a country facing serious political instability  How teaching and travel writing compete for Oscar's time and attention  Why staying humble matters when writing about places that aren't your own  What it takes to prepare for a multi-week kayaking expedition with almost no prior experience  How a mountain range with no water nearly ended the trip  Advice for handling corrupt officials and checkpoint shakedowns without losing your cool  Why local guides and communities deserve more credit than the explorers themselves  What's next for Oscar's expedition career  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Watch the documentary  Scafidi Travels YouTube  Kayak the Mangoky  Our Kids, Our Future Madagascar  Want More?  Top 7 Uganda Hidden Gems with Lynett Nakamanya  Reconnecting to Nature with Adventure, Purpose, Fun, and Travelers' Curiosity with Alastair Humphreys  Exploring Namibia: The Ultimate Road Trip, Uncrowded Safaris, and a Slower Pace of Life with Tuta Nangolo  Thanks To Our Sponsors:  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel  Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app  Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why would anyone choose to travel across two continents alone, with nothing but a cat and no real plan?  Mia Kercher is a copywriter, marketing strategist, and hypnotist who traveled overland from Serbia to Vietnam as a solo female traveler. She crossed twelve countries by car, foot, bicycle, and tuktuk, all with her cat, Cleo, by her side. Prior to this trip, Mia spent two and a half years backpacking through Europe, eventually settling in Serbia, where she built her energetic copywriting business, Evoke Writing. She recently finished writing a book about her journey.  In this episode, I talk with Mia about her journey, including the weeks she spent in Afghanistan, and how she kept her business running while living off-grid.  This conversation is about what happens when you choose curiosity over a plan. Mia's approach to travel has never been about research or certainty, and that mindset gets tested in a big way on this journey. We talk about the discomfort of being an outsider, the surprising kindness that can meet you in the most unexpected places, and how solo travel builds a kind of trust in yourself that is hard to find any other way. It is also a conversation about intuition, and how tuning into your subconscious mind can change the way you make decisions, both on the road and in business.  What would it take for you to say yes to an adventure with no plan and no idea how it would turn out? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  Why Mia decided to leave her expat life behind and drive across two continents  What it means to travel by "chaotic order" instead of a plan  The single overlooked document that completely rerouted her entire trip  How she prepared to enter a country most of her friends begged her not to visit  What changed the moment she stopped fearing the attention she was getting everywhere she went  The stranger who gave her a private tour most tourists never get to see  A roadside encounter that turned from friendly to alarming in seconds  How one man's dream of becoming an actor led to an unexpected fundraiser  Her strategy for traveling with a pet without drawing a crowd, and when it backfired  Mia's business strategy for making money on the road when she knows she's going to be off-grid or without wifi for a while  And so much more  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Mia's website  Instagram  Substack  Want More?  Solo Traveling Europe and "The Stans" in a Campervan with Maria Glaser  Overland Travel 101, the Pros and Cons of Full-Time Travel, and Favorite Hidden Gem Destinations With Eric Highland  Road Tripping To India: Life On A Land Rover Overland Trip  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel   Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app   Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to hear a podcast about one my favorite parts of the US? The Via Podcast by AAA paints a picture of the Western United States. If you love American history, road trips, wildlife, and Western folklore you’ve got to check out the Via Podcast. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

What would it take to visit every country in the world, and could a journey like that actually help you heal from unimaginable loss?  Following the sudden loss of his wife Jackie in Botswana in 2017, Barry Hoffner set out to visit every country in the world, a journey that became the basis for his memoir, Belonging to the World. He has since traveled to 192 of the 193 UN member countries, an experience that included exploring his own heritage as an Iraqi Jew who grew up in the United States. Barry also founded Caravan to Class, a nonprofit that provides access to education for young women across West Africa through the Bourse Jackie scholarship program, named in her honor.  In this episode, Barry shares how grief led him to a global quest to visit every country in the world, and what he learned about identity, connection, and healing along the way.  This conversation is a reminder that grief doesn't follow a straight line, and that the way we choose to move through it can shape everything that comes after. There's a lot of honesty here about what it means to rebuild an identity from the ground up after everything familiar is gone. And there's a genuine sense of wonder in hearing how one goal, however unlikely it seemed at the start, can turn into a life fully lived.  What might it look like for you to begin again from year zero? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  Why one spontaneous coin flip during high school set the course for a lifetime of travel  How an early scam abroad taught a hard lesson about travel awareness  Why working overseas early in his finance career reshaped his approach to life and work  What it was like to survive a real plane hijacking  How exploring his family's Middle Eastern heritage as an adult changed his sense of identity  Advice for processing grief and using travel intentionally as part of healing  Why he calls the period after his loss "year zero" and what that mindset can offer anyone starting over  How a chance encounter with a stranger became one of the most meaningful moments of his journey  Why the goal of visiting every country mattered less in the end than what he discovered along the way  Advice on transitioning from decades of nomadic living to putting down roots in one place  And so much more  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Belonging to the World  Caravan to Class  Barry's Instagram  Want More?  Finding A Quest That Can Change Your Life: An Interview With Chris Guillebeau  The Power of Death in Life with Gentle Rebel Bronnie Ware  A Personal Evolution Through Travel + Creating Your Own Path with Nikki Vargas  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel   Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app   Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to hear a podcast about one my favorite parts of the US? The Via Podcast by AAA paints a picture of the Western United States. If you love American history, road trips, wildlife, and Western folklore you’ve got to check out the Via Podcast. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

What makes Namibia feel less like a destination and more like an escape from everywhere else?  Tuta Nangolo is the founder of Kamatjona, a coliving space and safari company based in Windhoek, Namibia. Founded in 2020, Kamatjona blends long-stay coliving for digital nomads with community-driven, self-drive safaris across the country. Tuta's approach to hospitality was shaped in part by years spent working in a backpacker hostel in London, an experience that inspired him to bring that same sense of connection back home.   Tuta joins the show to talk about what makes Namibia's culture and landscapes so distinct, and he walks through a self-drive road trip itinerary connecting the country's desert, coastal, and wildlife regions.  Namibia doesn't behave the way most people expect a safari destination to. This conversation captures a country defined by space, silence, and a slower pace of life, where the wild feels genuinely wild because so few people are around to interrupt it. There's a real sense of discovery running through this one, the kind that comes from a place still largely untouched by mass tourism. It's also a look at what it takes to build a sense of community in a country that's historically catered to a very different kind of traveler.  Have you ever shown up somewhere expecting one thing and found the complete opposite? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  Why Namibia surprises most visitors expecting a typical African destination  How population density shapes the pace of life and the travel experience  Advice for planning a multi-day self-drive road trip through the country  Why safaris here feel different from more crowded destinations elsewhere in Africa  What inspired the shift from working at a hostel abroad to building a coliving space back home  How local culture blends European influence with African tradition  What to know about weather and timing before planning a visit  Budget-friendly tips for food, accommodation, and getting around  The role of community in shaping a more meaningful travel experience  And so much more  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Kamatjona coliving and safari  Kamatjona on Instagram  Namibia Road Trip & Hidden Gems List Want More?  Top 7 Uganda Hidden Gems with Lynett Nakamanya  Safari 101: How To Plan A World-Class African Safari (Without Going Broke)  5 Surprising Experiences in Africa, How to Transition to a New Career After Travel, and Exploring the African Diaspora With Jay Cameron  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel   Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app   Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when you plan a trip with one goal: to disappear from your phone, your inbox, and the news for as long as you can stand it?  Tony Fletcher is a British music journalist and the author of seven books, including the bestselling Keith Moon biography Moon and the definitive R.E.M. biography Remarks Remade. He started the fanzine Jamming! as a teenager in London and has spent decades interviewing artists across the music world. He now lives in New York's Catskill Mountains, where he writes about music, travel, and running.   Tony just got back from a solo month in Nepal, where a big part of the trip was a deliberate digital detox: two weeks completely offline, no email, no social media, no news. He joins me to talk through how he planned it, what it actually felt like to disconnect, and the unconventional route he took into the mountains.  This is a conversation about what happens when you actually let go, not just of your phone, but of the need to always know what's going on. Tony went in with real doubts about whether he could pull it off, and those doubts followed him further into the trip than he expected. What came back out the other side surprised even him, touching habits and instincts he wasn't trying to change. There's also a quieter thread running through it about choosing the harder, lonelier path on purpose, and what that choice does to how you experience a place.  Have you ever taken a real break from your phone or the news while traveling, and what did you notice about yourself in the quiet? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.  Tune In To Learn:  How he prepared mentally in the week beforehand, and how many times he nearly talked himself out of it  Advice for planning a trek that starts right from your hotel room instead of taking transport to the trailhead  Why he chose a quieter route over the two most popular options  How trekking solo and unsupported changed the pace of each day  What quitting coffee and alcohol on the trail taught him about resetting his habits  How stepping away from his phone opened up more conversations with strangers  Why he gave himself an extra week away from the news even after getting back online  Advice on budgeting, accommodation, and food costs on a multi-week trek  The story of nearly losing his phone for good, and what it says about staying present  And so much more  Resources:  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Tony's Substack  Nepal Trekking and the Great Himalaya Trail by Robin Boustead  CalTopo  Trekking Nepal: Your Adventure Guide podcast by Zero To Travel  Want More?  Life-Changing Trips, Interviewing Music Legends, Backpacking the World, and Fostering Transformative Connections with Tony Fletcher  Immersion Travel: Becoming a Porter in Nepal with Nate Menninger  Walking the World with Alexander Campbell and Tom Turcich  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel   Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app   Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does a tiny Nordic nation with just 5.5 million people feel impossible to summarize in a single sentence? Lorelou Desjardins has been writing about Norwegian culture since 2013 at her blog and publishing house, A Frog in the Fjord. She has published six books in Norway and internationally, along with 250 articles in mainstream media including Norway's largest newspaper. Her latest book, How to Be Norwegian, offers a crash course into 55 essential Norwegian cultural quirks. She lives in Oslo and is now a Norwegian citizen. In this episode, Lorelou and I dig into Norwegian culture and what makes this country so unique, covering the surprising scale of Norway's geography, the country's cabin culture, social dynamics among Norwegians, food and drink customs, the quirks of Norwegian English, and a Norwegian concept worth stealing for your own life. Norway can feel like a country of contradictions: vast and remote in parts, intensely social in others, shaped by long winters and short summers that flip the whole rhythm of daily life. This conversation moves between practical travel insight and a more personal look at what it is actually like to live here long-term, even after becoming a citizen. Whether you are planning a trip, exploring your own Norwegian roots, or just drawn to borrowing a little wisdom from another culture, there is something here for you. What is one custom or tradition from somewhere else in the world that you have brought into your own life? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: How long Norway actually is, and which European capital it would touch if you spun it on its southern tip Why a growing wave of travelers are choosing Norway over traditionally hot summer destinations What Norway's "freedom to roam" law actually allows you to do How cabin culture works, and how travelers can access cabins most visitors never think to look for Why Norwegians have a reputation for being emotionally cold, and the bus ride that put that reputation to the test for me Why Norwegians are so eager to talk about their own cultural identity with outsiders The surprising history behind Norway's strict modern alcohol laws Why frozen pizza and Friday tacos became beloved national traditions The Norwegian concept that's similar to hygge, but with its own colder, deeper edge And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter A Frog in the Fjord Lorelou's website How to Be Norwegian The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) Want More? Cracking the Cultural Code, Ethical Travel To Indigenous Areas, & Life in Norway With Lorelou Desjardins Hidden Norway: 7 Off The Beaten Path Gems You'll Love, Popular Norwegian Concepts Worth Stealing, Trekking In Bhutan, & Living At The Crossroads of Magic & Science w/ Torunn Tronsvang from Up Norway Top 7 Hidden Gems in Oslo, Norway with Curtis Rojak of Viking Biking Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to hear a podcast about one my favorite parts of the US? The Via Podcast by AAA paints a picture of the Western United States. If you love American history, road trips, wildlife, and Western folklore you’ve got to check out the Via Podcast. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

What would it look like to build a life that reflects exactly who you are and where you want to go? Heath Armstrong is an entrepreneur, author, and co-founder of Rage Create, a company known for its unconventional affirmation and oracle card decks that have raised over $200,000 through crowdfunding. He spent years living and working nomadically, including a period traveling full-time in a self-built van across the United States. He now runs Deck Creators, a community for people who want to create and launch their own card decks, from his farmhouse in the mountains of North Carolina. In this episode, Heath and I catch up on his journey from the early days of location independence to the businesses he's building now. We get into his approach to freedom lifestyle design, what it actually means to take inspired versus forced action, and the daily practices he's used to move from vision to reality. This is one of those conversations that works on multiple levels. On the surface, it's about entrepreneurship and building a life around your values. But underneath that is something more personal: how to recognize when you're operating from fear versus genuine alignment, and what it takes to keep moving in the right direction even when things get hard. Heath's been through real darkness, real financial uncertainty, and real pivots, and he's thought deeply about all of it. Whether you're designing a lifestyle business, mapping out your next travel chapter, or just trying to figure out what you actually want, there's something in here for you. What's one thing you could do this week to move closer to the version of your life you actually want to be living? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why Heath draws a sharp line between inspired action and forced action, and why that distinction changed everything for him How the note card practice he started years ago still shapes his daily routine today Why visualizing your goals in the present tense only works if you actually believe them, and what to do if you don't How to tell the difference between resistance and intuition when they can feel nearly identical What Heath's "totem pole" framework looks like in practice, and why it brings long-term vision and daily action into alignment Why your environment and the people around you matter more than most productivity advice will tell you Lessons from van life that Heath still carries with him, including why nature and isolation sharpened his business instincts What Heath did when a tariff crisis threatened to sink a shipment, and why he frames problems like video game bosses Why Heath thinks moving toward the life you want and being happy in the present moment are actually the same thing Hidden gem destinations that left a real mark on Heath, including a spot in Oregon most people have never heard of And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Interested in the Being Box? Email Jason Heath's website Rage Create Deck Creators Community Heath on Instagram The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale Love Money, Money Loves You by Sarah McCrum Want More? Digital Detox: Downsizing Your Digital Life to Create Freedom + Reboot Your Lifestyle Business with Corbett Barr Building, Growing, and Enjoying a Successful 7-Figure Lifestyle Business with Dan Andrews from Tropical MBA How to Pivot to a Life With More Freedom (And Travel), Get More Free Time, and Unlock Your Intuition With Jenny Blake Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if one of Africa's most diverse and rewarding destinations has been hiding in plain sight — and most travelers only ever see a fraction of what it has to offer? Lynett Nakamanya is a tourism professional and Kampala native who has worked across the East African travel industry for over a decade. She holds a master's degree in management science with a focus on project monitoring and evaluation in tourism, and is affiliated with the Uganda Tourism Board. She also runs her own trip-planning platform focused on sustainable and meaningful experiences across the region. In this episode, Lynett shares her list of Uganda hidden gems and travel recommendations, the state of tourism in Uganda today, and the real impact that responsible travel can have on local communities. Lynett brings a perspective that's hard to find — someone who grew up in Uganda, has spent her career inside the tourism industry there, and thinks seriously about what travel can and should do for local communities. She makes a compelling case for doing a little research before you arrive, because the gap between a standard itinerary and a genuinely memorable one often comes down to simply knowing what to ask for. She also shares a Ugandan saying about travel at the end of this one that's worth sticking around for. What experience from this episode most surprised you, and has it changed how you think about where you want to go next? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why a beautiful crater lake just 20 minutes from Uganda's most famous attraction is almost never visited — and why it's worth the detour How one of East Africa's most rewarding mountaineering experiences sits in Uganda, largely off the radar of international visitors Why Uganda's 56 tribes make cultural immersion more rewarding when you focus on just one or two What one of Uganda's most historically significant religious sites reveals about the country's layered cultural past How a massive collection of islands right next to the airport offers everything from white sand beaches to wildlife encounters that most visitors drive straight past Why one eastern Uganda destination pairs three waterfalls with some of the world's highest-graded Arabica coffee Why doing your own research before a trip is the single best way to unlock experiences that never make the standard itinerary How responsible travel creates a ripple effect through local families and communities that most visitors never see What cultural mistake tourists commonly make in Uganda that creates more harm than help And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Uganda Tourism Board Uganda Wildlife Authority Explore Uganda Want More? Top 10 Hidden Gems: East Africa (Beyond the Safari) and Transitioning to Travel With Sasha and Megnote Lezhnev 5 Surprising Experiences in Africa, How to Transition to a New Career After Travel, and Exploring the African Diaspora With Jay Cameron Safari 101: How To Plan A World-Class African Safari (Without Going Broke) Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Earn points on rent and mortgage payments. Apply at joinbilt.com/zerototravel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the travel mindset you bring to far-off places is exactly what's needed right where you live? Alastair Humphreys is a British adventurer, bestselling author, and speaker named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. He spent four years cycling 46,000 miles around the world and has since canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River, rowed across the Atlantic, walked the length of India's Kaveri River, and crossed Iceland on foot and pack raft. In recent years he has become one of the most well-known advocates for microadventures and local exploration, and his newest book is Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature. Alastair joins me to unpack the ideas in his book, including why our growing disconnection from nature matters personally and planetarily, and how a travel mindset and nature connection can be tools for changing both. Alastair has made this case before on the show, but Unwilded takes it somewhere new. This isn't just a conversation about microadventures or getting outside more. It's about a specific kind of blindness that builds slowly across generations, and what it costs us without anyone quite noticing. Alastair brings the same practical, adventure-first framing he always does, but this time it's in service of something bigger: a way to take the traveler's curiosity you feel on the road and put it to work where you actually live. The episode ends with a surprisingly simple exercise that can help you turn the world's overwhelming problems into something personal, actionable, and genuinely fun to pursue. What's one small thing in your immediate environment that you've stopped really noticing? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why the traveler's curious, enthusiastic mindset is exactly what's needed at home, and why most of us leave it at the border What "shifting baseline syndrome" is and why understanding it changes the way you see the world around you How two apps transformed Alastair's relationship with his daily run, and how to try the same thing Why spending 15 minutes in nature daily is harder than it sounds, and why that's actually the problem How connecting with even a tiny patch of local nature can deliver the same buzz as a far-off adventure What the Overton window has to do with how we approach climate change, travel, and everyday behavior Why Alastair stopped flying and moved to a vegan diet, and the surprisingly positive effect it had on his life What the 5-25 exercise is, and how it can help you identify the issues closest to your heart and take action without burning out How the Netherlands transformed its streets in a generation, and what that says about what's actually possible The vision Alastair wrote for the world 25 years from now, and why it's closer to reality than it might seem And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Alastair Humphreys' website Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature Adventure + Purpose newsletter by Alastair Humphreys Follow Alastair on Instagram Merlin Bird ID app Seek app by iNaturalist 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman Want More? How To Have An Adventure On Any Budget With Alastair Humphreys Exploring A Single Map: A Travel Adventure For Everyone With Alastair Humphreys Is Your Summer Vacation Destroying The Planet? w/ Seth Kugel Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Molly McDonald is a London-based YouTube producer and founder of Blue Door Productions, a YouTube-first content agency that brings broadcast-level production to digital storytelling. She studied journalism at Boston University and later earned a master's in Irish studies from NYU before building her career in television production in New York City. Her client list includes Red Bull, BBC, and National Geographic, and her films have accumulated over 200 million views on YouTube. This episode covers Molly's journey from Irish-American New Yorker to YouTube travel documentary producer, including her work on some of the most extreme human endurance expeditions ever filmed and what she learned along the way. Travel has a funny way of dismantling the stories we tell ourselves about the world, and Molly McDonald has lived that firsthand, from the pubs her family built in Manhattan to the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. She grew up straddling two cultures, and that dual identity turns out to be the exact foundation for the kind of storytelling she now does for a living: finding the human truth inside extreme, unpredictable adventures. There's a real conversation in here about what it means to travel to places that scare you, why the media often gets destinations wrong, and how following a story you can't fully control is actually what makes it worth watching. What place have you avoided visiting because of how it's been portrayed in the media, and has anything ever changed your mind? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why growing up Irish-American in New York shaped Molly's approach to storytelling and travel How Blue Door Productions brings TV-level production quality to the "wild west" of YouTube What it was actually like to cross into Iraq during a live expedition, and what happened to all the fear Why Kurdistan challenged everything Molly thought she knew about the region How to capture authentic moments on camera when you can't predict what's coming next Advice for aspiring YouTubers on what to cut, what to keep, and why most people share too much Why the title and thumbnail of a YouTube video matter more than people realize How to think about storytelling structure even when the story is still unfolding in front of you What the concept of "soul places" reveals about how travel changes you over time Why starting from zero on YouTube is actually an advantage, and what consistency really means And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Learn more about Molly's work at Blue Door Productions Follow Molly on Instagram at @mollybmcd Watch Mitch Hutchcraft's expedition on YouTube Want More? 100 Documentaries Project: Traveling the Globe to Find Extraordinary Humans + Changing the World One Story at a Time with Robin Danehav Transition to Travel: West Africa + Canoeing the River Gambia with Will Hunt Independent Travel as a Female in Afghanistan, Hitchhiking Iraq, and Ex-Pat Life in Sudan with Jacquelyn Kunz Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Check out Morning Brew Daily for business news that's actually fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I'm sharing a bonus episode from a brand new podcast called Y We Travel, co-hosted by my friend Eric Weiner, who has joined me on the show a few times over the years. Eric is a New York Times bestselling author and former foreign correspondent, and his co-host Erica Vella is an award-winning podcaster and former broadcast journalist. There's no shortage of travel advice out there — who can save us a buck, what to do, when's the best time to go, where to go. But one fundamental question often gets left behind: why? Born from an award-winning magazine series of the same name, Y We Travel explores the deeper motivations behind our journeys. The show unpacks the emotions, discoveries, and purpose that give travel its meaning. In this episode, Eric and Erica discuss the origins of the series and their own motivations for travelling. Eric interviews author and Y We Travel essayist Pico Iyer, trading travel anecdotes from Japan to California to North Korea and discussing themes from Pico's piece in The Walrus magazine, which argued that we should travel to meet our neighbours. Erica continues the conversation with a selection of Toronto Pearson passengers, asking: "Why are you travelling today?" Resources: Sign up for the Zero to Travel FREE newsletter Listen to Y We Travel on Apple, Spotify Read the companion essays at ywetravelmag.ca Contact Y We Travel: hello@ywetravelmag.ca Learn more about Pico Iyer Want More?: The Geography of Bliss With Eric Weiner How To Live a Long and Useful Life (The Wisdom of Ben Franklin) With Eric Weiner Rick Steves On the Hippie Trail (The Making of a Travel Writer) with Special Guest Host Eric Weiner Thanks To Our Sponsors: Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Check out Morning Brew Daily for business news that's actually fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Gray is the founder and CEO of Pangea, a free social travel app built to help people coordinate travel plans, share recommendations, and connect with their network around the world. After a decade in product development and corporate M&A at a global fintech company, he left the corporate world in 2023 to become a full-time digital nomad and build Pangea full-time. He is on a personal mission to visit every country in the world. In this episode, we get into seven travel tech trends shaping how people plan, book, and experience travel, including why most travel apps fail, the rise of social travel, and what AI can and can't do for travelers right now. We also dig into destination recommendations, advice for running a remote business on the road, and what it means to bridge the nomad bubble. These are genuinely fascinating times to be a traveler and a builder in the travel space, and Matt sits at the center of both worlds. He's thinking seriously about why travel tech has such a high failure rate, and what it would actually take to crack the code, and he brings a perspective that is grounded in years of on-the-ground experience across dozens of countries and travel styles. There is a real conversation here about the gap between wanting to travel and actually doing it, and I think it will stick with you. The travel tech trends for digital nomads piece is insightful, but the human thread running through it all is what makes this one worth your time. Have you ever had a piece of technology genuinely change how you travel or connect with people on the road? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. Tune In To Learn: Why so many travel apps are built to solve a single problem, and why that almost always leads to failure How being a "multifaceted traveler" is reshaping what a useful travel platform actually needs to do Why AI wrappers on ChatGPT are not the same as AI-powered travel tools, and how to tell the difference How social travel is changing the reason people book trips in the first place Why off-the-beaten-path destinations benefit most from the rise of connected travel communities How to break out of the nomad bubble and go deeper in the places you visit Why the people you travel with may matter more than the places you go Destination recommendations for regions quietly gaining traction in the nomad world Advice for running a remote team while living a location-independent life What it looks like to bring urgency to travel, not just talk about it And so much more Resources: Sign up for our FREE newsletter Download the Pangea app Pangea on Instagram Couchsurfing Workaway Want More? From Expat to Digital Nomad: Finding Your Travel Rhythm, Balancing Burnout, and the Digital Nomad Lifestyle with Kristin Wilson The World's Most Traveled Person on the Ethics of Gamifying Travel, Best Regions in the World, and Why To Keep Traveling With Harry Mitsidis of NomadMania Top 5 Reasons For "Slomading" + The Benefits Of Boredom With Tim Marting From Citizen Remote Thanks To Our Sponsors Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel Check out Morning Brew Daily for business news that's actually fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices