WanderLearn Podcast
Check out the latest WanderLearn episodes!
Take a profound and distant journey. Call it:
- Deep Travel
- Immersive Travel
- Slow Travel
- Vagabonding
I will guide you to the intersection of travel, technology, and transformation.
The WanderLearn podcast will compel you to go beyond your comfort zone.
I wander all over the world and I share what I learn with you! In so doing, I hope you'll be inspired to do the same. Travel is the best university.
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I welcome comments and questions for each episode, which are listed below, from the most recent to the first one. I promise to answer any question from one of my Patrons. That's just one way to get rewarded for supporting the show!
Listen to the latest episodes below!
The show notes and comments for each episode are below
Last week, I got this email from Robert Hahn, whom I interviewed a few months ago on this podcast. He wrote:
Hey Francis! I listened to your most recent podcast with Rejoice. Afterwards I looked into investing in crypto a bit. I was wondering what your thoughts are on platforms for buying and storing the virtual currency. I was also interested in Nano (for its more environmentally conscious approach) and Monero (better privacy, but that may be a fault because it makes it a favorite for dark money). I'd be curious to hear why you chose Bitcoin...the assumption that widespread adoption will win the race?
Best Crypto Exchanges for US Citizens
For the best platform for buying cryptocurrency, I like Kraken.
The main problem with Kraken is that you can only fund your account with a bank wire transfer, which often costs $30-50. That only makes sense if you buy tens of thousands of crypto dollars.
Kraken used to offer free ACH bank transfers, but chargeback fees were killing them, so they stopped offering ACH.
Coinbase Coinbase also allows free ACH bank transfers. However, ACH transfers take about 2 weeks to complete on Coinbase, so they're bad if you're in a hurry.
CEX.io claims to offer ACH transfers, but when I tried to open an account with them, I found their interface and customer service abysmal. These Brits are not hungry for business.
Coinbase and other exchanges let you fund your account with a credit card (albeit with high fees).
Similarly, you can buy Bitcoin via Bitcoin ATMs, which are easy to find in major cities. However, once again, they usually slam you with high fees.
Where to store your crypto
For storage beyond what you're comfortable losing, Ledger is a great bet.
However, a Ledger costs $60-120, so that doesn't make sense if you're buying less than $1000.
In that case, use a smartphone app and back up your private keys (your 12-24 word seed phrase).
How do you think we should solve the Coronapocolypse?
Should we keep sheltering in place for another month or two?
What metrics would you look at to decide when enough is enough?
Rejoice and I debate my solution to the Corona crisis.
Rejoice also shares a few stories from Africa during this bizarre time.
We discuss why the Coronavirus is overly hyped.
I also explain why you shouldn't hike your own hike in 2020.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't hike in 2020. I explain how and where to go hiking in 2020.
Rejoice shares how COVID-19 is impacting Africa.
Thru-hiking can take social distancing to an extreme.
Unless you camp close to random people or you spend lots of time in town when you resupply, you will be safely away from any contagion.
That's why 2020 is the best year ever to thru-hike, especially if you recently lost your job.
Put your stuff in storage (or sell it all). Stop paying rent. And hike for the next 6 months.
By the time you finish hiking, the Coronapocolypse will have killed a few million people and ravaged the economy while you were happily backpacking.
You'll return to civilization in the post-apocalypse - and just in time to vote for in the US elections.
I recorded the following podcast with Gehn Shibayama a month before the Coronavirus outbreak. What we discuss is extremely relevant for the 2020 pandemic. We discuss:
- How two East Asians females died on Pacific Crest Trail a couple of years ago.
- How thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is different now that it was 15 years ago.
- How thru-hiking El Camino de Santiago has changed in the last decade.
- How to invest your money (super relevant today now that the markets have tanked - thereby making it a great time to invest).
- Why he was a trail angel in 2019.
- Why do some vegans not tolerate people using their kitchen utensils to cook animals?
- What's he planning to do in the 2020s?
A few fact-checking corrections:
On March 20, 2020, Rejoice and I spontaneously went Live on Facebook to share our thoughts about the Coronavirus pandemic.
(Don't worry. The photo of us hugging was taken months before the Coronapocolypse.)
In 2014, when the Ebola contagion was raging across West Africa, I was traveling in West Africa. The world was panicking. Some worried that it would kill hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions.
I thought most people were overreacting. Therefore, I wrote a prescient article called, "Don't Worry Too Much About Ebola."
I feel I could write the same article today about COVID-19.
Yes, Ebola and COVID-19 are different viruses.
COVID-19 spread far and fast; Ebola didn't.
Ebola's death rate was 53%. COVID's death rate is about 1%.
Still, the principle is the same.
Humans excel at detecting patterns.
However, we have a tendency of over projecting trend lines.
When we see a graph skyrocketing (or plummeting), we often believe (incorrectly) that the trend will continue for a long time.
It often doesn't.
Listen to my podcast with Rejoice. Sorry that her voice is sometimes hard to hear. She speaks softly.
Lastly, don't misunderstand me.
Liz Warner is going to run 30 marathons before she turns 30 years old in June 2020. However, her real accomplishment is raising nearly $30,000 for 20 charities in the process!
In this podcast, we discuss some of the highlights and lowlights of her first 27 marathons.
She's going to finish on Mt. Everest in late May 2020.
Go to her donation page and follow her on Instagram.
Liz mentioned the Effective Altruism TED Talk as an inspiration.
In the podcast, I couldn't remember the name of the guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. The guy's name is Dean Karnazes.
Confession: I goofed. I didn't realize how many marathons she had run in Africa. I only asked her about a couple of them. I would have liked to delve into all of them.
Still, in our one-hour conversation, we cover a lot of ground.
- Overlanding in 35 African countries in 3 years - Dan Grec
- How To Travel When You Have Limited Time
- Answering Kidnapping Podcast Criticisms
- Traveling To Find One's Ancestors
- Being Russian in Estonia
- How To Housesit When You Travel
- Backpacking With Zpacks - Matt Favero Shares The Vision
- How To Take A Sabbatical - DJ Didonna
- Traveling for 30+ Years - Mike Spencer Bown
- How Home Exchanges Work
- Alternatives to the Main El Camino de Santiago - Susan Alcorn
- Life Lessons From A Lion Tracker - Boyd Varty
- How to Avoid or Survive a Kidnapping
- Being A California Mayor: Burlingame's Donna Colson
- Eradicating Malaria in Sumbawa, Indonesia and Beyond
- How To Avoid and Survive an Avalanche
- Touring the World with Jessica Husson
- How Does A Colonial Ghost Haunt Africa's Borders?
- How To Travel Responsibly and Ethically
- Algerians Reveal Their Unseen Sides
- Humans Are Part Of Nature Despite What Environmentalists Say
- The Unseen Egypt with High-End Journeys
- AMA About the Book, Jail, and Languages
- Biking To Over 150 Countries with Patrick Martin Schroeder
- Using Basketball To Connect With Africans
- Biking The Americas From Canada To Patagonia
- Running An Egyptian Luxury Hotel With A Casino Is Tricky
- Debating Environmentalism
- AMA #2 - Bitcoin Q&A
- Unseen Sides of Tanzania
- Hiking to Muxia on El Camino de Santiago
- Traveling To Every Country With 3 Kids
- How Blockchains Will Disrupt Everything - Stephen P. Williams
- The Smartest Guy In Cameroon - Africa's Einstein
- 3 Young Egyptians In Luxor
- Lessons from the Hunting Debate
- Brittany Longoria Explains Her Controversial Leopard Photo
- Are Hunters Responsible for the Decline of Africa's Wildlife?
- How Volara is Bringing Voice Assistants to Hotels
- Gossamer Gear's Founder Glen Van Peski on Backpacking
- Is Libya Still A Shit Show? Frederick Wehrey answers
- A Persian Goes To Africa
- When To Use Vacasa
- Do Africans Still Practice Witchcraft Or Is That A Myth?
- How To Make A Successful Documentary Movie About Mountains
- How To Do Good & Make Money in Africa - The Anou
- How Does Nigeria Compare to Other African Countries?
- Rolf Potts on Vagabonding, Souvenirs, and Getting Drunk at 5
- When Will iinside Give Us Intelligent Airports?
- Whether You Love or Hate Travel Tours, Check Out TourRadar
- A 66-year-old Adventurer Shows How To Live A Meaningful Life
- Vacasa Is A Full-Service Solution If You Have A Second Home
- Acting CEO of Rome2Rio Makes Partnership With Lonely Planet
- 7 Predictions For 2019
- JoAnneh Nagler Explains How To Make Money Being An Artist
- Tim Butcher - Author of Two Books on Africa
- AMA: Repairing the Schism Between Locals and Tourists
- How To Create A Top Travel Podcast
- The Winding Tree Foundation Founders Answer Criticism
- How To Use, Not Abuse, Couchsurfing
- Amtrak Travel Tips for 2019
- What To Do If You Can't Afford to Travel
- How To Become an A-list Travel Blogger - Gary Arndt Explains
- You're Wrong If You Think You Don't Have Time to Exercise
- Why You Should Always Read Your Alumni Obituaries
- Winding Tree's Blockchain-Based Technology Impacts Travel
- What It Takes to Set a Speed Record or FKT on the AT & PCT
- How To Accumulate Fuck-You Money So You Can Do Anything
- Travis Sherry, The Jetto App, and Getting Travel Bargains
- Introducing A New Travel Show
- Rick Steves Interviews
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