WanderLearn Podcast

WanderLearn Cover Art 500px

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.

How to Subscribe to the WanderLearn Podcast

Search for "WanderLearn" in your favorite podcast player.

100k Podbean Downloads If that fails:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. the details of the podcast player that failed to find the show.
While I fix the problem, copy and paste this feed into your favorite podcast player:
https://wanderlearn.com/feed.xml

Although subscribing is essential, two other things help the WanderLearn podcast:

Download every WanderLearn episode as I produce them! That's what helps get it noticed! It's better to have 100 subscribers and 100,000 downloads per episode than 10,000 subscribers and 100 downloads.
Share the episodes! Word of mouth is gold!

Get My Infrequent Newsletter!

Don't just listen, watch!

Some WanderLearn episodes will also be videos, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel too.

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

Podcast

On March 14, 2020, Dan Grec's Kickstarter will end. If you're listening to this before that date, buy Dan's book on Kickstarter. His book (and website) are called The Road Chose Me.

If you're listening to this after March 14th, buy Dan Grec's book on Amazon.

Why buy his book?

Because for 999 days Dan Grec drove through 35 of the 54 African countries. His book recounts his 3-year adventure.

In this 90-min podcast, we discuss:

His road trip across Latin America.
How he saved money for 4 years for this 3-year trip.
Why he biked to work in Yukon's winter.
Which were some of the toughest African border crossings.
How he got (or didn't get) African visas on the fly.
How much it cost to ship his truck across the Atlantic
How many times he got malaria and how it was.
What he thinks of South Africa's future.
What makes Sudan special and unique.
His speaking tour.
What he's planning to do next.

We discussed the Caprivi Strip. Here are the facts from Wikipedia:

Caprivi was named after German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi (in office 1890–1894), who negotiated the acquisition of the land in an 1890 exchange with the United Kingdom. Caprivi arranged for the Caprivi strip to be annexed to German South West Africa in order to give Germany access to the Zambezi River and a route to Africa's east coast, where the colony of German East Africa (now part of Tanzania) was situated. The river later proved unnavigable and inaccessible to the Indian Ocean due to the Victoria Falls. The transfer of territory was a part of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890, in which Germany gave up its interest in Zanzibar in return for the Caprivi Strip and the island of Heligoland in the North Sea.

We also wondered where the expression "rest on your laurels" comes from. Simply put: the origins of the phrase lie in ancient Greece, where laurel wreaths were symbols of victory and status.

You can watch the interview on YouTube, although the audio is out of sync.

Podcast

In early 2020, Randy Williams has been to 142 countries. Although this is remarkable, it's especially impressive when you consider that he's been working full-time for most of his life.

It's understandable how someone who has years to travel is able to visit 142 countries, but doing it when you have a real job in the workaholic USA is hard.

Randy Williams describes:

His first trip to Africa. He started in Cape Verde, then went to Senegal, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Traveling to Tripoli, Libya soon after Khadafi's death.
Traveling to Iraq and Venezuela.
How Kabul, Afganistan was in January 2020.
How a journalist friend was killed in Somalia.
Using the Sherwes Travel Agency to get his business travel visa to Libya.
How to be a trailblazer.
How he got into Yemen a couple of months ago.
Why he sees travel as a buffet.

You can see some of travel photos on Slow Jams on Instagram.

Podcast

Olaf Ofstad (pictured) was my guest on my 59th WanderLearn episode about how to avoid and survive a kidnapping.

If you haven't listened to it yet, you should listen to it before this episode.

One listener emailed me asking questions and criticizing some issues about the show.

Therefore, in this episode, I air those criticisms and give Olaf Ofstad a chance to answer those questions and criticisms.

You'll also find out how I got mugged in Cameroon.

Buy his 2022 edition of his book about avoiding kidnapping.

Whenever you have questions or comments, send them to me and I might feature them in a future episode!

Podcast

Last year, my podcast with Sym Blanchard became the 2nd most downloaded WanderLearn episode. It was super popular because he really was a fun guest. You must listen to it before listening to this podcast.

Because he attracted so many listeners, I invited him back to the show!

I begin the podcast asking Sym the most profound question I've always wanted to ask him.

After that, we move onto discussing how he has used DNA testing to inspire his travel. He's used these four DNA testing kits to find thousands of relatives and to understand his origins. We discuss the pros and cons of each one:

23 and Me - best for a health test
Ancestry DNA - best for trace your lineage
Family Search - Although it's connected to the Church of Latter-Day Saints, is useful to go back to King Cnut.
My Heritage - to build a family tree - Sym has 19,000 relatives

We referenced AJ Jacobs's, It's All Relative book.

I mention my defining the Sub-Sahara Africa article where, in the comments, an Ethiopian tried to insult me by pointing out that my ancestors were "slave-traders."

Sym opens up and discusses why his strained relationship with his daughter. What went wrong? What lessons did he learn?

How about having a girlfriend and how it is to manage that relationship when he's usually on the road.

How do we balance having sympathy for victims and pushing for tough love?

We talk about how Rejoice Tapon could see herself as a victim as I describe in my TEDx Talk about being a black sheep.

Sym discusses his trip to Brazil and his quest to finish the Continental Divide Trail (60% done!) and the Great Divide Trail.

Sym talks about El Camino de Santiago.

We discuss how sustainable his way of life is.

We talk about how spousal support and divorce work.

About 70 minutes into the podcast, we talk about politics. I say that it's extremely rare that a US President wins more than 60% of the popular vote. Fact check: Only 3 US Presidents have gotten over 60% of the popular vote (Harding, FDR, and Nixon) and LBJ was the only President to get 61% of the vote. No other president got more.

Lastly, I reveal my patented way to win ANY argument - guaranteed!

For the 2019 holidays, we're taking a flashback to over a decade ago. I started the WanderLearn podcast in 2008. I'm pulling this episode from the archives because it's one of my favorite episodes of that era.

It was the first time that I met Julia Trutko, a Russophone Estonian. She had just moved to San Francisco from Florida. Although she was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, she grew up in Tallinn, Estonia.

Although this conversation took place over 11 years ago, it is still interesting today, which is why I'm sharing it.

I also placed three Estonian songs in the podcast.