Andrew Mortensen was quite possibly one of the first people to foresee the inevitable economic destruction of COVID, working as a financial analyst for a major airline around the time of the initial wave. With graduate school on the horizon and a stroke of fortuitous timing, Andrew seized an opportunity amid the chaos to ride his bike across the USA from Neah Bay, WA to Yorktown, VA. He soon realized, however, that there was much more of the world to see. He continued his trip down through Central and South America, ultimately ended up in Patagonia, for a total of nearly 17,000 miles over an 8 month period through 12 countries, facing countless COVID restrictions, a couple close calls on the highway, and a robbery. Along the way, he raised over $10,000 for the Trevor Project - a charity focused on suicide prevention among the LGTBQ+ community. EPISODE LINKS: - Trevor Project: https://give.thetrevorproject.org/fundraiser/2895876 GUEST LINKS - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew_mort/ - LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Andrew_mort PODCAST INFO - Podcast Website: https://adventures-less-traveled.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adventures.less.traveled - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3LpB7vI - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adventures-less-traveled/id1681357393 OUTLINE (00:00) - Introduction (02:50) - COVID layoffs (05:00) - Choosing the route (08:15) - Extending the trip an extra 13,000 miles (16:35) - The Lower 48 (USA) (19:05) - Border crossing into Mexico (25:15) - Getting robbed in Mexico City (29:00) - Fears (borders and cars) (36:10) - Central American vs South American cultural differences (38:15) - What makes Andrew's trip unique (42:00) - The Trevor Project Fundraiser (44:40) - Concluding remarks PODCAST SOCIAL - Instagram: https://instagram.com/adventures.less.traveled - Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_ALT_podcast - Facebook: https://facebook.com/AdventuresLessTraveled ** All videos and photos provided by Andrew Mortensen with written consent