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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...