Travel Stories Podcast | Stories Of Adventure, Freedom And Backpacking And (currently) Following Hayden On His Motorcycle Aro

Culture is one of the first things you might notice while you travel. While culture shock is a sizable and impactful thing, experiencing other cultures is vital to travel and vital to humanity as a whole. Learning about culture while traveling can help you learn about those that you share the world with, as well as learning more about yourself. Ladan Jiracek visits this week from his own podcast, the Travel Wisdom podcast. He has been to over ninety countries and loves to think about how travel can be a chance to learn. He and Hayden discuss how to learn from travel and how to find purpose and meaning from your adventures while traveling. They also have an in-depth talk about how important it can be to learn a language while traveling. Ladan also mentions that relationship cultures are among the most drastic differences he has found internationally. The two of them agree that exploring cultures outside of one’s own society is vital. Ladan also shares what he believes has been holding people back from travelin

Solo traveling is vital to finding oneself as a traveler. Be you at a hostel in Argentina, a farm in Brazil, or a crossroads in Vietnam, traveling solo and making decisions by yourself can help you find yourself both as a traveler and as a person. Lifting the veil off your eyes and being the purest version of yourself will aid you in losing yourself so far that you become found.   Check out our website at: Travel Stories Podcast Online Email Hayden (he’ll answer everything) at: hayden@travelstoriespodcast.com Follow Hayden on Twitter and send him a Tweet (he’ll really answer everything) at: @travelstoriesuk on Twitter All musical composition and arrangement for story scores by Cody Crabb, who can be found at his website: CodyCrabb.com All show notes and writing for episodes by Nicole Mello, who can be found at her website: Works By N.L. Mello Add Hayden on Snapchat to follow his journey through Brazil at: travelstoriesuk Check us out on Facebook at: Travel Stories Podcast Facebook Live videos are on Tuesda

Travel is quite the ambitious venture. As Hayden says, “to travel is to live.” “The road is the best teacher,” he continues, and he could not be more right; what travelers can learn from their adventures can shape themselves and their lives from there on forwards. The things we learn about the world are not as important as the things we learn about ourselves. The most important question to ask oneself this week is: how does traveling alone affect what travel gives to us? Justin Walter joins Hayden to answer exactly this question. Justin, a television host, producer, writer, and traveler, hosts Let’s Go LA!, an outdoor adventure show, and writes the blog Around the World with Justin. He talks with Hayden about the time he won a trip to Wales, as well as how he got started as a world traveler. He discusses his travels and travel writings before Hayden mentions how important it can be to travel alone, and Justin agrees. In fact, he challenges listeners to travel by themselves at least once. He believes that it c

A stressless travel mindset is not an easy thing to cultivate, but it is necessary for travelers. Skipping to the end can be a good trait to adopt as a traveler, because you can skip to the moment where something bad seems less drastic and concerning. Bad situations will always come up; when they do, an adventurer needs to be prepared to take the positive from the negative and keep moving forwards.   Check out our website at: Travel Stories Podcast Online Email Hayden (he’ll answer everything) at: hayden@travelstoriespodcast.com Follow Hayden on Twitter and send him a Tweet (he’ll really answer everything) at: @travelstoriesuk on Twitter All musical composition and arrangement for story scores by Cody Crabb, who can be found at his website: CodyCrabb.com All show notes and writing for episodes by Nicole Mello, who can be found at her website: Works By N.L. Mello Add Hayden on Snapchat to follow his journey through Brazil at: travelstoriesuk Check us out on Facebook at: Travel Stories Podcast Facebook Live

When bad things happen, humans, in essence, have two response options: they can worry about it, stress about it, and live in a place of fear, for one. Their second option, though? They can pre-accept that bad situations might happen and live in a place of learning and gratitude instead. It is nearly impossible to stop bad situations from happening, but one thing that can be controlled is the response. Hayden welcomes Cody Crabb, a composer based out of Salt Lake City. He has worked on a number of full-length films, YouTube channels, and shorts, and is currently composing scores for the very Travel Stories Podcast. He and Hayden talk about how the location of a story influences his scores, how important body language can be, and the significance of learning and understanding the local language when you travel. Cody shares his story, which took place in Sinaloa, Mexico. He calls this story, “The Ambulance Story.” He spent two years in Mexico, but he still remembers vividly the day that he and one of his new com

The only way traveling can come to be is through curiosity. Fostering your own curiosity, which is the root of all travel, is the only way to activate your active mind. Curiosity transforms your thinking about a location, about a culture, about yourself. It drives you to dive into new projects and to keep on asking questions, which can change your life, if you play your cards right. If you attempt to keep your mind open and practice being curious, you can cultivate your curiosity and have your own travel experience.   Check out our website at: Travel Stories Podcast Online Email Hayden (he’ll answer everything) at: hayden@travelstoriespodcast.com Follow Hayden on Twitter and send him a Tweet (he’ll really answer everything) at: @travelstoriesuk on Twitter All musical composition and arrangement for story scores by Cody Crabb, who can be found at his website: CodyCrabb.com All show notes and writing for episodes by Nicole Mello, who can be found at her website: Works By N.L. Mello Add Hayden on Snapchat to fo

A proverb known around the world is “curiosity killed the cat,” but few know the rejoinder: “but satisfaction brought it back.” The risk that satisfying curiosity brings is well worth the fulfillment that comes from gratifying curiosity. Curiosity, that force that drives the human race in all they do, and has done so since their birth, is the reason behind most human activities: reading, walking, and, of course, traveling. Mike Corey joins Hayden to further explore the topic of curiosity. Mike is a breakdancing marine biologist and travel videographer who declared that he “captures our world with a curiosity that comes from never growing up.” He shares with Hayden his three core values, which both of them are strong believers in. Mike and Hayden also discuss how important it can be to self-discovery to travel by yourself, and what travel can teach you. Mike shares his story, “Hypothermia in the Desert,” a tale of danger in the Outback. Mike visited the Olgas, a series of incredible, tall mountains that happen

Season three has been a roller coaster ride of emotions, from Laura Bingham to Travis Merrigan and everything in between. Of course, Hayden, Cody, and Nicole have to answer for the questions that Hayden has been pushing for the listeners to send in all season, and they come together to do just that in the final episode of season three - the Q&A. Hayden reads questions from Chris Williams, Pete James, Jan, Lakshmi Prahlad, Tom Griffiths, Billy Chavez, Mike Cowl, and Nikola Nováková. The team answers questions about overcoming a lack of social skills, finding a way to collect and organize your travel bucket list and online content, and whether or not travelers should be going off the beaten path when in an untouched environment. They also talk about finding things you never knew you were looking for through travel and how to travel on your own. Cody answers a question specifically about composition, and the whole team answers questions about their favorite music to listen to while traveling. The team is exc

Season three has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions and adventures. Best of all, it has been a tapestry of stories, featuring a broad range of different types of stories and an in-depth exploration of the art of storytelling. Hayden, Cody, and Nicole arrive to unpack their favorite moments from the past season. Among their favorite standout moments are features from the episodes of Evan Hanson, Laura Bingham, Marissa Brown, Richard Bruschi, and Jeff Baker. A few other mentions belong to Tom Butler and Johannes Koeppel. The crew also talks about standout discussions from the season, including those regarding confidence, how deserving an individual is of their life, and how to seek opportunities around every corner. Also featured is a brief blooper reel with an unfortunate mistake by Cody himself. Season three may be coming to a close, but the Travel Stories Podcast is revamping and coming back bigger and better than ever. With season four will come an expanded platform and more goodies than we ever thought

Establishing a human connection is the base of the most important things in this world. Hayden shares what he believes to be the three things that best cultivate these connections between separate human beings before he welcomes Travis Merrigan, one of the founders of Grayl, creator of the infamous Grayl Ultralight Purifier Bottle. Travis Merrigan visits to talk about how excited he is about life and being alive, and how his travels have made him that way. He discusses solo trips, and how awesome that can be for the traveler and their experience. He believes in turning away from what you know and embracing what you do not know. He also thinks that one can enjoy genuine moments of human closeness by learning a new language or immersing oneself. in a new culture. He and Hayden talk about vulnerability and gaining human closeness through one’s willingness to be open when they travel. Did you know that people like to share, so it is not too hard to connect to people when you’re traveling? Sharing food is one of t

Hayden brings on Cody, Nicole, Remy (his sister), and Gail (his mother) to share stories of fear and fright from around the world. Remy visits to talk about the haunting of Havisham Court by the ghostly Elizabeth Parker, who was destroyed by grief while living in that house. In fact, some say you can still see her roaming the grounds of the house, skeletal in her wedding dress. Nicole shares stories from the haunted graveyard in her Massachusetts hometown - the Quaker Cemetery, also known as Spider Gates, the eighth gate of Hell. Cody talks about the friendly, mischievous usher who haunts the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah. The highlight of this episode is Gail Faith and her story, “Havisham’s Goonies,” in which she recounts the time she and her friends broke into the abandoned Havisham Court house. They were possibly hunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Parker, who locked up doors and windows on them while they were in the unoccupied and haunted house. They were terrified by what happened to them that n

There are two types of traveling - solo traveling, and group traveling. Both have their benefits, depending on the person, but neither one can be easy to accomplish. Johannes Koeppel, the CEO of WeTravel, visits Hayden to talk about his website, which helps travelers create and join group trips around the world. Hayden and Johannes also talk about Johannes’ travel experiences and why he wants to travel and give back to the world. They also discuss putting life in perspective, shifting your mindset, spending appropriate amounts of time in other cultures, and how traveling can shape a child’s open mindset. Johannes shares his Moscow-set story, titled, “From Russia With Love,” in which he attends Moscow State University and, while he still didn’t really understand the country, lived through a fire alarm that was an indicator of a much larger and more terrifying event. This experience left Johannes with the feeling of danger, of never feeling safe, of a constant unease. This wake-up call changed his outlook on li

Many people share the same dream - the yearning to sell everything you own, buy an RV, and just drive. Just live, just be, and enjoy the freedom that comes with that nomadic lifestyle. Hayden lived that way as a child, and Paul Kortman lives that way now. He and his family of six live in an RV, traveling around America and Mexico, making Paul a veritable fountain of knowledge and wisdom when it comes to RV-ing. Paul visits Hayden to discuss his digital nomad lifestyle, how he decided not to settle and why he thinks nobody else should have to, and what the benefits of his nomadic lifestyle are. Paul also talks about how important it is to find a balance with those you travel with, and answers a few crucial questions one might have if they were thinking about becoming location independent. Paul also shares his story, titled “Why You Should Never Trust Google Maps,” which takes place in Mexico in his RV and features a 57-foot-long rig, a steep slope that might be a bit more than Paul and his RV can chew, and a G

Spontaneity is one of the most important parts of having a truly incredible travel experience. Going on an adventure means doing things without thinking, damn the consequences; the best thing one can do is trust their gut and do what feels good. It can turn out badly if common sense is not employed, but trusting your gut feeling when opportunity arises can bring the adventures so longed for. Kristen Sarah of Hopscotch the Globe knows a thing or two about spontaneity, and brings her travel experience along for the ride. Kristen Sarah has a YouTube channel and a blog, but even between all that she manages to continue traveling and provide herself with content. She and Hayden discuss culture immersion, how to make a life fun through travel, and getting into the adventurous side of travel, like through food adventures and sports. Her story, “Dancing for an Indian King,” finds Kristen in Rajasthan, where a drumming class spontaneously led her to a village where anything unexpected could happen - including performi

  Adventure travel is only one possible facet of travel, but it is also one of the most exciting. The challenge of adventure traveling - of climbing mountains, of whitewater rafting, of staying alone in the desert - is enough to get any traveler to try it. Evan Hanson, however, is not just any traveler. Evan Hanson may be sixty-four years old, but he has lived the lives of at least seven men. He has traveled for many, many years, he considers himself a consummate explorer, and he has come to visit Hayden and bring wisdom to share with the world. Evan shares his definition of adventure, as well as what got him into adventuring and advice on how to start adventuring. Evan’s story, “Two Summits in Seven Days,” details Evan’s journey as he and his friends decided to hike both the Matterhorn and Kilimanjaro. It was expensive, difficult, took place in two different hemispheres, and they hit a great deal of roadblocks along the way. Despite the odds, though, he succeeded, and counts it among his greatest achievement

Countless things can go wrong in travel, and even in life. There is no way to stop mistakes from being made and terrible situations from arising; there is, however, a way to control your own response to these mistakes and situations. Tom Butler, a great friend of Hayden’s, has spent many years of travel solving problems, and has a lot of advice to give. Tom is not only a friend of Hayden’s, but also a friend, bus driver, and groupie to Hayden’s band. The two of them discuss living a life of travel, what it means to settle down, and how to incorporate travel into your everyday life. Hayden was inspired by Tom’s travels, and the two of them talk about their inspirations and origins as travelers. Tom offers advice to those who do not have confidence in their own ability to travel. Tom’s story takes place in Nepal, and is titled “Without a Paddle.” In it, Tom backpacks through Nepal to Kathmandu, goes on a rafting tour, and befriends his fellow travels and a puppy named Bob. However, Tom also had a terrible time

Beliefs and rhythm are the common threads that connect people all over the world, from Utah to Chichen Itza, from the ancient Mayans to the modern Americas. Marissa Brown, a Utah, United States native who studies music and enjoys world percussion, comes to Hayden to share the stories that taught her how similar humans of different cultures and times really are. Hayden and Marissa discuss world percussion and the beats that cultures bring to the worldwide table of rhythm. They toy with starting a band, but move on to talking about how music fits in with travel in Marissa’s life. She learned a while ago that the best way for her to find herself was to lose herself, just for a little while. Marissa discusses the feelings brought to her by visiting ancient sites, how those feelings changed her afterwards, and the levels of happiness she experienced at the time. The not-so-hidden gem of this episode is titled “The Mystical Mayans” by Marissa; in it, she talks about the time she visited the Yucatan Peninsula in Mex

Solitude, silence, and peace are craved by many when they are traveling. However, many others desire companionship instead, wanting someone to share their experiences with. Richard Bruschi has a healthy dose of both, but it was solitude that helped him to truly find himself. Richard Bruschi is a writer for Sonderers Magazine, which functions on the idea that everyone has a story, no matter how modest their experience is or unexciting their life is. Everybody has a story, everybody has a life, everybody has thoughts, and that is a beautiful thing; Sonderers operates under that belief. Richard is, as described by Hayden, very cerebral in nature, and he and Hayden deep-dive into a variety of subjects throughout the interview, eventually ending up in a rabbit hole of conversation. Richard has done a considerable amount of traveling in his life, from the United States to Italy to Nottingham, and his experiences have impacted him greatly. Richard believes that there are opportunities everywhere if you just know whe

Finding the opportunity to travel is a struggle in itself. Finding the chance to also sustain yourself and control your own work life is an even more rare happening. Chris Duncan talks with Hayden about how to have your own mindset shift that can give you a life of travel outside of the corporate ladder. Hayden reminds everyone to contact him or to visit the Travel Stories Podcast website if you would like to send in questions for the end-of-season Q&A if you want your questions answered, and/or if you want to try to win a GRAYL water filter. He discusses his reason for traveling before he introduces Chris Duncan, who he describes as a digital nomad and the master of building online businesses that can give you a life of travel. Chris and Hayden discuss the mindset shift that helps a traveler run a freedom business, as well as how freedom businesses work and how to start one. They talk about breaking free of the script society has given you that everyone else around you seems to be following. Another hot

Welcome to Travel Stories Podcast, bringing you Immersive, Inspiring & International travel stories of freedom and adventure from world travelers as well as actionable travel tips. Let's dive in!   When you reach a certain age, many people think it becomes their job to settle down at home and leave the living to the young people. Jeff Baker is not one of those men. When Jeff and his wife reached that certain age, and they saw their kids doing fun and exciting things with their lives, they said to themselves, “Why can’t we have fun?” So, they gave away most of their belongings, sold their house, and decided to travel while they still could and share their adventures as they went. “It’s like we’re 25 again,” Jeff said of their travels, and he was right - their lives are not average, but they are adventurous. Jeff is a radio host in his “typical” life, hosting the show Savory Road, which is part of an NPR public radio-affiliate station in Southern California. His philosophy is that everyone partakes in food,