We all do it - our signature pose or prop when we take a picture while backpacking across the globe. Matt Harding has taken it one step further, capturing on video his unique dance in front of some spot that for him, symbolizes that country. Matt’s then taken all these videos and made a collage of his travel experiences.
The result is this beautiful, mesmerising montage to the spirit of trekking the globe that was posted to youtube and spread like wildfire, catapulting Matt to YouTube celeb status. This episode, Matt shares his travelstories with us…
When we dream of India, our mind wanders to the winding streets of overcrowded, harried cities like Bombay and Calcutta, to illustrious palaces erected in the deserts of Rajasthan, down the river Ganges as we pass by the holy Hindu city of Varanasi as bodies are cremated on the ghats or to that architectural wonder, the Taj Mahal. But a small town that is home to 2000 year old Buddhist stupas called Sanchi?
I stumbled upon the sleepy town of Sanchi (population between five to ten thousand) when I was traveling through India a number of years back with my backpacking buddy, Josh Lake. Josh joins me as we reminisce about this hidden jewel that we planned on staying for only a day or two and ended up leaving two weeks later.
We formed friendships with the owners of the place we were staying at (the Government House) and truly bonded with Yudibir, our kindred spirit, guide and friend who showed us a Sanchi that forever remains the home of my daydreams when the name India is uttered…
In my last podcast I took you to one of the last “untouched” travel spots on the globe, Liberia. Now I’m going to take you to a well traversed locale, the Western United States. It’s the classic challenge, how do you seek out the road less traveled in a place flooded with McDonalds and Walmarts. How do you find the exotic in a place haunted by tourists?
This week, my guest, Ari Shapiro, has the answer as he hops on his motorcycle and explores the blue highways of the Western United States, searching out the places few tourists venture, down roads where he is the only human for miles.
It’s the iconic American image - the lone motorcyclist riding through the great expanse of the American West. This image has replaced that of the lone cowboy riding his horse on the great Plains of the West. Our mythology is filled with these motorcycle tales in books and film, our heroes riding into “one horse towns” that are the last remnants of the West that was.
So backpackers, trade in your two boots for two wheels, saddle on up and listen to my podcast with Ari as he shows us that the exotic can be found right in your backyard.
It’s the holy grail of all backpackers - finding that untouched country before it gets flooded with tourists from all over the world. It’s the stuff of legends - hearing about beaches with nary a person in sight, hidden towns that have not seen a Westerner in years.
I’ve always tried to imagine what Thailand or Nepal looked like, felt like when it was just an undiscovered country begging to be explored. This is what travel stories is all about - sharing secrets of unspoiled destinations to whet our appetite and imagination. Hearing tales like these, automatically triggers in me that reflex to go and book the next flight and discover this new land.
I’m happy to announce, backpackers of the world that I am letting you in on the next big secret - Liberia. This week, my guest is Rob Grossman, photojournalist and video editor who has worked for the New York Times among other respected newspapers. Rob has spent the last year and a half living in Monrovia, Liberia and shares with us his insider’s take on the current hidden gem of the globe, Liberia.
Listen, Go! and remember you heard it here first, on Travel Stories….
Travel for me has always been initiated by stories. I can’t grab my passport fast enough after a buddy just recounts his latest travel stories filling me with images of foreign destinations. Pictures can sometimes do it but usually your friend’s photos are out of focus or there’s some strange dude in the shot that ruins the whole image. No, for me, it’s always been about sitting around with my buddies as they have at me at the edge of my seat, recounting their experiences traveling abroad - enroute on a crowded train to Rajasthan, lost in the streets of Kathmandu, staring eye to eye with an elephant in the Serengeti.
You can sing as much as you want how beautiful the Taj Mahal is, wrap in as much poetic language the grandeur of the Forbidden City, but it’s not until you start divulging the time you were racing tuk tuks through the streets of Varanasi that my interest is grabbed. This is what travel stories is about. Leave the “sites” for someone else, I’m taking you to the back alleys.
A couple of years back I get a phone call in the middle of the night. It was my buddy Hugh who was living in Madrid and just came back from a night out. He proceeded to tell me how after a night of partying Madrid-style, he was pickpocketed but ended up befriending and hanging out with this gang of pickpockets and getting his wallet back. I’ve savored that story and others and I present them to you, as I talk with my buddy Hugh and he takes us to Madrid, Spain….
travelstories is a hip, irreverent, fun, and exciting podcast on traveling. Each week travelstories takes you to a different part of the world, interviewing an engaging and dynamic guest, sharing their travelstories – the adventurous, the humorous, and the nail biting anecdotes.
