The Divergent Path with Rollie Peterkin

In this episode, I talk about my love of hitchhiking. I tell you about why I love it so much and the lessons it can teach you. And I go into some safety measures you can take. And then I go into the mechanics of it. Read more here: https://www.rolliepeterkin.com/hitchhiking As always feel free to reach out to me on social media! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rolliepeterkin Twitter - https:...

Jason Bryant is one of the most well-known wrestling journalists out there who knows everything there is to know about the sport. He tells his story of how he got into broadcasting at a young age when he was obsessed with sports. And how he grew to love the sport of wrestling. He is the host of the Short Time Wrestling Podcast and founder of Mat Talk Online.  You can check him out at: https://www....

Steven Kampmann holds a masters in Psychological Counseling and wrote a thesis on the topic of dreams, which has evolved into a lifelong passion. He teaches a course on dreams which revolves around the works of people like Carl Jung and Herman Hesse.  Steven began his film and TV career as a comedic actorand writer at the legendary Second City Theater appearing both in Chicago and Toronto. He co-s...

Amy Currie is a video producer who specializes in culinary and lifestyle videos. She was a full-time video producer at Panna Cooking where she won a James Beard Award for her work. She has worked with the who's who of top chefs on their videos. And she eventually co-founded HotDish Productions. Website: https://www.amydcurrie.com/ HotDish Productions: https://www.hotdishproductions.com/ Instagram:...

Alejandra Arias-Stella is the co-founder of the Llama Pack Project, an organization in the Urubamba Mountains of Peru which creates opportunities for indigenous populations to raise llamas and work tourism. They teach Andean villagers to breed and raise llamas to serve as pack animals on treks for tourists in the area. Because llamas are more suited to the Andres, they are more environmentally fri...

David Azzolina has taught folklore at the University of Pennsylvania since the mid 90s. He thinks about things a little differently than most and has a lot of novel thoughts on folklore. Read more about David here: https://www.rolliepeterkin.com/david-azzolina ------ As always feel free to reach out to me on social media! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rolliepeterkin Twitter - https://www.t...

Chris Gillette is an expert at handling, conserving, and caring for alligators. He helps rescue "nuisance gators" from people's properties in Florida and brings them to a rescue center. He is extremely passionate about animal welfare and conservation. Chris is famous for the death-defying photos and videos he posts where he swims in the water with the gators and plays with them as any of us would...

Travis Bays is the founder of Bodhi Surf and Yoga--a retreat in Costa Rica. Travis combined his lifelong passion for surfing with his ideas tourism, sustainability, and local experiences. His camp, he is able to educate people about a variety of environmental issues. And the guest get to surf the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica. Travis didn't always run a surf camp though. After graduation from co...

Matt Valenti was an old teammate and friend of mine. He was a two-time Division I NCAA wrestler. After college he was coaching at Penn while pursuing an Olympic Dream for 2012. Matt now works at the athletic department at UPenn. Read more about Matt here: https://www.rolliepeterkin.com/matt-valenti ------ As always feel free to reach out to me on social media! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com...

Brace for some tears in this episode. Matthew Bocchi was just nine years old when he lost his father in the attacks on 9/11. He's just come out with a new book titled Sway, which recounts his personal journey in coping with the trauma surrounding his father's death. As a teenager searching for answers, an older man took advantage of his vulnerability and sexually assaulted him. Matthew descended i...

Tom Ryan is one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport of wrestling today. As the coach at Ohio State University, he's created an absolute powerhouse. The things that he's been able to accomplish as a coach are truly astounding. 2015 NCAA team champions Five-times NCAA team runner-ups Seven top-3 NCAA team finishes 12 individual NCAA titles 22 Big Ten champions 53 All-Americans Two-time NCA...

Nils Parker can't even count how many books he's ghostwritten. I asked him and he estimated between 15 and 20. His books have been NYT and WSJ bestsellers many times over. As an editor he has worked with authors like Ryan Holiday, Tucker Max, and James Altucher (and many more) on every aspect of their books. Nils was originally supposed to be a lawyer. But after a semester of law school and a summ...

Geoff Riccio is a video producer and photographer who has covered the sport of wrestling at every level. He had been there for many big moments in wrestling, including when wresting was dropped from the Olympics in 2013.  Read more about Geoff here: https://rolliepeterkin.com/geoff-riccio-wrestling ------ As always feel free to reach out to me on social media! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com...

While the rest of us couch potatoes binged Netflix and drank beer during the quarantine, Mark Larson thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail during the corona pandemic. Being an experienced endurance athlete, Mark finished in 3.5 months (107 days), when most people take around 6 months to finish the grueling trail. The Appalachian Trail has been a lifelong dream of mine and I was extremely curious...

Ellis Rosen  is a cartoonist for magazines such as The New Yorker, Wired, and MAD. He posts a weekly cartoon series called Junk Drawer on GoComics.com and is the illustrator for a children's book called Woundabout . Rosen attended art school and then got a master's degree, but wasn't sure where to go with his artwork. Until one day in 2016 when a friend encouraged him to submit gag cartoons to The...

Olly Richards is a polyglot who speaks eight languages. He runs a site called I Will Teach You a Language which offers a series of books and courses to aspiring language learners. He is also the host of the I Will Teach You A Language Podcast . Olly believes in the power to stories in learning languages and has dedicated his life to teaching people languages through stories. He has published a ser...

Kim Macquarrie is an author, documentary producer, and journalist. He has written four books about South American history and his book The Last Days of the Incas , is the definitive book on the Incan Empire. His latest book, Life and Death in the Andes , traces Macquarrie's travels through South America as he reveals the history of each place he visits through the portal of iconic events. Kim has...

Haley Tepavac spent seven years working on cruise ships around the world. Her Divergent Path started while working at a jewelry store in Minnesota. After a rough breakup she saw an advertisement for a job in Juneau, Alaska. So she packed her bags and moved to the far north. Little did she know that decision would be the first domino in a chain of events that would send her careening around the wor...

Ted Alexander  is the founder of Sierra Andina , a very popular and large microbrew in Peru. He also started a guiding company called Skyline Adventures, which leads climbing expeditions in the Andes Mountains out of Huaraz, Peru. Ted has lived in Peru for 20 years and has lived so many adventures. More than all of those things, Ted is an extremely thoughtful guy. He is a deep thinker and a compas...

Sam Sheridan is the author of three books: The Fighter's Heart, The Fighter's Mind, and The Disaster Diaries. Recently, he wrote and produced a miniseries called I am the Night . Sam traveled the world and trained martial arts. He interviewed the greatest minds in MMA about the mental game. And he worked with top survival experts in order to learn how to prepare for the end of the world. But Sam a...

Dr. Lorenzo Valterza is a scholar on Dante Alighieri and the Italian language. He holds a PhD from Rutgers and has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Notre Dame. Lorenzo's doctoral thesis was about the impact of torture and Roman law in Dante. In this episode we discussed many things about the Italian language. He grew up hearing different dialects and then went on to study and teach it...

Dave Hinkle played professional basketball overseas for 11 years. While most of his career was in Mexico, he played all over the world from Germany to Taiwan to Bolivia. Dave didn't even start playing basketball until late in high school when he hit a growth spurt. He attended University of San Francisco and played basketball on their club team. On the podcast, Dave jokes that he learned how to pl...

Jennifer Tye had a steady job as a marketing executive, but that wasn't what she wanted out of life. So one day she decided to leave it all behind and go to culinary school. She next worked for two years at Michel Richard Citronelle , one of the best restaurants in the country. And she eventually started her own catering business. Jennifer talks about the scrappy early days as she grew her busines...

A few years ago I lived in Croatia for a summer and wound up traveling around the Balkans after. And I had some crazy stories from hitchhiking through Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Including run-ins with the Croatian police, a crazy random music festival in with a stranger who picked me up on the side of the highway, and jumping off an 80-foot bridge in Bosnia. Read more about the story here: https...

Carlos Venzano has spent four years traveling the world by bicycle. He's been to 90 countries. In total he's biked over 40,000 kilometres, greater than the circumference of the earth. But he wasn't always a super adventurer. Before 2016 he led a "super average life" with a steady job and an apartment in Santiago, Chile. He decided to leave it all behind to travel the world and experience different...