The Adventure Calls Podcast

Based in Da Nang, Vietnam, Jazzie Mas is a stand-up comic from South Central, Los Angeles who is destined for global stardom, though her path toward it has been anything but direct. In my conversation with Jazzie, you'll hear about her time as a digital nomad. Her life as a stand up comic, and how she turned a childhood of turmoil, a short time in the prison system, and five years on probatio...

There has to be more to life than careers, credit scores, and chasing the American Dream, right? What about your dreams? Join Jessica Drucker, author of How To Move Abroad and Why It’s The Best Thing You’ll Do , for interviews with fascinating American expats living their best lives abroad.  If you have always dreamt of moving abroad or are fed up and looking for a better life, subscribe to listen...

Beth Santos is founder and CEO of Wanderful , a global community and lifestyle brand that specializes in helping all women travel the world. Wanderful reaches a diverse audience of over 100M each year through chapter events in 50 cities, an international home sharing network, global summits and small group trips, a thriving membership community, and dynamic online content and forums.  She is the c...

In 1999, at the age of 22, Derek Baron left home for a 3 month trip to Southeast Asia that has never come to an end. He’s been traveling the world for over 20 years, 7097 days of travel according to the counter on his travel blog, WanderingEarl.com . Derek has visited over 120 countries, and now runs his tour company, Wandering Earl Tours, to locations around the world.  I first met Derek in Mexic...

Gabby Beckford is the 24-year-old entrepreneur, content creator, and travel-addict behind Packs Light. Between her TEDx talk on Delusional Confidence and risk-taking, while young, her 800+, and growing Facebook group called Young Travelers Network, and her being awarded more than $75,000 in study abroad funds in college, Gabby is known as the Opportunity Expert. Her mission is to empower young peo...

Martinique Lewis is a Diversity in Travel Consultant who works tirelessly to ensure that diversity is not just a buzzword in the travel industry. She blogs at MartySanDiego.com , where she is the creator of the Diversity in Travel Report Card holding the industry to a higher and more transparent standard. Marty has been working with tourist boards and travel brands for years, first for free and to...

Jannik Lawaetz is the founder and CEO of LuggageHero , a growing network of affordable luggage-storage sites. As you might imagine, both sides of his win-win travel startup have been vastly reduced during the pandemic, as travel has all but stopped, and the local shops, cafes and hotels stores that normally store the luggage were almost all shut.  Pre-pandemic, Luggage Hero launched in Copenhagen...

On this episode of Adventure Calls, I spoke with Laura Bartlett, the founder of House of Coco , a luxury print travel magazine sold on the newsstands in London. During a time when the world became overrun with travel Instagrammers, Laura chose to go in the opposite direction, launching a print magazine, with the goal of creating a platform that allowed her and her team to travel and live their bes...

Tess Longfield is a British Travel PR expert in the travel industry based in Beirut, but quarantining in Sussex, England. In her career, Tess has worked through major events and catastrophes such as the 7/7 bombings in London, the Royal Wedding in 2011, and the Summer 2012 Olympics, before setting off on a life abroad with her diplomat husband, building a family as they were placed in Kenya, Jorda...

Of the 350,000 US students studying abroad each year, only six percent are students of color. Today’s guest, Lamar Shambley, gave up his teaching career to help solve that problem.  After teaching for seven years, Lamar’s high school Spanish students inspired him to Teens Of Color Abroad, a program that provides high school students of color with language immersion study abroad programs. TOCA&apos...

On this episode of Adventure Calls, I talk to Melanie Folcik Barillaro from her quarantine in Connecticut. Melanie is a commercial pilot, a helicopter pilot, an Emergency Medical Technician, a certified flight instructor, a PADI rescue SCUBA diver, a certified Class A skydiver, and a travel addict recently made the transition to a role as an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector.  In this episode,  we tal...

How are travel startups adjusting to the new normal in the travel industry? In this episode, I talk to Michael Youngblood, co-founder of Unsettled travel community from his childhood home in South Carolina. We talk about how travel startups can successfully change directions while the industry is otherwise at a standstill, and about the future of the tour guide, and the travel industry in general....

In this episode: While quarantined in her apartment in Chelsea, NYC, Pavia and I discuss the benefits of this Great Pause, parallels among crises like 9/11, Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression and talk about how travel consumer behavior may change as a result of the Coronavirus. We discuss the growing importance of travel insurance, travel safety standards in the future, and how we will decide w...

Quarantine phone calls with travel experts sheltered in place around the world about the future of travel, and escapism, in a post-coronavirus world.  Hi, I’m Jess Drucker. I’ve traveled to over 40 countries and lived in four. I was rammed by a cow in India, had dengue fever in Belize, flew over my handlebars riding down the death road in Bolivia. But nothing has scared me more than this deadly vi...

In this episode: Originally from Washington, DC, and today based in Singapore, Gregory Burns is a world-class athlete and internationally recognized fine artist. He has won gold, silver and bronze medals and set four world records in swimming during three consecutive Paralympic Games.  Having been in Asia for the last 35 years, Gregory shares his unique perspective on how this pandemic might affec...