Zero To Travel Podcast

Why should you travel to Tbilisi, Georgia? While you might come for the 8,000-year-old wine, you’ll want to stay for the wild hospitality and a city full of surprises. Levan Giorgadze is a theater-trained tour guide and founder of Tbilisi Free Walking Tours, where he shares Georgia’s rich history and culture with travelers from all over the world. A passionate ambassador for his homeland, Levan’s...

Could the least-visited places offer the most rewarding travel experiences?  Jonty Crane is a New Zealand-based traveler, guidebook author, and longtime advocate for meaningful, off-the-beaten-path travel. With over 75 countries under his belt, he’s currently volunteering in Timor-Leste, where he’s helping promote sustainable tourism while living the slow travel lifestyle.   In this episode, we un...

What if you could flip your thinking, let go of old scripts, and start showing up as the hero in your own life, right now?  Derek Loudermilk is a coach, adventurer, podcaster, and bestselling author who helps coaches, healers, and creators become global thought leaders. After leaving behind a PhD program, surviving a life-threatening blood clot, and traveling the world for years, Derek rebuilt his...

Why does it take a brush with death for some of us to finally do the things we’ve dreamed of?  Stephan Kesting is an accomplished martial artist, firefighter, wilderness explorer, and the author of Perseverance: Life and Death in the Subarctic. You might know him from his popular jiu-jitsu videos and teachings at Grapplearts, but Stephan’s story goes far beyond the mat. After surviving a life-thre...

What does it really take to build a life abroad, and what happens when travel pushes you far outside your comfort zone?  Jackie Nourse, aka Traveling Jackie, is an adventure travel pro, host of JUMP podcast, tour leader, and storyteller who’s built a life around helping people explore the world boldly and authentically. With over 20 years of travel under her belt, Jackie’s led countless group trip...

What if the best way to explore Copenhagen isn’t in the guidebooks, but in a cemetery, on a bike hunt for trolls, or over a plate of smørrebrød with locals?  Rikke Bisgaard-Svensen is the co-founder of Copenhagen Free Walking Tours and a self-described travel addict whose life has revolved around two things: taking off to faraway lands and sharing her love for her hometown. What started as a side...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains honest discussions about depression and suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255).  Is debt stopping you from traveling? What if the life you’ve been told to want is actually the thing that’s breaking you?   That was the reality for Annette and Daniel Fortner of Chase for Adventure, a cou...

What does it really mean to feel seen, safe, and celebrated as an LGBTQ+ traveler? How can understanding other people’s travel experiences help us feel more connected, wherever we go?  Alicia Valenski is an American writer, editor, speaker, and author of the groundbreaking new LGBTQ+ travel guide with Lonely Planet that explores 50 of the most queer-friendly destinations around the globe. Now livi...

Have you ever thought about what your travels would look like without alcohol?  After eliminating alcohol, Margaret rediscovered her joy for travel, so much so that she started Alcohol-Free Adventure Retreats (AFAR), where she helps women rediscover and challenge themselves by embracing travel without alcohol.  In this episode, Margaret shares her 10 expert tips on alcohol-free travel, and we talk...

What’s it like to trade the hustle of NYC for a slower life in Iceland? And how do you explore its volcanic landscapes without getting stuck in the tourist crowds?  Jewells Chambers is the creator and voice behind All Things Iceland, a podcast and YouTube channel that helps people experience Iceland beyond the tourist trail. Originally from New York City, Jewells moved to Iceland in 2016 after fal...

What can we actually learn about climate change when we stop reading headlines and start listening to the people living it?  Gunnar Garfors is the first person to travel to every country in the world not once, but twice. He’s a Norwegian adventurer, journalist, and author whose latest project took him across the equator, the Arctic Circle, and the Antarctic region to explore the lived experiences...

Why do some conversations leave you feeling seen and understood, while others fall flat? Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of The Power of Habit and his latest, Supercommunicators. He's spent years exploring the science of communication to find out what separates those rare, magical conversations from ones that leave us disconnected or misunderstood. In t...

Is co-living the secret sauce to building community and staying inspired on the road?  Fabio and Juls are the co-founders of Casa Basilico, a pop-up foodie co-living experience designed for digital nomads who crave meaningful connection, delicious food, and a vibrant sense of community. As full-time travelers and friends-turned-business-partners, they’ve hosted over 200 nomads around the world, us...

What happens when you take a grand piano into the wild and let nature lead the performance?  Hunter Noack is a classically trained pianist and the founder of IN A LANDSCAPE, a one-of-a-kind outdoor concert series that brings a 9-foot Steinway grand piano into the great outdoors. Instead of setting up traditional speakers at every show, audience members are given wireless headphones, allowing them...

Would you skateboard nearly 1,000 miles across the U.S. with no real plan, just to see what would happen?  Mike Kosciesza did just that with three friends and a dream to make a documentary out of it. Back in 2008, these four 20-year-olds set off from Chicago with their skateboards pointed toward New York City. A decade later, that wild ride became Shred America, a raw, DIY travel film packed with...

What makes Baltimore, Maryland, one of the best US cities to visit?  Brian Oliver is the founder of BMore See More, a nonprofit organization empowering minority male students in Baltimore City to become local and global leaders through education, mentorship, and travel. A seasoned traveler who’s visited over 60 countries, Brian always finds himself returning to Baltimore and has become a voice for...

What adventures have you been dreaming up but haven't done yet? Lynne Nieman is the founder of Wander Your Way, a podcast and website dedicated to helping you explore off-the-beaten-path destinations throughout Europe. As a professional travel planner, Lynne combines her passion for Europe and off-the-beaten-path exploration with her expertise in creating personalized travel experiences. In this e...

Almost two decades after The 4-Hour Workweek was published, what does lifestyle design look like now, and where is it headed next? Travis Sherry is a longtime traveler and entrepreneur who’s spent over a decade building a life centered around freedom, travel, and location independence while helping thousands of others do the same. He’s the founder of the Extra Pack of Peanuts blog and podcast, co-...

What can thinking about death teach us about living life? Bronnie Ware is an author, songwriter, speaker, and free spirit devoted to helping others find the courage to embrace life on their own terms and live without regrets. Her international bestselling memoir, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, has been translated into 32 languages and has a movie in the pipeline. Bronnie spent much of her life...

What road trip songs get you pumped for your travels? Rob Harvilla has been a professional rock critic for 20+ years whose writing has appeared in Pitchfork, Spin, and Rolling Stone. He is also the host of the hugely popular podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s and author of a book by the same name. In this episode, Rob shares his ultimate 90s road trip playlist along with a fun conversation abo...

I’m bringing you a roundup of the most popular and community-loved highlights from the Zero To Travel newsletter this month, offering practical travel tips, lifestyle insights, and some good old-fashioned wanderlust inspiration. You’ll hear science-backed strategies for boosting happiness, why now might be the time to take action on a second passport, a few under-the-radar travel destinations you’...

Have you traveled just to go to a music festival? What one realization can lead to a life of travel? Jason Law and his wife Kelly are the duo behind Festy GoNuts and GoNuts Marketing, the ultimate resource for enhancing your music festival experience. They’ve been to countless festivals, created a tight-knit community of festival lovers, and know exactly what it takes to go from a good time to a l...

What is it like to hike over 2,000 miles on the Appalachian Trail… with your teenage kid? Jessica and Largo are part of the adventurous WorldTowning family, who’ve been living a full-time travel lifestyle for over a decade. From sailing across the Atlantic to road-tripping Europe in an RV, they’ve redefined “home” and “school” many times over. Jessica and her son Largo share their experience tackl...

Nate Menninger has chased experiences around the world, from running with the bulls in Spain to diving the Blue Hole in Belize. Most recently, he became one of the first foreigners to work as a Himalayan porter in Nepal, an experience he documented in his first-ever film, The Porter.  In this episode, Nate shares the wild story of becoming a porter in Nepal, working side-by-side with local Nepales...

What hidden stories lie beneath the surface of the places you travel? Clare Hammond is an award-winning investigative journalist currently working with Global Witness to expose the issues relating to natural resources, conflict, and corruption. In 2016 while working in Myanmar, she discovered an obscure map showing a web of railways that weren’t shown on any publicly available maps. This compelled...