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

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!   Sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith when you travel. Oftentimes, that faith has to be in humanity itself, and in the humans who inhabit the places you are traveling to. Those people are the ones who can make or break your trip - and, sometimes, they are the ones who prove that humanity really is not all that bad. Laura Bingham visits Hayden and proves to be not only “incredibly fun to talk to,” to quote Hayden, but also incredibly brave and strong in her faith in humanity. Laura traveled from one side of South America to the other, on a bicycle, with no money, in six months. She depended on the kindness of strangers to help her survive. Laura discusses not only this trip, but also her documentary, how she learned to be patient, and “imposter syndrome” - believing you are an imposter because you feel lik

 A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of something you love is always welcome; Hayden wanted to grant you that opportunity in the season two closer. Cody Crabb and Nicole Mello (the musician and the writer, respectively) join Hayden in unpacking the entirety of season two, looking back at funny, inspiring, and memorable moments from past episodes. Featured primarily among them are Guy Earnshaw, Sean Whitehead, Richard Phu, and, believe it or not, Hayden Lee himself. The three of them also discuss how the scores are created, how the show notes are written, and how each other’s accents sound to one another. The crew also looks forward to season three, discussing upcoming social media, post-season Q&As, and what else Hayden wants to go down in season three. Stay tuned!   2:23 - Hayden talks about the upcoming post-season Q&As and the upcoming opportunity to win a GRAYL purifier filter. 4:06 - Hayden discusses social media and how to follow Travel Stories Podcast throughout season three. 6:35 - Hayde

In this episode of Hayden's Travel Journal, we rejoin Hayden on his motorcycle journey as he enters the mountains in central Vietnam.  It's not all easy riding, as Hayden finds out, encountering buses, trucks and realising why everyone said "DO NOT DO THIS JOURNEY" on the research he did before going. The roads are certainly not for everyone, and one small mistake can mean either a devastating accident or a memorable story. Plenty of stories about the views and experiences on this journey coupled with tips about doing this type of travel make this journal entry an interesting instalment. 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

Putting your faith in the universe, and letting your mind and body take over in order to free your soul, can sometimes be essential to traveling. Your adventure may not be complete if you are too aware of yourself. Katharine “Kate” Elliot had an angel in pink tell her she had to learn to let the universe guide her, and that has granted her some of her greatest travel moments. Let Hayden tell you about how some cool stuff that will be going down next week before Kate brings up her book, A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers. Her and Hayden discuss paying attention to all the messages the world is sending you, and how to follow those messages and listen to the universe. She talks about she wrote her book, and what led her to discovering her writing. The highlight, her story “Angel in Pink,” follows Kate as she hits a dark moment, believing she had lost her path in the universe. She felt like she was drowning, aching, and her doubts and fears started to choke her; the world around h

Traveling yourself is vastly different from hearing stories, or seeing pictures, even though those are fine substitutes. However, nothing can pair up to the real thing, a fact Hayden learned for certain while he was in Vietnam. Hayden shares a message from Billy and calls for people to send him messages, and lets us know about his intentions towards Snapchat and Facebook Live while he is traveling in Brazil. He also introduces Cody Crabb, the composer for Travel Stories Podcast, and they discuss scores Cody has done for past episodes, how Cody writes the scores for episodes, and how important scores and music are to stories and media. Most importantly, however, Cody answers Hayden’s question of, “John Williams or Danny Elfman?” Follow Hayden as he tries cacao for the first time, sees the most spiders he has ever found in one place, tells a waitress she is beautiful, and gets a scroll illustrated by a blind monk. He also visits a very “businessman” hotel to treat himself, and shares his experiences with synest

If you change your thinking, you can change your actions. Hayden wholeheartedly believes in this philosophy, and it was this philosophy that led him to trying to never say no. It was his decision to always say yes to adventures that led him to his love on the Ganges. Hosted by Jackie Nourse of The Budget-Minded Traveler, Hayden Lee shares how he started the Travel Stories Podcast, how sharing stories can help bring a place or a feeling to someone who has never experienced it, and how to integrate your travel life with your daily life. He also talks about catching dengue fever, the growth travel can bring you, and the way to capitalize on the roles you take on while you travel. He believes in “minis,” or mini-romances, as much as he believes in saying yes to everything, and finding perfect moments while traveling. Most of all, though, Hayden believes in love at first sight. Hayden’s main attraction is his story, “Love on the Ganges,” a riveting tale of the time Hayden nearly died in the Ganges River while in t

  Realizing that you may be seen as an ignorant or privileged traveler can be a blow, but if you just put yourself out there and try new things, you can overcome that image in a heartbeat. Hayden does exactly that as he drives in Vietnam, meets a snake “as thick as a Pringles tube, and twice as daunting,” and rowed a boat for a woman who had not taken a break all day. Hayden also has some serious adventures with food, including learning that you can live off just coconuts or just chili water, and finding a variety of American pets to snack on at a food market on the Mekong Delta. Show notes writer Nicole Mello also stops by to answer questions about what to do in Boston, and to explain the Boston Tea Party to Hayden.     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

Fear is a paralyzing emotion, but, in the end, it can truly be your best motivator, and Sean Whitehead has firsthand experience with both ends of that double-edged sword. Sean is not only a friend of Hayden’s and the singer of the band that Hayden and previous guest Guy Earnshaw were once in, but he is also an avid traveler. Sean wants to share his story of traveling in the Alps, and how fear, a good friend, and a bar of Snickers got him to the top of a nearly sheer-faced mountain. First, Sean shares a tale of traveling to Brazil and ending up in a weird, dodgy neighborhood, where he was served an Americana pizza that came, not with meat and cheese on it, as you would expect; no, instead, it came with egg and peas on it. It was in Brazil that Sean learned that there is more to life than just doing things the easy way. He found that doing things you have never done before can only lead to adventure. He also tells a story about a self-drive tour he took with his friends in Iceland, how they took their own route

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!  Hayden recounts his last day in Bali, and what makes Indonesia such a peaceful place to be, away from the advertisements, money and stress of daily western life.  He goes on to Vietnam, meets and has connections with a lot of people that just moments before were complete strangers, and comes to revelations about life in Vietnam compared to other countries. He then gets given the opportunity to do something 'magical'. He doesn't know quite what it is yet, and has to make the decision to trust someone he just met.    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

 What is the secret to becoming your own Ultimate Man? What is the key to living a life with no regrets? How do you learn to follow your heart over your head? Richard Phu, of The Ultimate Man and the Forge Your Life podcast, comes with answers to these questions, along with questions of his own. How would you describe an ultimate man, and what is your purpose in life? These two are more tangled up than you might think. Richard leads us forth. Richard Phu visits Hayden from Australia, where he is currently working on his online coaching business. The founder of The Ultimate Man and the Forge Your Life podcast, Richard discusses what the Ultimate Man really is; the true ultimate man is not any one set person, he tells us. Instead, this man is exactly what you want it to be. As long as you follow Richard’s five pillars - purpose, wealth, health, mindset, and love - you can achieve your own ultimate man. Richard discusses with Hayden how his realization that he had to commit himself to living the most fulfilling

Hayden’s continued journeys, as recounted by his past self through his travel journal, begin with him being told: “This is where I kill you and tell everyone you were eaten by cow.” Hayden travels to a secret shipwrecked beach, to a place seemingly untouched by civilization. He journeys through a forest filled with monkeys and snakes, and comes to a tropical island, where time ceases to exist. He also finds another island with as many brothels as they are cows and five hundred of those monkey-and-snake-filled forests. After encountering a real-world version of the Hog Wild level of Crash Bandicoot, and getting wrestled by waves, Hayden even has an island romance - but let him tell you about those adventures, in his own words.   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

What is the key to success? For John Lee Dumas, the one aspect of success that all entrepreneurs share is setting a good, specific goal for themselves. He shares tips and tricks, as well as advice in just getting out there and getting to work. John Lee Dumas, host of Entrepreneur on Fire and author of The Freedom Journal, calls in from Puerto Rico to talk with Hayden. He shares his unique step-by-step process that he details in the Freedom Journal, a guide that helps you to accomplish goals in a set time frame of one hundred days. He also discusses his podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire, sharing his mantra with us: “Do what you can’t not do.” It was this mantra that led him to creating a daily podcast in 2012, and it is this ideal that led him to doing his job well, providing his audience with free, valuable, consistent content, and seeing how the road has unfolded before him ever since. John also recounts a story, fondly titled “The Golden Palace,” detailing his journey from law school to India, where he spent fo

Hayden returns with his travel journal, pulling an entry from when he arrived in Bali, Indonesia. His first day in Bali, being the perfect mixture of insane and awesome, sees him couchsurfing, receiving a Thai massage, and fulfilling massive amounts of Bali stereotypes. He wakes up to the sounds of cats, children’s laughter, and roosters, and becomes very close with his two roommates. By the end of his four days, Hayden believes he is even able to predict his own inevitable death in Bali.   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 Pictures can be found at our website: Travel Stories Podcast

When you travel, you never know who you will meet, or what kind of experiences you will have. Half the fun of adventuring is not knowing where you will be lead next, and Jason Moore is a firm believer in trying new things while you travel. Jason Moore, a resident of Oslo, Norway, hosts the Zero to Travel podcast, because he hopes to help people achieve their desire to live a life of travel, and help them travel on their own terms. He also runs Location Indie, a podcast based on the community support system of people who want to work while they travel, work remotely, and live independently. Jason’s story, which he calls “Thumbs Up,” gives us an inside look at the life of a hitchhiker, through the eyes of Jason, his friend, Gary, and their hitchhiking race around Scotland. Join Jason on a 546-mile quasi-circumnavigation grassroots race around Scotland, where he goes wild camping, visits eight iconic Scottish checkpoints, and meets a number of people who changed his life, who you can hear about in detail in the

When we last left Hayden and his travel journal, he was leaving Queensland for Brisbane, with the intent to catch a plane to Indonesia. With nowhere to be and nothing to his name but what he has on his back, he spent the entire day in Brisbane on foot. It was here that he learned to pay it forward from a busy mother who wanted to do something kind, along with encountering a couple other kind characters who populate this rich, inspiring tale of humanity in Brisbane.   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 Pictures can be found at our website: Travel Stories Podcast

To make a difference in the world, you do not have to make a major impact. You do not have to bring water to an entire country; you do not have to feed entire villages; you just have to make someone smile once a week. This is exactly what Daniel Venn does with his nonprofit organization, Helping Kids Round First, which he discusses with Hayden. Daniel Venn works with Helping Kids Round First, doing fantastic work with kids. They collect donated baseball equipment in the United States, and give the donations to children in Nicaragua. They give children the opportunity to have a childhood in a country that does not often afford that chance, and gives them the opportunity to escape poverty through baseball. Dan also discusses the book he wrote and published, Beyond Baseball - Rounding First, representing his trip to Nicaragua with Helping Kids Round First. They work with the nonprofit organization to bring baseball, sustainable agriculture, and hospital supplies to Nicaragua. Join Daniel Venn as he describes the

In a more adventurous and intimate turn, Hayden starts to read straight from his travel journal in the beginning of his Hayden’s Travel Journal series. As Hayden is a notorious journalist, the details and the personality really come through, following him and his journals from gold-mining, to island romances, to biking through Vietnam, and even further beyond. He almost died twice, but lived to tell the tale, here in these podcasts. Hayden is the type to go off-script (or, off-journal, as it were), but he figured, why not share his stories with the world? And this one starts in Melbourne, when he gets a call from his friend in Queensland, who was going into gold-mining full-time. Join Hayden as he tries to avoid a venomous demise from a redback spider, encounters a pig truck that makes it easy to be a vegetarian, and recounts one of the most horrific anecdotes he believes he has ever recounted.   Check out our website at: Travel Stories Podcast Online Email Hayden (he’ll answer everything) at: hayden@travels

Have you ever realized that someone walking past you in the street has a life of their own? A passerby glances at you, and you realize - they have loved, they have lost, and they have a wild life of their own, just like you. Jeromy Slaby, a Chicago resident and the co-founder of Sonderers Magazine, named his online travel magazine after exactly that phenomenon. He has a goal - to bring humanity back together, one step at a time. Jeromy shows up to discuss the definition of “sonder”, the smell of his childhood (and how that led him to some truly great gelato), and why millennials travel the most out of any generation, nowadays. Jeromy’s feature is his travel anecdote about his adventure to the jungles of Panama in the summer of 2014, when he volunteered to build a sustainable community with the Outdoor Recreation Program. The story is titled by him as “A Failed Search,” and he recounts trying to find the Mother Tree, making a choice when you come to a fork in the road, learning to trust another person, fightin

Everyone has a healthy dose of paranoia when traveling - it can be a very good thing to have, because it means you tend to keep yourself safe. But it can be hard to know how, exactly, to keep your belongings safe from theft and scams. Hayden wants to make sure you stay safe, and that your money and your important stuff stays safe, too. He offers you five travel tips here for avoiding theft and scams while you travel, sharing personal stories and anecdotes and speaking from experience as he does. Your travel stories should never have to be cut short due to an unexpected mugging, scam, theft, stolen identity, wallet grab, or, God forbid, all of the above. Take advantage of these five travel tips to ensure your absolute freedom and peace of mind while adventuring. Tips like how to use a money belt, what fake items to carry with you, and popular scams that you might have otherwise fallen victim to can help you more than you know while you travel. If you take Hayden’s tips into account while traveling, and if y

“No matter what our differences are, or what our backgrounds are, there is always going to be a way for us to cooperate and communicate with each other, which I think is really beautiful, and an amazing part of travel.” Though cultural variations can make it seem like every human has a great deal of differences from another, when it comes right down to it, there is so much everyone has in common. In our world, people actually have a great deal of similarities, and traveling to faraway places and getting to know the area you have traveled to can help bring that out during your own personal adventures. Our guest for this week, Jen Montague, is a travel photographer and a writer - though she considers herself, first and foremost, to be an adventurer. She takes photos when she travels because she enjoys capturing the day-to-day moments of far-away places, and then sharing what she sees with those around her. She also writes articles, and would love to write more, if anyone would be interested in working with her.