Long Way Radio

Steven Hermans is the cofounder of Caravanistan.com. After his first few times traveling in Central Asia and on the Silk Road, Steven was underwhelmed by the amount of accurate and up to date information about this region as a travel destination. 

To solve this problem he built Caravanistan.com, which is now widely considered to be the internet's best source for information about traveling in Central Asia and on the Silk Road. 

Home to tons of practical advice and resources, an active forum community, and a list of vetted visa companies and tour operators, Caravanistan is an extremely useful collection of information for anyone interested in traveling to Central Asia. 

In this episode, we talk about traveling in Central Asia, the formation and management of the website, an ideal 30 day itinerary, how travel influencers and organized events are changing travel in the region.

Check out Caravanistan.com for more information.

If you enjoy this podcast please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

For more information, please visit https://www.longwayradio.com/

Harley Rustad is a journalist, author and a features editor at The Walrus. His newest book, Lost In the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas is out January 11th, 2022.

This book is about American traveler Justin Alexander, who disappeared in 2016 while traveling in India's remote Parvati Valley.

In this episode we talk about Justin, traveling in India, and Harley’s book, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Danger and Obsession in the Himalayas, which is available now.

To learn more about Harley and to see more of his work, check out https://www.harleyrustad.com/

To see some of Justin's photos referenced in this episode, visit https://www.instagram.com/adventuresofjustin/?hl=en

For more info about this podcast, visit https://www.longwayradio.com/

Andrew is an adventure athlete, guide, and writer based in Boulder, CO. He's well known for his extremely long and difficult thru hikes. He's done too many cool expeditions to list, but some notable ones are his Alaska-Yukon Expedition (6 months, 4,700 miles), Great Western Loop (7 months, 6,875 miles), and the, Sea-to-Sea Route (11 months, 7,775 miles). Incredible stuff.

Andrew also runs guided trips, which we talk about in this episode.

Check out Andrew's website here: https://andrewskurka.com/

Buy Andrew's book, Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide: Tools and Trips to Hit the Trail

Check out Andrew's Instagram here: @andrewskurka

Learn more about this podcast at: https://www.longwayradio.com/

Tom is a stand up comedian, a podcaster, a television host, a writer and a professional traveler. He regularly travels all over the world to tell jokes and stories on stage. For a time, he had no home base, and lived out of a suitcase in Europe and Asia. He is a traveler in in the truest sense of the word.

In this episode, we tell travel stories and talk about Tom's newest album, Around the World, which was recorded in 24 different international cities over the course of several years. 

You can hear more from Tom on his podcast, Tom Rhodes Radio Smart Camp, on his standup albums, or as a frequent guest on a number of comedy podcasts.

Check out Tom on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/_tomrhodes/?hl=en 

Buy Around the World here: https://music.apple.com/album/1454305548?app=itunes&ls=1

Check out Tom's website here: https://www.tomrhodes.net/

Learn more about this podcast at: https://www.longwayradio.com/

Brendan is a writer, filmmaker, cartoonist, graphic artist, and the mind behind the widely read website semi-rad.com.

In this episode, we talk about Brendan's creative journey, navigating the internet with a large social media following, van life, and looking back on past projects after the passage of time.

Find Brendan on Twitter and Instagram @semi_rad

Check out Brendan's website here: https://semi-rad.com/

Watch How to Run 100 Miles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC7Lh4opLsc&t=

Learn more about this podcast at: https://www.longwayradio.com/

Malcolm Daly is a climber, an entrepreneur, and a fixture in the adventure community. He's worked all over the outdoor industry, and founded climbing equipment company Trango, helped to found Paradox Sports, and was a founding board member at The Access Fund.

In 1999, Malcolm was involved in a serious mountaineering accident in Alaska which led to the amputation of his leg.

In this episode, we talk about the outdoor industry, Malcolm's accident, and how it changed the course of his life, his career, and how he approaches challenges.

Check out Malcolm's instagram @maldaly

Learn more about Malcolm and about Long Way Radio at https://www.longwayradio.com/

Marcus Hudson is an American living in Moscow. He is the founder of Let's Russia, a Russian Visa service and travel resource.

We talked about how he came to live in Russia, traveling in Russia, applying for a visa, how Russian grammar might affect aspects of Russian culture, and being an expat in general.

Check out Marcus's company at https://letsrussia.com/

Learn more about Long Way Radio at https://www.longwayradio.com/

Dave Imus is an award winning and world renowned cartographer based near Eugene, Oregon. He's the artist behind The Essential Geography of the United States, which is widely considered the best paper map of the US that's ever been produced.

Dave and I sat down to talk about his background and inspiration as a mapmaker, his work process, the heritage behind his cartographic style, and the importance of a strong geographic literacy.

Check out Dave's work at https://www.imusgeographics.com/

Watch Oregon Public Broadcasting's recent piece on Dave here: https://www.opb.org/news/video/cartographer-dave-imus-video/

Learn more about Long Way Radio at https://www.longwayradio.com/

Max Sugerman is a videographer and a photographer, and a part of multimedia group On The Bus Productions.

Recently, Max and his colleagues from On The Bus went on a road trip through South America on a converted school bus. Along the way, they documented the experience and the people they met with videos and a podcast.

Max and I got together to talk about their South America trip. We talked about traveling on a school bus and how it changes the dynamic of a trip, difficult driving conditions, and some of the experiences and challenges they had along their journey.

Max's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oregon_overlander/

On The Bus YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/YouTubeOTB

On The Bus Podcast: https://bit.ly/2PDcAop

Learn more about Long Way Radio at https://www.longwayradio.com/

Shane Mauss is a standup comedian, a podcaster, and an explorer of inner space. In this interview, we discuss Shane's last big tour, "A Good Trip" which featured standup comedy about psychedelic research and psychedelics in our culture. 

More recently, Shane made a documentary called Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration of Psychedelics. Check it out at: https://www.psychonauticsfilm.com/

He also has a new tour, Stand Up Science, coming to a city near you. Learn more at http://www.shanemauss.com/stand-up-science-preview

This interview was part of some research for a project on public relations for "fringe" movements. We don't talk about travel, an expedition, or anything like that. But, after watching Psychonautics recently, it became very clear to me that Shane embodies the spirit of adventure and exploration that this show is about. 

Shane's podcast, Here We Are, features weekly interviews with scientists around the world. Listen here: https://www.herewearepodcast.com/

Shane's website: http://www.shanemauss.com/

Learn more about this podcast at: https://www.longwayradio.com/

Tal Oran (@thetravelingclatt) is a travel vlogger and filmmaker. His YouTube channel, TheTravelingClatt, features informative and entertaining videos about his world travels. You'll find information about cities, areas, things to do, places to eat and stay, and how to organize a trip of your own.

In this episode, we talk about crossing the Atlantic ocean aboard a cargo ship, train journeys, and Tal's video making process. He also shared some behind the scenes insight about YouTube's travel video category.

Check out Tal's YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/1olwwX0

Check him out on social media @thetravelingclatt

Learn more about this podcast at: https://www.longwayradio.com/

Dan and Elaine are the real deal.

They ski, hike or bike in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado almost every single day, and often travel for far away snow and mountains. Among other things they’ve thru hiked the Continental Divide Trail, completed a notable traverse in Colorado’s San Juan Range, skied all over Norway, have raced competitively on the ski mountaineering circuit.

In the spring of 2018, they traveled to Greenland to attempt a ski traverse of the ice sheet. And, as is so often the case with challenging expeditions like this one, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

We talked about their trip to Greenland, logistics for Arctic expeditions, and how to integrate adventure and connection with nature into our everyday lives.

You can check out Dan and Elaine’s blog at https://altabackcountry.com/

For more information about this podcast, visit https://www.longwayradio.com/

Jonathan George is an adventurer and an experiential educator. He's guided and traveled all over the world, speaks a handful of languages, and has taught French, SCUBA diving, and ballroom dance.

In this episode we talk about one of Jonathan's adventures, an 8 month road trip from Switzerland to Namibia.

For more information about this podcast, check out https://www.longwayradio.com/

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Julian Smith is a writer who specializes in travel and science. He's written several travel guidebooks, and his work has been featured in publications like Smithsonian, Wired, Outside, National Geographic Traveler, and many others. He also wrote an award winning book called Crossing the Heart of Africa, which we discussed in this episode.

After learning about Ewart Grogan, a British explorer who in 1898 made a landmark crossing of the African continent, Julian was inspired to explore some of the same parts of Africa himself. In the book, Julian tells Grogan’s story, details his own journey, and explores some of the parallels between his life and Grogan’s.

We talked about writing, Crossing the Heart of Africa, and traveling in Africa.

To see more of Julian's work, visit http://www.juliansmith.com/

For more information about this podcast, check out https://www.longwayradio.com/

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James Simmons is a traveler and experiential educator. He has traveled and hitchhiked all over the world.

We talked about hitchhiking as a practice, his background, and what we stand to gain from being brave.

For more information about this podcast, check out https://www.longwayradio.com/

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Jorge Latre is an Arctic explorer, an ultra runner, and a pilot, among other things. In February 2018, he went to Alaska and completed the Iditasport 1000 by running (on foot) the Iditarod Trail from Anchorage to Nome.

We talked about the Iditasport, traveling in Arctic conditions, the concept of mastery, pain, and about how to design an interesting and fulfilling life.

Learn more about Jorge on his website, https://coldlatitudes.com/

For more information about this podcast, check out https://www.longwayradio.com/

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