Welcome to the Roaming the Earth podcast. In this short introductory episode, Drea Castro discusses her love for the outdoors, her passion to find other explorers with a similar need to roam the Earth and why she decided to start a podcast that delves into the lives of these nomads. The episode opens with one of her adventures at the Grand Teton National Park.  

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to travel the world, but sometimes it helps. Having spent 8 years building a career testing rockets with SpaceX, Amado DeHoyos decided to leave it early in 2015 and spent the last 5 years circling the globe on a seemingly never-ending quest - the desire to see the world. A friend made the fateful decision early in that trip to gift Amado a book called "100 Wonders" and he would sweep the globe, attempting to visit as many of those as he possible could (currently at 97, those last 3 are going to be tricky…). The checklist of 100 Wonders would expand to the checklist of UNESCO world heritage sites and would then expand to just being and living in the moment among the cultures of the world.

1:04 Amado discusses the book that changed the course of his life.

Dehoyos has traveled to a 117 countries (including Antarctica), alongside 430 UNESCO sites. 

5:33 A former engineer for SpaceX, Amado discusses the transition to following his dreams to explore the world. He discusses his travels to Rome and Machu Picchu.

Amado discusses the history, culture, nature, and people of Iguazu Falls, Manaus, Ataturk dam and the Amazon river

97 of the 100 wonders and what's left

12:40 Amado shares his secrets to get to Antarctica.

Wildlife in Antartica and the Polar Bear Plunge

Discusses his love for New Zealand and some tips and tricks

21.15 Find out how to cover the trail while en-route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Discover what it feels like to be connected.

Interesting stuff to carry during travel.

The desire to travel to Iran and visit the man-made and god-made beauty out there. 

Dominique is a full time vanlifer with her blue heeler, Kaia. She travels the world in her van sharing her stories through her blog and her own podcast, Roaming Roads.  

She wanders earth hoping to make a difference by empowering people to live a meaningful life, spreading awareness, kindness and love to each community she connects with. She is focused on sustainability practices and purchases products with an eco-conscious mission. Her goal.... is to spread awareness, kindness, and love with each community she visits.

2:13 Drea discusses how she found Dominique when she was searching for a Solo Female Van Lifer. 

2:57 Dominique shares her passion for travel and van life living

4:00 Dominique discusses exploring her own country, Canada

4:39 Dominique tells us the life transition that pushed her to move into her van. She speaks about the documentary “Minimalism”

 9:27 Dominique discusses some of the terrifying moments of living in a van/car and a few tips on how to stay safe

11:37 Dominique talks about feeling safer with Kaia, her dog by her side

12:30 Some challenges of living in a van. Dominique provides solutions on how to mitigate these challenges

14:12 Free Camping and the importance of keeping the budget low

15:21 Tips and Tricks for how to live in a van and avoiding dangerous situations like bears and people. 

18:53 Dominique tells us her recent terrifying moose attack while she was hiking and a tips on how to try to keep safe

27:28 Dominque talks about what she does in order to support herself on the road

30:39 Dominque tells us advice she would give to her younger self

32:03 Dominique shares her favorite trails with us: The three sisters & Pearly Rock in Glacier NP in Canada

34:08 Dominique shares her favorite places that she has traveled to in her Van 

• The Oregon Coast and The Kootnays

37:14 Dominique tells us her most meaningful person that she has ever met on the road and how this person reignited her love for van life. 

41:59 Dominique shares her plans for the Canadian winter after her plans for coming to warmer areas in the US has been derailed due to Covid and the border restrictions

44:45 Tips and Tricks to Dominiques favorite destinations, Kootnays and Oregon Coast

• The importance of booking ahead in British Columbia 
• The Okanagan Wineries

47:20 Dominique shares the thing that she purchases when she travels

49:14 Dominque shares with us what her podcast “Roaming Roads” is all about

Soyal was born San Diego, California and raised in Los Angeles. She has traveled to countries, lived in Paris, France to study Art History, and in Rishikesh, India to study Hatha Yoga. After working in the fashion industry and marketing as an entrepreneur, she made a very big career change. In 2015 Soyla was hired as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, where she discovered aviation. Since then her love for travel and adventure has married perfectly with aviation. She took my first ‘discovery flight’ in November of 201 8, and in February 2020 became a private pilot. Soyla is currently working on her instrument rating and commercial pilot license, and her goal is to become a Certified Flight Instructor and eventually an airplane pilot.

Introduction: Soyla shares her experience in Cuba when she decided to give back to the local community

1:50 Soyla Bio

7:10 Soyla tell us about her aviation journey and getting hired for Delta

12:28 The challenges of being a pilot and finding “The 99’s”

16:37 Soyla shares her love for india during her spiritual awakening, Hatha yoga training course she attended.  

19:09 Tips and Tricks for traveling to India

23:05 An adventurous trip to Honduras and a near death experience on a boat

29:00 Soyla talks about her next adventure, Dubai

31:22 Soyla’s favorite items to travel with

32:30 Soyla shares the advice she would give her younger self

Vitnija (pronounced as Whitney) Saldava is a true world citizen, born in the small Eastern European country of Latvia, but now living and working all over the world. She speaks 6 languages and has lived in 6 different countries, now residing in the UK. For the first half of her career she worked as an international news journalist covering news stories all around the world. At the moment, she works as a communications officer at NATO by day, and as a career adviser and a masters student at Harvard University by night.

Introduction

1:10 Whitney shares her family's history with wanderlust

4:55 Whitney shares her first solo trip to Finland at a really young age

7:30 How Whitney chose to go to North Korea

8:35 Whitney shares her experience sneaking around and getting caught in North Korea.

17:55 Whitney shares her FAVORITE places that she has traveled with a few helpful tips on how to make your way over to these special places.

19:30 Whitney shares her tips on traveling to Cambodia

21:00 Solo Traveling and why

29:05 Whitney shares her experience in Albania shooting Kalashnikovs

36:30 How has Covid affected Whitney

39:00 Feeling connected

41:30 Whitney's favorite item to buy when she travels

www.instagram.com/whitneytheexplorer

Todd Snyder is the Founder / CEO of Lost Faces of Humanity Foundation, an NGO focusing on the refugee crisis in East Africa. Todd has traveled to over 90 countries as a businessman, trailblazing photographer, and father, whose socially conscious work sheds light on what many choose to ignore. His passion for capturing struggles and triumphs of the human spirit is the foundation of his unique artistic style. Todd leverages his relationships with over 20 years working in the international capital markets and finance to create pathways for significant change to assist the global refugee crisis while using his photography of over 5,000 refugees and thousands of internally displaced persons to create awareness of humanity. 

INTRO: Todd opens up with his visit with the Mursi Tribe when he was greeted with tribe members with AK47s

1:10: Drea introduces Todd Snyder

3:44 Drea & Todd discuss his journey to photographic refugees

5:50 The beginning of his foundation focusing on the refugee crisis, “The Lost Faces of Humanity”

7:13 Todd speaks about his daughter entering into the UNHCR camp

8:16 Talking about the forgotten people at the camps and what he witnessed during his visit.  

8:49 Todd went home and the first thing he did was start the process to create “Lost faces of Humanity” 

 11:35 Todd talks about the hierarchy of the camps and the struggle to retrieve water. 

12:42 Todd discusses the UN providing education for the children, WHO providing basic health necessities, World Food program providing food, and the place of Lost Faces of Humanity. Lost Faces has the goal of providing education/technology for children at the camps as well as providing education of this refugee crisis for kids in the US.

14:14 Todd and Drea discuss the importance of traveling and how much it teaches you. Todd talks about how his daughter met kids from the camp, and the relationship that was created. He wants to merge the kids from both worlds together.

16:35 Todd discusses the beginning of his love for travel and how he likes to travel. 

18:06 Todd tells us what he brings when he travels

18:46 Todd discusses his current plans after Covid and the situation of Quarantine in Ethiopia

19:35 Todd’s Favorite person he’s photographed - A boy in South Sudan and the homeless people in Los Angeles - Skid Row 

21:36 Great guides in Tanzania and having them look after you

22:13 Todd shares with us his favorite way to choose the people he photographs. 

24:25 Lions rubbing on the tents at night in the Serengeti

27:22 Todd goes on a sporadic trip to Morocco - Kasbah, Camel Riding, and Music 

31:00 Sleeping outside of the tent in the cold Sahara 

34:15 Todd gives us advice to his younger self

35:58 The difference between how the media portrays the world and how the world really is. Todd and Drea discuss how amazing a place like Turkey is and how the media portrays it differently

37:00 Tips for traveling with children and the challenges

38:45 Sienna, Italy and the Palo Horse Race - and trusting a Carabinieri with his daughter

40:15 Drea discusses the Kindness of people in the world as she has traveled

40:45 Todd tells us his favorite location that he has traveled to 

43:45 Tips and Tricks to traveling to the Serengeti

44:15 Traveling through the migration and the Masai Mara

47:20 Staying safe and registering with the State Department

47:33 Drea and Todd’s Bucket list items

48:16 Todd shares his information about Lost faces of Humanity and instagram 

Ruslan Sirota is a Grammy award winning pianist, composer and producer. Ruslan has been touring, performing and recording with major artists, such as Stanley Clarke, Black Eyed Peas, the Alicia Keys, Seal, Josh Groban, Ne-Yo, Chick Corea, George Duke, Kamasi Washington and countless others.

Intro: The episode opens with an article about Ruslan Sirota and his musical journey written by Adam Renn Olenn called "Finding a Balance"

3:04 Ruslan shares what it's like to share the stage with the Dalai Lama.

10:46 Ruslan discusses finding his calling and the life of travel

17:25 Ruslan shares his early life during Chernobyl & the Gulf War. He goes in depth about the conditions of the Soviet Union and how his family had to escape. Upon reaching Israel, they were greeted with the Gulf War.

25:00 The melting pot culture of Israel and how it is to live there

27:28 Ruslan shares what it's like to travel as Musician and the first time he was on a major tour

33:12 Ruslan shares his mishap on his first tour.  

35:14 Ruslan shares his favorite spots in the world, some food experiences and more

1:10 Ruslan’s current plans during Covid

1:14 Ruslan’s advice to his younger self 

Find Ruslan on: 

www.instagram.com/ruslanpiano

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Sirota

https://www.facebook.com/Ruslanmusic/

New Zealander Carsten Coles has lived and worked across the world before settling in Sheffield, where he lectures in English and publishes travel mag Run Wild. The magazine was inspired by a course featuring talks by editors of Delayed Gratification and Cereal. ‘That was when I knew I really wanted to do my own magazine,’ he says. When asked to describe his magazine in three words, Carseten described it as “Travel. Adventure. And Environmentalism. This was an excerpt from a Magculture interview with Carsten. 

Intro: Carsten shares his journey to climb a 12 pitch route to La Taillante (3,185m). 

1:09 Drea introduces Carsten Coles

1:57 Carsten continues to share his journey on this route. It was his third rock climb up real rocks up a 200 meter cliff

3:15 Carsten started an Adventure Travel Based Magazine called RUN WILD. He shares why he created RUN WILD and what their mission is. 

4:15 Carsten shares his inspiration in starting RUN WILD, his love for paper and dreams of being a writer

7:45 Carsten started the magazine in March 2019 and what it looks like

  to begin a travel magazine. 

9:05 The importance of following your dreams no matter how big they are.  

9:53 Carsten shares the many challenges in starting a travel magazine. Learning to do everything from soup to nuts. 

11:26 Carsten shares the most fulfilling moments in starting the magazine, one of which is hiring female writers. 

14:00 Carsten shares some tips & tricks to start a magazine.  

15:45 Carsten shares the number of countries he had been to and his favorite places he’s been to which is Columbia and Svalbard. 

Carsten shares with us some Tips & Tricks of Svalbard is the Backpacker’s version of Antarctica.  

20:23 Columbia Tips & Tricks. (i.e. how to find a cheaper tour, etc)

22:34 More Tips & Tricks for Svalbard 

24:57 Carsten shares what travel means to him and why he’s passionate about it. Carsten tells us his favorite way to travel. 

30:07 Carsten shares the way he likes to travel - Camping & Backpacking

31:16 Carsten just loved traveling and it started when he was young. 

37:08 Carsten shares his 8 pitch climb in the Dolomites with his friend

39:03 Carsten shares with us his most interesting travel story in Greenland when he went hiking around the country. 

43:00 Carsten shares his exciting experiences in maneuvering in Beijing, China. 

45:38 Chatting with inuit reindeer Hunters in Greenland, discussing climate change in the areas, and how it is effecting their food supply

47:47 Carsten shares his favorite item that he brings on his adventurous trips - a Garmin Satellite Communicator. 

51:52 Carsten believes in no regrets in life so his advice to himself is to take more risks, don’t get tied up with a job. Think about the life you want, and earn enough money to have that life.  

52:29 Carsten’s favorite trails - The O in Patagonia & The Dusky Trail in New Zealand. He shares in detail about his love for these trails, and a few tips and tricks. 

56:04 Carsten’s next plan - Hamburg and the issue with flights and covid and the Scottish Highlands!

57:58 Carsten and his work can be found...