Backpack Digital

Learning how to live a life that is exclusively yours versus the life that you believe you are supposed to live is an essential part of your growth, not just as a traveler, but as a person. Britany Felix has taken a long road to living her life as she wants to, but she has made it all the way to being the person and traveler she wants to be. Her message is to live unconventionally. Britany joins Hayden from Colorado, at the base of the Rocky Mountains. She talks about compromising on settling down when you travel with others, how to have adventures without traveling very far, and how to live your life the way you want to. Hayden brings up how he creates a checklist in order to decide what he will and will not do. 

Britany also shares the story of her own life, and how she did research on the life she wanted to live and how she grew to achieve her dreams. Britany also brings her travel story, the aptly-named “Parisian Roller Coaster of Emotion,” in which she weaves the tale of her first trip out of her home country, to France. While she and her new husband were there, they immediately encountered several unfortunate incidents, then a few positive experiences, in a true roller coaster of highs and lows, ups and downs, a tumultuous ride through their Parisian vacation. Britany used the experience to teach herself how to use the negative emotions that come with such unfortunate events like these ones. Becoming the person you want to be is a long road, but, if you do not take the first step on the path, you can never reach your destination. 

Britany is living proof that, with the right research and journey, you can be the traveler - and the person - that you want to be. All you have to do is live a little unconventionally. In this episode, Hayden and Britany Felix discuss: Traveling full-time versus traveling part-time. Hayden asks Britany how to compromise on settling down when you travel with partners or other companions. Finding adventures in the place you grew up in or the place that you were in at the moment. You can travel all over the world, because you never think of the place you are in as being a destination, but everywhere is a foreign place to people who are not from there. The concept of living your life the way you want to, not the way you are supposed to. Hayden brings up how he makes up a checklist to decide whether or not to do something. How to free up your life and to feel the freedom and happiness that adventurers who share their stories, like Britany, feel when they travel. Traditional ways of living, and how to incorporate your life with your desire to travel. Britany shares her personal story of how she was able to achieve her dream of traveling and adventuring, and how she made herself happy through research. Britany recommends The Art of Non-Conformity, by Chris Guillebeau, the book that really sparked the change in her.

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

Living on the road is the dream, the goal for many, but not for all. Everybody on the planet Earth is wired differently, and those varied wirings apply to every area of life, including travel. Figuring out how to live on the road, though, is a huge step on the way to learning how you, personally, are wired, regardless of your circumstances. Frank Salas, who prefers the title of The Talented Mr. Salas, joins Hayden to discuss the paths available to becoming an entrepreneur and a nomad like he is. Frank Salas is a serial entrepreneur and a digital nomad, who came from humble beginnings to become the Talented Mr. Salas that he is today. He joins Hayden to talk about how he first started on his path, as well as offering a peek into how he lives day-to-day now that he has reached this point. He also shares how he accomplished what he has achieved, and how commitment and discovery were enormous parts of his evolution. 

Frank also explores how to make your budget and funding work for your travel adventures. Frank also comes to share his story, a tale with the appealing title of: “The Cancun Kidnapping Scare.” Frank recounts, in humorous, frightening, and vivid detail, the taxi ride he was taking in Cancun that seemed to go down a terrifying path. Once his driver started saying ominous statements into a walkie talkie, Frank started to panic, forming an escape plan, struggling to find an out. After a miraculous escape, a falling out, a call to his mother, and an incident of stalking, Frank eventually learned a lesson about Cancun. Starting yourself on the road to travel and adventure is one of the most difficult tasks a person can undertake. That level of commitment is not something taken lightly. Luckily, folks like Frank Salas, who have true “rags to riches” stories and the strength to back up their stories, are here to help those who want to travel find their way onto the right path. Living on the road is not easy to start doing, but, if you are wired for a nomadic life, it is the next best step. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable in any situation is not easy, but, in order to make complete connections with others, it can be very necessary. Granting yourself the freedom to be vulnerable gives you a freedom when traveling that is totally unparalleled. Hayden invites Leon Logothetis, an adventurer, motivational speaker, philanthropist, host of the television series  Amazing Adventures of a Nobody , and author of  The Kindness Diaries , to discuss vulnerability and kindness when traveling. Leon’s twin passions are kindness and helping people nurture their inner rebel. 

He and Hayden discuss that inner rebel and how it can be coaxed out into the open, as well as what drives Leon to be kind and what motivates him to be empathetic to others. Leon also talks about how he puts himself out there when he travels, and how vital that vulnerability is. Leon also shares his travel story, titled in an excessively British way as: “The Ham Sandwich.” It is accurate in its grimness, as it ominously leads into Leon’s bad omens in Panama and experiences traveling to Ecuador. Besides a rough-and-tumble encounter with the locals, Leon also has a dangerous experience on board a boat that was entirely unexpected, and possibly feature a ham sandwich as an unlikely catalyst. 

 Though making yourself vulnerable is an exceedingly difficult task, it is vital to completing your travel experience. Without that openness and willingness to connect with others, you cannot totally engage with your environments as you travel. Allowing yourself that vulnerability makes both you and your adventures well-rounded. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

It's been quite a year for us at Travel Stories Podcast and this rather small episode is merely a thank you to all of our listeners, and the wishing of a happy holiday season, wherever you may be. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

Culture is one of the first things you might notice while you travel. While culture shock is a sizable and impactful thing, experiencing other cultures is vital to travel and vital to humanity as a whole. Learning about culture while traveling can help you learn about those that you share the world with, as well as learning more about yourself. Ladan Jiracek visits this week from his own podcast, the Travel Wisdom podcast. He has been to over ninety countries and loves to think about how travel can be a chance to learn. He and Hayden discuss how to learn from travel and how to find purpose and meaning from your adventures while traveling. 

They also have an in-depth talk about how important it can be to learn a language while traveling. Ladan also mentions that relationship cultures are among the most drastic differences he has found internationally. The two of them agree that exploring cultures outside of one’s own society is vital. Ladan also shares what he believes has been holding people back from traveling, while Hayden brings up the topic of podcasts and their impact on the travel world. They talk about one-upping, travel as a learning experience, the impact of certain countries, and their thoughts on marriage and children. 

Ladan discusses his time in Georgia, as well. “Cheating Death and Hitchhiking Africa,” Ladan’s tale of how difficult it can be to get from point A to point B, is full of conflict and twists. One summer, Ladan and his friends decided to hitchhike across Africa, and one thing after another started to go wrong while they were crossing the desert on a twelve-hour road trip into Somalia. Without water and with far too much sand, Ladan remembers vividly how journeying to Somalia was wrought with strife and amusing troubles. Culture is the most vital part of national identity. It is the root of language, of tradition, and of daily life in communities all around the world. Getting to know the cultures around you, and the cultures around the world, can drastically affect not only you as a traveler, but you as a person, as well. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

Solo traveling is vital to finding oneself as a traveler. Be you at a hostel in Argentina, a farm in Brazil, or a crossroads in Vietnam, traveling solo and making decisions by yourself can help you find yourself both as a traveler and as a person. Lifting the veil off your eyes and being the purest version of yourself will aid you in losing yourself so far that you become found. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

Travel is quite the ambitious venture. As Hayden says, “to travel is to live.” “The road is the best teacher,” he continues, and he could not be more right; what travelers can learn from their adventures can shape themselves and their lives from there on forwards. The things we learn about the world are not as important as the things we learn about ourselves. The most important question to ask oneself this week is: how does traveling alone affect what travel gives to us? Justin Walter joins Hayden to answer exactly this question. Justin, a television host, producer, writer, and traveler, hosts Let’s Go LA!, an outdoor adventure show, and writes the blog Around the World with Justin. He talks with Hayden about the time he won a trip to Wales, as well as how he got started as a world traveler. He discusses his travels and travel writings before Hayden mentions how important it can be to travel alone, and Justin agrees. In fact, he challenges listeners to travel by themselves at least once. He believes that it can force you to meet new people and encounter new things and to confront your fears. 

Justin brings his story, a tale which he has titled “Letting Go,” which takes place in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He tells of how he and his friend journeyed to the Yi Peng Lantern Festival before they realized the crowd was entirely filled with people from all over the world, an unexpectedly diverse group. The ceremony and festival were incredibly symbolic and heavy with tradition, giving the entire experience another unique and beautiful layer. However, what was a surprise about the whole event was what happened to one of his companions to the festival. Traveling alone is not an easy task; however, for any world traveler - or, in fact, for any traveler - it is a necessary task. Solo journeys force travelers to interact more with the world around them and truly get to know the culture on a far deeper level. “The road is the best teacher,” Hayden points out, and the best road trips can be those where the car only holds the driver. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

A stressless travel mindset is not an easy thing to cultivate, but it is necessary for travelers. Skipping to the end can be a good trait to adopt as a traveler, because you can skip to the moment where something bad seems less drastic and concerning. Bad situations will always come up; when they do, an adventurer needs to be prepared to take the positive from the negative and keep moving forwards. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

When bad things happen, humans, in essence, have two response options: they can worry about it, stress about it, and live in a place of fear, for one. Their second option, though? They can pre-accept that bad situations might happen and live in a place of learning and gratitude instead. It is nearly impossible to stop bad situations from happening, but one thing that can be controlled is the response. Hayden welcomes Cody Crabb, a composer based out of Salt Lake City. He has worked on a number of full-length films, YouTube channels, and shorts, and is currently composing scores for the very Travel Stories Podcast. He and Hayden talk about how the location of a story influences his scores, how important body language can be, and the significance of learning and understanding the local language when you travel. Cody shares his story, which took place in Sinaloa, Mexico. 

He calls this story, “The Ambulance Story.” He spent two years in Mexico, but he still remembers vividly the day that he and one of his new companions saw an ambulance and a truck squeal around the corner while they were walking down the street in Sinaloa. It was not the speed or the recklessness of the vehicles that surprised him - no, it was what he saw and heard on the back of the truck that surprised him more than anything else. The lessons learned in another country when one travels can stay in memory and actions for years after the adventure is over. Cody and Hayden talk about how important it is to attempt to prepare for any situation when you travel. Hayden talks about how he likes to fly by the seat of his pants, and how instincts can be changed. Composure is a powerful trait to possess when traveling, and keeping oneself in a state of pre-acceptance can lead to a stressless travel mindset. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital

The only way traveling can come to be is through curiosity. Fostering your own curiosity, which is the root of all travel, is the only way to activate your active mind. Curiosity transforms your thinking about a location, about a culture, about yourself. It drives you to dive into new projects and to keep on asking questions, which can change your life, if you play your cards right. If you attempt to keep your mind open and practice being curious, you can cultivate your curiosity and have your own travel experience. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital