S5E7: Somewhere, Sometime - Yann Ilunga: Polyglot | Podcaster | Traveler

How can I connect with the world around me when I travel? How can I immerse myself in a culture? How can I share my experiences with the world? Yann Ilunga has the answer to each of these questions, and can help guide travelers to their own unique solutions. Yann Ilunga is an entrepreneur, podcaster, consultant, and all-around legendarily cool guy, in Hayden’s own words. He is the person Hayden trusts most with helping start blogs and podcasts, and he visits the Travel Stories Podcast to share his tips, to tell his stories, and to encourages an adventurous lifestyle and a community sharing experience. 

Yann Ilunga has always been interested in adventure. He grew up outdoorsy, playing football (or soccer, if you’re in the States), and mimicking Indiana Jones and Jack Kerouac, his adventurous, traveling heroes. One of the most amazing things that ever happened to Yann was that he was able to live how his heroes lived when he traveled. Traveling by car along the Atlantic coast of the western part of Ireland with nothing but the ocean, but nature, around him was so powerful, not because he pictured himself as a character like the ones he wanted to become, but because these were the moments that he really felt that everything was aligned. He experienced this again traveling in California, creating an incredible experience where he could think absolutely nothing and just be. In moments like these, Yann became his passion. 

He encourages all travelers to reach for this feeling, to belong to that world. The next time you go on a trip, whether it’s by car, by bicycle, by foot, whatever, try to be on the lookout, because in that kind of a moment that Yann experienced, there is nothing but you, the natural elements around you, and feelings of happiness and belonging. How Do I Immerse Myself in a Culture When I Travel? Yann Ilunga encourages you to be genuine and to be authentically yourself when you travel, because that is the foundation on which you can build great relationships when you travel. You can form strong, intense friendships when you travel by putting yourself out there. You have to be vulnerable, to be open, to step outside your comfort zone, in order to connect with amazing people all over the world. 

Yann shares stories of being in Ireland, where, for no particular reason, he changed his plans, got in a car, and went in the opposite direction from what he planned. What he saw and who he met were incredible and unexpected, because it feels amazing to do something unpredictable, and to take a chance on that experience. Yann is in Finland now, and encourages travelers to immerse themselves in a culture in order to get all the tools that you’ll need to learn everything about that place and to become a part of that culture. Six years ago, Yann camped around Europe for two months; he believes camping is a form of travel that allows you to experience a location at a deeper level. 

Get in Touch with Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital