Travel With Meaning

Davis Smith grew up throughout Latin America and has since dedicated his life to helping those in need there and around the world. He's a passionate social entrepreneur and adventurer. Davis is currently the founder and CEO of Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear and active lifestyle brand – with a social mission at its core. The brand creates innovative products and experiences that fund sustainable poverty alleviation. Cotopaxi is the first company to incorporate from inception as a Benefit Corporation and raise venture capital. Davis is a lover of cultures, languages and adventure. He has camped in the Sahara, floated down the Amazon, explored North Korea, backpacked through South America, and most recently co-led the first successful crossing from Cuba to Florida via kayak. Davis holds an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies and an alumnus of the Spanish international program. He also holds a BA in International Studies from Brigham Young University.

Shelby Stanger has been passionate about storytelling since she inked her first article in a national publication at age 15. As a longtime adventure journalist in the outdoor sports world, Shelby has standup-paddled a portion of the Peruvian Amazon, reported about a summer-long punk concert series called the Vans Warped Tour, surfed from Tofino to Tavarua, had her own adventure column in five San Diego newspapers, and interviewed countless CEOs, entrepreneurs and pro athletes on assignment for national publications like Outside Magazine, ESPN, and Shop-Eat-Surf.com. Prior to becoming a full-time storyteller and consultant, Shelby worked at the iconic shoe company, Vans, where she helped oversee all the women's branding and later the international marketing for the Americas and Australasia regions. She later served as a media consultant to brands including Nike, PrAna, Body Glove, and Eagle Creek.

In 2016, Shelby created Wild Ideas Worth Living, a podcast show, currently presented by REI Co-Op. The show features high-impact interviews with world-class adventurers, authors, scientists, athletes, health experts and explorers who have turned their own wild ideas into a reality. She also hosts LifeChangingPlaces, a new podcast presented and created by Lufthansa about how traveling to a new place can change your life forever.

In addition to her work as a storyteller and journalist, Shelby is a longtime board member and volunteer for Outdoor Outreach, a non-profit that helps empower at-risk kids in San Diego through outdoor programming like rock climbing, snowboarding and hiking.

The common thread to everything she does: A little adventure is life's antidote. To second chances. To soul seeking. To success. When not on assignment or behind a microphone, the San Diego native enjoys sampling the best coffee, surf breaks and smoothies around the county.

We've all heard a tall tale or two, but when it comes to Captain Dan Blanchard—well, he's the real thing. Growing up in Washington State, he has always been around boats. Even as a kid, Dan worked alongside other family members restoring the family's wooden tug. And the reward of all that hard work paid off in a big way—exploring winding waterways, beachcombing on remote shores, oyster picking and clam digging, learning to skin dive, incredible wildlife and cultural encounters, and a lifetime on the water. At this point, it's just part of his genetic makeup.

Dan's unassailable career began early. As an accomplished Sea Scout, his leadership skills earned him honors of Regional Boatswain and National Boatswain Mate when he was 16. At 18, he received his Ship Master's License. He attended Everett Community College, and from there he's lived a storied-tale—owner and operator of Blanchard Marine; Captain of sightseeing vessels at Glacier Bay Lodge in Alaska; 14 years at Alaska Sightseeing/Cruise West working through the ranks from Captain to Director of Marine Operations to Vice President of Operations; and in 1999, he joined American Safari Cruises. Dan acquired the company in 2008 and as Principal/CEO, launched InnerSea Discoveries, a new small boat expedition company specializing in active adventures on the water. In January 2013, the company changed its name to Un-Cruise Adventures.

A natural storyteller (2012 winner of Seattle's annual "Stories of the Sea" contest), enthusiastic skier and cyclist, energetic hiker, world-explorer in off-the-chart places, accomplished sailor, ocean lover, lover of the natural world, and lover of life are just a few of the tags and feverish passions you can pin on Dan. And in May 2013, he was adopted into a native Tlingit tribe. He's living the dream and wouldn't have it any other way. For Dan, it can't get much sweeter with both of his kids in the biz working beside him—it's safe to say it's in their genes too.

With her first three recordings, 2003's The Love EP, 2005's breezy twentythree and 2008's Hello, Tristan Prettyman parlayed her smoky alto voice and laid-back surfer-girl-from-San-Diego charm into an eight-year career studded with highlights that included Hello's No. 2 position on the iTunes Digital Albums chart and headlining tours across the U.S., Europe, and Japan. But instead of capitalizing on the attention and immediately making plans to record a third album after wrapping two years of touring in support of Hello, Prettyman took an extended break during which she traveled the globe, had surgery to remove polyps on her vocal cords, got engaged to her long-term boyfriend, dealt with the pain of his ending the engagement, and eventually questioned whether she even wanted to be a musician at all. "I was really burnt out and uninspired, so I decided to take some time off," Prettyman says. "I went to Bali, Australia, and Europe and kind of went crazy. Life went from all these obligations to eating good food, meeting amazing people, and flowing with the wind. Then when I got back and tried to sing again, we found the polyps, so I had surgery and had to recover. Through it all, I was one foot in and one foot out of whether I wanted to do music at all. I had periods of time where I was numb and immune to feeling. My walls were up really high and I was on my guard. Then this fairy-tale picture of what my life could have been was set on fire. That brought all my walls down; it was a relief to finally feel something again." Prettyman chronicles the experience on her new album, the raw, emotionally charged Cedar + Gold, which finds her sifting through the wreckage of her relationship and emerging stronger on the other side. "I started writing songs from a place that was so deep and honest, where I didn't hold anything back," she says. "It felt so good. I was like, 'This is what music is about — being able to release what is trapped inside of you.' Whenever anything ached or caused me pain, I'd tell myself, 'Save it for the record.'" With an artistry that lies in her finely etched lyrical details and intimate vocal performances, Prettyman spares no one, including herself, on songs like "Say Anything," "I Was Gonna Marry You," "Come Clean," "Glass Jar," and "Never Say Never," which ends a heartbreaking spoken-word outro: "You can't start a fire in the pouring rain." Prettyman wrote several of the songs with Dave Hodges, whom she first met the morning after a particularly emotional night. "I go meet Dave and I'm late and I'm crying," she says. "I'm just a ball of snot, like, 'Hi, I'm Tristan and I'm a mess.'" That session yielded the completion of the album's opening track "Say Anything" — an open-hearted tune about finding freedom in letting go. The second session resulted in the no-holds-barred "I Was Gonna Marry You." "It was like, 'Wow, I'm getting really transparent here and being really specific,'" Prettyman recalls. "But once I walked through the door of honesty there was no telling where I was going. I'd never spoken out before about the way it really was, but I found myself saying 'Screw it, I'm going to tell the whole story.'" As intense as some of the songs may be, the mood is tempered not only by playful, lighthearted tunes like first single "My Oh My" ("about someone still having their hand on you and you playing that game with them because it's fun, even though you know it's not good for you and it's going to backfire"), "The Rebound," "Quit You," and the sexy, smoldering "Bad Drug," but also by the album's warm, earthy sound, which Prettyman created with her producer Greg Wells (Adele, Katy Perry), who plays piano, bass, drums, and some guitar on the album. "Greg told me he was not going to hold my hand through this; I had to convince him I wanted it," she says. "He forced me to step into really being a musician and owning what I do. Once I did that, I got super creative and the songs started coming from a different place. It was a very intuitive process." When mixing on Cedar + Gold wrapped, Prettyman went back to her hotel room and burst into tears. "I couldn't believe it was done," she says. "I got everything out. It no longer lived in me. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I finally felt free." Cedar + Gold (whose title refers to both the cedar walls and ceilings in the home where she recovered from her heartbreak and the gold she spun from her situation in the songs) is an album that manages to be both deeply personal, but highly relatable to anyone who's had the ground collapse under them and fought their way back to healing. "It's actually a very hopeful album in a lot of ways, which I think is a common theme in all my records," she says. "The idea that 'things may be a bit crappy right now, but let's make the most of it' is very reflective of me as a person and my outlook on life. I always try to look at the bigger picture of why something is happening. And I love that I was able to go so deep and dig around in places I never thought I could access and still remain hopeful at the end of the day."

Zim Flores is a believer, traveler, speaker & entrepreneur. In 2013, she started Travel Noire, an award-winning boutique travel company. By the time the brand was acquired in 2017, it reached 2MM travelers each month and sold out of every product it brought to market, building a legion of loyal followers and customers along the way. At 19 years old, she cloned a gene with similarities to a genetic disorder and became the youngest precinct judge for the state of North Carolina. Her love for solving tough problems and her knack for building communities on and offline has led her to critical acclaim. This Forbes 30 under 30 awardee has been featured in the New York Times, TIME, CBS This Morning, ELLE, The Nation, Essence, NPR, among others, and was awarded by Glamour Magazine as one of 25 Young Women Changing the World. Before it's third year in business, Travel Noire was named one of the Most Innovative Companies in the World by Fast Company. The following year, she was hand-selected by Oprah for SuperSoul 100, a collection of inspired leaders using their voices and talents to elevate humanity. Currently, she works with her husband to acquire, grow and sell small online businesses and is the host of The Bloom Podcast, a column-style podcast defining what it means to live passionately for God in a lukewarm world. With a vision almost as grand as the world we live in, Zim is committed to inspiring today's generation to live out their Kingdom purpose.

Steve Bramucci is a novelist, travel/food writer, adventurer, teacher, and storyteller. He's rowed down the Mekong River in a traditional Vietnamese x'ampan, ventured into the Outback with Aboriginal elders, and spent four months driving a rickety Nissan Patrol through East Africa. His first novel, The Danger Gang & the Pirates of Borneo!, will be published by Bloomsbury on August 1st.Steve's story of exploring a long-forgotten pirate graveyard in Madagascar won the $10K Trazzler Oasis prize and his trip across Australia in a car fueled with French fry oil was turned into a TV show. He's written for National Geographic Books, Afar, Outside, the Orange County Register Magazine, and dozens of other outlets. He's the founding editor of the LIFE section at Uproxx.com – a website that gets more than 20 million unique visitors each month – and has published stories in The Expeditioner's Guide to the World, I Learned Ku Fu From a Bear Cub, Never Trust a Smiling Bear, and Eminem: Rap, Poetry, and Race.Sometimes Steve visits schools, sometimes he gets invited to cook and tell stories in people's homes, sometimes he consults for restaurants or hotels, and sometimes he plans pirate scavenger hunts. It's a lot to keep track of, but that's part of the adventure. Most of all, Steve loves cool opportunities and thrives off connecting with people

Kaj Larsen was born in Santa Cruz, California, and graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in Political Science. At Harvard University he received his Masters degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. At Harvard, Kaj was awarded a fellowship from the Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics, and Public Policy. He was also a joint fellow at Tufts Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism studies. His focus includes international security policy, media politics, and political affairs. Kaj is an award winning filmmaker and correspondent. He was recently the Senior Correspondent and Producer for Now This News. He previously hosted the Emmy award winning series VICE on HBO. At VICE Kaj has produced documentaries on conflict and national security issues. He is the only journalist to be embedded in the Nigerian fight against Boko Haram, and conducted the first exclusive interview with the architect of the CIA's enhanced interrogation program. Prior to Now This and Vice Kaj was a correspondent at CNN as a member of CNN's Special Investigations and Documentary unit. His on-camera career began in 2005 when he covered the war in Afghanistan for Current TV. At Current TV Kaj helped develop the Emmy Award winning Vanguard Journalism series. He was the first journalist to bring the issue of waterboarding to the public by having himself waterboarded on TV. He broke the media silence on Somalia by being the first western TV journalist in Mogadishu in over a decade. He has since gone on to report from war zones and conflict spots around the world, in places such as Pakistan, Yemen, Cambodia, Colombia, West Africa, and Latin America. His feature documentaries have covered topics ranging from the drug war in Mexico to the devastating floods in Pakistan to Wikileaks. His reporting is distinguished by his in-field and in-depth examination of difficult and dangerous topics around conflict zones, national security, and criminal justice. Kaj's intrepid reporting and powerful filmmaking has put him at the vanguard of a new broadcast journalism. He frequently appears on other media outlets such as ABC, NBC, MSNBC, and the Huffington Post. He was the senior correspondent and host of The Current Election, a daily show about politics and public policy. As a producer Kaj has created hit television series such as US Navy Pirate Hunters, a one-hour special for Spike TV, and LOCKUP the highly rated show about life in American prison for air on MSNBC. He was Aaron Sorkin's private consultant on the hit HBO series Newsroom. His work has earned him critical acclaim including an Emmy nomination, a Peabody nomination, two Telly awards, and several Golden Cine awards. Prior to his work in television, Kaj spent five years on active duty serving as a US Navy SEAL. As a Lieutenant he led a team of special warfare personnel in covert operations overseas deploying as a detachment Commander in support of the Global War on Terrorism. He continues his service as a SEAL reserve officer assigned to US Special Operations Command. Kaj is a two time national champion open-water swimmer, and placed third in the Escape from Alcatraz duathalon. Kaj has lived extensively overseas, including Thailand, where he studied Muay Thai boxing. He is a practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and frequently competes in mixed martial arts competitions. Kaj used his pay from the service to help launch The Mission Continues, and served on the Board of Directors for five years. Kaj also serves on the Boards of Advisors to the Veteran service organization Team Rubicon Global. He has deployed three times in support of Team Rubicon to render Humanitarian assistance in Pakistan, the Philippines, and the US.

Sarah Dandashy is recognized as one of the leading concierges in the world. People seek her out for her travel tips, advice, and knowledge of trends from the "frontlines of travel." Award-winning, she was named "Best Young Concierge" by Les Clefs d'Or International, making her the Miss Universe equivalent of the concierge profession. She has worked at some of the most prestigious hotels, including The London West Hollywood, Four Seasons Washington DC, L'Ermitage Beverly Hills, and The Peninsula Beverly Hills. A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Sarah has lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; London, England; Atlanta, GA; Washington, DC; New York City; and now Los Angeles. She has traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the US. Conversational in French and basic knowledge of Arabic, she can comfortably navigate the streets of Paris, negotiate a plate of free falafel, and bust out some solid dance moves she learned on the streets of Hotlanta. Clearly, she is no ordinary travel influencer.

Show highlights :

7:50 impactful trip to Tanzania as a student

23:50 Crazy moment in Australia (don't try this at home)

Dr. Evan Antin hails from Kansas City, Kansas where he grew up spending the majority of his childhood in search of native wildlife including snakes, turtles, and insects. He went on to study evolutionary and ecological biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and spent multiple semesters abroad in Australia and Tanzania to learn more about their respective ecosystems and fauna. In addition to his love for cats and dogs, Dr. Antin's passions lie in exotic animal medicine and interacting with exotic animals in their native habitats around the world. For more than a decade Dr. Antin has made an effort to seek opportunities to work with wildlife on a domestic and international level to include locations such as Central America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Eastern, and Southern Africa, South East Asia and a variety of North American ecosystems. The accumulation of Dr. Antin's hands-on experience with exotic animals has prepared him exceptionally with their handling, husbandry, and enrichment. He is capable of caring for small, delicate animals; large, dangerous animals; and of course our beloved household dogs & cats with ease and confidence. Dr. Antin has been happily employed as a full-time associate at CVVH directly following his graduation from Colorado State's veterinary school in 2013. Since then he's developed clinical medical & surgical skills to help provide the right care for the dogs, cats, exotics, and wildlife of the Conejo Valley. Dr. Antin currently lives near Calabasas, California with his dog, Henry, his cat, Willy, his savannah monitor lizard, mangrove snake and an assortment of tropical freshwater fish. Other hobbies of his include traveling, scuba diving, snowboarding, hiking, and weightlifting.

As President and CEO of ECOS, Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks leads the strategy and production of environmentally friendly cleaning products, including the ECOS, Baby ECOS, ECOSPetsand ECOSPROproduct lines. She has been internationally recognized for her highly effective leadership and influential voice in the green movement and in corporate social responsibility. Vlahakis-Hanks oversees four sustainable manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and a global sales team. She has implemented sustainable practices that have made ECOS a model for green American business. Under her leadership, ECOSbecame the first company to achieve the"trifecta" of sustainable manufacturing: carbon neutrality, water neutrality and TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification. As a primary manufacturer, ECOShas received many awards for its innovations in safer green chemistry, including the U.S. EPA's Safer Choice Partner of the Year. ECOSmakes its plant-powered products using 100% renewable energy and has reduced its waste by over 98% by working closely with its suppliers to avoid waste and extensively recycling and reusing materials. Under Vlahakis-Hanks' leadership, ECOSinstituted one of the strongest employee benefits programs in the industry, offering its employees a wide variety of benefits such as medical insurance, paid sick and family leave, disability coverage and onsite wellness programs. The company also offers financial incentives to employees who make sustainable living choices such as purchasing alow-emissions vehicle or solar panels. To help support working families, Vlahakis-Hanks implemented a "living wage" policy in 2014 that raised the company's minimum wage to $17 per hour, one of the highest in the industry. She actively promotes a corporate culture of diversity and empowerment, and more than 50%of her C-Suite and top executives are women. A graduate of UCLA and the Chapman University Argyros School of Business and Economics, Vlahakis-Hanks has been featured on CNN, ABC News, FOX News, NBC News, Bloomberg and Marketwatch and in the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. She has received many awards for her sustainable leadership, including Global Green's Corporate Environmental Leadership Award and Green Building & Design's Women in Sustainability Leadership Award. She was named one of Conscious Company'sWorld-Changing Women in Conscious Business and Orange CoastMagazine's Remarkable Women. She is an active member of several boards, including the Environmental Media Association. By lending her voice to industry councils and policy advocacy, Vlahakis-Hanks works to promote higher standards for product manufacturing that protect consumer health and the environment. Vlahakis-Hanks has dedicated herself to the pursuit of green chemistry innovation, environmental protection and social advocacy. Vlahakis-Hanks resides in southern California with her husband, teenage daughter and rescue dog Mina.