Hal makes informative videos about Vietnam.

Watch the video of this podcast

https://youtu.be/RFcLm9fe4a0

Hal gets credit for the B-roll in the video!

Subscribe to Hal's outstanding YouTube channel.

Timeline

00:00 Who is Hal Medrano?

04:00 Pittsburgh, PA

06:30 Why Hal Returned to Vietnam

08:00 Hal On Earth Channel

Hal's videos mentioned in the interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo0mkcMbDHI

SE Asia 30 years ago

Connect

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Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear

Jost Kobusch, a 32-year-old German mountaineer who summited Denali in winter, is attempting what some experts give a 1% chance of success: he wants to summit Everest in winter, alone, without supplemental oxygen, and following a rarely climbed route, the dangerous West Ridge.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=b1QtNL4CqJo

In this WanderLearn Show, Jost discusses his overall goal, the extreme winter conditions at Everest’s altitude, being blown off the mountain on past attempts, why he chose the West Ridge, details on route maps, filming mishaps, rope use, when he might change his plan, the story of Mallory and Irvine, and what it would mean if he died after summiting.

Timeline

00:00 Jost’s goal

01:00 Everest is 9,000 meters in winter

06:00 Blown off the mountain

07:20 Why West Ridge Route?

08:23 Map of Route

13:25 Filming Disasters

19:00 How Jost uses rope

21:00 When would he change?

23:30 Mallory & Irvine

24:30 What if he dies after summitting?

26:30 Follow Jost

Credits

In the video interview, you’ll see some b-roll from the following sources:

ALONE video:

3D Everest Map

Jost Photos by Daniel Hug

In my next interview with Jost, what would you like me to ask him? Put it in the comments!

Here are my future questions for Jost:

- Will you fly down the mountain? (He loves to paraglide off mountains.)

- Why not do the route alone during May-June first as a proof of concept?

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

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* Instagram

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Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

I bumped into Erik while visiting Big Basin National Park in Nevada, USA. He's been a nomad, living out of his Subaru on a modest budget, and vlogging about his experience. He shows us how he does it.

youtu.be/BhUD0pjITsU

https://youtu.be/BhUD0pjITsU

Follow Erik's YouTube channel Why Erik Ditched His Teardrop Trailer

Loneliest American Road

CREDIT FOR THE TWO EMBEDDED VIDEOS:Kenai Pop-Up Truck Camper Tour - Scout Campers

Overland Ready! 2024 Toyota Tacoma with Kimbo Camper Walkaround - Salty Gears Off Road

Dr. Isabelle Morley is a couples therapist and author of "They're Not Gaslighting You."

https://youtu.be/cPahcRnG_Fg

The kiss cam moment exposes much more than a couple’s private drama—it reveals how we judge, label, and punish one another in the court of public opinion. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Isabelle Morley to unpack why cheating feels unforgivable to most people, how labels and “therapy-speak” get weaponized online, and what gaslighting really looks like beyond the memes. We also explore when it makes sense to set boundaries, walk away from toxic situations, or hire a therapist instead of relying on social media for armchair diagnosis.

00:00 Kiss Cam Scandal

05:00 Why is cheating unforgivable for most people?

10:00 Why do people label?

11:20 Gaslighting

13:48 When attacked?

15:15 When to quit

16:45 When do you hire a therapist

18:30 Using therapy-speak

20:30 Bounderies

22:15 ADHD Book

Watch the first time I interview Dr. Morley:

youtube.com/watch?v=rPm8U3P_GLg

WanderLearn explores travel, tech, and transformation. This is a tech-related episode.

Aleksandar Svetski is the CEO of Satlantis.io, which began as a travel app but has pivoted toward events, including travel-related events.

Satlantis is a new kind of social network for “Sovereign Individuals.” It aims to become the go-to place for people who want more out of life and refuse to conform to the mainstream.

Satlantis is part map, part directory, part aggregator, and part social app. Imagine elements of Instagram, Google Places, Meetup, TripAdvisor, NomadList, and Facebook Groups, but built for the next era.

They’re using Nostr, which is crucial to creating a user-centered internet.

Timeline

00:00 What is Satlantis.io?

08:45 BTC Lightning payments

14:00 Who is adopting it?

16:00 Stablecoins on BTC in 2026

17:30 Vision of 2030

21:30 Free events

24:00 Vision of 2026

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

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Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

Dr. Robert Edwards, author of The Last Step but One, proposes 5 hypotheses about Mallory and Irvine’s final ascent of Everest.

Two of the hypotheses have sub-hypotheses, bringing the total number of conjectures to 8.

Robert Edwards's Mallory & Irvine book.

Watch the YouTube video

Timeline

00:00 Hypothesis 1

06:10 Hypothesis 2

09:00 Hypothesis 3

12:20 Hypothesis 4.1

19:30 Hypothesis 4.2

23:00 Hypothesis 5.1

25:35 Hypothesis 5.2

28:30 Hypothesis 5.3

31:50 Reflections

DISCLOSURE: I used AI to generate the thumbnail for this video. So if you're wondering why the image is inaccurate, you'll know why.

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

* Facebook

* Twitter

* YouTube

* Instagram

* TikTok

* LinkedIn

* Pinterest

* Tumblr

Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

It’s easier to watch the episode because of all the slides. The comments on YouTube will be interesting to read, too!

TIMELINE

00:00 Exclusive announcement!05:00 What we know10:30 Odell sighting14:00 Ice ax17:00 Oxygen bottle19:25 Mallory's body23:45 Irvine's boot29:30 What we do NOT know

Robert Edwards’s Mallory & Irvine book

DISCLOSURE: I used AI to generate this video's thumbnail. So if you're wondering why the image is inaccurate, you'll know why.On the 100th anniversary of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine's death on Mount Everest, I interviewed Dr. Robert Edwards, author of Mallory, Irvine, and Everest: The Last Step But One, which reexamined their mysterious story in detail.Watch my original interview with Dr. Edwards, my most popular interview in 2024. It provides an excellent background for today's interview.

Dr. Edwards went on the WanderLearn Show to discuss Jimmy Chin's surprising October 2024 announcement that he found Andrew Comyn Irvine's foot! Andrew Irvine's nickname was Sandy.WATCH

National Geographic sponsored the expedition and announced the momentous news. The rest of Sandy's body has not been found yet.Sandy died 100 years ago. In 1960, Chinese climber Wang Fuzhou claimed he spotted a dead European climber who had to be Sandy Irvine. Assuming that sighting was accurate, nobody has seen Irvine since then ... until now.Famed mountaineer and photographer Jimmy Chin found Sandy's foot inside the 100-year-old boot. Robert Edwards wrote his initial impressions of Sandy's discovery on Goodreads. In this interview, we delve into greater detail, including the map Dr. Edwards made.

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

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* LinkedIn

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Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

Buy Dan’s book, Waterborne.

Dan Rubinstein undertakes a 1,200‑mile solo stand‑up paddleboarding journey from Ottawa through Montreal, New York City, Toronto, and back, traveling rivers, lakes, and canals over ten weeks.

Along the way, he explores the concept of “blue space”—how being in, on, or near water can promote healing, enhance mental and physical health, and foster care for the natural world—while meeting a diverse range of people connected to these waterways.

Blending research, interviews, and a reflective, anticolonial adventure narrative, the book argues that water can reconnect fractured communities and help address modern social and environmental challenges without requiring an epic expedition.

Video 2: Surprises

00:00 Quitting02:00 Surprises

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

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* LinkedIn

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Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

In this two-part interview, Canadian Dan Rubinstein discusses the logistics and surprises of his stand-up paddleboard (SUP) journey!

Buy Dan’s book, Water Borne.

Dan Rubinstein undertakes a 1,200‑mile solo stand‑up paddleboarding journey from Ottawa through Montreal, New York City, Toronto, and back, traveling rivers, lakes, and canals over ten weeks.

Along the way, he investigates the idea of “blue space”—how being in, on, or near water can heal, improve mental and physical health, and inspire care for the natural world—while meeting a wide range of people connected to these waterways.

Blending research, interviews, and a reflective, anticolonial adventure narrative, the book argues that water can reconnect fractured communities and help address modern social and environmental challenges without requiring an epic expedition.

00:00 Gear selection05:00 Route selection07:00 Campsite selection

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my Substack newsletter.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

* Facebook

* Twitter

* YouTube

* Instagram

* TikTok

* LinkedIn

* Pinterest

* Tumblr

Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.

I made several gloomy predictions for 2025 that did not occur.

So, now, like a lousy gambler, I am doubling down on those gloomy predictions and reiterating some of them for 2026!

A broken clock is correct twice a day! I will be a glorious Nostradamus in 2026!

1. Global recession strikes.

I incorrectly predicted that we’d have a recession in 2025, so how about 2026? I asked Perplexity.ai, and most experts say my prediction is wrong. Screw them. I say that the US unemployment rate will rise above 7%. Tariffs send the world into a downward spiral.

2. Renewables Overtake Coal as Top Global Power Source.

Renewables will generate over 6,000 terrawatts, more than at any other time in history, and surpassing coal for the first time.

3. Bitcoin revisits its 300-week moving average.

BTC’s bear market deepens. Bitcoin’s 2025 peak was approximately $125k, so it must drop by at least 50%, meaning it will likely dip below $70k, and possibly as low as $50k, which is near its current 300-week moving average.

Many analysts think the 200-week moving average represented the floor of BTC’s price, but with diminishing returns, the new floor is the 300-week moving average, which BTC tagged in March 2020 and crossed in November 2022. All bear markets must now cross the 300-week moving average, not just the 200-week.

By the end of 2026, BTC will be climbing back from its cycle low, but it won’t revisit $100k in 2026 (except maybe in the first quarter).

4. One in four light vehicle sales will be electric.

Although electric car sales in the USA may decline, the rest of the world will continue adopting them aggressively, reaching an all-time high in market share.

5. Democrats win back the US House of Representatives

Midterm elections are rarely good news for the incumbent US President.

6. Republicans retain the Senate.

A divided Congress plagues the lame-duck period of Trump’s final term.

7. MSTR drops 80% from its all-time high and dips to $100.

In 2025, Strategy was once worth $543. In 2026, it will be worth $100.

8. Humans will revisit the Moon in a flyby.

NASA will successfully launch the Artemis II mission, sending four astronauts around the moon in the first crewed lunar mission since 1972. They will NOT land on the Moon.

9. I’ll finish The Unseen Africa.

I’ll stay in Chile until it’s done!

To see my previous forecasts, check out my predictions for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Feedback

Email me at [email protected] or leave an anonymous voicemail that I could use on the podcast at Speakpipe.

Connect

Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at

https://wanderlearn.com

.

If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

* Facebook

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* YouTube

* Instagram

* TikTok

* LinkedIn

* Pinterest

* Tumblr

Sponsors

1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM with its unlimited hotspot & data that never expires! Use code LR32K

4. Or get 5% off when you sign up with Saily, another global eSIM with a built-in VPN & ad blocker.

5. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

6. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

7. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

8. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

9. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.