Zero To Travel Podcast

Why does Wales so often get left off the itinerary while England, Scotland, and Ireland soak up the attention?

Eugene Fogarty grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and studied history before earning a master’s in journalism. After two years living and traveling across the Americas, a year in Brussels, and a stint managing a walking tour operation in London, he moved to Cardiff and launched Fogo’s Free Tours in 2018. He has since led around 2,000 tours of Cardiff and South Wales, from free city walks to Doctor Who filming locations and the darker side of the city’s past.

In this conversation, Eugene shares how travel led him to tour guiding and walks me through his favorite hidden gems in Cardiff, Wales, plus the day trip he recommends most.

Cardiff has only been the capital of Wales since 1955, and plenty of visitors still treat it as a one-night stop to tick off another country. Spend an hour with Eugene, though, and the city starts to reveal layers most people walk right past, along with a playful streak you wouldn’t expect from a place built on coal. There’s also a quiet reminder in his story about what can happen when you take the trip before you have the plan. If you’ve ever rushed through a place and wondered what you missed, this conversation might change how you build your next UK itinerary.

Is there a place you rushed through and later wished you’d given more time? I’d love to hear about it, and I hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message.

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What does it actually take to step away from work, home, and your phone for five months to walk from Mexico to Canada?

Nina Butler is originally from South Africa and is the founder of InRetreat, a boutique travel and wellness company that runs small-group and private retreats in eco destinations around the world. A yoga teacher with a PhD in philosophy, she spent several years living in Oslo, Norway, before moving back to South Africa. In 2025, she and her husband, Chris, thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, spending 150 days walking from Mexico to Canada.

In this conversation, Nina and I talk about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and the planning behind it, from permits and visas to stepping away from work, budgeting, trail culture, and what five months off grid did for her mind, her marriage, and a big life decision.

Most of us will never walk 2,650 miles, but plenty of us dream about carving out a real chunk of time to step away, and the logistics are usually what stop us. Nina’s story is a reminder that the planning phase can be its own kind of journey, and that the work of getting ready can leave your life better organized than you found it. There’s also something here about what happens to the mind when the noise falls away for long enough, and why a couple of weeks might not get you there. If you’ve been sitting on a big decision or a big trip, this conversation might be the nudge.

Have you ever taken a big chunk of time away from everyday life? What did it change for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message.

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Why have more people been to outer space than to every country in the world?

Ric Gazarian grew up in Boston and spent years in financial services before a 2008 layoff sent him on a year-long trip and into a remote real estate business that has funded his travels ever since. He has now visited around 190 countries on his quest to reach all 193 UN member states. Ric hosts the Counting Countries podcast, organizes the Extraordinary Travel Festival, and has turned his tuk-tuk and rickshaw road trips through Cambodia and India into films.

In this conversation, Ric and I talk about what traveling to every country in the world really involves, less crowded destinations worth visiting, unorthodox road trips by tuk-tuk and rickshaw, and how to get comfortable traveling to less visited places.

Only around 500 people have ever been to every country on Earth, and Ric spends a lot of his time with them. That gives him a rare view of where the world's most traveled people actually go, and which places deserve far more visitors than they get. It's also a reminder that the best travel stories rarely come from the smoothest trips. If you've been craving something a little less mainstream for your next adventure, Ric makes a strong case for stepping a bit further outside your comfort zone.

If you built a road trip around something you've never tried before, what would it be? I'd love to hear your ideas, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.

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Can you be culturally religious without being religiously religious? What if happiness had less to do with what you believe and more to do with what you notice?

Hiroko Yoda is a Tokyo-born author, translator and folklorist who first came to the US at 17 as an exchange student in rural Indiana. She went on to earn a master's degree in international peace and conflict resolution and co-founded AltJapan, a localization company, with her husband. A former Tokyo editor for CNN Go and a certified Shinto cultural historian, she has coauthored several books on Japanese folklore and is the author of Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan.

In this conversation, Hiroko and I talk about the Japanese idea of 8 million kami, how spirituality became part of everyday culture in Japan, and how travelers can visit Japan's shrines and temples with more understanding.

Most of us grew up with the idea that you either believe or you don't. Hiroko offers a different way of seeing it, where Japanese spirituality and happiness grow out of a worldview that treats the sun, the wind, and even the words we speak with quiet respect. It's a worldview that shapes everything from how people eat to how they relate to nature, and it's hiding in plain sight for anyone traveling through Japan. Hiroko is honest that none of this makes life easy, which is exactly what makes her perspective feel useful.

What's one small thing in your everyday life you could start noticing, and appreciating, a little more often? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.

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Norway is already known for its fjords, Northern Lights, and wide-open nature, so what makes Northern Norway an even better place to have it all to yourself?

Joël Schwalenstöcker is a Northern Norway native who grew up in Tromsø with a German father and a French mother. For about 15 years, he has worked as a music agent, booking tours and shows for artists across Norway and Scandinavia. He is also the founder of Noraventura, which designs tailor-made trips through Norway for travelers who want to see the country beyond the usual tourist stops.

Joël shares seven hidden gems in Northern Norway that most visitors miss, and why the region’s best-known spots have become so crowded. We also share Northern Norway travel tips on renting a car, packing for changing weather, and choosing when to go.

Northern Norway is bigger, emptier, and wilder than most people expect, with the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights in winter shaping the rhythm of life there. It’s also a region where a short drive can change the entire feel of a trip. If you’re planning a visit, or you like the idea of seeing Northern Norway off the beaten path, this conversation gives you plenty to think about.

Have you ever skipped the famous stop on a trip and found something you liked even better? I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message.

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What happens when the way you were taught to read stops working the moment you step outside your own culture?

Ann Morgan is a UK-based author, speaker, and editor best known for reading a book from every country in the world in a single year, a project she chronicled on her blog A Year of Reading the World and in her book Reading the World (published in the US as The World Between Two Covers). In her newest book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing, she looks at what it actually takes to read well across cultural and linguistic lines.

Ann returns to walk through five techniques for relearning how to read, covering how to notice your own hidden bias, why every reader fills in a story's gaps differently, what a book's assumptions reveal about who it expects you to be, and why this should all matter to us curious travelers.

This conversation gets into something bigger than books: what it actually means to sit with not knowing, and why that discomfort might be exactly where the growth happens. Ann pushes back on the idea that understanding everything is the goal, and the reframe she offers reaches well beyond the page. If you've ever wondered what it actually looks like to get better at reading books from other cultures, this episode lays it out step by step.

What's one time you filled in a story's gaps completely differently than the writer intended? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.

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With centuries of layered history and some of Europe's most uncrowded natural beauty, why isn't Bosnia and Herzegovina on more travelers' radars yet? 

Nermin Numic grew up in Sarajevo and spent over a decade living and working abroad in South Africa and Europe, where he met his wife Kathrin, who is originally from Germany. In 2020, the couple returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina during the pandemic and decided to stay. They went on to found .Cheyf, a boutique travel agency built around the Bosnian concept of ćejf, showing travelers the local side of Sarajevo and the country beyond it. 

Nermin and Kathrin share seven hidden gems in Sarajevo, Bosnia, that most visitors miss, along with the history behind the city's mix of Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Yugoslav influences. They also talk about day trips into the surrounding mountains, must-try local food, and starting a travel business together as a couple. 

Sarajevo is a city where four major religions have lived side by side for centuries, where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand helped ignite World War I, and where the Bosnian War left scars that are still part of daily conversation decades later. Nermin and Kathrin don't shy away from any of that history, but they also refuse to let it be the only story visitors hear. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why they believe this is exactly the right moment to experience it for yourself. 

What's a place you discovered by accident that ended up being the highlight of your trip? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. 

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What does it take to become the first person ever to complete a full source-to-sea kayaking trip down Madagascar's longest river? 

Oscar Scafidi is a history teacher, travel writer, and expedition leader who has lived and worked across more than 30 African countries since 2006. He has written guidebooks to Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Tunisia, and holds a Guinness World Record for the first source-to-sea kayak expedition along Angola's Kwanza River. In 2022, he and a fellow expedition partner completed the first source-to-sea kayak trip along Madagascar's longest river, the Mangoky, an adventure now documented in his book and film. 

In this episode, I talk with Oscar about his years living and working across Africa, and the story behind his recent Madagascar kayaking adventure. 

This conversation moves between two very different worlds: the classroom, where Oscar spends his days teaching, and the wild, unmapped stretches of Africa where he pushes himself to the edge. There's a real thread of humility running through it, a reminder that no expedition succeeds without the people who make it possible along the way. It's also a great reminder that a regular person with a full-time job can still build a life full of big, audacious adventures. If you're drawn to stories of grit, humor under pressure, and what it feels like when a plan falls apart in real time, this one's for you. 

Have you ever pushed yourself into a situation where you genuinely weren't sure how things would turn out? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. 

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Why would anyone choose to travel across two continents alone, with nothing but a cat and no real plan? 

Mia Kercher is a copywriter, marketing strategist, and hypnotist who traveled overland from Serbia to Vietnam as a solo female traveler. She crossed twelve countries by car, foot, bicycle, and tuktuk, all with her cat, Cleo, by her side. Prior to this trip, Mia spent two and a half years backpacking through Europe, eventually settling in Serbia, where she built her energetic copywriting business, Evoke Writing. She recently finished writing a book about her journey. 

In this episode, I talk with Mia about her journey, including the weeks she spent in Afghanistan, and how she kept her business running while living off-grid. 

This conversation is about what happens when you choose curiosity over a plan. Mia's approach to travel has never been about research or certainty, and that mindset gets tested in a big way on this journey. We talk about the discomfort of being an outsider, the surprising kindness that can meet you in the most unexpected places, and how solo travel builds a kind of trust in yourself that is hard to find any other way. It is also a conversation about intuition, and how tuning into your subconscious mind can change the way you make decisions, both on the road and in business. 

What would it take for you to say yes to an adventure with no plan and no idea how it would turn out? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message. 

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