Adrien Behn loves planting herself into thorny conversations. She finds herself most comfortable there.
Purpose of Strangers Abroad
Strangers Abroad shares stories of how kind the world actually is and how only through travel can we improve ourselves and the world. It aims to be a ray of sunlight into the dark news media cycle that attempts to separate us.
What is the premise of Strangers Abroad?
This podcast is a series of recordings that I, Adrien Behn, had with people I met throughout my journey to Latin America. It was a 5 month, 5.000-kilometer adventure, encompassing 10 countries, hundreds of people, and countless stories. Each episode is a conversation with a stranger that I met along my travels, sandwiched between my personal stories of where I was and what I was learning. The conversations focus on stories that break out of the conventional lifestyle, the focus on self-actualization, and how travel makes the world a safer place.
What inspired Strangers Abroad?
I (Adrien, here again) had a quarter life crisis ( very Millennial of me, I know) and decided to book a one-way ticket to Mexico City to go figure out what I want my life to look like. I wanted to record the interactions with all of the wonderful +weird people I met while traveling to show people back home ( in America) that the world is much safer than we are told.
So my personal travel philosophy that keeps me going is this-
There are 7 billion people in the world, 7 BILLION, and some people say more, some say less but, somewhere between 500-5000 of those people could be your best friends, soul mates, playmates, partners in crime or companions. However, they may live in Copenhagen, New Delhi, or Perth, but you may never meet them unless you go out and find them. They will expose you to wondrous things about yourself and the way the world works.
Everyone I met I learned something new, be it a history lesson, different perspective, or mannerism. Travel creates the opportunity to take a peek into the diversity yet, the simplicity of humanity, it is looking glass of our fundamentals and complexities. As you travel, it becomes clear how interconnected we are. Those you expose yourself to become part of you and vice versa from the taxi drivers, helpful strangers, or bus companions. Although I may have known these people for a few minutes, hours, or fortunate enough to spend months with them, they are my family and this is their story. Everyone we ever meet is a part of who we become.
Now I have an ever expanded nexus and support group made up of people from all walks of life. Now I have places to stay in so many different countries, and these people are always welcome in my home.
So this is a documentation, a recording of my search for these people and what the world can teach me.
But, why travel?
Travel makes the world smaller, safer, and helps create a people who want to build a space where we can all thrive in.
Now I don’t want to over-romanticize or belittle the fact that the world can be scary or painful. But, these obstacles will help you grow in insurmountable ways. You don’t know who you are until you are faced with random situations like being trapped in a tannery in Morocco, or being stranded on the highway for 8 hours in Mexico or break into houses to shoot BB guns into the snow in Stockholm or get caught in a hurricane in Hawaii while hitchhiking. Will you be surprised by how you respond in those situations?
Why share these experience?
Storytelling is a form of immortality, those whose stories we still talk about today still live on with us, and the stories untold are unfortunately forgotten. The people that I was fortunate enough to meet and talk to are doing incredibly inspiring things with their lives and how they are choosing to live should be shared, because they are challenging the conventional way of life, and it could reach to someone who wants to be doing that but doesn’t know how. This is a way of making them a little bit more immortal.
Why listen?
If you want to hear a first-hand story of booking a one-way ticket and winging it then this is the podcast for you. It’s an honest example of long-term backpacking, the successes and struggles, the fuck-ups and spontaneous adventures, and the mundane moments in between. This is meant to show that travel isn’t always glamorous but is immensely rewarding.
So get the hell out of your comfort zone and see who’s out there.