#77: India Roundup

Sim and Nathan are Couchsurfers who stayed with Katie and me in Hong Kong. This was their final stop on a journey of more than a year. We had an awesome discussion about a variety of topics, ranging from traveling for free to exploding Pinto gas tanks.

Miljana Zutic, AKA "Serbian Traveler", has been traveling around the world for the last four years with no money. Seriously, she left her home with two euros and has kept the adventure going for all this time. How, you wonder? Listen to this podcast to find out. Miljana's social media can be found at the following links: Serbian Traveler on Youtube (educational videos from her travels) Serbian Traveler on Facebook Serbian Traveler on Instagram If you enjoy this podcast and Miljana's social media pages, she would really appreciate it if you would kick a few bucks her way on PayPal. Here's her address: [email protected].

Alec Hill is a world traveler who is just getting started on an open-ended trip. In fact, Hong Kong was his first international stop, and I was his second Couchsurfing host. We chatted about how he got here and what lies on the road ahead for him.

Katie and I met Alison Price many years ago at the Twin Ports invasion, dubbed "The World's Coldest Couchsurfing Invasion", a claim that I do no dispute. Alison is an amazing artist based in Minneapolis.

My guest today is Ryan Sinn. He's a digital nomad who's into travel and cycle touring, and he has a unique and interesting worldview. I had a great time chatting with him, and I hope you'll enjoy our conversation.

A few months ago, Katie and I met Pradeepika Saraswat while traveling in Hampi, southern India. We hit it off and she later invited us to visit her in Delhi, where we recorded this podcast. Pradeepika is a journalist who has spent much time living in Kashmir, a region over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. I also visited Kashmir a few years back and became very interested in the region, so naturally, this was the main focus of our discussion.

With only a few days left in our ten-month trip, Katie and I recapped our time in India and discussed how travel has changed us. Lots of good philosophical advice in this one.

Katie and I had an amazing month of trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. Along with the gorgeous scenery and the extreme physical challenge of hiking to the 5416-meter Thorung Pass, the people were the highlight of our trek. Those who lived along the trail were extremely friendly, as were the other trekkers we met. And among them were today's guests, Martijn and Manon. We made some time a few days after finishing our trek to record a podcast and reminisce our month in the mountains.

In this episode, Katie and I sat on the roof of our hotel in Negombo and discussed our month in Sri Lanka.

Ruwan Perera hosted Katie and me at his home near Colombo, Sri Lanka. While we were there, Ruwan was also hosting a couple of tattoo artists from Ukraine. They asked Ruwan if he would like a tattoo in exchange for hosting them, and he said yes. In our podcast, Ruwan discusses getting his first tattoo, as well as some of the history of his country, and the importance of Couchsurfing and similar networks in this age of modern travel.