Podcasts by Far From Home

Every Country Without Flying from 2023-12-11T03:48:32

Thor Pedersen always felt like he was born too late. He grew up in a world where other people had already d...

Prison Rodeo from 2023-06-15T22:58:33

After releasing my last episode where I shared stories from my time in Oklahoma many yea...

Stories From Flyover Country from 2023-05-27T05:09:52

Two decades ago, I was just starting out as a public radio reporter, applying for literally every radio job opening I saw, and somehow I ended up getting hired by a small station in Norman, Okla...

18 Years in Rome (with The Bittersweet Life) from 2023-03-13T16:10:07

If you listened to my last episode, you heard the story of my friend Jamie Yuenger,...

Stranger in a Strange Land from 2023-02-14T05:53:02

From the age of 24 until she was 37, Jamie Yuenger lived in New York City. While she started out having a complicated relationship with the city, she grew over time to love her adopted hometown....

Off the Beaten Jack from 2022-10-08T03:46:51

Last winter during the pandemic, Jack Boswell started to reevaluate his place in life and realize that at the age of 31, he still hadn’t chased his real passion of being a Hollywood screenwriter...

Turkmenistan Revisited from 2022-09-13T15:52:25

As you may have seen in my feed, I recently teamed up with my colleagues at NPR’s Planet Money economic podcast to report a story that prominently featured the Central Asian country of Turkmenis...

The Salvage Car Silk Road from 2022-09-13T15:51:48

A few months ago, a friend of mine named Oraz who runs an autobody repair shop in Turkmenistan came across a kind of puzzle. A new vehicle had just arrived on his lot. A white Lexus SUV. He coul...

Ayahuasca Reexamined from 2022-08-01T07:34:26

I’m always open to listener feedback on Far From Home, and I heard from someone recently who’s given me a new perspective on one of my past stories and forced me to see things in a new light, so...

What Shelter Means to Me from 2022-06-15T05:16:01

While I’ve been hunkered down these past few years, avoiding traveling and staying home while I rode out the pandemic, I’ve been incredibly lucky that I’ve had a safe and comfortable place to li...

Refugee Stories from 2022-04-29T23:03:41

Over the past 2 months, more than 5 million people have left Ukraine, and another 6-and-a-half-million have fled their homes and are now displaced elsewhere within their own country, making this...

Ukraine from 2022-03-28T04:04:11

On this episode, I speak to Savelli and Olexander, two Ukrainians who’ve suddenly had their lives upended after the Russian military invaded their country.

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On Far From Home...

Revisiting Central Asia from 2022-01-17T12:30

Central Asia is not a place that most Westerners know or think about very often. But now that I’ve been there, my ears perk up on the rare instances when it makes the news, as was the case on tw...

Cell Phone Santa from 2021-12-23T11:00

Take Santa Claus. Then ditch the red suit and the flying reindeer, and you’ve got a guy who’s all about giving. On this last episode of my third season, I tell the story of the time my dad tried...

COVID Stories Part 4 from 2021-12-06T11:00

Nearly 2 years into the Covid-19 pandemic, new waves of infection continue to spread around the world, and the Omicron variant is causing renewed fears in places that previously thought they had...

Playing Tour Guide (with The Radio Vagabond) from 2021-10-27T17:08:52

Having grown up just outside of New York City, I visited most of the big tourist attractions like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center when I was a kid. But w...

How did I end up here? from 2021-10-06T19:12:04

When you travel, it’s inevitable that you’ll occasionally have weird or random experiences, where you might have certain expectations before you arrive at a place, but then you’re total...

The Stories of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows from 2021-09-10T04:23:58

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush vowed revenge against the perpetrators, but not everyone found his words comforting. Around this time, a small ...

Stockholm Norms (with Here There Be Dragons) from 2021-08-20T19:52:43

Knowing the rules and being able to navigate them can be a big part of feeling safe in any city. On this episode of Far From Home, I share an episode from another great podcast I recently discov...

Revisiting the Mongol Rally from 2021-07-22T18:13:12

July 17th, 2021 marked the fifth anniversary of the day my brother Drew and I — along with our friends Jane and Rosi — set out from southern England on an 11,000 mi (18k km) road trip across Eur...

Out of Your Comfort Zone from 2021-07-07T19:00:27

When you travel – especially if you’re in a distant and unfamiliar place – it’s inevitable that sooner or later, things will happen that are beyond your control. You’re thrown a curveball and yo...

Tuning in the World from 2021-06-11T04:31:27

COVID-19 has closed borders and made travel difficult if not impossible for many of us over the past year-and-a-half. But radio signals don't need passports or plane tickets. They circle the ear...

COVID Stories Part 3 from 2021-05-21T05:20:10

On this episode of Far From Home, I continue my series where I’m checking in with friends and colleagues around the world to get a sense of the many ways COVID-19 is affecting people and how the...

Revisiting Chernobyl from 2021-04-26T06:08:52

April 26, 2021 marks the 35th anniversary of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former USSR — which remains the worst nuclear accident in history — so I’m re-releasing...

Oklahoma City from 2021-04-19T11:00

Each year on April 19th, residents of Oklahoma City commemorate the anniversary of the 1995 bombing in their city, which prior to September 11th bore the distinction of being the deadliest terro...

Revisiting Belfast from 2021-04-12T05:07:30

Over the past week, violence has once again broken out in Northern Ireland. During one skirmish in Belfast last Wednesday, rioters threw Molotov cocktails, several police officers were injured, ...

The Sounds of Silence from 2021-03-22T05:28:37

Over the past year, COVID-19 has had all sorts of ripple effects that most of us never imagined: Air pollution plummeted as people stopped flying. Companies closed their office buildings for goo...

Te Araroa from 2021-02-24T19:00

Having hiked the Appalachian Trail, Justin and Patrice La Vigne thought they knew what they were getting into when they decided to embark on Te Araroa, a 2000 mile path across New Zealand. But t...

Foreign Correspondence from 2021-02-16T03:21:10

I’m taking a break between seasons right now, but I’m popping back into your feed with a special bonus episode I’m sharing from a really great podcast called Listen

Japarican Christmas from 2020-12-25T23:30:46

On this final episode of Season 3, I return to where I began 2020 in Puerto Rico, on the last trip I took prior to the pandemic. I join my friend Rob at a parranda — the Puerto Rican version of ...

Close to Home from 2020-12-04T19:50:09

COVID-19 may have forced most of us to take a break from traveling for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some really cool places to discover right in our own neighborhoo...

Day of the Deceased from 2020-11-04T15:00

While Americans were celebrating Halloween and heading to the polls, Peruvians were busy commemorating El Dia de los Defuntos, the day at the beginning of November each year when they remember t...

COVID Stories Part 2 from 2020-10-12T09:10:03

On this episode of Far From Home, I continue my series where I’m checking in with friends and colleagues around the world to get a sense of the many ways COVID-19 is affecting people and how the...

New Orleans 15 Years Later from 2020-09-09T22:23:27

You probably missed it amid everything else going on in the world recently, but last week was the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, so on this episode, we’re staying within the U.S. for a c...

COVID Stories Part 1 from 2020-08-17T23:30:58

On this episode of Far From Home, I’m beginning an occasional series where I’m checking in with friends and colleagues around the world to get a sense of the many ways COVID-19 is affecting peop...

The Island No One Owns from 2020-07-29T16:50:01

If you want to build a house on the Caribbean island of Barbuda, you can just put up a fence wherever you want, and have it. You don’t pay for it. You don’t sign for anything. You just have to b...

Green Book from 2020-07-21T22:55:58

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Black motorists driving across the United States and Canada often brought along a copy of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, which was a sort of AAA guide tha...

Double Your Bubble, Double Your Fun from 2020-07-09T23:06:03

If you were forced to quarantine as a result of COVID-19 and could only hang out with members of one other household, who would you choose? On the latest episode of Far From Home, writer and fil...

Traveling While Black from 2020-06-22T18:47:20

In light of the recent protests for racial justice across the United States and around the world, I chat with two African American friends about what it’s like to travel as a Black person, both ...

Pandemic Diary (with On Spec) from 2020-05-24T00:32

As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, I speak with Istanbul-based author and journalist Fariba Nawa about what the situation is like where she lives in Turkey. Then I play a recent e...

Finding the Helpers (with The Bittersweet Life) from 2020-04-21T04:55:22

As the world is consumed by COVID-19, I check in with author and American expat Tiffany Parks, who lives on the outskirts of Rome, to get a sense of what things are like in Italy right now. Then...

No Place Like Home from 2020-03-25T22:42:25

With a global pandemic, canceled flights, and closed borders, many travelers suddenly found themselves trapped in foreign countries, trying to figure out how to get home, even if they thought th...

Touring North Korea with The Radio Vagabond (bonus episode) from 2020-03-03T01:41:59

While Far From Home is on a break between seasons, I’m popping into your feed from time to time to share segments from other shows I’ve enjoyed that I think all of you might like as well. Today ...

Revisiting Iran from 2020-02-06T21:09:30

In light of the recent political developments that briefly brought the US and Iran to the brink of war, I’m re-releasing an excerpt of a story I produced for the first season of Far From Home. I...

Junkanoo from 2019-12-24T02:50:44

The historical accounts are a bit fuzzy, but the way the story is commonly told, Caribbean slaves in the 18th century gained a day of freedom two times a year, on Boxing Day (the day after Chris...

Mother Russia from 2019-11-30T05:00:53

While driving across Russia on my way home from the Mongol Rally (the story I documented on the first season of this podcast), I had several conversations and interactions with people in Russia ...

Meet Your Maker from 2019-11-14T20:04:33

This week’s episode is a bit different from what I normally do on the show. I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments from listeners recently, so I thought I’d spend some time today answ...

Haiti: Ten Years Later from 2019-11-05T07:30

This upcoming January marks the tenth anniversary of the massive earthquake in Haiti. It came on a Tuesday afternoon, 12 days into the new year, and destroyed or severely damaged a quarter of a ...

Balloon Hats from 2019-10-17T23:23:10

When he was growing up in Southern California, Addi Somekh wasn't quite sure what to do with his life. But he knew from a young age that he wanted to "spread warmth" and make other people happy....

Before It's Too Late from 2019-10-04T02:16:03

I feel like several of the trips I’ve taken in recent years have been to places people have urged me to go while I still can, or at least before things change. On today’s show, I visit Cambodia,...

Ayahuasca - bonus episode from 2019-09-28T04:17:22

As a follow-up to my last episode, I present the story of my friend Dennis, who also tried ayahuasca in Peru ...

Ayahuasca from 2019-09-23T22:10:32

In the previous episode of Far From Home, I visited Lima, Peru, where I met a traditional medicine man named Lucho. This time, I accompany him to a healing ceremony where he uses a hallucinogeni...

Medicine Man from 2019-09-06T00:44:39

Lucho is a traditional medicine man who describes himself as a "curandero," or someone who heals. Using medicinal herbs, archeological relics, and hallucinogenic plants (as well as some special ...

Another Brick in the Wall from 2019-08-22T19:51:49

In 1998, political leaders in Northern Ireland signed a peace agreement they hoped would end the Troubles, a 30 year period of armed conflict between Catholic nationalists and Protestant loyalis...

Learning to Throat Sing from 2019-08-13T19:49:40

Throat singing is one of the world’s oldest forms of music. It’s practiced by indigenous groups in several parts of the world, including South Africa and the Canadian Arctic. But mostly...

The Largest Fish Market in the World from 2019-07-25T18:39:39

For more than 80 years, Tokyo, Japan’s Tsukiji fish market had a reputation for supplying some of the freshest and best quality seafood anywhere. But over the decades, it had become overcrowded,...

Visiting Chernobyl from 2019-07-11T21:04:32

If you’ve seen or heard about the recent HBO dramatic miniseries about Chernobyl, you might have wondered what it’s really like there today. I take a trip to the abandoned villages surrounding t...

Far From Home: Season 2 trailer from 2019-06-18T17:30

People often say it’s a small world, but there are giant parts of the planet that most people never think about and billions of stories they’ve never heard. On Far From Home, award-winning publi...

24: Looking Back from 2019-05-01T02:51:44

After driving 11,000 miles over the course of seven weeks, we finally reached the finish line of the Mongol Rally, and everything was suddenly over. There was no more waking up early to hit the ...

23: The Finish Line! from 2019-03-21T00:03:09

We’d spent 7 weeks driving nearly 11,000 miles across Europe and Asia, and although we were nearing the end of our journey, we still had a series of challenges ahead. Our route in the coming day...

22: The Longest Day Ever from 2018-12-24T19:53:15

After a series of bad decisions, my brother and I had ended up stranded with our friends at the bottom of an incredibly steep and rocky hill in a really remote part of Mongolia. We’d sent a text...

21: A Costly Mistake from 2018-10-01T14:20:12

After getting stuck driving across a shallow river in Mongolia, my brother and I make the fateful decision to veer off the main path onto another trail that seems like it might be easier. Unfort...

20: The Going Gets Tough from 2018-08-01T00:00:57

Mongolia is a place of wide open spaces and little vegetation. It’s the the land of Genghis Khan, nomadic culture. and Listen

19: One Surprise After Another from 2018-06-11T14:25:40

When my brother and I told friends we’d be driving across Kazakhstan, we got plenty of jokes about Borat, but we were about to find out that the real-life nation of Kazakhstan was almost nothing...

18: Wrong Way from 2018-05-02T17:46:12

We were in an extremely remote section of eastern Tajikistan, and we’d just received news that our car’s engine might not last much longer. Left with few options, the best we could do was to kee...

17: Stranded from 2018-04-03T15:37:39

The mountainous Pamir Highway in Tajikistan was precisely the type of terrain that our 1-liter Nissan Micra hatchback was not suited to handle. One of our friends had described it as a car “that...

16: The Roads Get Rougher from 2018-03-05T19:46:08

Our car was running once again, but now we faced a handful of new mechanical issues, just as we were about to embark on the roughest part of our journey yet: a 600 mile stretch of mostly unpaved...

15: Whatever It Takes from 2018-02-01T00:53:30

When we first learned that it would take a week for our car to get repaired, we figured we’d have some time to relax and explore the historic city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan. But instead we’re hit w...

14: From Bad to Worse from 2017-12-19T22:03:35

In the three weeks since we started our journey, we’d broken down about 4 times, been to half a dozen mechanics, and tried all sorts of stop-gap measures to solve our car issues, but there was s...

13: Should We Stay or Should We Go? from 2017-11-10T19:28:24

When it comes to welcoming foreign tourists, Turkmenistan is close to the bottom of the list. It was hard enough to get visas in the first place, and when we did, they were only good for 5 days....

12: Breaking Down from 2017-08-23T08:37:26

Driving a small, crappy car was a prerequisite for anyone participating in the Mongol Rally. The point was to make the journey more exciting and adventurous. We liked the idea at first, but now ...

11a: Bonus Episode – Voices From the Door to Hell from 2017-07-27T06:49:24

While I continue to work on the next regular show, here’s a short bonus episode of some conversations I had with some other Mongol Rally teams during our stopover at Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell....

11: Just Plain Weird from 2017-07-09T07:50:10

We visit the hermit kingdom of Turkmenistan — one of the most reclusive and authoritarian nations in the world — and we see why some visitors describe its capital city of Ashgabat as a cross bet...

10: Culture Clash from 2017-05-20T20:38:15

“Honestly, most Americans — when they think of Iran — probably think of 3 things,” my brother said. “Desert, oil, and nuclear capabilities.” And it was true. Before our road trip across Europe a...

09: An Eye-opening Experience from 2017-04-14T17:47:09

Our eighteen country road trip across Europe and Asia last summer left us with a wealth of memorable stories and experiences. But if you asked me to name the single most fascinating and thought-...

08: Not What We Expected from 2017-03-23T00:20:12

First there were a series of terrorist attacks in Istanbul and Ankara and a threat from Kurdish separatists vowing to target Turkey’s tourism industry to inflict economic harm. Then an attempted...

07: The Real Rally Begins from 2017-02-27T20:14:19

The first few days of our trip across Europe were mostly smooth sailing and uneventful, but things were about to change. On this episode, as we cross into Romania and Bulgaria, the roads get rou...

06: Mad Dash Across Europe from 2017-01-26T22:56:57

We leave southern England and set out on our road trip to Mongolia, overcoming some of our fears and throwing our plans out the window while we drive across Europe on the first leg of our journe...

05: Hitting the Road from 2016-12-22T00:28:57

After nearly a year of planning, we descend upon the Goodwood Raceway in southern England to begin our road trip to Mongolia as part of the Mongol Rally. I chat with other teams from around the ...

04a: For a Good Cause from 2016-09-15T12:36:26

Our road trip from London to Mongolia is sure to be a fun and crazy adventure, but we’re also doing it for a good cause. On this episode of the podcast, we visit Port-au-Prince, Haiti to learn a...

04: Final Preparations Before the Big Day from 2016-08-18T19:24:01

I fly to London to make final preparations before our road trip to Mongolia and find myself dealing with one logistical and bureaucratic nightmare after another. We also take a basic car repair ...

03: What Will We Eat? from 2016-07-13T13:50:55

After reading a hilarious, cringe-worthy article about the “culinary horrors of Mongolia,” we were curious what us two pescatarians would eat in the meat-loving countries of Central Asia, so my ...

02: What Kind of Car Do You Drive to Mongolia? from 2016-06-20T02:43:55

When my brother and I told our friends and family that we were planning an 11,000 mile road trip across Europe and Asia, one of the first questions they often asked was, “What kind of car?” In t...

01a: Bonus Episode from 2016-06-09T23:19:56

Another full episode is coming out next week, but in the meantime, here’s an excerpt of a recent interview I did about my trip on my friend and colleague Paul Brubaker’s show, The Backgrounder p...

01: Getting Started from 2016-06-02T16:18:44

My friend Rosi from Australia contacts my brother and me to invite us to join her on an 11,000 mile road trip this summer across Europe and Asia, and we weigh the risks, challenges, and rewards ...

Far From Home: Season 1 Trailer from 2016-03-10T06:58:16

I introduce the show and describe the first season, which involved an epic, 7 week road trip from the UK to Mongolia. For more info, visit Listen