Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Stepping Off The Path To Discover The World Podcaster And Wayfinder Daniel Scheffler

Transcript

Stepping Off The Path To Discover The World Podcaster And Wayfinder Daniel Scheffler · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, if you like me and you get in the
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: car and you're wondering what can I listen to? When
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: it comes to a podcast, the same old thing is
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: every day. That's why we created Aro dot net aar
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: r oe dot Net. One of the hot features that voice.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I've spent ten years with those that have been featured
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: on NBC's The Voice. Go back, re equate yourself to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the conversation and relive those moments before they became what
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: they became. That voice only on Ero dot net a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: r r oe dot Net. Enjoy your exploration. How are
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you doing today?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Excellent? Tell you so well.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm very excited to share a conversation with you because
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you're getting to do what so many of us would
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: like to do. But for some reason, we keep hitting
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: these walls, and I don't understand why we can't just
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: let go and just go on a wayfair kind of
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a journey.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Well, I tell you what it is besides the financial components,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: so let's leave that out for a second. But I
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: think people feel like it's daunting because it needs all
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: this planning. But I have been trying to encourage people
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: to just start traveling in their own city, in their
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: own state, in their own whatever small region, and then
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: it starts to feel less daunting, and then you can
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: expand it out of state, out of country, and perhaps intergalactic.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I mean that's possible now too. So I think people
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: worry that there's there's these unknowns. People worry about the unknown,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: right they think, what if this happens? But if you
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: change your mind and just says, and you can tell yourself,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: what if this magical adventure happens, then little by little
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: something wayfindery will find you.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: But see, I'm so inspired by this wayfinder attitude and journey.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: And the reason why is because I've sat with many
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: medicine men who always tell me how they use mile markers. It's,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of show them what the path is.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: They didn't have a map, they only had these places
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of discovery and that's where and they would document, you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: how they would make their way into a brand new day.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Wow. You know. I was in Kenya a week ago
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: spending time with the Samburu people, so tribe in the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: northern part of Kenya, and one night we were sitting
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: under the stars and there was a sort of distant thunderstorm,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: so some lightning coming through the clouds and the stars
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: that opened up in the Milky Way, and the elder
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: tribal member started to talk to me about how they
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: had been navigating by the stars and how even today
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: they know exactly where everything is. It was magical, like
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: because I'm so used to going on my phone and
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: using it to navigate, and it reminded me to just
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: trust a sort of something more primal in me, something more,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: something less digital, something more analogue, to just kind of
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: navigate your world. Well.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: See, that's what I love about traveling and being in
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: r veer is the fact that I document everything in journals,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and I'll go into these journals and I'll see what
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: we did the last time, what did we learn from this?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: But when you talk about, you know, looking up at
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that sky and stuff, maybe it's because I'm from Montana,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: but looking up into the sky to find out where
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you are, guy, Oh my god, there's just something up
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: there that is constantly speaking to every one of us.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're totally right. We forget. I think it's because
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: we're so we live such digital lives because everything is
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: on the phone, and there's a part of my travel
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: inspiration that I try and hand to people. And I'm
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: working on a book at the moment, and this is
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: what the book will be about, and it's put the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: phone down. It's okay to get lost. Look, there's a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: moment where you get lost in. It's dangerous. For the
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: most part. You're getting lost in it magical if you
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: have the right attitude. But if you follow your phone
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: the entire time, we lose the ability to navigate. Right
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Like we become android androids, we become robotic. And I
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: know for myself, I'm going to Korea this week. I
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: know that there are a couple of places I really
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: want to see and soul, but for the most part,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to walk. You know. I pack comfortable shoes,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I pack some sunglasses, and I'm off. I don't I
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: sort of try and get off the map and off
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: the phone, and then that is when the adventure happens.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: But I understand that for most people this is hard
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: because we're so used to the support of well now
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: it's Ai right, like Lord, it's there all the time. No,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it is helping us. But at the same time, you
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: need to know when to put that down. You need
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to know that the adventure is not on the phone,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: because you can do that at home. The adventure is
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: right in front of good.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: One thing that I'm very much afraid of is the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Google Calendar, because that is a map that really because
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: for me to put today together, I actually start almost
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a week and a half ago. And that's just the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: way that it is. And so when you speak of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: this open land free, I can go out and look
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: at the stars and stuff I'm going, But how would
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: my Google calendar handle this? I'm not the only one.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I Am going to come and take your phone away
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: from you and just challenge you and come ride with
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: you in an R and V and see where we
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: end up. That's my challenge to you.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Well, it's usually in a place where there's gonna be
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: wild animals, because I am an animal activist in the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: way that I don't know if you've ever read Ted Andrews,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: but I believe animals speak to every one of us
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: every day, and if we are not listening, we are
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: missing out on a major page in history.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I love that, you know, my dog talks to me
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: all the time. I love it so I can relate.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: You know, when I was in Safari in Kenya last week,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I did see a lot of animal it was that's
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: saw the Big Five and it was magical. But I
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: also saw animals I've never seen before. There's a small
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: cat to settled like it sort of looks like a
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: large house cat, a very large, very lean, very mean
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: house cat. And I sort of communicated with this cat
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: in a weird way. We spent time together. I was
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: on the game drive vehicle, but I was just sort
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: of quietly sitting there and then my guide said to me,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: you know, it's very rare to see those. There are
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: two of them in the MASSI Maha, and I saw
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: them both and it was interesting. Like I when I
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: go to Africa, I was born in South Africa, there
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: is a sort of homecoming and a part of us
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: that wants to commune with animals, that wants to understand
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: that's something primal in us, and we lose touch with that,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: not just because we live in the city, but also
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: just the way we live our lives. Right, Like, there's
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: something so magical to sit at a watering hole watching
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: the elephants play and communicate with each other, and you know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: spread have them mocked bath and spray water, and there's
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: something that we're missing in our day to day life
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: where we're not doing enough of this.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: But you know what's really interesting about this, Daniel, is
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: that your podcast has given us the opportunity to live
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: vicariously through you and so and as we listen to
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: each episode, we're kind of soothing that little itch that
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: we've got to be with animals and stories and traveling
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: and things like that. But at the same time, you
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: also challenge us get your little thinking noggin in order
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: here and start planning your own journey.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. There is a Safari episode coming
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: in season two. I think people will appreciate, especially you
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: if you're an activist. It's coming from someone very smart
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: and interesting to talk about conservation and new ways of
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: understanding conservation. Conservation is such a complicated topic, especially in Africa.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: But the episode's going to be great. But yeah, I
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: do feel like I most people cannot travel for various reasons,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: but I encourage people to just try and start small.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Just try and travel in your own town and then
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: in your own state. But it is magic to be
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: able to go somewhere and to lose yourself in order
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: to find yourself. That's the goal, right, Like we want
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: to grow and travel is a travel is like a
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: it's a magical way of doing it, like it offers
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: it to you so on a silver platter. It's like
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: ready for the taking. You know, people go to Morocco,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: they've never been to this, to this, it's zote, as
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Americans would say, exotic place. The smells, the howked air
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: balloon rides, the you know.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Snowball sandboarding, and the dunes going into the soup, and
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: suddenly you're changed as a person, like you cannot remain
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: the same version of yourself if you go to these
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: places and open yourself.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Up, please do not move. There's more with Daniel Scheffler
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: coming up next. The name of his podcast is Wayfinder.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: We're back with Daniel Scheffler. You know what, I'm so
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: jealous of something that you said earlier about having this
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: relationship with your dog and that your dog speaks to
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you and stuff, because and then you're talking about traveling
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and storytelling and the scent of the air. I wish
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: that I could have the what a dog does inside
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: their nose, because we are missing out on so much
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: history by not smelling the ground that we walk on.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: And I know that sounds gross, but I think that
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: we're missing out on so much stuff. When you talk
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: about the scent in the air of Morocco, you're totally ride.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: You know, my dog I live in Madrid now and
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: she's she goes to the park every day with her
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: friends and on the way she smells. And my husband
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: and I were talking about this the other day. We
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: were like, she's smelling more intensely here. It's longer history. Here,
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: She's like smelling back to where the Arabs founded this town,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: and then to the Spanish. She smells the Inquisition. It
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: is magical. She knows that I'm coming home. She can
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: smell me before I arrive. There is something kind of
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: crazy about that. Although she does travel with me a lot,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: she's a travel dog. On dog is like, isn't that
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the most sacred, sacred thing. I'm like, I love my husband,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: but my god, the dog.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: My wife and I are convinced that you are a
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: modern daytime traveler. Do you feel like you're wearing those slippers?
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, why not the ruby slippers? Yeah? I do.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I do feel that way. I I'm forever on the road,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and there is something that does feel sort of crazy
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: and chrontimistic. Antagonists oh no, what's the world and chronistic
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: anachronistic to me that I sometimes go back to places
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: that have never seen a white person, Like I've spent
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: some time in Benning recently to go see the voodoo,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: and these people had never seen a white person. And
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: then I go to places like Japan and I feel
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: like I am in the future, right, like you see
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: how things operate there, and then you're like, am I
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: in the future. I'm going to soul this I told
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: you this weekend, and it's like, you know, these these
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: countries have a very futuristic perspective, so it does feel
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: like that. And then like you know, I go to
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Africa and you're in a tribal village in rural Kenya
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: and it does feel like something thousands of years old.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I guess, I guess I haven't thought about
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: time travel in that way, but it just feels like it.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that your podcast offers us,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and this this is just strange old me, mister Powa
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: guy who's been writing all these years, is that I
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: believe that you're going to show me the needle in
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the haystack because you go to places that I know
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: where that needle probably is, but I'm never going to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: make it there, but I'm going to rely on you
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: to take me there.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Well, that is years and years of practice finding the needle,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: or perhaps I put the needle then in the first place, right,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: you know, I, you know, I think it's a As
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: a professional traveler, it is my It is my gift
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: to people to make it easier for them, because like
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I get to go and I never go to a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: place once. I can go as many times as I want.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: It's literally my job. But a lot of people they like,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: this is my one time. I'm going to whatever London
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: and I want to give you the best of London,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: not necessarily the touristic things that you will find by yourself.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Walk the streets of London. You'll have an adventure. But
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: trust me, I've spent enough time in London to take
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: you and to show you where to go where that
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: needle is going to prick you in a way that
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: you will love, love, love, And that's the role of
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: the show. This is the method that we're sort of employing,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: is that this way find way of seeing the world
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: is like, yeah, listen to us, will help you find
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: the things that you're not necessarily expecting.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: But you know what, though, Daniel, is the fact that
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: in listening to the podcast or the one thing that
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: in my heart is I feel like that you could
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: predict a weather storm before it gets here, because you're
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: so experienced with the atmosphere of all things in the
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: universe that you're able to hear it, watch it, study it,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and go. You know, I think it's going to ring
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: in about an hour and a half. I just feel
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: something that I felt maybe in Kenya. I think it's
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: gonna happen here again.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're so you're showing the money. I
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: was in Kenya and I said too. I was spending
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: time at the mess I Warriors, some of the elders,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: and they literally can tell you exactly when it's going
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: to rain. And I did ask. I asked the man.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: There were some big rains in Kenya when I was
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: there last week. And I did ask this gentleman. I
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: was like, can you just impart this onto me? Can
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: you just paint this onto me so that I also
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: have this Still, I think the thing that I can foretell,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: perhaps I cannot foretell the weather, but I can foretell
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: that when there's about to be a good time. That
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: is a skill that I've had, Like I know which
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: when the party's good and the party's not, So perhaps
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: that is is truth telling.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: So then how are you going into each podcast? Because
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I'm a podcast writer as well as producer, and that's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: one of the things, you know, building that storyline, the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: consistency of you moving us forward. What is that like
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: for you to go from actually living it now you
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: got to tell the story? Oh my god?
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Right, that is that is the skill. I mean, I
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: have been doing this for two decades. You know, I
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: write for the New York Times. I have a little
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I have a little experience. But no, I think it's
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: like people are interested. If you are interesting and interested,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: off the battle is won, you know. I think that
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: that's the rule. I also make sure that I'm friends
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: with people that are both interesting and interested. So I
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: think the north star we have for this show and
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: my producers are wonderful, is that we're curious. Right, We're
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: adding curiosity and we're moving the narrative forward by by
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: also being curious. So we invite guests that are telling
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: you things that perhaps you wouldn't know. Like I just
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: had this wonderful author on She's had a she has
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: a great book that just published last year, and she
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: has spent her sort of last few decades in the
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: stans so Kazakhstan to Kumanistan and she Opekistan. And the
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: episode is on Ospekistan in summer cont and she talks
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: about it in a way that gives you a little history,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: so you have a little context, but it also allows
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: you to start uncovering in your own mind the sort
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of did I have prejudice about the Silk Roads? What
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: do I really know? What do I want to understand?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: And how can I go there? And I think that's
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the goal we've got with the show, right, So perhaps
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: the Silk Roads is a hard trip. It's far, there
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: are no direct flights from America. But if you want
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: to do something really special, you can travel with your
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: mind ye with Joanna, Who's what the interviewee. And then
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: perhaps when you're thinking about a trip and you're trying
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: to be really adventurous, this is the one you'll pick.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: You know. Mexico's great. I love it. I go all
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: the time, and I think it's one of the best
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: countries in the planet, especially the food and the humans.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: They're wonderful, but there's also thank you stand waiting for you,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: you know so I think that's what I'm trying to
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: do with the show. That what's we're trying to do
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: with the show is kind of get people out of
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: a comfort zone and push them to sort of open
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: themselves up in order to feel something. Travels should feel something,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: other ones. It's a holiday.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the future. Twenty minutes is never going to be enough.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: With you, Daniel, please come back.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having a minute.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: You be brilliant. Any day you be brilliant.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you so, thank you so