Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast. I am
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I am here with the
Speaker 1: Overland Collective's head marketing man, so he is the director
Speaker 1: the highest level of marketing within the Overland Collective. But
Speaker 1: you've been in the industry a long time, you really
Speaker 1: care about what we do with Overland Journal. You really
Speaker 1: have done so much good to help us reinforce the
Speaker 1: brand of Overland Journal. So for me, I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: that you're on the podcast because you understand what we're
Speaker 1: trying to accomplish, which is genuine travel around the world,
Speaker 1: tell great stories, maintain editorial integrity, and you've spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time in the marketing world. So we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about where the Overland Journal podcast came from,
Speaker 1: why we do it, why it's important to us as
Speaker 1: a business, and the ways that you're helping us to
Speaker 1: grow the.
Speaker 2: Podcast as well.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit about the gear that we
Speaker 1: use to record the podcast, and we've also got some
Speaker 1: folks here that are getting ready to take their grenadier
Speaker 1: to distant lands around the world.
Speaker 2: So we're going to answer a question of theirs and.
Speaker 1: A special thanks to Nitto Tire for supporting this week's podcast.
Speaker 1: The Terrain Grappler G three is the third generation of
Speaker 1: one of Overlanding's most trusted all terrain tires. A new
Speaker 1: compound and tread pattern delivers improved wet traction and a
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Speaker 1: while still ensuring performance on the road and in the
Speaker 1: backcountry and for even bigger news. The G three is
Speaker 1: now available in up to thirty seven inch sizes, but
Speaker 1: my personal favorite is the new two thirteen that I'm
Speaker 1: testing on my Quartermaster. This is the first all terrain
Speaker 1: available in that size, and since payload matters, the G
Speaker 1: three is lighter than most competitive all terrains. Niddo backs
Speaker 1: the G three with their best treadwear warranty ever that
Speaker 1: means seventy thousand miles for hard metric sizes and fifty
Speaker 1: five thousand miles for LT and flotation. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit nidotire dot com.
Speaker 2: Thanks Niddo.
Speaker 1: Caroline and Steven are with us here in the Overland
Speaker 1: Journal tent at the Overland Expo. This is the Flagstaff Event.
Speaker 1: This is their flagship event that they do every year
Speaker 1: and we're recording this live because we want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about where the podcast came from and
Speaker 1: why it's all about. But what it is all about
Speaker 1: is folks like you. I got to meet both of
Speaker 1: you two years ago. You were asking me questions about
Speaker 1: the Grenadier. We had a long conversation, so you ended
Speaker 1: up buying a Grenadier, and now you're looking for ideas
Speaker 1: of shipping it to Australia.
Speaker 2: Is at the case and you.
Speaker 1: Want to go to Australia first and then Africa. It
Speaker 1: might be a little bit easier actually to go to
Speaker 1: Australia first, So I'll give you guys some things to
Speaker 1: think about. Australia is actually the most difficult of the
Speaker 1: continents of the countries in the world that we normally
Speaker 1: overland to to bring a vehicle in because of their
Speaker 1: agricultural and quarantine requirements. So the most important thing that
Speaker 1: you can do is to work with a customs agent
Speaker 1: that will help you import the vehicle. And these custom
Speaker 1: agents are bonded and ensured by their quarantine division to
Speaker 1: be able to perform these inspections when the car comes in. So,
Speaker 1: for example, when I had driven across Russia all the
Speaker 1: way to this little place called Magadan on the end
Speaker 1: of the road to Bones, which was the dirtiest, dustiest,
Speaker 1: muddiest road you could possibly drive in the world, and
Speaker 1: we get to the end of it. Now I've got
Speaker 1: to ship these cars to Australia and hopefully get them
Speaker 1: through quarantine. The cool thing about using a customs broker
Speaker 1: like that is if it fails a quarantine inspection, they
Speaker 1: can clean it within their quarantine area and then reinspect
Speaker 1: it the next day. If you try to bring the
Speaker 1: car in yourself and it fails inspection, it is a
Speaker 1: mandatory fourteen day quarantine. So imagine how much money you
Speaker 1: can spend in fourteen days in a hotel waiting for
Speaker 1: your car to come out.
Speaker 2: So you're going to really.
Speaker 1: Want to focus on using one of those customs brokers
Speaker 1: to help you through that process, and then they can
Speaker 1: recheck the car every day after if it's necessary. And
Speaker 1: when we brought those cars in from Russia to of
Speaker 1: the land Cruisers, it.
Speaker 2: Failed the inspection. On the first day.
Speaker 1: They found out where the problems were, which was actually
Speaker 1: in the winch line. There was some debris that had
Speaker 1: been wound up in the winchline, so the rest of
Speaker 1: the car was perfectly cleaned. It had been properly detailed.
Speaker 1: But when the inspection agent, which familiar with world drives,
Speaker 1: he pulls out the winchline and out comes all this
Speaker 1: dirt and debris and stuff, and it failed. So they
Speaker 1: had to take the winchlines off, clean them, properly, reinstall
Speaker 1: the winchlines, and then we were able to import the vehicle. Now,
Speaker 1: where you import the vehicle within the country will also
Speaker 1: affect the modifications that you can perform to the car
Speaker 1: and still allow it to be imported. So if you
Speaker 1: plan on lifting the vehicle more than about fifty millimeters
Speaker 1: or going more than plus one or plus two on
Speaker 1: the tire size, you're going to want to make sure
Speaker 1: you bring it into what's called Queensland. You guys may
Speaker 1: be familiar with that. That's a great place to import
Speaker 1: the car into Australia because they have some of the
Speaker 1: more relaxed vehicle requirements around lift and weight and everything
Speaker 1: else like that. But it's very common now in Australia
Speaker 1: for them to check the vehicle weight, the curb weight
Speaker 1: against the gross vehicle weight. Australians are one of the
Speaker 1: most strict in the world around driving a vehicle around
Speaker 1: the country if it is over a gross vehicle weight,
Speaker 1: So we want to make sure that the car without
Speaker 1: you in it, without your personal effects, weighs less than
Speaker 1: the gross vehicle weight of the Grenadier rating. Fortunately, the
Speaker 1: Grenadier has a big payload, so it's pretty hard to
Speaker 1: get that over weight unless you're adding some gold bullyon.
Speaker 2: In or something like that.
Speaker 1: But Queensland would be a great place to bring it
Speaker 1: in that you have to take it from the port.
Speaker 1: You're going to be given a pass from the port
Speaker 1: to the local police station and they're going to check
Speaker 1: your safety devices on the car. That's where they may
Speaker 1: do that gross vehicle weight check, but they're also going
Speaker 1: to check your turn signals, your indicators, your hazards, your
Speaker 1: seat belt functions, that all of your headlights are functioning properly.
Speaker 1: They're going to look at all of that stuff and
Speaker 1: then they're going to give you a temporary pass to
Speaker 1: drive it around the country. And once you've got it
Speaker 1: into any of the they're not states, the provinces of Australia.
Speaker 1: Once you've got the vehicle in then you can go
Speaker 1: anywhere you want in the country. So that's going to
Speaker 1: be an amazing trip. I think it would be a
Speaker 1: lot harder to go from Africa to Australia because the
Speaker 1: quarantine requirements.
Speaker 2: So RU also.
Speaker 1: Fantastic and Cape York I only did for the first
Speaker 1: time last year, and I went all the way up
Speaker 1: to tell the old telegraph track all the way up
Speaker 1: to the tip, the northernmost point in Australia. And you
Speaker 1: guys have the snorkel on your Yeah, make sure that
Speaker 1: you not only have the snorkel, but that someone's gone
Speaker 1: through and really checked all of the seals. That was
Speaker 1: the deepest water crossings that I've ever done on a trip.
Speaker 1: The water was so deep that I was looking through
Speaker 1: the windshield under the water in that seventy series land
Speaker 1: because fortunately it was very brief that I was that deep,
Speaker 1: but the winch wipers are going back and forth and
Speaker 1: I was under the water.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe had.
Speaker 1: Four or five inches left on the snorkel and then
Speaker 1: it popped back out of the hole. So you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that snorkel is functioning properly. But what
Speaker 1: an incredible road. It's a real challenge, real fun challenge
Speaker 1: for sure. And then the canning Stock route, because yours
Speaker 1: is a gas model is oh you bought it somewhere else,
Speaker 1: got it in New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Perfect.
Speaker 1: So the nice thing about the diesel is you should
Speaker 1: be able to make it to the basically the midway
Speaker 1: point of the Canningsock route, which is called ken Oorwachie.
Speaker 1: It's an Aboriginal small little village, but that's about halfway
Speaker 1: through that eighteen hundred kilometer trail.
Speaker 2: And they have fuel. It used to be that you had.
Speaker 1: To pre order and pre buy the fuel and have
Speaker 1: them stage. Have you done that route before at the
Speaker 1: Canningstot route.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it.
Speaker 2: You're gonna love it.
Speaker 1: It was one of the most incredible places that I've
Speaker 1: ever seen in the world because you're so remote for
Speaker 1: so long, you drive for ten We did it in
Speaker 1: almost ten days, but some people take two three four
Speaker 1: weeks to do it.
Speaker 2: And you just can't get.
Speaker 1: That remote anywhere in the world, and there's no services.
Speaker 1: You're on a two track in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1: The history of that route is incredible. So, yeah, you
Speaker 1: guys all have a wonderful time. Yeah, you have to
Speaker 1: keep please keep me up to date. And then we
Speaker 1: can let the listeners know know how your journey's going.
Speaker 1: And then you're gonna ship to Cape Town you think
Speaker 1: from there, or Durban maybe all of those places that
Speaker 1: you mentioned. So Namibi a, Botswana, South Africa. Of course,
Speaker 1: getting up into Zambia, you're spending some time in lsuit To,
Speaker 1: which is the mountain Kingdom of Africa, where you're at
Speaker 1: nine thousand feet driving your Grenadier Sauny passes famous beautiful
Speaker 1: road with switchbacks, getting up to the highest pub in
Speaker 1: Africa so important, Yeah, which is important. You gotta have
Speaker 1: you gotta have a beer at the highest pub in Africa.
Speaker 1: And then one place I'll have you guys right down
Speaker 1: on your planning list. But when you go into Botswana
Speaker 1: from South Africa, you're going to come through the Johannesburg
Speaker 1: area and start working your way up to Botswana. You're
Speaker 1: going to go into southern Botswana and it's called the
Speaker 1: Kama Rhino Reserve k hm A I believe, and it's
Speaker 1: the it's a rhino reserve that you can camp in
Speaker 1: a amongst the rhinos and it's absolutely incredible. So you
Speaker 1: can and you can self drive, yeah, and you can
Speaker 1: self drive. So you've got a little campsite and you're
Speaker 1: gonna go self, drive out in your own grenadier, and
Speaker 1: it'll be the sun will be setting and the rhinos
Speaker 1: will be back lit and they'll be dust in the air.
Speaker 2: And if you're lucky, you'll see some baby rhinos.
Speaker 3: But rhinos are just chilling.
Speaker 2: They're just chill, just not trying to kill you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, they they give that off.
Speaker 2: They do give that vibe their nature's tank for sure,
Speaker 2: for sure. So the Comma Rhino Reserve do that.
Speaker 1: And of course you're gonna want to get up into
Speaker 1: the Oak of Bonga Delta there and please reach out.
Speaker 1: I'll give you guys all my tracks so that way
Speaker 1: you can do that route, and then from there would
Speaker 1: be easy to get over into the Caprivi Strip of Namibia,
Speaker 1: maybe even tip your toes into Angola, which I'd recommend,
Speaker 1: it's incredible deserts, and then from there you can be
Speaker 1: down into vent.
Speaker 2: Hook State, a great hotel, have some great food.
Speaker 1: And then you'll be back in South Africa before you
Speaker 1: know it. Thank you guys for being here and for
Speaker 1: always checking in. It's always nice to see your faces.
Speaker 1: Glad to hear that your adventure is still in the
Speaker 1: planning stages, and you guys are going to head out.
Speaker 1: So next time I see you, hopefully you're giving me
Speaker 1: the updates and all the places that you've been.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you, yeah, thank you? All right.
Speaker 1: So, anybody else in the audience have some questions for
Speaker 1: us on the podcast?
Speaker 4: What do you love about the Overland Journal podcast?
Speaker 2: So the question is what do I love about the
Speaker 2: Overland Journal podcast? In particular?
Speaker 1: I will say that this is the part of my
Speaker 1: job that I love the most. It's the thing that
Speaker 1: I do on a weekly or sometimes daily basis that
Speaker 1: brings me the most joy in my work.
Speaker 2: I would do it for free.
Speaker 1: I would pay to be able to do it because
Speaker 1: I get to meet people like these folks that are
Speaker 1: here in this tent with me that are looking to
Speaker 1: go see the world. Or I get to interview people
Speaker 1: who have gone and seen the world and it's not
Speaker 1: only changed them, it's changed their family, it's changed their
Speaker 1: outlook on life, on their profession. Many of them have
Speaker 1: created professions from it. So for me, it's incredibly inspiring
Speaker 1: to be able to sit across from someone who has
Speaker 1: explored some amazing part of the world and just see
Speaker 1: how it's changed them because I know how travels changed
Speaker 1: me in ways that I would have never expected. So
Speaker 1: it's incredibly humbling, and it's an important reminder for me
Speaker 1: on an almost daily basis that there's so much more
Speaker 1: of the world to see. Even though I've seen a
Speaker 1: little bit of it, there's so much more to see.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's why I do it.
Speaker 4: You always, whether we're in person talking to people, or
Speaker 4: you're on the podcast or whatever, you always open yourself
Speaker 4: up to questions and give your email address.
Speaker 2: You're very open about all that.
Speaker 3: Do people take advantage of that?
Speaker 2: They do, actually quite often.
Speaker 1: Probably the most common way that people reach out to
Speaker 1: me is through direct message on Instagram. I think it's
Speaker 1: because a lot of travelers are just on Instagram, So
Speaker 1: if you want to reach out, it's Scott dot a
Speaker 1: dot Brady on Instagram, or if you go onto the
Speaker 1: expedition portal or the overline journal Instagram, those messages could
Speaker 1: get forwarded to me there as well. But people do
Speaker 1: reach out all the time. I would say about half
Speaker 1: the time it's something technical about the vehicle or question
Speaker 1: about a vehicle because it's such a big investment, and
Speaker 1: the other half the time is they're getting ready, like
Speaker 1: these folks, is I'm going to go drive the canting
Speaker 1: stock route and what do I what.
Speaker 2: A couple things that I really need to know. But
Speaker 2: they do reach out, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 3: If you had any relationships that have developed out of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely long friendships. I'm just I'm so fortunate that
Speaker 1: people are willing to reach out and then so then
Speaker 1: I get to meet them here at an event, which
Speaker 1: is which is so cool to be able to interact
Speaker 1: with someone that has had a life changing experience, and
Speaker 1: then I get to see them in person and you
Speaker 1: get to really learn about their life.
Speaker 2: So it's good.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they end up on the podcast. Yeah, how often
Speaker 1: has that happen? I would say, spot no, No, that's good.
Speaker 1: I would say that those a trial like these folks
Speaker 1: here have traveled a lot in their life. I remember
Speaker 1: in having conference conversations with you about that. But what
Speaker 1: she said is that it just opened them both up.
Speaker 1: It made them more open minded, more accepting, And I
Speaker 1: think that's the important thing. Is when we live in
Speaker 1: our little town, you hang out with the same people
Speaker 1: a lot of times, you believe the same things, you
Speaker 1: support the same sports team or whatever else. But to
Speaker 1: be in Spain at the World Cup, you don't really
Speaker 1: speak the language, but the energy of a place like
Speaker 1: that when they're celebrating their team, it's absolutely intoxicating. So
Speaker 1: I think that's a big piece of it, is being
Speaker 1: open to experiencing new cultures. Andy, who's in the tent
Speaker 1: here with us right now, we were traveling through Mauritania together,
Speaker 1: and both of us I've traveled a fair bit in
Speaker 1: my life, and it was Andy's first time into Africa,
Speaker 1: and we were both having an incredible moment in this
Speaker 1: historic Saharan village of Chingueti, which was at the start
Speaker 1: of the trans Sahara. It was where they would get
Speaker 1: their last supplies, and sometimes they were so heavily loaded
Speaker 1: that they would actually unload their books in these libraries
Speaker 1: at ching Weddy and some of these books have been
Speaker 1: there for nearly a thousand years, so it was such
Speaker 1: an incredible experience.
Speaker 2: So it changes us a lot. Travel definitely changes us.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know you've kind of a common thread I
Speaker 4: think between you and I've Ashley talked about it on
Speaker 4: the podcast too. It is just getting out of your
Speaker 4: own head and getting out of the news cycle. There's
Speaker 4: obviously positives to free press and media, but also there's
Speaker 4: some pitfalls to listening to media too much and not
Speaker 4: just getting out there and experiencing it. But is there
Speaker 4: any notable places that maybe you've talked about or haven't
Speaker 4: talked about recently.
Speaker 3: Or haven't talked about that really changed your mind.
Speaker 4: I've been talking about how this is unsafe or scary
Speaker 4: or be careful of going there, and you went you
Speaker 4: were like dot it all.
Speaker 1: That's an important point and I appreciate you asking the question,
Speaker 1: because universally throughout the world, people are good. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: going to be a small percentage of people in any country,
Speaker 1: including the United States or probably not New Zealand, but
Speaker 1: maybe even New Zealand, there's gonna be a percentage people.
Speaker 2: Who were bad people.
Speaker 1: But universally, the governments are going to be screwed up
Speaker 1: to some degree, maybe not New Zealand, but generally governments
Speaker 1: are screwed up, and generally people are really great. So
Speaker 1: for example, just when I was driving down West Africa,
Speaker 1: I went into countries that people would be terrified to
Speaker 1: travel to, like Nigeria or Cameroon, but these were the
Speaker 1: most warm and hospitable and supportive people. They're fascinated that
Speaker 1: we want to come see their country, and they're proud
Speaker 1: of their country, so of course they want to.
Speaker 2: Show us a great time.
Speaker 1: And we'd come to these military checkpoints in Nigeria and
Speaker 1: all the soldiers would like they'd salute us because they
Speaker 1: thought it was so cool that Americans were coming to
Speaker 1: see their country. So I would say that if you
Speaker 1: want to know how a place is, go to a
Speaker 1: first person account that's fairly recent.
Speaker 2: This is just good travel advice.
Speaker 1: So if you want to go to drive the Canning Stock,
Speaker 1: I can be helpful, but it's been quite a few
Speaker 1: years since I drove it. The best thing that you
Speaker 1: can do is find someone who drove it last season
Speaker 1: or earlier on in the season, or even better person
Speaker 1: coming from the other direction, because that power of recent
Speaker 1: and local knowledge is incredibly informative.
Speaker 2: So that what you don't want to.
Speaker 1: Do is ask your great aunt if you should go
Speaker 1: to Nigeria, because she's probably gonna say no because she
Speaker 1: doesn't know anything about it and it seems like a
Speaker 1: scary place that she's seen on TV is a scary
Speaker 1: place unless she's a big traveler. But in general, you
Speaker 1: want to take travel advice from someone who's very recently
Speaker 1: been in the country.
Speaker 4: Let's throw it back a little bit. Yeah, let's throw
Speaker 4: it back to nowhere. We're kind of talking about podcasting
Speaker 4: in general. What made you want to start the podcast,
Speaker 4: what was the impetus for it? And then would when
Speaker 4: did you realize that it was going to be quite
Speaker 4: successful to start? Obviously much more successful now, but I'm
Speaker 4: assuming after episodes one and two years, is this going
Speaker 4: to work?
Speaker 3: Can I make this happens?
Speaker 1: It's interesting it I have always enjoyed podcasts, and the
Speaker 1: podcast that I listened to the most before I started
Speaker 1: this one. It's run by a guy by the name
Speaker 1: of Tim Ferriss. He's one of the more popular podcasts,
Speaker 1: but he's just a really yeah and he's a traveler.
Speaker 1: He's like, he's into life hack and business stuff and
Speaker 1: travel and also remote travel and he's had some really
Speaker 1: fantastic guests on his podcast about travel. But that was
Speaker 1: my favorite podcast and I listened to it all the time,
Speaker 1: and I realized that we interact with so many incredible
Speaker 1: people through Overland Journal. We get to we have interviews
Speaker 1: that we conducted in print, so we have this opportunity
Speaker 1: to meet all these incredible folks that have been around
Speaker 1: the world, and I thought it's a healthy medium for
Speaker 1: us to add. Now I'll dig into the weeds a
Speaker 1: little bit. From the business perspective, one of the things
Speaker 1: that I've always been really careful of is not having
Speaker 1: some degree of ownership over the platform. So I've always
Speaker 1: been really careful of focusing too much on social media,
Speaker 1: because what happens if Instagram is no longer the big
Speaker 1: thing and something else is Yeah, and you've invested all
Speaker 1: of this energy in their expedition portal we started with,
Speaker 1: and we had the website.
Speaker 2: We had control over the website. We could make sure.
Speaker 1: That the content that went on there was family friendly
Speaker 1: and there was a degree of editorial integrity and all
Speaker 1: this other stuff.
Speaker 2: Same with the magazine.
Speaker 1: We could make it ourselves, we could find the right people,
Speaker 1: we could make sure that the content was at the
Speaker 1: level of quality that was important to us, and then
Speaker 1: we could have a relationship with the customer, directly to
Speaker 1: the customer.
Speaker 2: And so the podcast was the last.
Speaker 1: Medium that we could do that yeah, where we weren't
Speaker 1: beholden the YouTube or social media or anything else. We
Speaker 1: could have our own podcast feed and we could deliver
Speaker 1: it directly to our audience. So it was Tim Ferriss
Speaker 1: and his great job that he did that inspired me
Speaker 1: to try my own, and then there was a good
Speaker 1: business case for it. And oh, here's another thing that's
Speaker 1: cool about podcasts related to overlanding. It's the one form
Speaker 1: of medium that every overlander can consume. So if you're
Speaker 1: on like Tavia who's in the tent with us, she
Speaker 1: can be on our motorcycle listening to a podcast.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Whereas like when you're driving a car, it's hard to
Speaker 1: read a magazine, maybe it's even maybe more difficult to
Speaker 1: watch a video. But when we're doing the thing, when
Speaker 1: we're doing overlanding, we can all be consuming a podcast.
Speaker 2: So to me it was also like, oh, that's a
Speaker 2: great fit to what we do.
Speaker 1: The main way that I consume podcasts in the car, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like during your commute or wet or once the kids
Speaker 1: go to bed.
Speaker 3: I turned a podcasts on Google Home while I'm doing dishes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do it.
Speaker 1: While while I'm in the shop working on the cars,
Speaker 1: I listen to a podcast, and I try to listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts all the time, or I like audio books
Speaker 1: a lot too, But.
Speaker 2: I like that medium.
Speaker 1: It helps me consume a lot more content because I'm
Speaker 1: always driving somewhere, so it really helps. And I think
Speaker 1: we knew it was successful when we were able when
Speaker 1: we would reach out to somebody who was really important
Speaker 1: for us to interview. Like Tom Shepherd comes to mind,
Speaker 1: who's really like the godfather of overlanding as we know
Speaker 1: it out of he did some incredible stuff with the
Speaker 1: Royal Geographical Society, and when he finally agreed to do
Speaker 1: the podcast, I was like, we've made we'd met because
Speaker 1: he said no for many years because but he realized
Speaker 1: it was a great way to tell his story. So
Speaker 1: that was when we realized, like someone like Eva Zubec
Speaker 1: wants to be on the podcast, people that like Clay
Speaker 1: and Rachelle for years they would be on the podcast
Speaker 1: because it was beneficial to them, And now we get
Speaker 1: to all do it together.
Speaker 3: Who's saying no to you right now? Who has spent
Speaker 3: saying no consistently?
Speaker 2: Chris Scott.
Speaker 1: Chris Scott, Yeah, we need to We need to get
Speaker 1: Chris Scott on. He's another og overlander, very inspirational to
Speaker 1: my early travels. He is a minimalist traveler. He's the
Speaker 1: kind of guy who will buy a Honda six hundred
Speaker 1: dirt bike, throw some soft bags on the side, and
Speaker 1: go travel through North Africa for three months. So for him,
Speaker 1: it's about going and doing the thing, and people like
Speaker 1: that are really inspiring to me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I saw how quickly you set this up, so
Speaker 4: it's probably to answer my question.
Speaker 3: But you also record podcasts from a vehicle off row
Speaker 3: we do anywhere across the world. How hard is that
Speaker 3: to set up?
Speaker 1: So we have two different ways that we record the podcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, we're recording onto a Zoom microphone. This was
Speaker 1: actually recommended by Andy who's here in the tent. This
Speaker 1: is what they use at Xoverland for all their podcasts,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, I should probably buy that same unit
Speaker 1: for the field. And then we use Lavalier mics because
Speaker 1: they're a lot more compact to travel with, so I
Speaker 1: can actually bring this kit with me on my motorcycle.
Speaker 2: It's small enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I'll normally record video on a DGI Osmo,
Speaker 1: which is their little balanced head camera shoots in four
Speaker 1: K and we can shoot a wide enough that we
Speaker 1: can make it work off of one camera angle in
Speaker 1: the field. Right now, we're shooting on some fancy contraption
Speaker 1: that Andy is set up, so it'll probably make me
Speaker 1: look a little bit less of a face for radio goos.
Speaker 2: All over the bar and the over the Journal. It
Speaker 2: looks pretty cool. It looks pretty cool.
Speaker 1: But when we're in when we're in the Overland Journal
Speaker 1: offices in Prescott, or when we're in the ex Overland Hangar,
Speaker 1: the ex Hanger in Montana, we do use multiple cameras
Speaker 1: to provide multiple angles so it looks nicer on YouTube.
Speaker 1: We've been doing the podcast since twenty nineteen, but it's
Speaker 1: only really been in the last year and a half
Speaker 1: or so that Paul has had enough time and we've
Speaker 1: gotten support from Andy to really set up the lighting right,
Speaker 1: multiple camera angles. We really focus on making it look
Speaker 1: as enjoyable as possible for a YouTube viewer, but our
Speaker 1: main focus is to make sure it's available in audio
Speaker 1: format for travelers going around.
Speaker 3: The world, so you have the studio in the office.
Speaker 1: Recently, recently, Ashley has been doing a lot of recording,
Speaker 1: partly because she was in Canada for a while and
Speaker 1: had more time, but she's also an incredibly important voice
Speaker 1: to the podcast, so to call her a co host
Speaker 1: is not even fully recognizing the critical role that she
Speaker 1: plays in the podcast. So she is in my experience
Speaker 1: and from my perspective, her and I are at that
Speaker 1: same level of focus around covering people traveling around the world.
Speaker 1: So I hope that we have at least fifty percent
Speaker 1: of it b Ashley, if not more, because she's an
Speaker 1: incredibly legitimate traveler. She's been around the world the whole
Speaker 1: length of the America's Northern Africa. They're on their way
Speaker 1: across the Silk Road, they're getting ready to cross into China.
Speaker 1: Her and Richards and Ashley has a really important perspective.
Speaker 2: We have a shared value around editorial.
Speaker 1: Integrity and accessibility of travel to everyone, but she has
Speaker 1: a different perspective, which I think is cool. Yeah, she's
Speaker 1: a really important part of the team, and I hope
Speaker 1: that we have more and more of Ashley. The one
Speaker 1: thing that has allowed us to do a little bit
Speaker 1: more is we're recording more podcasts on a system called Riverside,
Speaker 1: which allows for me to be in front of my
Speaker 1: laptop and maybe hopefully Chris Scott could be in front
Speaker 1: of his laptop in the UK and I can record
Speaker 1: with remote travelers. Things like Starlink has made that possible,
Speaker 1: so we're able to do more and more remote recording
Speaker 1: at high quality, So we're doing more and more of
Speaker 1: those as well. So probably a third of the podcast
Speaker 1: is Me in some form of interview, etc. Another third
Speaker 1: is Ashley, and then that last third is some combination
Speaker 1: of all those, including the riverside recordings. I've got a
Speaker 1: question for the audience that's not only in this room,
Speaker 1: but those that are listening, because we'd love some feedback.
Speaker 1: We are thinking about doing a storytelling version of the podcast.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll start at once a quarter, but where we
Speaker 1: take some crazy adventure story that I've experienced or that
Speaker 1: Ashley's experienced or Matt's experienced, and it will be like
Speaker 1: a spoken word adventure storytelling episode where I get to
Speaker 1: talk about saving Prince Harry and Antarctica, or getting run
Speaker 1: over by a gunboat in the Amazon at the border
Speaker 1: of Columbia and Venezuela, or any number of things where
Speaker 1: we get to tell the story like you would see
Speaker 1: it in overland journal So we've featured all of these
Speaker 1: stories in the pages of overland journals. We think it
Speaker 1: might be neat to help those stories come alive in
Speaker 1: the spoken word, in the spoken word storytelling style on
Speaker 1: the Overland Journal podcast. So if you guys that are
Speaker 1: listening like the idea, please let us know because.
Speaker 2: We'll try it out. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I recently read that's the Gunboats excerpt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, overlanding one in over overlanding one on one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there you go.
Speaker 3: It's always Nanty Hurt, a wonderful voice.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I have a face for Rade.
Speaker 3: It absolutely does.
Speaker 2: All of hers remote though, right, like almost all of them.
Speaker 1: Some of them she's able to do in person when
Speaker 1: she bumps into another traveler that's on the same route,
Speaker 1: so she's probably done. Maybe fifteen twenty percent of them
Speaker 1: have been.
Speaker 2: In person for her, Yeah, because she's so remote. He's
Speaker 2: in the middle of open place or in middle of nowhere. Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I think I don't know if this is intentional
Speaker 4: or not, but I feel like between yourself, Mad Scott,
Speaker 4: n Ashley Giordano, you guys all have very different perspectives
Speaker 4: and personalities, and I think that's reflected.
Speaker 3: In the interviews and when you guys are like you and.
Speaker 4: Mad Scott will obviously have your banter sessions, which I
Speaker 4: think is positive. But did you intentionally cultivate those personalities.
Speaker 3: Was that is that something that you said out to
Speaker 3: do or did it just happen to know?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Like for me, it started from a just an incredible
Speaker 1: amount of respect for Ashley's She's an excellent writer and
Speaker 1: she's very well traveled. So the thing that's was most
Speaker 1: important is that whoever's going to be a host on
Speaker 1: the podcast has to have seen the world, not all
Speaker 1: of it, but has to have been has gotten in
Speaker 1: the dirt, has had some struggles. Because that it brings
Speaker 1: some perspective that I think is really important. And it's
Speaker 1: not to say that in order for someone to overland
Speaker 1: that they have to go across Africa. It's not necessary,
Speaker 1: but I think for a host, it's really important to
Speaker 1: have had those bumps and bruises along the way. I
Speaker 1: also like the fact that Matt and I are are
Speaker 1: best buddies, but we're also very different and we banter
Speaker 1: like we do on the podcast, like on a Wednesday
Speaker 1: afternoon in the office. That's how we disagree, and he
Speaker 1: has different perspectives and I have different perspectives, and that's
Speaker 1: what makes it awesome. So I love the fact that
Speaker 1: Matt still wants to participate because it's one of the
Speaker 1: best parts of my week is when Matt and I
Speaker 1: get to sit down and talk about a subject and
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to have a filter.
Speaker 2: Now, sometimes we edit a little bit.
Speaker 1: Paula has the job of saving Matt from himself, so
Speaker 1: we do edit at times a little bit. But that's
Speaker 1: Matt's voice, it's his opinion. I've never told him he
Speaker 1: can't say something if he doesn't like a product. I've
Speaker 1: never said, hey, that's an advertiser. You can't say that,
Speaker 1: because we don't do that in the magazine and we
Speaker 1: won't do it on the podcast. So we always speak
Speaker 1: from a place of personal conviction, and we don't put
Speaker 1: those filters in place because we think that wouldn't be
Speaker 1: a service to our listener. Yea, So not a week
Speaker 1: goes by that someone doesn't reach out to ask how
Speaker 1: they can help support the podcast. We are supported entirely
Speaker 1: by Overland Journal the magazine. So when you become a
Speaker 1: subscriber to The Overland Journal print magazine, you get this
Speaker 1: beautiful book that comes in five times a year. It
Speaker 1: also gives you access to our digital archive and it's
Speaker 1: well over one hundred pages of gorgeous images and detailed
Speaker 1: testing and adventures from around the globe. So if you
Speaker 1: go to Overland Journal dot com and you subscribe to
Speaker 1: the magazine, use the code overland Podcast and that'll get
Speaker 1: you twenty percent off. It's only available to our podcast listeners.
Speaker 1: We don't advertise it anywhere else, and then you help
Speaker 1: us to maintain that independent, employee owned journalism that we
Speaker 1: have been famous for, so it allows us to conduct
Speaker 1: those tests without any advertorial Another way you can help
Speaker 1: out too. I produced a book last year with Simon
Speaker 1: and Schuster called Overlanding one oh one. You can find
Speaker 1: it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or even your
Speaker 1: local bookstore, and that encompasses my decades of travel around
Speaker 1: the world, all my mistakes and failures, and the lessons
Speaker 1: that I've learned in traveling around the globe. Many of
Speaker 1: those that you hear on the podcast have been distilled
Speaker 1: down into print form with great lists and beautiful imagery,
Speaker 1: So you can find that at your local bookstore. Overlanding
Speaker 1: one oh one, And thank you all for listening and
Speaker 1: for supporting us so much throughout these years.
Speaker 4: And this might be a little bit of sausage being
Speaker 4: made but somebody. We had somebody that was in the
Speaker 4: booths earlier who had paid for an advertisement in the
Speaker 4: summer edition of Overlandrell Cool and it was like, hey,
Speaker 4: tell me about the podcast.
Speaker 3: Is that pay to play?
Speaker 4: Because everybody gets on there there a sum of money.
Speaker 4: He said, no, it has to be somebody that we're
Speaker 4: interested in interview Ank Yep. There have been sponsors or
Speaker 4: brands every life where a brand leader has come on.
Speaker 3: Yes, but it's because we believe in the product, and
Speaker 3: it's somebody you've used personally.
Speaker 1: And it usually has nothing to do with the product.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, I'll give you a good example of that.
Speaker 1: So we have had Dave Hereton from AEV on the
Speaker 1: podcast many times. He is someone that I trust to
Speaker 1: speak with integrity about very technical subjects. He happens to
Speaker 1: be the CEO of AEV, but he knows when he
Speaker 1: comes on the podcast we're not talking about his product.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's brought up because it's context, but what he's
Speaker 1: talking about is this is why products are made a
Speaker 1: certain way, this is why some codings are used. This
Speaker 1: is the types of things to consider around suspension or
Speaker 1: the person who owns the business has to have a
Speaker 1: great travel story in and of themselves, or they need
Speaker 1: to have provided some benefit to the community beyond their product,
Speaker 1: Like we had Jen from Outdoorsy on not that long ago,
Speaker 1: and it's such a neat platform and we have no
Speaker 1: financial relationship without Doorsy at all, but we think it's
Speaker 1: a great, great way for people to go try an
Speaker 1: overland vehicles out.
Speaker 3: It's a great win on the website.
Speaker 4: After I listened to podcasts because I was like, can
Speaker 4: I buy a GX kit it out and then rent
Speaker 4: it out for a weekend a mug to then justify it.
Speaker 3: To my wife?
Speaker 1: She said, no, okay, but what inspired But what a
Speaker 1: cool service right to be able to, hey, I want
Speaker 1: to try out a sprinter van, but not spend two
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars to spend two grand and go try
Speaker 1: it out for a long weekend. Things like that are
Speaker 1: great examples of services. But we have never in almost
Speaker 1: three hundred episodes, accepted any renumeration for a guest to
Speaker 1: be on the podcast, and we won't do it as
Speaker 1: long as I'm involved.
Speaker 2: Yeah's you kind.
Speaker 4: Of talked about with a storytelling, But what's the next
Speaker 4: hill of time for you for the podcast or for
Speaker 4: Overland Internal GEMO.
Speaker 1: I think the goal for us is to continue to
Speaker 1: improve the quality of it. So Andy and Paula have
Speaker 1: been working really hard to improve.
Speaker 2: The audio quality.
Speaker 1: So I apologize to all their listening for any moments
Speaker 1: of frustrations you've ever had with the Overland Journal podcast.
Speaker 1: Sometime we're literally in the middle of nowhere, or we're
Speaker 1: trying to record it in a car on a corrugated
Speaker 1: road or whatever.
Speaker 2: But Paula and Andy.
Speaker 1: Are working super hard to help us continue to improve
Speaker 1: the audio quality of the podcast to make it easier
Speaker 1: for you to listen to. So please keep giving us
Speaker 1: some grace while we try to sort that out. We
Speaker 1: think we got it pretty we're squared away in the
Speaker 1: recording studio, but other places we're still there's wind, the
Speaker 1: flap the ten flaps are flapping.
Speaker 2: Andy's over there smirking at me.
Speaker 3: He's like, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 1: He's probably got some algorithm that'll run and take all
Speaker 1: you're making noise exactly exactly. So I think one of
Speaker 1: the next most important thing is for us to continue
Speaker 1: to improve the quality.
Speaker 2: We want to continue to elevate the level of.
Speaker 1: The guests that we have on the podcast. We want
Speaker 1: to get more incredible travelers. We've got several of them
Speaker 1: booked here at Overland Expo that are going to be
Speaker 1: on the podcast. So if you've got anyone in mind
Speaker 1: that you think we should be interviewing or that we
Speaker 1: should have on the podcast, please reach out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because we're looking for the.
Speaker 3: To the listeners they think they should be on podcast.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: If yeah, if you're listening and you should be on
Speaker 1: the podcast, please let me know.
Speaker 2: We'd love to interview truly.
Speaker 4: And then I think this might be my last one.
Speaker 4: Overland Journal is about to celebrate a little bit.
Speaker 3: Of a birthday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3: I'm about to have a issue come out that's suppossibly notable.
Speaker 3: Do you want to talk about that at all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 1: The Overland Journal podcast is possible because of the Overland
Speaker 1: Journal magazine, and that's because we do have revenue streams
Speaker 1: related to subscription and advertising in the magazine that allows
Speaker 1: us to underwrite the podcast.
Speaker 2: So for all of you that.
Speaker 1: Are listening, if you subscribe to the magazine, you're helping
Speaker 1: to support the podcast that you enjoy listening to. It
Speaker 1: helps us to continue.
Speaker 2: To do this.
Speaker 1: But we've been doing it for almost twenty years. So
Speaker 1: we started Overland Journal as a business in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six, and our very first issue of the magazine
Speaker 1: was Spring of two thousand and seven. The spring issue
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty seven is going to be our twentieth
Speaker 1: anniversary issue. It's going to be the anniversary issue. It's
Speaker 1: going to be developed as such. We're going to be
Speaker 1: bringing back some incredible stories and catching up with these
Speaker 1: folks where they're at in the world, and a bunch
Speaker 1: of new content. And it's also going to be our
Speaker 1: one hundred copy of the magazine, which is crazy for
Speaker 1: me to think that we have produced one hundred Overland
Speaker 1: journals over twenty years. To see them all put together
Speaker 1: on my desk now is it's very humbling to me
Speaker 1: that so many people have given so much of their
Speaker 1: time to help us tell stories of adventure around the world.
Speaker 1: So the magazine wouldn't be possible without subscribers, it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be possible without the advertisers that have believed in us
Speaker 1: from the beginning, and it certainly wouldn't be possible without
Speaker 1: all of those incredible contributors. Our editor to Overacker, Stephanie
Speaker 1: Brady or designer Bill Ashley is a regular contributor to
Speaker 1: the magazine, So we wouldn't it wouldn't even be possible
Speaker 1: without those folks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this very very tiny team. It's a tiny really
Speaker 3: outstanding work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we care. We all love it. We care
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: Just the amount of time that we spend vacillating over
Speaker 1: the cover of the magazine, like hours of deliberation, because
Speaker 1: we want it to be the very best that we
Speaker 1: can make it. And Jake, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: caring about the magazine enough that you spend significant parts
Speaker 1: of your day thinking about how we make the business
Speaker 1: healthy and continue on for hopefully another twenty years.
Speaker 3: It's I really appreciate that.
Speaker 4: I appreciate the opportunity that you guys have given me
Speaker 4: to be able to.
Speaker 3: Insert my opinion and have my voice be a part
Speaker 3: of how we're going about making this bigger and better.
Speaker 1: And you've got a big trip coming up with your son,
Speaker 1: So let's let's let the audience know what Jake is
Speaker 1: planning up to.
Speaker 2: The big thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have the Overland Collective has the Big Thing
Speaker 4: twenty twenty six ty ninth through twelve.
Speaker 3: My family has a vacation in Tahoe. I live in
Speaker 3: southern California, so we're doing a little Tahoe trip.
Speaker 4: And then my son and I are going to make
Speaker 4: a trip from Tahoe to Three Forks just outside of Postman,
Speaker 4: and then all the way back down to southern California.
Speaker 3: And I'll be the first broad trip with me and
Speaker 3: my five year old boy.
Speaker 1: And you're gonna be building out a rig, as I understand,
Speaker 1: we don't know exactly what it's gonna be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're looking out some stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we got a roof ten for you already, so
Speaker 1: you're gonna have an auto home on this thing.
Speaker 2: Whatever it is ends up being. Get you some more gear.
Speaker 1: But to go do that with your son, that has
Speaker 1: got to be the coolest thing possible is to go
Speaker 1: have that multi generational experience with your boy.
Speaker 2: So yeah, cool is that.
Speaker 3: I still got to map it out. We're less than
Speaker 3: two months away, and I don't have my route set
Speaker 3: old or where we're going to camp, settle the.
Speaker 2: Or It'll all be fine, it'll all be fine.
Speaker 3: Work it out.
Speaker 4: But if he has dirt that he can play in puddles,
Speaker 4: he can stomp in links, he can dive in then
Speaker 4: he's good.
Speaker 2: That sounds perfect for both you and him.
Speaker 3: So I'll drink a cold beer while he's gonna hold it.
Speaker 2: Ah, that sounds great.
Speaker 1: That sounds great And a special thanks to Hankook Tire
Speaker 1: for supporting this week's podcast. With Summer Underway, head over
Speaker 1: to Expeditionportal dot com for Jeepbeach Vibe inspiration. Our team
Speaker 1: spent the weekend with handcook Dina pro Tire at this
Speaker 1: year's twenty twenty six Jeep Beachweak in Daytona, Florida and
Speaker 1: took a look at their Wrangler three ninety two. Look
Speaker 1: for Jeep Beach twenty twenty six when you go to
Speaker 1: Expedition Portal dot com.
Speaker 2: The other questions from the room here before we wrap.
Speaker 1: This up, if you had that one guest is your
Speaker 1: one guest wish list right now, one guest wish list,
Speaker 1: I truly it would be Ewan McGregor. And the reason
Speaker 1: for it is the Long Way Round was. It all
Speaker 1: came out just before we started Expedition Portal and Overland Journal,
Speaker 1: and it was an incredible inspiration to me, not only
Speaker 1: that our trip like that could be done around the world,
Speaker 1: but that they could tell such great stories around it.
Speaker 1: And I'm not much into pop culture and I didn't
Speaker 1: really even know the extent of what these guys had
Speaker 1: done when movies and everything else. But for two guys
Speaker 1: to say, Hey, we want to go ride BMW's around
Speaker 1: the world and then do it, that's an incredible inspiration
Speaker 1: just for the sake of like, how has that changed
Speaker 1: his life? He's had an incredible life and he's done
Speaker 1: incredible things as an actor, as an artist, but how
Speaker 1: is travel on a.
Speaker 2: Motorcycle changed him as a person.
Speaker 1: I would love to know, because I suspect it's changed
Speaker 1: him in a lot of ways. So yeah, that would
Speaker 1: probably be the one I'd love to sit across from
Speaker 1: just to thank him for what he did.
Speaker 3: That was a cool one too.
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that came out on MTV or something.
Speaker 4: Watching a television that was quite a big gonor at
Speaker 4: that point, but that was impactful for me. Yeah, to
Speaker 4: see a movie star may have had a Star Wars
Speaker 4: roll or two, yep, and to watch that in that
Speaker 4: trip on those motorcycles and it holds up.
Speaker 1: I started watching it a little bit ago again and
Speaker 1: it was like, it really holds up it's still super good.
Speaker 1: It's super fun to watch, even all those years later.
Speaker 1: And of course the motorcycle that I ride now is
Speaker 1: an eleven to fifty gs adventure, just like those guys rode.
Speaker 1: So it definitely had an impact on me. So we
Speaker 1: got a couple of checklist items. Yeah, we got some checklists.
Speaker 1: Some people to reach out to you. Yeah, that'd be cool.
Speaker 1: That would be awesome, That would be awesome. All right,
Speaker 1: thank you all for attending our little session. Thanks for
Speaker 1: your question. I'm excited to hear more of your updates
Speaker 1: on Australia and Africa, and we thank you all for listening,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you next time.