My travel mindset has been undergoing a walking-oriented transformation ever since I met my wife Kiki — though my yen for traveling on foot goes back to my 2002 trek across Andorra and 2000 walk across Israel, and even the summer-camp backpacking excursions of my late teens. Below are my five favorite recent Deviate episodes about travel on foot.
The case for why trekking on foot is the best way to embrace slow travel
This interview with Forrest Mallard of Tramposaurus Treks, which took place in Dubai in 2019, was one of the post popular episodes of Deviate Season Two — in part because it digs in to the simple elemental joys of travel on foot, and also because Forrest is not afraid to admit how he went from a clueless hiking newbie to a deeply experienced international walker who leads his own treks around the globe.
Long-distance hiking at home: The art of journeying out of your own back door
This episode, recorded in real-time with my wife Kiki Bush, doesn’t just detail the joys and travails of a 22-mile hike across the Kansas prairie to a town known as “Little Sweden” — it also references thinkers like Rebecca Solnit, Werner Herzog, and Thich Nhat Hanh in a philosophical exploration of what it means to explore a landscape on foot.
What Matt Green discovered by walking every single street in New York City
I love Matt Green’s systematic effort to walk down every street in New York City (as depicted in his film The World Before Your Feet) — in part because it came on the heels of an equally fascinating walking journey across the entirety of the United States, and in part because Matt articulates his walking experiences and philosophies with an aphoristic sense of insight.
Explore Europe on Foot: The hows and whys of trek-travel on the continent
This episode, entitled after Cassandra Overby’s book of the same name, was an admittedly self-interested endeavor on my part, since I had hoped to embark on a number of long-distance Europe treks when I talked to her in 2019. I recorded this episode a year before I met my wife Kiki, who is deeply experienced in trekking around Europe, and, as I note in my episode about meeting her, my interest in Europe-trekking is one of many factors that made meeting Kiki feel so serendipitous.
Alastair Humphreys on making outdoor adventure a more active part of your life
I’ve long been a fan of British adventurer Alastair Humphreys, and this episode explores his 2019 book My Midsummer Morning, which chronicles a walk across Spain in the footsteps of English writer Laurie Lee.
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