In the Nørrebro neighborhood of Copenhagen, there's a small building with a garden and wooden seats. At first glance, it looks like some sort of neighborhood cafe, but it's actually the Menneskebiblioteket or Human Library, where the "readers" and "books" are people having deeply personal and intimate conversations about topics that might normally be considered off-limits or taboo in polite society. The library is staffed by volunteers whose life stories and experiences mean they face some sort of stigma, whether it be due to their ethnicity, religion, orientation, occupation, disability, or social status.

“I always had this idea about creating a space where we could ask the questions that often were potentially frowned upon,” said Ronni Abergel, who came up with the concept of the library about 25 years ago.

“Sometimes we meet people and there's just the elephant in the room. There's something about them that we really want to address, but it's too personal.”

His goal with the Human Library — he told me — was to create a safe space where people of disparate backgrounds could connect and build acceptance through understanding, even if they don’t necessarily agree on everything.

“We're here to promote those difficult conversations, to make them less difficult and less dangerous,” he said.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I speak with Ronni and I pay a visit to Copenhagen’s Human Library where I chat with a librarian and several "books."

Since its humble beginning in Denmark, the Human Library concept has now spread to more than 80 countries on 6 continents! You can visit the library's Facebook page to find out about upcoming library events near you.

(This episode includes the following music: Shapeshifters, Go to Sleep, Moodswing, Mont Blanc, Ice Pack, The Gall, Scaffoldings, Downtown, and Well and Good by Podington Bear from the Free Music Archives - CC by N.C. 3.0 and 1960s 2 House from Mobygratis) 

When he was 26 years old in 1948, Garry Davis did something that would make the rest of his life really complicated.

Over the next six decades, he’d be detained and imprisoned 34 times in 9 countries, dragged off the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, and gain millions of followers, all while confronting countless bureaucrats who had absolutely no idea what to do with him.

What set this chain of events into motion was his decision to stand before a guy in a gray suit at the US Embassy in Paris, put his hand on a bible, and read a couple of lines off a sheet of paper renouncing his American citizenship. And he'd never become a citizen of any other country, instead navigating the world as a stateless person without any sort of road map or instruction manual.

Garry’s life journey that led him up to that point was pretty unexpected. He was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family, the son of a famous bandleader, and himself a rising Broadway star. But his experience flying bombing raids during World War II and losing his older brother Bud to a German torpedo caused him to reevaluate not just his participation in the war, but his identity as an American citizen. Eventually he concluded that the only way to prevent future wars was for people to completely remove themselves from the system that creates the “us versus them” mentality.

Garry would go on to found the World Government of World Citizens and issue birth certificates, passports, and other identity documents, all in his quest for unity and peace.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I revisit a lengthy interview I conducted with Garry at his home in Vermont back in 2009 when he was 88 years old.

If you're interested in learning more about Garry Davis, check out this documentary that was made about him a number of years ago.

Over the past few months, President Trump has taken a sort of a slash-and-burn approach to much of the U.S. government, and among the many taxpayer-funded programs he’s axed has been American foreign assistance distributed through the Agency for International Development or USAID. That’s billions of dollars that helped with things like Ebola prevention in West Africa, malaria testing in Myanmar, famine relief to war-torn Sudan, and food deliveries to refugees from Western Sahara.

Leading the cost-cutting charge is Elon Musk, who Trump appointed to run the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. In response to criticism, Musk tweeted recently that “no one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,” but as time has passed, more and more evidence has emerged that that assurance simply isn’t true.

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported in early February that a number of people in Thai refugee camps passed away after USAID-funded hospitals were forced to close and medical workers abruptly left the area, cutting off patient’s oxygen supplies. More recently, New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof visited South Sudan, where he heard stories of children who’d died after losing access to their American-funded HIV medications, which had only cost about 12 cents a day. The World Health Organization says that the Trump administration’s decision to cut foreign aid means eight countries could completely exhaust their supplies of life-saving HIV medications in the coming months. And internal memos from USAID itself estimate that dismantling the agency could cause up to 166-thousand worldwide deaths each year from malaria, not to mention a million children who will suffer from severe malnutrition and 200-thousand who will be paralyzed with polio.

On this episode of Far From Home, I visit a food distribution warehouse for refugees in southwest Algeria, and I speak to humanitarian workers in Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the country of Georgia to hear firsthand accounts of how these budget cuts are directly impacting people around the world.

Thanks to the many people who helped me track down guests for this episode including Melanie Reimer, Czerina Patel, Sam Olukoya, Sasha Kramer, Dhashen Moodley, and Declan Walsh, as well as Pastor Frank Akuma in Nigeria and the anonymous aid workers in Jordan and Sri Lanka that I interviewed but wasn’t able to include.

Until next time, thanks for listening.

Montreal is a city often split between English and French languages and cultures, but one thing that almost all residents can get behind is cheering on their beloved hockey team, the Canadiens.

This isn't just your run-of-the-mill, sports-crazed city, however. The love of hockey here runs much deeper. It's tied to both the history of the game's creation as well as the identity of the Quebecois people, who've come to see their hometown team as a powerful symbol of their nationhood, even though they're still officially part of Canada.

On the latest episode of Far From Home -- which I originally reported for Here and There, a Canadian Geographic travel podcast — I travel to Montreal to meet a hockey superfan who’s assembled a museum of team memoriabilia in the basement of his suburban home.

I join longtime Canadiens season ticketholder Mario Lambert and his friends François and Jean-Pierre (pictured at the top of this page) for a game in Montreal’s Bell Centre arena, amid 20,000 cheering fans.

And to truly understand the sport, I even sign up for a personal hockey lesson!

Don’t worry if you’re not a hockey fan, cause I’m totally not one either! I think you’ll still find this episode interesting, cause although it initially seems like a simple sports story, it’s actually about something much more meaningful!

Thanks to Liz Beatty and Black Cabin Studios for permission to share this story with the Far From Home audience. Thanks also to Clark McLeod, Mario Lambert, Emma Jacobs, Tourism Montreal, Destination Canada, and Excellent Ice.

I’ll be back in a few weeks with a story about how the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID are affecting people around the world.

Banner image: Hockey fans Mario Lambert and his friends François Girard
and Jean-Pierre Girard taking me to a Montreal Canadiens game

Imagine there’s something you’re passionate about, an interest and talent you have that you decide to make your life’s mission. Then the circumstances around you change, through no fault of your own. Powerful people make rules preventing you from doing what you love, and the situation is totally out of your control. Suddenly, practicing this skill you have has become really dangerous, and yet your work now seems more important than ever.

That’s basically a summary of the past few years of the life of my friend Ivan.

He’s a journalist from Russia who’s been forced to leave his native country due to the war against Ukraine and the resulting Russian crackdown on press freedom and free expression.

As you may know, the current conflict is now entering its third year, and it’s been a humanitarian disaster. According to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, it’s displaced nearly 7 million Ukrainians globally. And on the other side, an estimated 900-thousand Russians have also fled their country for various reasons.

Among them are economic migrants, conscientious objectors and political refugees, but also a smaller subset of hundreds of exiled journalists, who’ve had to leave in order to continue to report freely without having to worry about their personal safety.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I travel to Riga, Latvia to meet up with Ivan and see how he’s adapting to what – for the time being, at least – has become his new home.

He shows me around his newly-adopted city, and we visit the site of the Russian embassy, where people left flowers, candles, and photographs in memory of political dissident Alexei Navalny, who had died in a Russian penal colony just over a week before our visit.

We also saw a really chilling art installation dedicated to the nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children that Russia has reportedly kidnapped during the past few years of the war. You can find out more information at https://russiaswaronchildren.org/

Until next time, thanks for listening.

Many years ago, my brother and I started a tradition of traveling to interesting places over the Christmas and New Years holidays. We didn’t have a large family in the area, so rather than just sit home in the cold weather and eat Christmas dinner by ourselves, we figured we’d go somewhere interesting.

Among the places we traveled were Thailand and Cambodia, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Cuba, Montreal and Quebec City, and Alaska — where we went dogsledding and attempted to see the northern lights. I always loved seeing how people in other places have cultural practices that are different from my own.

In 2019 we visited Puerto Rico, where my high school friend Rob now lives. Rob introduced me to the tradition of parrandas, which are sort of like the Puerto Rican version of Christmas caroling, and I got to experience a parranda with a unique twist.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I re-share this story I originally released back in 2020.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, wherever you are and whatever it is you celebrate. I’ll be back in the New Year with more fascinating stories from faraway places.

Scott

What exactly is Canadian cuisine? Is that actually even a thing?

To the average person -- and even the average Canadian -- that question is a bit of a mystery, cause there isn’t really a strong national culinary identity the way there is in Italy or Mexico, for example. For the most part, there are just a few foods that come to mind, like the ones pictured here.

Clockwise from upper left: poutine (French fries with cheese curds and gravy), Nanaimo bars (a dessert consisting of a wafer with nuts and coconut, custard icing, and chocolate ganache), butter tarts (similar to American pecan pie, minus the pecans -- held here by Jusep Sim of Chopsticks + Forks food tours), and tiger tail ice cream (orange-flavored ice cream with a black licorice swirl).

But Canadian food is so much more than that! On the latest episode of Far From Home, my friends at Canadian Geographic Travel send me north of the U.S. border on a delicious journalistic journey. Along the way, I meet a celebrity restauranteur and a chef who takes inspiration from his First Nations heritage. I also learn about the amazing culinary melting pot that exists in the city of Toronto. In the end, the answer to my original question turns out to be both much more complicated and much more fascinating than I ever imagined!

A version of this piece originally ran on Here and There, a Canadian Geographic travel podcast. Canadian listeners might also appreciate my documentary reexamining the legacy of the Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven painters.

Banner image: Ron McKinlay shucking scallops from the Canadian Maritimes at Canoe restaurant in Toronto, where he's the Executive Chef

To kick off my 4th season, I’ve just released a documentary I've been working on for the past year in collaboration with my friends at one of my favorite podcasts called 99% Invisible. Here’s a summary of the story:

In 1971, a group of squatters took over an abandoned military base just across the harbor from downtown Copenhagen. They created a politically autonomous anarchist zone -- in other words, a commune -- with its own flag, marching band, and consensus-driven governance process. They decided to call their community Freetown Christiania.

Residents built homes out of salvaged objects, turned a former stable into a church, and transformed a military horse riding arena into a concert hall. They also opened small businesses, including a brewery, a bicycle factory, and a women-run blacksmith shop.

Like many other communes, Christiania’s founders wanted the new world they made within the walls to be as free as possible from all the old world’s rules and customs and hierarchies. They drew up a mission statement, according to which the goal of the commune was “to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible for the well-being of the entire community.”

There were some basic rules, including no private ownership of land or housing, no weapons or violence, and no vehicles, but for the most part, the residents were free to do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn't infringe upon the rights of other people. The individual freedom on offer in Christiania attracted people from around the world.

The Danish authorities weren’t quite sure how to react to the thousand or so people squatting on 85 acres of government property in the middle of the nation’s capital. First they declared it a “social experiment” and let the squatters stay, figuring they’d soon more on. Then after a few years, the police made attempts to remove them, only to be met with determined resistance. Scared of Christiania turning into another of Europe’s squatter battlegrounds, the Danish government eventually changed course yet again and decided to tolerate the commune. In the decades that followed, it become one of Copenhagen’s biggest tourist attractions, and is now visited by over a million people each year.

But as time went on, a cascade of problems forced Christiania’s residents to rethink some of their most cherished freedoms and depend more and more on help from the rest of Danish society. And many worried the changes were making their counter-cultural haven more like the rest of Denmark in the process.

Many of the problems revolved around the community’s acceptance of cannabis, in violation of Danish laws. Christiania even had a marketplace called Pusher Street, where dealers had stands selling hash and weed right out in the open.

At first, the market was mostly run by locals, but starting in the early 2000s, a new conservative government came into power in Denmark and increased the penalties for cannabis dealing. The effect was to scare most of the local dealers away from Pusher Street. It also drove up prices, and biker gangs like the Hells Angels swept in to fill the lucrative vacuum. Then they began fighting each other for control over Pusher Street, and things started to get really violent, with stabbing and shootings becoming a regular occurence.

All this put the residents of Christiania in a really difficult position. Most people seemed to agree that the best solution would be to legalize cannabis to take power away from the gangs, but the Danish government has always been unwilling to do that. So what other options did they have?

The commune’s residents had spent their lives trying to live without the state – and state violence – as an organizing force. But now, if they wanted to finally kick the gangs out, the anarchists of Christiania would have to ask the state for help.

Listen to my recent episode of Far From Home to hear how — more than half a century after its founding — Christiania is at a turning point, with some people questioning how much longer it will be able to survive.

In the course of reporting my documentary about Freetown Christiania, I took two trips to Denmark and recorded many hours of interviews that unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor, so I decided to also produce a bonus episode to present some of the highlights as well as some additional context and backstories of the people I interviewed that I wasn’t able to fit into my main documentary.

[N.B.: This episode contains some explicit language]

This was a really complicated but fascinating story to produce, with all sorts of twists and turns. I’m incredibly grateful to my editor Joe Rosenberg and the rest of the 99% Invisible team for helping me develop this from my original concept into the documentary it became!

Thanks so much for listening!

On average, solar eclipses take place somewhere on earth every 18 months or so. But it's a big planet, so many of those happen in really remote places like Antarctica or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

When the last total solar eclipse crossed the United States back in August of 2017, I didn’t think it was a huge deal, so I went ahead with my existing plans for that day, which involved being aboard a cross-country flight at the time of the event. I later regretted my decision and vowed I would do whatever it takes to see a total solar eclipse in the future.

Time-lapse video of the sun disappearing behind the moon and then reappearing on the other side

A few weeks ago, I got another chance. My brother Drew and I booked a hotel near Niagara Falls, which seemed like it would be the perfect location to witness the cosmic event. Then Mother Nature stepped in, forcing us to scramble our plans at the very last minute.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, we join Drew’s friends Jeremy and Claire in the woods of northern New Hampshire for an experience that far surpassed whatever expectations any of us had had. I present to you an audio postcard from our trip.

When it comes to solar eclipses, there’s no substitute for actually being there, but listen to our excitement, and you’ll get a small sense of what it was like! Here’s a video my brother took so you can see it for yourself (note that he was adjusting his camera, so the sky didn’t actually get dark as quickly as it appears):

As always, I can be reached at info (at) farfromhomepodcast.org or you can follow Far From Home on Instagram or Facebook. Thanks for listening!

Scott

In 2013, Torbjørn Pedersen (known to his friends as “Thor”) was 34 years old, living in Copenhagen, and doing quite well within his chosen career of shipping and logistics. He had a comfortable life, had just purchased an apartment, and had recently started dating a woman he really liked. Looking back, he says there wasn't much in the cards that would suggest he would completely change course and set off on an adventure into the world, but that’s in fact precisely what was about to happen.

Thor always had a bit of an adventurous streak, running marathons and competing against himself to improve his time, going on long hikes, and even once completing an 8-day kayak trip around one of the larger islands in his home country of Denmark, just to see if he could do it. But now it was time for the greatest challenge of them all: he decided to do something that no one had ever done before and travel to every country in the world without flying, in a single, unbroken journey.

Given that there are nearly 200 countries, he knew this would be difficult and time-consuming, but it turned out to be even harder than he expected.

“This world is not made for travel without flying,” he told me, noting that it’s extremely difficult to reach many places without an airplane. “There are some stretches if you fly across, you're fine. You go from one airport to the other. If you take the road, you have to pass through 25 or 30 checkpoints. And each checkpoint might set you back.”

“The real problem,” he added, “is when you need to go to island nations and there are no ferries, then you're just out of options. Because you need to work out what are your alternatives? Are there cruise ships? Are there any merchant vessels? Is there a family or is someone out on an adventure? Do they have a sailboat? Are they heading in your direction? Do they want to help you? You know, that's a big question.”

Plus, Thor encountered all sorts of unforseen dangers, from being held at gunpoint several times to having his taxi driver doze off while traveling in West Africa to suffering a life-threatening bout with cerbral malaria.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, Thor Pedersen tells the story of his journey and reflects back on what it all means, a decade later.

Please take a listen and let me know what you think! As always, I can be reached at info(at)farfromhomepodcast.org or you can follow Far From Home on Instagram or Facebook.

Thanks for listening!

Scott

.

(banner photo of Thor riding a train in Sri Lanka courtesy of Mike Douglas)

It was mid-2004. I was early in my career as a public radio reporter and applying for literally every job opening I saw. I wasn’t having much luck until I heard back one day from a small station in Norman, Oklahoma.

“Norman, Oklahoma,” I remember telling my mom. “It sounds like the most boring place in the world.” I had to consult a map to get my geography straight, cause that entire middle section of the United States was a bit of a blur for me at the time. But to make a long story short, I ended up getting hired as News Director and would spend the next five years covering everything from tornadoes to state politics to the annual prison rodeo.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I’m sharing two stories I produced from this region that outsiders often regard as simply “flyover country.”

First, I get to experience noodling, a kind of crazy, unusual, and dangerous traditional method of catching giant catfish.

Then I confront my fears by going on a snake hunt in the hills of southwest Oklahoma at the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby.

Although the culture, politics, and geography of Oklahoma were so incredibly different from anything I had ever experienced growing up on the East Coast, I grew over time to really value my time there, cause it helped me become a better journalist and a better person!

As always, you can follow Far From Home on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with the show and get bonus content whenever I release a new episode.

Thanks for listening!

Scott

BONUS EPISODE: As I was digging through my archives, I also came across another story from my time in Oklahoma, where I paid a visit to the world’s only behind-the-walls prison rodeo.

Jamie Yuenger was born and spent most of her life here in the United States, including over a decade in New York City. Then a few years ago, she fell in love with a Dutch guy named Piet and decided to join him in the Netherlands. She didn’t understand the language or the culture, but really, she figured… how difficult could it be?

“Being a go-getter, I arrived and I was like, ‘I'm going to learn Dutch in six months. I'm going to have built my community. I'm going to rock this experience!’” she recalls thinking.

But the transition turned out to be way harder than she imagined. Time after time, she got the sense that her bubbly personality felt out of place in the more reserved Dutch society. In all sorts of social situations, she came to realize that she simply didn’t understand the terms of engagement. And even though most Dutch people speak English, it seemed like all sorts of things were constantly getting lost in translation.

Then there were the things she missed about New York, like the faster pace of daily life, the way people back home were more expressive, and her ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger on the street who shared her cultural reference points. Also, good Mexican food, which she says is nearly impossible to find in the Netherlands!

To the average American tourist vacationing in Amsterdam, Holland might not seem that different from the U.S., but as Jamie spent more and more time there and dug below the surface, she realized that things were a lot more complicated than they first appeared.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I caught up with Jamie when she returned to New York for the first time in several years and struggled to figure out where she fit in.

If you enjoy this episode, check out Jamie's own podcast, “If You Knew Me” — which features personal stories of the inner lives of women — as well as her other show, “Totem,” where she told the incredible story of how she met her husband Piet.

Until next time, thanks for listening!

When the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place, terrorism was not an occurrence that was familiar to most of us, and nothing like this had ever happened before, so there was this overwhelming sense of fear and dread. There was so much uncertainty, and no one knew what would happen next.

In the days that followed, the cleanup process began, along with the search for answers. And then came the response. President Bush and other political leaders quickly vowed revenge against the perpetrators of the attack. But not everyone found his words comforting. Around this time, a small but vocal group of people got together to speak out. They were the parents, spouses, siblings, and children of people who were killed in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and they said they didn’t want the deaths of their loved ones to be used to justify military attacks that could harm innocent civilians on the other side of the world.

They called themselves September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and in late November of 2001, they took part in a walk for peace from the Pentagon to the World Trade Center site. I was a young reporter at the time, and I tagged along and interviewed several members of the group, later producing an hour-long documentary featuring their stories.

Now, on this 20th anniversary of the attacks, I’m re-releasing that documentary, along with an interview I conducted a few weeks ago with David Potorti, whose brother James worked on the 96th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center.

You can listen here:

David has also just co-edited an anthology of poetry from over 100 poets who’ve written about September 11th. In case you’re interested, it’s called Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 and its Aftermath.

Until next time, thanks for listening.

photos courtesy of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

When David Goren was 13 years old, he and his family went to visit their Uncle Lou.

“He was usually just railing about my long hair or criticizing rock and roll,” he recalled. But this time was different. “He gave me an old radio of his that had a shortwave band on it. I really didn’t know what that was. I asked my dad, and he was like, ‘You won’t hear anything on that!’”

David was curious, though, so after he got home, he turned it on, started fidgeting with the dial, and was amazed to discover sounds and music from around the world!

I’ve known David for a long time, and I share his interest in broadcasting, having worked in public radio, myself, for many years before I started my podcast.

I’ve been thinking about all this recently, cause COVID-19 has closed borders and made traveling difficult if not impossible for many of us. But radio signals don’t needs passports or plane tickets. They circle the earth, bouncing off the atmosphere, so even if you’re confined to your home, it’s possible – with a good antenna – to listen to voices from the other side of the planet.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, David — who went on to become an award-winning radio producer and audio archivist — joins me to share recorded highlights from his many decades monitoring the shortwave and pirate radio airwaves from his home in Brooklyn, NY.

We also talk about the rich history of radio broadcasting, from propaganda to rebellion, and we review some listening tips courtesy of the BBC:

Listen to my interview here:

And if you enjoy it, I highly recommend checking out David’s interactive Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map as well as his Soundcloud page where he’s posted dozens more shortwave radio recordings from his archives!

If you want to be part of future conversations like this and have a chance to ask questions of my guests, join my club on the Clubhouse app, which is now available on both iPhone and Android-based cell phones.

Thanks for listening!

For anyone who lives in Oklahoma City, April 19th is generally a somber day. It’s the anniversary of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people including 19 children. Prior to September 11, 2001, it bore the distinction of being the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

On this episode of Far From Home, I dig into my archives to share two stories I produced about the bombing from my early days as a reporter at a small public radio station in Oklahoma.

First I look back at how Muslim Americans were falsely blamed in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Then I share the story of former Oklahoma City police officer Jim Ramsey, who won his department’s Medal of Valor for his role on the day of the bombing, before guilt and depression got the best of him.

By the way, in case you missed them, check out my other recent episodes where I gave an update on the violence taking place in Northern Ireland and invited Berlin-based science journalist Andreas von Bubnoff to play recordings people around the world submitted to his Pandemic Silence Project, documenting how COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way the world sounds.

Until next time, thanks for listening.

Justin and Patrice La Vigne love the outdoors. They first met almost two decades ago at a hiking and climbing club in Phoenix, Arizona, where Justin was working on his master’s degree in outdoor recreation. After hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2011, they decided to quit their jobs in the corporate world to run a backpacker hostel, lead tours, and work as professional camping gear testers while exploring parks and wilderness areas all around the United States.

All this is to say that they had a lot of experience under their belts by the time they set out on Te Araroa — a 2000 mile path across New Zealand — so they were pretty sure they knew what they were getting into. But this trip would be much different from anywhere else they had gone in the past. Over the course of their four month journey, they ended up being blown away time after time by the kindness and incredible hospitality of the strangers they met along the way.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, they share some stories from their adventure that are sure to warm your heart and restore your faith in humanity.

Listen here:

If you’re interested in learning more about their journey, you can visit their website to read their blog and get Patrice’s book, Between Each Step – A Married Couple’s Thru Hike on New Zealand’s Te Araroa.

In other news, if you’re not subscribed to Far From Home (what’s holding you back?), you may have missed my last episode, where I shared an extended conversation I had with Jake Spring, who’s a journalist for Reuters based in Brazil and the host of the Foreign Correspondence podcast. Jake interviewed me about how I got into reporting, my previous work in public radio, how the NPR ecosystem operates, and some of the stories I’ve covered for this show over the years. It’s posted in my podcast feed and is also available on my website.

Finally, if you enjoy Far From Home, I’d love if you could help spread the word on social media so more people find out about it, and consider posting a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

Thanks!

Scott

COVID-19 has kept most of us from traveling over the past year, and I’ll be the first to admit that there’s no real substitute for visiting a foreign country and experiencing what it’s like to be totally immersed and surrounded by different languages, foods, and cultures. But during this period when travel hasn’t really been possible, exploring places closer to home has given me a greater appreciation for all the fascinating and undiscovered adventures it’s possible to have right in my own backyard.

Today’s episode is about one of those adventures I went on recently, which began in a park not far from my house.

Along with about a dozen other suburban explorers, I went on an expedition along Toney’s Brook, this little stream that runs through the town of Montclair, near where I live.

Now before you think this is just an ordinary nature hike, let me set the scene. My home state of New Jersey is the most densely-populated state in U.S., and land around here is incredibly valuable. So as there’s been more and more development over the years, town engineers made the unfortunate decision to bury much of Toney’s Brook underground.

Today, if you drive around town, you’ll occasionally see places where it peaks up its head, like in a park. But you really need to look for it. For the most part, it’s just not a place that I or most other people I know ever really think about.

Now, we were going to explore the brook, tunnels and all.

(video taken pre-pandemic during the 2019 Toney’s Brook walk)

The brook runs through the middle of a residential neighborhood, so it’s not exactly the sort of place you’d imagine going to to embark on an adventure, but sometimes the most interesting things are found in the places you least expect.

Check out my latest episode and come along for the adventure!

Are there places near where you live that you’ve discovered for the first time during the pandemic, or for which you now have a renewed appreciation? If so, I’d love to hear about them! Please drop me a line.

The walk along Toney’s Brook took place as part of Montclair Design Week, which happens every October. If you live in the New York / New Jersey area (or know someone who does) and want to attend next year’s annual brook walk, you can follow Design Week’s parent organization, Design Shed, on Instagram or Facebook or on their website.

Until next time, thanks for listening!

Scott

But in Peru, people have other traditions. Chief among them is the celebration of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day on the 1st and 2nd of November. In Mexico, it’s called “Dia de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead.” Peruvians prefer to use the word “difuntos,” meaning “deceased” or “departed,” which they view as slightly more respectful. Whatever you call it, it’s basically an occasion where people remember their loved ones who’ve passed on and celebrate their lives.

A few years ago, I got to experience El Dia de Los Difuntos when I took a trip to a giant cemetery in a poor neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Lima.

My image of a cemetery from back home was straight rows of gravestones amid neatly manicured lawns, but Cementerio Nueva Esperanza consisted of barren hillsides connected by jagged paths through the weeds and dirt. They were covered with haphazardly-placed crosses and brightly-painted burial plots stretching as far as I could see. The graves were specks of color on an otherwise drab and colorless landscape, and people wandered along the trails like ants in an ant farm. It was like a giant metropolis for the dead, and I was immediately struck by just how large it was.

Along with my friend Pablo, I spent the day walking around the cemetery, speaking to people who were paying their respects, and soaking in the celebratory atmosphere, which included plenty of food, alcohol, and all sorts of music.

On the latest episode of Far From Home, I take listeners along on my journey:

This was without a doubt one of the more fascinating and memorable places I’ve gone in my travels, so I’m thrilled to share my experience with all of you.

Thanks for listening!

Scott

It has beautiful pink sand beaches, pastel colored homes, and tropical fruits I’d never heard of before I before I went. There are about 1500 residents, and goats and sheep everywhere — probably more animals than people. It’s the kind of island where wild donkeys just walk into your home, and no one wants lobster anymore, cause they eat it three times a day.

But there’s also something really unique about this place. Since the 1800s, Barbuda has always been an island where no one has deeds to their property. They just share the land communally and informally.

Then in 2017, Hurricane Irma severely damaged much of the island.

The government said it can’t afford to pay for the recovery, so nearly three years later, some people are still living in tents.

Now the Prime Minister has proposed changing how things work in Barbuda. He wants to sell residents the plots of land they’ve been living on for one Eastern Caribbean dollar and give them legally binding titles they can take to a bank, to help rebuild. He also wants to open up the rest of the island for tourism and development.

But after generations of living the way they’ve been living, a lot of people are opposed to the idea.

Last December, I teamed up with my colleague Sarah Gonzalez from NPR’s Planet Money podcast to travel to Antigua and Barbuda and tell the story of the island that no one owns (or everyone owns, depending on whom you ask). We learned way more about Antiguan constitutional law and land tenancy regulations than we ever imagined we would. But in the end, it turned out to be a pretty fascinating story.

You can listen here:

As always, if you enjoy this podcast, please tell a friend!

Scott

This episode includes the song “B-Roll - Islandesque,” which was licensed from composer Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

If you’re a fan of my show, you know that during normal times when we’re not in a global pandemic, traveling is a big part of my life. I’ve found that experiencing cultures and seeing how people live in other parts of the world is amazingly effective at breaking down stereotypes and opening my eyes to different perspectives.

But while my initial instinct is to encourage everyone to travel as much as they can, I’m reminded that not everyone has that luxury. Many simply can’t afford to go abroad – even if they’re traveling as cheaply as possible – or they can’t get time off from work. Not everyone can easily get a passport, and some people might feel unsafe or unwelcome going to particular places just because of what they look like.

Now I’ll admit that last point is something I never really thought much about until recently, when I had discussions with a couple of African American friends from high school who’ve themselves done a fair amount of international traveling.

Nate Jackson — who’s been to five continents — was inspired by his childhood spent reading about the nations of the world in a set of encyclopedias his mother bought him when he was young. And Coy Dailey has gone to about 60 countries with his wife.

The stories they tell about what it’s like to travel as a Black person — both across the United States and abroad — are sometimes funny and sometimes sad, but always eye-opening, and they shed light on what it’s like to constantly stick out from the crowd, even when you’re just trying your best to fit in.

You can listen to my latest episode here:

Until next time, thanks for listening!

Scott