Derek Baron AKA ”Wandering Earl”

My guest today is Derek Baron, the creator of the popular travel website called “Wandering Earl”. On December 25th, 1999, Derek left the USA for a three-month, post-graduation trip to Southeast Asia. The idea was for him to backpack around Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and then return home and start a career in the sports industry (He wanted to be a Sports Agent). When Derek landed in Bangkok, he had $1500 USD to his name and that was it. Since then, he has visited over 100 countries on 6 continents and has lived, worked, traveled and volunteered all over the world. He has been to India thirty times and was even kidnapped by inept kidnappers for three days in Bangladesh (and yes, he shares that story). He visited and stayed three days in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and visited the Galapagos Islands among many more. Derek worked also worked as a Tour Manager aboard cruise ships and I asked him to recount a tour-from-hell story and boy...did he deliver! This very funny story involves Mount Kilimanjaro. Why is that funny you ask? Well, the excursion was in Hawaii, for one, but I’ll let Derek tell that tale. It’s not just the traveling that Derek loves, as he prefers to focus on the human interactions and the life lessons learned along the way. These incredible aspects of travel are what keep Derek Baron going after 18+ years traveling the world. Please check out his travel blog website and his social media listed below. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

https://www.wanderingearl.com/

https://www.wanderingearl.com/wandering-earl-tours/

https://www.instagram.com/wanderingearl/