World Wanderers: Traveling and Taking Listeners on the Trip

I am pretty sure that my sisters and I have planned a dozen or more trips around the world. From mapping the Third Reich to a Lilo and Stitch vacation, there are just a lot of places we want to see and visit and experience. That said, we haven’t actually done very many trips. Part of that lies in the fact that we are only just now all adults, but part of it is just that sometimes we don’t make things happen as often as we would like. Luckily, there are some people that travel the world and don’t mind bringing us along with them. Ryan and Amanda, the creators and hosts of The World Wanderers, are some of those people and I got to talk to them all about their adventures.

The story of World Wanderers began when Ryan and Amanda went on a six-month backpacking tour through western Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand right after they graduated from college. After all that adventure, the pair getting basic 9-to-5 jobs was a bit of a letdown, but that was around the time Ryan began listening to podcasts. He explained that “this idea was in the back of [his] mind: it’d be really cool to start a podcast sometime, but [he] never had that sense of what would be good and that assertive push to do it.” Then, after two years of trying to build careers the duo “went to South America and traveled for six months,” Ryan said. On that trip, he suggested they start a podcast after realizing that they “knew more than just about anyone about travel” after spending over a year of their lives traveling.” So World Wanderers was born.

Amanda told me what World Wanderers is, but prefaced her explanation by saying it’s complicated. “All the shows are a little bit different, but we do three main things with the podcast. We have travel explanation podcasts, and those are about what we did in a certain place… And then we also do more philosophical discussions on travel… And the third style we do is interview based.” From recording on location and giving listeners a taste of what it’s like to be in the places Amanda and Ryan visit to recording conversations with the interesting people they meet along the way, World Wanderers has a lot to offer its audience. Ryan said the pair settled on these three formats by asking “What are we enjoying doing the most and what are we hearing from listeners that they enjoy the most?”

Overcoming the struggle to find time for the show, learning all about how to make a podcast, and dealing with the criticism that comes with creating has been a process for the pair, but there are some really cool upsides to it as well. “Just being able to connect with really cool people who are taking the same approach in life” was Ryan’s favorite part of making the podcast, and Amanda quickly seconded that sentiment. She said that she “never really expected the friendship and relationships that have come from it.” Of course, there a lot more places to see and people to meet and The World Wanderers are really excited about both of those.

“I’m excited to put out new, really great episodes,” Amanda said, looking forward to new places and the new people that come along with travel. Ryan added that he has been able to “make some changes to [his] work commitments” and will be able to spend more time making the show. Also, the show will be adding more episodes on how to “internationalize yourself,” what the nomadic lifestyle looks like, and more immersive soundscapes in the places the duo travel to. So, if you love travel check out The World Wanderers and be sure to leave a rating and review to let Amanda and Ryan know what you think!

Chasing Pods is a Podchaser blog series dedicated to letting our readers know about podcasts they may not have heard of or provide a sneak peek into the making of their favorite podcast. We talk to podcast creators about their journey into podcasting, the creation of their shows, the ups and downs of the work, and what they’re looking forward to for their podcast

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