"An adventure is simply physical and emotional discomfort recollected in tranquility"

 
A while back, a friend shared with me that quotation from travel writer Tim Cahill, and I've been thinking about it a lot.

My name is Scott Gurian, and for as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed traveling to new and interesting places, exposing myself to unfamiliar foods, cultures, and languages, and stretching the boundaries of my comfort zone. The experiences have been amazing, but once they're over, it's the memories you have and the stories you tell that stick with you.

As Cahill suggests, many of the highlights I now recount from my journeys are instances where I felt lost or uncomfortable at the time, in over my head, or in situations where I was forced to ask, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Other times, I was simply confused and trying to make sense of foreign and unfamiliar surroundings.

Whether it was riding across Mexico as a 21-year-old kid searching for a rebel indigenous tribe, changing a flat tire late at night on a dark road in northern Cambodia, getting caught in a giant tomato fight in southern Spain, or fearing for my safety while interviewing an animated Cuban dissident in Old Havana, I can now say with the luxury of hindsight that such experiences have undoubtedly shaped who I am, making me more worldly and confident as well as broadening my horizons.

These stories are simply too good not to share, so I've created this podcast to document my experiences and the people I meet in my travels.

For more background info on the show, see my online press kit.

Banner image by Drew Gurian