Backpocket Nomad: Recent Episodes
Kai
One backpack. One podcast. One story at a time. art by lana @museoambulante. music by rob @robriccardo. created by kai.
As a digital nomad, Otilia has made her unprobable way across the globe from Germany, Spain, Romania, Japan, the United Kingdom and, finally, to the land of fire and ice. Otilia recalls her experiences of different cultures and the lesson of humbling one's self when moving to another country in her extraordinary everyday experiences in moments such purchasing milk in the supermarkets of Tokyo when language failed her, to the disappointment of London office beers on Friday afternoons, eventually discovering the calmness and magic on a small volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
Brandur's plan was to use his knowledge of the natural sciences to study astrobiology and go to Antarctica so that when the call to go to Mars would come, he would be in the best position to be one of the first ones on the Red Planet. That was his dream of fulfilling his Robinson Crusoe fantasy - until his life got turned upside down through an unidentified illness and Brandur found himself turning to art to go beyond the logical methods of interacting with the world around him. In this interview, Brandur recalls his travels around the world as a youngster with his mom as well as a young adult exploring Peru on his own and his adventures working as a ranger in Iceland before going on to discuss how he turned to art as a way of rediscovering nature.
With over ten years at sea working on cruise ships, Diego talks about how he accidentally ended up on board and began travelling the world. When Covid interrupted his journey across the globe, Diego discusses how taking the time to reflect in solitude reminded him of his long-lost dream of visiting Iceland one day, thanks to inspiration from the singer Björk from his childhood - only for him to run into her in the street the very first week after landing on this magical island up north...
In the very first episode of BPN, we get to hear about how Caterina's interests in local cuisines and studies in tourism took her from her hometown in Romania to living and working around Europe before making her home in Iceland and after finding love in the land of ice and fire.