Global Travel Stories & Life Beyond Borders

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Travel Writing & Content Creation

Explore podcast episodes about travel writing, storytelling, and building a career in travel content creation. Hear from writers, journalists, and creators sharing insights on documenting travel and creating content across cultures.

Travel writing and content creation are powerful ways to document the world and build a life around storytelling. In this collection from The Maverick Show, guests share their journeys of becoming travel writers, journalists, authors, and creators while living abroad and traveling long-term. These episodes explore how people build careers in travel writing, from publishing in outlets like National Geographic and Lonely Planet to creating independent platforms through blogging, podcasting, and social media. You’ll hear insights on pitching stories, writing memoir and narrative travel essays, building an audience, and creating sustainable creative work while living abroad. Together, these conversations highlight how storytelling, cross-cultural travel, and creative expression can become a pathway to both a travel lifestyle and a meaningful body of work.

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365: Inside Black Rio, Brazilian Favelas & Quilombos — and How Nicole Phillip Built 350K Followers in 2 Years

Hear award-winning travel creator Nicole Phillip share stories of immersing in Afro-Brazilian history, music and culture. Nicole Phillip returns to The Maverick Show and records this episode in person with Matt in Rio after spending two weeks together in Brazil. Nicole is fresh off winning her award for the 2025 Social Media Video of the…

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336: How to Become a Full-Time Travel Content Creator, Build Your Personal Brand, Market Yourself and Find Community with Jordan Campbell

Learn how to transition from a 9-to-5 office job to a full-time travel content creator so you can travel the world. Jordan Campbell tells the story of her transition from an office job to a full time travel content creator. She reflects on the initial challenges of entrepreneurship, explains how to avoid the #1 mistake…

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283: The “Travel Industry for Palestine” Petition, Unpacking Orientalism, and Writing Great Travel Stories with Yulia Denisyuk

Learn how to help stop the genocide in Palestine, unpack Orientalism, and improve your travel writing and photography. In part 2 of my interview with Yulia Denisyuk, she starts off talking about her first trip to Palestine in 2017 and how fundamentally transformative it was. Matt reflects on his experience doing Palestine solidarity work in…

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280: How to Live Free in a Dangerous World and Write a Decolonial Memoir with Shayla Lawson

Learn about black community building across geography & language, challenging the gender binary & decolonizing ourselves. Shayla Lawson joins Matt for a wine night and starts off talking about growing up in Kentucky, becoming a poet, traveling the world, and writing “How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir”. They reflect on…

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267: The Ethics of Travel Writing, Platforming Marginalized Voices, and Supporting Collective Liberation with Joel Balsam

In Part 2 of this interview, travel journalist Joel Balsam explains how to effectively pitch publications, and how he structures his lifestyle of full time world travel. He then reflects on the ethics of travel writing, the white man’s gaze, and the dynamics of the travel-influencer economy. Matt and Joel share their experiences and inspiration…

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266: Chasing the World’s Most Interesting Stories as a Travel Journalist with Joel Balsam

Travel journalist and full-time digital nomad Joel Balsam joins Matt over a bottle of wine. He talks about his upbringing in Canada as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and how that shaped his politics, his values, and his curiosity about the world. Matt and Joel discuss what they love about Bolivia and Joel shares…

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264: The Art & Business of Travel Writing and How to Pursue What You Desire with Rosie Bell

Rosie Bell joins Matt in Tenerife in the Canary Islands to discuss her books “Escape to Self” and “The Art and Business of Travel Writing”. She also talks about her journey downsizing to carry-on luggage and designing her dream lifestyle. Rosie then talks about dating and finding love as a digital nomad, and explains how…

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219: Writing “Digital Nomads for Dummies”, Reflecting on Burnout, and Becoming a Nomadic DJ with Kristin Wilson

Digital nomad influencer Kristin Wilson returns to the Maverick Show for the fourth time. Kristin starts off by sharing her reflections on the digital nomad life after 15 years of world travel. She then talks about her newest passion and professional endeavor of becoming a DJ, and explains how she has integrated it into her…

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203: How to Tell Great Travel Stories and Turn Your Lived Experiences into Poetry or Prose with Zein El-Amine

In the third and final installment of this interview, Zein El-Amine discusses what makes a great piece of writing for him, as a reader. He then talks about his process for writing great stories, explains the difference between poetry and prose, and shares how he chooses the medium through which to tell his stories. Zein…

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158: Joshua Stephens on Being a Nomadic Writer: Reflections on Dislocation, World Travel, and James Baldwin

Joshua Stephens discusses his writing techniques and shares his rationale for interweaving politics into long-form prose pieces that he publishes in some of the world’s top journals on seemingly apolitical topics, like coffee or football. He reflects on his life as a nomadic writer and discusses how the theme of “dislocation” has shaped his perspective…