INTRO: This is part two of my interview with Jordan Campbell. If you did not yet listened to part one, I highly recommend you go back and do that first because it has some really important context for this episode. If you have already listened to part one, then please enjoy the conclusion of my interview with Jordan Campbell.

Matt Bowles: Well, I want to ask you a little bit more about the development of your brand, Global Debauchery, especially with that context and influence and ethos. Maybe, though, can you start back and share a little bit about your professional trajectory and what your career path was? You and I have both lived in D.C. you and I have both worked in the nonprofit advocacy space, in fact, and so on and so forth. So can you take people a little bit on that journey and then how eventually you decided to build your brand and eventually go full-time into that.

Jordan Campbell: It’s much like most of my life has been. It all started on a very not straightforward path. I actually went to college for biochemistry and environmental science. I wanted to be either an environmental scientist or a genealogist. And I had actually gotten a lot of art awards also while I was in high school and applying for colleges. So, I was doing art for the love of art on the side, I guess. I got into the end of my sophomore year, and I started realizing that a lot of my peers, I don’t know, chemistry, like this next level came way easier to them. And I was really thinking to myself, am I going to have to struggle like this through my entire professional career versus my peers? I was a straight A student, but it was really, really hard for me to get those grades. And I felt like other people around me, maybe a little bit of imposter syndrome, were just getting them so much easier than I was.

So, I started questioning my life path. One of my art teachers was like, what about medical illustration? Which seemed absurd to me because I was like medical illustration, as it would happen. That ended up being one of the major degree programs at the school I finished at, where you get the best of both worlds. You get to draw, but you also get to look at cadavers all day. At least best of both worlds for me. I had decided at the time the more practical route would be graphic design, right? Like, oh, I can go in. I can do this technical field, and it’s still very artsy and it’s a bit stem at the same time. So that was the route I went. I graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York, which is a really good school for the program. I worked in advertising for a bit up there and eventually came down. I worked at the University of Maryland for 10 years, and that’s when I transferred to work at a nonprofit in DC.

So, kind of ran the gamut. I did corporate, the hardcore advertising space, which is a boys club in my 20s. That is hard. And it was a different era. Have to have very thick skin to survive it. And then I went to B2G, and then I went to nonprofit. I worked for a major medical nonprofit organization. It was basically the organization that runs MCATS. Every medical school in the United States is a member of it, and a lot of Canadian universities are a member of it as well. But it’s all the medical testing exam nonprofit. And yeah, we would basically go and lobby different initiatives on the Hill. I was at that time in charge of the team that produced all the materials that they used to market and take to the Hill and spread the word to future medical students of America.

Matt Bowles: Can you talk about the building of the Global Debauchery brand and then your transition from the office job to the travel content creator full time?

Jordan Campbell: Sure. So global debauchery started out, it was just a hobby blog, I guess, maybe I was 33, started as a hobby blogger. I got the name because basically our lives at that point, we were very ambitious, very career focused. And you literally would be flying out Friday night. We were working long hours. Run home, pack in an hour, sit in traffic on your way to Dulles for an hour and a half to get there, get through all of this stuff. And then finally all your stuff is checked in. And we would sit down and have a drink at whatever bar by our gate and toast. And that was like the first deep breath. And we’d be like, vacation has started. So, Instagram started with me always posting a picture of my ticket, my drink and my passport and basically being like, I’m out of here again. I’m out of this place. I’m forgetting everything for however long. And everybody would know that was signaling, oh, there goes to Jordan again, there she goes again. And people wouldn’t know where until I just started posting.

And then it became a thing of I started seeking out speakeasies and weird drinks, at least once every trip, little hole in the wall, dive bars. So, wherever I would go, I would start seeking that out. So, it kind of became global debauchery. You know, everywhere that I go, I’m going to have weird drinks. Even if I hate it, you know, I’m going to try it. Just say that I did it and it’ll be fine. And I’ve survived at this point. But then I would come back, I would write on my blog, and eventually I think I just was doing really well. I was a creative director, and I was making six figures. I had a large team working for me, really talented, amazing individuals. I think I just reached a point where I honestly felt like, I don’t think there’s anywhere else for me to go from here. I did everything that I wanted to do and said I was going to do, and I could come in every single day for the rest of my life and just basically manage projects and manage my team and that would be okay. But there were no new major frontiers or major projects.

There were no million-dollar websites for me to “I say look forward to”. But that’s like misery on another level getting around launch time. But at the end of the day, you can be like, I did this for this brand, and you can see your stuff. My advertising work would be displayed at Raven Stadium in Baltimore and on the highway and we would do Metro Takeover. So, I would walk to the Metro and my design would be everywhere in the Metro. That’s kind of a cool feeling. But I reached the point where I was like, I’ve done all of that and there are no million-dollar website rebuilt. Like, I already did it here, you know, like, and I was burnt out. I was really burnt out. And my husband would be like, well, you know, maybe you can start freelancing on the side. And I was like, I don’t even see how that’s possible. Like, I was already plugging in so many hours. I was exhausted constantly, and I was just going to, like, pull the trigger on this. And I’m going to freelance part time and I’m going to start pursuing global debauchery the other part of the time.

And then this year, actually the beginning of the year is the first year I have gone all out full time on global debauchery. And it is a wild ride. I couldn’t be more excited. But there’s a lot of weird adjusting that you don’t anticipate that you have to go through when you’re doing this kind of thing.

Matt Bowles: What kind of stuff are you finding, can you share?

Jordan Campbell: I think the latest struggle that I’ve had. Well, two things. The first is pacing your bookings so you know you can get all the. I love pitching, I love marketing. You can get all the jobs in the world, but then you have to come home and then you have to produce the work for all of those jobs. And a lot of times these trips are. When they are. You don’t get to be like, oh, could I have a week or two in between these trips? You don’t get to do that most of the time. So, I really overbooked myself. And then for the first time in my life, I fell behind on some things, so I overbooked. Lesson learned. Note to self, it’s not going to happen again. I pride myself on the quality of my work.

The other thing is that I create my own deadlines, and it is a lot harder. I’m finding I’m excited for my own brand, but it’s also a lot more difficult. Difficult not having a hard deadline to respond to somebody at your job where they’re going to be like, you’re going to lose your job if you miss too many deadlines. You know, like, now it’s all for me, if I miss a deadline, whatever. So, it’s hard to just keep pushing forward and try to keep your team on task, especially when you’re not having a great day. So that’s been an adjustment I didn’t expect as being, oh, man, I’ve always been really ambitious, and deadline focused and goal oriented. Like, I didn’t think I would be like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I don’t have to report to anybody else and like, not know what to do with that. That seems crazy and it is living the dream. I enjoy it. It’s just an adjustment, that’s all.

Matt Bowles: Well, I want to draw out some of your expertise for the listeners because you are really good at a specific set of things. And the first one that I want to ask you about is personal brand building. And if you can, give folks some tips from all of your lessons and everything that you have learned. For people that are looking to build a brand, what are your top recommendations, the highest leverage points and tips you would have for people?

Jordan Campbell: Well, I think that most people, when they think of a brand, think of the visuals, they think of the name. But a brand is so much more holistic and strategic than that. So, my recommendation is always to lay out your brand strategy first. And that is define what your mission is, what your key differentiator is. That is what makes you different than every other product in your space in the industry. Because if you don’t have that, there’s a thousand other people just like you. It’s more about the strategy, outlining it, sticking to it, referring back to it, to remind yourself. It’s also about the voice. Everything that you write, everything that appears anywhere, should be branded and consistent. You need to hit people over the head over and over and over. If you see an ad, you don’t go and purchase the product most of the time. The first time you see the ad seven times in your feed before you actually do anything with it, you have to do that with your brand. To people, it’s not just about the way it looks. It is everything about it. It’s the vibe that they get, it’s your authentic voice, it’s the way it does look, it’s the aesthetic. But it’s also what is the purpose of what you’re doing at all. If you don’t have that, what are you even doing? So that’s my biggest piece is actually start with a notebook or Apple Notes and just start there and start outlining some of these things. And that’s before you just decide you’re going to go design a logo.

Matt Bowles: Well, the other thing that you have a lot of experience and success in is building websites. And I’m wondering if you can share some tips specifically on the website for people that are looking to do that.

Jordan Campbell: So I did the UX side, I did the design side, and I worked with massive teams where we had coders on the back end that literally you’d be like, can we do this? And they would be like; we can do anything. It’s just a matter of how much time you’re going to give me. Now, obviously we have things like WordPress or Canva to do a lot of these things for you. The biggest thing about Websites that I would advise to people, the biggest mistake that I see is people will go, oh, I like this website design because it’s different, it’s unique. They say it stands out. That is by and large one of the worst things that you can do on a website. And it’s not about you and it’s not about what you want. It is about the user experience, the person using your site on the other side. If you have your menu located in a weird spot, they’re going to get annoyed and they’re going to close out. If you have your newsletter or your pop up in the middle of your screen and they can’t close it out, you’re going to lose a potential customer, you’re going to lose income, you’re going to lose profit for that.

You need to make sure that you are following basic industry standards when it comes to tech. The way things are laid out and speak to other people’s familiarity. If they want to shop, where are they going to find the shopping cart? Not on the bottom left, they’re going to find it in the top right. If they want to log into something top right, top left, the menu top left, you know, so there are all these things. They are built this way for a reason. Everybody recognizes them and it makes it easier for people to accomplish their goals, which hopefully are your goals too. They want to buy something from you, make it easy for them. Don’t make it different and unique. They don’t want a different, unique experience. They want to buy your product.

Matt Bowles: Well, I also want to ask you for your tips on how people can and should think about marketing themselves, whether they’re a travel content creator or not. How should people think about that?

Jordan Campbell: I think having grown up in a creative industry with lots of creatives, you will find creatives are very sensitive many times. Sensitive is in defensive about their work. You know, this is your pride and joy. You’ve put your heart out on the page to design XYZ and then it gets shredded to pieces. 20 rounds over by somebody’s niece’s dog likes the color pink. And you’re like, it’s not even on brand, but here we go, here it is, it’s pink for you. You know, like, can I not look at this any longer? Can I just get rid of this?

A lot of people who are in the content creator space or in any creative space are actually a lot of them are much more introverted. They’re very attached to their own work. And I think one of the hardest things for them to do is to take a step back and realistically assess themselves, their brand, their work. And even more so, people are really bad at marketing themselves to a larger audience. So, they’re so close to the work and the production of the work that they forget that you have to actually get the work out there to the masses at the same time.

So, my biggest tip for me personally, I found is networking, networking, networking, networking. A big question that comes up is how much money am I going to spend networking versus what I’m going to get back? But the thing about attending creator conferences all over the place or going on fam trips is that the ROI comes in more tangential ways. It’s not like you’re going to leave this conference with $2,000 cash in hand. It is, you’re going to leave with 50 new connections, potential collaborations, potential jobs down the road because you’ve built these relationships with people and getting your name out there, if you can do it, go get some speaking gigs and put your name out into the universe. Go on podcasts, all of these things. Just get your name out there, have a good time doing it. Just go socialize, find fun people.

Matt Bowles: Well, I know that one of the things that you do is you teach and you mentor folks in these areas. You actually mentor some personal friends of mine and I have heard wonderful things about you from them; just about how awesome you are to work with. So, I’m wondering, just for folks that would like to go deeper on some of these topics, can you talk about the services, the courses and ways that people can work with you on a deeper level and a more one on one level on some of this stuff?

Jordan Campbell: Sure. So, I am involved with a lot of communities. Like I said, I’m all about networking. You will often find me in spaces like Wanderful, The Nomadic Network and Location Indie. I do speak at conferences. I just spoke at the Travel and Adventure show in New York this past January, and I have a couple of gigs lined up as well coming up. So, you can catch me at some of these places. You’ll find those on my IG and see where I’ll be around. But also, I have online courses on my website. One major one is how to build a killer website. And it basically takes you through five sections, easy to digest with downloadable at the end that help you map everything out for your website in a way that’s going to make sense and build success for you and your website. And this isn’t about where to purchase your domain, how to set things up. This is the next level after that. This is things I wish I knew, even as somebody who worked in this space professionally, things I wish I knew at the beginning and things that you need to be keenly aware of as you go along and sort of choices and options, what widgets you want to leave out, how much stuff do you want to put on the page? All of these things that you should know from a professional design point. So, there are those options on my site, and I also do coaching and consultations as well. So, if you’re like, I want an hour consultation on my site, I’ll do that for you and meet with you and give you a download and you can ask all the questions. So, custom job. And I’ve done coaching sessions too, whether it was one hour or over a couple of months.

Matt Bowles: Awesome. Well, you have been kind enough to offer a special discount to Maverick Show listeners. So, we are going to link all of this up in the show notes. So, for anybody that’s interested in learning more about the details of the courses that are available and the ways to work with Jordan, we’re going to link that up at themaverickshow.com and just go to the show notes for this episode and there you’ll have a link with a special discount. If you would like to go deeper and work with Jordan.

One of the things you just mentioned, Jordan, when you were explaining that is your connection with the Wanderful community, and I want to ask you about that.  Maverick Show listeners know Beth Santos, she’s been to the show twice. A dear friend of mine who’s doing amazing things in this world. But for listeners of this episode, maybe they’re not familiar with Wanderful. Can you share a little bit about what Wanderful is and your initial connection with them, your history with them and what that community is all about?

Jordan Campbell: When people ask me how Wanderful started for me, I almost kind of laugh to myself because it started really innocently. And then before you know it, I’m a full-fledged team member traveling across the country with them. Beth has charisma and magnetism where you just get roped right on in.

Matt Bowles: 100%.

Jordan Campbell: Yeah. Love her, It’s incredible. So, I actually met Wanderful at the DC Travel and Adventure show, literally just a couple of days before the pandemic closed down. Everything in the world. It was March of 2020. I was just really taken with the women that I met at the booth. They were amazing. I was like, yeah, let’s do this. And then the pandemic hit and so I logged into their virtual community, and we were all grieving in different ways. Over many different things during that time. I mean, none of us knew what was happening, what was going to happen day to day. And one of the thoughts in my head, which is yes, very privileged, but also just a form of grieving is when am I going to be able, like is what I love to do and what I quit my full-time job to do? Is this not going to happen anymore for me? Is this over? Do I have to pivot and what does that look like?

But I started getting involved virtually with their online community and what I was doing every day was different travel experiences virtually and talking and meeting with like-minded women and other creators. Before you know it, Beth is like, oh, do you want to be the D.C. chapter director? You’re so involved. And I was like, sure. Now hub leader used to be chapter directors. So, I did that for a while and then it was like, oh, do you want to join the team and do this? And I was like, sure. And now it’s been like over five years and I’m still with them and I love it. I love the two. I love the members of Wanderful. To be honest, I almost tear up a little bit when I talk about, I can’t even imagine the last few years of my life without that community around me. So, if you’re a female traveler, Wanderful is all about uplifting and empowering women in the travel space. It’s for travel lovers.

A large part of the community is content creators and there’s also entrepreneurs and small businesses, business owners in the mix as well. And they provide all kinds of tools and coaching to just help get you on your way. And I just can’t express how incredible they’ve been to my journey to global debauchery where I’m taking it full time. And even Beth is like, wow, your stuff has been just taking off. And I’m like, I know, thank you. Yeah, I couldn’t be more thankful and grateful for them.

Matt Bowles: It is an amazing community. Not only have I interviewed Beth twice, but I have interviewed a number of other people from the Wanderful team, from the Wanderful community and it is a female centered community. But Beth also invites male allies to attend the events. And so, I attended the WITS Travel Creator Summit last year in Utah and it was spectacular. The types of people that are attracted to this community, that are attracted to this event, it is really, really a special crowd. So, I am going back again this year for WITS 2025 in New York City where you are going to be presenting Jordan. We’re going to get to hang out in person, I’m super excited about that. But can you share a little bit about what people could expect from the upcoming WITS summit in general and then what your talk is going to be about?

Jordan Campbell: Sure. So, I go to a lot of conferences. I’m a little bit of an extrovert. I like to go out and about. I like to hobnob rub elbows with all my besties. And I travel so much that, funny enough, this is where I catch up with my friends, it is at these conferences. I’ll just be like, are you going to this one? Oh, well, I’ll catch you next year then at this other one. So, this is how I socialize now. One of my best girlfriends lives 15 minutes from me, and I am more likely to see her in Mexico or Spain than I am here in dc. It’s wild, but this is just how we roll.

So, WITS is a bunch of people just like that, only it’s mostly women. And yes, to stress, men are invited. Everyone from all walks of life, all allies. We invite everyone to join us to support this mission. WITS really is. I go; I have the time of my life. I came back from wits. My husband is like; you look like you’ve been just beaten down. And I’m like, my body feels that way, but my heart is just. My cup is filled is what I say every year. Like, I couldn’t be happier with the connections and the people I made and just the energy there is so positive. So, I have spoken at WITS before. Thank you Wanderful. I love you guys. This year, I’ll be speaking at the Beginner Bootcamp, and I’m basically doing content creation, creator blueprint to success. So laying out the foundation from point A to Z on things you need to think about and what you need to do on your path as a content creator.

For me, personally, I can say that my path was not going viral overnight. It has been keeping at it, being persistent and staying on your grind for a long time and being really intentional about your brand and what you want to do. And I feel like I have a following now and readers know that they know exactly what to expect, and they’re there because they like my voice and they like what I have to say. So, these aren’t bot followers or people who are just following anybody. They’re coming to me for my perspective on these things, and that’s really incredible. And I think far more important than just going viral overnight actually, is having that level of loyalty.

Matt Bowles: Can you talk a little bit more about Global Debauchery, what the brand mission is today at the current moment for the brand, what type of content you’re creating and what people can expect when they come into your ecosystem.

Jordan Campbell: Okay, well, I’m going to be brutally honest and I’m really glad that you asked that question that way because anybody who’s building a brand should come back, do your checks and balances. Am I staying on brand? But also, what’s working, what’s not working, this isn’t working, reassess it and pivot. No big deal. That is the life cycle of a brand. So, yes, mine started out very much like drinks offbeat travel. It would either be offbeat places in Paris, for example, where lots of people go, or it would just be weird destinations where nobody goes. So, there’s different ways that you can look at this. I still love that. But now I’m in my mid-40s, I’m a woman of a certain age, and let me just tell you that menopause just, just might ruin your life, but almost in a good way.

Every day I wake up and I just feel like I want to burn everything to the ground, you know, but this is my new voice, and I feel super energized by this. So now it’s like showing people offbeat destinations, but really, really leaning into authenticity and honesty in a way that I just never have before. And just being like, you know what, it just is what it is. I’m beyond the age of your standard influencers or what you expect to see. But you know what? I’m also the fastest growing travel segment in the industry. Are women my age. We are the women who either empty nester for the first time, divorcees going to go do their own thing. We have expendable travel income and we’re not elderly yet.

So, we have taken over the travel sphere. And I’m like, there’s a market for me that’s not in a bikini online. This is amazing. There were times where I was like, I’m going to start an only fans of my cat’s toe beans. But here we are and it’s building momentum and just I think actually finding that sort of liberation and being like, you know what, fuck it, it is what it is, and this is what I have to offer. And people can love it or hate it. Who knew that so many women just needed the same outlet that I did? So, it surprised me even. I shouldn’t be surprised, but here we are.

Matt Bowles: So, you’ve mentioned your husband a couple times over the course of this discussion and I’m wondering if you can share a little bit about the role of travel in your relationship.

Jordan Campbell: Oh, gosh. Well, let’s just say Jeff really is one of a kind in the sense that he puts up with me. It’s a lot. Full credit due. It’s a lot. So, he is also my travel buddy. People are like, oh, do you just travel all over the place without him? I do that because I do it for work and there’s this misconception. People are like, oh, I can’t believe you’re away from your husband for so long. And I’m like, if I was a farm, a rat rep, would that be different? It could be a wildly successful pharma rep traveling and nobody would say anything about it.

But because I’m in this new sphere that still isn’t fully trusted yet with the overall world, people are like, oh my God, he lets you do that. I’m like, he doesn’t let me do anything. Like, let’s be clear. And he will say that that’s the first thing he doesn’t let me do. And I just do what I do. He can respond how he wants to. I just booked myself an extra day in Honduras coming up and was like, oh, by the way, I’m staying in Honduras on my own for a few days. He’s like, okay, that’s with my business money, so it’s fine. He has always been down for the ride. He started traveling with me early. He actually went to my high school in Belgium, I should say so. He’s also a military brat who traveled around a lot then and we still go on at least three more than that usually dedicated trips together as a couple.

So, we do two 10 days at either end of the year and then we’ll usually have a long weekend somewhere, whether it’s Thanksgiving and then we have family trips. So, he is very much included in my travels. He himself has been to like 55 countries now I think, which he told me the other day, and I was like, no kidding.  But also, I couldn’t ask for more support out of her. He is much more risk averse than I am and much more even keel. He likes having a nine to five office job. He likes having a house with our cats and he is good with that. And he is totally fine with me being wherever, whenever and coming home, being like, hey, and like messing up his space that he’s Gotten used to having to himself. So, he’s a good sport and the biggest supporter of global debauchery I could ever ask for.

Matt Bowles: That’s awesome. Jordan, when you think back about all of the travel that you have done, 75 countries, seven continents, how do you think all of that travel has impacted you as a person?

Jordan Campbell: I don’t know what my life would be or what my ultimate passion would be if not for travel. Travel makes you realize how small you are in the world. It gives you perspective. I think one of the biggest things that I love about travel is always the people that I meet. You meet so many good people, and I love hearing people’s stories and keeping in touch with people. I’ve met random people in a bar. I went and had drinks with a hotel receptionist once and we’re still friends. I visited her in Iceland and in Copenhagen and in Stockholm and we met her boyfriend and we’ve gone out and we’ve gotten hammered together in all these different countries. And these are the things that I love about travel. I love meetings, people, and hearing their stories, even if they’re stories you don’t want to hear, that are heartbreaking. Like in Cuba, where I just recently went, there was a lot of heartbreaking stories there. The people are just incredible. That human connection that all of us desire, the realization that you can have that regardless of background or upbringing, you can find that with other people from every corner of the earth. And that to me, is mind blowing. Still, to this day.

Matt Bowles: You’ve been doing this your whole life. You are not burned out with it. You’re not ready to hang up the travel experiences. Why are you so passionate about continuing to travel at this point in your life and in your journey?  What does travel mean to you?

Jordan Campbell: At this point, it might just be an addiction at this point. Not in college anymore, not my 20s. I don’t do drugs. I mean, I still drink, I still have my vices, but I am very much an addictive personality. It is all or nothing. My friendships, I’m all in. Or I really just don’t have anything to say to you. Like, there’s no in between with me. And it’s very much that way with travel. But I still cannot imagine what my life would look like without always having something on the horizon to look forward to. That’s always the way. Like, I’m home for six weeks now straight, which for a lot of people is like, okay, a month and a half. But I have been wanting to crawl out of my skin because I’m like, now I have to sit here and work. I had the cats, and I have Jeff, and that’s great. But also, where am I going to next? I get itchy feet. No, I’m not going to stop until something prevents me from where I physically cannot travel anymore.

I’ve heard a lot of people say I’m going to wait till I retire to travel. And literally have known people who have dropped dead three months after they retired. So, there’s a balance there where you can save for your retirement and you can be smart about your income, and you can still travel. There’s a balance there. And you can travel in creative ways. You don’t have to go on a safari in Tanzania for $5,000 to go travel. You can literally go to West Virginia, two hours away, and go explore another state that you haven’t explored. You can go to the next town over. I literally just did this recently. I went to one county over and I started indoor rock climbing, and now I’m addicted to that. I was like, I didn’t even think I wanted to do that. But now I love it and I can’t stop. It’s all or nothing now. I have multiple lessons with them, like, every Sunday morning. I’m terrible. Like, actually, that’s not true. I’m not terrible at it, but it’s hard. It’s harder than you might think it is.

Matt Bowles: Well, Jordan, I think that is a great place to end the main portion of this interview. And at this point, are you ready to move in to the Lightning Round?

Jordan Campbell: Oh, God. I’m kind of nervous about this, but okay, let’s go. I’ve got a glass down.

Matt Bowles: Let’s do it. All right. What is one book that you would recommend, and that people should read?

Jordan Campbell: Okay, I have three, but the number one is the Awakening by Kate Chopin. The two follow ups to that, and the reason for that would be Animal Farm and Handmaid’s Tale. I’m actually a lit minor. Classic literature is my jam. Classic women’s literature is really my jam. And for whatever reason, I’m really fascinated with women eating grapes off the wallpaper. That Sylvia Plath type stuff. And the Awakening is a quick short story read that embodies and encompasses that. And in times of political uncertainty, I kind of revert back to that, and I’m like, that’s what I don’t want to do. And those are the options that women had, and I’m very fortunate. But let’s not do that again. Let’s keep moving forward. Let’s join Wanderful.

Matt Bowles: Absolutely. Well, we will link those up in the show notes so that folks can check those books out.

Jordan, who is one person currently alive today that you’ve never met that you would most love to have dinner with, just you and that person for an evening of dinner and conversation?

Jordan Campbell: So again, on this one, I have two, and it depends on the mood. If I want to be super serious and intellectual, it’s got to be Jane Elliot, the sociologist who challenged everybody’s belief system with the blue eye color challenge. You can go on YouTube and see her work. It is incredible. And she really pushed boundaries about how people perceive things and just our perceptions of the world in general. And to me, it ties in a lot to travel. The second is Barack Obama, which is fairly standard, but actually he’s such a cool dude, he used to put his playlists out. I actually download his playlists. They’re good playlists, man. I don’t even want to hang out with him and talk about politics. I mean, maybe that too, but maybe I just want to hang out and smoke a cigarette with him or ask him what his latest jams are. I think that’s really wear that beige suit.

Matt Bowles: All right, Jordan, what is one travel hack that you use that you can recommend to people?

Jordan Campbell: So, I had to think about this one a little bit. But I recently did this and I put it in my IG, and I was like, is this crazy or is this smart? And I was crossing a sketchy border on foot. I put an air tag in my shoe on my person. So, I was a little nervous. I was traveling solo and literally over 200 people replied. And all of them, except for one, a guy at that said, genius. So, if you have certain scenarios where you might be feeling a little uncomfortable, use an air tag for you as your person, not your things. And just notify people ahead of time, like, hey, this is me. This is where I’m at. And just keep an eye out now.

Matt Bowles: That is awesome. All right, knowing everything that you know now, if you could go back in time and give one piece of advice to your 18-year-old self, what would you say to 18-year-old Jordan?

Jordan Campbell: I love this question. And the answer is none of these matters. Everything that you think matters right now, it’s all bullshit. All these goals, these aren’t even your goals. You don’t even know if these are your goals. These are other people’s goals. This is you finding your worth and productivity and finding your worth and what other people have charted out for you. And you know what, like literally 20 years from now, you are going to say, fuck all of it and just chart your own path and be happier than you couldn’t even imagine you could be. None of it matters. That’s literally what. And you know what? It’ll be fine. That’s also like, none of it matters. It’ll be fine.

Matt Bowles: Awesome advice. All right, of all the places that you have now traveled, what are three of your four favorite destinations you would most recommend people should definitely check out.

Jordan Campbell: Cuba. I’m going back. I went there once and immediately I was like, I’m going back. And that was literally last month. And I could not speak more highly of it. Faroe Islands used to be Iceland. I’ve been back twice. But Faroe Islands is the new Iceland. So, if you’re looking for something that’s a little quieter with the same incredible scenery, Faroe Islands and Japan. Tokyo. I mean, if you’re a city lover, Tokyo is like Times Square on steroids. So, if you think Times Square at night is a big deal and it’s like daylight out there, wait till you go to Tokyo. And don’t forget to go to Golden Gai, because that is the best. That’s the little bar district.

Matt Bowles: Totally agreed on Tokyo. It is epic. And the Golden Gai is so fascinating. When you say it’s the bar district, though, you need to explain why it’s fundamentally different from any other bar district on the planet. What is the Golden Gai like?

Jordan Campbell: Oh, so there are a ton of basically little stands. Some of them fit like three to five people maybe. And a lot of them are themed, so, like, they’ll have their own themes. They only fit a couple of people. You go in for a little bit, you wander out, and then you go into the next one and it is a whole district, just a maze of alleyways. It’s almost like going to Venice, where it’s like, if you’re trying to find something on a map, just fuck it, just throw the map away. Forget it. That’s Golden Guy. But bars, you guys, little dive bars everywhere. So, if that is your jam, it’s one of a kind, world-class spots to go for drinks.

Matt Bowles: It’s amazing. Yeah. And a lot of these only fit five people in the bar. There are only five stools. There are only five human beings that can fit in the bar. And when there’s five, then it’s completely full and no more people can come in. And then you can do bar hopping to these tiny little bars that seat between three and eight people. I mean, it’s really a special, local, amazing experience.

Can you share a little bit, though, more about Cuba, because I have not been. Can you talk about what about Cuba impacted you so profoundly? And what was it like there? What did you experience?

Jordan Campbell: Yeah, I just realized, too, I’ve mentioned it three or four times now, I think, because it was recent, it just blew my mind. So, I had, as a woman, some preconceived notions about the idea of not supporting certain types of countries because of their governments. So just as an example, like, in my brain, I was always like, oh, I’m never going to go to Saudi Arabia because how they treat women, and I don’t want to fund their tourism. And somebody had pointed out, well, a lot of times it goes with locals. And I’m like, yeah, yeah, I hear all of that. But ultimately, I still have to deal with these very real aspects of it. So, Cuba was a little bit on the list of, if I go there, am I supporting the Cuban government? And actually, the answer legally is, no, you’re not. You’re going in support of the Cuban people. That’s the way you even get into Cuba to begin with.

But going there, and I went with, I have to do a shout out to Maria Jacob of Wild World Tours. It’s her first season doing tours, and it was incredible. It’s everything Global debauchery. We did salsa dances. We did street art tours. I met a street artist. We learned how to play dominoes at a local’s house. We rolled Cuban cigars. This was the most authentic. We had a pig roast and did dancing. We just had an amazing time. I think the thing that was so transformative to me is seeing how vibrant a culture and community can be under certain circumstances. And you realize very clearly. For example, our tour guides were women, all women funded. But you realized how important tourism is to them personally and exactly how much they really do separate themselves from. They are very clear what the government is imposing on us is not okay. And we thank you for it. Like, it could not be more hospitable. Literally, one of our girlfriends on the tour, her sandal broke, and she was going to throw them in the trash. And they were like, no, we upcycle everything here. You give them to me, and somebody will fix it, and they will take those shoes.

There are people who literally, their entire business is flying in and out of Miami and bringing back laundry lists of things that they have no access to. And despite all of that, despite their lack of access, they’re giving toilet paper to tourists where they can’t even get toilet paper for themselves at their hotels. On every single block there is music blasting out of homes. It is so vibrant, and people are laughing and dancing in the streets and kids are jump roping and playing football and the people are so warm. I stayed at one casa in La Habana on the way in and I was placed. I say placed. There may have been an issue between some roommates along the way, but somebody just said to me, hey, can you stay in this other casa? And I said, sure, like whatever, I’m fine. I stayed in this other casa but we were packing up to go and I’m walking down the street of La Habana by myself with my pack.

I walked past the original casa I stayed at and the guys there remembered me. They invited me in. I was just waiting for the rest of the group. That wasn’t even the right casa. I didn’t know where they were. It was around there. But they invited me in. They’re smoking cigarettes with me, they’re giving me coffee, they’re talking to me. One of them doesn’t speak any English and I speak very poor Spanish and he’s having an entire conversation with me. They took my bags and put them behind the desk so I could just have a seat and have a drink with them. And I’m just hanging out with them. Like I met them for a few days, and they remembered me days later and were like, come into our home and we’ll give you coffee and take your bags off your shoulders for you, you know, and have conversation with you until the rest of your group gets here. And I was like, that is absolutely amazing to me. And again, goes and speaks to how incredible and resilient human beings across the world are and their different experiences from you.

Matt Bowles: Yeah, Cuba is so high on my list. I also want to ask you about the Faroe Islands because I’ve not been there. For people that are not familiar with them, can you explain where exactly the Faroe Islands are? And then what is it like there? What was your experience there?

Jordan Campbell: The Faroe Islands, it’s one of these tricky places to get to because you can only get flights there out of certain cities. I imagine more flights will start coming out as it gets more popular. But we flew there out of Edinburgh. I think you can get there out of Bergen and Oslo, Norway as well. But the Faroe Islands are located pretty centered between the northern part of Norway and Scotland. And I think it’s nine or 12 islands there. Very much similar scenery to Iceland, where it’s just these incredible mountains and cliffs that are very green just up out of nowhere and there’s freaks, free range sheep everywhere. We were driving on these windy roads and there were two sheep. And all of a sudden both of them just jumped off the side of the cliff when we were driving. And I screamed. I was like, no. And then we realized that they had literally just jumped down the side onto like a little ledge as we got closer up.

I had actually already on that same trip had been injured in Scotland trying to save a random sheep because it was stuck in a fence. And what does my husband do? He’s sitting there, he’s recording the whole thing. So, I jumped off this wall, almost like took out my own knees. And I’m trying to shove a sheep through a fence, and he’s got it all on video. And I was like, how help me save this sheep? Anyhow, they’re everywhere in the Faroe Islands. I digress. But the Faroe Islands, glacial tidal pools, all these islands, you can drive between the islands. They have underwater tunnels which are kind of freaky but very cool. We went to quite a few of the islands. They have two famous photos that if people look up the Faroe Islands you will see. And one is this waterfall straight off the side of a cliff. Cliff that just drops down into the ocean. And we almost missed it. It’s a village of 18 people and you can’t even see it from the village. You really have to walk down and take a minute to find it.

The other famous site that they have is what they call a hanging lake. So, there’s all this water all around this island. There are these big cliffs that rise up and you’re on the top of the island. But on the top of that is another lake. And it looks like almost an infinity pool the way this lake sits. So, a lot of times you’ll see that flying in. But that’s another one of the famous photos is a lake sort of on top of a cliffside on top of water. It’s really unbelievable. And you can go hike it.

Matt Bowles: Wow. Well, you have just put the Faroe Islands way high up on my list. So, I appreciate that.

Jordan Campbell: And I’m almost positive they have a Michelin star restaurant there too in Tórshavn, the capital.

Matt Bowles: Amazing. I am going to start my research. Jordan, I appreciate you putting me onto that. And the final question of the lightning round for you. What are your top three bucket list destinations, places you have not yet been highest on your list you’d most love to see.

Jordan Campbell: Cambodia, Namibia, Madagascar.

Matt Bowles: Awesome picks.

Jordan Campbell: I’ve been eyeing them for a really long time. And man, I mean, Australia and Antarctica were on it for a while, but now I’ve got those checked up. So now I’m moving on to these other ones that I’ve been eyeing for a while.

Matt Bowles: Love that. All right, Jordan, at this point, I want you to let folks know how they can find you, follow you on social media, learn more about global debauchery and everything you’re up to. How do you want people to come into your world?

Jordan Campbell: You can follow me. My biggest channel is on Instagram at globaldebauchery. I have a decent Facebook page and channel there, but also my blog. Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get lots of fun travel discounts, travel news, travel deals from fellow creators, things that they’re offering as well. So, I would say the biggest ones, Instagram and probably my blog, globaldebauchery.com awesome.

Matt Bowles: We are going to link all of that up in the show notes so folks can just go to one place at themaverickshow.com go to the show notes for this episode. You’re going to find all of those links for how to find contact and follow Jordan there. You’re also going to find links to her courses and how you can get a special Maverick show discount. And if you would like to meet me and Jordan in person at the Wits Travel Creator Summit 2025 in New York City in May of 2025, we’ve got a special discount code for you as well. You can get $75 off. And as a matter of fact, if you just want to go straight to themaverickshow.com/wits. That’ll take you right there. You can register for the conference at a $75 discount. We’re also going to link it up in the show notes as well. And then if you do register for Wits, shoot me a DM on Instagram, let me know you’re coming, and we can make plans to link up in person at the conference. You can follow us at maverickshowpod on Instagram and just shoot me a DM there. Let me know you’re going to be there, and we’ll make sure that we link up with you in person at the conference. Jordan, this was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for coming to the show.

Jordan Campbell: Thank you for having me. Thanks everyone for listening and I hope I will see you in person at Wits or online on Instagram.

Matt Bowles: All right, good night everybody.