Ep 44: At age 50 embarking on a nomadic quest to visit every country in the world

Sean Tierney (02:00):
All right. Welcome everybody to the podcast. I’m your host, Sean Tierney and I am here today sitting across from Pale Bo. Palle is founder, owner and CEO of radio guru, a production and consultant company where he develops radio campaigns, runs courses and workshops for radio stations and does lectures on podcasting and creativity. Radio guru one the Danish Capri radio awards five times between 2010 and 2015 they were a finalist in the Cannes lion at 2011 and won the prestigious national creative circle awards in both 2012 and 2019 poly is co co owner of 17 radio stations in his home country of Denmark. And in July, 2016 he started his life as a digital nomad, selling his house, car and furniture and setting out to do a question around the world to visit every country in the world. And the plan is to continue traveling nonstop for the next 10 to 15 years. Welcomen Palle. Did I say that right there? Almost? Yeah. I don’t know what’s German or Danish or anything anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Well we didn’t say Buchanan. We’ll go with it. That was good. I’m impressed. So let’s start with the radio stations that you have had a long illustrious career in radio. Can you just kind of take us back to like how did, how does one come to co and 17 radio station?

Palle Bo (03:23):
Well, it’s, it’s not, it did not start out like that, that not in a long shot. I know it was, it was when I got into radio as a hobby in 85 back in the day when everything was black and white. And and, and we were at this communal radio station where eh, there were all kinds of programs going in all kinds of different directions and it were a lot of political programs. Then Fiddler came in and did a program about traditional Danish fiddling music and somebody did something about with country music and then there were Housewives coming in. And not, not to say anything bad about that. And then there were me and a bunch of other young guys who just enjoyed Stargate, can Waterman pop music and wanted to do a pop radio. And it was not good. So at some point, me and the, another of the cofounders looked at each other and said, Hey, do you want to start a radio station?

Palle Bo (04:27):
And then we got to more ball on, on, on board. And it wasn’t because we wanted to build a company, it was more like we wanted to make the kind of radio stations that we wanted to listen to and, and maybe our friends wanted to listen to. And that was about it. So for a few years it was still a hobby pond project. The station had only had a few hours of broadcast, so we were able to do our regular day job in the day and then go and do some broadcasting at night. And eh, yeah, it was just, it was just a fun hobby. And then it grew from there. And, and, and lo and behold, so many years later, we have 17 local regional stations in in the country. And now it is a company. And

Sean Tierney (05:14):
Yeah, so with no background, you just basically you guys kind of banded together and decided to just buy a radio station

Palle Bo (05:21):
We apply for a license. And got that. And I, I liked so many other people. I had a mobile discotheque. So I was getting into the whole playing music and talking into a microphone and I just thought it was so fascinating. And it was, it was really my passion. I lived and breathed radio. I w I was thinking about it constantly and and I, I think that’s also one of the reasons because I was working as a graphic designer at the time. I think that was one of the, because I was so focused on radio that they eventually fired me. They said, Oh, we are, we’re restructuring the company and that just no room for you now. But I think that was a lot of it had to do with that they could feel that my passion was more into, into radio.

Sean Tierney (06:15):
Interestingly enough, I just left my job last week of five years to pursue my passion as well. It’s just, yeah. Charity make-over just a little side project that I started that I just kinda realized five years into it that like, this is where my heart is now. So, yeah. But I think it’s, it’s kind of a blessing in disguise when these things, I kind of nudge you out of the neck

Palle Bo (06:35):
To hear more about that. And on that note, I’ll be interviewing you on my podcast,

Sean Tierney (06:40):
But we’ll get into that. That’s right. That’s right. I’m looking forward to it. So with the radio station, so this is still running, is this what funds you at this point or no,

Palle Bo (06:51):
So it gives me a, I, I own 10% of the company now and it gives me a little passive income every year which is nice. But for me it’s more like a, it’s, it’s my retirement fund. It’s, it’s worth some money. And maybe at some point we decide to sell the company. We’re all about the same age. So I can easily see that in in 10, 15 years, we might want to find a buyer for the company and pass it on to the next generation. And and then I will have a little coin for my retirement because I’m not saving up for that. If not, if not, I’m gonna die with a microphone in my hand to do the microphone drop

Sean Tierney (07:37):
Somewhere in one of the many countries in this world. Right. Yeah. So what was it that inspired you to go nomadic in 2016?

Palle Bo (07:47):
It was actually I could, I lived in, in Denmark all my life in the same rule, not in Copenhagen, in a rural part of Denmark for, for 50 years. And I could, I could see that in a few years, my, both my daughters would have grown up and graduated and would probably move out, move out of the house. So I was sort of toying with the idea maybe I should go and live a couple of years abroad. So I was, I was playing with that idea. And in 2013, I went to to Cape town because I thought that might be the place. They are very much into radio. They do great radio and especially radio advertising. They’re really, really good at that. And so I went there to, to feel what that was like when I was still living in Denmark. I said, no, I’m going to month.

Palle Bo (08:39):
And that was in 2013. And that’s where I realized that my clients, which at that point were mainly Danish agencies and brands, they didn’t care where I was. And I thought, Oh, I could work anywhere. So I thought, there’s so many places I want to see, so why not just live out of the suitcase and do that? And then the whole idea grew from that. I was still thinking I’d be traveling for two years, but now I’m three and a half, almost four years in and and I’m, I’m, I’m still enjoying every single day. I have no plans of quitting anytime soon.

Sean Tierney (09:19):
What was that like? Because I think everyone who does this comes to a point where you kind of have to acknowledge that yeah, this is real. Like I’m actually selling all my stuff and I’m now buying a plane ticket and I’m packing, you know, closing the door for the last time on this place. What was that like?

Palle Bo (09:33):
That was scary. That was so scary. Well, I, I was very public about the plan for a long time. I was talking about it on Facebook that in the summer of 2016, I’m going traveling and and now I’m selling my house and now I’m selling my furniture and come to my garage sale. And I posted plans or where I would go and yeah, talked a lot about it. So I actually met a lot of people six months before I left. Oh, I thought you were traveling, but that was something I did because there was part of me getting ready for it and putting a commitment in there that I S I said it out loud and, and publicly and and then I, everything was fine and I sold my house. And then I started selling my furniture before I had to hand over the keys.

Palle Bo (10:27):
And I remember a couple of months before I had to leave, I was in my living room and the room was getting more and more empty. So more and more echo. And I thought, what the hell am I doing? Because I was crossing the point of no return. I thought, this is this a mistake. At that point, I did not want to go anywhere. I just wanted to be in my own house, in my own couch watching Netflix and not go anywhere. But then I, I, I sold, I went left the house had one more month. So I, I, I stayed at my parents’ house that was empty at the time. And and ever since the day I left, I haven’t looked back. It was, it’s, it’s the best decision I ever made. But I was going out of the comfort zone and that’s, that was scary.

Sean Tierney (11:22):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s very resonates with me. I did the same thing with remote year, packed up everything, put it in storage, didn’t actually sell it, but like subsequently sold it. But yeah, I just remember leaving like that last time when you lock your apartment and you’re like, I’m not coming back to this place and potentially this country ever again. Like this is really weird. Yeah. Cool. let’s talk about some of the companies that you’ve worked with. You’ve done some really big projects. Can you maybe mention the Lego stuff? Anything that you’re comfortable

Palle Bo (11:54):
Talking about? Okay. Yeah. I’m working on a new project for, for Lego right now that I can’t talk about obviously. But in, in 2018 I did the Lego technique podcast when they were making them an ultimate project. They did a a model of the Bugattis Huron, the, the, at that time, the fastest and most expensive supercar in the world. And they wanted to it’s, it’s something that would take the customers weeks to assemble. It’s very complicated. So they wanted to put an extra layer to the building experience saying, Hey, don’t, why don’t we do a podcast? And then I was in Denmark visiting a Lego and going into the secret rooms behind closed doors where they, they have a ton of grownups. And I like to tease them and say, they are, you’re here you are playing with Lego.

Palle Bo (12:53):
And they just look at me and say, be careful what you say. We’re designers. Oh, sorry. Well then we’ll, we’re making this. And, and then I also went to Multimin in France at the Bugatti factory. A small plant. They only did 500 of the brigands Shiran. And also to both broken in Germany where they have a, a test track and they, they do the engine there and it’s part of the fork truck and group. So I was following that. So one episode is about the engine. So I S I speak to the guy who, the Dutch guy who did the real engine and develop this special system where it can go super fast. And then I spoke to the designer at the Lego at Lego about how he react, recreated it there. So one episode is about the engine, but this one about the design and one about the special features and all that.

Palle Bo (13:49):
This thing is functional. You can actually drive. Now this one was a one to eight scale model and and I also got to drive it so that was awesome. Or sit beside the driver going super, super fast. No, but then they, then they decided to do a crazy, insane project where they did a one-to-one scale model of the [inaudible] really truly one to one scale. And so I went to a clap, no, in the Czech Republic, just outside of Prague where they have a plant where they do the big scale model for all the flagship stores and the Legoland parks around the world. And they decided to recreate this also in Lego technique, these tiny, tiny bricks not using glue. And the most crazy thing was they wanted it to drive as well, using only the tiny Lego technique, power function motors.

Palle Bo (14:47):
My leg was used to break, forget driving, like, and just playing with them, holding in my hand. I can’t imagine driving a car made of Legos. It was, it was crazy. It was crazy. So they, they did that and then they transported it back to Volksburg where they have the official test track and the longest piece of straight road anywhere in Europe in a, in a, in a closed area. And they had this side by side with the original and it was awesome and they actually made it drive. So I was following that process or being in Denmark and Czech Republic and then finally in, in, in, in, in Allsbrook. But imagine having moved, moved it with the shaking and the, anything gone loose on that. Mm. Yeah. So it was, it was, it was tricky and it, it, it nearly failed.

Palle Bo (15:36):
And then it started raining and everything that possibly could go wrong went wrong. But at the end they, they managed to get a driving, not fast, not Bugatti fast, but but they had, they had a driving and then they did a movie, a film about it as well. So you should definitely check out the film. It’s an awesome, insane project. And when they did that, they decided to do a second season. So we did three episodes about the one-to-one scale model. Cool. Yeah, I was such a Lego freak growing up. I ha like all of us. Yeah. But I mean you ask my parents, like I, my room was covered. Those little boards you’d have like the space Legos and I probably had like 40 of these things all stitched together with basis and whatnot. And I tell you what was in episode one.

Palle Bo (16:21):
We were talking about the history of the two companies and the Lego historian in Denmark took me down to what they called the volt. It’s a, something that’s not open for the public. It’s in the basement in one of their buildings. And they have a lot of shelves where they stick us on with years of when the products came out and then they have all the products so I could go back in time and then go back to when I was like six, seven years old and see what was on the shelves. And it was just goosebumps because I was there with a friend of mine who works at the Lego, one of the, the, the creative directors. And we were about the same age. And when we came to that shelf, he started crying. Is that I’ve never been here before. This is just amazing.

Palle Bo (17:12):
I feel like I’m seven years old again. You would, you would enjoy that. And I I wrote a blog post on my dad’s blog for father’s day, maybe two years ago about this experience. And you know, how like there throughout your life you can kind of name the two or three, like very crossroad moments that kind of develop you or you know, make you into what you are. I had this experience. I remember building a Lego, the most complex thing I’d ever built, it was called the galaxy explorers. This one. And I remember that I got close, but that just, it didn’t have the right pieces. And I’m following the instructions in like, as a very analytical like nerd kid know, I was very like

Sean Tierney (17:49):
Precise and I couldn’t build this thing because it didn’t have the right pieces. And I just remember like just sobbing and going to my father and being like, I can’t do it. It’s just not possible. Like they didn’t give me the right pieces and him saying, you know, that’s just a suggestion of how you can build it. Like you can probably build a better one. And it was like that license to just create and go outside the lines. And that was just that moment was such one of those like, Oh, I don’t have to build with the instructions. Tell me the real answer. Yeah. It’s just,

Palle Bo (18:16):
Yeah. And I think that’s a, that’s something that’s is so unique about Lego that it, it’s, it inspires people to be super creative. And I got to learn a lot about the company since I’ve been working with them. And they have a lot of hardcore fans sending in suggestions and building stuff and they end up hiring a lot of them as well. And for those people it’s a, it’s a dream job.

Sean Tierney (18:43):
I haven’t followed since they added, I know they have now like robotics and mechanics, like the Mac stuff, but so I know it’s come a long way since the old days. Like the ones that I played with were just no little plastic pieces that fit together, but still just like imagination expanding like, Oh wow, you can create anything. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. okay, well I was going to ask you how your radio career sucks. So you’re now podcasting the vagabond. Can you talk about what the vagabond radio is, what the theme of that show is?

Palle Bo (19:51):
Yeah, the radio vagabond is a podcast about my journey. So I, it’s, I started in radio and audio production because it’s my passion and it’s still my passion and still my hobby. And I just dotted it. I think mostly for myself when I’m 95 years old and not probably not traveling so much anymore. It’s my memories. It’s my, my photo album, eh, and I, I record all the time and record on, on street corners and talk to people. I, I meet and Uber drivers and tour guides and yet try to get a sense of the place I’m in and and it’s, it also gives me an excuse to talk to people and and meet people. So I, I, I really, really enjoy doing it even though it takes a hell of a long time. I published an episode today that took me most of a week of just editing a, which is insane for a 30 minute episodes and

Sean Tierney (20:56):
Put extraordinary production quality into your episodes. Like you’re doing what I would consider like NPR level, like very like art for art’s sake. A lot of edits and stuff in there.

Palle Bo (21:08):
Yeah. That’s what I tried to do. Thank you. Thank you so much for saying so. Yeah, it, it, it is a lot of work, but I can’t, I can’t not do it. I have to. Yeah. Yeah.

Sean Tierney (21:18):
Well I listened to the Becky Gillespie episode and you’ll be happy to know on one ex, not my normal 1.7 eggs. Cause I know that you said it was like, it’s about like, you know a painter. Like if you, I don’t know if you’ve watched it, if you look at their painting through sunglasses or something

Palle Bo (21:35):
Or if you, if, yeah, I had, I had a friend of mine, even a friend of mine, I like to say, a former friend of mine say that he always listens to my podcast in double speed. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, but it saves me time. Yeah. But do you listen to music in double speed? It will save you a couple of minutes every time you hear a song. Yeah. It’s not the same, but for me it is. So if you listen to my podcast and doublespeak please just don’t tell me if you want to maintain the relationship.

Sean Tierney (22:05):
Yours is the only one. My over overcast. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Fair enough. How has your career in radio mapped over to podcasting? Like what have you, what did you take from that experience and how has it, how has it, how a lot, a lot,

Palle Bo (22:23):
A lot. I th I th from, for me, it’s, it’s, it’s just the platform it comes out on it, I, I try to do the same kind of work that I did when I was on the radio, even though I didn’t do much of this montage editing when I was in radio. But I, even though it’s, it’s, it’s quite different having worked with the radio advertising and, and have to create small 30 or 62nd audio theater it has given me a lot in terms of radio drama and how I, how I put things together and sound effects should be there, but not too much. And yeah, the way I use music and stuff like that. So it’s, it’s given me a lot in, in that sense. But for me, it’s, it, it, it could be on the radio and in, in fact it, eh, it also is I, it’s, I am, it’s a part of the, the programming on the, a station in London called podcast radio. So a shout out to to those guys. So I’m actually on the air on, in, in, in, in London and, and, and that area and, and, and online. And I used to do also a shorter version of the radio vagabond for a national Danish radio in the first part of my, my journey on until they ran out of money because of budget cuts. So it’s, for me, it’s, it’s still radio. It’s still audio. And you can, it just happens to be available as a podcast.

Sean Tierney (24:05):
Yeah, for sure. I just, I remember when we were in Dubai dune bashing and you guys get a flat tire and we’re driving up behind you and Pally is sitting out there next to the guy changing the tire with the recorder, recording an interview with him. Right. It’s just asleep. And we were, we were

Palle Bo (24:21):
Dune bashing and you were in another car. And I, I tried to record inside the car as we were driving nuts, but it was a, it was a lot of fun. So this probably, I haven’t even started listening to yet, but then we had a flat tire after we went out onto the regular road. And yeah, I think that it’s, it’s always an interesting story when something goes wrong. So that’s something I try to appreciate whenever something goes wrong or I get scammed. I I think, Oh at least I have a good story for the podcast.

Sean Tierney (24:52):
Well I love this thing. Bad decisions make great stories. Exactly. Can you talk about that train? So that’s another one that I was listening to on your show was that that Sri Lankan train, which was fascinating cause you’re interviewing the guy with the block and how they, you know, make the train like this very old school method that they have for ensuring that the train can’t possibly ever be like having a head on collision with another train. Yeah. Like, what would, so just maybe tell people about that experience. I mean, that sounded like a really cool,

Palle Bo (25:20):
Yeah, it was, it was super cool. Also, I’ll, I spent, I spent a, I was on a 10 day press trip to Sri Lanka invited by Srilanka tourism because of the podcast. So it doesn’t give me a lot of money to do the podcast about the, it does give me press trips here and there and and, and one of the things we did was to go on this scenic train ride in the center of the Island through some of the most amazing landscapes. And we started out at on this train station in Candi, in Sri Lanka where they have this old school system that the British brought there a long time ago and they changed it in Britain, but not in Sri Lanka. So it just it’s, it’s, it still works. And I, I, one of the other bloggers is, and and an English guy who knew a lot about it. So I spoke to a travel, Dave about this and how the whole system worked. And it was fascinating. So to watch you kind of like a time capsule and then we went on the train, which was stunning. They say it’s one of the most scenic train rides in the world. And I could totally see why we’d go through this beautiful, beautiful landscape and and there are no doors in the train. So obviously we had to hang out at the doors which was probably not the safest thing to do, but yeah,

Sean Tierney (26:40):
There’s a picture of you hanging off the side of it. Yeah, we had to get that Instagram moments wa yeah. Right. And if, if I’d fallen off that would make a great story. Yeah. We will link to that episode cause I was a particularly good one and there were some amazing photos from that. Very cool. Okay, well let’s, let’s shift gears. You and I met via the nomad cruise and a mutual friend Matt bowls. Shout out to Matt who has his own podcast. You’ve been on it. I’ve been on it. He’s been, I’ve been on it twice, so I’m a little bit jealous technically three times. I just, he reused one of my episodes as me as being the host for him.

Sean Tierney (27:20):
No, but like so Matt introduced us, I’ll never forget, we were in a, I think it was Porto gay Galena’s in Brazil. And you’re standing there with a recorder, you just brought it out with you or kind of out in the streets and you’re, when we met in Portugal in say that was after nomad cruise and you weren’t, which I was not on yet. Not on that. Well, I was a, not a stowaway, but I don’t know what she call it. I flew to where the crews docked and then I kind of, everyone got off and they thought I was just part of it cause it was so many people on it. And so I’m going to blend it in. And that’s where I realized like, Hey, this is a really good group of people. I think I want to do this myself. And I was kinda thinking, I don’t remember seeing him. But then again, we were 500 nomad say on the ship. So plausible deniability. Yeah. what were your thoughts on the cruise, cause you’ve been on a couple of them.

Palle Bo (28:09):
Yeah, I went on six and seven and then we were both on a normal cruise 10. I just love it and I’m, I’m going to keep coming back and I, I love the community and it’s so happens right now. We’re in a jangle Bali and I think we’re around 50 Noman cruises here right now. So we have we’ve had a few meetups and it’s, it’s been super, super nice and I feel like I have I become part of a family and I really, really, really enjoy that and a part of that community. And when you’re in the alumni, there’s always a good chance that there are somebody where you are and through their Facebook page, you can always paste a post. I’m, I’m here now, anybody here and I haven’t done a remote the year and wifi tribe that you and, and, and Matt has. But I, I, I could, I could see myself doing something similar because I enjoy being, being a solo traveler. It’s nice to have a community here and there.

Sean Tierney (29:17):
Yeah, yeah. Well I always think of it like it’s, it’s great to, you can, you can be in one of these travel groups and go solo and go off on your own and that’s totally fine, but then you always have something to come back to if you choose to, but you can’t really do the reverse when you’re just going by yourself. You can’t manifest a giant community instantly and have that kind of safe base to come back to you. So you can go to a cowork spaces

Palle Bo (29:42):
And the [inaudible] and stuff like that. But it’s, it’s different. It’s different. And also, I, I try to go to a lot of a travel blogger or travel content creator conferences. I’ve been to traverse in, in Europe and travel con in the U S and and, and also tea bags. I also produce the tea bakes podcast. So there you, you, it’s, it’s kind of the same. You, you, you meet my people. But it’s different when it’s a conference on lamb than when it’s a conference on a ship because you’re stuck on that boat and, and you eat together, you drink together, you dance together, you do all kinds of meetups and you, you really become bonded in a totally different way when, when you’re on a ship. So yeah, that’s, that’s one of the reasons I really love it and keep coming back.

Sean Tierney (30:38):
I agree wholeheartedly. That captive audience thing and there’s just something special about a, it’s like no other conference that I’ve been to in that regard. So did they know my crews tend to live up to your expectations? Yeah, I really liked it. It was much different than cause I’d only been on new my cruise eight before that, which was like a six day cruise. So this was a 17 day. So very different. But far more sustainable pace in my opinion. Like, because the other one was so short, it was just like, go, go, go, go. I just remember just feeling, so just, just depleted after that one. Whereas 10 was like the right pace. It’s kind of slow.

Palle Bo (31:14):
I think that’s one of the reasons I decided to skip Noman crusade because I that we’re going to be in land almost every day and yeah, that’s going to be nice and exciting. But what I value the most is the time and the community on the boat where we’re, yeah. The sea, the sea days where we just stuck there.

Sean Tierney (31:35):
Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Cool. Well, yeah, I definitely highly recommend wifi tribe. Remote year was awesome. I think they’re kind of changing now a bit. That’s a whole nother discussion, but yeah, highly recommend checking out wifi tribe. And can you talk about how did these deals, so the Srilanka deal, how, how do those things come to fruition? They, do they contact you? Are you out there pinging the different convention V visitor bureaus or how does that work?

Palle Bo (32:05):
And it varies. It’s, it’s all through networking and the travel conferences I’ve been to when I was invited to go to Antigua and Barbuda that came from traverse events, which is they do events in Europe. So I’ve been to their conference, also spoke about podcasting and at one of them, and they were asked by a Antigua and Barbuda tourism to get a a great group of content creators together for four, for a press trip. So when that came totally out of the blue, I didn’t, didn’t see that coming. But that was really, really great with the Sri Lanka. I also at, at different conferences, I’ve, I met the guys from Sri Lanka tourism. So they got to see me as a familiar face. So when they were planning to, to bring a a group just re Landcare, they they, they asked me if I’d like to join but I also go look for it.

Palle Bo (33:11):
I am I go to a WTM world travel market in London every year if I can. It’s in November. And then I, I go to ITB in in Berlin where you get to meet all, I think at WTM there are about 5,000 travel ban brands and destination. So you go around networking and pitching yourself and set up meetings and tell them who you are and what it is that you do. And then they will hopefully come back to you and say that they are, they’re inviting you on a, on a, on a trip somewhere. And that’s a, that’s a big debate in the in the travel blogger community. I’m calling it travel blog. It’s, even though it can be a YouTube person, Instagrammers and podcast is like me, but just a, in lack of a better word, your influencer.

Palle Bo (34:08):
Now we don’t use the word influencer. It’s got a battery, but the concentrators, eh, where Wars, I know there’s a big debate among these people that should we get paid as well and not just create content for a free trip. And it’s, it’s something that’s that’s hard to balance because I see it. I see. Obviously, obviously we should get paid for good quality work because I spend a lot of time working on, on, on, on, on what I do and it is my profession. But at the same time, I wanted to go to Antigua. I wanted to go to Sri Lanka and and, and they, they pay all expenses. I didn’t get paid for it, but they paid all the expenses and took me on tours and yeah, really planned out. So not even the flights to and from.

Palle Bo (35:04):
So it, I, I, I get to save a lot of money because I wanted to go anyway. So in that sense, I am getting paid. What, what would be the argument against getting paid? I mean, to me, the market will dictate, like if what you’re doing is valuable enough to them where they can justify paying you, then why wouldn’t they? Yeah. And then that’s, that’s the whole debate because they would pay for an advertorial in a newspaper or a, or another medium. And and there are just so many like me that would go on a free trip. And it’s, it’s also about how big you are. I, I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling that one or two of the Srilankan trip were paid as well. And maybe somebody from the and, and Tega trip were paid. And not just they were paid a salary, a fee for, for their work, but they’re in a different level than my podcast is, is at the moment. So I’m, I’m considering that’s totally fair. I just want, it gives me something to strive for and grow my, my audience and the be even bigger even though I am quite big, but, but not when you’re talking, eh, YouTube subscriber numbers and some of them are really, really big and some app have some really, really successful travel blogs.

Sean Tierney (36:33):
I think there’s a rule about disclosure. I don’t recall what it is, but I think like if you’re a blogger and you’re receiving free stuff, you just have to disclose that it’s being provided for free. But there’s no rule against getting paid for your work. I feel like that’s, that’s just [inaudible]

Palle Bo (36:48):
I think then it’s called a sponsored post. I think you still have to disclose it. So I, I, I, I was, I was very clear on, and this is [inaudible] this is paid for by Sri Lanka tourism, but everything I say is totally my own genuine opinion. And I was actually on, in one of the episodes, I, I’m, I’m actually quite critical about something with the elephants and writing elephants and and struggling, should I say that or should I, am I offending them? But I wouldn’t be true to myself if I, if I just talked about it as if it was all good. I had to to say that and they totally respect that. I even went and did an interview with the, one of the guys from Sri Lanka tourism about the whole thing and the, and the difference in culture and the way it’s done and yeah, and all that. Yeah. So I was, I, I am being myself, even though I I get a paid trip.

Sean Tierney (37:50):
Yeah. Yeah. I guess number four, a good friend of mine, Andrew Hyde he actually got kicked out of Tibet for posting photos of the child labor on the roads. I guess there was, you know, they, they really exploit children and they use them to build the roads there and there’s like casualties and stuff. And so he did a photo piece on it and was basically told leave you need to leave the country. And yeah, so that’s episode four for anyone who wants to check that one out is pretty amazing. So yeah, if that happened to me, I would start recording immediately as it, as I was about to be kicked out. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and in full disclosure, palliate is paying me to be on this episode. Cool. well let’s,

Palle Bo (38:36):
I think this is probably a good place to wrap up, but I do have a, a little kind of rapid fire round that we end with. So are you ready for the breakdown? Oh yeah. Break down baby. All right, let’s do it. What is one book that has profoundly affected you? Makin pounding. Yes. Roth pots and pots. And I actually had him, he obviously he inspired me for the name, the radio vagabond, that book and I, I bought the audio book first. I’m more into audio books, but then I liked it so much I had to have the paper version as well to make small notes in. So I have both. And then I actually met a, Rolf Potts said at one of the conferences I was attending in a, in Austin, Texas and had him on my show as well. So it was like meeting my hero.

Palle Bo (39:23):
Yeah, it’s an awesome book. Yeah, I read that one a number of years ago or about the time when I read the four hour work week, cause I know Tim Ferris had cited that one. His play as being very powerful one actually it’s in Ferris was inspired by AMAGA bombing, not the other way around. Yeah, exactly. No, no, that was the like a seminal work then in the four hour work week at this point. It’s funny. That’s what everyone knows. But if you trace it all the way back, Vagabonding is kind of like that. And actually the audio book of Vagabonding, Tim Ferris, I think he produced it. His company produced it and he a, he did the, the forward and the intro. So, yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Good choice. What about, what is one person you’d love to have dinner with? Living or dead? Doesn’t matter. Nelson Mandela. Yeah. Cool. Why?

Palle Bo (40:09):
I might be one of the obvious choices, but I am, I’m particular from fond of South Africa and the whole history of the country. And I’ve been to Robin Island twice and so I, I just find the whole history of the company and of the country and what he did for the country’s so fascinating. So if I could go back in time and, and, and medium, I would, I would really, really enjoy that. Cool.

Sean Tierney (40:40):
The answer, what is one tool or hack that saves you time and money or headaches?

Palle Bo (40:47):
I’m, I’m, I’m tempted to mentioned hotels 20 five.com. But that would be probably why you asked me to, for some money because no,

Sean Tierney (40:58):
I mean, if it’s a good service, either you’re repping that service. So maybe if I talk about it,

Palle Bo (41:03):
It’s a, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a search site that’s searches a lot of the big hotel search sites in like Goda hotels.com and 15 others in, in one search and compares the prices and and yeah, so, so that, that works. And it’s, it’s not only hotel rooms, it’s also for hostels and guest houses and, and stuff like that. So that’s, that’s the thing I use a lot. But eh,

Palle Bo (41:35):
Yeah,

Sean Tierney (41:36):
Don’t really know. Was it travel hacks that saves me money or money or headaches? Yeah.

Sean Tierney (41:45):
I don’t w when I, when I started for flights, I, I use the simple Skyscanner, but I love the option that you can search from here to anywhere. Yes. So sometimes it’s not the neighboring country that’s the cheapest. And then I just, yeah, I haven’t been there, so let’s go there. I am actually glad you brought that up. I just learned about the everywhere search recently and it’s, it’s great. Basically what it is, is you’re like, let’s say you’re trying to go from here in Bali back to Lisbon where I’m going. So you, what you do is you search for everywhere in the flights and it’ll, it’ll show you kind of sorted by price all the places you can go and you just keep scrolling until you get close and then you do that last mile. Maybe it gets you to Barcelona and then you do the last flight at some $45 a Ryanair flight and you’re good. But yeah, it’s pretty amazing. You get really cheap deals that way. So that’s a good one. All right. What is one piece of music or musical artist that speaks to you lately?

Palle Bo (42:46):
Hmm. Well, I’m,

Sean Tierney (42:49):
As we’re recording this, I just published a episodes about searching for sugar man and the whole story about that. And that got me listening a lot to Rodriguez as well. I don’t know if you know the guy, I don’t know him. I’ve seen the movie and it’s amazing. And the music is just so amazing and it’s, it’s, it’s all, it’s recorded in the early seventies, but it’s, it’s still, eh, yeah, it’s, it’s still really, really good.

Palle Bo (43:21):
I listened to a lot my musical taste, I kind of say that it starts with our three and then fire and then just go from there. And I, I like a lot of the new stuff as well, so yeah.

Sean Tierney (43:35):
Rodriguez for the people listening, this guy is, I think everybody’s good as Bob Dylan. It just blew me away that he did not become more popular than he was. But this movie, not to spoil it, but there’s, he had a huge following in South Africa and his produces superstar superstar. Yeah. Like he was, he was big needles. Bigger than Elvis. Yeah. Then any of those people, everyone had his album and he was like impoverish living in Detroit or something and his producer had hidden this fact from him. And of course, now that the internet exists, it’d be really hard for this type of thing to happen again. And also South Africa was very close to at the time during apartheid. Right. But this movie, if you have not seen it searching for sugar man they’d put like his face on a milk crate or something and they go in search like the to find this guy cause they just thought he had died and sure enough they find them living somewhere in Detroit. And then it’s like the story of how he comes back and plays like five sold out shows too. Yeah. In

Palle Bo (44:32):
98. And actually when I was, I heard about their story in 2013 when I was there the first time. And and then the guy who told me the story, I was just, Whoa, God, how come I have not heard of this? And then, Oh there’s a movie out, you should see it. And actually he’s going back on tour here in Cape town in two weeks. I’m still here. Yeah. But it’s probably sold out. So I, after that dinner I went back to my room and started searching for this for the concert. And sure enough, all the concerts on that tour was completely sold out. But because there was so loud, they published an extra extra concert that happened to be the first. They just started the tour earlier. And I think I was the first on the website and without having heard a song, I bought the ticket, the best ticket I could find, which was center front row.

Palle Bo (45:27):
In fact, my ticket was seat a one. So I went to a concert with Rodriguez and Russ a few feet away from him. Hearing this and, and watching the audience go crazy. It was, yeah, it was insane. Yeah. Just imagine the biggest superstar you can and whatever that person is to South Africa. Rodriguez more than that. And then when I was a, one of the guys that found him was the owner of a small record vinyl shop, a vinyl record shop called Mobby, right. Vinyls. And he, he actually, his nickname nickname is sugar, a name from the song, his name, his real name is Siegelman, but he, they, people always called him his sugar man. And then it turned out to be sugar and now he’s just sugar. And in, in the episode that I just posted, I get to meet him, I was, he was an invited me to his house and we were sitting in his basement a room and talking about the whole experience and what happened. So yeah, I got, I got to meet sugar, man.

Sean Tierney (46:28):
We will link to that episode in the show notes so people can check it out. What is, what is, what important truth. Do very few people agree with you on?

Palle Bo (46:41):
The best thing I can come up with is that the world is not such a dangerous place as people tend to think.

Palle Bo (46:54):
Again, going back to Cape town, when I was going there the first time, a lot of people said, Oh, it’s so dangerous. It’s so dangerous. And I, I don’t, I don’t see that. I obviously you need to have your common sense and not walk down a dark alley in the middle of the night. But that goes from most biggest cities around the world. So I’ve been traveling to a lot of places and, and as long as I bring my two favorite weapons, my common sense and my smile it, it’s, it seems to go well so far. And so a lot of people, they would probably disagree with me in that the world is not a dangerous place and yeah. Yeah. That’s the best thing I can come up with.

Sean Tierney (47:44):
No, I, I think that’s a very true statement and I think that I experienced that firsthand when I was in Columbia. A lot of my friends were saying, Oh, you know, it’s Pablo Escobar, so dangerous, all the drugs and guns and whatnot. And it just, I found it just such the opposite. Yeah. Never felt safer. Yeah. Cool. All right, last question. If you had a time machine to go visit your 20 year old Palle Bo self, what would you say to yourself?

Palle Bo (48:12):
When I was on Matt’s podcast, he also asked me that question and, and can I give the same answer? Sure, sure. I would say to myself, dude, that haircut, it’s not doing you any favors.

Sean Tierney (48:27):
Do you think you were handicapped by your haircut?

Palle Bo (48:31):
Oh, I see. Oh yeah. That’s great. That’s, yeah, that’s why I went into radio, not TV, so yeah. So then I decided to cut it off.

Sean Tierney (48:43):
Cool. All right, well, Palle, anything else for listeners, people that are contemplating this crazy existence that we have, thinking about doing it themselves? Any, anything you’d want to say to them?

Palle Bo (48:57):
May take a decision and then say it out loud and but be aware it’s not for everybody, so don’t be afraid if you start doing it and, and just think, this is not for me. I need a home base. Then you can stop or, or go slower. It’s not for everybody, but if, if, if you’re like me and you, you would, you would love it and just, just go out and do it. Make it work. Cool. All right, well

Sean Tierney (49:30):
Where can I send people Palle? Where? What’s the best website or social media or what’s, how can people get in touch with you?

Palle Bo (49:37):
Well my, my website’s called the radio vagabond. That’s also what you S the radio vagabond.com. And that’s also what you search for when you, when you search for the podcast. And remember the, the, remember the radio vagabond. Otherwise you get the Danish version. I do two versions and you probably won’t that I don’t want, I don’t want that, eh, eh. And then it’s on all the different platforms. It’s the radio vagabond as well. Cool. All right, well

Sean Tierney (50:04):
We’ll link to the website and then people can, I think you’ve got the subscribe links to the various platforms there, so we’ll do that. Cool. Well, polys thank you so much. I’m glad we finally got to do this. It’s been a long time coming. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for having me. All right. Cheers.