10 years ago, Chris Guillebeau mounted a quest to do the impossible, to visit every country in the world.
Along the way, he’s been hassled, deported, detained, harassed and threatened. But, far more often, he’s been welcomed and embraced, discovered the brilliance of a deeply connected world, built a global community of unconventional adventurers and, maybe, more importantly, he experienced how an intensely challenging, years-long quest changes you in ways he likely never saw coming.
Turning 35, Guillebeau completed that quest in April 2014 and writes about this astonishing journey in his new book, The Happiness of Pursuit.
In today’s conversation, we explore this remarkable person and journey. We dive into what led him to mount a quest to do what only a handful of people in the history of the planet have done. We explore the how his experiences earlier in life shaped him and how his decade-long quest changed him in ways he never saw coming.
This episode is also the first in our shift to our new audio podcast-driven media format. We’ll continue to post a video version over on youtube with a static image for a while, but please be sure to subscribe below and listen and subscribe on iTunes to make sure you never miss an episode.