Download directly, on iTunes, or Stitcher.

Originally from Oklahoma City, USA, Nathan Aguilera – aka “Foodie Flashpacker” – was inspired to plan a long term trip after meeting backpackers at a hostel during a humanitarian work trip to Kenya. On arriving home, Nathan began to plan his long term adventure and what started out as a plan for 6 months has evolved into him currently being on the road for more than 3.5 years!

On the anniversary of his second year away, Nathan decided to capitalize on his love of food and started his travel blog and developed a following by reviewing restaurants and dishes for every budget around the world, primarily based on local recommendations.

On this episode we talk about all things food with Nathan, including where he draws the line when it comes to his foodie comfort zone, as well as some of the challenges of being on the road and Digital Nomad life.

Enjoy!

What we talk about:

• What inspired him to start on a 6 month backpacking trip that has now turned into an adventure of over 3.5 years!
• How he learned about long-term solo travel during a humanitarian work trip to Kenya, and started researching how to make it happen on his return to the U.S.
• Falling for some well-known scams during a visit to India despite doing all the possible research
• How he took two three week holidays as a test run to Thailand and Central America to decide where to start his longer term trip
• How telling others about how long your plan to travel for can add pressure to make you feel like coming home earlier would be viewed as a failure
• Nathan’s experience with homesickness and missing people who were invested in his life, and how he’s learned to cope with the feeling
• Balancing the happiness of visiting friends with the feeling of disrupting their day to day life while you’re there, and noting the related benefits with being a digital nomad
• How the reality of traveling South East Asia stacked up to Nathan’s expectations going in
• How as travel bloggers, people don’t usually want to hear or empathize with the travel frustrations you experience
• How Nathan was inspired to start the “Foodie Flashpacker” on the two year anniversary of his trip, and the intention behind starting the blog
• His decision to keep blogging after a year because of the sense of community he got
• How he decided to focus on food as his blogging niche, and his aim to focus on local eats as opposed to tourist traps
• Some of Nathan’s top countries for food, including Vietnam, Spain, and Thailand
• The surprising ubiquity of Mexican food throughout the world!
• How Nathan plans out what he wants to eat in the countries he visits, including trying different places to suit a variety of dining budgets, and how he decides on the specific restaurants to try by asking locals when he arrives
• How Nathan tracks what he’s been eating by taking photos of the restaurant name, menu and dish, and tracks his review points on his phone
• His thoughts on getting sponsorships from restaurants, and why he primarily only reaches out to higher end places for sponsorship
• Adjusting back to North American food after getting used to the heavily spiced food of Southeast Asia
• Where Nathan draws the line in terms of his food comfort zone, and his experience trying sheep’s face during a walking food tour in Morocco
• Nathan’s best tips on avoiding potentially bad street food and getting sick
• How Nathan tries to stay open to other cultures’ food traditions, and the ethical conundrum he faced when deciding to eat whale in Iceland
• Some of the challenges he’s faced due to being on the road for more than three years, including missing friends and family, having stability, and time management when working for yourself
• Nathan’s upcoming projects and eventual goal of setting up a walking food tour company in Mexico

If you enjoy the podcast, join the community on Facebook, Instagram + sign up for the monthly newsletter.

Join us for our new weekly online hangouts every other Tuesday this summer, where we’ll be joined by travel experts to discuss topics like Digital Nomad life and long term travel with children! Be sure to bring any questions and travel stories you’d like to share!

You can also check out our brand new travel community on Facebook where you can ask questions, get travel recommendations, and find community members in your area!

Music Credits:

www.bensound.com

You can connect with Nathan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and online!