At 19, Mike Richards took the traditional gap year of many students, traveling to Southeast Asia. While most of his classmates seemed to lose an interest in travel in the following years, Mike couldn’t seem to stop. In the decades since, he’s been to over 150 countries, has written global political and economic research for renowned global research houses, and has become a meditation teacher. During his years of traveling, he’s come to a simple conclusion: most people are good. This core belief drives his thinking of how the world works and how we should interact with it. He shares this perspective in his new book, The Travelling Ape: What Travelling (Nearly) Everywhere Taught Me about Humanity, Geopolitics, and Happiness.
In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Nathan spoke with Mike about how traveling with his young daughter has helped him rediscover a sense of wanderlust, how a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan opened his eyes to people’s true natures, how his work as a risk analyst shapes his travel experiences, what he’s learning about connection and community through his travels to unlikely places, and much more. Mike’s has a contagious optimism that comes through beautifully on this episode, and we hope everyone enjoys listening.
Listen to the full conversation here:
(You can also listen on Spotify or iTunes.)
You can pick up The Travelling Ape here. You can learn more about Mike Richards on his website or follow him on Instagram.
