Adventure Philanthropy: Traveling the World and Making it Better

For everyone who solves crime from their couch, knows more about forensics than their own job, and has trust issues with small town sheriffs. Amazon Music's millions of podcast episodes are calling. Just download the Amazon Music app and start listening to your favorite true crime podcasts ad free. Included with Prime. Living a Life in Full is the conversation you always wanted to have with that person who gave an amazing TED Talk or the author of one of your favorite books, or that inspirational Olympian you always wanted to know more about. It's graduate level conversations with those making a difference in the world and in the lives of others. This show brings you new ideas and approaches so that you can live a life in full. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout and I hope you enjoy this episode. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in full. I'm Dr. Chris Stout, your host. Today's episode is brought to you by ATI Physical Therapy Try physical Therapy first. Did you know that 70% of patients that utilize physical therapy first for spine, shoulder or knee pain are successfully treated without the use of any kind of imaging, prescription drugs or even a physician visit? Experience the ATI Difference. Your return to an active lifestyle is their primary concern. They'll work with you to help reduce pain and achieve your goals in a fun, friendly and encouraging environment. They have convenient locations close to home. They can schedule your first appointment within 24 to 48 hours. They offer early morning and late evening hours to fit your schedule. They have beautiful, vibrant, modern clinics. They have personalized communication with you and your doctor. They offer diversified, goal oriented specialty services. Their staff have state of the art clinical training equipment and technology available to them. And they have a department of Research and Data analytics that examines and help improve outcomes. They offer hands on therapy, exercise, strength training and cardiovascular conditioning to help you improve your physical strength, reduce pain and avoid recurrence of future injury. They'll help you address chronic pain or help you recover from an injury or surgery expertly, quickly and conveniently. For more information please go visit atipt.com I want to welcome everybody to today's show. I'm really excited to have a Renaissance man, a world traveler, an author, just an just an amazing guy, an amazing humanitarian. His name is Glenn Hegstad. He has an amazing background in life. There's a lot of surprises in today's episode, which I think makes it very interesting to delve into Glenn's life and lifestyle. So I don't want to have any spoilers right here. No spoiler alerts for anything. But buckle up because you're going to go around the world a couple of times. You're going to hear about some amazing events, some amazing things, and some amazing experiences that Glenn's had. And he somewhat deconstructs that in terms of listeners out there that might want to try their hand at some adventure travel themselves and kind of how he's done it and how he's managed that, that are really good bits of advice. So without further ado, here is today's show with Glenn Hegstad. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in full. I'm Dr. Chris Stout, your host, and I am so excited. Today we've got Glenn Hegstad. He is a renaissance man in a variety of different kinds of ways. He's a martial arts expert earning numerous black belts. We'll get into some of that. How he and I got together was at a motorcycle show, of all places. He is the ultimate traveler and the ultimate traveler on two wheels as well. So I was very much compelled to learn about how he did that. That's always been sort of a fantasy of mine. I've dabbled in adventure motorcycling, travel motorcycling, just a smid in the uk, but nothing to compare to what Glenn's resume looks like for this. And then also a surprise with kind of an adventure within that adventure that I'm going to allow him to get into. I don't want any spoilers. So having said that, Glenn, welcome to the show. It's great to have you on.

Hey, Chris, good morning and thanks for having me on.

Absolutely. Well, gosh, it's like I almost have to throw a dart on my notes to kind of figure out where we start and where we focus. So this will probably be kind of a stream of, of consciousness kind of conversation that we'll have today. But I guess maybe just starting off, you have quite the resume in martial arts. Tell us a little bit about what you've done and then maybe take us backwards to how that all got started.

Well, I started training, like almost 40 years ago. I started in the Chinese martial arts and got my black belt in a style of Chinese kung fu and then went on to Shotokan Kosoko Ru with Tak Kubota, got my black belt in that and then went into JUDO with Gene LaBelle and also Tenry Judo Dojo in East Los Angeles. And then I lived in Thailand for a couple years. So I, I was training in a boxing camp there and came back and got into jiu jitsu. I've Been in jiu jitsu for, I don't know, probably 23, 24 years now.

Who. Who are the big folks in that? Is that the Gracies? Are they the. The jiu jitsu folks? Or I may be confusing them.

Do you know they can be credited with initially bringing it to the United States?

Okay.

It's actually a Japanese art. The Japanese took it to them in Brazil, and they kept it alive. It sort of faded in Japan after World War II. There was a pacification program, you know, in Japan. So they sort of took the fierceness out of. Out of their martial art. They kept sumo and judo, and so they reigned supreme over the world for decades with that, and they let everything else go, and they didn't pay attention to the jiu jitsu, but the Brazilians picked it up and they kept it mainly by a guy named Elio Gracie, and, of course, his sons and grandsons and all that. They're all still premier figures in the art.

Quite the dynasty indeed. So I have a feeling like your life is like a Venn diagram of overlapping interests and things like this, because you've got the martial arts going on. I know that you traveled a great deal on your own in your youth, which we'll circle back to, but is this also what kind of got you over to as, or were you in Asia and that got you into the martial arts? Or is the. What kind of what came first? Or did they both come together?

Well, I was always fascinated with Asia. I had an uncle who was my grandmother's brother who really did inspire me to do most of my traveling. And he told me about China. And of course, at that time, it was a closed, unrecognized country. There was a billion people that our government refused and most of the world refused to recognize and whatnot. But I was always had this interest. My uncle always told me, that's the Sleeping Giant, and a lot of stories about it. So I was place I always wanted to go. But when I got into martial arts, I was reading books on the history of the martial art, how it was brought, you know, from an Indian monk, supposedly through the Himalayas and into China, and then down through, spread through the rest of Asia. So I. I flew to Kathmandu and chartered a plane and flew as deep as I could fly into the Himalayas. This was in 1980. And just walked in for a couple weeks. I wanted to feel like, what was it like for a monk to walk through the Himalayas? And, you know, I found one of the most remote Buddhist monasteries on the planet, called Tang Buche. At the time, it was because it had been limited travel. You could almost. It was very, very difficult to get into Nepal and do any trekking and

probably very, very few. Very few Westerners, I would imagine, too.

In particular right now, it's very, very common and whatnot. But at that time, we were few and far between, so it was an interesting journey.

Wow. It reminds me. You're sort of like that. I can't remember the name of the movie, but that Brad Pitt character, you know, and seeing these kinds of things

before the great Legend of the Fall.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because. Yeah. There are some striking similarities that. In Motorcycle Diaries.

Yes. Well, and also what was. There's the other one. The documentary series of the Long Way around and the Long Way Down. I mean, you have been. Is it. Do I have my facts straight? You have kind of circumnavigated the globe. How many times? Three or four.

I've been around the world probably four times. The last one was by motorcycle, but prior to that, I did hitchhiking in parts of Europe and took chicken buses through developing countries. It was primarily my traveling was in developing countries. Europe is too tame.

Yeah. How boring. For the typical thing of backpacking through Europe in the summer. I mean, you're hitchhiking and doing whatnot. And this had a. You started off that trek in your life. What was it in your early teenage years?

Oh, my first trip overseas. I'm actually Norwegian. I was born in the US but all my family is still in Norway. And my uncle took me back to Norway into the Scandinavian countries when I was 10 years old. So they actually pulled me out of school to do that. And the school agreed. The experience I would have from that travel would certainly exceed anything that I could learn in school, which is, of course true. Imagine when you're. You're 10 years old and you. You spent several months traveling around a foreign country like that. You come back to middle class, Bay Area, San Francisco area, and, you know, you're in a different world.

Sure.

See everything. See everything so much differently.

Yeah. Changed forever. So any.

I mean, that happens at any age, but I mean, at 10.

Yeah, that's. Well, it's pivotal. I mean, it's. It's probably, you know, sort of, kind of set the course for you and given you that taste and that hunger for it. And again, checking my notes, that you have quite the facility with languages as well too. Right. I mean, when you go to places, you are immersive, you talk with the people and how do you communicate? And I mean, have you Kept track of many countries you've been to.

I've been to 57 developing countries on that last run.

Gosh.

But what I do is when I cross a border. I lived in Thailand, so I spent. I grew up on Norwegian and I speak fluent Spanish, but I can get by in several other languages. But as soon as you cross a border, you gotta figure out how you're gonna find food, how you're gonna find the museum you wanna find, or the mosque or the church or where's the hotel or anything. So I would cross into a border. Let's say I crossed into, say, Syria. I would just go to the first roadside restaurant, probably has dirt floors and go in there and just sit at somebody's table. And of course, they're just flabbergasted, staring at you. Look like you're from Mars, you know, Plastic riding suit, you know, somewhat previously shiny motorcycle. And they're like, you know, with California license plates and they're just, you know, they of course, want to know. So, yeah, I'd sit at the table and pull out a notepad and point at the salt shaker and say, shrug my shoulders. What do you. What is he? What do you call that? They would tell me the word in Spanish. I would point at something and say, como serice? You know, like, what do you call this? And they would tell me. So I would write, salt equals this, pepper equals that, meat equals this. And I go in the kitchen and ask, you know, first thing is, how do you say no onions in my food? And so things like that.

Survival stuff. Yeah.

You learned your 5W. Yeah, but I mean, once you know your 5W's, and you can, you know, learn different words for mosque or church or restaurant like that. So after two hours, you filled out a dictionary of relevant terminology and so you've been communing, communicating with natives and you start to feel like Marco Polo. Yeah, it's the coolest experience in the world to interact with foreign cultures. Especially some degree of verbal communication.

Well, I remember, like, you know, thinking about, like, long way around and stuff. It was like, you know, two actors, you know, on bikes, and they had each other. But I think you've made the point that when you travel with someone, you spend the time generally talking with that person. And maybe that limits you and keeps you in a bit of a cultural bubble that you wouldn't have had you done it the way that you've done it, which is to go in and figure out what the salt is called and that sort of a thing.

Well, yeah. There's more of a tendency to get invited home. You hear both sides of that travel discussion, you know, And I don't say one size better than the other. I just know my own preference is to travel alone. Other people say, oh, no, always travel with a group for safety and whatnot. But if you travel alone, I don't know, I just. Somebody's gonna. You're more approachable if two big men walk in somewhere, other men in the place, they sort of like, you know, like, who are these guys?

Right?

But you walk in by yourself alone, and you look at the crowd that's staring at you with their mouth hanging open. If I was in Mexico, I would say, hola, muy buenos dia. Look at me like, hey, speak Spanish. I'll go sit at somebody's table and start talking to them. And, you know, half the time you're going to get invited home to meet the family in a place, but that's not going to happen with two people. It may happen with a guy and a girl.

Yeah.

But it's going to happen with two guys. And at the end of the day, if you want to talk, you better talk in that language because there's nobody going to speak your language.

Well, yeah. The places you have gone. Exactly. I mean, it's not like there's, you know, I mean, honestly, it's like there's probably, like, very little GPS signal to where you go. The maps are probably a little Spartan in certain kinds of areas and the things like that. How do you.

Well, actually, GPS is a satellite signal. So GPS is everywhere. In fact, cell service is everywhere. And since it came on after they had telephone poles, they use fiber optics. You can get better, better and faster Internet signals on LTE in Africa than you get in the United States.

No kidding. Wow. Just kind of the lead.

And the really cool thing is I was updating. I had a website, and I still have. It's called strikingviking.net and I was posting online journals. So I just made this commitment. I was going to post journals every couple of days because I was laying the groundwork for a book. And I would put. As I crossed the border, I would buy a new SIM card. And they're cheap in other countries, they're expensive here, but for five bucks, you get a new SIM card. When you ride in, you cross the border in Tanzania and you get a SIM card for five bucks. And all your incoming calls are free, and you get, I don't know, like, the first 50 text messages free. So I would put it on there. That I. Here's my new number if anybody wants to get hold of me. So people were doing just like you. They would do a podcast, they'd call me and I would be on the Serengeti plane. And I can remember being middle of nowhere and somebody, somebody's talking to me and I'm near these bushes and I hear this rumbling, growling. And I don't know if it's a lion or a tiger or something's going to eat me. I said, I cut them short. I go, look, man, I know this sounds bizarre, but there's something in the bushes next to me in this jungle. I'm getting out of here.

Wow. So you're kind of reporting from the field on certain interviews and stuff. That's fantastic.

Yeah.

And the gps.

The GPS is good. It didn't always show roads because there were so many dirt roads, but it showed main highways and whatnot.

So did you keep stuff, do you keep stuff recharged like with like, like these little portable solar things or how do you keep your juice going?

No, I would plug right into the motorcycle battery.

Oh, really? Okay.

All right.

And how, like, are there places where fuel is kind of hard to come by or decent fuel is hard to come by? How do you, how do you get from point A to point B?

Yeah, there is long stretches without fuel and of course there's always the issue of low quality fuel in places like Russia and Africa. So what I did was I put the. I had a BMW 650 Dakar and that the company actually gave me to road test on this going around the world thing along with Turatech. It's a company that, a German company that makes these, oh, probably the best variety of adventure travel gear. And they came up with this set of long range fuel tanks that gave me a 10 gallon fuel capacity, which is basically double what a high capacity motorcycle comes with. Stock.

Wow.

So. And that would give me between a 650 and a 700 mile fuel range.

Holy cow. Were those in the back like luggage bags or was it a larger modified.

No, they were front tanks. They were like. Yeah, front tanks. The tank on the Dakar is actually underneath the seat. But these auxiliary tanks, they're like saddles that, that go on the front above the engine.

So you still have good balance and good control. You don't feel like you're carrying all that extra.

No, you definitely feel your bike. The bike was £400 and I had £200 of gear and extra fuel.

Gosh. You know, I have seen lots of pictures of you with your bike. And I've seen quite a few pictures of you with your bike taking a nap, laying down on its side. So. Because I think a lot of the terrain that you have is pretty unforgiving. I mean, tell us a little, how do you maintain? Like, I mean, I'm sure you're, you know, you're breaking spokes and, you know, there's a finite amount of spare parts you can get. Were you kind of MacGyvering it every so often or how.

Yeah.

What do you do?

Well, it's interesting because most parts on a motorcycle is. It's symmetrical because you've got a foot peg on each side and they're identical. You've got different parts of the motorcycle. So if you break one on one side, you can take the other one off and go to a machinist who will make that part for you. And because you got to ask yourself, what do they do? In Russia, they don't have motorcycle shops that carry parts. In Siberia, they don't even have any. There's no motorcycle shop. So what do they do? And so they'll have somebody in a village that has a lathe, and they don't always use a high quality metal, but sometimes they'll have a crowbar, which is a pretty hard piece of steel, and they'll make a bolt out of it. You know, if you've sheared a subframe bolt or if you broke things, they'll actually make parts for you.

Gosh. And obviously, I mean, that must have been the case for you. If you're in Outer Mongolia or Tanzania or whatever country, continent, or culture, you

would be amazed at how many people are around. And it's sort of a blessing in a way, because my mantra was that the adventure begins when things stop going as planned. And that can be because you crashed your bike and now you're recuperating in some village hut somewhere. But you've got to know a family for a week or you're having parts made up in a Russian village and you get to know them. And so there really is no such thing as a bad experience.

So, like some of the dumped shots that I was referring to, it looks like it was because of the terrain. But did you ever.

Very rugged. Yeah, very rugged.

Did you ever experience, like, did someone, like, slam into you or any. Like, were you. Or should I say, how many times did people slam into you?

Only every day in India somebody's sideswiping you. But as far as those crashes you see in those pictures, those are in Remote areas, riding through monsoon storms, usually on wet clay. And it's very difficult to keep a motorcycle upright. So you're sliding sideways, doing a lot of, we call face plants. You don't really get hurt because I use the riding suits, they're textile suits and they have the hard padding in the elbows and the shoulders and the spine and the hips and the knees. So that saves you from a lot of broken bones.

Gosh, so what, I'm going down this morbid pathway here, but like, what's the worst accident physically for you? We've talked about the bike, but physically, where were you and what happened?

You mean accident or encounter in general?

Let's start with accident and then work our way to encounter. Sounds interesting.

In certain areas, I was crashing 10, 15 times a day.

Gosh. I mean, would you, I mean, did it result in like, you know, broken collarbone or fingers or.

I, I blew rotator cuff, my rotator cuffs out in both shoulders. But I had those, had those fixed about a year ago. So we're good to go.

That's good. And. Well, you've also kind of, you know, torture tested your body probably through your whole martial arts career as well too. I mean, those are not injury free kinds of sports.

No. And I always picked all the contact arts. So you take something like judo just in the warm up, you're going over somebody's shoulder 30 to 60 times before you, before you fight, before you start doing anything. So faceplate, you learn how to fall and there's a mat, but it still takes its toll on your body.

Yeah. So face planting in body armor in clay is a good result. Or the motorcycle parallel, I guess, of all the training that you've had.

Gosh, you know, you know, actually judo was the hardest thing I ever did. I competed nationally and internationally in judo and the training is really, really tough at traditional Japanese schools. So I always told myself if I could do judo, if I could get through that, I could get through anything. So, I mean, you're just, you're gagging for air. So often when you're, when you're fighting in judo, so you get pretty worn out. Like going around Borneo there. I was the first guy to do it on a motorcycle. So I would just be spinning my tires for 12 hours through the mud and do 40 or 50 miles.

Oh, gosh.

And you're just paddling and spinning and dropping your bike and you know, your, your face is bright beet red and you know you're living on bananas because you don't have enough room in Your panniers for water and food. So you just take water and you just. I don't. I eat bananas for three weeks, so consequently I don't eat bananas.

You've met your quota for a lifetime.

So I have.

Well, you made. I was talking about physical traumas and things. And so you were talking about. I was thinking like accidents and you've talked about all the sideswipes in India and things like that. So what were some of the other kinds of things? Were they encounters, you know, with four legged things in the bush or. Tell us about that.

No. When I was in Africa, I camped out all the time. It's funny, I wouldn't camp out in Mexico, but I would camp out in Africa. Because you're. Yeah. The natives. When you're in a village, there really is no such thing as crime. You can't steal from somebody in a village.

Right. That's a good point.

Because everybody knows each other. It's like a small town.

Yeah.

And only smaller. And so they just, they're so happy to see you there. And they're so curious that somebody stole my motorcycle keys in one village. And they didn't steal them. They were hiding the keys because they didn't want me to leave.

Oh, wow.

Closest thing there was to stealing, you know.

Wow. So how in your adventures, where have you.

And that's the most. That's the most incredible thing that you'll learn from a journey through the developing world is. Is the almost unfathomable amount of hospitality.

Wow.

People just, you know, governments may not get along, but people do. And you would be so shocked at the people that come out of nowhere to take you home, invite you home, to feed you, to take care of you, to help you, your bike. That's everywhere in the world and something we don't really see here in the US and if somebody does it, it's somebody that's a traveler like me, that experienced it somewhere else.

Yeah. Well, you've, you've tried to bring that home. I don't know if you still do this, but you've made your place available to traveling motorcyclists if they need a place to land.

I have a home in Mazatlan. There's an open door policy there, where I'm there or not. If long riders are passing through on their way to or from South America, Mazatlan is generally a stopover. So I, I usually have travelers come stay with me there. Also my home in California.

That's fantastic. So what place have you like, what's the longest Distance from, like, point to point. I know that you've gone from California to the tip of South America, and I know that you've gone every which way in Asia. But, like, what's the longest? Either by miles or by days or both. Tell us about both. That you've been away.

I spent a couple of years on that loop around the planet. And it isn't that you're riding so long days. Your days are probably between 2 and 300 miles because sometimes the terrain is too difficult or you want to stop and take pictures and that kind of stuff. Siberia was different because at the latitude that I was on, on the Trans Siberian, what they call the Trans Siberian highway, which is a dirt mud road, you're 11 o' clock till the sun sets, so you don't have anything to do. So you just. You ride, ride, ride. Long days, but other than that, my days were short because there's just too much to see and do and you want to stop. And some days you just can't because you have to go slow because you're in. In mud or snow or sand.

Right. How. How do you afford to be away? There's a lot of. I have lots of conversations with friends of mine about sort of this fantasy of being away and the thought of. Some people, you know, have the. The thought of, well, you know, once I save up enough or once this or that. Other people, you know, kind of work on the road, so to speak. I have a nephew that. That was in your neck of the woods that was kind of doing what you were doing, but doing it on a boat with a friend, you know, and kind of sailing up and down. They'd stop a place and they would get their boat fixed, work on stuff, teach people how to surf, make some money, get some food and, you know, head to the next port. How. How did you crack the code on that?

Well, there's different people. There's a lot of people that do that. They still. They'll earn money as they go. I was living on a ranch in the mountains above San Diego, and I sold my ranch. And the people that bought it wanted everything. Sheets, towels, my tools, everything. I left with a couple cardboard boxes of personal items, you know, letters and things like that, the martial art memorabilia that, you know, basically fit in the back of a pickup truck.

Wow.

And I just took off around the world, left all that behind. And so I didn't have. I didn't want anything to look back on. I wanted to really cast my fate to the wind and take off and say, I'm up for anything. Maybe I decide to settle down in Russia or Mongolia or God knows where, Pakistan or, or just move. And I didn't want to have to worry about coming home and are the plants going to die or the tree's going to die or something. So I really took off with that. And about a year into the journey, I realized that I felt so free with nothing to look back on. But I also thought, well, I got no place to go back to because I was accumulating a few souvenirs on the way and I was mailing them home and I was thinking, gee, when I get back, where am I going to live?

Put all this stuff.

Yeah, you start thinking about that. So, you know, but my deal was, I financed, it was roughly $100 a day. And that's food, fuel. I mean, there's some days you don't spend anything. You're in the jungle drinking water and eating bananas, you don't spend anything. Other times you're having to air freight over a body of water, say from, from, from Indonesia into South Africa. And that's 3500 bucks or visas or you have some ethical things. So, so all in all, it averaged out to about $100 a day when I came back. And you use a credit card and different banks charge a international fee and others don't, but if you pull your money out of ATMs, you get the bank rate, which is better than any money changer by far. And so that's the most economical way to do it, at least for me.

I wondered how you managed the cash and stuff like that. So you kept accounts, your accounts in us, Your US Banks and stuff like that. How, how do you deal with, like, how do you do tax? Do you do your taxes? Like when you're on the road, you're, you're technically, I guess, not getting an income other than interest or something. But how, how does, how do you manage those kinds of logistics?

I had an accountant.

Okay.

That's the least of your worries when you're out there.

Yeah, well, that would be the thing I would want to not have to even think about. So that's, that's, that's good. So then when you go into another area, like, you go to the, the like. Well, are there ATMs in Syria? I mean, do you, what, what about places that, you know, do you keep

like a. Yeah, yeah, there is. In some countries there aren't. Like Ethiopia, there wasn't any. You had to go to a bank and do a cash advance or something.

Oh, okay.

And there's. There's a couple places that it's very difficult, but what I would do is I would keep. Keep enough cash on me in case I got in a lot of trouble somewhere and couldn't get to an atm. But for security reasons, we always carry a dummy wallet, and that's what you carry for in case you're robbed by either a cop or a bad guy. And that's got an old expired driver's license, expired credit card, and maybe 30 or $40 and the equivalent of $1 bills. So if somebody's robbing you, that's what you give. You have that in your back pocket, and you just throw that to them, and they think they have it. And your real wallet is in your front pocket, where it should always be for pickpockets. But also in mine, I had a tail or so in all my pants, a little pocket the size of a credit card that went right on the inside of my pants, right above the tailbone. So you would get. I kept two credit cards and a couple of $100 bills folded over inside there real tight, and somebody could search you and not find it.

Oh, that's great.

Even if they got. If they got your real wallet and stuff, you still had your emergency money, because you don't want to be in the developing world somewhere with no money for gas or no. For food or no money to communicate. So if they got your passport and stuff, you're really just like a native. You're on their level.

So when, like, you're, like you said, your bike with California plates. That's cool. You can just kind of do that with whatever country you're from and take the bike over and keep whatever registration and plates on your home country.

Yeah, you can. You travel with what's called a carnated passage, and that's issued by the international aaa.

Okay.

And that's just a guarantee that you'll take it out, because a lot of countries have real high tariffs. So what's to stop you from taking a motorcycle into another country just to sell it?

Gotcha.

So it's a guarantee that you'll take it back out again.

I had a vintage BMW that I had helped finish, restore and then showed and stuff. And it had kind of, you know, done what I wanted to do with it, and it was time to get something else. And I had a guy come to me, and he said, well, you know, I want to buy it, but I need you to take the motor out of it so that we can put it in one crate and put the frame and everything else in another crate and you can ship it to Asia. And I was like, this is my baby. A. I'm not going to take it apart. And, you know, but I think it's for that reason. Right. Because then it becomes motorcycle parts rather than a vintage motorcycle, so.

Right.

Yeah, I never really even thought about that. Of course, that would be the case with. With traveling and whatnot. So. So tell me. So you said BMW was a sponsor and they, you know, got you this, you know, you know, awesome ride. So how. How did you. Was it a tough sell to get BMW to do that or tell us about.

No, not at all. Not at all. I had. I'll back up a little bit. I had taken a ride down to South America, and I was passing through Colombia. I got taken prisoner in the Civil war, so.

Well, that's okay.

I was held in the mountains for five weeks, and I was freed. And I was on the front page of every newspaper on the planet. You know, what's the green gonna do? And I said, I'm going to keep going. And my best friend sent me a new motorcycle, and my students and everything helped me out, and I just ended up continuing the ride. So I was posting on a blog at that time, and that's how they knew I'd been. I disappeared because I'd stopped posting. So when I was in Colombia.

All right, so we're going to take a little. Little time out here for a second. So you're. What, are you on your way? Is this your trip? Trip to the tip of South America is. Or, yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

So you're heading down. Everything's kind of, you know, you've already got a lot of miles under your belt. You've, you know, kind of been there and done that. And then you're in Colombia and like. Like what? You're just kind of on the road and doing as you would normally do. And then what happened? What went sideways?

Well, I was there, and it was during the Christmas truce, so it was supposed to be safe to pass through there. And I was on my way to Medellin, and it's a Little Windy Road, 200 miles from Bogota to Medellin. And they dropped me by the side of the road, took me in the mountains and kept me a while and starved me and yelled stuff about the president.

I have seen. I've got your book, and I want to get back to you, back to being a Renaissance man in just a second with your writing. But National Geographic did a show on this, right I mean, I saw that.

And that's what was so bizarre, was after the book came out, because I wrote a book about that experience when I got back, and like two years later, I get an email saying, hey, this is National Geographic Channel. We read your book. We want to make a documentary. And I'm thinking, they don't do cold calls. I mean, the line to get into Nat Geo is a mile long. You gotta be a famous person to even know where the line is. So I think somebody's playing a joke on me, so I just delete the email. And later on, I got a call from London, and they said, what's the deal, Mr. Hickstead? Are you on or not? You know, And I said, well, let me think about it. Yeah, you know. So they dilly dallied around for eight months, and finally they called me up. They go, wheels up, eight o' clock tomorrow. We got a flight for you. I was living in Mex, Mexico.

Wow.

At the time. They flew me back to the US and we did this documentary that was supposed to just show four times, twice that year and twice the following year, but it went viral on their series called Banged Up Abroad, or It's Locked up abroad in the US it went viral and it was ultimately translated into 34 languages. It was the most widely viewed. So it's in the. It's even in Mandarin for the Chinese market.

Gosh, Glenn. Wow.

Two years ago, it went to Netflix.

Wow. Well, I mean, it's a snapshot of, you know, what can happen. It's a testament to, I think, again, probably your hardscrabble, you know, martial arts training, thinking on your feet. I mean, it's sort of like a, you know, talk about an acid test of your, you know, ability or survival. And. And then I just. I. I'm blown away, like, with, thank you.

I thank you. And I think that was. The thing, is that it started out so horrible, and there was a lot of horrible parts in the. In the middle, and it just ended so well. Yeah, well, thank goodness, because every springboard is a disaster to the next level up. And so all that did is propel me around the world. You know, there's a lesson in everything. Sometimes it takes years to figure it out. But for me, I know this may sound corny, but the big takeaway was learning to forgive. And I just. I never had a negative emotion. Those guys did some really, really rank shit to me.

Yeah.

And. And they did it. You know, they beat the shit out of me when I was tied up and spit on me. And that kind of stuff. And a guy with my background, you know, would generally be thinking, how am I going to get even? And that I said to myself, if I go down that rabbit hole, I'll never come out. And I just said, that's what happens in the fog of war when otherwise peaceful poor people have to pick up a gun to rebel against oppressive regimes and whatnot. And I got caught in the middle of it. So I just never had a negative emotion. And I just learned that the real power is the power of forgiveness. And I subsequently seen where victims of violent crimes go to the prison where the guy that perpetrated the crime was and sat down and said, I want you to know I forgive you. And it becomes a life changing experience for both parties. You know, the guy that did a horrible violent murder or sexual crime or whatever breaks down and cries and the other person lifts the burden off because, you know, if you, if you, if you just sit there and hate and plan revenge and all that, you're the one suffering.

Yeah.

So I, I was very grateful for that experience. And so in all honesty, I have a debt of gratitude to the National Liberation Army.

So, so to put it in a, in a gallows humor kind of way, I guess that if people want to get a sponsorship for a ride and a bike and stuff like that, just get themselves kidnapped and survive it somehow. Right?

Well, I don't know about that. I think there's easier ways.

Yeah. But gosh, I mean, again, I think your spirit about this, you know, again, I never know kind of what's come first with you. Is it, you know, the travels that you've had and being able to see the humanity in any circumstance, in any situation. But man, I can't imagine, I mean, the capacity that you have to. For forgiveness after having gone through. Because I, I've read the book, I've seen the documentary. I know, you know, the gory details and the, the clever approach that you had to, you know, kind of get out of there. But I mean, it was psychological, it was physical and it was kind of unrelenting and, and I mean, I tip my hat to you, man. I mean, that's. Of all the, the things that you've done. I don't know that I would call that an adventure. But I mean, you have, yeah, you have been through, through errors, everything. So just, just amazing. So to take that if people are interested in. So evidently it's on Netflix to be able to see the, the documentary, but then also your book, Two Wheels Through Terror, that's Available on Amazon and elsewhere. And that kind of chronicles it.

That does. That does. I've actually got two books and they're available on Amazon. And a really funny thing is it's the. The. My first book has been selling for 13 years.

Wow.

This keeps. It just keeps selling over and over and came out in 2004 and then it was re released in international paperback about three or four years ago. And I get an email every once in a while from the publisher that, that, hey, we did another run. Both my books and. Congratulations. Interesting Note. We donate 100% of the royalties to international aid organizations. And the primary one is a program called Room to Read, Building schools. We target Cambodia and Nepal, but it goes around the world, so there's a lot of good energy behind it. I never took a dime.

Gosh, you are. You are a rare breed, my friend. Well, and I have to say, here's maybe a Venn diagram. I mean, you and I hooked up at a motorcycle event and my interests in touring and things like that and travel. But I did some books a while back called the New Humanitarians, and that gave me an opportunity to meet John as well. And we did a chapter in that book called On Room to Read. Each chapter was on a different ngo.

And, you know, isn't he a wonderful person?

Gosh, I mean, yeah, just freaking amazing. You know, I mean, he's. You and he are kind of cut from the same cloth. I mean, you still. You deal with challenges and approaches a bit differently. You know, you have, you know, your lifestyles have been, you know, different, but other than that, I mean, you guys are really kind of cut from the same cloth about wanting to give back, seeing need, feeling, empathy, being with people that, you know, that you. That you love, you know, that are. That are amazing human beings and saying, hey, I want to do something about this. So, you know, man, you got that right.

A give back. What it is, is you're paying back for the lessons that those people taught. So when I give back, I have. I have just hundreds and hundreds of people that offered me hospitality and did wonderful things and were there at moments that I needed them most. I will never see them again. I don't. I can't even remember their names. I have pictures of only a few of them, and they did so much for me, and there's no way to repay them. So the only way you can do, to do your payback is just to give back in general, to keep the circle going.

That's great.

So that's. That's what turned me on about John woods. When I read his book, he had, I had the same experience when I was in Nepal. It's a life changing experience. When you deal with your Sherpa guides, they just, they just change. Just. It's so shocking when people are saying goodbye to their Sherpa guides. They're crying, they're crying.

You become, you know, surrogate families. I mean, you know, you have a kinship that's hard to do described. So I know exactly what you mean. So I mean people can feel, you know, I highly encourage people to seek out your books and, and you know that they can, you know, when they buy them, they, they will have the benefit of being able to read your story and learn about it in a fine grained detail and great photography, but then also have that warm fuzzy feeling that you know, that they're helping support places like Room to Read and John's work. I think that's great. So I also want to get a plug in for your, your other book, One More Day Everywhere. Tell us a little bit about that.

Well, it's funny because when you come back from a journey like that, people are just full of questions. What did you learn? What was this? What was that? And somebody asked me one time, did you have any regrets? And I'm talking to a crowd of people and I said, yeah, that I didn't spend one more day everywhere. A friend of mine was standing there and he said, there's the title to your book.

Bingo.

My publisher said, said that was the hardest title they had to come by. When you sign a contract, they get rights to title. You don't, you know, they can just put whatever they want. You can just suggest. But. So the whole thing was, is you spend a week with a, on a tribal level in a village and maybe you don't speak the language of it. You've been drawing diagrams in the sand and Panama ing and taking pictures of them and showing them on there what they look like on a laptop screen. You bond. In a week's time you got some deep roots and you got that moment when you're loading up your saddlebags and you're looking at them and they're looking at you and you realize you're never going to see each other again. So there's like misty eyed people on both sides. And I always thought to myself, if I look back, I said, God, if I could have stayed one more day everywhere. That was my only regret in my whole life. If I could stay one more day everywhere.

That's. I love it. I love It, I mean, and it's, that's why they stole your keys. You know, I mean, that's, that's the. Speaking to that level and depth of connectivity with you.

And, and, you know, if you ever want to restore your faith in humanity, take a solo trip through the developing world and you will be so overwhelmed, you will be in a state of shock every day over the everyday people that just come up to you out of nowhere to help you, to do things for you. And, you know, here in the US it's kind of like, well, what are you going to do for me? Or why did you do that? Or we just so disconnected from one another in the west and the, really, the big lessons to learn in humanity in the developing world.

I think you, you are spot on. And I also have to say, I mean, I know this is a podcast so people can't see you, but, you know, I, we've met. I know you, and you are a fairly alien kind of looking guy. In Africa, there's nothing. And then you add the motorcycle and you add the touring gear and, you know, it's, it's, you know, even in spite of that, I mean, the acceptance and then the kinship that, that you've been able to develop. And I do have to say this though, Glenn, I think part of that has got to be somehow, in spite of not being fluent in every single language of every 50 some odd countries you've, you know, been to, I think people feel your spirit. I mean, you communicate that very clearly in your writing, in your life story, in the way that you treat other people. I mean, I think that that's got to be sort of like your, you know, your ultimate translator, so to speak, of being able to do that with the people whose lives you've touched.

Well, they, they taught me everything. You know, they. I would be in a village and they would say, why did you come to our village in Africa? I said, I came to learn.

Gosh.

You know, and they said, well, what could we teach you? And I said things that I've. My culture's forgotten. I actually got slammed by some people saying, you know, I'm an American apologist and how could I find anything good in these filthy developed countries? Yeah, I mean, when you're out in the public eye, believe me, people come all directions, especially if they can be anonymous on the Internet. Xenophobic, really horrible things to say. And to those people, I would say, you know, get out and meet your neighbor. You'll. It'll change your mind.

Yeah, yeah. Well, here, here. So so where. What do you. Where do you call home these days, man?

I'm based out of Palm Desert. I. I just teach privately in my home. I have a gym in my house. And I'm building a. Building a ranch up in the mountains above San Diego. Another ranch.

Nice.

And I've got a place in Mexico I'm just about to sell, so I'm going to pull out of Mexico.

So where to next? What's the next adventure?

I don't know. But I got to say that one of the best experiences in humanity, if you ever get the opportunity, is to move to a foreign country. And when people ask me for the best travel advice, I say next. Next to always carry toilet paper, is to learn a foreign language because it will open up so many doors. It's the pathway to understanding someone else. And it's the ultimate way to show respect. Because what's the first thing we say when foreigners come here? You're here. Speak English, Right.

We say that when we go over too. I'm here. Speak English.

Yeah, unfortunately, sadly.

Exactly. Sadly.

So it was such a trip living in Mexico. Mexicans are such wonderful people. And that's like, such one of the best kept adventure travel secrets for Americans who seem, for the most part, terrified to go to Mexico. But as a guy that's traveled extensively in every state over the last 15 years, I could tell you they're just so nice, they're so friendly. They're just. If you break down by the side of the road, four cars will pull over, some Mexican farmers will come up and push you out of the way and start working on your bike.

Wow.

Changing the tire or something.

So in spite of being kidnapped and held captive in, in Colombia for weeks on end with no necessarily good hopeful outcome to. To keep hope going, in spite of all that, you still hop back on your bike, you still go out to parts unknown. And do you have any little nagging fear of, like, oh, here we go again, or.

No? No. In fact, you know, I was interviewed. I was on the front page of every newspaper on planet Earth. And it was like, what's the gringo gonna do? And I said, I'm gonna keep going. And they said, wow, what makes you do that? To be absolutely honest, it never entered my mind. I said, if I can live through this. And I didn't know if I was gonna die in captivity or not, because a lot of guys do. And there was a couple guys, you know, discussing that I could. Over here, I'm talking, let's just kill him. And I thought If I. I was always committed. When I'm released, how am I going to continue the ride? Depending. I didn't know if it was going to be in years or months, but if it's a certain time of year, would I continue on the eastern coast of South America or the western? I never stopped planning how I was going to get to Argentina.

Wow.

Never my mind. In fact, when I was ultimately released to the Red Cross, I was about half dead. And they released me to the Red Cross. And I'm in the center there. And the first call is from my senior, senior black belt, Brad Nesty. And he said, he didn't say, you okay? You sick? You tired? You want to go home? He said, don't worry, brother, another bite's on the way. Of course, had my other friends and family furious with him.

Right.

He knew and I knew. He's like my spiritual soulmate.

That's great.

He knew. It's like, you got to keep going. And that's. Yeah, that's the whole thing. It's like if you're fighting in the ring and you get knocked down, do you stay down?

Right.

You get up and you look at somebody and you laugh and you go, is that the best you can do? Even if they rang your bell?

Yeah.

And these guys rang my bell. I don't mind telling you that was the most horrible thing you could do to another human being. When people say, you know, give me a synopsis, I said, put your finger in a light socket for five weeks and then pull it out and imagine what you feel like if somebody says, how do you feel? Yeah, that's how it was. I couldn't talk four months, I was unable to speak. I was so shell shocked from that event. But in the long run, I'm so grateful for it.

Yeah. Well, again, it speaks to you as a person and your spirit. I think, you know, you took this, that would have been, you know, I mean, some folks, you know, would have, you know, had PTSD and dealt with it in 180 degree opposite direction. You took it as a, you know, as a diversion on your trip, you

know, and I did have that, and I did have that problem, and I did have to go to counseling. But I will tell you something. If you look back in life, every time you got knocked down, because everybody that's listening to me talk right now, or us talk is a survivor, because we've all had trauma in our lives, but you survived it. So you're a survivor. And if you're alive, you're a survivor because you survived the death of a spouse, a childhood disease, or something in your life, so you're a survivor. And if you look back, here's the deal. You look around when you're knocked down, you will see a shot, a sword, and a shield. And I think the choice is ours. We can lay down and die, or we can stand and fight. And so we make that. We make that choice in life. And so I don't think that our Creator gives us any more than we can handle. And sometimes people just. I'm also a cancer survivor, and I was given a terminal diagnosis seven years ago, and I just said, I refuse to die along with other things, more than just saying that. But I did beat it. And I think that our Creator gives us these things in life to prepare us for the next stage.

Gosh.

So I just. I just hope that I'm done with it. Hope I've met all my preparations.

Gosh. You know, Glenn, I mean, you again, back to how we started off this conversation. I think you are really a Renaissance man. You are a guy that has taken life by the horns and said, you know, I want to enjoy every. Every minute of it. I will deal with, you know, the things that. That come at me, you know, as they come at me, and I will, you know, make them, you know, work for me and be able to survive it. And. And you've gone beyond survive. I mean, to thrive and to be able to, you know, again, have this spirit of humanity back to other people is just amazing. So I tip my hat to you, brother. You are an inspiration to people.

Thank you. I appreciate that. But it's like the whole reason for the books was not to convince anybody of anything except to open your mind and open your heart, you know, and that's the whole thing was, you know, the first book was about overcoming challenges, essentially. And I also do. I do a multimedia show for BMW, and I do them for the. For the motorcycle shows and for private corporations and whatnot. I have a website called StrikingViking.net and you can book my shows. I'm 2500 bucks plus travel, and I will come rock your world. If you don't like my show, if you don't give me a standing ovation afterwards, I'll give you your money back.

And, hey, I have. I can barely witness to that because that was pretty much the experience of some hardcore bikers at the show in Chicago this last February, too. So you. You. Your again, your story, your. Your slides and. And everything is just, I think, a real inspiration, no matter what you know, who the audience is kind of a thing. So I, I would highly encourage our listeners. We'll put all this, all the websites and the books and videos and whatnot in our show notes. And I highly encourage people to check Glenn out. I mean, he's an amazing guy. We've just kind of scratched the surface of this. You know, hopefully, you know, we might be able to have you back for a part 2 or an encore and get in maybe deeper dive of some of these other things. But, you know, Glenn, I just again, have to speak to your spirit and you as being an inspiration to, you know, so many people, people in the developing country whose lives you've touched, but then also the fortunate bunch of us here stateside that, you know, get to. Get to learn from your experiences and grow from your spirit.

Well, thanks, Chris, and thank you for having this series of podcasts that you. You share great experiences with people around the world. And, you know, if you can just change somebody's outlook on life every now and then in a positive direction, never mind the masses, if the more people, the better, but if you could just do it to one, if you can just turn one life around or expose one person to a different side of life, it's worth it, you know, it really is, because it's all a chain reaction.

That's true. Hear, hear. I totally agree with that. Well, thanks, Glenn, once again, thank you. And for everyone listening, please do check out everything in the show notes. And Glenn, what's the. Besides your website, can people be in touch with you? They reach out to you through your website? Or what's the best way to.

The best way to reach me? I'm on Facebook also. Excellent. But the best way to reach me is through my website, Striking Viking.net love it. That's the boxing Norwegian Striking Viking.net not.com net and there's a lot of information on there. In fact, there's a link to the Nat Geo show if you just want to see it.

Awesome. Great. I highly encourage people to check that out. And Glenn, again, thank you for being who you are. Thanks for being a guest on the show and we will keep in touch, man. Okay, take care, buddy.

Bye bye.

Living a Life in Full is a production of Stout Media, subsidiary of Gordian Knots, llc. Assistant Gracie Wong Music Dan o' Brien Sam Rude Graphics Larry Newberry Executive producer and host, Dr. Chris Stout to learn more, stop by our website alifeinfull.org for show notes and please recommend us to your friends and leave us a review on itunes. Thanks. Every day, excessive delays and denials from big insurers keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays. Delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big insurers put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner, navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strengthen America's Health Care.