Thursday Traveler: Adam Seper

Every Thursday, A Dangerous Business will be shining the spotlight on a world nomad, travel blogger, armchair adventurer, or just someone really cool in the travel world. This week, the traveler is Adam Seper of World Travel for Couples. Adam got a late start on travel, especially when it came to leaving the country. A trip to Europe in his late-20s, followed by a year-long trip around the world at 30, has made travel Adam’s one true love — next to his wife, Megan, of course, who he has traveled with for most of his life-changing trips. While they are back home in St. Louis, Missouri, travel is tops on the priority list for this couple, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re back on the road.

Adam at Joshua Tree NP

1. How do you define the word “traveler,” and why would you consider yourself one?

I think a “traveler” is anyone who gets out of their comfort zone to experience and learn new things when getting away from home. Now, there’s certainly nothing wrong with taking a safe trip to somewhere you’re familiar with. But that’s a vacation, and I think there’s a big difference between going on a vacation and traveling, both of which I love to do.

I consider myself a traveler because when I get out of town for a trip, I typically like to go to a new place to learn new things, eat new and different food, meet new people, and have new experiences. New and different being the key words there. Life gets monotonous at times, and throwing a wrench in things by getting out of your normal routine is what gets my juices flowing.

2. What has been your favorite travel experience thus far?

The RTW trip I took with my wife from October 2008-2009, hands down, without a doubt. I got a pretty late start to traveling, as my family didn’t travel too much growing up, and when we did, it was usually to the same places. Despite going on many vacations growing up, I didn’t really travel for the first time until I was 19, and I didn’t leave the country until I was 22 (and that was to a resort town in Mexico, which hardly counts). The RTW trip was so new and crazy and unique to me when we first started planning it that it almost didn’t seem real. Even having been back for close to 11months now, it still seems surreal at times. It was the best decision we’ve made thus far in our lives, and it has completely changed our perspective and the way we go about our daily lives. I can’t see that trip not having an impact on our lives forever, to be perfectly honest with you.

Volcan Villarica

3. How about your proudest travel moment?

While in Luang Prabang, Laos, we spent a few days at an organization called Big Brother Mouse. The goal of this organization is to bring books to the children of Laos as the country is so poor that the vast majority of kids have never seen a book, and certainly not in their own language. Big Brother Mouse helps older children (high school and college-aged) with their English, and then they go about translating English books to the local language and delivering them to villages.

Travelers can help out in many ways, from donating to volunteering with conversational English lessons in Luang Prabang and Vientiene. We helped out for a few days teaching English, and while talking to one young man who was in school for architecture, we found out he may have to quit because he couldn’t afford pencils, which were crucial for school. PENCILS! I was an unfathomable thing for us to think of, so the next day when class was over, we waved him over and gave him a pack of pencils. He was so excited and thankful that you would have thought we gave him a bag full of cash. I honestly get teary-eyed just thinking about it. If it’s one thing the trip did, it was really put things in perspective, and I have to remember these experiences sometimes to remind myself of how good we have things.

4. Have you had any travel mishaps or bad experiences? If so, have these influenced how you view the place where they happened? Would you go back?

You know, we’ve been really, really lucky on our travels. Part of that is because I do a TON of research before going to a new place, and part of that is simply luck. I do the most I possibly can to prepare myself for a new place and know what to expect, so I am rarely surprised. I would say the worst experience I have had was in India. It was the last country on our RTW, which was a mistake because it was the most intense and we were just tired after a year of being on the road. It was just hard, and I honestly didn’t enjoy a lot of my time there. It was simply too much for me at that point.

That being said, India is probably the place I want to return to most Mainly because I want another chance. For all the chaos of India and complaining I did while I was there, I knew that was mainly due to my fatigue and urge to get home. I want a mulligan for India as it truly is a magical place that is so unique to anything I have ever experienced.

Adam and Meg at Salar de Uyuni

5. Name one thing you can’t travel without.

My wife, even though I know she isn’t a “thing.” Honestly, when I go out of town without her, something is missing. I have shared so many wonderful experiences with her on the road, and we complement each other so well when traveling, I can’t imagine going away for longer than a weekend without her. Second, my Ipod. I love music, and I would go nuts if I didn’t have any while on a bus, train, plane, etc.

6. Name one thing you wish you COULD travel without.

My phone! I was pretty worried about traveling without my cell phone when we went on our RTW. Not having a phone with us was a really odd thing to think of, but it was an expense that we hoped we could do without. And boy was I surprised that we really didn’t miss them at all. Now neither of had a smart phone before the trip, and now that we have those, I think it would be even harder, but it was really nice to not have our phones for an entire year (all that being said, we both made sure our phones were activated, charged, and with our families when they picked us up from the airport).

7. What do you think has been the biggest thing you’ve learned while traveling (about yourself, a destination, a culture, travel itself)?

Despite the vast differences of people and cultures all over the world, the similarities amongst different cultures were really eye-opening as well Kids are kids no matter where you go. Teenagers are idiots (in a good way) no matter where you go. The older generation will feed you and spoil you no matter where you go. here are nice, great, wonderful, generous people in every single culture. There are ignorant, selfish assholes in every single culture. I think more than anything I realized that people are people, and even if a culture is the total opposite of your own, it is possible to find some kind of similarity between that foreign culture and yours.

8. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Probably Bangkok, which is a city that gets a lot of hate from some travelers. We absolutely loved Bangkok, and we were in and out of it five different times during our time in SE Asia. It became our home away from home. We both love home, and we’ll probably end up living here forever. All of our families and friends are here, so it would be hard to move away. But we have talked about moving for a year or so, and if we did, I have learned that we do still need some reminders of home. While Bangkok is a crazy Asian city, it still has many western comforts that would be necessary for us. The chance to live in a big, bustling metropolis is also a huge plus, and Bangkok just had an energy that we both loved. The street food, the variety of cultures, the frenetic pace, the smiles of the Thai people, even the ridiculousness of the tuk-tuk drivers — we loved it all.

9. Name one place you’d like to see or one experience you’d like to have before you die.

There are so many more places we want to visit that this is a really difficult question. I think more than anything I want to see an active volcano and flowing lava. We actually hiked to the top of an active volcano in Chile, and while it was incredible and one of the best experiences on the trip, but there was no lava. I have a weird fascination with lava, and seeing it up close and personal is a dream of mine.

As far as a place, the Middle East is firmly on our radar. he history, the sites, the food, the people, it all just fascinates me, and I can’t wait to visit that region one day. Every time I see pictures or read blog posts about the Mid East, I just get excited.

10. If there was one thing you wish somebody would have told you before you started traveling, what would it be?

Make it a priority in your life. Period I grew up in the US, where a big house, fancy cars, big TV’s, and lots of stuff is what you strive for. It’s almost like I thought all that stuff is what I wanted for so long, until travel became my priority. Now don’t get me wrong, having cool stuff is, well, pretty cool, but since we’re not filthy rich and can’t have it both ways, travel is and probably will be my top priority for spending money on. I am perfectly fine living a simpler life if that means we get to take kick-ass trips all the time I have no problem making that sacrifice because I value experiences more than possessions. That’s just how I am, and when I look back on my life, that’s really how I always have been. I just think it took me close to 30 years to figure it out.

Visit Adam (and Megan’s) site: World Travel Couples
Follow Andrew on Twitter: @aseper
Follow Megan on Twitter: @wanderyearmeg

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Are you a travel blogger who has something to say on these topics? Do you know of somebody really interesting in the travel universe that you’d like to see interviewed? Speak up! The Thursday Traveler needs some interview subjects.

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