383: Travel as Activism: Priyanka Surio's Framework for Sustainable and Regenerative Travel

383: Travel as Activism: Priyanka Surio's Framework for Sustainable and Regenerative Travel

Author: Matt Bowles: Full-Time World Traveler Since 2013 April 6, 2026 Duration: 1:06:21
Learn how to make travel choices that support local communities, avoid harm, and meaningfully give back around the world. ============================ Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds. ============================ ON THIS EPISODE In Part 2 of this conversation, Priyanka Surio shares her framework for thinking about travel as a form of activism and breaks down the difference between sustainable and regenerative travel. She outlines an 8-part model built around four sustainable mindsets and four world-changing forces that can help travelers make more intentional decisions about where they go, how they spend time, and who benefits from their presence. Drawing on examples from places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Comuna 13 in Medellín, Priyanka examines how tourism can either extract from or support local communities, and offers a more conscious approach to cross-cultural travel and global exploration. She also reflects on her own activism journey—including being arrested at Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, DC—and how these experiences shaped her belief that travel can be a tool for solidarity and collective impact. This episode explores how to align your travel lifestyle with your values and contribute meaningfully to the places you visit. → Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here. ============================ FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU: See my Top 10 Apps For Digital Nomads See my Top 10 Books For Digital Nomads See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual) Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use) ============================ ENJOYING THE SHOW? Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally You can buy me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes! :)

There’s a certain texture to life lived in motion, a collection of stories that emerge not from postcards but from the messy, beautiful reality of planting roots in foreign soil. The Maverick Show: Global Travel Stories & Life Beyond Borders captures that essence through long-form conversations hosted by Matt Bowles, who has been navigating the world full-time since 2013. This isn't a guidebook podcast; it’s a series of intimate dialogues, often unfolding casually over a shared bottle of wine, where the destination is understanding. You’ll hear from a diverse range of voices-expats, digital nomads, women forging paths abroad, and diaspora storytellers-each sharing the raw, unfiltered nuances of what happens when you cross borders for good. The focus is on the human narrative beneath the itinerary: the cultural misunderstandings that become breakthroughs, the loneliness and liberation, and the profound ways a global life reshapes identity. Listening feels like pulling up a chair at a cafe somewhere in the world, eavesdropping on a conversation that’s equally about internal discovery as it is about geographic change. Matt’s own experience as a long-term traveler informs these discussions, steering them toward the substantive lessons learned far from home. If you’ve ever wondered about the true weight and wonder of building a life between cultures, this podcast offers a genuine, thoughtful window into that journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Maverick Show: Global Travel Stories & Life Beyond Borders
Podcast Episodes
300: Three Hundred Maverick Show Episode Special with Matt Bowles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:51
Matt Bowles celebrates 300 episodes by offering 30 free video calls as well as discounts to meet up with him in person. ============================ Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel,…