Far From Home
Scott Gurian
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1 Creator
An immersive travel and culture documentary podcast where Peabody award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian reports fascinating stories from faraway places and makes you feel like you’re really there! On past episodes, he’s road tripped 18,000 mi. (29,000 km) from the UK to Mongolia and back, visited Iran as an American tourist, wandered through abandoned buildings in Chernobyl, and participated in a hallucinogenic healing ceremony in Peru. Learn more and view bonus content at farfromhomepodcast.org
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What is Far From Home about?
People often say it’s a small world, but in reality, there are giant parts of the planet that most people never think about, and billions of stories they’ve never heard. Far From Home is an immersive, first-person, documentary-style travel and culture podcast where veteran public radio reporter Scott Gurian visits some of those places and tells some of those stories. It's part journalism, part narrative nonfiction, part fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants storytelling that aims to take listeners outside their comfort zones and bring them along on unexpected adventures and chance encounters with interesting people around the world.
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Top 10 Far From Home Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Far From Home episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Far From Home for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Far From Home episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Playing Tour Guide (with The Radio Vagabond)
Far From Home
10/27/21 • 33 min
Having grown up just outside of New York City, I visited most of the big tourist attractions like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center when I was a kid. But when you spend a lot of time in a place and get to know it well, you start to discover some really cool but lesser-known areas, and those are the ones I always like to share with friends when they come from out of town.
Recently, I played tour guide for my colleague Palle Bo, who’s the host of The Radio Vagabond podcast and has been to nearly 100 countries. If you’re a longtime listener of my show, you may remember his episode I shared a while back about the time he and his daughter joined a tour group in North Korea.
Palle had been to New York several times before, so I figured I would get him out of Manhattan where most of the other tourists stay and bring him to see some interesting sites in the city’s outer boroughs. He ended up making a podcast episode about our experience that I really enjoyed, so I’m re-sharing it in my feed. You can read more and see some photos from some of the places Palle and I visited on his website.
If you’re new to Far From Home and want to hear some of my past episodes that Palle mentioned, check out my first season where I told the story of my road trip to Mongolia including the time my friends and I were asked to pay a bribe in Tajikistan, my episode about the time I made a fool of myself trying to learn the ancient art of Tuvan throat singing, and the time I participated in a hallucinogenic healing ceremony in Peru.
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
Ukraine
Far From Home
03/28/22 • 21 min
On this episode, I speak to Savelli and Olexander, two Ukrainians who’ve suddenly had their lives upended after the Russian military invaded their country.
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
Oklahoma City
Far From Home
04/19/21 • 31 min
Each year on April 19th, residents of Oklahoma City commemorate the anniversary of the 1995 bombing in their city, which prior to September 11th bore the distinction of being the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. On this episode of Far From Home, I dig into my archives to share two stories I produced about the bombing from back when I was a reporter at a small public radio station in Oklahoma.
First I look back at how Muslim Americans were falsely blamed in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Then I share the story of former Oklahoma City police officer Jim Ramsey, who won his department’s Medal of Valor for his role on the day of the bombing, before guilt and depression got the best of him.
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
How did I end up here?
Far From Home
10/06/21 • 22 min
When you travel, it’s inevitable that you’ll occasionally have weird or random experiences, where you might have certain expectations before you arrive at a place, but then you’re totally thrown for a loop. Sometimes it’s frustrating, and other times it ends up being a pleasant surprise, but either way, it’s unexpected, and there’s this moment where you can’t help but stop, take a breath, and think, “Wait. How did I end up here again?”
On today’s episode, I talk about how I found myself in a swarm of Justin Bieber fans in Bangkok, Thailand, and Nisreene Atassi — host of Expedia’s “Out Travel the System” podcast — shares the story of the time she and some co-workers went to a sushi dinner in Tokyo and ended up having a night they’d never forget.
If you enjoy this episode, you might also like this story from my last season about the time I slept overnight on the floor of Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market to see an early morning tuna auction. And if all this inspires you to head to the nearest airport, check out this episode of Nissy’s podcast where she discusses tips for planning your own trip to Japan!
As always, you can find, follow, and message Far From Home on Facebook or Instagram or contact me on Twitter. Or you can drop me a line at [email protected]
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
COVID Stories Part 4
Far From Home
12/06/21 • 19 min
Nearly 2 years into the Covid-19 pandemic, new waves of infection continue to spread around the world, and the Omicron variant is causing renewed fears in places that previously thought they had the virus under control. So I’m releasing another episode in my series where I check in with friends and colleagues around the world to get a sense of what things are like where they live. This time we hear voices from Thailand, Ukraine, Guatemala, Belgium, Finland, and Vietnam. If you’ve missed the previous three installments of my COVID Stories series, you can check them out in my season 3 archive.
If you’re a regular listener of my show, I’d love to hear your feedback on this series. Do you enjoy it, or are you tired of it, and you think I should move on to something else? You can let me know by emailing me at [email protected]
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
Ayahuasca Reexamined
Far From Home
08/01/22 • 27 min
I’m always open to listener feedback on Far From Home, and I heard from someone recently who’s given me a new perspective on one of my past stories and forced me to see things in a new light, so I wanted to share it with all of my listeners.
Several years ago on the show, I featured a series of stories about Lucho, a traditional medicine man from Peru who describes himself as a "curandero," or someone who heals. Using medicinal herbs, archaeological relics, and hallucinogenic plants, he claims to have rid himself of diabetes and his father of cancer. He regularly travels around his country treating people with all sorts of ailments.
In part one of my series, I joined Lucho as he embarked on a journey up the coast, searching for a star-shaped stone with supposed magical powers that he saw in a vision.
Then I accompanied him to a healing ceremony in a shantytown on the outskirts of Lima where he served participants a hallucinogenic brew called ayahuasca. I’d originally planned on simply observing and documenting the event, but once I was there, I decided to take Lucho up on his offer to consume a small amount of the potion myself to understand what the experience was like for everyone else. It didn’t seem to have much of an effect on me, however, and I wondered in the story whether I might be somehow immune.
In a bonus episode, I also shared the story of my friend Dennis, who similarly tried ayahuasca during his visit to Peru and felt like it didn’t live up to his expectations.
But after chatting recently with Nora Dunn, I’ve realized that perhaps my takeaways from my experience as well as my presentation of the topic might not have been entirely fair. Nora’s been traveling the world as a digital nomad for the past 17 years, blogging as The Professional Hobo, and she also spent several years working with shamans in Ecuador and Peru. On this episode, I revisit my previous reporting and get Nora’s insights on what I might have gotten wrong.
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
19: One Surprise After Another
Far From Home
06/11/18 • 31 min
When my brother and I told friends we’d be driving across Kazakhstan, we got plenty of jokes about Borat, but we were about to find out that the real-life nation of Kazakhstan was almost nothing like what was portrayed on the screen. Far from being backwards and uncivilized, the country we experienced was fascinating, friendly, and full of surprises. Read more and see photos on my website.
Far From Home is a series, so it’s best to listen to all the episodes in order from the beginning for the story to make the most sense. Learn more about our trip and follow our adventures at farfromhomepodcast.org and teamdonundestan.com. And if you like what you hear, please do me a favor and leave a quick rating or review in iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!
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09/10/21 • 68 min
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush vowed revenge against the perpetrators, but not everyone found his words comforting. Around this time, a small but vocal group of people got together to speak out. They were the parents, spouses, siblings, and children of people who were killed in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and they said they didn’t want the deaths of their loved ones to be used to justify military attacks that could harm innocent civilians on the other side of the world.
They called themselves “September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,” and in late November of 2001, they took part in a walk for peace from the Pentagon to the World Trade Center site. I was a young reporter at the time, and I tagged along and interviewed several members of the group, later producing an hour-long documentary featuring their stories.
On this 20th anniversary of the attacks, I’m re-releasing that documentary, along with an interview I conducted a few weeks ago with David Potorti, whose brother James worked on the 96th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center. David has just co-edited an anthology of poetry from over 100 poets who’ve written about September 11th. It’s called Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 and its Aftermath.
As always, you can find, follow, and message Far From Home on Facebook or Instagram or contact me on Twitter. Or you can drop me a line at [email protected]
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
Stockholm Norms (with Here There Be Dragons)
Far From Home
08/20/21 • 50 min
Knowing the rules and being able to navigate them can be a big part of feeling safe in any city. On this episode of Far From Home, I share an episode from another great podcast I recently discovered called “Here There Be Dragons,” where host Jess Myers speaks to residents of Stockholm, Sweden trying to figure out the norms, how to use them, and how to change them. Will they have to bend to Stockholm or will Stockholm bend to them?
If you enjoy this episode, I highly recommend subscribing to HTBD wherever you get your podcasts to hear more fascinating, behind-the-scenes stories from cities around the world!
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
Foreign Correspondence
Far From Home
02/16/21 • 85 min
I’m taking a break between seasons right now, but I’m popping back into your feed with a special bonus episode I’m sharing from a really great podcast called Foreign Correspondence. It’s hosted by Jake Spring, who’s a journalist for Reuters based in Brazil. On his program, Jake does fascinating interviews with other journalists around the world, and on his latest episode, Jake interviewed me about how I got into journalism, my previous work in public radio, and some of the stories I’ve worked on for Far From Home.
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
HowSound podcast by Rob Rosenthal
WNYC’s Peabody award winning coverage of NJ Governor Chris Christie and the response to Superstorm Sandy
My story on Antigua and Barbuda that I co-produced with NPR’s Planet Money
Vox podcast Today, Explained
An Arm and a Leg podcast
Chef Yotam Ottolenghi
Milk Street cooking website
Bill Buford’s book Among the Thugs
NPR’s Throughline history podcast
WNYC’s On the Media radio show and podcast
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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org
1 Listener
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FAQ
How many episodes does Far From Home have?
Far From Home currently has 93 episodes available.
What topics does Far From Home cover?
The podcast is about Places & Travel, Society & Culture and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Far From Home?
The episode title 'How did I end up here?' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Far From Home?
The average episode length on Far From Home is 29 minutes.
How often are episodes of Far From Home released?
Episodes of Far From Home are typically released every 25 days, 4 hours.
When was the first episode of Far From Home?
The first episode of Far From Home was released on Mar 10, 2016.
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