by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 9:00 AM ET, Fri May 24, 2019
As the social media influencer movement has continued to grow and pick up steam in recent years, there are many within the travel world who have watched with understandable skepticism, if not downright disdain.
Travel influencers in particular, often appear to be driven less by a desire to truly connect with people in destinations around the world, and more by obtaining free trips, hotel stays, clothing and other perks.
It's a movement that at its worst offers a highly superficial look at a destination, using locations around the world as mere backdrops for looking fabulous and creating content for continued self-promotion.
Enter "Travel With Meaning," a recently launched podcast that among other things, aims to focus its listeners on the true value of travel in its purest form.
"To me traveling means connecting with different people and cultures and having unique experiences that allow me to grow and learn, becoming the best authentic version of myself and above all being grateful for the journey," the podcast's creator, Mike Schibel recently told TravelPulse during an interview.
Disenchanted with the influencer movement, Schibel, an Emerson College graduate, wanted to create a platform that would encourage, inspire and support travel through what he describes as authentic storytelling.
"The influencer movement, I've found, is more about getting a free stay or getting content out there as opposed to 'I'm standing in front of Angkor Wat and it feels incredible," Schibel explained.
The Los Angeles resident's compelling new podcast features interviews with influential guests from all walks of life who sit down with him to discuss meaningful and life-changing travel moments.
And though Schibel's podcast has merely just begun, he has managed to attract some of the creative world's biggest names to come chat with him about travel, (a feat due in large part to Schibel's decade of experience as a talent agent.)
To date Travel With Meaning has hosted such well-known names as Phil Keoghan, (easily the most traveled TV host of all time) who worked on The Amazing Race and also National Geographic, Explorer. Other guests have included Slater Trout, an SUP race athlete; as well as RedFoo, an international platinum recording artist and member of rap group LMFAO.
Travel Channel hosts, former pro poker players, and marine biologists are also among the show's guests, with life-changing travel experiences being the common theme uniting each of these fascinating individuals.
"My goal is to find people who you might not think about," continued Schibel. "People who are professionals in their own way, a singer, an athlete and to find the common thread of how travel has changed them."
Schibel's conversations with such guests are often eye-opening, educational and surprising, regularly covering the details of the individual's professional path but always returning to the core purpose of the podcast, which is the power of travel to be transformative.
And in the process of doing all of that, the conversations also often organically touch upon the principles of traveling with meaning that Schibel has informally outlined in his mind, but plans to someday put into writing, such ideas as being present for the magic of travel and respecting the environment.
To date, Schibel has released about nine Travel With Meaning podcasts, bootstrapping the entire venture on his own. His goal, which is hardly modest, is to ultimately become the number one travel podcast.
But as he aims for that goal, Schibel does so firmly rooted in the core beliefs that started him on this journey, which is that now, perhaps more than ever, travel has an invaluable role to play in the world.
"There's so much going on the world, which we see from social media and traditional media, there is so much misrepresentation of who people are and where they are from," said Schibel. "Now more than ever we need to go to break down those judgments and barriers. The more we connect the more open we are. Nobody solves anything sitting on an island."
Travel With Meaning podcasts are available on iTunes and Google Play or on the Travel With Meaning website.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
