Learn about growing up in Iran, being a refugee in Europe & ethical considerations when traveling to low income areas. ============================ 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 Yooshita joins Matt and they start off talking about how they met at the Extraordinary Travel Festival in Bangkok and connected around their shared human rights activism. Yooshita then talks about her recent trip to Jamaica, including both the importance of getting out of the tourist areas and the ethical dynamics of visiting low-income or high-crime areas. Next, she describes her recent trip to Libya in 2025 and why it was so special to her. Yooshita then talks about growing up in Iran until the age of 13, and the experience of her family applying for refugee asylum in Europe. She reflects on what that experience taught her about the way refugees are treated, and what she learned from the other refugees she met during that time. Yooshita then describes her experience culturally acclimating to Austria as a teenager, confronting stereotypes about Iranians, and later working at an NGO to help religious minorities emigrate from Iran. → 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! :)

323: Visiting Libya in 2025 and Lessons from Growing Up as an Iranian Refugee with Yooshita

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Learn about growing up in Iran, being a refugee in Europe & ethical considerations when traveling to low income areas.  ============================  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  Yooshita joins Matt and they start off talking about how they met at the Extraordinary Travel Festival in Bangkok and connected around their shared human rights activism. Yooshita then talks about her recent trip to Jamaica, including both the importance of getting out of the tourist areas and the ethical dynamics of visiting low-income or high-crime areas. Next, she describes her recent trip to Libya in 2025 and why it was so special to her. Yooshita then talks about growing up in Iran until the age of 13, and the experience of her family applying for refugee asylum in Europe. She reflects on what that experience taught her about the way refugees are treated, and what she learned from the other refugees she met during that time. Yooshita then describes her experience culturally acclimating to Austria as a teenager, confronting stereotypes about Iranians, and later working at an NGO to help religious minorities emigrate from Iran.  → 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! :)

The Maverick Show is a global travel podcast about what really happens when people cross borders and build lives across cultures. Hosted by full-time world traveler Matt Bowles, each episode features intimate, unfiltered conversations (often over a bottle of wine) exploring the human stories behind global travel and what the journey teaches us about the world and ourselves.  Guests include expats, digital nomads, women and diaspora storytellers, worldschooling families, and human rights advocates, all sharing travel stories that are funny, moving, and deeply human.  In addition to hearing about extraordinary places and the people who live there, you’ll learn what it’s really like to move abroad, build an expat life, or travel long-term, as guests open up about their personal journeys navigating culture, race, power, identity, and belonging in an unequal world. If you’ve ever felt that travel changes you in ways no one talks about, you’re in the right place.  The Maverick Show hit the Top 100 on Apple Podcasts (including #1 in Places & Travel), was ranked in the Top 1% of podcasts globally by Listen Notes, and was named the #1 Digital Nomad Podcast and #1 Remote Work Podcast by Million Podcasts — with hundreds of five-star listener reviews.

The Maverick Show: Global Travel Stories & Life Beyond Borders

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