Ep 152 w/ Dave Seminara - The Baltics in 2024, The Degeneration of Niagara (US Side) + Annoying Bear Guides

My 152nd guest episode on the Winging It Travel Podcast features Dave Seminara, the author of Mad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed, and the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth, which I read a few years back.

Dave is a returning guest; honestly, he is welcome back at any point. I find Dave super fascinating to listen to, and one day, I hope we can collaborate on YouTube.

When planning my 2023 year-long trip, I wanted a book to pique my wanderlust, so I searched Google and found Mad Travelers. In 2022, I read the whole thing in a matter of days, and it is on my list to read again.

This book absolutely hooked me, so I had to ask Dave to come on the podcast. He duly did, providing a great episode about his book and the extreme traveler community. You can find that episode here.

So, this blog will cover both episodes as there is a lot to discuss and hopefully inspire you to listen to both episodes.

Let’s dive into some topics in this blog.

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Mad Travelers, learning about the Extreme Travel Community.

Before I read Dave’s book, I had no idea who this community was. Another guest, Matty Dyas, interviewed Harry Mitsidis, the founder of NomadMania, who would later appear on the podcast, too, so I was aware of certain people within this community.

Dave’s book describes in depth the lengths some travelers go to when traveling, such as visiting places like Bouvet, Tristan da Cunha, and other far-flung places you have probably never heard of.

What drives these people to visit these places and every country in the world?

This mixes a genuine interest in geography, a will to travel as much as possible, competition to get to the most challenging places in the world, financial means, maximizing their time to the last second, and passport privilege.

I secretly admire their willingness and motivation to make travel their number one or two priority. I love their ambition —the ultimate desire to visit places most people can only dream of. I want to inspire the next generation of travelers.

One of the most surprising lessons in the book is the ability to be happy at home. It sounds counterintuitive, and in 2022, I would have argued against it, but now, in 2024, after my year-long trip, I totally agree.

As I mentioned on the podcast, having a home base that is yours, no matter how small or big, is key to traveling long-term. You need somewhere to stop to chill, catch up on creative projects, work, or simply see family and friends.

If you can nail this part of travel, then you are winning. There is no pressure to think about trying to secure your home in the long term or even incur rent/mortgage costs. This is what I am actively working towards now.

What are the downsides of this community?

A very popular notion among other travelers is that they travel to count countries and do not necessarily travel because they desire to see a country.

Within the community, there is competition, backstabbing, and jealousy. Dave’s book has a running theme about a character who embedded himself into the community, and it is worth reading to learn what happened. I was hooked.

But here is where I am going to defend the community.

What are the main issues currently in the travel industry? Overtourism, potential climate impacts of cruise ships or flights, and voluntourism.

These guys will not be going to Venice on a group tour in the height of summer; they will most probably not take private flights for one-hour meetings across the Atlantic, pretend to volunteer at a school in Africa to help the local population when, in fact, it is for personal vanity reasons or collectively have much impact on the travel industry as a whole.

There is so much more I haven’t mentioned here, but if you want a fascinating insight into this community and even people who hate travel, check out Dave’s book Mad Travelers.

If you prefer to listen to our episode first to get an idea, you can do so here.

Dave’s one-month trip to the Baltics in the summer of 2023

Straight off the bat, Dave gave a great tip for anyone looking for a summer trip to a part of Europe that is not busy and healthy for your wallet: the Baltics.

The countries Dave visited are Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, which are situated in the northern and central parts of Europe.

If you are up to date with your news, then you know this area borders Russia, so naturally, a lot of people have stopped visiting. So, what was it like to visit?

Dave explains that he has never seen Europe so quiet in the height of summer, and there are so many awesome cities, towns, and areas in these countries.

There are places with names you have never heard of, so be sure to check out the episode for all the tips.

I wanted to ask Dave what the feeling was there with the Ukraine-Russia war, as you can imagine, there is strong support for Ukraine despite there being a big Russian contingent in the populations of those countries.

There are more Ukrainian flags in the cities and towns than the flags of their own country.

Dave recalled a captivating story of his bear tour in Finland. Situated outside of Helsinki, he was tasked with meeting the guide at 5 a.m. at a location where he was only given the coordinates. He was five minutes late, and the tour guide was not happy.

This area is filled to the brim with bears, and they adhere to a strict schedule to make sure Dave and his family can see all the bears they wish to see.

On this tour, they saw bears feeding on salmon in a river. When locked in their cabin for the night, they could see bears all around at all times of the day. It was exciting and scary at the same time.

Even his own children, who are computer game mad, stopped their passion for staring out of the windows for bears, probably out of fear rather than genuine fun, but what a thrill!

When Dave travels, he loves to include these types of tours and unique excursions to really push the boundaries of comfort, and I love that!

Dave is a great storyteller; that is exactly what I want on the podcast!

Revisiting Dave’s father’s home in Niagara draws up some grim conclusions

Dave is a journalist who writes for the Spectator and New York Times, so I was keen to hear his story in his own words.

Dave has a YouTube channel, so I highly recommend watching this story unfold on that channel.

However, he explains the degeneration of an area right next to one of North America's natural marvels. It seems that despite booming tourism every year, this does not filter to the town next to it.

Dave went on a journey to try to find his father’s house, which he did, and it shocked him.

The area is desolate, with old buildings crumbling, a dwindling population, an uneasy high crime rate, and, it seems, no end in sight to resurrecting this town.

There are many towns in the USA that were once mining towns that have been abandoned as families move to try and find work in the bigger cities.

But this is different. A constant stream of tourists visit Niagara Falls every year, yet this tourism doesn’t seem to help the local community. Why is that?

The Canadian side is only slightly better; as we agreed, it looks tacky rather than desolate.

When you think about tourist sites worldwide, is this a common theme?

Being from the UK, the classic example from my home country is the seaside towns. For fifty years, they were booming, but now no one wants to live there, and the councils don’t even bother to invest any money in them.

They are run down and grim.

This may be a subject I explore more with the podcast, as I would love to try and understand how this happens, given that every time we hear about the positives of travel, the local investment for tourists in local businesses is apparently the main reason. Is that even true, or at the very least, a game changer anymore?

Watch this space!

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Who is Dave Seminara?

Dave Seminara is a writer and former diplomat based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is the author of four books. Mad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed and the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth(June 1, 2021) is a deep exploration of wanderlust, focused around the true story of William Baekeland, a young Brit who conned many of the world’s most traveled people as they sought to reach the planet’s most remote and off-limits places.

Footsteps of Federer: A Fan’s Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts (March 2, 2021) is an award-winning account of Dave’s travels across Switzerland in Roger’s footsteps. Dave’s second book, Breakfast with Polygamists: Dispatches from the Margins of The Americas (2019) is a collection of more than three dozen travel-related stories from 10 countries across The Americas.

Bed, Breakfast & Drunken Threats: Dispatches from the Margins of Europe (2016) is a collection of 27 travel stories that unfold across 20 European countries. The book was a number one bestseller in Liechtenstein, Malta and various other micronations he prefers not to brag about.Dave has won various awards that he’s pretty sure you’ve never heard of, so let’s not waste time talking about that either.

Dave was born in Buffalo, where he grew up listening to shortwave radio and rooting for doomed sports teams. (He retains a 716 area code despite not living there since 1990.)

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Villanova University, Dave joined the U.S. Foreign Service. His diplomatic career included numerous international incidents during stints at American embassies in Macedonia, Trinidad and Hungary, and in the Bureau of Central African Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Dave has written for many publications, including some that are still in business, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Spectator, The Los Angeles Times, City Journal, The New York Post, Chicago Magazine, Real Clear Politics, AFAR, The Hill, Outside, Espn.com, Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Oklahoman, Indianapolis Monthly, Tennis, Buffalo Spree, Perceptive Travel and many other websites and publications.

Seminara is passionate about photography and has photo credits in publications such as National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times, Outside, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tennis, and others. In 2003, Dave took second place in National Geographic Traveler magazine’s annual photo contest for a portrait he captured in Tblisi, Georgia.

Dave lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife, Jen, and their sons, Leo, 15, and James,13. Circa Orbem.

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Visiting The Baltics in 2024 and The Degeneration of Niagara (US Side)