By Eric Hartman

Our speakers dropped in after visiting 80 countries and countless communities during a road trip that had already stretched past 2,400 days. They had a lot to share. But they were able to boil their insights down to a few core themes that included the importance of facing your fears, continuous learning, and finding your “What if…?”

Through my role as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Global Studies at Providence College, I was able to invite Dan Noll and Audrey Scott of Uncornered Market to campus. They absolutely engaged the students – and many faculty members who attended as well – with a presentation on responsibly embracing risk, “At the Edge of Possibility: What’s Travel Got to Do with it?”

They also spoke of “assisted serendipity” – their sense that their lives have been full of fortuitous occurrences, in part because they have worked to expose themselves to such possibilities. Put yourselves out there, they told our students. One example of their assisted serendipity is Dumb Luck, Dreams, and Visa Kung Fu, an altogether astonishing tale of how their recent trip to India’s Himalayan region of Ladakh built on more than twenty years of coincidence finally aligning for one month of incredible experience. Another example: I met them in Bolivia in 2009 and found them fast friends and great conversationalists. We connected on Facebook but had very little contact – until Audrey recognized me – two years later – in the security line at the airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. And we restarted our conversations. And last night they came to campus, exciting students with the possibility of combining passion, skills, and value to live lives of purpose.

In this month of study abroad fairs and international education advising, their presentation also reminded me of some of the more idealistic – and in my view incredibly important – aspirations of study abroad.

Understanding Your Potential. They spoke of facing fears. First, quite simply taking the plunge to travel. Dan mentioned that, despite having faced dengue fever, guns, and innumerable hazards through a life on the road, the greatest fear they overcame was choosing to leave comfortable lives in exchange for the unknown. They’re not trust-funders, they’re not independently wealthy. They saved before leaving and they cost-cut on expenses as they traveled. Then they figured out a business plan during their first year on the road. But they had to step out to step up.

Connecting. This is the second way facing fears pays dividends. As Dan and Audrey recount in How Travel Beats the Media Fear Machine, going and seeing most often replaces the specter of danger with the experience of hospitality. I’ve been particularly impressed with their stories from Iran, where they were greeted with open arms by gracious strangers. They share their approach to systematically safe travel through places the State Department finds suspect in The Danger Map of the World: Fear vs. Awareness.

Learning deeply through reflective experience. Dispelling myths is a theme of travel literature and the traveler’s life. It’s captured in the ever-popular Twain quote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” and it has been captured for Audrey and Dan countless times. After their presentation we shared our common appreciation for Pico Iyer’s brilliant essay, Why We Travel, which hits this theme with a plain philosophical eloquence. As they spoke they shared a photo of their travel group in Iran, where the locals were more excited to meet Americans than they were to meet the Danes, Australians, and others in the group.

Their talk and their example reminds me of the compelling vision of slowly, steadily building peace by pieces through ongoing interconnection around the world. Perpetual travelers like Dan and Audrey, Dervla Murphy, and of course literary travelers like Twain and Iyer – give us a lens on a richly diverse common humanity and shared environment.

As intercultural educators or quite simply as global citizens, our ability to connect is fundamentally driven by the conscientiousness with which we approach others. We must carefully prepare students for intercultural engagement and cooperate systematically with host communities. When we do it well, we help build connections across cultures, promote peace by pieces, and enable students to flourish as their better selves as part of building a more beautiful world.

Here’s to remembering the ideals that animate our actions.

The full description of Dan & Audrey’s presentation appears below.

At the Edge of Possibility: What’s Travel Got to Do With It?

Life is full of decisions and uncertainty. But it’s also full of possibility. How do you find it? Where does the rest of the world fit in?

World travelers and online entrepreneurs Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott, the husband-and-wife team behind the life and travel blog Uncornered Market share their story of traveling, working and living abroad for over 15 years and in 75 countries, including their current six-year around-the-world journey.

During their talk, they connect the dots between travel, career decisions, following curiosity, finding purpose, developing life skills abroad, and doing good and doing well – all peppered with a few key approaches they continually use to avoid regret and build a story-filled life.

45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Q&A.