Recorded live at Overland Expo Flagstaff, host Scott Brady and Overland Collective Marketing Director Jake Perucca discuss the Overland Journal Podcast’s origins, emphasizing travel storytelling, editorial integrity, and audience engagement. They address shipping vehicles like the Grenadier to Australia and Africa, highlighting strict quarantine protocols, customs brokers, and essential import checks. The discussion includes route recommendations like Cape York, the Canning Stock Route, and Southern Africa’s Sani Pass. Technical topics include field and studio setups, the podcast’s evolving format with co-host Ashley Giordano, and upcoming spoken-word episodes. Scott connects the podcast to the magazine’s mission, teases the 20th anniversary and 100th issue, and shares Ewan McGregor as his dream guest, underscoring the platform’s commitment to authentic, high-quality overlanding content.
Overland Journal Podcast Episode #313
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Bios
Jake Perucca
Jake Perucca is the head of brand and marketing at the Overland Collective, where he oversees strategy, communications, and brand operations for some of the most recognized names in overlanding: Overland Journal, Expedition Portal, XOverland, and XOverland Ranch. A graduate of Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business, Jake spent years working across the lifestyle and outdoor industry as a consultant and VP of marketing before joining the Overland Collective in 2025. Behind the scenes, Jake has been a driving force in growing the Overland Journal Podcast, making him the perfect person to sit down with Scott Brady and reflect on the journey. Jake is an avid outdoorsman, surfer, and traveler.
Scott Brady
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Transcript
Jake-Scott_podcast_1
Scott Brady: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast. I am your host, Scott Brady, and I am here with the Overland Collective’s head marketing man. So he is the director, the highest level of marketing within the Overland Collective. Uh, buddy, you’ve been in the industry a long time. You really care about what we do with Overland Journal.
You really have done so much good to help us reinforce the brand of Overland Journal. So for me, I’m really grateful that you’re on the podcast because, um, you understand what we’re trying to accomplish, which is genuine travel around the world- Yeah … tell great stories- Yeah … um, maintain editorial integrity.
Um, and you’ve spent a lot of time in the marketing world. So we’re gonna talk about where the Overland Journal Podcast came from, why we do it, why it’s important to us as a business, um, and the ways that you’re helping us to grow the podcast as well. We’ll talk a little bit about the gear that we use to record the podcast, and we al- we’ve also got some folks here that are getting ready to take their Grenadier to [00:01:00] distant lands around the world, so we’re gonna answer a question of theirs
And a special thanks to Nitto Tire for supporting this week’s podcast.
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Jake : For more information, visit nitto tire.com. Thanks, Nitto.
Scott Brady: Caroline and Steven are with us here in the Overland Journal tent at the Overland Expo. Um, this is the, uh, Flagstaff event. This is their, uh, flagship event that they do every year. Um, and we’re recording this live ’cause we wanna talk a little bit about where the podcast came from and why it’s all about.
But what it is all about is folks like you. Um, I got to meet both of you two years ago. You were asking me questions about the Grenadier. We had a, a long conversation. So you ended up buying a Grenadier, and now you’re looking for ideas of shipping it to Australia. Is that the case? Yeah, and Africa. And you wanna go to Australia first and then Africa?
It doesn’t matter. It might be a little bit easier actually to go to Australia first. So I’ll, I’ll give you guys some things to think about. Um, Australia’s actually the most [00:03:00] difficult of the continents, of the countries in the world that we normally overland to, to bring a vehicle in because of their agricultural and quarantine requirements.
So the most important thing that you can do is to work with a customs agent that will help you import the vehicle, and these, these custom agents are bonded and insured by their, their, uh, quarantine division to be able to perform these inspections when the car comes in. So for example, um, when I, I had driven across Russia all the way to this little place called Magadan on the end of the Road of Bones, which was the dirtiest, dustiest, muddiest road you could possibly drive in the world, and we get to the end of it, now I’ve gotta ship these cars to Australia and hopefully get them through quarantine.
The cool thing about using a customs- broker like that is if it fails a quarantine inspection, they can clean it within their quarantine area and then reinspect it the next day. [00:04:00] If you try to bring the car in yourself and it fails inspection, it is a mandatory 14-day quarantine So imagine how much money you can spend in 14 days in a hotel waiting for your car to come out.
So you- you’re gonna really wanna focus on using, uh, one of those customs brokers to help you through that process. Uh, and then they can recheck the car every day, um, after… if it’s necessary. And when we brought those cars in from Russia to, uh… of the Land Cruisers, uh, it failed the inspection on the first day.
They found out where the problems were, which was actually in the winch line. Um, there was some debris that had been wound up in the winch line. So the rest of the car was perfectly clean, it had been properly detailed, uh, but when the inspection, uh, agent, which familiar with four-wheel drives, he pulls out the winch line and out comes all this dirt and debris and stuff, and it failed.
So they had to take the winch lines off, clean them properly, reinstall the winch lines, and then we were able to import the [00:05:00] vehicle. Now, where you import the vehicle within the country will also affect the modifications that you can perform to the car and still allow it to be imported. So if you plan on lifting the vehicle more than about fifty millimeters or going more than plus one or plus two on the tire size, you’re gonna wanna make sure you bring it into what’s called Queensland.
You guys may be familiar with that. That’s a great place to import a car into Australia because they have some of the more relaxed vehicle requirements around lift and weight and everything else like that. But it’s very common now in Australia for them to check the vehicle weight, the curb weight, against the gross vehicle weight.
Australians are one of the most strict in the world around driving a vehicle around the country if it is over gross vehicle weight. Uh, so you wanna… you wanna make sure that the car without you in it, without your personal effects, weighs less than the gross vehicle weight of the Grenadier rating.
Fortunately, the Grenadier has a big payload, so it’s pretty hard to get that overweight [00:06:00] unless you’re, you know, a- adding some go- gold bullion in there or something like that. But, uh, Queensland would be a great place to bring it in. Uh, you have to take it from the port. You’re gonna be given a pass from the port to the local police station, and they’re gonna check your safety devices on the car.
Um, that’s where they may do that gross vehicle weight check, but they’ll also gonna check your turn signals, your indicators, your hazards, your seatbelt functions, uh, that all of your headlights are functioning properly. Um, they’re gonna look at all of that stuff and then they’re gonna give you a temporary pass to drive it around the country.
And once you’ve got it into any of the, the, the… they’re not states, the provinces of, of Australia, once you’ve got the vehicle in, then you can go anywhere you want in the country. So I mean, that’s gonna be an amazing trip I think it would be a lot harder to go from Africa to Australia because the quarantine requirements.
So-
We’re also thinking Cape York, maybe, um, Canning Stock Route, and then-
Scott Brady: Oh …
and then we can go to Africa.
Scott Brady: Fantastic. [00:07:00] And Cape, Cape York I only did for the first time last year. Um, and I went all the way up the t- the old telegraph track, all the way up to the tip, the n- northernmost point in Australia. And you guys have the snorkel on your- Yes.
Yeah, make sure that you not only have the snorkel, but that someone’s gone through and really checked all of the seals. That was the deepest water crossings that I’ve ever done on a trip. The water was so deep that I was, I was looking through the windshield under the water- … in that 70 Series Landcruiser.
Fortunately, it was very brief that I was that deep. But like, you know, the windshield wipers are going back and forth, and I was under the water. You know, you know, maybe had, you know, four or five inches left on the snorkel, and then it popped back out of the hole. Um, so you wanna make sure that that snorkel’s functioning properly.
But what an incredible road. It’s a real challenge, real fun challenge, for sure. And then the Canning Stock Route, uh, ’cause yours is a gas model, isn’t it? Uh,
Guest: no,
Scott Brady: this is a diesel. Oh, you, you bought it somewhere else. Yeah, New Zealand. Got it. In New Zealand, perfect. So the nice thing about the diesel is you should ma- be [00:08:00] able to make it to the, basically the midway point of the Canning Stock Route, which is called Kinoworachi.
It’s a Aboriginal small little village, uh, that’s about halfway through that 1,800-kilometer trail. Uh, and they have fuel. It, it used to be that you had to pre-order, pre-buy the fuel and have them stage. Have you done that route before, the Canning Stock? No,
Guest: not done the route, but-
Scott Brady: Yeah. Oh, you’re gonna love it.
You’re gonna love it. You’re gonna love it. It’s, it was one of the most incredible places that I’ve ever seen in the world ’cause you’re so remote for so long. I mean, you drive for 10… We did it in almost 10 days, but some people take two, three, four weeks to do it, and you just can’t get that remote anywhere in the world.
Um, and there’s no services. You’re on a two-track in the middle of nowhere. The history of that route is incredible. So yeah, you guys will have a wonderful time. Yeah, you have to keep… Please keep me up to date Yeah And, and then we can let, we can let the listeners know how your journey’s going. And then you’re gonna ship to Cape Town you think from there?
Um- [00:09:00] Or Durban, Durban maybe? Yeah. Yeah. Well, all, all of those places that you mentioned, so Namibia, Botswana, you know, South Africa of course, getting up into z- into Zambia. You know, spending some time in Lesotho, which is the, the mountain kingdom of Africa. You know, where you’re at 9,000 feet, you know, driving your Grenadier.
The Sani Pass is famous, beautiful road with switchbacks, getting up to the highest pub in Africa. So- Important. Yeah, which is important. You gotta have, you gotta have a beer at the highest pub in, in Africa. So, and then one place I’ll, I’ll have you guys write down on your, on your planning list, but when you go into Botswana from South Africa, you’re gonna, you know, kind of come through the, the Johannesburg area and start working your way up to Botswana.
Uh, you’re gonna go into Southern Botswana, and it’s called the Khama Rhino Reserve. K-H-A-M-A, I believe. Um, and it’s the… It’s a rhino reserve that you can camp in and amongst the rhinos And it’s absolutely incredible. [00:10:00] So you can, and you can self-drive. And you can swap cars then? Yeah, and you can self-drive. So you’ve got a little campsite, and you’re gonna go self-drive out in your own Grenadier, and it’ll be…
The sun will be setting, and the rhinos will be backlit, and there’ll be dust in the air. And if you’re lucky, you’ll see some baby rhinos. But it’s- And the
Jake : rhinos are just chilling.
Scott Brady: They’re just chilling. They’re just,
Jake : they’re relaxed.
Scott Brady: They’re not trying to kill you. Yep.
Jake : Okay. Yeah. ‘Cause they- Which is a- … they give that off.
Scott Brady: They do give that vibe. Yeah. They’re nature’s tank, for sure. For sure. So the Khama Rhino Reserve, uh, do that. And of course, you’re gonna wanna get up into the Okavango Delta there. Um, and please reach out. I’ll give you guys all my tracks, so that way you can do that route. And then from there, it’d be easy to get over into the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, maybe even tip your toes into Angola, which I’d recommend.
It’s, it’s incredible deserts, incredible deserts. And then from there, you can be down into Windhoek, stay at a great hotel, have some great food, and then you’ll be back in South Africa before you know it, so. Well, thank you, guys- Thank you … for being here and for always checking in. It’s always [00:11:00] nice to see your faces.
Glad to hear that your adventure is still in, in the planning stages, and you guys are gonna head out. So next time I see you, hopefully you’re giving me the updates on all the places that you’ve been, so. Good luck. All right, thank you. Good luck. Yeah, thank you. All right, so anybody else in the audience have some questions for us on the podcast?
Guest: What do you love about the Overlander… uh, Overland Journal podcast in particular?
Scott Brady: So the question is, what do I love about the Overland Journal podcast in particular? Well, I will say that this is the part of my job that I love the most. It’s the thing that I do, uh, on a weekly or sometimes daily basis, uh, that brings me the most joy in my work.
I would do it for free. I would pay to be able to do it, uh, because I get to meet people like these folks that are here in this tent with me that are looking to go see the world, or I get to interview people who have gone and seen the world. And it’s not only changed them, it’s changed their family. It’s changed their outlook, um, on life, on their profession.
Many of them have created professions from it. Um, so for me, it’s incredibly inspiring, uh, to be able to sit across [00:12:00] from someone, uh, who has explored some amazing part of the world and just see how it’s changed them. Because I know how travel’s changed me in ways that I would’ve never expected. Um, so it’s incredibly humbling, and it’s an important reminder for me on an almost daily basis, uh, that there’s so much more of the world to see.
Even though I’ve seen a little bit of it, there’s so much more to see. So yeah, that’s, that’s why I do it.
Jake : You- Always, whether we’re in person talking to people or you’re on the podcast or whatever, you always open yourself up to questions and give your email address. You’re very open about all that.
Scott Brady: Yeah.
Jake : Do people take advantage of that?
Scott Brady: They do. Um, actually, quite often. Um, m- probably the most common way that people reach out to me is through direct message on Instagram. Mm-hmm. And I think it’s- Makes sense … because a lot of travelers are just on Instagram. Yeah. So if you wanna reach out, it’s scott.a.brady on Instagram, or if you go onto the Expedition Portal or the Overland Journal, uh, Instagram, those messages-
could get forwarded to me there as well. Yeah. Uh, but people do [00:13:00] reach out all the time. Al- I would say about half the time it’s something technical about the vehicle or a question about a vehicle, ’cause it’s such a big investment. Yeah. Uh, and the other half the time is they’re, they’re getting ready, like these folks, is like, “I’m gonna go drive the Canning Stock Route, and what do I…
What are a couple things that I really need to know?” Yeah. So, but they do reach out. Yeah, for sure.
Jake : Have you had any relationships that have developed out of it?
Scott Brady: Yeah, definitely long friendships. Um, you know, I’m just, I’m so fortunate that, um, you know, people are willing to reach out.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: And then, so then I get to meet ’em here at an event, which is, which is, which is so cool to be able to interact with someone, uh, that has had a life-changing experience.
Uh, and then I get to see ’em in person. Yeah. You know, and you get to really learn, learn about their life, so it’s good. Sometimes they end up on the podcast, so. Yeah.
Jake : How often does that happen?
Scott Brady: Um, I would say- Put you
Jake : on the spot … No,
Scott Brady: no, no, that’s good. I would say that, um- Those that tra— Like these folks here have traveled a lot in their life.
I remember in having conver- conversations with you about that. But what, what she said is that it, it just opened them both up. It made them more open-minded, more accepting, [00:14:00] and I think that’s the important thing is, is, um, when we live in our little town, we, you hang out with the same people. Yeah. A lot of times you believe the same things.
You, you know, you s- you know, support the same sports team or whatever else. But, like, to be in Spain at the World Cup, you don’t really speak the language, but the energy of a place like that- Yeah … when they’re, when they’re celebrating their team, it’s, it’s absolutely intoxicating. Yeah. So I think that’s a big piece of it is, is being open to experiencing new cultures.
I mean, Andy, who’s in the tent here with us right now, I mean, we were traveling through Mauritania together, and both of us… I mean, I’ve traveled a fair bit in my life, and An- it was Andy’s first time to Africa, and we were both having an incredible moment in this, in this historic, uh, Saharan village of Chinguetti, um, which was at the start of the Trans-Sahara.
Um, it was where they would get their last supplies, and sometimes they were so heavily loaded that they would actually unload their books in these libraries at Chinguetti, and some of these books have been [00:15:00] there for, you know, nearly 1,000 years. So I mean, it was such an incredible experience Uh, so it changes us a lot.
Travel definitely changes us.
Jake : Yeah, I know you’ve… A, a kind of a common thread, I think between you, and I’ve heard Ashley talk about it on the podcast too, is just, like, kind of getting out of your own head and getting out of the news cycle. Mm. And like, you know, there’s obviously positives to free press and media, but also there’s some pitfalls to listening to media too much and not just getting out there and experiencing it.
But like, is there any notable places that maybe you’ve talked about or haven’t talked about recently or haven’t talked about that really changed your mind on, like, everyone’s talking about how this is unsafe or scary, or be careful going there, and you went and you were like, “Not at all”?
Scott Brady: That’s an important point, and I th- appreciate you asking the question because universally throughout the world, people are good.
Yeah. Um, you know, there’s gonna be a small percentage of people in any country, including the United States, or probably not New Zealand, but- … maybe even New Zealand. There’s gonna be a percentage of people who are, who are bad people. Um, but universally, the governments are gonna be screwed up to some degree, [00:16:00] maybe not New Zealand.
But, um, it… Generally, governments are screwed up, um, and generally people are really great. Um, so for example, just when I was driving down West Africa, you know, I went into countries that people would be terrified to travel to, like Nigeria- Yeah … or Cameroon, but these were the most warm and hospitable and supportive people.
Um, you know, they’re, they’re fascinated that we wanna come see their country. Mm. And they’re proud of their country.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: So of course they wanna, like, show us a great time, and we’d come into these military checkpoints in Nigeria, and all the soldiers would, like they’d salute us- … ’cause they thought it was so cool that Americans were coming- Yeah
you know, to see their country. Uh, so I would say that, um, if you wanna know how a place is, go to a first-person account that’s fairly recent. Um, this is just good travel advice. So if you wanna go to drive the Canning Stock, I can be helpful, but it’s been quite a few years since I drove it. The best thing that you can do is find someone who drove it last season, or earlier on in the season, [00:17:00] or even better, person coming from the other direction, um, because that, that power of, of recent and local knowledge, uh, is incredibly informative.
So the… What you don’t wanna do is ask your great aunt if you should go to Nigeria, ’cause she’s probably gonna say no- … ’cause she doesn’t know anything about it, and it seems- Yeah … like a scary place that she’s seen on TV, um, is a scary place, unless she’s a big traveler. But in general, uh, you wanna take travel advice from someone who’s very recently, uh, been in the country, so.
Jake : I’m gonna throw it back a little bit.
Scott Brady: Yeah, let’s throw it back.
Jake : To know where… We’re kinda talking about podcasting in general. What made you wanna start the podcast? What was the impetus for it? Um, and then when would, when did you kind of realize that it was gonna be quasi successful to start? Obviously much more successful now, but I, I’m as- I’m assuming after episodes one and two you were-
like, “Is this gonna work? Can I make this happen?”
Scott Brady: You know, that’s, it’s interesting. It… I have always enjoyed podcasts. Um, and the podcast that I listened to the most when, before I started this one, uh, it’s run by a guy by the name of Tim Ferriss. He’s one of the more- Yeah … popular [00:18:00] podcasts, but he’s just a really- He’s a name?
Yeah. And- … and he’s a traveler. He’s like- Yeah … he’s into, he’s into, like, life hack and business stuff and, and, uh, travel and, a- and, and also, like, remote travel, and he’s had some really fantastic guests on his podcast about travel. But that was my favorite podcast, and I listened to it all the time, and I- I realized that we interact with so many incredible people through Overland Journal.
Yeah. We get to… We have interviews that we conducted in print. Um, so we have this opportunity to, to meet all these incredible folks that have been around the world, and I thought it’s a, it’s a healthy medium for us to add. Now, I’ll dig into the weeds a little bit from the business perspective. One of the things that I’ve always been really careful of is, is not having some degree of ownership over the platform.
So- Mm-hmm … I’ve always been really careful of, like, focusing too much on social media because, like, what happens if Instagram is no longer the big thing and something else is? Yeah. Um, and you’ve invested all of this energy in there. So, like, Expedition Portal we started with, [00:19:00] and we had the website. We had control over the website.
We could make sure that the content that went on there was family-friendly and, and there was a, a degree of editorial integrity and all this other stuff. Yeah. Same with the magazine. We could make it ourselves. We could find the right people. Mm-hmm. Um, we could make sure that the content was at the level of quality that was important to us, and then we could have a relationship with the customer, directly to the customer.
And so the podcast was kind of the last medium that we could do that.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: Um, where, uh, we weren’t beholden to YouTube or social media or anything else. Uh, we could have our own podcast, our own podcast feed, um, and we could deliver it directly to our audience. Um, so it was Tim Ferriss and his great job that he did that inspired me to try my own.
Um, and then there was a good business case for it. Um, and, oh, here’s another thing that’s kind of cool about podcasts related to overlanding. It’s the one form of medium that every overlander can consume. So if you’re on… Like Tavia, who’s in the tent with us, she can be on her motorcycle listening to a podcast.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: Whereas, like, when you’re driving a car, it’s kind of hard to read a [00:20:00] magazine.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: You know, may- it’s even maybe more difficult to watch a video. Uh, but um, when we’re doing the thing, when we’re doing overlanding, we can all be consuming a podcast. So to me, it was also like, oh, that’s a great fit- Yeah
um, to what we do.
Jake : That’s the main way that I consume podcasts is in the car.
Scott Brady: Yeah, like during your commute or whatever.
Jake : That or once the kids go to bed- Yeah … I turn podcasts on- Sure … my Google Home while I’m doing dishes.
Scott Brady: Yeah, I do it while-
Jake : 9:30
Scott Brady: PM … while I’m in the shop working on the cars. I listen, I listen to a podcast and- Yeah
and I, I try to listen to podcasts all the time, or I like audiobooks a lot too. But I like that medium. It helps me consume a lot more content, ’cause I’m always driving somewhere. So it really helps. And I think, um, we knew it was successful when we were able… When we would reach out to somebody who was really important for us to interview, uh, like Tom Sheppard comes to mind, who’s, who’s really, um- Like, the godfather of overlanding as we know it, um, out of the UK Mm-hmm Uh, did some incredible stuff with the Royal Geographical Society.
Um, and when he had finally agreed to do the podcast, I was like, “We’ve made, we’ve made-” ‘Cause, like, he said no for [00:21:00] many years, um, because… But he realized it was a great way to tell his story. Yeah. So that was when we kind of realized, like, ah, like someone like Eva Zu Beck wants to be on the podcast. Yeah.
Uh, people that, like Clay and Rochelle, for years they would be on the podcast because it was beneficial to them. Yeah. And now we get to all do it together.
Jake : Who’s saying no to you right now? Who has been saying no consistently-
Scott Brady: Uh, Chris Scott … that
Jake : we need to break?
Scott Brady: Chris Scott. Yeah, we need to, we need to, we need to get Chris Scott on.
He’s another OG overlander, very inspirational to my early travels. Um, he is a minimalist traveler. He’s the kind of guy who will buy, like, a Honda 600, uh, dirt bike, throw some soft bags on the side, and go travel through North Africa for three months. Yeah. So for him, it’s about going and doing the thing, and people like that are really inspiring to me, so.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: Yeah.
Jake : Um, I saw how quickly you set this up. Yeah. So you’re probably gonna answer my question. But you also record podcasts from a vehicle on the road-
Scott Brady: We do …
Jake : anywhere across the world. How hard is that to set up?
Scott Brady: So we have, we have two different, um, ways that [00:22:00] we record the podcast. Right now we’re recording onto a Zoom microphone.
Um, this was actually recommended by Andy, who’s here in the tent. This is what they use at xOverland for all their podcasts, so I’m like, “I should probably buy that same unit for the field.” Um, and then we use lavalier mics, ’cause they’re a lot more compact- Yeah … to travel with. So I ac- I can actually bring this kit with me on my motorcycle.
It’s small enough.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: And then I’ll normally record video on, uh, a DJI, um, Osmo, which is, like, their little, um, like, kind of balanced head camera. Shoots in 4K. Um, and we can shoot it wide enough- That we can make it work off of one camera angle in the field Yeah. Um, right now we’re shooting on some fancy contraption that Andy has set up.
So it’ll probably make me look a little bit less of a face for radio.
Jake : Tentacles all over the bar- … and the Overland Journal
Scott Brady: texts. Yeah, it looks pretty, it looks pretty cool.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: It looks pretty cool. But, uh, when we’re in, when we’re in the Overland Journal offices in Prescott or when we’re in the XOVERLAND hangar, the X [00:23:00] hangar in Montana, we do use multiple cameras to provide multiple angles- Yeah
so it looks nicer on YouTube. I mean, we’ve been doing the podcast since 2019, but it’s only really been in the last year and a half or so that Paul has had enough time, and we’ve gotten support from Andy to really set up the lighting right, multiple camera angles. We really focus on making it look, um, as enjoyable as possible for a YouTube viewer.
Yeah, yeah. Um, but our main focus is to make sure it’s available in audio format for travelers going around the world.
Jake : Yeah. So you have the studio in the office What would you say is the percentage between you recording and Ashley recording? Uh, recently- ‘Cause she’s
Scott Brady: been doing
Jake : a
Scott Brady: lot … recently Ashley has been doing a lot of recording, partly because she was in Canada for a while- Mm-hmm … and had more time. Uh, but she’s also an incredibly important voice to the podcast. So- Yeah … um, you know, to, to call her a co-host is not even fully recognizing, um, her, the r- critical role that she plays in the podcast.
So she is at, in my experience and from my [00:24:00] perspective, her and I are at that same level of focus around covering people traveling around the world. So I hope that we have at least 50% of it be Ashley, if not more. Yeah. Because she’s an incredibly legitimate traveler. She’s been around the world, the whole length of the Americas, uh, Northern Africa.
S- they’re on their way across the Silk Road. They’re getting ready to cross into China- Mm-hmm … her and Richard. So, um, and Ashley has a really important perspective. Uh, we have a shared value around editorial integrity and accessibility of travel to everyone. Uh, but she has a different perspective, which I think is cool.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: So, um, she’s a really important part of the team, and I hope that we have more and more of Ashley. Um, the one thing that has allowed us to do a little bit more is we’re recording more podcasts on a system called Riverside- Mm-hmm … um, which allows for, like, me to be in front of my laptop and, um, you know, maybe hopefully Chris Scott could be in front of his laptop in the UK.
Yeah. Um, and I can record with remote travelers. Yeah. Um, s- things like Starlink has [00:25:00] made that possible. Yeah. Um, so we’re able to do more and more remote recording at high quality. Um, so we’re doing more and more of those as well. So probably a third of the podcast is, uh, me in some form of interview, et cetera.
Another third is, is Ashley, and then that last third is some combination of all of those, including the Riverside recordings. Um, but you know, I’ve got a question for the audience that’s not only in this room, but those that are listening, because we’d love some feedback. We are thinking about uh, doing a storytelling version of the podcast.
Maybe w- we’ll start at once a quarter. Uh, but where we take some crazy adventure story, uh, that I’ve experienced or that Ashley’s experienced or Matt’s experienced. Um, and it will be like a spoken word adventure storytelling, uh, episode where I get to talk about, like, saving Prince Harry in Antarctica-
or, you know, you know, getting run over by a gunboat in, you know, in the Amazon at the border of Colombia and Venezuela or any [00:26:00] number of things- Mm … um, where we get to tell the story like you would see it in Overland Journal. So we’ve featured all of these stories in the pages of Overland Journal. We think it might be kind of neat to help those stories come alive- Mm-hmm
in the spoken word, in, in, uh, spoken word storytelling style on the Overland Journal podcast. So if you guys that are listening like the idea, uh, please let us know ’cause we’ll try it out.
Jake : Yeah. I recently read the gunboat excerpt- Yeah … of Overlanding 10- or within Overlanding 101.
Scott Brady: Overlanding 101. Yeah.
There you
Jake : go. It’s always nice to hear your wonderful voice.
Scott Brady: Well, like I said, I have a face for radio,
Jake : so. Uh, Ashley does all of hers remote though, right? Like-
Scott Brady: Almost all of them. Some of them she’s able to do in person when she bumps into another traveler- Yeah … that’s on the same route. So she’s probably done, you know, maybe 15, 20% of them have been in person for her.
Jake : Yeah. ‘
Scott Brady: Cause she’s so remote. Yeah, yeah. Like, she’s in the middle of
Jake : nowhere. Yeah, she’s all over the place or the world.
Scott Brady: Middle of nowhere. Yeah.
Jake : Um- And I, I think, I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but I feel like between yourself, Matt Scott, and Ashley Giordano, [00:27:00] you guys all have very different perspectives and personalities, and I think that’s reflected in the interviews.
And when you guys are, you know, like you and Matt Scott will obviously have your banter sessions- Yeah. … uh, which I think is positive. But did you intentionally cultivate those personalities? Was that, is that something that you set out to do, or did it- Ab- … just happen to
Scott Brady: No, absolutely. Uh, like for me, it started from a, just an, an, an incredible amount of respect for Ashley.
Mm-hmm. She’s a, she’s an excellent writer, and she’s very well traveled. Yeah. So the thing that’s, was most important is that whoever’s gonna be a host on the podcast has to have seen the world. Yeah. Not all of it, but has to have been, you know, has, has gotten in the dirt, has had some struggles. Because that, it brings some perspective that I think is really important.
Yeah. Um, and it’s not to say that in order for someone to overland that they have to go cross Africa. It’s not necessary. But I think for a host, it’s really important to have had those bumps and bruises- [00:28:00] Yeah … along the way. Um, I also like the fact that, you know, you know, Matt and I are, are best buddies, but we’re also very different.
Mm-hmm. And we banter like we do on the podcast, like on a Wednesday afternoon in the office. Like, that’s how… We, we disagree- Yeah … and he has different perspectives and I have different perspectives, and that’s what makes it awesome. Yeah. So I love the fact that Matt still, uh, wants to participate because it’s one of the best parts of my week is when Matt and I get to sit down and talk about a subject, and he doesn’t have to have a filter.
Now, sometimes we edit a little bit. Pa- Paula has the job of saving Matt from himself. Um, so we do edit at times a little bit, but that’s Matt’s voice. It’s his opinion. I’ve never told him he can’t say something. If he doesn’t like a product, I’ve never said, “Hey, that’s an advertiser. You can’t say that,” because we don’t- Yeah
do that in the magazine. Yeah. And we won’t do it on the podcast. So we always speak from a place of personal conviction, and we don’t put those filters in place because we think that that wouldn’t be a [00:29:00] service to our listener. Yeah. So
Jake : Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t reach out to ask how, uh, they can help support the podcast.
Uh, we are, uh,
Scott Brady: supported entirely by, uh, Overland Journal, the magazine. So when you become a subscriber to the Overland Journal print magazine, you get this beautiful book, uh, that comes in five times a year. It also gives you access to our digital archive. Uh, and it’s well over 100 pages of, of gorgeous images and detailed testing and adventures from around the globe.
So if you go to overlandjournal.com and you subscribe to the magazine, use the code OVERLANDPODCAST, and that’ll get you 20% off. It’s only available to our podcast listeners. We don’t advertise it anywhere else. Um, and then you help us to maintain that independent employee-owned journalism, um, that we have been famous for.
So it allows us to conduct those tests without any advertorial. Another way you can help out too, I produced a book, uh, last year with Simon & Schuster called Overlanding [00:30:00] 101. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or even your local bookstore. And that encompasses my decades of travel around the world, all of my mistakes and failures and, and the lessons that I’ve learned in traveling around the globe.
Um, many of those, um, that you hear on the podcast have been distilled down into print form with great lists and beautiful imagery. Uh, so you can find that, uh, at your local bookstore, Overlanding 101. And thank you all for listening and for supporting us so much throughout these years.
Jake : And this might be a little bit of sausage being made, but somebody…
We had somebody that was in the booth earlier who had paid for an advertisement in the summer edition of Overland Journal.
Scott Brady: Cool.
Jake : And he was like, “Hey, tell me about the podcast. Like, is that pay-to-play? Does everybody, everybody that gets on there, like, they have to serve a sum of money?” I said, “No It has to be somebody that we’re interested in interviewing.
Scott Brady: Yep.
Jake : Um, there have been sponsors or brands that we like where, like, a brand leader has come on.
Scott Brady: Yes.
Jake : But it’s because we believe in the product, and it’s something you use personally or something that’s-
Scott Brady: And it usually has nothing to [00:31:00] do with the product. Um, it’s- Yeah … I’ll give you a good example of that.
So we have had Dave Harriton from AEV on the podcast many times. Mm-hmm. Um, he is someone that I trust to speak with integrity about very technical subjects. Yeah. He happens to be the CEO of AEV, but he knows when he comes on the podcast, we’re not talking about his product. Yeah. Sometimes it’s brought up because it’s context, but what he’s talking about is this is why products are made a certain way, this is why some coatings are used, this is the types of things to consider around suspension.
Um, or the person who owns the business has to have a great travel story in and of themselves, or they need to have provided some benefit to the community beyond their product. Um, you know, like we had Jen from Outdoorsy on not that long ago. Mm-hmm. Um, and it’s such a neat platform and, and we have no financial relationship with Outdoorsy at all.
Yeah. Uh, but we think it’s a great way for people to go try an overland vehicle out. Yeah. It’s a great service. I literally [00:32:00] went
Jake : on the website after I listened to the podcast- There you go … ’cause I was like, “Can I buy a GX, kit it out, and then rent it out for a weekend a month to then justify it to my wife?”
She said no. I
Scott Brady: think I can make one. But what- But it inspired her … but what a cool service, right? Yeah. To be able to, “Hey, I wanna try out a Sprinter van, but not spend $200,000.” Mm-hmm. “I’m gonna spend two grand and go try it out for a long weekend.” Yeah. Um, so, like, things like that are great examples of services, but, uh, we have never, in almost 300 episodes, accepted any remuneration for a guest to be on the podcast- Yeah
and we won’t do it as long as I’m involved, so.
Jake : Yeah,
Scott Brady: yeah. Yeah.
Jake : What’s, uh… So you kinda talked about, like, the storytelling, but what’s the next hill to climb for you for the podcast? Or for Overland Journal in general, I guess.
Scott Brady: You know, I think the goal for us is to continue to improve the quality of it. So Andy and Paula have been working really hard to improve the audio quality.
Um, so I apologize to all that are listening for any moments of frustrations you’ve ever had with the Overland Journal podcast. Sometime we’re at, like, literally in the [00:33:00] middle of nowhere, or we’re trying to record it in the car on a corrugated road, or whatever, but Paula and Andy are working super hard to help us continue to improve the audio quality of the podcast to make it easier for you to listen to.
So please keep giving us some grace while we try to sort that out. We think we got it pretty s- we’re s- squared away in the, in the recording studio, but other places we’re still… Like, there’s wind, the, the flap, the tent flaps are flapping. Andy’s over there smirking at me, like, he’s like, “I gotcha.”
Jake : Yeah. “
Scott Brady: I gotcha.”
He’s probably got some algorithm that’ll run and take all the- We’ve got other booths
Jake : right behind
Scott Brady: us … take all the flaps out. Exactly … literally
Jake : right here making noise.
Scott Brady: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So I, I think, uh, one of the next most important thing is for us to continue, uh, to improve the quality. Uh, we wanna continue to elevate the level of the guests that we have on the podcast.
Um, we wanna get more incredible travelers. We’ve got several of them booked here at Overland Expo- Yeah … uh, that are gonna be on the podcast. So if you’ve got anyone in mind, uh, that you think we should be interviewing or that you know, um, that [00:34:00] we should have on the podcast, please reach out.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: Or pitch yourself.
Jake : You know, to the listeners, if they think they should be on the podcast
Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly. If, yeah, if you’re listening and you should be on the podcast, please let me know. I’d love… We’d love to interview you, truly, truly. Wow. So.
Jake : Um, and then I think this, this might be my last one. Uh, Overland Journal is about to celebrate a little bit of a birthday.
Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s right.
Jake : And about to have a issue come out that’s supposedly notable. Do you wanna talk about that at all?
Scott Brady: Yeah, let’s do that. So, um, we… The Overland Journal podcast is possible because of the Overland Journal magazine. Um, and, and that’s because we do have revenue streams related to subscription and advertising in the magazine that allows us to underwrite the podcast.
So for all of you that are listening, if you subscribe to the magazine, um, you’re helping to support the podcast that you enjoy listening to. It helps us to continue to do this. Uh, but we’ve been doing it for almost 20 years. So we started Overland Journal, uh, as a business in 2006. Mm-hmm. And our very first [00:35:00] issue of the magazine was spring of 2007.
So, uh, the spring issue of 2027 is gonna be our 20th anniversary issue. It’s gonna be the anniversary issue. It’s gonna be, uh, developed as such. We’re gonna be bringing back some incredible stories and catching up with these folks where they’re at in the world, and a bunch of new content. Uh, and it’s also gonna be our, our 100th- copy of the magazine, which is crazy for me to think-
that we have produced 100 Overland Journals over 20 years. Uh, to see ’em all put together on my desk now is, it’s very humbling to me that so many people have given so much of their time, uh, to help us tell stories of adventure around the world. Uh, so the magazine wouldn’t be possible without subscribers, it wouldn’t be possible without the advertisers that have believed in us from the beginning, and it certainly wouldn’t be possible without all of those incredible contributors, our editor, Tina Overacker, Stephanie Brady, our designer.
The, uh, Ashley’s a regular [00:36:00] contributor to the magazine. So we wouldn’t, it wouldn’t even be possible without those folks.
Jake : Yeah. This very, very tiny team-
Scott Brady: It is a tiny team … that is
Jake : doing really, really outstanding work.
Scott Brady: Yeah. And we care, we all love it. We care about it. Um, just the amount of time that we spend vacillating over the cover of the magazine, like hours of deliberation because we want it to be the very best that we can make it, so.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: And Jake, thank you so much for, for caring about the magazine enough that you spend significant parts of your day thinking about how we make the business healthy and continue on for hopefully another 20 years, so.
Jake : Uh, it’s, uh, I really appreciate it, appreciate the opportunity- Yeah … that you guys have given me to be able to insert my opinion and- Yeah
have my voice be a part of how we’re going about making this bigger
Scott Brady: and better. And you got a big trip coming up with your son. So let- … let’s, let’s let the, the audience know what, what Jake is planning up to the big thing.
Jake : Uh, yeah, we have the, the Overland Collective has the big thing, 2026, July 9th through 12th.
Um, my family has a vacation in Tahoe. I live in Southern [00:37:00] California. Um, so we, we’re doing a little Tahoe trip, and then my son and I are gonna make a trip from Tahoe to Three Forks, just outside of Bozeman, um, and then all the way back down to Southern California. That’s awesome. And it’ll be the first road trip with me and my five-year-old boy, and it’s gonna be the best.
Scott Brady: And you’re gonna be building out a rig, as I understand. Trying to. We don’t know exactly what it’s gonna be yet. Trying to build out a rig. You’re looking at some stuff.
Jake : Yeah.
Scott Brady: We got a roof tent for you already. So you’re gonna have an auto home on this thing, whatever it is, it ends up being. Yeah. Get you some more gear.
But to go do that with your son, I mean, that, that has got to be the coolest thing possible, is to go have that multi-generational experience with your boy. So- Yeah … how cool is that?
Jake : I still gotta map it out. We’re less than two months away.
Scott Brady: Yeah.
Jake : And I don’t have my route settled or where we’re gonna camp settled or anything, so.
It’ll all be
Scott Brady: fine. It’ll all be fine. We’ll
Jake : work it out. Yeah. But if he has dirt that he can play in- … puddles he can stomp in, lakes he can dive in, then he’s good.
Guest: That sounds perfect for both you and him, so. Yeah. And
Jake : I’ll drink a cold beer while he’s
Guest: doing all that. That sounds great. That sounds great
Scott Brady: And a special thanks to [00:38:00] Hankook Tire for supporting this week’s podcast.
With summer underway, head over to expeditionportal.com for Jeep Beach vibe inspiration. Our team spent the weekend with Hankook Dynapro Tire at this year’s 2026 Jeep Beach week in Daytona, Florida, and took a look at their Wrangler 392. Look for Jeep Beach 2026 when you go to expeditionportal.com.
Jake : Any other questions from the room here
Scott Brady: before we wrap this up?
Guest: If you had to have one guest, your one guest wish list right now.
Scott Brady: Uh, one guest wish list. I, truly, um, it would be Ewan McGregor, and, and the reason for it is, um, The Long Way Round was, uh, w- it, it all came out just before, um, we started Expedition Portal and Overland Journal, and it was an incredible inspiration to me.
Um, not only that a trip like that could be done around the world, but that they could tell [00:39:00] such great stories around it. Um, and you know, I’m, I’m not much into pop, pop culture, and I didn’t really even know the extent of what these guys had done, um, you know, in movies and everything else. But for two guys to say, “Hey, we wanna go ride BMWs around the world,” and then do it, um, that’s an incredible inspiration.
So, um, just for the sake of, like, how has that changed his life. Like, he’s had an incredible life, and he’s done incredible things, um, as an, as an actor, as an artist, but how has travel on a motorcycle changed him as a person? I would love to know. Um, because I suspect it’s changed him in a lot of ways. So yeah, that would probably be the one I’d love to sit across from.
Just to thank him for what he did, so.
Jake : That was a cool one, too. I don’t remember, I don’t know, like, that came out on, like, MTV or something. Like, we were- I probably did. Yeah, probably … watching on television. I was quite a bit younger at that point. Um, but that was impactful for me.
Scott Brady: Yeah.
Jake : To, like, see, you know, a movie star, may have had a Star Wars role or two.
Scott Brady: Yep.
Jake : And to, to watch that and that trip on those motorcycles.
Scott Brady: And it holds up. Yeah. Like, I, I started watching it a little bit, uh, ago again, and it was like, it really [00:40:00] holds up. It’s still super good. It’s super fun to watch. Yeah. Even all those years later, so. And of course, the motorcycle that I ride now is an 1150 GS Adventure, just like those guys rode, so it definitely had an impact on me.
Jake : So we got a couple checklist items.
Scott Brady: Yeah, we got some checklists, some people to reach out to. Few people to get on the podcast. Yeah, that’d be cool. Yeah. That’d be awesome. That would be awesome. All right, well, thank you all for attending our little session. Thanks for your question. I’m excited to hear more of your updates on Australia and Africa.
And we thank you all for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time