This conversation was not planned.

Antoine and I had known each other for about 72 hours when we sat down in my apartment in Salvador, Bahia, to record this. We met because he heard American voices while waiting for the elevator in my building and decided to knock on the door. That pretty much tells you what kind of conversation follows.

Antoine, also known as Tomahawk, is an American who has been living in Colombia and traveling internationally for years. His path into solo travel started with the military, continued with a birthday trip to the Dominican Republic, and eventually became a lifestyle built around working hard in the United States, saving aggressively, and spending extended periods abroad.

We talk about the difference between visiting another country and actually engaging with the culture, what returning to the Uni ...