Connecting with Strangers in 21 Countries as an Introvert, Battling the Loneliness Epidemic, Building Community at Home with Adam Schluter

About this episode

Adam Schluter discusses how connecting with strangers while traveling helped him combat loneliness and build community.

What happens when talking to strangers while traveling becomes the thing that helps you feel less alone? Adam Schluter is an award-winning, National Geographic published photographer and writer, and the founder of Hello From A Stranger, a project built around spontaneous travel, portraits, and conversations with people he has just met. Through that project, he has traveled across 21 countries, created thousands of conversations and portraits, given a TEDx talk, published a book based on the work, and is now making a documentary. In this episode, Adam shares how a period of heartbreak, depression, and isolation pushed him to buy the cheapest ticket he could find and start talking to strangers while traveling. That simple decision eventually turned into Hello From A Stranger, Monday Night Dinners, and a larger mission to help people feel seen. We get into what travel can open up when you use it intentionally, not just to see a place, but to connect more deeply with the people in it. Adam talks about what he learned from being an introvert in unfamiliar places, why vulnerability worked better than trying to sound polished, and how genuine conversations helped him find purpose when…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Moore

Guest: Adam Schluter

Topics covered

• travel
• loneliness
• community building
• introversion
• conversations
• photography

Keywords

• travel
• loneliness
• community
• introvert
• photography
• conversations
• Adam Schluter

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hello From A Stranger, National Geographic

Books & works: book

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