Ep: 189: How this Ex Corporate Executive left his 9-5 to do a social experiment as a homeless man traveling the world with Mark Philpott
In this episode, I am happy to introduce Mark who is an Ex Global Corporate Executive, who left his 9-5 to conduct a social experiment as a homeless man where he traveled the world and crowdfunded his way to 47 countries.
Mark was able to survive off of the love and generosity of strangers. He slept in parks, railways, mountain tops, and even on a private island, someone donated.
Today he is a serial traveler, public speaker, and podcaster who has shared his experiences and lessons all over the globe.
Listen on and find out how Mark has been able to continue his mission even during this trying time.
Listen Below:
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey everyone! Thank you so much for being here. I’m here with Mark. Hey Mark, how are you?
Mark:
Hey Debbie. I’m great. Thank you. How are you today?
Debbie:
I am wonderful. And you are coming to us via your amazing sailboat in Australia. So this is awesome.
Mark:
Yeah. Well, it’s my home office actually,. So I work and I live on my sailboat.
Debbie:
Oh wow. So this is what a lot of us would like to do someday or even now.
Mark:
It’s a good time right now. That’s for sure.
Debbie:
So, Mark, can you tell us a little bit more about you and why you live an offbeat life?
Mark:
It basically started quite a long time ago. In fact, over two decades ago. I was a global corporate warrior and I spent my life on airplanes flying around the world, doing business meetings and boardrooms of the world. And I did that for over 20 years and I thoroughly enjoyed that life for most of it.
And I got to the stage though, where I wanted something a little bit deeper and meaningful in my life rather than making shareholders of a big multinational company rich. I wanted to create my legacy in the world and something that I wanted to leave as a result of being in this lifetime.
So I left the corporate world about 10 years ago now and I started my own international not-for-profit organization. I was living in Singapore at the time and that took me on an amazing journey. Again, around the world, creating sustainable humanitarian projects in all sorts of wonderful countries.
But the most exciting part of that for me was actually working with thousands of volunteers around the world and seeing people’s lives, who were volunteers, change as well as the beneficiaries of the people that we were actually helping.
And then I got to the stage of that journey, where it became like a corporate job to me. It was like I kind of left the corporate world trying to find balance and seeking a new meaning in life. But what I actually created was another organization where I was working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and I wasn’t being true to myself and what I wanted to do.
So I decided to take some time out and I did something that most people would think was a little bit radical. I decided to become a homeless man and becoming a homeless person voluntarily is quite an extraordinary thing to undertake.
And let me explain what I mean by a homeless person because if you look at the Oxford dictionary, the definition of a homeless person is somebody who has no fixed abode. So what I had to do to start this journey was actually get rid of my home that I was living in, in Singapore.
So what I did was I put an advertisement in the local newspaper for someone to take over the apartment that I was living in at the time. And I had a gentleman turn up one day who had just arrived in Singapore from overseas. He was working in the oil and gas industry and he was looking for somewhere to live and I showed him through my place and he said, “Oh, I see that it’s fully furnished. And I said, “Yes, that’s right. ”
He said, “Oh, well, are you interested in selling your furniture to me?” And I said, “Well, I’m going to walk out of here tomorrow. And you can have everything. You can have the apartment, you can have everything in it, except for the clothes that I’m going to put into my backpack and my laptop bag. And that’s going to be all that I’m going to leave myself with.”
So I made the decision. I made a conscious decision to not only become a homeless person but also to downsize and become minimalistic, I guess, nomad. And it was an extraordinary change of life journey from going from a corporate ex-pat who’d been living all over the world to finally end up with a single backpack with a bunch of clothes in it and a laptop bag. And that’s all I had in terms of material possessions.
So that’s how the journey started. And I really went through, well, imagine, an enormous, I guess, spiritual change, physical change, and emotional change on that, on that journey. And I decided to do this homeless journey in a fairly unique way because it was around about the time that crowdfunding was starting to be quite a big thing around the world.
And I actually had a friend who worked in the crowdfunding business and he organized crowdfunding events all over the world. So what I decided to do was I decided to crowdfund my homeless man journey and I put it out there to the world that this is what I was doing. I just wanted love, food, and shelter. Those were my three major criteria.
And I was about to leave Singapore to go to my first destination. And a lot of people might be listening going, “Okay. Well, how does a homeless person choose a destination to go to and how does it all work?”
So what happened was I had already sent out an email to all of, I guess, my network around the world which included corporate friends, just friends in general, associates, acquaintances, anybody I could basically find in my mail list. And I told them, “Well, I made the announcement that I was becoming a homeless person,” and I pressed the button and away the email went and I thought, “Wow, I wonder what response I’m going to get from this. This is going to be quite extraordinary.”
And you know what? It was really amazing because I had people and literally it took only 20 minutes or so for the first responders to the email to come back. And obviously, a lot of people were shocked. A lot of people were judgemental. A lot of people didn’t understand it. A lot of people actually thought it was a prank and it wasn’t anywhere near April 1st day so there was no excuse.
But I got an email from a person that I used to work with within the corporate world and given the fact that I’d left the corporate world a number of years before this. And I hadn’t actually been in contact with this particular person for about 15 years.
So we had no communication, we had no ongoing friendship, but he sent me an email and he said, “Listen, I’ve read your email. I think what you’re about to do is incredible. I don’t have the courage to do it myself or I wouldn’t have the courage to do it myself. But what I would like to do is invite you to start your journey with me and my family in Dubai.”
He lived in Dubai with his family and he sent me an airline ticket to fly from Singapore to Dubai. They had a little granny flat at the back of their house and he offered me that granny flat to stay in as long as I wanted to basically. And away I went.
So I left Singapore and I flew to Dubai and I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, the feeling that I had on that plane trip that day when I had officially become a homeless person.
Debbie:
Wow.
Mark:
And I started that journey. So when you talk about the journey to where I am today, sitting on my sailboat, yeah, it’s been a very interesting ride.
Debbie:
It must also be crazy for a lot of people to see you do that because you were at the highest of high and you voluntarily put yourself in the lowest of low.
Mark:
It’s really interesting you say that because I actually saw it exactly the opposite. In the corporate world, I was at the lowest of lows. I was suicidal. I had one particular day in my life where I had considered very strongly to take my own life. And when I turned into a homeless man and carried on that journey, I found the highest of highs in my life.
Debbie:
It’s also interesting when we travel around to countries that are not developing. I’m sure you’ve gone to plenty of those countries. You often find people a lot happier in so many ways, right? And they don’t have much, they have very little.
And not to say that everyone there is happy. Obviously, there’s a lot of troubles that all of us have as human beings, but it’s also incredible to see that even people who have nothing can find happiness in everything or in something.
Mark:
Yeah, you’re exactly right. I had those experiences and it started to resonate with me and it wasn’t until I had nothing myself that I could actually relate to it. Because when I had been to a lot of those developing nations before I was under the guise of an NGO guy and all the rest of it. And I could still return to m fancy apartment in Singapore. And it wasn’t until I had stripped all that away.
And this was one of the reasons, I guess, and I hadn’t explained this, why I really became a homeless person because I said to myself, “If I’m really, truly to find out who I am as a human being, I’ve got to strip away all the other exterior stuff. I’ve got to take away the financial side of it. I’ve got to strip away the materialism that I was living in.”
I’d been a global corporate guy for decades and I’d driven fancy cars and had beautiful Italian suits and driven and flown business in first-class around the world. Stayed in Flash hotels. I had to get rid of all of that. And I just had to become this human being who was looking for love, food, and shelter. And that’s what I did.
Debbie:
What would you say was the scariest things for you before you even started this journey? Because the one thing that I can think of that a lot of people talk to you about was safety, right? I mean, obviously, are there things that came and popped in your head before you did this? And when you went on that airplane that you were just like, “Oh my gosh, what on earth am I doing?”
Mark:
It’s funny you say that because safety wasn’t a consideration of mine, although perhaps it should have been. Maybe I didn’t allow myself to think of that. And maybe it’s because I’m a fairly big guy and I can take care of myself. So maybe there was a combination of a few of those things going on.
I guess, because of the way that I had been conditioned both as a corporate person and a person that had gone through life understanding business skills, developing business skills, communication skills, and all the rest of it, I was always planning for the future. And yet here was a situation I was putting myself in and I had no idea what the future was going to hold.
Literally, I was going from one shelter to another where people would offer me an opportunity to stay, eat, sleep, or whatever. And I had no control over the planning of that. So that was probably the scariest thing for me because, for the first time in my life, it taught me to truly live in the now and to embrace everything that people like to give out.
As all the rest have told us: you don’t really know how to do that until you put yourself in a situation where you’re completely vulnerable to everything every day in your life.
Debbie:
Yeah. One of the things that I’m thinking of if I were to do this also is there has to be some sort of a shame that people will kind of look at you. There’s a lot of shame that’s being placed for people who are homeless: why are you asking for this? Why are you asking for that? And has that ever come up in your journey doing this?
Mark:
Yeah. That’s a really good question because one of the things that really struck out to me was as soon as I didn’t have that identity as a corporate person or a non-for-profit leader anymore and I was seen as this vagabond, this person that had just given up on his life basically, everything started to change.
The way that people spoke to me, the way that people looked at me. Some people wouldn’t even return my email. Some people wouldn’t even return my phone calls. So I went through a natural filtering process of friendships. Lost a lot of friends who I thought were friends through that process. So yeah, that was a really interesting part of the process, the judgment perspective that we all hold on to different things in life.
Debbie:
Yeah. And I’m pretty sure that you’ve spoken to a lot of different people during your travels because that’s one of the things that we always do, right? It’s trying to make connections. Did you find that there were a lot of people who were surprised with your story and how you got to where you are and you did this voluntarily?
Mark:
Yeah, there were. And I guess, if somebody had seen me physically at the time, I didn’t look like a homeless person because I guess that we have this impression of what a homeless person looks like. One of the things that I had given myself as a goal was that I was going to maintain my dignity no matter what. I was going to make sure that I maintained my healthy lifestyle no matter what. I was gonna make sure that I maintained a sense of presence and wellbeing around my, I guess, my appearance.
So I didn’t want to become a scruffy looking bag of balm because that’s not the type of person that I am. So I guess by doing that, I still made myself approachable for people to sit down and talk. And you’re right, I had some of the most amazing conversations that I’ve ever had in my life with people literally on the road, around the world.
Debbie:
What would you say is the most surprising thing that you have learned about yourself while you were doing that?
Mark:
There are so many things. I already knew that I was capable of doing so many things in the world but it also taught me that I was capable of doing nothing. There’s a real peace in that, there’s a real serenity in that because when you’re actually still and you’re in the presence of only yourself and you’re in such a deep connection with yourself at that level, that’s probably the most beautiful place you can be in your life I think.
So I think in terms of finding my true self, finding my authentic self through that process was probably the most beautiful result of that entire process for me.
Debbie:
So if you had to do this all over again, would you?
Mark:
That’s a great question because I can probably say to you today, the journey wouldn’t have finished even to this day if it hadn’t been for an unfortunate family situation that occurred where I got a phone call when I was being a homeless person after about 18 months of doing it, that my parents who lived back in Australia were very ill.
So I gave up my homeless journey at that stage to come to Australia and take care of my parents. And that lasted a very long time. So yeah, I would probably still have continued it for a number of years after, afterward if I had the choice because it was such an extraordinary journey.
As I continued along the journey, I got better and better. I became more and more comfortable with who I was. I became more trusting and the universe was going to supply for me every day whatever I needed which was very little. Yeah, it was truly incredible.
Debbie:
What about the most surprising thing that you have found about other people?
Mark:
Well, it’s said quite often that humanity is very generous and I found that to be true. I found that not only in people that I would meet on the streets who would invite me to their place for a meal or invite me in to stay for as long as I wanted to stay.
I think the generosity of people is extraordinary across the world regardless of race, religion, color, gender, or upbringing. I think in terms of the curiosity of people, it’s fascinating as well. I find that whenever I started a conversation about the journey I was on, people were like really intrigued, and maybe it’s ’cause they hadn’t come across a homeless person during this before.
But yeah, that in itself just ignited so many incredibly deep conversations and I’m the kind of guy that likes to really get deep with people. So when people were really fascinated about what I was doing, I was equally as fascinated about their life and I wanted to know about them. And we just ended up having some of these so many amazing, incredibly deep conversations that were just phenomenal.
So I think the generosity of people I found. And this was a really interesting aspect, I think, because I wasn’t a corporate guy or I wasn’t having a label over an identity other than the homeless man, people didn’t feel vulnerable with me. People opened up and told me incredible things about their life stories. And they ended up saying, “Gosh, I’ve never told anybody that story before.”
So they were very open with me and the more open they were with me, obviously, that connection became stronger. And to this very day, and we’re talking about a journey that ended for me about six years ago, I’m still in touch with a lot of these people that I connected with around the world.
Debbie:
I do want to touch upon something that I think we’re pretty lucky, right? Because someone like you or I could do this because we have a choice. And then obviously there are other people that are homeless that have no choice and it’s really interesting.
You even came across this when you first started, when people knew that you were doing this on purpose and you were already getting feedback that was negative. And they knew that this was a choice of yours. I can’t even imagine how someone who is actually homeless, who doesn’t have anything, who doesn’t have family are being treated, have you ever seen this?
Did you see the difference when you were actually on the road and really experienced this firsthand even for yourself?
Mark:
Yes, I did. And I guess for the sake of the listeners that are tuning in today, my experience wasn’t one where I had people reaching out and offering me places to stay every night of my journey. So I spent many nights in parks, in railway stations, airports, train stations, and all sorts of incredible places. I even stayed on the top of a mountain one night.
And I got to stay and spend time with homeless people on the streets of their respective cities. And you’re right. It’s a different experience. It’s a different mindset. And I think because of my corporate upbringing and my go-getter attitude that I have as a person, I always felt as though there was an opportunity for me to create something out of this experience.
Whereas a lot of these homeless people that are on the streets every day, they’ve come from different backgrounds, they’ve come from different situations. They’re not as privileged. They’re not as maybe experienced and trained as in some of the skillsets that I have. So I talked to them about this and I offered any kind of advice and support that I could give to them to try and help them see another light.
And not trying to change their life, but at least having a conversation. And a lot of these people just wanted a conversation. They just wanted to tell people their stories and hundreds of people walk past homeless people every day and they don’t even acknowledge them.
Debbie:
Yeah.
Mark:
And the sad thing about that is that here’s a human being who is like you and I who wants love, who wants to be, felt connected to. And they are in the public eye yet we shy away from them. We treat them like rubbish and we don’t treat them like human beings. And if we think throwing a dollar into their pocket is going to help them, that’s not, what’s going to help them. What’s going to help them is feeling connected and having a conversation with another human being.
Debbie:
I think there’s this thing about our society and that if they are not part of the norm, obviously they’re an outcast and they should be treated differently. And like you said, Mark, we’re all human beings, we all have similar needs and we need food, air, shelter. And a big part of that is also connection and love.
It’s really shameful how they are treated and I’m really glad that you were able to see this in person. And I’m sure that that changed a lot of your perspectives as well. I mean, that’s a huge eye-opening situation.
Mark:
Yeah. And you’ve only got to go back and look at the person that I was when I was in the corporate world: egotistical, arrogant financially greedy, focused on money. All those other terrible attributes that I had as a person in those days.
And I would have been the person and I was the person in those days that would walk past the homeless person on the street and not even acknowledge them. I wouldn’t even give them a dollar of my own money. That’s how bad it was. So to, I guess, go through that journey and evolution as a human being was probably one of the most defining periods of my life in terms of waking me up to humanity at that level,
Debbie:
Once this journey has ended for you and you have gone back to being a successful entrepreneur, of course, what have been the biggest lessons that you have learned that you have taken with you to your life right now?
Mark:
I really liked the way you label it as a successful entrepreneur. Can you give me your definition of a successful entrepreneur?
Debbie:
A successful entrepreneur to me is doing something that you sought out to do. So whether that is to create income from something that you love or helping other people as much as you can. So anything that is really to you is successful.
Mark:
Yeah. That’s great. Thanks for defining that because I think we’ve all probably got a slightly different take on what a successful entrepreneur is. But look, I fortunately or unfortunately reached a stage in my life where I’ve put all the combinations of experiences that I’ve had in my life together and tried to create a lifestyle and a life mission that is focused around my values as a person.
As focused around the passions that I have as a human being and also provides me with the opportunity to connect with nature which is a very important part of my life and the environment that I’m in. So that’s why I live on a sailboat because I wanted to maintain the minimalistic living approach that I learned during my homeless mandates. And it’s really been a journey since then.
I guess in terms of I’ve always wanted to downsize my life because I realized that all those gadgets and things that I had weren’t bringing happiness and contentment. And when I’ve got less and when I’ve had less, it’s been more meaningful in those things that I’ve had.
Every day I’m on the water, I’m connected to the wind, the rain. My senses are working overload all the time which is another thing that’s very important to me. And now from a business perspective, I’m doing something that I’m extremely passionate about. Somebody that’s been traveling the world his entire life but now I get to talk to other people about their travel experiences.
And through their eyes, ears, and also their senses. I can get another appreciation for what it’s like to be part of humanity, traveling around this great world we live in.
Debbie:
And what do you say is the biggest change that you have really made for yourself?
Mark:
Slow down, smell the roses. We live a very short life but I think we live a very important life and we’re not doing ourselves any true greatness if we’re not enjoying all the different aspects of that. So the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is to give my puppy dog a big hug and tell him I love him.
And then I spend the first part of my day with him. We go off for a run and a walk and do some exercises in the park together. I don’t turn on any electronic devices typically until 10 o’clock in the morning. And those are some of the habits that I’ve created to make sure that I not only maintain but I thrive in the lifestyle that I’ve created for myself.
Debbie:
So now that we’re in this situation where COVID is happening, has it really affected your lifestyle?
Mark:
Absolutely zero. So if you asked me what I was doing before this thing was happening, I’m doing exactly the same as I would before it was happening.
So I live off-grid. I’ve got completed all the energy and water and everything that I need to survive. I can take my home literally anywhere in the world I want to go to although that’s not the case at the moment, obviously. I have the capability to get provisions for my boat delivered to my boat. So I don’t even have to go outside to do that.
And as you know, I work and endure everything from my boat surrounding. So yeah, the current situation. And this is something that I set out to do. Obviously, I never anticipated like anybody else that this was going to be a global pandemic. But I set out a number of years ago when I decided to buy a sailboat and live in it to create a self-sustaining lifestyle that I was not impacted by what was going on outside and that I could live the happy life that I’ve created without any other external, I guess, impact from anything else.
So I guess I’ve proven that my vision that I had to create this lifestyle is foolproof because that’s what I’m living today.
Debbie:
Yeah. This is one of the times where living an offbeat life actually is in your favor, right?
Mark:
Yeah. And maybe the offbeat life needs to become the norm for many other people because until you’ve done it and until you’ve immersed yourself in it, it’s just like being a homeless person. You don’t know what it’s like until you’ve done it. And there are many instances of that and a lot of things in life aren’t there. So yeah, if it moves, you go and chase it – that’s what I say.
Debbie:
It’s also amazing what can happen when we do get out of our comfort zone. And sometimes we do it voluntarily like you did, Mark, and sometimes we’re pushed into it like a lot of people are right now.
So it’s a very interesting time that we are living in because a lot of people are probably living the life that they didn’t think they were going to be doing and just forced into it. And maybe they’re even enjoying it. Who knows?
Mark:
Yeah. Look, I think there’s a lot of people that are going to come out of this with a lot of strength, a lot of new visions in their life. There’s the dark side of what’s going on, I’m sure. I’m not connected to that so I can’t say too much about it.
But I guess in terms of I see this period that we’re going through now, for everybody on this planet, there’s an amazing opportunity to redefine who we are as an individual, redefine who we are as a country and nations, redefine who we are as global citizens and everything that means in terms of the environment we choose to create.
The way we decide to connect to each other, the way that we do business with each other now. We’ve got that opportunity right now to change all that up if we truly want to.
Debbie:
And also we have the power to do it. And I think if you decide to do it, the person that’s really stopping you most of the time, obviously there are other obstacles as well, but it starts with you. So, I mean, it’s crazy what we’re capable of if we just take that first step.
Mark:
Yeah, absolutely. And going back to the time where I put my first foot forward to walk out of that apartment in Singapore as a homeless man. The Chinese have a great saying: a thousand-mile journey starts with the first step. And that’s exactly how I felt that particular day.
And I’ll never forget those four steps that I thought I had to go down to start my journey. I’ll never forget what they actually felt like when I was walking down those stairs,
Debbie:
Now, Mark, let’s fast forward to 30 years from now and you’re looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave? And what do you want to be remembered for?
Mark:
Well, 30 years from now, I’m still creating my legacy. I believe that my passions and my visions for who I am and who I want to be in my life will continue to evolve. I don’t see myself ever resting until I’m not breathing anymore. I’ve got so much more to achieve still that I haven’t achieved in my life.
I also want to continue finding balance in my life. So what’s important to me when I do reach that stage, that finality that you’re asking me about is about the only thing that I really want to achieve is that I’ve made other human beings feel good. And whether it be through their connection with me face to face, whether it be through their connection with me through the activities that I do, the most important thing to me is that I’m seen as somebody that’s made people feel good.
Debbie:
So this may sound very gloomy and doomsday but on your death bed, what would your last memory be that you want to remember?
Mark:
My last memory that I want to remember on my death bed is that I gave it a hundred percent. Yeah, I gave everything that I did a hundred percent whether it be love, whether it be what I did in terms of my activities and my relationships with people. Everything that I did, I gave a hundred percent.
Debbie:
I love that because I think they did studies with people and one of the things that people mentioned on their death beds is like the regrets, right? There’s so many regrets that they didn’t do. They could have said, they could have done. And you have the time to do it now.
And I think our mortality is so much more evident right now with what’s happening in the situation because from young to old, people are losing their lives. So think about that folks. You never know when it’s your last day and you want that last memory to be like yours, Mark, where you’re giving a hundred percent to everything that you’re doing, which is super powerful.
Mark:
Yeah. And I think if we’re honest with ourselves and I challenge everybody that’s listening and I challenge you too, Debbie: I think in terms of if we’re truly honest with ourselves, and from the time we get out of bed in the morning until we go back to bed at night, are we giving everything a hundred percent?
I’m sure there’s probably the majority of people that would answer no to that if they were honest. And that in itself gives us an enormous amount of opportunity to grow.
Because if we’re honest with ourselves, whether we’re taking care of our nutrition and our diet, if we’re getting enough exercise, if we’re getting enough sleep, if we’re loving the people that are in our lives, whether they be business relationships or personal relationships, there’s so many different aspects of our life that we can say, “Okay, I’m only doing 60% of that. I’ve got to really up my game in that area.”
And I think that’s something that we can all do as a part of our continuous improvement as human beings.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. And I could definitely attest to that. I am not doing a hundred percent on everything.
Mark:
Well, join the club.
Debbie:
So, Mark, where can our listeners find you? Because obviously, we want to keep following your story.
Mark:
Well, my passion today is a platform that I’ve created called the Global Travel Channel. So www.GlobalTravelChannel.com. I talk to people all around the world on that platform. I also have a philanthropic project that I was about to launch before this nasty little virus decided to descend on us. So that’s going to be implemented after the virus goes away. It’s an extraordinary, exciting project.
I don’t know if you want me to talk about it but it’s something that I’ve been working on for a couple of years now. It’s come from all of my passions, from the things that I’ve just mentioned to you, the time as a homeless man, the years in the corporate world. I’ve put all that together and I’ve created a project along with my passion of being on a boat and I’m going to try and change the lives of young people around the world.
Debbie:
Wow. That’s amazing. And we are going to love that for sure. When will you be able to come out with that?
Mark:
Well, I can tell you a little bit about it now to give people a bit of a flavor if you’d like.
Debbie:
Yeah. That would be great.
Mark:
Okay. Well, there’s a great nautical adventure in the United States and Canada called the Great Loop. And the Great Loop is a 6,000-mile waterway journey that takes in the Eastern seaboard of the United States through the intercoastal waterways that run from Florida in the South, all the way up to New York City.
Then you go up the Hudson River to the Erie canal system into the great lakes and then across to the Mississippi and down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico – that’s called the Great Loop. Not many people know about the Great Loop other than those in the boating world. And I found out about the Great Loop a couple of years ago.
And what I decided to do was I’m going to come over to the United States from Australia, and I’m going to purchase a vessel. And I’m going to put on board that vessel young people from the ages of 18 to 21 and we’re going to take them on different sections of the Great Loop.
So they’ll stay on the boat for two or three weeks at a time. And we’re going to buddy them up with mentors from all sorts of different walks of life. Whether they be business people, whether they’re going to be podcasters, because Debbie’s going to come with us now.
Debbie:
Yes!
Mark:
And with all sorts of amazing life skills development, we’re going to do amazing technical skills development for these young people. And these people are going to be people that are struggling a little bit in life, yeah. So they might be a little bit off the tracks at the moment. They’re looking for some direction, some purpose, some meaning in their life, and we’re going to bring them on the boat and give them an amazing adventure of a lifetime.
And we’re going to do that over the course of two years. I’m going to make a TV series and documentary about this journey as well, about how we’re going to travel around these amazing parts of the United States and Canada.
And we’re going to get into the histories of the towns that we’re going to visit. We’re going to sample the food of all these different areas. We’re going to talk to local people and find out about their local communities. And more importantly, we’re going to help these young people change their lives. So that’s the Great Loop project that we’re going to do in the United States and Canada.
Debbie:
Wow. That’s going to be a super epic journey. And I can’t wait to learn more about it on your site, Mark. And yeah, of course, I want to get in on this too. That’s amazing.
Mark:
Right. I’m signing you up today and everybody’s heard your commitment.
Debbie:
Yes, yes. Now I’m accountable for it.
Mark:
Fantastic.
Debbie:
Thank you so much, Mark, for being with us today. I really appreciate everything that you have shared with us.
Mark:
Debbie, it’s been fun, and thank you very much for having me. I’m very grateful.
