Summary
Randy "R Dub!" Williams, a radio host and avid traveler, shares his experiences and insights on travel. He discusses the importance of putting dreams into action and not waiting for the perfect time to travel. Randy shares how he started his travel career and his journey to visit every country in the world. He also talks about his love for exploring weird and bizarre places and the challenges he faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Randy discusses his radio career and his passion for slow jams. He also shares how he discovered TEREN and the benefits of travel pants. In this conversation, Hyde from TEREN chats with Randy "R Dub!" Williams about his travel experiences and his favorite TEREN pieces. They discuss connecting through Instagram and how Randy has been tagging TEREN in his travel photos for years. Randy shares that his favorite TEREN piece is the pants, the black T-shirt, and the daily driver fleece. They then talk about Randy's goal of traveling to all 193 UN nations and the additional wild card countries. Randy shares his travel hacks and tips, emphasizing the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone. They also discuss the curiosity that drives Randy to explore unexpected places. Finally, they talk about Randy's next repeat trip and close with appreciation for TEREN as a local independent business.
Takeaways
Connecting with people through social media can lead to meaningful relationships and collaborations.
The pants, black T-shirt, and daily driver fleece are popular TEREN pieces among travelers.
Setting travel goals, such as visiting all 193 UN nations, can provide a sense of purpose and adventure.
Stepping out of your comfort zone and exploring unexpected places can lead to memorable experiences and personal growth.
Supporting local independent businesses, like TEREN, allows for a more personal and connected experience.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Audio Check
03:10 Putting Dreams into Action
06:52 Starting the Travel Career
12:05 Traveling to Every Country in the World
14:04 Exploring Weird and Bizarre Places
17:08 Traveling During the COVID-19 Pandemic
26:21 R-Dub's Radio Career
29:48 Slow Jams and Travel Blog
34:40 Discovering TEREN and Travel Pants
39:09 Connecting through Instagram
40:03 Favorite TEREN Piece
41:27 Traveling to 193 UN Nations
42:15 Exploring Kosovo and Western Sahara
43:11 Travel Hacks and Tips
44:46 Curiosity and Traveling to Unexpected Places
46:37 Next Repeat Trip
49:14 Closing Remarks
Full Transcript (ai generated from recording audio - forgive us for typos)
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (03:33.482)
And I don't want to get excited and get carried away, but I read the page and oh my God, like dude, what that page said is how I started my travel career specifically. So I don't know if you want to know that story right away, but when I read it, I said, dude, this is like the story of my life. So.
Hyde (03:52.91)
Well, let me read and then I will ask you, what does that mean to you? How does that coincide with your life? And then I'm just gonna let you run with it. I put on here in the meeting like an hour block, but I don't know how long you have, or do you have any hard stop there or? Okay. Okay, awesome. And I'm gonna try not to thumbs.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (04:02.37)
Okay, great.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (04:13.345)
So yeah, I have to be on the air here at the radio station at 3, so I've got about 55 minutes from now.
Hyde (04:21.774)
put a thumbs up in the chat because whatever feature got added to video calls that does this, I hate. Cause I use my thumb to count. All right, so I'm gonna, all right, R-dub. So I'm gonna jump in here, read our page and we're gonna get right to it. Thanks for hopping on. February 2nd, put your dreams into action now. For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Conditions are never perfect.
Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. If it's important to you, just do it and correct course along the way. Tim Ferriss, The Four Hour Workweek, 2007. In her 2011 book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, which was based on interviews with scores of hospice patients, Australian palliative care nurse, Bronnie Ware noted that the most common regret among people facing death was that
they had lived too much of their lives based on others' expectations. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Weir wrote, health brings a freedom very few realize until they no longer have it. One of the biggest impediments to travel dreams or to travel dreams is the notion that these dreams can be put off until a later time in life that
instead of finding creative ways to carve out time to make a long, longterm journey happen in the near future, folks wait for milestones like retirement to dictate their departure plans. Even young people who aren't yet committed to a vocation can be reluctant to embrace their dream travels for fear of being less employable at the outset of their adult careers. Thus regulated to an intangible time known as someday, many dream trips never happen.
When Kenyan marathoner, Illuid Kachabi, I'm so bad at pronouncing names, that's the best we're gonna get today, was asked to reflect on his life philosophy by the New York Times in 2018. He put a playful spin on a proverb that dates back to ancient Chinese times. The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago, he quipped. The second best time to plant a tree is today. So jumping right into it.
Hyde (06:45.994)
Ardub, tell us a little bit about yourself and what are your first thoughts off that page?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (06:52.937)
Well, all of those quotes really speak to me, especially the first one. More than you could know, I was a 24, 25 year old young man, and I had a dream to visit Brazil and I was not well traveled at all. I'm not even sure I had even been to a couple of countries at that point. And so mid twenties, not making a lot of money and this amazing dream. Brazil was speaking to me.
And I told my best friend, hey, we're going to Brazil this December. Let's do it. He goes, okay, let's do it. So we get close to December. It's time to book the trip. And he bails on me. He says, man, I can't do it. I don't have the money or enough work, whatever. So he bailed. So of course I'm not going to go to Brazil by myself. Who does that? So I said, all right, next year. Can we go next year? For sure. He's like, for sure. Next year we're going to do it. Like, all right, next year you're on the hook. So, all right, let's put Brazil off. I'm 25 now. Let's go to Brazil.
dude cancels on me again when it's time. And I made one of the most important decisions of my life. I was completely terrified to do it, but I decided that I'd go to Brazil by myself. There was a young man who didn't have a lot of money and very little world traveling experience. Like that was a big deal. You'd think I maybe could start with Hawaii or the Bahamas or something, but I decided I'm gonna go to Brazil by myself.
Hyde (07:53.678)
Oh my god.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (08:19.477)
And I was absolutely terrified doing it. I wondered to myself, would this be like going to Disneyland by yourself? Am I gonna hate it? And here's the short story and the spoiler alert. It was probably the 10 best days of my entire life. And I left the airport in Rio de Janeiro. I left the airport 10 days later, physically crying, not understanding how a country could make me feel
Hyde (08:28.687)
Oh, wow.
Hyde (08:38.776)
world.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (08:50.437)
like a woman has made me feel. I didn't realize you could fall in love with a place and have the same feelings of love and passion and desire and yearning than you do for a human being. So that was my super quick story on that quote about putting it off someday, someday. That quote and those pages you just read, some of the best advice that you could give anybody. And finally, I'll leave you with this. Towards the end of that quote,
You were mentioning, you know, a lot of people put trips off because of work. Fast forward, maybe seven or eight years later, I'd already gone to Brazil 10 or 12 times. Me and my new best friend at work, a colleague of mine, we booked a trip to Rio de Janeiro, and we were so excited about it. And he decided to cancel the trip as it got closer because things at work were heating up. And he said, I don't know if it's a good time to go.
Hyde (09:24.941)
Yeah.
Hyde (09:44.856)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (09:49.073)
our trip, now being my trip, because he canceled the night of that trip, earlier in the day, we both ended up getting fired from that job. At the same time, guess who still had his ticket to Brazil in his pocket? This guy. I had literally got laid off and 15 hours later, I was on the beach in Copacabana getting a massage, drinking a aguaju coco. So there you go.
Hyde (09:51.871)
Yeah.
Hyde (09:57.782)
Whoa. Ha ha ha.
Hyde (10:13.846)
Yeah, and the best time to, you know, you had no need to worry about work at home. You were like, the best time for me to go and enjoy life and have a good trip is definitely now when I need to go relax a little bit, set my mind at ease, travel, experience something new to challenge me for what's next with, you know, with that being let go. That is crazy. Also, that you've had multiple different people cancel on you for these trips.
Like that is just ludicrous, ridiculous. I think something that I took away from this that I love is like, I stopped saying things like, I want to go somewhere and I'm trying to do this in life. Now, sometimes, you know, I still say that in some regard, but I've started to say a lot more of, I'm doing this. Not try or want, but like, I am going to Columbia.
I am going to Italy and it really has had a huge impact on like, okay, when you make up your mind and you make that decision, you lock it in, just do it. It's like, you know, the Nike, like just do it. And like for you, if you put it off, you, you almost put it off two years in a row because someone else impacted you in your decision making. And I'm so glad you did it because like since then, like
Walk us through your travels and kind of like, what has that done since that trip? You've obviously, you've traveled a lot. I'm just gonna break the ice here. You've traveled a lot. Maybe you sum that up and tell us how you got from there to where you are now. Where are you right now as far as travel checklists?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (12:05.454)
Well, you know, I've traveled to every country in the world and I finished that goal May of 2023. You know, you
Hyde (12:12.782)
How many, what's the total country number there for you?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (12:15.553)
So that's always debatable, right? It's funny, there's not just one list, but the most common agreed on is the UN list. So these are the countries that are recognized by the UN as, hey, you're a country. The UN says there are 193. Now you can start counting territories and the list gets a little bit bigger. You've got Greenland, which you see my map behind me, there's Greenland up there. Greenland actually belongs to Denmark, right? And there's a...
Hyde (12:23.213)
Okay.
Hyde (12:42.638)
Okay.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (12:43.369)
bunch of other places, but as countries go 193, and you mentioned the quote about the tree, when's the best time to plant a tree? 25 years ago, when's the second best time to plant a tree today? That's how I felt with that first trip. Looking back, I wish I would have started traveling at 14, 15 years old. I mean, honestly, probably could have, but the best time to start is today.
I ended up moving to Brazil. I loved Brazil so much, I decided to move there. So not but four years after that first trip to Brazil, I was actually flying to Brazil to rent an apartment, to sign a lease on a condo right on the beach. It was incredibly inexpensive compared to living in the United States. And so I'm in Brazil and there's, is that Africa or Brazil? There's Brazil. I'm in South America and I really, I took that opportunity to start to see
Hyde (13:14.387)
Oh wow.
Hyde (13:24.096)
system.
Hyde (13:33.163)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (13:38.009)
neighboring countries from Brazil. So I saw Argentina and Uruguay, etc. And I looked at South America and I said, you know what, let's do a challenge. Let's see if I can visit all of Central and South America by the time I turn 40. I made it right before the buzzer. And that gave me even more inspiration to see every country in the world. One of the one of the catalysts or the linchpin for me to see the entire world.
was while traveling South America. Hi, do you know there's a country in South America whose official language is Dutch? Did you know that?
Hyde (14:13.065)
Um, no, I'm good.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (14:13.629)
in South America, in the Amazon, an entire country who speaks Dutch.
Hyde (14:20.646)
I am the worst at trivia. So that's neat. I love it, but I'm so bad at trivia. What have we got? Which country?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (14:28.929)
So it's called Suriname and it's right above Brazil, right next to kind of next to Venezuela above Brazil. But the reason I bring that up high is during this initial challenge to see South America, I was introduced to the weird and the bizarre. And everybody has a different travel style, but I've found what I love more than seeing somewhere popular like Ibiza or Paris or Madrid. Those are amazing places to travel. And I love those places.
But I like going to the weirdest places that even my friends have never heard of. And so Suriname in South America, I booked a ticket there and I told my family and my friends and they're like, where is this? When people come into my office and we do a content, it is, it's in the Guianas exactly. But when people come into my office and I say, hey, you've got 30 seconds to find Suriname and I'm gonna buy you a beer, they immediately go to the Middle East or Southeast Asia.
Hyde (15:12.49)
Isn't it like right next to Guyana?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (15:27.309)
Vietnam, I'm like, anyway, I fell in love with the bizarre. And there are so many more weird and bizarre places to go to. And it's really fun being places where there's no other Americans, very little tourists, and the people back at your work say, wait a minute, I've never heard of that country. There are a lot of those countries I've been to.
Hyde (15:46.19)
That's pretty rad. I've got a buddy, my buddy, Tim. He's been to Suriname and then Nick, one of the co-founders of TEREN went with Tim during like, you know, immediately out of COVID, but there was still like super COVID restrictions and they had like all but one piece of paper. They were going to Guyana. So they got off the plane in Guyana and they were on the strip. And then they're like, oh no, you don't have this one piece of paper. So they put them back on the same plane and send them back.
to, I don't know, I think they were maybe flying out of Miami. So they had a week in Miami that they just like audible, let's just hang out in Miami because we weren't able to get in the country. But Travel does these really, provides us really cool opportunities for us. So is there anything that like, like any travel story or adventure travel or like any like,
Yeah, just journey or story that you have that like, man, just like is crazy, ludicrous, must share, or just like, you know, without that story or that adventure on certain trips, it would be a whole like a completely different trip. Is there any like story that's coming to mind that you wanted to like, oh my gosh, when I'm talking about crazy places, this, or when I'm talking about yada, yada.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (17:08.213)
Of course, I mean, gosh, there's so many, you did mention the dreaded C word, the COVID, the pandemic, as a traveler that was, and I'm careful at how I say this because, you know, many, many people got really sick and died. And so, you know, who am I to really complain that it's cramping my travel style? But also if I'm gonna be honest with myself, look, that's many people's passions are travel. And so for people like myself and yourself, whose number one passion is to travel,
Hyde (17:15.586)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (17:38.209)
to have that just snatched from you. I mean, in a million years, we could have never guessed that. One of my coolest experiences were, this was right in the middle of the pandemic. This was July of 2020, and everything was shut down. And I read online somewhere that Hungary was opening up and I jumped the gun and I'm like, Hungary's open up, I gotta get a ticket. And I bought a ticket right away.
And my friend who was a traveler in Europe said, dude, Hungary's opening up only for Europeans, dude, only if you're in the EU. And I'm like, oh God, what do I do? I was able to, I went on, I never give up. And that's part of my mantra is to never give up and never take no for an answer. And I went online and you could get an exception by the Hungarian police to enter Hungary. And so one of the
Hyde (18:34.069)
Okay.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (18:34.877)
One of the exceptions was a business meeting. So I'm like, I better plan a business meeting. So I contacted the radio station there because I work in radio and it was someone I knew. I'm like, hey, we got a meeting, right? Yeah, right, okay. I had to hire someone online on Fiverr to translate the application. It was only in Hungarian. We filled it out. It was very difficult. I could have never done it on my own. We submit the application. Maybe one or two days later on a Saturday.
Hyde (18:39.458)
Hahaha
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (19:03.429)
I get the application back and you got to put yourself back in it's 2020. Nothing was open. Like you weren't going anywhere. And I got the application and they're like, dude approved. You can come to Hungary. Oh my God. So I'm excited. I got all my ducks in a row. I get to the airport super early. Uh, I'm in LAX and the Lufthansa airline counter is like, yeah, you can go to Hungary with this, but our first stop is
Hyde (19:08.043)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (19:30.097)
is Germany. You have to basically be stamped into Germany. The Germans don't want you're not able to get into Germany." She basically said, you can't get on the plane. And I begged and I pleaded and she finally gave me the ticket and she said, all right, they may not even let you into Germany to get on your next flight, right? I forgot about the EU. It's kind of like you enter the EU and once you're in, you're in. So I got to Germany. They look, they're like, are you police? I'm like, no, but I got a meeting and then stamp me in. Then I realized, wait a minute.
Hyde (19:33.847)
BOOM
Hyde (19:38.26)
Uh.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (19:59.361)
Hi, they just stamped me into Germany. Like no one can be in Germany. So I'm like, okay. Now I'm in the German airport realizing I can just literally walk outside. But all right, well, let me get on my flight to Hungary. I went to Hungary. I explored like 10 new countries in Europe, went back home. I honestly felt like I got away with murder. It was just mind blowing. So then I'd like, let me do this again. So in September, same thing. I apply for this Hungarian pass. I get it. This time I landed Germany.
Hyde (20:03.012)
I can go to Germany.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (20:29.449)
Same boogie, the immigration guy in Germany, okay, you're going to Hungary, you're going to Pachac. And then I just jump on a plane and go to Finland and then Estonia. Anyway, that was crazy because I really felt like I was one of the only Americans being able to travel. Was it a little bit irresponsible? I'm not sure, I'll have to live with that myself. But I did everything they wanted you to do. I tested and washed my hands and wore the mask, et cetera.
Hyde (20:55.539)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (20:56.209)
As far as crazy girls, I mean, just in general, North Korea was, I think, crazy. Now, a lot of tourists go to North Korea, at least post pre-COVID, it's still closed. But probably if we're talking crazy, the craziest moment for me, and the moment I actually felt a little bit scared and in danger, was when I crossed the border from Rwanda into a country called Burundi. I did a rookie mistake and I didn't do any research on Burundi.
Hyde (21:20.519)
Oh yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (21:24.733)
I had South Sudan on that same itinerary. So I was putting all of my time into researching how to not die going to South Sudan. Burundi just looked like this fun place with a bunch of banana trees and I was sort of Burundi. I didn't realize the history between Burundi and Rwanda was, dare I say it, like a Palestine and Israel. I mean, they hate each other. And I get to this border and I'm crossing from Rwanda to Burundi. And I noticed that
Hyde (21:33.496)
Yep.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (21:54.633)
something's really different because almost every other border I've ever crossed, there's a lot of people and there's commerce and there's people selling things and there's traffic and there's people. I show up to this border, there's nobody there. I cross to the Burundi side, I'm quickly surrounded by all of the, I think they're feds, all of the soldiers. I realize quickly that something's up, something is not right. And, um...
Hyde (22:01.806)
Hmm. Yeah.
Hyde (22:09.852)
Mm.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (22:22.389)
you know, all these men and women in uniform are speaking in French and in their local tribal language. And Hyde, you know, when you just get a vibe, I just, I got a vibe that something's not right. And it turned out from what I've gathered, they thought I was a spy. They're like, what is this dude doing here? Because folks that look like you never crossed this border, what are you doing? And my passport had all these stamps in it, et cetera. My car, and I hired a tour guide to drive me around,
Hyde (22:32.012)
Yeah.
Hyde (22:41.499)
it is.
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (22:51.593)
was basically commandeered by the second in charge from the police department. And he stayed with me the entire time, which is kind of cool, but the not cool part was every time we would stop somewhere to even just look at a lake or a canyon, we'd get back in the car and he'd tell me to charge how much that cost. I'm like, dude, I just got out and looked at the lakes, like, ah, but we have to pay. And so the entire trip was very nerve wracking.
Hyde (23:11.82)
Oh.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (23:20.665)
Again, it was a mix between thrilling and nerve wracking, but I just felt very uncomfortable. The night ended with me buying beers for all of his comrades at the local saloon. And again, I didn't even mind doing that, but my thing was like, dude, are they gonna bust down my door at two in the morning and take me to jail and basically try to, you know, force me to call my family, hey, I need $10,000 in bail or whatever. I'm giving you the very short version.
Hyde (23:32.459)
Thank you.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (23:47.925)
Burundi was a country I'd love to go back and explore, but that particular trip in that region, I couldn't wait to get back to Rwanda. It made Rwanda seem like Dubai, honestly, as far as the development of Burundi versus Rwanda. When I'm driving back to Rwanda on the Burundi Highway, there's like not another car in sight. In fact, the locals are actually sitting on the highway and every few kilometers you'd approach this road.
Hyde (24:04.525)
is.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (24:16.769)
that's strung across the highway. It's basically a very rudimentary checkpoint. And you'd stop and the local regions general was there with his beret on, I mean, total banana republic stuff here. And I'd have to get out of the car and he was going through my passport and looking to me and going through my passport and looking to me. I mean, dude, it was very, very unsettling. Anyway, I got back to Rwanda, I blogged about my trip. And then all of a sudden you saw basically
Hyde (24:21.73)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (24:44.789)
the Rwandans and the Burundis come out. And there was like a billion comment from my article and the Rwandans were like, dude, you're lucky you weren't skinned alive and kidnapped. And the Burundians were like, nah, man, you were cool. Sorry, we scared you. It's a really good place. But now all of a sudden, I've got this like fight under my blog of Rwandans and Burundis. And I wasn't trying to do all that. Anyway.
Hyde (25:06.562)
Yeah, I mean, like when you really go out there and like a lot of this like conversation reminds me of like there's a lot of unknowns with travel, but like the unknowns are exhilarating in their own regard. Like, you know, you talked about like COVID and like the inability to travel, but how it was such a desire in you, you really need that. Like I believe that too. Like obviously, you know, you said like,
you know, mask, washing hands, all the things that we need to be doing, um, uh, as, as best we can, but like, that is something that's, you know, something that you pursue and gives you life. It gives you fulfillment and enrichment. And we can't, um, you know, without it, sometimes I would say I get in slumps. Like I haven't traveled in a minute. Uh, I traveled like six months in a row. I was traveling.
all the time, whether it's for work, for TEREN, or personal trips, or whatever. And then I just took a couple months off of like, I need to rest a little bit, be at my house, be at home. And now I'm like, I'm itching to let go again. So I'm stoked. But yeah, exactly that. You come across complete unknowns, but those unknowns are so fun sometimes. I want to jump into, you mentioned...
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (26:07.434)
Yeah.
Hyde (26:27.918)
your career, you're like, you're a radio host, right? Like talk to me about a little bit about that. Give a plug for what you're doing, who you are. We wanna learn about you in this moment. Like let's hop off travel for a second, even though it is in everything that you are, but like give us a little synopsis of who you are in your work life and then also kind of like some new things you're pursuing and.
And I don't want to give it away, but I'll poke you again with another more pointed question if I need to.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (27:02.417)
I know where you're going with that. I was lucky enough to start a radio career at 15 years old when I moved to Tucson, Arizona. Radio and being an on-air DJ for me was something that I knew what I wanted. As soon as I realized that was a career, I was only 12 years old, only 12. And I was like, no, this is it, hardcore. I was able to break in super early. By the time I was in high school, I was like the full-time night guy on my city's local hip hop station.
This was back in 1994 and being on the radio was a much bigger deal back then. I was obviously like as popular as the, you know, star of the football team. I had no athletic ability at all, but I could go on the radio and give shout outs to the cute girls in class. And so my specific genre of music that I play and that I've loved since I was a kid is they're called slow jams, basically urban music, love songs.
Hyde (27:31.522)
Thank you.
Hyde (27:47.054)
That's right.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (27:58.089)
on the urban side. So anything from Usher to Alicia Keys, if you wanna go farther back, you're talking like Luther Vandross and Aliyah, Keith Sweat, et cetera. Boys to Men is a great example. And I've been lucky, I'm 47 now, so I've been lucky to be doing radio for over 30 years. I just had a great career and the short story is, or the synopsis is, it's not work. I've never worked a day in my life. It's always fun. Currently,
The same show that I started when I was a kid at 16 years old called Slow Jams, that show today airs on over 200 radio stations all across America and in 17 different countries. So my show is on, for example, in New York City and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, et cetera, and then a million other small towns in between. And that's the passion. And it's called Slow Jams. I was on Shark Tank.
Hyde (28:51.295)
Nice.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (28:55.933)
in 2013 with Grammy nominated artist Brian McKnight. He brought his guitar and we sang to the sharks and honestly it was just a way for me to plug my show and to promote my show. And today I live and work in San Diego, California. I'm the program director of two awesome radio stations out here and I also do the afternoon show live on one of those stations before coming home and doing my late night slow jam show. So I'm a workaholic, have no wife, no kids.
I've dedicated my life to doing fun stuff and now travel. So my two loves are slow jams, radio, and the travel part.
Hyde (29:34.082)
So you mentioned slow jams. How can people find that? What station is it on or like website? And then you mentioned a blog before. Throw those both in here. I'm gonna link them as well, but just tell us where people can find you and find that.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (29:48.653)
So, slowjams.com is the website. That'll give you a list of all the different cities and states where my show airs. I would love, love for you to listen on Sunday night. I also have a weeknight show as well. So, slowjams.com, also slowjams on Instagram and Twitter. And then I do have a travel blog, completely unrelated to Slow Jams. And the travel blog is ramblinrandi.com, ramblinrandi.com. And finally, my Instagram with all of my
Travel Stuff is simply my nickname, which is R-dub, R-D-U-B. And yeah, then I try to just put natural stuff on there. I hate the word influencer. I'm not an influencer. I just have fun and record stupid stuff. You know, when I go places, you know, it's, yeah, of course I'll take a selfie right in front of a statue, but I like going to grocery stores, right? I like being in a random grocery and walking through the aisles and going in the frozen food section or the soda section.
What is this? Or let's try this, et cetera.
Hyde (30:51.726)
Yeah, real influencers, I found out, think that the word influencer is like a naughty word, but it's because you have something to say and you have influence. And so I think that you're the good influencer of us. I think so slow jam. All right. So does slow jams on Sunday night air in slow jammastan?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (31:17.953)
So, Slowjamistan is the world's newest country. And I'm only gonna give you a teaser because this would be a whole different episode. But in 2021, me and some comrades annexed a piece of American land and took it ourselves. We may have paid for it. And we claimed that a sovereign nation, it's not what you think. This isn't like Waco, Branch Davidian, like crazy, you know, sovereign state stuff. It's honestly a fun project.
And we carved out this piece of land and we put a big sign up that said Republic of Slojana Stan, and we put a border gate up just to see what would happen. And it went viral. CNN contacted us. It's now this full blown business. In fact, I had to go to the bank and get a business account for Slojana Stan, but I'll turn it around here.
Hyde (32:08.095)
Yes!
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (32:09.778)
So I'm actually in the consulate of slow jama stand right now. Um, but we have, we have our own currency. Hey.
Hyde (32:14.624)
I hope you do.
Hyde (32:21.442)
Put him on the spot, everybody. I don't think he was expecting these questions, but I love this. This is so fun. He's visited all the countries in the world. He had to create his own country. Ha ha.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (32:32.289)
That was the headline on CNN. He ran out of country, so he created his own. So here's the Sultan's passport. We have our own entry and exit stamps. We have currency. We have 16,000 registered citizens. What else? We have a national anthem that kicks ass. It's fun. We do events out there. The cool thing about to a Jamistan is, you could be a citizen and you can interact on, it doesn't cost anything, it's free.
Hyde (32:54.782)
Nice.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (33:01.761)
But again, I mean, I'm getting to the spoiler alert here already because I know we're time challenged.
Hyde (33:06.07)
Well, let me cut you off. I know there's isn't there one like rule you can't wear Crocs. We'll just let that be a little nugget that people like what like, now I'm going to go check it out. Right? Isn't that something?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (33:17.601)
So yeah, I mean, look, the end all be all in slow jammistan is it's a fun escape. The world has never been more divisive and you wake up every morning and the minute you open up your feed, people are talking about politics, labels. Slow jammistan is a place to go physically or virtually to get away from all of that, to have fun. But yet we are serious about our croc laws. No crocs are allowed. And you know, TEREN is a fashion brand.
Hyde (33:32.002)
Yep.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (33:47.841)
and it's fashion that looks good, right? Look good while you travel. I don't know how any person, I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone who's watching this, but any right mind would ever leave the house with these rubber clogs with holes in them. So that's our life's mission. And again, it's a fun tongue in cheek. You have to stand for something, right? That's what we stand for, no Crocs.
Hyde (33:55.662)
Hahaha
Hyde (34:06.24)
Yeah.
Hyde (34:11.102)
Nice. Awesome. Well, I'll let our viewers go dig in there. Um, uh, so we've talked about like who you are, your history and, and your love for travel and some unique places you've traveled, you mentioned North Korea. You're one of three people that I know that have been there. Um, that's, you know, I know a lot of people who have been to France and very few people, you know, to these other places you've talked about, obviously being to all the countries, you probably have a lot more that I know you're the only one I know.
But I would love to figure out, we just, I don't know exactly how we connected with you. I think you just bought a pair of pants and just left a review or tagged us on your Instagram. And then I was like, who is this Rdub guy slash Sultan of Slow Jamistan? Like.
How did you hear about TEREN and what do you think about what we got going on? I'm going to leave it pretty open ended there and maybe get a little more specific after you start going.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (35:21.273)
So, you know, I feel, and so I have to kind of back up here before I get to how I met you, but, you know, traveling the physical aspect of it, you know, take a, take aside the, about actually where you're going in the planning, but the physically, like, packing and moving through the airport and selecting a seat and all that stuff. I'm still learning and I'm still making bonehead mistakes after every country in the world. I
Forget to negotiate the cab fare first and then the...
Hyde (35:54.446)
That makes me feel so much better because I forget stuff like that all the time.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (35:58.581)
have you been doing this?" Or I don't download the exchange rate and I'm landing and I'm like, I don't know, like, bro, how long have you been doing this? And you're still making these mistakes. But, you know, I try every time I travel, I try to do it better. And I'm speaking about the physicality of it. And I remember the first time that I said, you know, I'm not going to check in luggage. And God, man, we tell that to someone who's not a serious traveler, and they don't even understand. They're like, well, I have to check in the rolling.
And I started with this very expensive giant backpack slash hybrid suitcase and Today I've graduated with just it's just a right honestly just a regular I think Swiss Army Backpack so this is how I got involved with TEREN. I kept trying to find ways to Streamline the process and if you're going one place For like two weeks. Yeah, take a big suitcase and take a bunch of clothes but
Hyde (36:55.086)
Thank you.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (36:59.133)
I kept trying to make my packing smaller and smaller and smaller. And I tried to get more smarter and more economical. And I'd never heard of travel pants. I didn't like, what are travel pants? What is that? But I found you guys on Instagram. It may have been through an advertisement. I'm not sure. But I found you on Instagram. I remember telling a buddy about travel pants. He goes, oh yeah, I have travel pants. They're the best. How have I never heard of travel pants? I've been to 100 countries. And so I got to get these. And you know.
Hyde (37:28.63)
You were too busy traveling, R-dub.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (37:30.277)
Yeah, but my big, and it's, man, it sounds like I'm trying to influence here or do an advertisement. I'm really not. But one of my big aha moments were I bought pants from TEREN, and I love them for many, many reasons. I also love them just because I could wear them for many days and that, you know, they wouldn't smell. I love them because I could wear them on the plane and they could, you know, they could, they would be used as clothes, but also pajamas. I could fall asleep in them. It's not like jeans where it's uncomfortable.
But my, so I love them. But my big oh wow was I got home and I remember seeing travel pants at Costco thinking, oh gosh, I can get these at Costco a lot cheaper. And I mean, these look cool, I like them. So I bought like three pairs, like, oh, these are only like three bucks, I'll buy a bunch of them. And they weren't bad, but I could, and this is a compliment for you guys. I mean, the TEREN pants were just so far supreme in so many ways.
I think I honestly wore those Costco pants one time and they've just, they've sat in a drawer ever since. Again, they weren't bad, but the feeling of the TEREN pants, the utility, the, I mean, just they're minimalist in a lot of ways as well. God, I just love them. So that's how I found you guys. I think I sent you a message saying, hey, I travel around the world. I'm gonna start tagging you. I think that's what I said. I think I said, hey, watch, I'm gonna take your pants to every country in the world. And then I would just like randomly send you,
just as a good vibe, man. You guys were like, honestly, a friend of mine, like, look, here I am in Iraq with the daily driver on, et cetera. So that's, yeah, that's how we met.
Hyde (39:09.314)
What's crazy to me is like, so this is the first time we've talked face to face, but we've been messaging for like years now almost like a year and a half to two years perhaps just on Instagram and like you go to a new place, you tag us or you don't because you're just living life in our clothes and it's like, I see something I'm like, oh man, that photo is so cool. Thank you so much. Like all this stuff. And you actually
You've picked up the pants and then you've got some traveler tees, the Marina wool tees, I think by us. And then you've got the daily driver fleece. I know that for sure. But yeah, I mean, out of all those pieces that you have, do you have a favorite piece? Is it the pants that you led with or like, what is your, this is a question that I'm asking everybody on this podcast. What is, what is your favorite TEREN piece, whether you have it or don't have it, I guess.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (40:03.257)
And I can't pick a favorite because that's like picking kids. I mean, if I had to, if you made me, it'd be the pants. But my go-to is very simple. It's the pants. It's the gray or charcoal color pants. It's the black TEREN t-shirt that I love. And I refuse to wear it in everyday life because I just, I don't want to have to, I don't know, man. It's reserved for travel, but I love it. It's so freaking comfortable.
Hyde (40:16.354)
Mm-hmm.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (40:30.665)
So the pants, the black t-shirt, and then the daily driver. And I love the color that I got. And I remember texting you when I left my daily driver on the plane in Istanbul. And I was just so anger at myself. And I know someone in Istanbul has this gorgeous, beautiful, rust-looking, grus jacket. And I wonder if they know how special that jacket is. But that's my best.
Hyde (40:58.222)
I think it's been probably 25 different countries, I think. At least. Yeah, I think we, we met and hopped on, um, like, uh, or like, you know, just started talking or you probably got the pants around the 160 mark or 170 maybe. And so, um, or maybe before, I'm not sure exactly, but I know I remember started following your journey around that mark and yeah, I guess was it last year that you hit it?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (41:02.089)
At least. Yeah, at least.
Hyde (41:27.106)
that you hit all 197 if my memory is correct?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (41:30.957)
Well, so 193, it's funny you say 197 because there are four in between. And I've actually, I've been to those other four and sorry, just for fun, for those listening, 193 UN nations and the four wild cards, I actually say there are five. Let's remember the wild card, they're Vatican City, okay. Kosovo, Western Sahara.
Hyde (41:46.763)
Yeah.
Hyde (41:50.446)
Okay.
Hyde (41:58.55)
You mentioned Greenland earlier, is that?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (42:00.097)
Well, that's not it. Now I'm gonna be really angry with myself because I'm on the spot, but Kosovo, Western Sahara, Vatican City, Palestine, sorry, Palestine. And then there's one more. There's one more and I'll remember it in a little bit. But anyway, yeah.
Hyde (42:09.5)
Okay.
Hyde (42:15.514)
I have a friend on the Camino that I met from Kosovo and I didn't even, you know, I don't know that it's not considered, you know, like I met her and she was super rad and she was like, I was like, where are you from? Kosovo. Cool. She, she had walked from Kosovo to Spain, but I just flew to like Paris and then I went down to Spain to walk the El Camino de Santiago, but she had walked from Kosovo to Spain. I'm like, man, you are so much more bad ass than me.
Well, awesome. Well, we're running up on some time here. I want to make sure Rainey's got a host, what three o'clock or something right coming up on time here. But, is there anything else like any travel hacks or tips that you've learned along the way that you want to share or just anything else that you want to share about travel or your TEREN experience or anything like that?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (43:11.881)
Yeah, I mean, just a quick thing I would just share about my travel experience in general is, and it's an important point because this isn't everyone, but this is a lot of people. I've always, as a kid, wanted to go the places that I was told I couldn't go, or watch the movies on Cinemax of my parent that now you can't watch that, or it's the whole, hey, don't eat those cookies, or don't look in that drawer.
And at an early age, for example, I remember going to the Dominican Republic just to travel. And one of my first 10 countries I went to, and on that island of Hispaniola, the other half of it is Haiti. And I remember people saying, yeah, that's Haiti. You don't want to go over there. And I remember at the time being like, okay, cool, I won't go over there. That sounds scary. And then later you're like, wait a minute. What's over there?
Hyde (44:07.606)
What's over there?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (44:08.701)
And what happens if I go there? But my earliest memory, just a fun memory to share, my earliest memories, maybe I was about 10 or 11, and my mom liked traveling, but she liked the tourist traveling, not the crazy traveling. And she'd go on cruises, right? And we'd look at the globe, and I remember telling my mom, hey mom, I'm 11 years old. I go, mom.
Hyde (44:26.274)
Hmm
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (44:34.293)
what's the one place you would be so scared if you were just dropped into the place? Where would they kill ya? And I remember my mom, and she didn't mean any ill will or any hate towards it, but just like, the Congo, boy, I would never like to be in the Congo. And I'm like, oh God, the Congo, that looks horrible. I think I Googled it later and I looked at it, I'm like, that looks scary. Then you go to the Congo, and I had one of the best times.
Hyde (44:41.774)
Thank you.
Hyde (44:46.936)
Yeah.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (44:59.973)
In the Congo, I'm at a fashion show watching these dudes with these amazing suits, and I'm with my new buddies, we're drinking orange soda on this plastic table next to the freaking whatever river it was, and it was just wild. Travel advice is, and I say this with the caveat, I'm very careful to not sound like an elitist and not judge anyone's travel, but I'll be honest, my friend keeps going back to Cabo and I want to wring his neck.
because he spent all that money to go to the same place. And again, this is where I got to check myself. I'm like, look, if he likes Cabo, if it's comfortable and they enjoy it, leave him alone. But I'm just thinking, man, even on my own travels, I went to Brazil like 30 times. There were so many other places. You just get comfortable and you like a place. So really my only advice is, man, just, you know, try to force yourself out of your comfort zone and always, you know,
Hyde (45:30.484)
Bye.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (45:58.597)
see what's next door, see what's over the border. So, you know, if you're going to Morocco, hey, do you know there's a ferry that can put you in Gibraltar in two hours? That's kind of cool.
Hyde (46:08.434)
You can't say Morocco my girlfriend is right now trying to convince me that is our trip our next trip And I've all but said yes, but you say that right now. That's the sign I'm gonna sneak in one more question here because you just touched on something Okay, so you said you know the Cabo thing like the repeat trip. What is your? like next repeat trip or the place
that you would be most likely to repeat? Like right now, like tomorrow, if I just gave you a plane ticket, you're like, I'm going, it would be here. And it could be like, you know, this is gonna be in your season of life and et cetera, but yeah, what is that for you?
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (46:41.25)
So.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (46:51.777)
No, and I have a few. So that's why I was really excited. That's why I kind of rushed to finish 193. Now, let me tell you, not a lot, and by the way, I don't really care, but I have received, and others like me have received criticism from travelers who kind of look at us with a little bit of disdain, like, hey, you visited Cameroon for two nights. That's not really traveling. And my whole mission to see
Hyde (46:55.431)
God bless you.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (47:20.721)
every country quickly was I looked at the world like a buffet full of foods that I've never tried before. I'm just gonna get a nibble of each one, meaning I'm just gonna pop in a place for a night or two and get the vibe. I'm gonna go to the buffet and just have... there's no way I can eat a plate of all 193 foods on the buffet. So let me just go get a quick nibble. I'll find out what I love and I'll find out what I really didn't care for. There's no reason to have an entire plate of
because I hate pickled beets. So let me get a little bite of it. Nah, I don't wanna go. Cameroon is pickled beets, by the way. Never wanna go back to Cameroon. So now that I'm done, now I get to go back to places that I loved and maybe only got to spend two nights and fell in love with it. So, I mean, Philippines, my top three countries are Brazil, Philippines and Turkmenistan. But Turkmenistan was my final country and I'll leave, that'll be my end for Turkmenistan.
Hyde (47:51.918)
Thank you.
Hyde (48:12.938)
No.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (48:18.065)
It was my final country and I didn't expect for it to be as magical as it was. I thought, you know, it would kind of suck if my final country ends up being a dud, but oh well. Well, it was the complete opposite. It was one of my favorites and it lives in my heart and I'm already booked to go back in September if they let me in. It's very hard to get in. So Turkmenistan for me, but you'll also find me in the Philippines and I love Japan. I love Tokyo.
Hyde (48:47.19)
Nice, well you might find me in Morocco later this year is what it looks like. But hey, R Dub thank you so much for your time. We are so stoked to know you and to take this time and chat with you. I'm sure our viewers and our customers are gonna be excited to hear what you have to say about travel and all the places you've been. Yeah, let's keep up, let's keep traveling and maybe we can get.
we can see each other out there in the world, whether it's next time I'm in San Diego, I'm gonna hit you up, or next time we happen to be the same other end of the world. I'd love to have a beer with you and cheers and have some good time and explore some new places.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (49:29.453)
Two things before we take a bite, promise me we'll talk about Morocco offline. And for those listening, I'm gonna implore you to see Western Sahara, which is one of those kind of half, you know, 197 countries. And also in Morocco, there's two enclaves that belong to Spain. So imagine being inside Africa, crossing the border, and all of a sudden you're in Spain, but you're still in Africa. That's in Morocco, it's mind blowing.
Hyde (49:34.038)
Yes.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (49:57.161)
And then finally, I just want to applaud you guys. I mean, one reason I support you guys is you're, you are a local independent business and you're not a big corporate, you're not a faceless nameless corporation. You're someone that I can talk to and send a DM to. And I literally hear from the owners. That is amazing. So keep doing what you're doing. I'm such a fan of everything you guys do. And I'm a, I'm a TEREN flag flyer. So I hope to see you soon.
Hyde (50:22.974)
Nice, well you're on the TEREN team forever man, thanks. And yeah, we really appreciate that. We tried to be vulnerable and transparent and hang out because that's a way better way to live life.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (50:25.907)
Awesome.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (50:36.205)
Absolutely.
Hyde (50:37.818)
Awesome. Well, cheers. And I don't have a way that I'm signing off. So I'm just doing this time. So cheers everybody. Oh, look at that. All right. So I'm going to hit stop and.
Randy "R Dub!" Williams (50:44.749)
Cheers.
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