Communicating Around the World As a Deaf Traveler, Episode 23 of Travel + Leisure's New Podcast

Though 2020 is almost over, we aren’t quite done introducing you to incredible travelers just yet.

Travel + Leisure's first podcast, Let's Go Together, is continuing on its journey to introduce listeners to some of the most inspiring and spirited travelers in the world. So far this season we've met people working to preserve their native cultures in Alaska and Hawaii, an Olympic athlete traveling the world in her hijab, plus-size travelers who explained what it's like traveling in a bigger body, and many more.

On this week’s episode, we’re introducing you to one more incredible globetrotter as host Kellee Edwards sits down with Nyle DiMarco, a model, actor, activist, and the executive producer of the hit Netflix series, Deaf U, to discuss what it’s like to travel the world as a deaf person.

“The biggest advantage of being deaf while traveling is that so many people in foreign countries are incredible at gesture,” DiMarco shares. “Especially like Southeast Asia. When I was there, it was incredibly easy to be able to point, you know, and gesture for a bus with wheels, it moves. Honestly, it never failed. And it got me around really, really well.”

In this episode, DiMarco shares more on what’s lacking in making travel more accessible to all, connecting with the deaf community around the globe, his love for the great outdoors, a few of his favorite travel destinations, and some of the greatest misconceptions around his travels.

“I do meet a lot of hearing backpackers or, um, a lot of locals in other countries who always say the same thing. They're like, you're so brave for traveling, you know, alone and you're deaf. And how do you communicate? And I'm like, it's actually easier than a lot of hearing people find it,” he says. But like every good podcast, you have to listen to it yourself. Hear the rest on Let’s Go Together, available on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, and Stitcher.