Interview #26 Chris Watson: Embracing Adventure as The Journey Calls

Rick Barron (00:00)

I'm Rick Baron, your host, and welcome to my podcast, That's Life, I Swear. 

My guest today is Chris Watson. Chris is the creator and host of the Adventures Diaries podcast, a show that speaks to embracing adventure in all its forms, and it's now embarking on its fifth season. 

His show celebrates adventure, environmental stewardship, and the simple but profound act of intentionally getting outside and enjoying the beauty of nature. Chris's journey to podcasting is a story in itself. 

Now, like all of us, Chris found himself suddenly grounded during COVID-19. It was during that time that Chris made a bold decision to create the podcast he'd always been dreaming about for many years. 

Now, The Adventurers Diaries is not just another adventure podcast.

Trust me, Chris brings a unique philosophy to every episode, bridging what he calls the Moonshot Gap, and he's going to explain that to us. While he features incredible guests from NASA astronauts to mountaineers who climb Mount Everest, he always draws out practical, accessible calls to adventure for the rest of us. 

So, whether you're dreaming of your next big expedition or simply looking for inspiration to step outside your comfort zone, this conversation is for you. So please join me as I have my conversation with Chris Watson. Chris, welcome to the show.

Chris Watson (01:45)

Thanks, Rick. Yeah, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here today. Thank you. Thanks for the invite.

Rick Barron (01:51)

It's great to have you. I've been following your podcast now since I first met you. So, I have so many questions for you. But I guess if you could just share a little bit about your background, then we can dive into how you came to create this fantastic podcast of yours.

Chris Watson (02:17)

Yeah, well for those that are listening, I think the accent probably gives it away. So, I'm born and bred and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. So, I live close to the west coast of Scotland. I'm in my late 40s, almost 50 now. I can't quite believe where the years have gone. Yeah, in terms of me, I have a full-time corporate career. I've worked in IT for...30 years or so, a long, long time, and yeah, very passionate about the outdoors and adventure and expeditions and obviously the natural world, so all of that stuff which has been a part of my life forever. 

It always has been, but we'll probably come to that when we talk through the story of how I started the podcast, but yeah, I've always been someone that's had a close affinity with the outdoors and seeking solitude and refuge a lot of the time over the years, but yeah, that's me. I'm currently in Glasgow, Scotland, so it's good to speak to you across the pond.

Rick Barron (03:36)

That's great. So, in terms of going back to when all of us were kind of hiding away from the COVID-19 pandemic, and I think you kind of alluded to why, but what was that spark that told you, I need to start a podcast to talk about this love of adventure? What was the, I don't know, what was a spark?

Chris Watson (04:01)

Yeah, I mean that's a good question.

It's probably multi-layered, probably a few things to unpack. So, in my day job, less so now, I mean, I still travel a lot and travel over countries internationally, but before COVID-19, I mean, it was excessive. 

I could be in three different European cities within one week, and I have a young family as well. I mean, it was quite a lot of travel, a fairly high-pressure job at times because of the projects I work on. And I was always used to being on the go and I pretty much immersed myself in my, and I still do in my corporate career. And when ⁓ Covid kind of hit and then we were all grounded and we couldn't travel.

Rick Barron (04:32)

Hmm.

Chris Watson (04:58)

That's when I had much more time for introspection and started to question, you know, what I was doing with my life, not just in the corporate career, but just generally. Because when I was on the hop all the time, you didn’t really get time to think or stop. You're just constant, a constant flux, you're constantly moving, jumping from one project to another. But when I was doing that, a lot of my escapism and downtime was on airplanes, listening to podcasts, reading National Geographic. 

And I've been a subscriber to Nat Geo since I was a kid. And I've always had that love for the outdoors and the natural world. Something, I mean, I'm not sure how many people are familiar with Microsoft Teams and Zoom calls and sitting on them day in, day out. 

Like many people, I went from when people travel to people sitting around me and me traveling to meetings, to be sitting, having meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting every day. Essentially, I never just thought, well, if I can have a conversation like that all day, every day about IT, I'm sure I could squeeze in a conversation and allow me to escape again with someone after hours and talk about something that's equally, if not cooler than IT and I could maybe scratch that itch. 

And I've always been a creative person as well. I used to study art and design weirdly before I got into IT. So, and yeah, I kind of put two and two together. And I had seen someone in a corporate stage before talking about adventure and it was always in the back of my mind. I've always thought for years, I would love to do that. And I'm used to being on stage, presenting in meeting rooms and boardrooms, and stuff like that. 

So, that was it, it was a degree of like, partly a degree of escapism, but there's another layer to that as well, that was all in my head. But to actually make the leap and actually make it happen, that was a product of therapy, because like COVID happened to us all, and I was going through some personal challenges at the same time as COVID, not long after, or not shortly, shortly before COVID, and then kind of through COVID. 

So, I had quite a lot of personal things that I had to kind of deal with and process, and it all compounded at the same time. And it wasn't until a few years after that that I actually took the leap to actually do it. So, there's a bit of a window between COVID and then this actually happening to be fair, but yeah, ruminating on it for far too long as I do with a lot of things in my head, and eventually pulling the trigger, actually, and starting it was the best thing, and I'm sure we'll come to that. But that's a long-winded answer, Rick. So hopefully that's kind of giving you some insight.

Rick Barron (07:49)

Sure. No, no, no, that's great. I think that it really paints the landscape of. Of where you were, what you were thinking and then how you were wanting to get there. It seems like you had a comfort zone of being able to speak because you said you've given presentations. I think that's half the battle right there. I mean, because you have to really tell a good story, so to speak. 

So, you had the idea. How did you go about initially pulling it together to see, okay, here are my thoughts. Am I going to want to talk to just people who claim mountains? I'm going to talk to people who like to fish. I mean, what was your thought process to go into that?

Chris Watson (08:35)

Yeah, I mean, that's a good, that's very good question. Think to give it, to anchor it really, what you said there about presentations in the corporate world, that is the core of what I do. I could present two or three times a month in a proper pressure environment. So, I'm used to preparing and knowing, we always say know your customer, so I'm used to knowing my customer. 

And if I translate that to the podcast, I know my guests. So, anyone, and I think that's kind of one of the reasons it still stands out and differentiates a little bit today, is I don't invite anyone onto the show, and I get pitched every single day, literally every single day. But I, so I know my guests, so when I, and I mean that as in not a literal sense that I know them to meet, I'll know them because I would have studied their work or I've watched their TV shows, I've read their books, I've seen them talk on stage, whatever it is, or followed them on socials. 

And because I have that kind of relationship with them, not reciprocated, I'm invested in their story, I understand what they are putting out into the world, and that's made the approach much more authentic for one, but it means it when I get to have the conversation, I don't necessarily need to be worrying about over prepping and things like that, because I kind of know, and I want to have a different conversation with them about things that, just the way my mind works. You know, they may have done an interview on another show, but I strive to ask a different set of questions or dig into a different story arc or whatever, and I think that just really resonates with the guests.

Rick Barron (10:25)

Yeah, I think that's highly key, and I do the same on my end because I think it shows the person that you are interviewing that I have a keen interest in your background, and here's proof of how I can share things with you without you asking me what you know about me? Well, let me tell you, I had a similar person that I interviewed, I'm just getting off topic very quickly and studied their background and I found out that their very first stage debut in acting was they were a frog in one of these, the Christmas story, the Nutcracker. 

And when I shared that little bit of nugget with that person, they said, no one that I know ever knew that. How did you find that out? I said, “Well, it's on the internet. But, you know, I think it surprised them that I took the effort to really dig deep to find out those golden nuggets of information that would be of interest, or that's something, you know, to discuss.

Chris Watson (11:29)

But that's it, isn't it?

That's it, Rick. think that's what comes across in these types of interviews and these conversations. If you're curious about that in the moment, or you're curious about that in terms of reaching out to ask a guest, there must be a reason why. I see others, meaning podcasting, is having such a surge at the moment. There's podcasts being created every other day and everyone wants to be a podcaster.

But you've been doing this a lot longer than I have. Not everyone has longevity. And I think if you're curious about your subject matter and you don't want to just do this for the sake of doing it or its next far, if you show that curiosity, you know, people get that and they'll relate to that. And that's, you know, when I do my show, that's exactly what it is. I'm just curious. These people inspire me, or entertain me, or both and I want to have that conversation with them. 

In my mind, automatically goes to my own curiosities, not the things that's in my head, not necessarily the 10 questions that they may have answered in every other single podcast. And if I can get anyone to say at any point, either on the show or after, that they hadn't been asked that question before or they appreciated the preparation or whatever, that just fills my cup because it's like, I'm not doing that in a contrived way, it's an authentic in a natural way because I'm just curious about it. 

Rick Barron (12:48)

Sure. No, understand. mean, for me, in the beginning when I first did it, yeah, it was a lot of work, but I enjoy it. So, when you started doing the podcasting, how did you go about finding your first guest to speak with? How did that all come together?

Chris Watson (12:54)

Yeah, sorry, I think that was the question you asked me that I didn't answer. So I had the idea, like I say, was ruminating for so long, and that was putting it together in my head, like a presentation, like a pitch deck, and things, and I was like, I wanted to do it in seasons, I wanted, so I didn't get overwhelmed, I wanted this many guests. Initially, it was going to be like 10, then it became 15. 

So, I had a list of people written down in my notes on my iPhone and I had at least 30 because I thought if I can get one out of two to say yes then and even that's a big number when you look at it because one in two people to say yes to someone who's got no credibility it's probably a big ask really but was probably a bit hubris in there initially but I had this list of people and I kind of curated that list a little bit so that it was people that ticked different boxes. 

So, adventure, exploration, the natural world. People who had had serious achievements, accomplishments, and some people who may have done so but were lesser known. And I had that list and I was ruminating on it for so long and I'm sure we'll come to that. 

I one day, I like to keep myself accountable for things and I just had this notion just to sign up to a premium account on LinkedIn and think if I do that and I get past the kind of gatekeeping, because these people must get emails and messages every day, if I do that and they can see that it's a premium account from that and it gets to the other inbox, then that might show a bit of seriousness. And every single person I contacted said yes, and I just couldn't believe it. As the messages started filtering in over those first few days. I was a bit struck by it. was like, because now I thought, shit, I need to actually do this and figure out how to actually record it and stuff. Yeah, it was just a bit of a roller coaster moment. I ruminated for so long, pulled the trigger, and then it just snowballed. I thought, yeah.

Rick Barron (15:22)

Hahaha. Sure. Wow.

So, I think I said, I don't if it was a quote that you mentioned, I think it was on your website. I think I called it out in the introduction, and it was called bridging the moonshot gap. What do you mean by that?

Chris Watson (15:52)

Yeah, I think that was something one of the guests had said. What I, so the strap line for my show, it's called the Adventure Diaries podcast, obviously. And the strap line is stories of adventure exploration in an actual world. And it's to make your life extraordinary. So that's the point. 

So, I will interview people that may have climbed Everest. I've interviewed Terry Virts, who spent the most amount of days in space and the International Space Station. So, there are people who have had these extraordinary achievements that maybe, like you, the average person or I might not ever achieve. 

But what I'm trying to show with that is that they are people just like you and I, that have had grand ideas and ambitions and dreams and they've taken a chance on it and then they've became what they become. So, I get them to talk. 

So, we do the interview and then at the end of the interview I asked them for a call to adventure and I pay it forward. That's, the pay it forward is about giving a platform for charities, projects, and worldly causes that people may not be familiar with. So, it's a way to give back. But the call to adventure is for them to bridge that gap. To give us something that you and I can maybe take a step forward to achieving, whether it's the weekend or whether it's something you want to plan further, a bit more grand in the future.

And those are all tangible things that anybody can do after they listen to the episode. And it might be things that are so obvious, like go for a walk in the park. Right, everyone gets that. But there might be other things that are like describing an analogue adventure to go and do in a very digital world. 

Or a micro-adventure, which is a term most used in the UK, where it might be everyone has a 9 to 5 so when you get to the 5pm have an adventure from 5pm to 9am and that can mean sleeping on a hill under the stars or doing something and these are things that these people that have all these big major adventures they do. 

Things like this they do these little crazy, ambiguous, weird little things, and they talk to us about it, and they encourage us to get out there and take that first step because those first steps can lead to bigger and greater things, not just in the world of adventure, but as you as an individual, if you can make yourself in these little environments and take chances on things that you would have never really thought much about, what that does for your wellbeing and your mental health and your confidence is incredible.

Rick Barron (18:37)

So, to kind of go back to the call to action and the pay forward. Now you've done, I don't know how many episodes you've done, but it sounds like you've done quite a bit over the years. But over that time, that was there. And I guess it's a two-part question from a call to action. Was there one that really resonated with you? Like, wow, I didn't expect to hear that. That was really a very profound thought.

Chris Watson (19:10)

Yeah, mean, yeah, there's so many, because I tried to do most of the things now and I try to encourage others to do it, there's a few things that stick with me. We touched on Terry Virks, like the NASA astronaut. So, he said something to me about don't tell yourself no. Doesn't matter what it is, don't tell yourself no. 

Because he was like, physically he wasn't designed to be a NASA astronaut, right, because of his body shape and he was like, I had listened to the naysayers I might never have done this and would never, you know, never became what I became. And he does talks to children and things and he always says, don't tell yourself no. So if you think you can't go and climb Everest, you know, don't tell yourself you can't. You might not want to, but take steps that might get you to that. 

So that's one thing, that's more from a mental side of things but from an actionable thing. Had a lady, Cathy O'Dowd, was on, who's the first South African lady that climbed Everest from both sides. And she then talked to me about, because I'm not a climber necessarily, I've done a little bit but not much and we have a lot of mountaineers and I said to her, I'm not going to go and climb Everest, quite frankly. 

So, she said to me, take go to an indoor climbing gym. When I'm in my late 40s, I've never done this before, and went and joined the gym, she said, do it with your daughter, and my daughter's, she'll be coming up for a living now. And her and I then joined the climbing gym, and we've been going for the past couple of years, and it's just a good thing for bonding, so me and my daughter go to that. And we've got no intention of doing that outside or going and climbing any mountain. We might go and hike, but we're not gonna go and scale Everest, but I've had someone who's an award winning public speaker speaks all over the world telling me to go and do that and I went and done it and now my daughter I've got a membership and it's good for bonding, it's good for just chatting, it's good exercise.

Rick Barron (21:22)

Sure. So, I'm curious, though, when you started climbing indoors, and I'm using you as the adult and your child. Now as a child, they have no sense of fear. Now, for you, when you started doing it the first time, what went through your head as you were starting to climb up those rocks?

Chris Watson (21:33)

Yeah. I'm not the best at heights. It takes me a little while to kind of get used to that and watching my daughter climb up that because it's a bouldering gym so we're not on harnesses or anything. So, watching her climb up to the top and stuff is a bit nerve wracking. I climb like a piece of scaffolding, so I'm not particularly nimble when it comes to it. I'm very into different sports. I mean, I do a lot of hiking and paddling, so that's more my thing. I mean adventure in any form. It's great, but not for all the mountain years that I Interviewed climbers. I'm not a traditional I'm not a climber and I'm certainly not a mountaineer I like the mountains and I'm skilled to an extent but I'm not I'm not one for ropes and climbing necessarily But yeah, it's good as a parent being protective and stuff, trying to allow my little girl to, not allow her, but to encourage her to push boundaries, but at the same time, you know, worried. No wonder to fall.

Rick Barron (22:44)

Hmm. Well, you want to push the boundaries, but you also have respect for those boundaries, you know, because it goes both ways. Now, as for paying it forward, I'm sure you must have gotten some very interesting replies on that one.

Chris Watson (22:58)

Yeah, so to cover that again, Rick, and for those listening, that's a long-standing segment in the show and it's to give a platform for worthy causes and projects and particularly things that may be important to the guest and this is just about if they can get a platform to talk about it and listeners can go and support it. 

However, that may mean it might be giving time even spreading the word further or maybe even a financial donation, whatever that is. And I've had all the usual things that you would expect. We live in a world where there's a lot of conflict at the moment, so a lot of war zones and we've had Medicines Sans Frontier or Doctors Without Borders that have come up a few times and we've had like the Blue Cross, the Red Cross, we've had cancer charities and they're all great.

But the things that strike me on the show and the things that I really resonate are the things that are lesser known where maybe like funding for example will go direct to the benefactors. And Cathy O'Dowd is another good example, so she recommended I think it was Ladies or the Women of Ruwan Zorri for Women's Health, so that's an organization that's in Uganda in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

And these are nurses that work in these, Western nurses that come over work in these areas and they educate all the mothers about maternal things and looking after babies when they're just born and they create these little packs and they give them to new mothers and stuff and all that money goes directly into these nurses and these parents and mothers in this region and it bypasses the big charity conglomerates that may have different ways of distributing funds, shall we say. 

So, things like that that are high impact for not a lot of money either. Small donations go a considerable way in these areas. And it's things like that that I like when they come up on the show because they really have the opportunity to make real, tangible impacts for people.

Rick Barron (25:28)

That's excellent. Now, as I've been listening, catching up with your shows, I noticed as time progressed, I saw a different cadence. Sometimes I saw episodes that would go for a good hour. Then all of a sudden I saw some going for like 10 minutes, five minutes, and then you get back to another hour. Why the fluctuation in the time? I mean, 

Chris Watson (26:00)

Yeah, that's a good question. So, the show runs in seasons, like you say, season five's coming out, so every season has 15 guests, and those full interviews are at least an hour. Some of them go for an hour and 15, 20. We've had a couple, a handful of outliers that have gone for like two hours. We've split into two parts, fantastic. 

But what I do is I'll release, I'll then extract maybe just a call to adventure, or they pay it forward just as a short sound bite that might be minutes, five, ten minutes and I just released them as separate little episodes but they are extracts from the main episodes so it allows people just to maybe listen to that and think well I'll go and listen to the full episode. 

But I also, what I just started doing there, past couple of months is doing the highlights package as well so from each episode in season four just the highlights so some of the best or craziest moments or whatever that have been discussed just extracting that with a little voiceover and saying here are some of the highlights if you enjoy the highlights then go and listen to the full episode so that's I’m trying to keep more because I think it's like I hate being a slave to an algorithm. 

All this tech nonsense that we have to keep up with as producers of these shows, but if I have long delays between any sort of season, then I think that can impact listenership and things like that. So, I think just keeping that concurrency. It's a system I'm trying to introduce in a minute so that I can have my 15 episodes, some highlights package and then, and just so that there's always a steady stream of content coming. But yeah, it's all a link.

Rick Barron (27:45)

Yeah. No, I like that. I like that. So, again, over the times that you've been talking to so many people of interest were either they like to go sailing or they like to mountain climb or skydiving, whatever it is that they like to dive into. Of all the episodes you've gone through, you talked about the astronaut. He was very interesting. I listened to that one.

But what episode has been the most memorable one that you've remembered the most, that, wow, that was a conversation I just was not expecting, and it was more than I could have ever imagined?

Chris Watson (28:25)

Yeah. There's a couple actually but I'll probably, I'm not sure when this episode will go out but my season five starts on Thursday which is the 26th of February and I've pulled an episode, so of the 15 episodes there was one that was, I was going to put it like episode eight or something like that and I listened to it this week as I was editing it and it has to go as number one and I've contacted, so it's a guy called Jude Crewald and It just speaks to me personally and hopefully others in so many levels. We talk about he'd done an adventure and an expedition in West Africa. So, he's a lovely guy. So, he'd done a big expedition about 10 years ago. He cycled from the UK to India. But then he left. After that adventure, he went into the corporate world for 10 years, but he also had the pool of adventure the whole time.

And then he's went and done this big expedition in Africa. But Jude suffers from some not suffers, but has some conditions as far as ADHD. And we talk about neurodivergence, autism and as and as those conditions, how they how they can become superpowers for the right people and the right environments, how you learn in different environments and what adventure teaches you about that.

 And he's also an adventure mentor. And that conversation, I've literally just been editing and polishing that before we came on here. And it's probably one of the best episodes I think I've done today. And I'm super excited for that to get out on Thursday, because it's all about adventure, but it's reframing some of the mental health issues that people have and hopefully giving people a safer space to listen and acknowledge and hopefully understand those conditions a little bit better. 

Yeah, that's... But there's been so many. I mean, would hate to be a disservice to anyone else that's been on the... I mean, I love every single episode. And what I will say, there's only four episodes that I've recorded that I have never released. So, for anyone and any of my guests that ever hear this episode, take something from that, not that I'm any benchmark by any, but just that if it's been published and it's been put out there, then it's something I think the world wants to hear, because it's certainly struck a chord with me. And yeah, and those people that didn't make the cut, I apologize.

Rick Barron (31:10)

Hmm. Well, you kind of hit on something there about striking a chord. Again, going back to all these individuals that you've spoken to and the stories they've shared with you. What did you learn about yourself as you heard these stories being shared, and some of the joy and even some of the difficulties they encountered? How did that impact you?

Chris Watson (31:37)

Yeah, I think it allows me, makes me feel, I spoke about this before about being in therapy and this being almost like a product on therapy. I think I might have said that earlier, but this was the genesis for me.

Was, you know, being in therapy for a number of years and my therapist brought me back to all the things that brought me joy and all that kind of stuff, understanding myself, own head a little bit more and what really was important to me. And then, and now I've done this show and I'm two and a bit three years into it, season five, having all these conversations and I'm less hung up on all that stuff. I feel I've matured much more as a person. 

I've grown as a person, as cliche as it sounds, but hearing these conversations with these people, people have, they do hard things, they put themselves in degrees of discomfort for the adventure and the excitement and the entertainment, to prove that they can, not prove, but to show that they can do that, but for themselves. But at the same time, a lot of these people have the same insecurities that you and I may have that we never talk about. And I think that's it. 

And at the end of the day, they might have cycled halfway across the world, but they need to go and put the kids to bed. They need to pay the mortgage next week. They need to go and get the car fixed, flat tires at the end of the day, they might have cycled halfway across the world, but they need to go and put the kids to bed. They need to pay the mortgage next week.

They deal with all the same shit that we deal with day in, day out. They're just ordinary people, but they do some extraordinary things, and they still have the same insecurities. And starting to realize that we're all just human and it's that human factor. And social media and all the rest of it, it's too easy to look at people through a tinted lens and think that everything's rosy.

The same shit that we deal with day in day out. They're just ordinary people and if they do some extra ordinary things then they still have the same insecurities and in. It's that human factor and social media and all the rest of it. It's too easy to look at people who are tinted lens and you can find that everything is rosy.

People are just people and that's the thing. When I'm speaking to someone who's like an astronaut, he's some of the most extraordinary things you could ever imagine. And he's just chatting about football and ordinary things and the ordinary things he may do in his home life when he's back in Texas or whatever. And it just opens my mind to what's possible on this planet and it gives me a degree of comfort, also a degree of anxiety. So many things to do, but yeah.

Rick Barron (34:06)

Now I was going to ask you, is there a common thread from all the people you've spoken to? But I think you kind of alluded to that. You know, I think the big one is that we're, whether we realize it or not, we're all in the same boat. We're all human. We all have our faults, weaknesses and strengths. And I mean, has there been anyone that you haven't been able to talk to that does a certain type of adventure that you like to eventually?

I mean, in terms of the people that you've spoken to, people who have gone mountain climbing, scuba diving, sailing, if you will, or even jumping out of an airplane, is there a person or persons who do a particular sport that you haven't had the chance to interview? Who might that be? Or what sport?

Chris Watson (35:27)

There are probably two, there are two actually. So, I've been trying to interview someone who does caving, like going into these weird obscure spaces and into cave systems, subterranean, and that's just kind of fallen through a few times. I've had a few people that I follow and I'm hoping to get them on the show. 

So that, and there's also someone, the bush piloting, so flying airplanes into these remote areas of the jungle, who I've actually got scheduled next week, which I'm quite excited about. 

But for a period I was, I'm not sure if you get this as well, so with your guests, everyone thinks that if you go and get out an A-list celebrity, it's going to change your show if you get them on.

People that have been relatively celebrities and stuff like that but it doesn't always translate into some might have like certain status or loads of followers but it doesn't always translate into necessarily the best conversation or the best reach as well so I'm for a period I was always thinking I have like a top list of people I wanted to go on the show and the reality is the top there's only two people on it that haven't had on the show yet and one of them still to kind of talk him to that I've met in person a couple of times. 

And he's from the TV world so I won't kind of say too much more about that in a minute but yeah I'm hoping that that kind of materializes at some point so less sport but more natural world focused in terms of wildlife and things like that so yeah it's yeah I've got so many topics that's the thing there's so many sub topics.

In my room, I've got three whiteboards, and they're covered with ideas. I've got things printed on the back. And I subscribe to all the magazines and subscribe to BBC Wildlife, National Geographic, Nature.com. I watch all the programs so I've got a list. In fact, actually, I've watched the show alone so I don't know if you're familiar with Alone, the survival TV show. 

Yes, I love that show, and I always have done, and in my very first season, I had the season eight winner. He was was one of the first people that said yes and Clay Hayes came onto the show and that was that was a bit of a couldn't believe it when I was interviewing. 

Just read his book, and I was like so starstruck as well, even more so than I was when I did the ten reverse and Clay, and I have exchanged messages a few times over the years, but that was becoming a bit of a theme that I've kind of dropped a little bit because I've had three winners from the Alone show on the show, or at least three contestants on the show. So, we're trying to not chase celebrity status for the guest skill. I think that everybody, particularly people I follow, have a good story to tell and they don't need to be celebrities.

Rick Barron (38:36)

Sure.

Chris Watson (38:49)

There could be someone with 500 followers on Instagram for all that that matters. But just something cool and interesting that I would like to chat about.

Rick Barron (38:59)

Now I agree with what you're saying in terms of doesn't have to be a celebrity. mean, I've had, I had one celebrity and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But when we started the interview, they were the complete opposite of what you saw on, on screen. I mean, they were just a regular individual. It just really stunned me. thought, wow.

Chris Watson (39:17)

Yeah.

Rick Barron (39:26)

Well, I mean, I guess I figure that's what makes them a good actor, you know. So how does your child feel about this podcast that you do? She must be very curious to see how you pull all this together.

Chris Watson (39:29)

Yeah, she loves it. So, my little girl, Nina, I actually interviewed her on the podcast. So, she had a school project. Yeah, so she had to do a report on the Amazon River. So, I said I would interview her on the podcast and I gave her some homework in addition to the school's homework.

I thought she'd done incredible. So, she came on the show, we recorded it, it's on YouTube, and it was released on audio. And some of the people who follow me, there's a lady, Alison, who follows me. I think she works in a school somewhere. And she sent me a lovely message after it that they listened to Nina's episode in school as well. So, Nina was on the podcast and then a lot of school kids down south in England had heard her chatting about the Amazon. So yeah, I'm hoping that she becomes a part of this at some point, she can help with my research, editing, or something.

Rick Barron (40:41)

You never know. You never know. That's great.

I'm glad she was able to participate and get a sense of what you do and your role here. I guess the question I have is with everything that you've done thus far, is there anything you would have done differently now that you know what you know?

Chris Watson (40:47)

Yeah, think I'm a, I over, I kind of what I said, maybe it sounds a bit counter intuitive to what I've said earlier. I know all my guests and all their stories and know them from afar, but maybe over preparing for the interviews or even actually classing them as an interview. 

I think what I've started, the language I've started using over the past couple of seasons is conversation and conversation frames. So, when I speak to someone, I'll share that on email and say, look, here's a list of topics. It's a conversation frame. Whereas when I started, it was maybe like two pages of 'here are all the topics and the like,' potential questions I would ask you. 

And I didn't, I never felt comfortable with that at the time, but I just felt that I had to do something to prepare and over-prepare and that's, I think looking back now, I'll just say to myself, take it easy, don't stress about it, it's not over thinking it because I'm not accountable to anybody on this. Which is, it's different when I'm in a day job and you have to prepare. know, it's, know, win or lose and it can be on my neck, you know, if we don't put our best foot forward. Whereas this, I mean, I've got nobody to, I have to relax a bit.

Rick Barron (42:03)

No, no, I totally agree because I, that's what I did in very beginning too. And there were moments when, my wife would come into the office and she would see me walking back and forth, talking to myself, thinking out loud. And she just grabbed me one time, and she said, " Look, you're overthinking this. You've got this.” And that finally hit me like, you know, you're right, you know, but like you, you, you want to have a good conversation, a very constructive conversation that is meaningful. And I think to that end, when people come to your podcast, and I'm going to be really happy to start promoting this even more so off my website. 

What would be the walk away if you come to this podcast? Here is what I hope you will take away and understand why I did this and why I'm doing it.

Chris Watson (43:19)

Yeah, so the main reason that I started doing it, and I touched on this in another podcast, is I like that chap Judah just spoke about. for a big period, so immersed in my corporate life, I wasn't taking care of myself as much as getting outdoors. It was just work, work, work, work all the time. And I felt that this was all slipping away. You know, I was not having as much adventure. I wasn't having as much time outdoors.

I was going on holidays or vacations but I wasn't doing the things that I like to do that I get passionate about and I felt I had to do something because I was slipping into middle age and then I was worried about getting to that point of no return. So thought if I start talking about this and I start saying this and start having these conversations and start talking about these things then you kind of manifest it but you know not in a woo woo way you make yourself accountable to do it.

And that's exactly what I've done. So, as part of it, I now run like many expeditions. So, these like three, four day events every year in the summer with my friends out into the wilds of Scotland, kayaking, camping, know, proper wilderness areas with a bunch of guys that we've never really done that before. 

We all partied back in the day. We've all kind of went our separate ways into our kind of settled lives a little bit, but bringing that together and you know, showing people what we can still do as well as, you know, you don't need to be one thing. You can live multiple sense of the lives to an extent. You can be adaptable, but there's so much out there that, and that was it. I just wanted to make sure that I kept myself accountable and I am bringing other people along on that journey. Some of them like it. Some of them are just going with it.

Going by the flow I think. it's exactly that. It's filling my cup, it's keeping me accountable. I'm loving life and loving all the stuff that we're doing now. And it's opened so many doors. It's the things that I dreamt about as a little kid. know, Indiana Jones and all that. Watching all that stuff and all the nature programmes and never knowing what was possible. Now I've built a career, a successful, relatively successful career for me.

It's a career I'll continue with but this, besides whatever we call this, this gives me the outlet for all the things that I want to do that I never thought were possible. And now I'm getting opportunities to go to places that are just incredible. You've got things booked later this year as well. 

So, we're doing another expedition in Scotland around the Isle of Skye, kayaking with the same guys again, potentially going out to Uganda for an expedition across three of the national parks, and doing some stuff out in Vancouver Island later in July as well. Orcas that have been invited out. So, it's just yeah, yeah, just not enough. I don't have enough annual leave now. And I've got family commitments. So, the biggest problem I to solve now.

Rick Barron (46:30)

HahahaYeah. But just think about all those trips, you're probably going to come across other individuals that you can do a podcast interview with. I mean, just think of the opportunities that are just waiting for you. But, you know, I think like for me, I'm very close to Yosemite. So working in the corporate world, like you have, you know, I'm retired now, but there were moments where we took trips there, and you're walking down in the valley and you're just looking at El Capitan and it's the sheer silence just I don't know it's just like you feel I mean I know I'm getting melodramatic here but it's almost like you feel the Lord's hand on your shoulder like, hey calm down you know just relax but no I hear what you're saying

Chris Watson (47:07)

Yeah, that's it. Think going back to actually answer your question, I went in a bit of a ramble there, but to answer that question, if people come to the show, I want people to, and hopefully they do without me trying to convince you that you'll realize that the stories in the conversations are authentic, absolutely about adventure, exploration and natural world subjects, wildlife and things like that.

Rick Barron (47:33)

Yeah

Chris Watson (47:52)

I want it to open your eyes and your heart and your ears to what's out there in the world. You might have heard about Yosemite, but have you heard about search and rescue in Yosemite? So that's an episode that's coming, you know, Vancouver Island. Do you know about the sea wheels in Vancouver Island or when to go and paddle with orcas? Or you what about Uganda? you know? There are all these things.

Because I like to say it's fulfilling my armchair exploration, but enabling my actual adventures as well. So in one of the seasons I had someone talk to me all about Uganda and I was like mind blown after it. And I spent hours on YouTube and I couldn't believe it. And some of the scenery I was like, I need to get there. 

And then two years later, we're hopefully going in October for 11 days around some of these national parks and stuff, potentially trekking for guerrillas, as well as cycling and pack rafting and stuff. And yeah, it's just mad. And last year, I mean, going off in a rant now, but last year I was invited over to the US as well. just through the show, I went to Utah and Colorado and pack rafting with people in the industry and just lovely people just to sit and have a coffee with or a beer. it was, yeah.

It just opens your eyes. The world that's out there and the people that are out there, the connections, it's just phenomenal. It really is.

Rick Barron (49:26)

Imagine, and if you hadn't started the podcast.

Chris Watson (49:28)

Exactly, that's the point. That's the point. I mean, I'm doing it for me first and foremost, but by proxy, it's helping other people because I, you know, through the segments on it, I'm messages that people are reconnecting with loved ones or family members that they haven't really maybe connected with in a long time going doing obscure things at the weekend. And I've had people that I had a lovely message from someone who was pretty much going through a midlife crisis and I think quite poorly and listening to an episode, had made them go do a triathlon after it, I couldn't believe it. 

And it's like, it's just, look, it's just these little messages, it's designed to be, it's not designed to be dramatic entertainment, it's a proper, authentic story about someone's lived experience on an adventure, but then it's about what can you do now, you don't put the headphones off and go about your day. I want it to linger with you and leave something where you go and actually start planning. Are you going to pick up the phone to your brother or your sister or your mother or your father and go and do something at the weekend or at the end of the month or whatever? So I want people to listen and act on it and just enjoy themselves a little bit more.

Rick Barron (50:39)

I hear you. That makes great sense. 

Well said. So as I end the show, Chris, I try to end it with some speed round questions. I think you're kind of familiar with this because I think I've heard you do some of these questions on your podcast. So I've got five of them. I shared them with you. So, I think you're going to be ready for this. 

What was your best live concert you ever attended and why?

Chris Watson (50:56)

Yep. Oh Oasis which was in August 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland because it was nothing like pure nostalgia from 1990. It brought me right back to 1995 and I had the time of my life.

Rick Barron (51:34)

You hit a chord with me on that one. What do wish you had more time to do?

Chris Watson (51:50)

Adventure.

Rick Barron (51:52)

Adventure. Why didn't I figure that one out? That's a good one. 

What was your first paying job?

Chris Watson (51:57)

Yeah, paying job? What was my first paying job? Well, the first thing that ever paid me, I used to watch football, I used to watch cars, this is a thing in the UK, not so much now that when, like soccer, so when people drive to the stadium and park their cars in all the little housing areas, we used to go up and ask them, do you want us to look after your car?

As in, we will stop people breaking into your car, but if we look after it, you pay us money. We used to make lots of money, so it was kind of entrepreneurial as a kid. So, we used to get lots of money for making sure people didn't break in or set fire to cars.

Rick Barron (52:39)

Hahaha.

Okay, I like that. Okay, here's what I think might be dear to your heart. If your wife and your daughter wrote a book about you, what would the title be?

Chris Watson (52:56)

The Misadventures of a Daft Scotsman, which I think I've said before.

Rick Barron (53:07)

Okay, last question. What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

Chris Watson (53:16)

That's a fantastic question. What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

That, I would, I would sail around the world and arrive in Antarctica and cross Antarctica. So, sail around, arrive in the Drake, through the Drake Passage, and then across, traverse Antarctica. Yeah. Antarctica is one of those things I want to get to. Yeah.

Rick Barron (53:41)

Wow. Why Antarctica?

Chris Watson (53:55)

It's like a few places on the planet, I've had a bit of an obsession with that forever and I've interviewed quite a few people on the show that have been there and done some extraordinary things and I want to go and I want to test myself in that kind of environment but I'd like to do it in a way that I can guarantee safety but yeah I mean I think I'd definitely go to Antarctica at some point and maybe do something there but certainly not to the extremes that the people that I interview I'm not, not that I'm not bold, is that I'm just not, there's other things I want to save my time and energy and resources for but I definitely want to go to the continent and experience it at some point. That's a great question; I absolutely love that question. Yeah, I might actually nick that, yeah.

Rick Barron (54:44)

Okay. Use it on your show.

Chris Watson (54:53)

I'm going to be thinking about that all night now. I could have said something political as well, or world hunger and all that cliché nonsense, but I wanted to keep it to adventure, hopefully.

Rick Barron (55:09)

No, no worries. I love that. So, Chris, I really want to thank you for taking the time to share your world and podcast the world of adventure. I think you provided a lot of key insights. Think people will have learned a lot of things that were so obvious, but they just didn't realize it until they heard from someone who has kind of taken that travel down the road and has met so many people who have gone in different directions.

To test their adventure spirit. They all have different stories. They all have different outcomes and different meanings. But I wanted to thank you for that. And to our audience, I thank you so much for joining us. And I'll make sure to provide Chris's website. And please, please go to the website. But more importantly, go to his podcast. I've listened to almost all of the episodes. I'm almost caught up.

Everyone has its own unique story and I promise you, you're going to enjoy it. So to that end, I thank you all very much and we'll see you soon.