Quadruple amputee, Tom Nash, is one of the funniest and most inspirational people we've met. So it was an absolute delight to welcome him as our guest on this episode of The One Way Ticket Show.

In our conversation, Tom shares how he lost all four of his limbs after a devastating brush with a deadly disease over twenty years ago. Coming as close to death as one ever can, he spent over 18 months in hospital, surviving a coma, life support and having to re-learn to walk using prosthetics.

He then had to learn to navigate life with prosthetic hooks for hands.

None of that stopped Tom.

He launched a career as a musical artist, first as a guitarist in a band, later as a nightclub DJ. Tom subsequently went on to enjoy remarkable success in the music industry, starting his own nightclub brand in 2006, curating music as DJ Hookie and producing numerous records.

He has since gone on to become one of the most in-demand DJs in his native Australia, playing sell-out shows across various countries and playing host to some of Australia's biggest music festivals. He is the co-owner of a successful Entertainment company, and a platinum-producing record label. The nightclub brand he started became the longest running weekly club brand in Australia.

Tom is now a Global Keynote Speaker, inspiring audiences with thought-provoking takes on Antifragility — moving beyond resilience — and how embracing challenges can turn adversity into advantage. He has graced the stages of some of the world's largest conferences and festivals including TED and SXSW. Tom's unique talent for captivating people with his personal story, his dark sense of humor and his incredible wit are distilled into grounded philosophies for life from which everyone can draw wisdom. Tom's unapologetic attitude towards dealing with adversity renders him deserving of the platform he so eloquently uses, speaking openly with sincerity and candor to a full gamut of audiences.

Tom's latest book 'Hook, Line & Sinner' was published through Penguin Random House in 2023, and his TEDx talk has amassed over two and a half million views on TED.com.

You can also catch Tom on his fabulous YouTube show, 'Last Meal with Tom Nash'.

Apart from sharing his remarkable journey and offering insight into thriving amidst adversity, Tom shares his one way ticket to the year 3333.

In addition to being a fan of symmetry (which played into the year he selected), Tom would like to venture into the future (with his partner Lauren and his Italian Greyhound), to see how much we would have explored space by then, how we harvest energy, medical advances achieved, to meet the person in 3333 who's at the forefront of technological innovation, and more.

Tom takes us on a wild ride, so fasten your seat belts!

LINKS:

www.tomnash.com

go.ted.com/tomnash

instagram.com/djhookie

x.com/djhookie

https://www.youtube.com/@lastmealtomnash

I've been following, Assita Kanko, Member of European Parliament on social media for quite some time, so it was a true thrill to welcome her into the studio as our latest guest on The One Way Ticket Show.

Ms. Kanko was born on July 14, 1980, in Godyr, Burkina Faso. She grew up in a society where women's rights were severely restricted and was subjected to female genital mutilation as a child. At a young age, she began writing about human rights and women's rights. In 2001, she moved to Belgium, where she eventually became a naturalized citizen. She studied journalism and political science and became a well-known voice in public debate, working as an author, opinion maker, and human rights activist.

Since 2019, Ms. Kanko has been a Member of the European Parliament for the N-VA party, affiliated with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. Within the Parliament, she serves on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), where she focuses on issues such as migration, security, women's rights, and the fight against human trafficking. She is a vocal advocate for a controlled migration policy and the protection of Europe's external borders. Ms. Kanko also champions women's empowerment, equal opportunities, and the defense of European values.

In our conversation, Ms. Kanko shares her journey from being a journalism student and activist in her native Burkina Faso, to being a powerful voice in Brussels.

Plus, she covers:

1. The stigma attached to being a conservative black woman
2. How it angers her that we still need to discuss protecting women against radical Islam
3. Why the rape of Israeli women on October 7th demonstrates that rape as a weapon of war is not treated the same everywhere (and her relentless fight against those who act as if the rapes and mutilations never took place)
4. Why UN Women and UNRWA need to be dissolved such that their funding can go to better use
5. Why the most important issue nobody is talking about today is Russia and China's involvement in the Sahel region
6. Why Europe needs to invest in its industries and defense
7. The one thing every visitor should do when traveling to Belgium.

As for her "one way ticket" destination of choice? It's to New York City, sometime in the not too distant future, where she'll bring her grandmother, mother and daughter with her.

This is a fascinating conversation that I know you'll enjoy.

You can follow Ms. Kanko on:

Instagram: @assita_kanko

X: @Assita_Kanko

Facebook: KankoAssita

https://www.assita-kanko.be/

On this episode, we welcome back to the program, journalist and author, Joshua Hammer who was our guest back on episode 112 in September 2016.

Joshua's career has included serving as Newsweek Bureau Chief in, Nairobi, Buenos Aires, LA, Berlin, Jerusalem and Cape Town. His work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, National Geographic and the Smithsonian just to name a few publications.

He is a New York Times bestselling author of six books, including The Falcon Thief and The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (which we talked about in our last conversation).

Joshua's just released and latest book is: The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing, published by Simon & Schuster.

In the course of the conversation we dive deep into this fascinating book – everything from the Royal Asiatic Society's 1857 Great Cuneiform Challenge and the gentlemen who took part in it, to the difficulty of the digs in the Near East, to the "Assyrian Fever" (as Joshua calls it) that swept London in 1851- 1852, to the origins of the British Museum, to the topic of cultural appropriation of a country or people's national patrimony, and more.

In keeping with the theme of the show, should he take a one way ticket back in time, Joshua shared what he would tell scholars and archeologists in the mid 19th century about how their work resonates today.

As for Joshua's own one way ticket destination, it's still to Manhattan in 1967.

Do check out Joshua's other books: Chosen by God: A Brother's Journey; A Season in Bethlehem: Unholy War in a Sacred Place; and Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II.

Alberto Nicheli is the Founder of the travel operator, TransAfrica.

For the last 40 years, Alberto, who was born in Italy, has made the West African nation of Togo his home. He knows Africa intimately, having done his first Trans-Sahara expedition in 1972 and having developed an expertise on West African tribes and art. Over the decades, he's shared his knowledge with authors and filmmakers who want to better understand that part of the world.

Our conversation with Alberto took place in a very lively New York City restaurant while he was in town for the Travel & Adventure Show.

In our chat we cover everything from voodoo to photography to TransAfrica's 55 day Great Expedition, to tribal Africa, to some unexpected destinations to visit in West Africa (including Liberia and Ivory Coast), to my upcoming trip to Guinea Bissau with TransAfrica, and a whole lot more.

We begin with Alberto sharing his one way ticket to scouting in West Africa. He features how scouting is an "artistic way of doing things", how he breaks the ice when approaching a village for the first time, and how for him "adventure is culture". Plus, Alberto offers why he never scouts without a corkscrew!

For information on TransAfrica's fascinating journeys, visit: https://transafrica.biz/en/

Our latest guest on The One Way Ticket Show is world-renowned Garden Designer, Madison Cox. The interview was conducted in September 2024 in the Willis Pavilion, beside the house today known as Villa Oasis which was built by French Orientalist painter, Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s, and later owned by Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé. Adjacent to the home is the famed Majorelle Garden.

Madison was born September 23, 1958, in Bellingham, Washington, and raised in San Francisco and Marin County, California. As a garden designer and author of books about gardens, he has traveled extensively across the United States and Europe as well as to Japan, China, Russia, India, North Africa, and Australia.

Madison's passion for garden design has also extended to lecturing, leading garden tours in France and Italy, and book publications. He has lectured across the United States and Canada: at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as at the Portland Garden Club and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Madison Cox is the author of Private Gardens of Paris (Harmony Books, 1989), co-author of Gardens of the World (Macmillan, 1991), and with photographer Erica Lennard, of Artists' Gardens: from Claude Monet to Jennifer Bartlett (Abrams, 1993), and Majorelle: A Moroccan Oasis (Vendome Press, 1999). Cox wrote the preface for The Gardener's Garden (Phaidon, 2014).

He was the first American to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 1997, and won a Silver-Gilt Medal.

Madison is a member of the following institutions:

- President, Fondation Pierre Berge – Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, France

- President, Foundation Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech, Morocco

- Co-Chairman of the American Schools of Tangier and Marrakech in Morocco

- Advisory Board Member, The Aangan Trust, Mumbai, India

- Patron, American Friends of Blérancourt, France

- Board of Directors TALIM (The American Legation in Morocco)

In our conversation, Madison shares his one way ticket destination of choice is to Morocco. His first visit to the country was in 1979. While he was a student in Paris, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé invited him as part of a small group down to Marrakech for a long weekend.

During our sit-down, Madison covers:

- The difference between Marrakech in the 1970s and today

- The nostalgia for Tangier (where Madison has a home)

- The rich backstory behind Villa Oasis and the Majorelle Garden

- Yves Saint Laurent's love for Morocco (he first visited in 1966) and how the country significantly impacted his work

- The Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts which is housed in the former painting studio of Jacques Majorelle, in the garden

- The Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech

- How Morocco has impacted his own approach to designing gardens.

Plus, J. Paul Getty, Edith Wharton, Winston Churchill, FDR, and the photographer Horst, all make appearances in the interview.

On this episode of the podcast, we're joined by Frédéric Sola, the founder and owner of Fez's Riad Laaroussa and Fez Real Estate.

In our conversation, Fred shares his one way ticket journey to mental health stability which manifested in Fez. He opens up about his own experience suffering from depression -- which began in his mid 30s amidst a successful career in finance in London and Paris – and how he has worked to live with and manage it all these years later.

He went on to describe how he fell in love with Fez on his first visit in 2003, so much so, that he bought Riad Laaroussa in 2005. After 18 months of intensive renovations on the 17th century structure whose past life included serving as a koranic school, he opened the riad as a hotel-spa-restaurant in October 2006. It is, what I describe as, "Morocco meets minimalist chic".

For Fred, the allure of Fez is not only visceral, but therapeutic. He offers that in Fez "you can feel this medieval atmosphere, a feeling of being surrounded by a cocoon. Or being in a cocoon. Or let's say a riad can create the feeling of a cocoon."

After settling into his new surroundings, in 2007, Fred met his future wife, Cathy Bellafronto, an American diplomat working in project development in Morocco. They married 3 years later and between 2011-2013 adopted 4 children from the Fez orphanage.

Our interview features many thoughtful comments from Fred about what makes Fez magical, the importance of community, travel (he, Cathy and the kids took a year off and drove down the Pacific coast from the US to Chile in a mobile home) and mental illness (where he believes "part of the recovery is accepting your disease").

Fred's story really typifies what The One Way Ticket Show is all about – interesting people, doing interesting things, with something interesting to say. On top of that, Fred is truly living his one way ticket journey!

Fred closes the interview with one piece of advice: "Enjoy the present, that's all we have".

Frédéric Sola on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederic-sola-20a0b87b/, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frederic.sola1

Riad Laaroussa: https://riad-laaroussa.com/

Fez Real Estate: https://www.fez-realestate.com

Journey Beyond Travel: https://www.journeybeyondtravel.com

Given Jew-hatred and virulent anti-Israel rhetoric spiraling out of control, particularly on college campuses, we've invited Shai Davidai to be our featured guest on this episode of the program.

Shai is Assistant Professor in the Management Division of Columbia University Business School. His research examines people's everyday judgments of themselves, other people, and society as a whole.

Born and raised just outside Tel-Aviv, Shai received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 2015. Before joining Columbia Business School, Shai spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton and 3 years as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research.

Following the barbaric October 7th 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, Shai has faced deplorable treatment from Columbia University for standing up for Israel and the rights of Jewish students on campus. Today, he's a leading face and voice in the fight against Jew-hatred and Israel-bashing.

Our conversation begins with Shai sharing his one way ticket to the safety of his late Grandmother's couch in Givatayim, just outside of Tel Aviv. While on weekend breaks from his university studies in Jerusalem, Shai would visit his Savta (Grandmother) Lydia. Together they would talk, smoke, drink Turkish coffee and enjoy her signature Romanian cheesecake. And at some point, Shai would fall asleep on her couch.

Shai shares that Savta Lydia, who was from Bucharest, was studying to be a doctor. Aged 19 and after her first year of university, despite good grades, she was called into the Dean's office and told she wouldn't be able to continue her studies because the university met its quota of Jews. That, plus her being a woman, didn't fit the university's agenda. Realizing she had no future as a Jew in Romania, she packed up and traveled solo to Israel to chart a new course. Her biggest regret in life, Shai offers, is that she didn't become a doctor.

We continue our chat with Shai highlighting:

1) How the first protests at Columbia supporting the October 7th attack (organizing began the evening of October 7th while terrorists were still in Israel!) took place at the university on October 12th before one IDF soldier set foot in Gaza and four days after Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel's north. On the 12th, approximately 800 students, faculty and staff came out to celebrate "the historic day" (their words). They used slogans like "resistance by any means necessary" (which for them meant rape, murder and kidnapping civilians was "necessary"). For me, not sure what the need was for resistance since Israel had left Gaza 18 years before and thousands of Gazans would cross into Israel daily to work.

2) The Kafkaesque treatment he's received from Columbia University, simply for speaking out, not against the protestors or their hatred, but against Columbia's administration for allowing the hatred to fester and take root. For exercising his first amendment rights, he's been banned from Columbia's campus. This includes the Columbia Hillel.

3) His goal in speaking out is to push the message that we have a problem for support of anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American terrorism in academia.

4) How US professors openly support US designated terrorist groups, e.g., Hamas and the Houthis, but only ones that target Jews (you won't see support for Boko Haram). How the same professors and others remained and remain silent on, for example, the October 7th attack and the burning of synagogues worldwide.

5) Jewish students being verbally and physically attacked on campuses and denied entry into their public campus spaces.

6) The silent, slanted and biased behavior of international aid organizations like the Red Cross (which to this day has not visited one single hostage), UNRWA, or Amnesty International which engages in historical revisionism.

7) How the anti-Israel and Jew-hating protests are in fact anti-democratic and also anti-American.

8) What starts with the Jews doesn't end with the Jews.

This is a powerful episode to be heard more than once and shared widely.

For more from Shai, tune into his podcast: Here I Am With Shai Davidai.

Also, follow Shai on all social media: @shaidavidai