Season 2. Episode 4: Nomad: The World Is My Beat: A Tale of 2 Cities, A Tale of 2 Divas (Overland from Paris to LA)
What happens when BBC interviews go spectacularly wrong and real news breaks all around you?**
Join me on the most chaotic journalism assignment of my career – a journey that started with two simple celebrity interviews and spiraled into a three-week David Lynch-esque nightmare in Los Angeles.
THE SETUP:Two BBC interviews lined up – an opera singer in Germany and a famous dancer for a TV pilot in LA. Two trips, two divas. What could go wrong?
THE REALITY: Everything. The opera singer cancels (after I’ve gone massively out of my way to Germany). The dancer threatens to kill me in LA. But when the Malibu fires break out, I ditch the celebrity chaos to chase real news, pushing past police barriers where “there’s no rescue beyond this point.”
THE ROUTE: Paris → Germany (massive detour for the opera singer) → Iceland → Montreal → Los Angeles (because when you’re committed to overland travel by sea and land, even cancelled interviews become epic detours)
🚢 *THE ESCAPE:* After a traumatic three-week ordeal that left me with PTSD, I flee LA on a Norwegian cruise ship, surrounded by 1,000 retired Americans sailing through Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, and Guatemala. Finally safe… or so I thought.
🚌 *THE TWIST:* Just as we dock in San Diego, a migrant caravan from Honduras reaches the US border. While my fellow passengers cycle to the zoo, I grab a taxi to Tijuana to cover the story – and somehow end up interviewing Peggy Guggenheim’s grandson at a migrant camp.
This is travel journalism meets investigative reporting meets survival story. It’s about the journalist’s curse of never being able to ignore the real story, even when you’re supposed to be on a luxury cruise recovering from trauma.
*Warning:* Contains themes of journalism PTSD, celebrity dysfunction, and the strange magnetism of breaking news.
Two cities. Two divas. One unforgettable journey that changed everything.
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*WHAT TO EXPECT:*
– The Assignment from Hell
– Arrival via Iceland & Montreal
– The Opera Singer’s German Cancellation
– When TV Pilots Turn Deadly
– The Dancer’s Death Threat
– Into the Malibu Fire Zone
– Three Weeks of LA Madness
– Escape by Norwegian Cruise
– 1,000 Retired Americans & Me
– The Migrant Caravan Arrives
– Crossing the Border in San Diego
– Peggy Guggenheim’s Grandson
– Reflections on Trauma & Travel
*SUBSCRIBE* for more overland travel stories where everything goes wrong but somehow becomes unforgettable.
#TravelJournalism #BBC #LosAngeles #MigrantCrisis #TraumaAndTravel #OverlandJourney
Welcome to Nomad the World is my beat. I’m journalist Leisa Foreman and I’m taking you around the world with me in my suitcase. In this episode, we will be revisiting an overland trip I took between Paris and Los Angeles in 2018. In fact, there were two trips because this episode is not only the story of two cities and two lives, but it’s also the story of two divas. And what I mean by that is that these trips and how they unfolded and the roots that I took in part were determined by two total divas who um messed me around like crazy. One was an opera singer that I was supposed to interview for the BBC in Germany, but once my tickets had already been booked, she cancelled. And I was actually heading to LA overland. And so I ended up doing a big detour through Bowden before on that particular trip, continuing up through Denmark, taking an overland boat on Smeiraline to Iceland, from Heringan, hitching a ride from a fellow passenger to Recuik, getting to Recuik, taking part in Gay Pride cuz it happened to be going on that weekend. [Music] [Applause] [Music] flying, which I hate to do, but couldn’t find um sea, water transport, boat transport between Iceland and Canada into Montreal. and flying again into LA on that trip because of timing reasons. Now, the second diva is a dancer from Paris. And the reason I moved to Paris, even though I’m a dancer, I was um supposed to study dance and didn’t. And a couple of times in my life, people have spotted the dancer in me. And she was one of them. and why I ended up moving here in 2018 to repay her and to try and help her out because she was in a tough part in her career in a tough spot. I offered to take her with me to some of my um jobs, you know, places I work which happened to include of course fabulous uh places like can for the film festival and Paris fashion week. But unfortunately, well, a lot of people in France know this because she’s pretty famous and famous for this. She was so bipolar that on that particular trip, she cancelled. And that actually is how this show was born because once I did make it to LA on that particular route, on that particular summer in 2018, I have spent a significant part of my life in LA and will probably always call it home. Um, and I did reconnect with my old friends and family and and the producer just suggested, “Let’s do a show on you instead called Nomad, the world is my beat, following a journalist around the world.” That’s Caroline Shine. Thank you for that. That’s why we’re here putting this show together. Now, I spent six weeks that summer in Silver Lake exploring what it’s like to be a producer and stay in a wonderful house with not only a great person but a great swimming pool. So, that was trip one. I planned at that point to divide my time between LA and and Paris because I work extensively in Europe and no one these days wants to pay for a journalist to fly across the pond six times a year. The pandemic changed all that. But right before the pandemic, I did a couple of epic trips to LA which involved a lot of slow travel. It wasn’t as straightforward as none of my trips are A to B. I didn’t cross the Atlantic in a boat. I couldn’t find anyone to host me. But on trip two, I returned to Los Angeles, flying in in October 2018 with a famous dancer from Paris with the with a view to putting together a show that a producer we met in can wanted to do with the two of us. Unfortunately, the dancer in question ended up threatening to kill me. um getting her friends with guns to arrive at the producers’s house, sleeping with a 10-in knife under her pillow in our apartment, abandoning me every 4 minutes, and using my contacts to try and set up work, she just went crazier and crazier. And although I’d moved to Paris to dance thanks to the encouragement of this person, earlier that year, when I returned, I was thrown out of her dance class and I lost two homes and €10,000. and I was never repaid and never thanked. So that’s not great, is it? So anyway, I had a 3-w week period in LA with this dancer that could be the basis of a brilliant David Lynch film from arriving in a friend’s house in the Pacific Palisades on a dark, windy road. And she didn’t like the house cuz it wasn’t clean enough. and she had a friend with her that claimed he was a security guard, but his parents ran an ice cream shop. And they and they ran off together and tried to leave me there. And about an hour later, I was thrown out of their car on the middle of um Main Street in Santa Monica. I’d lived in Santa Monica for a long time, so I wheeled my suitcase to a hotel where I’d been a member of a gym, completely shell shocked that I’d actually used my last money not only to go to LA once, but twice now for this dancer. And this is what had happened. Thankfully, one of my old buddies wonders out of the gym at 11:00 at night, hosted me for the night and so on. And in the middle of all that, the 2018 fires started in the in Malibu. So, it was out of the frying pan and into the fire because the next day I drove down there. Um, a policeman looked at my press pass and said to me, “Ma’am, there’s no rescue beyond this point.” Meaning that if I went in, I was on my own. But I did. And I continued to follow the story. I reported on it for the Daily Beast. I went to town hall meetings for the people that had lost homes to um temporary shelters that had been set up in sports halls. Drove through the fire area and yeah, I mean now the fires this year have devastated even the area where I was staying that year in the Pacific Palisad. [Music] [Music] fire is still burning. Can you tell me about your day in the last few days? There’s just little spots all over the place that we’re still trying to uh put out. So, it’s everywhere in people’s backyards around the houses. We might have seen some of the worst devastation here in Malibu. I ain’t never seen what you said. The worst devastation in Malibu. here in Malibu. Oh, it’s everywhere. All across the entire Somebody on the beach. What are they doing there? I’m here with Robert Salis, a firefighter for the Los Angeles uh County Fire Department. We’re here at the Malibu um fire station, which obviously has been front and center at the uh Wy fires, which have been raging now for several days. Robert, can you tell me about your last few days um how hard that’s been, what you’ve seen, and what the situation is today? Uh just really intense fire conditions blowing through starting Thursday uh afternoon on the other side about 10 miles along the 101 freeway there. Uh really volatile conditions, a lot of structures on fire, mostly just protecting structures and trying to prevent loss. A lot of good work being done. A lot of a lot of good saves, but a lot of house lost as well. On this side, when it came in, it was extreme conditions about as bad as it gets in Malibu. Probably because 5 years of drought that we’ve had is on in addition to the winds that we see every year. Uh unfortunately we still had uh not all the resources that would have been ideal. A ton of saves and a ton of good work but a lot of loss too. So the community is hurting for sure badly and we’re still kind of figuring out exactly what’s going on. Patrolling the areas, make sure we don’t have any restarts on all the saves we’ve had. There still is smoldering areas that we got to go out and patrol and make sure and just trying to help members of the community as much we can. The loss is bad. uh really bad unfortunately. Um so we’re just gathering as a community to do all we can kind of figure things out still. And you mentioned resources. What are you missing and how do you feel about Trump saying he might cut resources? Yeah, that I don’t think he meant I I would imagine when he talked about force I think he’s talking about Northern California. So I think here we don’t actually have force here in Malibu. it’s all just brush and there’s not a ton of management that’s going to be done with that. I think what he meant was there I guess. I really don’t even know. Uh as far as resources go, obviously when you have multiple fires at the same time, you have a limit on what you can draw from. So it created a situation where we needed to draw from out of state. So there’s that delay on those resources unfortunately. Although we had a good a very solid amount of resources and we had extra staff on duty in Malibu and were completely aware of uh the risk factors and what was happening as our administration LA County Fire did 100% prepared. However, it’s overwhelming when you talk about mother nature which is undefined. Unfortunately, there’s wins and losses. Overall looks good considering what could have been cuz you really could have lost everything. However, it’s still you always feel like you want to do better. Any of it. Any of it. So, you know, you feel that loss in both sides. As far as Trump, I don’t I really there’s only limited resources and the uh professionals that we have serving us are making the best decisions they can in real time. So, I hear a lot of people asking, and I know there’s some questions coming up about how we’re going to be able to find out whose home is burned. And I spent a lot of time today talking with our city attorney about the best way to do this. Here’s the problem. If I drive by a street and I see that there’s a structure been that has been burnt and I report it as damaged and a home is missing, but it’s really a shed or a barn or a garage, then I’m wrong. and I’ve just told you. So, in any case, my um life continued and my my trip continued. And thank you to Amtrak who put me on a train to New Orleans where I met some great friends like a lady called Jill from Texas. Traveled slowly into New Orleans, which I had also never seen. Had a great time listening to musicians. Made some friends in the ninth ward. Mayen who’s an African dance teacher who I then subsequently organized a dance workshop for in Paris. [Music] [Music] in New Orleans at the dance class of Civo West African Dance and Drum Company Incorporated in New Orleans, Louisiana. I am Mikuel Mika Caesar and I am the owner and director of CIO New Orleans. We’re a companybased 501c3 nonprofit organization and my dream is to keep the legacy alive of my godfather who came from out of Sagal, West Africa, Kazamas and he brought this African dance legacy to Los. started with a kids company, Kulu Children’s African Dance and Drum Company that’s still here under the directorship of Mariana Curry and I started in 1987 and he asked me after Katrina during 2005 hurricane Katrina he took real sick and asked me to keep the legacy alive and here I am today with in front of and I have one of the largest dance companies here in the south. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You don’t want no more. You [Music] I can get it. You don’t want no more. I can’t do You tell me you want no more. I can’t do no more. [Music] Oh, of me. Why not take on me? [Music] Oh, can’t you see? I’m no good without you. Marching in the middle of the street and practicing cers. The jazz dancer. Yes. Oh, yeah. Yes. Who teaches jazz here in New Orleans? Well, I guess this these are the teachers right here. Stop moving. I thankfully have friends all over the world and a friend of mine was in Miami and actually sorry in Florida and I was going to Miami to take a 3-week Norwegian cruise from Miami back to LA. This was because I’d been offered this in the middle of my slow trip travel idea and um decided I should take it. So he kindly came and met me in Miami. He actually had to give me €200 euros because I’d lost everything with this dancer. And as a journalist on the road, I’m not funded. And I got on this boat and it was wonderful. I was safe. I was away from these crazy people in LA. I was with a thousand retired Americans who thought I was this little elf cuz I was half the age of everyone on board. And we traveled through Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba. I guess they don’t [Music] Y. [Music] Yeah. And there it is. Look, we’re getting closer and closer. I told I I told him to to slow down a bit. That’s the eruption that happened in June 3 June 3rd. So it was four month 5 months ago. [Music] Everybody, [Music] but as we can see with the Malibu fires episode, if you’re a journalist, there’s always a story unfolding. building somewhere and you never know when or where. And at that point in time, as I was on this luxury cruise ship, um, a migrant caravan had set out from Honduras that was getting a lot of press. It was a large group of people that wanted to get into the US. And finally, when our boat docked in San Diego, I just disappeared. I said, “I’ll see you guys later.” And I crossed the border into Tijuana. I asked somebody where the migrant camp was. I took a taxi there. I wandered around interviewing people and actually Peggy Guggenheim’s grandson was there helping run this camp. We’re here at the migrant camp in uh Tijana with some of the people that have walked here from Honduras and El Salvador. So, what’s your name and where did you come from? Lily, where do you come from? The donduras. Honduras. And how did you come here with the caravan? [Music] 45. 45 days. And how long have you been living here in these tents? Long and long. Two months. Two months. Oh, wow. And are you trying to go to San Diego to America? You’re happy? It’s okay. So, you’re one of the volunteers. Can you tell me your name and what you’re doing? My name is Lolli B. I’m a volunteer here with a group of water protectors. And uh I’ve just arrived here this week. So I haven’t spent a lot of time here on the ground. I’m a social worker by training. So I’m here to um you know sort of be mindful of the mental health and trauma, but in the meantime, it’s mostly attending to basic needs like food and shelter, safety, water. Are these people’s needs being somewhat met? How bad are things here? I believe so. I mean, there have been a lot of volunteers and a lot of donations coming in. Um there’s this place and then there’s 16 other shelters and then the large shelter. So uh I think some of the donations, you know, are not always being delivered or one place will have too many of one item then another place. But for the most part, you know, there is help. But in terms of food, I don’t think that there’s any official providing of food. A volunteer that’s down there has started a kitchen that’s offering food. So you can talk to him as well. Um so I mean you can see obviously it’s not great. It’s not comfortable. If it rains the tents only protect you so much. Um, there’s nowhere to do laundry and there aren’t really a lot of sanitation options. There’s like one banana over there. What is the ban? Just a makeshift. Uh, it’s like a portable bathroom trailer thing. Um, but that’s it. There’s like two stalls for all these people and then uh, you know, sometimes people, you know, it might not be safe to like walk down there at night by yourself to leave the bathroom, things like that. Is it dangerous? Um, I think within the caravan it’s not dangerous. Uh what people have been sharing with me is that it’s more of the locals, some people that were maybe living on the street anyway in Mexico, maybe drug addicted, for example, that are coming in and like being the dangerous ones because really the people here, they’re fleeing danger. They are fleeing criminals. They are not here to be violent. They are running from the violence. What are the hopes of these people? Are they trying to cross the border? and how and how many are succeeding or so basically for a lot of the people that I’ve talked to so far there is no going back okay and this is the war it’s not easy to cross and legally it is so difficult to prove your case of asylum you have to have all the right papers all the right documentation presented in the right way to even get a chance and even the process can take months so realistically a lot of the people here are not really qualifying to be able to cross but that is their hope because there is nothing back and a lot of them left family members, loved ones, children, mothers down there. So, their hope is to be able to cross into the US so that they can earn enough money that they can afford to send it down. And I gathered that uh the Mexican authorities are giving out work permits. So, people are some people are choosing to find jobs here. Is that happening? Some people are. Yeah, there’s some availability for people that uh have certain qualifications that they’re able to work legally in Mexico. However, when they’re what they’re paid here in Mexico isn’t all that much more. It doesn’t allow them extra to send down to Honduras. And also, uh, you know, again, the conditions here aren’t as great. There’s still a lot of risks here in Mexico. Uh, but basically, it’s it’s really painful emotionally as an American to be standing and talking to these people from the south who want to cross that wall. We know also that on the other side of that wall it’s not necessarily like things are easy um or great but at the same time you know that is literally the only options like what is the option staying here forever uh living in these conditions because the government is not providing any any shift and uh so honestly what they’re hoping is that with the help of the uh the world putting pressure on the government to literally change the laws make exceptions and basically take care of these people in a way that recognizes their humanity and not just um the letter of the law. Although actually in many ca in many ways they are breaking international law because to seek asylum they should be able to walk onto that property and ask for asylum but they’re not allowed to. So they’ve been authorized you know they the the military shot them with tear gas and rubber bullets a couple weeks ago and as far as I know they’re still authorized to use lethal force. Is that as soon as they cross that wall there? soon as they were to if they were to cross that wall, their lives are in danger. But if they are able to get away, they can or if they migration doesn’t basically attack them or kill them for crossing, as soon as they were to see a migration uh you know the the company, they should go and turn themselves in and say, “I need asylum.” And once that has been done, they are legally protected. But if they’re shot on the way in before they can ask for asylum, well then they’re not going to get it. And if they can’t get over the wall, because um further down on the beach area, you can see there’s like layers of barbed wire, there’s two layers of fence, there’s tons of guards there. I mean, getting over illegally right here is is not really practical. There were cases where people tried to swim and some of them likely drunk. So, you know, it’s it’s a desperate situation. Um, but the only hope is really to get into the US or Canada or um I don’t know what Britain is offering, but get somewhere that they can uh have a chance at life again. My name is Marco. I’m from Honduras and I I’ve been in the caravan since October 13th started. How did you get here to Tijuana? Did you walk? We walked, walked, hiked, got rides. How did you hear about the caravan? It was spread out through Facebook at first and then after that it was through the news and the newspaper. And how long have you been here in this camp which looks rough? This cup here, we’ve been here for about 15 15 days to 3 weeks. Is there any facilities? Any food, water, medical care? No, just people that come and provide us the food we want. Local people. local people and people from San Diego. What’s the process for you to get to America or Canada? Oh, you got to go through the process. It’s a process you have to go through. So, do you have any idea how long you’ll be here? Estimated time? No. But we’ll probably be here that time. Well, it’s just like all the donations. I’m trying to make sure that all the donations get here whether they’re like, you know, whether it’s food or or tents, clothes, so we can make sure that, you know, a lot of people uh they rush to cars, they grab things to bring everything back to their tents, and whatever they don’t need, they go out and sell. And so then a lot of people end up with nothing. So that’s basically what we’re trying to do that like trying to control the influx of things coming in to make sure they end up in the right hands and the people that need it the most. And then like you know the idea is like everyone gets what they need rather than like a handful usually like young men not not to to target anyone but it’s usually you know like women and children are in their in the tents they’re looking after their kids so they can’t like you know go here and there like look for the donations that are coming at the corners still like sorting through donations here but this is when we’re not donating like this is a kitchen. I know it’s hard to to see but so we have six burners here we have a fridge How many people are you feeding? How many people are living here now? We can feed all everyone that’s out there. How many is that roughly? That’s like close to 500. And is it gone up or down the number? Yeah, unfortunately it’s going up. People are coming back from Baral. But not only that, but also there uh there are people I mean yesterday that I got here from Mexi, other from Tate, like I don’t know groups that are still like coming uh that didn’t make it to Tijuana yet. Um how many people do you think have made it across the border from this camp force? Who would like be who would get asylum? You mean how many do you think get out of here and get across either way? I mean a lot of them will get on the other side. Whether or not they get asylum is a very different story. But a lot of them are trying to cross already. Um I don’t know. Most of them want to you know people here like most of them wants to they want to to wait their turn their turn to the asylum line. Uh but most of them don’t have a case for it. I just couldn’t as a journalist be on a luxury cruise ship and ignore real life. And so I then sped back across the border, was the last person to get on board, and we arrived in LA the next day. In fact, no news outlet was interested in the Tijana story. So this is the first time that footage is being seen. Thank you for watching.