Russia Recap, Runningman, Operating Out of Faith & More | The HigherUp Podcast Ep. 90
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What inspired the opening story about the horse in the Russian mountains?
Welcome back to another episode of the Higher Up Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Smoke, and I'm sorry for the delay. I just got back in San Diego last night, which is where this thing is, my microphone and my camera and everything I need to record a podcast. Unfortunately, me and Chris Griffin, as you know, the host of The Pocket shot a really dope podcast in the mountains of Russia with the craziest backdrop. There was a horse behind me. It was freaking crazy. And Chris had the idea to get all like quality and high and mighty with it and it chewed up footage like insanely fast. And so we only have about six minutes of a twenty-three minute conversation, but I'm actually looking through my camera to try and find that video and see if I can show you how freaking cool this footage is.
Because it would have been a dope dope yeah, here it is. I don't know if you can see this, but look at that. There's a horse behind me. I'm in the mountains of Russia. If you're listening, sorry, I'll try to paint the picture. There's just a full blown horse behind me, chilling, hanging out, and we have a dope conversation, but we lost that footage forever. Ha ha. Thanks, Chris. Anyway, I'm kidding. I love you, bro. I'm back. Um I told you guys in the last episode that I was going to a place that was kinda freaky and scary and I guess all I can say Looking at that version of me as boy was I fucking wrong. And boy have I learned a lot about the world and culture and the media. Through traveling to a place like Dagestan.
So I've been all over. I went to Russia. I went to back home uh geez, what did I do? Flew home from here to home, to Atlanta, across the country, packed up all my backpacking stuff that was in my mom's basement that I needed. Um, 'cause that's my storage unit. Thanks, Mom. I then flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam, where I randomly ran into Bax Eight Carter, the creator, one of the first guys I ever did a podcast with. He was making a video about all the hate I was getting online. And He literally saw me in the airport while he was making the video. He was like, Bro, this is crazy. Are you here? So I'm at the end of his video. It's pretty funny. I I reposted it. You can go find it. But Um, flew from Amsterdam to Turkey.
Almost missed my flight from Turkey to Mahatskkala. I ran across the airport one mile. The Istanbul airport is huge. And then got to the terminal to Mahatchkalah Dagestan, with which it was very obvious this airplane was going to Dagestan. Everybody has a similar look there, and at least the dudes do, with the beards and the cauliflower ear. Everybody kinda just looks like Khib. But Um, I then got on the flight with a bunch of with nine perfect strangers, other creators. Well, I knew Gabe, I knew Chris. And that was about it. And then we flew to Mahatkala together. And we got there, and as soon as we land, the guy on the plane doesn't talk to me the whole time, and then in very broken English asks me where I'm from and what I'm doing here.
And a few other people asked them the same thing and we noticed everyone kept saying, Good luck. Which like when you land in Russia and you don't know what to expect is scary. People just kept saying, Good luck, good luck instead of like have fun. But I guess that's just their translation of like enjoy. But anyway. We get there, we're held up by customs for at least three hours. People are we're all sitting as a group in the Mudha Mahatchkala Airport and they grab our passports and immediately are like, Yeah, go sit down. They look through our Instagrams, they look through our texts. They ask us if we're affiliated with Ukraine. And they just grill us for a couple hours. But I get in there, I start talking to them.
And the best compliment I've come to realize fun fact with someone who is not American. Or in an English speaking country is tell them how good their English is. Like everyone I've done that to from another country is just like, Oh, stop it like this guy, Dimitri and Vladimir. I'm like, Demetri, your English is incredible, man. He's like, he goes from like stone faced Russian border patrol to like stop it.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What inspired the opening story about the horse in the Russian mountains?
0:00–9:18
2
How did the unexpected customs interview shape the Dagestan experience?
9:18–13:28
3
What cultural insights did Michael gain from staying with a local family in Dagestan?
13:28–18:48
4
How did the Dagestani wrestling session and halal meal impact the trip?
18:48–20:39
5
What does Michael say about the power of travel for personal growth?
20:39–23:00
6
What lessons about surrender and sure‑footed steps did Michael learn in Russia?
23:00–24:22
7
How is the Higher Up live speaking tour being planned and promoted?
24:22–24:51
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The HigherUp Podcast
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