About the Podcasters

The Travel Squad Podcast consists of three co-hosts: Jamal, Brittanie, and Kim. All of us grew up in the same small hometown in Northern California and then moved to San Diego as adults.

Brittanie and Kim met when they were 12 years old and have been friends ever since. Brittanie and Jamal met in 2007 and were married in 2015. The three of them now travel as a squad, as a couple, with groups of friends, and any other ways they can.

Our Goal

The goal with our podcast is two things, 1) Inspire people to travel by showing them how to do it for less money and how to fit travel around your work schedule, and 2) Bring entertainment and the excitement of travel to audio format.

Travel Squad Origin - 2016

The podcast originally had four hosts. Jamal’s sister Zeina was a co-host and an OG member of the Travel Squad. Our travels as a squad began with a trip to Peru where we spent four days hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After that the foursome traveled the world one passport stamp at a time, and spent weekends road tripping to find the most thrilling hikes to hike in the national parks.

Podcast Idea - 2019

In June 2019 the Travel Squad went to Mexico City together for the second time, while stuffed in the backseat of a tiny cab the group came up with the idea to start a travel podcast. The soon-to-be podcasters had accumulated so much insight into how to travel and spend less (without calling it budget travel), how to plan many trips around a full-time job, and how to pack a weekend trip with as much experience as possible. This insight needed to be shared. They also noticed travel podcasts that existed then didn’t capture the excitement of travel. They were narrated by older male monotone voices and they could barely get through an episode. They made the Travel Squad Podcast their mission to bring the excitement of travel to audio format.

Podcast Launch - August 2019

After working tirelessly for two months to figure out the ins and outs of audio recording and launching a podcast, they aired their first episodes on August 15, 2019. With this launch they committed to bring a new episode every travel Tuesday, and ensure that each episode brought humor, excitement, and entertainment, and showed people how to travel more and spend less.

Podcast Change to 3 Co-Hosts - May 2021

In May 2021 Zeina stepped back as a co-host of the podcast to focus on her growing coaching business. The podcast transitioned to three hosts - Kim, Brittanie, and Jamal - but maintained their commitment to bridging entertainment and value to the travel community.

from the scrapbook

San Francisco

Italy

Hawaii

Lebanon

Cuba

Peru

(And to be perfectly honest, we're just getting started!)

We've gotten a few stamps...