Skid Row To Appalachia: The Forgotten People Of Rural America - Peter Santenello
In a Nutshell
Peter Santenello reveals how his unplanned 50-country journey began after quitting a Texas steakhouse job with $20K saved, discovering that traveling without filming allowed authentic experience versus content creation work. His shift to documenting America's forgotten communities—from Amish to Native tribes to Appalachian towns—shows these isolated groups maintain distinct cultures, face systemic neglect, and often possess sophisticated knowledge that challenges stereotypes. The core insight is that America's real diversity exists in overlooked rural and subcultural pockets rather than online caricatures, and short-term thinking now dominates where long-term community building once thrived.
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Peter Santenello worked as a waiter at Fleming Steakhouse in Austin in the early 2000s while dreaming of traveling the world. He had never traveled growing up and his family never went anywhere. His goal was to save $20,000 in two years to go to Europe for seven months, get a Ducati in Italy, ride it through the Alps, and have his life figured out.
Instead of the original plan, Peter took a winter in Switzerland snowboarding and doing every job imaginable. From there, he took a one-way flight to the Republic of Georgia. Upon landing, all the mafia got off the plane with BMWs waiting for them on the tarmac. The country was corrupt at that time, and Peter had to pay a $20 bribe to enter the airport.
Peter was 25-26 years old during this period. Georgia served as the "gateway drug" to further travel. He looked at a map and decided to go to Tajikistan instead of returning home. He scrapped the Ducati idea, reasoning that he could always save money later, but might never have the chance to travel like this again. The trip became 50 countries over 2 years.
Peter ran out of money in Uzbekistan. He took cash advances on his credit card at 25% interest, which he considers the best debt he ever got into because it enabled his travels. At that age, he could sleep anywhere in anything. He did not film any of this travel.
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