"NO Words!” - Sabbatical on “Devil Worshippers,” Samarra Holy Site & DARK Discovery in Argentina
Julian Dorey · 28 Aug 2026 · 2h 53m
Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
A travel vlogger who runs a channel called Sabbatical sits down to recount years of guerrilla-style reporting from some of the world's most dangerous and closed-off places. The conversation opens with a harrowing account of being detained and jailed in Russia after wandering too close to an unmarked border bridge with China, including a sham trial, a fake sting operation, forced drug tests, and paranoia about a possibly planted cellmate. From there the discussion moves through the origin of his channel during COVID lockdowns, early videos in Mexico learning the Aztec language Nawat, and a viral break in Tanzania. He describes tracking down the daughter-in-law of a convicted Nazi war criminal in Argentina, visiting a Yazidi holy site and Shia-militia-controlled Samarra in Iraq, walking across an active checkpoint in the West Bank weeks after October 7th, and getting questioned in Kenya, China, and Oman on suspicion of espionage or terrorism. He also covers a bombing he experienced in Lviv, Ukraine, and a boat trip into the Strait of Hormuz during heightened Iran tensions that ended with a brief police detention. Throughout, the host and guest trade views on how ground-level travel reshapes assumptions about foreign populations versus their governments, the ethics and risks of unfixed, unguided filming, and the recurring pattern of people abroad wanting US intervention against their own regimes while resenting the consequences of past US action.
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What comes up
Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- Detained in Russian FSB custody
- Sham trial and 15 days in Russian jail
- Origins of the channel during COVID
- Learning Nawat in rural Mexico
- Finding a former Nazi's daughter-in-law in Argentina
- Viral 'forced into polygamy' video in Tanzania
- Shia holy site and militia checkpoint in Samarra, Iraq
- Meeting displaced Yazidis in Iraq
- Crossing a checkpoint in the West Bank after October 7th
- Detained in China after visiting Wuhan
- Boat trip into the Strait of Hormuz and Omani detention
- Filming under blackout conditions in Cuba
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“my general philosophy in travel has always been that people are not their governments”
“there's many more people that were saying, "Fuck Putin." Like, privately”