Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Thoughtful Travel Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 326 UK Trip Report England and Wales 2024 | 13 Aug 2024 | 00:30:41 | |
This episode is a joyful collaboration with Tracy of the UK Travel Podcast. When one of your best friends invites you to his wedding in the Lake District in England, you say yes! We first met Cham in Cambodia - back in Episode 114 - and we've holidayed with him across Asia ever since, but meeting up in the UK to celebrate his wedding was our most exciting adventure together yet. My 14-year-old son and I took the opportunity to explore some more of north-west England and northern Wales while we were there, taking in Manchester, Liverpool, the Lake District, and northern Wales, including Wrexham and Llangollen. In this collab with the UK Travel Podcast, Tracy interviews me about my UK experience and I describe it through a thoughtful travel lens, from our planning, our experiences and then our post-trip reflection. There's also some unexpected sandwich chat! Links:
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| 325 What People Think About Australia | 06 Jul 2024 | 00:27:43 | |
If you think of Australia, you're bound to imagine a few stereotypes of what life here is like: sun and sand might feature, and you will perhaps imagine we're a laidback nation of permanently relaxed people. Over the last year, the topic of what people think about Australia has come up with quite a few guests so I decided to compile an episode about these ideas. I chat first with Michael Jensen who spent half a year here on student exchange in the 1980s, and recently returned for another months-long stint: what had changed? Quite a lot, as you can imagine, and we had an interesting chat. Alex Zeringer, a German student now based in Ireland, came to Australia on a much more recent student program just last year, and I asked him about his impressions of my home town of Perth. Our reputation often precedes us, and Julia Kaplan told me her ideas about Australia and its people although she hasn't yet been here - but she's met enough Aussies abroad on her travels to get a good idea. Finally, I speak with Jules Park, who moved here from South Korea, and tells me some of her initial cultural shocks, including the tale of pink hair! Links:
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| 316 Fathers on Travelling with Kids | 03 Jan 2024 | 00:24:14 | |
I am absolutely convinced that taking kids travelling is one of the best things you can do for them, and in this episode I've gathered together the thoughts of four fathers who agree with me! First up, I chat with Rupert Grey, who took his daughters across the world at a young age - in particular, he tells me about their experience visiting Bangladesh in the 1990s, and the impact that their travels has had on them now that they are adults. Cristian Martinus tells me about the reactions from kids on his tours in Morocco, then has a great example to share about a time when things went wrong while travelling with his young daughter - but it all turned out brilliantly. Peter Baines then tells me about the experience of cycling with his own children in Thailand, as well as an example of a father and son pair who were recent tour participants. Finally, Rick Antonson takes it one generation further with his tales about travelling as a grandfather, and in particular his trip with a ten-year-old grandson in western Canada. Links:
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| 235 Travel Slip Ups | 20 Apr 2021 | 00:24:29 | |
Things inevitably go wrong when we travel and I know from experience that listeners of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast quite enjoy hearing these tales! In Episode 235 I have three guests sharing some travel slip ups - some of their own making and some quite out of their control. My first guest is Bob DiMenna who was travelling in Peru with two friends when they had an issue with, well, punctuality - but not what you might expect! I then chat with Kayla Ridley who has a sorry luggage tale to tell from a cruise ship trip she took as a high school student. Finally, Patti Buff shares her story of a mishap when she and her cousin were exploring the coast of one of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Their excursion doesn't end how she would have liked it to! Links:
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| 234 Cultural Blunders | 12 Apr 2021 | 00:22:31 | |
Much of the fun of travelling is about bumping up against other cultures and habits - and these days as thoughtful travellers, we usually try to be prepared for this and learn what we can before we arrive. But cultural faux pas or "gross moments" happen to the best of us and there are some great examples to be found in Episode 234 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. First up, I chat with Bev Malzard who tells me a series of fabulous tales about her own unfortunate cultural moments during the course of many years of travels. Some hilarious, some serious - all things that Bev would do differently the second time around! I then speak with Pam Mandel about a common cultural blunder - dressing inappropriately. Some years back Pam ended up unintentionally in Pakistan - unprepared and ill-informed - and made a cultural blunder she didn't intend to. Links:
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| 233 Studying Abroad | 05 Apr 2021 | 00:22:06 | |
Opportunities for university or college students to study abroad - during non-Covid times, of course - are very special. While I didn't get an opportunity to study abroad for any part of my university education, it's something I definitely want to encourage my son to do and putting together Episode 233 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast reminded me of many reasons why. First up, I chat with Jennifer Johnston who spent time in the United States studying abroad as part of her Australia-based university degree. She speaks of many of the advantages of study abroad programs and the huge changes they can make in the students who take them. I then speak with Tinsley Rios about her shorter study abroad experience in Peru - a reminder that it doesn't need to be a long program to have a lasting impact. Finally, Patti Buff tells me about her experiences as a college exchange student in Dublin, Ireland - and we chat about some of the many extra-curricular parts of being on a study abroad program which are just as valuable as any time in the lecture hall. Links:
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| 232 5th Birthday and 500,000 Downloads | 28 Mar 2021 | 00:17:21 | |
It's party time!! The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, in the past week, has both turned five years old (ready to start school now!!) and download numbers have hit half a million. It's been a very exciting week in our household! In this special celebration episode, I start off with a quick chat about podcast statistics and where The Thoughtful Travel Podcast fits into download numbers in general (remember, I like statistics - I love maths!). But then I digress to chat about how I've reached this stage, and reference psychologist Angela Duckworth's book Grit, which I'm currently re-reading - it's an interesting thing to consider how passion and persistence can work hand in hand and then suddenly, I have a five-year-old podcast and a much clearer vision of what else I want to do with it (and thoughtful travel in general) in the future. Finally, I give in to a directive from my son who, on listening to some older episodes, instructed me to tell more of my own travel stories. I've linked them to this fifth anniversary in a typically quirky fashion but just bear with me and enjoy the tales!
Links: Average podcast stats - https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/whats-a-good-number-of-downloads-for-a-podcast/ Grit - Angela Duckworth - https://amzn.to/3fneKr3 Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/232 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 231 Unconscious Bias and Travel | 22 Mar 2021 | 00:26:11 | |
We all have some kind of unconscious bias - or a few! - some stereotypes or misconceptions that we think deep down, even if in our conscious minds we don't think we do. It's human nature, but yet another marvellous part of travelling is it often helps us identify and confront these unconscious biases, and the examples from the guests in Episode 231 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast demonstrate this perfectly. First up, I chat with Tonya Fitzpatrick who first tells me one of her own experiences in recognising and confronting an unconscious bias, and then explains another example from a traveller she'd interviewed on her own podcast. I then speak with Pam Mandel, who's travelled more than usual within her home country of the United States in the past few years, and found she also needed to confront and overcome some unconscious biases about her homeland. Links:
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| Book Club 10: Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams | 20 Mar 2021 | 00:32:12 | |
This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the March 2021 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 230 Travel vs Vacation Lessons from 2020 | 15 Mar 2021 | 00:23:21 | |
For this special round-numbered episode I wanted to muse on just one of the important lessons the 2020 pandemic has taught me about travel. In this episode I talk about issues like taking relaxing holidays (I'm bad at it; and most of the Thoughtful Travellers community agreed it's not their style); travelling close to home and staycationing, and some of the reasons I really miss the ability to travel further afield, to different cultures, languages and countries. Links:
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| 229 Living Abroad Vs Travelling Abroad | 08 Mar 2021 | 00:24:47 | |
Travelling abroad is an amazing experience but living abroad takes this to an entirely new level. It's not for everyone but if you've been fortunate enough to call new countries home or you're wondering whether you'd like to, Episode 229 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is for you. I chat first with Flip Byrnes, a bit of a serial ex-pat who has plenty to say about how living abroad compares to travelling; we decide that "living" somewhere equates to twelve months or more (it's our arbitrary ruling!) and then Flip turns the tables and asks me a few pertinent questions about my experience of living abroad. Following that I speak with Seana Smith, another serial ex-pat who decides perhaps she's not actually a very good traveller, but she's more suited to living abroad for extended periods. Finally, Penny Walker talks to me about some of the main differences she's identified from living abroad in France as compared to simply visiting, and also has some great tips for anyone planning to make such a move. Links:
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| 228 Volunteering Experiences | 22 Feb 2021 | 00:29:45 | |
Volunteering abroad is an experience lots of thoughtful travellers contemplate - who doesn't want to give back when we can. But of course, we know that not all volunteering opportunities are created equal. In Episode 228 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three women who have had fairly in-depth volunteer experiences in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Nepal, and their stories might help you reflect on what does make a good volunteer experience. First, I chat with Lindy Alexander who spent eight months volunteering in a remote part of Uganda. She's very frank with me about how, on reflection some years later, she's not sure that everything they did had a positive impact - although lots did. I then speak with Julia Salnicki, a zoologist who has spent many years either volunteering or managing volunteers on animal research projects in Africa. Her stories are amazing and apart from her tales on this episode, I've added another one about her three years in a painted dog research project onto Patreon - if you're a supporter, listen now, or sign up at notaballerina.com/supporter Finally, I hear from Patti Lefkos who, after several decades of experience as a teacher and principal in Canada, volunteered in a small school in Nepal. She tells us some of the many lessons she learnt from that experience. Links:
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| 227 Meaningful Interactions with Locals | 16 Feb 2021 | 00:23:27 | |
Travelling to see the sights is one thing; travelling when you get to know some of the local people is a whole other level of wonderful experiences. Finding ways to have meaningful interaction with locals is something really important to me when I travel, and the three guests in Episode 227 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast illustrate some wonderful ways to do so. First up I chat with Tasha Goldberg who describes how a friend of a friend in Kenya became an inspiring local she met on Lamu Island. She also mentions the bonus part of making close connections when you travel - the chance to make return visits! I then speak with Lindy Alexander about her experience of a cooking class with the Courageous Kitchen in Thailand. This is a really interesting example of meeting not just any locals, but marginalised ones who you might not ordinarily even know about, let alone have the chance to meet and learn from. Finally, Penny Walker speaks of the value of tapping into local knowledge and uses her example of the Pyrenees in France where locals she gets to work with include shepherds who've spent their lifetime in the mountains. And we mention cheese, too! Links:
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| 315 Meeting Locals When We Travel | 26 Dec 2023 | 00:19:53 | |
Connecting with local people when we travel is a true joy for me - whether it's just a quick conversation in a queue, or a deeper day or more spent together, learning about how our lives are the same and different - I love it all! In this episode I chat with three guests who agree, and have found various ways to meet locals when they travel. First up, I get the tour operator perspective from Cristian Martinus, who confirms that guests who travel on his Moroccan tours particularly enjoy any opportunities for genuine connection with local people - but (appropriately, I think) he warns against "staged authenticity". Next, Will Hatton describes some of the ways he has met local people on his travels across the world, and we particularly get deeper into describing some of his Couchsurfing experiences. Finally, Dara Brewton highlights how taking a cooking class or two can be a special window into the lives of locals, with lots of time to chat (and a delicious outcome as a bonus!). Links: Cristian Martinus - Sun Trails - https://www.sun-trails.com/ Will Hatton - The Broke Backpacker - https://www.thebrokebackpacker.com/ Dara Brewton - https://travelness.com/ Cookly - https://www.cookly.me/ Episode 302 about Chiang Rai - https://notaballerina.com/302 Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/315 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 226 The Best Travel Memories Are When Things Go Wrong | 08 Feb 2021 | 00:24:34 | |
If nothing goes wrong, were you even travelling? Episode 226 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast centres on my firm belief that many of the best travel memories derive from when things go wrong on our trips. First I chat with Travis King, and he introduces a concept that I will carry with me on every trip from now on: "Level 3 fun". You'll have to listen to learn what "Level 3 fun" he had with his brother on their cycling trip across Canada. I also talk with Tracey Croke, an adventurous soul who never shies away from a challenge and she certainly found plenty of them in a mountain biking expedition over the Talas Mountains in Kyrgyzstan. Links:
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| 225 Vegetarian and Vegan Travel | 01 Feb 2021 | 00:25:15 | |
Whether you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet or not, the stories in Episode 225 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast will still fascinate you, I'm sure! I start off chatting with Lindy Alexander, a social worker turned freelance writer who spent eight months living in rural Uganda in her mid-twenties. As a vegetarian, she was a bit concerned about what she could expect there in terms of food and what she actually found is very interesting! I then chat with Tasha Goldberg who, like me, was raised vegetarian and tends to follow that diet on the whole, but can be flexible at times when travelling, and she tells me about her experience with this, starting out with a special invitation in Senegal. Finally, I speak with Brighde Reed who has been vegan for the past decade and has lots of useful tips and resources for anyone looking to research their trip and wanting to eat a plant-based diet along the way. Links:
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| 224 Big Purchases on Your Travels | 25 Jan 2021 | 00:23:25 | |
Usually the souvenirs we purchase on our travels are relatively small - we want to be able to fit them in our baggage to bring home, after all. I say usually: because Episode 224 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast proves that there are times when people make rather large purchases when they travel! Curiously, none of these three guests had any plan to make these big purchases on their trips - which makes these stories even more fun, I think. First up, I chat with podcast listener Tim Tricker. He has a fun tale of something quite unusual he and his friends bought entirely by accident on a trip to Spain. Then I speak with Nan Caple who was holiday with family and friends on Kangaroo Island when they suddenly decided to buy something quite large. Finally, I talk to Karen Emanuel who was travelling in Nicaragua when a sign caught her attention and she made an even bigger purchase - but one she's very glad of. Links:
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| Book Club 09: Bewildered by Laura Waters | 22 Jan 2021 | 00:43:28 | |
This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the January 2021 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Bewildered by Laura Waters. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 223 Single Parent Travel | 18 Jan 2021 | 00:27:34 | |
Travelling with kids in tow is a great way to see the world, but if you're the only parent, it can add a degree of difficulty - but it can also make for the most rewarding trips of all! On Episode 223 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three single parents who've had wonderful experiences taking their kids away - although sometimes, things do go wrong! My first guest is Cindy Siano whose son is now in his twenties - but she has a very vivid memory of a single parent moment when he was eight, and they tried out skiing and snowboarding in the Netherlands. I then chat with Jennifer Johnson who took two of her teenage sons on a trip to Japan - coincidentally, to go skiing, although long before they get on the slopes, something that is only funny in retrospect went wrong. Finally, I had a great discussion with listener Rita about her three-month long trip with her daughter to Europe and northern Africa - it's inspired me to want to do something that long with my son too! Links:
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| 222 Meaningful Shopping and Souvenirs | 11 Jan 2021 | 00:22:46 | |
Bringing home a meaningful souvenir from a trip is such a pleasure: if the process of buying it was fun and special, perhaps involving a chat with an interesting local, and then you have an object you can enjoy at home which constantly reminds you of your trip, then it's a perfect scenario. In Episode 222 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I talk with travellers about their own meaningful shopping experiences abroad, starting off with Patti Lefkos who has a brilliant story to tell about a souvenir she bought in Nepal - including a live demonstration! Next, I chat with Lindsay Williams. She's obsessed with learning foreign languages and this passion flows through to what she likes to buy when she's travelling, too. Finally, I'm excited to speak with my friend Lola Akinmade-Åkerström who has a new pandemic-induced project on the go, involving a way to help local artisans and guides in countries particularly affected by the drop-off in tourism numbers and help us have an authentic shopping experience at the same time. Links:
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| 221 Planning and Booking Trips | 04 Jan 2021 | 00:27:00 | |
Your style of planning and booking trips is likely, it seems, to fall into one of two categories: a detailed planner (sometimes, incredibly, almost over-the-top detailed - in my humble opinion!) or a more spontaneous, make a few arrangements and then just see what happens. In Episode 221 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I speak with two travellers who are very dedicated to the detailed planning version, and since my nature is of the opposite type, I find it fascinating to hear what they have to say. First up, Bob Dimenna describes his kind of planning and research and there are ideas that have literally never occurred to me amongst Bob's gems. Next, I speak with Karen Emanuel, a self-confessed meticulous planner, who does admit to a couple of down sides to this tendency. And finally, since we're talking booking, I include a section from my recent chat with Nissy Astassi of Expedia, and she gives me a couple of useful booking tips. Links:
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| 220 Goodbye 2020 and My Son Interviews Me | 28 Dec 2020 | 00:21:59 | |
This crazy year, 2020, when everything about the world, and especially the world of travel, was turned on its head, is nearly over. Phew - I think. Who knows, really, what 2021 will bring, but I think at least we're prepared to know that things are different, whereas this time last year we had not the faintest clue what lay ahead of us. In Episode 220 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, the final episode for 2020, I give a summary of the good and the bad of the year - and on balance, it wasn't such a bad year - as surprising as that sounds, coming from a travel podcaster. And then to finish the year, my ten-year-old son has come up with a list of questions and interviewed me about my travels and thoughts. Hope you enjoy it! Above all: thanks to everyone involved in making The Thoughtful Travel Podcast the most fun thing I do - thanks to the listeners, the guests, the members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group, the Book Club members, the journalists who've mentioned the podcast in various cool places during 2020, basically, everyone! Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 219 Seeing the Northern Lights | 21 Dec 2020 | 00:23:50 | |
It's Christmas time which - weirdly, I guess, since I live quite far down in the southern hemisphere! - makes me think about the North Pole, about snow, about cold climates. That made it feel an appropriate week for my episode about seeing the Northern Lights or aurora borealis - an incredible phenomenon I haven't had the chance to witness yet, but after hearing these four guests describe their sightings, I'm more keen than ever. First up, I chat with Justin Meneguzzi who has a particularly romantic tale about his Northern Lights sighting (although it didn't all go quite to plan). Next, Karen Emanuel makes me rather envious as she describes not one, but two trips she's been on which led to seeing the aurora. Following Karen, I chat to Travis King who got to experience a surprise sighting in Alaska. Nearby in the Yukon region of Canada, my final guest, Tobi Barth, runs a tour company which specialises in aurora hunting, and he tells me how that works. Links:
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| 218 Travel Trends for 2021 | 14 Dec 2020 | 00:30:48 | |
2020 is nearly over, and I know many people in the travel industry (and beyond) are breathing a sigh of relief over that. But what will the travel world look like in 2021? It's all a bit unknown but I wanted to chat with people who were on top of the research and could tell us more about what travel trends for 2021 are looking like. First up, though, I asked the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group for their opinions, and I talk about these: in particular, whether there'll be more planned or more spontaneous trips, what will be important to travellers in destination choice and what trends my listeners think might be coming up. Then I speak with Nissy Atassi, the Director of Global Communications at Expedia. Nissy had lots of interesting trends to tell me about, including current booking trends and the big changes she expects us to see in 2021. Finally I talk with Damian Perry, Managing Director for the Asia/Pacific region for Hurtigruten, the Norwegian expedition cruising company. He confirms a few 2021 trends I've been suspecting and has some other interesting stats to explain. Links:
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| 314 Paul Christie, CEO Walk Japan - Deep Dive into Revitalising Rural Japan | 14 Dec 2023 | 00:26:37 | |
If you decided to escape the corporate world, would you buy up a plot of land in an isolated part of Japan? It's not my first thought, but this is what Walk Japan CEO Paul Christie did at the age of forty, and with many good consequences. One of these is that Walk Japan has a strong social, "giving back" element, between the Community Project in Kyushu - which springs from Paul's initial plot of land - and its emphasis on taking travellers to rural areas of Japan which can really benefit from the tourism dollars (quite apart from being some of the most beautiful parts of the country, with the most welcoming inhabitants!). This episode is a wide-ranging chat with Paul about his career, how he came to be in Japan and what Walk Japan is doing to give back to many local communities, and particularly in the Kunisaki Peninsula in Kyushu, southern Japan. Links:
Disclaimer stuff: Walk Japan hosted me on my September/October walk in Japan, which means they covered my travel costs (thank you!). However, my opinions, as always, are all my own, honest truth. Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 217 Friendships with Fellow Travellers | 07 Dec 2020 | 00:26:17 | |
The friends you make while you're travelling are, I think, often destined to be lifelong friends, because you've probably got a lot in common. If you're travelling in a similar way, or you're in the same destination, or however it is that you meet - you're already well on the way to a solid friendship. That's certainly my experience and I can think back over a long list of great friends I've made this way - and I'm not alone, judging by the guests in this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. First up, I chat with Tasha Goldberg, who's spent a lot of time travelling for work. She's formed many great friendships but the example she gives in this chat is a woman she met in the airport in Senegal. Next, I talk to Travis King, who has a great story about creating a "travel family" while travelling long term. And there's a bonus dangerous dolphin tale thrown in! Finally, I loved speaking with Monique Ceccato (while she was in hotel quarantine in Norway) about a very special trip she went on to New Caledonia. It was quite unique, and I'm sure that helped Monique and her fellow travellers become firm friends. Links:
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| 216 What We Learn From Travelling | 30 Nov 2020 | 00:24:49 | |
There are countless lessons we can learn from travel: from small to large, nice-to-know to completely life-changing. I'm sure that I'm a completely different person thanks to the things I have learnt while travelling - and hopefully a better one! In this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three guests who agree that we can learn a lot when we travel. First, I speak with Justin Meneguzzi who has a personal lesson connected to confidence, and a broader lesson about social norms, and right and wrong. Next, Tasha Goldberg explains one of her most important personal lessons from travel, learnt while travelling after a heartbreak; she also talks about how she learnt the difference between the theory and framework of policy and what it's like to meet people actually experiencing that situation. Finally, I chat with Lindsay Williams, a language-learning expert, about some of the lessons travel can teach us about speaking another language. Links:
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| 215 Paul Theroux Interview Part 2 | 23 Nov 2020 | 00:42:26 | |
Paul Theroux returns! This episode is the second half of my interview with travel writer Paul Theroux - if you haven't listened to Episode 214 yet, go and do that first! In this final section, we talk about another widely-varied array of travel topics, including the magic of train travel, one of my very favourite ways to get around. We also chat about some cultural differences and discuss some of the things that are peculiar to Australians. We move on to discussing road trips in Australia and the United States, and finish up talking about our children - I know that Paul's sons Louis and Marcel have made truly impressive creative careers for themselves, so I ask him for some parenting tips! I still feel so privileged to have had this great chat, and I hope you enjoy listening to it just a fraction as much as I enjoyed recording it. Links:
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| 214 Paul Theroux Interview Part 1 | 16 Nov 2020 | 00:34:20 | |
I'd need a time machine to be able to tell for sure, but I think that Paul Theroux's "The Great Railway Bazaar" was probably the very first travel narrative book I ever read. It shaped a lot about what I thought about travel - that you should talk to local people, that you should travel slowly, alone where possible, and not in a group of tourists, for sure - and it gave me quite an obsession with trains and the Trans-Siberian railway in particular. So when I was offered the chance to interview Paul Theroux - of course, I said yes! Episode 214 is the first half of this interview - Paul was a very generous interviewee, and our chat is too long to publish in a regular episode, so you'll find the rest in Episode 215. In this half, our chat is wide-ranging and includes leaning languages, ways to get to know the locals, and the pleasure of teaching and studying in a foreign country - a very sneaky way to properly get to know a place! Links:
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| Book Club 08: Down Under by Bill Bryson | 14 Nov 2020 | 00:36:12 | |
This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the November 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Down Under (aka In a Sunburned Country) by Bill Bryson. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 213 Sustainable Travel Tips | 09 Nov 2020 | 00:22:38 | |
Over recent years, more of us have paid attention to ways in which we can travel a little more sustainably, and harm the environment a little less - but we still have such a long way to go. In Episode 213 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three travellers who are also very concerned about the impact we are having on the environment, and have a wealth of tips and ideas to share with us. First up I speak with Brighde Reed from World Vegan Travel, who spends a lot of time writing and thinking about how what we do affects the planet. She has a host of practical tips and I suspect there'll be something useful for everyone. Next, I chat with Louise Southerden, a very thoughtful travel writer who has plenty to say about sustainability as a broader topic along with some excellent tips for travellers. Finally, Anna Chittenden talks about more practical ways to be sustainable when we travel, including some specific tips in Asia, and also raises an important topic which we'll have to put a pin in for a future episode! Links:
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| 212 Honeymoons and Weddings | 02 Nov 2020 | 00:27:36 | |
Travelling is often fun but if you're travelling for a super-special reason like to get married - well, then that's even more fun! This episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is full of amazing destinations and very special trips indeed. My first guest is Scott Antcliffe, who told me this story about his honeymoon in the Maldives - I loved his tale so much that it inspired me to find some other wedding or honeymoon stories to put into this episode. Shaney Hudson, my second guest, answered the call - because she is a real over-achiever at weddings! She and her husband got married not one, not twice, but three times, and on three different continents and in quite incredible situations. Finally, Emma Lovell did something I think many travel-lovers would like to do: she eloped to somewhere foreign and special, and she and her (now) husband had a really unique wedding. Links:
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| 211 Visiting Cervantes in Western Australia | 26 Oct 2020 | 00:20:37 | |
Quirky limestone pillars, Spanish street names, a barbecued pizza ... all this and more in our most recent trip. It's been a busy year - oddly enough! I was due a break, and I took my son off for four days to Cervantes, a couple of hours north of Perth. This had all the hallmarks of some of my favourite kinds of travel: slow travel (staying in one destination rather than moving around), finding things to be curious about (there is always something to be curious about!) and having fun with good people. My son and I recorded our thoughts about this Cervantes trip in two parts, and although the highlight of the stay was visiting the Pinnacles desert (now that's a weird place!), there were lots of fun and interesting moments which I think our chats have captured well. Links:
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| 210 How Travel Helps Us Really Understand the World | 19 Oct 2020 | 00:21:26 | |
It's Episode 210, a nice round number so it's time for a special edition of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. As some of you may know, I've spent a fair bit of time working on my first book about thoughtful travel, and in this episode, I decided to tell you some stories from a particular section of my book that talks about how travel really helps us to understand the world better - in a way that no textbook, movie or book can ever do. The first tale I share is one of many situations I've been in where travelling helped me understand world history more deeply. It's simultaneously one of my least favourite but most impactful travel days, visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in southern Poland. Next, I move on to another less-than-cheery (but important!) topic, with a story about how a small incident on my travels got me thinking more deeply about racism. To lighten the tone, I then have a story to share about what travelling has taught me about religion - it's a story involving a car and a shrine in Japan ... Finally, my last tale about travel helping me to understand the world is one about how getting to know local people can help you learn what's beyond the simple textbooks - in this case, it's about communism/socialism and what I learnt from visiting Slovakia. Links:
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| 209 Travelling With Grandchildren | 12 Oct 2020 | 00:26:13 | |
Episode 209 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast was inspired by a chat I had with Rick Antonson a year or so back, who described a trip he'd taken in Canada with his ten-year-old grandson Riley. Since then I've been looking out for other stories of travelling with grandchildren and am excited to publish this episode with its three great tales. First up of course is Rick's story which began it all - and I particularly love it because it takes place on a great train journey in Canada, something I'd like to emulate one day (hopefully before I have grandchildren of my own!), Next, I chat with Nan Caple who is grandmother to ten - and has a wonderful family tradition of getting together on a trip with the extended family. I think her grandchildren are very lucky! Finally, I loved speaking with Fiona Newman, a listener of the podcast who volunteered to tell her story of taking two of her grandchildren on a very special trip to Europe - the kind of trip that, I have no doubt, those kids will hold very dear in their hearts forever. Links:
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| 313 Train Travel in Australia | 08 Dec 2023 | 00:24:37 | |
It's common knowledge that train travel beats air travel in the sustainability stakes, but in recent months I've put this to the test a bit more than usual, in a country where it can be hard to do: my homeland, Australia. It all began when Dr Susanne Etti, the Global Environmental Impact Manager for Intrepid Travel, challenged me to fly the shorter route to Melbourne and then take the train with her from Melbourne to Sydney, on our way to speak at SXSW Sydney. The Melbourne to Sydney route is one of the busiest domestic air routes in the world, and seeing how the train alternative worked was such a good idea! Susanne and I recorded our thoughts along the way, so you'll hear those in this episode, along with our answers to a bunch of questions asked by listeners about our experience. Once you start looking, there are other times you might take the train instead of alternatives like flying or driving. Justin Watson, another SXSW panelist, took the train from Canberra to Sydney instead of driving or flying, and I chat with him about this experience too. Finally, I added another train ride just in time to make this episode - travelling on the Australind train from Perth to Bunbury on my way to run workshops in south-west Western Australia. Another fantastic experience, and I tell you all about it in this episode. Links:
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| Book Club 07: Step By Step by Simon Reeve | 08 Oct 2020 | 00:31:58 | |
This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the September 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Step By Step by Simon Reeve. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 208 Local Trips - Meckering in Western Australia | 05 Oct 2020 | 00:21:08 | |
We might not be travelling as far and wide as usual thanks to Covid-19 and our state's border closure, but my son and I have just had a quick getaway to a town a couple of hours east of Perth, and it is worth telling you all about! I'm a big fan of travel for random reasons, and this one was pretty random. The destination was dictated purely by my 10-year-old son, and meant we ended up staying near the town of Meckering, in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Meckering's only a memorable name to most West Aussies because a particularly bad earthquake struck there back in 1968. On our trip, we learnt more about that, but also got to enjoy some big views and the quiet of farm life - and in this episode, I chat about our experience with my son, as well as giving you my thoughts on why this kind of trip is valuable and worthwhile, too. Check the show notes for some photos of Meckering and surrounds. Links:
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| 207 Writing Retreats Around the World | 28 Sep 2020 | 00:25:15 | |
My first creative love is writing, and it's exciting to me to be able to explore how my guests combine writing and travel in this episode about writing retreats around the world. First up, I chat with Suzanne Moore, a novelist who lives in Perth but took the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks completely alone in Japan to work on her book, in the scenic landscape of Hokkaido. Next, Catherine Marshall explains her month-long writing retreat at Ledig House in New York State - and I get quite envious over the idea of spending an entire month focused on writing, in a beautiful place with fascinating people! Finally, Patti Buff tells me about a writers' retreat she organised within the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, held at a particularly picturesque spot in southern Germany. Links:
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| Book Club 06: The Salt Path by Raynor Winn | 25 Sep 2020 | 00:30:47 | |
In July 2025 reports were published by The Observer (UK) suggesting significant parts of Raynor Winn’s story are untrue. This is a really sad development for books that both I and my listeners have held dear. You can read the main Observer article at https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit
This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the July 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 206 Curious Tourism Meets The Thoughtful Travel Podcast | 21 Sep 2020 | 00:48:31 | |
Episode 206 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is a special one: for the first time, I'm doing a crossover episode with another podcast, because I'm sure it's one my listeners will love. (Newsflash! We refer to Alpaca My Bags throughout this episode, but this wonderful podcast has been rebranded as "Curious Tourism" - a brilliant name!)
I chatted with Erin, the host of Alpaca My Bags, earlier in the year when we had just gone into Covid lockdown. Erin and I discussed our travel histories, all about what our podcasts stand for, and highlight some of our favourite episodes. I get to be a bit self-indulgent and talk about moving abroad in my twenties and my theory about brainwashing my son so that he loves to travel (so far, it's working!). Links:
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| 205 What Turns Us Into Travellers | 14 Sep 2020 | 00:23:47 | |
What turned you into a traveller? I've been pondering this question and in Episode 205 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with four travel lovers about the origins of their travel addiction. We start off delving back into childhood times to find some of the sparks that interested us in travel, and I speak first with Evan Petrelis. His particular entry point for learning about the world is quite unique! I also chat with Bob DiMenna who grew up loving learning about wildlife around the world, which led on to an interest in world cultures and travel. Next, we consider how you go from a casual traveller into something more serious. I talk to Ferenc Elekes who learnt an important lesson while on a two-week holiday in Australia, chatting with longer-term travellers. I also chat with Kate Manser about how visiting her friend in French Polynesia had a significant impact on her life, too. Links:
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| 204 Island Travel | 07 Sep 2020 | 00:22:19 | |
Island life, island time, there are all kinds of phrases we use that evoke that special feeling of islands - be they tropical or otherwise, small islands are exotic places to visit and I've got such a long list of islands I've loved, and long to return to. Turns out I'm not alone and in Episode 204 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three guests about some of their own favourite island experiences and what it is they love about island travel. First up is Seana Smith who, despite being born in a "small, freezing Scottish town", discovered that she could indeed travel to far-flung islands and describes experiences in Africa and Asia. Next, Ben Pearson takes us to Indonesia and has a fun story he likes to tell about a particularly famous island, home to a certain dragon ... Finally, I chat with Nan Caple who has spent many years returning to Kangaroo Island in South Australia, a special place that has captivated her family and turned into something more than just a spot they love to spend their holidays. Links: Seana Smith - Hello Sydney Kids https://www.hellosydneykids.com.au/ Ben Pearson from World Animal Protection - https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.au Nan Caple - Snellings View accommodation on Kangaroo Island - https://snellingsview.com.au/ My old story of Abruka Island in Estonia - http://www.magiccarpetjournals.com/abby_of_abruka_island.htm Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/204 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 203 Student Exchange Trips | 31 Aug 2020 | 00:22:40 | |
Travel can have a lasting impact at any age but if you’re a teenager and you’re away from your family on some kind of student exchange program then it’s even more likely to be life-changing, and Episode 203 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast looks at this idea in this episode about student exchange trips. First up, we hear briefly from Abby Lewtas who describes her experience as a fourteen-year-old on exchange in the United States - the same as I was when I went to Germany on an equally life-altering school trip. I then chat to Patti Buff, an American writer who by chance happened to spend a year as a teenager here in my very own home state of Western Australia. It was so fabulous to chat with her and this is just an extract of a much longer conversation! Finally, one of my listeners, Jane, spoke to me about another angle of student exchanges: being the host family. Jane taught me a lot about all the benefits of student exchange trips to those families where the students end up staying - something I’d never thought much about even though I know it from my own experience to be true. Links:
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| 202 Wildflowers in Western Australia Trip Diary | 24 Aug 2020 | 00:23:22 | |
It's wildflower season! The Western Australian border might be closed thanks to Covid-19, but the positive side of this is as a Perth resident I'm able to travel throughout our vast state - including some of the lesser-visited parts. In mid-August, I spent three days in Australia's Golden Outback chasing wildflowers with my friend Di, and we kept an audio diary of our time away. In this special episode, you'll hear what Di thinks about my navigational abilities, you'll learn about just some of the amazing wildflowers we got to see near Mingenew, Morawa, Canna and Coalseam Conservation Park, and you may even giggle along with our evening campfire chats. Links: Dianne Bortoletto’s website Travelletto - https://travelletto.com Australia’s Golden Outback - https://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/page/outback-wildflowers Mellenbye Station - https://www.mellenbye.com.au Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/202 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | |||
| 201 Listener Stories | 17 Aug 2020 | 00:31:10 | |
This is the second part of my celebration of 200 episodes - today, the wonderful listeners you met in Episode 200 share some of their very favourite travel stories. And they're amazing! Lily takes us first to Indonesia, back when she was just sixteen - and she learnt a lot! Next, Jane tells us of an amazing part of Italy that had captured her imagination and then proved even better than she imagined. Ena describes a particularly special experience she and her children had in an Indian temple. We then move to South America, and Anuj explains an incredible morning in Tikal, Guatemala. Genevieve, one of my most adventurous listeners, chats with me about her epic ski trip across ten very remote communities in Canada. Richie rounds off the tales with his rather long bus trip in China, which nonetheless turned out to be thoroughly worthwhile (as most travel is!). A huge thank you to Lily, Anuj, Ena, Jane, Richie and Genevieve who all gave their time and stories so freely - it was such a pleasure to chat with each of you! Links
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| 312 Giving Back When We Travel | 05 Dec 2023 | 00:23:32 | |
The statistics tell us so: more and more of us want to give back and do good when we travel. This is heartening, right? Now we just have to start figuring out the best ways to contribute to the places we visit, in genuinely useful ways - and some of these are described in this episode. First up, I chat with Roger Smith of Echidna Walkabout who gives a good overview of giving back, and shares his wisdom from a tour operator perspective. I wish every tour operator thought like Roger! Next, I speak to Meg Jerrard and Mar Pages, two hardworking women I've known for many years, who now run small group tours under their Solo Female Travelers Club brand. Through this work, they've been giving back in Tanzania, and explain the story of Glory Thobias, who runs the Tanzanian Women Guides Foundation and trains female porters and guides to work in the lucrative tourism industry at Mount Kilimanjaro. Finally, I talk to Peter Baines, founder of Hands Across the Water, a company offering cycling tours of Thailand with a very important giving back purpose, aided by compulsory fundraising for the tour participants. It's a great model that's proven vital for helping some at-risk groups of children in Thailand. Links:
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| 200 Podcast Listener Interviews | 10 Aug 2020 | 00:24:11 | |
It's a big milestone today: this is the 200th episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast! And since this podcast would literally be nothing at all without all my wonderful listeners, I've decided to devote both this week and next week to you all by interviewing some brave listeners who volunteered to record chats with me - from all corners of the globe - Melbourne to Norway, British Colombia to England, and more. A huge thank you to Lily, Anuj, Ena, Jane, Richie and Genevieve who all gave their time and stories so freely - it was such a pleasure to chat with each of you. In this week's episode, my listener guests introduce themselves and also talk about some of their favourite stories and episodes from The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. Links
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| 199 Responsible Animal Tourism | 03 Aug 2020 | 00:26:16 | |
Seeing animals when we travel is high on many people's must-do lists - but are we doing it responsibly? Responsible animal tourism is one of those areas I'm constantly learning more about: for example, I still remember the moment, perhaps six or seven years ago, when I first learnt about why we shouldn't ride elephants (and if you're not sure, listen on!). Animal tourism is definitely an area where as we learn more about it, we can do better, so I'm hoping this episode is as enlightening for you as it was for me to make it. First up, I chat with Julia Salnicki, a zoologist who has spent many years living in Zimbabwe and Botswana doing research on painted dogs, spotted hyaenas and elephants. We talk about lion cubs, elephants and gorillas - some good and some bad stories! Next, I talk to Ben Pearson of World Animal Protection, first asking him about a pet hate of mine - quokka selfies - and then asking him for some more guidelines on how we can be responsible travellers in relation to animals. Finally, I speak with Louise Southerden about the specific case of riding with camels - as that seemed quite a grey area for me. Links:
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| 198 Early Trips of Experienced Travellers | 27 Jul 2020 | 00:22:41 | |
The trips we take early in our travelling careers are very special - those first times when you are really seeing the world with truly fresh eyes. That newness is something you never get back, but I'm sure it's the reason why chatting with experienced travellers about their early trips is so interesting - years on and after many more trips, they recognise how important these travels were, and all that they learnt from them. That's the reason for putting together Episode 198 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast about the early trips of experienced travellers. The first traveller I speak to is JoAnna Haugen, who explains her first proper trip abroad on a college study program in Scandinavia. I particularly like that it's a seemingly small incident which actually has a long-lasting effect on how JoAnna thinks about travel. Next, I speak with author Jini Reddy about some life-changing in her early travels in Asia, when she was in her twenties. It's especially interesting to her about her experience of visiting India for the first time. Finally, I chat with Tom Mattson about his first round-the-world trip back in the 1970s, when it was easy to extend your stay in a place and have quite the adventure! I love that Tom tells me about his time in Japan, one of my very favourite destinations. Links:
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