Explore every episode of the podcast Excess Baggage

In the last Excess Baggage, John McCarthy talks to three inveterate travellers: Sara Wheeler, who has written on Africa and the Antarctic, explorer Benedict Allen who has travelled in Siberia and New Guinea and documentary maker Simon Reeve who has just returned from the Indian Ocean. He asks them why they are driven to explore the world and what is the point of travel.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses travel to the African countries of Rwanda, Uganda and to the world's newest country, South Sudan. With his guests, doctor Rob Summerhayes, paramedic Franz Opitz and forensic accountant Benedict Jenks - John finds out what attracts people to visiting a country with troubles past or present. All the guests are sensitive to the highly political issues that are involved in visiting such countries and have wide experience of travel to some of the world's hotspots. All have also spent considerable time in Central Africa developing considerable insight into those countries. Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses the diverse attractions of Israel as a destination. It's a land whose tumultuous existence often overshadows a rich, cultural life. The very word 'Israel' is often synonymous with conflict and religious tension, but John looks beyond the political debate to find what it has to offer the ordinary traveller. His guests are a travel writer, Samantha Wilson, a keen hiker, Alma Smith and a chef, Adi Gilo who spent many summers living and working on a kibbutz.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy talks to artist Emily Young about her travels to find stone for her sculpture, to travel writer Martin Symington about his venture in search of Britain's sacred places both ancient and modern and to Richard Grant about his exploration by inflatable raft of the Malagarasi River in East Africa. Together they consider the extent to which destinations can be spiritual.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy visits 'The Heart of the Great Alone' an exhibition of polar photography at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and, before an audience, introduces a discussion of Antarctica with the explorer David Hempleman-Adams and his daughter Amelia who has just returned from there. Joining them are the author Meredith Hooper and Frozen Planet cameraman Doug Allan.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses the 'Wild West' with former documentary film-maker Tim Slessor who has just written a book called 'More than Cowboys'. He is also joined by travel writer, Kieran Meeke, who, as a keen horse-rider, also loves the cowboy culture and has a passion for the Calgary Stampede, in Alberta, Canada, currently marking its centenary. John is also joined by Nick Hewer (Lord Sugar's right-hand man on BBC TV's 'The Apprentice') who recounts his solo journey driving from London to Ulan Bator in Mongolia in an old Renault 4L to raise money for charity.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy looks at the delights and difficulties of visiting the occupied territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank with writer Sarah Irving who has published the first new guide to Palestine for many years, circus performer China Fish who recently returned from entertaining children there and traveller Gail Simmons who sampled the alternatives to the mass tourism.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses Art and Travel with leading art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon explaining his abiding passion for the raw art of Sicily which has been drawing him back to the island for over twenty years. He talks about his latest BBC 2 series on Sicily called 'Sicily Unpacked' which, in the company of chef Giorgio Locatelli, reveals the many stunning works of art round every corner as well as the fresh ingredients which make for a delicious and unique cuisine. Part of the appeal, he says, is that the Art is so accessible, not locked up in museums and galleries but available to all at virtually every street corner. The art, he feels, has not become homogenised as in so many other places. Art academic Dr. Amy Dempsey discusses her love of Outdoor Art which led to her book called 'Destination Art' cataloguing two hundred of the most modern and contemporary art sites around the world, mostly in Europe and the USA. Many of the works are unshowy and quite difficult to find, all part of the experience for the traveller. She makes particular mention of works in the Netherlands (the 'positive' and 'negative' Green Cathedrals) and the work of Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor. She believes these works have been overlooked in the past and have not received the attention they deserve by the critic and the traveller. Susie Parr explains her ten year quest to chart the history of outdoor bathing in the UK. To that end, she has swum in chilly harbour waters, at glorious beaches and in once stylish lidos. She also explores how immersion in cold water seems to have inspired art and creativity and was enjoyed especially by some of the key Romantic figures including, Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy meets three intrepid women travellers who cross the generations as well as the continents. Naomi Molten is a veteran of many adventures through south-east Asia, India and Afghanistan as well as Europe and the Far East, travelling mostly alone during the 1950s. Isobel Talks is a young student who has just returned from Ecuador where she lived and worked in different local communities as well as tracking down the rare butterfly that was named after her. She also visited Bolivia and the Galapagos Islands. Felicity Goodall is a writer who has retraced the steps taken by evacuees escaping the Japanese Army in 1942. She recounts the horrific experiences of half a million people who fled for their lives on the remarkable trek from Burma to India. Felicity's own father served in the British army then and had a lucky escape when his wristwatch deflected a Japanese bullet.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy looks at the changing nature of the traditional attractions of England with historian John Julius Norwich, curator Lucy Worsley and journalist Martin Wainwright. Together they discuss the appeal of English places from Kensington Palace to Watford Gap and why we look for the past in palaces and cottages.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Peter Curran presents an Excess Baggage special quiz for Christmas from the Radio Theatre with Sandi Toksvig, John McCarthy and their special guests Caroline Quentin and Arthur Smith answering questions on the world of travel and travelling the world.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses travel biography at October's Cheltenham Literature Festival with eminent writers in the field; Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Sara Wheeler and Alexander Maitland. Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy meets the former debutante Meriel Larken who fell in love with Peru and rescued and restored a Victorian steam ship on Lake Titicaca. He is also joined by Chris Smith and Liz Peel who went by canoe through the Bolivian jungle in search of the village of Manchester; and Kung Fu expert Nick Hurst explains why he set off to Malaysia and China to spend time with his grandmaster Sugong.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy meets Phillip Cribb, a botanist and orchid specialist at Kew Gardens who's spent thirty years plant hunting in Western China. Along with Christopher Grey-Wilson, he's just produced a Guide to the Flowers of Western China and he regularly leads tours there. He explains the process of gathering the flowers and how attitudes towards their native flora are changing.

John also discusses animal welfare abroad and meets two women who have decided to devote their life to helping domestic animals around the world. Barbara Webb spent ten years trekking in Nepal before the plight of stray dogs there inspired her to set up HART, the Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust. Caroline Yates is CEO of the Mayhew, an animal home in the UK supporting projects in Moscow, northern Peru, India and Afghanistan. Now she regularly treks in East Africa, Morocco and South America with animal welfare in mind.

Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy takes a look at historic walks in the company of archaeologist Bill Bevan who selects Britain's top prehistoric sites best approached by foot and walks webmaster David Stewart who tells how you can follow ancient pathways all over the country from packhorse routes to corpse roads. John also compares fast and slow trains with journalist Tom Chesshyre maintaining that high speed railways have opened up Europe for passengers and travel editor Michael Kerr favouring a more leisurely approach to rail journeys.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy meets scriptwriter Edward Canfor-Dumas who has just returned from Gambia where he was acting as a Commonwealth observer in the recent Presidential elections. He describes how even with a scrupulously correct voting process in the remote bush the outcome can still be influenced. John also talks to journalist Julia Horton who went trekking in Nepal on the trail of the Maoist guerillas and Leigh Banks for whom the Himalayas meant white water rafting.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy explores storytelling in Japan with charity founder Nicola Grove who visited the country recently to learn about the heritage of folk tales there and in particular the depiction and involvement of those with learning difficulties. Journalist Richard Hamilton compares this with his own experience of the tellers of tales in the market place of Marrakesh and how this is surviving in modern times. John also meets Geoff Saunders who made a series of journeys all round the British Isles to the coastal weather stations featured in the early morning shipping forecast.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy looks at Eastern Europe with broadcaster Dennis Marks who visited many of the places described by the author Joseph Roth who wrote between the wars about the declining years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and often depicted Jewish life. Dennis journeyed around this 'Mitteleuropa' in search of a world which has all but disappeared since the Holocaust and the years of the Iron Curtain.

Journalist Tim Luard also makes a journey into the past. He traces the escape from Hong Kong in 1942 of a one-legged Chinese admiral with a party of British military personnel. Tim and his wife followed their path through what was once bandit country but is now part of bustling modern China. John also talks to Rita Boogaart, one half of a Dutch couple whose obsession with the A272 has led them to publish a guide to the delights to be found along its route through Sussex and Hampshire.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy meets foreign correspondent Nicholas Wood who has turned his hand to running tours of some of the world's politically sensitive spots. They are joined by playwright Sam Holcroft and economist and playwright Alastair Muriel who recently accompanied Nicholas on a trip to North Korea to find out if they could get any closer to this controversial country. John also looks at Panama with Verol Gordon who has moved there with his family and explains the attractions of a new life in a fast developing land.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy hears about the transoceanic rowing experiences of Roz Savage who has just completed a crossing from Australia to Mauritius making her the first woman to row solo across the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. John also goes cheek to cheek with the tango as he finds out why the dance draws people to its roots in Argentina. He talks to travel writer Kapka Kassabova about its history and hold over her, Sarah Kennedy who went on a tango holiday and Sally Blake who has written a tango guide to Buenos Aires.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy hears about Congo in the early days of independence in the 1960s from Veronica Cecil who had to flee from the civil war with her young family and about the country after it had become Zaire a decade later from Ian Mathie who lived amongst the forest dwelling people. John also meets Kathy O'Keefe who visits the remote Indian Ocean isles of Rodrigues to help with their teacher training.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy looks at natural navigation with Alison Steadman who has been learning from the adventurer Tristan Gooley how to find and follow directions using only the signs provided by the weather and the landscape. Leading guide Kevin Albin talks about snow shoeing in the Pyrenees and sun bears in Borneo and British Indian novelist Rana Dasgupta explains why he is fascinated by Bulgaria and post-colonial India.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy discusses travel biography at the Cheltenham Literature Festival with eminent writers in the field; Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Sara Wheeler and Alexander Maitland.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy explores wildlife travel with naturalist and tv presenter, Mark Carwardine, who has spent thirty years travelling around the world to observe and aid conservation of a huge range of species including whales, tigers, gorillas and sea birds. He is also joined by wildlife travel writer, James Parry, who has made a unique tour of the world's top twenty deserts chosen for their outstanding wildlife and landscape interest - and award-winning wildlife photographer, Andy Rouse, discusses his recent trips to Rwanda in relation to mountain gorillas, and to India to study tigers. Producer: Margaret Collins.

John McCarthy gets a flavour of rural Italy and its food in conversation with writer Tracey Lawson who investigated the surprising longevity of an Italian village's residents by going to live there and learning all about their diet; their great life expectancy is due in no small part to simple food freshly prepared and she shares some of the secrets with John. They are joined by author Julia Blackburn whose own experiences of living in an Italian village led her to collect the memories and stories of the older inhabitants. And the writer and columnist Vitali Vitaliev tells why, originally from the Ukraine, he loves Italy so much and how he ate a great many good Italian meals in the apparently futile search for a bad one.

Producer : Harry Parker.

John McCarthy asks the historian Thant Myint-U, who visits Burma regularly, about the recent political developments there and its role in south east Asia. Thant reflects on the how the country's relationship with tourism might also change. The author and traveller Anthony Sattin tells John how the history of Egypt has attracted traders and tourists and how the change of government there too has affected tourism. John also finds out from Pauline Sanderson about her part in the world's longest climb from the Dead Sea to Everest which involved an eight thousand kilometre cycle ride through countries like Iran and Pakistan topped of with an ascent of the highest mountain.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy talks to adventurer Jock Wishart about his recent expedition rowing to the North Pole. He and his team were the first to achieve this feat made possible this year by global warming melting the ice. They were under threat from polar bears and crushing ice floes and had to return before the sea froze over again. John also meets novelist Jo Baker whose stay in Malta led to the discovery of her family's First World War connection with the island. And Peter Caton who has visited all of Britain's tidal islands tells John about the variety of history and landscape of these fascinating places isolated from the mainland at high tide. The best known are Lindisfarne and St Michael's Mount but there are many others from the Thames to the Highlands.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy introduces businesswoman Alice Morrison who took time off from the recession to ride from Cairo to Cape Town on the Tour d'Afrique cycle race, braving bandits and wildlife for a life changing experience. Best selling crime novelist John Connolly talks about his love of the US state of Maine despite not liking two of its great attractions, hunting and seafood. And writer Duncan Fallowell talks about his travels to Gozo, India and South Wales in search of people who have disappeared from view.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig takes a bus trip along the south coast of England from Brighton to Eastbourne in the company of the listener who suggested it, Veronica Groocock. Together they discover the delights to be had on an ordinary scheduled bus route. These include Kipling's garden, a 1930s lido, the Greenwich meridian, a lamb called Hardy and the lighthouse at Beachy Head.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig in the second of two programmes continues her exploration the ancient and modern city of Istanbul which straddles the border between Europe and Asia. She looks at the its richness both in history and the fusion of eastern and western cultures in the arts and cuisine.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig in the first of two programmes begins to explore the ancient and modern city of Istanbul which straddles the border between Europe and Asia. She gets an overview of the city from the tops of two very different towers, hears about the impact of tourism and economic growth on the city and rediscovers a forgotten opera singer.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sonia Deol hears about the re-enactment of a historical voyage round Africa from marine explorer Philip Beale. He built a replica of an ancient sailing boat to recreate the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa. He and his crews sailed clockwise round the continent and on the two year journey risked whale sharks, modern shipping and pirates. Even after the journey the problems weren't over as Philip had to rescue the boat from the recent troubles in Syria.

Sonia also looks at the British seaside with journalist Brian Viner and author Jane Struthers. Both were brought up in seaside towns and have continued to have a fascination for coastal resorts ever since. They discuss the history of the British beach holiday and the continuing appeal of summer by the sea.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sonia Deol looks at Kashmir with the author Rosie Thomas, who went there to learn about the production of cashmere shawls, and journalist Tim Hannigan who toured the region investigating the murder of the Victorian explorer George Hayward. They discuss the pleasures and dangers of travelling in the beautiful but troubled land. Sonia also meets Adam Strudwick and Rekha Sharma a couple who are visiting all the world's countries in the order they became independent. It's a lifetime's project but already they are visiting the South American countries which had revolutions in the nineteenth century.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi is joined by Nick Mayhew Smith who has undertaken a pilgrimage to every "holy place" in England, Scotland and Wales. Nick has compiled a travel guide which not only details where sacred treasures can be found, but also tells you what to expect and ranks them in terms of holiness. Sandi also talks to two Antarctic explorers: Angie Butler loves Antarctica so much she set about recovering the ashes of a forgotten Edwardian Polar explorer and Katie Walter was only seventeen when she made it to base camp at the South Pole, the youngest person ever to walk there. Producer: Laura Northedge.

Sandi Toksvig goes to Reykjavik to look at aspects of tourism in Iceland and discovers that the volcanic eruptions and the financial crash there may not have been so bad for the country. As well as reminding the world of its geological attractions the crises have helped Iceland look at its cultural roots like the sagas and....knitting.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig is joined by country singer Hank Wangford to hear about life on the ranch with paniolo cowboys in Hawaii. There is music from cellist Li Lu who is accompanied by artist Johan Andersson, her rival in a televised international busking competition. And Sandi talks to seasoned busker Kevin Barry White about life on road with just an accordion for company. Producer: Laura Northedge.

Sandi Toksvig explores Cape Town in the company of two very different experts. Lindsay Johns has family connections to the city and visits regularly. Bryan Tully is a forensic psychologist and has recently led a 'forensic tour' to South Africa. While mortuaries, hospitals and prisons feature on the tour, Bryan talks especially about his impressions of Cape Town. Sandi also talks to journalist Miranda Sawyer who has retraced both her footsteps and the train tracks of her youthful InterRailing adventures around Europe.

Producer Harry Parker, Chris Wilson Presenter Sandi Toksvig.

Sandi Toksvig meets journalist Colin Freeman who was kidnapped by pirates in Somalia whilst investigating them. He tells Sandi about how the total breakdown of law and order has led to piracy on the high seas and poverty on the land. David Edwards had barely arrived in Montserrat in 1995 when the volcanic eruptions took place that were to cover most of the island in ash. He went back 16 years later to see how life has changed for both visitors and residents. Language teacher Elisabeth Smith tells Sandi why the British are so bad at speaking foreign languages when travelling - and what they can do about it.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig looks at rites of passage with Anders Ryman who spent seven years photographing the ceremonies associated with key events in human life; birth, coming of age, marriage and death from Micronesia to Madagascar and Norway to Nepal. They are joined by author Sarah Murray who has travelled the world looking at rituals associated with death and Lucy Neville whose memoir of her time in Mexico includes her experiences of the Day of the Dead festival and the Saint of Death religious cult.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig looks at the simplicity and versatility of the bicycle as a travel machine with three very different cyclists. Susie Wheeldon rode 22,000 kilometres around the world, crossing deserts from Tunisia to Arizona, as she and her companions were researching solar energy. Robert Penn leads cycling weekends in the hills of the Brecon Beacons where the ups are as satisfying as the downs. And Matt Carroll recommends day trips in some of England's most beautiful countryside. Together they discuss the feeling of freedom realised in today's world by a device which hasn't changed its basic design for over 130 years.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sandi Toksvig meets novelist Richard Gwyn and translator Peter Bush to discuss Catalonia and its relationship with Spain. She hears how life is changing there, not just in the big city of Barcelona but in the more rural areas near the Pyrenees. Sandi also talks about the Cornish coast with the historian and author Philip Marsden who has lived in the Falmouth area for many years and reflects on the role of the sea in the lives of the residents and visitors from the days of sail to the present.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy talks to travel journalist Harry Bucknall about his journey round the Greek islands which vary from the crowded to the deserted and novelist Meaghan Delahunt reveals her love of Naxos an island less frequented by tourists. They discuss the appeal of the islands to the history lover and the holidaymaker.

John also meets the writer Jasper Winn who paddled his way around Ireland in a kayak. The journey led him to see his home island from a new perspective with its wild coastline, wildlife - and wild winds which on one occasion stranded him on an uninhabited island.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy talks to three writers who have reported as freelancers from conflict zones. Lucy Morgan Edwards worked in Afghanistan both during and after the Taliban regime as an aid worker, journalist and election observer. Despite the risks she grew to love the country and its people. Benjamin Hall's thirst for front line journalism took him to Misrata in Libya at the height of Gaddafi's attacks on the rebel city and Oliver Bullough wrote from Chechnya as it struggled against Russian domination. They tell John about the practical difficulties and excitement of travelling in such dangerous places without backup.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy meets poet and author Lavinia Greenlaw who tells him about the designer William Morris's journeys to Iceland in the 1870s and how what he saw informed his radical socialism. She also compares his experiences with her own trip there in the wake of the financial crash. Novelist Niall Griffiths emigrated to Australia as a child with his family but they returned to Britain after a few years. He tells John about rediscovering his childhood haunts thirty years later and how modern Australia lived up to his memories. John also talks to art historian Christopher Lloyd who reveals that Britain's art galleries are full of overlooked masterpieces and that a trip to any part of Britain can be a journey of aesthetic discovery.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy hears from architectural journalist Jonathan Glancey about the little visited state of Nagaland in north east India. Although concerned with buildings in his profession, Jonathan has returned several times to a land that has little of the built environment but much stunning mountain scenery - and the wildness of this frontier region gives it the air of a lost kingdom.

When Elizabeth Gowing went to Kosovo to live she found that one way to getting know this country of mixed cultures in the years after its civil war was through beekeeping. John talks to her about how she fell in love with a nation that is finding its feet in modern Europe whilst still holding on to the past - and honey.

John also meets Henry Iddon a British speed skier who grabbed the chance recently to go skiing in Iran where his experiences included the descent of a volcano.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy takes a look at family travel with novelist Gill Lewis, who has taken her daughters spotting wildlife both abroad and in Scotland and Cornwall and Ben Hatch who toured Britain with his young children. And holiday lettings agent Wendy Shand explains how self-catering holidays can be more child friendly.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy looks at Liberia and Sierra Leone with journalist and author Tim Butcher who retraced a journey without maps made by Graham Greene in 1935. The dangers of heat and disease are still there but on his 350 mile walk through the jungle Tim also encountered a region riddled with post-conflict tensions and superstitions.

Photographer Marion Bull tells John about her travels usually made on her own to physically challenging places - in particular to the deserts of Algeria, where she is fascinated by rock paintings but is also drawn to the harsh and sometimes risky life among the Tuareg people.

And when life in a country becomes too risky for visitors, they may well call on their insurance company to repatriate them. John meets specialist Ted Jones who organises the evacuation of clients from political, medical or natural crises such as recent events in Libya, Egypt or Japan after the tsunami.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy talks to journalist AA Gill about his travel columns which have taken him from earthquake zones to retirement homes and polar regions to Civil War sites. He also meets novelist Wilbur Smith who reflects on piracy off the east coast of Africa and hears from author Isabel Losada how her quest for self knowledge induced her to take hallucinogenic drugs in the Peruvian Amazon. John asks them whether they write to travel or travel to write.

John McCarthy visits Northern Ireland where he stays in two contrasting hotels and hears about different approaches to tourism after the troubles. In Belfast he talks to the owner, the concierge and a famous guest of the much bombed Europa Hotel, takes a taxi tour of the opposing sections of the city and looks forward to developments in the arts attracting visitors. In South Armagh, John visits the first new hotel for 100 years in Crossmaglen, a notorious village during the conflict, hears a traditional music session or ceoltas and gets a panoramic view from a local beauty spot.

Producer: Harry Parker.

John McCarthy explores the pleasure of moonlight, talks to a musician who travelled the world with her harp and meets someone who spent 5 years in the solitude of a remote Welsh cottage without electricity or running water.

Producer Chris Wilson.