The Travel Diaries is a weekly interview series where journalist Holly Rubenstein chats to a special guest about their adventures around the world, and the travel experiences and destinations that have shaped their lives.
Be transported to exotic and far flung places as Holly and her diverse range of famous guests take you on a journey through the seven chapters of their life's travel diaries, from their earliest childhood travel memory and the first place they fell in love with; to their all time favourite destination, their hidden gem recommendation and what’s at the top of their bucket list. It's wanderlust, guaranteed!
Unpacked: New York, Greek Islands, Monastero Santa Rosa, Scandinavia & more, with Conde Nast Traveller Digital Director, Sarah Allard
Season 17
Sunday, October 4, 2026 • Duration 31:45
This week on The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, I’m joined by Sarah Allard, Digital Director of Condé Nast Traveller, for your weekly weekend dose of wanderlust.
Sarah’s job takes her to some extraordinary places, and today she’s sharing the trips, hotels and foodie finds she thinks should be on your radar. We start with the growing appeal of Northern Europe, including the Danish island of Bornholm, before heading to New York for her 40th birthday celebrations. Expect bagels, martinis and a few days in the Hudson Valley, where pretty towns, farm shops and gorgeous hotels make the perfect contrast to Manhattan.
We’re also talking Greek island favourites, from the spectacular restaurant setting that won Sarah over on Sifnos to a new hotel on Paros.
My Hotel of the Week is Monastero Santa Rosa on the Amalfi Coast, where I found what might just be my favourite swimming pool in the world.
And if you’re looking for somewhere closer to home this autumn, Sarah answers a listener’s question about cosy British boutique stays, with two delicious recommendations in Somerset and Devon.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok. I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you. You can also send me your travel questions for a future episode of Unpacked at thetraveldiarespodcast@gmail.com
With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host.
Today’s guest is returning to the podcast after 5 years! TV presenter, adventurer and explorer Steve Backshall is one of the most travelled people in the world, and one of the best story tellers - so he is the ultimate Travel Diaries guest.
Just listening back to his first episode in preparation for today was a reminder of what an amazing episode that was - if you haven’t listened to that scroll back and listen to that first, because his life is so interesting, and then come back and listen to this one!
It was so lovely to meet him in person this time, just last week. We filmed this in London, and it was really good fun putting some of your new travel diaries chapters to him - his answers were sensational. When somebody has been to this many places it's hard to know where to start, but I think that you're going to be absolutely captivated by Steve's stories, as I was.
So from Suriname to the Scilly Isles, Jerusalem to Alaska, and so much more, here’s Steve.
**Listeners - there's a strange video with the loading of Apple Podcasts' video today, so I'm reuploading this as an audio only file until it resolves.**
Destination recap
West Cornwall, England
Land’s End, England
South Africa
Suriname
Alaska, USA
Juneau, USA
The Azores, Portugal
Dominica
Colombia
Papua New Guinea
New Britain, Papua New Guinea
New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
New Caledonia
Yucatán, Mexico
Cancún, Mexico
Tulum, Mexico
Bimini, The Bahamas
The Isles of Scilly, England
St Martin’s, Isles of Scilly
Jerusalem
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Negev Desert, Israel
Kyrgyzstan
Northeast Greenland, Greenland
Unpacked: Japan, Mongolia, Praiano's Casa Angelina, Ladakh & more with travel writer, Luke Abrahams
Season 17
Sunday, September 27, 2026 • Duration 40:56
Today I’m joined by travel writer, author and photographer, Luke Abrahams. Luke is one of the UK's most prolific travel journalists, having been to 30 countries this year alone, and he's about to release a new book, The Luxury Travel Book: 25 personal experiences that make you rethink the world and your place in it. These are stories that make you rethink the beauty of life and the mastery of human creativity, and it is packed full of his beautiful photography too.
We'll be unpacking Ruthie Rogers' bucket list destination, Kyoto; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Casa Angelina; chatting about Luke's recent trip to Ladakh in Northern India, and answering your listener question.
Today’s guest is one of the most influential figures in British food. Ruthie Rogers is the chef and co-founder of The River Cafe, the legendary Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Hammersmith, which she opened with Rose Gray in 1987. Over nearly four decades, The River Cafe has completely transformed the way we eat and think about Italian food in this country, and its kitchens have helped launch the careers of some of Britain’s best-known chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Theo Randall and April Bloomfield.
But Ruthie’s influence extends far beyond the restaurant. She’s the author of numerous much-loved cookbooks and the host of the hugely successful podcast Ruthie’s Table 4, where an extraordinary guest list, from Paul McCartney and Elton John to David Beckham, Tony Blair and Nancy Pelosi, share the food memories that have shaped their lives. The podcast has now inspired her beautiful new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life.
And it turns out that food memories and travel memories have a great deal in common. Both can transport us instantly back to a particular person, place or moment in our lives.
I joined Ruthie at The River Cafe on a gloriously sunny summers day. Her travel diaries today take us from Cuba and Mexico to Maine and Marrakech, as well as her beloved Italy and the beautiful rhythm of family life she created with her late husband, the architect Richard Rogers, with summers in Tuscany, winters exploring the world and an almost constant desire to plan the next adventure.
Destination Recap:
Havana, Cuba
Hotel Lungarno, Florence, Italy
Camino Real, Mexico City, Mexico
Contramar, Mexico City, Mexico
Niddo, Mexico City, Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico
Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Huatulco, Mexico
Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico
Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico
Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Naples, Italy
Lo Scoglio, Marina del Cantone, Italy
Amalfi Coast, Italy
Unpacked: World's 50 Best Hotels, Belmond Splendido, AlUla, Listener Q&A & more with travel editor, Lauren Ho
Season 17
Sunday, September 20, 2026 • Duration 35:51
This week on The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, I’m joined by Lauren Ho, one of the world’s most well-travelled luxury hotel experts. Lauren is Travel Director of Wallpaper*, a contributing editor at Country & Town House and the Academy Chair for Western Europe for The World’s 50 Best Hotels.
Recorded just days after this year’s list was revealed in Paris, Lauren shares her reaction to the results, why Asian hotels continue to dominate the top 10 and which new entries she was particularly pleased to see recognised.
We also journey to AlUla in Saudi Arabia, where ancient Nabataean tombs, dramatic desert landscapes and extraordinary new hotels are putting the destination firmly on the travel map. Lauren shares her recent stay at Six Senses Amaala on the Red Sea and takes us inside her trip to Georgia, from the hidden corners of Tbilisi to Kakheti’s vineyards and traditional amber wine.
My Hotel of the Week is the newly restored Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, overlooking the impossibly beautiful harbour of Portofino.
Plus, in our listener Q&A, Lauren recommends the perfect luxurious but not completely bank-breaking destination for a special family celebration.
Today’s guest is one of Britain’s funniest, most distinctive and most beloved writers, Caitlin Moran.
Caitlin began writing her first book at just 13, was published at 16, and became an award-winning Times columnist and the bestselling author of books including How to Be a Woman, More Than a Woman and What About Men?
Her brilliant new book is called How to Be Hopeful, and it begins with a feeling I think many of us will recognise: that the world has become overwhelming and the only reasonable solution might be to run away and start an entirely new life somewhere else. In Caitlin’s case, that meant fantasising about a self-sufficient farmhouse in the Welsh mountains, until she discovered quite how expensive Welsh farmhouses actually are. So what happens next?
From her wonderfully feral childhood summers she spent living with her seven siblings in a tiny caravan in Wales to a romantic road trip through the Scottish Highlands; the lavish trip to Antigua that taught her luxury travel wasn’t necessarily for her; and why Corfu remains the island she returns to again and again, and much much more, here are the Travel Diaries of Caitlin Moran.
Destination Recap:
Tregaron, Wales
Strata Florida Abbey, Wales
Ynyslas, Wales
Ullapool, Scotland
Rannoch Moor, Scotland
Cornwall, England
Antigua and Barbuda
Tenby, Wales
Kassiopi, Corfu, Greece
Paxos, Greece
Antipaxos, Greece
Iceland
Japanese Alps, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Abergavenny, Wales
Bannau Brycheiniog, Wales
Florida, USA
Austria
Scandinavia
Thanks so much for listening today. If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
Unpacked: China, Uzbekistan, Baku, Six Senses & more with travel editor, John O'Ceallaigh
Season 17
Sunday, September 13, 2026 • Duration 33:50
Hello and welcome to our very first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, your weekend travel fix.
Today I’m joined by the fabulous John O'Ceallaigh. John is a travel journalist and consultant to luxury hospitality brands, who previously served as the luxury travel editor for The Telegraph for nearly a decade.
We'll be unpacking Nisha's bucket list destination, China; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Six Senses London; chatting about John's recent trip to Azerbaijan, and answering your listener question.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
Nisha Katona
Season 17
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 59:13
Hello and welcome to a brand new season of The Travel Diaries. It’s great to be back!
I couldn’t think of a more joyful guest to kick off the season than Nisha Katona. A former child protection barrister turned restaurateur, food writer and TV presenter, Nisha is the founder of the hugely successful Mowgli Street Food restaurants, the author of several cookbooks, including her newest release, The Curry Bible, and was a judge on the BBC’s Great British Menu.
In this episode, Nisha describes herself as a “culinary evangelist and anthropologist”, and food is the thread running through her extraordinary Travel Diaries. We journey from childhood holidays in Mallorca and the tastes that first awakened her curiosity, to Beijing, her ancestral home of Varanasi, the temples and night markets of Cambodia, and her love for the Amalfi Coast.
Our conversation travelled far beyond holidays, taking in family, identity, faith, grief and the ways in which travel helps us understand both the world and ourselves.
Destination Recap:
Mallorca, Spain
Taunus Therme, Bad Homburg, Germany
Beijing, China
Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
River Ganges, Varanasi, India
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jeju Island, South Korea
Amalfi Coast, Campania, Italy
Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy
Pompeii, Campania, Italy
Herculaneum, Campania, Italy
Parco dei Principi, Sorrento, Italy
Positano, Campania, Italy
Ravello, Campania, Italy
Capri, Campania, Italy
Lloret de Mar, Catalonia, Spain
Blanes, Catalonia, Spain
Ibiza, Spain
China
Jerusalem, Israel
Nisha's fabulous new book, The Curry Bible, is out now.
Today’s conversation was filmed earlier this summer at the beautiful London Marriott Hotel County Hall, in the most spectacular room - The Big Ben Balcony Suite - overlooking the Thames and the Houses of Parliament.
Sir Michael Palin returns
Season 16
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 • Duration 56:55
Today’s guest is, quite simply, one of the great travellers of our time. Sir Michael Palin first joined me on The Travel Diaries back in 2020, and that episode went on to become one of our most loved and most listened-to conversations ever. So when the opportunity came up for him to return to the podcast, this time to mark the publication of his new book, In Nigeria, I absolutely leapt at the chance.
For anyone listening who might not be fully familiar with Sir Michael Palin’s extraordinary career, he first became known as one of the members of Monty Python, before going on to become one of the world’s most beloved travel broadcasters and writers. His landmark BBC travel series, from Around the World in 80 Days to Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Himalaya and so many more, completely changed the way travel was brought to our screens.
I went to Michael’s house in London to film the interview and you’ll be able to watch the full conversation on YouTube and Spotify this weekend.
On today’s episode, we talk about some of the extraordinary journeys he’s been on since we last spoke, from Nigeria to Iraq, Venezuela and the Philippines. We talk about the places that surprised him, the countries that defied their reputation, the journeys that have stayed with him, and the places he still dreams of visiting. And, because Michael has already shared his original seven travel chapters with us, this time I asked you to send in some brand new travel chapters for him. So listen out, because one of your questions might just be in there.
Before we get started, a quick warning: this episode contains spoilers. So if you haven’t finished watching the latest series of Race Across the World, I’d suggest turning off now and coming back once you have!
Race Across the World is one of those shows that just gets under your skin, isn’t it? You start off thinking you’re watching a travel programme, and then suddenly you’re so emotionally invested in people trying to get across a border, find a cheap hostel, or make it onto a 29-hour train with no phone and barely any money. This season, five pairs travel over 12,000 kilometres, from Palermo in Sicily all the way to Hatgal in Mongolia, without smartphones, internet access, flights or bank cards, relying instead on instinct, kindness, grit and a lot of very long bus and train journeys.
And at the heart of it all were today’s guests: best friends Jo and Kush from Liverpool, who not only won the series, but completely won over viewers along the way. Their friendship was such a joy to watch and there was something so lovely about seeing two young men support each other so openly through the highs and lows.
What I loved about chatting to them is that Race Across the World has this brilliant sense of mystery around it. As a viewer, I’m always wondering how the show actually works. So in this episode, we really get into all of that. We talk about the audition process, the secrecy around winning, the budget, the homestays, the toilets, the borders, the long-distance trains, and what it’s really like travelling without your phone in your pocket. And of course, we talk about the places too. From Sorrento and Naples, to Tbilisi in Georgia, the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the vast landscapes of Kazakhstan, and the wild, icy beauty of Mongolia.
Destination Recap:
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Sorrento, Italy
Naples, Italy
Greece
Türkiye
Kars, Türkiye
Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia
Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Steve’s Deadly Live tour begins in October. Find out more here.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of Unpacked, this time with Conde Nast Traveller’s Digital Director, Sarah Allard.
Luke's new book, The Luxury Travel Book: Extraordinary experiences money can't buy is available for pre-order here.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
You can listen to Ruthie’s Table 4, wherever you get your podcasts.
Her new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life is available now.
I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.
I’ll be back on Sunday with The Travel Diaries: Unpacked and our guest, World’s 50 Best Hotels European chair, and travel journalist, Lauren Ho.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Hotels with History podcast - Hotels with History is a podcast hosted by actor Richard E. Grant and travel & hospitality expert Jules Perowne, uncovering the scandals, legends and surprising stories behind the world's most legendary hotels. Search Hotels with History wherever you get your podcasts
I’ll be back on Sunday with our first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked with travel editor John O'Ceallaigh.
If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.
With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.
With thanks to Sani for their support of today's episode. Discover your paradise at Sani. For more information, visit sani-resort.com
Thank you so much to all of you for listening this season. I really hope you’ve enjoyed travelling the world with me through all of these conversations. The good news is, it won’t be too long before I’m back. We’ve got another summer season coming your way in mid-August, so there are lots more travel stories to come very soon.
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at @hollyrubenstein, you can watch us on YouTube here.
And have you checked out my brand new Travel Diaries map, which will save every single destination ever mentioned on the podcast? A very dangerous tool for anyone with a serious case of wanderlust? You can look at it here.
Thank you again for listening, have a wonderful summer, and I’ll see you very soon.
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