The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

In my second Deep Dive Into Thoughtful Travel interview episode, I speak with James Mwenda in Kenya - and I'm really excited to share our chat. For almost a decade, James was a caretaker for the last three - then two - northern white rhinos in the world, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. It's heartbreaking to imagine working with the very last animals of a species - and James talks about the emotional toll this work takes. We also talk about what thoughtful, sustainable travel should look like, and James has recently started his own expedition company, Jemu Expeditions, to show travellers to Kenya the things he loves most about his country. From the importance of tourism dollars for conservation efforts to his emphasis on using tourism to support his local community, James has so many words of wisdom.  Links: James’s expedition company, Jemu Expeditions - https://www.jemuexpeditions.com  Ol Pejeta Conservancy - https://www.olpejetaconservancy.org  Video of James speaking about Sudan, the last male northern white rhino - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G9brceVivo Extract from Kifaru, a documentary about the rhino caretaker unit James was a part of - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_WKm547F20  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/246 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My definition of thoughtful travel has come a long way since I named this podcast over five years ago; I’ve also been excited to see a lot more people giving thought to the question of what thoughtful travel means. Episode 245 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast gathers the ideas of many more people to help us consider this important question. I chat with four guests about what they think thoughtful travel means, starting with Henry Gold. He emphasises respecting others, especially because you are visiting their home or country. Next, we hear from James Mwenda who focuses on the impact our travels have. Helena Fox talks about being present in the place you go to, and also discusses ideas of respect and slow travel. My final guest, Vince Dickson, talks about being more open to different experiences, as well as considering the impact our travels have. Links: Henry Gold  founder of TDA Cycling - https://tdaglobalcycling.com/ James Mwenda - Jemu Expeditions - https://www.jemuexpeditions.com Helena Fox - https://helenafoxauthor.com - her recent novel is “How It Feels to Float” - https://amzn.to/3kNNfd9  Vince Dickson, from Hunu - https://www.wearehunu.com/  The book mentioned by Vince is “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari - https://amzn.to/36tSZjw Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin or direct to https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13984484/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/245 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of travel involves a flight, train or ferry ride, and things can go wrong - that's why Episode 244 is all about transport glitches when we travel. Some of these stories are just plain crazy - the amount of stuff that can go wrong one trip is unbelievable! - and others remind us that even when things go wrong, there's often a silver lining (or at the very least, a good story to tell!). First up, I chat with Kaitlyn Jain about a trip she and her husband took to Finland with their four (very) young children. She had a great plan to take the ferry from Helsinki to Estonia for the day, but things went wrong when jet lag made them sleep through their alarm ... Next, I talk to Vince Dickson who tells the story of perhaps his unluckiest friend, who had quite a saga flying to visit Vince in South Africa a few years back. It certainly took a lot longer than planned. Finally, Deborah Haile and her son Jonah talk about what happened when they unexpectedly got stuck for a night in Dubai - and it was all good! Links: Kaitlyn Jain - https://www.kaitlynjain.com - her book is Passports and Pacifiers - Traveling the World, One Tantrum at a Time  Vince Dickson, from Hunu, making sustainable travel products - https://www.wearehunu.com/ Deborah Haile and her son Jonah https://www.tinyglobalfootprints.com  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/244 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month's special guest for a deep dive into thoughtful travel is JoAnna Haugen, founder of Rooted Storytelling. JoAnna has appeared in a couple of past podcast episodes but her knowledge and experience in many important areas of thoughtful travel is so vast that I wanted to get deeper into some, well, really thoughtful stuff! JoAnna and I chat about what she believes thoughtful travel is, whether the impact of the pandemic will lead to some improvement in how sustainably and thoughtfully we travel, how best we can travel with an emphasis on supporting locals and finally, some advice and guidance for content creators - travel writers, journalists, bloggers, podcasters and influencers - on how we can best use the responsibility of our influence. Links: JoAnna Haugen’s website, Rooted Storytelling - https://rootedstorytelling.com  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/243 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the June 2021 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Couchsurfing in Iran by Stephan Orth. 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.

When we travel, we are sometimes wary of strangers - but should we be? The stories in Episode 242 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast suggest we shouldn't be. First up, I chat with Vince Dickson about one of his early travel experiences in Europe. He ended up almost penniless in Paris and that's when he came across a helpful stranger. I then talk to Pam Mandel who also had a wonderful experience with a stranger in Nepal when she was needing a way to cook her dinner! Finally, I hear from Tim Tricker about what I can call a reverse kindness of stranger  situation in Barcelona - a fabulous story! Links: Vince Dickson of Hunu - https://www.wearehunu.com/  Pam Mandel’s website - https://www.nerdseyeview.com Pam’s book The Same River Twice - https://amzn.to/319lwbq  The Kindness of Strangers on Your Travels - https://notaballerina.com/76  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/242 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some travel is for fun; other travel is for a huge range of reasons. And some travel turns out to be really emotional - that's the kind we are looking at in Episode 241 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. First up, I chat with Henry Gold. He's the son of two Holocaust survivors and tells the story of visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp with his mother when she was in her late seventies, when she could show and tell Henry and other family members about some of the horrid experiences she had there. It's quite a story. Next, I speak with Carolanna Lisonbee and our emotional travel story centres on Hiroshima in Japan. Carolanna also travelled there with her mother and they both found it a very important trip. Finally, I talk to Tim Tricker about the emotional aspects of irresponsible animal tourism, when he tells me about some difficult and distressing parts of a visit to Bangkok a few years back. Links: Henry Gold, founder of TDA Cycling - https://tdaglobalcycling.com/ (Tour D’Afrique) Carolanna Lisonbee - her poetry collection is Wisp of Fog Moment - https://amzn.to/3p9HiHl Why I’m Glad I Visited the Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps - https://www.notaballerina.com/2014/05/visiting-auschwitz-birkenau-concentration-camps.html  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/241 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a round-numbered episode so time for something different: this time I'm the one getting interviewed, and I answer questions about what happens behind the scenes of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, gathered from listeners through the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group and other social media sites. It's three years since I did the first Behind the Scenes episode and so much has changed. This time round, travel writer Catherine Marshall interviews me with discussions about the ideas I have for podcast topics, what makes a good interviewee, any disasters I've had and an overview of the technical aspects of how The Thoughtful Travel Podcast comes together. It was fun to chat about these topics and I hope listeners will find the result interesting, too. Links: Episode 100 - the first Behind the Scenes - https://notaballerina.com/100 Catherine Marshall’s Time to Wander site - https://www.timetowander.com.au  Cait Flanders’ new podcast Opting Out - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/opting-out-with-cait-flanders/id1560688606    Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/240 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wandering the world with your eyes wide open means you'll inevitably encounter some incredible street art and murals. My favourites (to date) have been in Penang, Malaysia, but after exploring the topic more while making this episode I can't wait to see more in many other parts of the world.  My first guest in this episode is Jenny Herbert, who speaks about discovering the street art in a city very familiar to her, Melbourne, Australia. She grew up there and still visits regularly, but learnt so much about it from a self-guided street art walking tour. I then chat with Kayla Wyszynski who is an artist and has completed many large murals already. It was so great to be able to quiz her with all my thoughts and questions about how it's possible to create such huge art!  Finally, I chat with listener Anuj about his memorable experience viewing a mural in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's one of those tales where things don't quite go according to plan and that makes his experience all the more memorable. Links: The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti - https://amzn.to/3f0VYp3  Jenny Herbert’s book The Art of Being a Tourist at Home - https://amzn.to/3tcXnfX  Kayla Wyszynski’s site - Kayski Creations - https://www.kayskicreations.com  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/239 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travelling to participate in a sporting event is a niche reason to travel that a surprisingly large number of travel lovers have experienced during their loves, and I love the unique benefits and fun of trips for sport. In Episode 238 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I speak with three people who've travelled for a wide variety of sporting reasons. First up, I chat with Tim Tricker who has had many short trips to interesting destinations across Europe to take part in darts tournaments. I love that he gets to see out of the way places and congregate with a bunch of like-minded people. Eugene Devereux has travelled for a much more physical sport - adventure races. He's been able to combine this physical experience with exploring some particularly beautiful parts of Ireland. Finally, I speak to Emma Lovell who was lucky enough to experience the joy of travelling in a sporting team as a teenager when she toured New Zealand playing water polo. The change to meet local people and then attempt to beat them at water polo sounds like lots of fun! Links: Eugene from the Irish Bootstrapper blog and podcast  - https://www.irishbootstrapper.com/  Emma Lovell from the Lovelly Travels Podcast - https://lovellytravels.com Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/238  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.