The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

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: Deep South - https://amzn.to/3pUcmef  Riding the Iron Rooster - https://amzn.to/2J0Svt6  Dark Star Safari - https://amzn.to/3pRQlN8  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/215    Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: The Great Railway Bazaar - https://amzn.to/35Ca6QB  The Tao of Travel - https://amzn.to/3f5NZVN On the Plain of Snakes - https://amzn.to/3e7Jg58 The Kingdom by the Sea - https://amzn.to/35z5o6j  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/214 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 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.

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: Brighde Reed - World Vegan Travel - https://www.worldvegantravel.com/  Larq bottles which Brighde mentions - https://www.livelarq.com/  Louise Southerden - No Impact Girl - http://www.noimpactgirl.com Anna Chittenden of The Lost Guides - http://thelostguides.com/ Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/213 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: Getting Engaged While Travelling - https://notaballerina.com/197   Scott Antcliffe on Twitter - https://twitter.com/cliffy94 Shaney Hudson - twitter.com/shaneyhudson  Emma - Lovelly Travels - https://lovellytravels.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/212 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/211 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/210 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com Nan Caple - https://snellingsview.com.au/ two homes for six people each, beautiful on KI! Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/209 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 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.

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: Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/208  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.