The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

January 2020 was a horrible time for Australia - 186,000 square kilometres of Australia burnt in bushfires (that's an area half the size of Germany); 34 people lost their lives and they estimate up to a billion animals perished. Yep - it was awful, and the aftermath has been awful for the tourism industry too, because many people had to cancel trips during our peak travel season. So, what to do? I'll put on an episode later in the year about the specific parts of Australia you can travel to in order to help out with bushfire recovery but for now, I've interviewed two Australian women who have told me all about the efforts to restore tourism so far, and talked about the far-reaching effects - and possibly some benefits - arising out of the post-bushfire chaos. First up, I chat with Louise Southerden, firstly about some of the great tourism initiatives helping out and then about the bigger picture and the opportunity to do good. Lou also touches on the Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency movement, which we will talk about more in a later episode, too. Next I talk with Caro Ryan who lives in the heart of one of the areas seriously affected by the bushfires, the beautiful Blue Mountains in New South Wales. We also chat about the great innovations in tourism since the fires and also the bigger picture and hopes for the future. Links: Louise Southerden - No Impact Girl - http://www.noimpactgirl.com "Open for business, not business as usual" - Louise's blog post about post-bushfire tourism - http://www.noimpactgirl.com/2020/02/after-bushfires-open-for-business-not.html  Caro Ryan - Lotsa Fresh Air - https://lotsafreshair.com  Call to Revive Australian Tourism by Catherine Marshall - https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/call-to-revive-australian-tourism Holiday Here This Year - https://www.australia.com/en/travel-inspiration/holiday-here-this-year.html holidayherethisyear.com  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/179 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oftentimes you can't choose the passenger sitting next to you on a plane. This can be both good and bad! Episode 178 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast includes conversations with three different guests who all have interesting tales to tell of someone they sat next to on a flight. First up, Paul Pichugin tells the hilarious tale of ... well, a woman passenger next to him, and I don't want to give the story away - you'll have to listen to it! Excuse my raucous laughter. Next, I chat with Laura Waters who broke the golden rule of avoiding conversation on a long haul flight - in case you get stuck talking with someone you don't want to talk to for the next ten hours - and it turned into something quite delightful. Finally, I talk to Dale Neill about a particularly intriguing passenger he sat next to on a flight across Australia some years back. Let's just say there was a lot of chocolate milk involved!  Links: Paul Pichugin - landscape and travel photographer - https://paulpichugin.com Laura Waters' website - https://soultrekkers.com.au/  Laura’s book Bewildered - https://amzn.to/2S20zu2 Dale Neill - http://www.daleneill.com.au  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/178 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

African travel seems to have been constantly on my radar lately - I guess it's nearly time for me to go and explore more of that continent? For now, at least, it'll be through Episode 177 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast because I've chatted with three guests lately who had intriguing tales to tell of Africa. First up, I chat with Rick Antonson. He has a delightfully unique reason for choosing to visit Timbuktu in Mali, and I loved hearing about what he found there. I then talk to Brighde Reed about the amazing destination of Rwanda - which is probably at the top of my want-to-visit African nations, and even more so after speaking with Brighde. Finally, Chris Daniels has had some great African experiences - largely part of his PhD in African Studies, so he knows his stuff - and we chat about visiting Somalia and Ethiopia in particular. Links: Episode 80 Travel in Africa - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/01/travel-africa-episode-80-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html Episode 96 Remote Travel in Africa - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/05/remote-travel-africa-episode-96-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html  Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com Rick’s book "To Timbuktu for a Haircut" - https://amzn.to/3834ltj Chris Daniels - Motherland Connect - https://www.motherlandconnect.org Brighde Reed - World Vegan Travel - https://www.worldvegantravel.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/177 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 January 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, discussing The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. 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 sometimes see people doing glamorous jobs and travelling the world and think: wow, they have a great life! It's those kind of people who are in Episode 176 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast: I have a travel journalist, a guidebook writer and a guitarist who have all had the opportunity to travel widely and for long periods of time as part of their work. All of them are grateful for the travel and work they've been able to do, but there are definitely pros and cons to these kinds of careers. First up, I talk to Anna Chittenden who is a guidebook writer, travelling extensively throughout Asia. I'm a little envious of her in-depth experience of Japan, but it is definitely not a glamorous lifestyle. Next, I chat with Christine Retschlag, a travel journalist who darts around the globe with barely a break. We discuss that while much of this is a lot of fun there are some significantly difficult parts too. Finally, I speak with Kiki Wong who spent some years touring the world with her band Nylon Pink. We chat about two very different experiences of tours, and although Kiki says it's always worth it, there are definitely some tough moments. Links: Anna Chittenden of The Lost Guides - http://thelostguides.com/ Anna’s new Lost Guides book - Tokyo & Beyond  https://amzn.to/2T7Q8WG  Christine Retschlag - https://www.theglobalgoddess.com  Kiki Wong - Nylon Pink - https://www.nylonpink.tv  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/176 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you've ever wondered what it's really like to head out for days or even months and just keep walking, Episode 175 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast will give you many insights into hiking and walking experiences on your travels. I start off speaking with Laura Waters, who spent five months tramping from the top of New Zealand to the bottom. As you can imagine this is no easy feat at all (but there is a bonus to it all involving chocolate!). Next, Suzanne Moore describes a much shorter hike in Japan, and an experience that made us both laugh. Suzy will be back in a future episode describing a longer hike she did in south-west Australia - but this climb at Mt Yote is such a fun story! Finally, I chat to Rick Antonson who agreed - without even knowing where it was or anything about it - to walk the Kokoda Track with his neighbour. This was also not a simple trip but like nearly any trip that requires a lot of effort, it was incredibly rewarding. Links: Hiking When You Travel, Episode 124 - notaballerina.com/124  Laura Waters’ website - https://soultrekkers.com.au/  Laura’s book Bewildered - https://amzn.to/2S20zu2  Suzanne Moore https://www.suzannemoorewriter.com/    Suzanne’s book The Place Between - https://amzn.to/31KM6aD  Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com Rick’ book Walking With Ghosts in Papua New Guinea - https://amzn.to/37n1fzS  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/175 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travelling teaches us a lot - there's nothing like having a big range of different inputs in a short time to wake up your brain! Episode 174 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast includes chats with three travellers who've learnt some solid life lessons during their travels. I start off by chatting with Nicci O'Mara about a sad but important life-changing moment that happened to her in Africa a couple of decades ago. We talk about how important it is to grab life by the horns and not put off things we really want to do. Next, I talk with Eugene Devereux about his recent experiences exploring south-east Asia, an area very different to his homeland of Ireland. He explains that he learnt a lot of life lessons by experiencing such different cultures and coming to understand their history, too. Finally I chat with Kate Manser about a lesson she learnt about hospitality while she was travelling in remote Indonesia. We also circle back to something similar to Nicci's lesson and discuss why you should jump at any travel opportunity that is presented to you! Links: Nicci O’Mara from Trip Chiefs - https://tripchiefs.com/  Eugene Devereux - https://www.irishbootstrapper.com  Kate Manser’s site You Might Die Tomorrow - https://www.youmightdietomorrow.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/174 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a bit of a myth out there that we travellers are brave, confident people who never get anxious. From my own life and knowing many other travel-loving friends who also have experienced anxiety, I can promise you this is wrong. Episode 173 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast includes two very special conversations with women who divulge some of their very personal experiences with anxiety and its connection with travel. Firstly, I speak with Megan Blandford (who literally wrote the book on anxiety!) about some of her experiences with anxiety during her travels. Megan gives some really specific examples of how anxiety gripped her on trips to Japan and earlier on a dolphin swim trip and I personally find this one of the best ways to understand more about what anxiety can look like on our travels. I then get the chance to chat with Laura Waters who has just published a book that also features a lot of her anxiety: Laura spend five months hiking from one end of New Zealand to the other and what happened to her anxiety during this trip is fascinating. Links: Megan Blandford https://meganblandford.net/   Her book I’m Fine (And Other Lies) about postnatal depression and motherhood https://amzn.to/2tY7zAc  Laura Waters https://soultrekkers.com.au/  Laura’s book Bewildered https://amzn.to/2S20zu2  How to Deal with Travel Anxiety - Episode 93 - https://notaballerina.com/93  Getting Past Travel Anxiety - Episode 71 - https://notaballerina.com/71  My blog post from a few years back about my experiences with anxiety and travel - https://www.notaballerina.com/2015/02/travel-for-the-anxious-anxiety-prone.html  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/173 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wanting to help others when we travel is a common theme amongst experienced travellers, because we've all realised how lucky we are and how unlucky many people around the world are. In Episode 172 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I'm not giving you all the answers on how to solve the world's problems but I do want to bring you stories from three travellers who've helped others in three different ways.  First up I talk with Veronica from Happily Made about her experiences in Cambodia and beyond, trying to figure out ways to help women in poverty or who need some way to support their children going to school. Veronica's Happily Made business is a great example of a sustainable way to help - she sells toys and other knitted products made by women who work out of their homes in Cambodia. Next, I chat with Marilyn from the Wow Travel Club who's also had lots of different experiences in helping others when she travels, and she tells the story of how a Dining for Women project she was involved with took her to Vietnam and some really impactful experiences.  Finally, I get to talk with Rafferty, basically my favourite travel-expert 11-year-old, who described an experience he had recently in South Africa. Links: Veronica’s Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happilymade/happily-made-gifts-that-give-back by 1st March 2020 Happily Made - https://happilymade.com.au  Marilyn Murphy from the Wow Travel Club https://www.wowtravelclub.com/  Dining for Women - https://diningforwomen.org/ - US only Raff is the boy of his mum Aleney’s blog Boy Eats World - https://boyeatsworld.com.au  KASI RC - Shack Art School & Theatre, Cape Town - https://www.facebook.com/KhayelitshaArtSchool/  Tin Mugs Africa Trust - https://www.tinmugs.org  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/172  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's one thing to travel to a foreign country, but to completely migrate and move to another country is another level of experience entirely! In Episode 171 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I'm chatting with three guests who've made the big move: one to Mexico, one to Japan, and one from Brazil to Australia. We've got half the world covered! First up, I talk with Queen D Michele who retired from her job as a school teacher in the United States and moved to Mexico. I asked her what her family and friends thought about her big move which opened up one of the most amazing stories of all! Next, I chat to Suzanne Kamata who is an American married to a Japanese man and living in a fairly rural part of Japan. It's interesting for me to hear how she feels there after several decades. Finally, Luana Marchi explains about the decision she and her husband made to leave their home country of Brazil and migrate to Australia - though at the start, they weren't so sure of their lifelong plans. Links: Episode 162 on Choosing Where to Live Abroad - https://notaballerina.com/162  Queen D Michele’s book Considerations: A Guide For Moving Abroad - https://amzn.to/2WWjHf0  Suzanne Kamata - http://www.suzannekamata.com/ Suzanne’s book, Squeaky Wheels - https://amzn.to/2qPbCNQ Luana Marchi - health and wellness coach - https://luanamarchi.com.au/ Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/171 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.