The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

We know that having expectations can often set us up for disappointment - and many thoughtful travellers will also know that letting go of these expectations and just embracing whatever happens can often lead to the most memorable and enjoyable trips. In this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three guests who prove just that. Firstly, I talk with Diana Fischer of Detours Zürich about some of her experiences of travel and how she’s learnt that being humble and open-minded can teach her the most. I then speak to windjammer captain Noah Barnes who explains that both his own travel experiences and those he observes of his cruise passengers have taught him that having expectations is the enemy of fun, and that a certain amount of discomfort is actually the best recipe for a memorable trip. Finally, Nancy Edwards gives some examples of the unexpected occurrences she’s faced on travels in Sierra Leone and Laos, reminding us that being prepared for anything is likely to both teach us the most and give us the best possible travel experience. Links: Diana Fischer from Detours Zürich - https://www.detours-zurich.ch/  Maine Windjammer Association - https://www.sailmainecoast.com/  Noah’s boat - Stephen Taber - https://www.stephentaber.com/  Nancy Edwards, author - https://www.nancyedwards.ca - Not One, Not Even One: A Memoir of Life-altering Experiences in Sierra Leone, West Africa 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/284 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the season for Antarctic travel - but should we really encourage Antarctic tourism? That's the question I had in mind when I chatted with Justin Watson (well-known to listeners as my Book Club co-host), who travelled to Antarctic recently on a true trip-of-a-lifetime. We chat about the highlights of an Antarctic trip, Justin's tips for deciding on a ship to join, and also our thoughts on whether Antarctic tourism is for better or worse. You'll have to listen to find out what we decided! Links: Justin’s blog with some great photos on his Antarctic posts - https://justins.world  Nikki Gemmell’s book Shiver - https://amzn.to/3Dqfvei  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/283 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 2022 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Peel Me A Lotus by Charmian Clift with my co-host Justin Watson, and later joined by Thoughtful Travellers member Philippa. 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.

Friendships made while travelling are some of the best friendships of all, right? I think the kind of person we act as while we travel is closer to our best self than usual, plus we’re likely to interact with people who have similar interests and values - and then, whammo, we suddenly have friends for life! In this episode I start off with a beautiful story from Diana Fischer about a friend she made on her first backpacking trip to Asia, in Sri Lanka. It’s a friendship that has stood the test of time. Next, I speak with Noah Barnes, who describes both his own travel friendships, as well as the many friendships he witnesses being made every sailing season aboard his windjammer in Maine. Finally, I chat to Oliver Jähnke about travelling for his YouTube channel, Queers of the World, and how the people he makes contact with ahead of every trip help provide him with instant friendships on arrival. Links: Diana Fischer from Detours Zürich - https://www.detours-zurich.ch/  Maine Windjammer Association - https://www.sailmainecoast.com/  Noah’s boat - Stephen Taber - https://www.stephentaber.com/  Oliver Jähnke - Queers of the World - https://www.youtube.com/queersoftheworld 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/282  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 December 2021 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Sovietistan by Erika Fatland with my co-host Justin Watson. 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 all see the headlines about how travelling is bad for the earth - and yet I know my podcast listeners also agree that travel is so very good for us, in so many ways, that we need to find a way to continue to travel. This makes the ideas of regenerative travel and sustainable travel important to talk and think about, and I'm pleased to have put together this episode to help us all do just that. I chat first of all with Dr Susanne Etti, who's currently the Global Environmental Impact Manager at Intrepid Travel. We discuss how we can "make flights count", and her ideas on what we should do about carbon offsets, too. My second guest is Diana Fischer from Detours Zürich, a small but impactful tour business running in Switzerland. It's exciting to hear Diana's thoughts behind how and why she set up the business and it's a good reminder for us to consider the impact of every business we choose to support when we travel. Finally, I had wonderful chat with Sam Combs from the middle of a rainforest in Belize, where he and his family run the Sattva retreat centre. He ponders whether regenerative travel is really able to do more good than harm but also explains the lessons we can take home from travel, along with the permaculture focus of their centre. Links: Dr Susanne Etti from Intrepid Travel - https://www.intrepidtravel.com/  Diana Fischer from Detours Zürich - https://www.detours-zurich.ch/  Sam Combs from Sattva retreat centre in Belize - https://www.sattvaland.com/  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/281 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 October 2021 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about A Beginner's Guide to Japan by Pico Iyer with our special guest, Miyuki Seguchi, host of Japan Experts podcast. Get your own copy of the book at https://amzn.to/3oXYz5y  You can listen to Japan Experts on any podcast app or at https://anchor.fm/japan-experts  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.

I'm one lucky gal. Work and being (suddenly!) the parent of a high school kid has kept me from too many big trips this year - along with the after-effects of Covid on travel - but I have been able to spend time running workshops in various parts of my beautiful home state, Western Australia. When I look at all those trips together, I realise properly what fabulous experiences I've had this year, and I wanted to celebrate this special 280th episode by chatting about how I saw my home state thoughtfully. My first 2022 trip was in March, to Broome in the far north of Western Australia (in other continents I would have crossed multiple countries to get there!), my first time to this iconic destination. One highlight was meeting a local friend and hearing more about what life is like in Broome for those on the margins. I headed "down south" in June, basing myself in Busselton for a few days of work and exploration. It's an area I've visited frequently, so I set myself the challenge of finding something new, and in so doing learnt much about the Wonnerup Massacre from almost two centuries ago - but still very important today. Later that month I went further south to Albany, a town on the south coast of Western Australia and one I'd visited dozens of times over the years when my grandmother was alive. With over a decade between trips, I was keen to see new developments like the National Anzac Centre. My final trip was a few hundred kilometres north to Geraldton, another first-time visit for me, where exploring the HMAS Sydney II memorial touched me - though not as much as the random exploration of a place my father lived back in the 1940s. I hope this episode gives non-Western Australians a taste of what this state is like, and maybe even helps everyone to ponder how they can make their own travels more thoughtful, too. Links: Broome - Episode 273 https://www.notaballerina.com/2022/05/broome-western-australia-episode-273-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html  Cape to Cape Hike - Episode 276 https://www.notaballerina.com/2022/10/walking-cape-to-cape-track-episode-276-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html  Wonnerup Massacre reporting - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-17/wonnerup-minninup-massacre-the-ghosts-are-not-silent/100458938  National Anzac Centre in Albany - https://www.nationalanzaccentre.com.au  Feed the Little Children Inc. - https://www.feedthelittlechildren.org.au  HMAS Sydney II information - https://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/sydney  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/280 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many kinds of travellers who belong to some kind of minority - even large minorities! - the experience of travel can be quite different to the mainstream. The plight of travelling as an LGBTQIA+ person has been in discussion in our household of late thanks to my son's interest in soccer and his disgust at what he's been learning about Qatar's treatment of gay people - and the concern for gay travellers headed there to watch the World Cup later this month. That made it seem just the right time for me to release this episode which includes contributions from three travellers from the LGBTQIA+ rainbow. My first guest is Mark Chesnut, who chats about the changes he has seen in travelling as a gay man over the past three decades, from the interesting perspective of being a travel writer. I then speak with Oliver Jähnke, a trans man from Sweden, about the way his travels and approach to travelling has changed throughout his transitioning years. Finally, I have a wonderfully insightful contribution from the Barefoot Backpacker about how being asexual, aromantic and non-binary has impacted their travels around the world. Links: Mark Chesnut - https://www.markchesnut.com and his new book “Prepare for Departure” a beautiful memoir  Oliver Jähnke - Queers of the World - https://www.youtube.com/queersoftheworld Barefoot Backpacker Travel Tales from Beyond the Brochure - https://barefoot-backpacker.com/category/podcast/  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/279  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens if you just say yes? When we travel, there are times that an interaction with a local person offers us something a bit off the beaten path - an experience you won't find in a travel brochure. The three guests in this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast all said yes to invitations from locals and came away with some very interesting stories to tell! First up, I chat with Oliver Jähnke, who visited Kyrgyzstan and met a family who, on learning about his interest in horses, sent him off to the mountains with a relative to have a very unique experience. Next, Nathan Thomas tells me about what saying yes to a friend in China meant one weekend. And finally, Sophia Bentaher explains the story of having dinner in Bulgaria with a man who held rather opposing political beliefs - and the lessons she learnt from this experience. Links: Oliver Jähnke - Queers of the World - https://www.youtube.com/queersoftheworld Nathan Thomas of Intrepid Times https://intrepidtimes.com/  Nathan’s new book Travel Your Way: Rediscover the World on Your Own Terms Sophia Bentaher’s website https://sophia-b.co/  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/278 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.