The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

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.

A human connection - whether it’s brief and in passing, or deeper and more lasting, is a wonderful side product of travelling in another country. Those connections help us learn so much more than a guidebook or top ten list can ever tell us, and are often the most memorable parts of a trip. Sometimes a language barrier prevents this connection and so in Episode 277 we talk about the ways knowing a local language, whether just a few words or fluently, can make a huge difference to the quality of your experience. As well as fabulous anecdotes shared by members Anuj, Justin and Carolanna, members of the Thoughtful Travellers community, I also speak with three guests. Eliza Raymond summarises perfectly how a common language is so connecting, and then James Patterson gives a great example of learning some words of local language during his stays on Orkney. Finally, Kayra Martinez, who’s spent a lot of time studying many languages, discusses the value of language learning not just amongst travellers but amongst refugees as well, in the context of a northern Greece refugee camp where she’s spent a lot of time working. Throughout the episode I also make mention of some of the academic research on the topic, carried out by Portuguese researchers. Links: Eliza Raymond - Good Travel - https://www.good-travel.org/  James Patterson - https://www.jrpatterson.ca Kayra Martinez - http://lovewithoutborders4refugees.com/ Research from Ines Carvalho Carvalho, I. (2021). "You can see both sides of the coin" -  how the pursuit of language skills influences the travel experience. Tourism Recreation Research, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2021.1894044 Carvalho, I., & Sheppard, V. (2022). Memorable experiences in language travel. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 22(2), 149-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/14673584211013866  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/277 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cape to Cape Track has loomed iconically in my mind for many years, although its location down in the south-west corner of Western Australia means many of you won't have heard of it. Running from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin - and more traditionally, from the lighthouses at each end which I've visited as tourist attractions many times throughout my life - this 124km walk passes along beaches and cliffs, through forest and up and down dunes, all the time with the ocean either boldly visible or at least close enough that you can hear the waves. In short, it is amazing, and what's even better, my friend Catherine and I have just come back from hiking it. This episode includes a chat between Catherine and I after we returned from our week-long hike. We'd had grand plans of recording small snippets each night but soon realised that hiking over 20km per day took all our energy and brain space, but I think this more reflective chat after the event will give you a really good idea of what this experience meant to us. Enjoy! The disclosure bit: we self-funded this trip - our opinions (as always) are 100% our own! Links: Cape to Cape Track - information from Friends of the track - http://www.capetocapetrack.com.au Cape to Cape Explorer Tours - https://capetocapetours.com.au/  Catherine’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zizzyballord/  Amanda’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/amandakendle/  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/276  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 2022 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn. We chat about Raynor and Moth's journey from homelessness to a farm in need of rewilding, her experience of writing and publishing The Salt Path, and their hiking trip in Iceland. Thanks to Justin, Pam and Philippa for joining me!   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.

My own kid is twelve years old now, and thanks to the pandemic had spent more than two years without a trip outside his home state of Western Australia. I wish it could have been otherwise, but what excited me no end on our recent trip to New South Wales was that all this time without travel hadn't blunted his enthusiasm for it - quite the opposite, perhaps, he was more excited than ever to step on a plane and explore someplace new to him. On this trip I saw so many ways that our past travels had shaped him, so I was keen to put together this episode of other voices saying the same about their own kids. First up, I chat with Carmen and David Allan-Petale who spent a year and a half travelling around Australia in a caravan with their young daughter. The stories they share of her experiences and how they believe it shaped her personality are truly heartwarming. Next, I speak to Erika Kritikides from Intrepid Travel. Her son's experiences of China as a six-year-old - what was important to him, and how he dealt with such a unique trip - confirm that travel really shapes kids. Finally, I talk to Eliza Raymond who is literally doing a PhD on what kids learn from travel - truly a woman after my own heart! I can't wait to see the results of her studies (and hope she confirms what this episode anecdotally proves to be true!).   Links: Carmen and David Allan-Petale of Red Platypus Creative - https://redplatypuscreative.com Also, hosts of the Committed Creative Podcast  https://podcast.redplatypuscreative.com  Erika Kritikides from Intrepid Travel Small Group Adventures www.intrepidtravel.com Eliza Raymond from Good Travel - https://www.good-travel.org/ Eliza's research profile - https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/som/research/phd/tour/eliza-raymond 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/275 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dale Neill, photographer, traveller, teacher and all-round nice guy, is my guest for this special Deep Dive episode. I've known Dale for a decade or so and many times been entranced by his fantastic stories (travel and otherwise!) and it was such a pleasure to chat with him at length for this episode. Dale's tales on this episode start in Borneo photographing orang-utans, then move to meeting local dogs on Naxos in Greece. He's led many tours so has a crazy tale to tell of dealing with tour participants with high expectations in Turkey, and we finish up with his expectations not being met in a hotel in Vietnam. Links: Dale’s website - http://www.daleneill.com.au/  Previous stories from Dale: Episode 178 Interesting Plane Passengers Sitting Next To You - https://notaballerina.com/178 Episode 136 Photography for Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/136 Episode 146 Travelling in Iran - https://notaballerina.com/146 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/274 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Broome in Western Australia is in my home state, but it’s over 2000km away, so earlier this year was the very first time I’d finally got that far. Of course, it was worth the wait in many ways. Episode 273 is about my Broome experience, which was mostly a work trip, but it’s also about being a thoughtful traveller, and how I went with applying some of the key principles of thoughtful travel to my days in Broome. This was a very special trip for me - my first flight since January 2020, when I returned from Kuala Lumpur amongst rumours of this strange virus circulating. Getting quite far away from Perth was a wonderful reset and refresh and I hope you enjoy hearing about it. Links: Salty Plum Social for bar and art tours - https://www.saltyplumsocial.com.au Documentary I watched in Broome - Djkamirr - https://www.birthingoncountry.com/djakamirr  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/273 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.