The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Warnings of danger on our travels seem to be over-represented in the discussions people have before rips. Perhaps it’s the (understandable) fear of the unknown, combined with our tendency to spread more bad stories than good ones. For Episode 268, I’ve brought together a bunch of guests who’ve had a range of experiences that are dangerous or could-have-been dangerous, with one overarching message: they are all okay! That’s not to say we shouldn’t be aware and somewhat risk-averse when we travel, of course. My first guest is Jess Stone who had an experience in Mexico which to start with, was quite frightening. I then chat with Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen about two experiences they’ve had with fire while travelling (the second of which made me properly scared!). Finally, Helena Fox tells me about an experience she had as a young backpacker in France, where she ended up being lucky in a situation I know can turn out quite differently. Links: Jess Stone of Go Ruffly, ethical outdoor dog gear - https://www.goruffly.com/ Brent and Michael are Going Places - https://www.brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.com/  Helena Fox - https://helenafoxauthor.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/268 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you a fan of group trips? Or are you, like me, more generally a keenly independent traveller who needs a very good reason to decide to take a group tour of  any kind?  When it comes to group travel, I've learned over the years that there really is a group trip to suit everyone, even people like me who are highly reluctant group travellers - and often what turns us is the idea of some highly specialised group travel. In this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I speak with three people who've had experiences in specialised group travel and they make a great case for why we all should try it sometimes. First up, I chat with Evan Petrelis from Renaissance Tours, who specialise in tours connected to special interests like ballet, archaeology and gardens. He runs through some of the advantages and disadvantages of group travel and highlights how travelling with likeminded people with the same passion can be particularly rewarding. Next, I speak to Debbie Clarke, who has run tours for the LGBTQ community for many years. She has a pretty touching story to tell of the outcome of these tours for some of the participants. Finally, Vicky Sahami joins me to explain her highly specialised group trips which focus on visiting the best places in the world to observe total solar eclipses. It's a fascinating special interest which has seen Vicky experience some really far-flung parts of the globe, and in really unique ways. Links: Evan Petrelis from Renaissance Tours - https://renaissancetours.com.au/  Debbie Clarke from the Good Awaits podcast - https://goodawaits.podbean.com/  Vicky Sahami’s solar eclipse tours at Sirius Travel - https://siriustravel.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/267 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does travel differ for the LGBTQIA community? It's a question I've long pondered and in this episode I get to chat to four excellent guests to hear about their thoughts and experiences on the matter. First up, Debbie Clarke explains why she started a tour company focused on LGBT travellers, and why such a thing is necessary even in a country as progressive as New Zealand. I then chat with Brent Harbinger and Michael Jensen, a gay couple who are digital nomads exploring the world and not boycotting a country even if there are homophobic laws or customs - and we have a great discussion about why. Finally, I talk with my good mate, the Barefoot Backpacker, about their experiences as an asexual traveller and also - common thread throughout this episode - about why they think you shouldn't avoid a destination just because it has repressive policies. Links: Debbie Clarke from the Good Awaits podcast - https://goodawaits.podbean.com/  Michael Jensen and Brent Hartinger from Brent and Michael are Going Places their newsletter - https://brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.substack.com/  Barefoot Backpacker from Travel Tales from Beyond the Brochure - https://barefoot-backpacker.com/category/podcast/  Post on all the pride flags - https://barefoot-backpacker.com/guide-to-pride-flags/ 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/266 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy new year! It’s 2022 and who really has any idea this year has in store for us - I’m sure we’ve now learned our lesson about having expectations. I want to start the year, in fact, by having a look back over 2021 for me: a year without travel. It’s a very weird thing for a travel podcaster to not take a plane or leave the state - or barely even leave home - for a whole year, and I hope it never happens again! This episode includes an update on pandemic life in Western Australia, too, one of the last places around the world to be living a relatively Covid-free life though - it seems - not for much longer. I also let you in on some of my plans for The Thoughtful Travel Podcast in 2022. It might just be the best year yet! Links: RISE Travel Institute’s Flagship Program - https://www.risetravelinstitute.org/rise-flagship-program Travelling (Thoughtfully) for Work - Episode 263 - notaballerina.com/263 Covid Thoughts from Western Australia June 2020 - Episode 190 - notaballerina.com/190 Covid Thoughts from Western Australia May 2021 - Episode 236 - notaballerina.com/236 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/265 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You mightn't think there's a place for tales of celebrity encounters on a podcast about thoughtful travel but I'm sure you'll listen to this episode and realise there absolutely is. It turns out that many thoughtful travellers are kind of oblivious to who's famous and can hang out with a celebrity without even knowing! That's certainly the case for my first two guests. I start by chatting with Jennifer Johnston about the time she spent the day with Johnny Cash ... and didn't realise who he was. To be fair, it was many years ago and she now wishes she had paid more attention! Similarly, Vicky Sahami spent a half hour in the company of Jack Nicholson while they were both holidaying in Antiga, and didn't realise who he was until the next day. Finally, I hear from Bev Malzard about a different kind of celebrity sighting which involves a king and a gun, and an invitation ... Links: Jennifer Johnston’s blog Travel Bug Within - https://travelbugwithin.com.au  Vicky Sahami's solar eclipse tour business, Sirius Travel - https://siriustravel.com/  Bev Malzard’s blog TravelGal on the Move - https://travelgaltravels.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/264 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travelling for work can be very different to other kinds of travel, but when I had the chance to travel to south-west Western Australia to run workshops recently, I decided to document my trip and decide whether or not I was being a thoughtful traveller. This episode includes audio-diaries of my three days in Yallingup - two of which were recorded under a blanket in a hotel room, trying to soundproof my recording! I also chatted with members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group about their experiences of trying to be thoughtful travellers while travelling for their job. Links: 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/263 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for a deep dive and I absolutely loved getting to know the two women behind the GOOD Awaits podcast - New Zealanders Josie Major and Debbie Clarke. Their podcast arose from an almost chance meeting and focuses on regenerative tourism, something that aligns very closely with thoughtful travel. During the chat, I asked Debbie and Josie about how their love of travel began and what sustains it to this day. We also talked about their current work and especially focused on how they think travel and tourism need to change to face some of the dilemmas of the twenty-first century. It's definitely not all doom and gloom and I finished our conversation feeling really hopeful. Links: GOOD Awaits - https://goodawaits.podbean.com/  Josie Major of Good Travel - https://www.good-travel.org/  Debbie Clarke of New Zealand Awaits - https://www.newzealandawaits.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/262 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hearing languages I can't understand is one of my favourite parts of travelling - it's one of the surest ways to feel I am away from home, exploring a foreign-to-me place. I've also been lucky enough - from an English-speaker perspective, especially - to have studied quite a few different languages over the years. I still wish, of course, I'd been born somewhere in Europe where I would have grown up learning multiple languages more easily from a young age, but I can only dream about that! In Episode 261 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three guests about their various experiences with languages and accents. First, I speak with Helena Fox about the languages of her childhood and how they contributed to her accent. I then chat to Carolanna Lisonbee who chose to study Mandarin and Japanese for a really fabulous reason. Lastly, I turn to Lindsay Williams for some tips on languages for travellers - she has much to say about being practical with your approach to language learning before and during a trip and her tips are really valuable. Links: Helena Fox - https://helenafoxauthor.com   Helena’s young adult fiction book How It Feels to Float - https://amzn.to/3C9VaYu   Carolanna Lisonbee - her poetry collection is Wisp of Fog Moment - https://amzn.to/3p9HiHl  Lindsay Williams’ site Lindsay Does Languages - https://www.lindsaydoeslanguages.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/261 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History, current events and politics are intrinsically interesting, but when you have the chance to travel to the places where important world events have taken place - or be somewhere at the moment something historic actually occurs - then that's even more impactful. In this special episode, I trace my personal history with the city of Berlin, and how my travel experiences there have brought history to life for me (as well as influencing, well, basically my whole life!). I start off way back in the 1960s when - no, I wasn't alive - the Berlin Wall was built, and then move forward to 1990 when I had the immense luck of being in Berlin for the night of reunification, as a fourteen-year-old. Coming all the way from Australia meant that experiencing such a historic moment firsthand impacted me in many ways. I returned to Berlin several times after 1990, and most recently took my some in 2015, and it's pretty amazing to track our experiences. Links: News audio extracts from https://archive.org/details/1962-08-16_The_Wall and https://archive.org/details/newsweekonair_891112_complete 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/260  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Focusing away from the big tourist attractions and being more open to just seeing what comes your way when you travel is one way we can be “less tourist, more traveller”, and this episode includes several stories which are wonderful examples of what happens when you do just that. First up, I chat with Kate Peterson about an experience she had in Greece. While it starts off being a tale of everything going wrong, Kate explains that she learnt a lot from his and ends up having a very special experience in a cafe. I then talk to Paula Morgan about a time when an elderly man in Penang taught her about the value of just saying yes to opportunities that present themselves unexpectedly, even if you feel a bit suspicious of them. Finally, travel writer Tim Richards discusses the idea that it’s the things that you don’t ordinarily expect will make it into published travel stories that are often the experiences which make the best stories. Links: Kate Peterson’s Art - https://www.katepeterson.art/ Kate’s travel journal Around the World and Back Again - https://amzn.to/3FTAHZH  Paula Morgan of Sydney Expert - https://sydneyexpert.com/  Tim Richards’ website I, Writer - http://iwriter.com.au/  Tim Richards’ new book Heading South - https://amzn.to/2ZFVxuS  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/259 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.