The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Whether or not you have any artistic talent, Amanda believes that sitting down and doing some sketching on your travels is a great idea, and in Episode 29 she chats with two travellers who do just that (although it must be said that they both have great artistic talent!). Candace Rardon is an amazing artist who has sketched, drawn and painted her way around the world. She chats about the connectio...

Getting around on our travels can be fraught with both fun and difficulty. In Episode 28 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda chats with fellow travellers who’ve had some hairy experiences while getting from A to B, or have had some problems actually finding B! First up, Stephen Henson shares some stories of getting lost in Germany and China. Despite spending a large amount of time in Chi...

In Episode 27, Amanda covers a very serious question: Are all Aussies tanned and tall?   It’s all about stereotypes of different cultures but especially those of people Amanda's countryfolk - Australians. The first guests are Katie and Jeremy Kloberdanz of The Life Bohemian who have all these delightfully nice things to say about Australians (which gets a big thumbs up from Amanda!...

Encountering foreign languages when we travel is both a challenge and a joy - and some of us dream not only of learning a few phrases when we travel, but becoming bilingual. It’s definitely not easy to be bilingual but the guests in this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast show that it’s not impossible, either. Amanda starts by chatting with Leyla of Women on the Road, one of...

So just how slow is slow travel? We can probably all have some kind of similar idea on what slow travel is - being more mindful with how we spend our time travelling, not rushing around to tick off lists of all the sights, and possibly spending longer than usual in one spot - but how slow is slow?   Amanda's guests in this episode all have a different take on how we can travel slowly, an...

Lots of people with a deep sense of wanderlust develop it by travelling at a young age, but as Amanda chats about in this episode, it's definitely not the only path to developing a love of travel.  Today she speaks with three guests who love to travel now, but never really got to travel much as kids. First up, Amanda speaks with Lisa Luken who grew up on a farm and didn't do&nb...

Are you an adventurous eater? The topic of food in foreign countries is always a fascinating one and today’s episode addresses it on a couple of different fronts. To start with, Amanda speaks with Lola Akinmade Åkerström, who has built a fabulous career as a travel writer and photographer. One way she approaches foreign food is to get down to grass roots level which has seen her c...

Recently Amanda has started asking her guests about their craziest travel moments, but really, what she's looking for is those particularly memorable experiences that stick with you forever - the kind of stories you tell over and over. The three guests in this episode all have fascinating stories to tell of memorable things which happened to them in various spots across the world.  ...

Episode 21 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about the internet. What did we do without it? On the surface, the advent of the internet can surely only be a huge bonus for travellers, right? We can research, book and communicate with so much ease.   But as all of today’s guests point out, there are definitely both pros and cons of the internet for travellers. This whole discussion...

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast has reached its 20th episode, and Amanda is celebrating by sharing a collection of special stories her guests have offered that haven’t fit into a particular topic yet, but are far too good not to share. Annalicia Lynn kicks off this episode with some of her fascinating experiences in Taiwan, and in particular some of the more unusual English name...

In Episode 19 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda returns to the topic of travelling with kids - she's on a mission to prove to everyone that taking kids traveling is beneficial both for the kids and the parents.    First up, she speaks with Bethaney of Flashpacker Family who has several years of experience of travelling with very young children and is certain it has many benefi...

  Discovering new cultural norms and comparing them to our own is one of the most fascinating parts of travel and the three guests on Episode 18 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast have all given this issue a great deal of thought as well. First up, Annalicia Lynn describes the cultural confusion she felt when she first moved to Taiwan to speak English. The assumptions she made about the culture...

Where does wanderlust come from? It’s a question that’s intrigued Amanda ever since she discovered that some people don’t like travelling, others love it despite their parents never mentioning it, and others still (like Amanda) have been led to a life of travel by their parents’ example. In Episode 17 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda talks to three travel lovers who...

Travel is a powerful tool for so many things but one more way that travel can bring great meaning to your life is by helping you to process grief - and that’s what Amanda's two guests in this episode have certainly discovered. Episode 16 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast features two women who have found travel to be very therapeutic in dealing with grief. Amanda's first guest is Av...

Gaining confidence from your travels is just one more great reason to get out there and travel often. In Episode 15 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda talks to three guests who all agree that travelling has increased their confidence substantially and helped them out in all kinds of ways, including life beyond travel. First up, Amanda chats with Jeff Sandquist of Intentionally Wandering,...

In Episode 14 Amanda returns to the topic of scary tales from our travels. Frightening experiences can be entertaining, but they also teach us that most travellers simply feel the fear and travel anyway. The three guests in this episode certainly do.   Annalicia Lynn is a yoga and pilates instructor who taught English in Taiwan for a year and had some really interesting experiences there - in...

Slow travel is a real buzz word these days but many travellers have been using slow travel principles for decades - because travelling slowly is a fantastic way to see the world and really get to know it well. In Episode 13 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda talks to three different travellers who have all embraced slow travel in their own way. First up is Tim Leffel, who prefers smaller tow...

Cultural differences make our travels so much more interesting (if somewhat complicated at times!). In Episode 12 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, we talk about culture clash, and the differences we discover when we travel abroad. Stephen Henson has spent many years travelling back and forth to China, as well as doing business there, and has many tales to tell - today’s stories ab...

In Episode 11, Amanda is celebrating the magic of getting lost on our travels. Back in Episode 2 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast she talked about the terror of getting lost, but this time round everyone’s getting lost stories are way less scary and are usually just plain fun.  First up in this episode Amanda speaks with Dianne Bortoletto, a Perth-based travel blogger, and they spi...

It's always a bit sad to hear someone say they didn’t want to travel somewhere because they were worried about not being able to get by in a foreign language. Struggling to communicate can be half the fun of a trip (at least in retrospect!) and we can learn so much from cultures with different languages and customs. Today Amanda has gathered together some tips and tricks from a number o...

In Episode 9 of Amanda returns to the frightening parts of travel, because a lot of the time the story’s in the scary bits. What’s scary to one person might not worry someone else, but if something creates fear for you while you’re travelling, it’s probably something you’ll remember long after your trip is over. Jean of Traveling Honeybird has a great story to te...

In Episode 8 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda talks to parents about travelling with their kids, and then turns the tables and talks to some kids about travelling. First up is Mike Campbell, a fellow Aussie who’s currently spending a year house-sitting his way across the United States with his family. He’s learnt a lot about the differences between travelling as a couple and tra...

Episode 7 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about making unexpected friendships when you travel. Getting to know local people is one of my favourite parts of travelling, and my two guests have had some great experiences doing just that in various parts of the world. First up is Bethaney Davies from Flashpacker Family, who has two really interesting stories to tell about friendships she estab...

Whether good or bad, facing surprises is usually part of travel. In Episode 6 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I’m talking to two other travellers about the surprises they’ve encountered on their travels.   First up is Candace Rardon, someone I was super-excited to interview and have known online for some years. Candace is a sketch artist, writer, photographer and all-round travel...

Episode 5 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is partly about fear, and partly about confidence. I think they go hand in hand when it comes to travelling! I’ve certainly experienced my share of fears about travelling and I know I’m not alone. My first guest today is Leyla Giray Alyanak of Women on the Road, and although she’s one of the people I think of as a guru in the solo travel...