Travel Writing Podcast

What does it mean to be a travel writer when the place you're exploring is also your (adopted) home? In 1982, British journalist Tim Bird arrived in Finland to teach English, expecting to stay for a year. More than four decades later, he's still there. In this episode of the Travel Writing Podcast, Tim joins us to discuss his new book, Happy Land: Finding My Inner Finn. We talk about what Finnish...

Michael Venutolo-Mantovani is a writer and musician who writes about a variety of things, most of all, travel and bicycling. His writing has been featured in National Geographic, the New York Times, GQ, Wired, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, and many others. Michael joined the Travel Writing Podcast to take readers behind the scenes on his Intrepid Times story on Frank Zappa, how he teaches...

Imogen Lepere has been named Sustainability Travel Writer of the Year three years running, winning at the Travel Media Awards in 2024 and 2025 and the TravMedia Awards in 2026. Making a valiant effort to balance her love of travel with her passion for sustainability, she authored The Ethical Traveller (2022), followed by Viva Mexico! (2024). Behind the books and the articles in prestigious publica...

A few months ago, Intrepid Times opened its first round of Professional Submissions, inviting experienced travel writers to contribute narrative travel writing they genuinely believed in. Rather than chasing trends or keywords, we wanted to create space for celebrated writers to follow their curiosity and tell the stories they most wanted to tell. One of the first pieces we published through the s...

Why do Maltese Christians speak a language descended from Arabic? Why were some of medieval Spain’s Muslim rulers red-haired and blue-eyed? And how did Viking-descended Christians in Sicily become thoroughly Arabised? By looking at Europe through an Islamic lens, travel writer Tharik Hussain uncovers a whole world of history that other travellers might just brush past. Tharik is the author of Mina...

Across 24 books (and counting), Peter Naldrett has explored Britain’s coast, its islands, underground worlds, film locations, cities and stranger corners. His latest book, Spooky Britain, takes readers to 100 of the UK’s most eerie and mysterious places. On the Travel Writing Podcast, Peter discusses his career as an author, why books have become his preferred way to make a living as a writer, his...

Behind the travel coverage you see in most major publications is an intense and complicated web of publicists, PR firms, tour companies and press trips that help make it all happen. With AI now in the mix, and the content ecosystem being disrupted more than at any point since the advent of the internet, what opportunities still exist for travel writers? And how can human content creators stand out...

Most travel advice is meant to be one-size-fits-all. But what if your mind doesn't quite work the way everyone else's seems to? Rebecca Hallett's life suddenly made a lot more sense when, as an adult, she was diagnosed with ADHD. A prolific traveller and travel writer whose work has appeared in publications including The Times and Wanderlust, she had long thought that traits such as restlessness,...

A traveller on the Hippy Trail in the 1970s, Alex McKay became bewitched by mysterious tales of Tibet’s holiest mountain, Mount Kailash. What began as a backpacker’s fixation eventually became an academic vocation. After studying Tibetan history and culture at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Alex earned a PhD in South Asian History and went on to publish four academic monographs a...

When spinal degeneration left Debbie North using a wheelchair, cut off from the British outdoors she loved, she channelled her rage and frustration into writing. A 2011 blog post gained attention and showed Debbie that travel writing could become a force for change. In 2015, she and her husband Andy traversed England from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay, creating their own accessible version of legend...

The economics of being a full-time travel writer are tough. Even the biggest publications seldom pay their writers enough to cover all the expenses of a thoroughly researched trip. To make ends meet, therefore, many professional travel writers rely on press trips (sometimes called hosted trips) that partially or completely cover the cost of their travels. This brings a whole host of complications,...

In 2021, a budding travel writer called Anna Richards submitted a couple of stories to Intrepid Times; she wrote about penguins in Chile, and as well as a frightening mugging. This was around the time Anna had moved to Lyon, France, fulfilling a generational family dream. Building her travel writing career from the ground up, one clipping at a time, she eventually landed the role as the Telegraph'...

Writer's block is the demon writers point to as the reason they can't get words on a page. But what if writer's block doesn't actually exist? What if the reason you're not writing isn't the fear, the doubt, the mess, but simply the way you relate to these emotions? Dr Vincent Fogliati is a psychologist with a speciality in ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy). Alongside veteran writer Roger Joyce...

Every day when submissions are open, dozens of travel stories or pitches land in the Intrepid Times inbox. While the quality of course varies, most of these submissions are from sincere, legitimate writers who have a story to get across. However, an increasing number are entirely or partially AI-generated. Early on, it was quite easy to tell what was AI and what wasn't. Now, as AI tools become mor...

Paul Theroux called Thomas Swick 'the ideal travel writer,' but he's the first to admit he hasn't always been the ideal traveler. He moved to Poland in the late 1970s as a young aspiring travel writer in love with a local woman, whom he would eventually marry. As he learned the (formidably challenging - I should know!) Polish language and gained his first published clippings, he also spent much of...

Dubai is associated variously with dizzying luxury, superficial excess, and, recently, geopolitical disruption. According to Paris Norriss, who has lived in the city for a decade and stars in the TV show "Guy in Dubai," none of these stereotypes capture the full truth of a deeply layered and complex city. Paris Norriss is a self-made media figure who created a name for himself through hard work an...

Some view travel as a competitive sport, tallying up countries like points on a board. James Merriman began his travel life like this, relentlessly collecting passport stamps for years. He had fantastic adventures from Afghanistan to Venezuela, and almost everywhere in between. At the same time, he gradually came to realize that his approach may not have been giving him the best of what travel has...

By the time she was a teenager, Katherine Parker-Magyar had explored the Arctic Circle and visited every one of the United States. As time went by, her travels never slowed down. She has now traveled to over 100 countries, often on paid assignments, and has shared the resulting stories with publications as diverse as the Daily Beast and Architectural Digest to Forbes and National Geographic Travel...

Sports journalist Neil Squires was used to rubbing shoulders with athletes at the top of their game. He ghostwrote the memoir of England rugby legend Johnny Wilkinson (for our American listeners, that's like being the personal writer of Tom Brady) and covered sport for the national papers. Yet Neil never expected to be a famous athlete himself, and certainly did not imagine becoming one in middle...

Victoria Watts Kennedy's family travel blog, Bridges and Balloons, has twice won her prestigious awards. Last year, she picked up the Travel Blogger of the Year Trophy from the British Guild of Travel Writers, and just this week, she was named 2026 Travel Blogger of the Year at the TravMedia Awards in London. This success comes at a tumultuous time for bloggers as AI upends the playbook for how bl...

If you've heard or used phrases like 'lateral thinking' or referenced the six thinking hats, you have been influenced by the work of Edward de Bono. The philosopher died in 2021, but not before Sarah Tucker had the chance to get to know him. Sarah's book, Edward De Bono: Love Laterally, came out in late 2024 with a foreword from Baroness Kennedy This is just one chapter in Sarah's own exciting sto...

When Martin Hesp's father was working as a journalist in England's southwest, he would hand-deliver his copy every day to the local bus driver. Martin began his career as a travel writer and journalist in a world where colleagues would still have to wake before dawn to light coal fires in the offices. He is still writing today, 50 years on, and has embraced the worlds of blogging, podcasting, and...

Risk and travel have always kept close company, but what if even the most innocent-seeming meal could threaten you with mortal peril? Allie Bahn's childhood revolved around two themes: watching her charismatic uncle travel the globe as a TV presenter, and battling severe food allergies that threatened to reduce her freedom significantly. Allie was determined not to let this constraint prevent her...

Borders between countries may look so neat on a map, but when you're on the ground, the reality gets more interesting. Languages may shift long before your passport is stamped, and an ancient divide between cultures and worldviews may not even appear on a modern atlas. Richard Collett became fascinated by unusual borders early in his travel writing journey. When he came across a 'micronation' hidd...

As an expat in Hong Kong, James Durston was part of the team that helped launch the brand that would eventually become CNN Travel. Rising from copy editor to senior producer, he would eventually own the home page, a role that meant he was responsible for ensuring the travel pieces he published consistently found an audience. James shares how his experiences as an editor shaped his approach as a wr...