Going Places

Today, we’re talking with Eliot Stein, a journalist, writer, book author, and deputy editor at BBC Travel. Eliot and I first got to know each other through our shared passion for stories that reveal something about a place through the lens of tradition and unique cultural practices. Eliot has edited a few of my stories at BBC Travel, where he started a column called Custom Made that highlights cul...

Today on the show, we’re traveling to Scandinavia because it's almost Christmas time. The holiday season is probably my favorite time to be in this region. I grew up in Estonia, a small country just south of Finland that, while not technically part of Scandinavia, has strong cultural ties with the Nordic countries. In my childhood, these Nordic ways to celebrate Christmas were common and today, I'...

Firas Zreik is a Palestine-born, NY-based composer and player of Kanun, a traditional Arabic string instrument. He has performed and recorded in varied styles including Arabic Maqam and jazz and collaborated with many international artists such as Residente, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Shreya Ghoshal, and others. His debut EP "Solo" came out in 2021 and his most recent release is a 2023 f...

Ric Gazarian is an avid traveler who has visited all seven continents and 181 countries on his quest to visit every country in the world. He is also the host of the popular long-format podcast Counting Countries and the founder of the Extraordinary Travel Festival. Travel with us to some of the world’s lesser-known places like Abkhazia and Mauritania and hear what Ric learned about humanity by vis...

Aisana Ashim is a Kazakh journalist and civil movement activist. She is the founder of the independent media agency The Village Kazakhstan, and the co-founder of Masa Media, a political education project. In 2021, Aisana launched Batyr Jamal, an independent media platform aimed at empowering women and girls in Kazakhstan, focusing on their rights, safety, and self-worth. Get ready to learn more ab...

Evita Turquoise Robinson is an Emmy award-winning storyteller who tells and amplifies stories about the BIPOC communities worldwide. She's also the founder of NOMADNESS Travel Tribe — a community of 40,000 Black and brown travelers worldwide with its own festival, the Nomadness Fest. Laugh, cry, and tune in with us as we unpack what it means to create in this time of poly crisis on Earth. Evita ha...

Today, stories matter more than ever. This season on Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk, we travel across the world to bring you imaginative stories about the people we meet: from the journalist fighting for women's rights in Kazakhstan to the man who believes borders are but a fiction and the Finnish keeper of ancient sauna traditions. Get to know incredible places and the people that call them hom...

Today, we travel to the heart of Wadi Rum Desert in Southern Jordan with Ahmad Mara'yeh, a Bedouin man and co-founder of Rum Planet Camp. In this episode, Ahmad shares why understanding the local culture and connecting with its community is as vital as experiencing its landscapes. We also touch on the impact of tourism on Wadi Rum and how Ahmad has incorporated sustainable practices into his famil...

Today, we're speaking with Lindsay Gary, a Houston-based professor-scholar, multi-disciplinary artivist, and social entrepreneur on a mission to educate, connect, and empower the African diaspora in the US. In this episode, Lindsay talks about staying true to your purpose, finding time in our busy days to dedicate to what matters, and the value of asking important questions as a method for finding...

In today's episode, I speak to Khadija Farah, a travel and documentary photographer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Khadija’s work appears in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian and more. Khadija is a member of Inland Stories, an international cooperative of long-term documentary photographers. Her work is part of the 2020 Lit List by Authority Collective, Women Photograph, Diversify Ph...

Growing up in Mumbai with her extended family, Vibha Chokhani was destined to live a traditional lifestyle. Women in her life were married young and spent their days as homemakers, yet this path never felt right to her.  First woman in her family to get divorced, to get a master degree, and to live in a foreign country, Vibha has learned how to step into the unknown and in this episode, she t...

Today on the show, we're exploring the idea of rest (including cognitive rest), how the US culture sees it differently from Europeans, and what the relationship is between rest and creativity. And stick around in the end for a special announcement.  Featured on the show: Read the CNBC report on US attitudes toward vacation Read the Financial Times article, Europeans have more time, Americans...

Aziz Abu Sarah is a peace builder, cultural educator, entrepreneur, author and international speaker. He’s also a Palestinian man who lost his brother to the Israeli soldiers and who is currently working with his Israeli partner, Maoz Inon, to imagine a new vision for both Palestinians and Israelis.  If there is only one episode you will tune in to this season, let it be this one, because it...

Beth Santos is a passionate entrepreneur and community builder who many women in the travel industry will recognize as the CEO and founder of Wanderful, an international collective of travelers and travel content creators on a mission to make travel better for all women. Beth is the author of WANDER WOMAN: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World (2024). In this conversatio...

Villain hitters. Fortune tellers. Bamboo cage makers. Meet the people keeping Hong Kong's traditions alive. Lindsay Varty is an author and former professional rugby player from Hong Kong who writes about Cantonese culture and history in an attempt to generate a greater love and understanding of her home for herself and her readers. So today on the show, we're traveling to Hong Kong with Lindsay an...

Today on the show, I’m sharing with you an episode that first came out last September, in which the table is turned on me and I am, for once, in the guest seat, as my friend and podcast producer Noelia Sanchez interviews me about Jordan, one of my favorite places on Earth. What you’ll learn in this episode: The origin story of my relationship with Jordan Yulia's favorite places in Jordan What peop...

Today on the show: Part 2 of our conversation with Nada Raphael, a journalist, storyteller, and traveler based in Beirut, who, together with her partner Joelle Sfeir has co-founded Tourleb, a socially responsible tour operator that aims to promote local, women-owned and family operated businesses while changing the narrative about Lebanon.   This is Part 2 of our two-part episode. What y...

Nada Raphael is a Lebanese journalist, storyteller, and traveler, who, together with her partner Joelle Sfeir has co-founded Tourleb, a socially responsible tour operator that aims to promote local, women-owned and family operated businesses while changing the narrative about Lebanon.  Get ready to travel to Lebanon with Nada and me and dismantle some myths about it while we’re at it.  T...

Imani Bashir is a world-traveling storyteller, mother, and advocate who's lived in five countries across four continents, including Egypt, Poland, and Malaysia. Her work focuses on culturally immersive social media content highlighting various atrocities and initiatives to support marginalized communities worldwide. Get ready to be immersed in this important topic: how do we travel in a way that i...

Today, I’m sharing a story I wrote for Conde Nast Traveler called In Jordan, a Community Disrupted Awaits Travel’s Return. I traveled to Jordan this February amid the ongoing war on Gaza by the Israeli government. This story was the outcome of this trip.  Featured on the show: Read Yulia's CN Traveler story, In Jordan, a Community Disrupted Awaits Travel’s Return Listen to Episode 113, Palest...

If I could summarize this conversation with one phrase, it would be something Shannon said: “When people meet each other they find out that the other is not so other.” Shannon Stowell is the CEO of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, an organization for travel industry partners that believes travel can be a powerful force for good in the world. Shannon has spent over 30 years working in advent...

Welcome back to Going Places! Matt Bowles is a veteran location-independent entrepreneur and host of The Maverick Show. I recently sat down with Matt to do a two-part series for his show. Matt has been doing activism work in solidarity with the Palestinian movement for the past 25 years, and in this conversation, we cover how he and I first became aware of the Palestinian struggle and movement, Or...

Welcome back to Going Places! We’re speaking to Jen Ruiz, a lawyer turned full-time travel writer, blogger, and content creator. Jen is a 5-time Amazon bestselling author, 3x TEDx speaker, and 4-time award-winning journalist. She is also the solo female traveler behind Jen on a Jet Plane, with an audience of over 350,000 social media followers. In this conversation, Jen and I discuss dating while...

Welcome back to Season 10 of Going Places, everyone! I'm your host Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel photographer, writer, storyteller, community builder, podcaster, filmmaker, educator, and entrepreneur working on stories from around the world for top global publications, traveling to places like Botswana and the Arctic Circle, and producing stories about people that live and work in those...

Welcome back to Going Places, everyone! This season on the show, we learned about Bedouin hospitality, heard from Ammani artists on Gaza, traveled to Italy in search of the world’s rarest silk, and more. I hope you enjoyed the new show format - and if you did, please take a moment to leave us a rating or a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. I appreciate it!  This episode and the entire seas...