The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Mishaps and misjudgments are part of the fun when we travel - right? Well, at least that's what my guests and I decide in Episode 95 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. I start off chatting with Matt and Marilyn from the Words with Winos podcast, who managed to make a bit of a misjudgment when they very first set out on their long travelling journey ... but of course, they recovered from it and I'm...

As parents, we have so many choices on the way we influence our kids. In Episode 94 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, the influence we talk about is - of course! - travel. I love the way my son's habits, attitudes and personality reflect his many experiences of travel (and yes, he's very privileged, even though we are usually in the budget traveller category), and I'm happy to know that many other...

Many a well-travelled travel-lover experiences travel anxiety and the guests in Episode 93 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast are no exception. (And neither am I!). In this episode I chat with Kelly Dunning about her first big trip, aged 21, and a particularly pivotal moment which helped her to get over travel anxiety. I also talk to Kati Craythorn who gets anxious about flying, as many of us do, an...

Travelling to other countries is one (amazing) thing - actually living abroad for an extended time is quite another altogether and it’s an experience my three guests in Episode 92 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast all share.  I’ve been lucky enough to live abroad in Japan, Slovakia and Germany and each experiencing was completely life-changing. In this episode, I speak with other t...

Do you love to haggle at the local markets when you travel to get down to the cheapest possible price or are you happier when there's a fixed price and no bargaining needs to take place? We talk about bargaining (and tipping) on your travels in Episode 91 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast and it's a great mix of ideas.   First up I chat with Matt and Marilyn from the Words with Winos podcast a...

It’s two years since I launched The Thoughtful Travel Podcast for my fortieth birthday. (Because why not do something crazy like launch a podcast for your fortieth?!) For the two-year anniversary, I decided to turn the tables and instead of getting other people’s stories, I asked my Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group to ask me the questions! They came up with many and varie...

Housesitting works for both sides of the travel equation but in Episode 89 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I talk to four travellers who have used housesitting as a great way to get free accommodation and to see parts of the world they wouldn't otherwise see. Pam Lynch has been house-sitting for about eight months now around Perth, Western Australia - spoiler alert, she's my housesitter! - and ch...

I always think it's a shame we preach about "stranger danger" when in reality 99.9% of strangers are just people waiting to be kind to us - and Episode 88 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast reinforces my thoughts because I have three guests who've had delightful experiences with random acts of travel kindness from the people they've met when they've been travelling. First up, I chat with Matt Eakin...

I just love the variety of stories I've got to share in this episode about travelling with your parents as an adult, because everyone has ended up having a great time for all different reasons. The very first guest is my delightful friend Jo of Lifestyle Fifty. When she told me she had a story about her mother coming with them on her honeymoon, I knew I had to hear more, and as always, Jo's story...

One of my very favourite topics in the world is talking (for hours) about why travelling is good for you and all the self development and educational benefits of travelling. Happily, a lot of the guests on The Thoughtful Travel Podcast feel the same way, and in Episode 86 I chat with three women who all agree the benefits of travelling the world are many and varied. First up, I chat with Pam Lynch...

I'm immensely curious on how culture affects child development - if you have kind of international kids who relate to more than one culture, how does this change the way they grow up? I know from experience that even the simple act of travelling to a foreign country changes how kids think and in Episode 85 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I speak with a number of parents who've really brought up t...

Like going on adventures abroad in nature? Then you will love listening to the stories my three guests have to tell in Episode 84 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. I was so lucky to be able to chat with them about these amazing stories of the kinds of things not many people get to experience.   First up, I spoke with Eva Westerling, a German travel-lover who has had all kinds of incredible ad...

Teaching English as a second language can be anywhere from a fascinating lifelong career to a short stint while travelling, and in Episode 83 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three teachers who have taught both offline and online around the world.   First up, I talk to Cassandra Le about her two years of experience as an assistant English teacher in Spain. She learnt a lot about t...

What do you love to do - other than travel - in your spare time? While my listeners and readers have a love of travel in common, they have a huge range of other hobbies and this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about combining hobbies with travel in various ways.   To kick it off I chat with Kelly Dunning who wrote a great post on her Global Goose blog about the importance of f...

Reverse culture shock - the kind of culture shock you get when you return to your home country - is worse than just regular culture shock, I think. If you head to a country with a significantly different culture from your own, then you’re expecting to be shocked. But if you’ve been travelling or living abroad for a while and you return home, you don’t expect to be the victim of c...

Ever dreamed of a trip to Africa? Or have you already had the good fortune to visit Africa? In either case, Episode 80 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast will entice you, I think! I speak with three travellers who have extremely varied experiences of Africa, once again reminding me that it’s a truly vast content and that I need to plan a trip to Africa as soon as possible. To start off, I chat...

I really love a good cultural difference. It’s true! I find the differences in everyday life around the world utterly fascinating and it’s one of the reasons I keep travelling, trying to hunt more down. In Episode 79 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three other travellers who have also discovered some interesting cultural differences on their travels. First up is Reeva Cutt...

Sometimes crossing a border into a new country is simple. Sometimes it’s not - and it’s the not-simple crossings that turn into great stories later! In Episode 78 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with several guests who’ve had some particularly interesting border crossing moments. First up, I chat with Elizabeth and Jeff Newcamp, who are currently living in Europe and had...

Do you have an unstoppable urge to travel? You are not alone! In Episode 77 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with two fellow travel-lovers who just feel they must travel, as much as possible.   To start off with, I chat with Matt Eakin of Himalayan Schoolies, who started his real travelling adventures age 17, with no particular plan other than that he should catch a plane and go somew...

While sometimes we are inclined to feel suspicious of strangers, the fact is that 99.9% of people are good and when you travel, you will often come across some especially kind strangers. In Episode 76 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three travellers who have had some fantastic and even life-changing experiences meeting strangers on their travels. First up, Kelly Dunning of Global Goo...

Who doesn’t love nature - at least some of the time? Episode 75 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about travels in nature, and the many and varied forms this travel can take.   It starts off in pretty extreme nature when I chat with Luke Mackin, who has a tale of confronting nature in rural Sumatra. But Samantha Fisher, my next guest, has another take completely and describes urba...

Travelling for the first time is something you always remember. And travelling on your own for the first time is possibly even more memorable. In Episode 74 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I talk with four very experienced travellers who all have very clear memories of their first solo adventure and love talking about it. The common theme is that all of them have gone on to travel a whole heap m...

When you travel, something is bound to go wrong. Most of the time, whatever went wrong ends up making a good story, and that’s exactly what the three travellers in Episode 73 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast think too. In this episode, I start of chatting with Luke Mackin of Wild Sumatra, who has two equally hilarious tales about things that have gone wrong both on his travels and in his expat lif...

Visiting museums when you’re somewhere new is very high on the list of many travellers. I don’t love all museums, but there are many around the world that I really truly do love. In Episode 72 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with four travellers who all have lots to say about their love of museums.   First up, I chat with Leah Smileski of Kid Bucket List who is very passi...

If you’ve ever felt anxious about travelling, please rest assured that you are absolutely not alone! In Episode 71 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, we are talking about getting past travel anxiety, and I hope that hearing from experienced travellers who take amazing trips but still feel anxious about that regularly will help you realise that travel anxiety is way more common than you’...