Travel Writing Podcast

A contributor to the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Travel, and Lonely Planet (to name a few), David Farley is living the travel writing dream. When his career was just starting, though, he didn't have a direct line to any editors; he had to prove himself. In this episode of the Travel Writing Podcast, he maps his rise from amateur to regular contributor to the biggest publications. This...

Dustin Grinnell's personal essays go deep into his psyche, exposing wounds and aspirations from deepest childhood, wrestling with illness, relationships, authority, and disappointments. While travel publications like Intrepid Times can be reluctant to publish these kinds of deeply personal memoirs/reflections (or, as Dustin calls it, autoethnography) Dustin's stories have achieved recognition and...

Despite its UNESCO World Heritage medieval old city, Moorish cisterns, and delicious jamon iberico, Cáceres‎ in Spain's Extremadura still somehow manages to cling to that most overused of adjectives, 'untouched.' As tourists continue to swarm to Barcelona and Ibiza, Cáceres‎ gets on with the mysteries of normal life in one of Europe's best-preserved medieval towns. Troy Nahumko has been based in C...

The travel writing career has captivated many with the dream of scrawling notes on exotic train rides, sending off your narratives to venerable magazines, and collecting enough in fees and royalties to keep the journey going. But is that really what the life of a professional travel writer looks like today? Tim Leffel has been a full-time, professional travel writer since 2006 and literally wrote...

When Ryan Murdock moved to Malta in 2011, he intended to write a "breezy island novel" replete with quirky characters and sun-soaked tranquility. He would go on to write a book, but it was not the one he imagined. In a book that is part thriller, but anthropological examination, and part tribute to the pioneering Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Ryan told a gripping tale that all serious...

In 2015, having recently left her job at the International Bar Association, Rebecca Lowe was transitioning to freelance journalism. Aiming to collect stories from the Middle East to help build her new career path, she set out on an 11,000km, 20-country solo cycle ride from London to Tehran, via Europe, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Oman, the UAE, and Iran. The journey lasted a year, and c...

Travel tends to offer rewarding, enlightening, and overall joyful experiences. We come out of them with fresh perspectives, new friends, and an increased understanding of our place in the world. But sometimes, travel is hard. It walks us into experiences that are frustrating, saddening, disappointing, or even dangerous. Once we've gone through these experiences, we may feel compelled to get them d...

Inspired by a new translation of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson, Laura Coffey set off for an Italian island in order to find a renewed sense of freedom and clarity in the midst of extreme loneliness. What was supposed to be a short break turned into a six-month journey across towns and islands in Italy, Croatia, and Spain as she chased the myth of The Odyssey. Her attempt to live between myth and rea...

Over the years, Mike Richards has been to over 150 countries, has written global political and economic research for renowned global research houses, and has become a meditation teacher. During his years of traveling, he's come to a simple conclusion: most people are good. In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Nathan spoke with Mike about his new book, how traveling with his young daughte...

JT Genter didn't set out to become a digital nomad. He was working as a tax accountant when he and his wife decided they wanted to do some traveling. Looking for a way to reduce the cost of a trip to China, he discovered that signing up for one credit card could get them enough miles to fly round-trip for almost nothing out-of-pocket. As luck would have it, points and awards was a growing area of...

Years ago, while hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Tim Mathis became fascinated by the idea of the pilgrimage. It was spiritual but didn't have to be religious, and it was, it seemed, always transformative for those who made the journey. The experience stuck with him and led him to write a unique guidebook for those interested in tapping into the power of the Camino's long walk. The guideboo...

In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Jennifer speaks with travel journalist Paige McClanahan about her new book, The New Tourist. From Hawaii to Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam to Angkor Wat, Paige has been witness to various approaches to tourism, which led her to question not only how governments are approaching tourism, but also her own actions and insights as a tourist. Her new book seeks to...

Many of the most well-known authors in history have struggled with their dark side, a struggle that so often provided the energy for great writing. This dark side is what Brad Kelly and his co-host Kevin Kautzman explore on their podcast Art of Darkness. In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Nathan invited Brad on to talk about some of the authors that Art of Darkness has covered and how...

The idea of sustainable tourism can leave a weird taste in your mouth, especially as the term is used incorrectly in all kinds of contexts and scenarios. But the idea, in its authentic form, is an important one, and one that we know many of our listeners are interested in learning more about, so we decided to tackle it on this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast. For this conversation, which we...

Traveling is often full of joy and intrigue. Writing about those travel experiences can be difficult but almost always fulfilling. But editing...that's where writers tend to get stuck. Editing can feel not only overwhelming and intimidating, but also tedious. In this episode, Jennifer explores the reasons why editing can feel so tough, but also why it's one of the easiest ways to get across profes...

In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Nathan and Jen take on the daunting topic of AI. It's a topic that (understandably) makes writers, in particular, very nervous, considering the advances in LLMs. Should we be as worried as we are? Will AI actually ever be able to replace the need for writers, or is there something about the act of putting ideas on paper (or a screen) that is uniquely...

On this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Nathan interviews travel writer, filmmaker, and storyteller Ash Bhardwaj. The conversation includes a discussion about the role hedonism plays in our motivation to travel, how seeking out the “other” can push us to travel to certain places, why a desire for self-discovery can be a powerful motivator, how certain types of disconnection can lead to the...

In her recent interview with Nathan Thomas, travel writer Katie Silcox talks about the experience that made her realize she would have to discover her inner strength if she wanted to live abroad; the many ways that her versatile skill set has served her travel writing lifestyle; her advice for female travelers; why a bit of chaos and uncertainty can be a good thing; and much more.

Welcome to an unusual episode of the Travel Writing Podcast — Here, I take the mic solo, for what may be described as a rant but is hopefully more of an exploration of the pressures bearing down on travel writers in today's world. The perverse incentives of Search Engine Optimization and social media. The perils of perpetual connectivity. How can you write something that will last when your editor...

We travel, we write, we read, and then we travel again. Does being immersed in the genre of travel writing as a writer and reader change the experience of travel? In this episode, the editors of Intrepid Times take a moment to think about how the travel writing we read inevitably influences the way we interact with the places and people we encounter while traveling. They discuss some examples of w...

In this episode, Nathan interviews John Dolan, an American poet, author, essayist, and co-host of Radio War Nerd. John discusses how he ended up in New Zealand, Moscow, and later the Middle East and Indonesia; the event that had him on the edge of sacrificing his pursuit of the truth; the circumstances that led him to compile his travel stories into his recently published book Erdogan Pizza; why h...

Tim Hannigan is back on the podcast to discuss one of the major ethical considerations in travel writing: the truth. In this conversation with Jennifer, Tim talks about the underlying tensions that make talking about truth in travel writing so tricky, strategies travel writers use to create a rhetoric of truth that readers can rely on, how the shifting definition of travel writing makes any conver...

In this episode, the editors of Intrepid Times take a moment to analyze the travel writing tendencies that helped define 2023, as well as what they hope and expect for travel writing in 2024. The conversation takes a couple of interesting turns, including veering into a conversation about the benefits of traveling alone versus traveling with others. They also touch on the role that humor and fun c...

In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Mary Novakovich, an award-winning travel journalist, speaks about why she found the process of writing a book more “liberating” than her work with articles and stories; how she approached writing about members of her family, especially when thinking about traumatic events; how she attempted to find balance with the difficult history and the current cu...

In this episode of The Travel Writing Podcast, Harry Mitsidis, founder of NomadMania, talks about his personal motivation for visiting every country in the world twice, how his “addiction to movement” has driven his travels, how he maintains enthusiasm while constantly exploring, and why his recent trip to Ukraine was the most significant one he has ever done. He also offers a behind-the-scenes lo...