The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

The trips we take early in our travelling careers are very special - those first times when you are really seeing the world with truly fresh eyes. That newness is something you never get back, but I'm sure it's the reason why chatting with experienced travellers about their early trips is so interesting - years on and after many more trips, they recognise how important these travels were, and all that they learnt from them. That's the reason for putting together Episode 198 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast about the early trips of experienced travellers. The first traveller I speak to is JoAnna Haugen, who explains her first proper trip abroad on a college study program in Scandinavia. I particularly like that it's a seemingly small incident which actually has a long-lasting effect on how JoAnna thinks about travel. Next, I speak with author Jini Reddy about some life-changing in her early travels in Asia, when she was in her twenties. It's especially interesting to her about her experience of visiting India for the first time. Finally, I chat with Tom Mattson about his first round-the-world trip back in the 1970s, when it was easy to extend your stay in a place and have quite the adventure! I love that Tom tells me about his time in Japan, one of my very favourite destinations. Links: JoAnna Haugen, founder of Rooted, a storytelling platform covering sustainable travel and more - https://www.joannahaugen.com/rooted/  Jini Reddy - https://www.jinireddy.co.uk/   Jini's new book is Wanderland: A Search for Magic in the Landscape - https://amzn.to/3hET4EL Author Tom Mattson - https://tomsglobe.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/198

Amongst travel lovers it's quite common that your engagement happens while you're travelling - I guess it's the obvious time to have a big romantic gesture! - and on-the-road proposals are the topics of all the stories on Episode 197 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. I start off with a delightful story from Scott Antcliffe about when he proposed to his now wife - in fact, him telling me this story is what prompted me to gather some more tales of travelling engagements just so I could share this lovely one! Next, Dianne Bortoletto explains how her now husband popped the question to her - when she least expected it. Finally, I chat with Cindy Siano about her now husband's huge efforts to make sure that he got her to say yes, while on holiday in Europe. Links: Scott Antcliffe on Twitter - https://twitter.com/cliffy94 Dianne Bortoletto’s travel blog, Travelletto - https://travelletto.com Cindy Siano - Life and Times Video www.lifeandtimesvideo.com.au  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/amandakendle  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/197

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the June 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers 

What do you do when your passport goes missing while you’re travelling? Well, as proven by Episode 196 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, what happens is you end up with a good story to tell (and like most travel problems, it turns out to be solvable). My first guest is Paula Morgan who explains the tale of missing passports during a train trip in Europe - and the unexpected glee of whose fault it was! Next, I chat with Jen Williams who encountered some problems trying to leave Mongolia, in the aftermath of having her passport stolen during her travels. Finally, I speak with Marina Villatora in Guatemala. She went to spend a month at Lake Atitlan, but the stay didn’t turn at all as she’d expected. Links: Paula Morgan - https://Sydneyexpert.com  Jen Williams - Launch Your Travels - https://www.launchyourtravels.com/  Marina Villatoro - https://thetraderchick.com/  Patreon - support the podcast - https://www.notaballerina.com/support Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/196

Regular listeners to The Thoughtful Travel Podcast know just how much I love hearing about encounters with local people when we travel, so Episode 195 is a collection of stories about all kinds of different ways my guests have met locals during their travels in Central Asia. First up, I chat with Tracey Croke, who explains a particular intriguing encounter with some local shepherds in Kyrgyzstan, and one who had a particularly compelling proposal for her ... Next, Liz Warner tells me about a woman she met when she went to Afghanistan to run in a marathon, and something surprising she found out by chatting with her. Finally, Ferenc Elekes talks about one of his many stops on his overland trips, this one in Kazakhstan where he and his girlfriend got to know a Russian family who were camping in the same remote area. Links: Patreon - Bonus content and other benefits https://www.notaballerina.com/support Tracey Croke - https://traceycroke.com Liz Warner of Run to Reach http://runtoreach.com/  Ferenc Elekes - Overland Site - https://overlandsite.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/195

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the May 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, talking about Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajeshi. If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, all the info is at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers 

Train-lovers unite - Episode 194 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about journeys on the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia. This will always be one of my favourite trips, and it's such a pleasure to chat with other travellers who've also experienced the many ups and downs of crossing Russia by train. First up, I chat with Catherine Marshall, who decided to take the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok with ten of her favourite relatives to celebrate a milestone birthday. The problem: her date of birth meant they ended up traversing Russia in the depths of winter! I then speak with Cindy Siano who took the Trans-Siberian train back in 1995 - although (spoiler alert) it's particularly intriguing to me to hear that not altogether that much has changed in the ensuing years. Links: The ever-changing landscape of the Trans-Siberian - https://www.notaballerina.com/2013/02/trans-siberian-train-ever-changing-landscape.html Catherine Marshall - http://catherinemarshall.com.au coming soon! More from Catherine and friends at Time to Wander - http://www.timetowander.com.au/  Cindy Siano - Life and Times Video - https://lifeandtimesvideo.com.au/ Patreon - get bonus content and support the podcast - https://www.notaballerina.com/support  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/193

If you think back to the first time you travelled, you might just recall that this was a pretty important and influential part of your travelling experience as a whole. When I speak with avid travellers, it's often the case that their first trip has had a big impact either on their lives, or their future travels, or both. These transformative travel firsts are the basis for Episode 193 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast - and they make for some fantastic stories! To start with, I chat with listener Scott Antcliffe, who grew up in the front passenger seat of his father's taxi, meeting passengers flying in and out of major UK airports. I'd love to know if his dad realised at the time just how impactful these meetings were going to be. Next, Bob DiMenna and I talk about his first trip outside of the United States, which was to Thailand - a very significant trip in many ways. Finally, Nate Taiaroa speaks about his own transformational travel experiences and how he's used those to try to help others have the same kinds of revelations and what's more, to make sure they really make the most of them, too - I love his passion for helping travellers really cement the big lessons from their travels. Links: Patreon - get bonus content and support the podcast - https://www.notaballerina.com/support  Scott Antcliffe on Twitter - https://twitter.com/cliffy94 Bob DiMenna from The Travelers Blueprint podcast - https://thetravelersblueprint.com Nate Taiaroa from Adventure Out Loud - https://www.adventureoutloud.me/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/193

Ever travelled to somewhere that other people told you was dangerous? Or decided not to go, for precisely that reason? Episode 192 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast contemplates the idea of dangerous places, whether we should travel to them and how we can make a considered decision. My first guest is Tracey Croke who has a great theory on this topic - she calls it her "pie chart of reality" and it's a very sensible way to look at the information we can gather when we're trying to decide whether or not a destination is too dangerous to travel to. Having been to places like Afghanistan, I think Tracey is a good person to listen to on this topic. Next up I chat with Michael Barticel about his approach to fear - as a signal that we need to be careful, but that usually shouldn't stop you, and he describes his example of visiting Cali in Colombia. Lastly I speak with Hungarian traveller Ferenc Elekes who has a timely story to tell about an experience he and his friends had breaking down late at night on a dirt road in Tajikistan, near the Afghan border. Links: Patreon - support The Thoughtful Travel Podcast at https://www.notaballerina.com/support Tracey Croke - https://traceycroke.com Michael Barticel - Today Dreamer - https://www.todaydreamer.com/ Ferenc Elekes - Overland Site - https://overlandsite.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/192