The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

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 doesn't disappoint. Following the honeymoon story I chat with Kati who recently travelled with her parents in the Northern Territory here in Australia. It's an interesting story about the compromises you might need to make to deal with the different preferred travelling styles of your family members and I thought Kati did a great job of this. Finally, I speak with Eva who has really made a habit of travelling with her parents in recent years - starting a truly delightful family tradition. I hope my son is listening to that one! Links: Our great sponsor Career China - https://www.careerchina.com/ Jo’s website Lifestyl

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, who had travelled a lot with her family but really took things to the next level a few years ago when she started travelling solo. She's in no doubt of the importance of travelling in life and describes how much stepping out of her usual comfort zone has impacted her self development. Next, I talk with Anna Kwiecinska about that feeling you get when you just need to travel to a certain place, without any particularly concrete reason that you can explain - but inevitably, you end up discovering a lot about yourself by doing so. Why people travel is an endlessly fascinating question to me and what Anna articulated

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 their children to be multicultural kids. I start off chatting to Elizabeth and Jeff Newcamp who have been living with their three young sons in the Netherlands for the past couple of years. They talk about how to fit in and what it's like when your young kids learn the local language faster than you do! I then hear a great story from Jo Castro who had a serial ex-pat life with her husband and two kids before settling relatively recently in Western Australia. Her anecdote really speaks to what being international kids must feel like (and it also made me giggle, so make sure you listen). Finally, I talk to Christine

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 adventures abroad, not least of which includes climbing up an active, erupting volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu. Another way to watch the power of nature came the way of Linda Schlencker, thanks to a lot of patience watching and waiting in Africa, and Linda’s story in this episode is about natural travels at their best - seeing something in the animal kingdom that not many people get to see. Finally, I was chatting with Kristen Truempy about overseas adventure travel and when we got onto the top of risks involved with adventures abroad she brought up this story of her trip to Morocco. Links: Thanks to our sponsor, Boy Eats

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 the English language itself, about how Spanish is different, and above all that an English teacher needs patience! I also chat briefly with Matt Treglia who began teaching English face-to-face in Korea but now teaches online and is location independent. Finally, I chat with long-time English teacher and writer of some excellent text books and readers for English learners here in Australia, Clare Harris, who has a whole host of useful tips for people who may be considering teaching English somewhere in the world. Links: Cassandra’s blog, The Quirky Pineapple -  http://www.thequirkypineapple.com Matt’s site Words with Winos -

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 finding ways to keep up a hobby or two if you’re travelling long term - something I very much concur with. It’s easy to think that travelling “is it” but if you’re away for more than a month or so I think it’s important to keep in touch with other activities you really enjoy. I then chat with Anna Kwiecinska who has made a business out of encouraging people to take their hobbies on holidays! She runs a retreat in Bali which offers art, yoga and soon blogging retreats, so this is focused very much on encouraging people to really indulge in their hobbies and interests and take them more seriously - or at least to really intens

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 culture shock - or in this case, reverse culture shock. In Episode 81 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I speak with three guests who’ve all had varying experiences with culture shock when they return to their home country. Having been through it myself, quite strongly, when I returned to live in Australia after five and a half years away in Asia and Europe, I always find it so reassuring to hear that others have had similar experiences - though I wish I’d known more back when I was first experiencing reverse culture shock so I could have had some resources to help me get past it more quickly. In this episode I start by speaking with K

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 with Ian of the Barefoot Backpacker about his trip to Benin. Now, the Republic of Benin is not somewhere on the top of most travellers’ must-visit list but it’s one of Ian’s favourite places and after chatting, I can understand why! Following Ian, I talk to Linda Schlencker of Self Drive Adventures, who also surprises me by explaining what kind of treats would await me on a Madagascar holiday. I really had little conception of what travelling around Madagascar would entail (apart from expecting to see some of the creatures I knew from my son’s favourite Madagascar animated movies!) and it sounds like an amazing destinat

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 Cutting, who now lives in Australia but grew up in South Africa. She experienced a few differences living in each of these cultures and they’re my favourite kind, about everyday things like filling a car with petrol and going shopping. Next up, Luke Mackin compares experiences in rural Indonesia to his family’s return trips to the United States. His young kids have a different perspective because the US to them is just a place they visit, so it seems kind of amazing! Finally, I talk to James Thomas, who has now lived in Taiwan for several decades after growing up in the United States, and has some interesting observations about t

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 something of a tricky experience trying to cross the border from Croatia into Slovenia.  From Europe, I move on to Africa with Ian from the Barefoot Backpacker. He has some fun tales to tell about crossing borders between Ghana and Burkina Faso, and again between Benin and Togo. These borders are relatively seldom crossed by tourists so they’re not quite set up as clearly as you’d hope! Finally, Matt Eakin has a hilarious story about the time he needed to enter Bangladesh and didn’t have the required visa. Let’s just say his method isn’t something I’m recommending you try (and he agrees!), but it makes for a great story. Links: E

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 somewhere new with the expectation that something amazing would happen. Of course, he was right! With Yasmin Newman, we talk about the influence of our families on our unstoppable urge to travel, and our fervent desire to pass this urge on to our children as well. Yasmin says that travel and her life trajectory are inseparably intertwined and I have to say the same is true of mine. Links: Matt’s site Himalayan Schoolies - https://himalayanschoolies.com/ Yasmin’s website - https://www.yasminnewman.com Yasmin’s new book, The Desserts of New York (And How To Eat Them All) - http://amzn.to/2shtR9u Yasmin’s first book, 7,000 Islands:

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 Goose has a funny and heartwarming tale to tell of a day out cycling in Angkor Wat which could have ended badly, but really didn’t!  Similarly, my next guest, Samantha Fisher of High Hopes Travel, ended up in Paris one summer night with no accommodation around, and this could have had an unhappy ended too but thanks to the kindness of strangers it was quite the opposite. My final guest is Colin of Parenting, Passports and Profits who tells a tale of a bunch of strangers he met when he headed to the Rocky Mountains in search of a ski season job, and how these random meetings turned into a life-changing friendship.  L

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 urban pockets of nature before waxing poetic about her experiences seeing the nature of New Zealand. My final guests are Elizabeth and Jeff of Dutch Dutch Goose and they have yet another great take on travelling to see nature, with some fabulous examples of the kind of nature both adults and kids can enjoy in various parts of Europe. Links: Thoughtful Travellers Meet Up in Perth - https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/thoughtful-travellers-meet-up-tickets-39539451564 Luke’s site Wild Sumatra - https://wildsumatra.com Sam’s site, coming soon, High Hopes Travel - http://highhopestravel.com/ Sam on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/highho

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 more, both on their own and with others, and their first solo trips had a big impact on their future travels. First up, Jo Castro tells me a funny story about her first trip abroad when she went to be a horse groomer in Belgium - and it wasn’t quite as wonderful as she’d expected! I then chat with Jo and Jeremy Duggan who both had the experience of taking a huge trip as their first time travelling solo abroad - and fortunately, both really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. Finally, Ian of the Barefoot Backpacker explains about his rediscovery of travel with his first proper solo trip to South East Asia. Links: Jo’s

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 life in rural Indonesia. We then move to South Africa, where Kristen Truempy had a particularly interesting experience when things went wrong with her accommodation booking. Finally, over in New York City, fellow Aussie Aggie Lim has a great story to tell about things going wrong on a simple attempt to catch a bus in the Big Apple. Links: Luke’s Wild Sumatra site and blog Kristen’s The Positive Psychology Podcast Aggie Lim at Drawn to Explore Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers Follow me on Facebook on the Not A Ballerina page Show notes at https://notaballerina.com/73 See omnystudio.com/listener for priva

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 passionate about museums and has some really interesting news about the museums of Skopje, Macedonia. It seems like right now is the best time ever to check out their museums. Next, I talk with Elizabeth and Jeff of Dutch Dutch Goose, who are ex-pats currently living in the Netherlands with their three young sons. We discuss just how you can help kids really love museums and they tell me about some of their favourite museums in Europe so far. Finally, I get to reunite with a long lost student of my travel writing course, Samantha Fisher, who is about on the same level as me with her museum love. It’s interesting to talk about what makes a m

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’d expect. First up, I speak with Matt Treglia from the Words With Winos podcast about his experiences when he arrives in a new country and culture. Following Matt, my chat with Ian of the Barefoot Backpacker has some overlaps, and you might be surprised to hear how anxious Ian can be despite having travelled, on his own no less, to some really off-the-beaten-path destinations. Finally, I chat with psychologist Kristen Truempy who as always has some wise words about anxiety and what we should do about it to help us travel more. Links: Matt’s site Words with Winos - http://wordswithwinos.com Words with Winos podcast - http://sound

How does growing up as part of several different cultures change you as a person? Or growing up in many different countries? These questions fascinate me and in Episode 70 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I speak with two travellers who have experience with these particular questions. First up, I chat with Leah Smileski who recently took her children to spend a couple of months in Macedonia, where their father was born. This was quite a challenge for Leah who doesn’t speak Macedonian, but we talked a lot about all the benefits for her kids and it was fascinating. Secondly, I talk with Jo Castro, who’s the epitome of a wandering ex-pat - moving to rural Nepal with a newborn baby a couple of decades ago! She and her family, including two now adult children, lived in many different places around the world and she has much to say about how this has affected them, in both good ways and bad. Links:Leah’s blog Kid Bucket List - https://kidbucketlist.com.auJo’s website Lifestyle Fifty - http://lifestylefifty.com/Jo’s

Making mistakes on our travels is just par for the course, I think, and the three guests on Episode 69 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast have all made different mistakes and come out okay at the other end! Hayden Lee agrees that mistakes generally lead to the best travel stories. He has a great tale to tell about a road trip in outback Queensland that may have included a mistake or two. Ian of The Barefoot Backpacker has an interesting story about an entire trip which turned out to be a mistake, perhaps. Finally, Carolyn of Holidays to Europe tells of what she describes as a rookie mistake which she made when she definitely wasn’t a rookie traveller any more … but even the best of us make mistakes, I guess!  Links: Hayden’s Travel Stories Podcast - http://travelstoriespodcast.com Travel Stories Podcast on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/travel-stories-podcast/id1097413901?mt=2 Ian’s blog The Barefoot Backpacker - http://barefoot-backpacker.com/ Ian’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barefoot_

Travelling solo is a fabulous experience but not everyone thinks they’re ready for it. In Episode 68 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three solo travel lovers who have various stories and experiences to tell which can give you some tips for making yourself a solo travel success. I start off with Becky Livingston who has a lovely funny tale to tell about what happened on a plane when she was travelling solo once - and we go on to talk about some of the big benefits of solo travel. Next, Ian from The Barefoot Backpacker talks about some of the reasons he generally prefers solo travel, and what we can learn from that. Finally, I get to chat with Kristen Truempy, a psychologist who loves to travel and has travelled on her own a lot. She gives a really interesting perspective on some of the qualities of a person who travels solo well, and what we might think about to prepare ourselves ahead of a solo trip. Links: Becky’s Facebook community Joyful Mourning - https://www.facebook.com/joyfulmourning101/