The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

It’s rare an episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast focuses on just one destination, but when it’s my beautiful home state of Western Australia, I think it’s a must! In this episode I chat with three travellers who’ve explored much of WA and all found lots to love. First up, I chat with Zoë Dawes, who came out to Western Australia for a short trip last year. As a very experienced traveller, I think Zoë would have high expectations, and it turned out that she thoroughly enjoyed WA and particularly one of my favourite spots! Jo Castro of the Lifestyle Fifty blog moved to country Western Australia a few years back and I’m pleased to hear that there are also many parts of our vast state that she’s grown to love. Finally, I chatted with Nina Burakowski who runs an entire site about getting outdoors in Western Australia. She had a great list of recommended spots to visit if you’re also lucky enough to come all the way to WA. Links: Coral Coast and Ningaloo Reef - https://www.notaballerina.com/2016/10/australi

Regular listeners already know I think it’s enormously beneficial to take your kids travelling from a young age, but in Episode 66 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three other mothers who agree with me. First up is family travel expert Sharon Gourlay of Where’s Sharon. With three kids aged between one and seven, and many, many trips with them under her belt, she’s well placed to talk about many of the reasons travelling with kids is so valuable. Brooke McAlary is my next guest and we share a very strong belief that kids learn so much from travelling, and that it shapes the way they’ll experience life. Finally, I talk with Penny Wincer, who speaks openly and beautifully about traveling with a child with special needs. Penny’s son has autism and this has changed the way she approaches travel, but it certainly hasn’t stopped her.   Links: Sharon’s travel site Where’s Sharon - http://www.wheressharon.com  Sharon’s site Digital Nomad Wannabe - https://www.digitalnomadwannabe.com/  Brooke’s Slow Yo

Hearing about people’s first trips is fascinating and Episode 65 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about the first times some very experienced travellers ventured out of their comfort zones. First up, Alicia Nelson talks about the first trip she took without her family. A school trip to Washington DC turned out to be pretty life-changing. Sharon Gourlay of Where’s Sharon is one of the most well-travelled people I know, and yet when I spoke to her about her first trips abroad, she told me some very surprising stories! Finally, Carolyn Schonafinger joins The Thoughtful Travel Podcast for the first time and has some interesting tales to tell about her first trip abroad and also her first trip to her now beloved Europe. Links: Alicia’s site Prairie Style File - http://prairiestylefile.com  Alicia’s new book, “North Dakota Beer: A Heady History” - http://amzn.to/2rBRVUW  Sharon’s travel site Where’s Sharon - http://www.wheressharon.com  Sharon’s site Digital Nomad Wannabe - https://www.digitalnomadwannab

If you travel much at all, you’re going to encounter foreign languages, and Episode 64 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about how learning languages and living in foreign countries has changed the experiences of these three travel-loving guests. First up, I chat with Yasmin Newman who’s a fellow language lover. She’s spent time in both France and Mexico with the goal of improving her French and Spanish and has much of interest to say about how effective this was. Following Yasmin, I talk to Cassandra Le who also decided that living abroad, in Spain, would be a great way to improve her Spanish language skills. My final guest today is Serena Star-Leonard. We chat about how embarrassing it is that so many people from English-speaking countries don’t speak any other languages and why that means she’s trying so hard to learn Spanish; we also talk about what kind of communication happens when you’re talking to someone with whom you don’t share a common language at all.  Links: Episode 10 - How to Cope in

Travel can be life changing in many ways and the guests in Episode 63 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast are proof of that. To start off, Amanda chats with Penny Wincer who made what Amanda sees as a huge decision to spend a year volunteering in Thailand at the age of just 18. She definitely learnt a lot and it set the tone for how she’s approached travel - and many aspects of life - ever since.  Next up Amanda chats with Becky Livingston, who made a similarly huge decision to spend a year in Australia on a teaching exchange, with life-altering consequences. And finally, Amanda talks to Cassandra Le about her decision during college that travel was a priority and how the volunteer trip she took to Ecuador changed the path of her life after college.    Links:  Penny’s website Apples and Optimists - http://www.applesandoptimists.com Penny on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pennywincer  Becky’s Facebook community Joyful Mourning - https://www.facebook.com/joyfulmourning101/   Becky’s website - http://b

Who doesn’t love exploring new cuisines on their travels? Amanda is always keen to set her taste buds loose on some new foods but as her guests and Amanda discuss in Episode 62 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, it’s not just about the taste buds: foods in other countries can also teach us a lot. In this episode Amanda starts by chatting with Alicia Nelson who learnt some foodie lessons on her travels in Spain and Japan. Following that, Zoë Dawes tells Amanda some interesting tales about foodie lessons she learnt in Hong Kong and beyond and they chat about how polite they should be when they’re offered new and unusual foods. Finally, Amanda's favourite foodie guest ever, Yasmin Newman, talks to her about her food sabbaticals, and particularly her most recent one in New York when she spent three months eating desserts pretty much non-stop. Interestingly, the biggest lesson to take away from this one is not only foodie-related but a bigger life lesson. Links: Alicia’s site Prairie Style File Alicia’s new book

Amanda could give you a page full of reasons she feels a sense of gratitude connected to travelling, but instead, she's going to let her three guests share some of the reason they feel grateful thanks to their travels.   First up Amanda speaks with Alicia Nelson, who is grateful for an important lesson she learnt about life at home while she was travelling. Then Amanda chats to Cassandra Le; as a child of refugee parents, she has a particularly strong gratitude about her ability to travel.  Finally, Abby Lewtas sums it all up nicely by reflecting on what she learnt about gratitude during a homestay in Guatemala and other travels too.     Links:  Alicia’s site Prairie Style File Alicia’s new book, “North Dakota Beer: A Heady History” Cassandra’s blog, The Quirky Pineapple    Cassandra on Instagram  Abby Lewtas’ website Abby’s reverse culture shock “Life After Travel” survey  Join the Facebook group Tweet @amandakendle  Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod  Follow Amanda on Facebook See omnystudio.com/listener for

It’s the round-numbered episode 60 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast and that means Amanda has a mixed bag for you: the common theme is these chats are either fun or philosophical or both. First up, Amanda chats with Becky Livingston who is definitely a kindred spirit on the topic of travel and they had a philosophical chat about all the wonderful reasons we should travel. Changing tone, Amanda talks next with Yasmin Newman who has some wonderful tales to tell about eating her way around the world and some of the consequences of having a very sweet tooth. (Amanda feels like these are cautionary tales aimed at her and her sweet tooth!) Finally, Serena Star-Leonard tells Amanda about her Five Point Five project and the stories of amazing people she and her partner Johnny have been collecting during their travels. Links:  Becky’s Facebook community Joyful Mourning Becky’s website Yasmin’s website Yasmin’s new book, The Desserts of New York (And How To Eat Them All) Yasmin’s first book, 7,000 Islands: A Food P

Episode 59 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about having conversations with locals when you travel. Meeting local people is such a fun and rewarding part of travelling and it’s something Amanda always tries to do, even if she has to push herself a bit beyond her comfort zone to do it. In this episode, Amanda start off by chatting with Alicia Nelson about some great lessons she learned from speaking with her Spanish friend and her family on a trip to Spain when she was younger. Her friend’s father Miguel uttered some of the wisest travel-related words I’ve ever heard! She then chats with Joe Baur about some of the local people he’s met while he’s researching or filming for travel stories, including interesting guides in Berlin and El Salvador, along with chatting about some of my experiences talking about tricky issues with locals in places like Japan. Finally, Alex Cwalinski tells Amanda a great story about a time in Argentina when having conversations with locals turned out to be much harder than h

Travelling solo is a really special way to travel and it’s the focus of Episode 58 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. Everyone’s experience of solo travel is different and these three guests all have a different story to tell from travelilng on their own.  First up, Amanda chats with Abby Lewtas who was inspired by a cousin to hit the world on her own, and took off for a big backpacking trip around South America - although not without some hesitation.    On the other hand, fellow podcaster Hayden Lee doesn’t seem to do anything with hesitation, and Amanda wasn’t surprised to hear his interesting story of a man he met just ten minutes after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This is one of those travel adventures that only happens to brave (and crazy) people like Hayden.  Finally, Amanda chats with Carly Findlay who has a more regular experience of solo travel, and in fact very similar to Amanda's own experience. It was good to chat to her about the ups and downs of travelling on your own.  Links:  Abb

In Episode 57 of The Thoughtful Travel podcast Amanda talks about taking photos of people on your travels, by chatting with a couple of photographers she knows who volunteer with her  for the Fremantle International Portrait Prize. She always feels like photographers are particularly good at being thoughtful travellers because they are always trying to get into the minds of the locals to get the best, most telling photographs in different places around the world. Amanda chats first with Lawrie Beilin, who has a wide range of excellent tips on breaking the ice and getting good photographs of people you meet on your travels. Secondly, Amanda hears a story from photographer Dale Neill who really has a knack for getting people to create amazing portrait images. She’ll also tell you a little about the Fremantle International Portrait Prize in case you want to enter some photographs too. Links: Fremantle International Portrait Prize site Dale’s Deadly Boring Photographs blog Lola’s talk on photographing people in

Travelling to unique places or travelling for unique reasons fascinates Amanda and the three guests she speaks with for Episode 56 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast have some very unique stories to tell. Starting off with fellow travel blogger Sharon Gourlay, they chat about her recent trip to a place that Amanda would love to see - North Korea. Politics aside, it’s simply a truly unique experience. Next Amanda speak with Abby Lewtas, who has travelled a lot but had a stint travelling to North America and Europe for a particularly interesting sporting reason … but you’ll have to listen to find out what spot. Finally, Amanda heard from novelist Rachael Johns. As a writer, she gets to see some really interesting places for interesting reasons, and one of these trips took her to a small and unique outback Queensland town. Links: Sharon’s travel site Where’s Sharon  Sharon’s post on North Korea Young Pioneers tours to North Korea  Sharon on making money as a blogger Abby Lewtas’ website  Abby’s reverse culture

Travel is so very often life-changing - it’s one of the big reasons Amanda is always trying to encourage people to travel more. On Episode 55 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda talks with three people who agree with her. Amanda's first two guests, Kate Forsyth and Zoë Dawes, speak of their early experiences of travel and how that changed their lives. Kate had some adventurous times in her childhood, whereas Zoë learnt about the adventurous nature of her great-grandfather instead then let loose once she first got to travel abroad in her twenties. Her final guest, Hayden Lee, speaks of a more recent travel experience where he regrets not having made a different decision - thus changing his future thoughts on travel significantly. Links: Kate Forsyth’s website  Kate’s novel Bitter Greens  Kate’s novel The Wild Girl Zoë’s website The Quirky Traveller Zoë on Twitter Zoë on Instagram  Hayden’s Travel Stories Podcast Travel Stories Podcast on iTunes Episode about Papua New Guinea     Join our Facebook group

Honestly, the benefits of travelling with kids are uncountable - and that’s benefits both for kids and their parents! in Episode 54 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda talks with three travel-loving parents about how they travel with their kids. First up, novelist Natasha Lester talks about what her three children learn from their travels abroad and how she considers it a far better education than school. Next up, journalist Alicia Nelson and Amanda chat about just how much extra fun travel can be with younger children and the different viewpoints you can get by slowing down and seeing the world through their eyes. Finally, Mark Wyld of Wyld Family Travel chats about the different attitudes his two daughters take to their trips to Europe. Links: Natasha Lester’s website Natasha’s new novel Her Mother's Secret Alicia’s site Prairie Style File  Look for Alicia’s book, “North Dakota Beer: A Heady History” in July 2017 Wyld Family Travel Episode 8 - Travel With Kids and Kids on Travel Episode 19 - T

It’s common to face a few difficulties when we travel but in Episode 53 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda chats with three guests who face more than their fair share of challenges when they travel, because they or a family member has a disability or a chronic illness. Their stories are inspiring and of course, their desire to travel trumps the potential difficulties and Amanda loves that! First up, Amanda chats with Julie Jones of Have Wheelchair Will Travel who loves to travel with her family, including her son who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby and uses a wheelchair. Her down-to-earth and positive approach helps many other families get around the various obstacles wheelchair travel introduces and see the world. You might also be surprised to learn what it was that actually got travel-loving Julie travelling again! Amanda then speaks with Ava Meena of My Meena Life, who is in her twenties and has three chronic illnesses: lupus, fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis. Despite the debilitating p

Amanda is constantly amazed how creative and inspired she feels while she's travelling - without even trying, the creativity just seems to well up in her and pour out. The best bit is, it turns out she's not alone. In Episode 52 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda starts by chatting with Brooke McAlary about her experience of creativity when she’s on the road. Amanda was expecting her to cite her beloved mountains as a source of inspiration but in fact, the main reason travel sparks her creativity is something quite the opposite. Amanda then chats with Australian novelist Sarah Ridout who has many wise words to say about the creativity that travel seems to encourage - whether that’s creativity to write or to draw or something else entirely. Finally, Natasha Lester speaks about how her creativity process fits with travel when she’s researching her historical fiction novels, and we chat about refilling your creative tank. Links: Giveaway of Sarah’s novel Le Chateau Brooke’s Slow Your Home website Brook

Everyone has experienced culture shock on their travels, but what about reverse culture shock? When Amanda returned back to Australia after six years living in Asia and Europe, reverse culture shock hit her badly, and she's definitely not alone: Episode 51 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast includes chats with three other travellers who’ve had the same experience. 
First up, Amanda chats with Cait Flanders, who suffered from some reverse culture shock after returning to her hometown in Canada after a two-month American road trip. Mike Campbell and his family spent a year housesitting their away around the United States before returning to Australia, and his reverse culture shock is proving life-changing. Amanda's final guest is Matt Treglia and his experience of reverse culture shock is scarily similar to hers. Issues like having nobody who wants to hear about his travels and finding it really hard to fit back into everyday life are common to many of us who’ve spent an extended time abroad. Links: Cait Fland

Sitting in sunny Perth, Western Australia, makes cold weather or illness seem far from Amanda's mind, but they still happen to us on our travels and we still get through it! In Episode 50 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda chats with three guests about experiences of adverse weather and health on their travels and it turns out that these generally make for some good stories. First up, Amanda chats with fellow Aussie Brooke McAlary about what they’ve learnt about experiencing really cold weather over the years. When you grow up in a warm country, you’ve got a lot to learn! Jeff Sandquist had a somewhat scary health issue in a plane on the way to Iceland, but they chat about how he made the most of that and about other travels in Scandinavia, too. Martin Bailey was visiting the very other end of the world when he began to have symptoms of what turned out to be a brain tumour on an Antarctic expedition, and they chat about how he dealt with this issue and his recommendations for other travellers. Links:

History can really come alive when you travel to the place where it happened. Episode 49 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is all about understanding history through travel, and Amanda talks with three history-lovers who have had great experiences learning about history while they travel. Zoë Dawes inherited a love of history from her father, and today when she travels she is always on the lookout for an opportunity to explore some interesting aspects of her destination’s history. Historical novelist Kate Forsyth has a clear need to travel to learn more about the history of the places she sets her books in, and describes her experiences in Venice as a great example. Finally, novelist Sarah Ridout also explains how her experiences living in historically significant places have shaped both her knowledge and how she writes her novels. Links: Zoë’s website The Quirky Traveller - http://www.thequirkytraveller.com Zoë on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/quirkytraveller Zoë on Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/

It’s been a whole year since The Thoughtful Travel Podcast launched and it has been an immensely fun and rewarding time! Episode 48 is the Grateful Anniversary Episode and Amanda starts off giving plenty of thank yous out to many people connected to this podcast, including Brooke and the fantastic Jackrabbit FM team, the dear old friends who agreed to be interviewed for the show before it even started, and above all, you amazing listeners who leave great reviews and chat with Amanda in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group and make all the work worthwhile. Amanda's guests today are all people she has only met because she started The Thoughtful Travel Podcast - and she's so grateful to have got to know all these new friends. First up, Hayden Lee of the Travel Stories Podcast has a great tale to tell about choosing a fork in the road in Vietnam. Amanda then chats with Matt Treglia from Words With Winos about how he made the mammoth decision to give up a conventional career path and travel long-term. Finally