The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Dale Neill, photographer, traveller, teacher and all-round nice guy, is my guest for this special Deep Dive episode. I've known Dale for a decade or so and many times been entranced by his fantastic stories (travel and otherwise!) and it was such a pleasure to chat with him at length for this episode. Dale's tales on this episode start in Borneo photographing orang-utans, then move to meeting local dogs on Naxos in Greece. He's led many tours so has a crazy tale to tell of dealing with tour participants with high expectations in Turkey, and we finish up with his expectations not being met in a hotel in Vietnam. Links: Dale’s website - http://www.daleneill.com.au/ Previous stories from Dale: Episode 178 Interesting Plane Passengers Sitting Next To You - https://notaballerina.com/178 Episode 136 Photography for Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/136 Episode 146 Travelling in Iran - https://notaballerina.com/146 Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfult

Broome in Western Australia is in my home state, but it’s over 2000km away, so earlier this year was the very first time I’d finally got that far. Of course, it was worth the wait in many ways. Episode 273 is about my Broome experience, which was mostly a work trip, but it’s also about being a thoughtful traveller, and how I went with applying some of the key principles of thoughtful travel to my days in Broome. This was a very special trip for me - my first flight since January 2020, when I returned from Kuala Lumpur amongst rumours of this strange virus circulating. Getting quite far away from Perth was a wonderful reset and refresh and I hope you enjoy hearing about it. Links: Salty Plum Social for bar and art tours - https://www.saltyplumsocial.com.au Documentary I watched in Broome - Djkamirr - https://www.birthingoncountry.com/djakamirr  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://

Whether you're hitchhiking, making new friends or buying a train ticket in India, all of these things take confidence. We talk often on The Thoughtful Travel Podcast about the myriad ways travel helps you grow, and one of the biggest benefits I've had from travelling is that it's given me immense confidence - a trait that's carried through into my personal and professional life far beyond my travels. In Episode 272, my three guests tell me about incidents from their travels which have given them lasting confidence. I start with Sophia Bentaher who has a great philosophical approach to what she's learnt from travel and thinks that travelling gives a compounding benefit as you see the results of your actions and become increasingly confident in all that you do. I then chat with Nathan Thomas who describes the daily achievements in travel like buying a ticket at an Indian train station where even the scam artists are dressed in an official-looking uniform. Each of these kinds of achievements add to your confid

Can you believe this - because I almost can't - that The Thoughtful Travel Podcast turned six years old recently?! Unfortunately, my household were all suffering with Covid on its actual birthday, but I've now recovered enough to put together this episode to celebrate. In particular, I'm excited to share some wonderful voice messages from friends and listeners of the podcast - collating these gave me such a thrill! In this episode I also outline a few of the last year's successes, and talk about some plans I have for the next year of the podcast. Thanks so much to everyone who listens, shares, participates in our groups and in all other ways supports The Thoughtful Travel Podcast - I am so very grateful for you all. Links: Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/271 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don’t think we’re at the post-pandemic stage yet, but we definitely seem to be at the stage where people are travelling a lot more - even the Australian border is open now, and Western Australia’s will be soon too. So it seems like an appropriate time to revisit the great hopes of 2020 - when we all said that after the pandemic we’ll be much more thoughtful travellers, basically. In this episode, I talk about some academic research and a prediction of the different ways people will approach travel after the pandemic - they’ve based it on ‘terror management theory’ which is intriguing in itself. After discussion both the short and long term predictions of how people may change their thoughts about travel, I dig into the anecdotal evidence I’ve been able to collect in recent weeks. Basically, I think there is good news and bad news. And I really hope the good news wins out in the end! Links: “Proximal and distal post-COVID travel behavior’ in the Annals of Tourism Research, Volume 88, by L Miao, J Im, X Fu

Working in the tourism industry sounds like a dream, right? (Well, maybe not during a pandemic ...) But there's certainly something to be said for working in an industry where the focus is on something happy and joyful, and the three guests in this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast all have had some wonderful experiences working in tourism and travel.  I start off by chatting with Lucky Legong who migrated from South Africa to Australia to continue working in the hospitality industry. She started off spending several years on gorgeous (but remote!) Kangaroo Island and then moved to Lord Howe Island - there are definitely some perks to this work, especially the beautiful surroundings. Shelley Winkel spoke to me about her career in publicity in the tourism industry, with a wide-ranging list of appointments across the globe, though for some years now her big love has been promoting Queensland - which is how we originally met. To finish up I talk to travel writer Bev Malzard about one of the most envy-i

Warnings of danger on our travels seem to be over-represented in the discussions people have before rips. Perhaps it’s the (understandable) fear of the unknown, combined with our tendency to spread more bad stories than good ones. For Episode 268, I’ve brought together a bunch of guests who’ve had a range of experiences that are dangerous or could-have-been dangerous, with one overarching message: they are all okay! That’s not to say we shouldn’t be aware and somewhat risk-averse when we travel, of course. My first guest is Jess Stone who had an experience in Mexico which to start with, was quite frightening. I then chat with Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen about two experiences they’ve had with fire while travelling (the second of which made me properly scared!). Finally, Helena Fox tells me about an experience she had as a young backpacker in France, where she ended up being lucky in a situation I know can turn out quite differently. Links: Jess Stone of Go Ruffly, ethical outdoor dog gear - https://ww

Are you a fan of group trips? Or are you, like me, more generally a keenly independent traveller who needs a very good reason to decide to take a group tour of  any kind?  When it comes to group travel, I've learned over the years that there really is a group trip to suit everyone, even people like me who are highly reluctant group travellers - and often what turns us is the idea of some highly specialised group travel. In this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I speak with three people who've had experiences in specialised group travel and they make a great case for why we all should try it sometimes. First up, I chat with Evan Petrelis from Renaissance Tours, who specialise in tours connected to special interests like ballet, archaeology and gardens. He runs through some of the advantages and disadvantages of group travel and highlights how travelling with likeminded people with the same passion can be particularly rewarding. Next, I speak to Debbie Clarke, who has run tours for the LGBTQ communi

How does travel differ for the LGBTQIA community? It's a question I've long pondered and in this episode I get to chat to four excellent guests to hear about their thoughts and experiences on the matter. First up, Debbie Clarke explains why she started a tour company focused on LGBT travellers, and why such a thing is necessary even in a country as progressive as New Zealand. I then chat with Brent Harbinger and Michael Jensen, a gay couple who are digital nomads exploring the world and not boycotting a country even if there are homophobic laws or customs - and we have a great discussion about why. Finally, I talk with my good mate, the Barefoot Backpacker, about their experiences as an asexual traveller and also - common thread throughout this episode - about why they think you shouldn't avoid a destination just because it has repressive policies. Links: Debbie Clarke from the Good Awaits podcast - https://goodawaits.podbean.com/  Michael Jensen and Brent Hartinger from Brent and Michael are Going Places

Happy new year! It’s 2022 and who really has any idea this year has in store for us - I’m sure we’ve now learned our lesson about having expectations. I want to start the year, in fact, by having a look back over 2021 for me: a year without travel. It’s a very weird thing for a travel podcaster to not take a plane or leave the state - or barely even leave home - for a whole year, and I hope it never happens again! This episode includes an update on pandemic life in Western Australia, too, one of the last places around the world to be living a relatively Covid-free life though - it seems - not for much longer. I also let you in on some of my plans for The Thoughtful Travel Podcast in 2022. It might just be the best year yet! Links: RISE Travel Institute’s Flagship Program - https://www.risetravelinstitute.org/rise-flagship-program Travelling (Thoughtfully) for Work - Episode 263 - notaballerina.com/263 Covid Thoughts from Western Australia June 2020 - Episode 190 - notaballerina.com/190 Covid Thoughts from

You mightn't think there's a place for tales of celebrity encounters on a podcast about thoughtful travel but I'm sure you'll listen to this episode and realise there absolutely is. It turns out that many thoughtful travellers are kind of oblivious to who's famous and can hang out with a celebrity without even knowing! That's certainly the case for my first two guests. I start by chatting with Jennifer Johnston about the time she spent the day with Johnny Cash ... and didn't realise who he was. To be fair, it was many years ago and she now wishes she had paid more attention! Similarly, Vicky Sahami spent a half hour in the company of Jack Nicholson while they were both holidaying in Antiga, and didn't realise who he was until the next day. Finally, I hear from Bev Malzard about a different kind of celebrity sighting which involves a king and a gun, and an invitation ... Links: Jennifer Johnston’s blog Travel Bug Within - https://travelbugwithin.com.au  Vicky Sahami's solar eclipse tour business, Sirius Tr

Travelling for work can be very different to other kinds of travel, but when I had the chance to travel to south-west Western Australia to run workshops recently, I decided to document my trip and decide whether or not I was being a thoughtful traveller. This episode includes audio-diaries of my three days in Yallingup - two of which were recorded under a blanket in a hotel room, trying to soundproof my recording! I also chatted with members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group about their experiences of trying to be thoughtful travellers while travelling for their job. Links: Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/263 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for a deep dive and I absolutely loved getting to know the two women behind the GOOD Awaits podcast - New Zealanders Josie Major and Debbie Clarke. Their podcast arose from an almost chance meeting and focuses on regenerative tourism, something that aligns very closely with thoughtful travel. During the chat, I asked Debbie and Josie about how their love of travel began and what sustains it to this day. We also talked about their current work and especially focused on how they think travel and tourism need to change to face some of the dilemmas of the twenty-first century. It's definitely not all doom and gloom and I finished our conversation feeling really hopeful. Links: GOOD Awaits - https://goodawaits.podbean.com/  Josie Major of Good Travel - https://www.good-travel.org/  Debbie Clarke of New Zealand Awaits - https://www.newzealandawaits.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travell

Hearing languages I can't understand is one of my favourite parts of travelling - it's one of the surest ways to feel I am away from home, exploring a foreign-to-me place. I've also been lucky enough - from an English-speaker perspective, especially - to have studied quite a few different languages over the years. I still wish, of course, I'd been born somewhere in Europe where I would have grown up learning multiple languages more easily from a young age, but I can only dream about that! In Episode 261 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three guests about their various experiences with languages and accents. First, I speak with Helena Fox about the languages of her childhood and how they contributed to her accent. I then chat to Carolanna Lisonbee who chose to study Mandarin and Japanese for a really fabulous reason. Lastly, I turn to Lindsay Williams for some tips on languages for travellers - she has much to say about being practical with your approach to language learning before and during a t

History, current events and politics are intrinsically interesting, but when you have the chance to travel to the places where important world events have taken place - or be somewhere at the moment something historic actually occurs - then that's even more impactful. In this special episode, I trace my personal history with the city of Berlin, and how my travel experiences there have brought history to life for me (as well as influencing, well, basically my whole life!). I start off way back in the 1960s when - no, I wasn't alive - the Berlin Wall was built, and then move forward to 1990 when I had the immense luck of being in Berlin for the night of reunification, as a fourteen-year-old. Coming all the way from Australia meant that experiencing such a historic moment firsthand impacted me in many ways. I returned to Berlin several times after 1990, and most recently took my some in 2015, and it's pretty amazing to track our experiences. Links: News audio extracts from https://archive.org/details/1962-08-

Focusing away from the big tourist attractions and being more open to just seeing what comes your way when you travel is one way we can be “less tourist, more traveller”, and this episode includes several stories which are wonderful examples of what happens when you do just that. First up, I chat with Kate Peterson about an experience she had in Greece. While it starts off being a tale of everything going wrong, Kate explains that she learnt a lot from his and ends up having a very special experience in a cafe. I then talk to Paula Morgan about a time when an elderly man in Penang taught her about the value of just saying yes to opportunities that present themselves unexpectedly, even if you feel a bit suspicious of them. Finally, travel writer Tim Richards discusses the idea that it’s the things that you don’t ordinarily expect will make it into published travel stories that are often the experiences which make the best stories. Links: Kate Peterson’s Art - https://www.katepeterson.art/ Kate’s travel jou

Getting to meet all kinds of people is one of the best parts of travelling and this episode is full of stories of connecting with people in all kinds of different ways. First up, Kate Peterson tells an amazing story about both her parents' connections with a Greek man back in the 1970s, and her follow-up explorations when she lived in Greece decades later. I then chat with Tobi Barth, who takes people on tours to see the northern lights in the Yukon, about a special connection he's made from this work. Finally, Lindsay Williams explains a lovely connection made quite randomly in Cuba on a muddy walk that turned into something very special. Links: Kate Peterson’s Art - https://www.katepeterson.art/ Kate’s travel journal Around the World and Back Again - https://amzn.to/3FTAHZH  Tobi Barth of Epic North - https://epic-north.com/  Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages - https://www.lindsaydoeslanguages.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultrav

In this special collaborative episode, I chat with Jeremy Bassetti of the Travel Writing World Podcast. We talk about our most memorable and influential travel reads, what's important about travel literature and why we enjoy it. (So many reasons!) We also compare our podcast experiences, including talking about writers we've enjoyed talking to (spoiler: we only say nice things!). And of course, readers like us are very often also writers, so we chat about the future of the travel genre and our own experiences of writing books, and some of our hopes for the future of the industry. Links: Travel Writing World - https://www.travelwritingworld.com/  Info about the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club - https://www.notaballerina.com/bookclub Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers  Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell - https://amzn.to/3a0oBwD Around the Worl

Travel is fun, but even more, it teaches us so much. From life skills to personal development and even changing our fundamental personality, travel has the potential to do it all. I start off this episode briefly mentioning some of the research that has backed this up, but the most important thing is hearing the stories from my three wonderful guests. First up, I chat with Jennifer Johnston who has one particularly important lesson from travel: learning how similar we all are, no matter what our culture or homelife or language. Next, I talk to Carolanna Lisonbee who spent a year teaching English in China, and this particular experience changed her significantly. Finally, I speak with artist Kate Peterson who points out something I hadn't concretely considered before now - that the contrast of learning about other cultures when you travel helps you understand your own background and culture much more deeply. Links: Jennifer Johnston - https://travelbugwithin.com.au/ Carolanna Lisonbee’s poetry book - Wisp of

In the fourth of my Deep Dive Into Thoughtful Travel interview episodes, I chat with Dr Vincie Ho, founder and executive director of the RISE Travel Institute. We met while I was studying for a Certificate in Sustainability and Anti-Oppression in Travel through RISE and I couldn't wait to chat with her about her travel history. Vincie and I discuss where her love of travel came from, some of her experiences in studying abroad and volunteering, and what her hopes are for RISE Travel Institute and the future of thoughtful travel. It's a great chat which I can safely say we both thoroughly enjoyed, and hope you do too. Links: RISE Travel Institute - https://www.risetravelinstitute.org  My capstone project from my recent RISE course - my topic was ethical wildlife tourism - Episode 252 - https://notaballerina.com/252  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers  Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin