The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

It's wildflower season! The Western Australian border might be closed thanks to Covid-19, but the positive side of this is as a Perth resident I'm able to travel throughout our vast state - including some of the lesser-visited parts. In mid-August, I spent three days in Australia's Golden Outback chasing wildflowers with my friend Di, and we kept an audio diary of our time away. In this special episode, you'll hear what Di thinks about my navigational abilities, you'll learn about just some of the amazing wildflowers we got to see near Mingenew, Morawa, Canna and Coalseam Conservation Park, and you may even giggle along with our evening campfire chats. Links: Dianne Bortoletto’s website Travelletto - https://travelletto.com  Australia’s Golden Outback - https://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/page/outback-wildflowers  Mellenbye Station - https://www.mellenbye.com.au  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballeri

This is the second part of my celebration of 200 episodes - today, the wonderful listeners you met in Episode 200 share some of their very favourite travel stories. And they're amazing! Lily takes us first to Indonesia, back when she was just sixteen - and she learnt a lot! Next, Jane tells us of an amazing part of Italy that had captured her imagination and then proved even better than she imagined. Ena describes a particularly special experience she and her children had in an Indian temple. We then move to South America, and Anuj explains an incredible morning in Tikal, Guatemala. Genevieve, one of my most adventurous listeners, chats with me about her epic ski trip across ten very remote communities in Canada. Richie rounds off the tales with his rather long bus trip in China, which nonetheless turned out to be thoroughly worthwhile (as most travel is!). A huge thank you to Lily, Anuj, Ena, Jane, Richie and Genevieve who all gave their time and stories so freely - it was such a pleasure to chat with eac

It's a big milestone today: this is the 200th episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast! And since this podcast would literally be nothing at all without all my wonderful listeners, I've decided to devote both this week and next week to you all by interviewing some brave listeners who volunteered to record chats with me - from all corners of the globe - Melbourne to Norway, British Colombia to England, and more. A huge thank you to Lily, Anuj, Ena, Jane, Richie and Genevieve who all gave their time and stories so freely - it was such a pleasure to chat with each of you. In this week's episode, my listener guests introduce themselves and also talk about some of their favourite stories and episodes from The Thoughtful Travel Podcast.  Links Support the podcast on Patreon: http://notaballerina.com/support   Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/200 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seeing animals when we travel is high on many people's must-do lists - but are we doing it responsibly? Responsible animal tourism is one of those areas I'm constantly learning more about: for example, I still remember the moment, perhaps six or seven years ago, when I first learnt about why we shouldn't ride elephants (and if you're not sure, listen on!). Animal tourism is definitely an area where as we learn more about it, we can do better, so I'm hoping this episode is as enlightening for you as it was for me to make it. First up, I chat with Julia Salnicki, a zoologist who has spent many years living in Zimbabwe and Botswana doing research on painted dogs, spotted hyaenas and elephants. We talk about lion cubs, elephants and gorillas - some good and some bad stories! Next, I talk to Ben Pearson of World Animal Protection, first asking him about a pet hate of mine - quokka selfies - and then asking him for some more guidelines on how we can be responsible travellers in relation to animals. Finally, I sp

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 Indi

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:

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  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.co

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 - O

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  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Cat

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

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 ro

As I've learnt by listening over the years to one of our guests, one in five travellers have a disability. That's a high percentage and I guess that means there's a good number of my listeners who travel with a disability, or have a family member or friend in their travelling group with a disability. This is important stuff! In Episode 191 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three people on this subject. First up, I have a great chat with Seana Smith who describes the development of her son and his travels over the years. He was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three, but is now an adult, and Seana tells me how his experience with travel has changed. Let's just say there's a heavy metal festival involved! Next I speak with Suzanne Kamata, who has travelled many times with her now adult daughter, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy and a love of France (and travelling in general). Finally, I wanted to get Julie Jones back on to speak about a magazine she's started since we l

Episode 190 - time for a special episode! As Western Australian life starts to become somewhat normal again after a period of Covid-19 isolation, I decided it was time to record some thoughts about what life has been like here in Perth during the global pandemic. I talk about how extraordinarily lucky we have been here, and how for once, I've actually appreciated how isolated Perth, Western Australia is. I also talk about how important it has been for me to be in touch with friends interstate and across the world - mostly friends I've made through travelling - because hearing people's personal stories about their experiences is so much more impactful than only watching the news headlines. It's also been a period where I've been in much closer touch with friends outside of Western Australia and I've really loved that aspect of it. Finally, I talk about the future of travel in a post-pandemic world - not that I have any crystal ball to know what's going to happen, but I do have some hopes for what we might be

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the March/April 2020 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, On the Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux. 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  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meeting local people when you travel is one of the surest ways I know to be a more thoughtful traveller - and to have a lot of fun, too! In Episode 189 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I talk to three travellers who discovered fascinating ways to interact with locals on their travels - and of course, they all found it really rewarding. First up, I chat with Tracey Croke who told me that the surest way to get to meet some interesting locals is to join a revolution! There are caveats of course - but it's true that this is what Tracey did on a trip to Macedonia. Next I talk to JoAnna Haugen who found a particularly unique way to get to see what the locals were doing, by volunteering as an international election observer in Ukraine. My last guest is Jen Williams who got to know some locals when she was visiting Bagan in Myanmar, and they led her to quite an intriguing encounter with a local shaman. Links: Tracey Croke, travel journalist - https://traceycroke.com JoAnna Haugen, founder of Rooted - https://www.

Nobody wants to get sick on a trip, but especially if you're a frequent or long-term traveller, it's nearly inevitable. Like many mishaps when we travel, much of the time the story of how you dealt with being ill in a foreign country turns into an anecdote you regularly retell - and that's the case for the three guests on Episode 188 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. First up, I chat with Christine Williams who has spent many years on the road - which means at some stage, illness is likely to catch up with you, and for Christine it was a case of dengue fever. Next, Liz Green talks about just why she ended up touring the many vaccination clinics of South-East Asia after a small incident in Laos. Finally, Chris Haag tells me about the time he ended up rather sick in Mexico - don't be eating while you listen! Links: Support the podcast via Patreon - https://www.notaballerina.com/support Christine's website Don’t Forget to Move - https://www.dontforgettomove.com/  Christine's podcast Not So Bon Voyage - https

There are lots of interesting stories in travel but if your travels are connected to some personal connections to history, that sure makes it even more interesting! In Episode 187 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I'm lucky to chat with two travellers who some really interesting connections to history. First up, I talk to Flip Byrnes who - unbeknownst to her until she was an adult - is the great-granddaughter of photographer and adventurer Frank Hurley. Since she learnt of the connection she's let this ancestry influence a lot of her travel choices and has some fascinating tales to tell as a result. I then speak with Tom Mattson, who has a particular interest in Cuba and regularly visits. On one trip he had the good fortune to meet Juan who, as a child, was an eyewitness to historical events involving Fidel Castro and more. Links: Travel journalist Flip Byrnes - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theadventuremamma/ Author Tom Mattson - https://tomsglobe.com/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travell

Things go wrong fairly frequently when I travel - and I'm sure I'm not alone. Mostly these mishaps are minor and they make an otherwise ordinary day much more memorable. In Episode 186 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three guests who've had some kind of mishaps or things go wrong on their trips - but all with happy endings! First up, I chat with Catherine Marshall who, despite always arriving as early as possible at an airport, very nearly missed a flight. You can decide who was at fault! I then speak with Kiki Wong who participated in a particularly interesting media trip to the Grand Canyon - the kind that had a lot of low points and also some high points, thankfully! Finally, I find out the whole story about Rick Antonson's trip to Timbuktu for a haircut. It might not quite have been the haircut he'd usually have ... but it was still a very worthwhile experience. Links: Catherine Marshall - http://catherinemarshall.com.au coming soon! More from Catherine and friends at Time to Wander - htt