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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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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

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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 last chatted on the podcast several years ago, called Travel Without Limits. It's Australia's first disability-specific travel magazine and it's awesome!

Links:

• Episode 53 - Travel with disability and chronic illness - https://notaballerina.com/53
• Support the podcast via Patreon - https://www.notaballerina.com/support
• Suchita’s adventures in Bali - https://littlebodyhugelife.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/adventures-at-the-klung-kung-markets/
• Jen's post about travelling to Cambodia - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/10/travelling-to-cambodia-autism-spectrum.html 
• Seana Smith - Hello Sydney Kids - https://www.hellosydneykids.com.au/
• Suzanne Kamata - http://www.suzannekamata.com/
• Suzanne’s book, Squeaky Wheels - https://amzn.to/2qPbCNQ
• Julie’s blog Have Wheelchair Will Travel - http://havewheelchairwilltravel.net
• Travel Without Limits magazine - https://www.travelwithoutlimits.com.au 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/191

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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 thinking about travelling.

A Perth friend, Carolyn Beasley, was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic when her Antarctic expedition ship was prevented from landing in Chile as planned back in March 2020. I talked to Carolyn about her experiences and this seemed the perfect time to share that story.

Links:

• The importance of making travel friends - notaballerina.com/covidfriends
• Episode 184 on Antarctic Travels - notaballerina.com/184
• Carolyn Beasley - https://www.carolynbeasley.com 
• Support The Thoughtful Travel Podcast on Patreon - notaballerina.com/support
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/190

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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 

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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.joannahaugen.com/rooted/ 
• Jen Williams - Launch Your Travels - https://www.launchyourtravels.com/ 
• Support via Patreon - https://www.notaballerina.com/support
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/189

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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://notsobonvoyage.com  
• Liz’s site Whiz Bang Writing - https://www.whizbangwriting.com/ 
• Chris Haag's site The Places I Pee - https://www.theplacesipee.com
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/188

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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 Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/187

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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 - http://www.timetowander.com.au/ 
• Kiki Wong - Nylon Pink - https://www.nylonpink.tv 
• Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com
• Rick’s book To Timbuktu for a Haircut - https://amzn.to/3834ltj
• Episode 73 - When Things Go Wrong - https://www.notaballerina.com/73
• Episode 158 - When Travel Days Go Wrong - https://www.notaballerina.com/158
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/186

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In Episode 185 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three travellers who are big fans of the slow travel concept. My first guest is Christine Williams who confesses she just might be one of the slowest travellers ever, and has been on the road for nearly a decade. She explains what slow travel looks like for her and her partner and why they sometimes stop somewhere for months at a time.

Next, I talk to Caro Ryan who is a huge fan of the slowest travel pace of all, walking. She describes how hiking and walking around the world has so many benefits to the traveller.

Finally, I speak with Talon Windwalker about how travelling with a child was the impetus he needed to really figure out the art of slow travel - something which has a lot of parallels to my own experience.

Links:

• Christine's website Don’t Forget to Move - https://www.dontforgettomove.com/ 
• Christine's podcast Not So Bon Voyage - https://notsobonvoyage.com  
• Caro Ryan's website Lotsa Fresh Air - https://lotsafreshair.com 
• Talon’s website One Dad One Kid - http://1dad1kid.com/
• Episode 25: How Slow is Slow Travel - https://notaballerina.com/25
• Episode 44: Embracing Slow Travel - https://notaballerina.com/44
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/185

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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 

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First up, I chat with Suzanne Moore, who travelled to Antarctica with her husband to celebrate their fortieth birthdays. As an ex-veterinarian, Suzy particularly loved the wildlife, but she's also a keen photographer, so the landscapes enticed her equally.

Next I talk to Paul Pichugin, a photographer who went to Antarctica on a photographic assignment and got to experience the works: kayaking, snorkelling, even camping out on the Antarctic continent.

Finally, I speak to Carolyn Beasley who has only very recently returned from Antarctica - recently enough, unfortunately, that her ship was stuck off the South American coast for some time as they returned to a Covid-19 immigration nightmare. We'll speak about that in a future episode but for today, Carolyn reminisces about some of the highlights of her incredible Antarctic experience.

Links:

• Suzanne Moore https://www.suzannemoorewriter.com/   
• Suzanne’s book The Place Between - https://amzn.to/31KM6aD 
• Paul Pichugin - landscape and travel photographer - https://paulpichugin.com
• Carolyn Bealsey - https://www.carolynbeasley.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/184

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Spoiler alert, though: nobody knows the answer.

First up, I chat with Louise Southerden, in a conversation recorded before Covid-19 decimated travel completely - but her message is still the same. We talk about the benefits of travel personally and about Lou's responsibility as a travel writer, encouraging others to travel, to do so in a sustainable way.

I then talk to Catherine Marshall and we cover topics like flight shame, whether travel is a selfish pursuit, what drives people to need to travel and what benefits travel can bring the world. We also touch on how the Covid-19 pandemic might influence all this - hopefully for the better.

Links:

• Louise Southerden - No Impact Girl - http://www.noimpactgirl.com
• Catherine Marshall - http://catherinemarshall.com.au coming soon!
• More from Catherine and friends at Time to Wander - http://www.timetowander.com.au/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/183

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First up, I chat with Kiki Wong. She started out on an academic path to becoming a doctor but stepped off this track when - you won't be surprised to know - an amazing offer to travel appeared. 

Next, I speak with Nicci O'Mara who learnt a lot about parenting (and about her children) during a family trip to Italy. On Nicci's birthday, events unfolded which turned out to be a big turning point in personal development for all of them!

Finally, I talk with Nate Taiaroa who has spent year living and travelling in Africa, learning so much from these experiences that he went into business to help others get to have these life-changing personal development experiences too.

Links:

• Kiki Wong - Nylon Pink - https://www.nylonpink.tv 
• Nicci O’Mara from Trip Chiefs - https://tripchiefs.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/182

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First up, I speak to Suzanne Moore, a local Perth writer who spent a week last year walking the Cape to Cape track in the south-west of my home state of Western Australia. Suzy had some of the same reservations about travelling with a group that I've had in the past, but they definitely proved to be unfounded.

My next guest is Louise Southerden and we chat about the benefits of specifically-themed small group tours. This is definitely a case where travelling with a group can actually exceed the experience of independent travel (something I never would have dreamt of conceding a few years back!).

Finally, Andrew Tyree and I chat about what can go wrong with group travel - and he should know, as he leads small group trips across Central and South America. Luckily we also talk about lots of things that go right!

Links:

• Suzanne Moore https://www.suzannemoorewriter.com/   
• Suzanne’s book The Place Between - https://amzn.to/31KM6aD 
• Louise Southerden - No Impact Girl - http://www.noimpactgirl.com
• Andrew Tyree - Coast to Costa - https://www.coasttocosta.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/181

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I debated long and hard about how to celebrate and then realised that, stuck as I am at home, it was finally time to take a deep dive into my huge stack of travel journals documenting past trips.

I hoped to find some gems and lessons to share with you all - and I think I did, or perhaps I just spent a completely self-indulgent day in my own memories - I'll let you be the judge!

There'll be photos and more at the show notes. Enjoy!

Links:

• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/180

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So, what to do? I'll put on an episode later in the year about the specific parts of Australia you can travel to in order to help out with bushfire recovery but for now, I've interviewed two Australian women who have told me all about the efforts to restore tourism so far, and talked about the far-reaching effects - and possibly some benefits - arising out of the post-bushfire chaos.

First up, I chat with Louise Southerden, firstly about some of the great tourism initiatives helping out and then about the bigger picture and the opportunity to do good. Lou also touches on the Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency movement, which we will talk about more in a later episode, too.

Next I talk with Caro Ryan who lives in the heart of one of the areas seriously affected by the bushfires, the beautiful Blue Mountains in New South Wales. We also chat about the great innovations in tourism since the fires and also the bigger picture and hopes for the future.

Links:

• Louise Southerden - No Impact Girl - http://www.noimpactgirl.com
• "Open for business, not business as usual" - Louise's blog post about post-bushfire tourism - http://www.noimpactgirl.com/2020/02/after-bushfires-open-for-business-not.html 
• Caro Ryan - Lotsa Fresh Air - https://lotsafreshair.com 
• Call to Revive Australian Tourism by Catherine Marshall - https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/call-to-revive-australian-tourism
• Holiday Here This Year - https://www.australia.com/en/travel-inspiration/holiday-here-this-year.html holidayherethisyear.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/179

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First up, Paul Pichugin tells the hilarious tale of ... well, a woman passenger next to him, and I don't want to give the story away - you'll have to listen to it! Excuse my raucous laughter.

Next, I chat with Laura Waters who broke the golden rule of avoiding conversation on a long haul flight - in case you get stuck talking with someone you don't want to talk to for the next ten hours - and it turned into something quite delightful.

Finally, I talk to Dale Neill about a particularly intriguing passenger he sat next to on a flight across Australia some years back. Let's just say there was a lot of chocolate milk involved! 

Links:

• Paul Pichugin - landscape and travel photographer - https://paulpichugin.com
• Laura Waters' website - https://soultrekkers.com.au/ 
• Laura’s book Bewildered - https://amzn.to/2S20zu2
• Dale Neill - http://www.daleneill.com.au 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/178

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First up, I chat with Rick Antonson. He has a delightfully unique reason for choosing to visit Timbuktu in Mali, and I loved hearing about what he found there.

I then talk to Brighde Reed about the amazing destination of Rwanda - which is probably at the top of my want-to-visit African nations, and even more so after speaking with Brighde.

Finally, Chris Daniels has had some great African experiences - largely part of his PhD in African Studies, so he knows his stuff - and we chat about visiting Somalia and Ethiopia in particular.

Links:

• Episode 80 Travel in Africa - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/01/travel-africa-episode-80-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
• Episode 96 Remote Travel in Africa - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/05/remote-travel-africa-episode-96-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html 
• Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com
• Rick’s book "To Timbuktu for a Haircut" - https://amzn.to/3834ltj
• Chris Daniels - Motherland Connect - https://www.motherlandconnect.org
• Brighde Reed - World Vegan Travel - https://www.worldvegantravel.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/177

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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 

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All of them are grateful for the travel and work they've been able to do, but there are definitely pros and cons to these kinds of careers. First up, I talk to Anna Chittenden who is a guidebook writer, travelling extensively throughout Asia. I'm a little envious of her in-depth experience of Japan, but it is definitely not a glamorous lifestyle.

Next, I chat with Christine Retschlag, a travel journalist who darts around the globe with barely a break. We discuss that while much of this is a lot of fun there are some significantly difficult parts too.

Finally, I speak with Kiki Wong who spent some years touring the world with her band Nylon Pink. We chat about two very different experiences of tours, and although Kiki says it's always worth it, there are definitely some tough moments.

Links:

• Anna Chittenden of The Lost Guides - http://thelostguides.com/
• Anna’s new Lost Guides book - Tokyo & Beyond  https://amzn.to/2T7Q8WG 
• Christine Retschlag - https://www.theglobalgoddess.com 
• Kiki Wong - Nylon Pink - https://www.nylonpink.tv 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/176

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I start off speaking with Laura Waters, who spent five months tramping from the top of New Zealand to the bottom. As you can imagine this is no easy feat at all (but there is a bonus to it all involving chocolate!).

Next, Suzanne Moore describes a much shorter hike in Japan, and an experience that made us both laugh. Suzy will be back in a future episode describing a longer hike she did in south-west Australia - but this climb at Mt Yote is such a fun story!

Finally, I chat to Rick Antonson who agreed - without even knowing where it was or anything about it - to walk the Kokoda Track with his neighbour. This was also not a simple trip but like nearly any trip that requires a lot of effort, it was incredibly rewarding.

Links:

• Hiking When You Travel, Episode 124 - notaballerina.com/124 
• Laura Waters’ website - https://soultrekkers.com.au/ 
• Laura’s book Bewildered - https://amzn.to/2S20zu2 
• Suzanne Moore https://www.suzannemoorewriter.com/   
• Suzanne’s book The Place Between - https://amzn.to/31KM6aD 
• Rick Antonson - www.rickantonson.com
• Rick’ book Walking With Ghosts in Papua New Guinea - https://amzn.to/37n1fzS 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/175

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I start off by chatting with Nicci O'Mara about a sad but important life-changing moment that happened to her in Africa a couple of decades ago. We talk about how important it is to grab life by the horns and not put off things we really want to do.

Next, I talk with Eugene Devereux about his recent experiences exploring south-east Asia, an area very different to his homeland of Ireland. He explains that he learnt a lot of life lessons by experiencing such different cultures and coming to understand their history, too.

Finally I chat with Kate Manser about a lesson she learnt about hospitality while she was travelling in remote Indonesia. We also circle back to something similar to Nicci's lesson and discuss why you should jump at any travel opportunity that is presented to you!

Links:

• Nicci O’Mara from Trip Chiefs - https://tripchiefs.com/ 
• Eugene Devereux - https://www.irishbootstrapper.com 
• Kate Manser’s site You Might Die Tomorrow - https://www.youmightdietomorrow.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/174

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Episode 173 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast includes two very special conversations with women who divulge some of their very personal experiences with anxiety and its connection with travel.

Firstly, I speak with Megan Blandford (who literally wrote the book on anxiety!) about some of her experiences with anxiety during her travels. Megan gives some really specific examples of how anxiety gripped her on trips to Japan and earlier on a dolphin swim trip and I personally find this one of the best ways to understand more about what anxiety can look like on our travels.

I then get the chance to chat with Laura Waters who has just published a book that also features a lot of her anxiety: Laura spend five months hiking from one end of New Zealand to the other and what happened to her anxiety during this trip is fascinating.

Links:

• Megan Blandford https://meganblandford.net/  
• Her book I’m Fine (And Other Lies) about postnatal depression and motherhood https://amzn.to/2tY7zAc 
• Laura Waters https://soultrekkers.com.au/ 
• Laura’s book Bewildered https://amzn.to/2S20zu2 
• How to Deal with Travel Anxiety - Episode 93 - https://notaballerina.com/93 
• Getting Past Travel Anxiety - Episode 71 - https://notaballerina.com/71 
• My blog post from a few years back about my experiences with anxiety and travel - https://www.notaballerina.com/2015/02/travel-for-the-anxious-anxiety-prone.html 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/173

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First up I talk with Veronica from Happily Made about her experiences in Cambodia and beyond, trying to figure out ways to help women in poverty or who need some way to support their children going to school. Veronica's Happily Made business is a great example of a sustainable way to help - she sells toys and other knitted products made by women who work out of their homes in Cambodia.

Next, I chat with Marilyn from the Wow Travel Club who's also had lots of different experiences in helping others when she travels, and she tells the story of how a Dining for Women project she was involved with took her to Vietnam and some really impactful experiences.

 Finally, I get to talk with Rafferty, basically my favourite travel-expert 11-year-old, who described an experience he had recently in South Africa.

Links:

• Veronica’s Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happilymade/happily-made-gifts-that-give-back by 1st March 2020
• Happily Made - https://happilymade.com.au 
• Marilyn Murphy from the Wow Travel Club https://www.wowtravelclub.com/ 
• Dining for Women - https://diningforwomen.org/ - US only
• Raff is the boy of his mum Aleney’s blog Boy Eats World - https://boyeatsworld.com.au 
• KASI RC - Shack Art School & Theatre, Cape Town - https://www.facebook.com/KhayelitshaArtSchool/ 
• Tin Mugs Africa Trust - https://www.tinmugs.org 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/172

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First up, I talk with Queen D Michele who retired from her job as a school teacher in the United States and moved to Mexico. I asked her what her family and friends thought about her big move which opened up one of the most amazing stories of all!

Next, I chat to Suzanne Kamata who is an American married to a Japanese man and living in a fairly rural part of Japan. It's interesting for me to hear how she feels there after several decades.

Finally, Luana Marchi explains about the decision she and her husband made to leave their home country of Brazil and migrate to Australia - though at the start, they weren't so sure of their lifelong plans.

Links:

• Episode 162 on Choosing Where to Live Abroad - https://notaballerina.com/162 
• Queen D Michele’s book Considerations: A Guide For Moving Abroad - https://amzn.to/2WWjHf0 
• Suzanne Kamata - http://www.suzannekamata.com/
• Suzanne’s book, Squeaky Wheels - https://amzn.to/2qPbCNQ
• Luana Marchi - health and wellness coach - https://luanamarchi.com.au/
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/171

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In Episode 170 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I talk about many of the ways in which how we travel, why we travel, what we do when we travel, and more, has changed since 2010. A shout out to my lovely friend Kristy Morton, first, for giving me the idea for this episode - fitting, since she was the very first guest I ever interviewed! In this episode, you'll hear a fabulous variety of ideas and opinions from my fellow travel media from the Australian Society of Travel Writers and, just because I realised I needed diversity (it was an all-female show until then!) a snippet from my friend Ian, aka The Barefoot Backpacker, from the UK.

The topics traverse a wide range: of course, the incredible developments in smartphone technology rate highly, but there is also discussion of how the #metoo movement has changed travel, how industry disruptors like Airbnb have altered how many of us travel, and, most excitingly for me, how many travellers are maturing in what they want: the rise of niche travel and, I hope, the rise of thoughtful travel!

Links:

• Ian - the Barefoot Backpacker - https://barefoot-backpacker.com 
• Kate Hennessy - https://www.instagram.com/the_smallest_room/ 
• Kate’s piece in the Financial Review - https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/how-metoo-has-changed-the-way-women-travel-20181023-h17039
• Monique Ceccato - http://www.littlemissmonbon.com/ 
• Christine Knight - Adventure Baby - https://christineknight.me
• Carmen Jenner - http://fluffytowel.com
• Di Bortoletto - https://travelletto.com
• Liz Bond - http://lizbondwriter.com/
• Marianne Rogerson - https://www.mumonthemove.com/
• Emily McAuliffe - http://www.emilymcauliffe.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/170

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First up, I chat with Christine Retschlag who has done a lot of research on dating as she travels the globe! She's no stranger to testing out a dating app in a new city and has discovered it's a fascinating way to meet the locals.

Next, I speak with Ian and Ann who actually did meet on a dating site, and say that the fact they both liked travel was a crucial part of them becoming a couple. I love how they road-tested their relationship quite literally and quite early - and now they travel full-time.

Finally, I speak with Dan Johnston who has lived abroad in a range of different countries in Europe and central America. His dating experiences are also interesting and we realise that dating is also a good way to really get to know the local way of life in a new country.

Links:

• Christine Retschlag - https://www.theglobalgoddess.com 
• Ann and Ian at Expat or Not - https://www.expatornot.com/ 
• Dan at Dreams Around the World - https://dreamsaroundtheworld.com/thethoughtfultravelpodcast/   
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/169

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This week's episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is a replay of my first New Year's Eve travel episode from three years ago, as I know many current listeners won't have heard it. It features Kim-Ling's story of New Year's Eve on Ibiza - and it's not what you think - and Di's story of what makes up a wonderful New Year's Eve in Tasmania. Of course, I also mention some of my memorable New Year's Eve celebrations - I think one of my favourites was a year in Bratislava with local Slovak friends and my sister (on her honeymoon, no less!), featuring snow(wo)men and fire crackers. This year, I'll be near the beach, always a good way to ring in a new year, I think!

Links:

• Kim-Ling at Travel-Ling - https://travel-ling.com/
• Di at Travelletto - https://travelletto.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers 

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At this time of year, when I've mostly wound down from work for the year and am spending lots of extra time with my son, who's on holidays from school for six whole weeks, I have lots of time to reflect and one of those reflections is just how much I love creating The Thoughtful Travel Podcast and how grateful I am for my fabulous audience and community.

So, if you celebrate Christmas, I hope it's a fabulously merry one. And delicious, too.

In this episode, I chat with Annalicia Lynn who had an interesting Christmas in Taiwan while she was teaching English there. We talk about the cultural differences between many Asian countries and English-speaking nations and she has one of my very favourite stories about how her Taiwanese colleagues tried to create a Christmas atmosphere in the workplace.

Emma Mann started a tradition of spending Christmas abroad, and she talks about the difference between spending Christmas in another country where the traditions are strong, versus a place where Christmas generally isn’t celebrated.

Finally, Joe Baur chats about his experience living in Germany at Christmas time – one of my favourite places to be during this season!

Links:

• Annalicia of Exercise180 - https://www.exercise180.com/
• Emma of The Vagabond Feminist - https://thevagabondfeminist.wordpress.com
• Joe Baur - https://joebaur.com
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers/

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I also answer some great listener questions which include topics like what I think the next hot destinations will be, how I will get out of my comfort zone in 2020, how to balance thoughtful travel with kids and a great question about how to answer "what is your favourite country?" when, as is the case with most of us, we definitely can't narrow that down to one (and it kind of defeats the purpose of travelling to do so, too!).

Thanks to all my fabulous guests and listeners over 2019 - I literally couldn't make this show with you and your excellent input!

Links:

Thoughtful Travel in Denmark - notaballerina.com/150

Cairns and Queensland Diary - notaballerina.com/160

Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/166

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First up, I chat with Shelley Winkel who had cause to use her travel insurance after an injury far from any hospital or medical help in Patagonia - pretty much the last place in the world you want to have an accident!

Next, I speak with Lisa Kable from the Insurance Council of Australia. I've known Lisa for a couple of years and have figured out that she knows everything that needs to be known about insurance - she definitely taught me a thing or two in this chat!

Finally, I talk with Anthony Bianco about some of his experience in the travel insurance industry and allow him to tell the worst joke in the podcast's existence to date!!

Links:

• Shelley Winkel from Tourism and Events Queensland - https://teq.queensland.com 
• Lisa Kable from the Insurance Council of Australia - http://www.insurancecouncil.com.au/ 
• Anthony Bianco from the Travel Tart - https://www.thetraveltart.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/165

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First up, I chat with Nicci O'Mara who impressed me no end with some of the great ideas she has about how to help kids get the most out of their travels. I thought I was good, but Nicci is next level!

I then speak with AJ and Natasha who travelled the world with their young son, and intended to do it again in a few years. We discussed how there are a lot of great lessons for parents when travelling with kids, too.

Finally, I talk to Suzanne, an American who lives in a fairly remote part of Japan with her Japanese husband and biracial kids. She has lots of important reasons to take her children travelling and it was great to chat with her.

Links:

• Nicci O’Mara from Trip Chiefs - https://tripchiefs.com/ 
• Natasha and AJ - 2 Idiots Travel Blog https://www.2idiotstravel.com/ 
• Suzanne Kamata - http://www.suzannekamata.com/
• Suzanne’s book, Squeaky Wheels - https://amzn.to/2qPbCNQ
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/164
• Sign up to the Thoughtful Travel Thursday newsletter - http://eepurl.com/gLeG9L 

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In this conversation we talk about all kinds of travel-related stories, some fun and some serious. I ask Tony what he's learnt from his travels over the years, whether his children also have the travel bug and all about his keen interest in modes of transport. We also talk about two of his book projects including his most recent one, Islands of Australia.

The wonderful members of the Thoughtful Travellers group on Facebook also chimed in with some questions, which led Tony and I to chat about why he mentioned the Maldives as a place he wouldn't return to, and we also discussed the "Lonely Planet effect" - what happens when a small tourism business gets overrun after being mentioned in a guide book.

All of that, as they say, and more! It was a great pleasure to chat with Tony and I hope you all enjoy listening!

Links:

• Tony Wheeler - https://tonywheeler.com.au
• Tony's Bad Lands book - https://amzn.to/34gpsHC 
• Tony's Islands of Australia book - https://www.booktopia.com.au/tony-wheeler-s-islands-of-australia-tony-wheeler/book/9780642279477.html 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/163

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First up I chat with Liz Green who explains how she and her husband decided to trial living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was mind-blowing enough for me to learn that lots of FIFO (fly in, fly out) workers in Australian mine sites actually fly to south-east Asia for their home base, and then I was interested to hear about how Liz and her husband scoped out whether Chiang Mai could be for them or not.

I then chat with Ann Mortimore and Ian Crabtree who left the United States with the express purpose of finding a new home. Their search is narrowing and it was fascinating to hear about the pros and cons of various countries across the globe that were part of their endeavour to find a place to live abroad.

Links:

• Liz’s site Whiz Bang Writing - https://www.whizbangwriting.com/ 
• Ann and Ian at Expat or Not - https://www.expatornot.com/
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/162

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First up I chat with Alastair Humphreys who spent four years on his bike, covering five continents and learning a lot both about cycling and its benefits, and about himself.

I then speak with Brett Seychell who set out on a whim one day to cycle from London to Paris, which turned out to be the start of something much bigger! In fact - it's not an exaggeration to say that it changed his whole life.

Links:

• Alastair Humphreys - https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ 
• Brett from Social Cycles - https://www.social-cycles.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/161

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The first part of my trip saw me explore Cairns, the Nerada Tea plantation and taking the Skyrail to Kuranda on my own - all lots of fun and I especially enjoyed the chance to be a solo traveller for just a couple of days again. That's a rare pleasure for me at this phase in life.

For the second half of my trip, a hundred and fifty or so of my friends joined me!! In fact I was attending the annual convention of the Australian Society of Travel Writers, so I got to visit Fitzroy Island with a small group of them, and then spend two days together talking and celebrating all things travel writing, travel PR and travel influencing. It's such a fun event and also really got my mind ticking over with a billion new ideas for the podcast.

Links:

Some of the travel I did on this trip was sponsored or subsidised and I'm very grateful for the chance! Of course: my views are always my own.

• Nerada Tea plantation - see where your tea grows! You can eat a mighty good meal there and see their resident tree kangaroos - https://www.neradatea.com.au
• Kuranda Skyrail - a fabulous way to get up into the rainforest - https://www.skyrail.com.au
• Fitzroy Island off Cairns - a place I've promised my son I'll take him to in the near future - https://www.fitzroyisland.com 
• Riley, a Crystalbrook Collection Resort - a hotel that even I approve of! - https://www.crystalbrookcollection.com/riley
• Tropical North Queensland - more things to do in this fabulous part of the world - https://www.tropicalnorthqueensland.org.au

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In Episode 159 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I chat with three travellers about this very topic and they find it just as interesting as I do. First up I talk to Denise who spent some time in Spain learning flamenco dancing - and learnt just as much about the Spanish language and culture, too.

Next I chat with Kendall about how fortunate we are - in some ways! - to be native English speakers, and other issues related to languages and travel.

Finally, I speak with Dan Johnston who's tackled one of the more complex European languages, Czech, and found it rather tricky! We talk about how language ability can change your personality in some ways, too.

Links:

• Denise Tham - Spas of the World - https://spatravels.home.blog/
• Kendall’s site https://www.kendallsimmons.com/ 
• Dan at Dreams Around the World - https://dreamsaroundtheworld.com/thethoughtfultravelpodcast/  
• Previous episodes on languages and travel:
• Episode 126 - https://www.notaballerina.com/2019/02/language-difficulties-episode-126-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
• Episode 10 - https://www.notaballerina.com/2016/05/thoughtful-travel-podcast-episode-10-cope-another-language.html 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/159

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In this episode I chat first with Nate Hake. He tells the tale of visiting Bolivia and running into some trouble when protestors basically shut down the town of Uyuni shortly before he landed there

Next, I talk to Justin Watson. He had a visa to get through China ... or did he?

Finally, I speak with Natasha and AJ of the 2 Idiots Abroad blog ... about a time in Bangkok when possibly, they nearly lived up to the name of their blog!

Links:

• Nate at Travel Lemming - https://travellemming.com/ 
• Justin Watson - blog at Justin’s World http://www.justins.world 
• Natasha and AJ - 2 Idiots Travel Blog https://www.2idiotstravel.com/
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/158

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First I speak with Liz Green who found herself visiting Kazakhstan when her son moved there for a stint with his job. From not knowing much at all about it to absolutely loving the experience, Liz's story has definitely convinced me to visit!

Next, I talk with Eva Westerling who has spent time in perhaps one of the least commonly visited countries at the moment - Iraq. Eva didn't go there for a tourist visit but rather as part of her job, but she still managed to do a little sightseeing around Erbil in the Kurdish area and has some interesting tales to tell about it. 

Finally, I chat with Justin Watson who has visited quite a number of uncommon destinations - he's soon headed to Ethiopia and Djibouti, so I'll have to get him back on to chat about those two! - but in this episode, we discuss his trip to Bhutan.

Links:

• Liz’s site Whiz Bang Writing - https://www.whizbangwriting.com/ 
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Justin Watson - blog at Justin’s World http://www.justins.world 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/157

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In Episode 156 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I start off talking to Ann Mortimore and Ian Crabtree who took a giant leap by deciding to pack up their life in the United States and start exploring the world full-time. Their first stop, Guatemala, provided quite a few comfort-zone-stretching moments. (Spoiler alert: it was all worth it!)

Next up I chat with Michela Fantinel who I personally think is an expert in stretching her comfort zone. I admire how she's built up her experience of solo travel over the years and done particularly some amazing trips around Australia.

Finally, I speak to Alastair Humphreys who is no stranger to smashing his comfort zone, being a veteran of numerous crazy physical challenges - but we discuss how his most recent trip to Spain was a stretch of a completely different kind.

Links:

• How I stretched my comfort zone at the Ningaloo Reef - https://www.notaballerina.com/2016/10/australias-coral-coast-stretched-comfort-zone.html
• Ann and Ian at Expat or Not - https://www.expatornot.com/ 
• Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/ 
• Alastair Humphreys - https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ 
• Alastair’s new book My Midsummer Morning - https://amzn.to/2JWNjDe
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/156

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I first speak to Seng Mah, a photographer who found his first trip to India utterly life-changing and continues to return, including taking tour groups of photographers there knowing that their lives will be changed too. Seng explains the magic of India to me better than anyone ever else has.

Next, I chat with Whitney Taylor who, like me, hadn't been particularly drawn to visiting India but found herself on a trip there. She was so amazed by it all and would go back in a heartbeat.

Finally, Marilyn Murphy tells me a little about her first experience of India, and a more recent and contrasting one. Suffice to say, India was also an incredible experience for her that she recommends to all.

Links:

• Seng Mah at Venture Photography - https://www.venturephotography.com.au
• Whitney Taylor on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whitneyleighartist/ 
• Marilyn Murphy from the Wow Travel Club https://www.wowtravelclub.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/155

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I start off chatting to Clare who has had several tango-related holidays. Clare describes her tango trips to Spain and Argentina and we also chat about how that interacts with learning and practising a language when you travel.

Next, I talk with Denise who spent a month in Spain specifically to learn more flamenco. She really immersed herself in all things flamenco and while I'd say she worked pretty hard there, she definitely had an amazing experience.

Finally I chat to Cheri who has taken music and dance classes in many places - and we agree that it is an amazing way to get to know a culture, something that goes beyond language. She describes a dance experience she had in Ghana which sounded pretty incredible. See, I'm nearly converted!

Links:

• Clare’s site The Book Next Door - Australian ESL materials for adults and young adults - http://thebooknextdoor.com/ 
• Clare Harris - Englishy Things - https://clareharris.com
• Denise Tham - Spas of the World - https://spatravels.home.blog/
• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba - http://www.thebreathofcuba.com  
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/154

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I'm constantly reading books because they're set somewhere I'm about to visit, or alternatively I've booked a number of trips because of places I've read about in books! For me, they are completely intertwined - and the guests on this episode seem to feel the same way.

First up I chat with Kendall Simmons who is a voracious reader of all kinds of books and believes that reading before you travel somewhere really enriches your understanding of a place. 

Next I talk to Lesley West who is an even more voracious reader and is very devoted to reading books set in a destination before she travels there. (A woman after my own heart!)

Finally, Alastair Humphreys and I talk about how reading books about people's travel experiences can actually give you an experience and perspective it's impossible for you to get otherwise, and we also talk about some of the travel books he's written and how knowing his travel experiences will become a book can influence his experience.

Links:

• Kendall Simmon’s site https://www.kendallsimmons.com/ 
• Lesley West of Better Link business consultancy - https://betterlinkgroup.edu.au/  
• Alastair Humphreys - https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ 
• Alastair’s new book My Midsummer Morning - https://amzn.to/2JWNjDe
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/153

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In this episode I start off speaking with Dean O'Shea who runs a business devising trips for mostly corporate professionals with the hope that they'll be transformational - and it sounds like it's working. Dean gives me a couple of examples of people he's already helped to have some major life transformations as a result of particular travel experiences.

I then chat with Nate Hake who used to be a trial lawyer in the United States. These days he's travelling the world - he was about to head to Tblisi, Georgia when we spoke - and his own life has been substantially transformed through his travel experiences. As an Aussie I'm proud to say there were Australians involved in this transformation, too!

Finally, I talk with Fiona Galloway who uses the tag line "transformative travel" to describe the tours she runs. She's passionate about the power of travel to transform lives in so many ways.

Links:

• Dean’s site Unbelievable Adventures - https://www.unbelievableadventures.co.uk/ 
• Nate at Travel Lemming - https://travellemming.com/
• Fiona’s site Wild Awake - https://www.wildawaketravel.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/152

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Scuba diving holidays are special - and my first guest Ella Loeffler should know as in the short few years since she first learnt scuba diving, she's tried it out in quite a number of places around the world. Liveaboard diving sounds especially good to me - kind of like a separate trip within a trip where you get to hang out with like minded travellers and locals.

After Ella I chat with Deborah Dickson-Smith who loves diving so much she bought a scuba diving travel agency! She's got a long list of great dive experiences but also some wishlist ideas to experience the best scuba diving in the world sometime.

Finally, I talk with Talon Windwalker, who has done work as a dive instructor and has done many special diving trips with his daughter. He also emphasises the many-faceted benefits of combining scuba diving with travelling: seeing new (underwater) landscapes, getting to know another side of local cultures and creating incredible memories.

Links:

• Easy Travel Speak free lesson -

   https://www.nomadingabout.com/free-easy-travel-speak-lesson/

• Use discount code AMANDA for 40% off Easy Travel Speak -

  https://www.nomadingabout.com/easy-travel-speak

• Adopt a sea turtle nest program where Ella’s volunteering - Lang Tengah - http://www.langtengahturtlewatch.org/adoptions/

• Deborah’s site Dive PlanIt, a dive travel agency - https://diveplanit.com/ 

• Talon’s blog - http://1dad1kid.com/ 

• Talon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/onedad1kid/

• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/151

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It turns out - quick spoiler - that being more intentional really helped me to have an even better experience in Copenhagen and rural Denmark. But you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out why!

A special bonus in this special episode is that my son, now Mr9, has made a return visit - the last time he was here, he was only Mr6! He answers some questions asked by the lovely members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group - thanks everyone!

Links:

• My pre-Denmark thoughts in Episode 140 - https://notaballerina.com/140 
• Easy Travel Speak free lesson -

   https://www.nomadingabout.com/free-easy-travel-speak-lesson/

• Use discount code AMANDA for 40% off Easy Travel Speak -

  https://www.nomadingabout.com/easy-travel-speak

• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/150

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up, I speak with Ella Loeffler, a recently graduated ecologist who has been spending time volunteering on a sea turtle project in Malaysia. She might be young, but she has given this topic a lot of thought already and it was great to hear how she has handled it so far.

I then chat to Nate Hake, a former lawyer who now travels the world as a digital nomad and has written about issues like passport privilege in the past.

Finally, I talk to Chris Haag who actually proposed this whole topic in the first place. Chris is cycling the Americas from north to south and when we spoke, he was in Mexico, a destination which had given him cause to think a lot about class and privilege issues.

Links:

Adopt a sea turtle nest program where Ella’s volunteering - Lang Tengah - http://www.langtengahturtlewatch.org/adoptions/

Nate at Travel Lemming - https://travellemming.com/ 

Nate's post about linguistic privilege - https://travellemming.com/travel-privilege-english/

Chris's site The Places I Pee - https://www.theplacesipee.com

Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -  https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/149

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My first guest is Alastair Humphreys who has done some very adventurous solo travel and finds it both soul-searching and rewarding. We talk in particular about one of his solo trips walking across India.

Next up I chat with Justin Watson who, like me, thought at first that solo travel might be difficult; when he finally tried he was very glad he did.

Finally, I speak with Michela Fantinel about one of her first solo travel experiences in New York City - since then she has gone on to do numerous solo trips and would thoroughly recommend it.

Links:

• Alastair Humphreys - https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ 
• Alastair’s new book My Midsummer Morning - https://amzn.to/2JWNjDe 
• Justin - blog at Justin’s World http://www.justins.world 
• Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/ 
• Join our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes - https://notaballerina.com/148

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And so after thinking about it for much too long, Matt and I have finally caught up for a special episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast where we talk about all kinds of travel topics: budget travel and staying in hostels, how to be a thoughtful traveller and the wonders of solo travel. Matt also has a new book out, "Ten Years a Nomad" and of course that rates a mention too!

Links:

• Matt’s site Nomadic Matt - https://www.nomadicmatt.com
• Matt’s new book “Ten Years a Nomad” - https://amzn.to/30rqYEo 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/147

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up I chat with Brett Seychell of Social Cycles who first visited Iran on his two-year cycling journey from London to Melbourne. He loved it so much that he has now been half a dozen times and runs tours there!

Next I speak with photographer Dale Neill who has also taken a tour group to Iran in recent years. Dale reiterates the common theme of this episode, that Iran is probably the single friendliest country he's ever visited.

Finally, I hear from Joanne Karcz who was recently in Iran for a month and had so many good stories to tell about the country and especially the kindness of the people.

Links:

• Brett from Social Cycles - https://www.social-cycles.com 
• Dale Neill - http://www.daleneill.com.au and the Fremantle International Portrait Prize -  https://fipp.org.au 
• Joanne’s site Travel with Joanne - https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/   
• More from Joanne on Iran in Episode 141 - https://www.notaballerina.com/141
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/146

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In Episode 145 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three travellers who've taken part in various volunteer programs in recent years. We talk about how to find a good volunteer program and their own examples are really worth hearing about.

First up, I talk to Ella who is currently volunteering in Malaysia at an organisation protecting endangered sea turtles. She has an ecology degree and describes the great work that is happening there, along with some thoughts on how to find a good way to volunteer abroad.

Next I chat with Meagan who lives in southern California. In the last few years she's become involved with regular volunteer work just a couple of hours' drive away in Mexico.

Finally, Eva explains the trip she took to the Philippines last year and how the money collected from travellers in the group was used to help a local community. 

Links:

• Overview of the problems of orphanage tourism - https://www.savethechildren.org.au/Our-Stories/Orphanage-tourism 
• Adopt a sea turtle nest program where Ella’s volunteering - Lang Tengah - http://www.langtengahturtlewatch.org/adoptions/ 
• Meagan Hurst of Malas With a Mission - http://malaswithamission.com/ 
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Giveback Giveaway which Eva mentioned - https://givebackgiveaway.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/145

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First up I speak with Justin Watson who shares a story of a very special trip to the United States with a good friend; then Dean O'Shea talks about an important trip he took his brother on not long after their father passed away. 

Finally, I chat with Kate Manser who started a project called "You Might Die Tomorrow" after the sudden, unrelated deaths of three young people she knew. She hopes to help people use activities like travelling to help them live life to the full - hopefully without having tragedy around them first.

Links:

• Justin’s blog at Justin’s World - http://www.justins.world
• Dean’s site Unbelievable Adventures - https://www.unbelievableadventures.co.uk/ 
• Kate Manser’s site You Might Die Tomorrow - https://www.youmightdietomorrow.com/ 
• https://notaballerina.com/133 - the first part of Dean’s story
• https://notaballerina.com/99 - Pam’s story of the Nepal earthquake 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/144

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I was a bit fangirly nervous before I got to interview Jan Fran but she was a delight to chat to and I loved finding out more about some of the behind the scenes experiences she had in Bali and Nepal to make these videos. Hope you enjoy this chat, too!

Links:

• Helpful or Harmful Travel - https://www.kathmandu.com.au/helpful-or-harmful 
• More about Jan Fran - http://www.janfran.net
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/143

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In Episode 142 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast I chat with three travellers who all believe that getting lost is fun (or at least it is most of the time!). First up, Lucas Peters explains his strategy of getting deliberately lost - it's more sensible than it sounds, I promise!

Next up I chat with Michela Fantinel who has had some wonderful experiences getting lost while driving in Australia, for example - although as a good Australian I must warn you all to make sure you take water and petrol with you if you're driving about in the Australian outback - it's one of those places where getting lost can actually end up being a bad thing. (Michela is fine!)

Finally, I talk to Erin Holmes about some of the various times she's got lost while travelling. 

Links:

• Travel Journal School - www.traveljournalschool.com 
• Lucas Peters - http://www.lucasmpeters.com/ 
• Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/ 
• Erin Holmes at Explore With Erin - http://explorewitherin.com/   
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/142

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Some of my first significant travel moments involved a lot of immersion with local people - from a school language trip aged 14, staying with three different families across Germany without a fellow Aussie friend in the home with me, to living and teaching English in Japan, meeting dozens of new Japanese people every day. I guess that's meant I learnt fast just how much more you can learn about a place when you take as many chances as possible to chat to locals, so it's really ingrained in all my travels now.

And it turns out I'm not alone, of course. The three guests on Episode 141 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast value a good chat with a local as much as I do.

First up I speak to Seng Mah, who describes a recent experience in India where he got more involved in an Indian wrestling hall than one would expect - but it was a great experience!

Next I chat with Kim Yuhl who is slow travelling around the world as a digital nomad these days, and we discussed her experiences in developing a community during her stay in Guatemala City.

Finally, Joanne Karcz tells me about a number of interesting interactions she had with Iranian women on her recent trip to Iran, the kinds of conversations you don't have unless you actively seek them out.

Links:

• Travel Journal School is running again - traveljournalschool.com - the next course for two weeks in June is “Start a personal travel blog”
• Seng Mah at Venture Photography - https://www.venturephotography.com.au
• Kim’s site Nomading About - https://www.nomadingabout.com
• Nomading About Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU_pZyS0KMSY6orTWAsSEAA 
• Joanne’s site Travel with Joanne - https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/   
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -  https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/141

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I liked this suggestion a lot so this is a solo episode with my pre-trip thoughts about visiting Denmark with my son; what made me decide to go, what I hope to find, and all of the thoughts I've had ahead of the trip. As always I've done some reading and research (also as always, not as much as I'd like, because life always gets in the way), and I'm curious to find out if the Denmark I expect is the Denmark I find. When this episode goes live I'll be mid-way through two weeks exploring both Copenhagen and rural Denmark so I'll have to have a follow-up later on what I actually discovered!

Links:

• My thoughts on thoughtful travel - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/01/thoughtful-travel.html
• The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell - https://amzn.to/2YBnA8V
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/140

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First up I chat with Talon Windwalker who like me lived abroad for about six years. After two years at home he's still having trouble settling back, something I can very much relate to as it took me many years to feel like I was happily at home again.

I then talk with Luke Mackin who, as a third culture kid who grew up in the Philippines with American parents, moved to the United States as a teenager and now lives with his family in Indonesia, finds it hard to decide what is home and what is "his" culture, meaning this whole culture shock issue can be really amplified.

Finally I speak with Jo Duggan who spent six months volunteering in a medical setting in rural Thailand. It was an incredibly different experience to her regular life in Australia, but one of the hardest parts, to Jo's surprise, was actually settling back home.

Links:

• Next course for two weeks in June - “Start a personal travel blog” - add your email at traveljournalschool.com to get the info
• Talon's blog 1 Dad 1 Kid - http://1dad1kid.com/
• Talon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/onedad1kid/
• My post about "bragging" - I mentioned talking to Talon - https://www.notaballerina.com/2013/01/people-equate-talking-travels-bragging.html
• Luke’s Wild Sumatra site and blog - https://www.wildsumatra.com/blog/ 
• Jo and Jeremy’s website Coming Home Strong - http://www.cominghomestrong.com 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/139

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I start off with a chat with Dan Johnston who has been living in a bunch of different places around the world in recent years. Being focused on generally longer stays than the average trip, he's found lots of really creative ways to find a great place to stay.

Next I talk to Kendall Simmons who reminds me that hostels can also be a great accommodation alternative, no matter how old you are - hostels are definitely not just huge dorm rooms any more! We also discussing house sitting as another really interesting way to find somewhere special to stay (and to save money doing it!).

Finally I discuss accommodation with Chris Haag who has a particularly unique perspective as he and his partner are cycling from Alaska to Argentina. It turns out there are some particular ways to find accommodation unique to the long-term cycling community and it makes me ponder just what else is out there that I don't know anything about!

Links:

Join my next Travel Journal School course for two weeks in June - “Start a personal travel blog” - sign up for more info at traveljournalschool.com 

Dan at Dreams Around the World - https://www.dreamsaroundtheworld.com/thethoughtfultravelpodcast/ 

Dan's Dreams Around the World podcast -  https://www.dreamsaroundtheworld.com/podcast/ 

Kendall’s site - https://www.kendallsimmons.com/ 

Chris Haag's site The Places I Pee - https://www.theplacesipee.com 

Warm Showers - https://www.warmshowers.org - "A community of bicycle tourists and those who support them"

Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/138

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First up today I chat with Justin Watson, who has actually found that travel has been quite helpful in managing his issues with depression. We talk about mindfulness techniques and how practicing these when you travel can be a great way to improve them.

Next I speak with Megan Blandford, who has experienced depression while travelling during a period when she was in denial that she had any depressions issues at all. The link between Megan's depression and her adventurous travel activities is something I found really fascinating to discuss.

Finally, I talk to Ian Oliver who has had some mixed experiences with depression while he is travelling: from finding that moving to a new destination can give him a kind of "fresh start" and feel much better, to the experience of simply needing to go home.

I'm so grateful to each of my guests today for being prepared to open up about such a personal topic - thank you so much Justin, Megan and Ian!

Links:

• Don't forget my next traveljournalschool.com course is the two-week “Start a personal travel blog” course in mid-June - sign up at the link to get more information
• Justin's blog at Justin’s World - http://www.justins.world
• Megan Blandford's website -  https://meganblandford.net/  
• Her book I’m Fine (And Other Lies) about postnatal depression and motherhood is out now and is a brilliant read!
• Ian’s Barefoot Backpacker blog - https://barefoot-backpacker.com
• Ian’s podcast “Travel Tales from Beyond the Brochure” - https://barefoot-backpacker.com/category/podcast/ 
• Some resources to get help with depression:
• Australia:  Beyond Blue - beyondblue.org.au ; Lifeline - lifeline.org.au 
• UK: NHS - Moodzone page - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/ ; Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk/  - the mental health charity
• US: Mental Health America - http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/depression-support-and-advocacy
• Germany: https://www.deutsche-depressionshilfe.de/
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/137

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up, I chat with Seng Mah, who works as a photographer and takes people on photography tours to some fabulous places around the world. Seng's ideas on how we ordinary people should approach taking pictures is a breath of fresh air and well worth listening to.

I then talk with Whitney Taylor, who similarly has a surprising attitude to photography while travelling. She's definitely of the Instagram generation but is not in favour of watching your trip unfold through your phone's camera.

Finally, Dale Neill returns to the podcast with some really solid tips and information about the different options for cameras for travellers these days; we talk DSLR, mirrorless and smartphones and Dale's information will definitely help you decide the next kind of camera you want to take travelling.

Links:

• Check out Travel Journal School - traveljournalschool.com - my next course is for two weeks in June and it's called “Start a personal travel blog”
• Seng Mah at Venture Photography - https://www.venturephotography.com.au
• For people in Western Australia - Seng's Facebook group for photographers, Snap Happy! - https://www.facebook.com/groups/snaphappywa/ 
• Seng mentioned a controversy about a photography prize from a "staged" travel photo - https://www.diyphotography.net/winning-photo-of-120k-hipa-prize-was-allegedly-staged/ 
• Whitney Taylor on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whitneyleighartist/ 
• Dale Neill, representing the Fremantle International Portrait Prize - https://fipp.org.au - entries open on 5th May and close 7th July, proceeds go to charity
• Previous episodes about travel and photography at https://notaballerina.com/57 and https://notaballerina.com/109
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/136

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My first guest today is Whitney Taylor who experienced an Indian nightclub in Agra, and certainly discovered a couple of significant differences between our local Aussie nightclubs and Indian ones - and had a wonderful evening.

Next up I chat with Dan Johnston, who currently calls Prague in the Czech Republic home and has also spent time living in Germany. We discuss some of the cultural differences in nightlife experiences between countries like Australia and Canada, and the European model.

Finally I speak with Kate Toon who, like me, doesn't always get out and about at night when she travels because if you're travelling solo as a woman it's not always simple - but she did have a very interesting evening out in Cusco, Peru, while she was on a group trip - you'll have to listen to find out exactly what went on there!

Links:

• Airbnb - https://www.notaballerina.com/air for $55 off first booking 
• My description of karaoke - https://www.notaballerina.com/2012/04/karaoke-boxes-why-you-shouldnt-be.html 
• Whitney on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whitneyleighartist/  
• Dan at Dreams Around the World - https://dreamsaroundtheworld.com/thethoughtfultravelpodcast/  
• Dreams Around the World podcast - https://dreamsaroundtheworld.com/podcast/ 
• Kate Toon’s website - https://www.katetoon.com 
• Look up Kate’s podcasts - Hot Copy Podcast, Recipe for SEO Success Podcast and Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/135

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Firstly I chat with Kim Yuhl who's over a year into working on the road with her husband. Currently in Guatemala, Kim has spent time in China, Italy, Mexico, the United States and Belize in the past twelve months and while doing her full time writing and editing job is also creating a YouTube channel with her husband called Nomading About. It's a busy and varied life, but Kim talks to me about how to get a routine into this kind of life as well.

I also speak with Kendall Simmons, another digital nomad, but her job as an interior designer didn't initially sound like a job that's conducive to working online. (I was wrong!) Kendall has a lot of great tips for people who want to find a way to have location independent work so if you want to follow in her footsteps this is a must listen!

Links:

• Airbnb: https://www.notaballerina.com/air - get $55 off your first booking
• Kim’s site Nomading About - https://www.nomadingabout.com
• Nomading About Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU_pZyS0KMSY6orTWAsSEAA
• Kendall’s site - https://www.kendallsimmons.com/ 
• Kendall mentions Workaway - https://www.workaway.info
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/134

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First up I talk to Dean O'Shea who took off on a huge challenge to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in California when he was 22 - and he chose it purely because it was the longest, hardest journey listed in his mother's book of long, hard journeys! What happened in and after California is not what you'd expect - and certainly not what Dean expected either - but it changed his life in some significant ways.

I then chat with Seng Mah, a friend of mine here in Perth who has long told me that going to India is life-changing for many people (and yes, I'm now convinced I need to go there sometime!). Seng's first experience of travelling through India gave him so many insights and new perspectives that his life then changed very significantly, changes that have lasted now for a decade.

Links:

• Sign up to hear about the new Travel Journal School course, "Start a personal travel blog", at https://traveljournalschool.com
• Dean’s site Unbelievable Adventures - https://www.unbelievableadventures.co.uk/ 
• Seng Mah at Venture Photography - https://www.venturephotography.com.au
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/133

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, yesterday was my birthday, which means this week is the THIRD anniversary of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. That's three years of the chance to chat with awesome, like-minded, travel-loving people from all around the world, and to share the results with a fabulous audience who challenge me with their interesting questions and share their amazing travel experiences with me.

In this special third anniversary episode I answer questions from listeners (via the Thoughtful Traveller Facebook group) about topics as diverse as accommodation, language learning, photography, travelling with kids, environmentally aware travel, destination choosing and more. I also divulge some of the statistics behind the listeners and downloads of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast which I kind of obsessively follow (it's my maths degree that makes me love the stats, I think!).

A huge thank you to every one of my listeners, whether you've just started tuning in to The Thoughtful Travel Podcast or you've been there since day one, a whole three years ago!

Links:

• 10 Thoughts I'm Thinking About Thoughtful Travel episode - https://notaballerina.com/110
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/132

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The guests on Episode 131 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast all agree with me on this! First up, I chat with Talon Windwalker, who travelled for six years with his child from the age of nine and could see so many benefits from this constant exposure to other cultures.

My second guest, Megan Blandford, regularly goes travelling with her two young daughters. While it started out simply as being necessary to bring them along because she and her husband wanted to continue to embrace their love of travel, she has also seen the girls develop numerous life skills through their travel experiences.

Finally I talk with Shannon Entin who now has an adult and a teen child and has used travel over the years to supplement her home schooling, and has really found taking her children travelling helped open up the world to them.

Links:

• Scrubba - https://www.thescrubba.com - use discount code AMANDA15 for a 15% discount off any Scrubba product
• Talon's website - http://1dad1kid.com/ 
• Megan's website -  https://meganblandford.net/  
• Shannon's website -  https://thetvtraveler.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/131

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Brooke and her family have spent the last year slow travelling around North America (with a little faster travel during Brooke's book tour for her book "Slow" ... ironically!). Packing up life in Australia and heading far north for an extended time was a huge deal and in this interview Brooke and I chat about how they made this decision, what it involved for work and for the kids' schooling, and how it's all gone.

Like me, Brooke and her husband Ben left Australia in their 20s to spend an extended time abroad, but back then, it was much easier: no kids, no house, their jobs could be whatever they found. Making this kind of "escape" with a family is much trickier and it was great to hear about all the benefits they've found along with the challenges along the way. If you're an aspiring digital nomad, a lover of slow travel or you're keen to spend an extended time living outside of your home country, you'll get some pearls of wisdom from Brooke in this episode for sure.

Links:

• Scrubba - https://www.thescrubba.com - use discount code AMANDA15 for a 15% discount off any Scrubba product

• Brooke’s website - https://slowyourhome.com

• Brooke’s book Slow - https://amzn.to/2XPlrqH 
• Look up The Slow Home Podcast wherever you’re listening to this podcast!
• Episode 44 when I talked to Brooke about slow travel previously (over 2 years ago)
• https://notaballerina.com/44 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/130

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Just the same, travelling in developing countries leads to some really impactful and interesting experiences and the three guests in this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast have great stories to tell about their trips to countries as diverse as Haiti, Madagascar and India.

First up, I speak to Fiona Galloway who spent some time in Haiti about twenty years ago. She learnt a lot from her stay in Haiti, and it set her up for her current work running tours for transformative travel.

Next I chat to Linda Schlencker who talks about some of the poverty she found away from the key tourist zones of Madagascar. She's travelled widely but was surprised by what she saw there.

Finally, I talk with Whitney Taylor who describes an especially impactful trip she took to India with Hands On Journeys. 

Links:

• Thanks to Scrubba - https://www.thescrubba.com - use discount code AMANDA15 for a 15% discount off any Scrubba product
• Previous episode about Travel in Africa - https://www.notaballerina.com/80 Fiona’s site Wild Awake - https://www.wildawaketravel.com
• Linda’s site Self Drive Adventures - http://www.selfdriveadventures.com/ 
• Whitney Taylor works with Jito Connected - Inspiring Greatness site - https://jitoconnected.com/inspire/ 
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/129

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up I chat with two spreadsheet-obsessed accountants, Narelle and Shauna, who have a lot in common when it comes to planning their trips in extreme detail. Some of their tips, though, are actually pretty awesome! (Though I draw the line at their perhaps over-the-top Plan B, C and D plans?!)

Next I talk to Queen about the research she did ahead of her recent move to live abroad in Mexico, and finally to Tiana who also agrees that a big part of the joy comes in researching and deciding where to go. There are also lots of planning and research tips from Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group members liberally sprinkled throughout the episode.

Links:

• Thanks to Awesome Maps https://awesome-maps.com/ - use AMANDA15 to get a 15% discount 
• Shauna Thomson Life Coach - http://www.shaunathomson.com
• Narelle Wilson Abstract Business Advisors - https://abstractba.com.au 
• Tiana’s site The Travel Temple - http://www.tianatempleman.com/
• Queen D Michele’s book Considerations: A Guide For Moving Abroad - https://amzn.to/2WWjHf0  
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/128

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My first guest is Meagan Hurst who is my total go-to-gal for all things yoga - and she comes through with some great discussion of yoga teacher training in Nicaragua and also the idea of "DIY yoga retreats", for the budget-conscious yoga traveller.

After that I chat to Kate Manser who accidentally went on a multi-year yoga and meditation world tour! She has lots of interesting tips on destinations across Asia and some interesting tales too.

Finally, I talk with Queen D Michele who recently moved to live in Mexico, in the Lake Chipala area, which as it turns out is a bit of a hotspot for meditation and yoga and has quite drastically changed the way Queen lives.

Links:

• Thanks to Awesome Maps https://awesome-maps.com/ - use AMANDA15 to get a 15% discount 
• Their yoga map at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bnYxfkfPuk
• Meagan Hurst of Malas With a Mission - http://malaswithamission.com/ 
• Kate Manser of You Might Die Tomorrow - https://www.youmightdietomorrow.com/ 
• Queen D Michele’s book Considerations: A Guide For Moving Abroad - https://amzn.to/2WWjHf0  
• Book Yoga Retreats site mentioned by Kate - https://www.bookyogaretreats.com 
• Prana Veda in Bali, mentioned by Kate - https://www.pranavedabali.com/en/
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/127

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 126 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, we cover some of the many difficulties that can arise when there's a language barrier on your travels, along with confessing to some of the funnier language moments my guests, my listeners and I have experienced. A special thank you to members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group who offered up some of their funny language experiences!

First up, I chat with Dean O'Shea who, amongst his many other trips, spent four months travelling around to different parts of China. He explains with some funny examples how "speaking Chinese" is just not a thing: he tried to learn different dialects and languages throughout his trip but was constantly thwarted by language barriers. 

Next I talk to Joanne Karcz who has spent many years learning Spanish. Like all foreign language users she has had quite a few moments where the message she was trying to communicate wasn't exactly what was received - though at least this makes for funny stories in retrospect!

Finally, I talk with Queen D Michele who took on a more serious study of Spanish once she'd decided she was going to move to Mexico to live. We talk about being in the kind of situation where all the learning just flies out of your head - one of many kinds of language difficulties you can have while travelling.

Links:

• Thanks to Awesome Maps https://awesome-maps.com/ - use AMANDA15 to get a 15% discount 
• Dean’s site Unbelievable Adventures - https://www.unbelievableadventures.co.uk/ 
• Joanne’s site Travel with Joanne - https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/   
• Queen D Michele’s book Considerations: A Guide For Moving Abroad - https://amzn.to/2WWjHf0 
• Join our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/126

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Living in another country is a very special experience and quite different from just taking a trip somewhere. And if you can live in several other countries (or more!) like the first guest in this episode, Kelly Dunning, then so much the better. When I spoke to Kelly last year she was living in Tbilisi in Georgia, and we chat in this episode about how she ended up spending the best part of a decade living abroad.

Next I talk to Erin Holmes who left Australia with her two young kids planning to travel in Asia for six months ... and didn't come home until five years later. I can relate to that - I left for a year in Japan and spent five and a half years living in three different countries - and we talk about how this can happen!

Finally, I talk to Greg Seymour who was a bit more deliberate in his plans to spend years abroad in Costa Rica - although he still didn't have any definite plans.

Links:

• Thanks to Awesome Maps https://awesome-maps.com/ - use AMANDA15 to get a 15% discount
• Kelly’s site Global Goose - http://www.global-goose.com
• Erin Holmes at Explore With Erin - https://explorewitherin.com/    
• Greg’s site Chica and Sunsets - https://chicaandsunsets.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/125

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I start off the episode talking with highly experienced hiker Greg Seymour, who has through-hiked the Appalachian Trail (amongst other hiking experiences) and we chat about some of the wonderful benefits of being out there in nature.

Next I talk with Eva Westerling who, despite considering herself something of a non-hiker when she was younger, has gone on to do some amazing hikes on her travels, particularly in Morocco and Oman.

Lasty I chat with Talon Windwalker about his hiking experiences with his daughter both in the United States and in Europe, and how you don't have to be out in the vast wilderness to experience benefits from going for a hike.

Links:

• Book your travel photos with Flytographer - https://www.flytographer.com/ - and get $50 off a shoot by using the code AMANDA50 

• Greg’s site Chica and Sunsets - https://chicaandsunsets.com/ 

•  

  Greg's post comparing the Appalachian Trail and the Camino de Santiago - https://chicaandsunsets.com/appalachian-trail-vs-the-camino-de-santiago/ 

• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com

• Talon’s website http://1dad1kid.com/

• Talon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/onedad1kid/

• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/124

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First up, I talk with Jacky Lamenzo who spent a year teaching in China with another American friend. They discovered all sorts of interesting things about being obviously foreign looking in a new country.

Next, Lindsay and Marshall who are currently living in Barcelona with their young son talk about some of the key differences between life in Spain and life back in the United States.

Finally, Sandra Muller who is an Aussie like meexplains some of what she's learnt about South Korean cultural differences over the years, as she's lived and worked there several times and is married to a Korean guy, too!

Links:

• Flytographer - https://www.flytographer.com/ - and get $50 off a shoot by using the code AMANDA50 
• Jacky’s website - https://www.jackylamenzo.com
• Lindsay and Marshall at Tumble Travels - http://tumbletravels.com/ 
• Lindsay and Marshall’s Tumble podcast - http://sciencepodcastforkids.com/ 
• Sandra Muller - https://www.sandralmuller.com     
• Sandra’s The Smarter Writer https://thesmarterwriter.com   
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/123

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The first guest is Eva Westerling, who recently went on a long trip to Morocco (prompted by this podcast - she heard previous guest Anna Kwiecinska speaking of trekking in Morocco, got in touch, and off they went together!). During this trip, Eva had the chance to get to know her two Moroccan guides really well and she tells us what she learnt from them.

Following Eva, we stay in Morocco but chat to Talon Windwalker. He spent some time housesitting in Morocco and got to know a local very well - to the point where they could have conversations about some really tricky topics, which proved very eye-opening.

Finally I chat to Joanne Karcz who discovered the Global Greeter Network when she went to Bilbao a few years back - it sounds like a fantastic way to meet locals, and Joanne is now a greeter herself back in Sydney.

Links:

• Flytographer - https://www.flytographer.com/ - and get $50 off a shoot by using the code AMANDA50 
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Talon’s website http://1dad1kid.com/
• Talon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/onedad1kid/
• Joanne’s site Travel with Joanne https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/   
• https://globalgreeternetwork.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/122

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First up I chat to Lucas Peters who recently took a trip to Iceland. Now, Iceland will always be one of my favourite destinations, but it definitely fits the cold bill - I visited during mid-summer and still needed all the warm clothes I could find!!

Tamara Gruber then tells me about her experience visiting Quebec City for their Winter Carnival. It sounds realy, really cold - and yet really awesome, too.

Finally, I talk to Erin Holmes who grew up in Western Australia like me, and therefore wasn't quite prepared for the crazy cold temperatures she and her kids experienced in northern Finland one Christmas. Fortunately, it was all worth it.

Links:

• Flytographer - https://www.flytographer.com/ - and get $50 off a shoot by using the code AMANDA50
• Lucas Peters - http://www.lucasmpeters.com/ 
• Tamara’s podcast Vacation Mavens - http://vacationmavens.com/
• Tamara’s blog We3Travel - https://we3travel.com
• Erin Holmes at Explore With Erin - http://explorewitherin.com/    
• Erin’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/explorewitherin
• Winter tips from group member Merry - https://www.visitcalgary.com/things-to-do/stories-from-calgary/winter-tips-for-families from Merry
• Swimming in Iceland tips - https://www.notaballerina.com/2014/11/promise-great-hot-dogs-iceland-interview-kari-gislason.html
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/121

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Listen in and you'll hear about what looking back on travel in Japan, Fiji, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam has taught me - and find out the odd combination of destinations I have ready to head to in 2019.

I'm so grateful to my listeners and the members of the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group for all the amazing conversations and friendships over the year. Just last weekend I spent a massive two and a half hours chatting with a friend I've made because she was a guest on the podcast - these opportunities are so special to me, and the people connected to the podcast are the main reason I keep doing it - so thank you all!

Links:

• Travel Journal School - No more boring travel diaries! - https://traveljournalschool.com/p/no-more-boring-travel-diaries
• Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

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First I speak with Natascha Mirosch, with her story about a trip to a Greek Island which resulted in a completely life-changing event ... though you'll have to listen to find out what, no spoilers here!

I then chat to Talon Windwalker, who brought tears to my eyes telling the story of spending six years travelling with his adopted daughter and the bonds this developed - listen out for his "Forever Day" story.

Finally, Kate Toon rounds out the life-altering travel moments with a quick but amazing story about what happened when she and her friend were travelling in Thailand ... until suddenly they werent!  

Links:

• Travel Journal School - No more boring travel diaries! - https://traveljournalschool.com/p/no-more-boring-travel-diaries  
  Use the discount code EARLY20  
• Natascha’s website - https://www.nataschamirosch.com 
• Natascha’s new ExtraVirgin Podcast - https://extravirginpodcast.com 
• Talon's blog - http://1dad1kid.com/
• Talon on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/onedad1kid/
• Kate Toon’s website - https://www.katetoon.com - look up Kate’s podcasts: Hot Copy Podcast, Recipe for SEO Success Podcast and Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/119

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up, I chat with my lovely friend Meagan of Malas With A Mission, who is one of my favourite people to talk to about the issue of responsible travel. She has a great attitude to it and is able to educate people about issues like ecotourism, sustainable travel and voluntourism without sounding at all preachy, which is really good skill! 

Next I talk with Deborah Regen who runs a site collating eco-friendly tour operators, a great resource for researching a your responsible trips. Deborah has always loved nature and now wants to help ensure it's there for everyone to enjoy for a long time into the future.

Finally, I discuss responsible animal tourism with Christine Knight, and particularly the issue of riding elephants. It's one of those issues which I'm glad to see so much more widely discussed in recent years, and lots of tourists and tour operators changing the way elephants are used in tourism.

Links:

• Meagan Hurst of Malas With a Mission - http://malaswithamission.com/ 
• Meagan’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/malaswithamission  
• Deborah’s site EcoTourLinq - https://www.ecotourlinq.com 
• Christine’s website Adventure Baby - https://christineknight.me 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/118

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First up I chat with Tiana Templeman who is a bit of a pro at finding a class whenever she travels, regardless of the topic. She thinks it's a fantastic way to get a different experience on a trip and chats about classes she's taken in Australia, Bangkok and Japan.

I then talk with Cheri Shanti, who's basically the podcast's resident expert on Cuba (every time I listen to her I desperately want to go!) and in this episode she shares her experiences of taking drumming classes in Cuba.

Finally I discuss the topic of taking classes with Eva Westerling, who has a fabulous example of a cooking class she took in Jordan - but a rather special one indeed.

Links:

• Travel Journal School journal writing course in January 2019 - sign up to get info first at https://notaballerina.com/journal 
• Airbnb sign up (get $55 off first stay if you’re a first time user) - https://www.notaballerina.com/air  then search for experiences at https://www.airbnb.com.au/s/experiences 
• Tiana’s site The Travel Temple - http://www.tianatempleman.com/ 
• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba - http://www.thebreathofcuba.com  
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Beit Sitti where Eva went in Amman, Jordan - https://beitsitti.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/117

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First up I chat with Tamara Gruber who takes some trips alone with her school-aged daughter and is clever at tying in some of their destinations to connect up with what her daughter's been learning at school (I love this!).

Meagan Hurst is next and follows a method I often use too: where can she get a bargain airfare to! I have quite often visited a pretty random place just because it was cheap to get there, and sometimes those places turn out to be unexpected gems.

My Cambodian friend Cham Peou has put quite some thought into how he chooses his destations and I love his approach.

Finally, I chat with Greg Seymour who has a really great philosophy about choosing destinations - and making sure he and his wife go outside their comfort zones, but not too far out (which I think is the perfect strategy!).

Links:

• Travel Journal School journal writing course in January 2019 - sign up to get info first at https://notaballerina.com/journal 
• Tamara’s podcast Vacation Mavens - http://vacationmavens.com/
• Tamara’s blog We3Travel - https://we3travel.com
• Meagan Hurst of Malas With a Mission - http://malaswithamission.com/
• Meagan’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/malaswithamission 
• Peou Sokchamreun (Cham)’s Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/CommunityBaseTourismTraveller 
• Greg’s website Appalachian Trail Tales -  https://appalachiantrailtales.com/
• Greg’s book “Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail: 100 Tips, Tricks, Traps and Facts” - https://amzn.to/2SNwJtc 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/116

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First up, I talk again with Eva Westerling, who talks about experiences she’s had in three different places - Zanzibar, Morocco and Oman. It’s interesting to hear about what she’s done to fit in while she’s travelling in Muslim countries and how she’s found this strategy to work for her.

Following Eva, I chat with Kate Toon, who has an interesting angle as she’s travelled in Tunisia accompanied by her Tunisian husband. You’ll have to listen to find out some particularly surprising reactions!

Finally, I’m joined by Margarita Pas who discusses her experiences in Tunisia and in the Maldives, and she has plenty of tips for how people can look and behave respectfully when travelling in Muslim countries.

Links:

• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Kate Toon’s website - https://www.katetoon.com -
• Look up Kate’s podcasts: Hot Copy Podcast, Recipe for SEO Success Podcast and Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast
• Margarita’s blog, Margarita Gypsy - http://margaritagypsy.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/115

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First up, I chat with Meagan Hurst from California, who has previously travelled several times with Hands On Journeys but was still really impacted by our time in Cambodia. She talks about some of our her favourite experiences, especially our visit to a village near Siem Reap.

Next I chat to Aimee Jackson of London, a very special guest because she heard about Hands On Journeys from this podcast and then joined a trip with us - it was very exciting to meet her! Her favourite part of the trip was our village visit near Phnom Penh and I loved hearing her memories of it.

FInally, a very special guest is my favourite tour guide ever, Cham, who was our local guide in Cambodia. Being able to see Cambodia through his eyes made it even more impactful and I loved hearing about what he, as a guide who has met many, many travellers over the past decade, could learn from us as he led us through his beloved country.

Links:

• The fantastic Hands On Journeys - https://handsonjourneys.com 
• Meagan Hurst of Malas With a Mission - http://malaswithamission.com/
• Meagan’s Instagram https://instagram.com/malaswithamission 
• Phnom Penh Animal Welfare Society - https://www.ppaws.com/
• Aimee Jackson on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/aimeej234/ 
• Peou Sokchamreun (Cham)’s Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/CommunityBaseTourismTraveller 
• Episode about our Fiji empowerment tourism trip - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/07/fiji-empowerment-tourism-episode-104-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
•  
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/114

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I love hearing about the kinds of expat lives people live and my first guest, Sandra, has an expat history a little similar to mine - in fact we both nearly taught in Japan at exactly the same time, but she took a little detour and went to South Korea instead, which proved to be a very important move.

My second guest is a Perth local but she didn't start out that way - born in Sweden, Stina has now lived abroad, in various places, longer than she lived in Sweden when growing up.

Margarita Pas, my final guest, has lived in a diverse range of European countries, including Bulgaria, Spain and Norway, but for now has settled down in Florida. We chat about how expat life is so much more straightforward these days, thanks to the internet and new technologies. 

Links:

• Sandra Muller - www.sandralmuller.com 
• Sandra’s new project is The Smarter Writer www.thesmarterwriter.com 
• Stina’s site Birgit and Alvar - http://www.birgitandalvar.com/
• Margarita Gypsy - http://margaritagypsy.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/113

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First up I chat with Cheri Shanti, who has had some really interesting experiences in central America in the wellness sphere. Of everyone in this episode, it's Cheri's interesting approach to wellness activities that I most want to test out!

Following this I chat to Erin Holmes who has only recently had her first experience of wellness travel, spending some time at an ayurvedic retreat in Bali, which actually does sound rather nice!

Finally I talk to Lisa Scott whose take on wellness is one that I'm not sure I'll ever to convert to - running - but since I know a lot of people out there love running, I'm sure you'll love to hear about Lisa's take on how running and travel can intersect.

Links:

• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba - http://www.thebreathofcuba.com  
• Cheri's "The Breath of Cuba" book - https://amzn.to/2zXszHL
• Explore with Erin - https://explorewitherin.com/ 
• Erin’s post about her wellness retreat in Bali - https://explorewitherin.com/sukhavati-ayurvedic-retreat-bali-spa/
• Lisa’s site Make + Do - https://makeplusdo.com.au 
• Lisa’s upcoming project Run Eat Sleep Repeat - https://www.instagram.com/runeatsleep.repeat/ 
• Australian ParkRun Tourism Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/parkruntourismAU/ 
• NY Times about sanatoriums in Europe - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/t-magazine/sanatorium-europe-history.html
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/112

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First up I chat with Natascha Mirosch, one of my fellow travellers, who loved it just as much as I did and talks about the fun we had making our own dyed indigo fabric and that time she met a Thai monk who's become her Facebook and Instagram friend!

I then chat with Caroline Gladstone, another lovely member of our group, and she reminisces about one of my favourite experiences - getting up early to give alms to the monks in Nan. We also talk about the food - which, you won't be surprised to hear, was delicious - and a particularly fun evening when we rode the disco bus!

Links:

• Natascha’s website - https://www.nataschamirosch.com 
• Natascha’s new ExtraVirgin Podcast - https://extravirginpodcast.com 
• Caroline’s website - Caroline’s Cabin Fever - https://www.carolinescabinfever.com 
• My post about Phrae - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/08/phrae-thailand.html
• My post about Nan - 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/111

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You'll have to listen to find out what these ten thoughts are but let me preface them by saying that some of them are deep and meaningful things I've thought about a lot; some are topics I have only scratched the surface on and know I need to learn a heap more about; and some are simple things that I ponder when I travel.

Thanks to the members of the wonderful Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group, I also include a chat about some of the thoughts they've been having about travelling lately, too. I love hearing from the group members and also learning a lot from them. 

Links:

• The Peace Tourism Credo - http://peacetourism.org/credo/ 
• Episode 33 on Volunteer Tourism in which Diana Edelman talks about her experiences with Elephant Nature Park in Thailand - https://www.notaballerina.com/2016/11/volunteer-travel-to-help-you-and-the-world-episode-33-of-the-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html

• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

• Tweet me @amandakendle

• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod

• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/110

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When you travel a lot, you take lots of pictures, and you start to want them to be good pictures!

That's one reason why Episode 109 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast features three travel-lovers who've become interested in photography. First up, I chat with Jim Jones who got his first DSLR camera when he took a big trip through Europe by train - and has gone from strength to strength since.

Next I chat with Erin Gustafson who, with an art background, has developed a beautiful eye for photography on her travels and we chat about some of what she's learnt and some of the amazing pictures she takes, especially in her current home of Copenhagen.

FInally I talk with Lucas Peters who considered himself largely only a writer until a guidebook publisher wanted him to take photos too - and that's now become something he's rather talented at! He also has some great tips for travellers taking their good cameras with them ... particularly in the desert!

Links:

• Jim’s blog Travel Stories and Images - http://travelstoriesandimages.com 
• Jim’s post on Chicago Botanic Gardens
• Erin’s blog Oregon Girl Around the World - https://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/ 
• Erin’s post on spring flowers in Copenhagen - https://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/copenhagen-2/spring-in-copenhagen-where-to-find-the-flowers/ 
• Lucas Peters - author and principle photographer of the Moon Travel Guide for Morocco his website is at https://www.lucasmpeters.com/  
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/109

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I talk first with Kati Craythorn. She grew up in Berln but has since become quite the Australia-addict, and lives in Queensland. We chat about her recent trip to the Northern Territory and it reminds me that I need to get back to see more of that very unique part of Australia.

Secondly I chat with Italian travel-lover Michela Fantinel. She has a real passion for Australia and comes back for extended trips from Europe every year. I loved hearing about all that Australia has taught her over the last decade and a half!

Finally, Leah Smileski tells me about her wonderful experiences in Tasmania, which also happens to be one of my very favourite parts of Australia, especially when it comes to nature.

Links:

• Kati at Queensland and Beyond - https://www.queenslandandbeyond.com 
• Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/ 
• Leah at Kid Bucket List - https://kidbucketlist.com.au   
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/108

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My first guest in this episode is Erin Gustafson who regularly travels with her three teenagers. She has a huge array of useful tips that I'm holding on to dearly for future years!

I then chat with Tamara Gruber who has a young teenage daughter and I loved hearing about how they plan their mother and daughter adventures.

Finally, I talk to Cheri Shanti about her first travel experiences which, of course, happened to her as a teenager. I think she was a very brave 15-year-old who figured out a way to spend six months on the other side of the world!

Links:

• Erin’s blog Oregon Girl Around the World - https://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/ 
• Tamara’s podcast Vacation Mavens - http://vacationmavens.com/
• Tamara’s blog We3Travel - https://we3travel.com 
• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba http://www.thebreathofcuba.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/107

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In this episode I chat first with Eva Westerling, who had some particularly unusual eating experiences while on a ten-day hike in the desert in Oman. Some parts of this chat are not for the squeamish!

Next up I talk with Jacky Lamenzo about comfort food when we travel and about her experiences of eating like the locals when she was a teacher in China.

Finally, I talk with Matt and Marilyn from Words With Winos about some of the more unusual foods they have tasted on their travels around the world, particularly in Asia - and if you don't like creepy-crawlies, you may not want to imitate them! 

Links:

• My tasty sponsor Bokksu –  https://bokksu.com/ - remember to use THOUGHT5 to get $5 off any order of amazing Japanese snacks
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Jacky Lamenzo - blog post about her food experiences in China - https://www.jackylamenzo.com/blog/2016/6/20/my-foodiversary  
• Marilyn and Matt’s site Words with Winos - http://wordswithwinos.com
• Episode 62 on Foodie Lessons from Travel - https://notaballerina.com/62 
• Episode 23 on Foreign Food - https://notaballerina.com/23
• Episode 1 on Food in a Foreign Language - https://notaballerina.com/01
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/106

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To start with I chat with Christine Knight, a fellow Aussie who spent a few year living in New York City - arguably one of the best places in the world to explore art galleries, and she definitely made the most of it.

After that I talk to Erin Gustafson, who has a background in art history and is really passionate about it. She currently lives in Copenhagen and has some great tips on her favourite galleries in Europe.

Finally I talk with Anna Kwiencinska, very much an art lover and former art gallery owner, too. She has lots of interesting art experiences along with some fabulous art plans for the future, too. 

Links:

• Thanks to The Boy Who Draws  https://www.theboywhodraws.com/— use AMANDA10 for 10% discount on any City Series prints or card packs.
• Christine’s website Adventure Baby - https://christineknight.me 
• Erin at Oregon Girl Around the World - http://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/ 
• Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen - https://en.louisiana.dk 
• Musee de l’Orangerie - http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en
• Anna Kwiecinska’s website - https://www.annakwiecinska.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/105

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I actually asked my friends Whitney and Luana to tell me about their favourite part and, like me, they both decided it was our day in the village where Hands On Journeys have set up an empowerment tourism project.

Whitney chats with me about all the different things we did on our day in Nailaga village in Ba province, western Fiji, and I learnt quite a lot - she and her partner got to chat with different locals and learn more about their life and culture there.

It was also great to chat with Luana, who was visiting Nailaga for the second time. She also had a different perspective as she and her husband are from Brazil, and found some similarities between the Fijian and Brazilian cultures. 

Links:

• Hands On Journeys - https://handsonjourneys.com
• Use Amanda10 for 10% discount on any tour
• In particular, Fiji in September - https://handsonjourneys.com/tours/fiji-nadi-denarau-island-5-day-tour/
• My blog post about meeting locals in Fiji - https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/07/visiting-fijian-village-how-to-meet-locals-while-travelling.html 
• Whitney Taylor works with Jito Connected - Inspiring Greatness site - https://jitoconnected.com/inspire/ 
• Whitney’s travel photography on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whitneyleigh.wl/ 
• Luana Marchi - health and wellness coach - https://luanamarchi.com.au/ 
• Luana on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/luamarchi/ 
• Land Rights of Pacific Women (Nailaga from page 34) V- http://books.google.com.au/books?isbn=9820200121 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/104

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First up, I chat with Samantha Fisher who surprised me by saying she’s an introvert - she’s from the US but I met her when she attended my travel writing course here in Perth and seemed far from introverted. Our chat reveals just why that is and it was fascinating.

Next I talk to Michela Fantinel, an Italian friend of mine who has done a lot of solo travel, especially around Australia. As an introvert travelling alone most of the time, Michela has some really interesting observations about how people treat her.

Finally, Lindsay and Marshall from the Tumble podcast discuss their differing approaches as introverts moving to a foreign country. You definitely have to listen to find out the strategy of an “aggressive friend-making policy”!

Links:

• Hands On Journeys - https://handsonjourneys.com - use Amanda10 for 10% discount on any tour
• Sam on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/highhopestravel/
• Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/
• Michela’s new group tours - https://www.rockytravel.net/group-tours/ - Australia and Italy
• Lindsay and Marshall at Tumble Travels - http://tumbletravels.com/
• Lindsay and Marshall’s Tumble podcast - science for kids - http://sciencepodcastforkids.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/103

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First up, I chat for the first time with Lindsay and Marshall of Tumble Travels. They moved from Austin, Texas to Barcelona, Spain with their young son and have been thrilled by how much the locals embrace kids - I particularly love the story of the soccer ball!

Then I chat to Lucas Peters who has spent a lot of time in Morocco. He feels that Moroccans really bend over backwards to help with kids when you are travelling with them; we also segue into a bit of a chat on one of my favourite topics, which is just how much travelling can benefit children.

Finally, I talk with Sandra Muller about her experiences with her young son in both South Korea and Japan, quite different cultures from Spain or Morocco but similarly welcoming to kids.

Links:

• Hands On Journeys - https://handsonjourneys.com
• Use Amanda10 for 10% discount on any tour
• Lindsay and Marshall at Tumble Travels - http://tumbletravels.com/
• Lindsay and Marshall’s Tumble podcast - science for kids - http://sciencepodcastforkids.com/
• Lucas Peters - author and principle photographer of the Moon Travel Guide for Morocco
• Lucas Peters website - http://www.lucasmpeters.com/
• Sandra at The Smarter Writer - www.thesmarterwriter.com
• Sandra Muller - www.sandralmuller.com 
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/102

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My first guest on this episode is Lucas Peters, who currently lives in Paris - which used to be a destination he wanted to keep returning to - but he chats with me about a Moroccan town named Asilah.

Next, I talk with Jim Jones about two popular tourist destinations that he likes returning to for many different reasons - Las Vegas, and Paris. I’m with him on Paris but I’ve never been to Vegas - I think he convinces me I need to try, though.

Finally, fellow West Aussie Erin Holmes and I talk about the place virtually every Perth person has been to: Bali. Erin has been there many times and has plenty of good reasons as to why she keeps returning.

Links:

• Sponsor - Hands On Journeys https://handsonjourneys.com - use AMANDA10 for 10% off any tour
• My Fiji post https://www.notaballerina.com/2018/06/thoughtful-travel-empowerment-tourism-fiji-hands-on-journeys.html 
• Lucas Peters - author and principle photographer of the Moon Travel Guide for Morocco
• Lucas Peters - http://www.lucasmpeters.com/ 
• Port XIV restaurant - https://www.portxiv.com 
• Jim Jones - http://travelstoriesandimages.com/
• Erin Holmes at Explore With Erin - http://explorewitherin.com/    
• Instagram - https://instagram.com/explorewitherin
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/101

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This episode is a chat with Kati asking me those questions and it was so much fun to talk about the origins of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, some of the technical behind the scenes stuff, what I like and dislike about creating the podcast and how it's changed me. It was just wonderful to talk to Kati about all these topics and I hope you all enjoy listening to it too.

Links:

• Hands On Journeys/Thoughtful Travel Meet Up - 27th June 2018 - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hands-on-journeys-thoughtful-travel-meet-up-tickets-46836956598
• "Arigatou" to sponsor Bokksu - http://bokksu.com - use the code THOUGHT5 to get $5 off your Japanese snack box order (do it - they're delicious!)
• Thank you to Kati who interviewed me for this episode - she's from Queensland and Beyond - https://queenslandandbeyond.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/100

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In this episode, I start by talking to Pam about her experience of the Nepal earthquake of 2015. I know Pam well and have heard her speak about this close call many times, and yet every time she tells the tale I end up with goose bumps down my arms and shivers down my spine. You just never know what's around the corner, and Pam tells the tale in a way that will make you think.

My second guest is Margarita Pas, a Polish globetrotter now based in the United States, who tells me about a trip she took to Namibia. It's a great warning tale about being prepared and how it's often easy to be poorly prepared when we don't know the place - I know I have sometimes done things abroad I would never be silly enough to do at home, but it's hard to know all the details when you're in an unfamiliar place. Margarita took a rather exciting road trip and came out fine and able to tell the tale - and it's well worth a listen.

Links:

• My tasty sponsor Bokksu - https://bokksu.com - remember to use THOUGHT5 to get $5 off any order of amazing Japanese snacks
• Pam's blog Travelling Bag - http://travellingbag.com.au
• Pam's book "How the Hell Did I Get Here?" - http://amzn.to/2Gs4QzJ
• Margarita's blog - http://margaritagypsy.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/99

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First up I chat with Kelly from Global Goose who had a bit of an incident following a hiking trail in the jungle in Borneo. All worked out well, of course, because Kelly lived to tell the tale on my podcast!!

Next I talk to Erin from Oregon Girl Around the World who has a hilarious tale to tell of a family trip in Latvia. Let's just say that Erin will be a lot more careful with her Latvian place names in the future!

Finally, I chat to Sandra Muller who has a particularly interesting perspective on getting lost when she travels (and one I wish I could adopt myself!).

Links:

• My tasty sponsor Bokksu - https://bokksu.com - remember to use THOUGHT5 to get $5 off any order of amazing Japanese snacks
• Kelly’s site Global Goose - http://www.global-goose.com
• Erin at Oregon Girl Around the World - http://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/
• Erin’s post about bob sledding near Sigulda https://oregongirlaroundtheworld.com/latvia/wild-winter-fun-in-latvia-slide-down-the-olympic-bobsled-track-in-sigulda/
• Sandra Muller - www.sandralmuller.com   
• Sandra’s new project is The Smarter Writer www.thesmarterwriter.com 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/98

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First up, I speak with Clare Harris who spent several years living in Thailand and teaching English to people from bordering countries. She had an amazing experience and we chat about how she learnt what it was like to be illiterate, because the Thai language confounded her!

I then chat with Eva Westerling, who needed to complete an internship as part of her studies at medical school and fairly randomly ended up working in a hospital in Zanzibar! We also talk about our desire to live in many more places around the world if we can!

Finally I talk with Jacky Lamenzo, a teaching graduate in the States who couldn't find the right kind of work at home and so decided a bit on a whim to go abroad and teach in China. What she learnt there is a really life-changing lesson which I just loved hearing about.

Links:

• Bokksu - bokksu.com - remember to use THOUGHT5 to get $5 off any purchase! 
• Clare’s site The Book Next Door - Australian ESL materials for adults and young adults - http://thebooknextdoor.com/ 
• Clare Harris - Englishy Things - https://clareharris.com 
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Jacky Lamenzo - https://www.jackylamenzo.com/ 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/97

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I start Episode 96 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast chatting with Linda Schlencker, who has spent many, many months guiding small self-drive groups around various parts of Africa so really knows what she's talking about. We discuss some of the fears that people have that might prevent them coming on such a trip, too, and I have to admit that wildlife passing right by my tent at night is something I'm not entirely comfortable with either!

I then chat with Anna Kwiecinska who has fallen in love with Morocco and spent some long stretches of time there in recent years. She tells in particular of her romantic vision of heading out into the Sahara - and what the reality was like. (Fortunately - still good!)

Links:

• Huge thanks to this episode's sponsor, travel writer Alistair McGuinness - http://alistairmcguinness.com/
• You can find Alistair's books at the Books page on his website - http://www.alistairmcguinness.com/books - and on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Alistair-McGuinness/e/B00E5X0K0I/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1526892011&sr=8-1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=notabal-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=e749d44bc3fdb72c9cdb879a7ef43087&camp=1789&creative=9325
• Linda’s site Self Drive Adventures - http://www.selfdriveadventures.com/
• Anna Kwiecinska’s main website - https://www.annakwiecinska.com
• The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles - https://amzn.to/2Lf70WC 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/96

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Following on from that I talk to Samantha Fisher who ponders the idea that perhaps there are no mistakes when we travel. She has some examples of what's happened to her when she's made what we might call a travel mistake - and perhaps it's not all bad.

Finally, I have a fun talk with Elizabeth and Jeff Newcamp, who have had all kinds of travelling adventures over the years and have rather a long list of mishaps to tell about - and definitely prove that mistakes often make the best travel stories.

Links:

• Huge thanks to this episode's sponsor, travel writer Alistair McGuinness - alistairmcguinness.com
• You can find Alistair's books at the Books page on his website - http://www.alistairmcguinness.com/books and on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Alistair-McGuinness/e/B00E5X0K0I/
• Matt and Marilyn's site Words with Winos - http://www.wordswithwinos.com
• Sam on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/highhopestravel/
• Sam talks about staying at JumboStay in Stockholm - http://www.jumbostay.com
• Elizabeth and Jeff's blog Dutch Dutch Goose - http://www.dutchdutchgoose.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/95

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My first guest is Stina Frantzich Gardiner, a Swedish friend of mine here in Perth, and we chat about how her two children have been influenced by their trips back to Europe - along with how travel influenced Stina herself as she was growing up in Europe.

I then chat with Reeva Cutting who has quite a unique experience of travel as a child, when she would fly regularly within South Africa to visit her father. That experience has certainly set her up for a lifelong love of travel and importantly the confidence to do it.

Finally, I speak with the always delightful Luke Mackin who speaks to the experience of travelling super-long haul with three very young children - my full respect to Luke and his wife for managing these experiences so well, because I'm not sure I would!

Links:

• The life-changing magic of taking my son to Japan - https://notaballerina.com/japan2018 
• Stina’s site Birgit and Alvar - http://www.birgitandalvar.com/
• Reeva at Proudly South African in Perth - https://proudlysouthafricaninperth.com 
• Luke’s Wild Sumatra site and blog - https://www.wildsumatra.com/blog/ 
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/94

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In this episode I chat with Kelly Dunning about her first big trip, aged 21, and a particularly pivotal moment which helped her to get over travel anxiety. I also talk to Kati Craythorn who gets anxious about flying, as many of us do, and we discuss a few different travel anxiety tips from other listeners too which I hope will help everyone with overcoming travel anxiety - because it’s worth it!   

Links:

• Our sponsor Travel Journal School at traveljournalschool.com - you can try the “Facts Plus One Thing” module now for free!
• Kelly Dunning at Global Goose - https://global-goose.com
• Kati Craythorn at Queensland and Beyond - http://www.queenslandandbeyond.com
• Episode 71 - Getting Past Travel Anxiety - https://www.notaballerina.com/2017/10/getting-past-travel-anxiety-episode-71-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
• Jodi’s Gluten Free cards - https://www.legalnomads.com/gluten-free/
• Fear of flying: interview with a pilot - https://www.simplefamilytravel.net/blog/fearofflying
• Understanding turbulence - interview with a pilot https://www.simplefamilytravel.net/blog/understandinturbulence
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/93

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I’ve been lucky enough to live abroad in Japan, Slovakia and Germany and each experiencing was completely life-changing. In this episode, I speak with other travel lovers who have also taken the plunge to live in another country and had all kinds of different and fascinating experiences. First up, I speak with Sandra Muller who has spent a lot of time in Asia, but particularly living in South Korea. I’m rather envious of her experiences but you’ll have to listen to see why!

Next I chat with Cheri Shanti, an American who spends a lot of time based in Cuba these days. Cuba seems exotic and so different to me, from down here in Western Australia, so I was fascinated to chat with Cheri about her expat experiences there. 

Finally, I talk with Sarah Ridout, a fellow Australian whose expat experience includes a well over a decade living in Europe, covering both France and Ireland. These experiences also proved completely life-altering for Sarah and I loved the chance to speak with her about them.

Links:

• Our sponsor Travel Journal School at traveljournalschool.com
• Sandra Muller - www.sandralmuller.com 
• Sandra’s new project is The Smarter Writer www.thesmarterwriter.com  
• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba -  http://www.thebreathofcuba.com  
• Sarah Ridout’s website - http://www.sarahridout.com.au
• Join our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/92

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• Our sponsor Travel Journal School at traveljournalschool.com
• Marilyn and Matt’s site Words with Winos - http://wordswithwinos.com
• Clare’s site The Book Next Door - Australian ESL materials for adults and young adults - http://thebooknextdoor.com/
• Clare Harris - Englishy Things - https://clareharris.com
• Luke’s Wild Sumatra site and blog - http://wildsumatra.com

• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/91

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• Thanks to Kristy Morton for interviewing me - https://kristymorton.com
• My post about my love for green tea - https://www.notaballerina.com/2014/11/really-like-green-tea-lessons-japan-meeting-locals.html
• My "18 for 2018" list - http://www.amandakendle.com/18-things-2018/
• Thoughts on privilege - https://www.notaballerina.com/2012/05/two-egyptians-and-my-privilege-to.html
• Mina Mahrous, the Egyptian blogger - http://www.somedayillbethere.com/2012/04/no-not-everyone-can-travel-a-bubble-burster/
• Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes at https://notaballerina.com/90 

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First up, I chat with Matt Eakin - if you've heard Matt speak before you know his stories are always rippers! - and this time, Matt tells me about what happened when he decided to check out the Muslim festival of Estema on his trip to Bangladesh. Let's just say that the kind and interested strangers numbered literally into the thousands!

Next I chat with Cheri Shanti who recalls some of her favourite small acts of kindness from strangers when she's been travelling, in places from Thailand to North America - including a time when she was suddenly very ill.

Finally, Joanne Karcz has spent time walking on the Camino and has some really beautiful moments of random travel kindness to tell me about.

Links:

• Our great sponsor Career China - https://careerchina.com/
• Matt’s site Himalayan Schoolies - https://himalayanschoolies.com/
• Cheri’s site The Breath of Cuba http://www.thebreathofcuba.com 
• Joanne’s site Travel with Joanne https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/   
• Previous episode about the kindness of strangers: https://www.notaballerina.com/2017/11/kindness-strangers-travels-episode-76-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/88

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• Our great sponsor Career China - https://www.careerchina.com/
• Jo’s website Lifestyle Fifty - http://lifestylefifty.com/
• Jo’s travel blog Zigazag - http://zigazag.com/
• Kati at Queensland and Beyond - http://www.queenslandandbeyond.com
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/87

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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 here is something I've been trying to explain for years!

Finally, psychologist Kristen Truempy talks to me about the fear and growth process in the context of her own regular travel experiences. She says something eminently sensible about travel and your comfort zone but you'll have to listen to find out exactly what!

Links:

• Our great sponsor Career China - https://www.careerchina.com/
• Pam Lynch’s site Travelling Bag - http://travellingbag.com.au
• Pam’s new book, How the Hell Did I Get Here? - http://amzn.to/2Gs4QzJ 
• Anna Kwiecinska’s main website - https://www.annakwiecinska.com 
• Paul Bowles books - http://bit.ly/PaulBowlesBooks 
• Brilliant Blogging retreat in Bali - http://www.villanilayabalibeach.com/art-and-yoga-retreats/art-and-yoga-retreats-at-villa-nilaya-in-2018/amanda-kendle/ 
• Kristen’s The Positive Psychology Podcast - http://strengthsphoenix.com/listen
• First trips episode I mention https://www.notaballerina.com/2017/09/first-trips-episode-65-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html
•  
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/86  

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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 Knight, an Australian whose daughter was born in New York City, where they lived for the first few years of her life before returning home to Sydney. It's interesting to hear how important this second nationality is not just to Christine and her husband but to their daughter, too.    

Links:

• Big thanks to our sponsor this week and last, BoyEatsWorld.com.au
• Kids tips for travelling with parents - https://boyeatsworld.com.au/15-tips-for-travelling-with-parents/
• He said, she said, Bali by kids - https://boyeatsworld.com.au/he-said-she-said-bali-by-kids/ 
• Elizabeth and Jeff’s site Dutch Dutch Goose - http://www.dutchdutchgoose.com/
• Zwarte Piet/Black Pete “History of Europe’s Most Controversial Christmas Character” - https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/black-pete-christmas-zwarte-piet-dutch/
• Episode 70, Growing up in different cultures - https://www.notaballerina.com/2017/10/children-different-cultures-episode-70-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html 
• Jo’s website Lifestyle Fifty - http://lifestylefifty.com/ 
• Jo’s travel blog Zigazag - http://zigazag.com/ 
• Christine’s website Adventure Baby - https://christineknight.me
• Join our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NotABallerina   
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/85

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Thanks to our sponsor, Boy Eats World - https://boyeatsworld.com.au
• Aleney’s post about a recent ski adventure in Hokkaido - https://boyeatsworld.com.au/japow-wow-skiing-hoshino-resorts-tomamu-with-kids/ 
• Aleney’s post about Osaka (and okonomiyaki) - https://boyeatsworld.com.au/kids-osaka-and-okonomiyaki-recipe/ 
• Eva’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com 
• Linda’s site Self Drive Adventures - http://www.selfdriveadventures.com/ 
• Kristen’s The Positive Psychology Podcast - http://strengthsphoenix.com/listen
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/84

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Thanks to sponsor Glamping Hub - https://glampinghub.com
• Kelly Dunning at Global Goose - https://global-goose.com
• Kelly’s post on keeping up hobbies when you’re travelling - https://global-goose.com/hobbies-long-term-travel/
• Anna Kwiecinska’s main website - https://www.annakwiecinska.com
• Brilliant Blogging retreat in Bali - http://www.villanilayabalibeach.com/art-and-yoga-retreats/art-and-yoga-retreats-at-villa-nilaya-in-2018/amanda-kendle/
• Colin’s site Parenting, Passports and Profits - https://parentingpassportsandprofits.com/
• Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Show notes: http://notaballerina.com/82

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Thanks to sponsor Glamping Hub - https://glampinghub.com
• Kati at Queensland and Beyond - http://www.queenslandandbeyond.com
• Abby Lewtas’ website - life coach for travellers returning home - http://www.abbylewtas.com
• James at Four Seas, One Family - http://www.fourseasonefamily.com/
• Episode 51 on Reverse Culture Shock - https://www.notaballerina.com/2017/04/reverse-culture-shock-episode-51-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html

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