Destination Unlocked

Jersey may sit just a short flight from Britain, but this tiny Channel Island has its own government, its own traditions and a character shaped by Norman history, wartime occupation and some of the largest tides in the world.

Daniel is joined by Malcolm Lewis, owner of Longueville Manor, to unlock an island of medieval castles, sweeping beaches, exceptional seafood and wonderfully unexpected local customs.

Malcolm explains why Jersey is a Crown Dependency rather than part of the United Kingdom, how its twelve parishes help govern island life, and why the monarch is still affectionately toasted as the Duke of Normandy.

They explore the castles and fortifications scattered across Jersey, from Mont Orgueil and Elizabeth Castle to the bunkers left by the German Occupation. Malcolm reflects on the hardship islanders endured between 1940 and 1945, and why Liberation Day on 9 May remains Jersey’s most important annual celebration.

The conversation also turns to Longueville Manor, the historic country house hotel Malcolm’s grandparents rescued from disrepair and opened in 1949. He shares the remarkable story of how a family dream became one of Jersey’s best-known hotels, complete with woodland walks, a Victorian kitchen garden, local wildlife and honey produced on the estate.

Food is never far away. Discover why Jersey’s enormous tidal range produces outstanding lobster, crab, oysters and hand-dived scallops, what makes Jersey milk so famously rich, and why early May is the perfect time to enjoy Jersey Royals.

Malcolm also reveals:

• His essential Jersey experience
• The island’s best season for a visit
• Why St Ouen’s Bay is ideal for surfing
• The restaurant mistake first-time visitors should avoid
• How to explore Jersey’s 15mph Green Lanes
• The detective series to watch before travelling
• The traditional Jersey souvenir made from a cabbage stalk

From Gerald Durrell’s pioneering conservation work at Jersey Zoo to afternoon tea with homemade jam and Jersey cream, this is your expert introduction to an island that feels reassuringly familiar while remaining entirely itself.

About Malcolm Lewis

Malcolm Lewis is the owner of Longueville Manor in St Saviour, Jersey. The hotel has been owned and managed by the Lewis family since 1949 and is known for its personal hospitality, historic setting, gardens and close relationship with Jersey’s local producers.

Useful links

Longueville Manor: https://www.longuevillemanor.com/

Visit Jersey: https://www.jersey.com/

Jersey Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust: https://www.durrell.org/

Destination Unlocked: https://destinationunlocked.com/

What does Antarctica look like beyond the familiar cruise routes? Sam Bradley of Cookson Adventures joins Daniel to reveal a different side of the White Continent, reached by air from Cape Town and experienced from a remote camp deep within the Antarctic interior.

Sam shares what happened when he travelled south to research an extraordinary family adventure. He takes us inside vivid blue ice caves near the Schirmacher Oasis, describes the careful journey to an emperor penguin colony and explains why every Antarctic plan must remain flexible enough to follow the weather.

The conversation also explores what luxury really means at the end of the Earth. In a place where everything must be flown in and every trace of human activity must be removed, comfort takes on a different meaning. Warm cabins, excellent food and a sauna matter, but the greater luxury is a journey designed around the people taking it.

Sam explains how Cookson Adventures creates bespoke trips for families, from treasure hunts and private camps to meaningful conservation experiences. He also shares an important lesson from his Antarctic hosts: sometimes the best thing to do is stop, sit by the window and take in where you are.

In this episode:

• Flying from Cape Town into the Antarctic interior
• Staying at Ultima Oasis Camp
• Exploring Antarctica’s blue ice caves
• Visiting an emperor penguin colony responsibly
• The realities of operating in an extreme environment
• Designing bespoke adventures for families
• How luxury travel can support conservation
• Why time and personalisation are the rarest luxuries

Useful links

• Cookson Adventures
• Cookson Adventures on Instagram
• Cookson Adventures on LinkedIn
• Destination Unlocked

Finland is often reduced to two images: stylish Helsinki in the south and Santa Claus in snowy Lapland. Between them lies a vast country of forested islands, immense lakes, summer cottages, festivals and wood-fired saunas.

This week, Daniel is joined by writer and photographer Tim Bird, who first moved from Britain to Finland in 1982. More than four decades later, Tim is a Finnish citizen and the author of Happy Land: Finding My Inner Finn.

They begin in Helsinki, exploring a capital shaped by its relationship with the sea. Tim explains why the Oodi central library has become a living room for the city, what makes the rock-hewn Temppeliaukio Church so memorable and why every first-time visitor should take the ferry into the Helsinki Archipelago.

His essential recommendation is Suomenlinna, the historic sea fortress spread across a group of connected islands at the entrance to Helsinki’s harbour.

The journey then continues into the landscapes between Helsinki and Lapland. Tim introduces the vast Saimaa lake system, the forested ridge of Koli and the views across Lake Pielinen. He also shares practical advice for exploring rural Finland, including when public transport works and when having a car makes life considerably easier.

There is a proper introduction to Finnish sauna culture too. Daniel discovers what to wear, when nudity is perfectly normal and why an icy swim can become strangely irresistible. Tim also unpacks sisu, Finland’s famously difficult-to-translate quality of resilience, and considers why Finnish happiness may have more to do with trust, security and having enough than constant cheerfulness.

Finally, they discuss lake fish, rye bread, Karelian pies, forest berries, mushrooms and Finland’s formidable enthusiasm for coffee. Tim reveals the common mistakes visitors make when planning a Northern Lights trip, recommends Tove Jansson’s writing beyond the Moomins and chooses an authentic piece of Finnish design to bring home.

In this episode:

• Helsinki’s archipelago, Oodi and Temppeliaukio Church
• Why Suomenlinna is Tim’s essential Helsinki experience
• Saimaa, Koli and Finland’s overlooked Lakeland
• Finnish sauna etiquette and winter swimming
• The meaning of sisu
• Finnish food, coffee and tipping culture
• The truth about visiting Lapland and seeing the Northern Lights
• Tove Jansson beyond the Moomins
• Tim’s favourite season for visiting Finland

Guest: Tim Bird, writer, photographer and author of Happy Land: Finding My Inner Finn.

Guyana is one of South America’s least familiar destinations, yet it offers something increasingly rare: immense wilderness, extraordinary wildlife and travel experiences still rooted in small communities rather than mass tourism.

Travel writer Becca Marsh joins Daniel to share what she discovered during six weeks travelling across Guyana while updating the fourth edition of the Bradt Guide to Guyana.

From the thundering waters of Kaieteur Falls to the remote eco-lodges and wildlife-rich savannahs of the Rupununi, Becca takes us inside a country where journeys are part of the adventure. She recalls searching for jaguars, catching red-bellied piranhas, learning from Indigenous communities and discovering the unexpected flavours of Guyanese cuisine.

In this episode:

• Why Kaieteur Falls is one of the world’s great wilderness spectacles

• What it is like to travel through Guyana’s remote interior

• Community-owned eco-lodges and Indigenous-led tourism

• Encounters with giant river otters, caimans, piranhas and elusive jaguars

• The realities of Guyana’s roads, rivers and light-aircraft journeys

• Georgetown and Guyana’s remarkable mix of cultures

• Coconut choka, cassava and the dishes visitors should try

• Why Guyana rewards travellers who are curious, flexible and willing to slow down

This is an episode for wildlife lovers, adventurous travellers and anyone searching for a destination that still feels genuinely undiscovered.

ABOUT BECCA MARSH

Becca Marsh is a travel writer, editor and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Her work has taken her around the world, including an overland journey from London to Bangkok as part of the Global Convoy community.

She spent six weeks travelling around Guyana to update the fourth edition of the Bradt Guide to Guyana.

FIND OUT MORE

Becca’s website:

https://www.beccamarsh.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/beccamarsh_/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-marsh-frgs

Bradt’s Guyana guide:

https://www.bradtguides.com/destinations/central-south-america/guyana/

Global Convoy:

https://www.globalconvoy.com/our-story

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/globalconvoy/

LISTEN AND FOLLOW

Discover more destinations and travel stories at:

https://destinationunlocked.com/

Follow Destination Unlocked wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

French Waterways CEO Rosie Mansfield reveals how luxury hotel barges turn France's canals into intimate journeys through villages, vineyards and regional food.

What if the best way to see France is not from a large river ship, but from a luxury hotel barge travelling slowly through its canals, vineyards and villages?

In this episode of Destination Unlocked, Daniel Edward is joined by Rosie Mansfield, Chief Executive of French Waterways, to explore the intimate world of luxury barge cruising in France.

These elegant vessels may carry as few as two guests, with a private chef, dedicated crew and carefully planned excursions. Their low profile allows them to pass beneath small bridges and travel through waterways that larger river ships cannot reach.

Rosie takes us aboard Grand Victoria for her first barge cruise through Burgundy. From Champagne on arrival and four-course dinners to visits to the Hospices de Beaune, Clos de Vougeot and the vineyards of Romanée-Conti, she reveals what life aboard a luxury hotel barge is really like.

You’ll discover:

• The difference between a hotel barge and a conventional river cruise

• What a typical day aboard a luxury barge looks like

• How guests can walk or cycle beside the barge along the towpath

• Why the small-group experience changes both the cruising and the excursions

• How private chefs use ingredients and wines from the regions visited

• The best French waterways and regions for a barge holiday

• How to choose the right vessel, itinerary and crew

• Why Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux, Alsace and the Canal du Midi offer very different experiences

Rosie also explains how French Waterways matches travellers with more than 55 hotel barges across France. Cabin size, accessibility, bicycles, family requirements, food, wine and special interests can all help determine which barge and region will suit you best.

For travellers attracted to excellent food, personal service and a gentler way of exploring France, luxury barge cruising offers something genuinely distinctive.

ABOUT ROSIE MANSFIELD

Rosie Mansfield is Chief Executive of French Waterways, an independent specialist in hotel-barge cruises, river cruises and self-drive boating holidays across France. She travels extensively on the waterways, visits vessels and meets their owners and crews, giving her first-hand knowledge of the experiences she recommends.

USEFUL LINKS

French Waterways: https://www.french-waterways.com/

Meet Rosie Mansfield: https://www.french-waterways.com/about-fw/rosie-mansfield/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frenchwaterways/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/french-waterways-com

Explore France with Destination Unlocked: https://destinationunlocked.com/destinations/

ABOUT DESTINATION UNLOCKED

Destination Unlocked is the travel podcast that is as useful as a guidebook and as easy as a chat with a friend. Each episode brings you practical advice, local expertise and the stories that help you get more from your travels.

Presented by Daniel Edward.

Follow Destination Unlocked and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Sicily is more than turquoise water, baroque towns and scenes from The White Lotus. Travel creator Danielle Nemesio joins Daniel to reveal the island beneath the postcard, from Palermo’s exuberant markets and Mount Etna’s volcanic vineyards to family rituals, fierce hospitality and the realities of making a life in Sicily.

In this episode of Destination Unlocked, Danielle takes us beneath Sicily’s polished surface. She explains why Palermo is the best place to begin, why trying to conquer the Mediterranean’s largest island in five days is a terrible idea, and why June, September and October are usually kinder than the blistering peak of summer.

https://www.destinationunlocked.com

We travel from the street-food markets of Ballarò and Vucciria to the pistachio town of Bronte, the black volcanic landscape of Mount Etna and the dazzling white cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi. Danielle also makes a persuasive case for Sicily having the finest food in Italy, with caponata, pasta alla Norma, freshly filled cannoli, sarde a beccafico and the considerably more adventurous stigghiola all entering the conversation.

There is plenty of practical advice too. Danielle explains the importance of learning a little Italian, the local approach to tipping, what Sicily’s famous one-euro houses really involve and why an agriturismo or vineyard stay can offer a richer experience of the island. She also shares the romantic story of meeting her Sicilian husband while they were both working at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT, a meeting that eventually led to what she calls her ‘reverse American dream’.

Most importantly, this is a conversation about what Sicily feels like from the inside: a place where life moves piano piano, community comes first and saying goodbye can take an hour because there is always another kiss, hug or conversation before you finally reach the car.

In this episode

• Why Palermo makes a compelling starting point for a first visit
• How much of Sicily you can realistically see in one trip
• The best months to visit and why August can be difficult
• Mount Etna, Bronte pistachios and the Scala dei Turchi
• What to eat in Palermo’s markets and how to spot a properly filled cannolo
• The truth behind Sicily’s one-euro house schemes
• Italian phrases, tipping habits and the long Sicilian goodbye
• How moving abroad changed Danielle’s relationship with work, identity and community

Travel journalist Richard Collett joins Daniel Edward to explore Devon and Cornwall through coast, food, tourism, regional identity and Britain’s internal borders.

https://www.destinationunlocked.com

Devon and Cornwall share England’s far south-west, but cross the River Tamar and the differences quickly become more than a line on the map.

Travel journalist Richard Collett joins Daniel Edward to explore two counties connected by coast, food and family holidays, yet separated by distinct histories and identities. Richard lives in Exmouth and opens his new book, Along the Borders: In Search of What Divides and Unites Us, in Cornwall.

Together, Daniel and Richard follow the South West Coast Path, compare Cornwall’s powerful international identity with Devon’s quieter character, and ask how visitors can enjoy the region without simply joining the summer crush in its best-known hotspots.

There is also a proper hearing for cream first versus jam first, alongside pasties, harbour seafood, St Ives, Dartmoor and the question at the heart of Richard’s book: why do identities often become strongest at the edges?

Tenerife is one of Europe’s great winter-sun escapes - but if your entire experience is limited to a pool, a buffet and a strip of imported bars, you may return home without really meeting the island at all.

In this episode, Daniel Edward is joined by writer John Reid, whose family connections with Tenerife stretch back generations. John spent many years showing visitors around the island as a private guide. Now retired from guiding, he continues to bring Tenerife’s history and characters to life through the books he publishes as John Reid Young.

More here: https://www.destinationunlocked.com

Together, Daniel and John leave the resort strip behind to discover an island that behaves like a miniature continent. The dry, sun-soaked south gives way to vineyards, banana plantations and greener landscapes in the north. Above them both rise the volcanic formations of Teide National Park, while the Anaga Mountains conceal laurel forest, deep ravines and rural hamlets.

John also introduces Tenerife’s guachinches, volcanic wines and hearty local dishes, and explains how the island’s history connects British travellers, Atlantic trade and Nelson’s failed attack on Santa Cruz.

Alaska is so vast that even a 300-mile railway journey covers only a fraction of it. To experience more of the Last Frontier, rail guide Derek Mooneyham recommends combining the glaciers and coastal communities of an Alaska cruise with a journey inland to Anchorage, Talkeetna and Denali National Park.

Derek joins Daniel to explain what makes Alaska unlike anywhere else in the United States. Their journey begins in Juneau, the isolated state capital accessible only by air or water, before following the coast towards Whittier and the railway into Alaska’s immense interior.

Derek takes guests between the cruise ships and Denali aboard Holland America Princess’s glass-domed railcars. With panoramic views upstairs, a dining room below and open-air platforms along the train, the journey is designed to make the scenery part of the experience. Derek adds his own stories, poems, music and props - and occasionally turns a passing encounter between two trains into a playful window-sign rivalry and dance party.

The route follows Turnagain Arm and continues through mountain landscapes, braided rivers and vast stretches of wilderness. Derek explains why he prefers beginning with the land portion of a holiday before travelling south to join the ship, and what visitors can expect from the lodges near Denali National Park.

The conversation also explores some of Alaska’s essential experiences. Derek shares practical advice for spotting wildlife in Denali, visiting the Anchorage Museum and exploring Talkeetna. His ultimate recommendation is a flightseeing tour from Talkeetna, soaring past glaciers and enormous mountain peaks before landing on a glacier beneath Denali.

Along the way, Daniel and Derek discuss the construction of the Alaska Railroad, Alaska Native culture, the state’s Russian history and the food visitors should seek out - including fresh salmon and halibut fish and chips.

Derek’s most important planning tip is simple: check exactly how long your ship will spend in each port before booking. A call at Juneau may look impressive on the itinerary, but a short afternoon visit can leave little time for the experiences you had hoped to fit in.

From the waterways of Southeast Alaska to the slopes of North America’s highest mountain, this episode reveals a destination where the journey is every bit as memorable as the arrival.

Lagos is loud, crowded and relentlessly energetic - but Vanessa Jev believes first-time visitors soon learn to move with it. In this episode, the director of the Lagos International Theatre Festival joins Daniel to explore the food, neighbourhoods and creative communities of her adopted home.

For More: https://www.destinationunlocked.com

Vanessa explains why Victoria Island and Lekki are convenient bases for visitors, how traffic can shape an entire day and why app-based taxis are generally the simplest way to travel. She also shares the best time to experience Lagos at full throttle: November and December, when the city’s calendar fills with theatre, film, fashion, concerts and festivals.

The conversation takes in the Lekki Arts and Crafts Market, Nike Art Gallery, the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History and Terra Kulture - the arts centre that first persuaded Vanessa to exchange Canada for Lagos. There are suggestions for exploring beyond the principal visitor districts too, from the New Afrika Shrine on the mainland to the beaches and resorts stretching east along the Lekki Peninsula.

Food is never far away. Vanessa introduces Daniel to suya served hot from the evening grill, small chops packed with puff-puff, samosas and spring rolls, fresh palm wine, àmàlà and the unmistakably Nigerian combination of suya and a cold Chapman.

Theatre provides the episode’s inside view of Lagos. Vanessa describes audiences who talk back to performers, actors who respond without missing a beat and productions that use humour to approach dating, sex, tradition and the pressures of everyday Nigerian life. She also reveals what goes into transforming the MUSON Centre into a festival ground filled with simultaneous performances, workshops, food, music and family entertainment.

In the quick-fire round, discover Vanessa’s favourite Lagos experience, the tourist overcharging trap to avoid, the film and book to enjoy before travelling, and why a miniature yellow danfo bus makes the perfect souvenir.

The Lagos International Theatre Festival runs in November. Find details and forthcoming programme announcements on the official festival website.