The Better Travel Podcast

Zakia Moulaoui Guery, CEO of Invisible Cities, shares how her company creates exceptional travel experiences that allow visitors to give back to the people and places they visit.

Thanks so much for listening!

Links and things

Invisible Cities website: https://invisible-cities.org/

Zakia’s TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWITmCWSZrw

The International Network of Social Tours: https://inst.ngo/

Link to register for free Sept 23 Zoom event on travel with purpose: https://bit.ly/3UrEXXs

Why is the beach synonymous with paradise for so many of us? How do beach resorts change the communities around them? And will they manage to survive rising sea levels?

In the first episode of Season 3, Paige speaks with Sarah Stodola, author of “The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit and Peril at the Beach,” for a deep dive on one of humanity’s favorite travel destinations.

Thanks so much for listening!

Links and things

Sarah’s website https://sarahstodola.com/

Sarah’s book https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-last-resort-sarah-stodola?variant=39703502389282

Flung, Sarah’s travel magazine: https://flungmagazine.com/

Sign up for Paige’s newsletter: www.paigemcclanahan.com/newsletter

For the Season 2 finale, Paige speaks to Bruce Poon Tip, who is both the founder of a major adventure travel company and an executive producer of “The Last Tourist,” an award-winning documentary that makes the case for why we need to dramatically rethink the way we travel.

Bruce shares the film’s origin story and explains why he wanted the movie to convey a message of hope: that travel — done right — can bring wealth into some of the world’s poorest areas, creating jobs and alleviating poverty.

Bruce also talks about G Adventures, the travel company he founded in 1990, and shares the company’s innovative approach to making sure they give back to the communities they visit.

Plus, listen up for a (somewhat spicy) language lesson in Greek!

That’s a wrap on Season 2! Thank you so much for listening. We hope you’ll follow along on Instagram or Twitter to stay in the loop for Season 3!

Resources

The Last Tourist website (includes links to streaming services)

G Adventures

Information on the G Adventures Ripple Score

This week, we’re talking about safari tourism — but not the kind of safari you might be thinking of. Instead of looking for giraffes, lions and elephants on the savannas of Kenya or Tanzania, we’re heading to Italy to go wolf tracking and to Romania to spy wild European bison.

Our guide here is Aukje van Gerven of the European Safari Company and Rewilding Europe. Aukje tells us about rewilding trends in Europe and describes how wildlife tourism is opening up new opportunities — both for visitors, and for the people living in Europe’s rural areas.

Plus, Paige gets a fascinating history lesson and language lesson from Sierra Leonean star Vickie Remoe!

Thanks so much for listening. We’ll be back next week with the final episode of Season 2!

Resources

The Vickie Remoe Show

Vickie Remoe on Twitter and Instagram

The European Safari Company

Rewilding Europe

Comment piece on tourism and rewilding from Justin Francis of Responsible Travel

This week, we’re bringing you a conversation with Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler! Tony joins the show to tell the story of the company’s founding and to talk about how guidebooks have changed the way we travel. He also reminisces about the “Hippie Trail” across Asia in the 1970s and tells us about the strangest place he’s ever been.

Plus, listen up for our latest language lesson, in which our producer Artemis learns a beautiful and meaningful phrase in Czech.

Next week, we’ll be off for a quick Spring Break! We’ll be back on April 7 with the penultimate episode of Season 2.

Thank you so much for listening!

Resources

Tony Wheeler’s website

Tony and Maureen Wheeler’s book, Unlikely Destinations: The Lonely Planet Story

Uganda’s first wildlife vet, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, joins the show this week to share how tourism has affected the lives of the wildlife and residents in and around Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in southwestern Uganda.

Dr. Gladys, who was recently named a UN Champion of the Earth, is the founder and CEO of both Conservation Through Public Health and Gorilla Conservation Coffee. She joins the show to talk about the important economic opportunities that have come with gorilla trekking, as well the health challenges that have arisen as gorillas and humans have come into closer contact. She shares how Uganda’s gorilla population has grown since tourism began in the area, and explains why they recently had their first gorilla poaching incident in a very long time.

Plus, listen up for Paige’s language lesson with a native of a European micro-state that’s famous for its luxury tourism.

Thanks so much for listening, and have a great week!

Resources

Conservation Through Public Health

Information on gorilla trekking with CTPH

Gorilla Conservation Coffee

Find Dr. Gladys on Instagram and Twitter

This week, Paige is joined by Erin Elizabeth Hynes, an experienced and enthusiastic traveler, travel writer and travel podcaster who shares some excellent advice for her fellow women wanderers, as well as some of her travel stories from Venice, Morocco, Greece and beyond.

But the episode kicks off with this week’s language lesson (in Japanese!), which is taught by Miyuki Seguchi, a traveler, tour guide and podcast host whose aim is to help people have immersive and transformative experiences when they visit Japan.

Did any of Erin’s stories resonate with you? In what ways do you think travel is different for women? I’d love to hear your thoughts and hope you’ll share by sending me a voice message.

Thank you so much for listening!

Resources

Erin’s blog, Pina Travels

The Alpaca My Bags Podcast, which Erin hosts

Miyuki Seguchi’s website

Miyuki’s Japan Experts Podcast

This week, we’re exploring a topic that’s on the minds of a lot of travelers these days: short-term tourist rentals, which is a service offered by a lot of companies, but perhaps the most well known is Airbnb.

First up, Dr. Daniel Guttentag of the College of Charleston joins the show to explain why short-term rentals hold so much appeal, and to tell us how these kinds of services have evolved over the years. He also describes some of the impacts of short-term rentals and offers some advice for travelers who are looking to have a positive impact when they book a rental stay.

Next, Paige speaks to Jonathan Reyes, co-founder of a cooperative called Fairbnb that is taking a collaborative approach to offering rented tourist accommodation in popular destinations in Europe and beyond. 

Plus, listen up for a few snippets from Paige’s recent trip to Florence with her family.

Thank you so much for listening!

Resources

Donation page for the UN Refugee Agency's work to support Ukrainian families

Dr. Daniel Guttentag and his research on Airbnb

Paige’s 2021 story on Airbnb in Barcelona for The New York Times (unlocked link)

Fairbnb

A 2016 article in The Guardian about Fairbnb

This week, we speak to Mark Smith of the Man in Seat 61 and Anna Hughes of Flight Free UK to find out why a lot of travelers are switching from planes to trains, and to learn about some of the exciting new train routes we can explore.

Anna Hughes is the director of Flight Free UK, which is working to inspire people to embrace trains and other forms of travel that have a low-carbon impact – including by asking people to pledge to take a year off flying. She shares how they aim to see the pledge not as a sacrifice, but as an opportunity to explore different (and maybe more rewarding!) forms of travel.

Mark Smith is the founder and CEO of The Man in Seat 61, a fantastic online resource with information on train routes, fares and timings in Europe, the UK and beyond. He joins the show to talk about why he’s seeing growing interest in train travel, to offer tips for how train travelers can find good deals, and to share his favorite rail routes in Europe.

Plus, listen up for our latest language lesson, in which Paige learns a wonderful phrase in Dutch.

Thank you so much for listening!

Resources

Flight Free UK

The Flight Free Pledge

The Man in Seat 61