Have you ever read a novel set in a foreign place and wondered just how the author knew how to describe everything in this place? Chances are they took a trip there as part of their research and in Episode 43 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda chats with three novelists who have done just that.

Natasha Lester is a fellow Perth-ite who writes historical fiction set in such wondrous places as New York City and Paris, and we chat about her experiences of travelling to these cities to do research for her novels.

Amanda also chats with Kate Forsyth, author of over 40 novels and veteran of many research trips to places like Venice, Scotland and the south of France, and she surprises Amanda with which part of the writing process she’s at when she takes her research trips.

Finally, Sarah Ridout speaks of the wonders of living abroad and how that inspires her writing, and they chat about the many benefits of living outside your own country, for your life in general as well as your novel-writing!

Links:

• Natasha Lester’s website 
• Natasha’s novel A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald 
• Natasha’s new novel Her Mother's Secret 
• Kate Forsyth’s website 
• Kate’s novel Bitter Greens
• Kate’s novel The Wild Girl
• Kate’s novel The Beast’s Garden
• Sarah Ridout’s website
• Sarah’s novel Le Chateau - hard copy (in Australia)
• Le Chateau in Kindle version 
• Show notes: notaballerina.com/43
• Join our Facebook group 
• Tweet @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow on Facebook

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Great Travel Souvenirs

What do you bring back from a trip besides photographs and stories? I talked with three Australian travellers about their favourite souvenirs and how important they are as a means for remembering travel experiences.

Sarah Ridout lived abroad in France, England and Ireland for over a decade before returning to Australia, and she collected a very smart kind of souvenir so that she’s constantly reminded of those experiences. Following Sarah, I chat with Julie Jones who explained that the kinds of souvenirs she and her family bring home from a trip have changed over the years. Holly Galbraith then chats with me about her aim to have ethically sourced souvenirs from her travels.

Links:

• Sarah Ridout’s website - http://www.sarahridout.com.au
• Sarah’s novel Le Chateau - hard copy (in Australia) - http://www.booktopia.com.au/le-chateau-sarah-ridout/prod9781760404413.html 
• Le Chateau in Kindle version - http://amzn.to/2kN8NHF
• Julie’s blog Have Wheelchair Will Travel - http://havewheelchairwilltravel.net
• Have Wheelchair Will Travel Facebook community - https://www.facebook.com/HaveWheelchairWillTravel/
• Holly Galbraith’s website - http://hollyg.com.au/
• Holly’s Tourism Upgrade podcast - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/tourism-upgrade-with-hollyg/id1132030357?mt=2
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/42
• 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   

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

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Travelling to countries with different customs and cultures from your own can induce varying kinds of culture shock, and Episode 41 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast looks at a few examples of culture shock across Asia and the Middle East. 

Amanda begins by speaking to Matt Treglia about some of his very first travel experiences abroad, and especially the terror that came with trying to cross a busy road in Thailand, and his new-found love of the fact that most places outside of his home country of the United States don’t expect you to tip people!

Following Matt, Amanda talks to Diana Edelman more about the cultural differences in Thailand and the various customs Diana had to get used to when she moved to Thailand. There is a lot to learn, and the Thai people don’t want you to lose face by telling you about the mistakes you make, so it’s a tricky road to navigate.

Emma Mann then talks to Amanda about the unease she felt travelling as a young woman in the Middle East, when it was made clear to her that she shouldn’t speak or be involved in any decision making - something that was very different to the way she had been brought up in Australia.

Links:

• Matt’s site Words with Winos
• Words with Winos podcast 
• My post on things I didn’t expect in Bangkok
• Diana Edelman at D Travels Round
• Diana’s new site, Vegans Baby
• Emma Mann at The Vagabond Feminist 
• Emma’s Flying Foodie blog 
• Japan Times article on “hesokuri” 
• Join our Facebook group
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook    
• Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/41

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

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Amanda is always looking for great reasons to persuade others to travel more and Episode 40 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast provides quite a few of those. Amanda chats with three guests who each have had interesting experiences teaching them something important on their travels

Jeff Ryan, who in previous episodes has taught us the dangers of porcupines eating the rubber parts of your car, returns to chat about how travel can teach us a much more open mindset.

Following Jeff, Amanda chats with Chris Christensen who has already learnt that anything bad that happens on your travels is just a good story and not worth otherwise remembering, and he shares a great story about having trouble finding room at the inn when his children were young.

Finally, Amanda gets very philosophical with Jeff Sandquist who went on a road trip and figured out some enormous changes he needed to make to his life.

Links:

• Jeff Ryan’s author website
• Jeff’s book, Appalachian Odyssey
• Chris Christensen’s site Amateur Traveler
• Chris’s Amateur Traveler podcast
• Jeff Sandquist’s website
• Jeff’s Intentionally Wandering podcast on iTunes
• Join our Facebook group
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Join the conversation on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s 2017, everyone’s making plans for a new year, and it’s time to talk about one of the things that sometimes stops up making travel plans: fear. In Episode 39 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda talks with two great travellers who have had various worries before they’ve embarked on big trips, but they did it anyway, and of course are glad they did.

First up, she speaks with Cait Flanders who spent a couple of months on a solo road trip throughout North America last year. She confesses she was freaking out before she left … but of course, everything turned out fine and she learned a lot along the way.

Serena Star-Leonard is a traveller Amanda really admires for her seemingly fearless trips to all corners of the globe, and into sometimes challenging situations, but she confesses, too, that she’s not as confident as Amanda might have expected.

Links:

• Cait Flanders’ website
• Cait’s Budgets and Cents podcast
• Serena Star-Leonard’s Retire in 12 Months project
• Travel Kids Club
• Join our Facebook group 
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 38 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast is the final episode for 2016 so Amanda is talking about New Year’s Eve Travels. Celebrating a new year is fun wherever you are but being somewhere away from home can make it even more exciting and memorable.

First up, Kim-Ling of Travel-Ling has a great story to tell about a New Year’s Eve she spent on the island of Ibiza. Let’s just say it’s probably not quite the story you’re expecting to hear! Following Ling, Di Bortoletto of Travelletto talks about a great New Year’s Eve she spent in Tasmania recently.

To finish the year, Amanda shares some of the travel resolutions and goals from listeners who are in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group - some of their planned trips might make you feel a little envious!

Links:

• Dianne Bortoletto of Travelletto
• Kim-Ling of Travel-Ling
• Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Merry Christmas! With Christmas just around the corner, Episode 37 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast turns to travelling at Christmas time and Amanda chats with several travellers who have spent Christmas in far flung parts of the world.

First up is Annalicia Lynn who had an interesting Christmas in Taiwan while she was teaching English there. Amanda and Annalicia chat about the cultural differences between many Asian countries and English-speaking nations and she has a very sweet story about how her Taiwanese colleagues tried to create a Christmas atmosphere in the workplace.

Emma Mann has recently 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 from the Without a Path podcast chats about his current experience living in Germany at Christmas time - one of my favourite places to be during this season!

Links:

• Annalicia Lynn of Yoga & Pilates Online
• Emma Mann at The Vagabond Feminist
• Emma’s Flying Foodie blog
• Joe Baur’s Without A Path podcast
• Joe’s book on Costa Rica - Talking Tico
• Joe’s post on the Drachenburg Christmas Market
• Tim Minchin’s White Wine in the Sun
• Join our Facebook group 
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s all about Japan in Episode 36 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. It’s rare that Amanda chats about a single destination but she's made an exception for Japan, because a bunch of my guests have talked about it and she's just come back from a fabulous week exploring one of her favourite countries in the world.

Photographer Martin Bailey moved to Japan 25 years ago to work in a lace factory and has now lived there most of his adult life. He has lots of wisdom to important about all things Japanese and yet they end up talking about toilets!

Aggie Lim joins Amanda next to speak about issues of nudity. For a very modest society, Japan is very forward when it comes to bathing with strangers and we Aussies have a hard time adjusting to the onsen way of life.

Finally, Joe Baur reminds Amanda of some of the challenges of getting by in Japan without fluent Japanese and we also chat about the amazing transport system.

Links:

• Martin Bailey
• Martin’s photography tours and workshops
• God in the Toilet on Wikipedia
• God in the Toilet song on YouTube
• Aggie Lim at Drawn to Explore
• Joe Baur’s website
• Joe’s Without A Path podcast
• 5 reasons I’m excited to return to Japan
• Onsens and nudity in Japan
• 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

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode 35 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast Amanda has a lot of fun chatting about the magic of making friends while you travel. There are so many bonuses of travel they don’t advertise in the brochures and developing friendships with people from all around the world is certainly one of them.

Julie Jones joins Amanda to chat about the lifelong friendships she has formed while travelling and they muse on just why it seems easier to make friends when they’re away from home. After Julie, Amanda chats with Holly Galbraith about her many experiences of both making new friends and enhancing existing friendships through her travels.

Finally, one of Amanda's all-time favourite guests Jeff Ryan talks about a different kind of friend he made while travelling. You’ll have to listen to find out what “different” means!

Links:

• Julie’s blog Have Wheelchair Will Travel 
• Have Wheelchair Will Travel Facebook community
• Holly Galbraith’s website
• Holly’s Tourism Upgrade podcast
• Jeff Ryan’s author website
• Jeff’s book, Appalachian Odyssey
• Episode 11, The Magic of Getting Lost
• Looking for Yuko
• Join our Facebook group
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Follow me on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stereotypes of people by nationality are rife in the world, and come up all the time when we travel. In Episode 34 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, Amanda chats with three people of different nationalities about their experiences with stereotypes on their travels.

Jeremy Kloberdanz of The Life Bohemian has an interesting story to tell about an immigrant man he and his wife met while travelling around Italy; a man who wasn’t what he seemed.

Lola Akinmade Åkerström, a Nigerian travel photographer living and working in Sweden, has a lot to say about pushing back against stereotypes and has a lot of wisdom to impart about sharing your own culture with others as well as learning about theirs.

New Zealander Tom Parson of The Lego Backpacker also has some wise words about stereotypes and speaks about his experiences when working in China in the management of a furniture design factory.

Links:

• Episode 4 on Smashing Stereotypes.
• Jeremy and Katie Kloberdanz of The Life Bohemian website
• The Life Bohemian Podcast
• Lola’s site Geotraveler’s Niche.
• Lola’s post about breaking down stereotypes on Women on the Road
• Tom Parson of The Lego Backpacker on Instagram.
• Lego Backpacker website coming soon.
• Join our Facebook group 
• Tweet me @amandakendle
• Hashtag #thoughtfultravelpod
• Chat on Facebook

Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.