Travel For Curious Minds - The Travel Podcast from Jules Verne Stories Insight and Adventure

While we are away recording brand new episodes for the next season, we are re-sharing some of our favourite episodes from the archive. We hope you enjoy them.

Today, we have Founder and President of Tusk, Charlie Mayhew, OBE, in the ‘Travel For Curious Minds’ hot seat, revealing top travel tips and destinations in a round of quickfire questions.

To find out more about Charlie, you can head over to:

Instagram – Charlie Mayhew

Instagram – Tusk

YouTube - Tusk

LinkedIn - Tusk

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

While we are away recording brand new episodes for the next season, we are re-sharing some of our favourite episodes from the archive. We hope you enjoy them.

This week, our host, Abbey, chats with Charlie Mayhew OBE, President and founder of Tusk, the UK’s leading African conservation NGO.

After witnessing the devastating impact of the illegal wildlife trade in his early twenties, Charlie has dedicated his life to supporting wildlife conservation across Africa. Join him as he shares insights on how to keep conservation at the forefront of your mind when planning your travels—and why he believes that, above all, a sense of humour is the most important thing to pack in your suitcase!

To find out more about Charlie, you can head over to:

Instagram – Charlie Mayhew

Instagram – Tusk

YouTube - Tusk

LinkedIn - Tusk

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

While we are away recording brand new episodes for the next season, we are re-sharing some of our favourite episodes from the archive. We hope you enjoy them.

In today’s episode of quickfire questions, David O’Neill MBE reveals his top travel tips and details of his next adventure for the listeners of the Travel For Curious Minds podcast.

To find out more about David, you can head over to:

David O'Neill - LinkedIn

InSTR - LinkedIn

Fire Aid - Facebook

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

While we are away recording brand new episodes for the next season, we are re-sharing some of our favourite episodes from the archive. We hope you enjoy them.

After retiring from his position as Assistant Commissioner in the London Fire Brigade following over three decades of service, David O’Neill MBE joins host Abbey Cousins in this week’s episode of Travel For Curious Minds. David and Abbey chat about his incredible career so far and the life-changing adventures that have shaped it.

With moving tales from the frontlines of international rescue efforts, including when David led the UK response team in the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, and fascinating stories that will transport listeners to the jungles of Bhutan, lakesides of Pakistan and mountains of Nepal, this episode takes listeners on an adventure far from the beaten track.

To find out more about David and his work, you can head over to:

David O'Neill - LinkedIn

InSTR - LinkedIn

Fire Aid - Facebook

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

This week, Abbey is in the Travel for Curious Minds' hot seat, answering producer Steve's quickfire questions on all things travel.

This is a video podcast also, and you can watch the video on the link here:

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

And for more information for your curious mind, have a look at these:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Behind the Mic – Producer Steve takes over to ask host Abbey about her own travel story.

Usually Abbey asks the questions. This time, the tables turn.

Travel for Curious Minds’ producer Steve steps into the host's chair to find out how Abbey's own love of travel started — and to look back over some of the guests and stories that have stuck with the team most.

In this episode:

• A childhood in Zimbabwe, a visit to a local village, and the moment curiosity about difference first took hold
• The Egypt Journey – from looking ahead at the opening of the GEM with Tarek and Rania, through it’s exciting opening with Debbie O’Neill, and finally the local perspective from guide Mahal
• Jo Kessel's "pinch me" arrival in Antarctica, penguins and all
• Portia Jones on the relationship between travel, meeting people on a bus in New Zealand, and true friendship
• Rachel Lankester’s visit to North Korea's Arirang Games — and the very real challenge of finding an authentic sound effect for 3,000 people holding up cards
• Charlie Mayhew's roadside repairs, a corrupt border stop in Zaire, and a kangaroo court in the jungle
• David O'Neill MBE on travelling toward disasters, not away from them — earthquakes, floods, and a plane that ran out of fuel over Nepal
• Lucy Meggesonson's sofa epiphany, and the US road trip it led to

There's also a look at the thread running through every guest so far — and why the destination might matter less than you'd think.

To go back and listen to these episodes, just look in the archive on the podcast player you’re on right now.

And we will re-share some of our favourites over the next few weeks, while we are recording brand new episodes for the next season.

This is a video podcast also, and you can watch the video on the link here:

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

And for more insight for your curious mind, here is some more information

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

This week, Lauren is in the Travel for Curious Minds' hot seat, answering host Abbey Cousins’ quickfire questions on all things Algeria.

This is a video podcast also, and you can watch the video on the link here:

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

And for more information for your curious mind, have a look at these:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Algeria isn't on most people's travel list. That's exactly what makes it worth talking about.

Jules Verne’s own Lauren Valentine joins host Abbey to share what it’s really like to visit one of the world’s least-visited countries - and why she came back wondering why more people aren’t going.

Lauren started travelling at 18, solo, with no real plan - and spent the best part of four years moving through Australia, Canada, Central America, and beyond before moving into a career in travel. As Jules Verne’s very own ‘explorer’, Lauren tells us why Algeria felt unlike anywhere she'd been:

In this episode:

·      A beach in Costa Rica, a sleeping crocodile ten metres away, and a very quick decision to move

·      Hiking an active volcano in Guatemala and spending the night watching it erupt

·      Constantine - a city built over a gorge, full of bridges, and entirely free of other tourists

·      Timgad Roman ruins, where the only sound was the wind

·      A village welcome: traditional dress, a song, figs dipped in olive oil, and a ceremony that caught everyone off guard

·      The food - couscous, tagines, homemade bread, and a lunch eaten overlooking Roman ruins

·      Locals wanting selfies, strangers asking to practise their English, and an airport conversation that set the tone for the whole trip

There's also an honest answer to the question Lauren kept getting asked in Algeria: what are you doing here?

Thinking about Algeria? Discover Jules Verne’s small group tours and explore a destination few travellers have experienced. Visit julesverne.co.uk for details.

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

For more about Jules Verne Travel:

Website - Jules Verne Travel

To subscribe to this podcast so you get each new fortnightly episode straight into your inbox the moment it goes live, you can either subscribe on your podcast app (search for Travel for Curious Minds) or go here:

Travel for Curious Minds

As with the full episode, we are revisiting the quickfire round with Eleanor Mills this week.

Eleanor is in the Travel for Curious Minds' hot seat, answering host Abbey Cousins’ quickfire questions on all things travel and adventure.

And for more information for your curious mind, have a look at these:

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

There’s a slight change for this week’s episode. With female solo travel such a hot topic right now, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit one of our earlier conversations that truly captures the spirit of adventure and independence.

In one of our very first episodes, we sat down with Eleanor Mills to explore how women are redefining travel on their own terms – embracing freedom, confidence, and new experiences around the world.

Eleanor, an award-winning editor, writer and broadcaster, is the founder of NOON – a community focused on supporting, empowering and reframing the conversation around middle-aged women (aka Queenagers)

Feel inspired as Eleanor discusses everything from NOON’s mission to get women excited about midlife and all the joys that come with it to her experiences of travel’s transformative power.

Since the original broadcast, Eleanor's book has been published and is available on the link below.

To find out more about Eleanor, you can head over to:

Instagram

The Noon Website

Order the book

And you can e-mail Eleanor at: [email protected]

For more information about travel for your curious mind:

Website - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

Instagram - Travel for Curious Minds Podcast

YouTube - Travel for Curious Minds

For more about Jules Verne Travel:

Website - Jules Verne Travel

To subscribe to this podcast so you get each new fortnightly episode straight into your inbox the moment it goes live, you can either subscribe on your podcast app (search for Travel for Curious Minds) or go here:

Travel for Curious Minds