Travel Writing World

Charles Nicholl, Courtesy of the Author

In 1986, Charles Nicholl traveled through Thailand to learn about the spiritual traditions of forest Buddhism. But things are not always so straightforward in Thailand. When Charles meets Harry, an old French Indochina hand, on the night train north with his tales of gem smuggling and opium smoking, it leads to a journey along the banks of the Mekong, into the Golden Triangle, and into Burma.

Charles joins me today to talk about his adventures, story structure in travel writing, and about his book Borderlines: A Journey in Thailand and Burma (Eland 2021). 

Purchase Charles Nicholl's book Borderlines

Support independent publishers and purchase Borderlines directly from Eland.

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Nick Hunt, Courtesy of the Author

Nick Hunt takes us across landscapes that should not be there, wildernesses found in Europe yet seemingly belonging to far-off continents: a patch of Arctic tundra in Scotland; the continent's largest surviving remnant of ancient forest in Poland and Belarus; Europe's only true desert in Spain; and the fathomless grassland steppes of Hungary. From snow-capped mountain range to dense green forest, desert ravines to threadbare, yellow open grassland, these oddities transport us to faraway regions of the world. 

Nick joins me today to talk about these spaces, which he document in his new book Outlandish (John Murray Press 2021). We also talk about travel writing’s relationship with nature writing and address a critique of the genres as being too egocentric. 

Connect with Nick Hunt on Twitter and his homepage.

Purchase Nick Hunt's book Outlandish

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Tim Hannigan

Where can travel writing go in the twenty-first century? Author and lifelong travel writing aficionado Tim Hannigan sets out in search of this most venerable of genres, hunting down its legendary practitioners and confronting its greatest controversies. Is it ever okay for travel writers to make things up, and just where does the frontier between fact and fiction lie? What actually is travel writing, and is it just a genre dominated by posh white men? And what about travel writing’s queasy colonial connections?

Tim Hannigan joins me on the podcast again to talk about these questions and his new book The Travel Writing Tribe (Hurst 2021). He also gives a coupon code for 25% off the cover price at the end of the episode if the book is purchased directly from the publisher here.

Connect with Tim Hannigan on Twitter and his homepage.

Purchase Tim Hannigan's book The Travel Writing Tribe

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Stephen Fabes in Kazakhstan

When Stephen Fabes left his job as an emergency-room doctor and set out to cycle around the world, frontline medicine quickly faded from his mind. But leaving medicine behind was not as easy as it seemed.

As Stephen crossed continents—on a journey that would take six years and cover more than 53,000 miles—he finds people whose health has suffered and others whose lives have been saved through kindness and community.

Stephen joins me today to talk about his new book Signs of Life (Pegasus 2020) and also about narrative pacing and travel blogging as a way to sharping writing skills.

Connect with Stephen Fabes on Instagram, Twitter, or his homepage.

Purchase Stephen Fabes's book Signs of Life

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

Patti Shales Lefkos at the Summit of Nya-la

At the age of 67 and with her injured husband at home, Patti Shales Lefkos sets off to Nepal on what would her first solo trip. She documents her experiences, which included volunteering at a high altitude school and taking off on a month-long trek in the Himalayas, in her book Nepal One Day at a Time. 

Patti joins me on the podcast today to talk about high-altitude senior trekking, volunteering, and also about the complications of self-publishing and marketing a book during the pandemic.

Connect with Patti on Facebook or her homepage.

Purchase Patti Shales Lefkos' book Nepal One Day at a Time

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More episodes & support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

A product of the California suburbs, Pam Mandel was overlooked and unexceptional. When her father ships her off on a youth group tour of Israel, he inadvertently catapults his seventeen-year-old daughter into a world of European backpackers, seize-the-day Israelis, and the fallout of cold war-era politics. Border violence hadn't been on the birthright tour agenda. But then neither had domestic violence, going broke, getting wasted, or getting lost.

Pam Mandel joins me on the podcast to talk about her new book The Same River Twice (Skyhorse 2020) and the realities of writing proposals for travel memoirs. We also talk about solo female travel and memory in memoir.

Connect with Pam on Twitter, Instagram, and on her blog Nerd's Eye View. Also, check out her newsletter The Statesider.

Purchase Pam Mandel's Book The Same River Twice

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

When Indian journalist Taran Khan arrived in Kabul in 2006, she imagined it as a homecoming—a return to the land from where her Pashtun ancestors originated. Falling in with poets, doctors and other journalists, she began exploring the city on foot and discovered a Kabul quite different from the one she had encountered in the world’s media.

Taran Khan joins me to talk about her new book Shadow City (Chatto & Windus 2019), which just won the 2021 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award. We recorded this interview several weeks before the announcement. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Taran Khan about her book Shadow City.

Connect with Taran on Instagram and follow her work on her Porterfolio site.

Purchase Taran Khan's Book Shadow City

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!

For more than 8 years, Bill Arnott travelled throughout the northern hemisphere, discovering sites Scandinavian explorers had raided, traded, and settled—finding Viking history in a wider swath of the planet than most anthropologists and historians ever imagined. 

Bill joins me on the podcast today to talk about his adventures following the Viking trail around the world, which he documented in his new book Gone Viking: A Travel Saga (RMB 2020). 

We also talk about the present tense in travel writing and narrative structure. 

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Bill Arnott about his book Gone Viking.

Connect with Bill on his homepage, his Twitter, and his Instagram.

Purchase Bill Arnott's Book Gone Viking

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Thank you!!

March 2021 marks the 10-year publication anniversary of Colin Thubron’s To A Mountain in Tibet, a book that chronicle’s the author’s high-altitude pilgrimage around Mount Kailash, a mountain that is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Bonpos. Colin joins me to talk about his book, what makes good travel writing, and the recent loss of his friend Jan Morris.

This interview was originally recorded in December 2020.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Colin Thubron about his book To A Mountain in Tibet and travel writing.

Purchase Colin Thubron's Book To A Mountain in Tibet

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Each year, 200 million people embark on a pilgrimage of some kind. We have been making ritual journeys for millennia, and while most of us have seen our mobility curtailed in recent months because of the pandemic, the impulse to travel somewhere sacred to us remains. In her new book “We Are Pilgrims,” Victoria Preston seeks to understand the reasons why we set forth in search of solace, liberation, faith, and enlightenment. 

I hope you enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Victoria Preston about pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Learn more about Victoria Preston and her work on her website and her Instagram.

Purchase Victoria Preston's Book We Are Pilgrims

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, we urge you to purchase your travel books from Bookshop, an online store that supports independent bookstores. Whether you use Bookshop or you decide to purchase your travel books from Amazon, please use our links. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Writer’s Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.