Travltalking

This podcast is dedicated to the Lonely Planet, without which, the road of travelling off the beaten track would have never been paved.

Pauli and Rhiannon met on the corner of Huntington Beach Rd in California, when they were in their early twenties. Pauli is from Austria and Rhiannon is from Australia. Since that chance meeting, and after sharing a flat on Newport Beach during their student exchange at the University of California, Irvine, they have travelled to 18 countries together, including Mexico, Serbia, Romania, Macedonia, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia and also learned so much about one another's culture along the way, despite being from opposite sides of the world and not speaking the same common language.

16 years later, Pauli has just joined Rhiannon and the Travltalk team as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining, Pauli worked as a senior exec in the finance team at Telekom Austria, where he managed the different regions and territories within them. It was an easy decision to join Travltalk, as it was always a dream of Pauli and Rhiannon's to have a hostel, or build something that connected them to travel - and the excitement of discovering new places, exploring and getting off the beaten track.

This episode takes listeners on a transformation - starting back at a time when the Lonely Planet was the only reliable source of information on the road, and was and still is adored by world travellers. It also gives an insight to how people grow as travellers over time and reveals that while the destination may change, it's all about a discovery of hidden treasures, cultures, experiences and the stories you get to tell once you return home, but above all the memories you end up with those whom you've met along the way.

This week we're talking to Emiliano about his spontaneous decision to move to New Zealand from his home country of Argentina. From not knowing where New Zealand was or knowing what a hostel was to travelling through Asia and moving his entire life to New Zealand, it's been an interesting journey!

Have you ever watched a film so beautiful it made you want to book flights to that place immediately? For Mitch that film was Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino's 2017 coming-of-age drama set in northern Italy. After painstaking research, Mitch spent a week exploring Crema and the surrounding towns, even making it to Elio's secret place.

Rhiannon and Mitch discuss how he researched the locations, where he stayed, how he got around a much less travelled area of Italy, travelling to film locations sustainably, and the surprising lack of peach trees!

Summer is in full swing and what better way to spend it than a road trip - whether it's California in a convertible, south east Asia on a motorbike or Europe in a van. 

 

This week we're talking to our contributor Ellyse who is currently travelling Europe in a van with her partner. We deep-dive on buying a van, what it's like driving in continental Europe, where to park, what to pack, insurance, and all the costs and details.

Ever found yourself lost in life? Suddenly after a job ends unexpectedly, or as a result of a break up, you simply don't know what to do next. It's not uncommon, and in fact many people find travelling aimlessly for a while can recharge the batteries and alter their perspective in ways they couldn't achieve when in a routine back at home.

We hear from Gabi, who after 12 years living a comfortable life working in London, was made redundant and decided to venture out to Australia, India and Nepal - all places she once never dreamed of going.

We are also joined by James, who took a work sabbatical and travelled South Africa and Asia, talks about how travelling can sometimes bring on challenges you don't get in your 'normal' life, yet it is those moments of struggle that can turn into triumph when you realise you can actually do something you thought you couldn't - whether it's a yoga retreat with no yoga experience or climbing a mountain that you maybe weren't well prepared for.

For those of us who travel, experiencing the local culture of a place is what appeals most. As the European Summer rolls in, so does the festival season. There's pretty much a festival for whatever happens to be your passion - whether it's a Golden Retriever Dog festival in Scotland, Weekend Jazz Sessions in the park in Lisbon or the more famous cultural celebrations like Oktoberfest or the Tomatina Festival in Spain.

We also spend a bit of time with Josh Gibbs - who is currently on his 3rd art residency in China and gives us an insight in to what it's like to live amongst a different culture and get close to both the people and the architectural design and origins of a place.

Travelling is something that can take you on a journey and change your perceptions, beliefs and attitudes, of yourself and the world we live in. Many people start as one person and become another as they move from a high school or university graduate, and enter the wider world as an adult. 

As Travltalking returns for a second series we spend our first episode hearing from the travellers behind the Travltalk team and how their journeys took them from the airforce, a major record label, and from a young 19 year old clueless traveller to a group of people with the life skills and talents that allowed us to bootstrap and build the Travltalk brand and mobile application.

For our last Travltalking episode of the season we'll be hearing from Arianna, a Brit on a student exchange at the University of Adelaide. Hear what exchange life is like, her criteria for picking a place to study and her tips if you're interested in finding your University experience abroad.

We also hear from our photo journalist, Thom, recently back from The Vatican in Rome. Thom is a Doctor in his day job, but talks about his experience as one of our original Travltalk contributors over the last 2 months, covering places like Brussels, Bologna, Liverpool and Madrid.

A true traveller loves to get off the beaten track. In this episode we hear Rhiannon's account of being among the last to sneak in to the Buzludzha Monument - also know as the UFO - near Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria.

Yet a place doesn't have to be exotic to be alternative. We also hear from Jen Leonard who discovered a different side of Australia when she went to the Northern Territory - and somehow ended up in an edition of Boars and Babes magazine.

Have you always dreamed of a trip Down Under, but wondered the key things you need to know? Like - can you go to Ramsay St. Does it really exist? And how can you do the Blue Mountains in a day and see all the best views?

In our first segment, we speak to Travltalk contributor Jo Brook, who is recently back from a trip to Australia and has also joined the Travltalk team as Operations Director. 

In the second half of our show, we hear from Justin de Kock, who is a South African living in London on a Dutch passport. If you are in a similar position, hear first hand what you need to know if you are on an EU passport in London and want to stay put. And we also find out what this means for Brits planning a longer stint in Europe...