Vacation Station

Travel writer Erin Coyle takes us to Oman, where a cup of coffee is an invitation and hospitality is a way of life.

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio’s "Food, Wine & Travel" Podcast with the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), host Lisa D. Smith talks with IFWTWA member Erin Coyle, a freelance travel writer and ESP teacher who moved to Oman in 2018 to teach, started writing about travel during the pandemic, and now lives in Muscat.

Erin shares what it’s really like to travel in Oman: the warm welcome, the customs worth knowing, the food, and the landscapes that pleasantly surprise first-time visitors.

In this episode:

It's the perfect episode to celebrate Global Diversity Awareness Month! 

READ ERIN'S OMAN ARTICLE:

CONNECT WITH ERIN:

IFWTWA:

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio’s “Quiltripping Travel with Rose” Podcast, travel writer and photographer Rose Palmer of Quiltripping.com joins us fresh off the MSC World America, MSC’s newest mega ship, sailing from Miami to the Caribbean and the private island of Ocean Cay in the Bahamas. 

Rose and her best friend celebrated milestone birthdays in the exclusive MSC Yacht Club, a “ship within a ship” with its own restaurant, lounge, sun deck, pool and a personal butler. Rose compares it to flying business class: the attention of a small luxury ship with the dining and entertainment of a big one, at a fraction of the cost of Ponant or Seabourn.

In this episode:

RESOURCE LINKS:

What does it look like to explore Sweden at the pace of a ferry? On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Wander the World" Podcast, travel writer and photographer Sharon K. Kurtz takes us on a slow-travel journey through Stockholm, Gothenburg, and the islands of the Southern Archipelago, by ferry, by train, and by kayak.

Sharon shares the Swedish ritual of fika, the daily pause for coffee, a cinnamon bun, and friends. She also talks about fresh fish and a Michelin-starred vegetable-and-fish dinner in Gothenburg, and Swedish meatballs, from a fine restaurant to IKEA. In Stockholm she visits the Vasa Museum, the ABBA Museum, and Skansen, the world's first open-air museum, where she joined the Midsummer maypole dance. She also stayed on Skeppsholmen Island, took a Nordic food tour, rode the train to Gothenburg, and cruised its canals on the Paddan boat tour. Then it's on to a kayak trip off Styrsö and Donsö and a stop at Popsicle, a café and knitting shop in an old firehouse.

RESOURCE & LINKS: 

- Sharon's full article has the links and details for planning your own trip: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/sweden-by-land-and-sea 

- Wander the World Podcast: https://wandertheworldwithsharon.podbean.com 

- Wander the World Digital Podcast Magazine: https://online.fliphtml5.com/yhwzg/gyoy/#p=1 

- Sharon K. Kurtz: https://sharonkkurtz.com 

It's October in Asheville, which makes it ghost-watching season. In Part 2 of this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Adventures in Asheville" visit with Dawn Bankson of Star Watch Night Vision Tours, we head out after dark to historic Riverside Cemetery in the Montford neighborhood, a couple of blocks from The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast.

Host Lisa D. Smith and Nancy J. Reid join Steve and Karen Wilson, Dawn, and her guide Todd Robertson at the old vault that ghost hunters report as the most haunted spot in the cemetery. Through military-grade night vision goggles, the building seems to shimmer with waves of twinkling lights. They compare notes on what they're seeing, spot what might be orbs, and keep an eye out for the mother bear and two cubs said to be living in the cemetery.

Then it's out to a farm under a sea of stars to talk about satellites, strange moving lights, how Dawn got started with night vision tours, and why she and Todd love searching for stars and Bigfoot near Mount Pisgah. Todd shares his own Sasquatch call, a camping mystery with no bear tracks, and the squeals that made the group wonder what was out there.

Listen to Part 1, watch the full episode, and get more information:

Follow Dawn & Star Watch Night Vision Tours:

Stay at The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast:

More Adventures in Asheville:

Step inside the 100 Men Hall in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a 1922 Chitlin' Circuit landmark and Mississippi Blues Trail stop just across from the historic train depot. On location for Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, this shared episode features travel journalist Terri Guthrie who sits down inside the hall with Rachel Dangermond, the writer and award-winning journalist who purchased it in 2018 and now leads the nonprofit that keeps it alive. It's the perfect episode to celebrate Global Diversity Awareness Month! 

Rachel traces the hall's roots to a self-reliant benevolent association formed in the Black community during Jim Crow, and shares the skits, the manless weddings, and the legendary musicians who played here, including James Brown, Ray Charles, Etta James, Guitar Slim, and BB King. She also explains how a Mardi Gras crew began in the hall as the Merrymakers, why the Chitlin' Circuit story is more nuanced than most people know, and how the hall's mission has grown to celebrate every community through A Soulful Christmas, Día de los Muertos, and the Matzo Ball.

You'll also hear about the hall's four annual fundraisers: Rock 'N' Roux in January, Swamp(gr)Ass Get Down in April, Booker Fest over Labor Day weekend, and Cigars Under the Stars benefiting Gulf Coast veterans. Rachel talks about the endowment protecting the hall's future and why visitors from as far as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand keep coming back. Along the way, Terri shares the route of Amtrak's Mardi Gras Train, which runs twice daily between New Orleans and Mobile.

RESOURCE LINKS:

TRAVEL WITH TERRI:

Think Ashland, Oregon is only about Shakespeare? Think again! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Sip, Savor & Travel" Podcast, producerLisa D. Smith and travel writer Linda Kissam, the Food, Wine & Shopping Diva, sit down with Katharine Cato, Director of Travel Ashland, to explore everything Ashland offers beyond the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Katharine shares how a town of about 21,000 residents welcomes more than 300,000 visitors a year, and why Ashland's spot right off I-5, where the Cascade and Siskiyou mountain ranges meet, makes it both an easy stop and a true destination. Linda brings her food, wine and shopping expertise to the conversation, and Lisa asks about the best seasons to visit.

In this episode:

Read Linda's article: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/ashland-oregon-you-havent-discovered-yet 

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It's October in California's Sequoia Country, and there's a lot going on. On this shared "California Sequoia Country" episode with the Sequoia Tourism Council, Big Blend Radio host Lisa D. Smith is joined by Holly Streit of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Suzanne Bianco of Visit Visalia to kick off fall.

The episode starts with an anniversary: on October 1st, 1890, General Grant National Park was established to protect the General Grant Tree, the second largest tree in the world and the nation's only dedicated living shrine to service members. Holly explains how that four-acre park became part of Kings Canyon, what's closing for the season at Cedar Grove and Mineral King, and how the park's December wreath ceremony at the nation's Christmas tree works. It's also bear season, so Holly shares what to do if you see one, including keeping 50 yards back and storing food and scented items properly, and why fallen sequoias and dead trees matter to the forest. Plus, October 27th is a fee-free day for Teddy Roosevelt's birthday.

Then Suzanne walks through October in Visalia and Tulare County: the Tulare Crush Party on October 9th, the Exeter Fall Festival on October 10th and the downtown Scarecrow Contest, Visalia Pride, Books & Brews and the Taste The Arts street festival on the weekend of October 17th, and the Sequoia Symphony playing Pirates of the Caribbean at the Fox Theater. You'll also hear about Cosmic Creeps at the Planetarium on October 23rd, the city's Halloween house map, mini pumpkindishes at the Vintage Press, a few ghost stories, and a visit to the Tulare County Museum for Global Diversity Awareness Month.

Plan your visit and get more information:

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Global Adventures" Podcast, travel writer Debbie Stone takes us to the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania. Most people know the area for Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous house, but it's actually a mecca for Wright's work.

Debbie starts at Polymath Park, a private conservation effort by Tom and Heather Papinchak. There, two Wright homes, Duncan House and Mäntylä, were taken apart piece by piece in Illinois and Minnesota and rebuilt in the Pennsylvania woods. She shares what it's like to actually spend the night in Mäntylä, living with Wright's design and his blurring of indoors and outdoors, and waking to a deer crossing the yard. She also describes dinner in a private treehouse-style dining pod at TreeTops Restaurant, with Heather Papinchak as chef.

From there it's on to Kentuck Knob, one of Wright's last projects. It has an "invisible" window, a Woodland Walk with a piece of the Berlin Wall, and a British lord as its current owner. The finale is Fallingwater, the cantilevered masterpiece built over a waterfall so the Kaufmann family could hear the water throughout the house, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read Debbie's article:

Plan your visit:

Global Adventures with Debbie Stone:

Happy World Car Free Day! On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast, travel journalist Terri Guthrie kicks off a new series exploring Amtrak's Mardi Gras Train, joined by Knox Ross, Chairman of the Southern Rail Commission.

Terri just rode the full route herself — from New Orleans, through coastal Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama — and shares what stood out most about slow train travel along the Gulf Coast: the wide seats and legroom, alligator sightings from the window, and the walkable hotel scene waiting at every stop. Knox walks through how the route came back after two decades without Gulf Coast passenger rail service post-Katrina, the Mississippi-led push to fund it, and why it's become one of the highest-rated customer service trains in the entire Amtrak system, with 150,000 riders in its first year.

Along the way: the best places to stay near each station, why downtown Mobile is quietly having a food-and-culture renaissance, what's in the café car, and the Facebook community of Mardi Gras Train superfans already planning their next trip.

This episode kicks off Big Blend Radio's new Mardi Gras Train series — stay tuned for upcoming episodes diving deeper into Bay St. Louis and Mobile.

Links & Resources

Listen to Terri's New Orleans Episodes:

Keep up with Terri's Podcast & Digital Podcast Magazine at   https://www.travelwithterri.com/  

On this shared episode of Big Blend Radio's "Food, Wine, and Travel" Show, in partnership with the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA), travel writer and photographer Sharon K. Kurtz reports live from the Riviera Maya, where she's a guest of Lomas Hospitality at the adults-only El Dorado Royale.

Sharon shares what makes Lomas's More Inclusive concept different from a typical all-inclusive stay, from cenote swimming and horseback riding at the Bonanza Ranch to snorkeling with sea turtles and stingrays off Maroma Beach. She also talks culinary culture at the Fuentes Culinary Theatre, Grupo Lomas's 45-year story as a Mexican hospitality company, and the range across the resort collection, from family-friendly properties to the adults-only, over-the-water Palafitos bungalows.

Along the way, the conversation touches on safe, hassle-free travel for U.S. visitors, sargassum-free beaches, destination weddings, and why this stretch of Caribbean Mexico has become one of the most talked-about travel regions in the world.

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