The Big Travel Podcast: Recent Episodes
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The Big Travel Podcast: Exploring Life-Stories Through Travel. Taking you on a journey of discovery, with a wonderfully diverse selection of characters, The Big Travel Podcast explores life-stories in travel; from childhoods with little money but a spirit for exploration to fabulous tales of exotic climes and incredible adventures. Celebrities, authors, sports people, politicians, famous faces from TV, radio, music, stage and screen, SAS soldiers, adventurers and ordinary people taking extraordinary journeys tell their story of life through travel, and through this, The Big Travel Podcast finds out what it is about travel that inspires us, that makes us laugh, love, cry and sometimes cringe yet above all keep travelling. The Big Travel Podcast is hosted by Lisa Francesca Nand, travel journalist, presenter, writer and filmmaker.
Motoring journalist Ben Oliver was born amid the troubles in Belfast with the family moving to ‘slightly dull Reading’ when he was 6. On this episode we talk about his life-changing teen travels to Israel, Syria, Gaza & Kurdistan, the glory 90s and noughties days of magazine journalism, how LA porn sets are like a clinical operating room, driving an open-top Bentley up ‘the blood highway’ to the Arctic Circle in winter, the road sliding away in the Monsoon on an insane Himalayan trip in a Mini to the highest driving point in the world, North Korea being one of the most bizarre travel experiences, the joys of EVs and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Actor Warwick Davis' first trip abroad was to California at the age of 11 to star in Star Wars, a big jump from his day to day childhood in Surrey. On this episode we talk…Carrie Fisher feeding him cookies in the Redwood forest, sweltering in a rubber head-mask in the deserts of Tunisia, being a Goblin with David Bowie, causing mayhem in India on An Idiot Abroad with Karl Pilkington, entering a panda enclosure dressed as a baby panda in China, family holidays in Dubai, the poignant trip to Auschwitz he made for his brilliant documentary The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz, the ‘majestic’ pencil museum in Cumbria and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Riley, Maths expert, Gadget Show & Countdown host, MBE for services to Holocaust education grew up in Essex by way of Manchester. We talk about the astonishing story of her Jewish mother’s family escaping from what’s now Russia, the family member who was stabbed by a mounted Kossack and ended up a Gaucho in Argentina, taking in Ukrainian refuge, spontaneously marrying her Strictly co-star, Russian dancer Pasha Kovalev in Las Vegas, roping in Robbie Williams for the entertainment, wildlife watching in the Galapagos…using maths to get good travel deals and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kevin Chaplin left behind his banking career to establish South Africa’s Ubuntu Foundation and rescue the Amy Foundation, named after American student, Amy Biehl, from bankruptcy. Kevin and I talk about growing up under apartheid, the hardship of life in the townships, the challenges faced by Cape Town’s children and young adults, taking a team of young singers to LA, taking a team of young hockey players to Northern Ireland, his book Can Do – Making the Impossible Possible and how the boys who killed Amy Biehl turned their lives around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author, historian, comedian, podcaster and co-presenter of the travel that doesn’t actually go anywhere – ‘Your Place Or Mine’ with the wonderful Shaun Keavney – Izsi Lawrence is on the Big Travel Podcast. Iszi and Lisa talk… Britain’s most fixable landmarks, The British Museum, Ju Jitsu fighting suffragettes, de-colonising history, dinosaurs, earthworms, the slave trade, Charles Darwin, Bovril, flying solo to AUSTRALIA age 6, the Moroccan side of her family and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tony Michaelides finds it uncomfortable to call himself legendary, as one would, but he is indeed legendary in the music business…promoting acts including U2, The Stone Roses, David Bowie, New Order, The Police, Depeche Mode, Simply Red, Bob Marley, Massive Attack, REM, Matchbox Twenty, The Pixies, Elvis Costello, Genesis, Johnny Cash, Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel…and many more. Born in Manchester he resolutely made it his mission to promote home grown bands and ended up creating a Sony Award winning music show on Manchester’s biggest commercial station. His book ‘Moments That Rock’ and the podcast of the same name regale some of his brilliant stories and you’re absolutely going to love him on this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Instagram Expert, Creative Coach, Photographer and Author Sara Tasker spent lockdown obsessing about the perfect French house and if you follow her on @me_and_orla you know she’s an expert in making things look beautiful. We talk French bakeries, river beaches, Insta retreats, West Yorkshire, how she got into her work, the challenges she faces when travelling as a person with a disability, getting left on a plane due to her wheelchair in airports, growing up with parents that didn’t have passports, childhood holidays to Blackpool Pontins, our mutual embarrassment of ‘second home problems’ and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cyber Crime Expert, climber and caver Lisa Forte has been voted one of the 100 top women in tech, starting her career plotting against Somalian pirates in the Middle East. Having travelled extensively for both work and fun we talk offending the locals in South Korea, climbing frozen waterfalls in the Alps, scaling skyscraper-height granite in Kazakhstan, spending her 21st birthday on Kilimanjaro, the deeply humble experience of tracing journeys of long-ago Welsh miners deep underground, cyber security, getting attacked by a gang of squirrels and so much more… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt grew up half Swedish and half Scottish in a little Scottish village, kicking off her career age 15 on YouTube before very quickly making a name for herself. Nina talks about touring with Ed Sheeran and Example, overcoming stage fright, fainting in Hong Kong, the confusing familiarity of Australia, a surreal radio tour of the US, deep dish pizzas in Chicago, Philly cheese steaks, having her ex Ed Sheeran write a song about her and going straight to LA after recording this podcast to go on James Corden’s Late Late Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt grew up half Swedish and half Scottish in a little Scottish village, kicking off her career age 15 on YouTube before very quickly making a name for herself. Nina talks about touring with Ed Sheeran and Example, overcoming stage fright, fainting in Hong Kong, the confusing familiarity of Australia, a surreal radio tour of the US, deep dish pizzas in Chicago, Philly cheese steaks, having her ex Ed Sheeran write a song about her and going straight to LA after recording this podcast to go on James Corden’s Late Late Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
‘Something special happens in Ibiza…’ say our guests on this episode and indeed it feels like this is true, especially for these lovely brothers. Born in Ibiza to a Scottish mum and Spanish Dad, with their parents’ Café Mambo attracting world famous faces from music, fashion, stage and screen, Christian and Alan Anadon aka Mambo Brothers, eagerly awaited boxes of the latest vinyls to be delivered from Scotland. We talk about their perpetual childhood on the magical island, touring the world as DJs and getting to know the soul of Brazil, Bali, Australia, Asia, Africa, the Americas, all over Europe to use these influences in their hotels, cafes and bars. Recorded at their wonderful Hostal De La Torre where the sunset is so beautiful it actually brought Lisa to tears,
@mambobrothers @mamboibiza @latorreibiza
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‘Something special happens in Ibiza…’ say our guests on this episode and indeed it feels like this is true, especially for these lovely brothers. Born in Ibiza to a Scottish mum and Spanish Dad, with their parents’ Café Mambo attracting world famous faces from music, fashion, stage and screen, Christian and Alan Anadon aka Mambo Brothers, eagerly awaited boxes of the latest vinyls to be delivered from Scotland. We talk about their perpetual childhood on the magical island, touring the world as DJs and getting to know the soul of Brazil, Bali, Australia, Asia, Africa, the Americas, all over Europe to use these influences in their hotels, cafes and bars. Recorded at their wonderful Hostal De La Torre where the sunset is so beautiful it actually brought Lisa to tears,
@mambobrothers @mamboibiza @latorreibiza
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Ibizan hotelier Marc Rahola went from hotel telephone exchange boy to founder of a chain of boutique hotels and properties by, in his own words, making a series of happy accidents and mistakes. Od Hotels now have many properties all over Europe including the beautiful Ocean Drive Talamanca where Lisa and Marc have coffee and explore… how a Paris Hotel CD inspired Marc’s boutique hotel concept, expanding to the Cote D’Azure, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, London and more, feeling at home in London’s Notting Hill, gigging with his band, Freddie Mercury and George Michael’s Ibiza, ALL the DJs, recommendations for hidden Ibiza and how Darwinian adaption and remaining curious can be the making of a game-changing business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ibizan hotelier Marc Rahola went from hotel telephone exchange boy to founder of a chain of boutique hotels and properties by, in his own words, making a series of happy accidents and mistakes. Od Hotels now have many properties all over Europe including the beautiful Ocean Drive Talamanca where Lisa and Marc have coffee and explore… how a Paris Hotel CD inspired Marc’s boutique hotel concept, expanding to the Cote D’Azure, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, London and more, feeling at home in London’s Notting Hill, gigging with his band, Freddie Mercury and George Michael’s Ibiza, ALL the DJs, recommendations for hidden Ibiza and how Darwinian adaption and remaining curious can be the making of a game-changing business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After a series of tragic losses Mariellen Ward took a giant leap of faith and headed to India. Her six month plan has seen her now be there for almost 20 years, setting up the inspirational travel site, Breathe Dream Go and also tour company India For Beginners. We explore the alternative music scene in Canada, her year with a film director in Tokyo, the healing power of a warm breeze on a rather dangerously open-doored train through the golden light of the Indian countryside and also how, when your inner voice tells you to travel somewhere, you really should go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A teenage trip around the galleries of Italy sparked a life-long love for the arts, and as soon as he could Simon Martin, art historian, author and the director of Pallant House Gallery, returned. After a ‘Swallows and Amazons’ childhood he’s studied in the most prestigious institutions in Venice, been knocked out in a train station in Delhi, experienced an inexplicable rush of energy when being touched by the Dalai Lama, curated exhibitions in Japan, explored visual artists’ response to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, enjoyed artistic surprises in Copenhagen, researched and many books and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Palin describes Trevor Dolby’s book, One Place de L'Eglise, as "a timeless story of what it is that makes France irresistible”. Former publisher, Trevor, and his wife Kaz discovered a medieval house in virtual ruins in Languedoc, just off the local village square and the resulting book, widely known as the new ‘Year in Provence’, follows them as they navigate language difficulties floods and freezing winters, colourful characters in the local bar…all with the backdrop of the scent of thyme and lavender, the warmth of sun on stone walls, nights hung with stars…and how they came to create the perfectly imperfect dream French home.
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Growing up in Northern Ireland, with his preacher father playing guitar and his granny always singing, for Foy Vance music and the nomadic lifestyle are somewhat ingrained. When Foy was a young boy his father moved the family to Oklahoma to build a church. Back in Northern Ireland he picked up the guitar and eventually immersed himself in the local music scene before moving to London (via a stint in Lanzarote!). He's travelled the US in search of music history, worshipped at the alter of Muscle Shoals, home-schooled his nine year old on a world tour with Ed Sheeran, hangs around with some of Hollywood’s royalty and, in true poetic style, calls a tiny village on the edge of the Highlands his ‘seabed’ home. A beautiful soul as well as one of our most heart-stirring singer song-writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During the pandemic Jamie Klingler, underwent an incredible transformation from heavy-drinking party girl to sober, and losing 7 stone along the way. But it was the murder of Sarah Everard that led to her becoming the activist her mother always felt she should be and having co-founded Reclaim These Streets you’ll now see her all over the news battling for justice, women’s safety and more. She grew up in Philadelphia, travelling the world working in media and events and was in the heart of New York City on 9/11. She’s traced her 3 adopted sisters’ heritage in China, spent time recovering in the Maldives, loves the Vietnamese fishing village of Hoi An, has followed in the footsteps of Steve Coogan in Italy and feels that fellow Americans need to travel more mindfully.
Watch Jamie’s inspirational Tedx here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtycbSeGp2I
And find her here: https://jamieklingler.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jennifer Nand was just a young teen when the Beatles were at the start of their meteoric rise. Piling into her friend Jenny’s hearse to go watch the bands in The Cavern and other places across the city, hitching lifts home through the Mersey tunnel, being accidentally spat on the nose by none other than John Lennon, watching the debut performances of some of the UK’s most brilliant acts, rebelling on the Mersey Ferry, controversially dating then marrying Lisa's Indian-Fijian Dad and much more. Lisa talks to her mum in a home-coming trip to Liverpool and The Wirral! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You might have seen recently a story that went viral, the woman who for three months let a baby bird nest in her hair. Of course the real story is a little bit more nuanced and to hear it directly from nature writer and conservationist Hannah Bourne-Taylor might well bring a little tear to your eye, On this episode, and in her book Fledging, Hannah tells the heart warming story of how, lonely and confused in Ghana, she rescued the little finch who in many ways actually rescued her.
This show wouldn't be possible without some amazing sponsors and for this episode our sponsor is the gorgeous jewellery brand Ana Luisa who create beautiful high quality jewellery using sustainable materials that - in every way – don’t cost the earth. And we have a buy one get 40% discount for you by going to this link! https://shop.analuisa.com/bigtravelpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Marc Araham, OBE, aka Marc the Vet, was inspired by his Holocaust survivor grandmother to change UK law and dramatically improve how we treat our pets. He’s vaccinated dogs in Mumbai slums, rescued dancing bears in Ukraine, operated in Buddhist temples in post-tsunami Thailand, battled dog-meat farms in South Korea, travelled deep into the Amazon Jungle and even rehabilitated inmates with pit bulls in US prisons. Marc's new book 'Be More Mosquito: How You Can Campaign & Create Change' is out in June 2022. And he even brought donuts round to Lisa’s. What a guy!
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Stand-up comedian, star of comedy TV shows and host of the Namaste Mother**s Podcast, Cally Beaton, was a high flying TV exec until Joan Rivers noticed her comedic talent and gave her some life-changing advice. She’s partied at some of the world’s hottest events, knocked back Vodka with Madonna, refused to indulge Mariah’s puppies, narrowly avoided a panther on the loose in South Africa, almost been swallowed by a blizzard in Iceland after a boyfriend dumped her at the airport and much more. Recorded with Lisa in Malaga and Cally live from her laundry cupboard in Amsterdam. www.callybeaton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'Nanny Sharz’ as she’s known is an international Nanny for the rich and famous, work which has taken her all over the world looking after other people’s children. Growing up in Birmingham and London she comes from a big, musical, cooking Jamaican family and has jetted away in private planes, had a pool in her hotel room, been escorted to reception by the Masai...all.in the likes of Tanzania, Nigeria, Oman, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Caribbean, all across the States and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On top of a building in Chernobyl, overlooking the destruction and devastation, Greg made a life-changing decision. From that moment on he would dedicate his life to exploring abandoned places, becoming 'Greg Abandoned'. He’s been shot at in Bulgaria, risked his life to trek to a Soviet-era abandoned space shuttle in Kazakhstan, explored countless deserted amusement parks in China and as a result has some of the most jaw dropping Instagram and YouTube footage and an incredible new book called Abandoned China. www.linktr.ee/gregabandoned
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Lisa is utterly delighted to have Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos on the podcast to talk about growing up half Greek, the rock and rolls side of cheffing, how Franz Ferdinand partly emerged from a kitchen, Ethiopian instruments, Colombian bull’s testicle maracas, getting arrested as a spy in Moscow, being rushed to hospital in Budapest, learning how to say 'I have a peanut allergy' in every language, breaking down in a Lada on his way to his first Glastonbury and so much more. Franz Ferdinand's greatest hits album Hits To The Head is also out this month. Get it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A childhood divided between her father’s home in Barbados and the cold grey of a wintery London gave Hollywood actor Minnie Driver a love for the laid-back sunshine of the coast of California. Minnie and Lisa talk America’s contrasts of rich and poor, the philosophy of travel, the highs and lows of boarding school, taking the train across Europe, getting beaten up in a bar in Greece, delivering food to stranded neighbours during the Malibu fires, exploring the Middle East with her documentary-maker partner and how she is happiest strumming away on her ukulele on a shady veranda in Hawaii.
Note: Lisa flew to LA with Virgin Atlantic and although she didn’t actually interview Minnie in LA (Minnie is recording in London and Lisa in Malaga, Spain) Lisa promised she would say thank you to the team at Virgin anyway as she had the BEST time on board and indeed in the sunshine in California. Anyway, as you were. (not a paid thing, just wanted to say thanks!).
www.virginatlantic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Peace Activist and Nuclear Disarmament Expert, Dr. Rebecca Johnson, grew up in a Hutterite community in the rural US. After living in Japan and visiting Hiroshima she was moved to join the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common, protesting against nuclear weapons. She’s driven supplies into war-torn Bosnia, sailed the seas on Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, worked with the UN in Geneva and spent time with the Fidel family in Cuba. In 2017 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside her ICAN team. Rebecca is also never far from the sea and a song and is a captivating story teller. An unmissable episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Growing up on a Peckham council estate with his musician mother and a 'Lizzie-Anne the transvestite' childcarer led to Pete Bennett’s own love of quirk and music Now an actor, director, voice over artist and of course musician (with his band Lovedogz), he first came to public attention in 2006’s Big Brother and really opened up the conversation about Tourette’s Syndrome. Pete tells hilarious stories about the crazy acid trip at a psychedelic rave which gave him a vision that he would win Big Brother, being suckered in by a stoned agent with nefarious intentions in Hollywood, surviving a forest fire on a weed farm in Santa Cruz, witnessing a chicken sacrifice in a Mexican church, narrowly avoiding eating a Golden Retriever in Vietnam and much more. A real treat of an episode with lots and lots of laughter. And LOTS of swearing! You have been warned.
On this episode we talk:
Growing up on a council estate in Peckham His musician mum touring with the Cure, Communards and Marc Almond Being brought up by a transvestite called Lizzie-Anne Being threatened by ‘Fred the stick’ Not many serial killers called Bob Enjoying his Tourette’s Swearing makes him happy Dressing up in drag from a young age Martinique being like ‘Peckham on Sea’ Downtrodden and burnt out cars A natural progression for him to become a musician The crazy acid trip on which he predicted he would go on and win Big Brother (hold on for this one, it’s quite a ride!) How his friend's tragic death changed him Running around naked in a psychedelic trance rave His beautiful experience spiralling to a vision of heaven Seeing Jim Carrey and Billy Idol in heaven Hitting rock bottom after the trip Getting a vision of the Big Brother house and realising what he needed to do The recent tragic loss of his former girlfriend and friend Nikki Grahame Being invited to Hollywood by an agent Who turned out to be a stoner with no contacts Finding Hollywood a dump His job cutting weed on a farm in Santa Cruz Suddenly being engulfed by the snoke of a forest fire Thinking he was going to die in the fire Escaping in a truck over the top of the mountain Mexico being the most beautiful place he has ever been ‘Bright colours, midgets and everyone off their nut on tequila’ Dancing in the parades on the Mexican Day of the Dead Watching a rather unusual chicken sacrifice in a church Lisa’s brother doing gigs in cock-fighting rings in Mexico Lisa and Pete not really knowing what a cock is (!) Golden Retrievers in cages in Vietnam Eating a chilli burger and ending up in hospital Being born because of an Indian curry Wanting to go to India and eat all the chilli Munching on cockroaches, duck’s head and jellified chicken feet Singing us out to the Vietnamese ding dang dong song
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A year spent camping out in the bush in Cameroon led Will Bolsover from Natural World Safaris make travel his life’s work. From tracking tigers in Siberia, to finding hidden corners of Madagascar and most recently spending 48 minutes in the Antarctic followed by 11 nights in hotel quarantine…it’s not always straightforward but it certainly sounds absolutely magical.
www.naturalworldsafaris.com
On this episode we talk:
Launching Will’s own travel podcast for Natural World Safaris Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Polar Regions From adventure through to luxury Guiding in Francophone Africa Starting with primates and throwing in big cats and bears The best way to see the Galapagos How nobody combines being a vet and a priest How Madagascar is an unsung hero Lisa’s low cultural references Up close and personal with wildlife in Madagascar Lemurs bouncing across the lawns The haunting calls of the teddy bear creature Needing to be patient with the weather in the Polar regions Spending 48 minutes in Antarctica! Following by ten days in hotel quarantine outside Heathrow Hotel quarantine being not as bad as he worried it would be Boling mulled wine in the kettle Lisa finding home quarantine very difficult Doing a lot of solo travel Tracking tigers in Siberia Spending a year in the Bush in Cameroon How the standout moment was going home! Building a football pitch The transient periods of travel can be challenging How leaving on a plane can access intense feelings Balancing his work with children Swimming with whales in Sri Lanka And Sperm Whales in Dominica How the community of conservationists is key Stargazing in the middle of nowhere The pandemic being a chance to re-set travel Travel bans affecting everyone from high end companies to the guides on the ground in Botswana The travel industry needing industry-specific support Morcheeba at sunset on the ridge of the Atlas Mountains
www.naturalworldsafaris.com @willbolsover @portraitsonhumanity
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Authors Anne Sebba on the Royal abdication, Sathnam Sanghera's dismal Christmas restaurant, Lisa Jewell's Boney M in Barbados, adventurer Jamie Douglas-Hamilton rowing to the Antarctic, satirist Matt Forde in an NYC Irish bar, podcaster Olly Mann’s disappointing LA Santa, artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian Muslim Catholic Christmas in Marrakesh, adventurer Sam McManus's ancient Spanish fiesta, Festival promoter Huw Win's Thai rainforest & Nobel Peace Prize winner Rebecca Johnson's Christmas at Greenham Common. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Born in Tehran, the descendent of a nomadic tribe, Contemporary Artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian's family scattered after the Islamic Revolution. He grew up trekking mountains and deserts, touring with his Indie rock band and now with his internationally acclaimed art. With a gallery in Tarifa, Spain, and a new base in Athens, he travels the globe sourcing ideas and materials with craftswomen in remote regions and will be representing Kyrgyzstan at the Venice Biennale with the exhibition Gates of Turan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A journey through the maze of Marbella's 16th Century cobbled lanes surrounding the old 'Orange Square', encountering flamenco singers and opera stars and sampling some of the coast's most wonderful tapas. With tour guide Javier Gonzalez and staying at the stunning Anantara Villa Padierna Palace, with its classical Italian design and sophisticated yet arty vibe.
Lisa stayed at the Anantara Villa Padierna Palace https://www.anantara.com/en/villa-padierna-marbella in Marbella courtesy of Anantara Hotels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Comedian, political satirist and Spitting Image star Matt Forde talks accosting Billy Connolly in New York, 'dying' on stage in Luxemborg, pints of Carling in ex-pat clubs in Bahrain, Nick Leeson's luxury hotel dash around the world, spending 3 months locked in a first floor flat, an emotional pilgrimage to the Ghostbusters fire station, being the voice of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump (yes he does give us some excellent impressions) and posh people behaving badly on the podcast British Scandal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Just as the world was closing Sam McManus from YellowWood Adventures took a daunting gamble and hopped on a plane to Costa Rica. We talk about how the pandemic can change travel (even for the better), tourism being potentially a means for good, eco-tourism and re-forestation, surfing, small pueblos in the green hills of Northern Spain, his wonderful travelogue about his explorations - Wax and Gold Journeys in Ethiopia & Other Roads Less Travelled - and feeling the pull of friends, family and home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Good news at least for those people who have had two UK administered vaccines. From 19th July we can now go to amber list countries without quarantining on return. BUT at the moment this is just for UK administered vaccines meaning the country is not yet open to inbound tourism. Travel needs to be two-way! We need people in the UK to support our business too. Whilst we are aware it needs to be done safely we also need to get aviation and travel moving even further. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Big Travel Podcast special on the latest UK Travel Update; the new rules, the changes in the traffic light ratings, vaccinations soon to be taken into account and much more. A ten minute episode of essential listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Olly Mann, from Answer Me This podcast fame, his new The Retrospectors and much more, loves nothing more than researching trivia especially with travel. We talk Wrigley’s chewing gum and decapitation, leaving your baby outside a pub, people who get erections on public transport, a love for Luton Airport, the misleading American Dream, cocktails worth shortening your life for, having a bottom accident on an African roadside (yes this episode does feature the S word) and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Into The Wild Festival promoter Huw Wyn grew up in his mother’s hotel in Wales then moved to Spain. We talk growing up feral in Andalucia, hitchhiking across Europe, fish-packing in the Netherlands, Glastonbury, Arabian Nights in Cairo, the poetic side of being a London bin man, orphanages in India, Mother Theresa in Calcutta, meeting the Dalai Lama, studying Tibetan medicine in Scotland, the remote Buddhist kingdom in Ladakh, hitching 2000 miles through Nepal, Tom Hardy at his festival and much Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The author of one of Lisa’s favourite books, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s, Anne Sebba explores the lives of women ‘writers and fighters’. As a journalist and author she's worked in film-star-filled 70s Rome, moved to New York with a baby, camped in the Mexico desert with Wallis Simpson’s free-diving step-son, had her camera film thrown into the Ganges while tracing Mother Theresa and, for her most recent book on Ethel Rosenburg, to Belarus and Sing Sing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Internationally best-selling author Lisa Jewell is a Londoner through and through, yet her Anglo-Indian mother a rather traumatic upbringing in India. Lisa’s travelled far and wide – tracing her family roots in India, having rare-for-the-time childhood holidays in Barbados and was even inspired to centre one novel about an unknown woman sneaking into a posh beach resort in the south of France. But she’s in her holiday element when spending a couple of weeks chilling in a nice hotel in Lanzarote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Winning a Radio 1 competition age 15 to fly to LA first piqued Sathnam Sanghera’s taste for travel and journalism. His latest book EmpireLand: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past explores how the British Empire still shapes who we are. As well as the Empire, racism, Enoch Powell, Cambridge, 80s popular culture, the history of Brits Abroad and Boris Johnson needing therapy we chart Sathnam’s own journey from his Sikh community in Wolverhampton to journalist for The Times and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Drake Passage is one of the most treacherous seas and Jamie Douglas-Hamilton and team rowed from South America to Antarctica, breaking 9 world records and resulting in the incredible documentary The Impossible Row for Discovery+. Inspired by his adventurer grandfather Jamie previously rowed from Australia to Africa. He’s endured towering waves, cuts down to the bone, sea sickness, land sickness, sleep deprivation and vivid hallucinations that could drive you absolutely mad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
India Hicks’ Bahamas British Christmas, Charles Spencer’s quirk Christmas at Althorp, Victoria Hislop’s Cuban disaster, Cynthia Stroud’s noise in Nigeria, Eulanda Shead Osagiede getting drunk with Granddad in Colorado, Ella Al Shamahi’s jellied fish in Poland, Bill Bailey in remote Indonesia, Paul Burge on the epic Spanish Christmas, Danielle Desir in Connecticut, Dr Hassan Shehata partying with the Khartoum Beatles, Laura Hamilton in Andalucia, Lemn Sissay creating magic for care leavers & much m Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ella Al Shamahi is an archaeologist, explorer and stand-up comic who's been described as the 'real-life Lara Croft' as she travels the world exploring some of the world’s most dangerous and remote regions. Ella talks about her Channel 4 show exploring lost kingdoms of the Amazon, growing up in a conservative Yemeni community in Birmingham, getting herself into scrapes with terrorists, stolen DNA, Australian aborigines, remote tribes driving big expensive cars and being an archaeologist and stand-u Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Gotto was pregnant with her first child when she saw her husband's body hauled from the sea on a diving trip. What follows is an extraordinary journey recovering from a supposedly terminal brain tumour, paralysis, re-learning to walk and overcoming agoraphobia before becoming an acclaimed Rapid Transformational Therapist and Clinical Hypnotherapist. She travels the world giving inspirational talks and has explored China, India, the Himalayas, Bhutan, the Dominican Republic and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
TV baker and food judge Cynthia Stroud grew up in Nigeria, learning budgeting from her grandfather being paid in chickens and goats and about baking from her mother. In the UK she went from living off £10 a week, to running her million pound cake-making business, Pretty Gorgeous Cake Co, and being honoured by the Queen. Her charity Jedidiah UK supports people left in poverty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With stories from Nigeria, New York, Toronto and being called ‘me duck’ in the sleepy town of Hert Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From Rosslare Harbour in Wexford, Ireland, Samantha Kelly is the founder of global Women’s Inspire Network. We talk about inspiring female entrepreneurs, the people who have inspired us, arriving by boat to Ireland on the way to the Seychelles, working as a waitress in a Hong Kong Irish Pub, the joys of dancing on bars, the joys of Irish pubs, getting engaged in New York and how the human connection, the things that bond us and make us smile, are more important than ever. A truly uplifting episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Earl Spencer, best-selling author and historian, has a superb talent for bringing history to life. His new book, The White Ship, explores England’s worst ever maritime and royal disaster, a tragedy that changed the course of European history. From childhood trips to unknown Ibiza, friskings at the Russian border to covering everything from Cannes to Cairo as a news reporter, the late Princess Diana’s younger brother has fascinating travel tales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The year is 2505. The oceans have risen. A new era of piracy has dawned…Justin Somper’s vision of a future world in the bestselling Vampirates books has been very much influenced by his passion for Australia, which has lead to much exploring and also even his recent wedding on the beach. In the rain. As well as Australia we talk New York’s Studio 54 and Broadway, Washington DC’s homophobic hostel owner, the surrealness of Bangkok, hanging out with Isla Fisher in London and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Loyd Grossman, entrepreneur, author and broadcaster is well-known for presenting MasterChef, Through the Keyhole & much more. His passion for history and the arts has led to leading roles many cultural institutions and impeccably researched books. Loyd and Lisa talk food and travel, growing up in a US seaside haven, hippy days in late 60s New York, playing with Jethro Tull and how an elephant in Rome led to his new book about one of Europe’s greatest artists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lemn Sissay, writer and poet, was taken from his Ethiopian mother at birth and after a stinging rejection from foster parents at 12 spent his childhood in care. He published his first book of poetry age 17 and sold it to striking miners in Lancashire. Although a large part of him will ‘always feel like that rootless kid’, poetry, he says, gave him wings and he began his travels not just around the world but also the both physical and emotional journey to find his birth family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Place in the Sun presenter, Laura Hamilton, and Lisa are having coffee in the ‘new normal’ in Spain, masks at the ready, talking property abroad, bargain cave houses, lack of tourists in Spain, Greek idylls, making tea for Dermot O’Leary, getting stuck in Sri Lanka, nerve-wracking Egyptian taxi rides, galloping around the Pyramids in Cairo, skiing after C sections, becoming a postmistress, running the local coffee shop and the surprise revelation about who her father is! There’s a clue, in the tit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A school trip to Communist Russia left LBC’s Iain Dale hooked on travel. He’s since learned fluent German, been chased to the border by a Hungarian prostitute, was guarded at gun-point in Lebanon, has done things he doesn’t want to tell us in a Miami hotel and, as one of the UK’s foremost political commentators, feels Washington DC is almost an ancestral home. A humorous insight into the world we live, angry tweeters, anonymous trolls, the importance of languages and why we can’t just all get alon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pioneering expert Dr Hassan Shehata was thrown headlong into revolution, military Islamic extremism, beatings and torture as a junior doctor in Khartoum. We discuss his horrific time in ‘ghost house’ prisons, Sudan, Egypt, sitting on Bob Marley’s bed in Jamaica, Donald Trump and Hydroxychloroquine, following Liverpool FC around the world and his extraordinary work helping people become parents. Dr Hassan Shehata, our 100th episode, is also who helped Lisa and David have children after 5 miscarriages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Award-winning travel and food blogger from Hey! Dip Your Toes In Eulanda Shead Osagiede grew up in Colorado, balancing beautiful forests and mountains with growing gang violence and police oppression, studied dance in New York then moved to the UK. We talk the Colonial history of travel writing, #BlackLivesMatter, the challenges of being a minority in a very white industry, Japan’s beautiful Kimonos, luxurious Moroccan hammans, the Caribbean and the Tanzanian seaweed collector who changed her perception. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Growing up with two terminally ill siblings Francesca Eyre, chef & co-owner of Chilly Powder holidays, learned independence at a young age. A chance encounter when chasing her mother’s lost pearls led her to the mountains. As a part-time endurance athlete a terrifying accident led to a challenging recovery but together with her husband Paul she’s opening a second Chilly Powder in beautiful Provence. She sees participating in incredible endurance events as a means to "breathe for those who no longer can" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There aren’t many people who would correct George Clooney but, on his first film as an extra, this led to former paratrooper Paul Biddiss having a huge change in career from surveillance and bodyguard to Hollywood military adviser. He’s since worked with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Sam Mendes and more. He’s been chased by a baboon in Kenya, charged by elephants in the Masai Mara, wrangled huge snakes in Malaysian swamps and most importantly, to him anyway, has found a KFC in every worldwide location. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The work of Kash Battacharya, the Budget Traveller, has won him National Geographic Traveller Writer of the Year, jobs for for Lonely Planet and the BBC and resulted in his book The Grand Hostels, Luxury Hostels of the World. Kash, in easing-lockdown Berlin, talks budget travel, culture shock from Kent to Calcuttta age 9, being ‘the English kid’ at a 18,000-pupil school, Dutch houses in Scotland, hanging with Rastas in South Africa and a surreal encounter with Tommy Lee Jones in an ancient Samurai King Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The fabulous Earful Tower Podcast, of which the star of the show is Paris, hit number one this month in the USA Apple podcast charts. Lisa chats to host Oliver Gee about seeing Paris like a local, chasing beavers down canals, catacombs, a moose on the loose in Sweden, grand Colonial hotels in Fiji, East African trucking on a shoe-string, great American road-trips, people who call you baby and sugar in gas stations and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With her impeccably researched historical novels, Victoria Hislop has the power to transport you through place and time. Her books have sold millions around the world and been translated into over 35 languages.A former travel writer she divides her time between Athens, Crete and England and the inspiration for her stories come from anything from a leprosy colony in the Greek Islands to Garcia Lorca’s family home in Granada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Searching for the quirk in the world cultural commentator Travis Elborough has explored topics as diverse as the history of the Routemaster bus, vinyl records, donkeys at the British seaside and pirates in the Caribbean. He recently collaborated with cartographer Martin Brown for The Atlas of Vanishing Places, winner of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2020 illustrated book. For this episode we’re actually in the wonderful Stanford’s Travel Book Shop, in London’s Covent Garden just before Lo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reporting on wildlife conservation, threats to eco-systems and fragile cultures from remote corners of the world is travel writer Sophy Robert’s passion. She cut her journalistic teeth with Jessica Mitford then ditched a job at Conde Nast Traveller to ‘tell those stories often untold’. She’s diced with danger in Papua New Guinea, protected elephants in Chad, fallen in love with the forests of the Congo and crossed the wildest parts of Russia to tell the fascinating stories of The Lost Pianos of Sibe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Three weeks ago we were in Malaga having tapas and wine with Bill Bailey and now that seems like a lifetime away as most of us around the world are in lockdown. Lisa talks about how the travel ban and lockdown is affecting her and people around the world and also speaks to Paul Burge from the When in Spain Podcast and Danielle Desir from the Thought Card Podcast who is in Bridgeport in Connecticut. A heartfelt ode to the friends, family and freedoms we are all missing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We’re in Malaga with superstar comedian Bill Bailey having tapas by the Cathedral. As well as being sublimely entertaining Bill is possibly the world’s most well travelled comedian and on this episode we talk childhood holidays, the Coronavirus, touring, languages, politics, birding, wildlife, Indonesia, moths, crazy car rides, free tea, dancing bears, growing up in the West Country, teenage bands and organ playing in crematoriums and so much more, All over a nice glass of Spanish red and some cheese. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing Mel Nicholls Team GB Paralympic cyclist, endurance wheelchair racer and adventurer, was at London 2012 before going on to Rio. Last year she nailed the London Marathon in under two hours and also broke the world record for hand cycling the whole length of Britain. She’s battled strokes, heart surgery, extreme weather and plenty of bad wheelchair access in airports to travel the world finding the adventure in absolutely everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Yes, we love travel, but how can we do this in the era of climate crisis? On this special episode, combining The Big Travel Podcast and WTM Insights podcast, Lucy Siegle, leading authority on environmental issues, examines the environmental impact of travel; the impact of tourism and aviation, what can travellers do to lessen this and what can the travel industry do to help. It’s an earnest one, but as usual with Lucy and Lisa who’ve known each other a long long time, there are a few laughs too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Former fashion editor Bonnie Rakhit, The Style Traveller, has an enviable job combining luxury travel and fashion. Having been bullied badly as a child her aim now to start using her platform to raise awareness. We talk Instagram, blogging, iconic train journeys, iconic hotels, fashion front rows, racism, taking a beating, cave raves, dancing under the stars, Coachella, Leonardo Di Caprio snogging Rhianna, California convertibles and Instagrammers using profiles for meaningful causes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Humphrey Hawksley's work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent. He been expelled from Sri Lanka, had death threats from several extreme regimes, traced Graham Greene’s footsteps in Sierra Leone and the Cold War and espionage are prominent themes in his popular thrillers. On this episode we talk war zones, politics, the EU, Trump, guns, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and the pain of accidently tipping a well-known country music star on the streets of Nashville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Entrepreneur and style icon India Hicks, daughter of designer David Hicks and granddaughter of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, is related to everyone from Prince Philip to Queen Victoria. India talks life on a remote Caribbean island, her famous and sometimes unconventional family, taking her 90-year-old mother to Iceland, backpacking in rat-infested hostels and the harrowing damage done by Hurricane Dorian. Oh and she also has the un-missable India Hicks Podcast (of which Lisa is producer). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The face of The Points Guy UK, a website showing us how to get the most from points and miles whose US site has over 75 million unique visitors a year. Nicky Kelvin’s own travel journey started with cheap flights courtesy of his cabin crew sister and moved on to climbing Kilimanjaro, accidentally setting fire to a Mongolian hillside, working as a photojournalist (oh and a Manny) in Israel and he was once forced to pay £600 for a jam sandwich in Zimbabwe in order to escape the Mugabe regime unscathed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Exploring the hearts, minds & traditions of cultures around the world is Dr Mandeep Rai’s passion & in her book The Values Compass (recommended by the Dalai Lama!) & on this episode we question what makes us who we are; why the Turkish are hospitable, the Jordanians helpful & the Argentinians passionate? Mandeep has travelled to over 150 countries & loves more than anything how chance encounters with strangers can change your life. Plus inspirational thoughts on how we can embrace our own core values. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Giles Coren obsessed with Christmas, India Hicks in the Bahamas, Cosmo travel ed. Amanda Statham in Yorkshire, Rhik Samadder on Christmas Day in a Bangkok sex hotel, Dom Joly eating tinned tuna in Iran, festival guru Rob Da Bank on ‘fake Christmas’ in Dubai, Andy 'The Viking' Fordham on Chopper bikes, Paola Miggiuli the Tiny Italian on Columbian Christmas in Essex, Iain Lee on insane Christmas in Hawaii, Nasa astronaut John Herrington lost in Alaska & make-up artist Hannah Martin in Somerset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sometimes travel can be just pure fun and Amanda Statham, glossy mags travel editor, honeymoon expert, happy camper-van-owner, has made the fun side of travel her life’s work so far. She’s dived with sharks in the Galapagos, tracked rare animals on night safari Costa Rica, danced at sunrise in Trinidad Carnival covered in mud and spent an enviable amount of time sitting at New York City rooftop bars sipping cocktails at sunset. Laugh your way through a light-hearted chat about the love of all things tra Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We’re in Brooklyn with documentary maker Will Francome talking filming on location, capital punishment, the American criminal justice system, the people who get let off death row, orphanages in Kenya, standing knee deep in sh*t for hours in Norway, ice caves in the Arctic, Thai Kick Boxing, racism, cocaine, pizza, rats carrying slices of pizza and the town in Nebraska with a population of one person. A wonderfully enjoyable insight into the world of a documentary maker with Will Francome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In a villa in the Tuscany hills Lisa and Anglo-Italian food writer, cook and presenter Paola Maggiulli, aka The Tiny Italian, have spent the day exploring Siena. Paola was brought up in London with a South American mother and Italian father and spent most of her childhood in the family delicatessen in London’s Battersea. She’s diced with danger in Colombia, travelled the length of Italy to find the best regional dishes and has a burgeoning TV career including appearing on Channel 4’s Cooking up a For Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An ‘on location’ episode! Lisa is in Casa Toni, a traditional tapas bar in in central Madrid, with James Blick from ‘Devour Tours’ and ‘Spain Revealed’ YouTube channel talking Spanish food, culture, history, beer, lamb neck glands, New Zealanders drinking in Shepherd’s Bush, Russian Roulette with padron peppers, Jesus nailed to the cross, General Franco, Civil War, flamenco, four metre pianos, Farah Fawcett hair, Barcelona, Cadiz, gentrification, is Spanish coffee good or bad...What don’t w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For comedian Dom Joly, travel is in the blood. Born in Beirut he had what he describes in his recent book, The Hezbollah Hiking Club, as a paradoxical childhood between a posh boarding school and a warzone. He dreamt of being a foreign correspondent, has investigated ‘dark tourism’ and the world’s most unlikely holiday destinations and travelled the globe in search of mythical monsters such as Bigfoot and the Yeti, notching up almost 100 countries. Join Lisa & Dom for a tour around Oxford in Dom's car Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mimi’s Aye’s effervescent observations about food have gained her a large following online and her new recipe book tells wonderful tales of a childhood spent between Burma and Kent. She’s been shadowed by by the ‘Military Informer’ on family holidays in Burma, is conflicted by seeing people flying over pagodas in hot air balloons and loves nothing more than exploring Japan and blasting out Karaoke. Lisa popped around to Mimi Aye’s house for a lovely chat about life, food and travel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
NASA astronaut John Herrington was the first ever Native American to travel to space. He lives in the Idaho wilderness, flies his own plane, cycled over 4000 miles from Washington to Florida and recently features as one of two inspiring U.S. trailblazers exploring America in the incredible film “Into America’s Wild”. His inspirational stories have landed him a well suited role as a motivational speaker and he will surely both inspire and motivate you here on the Big Travel Podcast… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Waking up in a Bangkok sex hotel with his mum on his 30th birthday with no money and nothing to do but talk, lead to an epiphany for writer, actor and broadcaster, Rhik Samadder. He writes about battling depression and much more in his wonderfurful new book I Never Said I Loved You and on the podcast we talk feeling like he didn’t belong when growing up with Indian parents in London, forgetting trips to New York, losing all his money on a Singapore buffet breakfast and how travel can help heal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Known as the Arabian Wandress, travel blogger and artist Esra Alhamal is this week’s guest talking about what it’s really like to grow up as a female in Saudi Arabia, the beauty of Islamic architecture and her travels as what she calls a Muslim Millennial travelling mindfully around the globe.
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As a foreign correspondent for Reuters, best-selling novelist Fiona Neill worked with Salvadorean refugees in Nicaragua, made jewellery in the Andes of Peru and travelled all over South America reporting on civil war refugees. She ‘surfed’ down the side of an active volcano, survived revolutions and serious illness and even life as features editor of Marie Claire. Her new book - Beneath the Surface – is a gripping tale of secrets and lies set against the backdrop of the fenlands in Cambridgeshire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With the publishing phenomenon of The Rosie Project and follow-up The Rosie Effect having sold over 5 million copies worldwide, the final of Graeme Simsion’s trilogy, The Rosie Result, is out now. There’s a proposed Hollywood adaptation in the works and even Bill Gates is even a fan. Travel is an integral part of Graeme’s stories - rural France, his native Melbourne, a cosy house in Norwich or a grey day in Manchester. A lively and engaging conversation with this best-selling Australian author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Legendary darts champion Andy "The Viking" Fordham is as much known for his darts skills as he is for being the larger than life British sportsman the UK took to their hearts. Darts has taken him all over the world; parties in Vegas, beaches in Australia and many an hour in pubs across the land, which at one point saw him drinking over 80 bottles of beer in one night. A South East London boy, born and bred, this is recorded in Lisa and Andy’s mutual local pub, Blackheath’s The Royal Standard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rob Da Bank started as a music journalist, reviewing the biggest bands, superclubs and DJs all over the UK. He’s had his own show on BBC Radio 1 and is the co-founder of Bestival & Camp Bestival. He’s a massive fan of travel – whether touring Europe in a yellow camper van called Stella, taking his four kids on sabbatical to Bali or DJing at some of the best parties all over the world. With his own very successful podcast too - The A to Z of Festivals – it’s Rob Da Bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With a show on talkRADIO with the lovely Katherine Boyle – aka Flippin’ Kath, Iain Lee goes on tour, podcasts, has a TV show recorded from his bedroom and he’s a proper cult figure in radio. He’s eaten camel brains and a pig’s vagina for I’m A Celebrity in the Australian jungle, been caught in gunfire in Pakistan and wandered the souks of Marrakesh accompanied by the world’s biggest roll of Sellotape. With a delightful conversation about TV, radio, mental health and travel, it’s Iain Lee.
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Carol Drinkwater has sold over 1m books about life on an Olive Farm in the South of France. She was the kinky nurse in A Clockwork Orange, James Herriot’s wife Helen in hit TV show All Creatures Great & Small and writes beautifully evocative novels bringing the sights, sounds and smells of France to life in a way that will make you feel you’re sipping rose on a vine-covered terrace overlooking the glistening Mediterranean in the warmth of the summer sun, with a bit of danger thrown in for good measure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Antonia Bollingbroke-Kent balances big adventures with producing TV shows like Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventures. She drove a bright pink Tuk Tuk from Bangkok to Brighton, did battle with 1000 semi-wild Mongolian horses in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan and nearly froze to death attempting to drive a motorbike and sidecar to the Russian Arctic. Often guided by her Granny’s mantra of ‘Do nothing, say nothing, until the police arrive’ Antonia regales some brilliant travel tales over a cuppa in her k Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alastair Humphreys left Yorkshire on his bike and didn’t return for four years, cycling through an incredible 60 countries. He’s walked across India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons through the Sahara, crossed Iceland on foot, busked through Spain by facing his worst fears of performing (badly) in public and having found all that adventure hard when real life came calling, has pioneered the concept of #microadventures. A motivational and inspiration conversation with this intrepid explorer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
William Sutcliffe’s cynical take on people who go travelling, 'Are You Experienced?' is still inspiring travellers all over the world. He instantly regretted a solo trip to Pakistan to Beijing, was horrified by the realities on the West Bank, ate nothing but marmalade sandwiches when travelling to the remote salt flats in Bolivia and yes a lot stories in Are You Experienced are autobiographical. And yes I do dare to ask him about that pretty graphic description of being 'unwell' in India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Having done what many people dream of – ditching a corporate career to travel, the proud founder of adventure travel company Yellowwood Adventures, Sam McManus, has created the life of his dreams travelling to remote parts of Ethiopia, Iran, India, the Himalayas, Mongolia and more. He’s been woken up by 30 men with Kalashnikovs in remote African mountains, shaved his head and worn orange pyjamas in a Shaolin Monastery and set off into the Amazon jungle with not much more than cigarettes and a machete. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A solitary walk to the South Pole led to Erling Kagge writing best-selling book Silence; in the Age of Noise and this new book explores how walking can change and indeed save your life. He was the first person to reach ‘the three poles’, he’s explored New York’s sewers - sleeping in tunnels and meeting wonderful characters who lived there, he’s been attacked by a polar bear and won and confounded scientologists who thought he was crazy. His philosophies about life's great walk will really get you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As one of the world's top specialists in counter terrorism, kidnap and personal security Will Geddes, aka ‘the Real James Bond’, has worked in hostile environments from Iraq and Afghanistan to… Hollywood. He felt most scared driving from Basra to Baghdad, most happy in New York City and a relaxing break form work turned into a rescue operation in the 2004 tsunami. With close and personal connections to so many famous people, none of whom he can tell us about it’s an insightful yet delightful convers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Adventurer and ultra runner Jamie Maddison has run 100s of miles through vast deserts, lived with a nomad in Central Asia, raced on horseback with a crazy herder on the remote old postal roads in Kazakstan, pulled a camel through 100 miles of desert in Uzbekistan and lived with eagle hunters in Mongolia. With fascinating stories about how expeditions can challenge and change you and have a surprisingly lasting effect on mental and physical health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aged just 22 Kris Hallenga returned from a trip to Beijing to be told she had incurable cancer. Ditching plans to travel the world she threw herself into building Coppa Feel, her wonderful charity. ‘Passion can take you to some incredible places’ she says, and her message HAS taken her to wonderful places - literal and metaphorical. She recently celebrated her ten year 'cancerversary' and has some inspirational words for us all about enjoying travel, enjoying life, enjoying every moment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When in Germany in the 80s Elli Radinger was refused a job in space law because it was supposedly man’s work she gave it all up to dedicate her life to wolves and is now a world expert on the subject. In this fascinating episode I talk to Elli about watching wolves in the wild in America’s vast national parks, close encounters with bears, the incredible bonds wolves share in the pack and about some of the really lovely stories in her book the Wisdom of Wolves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Foreign correspondent and world affairs editor John Simpson has risked life and limb reporting for the BBC for over 50 years. The Tiananmen Square massacre, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Zimbabwe, Bosnia – you name it he was there. He’s been punched by a UK Prime Minister, bombed by US 'friendly fire', met Gaddafi in Bedouin tents in Libya, watched Saddam Hussein’s execution in court and whilst experimenting with tribal hallucinogenics in the deepest Amazon was once hugged by a six foot goldfish wearing sh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Imagine rowing all the way from California to Hawaii, 2,400 miles over 62 days across the Pacific with nothing but two friends and some oars. Team Pacific Terrific broke records and came second in the Great Pacific Race. Megan Hoskin has such wonderfully evocative stories about what it feels like to be in the middle of the ocean when you’re closest fellow humans are the ones passing over in the plane and also about her mountaineering in Nepal, Ecuador and much more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On Instagram a reading revolution has spurned many #Bookstagram stars 'Bookish Bronte' Huskinson, 22 year old author, visual storyteller and creator of beautiful book photography. A self-appointed champion of creative introverts she loves finding the best book-friendly villages and finds her happy place in a picturesque beach town on Lake George in New York State. We talk Instagram ethics, magical realism, feminism and feminine energy, travelling outside our comfort zones and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After Around India in 80 Trains Monisha Rajesh decided to tackle the whole world in 80 trains on a journey that took in 45,000 miles across Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Canada and America. Stopping at the world’s oldest lake in Siberia, taking the ‘death railway’ from Bangkok to Nam Tok and meeting Tibetan nuns with iPhones she has some wonderful, inspirational and entertaining stories for you in a conversation everyone who loves travel will just love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
British explorer, writer and photographer Levison Wood has travelled to over 100 countries, many of them in war zones, typically thought of as hostile or off the beaten track. His documentaries and best-selling books have enchanted people the world over. He’s walked the whole length of the Nile, walked the Himalayas where he survived a terrible car crash, diced with gang leaders when walking the Americas and recently returned from a 5000 mile circumnavigation of the Arabian peninsula from Iraq to Lebanon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Paralympian Swimmer Liz Johnson often she says how fortunate she is. She IS of course fortunate in many ways, she’s won golds, silvers and bronzes all over the world, competed for her country and been able to turn her passion into her life. But it hasn’t been without its challenges and heartaches from being born with Cerebral Palsy to the sad loss of her mum. A truly inspirational conversation about the challenges and joys of travel with one of the UK’s most impressive athletes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A hungover conversation one day in Dublin between two best friends Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght led to the creation of a loveable character called Aisling, who quickly became a Facebook phenomenon, then two best-selling books is now being made into a film by an Oscar winning production co. This episode explores the quirks of life in every small town, moving to the big city, the wild days of the Irish Celtic Tiger, crazy nights in Berlin, even crazier ones in Las Vegas and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From a haunted hotel in the Cambodian jungle to a dry New Year's Eve in Kuala Lumper it's Lisa's New Year's Eve special. Taking in Belgium, Holland, London, Malaga in Spain, Goa in India, Koh Samui in Thailand, Sydney in Australia, Fiji, Cambodia, Vietnam and random musings on Prince, Shane MacGowan and various characters met along with way.
Happy New Year from the Big Travel Podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As the UK’s best-known food critic, writing columns for The Times and many other outlets as well as presenting TV programmes like BBC2's 'Amazing Hotels', Giles Coren has travelled to over 100 countries. He is, in his own words - an icon of foodie ponceyness so don’t ask me how we get on to McDonalds, Nandos and frozen fish blocks in Billericay. A highly entertaining episode in which we discuss the world's best restaurants, plastic boobs in Nice, roast guinea pig in Ecuador and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A wonderful collection of Christmas stories with Edith Bowman's perfect Californian Christmas, Jane Garvey getting stoned on Christmas Day in Liverpool, Helen Zaltzman and the lady in plastic bags at the Grand Canyon, author Isabelle Broom being punched in the nose in Lake Como, Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark having her crackers confiscated, Loose Women’s Andrea McLean on childhood Christmases in the Caribbean and The Times restaurant critic Giles Coren on why Christmas should never, ever be abroad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Surviving cancer at just 25 changed the course of Lizzie Carr’s life, ditching corporate life to become an adventurer, travelling the world on her paddleboard to battle plastic pollution. She’s the first person in history to solo paddleboard the length of England, the first woman to solo paddleboard the English channel and in 2018 paddle boarded the whole of the Hudson River from Albany to New York City. An inspirational story of what we can do if we put our minds to it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Warning: After listening you might just find yourself booking a ticket and heading off on a train adventure. One murky afternoon in 2001 London station manager Mark Smith bought a 'teach yourself HTML' guide & the Main in Seat 61 was born. Mark has journeyed all over Europe and the US, Tunisia, Syria, Marrakech, Istanbul, Ukraine & the Crimea, Petra & Aqaba, Moscow, Vladivostok, Tokyo & Nagasaki via the Trans-Siberian Railway, all over Burma & so much more. Unmissable travel inspiration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Music and football photographer Sharon Latham has the most brilliant stories about travelling with some of the world’s most famous footballers, rock stars and movie stars. She’s just published a book with Noel Gallagher, has worked with Bruce Springsteen and was even recognised Bradley Cooper on the red carpet. Her latest venture is the Selfie Guide, exploring the world for the best selfie spots in New Zealand, New York, Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, Canada, Tasmania, Fiji, Hawaii, Bali, Tokyo and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As Lonely Planet’s Editorial Director, travel is a rather fortunate occupational imperative for Tom Hall, who started off packing boxes in the warehouse 20 years ago and now has the top editorial job at the world’s favourite guidebook publishers. Tom tells us about breathtaking rock-carved churches in Ethiopia, exploring Chilean Fjords on a ferry, conquering crusader castles in Syria and we discuss the nomadic spirit in all of us that makes travel part of our very being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The world’s most iconic and historic travel and map bookshop, Stanfords in London’s Covent Garden, is a magical place that has delighted visitors for over 165 years with one of the world’s largest collection of maps, globes and travel books - creating cartography for everyone from the British Army to James Bond. The lady at the helm, Vivien Godfrey, is the granddaughter of the family who took over 100 years ago and joins us on this episode to talk about the wonders of books, maps and travel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The founder of the Anne Frank Trust and author of The Legacy of Anne Frank, Gillan Walnes Perry, talks about the incredible legacy left by Anne and her famous diary, written when hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam. Gillian's travelled all over the world spreading Anne’s message to help combat prejudice, was once chased by the KGB for her human rights work in Russia and now has the cushiest job in the world giving lectures on luxury cruise ship across the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The son of political refugees, Malawian Comedian Daliso Chaponda had a truly fascinating upbringing in exile in Kenya, Somalia, Swaziland, Thailand, Bangladesh, Austria and Switzerland following his UN Diplomat father. Returning to Malawi was a culture shock as were the sexually liberated comedians in Canada who inspired him! He came third on Britain’s Got Talent and says Simon Cowell is a actually a really nice guy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sitting in a piazza in the sun, coffee at hand, writing your latest novel is a dream for many of us and one Isabelle Broom has made a reality – with best-selling books based on Greek Islands, Prague, Italy’s Lake Como, Andalucia, Sri Lanka, Canada, New Zealand as well as a career in popular magazines. As well as exotic locations Isabelle's books encompass heart-melting romance and a beautiful emotional as well as geographical journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Life’s not always been full of laughs for comedian Phil Nichol, being he Britain’s no2 crap town, banned by Born Again Christian parents from wearing jeans until 17 and once had a terrifying encounter with wild dogs whilst searching for a Nazi –themed-socialist-folk-music bar in a dark field outside Bangkok. Don’t even ask about ‘Trough Man’. Talking Canterbury, Brighton, Newcastle, Toronto, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Australia, Rio, Jamaica, South Africa, New Zealand, Toky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Femi Oluwole, spokesperson for Our Future Our Choice, a group of young people campaigning to stop Brexit, has gone head to head with key pro-Brexit figures including Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins and it’s only a matter of time before he’s invited onto Question Time. The son of Nigerian doctors he grew up in the North East of England and had moved 14 times by the age of 14, later studying EU law in Brussels and Vienna and loves nothing more than skiing in a cape and swimming shorts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From a council estate in East London, the son of Afro-Caribbean immigrants, Eddie Nestor talks Hackney hipsters, Windrush, tracing African roots, hanging with Idris Elba, getting accosted in a dark alley in Thailand and ‘being the first black guy to do a Persil ad in South Africa’. Covering Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, Dominica, St Lucia, The Gambia. Ghana, Thailand, Goa, British Colonialism, racism, DNA tests, Brexit, football and much more in Eddie’s wonderful dulcet tones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is famed for her no-nonsense attitude. She’s arranged her working life around her love of Scotland, was inspired by the Isle of Arran to write novels, accidentally stumbled into the fall of the iron curtain on honeymoon and feels her spirit soar driving a convertible in New York State. A passionate advocate for working smarter, she feels that overnight trains are the most effective use of travelling time and has the best Mallorcan fashion tip you'll ever need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Surprisingly for a conversation that encompasses death, intensive care, cannibalism, Colonial guilt, poverty, the Holocaust and being kicked in the shin by small children Helen Zaltzman and Lisa manage to laugh their way through this episode with one entertaining story after another from ‘The Benign Dictator of the Podcasting Republic’. Travel highlights include Hawaii, Australia, Tasmania, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Peru, Utah, Vegas and a hot tubs-taxidermy themed hotel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Spending much of her teens wiped out with Chronic Fatigue meant when Felicity Morse DID get better she wanted to get out and travel, first working on super yachts in the South of France - from which time she has the craziest of stories. From sailing with the world’s richest, to travelling solo and finding discovering a surprising Native American heritage Felicity is all about the human connection. We talk travel, mental health and her book Give a F**K – on how to care without burning out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The bailiffs took their family home in the same week Raynor Winn and husband Moth were told – completely out of the blue – Moth had a terminal illness. Destitute and homeless, they decided to backpack along the windswept cliffs of the South West Coast Path that runs the length of the west coast of England. 630 miles of steep, unforgiving terrain. With very little money for food and only a tent for shelter they began to walk and walk and walk… this is their story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Antarctica stores enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 58 metres. Why wait for this to melt when it could provide much needed water to drought-ridden areas and save lives? This is a question doctor-turned-author Paul Stidolph asks in his new book Forests in the Sahara. Paul talks harvesting ice, surviving mudslides in Nepal, the Japanese Hiroshima survivor he worked with in the monsoon, Cape Town, Australia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and singing sweet nothings on a schooner in the Seychelles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Whether reporting on the Brazil World Cup, the Canada Women’s World Cup or dodging tear gas in a football brawl in France Kait Borsay takes everything in her stride. Her podcast – the Offside Rule – has been voted one of the best sports podcasts in the UK and she’s travelled extensively - Brazil, Canada, Bali, Kenya, Australia all over Europe and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A funny, raw, open chat with Anna Hart, whose untameable adventurous spirit was ignited by a childhood in the back streets of Singapore. She’s seen Shakespearean scenes amid gorillas in Rwanda, lived as a digital nomad in Bali and New Zealand, been transformed by a shamanic haircut in LA and even been an ice road trucker. For Anna, travel, with the power to heal and transform, is fuelled by wanderlust yet also seasonal depression when life lacks adventure and sunshine. Unmissable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
BBC Radio 4’s Jane Garvey has travelled extensively, albeit under duress. She went backpacking as far as Belgium, didn’t have a great time reporting from the Olympics in Atlanta and really doesn’t fancy going anywhere exotic like India. She does however have some brilliant stories to tell about her surprisingly extensive travels - taking in Ghana, South Africa, seeing her beloved Liverpool play in Istanbul and plenty of Greece. A lively and entertaining conversation with one of the UK’s best broadca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
School’s out for summer meaning fun, sun, getting locked in a kids club and left behind in Mexico, falling off a slide and needing stitches in Turkey, free Pringles in Greece and going to Spain because 'we can't afford to go anywhere else'! This is travel from the kids’ point of view, travelling to Belgium, France, Spain, Wales, Mexico, Turkey, Greece, India and more. What they like about their holidays might just surprise you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Based in London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco award-winning reputation management consultant and host of the popular Media Masters Podcast Paul Blanchard has the dream life of business travel. He loves driving across the USA, listening to podcasts, notching up 26 states and counting. When he’s not hot-footing it around the globe (Tajikistan, Pakistan, Tblisi Georgia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda...) or hanging out with the rich and famous he lives on a farm near Milton Keynes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As one of the most famous women on UK TV, at the helm of one of our most poplar daytime shows, Andrea McLean is the Glasgow girl with the accent that no-one can quite place. Witty, warm and highly entertaining, Andrea grew up on a sugar cane plantation in the Caribbean, has hitchhiked through remote forests in Kenya and is so well travelled she started her career as a travel writer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Growing up in a small town on the Sussex coast was idyllic for children’s author and musician Giles Paley Phillips until tragedy struck and changed the course of his life. As a teenager in a small town he found the dodgiest clubs, yet soon learned his guitar was his ticket to ride. He’s travelled the breadth of the UK playing in Paul McCartney’s studios in Liverpool, at Glastonbury and his latest book is inspired by the gardeners of Syria. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Travel guru, guide-book author, journalist and the man to the whom world turns for anything travel related; Simon Calder is the Man Who Pays His Way, has hitchhiked all over the world and is also the man who over 12 years ago gave podcast host, Lisa, her first official travel writing commission after she interviewed him on her radio show. A travel packed episode with 'Mr Travel' himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brought up in the family hotel in Fife, Scotland, Edith Bowman has travel running through her veins. She’s hung out in New York with the world’s biggest bands, been caught in a snowstorm in the salt flats of Bolivia, shot guns in Texas (which she hated), presented TV travel shows from all over the globe and loves nothing more than waking up in a new place a day with her kids and rockstar husband on a tour bus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A fascinating insight into the South Pacific and what is was like to grow up under British Colonial rule. Living in a house made of bamboo the kids' playground was the lush fields of the sugar cane plantation, mango trees, the winding river where they swam as their mums washed their clothes and of course the beautiful Fijian beaches. Taking us to Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, 1960s Liverpool (meeting the Beatles!) to Spain and more. Amid lots of laughter there are also a few tears! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Travelling the breadth of the UK in her enviable job as the presenter of BBC1’s Escape to the Country is more calming than Sonali Shah’s previous travels which included making a ‘kidnap plan’ when filming in Afghanistan, needing armed guards at her wedding in Kenya and being stuck in a military coup in Bangkok. With family from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and India she’s a true child of the Commonwealth and also a Londoner through and through. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From humble beginnings in a slum tenement in Scotland, George Galloway has risen to become one of the UK’s most well known and also most controversial politicians. His self-confessed radical views have seen him banned from Canada, arrested in Cairo, meeting with Saddam Hussein in Iraq, spending time with Fidel Castro in Cuba and on first name terms with Nelson Mandela, Benazir Bhutto and Yasser Arafat. The travels of 'Gorgeous George' are as fascinating and as intriguing as the man himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Live from a beach bed on the coast of Andalucia, Spain, on this episode Lisa tells us all about The Big Travel Podcast including guests so far and guests to come. There's even some singing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The injustice of the death penalty is something to which Clive Stafford-Smith, one of Britain and America’s most powerful lawyers, has dedicated his whole working life. Clive describes Guantanamo Bay (there's a staff McDonald’s!), death rows across America, travels across the Middle East and campaigning against drone strikes in Pakistan with cricketer turned politician Imran Khan. A fascinating insight into a world not often seen, yet also surprisingly upbeat - with Clive's wit and warmth ever present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kate Mosse's vivid, evocative portrayals of landscapes come alive in her descriptions of the land and history that inspire her best-selling books, as you might expect from someone who’s sold over 5 million copies of her novels across the globe. The author talks about her love of rural France, Paris, Amsterdam, North America and also of literature, art and history in such a delightful way you will be left inspired to explore, read and maybe even move to France. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Millie can tell exactly what type of snow she's on by the swish of her sighted-guide’s skis. Since losing her sight aged 6 she relies on what she can hear, feel and sense – whether finding her way to class at school or whizzing downhill at over 115kph seeing only the blurred bright orange flash of her guide in front. Still only 19 she’s competed in two winter Paralympics, winning two silver medals in South Korea, and sees the world through her travel photography. She’s an absolute inspiration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sports presenter Charlie Webster arrived at our interview cut and bruised from a fall the previous day during the London Marathon...but this is nothing compared to the 3000 mile cycle from London to Rio which ended in her being in a coma and given 24 hours to live. She’s worked all over the world – starting off at Real Madrid TV and then at ESPN in Singapore - and has the most incredible, irresistible energy. She now also works tirelessly to help other people going through what she went through. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The transition from rap artist and Asian Beats DJ to serious journalist seems to have been pretty seamless for DJ Nihal, from BBC Radio 1 to serious news programmes on BBC Radio 5Live. Along the way he’s learned to embrace his Sri Lankan heritage, traced Buddha’s steps in India, DJed at the best parties and festivals and surprised himself by enjoying a family cruise. On his BBC Asian Network show he aims to kick the multicultural hornet’s nest and on the Big Travel Podcast we kick just this and much Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Not making it big on Broadway might have been frustrating for Baylen Leonard but it was the UK’s gain as, despite having grown up in relative poverty in the Tennessee foothills, he’s now a well known radio presenter, DJ and broadcaster based in London, well known for having been an integral part of the popular Danny Baker’s team on BBC Radio London, and spreading the country music love around the world. He’s also on first name terms with Dolly Parton, now that to me is better than any Broadway part. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As a best-selling celebrity biographer for Adele, Amy Winehouse, Justin Bieber, Simon Cowell, Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and more, Chas Newkey-Burden has some wonderful travel tales. He’s interviewed David Beckham in Madrid, loves the nightlife and indeed daylife of Israel and once spent an entire flight to Australia rehearsing how to evacuate a plane. Plus can you identify the American stranger who changed Chas’ life after a chance encounter in Dublin? Let us know! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nine children to organise takes some, well, organisation, but whom better to negotiate such a feat than City superstar Dame Helena Morrissey. One of only a few women to have been CEO of an investment bank, she’s a champion of gender equality and author of ‘A Good Time To Be A Girl’ a book about how women and men can succeed in work and indeed life by changing the culture they’re leaning in to. Awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire it’s the fascinating Dame Helena Morrissey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Having quit his job years ago to travel full-time Adam, through his blog and website Travels of Adam, is living this dream. Adam talks about 50 or more countries he’s visited – from camping with Bedouins in the desert in Jordan to finding the hippest hangouts in every European City and his plans to base himself back in his beloved America. We talk about holidays, Trump, gay rights, festivals and also find out more about how you too can make your living out of travel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
London born Muslim Emdad Rahman dedicates all of his spare time to charity – work that sees him building wells in Ghana, helping at orphanages in Morocco and delivering aid to refugees in Calais. His story about his first trip to Mecca will make you shiver.. The son of Bangladeshi immigrants, he grew up in Tower Hamlets, a vibrant London borough of huge contrasts. He’s a published football poet, yes that is a thing, and feels that the Gallagher brothers – yes those guys from Oasis – can do no wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One of Britain’s best-loved broadcasters, Eamonn Holmes grew up in what was essentially a war zone in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has travelled extensively with seminal programmes such as the BBC Holiday Programme and also How the Other Half Live, a TV show on which he and his broadcaster wife Ruth Langsford road-test the lifestyles of the ridiculously famous, he’s a huge fan of Manchester United and Hawaii with Elvis Presley would be his dream trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hannah Martin – make-up artist to the stars, YouTube and Instagram star – talks travelling with Bobbi Brown, negotiating cultural differences in China where her simple solution was to just eat everything and also opens up about her struggles to become a mum including putting bravely having to inject IVF meds in the middle of New York Fashion Week.
Hannah and The Big Travel Podcast host, Lisa, made a connection some years ago after going through similar struggles with miscarriage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Major Ken Hames MBE, former SAS, adventurer and explorer, tells incredible stories of being stuck in mine fields at war in the Falklands, parachuting into hostile terrains all over the world, guiding people in wheelchairs through the Nicaraguan wilderness for the BBC and of his conservation work in Africa which recently saw him attacked by a rhino in Namibia. With one eye always on the Official Secrets Act there are things that Major Ken can’t tell us, but the stories he can and does divulge are riveting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As the comedian in charge of warming up audiences for the X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent and much more Ian Royce has worked on cruise ships, been weed on in Barbados and once performed on the roof of a tank in Bosnia. Despite this outwardly charmed life he’s also been open about depression. His brilliantly funny accounts of his travels will make you laugh, smile and might even bring a tear to your eye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Prepare to be inspired by Mollie Hughes who, having climbed Everest twice by the age of 26 has seen the world in ways others can only imagine. We find out what it’s like to scale Everest, what is the ‘death zone’, finding bodies on the path, the perils of eating freeze-dried curry at 8,000 feet, women’s climbing skills, Britney Spears, Sherpas, Nepal, Africa, Antartica, the Outer Hebrides, castles in Spain, trekking in Jordan, believing in yourself, how travel can change lives and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A pioneer of drum ‘n’ bass and jungle Fabio is one of the UK’s best known DJ’s and been called one of the best DJs in the world. From humble beginnings in pirate radio and raves in Brixton to the dizzy heights of BBC Radio One, he’s travelled all over the world, playing at raves in airports, culture-shock gigs in Japan and once got caught in the middle of a Nazi riot in Germany. A real insight into the brilliantly multicultural, music-filled popular culture of Britain of the last three decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lucy Siegle’s passion for the planet is infectious. Her work has taken her to everywhere from of the poorest parts of the world, in the fabric factories of Bangladesh, to the most glamorous of red carpets at the Oscars. She’s on our screens almost daily on The One Show on primetime BBC1 as well as a prolific writer and broadcaster. Fresh off the plane from the UN Environmental Assembly in Nairobi with Ellie Goulding, Lucy clears up some tricky about the impact of travel and tells some fascinating tales Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Paul Ross; Chasing the Mafia in Sicily, getting mugged in Rio and the Great British Seaside.
Witty, entertaining, self-deprecating yet obviously enormously clever, it’s hard to describe the powerhouse of conversation that is Paul Ross. Incredibly well-travelled, in this episode we pack in everything from traditional Seaside holidays, to frightening bats in the Amazon to Sicilian Mafia-busting mayor, getting mugged in Rio and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices