Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure

Hello :)

So, this podcast is all about comfort zones, primarily but not exclusively, in travel. I look at what they are, why people stay in them, how you can break them comfortably, and talk about times I've broken my own comfort zones, with both good and bad outcomes. Because that's what makes good travel experiences, right?

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* The British Guild of Travel Writers AGM
* Standing on a stage, bare...

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In March 2025, me and my travel buddy Laura surprisingly went to Maldives for four nights. Given I'm a budget backpacker who can't swim and gets bored easily, we figured it would make a great concept for a podcast. Very few people think of Maldives as a budget backpacker destination, and we thought we'd talk about how we managed to visit without spending the world.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Why on earth would...

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This podcast is on Festivals, and as we're coming up to the season where people are likely planning their summer, this feels quite pertinent. It came off the back of my episode from last year about Travelling For Music, where I got a couple of contribs that made me think a dedicated episode on festivals would be a good idea.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* The weather in 2012
* The delights of camping 
* My history...

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This episode details the second half of my 2-week backpacking trip around South America in October 2024 - this one covers Iguzau Falls and Paraguay. Because everyone wants to go to Paraguay.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Admin caused by a lost phone
* The Jesuit Ruins of Argentina and Paraguay
* The German influence of SE Paraguay
* Iguazu Falls (both sides)
* Ciudad del Este and the absence of the Brazil border
...

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This episode details the first half of my 2-week backpacking trip around South America in October 2024 - this one covers Uruguay and Buenos Aires. The rest of the trip will follow in my next episode. My voice doesn't really sound that great today, and I'm not quite sure why.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* I went to Chester to meet my mother!
* Why did I go to South America?
* First impressions of Montevideo
* The ...

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This episode is about Luxury Travel. This isn't a topic that comes naturally to barefoot backpackers in general, but sometimes even we put on our metaphorical shoes and drink free champagne.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Running Training & Rate of Percieved Exertion
* Future potential backpacking trips
* What it means to be a 'barefoot' backpacker
* Flying business class on Air Europa from South America
* Short-h...

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This podcast comes off the back of another press-trip I was sent on by Jet2. This time me and Laura went to Austria to explore the Christmas Markets. While we were there we did a few other things, not all of which involved alcohol.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Pills and Snow
* What is a Christmas Market anyway
* Our impressions of six of them
* Things to eat and drink
* Things to do at and around the markets
* S...

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Yeh, I’ve not podded for a while. Had an existential crisis. Still have. It’s fine. Conditional normal. With fog patches. Rising slowly.

This episode is all about me, a couple of events I've been to in the past couple of months, and how my content might change in scope going forward. Because I am the UK's leading AroAce Non-Binary Gen-X Travel and Lifestyle Blogger. Arguably.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Small t...

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This is an episode I've been meaning to do for about three years, but for mainly logistical reasons, this is the first chance I've had.

The original idea came from the lifestyle podcast Sounds Fake But Okay; whenever they get stuck for content they scour the AITA forums on Reddit, and similar content in other places, to highlight allonormativity and generally go 'NTA, dump him'. I figured I could do the same for this pod, ...

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I often say "Everywhere Is Interesting", but what do I mean when I say that? What makes a place 'interesting'? Or rather, given any random place in the world, what can make you 'key in' to that location over and above any other? Of course, this could be very personal, or at least subjective, so when I say 'Everywhere Is Interesting', what I mean is that there is something everywhere, in every place, that someone is going t...

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So, despite recently moving out of Salford, I felt it was an interesting enough place to do a podcast about. Partly because 'Everywhere is Interesting' and my VA wanted me to prove it. And what could be more interesting than the location of the world's first municipal public park, the world's first bus route, the world's first street lighting, and the world's only canal swing bridge. And the UK's most polluted river, but l...

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Given recent big concert tours, it feels like the right time to do an episode on 'travelling for music'. It's a subject I didn't think I'd have a lot to say about, given I don't often go to concerts even locally, never mind for travels, but the more I thought about it, the more interesting comparisons and contrasts I could find between my trips.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* My first concert (Heavenly, 1992)
* Th...

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I've been thinking a lot recently about nostalgia. I mean, I always have, but I think over time my feelings have changed about it. There's so many people who think 'life was better when I was young', and I wanted to probe more into that, into how I felt about nostalgia, why people of my generation tend to be nostalgic, and also put some colder facts around it.

I also took a couple of trips recently to the places I grew up ...

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It's been noticed that I've now done 100 episodes. Quite which episode was my 100th is open to question as it depends on your definition of episode - indeed if you don't count the Twitter Space recordings I did with V, I've not got there yet. But, just like with counting countries, there's always going to be arguments either way, and in terms of what my podcast host and the podcast apps say, I've made three figures. So it ...

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This is part three of an overview of my recent trip to the Caucasus region of Eurasia, and covers the four days I spent in Armenia. I talk about why Yerevan feels quite Soviet, why Armenia and Azerbaijan don't like each other, and the architectural legacy of being the world's oldest Christian country.

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Asexuality Interview with an unexpected newspaper
* Local Elections
* How to spend ...

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This is part two of an overview of my recent trip to the Caucasus region of Eurasia, and covers the five days I spent in the country of Georgia, mainly the capital city Tbilisi. I also talk about far too much cheese and garlic, the worst beer I've ever had in my life, 

Topics discussed in this episode are:
* Audio quality of recent episodes
* Problems when your debit card gets cancelled
* Arrival in Tbilisi
* First experie...

Hello :)

So, as you know, I've recently been away for two weeks, ostensibly to attend the Traverse Travel Blogger Conference, which this year took place in Tbilisi, in Georgia. I've never been to that party of the world, and it'd always been on my list.

I clearly went at the wrong time of year, but that's just what happens sometimes.

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