The Big Travel Podcast (Auddy Network)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a passion for birding and indeed podcasting that lead Suzy Buttress to establish the wonderful Casual Birder podcast, for which she travels extensively, tracing birds and indeed other wildlife around the world. We discuss her recent expedition cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica, dealing with anxiety when having heard two people sadly lost their lives on the same journey, how whale-watching in Baja California brought her to tears, the truly awesome experience of witnessing a solar eclipse in Oregon, feeling the fear and doing it anyway and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are happy to announce the imminent arrival of our new season of episodes and as usual we have a few wonderful surprises for you – some on location episiodes from destinations as varied as Copenhagen to the Maldives – some new partners for sponsorship and also a very exciting annoucment as to what Lisa is up to with some travel plans that can also involve you! Yes you. Watch this space. In the meantime feel free to say hello on social media - Lisa Francesca Nand - and subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss us! x 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

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

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

Barbara Buczek spent ten years in the management team at the Port of Dover but over two years ago moved continents to establish Saudi’s new cruise scene with Cruise Saudi. Born in Poland she felt that travelling at an early age to Kentucky to attend a US high school gave her the travel bug. On this episode we talk about the special relationship with the UK have with Dover, the emotional tug of those white cliffs, how travelling by sea gives you a different perspective, feeling like she is living through history witnessing the cultural changes in Saudi, climbing to Everest Base Camp, jogging through a Taiwanese forest, the unbeatable feeling of running the London marathon and much more.  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

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.  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

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

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   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

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

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

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

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

Picture the scene... Lisa and Simon Hunter (Madrid based journalist) are in the centre of Madrid at the fabulous Ocean Drive Hotel with a balcony over- looking over the Opera square having a chat about politics, celebs, nightclubs, tapas and more before heading up to the rooftop pool for a Vermouth...On this episode we talk..the short trip that turned into a lifetime love of Madrid, becoming the go-to person for British news on Spanish TV, big stories in the busy newsroom in El Pais, the surprise abdication of King Juan Carlos, Spain’s mad politics, the eerie quiet over the city at the time of the 2004 bombings, the violent ETA period, spending ‘several years’ in Spanish nightclubs, beautiful beaches in Cadiz, arguing over sun loungers in Benidorm, old sherry bars and ‘la hora del Vermouth’ Simon’s fantastic ‘Walk & Eat’ tapas tours, oh and Simon’s new abs! So much to unpack there. Join us in Madrid now! 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

Hello and welcome to The Big Travel Podcast Christmas Special 2023 special…featuring the Casual Birder Podcast’s Suzy Buttress on celebrating the winter solstice in Antartica, Countdown’s Rachel Riley and her husband’s post-Strictly wind down in the blue lagoon in Iceland, musician and writer Nitin Sawhney having a Hallmark picture perfect Christmas in the US, actor Warwick Davies being towed on sledges behind huskies in Lapland, motoring journalist Ben Oliver on a Marrakesh rooftop accompanied by the atmospheric sound of the call to prayer, singer songwriter Freya Ridings’ memorable childhood Christmases round the piano at her Nana’s house in Coventry and Robert Munns from charity Oceans of Hope UK, spending every Christmas with his parents in the same house in Northamptonshire and this year watching the KING’S speech! 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Athletic Greens, the ultimate daily nutritional supplement. To get a FREE one-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D, and 5 free travel packs with your first purchase, visit athleticgreens.com/bigtravel 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

Nitin Sawhney’s Kent childhood included regular attacks by racists, but he threw himself into music, joining school friend James Taylor’s band. Flying to India via Kabul aged 8 he found himself a child mascot riding horseback through the streets, he felt liberated by Liverpool at university, he studied accountancy but ending up creating a hit comedy show with Sanjeev Bhaskar, he’s recorded with indigenous musicians the world over, including Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Spain, interviewed Nelson Mandela at his home in Johannesburg and worked with just about every important figure in modern day music. Discussing everything from the connection between Flamenco and Rajasthani gypsies, working with Gary Lineker and refugees on his new album, Identity, being withheld at security in LA before being sent to hospital and so much more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With… Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos in New Zealand, podcaster & author Iszi Lawrence in Australia, charity founder Kevin Chaplin in Cape Town, celebrity vet Marc Abraham building a sand Christmas tree in Thailand, author Hannah Bourne-Taylor rescuing a pangolin in the rainforest in Ghana, Hollywood actor Minnie Driver on beach Christmases in California, comedian & podcaster Cally Beaton ice skating in Central Park, singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt’s winter wonderland in Iceland, contemporary artist Firouz Farman Farmaian in the family riad in Marrakech, campaigner Jamie Klingler remembering Philadelphia book stores with her mom, Ibizan DJs The Mambo Brothers drinking cold beer on the beach in Rio, Hotelier Marc Rahola on family Christmas in Ibiza, international travel nanny Nanny Sharz in Jamaica, singer-songwriter Foy Vance wishing he’d not gone to Lanzarote, abandoned places explorer ‘Greg Abandoned’ on a Christmas nightclub romance in London and Big Brother star Pete Bennett with a drunk Santa in the Caribbean. What’s not to love??? Happy Christmas from us here at The Big Travel Podcast xx 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

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

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

We’re back for our new season and starting with an extra special episode recorded in the beautiful Maldivian resort of Dhigali where our presenter Lisa recently spent an idyllic week. Who better to give us a real look at life in the Maldives than resort manager Hassan Saeed who, having dropped out of school age 14 and one of 11 siblings, very quickly had to start start work. We talk growing up in the islands, happy days working in his grandfather’s tin workshop, how the arrival of tourism changed the Maldives, entering ‘a completely different world’ in tourism, spending a year at sea, being on a ferry at the time of the 2004 tsunami, navigating Covid, ‘island culture’s’ happy laid-back attitude, feeling incredibly proud of the beautiful resort he has helped create and the power of loving the community you live in.  Lisa travelled to Dhigali and Velassaru Universal Resorts with the wonderful Kuoni www.kuoni.co.uk. It was utter paradise! 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

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

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

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

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

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! Athletic Greens, the ultimate daily nutritional supplement. To get a FREE one-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D, and 5 free travel packs with your first purchase, visit athleticgreens.com/bigtravel 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.   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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Freya Ridings’ beautiful, heartfelt music, gives you a wonderful sense of her warm and open personality and you’re going to LOVE Freya’s stories here on the podcast; Learning to play on her Nana’s piano, growing up in a musical, talented family (her Dad is the voice of Daddy Pig!), Lost Without You being played on Love Island, getting engaged in Lake Como, battling back from Australia before lockdown, struggling to allow herself to travel for fun, but, how the beauty of travel allows for (and I quote) ‘time outside your environment to think new thoughts and have new ideas’. Full of wonderful thoughts, ideas and indeed music for the release of her new album Blood Orange, we are delighted to have Freya Ridings on the podcast.  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

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

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

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