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The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Amanda Kendle

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle is a show for travel lovers. Each episode is packed with travel stories from fellow travel addicts on topics like using foreign languages, meeting the locals, getting lost and what we learn from our travels.

  • 24 minutes 7 seconds
    333 Overtourism

    Overtourism is a buzz word of late, but not a good one. We've all read about the cities and regions being overrun by tourists, who might be damaging natural or historical sights, or making an area unaffordable for its original residents to stay in. In this episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast, I speak with three guests with an interest in overtourism and ask for their thoughts.

    First up, I speak with Dylan Thuras of Atlas Obscura. Dylan's whole website and podcast are based around encouraging people to learn about, and visit, less popular, more obscure places, so he's been thinking about overtourism and its opposite, undertourism, for many years.

    I then chat with Jamie Burr, who specialises in marketing for responsible tourism businesses, and therefore also has a significant interest in overtourism and how we might deal with it.

    Finally, Chris Christou from The End of Tourism podcast talks about some future alternatives for tourism, speaking from the example of his home of Oaxaca in Mexico, that may be one way to mitigate the problems of overtourism. 

     

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    18 January 2025, 10:37 am
  • 22 minutes 39 seconds
    332 Playing and Watching Sports on Your Travels

    If you're a sports fan (and as one guest will prove, even if you're not), travelling to play or watch sports can be a great combination of two enjoyable pastimes. It's one way you can immerse yourself in something that local people enjoy as well, and can even be a great way to connect or make new friends. 

    In this episode I hear firstly from Julie Kaplan who has had some fun table tennis experiences in several countries - it's a great story! I then chat with Tara Wells, who is not usually a sports fan, but can make an exception when she travels. Finally, I speak with Scott Antcliffe who is a very devoted ice hockey player and fan, and is headed on an international trip shortly to play in a very special final tournament.

     

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    12 January 2025, 2:10 am
  • 22 minutes 57 seconds
    331 Working with Animals in Tourism

    Learning more about being a responsible traveller when it comes to seeing or interacting with animals on my trips is one of the biggest learning curves running this podcast has given me over the past decade. In this episode, I hear from three professionals working at the intersection of animals and tourism, in three different but equally fascinating roles.

    First up, I chat with Nora Livingstone of Animal Experience International, about a trip she took to Sierra Leone to visit a dog rescue centre that was looking for volunteers. Then, I speak with John Roberts, director of Sustainability and Conservation for the Minor Hotels group, and he describes the particular case of looking after hornbills at their Avani resort on Koh Lanta, Thailand. Finally, Suzanne Milthorpe of World Animal Protection Australia explains the sad sight that awaited her on a visit to a so-called turtle rescue venue in Bali, Indonesia. From all of these stories, there is plenty for us to take away and help in our considerations for future trips so that we can be thoughtful when it comes to how we include animals in our travels.

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    4 January 2025, 8:19 am
  • 19 minutes 22 seconds
    330 Travel Trends and Resolutions for 2025

    2024 is reaching an end, and I'm honestly looking forward to getting on with 2025!

    This year was a bit of a bust: the sudden loss of my Mum tainted most of the year with various repercussions, and even this podcast suffered from some neglect! But with a shiny new year ahead, I'm happy to look back on what travel I did manage in 2024, as well as talk about what seem to be the most likely travel trends for 2025.

    I also asked listeners about their resolutions for 2025 and I'm glad to include a wonderful selection of ideas - most especially because all of my listeners are so thoughtful!

    I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to being back in your ears every week in 2025. Happy travels!

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    17 December 2024, 12:37 pm
  • 27 minutes 29 seconds
    329 Museums and Ethical Issues

    Like many parts of travel, in recent years I've started to rethink some aspects of museum that I just took for granted in my early years of travel. In this episode, I chat with three guests on a variety of aspects of the ethics of museums, which all gave me great food for thought.

    First up, I spoke with Chris Christou, who articulates some of the key ethical issues many museums face, especially those that are focused on archaeological artefacts - some of which might not have been acquired in the most ethical of ways!

    Next, Dylan Thuras of Atlas Obscura tells me about his particular interest in medical museums, and some of the questions surrounding these, and includes an interesting example of a museum he visited in Mexico.

    Artist Carol McQuaid highlights a recent art gallery scandal involving MONA in Tasmania, Australia, which she had the opportunity to visit recently. While chatting galleries, I was reminded of my recent experience at the Manchester Art Gallery in England, which has recently had a significant rethink of how they run their displays.

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    10 December 2024, 10:28 am
  • 25 minutes 37 seconds
    328 Hong Kong Trip Report 2024

    Almost 40 years after my first trip to Hong Kong, I returned in November with my teenager son. Back as a nine-year-old, Hong Kong was the very first place I'd been to outside of Western Australia, so it made quite the impression. 

    This time, I was there to visit friends who've recently moved there, and to do some extra sightseeing while they were at work. In this trip report episode, I'm going to let you know what my highlight was (hint: it could happen anywhere in the world!), explain the sightseeing we did and something intriguing I learnt about, and also tell you all about my brief foray into China, a country I've long wanted to visit, and now want to see even more of, please! I then have a Disney-related confession to make, and some ethical pondering about visiting Hong Kong. 

    I'd love to hear about your own Hong Kong experiences as I'm keen to return and deepen my knowledge of this fascinating place, so let me know your thoughts!

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    3 December 2024, 12:42 pm
  • 24 minutes 6 seconds
    327 Rare Encounters With Nature on Your Travels

    A huge reason many people travel is to get away from city life and into nature. In Episode 327 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast we don't just get into nature - we hear about some really rare and unique encounters with the natural world.

    First up, I chat with Satyajit Das, a veteran of many intriguing wildlife encounters on his travels, who explains how lucky he was in coming across the small cats of South and Central America: ocelots, margays and onchillas.

    Next, Paul Christie explains something of the history of the sakura or cherry blossom in Japan, and leaves me with the surprising fact that you don't necessarily have to be in Japan in springtime to see the beautiful cherry trees bloom.

    Finally, Iris Villarreal tells the story of her experience with a nomadic Kazakh ethnic minority in western Mongolia, and in particular, how they train and use eagles for hunting.

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    26 November 2024, 11:01 am
  • 30 minutes 41 seconds
    326 UK Trip Report England and Wales 2024

    This episode is a joyful collaboration with Tracy of the UK Travel Podcast.

    When one of your best friends invites you to his wedding in the Lake District in England, you say yes!

    We first met Cham in Cambodia - back in Episode 114 - and we've holidayed with him across Asia ever since, but meeting up in the UK to celebrate his wedding was our most exciting adventure together yet. My 14-year-old son and I took the opportunity to explore some more of north-west England and northern Wales while we were there, taking in Manchester, Liverpool, the Lake District, and northern Wales, including Wrexham and Llangollen.

    In this collab with the UK Travel Podcast, Tracy interviews me about my UK experience and I describe it through a thoughtful travel lens, from our planning, our experiences and then our post-trip reflection. There's also some unexpected sandwich chat!

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    13 August 2024, 12:44 pm
  • 27 minutes 43 seconds
    325 What People Think About Australia

    If you think of Australia, you're bound to imagine a few stereotypes of what life here is like: sun and sand might feature, and you will perhaps imagine we're a laidback nation of permanently relaxed people. Over the last year, the topic of what people think about Australia has come up with quite a few guests so I decided to compile an episode about these ideas.

    I chat first with Michael Jensen who spent half a year here on student exchange in the 1980s, and recently returned for another months-long stint: what had changed? Quite a lot, as you can imagine, and we had an interesting chat.

    Alex Zeringer, a German student now based in Ireland, came to Australia on a much more recent student program just last year, and I asked him about his impressions of my home town of Perth.

    Our reputation often precedes us, and Julia Kaplan told me her ideas about Australia and its people although she hasn't yet been here - but she's met enough Aussies abroad on her travels to get a good idea.

    Finally, I speak with Jules Park, who moved here from South Korea, and tells me some of her initial cultural shocks, including the tale of pink hair!

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    6 July 2024, 7:21 am
  • 22 minutes 25 seconds
    324 Friends From Travelling

    Meeting new people is one of my favourite parts of travelling, and when these chance encounters turn into long-term friendships, that's just perfection! My most recent trip, three weeks in England and Wales, came about because my son and I were invited to attend the wedding of a dear travelling friend, who we originally met in Cambodia and have also travelled with in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand - and now England!

    This episode features many such friendships, but the most unique is Daniel Troia's friendship with a family in a tiny, picturesque village in the Swiss Alps. He has spent many summers with these now long-term friends, despite not having a common language when he first met them.

    My second guest is Rupert Grey who tells of his very special friendship with Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam, who he first met back in 1992 when travelling briefly in Bangladesh with his family.

    Finally, Tracy Collins tells me about several special friends from travelling, and in particular she highlights some of the many and varied ways you can more easily find yourself making friends when you're away from home.

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    8 June 2024, 8:56 am
  • 27 minutes 52 seconds
    323 Language Learning Through Travel and Immersion

    Learning other languages can be really hard - especially if you're sitting in your home country trying to learn from a boring textbook. The guests in this episode all decided that they'd learn another language - Thai, French, Polish and Welsh - by travelling and immersing themselves in the language, in varied and interesting ways.

    First up, I hear from Paddy Jenkins about his experience of learning Thai - in fact, teaching himself Thai - while he spent six months volunteering in Chiang Mai. Spoiler alert: yes, he would literally take his notebook and dictionary even if he went to the pub or a nightclub! That's dedication.

    Next, I speak with Tracy Collins who was told by her French teacher she would never be able to speak French, but proved her wrong when she moved to France to work as an au pair. She also was lucky to be working for a family that helped her out in some perhaps unexpected ways.

    Love is often a reason for learning another language and this was what took Thomas Swick to living in Poland. I did laugh when he was explaining the grammatical complexities of Polish, although when you're leaning it you're more likely to cry, I think!

    Finally, Pam Petro decided to make the effort to learn the lesser-spoken language of Welsh. She went through some hardcore learning and even took some surprising travels in her pursuit of Welsh fluency.

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    16 May 2024, 11:32 am
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