386 It Could’ve Been Much Worse: Surviving Travel Dramas

A decade ago to the day - 25th March 2016 - I launched the first episodes of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast. Somehow, I have just kept interviewing great people about their thoughts on travel, put together episodes almost every week, and magically, I've now been running this podcast for a full ten years! To celebrate, I've compiled some of my very favourite snippets of stories my guests have told me over the years. I've got the sad stories, the hilarious stories, and the ones that gave me advice I've both ignored and also followed! A huge thanks to every listener and every guest over this decade - I appreciate you all so much, because without guests and listeners, this would be a very boring podcast indeed. Here's to another decade! Links: James Mwenda in Episode 246 - Deep Dive Interview https://notaballerina.com/246  Dean O’Shea in Episode 133 - The Big Trips That Changed Everything https://notaballerina.com/133  Nicci O’Mara in Episode 174 - Life Lessons from Travel https://notaballerina.com/174  Matt Eakin in Episode 78 - Border Crossings https://notaballerina.com/78  Bex Thomas and Angela Correll in Episode 344 - Learning Languages and Making Mistakes https://notaballerina.com/344  Stephen Henson in Episode 1 - Food in a Foreign Language https://notaballerina.com/01  Tim Tricker in Episode 224 - Big Purchases on Your Travels https://notaballerina.com/224  Narelle Wilson in Episode 128 - Travel Planning and Research https://notaballerina.com/128  David Soto Jr in Episode 13 - Slow Travel https://notaballerina.com/13  Heidi Brown in Episode 358 - Solo Travel for Women https://notaballerina.com/358  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/387 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some travellers have a much keener sense of adventure and embracing physical risk on their travels, and others just stumble into a travel drama they didn't anticipate; we have all kinds on this episode about things going wrong! First up, Tudor Morgan, a veteran of many Antarctic stays and current Antarctic Ambassador for HX Expeditions, calmly explains a near-disaster he experienced some years back when working for British Antarctic Survey. Patrick Nash then explains a tricky border crossing from the 1980s between then Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and the Central African Republic. Over the years, I have heard a number of harrowing border crossing tales from my guests and this is up there with the best of them! Finally, I chat with Shannon O'Brien about an accident she was involved in while travelling in Myanmar. To go with the theme of this episode it could, of course, have been so much worse - though it was already pretty bad, I reckon! Links: Tudor Morgan of HX Expeditions - https://www.travelhx.com/en-au/  Patrick Nash - https://www.patricknash.co.uk/  Patrick’s book Shots Across the Water: Tales of a Journey Through Africa - https://amzn.to/4cMl0UQ  Shannon O’Brien - https://www.shannon-obrien.com/ Shannon’s memoir Stray - https://amzn.to/4bQdiKT  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/386   *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's International Women's Day again and I've got a different focus this year: some of the ways history and travel is not the same for women! When we travel, especially on our own, we can be confronted with cultural differences and people's opinions in a starker way than others, and I loved hearing more about this from listeners who contributed to a chat on this in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook group.  History is also not the same for women - and women are often omitted from the history we learn about a place when we travel there. I chat with Nikki Padilla Rivera of She Shapes History about how this happens and what this fabulous Australian-born tour company is doing about it. Links: 2025 International Women’s Day Episode 340 - https://notaballerina.com/340  She Shapes History walking tours and more - https://sheshapeshistory.com/    Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/385 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This special episode is the audio of the live-streamed February 2026 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, chatting with author Hannah Kent about her book "Always Home, Always Homesick" - https://amzn.to/3Kxcb7M   If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, sign up for our updates at https://thoughtfultravellersbookclub.substack.com/ You can also read more about it at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers  *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates ProgramNotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We often focus on the visual when we travel ... after all, travellers go sightseeing, not "sound-hearing" or "taste-tasting"! But when we look back on our travel memories, it's often a smell, taste, sound or feel that actually has the most long-lasting impact.  In this episode we hear from three travellers about their own experiences with non-visual senses, starting off with travel writer Tom Sykes, who also emphasises why this is important for writer as well. I then chat with Hannah Ballint about some of her fondest travel memories, which often involves sound and smell, across Vietnam, the United States and Australia. Finally, Ethan Kavanagh takes us through some of his highlights of a trip to Ireland with a focus on the feel and taste, too. Links: Tom Sykes - https://tomgsykes.co.uk/  Tom’s new book (coming March 2026) - The Years of Travelling Anxiously - https://amzn.to/4cyr2L1  Tom’s book recommendation, Sven Lindqvist’s Exterminate All The Brutes - https://amzn.to/4u1LAlo Hannah Balint - https://www.hannahbalintcoaching.com  Ethan Kavanagh - The Perth Tourist - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-perth-tourist/id1823861279  Ethan on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/noisepilotau/  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/384   *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program - NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the most memorable parts of travel is the people that we meet - not just the friends we make or the people we stay with but also the incidental encounters along the way. Speaking with people on our travels is one of the ways we learn the most about the places we're visiting and it's amazing how long these people stay in our minds, even when we don't know their names. In this episode I share some of my own small but memorable encounters, as well as including stories from four guests. Eryn Gordon starts us off with a tale from Thailand, where the people are stereotypically friendly and she proves it to be true. Amy Willis then shares a place she goes where it's easy to make a connection with the local people wherever you are. Nomad Bianca Rappaport explains how she's managed to both make and maintain connections during her years of housesitting in many places around the world, and finally Heidi Brown highlights one of the big benefits of repeated visits to a beloved place. Links: Eryn Gordon’s website Earth to Editorial - https://earthtoeditorial.com/  Eryn's TEDx Talk on “What it means to be a good traveler” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps Amy Willis from Ker & Downey https://kerdowney.com/ Amy's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/amynwillis/  Bianca Rappaport Website: https://wanderwell.club/  Bianca Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wanderwellclub - Heidi Brown - https://www.heidikristinbrown.com/ Heidi’s memoir The Map I Draw: A Memoir of Travel as a Passport to Self - https://amzn.to/44Mky6T  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/383   *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We need some light relief in these tricky times and I found these stories just perfect! Finding love while you're travelling sounds like it belongs in a romantic comedy, but even those must be inspired by truth: this episode has stories from three couples who met in far-flung parts of the world, sometimes both far from home. If you think about all the decisions that led them to be in the same place at the same time, you have to really start thinking that fate is a thing! First up I chat with Edward and Kim, who together tell the story of how they met - and later, how they became a couple and many years later, husband and wife - when Kim decided to head to Tanzania to do some volunteer work before going to graduate school. Next, Hannah Balint explains how she was about to leave Vietnam after living and teaching there, and just a few weeks before her plane took off, she bumped into a handsome Australian in an unusual place. Finally, I talk to my friend Shaney Hudson about how she originally met her Dutch husband. This tale also crosses many continents and it's pretty amazing that love always seems to win the day! Links: Edward Lyimo and Kim Krowne from Pristine Trails - https://pristinetrails.com/  Hannah Balint - https://www.hannahbalintcoaching.com  And thanks to Shaney Hudson!  Episode 212 - Honeymoons and Weddings - https://notaballerina.com/212  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/382 Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Various statistics suggest that more than half of travellers want to see animals when they travel: that's why we keep returning to the topic of animal tourism and how we can do this in ways that both keep humans interested in caring for animals but without doing too much harm - and while bearing in mind that for many communities, animal tourism can be a significant part of their economy. To sum up: it's tricky! In this episode I get a bunch of different perspectives. I start with Eryn Gordon, a travel writer who visited Thailand and had her first encounter there with an animal sanctuary that was ethical on paper but made her question this when she was there in person - something that many tourists experience. Next, I speak with safari guide Suyash Keshari, who has many years of experience working in tourism with tigers in India (and other animals around the world), and discusses the difficult balance of tourist behaviour that does and doesn't impact animals in ways that actually change their lives. Finally, John Roberts takes us back a couple of decades to describe some of what was happening when the world first started to consider whether it was okay or not to train and tame elephants for tourism purposes, and some of the tricky elements of this in the Thai context in particular.  Links: Eryn Gordon’s website Earth to Editorial - https://earthtoeditorial.com/  Eryn's TEDx Talk on “What it means to be a good traveler” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps  Suyash Keshari, Ameliya Safaris - https://ameliyasafaris.com/   John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability and Conservation, Minor Hotels -https://www.minorhotels.com/  Whither Captive Elephants? by Daniel Stiles - https://medium.com/@danielstiles/whither-captive-elephants-f4e70a36aff8  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/381Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's (somehow!) six years ago that we started to learn about this new virus and then find ourselves caught up in a global pandemic. While there were some truly tragic parts to that crisis, it turns out there were also some good results, too. Quite by chance recently, two guests in the space of a couple of days told me stories about huge changes in their lives brought about by their travels around Covid times, and these stories were so interesting I quickly decided to create a whole episode on the topic. First up, I chat with Shannon O'Brien, an international school teacher who was actually working at a school in Shenzhen, China, at the start of 2020. During a school break for the Chinese New Year, Shannon flew to Sumatra, Indonesia, for a short holiday. Spoiler alert: it became a very long holiday! I then speak with Eva Westerling, a German doctor who in 2019 had decided that it was time for a big change and was contemplating a permanent shift to Morocco. When the pandemic hit, she and her partner were in the earliest stages of setting up a tourism business in Morocco, and then of course, no tourists came.  My final guest is Eryn Gordon, who was working a corporate job in the United States when the pandemic began, and she soon found herself out of work. Instead of laying low like many of us did during Covid times, Eryn instead decided to get a new qualification and move to the other side of the world, to work in Seoul, South Korea. Links: Shannon O’Brien - https://www.shannon-obrien.com/ Shannon’s memoir Stray - https://amzn.to/4bQdiKT  Eva Westerling’s blog Not Scared of the Jet Lag - http://www.notscaredofthejetlag.com Eva’s tour business in Morocco, Berber Adventure Tours - https://berberadventuretours.com/  Eryn Gordon’s website Earth to Editorial - https://earthtoeditorial.com/  Eryn's TEDx Talk on “What it means to be a good traveler” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/380   *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you imagine that we didn't used to talk about overtourism? It's really only a decade since this word entered common usage but it seems we hear about it constantly now. In this episode I chat with two guests who have great perspectives to add on this issue, and I also share some tips on how we can deal with overtourism as travellers. First up, I chat with Christine Newell, who spent a year living in Seoul, South Korea, before it became a big deal on the international tourist radar. She talks about how it has changed over the past two decades and gives examples of mitigation efforts like curfews keeping tourists out of particularly affected areas. I then speak with Bex Thomas, who started giving serious thought to issues like overtourism and economic leakage in tourism some years back when she and her friend made an effort to book locally to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. She highlights how being more mindful about our tourist time and dollars can also lead to a better travelling experience - win-win! Finally, some tips on how we can deal with overtourism to both make our own trips better and impact the places we visit positively instead of negatively - drawing on my own experiences and a great blog post from Erin Hynes. Links: Christine Newell - https://www.christinenewell.com/ Christine’s book Five Seasons in Seoul - https://amzn.to/4hHQmhb  Bex Thomas - Sabbatical Stories Podcast  - https://bexthomas.com/podcast/  Community Back Pocket - https://communitybackpocket.com/  Erin’s post on overtourism - https://pinatravels.org/avoid-contributing-to-overtourism/ Erin’s post on economic leakage - https://pinatravels.org/what-is-economic-leakage-in-tourism/ Episode 378 Seoul Trip Report - https://notaballerina.com/378  Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com  Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/379   *Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Support the show: https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.