The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

387 Ten Years of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 gre...

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

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 d...

385 Women in History and Travel - International Women’s Day 2026

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Book Club 24: Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode is the audio of the live-streamed February 2026 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, chatting with author Hannah Kent ...

384 Travel With All Your Senses

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

383 Small Connections, Big Memories

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

382 Travel Meet Cutes

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

381 Elephants, Tigers and Responsible Animal Tourism

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

380 Pandemic Travel and Big Life Changes

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 s...

379 Overtourism and What We Can Do About It

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 abo...

378 Seoul Trip Report: Spontaneous Budget Travel to South Korea

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I last saw South Korea's fabulous capital Seoul way back in 2002, so when my 15-year-old son spotted a great flight price in November I was very keen ...

377 Overlooked Perspectives on Travel

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How often do we go somewhere with a preconceived idea and find it hard to really see other perspectives ... well, speaking for myself, pretty often! I...

Book Club 23: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

03 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the December 2025 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, chatting about book ...

376 All Aboard for 2026 Travels!

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The end of 2025 is imminent and it's time to look back on our discussions and travels and then get ready for a thoughtful and fun 2026! In this episod...

375 Chris Christensen: Deep Dive into Travel Podcasting

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Christensen had the foresight to start a travel podcast before almost anyone had even heard of podcasts - way back in 2005. The Amateur Traveler...

374 Cultural Intelligence for Travellers

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When I learnt that past guest Renae Ninneman runs a business providing cultural intelligence assessments and intercultural training I was immediately ...

373 Dangerous Animals on our Travels

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling to observe animals in the wild is a huge reason that we move around the world. The best case scenario is that we can see them without distu...

372 Ayutthaya, Thailand: Visiting Thoughtfully

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of my favourite outings in Bangkok last month was heading north to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed historic city of Ayutthaya for a day, together...

371 Travel Trends for 2026

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The new year is coming at us fast: 2026, here we come! At this time of year the reports and articles about travel trends are rife, and I like to look ...

370 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: UK, Ireland and Singapore

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this final episode of the Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985, we return to England, drive through Scotland and Wales, and catch a ferry to Ireland. Then...

369 Travel and Language Learning

25 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Travel and learning other languages often go hand in hand, whether we're cramming in a few words before we visit somewhere for the first time or we ar...

Book Club 22: Moonlight Express by Monisha Rajesh

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the October 2025 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, speaking with author ...

368 Bangkok Trip Diary and Thoughtful Travel Scorecard

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bangkok called my name again in September, and this episode recaps my experiences spending five days in the Thai capital, for a mix of work and fun pu...

367 Visiting Lesser-Known Places

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Now that we're worried about crowds and overtourism, the idea of visiting lesser-known places is a real winner. I've always loved to go to the places ...

366 Travel and Mental Health

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is travel good for your mental health? If you believe my guests in this episode (and me), then it's a resounding yes. I chat first with Kaila Yu who e...

365 Monisha Rajesh: Deep Dive into a Love of Train Travel

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chatting with author and journalist Monisha Rajesh was just as delightful as I expected (and I had high expectations!). Long-distance train travel is ...

364 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: Denmark, Sweden and Norway

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985, we move on to Scandinavia. Starting off in Denmark, we looked for Lego, noticed the size of the ...

363 Di Westaway, Coastrek Founder: Deep Dive into Going Beyond Your Comfort Zone

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Di Westaway is the founder of Coastrek and Wild Women on Top, and she has had the most fabulous career building up these businesses - topped off with ...

362 Travel and Creativity

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Creativity is an important part of my life, and I have so often observed that when I'm travelling, and also on my return, my creative thinking gets a ...

Book Club 21: Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode is the audio of the livestream of the August 2025 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, speaking about Chris Broad's bo...

361 Making New Friends On Your Travels

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Getting to know new people is one of the fun parts of travelling, and sometimes these encounters turn into long-term and even lifelong friendships. In...

360 Amanda’s Interview on the Global Travel Planning Podcast

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When my friend Tracy Collins messaged me to say hey, I'm doing a new series on the Global Travel Planning Podcast and I want to interview you first - ...

359 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the fourth part of a monthly, six-episode series celebrating the fact that exactly 40 years ago this year, my family and I spent six months in...

358 Solo Travel for Women

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Solo travel might seem daunting, but as you'll hear from my guests today, the benefits can be amazing. While this episode features women who travel al...

357 Jobs in Tourism

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know that one in ten jobs worldwide is in the tourism industry? I think we're all sometimes guilty of merrily going on our travels without giv...

356 Connecting Novels and Travel

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two of my favourite things in life are reading novels and travelling, so it's about time they appeared in a podcast episode together - especially sinc...

355 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: Switzerland and Austria

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the third part of a monthly, six-episode series celebrating the fact that exactly 40 years ago this year, my family and I spent six months in ...

354 Saying Yes

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you're given an intriguing invitation or an interesting opportunity on your travels, do you say yes? I try to whenever possible, and that's led t...

353 Public Transport

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether it's a bus, train or subway, using any kind of public transport or transit system when you're travelling can be very eye-opening (and a lot of...

Book Club 20: Why We Travel by Ash Bhardwaj

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode is the audio of the Facebook Livestream of the June 2025 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, speaking with author Ash...

352 Mindful Travel

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There's no single definition of mindful travel, but in this episode we talk about various ideas: from travel where we intentionally take time to pract...

351 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: Spain, Italy and Greece

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the second part of a monthly, six-episode series celebrating the fact that exactly 40 years ago this year, my family and I spent six months in...

350 Moments of Kindness While Travelling

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It rarely takes much experience of travel to collect an experience of someone you meet while travelling being surprisingly kind. While we're often tra...

349 Nicole Smith on Travel Photo Memories - Deep Dive with Flytographer’s Founder

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all take hundreds of photos on our travels these days, but I was keen to chat with Nicole Smith, founder of Flytographer, about how their network o...

348 Van Life Diaries: Europe 1985: Hong Kong, England and France

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the first of a monthly, six-episode series celebrating the fact that exactly 40 years ago this year, my family and I spent six months in a str...

347 Walking and Running on Your Travels

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling on foot is the ultimate slow travel and you can have some amazing experiences when incorporating a walk, hike or run into your travel plans...

346 How to Make Sustainable and Ethical Travel Choices

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us want to make more sustainable and ethical choices when we travel, but it's not always easy to do! Avoiding plastic straws and disposable sh...

345 Different Ways to Be A Thoughtful Traveller

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

My dear friend, the Barefoot Backpacker, is a thoughtful traveller, but they often approach travel in different ways to me. We've chatted many a time ...

344 Learning Languages and Making Mistakes

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Learning languages, in the early days, is all about making mistakes, and then as we improve, we can see the benefits of really getting to know people ...

343 Where Are They Now? Podcast Guests From the Early Years

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Happy ninth birthday to The Thoughtful Travel Podcast! To celebrate, I've gone back to three of the early guests and interviewed them again to see wha...

342 Political Tours with Nicholas Wood

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Joining a tour connected to any special interest you have is bound to result in a memorable trip and when I heard about Political Tours, I was instant...

341 Virtual Travel

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Confession time: I'd long assumed that virtual travel was a very inferior cousin to in-real-life travel. But then Covid hit, I experienced a couple of...

340 Australian Podcasters for International Women’s Day 2025

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since 1911, International Women's Day has been a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. To celebr...

339 Living Abroad

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Living abroad by choice can be such a wonderful experience - I was lucky enough to be able to spend time teaching English in Japan, Slovakia and Germa...

338 Staying in Hostels

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hostel life can be great fun and easy on the travel budget, too. I'll always remember my Dad, in his 50s or 60s, explaining to me that hostels weren't...

337 Wonderful Learnings from Travel

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Travellers will all have their special memories about the wonderful learnings they've had from travel: from tiny things like a new way to enjoy a favo...

336 Meeting Interesting People on Your Travels

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Encountering new and interesting people is part of the magic of a good trip. Chatting with a stranger on a train or making a new friend at a hostel or...

335 Mindful Travel with the Curious Tourism Podcast

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I'm excited to share this episode of Curious Tourism, a fabulous podcast about responsible travel, which I recorded recently with host Erin and produc...

334 Taking Your Nieces and Nephews Travelling

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Want to know how to be the favourite aunty or uncle? This episode about taking your nieces and nephews travelling will give you plenty of ideas! Mike ...

333 Overtourism

18 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 n...

332 Playing and Watching Sports on Your Travels

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 enjoyab...

331 Working with Animals in Tourism

04 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 curve...

330 Travel Trends and Resolutions for 2025

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 mo...

329 Museums and Ethical Issues

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

328 Hong Kong Trip Report 2024

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

327 Rare Encounters With Nature on Your Travels

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

326 UK Trip Report England and Wales 2024

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Distr...

325 What People Think About Australia

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 imagi...

324 Friends From Travelling

08 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Meeting new people is one of my favourite parts of travelling, and when these chance encounters turn into long-term friendships, that's just perfectio...

323 Language Learning Through Travel and Immersion

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

322 Life-Changing Study Abroad Experiences

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Although I never studied abroad myself I have no doubt at all that I would have loved every minute of it - and my three guests today certainly remind ...

321 B Corps in the Travel Industry

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For travellers like us, knowing a tourism business we are about to use is properly thoughtful, taking into account the impact we will have on the comm...

320 Thanks for the Travel Bug, Mum

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is an episode I never imagined I'd need to make; family lore was that my mum June would live to a hundred. But very sadly, after a sudden termina...

319 Homestays When You Travel

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Staying in someone’s home is the ultimate in starting to understand the local way of life when you travel, and I’ve had some brilliant homestay ex...

318 Gevorg Babayan: Deep Dive into Experiential Tours in Armenia and Beyond

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When I was first introduced to Gevorg Babayan and his company LikeLocal.io, which matches travellers with local experiences, I knew he'd be a good gue...

317 Border Crossing Tales

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tales of things going wrong - or almost - are always popular, and I think if you throw in the trickiness of a border crossing, these stories are top-n...

316 Fathers on Travelling with Kids

03 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I am absolutely convinced that taking kids travelling is one of the best things you can do for them, and in this episode I've gathered together the th...

315 Meeting Locals When We Travel

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Connecting with local people when we travel is a true joy for me - whether it's just a quick conversation in a queue, or a deeper day or more spent to...

314 Paul Christie, CEO Walk Japan - Deep Dive into Revitalising Rural Japan

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you decided to escape the corporate world, would you buy up a plot of land in an isolated part of Japan? It's not my first thought, but this is wha...

313 Train Travel in Australia

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's common knowledge that train travel beats air travel in the sustainability stakes, but in recent months I've put this to the test a bit more than ...

312 Giving Back When We Travel

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The statistics tell us so: more and more of us want to give back and do good when we travel. This is heartening, right? Now we just have to start figu...

311 Micah Kamohoali’i - Deep Dive into Hawaiian Culture and Tourism

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Micah Kamohoali'i when I was in Sydney for SXSW recently, and I knew immediately we would need a LONG chat! Thi...

310 Fukushima, Japan - Hope Tourism, not Dark Tourism

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I'm not alone in finding Japanese museums about earthquakes and tsunamis interesting and impactful; I know my friend Catherine who travelled with me i...

309 SXSW Sydney: Why We Need Travel More Than Travel Needs Us

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Here it is! This is the live recording of our panel at South By South West (SXSW) Sydney, from October 2023, on the topic “Why We Need Travel More T...

308 Walk Japan: Following Basho’s Road to the North

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are many, many ways to see Japan, but I think I've just experienced my favourite: on foot. In late September/early October 2023, I undertook a s...

307 When Things Go Wrong At Sea

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's a strange phenomenon, but podcast episodes full of stories of things going wrong on our travels are always popular! For Episode 307, I've got two...

306 Eco-Accommodation

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If we want to be mindful of our carbon footprint when we travel, a good way to do this is to consider more carefully the kinds of places where we choo...

305 Accessible Gold Coast Travels

23 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Travel experiences should be accessible to everyone - I strongly believe that's an important part of the whole thoughtful travel ethos. As part of the...

304 Bangkok Travels with Friends

16 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bangkok is a city which rewards many repeat visits and my recent trip there proved it! Putting together Episode 304 was a special chance for me to cha...

303 Digital Nomad Life

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thank you internet: you've made many things possible, two of them being podcasts, and working as a digital nomad. In this episode on digital nomading,...

302 Chiang Rai - Thailand's Far North

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ah, finally, I've made it to Chiang Rai! I've wanted to visit this most northern part of Thailand my whole life, as my dear late aunty came from Chian...

Book Club 19: Landlines by Raynor Winn

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2025 reports were published by The Observer (UK) suggesting significant parts of Raynor Winn’s story are untrue. This is a really sad de...

301 Community-Based Tourism

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Community-based tourism experiences are one of my favourite things to seek out when I travel, and this episode is a great explanation of what CBT is, ...

300 Thailand: First Post-Covid Adventure Abroad

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thailand was calling, and I had to go! Three and a half years after my last pre-Covid adventure abroad, I finally managed to get out of Australia for ...

299 Van Travel

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling in some kind of van - a campervan, a caravan, an RV, a motorhome - is a unique and fabulous way to see the world. I was lucky enough to spe...

298 Conservation Travel

15 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are so many ways we can try to do better when we travel, and looking for tours or activities that have a conservation angle is one that, with a ...

297 Travels in Iraq

08 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

City names like Mosul, Karbala and Basra - and of course the capital Baghdad - are familiar to us all, but not from seeing people's holiday snaps, unf...

296 Connecting with Local People When You Travel

02 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Making connections - either brief or lasting - with local people when you travel can often be the highlight of a trip. In this episode, three guests t...

295 Overnight Train Travel

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Travelling overnight in a train is, I think, a very special experience. I've slept peacefully on overnight trains in Russia, Finland and Vietnam, and ...

294 Raynor Winn: Deep Dive Into Thoughtful Travel

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2025 reports were published by The Observer (UK) suggesting significant parts of Raynor Winn’s story are untrue. This is a really sad de...