95. Oliver Gee, The Earful Tower Podcast; Back-Street Paris, a Swedish Moose and the Great American Road-Trip (…yeah, baby)
Release Date: 04/28/2020
125. Christmas Special 2021; Sathnam Sanghera, Lisa Jewell, Matt Forde, Anne Sebba, Olly Mann, Greenham Common and more
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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124. Firouz FarmanFarmaian; Escaping Tehran, Kashmiri Houseboats, Trekking Kyrgyzstan, Rock Bands and Contemporary Art
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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123. On Location in Marbella Old Town with Tour Guide Javier Gonzalez
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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122. Matt Forde; Billy Connolly in New York, Liam Gallagher in Berlin and Nick Leeson's Worldwide 'British Scandal' Jaunt
The Big Travel Podcast
Comedian, political satirist and Spitting Image star Matt Forde talks accosting Billy Connolly in New York, 'dying' on stage in Luxemborg, pints of Carling in ex-pat clubs in Bahrain, Nick Leeson's luxury hotel dash around the world, spending 3 months locked in a first floor flat, an emotional pilgrimage to the Ghostbusters fire station, being the voice of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump (yes he does give us some excellent impressions) and posh people behaving badly on the podcast British Scandal.
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121. Sam McManus; Adventure Travel When the World Closes, Costa Rica, Green Northern Spain and the Unexpected Pull of Home
The Big Travel Podcast
Just as the world was closing Sam McManus from YellowWood Adventures took a daunting gamble and hopped on a plane to Costa Rica. We talk about how the pandemic can change travel (even for the better), tourism being potentially a means for good, eco-tourism and re-forestation, surfing, small pueblos in the green hills of Northern Spain, his wonderful travelogue about his explorations - Wax and Gold Journeys in Ethiopia & Other Roads Less Travelled - and feeling the pull of friends, family and home.
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120. UK TRAVEL UPDATE; Travel Opens Up, Vaccines, Quarantine and a Call to Action to The Government
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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119. UK TRAVEL UPDATE; New Rules, Traffic Lights, Vaccinations
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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118. Olly Mann; Guns On Trucks in Malawi, Swim-Up Bar Piña Coladas, Greyhounds and The American Dream
The Big Travel Podcast
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.
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117. Huw Wyn; Arabian Nights in Cairo, Hitching Through Nepal, Tibetan Medicine in Scotland and Tom Hardy Dropping into his Festival
The Big Travel Podcast
Into The Wild Festival promoter Huw Wyn grew up in his mother’s hotel in Wales then moved to Spain. We talk growing up feral in Andalucia, hitchhiking across Europe, fish-packing in the Netherlands, Glastonbury, Arabian Nights in Cairo, the poetic side of being a London bin man, orphanages in India, Mother Theresa in Calcutta, meeting the Dalai Lama, studying Tibetan medicine in Scotland, the remote Buddhist kingdom in Ladakh, hitching 2000 miles through Nepal, Tom Hardy at his festival and much
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116. Anne Sebba; Parisian Women and Nazis, Film Stars in Rome, ‘Communists’ in Sing Sing Prison
The Big Travel Podcast
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
info_outlineThe 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.
On this episode we cover:
His recent number 1 in the US Apple places and travel charts
Being mentioned in the New York Times
The favourite episodes being people who have nothing to sell
The elderly British man with the best story that stopped him on the street
Leaving Sweden for Paris
Being a journalist at the time of the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks
Arriving in Paris ‘for evil not love’
Reporting on the Bataclan attacks
The concept of parachute journalism
Starting the podcast being a big change
The Parisians being misunderstood
Tourists expecting French waiters to speak English
The golden rule; you always need to start with Bonjour
American’s excellent service in restaurants
Persuading the Australian ambassador to throw him a party
Prominent Australians in Paris
Lisa totally winging it in business presentations in Paris
Loving the restaurants with cheese trolleys
The romantic old school Paris
The intoxicating cradle of Paris - the two old islands in the middle of the Seine
Tracing the ancient wall and 800 year old towers
Paris’ incredible catacombs lined with skulls and bones
The beekeeper that showed him the secret alleyways underground
Chasing the mysterious beavers of Canal St Martin
Asking random Parisians if they’ve seen a beaver
The wistful old lady releasing crocodiles into the canal
The waterways being a great way to see the city
Travel tip – don’t miss the Canal St Martin boat trip for a unique view of the city
Lisa losing her clothes on her first day of a solo week in Paris
The lead singer of the band having a panic attack on a bridge
Africa on a very small budget being a very shaping trip
Taking a truck from Tanzania through Uganda to the Victoria Falls
The news in Sweden – a moose on the loose
Sweden taking in migrants
Road-tripping the long way from LA to New York
The beautiful Grand Pacific Hotel in Fiji
Lisa’s podcast with Lady Pamela Hicks, the daughter of Lord Mountbatten, and India Hicks
The Queen and Commonwealth
Great American accents and people who call you baby
The joys of French pop singer Julien Dore
Lisa’s love of Christine and The Queens
Oliver’s memoir Paris on Air and its sparkling sounding ‘audio experience’