96. Kash Bhattacharya: The Budget Traveller, Grand Hostels, Finnish Cloudberries and Ancient Samurai Kingdoms
Release Date: 05/16/2020
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 travel writing of Kash Battacharya, the Budget Traveller, has won him accolades including National Geographic Traveller Writer of the Year, filming for Lonely Planet and the BBC and resulted in his book The Grand Hostels, Luxury Hostels of the World. On this episode Kash, in easing-lockdown Berlin, talks budget travel, the culture shock of moving 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 rather surreal encounter with Tommy Lee Jones in an ancient Japanese Samurai Kingdom.
On this episode we cover:
Moving to Berlin
How he became The Budget Traveller
Quitting his job to make his dream work
Travel being therapy
Being born in England to Indian parents
The massive culture shock of leaving Kent for Calcutta age 9
Moving to Dundee at 18
Travel as a child can be like a game
18,000 people in his school! 100 in his class
Being bullied as ‘the English kid’
Calcutta being an assault on the senses
The architectural legacy of Colonial India
The incredible food culture in Calcutta
Not appreciating the culture as a child
How the tough life in India helped toughen him for life
Lisa’s Indian-Fijian father not imparting much Indian culture
Dundee being full of fun, culture and Desperate Dan
The East Neuk of Fife Dutch fisherman’s cottages
Anstruther having the best fish and chips in Britain
Finding Scottish people relaxed and more welcoming
Lisa being uprooted age 7 from England to Spain
Appreciating travel being a gift and a privilege even more during the Coronavirus
Not counting the countries he has been to
Japan being magical and surreal
The Japanese man who went that extra mile
Travelling through his stomach
Fresh sushi at Tsukiji Japanese fish market
Filming Hidden Japan for the BBC and Lonely Planet
The life-changing experience of visiting Kanazawa ancient Samurai Kingdom
A surreal encounter with Tommy-Lee Jones in the ancient kingdom
Celebrities advertising random products in in Asian countries
Filming a road trip through South Africa’s Garden Route
The beautiful Buccaneers backpackers hostel on the wild coast
The reason Lisa hasn’t yet been to South Africa)
Paragliding over stunning scenery (despite being terrified of heights)
Hanging out with a Rastafarian Community in Sedgefield
Backpacking along the Garden Route
South Africa going through a tough time at the moment
Kash getting excited when he finds someone (like Lisa!) who has never stayed in a hostel
His book The Grand Hostels, Luxury Hostels of the World Lisa being happy to sleep on a park bench to get her out of the Borough right now
The midnight sun in The 7 Fells Hostel deep in the woods in Finnish Lapland
Picking cloud berries by the lake in the midnight sun
Lisa having specialised a lot in luxury travel
The Steel House design hostel in Copenhagen with a pool and cinema
Luxury nowadays being about experiences
Travel being about meeting people and learning about the culture
What does the future of travel look like now?
Crazy nights out in Berlin (Lisa’s visit to the infamous KitKatClub)
Kash Winning National Geographic Traveller of the Year
Being at a low point in his life when he moved to Berlin
Berlin being very diverse and accepting
One half of Mogwai the band owning a bar in Berlin
Morcheeba Down by the Sea being the appropriate soundtrack to a magical trip to Tuscany and the hostel that opening him to the world of travel
Please support Adopt a Hostel – to help save hostels across the world from the devastating financial effects of the COVID-19 crisis.