107. Samantha Kelly; ‘Tweeting Goddess’ on Ireland’s Beauty, Hong Kong Bar Dancing and the People Who Inspire Us
Release Date: 10/16/2020
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_outlineAll the way from Rosslare Harbour in Wexford in Ireland Samantha Kelly is the founder of the global Women’s Inspire Network. We talk about inspiring female entrepreneurs, the people who have inspired us, arriving by boat to Ireland on the way to the Seychelles, working as a waitress in a Hong Kong Irish Pub, the joys of dancing on bars, the joys of Irish pubs, getting engaged in New York and how the human connection, the things that bond us and make us smile, are more important than ever. A truly uplifting episode.
On this episode we cover:
The family arriving by boat on the way to the Seychelles
But making it as far as Ireland and staying forever
Being inspired by her ‘Del Boy’ Dad
Going sober
Starting her business Women’s Inspire Network
Supporting other women
Seeing a gap in supporting women to work online
Lisa finding it’s suddenly okay for women to have kids and work from home
Feeling that women can sometimes be the underdog in business
How dynamics can change when people have children
Starting her business as a lone parent
Covid lockdowns bringing more people online
Traditional music in wonderful Irish pubs
The one-legged musician that drove them home
The dish that reminds her of her dad
The pub she went into cry
Being in the Hairy Lemon recipe book alongside Bono
How being vulnerable can lead to engaging special moments
Being proposed to on top of the Empire State building
Coming home pregnant from Hong Kong
Feeling the weight of Irish history when crossing to New York
Working as a waitress in a Hong Kong Irish bar
Whether plastic Paddy is a derogatory term
Lisa having some of the best nights in her life in Irish pubs around the world
Singing and dancing on the bar for a boat load of Navy arrivals
Lisa’s night dressed as a schoolgirl dancing with the Navy in Dublin
How a night out in Dublin can leave you needing a holiday
The beautiful coast of Dublin
Spending a year in Paris as an au pair
Loving the sights and the sounds and the baguettes and the men
Only allowed to dance on the bar if you’re a good dancer and good looking
Covid life uncertainty making everyone tired and stressed
Human connection more than ever
Her Irish family and her Hong Kong Chinese daughter
Her father’s wonderful attitude to life
Alcohol in Ireland being too normalised
Old school Irish men dying young
Being on state age ten singing Abba
Speaking gigs in New Zealand, San Diego and more
The woman with the suit on in the airport she wished she could be like
Lisa’s ‘girl with the apple’ moment at Frankfurt
How Stupid Girl by Garbage made Lisa feel she had wasted her life
But she later became just like the girl with the apple
Realising you got there!
How the person next to you could change everything for you
Being the nervous flyer, crying on take off
Lisa laughing hysterically on the worst flight of her life
How airports are transitional places that can make you evaluate your life
How dancing on the bar to ABBA can be the best feeling in the world