Comfort Zones, or: "Their 'Nope' Might Be Your Tuesday"
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Release Date: 04/10/2025
V's First Time Abroad As An Adult
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Earlier this week, I had a chat with my friend V, because she'd recently gone on a trip abroad for the first time this millennium, and she wanted to talk about how it felt on her YouTube channel. I said, well that might make a good podcast episode, you know, the whole 'this is what it's like to travel abroad properly for the first time as an adult', might be useful for other budding world travellers, so we recorded it for both. Topics discussed in this episode are: * Housekeeping: Running, Hiking, Well-Dressing * Why did V finally take a trip abroad * Anxiety around border security *...
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Death and Taxes
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) It was one of those ideas that suddenly came to me when I was lying in bed, having been seeded I think by a conversation I'd had with one of my travel content creator friends, , about how much it cost to live at home in the UK and how much less expensive it is to travel. I said I'd written a blog post about that very issue back in 2015 but that it probably needed updating and anyway it would make a better pod. So here we are. Stick two other vaguely related topics with it, one of which I also wrote a blog post about in 2015, and Bob's Your Nepo-Parent, as it were. Content Warning: It...
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Svalbard
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Last year, off the back of my 100th country visit to Norway, I spent three nights in Svalbard, one of the most northern archipelagos in the world. Though I wasn't there for long, I felt it was an interesting place to do a podcast about, covering history, wildlife, culture, and of course the ethical aspect of travelling to somewhere like that in the first place. Not a spoiler: I did not see a polar bear. Topics discussed in this episode are: Parts One and Two: Housekeeping and Introduction Part Three: Overview * So remote even the Vikings didn't go there * Whale-hunting, fur-trapping,...
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Travel Through The Senses
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) In a recent podcast episode, I talked about aesthetics a lot, and I occasionally touched on the idea of 'senses'. I figured it made sense therefore to do a full podcast on it, on how you, I, everyone uses their senses while travelling, and whether our senses affect how we travel, and the experiences we gain through them. Consider, too, how our memories of a place, of a trip, live in the senses, and we can easily be reminded of them if the same senses are activated in the same way after the event. So here's an episode on how senses affect us while travelling, and how we use them to...
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King of Comedy
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) So this podcast is mostly concerned with my recent introduction to, and experience of, stand-up comedy, and includes the audio recording of my actual performance. Topics discussed in this episode are: Part One: Overview and an Interview with V * Who came to watch me perform * The difference between spoken word and stand-up comedy * The difference between practice and performing live * What the comedy course consisted of * Comedian etiquette and callbacks * Practice makes perfect * The other performers * How I was on stage * The Future Part Two: My routine * What is asexuality * That...
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Wuthering Heights
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Another really obvious podcast episode, and one I'm surprised I hadn't yet done, though it did, of course, require finally reading the novel. I live about 6 miles south of Wuthering Heights, over the wily, windy moors, and the recent movie adaptation, the thousandth of many, has brought it all back into the public eye, so it made sense to talk about the moorland setting, the location and inspiration for the houses, and why it's not the romantic location (or indeed storyline) that certain elements of pop-culture have made it sound. Topics discussed in this episode are: Parts One and...
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The Ballad of Lucie Schwob
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Well, this isn't going to be the most cheerful episode I've ever produced, but we are where we are. Oh, not me, I mean the topic. This episode talks about the German Occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II, a couple of museums that go into detail about it, and how a combination of unexpected effects led accidentally to creating a story which became a really obvious episode to record. Topics discussed in this episode are: Parts One and Two: Housekeeping and the History of the Occupation * How it feels to be on ADHD medication * Where and what are the Channel Islands? * The...
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What's The Worst That Can Happen?
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Yeh, it's been a while. There's reasons for that. So here's a brief overview of what I've been up to. I talk about places I've been, things I've done, medication I haven't taken, and people I haven't snogged. Topics discussed in this episode are: Part One: Housekeeping * WTM and Traverse Creator Awards * Premier Inns are how much?!? * Trips to Freiburg, Nottingham, and Jersey * An introduction to Elvanse, my given ADHD medication Part Two: King of Comedy * Making People Laugh: Primary School Edition * My Comedy Inspirations * What I've done after two lessons in stand-up comedy * Queer...
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Travel Blogging – Politics, Aesthetics, and Social Culture
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Here's another episode where I run with three ideas and make a small to-microphone editorial. This one's all about Travel Blogging - the ethics, aesthetics, and social culture of it. It was inspired partly by a trip to WTM London, and partly by a post on Instagram. Topics discussed in this episode are: Part One: The Politics of Travel Blogging * The layout of WTM * The stalls that went big ... * ... the stalls that went small, or not at all * Can we be ethical and still speak to certain tourist boards ... * ... and does anyone really care if we are or not? Part Two: The Aesthetics of...
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Caribbean on a Budget Part Two
Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure
Hello :) Back in June 2025 I travelled to the Caribbean for the first time, along with my regular travel companion Laura. Now, one might ask, why is a non-swimming easily-bored less-than-aesthetic enby with Celtic skin (and all the sun resistance *that* doesn't entail) spending two weeks in the Caribbean? Wasn't four days in Maldives enough to satisfy the tropical beach itch? Well, apparently not. Apart from getting to 100 Countries in 50 Years, we were interested to see if it were even possible to travel independently, slowly, and locally, through the region they way most holidaymakers don't....
info_outlineHello :)
So, this podcast is all about comfort zones, primarily but not exclusively, in travel. I look at what they are, why people stay in them, how you can break them comfortably, and talk about times I've broken my own comfort zones, with both good and bad outcomes. Because that's what makes good travel experiences, right?
Topics discussed in this episode are:
* The British Guild of Travel Writers AGM
* Standing on a stage, barefoot and vulnerable, reading teenage diaries
* What is a comfort zone?
* Language and culture are comfort zones to many
* Personal Identity
* Don't you just love being in control?!
* The beneficial role of travel influencers
* Breaking your comfort zone in five easy steps
* Little things you can do: solo travel, new foods, local events
* The beneficial role of bucket lists
* When Comfort Zones Break You (Italy 2002)
* People like it when things go wrong for other people (as long as they're safe)
* What are my limits?
* "The Barefoot Backpacker. No luggage, no shoes, no plan. What could possibly go right?"
A PDF transcript of this podcast is available.
As always, if you have anything to say about the topic, or indeed about my podcasting in general, leave a comment or let me know. I have a newsletter with extra content, and where I'll be mentioning future podcast episodes if you want to make your own contribution.
Contributions in this pod come from Amanda Kendle and Curious Claire. I ought also to link to Becky The Owlet's blog too, given she got a shoutout.
Until next time, bye for now. :)