Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure

Going "Beyond The Brochure", The Barefoot Backpacker looks at one concept or destination every episode, taking trips along the road less travelled and talking about issues related to travel, including politics and history, as well as specific topics like Bucket Lists & Hometown Trips.

Repositioning 12/28/2024

Reddit Travel Topic Discussion 10/10/2024

Everywhere Is Interesting 09/21/2024

Salford 09/07/2024

Travelling for Music 08/24/2024

Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be 08/08/2024

100 Episodes (Sort Of) 07/25/2024

Armenia: Soviets and Christians 04/07/2024

Georgia - Country of Cheese and Garlic 03/23/2024

Two days in Azerbaijan 03/09/2024

Love and Sex on the Road 02/08/2024

Travel Best Of Lists 01/27/2024

Hanno The Navigator - A Case Study of Instagram v Reality 01/11/2024

Mistletoe and Whine 12/30/2023

Pride and Prejudice and Motorbikes 12/14/2023

Lao Please Don't Rush 11/30/2023

Running While Travelling 11/23/2023

The Merchant Navy 11/03/2023

The Merchant Navy Hello :) Well, this is an unusual episode in several ways, but the main one is the relative lack of personal updates and housekeeping. If you want to know what I’ve been up to this past month, now would be a great time to sign up to my monthly Newsletter, deets below! Now, I’m aware I don’t talk about my background or my family much, save for the occasional regular subtweet to my my mother. But anyway. A couple of years after I was born, my mother re-married. And Gary, the chap she married, had an interesting job – he was a refrigeration engineer in the Merchant Navy. While he’s long since left that role (he had some twenty-five years since doing the same role for a large supermarket chain specialising in frozen foods), this was how I first knew him, and thus may have been a childhood influence on my travels. And it occurred to me, after I’d done a few of my podcasts, that it would make an interesting episode – it’s travel-related, it’s a historic snapshot of a life that’s very different now, and above all, it’s not something I think many of you would necessarily know about. I certainly didn’t know a lot about it growing up, and as you’ll hear, there’s probably some reasons for that. So a couple of years ago I went to visit, took my laptop and microphone, and set about interviewing him all about his life and his adventures. The full 2hr 11min interview is available on my Patreon, along with some images of the ships he served on. Note he has a strong accent and a slightly fluid way of speaking. This did not help the transcription. Topics discussed include: * What is the Merchant Navy and why he joined * Seasickness and bad weather * What problems could occur en route * How big the ships he served on were, and how they were structured * What the working life was life, and who he served with * Food and drink on board * How he'd pass the time on long journeys * Shore leave and visiting off-brochure places * The Merchant Navy now . 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 also have a Patreon - . Until next time, bye for now. :) /episode/index/show/traveltalesfrombeyondthebrochure/id/28506416

New Series, New City, New Nel 10/14/2023

Everything Is Going To Be All Right 08/24/2023

Travel Podcasting With ChatGPT 08/10/2023

Chernobyl 07/27/2023

The Cathcart Circle 07/14/2023

The Cathcart Circle Hello! As you know, I'm always touting the idea of Hometown Travel, and exploring places close to home. Remember, people travel across the world to visit other cities but other people travel across the world to visit yours. Everywhere is interesting, And of course many people might not be able to visit places far away, but still want to enjoy the experience of travel and discovering somewhere new. I've been living in Glasgow for two years, and I've walked round a lot of it, using the many railway stations as waypoints, It seems logical therefore to talk about some of the things close to where I currently live, and there's a convenient railway line that loops around my local area to follow. This is the Cathcart Circle, and I figured each of the ten stations on it has enough to fill a podcast. Indeed, a few could probably manage a podcast on their own, but I am not the Roundel Round We Go Podcast and I'd argue there's less call for an entire pod on the Glasgow suburban rail network than the London Underground. But what do I know? Topics covered on this podcast include: * Google Analytics 4 * My future on Twitter * Introduction to the Cathcart Circle * Pollokshields East - theatre, gardens, and Sikhs * Queen's Park - clue's in the name * Crosshill - dead football stadiums * Mount Florida - alive football stadiums * Cathcart - parks, bridges, waterfalls, country houses * Langside - Instagrammable houses and a very short battle * Pollokshaws East - old buildings and benevolent Tories * Shawlands - Pollok Country Park * Maxwell Park - expensive villas and international cricket * Pollokshields West - tenement housing and community spirit * Crossmyloof - a free gift, and a building that moved There are no contributions in this episode, but I am thankful to Scotrail, the organisation that runs the railways in Scotland, for putting all their recorded station announcements into the public domain last year. I may, may, have taken liberties with it. . 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. , and where I'll be mentioning future podcast episodes if you want to make your own contribution. I also have a Patreon - . Until next time, bye for now. :) /episode/index/show/traveltalesfrombeyondthebrochure/id/27460038

All-Inclusive Resorts 06/29/2023

All-Inclusive Resorts Hello! As you know, I am The Barefoot Backpacker. My tendency is to go backpacking around lesser-visited spots around the world, independently, and usually solo, staying in hostels, airBnBs, and Premier Inns. I tend to move around from place to place a lot rather than spending too long in the same destination, and I generally book my onward journeys on-the-fly rather than having things booked in advance. The idea of being in a place for several days and not 'need' to worry about things like food or travel is not one I'm used to. I seek out craft beer bars and street food, and generally steer clear of other Brits travelling abroad for sun, sea, sand, sangria, and sex. And of course my only reference point for all-inclusive holidays has tended to be what I've seen on TV and in the media. In short, I'm the least likely person to end up in an all-inclusive resort on the beaches of Cyprus for four nights. However, life is often about getting out of your comfort zone, And, in a sense, given that this sort of trip isn't really what you'd expect from someone like me, doing it was exactly the point. [Full disclosure - it was a blogger press trip gifted by . Which, given the above, and given how well y'all know me, probably in truth raises more questions than it gives answers.] Topics discussed in this episode are: * Walking in the Glasgow hinterlands * Being tipsy in Manchester * How I ended up going to an all-inclusive resort * The ease of getting to and from the resort * What the different tariffs offer * Food and drink, buffets and specialist restaurants * Our room * All-Inclusive resorts and the local area * An afternoon in the spa, including being steamed to perfection * Having my back waxed * Visiting an all-inclusive resort as an aroace non-binary person * Not being part of a long-term couple at an adults-only resort * Would I go again? , except for a seven-minute conversation with Laura towards the end. 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. . . Contributions in this pod come from: Amanda (), Ruth (), Kylie (), and Laura () Until next time, bye for now. :) /episode/index/show/traveltalesfrombeyondthebrochure/id/27317439

Lake Como (in conversation with V) 05/19/2023

Malta 04/28/2023

Street Art 04/04/2023

Backpacking Europe 03/19/2023

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Benidorm 03/05/2023

Sport and Fitness (TS012) 02/23/2023

Sport and Fitness (TS012) Hello :) This is the recording of the twelfth edition of my not-at-all regular Twitter Space sessions; the reason for their irregularity is finding a convenient time to record it. Our topic this time is 'sports and fitness', or at least that was the original concept. It seems to have ended up being a third 'running parkruns barefoot', a third 'I'm no good at sports', and a third 'this is everything I've watched abroad'. We don't seem to have talked about fitness much. Usual disclaimer, be aware this conversation took place over the phone and is then recorded directly from playback on Twitter, through my sound editing software, Audacity. I'm not sure why, but this edition seems to be a little worse quality than normal. This may be the last of our Twitter Spaces recordings actually - we're working on finding an alternative due to Twitter itself being a tad unstable but we haven't come to a conclusion yet. Certainly it's the last one we've done so for the moment my podcasts will go back to being purely fortnightly as opposed to having these extracts in alternate weeks. Topics discussed include: * Editing out hesitations in speech * Does it hurt to run barefoot? * Early experiences in running as a teenager * Introduction to the concept of Parkrun * Parkrun makes me accountable * Running Parkruns barefoot * Why I've never done a Parkrun (or running in general) on my travels * Fitness at high temperatures and altitudes * I'm not very good at sports other than running * Sports I failed to do at school * Watching people running is very boring * Growing up with sports in the background * Events and games I've been to in the UK * Low-key European football matches * Incidences in top-flight Italian football * Other sports I've seen abroad () * * The future of our Twitter Spaces I was interviewed by the lovely Victoria, but you can call her V. A PDF transcript of this episode will be available later. 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. . - if you like what you hear, and want to access exclusive content (or just to show your appreciation), then head on over. Until next time, bye for now. :) /episode/index/show/traveltalesfrombeyondthebrochure/id/25942149

Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure

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