The Travel Diaries

Hello and welcome to our very first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, your weekend travel fix.

Today I’m joined by the fabulous John O'Ceallaigh. John is a travel journalist and consultant to luxury hospitality brands, who previously served as the luxury travel editor for The Telegraph for nearly a decade.

We'll be unpacking Nisha's bucket list destination, China; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Six Senses London; chatting about John's recent trip to Azerbaijan, and answering your listener question.

Destination Recap:

China
Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Yunnan, China
Shangri-La, Yunnan, China
Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, Shangri-La, China
Yellow Mountain, Anhui, China
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Six Senses London, Bayswater, London, England
The Whiteley, Bayswater, London, England
Notting Hill, London, England
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Baku, Azerbaijan
Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
Fairmont Baku, Flame Towers, Baku, Azerbaijan
Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan
Khiva, Uzbekistan
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

All the destinations mentioned are included in the episode show notes and on thetraveldiariespodcast.com

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

I’ll be back on Tuesday.
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Hello and welcome to a brand new season of The Travel Diaries. It’s great to be back!

I couldn’t think of a more joyful guest to kick off the season than Nisha Katona. A former child protection barrister turned restaurateur, food writer and TV presenter, Nisha is the founder of the hugely successful Mowgli Street Food restaurants, the author of several cookbooks, including her newest release, The Curry Bible, and was a judge on the BBC’s Great British Menu.

In this episode, Nisha describes herself as a “culinary evangelist and anthropologist”, and food is the thread running through her extraordinary Travel Diaries. We journey from childhood holidays in Mallorca and the tastes that first awakened her curiosity, to Beijing, her ancestral home of Varanasi, the temples and night markets of Cambodia, and her love for the Amalfi Coast.

Our conversation travelled far beyond holidays, taking in family, identity, faith, grief and the ways in which travel helps us understand both the world and ourselves.

Destination Recap:

Mallorca, Spain
Taunus Therme, Bad Homburg, Germany
Beijing, China
Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
River Ganges, Varanasi, India
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jeju Island, South Korea
Amalfi Coast, Campania, Italy
Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy
Pompeii, Campania, Italy
Herculaneum, Campania, Italy
Parco dei Principi, Sorrento, Italy
Positano, Campania, Italy
Ravello, Campania, Italy
Capri, Campania, Italy
Lloret de Mar, Catalonia, Spain
Blanes, Catalonia, Spain
Ibiza, Spain
China
Jerusalem, Israel

Nisha's fabulous new book, The Curry Bible, is out now.

Today’s conversation was filmed earlier this summer at the beautiful London Marriott Hotel County Hall, in the most spectacular room - The Big Ben Balcony Suite - overlooking the Thames and the Houses of Parliament.

I’ll be back on Sunday with our first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked with travel editor John O'Ceallaigh.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is, quite simply, one of the great travellers of our time. Sir Michael Palin first joined me on The Travel Diaries back in 2020, and that episode went on to become one of our most loved and most listened-to conversations ever. So when the opportunity came up for him to return to the podcast, this time to mark the publication of his new book, In Nigeria, I absolutely leapt at the chance.

For anyone listening who might not be fully familiar with Sir Michael Palin’s extraordinary career, he first became known as one of the members of Monty Python, before going on to become one of the world’s most beloved travel broadcasters and writers. His landmark BBC travel series, from Around the World in 80 Days to Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Himalaya and so many more, completely changed the way travel was brought to our screens.

I went to Michael’s house in London to film the interview and you’ll be able to watch the full conversation on YouTube and Spotify this weekend.

On today’s episode, we talk about some of the extraordinary journeys he’s been on since we last spoke, from Nigeria to Iraq, Venezuela and the Philippines. We talk about the places that surprised him, the countries that defied their reputation, the journeys that have stayed with him, and the places he still dreams of visiting. And, because Michael has already shared his original seven travel chapters with us, this time I asked you to send in some brand new travel chapters for him. So listen out, because one of your questions might just be in there.

Holly’s stay:
Palazzo Fiuggi, Italy

Destination Recap:

Venezuela
Philippines
Nigeria, Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Iraq, Iraq
Babylon, Iraq
Cuzco, Peru
Machu Picchu, Peru
Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil
Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe
Russia, Russia
Mürren, Switzerland
Kamchatka, Russia
Bhutan
Nepal
The Dolomites, Italy
Armenia, Armenia
Georgia, Georgia
Mount Ararat, Turkey/Armenia

Michael's new book, In Nigeria, is out now.

With thanks to Sani for their support of today's episode. Discover your paradise at Sani. For more information, visit sani-resort.com

Thank you so much to all of you for listening this season. I really hope you’ve enjoyed travelling the world with me through all of these conversations. The good news is, it won’t be too long before I’m back. We’ve got another summer season coming your way in mid-August, so there are lots more travel stories to come very soon.

You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at @hollyrubenstein, you can watch us on YouTube here.

And have you checked out my brand new Travel Diaries map, which will save every single destination ever mentioned on the podcast? A very dangerous tool for anyone with a serious case of wanderlust? You can look at it here.

Thank you again for listening, have a wonderful summer, and I’ll see you very soon.
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Before we get started, a quick warning: this episode contains spoilers. So if you haven’t finished watching the latest series of Race Across the World, I’d suggest turning off now and coming back once you have!

Race Across the World is one of those shows that just gets under your skin, isn’t it? You start off thinking you’re watching a travel programme, and then suddenly you’re so emotionally invested in people trying to get across a border, find a cheap hostel, or make it onto a 29-hour train with no phone and barely any money. This season, five pairs travel over 12,000 kilometres, from Palermo in Sicily all the way to Hatgal in Mongolia, without smartphones, internet access, flights or bank cards, relying instead on instinct, kindness, grit and a lot of very long bus and train journeys.

And at the heart of it all were today’s guests: best friends Jo and Kush from Liverpool, who not only won the series, but completely won over viewers along the way. Their friendship was such a joy to watch and there was something so lovely about seeing two young men support each other so openly through the highs and lows.

What I loved about chatting to them is that Race Across the World has this brilliant sense of mystery around it. As a viewer, I’m always wondering how the show actually works. So in this episode, we really get into all of that. We talk about the audition process, the secrecy around winning, the budget, the homestays, the toilets, the borders, the long-distance trains, and what it’s really like travelling without your phone in your pocket. And of course, we talk about the places too. From Sorrento and Naples, to Tbilisi in Georgia, the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the vast landscapes of Kazakhstan, and the wild, icy beauty of Mongolia.

Destination Recap:

Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Sorrento, Italy
Naples, Italy
Greece
Türkiye
Kars, Türkiye
Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia
Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan
Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Hatgal, Mongolia
Lake Khövsgöl, Mongolia
Kathmandu, Nepal
Punjab, India
Central India
Sri Lanka
Costa Rica
Brazil
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is one of the country’s best-loved comedians and presenters - the wonderful Tom Allen. You’ll know him from Bake Off: An Extra Slice, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, QI, Would I Lie To You?, Live at the Apollo and of course his standup comedy. He’s also a brilliant writer, and his new novel, Common Decency, is out now.

Tom’s travel diaries are full of glorious detail. We talk childhood holidays, package holidays, the etiquette of sunbeds, solo travel, America, Japan, Spain, the joy of a great hotel, and why food is so often the thing that makes a place unforgettable.

Destination Recap:

Holly: Sani, Halkidiki, Greece
Tom:
Gran Canaria, Spain
Javea, Spain
Alicante, Spain
Benidorm, Spain
San Francisco, USA
New York, USA
Philadelphia, USA
Cherry Hill, USA
Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Hiroshima, Japan
Nara, Japan
Gran Canaria, Spain
Maspalomas, Spain
Menorca, Spain
Wakefield, England
Elgin, Scotland
Banchory, Scotland
Highlands and Islands, Scotland
Beijing, China
Forbidden City, China
Great Wall of China, China

Tom Allen’s hilarious debut novel Common Decency is out now

Today’s episode was filmed in the Westminster Suite at London Marriott County Hall

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.
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