The Big Travel Podcast
The Big Travel Podcast: Exploring Life-Stories Through Travel. Taking you on a journey of discovery, with a wonderfully diverse selection of characters, The Big Travel Podcast explores life-stories in travel; from childhoods with little money but a spirit for exploration to fabulous tales of exotic climes and incredible adventures. Celebrities, authors, sports people, politicians, famous faces from TV, radio, music, stage and screen, SAS soldiers, adventurers and ordinary people taking extraordinary journeys tell their story of life through travel, and through this, The Big Travel Podcast finds out what it is about travel that inspires us, that makes us laugh, love, cry and sometimes cringe yet above all keep travelling. The Big Travel Podcast is hosted by Lisa Francesca Nand, travel journalist, presenter, writer and filmmaker.
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113. Jamie Douglas-Hamilton; Treacherous Seas, ...
It’s been called one of the most treacherous seas in the world but this didn't stop Jamie Douglas-Hamilton and team rowing through The Drake Passage from South America to Antarctica, breaking 9 world records and resulting in the incredible...
37 min
52
112. Christmas Special 2020; Bill Bailey, Laura...
India Hicks’ very British Xmas in the sunny Bahamas, Charles Spencer’s crazily English Christmas in the stately home, novelist Victoria Hislop’s culture-free disaster in Cuba, baker Cynthia Stroud’s noise and laughter in Nigeria,...
34 min
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111. Ella Al- Shamahi; Lost Kingdoms of the Ama...
Ella Al Shamahi is an archaeologist, explorer and stand-up comic who's been described as the 'real-life Lara Croft' as she travels the world exploring some of the world’s most dangerous and remote regions. Ella...
47 min
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110. Rachel Gotto; From Paralysis and Agoraphob...
Rachel Gotto was pregnant with her first child when she saw her husband's body hauled from the sea on a diving trip in Ireland. Having lost her brother to cancer previously she was no stranger to grief however what follows is an extraordinary journey...
44 min
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109. TV Baker Cynthia Stroud; Nigerian Childhoo...
TV baker and food judge Cynthia Stroud grew up in Nigeria, learning budgeting from her grandfather being paid in chickens and goats and about baking from her mother. In the UK she went from living off £10 a week, to running her million pound...
42 min
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107. Samantha Kelly; ‘Tweeting Goddess’ on Irel...
All the way from Rosslare Harbour in Wexford in Ireland Samantha Kelly is the founder of the global . We talk about inspiring female entrepreneurs, the people who have inspired us, arriving by boat to Ireland on the way to the Seychelles, working...
47 min
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106. Charles Spencer; Historic Monarchs, Worldw...
Earl Spencer, best-selling author and historian, has a superb talent for bringing history to life. His new book, , explores England’s worst ever maritime and royal disaster, a tragedy that changed the course of European history forever. From...
41 min
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105. Justin Somper: Bestselling Vampirates Auth...
The year is 2505. The oceans have risen. A new era of piracy has dawned…Justin Somper’s vision of a future world in the bestselling books has been very much influenced by his passion for Australia, which has lead to much exploring and also even...
35 min
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104. Loyd Grossman CBE; 1960s New York, Ecclesi...
Loyd Grossman, entrepreneur, author and broadcaster is well-known for presenting MasterChef, Through the Keyhole and much more. His lifelong passion for history and the arts has led to leading roles in cultural institutions from English Heritage,...
40 min
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103. Lemn Sissay MBE; Lancashire Care Homes, L...
Lemn Sissay, BAFTA nominated writer and one of the world’s most brilliant poets, was taken from his Ethiopian mother at birth against her will and after a stinging rejection from foster parents spent his childhood in care. He published his first...
59 min
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102. Laura Hamilton; A Place In The Sun, Quaran...
A Place in the Sun presenter, Laura Hamilton, and Lisa are having a coffee in the ‘new normal’ in Spain, masks at the ready, with a lively conversation about property abroad, bargain cave houses, lack of tourists in Spain, Greek idylls, making tea...
45 min
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101. Iain Dale; Communist Russia, Italian Coach...
A school trip to Communist Russia left LBC’s Iain Dale hooked on travel. He’s since learned fluent German, been chased to the Austrian border by a Hungarian prostitute, been guarded at gun-point in Lebanon, done things he doesn’t feel he can...
57 min
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100. Dr Hassan Shehata; World-Leading Miscarria...
Pioneering obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Hassan Shehata grew up in Khartoum in Sudan. As a junior doctor he was thrown headlong into revolution, military Islamic extremism, beatings and torture. We talk about his horrific time in ‘ghost house’...
58 min
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99. Eulanda Shead Osagiede; Travel's Colonial H...
Award-winning travel and food blogger from Eulanda Shead Osagiede grew up in Colorado, balancing beautiful forests and mountains with growing gang violence and police oppression, studied dance in New York City then moved to the UK. We talk the...
40 min
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98. Boutique Hotelier, Francesca Eyre; Parisian...
Growing up with two terminally ill siblings Francesca Eyre, chef and co-owner of holidays in the Alps, learned independence and adventure at a young age. After losing her sister aged 16 and mother aged 21 a chance encounter when chasing her...
43 min
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97. Hollywood Military Adviser, Paul Biddiss; C...
There aren’t many people who would correct George Clooney but, on his first film as an extra, this led to former paratrooper Paul Biddiss having a huge change in career from surveillance and bodyguard to Hollywood military adviser. He’s since...
37 min
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96. Kash Bhattacharya: The Budget Traveller, Gr...
The travel writing of Kash Battacharya, has won him accolades including National Geographic Traveller Writer of the Year, filming for Lonely Planet and the BBC and resulted in his book . On this episode Kash, in easing-lockdown Berlin, talks budget...
42 min
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95. Oliver Gee, The Earful Tower Podcast; Back-...
The fabulous of which the star of the show is Paris, hit number one this month in the USA Apple podcast charts. Lisa chats to host Oliver Gee about seeing Paris like a local, chasing beavers down canals, catacombs, a moose on the loose in...
38 min
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94. Victoria Hislop; Best-Selling Novelist on G...
We’re still riding high in Apple Podcasts places and travel charts all around the world, including several days at number 1 in the UK and as high as number 16 in the US so I want to thank you once again for all our loyal listeners and welcome all...
37 min
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93. Travis Elborough; Vanishing Lakes in Uzbeki...
Dreaming of travel - because we can’t actually travel - has become a lot more meaningful during lockdown and this week I really loved being on the When in Spain podcast. Paul Burge from Madrid and me in London, talking about the country we love....
37 min
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92. Sophy Roberts; Elephant Conservation in Cha...
Reporting on wildlife conservation, threats to eco-systems and fragile cultures from remote corners of the world is travel writer Sophy Robert’s passion. She cut her journalistic teeth with Jessica Mitford then ditched an enviable job at Conde Nast...
38 min
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91. Coronavirus and Travel; Lockdown in London,...
Three weeks ago we were in Malaga having tapas and wine with Bill Bailey and now that seems like a lifetime away as most of us around the world are in lockdown. Lisa talks about how the travel ban and lockdown is affecting her and people around the...
37 min
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90. Bill Bailey; Larks in Transit, Vultures in ...
We’re in Malaga with superstar comedian Bill Bailey having tapas by the Cathedral fresh after seeing his latest tour. As well as being sublimely entertaining Bill is possibly the world’s most well travelled comedian and we talk childhood holidays,...
55 min
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89. Team GB’s Mel Nicholls; Endurance Wheelcha...
Just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing Mel Nicholls Team GB Paralympic cyclist, endurance wheelchair racer and adventurer, was at London 2012 before going on to Rio. Last year she...
38 min
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88. Lucy Siegle; Travel in the Era of Climate C...
Yes, we love travel, but how can we do this in the era of climate crisis? On this special episode, combining The Big Travel Podcast and WTM Insights podcast, Lucy Siegle, journalist and leading authority on environmental issues, examines the...
38 min