Wild animals, breathtaking ocean views and fascinating culture - welcome to South Africa!
Emma interviews her lovely friend Brydi Schutz on this episode, a passionate South African. Emma visited Cape Town in 2008 and Brydi showed her around, getting to experience being a tourist in her own country too.
Hear some wonderful tips, listen as they discuss the complex history and get excited about your future trip to South Africa!
"Last week we hear what it's like to go from USA to AUS. This week we go from AUS to USA, we talk to Cat Commander about why she took on this epic life change.
Cat is an avid explorer, she thrives on the adrenaline of visiting far off places with vastly different cultures to her Australian roots, and also enjoys local tourism in Southern California, where she now lives. Alongside her job in the film/tv industry, she owns and manages a popular vacation rental in Big Bear Lake, and has plans to expand her Short Term Rental Empire. She recently published a children's book on Amazon called Bryson The Bear - inspired by the Big Bear Lake region.
Enjoy this fascinating chat with an adventurous woman!"
Have you ever wanted to be a local in a new country?
Theresa Winters has done it a number of times and she really takes living life as a local seriously. Emma met Theresa through their work in entertainment and journalism and has had the pleasure of experiencing Theresa's immersive local spirit.
Fun fact! Theresa is from the same area as Emma's magical Cuzzy, Bill Hunter, who was featured in episode 22 of the Lovelly Travels podcast. Both women share their local experiences from Illinois and Wisconsin, USA.
Learn more about Theresa in the show notes and of course, in the episode!
Namaste!
Welcome to our India episode! Definitely the first of many as Emma has been there not once, not twice but 11 times. It's one of her most visited countries but also her favourite of all time.
Emma even has the unspoken motto of Indian tourism on her arm - Atithi Devo Bhava. It means "Guest is God". She even now partners with a travel company in India, Take me to India.
We also welcome to this episode Anuj Haribhakti, originally from India and now living in Australia, Anuj is a passionate podcast listener and avid traveller. After connecting through their love of podcasts, Anuj and Emma get to talking all things India - with the local and traveller's perspective.
Come and explore Incredible India with us.
Emma loves the Liandra Swim brand and their approach to fashion and representation of the Indigenous Australian culture. In this episode, we invited Creative Director/Founder and designer Liandra Gaykamangu onto the podcast to share more about her awesome brand and the influence of her heritage on her business.
"We are an eco-conscious and ethically minded brand. Liandra Swim is designed in Australia and our prints are 100% authentic.
Our Creative Director/Founder and designer, Liandra Gaykamangu, is a Yolngu woman from North-East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory Australia. Our swimwear is made in Bali, Indonesia in ethical working conditions."
Kuzo zung po la!
In 2015, Emma took on the Trek to Happiness with Black Dog Institute and travelled to the incredible country of Bhutan. The trek was to raise funds for mental health and what better place than a country that rates its productivity on happiness. Bhutan is now trying to measure progress not by the popular idea of Gross Domestic Product but through Gross National Happiness.
Emma travelled there with her good pal Nic who she met on a trek to Peru in 2012 and they share their passion for mental health, as well as a lot of silly and fun momenets.
Nic Newling is an advocate for mental health, suicide prevention, and sharing personal stories.
Since surviving his own mental illnesses but losing his brother to suicide, Nic strives to encourage sharing, listening, and working together for positive change. After six years with the Black Dog Institute, he has now ventured into sharing with the world by founding the grassroots organisation The Champions.
So join us as we explore Bhutan, reminisc some of the magical moments and have a good old laugh!
Are you a fan of big treks?
Well our guest this week Leigh Foster takes trekking to the next level! A friend of Emma's since high school, Leigh was sharing her journeys on Facebook and Emma who also loves big walks loved following on. We knew we had to have her on the show to share these experiences.
Leigh is a weekday accountant and weekend warrior. She has a passion for adventure and the outdoors. During 2019 and 2019, she spent almost a year walking 8,000km's on two of the world's premier long distance trails, New Zealand's TA and USA's PCT. When she's not wandering the globe she's making the most of her weekends hiking and canyoning in the outskirts of Sydney.
Listen and learn about what it's like to spend months on end trekking across amazing landscapes, and how to prepare for such an adventure!
Selamat Datang!
This week we are off to Indonesia! A country in Asia made up of more than 17,000 islands! This was the 7th country that Emma visited overall, and 5/195 UN recognised countries that she's visited.
We're covering off just 3 of the 17,000 locations today with Bali, Jakarta and Borneo.
Darius shares his very fleeting (12 hour!) visit to Jakarta as well.
As always we talk about the delicious foods to ear, places to see and some tips for making the most of your time.
Crucial to the travel experience is the art of packing a bag.
Whether it's a suitcase, a backpack or a swag, everyone has a packing style. Danielle Phyland from The Adventures of Poss & Ruby joins us as our first repeat guest to discuss how to best organise ones bag for travel.
Emma and Danielle travelled together in 2019 and it was clear their packing styles varied greatly! Enjoy hearing some tips, pointers and funny tales about packing.
Jambo and Karibu Rafiki! This week we're off to the majestically beautiful Tanzania.
Jambo means hello, karibu means welcome and rafiki is friend.
Emma was fortunate enough to visit Tanzania twice. The first time to meet her sponsor child Lazaro with World Vision Australia. And the second time to fulfil her promise to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in honour of her grandfather.
We also share in this episode a love story! Local Tanzanian Loth Mollel met his beautiful wife, Emma's friend and colleague, Tara while she was volunteering in Tanzania. They share their beautiful tale with us here on the podcast and some top tips for those wanting to visit Tanzania.
Come along on an exotic adventure and good old walk down memory lane on this episode.