The Travel Diaries

• Diana Henry, Food Writer

  Today's guest can conjure entire worlds through her writing. Whether she’s evoking the salty tang of the Lofoten Islands, the rustic flavours of rural Normandy, or the buzz of a New York kitchen, her words are rich with atmosphere and emotion - it is of course, Diana Henry, one of Britain’s most celebrated food writers.She's a James Beard Award winner, long-time Sunday Telegraph columnist, and author of bestselling books like Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, How to Eat a Peach, and Around the Table, a new audio collection of essays spanning decades of food, travel and life.As you’ll hear, Diana’s wanderlust was born not from glamorous holidays, but from imagination. Growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, she escaped into books and encyclopaedias, dreaming of faraway places long before she ever had the chance to visit them.In this episode, we trace her journeys from Dublin to the Dordogne, Spain to Maine. We talk about foraging for mushrooms in France and eating cod’s heads in Iceland, She shares why she reads restaurant menus for fun, and the deep emotional connection she feels to the places she’s travelled, through taste.I spoke to Diana last month, and although we hadn’t met before, I instantly warmed to her. I loved the way she speaks about travel, through a different lens, shaped by flavour and feeling. I think you’ll really enjoy this one.Holly's recap: Beaverbrook Hotel, Surrey, EnglandDestination Recap:Dublin, Ireland Dordogne, France Colombey les Deux Églises, Haute-Marne, France Spain Le tonneau, Normandy, France New York, USAUnion Square Cafe, New York, USAABC Kitchen, New York, USAEstela, New York, USALos Angeles, California, USALofoten Islands, NorwayIcelandNebo Lodge, North Haven, Maine, USAMoroccoJapanAround the Table - 52 Essays on Food & Life, Mitchell Beazley is available now in audiobook and will be published in hardback on 2nd October.To win a holiday to Trisara, in Phuket, Thailand, head over to my Instagram page here.With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Monisha Rajesh returns, Train Travel Special

  Today I’m so pleased to welcome back someone who you all loved the first time around on the podcast - the brilliant author and travel writer, Monisha Rajesh. Her passion for trains, and for the way rail travel slows you down and opens you up to new worlds, was just infectious. And I’m so excited to say that she’s back with a gorgeous new book called Moonlight Express, which takes us deep into the magical world of sleeper trains. In this new adventure, Monisha journeys across Europe, the Americas and beyond, trading airports for railway platforms and following moonlit tracks through some of the most cinematic landscapes on Earth, which we have the pleasure of chatting about today. From the soft snow and candlelit calm of the Norwegian night trains to the fairy-tale villages of Transylvania, glimpsed at sunrise through the window of a creaky couchette on the Dacia Express. Or to the pastel-painted streets of Savannah, Georgia, in the US, reached on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor. She takes us high into the Andes too, aboard the luxurious Belmond Andean Explorer from Cusco to Arequipa, where the train carves through deserts and towering peaks, so close to everyday life you feel like you could touch it. And back in Britain, she celebrates her mum’s 70th aboard the Royal Scotsman, sipping whisky in the observation car as the Highlands go past.She reminds us what makes train travel so unique: the romance, the community, and the chance to simply sit by the window and watch the world roll by.Destination Recap: Oslo to trondheim, Trondheim to Buda, NorwayTransylvania, Romania FinlandPeru - Belmond Andean Explorer - Cusco to ArequipaBelmond Royal Scotsman Caledonian Sleeper Train, London to Edinburgh Cornish Riviera trainSilver Meteor - Orlando, Florida to Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah, Georgia, USAMoonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train by Monisha Rajesh is published by Bloomsbury (28 August).With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Chris Packham

  Today’s guest is one of Britain’s best-loved and most fearless voices in wildlife and environmental broadcasting - it’s the brilliant Chris Packham.Chris first made his name back in the 1980s as a presenter on The Really Wild Show, a programme that inspired a whole generation of children - myself included - to get out into nature. But before that, he was actually behind the camera, working as a wildlife cameraman after studying zoology. And it’s that deep understanding of animals, ecosystems and science that still underpins everything he does.Since those early days, Chris has become a fixture on British television. You’ll know him from Springwatch, Autumnwatch, and Winterwatch, from his BBC documentaries like The Walk That Made Me and Inside Our Autistic Minds, and from his powerful activism, whether he’s leading anti-hunting campaigns, protesting HS2, or calling out the destruction of biodiversity in the UK and beyond.He’s won multiple awards for his environmental work and was awarded a CBE for services to nature conservation. But he’s also never been afraid to challenge the establishment, and I think that’s one of the reasons so many people connect with him. In today’s episode, we explore the places that have shaped him, from Kathmandhu to Kashmir, Mauritius to Marrakech. He talks about the awe and purpose he finds in travel, the power of experiencing landscapes that tell stories - whether it’s battle sites like Little Bighorn in Montana or the brutalist war memorials of the Balkans - and the importance of discomfort, of being challenged by a place.We talk about being neurodivergent and how that shapes the way he sees the world when he travels - and also the places he’ll never return to. Spoiler: it’s not a great day for Dubai or Vegas.Destination Recap:White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USABig Bend National Park, Texas, USAEverglades National Park, Florida, USAZion National Park, Utah, USANew Forest National Park, Hampshire, England HondurasBorneoScotlandArles, France MauritiusSeville, SpainKathmandu, Nepal Kashmir, IndiaAntarcticaGalapagos, EcuadorMarrakech, Morocco Bar of sand nr Sanibel Island, Florida, USALittle Big Horn, Montana, USADubaiLas Vegas, USAPhilippines RainforestThe ‘Stans - Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan Finding the Spomeniks With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Simon Calder, Travel Expert, returns

  Today I’m joined once again by one of the UK’s most trusted and best-loved travel experts - Simon Calder. You’ll know him as the Independent’s travel correspondent, a familiar face on TV and radio, and the go-to voice when travel chaos strikes - whether it's air traffic control meltdowns or passport expiry panics. But beyond the headlines, Simon is also a true adventurer, with an insatiable curiosity for the world and a lifelong love of the open road, rails and skies.It’s been a five years since Simon last joined me on the podcast, and in that time, so much has changed - not just in the world of travel, but in the way we think about where we go, how we get there, and why we travel in the first place. So today’s episode is something of a global catch-up. From discovering the ancient cities of Algeria and the wild islands of the Antarctic, to cycling the Danube and family holidays on the beaches of Poland, Simon shares his latest discoveries, surprising favourites, and some underrated gems that might just change your next holiday plans.We’ll talk about the rise of slow travel and destinations that deserve the spotlight. Plus, he’ll be offering his signature no-nonsense travel tips, and sharing the far-flung destinations still lingering on his bucket list. Destination Recap:BorneoAntarcticaSouth GeorgiaAlgeriaConstantine, AlgeriaThe AzoresLebanonSocotra, Yemen Cape Verde Tbilisi, GeorgiaGhanaSierra Leone Sopot, PolandGdansk, Poland Cycling the Danube River, Regensburg, Germany to Vienna, AustriaWild Atlantic Way, IrelandCo. Donegal, IrelandNepalMadagascarUkraineLe Marche, Italy Simon discusses his top tips for summer holidays after new research from Tesco Travel Money found 2 in 5 travellers are being caught short of cash abroad. You can find out more about Tesco Travel Money by visiting https://www.tescotravelmoney.com/ With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Dan Buettner, 'Blue Zones' Longevity Expert & Explorer

  My guest today is Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer, New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning Netflix host, and a record-breaking endurance cyclist. In fact, he holds three Guinness World Records for distance cycling, having pedalled across the globe to over 70 countries. Travel is not just a passion of his - it’s the lens through which he’s viewed, explored, and helped reimagine how we live our lives.It was during these epic adventures that Dan’s curiosity about longevity began to take shape. And that curiosity eventually led to one of the most fascinating and impactful projects of our time: The Blue Zones. Working alongside National Geographic and a team of medical researchers and demographers, Dan set out to discover the secrets of the world’s longest-lived people. What he found were five extraordinary regions, in Japan, Costa Rica, Italy, Greece and a religious community in California - now famously known as the Blue Zones - where people weren’t just living longer, they were thriving into their 90s and 100s. What’s so remarkable is that these individuals weren’t pursuing health - they were simply living in environments that naturally supported well-being. Think: plant-based diets, daily movement, strong social ties, and a deep sense of purpose. His findings became international bestsellers and his Netflix documentary Live to 100 introduced Blue Zones to a worldwide audience. and He’s back this summer with a new cookbook, Blue Zones Kitchen: One Pot Meals, to help us all cook like the world’s healthiest people.His travel diaries today take us from the jungles of the Congo, and the plains of the Sahara, to the lakes of Guatemala, and the islands of Japan. There was so much to cover, and I was so fascinated by all of Dan’s insights, that we actually lost track of time, and so we’re going to have to do a part 2 one day to find out his worst travel experience and hear a little bit more about his Mexican hidden gem. But nevertheless, I can’t wait to dive into his story with you, let’s buckle up and get started. Destination Recap:Boundary Water Canoe Area between US and CanadaAlaska, USACycling from Alaska to ArgentinaCycling from Minneapolis, Minnesota to St Paul, Minnesota, around the world Cycling Tunisia to South AfricaSahara Desert, Africa Siberia, RussiaThe Congo, AfricaOkinawa, Japan Oaxaca, Mexico Lake Atitlán, GuatemalaChetumal, Mexico Angkor Wat, Cambodia Dan's new book Blue Zones Kitchen One Pot Meals is out on September 2nd in the US, and September 8th in the UK. With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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