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, Norway
• Transylvania, Romania
• Finland
• Peru - Belmond Andean Explorer - Cusco to Arequipa
• Belmond Royal Scotsman
• Caledonian Sleeper Train, London to Edinburgh
• Cornish Riviera train
• Silver Meteor - Orlando, Florida to Savannah, Georgia
• Savannah, Georgia, USA

Moonlight 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.

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, USA
• Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
• Everglades National Park, Florida, USA
• Zion National Park, Utah, USA
• New Forest National Park, Hampshire, England
• Honduras
• Borneo
• Scotland
• Arles, France
• Mauritius
• Seville, Spain
• Kathmandu, Nepal
• Kashmir, India
• Antarctica
• Galapagos, Ecuador
• Marrakech, Morocco
• Bar of sand nr Sanibel Island, Florida, USA
• Little Big Horn, Montana, USA
• Dubai
• Las Vegas, USA
• Philippines Rainforest
• The ‘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.

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:

• Borneo
• Antarctica
• South Georgia
• Algeria
• Constantine, Algeria
• The Azores
• Lebanon
• Socotra, Yemen
• Cape Verde
• Tbilisi, Georgia
• Ghana
• Sierra Leone
• Sopot, Poland
• Gdansk, Poland
• Cycling the Danube River, Regensburg, Germany to Vienna, Austria
• Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland
• Co. Donegal, Ireland
• Nepal
• Madagascar
• Ukraine
• Le 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.