Thank you AARP and Cheryl Maguire for including my podcast, Make Your Own Map, in the article, “7 Travel Podcasts You Can Listen to While Waiting in the Airport.”
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7 Travel Podcasts You Can Listen to While Waiting in the Airport: Spend your time learning tips to maximize your travel experience
By Cheryl Maguire, AARP
Published January 16, 2024
One way you can plan for your next vacation is by listening to travel podcasts. You can also learn about places you might want to visit, or you can experience the destination if you’re unable to go there. We spoke to travel experts to find out which podcasts are worth listening to, especially if you are stuck waiting at the airport. We then spoke to the podcasters to learn more about their shows. The podcasts can be found on most major platforms. Here are the ones the experts recommend.
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Travels with Darley
Host: Darley Newman
Traveler type: Travel like a local
First episode: November 2023
Each episode of the Travels with Darley podcast is based on Darley Newman’s TV series that focuses on how to travel like a local around the world. “I’m writing [the podcast] almost like it’s a book in a way, in which you are going to the location but you can really visualize it,” she says. “You’re experiencing the adventure in the journey, and there are practical travel tips or travel hacks within them.” She creates an immersive feeling by including real-time background sounds. “We’re white water rafting and you’re in the boat, you’re hearing the water or you’re hearing the guy yelling at you,” she says.
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Make Your Own Map
Host: Lisa Niver
Traveler type: Brave traveler
First episode: December 2022
Niver’s Make Your Own Map podcast focuses on how to step outside of your comfort zone. Niver began the podcast after she turned in the manuscript for her memoir, Brave-ish: One Breakup, Six Continents, and Feeling Fearless After Fifty. “The focus of my podcast is the journey, which means different things in each episode,” she says. “When listening to my podcast, people will learn about the place or the person and get tips for how they can evolve as a traveler.”
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World Footprints
Hosts: Tonya and Ian Fitzpatrick
Traveler type: Conscientious traveler
First episode: 2009
The husband and wife team of Tonya and Ian Fitzpatrick host the World Footprints podcast. Previously, they held jobs as lawyers; Tonya was also a White House appointee at the Department of Education. They bring their background of education and social justice to their episodes about travel. Originally, they had a show on terrestrial radio, then moved to a podcast format to have more freedom over what they produced. “We love to tell the stories that nobody else is telling,” says Tonya Fitzpatrick. There are “so many gifts that travel offers us and we try to showcase those.”
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There She Goes
Hosts: Lavinia Spalding and Kelly Chappie
Traveler type: Storyteller traveler
First episode: April 2021
Lavinia Spalding and Kelly Chappie met each other through their husbands and decided during the pandemic to start the There She Goes podcast. Since they couldn’t travel, they were eager for something travel adjacent. Each episode features an essay written by a woman traveler; authors read their essay during the podcast. Chappie explains that each season is a combination of stories, what they evoke and where the people are going. She says they try to cover a broad range of story types and locations.
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Destination Eat Drink
Host: Brent Petersen
Traveler type: Foodie traveler
First episode: December 2018
Petersen began his podcast Destination Eat Drink after a 15-year career in radio. “I love this idea of what we call in radio, theater of the mind,” he says. He explains that means helping listeners create images in their mind as they listen to the story. “My mantra in the podcast is: Food is culture, culture is food.” In other words, you can learn a lot about people based on what they eat and how the food is prepared.
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The Vacation Mavens
Hosts: Kim Tate and Tamara Gruber
Traveler type: Family traveler
First episode: April 2016
The Vacation Mavens podcast is hosted by Kim Tate and Tamara Gruber. After meeting at a Kansas City travel conference in 2015, they started a podcast because of the lack of options focusing on family travel that weren’t related to RVs or Disney. Originally, their focus was on younger families, but now that their kids are teens, they also discuss topics such as “momcations” or girlfriend getaways. “Tamara and I both love to share tips that help others plan vacations and get the most out of their trips,” says Tate.
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Takeoff: A Points and Miles Podcast by 10xTravel
Hosts: Bryce Conway, Emily Jaeckel, Matt Brown and Travis Cormier
Traveler type: Reward traveler
First episode: June 2023
If you love reward points, then the Takeoff: A Points and Miles Podcast by 10xTravel is for you. The four hosts offer a comprehensive look into how to use travel-related reward programs to your advantage. They created a podcast after readers who took their free travel course requested an audio version. “Our focus is to teach our audience how to use credit card points and miles to lower the cost of their travel and help them travel better,” explains Emily Jaeckel.
Cheryl Maguire is a freelance writer whose work has been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Parents Magazine, Healthline and many other publications. She is a professional member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
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