The Best Travel Podcasts you need to listen to right now

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The Best Travel Podcasts you need to listen to right now

Sorry Insta, a great travel photo is always appreciated, but the best parts of travel are always found in the true storytelling.

Travel podcasts are the wanderlust element you've been missing in your life, but let's change that for 2020. This is the year to broaden your listening scope and try travel podcasts on for size. Revive that commute and get started with the best travel podcasts out there, featuring the inspiring stories, fresh perspectives and of course tips and tricks for your inner explorer.

10. Women Who Travel

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Hello #WomenWhoTravel! Meet Lale (@lalehannah), @cntraveler's senior lifestyle editor + co-host of the WWT podcast! We're sharing a few of our team's favourite places and tips from our travels...and we encourage you to share yours in the comments, too. 😀⁣ ⁣ Hey @lalehannah 👋 favourite vacation spot?⁣ Paris. It's a cliche for a reason! The place you're dying to visit this year?⁣ Vietnam, Morocco, and Argentina. Best meal you've ever had while travelling?⁣ Fresh fish cooked over an open fire by a pair female free divers, who I'd met along the coast of Japan's Ise-Shima peninsula. They had caught our lunch with their spears just that morning. The one piece of advice you'd give to women taking their first solo trip?⁣ Trust your gut, but never forget that travel, at its core, is supposed to be fun. favourite Instagram accounts to follow? @pkgourmet @shionat @chelsealouisekyle @mitty @villa_de_rosa @everyoutfitonsatc // 📷: @simone_anne

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Travelling women unite! "Because a woman's place is wherever she chooses," is a phrase we couldn't agree more with. The Women Who Travel Podcast is hosted by Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu – both editors at Condé Nast Traveler Magazine. They're passionate about tapping into the global community of women who travel. Each week they shine the spotlight on amazing female travellers around the world who are shaking up the industry, including feminist road trips and refugee experiences, which is why Women Who Travel had to make our list of the best travel podcasts to listen to right now. They discuss real issues around travelling as a woman and generally inspire us to keep exploring, so tune in female adventurers and allies!

Episode length: 30-40 mins

Upload frequency: weekly

Best episode to get you started: Why You Really Need to Take All of Your Vacation Days

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9. Travel Genius

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At the airport, are you a gate louse or a member of #teamboardlast? Boarding the plane is a contentious, stressful part of any journey, whatever your approach—Nikki Ekstein says it's the worst part of travelling. This week on the Travel Genius podcast, she and co-host Mark Ellwood talk about the surprising innovations that airports and airlines are trialing to ease that tension. Some ideas, though, are likely to cause even more of a kerfuffle among frequent flyers.⠀ ⠀ This week's Travel Genius is Hitha Palepu, a businesswoman who moonlights as a travel guru. Palepu wrote the ultimate guide to squeezing everything into a carry-on, How to Pack, and chronicles her travel hacks on the go via her Instagram feed, with the hashtag #HithaOnTheGo. Unsurprisingly, Palepu has some canny packing ideas. She also shares her thoughts on what to bring to make an extended-stay vacation feel more like home.⠀ ⠀ But we don't just want her tips—we want yours. Call the Travel Genius hotline at 646 324-3490 anytime, and leave us a voicemail; we'll play the best on coming episodes. Otherwise, hit up Nikki and Mark on Twitter or Instagram with your hacks and ideas.⠀ ⠀ Illustration: @tomium

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Everyone loves a good travel hack, and Travel Genius is all hacks, all the time. Hosts Mark Ellwood and Nikki Ekstein chat to other travel experts to expose the biggest and best hacks for all aspects of travelling, from getting into business class to minimalist packing, and everything in between.

Episode length: ~30 mins

Upload frequency: inconsistent

Best episode to get you started: Here's How to Pick the Best Restaurant

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8. EcoLust

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It's coming!!! 🙉 🎧

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Care about sustainable travel? Duh, we all do! And Aussie millennials Chris Minehan and Hayley Tillard have translated this passion into EcoLust, one of the best travel podcasts out there. "We want to live better – for the planet, for others, and for ourselves," they say. So, with every episode they aim to make it easier for us all to live and travel a little more sustainably, no eco-shame here! They share their own struggles and triumphs – from travelling the world with just carry-on luggage to exploring how sustainable families live. All the while hoping to empower others. We're in.

Episode length: around an hour

Upload frequency: weekly

Best episode to get you started: Minimalist Van Life in New Zealand

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7. JUMP Podcast

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Done is better than perfect. There are so many aspects about running my business that render me feeling frozen, incapable, and with no idea who to ask for help. So. Many. . Creating this podcast artwork, which "should" have been done back in October (eek) when I published episode 100 and officially changed the name of the show, is a perfect example. . First, I wanted to finalize the logo for JUMP (my group trips and the name of my podcast), but that meant choosing fonts, colors, design = immediate and lasting overwhelm. It seems there is always something that needs to be done FIRST, to make the next thing come out "right," and it's up to ME (hello, #solopreneur) to figure it all out, even when I feel incapable. This is a never ending learning curve in entrepreneurship, which is why it's so important to celebrate the wins, even the small ones (which, really, feel HUGE sometimes). . So, world, here is my new podcast artwork, it's done, and I hope you like it as is, because I do, and I'm not messing with it ANYmore! Podcast listeners, look for this updated image now when you look for my show via your favourite podcast player (see options at JumpPodcast.com). Oh, and swipe to see my new JUMP Experiences (my group trips!) logo. Coffee tumblers (which I've been wanting to create for over two years now) will hopefully be happening in time for Christmas. But I'm not going to "should" all over myself. . Onward. . P.S. Shout out to my coat rack, filled by @ospreypacks @outdoorresearch @marmot and @patagonia for my color inspiration. Sometimes the answer we seek is literally right in front of us, we just need to open our eyes and accept. . . Podcast artwork photo @dan.holz.photo @ospreypacks #imadethis#newlogo#doneisbetterthanperfect#celebratethewins#jumppodcast#jumpexperiences#jumpwithjackie#entrepreneurlife#podcaster#podcasterlife#onward

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JUMP Podcast's mission is to inspire everyone to go out and see the world. With 53 countries visited and counting, JUMP focuses on active and adventure travel. Expect packing to hiking tips, language hacks and bucket list inspiration. Jackie covers the bases in a very relatable and conversational way – that makes you feel like you're having a convo with a friend.

Episode length: 25 mins to 1 hour+

Upload frequency: biweekly on Wednesdays

Best episode to get you started: JUMP 126 – 5 adventure firsts in Europe

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6. Indie Travel Podcast

The Indie Travel Podcast is hosted by real-life couple Craig and Linda. This is a real labour of love, fueled by years of personal lessons learned. These Kiwi nomads focus on must-do lists and travel tips that they've picked up from 14+ years of travelling. If you're looking for tips on a specific destination or topic, there's a library of over 350 episodes to choose from. Plus they like to keep it short and sweet with one theme per episode, so it's easy to dive into what you're curious about at the moment.

Episode length: 20 to 40 mins

Upload frequency: inconsistent

Best episode to get you started:  Episode 368 – How to choose your travel destination

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5. Extra Pack of Peanuts

Hosts Trav and Heather from Extra Pack of Peanuts take a fun and chilled approach to travel podcasting. With an emphasis on travelling more and spending less, there's a little bit of everything on EPOP – from interviews with travellers and travel tips to top 10 lists. Look for the budgeting advice!

Episode length: typically ~ 1 hour

Upload frequency: weekly on Tuesdays

Best episode to get you started: Episode 403 – 2020 Travel Wishlist (ultimate new year inspiration!)

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4. Awake At Night

With millions of people living displaced around the world right now, this podcast is a harrowing but necessary listen. Let us introduce you to Melissa Fleming, chief spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She hosted Awake At Night from 2018-2019 and now is as good a time as any to listen in. This podcast focuses on individual refugee stories, but also explores what it takes to be a humanitarian worker facing some of the world's most dangerous situations. Don't miss the interview with Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and a former child refugee from Afghanistan.

Episode length: 45 minutes

Upload frequency: there are 16 episodes in total

Best episode to get you started: From the beginning

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3. What the Pho

Podcaster-new-kids-on-the-block Nick and Amy started What the Pho to track their adventures and tackle world issues. Tuning in is basically like having two travel pals come exploring with you. They share their good, bad and… ugly experiences travelling the world and the set up is more radio show than podcast with plenty of guests, games and fun facts. They also manage to fit in one-off podcast documentaries on issues such as the Venezuelan Crisis and the Israel and Palestine conflict, which is why it's one of our top 3 favourite travel podcasts.

Episode length: typically between 30 mins and 1 hour

Upload frequency: fortnightly

Best episode to get you started: Long Term Travel – 8 Months On

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2. On She Goes

On She Goes is a digital platform created by women of color, "to encourage and empower other women of color to travel more confidently." The podcast started in the summer of 2018 and there's now a whole team of awesome women hosting the show. If you're looking for a fresh perspective, this is the place to tune into. The team chat to everyone from comedians to pro snowboarders, touching on topics such as immigration, safety, ancestry and active adventures, which makes it the ideal contender for the best travel podcast title.

Episode length: 30 mins to 1 hour

Upload frequency: monthly

Best episode to get you started:  Arrive, Adjust, Adapt

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1. Out of Office Podcast

Out of Office is top here on our list of best travel podcasts. With a new season coming early 2020. Travel creates stories and Out of Office seeks to share these incredible stories, SIMPLE. Focused on young people who love to travel, this Contiki-powered podcast focuses on travelling as an LGBTQ couple, indigenous cultures, men's mental health and sustainable travel. There's no shortage of fresh and inspiring content on OOO.

Episode length: ~30 mins

Upload frequency: weekly per season

Best episode to get you started: Any!

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Content courtesy of Contiki

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