Stamped: Sinead - Trains, Travels, and Family Adventures Across 80 Countries

In this episode, host Tracy Collins is joined by lifelong traveller Sinead, who shares how a childhood love of caravan holidays and the travel stories of Michael Palin sparked a passion that led her to visit more than 80 countries.

Despite not driving, fearing flying, and getting seasick, Sinead found her freedom through train travel and a deep curiosity about the world. She talks about her early adventures in Ireland and Mallorca, her first big leap travelling through India, and what it was like to take a two-and-a-half-year global trip in the 1990s with only guidebooks and a backpack.

Sinead also reveals how she, her husband and their three children spent a year travelling around the world by train, including memorable journeys such as the Trans-Siberian Railway and a route from Hong Kong to the UK. Along the way, she shares pinch-yourself moments like the roar of Iguazu Falls, stargazing in Mongolia, and connecting with welcoming communities in Samoa.

You’ll learn:
 • Practical tips for family rail travel and backpacking with kids
• How to pack light and stay flexible on the road
• Why destinations like North Macedonia and Mongolia deserve a spot on your list
• The mindset that turns challenges into adventures

Full of warmth, honesty, and inspiring stories, this episode celebrates curiosity, connection, and the idea that it is never too late to explore.

Guest - Sinead Camplin from Map Made Memories and York Travel Expert
Show notes - Episode 81

🎧 Listen to next

• Episode #3 - Visiting York, England
• Episode #17 - Best day trips from York
• Episode #54 - Top 10 Tips for UK and Europe Train Travel in 2025 and Beyond

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 2:56 Origins Of Wanderlust
• 4:34 First Trips And Travel Style
• 9:03 Round‑The‑World Travel In The 90s
• 13:05 Family Gap Year And Modern Constraints
• 15:59 Pinch‑Yourself Moments At Iguazu Falls
• 18:30 Places She Would Not Rush Back To
• 19:20 Return Favourites And New Zealand
• 21:00 Underrated Picks: North Macedonia And Mongolia
• 24:00 Why Train Travel Works For Families
• 26:10 Feeling Welcome In Samoa
• 28:05 Bucket List Dream: Antarctica
• 30:05 Practical Tips: Just Go And Pack Light
• 32:10 York Resources And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

From family caravan trips to adventures across 80 countries, today's story is filled with curiosity, discovery, and the joy of exploring the world. Get ready for this month's inspiring episode of Stamped.

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is founder of the Global Travel Planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy is joined by expert guests as she takes you on a journey to destinations around the world, sharing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas, and practical tips to help you plan your next adventure. Join us as we explore everywhere from bustling cities to remote landscapes, uncover cultural treasures, and discover the best ways to make your travel dreams a reality.

SPEAKER_02: 0:44

Welcome to this week's edition of the Global Travel Planner Podcast and our monthly episode of Stamped, where I ask my guest 10 questions from passport stamps to bucket list dreams that take us on a journey through the travel moments of their life. This month's guest is Sinead, a UK-based travel lover who started with caravan holidays and curiosity that sparked a lifelong passion for adventure. She set off on a two and a half year round-the-world journey, crossed Africa from south to north, and backpacked for a year with her three children. Sinead doesn't drive, is nervous about flying, gets seasick, she absolutely loves trains and has now visited more than 80 countries. We talk about the people who inspired her wonderlust, the kind of pinch yourself moments that stay with you forever, and a couple of lesser-known gems she recommends. So grab a copper and enjoy this inspiring conversation.

SPEAKER_01: 1:35

So I'm Sinead, I'm based in the UK. I have a regular job. I don't travel for a living. I've got three children, and I've been to it's been a while since I counted, but I've been to around 82, 84 countries, and the kids have been to, I think, somewhere around 46, 47 countries. I didn't go abroad till I was 16. I didn't properly start travelling till I was in my 20s. Um I've just made up for it since. Um people are often amazed I do so much travelling because I don't drive. I'm terrified of flying and I get seasick. Um, but my saving grace is I I love trains. Um I've done a couple of round-the-world trips. The first one I was away for about two and a half years, and then my second big trip I was at the turn of the millennium. I'd spent six months travelling from south to north on the African continent. And then in 2016, 2017, uh, we took our children out of school and we went backpacking for a year with our three children.

SPEAKER_02: 2:48

Fantastic, fantastic. I mean you've you've been so many places. You really have, Sinead, and you've had so many fantastic experiences, some not so great ones. I know you've you've managed to catch a few tropical diseases around around uh some of your travels, but let's kind of get into a little bit of like what what the inspiration was, um, or who or whatever it was that inspired your love of travel. And I'm kind of gonna sneak one in because I'm hoping that you're gonna mention certain person that you happened to see the other day, which I have a suspicion you are, which I was very jealous about.

SPEAKER_01: 3:23

Um so I I credit two people with my my love of travel, really. The first one I think is my dad. Um I didn't go abroad with my dad till I was in my late twenties. Um and I think we've only been abroad, you know, three or four times together. But when we were little, we used to have two weeks' caravan holidays every year around the UK, Scotland, and Wales. And we didn't have any part in the planning, so we didn't know what to expect. And we'd rock up to some field in the middle of nowhere, and we'd park up, and my dad would say, Right, go off, go and explore. And at the time, I think, you know, his partner maybe he had four children and he wanted five minutes peace, so go off and explore. But he what he actually instilled in all of us, I think, was just that what's out there, what's on the other side of that hill, what are we going to find today? And that sort of sense of curiosity and exploration has has really stuck with me all from I think those caravan holidays. Um the second person I credit, I know is one of your favourites too, is Michael Palin. I remember as clear as a bell sitting on the sofa with my dad in 1989, watching Around the World in 80 Days. And I it was there hadn't been a program like it before. Somebody so personable, somebody so warm, telling his travels through the stories of the peoples he he met. And I just thought, I want to do that, I want to go there, I want to meet those people, I want to do what he's doing. Um, and it was that year actually, I've had my first trip abroad with my sister. I was age 17, we went to Slovenia, and um I still credit him with just sort of igniting that wonderlust feeling. And as you say, I was lucky enough, I went to see him last week. He was talking about um his trip to Venezuela, which was his 100th country, and he was exactly the same. He told the story of the country through the people he met, um, his warmth, his respect for the people he met, his enthusiasm. He was telling us a story about going to see a waterfall, and he was walking behind this waterfall, and he he's 82, but he spoke like a child. It was so enthusiastic, and he was saying it was one of the best things I've ever done, and I didn't think I'd have to get to 82 to do it, and his enthusiasm is just infectious, it really is. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 5:59

I have to say I'm incredibly jealous because I know this is the second time that you've actually seen Michael Pale in it, well, and and listen to him talk about his travel. Um, and I totally totally get you, and it's really interesting because um it, you know, we we're talking the early 1980s that he was on when he was doing his around the world in 80 days, and and like you, that kind of sense of oh, he was just amazing, and and it was the people that brought the different places. It wasn't about what he saw, it was the the people and the experiences that he went, and it's it's amazing how that can ignite that passion and live live with you for so long. And I'm exactly the same. I I mean I I hope that I do get to meet him one day. I think um just amazing, and also that like you say, that childlike enthusiasm for travel. Um just absolutely amazing. Now I know you've kind of mentioned it, it's like amazing I say how those things live with us and how at the time I suppose you decided to take that first trip, and I guess you've mentioned it. So so the first country that you ever visited, where was your first passport start?

SPEAKER_01: 7:00

Was that the trip with your sister? My first country really was Ireland because my parents are Irish. I spent most of my childhood summers in Ireland, and that again was um just freedom to explore. Just, you know, we knew we knew all the family there. It just felt coming from London, especially going to Ireland for our summer holidays, it just had so much more freedom. My next trip abroad was when I was 16. I went to Mallorca on a package holiday, and I I didn't go with my own family, I went with somebody else's family, and um, you know, fair enough, they went they went to this hotel to relax for two weeks, they work hard. But we rarely left the hotel complex, and by day two I was going out of my mind, I was so bored. Um, and although it was my first trip abroad, I knew that was not how I wanted to travel, and I haven't travelled like that ever since. So the following summer was when I went to Slovenia, which was then part of Yugoslavia. My sister and I went on a mountain walking holiday. We booked off Teletext. Do you remember you could book holidays off the tele and you didn't know where you were staying, you didn't see any pictures of where you were going, you only found out the hotel when you were on the coach driving to it. And that was really the first trip where you know I could set my own itinerary, my own pace. I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't seen any pictures of it or anything. And it was just that sense of freedom at 17 was just amazing, and that's what I've always sort of tried to hold on to and sort of pass on to my own children as well.

SPEAKER_02: 8:33

Oh, absolutely. I guess it that kind of leads us into that kind of third question about which was the place that you went, which was like the first big adventure. But would you say that that trip to Slovenia was or have you done something that you kind of go, no, this was a bit more of a like a wow, kind of real adventure?

SPEAKER_01: 8:51

Although it felt like an adventure, Slovenia, it was it was still quite familiar. So I think my first big adventure when I felt, wow, this is this is something challenging, this is something big, um, was when I went to India. I was um 23, still fairly green, I hadn't really gone to many places at all. Um, and India was my first stop on that round-the-world trip. I went, I sort of had enough funds for about six months. So at the airport, I said, Oh, a maximum six months, maybe less, or and it was two and a half years before I came back. So that that was the first big adventure, and definitely travelling around India as the first destination on that trip uh really felt like a huge adventure. It was it was a very different way of travelling then as well. Um, you know, obviously there was no phones, there was no internet cafes, so it was I I would phone home once a month from a phone shop. I, you know, writing blue air mail letters. I used to collect letters from home at American Express offices, I'd go to read the newspaper at British Council offices. It was just entirely different. And everything really was, you know, you clutched a lonely planet like it was a life source, and talking to other travellers, which I think you did a lot more of back then to get recommendations, and it was a very sort of fluid method of traveling because you you you you just couldn't plan ahead. You didn't have phones, you didn't have internet, and that that really felt like my first big adventure. I still think to this day that was an incredibly challenging thing to do. It it does sound incredible. And did you do this solo, Shaineed? Uh no, I went with a friend at the time, um, and it was it was it was tough. There was some good points, there was some bad points, um, but it was an amazing way to travel. And it was just we could just set the itinerary as we went, which is very I think it's harder to do these days. Um you know, our our funds lasted longer than we expected. So we spent six months in Asia, we travelled from India down to Bali, and then I spent a year and a half in Australia and New Zealand, and then I spent six months coming back through the South Pacific into the US and into Central America, and I flew home from uh Guatemala. So it was it was very different. You didn't you just didn't plan ahead like you know you've you kind of have to do now.

SPEAKER_02: 11:25

I think it's it's it's so true the difference between kind of this uh I guess this is this the 1980s that you're talking about, Sinead as well? That was 1995 to 97. Ah, okay, so so mid-90s. Um, because I remember travelling in the in the 80s and I was just saying there was there was no we had no mobile phones, there's no internet, there was no, you know, my my mum would find out I'd was in one continent and then had gone to another continent by a phone call. And and um I think I think now, I mean my daughter's grown up, but I I think she's she's now 30, but I think I would be um I would be beside myself if if that's how she travelled and I didn't know where she was. Whereas these days we're just so used to having that access. And you're right, in some ways I guess we we kind of can overplan these days because everything is there, all the so so they're kind of that that w sense of wonder and where you're making it up as you go along, it it it's I I guess a little bit harder to do these days as well. Um maybe we know a little bit too much.

SPEAKER_01: 12:25

And especially when when we did our family gap year in 2016-2017, so that was nearly 20 years later, the fluidity I felt had changed a bit because often to go into somewhere you needed proof of an onward ticket. Yeah. And especially when there's there's five of you, you can't just think, Oh, I'll buy something and then if I don't use it, I don't use it, or extend it, or anything like that. It it's you you are sort of fixed a lot more fixed in, I think, than you ever used to be.

SPEAKER_02: 12:52

Yeah, that's true. Actually, just thinking, even this year, because Doug and I kind of traveled back from Europe back to Australia, and we were trying to be as kind of flexible and fluid as as we could be, and booking flights as went. But again, just say you needed to, you couldn't just arrive in somewhere without having that onward proof that you were gonna actually leave the country and have and and obviously all the visas and everything that that you had to do, and everything's online these days, so you have to do it before you actually arrive into the into the country. Um now I don't know if it's gonna be related to that trip, the next question, but um can you describe a place or a moment that has completely blown you away?

SPEAKER_01: 13:29

There's very I mean I I've been so lucky. I'm the first person to say I've been very lucky. I've done some incredibly amazing things, some of which I probably wouldn't recommend to my children, but I have done amazing things. Um I remember you know think uh sitting in the devil's pool looking over the edge of Victoria Falls and Zambia, the starry skies in Mongolia, um, the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon blew me away, swimming with manatees, seeing lava, Patagonia, hiking in the mountains. There's just so many perfect moments. The what the one thing I do say to people in recent years that really, really struck me was um on our family gap year, we took the kids to Iwazu Falls on the Argentina Brazilian border, and it was one of those days where the whole day was just magical. We were there for two days, and the whole experience was magical. It was and a lot of it was kind of unexpected as well, because when we got there, you can take a road train through the jungle to the falls, and for some unknown reason we decided to walk. It was really hot. We had three children, I don't know why we walked. But that was one of my favourite parts of the day because we were the only people on the trail. We saw toucans, we saw um kawatis, and there was hundreds and hundreds of butterflies. And when the kids stood still, the butterflies would just land all over them, and it was just-I mean, we thought it would take maybe an hour, it took hours because we were so slow, but it was just one of those perfect, perfect moments. And then we got to the falls, and they were unbelievable. I mean, I had seen them on the telly and everything, but just the scale and the size and the noise, and we got absolutely soaked to the skin, and it was just like one of those moments where everything was tingling, you know, your ears were ringing, you could feel the falls sort of thundering in your chest, and it was just an exhilarating, perfect moment. It was just it was one of those times I'll never forget. It was just absolutely perfect. I remember saying to myself, pinch yourself, pinch yourself, you know, remember this because it is wonderful. That's that's one of the things I'm very lucky there have been so many, but that I think to be there and see the kids enjoying it, and that was just one of those perfect days.

SPEAKER_02: 15:53

And it's lovely because it's part of that is to say it wasn't something that you actually planned, it just ended up just being magical. And then you know, seeing the fools, you know, and I think it's true is that you sometimes you see we see a lot of things now, obviously on TV and films, but actually just standing. Often it's that pinch yourself, you can't actually believe that you you they're actually in this in this place, and and wonderful for your kids as well.

SPEAKER_01: 16:16

Um well we did say as we left, we've spoiled them for life now. No other waterfalls ever gonna match up. It's like you're supposed to start and build up, not start with the best, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 16:28

I need to take Doug there because Doug's saying with waterfalls, whenever anybody says about a fantastic waterfall, he always turns to me and goes, That's not a waterfall, I've been to Norway. So maybe I need to maybe he needs to go.

SPEAKER_01: 16:41

I mean, I've been I've been very lucky. I've been to Niagara and I've been to the waterfalls in Iceland and I've been to Victoria Falls. Iwazu, I have to say, was just on another level. Oh it really was.

SPEAKER_02: 16:55

Well, I'm going to Argentina next month. Unfortunately, not to the waterfall, but I will I will um definitely uh I've I've been to Victoria, I've been to Niagara. Um so so I think uh heading to how I can't even pronounce it, Iguzu? Iguzu? Iwazu. Iwazu, good job you're saying you've been. Now I kind of I'm gonna change the I'm kind of gonna go 360 degrees here all the way back, well actually 180 degrees, let's get this right, to somewhere that you wouldn't go back to. So we've gone from kind of like somewhere that really blew you away. What about a place that you've kind of gone once and you went, no, not really for me, I'm not gonna rush back. Is there one?

SPEAKER_01: 17:35

Um there's a there's a few countries that um I probably wouldn't rush back to, but I would never say never because at the end of the day I only saw one part, one experience at one time. So I I don't really like saying something negative about a country because I don't feel it's justified really. But that said, uh, the one place I probably wouldn't go back to would be Disney. I just didn't get the magical feel that many people do. It I found it overwhelmingly busy, loud, hours of queuing, lots of shops. It just I can see why some people love it, but it just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02: 18:18

Well, we're all different, and and the the answer to this question is always so much fun to hear what people have got to say in terms of and I guess we all kind of come with that you know, same view that you go, and and the differ you can have different experiences every time, and um so it is interesting, and I think you know, as you say, we'll go we'll try one country, but we can't kind of say for our entire country. But um Disney, I I loved it with with when I talked to Dominique when she was she was little. I'm not sure I kind of would rush back, I have to say, because exactly what you're saying, those cues and or no, not for me. And I also don't like roller coasters, so I kind of what about the kids? Would they did the kids enjoy Disney?

SPEAKER_01: 18:57

Um they did, and that's what I focused on when we were there. Um and you know, I bit my tongue at the fact that I wasn't enjoying it because I didn't want it to spoil their experience. So they they loved it and they would definitely go back, I think. But um, they can go when they're older without me.

SPEAKER_02: 19:14

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Now, what about um places that you are happy to go back to again and again? Do you have a place like that or multiple places like that that call you back?

SPEAKER_01: 19:25

Well, I I do go to Ireland several times a year to see family, but that is different. I I tend not to go back to places frequently as I've still got so many I want to visit. Um, but that said, I would go back to New Zealand anytime. I've I've been there twice. I've spent a few months each trip there, and I would go back anytime. You know, I wouldn't need any persuading. It's such a wonderful, beautiful, diverse country. It's got everything, everything I like, it's got beaches, it's got nature, uh it's got mountains, it's got good food, friendly people. It's I I love it there. I love it there.

SPEAKER_02: 20:10

Actually, no, I I agree with you. New Zealand is a very, very special destination. And North and South Ireland are so different.

SPEAKER_01: 20:16

Yeah. And it and they each have their uniqueness as well. Absolutely. It really is a wonderful place to visit. I'd I'd I'd love to go back and spend longer there. I think in a previous life I probably would have lived and chose to have lived there. But um, yeah, it's a wonderful country.

SPEAKER_02: 20:33

Yeah, and I definitely agree. Now, what about um lesser known places? Because I know you have been to some quite unusual places. Um so out of the kind of I guess the less kind of well-known or less popular or touristed places, where would you recommend?

SPEAKER_01: 20:51

Um I was going to choose two actually. Um in Europe, I'd highly recommend North Macedonia. We didn't know anything about it before we went. It was a year when money was quite tight for us. So um I'd googled where is the cheapest place to visit in Europe, and North Macedonia came up. I went online, found some cheap flights, and off we went, and we knew nothing about it. Um, and it was it was amazing, it really surprised us, and we absolutely loved it. We travelled around by train and bus, it was super cheap. There's loads of history, great culture, amazing scenery, they've got some fantastic national parks there. Lake Ochrid is just stunning and super friendly people, really friendly people, and they were very welcoming to us as well. We we had a lot of people come up to us and say, Are you are you working here? And we'd say, No, we're on holiday. And they're like, You're come here for a holiday, why? But they were so friendly and they wanted to know about us and where we came from. We had we took a tour one day with a tour guide, he took us back to his house and gave us bottles of wine from his cellar. We were sat on a park bench one day just having a picnic, and this guy came up to talk to us, and then he went off and came back with a bag of fruit for the kids, and people were just really interested and really friendly and happy to talk. And one thing that really sticks in my mind, we went to some Roman ruins. I'm gonna say it wrong, I think it's Heraclea lincestis, and we were the only the only tourists there, and they were amazing, amazing Roman ruins. And there were some archaeologists working there on some mosaics, and they just beckoned us over, and we got as close as the archaeologists to this. I mean, it was thousands of year-old mosaics, and it was just it was like oh, it was just one of those places that really surprised us at every every turn. It was, it was, I'd highly recommend it. It was definitely under the radar, but it's well worth visiting. Um, the other place I think I'd really recommend is Mongolia, and I think a lot of people, including myself, had has this image of Mongolia being quite difficult to travel in and maybe quite challenging, but it it really surprised. I mean, the distances are vast, you do have to travel a long way to get anywhere. But it was surprisingly easy to travel in, lots of people speak English, the trains were good. Um, you know, I hadn't expected to see skyscrapers in a Lambtour, and in the year that we were travelling, um Mongolia had the fastest Wi-Fi connection. It was just a country full of surprises, it really was. It was wonderful. The people were so kind to us, and they loved children. I mean, my son, especially being blonde and blue-eyed, they absolutely doted on him, and we were treated really well wherever we went. People were so friendly and welcoming.

SPEAKER_02: 23:42

Oh, it definitely I've not been to Mongolia, it's definitely somewhere I'd be I'd love to go. And and one way that you travel, and you've mentioned it quite a few times, so we've been chatting, is by train. And I know you, like myself and Doug, have a have a love for train travel. And um, so have you found how did you find it kind of the difference between when you were travelling by train, you know, when you went with your friend in in the mid-90s to when you were travelling by train with your kids around the world? How did you find any differences? Or I mean I think train travel is is just such a great way to travel.

SPEAKER_01: 24:13

I don't sit on the roof anymore. I have a seat inside these days, especially with the children, and I don't hang off the side of a train. I like my seats now. Um I love train travel. You you get to see, I love just staring out the window. You get to see people's back gardens and farms, and you see so much more than you would in a car, and especially because you're not driving, you can just sit back and relax. And especially with kids, I mean we did um we travelled from Hong Kong to the UK by train, it took about three months, and our longest stretch, we did Trans-Siberian, our longest stretch was five days, four nights on a train, and so many people said, Oh, that must have been a nightmare with three kids. It was absolutely great because I knew where they were at all time. I didn't have to plan where we were sleeping, where we were going to eat. It was, I mean, train travel, I think, for families is a fantastic way to actually relax, especially for the parents. Um, I'd recommend train travel any day. I think it's the best way to travel.

SPEAKER_02: 25:19

Oh, yeah, I absolutely 100% agree with you. And you meet so many people when you travel by train. I can think of when uh taking Dominique on a train, I think we're in North Italy and um everybody's sharing the food and having chats, because you know, you would uh you know people love kids often have a have a just a great way to start a conversation. I just remember them all sharing food and it was just a really cool experience. You say you've spent longer than kind of like a week or two in a lot of the places that you visited. You you like to kind of really immerse yourself in the place that you go in. So is there a destination or destinations where you felt because you've been there quite a while, like you you've really got into the local way of life and felt more like a local than a kind of like a than a tourist?

SPEAKER_01: 25:59

Um that's tricky because I I don't I think if you're on the move quite a lot, even if you're in one country, you you never really feel like a local. I think you have to sort of stay somewhere and live somewhere for a while to really feel like a local. There are lots of places where I feel I've been treated like a local, which is really lovely. The one place that comes to mind in recent years is um Samoa. I just again I you know I'm ashamed to say I I knew nothing about it before we went. And it was one of those we were flying from New Zealand to Hawaii, and we were offered a free stopover in Samoa, and I thought, well, why don't I just stay for a few weeks? Why just sleep there, just stay for a few weeks? But I didn't know anything about it. And I'll never forget, we got a taxi from the airport, it was cracker dorm, the roads were empty, and the taxi driver was so excited to pick up, you know, English people and a family with children. And we got in the taxi, and he he said, There are three things you need to know about Samoa. We love God, we love rugby, and we love family, and not necessarily in that order. And I I just thought I'm gonna absolutely love it here, and we did. We the people were so friendly, we felt welcomed like family wherever we went, and we stayed for a couple of weeks in a hotel that was owned by a family, and it was quite quiet. We were there in the off season, so we had time to sit and chat with the staff and the owners. They made me a cake for my birthday, they took us shopping, they took us to church with them, they took us to a local rugby game. They really made us feel very, very welcomed, and that that felt really special. And the the Samoans were really they loved children, and ours were made to feel super special wherever they went. And in fact, it's one of my children's favourite countries because of the way they were treated.

SPEAKER_02: 27:58

I was gonna say, your kids must have some amazing memories, but I think that that is so special being able to, you know, experience those things. And uh, you know, you can't money can't buy that, you can't, you know, you you just can't get those unless you go and travel and kind of have those kind of experiences rather than you know, we can you can go and stay if if that's what you want to do, you can go and stay in a in a in an all-inclusive resort if that's your thing. But for me, I'm like you, let's go and kind of really experience it. And it's just so enriching, just so enriching. It really is.

SPEAKER_01: 28:33

I mean, when when we when we look back over our favourite travel experiences and memories, they're all to do with people. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 28:41

And I I always say that it's like um, you know, we can uh there's places that I like to go and see, like this, you know, the Anchor Watt was amazing, but again, I think about our our tuk-tuk driver who's on my Facebook, who we're still in contact with, who we absolutely we just had an absolute ball with, and and you know, the stories he was telling us and mini's farm, all that sort of stuff makes a difference. And it does, it really does. Yeah, it really does. Now, I know you've you've been to 80 odd countries, but is there somewhere that's still on your bucket list that you really really want to go to?

SPEAKER_01: 29:12

Absolutely, Antarctica. It's my it's my number one, so I'm very, very jealous of you, Tracy, going very soon. I've I've always been a fan of Antarctic exploration history and stories, and I I I would just absolutely love to go. Um, I know it won't be easy because the thought of getting on the boat to get there is I just yeah, I know I'd be very, very ill. Um, and it's it's not cheap, but yeah, it's still number one, and hopefully I'll get to tick it off one day. Well, I'm hoping well, by the time this podcast episode comes out, I'll be in Antarctica.

SPEAKER_02: 29:50

Um, I'll have actually gone across the Drake Passage, so I'm hoping that it's the it's the Drake Lake and not the Drake Shake. And I I don't tend to get seasick, but I've I've heard about seatbelts on bed, so I shall feed back. back to you and let you know but um but yes i i maybe i don't want you to i don't well you know what it might be it might be the Drake Lake and it'll be absolutely fantastic but uh yeah I don't take it for granted the fact that I'm going to be there because yeah I know for for many people it's a it's kind of top of their top of their wish list um and it it as you say it's not cheap either so it's it's really is a once in a lifetime trip for myself as well but I'm sure you will get there you've been so many places Sinead um and you know you you travel for you it's just in your veins it's like me it's it's just in our blood isn't it um now for those people who are listening obviously thinking wow sineade's got a vast amount of experience and she has and you know lots of knowledge about travel what would be the one tip that you um you always share with people or wish that you'd known when you started travelling um the thing I probably wish I'd known earlier is just how much I would love it and I would have started earlier I think um the one tip I always share is just to go I always tell people when they say oh I'm thinking about all right just stop because I'll just tell you to go just do it is just don't wait.

SPEAKER_01: 31:11

And you know what what are you waiting for? More money better time when work is quiet or when the kids I mean the kid we we had a lot of people say to us why why go traveling now when the kids are young why not wait till they're old and it's like well why wait why wait I think you know that time may never come we just don't know and if you have good health and you've got a bit of money in your pocket just go and I also feel that um travel doesn't have to be as expensive a pe as people think it is I mean I know I'm very lucky because I can save some I can save money in order to go but there are you know there are lots of great deals out there you can get you can do house swapping you can do couch surfing you can do house sitting um there's a there's a lot of ways to sort of save money to make travel possible and at the end of the day it doesn't have to be going to the other side of the earth you could just go in your own country or the country next door or it's just getting out there and doing something different outside your country comfort zone. So yeah I always say just go and my other tip I always say which usually people raise the eyebrows is just go hand luggage. Just travel light it's easier it's cheaper it's actually better for the environment as well and you know the world is a small place these days you don't need everything because you can get it pretty much wherever you go. And traveling light can be quite liberating. If you've only got two outfits you don't have to worry about what to wear the next morning.

SPEAKER_02: 32:40

Yeah that's true. And it's far less stressful when you're traveling by train. They always say that as well because there's nothing worse than get trying to travel by train when you've got more than more than one bag. Yeah especially when there's five of you yeah yeah I have seen that photo of you shared recently um on Facebook of the picture of your luggage and the kids' luggage when they were going traveling and it was really cute the first time I thought they were the little teddy bears. It's very cute very very cute. Well um Shine thank you so much on this is the third podcast that you've done with me so if um uh you've also done a couple of episodes about the you on the UK travel plan podcast actually one of our most popular episodes about York um you you happen to live in Yorkshire um so you do have um a website about Yorkshire as well I do yes it's um York Travel Expat and I I love where I live and I I use it really to sort of highlight the best parts of York and because I've done so much travelling into that website I put the information people need to know not just the things to see but you know where the public toilets are where's the best Italian restaurant the things you want to know as a traveller when you go to a new city. Yeah perfect so I will I will link to that in the in the show notes and um I'll also link to those couple of episodes you've done for the UK travel panel podcast. But for this episode Sinead thank you so much for joining me for um for Stamped. Thank you very much for having me thank you for joining us on this episode of the Global Travel Planning podcast. For more details and links to everything we discussed today check out the show notes at globaltravelplanning.com Remember if you enjoyed the show please consider leaving us a review on your favourite podcast app because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts just like you. Anyway that leaves me to say as always happy global travel planning