Stamped: Tracy Collins - From Curious Traveller to Global Travel Planner

This week, the mic is flipped. Tracy invites her friend and fellow podcaster Amanda Kendle (The Thoughtful Travel Podcast) to quiz her about the moments that shaped a lifetime of travel. From a grandmother’s pack of postcards that sparked obsession to the Gerald Durrell books that made strangers feel familiar, and a teenage long haul to London that dissolved fear at the airport gate.

What unfolds is an honest map of how curiosity becomes confidence, and why the best lessons hide in everyday routines.

Tracy gets personal and practical: her most vivid early memory isn’t a landmark, but a gîte in rural France, scooters with local kids and river swims that turned language doubt into determination. That thread leads to a year in the French Alps, fluent French, markets by Lake Geneva, and home cooking that treats a meal like a celebration.

They explore the difference between postcard cities and lived-in places. Paris doesn’t top her list, while Malta keeps calling back with blue coves, local buses, and child-friendly evenings on the promenade. And then there is Northumberland, with castles, Lindisfarne’s shifting tides, Hadrian’s Wall, and Barter Books, an overlooked stretch that trades queues for calm.

There is a wow moment too: a self-confessed non-hiker finding awe and peace on New Zealand’s Hooker Valley Track, with swing bridges, winter light, and a glacier-fed lake at the end of a boardwalk. Iceland still tempts, though cost and crowds keep it on the wish list.

And because great travel often depends on the smallest details, Tracy shares one unglamorous but essential tip: wear comfortable shoes you have already broken in. Simple, sensible, and the difference between wonder and blisters.

If you enjoy thoughtful travel stories, candid destination advice, and reflections that make your next trip smoother and richer, hit follow, share this episode, and leave a quick review on your favourite app. Your support helps more curious travellers find the show.

Guest host - Amanda Kendle (

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Chapters

• 0:00 Tables Turned: Tracy In The Hot Seat
• 1:04 Meet Amanda And The Ten Questions
• 2:04 Who Sparked The Travel Bug
• 4:52 First Trips: Spain And France
• 7:33 Teen Solo Long Haul To London
• 9:45 A Wow Moment On Hooker Valley Track
• 14:28 Paris Fatigue And Honest Preferences
• 17:25 Malta As A Home Away From Home
• 21:01 Northumberland: England’s Overlooked Gem
• 24:11 Living Like A Local In The French Alps
• 29:21 Iceland Dreams And Realities
• 31:31 The Footwear Tip That Saves Trips
• 33:33 Links, Speakpipe Invite, And Sign Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Ten questions, endless stories. And this time the tables are turned. In today's episode of Stamped, I'm in the Hot Seat as Amanda Kendall asks me the questions from my very first passport stamp to the destinations still on my list.

SPEAKER_00: 0:13

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: 0:47

Hi and welcome to this week's edition of the Global Travel Planning Podcast. It is just before Christmas, though I will be up front and saying that we are not recording this at Christmas. So if I don't mention anything about Antarctica or an epic road trip which I'm about to take on, that's because I haven't done them yet. Anyway, but I have my very good friend Amanda Kendall from the Thoughtful Travel Podcast here to chat to me about my episode of Stamped. And I thought, uh, who better to do than Amanda actually to ask me these questions? She was the first person that came on and did uh did the first in the series. So Amanda, thanks so much for agreeing to come on this week and do all the questioning of me for the stamp episode. So would you like to introduce yourself to those people who don't know who you are, which I can't believe there can be many people listening that don't, but thank you so much, Tracy.

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

I'm very excited because I'm very curious about all your answers. I know you'll have amazing, fabulous stories to tell me. So, yes, I'm Amanda Kendall from the Thoughtful Travel podcast. So if uh you want to hear some more stories about traveling thoughtfully, including some of Tracy's, come over and have a listen. But uh I want to hear all of Tracy's stories today. So the first question is going back to the roots of your travel lust and and um interest. So who lit the spark? What or who inspired you to start traveling?

SPEAKER_02: 2:07

Um there's actually two people for this. Uh, one is my grandmother when I was about seven years of age. She bought, we were at one of these like little church fairs, and there was a packet of cards which had pictures of different places around the world, like landmarks around the world, and she bought it for me. And I was a bit obsessed with this pack of cards because I just loved the pictures on them and reading about the different places. And the two places I was obsessed with, one was the Golden Gate Bridge, and the other was Table Mountain. So Table Mountain, I managed to get up 50 uh when I was 15, and it took me until I was nearly 50 to get to the Golden Gate Bridge. But those were the two. So she kind of lit that spark of interest about places. Um, but when it came to, I've always loved people, I've always from the age of four, my mum would say I'd walk down the street and I'd be like, Hi, my name's Tracy, what's your name? And I'd just go up to people randomly and introduce myself. Yeah, I did. And so the person that kind of got me in more interested in people outside of my own kind of scope of existence at that point was actually Gerald Dorrell. Oh nice. Yeah, now I started reading his books when I was about 10, and I was absolutely obsessed with them. And I wanted to meet the fun of Baffett. I wanted to go and meet these amazing people that he'd met in Argentina, these amazing people in Africa that he'd met. Um, I loved the stories of the animals, but it was it was just the people and the experiences he had. Um, I actually met him, would you believe it at the Gatwick Airport? Yeah, Gatwick Airport a long time ago. But I was so awestruck, I kind of was just like, I just didn't know what to say. Yeah, I can imagine. Um but I actually managed last year, after since the age of 10 wanting to go at Jersey Zoo, I actually made it last year and I actually cried. Oh I cried. Beautiful, yeah. I cried, and and what was what was very special for me is that I I managed to go to Gerald. Gerald Dorr was buried um at the zoo, so I actually just went to pay my respects, which um was just a very, very special for me. But I actually walked into that zoo and I literally cried because it it had been uh an ambition of me, mine to go forever, really. Um but yeah, so that so so somebody close to me inspired me, but also just somebody through his writing and just his uh he yeah, he was an amazing person and he's done a lot, he did a lot for conservation as well. So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 4:30

Yeah, oh your story gave me little goosebumps, Tracy. It's beautiful. I love that. It's so interesting to find out how people got their uh interest in travels. It's always a different story, yeah. It's a great question. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 4:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 4:45

All right, next one is the first stamp. So, what is the first country you ever visited? And what do you remember about it?

SPEAKER_02: 4:52

Well, the first place we actually went as a family was Spain when I was about four. Uh, and we went to Mallorca. And to be honest, I remember nothing, nothing of that trip. I've got photos of that trip, uh, but that's I can't remember very much. When I was thinking about the first overseas trip that I really remembered, it was a driving trip that we took over to France, and we stayed in a gite in a small village in uh the centre of France, and I made friends with the local kids and they had scooters, so I just bombed around for two weeks on the back of this girl's scooter and had it. We just swam in the rivers. I went around to her house, and at that point, her house um had the animals, farm animals, blow, and then you you went up steps to where they lived above it. I'd never experienced anything like that, it was just something so different. Um, and I think that's at that point, um, I probably was about 12, I think, and I did French at school, but was never very good at it. Um, I had a French teacher who was not very encouraging and who was, oh, you're never gonna be very good at French. And I always, you know, when I was became a teacher, I I you learn lessons from people who don't do things like you don't want, you don't want to experience lessons. You don't want to exactly. Um, so I I kind of I was determined that I was gonna learn French. So I went over, had this time in France, got by for these two weeks. Um, but it kind of never went away. That that first trip and that that experience. So I actually moved when I finished university, that's where I moved to France to learn French, and I lived in France for a year and a bit and became fluent in French. But and I always wanted to go back to that French teacher and go, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne. I can speak French better than you can.

SPEAKER_01: 6:37

I was just gonna say exactly that. You're probably better than him.

SPEAKER_02: 6:39

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. So, yeah, so that was it was just a great trip because it was one of those when you're just immersed with all the local kids and we were running around, it was warm weather and the swimming in the river. And I don't think my mum saw me for like two weeks, honestly. And and it was just deliberating because they had all these scooters, and we were just going everywhere the back of scooters, it was fun.

SPEAKER_01: 7:01

Oh, it sounds delightful, and this is what we miss out on in Australia when we go somewhere for a couple of weeks on those kind of like summer trips. You know, we're still usually just in Australia, so we don't get to have that um, you know, interesting cultural differences and languages as well. So yeah, that's true. But it was clearly influential for you. Okay, so that was your first, you know, kind of memorable trip abroad. What about the first trip that felt like a real adventure?

SPEAKER_02: 7:28

Um, I had to think about this one. It's funny because I set these questions and I have to think about them myself. And um, I think honestly, the first one that felt like an adventure was the first time I flew back from so we moved to South Africa in the 1980s. So um difficult time to live in South Africa, and I don't talk about that very often, but I went to school in South Africa, and um, but my dad still lived in the UK, so to go back to the UK to visit my dad, I went on my own. So it was my first ever long haul flight, and I think I was probably 15 or 16. I remember getting my own, like the passport and um having it renewed, and my own passport and and flying to meet my dad at Heathrow. And that just felt like I don't know, uh yeah, it was the first ever time I'd done it. I'd obviously done flights with my parents, uh, but not on my own. So that just felt like I felt like a grown up, but I was also I also liked flying at that point. I hate flying now, but at that point if I did enjoy flying. Um, but I remember arriving at Heathrow and going through Passport, going picking up my luggage and going through and actually um meeting my dad, who didn't recognise me. It was so funny because he hadn't seen me for a couple of years because I'd been in South Africa. Yeah, it was my stepmom that went, there's Tracy. Um so so it's probably not what you'd expect in terms of an adventure, but for me it was because it just felt like I was doing this like big grown-up long haul flight on my own.

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

Yeah, no, I can get that. It gave you that feel like I think often those adventures give you that feeling like I can do anything, kind of, you know, that's uh sets you up for future travels and and life.

SPEAKER_02: 9:02

Yeah, I think it took away any fear of like, you know, you can do this, you can do it, it doesn't matter. And and um yeah, and I've always had that kind of nothing's gonna intimidate me, I'll get up and just try it attitude. Um there's things that I'm scared of doing, like, you know, uh parachuters jump in or bungee jump in, but um those those sort of things. But I think when it comes to you know the adventurous side of just just just do it if you want to go and do something, like book it, go and do it. Don't wait, just do it.

SPEAKER_01: 9:30

Yeah, such good advice, completely agree. But I can see that that adventure would have kind of set you up for feeling that at that, you know, like it's a really impressionable age when you're a teenager. So to feel then, oh I'm like, I can do this, I'm powerful enough, I'm you know, I can do it. That would be yeah, impactful.

SPEAKER_02: 9:47

Yeah, it's like takes a mystique away as well, doesn't it? Because sometimes there's a bit of mystique about oh, it's really hard to do this. How like oh I I haven't, and and I say that when we we help people plan their trips, it's like it's it's their fear of the unknown because they're not quite sure. And especially if they haven't flown a lot themselves anyway, it can be feel like a you know, you don't know what you don't know kind of question mark about it. But actually, you know, generally you can always ask people, that's another thing I've always learned. You can always ask people for if you're not sure, people will always help.

SPEAKER_01: 12:26

Yeah, yep, exactly. It's daunting, but once you've done it, then you're good. Yeah, very cool. Okay, um, next question is about the wow moment. So, can you tell us about a place or experience that completely blew you away?

SPEAKER_02: 12:40

Yeah, this is actually quite a recent one. Um, so I'm quite well known for not liking hiking. I I really don't I got you know what I turned I turned f 55 a few years ago, and I just went, you know what, I'm not gonna fib about things I don't like anymore. That's it. So I I I don't like any sport whatsoever. No sport. And it's okay, I say that now, and people are like, Well, you don't like tennis. And I'm like, no, I don't like tennis. I don't like I don't like football, I don't like any sport, nothing, no interest at all, right? So that was the first kind of big one, and the second one was like, I just don't like hiking, right? And so we're in New Zealand, so what do you have to do in New Zealand? Really, you should go for a hike. So my daughter had stayed with me in Christchurch and she'd taken a day trip down uh to do the Hookah Valley Trail, right? Right, and she came back and showed me the photos, and I was like, I have to do this, I have to do this. It's a hike, but I have to do it, right? I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I have it there's I've been I've seen so many beautiful places in the world, but walking on that boardwalk on that trail was just they surrounded by the mountains. The scenery in New Zealand is something else. It is but it was kind of I don't know, like a just just a I don't know, I don't know how to describe it. It was kind of like an uplifting moment, an um magical moment, and something really, really special. There wasn't a lot of people on the trail because we did it very early in the morning, first up, straight on. Um, it was winter, so there was snow and it just on the peaks, not not kind of where we're walking. Beautiful. Um, and and it's an easy track. Let me just say it's also not it's flat, so I didn't have any like massive uphills and downhills to moan about. So that also helped. We had you have to cross all these bridges. I believe it's actually closed at the moment because I think they're doing something with the bridges, but you have to cross maybe three big bridges, and they're they're quite the swing. So if you know if you're not keen on heights, but I think and then at the end of it, you get to this glacier lake, and you just honestly, uh it's just incredible. Every single step of that trail is emboldened it's it just embed embed what's it embezzled on my not embezzled? What's a word? Embedded, that's it. I can't think. I need more c more tea, I think. Embedded, embezzled, that's a bit weird. It's embedded on my mind. Um, and I do it again in a heartbeat. Do it again in a heartbeat.

SPEAKER_01: 15:27

Amazing. So that was my wow. Yeah, I think I mean, as you remember from mine, my wows are places like that too, and it's very hard to describe that feeling. But whenever I see the photos from those like just incredible landscapes where I've had the you know good fortune to be, I just am like I just feel it all again. It's just that beauty is amazing.

SPEAKER_02: 15:48

Yeah, I think if I feel stressed, the best thing for me to do is to look at a picture of that walk, that boardwalk and the mountain, and yeah, it just it just is very instantly calming, and instantly I'm kind of back in that place. So that's what I really love it.

SPEAKER_01: 16:05

Okay, so that was an amazing place. What about the places that you don't feel the need to return to? A place you've been and think, yeah, okay, you know, I'm done with that.

SPEAKER_02: 16:14

I don't get this feeling very often, actually. And actually the place that I'm gonna mention, I do go back to over and over again, so it's a bit of it, but I'm not a massive fan of Paris, right? I just I just I'm I just can't really get the magic of Paris. I go and I do enjoy it when I'm there, so I'm not gonna lie and say I go and hate every second that I'm in Paris, because I don't, I do enjoy it, but for me, it's not I if I never went to Paris again for the rest of my life, I wouldn't cry. So sorry, Paris, you know, it's not don't cry for me, Argentina, it's don't cry for me Paris.

SPEAKER_01: 16:50

Because I I just uh no is that because you're saying like you spent time in many parts of France and you and there's other parts you prefer, or I think that's what it is because I lived in France and I lived in the French Alps.

SPEAKER_02: 17:03

Um, and Paris is very different. Again, it's the capital city, so it just I yeah, I prefer rural France. Um it just feels more of an authentic French experience, which of course it is. Paris, it's a capital city. So you you know you've got all the the main tourist attractions, everybody wants to see their foot tower and go to Mon March and everything like that. But yeah, um, I just yeah, it's just for me, it's it's I prefer if I was going to France, I would be skipping Paris and and going to other areas of of France for sure. Um look, um say if you're listening and you want to go to Paris, I don't want to put you off. Go experience it because again, this is something else to say. We all have different things that we like and enjoy, and there's a reason millions of people go to Paris every year. So this is just based on on my experience. It's Doug's favourite, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01: 17:52

He so you do have to start going back sometimes, yeah. And also if you're going yeah, other parts of France of France, then often you will end up spending time in Paris.

SPEAKER_02: 18:03

So yeah, yeah, I've done it by train. I mean, when my mum lived in Switzerland, so I used to catch the train because I've always preferred to take the train than fly, which you can do from the UK. I'd catch the train, and then obviously you have to cross Paris to then change trains to go to um Switzerland. So I did that quite a few times, but I was happy just to cross by train and get out again. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:26

No, that's fair. But every and as you said, everyone has their different likes and dislikes, and that's what makes the world an interesting place. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, um, the opposite though, a home away from home, is there somewhere you keep going back to and you keep wanting to go back to more?

SPEAKER_02: 18:43

Well, this is going to be different based on where I was living. So when I was living in Europe, uh Malta was our go-to. And I'm interesting. Yeah, I love Malta. So Malta was the first destination out of the UK that I took my daughter to. So I was a I was a single parent with her, single mom for nine years, and obviously I wanted to travel with her. Uh, I waited until actually, I think she might have been a little bit younger because I did take her to South Africa and Botswana when she was maybe that same year actually, took her when she was about five for a first long haul trip. But her first trip in Europe and the first trip that we took together um outside of the UK was to Malta. Um and she we had a fantastic time. So I'm not the sort of person that goes and books in a hotel and sits by the pool for a week. Like I just don't. So poor Dominique. She she saw every part of Malta, every part of Gozo, every single day. We were out, we're we caught the local buses, we explored everywhere, and then we'd come back at the end of the day and she'd go and have a swim and chill out after that. But and then we'd actually, what was really nice as well in Malta is for about sort of seven o'clock at night when it was cooler, we'd go out, uh, walk down. We stayed in Master Scala, which is in the very southern part of um of the uh Maltese Island, and all the kids would come out at night to play on the swings in the park because it was cool, so she's so it was fantastic for her. So she's very sociable. Don't know where she gets that from.

SPEAKER_01: 20:08

And so she's crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 20:10

And she would so she'd just have a ball, we'd go out all day, go and see stuff, she'd come back, have a swim, we'd go and have dinner, and then we'd go at the park and she'd just play with the kids. Uh so it was it was a fantastic holiday. So, and then after that, um, I met Doug, and then Doug and I and Dominique went back a couple of times, and then another couple of times, Doug and I uh actually went back ourselves. Um, and we actually had planned to retire to Malta, but Brexit happened. Brexit happened.

SPEAKER_01: 20:37

Oh gosh, oh I'm so sorry, that's awful.

SPEAKER_02: 20:42

Yeah, so that kind of paid that went down the pan. Um, but we also at that point had thought, let's let's go to Australia as you do. Um glad to, but yeah. Yes, so so that kind of changed our direction and our plans. Um, but I've not been back to Malta for quite a few years, and it's somewhere that we do want to go back. I keep wanting to go back because I've been there quite a few times, and I I just like it. I just really like the people, I like the islands, um, and I feel at home there. The other place, this is gonna sound really bizarre, but the other place I have to mention is the UK. Now that I don't live in the UK, yeah, the place I keep going back to is the UK.

SPEAKER_01: 21:18

It really is a home away from home now, yeah. That's so true. Yeah, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02: 21:23

So back in the UK every year. So that I just thought was funny. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 21:30

Oh, that's lovely. I've never been to Malta, so now you're uh really intriguing me. Not because I didn't want to, I just haven't had that opportunity yet, but highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_02: 21:40

Highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_01: 21:41

So I know who would have come to for some tips. Um, okay, now the next question is about an under the radar place. So can you share somewhere that's a bit lesser known that you think people should uh go and see?

SPEAKER_02: 21:54

Yeah, this is actually a really easy one for me. Um and it's where I'm from in the UK, which is the county of Northumberland. So everybody, when they come to the UK, everybody wants to go to London, they want to go to York, they want to go to Bath, they want to go to Edinburgh, they want to go to Cotswolds, the Lake District comes up. Occasionally the Peak District comes up, but Northumberland seems to just miss everybody, everybody's radar. They you know, London to Edinburgh, it's like there's York in between, but nothing else. And I'm like, if you're going to go from York to Edinburgh, and if you're driving particularly, you've miss an hour beautiful, beautiful county. So we have Hadrian's Wall, we have the most castles than any county in England.

SPEAKER_01: 22:40

Oh, didn't know that. Yep. Nice.

SPEAKER_02: 22:42

We have the holy island of Lindisfarne, we have a beautiful coastline, we have Bamborough Castle, we have Anik Castle. Harry Potter, a lot of Harry Potter was done there. We have the best bookshop in Europe, the best secondhand bookshop in Europe in Barter Books and Annik, which I would say to everybody, you should go. It's amazing. Um, and we also have inland, you have Hadrian's Wall, we have Vinderlander, we have house steads, all the remains of the Roman uh settlement in the northern part of England. Uh, so you have history, you have coastline, you have culture, you have the friendliest people, obviously.

SPEAKER_01: 23:22

Clearly, yes. You're advertising your county well.

SPEAKER_02: 23:26

Beautiful beaches. Honestly, it is it it's a shame that people don't stop off there more. So I'm a huge advocate for Northumberland.

SPEAKER_01: 23:36

All right. My next UK trip, I promise to do this. Please do, please, please do. I have never seen it.

SPEAKER_02: 23:41

And also, it takes people away from those kind of everybody goes to Cotswolds, everybody goes to Lake History. Well, it's like, you know what, just head a little bit further north and east and you're there.

unknown: 23:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 23:52

That sounds perfect. Okay, I'm sold. I'm going. Brilliant. All right. Um, now, what about a place where you felt like a local, you felt more that you belonged there than just a tourist?

SPEAKER_02: 24:04

Uh, 100% France. So I finished university in uh 1988, end of 1988. I did a Bachelor of Arts degree in um psychology and history. I've got a double major in psychology and history, there you go. Um, but I'd done enough, I'd had enough study. I was like, you know what, I'm I'm gonna go travel. And uh I'd had a friend who'd been an au pair the year before in Switzerland, and I was very interested in her experience, and I thought, you know what, I'm gonna do this. So that's what I did. I moved to France as an opair. I actually had two interviews. One was for the south of France near Nice and Antibes, and the other one was at a ski resort in the French Alps. So I had the decision: do I go beach, do I go mountain? And I went mountain.

SPEAKER_01: 24:48

Your life could have changed.

SPEAKER_02: 24:50

So I went, I went and lived in the French Alps uh for over a year. I lived with the family, I just loved, I just loved the family I I worked for. The girls were at that point four and eight. Obviously, they're now in the forties, they've both got kids of their own. Um and I just loved it because I was totally immersed with the family. Now, what Jack did, and this is what the advantage I had over all the other au pairs, he was so keen that I did not teach the girls bad French, right? So that was his thing. So I had done in my last year of uni, I took an additional course um of foundation French because I'd forgotten my French. It'd been a long time since I'd done it. So I did a year of foundational French, but I I had a dictionary for the first month I was going around with a dictionary, and Jack went, look, I'm gonna correct every mistake that you make. So I'm like, right, okay, and I thought, oh, this is gonna be tough, this is gonna be hard. Within six months, I was thinking in French, I was fluent in French. Yeah, because I didn't have that many opportunities. There were other au pairs that I'd meet up with, and so we'd obviously would speak English, but they were from all over the world, and I'm still friends with Suzanne, who's from Denmark. We we we'd met up a few, we've been over and seen each other a few times. Um, and her daughter was actually over in in Australia recently, and we we met up, which was lovely. Um so so obviously English was kind of the common language because we had au pairs from all over the world, but for 90% of the time, in fact, probably more than that, 95% of the time, I spoke purely French. The girls didn't speak any English, so I had to speak to them in French. It was the best gift that anybody could have given me. Um, and I I thank Jack every time I speak to him. He actually, incidentally, about two years ago on Facebook, I just got this. He he actually called me on Facebook and he was moving house, he'd sold the the family home, and he'd come across all these photos, and he was like, I have to share these with you. And it was just and it was out of the blue, it's on my Facebook, but we don't communicate that often. Yeah, and it was like I had it just yeah, it was just it was just so amazing. And I've been back, I have visited um since I left. But I you know, it wasn't just the language, it was learning about the culture because obviously, French family, the kids went to school, I took them to school. Joelle, uh the mom, was the best cook ever on the world, honestly. So she taught me to cook. Now I'm not a big fan of cooking, but I learned a lot, so much from her, and also not just about preparing the food, but their complete respect for food itself. So if we had a dinner party, she would spend two or three days preparing everything, all the courses would be really planned out, and it was a real celebration of food. She took me to the local markets by Lake Geneva. So I lived just just uh above and yeah, if you know where the water comes from, I know it was incredible. I used to open the shutters in the morning and there was the Swiss Alps in the background and Lake Geneva. It was fabulous. Um, but I also learned like basically like our next door were were farmers that the kids didn't go to school at that point. This is the 80s. The kids they went for a little bit of school, but they didn't because they would just run around doing stuff on the farm. And it was, you know, I would go and get the rabbits from the farm. So it was it, you know, it I kind of learnt about that that relationship with food, where it comes from. It doesn't come from a supermarket, you know. You and it was yeah, so I saw things, I guess I probably I don't know if I should say this, but like, you know, the the when killing the chickens or bringing the rabbits around, skin like that sort of stuff was just a way of life because of where I was living. And and I think that gave me, yeah, just extra respect for the food as well. Yeah, we used to get the milk delivered, just not put on the on the windowledged. It wasn't wasn't uh pasteurized or anything, just came from next door. Just fresh, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I I think that and just just getting to know the families that that were there. It's such a I feel so privileged that I had that opportunity because obviously with Brexit, it's harder to do that now. It's harder to go and do that. So I was there, no issue, worked there, lived there, uh, you know, fell in love with a Frenchman, actually. Uh don't go for me. But uh, my first love of my life, uh met when I was in France. So yeah, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. I loved it. Learned to ski properly because Jack was a ski instructor, so I also had to learn to ski. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01: 29:17

Yes, I think there's nothing more local than that kind of experience, and yeah, what an amazing chance to have uh to have had. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous. Very cool. All right, uh, my uh penultimate question is where else are you thinking of going? What is something or a place that's really high on your list that you really feel drawn to but haven't yet got there? And is there any reason why not?

SPEAKER_02: 29:44

Well, there's lots of places, but the one place that just seems to I never seem to get to is Iceland.

SPEAKER_01: 29:51

Yes, you have to go to Iceland, Tracy.

SPEAKER_02: 29:54

I just you know I nearly went in January this year, but because we're house sitting, uh Doug would have to have stayed, and and he was like, Oh, I really want to go to Iceland. So I was like, okay, I won't go. I kind of regret that because I wish I'd gone. Um there's a few reasons I haven't gone. Uh main reason that is it's extremely expensive.

SPEAKER_01: 30:13

Yes, that's a sensible reason. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02: 30:16

Um and it's also become oh, I just think it be it's become over-touristed.

SPEAKER_01: 30:23

Yeah, I'm glad I went quite a while ago. I'm not sure that it's the same anymore, in some parts anyway.

SPEAKER_02: 30:29

So I guess those are that that's my that's what's held me back from going. And I've looked at it and looked at it, and I said if I went back to Europe, the next time I went back to Europe, I would go, and I really, really want to. I see the pictures and it's so beautiful, and I love that kind of you know, Scandinavian Nordic uh landscapes. I just love that. Norway, Sweden, Finland, uh, Denmark. So going to Iceland kind of would just would just kind of uh I don't know, fulfill that that kind of Nordic. I don't know if I should call it a Nordic country. I guess it isn't, but you know that I mean that kind of I know exactly what you mean.

SPEAKER_01: 31:05

Yes, yes. So and also the beautiful landscape of a very cold place.

SPEAKER_02: 31:09

Yes. And they also have amazing. I don't know if you watch a lot of the TV programmes they make from Iceland, but oh my goodness, they do the best dramas ever.

SPEAKER_01: 31:19

I've read a lot of books by Icelandic authors because they have like more um more authors per capita than any other country. So I can only imagine that their TV is also good.

SPEAKER_02: 31:28

So yeah, the TV, like the murder mystery stuff is brilliant, and then you yeah, so I've enjoyed a lot of their programmes. And actually, I should read some of the books, so that's a that's a good prompt for me, actually. I'll I shall get some suggestions off you for that, Amanda, before I go. Yes, yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 31:44

Oh, fabulous. Okay, last thing is a travel tip. So a tip that you always share. You've probably shared many, but one more.

SPEAKER_02: 31:56

Okay, this is a really this might be a little bit left field, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 31:59

Oh, I love those the best.

SPEAKER_02: 32:01

I I just have I have problems with my feet, right? So as I've got older, I have even more problems with my feet. Now, when I was an Island a few years ago, I had like plantus phoskitis, I think it's called, and I it ruined my trip, right? So I my thing that I say to anybody is because you're gonna do a lot of walking, it doesn't matter where you're gonna, you know, you know, you're gonna go, you're just gonna walk a lot. So just make sure, forget the high heels, just go for a comfortable pair of shoes and make sure that you break them in before you go, because there is nothing worse than distracting you or ruining your trip than having massive blisters on your feet and aspect because I know. So that is I know it's a bit of a weird one, but I think that's a very excellent tip, actually. Yes, it's very true.

unknown: 32:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 32:52

Well, I sat last night and thinking, I was like, there's so many different tips. And I said, you know what? The one thing I always think about is what I'm gonna put on my feet.

SPEAKER_01: 32:58

So yes, 100%. And I do not care by then about the fashion on my feet. I care only about the comfort because yeah, when you're traveling, you will inevitably walk a lot more than you, you know, usually do in everyday kind of working life. So yeah. Yes, absolutely. Very sensible advice.

unknown: 33:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 33:17

Fabulous. Well, thanks, Tracy. I have enjoyed asking you all these cool questions.

SPEAKER_02: 33:21

Well, I'll say thank you, Amanda, for coming on and asking me all of these questions. It's been fun to answer them because I'm usually on the other side of the mic interrogating other people and asking them these questions. Um, I will put some photos and some links on the uh Global Travel Planning podcast. Um it'll be globaltravelplanner.com forward slash episode 84. Had to double check what episode it was then. Um, but Amanda, thank you so much also for coming on. I'll put a link to your podcast and to your website and to your Facebook group as well. Uh everybody go and join Amanda's Facebook group. If you'd like to come and do an episode of Stamped With Mate, let me know. Get in touch via Speakpipe. I want to talk to you guys. I want to know what inspired you to travel, what you've done, where are the places that have left a mark uh for you in your life. Um, but I guess that just leaves us to stay until next week, Amanda. Happy global travel planning. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. 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!