Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
The monthly Wander Woman Podcast frequently charts in 'Travel and Places' in over 147 countries around the world. It is the first travel podcast to take on a magazine style - rather than the format of just an interview – and has been listened to and downloaded everywhere from the UK to Australia and beyond, by hundreds of thousands of people. It has been selected as “Best of” travel podcasts by The Telegraph, The Guardian and The i newspaper, Globetrender and Tech Times - to name a few.
Every episode, award-winning broadcaster, travel writer, author and photographer Phoebe Smith offers a behind the scenes journey to a different destination which features interviews with locals, audio clips and vivid descriptions to make the listener feel like they are there too - without having to leave home.
The main ‘destination’ story weaves together her passion for finding off-the-beaten track places, undertaking quirky and unusual activities, discovering wild spaces in unlikely mass market destinations, watching wildlife and meeting the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts.
Additionally the Wander Woman Podcast’s regular features a celebrity interview; Best Travel Gear for a life on the road; Travel Hack of the Month; Top 10 in Travel; Hidden Hero; and the Wander Woman of the Month - the traveller whose name is lost in the history books.
Wherever you find yourself - come wander with her…
Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast
Who am I when I am transported?
With the rise of the Far Right across the globe, things have never been so tough for refugees and asylum seekers. So I head out with a new social enterprise that’s training immigrant women to become tour guides across Britain so they can celebrate their culture whilst earning their own income and teach us all a thing or too about our most well-known cities. Join Phoebe on an exploration of Syrian-Palestinian culture right here in London.
Also coming up:
- Award-winning chef Ahu Hettema - who spent a decade stuck in the US immigration system - shares how she managed to cook her way out of depression…
- Travel Hack: How to travel everywhere without going anywhere
- Top 10 ethnic enclaves in unexpected places around the world
- Meet Beki Henderson the adventure producer/director behind some of TVs most popular male-fronted shows – from Will Smith to Levison Wood and more
- Gear chat: what to pack for a walking city tour
- Mabel Barker – the Lakeland teacher, inventor of the microadventure and fearless climber is our Wander Woman of the Month
www.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith
On this month's Wander Woman podcast.
Speaker 02:One thing I really dislike is these people who champion this notion of clash of civilizations where it's inevitable that East and West should clash. I think that's a horrific thing to believe, and I hope that my tour will dispel that.
Speaker 01:With the rise of the far right across the globe, things have never been so tough for refugees and asylum seekers. So I head out with a new social enterprise that's training women to become tour guides across Britain so they can celebrate their culture while stunning their own income and teach us a thing or two about our most well-known cities. I also meet up with award-winning chef Ahu Hettema, who after years stuck in the US immigration system, managed to cook her way out of depression.
Speaker 00:They took my identity, my work authorisation, my student visa. It was rough and unfortunately that's when I learn as an immigrant, you do not actually even have the same rights as a criminal.
Speaker 01:And I meet Becky Henderson, a BAFTA nominated adventure producer who is the woman behind some of TV's most popular male-fronted shows, from Will Smith to Levison Wood.
Speaker 04:I spend up until the last two years the majority of my career being the only woman on a shoot. Also coming up, how to travel everywhere without going anywhere. In my monthly travel hack, I show you how to discover different cultures and unexpected places with my top ten. And in my regular gear section, I help you pack the essentials for a walking city tour. Finally, I'll be revealing this episode's Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books. You're listening to the Wander Woman podcast, an audio travel magazine with me, adventurer Phoebe Smith, exploring off-the-beaten track destinations, wild spaces, wildlife encounters, and the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Come wander with me...
Speaker 02:Marhaba, meaning hello in Arabic, and welcome to stories of art, food, and tradition, exploring Syrian heritage in London, as well as the Levant, and my story here as an immigrant.
Speaker 04:This is Nadia. She's a London-raised Syrian Palestinian whose roots run deep in Damascus. And she is, as you can hear, a tour guide. But not just any tour guide. She's part of a cohort of newly qualified women who lead immersive walking tours exploring different communities, cultures, and cuisines within British cities. They launched a couple of months ago as part of a collaboration with a social enterprise called Women in Travel CIC, which was set up in 2017 by Alessandra Alonso to offer support to women in what is still a male-dominated industry. This latest venture, the Tours, has risen out of their Tour Guiding Academy, specifically aimed at training women like Nadia, immigrants and refugees, who, because of where they come from, have been disconnected from the workforce. As Alessandra Alonso explained before the tour began.
Speaker 06:The beauty of the enterprising program, which is all around the Tour Guiding Academy, is the fact that the women are in control of their own narrative, in control of their own time, and eventually they generate revenues in a way that suits them, because they can work once a week, twice a week, you know, it is a little bit down to them. And because often these women have complex lives or challenging lives, it's important for them to retain that control and to have the opportunity to do what is right for them.
Speaker 01:We were in Leighton House in Kensington, the former home and studio of the Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton, now a museum. Nadia had chosen this as the start of her guide to Syrian influences in London to showcase how her country's architecture and design has permeated into British culture too, especially seen in the Arabic hall here, featuring a central fountain, as seen in Arabic countries to offer a cooling space amid the heat, which you can hear running as she talks, and was built between 1877 and 1881.
Speaker 02:Here we come to the Damascus tiles, as I'll call them. These were used ostensibly during the Ottoman period to decorate buildings and interiors. They used the colour palette of pale blue, pale green, and sometimes purple, all set against a white background. These tiles were significantly influenced by Chinese ceramics, because you said we have ceramics, in particular the blue and white porcelain of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. By combining Islamic arabesques and flowing foliage with East Asian elements, these tiles are a striking, a striking example of the fusion between Islamic and Chinese artistic traditions. William Morris, who is a founder and key figure of the arts and craft movement, William Morris really admired these intricate patches. He found the floral and geometric motifs created a strong sense of rhythm and balance. So these tiles tell a broader story of cultural exchange. Ideas which originated in China over hundreds of years travel through the Middle East, transforming and absorbing and transforming with local traditions before reaching Britain and then spreading to Europe and the US.
Speaker 01:I loved how Nadia used the example of design to showcase how it travelled through the world and cultures absorbed and added to it. It reminded me of the Gryffindor sword in Harry Potter, something that took on elements that made it stronger. She pointed out other motifs, artwork on the spiral stairs, the ceiling height, all with a link to architecture in the region she called the Levant, a region that stretches along the eastern Mediterranean, roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. From art and design, we left the old Victorian house and took a bus to Shepherd's Bush, where, unbeknown to all of us on tour, there is a real cluster of tastes and flavours of Syria, beginning with a special kind of tea, Meramiyeh, meaning sage in Arabic, served in a place, surprisingly, at the Westfield shopping mall.
Speaker 02:My grandmother Nadia swore Meramiyeh. It was a cure-all. If you had a tummy ache, a headache, uh, any kind of ache, Meramiyeh was your go-to cure. But to her, Meramiyeh wasn't just a herb, it was sacred. She called it the blessed seed - habbatul barakaah. She believed in an old legend that has been passed down through generations in both Christian and Muslim households in the Levant. The legend goes that when the Virgin Mary was fleeing King Herod, she took refuge by a sagebush. The sweet scent gave her comfort in that moment of fear and exhaustion. In gratitude, she blessed the plant, imbuing it with healing properties for all time. And uh so uh what I was gonna say also the name in Arabic of the Virgin Mary is Maryam, and Meramiyeh is clearly it's, I'm not just assuming, it is derived from the name of the Virgin Mary. Meramiyeh, Maryam. Um so for my grandmother, that wasn't just a story, it was the truth. Every time she brewed Meramiyeh tea, it was an act of love, protection, and faith.
Speaker 01:We drank the tea, which reminded me a little bit of a roast dinner. I could feel its comfort and really enjoyed holding the cup in my hands and drinking in the scent first with my nose. It was a taste I'd never had before, and certainly didn't think the first time I would would be in a place in London that was right literally under my nose. Before we left to go on our next stop, Nadia told us about another product from Syria, one that is highly regarded today, especially if you have sensitive skin. That is Aleppo soap.
Speaker 02:My grandmother's other sister, my grandmother had three sisters, but her other sister, Yveline, lived to be a hundred and she only ever used Aleppo soap. And she had the most beautiful skin. But this is not just a family secret. Aleppo soap is recognised by UNESCO as non-tangible cultural heritage, which means it's a treasured part of global tradition. Uh, it's believed it's been manufactured in Aleppo for 4,000 years, pretty much making it the oldest soap in existence. It's still manufactured in the traditional way. Uh, olive oil, lowerberry oil, and lyle solution are mixed together and heated. The solution is then left to cool and spread into sheets. The sheets are cut into bars, and then the bars are stacked and left to age for months. It's this drying and curing uh process that gives the soap its uh longevity and quality. So when you're holding a bar of Aleppo soap, you're not just holding skincare, you're holding thousands of years of craftsmanship and history.
Speaker 01:I loved how everything Nadia told us always began with a story about a family member. It made it more than just a tour where we were told to simply look at things. It personalised it and made it completely authentic, as if we were getting a good friend's insight into a place and its people. After tea came lunch. For this we headed to Uxbridge Road, and this is where we were to got our hands dirty, making our own manoushe.
Speaker 02:We call this manoushe in Syria, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Jordan. It's eaten for breakfast, and it goes, it's older than a thousand years, first mentioned in an Arabic cookbook in the 10th century. Manoushe. And I know none of you are Arabic speakers today, but the etymology of the world, manoushe, it comes, it comes from the word naḥta, which means to sculpt. You get an option of two toppings, uh, or you could mix both together if you choose. One is za'atar, which is the thyme, sumac, and sometimes other spices. Oh, and sesame seed.
Speaker 01:We made our bases, flatbread in a round shape, and added to it the spices of za'atar and a generous handful of cheese. I can confirm it tasted delicious, and there wasn't much chatting going on as we took time to enjoy it. While everyone enjoyed their dishes, I took the opportunity to chat to Nadia about why she decided to become a tour guide on this program.
Speaker 02:First of all, it's all about women, and you know, you're a woman, I'm a woman. We know, unfortunately, um usually women are at a disadvantage in many ways and in every aspect of things. Um so I love I love the idea that it's promoting women. Um, number one. Number two, I love the idea that I get to speak about my region where I'm from, and for me, I'm very passionate about it, and I feel there's a lot of misrepresentation around it. So I get to say my, I get to express my views, my opinions, and hopefully be a good ambassador for my community.
Speaker 01:I was pleased to note that it was Nadia who designed and selected everywhere that she would include on this tour. From the start at Leighton House to the food stops in Shepherd's Bush, a place where she explained you can hear Syrian accents in the street following the civil war in 2011 that saw many people seek asylum and ended up settling in this part of West London. Before we headed to our final stop, for dessert naturally, I asked Nadia what takeaway she hoped people would have when they'd done her tour.
Speaker 02:For me, it's important that people see that we all there's a we're all interconnect interconnected and even our cultures are interconnected and influence each other. Really, we're all interconnected and there's no difference between us. And one thing I really dislike is these people who champion this notion of clash of civilizations where it's inevitable that East and West should clash. I think that's a horrific thing to believe, and I hope that my tour will dispel that idea.
Speaker 01:Looking around at the people's faces, I'd say that preconceptions had definitely been challenged. And now we found ourselves in a traditional ice cream parlor which served booza, a unique type of stretchy ice cream.
Speaker 02:It's made with something called salep, which is the flower of the orchard tuber, orchid tuber, orchid tuber, flour, orchid tuber flour, and mastic. And it give it it gives it a stretchy, chewy feel. And unlike Western ice cream, like Western ice cream is churned. This is in a freezer drum. I don't have a freezer drum to demonstrate, but the booza, they um pound it with this, like this, and then they stretch it and um they stretch it and mould it by hand.
Speaker 01:I opted for the pistachio flavour, a classic according to Nadia, and marvelled how much I could taste the mastic, a tree resin I tasted before in Greece on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, just a 20-minute ferry ride from Turkey. The pine-like flavour mixed beautifully with the earthy, buttery, sweet taste of the pistachio. As we enjoyed this sweet finish, Alessandro reminded me that by doing this tour, we don't only leave with a good taste in our mouth from the food.
Speaker 06:Anytime you purchase a ticket, as well of course as paying the guide and anything that's included, there's a commission going back straight into training, other women. So not only are you enjoying a tour, you are doing something that gives back to the communities.
Speaker 01:With a feeling in my heart as good as the ice cream tasted in my mouth, I felt so glad to have experienced an insight into a culture within my own country I would never have had the privilege to do without Nadia. To think that there are tours such as this in England and Scotland now too, offering insight into a great many other cultures, from Ukraine to Ethiopia, Saudi to India, makes me feel a hope. Hope that many of us in our fractured world, with the benefit of insight into the real people displacement is affecting, and of course, over some good food, may begin to heal and move forward to help us all realise that we have more in common than we have different. As Nadia said in her final thought.
Speaker 02:There are many languages in the world, but all with one meaning. Water becomes one when you break the jars.
Speaker 01:That was a truly incredible journey to Syria. I really got a sense of the sights, sounds, smells, and taste of the country without ever leaving London. It was wonderful learning about another culture in an area I thought I knew so well, and to learn that by doing so, I was giving something back to women who have been disconnected from the workforce. Do check out womenintravelcic.com for the latest tours near you. Now, given that Wander Woman is a travel show, you may be surprised that for this episode's travel hack, we're going nowhere. You're staying in your town or city, but seeing life in a very different way. Just as I saw London through the eyes of the Syrian community. You too can do the same where you live. No passport required. This is all about perspectives.
Speaker 01:Firstly, we'll continue the theme of discovering world cultures and find a community from another country. Even a small town will have an abundance of people celebrating their culture through festivals and events, while also opening bars and restaurants. Instead of your usual coffee shop, pop into a Portuguese cafe for a strong coffee and Pastel de nata, or perhaps visit a cultural centre. They often host evenings where the community brings a dish and you are always welcome. Another thing I've learned on my travels is that when you're walking through a town or city, take photos. You see the environment in a very different way. Even the ordinary, the mundane, is seen from a new perspective. The people are more interesting, the colours almost seem more vibrant, and you'll return home without any lengthy transitions with a memory card full of photos that will bring a new appreciation to where you live. And as someone who is constantly recording audio, why not do that? Seek out the sounds, the chatter, the noises of your home. Document the soundscape of your city. What do you hear? Whether you record it on your voice memos on your phone or simply sit, eyes closed, training your ears on the sounds of the city, you'll find a new perspective. I also love exploring at night. There's an entirely different aspect once the sun goes down, and that's not just to the pub. Slow down, wander the streets, a nocturnal flaneur, taking in the shadows, the buildings you see every day, but very differently. You can, of course, study architecture in daylight. If you were visiting New York, you'd be wandering the streets, eyes up, admiring the buildings, and the fact steam really does rise out of the pavement. But at home, when was the last time you really studied the buildings around you? That church you pass every day on the school run. Why not stop? Admire its architecture, or even go in, wander at the interiors, and visit your town like a tourist. You could even jump on a bus and ride the line from one end to another. Even in a small town, you're pretty much guaranteed to see something unexpected. Finally, become a time traveller. Most towns will have an active Facebook group called something like 'Historic Scunthorpe'. Download a few photos to your phone and go and find the exact angle it was taken. It's a great activity for kids too. A new world is about to open up in front of you. Right on your doorstep.
Speaker 01:That was my Wander Woman travel hack, the regular advice I give you each episode to help ensure that all your travels leave you with a good taste in your mouth. Speaking of taste, my first guest is someone who is an expert at this. Following years of being caught in the US immigration system and unable to return to her home country, award-winning chef and restaurateur Ahu Hettema runs one of Oahu's most beloved restaurants, Istanbul, Hawaii, where she serves her beloved native Turkish cuisine in the USA. I caught up with her to find out how she came to be stuck between the red tape and essentially a citizen of nowhere, and how it was cooking food that saved her from depression.
Speaker 00:I was born in a city in Mersin in the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. And I came to the US for education. I came to Bay Area, San Francisco, Bay Area. And now I am in beautiful Hawaii. And when I couldn't go back home because of my immigration problems, my boyfriend, now my husband, told me actually I Google your city, research your city, how funny it is. And he has been living in Honolulu almost 12 years before he met with me. Your city Mersin exactly looks like Honolulu. You have to come and see it. And that is actually what made me want to come and see it. And then I came Honolulu. It just felt like almost like a home away from home.
Speaker 01:And you mentioned before the immigration problems, not able for you to go back home. Can you tell us any more about that? Why you couldn't go back home?
Speaker 00:Yes, uh, I was told I cannot leave. Um so how it started was I had an immigration problem through my former marriage. And I was told to leave the country in 30 days, otherwise I was gonna they are gonna come and detain me, arrest me. Um they took my identity, my work authorisation, my student visa. It was rough. And unfortunately, that's when I learned um as an immigrant, you do not actually even have the rights of a criminal. Because even criminals um at some point they have to get back to you um to your attorney. My case, they it took them about 10 years.
Speaker 01:So in all that time, you couldn't go back home?
Speaker 00:No, I couldn't go back home and I couldn't visit my loved ones. I was completely separated, and I couldn't leave here because if I would leave here, my attorney told me they probably never allowed me to be back. Even though we are just waiting and there's nothing wrong in my case.
Speaker 01:Yeah, yeah. And then so tell me from that point on how you then became the chef that you are now.
Speaker 00:Well, I had a very hard time because when you are in a limbo, human psyche doesn't mean to be in a limbo. Human psyche always wanna know what's the next step is. Uh we always wanna plan, we always wanna get going, we wanna create feature. So what I was taught was my when I was in limbo, I was I had this um depression, anxiety, even a kind of of PTSD through the situation. And when in one of those moments, my mum decided that those medications are not good for me either. She came with luggage of full of spices, food that I love, and she just started cooking in the kitchen, and that was the moment that made me feel closer to home, that scent aroma, flavours, my mum's presence. And I just started cooking with her again, like which we used to do it together when I was a child. And it took me out of my anxiety, depression, that state of mind that I was in. That is when I discovered how much I love cooking with my mum. Not just cooking, but cooking with my mum.
Speaker 01:And is she still there with you now?
Speaker 00:Yes, of course, every day. I am a lucky one.
Speaker 01:What sort of food did you cook then that kind of took you back to Turkey?
Speaker 00:Absolutely. It just made me taste my memories. It made me get closer to home and my loved ones and where I come from and my identity. Because I think it really affected me negatively when they took my identity away from me. You know, of course, you exist in this universe, but you just realise, oh my gosh, if I don't exist on paper, do I really exist? You start to question these simple things. Um, and it was it was hard. And the food made me closer to everything I missed, my identity uh just brought me joy again, almost like the spices while you my spices became my house that I love to paint on my cameras. And that's when I discovered I love cooking so much.
Speaker 01:And tell me a bit about the food that you cook over in Hawaii. What sort of dishes do you offer?
Speaker 00:Yes, we do offer the food I love to cook. That's the food I grow up eating. It's just very humble, honest way of cooking, just simply cooking what I love to cook, and I love to share. Is you would come to my house and I will cook for you the same thing.
Speaker 01:And what would you say is your signature dish?
Speaker 00:Our signature dishes are definitely... everyone in Hawaii loves our lamb. We dry age, our lamb chops, and that is absolute favourite. And of course, our simple mezze platters, whole, fresh. Just we let mother nature speak in these plates. Some more um taste of um they they call it pupo seed in Hawaii, we call mezze in back home. Um you can call appetisers, just those simple compositions that present seasons and my culture, also very popular. We call mezze platter, and lastly, our signature dessert, my favourite dessert in the whole world, called Hatay künefe. It is a just amazing dessert with layers of texture, colour, and flavour and aroma. Those are our favourites.
Speaker 01:It sounds really amazing. And you're the only Turkish restaurant in Hawaii. How important is that too? How important is that to you?
Speaker 00:It is quite important because people come to me and they always say, Oh, we visited Turkey, and this is amazing. We felt like we went back to Turkey, and this is exactly what I wanted to create. I wanted to create that feeling of them coming to my culture, my home, um, and share their memories with me. And I think this is all the restaurant is all about. You share the memory, you share something that is your extension with the guests, and they they taste it, they feel it, they love it, and that makes me happy and my mum very happy.
Speaker 01:That was Chef Ahu, an inspirational woman who demonstrates perfectly why keeping in touch with your roots can not only enhance your life, but others too. We live in a global village where the world's cultures entwine, blend, and form community. We learn from other cultures, whether that's an outlook on environmentalism or just a way to blend a spice.
Speaker 01:In our towns and cities, we find we can find dozens, if not hundreds, of nationalities. Which brings me nicely to this month's top 10, where we're celebrating the cultural corners in the world's cities, with the most inspiring communities thriving in a home a long way from home.
Speaker 01:And at 10, we're ordering ramen with the largest Japanese population outside Japan in, can you guess, Sao Paulo, Brazil. There are more than two and a half million people with Japanese descent in Brazil, many third-generation coffee workers from the early 1900s. The highest concentration is in Sao Paulo, a city that's subsidized Japanese immigration. Expect ramen houses, Japanese Matsuri festivals, and very fine sushi.
Speaker 01:At nine, it's Koreatown in Los Angeles. This seriously fun neighbourhood is said to be larger than Seoul's nightlife districts. I'm not sure how they measured that one, but you will always find world-class barbecue grills, neon lights, plenty of karaoke joints, and an always friendly welcome.
Speaker 01:In at 8, we're in the most culturally diverse city in the world, Toronto. You could find a diaspora population from pretty much any country across the globe in this metropolis. But it's the Jamaican heritage that is woven into the fabric of the city like a raster flag that I want to highlight. You'll hear Jamaican patois in Little Jamaica around Eglinton West, as well as find some incredible jerk chicken. Yum.
Speaker 01:At seven, we're in New York City, another city with a huge and diverse population. Polish Green Point in Brooklyn is replete with neon-lit Polish bakeries open lake, serving pierogi and kielbasa, and fluttering Polish flags.
Speaker 01:At six, we're down under in Melbourne, with the largest Greek community outside of Greece. And where there's a Greek community, there is souvlaki stands and fun bars splashing ouzo around. Although there has been a Greek association here since 1897, the Greek community of Alexandria has blossomed in the last decade.
Speaker 01:In at five, as anyone who's been to Berlin would know, is Turkish Kreuzberg. Its low rents made it attractive for immigrants, particularly from Turkey. And now you'll find Turkish bakeries and tea houses that have become hugely popular among the wider Berlin population. It's also the centre of much of Berlin's LGBTQ+ life.
Speaker 01:At four, it's to the pleasingly illiterative Syrian community in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden. We visited the Syrian community in London earlier in the episode, but Sweden welcomed refugees from the war inn, and now they are the largest foreign-born group. A new wave of Syrian cafes offering knafeh, falafel, and strong cardamom a coffee offer an updated take on Fika.
Speaker 01:At three, we're walking through the 13th arrondissement in Paris, taking in the aromas of Pho and bánh mì. There's long been a French Vietnamese association in both countries. The Quartier Asiatique or Asian Quarter contains many Vietnamese owned shops, restaurants, and cultural centres.
Speaker 01:At two, We were immersing ourselves in the Eritrean community in Milan, Italy. There was even a documentary, Asmarina, about the population. For visitors, it's the spiced juice on Injera flatbread that is one highlight you'll find around Porta, V
Speaker 01:enezia. And at one, we're in Singapore, one of the world's great melting pots, especially when it comes to food. The city's Little India is a colourful enclave of Indian culture and food, where you'll find the best dozer south of Chennai. Namaste.
Speaker 01:Wow, what an extraordinary collection of enclaves from some of my favourite cities. But where did I miss? Let me know your favourite unexpected place in your city by clicking on Contact Wander Woman on this podcast page. Now, city tours are fantastic, and walking ones even better. Add food in and you're truly onto a winner. But how best to dress slash pack for one? Listen up with this month's Gear Chat.
Speaker 01:First up, dress for comfort, and that applies doubly to your footwear. Don't dress to impress, dress to cover the miles. So trainers or walking shoes work well. Personally, I opt for comfortable water-resistant trousers, not jeans, in case it rains, which are also the most practical option if you're jumping on and off buses in underground systems, which I was in London. Speaking of, I recommend to wear layers on top. Cities can range from sweltering to cold, and in London, that's just the difference between being on the tube and wandering along the street. So with three layers, t-shirt or vest, fleece of jumper, and waterproof jacket, you can easily adapt what you're wearing to suit the temperature you find yourself in. It's also useful in case you have a church or religious site on tour that requires you to cover up.
Speaker 01:And as I mentioned, waterproofs, I would say I nearly always travel with an umbrella now. They make city tours so much more enjoyable and can shade you from the rain and shine. Simple but effective. Then, seeing as we're on the subject of water, don't forget your reusable water bottle. They can be filled from water fountains around the city. And of course, don't be afraid to ask in shops or cafes if you need to. I also tend to use a bottle with a filter, which means I don't have to worry about the water source it may be coming from.
Speaker 01:Also, if it's a walking tool with food, consider taking Tuckerware boxes or at least bags that you can put food in that you don't finish. It eliminates food waste and means you get a lovely snack for the journey home.
Speaker 01:Finally, and perhaps the most important things, take an open mind. It will make any experience so much richer. That was my regular gear segment, the part of the episode where I help you ensure you have everything you need so that your next adventure goes smoothly.
Speaker 01:Now, my next guest has a job that could suitably describe in those very words. Becki Henderson is a BAFTA nominated adventure producer director, specialising in high-risk locations, extreme environments, and remote communities. She's created global content for major networks, including National Geographic, Disney Plus, Apple TV, the BBC, and many more. Throughout her career, she's undertaken some awesome things, such as surveying Kyrgyzstan's mountains for snow leopards with Steve Backshall, walking Botswana's elephant migration routes with Levison Wood, exploring Antarctica's extreme environment with Ben Fogle, and uncovering Bhutan's secrets with Will Smith. So I started off by asking her the question on everyone's lips.
Speaker 01:How did you get into being a producer, but then how did you get into this niche of adventure? Because obviously that's something a lot of us think, wow, that sounds the most fun. I don't want to do Strictly. I don't want to do all that stuff, I want to do the adventurous stuff and go places.
Speaker 02:Yeah, do you know what? I get asked this a lot, and I've had various people call me and say, I want to do your job, which is very flattering. Um, and it's a hard answer. I think anyone, and Phoebe, you're probably yourself as well included, would say when they say, How did you get into an adventurous career?
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 02:And there is no sort of step-by-step instructions. Um, everybody sort of comes at it with an open heart and says, Well, I just did what I loved. And I think that's really good sort of advice is to do what you love, and hopefully someone will start paying you for it. Um, but that's not the answer. I guess for me, I work with a lot of different adventurers, and I often hear all these sort of shoots oh, if if sort of the younger me, if the eight-year-old me could see me now, they'd be so proud, they'd be so excited, they'd be so happy. And actually, I think quietly to myself as I hear that, well, if the eight-year-old me heard what I was doing now, they'd be petrified. What are you doing? And so I think it's really key to say with with anyone working in the adventurous industry that you don't have to be that kid who was scaling the side of mountains at the age of 10. It's it's just about being open and knowing you want exciting experiences. Yeah, um, and that's what it was for me. I I didn't know TV was a job. I would sit at home, I'd watched Bruce Parry Tribe, which we all loved. Yeah, and I think how magical this window sort of to be able to see into a different world. But it never crossed my mind that that was a job, that somebody was making it. I didn't I couldn't comprehend that that was a job. Um, and it was not only it was only when I moved to London um had a gig offer, it was just a different project, three months, and I thought, I'm gonna move, I'm just gonna do it. I don't know what I want to do, I just know I want to do something different, I want to do something I can't even comprehend. And I think looking back now, yeah, it all makes sense. At the time I felt very aimless and lost, and um and every job I got, whether it was in commercials, whether it was in photography, so I did have a creative background. I will I will kind of caveat with that. Yeah.
Speaker 01:Um had you done producing before?
Speaker 02:No, no, I I was a graphic designer by study. Right. I briefly worked in a fashion studio, which is if you if you see me, you had you'd understand that was quite crazy. Um and I just sort of kept looking for what's next, and it was almost like an inch by inch step forward into a career. So I kind of see it as like stepping stones. So every little stone I kind of stepped on, I would see the next one, and I think, oh, I want to go on that one, and I just keep moving forward. So it was never an end goal, it was a constant change in what next, what next, what next, until I sort of ended up, ended up here, which is wonderful. But it was it was I'd get a job as the production coordinator and I'd see my producer director going off on these adventures, and and suddenly the the person who's making the Bruce Perry Tribe, the person who's making the big adventures was within our reach. And I think, well, hang on, they can do it, maybe I can do it, and it just made everything more attainable step by step by step. And from that, just curating my career, and it's sort of what I say to a lot of people curate your own career. I think it's so easy to just say yes to absolutely every opportunity because you think, well, it's something and it might help. But I think where you can, and we all know money dictates that we can't say no to everything. I think try and curate your career in what you want and tell people, hey, actually, no, I don't want to do that thing you've offered me. This is where I'm going. And that approach alone has helped me get to where I am now. Now my niche's adventure, now my niche's expedition, my niche's remote communities, and that's what I get called for. I don't get called for Come Dine with Me, which is equally no doubt a really fun show to work on. It's just not for me.
Speaker 01:And how long have you been doing it then?
Speaker 02:Well, um I've been in moving image, let's say, or image making, um, for probably about 15 years, and actually in adventure it's kind of TV, uh, probably around 12 years.
Speaker 01:And are there many women doing what you do?
Speaker 02:Oh, that's an interesting one. I think you know there is some amazing, incredible women out there doing adventure, yourself included. Um and it's hard. It's hard because it's an industry that has been so male-dominated for so long that there's not the women out there. There aren't there's just not enough of us to make it an equal balance. And that is changing. I've seen a lot more people come through, um, but it is limited. I spend up until the last two years, the majority of my career being the only woman on a shoot.
Speaker 01:Wow.
Speaker 02:Um, I think I think at one point I had uh a WhatsApp group that was just called Beks and Boys because they were just calling it as it was. Um, and I'd go on big expeditions with say 12 guys, and that's fine, there's no issues, there's not there's no sort of once you actually get out there, there's no alpha male, there's no, you forget gender when you're out there, but there certainly is less women, and I think it's interesting um to see how it's gonna change.
Speaker 01:I hope it does, yeah. There's uh there's definitely still been no major female breakthrough on camera. So it's interesting, it's interesting to hear that there's starting to be more the other side of the camera, at least, which hopefully will drive the change. As these things are always very glacial. But so tell me a little bit about where your job's taking you in terms of adventures and expeditions. What are some of your standout ones and what and what shows have you worked on that we may have heard of?
Speaker 02:Ooh, what shows. Um, I mean, I've been so lucky. And to even just say these words when I we go back to thinking about me as a child. Um, I have been able to film on all seven continents of the planet, and that just feels like a massive kick and massive achievement. Um, so it's I've been everywhere from sort of the equatorial jungles in the in Congo, in in Gabon to Antarctica. And um yeah, I've I've cannot complain about that aspect of my job. Uh I do think filmmaking really opens up doors. I say to anyone, if you've got a camera, you will you will just see more than you will as a tourist because people want to share their stories.
Speaker 02:So not only have I been to these places, I've got to experience them and be welcomed and get a little glimpse behind that sort of that curtain rather than just taking a list of countries. Yeah. Um but what have I made one that many people will have known is Steve Backshall's. I've worked with him on several expeditions. So he did a series called Expedition, and it was all about doing world-first expeditions but with a purpose. So it wasn't just climbing something for the sake of climbing it. Everything had, as you can imagine, um, conservation while life at the heart of it. And so if you've seen that series, I've worked on all of series two that's been from Gabon to Kyrgyzstan, Kamchatka, to all these incredible places. Um, more recently, I've been working with Ben Fogle and Dwyane Fields, who I know is a dear friend of yours. Um and we had the opportunity to go to Antarctica and tell the incredible stories of Shackleton and Scott, and actually got uh nominated for a BAFTA, which was incredible. We didn't win it this time, but maybe next series, maybe watch space. And so many different people and so many different shows. I've worked for National Geographic a lot um on a series called Pole to Pole with Will Smith, which will come out at some point soon. They're sort of beast to work on them shows. They take a long time to film, a long time to edit. Um, and the same with a show I've just been finishing recently with Aldo Kane for um another streamer. Yeah. But again, if you watch this space this year.
Speaker 01:Final question, which I ask everyone who comes on the podcast, is what's the one piece of travel gear that you would never go anywhere without?
Speaker 02:Coffee. Coffee fuels everyone. I don't care who you are, I will go to some of the most remote communities and they love coffee. And it is a sort of it's a thing that wakes people up on a morning, it's a ritual that gets your day started, but also it's a super social thing. If you know you've got a big day ahead, sitting around that kind of campfire on a morning and having coffee is just the best thing.
Speaker 01:That was this episode's hidden hero, the personal people making a difference behind the scenes. It was wonderful chatting to Beki and discovering just how much of the planning and organisation she has to do to make other people look good on screen. I am in awe. Do check out some of her work at BekiHenderson.com. And just like that, it's nearly the end of the episode. So nearly time for me to reveal my utterly inspirational Wander Woman of the month.
Speaker 01:I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard. Please do subscribe so you never miss an episode. And please, please, please do leave a review. It means so very much. You can follow me on Instagram at Phoebe R Smith, find me on Blue Sky, or go to my website phoebe-smith.com, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter, and of course, send me a message.
Speaker 01:Now, this episode we're heading to England's Lake District, where a woman is leading a climb on The flake. Impressive given the year it's 1924...
Speaker 01:The central buttress of Scafell holds a foreboding-looking climb. Sheltered, dark, a deep crack. One that for years remained unclimbed. It wasn't until 1914 that it was finally summited by Siegfried Hereford and George Sansom. Now, in the month of August, 10 years later, we can see a woman attempting it. She's sporting a woolen hat, a pair of wide trousers, hobnail boots, and a warm jacket. Her dark hair drops down from underneath her cap. Around her waist is an 80-foot rope, and she's about to start scaling what is known as the flake.
Speaker 01:This is Mabel Barker, a teacher in Cumbria, and she's about to make history as the first woman to ever climb this route.
Speaker 01:Born in 1886 in Siloth, from a young age it was clear that she possessed a remarkable intellect. Her father sent her to study in Cornwall, where she returned with a passion for the outdoors. She got her diploma in geography at Oxford University and a BSc in Geology in London. Then, after the First World War, she studied at the University of Montpellier. The title of her PhD thesis was The Use of the Geographical Environment for Education. So it should be no surprise at what came next.
Speaker 01:She took up teaching posts across Britain, but always combined outdoor education with academic subjects. Then, after her aunt left her a huge sum of money, she bought up a row of houses in Caldbeck and opened her own school, Friary Row. It was an educational setting that focused on outdoor learning for young people, taking them at Scafell and Great Gable. In what would now be called a mission statement, she wrote, "The school's aims at giving an education for life, and that by means of living as fully, happily and healthily as may be." There were camping trips and fishing excursions, including taking girls out on what we might now call microadventures, single nights wild camps to reconnect them with the natural world, at a time when it wasn't the done thing for women and young girls to do.
Speaker 01:Her personal passion away from the classroom, however, was climbing. At a time when the sport was in its infancy and definitely the domain of men. It was Millican Dalton, a pacifist, teetotal vegetarian who lived in a cave and called himself a Professor of Adventure, who introduced Mabel to climbing when she brought a group of schoolchildren from Essex to Cumbria and hired his services and tents. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
Speaker 01:Dalton was quite the character, spending 40 consecutive summers in his cave in Borrowdale. We know little about their relationship, but Mabel was undoubtedly influenced by his outlook and he later came to her wedding. Her climbing life usually took place with Claude Dean Franklin, and this one in the lakes conquering The Flake was no different. "I had dreamed it for a year," wrote Mabel in her diaries, remembering the ascent. "But on the first part of the climb, I felt decidedly scared." As she approached a small ledge known as the oval, the flake crack, the crux of the climb, was above her. She climbed into the crack and, in her own words, "chimneyed it". She writes, "I felt the top of the flake with my left hand. 'I've got it,' I said. There was probably not a happier woman living at that moment." She wrote exuberantly.
Speaker 01:There were certainly few other women climbing back then, and as well as being the first woman ever to climb this route, the duo were only the fourth team in history to do so. After she'd descended, two more climbers rounded the edge, and intrigued by a female climber, they asked which route she'd just completed. "Central buttress, just got up the flake," said C. D. Franklin to shocked faces.
Speaker 01:Mabel wrote: "There are moments when it is rather good fun to be a woman. Probably no lady in history was ever so sure of creating a mild sensation by the mere fact of being where she was." One photograph shows her on top of Napes Needle in the Lake District, and there are many more of her having a bloody good time in and around the crags.
Speaker 01:With Franklin, they explored climbs across the country, including a traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye in 1925. She was now age 50 and the first woman to do that. She kept a list of first ascents, clocking up 27 in her lifetime.
Speaker 01:In 1927, Franklin died in front of Mabel, falling 40 feet after a rock broke off. But Mabel continued to climb as long as she was able. She died in 1961 at the age of 75.
Speaker 01:She is not well known by many, but her legacy among the climbers in the Lake District is written into the crags of the vertical rock faces. She deserves much wider recognition for her pioneering educational philosophy, far, far ahead of its time. In fact, her legacy is arguably still to be fully realised.
Speaker 01:In her own words, "it is the experience of the earth that gives us the comprehension of life. It is a truism to say that we are children of the earth. We all say it, we know it, but it is still necessary to fully understand this. It is necessary to believe it literally. We return for the moment to the one real and simple fact that there exists nothing but the earth."
Speaker 01:For her defiance of gender norms, her skill and determination on rocks, her overhauling of education to connect girls to the outdoors, and for being a general bad-ass, Mabel Barker is our Wander Woman of the Month.
Speaker 01:That was my Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is lost in the history books purely because of her gender. I hope next time you're watching climbers or on the crags yourself, headed out on a wild camping adventure or sending your kid off for forest school, you remember her name and pass it on. For undoubtedly she broke barriers for all of us. Thank you, Mabel.
Speaker 01:In the next episode of the Wander Woman Podcast: I head to Italy and take the train to join a group of women to wander the St. Francis Way, nearly 800 years after the Saint's death. I take a tour of Jasper National Park a year on from the wildfires to see how locals in Canada are using the natural disaster to showcase the necessary role of fire in the land. And I sit down with Race Across the World's newly announced contestant and TV presenter Anita Rani. And as always, I'll be revealing my inspirational Wander Woman of the Month. See you next time, Wander Woman Out.
Speaker 01:The Wander Woman podcast is written and produced by me, Phoebe Smith. The editor and writer of additional material is Daniel Nielsen. The logo was designed by John Summerton. A final thanks to all the people I met on my journey and were willing to talk to me. It's because of you that this episode was able to happen at all.