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Planning a UK Trip Around an Event: Wedding, Football and Sightseeing · UK Travel Planning

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: In this podcast, Tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Hi and welcome to episode 111 of the UK Travel Planner podcast.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: This week I had the pleasure of welcoming friend and fellow podcaster, amanda Kendall, to chat with me all about her recent UK trip and to reflect on how being a thoughtful traveller enhanced her experiences before, during and after her trip.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So, without further ado, let's hear Amanda's UK trip report.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: So, without further ado, let's hear Amanda's UK trip report.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, tracey.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: It is lovely to be here.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: I'm Amanda Kendall from the Thoughtful Travel podcast and I was lucky enough to be in the UK a couple of months back earlier this year, in April, and as a whole, our trip was centred on going to a dear friend's wedding, which was to take place in the Lake District.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: So as soon as we got this invitation first of all, a very close friend and second of all, how exciting to be able to go to a wedding in the Lake District and we looked up the venue and it looks like a little castle of a hotel on the water.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: This is just so perfect.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: So that was the reason, the impetus for that trip.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I was traveling with my son, who's 14 and a mad keen footballer, slash soccer player, and so we knew we were going to start in Manchester, where he had actually been last year for a soccer trip, and he had some ideas he wanted to do some more soccer tourism, let's call it.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: So we started in Manchester, a few days there, a few days in Liverpool, and then we spent about a week with our friends a little bit further north and around the Lake District, celebrated the wedding and had an absolute blast.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Came back down to northern Wales for a few days also because we wanted to go to Wrexham because football, and then back to Manchester for a few more days and so that was it.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: So fairly, fairly small kind of footprint of area where we covered okay, perfect, yeah, and I was following along when you were traveling, which was really fantastic.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: One thing I wanted to talk to you about, which I think is really important and if listeners have listened to the global travel Plan and Podcast initial episode, you will recognize Amanda's voice because she does an introduction, in fact, a whole episode about thoughtful travel.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So this episode it would be totally remiss of me to talk to Amanda without asking her to explain what thoughtful travel involves and to talk about how that impacted her when she planned her trip, during her trip and after her trip, because I think it's probably a great way to kind of structure it that way.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Amanda, so would you like to just kind of give us an overview of what is involved in thoughtful travel?
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: I would absolutely love to so, and it's really cool to be able to do it in the context of one specific trip.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: So I'm very excited to talk about this.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: So when I think about thoughtful travel, I mean there's no single definition of thoughtful travel, but let's just say it's making our decisions more intentionally, thinking about what we want to get out of a trip, how we can do it so it's good for us and good for the world, so to speak.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: So that's kind of thoughtful travel in a nutshell.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: And then, when I try to break it down, I always think about how we can be thoughtful about our trip before, during and after the trip.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: So I'm happy to talk to that, if you like, tracy.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: And it's really funny because we did a massive trip last year to five destinations, six destinations around the world, and we're actually sitting there with the after trying to be thoughtful about it, going through all of those things thinking about because it's so easy.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Now we're planning another trip to forget about that.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: So true.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: And I know, in my Facebook group I'm always constantly asking people share your best memory from your trip, share your favourite photo from your trip, and it's about that kind of reminder.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about, then, how you kind of were thoughtful in your planning before you went to the UK?
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely so.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: A precursor is perhaps.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I try not to do much planning, so I know some people like to have like day to day every part planned and I don't.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: But I have accepted that in the modern world it is more important to have more things planned than like 10 or 20 years ago.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: So I, you know I do a bit of both.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: But first of all I did a bit of brainstorming with my son.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: You know what do we want to see?
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: We know we're going to fly into Manchester and we know we have the wedding up at the Lake District, what's nearby, what can we do?
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: And it was great because he was there last year when he was 13, so he already had some ideas about what he wanted to show me that he'd seen and what he had missed out on.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: So that was really fun to be able to have his total buy-in from the start.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: So we did actually do some bookings related to that because he convinced me and probably it's also true's true that some of the stadium tours would be booked out if we didn't book in advance.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: So I reluctantly locked those in and then locked in accommodation kind of connected to that, in Manchester and Liverpool for the first, our first stint in Manchester and our second stint Liverpool.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: So did that um.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: And then the other thing I usually do before a trip is, uh, lots of reading and watching, but not of like where will I go and what will we do, but stuff that's just connected, like stuff that's set in those destinations, or movies, you know, netflix series, uh, travelogues, or just novels or whatever, because I really feel that gives it like you know, it just gives you a taste of it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely A different perspective than kind of I mean, you can go on YouTube and watch somebody walk around it and do those sorts of things and I get that.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I totally am with you about reading a book set in that area and there's so many fantastic UK TV series that you could watch.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: And that really gives you kind of the feel for an area and the nitty-gritty of an area as well, because it's not pretty fired up, is it?
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like real life.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's not from a travel perspective necessarily, which I really like as well.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: So I didn't do as much as usual.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I must say partly, perhaps Also usually I would do a lot of language learning.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: But I must say partly, perhaps also usually I do a lot of language learning, but I thought I'll probably be okay with these guys, the odd accent you know notwithstanding.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: So I didn't do any language learning this time and life had been a bit hectic so I didn't do as much research.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: But I did happen to have a fabulous guest on my podcast not long before we left, who is kind of an expert in Wales.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Whether she's American, she spent lots of time in Wales.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: So I have a fabulous book which I'll mention again later in my during the trip phase.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: So we've done all of that and just got some more ideas together about the kinds of things we wanted to do and made contact with friends who we knew lived in the area.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Which is one of my very, very favorite things about travel is and also the podcast and the blog is that I've made friends all over the world and so I knew who I could talk to, that we could meet up with and, you know, just get the insider perspective of you know.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Where do you shop, where do you live, what do you do every day.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: What's this city like from your perspective, which I, you know, I think is so special.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: That's always such a privilege, I think, being able to do that.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And we're doing the same.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: We're planning a trip to America in September and I'm reaching out to all my friends in America going.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So we're coming to Chicago, so we're coming to New York, so potentially do this, and now everybody's going to meet up with us and show us around.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: So I'm really excited about that.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: It's just the best.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: So that's about all I did.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: So whole week or so in the middle, maybe 10 days where I didn't have solid plans.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: I did rent a car because we realised we needed to kind of get to our friend's parents' place in Wigan and from here to there and a bunch of places that was just going to be.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I much prefer public transport, but I realised it was just going to be quite restrictive if we did that.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: And so then I thought, once we've got a car, I'm not booking the rest of the accommodation, because it means we can go anywhere.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: We can decide a day before, a couple of days before.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: We'll just kind of follow our noses a bit.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: And I had checked it wasn't like massive school holiday time or anything.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: So I thought we'll be fine.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: I know some people freak out at that.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: And I had a friend who actually volunteered.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: She said look, I've got some spare time.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: I could book your accommodation for you, Amanda.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: And I was like no, I could too, it's not the point.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: I'm okay, thanks, though she was so stressed by it.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I know you, you asked in our Facebook group about that and um, and I think I did say to you as well that, obviously, depending on time of year and I do say to people like, if you're going to London at Christmas, like you need to book accommodation, if you're going to even the Lake District in in August, june, july, you you're going to struggle because it's super popular Cornwall, super popular Isle of Skye.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Whenever you want to go to Isle of Skye it seems to be booked up forever.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: So those sort of places you really have to be thinking ahead.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: But Doug and I used to jump on trains at weekends and we would depend on what the weather was like.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: We might get somewhere and go.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: That's a great.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Let's just jump on another train and go somewhere else.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And we'd do that.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: And then we'd book accommodation.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: I'd get on my phone and I'd book accommodation at five and stay in a B&B and it was great and I knew, because the time of year you were doing it, that you would be absolutely fine to do that and you want to stay in B&Bs and kind of again experience that kind of accommodation that I love to do.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and I'm not into like the luxury hotel experience.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: You know, At the end of the day, if it's just a bed, that's all I need, and then if it's a bit quirkier or more interesting, then that's a bonus.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, so I love that.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: So that's all I did before the trip.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: not much really.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: No, no, no, compared to sometimes some of the preparation If you go into a country where you don't speak the language and that sort of.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Thing to do this a lot more involved in that.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: So tell me about during, and how again did you have that kind of thoughtful travel mindset when you were there?
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: So many ways.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: So probably my favourite way was catching up with friends.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: One of my long-term blogging podcasting buddies, the Barefoot Backpacker, recently moved to Manchester and I was like, oh, that's great, I can catch up with them.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: So we did a fabulous walking tour.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Well, not a formal one, but we spent hours wandering Manchester.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: We went to Afflecks, we did all sorts of like, just the nitty gritty walk down to where they live, and just when you've got a friend there, it's so nice to know what's know what's their everyday thing.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: So we did that kind of thing and obviously we also hung out with our friends whose wedding we were going to and got to see.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: So our friend was marrying a man who grew up in that area, so we went to his childhood home where his parents still live, and you know that kind of stuff was just beautiful and his parents were so welcoming and that was so lots of local people, which was you know, that kind of stuff was just beautiful.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: His parents were so welcoming and that was so lots of local people, which was you know.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I know you can't always do that, but we made the most of our opportunities there.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: So that was one way.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Another way was I always try and keep some kind of travel journal when I travel, because I think it helps me to stop and reflect each day.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: When I was like younger, my journals were so boring.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: They were just like detailed dot points or detailed boring sentences of every place we went.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: You know, we did this, we ate this, we you know, and like I've learned that that's I mean.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: I still keep that information, but just quick dot points because I often do want to refer back to that.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: But I try and focus more on, like the things I remembered the most of the day.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Like you know, I saw like a funny dog walking along and, um, you know, like something about, you know something.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: That's like we're staying in this place in Wales where they had a suspension bridge and they were doing some work on it and it was just fascinating to watch, like there was these people that were, you know, in harnesses hanging on the underside of the bridge working on it, and like this is terrifying, and there's this river rushing below them, and also like just little things.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: So those kinds of things go into my journal and any feelings or, you know, things that I've learned, curious things.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Often I'll make a list of my Google searches from the day, because inevitably when I'm traveling, especially if I'm traveling with my teenage son, there's so many questions like why do they do this, what's this, what's that mean, and we'll Google stuff.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: And so I keep a list of that, just out of curiosity, the weird things we've looked up.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, journaling, and this time was good because I was traveling with my teenager.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I actually had plenty of downtime most days, you know, because a teenager, modern teenager, needs time to just be on their phone or whatever, apparently.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: So it was good because sometimes I've traveled with, like with my good friends, and then we're spending all our time, spare time, talking and I don't do my journaling.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: So that was nice and then we're spending all our spare time talking, and I don't do my journaling.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: So that was nice.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I did that.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: What else was a during thing?
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Oh well, as I kind of foreshadowed in that before bit reading stuff set in those places.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: So I had this fabulous book by Pamela Petro called the Long Field, which is about her time in Wales and connection with Wales over the years.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: So she went to study her master's in Wales.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Kind of by accident, one of those didn't even know anything about it turned up there, fell in love with it, and so that was a really interesting perspective.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: It got me so interested in Wales.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: I was sitting in this little hotel in Llangollen I can't pronounce that well, but that's my attempt.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: It looked like Llangollen to me.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I can't pronounce it either.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: But, you know, reading about her experiences and it just you know, because I hadn't known much about, you know, welsh culture and Welsh language and just learning more about that in this you know fascinating book.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: I loved that and then I could kind of, when I bumped into people, ask them little questions to, you know, to learn even a little bit more.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: What else did we do?
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: That was thoughtful.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: During the trip I kind of mentioned that we would always spend several nights in every place, so I'd never want to stay somewhere just one night, unless it's like a very good reason, but usually two or three nights even on this trip.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Just, you know, just to get to know the rhythm of the place a little bit, you know, just you know, just to get to know the rhythm of the place a little bit.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: You know, in a perfect world I would stay everywhere for weeks at a time.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Sadly, life prevents that, Wouldn't we all?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I have to ask you because you know something we were a bit remiss here because we talked about language learning and you were in Wales.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: That's true, actually.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: I should have learned some Welsh.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Well, the reason I'm saying that is because Doug spent some time in North Wales last year doing some research and he came back with with a full vocabulary I was quite proud of.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: He actually learned some before he went and he practiced it when he was there and he came back and I was like wow, um, yes and so yeah, that would be.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: So that's something I was thinking about, only that, because I'd love to read that book, because I was on that same um podcast episode on your podcast.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: That's right uh yeah, talking about language learning so and I was fascinated because whales.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, wow, that's, that's so unusual, yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: So, yes, I want, I'd like to read that book for sure you're right and I I, in hindsight, I wish I had done more of that and like.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: And, since we came home, one of the youtubers that my son follows actually I didn't even know, I thought he was english, english Turns out he's Welsh, sorry, and he had this series of videos where he went to oh, now, somewhere in South America, I'm not sure, now Argentina, somewhere where there's a big Welsh community, somewhere in South America.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Maybe, it's more east, anyway, some country in South America, I'm so sorry where there's a really significant Welsh community, and in South America, I'm so sorry, where there's a really significant Welsh community, and he went there on these series of videos we watched and he found all these people he could speak Welsh with, you know, and I was like, oh, there's just so much more to this culture than I knew about.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: So now I just want to go back again to be honest.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: So I would have to learn some more?
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: I think you should and a little bit of Welsh.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, we'll both learn a little bit of Welsh.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: We'll both learn a little bit of Welsh next time before.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure when I'm going to Wales next, but yes, after Doug kind of showed me up with his excellent Welsh, I was like go on him.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know I was very impressed.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, that is very impressive.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, I was remiss there.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what else did I do?
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: I guess the other thoughtful thing was just having in mind my kind of thoughtful travel principles wherever I am and wherever you know, wherever, whatever, I'm seeing and following my nose, following rabbit holes, and just I try not to be a ticker box.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I have to.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I'm here so I have to see X, y and Z sites.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Kind of traveler I prefer to, you know, just see what's around and often just take, like take, what's in front of me.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: So on our last few days in Manchester before we flew out, we had another few days there and by this time we'd actually both got a bit sick.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: So we were taking things fairly slowly and we ended up in a hotel directly opposite the art gallery the main Manchester art gallery and my son was particularly not, you know, fairly unwell that day.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: You know he didn't need supervision, but he didn't want to go out.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: So I was like, okay, well, I'm going to the art gallery.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: He was very happy to stay in the hotel room and I really just went because it was there.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: But then I got inside I was like, oh, this is like the most thoughtful art gallery I've ever seen and they'd done all these really interesting things just in the last two or three years mostly, where they'd like re-curated some of their exhibitions through like modern, very thoughtful lenses like colonialism.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: So they'd got a bunch of paintings that were basically kind of really like hey look, we're the great colonials.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: And they'd reinterpreted them and put really interesting captions next to them to say, hey, this is what was it like at the time, and now we think this and that kind of thing.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: And then there was one gallery where they reinterpreted kind of climate change issues but just using their old collection, like paintings they'd had for 50, 100 years, and then put this other lens on.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: It was so interesting.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: And then one more where they had actually got collected everything that the curators had put together to put this exhibition on, including the post-it notes and the drawings and the sketches and the like, some transcriptions from the discussions they'd had, and put that as part of the exhibition as well.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: So that was super fascinating and really, really thoughtful.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: So big tick to the Manchester.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Art Gallery.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds, that does sound amazing as well, and I also love the fact that you know sometimes you, sometimes you can have your plans if that's where you want to travel and you know and I'm very much a, I like to know what I'm going to see.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: So I kind of travel with that going.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: I really would like to go and see X, y and Z, but also have the flexibility to if something crops up I can go.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Actually, I want to spend some more time here, or I want to go and have a look at that particular place or this looks interesting.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I'm going to wander into this church or whatever.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Having the ability to do that I think is important, and also, like you say, just what you discovered by kind of wandering across the road, it was, like you know, a total gem that you didn't expect.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it didn't say that online anywhere that it was this amazing place.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: You know, I just looked it up and it's just an art gallery, but actually it was way more.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: So I've been telling everyone about that.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: That's like, probably my biggest tip that I've been giving people is oh, you have to go to the Manchester Art Gallery.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: It's amazing, and maybe it's just very specific to me that I would like it like that, but I loved it.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: It was amazing.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: So no, no, no, it's great.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: We all, we all like different things and we all look for different things and and you know and that that's great as well.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: And so I actually want to ask about your son as well.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: How was he during the trip?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I know he'd been there last year because he went on a football trip I can't say soccer because Doug would tell me off football trip, even though soccer is an english word, british word, whatever it was it did actually come from, we invented it and but now it's all football, but anyway.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: So how did he enjoy it?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: What was his like experience of the trip?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Because last year he went with a football group With a team.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, this year he went with his mum.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Yes, I know how embarrassing, right.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: So how was that?
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: I think I mean, you know, a teenager doesn't always want to hang out with their mum the whole time, but the friends that we caught up with he got along really well.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Some of them he knew, some he didn't.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: He got along really well with all of them and I think he's always I mean, he's been raised a traveller.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: He's a very curious teenager and loves to meet all kinds of different people and you know learn from them, I think, and just you know see how people live.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: So those parts especially were good and I was very careful to make sure that we had a fairly heavy soccer slash, football rating in some of the things we were doing the rest of the time and I found them interesting too.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Like, so he would enjoy a stadium tour for different reasons to me.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: For me, like often in the museums or in the guides would be these old guys who'd been, you know, attending matches there since they were five years old or probably before and stuff, and they would have amazing stories.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: So I loved hearing all of that and he was probably less interested in that and more in, you know, getting down near the pitch or whatever.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: You know seeing his idols, you know pictures of his idols or whatever.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, I think that kind of compromise approach worked really well.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: And yeah, and he had a great trip At the wedding.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: He was on the dance floor till midnight, so I reckon he was having a good time.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly sounds like it, so, since you've been back.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: So it was April, may that you were there, wasn't?
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so it's a few months ago.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: So since you've been back, how have you used the kind of thoughtful travel ideas to be thoughtful when you're reflecting back on your trip.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: So I think one of the things about being thoughtful after your trip or for me, one of the most important things is extending the memory of it, I suppose.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: So you know, obviously, because we live together and the two of us went, we often will talk back about you know, oh, remember we did this or remember we did that, and I love being able to do that.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: I've also got a good chunk of friends who are always really keen to hear about my trips.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: You know plenty of people don't want to hear.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: That's totally fine, but there are some who will be and I was like, yes, look at this, and here's what we did.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: And we've got photos pinned up.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: You know, print some photos.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: We don't do that often enough these days, but I love to do that because they're just, you know, you walk past them on the wall and, yes, you're, you know, transported back there.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: I haven't done this yet, but I'm intending it to give it to my teenager for a school holiday.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Task this week is we'll often make a photo book.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: So we've got, you know, it's like a physical book we can look back on and enjoy that.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: And I've just been doing a lot more reading and research.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Like I mentioned, we went deep into this YouTuber's Welsh background and videos and things like that.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: And I actually just yesterday got Pamela Petro's second book in the mail because she did a really interesting world trip, including like to South America and some half a dozen other places around the world where there are Welsh speaking communities, and so she yeah, quite a few years ago, did this trip I know like what a cool way to plan a trip.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: So she went to speak Welsh all around the world, which is, like you know, so unique.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward to reading that and, you know, learning more about the Welsh cultural side of things.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I just love that.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I have to say, amanda, I absolutely love that.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: I just love that.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: It's just fabulous, absolutely fabulous.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Well, I need to read the first book before I go on the second one, but I'm already hooked just at the idea of it.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: It's just fabulous, I know right.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Absolutely fabulous yeah.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: I mean like I'm also curious now to know how many Welsh-speaking communities there are around the world.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: I speaking communities there are around the world.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I know, right, who knew.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I did not know Exactly, and that's what isn't it.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: That's the thing with travel is it kind of opens up a Pandora's box of just like amazingness that you just do not necessarily.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: You might plan your trip and think I'm going to do A, b, c and I'm going to go to D, whatever, and then along the way you meet people, you talk to people, you have experiences that you don't necessarily you can't plan for, they just happen when you're.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: You know the pre-planning phase.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I know in our Facebook group and we help people with consults, like we make friends with people.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: We just, we just love it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: It's fantastic, you know.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: And then, when the travel and sharing those memories, talking about what's happening, and then and I guess I'm facilitating that through the podcast as well, because we have so many guests that come on and do their trip reports and and we've been said, we've actually been told, and it's lovely for a lot of our guests who've been on the podcast, like I have this in perpetuity now I have this it's yeah, I can listen to it when I want.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: I've got this and and it's you know, and it's yeah, I love being able to kind of yeah, it is so special, and it's it's you know and it's yeah, I love being able to kind of.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is so special and it's just so lovely to hear about your trip, amanda.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Honestly, it was so good following you when you were doing the trip, but I knew that there would be so much more to talk to you about.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Oh, for me a trip lasts forever.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: And like when I'm travelling, for example, I post on Instagram stories a lot but I don't post like proper Instagram pictures Instagram stories a lot, but I don't post like proper Instagram pictures.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: And I do all of that when I'm home, and I've only just last week or so got to the end of my UK trip on Instagram, and so then you know, I'll just do, you know, three or four a week and just the process of like kind of distill down what were the most important moments and then try and be thoughtful in my caption.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: And you know like I love that process as well.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a you know it's, it's reliving it, but it's also making me think a bit more deeply about it, which I, you know I love doing.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, no, absolutely it's.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: It's fantastic.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So do you want to just share with our listeners about where we can find your podcast?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: And obviously you've got a website and you you do have a Facebook group and you actually I've just joined yesterday you've got a LinkedIn group for anybody who's interested in there.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: But obviously, just kind of introduce that to our listeners.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, so you can find the Thoughtful Travel podcast in all the podcast apps Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all of the little ones and you'll find out more about it at my website, which is notaballerinacom.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: And yeah, as Tracey mentioned, there's a Facebook group, Thoughtful Travellers, and a LinkedIn group, Thoughtful Travellers.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: If you search for them, you'll find my podcast logo there.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: So there's lots of fun to be had in there and lots of thoughtfulness, and I'm amandakendle on Instagram.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you are, and I follow you on all of those and thoroughly enjoy it.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: So it's always good to speak to you, amanda, it really is, and thank you so much for coming on and sharing about your trip, and I'm hoping, if you're listening to this podcast, thinking about how you can kind of use some of those things that Amanda thought through when she was planning a trip and during a trip and after a trip, to kind of make the trip just that little bit more thoughtful.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: And can I add yes, just to reiterate perhaps a bit because a lot of people are like no, I want to travel my way and I want to plan everything, I want to do this or whatever, and it's totally fine.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: But I challenge people just to think about one way they might be able to make their trip a bit more thoughtful, even if it's just to watch a TV series before they go that's set there or you know something like to not plan a couple of days and spontaneously book when you're there.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: You know, caveats above included, but just try, you can do it as small as you want, just to see if that traveling style suits you more.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: So, amanda, I always end this podcast with exactly the same question, as all our listeners know, and they're all poised because they know exactly what I'm going to ask you.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: So what was your one tip that you would share with anyone planning a trip to the UK?
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Well, I feel like I have just given like a thousand ideas that are big ideas.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: So I have a very, very simple and selfish idea Well, selfish for my stomach.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: So what I discovered in the UK was that supermarket sandwiches are delicious and I don't know if anyone's already given that tip, and I'm so sorry if they have, but especially at Tesco.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: I checked back on my photographs to tell you this Tracy it's very important Miso chicken and pickled slaw sandwich the best.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: I had one three days in a row because they were so good and I wish I'd discovered them earlier in my trip.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: I would have eaten miso, chicken and pickled slaw Tesco sandwiches every day.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: In Australia I would never go to the supermarket to get lunch ever, but I discovered that that was fantastic and that would keep us going and we only had to have one meal a day and I love going to supermarkets.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: It's a thoughtful thing to do to explore supermarkets.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it so is.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: It's one of my favourite things to do and that's a great tip because going into the supermarkets again, if you're on a budget, it's fantastic because you can go and buy a meal deal sandwich, drink, pack the crisps, piece of fruit, piece of chocolate, something healthy, whatever you want to go with it, but you usually get the three items.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: I have a personal favourite, which is the Marks and Spencer's kind of.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: It's like a luxury prawn sandwich and I ate so many last time that I just couldn't eat anymore after a while, but I think I'm ready for a prawn sandwich at Marks and Spencer's.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: We do when I get back in.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: So it's good to know, I will try.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: I will try one of the.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Tell me again which one it was.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: I know it's very specific Miso chicken and pickled slaw sandwich Tesco.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: I will make a note, amanda.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: Please try and let me know.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: So again, thanks so much for coming on.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: It's been always a pleasure to talk to you.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, thank you.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much for having me.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: It was so fun to be able to talk about this trip this way.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Tracey.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app?
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: We love to hear from you and you never know.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: You may receive a shout out in a future episode, but, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Happy UK travel planning.