I had the joy of visiting Egypt in September 2026, and spending ten days seeing Cairo and cruising the Nile, visiting historical highlights including Dendera, Luxor, Kom Omob, Esna and Aswan. I'll be sharing my experiences across several episodes but to start with, I've got an overview of the trip plus a chat with my friend and travel companion Catherine Marshall. Although choosing favourites was extremely hard, we discuss some of our best meals, sightseeing spots, learnings, surprises and shopping moments of our time in Egypt.

Links:
Catherine Marshall on Instagram - instagram.com/zizzyballord
Catherine’s course the Art of Travel Writing https://artoftravelwriting.thinkific.com/products/courses/aotwn   
Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin
Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com 
Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/404

I had the joy of visiting Egypt in September 2026, and spending ten days seeing Cairo and cruising the Nile, visiting historical highlights including Dendera, Luxor, Kom Omob, Esna and Aswan. I'll be sharing my experiences across several episodes but to start with, I've got an overview of the trip plus a chat with my friend and travel companion Catherine Marshall. Although choosing favourites was extremely hard, we discuss some of our best meals, sightseeing spots, learnings, surprises and shopping moments of our time in Egypt.
Links:
<ul>
<li>Catherine Marshall on Instagram - <a href="http://instagram.com/zizzyballord">instagram.com/zizzyballord</a></li>
<li>Catherine&rsquo;s course the Art of Travel Writing <a href="https://artoftravelwriting.thinkific.com/products/courses/aotwn">https://artoftravelwriting.thinkific.com/products/courses/aotwn</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;</li>
<li>Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers">https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers</a></li>
<li>Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - <a href="https://notaballerina.com/linkedin">https://notaballerina.com/linkedin</a></li>
<li>Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - <a href="https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com">https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Show notes: <a href="http://notaballerina.com/404">https://notaballerina.com/404</a></li>
</ul>

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle is a show for travel lovers. Each episode is packed with travel stories from fellow travel addicts on topics like using foreign languages, meeting the locals, getting lost and what we learn from our travels.

Tales from travel-lovers about why we travel and what we learn from it.

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle - established 2016 - is a weekly show which helps travellers think about how our travels can be good for us and good for the world. We talk about how to make ethical decisions on our trips, sustainable and regenerative tourism, bringing back what we learn from the people and cultures we meet to improve our lives back home, and share the most memorable stories from travelling: fun, scary, educational and more. Most episodes include extracts from conversations with three different guests, centred on a particular topic, but you'll also hear occasional deep dive interviews, recordings from the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, and Amanda's own experiences from travelling past and present.

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle - established 2016 - is a weekly show which helps travellers think about how our travels can be good for us and good for the world. We talk about how to make ethical decisions on our trips, sustainable and regenerative tourism, bringing back what we learn from the people and cultures we meet to improve our lives back home, and share the most memorable stories from travelling: fun, scary, educational and more. Most episodes include extracts from conversations with three different guests, centred on a particular topic, but you'll also hear occasional deep dive interviews, recordings from the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, and Amanda's own experiences from travelling past and present.

404 Egypt and the Nile: Cruising with Catherine

Travel can change your life! It sounds like a cliched salesy headline but it's my experience that it's true, and the guests in this episode would agree. I start off chatting with Mike Clapper who had a career epiphany - and set up a now successful new business - off the back of a particular moment in Iceland. Lindsey Danis explains how she and her partner made a huge life change after contemplating what they loved so much about their honeymoon in Thailand. Finally, Tudor Morgan describes some of the ways his work is focused on travellers who are often experiencing this while on expedition trips he leads.

Links:
Mike Clapper - Able2Global - https://able2global.com/ 
Lindsey Danis - (Out) On the Road - https://amzn.to/4vIK334
Lindsey's blog Queer Adventurers https://www.queeradventurers.com
Tudor Morgan of HX Expeditions - https://www.travelhx.com/en-au/ 
Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin
Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com 
Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/405

*Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program

NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Some of those academic references:

Bennett, M. (2012). An exploration of transformational learning in adults as a result of adventure travel experiences [Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University]. Pepperdine Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/319/digitalcommons.pepperdine

Magrizos, S., Kostopoulos, I., & Powers, L. (2021). Volunteer tourism as a transformative experience: A mixed methods empirical study. Journal of Travel Research, 60(4), 878–895. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520913630

Pung, J. M., & Del Chiappa, G. (2020). An exploratory and qualitative study on the meaning of transformative tourism and its facilitators and inhibitors. European Journal of Tourism Research, 24, Article 2404. https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v24i.406

Tovar, L. A., & Misischia, C. (2018). Experiential learning: Transformation and discovery through travel study programs. Research in Higher Education Journal, 35, 1–15. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1194438.pdffiles.eric.ed

Travel can change your life! It sounds like a cliched salesy headline but it's my experience that it's true, and the guests in this episode would agree. I start off chatting with Mike Clapper who had a career epiphany - and set up a now successful new business - off the back of a particular moment in Iceland. Lindsey Danis explains how she and her partner made a huge life change after contemplating what they loved so much about their honeymoon in Thailand. Finally, Tudor Morgan describes some of the ways his work is focused on travellers who are often experiencing this while on expedition trips he leads.
Links:
<ul>
<li>Mike Clapper - Able2Global - <a href="https://able2global.com/">https://able2global.com/</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Lindsey Danis - (Out) On the Road - <a href="https://amzn.to/4vIK334">https://amzn.to/4vIK334</a></li>
<li>Lindsey's blog Queer Adventurers <a href="https://www.queeradventurers.com/">https://www.queeradventurers.com</a></li>
<li>Tudor Morgan of HX Expeditions -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.travelhx.com/en-au/">https://www.travelhx.com/en-au/</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers">https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers</a></li>
<li>Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - <a href="https://notaballerina.com/linkedin">https://notaballerina.com/linkedin</a></li>
<li>Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - <a href="https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com">https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Show notes: <a href="https://notaballerina.com/405">https://notaballerina.com/405</a></li>
</ul>
*Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program
NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Some of those academic references:
Bennett, M. (2012). An exploration of transformational learning in adults as a result of adventure travel experiences [Doctoral dissertation, Pepperdine University]. Pepperdine Digital Commons. <a href="https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/319/">https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/319/digitalcommons.pepperdine</a>
Magrizos, S., Kostopoulos, I., &amp; Powers, L. (2021). Volunteer tourism as a transformative experience: A mixed methods empirical study. Journal of Travel Research, 60(4), 878&ndash;895. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520913630">https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520913630</a>
Pung, J. M., &amp; Del Chiappa, G. (2020). An exploratory and qualitative study on the meaning of transformative tourism and its facilitators and inhibitors. European Journal of Tourism Research, 24, Article 2404. <a href="https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v24i.406">https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v24i.406</a>
Tovar, L. A., &amp; Misischia, C. (2018). Experiential learning: Transformation and discovery through travel study programs. Research in Higher Education Journal, 35, 1&ndash;15. <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1194438.pdf">https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1194438.pdffiles.eric.ed</a>

405 Travel Can Cause Significant Change

This special episode is the audio of the livestream of the October 2026 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, chatting about the book "Travels with Nala" by Dean Nicholson.

If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, sign up for our updates at https://thoughtfultravellersbookclub.substack.com/

You can also read more about it at https://notaballerina.com/bookclub, and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers 

*Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program
NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This special episode is the audio of the livestream of the October 2026 meeting of the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, chatting about the book <a href="https://link.amazon/B03Lo49Qh">"Travels with Nala"</a> by Dean Nicholson.
If you'd like to join the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, sign up for our updates at <a href="https://thoughtfultravellersbookclub.substack.com/">https://thoughtfultravellersbookclub.substack.com/</a>
You can also read more about it at&nbsp;<a href="https://notaballerina.com/bookclub,">https://notaballerina.com/bookclub,</a>&nbsp;and you can keep up with all the thoughts about our current books in the Thoughtful Travellers Facebook Group at <a href="https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers">https://facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers</a>&nbsp;
*Full disclosure: Amazon Services LLC Associates Program NotABallerina.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book Club 27: Nala's World by Dean Nicholson

With high tourist numbers in some popular places making travel less enjoyable, it only makes sense that there's an increased interest in off season travel. Choosing a shoulder or off peak time to  travel makes sense for so many reasons to me, and it's often when you'll have the much better experiences all round!

Last year, my son and I enjoyed an off season trip to Seoul, South Korea so thoroughly that we're trying the same time of year for a Tokyo visit soon. In this episode, I talk with three people who also have been converted to the off season way. First up, Riana Ann-Canning describes a trip to France in chilly (or was it?!) February which exceeded all expectations; Mathi Thayanan then explains the benefits of visiting Sri Lanka at non-peak times of year; finally, Theodora Chatzipavlidis tells me how she accidentally discovered how much she likes travelling in the off season when she ended up touring parts of Europe during the ultimate off season of Covid!

Links:
Riana Ang-Canning - https://teaspoonofadventure.com/
Mathi Thayanan’s business in Sri Lanka, The Curious Experience - https://thecuriousexperience.com/ 
Theodora Chatzipavlidis’s app Velout - https://www.velout.app 
Episode 378 Seoul Trip Report: Spontaneous Budget Travel to South Korea notaballerina.com/378
Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers
Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin
Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com 
Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/403

With high tourist numbers in some popular places making travel less enjoyable, it only makes sense that there's an increased interest in off season travel. Choosing a shoulder or off peak time to &nbsp;travel makes sense for so many reasons to me, and it's often when you'll have the much better experiences all round!
Last year, my son and I enjoyed an off season trip to Seoul, South Korea so thoroughly that we're trying the same time of year for a Tokyo visit soon. In this episode, I talk with three people who also have been converted to the off season way. First up, Riana Ann-Canning describes a trip to France in chilly (or was it?!) February which exceeded all expectations; Mathi Thayanan then explains the benefits of visiting Sri Lanka at non-peak times of year; finally, Theodora Chatzipavlidis tells me how she accidentally discovered how much she likes travelling in the off season when she ended up touring parts of Europe during the ultimate off season of Covid!
Links:
<ul>
<li>Riana Ang-Canning - <a href="https://teaspoonofadventure.com/">https://teaspoonofadventure.com/</a></li>
<li>Mathi Thayanan&rsquo;s business in Sri Lanka, The Curious Experience - <a href="https://thecuriousexperience.com/">https://thecuriousexperience.com/</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Theodora Chatzipavlidis&rsquo;s app Velout - <a href="https://www.velout.app/">https://www.velout.app</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Episode 378 Seoul Trip Report: Spontaneous Budget Travel to South Korea <a href="http://notaballerina.com/378">notaballerina.com/378</a><a href="https://www.notaballerina.com/2026/01/seoul-trip-report-spontaneous-budget-travel-south-korea-episode-378-thoughtful-travel-podcast.html"></a></li>
<li>Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers">https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers</a></li>
<li>Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - <a href="https://notaballerina.com/linkedin">https://notaballerina.com/linkedin</a></li>
<li>Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - <a href="https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com">https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Show notes: <a href="http://notaballerina.com/403">https://notaballerina.com/403</a></li>
</ul>

404 Egypt and the Nile: Cruising with Catherine

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