Today’s guest is one of the country’s best-loved comedians and presenters - the wonderful Tom Allen. You’ll know him from Bake Off: An Extra Slice, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, QI, Would I Lie To You?, Live at the Apollo and of course his standup comedy. He’s also a brilliant writer, and his new novel, Common Decency, is out now.

Tom’s travel diaries are full of glorious detail. We talk childhood holidays, package holidays, the etiquette of sunbeds, solo travel, America, Japan, Spain, the joy of a great hotel, and why food is so often the thing that makes a place unforgettable.

Destination Recap:

Holly: Sani, Halkidiki, Greece

Tom:

• Gran Canaria, Spain
• Javea, Spain
• Alicante, Spain
• Benidorm, Spain
• San Francisco, USA
• New York, USA
• Philadelphia, USA
• Cherry Hill, USA
• Japan
• Tokyo, Japan
• Kyoto, Japan
• Osaka, Japan
• Hiroshima, Japan
• Nara, Japan
• Gran Canaria, Spain
• Maspalomas, Spain
• Menorca, Spain
• Wakefield, England
• Elgin, Scotland
• Banchory, Scotland
• Highlands and Islands, Scotland
• Beijing, China
• Forbidden City, China
• Great Wall of China, China

Tom Allen’s hilarious debut novel Common Decency is out now

Today’s episode was filmed in the Westminster Suite at London Marriott County Hall

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s Destination Special, we’re taking you somewhere that, for so many travellers, represents the ultimate holiday feeling: Queensland, Australia.

This is a state seven times the size of Britain! A place where one trip can take you from the cultural heartbeat and riverside energy of Brisbane, to the al fresco beach lifestyle of the Gold Coast, to ancient rainforest, island life, wildlife encounters, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures, First Nations storytelling, and one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef.

Known as Australia’s Sunshine State, Queensland is, of course, famous for its blue skies, golden beaches and that blissful sense of switching off the moment you arrive. But as I discovered through making this episode, it is so much more than that.

And that, really, is what makes Queensland so compelling - it’s not just one kind of holiday. It’s a whole collection of holidays in one place. You can wake up in Brisbane, wandering along the river as the city comes to life, stop for brilliant coffee and world-class food, then be out in nature within minutes, perhaps heading to nearby Minjerribah, also known as North Stradbroke Island, for First Nations culture and extraordinary natural landscapes. You can head south towards the Gold Coast for beach walks, coastal drives, wineries, rainforest and incredible produce. Or you can travel north to the Whitsundays, where Hamilton Island, Whitehaven Beach and the Great Barrier Reef deliver that almost dreamlike version of Australia with its turquoise water, white sand, sailing, seafood, and warm tropical air.

Today’s guest is someone who experienced Queensland through one of its great strengths: food. Matt Tebbutt, chef, broadcaster and host of Saturday Kitchen, recently travelled there, eating his way through the state, from riverside restaurants and beachside lunches to extraordinary seafood and island dining.

What struck me most in speaking to Matt was that the food became a way into everything else: the landscape, the wildlife, the culture, the openness, the warmth, and that easy-going Aussie outdoor lifestyle. This episode is wanderlust, guaranteed. So let’s buckle up and get started.

Destination Recap

• Brisbane
• Stanley Restaurant, Brisbane
• Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
• James Street, Brisbane
• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane
• North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah
• Lady Elliot Island
• The Great Barrier Reef
• Gold Coast
• Rick Shores, Gold Coast
• Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk
• Mason Winery, Mount Tamborine
• The Whitsundays
• Hamilton Island
• The Sundays, Hamilton Island
• Whitehaven Beach
• Catseye Pool Club, Hamilton Island
• Long Pavilion at qualia
• Bommie, Hamilton Island
• Passage Peak, Hamilton Island

Thank you to Tourism and Events Queensland for working with me on this episode. For more information and further inspiration about travelling to Queensland, visit queensland.com.

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a global tv star, bestselling author, food obsessive and one of the most beloved members of one of Netflix’s biggest ever shows…Antoni Porowski.

You’ll know Antoni as the much-loved food and wine expert from Netflix’s global phenomenon Queer Eye, where for ten seasons he helped people transform not just the way they cooked and ate, but the way they saw themselves.

Antoni’s own story is such a fascinating journey in itself. In today’s episode, we travel through his life from childhood road trips to the North Carolina coast and the first meal that truly blew his mind, to the trip he saved up for as a young waiter in New York that made him fall completely in love with travel.

We talk about the years before Queer Eye, when he was auditioning, working in restaurants, hustling, and trying to find his way in New York, and what it felt like when the show suddenly changed everything.

And, of course, we dive into his new National Geographic series, Best of the World with Antoni Porowski, which takes him to Paris, Mexico City, London and New York.

Destination Recap:

Holly: AKI Family Resort, Italy

• Pennsylvania, USA
• New York City, USA
• Philadelphia, USA
• Montreal, Canada
• September Cafe, Montreal, Canada
• Rotisserie Italienne, Montreal, Canada
• McGill University, Montreal, Canada
• Mount Royal, Montreal, Canada
• Outremont, Montreal, Canada
• Le Merc, Montreal, Canada
• Bilboquet, Montreal, Canada
• Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA
• Dirty Dick’s Crab House, Cape Hatteras, USA
• The Labrador, Cape Hatteras, USA
• Canadian Hole, Cape Hatteras, USA
• Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA
• West Virginia, USA
• Vancouver, Canada
• Florence, Italy
• Rome, Italy
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Roma Norte, Mexico City, Mexico
• Rosetta, Mexico City, Mexico
• Canals of Mexico City, Mexico
• Alebrijes Festival, Mexico City, Mexico
• Museo de Arte Popular / Folkloric Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
• Borneo, Malaysia
• Kuching, Malaysia
• Iban longhouses, Sarawak, Malaysia
• Kuching waterfront / canal, Kuching, Malaysia
• Kuching food kiosks, Kuching, Malaysia
• Fire Island, New York, USA
• Long Island, New York, USA
• Ibiza, Spain
• Iceland
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Morocco
• Patagonia, Argentina/Chile

Best of the World with Antoni Porowski premieres June 7 on National Geographic and will be available to stream June 8 on Disney+ and Hulu.

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is an adventurer, filmmaker, writer and one of the most extraordinary travel storytellers of her generation.

Eva zu Beck's life reads like something from a film. She was Oxford-educated, working in travel media, married, successful, and living the kind of polished, high-achieving life so many people are told to want. But behind the scenes, she knew something wasn’t right. So she walked away from it all. The marriage, the career, the security, the neatly mapped-out future, and bought a one-way ticket to Nepal.

Over the past nine years, Eva has travelled almost constantly, often to some of the wildest, most remote and most misunderstood places on earth. She has crossed the Mongolian wilderness on horseback, travelled through the mountains of Pakistan living alongside local families, spent months on the otherworldly island of Socotra in Yemen during lockdown, and driven her old Land Rover Defender, Odyssey, from Mexico through Central America and the United States, all the way to the northernmost point of Alaska.

You’re going to love this one guys.

Destination recap:

• Holly - Forestis, Dolomites, Italy
• Carpathian Mountains, Poland
• Marrakech, Morocco
• Nepal
• Mongolia
• Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• Gobi Desert, Mongolia
• Pakistan
• Northern Pakistan, Pakistan
• Himalayas, Pakistan
• Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan
• Arabian Sea, Pakistan
• United States
• Montana, United States
• Alaska, United States
• Mexico
• Dalton Highway, United States
• Deadhorse, United States
• Romania
• Carpathian Mountains, Romania
• Transylvania, Romania
• Transalpina, Romania
• Maramureș, Romania
• Socotra, Yemen
• Central Asia
• Russia
• Central Africa
• Sahara
• Northern Canada, Canada
• Patagonia, Argentina and Chile

Eva’s new book, The Wilder Way, is out now, and if you loved this conversation, I think you’ll absolutely love the book too.

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re heading to the sun-soaked Southern California coast in the USA, arriving at Newport Beach.

Now, if you’re listening in the UK and thinking, hang on, where exactly is Newport Beach? - it’s just south of Los Angeles, in Orange County.

For a lot of you listening, that name might immediately conjure up The O.C., or the The Real Housewives of Orange County - it’s one of those places that really captures that classic California coastal lifestyle: long sandy beaches, a beautiful harbour dotted with boats, waterfront restaurants serving the freshest seafood, surf culture, spectacular houses, and that sense that life is lived largely outdoors.

It’s glamorous, yes, but it’s also very accessible for all price points and surprisingly varied once you get to know it - and that’s what this episode is all about.

I’m joined today by Gary Sherwin, a Newport Beach local for the last 25 years, travel expert and CEO of Visit Newport Beach - he knows the area inside out.

He shares the places, experiences and little details that really give you a feel for the destination. Because this isn’t just somewhere to come for a quick beach stop. It’s a destination in its own right, and one that seems to offer a really lovely mix of things: that classic California coast feeling, yes, but also a lot of variety within it - from smart hotels and great food to beach days, boat days, family-friendly experiences, little pockets with their own personality, and plenty of ways to slow down and enjoy being by the water.

So whether you’re plotting a wider California trip, looking for a different side of Southern California, or just in the mood for a little armchair travel to somewhere sunny and coastal, this should give you a very good feel for it.

Destination Recap:

• Newport Harbor
• Gulfstream Restaurant
• Louie’s by the Bay
• A Restaurant
• 21 Oceanfront Restaurant
• Balboa Bay Resort
• Pendry Newport Beach
• VEA Newport Beach, A Marriott Resort & Spa
• The Resort at Pelican Hill (becoming A St. Regis Estate in 2027)
• Crystal Cove
• Balboa Island
• Inspiration Point, Corona del Mar
• Mastro’s Ocean Club
• Blackie’s by the Sea
• Fashion Island
• Back Bay (Upper Newport Bay)

You can discover more about Newport Beach here.

As always, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed it, do share it with someone who’s planning a California trip, and don’t forget to follow or subscribe on your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

I’ll be back on Tuesday.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is one of the most distinctive and brilliantly funny voices in British comedy. Born in Cornwall by accident, raised in Hull with pride, Lucy Beaumont has built a career out of finding the strange, hilarious and deeply human moments in everyday life. You’ll know her from shows like Would I Lie To You?, Taskmaster, Meet the Richardsons, The Celebrity Traitors, and so much more, as well as from her acclaimed stand-up and writing.

In today’s conversation, we travel from an out-of-season teenage trip to Magaluf, to sneaking off to Torquay in search of surfers, falling in love with Menorca, finding magic in New York and New Orleans, and the spiritual pull of Robin Hood’s Bay. We also talk about Hull, panel shows, pad Thai on tour, Celebrity Traitors secrets, travelling with Johnny Vegas, and her brilliant new tour, Bad at Quiz Shows, Good with Weirdos, which begins this September.

Holly's Destination Recap

• Coworth Park, England

Lucy's Destination Recap

• Magaluf, Mallorca, Spain
• Truro, Cornwall, England
• Torquay, Devon, England
• Newquay, Cornwall, England
• Hull, England
• Hornsea, Yorkshire, England
• Ciutadella, Menorca, Spain
• Deià, Mallorca, Spain
• Kavos, Greece
• Ibiza, Spain
• New York City, USA
• Brooklyn, New York, USA
• New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire, England
• Whitby, Yorkshire, England
• Montenegro
• Croatia
• Maldives
• St Lucia

Tickets are available for Lucy's new tour, Bad at Quiz Shows, Good with Weirdos, which begins this September.

Thank you to the London Marriot County Hall for having us to film the episode.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is one of the defining reality TV stars of the last decade. Charlotte Crosby first burst onto our screens on Geordie Shore, one of the biggest reality shows of the 2010s - a show that became a global phenomenon and completely changed the course of her life, taking her from the north of England to filming and working all over the world. Since then, she’s built a huge international following, particularly in Australia, where she’s become a familiar face on primetime TV. And as you’ll hear, travel has completely shaped who she is today. From Southshields to Sydney, Spain to Canada, I know you’re going to love this one

Holly's Destination Recap:

• The Glass house, Lakes by Yoo, England, UK

Destination Recap:

• Sunderland – England, UK
• Wolsingham – England, UK
• Whitley Bay – England, UK
• South Shields – England, UK
• Tunisia
• Sydney – Australia
• Bondi Beach – Australia
• Coogee – Australia
• Darling Harbour – Australia
• Cairns – Australia
• Great Barrier Reef – Australia
• Arctic Circle – Norway / Arctic Region
• Hutterite Communities (Canada) – Canada
• Altea – Spain
• Beni Jofré (Benejúzar area) – Spain
• Ios – Greece
• Bahamas – Bahamas

Bestselling author and reality TV star Charlotte Crosby teams up with Loveholidays to encourage Brits to get reading on holiday

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is someone whose voice - and face - I think most of us know instantly. Dermot O'Leary has been such a constant in British life for years now, from hosting The X Factor, to his Friday slot on This Morning, to his weekend shows on BBC Radio 2.

He’s had this really varied career - presenting everything from major live events like the Brit Awards and BAFTAs, to documentaries, and his more recent travel and food series Taste of Ireland with Dermot O’Leary on ITV, which is back for a second season.

What I loved about this conversation is how much of his life has been shaped by travel. He grew up in an Irish family, going back and forth between England and Ireland, with those long childhood journeys to Wexford becoming some of his earliest memories. And that sense of place, of identity, of belonging really runs through everything he talks about in this episode.

So today, we’re diving into the seven chapters of Dermot’s travel diaries, from those childhood summers in Ireland, to travelling solo across America, winter escapes to Norway to the Italian region that’s completely stolen his heart.

Holly’s Destination Recap:

- Priesteregg Resort, Leogang, Austria

Dermot’s Destination Recap:

• Soneva Fushi, Maldives
• Wexford, Ireland
• Curracloe Beach, Ireland
• Cahore, Ireland
• St Davids, United Kingdom
• Fishguard, United Kingdom
• Dordogne, France
• Atlantic Coast France, France
• Norfolk, United Kingdom
• Bodrum, Turkey
• Donegal, Ireland
• Sligo, Ireland
• Causeway Coastal Route, United Kingdom
• Ballycastle, United Kingdom
• Portrush, United Kingdom
• Portstewart, United Kingdom
• Derry, United Kingdom
• Coleraine, United Kingdom
• New York City, United States
• Washington DC, United States
• New Orleans, United States
• Los Angeles, United States
• Hermosa Beach, United States
• Seattle, United States
• Puglia, Italy
• Salento, Italy
• Oslo, Norway
• Bygdøy, Norway
• Lofoten Islands, Norway
• Bergen, Norway
• Kirkenes, Norway
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Japan, Japan
• South Korea, South Korea
• New England, United States
• Maine, United States

DERMOT O'LEARY'S TASTE OF IRELAND kicks off on Saturday 2nd May on ITV 1 and ITVX, in partnership with Tourism Ireland

With thanks to…

Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.

EZRA - You can use the code EzraUK300 for £300 credit towards a scan.

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.