Claim OwnershipSimon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
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Simon Calder is the Independent’s travel correspondent, the UK’s leading travel journalist. From news updates to discussions with experts, Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast will bring you all you need to know from the world of travel.
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(* Though, as Dara Brady, Chief Marketing Officer of Europe’s biggest budget airline has been telling me, if you need a boarding pass printed out at the airport staff will do that for free, so long as you have already checked in online.)This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Five years ago, Cat Jones created a start-up to use smart tech solutions (coupled, often, with Interrail passes) to deliver tailor-made journey by rail, sea and bus across Europe.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I am at London Gatwick airport, location of easyJet's biggest base, to celebrated the 30th birthday – on Monday – of Britain's biggest budget airline. Since 10 November 1995, aviation has been democratised, giving us wider horizons than ever. I've been talking to Bill Rivett, captain of the first historic flight from Luton to Glasgow. Turns out he was on secondment from British Airways to GB Airways, the small airline easyJet initially hired to do the flying ...This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today I'm at World Travel Market, the UK's biggest travel trade event, and talking to Lara Paxton of New Scientist Discovery Tours about the prospects for a new kind of adventure: whether searching for dinosaur traces in the Gobi Desert, or visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN outside Geneva.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Four weeks ago the MP for Barnsley South took over the tourism brief: a real challenge, in my view, with visitor numbers and spend last year lower than pre-Covid. I've been hearing about her vision for boosting business, and in particular broadening the appeal of the UK beyond London. To places such as Yorkshire ...This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Caledonian Sleeper has long linked London Euston with Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland, as well as Inverness and Aberdeen. From 15 January 2026, the overnight train will call at Birmingham International, serving the city's airport. I've been hearing more from two Caledonian Sleeper executives: Interim Managing Director Graham Kelly and Head of Sales & Marketing, Steven Marshall.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Everyone's heart must go to the injured and their families, as well as passengers and train crew, after the appalling knife attack on an LNER train south of Peterborough on Saturday night. The horrifying incident was handled with great professionalism and heroism by LNER staff and the police. But it raises wider questions about security on trains. I have also heard an account from Adam Gill, who was travelling in the opposit direction – and also has nothing but praise for the way train staff responded.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After airlines, domestic railways and a cruise line, the bearded billionaire is set to bring better service and lower fares on international trains to the Continent – but not until 2030.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jack's Flight Club is an enterprise that specialises in finding exceptional deals on tickets to Europe and beyond. I've always been intrigued about how it works – and Head of Community and Content, Katy Maclure, has been revealing the inner workings. “We're the guys who do the hard graft and let you know when the price is right.”This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the Moldovan capital, deep set in autumn, I've been enjoying a walk and talk with Irina – who helps tourists make the most of a beautiful and intriguing city. Just search for "free tour Chisinau" – and of course tip, between 100 and 200 lei (£4.50-£9).This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The latest UK regional airline to closed down is Eastern Airways, which linked Aberdeen with Teesside, Humberside and Wick airports as well as flying between Gatwick and Newquay. What happens next?This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
At the weekend I was in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, to report on the finish of the latest Lupine Travel race across Europe. Chatting to past winner and pal of mine Bram Houtenbos, I learnt he had a fabulous city-centre apartment with a spare room. Yes, I could split the cost with him – a real win-win! Except that in the early hours of the morning, things started to unravel... This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aviation analyst Sean Moulton tells me about some of the new routes, which include Pakistan International returning to the UK. Aberdeen to Paris and Manchester to Ljubljana are among his other highlights.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The British Library, right next door to London St Pancras International, has a new exhibition – opening tomorrow, Friday 24 October – about the way that cartography has been used to conceal and confuse through the ages. I toured a preview with Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet, who has supported the project.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My guest today is Richard Hammond, founder of Green Traveller – an organisation that aims to provide news and inspiration about lower-carbon holidays. We're talking at a time when the Berlin-Paris sleeper train is about to come to a shuddering halt. But Richard says competition between rail firms can lead to the kind of growth we saw with low-cost airlines. And we bonded with our mutual fondness for FlixBus.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Travel desk Tuesday – and my colleague, senior travel writer Natalie Wilson, has been writing about a Visit Sweden initiative that seeks to promote physical and mental well-being for the traveller to Scandinavia (as well as boosting the fortunes of the local travel industry). Travel anywhere, in my experience, is always a restorative.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
That's the claim from aviation analyst Sean Moulton, who I met in his home town, Manchester. We talked about the way Britain's third-biggest airport – after Heathrow and Gatwick – is getting more intercontinental links, and becoming a hub between Asia and North America.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the year 2000, two travel professionals with experience across Africa teamed up to create a safari camp that brings together nature, community, energy and inspiration in Kenya's Maasai Mara. A quarter-century on, my guest Greg Monson and his partner Paul Goldstein are still working their socks off to provide great travel experiences that support the community and preserve the environment.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On a shiny 21st-century train with just one careful previous owner, I am talking to Richard Allan – managing director of Chiltern Railways – about new rolling stock for a network that currently relies on trains nearly half a century old.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
At London St Pancras International, hub for Eurostar – and one of three locations in the UK where passport control is carried out before departing for France – I caught up with Alex Norris, Minister for Border Security and Asylum.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hi. Over the last few days the introductory music is so loud that it is difficult to hear Simon.