After two months abroad, Erin and Kattie finally reunite over a stable internet connection and talk about Erin's 150 day trip so far! They discuss the highlights from Tanzania and Sri Lanka - like what happened to Erin's Teva's on Safari and the memorable hike up Sri Pada at the crack of dawn - and how Erin's body has been hanging in there... Up next... NEPAL! If you're a fan of the show, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review Curious Tourism: Responsible Travel Podcast! Follow us on social media @curioustourismpod. Read Erin's award-winning blog, Pina Travels.Subscribe to Kattie's po ..read more

Erin and Kattie sit down together to chat about Erin's big news, big year, and big travel plans for 2024! Happy Holidays! If you're a fan of the show, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review Curious Tourism: Responsible Travel Podcast! Follow us on social media @curioustourismpod. Read Erin's award-winning blog, Pina Travels.Subscribe to Kattie's podcasting newsletter, Pod the North. CREDITS Written and Hosted by: Erin Hynes Producer: Kattie Laur Music from Motion Array Logo by Nicole Hall ..read more

Spending time outdoors is a big part of travel and tourism. But the outdoors are vulnerable, and it’s important that we all know how to enjoy them responsibly. Erin chats with Taryn Aighton, a Leave No Trace Master Educator and a former member of the board of directors of Leave No Trace Canada, about what it actually means to "leave no trace". They also unpack gatekeeping the outdoors. Is it good to gatekeep? Is it bad? Let’s find out.  Erin and Kattie also have a fun discussion looking back on the wild ride that was Season 6, Taylor Swift's impact on tourism, and Erin's recent trip to ..read more

We all have a responsibility to share our travels mindfully. This is because what we post on social media, write, or say about the places we visit, has the power to shape perceptions, maintain unfair stereotypes, and perpetuate colonial views.  Erin chats with Vincie Ho, a linguist, educator, social justice advocate, and the founder of RISE Travel Institute. The RISE Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire responsible, impactful, sustainable, and ethical travel through education.  If you're a fan of the show, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and revi ..read more

Is it responsible to visit zoos? Some argue that animals in zoos suffer physically and mentally by being enclosed. But zoos can also be really important for conservation, and make learning about wildlife more widely accessible. To learn more about the industry of zoos, aquariums, and roadside animal attractions, we're chatting with Stacia Lock. She explains the ethics behind zoos, and what it’ll take to make animal and wildlife tourism more responsible.   Guest: Stacia Lock Resources: https://stumblesafari.com/wildlife-vs-animal-tourism-whats-the-difference/ https://stumblesafari.com/aza ..read more

In 2021, a documentary came out that addresses the inconvenient truths of the tourism industry. The Last Tourist explores the benefits, and the harms of tourism, as well as the myriad of social issues that factor into the current tourism landscape. Ultimately, the film argues that tourism has reached a tipping point.  Today on Curious Tourism, the responsible travel podcast, we’re chatting with Tyson Sadler, the director behind The Last Tourist. Tyson shares with us some of the themes that come up in the film - like, why we need to address value chains in tourism. And, he shares his tho ..read more

Thinking back to the flights you've taken in the last few years, how many times have you noticed a woman-identifying pilot boarding the plane, or making those in-flight announcements? According to 2020 data from the FAA's Aeronautical Center, about 7% of commercial airline pilots that year were women, and it’s been reported that less than 1% of pilots in the US are Black women. Joi Schweitzer is part of that 1% and she joins the podcast to unpack the ins and outs of what it takes to become a pilot as a black woman and the state of represention in the skys. She also shares where her love of f ..read more

If you take a quick browse through travel media, you'll notice a lot of cliches like, "wild", "untouched", and "remote". These descriptions are commonly applied to places that are considered rural, and they might seem harmless. But often, these descriptions can play into misconceptions about places and usually lack the context behind why the places we visit are the way they are. Guest: Kathi Kamleitner is based in Glasgow, Scotland, and runs the travel podcast Wild for Scotland. She also runs a Scotland travel blog (Watch Me See) and plans custom itineraries, mostly for US-Americans and Cana ..read more

What is responsible tourism, really? We’ve been exploring this question for years, looking for tangible ways that we can be more responsible travelers. Today, we're moving away from the small individual things travelers can do, and talking about how collective action is an important piece of responsible tourism.  GUESTS:Zac Schraeder Nora Loreto HOW TO SUPPORT US:Alpaca My Bags is the podcast that is creating a platform for discussing travel through a critical lens and responsible travel. If you're a fan of the podcast, don't forget to subscribe, rate and review Alpaca My Bags!SUPPORT U ..read more

What is responsible travel? Here on Alpaca My Bags, we’ve been unpacking this question for years, looking for tangible ways that we can be more responsible travelers. Sure, we can cut down on how much we fly, and book small, independently owned hotels… but these are all individual actions.  Is it really fair to put the pressure on individual travelers to be responsible, when at the root, the real challenges in responsible tourism are systemic? On this season of Alpaca My Bags, we’re unpacking whether responsible tourism could be a larger social movement. We’ll talk about why it’s proble ..read more