Indie Travel Podcast (enhanced)

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157 - Things to do in New York City Jul 02, 2010

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New York is an incredible city - we've just discovered that six days is in no way enough. We caught a lot of the highlights though, such as the Empire State Building, MOMA, the Met, and the Circle Line. For more information on travel in New York City, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/things-to-do-in-new-york-city/

156 - World Cup wines of South Africa Jun 24, 2010

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Wine and football aren't the most obvious of combinations, but today we talk with Tara O'Leary, the Wine Passionista, about South Africa and wine travel. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

155 - South America travel: Chile, Uruguay and Argentina Jun 18, 2010

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It's our last week in South America, travelling with our friends Angela and Janine. It's been an amazing trip and we're sad that it's coming to an end. In this episode, we talk about some of our experiences in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. For show notes, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

154 - South America travel: Peru and Bolivia Jun 14, 2010

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We're coming to the end of our four-month trip in South America, and we've had an awesome time. In this episode we talk about our time in Peru and Bolivia, travelling with our friends Angela and Janine. Peru After being delayed by the Chilean earthquake, we arrived a little late in Lima, but managed to meet Ange and Mark on the day they arrived in the country. We headed north and spent too little time in the northern cities of Trujillo, Chiclayo and Chachapoyas, which were amazing. We all really enjoyed our time in Arequipa and Cusco - especially the language lessons. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

153 - Women travel solo, interview with Stephanie Lee May 28, 2010

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We're just days away from launching our new ebook, The Art of Solo Travel: A Girls' Guide by Stephanie Lee. Today we wanted to introduce Stephanie and her take on travel. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/girlsguide or http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/153-interview-art-solo-travel-author-stephanie-lee

152 - Visit Iguacu Falls May 15, 2010

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A visit to the Iguaçu Falls is a must on many travellers' itinerary of South America. And for good reason - they are incredible. You can view the falls from both Brazil and Argentina, and each side provides quite a different experience. We were staying in Puerto Iguazu, which is in Argentina, and we visited both sides from this point. It's equally easy to base yourself in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, which is a much bigger city. Brazil: getting there The border crossing between Argentina and Brazil was very straightforward. We decided to use the hostel-organised transfer instead of going independently, which would have meant three buses and a lot of time-wasting. So we crossed by car and didn't even have to get out - we passed our passports to our driver Susanna, who gave them to the border guards. They were stamped and we were in - possibly the easiest border crossing ever, although the Brazilian stamps are incredibly boring. Brazil: Pros and cons When we arrived, we realised that we didn't have any real, and apparently none of our credit cards were suitable for use. We withdrew cash at the ATM with no problems though. It cost R$37, which seemed a fair price to us. For more information visit:

151 - Vantastic Victoria Australia May 05, 2010

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Tim Ackroyd spent six weeks touring Victoria, one of our favourite Australian states, as part of the WorldNomads Vantastic Adventure. We caught up with Tim to talk about his experiences and help you plan your own Australian road trip. Tim says... I have been making the video podcast 'Snowfix' for the last 5 years. It basically came about when a friend and I did our first ski season, we decided we wanted to keep skiing but didn't want to do the horrible resort jobs, so we started making videos. Within one year we had created the world's most popular skiing/snowboarding podcast and also turned it into a TV show on the Extreme Sports Channel on sky all across Europe. When I am not making the show, in the summer I move back to London and due to the short amount of time I am around for, generally live with Aussies that are over here travelling. Subsequently I have been saying for years that I was going to do a big trip and visit all those guys I lived with, and the Vantastic tour seems the perfect chance. This is going to be a total whirlwind 2 months for me because running up to the trip I am working presenting the London Freeze, the uk's biggest skiing/snowboard event (www.londonfreeze.com). The next day I fly to Oz for the trip and as soon as I return I travel back out to France to start this season of Snowfix. Expect strangers, sillyness, singing and special FX! For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/151-vantastic-road-trip-victoria-australia

150 - Bolivia in 10 days or less May 02, 2010

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We've spent the last ten days in Bolivia, which isn't really enough to do it justice. But we've had a great time and have learned a lot about travel in this beautiful South American country. Border crossing The border between Peru and Bolivia is easy to cross. We went by bus, and the bus stopped outside the police station to allow us to hand in our tourist cards - it's really important that you don't lose this little piece of paper! You'll get it when you enter Peru. After the police station, we went to immigration for our exit stamp, then walked about 200m up the road to the Bolivian offices, where we filled in forms and got our entry stamps. Despite the fact that as Kiwis we can stay for up to 90 days, they only gave us 30-day visas ... apparently we can extend them in La Paz, but we didn't get the full quota automatically. And the border crossing wasn't easy for all of us. Ange's passport had been stolen in Cusco, and though she'd got a replacement travel document and had a full police report of what had happened, apparently this wasn't good enough for the Peruvian border guards. She needed an entry stamp, which she apparently had to get back in Cusco, but of course her travel document was only valid for that one day. Luckily a one-off fee solved the problem, and we were allowed to leave the country. Copacabana and the Isla del Sol Copacabana is a tiny little tourist town perched on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Its lack of ATMs made it difficult to get cash - always make sure you have a stash of emergency money for this kind of situation. US dollars are definitely the currency of choice to carry around in South America, and we found the exchange rates at the border and in Copacabana to be very reasonable. Copacabana is a good jumping-off point for tours to the Isla del Sol. You can camp or stay in a hostal on the island, but we chose to do a one-day trip. It was very well-priced: it would have cost us about the same to do the same thing independently. We were dropped off at one end of the island, and the boat met us on the other side. We've noticed that the Bolivians are much more concerned about time than the Peruvians - both boat trips left very nearly on time, and anyone who wasn't there to get on the boat was left behind. Bus journeys Bus travel in Bolivia has been an experience. It's a step down from Peru, which in turn was a step down from the excellent service in Chile. The trip from Copacabana to La Paz included a surprise boat trip, which we hadn't been told about and had to pay for. We had planned to get more cash from an ATM in La Paz and so didn't have much money, but luckily we'd changed a little more just before we left. We went across on a motorboat while the bus crossed by a wooden barge. It was interesting, to say the least! The bus from La Paz to Uyuni had a different seat configuration from the one we'd been shown when we booked our tickets, so we weren't in the seats we wanted, and our group wasn't sitting together. There also seemed to be a lot of extra stops along the way, despite the fact that we'd been told that it was a direct service. La Paz La Paz is a sprawling city with a lot of markets and hills. It's the highest city in the world, so altitude might be a problem for some - luckily coca tea is easy to come by, which should help you out. There's also a lot of excellent street food to try, like papa rellena (deep-fried stuffed mashed potatoes), freshly-squeezed juices, doughnuts and other gems. There are a lot of taxis to choose from in La Paz, but use ones with a radio for security. They should call their base to let the base know where they're headed and with how many people. As always in South America, agree on a fare before you get into the car, and if you don't feel safe, choose another taxi. For more visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/travel-bolivia-safety/

149 - Cusco, Peru ... We're ba-ack Apr 25, 2010

Show notes

We've spent the last three weeks in Cusco, studying Spanish, enjoying the history, and being frustrated with problems here on the site. we haven't done all the touristy things, but we've been enjoying relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere. Cusco Cusco is incredible. It's supposed to be laid out like a puma, but we haven't really seen it. It's in a valley, with the centre of action as the Plaza de Armas. Up one side of the valley is the hippy district of San Blas, with the head of the puma at the top. That's where the iconic White Christ is situated, with the Sacsaywaman fortress nearby. Food One thing that we love about travel is the food. And Cusco has a lot of it. We enjoyed juice and beer milkshake in the market, lots and lots of menus del dia, and the street food was varied and interesting. It was just sad that we only found that empanada vendor near our school in our last week. Things to do There's heaps to do around Cusco. It's the jumping-off point for Machu Picchu, and if you don't want to pay through the nose, there are lots of other ruins nearby too. We loved Tipon and our visit to the Sacred Valley with our friend Renzo. ATMs We've done a bit of experimenting here in Peru to find the best ATMs. Globalnet is really prevalent, and is often found in shops and hotels, but they have a limit of 400 soles and they charge you on this end to withdraw cash. We like BCP, which has a 700 sol limit and there's one in the Plaza de Armas and one around the corner on Avenida del Sol. School We've been studying at Wiracocha Spanish Language school on Cuesta San Blas, which is situated in the hilly hippie district of San Blas. There's a lot of nice places to stay around here, though the backpacker district is on the other side of the Plaza de Armas. We really enjoyed Cusco, and it's definitely worth a visit. Make sure you see what it has to offer, don't just get caught up in the tourist trail.

148 - Travel safety and security advice Mar 26, 2010

Show notes

I find it strange that concerns about safety are some of the main reasons people don't like to travel. Demolishing those fears is one of the things we like to do around here. Today we speak with travel security expert Craig Bidois, who covers travel safety strategies before leaving home, during transit times and while you are in foreign lands. For more, see http://indietravelpodcast.com

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