Travelling Through... London, the World and Life

044 New Year’s Eve 2021 Reflections - What Has 2021 Meant To You?

EMMA, your podcast host, persuades her partner STEPHEN MARRIOTT (author, traveller and podcaster) to join her for a New Year's Eve walk on Wimbledon Common and reflect on what London, the world and life has meant to him in 2021.
What has 2021 meant to you? Perhaps our chat will encourage you to consider what the year has meant to you wherever you are in the world.
May 2022 bring you peace, laughter and adventure.
Happy New Year - and thank you for listening!
 
To find out more about Stephen check out his website: https://stephenrmarriott.com/
and on instagram @stephenrmarriott AND to check out his podcast go to https://www.marriottssidetrips.com/
 
To find out about your podcast host Emma you can go to https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk/
 
A big thanks to Mariska Martina at https://www.mariskamartina.com/ for creating our wonderful podcast jingle!

043 The Magic of Coincidences - ANTJE KUNST talks about Rights, Resolutions and Yoga

ANTJE KUNST is an International Lawyer, Childs’ Rights Advocate, and a Barrister (Lincoln’s Inn).
She was born in Friesland near the Nordsee in Germany but her working life as a lawyer has nearly always been abroad. It began in India from where her love of the country flourished. She subsequently worked in the Gaza Strip from 1999 for over 5 years and then came to Kosovo with the United Nations. Her experience brought her to London and as well as working on issues relating to international staff disputes, Antje’s interests diversified into anti-corruption awareness, and also Childs’ Rights – an interest sparked by a legal case involving her niece’s rights as a blind child, attending a main stream school in London. This raised Antje’s interests in disabled children in institutions and children’s homes - a global problem where parents hand over their children to institutions in the belief that they will better care for their child, as they feel unable to adequately carry out this role at home due to the lack of community support but it is very often the case that, sadly, the children do not receive the depth of love they need and would get from their parents.
Antje talks of meeting Janis McDavid who was born with no arms or legs and how his involvement as a motivational speaker in Sri Lanka, raised the awareness of being disabled and has become a huge motivator for parents’ of disabled children. His belief being, as Antje put is, “if I can do it, you can do it clearly, as you are not disabled without arms and legs.”
Antje met with a former Travelling Through customer Veronica Yates of CRINS (Childs’ Rights International Network) who has subsequently moved to Berlin and talks of the magic of coincidences.
Antje has travelled throughout India, Syria, Damascus, Jordan, and Lebanon.
These are Antje’s thoughts on London, the world and life.
 
TO GET IN CONTACT WITH ANTJE:
Email: antjekunst@pavocatchambers.com
Facebook: @antje.kunst
Website: https://pavocatchambers.com
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST HOST: www.travellingthrough.co.uk
THANKS AS ALWAYS TO MARISKA @mariskamartina for creating the PODCAST JINGLE
 

042 From The Boreal Forest To Avocados - ALICIA COLSON talks about the Human And Environmental Aspects of Archaeology

“What Can I Find Out, What Does It Tell Me?
I May Never Know, So I’m Okay With That”
 
ALICIA COLSON is an Archaeologist and Ethno-historian. Both disciplines have a huge role to play in protecting our environment as well as our human connections to the environment.
Alicia’s PhD research involved a complete survey of the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada’s section of the Boreal Forest – the results of which had greater consequences for her career in Canada than she had anticipated at the time.
She is a firm believer in Citizen Science i.e. the passing on of skills learned, to others who are interested and have not had the same opportunities due to circumstance. This work took her to the four corner states (Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and Arizona), and also to Namibia, where she and a group climbed a section of the Brandenburg Mountain to record rock paintings.
Alicia believes that “the mindset you have will dictate the bits of information that you put together to try and understand your puzzle”. Her work with indigenous Cree or Ojibway speakers of the Boreal Forest has involved listening to those who have a tradition of recording their history through oral memory rather than the written word. They are animists believing that everything around them is alive whether it’s the tree, the rock, etc and we are one part of many living components. With respect to the Boreal Forest, Alicia says, “It’s a huge lung, (and) incredibly fragile.”
Alicia has worked with the British Exploring Society, she is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), a co-founder of the digital magazine Exploration Revealed, supports the online platform Women Also Know History, and writes Food Archaeology articles for WONK magazine.
“I don’t know whether you can say knowledge is cool,
But sometimes I think it is.”
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALICIA
Instagram: @alicia_colson
Twitter: @colson_alicia
RGS: https://www.rgs.org/geography/news/wiley-research-fellowships-alicia-colson-and-sher/
Women Also Know History: https://womenalsoknowhistory.com
Exploration Revealed: https://www.ses-explore.org/explorationrevealed
WONK Magazine – Avocado Article: https://www.wonkmagazine.co.uk/post/food-archaeology-avocado
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST HOST: www.travellingthrough.co.uk
THANKS AS ALWAYS TO MARISKA @mariskamartina for creating the PODCAST JINGLE

041 From Scottish Mountains To The Mayan Underworld: JENNIFER WALLACE talks about Academia and Beyond

JENNIFER WALLACE is a literature academic and an author of fiction and non-fiction. Her most recent works are Digging The Dirt, Digging Up Milton (brilliantly imagined from minimal primary information, and set in London’s St Giles, Cripplegate in the heart of the Barbican, and Tragedy Since 9/11.
Jennifer splits her time between writing in London and fulfilling her role as Director of Studies in English at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge. Her doctorate studies were in Romantic Hellenism and she has a particular love of the writings of Shelley, Byron and Keats - all of whom have led her on many a travel adventure following in their footsteps – and in her words, “poets who thought poetry could change the world”.
Jennifer was born in London but her formative years were spent in Edinburgh where her love of walking in Scotland was first kindled and, as she admits in our podcast chat, “I find my mood lifting just being on the summit of anything.”
Alongside her husband, photo-journalist Robert Wallis, Jennifer visited and interviewed various members of the indigenous tribes in the state of Jharkhand in northeast India culminating in an exhibition at SOAS entitled A Disappearing World showcasing the destruction of the landscape and lives of these tribal groups by coal mining and industrial development.
While carrying out primary research for her book Digging The Dirt, Jennifer was fortunate enough to be taken to a newly discovered archaeological site in Belize, considered to be one of the entrances in to the Mayan Underworld.
Enjoy listening to Jennifer’s thoughts on London, the world, and life.
TO GET IN CONTACT WITH JENNIFER AND BUY HER BOOKS:
https://jenniferwallaceauthor.co.uk
Email Jennifer at: jmbw1@cam.ac.uk
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT JENNIFER IN RELATION TO ACADEMIA:
https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/people/Jennifer.Wallace
Facebook @Jennifer Wallace
Twitter: @jmbwallace1
 
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST HOST: www.travellingthrough.co.uk
THANKS AS ALWAYS TO MARISKA @mariskamartina for creating the PODCAST JINGLE
 

040 Come Back To Me, Then Go Away - GERRY KING talks about London, Memories and Writing Auto-Fiction

GERRY KING writes autobiographical fiction – commonly referred to as auto-fiction. Amongst other writings, he is the author of Lubin Tales and Smoke and Other Tales. His most recent book published by Tangent Books in September 2021 is entitled Come Back To Me, Then Go Away.
Gerry was born in Battersea (south London) and spent his early years there, Surrey and then Torquay. His father is the famous 1950s boxer known as the Torquay Tornado. Gerry’s teenage years were dominated by drink and drugs, a time in Borstal, a further time of drugs and crime before finally disengaging himself from addiction through fate, chance and his interest in writing, poetry and the arts.
Gerry believes that “if you are going to change, there’s got to be some honesty”.
Some people find change through self-help groups, he found it through art and writing. Even while in Borstal he had the opportunity to learn a skill but there was always the lure of drink and drugs. His goal every day was to get out of it, to function but it is always easier to stay the same than to change but he had a kind of “blind faith” that it would get better.
He looks back now and reflects, “I cannot believe how stupid I was!”
This is Gerry’s story of London, the world and life as we spend the first half of the podcast walking and talking from Liverpool St Station to Petticoat Lane and to his home. The second half of the podcast takes place in his council flat in the area where it is said that “if you have your foot in the gutter you are in Tower Hamlets, and if you have your foot on the pavement you are in the City”
TO GET IN CONTACT WITH GERRY AND BUY HIS BOOKS:
Email: GerardKing@gmail.com
Facebook @stealerant
BUY his Books from Tangent Books: www.tangentbooks.co.uk
Instagram: @gerrykingthewriter
MORE ABOUT GERRY here: www.zerolubin.wordpress.com
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PODCAST HOST: www.travellingthrough.co.uk
THANKS AS ALWAYS TO MARISKA @mariskamartina for creating the PODCAST JINGLE

039 Gelato for All Seasons - VITORIA SANVICENTE talks about Ice-Cream and Setting Up Candiero London

VITORIA SANVICENTE is Italian, although born in Brazil. She was brought up in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, but now considers herself a “Water-pudlian” – a term she has created for those living in Waterloo, London. Vitoria loves this area and so it’s no wonder that she persuaded her family to bring their gelato business to Lower Marsh. I was lucky enough to catch up with her recently to find out how it’s going – to taste the newly launched ginger gelato as well as a scoop of pistachio which is heavenly – and to talk all things ice cream and why they called the gelato Candiero London. If you haven’t been yet, go! And if you’re planning a trip to London – go! I’ll certainly be back to try out the winter ice cream (sorry, gelato!) selection, because why wouldn’t I with it's natural organic flavours and no artificial additions at all – so hope to see you there! Support genuine independent businesses when you can, wherever you can, because they care about their product, you, and the community!
You can JOIN MY MAILING LIST / FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA at https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk/
THANKS to MARISKA https://www.mariskamartina.com/ for creating our cheerful podcast jingle!
AND FINALLY, a big thanks to @CandieroLondon for hosting this podcast chat in their gelato laboratory (a little challenging to edit out the refrigerator/freezer sounds – apologies for this!) do follow them on Instagram & Facebook for opening times and gelato news!

038 Healing Our Oceans - LOUISA HOOPER talks about How We Can Make A Difference

LOUISA HOOPER is a Londoner born and bred. She was a regular customer at Travelling Through bookshop not suprisingly as she studied literature at University and equally has a penchant for travel. In 2019 Louisa took a three month sabbatical from her work with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to travel across Russia, through Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. During her travels she swims with sea horses under the stars and catches up with environmental initiatives one of which is to remove discarded fishing nets from the ocean.
Louisa's recent projects with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation focus on the importance of the ocean and its pivotal role in the environment. She talks about how language holds knowledge about the environment and why we need a healthy ocean. With the UK hosting the G7 Summit in June and the UN Climate Change Conference in November, the spotlight is on the UK and all it is doing to address environmental challenges in the 21st century.
Tune in to this podcast for an inspiring insight into Louisa's views and thoughts on environmental initiatives she has seen and been involved with in relation to London, the world and life.
To know more about Louisa Hooper click the following links:
https://gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/about-us/team/louisa-hooper/
Some links to things we discussed:
#OneLess bottle -  https://www.onelessbottle.org/ 
#OneLess pledge - https://www.onelessbottle.org/network/
#OneLess - https://www.wcl.org.uk/mayoral-environment-debate.asp
To get involved in ocean conservation where you are in the UK - https://www.mcsuk.org
Report on the benefits of a healthy ocean -  https://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SAS-Ocean-Climate-Report-2020-Digital.pdf
Climate Stories that Work -  https://youtu.be/Ig34VWcJ9CE
https://www.onroadmedia.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Six-ways-to-change-hearts-and-minds-about-climate-change.pdf
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation -  https://gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/
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TO KNOW MORE about your podcast host EMMA and JOIN HER MAILING LIST please go to https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk/
THANKS to MARISKA Martina at https://www.mariskamartina.com/ for creating our upbeat travelling through podcast jingle!
AND FINALLY, a big thanks to the Chelsea Physic Garden for hosting this podcast chat as we walked and talked.
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037 Representation Matters - TAYO JAIYESIMI talks about Her 5 to 9 Side Hustle

TAYO JAIYESIMI is also known as The Five To Nine Traveller : because life is more than your 9 to 5.
Tayo is first generation British/Nigerian and describes herself as a "Londoner by birth, a Jordie lass by nurture with Nigerian spice". She considers her five to nine life as precious in which she can explore, dance, travel and "do all the other bits away from work".
Tayo believes that the black experience is not a monolith and that representation matters in all segments of our society. She believes the world is a place to learn from and that travelling is just one big school trip.
Adventure and travel is her "side hustle" and in this podcast chat we talk about independent travel, Nigeria, food, dancing and how it feels to be "othered" in a predominantly white environment.
These are Tayo's thoughts on London, the world and life as we stroll alongside the Grand Union Canal on an overcast Saturday in March.
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TO LEARN MORE about TAYO you can visit her SOCIAL MEDIA sites:
Website/Blog: https://thefivetoninetraveller.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the5to9traveller/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the5to9traveller/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/5to9traveller/
We also talked about:
Online dancing with Giovanni Pernice:
https://www.instagram.com/pernicegiovann1/
AND... Women of Colour Outdoors:
https://www.instagram.com/woc_outdoors/
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TO KNOW MORE about your podcast host EMMA and JOIN HER MAILING LIST please go to https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk/
THANKS to MARISKA Martina at https://www.mariskamartina.com/ for creating our upbeat travelling through podcast jingle!
AND FINALLY, a big thanks to the Grand Union Canal and Capital Ring path for hosting this podcast chat as we walked and talked.
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