Blog

Exploring Darkness And Accepting Our Animal Nature With Tiffany Francis-Baker

Experiencing the dark of night can help connect us with nature and perhaps we need to tap into that animal side more often in order to respect the cycle of the seasons, renew our energy and our mental health, and help wildlife that need it to survive.

In this interview, we also talk about the attraction of pagan fire festivals and the Northern Lights, the power of light in the darkness, and how it connects to something primal deep within.

Tiffany Francis-Baker is a nature writer and illustrator. Her latest book is Dark Skies: A Journey Into the Wild Night.

Show notes

The attraction of exploring the natural world at night and why we need dark skies
Reconnection with our wilder selves and the importance of seasons in nature and our lives
Pagan fire festivals and the Northern Lights
How local exploration has increased during the pandemic
The relationship between writing and illustration
Recommended books on travel and nature

You can find Tiffany Francis at TiffanyFrancisBaker.com

Journeys In Search Of Ourselves. Secular Pilgrimage With Victoria Preston

Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What does pilgrimage mean when you don’t adhere to a particular religious tradition? Can we find ever find ourselves when we travel, or will we be forever searching?

Victoria Preston has roamed far and wide in her 30 years advising corporate and government clients around the world. She is an associate fellow at the King’s Centre for Strategic Communications, and her latest book is We Are Pilgrims: Journeys in Search of Ourselves.

Show notes

What is secular pilgrimage?
The animal urge to move, particularly in the spring
Balancing solitude and traveling with others
Places that resonate through the ages
Does the search for art and beauty create the desire for pilgrimage?
Being ‘hefted’ or rooted to a place and the meaning of home
Can we ever find ourselves on journeys?
Recommended travel books

You can find Victoria Preston at WhyPilgrim.com

Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark, London

Dark Travel

Southwark is a diverse area, with the upmarket foodie destination of Borough Market, the historic grandeur of Southwark Cathedral, the towering wealth of The Shard, and the memorial garden for the Outcast Dead, Cross Bones.

Crossbones garden London Photo by JFPenn — Crossbones Garden within sight of The Shard, London. Photo by JFPenn

In medieval times, the Bishops of Winchester licensed sex work in Southwark, known then as The Liberty of the Clink. The women were known as Winchester Geese, and even though the church took funds from the sex trade, they didn’t allow the women and their illegitimate children to be buried in consecrated ground.

Instead, they were buried in Cross Bones Graveyard.

Curiosity, Wonder, And Serendipity. Hidden Travel with Steve Brock

Inner Travel, Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sometimes it’s not the most iconic travel destinations that resonate most with us. Sometimes it’s the hidden places and the unexpected moments that echo in our memories many years later.

In this episode, Steve Brock talks about how we can cultivate curiosity and blend serendipity with planning to make the most of our travels, as well as finding hidden places closer to home, and how we can use the different senses of time to make more of our travel experiences.

Stephen W. Brock is the author of Hidden Travel: The Secret To Extraordinary Trips. He’s also a photographer and his website, Explore Your Worlds, focuses on the intersection of travel and creativity.

Show notes

Finding hidden places close to home
Planning trips while leaving room for serendipity and new discovery
Why curiosity is a practice we need to develop to make the most of travel
How the memorable moments of travel might be the ones you don’t plan for
Different experiences of time — kairos vs chronos
Recommended travel books

You can find Stephen Brock at ExploreYourWorlds.com

Cathedrals, Dark History, And Coffee Culture. Vienna With Katharina Bordet

Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Vienna brings to mind images of grand architecture, the sounds of classical music, and the smell of coffee and sacher torte.

In this interview with Katarina Bordet, we explore the Gothic and Baroque churches, the museums, and the iconic coffee shops, as well as the darker places to visit — the asylum, the catacombs, and the echoes of psychiatry and fascism. The city is dense with history and culture, and we can only brush the surface today, but I hope you enjoy the interview.

Katharina Bordet is an Austrian fantasy and nonfiction author as well as a lawyer, podcaster, and photographer.

Show notes

Cathedrals, churches, and grand architecture
Catacombs, the asylum, churchyard, and darker places to visit
Vienna’s coffee culture, cafe recommendations, and the importance of cake
Music and opera in Vienna including outdoor venues
Local crafts and food at the Christmas Markets
The Viennese personality
Recommended books set in Vienna

You can find Katharina Bordet at bruadarach.at

Complicated Histories, Sichuan, and Tibet. The Other Shangri-La With Shivaji Das

Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode, we escape to the mountains of the Tibetan Highlands, which lie at the intersection of the Sichuan and Yunan provinces in China, in search of Shangri-La.

Shivaji Das talks about the stunning natural beauty in this remote place, and we also discuss the cultural clashes in the region and the people he met along the way. We talk about complicated histories, and how our view of a place is shaped by who we are and our perspective on the world — and also how others see us.

Shivaji Das is an award-winning Indian writer, traveler, international speaker, and photographer, now based in Singapore.
His books include Angels by the Murky River: Travels off the Beaten Path; Journeys with the Caterpillar: Traveling through the islands of Flores and Sumba, Indonesia; and today we’re talking about The Other Shangri-La: Journeys through the Sino-Tibetan Frontier in Sichuan.

Show notes

The attraction of remote and unusual places
The origins of Shangri-La
Some of the historical, religious, and cultural issues that make the Tibetan plains a complicated area
The architecture, people, and food of the area
The value of traveling as a multi-cultural partnership
Recommended travel books

You can find Shivaji Das at ShivajiDas.com

Follow Jo Frances Penn