“Return to Travel” is an audio travelogue excerpt from the first 10 days of our family travel to France, Spain and Portugal, in early 2023. I documented our daily experiences and activities, with insights and commentary on-location, including authentic audio from the streets of Lisbon and Madrid, riding the Paris Metro, or sur le pont d’Avignon.
Available here or on all major podcast apps.
Travel Podcast producer Ted Cragg steps out from his home studio in Canada to embark on his own great adventure, spending 3 months, primarily in Portugal, slow travelling with his wife Emilie and their two young kids, 5 and 7 years old.
It’s been 11 years since the end of their last great trip (pre-kids, of course!), a ’round-the-world odyssey over 15 months. Since then, travel for them has been limited, and slow travel nonexistent.
However, 2023 suddenly represented an opportunity to reconnect with that life. They decided to seize the moment and pick up where they left off, 11 years later.
This podcast documents the daily experience of travel as a family in 2023. Practical info for parents, travel tips for Portugal and beyond, and observations and reflections on travel, and how it has changed and evolved.
Ted produces travel podcasts, such as Destination Morocco, and hosts his own regular show, Travel Podcast the World, which profiles other travel podcasters, sharing advice and insight on the craft.
Now, he puts that advice into practice, in a bold new audio adventure.
We knew winter in Portugal would be a little damp and rainy, but were hopeful that that would be contained to the great outdoors.
Turns out Portuguese apartments, like many across Europe, are lacking in a bit of insulation. Our apartment is also lacking in having any source of heat. We have nothing. Our only source of heat is the sun, on our little front balcony, when it comes out.
So it was off to the local store to purchase an electric heater. For 24 hours, it helped, but then it conked out. Stay tuned to this part of the story to see what happens next, if we can get a refund or exchange, and if that will maybe last a bit longer.
Meanwhile we’re figuring out how to stay dry, and thus warm, and not letting it get to us. We pile on the extra layers and whatever non-musty blankets we can find.
The sun came out today at least in full force, and that made a huge difference. Wandering around the local neighbourhood gives a very authentic glimpse of daily life in urban Portugal, from corner stores and fruit markets to little playgrounds and lots of graffiti.
We’re starting to feel adjusted settled. But is there anything else we can do about the damp?
* The view in this episode’s cover art picture is of the National Pena Palace on top of the distant hill, from the corner of our balcony.
