The World Awaits travel podcast | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Expert travel packing tips with @StyledBy Sally | The World Awaits podcast

Are you a carry-on queen trapped in an overpacker’s body? I’m sharing some expert travel packing tips on our travel podcast this week.

Melbourne stylist Sally Mackinnon is founder of the viral @styledbysally instagram account, and my guest on of The World Awaits podcast. She shares with me her packing hacks and how you can genuinely travel stylishly with carry-on only.

She talks through what she describes as the magical Sudoku packing method. Jump onto the podcast to hear the full ep, with more fantastic packing and travel style tips on the current ep. Try it and tell me if it works – I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Sally also shares ideal boarding outfit, which has no whiff of a hoodie about it. “I do think we’ve lost the plot with plane travel style,” she says. “There’s nothing wrong with making an effort. Because how you dress influences the way you feel.”

For more great fashion and travel tips, grab a copy of Sally’s book, Styled: How to dress as your most stylish self.

And huge news – I have launched my travel-writing tour of Algeria, departing March 2027! Join me on an adventure through the Sahara and souqs, kasbahs and the footprints of civilisations past!

Also this episode, we ask what’s your take on Aussie airline Jetstar‘s new luggage charges, which now includes charging for carry-on luggage? I’m reading AirlineRatings.com‘s take on the new way to charge, which says Jetstar has traded size for weight. Click here to read:

https://www.airlineratings.com/articles/jetstar-just-did-australian-travellers-a-favour-but-nobody-wants-to-hear-it

Why now is the best time to visit Afghanistan: The World Awaits podcast

Come to Central Asia’s forgotten country, Afghanistan.

I’ve long been fascinated by Afghanistan, since I first read historian William Dalrymple’s inspiring book In Xanadu; A Quest, and followed Irish travel doyenne Dervla Murphy, who cycled through Central Asia in the 1960s.

So I am very proud to bring this interview to you on my travel podcast, The World Awaits, about travelling in Afghanistan.

If you asked, “Why, of all times, would you run a story about the region now?” I’d respond, “If not now, then when?” Australia’s government foreign advisory

website Smartraveller has kept its advice, ‘Do Not Go’ unchanged for 20 years.

My guests are James Willcox of extreme travel group Untamed Borders, and also author of the new Brandt guidebook to Afghanistan, and Fatima Haidari, Afghanistan’s first female tour guide.

From Herat and now living in Italy, Fatima leads virtual tours through Afghanistan, a tribal country with enormous diversity. She talks not only about the tours, but the impact tourism has upon her country, from the natural beauty of Bamiyan, chaotic, crowded Kabul and the poetic heart of Herat.

“Isolation is the worst way to punish a population,” says Fatima, who shares the profit from the tours with a women’s education charity she established in Afghanistan. “Because the media is so heavily censored, tourism is one way to help open up the country. It helps local businesses and helps us to get out of isolation just a little bit.”

Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or via our website https://theworldawaits.au

You can join Fatima’s virtual tours here https://untamedborders.com/itinerary/virtual-tours-with-fatima-afghanistan/

And take a tour with Untamed Borders https://untamedborders.com/

The Bradt guidebook to Afghanistan https://www.bradtguides.com/product/afghanistan-pb/

Champions of the Golden Valley https://www.championsofthegoldenvalley.com/

Secret Marathon Film https://thesecretmarathon.com/

Untamed Borders’ founder James Willcox

Podcast links

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/5eRb6ckSE286bxJugtDuRf?si=48279324689b4b0a
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-141-travelling-in-afghanistan-keeping-your-eyes/id1689931283?i=1000760319714

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