Indie Travel Podcast

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and the second most-visited city in the UK - and for good reason. Our Edinburgh travel guide features Edinburgh-based travel writer Andy Hayes.

As we travelled using the Eurorail/Eurail Global Pass, we took note of what we would have spent buying point-to-point tickets. Is a Eurail Pass worthwhile, or is it too expensive? Eurorail or Eurail? There's a little confusion over the terms Eurorail and Eurail. Basically, they're two terms for the same thing! The term Eurorail was replaced with Eurail a few years ago, so we're going to stick with that from now on. Our Europe train travel We had a 15-day Global Eurail Pass each, which meant we could travel in any of the countries covered by Eurail on fifteen individual days spread across the two-month validity of the pass. Every day that we wanted to use the pass, we wrote the date in the space provided. Our passes were checked every day that we used them, and usually stamped by the conductor - we'd heard stories of people trying to cheat the system using removable ink on their passes - this isn't going to work anymore.

Jane Meighan set off on her first big adventure at the age of 17, heading to Australia to spend three months there. Her family hadn't travelled a lot, so it was an eye-opening experience for her, and laid the foundations of her love for travel. Since then, she's spent a fair bit of time in Western Europe, visiting friends and enjoying the art - especially the Gaudi museum in Barcelona. As an environmentally conscious person, a comment made by a friend about her carbon footprint made Jane realise how much flying she was doing, and what that was doing to the environment. So she's decided to travel around the world by land and sea. She'll start in Edinburgh, and travel down the UK to catch a boat to Amsterdam before travelling slowly through Eastern Europe. The Trans-Siberian train will take her across Russia, and she'll travel by cargo ship from Shanghai to the States and from the other side of the States back to the UK after cross-country trip. Although Jane has got the big picture sorted out, she plans to organise the details as she goes along. A bit of research has of course helped a lot - she knows, for example, that it's a lot cheaper to buy trans-Siberian tickets in Moscow than book them from the UK. She'll use point-to-point tickets in Eastern Europe, buying as she goes to keep her options open.

La Tomatina is a giant tomato fight that’s held every year in Buñol, Spain, on the last Wednesday of August. There’s celebrations all week, but most people go just to throw tomatoes at each other, and this year we joined in the fun. We had a great time, but as always we learned a fair bit about what we could have done better. What we did right Arrived early Although the fight starts at 11am, you can’t get there at 10am and hope to be part of the action. The smart people are in the main square at 8am – we didn’t make it that early but we were there by nine. Didn’t prepare too much but knew where we were going We travelled by train, and we knew that the train we wanted left from San Isidre station and not from Valencia Nord, the main station in the centre of town. The night before, we worked out how to get to that station (by metro) and we got there as soon as we could. We’d tried to find out about train times, but couldn’t – which didn’t matter anyway, since there was a crowd waiting at the station and everyone just had to wait until the next train, whenever it might be. In Buñol, we followed the crowd to the main square, but we knew we wanted to be in sight of the ham, so we squirmed through until we could see it. We had a great spot which ensured we were part of the action. Wore sensible (and disposable) clothing Despite the fact that one of the few rules of La Tomatina is “don’t rip t-shirts” a lot of people lost the shirts off their backs. We wore shirts that we wouldn’t mind losing – in fact Linda’s was one wear away from the bin in any case, so she threw it out afterwards. Linda wore shorts with a zip pocket for a credit card, train ticket and a bit of cash, and bought a pair of cheap sunglasses instead of wearing her hat. Craig wore swimming trunks with a deep pocket. We both wore sneakers instead of flip flops. This was definitley a good idea, we saw hundreds of flip flops floating on the tide of tomato, and many people were shoeless at the end of the event. Washing our shoes wasn’t fun, but it was better than losing them. Didn’t take too much We didn’t take a bag with us. There just isn’t room in a crowd like that, and it would likely have been stolen. We took a cheap camera which we tried to waterproof, and a video camera that now needs a bit of love. We also took a plastic bag with some croissants in it, but we bought water when we arrived. There was plenty of food available, but we enjoyed having our croissants on the train. Were in a good mood Being in a good frame of mind is essential to enjoy La Tomatina. Some people were angry about being pushed around or having wine poured on their heads, others panicked when the crowd were too dense. We tried to relax and enjoy ourselves (and practise deep breathing occasionally) and left with a positive view of things. For more information, and to find out what we did wrong, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

Whether you call it a career break, gap year, or a sabatical, the movie Eat, Pray, Love has certainly created a lot of buzz around the idea of taking extended time off to travel the world. And, of course, that's something we approve of! One person fomenting the career break discussion is Sherry Ott from Briefcase to Backpack and one of the leading figures behind Meet, Plan, Go - a North American event with meetings around the US and Canada to help people find career break opportunities themselves. In this interview we talk with Sherry Ott about her own journey, about career break travel, and about Meet, Plan, Go. For more information and links, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

Buenos Aires is located on the Rio de la Plata (the silver river). Most of the transport hubs are located on or near the river, and the city is laid out on a rough grid stretching away from the river. The city centre is centred around where Avenida 9 de Julio (which runs up from the river) crosses Avenida Corrientes, and that's where the Obelisk is located. The other principal street, Avenida 25 de Mayo, runs parallel with Av. Corrientes. Buenos Aires is divided into 48 barrios (neighbourhoods) but docsmost are residential - posh Recoleta is in the north near the bus station, and edgy La Boca is in the south near the river. In the city grid, the blocks are numbered by the hundreds, so each street you cross will take the numbers up 100, even though there aren't that many buildings in each block. This makes finding an address really easy! You aren't going to go hungry in Buenos Aires. There's everything from budget options like hot dogs on the street, to the lushest meal in a five-star restaurant. Don't miss out on an asado (barbecue) - if you can get yourself invited to a local's home you'll have the most authentic experience, but if not restaurants are tripping over themseves to feed you tasty Argentinian meat. Empanadas are a must - they're pastry circles folded over and stuffed with meat, egg and olives, There are different fillings but the beef ones are the most popular. You can find them in bakeries and some corner stores - make sure you ask for them heated or you might get cold ones. Alfajores are a typical Argentininan snack - two soft biscuits stuck together with dulce de leche and maybe coated in chocolate. If you take a long bus trip, they might just give you one, but the fresh ones from a bakery are much better. Medialunas (half-moons) are a great option for breakfast or a mid-morning snack. Mate is also worth a try, but it's difficult to buy just one cup. Mate is the bitter tea you'll see Argentinians drinking all day out of small cups, with a straw. You might have some problems if you're a vegetarian though, although most restaurants have some sort of vegetarian option, it isn't universal. There are quite a few vegetarian and vegan restaurants around though, if you do your research! Attractions Buenos Aires is an attractive city to walk around, with a lot of parks and squares to explore. Many are central, but Palermo is a great place to start, as that is where the Botanical Gardens are located. There's also a rose garden in Parque Tres de Febrero, and BA has the largest Japanese Garden outside of Japan. Plaza de Mayo is a square in the central city, and is lined with impressive buildings that house the government offices, and might be familiar as the location of one of Eva Peron's speeches. You can also visit Evita's grave in the stunning Recoleta Cemetery - many other historical figures are buried there, but it's worth a visit even if you hate history, the tombs are amazing. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com

Berlin is a vibrant city full of art, history, and fantastic people doing interesting things. We speak with Paul Sullivan from Slow Travel Berlin and try to get to grips with the best clubs, best restaurants and most interesting things to do in the city. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/berlin-travel/

Trains are the best way to get around Europe and a Eurail Pass, also known as a Eurorail Pass, might be a good solution for you. Although budget flights have made air travel more affordable, if you want to explore, trains are your best option. And for short journeys or trips with good connections, taking a train can be faster than going by plane - not to mention that you don't have to go through airport security! If you're just taking one or two long train trips during your European vacation, you're probably best to just buy point-to-point tickets. But if you want to see more of the continent, a Eurail pass is a good option. A Eurail pass (also known as a Eurorail pass) is a ticket which allows you unlimited train travel in Europe. It comes in many different forms - you need to decide which region you'll be travelling in, how long you want the pass to last, how many days you'll actually be travelling within that time frame, and if you want a first or second-class ticket. For more information on Eurail/Eurorail tickets and train travel in Europe, visit: http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/eurorail-eurail-pass-tips-tricks

Victoria Brewood was the winner of WorldNomads Vantastic South Australia, which means she got to spend six weeks travelling the state in a campervan called Geoff. We talk with Victoria about her South Australia road trip and look at things to do in South Australia. For more, visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/road-trip-south-australia/

Ever wanted to travel to China? This week we speak with Coley Dale who has been living and travelling in China for seven years. Coley describes a China of amazing diversity, both physically and culturally. We talk about China's most well-known cities, then head west to get away from the big smoke and into the countryside. We discuss Beijing, Shanghai, Yunnan and Xianjing as well as budgets for travel in China and visas for China travel. Coley Dale is the Senior Manager of cTrip's English website and has offered his advice with your China travel planning. All photos are from Coley's Flickr account. For more visit http://indietravelpodcast.com/podcast/travel-china-interview-independent-travel-china

Travel to Bath, England and you will be rewarded for your effort with Roman Baths, Georgian architecture and gorgeous parks ... all in a World Heritage site. For more visit: http://indietravelpodcast.com

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/

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

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

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