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We love travel stories, especially from our listeners! Real tales where the smallest detail can trigger panic, wonder, or a laugh. We move from tracking lions by day to sharing water with penguins and a sea lion that swims up just to play, then jump to gorilla trekking where the rules for staying safe are simple and non negotiable. Along the way, we talk about a surprisingly effective strategy for better travel photos: hiring a local photographer to guide you off the beaten path.

We share a painful travel scam story that comes down to one habit most people skip. Then we get honest about language barriers, from nearly getting off at the wrong stop in Copenhagen to the reality that Americans often travel with fewer language skills than we should. Add in a Thai tone mistake and a hand gesture that means something totally different in Brazil, and the message is clear: cultural etiquette is part of travel safety.

The back half goes big with more adventure travel and cultural immersion, ending with a laugh-out-loud tale with a surprise ending.

If you love travel storytelling with practical takeaways, subscribe, and share this with a fellow traveler. And if you want to share YOUR story, contact Lea at any of the links in these show notes. We'll be sharing more of your stories on the months ahead.

What’s one travel moment you’ll never forget?

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Our storytellers are course members at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. More

Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 120 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to dozens of guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles. Read her weekly essays on Substack.
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Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has produced over 130 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. All episodes are also on the website: placesirememberlealane.com and appear on Lea's Substack, Lane Changes.
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Travel vlogs of featured podcasts-- with video and graphics -- now also drop on YouTube.

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Where would you relocate if you could choose anywhere? And what's the best way to go about it?

More Americans are packing up and relocating abroad, and we dig into what makes a place feel safe, walkable, healthy, and genuinely enjoyable day to day. We compare two helpful lenses for choosing a destination: global livability rankings (think Copenhagen, Vienna, Melbourne, Tokyo) and expat friendliness lists that spotlight surprising standouts like Taiwan, Cambodia, Bahrain, and Oman, alongside familiar favorites like Portugal and Canada.

We’re joined by Darren Johnston from Send My Bag, a company that helps people relocate by shipping millions of bags worldwide. We talk through a simple expat move checklist: deciding what to keep versus sell, planning baggage and shipping, and thinking early about pets. Then we zoom into the first week after arrival, when you need local cash, groceries, bedding, and the basics that turn an empty place into a functioning home.

We also cover the essentials that keep a move overseas from spiraling: staying connected with eSIMs, setting up finances with a realistic three-to-six-month buffer, navigating slow bureaucracy, and building community through expat groups, local clubs, and everyday routines.

Darren shares travel memories of Rome and his pull toward Tokyo, reminding us that the best relocation plans still start with curiosity.

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Darren Johnston is a relocation expert at Send My Bag, an international luggage shipping and relocation platform. Launched in the UK in 2006, the company now serves customers in over 80 countries each month.

Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to dozens of guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles. Read her weekly essays on Substack.
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Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has produced over 130 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. All episodes are also on the website: placesirememberlealane.com and appear on Lea's Substack, Lane Changes.
_____
Travel vlogs of featured podcasts-- with video and graphics -- now also drop on YouTube.

Send us Fan Mail

Toronto is a city built out of neighborhoods, food, and constant surprises. We sit down with Ashley Rochefort, Media Relations Manager at Destination Toronto, to unpack what makes Canada’s largest city feel so alive, from its long history to its modern identity as “the world in a city,” where roughly half of residents are born outside Canada and cultures show up block by block.

We get specific about things to do in Toronto, starting with the CN Tower for panoramic views, the glass floor, and the EdgeWalk, plus the waterfront cluster nearby with Ripley’s Aquarium and the Rogers Centre. From there we hit iconic stops like Casa Loma with its seasonal programming. Museum favorites including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the unexpectedly fascinating Bata Shoe Museum.

We talk Toronto’s legendary diversity of authentic eats, and the fusion that comes with it, including the Toronto-invented sushi pizza, peameal bacon sandwiches at St. Lawrence Market, and the city’s serious love for Jamaican patties. We also map out walkable neighborhoods like the Distillery District and Kensington Market. Toronto's natural beauty includes beaches, parks, High Park cherry blossoms, and a quick ferry ride to the Toronto Islands. Finally, we connect the dots to a Niagara Falls day trip and the Niagara wine region, plus summer festivals, the CNE, and nightlife hotspots.

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Ashley Rochefort isMedia Relations Manager at Destination Toronto. She loves her city and has done the Edge Walk on CN Tower.

Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to dozens of guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles. Read her weekly essays on Substack.
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Our award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane, has produced over 130 travel episodes! New episodes drop on the first Tuesday of the month, on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. All episodes are also on the website: placesirememberlealane.com
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Travel vlogs of featured podcasts-- with video and graphics -- now also drop on YouTube.