Travel Bubble Podcast featuring
co-Founder aNNABEL
Matty Dyas has launched a fantastic travel podcast called Travel Bubble – each week he has incredibly interesting guests who tell their fantastic travel stories. We were honoured to be invited on as guests and talk about travel experiences and stories.
The idea of Travel Buddle is to give listeners ideas on new places to visit once we can all travel again and inspire new adventure through the exciting travel exploits and anecdotes from travellers.
Matt’s show offers a twist where you must choose 3 countries in your ‘Travel Bubble’ and a 4th country that you have never travelled to. These countries are the places you can only travel to for the rest of your life, so it was quite a hard decision! Thank goodness your home country is a given, so we did not have to be on the list.
Annabel chose Argentina, Costa Rica and France as her countries she had visited and Sri Lanka as her wild country.
Here are Annabel Top Travel Bubble countries and why
Argentina
“Argentina made the list because it has all of my favourite things in one country; Penguins, my favourite animal, you can ski in Bariloche, horse ride on incredible ranges, try delicious wine and eat fantastic food.”
The top restaurant has to be Don Julio in Buenos Aires, where you can try steak BBQ’d in different ways. The top activity was going on a private guided tour to see Magellanic Penguin in Punta Tombo on Argentina’s central Coast.”
Costa Rica
“It would have to be Costa Rica and for a lot of reasons but mainly because of the culture, the people and the ridiculous scenery wherever you look. Costa Rica has beautiful sandy beaches, incredible rainforests and insane nature.
I have Costa Rican cousins, so I loved being taken off the beaten track to local restaurants, with my favourite food being a Casado, which literally translates to ‘married’. It’s a combination of food, black beans, salad, protein, rice, plantains etc. I loved visiting the cloud forest in Monteverde and zip lining above the rainforest.”“
France
“It has to be France due to my passion for skiing in Morzine and visiting a place called The Goat Village, which is an excellent collection of restaurants on the slopes. I also love fence due to a very quaint medieval village called Haut-de-Cagnes. The cobblestone streets, the historical castle and sea views make this place stunning. My food highlight of France has to be recettes but the wine is also delicious. My favourite activity has to be skiing!
Travel Bubble Wild card destination?
Sri Lanka – because I’ve heard incredible things about it. Amazing wildlife, the beaches look idyllic and I’d love to indulge in an authentic Sri Lankan curry.
Any countries that just missed out?
“Mont Tremblant in Canada – a great place to go skiing and I lived there for four months. I also love visiting the lakes in the summer.
Extra Travel Bubble Questions
What were your holidays like growing up?
‘I was fortunate growing up. We went on lots of different types of holiday, from skiing to 6 weeks camping around Canada to four weeks canoeing the rivers in France. My passion for travel comes from my family adventure holidays growing up.
What would be your top travelling Tip?
Research – spend a bit of time talking to an expert (get in contact with Travelling Whale today), learn a couple of words in the language you are visiting and know where you are going when you get to the destination.”
Why would someone book with Travelling Whale?
“We’re the experts for the country and have locals on the ground in the county so when you’re out there, if anything goes wrong, you have someone there to sort anything out who speaks the language. We can help make the perfect trip if you haven’t been to a country often people don’t know where to start. We work out what the client’s needs are and give off the beaten track recommendations. We offer flexible and fully financial bookings so clients can book with the knowledge if things do change, they have the options to get a refund or move their trip back.”
Have you noticed any travelling trends?
“UK stays are massive this year again, exploring closer to home. People are also starting to adventure out to Europe. People are wanting to take more meaningful trips, longer trips, slower trips so that they’re not rushing, taking time to learn about the place that they’re in.”
What's your favourite souvenir from your travels?
“It would have to be my engagement ring from Cartagena, Colombia. It’s quite a funny story as my husband brought the ring with me knowing and then pretended not to have it for four weeks until he proposed in Ecuador.”
Have you ever been in any danger?
“I was mugged in Botswana, it was terrifying but the most important thing was that we were all safe. Things can happen anywhere in the world, you just have to move on and enjoy the rest of your trip.”
Any advice
“We will be able to travel again, and the world will get back to some normality, enjoy staying locally and inspire yourselves in other ways. Book something for the future abroad.”
Thanks, Travel Bubble
“Thanks so much, Matty for having me on to share my stories” – Annabel
