Talking Travel 1: Iran, France and the former East Berlin

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The World and travel publisher Lonely Planet have teamed up to pilot a new audio podcast. The idea is straightforward: The World’s Clark Boyd brings in items from the radio program. Robert Reid, Lonely Planet’s US Travel Editor, and Tom Hall, who works out of Lonely Planet’s London office then tease out travel tidbits around those news items. So, we all invite you to join us on our journey to the interesting intersections between news and travel.

In our pilot episode, we tackle the story of the American hikers who strayed over the border of northern Iraq into Iran, and promptly got themselves arrested. What were they doing in northern Iraq in the first place? Good question, and Tom and Robert provide some surprising answers. You can find Lonely Planet’s take on Iran here, and on Iraq here. That leads us into a discussion of a new law under consideration in France. Apparently, the French government is tired of paying for the rescue of citizens who don’t heed travel warnings to dangerous places.

We end our pilot podcast with an interesting look at “nostalgia” tourism in the former Eastern bloc countries. The World’s Gerry Hadden recently spent the night in the Ostel, a throwback to the days of the DDR. You can see more of Gerry’s pictures of the Ostel here. Tom and Robert weigh in on their favorite places to find a still more authentic still-kind-of-communist experience. Tom’s pick is a break-away region of Moldova called Transdniestr. Robert recounts a wonderful journey on the Trans-Siberian railway in the Russian far East, staying in construction workers quarters! Our favorite moment is when Robert is asked, “Would you like construction worker in your room with you?” Listen in to find out Robert’s answer…