Action Packed Travel
Welcome to Action Packed Travel! Our podcast features amazing travel stories...without having to go anywhere. The episodes are interviews with people who've been inspired by their adventures. They're also full of information and useful links, all of which you can find on our Show Notes. Our podcast can be used for future travel ideas and plans for the days when we can explore the world again! About us: we're Felice & Peter Hardy and we’ve spent half a lifetime travelling to just about every corner of the world, making a living as travel writers out of what we like doing best – and that’s skiing, biking, hiking, eating, exploring, city breaks, seaside…and a whole lot more. We've had lots of favourable reviews, such as: "What an interesting and diverse world you are opening up for us in a nicely laid back way. Very informative and some are also wonderful archive material."
Episodes
151 episodes since 2020
Bletchley Park Revisited
Bletchley Park is a country mansion 35 minutes by train northwest of London, where Alan Turing and his team of cryptanalysts cracked the complicated codes of the German Enigma machine. Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy
August 27, 2024
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Episode 151
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22:16
Loneliness of a Long-Distance Sailor
How do you survive on your own for days on end? So far, seven women have completed the Vendée Globe, the toughest round-the-world race. Joan Mulloy, a brand ambassador for Helly Hansen and a mother of two from the west coast of Ireland, is dete...
July 30, 2024
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Episode 150
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35:59
The Whale in the Living Room
Veteran underwater cameraman, John Ruthven, talks to us about his book and a lifetime of exploring the deep. He is also a producer of Sir David Attenborough's The Blue Planet, a zoologist, film director, writer, editor and sty...
June 30, 2024
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Episode 149
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25:27
A Century of Cottar's Safaris
This week we're in Kenya talking to safari camp owner, Calvin Cotter, whose family came here from the Great Plains of the Midwest in the years before World War One.
May 22, 2024
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Episode 148
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31:36
The Ultimate Childcare for Skiers
This week, we're exploring the fraught subject of taking small children skiing for the very first time. We're going to start and end with a warning to listeners: If you want to book a nanny service-inclusive holiday for the coming winter, there...
April 29, 2024
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Episode 147
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28:59
The Secret Resort of Le Grand-Bornand
Le Grand-Bornand is not a name like Morzine or Chamonix that trips easily off the tongue when we mention skiing, but it's typically and traditionally French.
March 24, 2024
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Episode 146
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23:41
North American Dream in the French Alps
It's the twentieth anniversary of Arc 1950. The resort began as the idea of Canadian resort developer, Intrawest, creator of Mont-Tremblant in Quebec and manager of some 20 other resorts in North America – from Whistler to Mammoth.
February 06, 2024
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Episode 145
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19:36
Wild Travels In Africa and Asia
This week we're talking to someone who specialises in creating holidays that are entirely different – taking you to places you probably thought were out of bounds to all tourists.
January 02, 2024
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Episode 144
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21:07
From Fjord to Snowfield
We caught up with Rory Dixon who organises skiing-touring trips off a boat in Norway and Greenland, life-changing adventures to distant corners of the world.Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
December 02, 2023
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Episode 143
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21:42
Jess the Horse Nomad
Jess Isbrecht is a digital nomad who travels full time with her horses. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
November 27, 2023
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Episode 142
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17:09
The World's Most Travelled Man
Harry Mitsidis has travelled to every country in the world, at least twice. He's the founder of a website called NomadMania.Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
November 05, 2023
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Episode 141
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31:51
Walking to the South Pole
To discover a little of what former Royal Marine, Sam Cox, will experience living alone at -30°C, podcaster Peter Hardy spends time in an industrial freezer.Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
October 27, 2023
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Episode 140
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23:03
An American in Paris
No, not the 1951 movie starring Gene Kelly and Lesley Caron... Jay Swanson moved from the USA and now lives in Paris where he calls himself: 'a YouTuber, writer, and puppy wrangler.' He publishes a guide to the city called Paris...
September 28, 2023
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Episode 139
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33:15
The Van Life Revisited
We're on the road exploring a thriving sector of the travel industry that continues to explode in popularity across Europe. Music © Barney and Izzi Hardy
September 09, 2023
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Episode 138
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25:43
Wild Skiing in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan
Untamed Borders sets out to satisfy the hunger of that rare breed of traveller who's already been to the far corners of the earth, got the T-shirt but still wants more. Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
August 27, 2023
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Episode 137
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28:31
Chefs, Cars and Skiing
This week, we're talking to travel guru, Amin Momen, whose London-based company Momentum Ski organises bespoke holidays. Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy
August 15, 2023
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Episode 136
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27:15
Extreme Travel Dreams
Turn your wildest travel dreams into reality, with superyacht voyages to the end of the earth, intrepid journeys to deserts, jungles, polar regions and the oceans.Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy
July 17, 2023
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Episode 135
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31:19
The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis
We're in Vienna for an unusual episode of Action Packed Travel – unusual because our principal guest is Felice herself. She's just published a book about her grandparents' dramatic escape from Vienna to London on the eve of World War II. <...
July 01, 2023
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Episode 134
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27:32
Cycling From Antarctic To Arctic
Chris and his girlfriend Phoebe are in the saddle, for what you might describe by any standards as a rather long bike ride.Music: © Barney & Izzi Hardy
June 21, 2023
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Episode 133
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32:16
Thermae Bath Spa – A Fusion Of Old And New
With the sunny weather outside, we felt it was time to republish this episode about Bath Thermae Spa. Bath in the southwest of England is famous for its Roman baths. In its Regency heyday, the supposedly curative waters attracted the cream of B...
May 28, 2023
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Episode 132
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21:28
Travels With The Hungry Cyclist
Tom Kevill-Davies has managed to carve a highly successful career for himself out of his twin passions, cycling and eating. Music © Barney & Izzi Hardy
May 19, 2023
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Episode 131
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28:25
The Future Of European Skiing
Only a handful of ski resorts in the Alps will in future offer reliable snow cover throughout the season. These include Val d'Isere, Tignes and Val Thorens in France, Cervinia in Italy, and Zermatt in Switzerland – not forgetting the Aust...
May 09, 2023
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Episode 130
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26:33
The Ultimate Ski Chalets
Globally, there's just a handful of specialist operators who look after their guests on this giddy level. London-based Consensio is the leader of the pack.
April 24, 2023
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Episode 129
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28:03