10 Awesome Podcasts I Listen To While I Travel

As much as I love listening to music (and singing along to it!), sometimes I want to listen to something else. It’s funny, I’m not a huge fan of audiobooks since I like to create the character’s voices and tones in my mind but I’ll listen to podcasts. Am I the only one that feels that way, or just loves the feel of a book in your hand? Since I travel so much, a lot of people ask me what I do, “other than listen to music or read books” and my answer? Podcasts.

I’ve been listening to podcasts for a few years now and even co-hosted a baseball podcast way before podcasts were cool. Of course if you’ve been following along for a while, I now have my own podcast which we’ll get to in a bit! Here’s 10 podcasts that I enjoy listening to that aren’t necessarily related to travel that you may enjoy!

1. The Heart Of It – I didn’t become YouTuber obsessed like some of my friends but I’ve always loved Estee Lalonde and have been a faithful viewer for years. I love that she’s very genuine, intelligent and mature, I think very close in age. Trust me, I’m not young so I feel like I’m babysitting when I watch some of the teenager YouTubers. Estee, a beauty and lifestyle vlogger came out with her new podcast a few months ago, The Heart Of Itand I’ve been enjoying it a lot. She focuses on subjects close to her heart with her guests for a chatty podcast.

2. Amateur Traveler – The Amateur Traveler is literally the only travel podcast I listen to. Chris Christensen is the host and he has over 500 episodes of different destinations! He hosts interviews with area experts as well as giving you basic information you may need before your trip. As Matador Networks says, “It’s a great podcast if you’re looking for a Wikipedia-style introduction to a place before a visit.”

3. This American Life – It’s hard to explain This American Life unless you listen to it, so will you go listen to it? It’s a weekly podcast that discusses a huge range of topics that are non-fiction. As I write this, the newest episode is about Maps, last week a discussion about Rom-Coms (Romantic Comedies) and the week before that, Words You Can’t Say. They have fantastic guests on every show and I’ve been listening to it for years now!

4. Serial – If you’re a podcast fan, you know or have listened obsessively to Serial like I have. Series is actually created by the team of This American Life. It’s an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, who by the way has the best voice for radio. They investigate, question and discuss the justice system through several unfairly conducted high profile cases through the United States. If you loved Netflix’s Making A Murderer, you’re going to love Serial. 

5. Life in Wanderlust – Ok, ok. So this is a little self promo but did you know I have my own podcast? It’s new, it’s a bit sloppy and I’m not on a consistent schedule yet. I admit all of that. But I wanted to start and I finally did! I talk about a lot of topics; Destination Diaries, Travel Tips, Hotel Story Time (hilarious things that have happened to me as a hotel employee!) and hopefully a lot more to come! Here’s a few of the episodes I have so far:

– Episode 00 : Introduction to Life in Wanderlust, a Travel Podcast 
– Episode 01 : How to Deal With the Fear of Flying 
– Episode 02 : 9 Best Places to Eat in Portland, Oregon 
– Episode 03 : Hotel Story Time featuring Brooke – Mr. Hilton, Angry Wives & Demons! 

6. StartUp –The title is pretty self-explanatory but StartUp is a podcast that discusses businesses. Not only am I a history geek (see #9), I’ve also become quite the business geek after meeting my husband and his intelligent, entrepreneurial friends. I watch the Shark Tank and a loyal follower of Marcus Lemonis and his show, The Profit. Anyone else watch those shows? Anyway, StartUp follows businesses as well as stories of starting businesses. Supposedly there’s going to be a sitcom based on StartUp starring Zach Braff!

7. The Secret Room – The Secret Room is one of my favorite random podcasts I’ve discovered. It has a PostSecret vibe where people anonymously discuss their deepest secrets. Every episode has a different confession, some exciting, some hilarious, some heart-wrenching and some shocking. It’s a great passive podcast to listen to while you’re doing something else like driving, commuting or cleaning!

8. $100 MBA – As mentioned on #6, I’m a business geek so here’s another one for any fellow biz-geeks out there. The $100 MBA is one of the best podcasts out there in general but for business-minded people, hands down the best. Omar is the host of the podcast and he gives real life business advice that’s actionable to any small or large business. Each episode is between 10-15 minutes and he (or sometimes his guest teachers) gives you wise business advice and content. Love this guy!

9. Presidential –Even though history was not my forte back in school, I’m a bit of a geek for it now especially when you can learn creatively. Think Hamilton the Musical, Drunk History and this podcast, Presidential. It’s a Washington Post podcast hosted by Lillian Cunningham. The podcast discusses every single President of the United States; about their reign, what consequences were had by electing these individuals, etc. This podcast isn’t ongoing since it ended in December 2016, aka the last election, aka the worst decision America has ever made. 

10. Winged Wheel Podcast – The Winged Wheel Podcast isn’t going to please most of my readers since it’s an extremely niche podcast about the Detroit Red Wings (hockey) but I can’t go without sharing it since I listen to them the most often. I even donate a small sum per podcast to show some love since I know personally that content creation costs a lot of money and time. It’s run by Brad, Ryan and Evan, 3 Canadian guys that are knowledgeable about the Wings, NHL and hockey in general. They’re funny, knowledgable, honest and at times random but if you’re even into hockey in the slightest, I recommend a listen. It’s free, it won’t hurt!

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What do you think of this list? Any podcasts you recommend? Let me know! 

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