Travelling with kids is one thing, but deciding to turn your life into an everlasting travel adventure is next level. For Chantal Patton and her wander loving family, this is the reality. Growing Up Without Borders is the website and Youtiube channels that follows the adventures of the Patton family. I had the pleasure of speaking with Chantal and swapping travel tales from our digital nomad lifestyles. From house swapping to home schooling, Chantal and her family have navigated it all....

Have you ever travelled with a sibling? It could be that familiar family fun, or it could be fraught with childhood tension. For Emma and her brother James, travelling together as adults has led to some amazing experiences and created a special bond through the memories they share. Travelling across 9 countries over the years together, they have had some unforgettable experiences. We hear about James's love for travel, their very different approaches to travel and where they both want to...

It's time to for you to grab your funny hats and papal slippers, maybe a little tiny wafer and a goblet of red wine - and is that white smoke I see or a witch being burned? We're going to put some knights Templar on trial and punish people for thinking that the earth is round. So start crawling through your secret tunnels and REPENT YE SINNERS! We are going to the world's smallest country - The Vatican City! Emma visited the Vatican City in 2018 and got to tick off one of the two special...

Extreme sport and extreme travel! Amanda Thompson doesn't shy away from a challenge. Combining sport and travel can be an incredible way to see the world, expanding your mind and your horizons all at once. From the boardroom of Australia’s biggest banks as a leading Financial Advisor to qualifying three times for the Ironman World Championships despite health issues, Amanda Thompson has never been afraid of a challenge. Amanda says "Living (some of) my life in lycra has gifted me some...

We’re off to the beautiful island of Vanuatu 🇻🇺 in the South Pacific. Emma and Darius have both visited and enjoy taking a walk down memory lane. Emma spent just a few days there - literally! One day in 2005, on Mystery Island as part of her Schoolies cruise. Something she only realised on her second trip to Vanuatu, again on a cruise, in 2019. She visited Port Vila and went out on a scuba diving day. Darius had a lot more to share after getting to experience more of the culture. We talk...

Incredibly in 2006/7 (yes it was over New Years, Darius and Emma happened to randomly bump into each other somewhere in the world! That place was Prague in Czech Republic. This week we're travelling back in time, as we often do, to revisit this experience. From cobbled streets to epic castles, delicious hot raspberries to some of the finest beer = Czech Republic is a gorgeous country to visit. We spent most of our time in Prague but Emma also made a quick visit to the spectacular Czesky...

It's hard to believe but we are STILL in this and it's going to be a while yet. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Emma started having conversations with people from around the world about what was really happening in their home countries - and we are still having these conversations. It is now October 2021, and Melbourne is still in some form of lockdown. No way could we have ever imagined or predicted it would look like this still 18 months on. Danielle Phyland, a travel blogger and...

Did you ever take a gap year? Emma did when she was 18 between high school and University - living in the UK and travelling through Europe and Asia. But what about an Adult Gap year? This week we welcome Jenny Cook, author of Adult Gap Year to tell us all about this awesome life experience. Jenny is a life enthusiast, world traveller and life long learner. She’s a creative who loves to travel and explore other cultures. She says “living my best life and inspiring others is my mission.”...

Our final stop on the state tour of Australia, the last but definitely not least - Tasmania. Fun fact: you have to go OVERSEAS to visit this part of Australia, it's located on the bottom of Australia and this island state is a true gem!! A pearl in the ocean if you will. Actually, something you can do here is sample some of the amazing seafood - oysters, salmon, prawns and so much more. Tassie is famous for its fresh produce and incredible food and wine season. Salamanca Markets in Hobart...

"We’re taking our tour of Australia to the capital - the Australian Capital Territory in fact. A lot of people know it as Canberra, however that’s the city! Fun fact- ACT is a territory all of its own. And it’s situated inside another state! We welcome back Alison Hallworth to talk about her former home state. This one is jam packed full of tips for places to visit in the ACT. Some people think there isn’t much to do, especially after being dragged their on a school trip or family holiday as...

We’re off to the Heart of Australia, the red centre and the top end of Oz - The Northern Territory. We welcome Nannette Holliday - International Woman of Mystery for this episode! As a published author and freelance travel and lifestyle writer, Nannette has an incredible insight into her adopted home state of Northern Territory. Emma shares her experience of visiting the absolute essential stops of Uluru, The Olgas, Kings Canyon and Alice Springs in the Red Centre, and the capital of the...

The Sunshine state! We've reached Emma's current homeland, the perpetual holiday destination that is Queensland. Resort style living, epic beaches, amazing rainforests, world wonder of the Great Barrier Reef - this state has a lot going on. We're joined on this episode by Natascha Mirosch, Freelance Food & Travel Journalist & Podcaster at ExtraVirgin Food & Travel Podcast. Although Emma lives in QLD, she actually hasn't seen that much of it! Natascha takes us on a breathtaking...

We're heading South now on our vicarious tour of Australia to the very aptly named, South Australia! It is in fact the state in the middle of Australia at the Southern end. World famous for its spectacular wines, this state has so much more to offer than just its delicious range of grape juice. Joined by former local Naomi Robinson, Emma revisits some of her 6 (or more) trips to this lovely region. From Adelaide, the city of churches which also has a rocking festival scene, to the coast for...

Our Australia tour this week takes us to Victoria! One of the richest of all the states, after the Gold Rush in the 1800s, this fine state has a lot of incredible history and culture to soak up. Emma lived in Melbourne for 3 years and then frequently returned for work and leisure. Darius even went to visit her one time and together they revisit that trip and share their travels from the state of Victoria. We are also joined by regular Lovelly Travels guest, Danielle Phyland, who is a proud...

How to cover our home state in just one episode!! Well, we can't! And we will be back to deep dives into the regions. But continuing for now on our virtual tour of Australia, this week we are in Darius and Emma's childhood home state of NSW. Emma was born in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, and Darius moved to the Sutherland Shire as a young child from Germany. They met in High School in the Sutherland Shire, at Caringbah High, and have many great memories of Sydney. As we got older, and...

The first stop on our Australia series tour is the largest state of them all, Western Australia! Taking up more than a third of this enormous continent, WA has a lot of space and it needs a lot of time to explore. Luckily we have Perth local Amanda Kendle to help us tackle this mammoth location! Emma has also been to the lovely state of WA three times, so the two had wonderful chats about exploring the gorgeous and less frequented spots around the state. From tree top walks, to sunsets over...

I come from a land Down Under!! And we're going to deep dive in and explore it. Considering the fact that I won't be leaving my island home for some time, and these past 2 years have given me more time to explore this great land, I thought we could all go on the journey to visit all the states and territories together. This is our first series and we are so excited to kick off with Australia!! There are 8 states and territories so over the next two months, we'll visit them all. We're...

Are you fascinated by the Tiny House movement that’s sweeping the world? Emma is slightly obsessed and when she discovered that her friend and colleague Yvonne was “going Tiny”, we had to get the story on the podcast! Yvonne is also the Sustainability Queen :) She’s passionate about sustainable living & a tiny house dweller. Yvonne and her partner built their tiny home in 2020 and following her experience on Instagram was so exciting. There’s a lot more to it than just deciding to live...

We’re continuing our COVID conversations series by revisiting interviews with people from around the world in 2020 and hearing what’s happening now in 2021. This episode we go back to a conversation in April 2020 between Emma and Darius. Before the podcast started! They discuss what’s happening in Germany and Australia and how COVID-19 was impacting their lives. In this time capsule style episode, we then Tak about what’s happening in 2021. We didn’t know then that we’d be in a similar...

Hola Bienvenido a Peru! This week we're traveling back to South America to visit the picturesque postcard perfect country of Peru. We're joined by Daniellle Phyland from The Adventures of Poss and Ruby to relive memories, revisit some of the epic places and talk as always about our favourite foods and experiences. Danielle traveled to Peru in 2013 and visited Lima, Cusco, The Amazon Rainforest and Machu Picchu, along with some other smaller places around Cusco, and in between Machu...

The episode you never asked for but you never knew you needed! This long awaited (ok, mostly by us) episode will take us to some of the tallest towers in the world, some epic monuments and talk about height stats in general. Despite having a fear of heights, our co-host Darius loves going up tall buildings. After a friendship of 20 years, Emma only learned this while on the viewing platform of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland 🇵🇱! It was in fact Darius’ idea to go up - but...

The best part about travel is the adventure! Letting yourself go and committing to the journey. And on her trip to Bolivia, Emma had to do just that. In this episode, Emma welcomes her travel buddy Jess Picton to relive their escapades from Peru to Bolivia in 2012. After travelling alone, they united in Cusco and took an epic bus adventure across these two South American countries, creating memories and lessons to last a lifetime. "Our trip had mishaps, misadventures and miscommunications!...

This was a pretty fun one to record and ticked a big bucket list for our show. We talked about visiting the sheep farm of Trav and Millie Carter in Episode 24 - A real life farmer's wife, and in May 2021 - Emma did just that. Listen to excerpts from Emma's visit to the massive 5000 acre sheep farm and Trav the farmer who works the land. There's so much more to farming than many of us think, and these people really need to be a bit of a jack of all trades. There's also a lot of technology...

We're off to the land of the Swiss! Come with us as we explore this tiny but mighty country. So many famous things we know and love come from Switzerland. It's also possibly one of the most picturesque and postcard-perfect countries in the world. Think mountains, think lakes, think serene! Darius shares from his many visits to this beautiful country. Discussing food, the epic tunnels through mountains, thousands of lakes and some great places to visit. Emma proves that she has very limited...