– This post was written by Becky Wicks –
This collection of the best art, culture, and travel podcasts takes you behind the scenes of some of the world’s most popular museums, galleries, cultures, and travel destinations! Meet artists and entrepreneurs without ever leaving your house!
Top travel podcasts
1. Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase
Step into the hilarious, sometimes shocking world of flight attendants and pilots. As you can imagine, some of them have amusing stories from their travels around the world. Expect to laugh out loud at tales of butts, skateboards, toilet paper, synchronized serving, blisters, streakers, and more as you dream of being allowed on a plane again.
2. The Thought Card
Here’s a thought – download The Thought Card. This podcast hosted by Danielle Desir focuses on the sensible aspects of travel, from paying off debt to building up your personal finances and expanding your work portfolio while traveling the world. It’s the perfect show for a confidence boost if you’re looking to create more passive income from the road.
3. Andy Steves Travel Podcast
Meet various global wanderers, friends, and local experts all sharing tips, tricks, and tales of their lives abroad with Andy Steves. Special guests include New York Times Best Seller Nomadic Matt, a blogger who’s trekked over a hundred countries. There’s also Drew Binsky and flight money-saving expert Johnny Jet.
4. Women Who Travel
Brought to you by the editors of Condé Nast Traveler, Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu expand their hugely popular Facebook group in a podcast. This one begs to be heard with a good cup of tea and a pen and notepad (you will be motivated to move, girls!). Topics relate to female travelers, safety, and women who are impacting the travel industry.
5. Contiki’s Out of Office
Topics on this informative audio show from Contiki include indigenous culture, sustainability, body positivity, and travel perspectives from the LGBTQ community. Get ready for humorous, thought-provoking, and informative stories from the young and adventurous. Oh, and what a title for a time like this!
6. Travel Genius
If you’re redefining the words ‘travel budget’ as you move from the kitchen to the living room and back during quarantine, The Travel Genius podcast is here to help. Presented by Mark Ellwood and Nikki Ekstein, this show is packed with helpful resources and brilliant information on topics ranging from scoring free flight upgrades to bringing your pet on vacation.
7. Women on the Road
Thinking of swapping your house for a life on the road? We bet you are, now that the quarantine boredom is kicking in! Dive into van-life with interviews, tips, and tricks from fearless solo females, all making the most of their #vanlife. Host Laura Hughes inspires us all with interviews with women who traded four walls for four wheels and got out of town.
8. Extra Pack of Peanuts
Meet Travis, the host of this wanderlust-busting show, as he interviews an assortment of entrepreneurs, nomads, and bloggers with experience in affordable adventures. If you’re looking to save money and more importantly earn money abroad when the COVID-19 crisis is finally over, this is the podcast for you!
9. Wild Ideas Worth Living
If you’ve ever had an idea that’s been deemed too wild, this podcast hosted by journalist Shelby Stanger might make you think again. Join her as she interviews brave entrepreneurs who have taken their wild ideas on the road and forged an adventurous, exciting life – from mountain-climbers to bestselling authors!
10. Zero To Travel
Do your future traveling-self a favor and download the free, five-part audio series from Jason Moore. Jason has been traveling the globe for the past 15 years and shares his tips on how to quit your job and become a full-time explorer. He also interviews adventurers and offers helpful tips on living abroad.
Top art & culture podcasts
1. Sidedoor
Coming at you from the Smithsonian, this podcast dives into the worlds of Smithsonian biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers, and astrophysicists. More than 154 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults, but you get to sneak through the Smithsonian’s side door. Check out one of our favorite episodes, The Curse of the Hope Diamond.
2. AirSpace
Blazing like a meteor shower from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, these stories defy gravity. Get behind the scenes with amazing machines and tales of human success and perseverance in the air travel and spacecraft world. Hosts Emily, Matt, and Nick will lift the lid on one of the world’s most-visited museums.
3. David Zwirner’s Dialogues
Each episode pairs two exceptional makers and thinkers together for a discussion on how art shapes, elevates, and shifts our perspectives on life and the world. Get ready to indulge your imagination in the surprising twists and turns of the creative process.
4. Art Matters
Host Ferren Gipson chats about the various interesting ways that art meets popular culture. There are also some great discussions on non-traditional art topics. Dive into what art history and visual culture can tell us about the world around us, and find out how our everyday interests can make us all excellent art critics.
5. Sculpting Lives
Dr. Sarah Victoria Turner (Deputy Director, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) and Jo Baring (Director, Ingram Collection of Modern British Art) explore the lives and careers of women who contributed in groundbreaking ways to the histories of sculpture and art. Each episode is recorded in a place significant to each woman, from their studios to their galleries.
6. The British Museum Podcast
Fresh from the vaults of the British Museum, join Hugo and Sushma as they dive behind the scenes of some of the museum’s best art collections and stories. Subjects include goddesses at the heart of the Trojan myth, the staff’s favorite objects in the museum, equality and diversity in art, and how volunteers support the work of the museum.
7. The Portland Art Museum Podcast
Hear the voices of museum staff, docents, volunteers, artists, and community partners in The Portland Art Museum Podcast. Expect debates, discussions, and lots of great ideas revolving around the museum and its community.
8. Stuff You Should Know
Want to know if nuclear fusion reactors can save the world? How about whether you’re talking to your dog right, or how COVID-19 actually works? When it comes to everything really important in popular culture, get your facts straight with Stuff You Should Know hosts Josh and Chuck.
9. SpyCast
Every week, the International Spy Museum brings a new SpyCast episode featuring interviews and programs with ex-spies, intelligence experts, and even espionage scholars. Historian and curator at the International Spy Museum, Dr. Vince Houghton leads the way as you peek with your spyglass into The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. – the only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage.
10. Museum Archipelago
Taking a broad definition of museums, host Ian Elsner transports us to different museum spaces all around the world. Get ready for an insider’s insight into institutional problems, and meet the people working to fix them. No episode is longer than 15 minutes, so it’s the perfect podcast pal for those small chores. Why not learn something new at the same time?
