Travel journalist of the year reveals the push-pull tension between home and away
What did travel writers do when their wanderings were halted during COVID lockdown? Marcia DeSanctis sorted through a decade’s body of work to compile her new book A Hard Place to Leave: Stories from a restless life.
We discuss some of Marcia’s adventures and insights into being a travel writer. Why the desert is her sweet spot. How she balances her introverted self with writing open honest personal stories – including the search for her way back after falling in love with another man. And, how Marcia finds stories that resonate while traveling the globe.
About Marcia DeSanctis
Marcia DeSanctis is a Contributing Writer at Travel + Leisure, and writes essays and stories for Vogue, Town & Country, Departures, BBC Travel, and many other publications. She received the 2021 Grand Solas Award for Travel Story of the Year, and has received 5 Lowell Thomas Awards for excellence in travel journalism, including one for Travel Journalist of the Year. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of 100 Places in France every Woman Should Go … and the book we talk about today, A Hard Place to Leave Place to Leave: Stories from a restless life.
Unleash your inner scientist! Today’s show is going to be filled with fun facts like how chameleons change color, the science behind addiction, and how the polar jet stream works. National Geographic’s Almanac 2019 also reviews top travel trends, new explorations and recent discoveries. National Geographic Explorer correspondent Cara Santa Maria joins Vicki today to discuss all that and more!
Cara is an award-winning science journalist and creator and host of the popular science podcast Talk Nerdy. She is also a correspondent on Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves the World.
Karen Kingsbury has a huge following with more than 50 books in print, and several in movie format. She’s a #1 New York Times bestselling author and describes herself as “an Evangelist wrapped up as a novelist”.
How did she go from LA Times sports-writer to true-crime author to “Queen of Christian Fiction”? What significant turning points in her life led to spiritually-guided storytelling success? And why did she create a new, standalone book based on two of the Baxter-series’ characters?
Join us to find out and get a sneak preview of When We Were Young, a story of troubling issues around social media obsession ( … as usual with Karen’s books, you might want a box of tissues handy!).
National Procrastination Day is September 6th … shoot, we put this off by almost two weeks! Nevertheless, Helene Segura MA Ed returns to Conversations Live to help you reevaluate the way you prioritize your time — so no more putting off the things that are most important to you.
Helene is a time management consultant who combines neuroscience, educational psychology, and pop culture to teach clients and keynote/training audiences how to improve work-day efficiencies so they can have a life outside. Her book is The Inefficiency Assassin.
You might dream about loading up an RV and living a road warrior’s life when you retire, but for some, van-dwelling is their last option. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century documents the stories of itinerant citizens who gave up traditional lifestyles to travel from short-term job-to-job, trying simply to survive.
Award-winning journalist Jessica Bruder spent months living in a camper to witness firsthand the “Workamper” lifestyle. Jessica has taught at Columbia Journalism School for nearly a decade, and been published in numerous periodicals and newspapers.
Norma Jean Bauerschmidt lived a quiet northern Michigan life for 90 years, never even crossing a state line. It took the death of her husband of 67 years, followed by her own diagnosis of a terminal illness two days later, for Norma to stop existing and start living. Refusing a hospital bed, she told her doctor, “I’m 90-years-old. I’m hitting the road.”
Also today, being the last remaining child of Angela of Angela’s Ashes fame, coupled with being Irish, Malachy McCourt has a certain expertise on death. His latest book, Death Need Not Be Fatal, is of course about the rituals of death … for instance, why do we keep our lights on in funeral processions … but it also is about laughing, tears, brotherhood, poverty, the famous, and living life to the fullest.
Malachy McCourt is an actor, writer, politician, and younger brother of famed writer Frank McCourt. He was the 2006 Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, has appeared in numerous television shows and movies, and authored several books.
Conversations Live regular and NY Times and USA Today bestseller Hazel Gaynor is back to discuss her latest historical fiction novel, The Girl From the Savoy. Hazel takes us back to the roaring 20’s with the tale of a humble chambermaid who gets the opportunity to face the ultimate decision… choosing between everything she knows, and everything she dreams of.
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey That Uncovered the Lost Civilization of the Maya is journalist William Carlsen’s definitive account of how two intrepid explorers changed the prevailing view of human history in the Western Hemisphere. It chronicles the daring journey of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood’s to uncover, document, and contextualize for the world what would come to be known as the remains of the Maya civilization.
While you enjoy this encore presentation of Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair, don’t forget that for exclusive updates throughout the rest of the week, you can like us on Facebook, and follow Vicki St. Clair on Twitter! Vicki returns live next Monday at noon on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD.
The Girl From the Savoy by returning guest Hazel Gaynor introduces Dolly Lane, a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, who dreams to live alongside the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz, and rebellion. When she responds to an ad to become a ‘muse’ for a struggling songwriter, she finds herself thrust into London’s exhilarating theatre scene. At the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, she must make a difficult choice: between two men; between two classes; between everything she knows and everything she dreams of. The Girl From the Savoy is Hazel’s third novel in the growing genre of historical fiction, with her first two becoming USA Today and NY Times bestsellers.
When John Lloyd Stephens, the U.S. Charge d’affaires appointed by President Martin Van Buren, set out for Guatemala City in 1839, his official mission was to broker a trade agreement with the leaders of the recently formed United Provinces of Central America. But he and Frederick Catherwood, an English artist and architect, had a separate and more personal goal for the excursion – to explore the Central American jungle in search of hidden, unknown worlds. William Carlsen fleshes out a rollicking account of their expeditions, and their quest to make sense of their findings for the rest of the world in Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey That Uncovered the Lost Civilization of the Maya. William has been a journalist for thirty years, a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting and a winner of numerous journalism awards.
Combining history, psychology and anthropology, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger focuses specifically on the problem American veterans and American society faces today — the breakdown of our communities and our “Tribe.”
National Geographic Explorer correspondent Justin Hall ventures into Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a candid look at a region in conflict over the park’s valuable but endangered natural resources inThe Battle for Virunga.
Enjoy Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. For exclusive updates throughout the rest of the week, like us on Facebook, and follow Vicki St. Clair on Twitter!
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that—for many veterans as well as civilians—war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. Perhaps most importantly, it explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today’s divided world. Sebastian is a New York Times Bestselling author, award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special correspondent at ABC News. He has covered major international news stories around the world, and has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award.
In terms of natural resources, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Yet, over 50 percent of the country’s population lives on less than $1.25 per day. For the 4 million desperately poor residents living in and around Virunga National Park, the park’s borders are an arbitrary distinction, and conservation is just another term for the rich and powerful taking the best for themselves. Armed militias also use the park and its vast resources as a means of power in an ongoing and bloody regional conflict. In The Battle for Virunga National Geographic Explorer correspondent Justin Hall ventures into Virunga to meet park director Emmanuelle de Merode and veteran park ranger Innocent Mburanumwe for a candid interview about the rebel groups and militias roaming the park’s jungles, the slaughter of the park’s protected species, the Western oil giants seeking to extract the park’s vast resources and the park rangers who have been murdered in the line of duty.
Conversations Live regular and NY Times and USA Today bestseller Hazel Gaynor is back to discuss her latest historical fiction novel, The Girl From the Savoy. Hazel takes us back to the roaring 20’s with the tale of a humble chambermaid who gets the opportunity to face the ultimate decision… choosing between everything she knows, and everything she dreams of.
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey That Uncovered the Lost Civilization of the Maya is journalist William Carlsen’s definitive account of how two intrepid explorers changed the prevailing view of human history in the Western Hemisphere. It chronicles the daring journey of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood’s to uncover, document, and contextualize for the world what would come to be known as the remains of the Maya civilization.
Enjoy Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair every Monday at noon Pacific on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. For exclusive updates throughout the rest of the week, like us on Facebook, and follow Vicki St. Clair on Twitter!
The Girl From the Savoy by returning guest Hazel Gaynor introduces Dolly Lane, a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, who dreams to live alongside the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz, and rebellion. When she responds to an ad to become a ‘muse’ for a struggling songwriter, she finds herself thrust into London’s exhilarating theatre scene. At the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, she must make a difficult choice: between two men; between two classes; between everything she knows and everything she dreams of. The Girl From the Savoy is Hazel’s third novel in the growing genre of historical fiction, with her first two becoming USA Today and NY Times bestsellers.
When John Lloyd Stephens, the U.S. Charge d’affaires appointed by President Martin Van Buren, set out for Guatemala City in 1839, his official mission was to broker a trade agreement with the leaders of the recently formed United Provinces of Central America. But he and Frederick Catherwood, an English artist and architect, had a separate and more personal goal for the excursion – to explore the Central American jungle in search of hidden, unknown worlds. William Carlsen fleshes out a rollicking account of their expeditions, and their quest to make sense of their findings for the rest of the world in Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey That Uncovered the Lost Civilization of the Maya. William has been a journalist for thirty years, a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting and a winner of numerous journalism awards.
Travel journalist of the year reveals the push-pull tension between home and away
