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Cabin crew layover in Houston, a late-night Astros game, and no time for NASA - this episode explores the tension between long-haul travel and short-lived moments.

In episode 48 of the story pilgrim, I travel 5,000 miles to Houston… and never make it to Mission Control. With just 24 hours on the ground, I trade moon landings for breakfast, baseball, and a quiet walk to the Galleria. Along the way, I reflect on the odd rhythm of airline life - always arriving, rarely staying - and what it means to find presence in passing places.

No grand missions. No space suits. Just a few borrowed hours, a stadium full of strangers, and the reminder that sometimes, showing up is the whole story.

Buen camino, and keep listening.

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In this episode of the story pilgrim, I take a short walk with a long echo. Just one afternoon in Hamburg — and yet it felt like I crossed more than just bridges.

Hamburg: the city of canals, contradictions, and carefully run public transport. A place I’ve flown to several times as cabin crew, but never really explored with my feet — or my mic — until now.

In Hamburg: Crossing Bridges, I wander from the calm waters of the Außenalster Lake, over the Lombardsbrücke, past the towering Rathaus, and into the wonderfully absurd and deeply moving Miniatur Wunderland — a place that somehow reduced the entire planet to model trains, tiny cafes, and one plastic goat that made me question the meaning of existence.

This episode reflects on:
– The emotional weight of crossing bridges (both literal and personal)
– The dry charm of German directness and design
– Finding unexpected joy in structure, order, and the absurd
– How a country I had no emotional connection to has slowly reshaped how I see the world
– What we gain when we stop trying to conquer cities, and start letting them speak to us

I talk a lot about place — but what I’m really talking about is people, perception, and how we slowly rewrite ourselves through every step we take away from home.

Featured locations:
– Außenalster Lake
– Lombardsbrücke Bridge
– Hamburg Rathaus
– Miniatur Wunderland

If you’ve ever wandered a foreign city and felt something shift — even just a little — this episode is for you.

🎧 Subscribe to the story pilgrim for more poetic walking stories, unexpected reflections, and sacred moments from everyday places.

🗺️ Inspired by my 500-mile walk across Spain on the Camino de Santiago and my 26 performances of Underneath the Lintel, the story pilgrim is about the stories that emerge when we walk, listen, and ask bigger questions.

🔗 Follow me on socials @thestorypilgrim | www.thestorypilgrim.com

#theStoryPilgrim #HamburgPodcast #TravelPodcast #WalkingPodcast #MiniaturWunderland #Storytelling #GermanyTravel #PilgrimagePodcast #SoloTravel #WanderingThoughts #CaminoSpirit #PodcastJourney #TravelReflection

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In this solo episode of the story pilgrim, I leave the front door of my new home in Mile Oak, East Sussex, and walk up onto the South Downs, carrying only my thoughts and a few well-worn quotes from voices that have shaped my path: Plato, A.A. Milne, Freddie Mercury, Glenn Berger, and Slavoj Žižek.

This isn’t a grand adventure episode. No faraway landscapes, no guest interviews. This one’s local. Grounded. Real. It’s about how place, routine, and the quiet hum of everyday life influence the big questions we carry.

I talk about:

• The challenge of being open while remaining private, especially as someone who creates a public-facing persona.
• The quiet but constant tug between wanderlust and rootedness.
• What it means to let emotion rise when you’ve spent years keeping it down.
• How quotes from philosophy, literature, music, and theatre still spark new reflections every time you read them on foot.

I reflect on what it means to feel at home, how things like a mortgage, a rescue dog, and a compost bin unexpectedly shape your creative life, and how the questions we ask tend to multiply the deeper we go.

👣 This episode is for you if you’re into:

• Philosophical storytelling
• Walking as a way of thinking
• Quotes that make you pause
• Slow travel and mindful reflection
• The tension between adventure and domestic life
• Real, unfiltered thoughts on creativity, identity, and adulthood

🎧 Featuring quotes and reflections from:

• Plato – “The unexamined life…”
• A.A. Milne – Quiet truths from Winnie the Pooh
• Freddie Mercury / Queen – The deep ache inside “I want to break free”
• Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger – Tracing the invisible through story
• Slavoj Žižek – On the illusion of freedom

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