EP 87 Travels for bookworms; Aussie travel trends & which airlines are overcharging for extras

If your dream destination is anywhere curled up with a great book in a cosy nook by the fire or by the pool, let Lucy Pearson take you on a reading retreat. 

Lucy is a bibliotherapist and bespoke library curator who has designed a series of upcoming reading retreats in France, Wales and Australia.
  
Expect silent book clubs or find a cosy nook by the fire or pool to read, as well as a bibliotherapy session and a book 'prescription'. Each retreat has a theme, stories shaped by the sea, a French-inspired reading list inspired by the allure of France, and a winter retreat where houses are the central character.

Co-host Belle also asks Lucy for her travel lit hot list, which includes:

Holy Cow! (India) Sarah MacDonald
Wild (USA) Sheryl Strayed
In Search of Silence (India & New Zealand) Poorna Bell 
Eat Pray Love (India, Italy, Indonesia) Elizabeth Gilbert
Hideous Kinky (Morocco) Esther Freud and her favourite travelogue;
A Year in Provence (France) Peter Mayle.

For more about Lucy's reading retreats in Provence, Wales or Daylesford here in Australia and her bibliotherapy practice, visit thelitedit.com  You can also sign up to her substack, and follow her on Instagram.

And what kind of holidays are we taking? Find out what's hot right now, according to new research from experience network Big Red Group.

We also hit the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival; Kirstie went to the Longest Lunch - think hundreds of meters of tables set along the lawns of Kings Domain, while Belle went to gaol. She sat down to what should have been Ned Kelly's final dinner the atmospheric Old Melbourne Gaol. There are still more free and low-cost events at the festival, or pop in the diary for the 2026 festival; https://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au

Chapters

• 0:17 Melbourne Food & Wine festival
• 4:06 And what kind of holidays are we taking?
• 7:36 Join a reading retreat with Lucy Pearson
• 31:58 Avoid airlines with the highest extras fees