Elliott Confidential Podcast

About Elliott Confidential Podcast

Follow the Elliott's on their around-the-world adventure. www.elliottshow.com (https://www.elliottshow.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Christopher Elliott

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Feb 2022

Latest episode

19 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

128 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Coffee first, then clippers: Here’s what we did in Sydney

   Sydney is one of our favorite cities, but we’ve been enough times to stop acting like tourists. You know what I mean, right? No more stumbling around Sydney Cove with our cameras out, waiting for that perfect angle of the opera. We wanted a more authentic experience. The answer involved a barber, a biscotto and a tea shop run by a woman everyone calls Auntie Helen. (One housekeeping note: the podcast now has two camera angles, so you can see our production quality from two directions. Our standards remain low.) Question of the week: If you could return to only one place, where would it be? We’re asking because this was our third visit to Sydney. Which destination would you pick if you only got one? And what keeps you coming back? OK, there’s the mandatory shot of the opera house. Can we get on with it? A strange question we get asked a lot When we tell people that we travel 350 days a year, they often ask: “Where do you get your hair cut?” (Iden says the version he hears is closer to, “Why does your haircut look like that?”) In Sydney, the answer is Barbarico in North Sydney, a short walk from the Victoria Cross Metro station. It’s run by a Greek barber and it’s a special place. There’s a sequence to the visit, and we didn’t invent it. Next door is Bacino Espresso. The order is first coffee, then the chair. So when we walked into the barbershop, they took our orders. Then we got the haircut. Bacino is a legend in the neighborhood. Around 9 a.m., the owner’s father comes out and hands each customer a fresh biscotto. The recipe is simple: no eggs, no milk, orange juice instead, sesame seeds on top. People line up and wait for him. A visit to Don Fred, respectfully Aren and I are on a plant-based diet, which makes a city like Sydney either a problem or an adventure. In Newtown we found Don Fred, where Lorenzo cooks northern Italian food without meat or dairy, but without compromising on taste. We can respect that. He serves a set meal, and we weren’t sure we could finish it. The standout was the calamari, which is made from konjac. He explained that konjac is porous enough to take on whatever flavor he wants, and he coats it in polenta so it crisps up and stays gluten-free. The focaccia comes from Liguria, near the French border. Auntie Helen and the tea from Uji We stayed in Bondi Junction, which is where we met Helen at the Taka Tea Garden. She and Taka-san import from Uji, near Kyoto, and the shop is full of tea containers, matcha bowls and whisks. Helen poured us a sencha that was so sweet we assumed it had sugar in it (it didn’t). When Iden asked whether turning it into a latte would offend anyone, she pointed out that young people already do it with soy milk. No offense taken. She also wanted to know whether Iden was working or just having fun. Answer: both! In Sydney, everyone is properly caffeinated We stayed in Woollahra this time. We walked to Paddington for the cafes and down to Bondi Beach, but kept going back to the same coffee shops until the staff recognized us. That’s how the locals do it. Sydney has no bad angle, but you don’t get to know a city by looking at it. Next time we’re reporting from Saitama, Japan, a place almost no tourist visits. Don’t forget our question of the week: If you could return to only one place, where would it be? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.elliottshow.com (https://www.elliottshow.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   7 Jun 2026

   Vanuatu Confidential: Volcanoes, kava and a road trip we’ll never forget

   Vanuatu doesn’t show up in many top 10 lists, so of course we had to go. If you look at a map of the South Pacific, you’ll find it just west of Fiji. Since we’ve been based in Sydney for the last few months, it was only a 3.5-hour flight. Efate, Vanuatu’s main island, is a relatively flat jungle once you get outside of Port Vila. The soil is rich, dark volcanic, the palm trees are an impossible shade of green, and the roads are very rough. If you love being on a 4x4 off-roading jungle adventure, this is your place. We should be clear: our complaints about the roads are no dig on the people of Vanuatu. Some of the roads were built by Americans during World War II, and some by the Chinese. Question of the week: What’s the weirdest drink you’ve ever had in your travels? We ask because Iden had a kava experience. More on that in just a minute. What’s the strangest thing you’ve drunk in your travels? And (bonus point) how did it affect your trip? A word of caution about kava In an earlier podcast (https://www.elliottshow.com/p/fiji-confidential-culture-kava-and), we talked about kava, the native drink of the South Pacific. It’s made from a pepper root, and it functions as the region’s social lubricant. On Vanuatu, it’s extra strong. As Iden came to find out, you aren’t supposed to drink two liters of kava in one night. He did. He lived to regret it. He didn’t eat anything for two days, and when he tried, he said it felt like liquid lava going down. Pro Tip: Treat Vanuatu kava with respect. One serving is plenty for first-timers. Two liters is a mistake that will make you miss two days of your trip!. Standing on an active volcano We were lucky enough to visit the island of Tanna, home to Mount Yasur, an active volcano To reach it, you cross the long flat ash plains in Tafea Province. One side of the volcano looks like chocolate, dark earth with small trees and bushes pushing through. Once on the top, you’re standing on the caldera and watching the eruptions. You feel the ground shake, and then you see lava spewing into the sky. It is one of the few places on Earth where you can safely stand that close to the spectacle. (We’ll show you video of the eruption in the podcast.) The hotel that nursed Iden back to health We stayed at the Rockwater Hotel, which gets credit for getting Iden back to health. The garden alone was worth the trip. You walk through little passageways, and each one reveals a new section, with its own unique plant. Iden counted something like 50 sections. Banana, coconut, coffee. You name it, they’re growing it at Rockwater. Tanna has terrific volcanic soil, so everything grows there. Bananas, coffee, you name it. Iden made a speedy recovery, which was a big relief. A culture that preserves its traditions One of the most fascinating parts of Vanuatu is its culture. We toured one of the villages and saw how people live now, still embracing many of their traditions. Among the practices are their marriage rituals. Giving a pig to the father of the bride seals the marriage, according to our guide. (That’s one way to do it.) Some traditions are not for the faint of heart. Male circumcision happens later in life, often around age 10, and our guide told us the boys aren’t warned beforehand. They cut using bamboo and the ceremony takes about one hour. There’s an option to go to a hospital instead, but if you take it, the village never lets you forget it. You become, in the guide’s words, the “village coward.” Who should go to Vanuatu If you love off-roading, if you want to feel genuinely lost in the rainforest, and if you want to get close to communities still living their traditions, this is the place for you. Don’t forget our question of the week: What’s the weirdest drink you’ve ever had in your travels? Our top commenter gets a free one-year subscription to Elliott Confidential, our sister newsletter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.elliottshow.com (https://www.elliottshow.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   26 Apr 2026

   We visited the adventure capital of the world. Here's what we discovered.

   People visit Queenstown, New Zealand, for the thrills. But maybe that’s a mistake. You can ski the Southern Alps in August or drive a speedboat on the rapids of Shotover Canyon in January. You can even go bungee jumping off the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge. There’s more to this part of New Zealand than adrenaline. We were smitten by the beauty of this place—the jagged mountains (cue the Lord of the Rings theme) and the crystalline waters of Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown, it turns out, claims to be one of the most sustainable destinations on Earth. And since we cover tourism sustainability, we had to find out if that was true. (Spoiler: Truer that you might think.) Question of the week: What’s the most unusual form of mass transit you’ve ever taken? We ask because Queenstown is planning to build a gondola—yes, a gondola—from the airport to town. Tell us about your mass transit experiences, from tuk-tuks to canoes. We love your comments and will read them in our next podcast. Everything gets recycled here Queenstown loves to repurpose things. Consider the TSS Earnslaw, a historic, coal-fired passenger steamship operating on Lake Wakatipu. It was launched in 1912 and decommissioned—and slated to be scrapped—in 1968. Conservation-minded citizens saved the ship, restored it, and it now carriers visitors around the lake. Now that’s what we call recycling. Pro Tip: If you’re thinking of visiting southern New Zealand, aim for December to February for a warmer experience. The best skiing here is in August, according to insiders. Lots of eco-lodges in Queenstown We visited two fascinating eco-lodges in the Queenstown area. Kinloch Wilderness Retreat is a case study in respecting the past while powering the future. It featuring solar-powered “Ecoscape” huts constructed from New Zealand-sourced materials. And, like any self-respecting eco-lodge, there’s a yoga studio. The Headwaters Eco Lodge, another eco-lodge we saw, is designed to something called the Living Building Challenge standards. It doesn’t get much greener than that. Headwaters has a massive solar garden and guest chalets with composting toilets. We talk about that in the podcast, because composting toilets is where we draw the line What we thought of Queenstown Queenstown is stunning, a little pricey, and exhausting. It’s a city that prides itself on being the ultimate playground, but seasoned traveler will see past the high-gloss world of its tourism machine and see the pristine beauty of the place. And they’ll appreciate the way its tourism officials are trying to keep their destination sustainable for future generations of visitors. Don’t forget our question of the week: What’s the most unusual form of public transport you’ve ever taken? Our top commenter gets a free one-year subscription to Elliott Confidential, our sister newsletter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.elliottshow.com (https://www.elliottshow.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)