Just Travel

About Just Travel

Norm's Travel Podcast brings you real destination stories, practical travel tips and conversations with the people who live and work in the world's most beautiful places. Host Normand Schafer visits islands, resorts, guides and tourism leaders across the South Pacific, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Europe and more to help you discover where to go, what to do and how to travel well. New episodes every week. Start planning your next trip with Far and Away Adventures at farandawayadventures.com.

Publisher

Normand Schafer

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Jul 2023

Latest episode

24 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

147 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   24 Oct 2026

   From One Islander Aircraft to an Airline: Ewan Smith's Air Rarotonga Story

   Some destination stories are best told from the cockpit. Normand Schafer of Far and Away Adventures.com (https://farandawayadventures.com/) hears one of the Cook Islands' great ones from Ewan Smith, founder and managing director of Air Rarotonga.He also tells the story of technology changing around him. In the early days there was no telex machine, and when one arrived it felt like a marvel. Over the years the airline moved from HF radio and faxes to selling directly to customers anywhere in the world online. Yet the ocean between the islands, he notes, is not going to change. Through the oil shock, 9/11, the global financial crisis and COVID, the airline endured, staffed by local Cook Islanders. Ewan's message is simple: perseverance. Then there is his second passion. Ewan's aerial photographs of Rarotonga and Aitutaki have been used widely to promote the islands, and he produced a documentary on the reintroduction of the kura, the Rimatara lorikeet, with Gerald McCormack. He shares the moments that stayed with him: sunrise departures over the Pacific that never lost their magic, flying the first aircraft into new outer-island airstrips as whole villages watched, and pre-GPS flights of about 1,300 km to the Northern Group that felt like an expedition. Ewan grew up on a farm in New Zealand and still remembers watching an early jet airliner fly over his one-classroom school. In 1973, aged 22, he arrived in Rarotonga as a pilot and engineer, just as the international airport opened. About four years later he launched Air Rarotonga with a single Britten-Norman Islander, flying and maintaining it himself. Experience the Cook Islands story for yourself. Plan with a Far and Away Adventures specialist. Get a free trip quote from Far and Away Adventures: https://farandawayadventures.com/form/quick-trip-request/?dest=Cook%20Islands&src=spotify

2. 

   21 Oct 2026

   When Vacation Plans Change: Lessons From Tahiti's Remote Islands

   This conversation reaches beyond a single destination to examine an important travel principle: even a well-planned trip needs room for the unexpected. Normand describes a real journey in which a ferry was canceled for two days because of weather. The travelers were supposed to reach Bora Bora from Maupiti, so the original transportation arrangements could no longer work. A canceled ferry in French Polynesia can change an entire island-hopping itinerary. Valerie from Tahiti Tours and host Normand Schafer explore what happens when travel plans encounter bad weather, changing flight arrangements, and difficult decisions. Through Far and Away Adventures.com, https://farandawayadventures.com/, travelers can seek expert help designing and coordinating customized vacations. An alternative flight connection was arranged, only for that flight to be canceled the following day. A subsequent direct flight ultimately allowed the travelers to reach Bora Bora on the same day they had originally expected to travel. The transportation changed, and several arrangements needed attention, but the central travel plan was preserved. Before discussing the disruption, Normand and Valerie consider how trips should be designed in the first place. Valerie believes the traveler’s interests are the starting point. Hiking, lagoon experiences, local culture, and preferred accommodation styles all influence which islands belong in an itinerary. Transportation planning follows those decisions and helps turn an appealing collection of destinations into a workable vacation. Valerie explains that these situations require quick communication and decisions. New transportation or accommodation arrangements may involve additional costs, and travelers sometimes need time to decide what they can afford. That delay can become part of the challenge when circumstances are already changing. The discussion also touches on travel insurance, remote destinations, and the importance of people who can assist when unexpected circumstances arise. For a vacation designed with your priorities and practical connections in mind, ask Far and Away Adventures for personalized planning assistance.

3. 

   17 Oct 2026

   The Story of Punanga Nui Market, Told by Founder Mrs Q in Rarotonga

   Mrs Q welcomes us to Rarotonga, which she simply calls paradise. She explains how the 1992 Pacific Arts Festival left behind a village of huts where countries had carved, woven and crafted. She had just come home from travelling around Australia with her art, and she joined a friend in turning that space into a market, which opened in 1993. Every great destination has a gathering place with a story behind it. Normand Schafer of Far and Away Adventures.com (https://farandawayadventures.com/) heads to the Punanga Nui Market in Rarotonga to hear that story from Mie, known as Mrs Q, one of the people who started it. The early days were a struggle. The market was small, tour buses were rare, and the mamas and papas needed encouragement to come and sell. It took several years to catch on. Then came COVID, when the island had to rely on its own people, and the market kept going. Now it has a new building, opened only weeks before this interview. At her stall, Mrs Q shows off her handmade jewellery and earrings crafted from Northern Group shells and pearl shell, alongside pareu, flower ei and local oils, including monoi oil for sun tanning. She laughs that she will create anything that can make a living, and she is at the market Monday to Sunday. Ready to hear these stories in person? Plan your trip with a Far and Away Adventures specialist. Normand asks how the original market compared with today. Mrs Q says it began with food, carving and art, run by only a handful of people. Over the years the number of vendors kept growing, and the market became a gathering place for locals as well as visitors, a role it still plays every weekend. It is a warm, personal destination story about resilience, craft and community, and about why Saturday is the market's busiest and best day.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 29 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

57

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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