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Step into an infinite world of stories

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Pack your bags! Come with us on a journey of the mind…to destinations both near and far-flung, the familiar and the unexpected… in search of what the tourist never sees. An armchair travel show that scratches the surface of the world around us.

Return Ticket

INTRODUCING — Return Ticket

London is a layer cake of history — and we're burrowing in deep. We're purely going to stay underground to reveal bigger stories about this storied capital.

But the thing is, the further deep you go, the newer the city's subterranean structures get. It's archaeology in reverse.

S1 E1 | London underground… literally

It's a place known to Australians for its beer, beach and massage; others are drawn to it as a place of spiritual solace. But what is the real Bali like? Is there such a thing?

S1 E2 | The 'real' Bali

Explore New York at it's most ordinary: a walk through Manhattan in search of snacks, a garbage bin and a hot dog.

S1 E3 | Banal New York

The story of post-quake Christchurch is the story of a place where citizens have had to make hard decisions about what a 21st-century city looks like… what to take or leave… and what to do with the residue of tragedy. 

What's resulted is a city in constant search of renewal: of its waterways, its built environment, and its history. 

In this episode, we'll be tracing the bends of the Avon/Ōtākaro, understanding how local music supported disaster recovery and seeing how this city is shedding its neo-Gothic architectural skin. 

Stay put for a bonus trip to Lyttelton, a stunning bohemian port town about a 20-minute drive from the centre of Christchurch. It's been responsible for nurturing the sound of musicians including Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding and Nadia Reid.

S2 E4 | Christchurch renewed

Welcome to a never-ending story. Beijing's the world's most populous capital city, and it's a place where the trials and tribulations of China's ascendancy are being played out in real-time. So how do you even begin to get into a place as complex and rich as this? 

Well… it's time to hop on the bike. 

In this episode, we'll be looking at how Beijing's relationship with the bike tells a bigger story about China's development, its current class tensions, and how some locals find sanctuary in an otherwise forbidding environment.

S1 E5 | Beijing by bike

They’re universes unto themselves. Thailand’s newfound wealth has spurred on the development of Bangkok’s mega-mall. It’s a totalising form of urbanism that helps us understand the tensions of this modern, cosmopolitan capital. 

In this episode, we head to a new mall that’s delivering Vegas Casino camp alongside Michelin Star eateries. IconSiam is multi-billion-dollar development where you can grab cheap street food in a mock Thai village, and then blow a million on a new Rolls Royce.

S1 E6 | Bangkok's love affair with malls

The human crush of Mumbai is a sight to behold. Places where tens of millions make the jump from informal to formal space — or vice versa — daily. But there's one thing that unites one of the world's most populated cities — the need for a good feed.

We're going to spend a day in the life of Mumbai via the routes of the city's famed tiffin delivery workers. By, foot, motorcycle, train, or car, a seemingly unimaginable number of home-cooked meals traverse the city in metal tiffins, making their way from home to workplace, or from more industrialised made-to-order hubs.

S1 E7 | Order and chaos in Mumbai

Tokyo is one of the world’s most densely populated urban areas. So how do they manage the human crush? To answer that you need to look at Japan’s rich design history, and specifically, that design culture’s fondness for simplicity and efficiency. It’s a hugeness constructed of smallness. A density set against the constant possibility of fragments of calm. In Tokyo, we find beauty in busyness, a place where minimalism soothes the maxi city. A place where mess is more.

S1 E8 | Tokyo's small spaces

Return Ticket is back with a new season… and we've got questions about travel.

Like what the odds of getting married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas? 

Does bread make Paris or does Paris make bread? 

Why is Kuala Lumpur so rubbery? 

What's making Venice drown?

And is Tasmania really that terrible? 

To find the answers to these questions and more, come with us on little journeys of the mind to destinations familiar and obscure.

First episode out on October 14.

INTRODUCING — Return Ticket season two

The story of the Malaysian capital is a story of resources, from tin, petrol, and palm oil. But if there's one resource to understand the metropolis that is Kuala Lumpur today it's rubber.

It's responsible for the city's art deco architecture, modern multiculturalism, and a roaring global trade. It's no wonder Malaysia still supplies half of the world's natural rubber.

Editor's note 18/11/22: This episode has been revised to include an important reference to Malaysia’s ethnic tensions.

S2 03 | Kuala Lumpur — would you like rubber with that?

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