Black Tomato has ventured into audio with the launch of 'The Pursuit of Feeling', a podcast that explores how travel can evoke the most enduring emotions. Olivia Palamountain reports

"The Pursuit of Feeling" podcast by Black Tomato, which launched in February 2025, features intimate conversations between hosts Tom Marchant, Owen Vince and Brendan Drewniany, and guests who understand the transformative power of travel.

The podcast aims to examine how specific feelings become compass points for meaningful travel, guiding travellers towards experiences that resonate long after they return home.

Each episode offers practical recommendations alongside philosophical discussions, providing listeners with destination suggestions and hotel recommendations to help plan their own emotionally resonant journeys."The Pursuit of Feeling podcast has opened up remarkable conversations about travel's deeper impact with fascinating characters from so many different industries and walks of life," Tom Marchant, founder of Black Tomato, tells Globetrender. "It's been thrilling to hear how each guest brings their own specific lens to how movement through the world shapes their lives during and long after travel."

The first episode is in conversation with Mr Lyan (aka Ryan Chetiyawardana), London's hottest bartender and mixologist. The latest episode (seven), which launched on May 29, features Ashley Longshore – and includes an accompanying itinerary.The series delves into "the rich tapestry of emotions that colour our journeys" says Black Tomato, with guests sharing moments of euphoria, quiet revelation and heart-racing adventures that have shaped their perspectives.

Here are some highlights from the season so far:

In episode six, Jacqui Gifford, editor-in-chief of Travel + Leisure, says: "Travel is inherently emotional, it's taking you out of your comfort zone, your senses are more alive, you're also feeling very vulnerable when you travel. Genetically we are conditioned to crave stability so I feel naturally it's an emotional time."

The podcast explores various aspects of travel psychology through expert perspectives. Tom Robbins, travel editor at The Financial Times, discusses the appeal of physical challenges in episode three: "I think there's a sense of doing something real. It's not a confected activity. Happiness lies on the far side of doing something difficult."

Dan Flower, creative visionary behind the relaunched magazine The Face and former creative director of Soho House is leads episode five in which he addresses the tension between nostalgia and seeking new experiences: "I think perhaps with the younger generation there is culture of box-ticking. But the problem of nostalgia is a risk because if you go back and it's not what you remember and what you want it to be, it can actually disappoint."Speaking on episode four, James Lohan, founder of luxury hotel booking platform Mr & Mrs  Smith, emphasises the importance of intangible elements in travel experiences: "Lighting and music is so important. When you walk down the high street, why is that restaurant busy and that one isn't. They serve the same food. It's usually the lighting, the sound, the host. It's the intangibles, the bits you can't manufacture."