By Their Own Compass

Where a love of history meets a passion for travel.

Historian Jeremiah Jenne and journalist Sarah Keenlyside explore historical travellers and the worlds they encountered, connecting past journeys to today's travel destinations. www.bytheirowncompass.com

  1. 4d ago

    History's Greatest Travel Scams: From Medieval Relic Fraud to the Tea House Scam in Beijing

    Jeremiah and Sarah are both traveling this week, but as a special treat, we’re reposting one of our favorite episodes from earlier this year. We hope you enjoy it, and we’ll be back in two weeks with a fresh episode. If you’ve ever Googled “how to avoid scams in [destination],” you already know the genre: YouTube videos breathlessly (and ominously) exposing the 15 tricks that will ruin your trip to Florence, Bangkok, or Marrakech. Full disclosure: We watch them too. But the historically minded traveler will be quick to note that almost none of these scams are new. Structurally, the “hey, did you lose your wallet” scam is identical to cons recorded in Chinese travel literature over 400 years ago. The “helpful stranger” who leads you to his friend’s shop? A porter scam from 1617. Fake antiquities? Egyptian villagers were running that play on European collectors since the days of Napoleon. In this episode, we trace the world’s most common travel scams back to their historical origins across three centuries and three continents, and then embarrass ourselves by sharing the ones we’ve fallen for personally or that have happened to people on our trips we’re supposed to be protecting. You can trust us! For a small monthly donation, join the By Their Own Compass Club for bonus content, transcripts, reading lists, and special member-exclusive offers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    History's Greatest Travel Scams: From Medieval Relic Fraud to the Tea House Scam in Beijing

  2. Aug 10

    Olaudah Equiano: The Enslaved Man Who Rewrote History

    Imagine being kidnapped at the age of 11, enslaved, and made to fight another country’s war as a white man pockets your wages – only to be sold off the moment you are finally owed your freedom. This was the plight of African man Olaudah Equiano – also known as Gustavus Vassa – who was passed from master to master until in 1766, aged just 21, he bought back his own freedom. From that point on, he carved out his own destiny in a way that almost none in a similar situation before him had managed. Not only did he become one of the most widely travelled individuals of the 18th century, but a one-man publishing powerhouse. Join us as we tell the incredible story of Olaudah Equiano – Royal Navy veteran, entrepreneur, merchant, hairdresser – and the spark that lit the flame under the British abolitionist movement. In his lifetime he set foot in countries ranging from Canada and America to Barbados, Portugal, France, Turkey, Nicaragua and Italy. He even sailed to the Arctic as a lab assistant on the same expedition as a young Horatio Nelson. But it was his memoir – The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African – that turned him into a global sensation in his own right, and led to real, lasting change. This episode traces Equiano’s life from a childhood in what is now Nigeria, through the Middle Passage and the Caribbean sugar trade, to freedom, marriage, and a self-published book that made him one of the wealthiest Black Britons of his century. We ask whether Equiano was really born in Africa, discuss what freedom actually meant for a free Black man in the Atlantic world, and delve into the perils of life on the ocean in the 1700s. Plus: a walking tour of Equiano’s London, and the Black Georgian community he called home. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    Olaudah Equiano: The Enslaved Man Who Rewrote History

  3. Jul 24

    Nellie Bly's Record-Breaking Race Around the World

    There are few women in recent history more impressive than Nellie Bly. In 1889, aged just 25, this American reporter had already pioneered undercover journalism as we know it after faking insanity to expose a poorly run asylum. Then she decided to pull off an even bigger stunt – to prove that fictional character Phileas Fogg’s achievement of going around the world in 80 days wasn’t just possible, but could be beaten. Sure enough, her record-breaking attempt for newspaper The New York World was a smash hit, and had its readers clamouring for updates day after day, collectively wondering: Where in the world is Nellie Bly? She raced by steamship and rail through England and France – including a detour to Amiens to meet Jules Verne himself – Italy, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, acquired a spectacularly ill-behaved monkey en route (why is there always a monkey!?), and then embarked on a final dash across America by train to the finish line. What she didn’t know for most of her trip is that a rival newspaper had decided to pit another woman, Elisabeth Bisland, against her. So how did Nellie Bly travel around the entire world in just 72 days before the era of air travel? Who was this fearless woman, who wrote that if she failed she could never return to New York (“I would rather go in dead and successful than alive and behind.”) And what did she do with her newfound fame on her return? In this episode of By Their Own Compass, we explore the extraordinary life of Nellie Bly, the pioneering reporter who transformed investigative journalism, became one of the world’s first celebrity correspondents, smashed Phileas Fogg’s fictional record, and went on to become an inventor, industrialist and one of the most remarkable women of the Gilded age. Topics: Nellie Bly, investigative journalism, undercover reporting, Ten Days in a Mad-House, Blackwell’s Island Asylum, Around the World in 72 Days, Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne, Phileas Fogg, Elisabeth Bisland, Joseph Pulitzer, New York World, Victorian travel, Gilded Age America, women in journalism, women's history, newspaper history, circumnavigation, record-breaking journeys, solo female travel, travel history. Follow By Their Own Compass on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/bytheirowncompass/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    Nellie Bly's Record-Breaking Race Around the World

  4. Jul 9

    North Korea's Improbable, Giant-Killing World Cup Run: Mythical Horses, Scary Crucifixes and a Chef's Revenge

    In the summer of 1966, a group of men from one of the most isolated countries on Earth stepped off a plane into Swinging Sixties Britain. They had no idea about miniskirts or Beatlemania. Some were so unnerved by a statue of Jesus in their guesthouse that it had to be removed. They came from a nation the UK government didn’t even recognise – but within three weeks, the entire town of Middlesbrough had fallen in love with them. This is the story of North Korea at the 1966 World Cup – and one of the biggest upsets in footballing history. Not only did this diminutive, 22-man team knock out mighty Italy – one of the favourites to win the whole thing – but in the quarter-final against Portugal, barely 25 minutes in, they were 3-0 up and within touching distance of the semis. So what went wrong? In this episode, Jeremiah and Sarah invite DPRK expert Simon Cockerell to explain just how the hell Cold War era North Korea qualified for the World Cup in the first place, and to give us the inside story on what happened to the team after they returned home. Not only has Simon been to the secretive country 183 times as General Manager of Koryo Tours, but he knows the players personally, having helped organise a 2002 return visit for them to the site of their iconic victory against Italy. Was their entire game plan really based on advice from Kim Il Sung to “run fast and kick hard”? Were the players imprisoned on their return home? And did an Italian chef really try to poison striker Pak Doo-ik in revenge for his country’s most humiliating defeat? Plus: Sarah and Jeremiah dig out their favourite moments from their own trips to North Korea and ask whether you can still visit in 2026, before finishing on the Middlesbrough housing estate where, on the site of the old Ayresome Park pitch, a bronze cast still marks the exact spot of Pak Doo-ik’s winning goal. A story of pride, determination, and one of the unlikeliest runs in football history – eat your heart out, Cape Verde. Topics: 1966 World Cup, DPRK history, Pak Doo-ik, North Korea vs Italy, Middlesbrough, Ayresome Park, Cold War history, Kim Il Sung, Chollima, North Korea travel, Koryo Tours, Simon Cockerell, The Game of Their Lives documentary, Swinging Sixties Britain, football's greatest upsets, Eusébio, Teesside history, sports diplomacy, World Cup underdogs, Cape Verde 2026 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    North Korea's Improbable, Giant-Killing World Cup Run: Mythical Horses, Scary Crucifixes and a Chef's Revenge

  5. Jun 26

    Route 66: Cowboys, Cadillacs and Nat King Cole

    Has a more iconic road ever been built? This year, America’s famous highway turns 100. Route 66 and its fellow numbered roads were revolutionary when the federal highway system was created in 1926. For the first time ever, an ordinary person could navigate across the country without a guide and enjoy the journey for the journey’s sake: the ultimate road trip. But what made this particular route so legendary? Covering almost 2,500 miles, Route 66 passed through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Depression-era migrants fleeing the Dust Bowl used the Mother Road to head west; a famous footrace on the route, known as the Bunion Derby, captured the public imagination; then a Nat King Cole song and a television show cemented its place in the American psyche once and for all. As author Michael Wallis says, “Route 66 is Woody Guthrie and Mickey Mantle and Jack Kerouac. It’s thousands of waitresses, service station attendants, fry cooks, truckers, grease monkeys, hustlers, state cops, wrecker drivers, and motel clerks”. But who was the road really for – and who did it leave out? A large stretch of it also sold a decidedly manufactured Southwest – “Native American” wigwam hotels; cafés built in the shape of a giant sombrero. Roadside “trading posts” and “snake pits” promising a brush with a Wild West more imagined than real. Meanwhile, Black travellers were forced to consult The Green Book just to stay safe on the very same route – a compendium of the diners, hotels and gas stations that would actually serve them at a time when segregation and sundown towns made a simple road trip genuinely dangerous. Then, in 1956 the Interstate Highway Act slowly kills the road. Towns were bypassed in the interest of speed, and businesses die. But in 2026, the myths (and the wigwam hotels) are as alive as ever. In this episode, we dive into the romance, the reality, the open road, and everything it leaves unsaid. Plus, we unpack in detail how to do the trip yourself, which car to drive, and why this centennial year might just be the perfect moment to go. Topics: Route 66 centennial, US highway history, Dust Bowl migration, Jack Kerouac, On The Road, Beat Generation, John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath, Nat King Cole, Green Book, Black travel history, racial segregation, Native American representation, Chicano culture, American exceptionalism, Chicago to Santa Monica, Southwest USA travel, Interstate Highway Act. Follow By Their Own Compass on Instagram! 📸 Instagram: By Their Own Compass This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    Route 66: Cowboys, Cadillacs and Nat King Cole

  6. Jun 11

    Zheng He: The Eunuch Who Commanded the World’s Biggest Treasure Fleet

    Decades before Christopher Columbus and Europe’s “Age of Exploration”, a strapping Chinese admiral named Zheng He commanded the biggest fleet of ships the world had ever seen – treasure ships so enormous that nothing comparable sailed the oceans for another 400 years. Born into a Muslim family and orphaned at a young age, Zheng He was castrated around the age of 10 and forced to work as a servant for Ming Dynasty prince Zhu Di. But this young eunuch soon outgrew his role – literally and figuratively – and when his master became the emperor, found himself entrusted with an imperial expedition that would turn him into one of history’s greatest travellers. So great, in fact, that some – including 1421 author Gavin Menzies – believe that China discovered America before Columbus. Across seven voyages spanning around 30 years, Zheng sailed south and west to Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, and the east coast of Africa. He captured a Sri Lankan king, saw off the most feared pirate in the Strait of Malacca, and collected exotic animals to present to the Yongle emperor, from giraffes and ostriches to zebras. So, did this roving eunuch ambassador really reach America first? And why, when the fleet was so impressive, did it suddenly just… disappear? What would have happened if Zheng He, his hundreds of enormous boats and tens of thousands of crewmen had reached European shores? What if he’d continued to be an imposing presence? Might Europe’s destructive colonial expeditions in Asia never have happened? Join Sarah and Jeremiah as they separate fact from fiction, discuss what an alternative history might have looked like, and follow in Zheng He’s footsteps today in Java, Indonesia, Malacca in Malaysia, and Galle in Sri Lanka. Topics: Zheng He, Chinese treasure fleet, Ming Dynasty, eunuch admiral, Age of Exploration, maritime history, Indian Ocean trade, Strait of Malacca, did China discover America, 1421 Gavin Menzies, Christopher Columbus, Yongle Emperor, piracy, Sri Lanka history, Malacca, Malaysia, Java, Indonesia, Sam Po Kong temple, Southeast Asia travel This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    Zheng He: The Eunuch Who Commanded the World’s Biggest Treasure Fleet

  7. May 28

    The Dark Side of the Compass: When Travellers Become the Problem

    British travel writer and podcaster Jamie Fullerton has spent his career documenting communities and places that the average guidebook doesn’t cover – from the Dance of the Little Devils ritual in Boruca, Costa Rica, to overnight hikes on Guatemala’s Fuego Volcano and obscure bagpipe festivals in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. His work bears witness to traditions in the midst of being revived, and cultures at risk of dying out – often asking what effect tourism has on local communities caught somewhere between preservation and exploitation. In this episode of By Their Own Compass, Jamie discusses his new podcast series, Keep Going: An Unexpected Travel Podcast, and the controversial trips that tourists make in Central America and elsewhere that do little for the local people they’re meant to help or celebrate. Sarah and Jamie examine cases ranging from Mexico’s Tren Maya railway displacing indigenous communities, to volcano guides risking their lives for tourist dollars, and ask whether the modern traveller is part of the problem. How do you know whether your presence in a foreign country is benefitting the community? Should we all travel with a journalist’s curiosity to ensure we’re doing less harm than good? And is the act of being a travel writer part of the problem – or is there an insidious new force in the content ecosystem causing even greater damage? Sarah also quizzes Jamie Fullerton on his writing inspirations, the most dramatic hike he’s ever done, and why a visit to an Albanian film archive changed his view of how we record – and preserve – history. Topics: ethical travel, responsible tourism, indigenous communities, overtourism, vanishing cultures, Central America travel, Guatemala volcano hiking, Costa Rica traditions, Mexico Tren Maya, travel writing, Keep Going podcast, Jamie Fullerton Follow By Their Own Compass: 📩 Substack: https://bytheirowncompass.substack.com/ 📸 Instagram: By Their Own Compass Listen to By Keep Going: An Unexpected Travel Podcast: Keep Going: An Unexpected Travel Podcast: https://linktr.ee/keepgoingtravelpodcast Jamie Fullerton on Instagram: @jamie_w_fullerton This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    The Dark Side of the Compass: When Travellers Become the Problem

  8. May 14

    Emily Hahn in China: War, Romance, and Opium

    Seeking the perfect travel companion: Must like adventure, dodgy neighborhoods, good gin joints, handsome and interesting men (a spy or a poet, if you please), gibbons (which are NOT monkeys), and opium. Not in that particular order. Meet Emily “Mickey” Hahn, a writer, an adventurer, and a professional rule-breaker whose wanderlust took her from the American Midwest to Europe and Africa, and finally to China, all before she turned 30. By the time she got to China, she had already established herself as an up-and-coming literary voice and one of the New Yorker’s earliest star writers. In her career, she published 54 books and over 200 articles, but her most famous book is China to Me, a memoir of the years that we’re going to talk about in this episode. She partied with poets (and her pet gibbon) at Shanghai soirees. Wrote biographies while dodging bombs in wartime Chongqing, and did her best to keep herself and her family alive in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Along the way, she became famous (some might add “notorious”) for her affairs, including with Chinese writer Sinmay Zau (Shao Xunmei 邵洵美) and the head of British intelligence in Hong Kong, Charles Boxer. Mickey lived through some of China’s most tumultuous moments. While many foreigners experienced these events, Mickey gave her readers an unvarnished look at what was happening, with a style all her own. We’ll explore Mickey’s life, travels, and adventures, and we’ll also discuss how to follow in her footsteps today through the modern cities of Chongqing, Hong Kong, and especially Shanghai. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.bytheirowncompass.com/subscribe

    Emily Hahn in China: War, Romance, and Opium
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

Historian Jeremiah Jenne and journalist Sarah Keenlyside explore historical travellers and the worlds they encountered, connecting past journeys to today's travel destinations. www.bytheirowncompass.com

Information

  • Creator
    Where a love of history meets a passion for travel.
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © By Their Own Compass
  • Show Website
    By Their Own Compass

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