<p>Today’s guest is British travel journalist and author Sophy Roberts.</p><p>It takes a special kind of person to hear the sentence ‘the lost pianos of Siberia’ uttered in casual conversation and have those words ignite an obsession that eventuates in a three-year odyssey across the vast, white wilderness of Siberia in search of a piano.</p><p>Sophy’s self-described ‘oddball quest’ is documented in her debut book <em>The Lost Pianos of Siberia</em>, which has been received with critical acclaim.</p><p>Sophy Roberts is one of the finest travel writers of our time, having carved out an exceptional career as an editor-at-large for titles such as Condé Nast Traveller and Departures magazine, and a columnist for the Financial Times' How to Spend it.</p><p>In recent years she’s felt a call to the wild, trading the glitzy hotels and glamorous getaways for a chance to tell untold stories from remote parts of the world, reporting on wildlife conservation, threats to eco-systems and fragile cultures.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SOPHY ROBERTS’ CULTURE GUIDE</strong></p><p>The Road to Oxiana (book) by Robert Byron</p><p>As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (book) by Laurie Lee</p><p>In Patagonia (book) by Bruce Chatwin</p><p>The Magic Faraway Tree (book) by Enid Blyton</p><p>The Story of Doctor Dolittle (book) by Hugh Lofting</p><p>The Secret Garden (book) by Frances Hodgson Burnett</p><p>Sakhalin Island (book) by Anton Chekhov</p><p>The&nbsp;Princess of Siberia (book) by Christine Sutherland</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>DESTINATION INSPIRATION</strong></p><p>West Dorset, England</p><p>Andalucía, Spain</p><p>Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland</p><p>Varanasi, India</p><p>Ladakh, India</p><p>Dal Lake, Kashmir</p><p>Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo</p><p>Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan</p><p>The Ennedi Desert, Chad</p><p><a href="https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/the-happy-house-nepal-review" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Happy House</a>, Nepal (See Sophy's review for CNT here)</p><p>The Orkhon valley, Mongolia</p><p>Siberia (using Anton Chekhov's description: 'The plain of Siberia begins, I think, from Ekaterinburg, and ends&nbsp;goodness knows where’)</p><p>Kamchatka, Russia</p><p>The Altai Mountains, Mongolia</p><p>Lake Baikal, Russia</p><p>The Kuril Islands</p><p>Taiga, Russia</p><p>The Trans-Siberian Railway</p><p>Socotra Island, Yemen</p><br><p>Curious to know if Sophy finds the piano she’s been searching for? Visit <a href="https://www.lostpianosofsiberia.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">thelostpianosofsiberia.com</a> or you can buy the book <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-lost-pianos-of-siberia-9780857524959" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. &nbsp;</p><p>Please support your local bookshop if you can! Independent bookstores are really struggling at the moment, let's keep them in business this Christmas!! </p><p>You might also like to follow <a href="https://www.instagram.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sophy_roberts</a> on Instagram, she takes spellbinding photographs on her travels.</p><br><p>If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review so others can discover this podcast as well. If you’re looking for some more travel inspiration, you can find me on Instagram&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/escape.artist.podcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@escape.artist.podcast</a>&nbsp;or visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.escapeartistpodcast.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.escapeartistpodcast.com</a></p><br><p>Join me next week for the final episode of The Escape Artist Season 1!</p><br><p>Xx Edwina</p><p>(Music by the talented&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/5cxol8ruhBU1QpUick7A42" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Giselle Rosselli</a>)&nbsp;</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>