PODCAST · society
Couchfish
by Stuart McDonald
The Couchfish podcast. Following a day by day itinerary through Southeast Asia—for all those people stranded on their couch. couchfish.substack.com
Episodes
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Couchfish Day 382: Learning By Doing
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 381: Always Chat With Your Landscaper
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 380: Bingin Time
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 379: War Stories
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 378: A Special Kind Of Energy
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish: Do Locals Eat Nutella Waffles?
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 377: From The Mountains To The Sea
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish: The Rent Seekers Of Travel
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 376: Molasses waves
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 375: Two Cocks And A Rock
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish: From Elephants to Whale Sharks
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 374: “Take The Left And Keep Going”
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 373: What Wallace Didn’t Tell You
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish Day 372: Four Fingers For The Gods
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish: Playing Your Cards Right
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else.…
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Couchfish: Climb Every Mountain, Part 2
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Climb Every Mountain, Part 1
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: How Not To Do Singapore
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Left Guessing
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Fox Meet Hen House
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: A Better Kind Of Calculator
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Some Thoughts On 19 Years
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free one that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Thoughts On Travelling in Sarawak
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit couchfish.substack.com A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has both a paid edition which traces a fantasy...
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Couchfish: What Is Really Missing?
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free edition that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Just delightful!
A quick word of introduction. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has a paid edition which traces a fantasy itinerary through Southeast Asia, and a free edition that covers, well, everything else....
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Couchfish: Sustainable Vietnam Part 2—Three Kinds Of Gold
A quick word of introduction—particularly to the five hundred odd new subscribers I seem to have picked up over the last week—thanks Substack Notes. My name is Stuart McDonald and this is Couchfish—the perfect tub of ice-cream for the traveller stranded on the couch. The newsletter has a paid...
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Couchfish: Sustainable Vietnam Part 1—Plastic, People, Power
Earlier this year I spent a few weeks in Vietnam travelling it tail to top. I wanted to see how things were picking up in these waning pandemic times, but I also had sustainable travel on my mind—was it possible in Vietnam? In this, the first of a three-part series, I’m in the south and look at...
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Couchfish: Colours, People, Ghosts And More
Over the last two weeks I’ve been somewhat distracted in Raja Ampat. How distracted? Distracted enough to forget that as I was sliding into the water a couple of weeks ago, Couchfish turned three. With that in mind, I thought I’d revisit a few of my favourite posts from the last three years....
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Couchfish: Slowing Down
Just a quick note, I’ve written a four-part series of sustainable travel and travel writing for Talking Travel Writing, and the first piece came out last week. If you’ve an interest in travel writing, the Talking Travel Writing Newsletter absolutely belongs on your subscribe list. You can find…
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Couchfish: Dumb Pipes
When I reviewed The Last Tourist one bit that stood out was an inference that destinations are at risk of becoming “dumb pipes.” At one point, G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip says “Travel has taken a turn and the destination is no longer relevant.” When you pull that apart, what does it mean?...
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Couchfish: The Best Of Intentions
Midway through The Last Tourist, an orphanage tourist thinks back to her time with the kids: “I had all the best of intentions, but in hindsight I didn’t do my homework. ... and when I got there I really learnt the horrible truth—they were there because I wanted to be there, not because they…
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Couchfish: Thailand Announces 800+ New Islands
According to David Luekens over at Thai Island Quest, Thailand has over 800 islands. Don’t fret if you’ve only been to thirteen of them, as many are nothing more than a pile of rocks—others though, are more. Thailand’s islands range from huge and spoilt, to stuck-in-the-1980s near-deserted fare....
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Couchfish: The Wheels Go Round And Round
I’m a little out of sync this week thanks to some internet draaammmaaaaassss, so this is the free-to-read issue today rather than Friday. A few years ago a friend and I were surfing at Seminyak in Bali and, not paying attention, got sucked out towards Java. By the time we finally made it back to...
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Couchfish: Reframing And Reshaping
On March 1, The Travel Foundation released “Envisioning Tourism in 2030 and Beyond: The Changing Shape of Tourism in a Decarbonising World”. Some teasers from it surfaced a while back, and while they were bad enough, the full report is a doozy. Writes Travel Foundation CEO Jeremy Sampson: “We…
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Couchfish: A Smarter Tourist Tax
If you were looking for a bonfire to incinerate your hopes for an improved approach to tourism, Thailand continues to deliver the goods. An early highlight were plans to double inbound tourism from 39.8m in 2019 to 80m—by 2027. Sounds like a totes sustainable and sensible idea. Then the other…
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Couchfish: The Stochastic Parrot Guide To Luang Prabang
A month or so ago, my friend James sent me a link for a travel guide to Cambodia. James has a particular talent for sending me stuff that ruins my day, and this one, well, it was a doozy. It was one of those typical “how to” travel blog pieces, with blow-by-blow instructions on how to do…
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Couchfish: Bring Me Your Carbon
One of the many aspects travel gets flogged over are its carbon emissions. As I’ve written in the past, if you’d like to over-contribute in setting the planet on fire, getting on a plane works best. What about if you don’t? What about if you’d prefer to minimise your emissions? Skipping domestic...
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Couchfish: The Erosion Of A Dream
Note: Our exisiting coverage for Cửa Đại and An Bàng on Travelfish which were researched and written in 2017 serve as good counterpoints to the following piece as they illustrate now much has changed in just a few years. I’ll be updating them to bring them in line with the following in the coming...
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Couchfish: Stay Another Day, Huế edition.
Broad strokes, destinations want tourists to do three things. They want them to come, to spend, and to leave. In visiting somewhere—anywhere—a tourist does all these things by default, so the bar is low. The Holy Grail though, is to add another item—to stay—and more often than not, tourists do…
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Couchfish: In The Land Of The Godless Communists
Xin chào from Phan Rang in South Central Vietnam. I’m typing this after an extremely wet scooter day, and while this is only my fourth full day, it feels like double that. In a good way! I’m in Vietnam to speak at a four-day conference in Huế, but I decided to turn a four-day commitment into a...
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Couchfish: 2023 Will Be The Year Of ...
Blink and you’ll miss it right? I feels like only yesterday that 2019 was drawing to a close, yet here we are on the cusp of 2023. It has been, it would be fair to say, a sub-optimal spell. Last time I got into predications, I suggested the pandemic would stretch for years rather than…
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Couchfish: A Better OTA
A quick note up top. I had a motorbike accident yesterday and have a lot more stitches in my right arm than I’d prefer to have, so this is a shorter post than I had planned. It should be fairly self explanatory though. You can’t throw a satay stick without hitting a report by some mob in the…
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Couchfish: Is This Your Dream Quest?
Over the weekend I had a fun chat (the sound is a bit scrappy sorry—I blame Skype) with David Luekens. David worked with us for many years at Travelfish and later, as the pandemic kicked off, started a newsletter focussed on Thailand’s many islands and beaches. He has just returned to Thailand...
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Couchfish: Taking A Long Term View
So here we are, at the conclusion of my series on “Rethinking Travel.” I have more half-written posts, which I’ll drop in over the coming weeks and months, but I wanted to tie this off for now. I know paying subscribers would like me to get back to the itinerary posts—they will recommence this...
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Couchfish: The Writing On The Wall
A quick note, save a series conclusion running tomorrow, I’ll be back to regular programming on Monday. Yay! On one of my very early trips to Thailand, I lost a few weeks at Hin Wong Bungalows on Ko Tao. Set on the back side of the island, you’d approach on a longtail from the port. It was quiet....
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Couchfish: Foundations Matter
In recent times, phrases like “travel like a local” or “experience whatever as a local” are a common mantra—Google offers up 2,320,000,000 results on a search for it—thanks Google. These are a marketing ploy, playing to an out-dated and exoticised fever dream of “local.” To a point, they’re all...
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Couchfish: Follow The Money
One of the most oft-cited upsides of travel is the financial benefit it can bring to destinations. It can assist in raising living standards, covering school bills or putting food on the table. You putting your money in local hands matters and it can make a difference. Indeed, for many nations in...
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Couchfish: Reality Check
Yesterday, Bloomberg scored themselves an advance copy of The Travel Foundation’s Envisioning Tourism in 2030 report. While the report hasn’t been released publicly yet, going off what Bloomberg have to say, it makes for a hard reality check. Not before time. According to The Travel Foundation’s...
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Couchfish: The Petro-bourgeoisie
Sorry for the delay in this, over the weekend I got savaged by some virus which kicked off with me temporarily going blind while riding my scooter with doggo on board. Please no jokes about that bringing me down to the riding standard of most tourists on a scooter in Bali. Thankfully traffic was...
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Couchfish: Zoom in to the Red Plastic Chairs
Power up Google Maps and while still zoomed out, centre the map on Ho Chi Minh City, then switch it to satellite view. Click zoom in. Zoom in again. Keep zooming. Pretend you’re at a CIA field station in a new Mission Impossible flick. Watch as the city comes into view. There’s the airport, the...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Couchfish have?
Couchfish currently has 244 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Couchfish about?
The Couchfish podcast. Following a day by day itinerary through Southeast Asia—for all those people stranded on their couch. couchfish.substack.com
How often does Couchfish release new episodes?
Couchfish publishes regularly with 244 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Couchfish?
You can listen to Couchfish on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Couchfish?
Couchfish is created and hosted by Stuart McDonald.
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