Tom Allen

The Travel Diaries

Holly Rubenstein

Chef, Personal Journals, Podcast, Wanderlust, Arts, Travel, Conversation, Journalist, Society & Culture, Holly Rubenstein, Travel Guide, Places & Travel, Celebrity Interview, Culture, Interview, Destination, The Travel Diaries, Society

4.5 • 813 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s guest is one of the country’s best-loved comedians and presenters - the wonderful Tom Allen. You’ll know him from Bake Off: An Extra Slice, The Apprentice: You’re Fired, QI, Would I Lie To You?, Live at the Apollo and of course his standup comedy. He’s also a brilliant writer, and his new novel, Common Decency, is out now.

Tom’s travel diaries are full of glorious detail. We talk childhood holidays, package holidays, the etiquette of sunbeds, solo travel, America, Japan, Spain, the joy of a great hotel, and why food is so often the thing that makes a place unforgettable.

Destination Recap:

Holly: Sani, Halkidiki, Greece

Tom:

Gran Canaria, Spain
Javea, Spain
Alicante, Spain
Benidorm, Spain
San Francisco, USA
New York, USA
Philadelphia, USA
Cherry Hill, USA
Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Hiroshima, Japan
Nara, Japan
Gran Canaria, Spain
Maspalomas, Spain
Menorca, Spain
Wakefield, England
Elgin, Scotland
Banchory, Scotland
Highlands and Islands, Scotland
Beijing, China
Forbidden City, China
Great Wall of China, China

Tom Allen’s hilarious debut novel Common Decency is out now

Today’s episode was filmed in the Westminster Suite at London Marriott County Hall

With thanks to...

Richard Haworth - Discover their luxury hotel-quality bedding, towels and table linen at Richard Haworth At Home

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app. It really helps the podcast grow, allows me to keep bringing you these incredible guests - and it means you’re delivered a fresh dose of wanderlust each week.

And if you’d like a little more Travel Diaries in your life, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @hollyrubenstein.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Travel Diaries podcast.
0:10.4	I'm your host, Holly Rubinstein.
0:12.5	And here each week we uncover the seven chapters of my guests' travel diaries.
0:17.4	From the first place they fell in love with to their all-time favorite destination, their hidden gem, to what's at the top of their travel bucketaries. From the first place they fell in love with to their all-time favorite destination,
0:21.8	their hidden gem, to what's at the top of their travel bucket list. Today's guest is one of
0:26.4	the country's best-loved comedians and presenters. My favorite thing about the hotel was they had
0:31.8	signs everywhere that said, no reserver. Don't reserve your sunbeds. You can't reserve your sunbeds.
0:36.5	I, meanwhile, had swaned off with this random family and sort of like Ginger Rogers in a film was sat coquettishly at a bar with a Coca-Cola at this point. Just hearing the ocean, cake by the ocean. We did have cake by the ocean, actually. It was all inclusive. Just I was convinced if I went to New York, I would find my people and I'd work everything out. I must tell you about this, but I saw in San Francisco. I wanted to go to San Francisco, and I found it so thrilling. I had really struggled to come out, and I found it very vulnerable, and I've been very frightened of coming out as a teenager when I was at school. I think at that time I was too ashamed to go, I haven't got any friends. Will you be my friend?
1:15.0	Whereas actually that's the most confident thing you can do.
1:17.3	We stayed in Anne Hotel. And I always say Anne Hotel in the old school grammar.
1:22.1	Whoever Ann Hotel is.
1:23.3	That was the wonderful Tom Allen.
1:26.1	You'll know him from Bake Off an Extra Slice, The Apprentice You're Fired, Would I Lie to You? And of course, his brilliant stand-up comedy. He's also a fabulous writer. And his debut new novel, Common Decency, is out now. And as you can imagine today, Tom's travel diaries are full of glorious detail.
1:45.0	We talk about childhood holidays, package holidays, solo travel, America, Japan, Spain.
1:50.6	The joy of a great hotel and my food is so often the thing that makes a place unforgettable.
1:55.7	Before we kick off, I have another chapter in my own travel diaries to share.
2:00.2	I've had a lot of messages saying,
2:02.6	when are you going to Sani? And I have to say I was curious too, because Sani in Halcadiki,
2:09.0	Greece is one of the legendary names in luxury family travel in Europe. Sani isn't really one
2:16.1	hotel. It's more like an entire luxury world spread
2:20.2	across a long stretch of white sand beach, pine forests, nature reserve and marina on the coast
2:26.7	of Halkadiki. And there are five distinct hotels, Sani Beach, Shani Junes, Sani Club, Porta Sani,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Holly Rubenstein, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Holly Rubenstein and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.