The Funny Travel Stories Podcast · Yi Ping Bao

Mexico Music Trip Ruined: Why Airline Staff Refused to Let Her on the Plane | Issy Brand

March 10, 2026·29 min·1 clip

Couldn't board flight because Isabella boarded as Izzy

Yiping Bao introduces Izzy Brand as the guest and asks her to briefly introduce herself to the listeners. Izzy says she has recently moved down to London and freelances at Virgin Radio, as well as a couple of other radio stations. She also hosts a couple of podcasts. The episode opens around Christmas, since the recording is close to the holiday season. Izzy explains that her family are all up north, but they are coming to her in London because her birthday is three days after Christmas and she wants to celebrate it there. She says she is going up to Newcastle for a day to see family, and then everyone is coming back down to London with her. The conversation then shifts into travel as a habit rather than a duty. Izzy says she loves music and works in a music-based industry, so travel often makes sense when it is tied to a gig or some other event. She says she does not really like to travel for the sake of travelling. If there is a motivation, such as football or gigs, she is happy to build the trip around it. That way, she can mix the tourist side with the thing that got her there in the first place. She mentions travelling to gigs across Europe. She also talks about a festival in Abu Dhabi. She says she was trying to go to Mexico, but did not quite make it. She and her boyfriend are looking at going to Benicassim in Spain. For her, music abroad has a special appeal because it brings together people with similar interests from very different cultures and backgrounds. Yiping connects that idea to radio and podcasting, where someone can reach people all over the world from a studio or from home. Izzy agrees that even something small can matter if it gives somebody a smile. When Yiping asks for a funny travel story, Izzy goes back to a trip to Hamburg in Germany before COVID. She and her boyfriend had gone there for a gig at the Mojo Club. They used Google Maps to find the venue. The map took them to what felt like a patch of concrete with no obvious buildings around. They kept walking around and asking people where the place was. The frustrating part was that the map kept insisting they were already standing where they needed to be. Eventually they found the venue, but they were very tired by then. That tiredness made the night feel even more memorable. The gig itself was in a converted church. Izzy remembers the stained glass and the way the light bounced off it. The setting made the whole thing feel special. The conversation closes on the idea that some of the best travel moments happen when you are not trying to force them. Izzy and Yiping land on the thought that unexpected, unplanned experiences are often the ones that stay with you longest.

As heard by us

A relaxed travel chat where the detours and vivid gig stories do most of the work.

The episode moves through a music-first travel conversation, shifting from Christmas plans in London to a Hamburg gig detour, with Izzy Brand making the case that gigs and other clear reasons can make a trip feel worthwhile. Its appeal comes from the easy, personal tone.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a travel story that starts with gigs and ends in a lost-in-Hamburg detour.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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