Every great trip needs a great soundtrack! Below is a list of songs that remind me of certain moments in various destinations at various times. Click on the link to hear the track on Spotify.

Alt-J – Taro
A suitable song for exploring the quiet, mysterious Icelandic landscape

America – Horse With No Name
It’s impossible to drive through Arizona’s desert without thinking of this song

Ásgeir Trausti – Leyndarmál
My host in Reykjavik played me this catchy song by an emerging young Icelandic talent and a few months later I went to see him perform in London

Bob Marley – Concrete Jungle
This played from someone’s iPod in Lisbon as I sat drinking iced tea and admiring the white houses overlooking the water

Brenton Wood – Gimme Little Sign
The song that makes me joyfully imagine driving around the world in a campervan while hosting a radio station dedicated to soul and Motown music…

Brooks Jefferson – That Summer
One of the (redneck) kids in the host family I stayed with in the Okanagan Valley, BC, played this around a campfire during an evening of fishing, smores and learning the two-step

Bruce Springstreen – The River
A song that always reminds me of travelling through the US with my family as a child

Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan
Even though they are singing in Spanish, this song still reminds me of walking through the beautiful Alfama district of Lisbon, Portugal

Cat Stevens – Father and Son 
Driving through New Zealand on a family trip in 2000, my dad kept rewinding the tape back to this song and encouraging my siblings and me to listen to the lyrics…

Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing
Brings back memories of childhood holidays driving through France in our family Volvo, looking out of the window at the surrounding fields, smelling garlic and hay

Dire Straits – Tunnel of Love
A family favourite that reminds me of dancing at my brother’s wedding in Poland

Daft Punk – Disc Wars
The building drama in this song was the perfect accompaniment to driving down the Shafer Trail in Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
In 2000 my family was driving through Australia and we got lost en route to friends late at night. We had our Fleetwood Mac tape on and the growing intensity of this song seemed to mirror the growing frustration my parents were having with each other!

Guns N’ Roses – November Rain
One that I listened to a lot in Switzerland in November 2014 during the difficult moments of being an au pair…

Jim Croce – Walking Back to Georgia
Reminds me of driving through the dry prairie landscape of southern Alberta (albeit not towards Georgia) during wildfire season

John Denver – Rocky Mountain High
Memories of camping in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park with my family when I was five

Joni Mitchell – This Flight Tonight
Sitting glumly in Vancouver airport in January 2016, not wanting to go back to England

King Harvest – Dancing in the Moonlight
Couldn’t help but dance in my seat when I heard this on the radio during a road trip in Iceland

Led Zeppelin – Going To California
Driving through the dry empty desert towards California, you get the sense you’re heading for something bigger and better, as this song suggests

Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
A popular play on Triple J back in April 2011, it reminds me of the artsy town of Bellingen on the east coast of Australia

Mac DeMarco – Freaking out the Neighbourhood
Young and carefree, winding through the North Cascades in Washington on the start of a road trip with a boyfriend

Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Soulful grooves while cruising up Highway 101 in California

Matt Corby – Trick of the Light (Live)
A super catchy song by a super talented Australian musician

Neil Young – Lotta Love
I loved singing along to the ‘la la la’ opening whilst driving through flat lands of Wyoming

Neil Young – Old Man
Peace and quiet watching the sunset on Vancouver Island

Oh Mercy – Evil Woman (ELO cover – YouTube)
Featured on the Triple J ‘Like a Version’ session, this song forms a huge part of my memory of my 2011 Australia trip

Quiet Riot – Cum On Feel the Noize
Watching an ice-hockey match in Hungary against a Serbian team, this was one of the more memorable classic rock songs played during pauses in play

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dosed
When I heard this song on a road trip, it seemed to represent the bittersweet nature of my exciting reunion adventure with a loved one, who I knew all too well I would soon have to part from again

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Road Trippin’
Driving through Montana at dusk, unsure where I was, feeling sleepy with ‘two favourite allies’…

Retro Stefson – Fall
Another talented Icelandic artist that I watched during the Culture Night Festival in Reykjavik

Rory Charles – All the Animals
A British musician, Rory often played on the streets of Hamburg and this was my favourite song from his album I bought there

Steeley Dan – Do It Again
Dancing in a barn in the Canadian summer the night before my 24th birthday…

Stevie Wonder – Happy Birthday
A bustling bar in Hamburg’s Reeperbahn district where the bartender put very generous amounts of alcohol in the cocktails…

The Black Keys – The Only One
Loved driving along the beautiful, fresh and youthful Oregon coastline to this chilled-out tune!

The Delfronics – Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time?
Having heard this just before I left for Switzerland, it became a rather pertinent soundtrack to my au pairing experience…

The Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music
Walking through the English Garden in Geneva, this song played from a café and was probably the cheeriest thing about the city…

Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work
Chirpy and fun, reminds me of jumping off rope swings and playing in the creeks around Dorrigo, Australia