The Amateur Traveler talks to Jen Russell about the 3rd smallest state in the U.S. Connecticut. Connecticut, the Constitution State, is located halfway between New York and Boston. It has a coastline sheltered by Long Island so more suitable for family frolicking than for surfing. Connecticut also has a long maritime tradition which is celebrated at Mystic Seaport. It's forested rolling hills are popular with people who come to New England in the Fall to see the Fall colors. Connecticut is rich in U.S. history producing people such Revolutionary War patriot Nathan Hale ("My only regret is that I have but one life to give to my country"). It is rich in natural history as evidenced by Dinosaur State Park.

The Amateur Traveler talks to to Gary Arndt about the 4 micro-states in Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino.  "They all have very unique histories and the one thing that they are all very small"

TheAmateur Traveler talks to Mary Jo Manzanares about 4 of her favorite hill towns in southern Tuscany: Contignano , Montalcino, Montepulciano and Pienza. Experience the food, the wine and the slower pace of some of these hill towns.

Hear about volunteer travel in Uganda as the

Hear about travel to Fort Worth, Texas as the Amateur Traveler  talks again to Jason Hull about Fort Worth Texas the "City of Cowboys and Culture". Sometimes over shadowed by it's neighbor Dallas Jason shows us why Fort Worth is worth a visit.

Hear about travel to Kansas City (Kansas and Missouri) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Rob Walch about the Paris of the Plains. Kansas City has that nickname because of the many fountains in the city.

Hear about travel to Ireland as Chris, the Amateur Traveler himself, talks about a recent trip to the Emerald Isle. Chris did a driving tour with 7 family members and friends from Dublin to the west point of Ireland and of Europe.

Hear about travel to Panama as the Amateur Traveler talks to Chaundra from London about her recent trip to that country. She spent a week in Panama before a SilverSeas Silver Explorer cruise in the area to see wildlife. As part of the cruise they visited the Pearl Islands as well as the Darien Gap. On their own they visited Panama City, the Old Panama City, Casco Viejo, Fort Sherman, Colon and Soberania and Chagres National Parks.

Hear about travel to the island of Vieques off Puerto Rico as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ira Winston from Philadelphia about his recent trip there. Vieques is an island thais 8 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Hear about travel to the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gary Arndt about his journey to visit many of the islands in the Caribbean on a single trip. In this episode we talk about Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Trinidad. This episode is a continuation of episode 386 which talked about the Leeward Islands.

Hear about travel to the Island of Socotra and Yemen as the Amateur Traveler talks to Earl from WanderingEarl.com about a visit to this isolated island best known for its production of frankincense. The island is quite isolated and a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. With trees like the umbrella-shaped dragon’s blood tree it has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth.

Hear about travel to Southern Alberta as the Amateur Traveler talks to Karl Andrews from Calgary about travel to his home province. The Canadian Rockies, Kananaskis Country, Waterton Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, The Calgary Stampede, and Dinosaurs.

Hear about travel to The Pantanal in Brazil as the Amateur Traveler talks to Daisy about her recent trip to this vast wetlands area. The Pantanal is south of the Amazon in Eastern Brazil and also extends into Bolivia and Paraguay.

“The Pantanal is a basin that is the world’s largest wetlands. It is about ten times the size of the Everglades. It’s really a great site to see wildlife.” The Pantanal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hear about travel to Montana as the Amateur Traveler talks to Donna Hull from MyItchyTravelFeet.com. Donna and her husband visited Montana in 2001 as part of a National Park tour and fell in love with the Big Sky state. Finally in 2010 they moved to the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, the so called “banana belt” of Montana. They had planned to live there only in the Summer but did not want to leave when the end of Summer came.

Hear about travel to Sudan as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Nicholas Bori of the I Quit project about his journey through that remote African country. Nicholas visited Sudan on an overlanding truck that traversed Africa from south to north.

Hear about travel to Mobile, Alabama as the Amateur Traveler talks to Carla Rountree from theinconsistentnomad.com about her home state. There are beautiful beaches. It is an area that was founded in the early 1700s so there is lots of culture, lots of history and it is even the area where Mardi Gras actually started in the USA. 

Hear about travel to Indonesia as the Amateur Traveler talks to repeat guest Chris Willis about his trip to Indonesia. The main objective of Chris’s trip was to photograph Komodo dragons in the wild. Komodo dragons live on 2-3 islands which are not near any airport so getting there is half the experience.

Hear about Hiking the Lycian Way in Southern Turkey as the Amateur Traveler talks to authors Warren and Betsy Talbot from MarriedWithLuggage.com about the month they spent hiking this amazing trail. The Lycian Way runs for a little over 500 km (not counting getting lost) from Fethiye in the west to Antalya in the east. We talk about their whole journey as well as segments people with much less time could hike.

Hear about travel to Charleston, South Carolina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jen Leo from This Week in Travel and her husband John Caldwell about their many trips to one of their favorite U.S. cities.

Hear about travel to Vermont as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dana Freeman of findandgoseek.net about her adopted home state. Dana has lived in Vermont for 14 years and someday her children's children may be Vermonters.

Hear about travel to Little Rock, Arkansas as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sara Beth Jones & Alison Chino from sarabethjones.com and alisonchino.com about their home town.

Hear about cruising from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile around Cape Horn in South America as the Amateur Traveler relates stories of a recent Holland America cruise on the Zaandam. 

Hear about travel to Hamburg, Germany as the Amateur Traveler talks to Romy Mlinzk from snoopsmaus.de about her hometown, the second largest port in Europe and Germany's second city.

Hear about travel to Moscow as the Amateur Traveler talks to Alex Block of alexblocktravels.com about his home town and Russia's capital.

Hear about travel to the Maldives Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jennifer Dombrowski of luxeadventuretraveler.com about her visit to this tropical paradise. 

Hear about travel to Barcelona, Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lauren Aloise from devourspain.com about traveling to this capital of the region of Catalan. 

Hear about travel to Seattle, Washington as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mary Jo Manzanares from travelingwithmj.com about her hometown.

Hear about travel to the National Parks in Utah as the Amateur Traveler talks to Scot and Emily McKay from wingitworldwide.com about their travels in the Beehive State.

Hear about travel to the Auvergne region of France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Allison and Andrew Cornford-Matheson from CheeseWeb.eu as we talk about their visit to this central but overlooked area of France. 

Hear about travel to Mozambique as the Amateur Traveler talks to Simon Lewis from TarvelConceptSolution.com about this long thin country in Southeastern Africa.

Hear about travel to Basel, Switzerland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Claudia McCoy about her hometown.

Hear about travel to Buffalo, New York as the Amateur Traveler talks to Larissa Milne from changesinlongitude.com about why she fell in love with this significant American city.

Hear about travel to Dallas, Texas  as the Amateur Traveler talks to Penny Sadler from adventuresofacarryon.com about her hometown of Dallas, Texas. Penny tells us why we might be surprised at all Dallas has to offer and why we should leave our cowboy hats at home.

Hear about cruising to Cuba as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Dave Grenewetzki about his trip on a ship based People to People trip to Cuba.

Hear about travel to Provence, France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Wendy Jaeger from blisstravels.com about her adopted home in the south of France.

Hear about travel to Turks and Caicos as the Amateur Traveler talks to author Donna Seim about her favorite archipelago.

Hear about travel to the Russian Far East as the Amateur Traveler talks to freelance travel journalist Robert Reid about his numerous journeys to this remote part of Russia.

Hear about travel to Qatar as the Amateur Traveler talks to Richard Parr from the Best In the World Podcast about this middle eastern country where he lived for 6 years.

Hear about travel to the Kansai Region of Japan (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, etc) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Amanda Kendle from the Thoughtful Travel Podcast about one of her favorite parts of the world. Amanda originally came to Kansai to teach English and fell in loved with it.

Hear about travel to Tokyo as the Amateur Traveler talks to family travel blogger / podcaster Jason Andrew Jenkins from AnEpicEducation.com about a city he called home for 13 years.

Hear about travel to Baja Sur in Mexico as the Amateur Traveler talks to   author and travel writer Stuart Gustafson about his love affair with the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. 

Hear about travel to Sofia, Bulgaria as the Amateur Traveler talks to Stephanie Craig from historyfangirl.com about her time in that country.

Hear about travel to Mexico City as the Amateur Traveler talks to Patrick Muntzinger from GermanBackPacker.com about the city where he lived for 4 months last Spring on a semester abroad.

Hear about the United States UNESCO World Heritage Sites as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gary Arndt from Everything-Everywhere.com and The Global Travel Conspiracy podcast about these best of the best sites.

Hear about travel to India as the Amateur Traveler talks to participants from the Amateur Traveler trip to India in November of 2017. 

Hear about travel to Chengdu, China as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jessica Elliot from howdareshe.org about her recent trip.

Hear about travel to the Island of Crete in Greece as the Amateur Traveler talks to Elizabeth from compassandfork.com about her travels to this special Greek Island.

Hear about travel to Merida and the Yucatan Peninsula as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tommo & Megsy from foodfuntravel.com about their recent homebase.

Hear about travel to Mongolia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Patricia from zewanderingfrogs.com about travel to this remote destination.

Hear about travel to Montenegro as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gary Arndt from everything-everywhere.com about his recent trip to this beautiful mountainous country in the Balkans.