Hear about travel to the Navajo Nation as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mark Carrara from markstravels.com about his recent visit. The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory the size of the state of Connecticut located mostly in Arizona. It can be described as desolate, majestic, barren and spacious.

Hear about travel to Vienna, Austria as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gerhard Strassgschwandtner who is a tour guide and owner of the Third Man Museum in Vienna.

Hear about travel to the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean as the Amateur Traveler  talks again to Gary Arndt of Everything-Everyhwere.com. Gary just finished an island hopping tour that took him to most of the islands in the Caribbean. We will cover the islands of St. Martin, Anguilla, Saba, St. Barts, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, and Montserrat on this episode.

Hear about travel to Macedonia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kelsey of CineTraveler.com about her recent trip to this country in the Balkans. Macedonia is just north of Greece and probably best known as the home for Alexander the Great but Kelsey found much more to recommend in this much too overlooked country. In a week they were able to see much of the country.

Hear about travel to the Island of Shikoku, Japan as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dan from Chicago about his recent trip back to the island. Dan also worked teaching English on Shikoku in the city of Imabari. Shikoku is the 4th largest of the islands in Japan and just across the from Hiroshima. Shikoku is mountainous, more traditional and more rural than the areas of Japan more tourists know.

Hear about travel to the Andalucia region of Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Crawford Hill from Chill Expeditions about his adopted home in Southern Spain. Crawford traveled in that area and then fell in love and bought a second home here.

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 Baton Rouge as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lindsay Thomas from TheTraveluster.com about her hometown. Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana. It can be a great gateway to Cajun food and culture.

Hear about trekking in Ecuador’s Quilotoa Loop as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kim Mance about her recent trip to that country. Kim spent 3 weeks in Ecuador including one week on the Quilotoa Loop.

Hear about travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Kay from TheKayDays.com who is a University student in Rio.

"Rio has a culture and a aura that is completely different from anywhere I have seen before."

Hear about travel to Ottawa, Ontario as the Amateur Traveler talks to return guest Michael Soncina of Sonchy's Adventures about Canada's capital city. Michael was in Ottawa as a part of a press trip looking a new eco district the city is setting up in its downtown.

Hear about travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mary Jo Manzanares about her recent trip there. Mary Jo was really interested in learning more about the history of "the troubles" and her husband about the Titanic.

Hear about travel to New Jersey as the Amateur Traveler alks to Lisa Luben about her home state. Lisa comes on the show to introduce us to the pretty parts of New Jersey that many people don't picture. The state is one quarter farmland and one quarter woodlands and filled with historic towns.

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 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 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 travel to Arctic Manitoba as the Amateur Traveler talks to Marybeth Bond from GutsyTraveler.com about her recent trip to Churchill Manitoba to see polar bears.

Hear about travel to Mazatlan, Mexico as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Craig Zabransky about this Mexico seaport. Mazatlan is on the west coast of Mexico.

Hear about travel to Düsseldorf, Germany as the Amateur Traveler talks to Erik and Anne Hess about this city on the Rhine. Carnival, Christmas Markets and one of the most livable cities in the world.

Hear about travel to Nova Scotia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sherry Ott about her recent trip to this province in Eastern Canada. Sherry returns to to the show to talk about a trip around Nova Scotia she took last June.

Hear about travel to Southwest England as the Amateur Traveler talks to Edith about her adopted home. This episode will look at the area southwest of Bristol, two hours west of London. Edith says that the area of southwest England is “archetypical English”. 

Hear about travel to Saint Helena as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gary Arndt about his visit to this isolated island between Africa and South America. Gary has come on the show a number of times to talk about obscure, out of the way and small places. Saint Helena qualifies as all three. 

Hear about travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba as the Amateur Traveler talks to return guest Michael Soncina of Sonchy’s Adventures about this city on the great plains of Canada. 

Hear about travel to Denver, Colorado as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lance Longwell from TravelAdicts.net about his home town, the "Mile High City". Denver is the capital of the state of Colorado and sits where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains.

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 the Western Sahara as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Francis Tapon about this disputed region as part of his trip to every country in Africa. 

Hear about travel to Lassen National Park in northern California as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dick Jordan about this spectacular if less visited destination. Lassen is in northeastern California. It is just as easy to get to from San Francisco as Yosemite National Park but with fewer tourists and one more volcano. The park centers around the dormant volcano Mt. Lassen and features other geothermal active areas.

Hear about travel to Jordan as the Amateur Traveler himself, Chris Christensen, relates stories about his recent visit to the country.

Hear about travel to Memphis, Tennessee as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lance from tripsbylance.com about this city where he has lived on and off for 20+ years. Lance tells us that there is more to Memphis than Elvis and Graceland.

Hear about travel to Tasmania in Australia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Robert Reid, the Offbeat Observer for National Geographic Traveler, about his recent trip to Van Diemen’s Land.

Hear about travel to Paris, France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Annie Sargant and Elyse Riven from JoinUsInFrance.com. Annie and Elyse do a wonderful podcast about France and guide us through a city they love.

Hear about travel to South Africa on safari as the Amateur Traveler talks to Susan Portnoy from theinsatiabletraveler.com about her recent experience in the Timbavati Game Reserve. This is the 5th time that Susan has traveled to Africa on safari to "shoot" animals... as a photographer. 

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 Orlando, Florida as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jason Cochran who is the editor of Frommers.com and the editor to the Frommer's Guide to Orlando Florida about vacationing in America's favorite destination spot. We talk about Walt Disney World, the increasingly popular Universal Studios, with a mention of some of the other things to do in Orlando.

Hear about travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Chris and Sasha Rosencranz about their recent trip to this African country. The DRC is located along the south bank of the Congo River. This large country used to be the Belgian Congo. Chris was previously on the Amateur Traveler talking about the Republic of the Congo as well.

Hear about travel to Iran as the Amateur Traveler talks to Shara Johnson from sjktravel.net about her recent trip to that country. George W. Bush called it part of the Axis of Evil but Shara found a warm and inviting country.

Hear about travel to the Silk Road in China's Gansu Province as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Lee Moore from Silk Road Hitchhikers about his trip to this historic and remote part of China.

Hear about all of Canada's UNESCO World Heritage Sites as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere.com about traveling to all 17 sites. Some sites like Old Québec are easy to reach and others like Wood Buffalo and Nahanni National Parks (the last two that Gary visited) are quite remote.

Hear about travel to Baltimore, Maryland as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Nancy Parode from about.com. Nancy has lived in the Baltimore area for a total of about 12 years and tells us about her adopted hometown. 

Hear about travel to West Sweden as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Bret Love from GreenGlobalTravel.com about both his recent trip and my recent trip to this beautiful part of Sweden.

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 New York City as the Amateur Traveler talks to Pauline Frommer about her hometown. Pauline was born in New York City and never moved away. She also just finished the Frommer's Easy Guide to New York City guidebook.

Hear about travel to Northern Australia (Northwest Territories) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sam Guerra from EscapeFromTheBay.blogspot.com. The "Top End" is "one of the more exotic parts of Australia for sure and it's definitely the closest place you can go to get an authentic feel for aboriginal culture which in my opinion is something that makes Australia unique. There is a lot of natural beauty and a lot of wildlife up there. It is nearly untouched."

Hear about travel to Canberra, Australia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tenele Conway from www.hungryplanetblog.com about Australia's capital city and the Australian Capital Territory.

Hear about travel to the island of Madeira as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jörgen Abrahamsson who is a tour guide from Tue Nordic in this small Portuguese possession.