The Amateur Traveler talks to Kirk Horsted in a two part episode on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. This first episode focuses on Minneapolis with day trips west of the Mississippi river.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Kirk Horsted in a two part episode on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. In this second half Kirk looks at the state capital of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Andrew about the Island of Kyushu, the southern island in Japan. Kyushu is one of the warmer parts of Japan. Nagasaki is probably the best known city on the island for its tragic history as the second city targeted with an atomic bomb. The island has is green and hilly with a number of active volcanos. Andrew and his wife had a chance to visit a number of museums, the peace park in Nagasaki, visit a volcano, be buried in hot and and take in a local soccer game. They toured its large cities but also headed into the countryside.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Lash from LashWorldTour.com about the Island of Java in the nation of Indonesia. She cycled through the countryside and visited the major cities of this populous island in Indonesia.

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.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Jim Lutz from Via Adventures about the Ecuador's Galapagos Islands. "The Galapagos has to be one of the most unique and wonderful wildlife destinations in the world."

Hear about travel to the Guianas (French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana) as the Amateur Traveler  talks to Marcello Arrambide from wanderingtrader.com about his recent trip to these three South American countries.

Hear about travel to the South Side of Chicago as the Amateur Traveler talks to Amy Bugbee, author of "Suffering and Celebration of Life in America", about her hometown, the South Side of Chicago. The South Side of Chicago is more than just the White Sox and the stock yards just as Chicago pizza is more than just deep dish.

Hear about travel to Amsterdam as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Erik Smith from onmyfeetorinmymind.com. Erik returned to Amsterdam for the seventh or eighth time recently.

Hear about travel to the Isle of Man as the Amateur Traveler talks to writer and film maker Andrew White. The Isle of Man is a small island in between Ireland and England. "It's a fantastic place. It really is. It's often said it's like the British Isles in miniature."

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

Hear about travel to the mainland of Greece as the Amateur Traveler talks to Margherita Ragg from thecrowdedplanet.com about one of her favorite countries. Margherita comes from Italy so she has traveled to Greece on numerous occasions. We talk at length about Athens, Delphi and Meteora. 

Hear about hiking the Kings Trail (Kungsleden) in Swedish Lapland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Agata from nullnfull.com about this northern and rugged portion of Sweden. Agata says, “Lapland is all about nature and wilderness”.

Hear about travel to the region around Island of Cebu as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tommo & Megsy from fivedollartraveller.com about their vacation in Visayas, the central group of islands in the Philippines. They visited the islands of Bohol, Cebu and Negros. 

Hear about travel to the Cayman Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kendra Pierre-Louis from kendrawrites.com about her trip to this island paradise.

Hear about travel to the Tennessee River Valley as the Amateur Traveler talks to Chuck Prevatte from foodwinebeertravel.com about the region from Chatanooga, Teneesee to Huntsville, Alabama.

Hear about travel to the Czech Republic as the Amateur Traveler talks to Anthony Hennen from anthonyhennen.com about his trip to the areas of the country outside of Prague.

This episode of the Amateur Traveler talks about the recent Amateur Traveler trip to southern Morocco. 9 of the 10 people who joined me on this trip also join me for the podcast to share the good and bad of the trip.

Hear about travel to the Philippines as the Amateur Traveler talks to Julie Longland about her travel to the Cordilleras mountain region and the island of Palawan which was just named the "Best Island in the World".

Hear about hiking the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in northern Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Linda Martin from The Indie Travel Podcast.

Linda says, "the thing about the Camino is that it is as long as you wanted to be."

Hear about travel to northern South Korea as the Amateur Traveler talks to Katie of aroundtheworldinktdays.com about the area of South Korea where she is living.

Hear about travel to Northern Romania as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ralph Velasco of photoenrichment.com about the region that he visited leading a recent photo tour.

We talk about the regions of Maramureş and Bukovina, north of Transylvania.

Hear about Trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal as the Amateur Traveler talks to the Su Family from sufamilyadventures.com about tackling this well known route.

Hear about travel to the Aeolian Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Rick Zullo from rickzullo.com about these historic but lesser known islands off the coast of Sicily.

Hear about travel to the Dominican Republic as the Amateur Traveler talks to guidebook author and travel writer Lebawit Lily Girma who is working on the Moon Guide to the Dominican Republic.

Hear about travel to the Westfjords of Iceland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Katie Hammel of Vaitor.com about her trip to this remote region of the island.

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 United Arab Emirates as the Amateur Traveler talks to travel writer Zora O'Neill about her recent trip to these small states on the Persian / Arabian Gulf.

Hear about travel to Naples and the Amalfi Coast in Italy as the Amateur Traveler talks to Beth Rubin from SelectItaly.com about how to plan a trip to this beautiful region. 

Hear about travel to the Danube Delta in Romania as the Amateur Traveler talks to Christian Cummins about traveling to this UNESCO biosphere in Europe.

Hear about travel to the Island of Kauai as the Amateur Traveler talks to Betsy and Pete Wuebker from PassingThru.com about the Garden Island. 

In preparation for the 2017 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Chris (the Amateur Traveler) took a road trip through "Luther Land" and the heart of Germany.

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 the Dordogne region of France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Laurence Norah about this region known for it's picturesque villages and castles. 

Hear about hiking the Peaks of the Balkans trail in Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dan and Audrey from uncorneredmarket.com about this off the beaten track route in Europe.