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 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 Riga, Latvia as the Amateur Traveler  talks again to Spud Hilton, the travel editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, about his recent trip there. Riga is a surprisingly beautiful European city and the 2014 Capital of Culture for Europe.

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 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 the South Tyrol region of Italy as the Amateur Traveler talks to Alison and Andrew Cornford-Matheson from CheeseWeb.eu about their recent trip to this lovely region in Northern Italy. This predominantly German speaking region of Italy includes portions of the Dolomites mountain range, a wine road and some great vistas.

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 Lazio, Italy as the Amateur Traveler talks to Nancy Parode from about.com and sixtyandme.com about one of her favorite regions in Italy. Lazio is the region of Italy that includes Rome but this episode will feature all the things outside of Rome.

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 Salzburg, Austria as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gina Czupka about her time living in Salzburg. Salzburg is a "compact walkable city. Everywhere you go there is incredible architecture. It's got a beautiful mountain setting. It's just a picturesque easy place to experience the old-world feel of Europe."

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 Luxembourg as the Amateur Traveler talks to Rosie Titterington about her adopted country. Rosie had never heard of Luxembourg before moving there, but loves this small but lovely country in the heart of Europe.

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 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 Slovakia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Julie Callahan from TheWorldInBetween.com. When Julie's family moved to Bratislava, Slovakia 3 years ago they didn't have a single friend who knew where this central European country was located. 

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 Fiji as the Amateur Traveler talks to David Brodie from Travel in 10 about his trip to this Island Paradise. David says "of all the places I have been around the world, Fiji is one of the ones that really drew me back. "

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.

Hear about travel to Lisbon, Portugal as the Amateur Traveler talks to Nelson Carvalheiro about the capital of his native country.

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 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 travel to Seville, Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Cat Gaa from sunshineandsiestas.com about life in her adopted city. Hear about what to see, do and eat in Seville. 

Hear about travel to Delaware as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mara Gorman from MotherOfAllTrips.com about traveling to her small but historic adopted home state.

Hear about travel to the state of Guanajuato Mexico (including San Miguel de Allende) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tim Leffel of perceptivetravel.com about his adopted home.

Hear about travel to Haiti as the Amateur Traveler talks to Daniel Noll & Audrey Scott from uncorneredmarket.com about travel to this rather ignored Caribbean country. 

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 volunteer travel with the Peace Corps as the Amateur Traveler talks to Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. Director Hessler-Radelet not only served in the Peace Corps herself in Western Samoa but 4 generations of her family have done so. 

Hear about travel to Tel Aviv, Israel as the Amateur Traveler talks to Shimrit Elisar from diytelavivguide.com about her home city.

Hear about travel to North Carolina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Karen Dawkins of familytravelsonabudget.com about the Tar Heel State. We cover from Mount Mitchell in the west to the Outer Banks in the east.