The Amateur Traveler talks to Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere.com about his recent trip to the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are tropical volcanic islands that are part of Spain but are located off the coast of Northwestern Africa.They are not named after birds.

    The first thing that struck me when I got off the plane was how much the weather was like Hawaii and I have heard a lot of people call it Europe's Hawaii. It is a part of Spain. There are two provinces that constitute the Canary Islands. One with its capital on Grand Canaria Island and the other on the island of Tenerife. Columbus's last stop over was in the Canary Islands. Each of the islands, and there are 7 main islands, have a very different character.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Jessie Voigts from Wandering Educators about County Kerry and the Ring of Kerry in Ireland. County Kerry is a popular tourist region in Ireland.

The Amateur Traveler talks to JD Andrews about his recent trip to Trinidad and Tobago. JD, who used to work for a cruise line, has visited many of the islands of the Caribbean but this was his first visit to Trinidad.

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 Elspeth about her native Yorkshire in northern England. 

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"

The Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith about his month long visit to New Zealand. We focus in this interview about the South Island of New Zealand. Erick started in Christchurch and then visited The Banks Penninsula, Lake Tekapo, the Dunedin, the Otago Peninsula, the Southern Scenic Route including the Catlins, Fiordland National Park (including cruising both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound) Queenstown, the rainy west coast, Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, and Picton.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Michael Soncina again about his trip to Tajikistan in Central Asia. Tajikistan is smack dab between Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Unlike the other countries Tajikistan is mostly mountainous. A lot of its influences, history and culture is influenced by Persia while its neighbors have more Mongolian or nomadic influences.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Noah Lederman of SomewhereOrBust.com about his recent trip to Cambodia. Noah visited Anchor Wat, Rabbit Island near Kep, Battambang and the bamboo trains and Phnom Penh and the sobering Tuol Sleng - S21 memorial.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Lee Abbamonte, the youngest American ever to travel to every country in the world, about 3 islands off the coast of Australia: Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Nathan from Wand’rly Magazine about Great Smoky Mountains National Park and about his current home of Western North Carolina. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited U.S. National Park.

The Amateur Traveler talks to David Lee about his parttime home, the “City of the Eternal Spring”, Medellin Colombia. If you just Medellin as a dangerous city and the home of drug lords, then your information is about 20 years out of date

The Amateur Traveler talks to Gretchen about her two trips to Kenya. Gretchen's husband is a wildlife photographer and they both are birders. They went on a wildlife photography safari that emphasized bird watching and fell in love with Kenya.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Christian Cummins about his bicycle trip across Uganda. Christian is a British expat who lives in Austria where he works for radio station FM4. He had recently returned from the African state of Uganda where he was raising money for a children’s education charity called Link Community Development.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Nick Stanziano, co-founder of SA Luxury Expeditions and newly minted Peruvian citizen about his new country of Peru. We talk about Lima, Machu Picchu and other well known Peru landmarks as well both ancient and modern.

Hear about Myanmar as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dustin Main from SkinnyBackpacker.com about Myanmar (Burma). 

Hear about travel to Japan on the Amateur Traveler as I relate stories from my recent trip to Tokyo, the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto, the castle at Hikone, the shrines and temples of Nikko and Kamakura.

Hear about travel to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jodi Ettenberg from legalnomads.com.

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 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 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 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 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 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.