Travel with Amateur Traveler Podcast

The Amateur Traveler talks to Matt Wall about traveling to and living in Honduras. Matt recommends the Bay Islands in the Caribbean for a beach resort vacation, scuba diving and snorkeling. The main island of Roatan have everything from all-inclusive resorts to backpacking accommodations in West End. Matt lived in the town of Copán Ruinas near the Guatemala border named after the "pretty incredibl...

The Amateur Traveler talks to New York travel writer Jeanine Barone about the Azores. The Azores are a chain of islands belonging to Portugal. Your travel agent will extol the beauty of the beaches but Jeanine says that the best of the Azores can be seen through hiking its craggy islands.    If you want to be in a place that feels very unspoiled, but is so close actually to fly there, a place wher...

The Amateur Traveler talks to David from London about his home country of Nigeria. David recommends, against the advice of others, that people who visit Nigeria visit the largest city which is Lagos. Lagos is the second most populous city in Africa after Cairo.    David says “it’s chaotic, it’s crazy, it’s exuberant, it’s everything turned up to eleven, it’s the maddest place I’ve been. That is wh...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Andy Steves about Rome, Italy. Andy talks about practical issues like how to get into and around Rome, how to connect to the Rome of the Roman Empire (the Coloseum, Forum and Circus Maximus, Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Pantheon). He also talks about a tour of the Sistine Chapel without all the crowds and not easy to do. Andy also gives us his favorite spots...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Joe Bickley of Alaska Backcountry Consulting about traveling to Alaska, particularly the interior and back country. Alaska is a bug state and Joe lives in the center of it near Fairbanks but at the northern end of the Alaskan road system. Joe gives us some directions on places to go to see Alaska’s vistas and encounter its wildlife. He takes us above the tree line at...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Rease from 2 Nomads, 1 Narrative about South Korea. Rease and his girlfriend Nicki taught English for a year in Southern South Korea and also took time t travel around the country. We start in the city of Busan which also called Pusan and the only part of South Korea not to fall to the North in the Korean Conflict. Rease recommends we see Busan fish market and some of...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Rease Kirchner about her hometown of St. Louis Missouri. St. Louis is known for its iconic Arch and is known as the gateway to the west. Rease claims that St. Louis has the largest urban park in the U.S., and now boasts about a surprising array of ethnic restaurants including a Little Italy area with toasted ravioli and a Little Mexico around Cherokee street. The city...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Keith Kellet about the area around his home in Wiltshire England. Wiltshire has been inhabited since the end of the last ice age and has a rich depth of history including the icon site of Stonehenge. Averbury which is an even older stone circle can also be found there as well as the Salisbury Cathedral and the ancient town of Sarum. Keith describes this verdant region...

The Amateur Traveler talks to San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Spud Hilton about Gibraltar. This little patch of England at the bottom of Spain is more than just a place where you can see a large rock and get good fish and chips with your tapas. Explore the "rock" and meet the "apes" of Gibraltar. Hear about some of the history as well as the unique traffic challenges of this tiny peninsula....

The Amateur Traveler talks to Shawn Farris about his recent trip to the Guangxi region in China. Guangxi is a lesser known but spectacular region in south western China known for its rugged karst mountains and green terraced rice paddies. Shawn explored the area hiking, biking and even kayaking through the countryside. Shawn describes it as a region that still has that “wide open, blue sky, rural...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Alix (of Alix and Jace’s Amazing Adventure) about her hometown of Sydney Australia. Alix has many ideas about fun things to do in Sydney so you don’t just end up with the rest of the tourists on Darling Harbor. After you have climbed the Harbor Bridge and visited the Sydney Opera House she recommends a beach walk by word famous Bondi Beach, a chance to sleep with the...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Zoë Dawes from TheQuirkyTraveler.com about England’s Lake District. This beautiful pastoral area was made famous by the poets and artists in the romantic period, most notably William Wordsworth. Not far from industrial Manchester, the lake district is still a refuge for hikers and and other tourists tucked away in northern England. Zoë describes some of her favorite h...

The Amateur Traveler  talks to Roni Weiss about his visit to the divided country of Cyprus. Roni went to Cyprus in part to complete a quest to visit every country in Europe. Roni couchsurfed which gave him a chance to stay with Turkish and Greek Cypriots as well as a Turkish resident. T Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith again about his trip to the Four Corners area in the American southwest. Four Corners is the spot where 4 U.S. states meet: Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. While the Four Corners spot itself is just a photo op (an probably at the wrong place), the area around it contains some amazing scenery and historic sites. Erik gives us a state by state break d...

The Amateur Traveler talks again to Jason and Janie about their hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville was has deep historic roots and the homes of Presidents Jefferson and Madison with the home of Monroe close by as well. Charlottesville is also the home of the University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson was more proud of founding the institution than of being president. The area...

The Amateur Traveler  talks to Michael Soncina who returns to the show to talk about his recent travels in Southern Taiwan. Michael took advantage of a Taiwan promotion targeting backpackers that opened up army barracks to provide inexpensive housing in this less visited region of Taiwan. The highlight of Kaohsiung City is the Lotus Pond, an area surrounded by temples old and new. Usually the olde...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Michael Kenney about traveling to Normandy in France. Michael talks about at least two different invasions associated with this region of France. The oldest was the Norman invasion of England which left from Normandy and is documented in the 224 foot long Bayeux Tapestry which is exhibited in a museum in Bayeux. The more recent was the Allied invasion of Normandy in W...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Spencer Quong who is a adventure travel guide about his recent trip to Botswana in south central Africa. After reading the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency his traveling companions were drawn to this country and its incredible wildlife. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Amateur Traveler talks to Sherry Ott again about a very recent trip to Lebanon. Sherry traveled to Lebanon as part of a program with a cultural exchange program with Geovisions which involved in a home stay. She stayed much of her visit in Beirut which at least used to be known as the “Paris of the Middle East”. Since that time Lebanon and Beirut in particular has come through a horrific civil...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Chris Guillebeau from the Art of Non-Conformity about his years volunteering in West Africa with the NGO (non-governmental organization) Mercy Ships. Chris and his wife volunteered with this organization in Sierra Leone and Liberia which gave them a very different view of West Africa. For those not familiar with Mercy Ships, they provide medical services in under-serv...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Uluç from Indianapolis, originally form Istanbul, about his trips to Bodrum, Turkey. Bodrum is a popular Turkish beach resort but has been receiving tourists as long as there have been tourists. It is the home to the ruins of the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also the site of a 15th century crusader castle which includes a...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Andrew Hickey of TheBrooklynNomad.com about his home town. Andrew gives us reasons to visit this borough of New York City next time we are in town from some of the neighborhoods like DUMBO, Williamsburg, GreenPoint, Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bay Ridge to Prospect Park and Coney Island. The second largest of the New York Boroughs offers good pizza and Italian...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Vicente Perez about his home city of Pamplona, Spain. Pamplona is best known for the festival of San Fermin and of course for the running of the bulls. Vicente tells us more about that colorful festival, of which, the running of the bulls is actually a very small part. From the Txupinazo, the ceremonial firing of a rocket on July 6th until July 14th the population of...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Francis Tapon from WanderLearn.com about Albania which has gone from a totally closed society 20 years ago to a destination that Lonely Planet ranked as the #1 destination for travel this year (that was before some of the recent protests. Francis says the because it was isolated for so long it created an exotic and unique culture. Abandoned bunkers still line the coun...

The Amateur Traveler talks to Jeff Steiner from Americans in France to talk about a lesser known part of France which is the island of Corsica. The island is better known to Americans as the home of Napoleon Bonaparte but the French call the island L’isle Beauté – the Island of Beauty. Corsica boasts a mountainous interior, with a hiking trail from one end to the other, but is surrounded by gorgeo...