Episodes
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“People can't believe how we live out here on the land, and under the stars. Maybe it's just the freedom of it. Once you get that red dirt in your blood and your socks, you can't get rid of either one of them. It just stays with you, and you’re going to find that out if you stick around very long.”
Norris Church, Kanab
The Western is as finely layered as the red rock deserts and dusty towns that serve as their backdrop. Ever since they first appeared on the silver screen, Westerns have been rife with opposing viewpoints, contradictions and complexities as varied as the people who watched them.
Gunslingers, shoot outs, declarations of love and revenge – the heroes and villains of Western movies have come to define the American psyche in ways that no other genre ever has.
This is the first of our insight episodes, audio documentaries that dive deep into the subjects that make places come alive: from anthropology and history to music, art and more. But today, we’re going to the movies.
Utah celebrates 100-years of movie magic this year. It has served as the backdrop for everything from alien planets to Jurassic worlds. But it’s most famous for the Westerns that were shot here. It’s easy to see why they were. Walk amongst the high buttes and slot canyons of Utah, and it’s hard not to feel like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might jump out at you at any minute.
This episode will take you to the places where some of the most iconic Westerns were shot, from Monument Valley to Kanab. We’re going to dive into the past and learn what it was really like making them and explore how the films made here have helped to shape a vision of the old west – good and bad – that has spread around the world.
Whether you’re a movie buff or you’ve never watched a Western before, we guarantee after listening to this you’ll be itching to hop on a horse and ride off into the sunset.
PLAN YOUR UTAH TRIP
To make this episode, we visited Monument Valley and Kanab, both beautiful places we highly recommend. If you want to learn more about experiencing the sights and attractions featured in this episode, go to VisitUtah.com or follow along on social media @VisitUtah. International listeners can also book this itinerary directly as a package, with lots of other bonus experiences too - just visit AmericanSky.co.uk/Utah-Holidays or learn more about all the incredible destinations around the state at VisitTheUSA.com or on social media @VisitTheUSA.
Thank you to the guests who featured in today’s episode:
Norris Church with the Adventure Tour Company in Kanab adventure-tour-company.com
Andrew Patrick Nelson, Film and Media Arts Chair at the University of Utah. Check out his podcast, How the West was Cast.
Dennis Judd, Kanab movie expert
CREDITS
This show was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker managed pre-production. Jenny Allison was the in-field producer and wrote the episode. Jason Paton did the recording, mix and sound design. Aaron Millar hosted and served as executive producer. www.armchair-productions.com
CONNECT
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma! Leaving a review of the show will bring you even more.
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
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“I'm dangling 250-feet above a canyon, and I'm about to get dropped. This is what AlUla is all about. It's got desert treasures, it's got 200,000 years of history, but it's also got adventure. And we're going to start ours by soaring through the air. Are you ready? Let's do this …”
Aaron Millar, host
In this series, we’re going to take you on a journey into the heart of one of the most ancient kingdoms on Earth. Located in the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia, Alula is an oasis in the desert layered in 200,000 years of human history.
But, until recently, it was closed to outsiders, and to this day only a handful of visitors have ever been. In this immersive documentary, recorded on location, we’ll take you to the heart of one of the great wonders of Arabia and give you a glimpse of what it feels like to be there for real.
Each episode in the series explores the destination through the lens of a different element: the heritage of Earth, the community of Water … and today, the adventure of Air.
Highlights include:
Flying over the UNESCO world heritage site of Hegra in a hot air balloon – only a handful of people have ever visited this ancient city. Even less have seen it from the sky.
Climbing via ferrata to the top of a 250-foot canyon and then screaming all the way down.
Off-roading on sand dunes through one of the most deserts in the world.
Stargazing with Bedouins and hearing their legends of the stars, which they used as a map to guide them through one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
FIND OUT MORE
Our on-location Immersion documentaries are designed so that you can experience everything we did in this episode. Find out more at ExperienceAlula.com. Check out @experiencealula on Instagram, Facebook and X for more inspiration and ideas.
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Episodes manquant?
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“There was one time when one of the young wolves was licking my face, and his canine went up my nose, and I was like, oh, okay, don't move. He wasn't trying to bite me; it was just
excitement. But it was an awesome, eerie, and strangely wonderful experience.”
- Jamie Dutcher
Before the arrival of European settlers, it is estimated as many as 500,000 wolves roamed freely across the continental United States. By the 1970s, after decades of systematic eradication, there were fewer than 1000 left.
And despite the fact that our best friends, the dog, are descended from them to this day they
are often thought of as nothing more than vicious, bloodthirsty killers and a danger to livestock
and people. Filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher wanted to show another side to this iconic
predator, and in doing so perhaps change people’s minds and help protect wolves from
extinction.
But to do that they needed to get close. So, in 1991, beneath the towering peaks of Idaho’s spectacular Sawtooth Mountains, they set up a remote tented outpost where they could
bring together a pack of wolves in an enclosed territory, while accepting Jim and Jamie as just another part of their world. The Dutchers would spend the next six years Living with the Wolves.
This is their story, and the story of the Sawtooth Pack.
FIND OUT MORE
Find out more about Jim and Jamie’s foundation, and how you can help, at
LivingWithWolves.org
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right
now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the
algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar presented the show,
Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet
Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
At the start of every month, host Aaron Millar and producer Jason Paton preview what’s coming up on Armchair Explorer, play their favorite clips, and reveal the stories they’re most excited to share.
A cross between a highlight reel, an interview, and two people telling travel tales down the pub, our Pathways episodes are your guide to choosing your adventures with us.
October episodes:
ADVENTURE: Wildlife film makers Jim and Jamie Dutcher spend six years living with a pack of wolves in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.
IMMERSION: We go on location to the Arabian deserts of AlUla in search of adventure and find out what it feels like to crash land a hot air balloon.
IMMERSION: Discover the Golden Age of Hollywood in Palm Springs, California: shag houses, Mr. Tiki and Sinatra’s favorite haunt.
ADVENTURE: We join best-selling author and activist Peter Heller on board an eco-pirate ship as they battle illegal Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
BUCKET LIST: Host Aaron Millar takes us on a 100-mile pub crawl along the South Downs of England.
IMMERSION: Thanksgiving Special all about food: sacred corn, fish boils, and pizza farms.
***
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar and Jason Paton presented the show, Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“I was lying in a coffin in the catacombs beneath London Bridge while a clairvoyant called to the
spirits around me to make themselves known. To say this was not a normal Saturday night
would be to grossly understate the point.”
And so begins, the second of our Halloween specials – a bucket list ghost hunt in the London
Tombs.
When these ancient catacombs were being excavated in 2007, they were found to house the
remains of plague victims who had been buried there centuries before. The builders working at
the time reported numerous strange goings on and insisted on working in pairs for fear of being
alone in those dark recesses.
Today, it is purported to be one of the most haunted places in the city and home to many
trapped souls including one particular menace known only as ‘Shadow Man’.
Told by host Aaron Millar, this is the story of a paranormal investigation he took part in while
on a Halloween assignment for a UK newspaper. Everything that is told here is true, and not
exaggerated. And whether its ghosts, imagination or the power of the mind, things happened
down there which Aaron, a skeptic, still can’t fully explain.
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right
now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the
algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar wrote and presented the
show, Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist
Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
They called it the ‘End of the Line’. For over a century, Brushy Mountain prison held some of the most violent murderers, rapists and serial killers in the country. If you wore out your welcome at another prison or your crime was among the most unspeakable committed, this was where you ended up. And once you walked through the doors, almost no one walked out.
Located in the remote hills of Eastern Tennessee, the prison was closed in 2009. But the ghosts of the brutality that was committed there still remain. Today, the grounds hold the world’s first (legal) prison whisky distillery, and without a doubt the scariest and most ingeniously located. Because after touring the prison, there’s only one thing you need: a large shot of their specialty – ‘End of the Line Moonshine’.
This immersive episode, recorded on location in the prison itself, will take you from the cell blocks, where conditions were said to be worse than a Siberian labor camp, to the mines where prisoners were literally worked to death, and finally into ‘The Hole’ where inmates were kept in solitary confinement, in complete darkness, in a cell 4-ft wide and 8-ft long.
“You think you can handle it,” one former inmate said. “Think again, son. Everyone breaks.”
FIND OUT MORE:
This scene was taken from a trip we did following the Tennessee Whisky Trail. If you like music and whisky, we highly recommend it tnwhiskytrail.com.
Visit the prison and drink some excellent whisky at Brushy Mountain Distillery. Brushymtndistillery.com
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar wrote and presented the episode, Jason Paton did the field recording and production. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“So, take down your box and bow, and play the strings. Whistle up your travellin’ tune. Listen to the sound the water makes, in the Diamond Stream.”
Ed Snodderly, The Diamond Stream
This episode is the first in our Performance series, where we showcase music from around the globe. Today, we’re joined by Tennessee Music Legend Ed Snodderly at his live music venue The Down Home, in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Ed describes himself as a songwriter with a strong Appalachian sense of place. His songs ring in the old, the odd and in a non-sentimental way Ed calls it American Southern, “cause that sounds really cool.”
In 2020, he was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the Southern Region of Folk Alliance, and the third verse of his song “The Diamond Stream”, which he performs here, is permanently displayed at the Wall of Honor in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.
But today’s not just a music performance. We sat on the stage with him, and as he played, we talked about life, music, and everything in between. It was one of those moments, when something amazing happens on the road that is completely unexpected but ends up being one of the highlights of the whole trip.
FIND OUT MORE
Discover more of Ed’s music at edsnodderlymusic.com, or listen on soundcloud.com/edsnodderly
Ed is co-founder of The Down Home, a world-renowned music venue located in Johnson City, Tennessee. Stop by if you’re passing through downhome.com
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar presented the show, Jason Paton did the field recording and production. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Rodeo in the United States is a reflection of the spirit of the American West, and a tradition
rooted in the folklore and culture of the country. But in South Dakota, it’s not only the official
sport - it’s a way of life.
Join us as we go on a wild ride at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo where over 300,000
people from all over the world descend on Rapid City to watch more than 120 different events.
We join a father and son team at the ranch rodeo, cheer on Gill the border collie at the sheep
dog trials, take part in a bachelor cattle auction and watch seven-year-old Kreed hang on to a
sheep for dear life in mutton bustin’.
But we’re not just watching from the outside, we mic up the cowboy and cowgirl competitors to
take us inside the arena and show us what it feels like to ride in a rodeo for real.
Thank you to everyone who featured in this episode:
- Sheepdog handler and dog lover Linda Loulias
- Sheep shearer Mike Por and Loren Opstedahl.
- Kreed, our fearless mutton buster
- And the boys from Lakota Funds and the Corn Creek Bandits
PLAN YOUR SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP
Our On Location episodes are designed so that you can experience everything you hear. Check
out the links above, or find out more at www.travelsouthdakota.com
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right
now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the
algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Brian Thacker wrote and presented
this episode, Jason Paton did the field recording and production, and Aaron Millar was the
executive producer. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“We’re fighting to make the world less boring. Our planet used to slap us about the face-cheeks with iron fists of adventure every day. Maps had edges to walk off. Whole continents lay undiscovered. But now, the entire surface of the Earth has been scanned by satellites and shoveled into your mobile phone, tagged with twattery about which restaurant serves the best mocha-latte-frappeshite.
We live to find ways to make the world a bit more difficult. To bring chaos into our over-sanitized lives. To create adventures where you don’t know what will happen tomorrow or if you’ll even make it. Because we think there’s no greater moment than those seconds as you leap into an abyss of uncertainty and disaster.”
Tom Morgan, The Adventurists
This is how a group called The Adventurists describe themselves, and today we’re speaking with one of their founders about the trip that inspired it all. It’s called the Mongol Rally, and the premise is to drive from London to Mongolia, in a car that costs not much more than a cup of tea, with no plan and no back up.
In this day and age, with the technology we have in our pocket, there’s a tendency to plan things out to the nth degree. The Adventurists offer an important counterpoint to that. Maybe adventure should have an element of risk? Maybe embracing the unknown is an essential part of exploration? What if we’re denying ourselves something important in our over-sanitized lives?
Today’s guests Jenny Hunter talks about this and lots more, as she takes us 10,000 miles from a bar in Shoreditch to Ulaanbaatar.
SIGN UP FOR CHAOS
Believe it or not, you can actually do the Mongol Rally yourself, as well as a bunch of other mad cap adventures. Check out theadventurists.com to find out more.
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar writes and presents the show, Charles Tyrie does the audio editing and sound design, and Jason Paton is lead producer. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap. Episode cover photo by Tom Archer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“… it’s incredible to get that picture of watching the caravans arrive on the horizon, and you don't know what they're going hold. You don't know what mysteries. People with strange languages, different clothes, and different smells. And they set up around the fire at night and play music you've never heard before; tell stories you've never heard before …”
In this series, we’re going to take you on a journey into the heart of one of the most ancient kingdoms on Earth. Located in the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia, Alula is an oasis in the desert layered in 200,000 years of human history.
But, until recently, it was closed to outsiders, and to this day only a handful of visitors have ever been. In this immersive documentary, recorded on location, we’ll take you to the heart of one of the great wonders of Arabia and give you a glimpse of what it feels like to be there for real.
Highlights include:
Exploring the ancient city of Hegra. Built by the same people who built Petra in Jordan, Hegra is every bit as spectacular but only visited by a handful of intrepid travelers.
Visiting Jebel Ikmah, a library of ancient inscriptions carved into stone that reveal life in the desert more than 2,000 years ago.
Riding Arabian horses to petroglyphs in the desert (and nearly falling off).
Meeting a herd of overly friendly camels, with a taste for microphones.
Learning from rawis, local storytellers, about the history of the incense road, a vast trading route, which passed through Alula, and changed the face of Arabia forever.
FIND OUT MORE
Our on-location Immersion documentaries are designed so that you can experience everything we did in this episode. Find out more at ExperienceAlula.com. Check out @experiencealula on Instagram, Facebook and X for more inspiration and ideas.
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“I look out the window towards K2 and it's this splitter blue day with this little wisp of white snow coming off the top of the second highest mountain in the world and I'm feeling this sense of terror and this realization of, oh shit: What have I agreed to?”
Cory Richards is one of the world’s most renowned mountaineers and adventure photographers. He has climbed Everest without oxygen, been on the front cover of National Geographic and is the first American to climb an 8000m peak in winter.
In this episode, he shares his favorite adventures from the Andes to the Himalayas. But he also shares what he calls his “journey to quiet the chaos within”. Cory was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a child. He was put in psychiatric hospitals, suffered extreme depression, and even - in his darkest moments - thought about ending it all.
Climbing mountains for Cory became a way to escape the “madness that was haunting him”. But it was a race he was doomed to lose.
This story is both an edge of your seat adventure, told by one of the world’s greats, but also an extremely honest and vulnerable account of what it means to fall apart and rewrite your story anew.
CONNECT WITH CORY
Cory’s latest book is called The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within. It is exquisitely well written, and my personal favorite adventure travel book this year.
Check out his award-winning photography on Instagram: @coryrichards
MENTAL HEALTH
This episode deals with issues of mental health, specifically bipolar disorder and depression. If you’re going through anything, and need some help, there’s some links below. These are not personal endorsements. Make sure you do your own research, there’s a lot of great assets out there and there’s no need to suffer alone.
National Institute for Mental Illness (USA): https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help
Mind (UK): https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/where-to-start/
CONNECT WITH US
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
CREDITS
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar and Jason Paton presented the show, Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
At the start of every month, host Aaron Millar and producer Jason Paton preview what’s coming up on Armchair Explorer, play their favorite clips, and reveal the stories they’re most excited to share.
A cross between a highlight reel, an interview, and two people telling travel tales down the pub, our Pathways episodes are your guide to choosing your adventures with us.
October episodes:
ADVENTURE: National Geographic photographer and mountaineer Cory Richards takes us on a journey to the top of the Himalayas in search of The Color of Everything.
DISCOVERY: We go on location to the ancient city of Alula to uncover the history hidden in the Earth
CONNECTION: We speak with Jenny Hunter from the Adventurists about the time she drove a $1,000 car from London to Mongolia and the importance of getting lost.
IMMERSION: We send an Aussie to a rodeo in South Dakota and chaos ensues.
INSIGHT: Halloween Special – Aaron goes to a seance in the London Tombs and strange things occur.
BUCKET LIST: Halloween Special – we take the world’s scariest whisky tour inside America’s most notorious prison.
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it. It means you get to choose what episodes you listen to, rather than the algorithm guess (wrongly) and kick us off your feed.
Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar and Jason Paton presented the show, Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Here’s to those who Wisconsin … that’s what they say in this part of the world. Because
traveling here is not so much about exploring a place as discovering a mindset.
In this two-part documentary series, recorded on location, we’ll be searching for that Wisconsin
state of mind. Today we’ll be looking for it through the lens of its music, architecture, theater -
and motorbikes. It’s a story about how art can connect us more deeply with the land, and how
the land inspires it.
Wisconsin is renowned as being home to some of the friendliest and most welcoming people
you’ll ever meet. During our weeklong road trip recording this podcast, we found that and lots
more from Native American drums and motorcycle rides, to pizza farms and a praying mantis
who just won’t get off the stage.
We hope you enjoy our journey, and if it inspires you to take one of your own – you can. All our
on-location documentaries are designed to be trips that you can repeat exactly as we did it – or
just pick the stuff you love. Go to travelwisconsin.com to find out more.
Thank you to our guests:
The Menominee Nation
Shane Webster, from the Wind Eagle band of Menominee singers and drummers.
Ryan Hewsom, the preservation director at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin.
Patty Heaston, the communications director at the American Players Theater.
Company actors Marcus Truschinski and Jessica Ko. And Director Robert Ramirez.
And Chris Ribstine and Tim McCormick from the Harley Davidson Museum.
This episode was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry.
Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Aaron Millar, wrote and presented the
episode, and produced it with Jason Paton. Brian Thacker led our pre-production. Ally Nisbet
did the field recording. And Charles Tyrie did the audio production and sound design.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
“The best way to travel? Dare to be lonely, lost, and bored.” – Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding
Today’s special episode is in honor of World Travel Day, which was set up by the United Nations over 50 years ago and is celebrated today, on September 27th, every year.
Here’s what they have to say about it …
Tourism as an instrument for peace
Tourism, often highlighted for its role in economic development, also plays a significant role in fostering peace. On a global level, where nations are interconnected and interdependent, Tourism, an industry made by people and for people, emerges as a compelling and dynamic force to defy stereotypes and challenge prejudices.
This sector can be perceived as the epitome of intercultural dialogue; it allows meeting the "other", learning about different cultures, hearing foreign languages, tasting exotic flavours, bonding with other human beings, and building tolerance. In essence, it is a mind-broadening educational and spiritual experience.
Our guest today is author Rolf Potts, whose book Vagabonding was one of the pioneering publications of independent travel and has become a legend on the backpacking, van life and digital nomadism scenes. He has inspired countless travelers to forgo expensive, overly planned travel in favor of affordable, spontaneous exploration. Plus, he has some incredible stories he’s collected over the years.
Highlights include:
Taking a traditional fishing boat on a three-week journey down the Mekong River.
Trekking through the jungle to visit remote tribes in Indonesia.
Riding a bicycle across Myanmar.
Finding out how to let go of expectations and open yourself to authentic experiences.
Learning the subtle art of being bored, and why it’s important.
Discovering how exploration enhances our experience of home.
CONNECT WITH ROLF
Follow Rolf on Instagram @rolfpotts, or visit his website at rolfpotts.com to find his books, articles, blog, videos, writing courses, and more. You can also find his newest book, The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discover, and the Art of Travel at your local bookstore or online. There are so many interesting stories and reflections in there that we didn’t have time to cover, so we highly recommend you pick up a copy for yourself!
CONNECT WITH US
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Following the show will bring good travel karma! If you like this episode, please support us by subscribing to the show. Don’t miss finding out where our next adventure will take you.
Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar presented the show and wrote it along with Jenny Allison. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
In the heart of the California’s Sonoran Desert the city of Palm Spring’s emerges like a green oasis surrounded by a sea of red. It’s known for food, art, glamour, glitz but head outside the city boundaries to Greater Palm Springs and there’s plenty of adventure too.
Today we’re going to be exploring the region’s wild side - and we’re not talking about lavish pool parties (more of that later in the series). We’re going horseback riding through canyons beside palm-fringed creeks, snowshoeing through pine forests on the top of soaring peaks; we’ll be taking an off-road jeep in search of the San Andreas Fault and rappel off 100-foot boulders in the desert dreamscapes of Joshua Tree National Park.
Recorded on location in immersive surround sound, this episode is designed to give you a glimpse of what it feels like to be there for real.
Thank you to everyone who featured in this episode:
- Wilderness Park Aid Christopher Gabriel Zazueta from San Jacinto State Park
- Morgan Levine from Reed Jeep Tours
- Tuesday from Smoke Tree Stables
- And our fearless rappelling guide Jaden Wyszpolski from Stone Adventures
PLAN YOUR GREATER PALM SPRINGS TRIP
Our On Location episodes are designed so that you can experience everything you hear. Check out the links above, or find out more at VisitGreaterPalmSprings.com
FOLLOW ARMCHAIR EXPLORER
Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast
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Follow us on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode. Review us and you will be blessed with good travel karma.
CREDITS
This series was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker wrote and hosted the series. Jason Paton did the field recording and produced the show, along with Aaron Millar. And Charles Tyrie helped with audio editing. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com
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"Bluegrass will lift you up and sweep you along like the fast-flowing waters of the Tennessee River...it's foot stomping, hand clapping, blazingly fast songs hotter than a match."
In this episode, dive into the world of Tennessee bluegrass and learn why this is a genre of music that can only be truly experienced live. Join host Aaron Millar as he sits down in a 100-year-old country store for a one-of-a-kind show; dives into the history of legends like Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs; and meets some of the contemporary artists who are creating a new generation of bluegrass sound.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Produced in a documentary style, the Tennessee Music Pathways series takes listeners on a more than 1,000-mile road trip, from Bristol and the birth of country music to Memphis and the start of rock n’ roll. Along the way, listeners will hear bluegrass played fast as lightning and traditional Appalachian music performed live in the Great Smoky Mountains. Follow along as host Aaron Millar shops in Elvis’ favorite clothing store, bangs drums in the studio that made Uptown Funk, learns to play the spoons and drinks whiskey in a distillery housed in a more than 100-year-old former prison.
WANT MORE TENNESSEE MUSIC?
Tennessee Music Pathways is a guide that connects visitors to the rich musical heritage of our state. Visitors can curate their own path based on interests using an interactive guide at TNmusicpathways.com. Follow the conversation on social using or searching hashtag #tnmusicpathways.
TNvacation.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Thank you to our guests and musicians:
Evie Andrus evieandrusmusic.com
Alex Leach thealexleachband.com
Fast Track Band fasttrackband.com
Jimmy Bilbry, Sutton Ole Time Music Hour granvilletn.com
Wayne Bledsoe realknoxvillemusic.com
Michael McCall, countrymusichalloffame.org
Visit Knoxville visitknoxville.com
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @armchairexplorerpodcast. Want travel tips and advice? Questions about this episode? Message me! Sign up for the monthly newsletter at armchair-explorer.comProduced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry www.armchair-productions.com
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Follow world-renowned explorer Ed Stafford on the expedition that made his name: walking the entire length of the Amazon River, on foot. People thought that it was impossible, that he would die trying; and they were nearly right. He was attacked by a tribe of angry machete wielding indigenous peoples, he faced Narco drug traffickers and giant anacondas. But gradually, step by step, over the course of two and half years, through some of the toughest and deadliest terrain on the planet, he proved them all wrong.
Ed crossed the entire continent from the Peruvian Andes, and the furthest known source of the Amazon, to Brazil, where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean, more than 4,000-miles away. He is the first person in history to do it, and holds a Guinness World Record for the achievement. This is one of the boldest expeditions ever attempted, and one of the greatest adventure tales ever told. Are you ready to head into the jungle? Let’s go.
Highlights include:
· Hear how Ed survived being surrounded by an angry tribe of indigenous peoples intent on hacking him to pieces
· Find out how he crossed the infamous Red Zone, a lawless area of the jungle controlled by drug-traffickers
· Climb with him to the 18,000-foot summit of Nevado Mismi, in the Peruvian Andes, the furthest known source of the Amazon
· Meet the Ashaninka, the largest indigenous tribe in the Amazon Basin, and hear how Ed ended up befriending two tribal chiefs and walking with them for more than 6 weeks.
· Discover what it takes to complete such a long and grueling expedition – 860 days walking through some of the toughest jungle terrain on the planet
· Hear his personal story of transformation. How he began the journey as a ‘volatile young man’ wanting to prove how tough he was, but how the jungle humbled him, and made him connect with a deeper, and more authentic of himself.
· See this amazing forest through new eyes. The Amazon is nearly 20 times the size of Great Britain, home to some 400 billion trees, and 10% of the world’s species. For Ed, it began as a dangerous place, something to be conquered, but it ended up becoming home, a place to be marveled at, and protected
· Hear what adventure means to Ed, how it is the ‘crucible in which you find yourself’, and how you too can use adventure and exploration to connect more deeply with who you really are
Also, find out about Ed’s new series – Ed Stafford: First Man Out. Available in America and elsewhere too https://www.discoveryuk.com
Find out about Ed's new bushcraft academy at: www.bushcraft.academy
For more background information on this episode, photos, links to his books and shows, and more, please visit https://www.armchair-explorer.com/post/walking-the-amazon-with-explorer-ed-stafford
The Armchair Explorer: the world's greatest adventurers tell their best story from the road. Each episode is cut documentary style with music and cinematic effects to create an immersive storytelling experience. http://www.armchair-explorer.com
Host/Producer Aaron Millar is an award-winning travel writer (Nat Geo, The Times etc.) Instagram/Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast.
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“Nobody's down here except for us ghost people and the hotel staff. And some of the hotel staff in the past wouldn't come down here by themselves. Things happen in here. Things have happened to me.”
– Kate, Ghost Tour Guide at the Bullock Hotel, Deadwood
Tales of the Wild West and lawless frontiers are ingrained in American culture - and in Deadwood, the discovery of riches in the southern Black Hills in 1874 kicked off one of the largest gold rushes in America. Not long after, Deadwood became a rough-and-ready boomtown that steadily lured bands of outlaws, gamblers, and gunslingers.
Join us as we mosey down Deadwood’s streets in search of famed tales and legendary residents from this wild frontier. We begin our adventure in Saloon No 10, where we join a local gunslinger (or an actor who plays a gunslinger - in daily gunfights in the streets of Deadwood) for a game of poker at the table where Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead.
We then head down into the dark basement bar of the Bullock Hotel chasing ghosts and getting well and truly spooked.
Lastly, we end up, as many locals have ended up, at Moriah Cemetery. There we make the pilgrimage to Wild Bill’s grave where visitors have left flowers, bullets, and small bottles of Jack Daniels.
Through it all, we discover that Deadwood is truly alive. Well, besides the ghosts. It’s a place where the wild west spirit lives on. You can feel it – and the former coarse and cavorting town is now a lot less rough, but just as much fun.
- Brian Thacker, presenter
Thank you to everyone who featured on this show:
- Andy Mosher, Deadwood Alive
- Kate McGraw, Bullock Hotel Ghost tours
We’d like to thank our gunslinging Andy Mosher and our ghostly guide Kate McGraw who gave us their time and stories.
Recorded on-location, this audio adventure is designed to do more than just let you hear what it’s like to be there; it’s designed to let you feel what it’s like for real.
Find out more at www.travelsouthdakota.com where you'll find lots of inspiration, ideas and everything else you need to know to plan your great South Dakota adventure.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @armchairexplorerpodcast. Want travel tips and advice? Questions about this episode? Message me! Sign up for the monthly newsletter at armchair-explorer.com
Produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry www.armchair-productions.com
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Imagine a road trip up the southern Californian coast stopping off at cool little beach towns along the way. But instead of doing it in a car, on the highway, getting stuck in traffic, with nothing to do or see … you surf it instead.
The Pacific Surfliner train travels 351 miles from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, through Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and more … and for much of that journey you are literally hugging the coast so closely you can almost smell the ocean.
In today’s episode, recorded on location, host Aaron Millar, and producers Jason Paton and Ally Nisbet, head out on a long weekend ‘track trip’ down the So-Cal coast.
“This is one of my favorite trips of the year so far. A lot of the episodes we make are about proper adventures, and deep stories about culture and history. This was just pure fun. I love southern California, and hope this episode captures that spirit and special vibe of the west coast. Kerouac had it wrong, the open tack beats the open road any day for me … especially when there’s surfing at the end of the line.” - Aaron
Highlights include:
· Kayaking with sea lions in Santa Barbara
· Spotting dolphins in Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of Ventura
· Catching waves with pro-surfer John Daniels in Oceanside
· Riding one of the most beautiful stretches of the Pacific Surfliner: gorgeous headlands, mist covered mountains, and ocean waves crashing on the shore
Thanks to Pacific Surfliner for helping to make this trip possible. If you like what you hear and fancy taking the scenic route yourself, you can book your tickets at pacificsurfliner.com. Students under 25 get a 15% discount
Thanks also to santabarbaraca.com, visitventuraca.com, visitoceanside.org, Andre from Cal Coast Adventures, all the crew at Island Packers, Jim Kempton from the California Surf Museum, and John Daniels from Learn to Rip Surf Lessons
Follow the show on Instagram @armchairexplorerpodcast
This episode was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker did our pre-production, Jason Paton and Ally Nisbet did the field recording and audio production, Aaron Millar wrote and presented it.
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Maiku. Yá'át'ééh. And hello!
You can't really know a place without hearing from the people who have always been there. Utah is the sacred and ancestral home of eight different tribal nations, including the Paiute, Navajo (Diné), Shoshone, Goshute, and more. And today, we're learning as much about their histories and cultures as we can.
Join us as we listen to Southern Paiute music under the stars, see a traditional Diné fireside dance, sample fry bread with a unique twist, step inside a traditional hogan in Monument Valley, and learn about what being Native American means in 2024.
Thank you to everyone who featured in this episode:
-Daniel Bullets of the Southern Paiute Tribe
-The Adventure Tour Company of Kanab
-Louis Williams of Ancient Wayves Tours in Bears Ears National Monument
-Harold Simpson and Cody of Simpson's Trailhandler Tours, as well as Marilyn, all of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
-David Libbert of Black Sheep Cafe in Provo
-Larry Holliday of Goulding's Lodge
PLAN YOUR UTAH TRIP
If you want to learn more about experiencing the sights and attractions featured in this episode, go to VisitUtah.com or follow along on social media @VisitUtah. International listeners can also book this itinerary directly as a package, with lots of other bonus experiences too -- just visit AmericanSky.co.uk/Utah-Holidays or learn more about all the incredible destinations around the state at VisitTheUSA.com or on social media @VisitTheUSA.
SOCIAL
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @armchairexplorerpodcast. Want travel tips and advice? Questions about this episode? Message me! Sign up for the monthly newsletter at armchair-explorer.com.
CREDITS
This show was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker managed pre-production. Jenny Allison was the in-field producer and wrote the episode. Jason Paton did the recording, mix and sound design. Aaron Millar hosted and served as executive producer.
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