The Amateur Traveler goes to Seattle: weather, geography, history, “skid row”, the Fremont troll and rocket, Gas Works Park, Space Needle, Seattle Center, The Experience Music Project, Soundseeing tour of the Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Seattle Underground Tour, Walking Tours and the Klondike Gold Rush Museum.

News

Troops quell Oaxaca protests
USA TODAY and Good Morning America team up to name world’s new marvels
Seven Wonders of the World

Show Notes

Photo Gallery
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The Amateur Traveler podcast goes to Tanzania. This is the second episode on my recent trip to Tanzania and focuses on visiting Tanzania as a guest instead of a tourist. I will talk about the time I spent getting to know Tanzanians in hospitals, churches, schools and markets. The podcast will talk about some of the great things about Tanzania like the hospitality and singing and some of the challenges they are facing like AIDS and education.

News

The September issue of Men’s Journal listed the 4 best Adventure Travel podcasts and my podcast, the Amateur Traveler, made their list along side better known travel brands like Lonely Planet and Rick Steves. They rated the Amateur Traveler as a B+ which I think fair since it is not just about adventure travel.

‘World’s Largest’ Cruise Ship Title Soon To Be Shared Honor

Airlines On-Time Performance Slips in June

Show Notes

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The Amateur Traveler goes to Tanzania. This first of two episodes on Tanzania looks at Tanzania as a tourist and focuses on three national parks: Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro and Tarangire. It also focues on the Masai people and includes soundseeing clips.

Show Notes

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The Amateur Traveler joins Chris (a different Chris) as he talks about swimming with Humpback Whales in the waters off the Pacific island country of Tonga. This episode features whale song recorded with an iRiver and a hydrophone.

News

The Scholar Ship
Travel Channel - 5 Takes

Show Notes

Photo Gallery

Chris’s detailed trip report
Chris’s article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tonga Trivia:

• The famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” occurred in Tonga, in the Ha’apai Group.
• Captain James Cook gave a radiated tortoise from Madagascar to the Tongan royal family as a gift in either 1773 or 1777. The tortoise was given the honorary title “Tu’i Malila” and lived continuously with the royal family until it died in 1965 — almost 200 years later.
• Tonga has a total population of abut 100,000 people. About 60,000 live on Tongatapu, and 15,000 on Vava’u.
• The only native land mammal to Tonga is the flying fox, a species of fruit bat.
• Humpback whales come to Tonga in the Southern Hemisphere winter — July to October
• One of the deepest points in the world is near Tonga — the Tonga Trench, which is over 30,000 feet deep in some places.

Chris’s sound equipment: Aquarian AQ9 hydophone and an iRiver iFP-799T mp3 player
Underwater Cameras

Internet Resources

Tonga tourist links:

• Tongan Visitors Bureau
• WhaleSwim Adventures - offering package tours to swim with humpback whales
• Aquarium Adventures - tour booking agency in Vava’u
• Hakula Lodge and charter fishing boat M/V Hakula
• Whales in the Wild - whale watching/swimming tours
• Mounu Island Resort
• Fafa Island Resort (Tongatapu)
• Wild Focus Films - providing underwater digital video footage of your encounters with the whales
• Beluga Diving
• Dolphin Pacific Diving
• S/V Impetuous charter sailboat
• S/V Melinda charter sailboat
• Matangi Tonga - Tonga’s online newspaper
• Planet Tonga - news and features about Tonga

Discussions

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Promos

Biltmore Insider Podcast
Real Deadwood Podcast

Thanks to LiveWorld for providing the bandwidth for this podcast

Song

Whale song. (artist name unknown)

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The AmateurTraveler travels to Ashland Oregon for the Oregon Shakespeare festival. This episode is a soundseeing tour of the festival, workshops and prologs. Why would a high school group and 4 adults travel 7 hours to see live theatre (and meet other groups that had traveled even further)? We saw Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare as well as The Importance of Being Earnest, The Diary of Anne Frank and Honky Tonk Laundry.

News

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Show Notes

Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Honky Tonk Laundry
The Ashland Area

Discussions

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The AmateurTraveler talks to Chuck who has recently returned from Egypt. He talks about cruising the nile, Egyptian historic sites and scuba diving in the Red Sea off Sharm el-Sheikh.

Show Notes

Photo Gallery

Map of Egypt
Fact: The temple of Ramses & Nefertari is 3200 years old
Abercrombie & Kent

Holidays in Egypt
Holidays to the Red Sea

Internet Resources

Podcast & Portable Media Expo
Sounds for Sights Blog and Podcast

Discussions

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A Soundseeing walking tour of San Francisco (complete with google map and photo gallery) including Pier 39, Street Musicians, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square and a ride on a cable car.

Show Notes

Photo Gallery

Photo Map (using Google’s Map API)
Cable Car Route Map
Alcatraz Tours
Duck Tours
Irish Coffee

Find and book San Francisco tours and activities on Viator.com. Book ahead to save time and money!
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Discussions

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A Soundseeing walking tour of San Francisco (complete with google map and photo gallery) including Union Square, China Town, Nob Hill, Grace Cathedral, Cable Car barn/museum, North Beach, Lombard Street.

Show Notes

Photo Gallery

Photo Map (using Google’s Map API)
SparkleTack podcast
Beach Blanket Babylon
Cable Car Route Map

Find and book San Francisco tours and activities on Viator.com. Book ahead to save time and money!
Go San Francisco Card
Click Here for the Best San Francisco Hotel Deals!
Visit Travelocity for San Francisco Deals
San Francisco Hotels - Save up to 50%!

Discussions

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