Armchair Explorer
The world's greatest adventurers tell their best story from the road. Each episode is cut documentary style and set to music and cinematic effects to create an immersive storytelling experience. 'Best travel podcasts 2020'- The Guardian, 'Thrilling Stuff'-Sunday Times, 'Ear Candy for Listeners' - Washington Post
Episodes
April 29, 2024 • 34 mins
Welcome to Utah: Life Elevated, the documentary podcast that will
take you all around Utah on an unforgettable road trip. Today, we're
diving into some of Utah's unique adventures...because if there's one
word that defines Utah, it just might be adventure!
From rappelling down canyon walls to churning up dirt on a mountain bike,
there are so many ways to get a taste of the outdoors in this great
state. Join us for some unfor...
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April 24, 2024 • 34 mins
Writer Tim Moore is no stranger to the unusual and unique. In his
early days as a travel writer, he rode a container ship to Iceland,
biked across Italy in a period costume, completed the Camino de Santiago
with a donkey as his only companion, and more. So when Tim got a call
out of the blue one day from his editor, asking if he'd consider biking
the length of the newly established Iron Curtain Trail, he had two
thoughts.
One...
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In Oregon, the natural world doesn't just inspire awe -- it gives a
touch of the sublime. In the words of one guide, it's
"timeless...important for the soul of humankind."
And today, we're immersing ourselves in those sublime experiences along the
Central Nature Trail in Oregon! Follow along as we snowshoe to the top
of Watchman Peak, for the best view over Crater Lake in the park – “like
a sapphire embedded in the Earth”, as...
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April 8, 2024 • 43 mins
"Paradise: that elusive place where the anxieties, struggles, and burdens of life fall away. Most of us dream of it, but each of us has very different ideas about where it is to be found. For some it can be enjoyed only after death; for others, it’s in our midst—or just across the ocean—if only we can find eyes to see it."
Thus begins the premise of Pico Iyer's journey in The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise. Pico is one of...
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April 1, 2024 • 32 mins
In the Florida Keys, the ocean isn't just part of the scenery. Because beneath those shimmering teal waters, there are adventures and discoveries just waiting to be found.
And in today's episode, we'll explore two very different - yet equally captivating - gems of the Keys, with excerpts from two different episodes of the 30-part Florida Keys Traveler podcast.
First, join host Elizabeth Harryman Lasley as she visits Marathon's Do...
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March 25, 2024 • 56 mins
“I'm sure bungee jumping is crazy and a real like adrenaline rush. But if you've never walked through Somalia with $15,000 in your backpack, you have never lived. You think you like adventure sports, but that is real, real pumping adrenaline.”
In this episode, American journalist Eric Czuleger takes us on a journey into the twilight zone of almost countries, the places in the world that are fighting for recognition: Kurdistan, Ko...
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March 17, 2024 • 55 mins
St. Patrick might be the most famous of the Irish saints...but he's far from the most interesting.
In 2023, St. Brigid’s Day was decreed a National Holiday in Ireland to honor Brigid. Over the millennia, this legendary woman has evolved into a figure encompassing myth, holy legend, pagan icon, and now modern feminist symbol.
But who was Brigid, really? To answer that question, travel writer Nicola Brady set off around Ireland to s...
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March 11, 2024 • 54 mins
The Van Gujjar tribes spend half of each year living deep in the forests of northern India and the other half high on the mountain plains of the Himalayas. Herding water buffalo, whose milk nourishes and sustains their livelihoods, every Van Gujjar family makes an annual migration from their winter home in the forests to their summer grazing fields in the Himalayas.
That is -- until now.
Faced with the threat of losing their herd...
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February 26, 2024 • 39 mins
This week we are going to Nashville, Tennessee The Country Music Capital of the World … but don’t worry you don’t have to love country to love Nashville. It is a music town. If you like listening to live music – who doesn’t? – then this is a musical odyssey you must take at least once in your life.
We’re going to have some fun, we’re going backstage at 3 rd and Lyndsey, one of Nashville’s most iconic venues, to meet the songwriters...
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"I will show you my Amazon - the Amazon that visitors never get to see."
When Alex Robinson heard those words, he knew he was in for the adventure of a lifetime. His guide, Saru Mundurucu, had recently founded his own adventure and travel company, Aracá Expeditions. As the first and only Amazon adventure company owned and operated by an indigenous Amazonian, Saru promised Alex an experience unlike any other - and he delivered.
Im...
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February 12, 2024 • 52 mins
Today, we're embracing our weird in Oregon as we explore the Northern Culture Trail!
We’re going to discover Portland’s favorite food carts, sample food from around the world and go on a secret bar crawl to hidden local spots. “Portland is the rebel base of the Star Wars universe, we’re sticking it to the forces of normal,” Dresden of Throw Snakes told us. We’re going to have some fun!
From there we hit the road south to the Willa...
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February 7, 2024 • 47 mins
Today we're journeying to Lake Baikal, the largest, oldest, deepest freshwater lake in the world...and to get there, we're crossing over a thousand miles in Mongolia and Russia by camel, horse, kayak, and rowboat.
Like all lakes, Lake Baikal exists because of a river. And in 2018, fishing and river guide Peter Fong led the first-ever expedition from the headwaters of Mongolia’s Delgermörön (Selenge) River all the way to Lake Baik...
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January 29, 2024 • 41 mins
Today, we're returning to the mountains of Colorado to hear about the adventures of Isabella Bird, a British explorer who famously ascended Longs Peak in 1873 with her guide and companion Jim Nugent.
The story of Bird and Jim illuminates the early history and character of Estes Park, as her writings helped establish the town as a tourist destination, and parallels with the broader historic myth of the frontier and the American west...
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January 24, 2024 • 47 mins
"There are eight species of bears on the planet. Six of them are threatened everywhere they live."
Thus begins Beartrek, a documentary which took Chris Morgan nearly 8 years to make. In Beartrek, he follows the lives of several individual bears around the world, from a friendly spectacled bear in Peru's arid mountains to a shy sun bear cub in the muggy rainforests of Borneo.
Chris, a British-born ecologist, conservationist, TV ...
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January 15, 2024 • 51 mins
"It was here, on the banks of the Mississippi River, where music changed the world."
In Memphis, music has always been more than a melody and lyrics - it's a movement. This is a city that launched some of the world's most beloved musicians, from Otis Redding to Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, Elvis Presley, and more. And in the midst of segregation and racial tension, the music of Memphis became a powerful tool for bringing people tog...
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January 9, 2024 • 69 mins
Today's episode is a little bit different - because our very own Aaron Millar is our guest! This re-released episode is one of the most memorable conversations he's ever had, and we're very excited to share it with you.
In this interview, which originally aired with the Adventure Sports Podcast in 2020, Aaron shares stories from his years as a travel writer - from doing a ridiculous 100-mile pub crawl in Britain to trekking with ...
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It's hard to imagine Christmas without reindeer. But long before the beloved antlered animals were pulling Santa's sleigh, they were providing a way of life for indigenous peoples around the world, including the Nenets of Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula.
The Nenets of Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula are among the world’s oldest existing true nomads, making a living by herding reindeer in a place that literally translates to ‘the end of the wo...
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December 18, 2023 • 60 mins
When Alastair Humphreys was young, he craved something unknowable.
That something - adventure, excitement, wisdom, whatever it was - was close. But he suspected that in order to find it, he'd have to step outside of the familiar shapes of his routines. He'd have to break free from the expectations of his friends and family, of advanced degrees and office jobs and apartment living.
In his search for something, he moved to a rura...
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December 11, 2023 • 34 mins
“It's kind of interesting that people that come here to Crazy Horse Memorial, because it's almost like there's a spiritual calling. They don't know quite what it is. But they feel it.”
– Paul LaRoche, Lakota tribe member and founder of the band Brulé
The great Lakota Sioux Nation have become the international symbol of America’s native people. Over 60,000 Lakota Native Americans live in South Dakota, and they believe that their v...
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December 4, 2023 • 49 mins
"Humans are meant to excel. And when you start pushing that and seeing how capable we are, it's phenomenal what you can actually go and do."
-Justin Packshaw
When Justin Packshaw was trekking in Antarctica several years ago, he noticed something disturbing: The ice shelf had visibly melted since his previous visit, just a few decades prior. "In the grand scheme of how old our world is, and its present state, that's a really quit...
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