I've got an extraordinary travel resource to share with you today! Chris Christensen's site, The Amateur Traveler, is a travel site for curious people who love to learn about the world. Packed with insider's tips on travel, locations, adventures, and more, The Amateur Traveler is a gem. Chris explores the world in a non-tourist way, making you want to GO, whether it is from the travel tips, deeply exploring a place, travel news, or personal stories. Recently I listened to one of his podcasts on Michigan. Although I am from here, live here, and LOVE the sunset coast, I still learned some new things about my state, thanks to his guest, Erik Smith. Chris features travel pros, friends, and even listeners. Chris is also one of the hosts of This Week In Travel Podcast, with Jen Leo and Gary Arndt.  It's another fantastic travel resource!

We were lucky enough to sit down and chat with Chris about the Amateur Traveler, podcasting, preparing for travel, giving back, and more. Here's what he had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your site, Amateur Traveler...

CC: The Amateur Traveler is an online travel show that focuses primarily on travel destinations and the best places to travel to.  It covers everything from knowing what to put on your Chicago dog when you go to the Windy City to swimming with whales in Tonga. It includes both a weekly audio podcast, twice monthly video podcast and a blog. 

WE: What led you into podcasting?

CC: I started listening to podcasts 5 years ago. This Week In Tech was the first podcast I followed. I knew I wanted to do a podcast but I could not decide what topic. I thought about a mac podcast or a religious podcast but then I had friends over for a memorial day BBQ. All the best stories people told at the BBQ were travel stories. I had my topic. The site started with the audio podcast and the blog and the video podcast came later.

Teotihuacan

WE: Can you share more about your episodes?

CC: Most of the episodes of the Amateur Traveler are interviews of people who have visited, are natives of or have written the guidebook about a particular destination. We talk about why you should want to go there and what you would do if you went there. I try and find people who are in love with New York City, Malawi, Molokai or wherever and we see if we can get you to fall in love with the idea of visiting there. We try and address what would surprise you about that destination, what would delight you but also what warnings you should have before you travel there.

WE: You also have incredible tours, including an Egypt Photography tour coming up. Please share!

CC: The tours are new. I am doing a Photo Tour of Egypt this November. I have never been to Egypt so I won't be the guide but I am instead working with Cosmos which is a Globus Tours brand. Ralph Velasco who is a photographer and has been on the show talking about travel photography is doing this tour with me and we will be providing hands on instruction in photography and digital photo processing.

Ortakoy, Istanbul

WE: How can people best prepare for travel?

CC: About 70% of my listeners are from the USA and Americans only get 13 days of vacation a year on average. One of the reasons that I do the show is that I think dreaming about travel and planning travel not only is part of the fun but with our busy schedules has to be a big part of the fun. So if you have one big trip a year think about learning some of the language. Even if you only learn how to get directions to the bathroom and say you don't speak the language very well it will lower barriers between you and the people in that destination, which I think is one of the coolest things about travel. Find a history book or a novel about that destination. One of my best travel moments was watching my kids who were in elementary school running around the Roman Forum telling their mom who Constantine was who built this particular arch.

WE: How do you suggest people give back, while traveling?

CC: One of my favorite topics on the show is Volunteer travel or Voluntourism. I do a trip down to Mexico annually to help build houses. I think that volunteering when you travel provides some of the riches travel experiences. You learn more about people from working alongside them than you can ever learn from a museum or guidebook.

Santorini, Greece

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

CC: I chose the word Amateur for the show and the subsequent site not because I am trying to do a shoddy job talking about travel but because the origin of the word is someone who does something out of love. I hear a lot of people complaining these days about the travel experience. The long security lines, the declining service on airplanes, but I still find travel a joy and a wonder and I hope that I can help, in some way, prepare you to travel so that you too can travel for the love of it.

WE: Thanks so much, Chris. I've really enjoyed your site and podcasts - I highly recommend it to our readers!

For more information, please see:

http://amateurtraveler.com/

Feature photo: Maasai, Tanzania

All photos courtesy and copyright Chris Christensen.