Travel with Rick Steves

Alaska is a dream destination for many, but the cost and logistics of traveling to America's last frontier can seem almost as imposing as the spectacular scenery. Lonely Planet author Aaron Spitzer joins Rick to discuss travel options for first-timers to Alaska and compare crusing the Southeast to road tripping through Mount Denali and the Kenai Peninsula. Also, Jeff Campbell offers practical tips on how to make a summer road trip with small children memorable for all the right reasons. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Rick spends the hour with Rolf Potts, one of the sharpest minds among the new generation of travel writers and bloggers. Rick and Rolf take listener calls and compare notes on how to see the world "through the back door," and then stay a while; an approach Rolf calls "Vagabonding." Join us as we explore the art of open-ended adventures around the world on the next Travel with Rick Steves. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Two of Rick's liveliest friends from Italy explain the regional differences between North and South, compare the loyalties, cuisine, accents, and attitudes of Italy's regions and show us how a common love of good food and soccer unites them. From aristocratic northern business types, to southern families that almost smother travelers with their hospitality, we're contrasting the character you'll find in Italy -- from North to South -- on the next Travel with Rick Steves. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Prague has recently become one of Europe's most popular cities. Two tour guides based in Prague offer tips on avoiding the summer flood of tourists and finding the city's substantial old world charm - and bargains. They'll recommend day trips into the Bohemian countryside which are now easier than ever thanks to improved rail service in the Czech Republic. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Rick chats with tour guide Ton Van Garderen from The Netherlands about how Amsterdam makes its "live and let live" libertine policies work and what's behind the Dutch reputation for being "tolerant." We'll also assess the state of the overworked American with author and documentary producer John DeGraff to see how we can reclaim some of the time we never seem to have enough of. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

For this year's Earth Day observance, we're getting close to some of the cool creatures on our hot planet. Rick meets Marty Essen, whose adventures to the far corners of the planet with his wife and love of sometimes-frightening critters were enough to fill a very engaging book. Rick also learns how to conduct a home exchange, and discusses the World Monuments Fund list of "Vanishing Places" with author Michael Shapiro. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

As a crossroads of cultulres for millenia, Sicily is emerging as one of the most vivid islands travelers can visit in Europe. Rick interviews two tour guide friends from Sicily on what makes their island home so distinctive from the rest of Italy and what the island offers to keep visitors content for weeks. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

We learn about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela from a man who takes tourists on updated versions of this mideaval pilgrimage route and catch up with a Lonely Planet Iran researcher who finds that, despite the country's heavy-handed rulers, the Iranian people are some of the most welcoming you'll find anywhere. Plus we have a new round of listeners' travel haiku to share. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Rick discusses Hinduism with a travel writer who learned lessons in the land of her ancestors and delves into the enduring appeal of an Islamic mystic known in the west as Rumi who is commemorating his 800th birthday. Listeners also share their experience with 'the kindness of strangers' as a godsend in their travels to Europe. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

In this engaging conversation, Stephen McPhilemy, a Derry-based tour guide and youth hostel operator, shares tales about the evolving identity and ongoing peace efforts in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, Patrick Noel, a Franco-Celtic tour guide from Cork, dives into the rich cultural ties between Ireland and France. They discuss the historical complexities that shaped Northern Ireland's identity and explore how shared experiences in faith and heritage weave a fascinating connection between these two Celtic nations.