Armchair Explorer

Latest Episodes:

PATHWAYS: Surfing Iceland, Bedouin Stars and Living with Wolves Nov 04, 2024

Show notes

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.

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

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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.

BUCKET LIST: Ghost Hunt in the London Tombs with Host Aaron Millar Oct 31, 2024

Show notes

“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.

IMMERSION: The World’s Scariest Whisky Distillery Tour at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary Oct 28, 2024

Show notes

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

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.

PERFORMANCE: The Diamond Stream with Tennessee Music Legend Ed Snodderly Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

“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

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.

IMMERSION: Wild Rides, Mutton Bustin’ and the Fastest Shearer in the West: On Location at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo Oct 21, 2024

Show notes

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.

CONNECTION: The Mongol Rally: Driving from London to Mongolia in a Junk Yard Car with Jenny Hunter from The Adventurists Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

“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.

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

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.

IMMERSION: The Elements of AlUla: Arabia’s Lost City and the Heritage of Earth Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

“… 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

Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast

ADVENTURE: From the Top of the Himalayas to the Chaos Within: The Color of Everything with National Geographic Photographer and Mountaineer Cory Richards Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

“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

Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!

Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast

CREDITS

PATHWAYS: Mongol Rallies, Lost Cities, and the World’s Scariest Distillery Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

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.

Following the show on socials will definitely maybe bring you good travel karma!

Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Powwows, Harleys, and Frank Lloyd Wright: Here's to Those Who Wisconsin! Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

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.

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