They call it The Land of Stone and Light because of the way sunlight plays on its rocky terrain. It is a geological tapestry of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires, home to one of the richest fossil beds on the planet. The Lakota people called it Mako Sica, which is where it got its name. But there is nothing bad about the Badlands.

Recorded on location in immersive stereo surround, join presenter Brian Thacker on a journey through South Dakota’s Badlands National Park. We’ll find ancient fossils and murder pigs, become an unwelcome visitor in a prairie dog town, and go horseback riding through an endless sea of grass under the shadows of rocky buttes straight out of a western movie.

Welcome to the Land of Stone and Light, where bad means good.

FIND OUT MORE

Our on location ‘Immersion’ documentaries are designed so that you can experience everything we did in this episode. Go to travelsouthdakota.com for everything else you need to know to plan your great South Dakota adventure.

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Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Brian Thacker wrote and presented this episode. Jason Paton did the field recording and production. Aaron Millar was executive producer.

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“… tied up at the pier was this all-black pirate ship with the Jolly Roger flag at the bow. It was menacing as hell, and I walked up to the superstructure, and there on the on the outer bulkhead, was all these skulls and crossbones. They were the names of all ships these guys had sunk or rammed on the high seas.”

In 2005, adventure journalist and best-selling novelist Peter Heller, spent six weeks on board the eco-pirate ship Farley Mowat, fighting the Japanese whaling fleet.

Led by Captain Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, their mission was to disrupt, ram or sink the harpoon boats and factory ships that hunt and kill hundreds of whales each year.

Some people called them eco-terrorists, others hailed them as heroes. Battling Class 7 and 8 gales, and 35-foot-high seas, this is their story. You’ll have to make your own mind up.

CONNECT WITH PETER HELLER

Peter Heller is a beautiful writer, as well as an accomplished adventurer. His novels fuse both these passions seamlessly, transporting you to wild and beautiful places, whilst keeps you page-turning on the edge of your seat. Find out more about his books at peterhellerauthor.com

His latest novel, Burn, is about two men—friends since boyhood—who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country racked by bewildering violence.

#FREEPAULWATSON

At the time of publication Captain Paul Watson was being held in jail awaiting extradition to Japan where he faces up to 15 years in prison for the work he did on this mission, and others since. Find out more at paulwatsonfoundation.org

WHALE CONSERVATION:

Find out more at seashepherd.org

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.

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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.

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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.

December episodes:

ADVENTURE: Whale Warriors

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: Ancient Kingdoms

We cross the Arabian desert to the city of Tayma, take part in the Ancient Kingdoms Festival, and explore one of the largest oases in the world.

BUCKET LIST: The Everest of Cage Dives

In the Neptune Islands of Australia, home to the most Great White Sharks on the planet, there is a cage dive that drops you all the way to the ocean floor. And it was set up by the guy who survived the shark attack that inspired the movie, Jaws.

IMMERSION: Welcome to the Badlands

Join best-selling travel author Brian Thacker on a journey deep into the Badlands of South Dakota. We find ancient fossils on hiking trails, become an unwelcome visitor in a prairie town, and go horseback riding through an endless sea of grass, straight out of a western movie.

WANDERLUST: The Curiosities of Christmas Island.

We sit down with travel journalist Martin Symington to hear about his journey to one of the most remote places on Earth. No, Santa doesn’t live there. Yes, David Attenborough thinks it’s awesome.

BUCKET LIST: 100-mile Pub Crawl

Host Aaron Millar takes us on a 100-mile pub crawl along the South Downs Way, a long-distance footpath that crosses the South Downs National Park in England.

IMMERSION: Wellness in the Desert

We’re back with Brian Thacker in search of some New Year’s nature-inspired wellness: healing waters, indigenous bird song and Joshua Tree National Park at night.

***

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

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The thing about eating a meal with people is it breaks down barriers … But then beer elevates that to the magic of the intoxication of a shared experience. That is why beer and pizza go well together - the primal solving of the human conflict problem and the primal mysticism, paired perfectly.” – Tony Schultz, Stoney Acres Farm

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 food. But this episode is as much about community and culture as it is eating well.

They say we are what we eat, and if that’s true then tracing the history of food also tells the story of a place, and its people.

We’ll be throwing kerosene on bubbling cauldrons, figuring out how to use a traditional Oneida corn pounder, and meeting the organic farmers who have marinara in their blood. I hope you’re hungry because dinner is about to be served.

This episode was recorded on location during a weeklong road trip through the state. 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:

Kirby Metoxen, council member of the Oneida Nation

Lea Zeise from the Oneida Emergency Food Pantry

Becky Webster from Ukwakhwa Farm 

Jeremy ‘torch’ Klaubauf at the Old Post Office Restaurant in Ephraim

and Tony Shultz, and the whole crew, at Stoney Acres Farm

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Palm Springs is a must-visit for cinephiles, history buffs, adventure seekers, architecture enthusiasts and foodies, but this desert city is better known as the home of glitz and glamour.

Today, we are stepping back in time to when Palm Springs was Hollywood’s favorite hideaway, when mid-century architecture shaped the town and suavely clad folk sipped martinis by the pool. In this episode, we’re going to visit Frank Sinatra (or his house and favorite restaurant at least), tour the Shag House with Shag himself, meet Barbie and Elvis for dinner and craft cocktails with Palm Springs very own Mr Tiki.

Recorded on location in immersive surround sound, this episode is designed to give you a glimpse of what it feels like to be there for real.

Thank you to everyone who featured in this episode:

-  Our guide Kip Serafin from the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation

-  Artist and style king Josh Agle, better known as Shag

-  Barbie queen and Modernism Week CEO Lisa Vossler Smith

-  Dan Ruiz from the Ingleside Inn

-  Brian Mitchell, the food and beverage manager, and all the staff from Melvyn’s

PLAN YOUR GREATER PALM SPRINGS 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 VisitGreaterPalmSprings.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!

Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Brian Thacker wrote and presented this episode; Jason Paton did the field recording and audio production; and Aaron Millar was the executive producer . Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“People can't believe how we live out here on the land, and under the stars. Maybe it's just the freedom of it. Once you get that red dirt in your blood and your socks, you can't get rid of either one of them. It just stays with you, and you’re going to find that out if you stick around very long.”

• Norris Church, Kanab

The Western is as finely layered as the red rock deserts and dusty towns that serve as their backdrop. Ever since they first appeared on the silver screen, Westerns have been rife with opposing viewpoints, contradictions and complexities as varied as the people who watched them. 

Gunslingers, shoot outs, declarations of love and revenge – the heroes and villains of Western movies have come to define the American psyche in ways that no other genre ever has.

This is the first of our insight episodes, audio documentaries that dive deep into the subjects that make places come alive: from anthropology and history to music, art and more. But today, we’re going to the movies.

Utah celebrates 100-years of movie magic this year. It has served as the backdrop for everything from alien planets to Jurassic worlds. But it’s most famous for the Westerns that were shot here. It’s easy to see why they were. Walk amongst the high buttes and slot canyons of Utah, and it’s hard not to feel like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might jump out at you at any minute. 

This episode will take you to the places where some of the most iconic Westerns were shot, from Monument Valley to Kanab. We’re going to dive into the past and learn what it was really like making them and explore how the films made here have helped to shape a vision of the old west – good and bad – that has spread around the world.

Whether you’re a movie buff or you’ve never watched a Western before, we guarantee after listening to this you’ll be itching to hop on a horse and ride off into the sunset.

PLAN YOUR UTAH TRIP

To make this episode, we visited Monument Valley and Kanab, both beautiful places we highly recommend. If you want to learn more about experiencing the sights and attractions featured in this episode, go to VisitUtah.com or follow along on social media @VisitUtah. International listeners can also book this itinerary directly as a package, with lots of other bonus experiences too - just visit AmericanSky.co.uk/Utah-Holidays or learn more about all the incredible destinations around the state at VisitTheUSA.com or on social media @VisitTheUSA.

Thank you to the guests who featured in today’s episode:

• Norris Church with the Adventure Tour Company in Kanab adventure-tour-company.com
• Andrew Patrick Nelson, Film and Media Arts Chair at the University of Utah. Check out his podcast, How the West was Cast. 
• Dennis Judd, Kanab movie expert

CREDITS

This show was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker managed pre-production. Jenny Allison was the in-field producer and wrote the episode. Jason Paton did the recording, mix and sound design. Aaron Millar hosted and served as executive producer. www.armchair-productions.com

CONNECT

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! Leaving a review of the show will bring you even more.

Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast 

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“I'm dangling 250-feet above a canyon, and I'm about to get dropped. This is what AlUla is all about. It's got desert treasures, it's got 200,000 years of history, but it's also got adventure. And we're going to start ours by soaring through the air. Are you ready? Let's do this …”

• Aaron Millar, host 

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.

Each episode in the series explores the destination through the lens of a different element: the heritage of Earth, the community of Water … and today, the adventure of Air. 

Highlights include:

• Flying over the UNESCO world heritage site of Hegra in a hot air balloon – only a handful of people have ever visited this ancient city. Even less have seen it from the sky. 

• Climbing via ferrata to the top of a 250-foot canyon and then screaming all the way down.

• Off-roading on sand dunes through one of the most deserts in the world.

• Stargazing with Bedouins and hearing their legends of the stars, which they used as a map to guide them through one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

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

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

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“There was one time when one of the young wolves was licking my face, and his canine went up my nose, and I was like, oh, okay, don't move. He wasn't trying to bite me; it was just

excitement. But it was an awesome, eerie, and strangely wonderful experience.”

- Jamie Dutcher

Before the arrival of European settlers, it is estimated as many as 500,000 wolves roamed freely across the continental United States. By the 1970s, after decades of systematic eradication, there were fewer than 1000 left.

And despite the fact that our best friends, the dog, are descended from them to this day they

are often thought of as nothing more than vicious, bloodthirsty killers and a danger to livestock

and people. Filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher wanted to show another side to this iconic

predator, and in doing so perhaps change people’s minds and help protect wolves from

extinction.

But to do that they needed to get close. So, in 1991, beneath the towering peaks of Idaho’s spectacular Sawtooth Mountains, they set up a remote tented outpost where they could

bring together a pack of wolves in an enclosed territory, while accepting Jim and Jamie as just another part of their world. The Dutchers would spend the next six years Living with the Wolves. 

This is their story, and the story of the Sawtooth Pack.

FIND OUT MORE

Find out more about Jim and Jamie’s foundation, and how you can help, at

LivingWithWolves.org

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 presented the show,

Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet

Chap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast 

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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 episode, Jason Paton did the field recording and production. Our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices