Armchair Explorer

By Aaron Millar

What's Armchair Explorer about?

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

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Armchair Explorer episodes:

04.24.2024
The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail with Tim Moore
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...
04.15.2024
From the top of Crater Lake to the bottom of a Lava Tube: On Location on Oregon's Central Nature Trail, USA
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...
04.08.2024
In Search of Paradise with Pico Iyer
"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...
04.01.2024
Speaking With Dolphins and Searching for Sunken Treasure: On Location in the Florida Keys
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...
03.25.2024
Travels Through Countries that Don't Exist with Eric Czuleger
“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...
03.17.2024
Irish Myths and Mysteries: Searching for St. Brigid on Location in Ireland
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...
03.11.2024
Himalaya Bound: Migrating with India's Nomadic Van Gujjars with Michael Benanav
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...
02.26.2024
Honky Tonks, Country Music and All Sorts of Mayhem On Location in Nashville, Tennessee
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...
02.19.2024
Flooded Forests, Piranhas, and Mountains Above the Clouds: Experiencing the Amazon through Indigenous Eyes with Alex Robinson
"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...
02.12.2024
Hidden Bar Crawls to Experimental Art Labs: Getting Weird On Location on Oregon's Culture Trail
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...
02.07.2024
Rowing to Baikal: A Camel, Horse, and River Journey to the 'Pearl of Siberia' with Peter Fong
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...
01.29.2024
The Legendary Tale of Bird & Jim: On Location in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
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...
01.24.2024
Flying Polar Bears and Charging Grizzlies: Beartrekking With Ecologist Chris Morgan
"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...
01.15.2024
The Birth of Soul and Rock N' Roll: On Location in Memphis, Tennessee
"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...
01.09.2024
SPECIAL EPISODE: Surviving Thailand's 2004 Tsunami with Aaron Millar (Adventure Sports Podcast)
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...
12.25.2023
Revisiting the Herd at the End of the World: Christine Amour Levar's Journey With the Nenet Reindeer Herders of Siberia
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...
12.18.2023
Bicycles, Bad Violin Playing, and Blank Maps: Redefining Adventure With Alastair Humphreys
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...
12.11.2023
Born Among the Black Hills: On Location With the Lakota Sioux Nation of South Dakota
“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...
12.04.2023
Kite-skiing to Mars via Antarctica with Explorer Justin Packshaw
"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...
11.27.2023
Slow Food Values in a Fast Food World: On the Farm-to-Fork Trail in Yolo County, California
Yolo County in Northern California is one of the world’s premier destinations for slow food. But that doesn’t mean waiting for your dinner - it means savoring every bite and building a connection to the land from which it comes....
11.21.2023
A Ridiculous Road Trip: Crossing India in a Three-Wheeled Rickshaw With Simon Parker
This week, we're digging into the Armchair Explorer archives to bring you one of our favorite - and most ridiculous - stories. If Monty Python went on a road trip, this is what it would be. Follow along with journalist Simon...
11.13.2023
We'll Make a Cowboy Out of You: On Location in Laramie, Wyoming
The 'Old West' is alive and well in Laramie, a small city at the southern edge of Wyoming's great expanse. Here, ghosts of outlaws stalk the streets as the bustle of 21st century commerce and culture whirs to life. This...
11.06.2023
How Akashinga - Africa's All-Women, Plant-Based, Anti-Poaching Unit - is Changing the Faces of Conservation with Founder Damien Mander
Wildlife poaching is a complicated problem. But for many years, most anti-poaching groups had only one way of fighting it. Many organizations adopted the same formula: A battalion of men, armed to the teeth, ready to act as a last...
10.30.2023
Restoring Coral Reefs and Rescuing Turtles: Marine Conservation On Location in the Florida Keys
From colorful schooling fish to dolphins, sea turtles, crabs, sponges, and more, the Florida Keys are known for their abundant marine life - so it's no surprise that they're also a hotspot for marine conservation. That's why today's episode is...
10.23.2023
In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch with Writer John Zada
Whether you known him as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, Thla'Thla, Sninik, or something else, you've heard the legends - the stories of the hairy mountain man who lives, as writer John Zada says, "in primeval nature and collective memory." And today,...
10.16.2023
Campfire Ghost Stories and a Haunted Lodge: On Location in Rocky Mountain National Park
Estes Park was founded more than 100 years ago, and of course it was inhabited for thousands of years before then by the Ute and Arapaho Native American tribes. You don’t get that kind of history without a few tall...
10.09.2023
Following in the Treads of the 1897 All Black Bicycle Corp with Erick Cedeño
“Those are my heroes, those guys paved the way for me to be able to travel through this country, free, and they're almost superhuman to me.” - - Erick Cedeño, Bicycle Nomad In 2013, Erick Cedeño, aka. Bicycle Nomad, came across an old photograph...
10.02.2023
Moonshine, Mad Scientists and The Scariest Distillery in the World: On Location on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail
Armchair Explorer goes on-location! "Whiskey is a combination of fire, water, wood, time - and feelings." Join host Aaron Millar as he samples a recipe as old as the Revolutionary War; visits a haunted prison that distills one-of-a-kind moonshine; meets a mad...
09.25.2023
The Way of St James to the Burning Ghats of Varanasi: Walking on Sacred Ground with Travel Writer Rosemary Mahoney
“When I first decided to do these pilgrimages, I told myself I'm doing this as an investigative reporter. I'm doing it as an observer, and as an outsider … and in the end, that isn't what happened.” Rosemary Mahoney, author The...
09.18.2023
Riding with the Herd on Location at the Buffalo Round Up South Dakota
“You’re experiencing what you see on TV and the old western movies, the buffalo roaming across the prairie like that. It's that old west tradition that you don't see anywhere else in the world.” – Matt Snyder, Superintendent of Custer State...
09.11.2023
Expedition Deep Ocean: Diving to the Deepest Part of the World's Oceans with Victor Vescovo
"Half of planet Earth is still completely unexplored...and nobody seems to be paying attention." When Victor Vescovo learned in 2016 that nobody had been to the deepest point of four of the five's oceans, he was flabbergasted...and he was up for...
09.04.2023
On Location: San Francisco Cable Car Crawl
For today's 'On Location' episode, we're exploring San Francisco in the most iconic way possible. San Francisco’s cable cars are not only the first in the world – invented here in 1873 – they are also the last. And though...
08.28.2023
Kayaking the Entire Amazon From Source to Sea with Darcy Gaechter
What constitutes a life well lived? When Darcy Gaechter turned 35, her life was everything she had hoped it would be. She had a loving partner, a rewarding job as a kayak expedition guide, and hard-won fame within the competitive world...
08.21.2023
On Location: The Call of the Wild in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
For this ‘On Location’ episode, we are going to get our boots on and do some hiking. There are 124 named peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park, with most of them over 10,000-feet. When you stand on the summit of one, a...
08.14.2023
Crossing the Oregon Trail in an Authentic Covered Wagon with Author Rinker Buck
Armchair Explorer is back! We're so excited to launch our new season as part of APT Podcast Studios, the newly launched podcast network of American Public Television. As part of our new season, we'll be releasing episodes every week. That's...
08.11.2023
TRAILER: This is Armchair Explorer, an APT Podcast Studios Production
Welcome to Armchair Explorer, where the world's greatest adventurers tell their best stories from the road! Hailed as "inspiring storytelling" from the New York Times, each documentary-style episode drops you into the heart of the action - from the heart-pounding...
01.06.2023
BONUS EPISODE: The Coastal Adventure Trail of Oregon
This week, listen to an episode from Armchair Productions' newest series, The Hidden Trails of Oregon! Join us on the Coastal Adventure Trail for a documentary road trip, following award-winning travel writer Aaron Millar from Florence to Port Orford and beyond. We...
12.21.2022
The Herd at the End of the World: Traversing Siberia with the Nenet Reindeer Herders
“This style of reindeer herding is truly the last of its kind…and I wanted us to be the first group to experience it.” The Nenets of Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula are among the world’s oldest existing true nomads, making a living by...
12.07.2022
Seeking Bluer Skies: Three Months in a Remote Buddhist Monastery
"Did you even hear a single word I just said?" This question, asked of writer Bruce Kirkby one morning by his ten year old son, catalyzed a life-changing journey. Bruce and his wife, Christine, decided to break the cycle of 21st-century...
11.23.2022
Life in the Deep Blue: Diving the World’s Oceans with Author and Photographer Pier Nirandara
“You stand at the edge of the boat - and you take a giant stride into the unknown.” Today we’re chatting with Pier Nirandara, a bestselling author, film producer, SCUBA diver and underwater photographer. She's dedicated her life to sharing the...
11.09.2022
The Vagabond's Way: Lessons from Decades of Travel with Rolf Potts
“The best way to travel? Dare to be lonely, lost, and bored.” Today we’re joined by travel-writing legend Rolf Potts, best-selling author and pioneer of indie travel. Long before the era of contemporary van life and digital nomadism, Rolf’s first book,...
10.26.2022
Stories from the Edge with Legendary BASE Jumper Jeb Corliss
“I jump off buildings and cliffs for fun. And I don’t recommend it to anyone.” Dive into heart-pounding adventures with Jeb Corliss, one of the world’s most revered BASE jumpers and wingsuit pilots. In this episode, you’ll hear Jeb recount some...
10.12.2022
Land of Wonder: Four Weeks on Colombia's Magdalena River with Jordan Salama
What does it take to really know a place? When Jordan Salama arrived in Colombia for the first time, he realized immediately that it was a country that was deeply misunderstood. For a place so often associated with violence, Jordan found...
09.29.2022
If I Live Until Morning: Cheating Death on the John Muir Trail with Jean Muenchrath
What happens when adventuring goes suddenly, horribly wrong? For Jean Muenchrath, what began as a pleasant cross-country ski trip up the John Muir trail quickly spiralled into disaster - and what happened changed her life forever. Journey back in time with...
09.01.2022
Borderwalk: a 16,000-mile Trek Across the Entire World with Adventurer Arjun Bhogal
Follow adventurer Arjun Bhogal on a five-year 16,000-mile trek across the entire world. This is an insane story, with more than one life or death situation. But it’s also an incredibly funny one. Arjun began with his friend Kieran in 2012,...
08.09.2022
Outlandish: Walking into Europe's Hidden Landscapes with Acclaimed Travel Writer Nick Hunt
Follow acclaimed travel writer Nick Hunt on a journey to walk Europe’s outlands – a piece of arctic tundra in Scotland, a primeval forest in Poland, a desert in Spain, the vast grasslands of the Hungarian steppe. These are outlandish...
06.04.2022
Crossed Off the Map: Bolivia from the Andes to the Amazon with Travel Writer Shafik Meghji
Follow travel writer Shafik Meghji from the Andes to the Amazon on a journey across one of Latin America’s most spectacular countries – Bolivia. We’re going to travel from the stark white plains of the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat...
05.15.2022
No Guidebook, No Google, No Clue: Togo, Wallis & Kyrgyzstan with Best-Selling Travel Author Brian Thacker
Follow best-selling travel author Brian Thacker on a unique, mad-cap adventure to three of the remotest countries on Earth. Inspired by the intrepid spirit of explorers of old, Brian decided to tear up the guidebook, switch off the phone and...
04.12.2022
BONUS EPISODE! Wanderlust: Off the Page - the Unparalleled Beauty of Easter Island
In this special bonus episode I share a new podcast I am producing and co-presenting. It's called Wanderlust: Off the Page, which is the audio addition to one of my favorite travel magazine on the planet. Wanderlust is all about...
03.11.2022
Bicycling with Butterflies: a 10,000-mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration with Travel Author Sara Dykman
Join travel author and naturalist Sara Dykman on a 10,000 mile journey following on the wings of one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom. Every spring tens of millions of monarch butterflies travel from their winter hibernation grounds...

What's Armchair Explorer about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Armchair Explorer episodes:

The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail with Tim Moore

From the top of Crater Lake to the bottom of a Lava Tube: On Location on Oregon's Central Nature Trail, USA

In Search of Paradise with Pico Iyer

Speaking With Dolphins and Searching for Sunken Treasure: On Location in the Florida Keys

Travels Through Countries that Don't Exist with Eric Czuleger

Irish Myths and Mysteries: Searching for St. Brigid on Location in Ireland

Himalaya Bound: Migrating with India's Nomadic Van Gujjars with Michael Benanav

Honky Tonks, Country Music and All Sorts of Mayhem On Location in Nashville, Tennessee

Flooded Forests, Piranhas, and Mountains Above the Clouds: Experiencing the Amazon through Indigenous Eyes with Alex Robinson

Hidden Bar Crawls to Experimental Art Labs: Getting Weird On Location on Oregon's Culture Trail

Rowing to Baikal: A Camel, Horse, and River Journey to the 'Pearl of Siberia' with Peter Fong

The Legendary Tale of Bird & Jim: On Location in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Flying Polar Bears and Charging Grizzlies: Beartrekking With Ecologist Chris Morgan

The Birth of Soul and Rock N' Roll: On Location in Memphis, Tennessee

SPECIAL EPISODE: Surviving Thailand's 2004 Tsunami with Aaron Millar (Adventure Sports Podcast)

Revisiting the Herd at the End of the World: Christine Amour Levar's Journey With the Nenet Reindeer Herders of Siberia

Bicycles, Bad Violin Playing, and Blank Maps: Redefining Adventure With Alastair Humphreys

Born Among the Black Hills: On Location With the Lakota Sioux Nation of South Dakota

Kite-skiing to Mars via Antarctica with Explorer Justin Packshaw

Slow Food Values in a Fast Food World: On the Farm-to-Fork Trail in Yolo County, California

A Ridiculous Road Trip: Crossing India in a Three-Wheeled Rickshaw With Simon Parker

We'll Make a Cowboy Out of You: On Location in Laramie, Wyoming

How Akashinga - Africa's All-Women, Plant-Based, Anti-Poaching Unit - is Changing the Faces of Conservation with Founder Damien Mander

Restoring Coral Reefs and Rescuing Turtles: Marine Conservation On Location in the Florida Keys

In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch with Writer John Zada

Campfire Ghost Stories and a Haunted Lodge: On Location in Rocky Mountain National Park

Following in the Treads of the 1897 All Black Bicycle Corp with Erick Cedeño

Moonshine, Mad Scientists and The Scariest Distillery in the World: On Location on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail

The Way of St James to the Burning Ghats of Varanasi: Walking on Sacred Ground with Travel Writer Rosemary Mahoney

Riding with the Herd on Location at the Buffalo Round Up South Dakota

Expedition Deep Ocean: Diving to the Deepest Part of the World's Oceans with Victor Vescovo

On Location: San Francisco Cable Car Crawl

Kayaking the Entire Amazon From Source to Sea with Darcy Gaechter

On Location: The Call of the Wild in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Crossing the Oregon Trail in an Authentic Covered Wagon with Author Rinker Buck

TRAILER: This is Armchair Explorer, an APT Podcast Studios Production

BONUS EPISODE: The Coastal Adventure Trail of Oregon

The Herd at the End of the World: Traversing Siberia with the Nenet Reindeer Herders

Seeking Bluer Skies: Three Months in a Remote Buddhist Monastery

Life in the Deep Blue: Diving the World’s Oceans with Author and Photographer Pier Nirandara

The Vagabond's Way: Lessons from Decades of Travel with Rolf Potts

Stories from the Edge with Legendary BASE Jumper Jeb Corliss

Land of Wonder: Four Weeks on Colombia's Magdalena River with Jordan Salama

If I Live Until Morning: Cheating Death on the John Muir Trail with Jean Muenchrath

Borderwalk: a 16,000-mile Trek Across the Entire World with Adventurer Arjun Bhogal

Outlandish: Walking into Europe's Hidden Landscapes with Acclaimed Travel Writer Nick Hunt

Crossed Off the Map: Bolivia from the Andes to the Amazon with Travel Writer Shafik Meghji

No Guidebook, No Google, No Clue: Togo, Wallis & Kyrgyzstan with Best-Selling Travel Author Brian Thacker

BONUS EPISODE! Wanderlust: Off the Page - the Unparalleled Beauty of Easter Island

Bicycling with Butterflies: a 10,000-mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration with Travel Author Sara Dykman