Travel with Rick Steves

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

We're looking at different angles of Irish culture for St Patrick's Day. Rick practices the "gift of gab" with Stephen McPhilemy, a friend from the North of Ireland who spins a few yarns about Ulster, and explains how the long-boiled animosities among Northern Ireland's residents are starting to fade away. And Patrick Noel, a Franco-Celtic tour guide from Cork, highlights the connections between Ireland and France.

Now that Fidel Castro no longer heads the Cuban government, questions are emerging about whether Cuban authorities might start to relax control of its society, and how soon the U.S. government might rescind its economic embargo on Cuba. On the next Travel with Rick Steves, we examine some of the anxieties, possibilities and realities regarding Americans and Cuba. Rick welcomes Cuba expert Christopher P. Baker for a discussion of what's next for Cuba in these days of political limbo, and what it means for American travelers who want to go there.

You can't get much further off the beaten path than travelling to Afghanistan or Laos. We'll hear from Central Asia expert Paul Clammer who will give us a reality check on what travelers can expect from Afghanistan. Also, Willie Weir returns with more tales from his recent bike adventures thru Northern Thailand into Laos.

We'll travel to opposite ends of our continent to learn about the appeal of the Canadian Arctic from a guidebook author who's made a home in Yellowknife and get a detailed guide to celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, including how one French Quarter merchant is faring as tourism slowly rebounds. We'll also hear listeners' tales of heroic acts of kindness experienced on the road, and a fresh batch of traveler's haiku.

When travel leads to romance, a whole new life may be the result. On this week's Travel with Rick Steves, we meet an American woman who married a Spaniard and is now raising a family in the heart of Madrid. We'll also hear from an Australian tour guide who spends much of the year showing off the sites of Greece. He'll advise us on how to find the real Greece beyond the sites of Athens. And we'll hear from listeners who stared down scam artists face to face in their travels in Europe.

During the "hippy days" of the 1970s, Carl Franz and Lorena Havens made a habit of driving from Washington state to Mexico in a VW van. The couple, who still spends the better part of each year exploring the back roads and magnetic appeal of Mexico, join Rick to help explain the appealing Mexican culture. Their classic guide book, "The People's Guide to Mexico," reads like an adventure manifesto, and has recently been updated in its 13th edition.

Rick chats with Don George from Lonely Planet publications about how Americans are being received overseas and investigates how interacting with the locals in our travels sometime means depending on the kindness of strangers. We'll also find out if New Orleans still has its 'soul' since being battered by Hurricane Katrina and learn from guidebook author Jay Cooke how "volun-tourism" may be one way to boost the spirit of the city, while still having a good time at this year's Mardi Gras and Jazzfest.

Rick gets the latest info on what to look for while island-hopping in Hawaii from Lonely Planet's Sara Benson, and checks in with Gary Chandler who is in Mexico updating the Moon guidebook to Cancun and Cozumel. He'll report on how well the area is recovering from Hurricane Wilma, and what visitors can expect from Mexico's top resort region. We're getting the scoop on planning escapes to Hawaii and Cancun on the next Travel with Rick Steves.

If you haven't seen Eastern Europe lately, you probably won't recognize it -- and that's just how the European Union wants it. Now that most of Eastern Europe is part of the E.U., the region is enjoying an extreme make-over. Looking at Eastern Europe then and now, Rick gets updates from a few of his friends who grew up "behind the Iron Curtain" on how these changes have impacted their daily lives, and what the region offers American tourists today.

In 2004, Sri Lanka became one of the countries hardest hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami as it suffered damage along much of its coastline. Two years later, Sri Lanka still has some of the most picture-perfect beaches in the world, plus colorful temples, tea plantations, and festivals where visitors are welcome. On this week's Travel with Rick Steves, Lonely Planet guidebook author Ryan Ver Berkmoes tells us how the island is faring today, including how the Tamil ethnic conflict is affecting tourism.