I got my bags back on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler episode 605. Today the Amateur Traveler talks about Tartars and the Golden

Horde, Ivan the Terrible and Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and the World Cup

World Cup as we go down the Volga River in Russia.

Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. This episode of

amateur traveler actually came about because of a recent episode of

this weekend travel where travel writer Robert Reed asked the question are American travel journalists less likely to talk about Russia because of some of the political things going on or for whatever reason

then they should be.

And out of that was a pitch for this show,

which I think you'll enjoy.

So let's talk about Russia.

I'd like to welcome to the show Mark Baker, Mark blogs at Mark Baker.com and is also a guidebook author his most recent guidebooks being one for Lonely Planet on Russia, one of a number of

authors on that as well as currently working on the one for Slovenia and he's

written for other guidebook publications as well.

Mark is come to talk to us about Russia and specifically an area along the Volga River.

Mark, welcome to the show.

Oh, thank you.

And I say a region around the Volga River, why don't you define it for us since you know it better

than I do?

Right.

Well, I was asked to do this region of Russia for Lonely Planet publications last year.

...