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

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler episode 664. Today the amateur traveler talks about castles and

cathedrals and canals, Christmas markets and locks as we sailed the Danube, Mine, and Rhine River from Budapest to

Amsterdam.

Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Christensen. Let's talk about

a Danube River cruise. I'd like to welcome back to the show Mark Baker, travel writer and guidebook

author, who's come today to talk to us about a cruise that may be on your

bucket list, which is a cruise on the Danube. Mark welcome back to the show.

Hey, thank you Chris. Mark I see as a guidebook author just recently the author of

the Slovenia Lonely Planet Guide I think is the most recent one that you have published, but he's been on the

show previously talking about a cruise on the Volga River, or at least a trip down the Volga River.

And so it's good.

You seem to be river-based here recently more.

I'm your water man.

I have a specialty. I always appreciate that.

Well, and I feel like this may be a silly question, but why aren't we talking about the Danube?

We're talking about the Danube and the mine and the Rhine rivers.

What I've been doing are these combination cruises from Budapest up to Amsterdam.

So most of the cruise takes place on the Danube between, say, Budapest

and Reaganburg or pass out Germany.

And then at that, at some point, then we hop onto another river,

...