Istanbul-based author and journalist Fariba Nawa joins me to discuss life under lockdown in Turkey and how the government is dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. Then I play a recent episode of her podcast On Spec, where she tells the story of her photographer friend Hilaneh Mahmoudi’s personal experience battling the virus. If you enjoy this episode, check out Hilaneh’s photo essay of what she went through.

As the world is consumed by COVID-19, I check in with author and American expat Tiffany Parks, who lives on the outskirts of Rome, to get a sense of what things are like in Italy right now. Then, in my quest to find positive stories to share in this dispiriting time, I play an episode of The Bittersweet Life — the travel podcast Tiffany co-hosts with her friend Katy Sewall — about so-called travel angels, the unsung, everyday heroes who assist in small and not-so-small ways when we’re in a foreign place and need a helping hand.

This episode includes the song “Impromptu in Blue,” which was licensed from composer Kevin MacLeod under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

With a global pandemic, canceled flights, and closed borders, many travelers suddenly found themselves trapped in foreign countries, trying to figure out how to get home, even if they thought they were taking all the necessary precautions. I share the story of one of them. And I tell what happened when the virus recently came to my own household.

Select music in this episode was licensed from composer Anthony Kozar under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

On this bonus episode of Far From Home, I feature a story from Danish radio producer Palle Bo, who secretly documents his journey as part of a tour group visiting North Korea. You can see photos from his trip and learn more about his podcast, The Radio Vagabond, on his website.

In light of the recent political developments that briefly brought the US and Iran to the brink of war, I’m re-releasing a story from the first season of Far From Home about the time my friends and I drove across Iran and met the friendliest people in the world! See more photos and videos here.

On this episode of Far From Home, I visit Nassau in The Bahamas, which is home to the largest and most well-known of the Junkanoo celebrations in the Caribbean, which take place on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) and New Year’s Day. I speak with several participants to learn more about the festival and why they look forward to it each year around this time. See more photos and videos here.

My trip across Russia left me with a lot of questions, so I enlist the help of an American radio journalist in Moscow to help me interpret and understand the cultural and political differences between Russia and the U.S. Read more here.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments from listeners recently, so I spend some time this week answering some of them and sharing a bit of the feedback I’ve received. I also feature a recent interview I did with Corey Cambridge on his program, OPP (Other People’s Podcast), where I talk a little more about my background and the thinking that goes into my show.

In 2010, I traveled to Haiti with several journalist colleagues to document the country’s slow recovery process following a massive earthquake. Close to a decade after the disaster, I revisit some of my reporting and get an update on the situation in Haiti today. See more photos from my trip and learn how you can help Haiti here.

Addi and his friend Charlie hatch a plan to travel around the globe making balloon hats for people, but what at first sounds like a fun and quirky adventure turns out to be far more meaningful than they ever could have imagined! Read more and see more photos here.

On this episode, my brother and I visit Angkor Wat and the Battambang Bamboo Railway, two places in Cambodia that have changed dramatically over the last few years, where the present no longer looks like the past. See more photos and videos here.

As a follow-up to my last episode, I present this bonus conversation with my friend Dennis, who also attended an ayahuasca ceremony in Peru and - like me - seemed to be immune to the effects.

Select music in this episode was licensed from composer Anthony Kozar under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

Lucho — who I met in the last episode — invites me to attend a traditional healing ceremony he’s leading, where people drink a hallucinogenic potion called ayahuasca. I also speak with an anthropologist and Jesuit priest Fr. Jaime Regan about the history of shamanism in Peru. Read more here.

I showed up in Peru looking for an adventure, and by the time I flew home 3 1/2 weeks later, I was feeling pretty satisfied that I’d achieved my goals. On this episode, I join a traditional medicine man on a journey, searching for a star-shaped stone with supposed magical healing powers that he saw in a vision. See more photos here.

More than 20 years after peace was declared in Northern Ireland, Belfast and other cities still contain dozens of walls separating Protestant neighborhoods from Catholic ones. They cut across communities, like monuments to the conflict, etched into the physical landscape. And removing them isn’t going to be easy.

On this episode, I visit the remote Russian republic of Tuva to learn about the traditional instruments and the ancient art of throat singing, and I even attempt to throat sing myself! Read more about my visit and see photos and videos here.

As large as 55 American football fields and generating sales of close to 6-billion dollars a year, Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market routinely shipped fish to high end sushi restaurants around the world! But last fall, it moved to a larger and more modern location in a different part of the city. I had a chance to visit the market and attend one of its famous tuna auctions before it closed for good. Read more about my visit and see photos and videos here.

If you’ve seen or heard about the recent HBO dramatic miniseries about Chernobyl, you might have wondered what it’s really like there today. On this first episode of season 2, I take a trip to the abandoned villages surrounding the reactor to find out for myself. Read more about my visit and see photos and videos here.

People often say it’s a small world, but as someone who’s traveled a fair amount, I’ve come to realize that there are giant parts of the planet that most people never think about, and billions of stories they’ve never heard.