Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

Travel desk Tuesday – and the joy of working at The Independent is that my excellent colleagues are constantly returning from exciting places. Senior travel writer Natalie Wilson tells me about her first experience of Africa. She visited Borano Conservancy in Kenya – and can't wait to return to the continent.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Many thousands of tourists are stranded in the resort of Puerto Vallarta after violence erupted following the killing of narcotics kingpin ‘El Mencho’. Most are American and Canadian visitors – dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled at Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara due to the upsurge in violence.The vast majority of British travellers are in and around Cancun, 1,000 miles from the trouble. Should they be worried?This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Ulan Bator, the capital, is a busy, creative location, says Anna Butler – Tour Manager for Expat Adventure. She has lived in the vast land – six times the size of Britain – for 10 year. But beyond the city there is much more to be discovered.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

From Wednesday 25 February, people who are British but also citizens of another country were told they can travel to the UK only with a valid British passport or “Certificate of Entitlement”. But now it seems an expired UK passport may work.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Andrea Godfrey, head of the long-standing and highly innovative travel company Regent Holidays, tells me about the new Holidays with Friends portfolio – taking groups of pals to destinations as diverse as Kosovo and the Philippines.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Greenland, Iceland, Lapland – their names alone might make you shiver. Then there's the geological instability of Iceland (remember the volcano?) and the geopolitical instability of Greenland – the 51st state, if Donald Trump gets his way. But Clive Stacey, founder of specialist operator Discover the World, says there is a special appeal to the far north.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is finally fully open on the edge of Cairo. It tells the story of this amazing nation in what has become one of the world's key cultural attractions. Philip Breckner of Discover Egypt says the museum is turning Cairo into a city break destination – with nearby Alexandria also worth visiting.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

That's the perhaps surprising message from Paul Griffiths, chief executive of the world's leading international airport: Dubai, whose code is DXB. Paul also tells me about Dubai's remarkable growth trajectory – and how close DXB will come to the magic figure of 100 million passengers this year.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

What makes a great city? The man who knows is top geographer David Gilbert, Professor of Urban and Historical Geography at The Royal Holloway Centre for the GeoHumanities. He tells me the key virtues of cities, and kindly takes part in a quickfire round in which he has less than a second to decide whether a city is great or not. You may be surprised by some of his answers ...This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.