Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

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.

Captain David Sanders, who has a long and distinguished career in aviation, tells me how passengers could help themselves by turning up on time and not drinking to excess; the joys of flying; and the most beautiful flightpaths.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

It's Travel Desk Tuesday, and cruise writer Marc Shoffman is bringing me up to speed on the joys of river cruising – in Europe and beyond.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Sharon Cleator has been travelling to the lovely south coast of Portugal for 40 years. She knows the Algarve like the back of her hand, and now offers a travel concierge service that you can track down online at Sharon’s SolutionsThis podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

The Trevi fountain in the Italian capital has been overrun by tourists for many years, and now the Roman authorities are seeking to impose some order. But top Rome cultural guide James Hill is unimpressed.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.