Rapid Travel Chai

The Economist is one of the great English-language current affairs publications and they have a copious output of excellent, free audio and video. Doing Business In gives a nuanced view of a city from a local Economist correspondent. The focus is on business travel, but there is plenty of benefit to the leisure traveler,  including quick sightseeing recommendations.

British journalists are getting a lashing lately, but the serious ones are able to mix subjective, selective opinion with cogent argument and witty presentation much better than most American counterparts. Since each journalist lives in that city, they slip in tips that general articles often fail to mention, such as which airports are a nightmare to reach the city (e.g. Moscow) or a favorite bar of local professionals. In 10-15 minutes, the episodes cannot cover everything but they give a great flavor of a place. They are clear-headed about security concerns.

Those who have lived abroad often find global media coverage to be puzzlingly discordant from their everyday experience, but for the cities The Rapid Traveler knows well, he always recognizes them in these programs.

There is no direct web page for this series, but go to The Economist Audio and Video page, click the Audio tab, then Doing Business In from the list. You can listen to streaming episodes or download MP3 files. For RSS and iTunes podcast users, the direct feed is here. There also is a catchall feed for All Audio and Video.

(Disclaimer: The Rapid Traveler has no financial relationship with The Economist other than the miles he paid for a print subscription, and will not receive any commission or other consideration for this recommendation.)