Though it feels like a lifetime ago, it’s been five years since I recorded this interview with Rick Steves, talking about Vlad “The Impaler” Dracula.

It was one of the maybe three or five instances in my whole life where I benefited from exquisite timing. Steves had recently returned from his first trip to Romania. He’d loved Romania and was eager to talk about it. I had published Backpacking with Dracula a few months earlier and I just happened to pitch my book to the show’s producers during that sweet spot.

Alas, I wasn’t actually in the studio with Steves. I was set up in a studio at Minnesota Public Radio which was linked to Steves in his studio in Seattle.

With Halloween coming up, I thought I’d reminisce a little by posting this old interview. Have a listen. My portion of the show is right at the beginning, it’s just 13 minutes long, and we covered a lot of territory about Dracula and Romania.

Be sure to listen to the end of my segment for Rick’s blooper.

A full year later, Steves published a second segment, cut from our one recording session, where we focused on living and working in Romania and why it’s such a good-value travel destination. My segment starts at about 32:00.