Carl Meadows

Senior Asia Travel Specialist

Carl has been with Regent holidays since 2004 and is one of our leading experts on Central Asia, the Caucasus and, closer to home, Albania. His main passion however is North Korea, a destination he has jotted up over a year of travels in, across more than 30 visits. With his unparalleled knowledge of this captivating country, Carl has regularly been called upon for comment on developments in North Korea by the likes of the BBC, Bradt Guides, The Times, NK News and numerous other media outlets.

With North Korea firmly closed for the foreseeable future, I have been busying myself of late with developing our trips and tours to countries that one may actually visit. My recent travels with Regent include return visits to Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, in addition to multiple trips to Albania. The focus here has been to work on further improving our longstanding product, looking for new offerings and experiences in countries which, in many cases, we have operated in for decades. Off the back of my 2023 travels we have launched a new and improved Classic Uzbekistan Group Tour, and a rage of exciting new product in Albania, with my favourite option being our very special Albania In Depth Group Tour, a tour where we (along with the must-see sights and highlights) meet plenty of ‘real’ people with fascinating stories, including retired fighter pilots, former political prisoners, state artists and former politicians.
The more I travel to the range of destinations which I specialise in at Regent the further I fall down the rabbit hole; be it private performances of Albanian iso-polyphony, visiting Soviet-era steel-mills in Georgia or hiking to remote Tajik villages in the Fann Mountains, I always like to include an eclectic mix of sights and experiences into my tours, to try and get truly under the skin of these fascinating countries. The highlights? Naturally - but I adore taking my clients far from the madding crowd