Not Lost

Where have you been, what did you find, and who did it make you? On the new podcast Traveling Through, host David Prior, travel writer and founder of immersive travel company PRIOR, invites culture makers like Jenna Lyons, David Remnick, Deborah Needleman, and Athena Calderone to unpack the places, objects, and experiences that have changed their perspective, influenced their work, or marked a turning point in their lives. Because ...

In 1968, in the dense jungles of Vietnam, a team of Green Berets was pinned down by an overwhelming North Vietnamese Army force. Their last hope was a young Air Force pilot named James Fleming. Despite being low on fuel and facing a wall of enemy fire, Fleming refused to turn back. The rescue mission seemed destined to fail, but a split-second decision would earn Fleming the nation’s highest military honor.

Binge the full sea...

What if psychedelics could transform the way we treat trauma, chronic pain, and insomnia? This week, neuroscientist and psychedelic researcher Grace Blest-Hopley joins the show to break down the research on psychedelics and female biology. She discusses how psychedelics work in the brain, and the ways that psychedelic-assisted therapies might be beneficial for women in midlife.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

Hystelic...

We're a few months into the new year. Maybe you're a freshly minted, idealized version of yourself. Or maybe your new year's resolutions are as distant as the icebergs of Antarctica. But no matter what your life looks like, there's one thing you can count on: travel.

Today, we’re sharing a special episode from Unpacked by AFAR. Unpacked by AFAR is back for a new season which unpacks the most captivating and challenging topics...

No piña coladas were consumed during travel writer Pico Iyer’s quest for paradise. Instead he found himself communing with guides and locals in thorny parts of the globe: Iran, Kashmir, and North Korea, among others. Brendan speaks with Pico about his lifetime of exploration and what it’s taught him. Then comedian, musician and self-proclaimed “disinformationist” Reggie Watts talks about growing up in Montan...

Brendan finds the perfect Not Lost Chat guest in author Cheryl Strayed, who not only wrote the bestselling travel memoir “Wild,” but is also a renowned advice columnist. First, they talk about Strayed’s epic trek up the Pacific Coast Trail after losing her mother to cancer, divorcing her husband, and quitting hard drugs. And then Brendan smoothly pivots the conversation to advice, talking about Strayed’s bes...

Brendan receives a postcard from the only registered US historical landmark outside America and then talks with the great essayist, novelist and occasional world-class complainer, Geoff Dyer about travels to Tahiti, India, Venice and more. Then “Euphoria” star Colman Domingo stops by to answer your travel questions, launch a campaign against babies in business class, and roast Brendan for his brunch-avoidant tendencies.

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Brendan speaks with Kristin Newman, author of “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir,” about falling in love in a different language, plus she provides travel tips for folks who are single and looking. And writer and director Paul Feig (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Bridesmaids”) talks about his civilized approach to shooting movies abroad and why he always travels in a suit and tie …a...

Brendan visits Japan on a trip that puts the “junk” in junket. Then he speaks with Marius Kociejowski, author of The Serpent Coiled in Naples, an immersive plunge into the Italian city where skulls are worshiped and blood soaks into the stones. Plus comedian Jessi Klein answers your questions about parent-child separation on planes, and opines about her favorite travel activities: sitting near the ocean and drinking.&nb...

Brendan talks with Jessica Nabongo, the author of “The Catch Me if You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World” about the mysterious community of “country counters” and the non-mysterious eurocentricity of most travel media. Then Canadian pop duo Tegan and Sara talk about surviving life on tour, plus answer your burning questions about road trips (good), bed and breakfasts (bad), and gui...

New York Magazine described “Not Lost” as having the “slight energy of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less” so Brendan calls the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the comic, road trip novels “Less” and “Less is Lost” to find out if they should be offended. Plus, a postcard from Hollywood, and stand-up comedian Jay Pharoah answers listener questions about airport and flight etiquette, with a...

Who do we become when we travel? Who are we allowed to be? And where is everyone going? Brendan Francis Newnam is on a mission to find out. Join him as he speaks with travel writers (Pico Iyer, Jessica Nabongo, Marius Kociejowski ), celebrities on-the-go (Jay Pharoah, Tegan & Sara, Colman Domingo), and ordinary misfits like himself for a mini-season of in-studio conversations. Not Lost Chat begins January 4th, 2023. 

See om...

After wrapping up Season 1 of Not Lost, and a few odds & ends at home, Brendan heads to Portugal and experiences an emotion he can’t quite explain... so he asks locals to help him out.

“Postcards” are an occasional series of shorter Not Lost episodes that Brendan produces when he travels.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios, and iHeartMedia

See...

It’s the Saturday before the final episode of Not Lost is due and Brendan still doesn’t know where he is going. Will he escape New York and find the right destination?

Not Lost will return in the fall. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. Send audio postcards to notlost@pushkin.fm.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Two years have passed since Covid brought production of Not Lost to a screeching halt. In that time, Brendan has turned norm-core: he gets a steady job, a live-in partner, a car, and becomes a viewer of prestige cable dramas. But the show must go on, so he and his friend, audio producer John DeLore, head to a place Brendan considers the opposite of the Big Apple — Big Sur, California. A couple days of redwoods and Pacific air...

Against the backdrop of Valentine’s Day weekend, Brendan and his friend Luke Burbank explore the Hoover Dam, Vegas’s Chinatown, and the night sky. (Is that a UFO?) Brendan’s plan to avoid sin in Sin City goes well, but after a visit with a priest and a dreamy encounter with the man who created the slogan “What Happens in Vegas Stays In Vegas,” all bets are off!

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin In...

With Not Lost’s executive producers breathing down his neck for an actual dinner party, Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to CDMX to see if mi casa is really su casa. From dance lessons to shamanistic rituals, they strive to understand this vast metropolis… while also finagling an invitación fiesta. Will the masked wrestlers of Lucha Libre bodyslam our duo into understanding the coolest city in North America? Or will...

Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to the Big Easy and discover that it’s anything but. Carousel bars, gospel choirs, voodoo readings, and a visit to a slavery memorial plunge the duo into conversations about race, art, god, and the good life. They mingle with local luminaries like jazz-great Kermit Ruffins, voodoo priestess Madame Cinnamon Black, and a chef who dreams about gumbo. 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushki...

Brendan has never been to Portland, Maine, but that hasn’t stopped him wanting to live there. This episode he and Danielle Henderson head to Vacationland to see if it can live up to its nickname. Fueled by lobster rolls and salt air, the two visit lighthouses, bookshops and the world’s only known museum of the umbrella cover. And to really get a sense of what it means to be a Mainer, they visit the Vatican for preppies:...