Travel Tales by Afar

Travel Tales by Afar

Travel, at its best, changes the way we see the world. Join us each week as we dig into stories from people who took a trip—and came home transformed. Travel Tales by Afar is your ticket to the world, no passport required.

Episodes

The Ambassador, the President, and Me: an Unlikely Reunion in India

August 28, 2025 • 21 mins
Author Charmaine Craig had always felt mysteriously drawn to India—pulled by childhood family legends of ancestors who arrived there centuries ago and copper plates inscribed with ancient privileges that still hang in a Kochi synagogue. But it would take a chance encounter at a dinner party—and the power of old friendship—to finally help her explore her roots. She set out on a pilgrimage through Kerala's ancient Jewish communitie...
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'Pack Light' Is a Lie: What a 16-Year-Old Learned About Travel (and Life) in Guatemala

August 19, 2025 • 32 mins
When 16-year-old Jayla Nicholas from New York City packed her one carry-on suitcase for Guatemala, she thought she had everything figured out. A seasoned city kid who loves the smell of airports and dreams of seeing the world, Jayla was ready for her second international trip, an adventure through Afar's Learning Afar program with Global Leadership Adventures. But Guatemala had lessons she never expected—from the vibrant yellow an...
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Replay: Why a Wildlife Biologist Traded Mice for the World's Most Dangerous Predator

August 14, 2025 • 24 mins
When polar bear biologist Alysa McCall was growing up in Kamloops, British Columbia, watching black bears raid fruit trees outside her living room window, she never imagined she'd dedicate her life to their Arctic cousins. But sometimes the most profound career changes happen when you least expect them—like when a world-renowned scientist responds to your "what's the worst that could happen?" email with "Sure. Come over. See you in...
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What 400 Miles of Hitchhiking the Oregon Coast Taught Me About Home

August 7, 2025 • 27 mins
When Santi Elijah Holley, writer and author of An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created, was 25, he took the ultimate travel leap of faith: He hitchhiked 400 miles from Northern California to Portland through small-town Oregon. But for Holley—who had just moved to Portland from Michigan—it wasn't just about getting a ride. After a year of feeling like an outsider as a person of color in one of America's whitest s...
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Wait, Coleslaw Is What? The Surprising Tales of Classic American Foods

July 31, 2025 • 34 mins
Dr. Jessica B. Harris⁠, renowned food historian and author of High on the Hog, which later became a hit Netflix series of the same name, reveals the shocking truth about American cuisine—it's not what you think. From her couch in Brooklyn with a Siamese cat wandering by, Dr. Harris unpacks the surprising origins of beloved American classics and introduces us to the concept of the "American braid." Her new book, Braided Heritage: R...
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Summer Replay! The Surfer Who Feels Everything

July 24, 2025 • 36 mins
This is a replay episode from Season 4 featuring Ryan Knighton's journey to Kaua'i. Ryan Knighton, AFAR contributing writer, TV writer for Billions, and author of Cockeyed: A Memoir, takes us on an extraordinary adventure to surf Hawaii's legendary Hanalei Bay. Despite being blind since his early twenties, Ryan has never let that stop him from exploring the world—and surfing has become his unique form of freedom. The episode open...
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Space, Sea, and the Nudge That Saved His Life

July 17, 2025 • 51 mins
Jim Kitchen, professor of entrepreneurship at UNC Chapel Hill, has visited all 193 countries, rocketed 66 miles into space with Blue Origin, and descended seven miles to the ocean's deepest point—but his most important journey was learning to connect rather than just collect experiences. From childhood road trips in a wood-paneled station wagon to becoming one of only 700+ people who've seen Earth from space, in this episode of Tr...
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The Woman Who Turned Dancing into a Passport to the World

July 10, 2025 • 37 mins
Mickela Mallozzi, Emmy award-winning host of PBS's Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, transforms strangers into dance partners across seven continents. Whether learning sean-nós in Ireland or celebrating Matariki in New Zealand, in this episode of Travel Tales by Afar, Mickela reveals how asking permission opens doors to authentic cultural experiences—and why the best travel connections happen when you follow your passion. In this ...
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A Ride Through South Dakota’s Most Misunderstood Festival

July 3, 2025 • 22 mins
Jaymee Sire⁠, host of Food Network Obsessed podcast, trades tasting menus for throttle grips at the legendary Sturgis Motorcyle Rally in South Dakota.  Whether riding two-up through the Black Hills or bonding over leather stamping and welding with a multigenerational crew of women riders, in this episode of Travel Tales by Afar, Jaymee reveals the side of Sturgis Buffalo Chip few outsiders get to see. 125 Bikers, 50 Miles, and On...
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What Touring America Taught a Southern Comic About Reading a Crowd

June 26, 2025 • 32 mins
Kentucky native and comedian Katherine Blanford takes us on a hilarious journey across America, sharing how different regions react to humor and why the Pacific Northwest has become her performing paradise. From childhood road trips to Cracker Barrel to navigating regional comedy crowds, Katherine reveals the art of connecting with audiences nationwide—plus her brutally honest airport confessions. From Cracker Barrel to Comedy Clu...
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In the Warming Arctic, These Inuit Traditions Refuse to Disappear

June 19, 2025 • 28 mins
When Métis writer Debbie Olsen heard the haunting sounds of Inuit throat singing for the first time, she felt an unexpected connection to her own Indigenous roots. In northern Quebec's remote Inuit region of Nunavik, she discovered how an entire community is fighting to preserve cultural traditions that were once banned—while adapting to a rapidly warming world that threatens their ancient way of life. In this episode of Travel Ta...
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I Solo Hiked 7,500 Miles from Cape Town to Cairo—and Found Connection at Every Step

June 12, 2025 • 42 mins
When Turks and Caicos native Mario Rigby landed in Cape Town with nothing but a backpack, a pair of worn-in sneakers, and a dream to walk the length of Africa, he thought maybe he'd made the worst mistake of his life. But actually walking across Africa? That brought peace and a deeper understanding of the power of hospitality, movement, and self discovery.  In this episode of Travel Tales by Afar, Mario shares how walking 7,500 mi...
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Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski Ate Around the World With Your Favorite Celebrities. These Are the Meals That Still Haunt Him

February 18, 2025 • 33 mins
Antoni Porowski, our favorite culinary expert from Queer Eye, takes you behind-the-scenes of his new National Geographic show, No Taste Like Home (premiering February 23, 2025). In this episode, he shares the connection that sent him crying off camera with Awkwafina, the dish that defeated his adventurous palate with Henry Golding, and how his Polish roots served him well while helping celebrities explore the foods that taste like ...
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The Spontaneous (Travel!) Story of How Afar Came to Be

September 12, 2024 • 63 mins
No plan. No luggage. Five weeks in India. Joe Diaz and Greg Sullivan, dreamed up Afar on a beach in Goa more than 15 years ago. In this candid episode from our sister podcast, Unpacked, they reflect on what they’ve learned by helping people travel deeper. From the spontaneous trips that honed the company’s values to how they’ve helped shape the travel industry, get an inside look into the transformative power of rallying around tra...
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Want to Get to the Soul of Switzerland? Jump Into a River.

August 29, 2024 • 20 mins
Not only can you swim in the rivers of Bern and Basel— but thousands of locals regularly take the plunge. From a morning commute to a relaxing weekend escape, discover how rivers are at the heart of everyday Swiss life. In this episode of Travel Tales by Afar, Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim, follows the currents of Switzerland's alpine rivers into the depths of history, culture and identity.  How Rivers Reveal Years of Swiss C...
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Only 10 People Have Walked Around the World—and One Dog.

August 22, 2024 • 48 mins
Tom Turcich and his dog, Savannah, completed their world walk in 2022. On this week’s episode of Travel Tales, we hear their story. We first talked with Tom and Savannah back in 2021, when they were in Kyrgyzstan, six years into their journey, which began in 2015. They had been held up by the pandemic, which was only one of many ordeals they faced on their circumnavigation. A year and a few thousand miles later, they were done and ...
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A Cross-Country Road Trip Helped Make the World Safer (and More Fun!) for Queer Travelers

August 15, 2024 • 18 mins
Road trips are such funny things. They allow more room for whimsy and spontaneity. They can inspire frank conversation, sitting side by side with someone, looking out at endless stretches of highway. And they can be dull (all that endless highway) in a way that somehow opens your mind to other possibilities and maybe even other lives.  That’s what happened for Charlie Sprinkman as he drove back and forth—and back again—across the U...
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I Traveled the World With President Obama. Now, I Help Give Young Women the Same Chance.

August 8, 2024 • 23 mins
Deesha Dyer never thought she’d wind up in the White House. As a kid growing up in Philadelphia, she desperately wanted to travel but it always felt out of reach. Until she landed a coveted internship in the Obama administration, working in the office that arranged all of the president’s travel. Over the next eight years, she would travel around the world with the President and First Lady—in style!—visiting embassies, hobnobbing wi...
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When Zebras Taught Me to Drive in Namibia

August 1, 2024 • 34 mins
Imagine this: You’re slowly driving through Etosha National Park, Namibia’s renowned conservation area. There are elephants and zebras and antelopes and lions all around you. In fact, you’ve been warned not to exit your car because of those very lions, which are pros at camouflaging themselves in the desert landscape. And then your car stalls—because you don’t really know how to drive it.  That’s the situation that this week’s stor...
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Is This Europe’s Most Underrated Food Tradition?

July 25, 2024 • 24 mins
Some of our favorite travel moments are the ones you’d never in a million years expect. These are where the best travel stories are born. And this week, Afar’s executive editor, Billie Cohen, has a very delicious, very serendipitous story for us.  As you’ll hear in the episode, Billie was in Estonia (one of Afar’s picks for where to travel in 2024) for work. It was 9 p.m. and she was due to fly home the next day. But then her guide...
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