Podcasts about Afar

By the end of this century, half of the world's 7,000 languages could be gone. On this episode of Unpacked, host Aislyn Greene hands the mic to travel writer Lucy Kehoe for a conversation about saving language with journalist Sophia Smith Galer, author of the new book How to Kill a Language. For Sophia, saving language is personal: her Italian grandmother spoke Emilian, one of Italy's Indigenous tongues, and it's quietly slipping away. To understand what we lose when a language dies, Sophia traveled from the mountains of Oman to the hills of California, seeking out endangered languages and the communities fighting—or grieving—for them. She and Lucy get into why these languages matter to every traveler, how language and landscape are woven together, and what it means to travel thoughtfully to a place whose language is at risk—beyond learning a few phrases. It's a conversation about treating language as part of the culture we come to experience, and about meeting it with curiosity and respect rather than as something quaint. THIS WEEK'S GUESTS Sophia Smith Galer is an award-winning journalist and author whose new book, How to Kill a Language, traces the forces—colonialism, globalization, migration, and war—pushing thousands of the world's languages toward extinction. Multilingual in English, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, she reported it across California, Oman, Ghana, Ecuador, Italy, and Greece, meeting speakers of critically endangered languages in person to capture not only their words but their connection to a place. Lucy Kehoe is a London-based journalist who covers travel, food, and the environment, with a particular interest in how people relate to landscape and place. IN THIS EPISODE The statistic that stopped us cold: by 2100, up to half of the world's 7,000 languages could vanish, and the rate of loss is expected to triple over the next 40 years Why a language is far more than a way to order coffee—Sophia's case that it holds the past, present, and future of a people connected to a place, from Oman's Jibbali (with distinct words for animal versus human shelter) to a California tribe down to 12 adult speakers What it really asks of travelers: not memorizing phrases, but bringing respect and dignity to an endangered language, and asking who profits from "language tourism" and whether speaker communities are truly part of it Where to find language on the road—Planet Word in Washington, D.C., the Armenian alphabet monument outside Yerevan, a Ukrainian language tour in Kyiv, and Oman's frankincense heritage experience The range of feelings Sophia found among speakers themselves—pride, determination, and quiet resignation—and why she believes the fate of each endangered language belongs to its own community to decide 00:00:00 A Grandmother's Vanishing Tongue 00:04:00 Why Endangered Languages Matters 00:06:00 Words Shaped by Place 00:10:00 Tourism Done Respectfully 00:16:00 California's Last Speakers 00:24:00 Ladino, Museums, and Hope LINKS & RESOURCES How to Kill a Language by Sophia Smith Galer — buy on Bookshop Sophia Smith Galer's website Lucy Kehoe's website Planet Word, the language museum in Washington, D.C. Armenian Alphabet Monument, outside Yerevan Museum of the Frankincense Land, Oman Stay connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, Behind the Mic, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, Travel Tales, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and View From Afar, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of Airwave Media's podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This kind of Japan travel doesn't show up in guidebooks. In January 2024, a major earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula, lifting the seabed 15 feet into the air and exposing an ocean floor that locals walked across—harvesting octopus and abalone—to get home. This week on Unpacked, Five Questions, host and Afar executive editor Katherine LaGrave is joined by Afar contributing writer Ryan Knighton, who recently wrote a feature about traveling along the peninsula. Ryan, who is blind, visited Noto two years after the earthquake on a slow walking tour, drawn by the parallels between this remote coastal peninsula and his own earthquake-prone home on Vancouver Island. What he found was a place not broken, but mid-repair—and a Japanese art form that made sense of everything. THIS WEEK'S GUEST Ryan Knighton is an author and Afar contributing writing whose stories consistently find the textures, flavors, and human stories that sighted travelers walk past. A former English teacher in South Korea, he brings a slow, sensory approach to Japan travel and beyond—listening to sushi chefs talk about their knives, walking earthquake fracture lines with his feet, and finding the people who hold a place together.  IN THIS EPISODE What blind travel in Japan actually looks like: why guides, sushi chefs, and strangers become the mediators of a place, and what it feels like to walk an earthquake fracture line with your feet instead of seeing it with your eyes Why Ryan chose the Noto Peninsula for his Japan travel debut: a remote, earthquake-prone coastal community with striking geographic parallels to his own home—and a story of post-disaster recovery he felt compelled to witness in person The food that made the trip: Tokyo-style sushi whose origins trace directly to a 1923 earthquake, Japanese barracuda, Noto sea salt gelato at 10 a.m. in a parking lot, and a tuna described by his wife as looking like a ruby The scene that didn't make the final cut: a couple walking home after the earthquake on a newly exposed seabed—15 feet of ocean floor lifted overnight, scattered with octopus and abalone, with kids too excited about sea creatures to be scared How kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing broken objects with gold—became the metaphor that unlocked the entire story, and why it took a gold leaf factory on day one to understand what Noto was actually about LINKS & RESOURCES Ryan's Afar story on Noto, Japan Walk Japan Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture Somamichi Restaurant 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake — background CHAPTER MARKERS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:00 Japan Travel on Foot and Without Sight 00:05:00 The Ethics of Disaster Tourism 00:07:00 Food as Craft, Craft as Place 00:10:00 The Scene That Didn't Make the Cut 00:12:00 Walking the Fracture Line 00:14:00 Mr. Squid and the Spirit of Noto 00:16:00 Kintsugi as Metaphor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shirin Duniyar Wasanni na wannan makon tare da Shamsiyya Haruna ya yi duba ne kan irin koma bayan da ake gani na faruwa a tsakanin tawagogin kwallon kafar Najeriya, kama daga bangaren mata mata da maza, har ma da yan wasa masu tasowa. Shiga alamar sauti don sauraron cikakken shirin.....

For the past several decades, writer and editor Lavinia Spalding has championed women's travel writing. She's helmed seven editions of the Best Women's Travel Writing—the celebrated Traveler's Tales anthology—including the latest, released on June 9th. Over the years, she's read hundreds of submissions a year from women around the world and distilled them into one essential collection. So host Aislyn Greene sits down with Lavinia to talk about what two decades of editing these stories has taught her about how women explore the world, and why amplifying those voices matters more than ever right now. THIS WEEK'S GUEST Lavinia Spalding is the author of Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal-Keeping Traveler , seven-time series editor of The Best Women's Travel Writing, and co-author of With a Measure of Grace, This Immeasurable Place, and two editions of the Frommer's EasyGuide to New Orleans. She has been teaching for more than 30 years and leads writing workshops online and around the world. She lives with her family in New Orleans. Watch her TEDx talk here, and subscribe to her Substack newsletter for updates and essays. IN THIS EPISODE How Lavinia shapes each volume of Best Women's Travel Writing like a playlist—balancing place, tone, voice, and the ratio of dark to light—and why this year's theme might be best described as "flashes of insight that arise from connection" The essay that has never left her: Sandra Gail Lambert's pre-dawn solo kayak trip through the Florida Everglades, written from a wheelchair, with stakes so high that every preparation detail becomes profound What two decades of reading women's travel writing has taught Lavinia: never underestimate a woman, and women who write about travel tend to be actively seeking transformation, not just sights How the legacy of male-dominated adventure travel writing—conquest narratives, man-versus-place drama—may have conditioned women to fear solo travel, and what it looks like as that changes Why a women's travel writing anthology still matters in 2026: to amplify voices of autonomy and adventure at a moment when women's rights and freedom of movement are under pressure CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Young, Fearless, and Filled With Wonder 00:03:00 How a Volume Comes Together 00:07:00 The Traveler She Was, the Traveler She Is 00:10:00 Building the Playlist 00:14:00 The Stories That Live Inside Her 00:19:00 Never Underestimate a Woman 00:23:00 Who Gets to Be an Adventurer 00:28:00 Why It Matters Now LINKS & RESOURCES Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 13—Bookshop.org Traveler's Tales Lavinia'swebsite Lavinia'sWriting Away Substack Lavinia's essay for Afar and Aislyn's essay for Afar West With the Night by Beryl Markham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo, New York might be the greatest architecture city you've never heard of. In the fourth and final episode of our Unpacked by Afar series, we explore how this Rust Belt city became one of the richest showcases of American architecture anywhere in the country. Host Aislyn Greene tours Buffalo with Ed Howard, a docent and guide with Explore Buffalo. Ed shares that Buffalo was one of the wealthiest cities in America and drew the biggest names in architecture to build here. Stand on a single downtown corner and you can see work by the architects behind the Flatiron Building, the Twin Towers, and the first true skyscraper. Buffalo is also one of only two American cities with major works by the "holy trinity" of American architecture, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, and Frank Lloyd Wright, whose Martin House is here. Then come the surprises: the industrial grain elevators that inspired modernist masters, and the Frederick Law Olmsted park system that led the man who designed Central Park to call Buffalo the best-planned city in the country. It's a story of boom, near-ruin, and hard-won revival, a city that nearly lost its treasures and fought to save them. This is cultural travel at its most rewarding, a piece of American travel culture hiding in plain sight. If great architecture is a reason you travel, Buffalo belongs near the top of your list of American travel destinations. Meet this week's guest Ed Howard, docent and tour guide at Explore Buffalo Chapters 00:00 — A Secret Architecture City 03:32 — Five Masters, One Corner 06:40 — The Holy Trinity 11:05 — Saving the Landmarks 17:00 — Grain and Grass Where to go to explore Buffalo's architecture Explore Buffalo — Walking, bus, and boat tours led by local guides; the single best way to take in the city's architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House — Wright's Prairie-style masterpiece, fully restored, and one of his finest residential works. The Guaranty Building — Louis Sullivan's 1896 skyscraper, once nearly demolished, now restored to its original glory. Richardson Olmsted Campus — H.H. Richardson's monumental former hospital; part is now a hotel, and Explore Buffalo runs hard-hat tours of the unrestored wings. Buffalo Central Terminal — The grand 1929 Art Deco train station, mid-restoration. Silo City and Duende — The towering grain elevators that awed modernist architects, with a bar tucked right among them. Delaware Park and the Olmsted parkways — The green system that earned Buffalo its "best-planned city" title. Go deeper at buffaloah.com, a database of hundreds of Buffalo buildings, and plan your trip with our Buffalo travel guide. This is the fourth and final episode of our Buffalo series. New here? Go back for Buffalo's food scene, its neighborhoods, and its Black history. And follow Unpacked, a travel podcast from Afar, for more unique travel experiences around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ga alama ƴan Najeriya da dama sun fusata da yadda ƙungiyoyin kwallon ƙafa na ƙasa ke cigaba da samun nasara a wasannin da suke a nahiyar Afirka. Bayana gazawar da ƙungiyar Super Eagles ta yi na kasa zuwa gasar cin kofin duniya da aka kammala a Amurka da Canada da kuma Mexico, yanzu kuma Super Falcons ta mata ta gaza samun nasara a gasar WAFCON Shiga alamar sauti don sauraron cikakkiyar hirar da Bashir Ibrahim Idris ya yi da Alhaji Yusuf Musa Sakatare a ma'aikatar wasanni ta jihar Nasarawa.....

The Drive opened the show explaining how the story of Bieniemy keeping tabs on the offense and holding people accountable being done virtually is the Chiefs propaganda machine working hard.

Another San Diego Comic-Con, another year The Guys watch from afar.  (It's not too early to sponsor a 2027 trip, wealthy listener!)  But they're still interested in the news, and this event does bring the news.   Here are some of the “news”: new Black Panther, new Ghost Rider, new cosplays, new Doomsday announcements, new trailers, new stars roaming the hallways in costume, and a new first-time whopper of a guest.  Plenty of things for The Guys to ramble on about after they lament a bit because rambling is all they could afford to do.  (Did we mention that we are open to travel sponsors?)   On the homefront, Robbie advocates for his buddy Claude, Art looks forward to the next iteration of Blade Runner, and Jay reads a book in a new genre the kids call LitRPG, and the one he picked is coming to Peacock.  It's a wild episode despite the distance from the San Diego Zoo.   

"We Were Made For These Times" It's been 40 years since the Grammy-Award winning band the Klezmatics formed in the East Villag. In the same way the Pogues fused Irish folk with punk rock, the New York klezmer outfit have grafted centuries-old Yiddish music with iterations of contemporary music including jazz, gospel, punk, classical, Latin, and Balkan styles. With nearly twenty albums under their musical belts, including Rhythm and Jews, Jews With Horns, Letters to Afar and their wonderful new one, We Were Made For These Times, the Klezmatics remain one of the most spellbindingly singular bands on the planet. Over the course of their career they've collaborated with Arlo Guthrie, Allen Ginsberg and Itzhak Perlman, played shows in over twenty different countries, performed on PBS' Great Performances, recorded a live CD at New York City's Town Hall and snared a Critics Award as well as a New York Jewish Music Award. Their music has appeared everywhere from Sex and the City to Late Night With David Letterman and their new album continues to add to their winning legacy. A stirring, inspiring and soulful offering that, in the band's words is, "rooted in protest, hope, and resilience, We Were Made For These Times pairs Black gospel, Latin American, and avant-jazz voices with Yiddish folk and the results are joyful, life-affirming and brimming with optimism. The L.A. born vocalist, accordionist, pianist, guitarist Lorin Sklamberg is a lovely guy and this is a great chat. www.klezmatics.com (http://www.klezmatics.com) www.bombshellradio.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com) www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com) Threads + BLUESKY + IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagzine.com

For 185 years, some of the most important chapters of American history have unfolded on a few blocks of Buffalo's East Side. In the third episode of our four-part Unpacked by Afar series, we walk the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, the beating heart of Buffalo Black history, with the man who has made preserving it his life's work. Executive director Terry Alford grew up on these streets and is now leading their revival. He guides host Aislyn Greene through 185 years of Buffalo Black history: a church that was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad, the home where the Niagara Movement was born, the club where jazz greats jammed until dawn because they weren't allowed to sleep in the hotels they had just played, and the radio station that became the megaphone of the Civil Rights movement. Then he shares how urban renewal nearly erased it all, and how he is fighting to bring it back, guided by the Ghanaian principle of Sankofa: move forward, but never forget where you came from. This is cultural travel at its most moving, a piece of American travel culture far too few people know. It is also one of the most powerful travel stories we have told, and a lesson in responsible travel: how to visit a place and honor the people whose stories made it. If Buffalo Black history is not yet on your list of American travel destinations, this episode, and this corridor, will change that. Meet this week's guest Terry Alford, executive director of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission Chapters 00:00 Buffalo's Black History 04:19 Underground Railroad to Jazz 10:02 Loss and Revival 13:42 A Vision for 2030 Where to go to explore Buffalo's Black history Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor — Start at the visitor center and tour the anchor sites, all just steps apart. Michigan Street Baptist Church — Built in 1845, one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad, with a newly restored interior. Nash House Museum — The preserved home of Rev. J. Edward Nash and Frances Nash, plus the Frances Nash community garden and Tuesday farmers market. The Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum — The only continuously running, all-Black-owned club in the U.S., with Sunday night jam sessions and a jazz museum. WUFO Black Radio History Collective — The historic voice of Buffalo's Civil Rights movement. The Freedom Wall — The AKG's 28-portrait mural of Black Civil Rights figures, at the corridor's northern entrance. Read more in Afar's guide to Buffalo's Black history along the Michigan Street corridor, and plan your trip with our Buffalo travel guide. This is episode three of a four-part series. Next week, we explore Buffalo's astonishing architecture, one of the best-kept design secrets in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 9, Mark Carney became the first Canadian Prime Minister to visit Saudi Arabia in 26 years — a Royal Palace meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, thirteen commercial agreements the PMO values at over $1 billion, and one sentence doing all the work: publicly condemning countries from afar is “an ineffective strategy.”In 2018, Canada spoke up about Saudi Arabia's human rights record and paid for it — an expelled ambassador and a five-year diplomatic freeze. In 2026, the lesson appears to have been silence.I walk through what was signed, what wasn't disclosed, the strongest case for the trip, and the question nobody at the press conference asked:Who sets the price of Canada's word?CHAPTERS0:00 Twenty-six years, one handshake0:45 What happened in Jeddah2:00 The sentence4:00 2018, told cold6:00 The thirteen agreements8:00 The pattern this week proves12:00 The government's best case — and my answer14:30 Who sets the price of Canada's word?17:30 What you do with thisSOURCESAP via ABC News — full trip report:https://abcnews.com/Business/wireStory/canadas-carney-defends-visit-saudi-arabia-slams-criticism-134635098Buy me a coffee! - https://buymeacoffee.com/kelsisherenLet's connect!Substack: https://substack.com/@kelsisherenRumble - https://rumble.com/user/TheKelsiSherenPerspectiveInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/thekelsisherenperspective?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw%3D%3DX: https://x.com/KelsisherenSUPPORT OUR PEOPLE - - - - - - - - - - - -Ketone IQ- 30% off with code KELSI - https://ketone.com/KELSIGood Livin - 20% off with code KELSI - https://www.itsgoodlivin.com/?ref=KELSIBrass & Unity - 20% off with code UNITY - http://www.brassandunity.com

This is the final stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and we're heading for the trees. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene laces up for Asheville hiking, and discovers why the oldest mountains on Earth are also some of the most beloved. On a tour with Hike Bike Kayak Asheville that takes Aislyn and guide David into the Pisgah National Forest, Aislyn learns that Asheville hiking means far more than a simple walk in the woods. These are among the oldest mountains in the world, cloaked in one of the most biodiverse forests in North America, home to thousands of plant species and waterfalls around nearly every bend. David leads her to quiet swimming holes and points out plants that grow nowhere else on Earth. She stands beneath Looking Glass Falls and hears how a single valley packs in world-class rock climbing, fly fishing on the Davidson River, and a 60-foot natural water slide called Sliding Rock. Zoom out, and the scale is staggering. The Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway are among the most visited places in the entire national park system, and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, rises just up the road. It helps explain why so many people who come here for Asheville hiking end up never wanting to leave, and why the outdoors are one of America's great travel destinations. It's a landscape you can dip into for a single afternoon or disappear into for a week. It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel and a fitting finale to our guide: a reminder that in Asheville, the wild is never far away. Whether you want a gentle waterfall stroll or a hard climb to a summit view, the trailheads are closer than you think, and the payoff is some of the most beautiful country in the eastern United States. Consider it your guide to where to go and what to know. Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. That's the end of our Asheville audio guide, so catch up on the whole series in the feed. CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Older Than the Atlantic 00:02:30 Meeting My Guide 00:06:30 The Blue Ridge Parkway 00:11:00 Looking Glass Falls 00:13:15 Wildflowers and Orchids 00:16:15 Behind Moore Cove GUESTS | David Teafatiller of Hike Bike Kayak Asheville, our hiking guide PLACES WE VISITED Pisgah National Forest Looking Glass Falls Sliding Rock Davidson River Blue Ridge Parkway Great Smoky Mountains National Park Mount Mitchell State Park MORE FROM AFAR Asheville Travel Guide 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way (includes an outdoor itinerary) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the second stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and it reaches back a lot further than you might expect. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene unpacks the long, strange story of Asheville wellness, and why doctors have been sending patients to these mountains for more than a century and a half. To understand where Asheville wellness began, Aislyn talks with David Freedman, an infectious disease physician and travel medicine expert who retired to the city. He explains the era of climatotherapy, when clean mountain air and a just-right altitude were prescribed for the respiratory illnesses of the Industrial Revolution, and for the deadliest disease of the 19th century, tuberculosis. It's a history written into the architecture itself, from buildings angled toward the prevailing wind to the once-ubiquitous sleeping porch, and even into the phrase “health resort,” which Asheville helped invent. Then Aislyn brings the story to the present, where Asheville wellness has grown into one of the most diverse scenes in the country. She heads into the Asheville Salt Cave and Spa, surrounded by 30 tons of ancient Himalayan salt, and hears from owner Jodie Appel about the surprising family story that started it all. She also sits in on a sound bath with sound therapist Kristin Hillegas, and gathers the full, wonderfully weird range of what you can try here, from hydrotherapy and aura photography to a practitioner known as the Breath Nurse. It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel and a portrait of a place locals call the Happy City. Whatever draws you to these mountains, it's a reminder that the best travel experiences often start with simply feeling better, and that knowing where to go can be its own kind of medicine. Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. This Asheville audio guide continues across three more episodes, so look for the rest of the series waiting in the feed. GUESTS David O. Freedman, infectious disease physician and travel medicine expert, Asheville Jodi Appel, owner, Asheville Salt Cave and Spa Kristin Hillegas, sound therapist, who runs Serenity Sound Healing of Asheville and leads sound baths at the Center for Spiritual Living Asheville Tebbé Davis, guide and storyteller, Asheville By Foot walking tours (returning from episode 1) PLACES WE VISITED Asheville Salt Cave and Spa Center for Spiritual Living Asheville Serenity Sound Healing of Asheville The Spa at Omni Grove Park Inn CHAPTERS (00:00) A century-old prescription: go to the mountains (01:40) A sound bath to begin (02:10) Meet David Freedman and the science of climatotherapy (03:40) Fresh air, altitude, and the architecture of breathing (07:50) Tuberculosis and the “Robber of Youth” (09:20) John Dickson's “cure” and the birth of the “health resort” (11:10) From sanitariums to a modern wellness scene (11:20) Inside the Asheville Salt Cave (13:00) Jodi Appell on salt, her father, and opening the spa (17:00) A sound bath, up close (19:00) Why Asheville calls itself the “Happy City” (20:45) People still come here to feel better MORE FROM AFAR Asheville Travel Guide 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way (includes a restorative, wellness-minded itinerary) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the fourth stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and it may be the tastiest one yet. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene digs into Asheville food, and the surprising reason this mountain city punches so far above its weight at the table. Aislyn joins a walking food tour with Sita of Eating Asheville, eating her way through a town where farm to table isn't a slogan but a fact of geography. Along the way she: Discovers that Asheville food can be a real relief for anyone with dietary restrictions at the celiac-run kitchen of Strada Italiano Hears the moving, Helene-shaped story behind Mehfil from its owner, Raj Tastes mountain-grown rice at the farm-to-table cornerstone Table with chef Catherine Smedley Forages Appalachian flavors at Luminosa And finishes with a former science teacher turned chocolatier, Melissa Quinn, at Asheville Chocolate. It's a scene built on tight relationships between kitchens and the farms a few ridges away, where the rice on your plate might have been grown just up the road, and where a devastating hurricane the year before only deepened the sense that these restaurants belong to their community. But great Asheville food is also a question of who gets to make it, and whose history gets remembered. In a segment on the region's Black foodways, Aislyn talks with two of the city's most celebrated chefs, Ashleigh Shanti of Good Hot Fish and Rakim Gaines of Capella on 9, about Affrilachian cooking, representation behind the stove, and the stories layered into every plate. Their conversation is a reminder that a food town's story has to include the people history has too often left off the menu. It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel and a portrait of one of the best small food towns in the country. Whatever you come hungry for, consider this your guide to where to go and what to know. Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time, with a real love of food and travel. This Asheville audio guide has one more episode to go, so look for it in the feed. CHAPTERS 00:00 A Real Food Town 03:00 Strada's Gluten-Free Surprise 05:00 Mehfil and Raj's Story 09:45 Table's Mountain Rice 12:40 Foraging at Luminosa 18:15 Cooking on The Block 23:15 Dessert With Melissa Quinn 26:00 Come Hungry GUESTS Sita, operations manager and tour guide, Eating Asheville Walking Food Tours Raj, owner, Mehfil Indian Restaurant Catherine Smedley, chef de cuisine, Table Chef Sean McMullen of Luminosa Melissa Quinn, head chocolatier and owner, Asheville Chocolate Ashleigh Shanti, chef and owner, Good Hot Fish Rakim Gaines, executive chef, Capella on 9 PLACES WE VISITED Strada Italiano Mehfil Indian Restaurant Table Luminosa (in the Flatiron Building) Asheville Chocolate Good Hot Fish Capella on 9 MORE FROM AFAR Asheville Travel Guide A Local Chef's 2-Day Travel Guide to Asheville Immerse Yourself in Asheville's Culturally Diverse Experiences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the third stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and it takes us just outside the city to the small mountain town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene goes looking for the creative soul of the region, and finds it everywhere: in the galleries, in the glass studios, and above all in the music scene. Aislyn starts with breakfast at Cousins Cuban Cafe, then walks a town so small you can cross it in a few minutes, passing murals of Black Mountain's famous daughter, the late Roberta Flack. She also traces the ghost of Black Mountain College, the radical, short-lived arts school just outside town that helped shape modern American art before it closed and all but disappeared. She plays with fire at the North Carolina Glass Center alongside executive director Candace Riley and glassblower Mark DeShields, learning how the quartz buried in these mountains helped turn the region into a glass capital. Over dinner at Hell or High Water, chef Eric Morris explains how Appalachian food ways, and a hurricane, gave the restaurant its name. But the heart of the episode is music. At a listening room called White Horse, Aislyn meets managing director Zach Hinkle, who traces the surprising, and nearly lost, blues and gospel roots of Asheville music, and explains why this corner of the Blue Ridge has always pulled creative people in. The episode ends inside a benefit concert, where the whole community turns out to keep a beloved venue alive. It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel: the story of why a tiny mountain town became one of the most quietly influential creative places in America, one of the South's most surprising travel destinations, and why the Asheville music scene still draws people to these hills. Consider it your guide to where to go and what to know. Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. This Asheville audio guide continues, so look for the rest of the series waiting in the feed. CHAPTERS (00:00) Welcome to Black Mountain (01:30) Breakfast at Cousins Cuban and a walk through town (04:00) Playing with fire at the North Carolina Glass Center (06:30) The quartz that made a glass capital (11:00) Dinner at Hell or High Water (13:30) A restaurant named for the storm (17:00) Inside the White Horse listening room (19:00) The nearly lost blues of these mountains (22:00) A benefit concert, and why the music survives (27:00) The creative soul of Black Mountain GUESTS Candace Reilly, executive director, North Carolina Glass Center Mark DeShields, glassblower, North Carolina Glass Center Eric Morris, executive chef, Hell or High Water (Foothills Local Meats) Zach Hinkle, managing director, White Horse Black Mountain Featured musicians at the White Horse benefit: Robin Bullock, Bill Maddox, Dr. Bill Bares, Peggy Ratusz, and Chris Rosser PLACES WE VISITED Cousins Cuban Cafe North Carolina Glass Center Hell or High Water Trillium Table White Horse Black Mountain (performing at the Monte Vista Hotel during renovations) Stay: Peri Social House MORE FROM AFAR Asheville Travel Guide 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way⁠ (including a music itinerary led by Virtuous) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the first stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina. And where better to start than at the beginning? In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene sets out on foot to trace Asheville history from the ground up, and to answer a simple question: How did a remote, hard-to-reach valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains become one of the most creative small cities in America? Aislyn's first guide reveals the deep Asheville history hiding in plain sight downtown. There are the ancient mountains and rivers, the Cherokee crossroads that predated the city by thousands of years, the rowdy cattle-drive era that gave the town its early reputation, and the arrival of the railroad in 1880, which brought the Vanderbilts, the Groves, and the money that built landmarks like the Grove Arcade. From there, Aislyn drives out to the Biltmore Estate, America's largest privately owned home, to meet Chase Pickering, a fifth-generation member of the Vanderbilt family. He shares what it was like to grow up on the estate, and why stewardship and sustainability still shape the property today. But no honest telling of Asheville history is complete without the Black community that helped build the city, including Biltmore itself. Aislyn rides through the historically Black neighborhoods of Eagle Street and Burton Street with DeWayne Barton of Hood Huggers, meets community elder Clifford Cotton, grandson of the pioneering entrepreneur E.W. Pearson, and hears a song from Asheville artist Virtuous. It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel and the story of how Asheville became Asheville: a place ringed by mountains where people have both passed through and put down deep roots. Consider this your starting point for planning Asheville travel, and your first look at one of the South's most distinctive travel destinations. It's also your reminder that the best trips start with knowing where to go and why a place is the way it is. Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. This Asheville audio guide continues across four more episodes, so look for the rest of the series waiting in the feed. GUESTS Tebbé Davis, guide and storyteller, Asheville By Foot walking tours Chase Pickering, Vice President of Guest Experience at the Biltmore Estate, and fifth-generation Vanderbilt family member DeWayne Barton, founder, Hood Huggers Clifford Cotton, community elder and grandson of E.W. Pearson, Burton Street Community Center Virtuous, songwriter and performing artist PLACES WE VISITED//WHERE WE STAYED Grove Arcade Biltmore Estate Eagle Street Basilica of Saint Lawrence Burton Street Community Center Peace Gardens & Market Stay: AutoCamp Asheville, Airstream lodging on the river Stay: The Windsor Boutique Hotel, apartment style lodging downtown CHAPTERS (00:00) Welcome to Asheville (01:05) The oldest mountains in the world (02:40) A Cherokee crossroads and the “Las Vegas” of the 1800s (05:00) Inside the Grove Arcade (10:40) The Vanderbilts and the Biltmore Estate (12:10) Chase Pickering on five generations at Biltmore (17:50) The Black community that built Asheville (19:00) Riding with Hood Huggers through Burton Street (21:40) E.W. Pearson's legacy and the Royal Giants (24:40) The Peace Gardens Sculpture Park (27:15) How Asheville became Asheville MORE FROM AFAR Asheville Travel Guide Immerse Yourself in Asheville's Culturally Diverse Experiences 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way (including a music itinerary led by Virtuous) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo, New York has called itself the City of Good Neighbors since 1940, and in 2023 Reader's Digest even voted it the nicest city in America. But is it true? In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene turns a Buffalo travel story into a bigger question: what does it actually take to turn a stranger into a neighbor? We begin 150 years ago, on the East Side patch that grew into the second-largest Polish community in the world and the birthplace of Dyngus Day, one of the most joyful traditions in American travel culture. Then we follow that same ground to today, where newcomers from Burma, Congo, Iraq, and Afghanistan are remaking the city block by block. This is cultural travel at its richest: the refugee resettlement workers who set up a family's home before they arrive, the volunteers who knock on the door, and one man's first snow-covered year going from guest to Buffalonian. If you love travel stories about the people who make a place, this Buffalo travel episode is a love letter to the city's neighborhoods and the neighbors rebuilding them. It's also a reminder that the most meaningful, responsible travel often means slowing down to notice who actually lives somewhere. Where to go to explore Buffalo Dyngus Day — The water-and-pussy-willow spring celebration through the Historic Polonia District, the largest Dyngus Day anywhere outside Poland. Broadway Market — The 130-plus-year-old public market at the heart of the old Polish East Side, still going strong. Buffalo Central Terminal — The grand, once-abandoned Art Deco railroad terminal now being restored, and where the Dyngus Day parade ends. Journey's End Refugee Services — Learn about the Home Again program, volunteer, or donate to help welcome Buffalo's newest neighbors. Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens — Where Ko Ko finally found a mango tree, and a green escape from a long Buffalo winter. Plan your own trip with our Buffalo travel guide. Chapters 00:00 — Dyngus Day 02:00 — City of Good Neighbors 06:00 — Building Polonia 14:00 — A New Wave 22:00 — From Guest to Buffalonian Follow Unpacked by Afar for more on where to go next, and let this be your guide to a side of Buffalo travel most visitors never see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everybody knows Buffalo, New York, for the chicken wing. Fewer people know the real story behind the wing—or the full story of Buffalo's food scene, which is grounded in tradition and full of innovation. In the first episode of our four-part Unpacked by Afar series on Buffalo, we start where you should always start: at the table. Host Aislyn Greene digs into a food scene that has quietly become one of the most surprising in America, shaped by waves of immigrants and refugees, a fiercely independent streak, and chefs who don't need anyone's permission to be great. Meet this week's guests Francesca Bond, food and drink reporter at the Buffalo News Jessica Forster,  partner, wine director, and sommelier at ⁠Waxlight Bar à Vin⁠ Lina Brown-Young, founder of John Young's Original Topics covered The history of food in Buffalo Why serious restaurants are betting on Buffalo's food scene The real story of the Buffalo chicken wing The best traditional foods to try, inclbeef on weck, the Tom and Jerry (a Christmastime drink), and the deep-fried pizza log. Why Buffalo turned down a spot in the Michelin Guide (for now), and what that choice reveals about how the city sees itself. Where to go to explore Buffalo's food scene Southern Junction — Chef Ryan Fernandez's nationally acclaimed "Tex-ish" barbecue, blending Texas smoke with South Indian (Keralan) spice. Waxlight Bar à Vin — Owner-operated wine bar in Black Rock with an ever-changing, French-ish menu, with a happy hour that lets you taste the ambition for around $12. John Young's Original — Lina Brown-Young's bottled mumbo sauce (original and spicy), plus pop-up wings at the Broadway Market. The Wing Ride (Buffalo Bike Tours) — A bike tour into the true, complicated history of the Buffalo wing, featuring a stop with Lina Brown-Young and her father's recipe. West Side Bazaar — A small-business incubator and international food hall built by refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs Duende at Silo City — A bar and gathering space set among Buffalo's historic grain silos on the river. Anchor Bar — The wing's long-credited "official" birthplace, for the other side of the story. ⁠ Find more in this afar.com guide to Buffalo's food scene and be sure to explore our Buffalo travel guide This is episode one of a four-part series that includes travel tips to help you explore Buffalo. Next week, we walk the neighborhoods of the self-described "City of Good Neighbors." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Unpacked Five Questions, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of one great travel story. In this episode, executive editor Katherine LaGrave sits down with writer Latria Graham, Afar's Unpacked columnist. Latria spent seven weeks driving the nearly 5,000-mile Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail—alone—to report a story about the Corps of Discovery's most essential and least credited member: York, an enslaved man whose skills, knowledge, and presence helped make the entire expedition possible. Latria traces the trail from Kentucky to the Pacific Northwest, stopping at massacre sites, Indigenous mounds, sunflower fields, and a 50-foot statue of an Indigenous woman with a star quilt—asking what it means to travel responsibly through landscapes layered with historical trauma, and the questions that still remain about York's life. Meet this week's guest Latria Graham is a writer and Afar's Unpacked columnist, whose work turns over some of travel's biggest and most difficult questions—from whether we should visit museums with complicated histories to how we can better support hospitality workers. Follow her on Instagram at @missgraham. Episode highlights Why York—the enslaved man who traveled the entire Corps of Discovery expedition—was essential to its survival, and how historical accounts minimized him for generations while Black historians have spent decades restoring his full dimensions What Latria found at the statue of York in Louisville, the Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture in Chamberlain, South Dakota, and Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in North Dakota: three sites that grappled honestly with what the trail erased How to travel responsibly through landscapes layered with trauma: spending money with local restaurants and farms, practicing leave no trace principles, sitting with hard history in small museums, and knowing when not to take the riskier hike Why the rivers mattered most: every confluence, every overlook, every moment the water changed direction—the one thing on the trail that was there before the history and will be there after it The questions the trail left open: what actually happened to York after the expedition ended, whether a GIS map or an app might tell these stories better than a book, and what it means to make sure history lives as fully realized human lives rather than names and dates Links & resources Follow Latria Graham on Instagram Read her Lewis and Clark trail story for Afar Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Travel to Listen, a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes, Tim took us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul. In this season finale, he heads to Detroit to explore the legendary Motown sound—and to find out what's next for the little house on West Grand Boulevard that started it all. Meet this week's guests Adam White is the author of Motown: The Sound of Young America, co-written with former Motown president Barney Ales. A former editor-in-chief at Billboard, Adam has spent 40 years exploring the Motown story and writes a weekly blog about the label at adamwhite.com. Robin Terry is the chairwoman and CEO of the Motown Museum—and Berry Gordy's great-niece. Raised by her grandmother Esther Gordy Edwards, who founded the museum, Robyn is currently leading the $75 million expansion. Guest host Tim Chester is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city's soul. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Detroit 00:02:00 Why Motown Endures 00:04:00 The Detroit Advantage 00:07:00 The Motown Family 00:09:00 Inside Hitsville USA 00:12:00 Psychedelic Soul 00:16:00 Hitsville Next A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Detroit Detroit's Motown story is anchored to one street, but the city's music scene runs much deeper. Here's how to experience it. Start here: the essential stops Hitsville USA / The Motown Museum — Berry Gordy's original house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, where Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Temptations, and Martha and the Vandellas all got their start. Note: the museum is closed during its $75 million expansion, but the plaza in front of Hitsville is open and activated with food trucks and live performances all summer. Esther Gordy Edwards Center for Excellence — the nearby space hosting the museum's first major exhibition, Psychedelic Soul, running through September 2026. A deep dive into Motown's overlooked '70s era, Norman Whitfield, and the Temptations. Michigan Central Station — the newly restored Beaux-Arts landmark that anchors Detroit's broader reinvention. A short drive from Hitsville and worth the detour. Hear live music Smokey's Soul Town on SiriusXM — not a venue, but essential listening before and during your trip. The show is recorded at the museum and hosted by Levi Stubbs III and John Mason. The Current (Twin Cities) — if you're road-tripping from Minneapolis, keep this on. Their gig listings track what's happening across the Midwest music scene. Go deeper Standing in the Shadows of Motown — the book and documentary that finally gave names and faces to the Funk Brothers, the studio musicians behind the sound. Hitsville Next — the Motown Museum's emerging artist community for singers, songwriters, musicians, and engineers. hitsvil​leusa.com The full Travel to Listen series Episode 1: Macon, Georgia — Little Richard, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, and the small Southern city that punches far above its weight. Listen now. Episode 2: Minneapolis — Prince, the Minneapolis sound, and a city still making music history a decade after his death. Listen now. Episode 3: Southern California — the spacey, grungy desert rock scene beyond Coachella. Listen now. Episode 4 (this one!): Detroit — Motown, Hitsville USA, and what comes next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Danielle Wiley and Casey Benedict delve into the latest trends and debates from the Cannes conference, exploring authenticity, vanity metrics, influencer discovery, and the evolving landscape of influencer marketing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Unpacked, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland hit the road in Michigan and find epic adventures, gorgeous waterways—and a new way to connect. Join them as they follow Michigan's mitten counterclockwise, exploring the state's many waterways. They paddle the Au Sable River, flying over the Lake Huron shipwrecks of Thunder Bay, ferry over to the car-free Mackinac Island, savor, the deep quiet of Drummond Island—and the sparkling-wine country of the Leelanau Peninsula. It's a Great Lakes road trip built on short drives, Up North history, and the kindness of strangers, and it turns into a case for why traveling this way might be one of the best ways to build a friendship. Meet this week's guests (aka our new Michigan friends) Adam Hume runs Oscoda Canoe Rental on the Au Sable River. Kathy Erickson helps put on the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, the 120-mile overnight race she lovingly calls the world's toughest spectator sport. Stephanie Gandulla is a maritime archaeologist at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Captain Richard Biffle pilots the glass-bottom Lady Michigan for Alpena Shipwreck Tours. Patrick Conlon is the general manager of The Inn at Stonecliffe on Mackinac Island and one of roughly 500 people who live on the island year round. Emily is the wine club manager at MAWBY on the Leelanau Peninsula. You'll also hear from Jared, the pilot who flew Aislyn and Nikki over the wrecks in a 1975 Cessna, and Sarah, the guide who showed them around Alpena for the afternoon. This summer (or next fall...or spring...) plan your own Michigan road trip, hitting the spots featured in the episode Detroit: Start in the Motor City with Afar's Detroit guide. Oscoda and the Sunrise Coast: Paddle the Au Sable River with Oscoda Canoe Rental and sleep on Lake Huron at the Sweetwater Sea Bed & Breakfast. Time your visit to the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon if you can; this year's race starts July 25. Alpena and Thunder Bay: Start at the free Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, then ride the glass-bottom Lady Michigan with Alpena Shipwreck Tours over the wrecks of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and climb the New and Old Presque Isle lighthouses. Mackinac Island: Stay at The Inn at Stonecliffe (a humanitarian hotel), bike the 8-mile car-free loop on M-185, and sample your way through the island's famous fudge shops. Drummond Island: Base at Drummond Island Resort and walk the Maxton Plains, one of the world's rare alvar grasslands. Leelanau Peninsula: Taste sparkling wine at MAWBY, the oldest winery on the peninsula. The stops that didn't make the episode but are worth a visit! The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie Traverse City, home to delicious restaurants, fantastic cider, tall-ship sails, the annual cherry festival, and so much more Saugatuck, where Nikki and Aislyn stayed at the retro Pines Motor Lodge And Dablon winery in Baroda, which is part of the Lake Michigan Shore AVA (find more wineries to explore in the region) Plan the whole route with Afar's Michigan guide and Afar's guide to road trips. Stay connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the last Feel-Good Friday before host Aislyn and producer Nikki take a summer break. And they're sending the season off with two of summer's great pleasures: a viral World Cup food obsession and a very American bourbon. First, why international soccer fans are falling hard for ranch dressing—and getting stopped at airport security over it. Then, a first-of-its-kind whiskey blended from all 50 states, arriving just in time for the Fourth of July and America's 250th birthday. This week's Feel-Good Friday stories International visitors flooding the US for the World Cup have discovered ranch dressing, and they want to take it home by the bottle. Aislyn and Nikki tackle the great World Cup ranch debate. An independent bottler spent five years and a cross-country road trip visiting more than 100 distilleries to create the first whiskey ever blended from all 50 states. PLUS a limited 1776 edition drawn from the original 13 colonies, made to mark the country's 250th. Bonus: A couple of cautionary tales about packing wine home in your luggage, and a solemn vow never to pair good bourbon with ranch. That's a wrap on Feel-Good Friday for the season. Aislyn and Nikki will be back after a summer break — until then, happy Fourth of July, and happy summer. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday 00:02:00 The Great Ranch Debate 00:05:00 Liquid Smuggling Confessions 00:07:00 United States of Bourbon 00:10:00 Cheers to Summer Stay connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the greatest challenge to connection in marriage is not conflict, but distraction? In this episode, we explore how the people of Israel responded to God by standing at a distance and how modern couples can unintentionally do the same. Discover how a simple one-hour Tech Sabbath challenge can help you draw closer to God, your spouse, and the relationships that matter most.#Marriage #Faith #Relationships #TechSabbath #ConnectionIf you'd like to receive our 52-Week Marriage Prayer Guide, visit the link in the show notes nd join our prayer community. >>> Sign Up Today.

https://cdn.enduringword.com/audio/devotional/Devotional06232026.mp3 The post To All Who Are Afar Off – Acts 2:38-39 – June 23, 2026 appeared first on Enduring Word.

If you want to know how to improve cognitive function, you probably already know the basics. You need to eat well, get regular sleep, exercise consistently and maintain social connections. That last point hits me hard because as someone who has taught memory improvement for fifteen years, I recently moved away from all my friends. And I’m definitely feeling the impact of that decision. And we’re all facing the consequences of the decisions we make because everything influences the quality of our minds. So if you’d like to know what I’m personally doing to maintain focus as I age while leading an unusually isolated life, today I’m sharing my research and experiences. It’s a bit unique because I’m the author of multiple memory improvement books, an independent memory researcher and someone with a reputation to maintain in the field of mental performance. And since we all need to preserve our reputations, how I’m tackling my own concentration, memory and focus challenges might help you along your own journey. Let me share this proclamation loud and clear as we begin: Tackling challenges to my own concentration and focus is my passion. And it has to be a passion and a mission because I intend to enjoy a very focused mind with strong recall abilities for as long as I possibly can. Ready to explore some of the best, science-backed strategies that are helping me? Let’s dive in! What Is Cognitive Function? And How Does It Relate To Memory? “Cognitive function” is a term used in a variety of fields, from memory science to Jungian psychology. For Carl Jung, cognition boiled down to how your mind processes and experiences emotional feeling, intuition, a variety of sensations and thought. When it comes to memory in the realm of learning, cognitive function specifically refers to: Attention and how you focus on information like hearing someone’s name Working memory so you can temporarily hold an instruction or phone number in mind Long-term memory for accessing facts like names and locations Processing speed for thinking efficiently Executive functions like planning or switching between tasks Holding focus during conversations or while studying Speaking languages Navigating a variety of places Most importantly, cognitive function governs how we use memory techniques to remember things, specifically information related to data like numbers and information related to our professional work and studies. Why Cognitive Function Slips (According To Science) First things first: If you’re concerned about your memory, please see a doctor. Or, if you’re concerned for a loved one, assist them in doing so. Generally, the reason most of us have issues is because we distract ourselves with multitasking. Good recall begins with paying attention. But far too often we clutter our lives with social media, creating digital amnesia. This is a term that literally refers to Internet-induced forgetting. The good news is that we can improve. Like focusing on diet, exercise, sleep and socializing, paying attention is a behavior. This was a point made by memory expert David Berglas in A Question of Memory. He’s worth listening to because his memory stayed sharp up until a very old age indeed. How do you turn paying attention into a behavior? Start making an effort to remember names, for one thing. Yesterday at the bank I did just that, and the clerk delighted in covering up her name tag to test me several times. You can also engage in activities like memorizing scripture. Or other forms of long-form verbatim memorization, like poetry. For an inspiring outcome from one of my students who was recovering from cardiac arrest, check out the memory improvement case study and scripture demonstration provided by Matt Barclay. There are a few more activities to consider that I’ll cover below, but let’s look at what happens to our brain cells next. It will provide more context to this mission-critical aspect of our mental lives and why maintaining memory is so valuable throughout life. Cellular Aging Judith Campisi was a pioneer in the field of cellular senescence. As one of her papers described this term, cellular senescence is “when bad things happen to good cells.” It’s bad no matter where it happens in the body. But there are two ways it can affect memory: Reducing the functioning of your brain cells Creating pain and stress that distract you and reduce focus If you find yourself dealing with cellular senescence, diet might help improve your cognition. This study found that adopting a ketogenic diet improved memory in aging mice. Anecdotally, I’ve eaten either an entirely keto or near-keto diet for years. I have to regulary eat yogurt now, and that unfortunately causes some brain fog. But during the years I ate near-totally keto, I was sharper than I ever felt in my life. Genetics We often think that things are just the way that they are. Our genes above all cannot be changed. Assuming this is true now, will it always be the case that we have to just deal with the cards we’ve been dealt in the game of life? Scientists are hard at work answering this question. One interesting study on animals has shown promise with respect to potentially treating neurocognitive deficits with gene therapy. In this case, spatial memory was studied in particular, and treated animals were able to navigate mazes better. In humans, how we use memory to navigate space is only starting to be understood. The science writer Christopher Kemp wrote a lovely book on the topic and shared his findings on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast. Although it’s not entirely clear that Kemp’s personal struggles with navigation are genetic in nature, Dark and Magical Places is well worth reading because some scientists have shown a substantial relationship between place cells and memory. I’d be surprised if gene therapies didn’t emerge in the future that improve both spatial and other types of memory, giving them greater longevity in our lives. Environmental Factors One of the hardest things for many of us to change is our environmental conditions. As I mentioned, I moved away from the city and did not anticipate just how out of touch this would put me with my friends. I also did not anticipate that it would be such a challenge to make new ones. It’s critical that I take care of this soon, however. As this study shows, poor social connections are a strong predictor of cognitive decline. Another study found that people with stronger social networks have a lower mortality risk. The catch is that “naturally occurring social” relations are at the core of the benefit. Corny “interventions” by community groups or the recent explosion of rent-a-friend and rental family services don’t show much promise. Quite the opposite, as this Afar story details. If it’s true that people work ten-hour days only to carry on eating and relaxing with their co-workers, that sounds like a very challenging environment to live in. And that’s not to mention the possibility that worries over climate issues are causing anxiety-induced memory loss. If you’re struggling to think clearly and remember, you might want to think about how this kind of environmental issue might be affecting you. Research into eco-anxiety is underway at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and likely to grow in importance as a field of therapy over the years to come. How Memory Improvement Activities Can Improve Your Cognition (Even As You Age) Now that we’ve covered some of the key reasons mental sharpness slips throughout our lives, let’s look at activities that will help restore and improve your cognitive function. Obviously, diet and nutrition for cognitive enhancement are assumed. And again, please consult a doctor for advice that directly addresses your personal situation. Likewise with the following activities. If you have doubts, always run each past a qualified professional before engaging in them. Even though I engage in them myself, critical thinking remains important and I always encourage you to seek at least one professional opinion before taking any action. One: Mindfulness And Meditation I’m a strong proponent of meditation for concentration as a key activity for improving attention and memory. Not only does my book, The Victorious Mind cover much of the key research on the benefits of meditation. I wrote it because combining meditation with memory training helped me in a variety of ways. The key is to understand that there are many forms of meditation to explore. Not just sitting or chanting mantras. For example, benefits of mindfulness on your cognitive function will likely start to flow for you through: Sitting meditation Walking meditation Breathing exercises Journaling for reflective thinking exercise Going on a retreat Practicing mindfulness while eating Yoga for concentration and memory Various practices that can help regulate your dopamine levels Although studies like this one show that meditation can increase your working memory, there’s a catch. As these researchers recommend, meditation routines generally need to be systematized and conducted routinely. I’ve certainly found that my own practices need to be consistent. That’s why I optimize my environment to remind me of my meditation practice. I have my journal always in sight, the place I sit and the book of mantras I’m memorizing from. Two: Have A Purpose As You Age I know it sounds cliche. But the findings of the Rush Memory and Aging Project demonstrate that having a goal linked to purpose is associated with lower incidences of Alzheimer’s Disease and related issues. Interestingly, the study also demonstrated that “purpose in life was also associated with a reduced risk of incident disability and risk of death.” I was fortunate to spend time speaking with the memory experts Tony Buzan and Harry Lorayne. They both were incredibly sharp when I met them, despite being in their seventies and eighties respectively. Why? It was not just the fact that they both engaged in regular memory training. In my view, their strong sense of purpose was a huge part of it. Tony had the World Memory Championship he helped found, along with his work in mind mapping and his polymathic personality. For his part, Lorayne wrote and published books and performed card magic almost until the end. I myself have made teaching as a mnemonist and understanding as much as I can about memory science my purpose. It’s not clear yet that I’ll last as long as they did or make a similar mark. That doesn’t matter nearly as much to me as enjoying the benefits that doing my best in this field brings. So your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to craft your own vision statement and work on your purpose. From there on in, it’s just a matter of consistent execution. If you’d like some help with this piece of the puzzle, check out: My detailed training on crafting a vision statement The mind mapping for my business I did under Tony Buzan’s tutelage Three: Engage in Regular Language Learning Activities Another reason you might suffer cognitive decline stems from not taking on enough challenges that create mental stimulation. Few activities offer more variety and challenge than learning a new language. The problem is that many people cringe at the first sign of challenge. Yet, the challenge itself is what’s so helpful for restoring and maintaining cognitive function! As part of my mission and purpose, I’ve created many tutorials on language learning that will help you. Many of these lessons are geared to reduce the challenges and speed up the process based on my personal experiences with applying memory techniques to language acquisition. But that’s not to remove challenges altogether. In many ways, it’s more about keeping the challenges fun and eliminating the boredom of rote learning. Quick Memory-Based Exercises That Restore Concentration We’ve just covered three areas of activity to engage in over the long-term. They’re not quick fixes, but tactics and strategies to explore across a lifetime. What about things you can do within a few minutes a day and get some benefit? Well, as I talk about here, completely crossword puzzles likely isn’t one of them (though they can be fun). It also isn’t fiddling with online brain games (which have been shown not to work very well). Instead, give these quick activities a try. Four: Repeat Conversations Silently In Your Mind I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get caught up in thinking about what I’m going to say next instead of focusing my mind on my conversation partner’s exact words. To combat this, years ago I started repeating what people were telling me in my mind. Memory expert Jim Samuels teaches something similar in his book, Re-Mind Yourself. It’s a quick exercise that focuses your mind and leads to remembering more from conversations. You can also practice this repetition game while listening to podcasts or watching movies. It’s powerful. Five: Kirtan Kriya According to the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, just twelve minutes a day with this ancient concentration technique helps improve your memory while reducing stress. Dr. Gary Weber teaches it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehvokeZnXMM I’ve practiced it for years and it really helps. Usually I combine it with my walking meditation sessions. Six: Incorporate Mnemonics Into Your Daily Life Although it takes a bit of setup, applying mnemonics to everyday learning tasks is easy. You can use them to remember appointments, where you parked and your shopping list. Every time you do, you’re getting in a bit of cognitive exercise. Seven: Listen Like An Audiophile Music has become ubiquitous in our society. You almost can’t go anywhere without hearing it. But that doesn’t mean it has to be background noise. Pay attention deeply to the rhythms you hear. Repeat the melody in your mind. When I do this, I find that my irritation with music I don’t want to hear goes away. Even better, it connects me more deeply with music itself. And studies like this have shown that music is linked to memory in a variety of ways, including episodic memory, semantic memory and explicit and implicit memory. Just by listening to music in a serious way, you’re giving your memory a huge workout. On another level, I try daily to listen seriously to music I’ve never heard before. Luckily, there are bloggers and vloggers who share their most recent acquisitions. Within seconds, I have them playing on Bandcamp or YouTube. Then, the steps are simple: Close your eyes Listen deeply Imagine the different instruments (even if you don’t know what they are) Call back melodies later in the day to exercise your recall abilities For an extra boost, read biographies about musicians. Go through their music in historical order. Read the assessments of professional critics about them during their era. This simple act contextualizes the music and exercises your brain’s unique ability to make connections and expand with new learning. If music isn’t your interest, you can do something similar by looking at and recalling art. Or even going to indoor or outdoor art galleries. I’ve got a whole tutorial on how to use art galleries as part of your lifelong memory improvement journey. One simple exercise is to just think back to a painting or sculpture you’ve seen. In the feature image above, I’m standing under a sculpture in Brisbane, and I’ve combined it with the music exercise. I just asked what it reminded me of and thought instantly of the Canadian band Voivod, which I know from my reading has a relationship to Metallica. Since the sculpture looks like a big M, I then turned it into a kind of virtual Memory Palace, a final type of mental exercise we’ll discuss briefly next. Improving Cognitive Function Can Be Easy & Fun As you’ve seen, there are simple ways to combat cognitive decline. The trick is putting aside the time and being consistent about the activities. I’ve shared some of the strategies I’m using to keep my brain sharp, and you’re welcome to explore even more. Keep in mind that consistency is helped by a variety of cognitive activities, not getting stuck in just one or two. There are also benefits to be had by rotating between several, especially those where learning is involved. This is shown by the principle scientists call interleaving. But you know, my favorite tactic of all is to use my memory in a variety of ways. And for that, I like to have multiple Memory Palaces. These mnemonic tools are very old and really fun to use. To learn more about how to incorporate them in your quest to improve your cognitive function, get my free memory improvement course: It will give your brain a workout with four free videos and some worksheets you can complete. If some of the steps you discover in that course present a challenge, now you know that this is a good thing. Lean into it and enjoy the results that taking on challenges brings to the long-term sharpness of your mind.

Welcome to Walking the Way. My name is Ray, and I really want to say thank you to everyone for listening in as we continue to explore what it means to have a regular rhythm of worship.  CreditsOpening PrayerRay BorrettBible verseEzekiel 5:15Thought for the dayRay BorrettBible PassageEzekiel 5GOD'S WORD Translation (GW) Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.Prayer Handbookprayer handbook WTW 2026.pdfSupporting Walking the WayIf you want to support Walking the Way, please go to: https://ko-fi.com/S6S4WXLBBor you can subscribe to the channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/walkingtheway/subscribeTo contact Ray: Please leave a comment or a review. I want to find out what people think and how we make it better.www.rayborrett.co.ukwalkingthewaypodcast@outlook.comwww.instagram.com/walkingtheway1

It's Feel-Good Friday, and Unpacked host Aislyn and producer Nikki are joined by a guest they've been waiting weeks to record with: Afar senior editor Lucy Kehoe, who also edits our UK sister title, Suitcase. Three stories, all good news, landing fittingly on Juneteenth. This week's stories: A landmark opening in Chicago lands right on Juneteenth: a nearly 20-acre campus on the South Side, a decade in the making, that's less presidential library and more civic gathering place, right down to an Oval Office anyone can sit in. Five new museums are arriving in one famously museum-rich city this year, from a vertigo-inducing glass storehouse where you can watch conservators at work to a love letter to teenage subcultures, Walkman included. A newly protected stretch of the South Pacific roughly the size of the Amazon rainforest. One that's Indigenous-led, tourism-friendly, and home to about three-quarters of the world's coral species. Plus: Nikki's very specific dream of finally meeting a dugong in the wild. Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday 00:02:00 You Are America 00:04:00 London's Museum Boom 00:08:00 Protecting the Coral Triangle 00:11:00 In Search of Dugongs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What makes a hotel the best? Not just new, not just beautiful, but worthy of a list that thousands of travelers plan their year around? For Afar senior deputy editor Jennifer Flowers, it comes down to a single test: does this hotel have a story? Not a marketing story—a real one, rooted in the place it sits, the community around it, or the history in its bones. In this episode, Afar editorial director Billie Cohen sits down with Jenn to go behind the scenes of the 2026 Best New Hotels list, one of the biggest the team has ever assembled at 40 properties. Jenn explains how the year-long vetting process actually works (yes, every hotel was personally visited), why she pairs the right writer with the right destination, and what separates a genuine standout from a merely beautiful place to stay. Along the way, Billie and Jenn travel from a nonprofit lodge reachable only by boat or seaplane at the edge of British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, to a working dairy farm in Japan's Tohoku region, to a six-suite, solar-powered lodge on regenerating land in South Africa. They dig into the year's biggest themes: the rise of women hoteliers at the founder and CEO level, the surprising number of “new” hotels that are actually painstaking restorations of centuries-old buildings, the reinvention of the all-inclusive, and a growing hunger for ethical access to the world's wild places. See the full 2026 Best New Hotels list at afar.com/bestnewhotels. Chapters 00:00 — What Makes the Best 02:00 — The Story Test 08:00 — A Sleeper Hit 10:00 — Reviving an Icon 14:00 — Earning Your Luxury 18:00 — Part of the Place 20:00 — Surprised in Palm Beach 23:00 — New Hotels, Old Souls 28:00 — All-Inclusive, Reimagined 32:00 — Why Humans Still Matter Stay connected Follow Afar on Instagram and TikTok Follow Billie Cohen on Instagram Follow Jennifer Flowers on Instagram Stay connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Pauline Hanson's appeal seemingly grows by the week, at least according to opinion polls, how is she building a coalition that might not deliver her government but could make One Nation the second biggest party in the next parliament? Senator Hanson has never been an explicitly religious politician but there is small but important religious constituency that she is trying to woo.  India is in the midst of statue-building frenzy, with monuments springing up all over the country to the 17th century Hindu leader known as Shivaji. The warrior king has become a symbol – yes, another – of the rising power of Hindu nationalism, given his history of fighting the Mughal empire. But are his most ardent fans misreading Shivaji's legacy?  We have an image of Ethiopia as a harsh, even forsaken place, of famine and a landscape literally cracked by rising global temperatures. But Ethiopia's a country of resilient, resourceful people, who could thrive, if only world powers stopped meddling. That's the message of Australian aid worker VALERIE BROWNING. She's been living in Ethiopia's Afar region for 53 years, running an extraordinary organisation that's helped half a million women. She's back in Australia to visit family and publicise the work of the Barbara May Foundation that helps fund her work. Guests:Dr Benjamin Moffitt is a political scientist at Monash University and has been charting the progress of One Nation. Anupreeta Das is South Asia correspondent for The New York Times who has been following the Shivaji trend. She's author of Billionaire, Nerd, Saviour, KingValerie Browning is a nurse and author of "Maalika: My Life among the Afar Nomads in Africa”. She founded the the Afar Pastoral Development Association and the Barbara May Hospital.  

We have an image of Ethiopia as a harsh, even forsaken place, of famine and a landscape literally cracked by rising global temperatures.But Ethiopia's a country of resilient, resourceful people, who could thrive, if only world powers stopped meddling. That's the message of Australian aid worker VALERIE BROWNING. She's been living in Ethiopia's Afar region for 53 years, running an extraordinary organisation that's helped half a million women. Valerie's back in Australia to visit family and publicise the work of the Barbara May Foundation that helps fund her work. Guest:Valerie Browning is a nurse and author of "Maalika: My Life among the Afar Nomads in Africa”. She founded the Afar Pastoral Development Association and the Barbara May Maternity Hospital.  

Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul. This week, he heads into the high desert of Southern California to find out why the Mojave has been spawning some of rock's most original sounds for decades. Along the way, he discovers a landscape that's every bit as wild and inspiring as the music it produces. In this episode What “desert rock” actually means—and how the Mojave Desert's extreme heat, isolation, and silence forged a uniquely sun-baked, heavy sound that's impossible to replicate anywhere else The family tree of the genre: from Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age to Fu Manchu and a sprawling network of bands centered around Joshua Tree and 29 Palms The Mojave Experience, a two-day desert rock festival organized by Patrick Brink of the band Volume—and his plans to bring it back bigger next year Why the California desert has drawn musicians, filmmakers, and creatives for decades: from Gram Parsons' storied final days—and why Roc Gardner left New York to build a creative retreat called Escape in the desert Where to go and what to do: Joshua Tree National Park, Pioneertown, Pappy & Harriet's, generator parties under the stars, and why the area rewards a few slow days off the beaten path Meet this week's guests Patrick Brink is the frontman of Volume, a desert rock band from 29 Palms, California. He organized the Mojave Experience, a two-day desert rock festival featuring Kyuss alumni and scene veterans, and plans to bring it back bigger in spring 2027. Roc Gardner is a songwriter, entrepreneur, and the founder of Escape, a creative retreat for musicians, artists, filmmakers, and thought leaders set on the high desert outside Joshua Tree. A former New Yorker, Roc has hosted everyone from Usher to the Arctic Monkeys since opening. Guest host Tim Chester is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city's soul. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to the Desert 00:01:00 What Is Desert Rock? 00:02:00 Volume and the Mojave Experience 00:03:00 The Scene's Family Tree 00:04:00 Isolation, Extremes, and the Desert Sound 00:05:30 Space, Dynamics, and the Mojave Aesthetic 00:06:00 Desert Spirituality: the Integratron and Giant Rock 00:07:00 Generator Parties and Local Radio 00:08:00 Rock and Roll History in the Desert 00:09:00 Roc Gardner and Escape 00:10:30 The Creative Pull of the High Desert 00:12:00 Why You Should Visit A Music Fan's Travel Guide to the California Desert The high desert around Joshua Tree rewards slow travel. Most of the key spots are within easy reach of the town of Joshua Tree or 29 Palms. Here's how to do it like a fan. Start here: the essential stops Joshua Tree National Park—a designated Dark Sky Park and one of the most visually distinctive landscapes in North America, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. Hike, climb, and stay after dark for the stars. Pioneertown—an original 1940s cowboy movie set built by Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, still largely intact and walkable. The Integratron—a dome-shaped structure built by UFO enthusiast George Van Tassel in the 1950s. Book a sound bath and let the acoustics do their work. Giant Rock—one of the largest freestanding boulders in the world, a sacred site for the Serrano people and a legendary UFO gathering spot in the 1950s. Earthless played an immense show here. It's on YouTube. Hear live music Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace—the legendary honky-tonk saloon and music venue a mile outside Pioneertown. Paul McCartney has played here. Capacity: 300 inside, 1,000 outside. If anyone serious is touring through the desert, they're playing Pappy's. Local Show on Z107.7—Pat Kerns curates a two-hour showcase of local desert bands every Sunday on the area's community radio station: folk, punk, spaced-out psychedelia, and everything in between. The Mojave Experience—Patrick Brink's desert rock festival, planned to return in spring 2027. Check the website for lineup and dates. Stay and create Escape—Roc Gardner's creative retreat for musicians, artists, and anyone looking to swap city static for desert silence. Used by Usher, the Arctic Monkeys, and a long list of creatives. Rancho de la Luna—the legendary desert recording studio that inspired Escape, used by artists across the rock spectrum for decades. Go a little deeper Desert rock playlist—check the show notes for a curated playlist featuring Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Volume, Earthless, and more. Load it up for the drive in. Gram Parsons shrine—the small shrine behind a rock in Joshua Tree National Park, marking where rock's greatest cosmic cowboy spent his final days. Worth finding if you know where to look. Generator parties—informal outdoor concerts powered by generators, a desert tradition going back decades. Check local listings for upcoming shows, especially in fall and winter. Up next on Travel to Listen Tim heads to Detroit to hear big news at the Motown Museum—and to find out what's driving a musical renaissance in one of America's most storied music cities. New episode in two weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three Rush fans — a father, a son, and Spartacus — walk into a podcast. There’s no punchline, just the tape rolling on a conversation that was going to happen anyway, and you get to be the fly on the wall. Two of them just flew home from LA, where they stood in the room and watched Rush kick off the tour nobody was sure would ever come. The third has been taking it all in from a distance, which is its own peculiar thing when you once mixed front of house for the band for years. You’ll get the origin stories — a kite-flying contest in early-seventies St. Louis, an R40 playlist that turned a kid into a lifer — plus enough on the drummer question (yes, Anika Nilles) and show-count stats to earn the Rush-nerd badge none of them will quite cop to. Then it gets real. This is a band that fans and insiders alike once quietly accepted was finished, now back out there proving otherwise, and that turns the talk toward something bigger than setlists. You get to do this. Whether it’s thousands of people or a Tuesday night for a dozen, that gratitude is the whole game — the reason to Always Be Performing no matter how rough the bus ride was. Stick around for a ten-year-old’s perfectly timed gut check that still lands two decades later. Press play, and join Lucas Hamilton, Robert Scovill, and Dave Hamilton for a tour through the opening of Rush’s comeback — from inside the room, and from afar. 00:00:00 Gig Gab 538 – Monday, June 15th, 2026 June 15th: British Beer Day Guest co-hosts: Lucas Hamilton and Robert Scovill 00:02:46 Rush Stats All three co-hosts have seen Rush live with 2 drummers Lucas and Anika are tied for Rush shows… as of this recording 00:04:39 Robert Scovill was living in St. Louis when he saw Rush with Rutsey KC Kite Flying Contest 00:07:31 Lucas's Rush origin story 00:08:31 About that whole live concert sound thing Spoiler: Rush always sounded good 00:11:02 Favorite Rush heirlooms 00:13:55 I want a Red Barchetta for my midlife crisis Rush 2026 Tour started with 12 dates 00:16:02 That opening song, that opening night Rick Beato's Breakdown of Xanadu 00:23:40 Anika Nilles' dropped stick recovery Getting the first mistake out of the way moments into the first song of Rush’s 2026 Reunion tour 00:27:21 Time Stand Still for those emotional moments 00:33:11 Lights and video for 2112 – in the cave! 00:34:00 Singing 2112: Presentation at the tops of our lungs 00:38:50 Moving Pictures to open night 3 set 2 00:40:13 Loren Gold's keys and vocal harmonies And Geddy Lee’s voice, too! 00:44:29 The composition of YYZ Alex Lifeson is the most underrated guitarist in rock and roll 00:45:48 Anika Nilles is just a star 00:49:25 Anika grooving during A Passage to Bangkok 00:52:22 The physicality of playing Rush music The wisdom of days off in between shows for the entire Rush Fifty Something tour 00:57:41 You know what we get to do today? We get to go play music in front of thousands of people! This is the best job on earth 01:01:23 Who is Spartacus? 01:03:33 Gig Gab 538 Outtro Follow Lucas Hamilton On Instagram Follow Robert Scovill On Facebook On Instagram On LinkedIn RobertScovill.com (where you'll find The Back Lounge) Contact Gig Gab! @GigGabPodcast on Instagram feedback@giggabpodcast.com Sign Up for the Gig Gab Mailing List The post Three Rush Fans and Rush’s 2026 Comeback Tour: From the Room and From Afar – Gig Gab 538 appeared first on Gig Gab.

It's Feel-Good Friday, when your Unpacked host (Aislyn) and producer (Nikki) get together to swap the stories making them feel good this week. And this week they're joined by Afar's director of photography, Michelle Heimerman. They share three stories that are making them feel optimistic this week. Stories like... Some genuinely good news for anyone who loves a beach: one of the world's most beach-blessed countries has spent the past decade quietly turning the tide on plastic pollution — and the playbook is more doable than you'd think. A high-altitude adventure that trades the summit selfie for something quieter and more lasting — proof that you can chase a punishing challenge purely for the experience, not the applause. Meet the women rewriting who gets to lead a safari — and why the guides who didn't grow up in the bush might just be the best ones behind the wheel. Resources Learn more about Bartek Ziemski Read more about Australia's plastic decrease Listen to the episode about ABC's female guiding program The Afar Nepal cover shoot ⁠video⁠ Ridwell, the recycling service Chapters Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a safari look like when the guide isn't a man? Award-winning writer and editor Ellen Carpenter went to Botswana's Okavango Delta to find out. (To learn more, read her Afar story about the experience.) Meet this week's guests Ellen Carpenter is a New York–based culture and travel journalist. She served as editor in chief of Hemispheres, United's inflight magazine, for seven years, and before that was an editor at Rhapsody, Nylon, Spin, and Rolling Stone. Baemule "Bae" Siethuka, 32, grew up in Tutume in northeastern Botswana and was working in HR when she saw African Bush Camps' guiding program posted on Facebook. She became the program's first graduate in 2025 and is now a junior guide at Atzaró Okavango. Tshidi Phalaagae, 28, is a trainee guide from Gaborone, Botswana's capital — a true city girl who came to the program with, in her words, "zero knowledge of nature." At the time of Ellen's visit, she was just a few weeks shy of graduating. Jessica Motshegwa, 26, is a trainee guide from Mmadinare, Botswana, who joined the program in 2025. She once tried to enlist in the Botswana army. A Facebook link from her cousin changed her path. In this episode you'll learn Why more than 90 percent of African safari guides are male — and what one company is doing about it How African Bush Camp(ABC)'s three-year female guiding program works, from theory exams to practical training to first solo drives What it was like for Bae, ABC's first female guide, to complete her training while pregnant — and earn her license when her son was six months old Why Dutch Kasale, ABC's head guide and mentor, says training women from the city is often easier than training men who grew up in the bush What makes a female guide's approach on the game drive feel different The moment Bae manifests a leopard into view About African Bush Camps ABC was founded in 2006 by Beks Ndlovu, one of a handful of Black Africans to own a safari company. He launched the female guiding program in late 2021 with an ambitious goal: 50 percent female guides across all 18 camps in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia by 2030. There are currently 12 women in the program — eight trainees and four qualified guides. Chapters 00:00 — Into the Okavango 02:00 — The Case for Change 06:00 — Meet Tshidi 08:00 —Bae Siethuka Takes the Wheel 13:00 — Tracking the Leopard 16:00 — Inside the Program 21:00 — Bae's Big Moment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would happen if you called your grandmother out of the blue and asked her to go camping that night? For Brad Ryan, that impulsive phone call sparked a seven-year journey across all 63 U.S. national parks. Along the way, he and Grandma Joy, now 96, healed old wounds, faced down lifelong fears, and became unlikely internet stars. Brad's new book, Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at a Time, out June 16th, tells the whole story. In this episode, Brad talks with host Aislyn Greene about what he witnessed in his grandmother over those years—the phenomenon he describes as reverse aging, the way movement and purpose and intergenerational connection seemed to make her healthier and more coordinated over time, not less. He also reflects on the healing that happened in the car: the long stretches of road through South Dakota, the yellow line hypnosis, the conversations that finally surfaced after years of silence. And he shares what he learned writing the book: about his father, about his family's Irish roots, and about what it means to find pride in an imperfect lineage. In this episode Why Brad made the call—and what was happening in his life that led him there What Joy said when he pitched 63 parks How road trips create the conditions for conversations that can't happen anywhere else What the national parks offer as a place for connection across every kind of divide Grandma Joy's relationship with fear—near-drowning as a child, white-water rafting in Alaska at 90 Why Brad thinks the loneliness crisis among older Americans is something the parks could actually help address Resources Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at a Time by Brad Ryan, out June 16th Read the Afar story about Brad and Joy Follow Brad and Grandma Joy on Instagram Check out Brad and Grandma Joy's summer 2026 book tour (stops in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and California) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays. This week, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by Afar executive editor Kathrine LaGrave—and the three of them are ready to carry you into the weekend a little lighter, with stories about line dancing, travel with your dog, and the surprisingly simple science of being happy. The happy news Country line dancing is having a queer renaissance. Kathrine shares the story of Stud Country, a New York–based group offering country dancing parties and classes rooted in queer cowboy culture—open to everyone, from regulars to curious first-timers. It's getting a whole lot easier to travel with your dog. Nikki reports that searches for pet-friendly travel are up year-over-year, and a new wave of hotels isn't just tolerating four-legged guests—they're actively celebrating them, with welcome treats, room amenities, dog spas, and yes, an official Director of Pet Relations. Aislyn brings us back to Yale happiness researcher Laurie Santos, who went viral for teaching the most popular course in the university's history—and whose 2026 take on happiness comes down to one thing: more friction, more connection, less optimization. Travel, she argues, is one of the best tools we still have for getting out of our own way. Plus: a spirited debate about cowboy boot colors, a Yappy Hour proposal, and a vision for the ultimate Feel-Good Friday field trip—all dogs welcome. CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday 00:01:00 Boots, Belonging, and Stud Country 00:05:45 The Great Boot Color Debate 00:06:00 The Happiness Researcher You Need to Hear 00:10:00 Dogs Welcome: The New Pet-Friendly Hotel Era 00:14:30 Yappy Hour and Other Good Ideas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul. This week, he heads to Minneapolis to hear how a community center, a cold climate, and a once-in-a-generation genius combined to create one of the most distinctive sounds in American music, plus how the city is celebrating a decade since Prince's passing. In this episode How the Minneapolis sound emerged from the Great Migration, housing segregation, rock radio, and a community center called The Way, where a teenage Prince jammed alongside Morris Day and Terry Lewis Why Paul Peterson (dubbed St. Paul by Prince himself) believes the Minneapolis sound is joyous, funky, and built to last, and how his supergroup, the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, is carrying it forward The story of historian Kristen Zschomler: how grief over Prince's death led her to track 50+ locations across Minneapolis where he lived, worked, and recorded, and her ongoing mission to get them on the National Register of Historic Places What Prince mastered at his childhood home in North Minneapolis. Plus, why Sound 80, the studio where he cut his first demo tapes at 19, was the launchpad for everything that followed How to experience Minneapolis in 2026: from Paisley Park to First Avenue, Bunkers Music Bar to the Dakota, and the five-day Prince Celebration festival in June marking the 10th anniversary of Prince's death Meet this week's guests Paul Peterson is a musician, songwriter, and former Prince collaborator, dubbed "St. Paul" by the Purple One himself. He was a member of The Time and The Family, appeared in Purple Rain, and is now the leader of the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, an all-star alumni supergroup dedicated to keeping the Minneapolis sound alive. Kristen Zschomler⁠ is a historian and co-founder of the International Center 4 Prince Studies. She gives guided tours of Prince's Minneapolis and created Sound Around Tours, a self-guided audio tour app. She has researched and documented over 50 locations tied to Prince's life and work, and has successfully advocated for two of them to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Guest host ⁠Tim Chester⁠ is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city's soul. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Minneapolis 00:01:00 The Minneapolis Funk All-Stars 00:03:45 Music as Healing 00:06:45 What Made Minneapolis a Crucible 00:09:30 The Way and the Scene's Roots 00:12:45 Prince's Landmarks 00:15:30 Celebrating a Decade Since Prince A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Minneapolis Minneapolis is a walkable city with a thriving live music scene, and the landmarks of the Minneapolis sound are spread across a compact, navigable footprint. Here's how to do it like a fan. Start here: the essential stops Paisley Park—Prince's home, recording complex, and creative sanctuary in Chanhassen, just outside the city. Now a museum and events venue. Prince's childhood home—the North Minneapolis house where he mastered the piano, decoded albums note by note, and became Prince. Sound 80 Studios—the recording studio where a 19-year-old Prince cut the demo tapes that landed him his Warner Brothers contract. First Avenue—the venue Prince made famous in Purple Rain (he also recorded the song there, performing it live for the first time on that stage). Hear live music Bunkers Music Bar & Grill—the historic North Loop spot where Dr. Mambo's Combo plays every Sunday and Monday night. The Dakota—an intimate downtown jazz club with a packed calendar every night of the week. The Green Room—the venue where St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars frequently play Plan for June Celebration 2026—the annual Prince estate event runs June 3–7 this year as a five-day gathering with concerts, dance parties, and unseen footage. The International Center 4 Prince Studies has programming June 1–2 as well, and a new community museum opening in North Minneapolis that flips the curatorial lens: instead of Prince's instruments, it collects the stories of the people he touched. Artists to watch L.A. Buckner and Big Homie David Feily Cory Wong Dylan Salfer Chris Lawrence Alex Rossi Nur-D Nunnabove Up next on Travel to Listen Tim heads to Southern California to explore the spacey, grungy desert rock scene—and to find out there's a lot more to the region than Coachella. New episode in two weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say it can't be done and Steven Nunez proves them wrong running his chain of 4 laundromats remotely from over a thousand miles away! In this episode of The Laundromat Millionaire Show learn his tips and tricks for building and managing a team from afar and whether he recommends for new owners to do it too!Our Sponsors: H-M Company Drain Troughs: https://www.draintroughs.com Alliance Laundry Systems: https://go.speedqueencommercial.com/flexibilityCents & LaundroWorks: https://www.trycents.com/Our Guest:Steven Nunez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-nunez-79265123/The Laundry Room Orlando: https://orlandolaundryroom.com/Referenced Links: Our website: https://www.laundromatmillionaire.comEpisode with Charles Measley: https://youtu.be/KS0hQCZ1dGwTimestamps 00:00 Episode 121 Intro – Steven Nunez 01:49 Spotlight: Curbside 2026 Event Discount02:33 Steven Nunez: A Remote Laundromat Operator06:23 Building 1st Store & Expanding to 409:00 Why Choose a Market 1K Miles Away12:20 Navigating Construction Challenges Remotely14:22 Partner & Family Close By15:01 Building a Team from Afar, Managing Operations and Preventing Theft23:17 The Future of Payment Systems in the Industry27:32 Organizational Structure and Employee Roles28:24 Challenges of Pickup and Delivery Logistics & Whether to Move to a Closed Facility35:10 Store Sizes & Property Costs35:52 Finding &  Hiring that Key Employee44:54 Incentives & Bonus Structures47:19 Order Management and Accountability48:17 WDF & Delivery Software49:08 Advice for Newbies54:21 Steven's Contact Information 

Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays. This week, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are bringing you a special road trip edition — recorded live from the car somewhere in the forests of Michigan, microphones balanced on laps and sunscreen close at hand. It's a two-story episode today, and both come straight from the headlines of everyday life: Sunscreen use is up worldwide — and it's not just public health messaging that's doing it. Better formulas, the global influence of Korean and Japanese skincare, and a generational shift in sun-safety habits all play a role. Nikki and Aislyn dig into the data, swap their favorite SPF picks, and make the case for hand cream on road trips. The millennial song debate: NPR music journalists went looking for the one track that defines a generation, and landed on...well, we can't reveal that. But Aislyn and Nikki compare notes (Evanescence, No Doubt, Usher, J.Lo all make appearances), and share a playlist to soundtrack your own summer drive. Tell us your pick. Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Fridays (On the Road Edition) 00:01:00 Sunscreen Use Is Up — Here's Why That's a Big Deal 00:04:30 SPF Picks for the Road 00:05:30 The Millennial Song Debate 00:08:00 Why “Paper Planes” Won 00:09:30 Closing Out the Era: “I Love It” 00:10:30 Our Personal Millennial Anthems Stay Connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Asistăm la o disoluție îngrijorătoare a autorității morale în spațiul public, unde competența este sistematic marginalizată de nepotism, transformând instituțiile statului în feude personale imune la nevoile reale ale cetățeanului. . În timp ce datoria publică escaladează vertiginos pentru a întreține un aparat administrativ supraponderal și ineficient, reformele structurale profunde sunt amânate la nesfârșit din teama cinică de a nu pierde capital electoral. . Singura șansă de a rupe cercul vicios al subdezvoltării cronice este trecerea urgentă de la o economie bazată pe stimularea artificială a consumului la un model economic centrat pe producție internă, inovare și valoare adăugată mare. . Absorbția fondurilor europene nu trebuie privită ca un simplu exercițiu contabil de bifat statistici, ci ca pe ultimul tren strategic pentru modernizarea infrastructurii critice și reducerea decalajelor flagrante dintre regiuni. . Degradarea accelerată a sistemului educațional nu reprezintă doar o criză culturală, ci o vulnerabilitate majoră de securitate națională, capabilă să ne condamne la statutul de periferie economică a continentului pentru următoarele decenii. . O clasă politică responsabilă ar înțelege că stabilitatea macroeconomică nu se obține prin artificii fiscale de moment și suprataxarea sectorului privat, ci printr-o combatere agresivă a evaziunii și o disciplină financiară de fier. . Salvarea acestei societăți blazate depinde în mod direct de reinventarea meritocrației și de cultivarea unei elite tehnocrate veritabile, capabile să gândească dincolo de următorul ciclu electoral și să refacă încrederea spulberată în contractul social. IGDLCC înseamnă Informații Gratis despre Lucruri care Costă! Totul ne costă dar mai ales timpul așa că am făcut această serie pentru a mă informa și educa alături de invitați din domeniile mele de interes. Te invit alături de mine în această călătorie. Mi-am propus să mă facă mai informat și mai adaptat la schimbările care vin. Sper să o facă și pentru tine.

Welcome back to Feel-Good Friday. Every Friday through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. Each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what's possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers. This week, we're joined by Afar's deputy editor, Jennifer Flowers, and the three of us travel from the Himalayan foothills to the African savanna to the rolling hills of Sonoma. Together, we share: A corner of northern India that's quietly becoming a model for sustainable tourism, with tourism up 60 percent since 2018 and a network of community-run homestays that let you walk between guesthouses through pine and oak forests. The story of Craig, a celebrity super tusker elephant whose long, peaceful life in the wild is itself a conservation victory, and what his legacy says about decades of work in Kenya's Amboseli ecosystem A Sonoma incubator quietly rewriting who gets to make California wine, with one-of-a-kind small-batch bottlings to look out for from Leap of Grapes, Ward 4 Wines, and Mad Marvlus Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday 00:01:00 Sustainable Tourism in Uttarakhand 00:04:00 Meet Craig the Super Tusker 00:06:30 A Conservation Win for the Wild 00:09:30 Down a California Wine Rabbit Hole 00:11:20 The Vanguard of Small-Batch Wine Stay Connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This teaching was given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Lama Tsonkhapa Institute in Italy as part of the Ganden Lha Gyama retreat between September 3-30, 2004.00:00:01 The mind is obscured by many superstitious thoughts, like attachment, anger, and self-cherishing, which are based on grasping at an exaggerated object.00:06:47 While everything is empty of true existence, the ignorance projects true existence onto phenomena, like wearing colored glasses that make everything appear a certain color. We then allow our mind to believe this hallucination is real.00:14:52 Realizing emptiness helps generate strong compassion for sentient beings, seeing how they are suffering due to being ignorant of the way things actually exist. Their suffering comes from wrong concepts and mistaken ways of thinking.00:22:24 Realizing emptiness doesn't contradict bodhicitta, but rather makes one generate stronger bodhicitta. The positive thoughts like compassion and bodhicitta are not caused by or based on the ignorance grasping at true existence.00:26:20 Reciting Calling the Guru from Afar. The way to clean away the superstitious thoughts is through guru devotion - making requests to the guru from one's heart. One should strive to devote to the guru with the nine attitudes, such as viewing the guru as a buddha, following the guru's advice, and seeing the guru's actions as perfect and so on.00:36:30 Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads the recitation of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, offering of a short mandala, and recitation of Migtsema mantras.00:51:35 The group recites the Lamrim prayer from Lama Chopa.00:59:05 The group recites the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation and other prayers from Lama Chopa.1:23:32 Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads the protector prayers and dedications.02:08:55 Lama Zopa Rinpoche tells about Geshe Lama Konchog's Life. Dedication prayers.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

Today, we're speaking with Lindsey Danis, a queer writer of fiction and essays whose writing has appeared in AFAR, Fodor's Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, Longreads and more.Lindsey's book (Out) On the Road: The Radical Joy of Queer Travel is out this month. In it, Lindsey weaves personal experience with data and interviews, and offers readers a framework for planning travel, navigating risks, and becoming self-reliant.Lindsey is also the founder of the LGBTQ+ travel platform, Queer Adventurers, that focuses on queer women and nonbinary people. Her work is all about empowering LGBTQ+ travelers to understand and advocate for their needs so that they can plan incredible adventures.We are an audience-supported platform. Become a paid member to support our work and get our many perks.Visit us at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.Thanks to our Founding Members:RISE Travel Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to create a more just and equitable world through travel educationRadostina Boseva, a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San FranciscoWhat you'll learn in this episode:The "how" of writing a book and securing an agentThe concept of queer joyWriting for LGBTQ+ audiences through a liberatory frameworkWhy queer stories aren't just for queer travelers, but for anyone interested in a more expansive and inclusive worldWhat mainstream travel advice often gets wrong about the queer experienceHow we can use our spending power to advocate for changePractical insights on how to be an ally to a queer travelerFeatured on the show:Read (Out) On the Road: The Radical Joy of Queer TravelLearn more about Lindsey's workFollow Lindsey on Instagram: @lindsey.danis.writerConnect with Lindsey on LinkedInCheck out Lindsey's platform, Queer AdventuresGet Lindsey's book proposal worksheetGet Lindsey's allyship guide for travelersRead Lindsey's piece for Eater about the restaurant industryCheck out the Everywhere is Queer appGoing Places is a reader-supported platform. Get membership perks like a monthly group call with Yulia at goingplacesmedia.com!For more BTS of this podcast follow @goingplacesmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on YouTube!Please head over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE to the show. If you enjoy this conversation, please share it with others on social and don't forget to tag us @goingplacesmedia!And show us some love, if you have a minute, by rating Going Places or leaving us a review wherever you listen. You'll be helping us to bend the arc of algorithms towards our community — thank you!Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down with travelers, journalists, creators, and people living and working in destinations around the world. Hosted by Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel journalist, photographer, and writer who's worked with National Geographic, The New York Times, BBC Travel, and more. Learn more about our show at goingplacesmedia.com.

Welcome to Travel to Listen, a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul. This week, he goes to the source in Macon: meet the people keeping the city's legendary songbook alive, and find out why a trip here might be the most soulful detour you've never considered. In this episode How the Macon Music Revue transforms songs by Little Richard, the Allman Brothers, and R.E.M. into something new—without losing what made them legendary Why Charles Davis believes there's “something in the water” in Macon—and how the city's Indigenous roots may be part of its musical soul The story behind the new Otis Redding Center for the Arts: from a 1965 music camp at Otis's ranch to a full museum and education hub that opened in March 2025 What visitors to Macon often don't know about Otis Redding—the savvy businessman, devoted family man, and farmer who owned cows, chickens, and horses Where to eat, drink, and hear live music in Macon: from Capricorn Sound Studios to H&H Soul Food, where the Allman Brothers ate when they were broke Meet this week's guests Charles Davis is the frontman of the Macon Music Revue, a band that reinterprets the city's iconic catalog with a soul-forward sound all their own. A longtime Macon radio voice, Charles is one of the city's most active stewards of its musical legacy. Justin Andrews is the director of special projects and outreach at the Otis Redding Foundation, and the grandson of soul legend Otis Redding. He helped bring the Otis Redding Center for the Arts to life when it opened in March 2025. Guest host Tim Chester is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city's soul. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Macon 00:01:15 Inside the Macon Music Revue 00:04:15 Something in the Water 00:06:15 A Tour Through Southern Rock 00:09:45 H&H Soul Food and the Allman Brothers 00:10:30 Otis Redding's Vision Comes Home 00:13:45 The Man Behind the Music 00:15:00 Where to Hear Otis in Macon A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Macon Macon is walkable, the downtown is compact, and most of the music landmarks sit within a few square miles. Here's how to do it like a fan. Start here: the essential stops Capricorn Sound Studios & Museum—the birthplace of Southern rock. The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House—the Tudor-style house where Duane, Gregg, Berry Oakley, and their families lived from 1970 to 1973. The Otis Redding Museum—View plane tickets, telegrams, the briefcase from the wreckage, and pictures pulled from Zelma Redding's personal archive. The Otis Redding Center for the Arts (ORCA)—The newest piece of the puzzle, opened March 2025: a youth music education hub, the O3 Recording Studio, and the outdoor Zelma Redding Amphitheater, where a bronze statue of Otis now welcomes visitors. Hear live music Grant's Lounge—the historic dive that served as an audition spot for Capricorn Records. The Douglas Theatre—built in 1921 as a venue for African American performers during segregation, and where a teenage Otis Redding won the teen talent competition so many times the organizers asked him to stop entering. Hargray Capitol Theatre—a beautifully restored downtown venue that brings in touring acts across genres. Eat and drink like a local H&H Soul Food—the legendary downtown spot started by Mama Louise and Mama Inez, who fed the Allman Brothers when they were broke. The Rookery—Get the burger, stay for the music, and listen for the Otis Redding song that always seems to be playing when you walk in. Go a little deeper Rock Candy Tours—weekly guided walking tours that connect the dots between the studios, homes, and venues. The Macon Music Trail—a self-guided trail of 43+ music sites with a free companion mobile app, including the Little Richard House and Rose Hill Cemetery, where Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried. The Macon Music Revue (Terminus Records, 2024)—listen to Charles's reinterpretations of “Losing My Religion,” “Stand Back,” and more. themaconmusicrevue.com Up next on Travel to Listen Tim heads to Minneapolis to get bright and bouncy with the city's funk scene—and to hear how the city is planning to mark the 10th anniversary of Prince's untimely passing. New episode in two weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays! Every Friday through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. In each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what's possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers. This week, they're joined by Afar's editorial director, Billie Cohen, and the trio covers all the elements: water, sky, and land. Together, they share: A Pacific Northwest conservation project that turns one of nature's most epic journeys into something you can actually root for, fish by fish The pilot who spent more than 50 years chasing a childhood dream—and just made history at one of the country's biggest airlines A weekend tradition in rural Minnesota where you can follow hand-painted signs from studio to studio, and the Estonian summer ritual Billie shared in a recent Travel Tale. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday 00:01:00 Rooting for Baby Salmon 00:05:00 United's First Female Captain 00:08:30 Quirky Local Trail Season 00:10:30 Open Cafés in Estonia (00:00) Welcome to Feel-Good Friday (01:00) Rooting for Baby Salmon (05:00) United's First Female Captain (08:30) Quirky Local Trail Season (10:30) Open Cafés in Estonia Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In last week's episode, host Aislyn Greene shared the story of towing a 20-foot Airstream down the Oregon coast in an all-electric Rivian truck — the campsite mishaps, the strangers who became friends, the joy of slow travel. This week, she's back with the practical guide: how an EV road trip actually works when you're towing, and what to know before you try one yourself. Aislyn sits down with Sarah Eslinger, who heads up Rivian's Adventure Network, to talk about how the company has been quietly building fast-charging infrastructure in the places EV drivers actually want to go — not just along interstates, but on the edge of Death Valley, outside Yellowstone, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and yes, all along Oregon's Highway 101. They get into why 70 percent of Adventure Network sites are trailer-friendly, how the built-in trip planner factors in elevation, heat, and trailer weight, and why Rivian tested its charging bays with an Airstream. Then Aislyn shares the five things she wishes she'd known before hitching up — from how much range to expect when towing, to the adapter you need to charge overnight at a campsite, to the trailer mirrors that will change your life. Whether you're EV-curious, RV-curious, or just love a good road trip, this one's a window into how the infrastructure for adventure travel is changing — and how much easier it's getting to take the scenic route. Chapters 00:00:00 Bonus Episode Setup 00:01:08 Inside Rivian's Adventure Network 00:03:15 Why the Trip Planner Works 00:05:08 Towing-Friendly by Design 00:06:50 Five Things to Know Before You Tow 00:09:25 The Verdict and What's Next Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're studying Exodus 19:6; 20:18 in just one minute! Grab your scriptures and let's dive into them together!And grab study guides for the whole family here: -Grab Kristen's copies of helpful PDFs and study guides here: https://shop.kristenwalkersmith.com/products/ Check out her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@startherestudy/shorts- To get Cali's scripture study guide for adults click here: https://comefollowmestudy.com/shop/ Discount code: OMSSOr purchase on Amazon: https://a.co/d/06bWsVYVGet our NEW 365-day Old Testament daily devotional book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0p3Ds0t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.