Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

Life begins again in spring, and as the air (and your nostrils) fill with pollen it might be a good time to learn something new about the plants with which we share the earth. To do so, Lale talks to nature writer Jessica J. Lee about how, as she's lived around the world, learning about non-native plants has given her a sense of belonging. From cherry blossoms to seaweed to tea, plants cross borders by themselves, or because we move them for very different reasons.

With summer travels on the horizon, Lale taps professional astrologer—and Women Who Travel columnist—Steph Koyfman to read her chart and guide her through the season and the rest of the year. Plus, we hear from three listeners who are thinking about relocating, getting citizenship in a new place, and undertaking a life changing trek, and turn to Steph for clarity.

Traveling everywhere from the savannahs of Tanzania to the mountains of Montana, Dr. Rae Wynn Grant is on a mission to save the world’s most endangered species. Lale chats with the wildlife ecologist, podcaster, author and co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom to hear stories from her new memoir, WILD LIFE: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World (including a dicey near death experience), how she’s advocating for better representation in the environmental science space, and why everyone should have access to the outdoors.

As Women's History Month comes to a close, we dive into the stories of two pioneering pilots: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman. Yet while the legend of Earhart’s aviation feats and mysterious disappearance has long gripped the public imagination, Coleman’s equally impressive career as the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license is a story that still largely goes untold. Lale chats with Dorothy Cochrane, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, to find out more about both pilots record-breaking flights, the risks they took, the individual challenges they faced, and the ingenious ways they advocated for themselves.

This week Lale chats with author Chantha Nguon—along with her daughter Clara and co-author Kim Green—about her new memoir Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes. Listen to hear the trio share stories of their travels across Cambodia and collaborations in the kitchen, while Chantha reflects on life as a Cambodian refugee, life in 1960s Battambang, and the dishes that have always kept her connected to home.

Following the release of Condé Nast Traveler's annual Women Who Travel Power List, spotlighting 15 leaders like activist Quannah ChasingHorse, TV host Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, and content creator Charlotte Simpson, Lale and fellow editor Megan Spurrell get together in the studio to chat about how they shaped the list, the ways it's guiding their travel decisions, and ask the question: How should we use our power, once we have it?

In honor of International Women's Day, Lale chats with award-winning director Lulu Wang, who is featured on Condé Nast Traveler's 2024 Women Who Travel Power List, about creating the worlds of Expats and The Farewell, the importance of using filmmaking to highlight untold stories, and her journey to becoming an award-winning director—without making compromises.

It's an election year, and already journalists are traveling all over the country to tell voters the most important stories from the trail. But what is it like to cover the US presidential race as a foreign reporter? Lale chats with three correspondents from Canada and Europe as they share tales of blizzards, campfires in Tennessee, and late-night eats after long days of breaking news.

In her upcoming book Enchanted Islands: Travels Through Myth and Magic, Love & Loss, author Laura Coffey charts a real-life journey she took inspired by one of the most epic travel stories ever told: The Odyssey. Lale catches up with Coffey to find out how the famous poem informed where she went, the unforgettable meals she ate, and the cast of characters she met along the way.

In 2019, friend of the podcast Jessica Nabongo became the first Black woman to visit every country in the world—and document it all along the way. We check back in with her to find out how and where she’s traveling in 2024, and revisit a conversation about solo travel from an earlier episode.

Love doesn’t sleep just because you’re traveling. This episode, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re dedicating an episode to our listeners’ stories, from tales of a windswept singles resort, to a fling in a Toronto hotel, to a surprising encounter in China. Whether you love or hate this holiday, or love to hate it, we promise this episode will be a fun one.

This week, we chat with journalist Laura Trethewey, author of The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World's Oceans, about traveling to the deepest parts of the ocean, sailing on research boats across some of the most remote and roughest seas in the world, and the intrepid deep sea divers and scientists who are racing to map the ocean floors.

Twenty one countries make up Latin America—and within those countries lies myriad food cultures, recipes, and histories. This week, Lale chats with guest Sandra A. Gutierrez about her latest cookbook Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America, an encyclopedic exploration of the region through its dishes and the home cooks who make them. Plus, her travels in countries like Peru and Colombia, and insider tips for tracking down the best eats in a new city.

Slow travel is a buzzy term these days, but what does it actually mean? Over the coming months, we'll explore what it takes to travel slowly and more intentionally, starting with this week's episode: A conversation with travel writer and adventurer Alice Morrison, who spent seven months walking across Morocco alongside a group of nomads.

It's a new year, which means it's time to stop daydreaming and start planning your travels for the next 12 months. Can't decide where to visit? Start listening to find out the best places to go in 2024—from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Accra, Ghana—according to Condé Nast Traveler editors Arati Menon and Sarah James.

In a special episode from The New Yorker's Critics At Large, the celebrity memoir has long been a place for public figures to set the record straight on the story of their lives. By any measure, Britney Spears’s life, as detailed in her new book, “The Woman in Me,” is rich material. The pop star rose to fame in the early two-thousands, and, after enduring a series of mental-health crises, was placed in a conservatorship through which her father controlled almost every aspect of her day-to-day existence. On this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the “horror story” that emerges in the memoir as the teen-aged Spears is betrayed by everyone around her: a family intent on profiting off her talent; a young Justin Timberlake, who used his romance with Spears as a stepping stone for his own career; a ravenous media that both sexualized and shamed her. The hosts consider how “The Woman in Me” fits within the broader canon of celebrity memoirs, citing the producer Julia Phillips’s “burn-it-all-down” best-seller, “You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again,” and the late Matthew Perry’s 2022 meditation on his struggles with addiction, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.” Ultimately, these stories are just one facet of a broader narrative—and a kind of performance in their own right. “Once you submit to being a celebrity, your music, and how you appear in magazines, and what you produce as a memoir all contribute to this one big text,” Cunningham says. “It’s this grand synthesis, and, in the end, the text is Britney herself.”

For our last episode of the year, we’re diving into something we’re all doing a lot of around the holiday season: partying. And in Ukraine, where our two guests are based, rave culture has become a necessary vehicle for letting off steam, distraction, and finding joy. Back in November, Lale caught up with Kyiv-based journalist Anastacia Galouchka, who recently penned a story on the capital’s rave scene for Stranger’s Guide, and novelist Haska Shyyan, who lives in Lviv, about what raving means to them and the power of community and safe spaces during unimaginable turbulence and uncertainty.

We dive into the thorny issue of passport privilege thanks to this week’s guest, Shahnaz Habib, author of the new book Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel. Why do some travelers gain more visa-free access than others? Who determines how a place is seen through the lens of its guidebooks? And what does the word "wanderlust" mean, exactly? Shahnaz seeks to answer all that and more, and shares some of her own travel stories.

Is there a more universally used beauty product than eyeliner? Not according to author Zahra Hankir, who chats with Lale about her new book Eyeliner: A Cultural History, which looks at the meaning and symbolism of kohl around the world, from Kyoto to Chad, as well as throughout the Middle East—and dives into her own personal history with the enduring piece of makeup.

In 1938 two women botanists broke with convention and set off on an expedition trip along the Colorado River that would see them risk their lives over rapids in the name of research. Two years ago, science journalist Melissa Sevigny retraced their adventure, whitewater rafting the same rapids and sleeping under the stars to learn more about who these women were—and why their work still influences the scientific landscape of America today.

It can be hard to escape the frenzy of Valentine’s Day and all its forced expectations. But here on this podcast, we’re avoiding the cliches in favor of a conversation with Dr. Orna Guralnik, host of Showtime’s hit documentary series Couples Therapy, which is about to enter into its fourth season. Lale chats with Orna about everything from how to balance both of your needs on a trip to expectation setting on the road. The good news? She believes travel is beneficial to a relationship.

Lale chats with journalist and author Louisa Lim about her recent book, Indelible City, which dives deep into the untold stories of Hong Kong, both past and present, through a cast of calligraphers, street artists, and more, while also reflecting on her own personal connection with a place she long-called home.

Should I check my luggage or carry-on? Fold or roll? Bring one pair of shoes or...seven? Packing for a trip, when done well, can feel like an art form—yet one that few of us seem to have figured out. This week, Chloe Malle, the new Editor of Vogue.com and the co-host of Vogue’s podcast The Run-Through with Vogue, joins Lale in the studio to dish her packing wisdom—and answer listeners' burning questions.

Whether its embedding herself with orchid hunters in Florida or chasing surfers in Maui, Susan Orlean is never afraid to throw herself into the story. A longtime writer for the New Yorker, and author of beloved titles like Saturday Night, The Library Book, and On Animals, she's traveled the world—and calls into the studio to share stories from Iceland, Bhutan, and more.

Salem, Massachusetts has long lived in our public consciousness as both the site of the infamous witch trials of 1692 and 1693 and as a Halloween tourist destination depicted in myriad pieces of literature, pop culture, and art. But what is it actually like to spend time there? Lale chats with Dr. Helen Berger from the Women’s Studies Center at Brandeis University, whose written multiple books about witch communities in Salem and elsewhere to find out. Plus, we dive into WitchTok content from around the world.

New York City's Chinatown is arguably one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world—and perhaps one of the most storied, too. Ava Chin, whose memoir, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, came out this spring, chats with Lale about the apartment building that housed four generations of her family, and the journey a look into her heritage took her on.

When Tamsin Calidas left London to live on a croft in the Scottish Hebrides, she was idealistic and totally ignorant about farming. Years later and after facing and overcoming significant struggles, she feels in harmony with nature, wildlife, and the beauty of her island. Calidas sits down with host Lale Arikoglu to chat about working the rugged landscape.

This week, we're teaming up with our friends over at Bon Appetit for a special episode of Dinner SOS.

Tune in to hear host Chris Morocco and food editor Shilpa Uskokovic put their heads together and help Lale prepare a group dinner for some travelers with pretty specific dietary restrictions. They all get very confused about what a nightshade is, but we promise they find a solution in the end.

Glamorous, exciting, and often nostalgic—when at its best (and let’s be clear, no two journeys are made equal) seeing the world by train can be all of those things and more, especially if you’re on a sleeper train. After all, what could be more exciting than going to sleep in one country and waking up in another? Lale chats with Monisha Rajesh—friend of the podcast and author of books like Around the World in 80 Trains and Epic Train Journeys—about her recent travels by sleeper, and we hear from a listener who took an epic solo train journey across Canada.

Lale chats with Moroccan-Canadian singer songwriter Faouzia Ouihya—who, at just 23, has already clocked up numerous accolades for her poppy, anthemic hooks performed in English, French, and Arabic. They talk Moroccan food, how Faouzia’s heritage shapes her music, and more.This episode was recorded several weeks before the devastating earthquake in Morocco. For information on how to help and donate, head to cntraveler.com. Link to embed: https://www.cntraveler.com › storyHow to Support Morocco Earthquake Survivors—and Where to Donate

Planning a trip around food is one of our favorite ways to travel, so Lale turns to a seasoned restaurant scouter for intel. Kate Kassin is the Editorial Operations Manager at Bon Appétit, which means she works on some of the magazine's biggest projects, including its Best New Restaurants list. They talk about what it takes to uncover some of the most exciting places to eat in the US right now, and her tips for finding the best spots to eat on any vacation.

After a summer filled with European travel, Lale catches up with The New Yorker's Rebecca Mead to learn a few surprising facts about one of the continent's most famous—and ancient—sites, Pompeii. Plus, she hears from a listener about what it felt like to explore a Greek landmark steeped in mythology.

As summer comes to a close, Lale catches up with one last listener about her recent trip to Oaxaca, where she found herself sharing a transformative hiking experience with a group of women.

In another special mini episode of Women Who Travel, Lale takes a call from listener Margaret, who is so fascinated with an international trip her mother took in the 1950s that she's now working to recreate it for herself.

As the FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand draws to a close, we share conversations with two women who've had very different experiences with the tournament over the years: Australian Broadcasting Company's sportscaster Tracey Holmes, who spent her career covering numerous Olympics and World cups, and Nicole Barnhart, goalkeeper of The Washington Spirit and, unsurprisingly, a super traveler for the sport.

In another special mini episode of Women Who Travel, Lale catches up with listener Jamie, who says she loves the idea of camping, but can never quite get it right. Enter, calamitous stories of thunderstorms in the Grand Canyon and a misguided weekend at a music festival.

In a special mini episode of Women Who Travel, Lale gets on the phone with South Carolina-based listener Cinelle to hear about her recent, long-awaited trip home to the Philippines—and the food she was in search for once she got there.

Treacherous mountain ascents like Everest have long been mythologized by men. But this week, Lale chats with two women who are achieving extraordinary feats at high altitudes: Jen Peedom, an award-winning Australian film director, who makes documentaries about mountaineering, and Sasha DiGiulian, a professional rock climber who went from winning indoor competitions to going on treacherous outdoor climbs that led her to accomplish 28 First Female Ascents around the world, including a First Female Ascent on the North Face of the Eiger, the highest wall of the Alps.

We travel for all sorts of reasons: self-discovery, something new, a chance to break out of our routines. But how often is it truly restorative? Lale talks to activist, educator, entrepreneur, and ardent solo traveler Rachel Cargle about creating calm in every step of a journey—and her new memoir and manifesto, A Renaissance of Our Own.

It’s summer, which means we're grabbing every chance there is to hit the beach or dive into a hotel swimming pool. But some travelers are a little more intrepid, plunging into wild, frigid waters for all manner of reasons. To find out why, Lale chats with writer and wild swimmer Freya Bromley about her recent memoir The Tidal Year and catches up with friend of the podcast and author Dorthe Nors, who lives on a remote part of Denmark’s west coast.

Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata love being best friends, which means they also love traveling together. Lale catches up with the two comedians, whose respective television appearance include Nailed It and Loosely, Exactly Nicole, and Saturday Night Live, Woke, and Home Economics, to find out more about how they vacation together. Plus, Nicole and Sasheer field questions from Condé Nast Traveler editors about how to navigate the challenges of traveling with friends.

What makes a national dish? And who gets to decide? Lale talks to food writer Anya Von Bremzen about her global quest to find out, which she charts in her new book National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home, and checks in with Bon Appetit's Mallary Santucci to find out how the food publication tackles the question in its own test kitchen.

This week, Lale chats with actor Gabrielle Union about her new docuseries, Gabrielle Union: My Journey to 50, a two-part special on BET+. Listen in as Gabrielle shares how she traveled with her family—and many friends—to Zanzibar, Ghana, Namibia, and South Africa in honor of her 50th birthday, reflecting on the beauty of Namibia's spectacular desert, the emotional experience of visiting sites like the Assin Manso River and the Memorial Wall of Return in Ghana, and much more.

New York City's Chinatown is arguably one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world—and perhaps one of the most storied, too. Ava Chin, whose memoir, Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, came out this spring, chats with Lale about the apartment building that housed four generations of her family, and the journey a look into her heritage took her on.

Lale chats with Kris Tompkins, an American conservationist who is the subject of a new National Geographic documentary, Wild Life, about her work restoring the wild beauty of Patagonia by protecting and creating nearly 15 million acres of parkland. Her philosophy? "If you buy a Picasso and you hang it in your living room, you and your family can enjoy it. But if you take that same Picasso and you donate it to MoMA or any place really around the world, millions of people will see that every year and be informed by it, entertained by it." The same applies to nature, says Kris.

K Beauty is one of biggest beauty markets in the world—and one that people travel from all over the world for. This week, Lale chats with Elise Hu, a broadcast journalist, author, and host of the podcast TED Talks Daily, whose new book Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Beauty from the Korean Capital, reflects on her time living in Seoul and dives deep into the six billion dollar industry and its impact on Korean culture.

A special episode from The Atlas Obscura Podcast about the strange story of Catalina Island’s herd of bison, and the harrowing story of producer Sarah Wyman’s encounter with these intimidating residents. Listen to The Atlas Obscura Podcast on Apple, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catalina-island-bison-herd

In honor of Mother’s Day, journalist and author Connie Wang calls in to talk about her new book of essays, Oh My Mother!, centered around travels to places like Paris, China, and Las Vegas (one Magic Mike show included) with her mother Qing. And later, we hear from a whole host of listeners, both mothers and daughters, about their own trips.

Lale chats with Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent. Doucet’s career has taken her to places like Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Brazil—she often leaves for an assignment on a moment’s notice to cover natural disasters and turbulent warzones. If you follow the BBC World Service or BBC News, then her voice is likely familiar to you thanks to her decades of work spent bringing the stories of people and places around the globe into our living rooms, but it’s not often that she talks about her own life and work.

Lale chats with actor Arsema Thomas, who plays a young Lady Danbury in the soon to be released Netflix series Queen Charlotte - A Bridgerton Story, from Shonda Rhimes. Off screen, Arsema has spent large swathes of her life living in different countries across Africa—an experience that has informed her approach to acting, and the role she is now playing. She shares stories from Uganda, Nairobi, Cape Town, and more, and discusses filming the Bridgerton prequel inside English country homes, and the complex history behind them.

Few of us get to witness the rich and complex ecosystems that live below the oceans' surface—but for Zandile Ndhlovu, venturing deep underwater on a single breath is part of daily life. Lale chats with the South African free diver about her work running The Black Mermaid Foundation, witnessing coral bleaching first hand, weaving sustainability into her travels, and coming face-to-face with a shark. Plus, we hear from a New Yorker about restoring oyster reefs in and around the city.

Everyday we travel to far-flung places through our television screens, all thanks to the directors, location scouts, camera crews, and more who skillfully capture—or create—entire worlds for us to get lost in. One of those people is Lesli Linka Glatter, the award-winning director behind shows like Twin Peaks, Homeland, and Mad Men. Lale sits down with her to find out about how she bought to life 1970s Texas in the new HBO Max show Love and Death, what it's like to travel the world with a film crew, and the time she took a life-changing trip to Tokyo.

With summer only a few months away, now is the time to start planning that road trip—especially if you're based in the U.S., where one of the best ways to see the country is by car (there are so many iconic American road trip movies for a reason). Enter, our guest this week: Kristen Meinzer, an author and podcast host who has spent much of her travels road tripping around the Midwest and staying at kitschy motels. Lale chats with Meinzer about her favorite roadside attractions across the country (hello, Corn Palace), how she sniffs out a quality motel, Dolly Parton, and more.

We travel for all manner of experiences—culinary, adventure, music, and more. Mya-Rose Craig travels to spot birds. Lale chats with the 20-year-old ornithologist about birdwatching in some of the world's most spectacular places, sharing a platform with climate change activist Greta Thunberg, and her new memoir Birdgirl. Plus, we hear from Condé Nast Traveler contributor Betsy Andrews about her own birdwatching trip to Bonaire.

If you subscribe to this podcast, then you're familiar with our listener dispatches: unique, funny, and often deeply personal stories shared with us by the Women Who Travel community. Weaving them into the podcast is one our favorite things to do, which is why this week we're mixing up the format as Lale and the podcast's very own producer, Jude Kampfner, revisit some of their favorites—from a breakup in Paris and an intrepid solo hiking trip to a spooky encounter in Ireland.

If you’re lucky, you’ve gotten to experience some of the natural beauty found across America’s 63 National Parks, home to places like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Acadia, Maine. But few people have got to see as much of them as guest Emily Pennington, a regular Condé Nast Traveler contributor and author of Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in America’s National Parks. Emily chats with Lale about surrendering herself to the wilderness, witnessing the Northern Lights first hand, and the profound impact Alaska had on her. Plus we hear from listeners about their own National Park adventures.

Travel is inherently absurd, amusing, chaotic, messy, embarrassing, and deeply nuanced. And sometimes, we go to places with built in prejudices that we haven't previously confronted—and hopefully overturn them in the process. Who better, then, to dive into a conversation about all of this than Chelsea Handler? The comedian, television host, and best selling author chats with Lale about wrapping up her 'Vaccinated and Horny Tour' across the U.S., rediscovering her hometown of Los Angeles, her eternal fear of snakes, and more.

We’re re-airing this episode which was first published 10/6/2022.

Lale talks to two of her favorite authors about two cities that she’s most connected with—Rebecca Meade about London and Elif Batuman on Istanbul—and asks the question: What do you learn about a city by walking around it instead of driving through it? "You want to knit yourself into the fabric of a place and see your story knitted into it," says Meade. Plus, listeners contribute their own walking stories about Budapest, Dubrovnik, and Malta—all solo travelers who had unforgettable experiences thanks to the decision to explore a new place by foot.

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In this week's episode, we travel to Australia to talk to dancer, choreographer, and storyteller Frances Rings, a descendant of the Wirangu and Mirning Tribes from the country's southern west coast, and the artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theater, Australia's leading Indigenous performing arts company. She explains the power of dance as a tool for healing—and shares stories of Indigenous Australia.

Out of respect for Indigenous Australian bereavement practices, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this podcast contains the name of someone who has died.

The Amazon lives in our imaginations, in literature, and throughout swathes of travel writing. But what is it like to live there? Lale chats with journalist Eliane Brum who's built a house from recycled wood in Altamira, a town on the northern fringes of the Amazon, to find out more—and to learn about her new book, Banzeiro Òkòtó: The Amazon as the Center of the World. Plus, Condé Nast Traveler editor Megan Spurrell tells us about a life-changing trip to an equally spectacular yet vulnerable place: Antarctica.

It can be hard to escape the frenzy of Valentine’s Day and all its forced expectations. But here on this podcast, we’re avoiding the cliches in favor of a conversation with Dr. Orna Guralnik, host of Showtime’s hit documentary series Couples Therapy, which is about to enter into its fourth season. Lale chats with Orna about everything from how to balance both of your needs on a trip to expectation setting on the road. The good news? She believes travel is beneficial to a relationship.

Wellness is an immensely popular—and profitable—industry when it comes to travel, but with a near-endless slew of options for self-care to consider, from ayueverdic yoga to sound baths to ayahausca retreats, the meaning of what wellness actually is can get diluted. To find out more, Lale chats with Fariha Róisín, a poet, novelist, nonfiction writer, and author of the book Who Is Wellness For? to answer just that.

In the second installment of Women Who Travel's mini series about food, gardening, and wellness, Lale catches up with Sophia Roe, an activist, chef, and host of the travel and food show, Counter Space, is available to stream on Tastemade, to talk about the places and people she met while filming season two, her unending love of mushrooms, and what it means to live well. Plus, we hear from two Girl Scouts who have developed green thumbs at one of New York City's cherished community gardens.

Part of a three week series that dives into all things cooking, gardening, and self care in its many forms, Lale sits down with legendary restaurant owner, cookbook author, chef, and community activist Tanya Holland. Her restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen, became a focal point of the Oakland community during its almost 15 year tenure, and now, she has a gorgeous new cookbook out: California Soul, which traces the roots of California soul food from the Western Migration to the present day through recipes, storytelling, and profiles of local chefs and makers. Plus, we hear from a Condé Nast Traveler editor who holds Oakland close to her heart.

The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and after the last few challenging pandemic ones, that might also mean dwelling on feelings of loss or grief. This week, Lale chats with the creator of a podcast called The Order of the Good Death. She’s Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, the owner of a funeral home in Los Angeles, and an advocate of funeral reform. She’s toured the world exploring death rituals—from Barcelona to Mexico to Indonesia to Bolivia to Japan—on a quest to discover where death has the most dignity, and what we can learn from it. Plus, we hear from a listener who traveled to Ireland and may, or may not, have encountered the spirit of a legendary Irish poet.

It's the middle of winter, so who better to chat with than Blair Braverman, writer, author, dog musher, and unofficial extreme cold expert about her life in Northern Wisconsin, competing in the Iditarod—the longest dog sled race in the world—and her new book, Small Game, about a survival reality show in the wildnerness that goes awry. Plus we hear from a listener who spends much of her time traveling with animals from between the east and west coasts of the U.S.

With holiday travel approaching, tensions are running high and things can get, well, a little stressful. To help us feel more at ease as we enter into the festive period, Lale chats with Gretchen Rubin, author of blockbuster books like Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home, about how to get the most out of the season.

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People travel far and wide to compete in marathons, and for extreme runner Nicki Rehn these feats of endurance are her favorite way to see the world. Lale chats with Rehn to find out about her career high of running the mountain peaks of Bhutan, as well as other jaw-dropping treks. Plus, Condé Nast Traveler editor Megan Spurrell stops by the studio to share her own New York Marathon story.

Our voices are a defining quality of who we are—but often go underappreciated, argues Lake Bell. This week, Lale chats with the writer-actor-director-producer about her new audiobook with Pushkin Industries, ‘Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound,' to find out just how much of our personal histories and travels are captured by our voices, and unpacks the power we possess—and the challenges we may face—when we speak.

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What do we gain—and leave behind—when we move abroad? Lale chats with Lebanese poet Zeina Hashem Beck, whose third poetry collection, 'O,' was released this summer, about moving away from her beloved Beirut and hopping between countries until arriving in her current home of California. Plus, listeners share stories about the challenges, joys, and surprises that come with overseas moves.

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Solo travel is lauded as one of the most exciting ways to see the world—and for good reason. It's adventurous, eye-opening, unpredictable, transformative. But it can also be challenging and, at some points, a little lonely, even for the most experienced of travelers. Lale chats with Jessica Nabongo, who in 2019 became the first documented Black woman to visit every country in the world (89 of which she visited solo), about what she learned about herself during those travels. Plus, we hear from listeners about their own solo travel experiences in Laos, Havana, and more.

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The past six weeks have seen historic demonstrations sweep across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, with protesters—the majority of whom are women—taking to the streets to address the country's status quo. Lale chats with Iranian-American cookbook author Naz Deravian, whose book Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories, won a 2019 Julia Child Foundation award, to discuss the current uprising, how food both maintains and strengthens her bonds with the country, and the ways that food culture can help shape our understanding of a place.

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The nights in the northern hemisphere are drawing in, which means whispering stories of witches and spirits are top of mind for many of us. Lale chats with Mexico City-based author Brenda Lozano, whose new novel Witches looks at the lives of Mexican women who inherit gifts, and draws inspiration from the true story of a Mazatec Indigenous healer, or curandera, in Oaxaca who worked with psilocybin mushrooms in the 1950s and 60s. Plus, we revisit a recent conversation with author Dorthe Nors to learn more about the burnings of witch effigies along the rugged Danish coast.

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For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link.

The world is a turbulent place in 2022, but it's often traveling—whether for pleasure or out of necessity—that can shine a light on the enduring kindness and hospitality of strangers. Lale chats with London-based actor, cookbook author, and theater producer Dina Mousawi about her work with refugees around the world, as well as her own Iraqi heritage, and Maria Romanenko, a Ukrainian journalist who fled her country the day after the Russian invasion and currently leads walking tours for other Ukrainian immigrants around Manchester. Plus, we hear from two listeners about getting rescued during their travels.

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For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link.

Having grown up exploring much of Europe by train, Lale takes a look at how rail travel can offer one of the most exciting—and interesting—ways to see a new place, and chats with author and journalist Monisha Rajesh about the time she took 80 train journeys around India, and later, the whole world, traversing the railways of Russia, Tibet, Canada, and more. Plus, we hear from a listener about a memorable Peruvian train ride, and catch up with a traveler in New York City on their way to see the fall colors.

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For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link.

Lale talks to two of her favorite authors about two cities that she’s most connected with—Rebecca Mead about London and Elif Batuman on Istanbul—and asks the question: What do you learn about a city by walking around it instead of driving through it? "You want to knit yourself into the fabric of a place and see your story knitted into it," says Mead. Plus, listeners contribute their own walking stories about Budapest, Dubrovnik, and Malta—all solo travelers who had unforgettable experiences thanks to the decision to explore a new place by foot.

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For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link.

It's been a challenging couple of years during the pandemic but we are starting to travel again. Host Lale Arikoglu determines that she needs to challenge herself and goes hiking in Chilean Patagonia in a misty, rainy, and isolated landscape. Closer to home she’s trying to stay upright on a surfboard at New York’s Rockaway beach even though she’s skittish in waves and talks to author Dorthe Nors about moving from Copenhagen to live along the wild North Sea coast of Denmark, a place known as ‘Cold Hawaii’ and home to a longstanding community of international surfers. Plus, we hear from listeners who hike pilgrimage trails in the depths of winter and scale the Alps in the 95-degree summer heat.

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For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link.

Though travel and adventure have historically been publicly claimed by men, women have always been part of those narratives, too. Each week, host and Condé Nast Traveler editor Lale Arikoglu shines a light on some of those stories, interviewing female-identifying guests about their most unique travel tales—from going off-grid in the Danish wilderness to country-hopping solo—sharing her own experiences traveling around the globe, and tapping listeners to contribute their own memorable stories. This is a podcast for anyone who is curious about the world—and excited to explore places both near and far from home.

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This week, we're popping in during our break to share some updates.

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“If women make 80 percent of the spending decisions in the American household, if we buy the beer and the food and the clothes, we're going to buy the weed,” says this week's guest Nidhi Lucky Handa. Nidhi, who launched LEUNE, a cannabis-forward lifestyle brand available in California and Arizona, joins us this week to talk all things weed—from the male-centric stereotypes that led her to launch LEUNE in the first place, the importance of cannabis criminal justice reform groups, what she wishes we all knew about dosage (she's a self-proclaimed "lightweight"), and more.

This will be our last episode before we come back this summer with some new tricks up our sleeve! In the meantime, you can listen to previous episodes of Women Who Travel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: cntraveler.com/story/women-in-weed-are-breaking-the-stoner-guy-stereotype-women-who-travel-podcast

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There is little worse than coming home from your vacation feeling like you need an entire additional vacation to destress from your trip. So whether it's prepping at work beforehand to make sure you (and your colleagues) aren't stressed about the state of your inbox or finding a destination that will ensure you're truly taking time for yourself, this week we're talking all about the ways wellness plays into our travels. To chat relaxation strategies and offer some insight into why we're all craving wellness vacations (whatever shape that takes for you personally), we've tapped Traveler's senior features editor, Becca Misner, and Rebecca Platt, director of sales and marketing at Sunswept Resorts in St. Lucia.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: cntraveler.com/story/how-to-make-your-wellness-vacation-actually-relaxing-women-who-travel-podcast

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If you're anything like us, this past winter has been a season of hunkering down and staying mostly inside—even if it was inside a bar, restaurant, or museum. But if the weather (and our seasonal allergies) are any indication, spring is here—which means summer adventures are just around the corner. So, this week, to get you kickstarted on summer planning and offer some inspo for getting yourself outside once again, we're joined by Emily Pennington, a Women Who Travel contributor and Outside’s national park columnist, and Megan Spurrell, Traveler's senior editor. We talk all things outdoors, from the best strategy for getting national park camp site permits to the women inspiring us to get moving.

Read a full transcription of the episode: cntraveler.com/story/how-to-get-yourself-moving-after-a-winter-of-hibernation-women-who-travel-podcast

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As we say at the start of this week's podcast, “wellness” is a word that gets thrown around a lot—but defining what it is can be a real feat, and as it turns out, can mean something a little different to everyone. Joined by Evelyn Escobar, founder of Los Angeles-based Hike Clerb, and Shanika Hillocks, Women Who Travel contributor and brand strategy and marketing consultant, we're talking about all the different ways we're prioritizing wellness in our day-to-day lives and travels, from setting boundaries over email to making time for family and friends. As Evelyn says, “no one, unfortunately, is going to take care of you the way that you need, so we need to do it ourselves and be relentless in that pursuit.”

Read a full transcription of the episode here: cntraveler.com/story/what-does-wellness-even-mean-these-days-women-who-travel-podcast

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When we started planning this episode, we thought we'd talk about the books we turn to for relaxation—the books that bring us moments of zen and let us find a sense of calm. But when we actually sat down with our guests—Lisa Lucas, publisher at Pantheon and Schocken Books, and Jynne Dilling Martin, deputy publisher at Riverhead Books—we realized that when the world is stressing us out, we turn to all sorts of book to help us decompress. So instead, this episode has a little bit of everything: non-fiction books that help us make sense of it all, sci-fi books that help us escape from it all, as well as poetry collections, comedies, fun romps, and so much more.

Find a full list of books mentioned and a transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-books-weve-read-recently-women-who-travel-podcast

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Ever stripped down for a visit to a Japanese onsen or nude hot spring? Or been stopped by the TSA for a sex toy you packed? How about had a no-strings-attached vacation fling? Whether you've tackled all of the above, are working up the confidence, or are simply curious about exploring the intersection of sex, travel, and self-love, our latest episode was made just for you. We're sitting down with Women Who Travel contributor, body image advocate, and sexual wellness expert Laura Delarato to talk about her soon-to-be-released book—My Pleasure: An Intimate Guide to Loving Your Body and Having Great Sex—and everything that goes along with discovering your pleasure (at home or on vacation). As expected, it's not particularly safe to listen to at work or around kids, but a no-holds-barred look at finding your self love, self worth, and boundaries in and out of the bedroom.

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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A special episode of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Fort Myers - Islands, Beaches and Neighborhoods.

If you're anything like us, your first instinct is to cram as much as possible into a trip—from meals to bars to vintage shops to museums, the list goes on. We're here to tell you to slow down. This week, we're talking about slow travel, a way of moving through the world that's all about intention, observation, and yes, literally moving more slowly. To help you find your way, we invited Rachel Schwartzmann, a New York-based writer and the host of Slow Stories, a podcast all about slowing down in a digital world, and Melissa Donahue, owner and executive chef at Sweet Melissa's in sleepy Sanibel, Florida, to share their tactics for embracing slow travel, whether it's taking time off just to wander around your own neighborhood or prioritizing digital detoxes on vacation.

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We're baaaack! And while we may be well past the official start to the year, talking all about the travel goals we're setting for ourselves in 2022 (and how actually we plan on reaching them) felt like the perfect way to kick off the new season of Women Who Travel. We called up senior editor Jessica Puckett and Condé Nast Traveler Middle East's editor-in-chief Sarah Khan to talk about our travel priorities for the year, how we're planning to book them (hello, points motherlode), and how our list of where we want to go has changed since we last spoke in December. Take it as encouragement to check in on your own travel goals (or set a few if you, like us, would rather just skip the first few months of the year).

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Earlier this week, Traveler launched its list of the best places to go in 2022. Inspired by that list, plus the many destination weddings on our calendars, the design hotels we've been eyeing, and family to see, we decided to dedicate this episode to the places we're hoping to visit in 2022. There's something for everyone, from chic Canadian Airbnbs to bustling Turkish getaways and Uruguayan art exhibitions. Joined by Sarah Khan, editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveller Middle East, we run through all of our wish-list destinations for next year in our final episode of 2021. Thanks to Sarah for joining us and to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing this episode. And thank you, for listening to Women Who Travel through another year of highs and lows in the travel industry.

Read a full transcription and find links to the destinations and stories mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/where-were-dreaming-of-traveling-next-year-2022-women-who-travel-podcast

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

When you think classic road trip movie, usually one ‘90s film comes to mind: Thelma & Louise. And while, as this week’s guest says, “you don't want to end that way on your road trip,” we wanted insight into why the movie has stuck with us for so long and inspired countless girls' weekend trips to the Grand Canyon. For that, we went straight to the woman who played Louise herself. This episode, we sat down with actor and activist Susan Sarandon to hear about her love of road trips, the places she's been dreaming of traveling throughout the pandemic (the list is long), and what far-flung movie sets inspired her early love of travel. Having joined Fairmont Hotels and Resorts as the brand's global ambassador, she also shares her thoughts on responsible travel and how her trips across America have inspired her activism.

Read a full transcription of episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/susan-sarandon-women-who-travel-podcast

It's that time of year when sales are plentiful and gift buying (and giving) is top of mind. To help you weed through the options, we called up two of the most thoughtful gifters we know: Shanika Hillock, Women Who Travel contributor and wine marketer, and Megan Spurrell, Travelers' senior editor. With gift ideas that range from cookbooks to book subscriptions to home goods—and even a few suitcases—we have suggestions from women-owned brands around the globe. (Still looking for more ideas? Check out our Women Who Travel gift guide for other options.)

Find all of the gifts mentioned and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/our-favorite-holiday-gifts-from-women-owned-brands-women-who-travel-podcast

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Over the past few months, we've spoken of how we're reevaluating different parts of our lives—and the role travel plays in them—from prioritizing traveling just for ourselves to developing healthier relationships with our bodies. This week, we're talking about renegotiating our relationship with alcohol as we get back out into the world, whether it's on vacation or simply during a night out with friends. Inspired by contributor Rebekah Peppler's recent story, we're joined by Piera Gelardi, a Brooklyn-based entrepreneur who has spent the last year examining her relationship with alcohol, and Melanie Masarin, founder of Ghia, a spirits-free apéritifs company that hit the market early last year. We chat about being sober and sober-curious, how to approach conversations about not drinking, and what beverage options are out there beyond “a glass of sparkling water with a dried-up, sad old lime,” as Piera says.

Read a full transcription of the podcast and find links to the accounts and stories mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/two-travelers-on-exploring-sobriety-at-home-and-on-the-road-women-who-travel-podcast

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Even if you haven't seen her face, you've probably seen poet Cleo Wade's block letter handwriting and warm words on your social media feeds. The activist and author of three books—most recently a children's book called What the Road Said*—*has dedicated her career to sharing words of self-worth, encouragement, and community. She has penned poems in just about every situation, from scribbling thoughts onto bar napkins to setting up her pink typewriter, which she carried with her on trips around the world in her 20s. Her latest poem, “That Fairmont Feeling,” was written in a slightly more traditional way, as part of her latest role as poet-in-residence for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

This week, we sat down with Cleo to talk about toting around the aforementioned typewriter, why solo travel has proven to be the most inspiring time to write, and how she can't wait to watch her two children fall in love with travel.

Read a full transcription of episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/cleo-wade-women-who-travel-podcast

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Leaves are changing, cool weather is upon us, and it's time to start thinking about holiday plans, which means you've got questions on where to go, what to pack, and more. And this week, we've got answers. Joined by Traveler's digital director Stephanie Wu and senior editor Megan Spurrell, we're doling out advice on planning fall foliage trips, what to buy for the solo traveler in your life, and where to take your mom on your next joint-vacation. Needless to say, we cover a lot of ground.

Find a full transcript and all of the links we mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/answering-your-fall-travel-questions-women-who-travel-podcast

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“Bookstores typically have been a place where I escape myself—and [a place where] I find a new self,” says this week's podcast guest, Nadia Wassef. “I feel like I walk in there and the world is open to me.” The author of the newly released Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller knows a thing or two about bookstores: she co-founded Diwan—the Egyptian capital's leading bookstore—with her sister and friend back in 2002. We caught up with Nadia, who now lives in London, to talk about the power of the bookstore and the books within them, how she stays connected with Cairo, and what books she hopes travelers read before visiting her home country.

Read a transcription of the episode and find links to the books mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/nadia-wassef-women-who-travel-podcast

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All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

With travelers around the world taking their first flights in a while—and vacations beyond a drivable radius—we're starting to get back in the swing of things when it comes to travel, albeit very slowly. But as we get back out there, we wanted to look at what had changed (for better and for worse) about our travel habits, so this week, we tapped three industry experts to clue us into what they're seeing.

First, we catch up with Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants CWA, to hear about the fights and unruly passengers many flight attendants are facing in the skies right now—a sharp turn from when we talked about lobbying for a federal mask mandate last summer. Then, we speak to Divia Thani, Condé Nast Traveler’s global editorial director, about producing a travel magazine when, well, no one was traveling and what's brought her hope throughout the past year and a half. And finally, we chat with Lindsay Nelson, Tripadvisor's chief experience officer, about what changes they've seen in our travel habits over the pandemic—and how the company is changing tactics to keep up with travelers' evolving needs.

Read a full transcription of the episode and more links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-good-the-bad-and-the-surprising-ways-were-traveling-now-women-who-travel-podcast

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Laurie Woolever didn't step foot on a plane until she was more than halfway through college—but fast forward a decade and she was sitting in business class heading to Vietnam, Sri Lanka, alongside Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain's assistant, cookbook co-author, and frequent collaborator for more than 10 years, Laurie got to know the travel quirks, habits, and needs of one of the most beloved figures in travel—and learned how to make the most of every trip along the way. Now, with her latest book—Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, out this week in bookstores—she's sharing memories of the icon from more than 90 friends, family members, and collaborators. In the latest episode of the podcast, we sat down with Laurie to find out how she got into food writing, what traveling with Bourdain taught her, and why she prefers to travel by scooter.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/laurie-woolever-women-who-travel-podcast

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All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

While we don’t have a new episode for you this week, we do need your help. Spoiler alert: for an upcoming episode, we’re chatting about the ways that travel and the ways we approach travel have changed over the last 18 months. While hearing from people in the industry is a great temperature check, we also want to hear from you, our listeners. How has your relationship to travel changed? Your habits? Your bucket list? If you have answers to those questions, record a voice memo of yourself on your phone and email it with your name and where you’re from to womenwhotravel [at] cntraveler [dot] com. You just may find yourself in an upcoming episode! Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back with a very exciting guest next Wednesday.

A few weeks ago, we published an advice column, offering advice to a Women Who Travel reader who was feeling self-conscious about stepping out in a swimsuit on an upcoming group trip because of changes to her weight during the pandemic. The question and subsequent advice from Amy Pence-Brown and Stephanie Yeboah, two body image advocates and writers, led us to an even deeper conversation about our bodies—and how the pandemic has affected our relationships with them. So, this week, we're joined by Amy and Stephanie to chat about how they got to the place of self-love they're at now, how the conversation has shifted around fatness during the pandemic, and how we can have healthier relationship with weight changes.

Read the advice column: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/im-dreading-wearing-a-swimsuit-on-a-group-trip

Listen to "How Travel Taught Me to Love My Body": https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-taught-me-to-love-my-body-women-who-travel-podcast

Read a full transcription of today's episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-our-relationship-with-our-bodies-has-changed-women-who-travel-podcast

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Lauren Groff's name has been thrown around a number of times on this podcast as the author of some of our favorite books to read on vacation. Her latest, Matrix, is out this week—and was one of our most anticipated releases of the year. It's the fictional retelling of the life of Marie de France, a historical figure from the 12th century with no known backstory to speak of. In the lead up to actually writing the novel, Groff took a trip to live with Benedictine nuns in Connecticut to get a sense of abbey life. In fact, many of her novels and short stories have been birthed from family vacations, research trips, and even her honeymoon. We sat down with the Gainesville, Florida–based writer to learn more about her travels, writing process, and what books she's excited to read this year.

Find a transcriptions and links to Lauren's reading suggestions here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/author-lauren-groff-on-the-trips-that-have-inspired-her-books-women-who-travel-podcast

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All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

This episode was originally published in September 2020.

A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay

We've long admired Kimi Werner, a Hawaiian freediver and spearfisher, so we thought there was no better woman to join us this week. A new mom, she's had to find a way to balance her active new role above land and the regenerative power and calm she finds underwater. We chat about how she's found that balance, what it's meant to introduce her son to the ocean, and how she's managed to leave her anxieties on the shore and just relax.

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This episode was originally published in October 2020.

This week, we're revisiting our conversation with Hawa Hassan, whose cookbook, In Bibi's Kitchen, could be found on many of last year's most anticipated book lists. The cookbook is filled with recipes from eight African countries that border the Indian Ocean and stories from 24 grandmothers, and brings a new narrative to the table, one that Somali author, sauce maven, and former model Hawa Hassan is honored (if not a little overwhelmed) to share. “I was telling these new stories—I was expected to carry these stories—and I didn't know I could," she says on this week's episode. "I lived somewhere between inspiration and fear a lot of last year.”

That self-imposed pressure has paid off. Her book launched earlier this week, so we sat down to hear about her time with those bibis and what it was like to create a cookbook written and photographed exclusively by women and featuring recipes crafted exclusively by women, based everywhere from New York City to Comoros.

Order In Bibi's Kitchen: https://fave.co/3gnIVLA

Read a full transcription of the episode: www.cntraveler.com/story/how-hawa-hassan-built-a-cookbook-around-east-african-grandmothers

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All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Many of us have had complicated reading years, struggling to keep our attention trained on any one book—let alone finish one. So in this week's episode, we've tapped two of our favorite bookworms, Jynne Dilling Martin, an associate publisher at Riverhead Books, and Kalima DeSuze, activist and founder of the intersectional feminist bookstore at Cafe con Libros in Brooklyn, to share some of their favorite page-turners to pull you out of your reading slump. There's something for everyone, from a poem-like novel that's less than 300 pages to a New York Times bestselling book club pick. We also chat about the joys of young adult novels and the upcoming releases we're dying to get our hands on.

Here's a preview of this episode's recommended books:

• Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung
• Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
• Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez
• Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
• Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
• Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
• I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins
• Cazadora by Romina Garber
• The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/beach-reads-to-get-you-through-the-rest-of-the-summer-women-who-travel-podcast

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All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

“We've all vented to each other with frustration over the years, seeing that there was this resistance to expanding people's world views,” says Sarah Khan, editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveler Middle East, in this week's Women Who Travel episode. But last fall, Sarah—alongside branding consultant Paula Franklin, cofounder and editorial director of Fathom Jeralyn Gerba, partner at Xhibition PR Nestor Lara Baeza, and CEO of the Africa Tourism Association Naledi Khabo—launched Travel Is Better in Color, an effort to diversify the viewpoints shared by the travel industry. An Instagram and newsletter, Travel Is Better in Color highlights English-language travel writers, photographers, videographers, and more to showcase the stories being told and the work the industry can be doing to share broader perspectives on traveling today.

“These stories have existed, these voices have existed,” says Naledi. “It was just a question of amplification, or identification and amplification. And I think that we were looking to do that and to build the level of awareness.”

This week, we're joined by Sarah, Naledi, and Paula to talk about their own experiences in the travel space, the impetus for Travel Is Better in Color, and how the travel industry and publications can champion a diverse mix of storytelling long term.

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/meet-the-women-advocating-for-more-diverse-perspectives-in-travel-media-women-who-travel-podcast

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While travel may be the most open that it's been for Americans since the pandemic began, it comes with a lot of complications—from major passport renewal and Global Entry application delays to newly developed travel anxieties. To help you explore in the safest and most prepared way possible, we're answering your burning travel questions in this week's episode of Women Who Travel. Alongside Traveler’s senior editor for transportation and travel news, Jessica Puckett, and city guides editor, Shannon McMahon, we'll cover everything from travel insurance and underrated U.S. cities for solo travelers to how to talk to your family about prioritizing your own travels.

Stories mentioned this episode:

"Travel Insurance Companies Add Permanent Pandemic Coverage," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/travel-insurance-companies-add-permanent-pandemic-coverage

"Everything You Need to Know About Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/cancel-for-any-reason-travel-insurance

"What to Know If Your Passport Is Expiring," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/us-passport-renewal-during-covid

"How to Manage Travel Anxiety in a Crowded Airport," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-manage-travel-anxiety-in-a-crowded-airport

Read a full transcription of the episode and find more stories here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/answering-your-questions-about-passport-renewal-solo-travel-and-more-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Shannon: @shanmcmahon

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Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

While we haven't been making much headway on airline and hotel loyalty programs in the last year, what we do have are lots and lots of credit cards points, accrued from a year and a half of takeout, groceries, and gas bills—among plenty of other purchases (namely loungewear). But how should we spend those stockpiles now that travel is starting to reenter our lives? This week, we tasked Jessica Puckett, Traveler's senior editor for transportation and travel news, and Jasmin Baron, an associate editor covering credit cards at Insider, with helping us find solutions.

The short answer? “There really isn't a right or wrong way to spend your points and your miles,” Jasmin says in the episode. But we've got plenty of ideas of where to start, from cashing in on free hotel stays during road trips to, yes, booking that overwater bungalow in the Maldives.

Learn more about Conde Nast Traveler's favorite travel credit cards: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-travel-credit-card

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-spend-all-those-points-youve-accumulated-on-travel-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Jasmin: https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jasmin-baron

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This episode was originally published in September 2020.

This week, we're revisiting our conversation with Cristina Mittermeier—marine biologist, conservationist, photographer, and co-founder of SeaLegacy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the ocean. A National Geographic photographer known for her work underwater and among Indigenous communities in coastal areas, she's found a way to share her passion for our environment with the world. But it wasn't always a simple path. In fact, her first published photo was wrongly credited to her then-husband. Over the course of our chat, we talk about how a career in science led her to photography, her mission to educate us about the ocean, and how we can overcome that feeling of hopelessness amid the current climate crisis.

Follow Cristina: @mitty

Follow SeaLegacy: @sealegacy

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

We've been thinking a lot about responsible travel here at Women Who Travel. You may have noticed: It's been a theme in a number of our recentepisodes. And today, we're continuing that trend, sitting down Condé Nast Traveler advisory board member Harsha L’Acqua, whose nonprofit, Saira Hospitality, is built around helping new hotels make mindful, local-focused hiring choices. We first heard about her work when Liz Lambert mentioned Saira's pop-up and permanent hospitality training centers on a Women Who Travel episode back in 2019—and in this episode, we catch up with how Saira's been faring amid the pandemic, how its mission feels more important than ever, and how hotels can help travelers make better, more impactful choices while on vacation.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-a-champion-for-responsible-travel-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Saira Hospitality: @sairahospitality

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This episode originally ran in July 2020.

You probably first heard Sara Nelson's name in early 2019 when she called for a general strike, leading to an abrupt end to the extended government shutdown. Now, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, has been fighting something completely different: a pandemic, as well as imminent layoffs for airline workers. We caught up with Sara, named "the world's most powerful flight attendant" by the New York Times, last summer to chat about how she got her start as a United flight attendant, why she joined the union, and what challenges the AFA-CWA faces today.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/sara-nelson-wont-stop-fighting-for-flight-attendants-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This special episode of the Women Who Travel podcast is presented by Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key.

Getting back in the swing of traveling comes with its own learning after over a year of staying close to home. But if you've had a baby in the last two years or are a parent to young child, your vacation prep is on a whole different level. To help navigate the do's and don'ts of summer family travel this year—from the questions to ask your Airbnb host ahead of booking to what destinations make for great family-friendly vacations—we've tapped two supertravelers and new moms, Traveler's Erin Florio and journalist Oneika Raymond, for this week's special Women Who Travel episode, presented by Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-its-like-traveling-with-young-kids-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Erin: @erin_florio

Follow Oneika: @oneikatraveller

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Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

We're starting to travel again. And while family reunions, getaways with friends, and more celebratory trips are already on the docket, we're also looking forward to our first solo trips—ones that we can make all about us. That said, we're admittedly a little rusty when it comes to heading out on our own and finding joy and power in solo travel, so this week we're joined by New York Times travel reporter Tariro Mzezewa, and Hannah Pasternak, associate director of special projects at SELF magazine, who have both recently taken solo trips, to get advice. We discuss the differences between alone time and solo travel, why joining a planned group trip might be the best way to ease yourself back in, and how to start planning a solo trip of your own. Think of this episode as a solo travel refresher, of sorts.

Read a transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/remembering-how-to-solo-travel-again-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Tariro: @tariro__

Follow Hannah: @pastersnacks

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

This episode of the Women Who Travel podcast is presented by Travel Wyoming.

Last year, already popular national parks saw a surge of visitors looking to get outside. But as seasoned and new outdoor explorers took to the hiking trails, rivers, lakes, and forests of our national park system, not everyone planned their trip as responsibly and respectfully as the parks and the surrounding communities deserve. To help you plan a trip this summer that keeps you away from overcrowded park sites and drives you deeper into local rural communities, we've tapped two experts who know their way around national parks in this week's special Women Who Travel episode, presented by Travel Wyoming. Joined by Traveler contributor Emily Pennington, who has visited 61 of the U.S.' 63 national parks, and Diane Shober, executive director of Wyoming Office of Tourism, we chat through how to plan wisely (and far enough in advance) to enjoy the best of the National Park Service—and how to look beyond those 63 parks that can sometimes get too much love.

Find a full transcript of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/planning-a-responsible-outdoors-trip-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Emily: @brazenbackpacker

Follow Travel Wyoming: @visitwyoming

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This summer, we're leaning into seeing the world through rose-colored sunglasses; filling our days with roller skating, beach trips, reunions with friends and family, and more. Basically, we just want to have fun. So this week on the podcast, we're chatting all things summer fun—from the summer hobbies we picked up in the pandemic that we plan to continue, to the maximalist attitude we're bringing to the season. (We're expecting disco balls everywhere.) To guide us through a FOMO-free 2021 summer, we've tapped Jersey Banks, co-founder of Urban Cowboy hotels and the Dive Motel, and Marawa Ibrahim, a world-record-holding roller skater and hula hooper. Listen in for their tips and experiences—and how they're planning to have a particularly joyful summer.

Read "101 Ways to Have Fun This Summer": https://www.cntraveler.com/story/101-ways-to-have-fun-this-summer

Find a full transcript of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/remember-fun-were-having-it-this-summer-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Marawa: @Marawa

Follow Jersey: @JerzBanks

Follow Meredith: @OhHeyThereMere

Follow Lale: @LaleHannah

This episode was originally published in August 2020.

When it comes to getting outdoors, gear can be a major barrier. Whether it's finding gear that comes in your size (let alone actually fits your body), knowing what gear is a must-have and what you can safely skip, or having the funds for what you need, there's a lot more at play than just walking into your local outdoor retailer. This week, we wanted to dig into women's gear—across hiking, climbing, dog mushing, and more—to find out how far we've come in opening up the outdoors to bodies of all shapes and experience levels and how far we have to go. With the most guests we've had on one podcast since we started recording at home, this episode stars Unlikely Hikers founder Jenny Bruso, Flash Foxy founder and climber Shelma Jun, and Iditarod competitor Blair Braverman, who share how they fell in love with the outdoors in the first place, how they overcome gear barriers today, and what they want from the outdoor industry.

Read a transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/womens-gear-still-isnt-where-we-want-it-to-be

Watch Blair's cold-weather gear reveal: https://twitter.com/blairbraverman/status/1082079705627426816?lang=en

Read Women Who Travel's Guide to the Outdoors: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-guide-to-the-outdoors-for-women-and-by-women

Follow Shelma: @shelmatic & @heyflashfoxy

Follow Jenny: @jennybruso & @unlikelyhikers

Follow Blair: @blairbraverman

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Throughout the last year and a half, we've watched as beloved bars, restaurants, and gathering places have closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as writer Samantha Allen says on this week's episode, that wave of closures has been ongoing for years within the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, there are just over 15 lesbian bars remaining in the U.S., according to the Lesbian Bar Project, an effort to record and protect lesbian bars that's being spearheaded by filmmakers Elina Street and Erica Rose. (Editor's note: Since recording, the project has updated the number of U.S. lesbian bars to 21.)

To talk about how lesbian bars and queer spaces have fared during the pandemic and what is needed in the future to keep them around, we're joined by Allen and Lisa Menichino, owner of Cubbyhole, one of New York City's three remaining lesbian bars. One major takeaway? “You have to come,” says Menichino of post-pandemic visits to bars like Cubbyhole. “You have to support us. You have to be there. Because we're not magically going to be around without you.”

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-americas-lesbian-bars-need-our-support-more-than-ever-women-who-travel-project

Find them.'s Queer Spaces Project: https://www.them.us/story/queer-spaces-lost-covid-19

Find the Lesbian Bar Project's work: https://www.lesbianbarproject.com/

Follow Samantha: @SLAwrites

Follow Lisa at Cubbyhole: @cubbyholebar

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Try to define 24-year-old Australian-Zimbabwean musician Tkay Maidza's songs by a single genre and you may come up at a loss for words. But then again, so does she, telling us that her music is simply “alternative of anything.”

“It's alternative pop, alternative, rap, alternative R&B,” she says from her new home in L.A. “It's left of center of anything because I'm always looking for something that's new and different and trying to make it my own.”

This week, we sat down with the prolific singer to chat about how moving around as a kid prepared her for touring, how her family's musical interests have influenced her sound, and how she's stayed creative over the last year and a half. It's all part of our guide to new music around the world—and you can find Tkay and other incredible female artists on our Spotify playlist.

Read a full transcription and find links to the artists Tkay mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/tkay-maidza-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Tkay: @tkaymaidza

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

Charlotte Simpson had been traveling for decades before she took her first solo trip. She had visited all 50 states with her late husband throughout their 31-year marriage, traveled internationally with her daughter, and had adventures with girlfriends. But when no one wanted to go on a trip to Italy with her a few years after her husband died, she set out on her own—kicking off a new love for solo travel and the freedom that comes with it. “It was so liberating,” she says. This week, Charlotte, known online as @TravelingBlackWidow, joins us our I Deserve This series, talking about how she prioritizes traveling for herself, what she's learned about being more adventurous later in life, and how social media has influenced her travels.

Read a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/falling-in-love-with-solo-travel-after-retirement-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Charlotte: @travelingblackwidow

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

If, after over a year at home, you're thinking that the best salve for your sanity this summer is to pack up, get out of your house or apartment, and hit the road in a van to explore America's great outdoors, this episode is for you. With advice on what to pack, how to route your trip, and how to avoid the mistakes they made, our guests—van lifers Erin McGrady, an Asheville-based writer and photographer, and Noami Grevemberg, founder of Diversify Vanlife and one half of the @IrietoAurora Instagram account—can help you get started. But while this episode is in part a van life for dummies guide, it also gets at the no-filter realities of living in your van, the privilege that comes with choosing a voluntary nomadic lifestyle, and the responsibility travelers have to respect and understand the public lands they visit. It truly hits all the bases.

Listen to "Why We Should Consider Whose Land We're On When We're Outdoors" with Jaylyn Gough: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-we-should-consider-whose-land-were-on-when-were-outdoors-women-who-travel-podcast

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-it-actually-takes-to-become-a-van-lifer-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Erin: @e.mcgrady

Follow Noami: @IrietoAurora

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to the Women Who Travel: https://www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

In January, our frequently asked questions episode saw us edging back into the world of travel—and with this week's episode, we're actually starting to plan those trips we've been dreaming about for this summer and into 2022. Joined by associate editor Megan Spurrell and transportation editor, Jessica Puckett, we're answering your questions about the outdoorsy domestic destinations to visit right now, the countries open to vaccinated travelers this summer, and where to reunite with your extended family after what has been more than a year apart for many. Plus, we chat about navigating the visa process for traveling long-term as a digital nomad.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/your-summer-travel-questions-answered-women-who-travel-podcast

Links mentioned:

"These National Parks Will Require Reservations This Summer," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/these-national-parks-will-require-reservations-this-summer

"The Best State Park in Every Single State," https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/the-best-state-parks-in-the-us

"These Countries Are Open to Fully Vaccinated Travelers," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/these-countries-are-open-to-fully-vaccinated-travelers

"7 Countries Where You Can Get a Passport Through Ancestry," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/countries-where-you-can-get-a-passport-through-ancestry

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Megan: @spurrelly

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

As temperatures begin to warm up and we start picturing the lazy park hangs and beach days in store for us this summer, our minds have already started whirring at the reading possibilities. Over the past year, we've turned to reading as both an escape from our current world and a way to explore without leaving home. While we'll be a bit more mobile this summer, our love for books hasn't changed, so we've once again tapped Jynne Dilling Martin associate publisher at Riverhead Books, and Lisa Lucas, senior vice president and publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books, to help craft the ultimate summer reading list of books written by women. Whether you're itching for a Greek myth retelling, a workplace thriller, a deep dive into the natural world, or a novel about a cannibalistic food writer, we've got you covered.

Here's a full list of what we talked about:

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
• The Hard Crowd by Rachel Kushner
• A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• Salvation City, by Sigrid Nunez
• Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter by Ali Smith
• Sisters by Daisy Johnson
• Circe and Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Matrix by Lauren Groff
• Seek You by Kristen Radtke
• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
• No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-books-we-cant-stop-talking-about-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Jynne: @jynnne

Follow Lisa: @likaluca

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

This week on the podcast, we're joined by Michelle Zauner, most known as indie pop musician Japanese Breakfast, and whose memoir, Crying in H Mart, was released April 20. Michelle, who is Korean on her mother's side, centers her the book around her relationship with her mother—describing the foods that brought them together, their rituals on mother-daughter trips to Korea every other summer, and how she experienced the grief that came with her mother's cancer diagnosis. Listen in to hear her recount those summertime trips from her home in Oregon to visit her aunts and grandmother in Seoul and how she developed love for Korean cooking. Plus, she tells us about her love for Maangchi cooking videos on Youtube, the first dishes she'll eat when she gets back to Korea post-pandemic, and what she misses most about touring with Japanese Breakfast. (The short answer? All of it.)

Read a transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/michelle-zauner-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Michelle: @jbrekkie

Order Crying in H Mart: www.bookshop.org/books/crying-in-h-mart-a-memoir/9780525657743

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to our newsletter: www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

As travel begins to open up for vaccinated Americans and we start making the trips we’ve been dreaming about a reality, Lale and I wanted to reshare an episode we recorded last July. Joined by the recently engaged Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy of BLK MKT Vintage, we chatted all things souvenirs and home decor. In this episode, learn how they shop for and curate their store, which maps the Black diaspora through vintage wares and collectibles. (Plus, how they style their own souvenirs and vintage finds at home.) Their biggest tips? Have patience: Whether you're shopping in your own town or have to travel halfway around the world, be prepared to leave a shop or flea market empty handed should nothing speak to you. And think about function and purpose before spending on something that won't fit in your home, let alone your suitcase.

Follow BLK MKT Vintage: @blkmktvintage

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Find a transcription of the episode and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-shop-for-meaningful-souvenirs-women-who-travel-podcast

In the past year, we've all dealt with various levels of grief, both personal and collective, centered around the pandemic. For many, it has also resurfaced familiar emotions and struggles experienced over previous losses of friends and family. To process that grief, Traveler contributors Jordi Lippe-McGraw, who lost her father in a plane crash in 2010, and Nneka M. Okona, who lost her best friend four years ago, have usually turned to travel, a coping mechanism that COVID-19 has challenged. This week, we're talking about how they've used travel to work through the complicated emotions of grief, why they want us to talk about those feelings more publicly, and what advice they'd give to those feeling adrift with grief right now. Know that the episode isn't all sad, however. As Nneka says, “[you've] got to spice up grief and make it less gloomy sometimes.”

Find a full transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-has-helped-us-process-our-grief-women-who-travel-podcast

Pre-order Nneka's book: https://fave.co/3sXwEom

Follow Nneka: @afrosypaella

Read Jordi's piece: www.cntraveler.com/story/i-was-scared-to-fly-after-my-dads-plane-crash-but-travel-helped-me-overcome-my-grief

Follow Jordi: @jordilippe

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to our newsletter: www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Padma Lakshmi has had a busy 12 months. She spent the early stages of lockdown alphabetizing her spices—and then reorganizing them by region—and cooking an incredible amount of food at home. Then her new show, Taste the Nation, which dives into the immigrant roots of America's favorite cuisines, premiered in June, and she spent the fall filming a new season of Top Chef in Portland, under a number of new COVID-19 restrictions.

This week, she's talking about all of that and more with us, from the transportive meals she's cooked while grounded to the places she's itching to visit when this is all over. Most importantly, we chat about the strength and influence of immigrants in the U.S., how food media has changed in the last year, and what may be in store for Taste the Nation's second season.

Read a transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/padma-lakshmi-women-who-travel-podcast

Read Lale's conversation with Padma from March 2020: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/padma-lakshmi-on-the-immigrant-cuisines-that-make-america

Pick up a copy of Padma's reprinted Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet at bookshop.org or your local bookstore

Follow Padma: @padmalakshmi

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

All products featured in here are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

This week, Evita Robinson, founder of the Nomadness Travel Tribe and Audacity Fest, and Jessica Nabongo, the first black woman to visit every country in the world, are back on the podcast, joined by Martinique Lewis, author of the ABC Travel Green Book and a Condé Nast Traveler advisory board member. Throughout the episode, they chat about how some parts of the industry have turned a moment into a long-term commitment to the Black community—and how others haven't moved beyond a black Instagram square. Along the way, they shout out organizations like the Black Travel Alliance, of which Martinique is the president, that have formed to support Black travelers and Black content creators, and talk through all of the voices that are still being left out of the conversation. (To that point, Nomadness Travel Tribe recently release data from its BIPOC Diversity in Travel survey, which features insights on existing and emerging travel trends among Nomadness's diverse community. You can check out the report here.)

Listen to Jessica, Evita, and Whembley Sewell's conversation from June 2020 here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-the-travel-industry-should-support-black-women-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Evita: @evierobbie

Follow Jessica: @thecatchmeifyoucan

Follow Martinique: @martysandiego

- - - - - - - - - -

We stand firmly in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and mourn the lives lost in the horrific mass shooting by a white gunman in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16, which killed 8 people, six of whom were Asian women. We encourage everyone in our community to spend time reading about the ongoing impact of racism on the AAPI community, and if you can, donate to any number of these organizations working to end this violence and provide support for their communities.

AAPI Women Lead: imreadymovement.org

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum: napawf.org

Heart of Dinner: heartofdinner.org

Asian Immigrant Women's Advocates: aiwa.org

Red Canary Song: redcanarysong.net

As vaccinations increase and the world begins to slowly open up, the idea of becoming a digital nomad—working remotely while traveling every few months to a new destinations—sounds more and more appealing. But what if you want to stick around a little longer? This week, we're speaking to Rachel Coleman, a social media strategist now based in Berlin, and Katalina Mayorga, the founder of El Camino Travel who lives in Bogotá, about what pushed them to move abroad more permanently, how they make it work, and what they wish they had known beforehand. Along the way, we talk through making friends as an adult, how moving away from the U.S. has impacted their travel habits, and how the pandemic has played out in their new homes.

Read a full transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-we-wish-we-knew-before-moving-abroad-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Katalina: @theyoufinder

Follow Rachel: @rachelecoleman

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Just over a year ago, we launched I Deserve This, a series all about the different ways we should be prioritizing ourselves, whether that's with time, travel, or money. A few days after launch, the U.S. went into lockdown and the idea of spending copious amounts on any of those things felt like a pipe dream as we all stayed home. But, over the summer, we quietly started the series back up, chatting with the likes of free diver Kimi Werner about finding time for herself at the bottom of the ocean and photojournalist Malin Fezehai on planning trips to fuel her creativity.

This week, we're back in full force, speaking with Babba Rivera, the Swedish-Chilean founder of Ceremonia, a haircare line inspired by the Latinx community. Despite its horrors, 2020 was a big year for Babba: she bought a house, had a baby, and launched a brand. We chat with her about finding ways to celebrate those moments amid the pandemic, navigating identity and representation, taking trips close to home just for the hell of it, and feeling homesick through it all.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-ceremonias-babba-rivera-finds-joy-in-challenging-times-women-who-travel-podcast

Read our conversation with Babba from November: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/clean-hair-care-brand-ceremonia-is-inspired-by-latinx-beauty-rituals

Follow Babba: @babba

Follow Ceremonia: @myceremonia

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Despite our announcement at the beginning of this episode, you can listen to our next episode on 3/10.

In 2020, even the most outdoorsy among us developed a newfound appreciation for wide open spaces, as we sought out safe ways to explore while social distancing. But as more than 237 million visitors took to national parks, and even more took to trails, lakes, and rivers closer to home, certain questions were raised once again: How much do we know about the history of the land we're recreating on and who lived there? And how are we respecting those stories and the modern realities of Indigenous communities?

This week, we're joined by Jaylyn Gough, founder of Native Womens Wilderness (NWW), an online platform that connects Native women and two-spirits to the outdoors. We cover a lot in this episode, including how Jaylyn's childhood relationship with nature developed on the Navajo reservation, the outdoor industry's responsibility to change the narrative around land rights, how NWW has pivoted to aid Indigenous communities acutely affected by COVID-19, and the potential confirmation of Representative Deb Haaland as interior secretary.

Read a full transcript of this episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-we-should-consider-whose-land-were-on-when-were-outdoors-women-who-travel-podcast

Check out the Native Lands app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/native-land/id1194356597

Follow Jaylyn: @jaylyn.gough

Follow Native Womens Wilderness: @nativewomenswilderness

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Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

According to the FAA, women make up just seven percent of all certified pilots, and of those female pilots, less than one percent are Black women. Captains Kellie Young and Stephanie Hartsfield are among that percentage, having spent careers flying on international legacy carriers, cargo flights, and corporate planes. This week, we're catching up with Kellie and Stephanie to learn about their journeys, the challenges along the way, and how they're paying it forward for Black female pilots of the future. Both are a part of Sisters of the Skies, a non-profit dedicated to mentorship, scholarships, and outreach to young Black women to follow in their footsteps into the pilot's seat.

Read a full transcript of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/finding-sisterhood-among-black-female-pilots-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Sisters of the Skies: @sistersoftheskies

Follow Stephanie: @pilotsteph

Follow Kellie: @shefliesjets

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Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

If you're sick and tired of winter like we are, sit down, breathe in, and picture yourself in sunny southern Ghana, where temperatures are currently a balmy 80 degrees and maximalist colors and patterns abound. That's where this week's guest, Akosua Afriyie-Kumi, is calling in from—and where she gets her design inspiration for her woven handbag brand AAKS.

We've been long obsessed with the brand, which uses woven rafia to create crossbody bags, totes, and baskets in joyful colors—and has recently branched out into home decor. We sat down with Akosua to talk about how travel, both in Ghana and internationally, has inspired her designs, how she's stayed creative amid the pandemic, and how she navigated the sales boom that came in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter resurgence last summer.

Read a transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/handbag-designer-akosua-afriyie-kumi-on-finding-inspiration-in-ghana-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Akosua: @a.a.k.s

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

There are tons of questions swirling around travel in our Women Who Travel Instagram DMs and Facebook group these days, especially as we watch COVID-19 vaccines roll out and let ourselves start dreaming of those first big trips. To answer your questions this week—which range from where to go for a milestone birthday trip and the best credit card to help rack up points for future trips, to what the reality of immunity passports could look like—we tapped Traveler articles director Stephanie Wu and transportation editor Jessica Puckett.

Stick around at the end of our conversation to hear where some of our listeners are already planning to visit when it's safe to do so. Want to share your own future travel plans? Email a voice memo to womenwhotravel@cntraveler.com with your name, where you're based, and what you're planning, and you might hear yourself in an upcoming episode.

Read a full transcript of the episode here: cntraveler.com/story/immunity-passports-free-flights-and-other-travel-questions-answered-women-who-travel-podcast

Here are a few of the stories we mentioned:

"I Just Took a 16-Hour Flight: Here's How It Went:" cntraveler.com/story/i-just-took-a-16-hour-flight-heres-how-it-went

"Chefs on the Meals They Can't Wait to Travel For:" cntraveler.com/story/female-chefs-on-the-meals-they-cant-wait-to-travel-for

"The Best Birthday Trips for Every Age:" cntraveler.com/gallery/places-to-go-for-your-birthday

"International Resorts Step Up Testing Options In Response to New CDC Rules:" cntraveler.com/story/international-resorts-step-up-testing-options-in-response-to-new-cdc-rules

Follow Steph: @bystephwu

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

When we talked to Kopitiam's co-owner Moonlynn Tsai on the podcast last June, the reality of the longevity of the pandemic—and what that meant for her restaurant—was just setting in. Now, after nearly a year of pivoting to make do, creating outdoor dining, surviving the New York winter, and trying to keep her staff safe, she says running a restaurant feels about the same as it did in the pandemic's early days. She's just more tired.

This week, we're catching up with Moonlynn to hear more about those experiences—and what's giving her hope for the future. Also joining us is the San Francisco Chronicle's senior editor Serena Dai to chat about how we can think big to help support local restaurants, and what she would like to see from the industry on the other side of the pandemic.

Read a full transcript here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/where-do-restaurants-go-from-here-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Moonlynn: @moonlynntsai

Check out Kopitiam: kopitiamnyc.com

Follow Serena: @ssdai

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Inspired by the “Women Who Travel Guide to Getting Back Out There” package, which launched earlier this month, we're spending this episode looking to the future—whether that be tackling travel anxieties bought on by the pandemic, relearning how to meet new people, or redefining our comfort zones. Joined by Traveler associate editor Megan Spurrell and travel writer Jessica Poitevien, we also swap notes on the big trips we're hoping to take when it's safe to do so.

The conversation doesn't end there, either. We want to know where you are dreaming of going on your first trip back out there. Email a voice memo to womenwhotravel@cntraveler.com with your name, where you're based, and what you're planning, and you might hear yourself in an upcoming episode.

Find a full transcription of this episode here:

Here are a few of the stories we mentioned: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/getting-ready-for-travel-in-a-post-vaccine-world-women-who-travel-podcast

"The Women Who Travel Guide to Getting Back Out There," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-women-who-travel-guide-to-getting-back-out-there

"Go Ahead. Fantasize," https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/style/go-ahead-fantasize.html

"What Does Travel Anxiety Look Like In 2021?," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-does-travel-anxiety-look-like-in-2021

"Why Saying “No” Can Make Travel More Rewarding," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-saying-no-can-make-travel-more-rewarding

"How to Meet New People After a Year of Isolation," https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-meet-new-people-after-a-year-of-isolation

Follow Jessica: @shedreamsoftravel

Follow Megan: @spurrelly

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

When we last spoke to travel host Samantha Brown in 2018, a border-shuttering, flight-grounding pandemic was nowhere on our radar. Flash forward to March 2020, and a season's worth of filming and production planning for her show, Places to Love, was canceled in a matter of weeks. For the first time in years, she's been staying put in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and twins. “I always knew that I love to travel, but I didn't realize that it was just so ingrained in who I was,” she tells us on this week's episode. “Whether it's in an airport, or getting a meal, or someone I talk to at a hotel who helps me get to my next destination … I just love those quick spontaneous meetings with strangers. That's what I miss the most.”

In our first episode of 2021, we're catching up with Samantha to talk about how she's spent the last year mostly at home, what it took to film a few episodes of Places to Love amid the pandemic in the fall, and what travel trends we might see when we get to the other side.

Follow Samantha: @samanthabrowntravels

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Subscribe to the Women Who Travel newsletter: https://www.cntraveler.com/newsletter/subscribe

Read a full transcription here: www.cntraveler.com/story/travel-host-samantha-brown-on-spending-nearly-a-year-at-home-women-who-travel-podcast

There may be no better time than winter to cozy up, ideally by a fire, with a stack of books and a cup of coffee (or something a little stronger). This particular winter, though, the escape and education we find through books will be even more necessary. Whether you're picking up books for yourself or sending hefty hardcovers to family and friends as holiday gifts, we have some suggestions that will distract, entertain, and inform—all by female writers spread across the world. (Translated Japanese authors were surprisingly popular this episode.) Joining us to share their favorite recent reads are Riverhead Books' associate publisher Jynne Dilling-Martin and Kalima DeSuze, activist and founder of the Cafe con Libros bookstore in Brooklyn.

Here's a full list of what we talked about:

• Oreo, by Fran Ross
• Lobizona, by Romina Garber
• The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
• The Memory Police, by Yoko Ogawa
• Convenience Store Woman, by Suyaka Murata
• Tokyo Ueno Station, by Yu Miri
• The Custom of the Country, by Edith Wharton
• The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante
• The Neapolitan Novels, by Elena Ferrante
• The Japanese Table, by Sofia Hellsten
• Luster, by Raven Leilani
• Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor

Read a transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-books-helping-us-escape-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Kalima's Cafe con Libros: @cafeconlibros_bk

Follow Jynne: @jynnnne

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Introducing Checking In, the advice podcast where we answer real health and wellness questions from real people like you. Hosted by SELF’s Editor in Chief, Carolyn Kylstra, and featuring trusted experts, doctors, therapists, thought leaders, and even a few celebrities, we’re diving deep into what it really means to be healthy. Checking In launches on Monday, November 16th, with new episodes releasing weekly. Subscribe to get episodes right when they drop at 6:00 am EST.

Listen to Checking In here:

• Apple Podcasts: http://listen.self.com/self-apple
• Spotify: http://listen.self.com/self-spotify
• Stitcher: http://listen.self.com/self-stitcher

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Watch surfer Nique Miller tiptoe to the end of her longboard as she rides the waves off the shore of Oahu's Waikiki Beach, and you'll be instantly transported to island time. But for Nique, a professional surfer and stand-up paddleboarder, surfing is more than just a way to relax. It's given her the confidence and security in her own skin to speak up about the sport's lack of diversity, from the swimwear models to the competition lineup.

This week, we're talking to Nique about how she got involved in surfing in the first place—and what moving from Texas to Hawaii has taught her about herself, including her competitive spirit and inner strength.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-a-professional-surfer-in-hawaii-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Nique: @nique_miller

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

A special episode of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Lego.

There are 56 business days between now and December 31, which means you have a little less than two months to use up your remaining vacation days. Count this as your reminder to start filing those days with your manager. (We shouldn't need to remind you that you're leaving money on the table if you don't.) Not sure what to do with them? We've got a few ideas in this week's podcast, presented by Lego. This episode, we're talking with U.K.-based illustrator Nina Cosford about giving yourself permission to take days off even if you're not planning a big vacation and finding joy in the little things, like meandering walks through your own backyard. She's also got tips for picking up journaling and creating boundaries between your work life and personal life when working from home.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-make-every-day-off-feel-like-a-real-vacation-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Nina: @ninacosford

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

“There have never been more questions around travel,” says articles director Stephanie Wu in this week's episode—and she's spot on, based on how many were submitted through the Women Who Travel Instagram alone. In our eighth installment of our frequently asked questions series, we're covering everything from how to talk to your family when you're on different pandemic pages to how to navigating quarantine on entry if you're traveling overseas and how to budget for 2021 travel right now.

Read a full transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/youve-got-holiday-travel-questions-weve-got-answers-women-who-travel-podcast

Read "How to Plan a Family Vacation Where Everyone Feels Safe During COVID-19": https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-plan-a-family-vacation-where-everyone-feels-safe-during-covid-19

Follow Stephanie: @bystephwu

Follow Megan: @spurrelly

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This week, as the weather starts to turn, we thought we’d give you a reason to look forward to the cold by resharing an episode with dog musher Blair Braverman. It was recorded shortly after she completed the Iditarod, a 938-mile long distance dog sled race which took her and her team of 14 dogs from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. We hope it at least inspires you to get your sweaters out of storage.

Follow Blair: @blairbraverman

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

It was a different time in the summer of 2019 when Janée Woods Weber, an activist and social justice educator, joined BBC presenter Alvin Hall on a road trip tracing the legacy of the Green Book a travel guide published from 1937 to 1966 that shared safe road routes for Black travelers. But as this summer came around—dubbed the summer of road trips by many, but also filled with marches and social activism addressing police brutality and systemic racism—the duo's trip seemed all the more prescient. It's all gathered in their new podcast from Macmillan, Driving the Green Book, which follows the journeys Black travelers took to the South and the memories those who grew up in the Jim Crow Era have of the groundbreaking book. We sat down with Janée to hear about what went into planning the road trip last year, what stories from Black elders she met along the way have stuck with her, and which Black-owned businesses she can't wait to visit when we're able to travel freely again.

Read a full transcript of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-the-green-book-shaped-a-generation-of-black-travelers-women-who-travel

Read more about Driving the Green Book: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/driving-the-green-book-podcast

Listen to Janée's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/driving-the-green-book/id1519839250

Follow Janée: @janeepwoods

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

If you're an avid reader or home chef, you've likely seen In Bibi's Kitchen on many of the year's most anticipated book lists. The cookbook is filled with recipes from eight African countries that border the Indian Ocean and stories from 24 grandmothers, and brings a new narrative to the table, one that Somali author, sauce maven, and former model Hawa Hassan is honored (if not a little overwhelmed) to share. “I was telling these new stories—I was expected to carry these stories—and I didn't know I could," she says on this week's episode. "I lived somewhere between inspiration and fear a lot of last year.”

That self-imposed pressure has paid off. Her book launched earlier this week, so we sat down to hear about her time with those bibis and what it was like to create a cookbook written and photographed exclusively by women and featuring recipes crafted exclusively by women, based everywhere from New York City to Comoros.

Order In Bibi's Kitchen: https://fave.co/3gnIVLA

Read a full transcription of the episode: www.cntraveler.com/story/how-hawa-hassan-built-a-cookbook-around-east-african-grandmothers

Follow Hawa: @hawahassan

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Seven months into the pandemic, we wanted to take a look at what life—and travel, for that matter—looks like for those living abroad. In our latest episode, we catch up with four women based in very different cities to find out. Lale chats with travel writer Julia Buckley about her decision to ride out the pandemic in Venice, and Meredith compares notes with illustrator Lindsay Arakawa about cycling in New York versus Tokyo. Meanwhile, associate editor Megan Spurrell talks to content creator Lee Litumbe about life returning to normal in Dakar, and director of strategic projects Lauren DeCarlo speaks with travel writer Imani Bashir about juggling work and parenting in her temporary home of Cancun.

Follow Julia: @juliathelast

Follow Imani: @sheisimanib

Follow Lee: @spiritedpursuit

Follow Lindsay: @blindsaay

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This week, we're bringing back our How I Became series to chat with Cristina Mittermeier—marine biologist, conservationist, photographer, and co-founder of SeaLegacy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the ocean. A National Geographic photographer known for her work underwater and among Indigenous communities in coastal areas, she's found a way to share her passion for our environment with the world. But it wasn't always a simple path. In fact, her first published photo was wrongly credited to her then-husband. Over the course of our chat, we talk about how a career in science led her to photography, her mission to educate us about the ocean, and how we can overcome that feeling of hopelessness amid the current climate crisis.

Follow Cristina: @mitty

Follow SeaLegacy: @sealegacy

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

When we recorded our “Honest Conversation About Saving and Budgeting for Travel” episode back in February, we had big plans for saving for travel, sure, but even bigger plans for spending those savings. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of those big spender dreams have been dashed, but one of this week's guests, Bourree Lam, The Wall Street Journal's personal finance bureau chief, has found the silver lining: “One way to think about [travel savings] may be that if you're saving for a big trip, you actually have more time to do that now, so you can be more ambitious.”

In our latest episode, we speak to Bourree and Traveler's transportation editor Jessica Puckett about how to be ambitious in your savings when everything seems so uncertain, how to take stock of your finances, the best ways to rack up points and miles when you're staying home, and more. Hopefully, it'll help set you on the right path for an even more extravagant adventure in the coming year.

Find a full transcription and links mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-were-thinking-about-money-for-future-trips-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Bourree: @bourreelam

Follow Jessica: @jesspuck

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay

We've long admired Kimi Werner, a Hawaiian freediver and spearfisher, so we thought there was no better woman to join us this week. A new mom, she's had to find a way to balance her active new role above land and the regenerative power and calm she finds underwater. We chat about how she's found that balance, what it's meant to introduce her son to the ocean, and how she's managed to leave her anxieties on the shore and just relax.

Follow Kimi: @kimi_swimmy

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

When we last hosted a frequently asked questions episode back in March—recorded before most of the country began to lock down—we had far-flung adventures on our mind. Now, after a summer staying near home, we're looking with the same level of bated breath at 2021, with a few bright spots of hope for travel this winter. It seems you are too, as many of the questions we received from our listeners were focused on the future, from how to work around a cancelled study abroad trip or move someplace new, to the best ways to support the travel industry responsibly. So, we tapped Traveler's articles director Stephanie Wu and associate editor Megan Spurrell to come back and offer even more advice for your travel plans. As we mentioned in our summer travel episode, travel right now is all about mitigating risk and staying within your comfort zone, whether that means you're exclusively planning 2021 travel or looking for a nearby getaway later this year.

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-were-planning-for-travel-in-2021-and-beyond

Links mentioned:

Your Timeline for Planning a Trip One Year in Advance: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/timeline-for-planning-a-trip-one-year-in-advance

The Pandemic Is Shifting How Students Study Abroad: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-pandemic-is-shifting-how-students-study-abroad

How to Take Your Dog on a Camping Trip: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/camping-with-dogs

Why Travel Can Be a Turning Point After Losing a Partner: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-travel-can-be-a-turning-point-after-losing-a-partner

Should I Feel Guilty for Wanting to Travel Right Now? https://www.cntraveler.com/story/should-i-feel-guilty-for-wanting-to-travel-right-now

How to Be a Mindful Hotel Guest During a Pandemic: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-be-a-mindful-hotel-guest-during-a-pandemic

Follow Megan: @spurrelly

Follow Stephanie: @bystephwu

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

This episode was originally published in January 2020.

We'll be back next week with a new Frequently Asked Questions episode, but for now we'll leave you in the hands of Fat Girls Traveling creator Annette Richmond and Women Who Travel columnist Laura Delarato, to talk about the intersection of travel and the body positivity movement. In this episode, we're celebrating women's bodies of all shapes and sizes taking on the world, while also sharing the challenges of traveling as plus-sized women, from struggling to find travel gear in your size to facing fatphobia and size bias on vacation.

Follow Annette: @fromannettewithlove & @fatgirlstraveling

Follow Laura: @heylauraheyyy

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

Find a transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-taught-me-to-love-my-body-women-who-travel-podcast

We have been big fans of author Yaa Gyasi's debut, Homegoing, which traces two branches of a family tree from 18th-century Ghana to present-day America, since it was published in 2016. (It has made an appearance at least twice on the podcast as a favorite read.) So, with her second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, out this week, we thought it was high time we get Yaa herself in the (Zoom) studio to chat. This week, we talk about the trip to Ghana that kickstarted the idea for Homegoing, the female friendship that inspired parts of Transcendent Kingdom's main character, and what it takes to create such a distinct sense of place.

Here's a quick rundown of the books and stories we mentioned in this episode:

• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
• “Inscape” by Yaa Gyasi
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Intimations by Zadie Smith
• Luster by Raven Leilani
• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
• Having and Being Had by Eula Biss

Find a full transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/yaa-gyasi-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

When we want to be transported to Italy, we read Ruth Reichl's piece on a seafood lunch she had in the ancient town of Sperlonga. Her descriptions of "lively langoustines," stuffed squash blossoms, oysters as "lovely as orchids," and pistachio-dusted cannoli are enough for us to briefly forget that we are, in fact, still in our apartments, eating yet another meal we've cooked for ourselves. Of course, Reichl isn't in Italy anymore, either—she's at home like the rest of us, and has been since March. We called her up to find out how she's staying connected to food and travel, from the ingredients she's craving (Spanish anchovies and Szechuan chile crisp) to the places she's dreaming of (Copenhagen and Japan), and why she believes the restaurant world is set to change for the better.

Read a transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/ruth-reichl-on-the-future-of-restaurants-and-traveling-for-food-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Ruth: @ruth.reichl

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay

This is a special Friday episode of the Women Who Travel podcast and the second installment in our three-part I Deserve This series, presented by Cloudy Bay. Designed to celebrate all the ways we treat ourselves when we travel, we hope to dispel the feelings of selfishness and guilt that often come with spending time and money on our own adventures and dreams. Kat Mason, Cloudy Bay's wine communications manager, knows those feelings: after falling in love with New Zealand on a four-week wine fellowship, she returned back to the U.K. in 2013, homesick for a place she had only just visited and feeling guilt over her lack of enthusiasm to return home. Pushing past those feelings, though, she made the jump with her then-four-year-old daughter and moved more than halfway across the world for a slower pace of life—exactly one year after her visit. We sat down with Kat to find out more about living abroad, how she prioritizes herself and her daughter on the road, her most memorable wine trips, and the importance of self-care on vacation.

Follow Kat: @thewinekat

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

When it comes to getting outdoors, gear can be a major barrier. Whether it's finding gear that comes in your size (let alone actually fits your body), knowing what gear is a must-have and what you can safely skip, or having the funds for what you need, there's a lot more at play than just walking into your local outdoor retailer. This week, we wanted to dig into women's gear—across hiking, climbing, dog mushing, and more—to find out how far we've come in opening up the outdoors to bodies of all shapes and experience levels and how far we have to go. With the most guests we've had on one podcast since we started recording at home, this episode stars Unlikely Hikers founder Jenny Bruso, Flash Foxy founder and climber Shelma Jun, and Iditarod competitor Blair Braverman, who share how they fell in love with the outdoors in the first place, how they overcome gear barriers today, and what they want from the outdoor industry.

Read a transcription of the episode: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/womens-gear-still-isnt-where-we-want-it-to-be

Watch Blair's cold-weather gear reveal: https://twitter.com/blairbraverman/status/1082079705627426816?lang=en

Read Women Who Travel's Guide to the Outdoors: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-guide-to-the-outdoors-for-women-and-by-women

Follow Shelma: @shelmatic & @heyflashfoxy

Follow Jenny: @jennybruso & @unlikelyhikers

Follow Blair: @blairbraverman

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

With major companies extending remote work through next summer because of COVID-19 and countries like Barbados offering year-long visas to U.S. travelers looking to switch their office view to an ocean view, it's understandable to be thinking about picking everything up and relocating for a bit. While international options are limited, living as a digital nomad (spending a few weeks or months in one place before moving on to the next) is still enticing for many. Because it's not as easy as booking a plane ticket and throwing your stuff in storage, we asked two digital nomads—Cheraé Robinson of Tastemakers Africa and Annette Richmond of Fat Girls Traveling—to share their tips and tricks to making it work. (Admittedly, dating can be difficult when you change addresses every 30-or-so days.) Hopefully, it'll help you start to wrap your head around whether making the jump to a nomadic remote work life is right for you.

Follow Cheraé: @sasyrae

Follow Annette: @fromannettewithlove

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

In early April, we were both struggling to focus and looking for an escape from a shut-down world, so we turned to the National Book Foundation's Lisa Lucas and author and Books Are Magic owner Emma Straub for some reading recs. Now, exactly 99 days later, Lisa is back, this time with podcast regular and Riverhead Books publisher Jynne Dilling Martin to restock our shelves with recommendations. There's something for everyone this episode, whether you're looking for a graphic novel to keep your short attention span in check, a historical trilogy set in the court of Henry V (complete with its own plague), a sci-fi battle royale set in New York City, or a New York Times bestseller all your friends are probably reading right now. A reminder to order any of the books that make it on your must-read list from your local bookseller or one of these Black bookstores across the U.S.—or, from Bookshop.org, which gives money from sales for independent bookstores.

Here's a full list of what we talked about:

• The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
• Weather by Jenny Offill
• Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
• Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins
• Severance by Ling Ma
• What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
• The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
• Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Mothers by Brit Bennett
• 12 Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
• Man V. Nature by Diane Cook
• The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Follow Lisa: @LikaLuka

Follow Jynne: @Jynnnne

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You probably first heard Sara Nelson's name in early 2019 when she called for a general strike, leading to an abrupt end to the extended government shutdown. Now, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, CWA, is fighting something completely different: a pandemic, as well as imminent layoffs for airline workers. We caught up with Sara, named "the world's most powerful flight attendant" by the New York Times, to chat about how she got her start as a United flight attendant, why she joined the union, and what challenges the AFA-CWA faces today.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/sara-nelson-wont-stop-fighting-for-flight-attendants-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Sara: @flyingwithsara

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A special three-part series of the Women Who Travel podcast, presented by Cloudy Bay

Over the next few months, we'll be talking with some of our favorite travelers about how they treat themselves in travel, whether by taking time to get away, refuel their motivation, or challenge themselves to try something new. (It's all inspired by our I Deserve This column, which you should check out, too.) First up, Eritrean-Swedish photographer Malin Fezehai on the trips she's taken that bring out her creativity, how she's staying inspired during lockdown in Bali (hint: she's picked up an epic new hobby), and where she can't wait to go when she's able. We hope it'll push you to pick up your own camera (or at least your phone) to see the world around you in a new way.

Follow Malin: @malinfezehai

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Being a parent right now is hard. Many are juggling work, childcare, education, their families' health and safety, and so much more. And while a trip to the beach with the kids—or better yet, a child-free getaway—would usually bring peace of mind and a modicum of relaxation, vacation planning these days comes with new levels of stress and confusion.

As neither of us are parents, we brought on Lauren DeCarlo, Condé Nast Traveler's director of strategic projects and mom of a four year old, to guest host this episode and suss out at least a few of the answers. She's joined by Monet Hambrick, of The Traveling Child and mom of two, and Liz Speichinger, senior global sales director for Auberge Resorts and mom of an eight year old boy, to get a handle on how they're traveling this summer, what questions they're asking ahead of trips, and how—with not a minute to spare each day—they're finding time for themselves.

Find a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-candid-conversation-on-what-family-travel-means-this-summer-women-who-travel-podcast

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When cabin fever first set in during the early stages of the pandemic, we turned to the experts for help: three women who chose to live in isolation for long stretches of time, whether at a fire lookout in Idaho, on a remote Greek island, or in a sea kayak, like Sarah Outen did while rowing solo across the Pacific Ocean.

Three months later, and we're still grappling with what it means to isolate ourselves from friends and family. So we decided to check back in with Outen, a British rower, biker, and adventurer who has spent months-long stretches alone in grueling conditions, including a solo row across the Indian Ocean and a four-year, around-the-world solo trip executed exclusively on bikes, kayaks, and row boats. In this week's episode, she shares her tips for making it through the toughest stretches of being alone, stories about a logistically complicated long-distance relationship, and her newfound joy from rest. (That said, she'll likely inspire you to haul your bike out of the garage and get moving, too.)

Find a full transcription of the episode and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-one-adventurer-spent-293-days-alone-at-sea-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Sarah: @sarah_outen_home

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While we truly love to drink wine, we would hardly call ourselves experts. And after downing quite a few delicious bottles over the last few months without a sommelier or bartender to guide us, we thought we'd check in with two of the least snobby wine snobs we know: Women Who Travel contributor Shanika Hillocks and Helen's Wines' Helen Johannesen. We talk all about how our taste—and willingness to shell out—has changed during lockdown, some places to start when looking to test your wine comfort zone, and what the wine industry looks like today. (And don't worry, we don't say "vino" once.)

If you're headed to your local wine shop after listening or want to browse for some bottles to pick up online, here are all of the wines we mentioned in the episode, with links to where we could find them:

• Strekov 1075 Fred #5 red blend, Južnoslovenská, Slovakia
• Valentina Passalcqua Primitivo, Puglia, Italy
• Calcarius Orange, Puglia, Italy
• Maison Noir Love Drunk Rosé, Oregon
• Domaine De Cherouche Gamay, Ayent, Switzerland
• Zafa Wines and CO Cellars Electric Mayhem cans, Burlington, Vermont
• Aslina Umsasane red blend, Stellenbosch, South Africa
• Sieman Mosca Bianca, Veneto, Italy
• Yetti & The Kokonut Savagnin 'Metro', South Australia
• Clos Lentiscus Cric Cric Blanc, Penedès, Spain

Follow Shanika: @shanikahillocks

Follow Helen: @helenswines

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We've been spending a lot of time at home these days, which means more time staring at the art on our walls, the tchotchkes on our shelves, and the souvenirs we've chosen to display. It's also made us think about how to find more meaningful souvenirs on future trips—pieces that bring back memories of trips, a sense of place, or a glimpse of history. So, we checked in with Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy, power couple and owners of Brooklyn's BLK MKT Vintage, to learn how they shop for and curate their store, which maps the Black diaspora through vintage wares and collectibles. (Plus, how they style their own souvenirs and vintage finds at home.) Their biggest tips? Have patience: Whether you're shopping in your own town or have to travel halfway around the world, be prepared to leave a shop or flea market empty handed should nothing speak to you. And think about function and purpose before spending on something that won't fit in your home, let alone your suitcase.

Follow BLK MKT Vintage: @blkmktvintage

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Find a transcription of the episode and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-shop-for-meaningful-souvenirs-women-who-travel-podcast

This episode was originally broadcast in July 2019.

With music festivals on hold this summer, we thought we'd share one of our favorite episodes from last year, recorded live at Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Lale teamed up with Pitchfork's senior social media manager Vrinda Jagota to chat about travel, music, and more with Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz, the French-Cuban sister act behind Ibeyi. We'll be back with a new episode next week.

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Since this season is sure to be unlike any other high season, thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we've been asking a lot of questions about summer travel here at Traveler—from how much we'll be traveling, to how we'll be getting around, to where we'll stay. And this week, we're tackling all of those questions (and more) in one episode with the help of some top notch experts: associate editor Megan Spurrell and New York Times travel reporter Tariro Mzezewa. We hope our conversation gives you the information you need to travel to the beach or a remote Airbnb responsibly—or the blessing to stay home and plan for your out-of-this-world trip for next year.

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

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In the wake of ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism across the U.S. and all industries, much has been made of listening and learning—and amplifying Black voices in the process. Which is why this week, we’re passing the mic. Hosted by Them's executive editor Whembley Sewell, featuring Jessica Nabongo and Evita Robinson, our latest episode focuses on how the industry as a whole can and must step up for Black travelers. Whembley, Jessica, and Evita are all members of the Women Who Travel advisory board, women we've trusted to challenge us over the last nine months, and we hope in listening to this episode—hearing their stories and where they see opportunity for change—you can challenge yourself, too.

Here are a few women Evita and Jessica suggest following. Be sure to scroll back through their feeds to understand their full body of work.

• Lola Akinmade Åkerström, @lolaakinmade
• Stephanie Young, @stephlyoung
• Gloria Atanmo, @glographics
• Ashley Renne, @heyashleyrenne
• Martinique Lewis, @marty_sandiego
• Eulanda Osagiede, @dipyourtoesin
• Cynthia Andrew, @simplycyn
• Anntte Richmond, @fromannettewithlove
• Kellee Edwards,@Kelleesetgo
• Ciara Johnson, @hey_ciara
• Lee Litumbe, @spiritedpursuit
• Monet Hambricks, @thetravelingchild
• Cherae Robinson, @sasyrae

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-the-travel-industry-should-support-black-women-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Whembley: @whembleysewell

Follow Jessica: @thecatchmeifyoucan

Follow Evita: @evierobbie

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This week, we're joined by Moonlynn Tsai, co-owner of Bon Appetit Hot List winner Kopitiam, and Mei Lin, from the James Beard-nominated Nightshade, who share their stories about everything from how they've found support systems in other restaurant owners to what they're cooking at home right now, and, most importantly, how you can support the restaurant industry during this difficult time.

Their big advice? Spend your money, whether it be food or merch for now or gift cards for later, and order directly when possible, instead of through apps, so that your favorite restaurants can keep as much of their profits as possible.

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In light of the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black Americans, we would like to say, unequivocally, that Black lives matter. We stand with protesters across the country raising their voices against police brutality.

Donate to the NAACP here: https://www.naacp.org/

Donate to Black Lives Matter here: https://blacklivesmatter.com/

Donate to Campaign Zero here: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/

Donate to local bail funds here: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory

We highly recommend subscribing to Code Switch, The Nod, and the New York Times 1619 podcasts to diversify your listening, too.

Since this week’s episode is all about women-owned restaurants struggling during the coronavirus pandemic, you'll find a list of Black-owned restaurants across the country to support.

Black-owned restaurants in New York City: https://bit.ly/36UXF1g

Black-owned restaurants in Washington D.C.: https://bit.ly/3eHHJ5m

Black-owned restaurants in Austin: https://bit.ly/3cr1c8P

Black-owned restaurants in Seattle: https://bit.ly/2MkVJWF

Black-owned restaurants in Minneapolis: https://bit.ly/3cudJbu

Black-owned restaurants in Los Angeles: https://lat.ms/2MqiQiC

We are committed to sharing Black women’s stories on Women Who Travel, and will continue to do so throughout our podcast episodes and all other platforms.

Nikki Smith is a professional rock climber, boulderer, photographer, writer, and climbing guidebook publisher, with more than 150 first ascents under her belt. She also just happens to be transgender. An advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in the outdoors and an ally fighting for diversity and inclusion in climbing and beyond, she's taking a break from climbing during the pandemic, citing the risks to herself, her climbing partners, and potential rescuers. But that hasn't stopped her from finding refuge outside. This week, we chat with Nikki from her home in Utah about getting her start in climbing, how we can make the outdoor community more welcoming, and the women in the outdoors we all need to be following. (Plus, you can hear a few meows in the background of this episode from her adorable cats.)

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-rock-climbing-taught-me-about-facing-my-fears-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

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Follow the women Nikki shouted out in the episode:

Kareemah Batts, @herhopness

Irene Yee, @ladylockoff

Brittany Leavitt, @bleavitt8

Sam Ortiz, @samortizphoto

Jaylyn Gough, @jaylyn.gough

Piseth Sam, @mightymight88

Mélise Marie, @meliseymo

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Note, this week's episode of Women Who Travel is not on a Wednesday just because of the long weekend. We are officially moving from our usual Tuesday morning drops and, starting this week, all new episodes of Women Who Travel will pop up in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts on Wednesday mornings instead.

With the near-constant stream of coronavirus news on our feeds these days, we understand if you want to run screaming from another coronavirus-related chat. But we promise this is not all doom and gloom. In fact, we hope that by answering some of the most frequently asked questions about travel and the coronavirus (Should you cancel a fall trip? Hop on a flight deal for later in the year? Use your vacation days now or save them for later?), we can give you a glimmer of hope about what's to come.

Note that this episode was recorded on May 14. You can find all of our up-to-date coronavirus coverage and travel resources at cntraveler.com/coronavirus.

Find a full transcription of the episode here: www.cntraveler.com/story/we-answer-your-most-pressing-questions-about-coronavirus-and-travel

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

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Follow Women Who Travel: @womenwhotravel

This episode originally aired in June 2019.

In this wild time, Lale and I have found ourselves going back to the episode we recorded with Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert last year. Our conversation was filled with a little grief, a lot of joy, and plenty of travel wisdom—all of which we need right now to tide us over until we can travel freely again. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

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Unless you're an essential worker, chances are your work travel has slowed down a lot recently. For comedian and actress Catherine Cohen, the world on pause has meant postponing her upcoming tour in Australia and swapping her weekly show Cabernet Cabaret, at New York City's Club Cumming, for Instagram live performances streamed out of the Berkshires cabin she's currently self-isolating at. We caught up with Cohen to find out what it's like to be a performer who, well, suddenly can't perform like she used to, why solo travel isn't for her, and all the places she misses in New York City. Plus, she shouts out a few of the comedy venues around the U.S. that need our support—and the women in comedy to watch right now.

And while we have you, we have some exciting news: The Women Who Travel platform is nominated for a Webby award! The People's Voice vote is now open, so head here by May 7 to vote. We'd love your support.

We need the escape that books provide now more than ever. So this week, we're joined by the National Book Foundation's Lisa Lucas, calling in from Los Angeles, and New York Times-bestselling author and Books Are Magic owner Emma Straub, who's currently self-isolating with her family in Brooklyn. Throughout the episode, we share the books that are transporting us to the places we miss (New York City included) and the places we’ve never been (and can't wait to get to). Plus, we have tips for getting out of a reading rut, how to support local bookstores when they need it most, and more.

What we're reading right now:

All Adults Here by Emma Straub

Surviving Autocracy by Mashe Gessen

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

The Most of Nora Ephron by Nora Ephron

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Arbitrary Stupid Goal by Tamara Shopsin

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman

The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante]

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Eagan

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Preorder, out June 2)

Middlemarch by George Elliot (a.k.a Mary Ann Evans)

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir by Jenn Shepland

The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor (Preorder, out May 26)

Find a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-books-were-turning-to-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

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Earlier this month, we put a call out on our Instagram and asked you to share what travel stories you were interested in hearing more of during this time of uncertainty. There were so many great ideas, some of which we'll be tackling over the coming weeks. One that stuck with us was a request to hear how our personal travel plans were being affected—so that listeners could feel a little less alone in grieving their own postponed trips. So, this week we've tapped Traveler associate editor Megan Spurrell, who had a sister's bachelorette coming up and a big trip to Turkey and Lebanon on the horizon, and travel writer Julia Buckley, who had to cut a months-long trip to South America short, to talk through it all. Along the way, we cover how it's okay to feel sad about your canceled trip, how our priorities for future trips are changing, and where we want to go next—because we're already thinking of the next trip, whenever that may be.

Read a full transcription of this week's episode and more here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/all-the-complicated-things-were-feeling-about-travel-right-now-women-who-travel-podcast

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At the beginning of this year, Sarah Khan decided to settle down—well, at least get an apartment of her own to call a home base after eight years of traveling and subletting full time, thanks to her job as a travel writer. She didn't plan to take a trip until March, a travel hiatus that's now been extended indefinitely due to coronavirus. As she stays put for the longest time in almost a decade, we caught up with the Condé Nast Traveler contributor to see how she got her start in travel writing, chat about her most memorable assignments, learn how she's managing her time at home, and discover who's inspiring her virtual wanderlust right now.

Find a full transcription of the episode (and that photo of Mostar we mention) here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-a-travel-writer-sarah-khan-on-life-on-the-road-podcast

We're back—albeit this time from a closet in Dallas and a Brooklyn living room, rather than the podcast studio. This week, we're joined by comedian and actor Jenny Slate, who, despite growing up thinking the only way to have a relaxing vacation was at the beach, has traveled everywhere from Norway's Lofoten archipelago above the Arctic Circle to Chilean Patagonia. Along the way, she's come to terms with the fact that she may be the world's worst packer—and that feeling lonely on a solo trip doesn't have to be a bad thing. In our latest episode, we talk to her from her Massachusetts home about how she's learned to lean into adventure trips, what she treats herself to when she's on vacation, and how she's coping with social distancing and self-isolation.

Find a full transcription and links to book Jenny mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/jenny-slate-women-who-travel-podcast

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We sat down with Samin Nosrat just after the premiere of her Netflix show, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, to talk about how she managed to transform a cookbook into a piece of television in such a short amount of time, how growing up eating Iranian food informed her own cooking, and why, in her opinion, a PB&J counts as a legitimate dinner option. Most importantly, though, she explains why she chose to eschew restaurants in favor of focusing on home cooks and artisans—the majority of whom are women—on the show.

This week's episode is a rerun from December 2018. We'll be back with new episodes (recorded from home) next week.

This week's episode is a rerun from October 2019. We'll be back with new episodes (recorded from home) soon.

As we all spend more time taking solitary walks—and relishing in Facetime and Zoom-based friendships—it made sense to share this episode where two best friends practice the French art of flaneuring, or wandering without intention. Since most of us have been forced to slow down, here’s an episode all about doing just that. We were joined by Erika Owen, author of "The Art of Flaneuring: How to Wander with Intention and Discover a Better Life," and sex and wellness writer Laura Delarato to talk about how we all need to just slow down a bit when we’re traveling. The key takeaways? It's fine to give yourself permission to do less,

Find a full transcription of this episode and the show notes here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-we-all-need-to-slow-down-when-we-travel-women-who-travel-podcast

As we mention in the intro to this week's episode, we recorded this installment of Women Who Travel well before the coronavirus has changed the landscape of our day-to-day lives. But in a world where we still dream of our next trip, we wanted to continue to share our tips on where to go next for you to squirrel away for when the time is right. So, this week, we're back with a Frequently Asked Questions episode, to answer your burning questions, pulled from our Facebook group. In it, we zip from where to vacation in Greece, what to do with a teenager and five weeks of vacation, and how to bring yourself out of a solo travel-induced funk.

Find more about this episode and a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/we-answer-your-frequently-asked-travel-questions-part-5-women-who-travel-podcast

At 19, Jen Gotch had a panic attack in the airport, just ahead of boarding a flight back to college. "I, on a cellular level, felt like I was going to die if I got on that airplane," says the Ban.do founder and author of the soon-to-be-released Upside of Being Down: How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life. Now, years later and hundreds of flights under her belt, that anxiety has shifted, evolved, and—most recently—waned, as she's found strategies to stay calm on the road. (One life-changing tool? TSA PreCheck.) This week, we sat down with Jen to talk through how she continues to tackle her travel anxiety, why vacations (even if they're just on our own couches) are good for our mental health, and why she stopped working on her days off.

Find a link to preorder Jen's book, out March 24, and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/bando-founder-jen-gotch-on-anxiety-and-the-power-of-mini-vacations

In the third installment of our "How I Became" series, we're focusing less about traveling around the world—and more about traveling up the corporate ladder. In conversation with Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Celebrity Cruises' president and CEO and the first woman to hold that title in industry history, we look back at how she started her career and rose to the top with no female mentors or advocates in sight. Along the way, we chat about handling rejection—both 35 years ago, when first trying to get into the cruise industry, and five years ago, when she was told "no" three times before finally getting her spot in the C-suite.

Read a full transcription of the episode and find links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-the-first-female-ceo-of-a-major-cruise-line-women-who-travel-podcast

Follow Meredith at @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale at @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel at @womenwhotravel

Follow Lisa at @lisalutoffperlo

When we read a preview of Everything I Know About Love, the debut memoir from Dolly Alderton, we knew we had to bring her on the podcast. The book, which charts her love life (romantic and platonic) from her teens until now, centers strongly on female friendships and the highs and lows of travel—both on your own and with friends. (There's a chapter near the end set in the Orkney Islands that is particularly moving. You'll just have to read it.) This week, we sit down with Alderton to celebrate her book's U.S. release, and chat about everything from the time she cried while interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert to why the world is still uncomfortable with women traveling on their own.

Find a full transcription of the episode and a link to pick up Dolly's book here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/author-dolly-alderton-on-growing-into-solo-travel

Follow Meredith at @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale at @lalehannah

Follow Women Who Travel at @womenwhotravel

Follow Dolly at @dollyalderton

This week, we're having all of the awkward conversations that come with budgeting for travel. How do you even start saving for your next trip? What do you do when you can't afford a group trip? What do you prioritize spending money on when you vacation? What do you do when you don't qualify for a travel-friendly credit card and can't cash in points and miles? We've tapped the experts—Samantha Barry, Glamour's editor-in-chief and host of the She Makes Money Moves podcast, and Travel Channel's Oneika Raymond—to answer these and more.

Find links to items mentioned and read a full transcription here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/an-honest-conversation-about-saving-and-budgeting-for-travel

This episode originally aired in February 2019.

We didn't always feel so gung-ho about traveling the world with a group of strangers or about giving up control over the itinerary on a group trip. In fact, just like with almost everything in travel, it was the mental hurdle—the thought that we might not like group trips—that kept us from doing it. But, we all got over it. (Strip naked in front of a group of gals at a Japanese onsen and you'll get over those reservations really fast.) To commiserate and compare stories, we brought community editor and trip lead Megan Spurrell and El Camino founder Katalina Mayorga on to talk about the pros, cons, and what it took to change our minds.

Join Women Who Travel on a trip to Colombia in September or November. Learn more here: https://www.elcamino.travel/women-who-travel

This week, as we kick off February, we're chatting about a major reason why *Traveler* editors have zipped back and forth across the globe: long-distance relationships. Joined by community editor Megan Spurrell and journalist Sarah Walton, we're diving into the ins and outs of making a cross-continent, let alone transnational, relationship work—all backed by some 10-plus years of first person, long-distance relationship experiences between us. Some key takeaways? Always have a plan for when you're going to see each other next. Don't worry too much if your friends and family don't understand. And since you're traveling already, planning a trip to a new destination may be better than visiting each other at home.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-balance-traveling-for-a-long-distance-relationship-women-who-travel-podcast

If you've been following Women Who Travel over the past two years, chances are you're familiar with Jessica Nabongo. The founder of boutique travel company Jet Black, Nabongo became the first black woman to visit every country in the world in 2019, and throughout her two-and-a-half year journey she's stopped by the studio (and called in from some very inconvenient time zones) to update us on her travels—the good, the challenging, and the downright exhausting.

But one thing we haven't been able to chat in-depth with her on is what it takes to become a country counter in the first place. In the second installment of our How I Became series, we sit down with Nabongo to find out what motivated her to take on the odyssey in the first place, how she navigated borders while grappling with issues like passport privilege and carbon emissions, and what she's learned from taking more flights in two years than most people take in a lifetime.

Thanks to Jessica for joining us this week. And thanks as always to Brett Fuchs for engineering and mixing. To keep up with our podcast each week, subscribe to Women Who Travel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And, if you have a minute to spare, leave a review. We’d love to hear from you. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to keep up to date with our live episodes, meetups, and trips, too.

"Plus-size fill-in-the-blank, but especially travel, is often not seen in a glamorous way," says Women Who Travel columnist Laura Delarato on this week's podcast episode. "It's often not seen at all." But thanks to communities and social media accounts that celebrate women's bodies of all shapes and sizes taking on the world, like Fat Girls Traveling, launched by our other guest this week, Annette Richmond, that's changing.

Find a full transcription and more here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-travel-taught-me-to-love-my-body-women-who-travel-podcast

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Follow Meredith: @ohheytheremere

Follow Lale: @lalehannah

Follow Annette: @fromannettewithlove & @fatgirlstraveling

Follow Laura: @heylauraheyyy

Being on vacation and flying to get to vacation—whether you're going to laze on the beach for days or zip around Southeast Asia on the back of a moped—are some of the only long, interrupted times we have these days to read. So, as you prep for your OOO for 2020, we tapped Jynne Dilling Martin, Riverhead Books' associate publisher, and Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, to give you a rundown of the best books they read in 2019 for a little literary packing list info.

Find a full transcript of the episode and links to all of the books we mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-books-we-read-last-year-women-who-travel-podcast

While many other books were discussed, here are the 11 favorites we suggested in this episode:

• Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes
• The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
• Severance by Ling Ma
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
• How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

w It's a new year, which means more episodes of Women Who Travel are coming your way. In 2020, we're kicking things off with a new monthly series called "HoI Became...," where we'll sit down with master travelers who spend most of their lives on the road doing things those of us at our desks on a daily basis never thought possible. First up? Women Who Travel advisory board member, award-winning photojournalist, and author Lynsey Addario. We chat with her about picking up her first camera, taking less than stellar shots on her tour of South America in her early twenties, and spending her decades-long career photographing women. Delving deeper, we talk about how travel can heal the trauma of photographing war, death, and more—and how it takes years to learn to say "no" to risk.

Find a full transcript, show notes, and links here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-i-became-a-photojournalist-lynsey-addario-on-life-on-the-road

It's time to have your credit card and calendar at the ready: the peak time for flight deals is here. With Travel Deal Tuesday—when airlines and hotels drop fares some 40 percent for late 2019 and early 2020 travel—approaching on December 3 and the end of the year (i.e. time to use up your last vacation days) coming in hot, there’s never been a better time to escape on a dime. But the last-minute panic and adrenaline rush of pouncing on a $300 round-trip deal to Tokyo can paralyzing. Who will go with you? How fast do you have to book? Is this even a good deal? We're here to help ease your flight deal anxiety, demystify what makes a good deal, and teach you where to find them.

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We're going on a break! Expect new episodes to hit in January. Make sure you subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast so you know when we return with some fantastic episodes next year.

We say it a lot over here at Traveler: Americans are really bad at taking vacation. So much so that in 2017, we left 705 million vacation days on the table, the U.S. Travel Association reported. Think of all the walking tours, island naps, and life-changing meals that were missed! And while we always urge you to take all of your days—be they five or 25—we don't always practice what we preach, either. Thankfully, we've since learned the error of our ways—but we could all use the reminder that we're actually devaluing our salary by leaving those days behind. We tapped the keeper of our vacation days, Traveler's director of editorial operations Paulie Dibner, and contributor Cassie Shortsleeve to chat about vacation guilt, how to ask for time off, what to do when you have unlimited vacation, and what to actually do when you get it.

When we caught up with Dina Nayeri over the phone last week, she was, quite aptly, rushing through the streets of Paris. If she had her way, the writer and author would probably never stop moving, she tells us, thanks to a constant itch for travel that has taken her all over the world. But that urgency to cross borders is deeply rooted in her personal history as a refugee: At the age of eight, she fled Iran with her mother and brother to Dubai, and then on to a refugee camp in Italy, before eventually settling in the U.S. "My formative years were about getting out of a place, and so the feeling of being stuck to a land, to a country, is one of my most deeply instilled fears," she says. "I have a French passport and an American one, and I carry them everywhere I go."

We chat to Dina about how she chronicled her refugee journey in her most recent book, Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You. Plus, we learn about the present-day refugees she met while researching it, the travels that have shifted her perspective, and how she stays connected to Iranian culture decades after leaving her home.

In the fourth installment of our FAQ series, we're joined by Traveler's community editor (and WWT advice columnist) Megan Spurrell and special projects director Lauren DeCarlo to answer some of your most burning travel questions, including how to figure the right time to start traveling with your kids (spoiler alert: it's different for everybody), the right way to adjust to post-travel blues, and where to go in Mexico over Dia de los Muertos. Plus, Meredith gives her two cents on why you should use every single one of your vacation days—and how to negotiate with your boss for more time off when you need it.

Want to submit a question to the advice column or for a future episode? Drop it into the Women Who Travel Facebook group or email womenwhotravel@cntraveler.com. Not only could you hear from Traveler editors themselves, but you'll have more than 140,000 women come to your aid, too.

A few weeks ago, Jessica Nabongo became the first black woman to visit every country in the world when she stepped foot in the Seychelles. We’ve been following her journey for years and to celebrate her enormous accomplishment, we’re throwing it back to when we spoke with her in January when she was in Malawi, country 151 of 195.

You can read all about the end of Jessica's journey and what she’s learned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/jessica-nabongo-on-what-visiting-195-countries-has-taught-her

Do you ever feel so much pressure to eat, see, and do everything on a trip that you end up feeling utterly overwhelmed and exhausted before you've even touched the ground? Same here. In fact, sometimes it feels like we get so distracted by everything we're supposed to experience that we often end up missing out on the best thing about travel: actually getting to know a place. For this week’s episode we’re joined by Erika Owen, author of 'The Art of Flaneuring: How to Wander with Intention and Discover a Better Life, and sex and wellness writer—and Women Who Travel contributor—Laura Delarato to talk about how we all need to just slow down a bit when we’re traveling. The key takeaways? It's fine to give yourself permission to do less, Iceland is a flaneur's dream destination, and travel should be an opportunity to remove the noise in your life, not add to it.

Family travel comes in all shapes and sizes these days: Women Who Travel contributor Priya Krishna takes an annual trip with 20 of her extended family members; editor Megan Spurrell travels each July 4 with her sisters and mom; and editor Corina Quinn heads south, to coastal South Carolina, where her slew of nieces and nephews will be endlessly entertained. Truly experts when it comes to making everyone happy on long stretches of close family time, we asked these three how they survive—and even thrive—on their annual multi-gen trips. The key takeaways? Everyone needs alone time. Finding one spot to post up for the week or so you're spending together is much less stressful than moving between hotels. And trip planning is always easiest when there are fewer cooks in the kitchen (it's also a good time to hire a private chef). Listen in to this week's episode for more of their tricks.

Find a full transcription of the episode and more here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-we-learned-to-love-traveling-with-our-families-women-who-travel-podcast

Full warning: a train comes barreling through the live recording of our podcast at the Feast Portland food festival earlier this month. But it hardly stopped us from chatting with Megan Sanchez, chef and co-owner of Güero, and Nong Poonsukwattana, owner and chef at Nong's Khao Man Gai—two of our favorite women in food right now. The two chefs, who both started with food carts next to each other in Portland, each bring their very different life experiences to the table. Megan's parents' Mexican and Egyptian heritage plays a major role in her menu (nothing brings mezze to mind like a slew of salsa pots, right?). And Nong, who moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s from Bangkok, specializes in the Thai dish she wishes she could have eaten growing up in Thailand: khao man gai, poached chicken served in its broth. Listen in as we talk about what authenticity really means, where they find inspiration in travel, and about women supporting women. (And just ignored aforementioned the train.)

Read a full transcription of the episode and more here:

There are plenty of ways to see the world: through its food, through nature, or even just by slipping on a pair of sneakers and taking a walk. But for Mickela Mallozzi, a professional dancer and host of the award-winning PBS travel show Bare Feet With Mickela Mallozzi, there is no better way to connect with a new place—and its people—than by dancing, whether it be with the Gnawa tribe in Morocco or the Georgian National Ballet. This episode, we sit down with Mickela to find out how she got the idea for her show in the first place, where it's taken her since, and what to expect from her upcoming season, which sees her tracing her DNA across the globe.

ICYMI: Women Who Travel's 2020 trip lineup is here! We're still headed to Colombia and Mexico, but are also introducing Cuba as a brand new destination. Interested? You can find all the information you need at elcamino.travel/women-who-travel.

Find more info and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/i-traveled-around-the-world-because-of-a-dna-test

Ever wonder what it would be like to just travel around the country and eat for a living? If so, you'll want to buddy up to this week's guest, Julia Kramer, Bon Appétit's deputy editor and lead for the magazine's Best New Restaurants in America list. Each spring, she travels to more than 200 restaurants, booking double dinners, brunches, lunches, and more to find the best of the best and chisel it all down into one definitive lineup: the Hot 10. A few months ago (when the list was still very much top secret) we sat down with Julia before she headed out on maternity leave to find out just what it takes to do her job—and, of course, where we should be traveling to eat. The result is an episode that has us ready to book flights to Dallas, Detroit, and more for some Malaysian nasi lemak, Laotian noodles, rhubarb danishes, and charcuterie boards. Needless to say, you'll be hungry by the time it's over.

Reminder: If you’re in New York City and you want to taste some of the amazing dishes from the Hot 10 restaurants for yourself, Women Who Travel listeners can get 10 percent off tickets to Bon Appétit’s Hot Ten party on October 19 at BAhot10.com with code WWTHOT10.

Find a full transcription of the episode and more show notes here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-its-like-eating-at-americas-best-new-restaurants-for-a-living-women-who-travel-podcast

There are plenty of perks that come with frequent business travel. For one, you can rack up a ton of points and mile just by doing your job. Plus, you get to check out new cities, get to know locals, and explore—even if it's simply during a morning run or coffee break—somewhere new. But traveling for work can also take its toll, squashing your attempts at a routine and leaving you stuck in hotel rooms when you'd rather be in your own bed. To find the ideal balance, we asked two road warriors—Instagram's Kristie Dash and Gimlet Media's Christine Amorose Merrill—to talk through their strategies for fitting in a solo meal and making the most of their limited free time.

Find the full show notes and a transcription of the episode here:

This week's episode is a repeat from March 2019. Food has never been more tethered to travel. Instagram, Anthony Bourdain, and others have made the two things bound to each other. And so, we pulled in two of our favorite foodies—*Bon Appétit*'s food director Carla Music (of "Back to Back Chef" YouTube fame) and contributor Priya Krishna—to chat about why food always tastes better on vacation, what it takes to recreate our favorite dishes, and cover the trips that introduced us to new foods, from something as simple as fresh pita and hummus in Egypt to pillowy idlis in India.

Find more information about Carla and Priya's new books in the episode's show notes, here:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-travels-that-inspire-our-cooking-women-who-travel-podcast

Maria Sharapova loves Italy. She just got back from vacation in Italy. If you ask her where she wants to go on vacation next, it's Italy. (Ischia, Venice, Tuscany, and Sicily to be slightly more precise.) For the Olympic medalist and five time Grand Slam winner who travels more than 25 weeks out of the year, finding a place where you can just turn off is key—and quick three-day city breaks to Rome and Positano in between tournaments and training have done just that. This week, she's far from the Mediterranean, competing against Serena Williams in the first round of the U.S. Open in New York City—but before the Russian player hit the court, we sat down to chat about her love for the boot-shaped country, her favorite solo trips, and how she's made a home for herself in the U.S.

Read the show notes and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/maria-sharapova-women-who-travel-podcast

For Jada Yuan, it was the job opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to visit 52 places in 52 weeks as The New York Times's 52 Places traveler. For Renee Hahnel, known on Instagram as Renee Roaming, full-time travel was a photography gig that meant piling into a tiny 15-by-six-foot van and photographing 59 national parks over nearly seven months. The two travelers did what we'd all love to do: pack up and just go, traveling without stopping for months on end. This week, the two—Renee just back from another photography trip to Kenya and Jada on vacation in the French Riviera—called in to share how they got started traveling full time, what it was really like, and how they're settling back into "normal" life.

Read the show notes and a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-i-learned-from-full-time-traveland-why-i-stopped-women-who-travel-podcast

When we heard that E. Jean Carroll—the same E. Jean behind *Elle*'s long-running advice column, Ask E. Jean—had recently embarked on a road trip through the midwest, only visiting towns named after women, we knew we had to give her a call. But when we heard it was all in search of an answer to the very specific question "what do we need men for?" we just couldn't wait. This episode, we talk through E. Jean's love of road trips (she once drove around the U.S. to stay at all of her exes homes for Esquire, how people responded to her question along the way, and the answers that she found. It's truly a ride.

Find a full transcription of the episode, and a link to E. Jean's book, here:

Here at the *Traveler* office, we love weddings. It's a time to see old friends, make a few new ones on the dance floor, and, if you're lucky, an excuse see a new city if only for a weekend. But with a finite number of vacation days to spend jetting to see "I dos" and do the Cha Cha Slide—and limited funds to dedicate to getting yourself there—you've got to maximize your time on the ground. So whether you can squeeze out a single dinner away from the wedding party, or extend your trip into a real vacation, we've got tips on making the most out of someone else's wedding, whether it's in Cape Town, Santa Fe, or your own backyard. Joined by Traveler's articles director Stephanie Wu and community editor Megan Spurrell, we break down the type of weddings we'd travel for, how to make the most of the few hours you have to spare, and what to give newlyweds that share your love of travel.

Read a full transcription of the episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-plan-a-trip-around-someone-elses-wedding-women-who-travel-podcast

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On August 13, Meredith will be hosting a panel at New York City's We Work Now with Selena Kalvaria, Away's SVP of Brand, and The Points Guy's Brian Kelly. Use the promo code CONDE to get 20 percent off tickets: https://buildingabrandaroundadventure.splashthat.com/

Music and travel are inextricable from each other. No matter where you go, and what you see while you're there, the sound of a place can forge an instant, lasting connection—fado in Portugal, reggaeton in Colombia, or jazz in New Orleans. So when the opportunity came along to team up with Pitchfork for a special live episode with Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz, the French-Cuban sister act behind Ibeyi, during Pitchfork Festival a few weeks ago, we couldn't have been more excited.

Find a full transcription of the episode and show notes here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/ibeyi-women-who-travel

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Earlier this year, Conde Nast Traveler launched Women Who Travel group trips to Colombia, and now we're heading Mexico on a nine-day trip that stops in Mexico City and Oaxaca. If you want to join, there are just 15 spots on our September 21-29 trip—and they’re filling up fast. For information on how to book, head to cntraveler.com/wwtmexico.

We're back again—we've pulled burning questions from our Women Who Travel Facebook group (plus one incredible photo of a gnawed-on passport) and asked our editors to share their expertise. With Traveler's articles director Stephanie Wu, travel news director Erin Florio, and community editor Megan Spurrell, we shared our tips for staying warm on planes and getting photos while on solo trips. But we also hit a serious note, covering how to tackle travel and flight anxiety and how to be more environmentally conscious while on the road.

If you want to submit a question for a future FAQ episode, drop it into the Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/womenwhotraveltheworld. Not only could you hear from Traveler editors themselves, but you'll have more than 130,000 women come to your aid, too.

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Earlier this year, Conde Nast Traveler launched Women Who Travel group trips to Colombia, and now we're heading Mexico on a nine-day trip that stops in Mexico City and Oaxaca. If you want to join, there are just 15 spots on our September 21-29 trip—and they’re filling up fast. For information on how to book, head to cntraveler.com/wwtmexico.

In this week's episode, we sit down with adventurer, dog sledder, and author Blair Braverman to learn about just what it took to complete the legendary Iditarod race—from the rigorous, year-long training program to the discipline required to cross Alaska with zero assistance. Plus, we chat about why she has chosen to be so open about her experiences as a musher through her writing and social media presence. As she tells us during the episode, she hopes her storytelling will empower more of us to find our own place within the outdoors.

Find more information about the episode in the show notes here:

Follow Lale at @lalehannah

Follow Meredith at @ohheytheremere

We are out traveling once again—but don’t worry we’ll be back with new episodes very, very soon. This week, in honor of the summer travel spirit, we’re throwing it back with one of our favorite episodes from last summer: our ultimate guide to road trips. Joined by Mara Balagtas and Traveler community editor Megan Spurrell, we talk about some of the best road trips we've ever taken, compare notes on some of the most memorable routes in the U.S., and dish plenty of advice on everything from car maintenance to playlist making.

You can find the original show notes for this episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/women-who-travel-podcast-how-to-plan-the-ultimate-road-trip

And read our complete guide to road trips here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-complete-guide-to-road-trips

This episode originally aired in May 2018.

As the two of us are away traveling this week, we decided to share one of our favorite episodes from last year. Joined by Huffington Post reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz and Priya Krishna, author of the fabulous cookbook Indian-ish, this episode is about celebrating all of those immigrant parents out there. With July 4 just around the corner, it felt like the perfect time to give it another listen and honor the wonderful melting pot that is the U.S.A.

You can find the original show notes for this episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-immigrant-parents-shaped-our-travel-experiences-women-who-travel-podcast

And read more about Priya's mother's travels here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-my-mothers-travels-shaped-my-world-view

This episode originally aired in October 2018.

Last summer, we spent an entire episode debating what defines the perfect beach read. Our conclusion? It can be just about anything you want it to be—and it rarely deserves to be dismissed as fluff. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun swapping book recommendations, and so with a year already behind us—and with so many more books on our shelves (and Kindles)—we decided to get the gang back together and kick summer off with another books-obsessed episode.

You can find a full list of all of the books mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-books-weve-read-so-far-this-year-women-who-travel-podcast

Summer may have already started, but it's still not too late to plan a trip. And considering there are a few national holidays (July 4th and Labor Day among them) to plan your vacation around, there's no better time to maximize your travel plans, either. As a follow-up to last year's summer travel episode, Meredith chatted with travel news director Erin Florio and senior commerce editor Elaheh Nozari about where they're going, and where you should go, too—and held down the fort while Lale was exploring Bermuda with Women Who Travel Facebook group members.

For this week's episode, we sat down with the best-selling author to talk about how travel has changed for her since that infamous Eat, Pray, Love adventure, and the role it now continues to play during her grieving process after the loss of her partner, Rayya. Plus, she also explains why she chose to set her most recent book, City of Girls(out June 4), in New York City, and why she loves to break all of the travel rules—from skipping every museum to getting "a little wasted" on the plane.

For years, we've been covering what makes the Ace brand's design so innovative and, frankly, unrepeatable (though plenty of big brands try) in its hotels. We decided to go to the source, heading to Los Angeles to chat with Kelly Sawdon, partner and chief brand officer at the Ace Hotel Group and Atelier Ace, at the Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles for our third live taping of the podcast. Thanks to Kelly for joining us, and to all of you that came to listen to us IRL. If you'd like to come to our next live episode or a Women Who Travel meetup, join our Facebook group and sign up for our newsletter to be in the know.

When Evita Robinson chatted with Traveler contributor, Diana Hubbell, earlier this year, she made one thing clear: The travel industry needs to work a lot harder when it comes to serving travelers of color. It was that lack of inclusive representation that propelled her to start her company, Nomadness Travel Tribe in 2011, an idea she had while working as an English teacher in the suburbs of Niigata, Japan. In this week’s episode, we sit down with Robinson to find out just how she built a 22,000-member community of travelers—and expanded into group trips around the world, initiatives like the Nomadness Project, a web series co-created with Insecure’s Issa Rae, and Audacity Fest, an annual travel conference for millennials of color.

For more info on Evita and Audacity Fest, head over to the show notes:

We have a lot of arguments in the Traveler office about packing: roll vs. fold, carry-on vs. checked, hard shell vs. soft... The list goes on. This week—to add more fuel to the fire—we brought in two expert travelers on opposite ends of the spectrum to talk about their packing tips. Shiona Turini is a self-proclaimed maximalist. Her job as a stylist and costume designer working on set with the likes of Issa Rae and Lena Waithe informs her own packing style. Anna Newton, of The Anna Edit, is a complete 180 from Shiona, and is a capsule wardrobe fanatic who's made a name for herself with clothing edits that prioritize mixing and matching a limited number of basics. Her go-to packing trick? Packing just 10 items, including shoes, that can be mixed and matched into 10 outfits on vacation.

Find the link to Anna's book and so much more in the show notes here:

In this episode, we interview our own mothers, covering everything from Lale's mom's by-the-seat-of-her-pants motorcycle adventure across Europe and Asia to the time Meredith's mom moved abroad to South Africa in the 1980s. Plus, we're joined by Traveler's social media manger Jeryl Lippe, her sister (regular Traveler contibutor) Jordi Lippe-McGraw, and their mother, Suzanne, to talk about climbing Israel's Mount Masada at seven-months pregnant and why she indulged Jordi's preteen Twister fantasy of tornado chasing. In the meantime, we learn a little bit more about our moms—and realize just how much their obsessions with travel have rubbed off on us.

*As we mentioned in the beginning of the episode, we're headed to Los Angeles on May 17 for another live taping—this time with Kelly Sawdon, who is responsible for masterminding that oh-so-cool Ace Hotel aesthetic we've all come to know and love. You can find more info and an RSVP link for the meetup and live podcast here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/women-who-travel-live-podcast-los-angeles-here-we-come.

Visit this link for the full show notes:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/we-learned-how-to-love-travel-from-our-mothers-women-who-travel-podcast

For those of us who don't describe ourselves as "outdoorsy," planning an excursion out into the wilderness can seem like a daunting task. How do you find the best trails? How do you stay safe? How much gear should you buy? And, once you've figured that out, how much will it all cost? Well, we're here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, we've dedicated an entire episode to all the reasons why you really should (finally) embrace the outdoors this summer.

This week, we're joined by Traveler photo editor Meg Reinhardt, and Abigail Wise, digital managing editor of Outside, to find out just how to plan the perfect adventure. For all of the links and parks mentioned in this episode, check out our show notes: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-we-should-all-be-more-adventurous-this-summer-women-who-travel-podcast

If you've listened to this episode with Refinery29's Lindsey Stanberry, then you may have realized that your Women Who Travel hosts aren't great with money, miles, or points. One thing we have learned, however, is that it's never too late to hit the road of self improvement, which is why we decided assemble a crack team of experts to answer all of our questions about getting into the points game. This week, we’re joined by Sarah Silbert, senior editor for credit cards at The Points Guy; Lindsay Silberman, a New York-based travel influencer who did that thing we all wish we could do—quit her job to travel the world; and Tiffany Funk, points expert at One Mile at a Time.

Want more info on the episode? Check out our show notes here.

Earlier this year, we decided to dedicate an entire podcast episode to the most frequently asked questions in our Facebook group. All sorts of topics came up—from how to find cheap flights, to the best ways to travel alone, to the dilemma of traveling to countries with a poor history of women's rights—and it quickly became clear that we couldn't fit everything we wanted (or needed) to answer into a single episode. Which is why we've decided to do it all over again this week and tackle some of your more recent travel concerns to crop up in the group—and given that it's tax season, more than a few of them are money-related.

For more information about this week's episode, check out the show notes here:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/we-answer-even-more-of-your-travel-questions-women-who-travel-podcast

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the pros and cons of female solo travel after the New York Times released its “Adventurous. Alone. Attacked.” story late last month. We spoke about the side of solo travel that you don't see on Instagram in October of last year, and we wanted to resurface the episode, which covers the tough moments of exploring alone as a female traveler.

Find information about our April Nashville meetup: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/women-who-travel-meetup-next-stop-nashville

Read the New York Times's story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/travel/solo-female-travel.html

Listen to Lale and Megan on WNYC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solo-travel/id74254710?i=1000433734070

Check out the podcast's original show notes: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-not-so-glamourous-side-of-solo-travel-women-who-travel-podcast

In February, Traveler's Cynthia Drescher wrote about how women are taking the helm in the cruise industry. We now make up between 18 to 20 percent of the industry's entire workforce, and 5 to 22 percent of cruise ship officers (for perspective, women constitute just 4 to 5 percent of the pilot industry in North America). One of those women is Kate McCue, the first American woman to captain a cruise ship. She's the current master of the Celebrity Equinox, soon-to-be master of Celebrity Edge, the cruise line’s newest (and arguably most significant) launch to date—and our Women Who Travel guest for this week.

Full show notes here.

If you're hungry right now, grab a bowl of pasta and dig in before you start listening, because we talk (a lot) about pasta this week. That's because our guest is the impressive Missy Robbins, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Lilia and Misi, two of the hottest (and toughest to get into) spots in Brooklyn—nay, in all of New York City. Yes, we spend a lot of time in the kitchen—but we head outside the restaurant world, too. The chef, who rose into the limelight in high-octane, Michelin-starred kitchens, has been public about dealing with the overwhelming stress of the restaurant industry—and the importance of vacation days (we agree!)—so we check in on how her self-care journey is going.

For more information about this week's episode, head to the show notes here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/talking-success-and-self-care-with-chef-missy-robbins-women-who-travel-podcast

Liz Lambert has lived many lives. She started out as a creative writing student, and then ended up in law school before serving in the Manhattan District Attorney's office. But she's best known for her design-forward work in the hotel industry as the founder and chief creative officer of her hotel group, Bunkhouse. We caught up with Liz for a live podcast taping in Austin to hear how she fell in love with hotels, her non-traditional path into the business, and how having a five-month-old child has changed the way she travels. Plus, we get the goss on her go-to room service order, her hatred of in-room coffee, and what's coming next for her hotel group (hello, New Orleans!).

Find more information about this episode (and how you can see us live) in the show notes here:

Last week, in honor of International Women's Day, we launched our list of the most powerful women in travel. It features an incredibly impressive line-up that covers every aspect of travel—from the boardroom to Everest, and beyond (like, you know, *space*). And while there are *so* many women making waves in the industry, whether it's championing more diverse voices, conquering male-dominated spaces, or just being at the top of their game, we whittled the pool down to 30. This week, we chatted with Traveler editors Katherine LaGrave and Megan Spurrell, who contributed to the list, to hear just why these women made the cut.

For more information and the full show notes, click here.

Food has never been more tethered to travel. Instagram, Anthony Bourdain, and others have made the two things bound to each other. And so, we pulled in two of our favorite foodies—*Bon Appétit*'s food director Carla Music (of "Back to Back Chef" YouTube fame) and contributor Priya Krishna—to chat about why food *always* tastes better on vacation, what it takes to recreate our favorite dishes, and cover the trips that introduced us to new foods, from something as simple as fresh pita and hummus in Egypt to pillowy idlis in India.

Find more information about Carla and Priya's new books, along with details for our upcoming live podcast in Austin in the show notes here:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-travels-that-inspire-our-cooking-women-who-travel-podcast

We sat down with Jen Rubio—who co-founded Away luggage in 2015 with friend Steph Korey—to hear all about how they got their start, what it's like to see your luggage in every airport, and how the brand continues to rule at high-profile collabs, from Dwyane Wade to the Despicable Me minions. Check out the full show notes here.

When talking about solo travel, most people don't immediately think of a solo safari. But in talking to some of our coworkers about their own experiences, we wondered: Are safaris kind of the perfect trip to take alone? Consider this: Your days are scheduled out with game drives in the morning and evening, and time to relax, read, and chat with your campmates during the hottest part of the day. You're in a group, whether you're gorilla-trekking in Rwanda watching for elephants in the Serengeti, so you can choose when to be social—and when to hang out in your villa's plunge pool alone.

But the trip takes a lot of planning, so we called in our team of experts, who've all taken solo safaris, including Traveler's features director Alex Postman, travel specialist and founder of Roar Africa Deborah Calmeyer, and contributor Mary Holland.

Find more information about the lodges and stories mentioned here.

We say it a lot over here at Traveler: Americans are really bad at taking vacation. So much so that in 2017, we left 705 million vacation days on the table, the U.S. Travel Association reported. Think of all the walking tours, island naps, and life-changing meals that were missed! And while we always urge you to take all of your days—be they five or 25—we don't always practice what we preach, either. One of us (cough, Meredith) left nearly half of her vacation days unused during her first year at Traveler, for fear of being gone from work too much.

Thankfully, we've since learned the error of our ways—but we could all use the reminder that we're actually devaluing our salary by leaving those days behind. (Especially given women are already earning about 19.5 percent less than our male counterparts, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.) We tapped the keeper of our vacation days, Traveler's director of editorial operations Paulie Dibner, and contributor Cassie Shortsleeve to chat about vacation guilt, how to ask for time off, what to do when you have unlimited vacation, and what to actually do when you get it.

Find the full show notes here.

Let's get something straight, right off the bat: we're biased when it comes to organized group trips exclusively for self-identifying women. We love them so much, that as of today we have not one, not two, but ten Women Who Travel trips heading to Colombia this year, thanks to a partnership with El Camino Travel. But we didn't always feel so gung-ho about traveling the world with a group of strangers or about giving up control over the itinerary. In fact, just like with almost everything in travel, it was the mental hurdle—the thought that we might not like group trips—that kept us from doing it. But, we all got over it. (Strip naked in front of a group of gals at a Japanese onsen and you'll get over those reservations really fast.) To commiserate and compare stories, we brought community editor and trip lead Megan Spurrell and El Camino's founder Katalina Mayorga on to talk about the pros, cons, and what it took to change our minds.

Every day, women from around the world ask and answer travel questions in our Women Who Travel Facebook group—some of which come up more than others. So, in this week's episode, we brought in some of our editors to add in their voices, addressing some of the Facebook group's biggest travel concerns. You can find show notes here:

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/we-answer-your-frequently-asked-travel-questions-women-who-travel-podcast

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Eaton Hotel—in conjunction with this month’s Women Who Travel meetup—we were joined by Jamie Leeds, chef and owner of Hank’s Oyster Bar (and Pasta Bar and Cocktail Bar); Rose Previte, owner of Compass Rose and one of Bon Appetit's best new restaurants, Maydan ; and Amy Brandwein, chef and owner of Centrolina.

It isn't every day that we have someone Skype into the podcast from Lake Malawi—but this week's guest is Jessica Nabongo, who's well on her way to becoming the first black woman to visit every country in the world. This episode, we're catching up with Jessica (currently on 151 of 195 U.N.-recognized countries) about everything she's learned so far.

This week, we're rerunning an episode from July 2018. About half the female staff at Traveler have lived (or are still living) the expat life, and are brimming with advice on international visa processes, apartment hunting, meet-up groups, and long-distance relationships (the latter often being the reason for moving in the first place). Here's advice for making the big move.

If you haven't quite nailed a travel resolution down yet, we give you full permission to crib from our 2018 plans and our 2019 hopes and dreams. Read more about this episode here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/our-travel-resolutions-for-2019-women-who-travel-podcast

This week on Women Who Travel, we invited our resident office bookworm, managing editor Paulie Dibner, and Riverhead Books' Associate Publisher Jynne Dilling Martin, back to the studio to chat about the books that captured their attention this year—and the books they can't wait to read in 2019. You can find the full list of books mentioned here: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-best-books-we-traveled-with-this-year-women-who-travel-podcast

We sat down with the chef, author, and TV host to talk about what it takes to make the biggest food and travel show of 2018.

This week, we're sharing an episode of Travelogue, the other podcast at Conde Nast Traveler. In it, our editors walk through our gift guides and give a few hints as to what they're giving this year (and what they're hoping to get). There's a little bit of everything: luggage (Away, of course), stocking stuffers to help reduce your plastic consumption, and the noise-cancelling headphones we've been raving about. Find all of the products mentioned at: www.cntraveler.com/story/everythin…velogue-podcast

From the coolest rooftop bars to our favorite low-key seafood spots.

Sure, we love traveling with our parents (we've even talked about it on this podcast), but spending 54 days in a small cockpit, co-piloting a plane with them? Not so appealing. Talk to Georgia Dean, though, and it sounds like a piece of cake. The 26-year-old pilot just spent that much time in the air with her dad, flying a turboprop plane from Colorado Springs to some 23 different countries around the world, including Iceland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Jordan, and South Africa. In this week's episode Dean spills on what it takes to be a pilot—and how your worldview changes at 30,000 feet.

In this week's episode, we talk to travel expert and host of PBS's Places to Love Samantha Brown about her origin story and so much more. Tune in to hear her talk about her most memorable trips, how her five-year-old twins have changed the way she travels, why the industry needs a real shake-up to bring new voices on board, and why every meal doesn't have to be the best thing you've ever eaten. (And whatever you do, don't get her started on Yelp.) For full show notes: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-samantha-brown-got-her-start-women-who-travel-podcast

Here at Traveler, we tend to think that we travel a lot. Like, a lot a lot. But then we meet people who go for the extreme (say, hitting every country in the world, or solo-sailing the Pacific Ocean) and put us to absolute shame. Take Kate Harris, who hopped on a bike with her childhood best friend Mel and pedaled from Istanbul to China, following Marco Polo's Silk Road. Because traveling by camel caravan seemed a little too out there.

As long as your doctor says it's fine, there's no reason to stop traveling.

We’ve dedicated this week’s episode of Women Who Travel to all things spontaneity, covering the trips we booked in a pinch and the itineraries we put together in less than a week.

On this week's episode, we have some real talk about the tough moments of solo travel that you don't see on Instagram—and share what we've learned about appreciating our own company and the importance of self care.

For our guests this week, childhood vacations meant a cousin's house in Alexandria or New Delhi. Thanks to Huffington Post reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz for joining us in the studio, and to Priya Krishna, author of the upcoming cookbook Indian-ish, for calling in while on the move in Queens (forgive us for the varying sound quality this week).

We sit down with Lindsey Stanberry, Refinery29's Work and Money Director and author of the new book 'Money Diaries: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Your Finances... And Everyone Else's'

This week, we're throwing it back to our very first episode about all things solo travel. It's a topic that comes up time and time again, so we turned to our favorite solo travelers, including Jessica Nabongo, Cynthia Drescher, and Traveler's Erin Florio. Check back next week for a brand new episode.

From editors who studied in Spain, Australia, India, and, well, on a ship.

This week, we hash it out over our worst airport habits, from hovering at the gate to hogging the overhead space.

From Paraguay to Lithuania, we compare the places that surprised us the most.

Meet Jaimie Monahan, an ultramarathon and cold-water swimmer who has pitted herself against some of the world’s harshest bodies of water.