No Blackout Dates

Ben Parsons founded Ordinary Fellow winery in Palisade, Colorado, to make wine approachable for everyone. Ben joins No Blackout Dates this week to talk wine and travel – most notably, how the two come together to create one epic life experience. A UK expat, Ben has traveled the world to make, taste, and promote wine for more than 20 years. He’s settled in Colorado as the state’s first expert winemaker and likely its OG top-tier wine enthusiast – and has established himself as the face of Colorado’s burgeoning wine scene.

Just in time for Christmas, we’re excited to welcome our highest-profile guest to ever appear on No Blackout Dates. That’s right. Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Jolly Saint Nick, the Big Man himself…Santa Claus is here to ring in the holidays.

Tim and Eben hounded the North Pole’s PR office for months to get this interview, and after speaking with Santa for 45 minutes, it’s easy to see why he’s so tough to schedule. The man is busy – producing all those toys, managing crews of elves around the globe, and splitting domestic duties with Mrs. Claus once the working day is through. The guys press Santa on all the things you’ve always wanted to know, including how to get off the naughty list, the craziest things kids ask for, and whether or not the reindeer carrying his sleigh this year are the same nine troopers who’ve been at it since the 1600s. The crew also delves into the ins and outs of Christmas cookies and discusses everything from Santa’s diet to where he vacations once the holiday season is through (hint – Santa tans just like the rest of us).

Meagan Martin’s eight-season run on American Ninja Warrior has outlived most television careers, and that’s just her side-hustle. Meagan is a professional rock climber whose passion for climbing has taken her around the world, from Boulder, Colorado, to Paris, Berlin, and even Hachioji, Japan. Meagan also provides television commentary of live climbing for NBC, and was there to call climbing’s Olympic debut this year.

Tim and Eben are among those who look at climbers briskly working their way up a rock face and think, “How the hell do they do that without dying?” On today’s episode, Meagan breaks down the basics of how climbing works and represents why it's poised to better represent extreme outdoor adventure sports on the global stage than snowboarding (none of climbing’s medal winners tested positive for Cannabis this year, wink-wink).

On today’s episode, Matador Network CEO Ross Borden joins the show to discuss his recent trip to NEOM, the expansive desert of northern Saudi Arabia being turned into the world’s first “sustainable city.” Along with The Line -- a futuristic city built in a long, thin, and extra-eco-friendly line -- the planners of NEOM will include purpose-driven tourism development along the coast of the Red Sea, a slew of national parks, and plenty of other futuristic stuff. We don’t understand it in the least, but Ross breaks down the basics in what might be the first-ever 101-level course on NEOM told by someone who’s actually been there.

Beyond NEOM, Ross and the guys discuss the current COVID situation and get into the cultural differences between Saudi and western societies. The result is an overview of the essence of Matador Network itself -- that at its best, travel has the potential to break through cultural differences and help us find our common humanity.

At No Blackout Dates, we firmly believe in only three things: eating great food, traveling the world, and geeking out over early 2000s punk rock. Today’s guest Kelly Rizzo embodies the best of food, travel, and music. Kelly is the founder of Eat Travel Rock, a digital television show and production company that takes viewers behind the scenes of the things we most cherish. We discuss all things food and flying with Kelly, including America’s best food cities.

Beyond her incredible TV show, Kelly’s biggest contribution to the world of travel is that she has dialed in the formula for overcoming a fear of flying. The crew gets into her tricks and hones in on what exactly you can do to make flying a better experience. Spoiler -- it involves a certain app and a pair of headphones. What’s more, it works so well that even Bob Saget is on board.

Tim makes his triumphant return to No Blackout Dates this week after a month of paternity leave, and he’s rearin’ to go. In Hot Takes, the boys discuss whether or not the Flight Map (that animated seatback screen that tracks a flight's progress) is worth watching. Eben wonders when a gathering becomes a party (Tim knows the answer). And, for those accustomed to Eben’s ridiculous restaurant ideas, Tim brings a breath of fresh air as he discloses the duo’s next business venture.

Professional matchmaker Jenny Hart joins us today, and she’s revealing all her insider secrets for making lasting connections while traveling.

Jenny has spent years pairing people up from all around the world, particularly travelers and digital nomads, and now she’s joining us to break down the complex world of international matchmaking. We discuss meeting people on airplanes, making connections in foreign countries, and what qualities make two people a good match. She also reveals the Tinder rules you didn’t know you were breaking while swiping abroad.

In Hot Takes, Eben tried to understand the allure of true crime podcasts, and whether giving flight attendants gifts is actually a good move.

Traveling for tourism paints an incomplete (and sometimes wildly inaccurate) picture of the places we visit. Cengiz Yar is an international photojournalist who’s traveled the world telling stories that are often right in front of our eyes, but which aren’t exactly comfortable for us to digest. He specializes in conflict reporting, mass displacement, and civilian casualties of war, and his work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times.

Cengiz is here to help us explore the complicated intersection of traditional journalism and social media, the importance of media literacy, and the global consequences of disinformation. That includes ground-level insights about life under the Islamic State (ISIS), the experience of Syrian refugees, and introducing Iraqi children to photography. We also dive into a question that has plagued Cengiz throughout his career: does photojournalism -- and journalism in general -- actually improve the lives of those it covers?

In Hot Takes, Eben and Melanie wonder why people decide to live in areas prone to frequent natural disasters, and ask the question that’s been on your mind since 2018: does investing in Bitcoin make you a douche?

Jules Verne’s famous character, Phileas Fogg, went around the world in 80 days. Pretty impressive in 1872. But times are different in 2021, and the bar is much, much higher. Not only has Gunnar Garfors circumnavigated the globe in just 56 hours, he’s also the first person to travel to every country in the world TWO times, visit five continents in a single day, and holds a host of other impressive travel-related records.

We talk about his visit to North Korea, how to get fresh perspectives on the same destinations, how record-breaking travel differs from leisure travel, and whether credit card points are bullsh*t. We also explore what qualifies as actually “visiting” a country -- and no, a one-hour airport layover doesn’t count.

In Hot Takes, Eben and Melanie break down the Alec Baldwin incident, dissect the psychology behind read receipts and “ghosting,” and Melanie endorses a presidential candidate for 2024.

For the first time in the history of No Blackout Dates, we’re without one of our co-pilots this week. With the exciting birth of his daughter, Tim is taking some time off to learn how to be a parent -- which we imagine is much easier than being a podcast host. Luckily, Melanie Sutrathada is here to fill his shoes (if not his flannel shirts and Burton hats). Melanie was our very first guest on No Blackout Dates, and now we’ve come full circle.

She’ll be joining Eben as guest host for the next few weeks. Before we dive into next month’s interviews, we’re taking this week to introduce you guys to Melanie. Today’s episode is all about the Hot Takes -- where we discuss Squid Games, friendzoning, and the ethics of pushing the walk button to cross the street -- and of course, News of the Day, where Melanie self-reflects about her unoriginality on Instagram.

Let’s be honest -- we’ve all requested a song from a DJ before. Maybe they shut you down immediately, and maybe they reluctantly agreed but shot you a death stare the entire time you were dancing to “Uptown Funk.” Either way, they hated you for it. That’s right, DJ’s hate requests more than waiters hate people who order stuff that isn’t on the menu. But don’t worry. Nina Tarr is here to set us straight.

Nina is a DJ and music curator at the Superfrico bar in Las Vegas’ Cosmopolitan Hotel. In addition to being the Vegas Strip’s only vinyl DJ, she’s responsible for curating Superfrico’s entire audio experience, hand-selecting the DJ lineups and pre-recording the ambient music you hear when there’s no live set. She’s also an actress, writer, and stand-up comedian who’s traveled all over the US performing in front of crowds. We discuss how senses of humor differ around the country, why American music has dominated the rest of the world, and how to travel solo.

In Hot Takes, Tim continues to prepare for the birth of his daughter by wondering what would happen in the event of a police chase en route to the hospital, and Eben asks why people bother commenting on those clearly-sponsored Facebook posts. They also scratch their heads over the phrase “rue the day,” and why you can rue “the day” but seemingly nothing else.