Imagine a road trip up the southern Californian coast stopping off at cool little beach towns along the way. But instead of doing it in a car, on the highway, getting stuck in traffic, with nothing to do or see … you surf it instead.

The Pacific Surfliner train travels 351 miles from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, through Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and more … and for much of that journey you are literally hugging the coast so closely you can almost smell the ocean.

In today’s episode, recorded on location, host Aaron Millar, and producers Jason Paton and Ally Nisbet, head out on a long weekend ‘track trip’ down the So-Cal coast.

“This is one of my favorite trips of the year so far. A lot of the episodes we make are about proper adventures, and deep stories about culture and history. This was just pure fun. I love southern California, and hope this episode captures that spirit and special vibe of the west coast. Kerouac had it wrong, the open tack beats the open road any day for me … especially when there’s surfing at the end of the line.” - Aaron

Highlights include:

· Kayaking with sea lions in Santa Barbara

· Spotting dolphins in Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of Ventura

· Catching waves with pro-surfer John Daniels in Oceanside

· Riding one of the most beautiful stretches of the Pacific Surfliner: gorgeous headlands, mist covered mountains, and ocean waves crashing on the shore

Thanks to Pacific Surfliner for helping to make this trip possible. If you like what you hear and fancy taking the scenic route yourself, you can book your tickets at pacificsurfliner.com. Students under 25 get a 15% discount

Thanks also to santabarbaraca.com, visitventuraca.com, visitoceanside.org, Andre from Cal Coast Adventures, all the crew at Island Packers, Jim Kempton from the California Surf Museum, and John Daniels from Learn to Rip Surf Lessons

Follow the show on Instagram @armchairexplorerpodcast

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Brian Thacker did our pre-production, Jason Paton and Ally Nisbet did the field recording and audio production, Aaron Millar wrote and presented it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices