Unpacked by Afar | Travel Smarter, More Responsibly

By AfarSociety & Culture Arts Places & Travel Food

Unpacked by Afar | Travel Smarter, More Responsibly episodes

June 05Feel-Good Friday: A Queer Dance Revolution, Dog-Friendly Hotels, and What Actually Makes You Happy
Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays. This week, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by Afar executive editor Kathrine LaGrave—and the three of them are ready to carry you into the weekend a little lighter, with stories about line dancing, travel with your dog, and the surprisingly simple science of being happy.
The happy news
Country line dancing is having a queer renaissance. Kathrine shares the story of Stud Country, a New York–based group offering country dancing parties and classes rooted in queer cowboy culture—open to everyone, from regulars to curious first-timers.

It’s getting a whole lot easier to travel with your dog. Nikki reports that searches for pet-friendly travel are up year-over-year, and a new wave of hotels isn’t just tolerating four-legged guests—they’re actively celebrating them, with welcome treats, room amenities, dog spas, and yes, an official Director of Pet Relations.

Aislyn brings us back to Yale happiness researcher Laurie Santos, who went viral for teaching the most popular course in the university’s history—and whose 2026 take on happiness comes down to one thing: more friction, more connection, less optimization. Travel, she argues, is one of the best tools we still have for getting out of our own way.
Plus: a spirited debate about cowboy boot colors, a Yappy Hour proposal, and a vision for the ultimate Feel-Good Friday field trip—all dogs welcome.
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday
00:01:00 Boots, Belonging, and Stud Country
00:05:45 The Great Boot Color Debate
00:06:00 The Happiness Researcher You Need to Hear
00:10:00 Dogs Welcome: The New Pet-Friendly Hotel Era
00:14:30 Yappy Hour and Other Good Ideas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 min
June 05What My 96-Year-Old Grandmother Taught Me About Travel
What would happen if you called your grandmother out of the blue and asked her to go camping that night? For Brad Ryan, that impulsive phone call sparked a seven-year journey across all 63 U.S. national parks.
Along the way, he and Grandma Joy, now 96, healed old wounds, faced down lifelong fears, and became unlikely internet stars. Brad's new book, Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at a Time, out June 16th, tells the whole story.
In this episode, Brad talks with host Aislyn Greene about what he witnessed in his grandmother over those years—the phenomenon he describes as reverse aging, the way movement and purpose and intergenerational connection seemed to make her healthier and more coordinated over time, not less.
He also reflects on the healing that happened in the car: the long stretches of road through South Dakota, the yellow line hypnosis, the conversations that finally surfaced after years of silence. And he shares what he learned writing the book: about his father, about his family's Irish roots, and about what it means to find pride in an imperfect lineage.

In this episode
Why Brad made the call—and what was happening in his life that led him there

What Joy said when he pitched 63 parks

How road trips create the conditions for conversations that can't happen anywhere else

What the national parks offer as a place for connection across every kind of divide

Grandma Joy's relationship with fear—near-drowning as a child, white-water rafting in Alaska at 90

Why Brad thinks the loneliness crisis among older Americans is something the parks could actually help address

Resources
Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at a Time by Brad Ryan, out June 16th

Read the Afar story about Brad and Joy

Follow Brad and Grandma Joy on Instagram

Check out Brad and Grandma Joy's summer 2026 book tour (stops in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and California)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
40 min
June 02Travel to Listen: The City That Made Prince
Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it's the shortcut to a place's soul.
This week, he heads to Minneapolis to hear how a community center, a cold climate, and a once-in-a-generation genius combined to create one of the most distinctive sounds in American music, plus how the city is celebrating a decade since Prince's passing.
In this episode
How the Minneapolis sound emerged from the Great Migration, housing segregation, rock radio, and a community center called The Way, where a teenage Prince jammed alongside Morris Day and Terry Lewis

Why Paul Peterson (dubbed St. Paul by Prince himself) believes the Minneapolis sound is joyous, funky, and built to last, and how his supergroup, the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, is carrying it forward

The story of historian Kristen Zschomler: how grief over Prince's death led her to track 50+ locations across Minneapolis where he lived, worked, and recorded, and her ongoing mission to get them on the National Register of Historic Places

What Prince mastered at his childhood home in North Minneapolis. Plus, why Sound 80, the studio where he cut his first demo tapes at 19, was the launchpad for everything that followed

How to experience Minneapolis in 2026: from Paisley Park to First Avenue, Bunkers Music Bar to the Dakota, and the five-day Prince Celebration festival in June marking the 10th anniversary of Prince's death
Meet this week's guests
Paul Peterson is a musician, songwriter, and former Prince collaborator, dubbed "St. Paul" by the Purple One himself. He was a member of The Time and The Family, appeared in Purple Rain, and is now the leader of the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars, an all-star alumni supergroup dedicated to keeping the Minneapolis sound alive.
Kristen Zschomler⁠ is a historian and co-founder of the International Center 4 Prince Studies. She gives guided tours of Prince's Minneapolis and created Sound Around Tours, a self-guided audio tour app. She has researched and documented over 50 locations tied to Prince's life and work, and has successfully advocated for two of them to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Guest host ⁠Tim Chester⁠ is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city’s soul.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Minneapolis
00:01:00 The Minneapolis Funk All-Stars
00:03:45 Music as Healing
00:06:45 What Made Minneapolis a Crucible
00:09:30 The Way and the Scene's Roots
00:12:45 Prince's Landmarks
00:15:30 Celebrating a Decade Since Prince
A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a walkable city with a thriving live music scene, and the landmarks of the Minneapolis sound are spread across a compact, navigable footprint. Here's how to do it like a fan.
Start here: the essential stops
Paisley Park—Prince's home, recording complex, and creative sanctuary in Chanhassen, just outside the city. Now a museum and events venue.

Prince's childhood home—the North Minneapolis house where he mastered the piano, decoded albums note by note, and became Prince.

Sound 80 Studios—the recording studio where a 19-year-old Prince cut the demo tapes that landed him his Warner Brothers contract.

First Avenue—the venue Prince made famous in Purple Rain (he also recorded the song there, performing it live for the first time on that stage).
Hear live music
Bunkers Music Bar & Grill—the historic North Loop spot where Dr. Mambo's Combo plays every Sunday and Monday night.

The Dakota—an intimate downtown jazz club with a packed calendar every night of the week.

The Green Room—the venue where St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars frequently play
Plan for June
Celebration 2026—the annual Prince estate event runs June 3–7 this year as a five-day gathering with concerts, dance parties, and unseen footage. The International Center 4 Prince Studies has programming June 1–2 as well, and a new community museum opening in North Minneapolis that flips the curatorial lens: instead of Prince's instruments, it collects the stories of the people he touched.
Artists to watch
L.A. Buckner and Big Homie

David Feily

Cory Wong

Dylan Salfer

Chris Lawrence

Alex Rossi

Nur-D

Nunnabove
Up next on Travel to Listen
Tim heads to Southern California to explore the spacey, grungy desert rock scene—and to find out there's a lot more to the region than Coachella. New episode in two weeks.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 min
May 29Feel-Good Friday: A Road Trip, a Public Health Win, and the Great Millennial Song Debate
Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays. This week, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are bringing you a special road trip edition — recorded live from the car somewhere in the forests of Michigan, microphones balanced on laps and sunscreen close at hand.
It’s a two-story episode today, and both come straight from the headlines of everyday life:
Sunscreen use is up worldwide — and it’s not just public health messaging that’s doing it. Better formulas, the global influence of Korean and Japanese skincare, and a generational shift in sun-safety habits all play a role. Nikki and Aislyn dig into the data, swap their favorite SPF picks, and make the case for hand cream on road trips.
The millennial song debate: NPR music journalists went looking for the one track that defines a generation, and landed on...well, we can't reveal that. But Aislyn and Nikki compare notes (Evanescence, No Doubt, Usher, J.Lo all make appearances), and share a playlist to soundtrack your own summer drive. Tell us your pick.
Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar’s favorite travel writers and editors. We’ll see you next week.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Fridays (On the Road Edition)
00:01:00 Sunscreen Use Is Up — Here’s Why That’s a Big Deal
00:04:30 SPF Picks for the Road
00:05:30 The Millennial Song Debate
00:08:00 Why “Paper Planes” Won
00:09:30 Closing Out the Era: “I Love It”
00:10:30 Our Personal Millennial Anthems

Stay Connected
Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
14 min
May 22Feel-Good Friday: A Hidden India, a Celebrity Elephant, and the Future of California Wine
Welcome back to Feel-Good Friday. Every Friday through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. Each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what's possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers.
This week, we're joined by Afar's deputy editor, Jennifer Flowers, and the three of us travel from the Himalayan foothills to the African savanna to the rolling hills of Sonoma. Together, we share:
A corner of northern India that's quietly becoming a model for sustainable tourism, with tourism up 60 percent since 2018 and a network of community-run homestays that let you walk between guesthouses through pine and oak forests.

The story of Craig, a celebrity super tusker elephant whose long, peaceful life in the wild is itself a conservation victory, and what his legacy says about decades of work in Kenya's Amboseli ecosystem

A Sonoma incubator quietly rewriting who gets to make California wine, with one-of-a-kind small-batch bottlings to look out for from Leap of Grapes, Ward 4 Wines, and Mad Marvlus
Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week.

Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday
00:01:00 Sustainable Tourism in Uttarakhand
00:04:00 Meet Craig the Super Tusker
00:06:30 A Conservation Win for the Wild
00:09:30 Down a California Wine Rabbit Hole
00:11:20 The Vanguard of Small-Batch Wine
Stay Connected
Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 min
May 19Travel to Listen: Why This Southern City Is America's Most Underrated Music Town
Welcome to Travel to Listen, a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it’s the shortcut to a place’s soul. This week, he goes to the source in Macon: meet the people keeping the city’s legendary songbook alive, and find out why a trip here might be the most soulful detour you’ve never considered.

In this episode
How the Macon Music Revue transforms songs by Little Richard, the Allman Brothers, and R.E.M. into something new—without losing what made them legendary

Why Charles Davis believes there’s “something in the water” in Macon—and how the city’s Indigenous roots may be part of its musical soul

The story behind the new Otis Redding Center for the Arts: from a 1965 music camp at Otis’s ranch to a full museum and education hub that opened in March 2025

What visitors to Macon often don’t know about Otis Redding—the savvy businessman, devoted family man, and farmer who owned cows, chickens, and horses

Where to eat, drink, and hear live music in Macon: from Capricorn Sound Studios to H&H Soul Food, where the Allman Brothers ate when they were broke

Meet this week's guests
Charles Davis is the frontman of the Macon Music Revue, a band that reinterprets the city’s iconic catalog with a soul-forward sound all their own. A longtime Macon radio voice, Charles is one of the city’s most active stewards of its musical legacy.
Justin Andrews is the director of special projects and outreach at the Otis Redding Foundation, and the grandson of soul legend Otis Redding. He helped bring the Otis Redding Center for the Arts to life when it opened in March 2025.
Guest host Tim Chester is a freelance travel and culture writer who has spent the past 20 years exploring the world through the lens of music. His reporting has appeared in NME, Spin, and Afar, and his travels have taken him from Manhattan to Malawi and Beijing to Berlin in search of the festivals, scenes, and stories that reveal a city’s soul.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Macon
00:01:15 Inside the Macon Music Revue
00:04:15 Something in the Water
00:06:15 A Tour Through Southern Rock
00:09:45 H&H Soul Food and the Allman Brothers
00:10:30 Otis Redding’s Vision Comes Home
00:13:45 The Man Behind the Music
00:15:00 Where to Hear Otis in Macon

A Music Fan's Travel Guide to Macon

Macon is walkable, the downtown is compact, and most of the music landmarks sit within a few square miles. Here’s how to do it like a fan.
Start here: the essential stops
Capricorn Sound Studios & Museum—the birthplace of Southern rock.

The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House—the Tudor-style house where Duane, Gregg, Berry Oakley, and their families lived from 1970 to 1973.

The Otis Redding Museum—View plane tickets, telegrams, the briefcase from the wreckage, and pictures pulled from Zelma Redding’s personal archive.

The Otis Redding Center for the Arts (ORCA)—The newest piece of the puzzle, opened March 2025: a youth music education hub, the O3 Recording Studio, and the outdoor Zelma Redding Amphitheater, where a bronze statue of Otis now welcomes visitors.
Hear live music
Grant’s Lounge—the historic dive that served as an audition spot for Capricorn Records.

The Douglas Theatre—built in 1921 as a venue for African American performers during segregation, and where a teenage Otis Redding won the teen talent competition so many times the organizers asked him to stop entering.

Hargray Capitol Theatre—a beautifully restored downtown venue that brings in touring acts across genres.

Eat and drink like a local
H&H Soul Food—the legendary downtown spot started by Mama Louise and Mama Inez, who fed the Allman Brothers when they were broke.

The Rookery—Get the burger, stay for the music, and listen for the Otis Redding song that always seems to be playing when you walk in.

Go a little deeper
Rock Candy Tours—weekly guided walking tours that connect the dots between the studios, homes, and venues.

The Macon Music Trail—a self-guided trail of 43+ music sites with a free companion mobile app, including the Little Richard House and Rose Hill Cemetery, where Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried.

The Macon Music Revue (Terminus Records, 2024)—listen to Charles’s reinterpretations of “Losing My Religion,” “Stand Back,” and more. themaconmusicrevue.com

Up next on Travel to Listen
Tim heads to Minneapolis to get bright and bouncy with the city’s funk scene—and to hear how the city is planning to mark the 10th anniversary of Prince’s untimely passing. New episode in two weeks.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 min
May 15Feel-Good Friday: Pottery, a History-Making Pilot, and a Salmon Race Worth Following
Welcome back to Feel-Good Fridays!
Every Friday through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. In each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what’s possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers.
This week, they’re joined by Afar’s editorial director, Billie Cohen, and the trio covers all the elements: water, sky, and land. Together, they share:
A Pacific Northwest conservation project that turns one of nature’s most epic journeys into something you can actually root for, fish by fish

The pilot who spent more than 50 years chasing a childhood dream—and just made history at one of the country’s biggest airlines

A weekend tradition in rural Minnesota where you can follow hand-painted signs from studio to studio, and the Estonian summer ritual Billie shared in a recent Travel Tale.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday
00:01:00 Rooting for Baby Salmon
00:05:00 United’s First Female Captain
00:08:30 Quirky Local Trail Season
00:10:30 Open Cafés in Estonia
(00:00) Welcome to Feel-Good Friday
(01:00) Rooting for Baby Salmon
(05:00) United’s First Female Captain
(08:30) Quirky Local Trail Season
(10:30) Open Cafés in Estonia

Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
16 min
May 14 Towing With an EV: What Hundreds of Miles Down the Oregon Coast Taught Us
In last week's episode, host Aislyn Greene shared the story of towing a 20-foot Airstream down the Oregon coast in an all-electric Rivian truck — the campsite mishaps, the strangers who became friends, the joy of slow travel. This week, she's back with the practical guide: how an EV road trip actually works when you're towing, and what to know before you try one yourself.
Aislyn sits down with Sara Eslinger, who heads up Rivian's Adventure Network, to talk about how the company has been quietly building fast-charging infrastructure in the places EV drivers actually want to go — not just along interstates, but on the edge of Death Valley, outside Yellowstone, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and yes, all along Oregon's Highway 101.
They get into why 70 percent of Adventure Network sites are trailer-friendly, how the built-in trip planner factors in elevation, heat, and trailer weight, and why Rivian tested its charging bays with an Airstream.
Then Aislyn shares the five things she wishes she'd known before hitching up — from how much range to expect when towing, to the adapter you need to charge overnight at a campsite, to the trailer mirrors that will change your life.
Whether you're EV-curious, RV-curious, or just love a good road trip, this one's a window into how the infrastructure for adventure travel is changing — and how much easier it's getting to take the scenic route.

Chapters
00:00:00 Bonus Episode Setup
00:01:08 Inside Rivian's Adventure Network
00:03:15 Why the Trip Planner Works
00:05:08 Towing-Friendly by Design
00:06:50 Five Things to Know Before You Tow
00:09:25 The Verdict and What's Next

Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 min
May 08 Feel-Good Fridays: A New Series for Brighter Weekends
Welcome to Feel-Good Fridays.
Every Friday from now through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. Each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what's possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers.
For our debut episode, we're joined by Afar's Michelle Baran, who brings her own dose of feel-good to the mic. Together, the three of them share:
– A celebrated food writer's reintroduction to her own hometown, and what travel can teach us about grief, grace, and seeing familiar streets with new eyes
– A long-awaited transit milestone in a famously car-bound American city—and what it could mean for one of the world's biggest upcoming sporting events
– A Vienna café where the pastries come with a side of intergenerational wisdom (and the bakers might just remind you of your own grandmother)
Plus: a childhood alter ego involving wigs, doorbells, and a traveling comedy duo we did not see coming.
Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week.
Chapters
00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday
00:01:30 A Food Writer Rediscovers Her City
00:04:30 LA Finally Builds the Train
00:09:00 The Grandmas of Vienna
00:12:30 A Childhood Story We Had to Share

Resources
– Yewande Komolafe's writing for The New York Times
– LA Metro's D Line extension (opened May 2026)
– Vollpension, the granny-run bakery and café in Vienna

Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode.
And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 min
May 07We Towed an Airstream Down the Oregon Coast Using an Electric Truck. Here's What Happened.
What happens when the person who knows how to tow has to leave — and you're left with a 5,000-pound Airstream, an electric truck, and 800 miles of Oregon coast ahead of you?
On this episode of Unpacked, host Aislyn Greene shares the story of the eight-day road trip she and her wife Jeannie took down the Oregon coast in August — towing an Airstream Basecamp 20 XE with a Rivian Tri-Motor R1T, with exactly zero towing experience between them.
What was supposed to be a fully sustainable cycling-and-camping trip with friends became a crash course in trailer physics, EV charging, and the unexpected generosity of the RV community.

In this episode you'll learn
How Aislyn and her partner, Jeannie, went from zero towing experience to navigating a 5,000-pound Airstream down 500 miles of Oregon coast—and what actually made it possible

The RV community secret nobody tells first-timers: once you've parked, everyone sits back and watches you do it

Why the Rivian R1T's onboard charging calculator made range anxiety a non-issue, even towing a trailer across eight charging stops

What Fort Stevens, Nehalem Bay, Cape Lookout, and Sunset Bay State Park each taught them about slowing down and asking for help

The case for traveling in a way that forces you to rely on strangers—and why it felt especially powerful right now

Plan your own Oregon coast trip
Stay at the campgrounds we loved: Fort Stevens State Park, Nehalem Bay State Park, Cape Lookout State Park , and Bay Point Landing in Coos Bay. For your sunset swim: Sunset Bay State Park, south of Coos Bay.

Plan your Oregon trip with Afar's Oregon guide.

Read more about Afar's guide to road trips, including EV trips
Borrow or rent a Rivian R1T and explore the Rivian Adventure Network — many sites along Highway 101 are designed for trailer-friendly pull-throughs.

Tow an Airstream Basecamp 20 XE — Airstream's small, off-grid-friendly trailer built in partnership with REI.
Chapters
00:00:00 The Plan vs. The Reality
00:03:30 Picking Up the Airstream Alone
00:06:10 First Drive on the Highway
00:08:30 Our First Parking Angel
00:11:00 The Nehalem Bay Disaster
00:14:30 Cape Lookout, Finally
00:18:30 A Bolt Falls Out
00:20:30 Why the Rivian Was the Hero
00:23:30 Sunset Bay
00:25:30 Coming Home

Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.
Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

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

About Unpacked by Afar | Travel Smarter, More Responsibly

From the publisher's feed

Unpacked by Afar is your weekly guide to where to go, how to travel, and everything worth unpacking in between. Each week, host Aislyn Greene and the Afar team travel the world and dig into the big…