Unpacked by AFAR AFAR

Christophe Zajak-Denek is an actor, a podcaster, a traveler—and he’s 4 feet 4 inches tall. On this week’s episode of Unpacked, he shares how being a person with dwarfism has never stopped him from exploring the world.
Meet this week’s guests


Nicolle (Nikki) Galteland, Unpacked producer


Christophe Zajac-Denek, actor, surfer, and podcast host


Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Listen to Christophe’s podcast, I’m Kind of a Big Deal.

Watch Christophe's documentary, Standing on Water, about surfing and dwarfism, which was just awarded "best short" at the Jersey Surf Film Festival.

Listen to Nikki's podcast, Looters, a sci-fi western role-playing podcast.

You may use Google Maps every day, but how often do you think about how that map was made—and more importantly, who made it? In today’s episode of Unpacked, we do just that. You’ll never again look at a map the same way.
Meet this week’s guests


Billie Cohen, AFAR executive editor


Evan Applegate, editorial cartographer 


Clinton Johnson, Antiracist Geospatial Architect


Dr. Atyia Martin, executive director of a nonprofit called Next Development Leadership (among many other things)


Cymone Davis, former town manager of Tullahassee, Oklahoma, the oldest historically Black town in Oklahoma.


Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Listen to Evan’s podcast, Very Expensive Maps, and check out the maps he makes.

See Clinton's National Geographic Explorer award.

Explore Cymone and Dr. Martin’s Black Towns & Settlements Project.


Don't forget to sign up for our podcast newsletter, Behind the Mic. And a special thanks to our September sponsor, Explore Asheville.

If you’ve been following the news, it’s been a summer of “bad tourists.” There was the woman who carved her initials into the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the drunk Brits, ahem, leaving their marks around Amsterdam. Of course, these are just the travelers who rise to the top—most people would never think of behaving this way on a trip. (Right??)
Still, it feels like the right time to explore a tool that’s trying to curb this bad behavior: the “travel better” pledge. If you haven’t heard of them, or signed one, essentially, a travel pledge is a promise that a traveler makes to follow a certain set of guidelines set out by the host community. Countries around the world, from Iceland to Palau, have launched pledges, which travelers can sign and share on social media. 
The idea is to encourage people to think more about a place and its vulnerabilities, its values, and its needs, before a visit. Some pledges require a fee, and the money is funneled towards a particular cause, while others offer volunteer opportunities or help visitors tap into the ethics of a place. But in the end, they’re just ... words. And how effective can those words be, really? 
That’s the question that AFAR deputy editor Tim Chester, our guide for this week’s episode, asked himself recently. Tim signed his first pledge last year, during a trip to an Indigenous community that has been highly impacted by the world. After returning home, he did a little digging and found that this pledge was part of a larger movement in travel. 
Meet this week’s guests

Adora Nobuo, the program coordinator for the Friends of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary


Rebecca Ingram, the chief executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa


Ben Lynam, head of communications for the Travel Foundation, a nonprofit based in the UK

Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Read (and sign) Palau’s pledge.

Watch New Zealand’s pledge video.

Travel insurance: It's not the sexiest subject, is it? And yet, it can play a huge role in saving you money, time, and even sanity. In this episode of Unpacked by AFAR, we speak with five experts to help you understand how to decided if and when you need insurance, the different types of policies you can buy, and how to use travel insurance if something goes wrong on your trip.
Meet this week’s guests


Wendy Perrin, travel expert

Christina Tunnah, general manager of marketing and brands for World Nomads

Beth Godlin, President of Aon Affinity Travel Practice


John Gobbels, vice president and COO of Medjet


Nick Cavanaugh, founder and CEO of Sensible Weather



Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Read our primer on travel insurance. 

Explore Wendy Perrin’s website. 

Use sites like travelinsurance.com or insuremytrip.com to help you decide on the right policy. 

Learn more about World Nomads.

Discover more about Aon Affinity Travel Services.

Learn more about Medjet.

Find out more about Sensible Weather.

Have you ever considered birdwatching? If the answer is a "heck, no"—or even a "not really"—than this episode is for you. Host Aislyn Greene, also a birdwatching skeptic, dives deep into the world of birding to discover how to do it well, the equipment you need, and most importantly why to give this sport (yes, it's a sport!) a shot.
Meet this week’s guests


Dominik Mosur, animal care specialist at the Randall Museum and birding tour guide


Kara Cook, rooftop biologist for Audubon Florida

Aunt Cheryl, Aislyn’s bird-loving aunt


Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Find a bird tour around the world.

Find a field guide for your region—here’s a California example.

Download the Merlin app and the eBird app


Discover your local Audubon chapter. 


Don't forget to sign up for our podcast newsletter, Behind the Mic. And a special thanks to our August sponsor, the Austrian Tourist Office. To learn more about the Bregenzerwald region, a collection of 23 villages deep in Austria’s western Alps, visit afar.com/austria-nature.

When you think of America’s national parks, what comes to mind? For many of us—myself included—it’s the sense of openness, freedom, and awe that places like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite can spark. And yet, as we’ll learn in today’s episode, that’s not the whole story. 
Hundreds of years ago, Indigenous communities throughout the United States lived on and cared for much of the land that makes up America’s 400-plus national parks and other protected lands under the National Park Service (NPS). Then settlers arrived and an ugly chapter in our national history unfolded, one that included the forced removal of Native peoples from that very land. In recent years, however, there’s been a growing movement to return that land—or at the very least, to work with Native communities to co-manage it. 
Associate editor Mae Hamilton is taking us on a journey into that movement. She speaks with our current director of national parks, Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III—the first person of Native descent to hold the position—about his connection to the parks and his efforts to bring tribe members into the conversation. She also speaks to two tribe members who have worked closely with the NPS and are cautiously optimistic about the new chapter currently unfolding.  
Meet this week’s guests


Mae Hamilton, AFAR associate editor


Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III, director of the National Park System


Hanford McCloud, a member of the Nisqually Tribal Council



Tracie Revis, director of advocacy, cultural preservation and conservation of the Ocmulgee River


Resources

Read this episode’s show notes, including a full transcript of the episode.

Learn more about Joint Secretarial Order 3403 and what it could mean for the national parks and Native communities.