Unpacked by AFAR AFAR

Last November, while reporting our “Unpacking Albuquerque” episode, I spent a day at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. It’s this huge complex that takes up a city block, and it serves as the gateway to New Mexico’s 19 pueblos. Part of my tour included an interview with Monique Fragua, the center’s COO (and a woman with great taste in jewelry, as you’ll hear in the episode). 
We talked about why the cultural center exists, beyond just sharing pueblo cultural life (and food—the restaurant is a must-try). Monique explained that many travelers are interested in visiting the pueblos but are either unsure of or unaware of the etiquette around visiting. For example, some pueblos are completely closed to the public and have no interest in developing tourist infrastructure and others have “more formalized experiences like visitors’ center or organized hiking tours,” Monique says. 
So the IPCC serves as a kind of training ground as well, where visitors can ask questions like, “What’s the proper terminology?” and receive guidance around photography, attending cultural events, and more. 
It got me thinking more broadly about Native tourism, which has expanded in recent years. And with the explosive success of True Detective: Night Country, there’s more attention than ever on Native issues. So we put together an episode on why to visit these communities—there are more than 500 tribes in the United States, each with totally different histories, customs, and experiences—and how to do so in a way that’s mutually beneficial. 
There’s one line that’s stuck with me since Monique and I talked: She says that if we remember that we’re experiencing Native life “through a lens of a living community, a breathing culture,” we’re on the right path.
Meet this week’s guests

Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association


Garan Coons, communications officer for the Winnebago tribe


Kirby Metoxin, council member for the Oneida nation


Monique Fragua, COO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center



Resources

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

Listen to the “Unpacking Albuquerque” episode.


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.

This week on Unpacked, we travel north to Toronto, Ontario, one of the world’s most diverse cities to explore what’s made it that way—and how we as travelers can best engage with it.
Meet this week’s guests


Bruce Bell, St. Lawrence Market historian and tour guide


Matthew Jordan, founder of Hidden Rivers walking tours

Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator at the Bata Shoe Museum


Karen Carter, cofounder of BAND



Chef Nuit Regular, founder and co-owner of 11 Thai restaurants 

Jusep Sim, chief epicurean officer of Chopsticks and Forks 


Resources

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


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.

Summer is coming. And while it's not looking like this season will be as insane as summer 2023, it's still best to begin planning now. So on this week’s episode of Unpacked, AFAR's mighty destination teams discusses what's to come. They share the best places to visit this summer—think Southern Hemisphere—and what you need to tackle now to stay ahead of the came. Plus, we unpack the best visa expeditors and the best way to use those points and miles. (Hint: It involves outsourcing.)
Meet this week’s guests


Mark Ellwood, freelance travel writer


Chloe Arrojado, associate destinations editor


Tim Chester, deputy editor


Resources

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

Listen to our episode on travel insurance, where we discuss Sensible Weather.

Learn more about Award Magic, the point booking service, and ItsEasy, the visa expediter.


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.


Be sure to subscribe to the show and to 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.

The best hotels are a destination unto themselves. On this week’s episode of Unpacked, AFAR senior deputy editor Jennifer Flowers reveals the 31 properties that made our 2024 Best New Hotels list and why booking a hotel is the most important choice you’ll make for your trip.
The list is a collection of the best hotels that opened in the past year, but these hotels are much more than just a place to sleep and store your clothes. There are places where you can literally touch history, like at the Raffles London at the OWO, where Winston Churchill once presided. If you love design, you can book a few nights at the Violino d’Oro in Venice, where everything you might touch was made by local artisans. Or, if you want to get off the grid and outdoors, there’s the Shinta Mani Mustang in a remote corner of Nepal that doesn’t see many tourists. 
Jenn joined the podcast to talk about how she put together the list, what she looks for in a great hotel, and how—as she puts it—“when you check into a hotel, it can actually be the destination.” 
Meet this week’s guest

Jennifer Flowers, AFAR senior deputy editor
Resources

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

Read the full list of the 31 best new hotels. 

Follow Jenn on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s hotels newsletter. 


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.


Be sure to subscribe to the show and to 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.

Hot tip: Don’t listen to this week’s episode of Unpacked hungry. Because we’re traveling to a surprising Midwestern city to explore what makes it one of the most fascinating food cities in the country. Last June, host Aislyn Greene traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, and was surprised by what she found: A refreshingly progressive, highly bikeable, very outdoorsy, and (best yet), delicious city. 
If you're a food-motivated traveler, you're likely always looking for the next great spot. And as she ate her way through Madison, Aislyn wondered: Why aren't more people talking about Madison? So in today’s episode, that’s exactly what we’re doing. We'll explore Wisconsin's agriculture scene, meet the city's most interesting chefs, and look at what to do when you're too full to eat any more.

Meet this week’s guests


Shilpa Sankaran, founder of Kosa


Lindsay Christians, food editor and arts writer at the Capital Times


Sean Pharr, chef and owner of Mint Mark


Itaru Nagano, chef at Fairchild


Shaina Robbins Papach, co-owner of Harvey House and Butterbird


Dan Bonnano, chef and owner of Pig in a Fur Coat


Jamie Brown-Soukaseum, chef and owner of Ahan


Garret Olsen, co-owner of Madison Adventure Tours



Resources

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

Check out the latest season of Top Chef: Wisconsin


Read my guide to the culinary scene there. 


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.


Be sure to subscribe to the show and to 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.

If you travel to a remote island resort, where do the people who work there live? Because of course, if we are traveling to a remote location, it’s highly unlikely that it’s an easy place for hotel staff to commute to and from. Typically on an island resort, staffers are housed in the middle of the island and don’t have access to the beach, the walking paths, or any of the amenities that make these destinations so appealing to travelers. 
But there’s a new type of staff housing pioneered by the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, which created an entire island for its employees—one where they can also snorkel, swim, relax, eat, work out, and just generally soak in the Maldives. This week’s guest, Sally Kohn, traveled to the resort last year to get a peek at the island and see if it’s really as impressive as it seems. She was surprised by what she found—happy employees included.
Meet this week’s guest

Sally Kohn, activist, speaker, and author of the book The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity.


Resources

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

Check out the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands.

Read some of Sally’s other AFAR stories, including her essay about traveling as a queer family, and her podcast episode about exploring tolerance in Amsterdam. 

Buy Sally’s book. 


Follow the podcast to ensure you don’t miss an episode. 

Subscribe to AFAR’s YouTube channel for a full video of the conversation.


Be sure to subscribe to the show and to 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.