Not Lost

We're a few months into the new year. Maybe you're a freshly minted, idealized version of yourself. Or maybe your new year's resolutions are as distant as the icebergs of Antarctica. But no matter what your life looks like, there's one thing you can count on: travel.

Today, we’re sharing a special episode from Unpacked by AFAR. Unpacked by AFAR is back for a new season which unpacks the most captivating and challenging topics in the travel industry. Like this episode, where AFAR editors Sarika Bansal, Tim Chester, and Billie Cohen join host Aislyn Greene to unpack AFAR’s annual "Where to Go" list and discuss how and why they chose the places on the list, which ones they have personally visited, and their predictions for the year ahead.

Listen to more episodes of Unpacked by AFAR and follow the podcast. 

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No piña coladas were consumed during travel writer Pico Iyer’s quest for paradise. Instead he found himself communing with guides and locals in thorny parts of the globe: Iran, Kashmir, and North Korea, among others. Brendan speaks with Pico about his lifetime of exploration and what it’s taught him. Then comedian, musician and self-proclaimed “disinformationist” Reggie Watts talks about growing up in Montana and shares his do’s and don’ts for TSA pre-checkers, wedding guests, and folks in the window seat. Plus, Brendan boards a flight on this last episode of this season of Not Lost Chat. 

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Brendan finds the perfect Not Lost Chat guest in author Cheryl Strayed, who not only wrote the bestselling travel memoir “Wild,” but is also a renowned advice columnist. First, they talk about Strayed’s epic trek up the Pacific Coast Trail after losing her mother to cancer, divorcing her husband, and quitting hard drugs. And then Brendan smoothly pivots the conversation to advice, talking about Strayed’s bestselling book of essays “Tiny Beautiful Things” and then getting her to answer listeners' travel questions about everything from what books to read to what shoes to wear on the road.

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Brendan receives a postcard from the only registered US historical landmark outside America and then talks with the great essayist, novelist and occasional world-class complainer, Geoff Dyer about travels to Tahiti, India, Venice and more. Then “Euphoria” star Colman Domingo stops by to answer your travel questions, launch a campaign against babies in business class, and roast Brendan for his brunch-avoidant tendencies.

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Brendan speaks with Kristin Newman, author of “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir,” about falling in love in a different language, plus she provides travel tips for folks who are single and looking. And writer and director Paul Feig (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Bridesmaids”) talks about his civilized approach to shooting movies abroad and why he always travels in a suit and tie …all while answering listener’s travel questions. 

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Brendan visits Japan on a trip that puts the “junk” in junket. Then he speaks with Marius Kociejowski, author of The Serpent Coiled in Naples, an immersive plunge into the Italian city where skulls are worshiped and blood soaks into the stones. Plus comedian Jessi Klein answers your questions about parent-child separation on planes, and opines about her favorite travel activities: sitting near the ocean and drinking. 

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Brendan talks with Jessica Nabongo, the author of “The Catch Me if You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World” about the mysterious community of “country counters” and the non-mysterious eurocentricity of most travel media. Then Canadian pop duo Tegan and Sara talk about surviving life on tour, plus answer your burning questions about road trips (good), bed and breakfasts (bad), and guided tours (you’ll just have to listen to find out.) 

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New York Magazine described “Not Lost” as having the “slight energy of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less” so Brendan calls the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the comic, road trip novels “Less” and “Less is Lost” to find out if they should be offended. Plus, a postcard from Hollywood, and stand-up comedian Jay Pharoah answers listener questions about airport and flight etiquette, with a stirring speech on when it’s ok to push the flight-attendant button.

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Who do we become when we travel? Who are we allowed to be? And where is everyone going? Brendan Francis Newnam is on a mission to find out. Join him as he speaks with travel writers (Pico Iyer, Jessica Nabongo, Marius Kociejowski ), celebrities on-the-go (Jay Pharoah, Tegan & Sara, Colman Domingo), and ordinary misfits like himself for a mini-season of in-studio conversations. Not Lost Chat begins January 4th, 2023. 

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After wrapping up Season 1 of Not Lost, and a few odds & ends at home, Brendan heads to Portugal and experiences an emotion he can’t quite explain... so he asks locals to help him out.

“Postcards” are an occasional series of shorter Not Lost episodes that Brendan produces when he travels.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios, and iHeartMedia

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It’s the Saturday before the final episode of Not Lost is due and Brendan still doesn’t know where he is going. Will he escape New York and find the right destination?

Not Lost will return in the fall. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. Send audio postcards to notlost@pushkin.fm.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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Two years have passed since Covid brought production of Not Lost to a screeching halt. In that time, Brendan has turned norm-core: he gets a steady job, a live-in partner, a car, and becomes a viewer of prestige cable dramas. But the show must go on, so he and his friend, audio producer John DeLore, head to a place Brendan considers the opposite of the Big Apple — Big Sur, California. A couple days of redwoods and Pacific air give rise to fresh questions: How is traveling different when you have someone waiting for you back at home? And what if you discover your soulmate is an elephant seal named “1885”? 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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Against the backdrop of Valentine’s Day weekend, Brendan and his friend Luke Burbank explore the Hoover Dam, Vegas’s Chinatown, and the night sky. (Is that a UFO?) Brendan’s plan to avoid sin in Sin City goes well, but after a visit with a priest and a dreamy encounter with the man who created the slogan “What Happens in Vegas Stays In Vegas,” all bets are off!

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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With Not Lost’s executive producers breathing down his neck for an actual dinner party, Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to CDMX to see if mi casa is really su casa. From dance lessons to shamanistic rituals, they strive to understand this vast metropolis… while also finagling an invitación fiesta. Will the masked wrestlers of Lucha Libre bodyslam our duo into understanding the coolest city in North America? Or will Montezuma’s notorious vengeance take them out instead?

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to the Big Easy and discover that it’s anything but. Carousel bars, gospel choirs, voodoo readings, and a visit to a slavery memorial plunge the duo into conversations about race, art, god, and the good life. They mingle with local luminaries like jazz-great Kermit Ruffins, voodoo priestess Madame Cinnamon Black, and a chef who dreams about gumbo. 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. 

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Brendan has never been to Portland, Maine, but that hasn’t stopped him wanting to live there. This episode he and Danielle Henderson head to Vacationland to see if it can live up to its nickname. Fueled by lobster rolls and salt air, the two visit lighthouses, bookshops and the world’s only known museum of the umbrella cover. And to really get a sense of what it means to be a Mainer, they visit the Vatican for preppies: the headquarters of LL Bean. After conversations with poets, politicians, baristas and business owners in Portland, Brendan is left with one outstanding question: Is Maine too strange? 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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Brendan, a self-avowed “Great Indoorsman,” approaches Montana’s outdoor recreation opportunities with trepidation. Meanwhile, his friend Danielle Henderson, who once lived in Alaska, rediscovers a part of herself she left behind when she moved to Los Angeles. 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

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Brendan and his friend Danielle Henderson seek out the je ne sais quoi of the Québécois. Along the way, they learn about the Quiet Revolution, French-Canadian celebrity mags, and local pastries known as “nun’s farts.” Brendan, determined to make his new travel podcast as creative as possible, seeks help from Leonard Cohen’s ghost, while Danielle hides from Montreal’s sub-zero temperatures in a Nordic Spa, where she discovers a masseuse who puts the therapist in massage therapy.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brendan Francis Newnam was the host of a popular radio show, coasting through a happy adulthood when it all came crashing down. And so, like many before him, he decided to hit the road, but not on his own. In Not Lost, Brendan and a friend travel to a new place every week, meeting the locals in hopes of understanding their homes. And angling for an invitation to dinner. As they veer from Montréal to Mexico City, from New Orleans to Bozeman, they discover it's possible to find yourself in places you've never been.

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.