In 1954, a young David Attenborough made his début as the star of a new nature show called “Zoo Quest.” The docuseries, which ran for nearly a decade on the BBC, was a sensation that set Attenborough down the path of his life’s work: exposing viewers to our planet’s most miraculous creatures and landscapes from the comfort of their living rooms. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz trace Attenborough’s filmography from “Zoo Quest” to his progr...
Jul 01, 2025•44 min
What is it like growing up in one of the most storied and iconic hotels in Italy? Ask Valentina de Santis, who was raised in the kitchens and ballrooms of Lake Como's Grand Hotel Tremezzo and now runs the charismatic Passalacqua along with her parents nearby. Lale chats with the hotelier to hear stories of life on Lake Como, get tips on traveling in both summer and the off-season, and what it really means to live La Dolce Vita. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jun 26, 2025•26 min
Carol Moseley Braun on a Travel-Filled Political Career Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 19, 2025•29 min
Comedian Heather McMahan Can't Get Enough of Italy and Cruises Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jun 12, 2025•33 min
Born and raised in Singapore, Jemimah Wei uses her hometown as the backdrop to her new novel, The Original Daughter—a story of sisterhood and family drama set in the turn of the millennium. But as well as it being a great source of inspiration for the author, she also believes it to be a great destination for solo travelers. Lale sits down with Wei for her tips on how to plan a trip, navigate its vibrant hawker centers, and make the most of its 24/7 culture. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail...
Jun 05, 2025•21 min
There are over 60 national parks in the United States—and they're never more popular than at the peak of summer. This year, however, might look a little bit different as a result of sweeping budget cuts that impact everything from how the trails are maintained to the park rangers who guide you. To help us understand what to expect—and plan our next trip—associate articles director and podcast regular, Megan Spurrell, joins host Lale Arikoglu to parse the nuances of the national parks, like which...
May 29, 2025•29 min
In 2023, Eva Longoria headed to Mexico with CNN in search of a deeper understanding of the country’s rich culinary heritage and her own family history. Last month, she returned to our screens with a brand new season, Searching for Spain, which takes her all over the country to explore the vast regional scope of its cuisine and learn about her Spanish ancestors. Lale sits down with the actor and television host to find out how she chose the destinations for each episode, her most memorable meals ...
May 22, 2025•26 min
In Hawa Hassan's second cookbook, the chef and author explores the recipes and stories born out of displacement, and the sense of community and resilience that can be found through food. Lale chats with her about the travels and research behind the book, which took her to The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Lebanon, among others, as well as how her own path from Somalia to the US informed her personal food journey. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
May 15, 2025•26 min
Today, we are sharing an episode of Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, the chart-topping and Webby Award-winning podcast from our friends at Nature on PBS. Back for a brand new season, Going Wild features some of the coolest champions of nature – like a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in conflict zones, and a former butterfly technician who saved an endangered species while incarcerated. Each episode explores what led them to create change within themselves, their community, and the natur...
May 08, 2025•41 min
Our guest this week is British journalist Emma Lunn, an avid hiker who has hit the trails all over the world. But a particularly memorable solo walk for her was closer to home—across the English countryside, and filled with dramatic moors and grand coastlines. Lale chats with Lunn to find out how she pulled it off, why she believes in the healing powers of hiking, and how she navigated both unexpected wildlife and eccentric fellow travelers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choic...
Apr 24, 2025•24 min
Is there anywhere left in the world that is truly quiet? This episode, we seek to find out, with Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler’s Global Digital Director, and writer Yulia Denisyuk joining Lale in the studio to talk about their favorite quiet places—from the sprawling deserts of Wadi Rum, Jordan, to the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana. And if you’re still left wanting more inspiration for finding stillness on our noisy planet, check out our fully list of quiet places on cntraveler.com after...
Apr 17, 2025•29 min
National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts joined the group Diving With a Purpose to explore slave shipwrecks and found unexpected connections with her own ancestors. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apr 10, 2025•31 min
Ever fantasized about giving up the grind and starting a new life in Italy? This week, we hear from a listener who did just that, swapping her life in San Francisco for the rolling hills of Piedmont, where she renovated a 300-year-old farmhouse’ and built a new life—‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ style. Listen to the episode to find out how Barbara Boyle, who penned the experience in her new memoir ‘Pinch Me,’ pulled the move off and found joy and community in a small Italian town. Learn about your ad c...
Apr 03, 2025•19 min
If you’ve been absorbed by the latest season of The White Lotus over the past few weeks, you’ve probably found yourself Googling images of Thailand and wondering whether to book a flight there ASAP. Or perhaps you were once seduced by the fantasy of Eat, Pray, Love and considered dropping all your responsibilities in favor of seeking a path of self discovery in Bali? When it comes to our favorite television shows and movies, the location is often a central character—so much so, that we end up fr...
Mar 27, 2025•28 min
Right before filming the latest season of White Lotus, Natasha Rothwell booked herself a silent Buddhist retreat—a move she says reflects her deep spiritual roots. In this week’s episode, Lale chats with the actor and longtime traveler about returning as the character of Belinda in Mike White’s hit HBO dramedy, her own relationship with wellness, and what it was like to spend six months in Thailand for the show. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 20, 2025•26 min
With French-Haitian roots, and multiple cities she can call home, Naïka is a self-proclaimed Third Culture Kid—an identity that she explores regularly through her music. Lale speaks with the singer-songwriter, who at the time is wrapping up her day in Paris, about how singing in multiple languages helps her tap into different parts of herself, her upcoming album, and a childhood spent across continents. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Mar 13, 2025•19 min
Tracee Ellis Ross’ earliest memories involved traveling the world with her mother, Diana Ross, but it was at the age of 22 that she discovered what solo travel could give her. This episode, Lale sits down with Tracee, who on March 8 will be honored on Women Who Travel ’s annual Power List, to discuss how solo travel can be an act of radical self care, her upcoming Roku show Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross , and her flamboyant and joy-filled packing lists Learn about your ad choices: doveta...
Mar 06, 2025•28 min
With the Academy Awards days away, Lale talks to actor-activist Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who plays Hattie in the Oscar nominated film "Nickel Boys". Aunjanue talks about the joy and pain of growing up in Mississippi which she still calls home, as well as her suggestions on what to see - and not see - on a road trip though the South. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 27, 2025•31 min
Sound baths. Silent retreats. Cryotherapy. When it comes to wellness, there’s an encyclopedia’s worth of experiences, treatments, and rituals to dip your toe into. But where on earth to start? This week, Lale is joined by three experts—Lydia Bell, Traveller UK’s senior features editor, Yariella Coello, the blogger behind The Beauty Backpacker, and Jen Murphy, a writer who reports regularly on wellness tourism—to demystify the jargon and find out how to start planning your own trip. Learn about y...
Feb 20, 2025•32 min
Polycurious? Or perhaps you’re simply curious to know more about the word polyamory? We’ve got you covered with a special Valentine’s Day episode dedicated to everything from traveling polycules and triads to advice on how to open up your relationship on the road for the first time—all courtesy of journalist Anna Silman, senior features reporter at Business Insider, who joins Lale in the studio. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Feb 13, 2025•27 min
Born and raised in Lagos, Lisa Folawiyo has spent her career celebrating the craftsmanship of her Nigerian heritage by combining sharp, contemporary tailoring with traditional West African prints and textiles, and bringing the fashion of her hometown onto the global stage (the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Issa Rae, and Solange Knowles have walked the red carpet in her designs). In this week's episode, Lale chats with the fashion designer about her process, Lagos style, the markets that inspire her, ...
Feb 06, 2025•23 min
There are few places in the world where you won't encounter a cat. So a few years ago, Hannah Shaw, who has dedicated much of her life and work to caring for them, set out tomeet and document has many as she could across the globe—spotlighting the extraordinary places they live and the people who care for them along the way. Lale chats with the animal welfare advocate, bestselling author, and educator about her many travels, from Turkey to Chile to Oman, and finds out what she learned along the ...
Jan 30, 2025•28 min
Brooke Shields has spent most of her life traveling the world for work—but until recently, she’d never traveled solo. In this week’s episode, the actor chats with Lale about a recent trip to Florence that changed all that, her most memorable movie locations, building confidence as a traveler, and what she hopes readers will take away from her new book Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jan 23, 2025•30 min
It’s a few weeks into the year and, already, we’re planning everywhere we want to go next. Lale chats with her well-traveled colleagues Megan Spurrell and Arati Menon about the best places to go in 2025—everywhere from Greenland and Alaska to India and Uganda—and gets tips on how to pull some of those ambitious (and more attainable) trips off. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 16, 2025•31 min
Since the documentary ‘Will & Harper’ first hit our screens in 2024, it’s received accolades for its poignant depiction of friendship and the ways we seek to understand each other’s lived experiences. In this week’s episode, Lale sits down with Harper Steele to talk about driving across the US with her best friend, actor Will Ferrell, for the movie, her enduring love of dive bars, and what it’s like to navigate the complexities of contemporary America as a trans woman. Learn about your ad ch...
Jan 09, 2025•27 min
One of our favorite episodes from Atlas Obscura. Producer Alexa Lim visits a collection of natural aromas in Berkeley, California. She gets a whiff of some of the world’s lesser known smells, and stumbles down the rabbit hole of the hidden world of scents. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 02, 2025•15 min
Should I check my luggage or carry-on? Fold or roll? Bring one pair of shoes or...seven? Packing for a trip, when done well, can feel like an art form—yet one that few of us seem to have figured out. This week, Chloe Malle, Editor of Vogue.com and the co-host of Vogue’s podcast The Run-Through with Vogue, joins Lale in the studio to dish her packing wisdom—and answer listeners' burning questions. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Dec 26, 2024•33 min
To wrap up 2024, executive producer Stephanie Kariuki joins Lale in the studio to look back at some of their favorite episodes over the past twelve months—from actor Emma Roberts on her love of train travel and Normal Gossip’s Kelsey McKinney on the perils of group travel, to three photojournalists on documenting life during war in Ukraine, Yemen, and Gaza. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Dec 19, 2024•38 min
We’re diving into something we’re all doing a lot of around the holiday season: partying. In Ukraine, where our two guests are based, rave culture has become a necessary vehicle for letting off steam, distraction, and finding joy. Lale talks to Kyiv-based journalist Anastacia Galouchka, and novelist Haska Shyyan, who lives in Lviv, about what raving means to them and the power of community and safe spaces during unimaginable turbulence and uncertainty. This episode is a rerun. It recently won a ...
Dec 12, 2024•30 min
Selassie Atadika is a chef, food innovator, and the founder of Midunu, a nomadic private dining experience based out of Accra, Ghana. She’s also happened to have visited 40 African countries. Lale chats with Atadika about the rich bounty of diverse cuisine to be found across Africa, some of her most memorable travel experiences, making artisanal chocolate, and the enduring intersection of food and politics. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Dec 05, 2024•25 min
