AARP Hearing Center
Your passport may not take you away from home right now, but your ears, happily, still can. Escape — and plan for future vacations — with some of our favorite travel podcasts.
Travel with Rick Steves
His voice is soothing, his guests are engaging experts in the travel business, and his advice is relatable and perpetually practical. He’s Rick Steves, 65, the beloved guidebook author and ultimate travel pro, whose show marked its 600th episode in May 2020 and is broadcast to more than 450 stations in the U.S. and Canada (there are now over 625 episodes to peruse). His weekly hour-long shows offer as much for listeners looking for vicarious adventures as for those planning trips. Recent episodes spotlighted a man whose New Year’s resolution was to visit every national park in the U.S. over the course of a single year and an interview with Gloria Steinem. What we love most about Steves’ show, though, is his ability to convey his infectious enthusiasm for exploration as a way to form connections with cultures beyond our own: “Travel helps us gain an empathy for the other 96 percent of humanity,” he says.
Women Who Travel
Two seasoned editors from Conde Nast Traveler — Meredith Carey and Lale Arikoglu — host a weekly show that runs from 30 to 45 minutes and has spawned a Facebook group by the same name some 150,000 women strong. “When we are slating our guests, we’re really looking to women who inspire us to travel smarter or wilder or farther,” says Carey. Recent episodes have spotlighted the experiences of Jessica Nabongo, the first African American woman to visit every country in the world, and Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, CWA.
