Welcome back to Feel-Good Friday. Every Friday through the end of June, Unpacked is popping into your feed with a brand-new series designed to carry you into the weekend a little lighter. Each episode, host Aislyn Greene and producer Nikki Galteland are joined by a different Afar staffer to share three travel stories that made them smile, tear up (in a good way), or rethink what's possible. Funny, inspiring, heartwarming—the only rule is no downers.

This week, we're joined by Afar's deputy editor, Jennifer Flowers, and the three of us travel from the Himalayan foothills to the African savanna to the rolling hills of Sonoma. Together, we share:

• A corner of northern India that's quietly becoming a model for sustainable tourism, with tourism up 60 percent since 2018 and a network of community-run homestays that let you walk between guesthouses through pine and oak forests.
• The story of Craig, a celebrity super tusker elephant whose long, peaceful life in the wild is itself a conservation victory, and what his legacy says about decades of work in Kenya's Amboseli ecosystem
• A Sonoma incubator quietly rewriting who gets to make California wine, with one-of-a-kind small-batch bottlings to look out for from Leap of Grapes, Ward 4 Wines, and Mad Marvlus

Tune in every Friday through June for a fresh trio of stories from Afar's favorite travel writers and editors. We'll see you next week.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome to Feel-Good Friday

00:01:00 Sustainable Tourism in Uttarakhand

00:04:00 Meet Craig the Super Tusker

00:06:30 A Conservation Win for the Wild

00:09:30 Down a California Wine Rabbit Hole

00:11:20 The Vanguard of Small-Batch Wine

Stay Connected

Be sure to subscribe to the show and 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, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel.

Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

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