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.

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 Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award.

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.