Join Darley Newman, multi-Emmy nominee, for "Travels with Darley" Season 11. Discover North Dakota's colorful sunflowers, unique cuisine, and quirky roadside attractions. Don't miss "Travels with Darley: North Dakota Chasing Sunflowers" airing Sunday, January 28th at 3:30 pm on Prairie Public Broadcasting. This episode includes a replay of an August conversation filmed in the state.
Meet Prairie Public's food enthusiast Rick Gion. Explore his culinary journey, sparked by working with immigrants, and his favorite local eats. Join Dave Thompson for our engaging weekly news discussion. Plus, Matt Olien presents a review of "Zone of Interest.
DARLEY NEWMAN – INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
- Filming in North Dakota: Darley Newman discussed filming Season 11 of "Travels with Darley" in North Dakota, highlighting the state's Native American culture, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and Watford City area.
- Exploring Fargo, Bismarck, and Beyond: She mentioned filming in Fargo and Bismarck, visiting the Jamestown National Buffalo Museum, and going on a bison safari, emphasizing off-the-beaten-path exploration in North Dakota.
- Realization of Travel Passion: Newman shared her early realization of a passion for travel during a trip to Europe in her teens, which inspired her to pursue a career in travel and share her experiences.
- Career Path to Travel Show Host: She detailed her journey from working in radio and television during high school and college, to a job at CBS News, and then creating her own travel show focused on horseback riding around the world, which led to Emmy Awards and a book.
- Idea Generation and Interaction with Locals: Newman discussed how she generates ideas for her show, mentioning her interactions with locals, social media followers, tourism professionals, and other journalists, emphasizing organic idea development.
- Travel Bloopers and Unexpected Discoveries: She shared experiences of getting lost during travels, leading to unexpected discoveries and interactions, highlighting the value of such unplanned moments.
- Small-Scale Production Team: Newman described her small, grassroots production team, emphasizing their multi-talented nature and close-knit working relationship, which allows for unobtrusive filming and flexible travel.
- Challenging Travel Experiences: She recounted challenging trips, including dealing with extreme cold in Quebec, equipment issues in Jordan, and various logistical challenges.
- Future Travel Goals: Newman expressed her desire to visit Peru and explore more of South America and Asia, focusing on the cuisine and cultural experiences.
- Evolution of the Show: She reflected on how her show has evolved over the years, with recent seasons diving deeper into history, including covering World War I sites in France and the Civil Rights Trail in Alabama, emphasizing the importance of documenting oral histories.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
Well, so I was able to come to North Dakota in 2019 to film an episode we filmed in the western part of the states We did the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Watford City area Lot of Native American culture there and it was awesome I'm trying to get to all 50 states and do as much of America as I can because a lot of travel shows Go international and there's so much to see right here in the USA So I was excited to come back and do more of North Dakota.
So we're doing Fargo Bismarck and beyond We were just out in Carrington. We went to Jamestown National Buffalo Museum went out on a bison safari So we're really getting off the beaten path in North Dakota and seeing some beautiful stuff along the way When did you realize that travel was your gig? So I actually realized it really early on I think I was able to go to Europe with a friend's family when I was in eighth ninth grade in high school They invited me and my mom was like, yeah go and it just opened my eyes to the fact that there's such a big world out there and it was Beautiful and the history was so rich The food was amazing and I was like, wow I really need to see more and share it because I just think there's so many You can learn so much when you travel and that's the beauty of it
Main Street
Many of us have taken vacations, but how do you make that next step to make it your career? Tell us the background of how this has all come about
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
So I graduated and I worked throughout high school and college actually in radio and television And then when I graduated from GW I decided to move to New York and I got a job at CBS News and I was at 48 hours for a while But working there, I thought well, I love this job But I really want to go out there and try to see the world and see what I can do with that I wanted to host a travel show But as you know, that's not an easy job to get I was like what can I do? It would be different than everyone else and I have a passion for horseback riding I think it's a really interesting way to see a new place So I came up with the idea for this show equi-trekking and I ended up going horseback riding around the world for many years I wrote a book about it. I did a series that won Emmy Awards and Yeah, and then people I think people saw it and thought at first they thought it was was strange the concept But when you saw the show you'd say wow I've learned so much about the people and the horses and the history and the landscapes through all these combinations of
Main Street
really just storytelling you get a lot of your ideas from Locals and I say that in quotes and try to stay away from maybe the most known Places that folks go to when they travel I talk to a lot of people at this point
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
It's really you know, it's it's kind of a give-and-take at this point. I love sharing with people I find that people are communicating with me on social media. I have the friends and family network I talk to local tourism people.
I talk to other TV people. I talk to other journalists So I'm really just exchanging ideas all the time and because we're a small team a lot of things come about organically So we've been to North Dakota before and it was you know I knew people here was a great reason to come back, but a lot of it's pretty organic at this point But it's really swapping ideas and people do send us emails and I look at them I mean, I do get those emails Good and bad and but I look at all of them and I try to take away ideas or do more research based on that And some stuff that comes up like I used to work on Writing for different equestrian magazines and ended up in Botswana Africa because my editor at practical horsemen Shared that she had gone and told me where to go And so that's an it's that firsthand information really that I think is the best we travel and sometimes
Main Street
Where we go isn't quite what we thought it would be Has that happened to you? Oh, yeah The biggest travel I guess blooper that has come your way has been oh my gosh.
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
Wow We've had a lot of bloopers I mean, I think that you learn from all the bloopers like we're constantly getting we get lost a lot I mean you think with GPS and stuff But like I remember walking through the streets of Seville Spain and we were completely lost So streets are winding around you really it's hard to navigate and but in getting lost you sometimes find things You didn't expect and those can be the most beautiful things and when you have to talk to someone to ask for directions Sometimes it leads to another conversation and I find a lot of times because we stand out we have our film equipment and we're you know Capturing this information and filming it people do want to talk to us and learn about where we're from and in that exchange Sometimes you can ask them questions and figure out even new places that you didn't think you'd even have on your agenda
Main Street
So that's great. Are they you travel with a fairly small tight group? This is not a major production company that you're working with.
It seems to me.
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
No, no, it's my production company and it's very small We're very grassroots and we've been that way for 15 years now And we've done I'm really proud of what we do because everybody's so multi-talented I mean, I couldn't do this show without Greg Barna as my director of photography. We worked together from the beginning and Like since the second since the second episodes that I did of aqua trekking, so that's a very long time We know each other so well, we can order for each other I mean it is what I call a production family Chad Davis has been with me forever and just it's like it's the nicest group of people that are super talented and because everyone is so diverse in their abilities were able to do it in a small scale and that That's helpful with the type of productions. We're doing because we're also unobtrusive when we move into spaces and places It's almost challenging trip.
You've had to organized They there's been a lot of challenging trips I mean, we did a trip to Quebec in the winter and we really had to barter with the cold temperatures It sounds yeah, it's freezing. Yeah, but Our equipment literally froze one day and we had to put it on a heated Snowmobile to try to bring it back to life and then we were in joy can appreciate that here for sure. Yeah, right So in Jordan we actually dealt with we were doing a this canyon hike through water and then our equipment got really wet And we were really nervous and we've had things break and you know, we dealt with going through Through customs at airports and and having issues with our equipment possibly getting confiscated We've had it all happen.
We've we've gotten sick on the road.
Main Street
I mean at this point if it hasn't happened, I'm not sure You must have a bucket list of travel places darling Give us a taste of even for you who have been a lot of places where you still want to go So I really want to get down to Peru at some point.
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
I haven't been there Cusco has amazing cuisine and I'm a big foodie So that's definitely on my list and I think it would be an amazing trip and really more to South America in general and also More Asia. I love Asian cuisine. I live in New York City, and I'm always tasting new food there I think it's a great way to travel within the u.s. Is to go to a lot a lot of our cities now even Discovering diverse cuisine here in Fargo's at Brujala last night So there that's a big reason for me to travel But it's really about the people people make the food. They have the history and the best thing about traveling thing Darling, what have you learned about yourself?
Main Street
And how has your show changed since its first season?
Darley Newman - Travels With Darley
It's changed a lot. Actually, I think it's gotten a lot deeper So in the past few years, we've done I'm doing these Segments in my series now where we dive into different topics So at the beginning it was more general travel and we did a lot of adventure stuff in nature Which we're still doing but now we've gone deeper into history So I've done some episodes on World War one sites of interest to Americans in France I did the Civil Rights Trail in Alabama Which was super impactful as far as the stories go there and the women I interviewed women who lived through the movement It was the stories were quite amazing And I feel like we have done a good job in recent years and documenting this oral history and so much of it That is oral and hasn't necessarily been recorded.
So in the past few years we've been working to go to these amazing travel locations, but really get in depth with people who've lived through history and Either they've lived through it firsthand or they have other people they know or they have a passion for that subject
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