Traveling Through with David Prior
Traveling Through with David Prior

David Remnick on Notebooks, Reporting, and the Stories That Shape Our Time

June 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker for 27 years, once published an article called "The Case Against Travel." He disagreed with it. "I publish things that I disagree with all the time," he says. "Otherwise it would be a very boring magazine." The piece argued that travel can destroy places, fail to enrich the traveler, and even diminish curiosity. Remnick found the provocation useful—it made people think—but his own life tells a different story. He grew up in a dull New Jersey town where his family never flew anywhere. As a teenager, he lied to his parents, bought a cheap flight to Paris with his Yamaha guitar, and spent months busking in the metro. "It woke me the hell up," he says. That experience, he insists, is not tourism. It is travel.

The Privilege and the Notebook

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:13) **Introduction to David Remnick** - The host sets up the conversation with the New Yorker editor-in-chief, framing him as a great editor who has dispatched writers globally and now has stories come to him.
  • 2 (01:14) **The Case Against Travel** - Remnick explains why the New Yorker published a provocative article arguing travel can destroy places, a piece he personally disagrees with.
  • 3 (03:29) **Transformative Travel Experiences** - Remnick shares the most transformative travel experience of his life: living in Moscow as a correspondent from 1988 to 1991.
  • 4 (07:49) **The Interplay of Fantasy and Reality** - The conversation explores how travel is often overlaid with personal fantasies and media-driven expectations, especially on shorter trips.
  • 5 (09:14) **The Privilege of Travel and the Joy of Times Square** - Remnick reflects on travel as a privilege and finds charm in seeing families in awe of tourist traps like Times Square, even if locals avoid them.
  • 6 (12:21) **Travel as Work and Life's Constraints** - Remnick explains that he rarely travels without a notebook, and his trips are now primarily for work due to personal responsibilities, including caring for an autistic daughter.
  • 7 (15:51) **The Ill-Fated Barbados Vacation** - Remnick recounts the last "fun" vacation he took with his wife, which was ruined by a hurricane, leading him to swear off leisure travel.

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Guests on this episode

David Remnick

Show Notes

David Remnick is a Pulitzer Prize winner and has helmed The New Yorker for 27 years. He joins the show not only to recount his own travels – from Moscow to Tel Aviv to campaign trails and tour buses – but also to reflect on what nearly three decades of dispatching the world's finest writers has revealed about history, cultural connectedness, and the vast breadth of stories to be found.

Traveling Through is proudly presented by Capital One. Eligible cardholders can book unforgettable experiences at entertainment.capitalone.com.

Check out our Apple Maps Guides on a Guide to Midtown Manhattan and The Chicest Affordable Hotels in Paris.

Photo Credits: 

- Mona Museum Images (in order of appearance)

  •  Museum of Old and New Art. Photo Credit: Mona/Stu Gibson. Image courtesy of Mona, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • Girls Rule, 2016-18, Tom Otterness. Photo credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy of the artists and Mona, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • Snack 1970 - 72. Sir Sidney Nolan. Photo Credit: MONA/Jesse Hunniford. Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • Museum of Old and New Art. Photo credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy Mona, Hobart, Tasmania
  • Siloam tunnels, Museum of Old and New Art. Photo credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy of the artist and Mona, Hobart, Tasmania
  • Unseen Seen, 2017. Artist: James Turrell. Photo Credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy of the artist and Mona, Hobart, Tasmania
  • Museum of Old and New Art. Photo credit: Mona/Rémi Chauvin. Image courtesy of Mona, Hobart, Tasmania

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