Hi, I'm Lale Arakoglu, and this is Women Who Travel, a transported podcast for anyone who's curious about the world.

Today, I'm talking to a guest who's used to tackling all manner of topics. Everything from movie criticism to the Royals to wellness.

She's Kristen Mineser, broadcaster, cultural critic and the author of two motivational books,

so you want to start a podcast and how to be fine.

She also loves to travel, especially when it comes to road tripping around the US,

and the Midwest, where she grew up in particular.

But before we get to that, here's Kristen on her podcast.

I have a podcast that I co-host with my friend, Joelanta Greenberg, called How to Be Fine.

We are self-help critics who have lived by the rules of nearly 100 self-help books.

And in each episode of How to Be Fine, we look at trends in the

wellness industry. We cast a critical eye on, you know, what's popular, what's trending with

influencers on TikTok, with Gwyneth Peltro, whatnot. I very rarely, not as often as I would like

get to be on travel shows, and I'm such an avid traveler.

I'm always like, please talk to me about travel.

Music's my ears. Well, we're so happy to have you on. I feel like you've been very vocal about

your loyalty to the Midwest. That is very true. Yep, that's right. I grew up in Minnesota.

You know, I think sometimes I'm saying this as an outsider having moved, moved to the states from the UK, but I often feel like my impression is that the Midwest sometimes can get a little bit of a bad rap.

Oh, absolutely. Here on the coasts, we refer to the Midwest as oftentimes the flyover states, backward middle America, the part of the country

that's ruining it for everybody, ignorant red staters.

The list goes on, right?

The list goes on and on and on.

And for certain people on the coast, there seems to be the impression that roughly 44 states in the US are all exactly

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