| Welcome to October! I'm going to share some rare good news from Austria—and I don't mean the middle-aged couple who ordered a couple of dresses online and were mistakenly delivered 25,000 Ecstasy tablets, with a street value of 500,000 euros. (Is this an Amazon Prime perk?) So, to recap: in May, the center-right and far-right (OeVP and FPOe) governing coalition collapsed after the FPOe leader and Austria's vice-chancellor, Hans-Christian Strache, was filmed in Ibiza on a cocaine and Red Bull and booze-binge offering fat government contracts in exchange for political donations with a woman he believed to be the niece of a Russian oligarch. (Once again proving the rule that the Austrian far-right's repugnant campaigns and policies are outweighed only by their unfitness to govern.) A snap election was called for September 29, this past Sunday. All through the summer, I watched a quiet battle play out on the FPOe election posters that sprung up all over the city: Despite my neighbors' valiant attempts to deface these posters in creative ways, a new, pristine poster would be back the next day, and as election day approached it seemed the would-be vandals had given up. So apathetic! Still, the good news is that the FPOe took a big hit (ten points) at the polls, and re-entering government is unlikely. That the election was held during Vienna's designated weekend for hiking and wine-tasting ("Weinwandern") shows that drinking wine and voting is a winning combination. Cheers and Prost! This week on R&K, we published the latest in our Know Before You Go series of city primers—Milwaukee. This may seem like an outlier in a catalogue that includes Luanda, Tashkent, Hargeisa in Somaliland, and guides to cave-dwelling in both Andalusia and the Yukon, but Wisconsin's largest city does two things we love incredibly well: beer and cheese. So we got Milwaukee native (and author of a Wisconsin cheese cookbook!) Kristine Hansen to spill her secrets for drinking, dining, and enjoying the city, plus important cultural etiquette relating to the Green Bay Packers. On the Trip podcast, we drink coffee in leafy Karen, Nairobi with Kevin Mwachiro, an openly gay athlete and activist in a country where gay relationships are illegal, and survivor of a rare blood cancer. He is also a journalist, poet, podcaster who showcases African short stories—and a delight. Kevin and Nathan Thornburgh (a fellow cancer survivor) talk about the different ways of living with the disease, the future of LGBTQ rights in Kenya, and the safety vs. speed spectrum of Nairobi's boda-boda drivers. Check out Kevin's podcast, Nipe Story, on Apple and Stitcher. Tune in next week on The Trip as we share a very special rum with Muthoni Drummer Queen, a singer, songwriter, CEO of the music festival Blankets & Wine, and a self-described "cultural alchemist." Then, we have the excellent Porto sessions coming up. As always, we'll publish excerpts of our boozy conversations with exceptional people, but we hope you support us by signing up for The Trip at Luminary Media. —Alexa | 
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