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Healthy, Happy Travel: Wellness Vacations and Global Hotspots for 2026 · Healthy Happy Wise Wealthy

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Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Healthy Happy, Wise Wealthy. I have with us today
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Cassandra Gartner, who I've known for decades,
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and she is a travel agent, Trav Odyssey.
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You can see her website there. I thought we've done a lot of
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kind of heavier topics on the podcast lately, but Healthy
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Happy Happy is one that we want. So in this 2026
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January started, I'd love to kind of talk about maybe
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where can we go this year that might be fun? And I don't,
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you know, there's some things that are heating up in the world too. So, Cassandra,
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tell us, what is your favorite place
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you've been? Start out with a fun one. That is the
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hardest question. I'll have a top five.
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Oh, my gosh. Well, and then it's for different reasons too. Right? So I know
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it's Healthy Happy Wise. So do you do. I don't know if anyone
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has ever done like a wellness retreat or wellness travel at
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all, but when we went to Maldives, it was
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just absolutely incredible because at the resort we stayed at, it
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was Suneva Johnny and then Suneva Fushi. They actually
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had all the wellness activities built in. So we did massage
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and they had sound therapy. Like, there were so many different things.
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That was probably my highlight because you're literally in the middle of
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nowhere and you know. Yeah, you know,
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you're in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean. So the
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Maldives. And that. Is that on your website?
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Maldives? Actually, that's the main picture is of
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Sineva Johnny when we went. But yeah, it was beautiful.
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Let's pull it up. That'd be fun place to start. I want to go to
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the Maldives. Yeah, Maldives is lovely.
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Maldives. Yes. Okay. You want to be specific, but
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I guess in British, I think Brits call it mall dives,
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maybe. Yeah. So how. How
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long of a travel would that be? Let's. Let's say from
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Atlanta. How far of a. Of a travel usually is
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that? Well, you're going all the way probably to Dubai
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or Abu Dhabi, which is probably 9, 10 hours, and then
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another good 10 hours to Mali. And then you're taking a small
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puddle jumper plane that's like a
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seaplane and getting. Finally getting there. So. And then that's why
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I think it's just so special because you know how long it took.
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But it's so worth it. But if you want something quick and easy,
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honestly, one of my favorite places, Mexico, Riviera, Maya. There's so
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many great adults only relaxing resorts there too. And I know people
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right now, every time Spring break comes around, people are like, oh,
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Mexico is, you know, is it. Is it safe? It's like
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anywhere you go, just pay attention to what you're doing, you know, as long as
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you're not trying to, you know, I don't want to say it this way, but
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as long as I'm buying drugs, selling drugs, or catching the people buying and
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selling drugs, like, it's not going to be a terrible experience
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for you. And they're so warm and welcoming and
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amazing and I don't know, it's one of the places I go back
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again and again because I'll go back to other places. And this. I don't know
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what it is. The staff and service just aren't. I don't know.
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I don't know what it is. It's just a beautiful place. Definitely. I've been to
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Riviera, Maya, and more than once. And it was like probably the place everyone
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wanted to go back to for sure. Just for
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selling. A second. Erika, do you need us to pause to pull that up?
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Okay, we got your. Your website pulled up. So this
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first picture on here on Trav
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Odyssey. I love the name. Is the Maldives.
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I'm gonna say it right this time. Correct. That is the one
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that has two. You're looking at it. You can see.
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I don't know if you can see in the background, but the one that's front.
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It jets off. And all of those are one story,
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like two story villas, really. And then they have.
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They're 5,500 square feet for the one bedroom. So you can
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imagine. I do have a video of the whole room, but
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it's on my phone, so I might have to send that one to you.
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I'm sure everyone would enjoy seeing that. Yeah. Slide.
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That literally goes from the second story into the ocean.
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And then right above your bed, the ceiling opens up so you can see the
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stars at night. Amazing. So
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what is like, what is the cost if someone goes, I have to go, like,
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what is like, what are kind of estimated costs? And why do you use a
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travel agent versus trying to do this on your own? Those are two questions in
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one. Okay, so the main reason. I'll start with
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the second one. Actually, the main reason to use a travel agent, we have a
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lot of connections with hotels worldwide and
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there's some places that we have agreements with that
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I'm part of a consortia. So you can get added amenities like
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included breakfast or if it's not all inclusive, or
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you could get spa credit or early check
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in, late checkout, and Then they just get that extra touch of service,
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really, when they go. Also, we can get
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deals as well, especially if we're doing groups for
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certain trips. They'll actually have a group discount that you can get if you have
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five or more rooms. Some it's ten or more rooms. It just
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depends. So that's always a benefit as well. And if you're the
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group leader, there's even certain times you can actually, you know, get a comp.
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Possibly. So. And of course, all these things. Yeah, yeah.
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So that we know where to go and where not to go. That's another huge
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reason to do it. And the I say the last reason is if,
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heaven forbid, something happens while you're traveling, you have
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the backup of someone who knows what to do. They can handle your flights
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if something goes wrong. And then you just have that extra peace of mind.
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Yeah. It just totally depends on how many nights and what
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season. Like that particular resort can go anywhere from.
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Well, that one's. That one's a bucket list trip. Well, let's just put it that
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way. But like 15 up. So. Yeah, it just depends.
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Okay. And that. And that's the one, the health and wellness one that
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you talked about that has the different things. One of the many. Yeah,
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I love it. Yeah. And then Thailand was amazing. That was one of
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my. I'd say that number three. Yeah. One of my top five. Thailand,
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definitely. Bali. And Bali is surprisingly
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inexpensive. Once you get there, it's just getting over to
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Bali. There's so many amazing resorts there. If you want to do a
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yoga retreat, well, you know, wellness retreat in that regard. They have
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those. It's so
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amazing. But that does sound great.
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Is there a particular place on your website someone can go to if they want
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health and wellness? Or should they just call you and say, I want to help
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wellness? It should really. They should really call. Or they can
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fill out. There's a form online that they can't even fill out and set up
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an appointment with me if they want to talk further. The main thing is
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some people call wellness different things. So maybe someone wants to be
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healthy and do like vegan food and they want a whole
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dietary plan along with maybe sound bath
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or, you know, also with random maybe quote woo Woo
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activities. I like Woo Woo. I do too.
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I'm not gonna fault it at all. I love it. The sound bath was
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incredible. We did one in Cabo. It was insane. I don't.
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It's indescribable until you do one really. But yeah. And
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then some people are just. No, I Want a spa. I want an amazing massage.
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I want that kind of treatment. The interesting thing about Sineva
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Johnny and Sineva Fushi, though, they actually have it where
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they had stem cell therapy even. And what they
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exactly did it for, I don't know, because I didn't do it. But they're like,
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oh, yeah, we can do stem cell therapy. One of his.
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The one of the persons who owns it, he had a health scare,
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and so he was doing all these different alternative treatments, but they had Ayurvedic,
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they had Chinese medicine. So it was very
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expansive on what they actually offered. That sounds so
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fun. So where is that again? That's one. It's
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Suneva Johnny and Sineva Fushi are the two names of
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the resorts that they own. And then they also have a new one, Sineva
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Secret, and that's also in the Maldives. So they're all three right there.
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Okay. All right. I guess the Maldives is the place. To
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go, but there's other places. And don't get me wrong, in Thailand,
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they have a ton of places you can still go there. And again,
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we went. We were literally in Cabo. And Cabo has.
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There's a business that they do sound baths, and they'll either do it in water
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or you literally lay down on the beach and they just do. It's the, like,
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literal bowls from Tibet and use the actual
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gong from China. It's just something to experience once
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in your life, at least. So there's definitely options out there. See, I
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didn't know I'd be talking about sound baths with you, but, like, that is. They.
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They are really great. I mean, I've. I've done some and I'm like, I.
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I want to buy those Tibetan sound bowls.
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They're not cheap. They're not. I looked it up.
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Thousands and thousands of dollars. Yeah.
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To get them. So that's a. That's a. That's a plus. Cabo has
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come up in the world since the last time I was there. Oh, my gosh.
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Right. I think I went 96 the first time I went.
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But yeah, we went again in September of last year and that's when we
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did the sound bowls. So. Yeah. Yeah.
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I can't even remember. I mean, like, yeah, we probably went with the same. Same
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group initially down there.
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Back in the day. Back in the day, yep.
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Yeah. So Riviera Maya you talked about. And, you
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know, I've been there. Are there other places in Mexico and
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that, you know, you feel like are a little closer? A
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little. Or in the Caribbean that might Be good for like a wellness retreat kind
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of place. Actually, you know what? In Riviera Maya by Playa del
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Carmen, there's a place called Palmaya House of Aya. And it
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is a more vegan forward menu. But they also do have
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regular proteins, like animal protein too. But the beach there is
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phenomenal. It's. That one's great. Unico
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20 degrees by 87 degrees. That one's a little more further south
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by Akamal. So you're kind of getting toward Tulum at that one. That's all
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inclusive and adults only. That one's definitely
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relaxing in that regard. If you're just wanting to chill
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out a little bit and just have fun. And then north
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of Cancun, there's a place called Atelier A
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T E L I E R Playa Mujeres.
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And that one has excellent food quality as well. And they have a
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ton of activities you can do there as well for wellness. So. Yeah.
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Well, one thing that I like, the idea of using a travel agent also is
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like not, not all, you know, places are created equal,
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even if they have the same names or the same brand. You go to one,
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you're like, I won't say the one I don't would never recommend going to, but
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you go to one and it's great. And then maybe you go to like a
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sister one, you're like, no, never again. That is sadly true.
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Yeah, I know. There's one that I absolutely loved
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that we went to in Punta Cana. So
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in the Dominican Republic, it's another adults only property there
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that we went to that it was phenomenal. But then their sister
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property, because it's owned by somebody else, it's managed by the same company,
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but it's owned by someone else. It was totally different experience. So
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that's another reason I go to the places to know where to and not
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to go 100%. You know, that's not a hard life to
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be the one that have to go and, and discover the places.
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I do love it. Busy season's definitely busy right now. But yes, it'll
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be. It'll be good. It's fun. Yeah, you enjoy it.
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So it's probably pretty common for people right now to be. To be calling you
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and booking their travel in 2026. Correct. About
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when it happens pretty much January. Everyone'S like, okay, let's plan
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our year. So we usually end up doing a lot of booking from January to
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March and then a lot of people travel too. So that's why it ends up
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being, you know, even busier so yeah, for sure.
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So travel warnings just, that's probably something that's on some people's mind.
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Do you, do you keep updated on that when there's a travel warning or
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travel ban or how do you, how do you handle those?
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Yes, so they have. If you go to
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travel.state.gov you can
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go in there and actually look up any country you're thinking about doing
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a one or a two. Like one is like, you know, completely safe.
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But every everything is a two. France is a two, Italy is a two.
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It's just be more aware of your surroundings. The reconsidered
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travel is three and do not go as a four. So threes and
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fours I just don't even, I won't even look at for a client.
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But ones and twos, you're pretty good. And sometimes it's
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just different parts. And that's another thing you have to pay attention to because Mexico,
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like if you look at the border towns of Mexico, those might be
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in red, but then other states are perfectly fine. So
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you really need to, I mean it's, that's one of those places where you really
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need to pay attention to where you do and don't want to go. Most of
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the resort places you're not going to have issues like you're not going to,
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you know, Juarez over the border from El Paso,
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ideally. Not for me. There's no beach. No beach there?
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Sadly, no. Well, on the topic of Mexico,
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do you, do you ever recommend the west side like Puerto Vallarta
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over the east side or on the west side?
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And that's. And it's interesting because it's more south. So. Yeah, so
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that's exactly opposite. And then Huatulco is actually a little gem. It's on the
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very southern tip of Mexico, like kind of in the middle.
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And there's a secrets Huatuco there that's actually really lovely. It's on its own
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bay and so that's a fun place to go too because they had an amazing
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spa there that was, I don't know who did it, but it was
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beautifully designed. And it's kind of on a cliff, like on one of the hills.
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And then they have from there you can go to all the nine
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bays and go snorkeling and you can go like into caves and go
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snorkeling there and all that too. Oh, how fun. That sounds so
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great. Do people ever ask you,
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I'm thinking the all inclusive resorts versus just a
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place where it's not all inclusive but maybe gives you more variety
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to Go tour? Yeah,
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I think it depends on where you're going because if you're going somewhere like Europe,
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normally you're more than likely not going to do an all inclusive. Maybe do something
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with free breakfast, you know, so you can eat the free breakfast and then go
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off or. I mean that's one place. And then even in
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Asia there's a lot of places to eat that are less expensive off property.
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So normally people will do like again a breakfast and then go wander
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somewhere like Mexico or Jamaica or Dominican
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and you just want to relax. If people want to have fun and not worry
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about money and just leave their wallet in their room, this is the
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way to go. It just is. And. But the thing is, not all inclusives are
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the same. Some have restrictions on dining, some don't, some
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are amazing food and others I wouldn't feed to my
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worst enemy and therefore I wouldn't send them there. So that again turns
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back into why you use a travel agent. But
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that definitely all inclusives are not made the same.
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So important. Yeah, I guess that tracks because it.
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When I think of all inclusive, I do think of the. Well, I think of
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the Caribbean in general and South America. Not South America, Central
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America, Mexico, the whole area. Oh yes, definitely Costa
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Rica. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there more
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than one all inclusive in Costa Rica now? It's been a while since I've been
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there. Yeah, there's a few. Yeah, there's definitely several
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actually in Costa Rica they came up with a couple new ones, but
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they did do the Weston. They changed their name so many
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times, but that one's on a really nice beach. I know they have
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the secrets. Papagayo used to be the Hilton there. That's one of the
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adults only ones. And we had a lot of fun when we were there. It
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was, it was a good time. And that's all on the Guanacaste side, so it's
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on the west coast. Okay. And then if you want to go inland though, here's
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the thing. So if you're on the beach, definitely do all inclusive in Costa Rica.
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Inland, like the Springs resort. If you want to actually go to the volcano
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and are all. You want to do that kind of thing, then you could go
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inland for a little while if you wanted to too. That's awesome.
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Good point. Well, I, you know,
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it's. I've done some travel so I've been, I have a little bit
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of. But I. It's not been recent so everything changes
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dramatically, you know. Really does. That is so true.
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Yeah. What other. So Caribbean. What Other places would
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you suggest going. For a romantic trip?
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One of my favorite islands, Antigua and Barbuda, it's one
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country, but it's two islands. So you kind of can, if you want to, you
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can go do a day trip, you can do a split stay. Barbuda is a
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lot more relaxed and chill, but they're building, they have a Naboo restaurant
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there and they're building like a boutique Nobu resort
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in Barbuda. So it's gonna be really interesting to see
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what happens there. There's some great adults only properties though.
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And so it's really known for romance and. But you can go as a friend
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group or, you know, girls trip, whatever. They have a lot of things to do.
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But there's 366 beaches. So there's literally
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for one for every day of the year, they built a beach at Hammock
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Cove. It used to be 365, but that's why it's now
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366. Oh, wow, that's amazing.
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Beautiful beach. And that's pink sand actually in
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Barbuda during certain times of the year. So if you want
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to. What makes it pink? With the. Something
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with the something with the water. There's something in the water
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that changes the color. She's tried to, she explained it to us when we were
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there, but she's like, but at certain times of the year it's not in the
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water. So then it's like the sand is normal again. But she said if you
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pick the sand up and like take it home, it'll stay that pink color,
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but you just have to grab it. Then I'm like, that's really interesting to know.
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That is very interesting. Yeah, that's awesome.
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Anything with the Venezuela situation, like when, when something like that
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happens, does that create any kind of uncertainty with people or
18:36
with travel places? That's really hard
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because with Venezuela, I mean, we don't usually sell
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Venezuela. It is one of those. I mean there's not really
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a lot of all inclusives there, to be totally honest. The majority,
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like if you're talking Caribbean, only the two least, like
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the best value for your money would definitely be like Jamaica and you know,
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Punta Cana La Romana, like the Dominican Republic, basically.
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If like Antigua is going to price a little higher. But again, amazing resorts.
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And then if you're talking St. Lucia, they have an amazing
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resorts there too. A lot of adults only. And there's one
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called Body Holiday that's actually really good for wellness, if
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that is something you want to track. But that is a
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beautiful, beautiful property. And there's so many things to do in St.
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Lucia. I mean, if you dive, great for diving.
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They even have. There's a drive through volcano and then they have like
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waterfalls and you can do like mud baths. It's. It's really beautiful.
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That sounds so fun. So those are the places we'll normally do. I don't
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really do like a lot in Central. Like,
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I don't do Venezuela, I don't do Colombia often. I mean, I still
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have had people go to Cartagena, for example, you
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know, for more beach destinations. But I think the problem is that
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the fear mongering that goes online
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sometimes just gets a little bit too much and I think it
20:03
almost paralyzes people. However, on the flip side, if you've
20:07
noticed people from foreign countries aren't coming to the US
20:10
as much. Oh, I wouldn't know that.
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Oh yeah, no, yeah. It's crazy. And only the people that I've
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talked to that it's. They've really noticed. It has been conventions
20:21
in Vegas. Granted, I don't sell usually US travel,
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but I have friends that are in the business that do Vegas. But a lot
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of conventions just didn't come from like foreign countries this year here because
20:33
they're afraid of us, which is sad of what's going on.
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So I don't know, it's one of. Those things where there's
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definitely crime here too, you know. So,
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yeah. South America. Do you ever go to South America?
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Oh my gosh. So we went to Brazil and
20:52
Argentina and we went to Iguazu Falls. It was
20:56
absolutely incredible. Rio, of course, you have to go to
20:59
Copacabana. And then they had the Sugarloaf Mountain.
21:03
They take you up on a cable car and we had caipirinhas on the top.
21:07
And then you can actually see Christ the Redeemer from
21:10
Sugarloaf Mountain. I have some amazing, amazing photos of
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that. And then we went to up Christ the Redeemer too. And I have like
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pictures that are literally right under. It was so amazing.
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But yeah, beautiful year.
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Yeah. Anything else in, in South
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America, have you ever gone to Brazil or me. Personally, that I've been.
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Those are like my main two so far. I still have to go to Machu
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Picchu. It's still on the list. I still have to do Chile,
21:38
Patagonia area. I. I hate
21:42
cold weather. So Antarctica, it's like, oh, well, you have to want to go there
21:46
just to mark it off your list. But I'm like, I don't like
21:49
cold weather. But you know, I don't know. Maybe
21:53
I'll. To see the penguins. Maybe I'll go. I don't
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know. But it's. I don't know. It's one of those things, like it
22:01
should be on my list. Yeah, whatever. Well, yeah,
22:04
it's a big world. What's that? It's a big world. Right. Lots to
22:08
see. 100 and that becomes the thing. But there's a cruise
22:12
that Iberostar has in the
22:15
Amazon which is like. Right. Goes right down the Amazon River. That
22:19
would be amazing to do. I would definitely want to try that one
22:22
out. Cruise down the Amazon River. Wow. I
22:26
wouldn't swim in it. I would just cruise.
22:30
Just cruise? Yeah. That's awesome.
22:34
Well, continent by continent, what about Europe? What are your thoughts on
22:37
travel in Europe? Europe, you just have to be careful at the main, like train
22:41
stations. Yeah. There might be pickpockets here and there, but European
22:45
Europe is hot this year. A lot of people going to Europe. I have people,
22:48
Greece, Italy, doing like bucket list trips
22:52
to, you know, the islands. There's so many amazing islands
22:55
that other than Santorini and Mykonos that you can go to that are
22:59
absolutely phenomenal. Crete, there's
23:03
obviously, that's one of the. Paros and Naxos are right off of
23:06
Mykonos. They're lesser known, so they tend to be less
23:10
busy. And because of it, it's more like genuine
23:14
grease. I say this, and now it's going to blow up.
23:17
Cause is crazy.
23:22
Zakanthos had an amazing beach there. And
23:26
then of course, if you want to only just get a taste of a couple
23:29
islands and then go more in detail later, you can always do a cruise
23:33
and virgin voyages. They have an amazing Greek. It's Greek
23:37
island glow and it does a lot of those. And then it also goes to
23:40
Turkey. So if you ever someone wanted to go see Ephesus and like
23:44
Mary's house and all that, they can actually do a tour on that cruise.
23:48
So they can get both islands. Yeah, it was interesting. Yeah.
23:52
So when people book Europe, are they. Are they looking for more that
23:55
relaxation thing in the Mediterranean, are they looking for
23:59
like, you know, historical stuff? It honestly
24:03
depends on the trip. That's a good question. If it's a honeymoon couple,
24:06
normally it's more about relaxation, maybe a couple of historical things.
24:10
But if you're talking Italy, like if you're going to Rome, you have to
24:14
go to the Colosseum, you have to go to the Vatican, you have to see
24:17
the Sistine Chapel. There's just certain things you should definitely go
24:21
to. Same thing with Paris, right? I mean, there's so many
24:24
things to see in Paris. You can do day trips to places like
24:28
Mont St. Michelin, you go to Versailles. So that's like a
24:32
good home base for some of those type of activities. If people are
24:36
history buffs and they want to go to the beaches of Normandy. So it
24:39
completely depends on the person. And that's why I kind of go through
24:43
all those questions actually when I try to plan a trip for them. Because some
24:47
people are like, no, I don't care about history. I'm like, okay, we'll just go
24:50
to fun beaches and go to the Amalfi coast instead or whatever.
24:54
Yeah. So it just depends. Spain, Amazing. You can go
24:58
to the Andalusia region if you want to. You know, there's
25:02
Alhambra palace is absolutely beautiful. Oh, the Alhambra. Yeah.
25:06
I have. Well, this is from Spain. I lived in Spain for a little bit.
25:09
There you go. I have a table. Listen,
25:13
that's from the Alhambra. Oh my gosh, I love it.
25:19
I have my Alhambra table right there. Yeah. So
25:23
much fun stuff. So if I were to call you and
25:26
say I have. I want to do a three week trip, I want to
25:30
hit, let's say, I want to hear England,
25:35
Scotland and a few other
25:38
places around there, let's say Germany and then, you know, surprise me.
25:42
What would you do? Would you. And I want to have some relaxation, some
25:46
historical. I want to get to know the area. How would you. What would you
25:50
do? Like, how would you lead that
25:54
for me? So that's the good question. So depending on each
25:57
person's travel style, it would determine what we would
26:01
do. There's some companies I work with, like Abercrombie and Kent
26:05
or Globus or Talk Tours, they actually do
26:08
set ones. So some people would rather do, you know, a group tour for part
26:12
of it and then go independent for some of it. Other people are like, I
26:16
would love to do, like if I want to do Germany, I want to do
26:19
a Danube river cruise and go, you know, or some people have different
26:23
opinions of what they really want to do. So I would kind of gauge that
26:26
first. And sometimes people do a combo. Other people, they
26:30
just want an fit. So I'd ask, do you want to have a totally independent
26:34
travel with maybe a couple little group trips here and there, or do you want
26:37
entirely private, totally guided? So if you want your
26:41
handheld, you go on a guided tour with Abercrombie or, you know,
26:44
Globus if you want something. No, I just want to do my own thing.
26:48
Then we to a totally, you know, completely tailored
26:51
itinerary just for you. And then if of course, you want to do other things
26:55
and hang out with other people on boats, then we can do river cruises.
26:59
So there's a lot of ways to do Europe. That is a very loaded question.
27:04
Yeah, that is. That's probably something that could, that could be an entire
27:08
podcast in and of itself. 100%. Places
27:11
that could go on for decades. Places to see in Europe and all the best.
27:15
Do you have any favorite cruises in Europe? Oh my
27:19
gosh, there's so it. Again, it totally depends
27:23
on what people. For river cruising, I will say this. AMA
27:26
Waterways, they're still family, they're family owned and they
27:30
are amazing for their inclusions. I know that
27:34
a lot of the time you'll have a cruise and you'll have like one or
27:37
two actual excursions included on like another
27:41
one. But on the waterways they have like all their excursions are included.
27:45
So you get to actually pick from a whole list. It's not like you have
27:47
to upgrade to do a different tour. So I really like that about
27:51
them. Specifically there's. I mean, you could do the Danube, you
27:55
could do the Rhine. There's a ton of options there. If
27:59
you wanted to cruise and just catch a couple places and do an
28:02
ocean cruise, you could go Barcelona, all the way down Italy
28:06
and then go France. So there are definitely options to do that as
28:10
well. But I feel like you do gear up an
28:13
injustice if you try to see that many places on a boat because
28:17
you're spending so much time getting on and off. I really would rather immerse
28:20
myself in the area. Like for Italy, especially because
28:24
you're going inland to Tuscany and you don't want to feel like you're on a
28:28
schedule. I mean, that's just me. But. But if you're on a. No, I agree,
28:31
I agree. Yeah, that's the challenge one. Right. But
28:36
however, that being said, somewhere like going to Greece
28:40
because there are so many islands, the thing I like about doing that
28:44
first is because then you can get a taste of each island to see what
28:47
you'd really want to spend time on and then go back and go
28:50
spend time in the islands you really liked or go to those quick ones
28:54
and then spend more time and go to Crete because that's not on a lot
28:57
of itineraries, so. But you can spend like easily spend a week there.
29:01
It's huge. It's the largest island in Greece.
29:05
I mean, how long do people normally spend when they go to Europe.
29:09
Totally depends on how many, how many countries they want to hit,
29:13
to be honest. I have some people that go for like a week because they're
29:17
doing for example, I have a client, they're going to do the London
29:20
marathon. So they're going to London in Paris and they're doing a whole thing for
29:23
like eight days. Then I have people that are like on a three week excursion
29:26
because it's their honeymoon and they took a bunch of time off. So usually somewhere
29:30
in that range I. Would say there's always the get back
29:34
to real life that has to happen. But. Right. Wouldn't it be great
29:38
if we could just be like let's take six months.
29:42
100% and I never come back.
29:46
I mean I work remotely but the challenge becomes the time zones. Right. Because
29:50
it's like that, that's the only drama about trying to do
29:53
that. But no, I would totally do that in a heartbeat. I would. Yeah. Six
29:57
months. Yeah, I'm, I know I've been done the one week
30:01
trips to Europe and I do think the, the first day you're
30:04
just, you're so, you're not awake. You don't even know
30:08
what, you're not awake at all. Time zone is a challenge.
30:11
Yes. I mean I know there's people that, that know ways to, to,
30:15
to work it to so that they're more awake. But anyway.
30:19
Right. Any places in Europe you'd stay away from.
30:24
Right now at this point? I mean
30:28
it's more like Russia and Ukraine
30:32
you don't go to. I mean it's like right there on the border there right
30:35
now. I, I wouldn't say there's any specific place in Europe I
30:39
necessarily wouldn't go because you have like the Eastern European like, you know,
30:43
I, no, I would be fine. I
30:46
don't think anything is a three right now in Europe. I'd have to double check.
30:50
The last time I looked I didn't see anything that was in a
30:53
horrible place for majority of places people would go in Europe.
30:58
So. Okay, so moving on. So like do people call you to want to go
31:02
to like Dubai, Egypt? Oh yeah.
31:06
Different. I mean what are some thoughts on those
31:10
areas? So Dubai, like the UAE is,
31:14
I actually have had people go there without issues at all. It's you
31:17
know, very laid back. It's more, it's more
31:21
modernized than it definitely used to be. So that
31:25
would be okay. I, I, there's certain places in the Middle East I just wouldn't
31:28
go but they're all, of course those are on the list.
31:32
So you'll know when you go. If you go to
31:35
travel.state.gov I will say they have the whole list of
31:39
every single country, and they'll tell you when or when not to go.
31:43
And they keep it updated. And that's like the best place to go for that.
31:46
And just in general, because one day, all of a
31:50
sudden, Jamaica was a level three. And I'm like, what in the world
31:53
is this? But it was a certain area of Jamaica that was
31:57
the problem. And it was by, like, Kingston or whatever. But it's back to a
32:00
two now. So again, just keep it. Just keeps it up on
32:04
there very well. Yeah. So
32:08
Africa, the continent. So anywhere. Morocco,
32:12
Egypt, South Africa, anything that you'd
32:16
recommend. Safaris. There's so many amazing safaris you can
32:20
do in Africa, actually. Oh, my gosh.
32:24
I can't believe I'm blanking on this. Someone else who did the summer job
32:28
we did. She. I think it's Masai Mara.
32:32
There's a conservatory she works for in Africa,
32:36
and they have a ton of different camps and they'll
32:39
do. It's like the lesser expensive ones up to the luxury tents.
32:43
And it's amazing. Like, there's so many phenomenal ones you can do
32:47
there. If you don't want to worry about getting shots, though South Africa,
32:51
you can easily go there, and then you're not having to get all the shots.
32:54
Then you can go to Table Mountain, you can go to Johannesburg, you can go
32:57
to Cape Town and then go for the last part of your trip and
33:01
do a safari, and it's all right there. I don't know if
33:05
you saw Blended. Did you ever see that movie? The movie what?
33:09
Blended? I don't think so.
33:12
Okay, so that's with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and
33:16
they end up going there, and it's hilarious. Just watch the movie. But that
33:20
made my stepdaughter, she's like, I want to do a safari. Like, she was,
33:24
what, seven at the time or whatever? But yeah. When did
33:28
that come out? When did the movie come out? 2011,
33:31
maybe 2012. It was a while ago, so maybe. I
33:35
just don't remember. Maybe that
33:39
that's a possibility. It was a good one of theirs. But anyway, so check that
33:42
one out. But yeah, they had a wellness little segment when they
33:46
got their massage at that one. If anyone has seen the movie, it's pretty. Oh,
33:50
that's very fun. So normal safari is like, what kind of shots do you need?
33:54
Well, if you. It depends on what country. Right. So it's Usually the malaria
33:58
and I don't know if it's scarlet fever, but I think it's for. Is
34:02
it Kenya? It depends on the country. So some
34:05
countries in Africa and definitely for Africa, there's some countries that
34:09
are safe, some that are kind of in that 3, 4 range, so that you'd
34:13
want to pay attention to. And then for
34:16
Egypt, lately I don't.
34:19
I've had people go. But they know that they do down the
34:23
Nile. Like one of my cousins went and they went down the Nile and they
34:27
had like armed guards. So they're very, very about
34:30
security if you do go to Egypt because then that's when they went to
34:34
the pyramids. Like they had a guard with them the whole time, like with a
34:37
gun, like all things. So interesting. Again, it
34:41
goes back to being aware. Right. Just be aware of your surroundings, know what
34:45
you're to expect when you're going, that type of thing. But they actually went on
34:48
ama, they were on AMA Waterways, Nile River Cruise and it
34:52
loved it. Oh, that's so fun. I love it.
34:56
Asia, places in Asia. Do people want to go to China
35:00
or like, like what are some destinations there?
35:05
Everywhere. No, I'm kidding. Actually I'm doing a wedding in the Philippines
35:09
and that is going to be amazing. But there's literally
35:12
7,000 islands in the Philippines, the two places that
35:16
keep popping up. It's so funny since I'm talking about it all the time on
35:19
my phone. On my feedback, Palawan comes
35:23
up because that's where we're going to El Nido. And then Boracay is another
35:27
one that's right by there as well. So they're flying into Manila and then going
35:31
from there. But it's definitely beautiful beaches,
35:35
gorgeous sand. I mean there's waterfalls, there's a ton to
35:39
see in Philippines and it's inexpensive. Once you get there, that's another.
35:42
So it's like the plane. So if you can get your head around the long
35:46
plane flight, you're good. Yeah. How long
35:50
of a flight is that? Let's say again from. Let's say from dc.
35:55
Well, from DC I don't know if you have a non stop to
35:58
Manila, you're going through the time change. Right.
36:02
So for example, with Chicago, depending on the layover, maybe like totally.
36:06
It takes 20 some hours or whatever to get there
36:09
and then you know, the time change and then coming back you gain hours coming
36:13
home. Right. So it just fully depends. That's one of
36:17
them. Bali, I love Bali. We weren't from LA. It was like LA to
36:20
Taipei 12 hours and then five and a half from Taipei on
36:24
down. And that was amazing. And Bali is
36:28
inexpensive once you get there too. Tons of waterfalls, beautiful
36:32
beach. You go to the north, it's black sand beaches. The to
36:35
the west, it's like regular brown sand. And then it's like crushed coral white by
36:39
like Nusa Duwa on the east coast. It's gorgeous.
36:44
So there's probably some adventure travel there too, right? Definitely.
36:47
Definitely true. And plus, if you're going to China, you have. I mean, just make
36:51
sure, no matter what, if you're going to China, get your visa early.
36:55
I've seen a lot of people do China on their own or try to, and
36:58
then they forget to get their visa and have issues. Same thing with Vietnam.
37:01
I mean, usually that one's not as big of a deal. But you still need
37:05
to get your visa. Just make sure you do it like further in advance so
37:08
you don't stress out. I have a non fun story. I'm.
37:12
Yeah, no, I almost. I didn't forget to do it, but I thought I
37:16
had time, so I did it. But there was a holiday in there
37:19
and it said it was processing for like three extra
37:23
days and I was about to have a heart attack. I'm like,
37:26
oh, I'm sure it came up. I went to the airport. They're like, they didn't
37:30
process your visa yet. I'm like, what? Oh, no.
37:34
Instead of into Vietnam, I'm like, just get me somewhere in Asia.
37:37
I had to fly into Incheon. Then I flew to Phuket
37:41
instead, which actually I wanted to go to Phuket too anyway, so I got to
37:45
like dip in there. But we were going to both Vietnam and Thailand on that
37:49
trip, so I had to go there my extra day instead of stay at the
37:52
place we were. But, oh, well, it was fine.
37:56
How long does it normally take to get a visa in that? Like how long
37:59
of a time frame? Like a week and a half. It's supposed to be quarter
38:03
quick, right? And it was. Or it was supposed to take a week supposedly. And
38:06
I think it. Just because of the holiday, it, for some reason it didn't
38:10
process fast enough. I don't know. Oh, well, gotcha.
38:14
Whatever. Just don't do that. Yeah. Do you ever
38:17
get any mountain people that want to climb mountains?
38:21
Oh, my gosh. There is a
38:24
ridiculous amount of luxury travel. People
38:29
that are. I mean, it's doing Mount Everest now, but
38:33
they're doing it on such an over the top crazy
38:37
experience. Like, I don't know, it was
38:39
$230,000. What? I just had seen someone do that
38:43
one recently. I'm like, I don't know how many
38:47
people would really want to do it that way, but they do.
38:51
But it's available. It's available if people really want to do it.
38:55
There's, of course, like, the, you know, the lesser expensive way when you're not, like,
38:59
on beds and nice little warm tented. You know, they just made
39:03
it really elaborate lately to go up
39:07
and that was to base camp.
39:14
I don't think I'm gonna climb a mountain, so I'm not gonna go. I was
39:17
just curious. Just out of curiosity. I think
39:20
I. I like. I do like mountains. I just don't know that I want to
39:23
climb that big of one. Just, Just. No, no. The mountains, I like to
39:27
get like, the Alps. I'll go ski the Alps. You know, I'll go ski, you
39:30
know, the Rockies, whatever. But, yeah, to climb one,
39:34
that's not on my bucket list, unfortunately. I'm sure there are people that love it.
39:38
No more power to you. Whatever you love to do, but whatever your
39:42
happy place is. Mountain, ski Tahoe sometime. It's pretty there.
39:45
Oh, yes. The last. The only time I ever had to
39:49
get snow tires was. Was driving through Lake Tahoe. I
39:53
lived in Iowa. Illinois. Right. Colorado.
39:57
Never had to have. Same. Same. Yeah, yeah.
40:00
And obviously I moved out here to Reno. And I'm like, what do you mean?
40:03
We have to have chains in our tires like, like, and like to just pretty
40:06
much leave the city if it's snowing. It's like, how do we even get out
40:10
of here without snow tires? I'm like, this is like, you think
40:13
you've lived life and done a lot of things until you realize that you don't
40:17
know how to drive out of a city that you live in. So.
40:22
Crazy. I was visiting a friend in California. I was literally driving
40:26
from Colorado. And they're like, no, you need snow tires. You can't go any
40:29
further. I was right. In Tahoe, horrible snowstorm. I'm like,
40:33
what in the world? I'm still trying to put snow
40:37
tire, like, the thingies on my car in a
40:40
blizzard. It was just ridiculous. Well, and you're in Chicago,
40:44
right? So sorry. Chains on your tires. Yeah. And I mean,
40:48
in Chicago, you don't need that at all. Like, we don't have no.
40:52
Whatever. There's plenty of snow. Plenty of snow in
40:55
Chicago. In the Midwest, plenty. Oh, Lord.
41:00
Oh, so, okay, so, like, New Zealand, Australia,
41:04
Hawaii. I'll just throw that in since it's. I love Hawaii.
41:08
And you know what? And I just had a group of people, actually, you might
41:10
know that, who went too, but they went to New Zealand. There's so
41:14
many things to. That is a great place to go for, like, adventure
41:18
travel. I mean, you can bungee. The first place they ever bungeed.
41:21
I mean, there's so many things to do in Australia, of course, you
41:25
know, dive the Great Barrier Reef on the south. I
41:29
didn't realize until I was a travel agent, actually. But to do the Shark
41:33
Gate or the, you know, like the gated for great whites.
41:37
Cage diving is what I'm trying to say. It's on the south part of
41:41
Australia for some reason. I thought it was like in the Great Barrier Reef or
41:44
something before I was an agent. But, yeah, it's on the very south
41:48
part. There's just one area. I'm like, maybe I won't be doing that.
41:51
It used to be on my list. I don't know if it is anymore, but.
41:55
Oh, that's fun. But I still want to go.
41:59
You haven't been there yet? No. The wits
42:04
either. So what's that? Not really
42:07
Asia and not. There's some continents I've not been to. Really?
42:11
Really at all. No. I had a chance to go to Morocco
42:15
and I did not go, which I. I do regret. But,
42:19
you know, now. Now I regret it.
42:23
Yeah. So what about. There's still time. There's still time.
42:28
What about Hawaii? Do you send people there?
42:32
I do. I love Hawaii. The atmosphere, the people
42:35
just get out of the touristy areas. Though I will say, like,
42:39
there's a lot of. So many people just go to
42:42
Waikiki beach, you know, Oahu. They'll stay there, which
42:46
is fine. Nothing's wrong with that. But there's so many, like, hidden little
42:50
beaches you can just kind of find on your own if you just kind of
42:53
drive around and pay attention. And they're untouched. Well, you
42:57
know, the locals know about them, so I won't ruin it and name
43:00
them.
43:04
But if you work with you, you might find out. And there you go.
43:08
Yeah. Then you'll get your itinerary. Yeah. Are there. Are there certain
43:11
islands that you like in the. In, like Kauai or
43:15
Oahu or. I don't even know all the names of them, I don't think. Yeah,
43:18
right. So the big island is more of the volcanic island, and that one has
43:22
more of the black sand beaches. There's like, you know, mountain, you know, to hike
43:25
and everything. Maui, Lovely. You have the.
43:29
I mean, there's a ton you can do in Maui, too.
43:33
Road to Hana, you can go all along the road. It's really windy. It's.
43:36
There's like bridges. There's one, you know, one lane roads at some
43:40
parts of it. But it's again, still very beautiful. Now, I
43:44
know with the fires and everything, they had issues for a little while, but they
43:47
definitely want. I mean, a lot of their money comes from tourism, so they
43:51
definitely need people back there. And then in
43:54
Oahu, they have. There's a place called Kualoa Ranch
43:58
where they do. That's where they had like Jurassic park
44:01
films and Lost. And so there's tours you can take for
44:05
that. You can do, you know, the movie tour. You could
44:09
do the four wheelers. And there's. There's a ton of stuff.
44:13
Horseback riding. And then of
44:16
course you can swim with the wild dolphins. The wild
44:20
dolphins, which is cool because they'll have a catamaran.
44:24
They'll take you to the area. And then we actually went to this area that
44:27
had the turtles would like go down and like come back
44:31
up. There was one guy on our tour, he's like, I definitely
44:35
want to see a turtle. It's like the turtle knew because the turtle came
44:39
up from the bottom right to him. And we got like a great picture.
44:43
It was really cute. But yeah, that was fun. Nature in general of
44:47
Hawaii is amazing culture.
44:50
Yeah. So you said you don't like cold, but what about Canada and
44:54
Alaska? Do you ever. People who want
44:57
to. I hear people want to go. Go for
45:01
it. No, Canada. I mean, Alaska. We'll do a lot
45:05
of cruises for Alaska or they'll do cruise tours.
45:09
So you'll do up the coast and then go into Denali and then do the,
45:12
you know, dog sled and all of that there. So. And there's a lot
45:16
of excursions you can do when you do a cruise for Alaska as well. So
45:20
that's always a good option. And then that way you can see because
45:24
that way you're gonna have to go through the fjords. So it makes more sense
45:27
to go that way in the Inside Passage.
45:31
Yeah. So Canada. Does anyone ever
45:35
go Canada? I have people go to Canada. Yeah. I mean, it depends on
45:39
what they want to go for. Whistler, obviously, if they want to go ski, just
45:42
Quebec is beautiful. I mean, there's some great places
45:46
they have the Christmas. One of my friends went to the.
45:50
The Kindle market. Like they have all their Christmas stuff, their markets and
45:54
stuff there too. They absolutely love that.
45:58
Yeah, I have seen some. I mean, I've been to Canada a little bit
46:01
but not, not too much travel. Yeah.
46:05
But I've seen some beautiful places. Oh, gorgeous. Banff.
46:09
You know, if people want to go to Prince Edward island, you know, there's, there's
46:12
so many great places. And I mean, the people, the Canadians are awesome.
46:16
And it's so funny. I've met so many Canadians on trips to, to
46:19
Mexico. It makes me laugh. Like, I'm like, we need to meet up in
46:23
Canada one of these times. Yeah, they're going, they're going.
46:27
Something warm. I'm like, I'll go in your summer
46:30
when it's not terrible. Well, let me, let me circle back
46:34
to one of my first questions, which is one of what would be your top
46:37
five for this year? For this year specifically,
46:42
or your top few? Putting you on the spot big
46:46
time. Flying out of where? Atlanta or flying out
46:49
of. Yeah, this is. Let's just say Atlanta.
46:53
Atlanta's a hub. Atlanta. Hub. Oh, my gosh.
46:57
Well, I mean, you could literally go.
47:01
You know what's funny? Jfk, they have non stops to Antigua right now.
47:04
I've had a lot of people go there lately. I've had Aruba
47:08
Secrets. Baby beach is a great new property in Aruba.
47:12
If we're talking Caribbean. Okay.
47:16
And then, I mean, a lot of people go in
47:20
general, of course, to Mexico because it's easy, but whatever. And
47:24
then if you want, if the people are okay with a longer flight, Thailand,
47:28
Philippines, Bali, Singapore is
47:31
beautiful. I mean, beautiful area, very clean city. I mean, you
47:35
know, Asia is always up there. So, yeah, Bali,
47:38
Thailand, Philippines, if we're doing Asia.
47:43
And I've heard great things about that. I have a friend who goes to Thailand
47:46
a lot. Yeah. Yeah. People are so nice. And
47:49
then, of course, if you saw White Lotus last season, it's just
47:53
so pretty. I don't know. It's just fun. The people are just so sweet
47:57
as kapunka. Like, you know, you just try to speak as much Thai as you
48:01
possibly can when you're there. Memorize it. Just don't eat the hottest
48:05
pepper like I accidentally did. Yeah, don't do that. I
48:08
would never recommend doing that. Never, ever. And then
48:12
Maldives, if it's your bucket list trip. I, you know, if, if I had
48:16
a year to live, I would not die without going back.
48:20
I'll put it that way. Like I don't care. It's a bucket list trip. You
48:24
should go. It's amazing. I. There's a. Several different. I mean,
48:27
granted, there's some places that are less expensive. Expensive too. So if it's a budget
48:31
thing, of course there's other places you can go. That one just happened to be
48:35
one of my favorites of the three that I stayed at when we were there.
48:38
So I love it. So how long have you been doing travel? Been a
48:41
travel agent? I've been an agent for 22 years now. Have you
48:45
really? Yeah. It's been a long time. I don't think I knew that.
48:49
So what led you to do it? Ironically, our old
48:53
summer job. The second year we went, we were.
48:56
We can tell people we worked for the Southwestern company, like way back in the
49:00
day, selling education bookstore to door. I don't even know if they have that program
49:04
anymore. They do Southwestern
49:07
Advantage now and then. They do a bunch of stuff with, like, online
49:11
help now, too. And they sell all these other programs. It's not just books anymore.
49:15
But yeah, they still do it. But yeah. No. So the incentive trips that
49:19
we would win. So my second year, the first time I went out of the
49:22
country ever was when we went to Cancun back in 94. First
49:25
trip I brought out of the country, I'm like, oh, I'm in love with this
49:29
watercolor. Like, it's just teal and turquoise. Then we
49:32
went to Jamaica and I sat on the bus on the way to
49:36
Ocho Rios to go to Dunn's River Falls. Sat and talked to the
49:40
travel agent that was our agent for that trip. And I just kind of drilled
49:43
her, like, what's your favorite watercolor? Oh, Saint Martin. That's another fun one.
49:47
But like, what's your favorite place to go? Where's, you know, cruises. And I
49:51
just drilled her. I'm like, I don't know when, but at some point in my
49:54
life, I'm going to be a travel agent. Oh, that's so cool.
49:58
By the time I turn 30, when I turn 30, I'm like, this is the
50:01
time. This is the chunk of time I'm doing it. So I don't.
50:04
I did not know that story. I'm so glad I asked it.
50:08
So it started on trips. We were probably on the same trip together. Right. Like,
50:11
I feel like that's so long ago. We had to have. Yeah, had to have
50:15
been one of those times. Did you go on 94? Was that your last summer?
50:19
It was 93. I went in
50:22
94. Yeah. You were on that trip. Yeah.
50:28
I've lost, honestly, lost track of. I lost track.
50:31
I lost. Do you know what's super funny? Originally I wanted to do acting,
50:35
and so I thought it was hilarious that you were doing acting. Yeah. And I'm
50:39
like, well, maybe I'll jump to that later, I don't know. But then it's like
50:42
my job. So much so it's, I don't know, hard. Acting
50:46
is not full time. Almost anybody. No.
50:50
Not even for a listers. So it's like,
50:54
let's be honest, it's just not. So it's a very weird
50:57
job. But the weird thing about
51:01
acting is you have to have another full time job. Most people
51:05
have to have another way to make money because like it's not really a reliable
51:09
source of income. So that's just how that is. Right.
51:14
That's really fun. That's really fun information about you. So I'd love to
51:18
pull up your website one more time and maybe you can kind of just take
51:21
us along the header of like we go to your website and there's some tabs
51:24
of stuff we could look at. Sure. And if people
51:28
wanted to actually like, you know, do some research beforehand
51:32
before they call me or whatever, they can either do one of two things. If
51:35
they even want to book online they can. But if they go to the top,
51:38
like let's say if you click on like fun jet vacations for example, so I
51:42
don't know who has the control over it, but if you click on it, it
51:45
pulls you up and you can, it'll literally let
51:49
you do like if you want to just research on your own and see
51:53
what's available for hotels you can type in. If you have a flight,
51:56
like your departure, airport, all of that, pick your dates,
52:00
it'll pull up like instantly and you can look at all of everything
52:04
and then to get my opinion, call me. I can still book it.
52:08
But then you'll get. I'll tell you which hotels of those that pull up
52:12
are definitely worth it. Some don't. Don't go there and you'll be all
52:15
set. Oh, I love it. Yeah.
52:19
Anything else on your on your website you recommend doing for kind of just looking
52:22
around? Well, you can also like for destination weddings or stuff on there. But I
52:26
think on the bottom there's the Contact Us. If you scroll to the bottom you
52:29
can actually just put in your name and everything
52:33
on the very, I think it's on the very bottom. I think this is giving
52:35
me the travel itch again, I have to say. Oh my gosh. Yeah,
52:39
so right there you can like sign up for the thing. But there's also. That's
52:42
the mailing list. There should be a place to actually contact us. I think it's
52:46
on the Contact Us page. I'm sorry, but that's the mailing list, so that way
52:49
you can get specials and deals and everything. Okay. And
52:52
then it'll like pictures, but I think it's under more. Maybe.
52:57
Click that. Maybe all the way to. There you go. Okay. And then you
53:01
can fill out what you want to do. So it's very simple. I love
53:05
it. Well, Cassandra, thank you so much for
53:08
coming on and giving us something fun to think about
53:12
for 2026. Definitely beyond.
53:16
Feel free to call. I do have backup agents, so if I get too busy
53:19
this year, we can definitely still help you in a timely manner.
53:23
So not a problem. I love it. Yeah.
53:27
Well, hope to see you in person sometime soon and. Or
53:30
sometime in the next year or two, anyway. So you could
53:34
come to Stella Island. Is that coming up?
53:38
May. Okay. Fizzler.
53:41
Okay. Reunion. Throwing it out there. I really want
53:45
to come do one of those. That's in May of this year. Oh,
53:49
it's in May of 2026. What's coming up? Okay.
53:54
Yeah, I'll send the details. All right. So fun if you could come. That would
53:58
be so fun. Yeah, that's a. This is a trip for the
54:01
people who. Who did Southwestern company back in the day, and I guess
54:05
it's like our little. Little club,
54:09
whatever we call it. Reunion. Yeah, yeah. Our alumni events
54:12
or whatever. The Ponytails. Yeah. Oh, if you're
54:16
watching this and you did sell books, go do your episode. Go on Ponytails
54:20
and get interviewed. No, podcast. Yeah, do
54:24
that. I'll plug Andres for him. Yeah, yeah. Andres
54:27
is great. He's great. Yeah. Very much so.
54:31
All right. Thank you, Cassandra. I appreciate you so much. Thanks for coming on.
54:35
And have a wonderful rest of your night and your week.
54:39
You too. Thanks so much. Great to talk. Bye, everybody. Bye.
54:42
Bye.