Latest / Travel Mug Podcast / How To Decide Where To Travel

Transcript

How To Decide Where To Travel · Travel Mug Podcast

• 0:00
  Meggan: Hey everyone.
• 0:00
  Meggan: And welcome back to the travel mug podcast.
• 0:03
  Meggan: So we've had an exciting few weeks here.
• 0:06
  Meggan: I mean, things are happening.
• 0:08
  Meggan: So last week we were guests on an episode of a podcast it's upcoming wake up with Jenny and friends.
• 0:14
  Meggan: So that was a new experience for me.
• 0:15
  Meggan: Although Jen, you have been a guest before, haven't you?
• 0:18
  Jenn: I have, I was a guest before we had a podcast on rope drop radio and we've had Derek and Doug on our show from rope drop radio, which was really fun.
• 0:27
  Jenn: But I remember the first time I was on there.
• 0:30
  Jenn: Their podcast.
• 0:31
  Jenn: I was like, sweating buckets, I was so freaking nervous.
• 0:37
  Jenn: But it was a really fun experience.
• 0:39
  Jenn: And if you are into Disney, you should check out rope drop radio and look for us on wake up with Jenny and friends.
• 0:46
  Jenn: That was fun too.
• 0:47
  Meggan: You know, I was really nervous too.
• 0:48
  Meggan: Like I totally get it.
• 0:50
  Meggan: And I was thinking.
• 0:52
  Meggan: I didn't know if I had enough to say or, and like, people are probably like, duh, but I just really felt like maybe I wouldn't know what to say, but her style was really cool because she just kind of played off like what we said.
• 1:04
  Meggan: And she was very good with like follow-up questions.
• 1:06
  Meggan: So it was a really great experience.
• 1:08
  Meggan: I highly recommend.
• 1:08
  Meggan: Also last week we released our very first travel tip Tuesday.
• 1:13
  Meggan: We're coming at you with something new each week, which I mean is super exciting.
• 1:18
  Meggan: It was an idea that Jen had.
• 1:19
  Meggan: And I think it's awesome because it just fills in the weeks where we're not with a full episode.
• 1:24
  Jenn: Yes.
• 1:25
  Jenn: I love it.
• 1:26
  Jenn: Very useful.
• 1:27
  Jenn: I'm very excited.
• 1:29
  Meggan: So we hope you guys listen to our travel tip Tuesday.
• 1:31
  Meggan: It's like a quick four or five minutes.
• 1:33
  Meggan: Just something to get you through and hopefully, but tip that's helpful, but today's episode.
• 1:39
  Meggan: So we want to chat about people, how people actually go about deciding where to travel, or if, you know, you want to try.
• 1:48
  Meggan: But aren't sure where to pick really just undecided in general, we hope you'll find some of the ideas useful in that decision-making process.
• 1:55
  Meggan: I know that kind of sounds foreign to me because I'm always like, well, I know where I want to go, but not everybody operates like that.
• 2:03
  Meggan: People are much more whimsical than you or I I so they may not know.
• 2:06
  Meggan: So what are we going to talk about first in terms of like, how to help people decide.
• 2:10
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 2:10
  Jenn: I think what we're really talking about is like inspiration, right?
• 2:13
  Jenn: Like where we find it, where you might find inspiration.
• 2:17
  Jenn: I know I've had a bucket list that I've been adding to and crossing things off of since I was like a teenagers, but these are some places that we get inspiration.
• 2:25
  Jenn: The first thing I want to talk about is TV shows.
• 2:29
  Jenn: So I love TV.
• 2:31
  Jenn: I love watching shows.
• 2:32
  Jenn: And there's lots of travel specific shows as well.
• 2:36
  Jenn: So the first one I'm gonna talk about is departures.
• 2:39
  Jenn: It's an Canadian travel show.
• 2:41
  Jenn: It's over 10 years old at this point, but I still love it.
• 2:44
  Jenn: So, so much.
• 2:45
  Jenn: So that's three Canadians.
• 2:46
  Jenn: They travel all over the world.
• 2:48
  Jenn: They visit some offbeat places like North Korea, Madagascar, Greenland, Ethiopia many, many others, also more, not off the beaten path as well.
• 2:58
  Meggan: Right, right, right.
• 3:00
  Jenn: What I really liked about it is like, they grew so much as individuals, especially one of the guys that's on it, Justin he seemed really like immature, right?
• 3:11
  Jenn: Like when the show started and over the three seasons, you kind of get to watch him like grow up.
• 3:15
  Jenn: I mean, I think they are probably in their like mid, mid ish twenties when they started this show.
• 3:21
  Jenn: So it was like kinda
• 3:22
  Meggan: like us on this podcast.
• 3:23
  Meggan: You're just going to watch us grow right up and
• 3:26
  Jenn: just grow right up.
• 3:29
  Jenn: And, They really got to know, like, what I really liked also is they really got to know people and the cultures they visited.
• 3:35
  Jenn: So they spend a lot of time with locals.
• 3:37
  Jenn: And they're really like respectful the places that they visit.
• 3:39
  Jenn: It's probably my favorite travel show.
• 3:41
  Jenn: Ever ever love it.
• 3:43
  Jenn: So the next one I talk about is Rick Steves Europe.
• 3:46
  Meggan: So you just have to say, we have eight episodes of this on our DVR, just waiting to watch
• 3:53
  Jenn: we bought the DVD, like a DVD package.
• 3:56
  Jenn: I don't know, probably four or five years ago with like all the shows.
• 4:00
  Jenn: So when we.
• 4:01
  Jenn: Like last year when we thought we were going to go to Ireland in June of 2020,
• 4:08
  Meggan: you silly,
• 4:09
  Jenn: we watched like all of the Ireland episodes.
• 4:11
  Jenn: Anyway, he, he writes guide books, but then he also has TV shows.
• 4:16
  Jenn: And they're all Europe based obviously it's called Rick Steve's Europe.
• 4:19
  Jenn: But they talk about local spots to stay and eat as well as what to do when you're there.
• 4:24
  Jenn: Some of the shows are older.
• 4:26
  Jenn: Like some of them were filmed in like the nineties.
• 4:28
  Jenn: But still gives you some inspiration and I love it so much.
• 4:32
  Jenn: The next one I want to talk about.
• 4:33
  Jenn: We just finished on Netflix and it's called travels with my father.
• 4:37
  Jenn: So it is a father and son traveling the world together.
• 4:41
  Jenn: The father is in his seventies.
• 4:42
  Jenn: The son is in his thirties.
• 4:44
  Jenn: He is a comedian.
• 4:45
  Jenn: So he.
• 4:46
  Jenn: Very funny.
• 4:47
  Jenn: And the, the son is a bit wild.
• 4:49
  Jenn: They get up to some crazy stuff.
• 4:51
  Jenn: Yeah, it's just kind of a fun, like heartwarming show watching the father, son dynamic and also seeing some really cool places in the world.
• 4:59
  Jenn: And then the last one is down to earth with Zach Efron and Darren Olien.
• 5:03
  Jenn: They kind of travel around and they, they do more like sustainable travel.
• 5:08
  Jenn: And they kind of focused on finding like sustainable ways to live, I guess.
• 5:11
  Jenn: They see lots of other cultures.
• 5:12
  Jenn: I loved watching them in, Iceland.
• 5:14
  Jenn: Cause I was like,
• 5:15
  Meggan: that's the one we've watched.
• 5:16
  Meggan: That's the one we've watched
• 5:20
  Jenn: all good shows.
• 5:21
  Jenn: There are lots and lots of others, but those are my favorites.
• 5:25
  Jenn: What do we got next?
• 5:26
  Meggan: I just wanted to add actually a couple that I wanted to mention.
• 5:29
  Meggan: And the only two that I wanted to add to an already great list is of course Parts Unknown which was Anthony Bourdain's show on CNN.
• 5:37
  Meggan: I loved it, loved it, loved it with all my heart and the other one that actually inspired us to go to Iceland.
• 5:42
  Meggan: It's not on any longer.
• 5:44
  Meggan: Either, but I'm sure you can find it.
• 5:46
  Meggan: And it's called the Wunderlist.
• 5:47
  Meggan: It's with bill Weir while I was in Iceland, I like tweeted him and said, we're in Iceland right now, because if you blah, blah, blah.
• 5:54
  Meggan: And he actually wrote back and said how cool he thought that was and stuffs.
• 5:58
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 5:59
  Meggan: So those are the two that have sort of been inspirations for us in regards to TV shows.
• 6:03
  Meggan: But it's a really great list and I think it really can sort of open your mind to places you might not have considered.
• 6:08
  Meggan: Next I wanted to talk about Pinterest.
• 6:10
  Meggan: So I honestly think a lot of people and I mean, I have in the past as well before I knew better or more, it was only for like recipes and nail Polish ideas, which I really do use it for those things.
• 6:22
  Meggan: Don't get me wrong.
• 6:25
  Meggan: But there is so much more to Pinterest, including a big part of it being travel.
• 6:30
  Meggan: So bloggers, like both of us vloggers podcasters all alike.
• 6:35
  Meggan: They sort of use it as a means to get their work out there into the world.
• 6:38
  Meggan: So whether it's advertising their latest blog posts it can also be a really great resource, especially if you're trying to deside between a few places.
• 6:46
  Meggan: So on Pinterest, you can find what they call of course, pins, which take you to websites pertaining to pretty much anywhere could be blog.
• 6:53
  Meggan: Posts could be YouTube channels can really just help you by searching place names.
• 6:58
  Meggan: I've done that in the past.
• 6:59
  Meggan: Brought up some great articles.
• 7:01
  Meggan: I've used it to share our travel blog.
• 7:02
  Meggan: I know you have as well, but again also to do research and really have gotten some great ideas.
• 7:08
  Meggan: So for Iceland and Ireland got great ideas.
• 7:11
  Meggan: Also not as ideas, but like lotsof tip articlestoo.
• 7:15
  Meggan: So like what you need to think of before you go those kinds of things from people who've returned super, super helpful.
• 7:23
  Meggan: You can also create a board of stuff on Pinterest if you're not familiar with it.
• 7:27
  Meggan: So you can sort of store all your Ireland posts in one place or whatever the case might be, just so you can go back and easily find the things that you've actually saved and revisit at a later date.
• 7:38
  Meggan: I just overall find it helpful.
• 7:40
  Meggan: How have you used it, Jen.
• 7:42
  Jenn: Yeah, it's very similar to, to you I was going to say like, Pinterest, it's a, it's a visual search engines that you kind of think of it as Google, but all of the things that you search for come up as images.
• 7:53
  Jenn: So sometimes you see something like, oh, that's really cool.
• 7:56
  Jenn: Like a view from a hike or like, You know, a town square, like something really cool.
• 8:01
  Jenn: And sometimes it's like, here's like things that you need to know before you visit somewhere.
• 8:06
  Jenn: It has so much, so much information that you can find a ton of stuff.
• 8:11
  Jenn: And the being able to save it, I think is key because then you can go back to it because how many times do you like read something and then you close that window and then like a week later you're like, oh no, where did I see that?
• 8:24
  Meggan: Where was that?
• 8:25
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 8:26
  Meggan: Yeah, no, I completely agree.
• 8:28
  Meggan: And just as an FYI for people you'll soon be able to find theTravel mug podcast on Pinterest.
• 8:33
  Meggan: So keep your eyes open for that and follow us there.
• 8:36
  Meggan: All the places, all the places we're going to be everywhere.
• 8:40
  Meggan: We are indeed up in your grill.
• 8:42
  Meggan: So what are, can we else, can we find some inspiration gen?
• 8:45
  Jenn: This goes with Pinterest of course, and it's travel blogs, because Pinterest is going to be probably how you find a lot of travel blogs.
• 8:52
  Jenn: I love reading about other people's experience visiting places.
• 8:56
  Jenn: I think that you get a lot of insight from a travel blog or someone who's been there versusjust like a list of like, here are the things that you can do in the city.
• 9:09
  Jenn: You just get a little bit more personal.
• 9:10
  Jenn: So you kind of get like a blend of like story and advice.
• 9:14
  Jenn: And even sometimes you find like a travel blog where you really like that person and you kind of keep coming back and reading their stuff.
• 9:21
  Jenn: So obviously I'll tell you about a few of my favorites, which is mine and Meggan's
• 9:28
  Meggan: necessarily of course.
• 9:30
  Jenn: So Will Save For Travel and let's get tripsy if you haven't read us, we're there.
• 9:35
  Jenn: I do want to mention practical wanderlust.
• 9:37
  Jenn: Lia was on an episode.
• 9:39
  Jenn: I don't know a handful of episodes back, I guess now chatting about her book and her blog, and she has a lot of great information.
• 9:47
  Jenn: I also really liked two drifters.
• 9:49
  Jenn: They're really great.
• 9:51
  Jenn: And then I have to mention nomadic Mattwho's like an OG travel blogger and has been doing this for forever.
• 9:58
  Jenn: He has guides to like, almost anywhere that you want to go.
• 10:01
  Jenn: So lots of great information there.
• 10:05
  Meggan: People just say they're living their dreams
• 10:07
  Jenn: out there and doing their thing.
• 10:09
  Jenn: All right.
• 10:09
  Jenn: How do you plan trips.
• 10:12
  Jenn: I need to know.
• 10:14
  Meggan: Yes, and this is probably our biggest, and I know I've probably mentioned it in passing before, but I just a little bit more in depth and it may seem like duh, but I don't think everybody probably does it this way.
• 10:25
  Meggan: So we use Google maps as sort of the basis for most of our trip planning like Peter calls it.
• 10:31
  Meggan: I think let's bring up the big board.
• 10:33
  Meggan: I literally think he says.
• 10:38
  Meggan: Let's just storyboard our entire trip on the big board.
• 10:40
  Meggan: So and this is usually I have to say, like when we have a country destination already in mind, so this is more sort of drilling down a little bit.
• 10:48
  Meggan: But really what we do is we just literally opened the map to the country with hopefully a few basic ideas in mind if, at least where we'd like to start.
• 10:56
  Meggan: So with that starting point, we honestly just pick a direction, whatever we're feeling, which way do we want to go?
• 11:02
  Meggan: And then we explore by typing in landmark.
• 11:05
  Meggan: Hotel or just zooming in and out on the map because there's so many things added to Google maps now that when you zoom in sort of just populate for you.
• 11:14
  Meggan: So we utilize that feature a lot.
• 11:16
  Meggan: We also use it to pick out a reasonable amount of driving time stops along the way.
• 11:23
  Meggan: Although of course you do need to leave time (Jenn) for unexpected stops, never.
• 11:32
  Meggan: I don't understand extra time that wasn't, but you really just need to leave that time.
• 11:37
  Meggan: Cause you honestly don't know.
• 11:38
  Meggan: Believe me in Iceland, Peter wanted to pull over every five minutes and my anxiety started to like rise and he's just like, you don't know if we're coming back here, man.
• 11:47
  Meggan: We have to like stop and see this stuff.
• 11:49
  Meggan: And I'm like, you're right.
• 11:50
  Meggan: You're right.
• 11:50
  Meggan: Like you talk me down here.
• 11:52
  Meggan: And also to, of course we've even used it for cities.
• 11:56
  Meggan: Let's say our destination was a to B, but needed somewhere in between to eat, pick a random spot, zoom in, do it that way.
• 12:03
  Meggan: Plus it provides of course, ratings reviews for this stuff that you want to do.
• 12:08
  Meggan: It's kind of like all in one in regards to that.
• 12:11
  Meggan: And also another great thing of course, much like Pinterest, where you can go back.
• 12:15
  Meggan: We end up using Google maps as well to star things for future reference.
• 12:20
  Meggan: So whether it's the landmarks restaurants calculate that driving time.
• 12:24
  Meggan: I don't want to spend my vacation driving 10 hours a day either.
• 12:28
  Meggan: So that's how it can be really useful to breaking it up into smaller chunks.
• 12:33
  Meggan: It really does make it more enjoyable.
• 12:35
  Meggan: And Peter usually does most of the driving.
• 12:36
  Meggan: So I kind of try to keep that in mind too.
• 12:38
  Meggan: I just have to sit there, but he has to use like the brainpower all the time.
• 12:43
  Meggan: And I do want to say.
• 12:44
  Meggan: As an example, too, when we were booking Iceland and Ireland, we mapped it all out on Google maps.
• 12:49
  Meggan: And when we used booking.com to reserve our rooms, we then went back to Google maps and starred those locations as well.
• 12:57
  Meggan: So even if you're not sort of booking through there or going to sites off of that, make sure you come back so that your trip is kind of holistically in Google maps, because you can download offline maps.
• 13:08
  Meggan: You don't have to have wifi.
• 13:10
  Meggan: So before you go.
• 13:12
  Meggan: Download the offline map of that country.
• 13:14
  Meggan: It will save all the hard work you put into trip planning, and then you could access that along the way.
• 13:20
  Meggan: I mean, I can't imagine now trip planning any trip without using Google maps as our base.
• 13:27
  Jenn: That's it like I've never used Google maps to plan a trip.
• 13:31
  Jenn: So it's just really interesting, like the different methods that I love the idea, especially of like a road trip based trip of like mapping it out and then downloading it.
• 13:41
  Jenn: So you have it offline, you have it with you.
• 13:45
  Meggan: And that's very key for me.
• 13:47
  Jenn: I think that's a really great idea and not something.
• 13:50
  Jenn: I've done.
• 13:51
  Jenn: So I'm sure there's lots of other people out there that have learned that trick.
• 13:55
  Meggan: Yeah, no, it's super useful.
• 13:57
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 13:58
  Meggan: What's next?
• 13:59
  Jenn: Next.
• 14:00
  Jenn: I love TV.
• 14:01
  Jenn: I also love books.
• 14:02
  Jenn: So
• 14:03
  Meggan: same, same
• 14:04
  Jenn: reading.
• 14:05
  Jenn: And you can definitely find inspiration in books and not just in travel guides.
• 14:09
  Jenn: Although I love a travel guide.
• 14:11
  Jenn: It's really funny.
• 14:12
  Jenn: I picked, I always pick them up at like secondhand stores or.
• 14:15
  Jenn: Even if it's a place that I'm like, I don't know if I'll go there.
• 14:17
  Jenn: I kind of just flipping, you know, but you can also find inspiration in fiction books as well.
• 14:26
  Jenn: And I did want to mention one that's had an impact on me is Dan Browns Robert Langdon series.
• 14:31
  Jenn: Which a lot of people are familiar with.
• 14:33
  Jenn: It's the DaVinci code angels and demons, you know, they're all mostly major motion pictures now, but in each book he, Robert Langdon visited different cities.
• 14:43
  Jenn: So like Vatican city, Rome, Paris, Washington, DC, Florence, a bunch of places.
• 14:49
  Jenn: And I find that Dan brown really describes the places.
• 14:53
  Jenn: It almost seems like you're standing there, like the way he described.
• 14:58
  Jenn: The surroundings.
• 14:59
  Jenn: I almost feel like I'm standing in that place, so I love it so much.
• 15:02
  Jenn: And it's made me want to visit all of the places.
• 15:06
  Meggan: Right, right.
• 15:07
  Jenn: I was so close to being in Rome, so, so close friends.
• 15:12
  Jenn: But I can't wait just for myself.
• 15:14
  Jenn: I'm sure there are other books.
• 15:15
  Jenn: Of course, when I was, you know, writing our outline, I just completely blanked on like all of the things, but I'm sure there's lots of like.
• 15:24
  Meggan: And I can't, I'm sure for people who enjoy reading, I also love it.
• 15:27
  Meggan: I'm sure when they've read a book and envisioned a place through a book, a lot of people have felt the same.
• 15:33
  Meggan: So I'm sure that, you know, people are out there reading and probably getting inspiration like that.
• 15:37
  Meggan: So I think it's definitely valid because.
• 15:40
  Meggan: I love when I'm reading to picture it in my head, I want to really try to be there.
• 15:45
  Meggan: So that makes a lot of sense that that could just sort of inspire someone because if you envision enough in your head, you're probably going to go online and be like, what does this place really look like?
• 15:54
  Meggan: Do I want to go there?
• 15:55
  Jenn: Yeah.
• 15:56
  Jenn: I love that.
• 15:58
  Meggan: Me too.
• 15:59
  Meggan: All right.
• 16:00
  Meggan: So again, a topic we've discussed, but I think for this in particular is very, very key travel agent or travel planner advice.
• 16:10
  Meggan: So really who knows better than a travel professional?
• 16:13
  Meggan: Certainly not.
• 16:15
  Meggan: You know what mean?
• 16:16
  Meggan: So we have had a travel advisor, Christina, on a past show, as well as Ken Nickerson from Trafalgar.
• 16:23
  Meggan: And even though we knew it already, both of those conversations really taught me and brought to light that the travel industry professionals are the.
• 16:31
  Meggan: It is the way to go.
• 16:32
  Meggan: And if you aren't sure where you'd like to go or where you could go with the budget you have.
• 16:37
  Meggan: Cause I think that's what a lot of people consider as well.
• 16:40
  Meggan: They're like, well, I have this much money.
• 16:42
  Meggan: Like where could I travel to?
• 16:44
  Meggan: And I really do think that the travel professionals have insights, knowledge, expertise, really on where you can get you for the price.
• 16:52
  Meggan: Plus they take a lot of the headaches off the table that we've discussed.
• 16:56
  Meggan: So being on hold, et cetera.
• 16:59
  Meggan: They have even oftentimes traveled to these places.
• 17:02
  Meggan: So they have that on the ground knowledge.
• 17:05
  Meggan: So after all that we've been through and these past, like almost two years peace of mind while traveling, I really think is going to be a big one for people.
• 17:13
  Meggan: And honestly, They could bring you that in terms of the peace of mind and help you plan a trip that's right for you.
• 17:20
  Meggan: I know when we were speaking with Jenny on the podcast last week, we were talking sort of about that mental health health aspect.
• 17:27
  Meggan: And I was saying how just traveling is going to be a help for mine, but it's also interesting to see the flip side where it probably will make people really anxious.
• 17:36
  Meggan: And I can understand that a hundred percent.
• 17:38
  Meggan: So I think that travel experts will be able to help with that.
• 17:42
  Meggan: Discovering where you want to go planning your budget and also peace of mind.
• 17:48
  Meggan: But you found a company that I thought was really, really interesting in America.
• 17:52
  Meggan: I'm sure there's something maybe that exists like this in Canada too, but why don't you talk about that?
• 17:57
  Jenn: Yeah, so the company I found is called pack up and go.
• 18:01
  Jenn: And so they plan a trip for you.
• 18:04
  Jenn: You give them your budget and like information about yourself and how much time you have and where you're based out of.
• 18:10
  Jenn: And then they plan a trip for you, but the, the catch being you don't know where you're going until like a few days before your trip like that.
• 18:23
  Jenn: I think it's a few days before.
• 18:25
  Jenn: I don't think it's the airport.
• 18:26
  Jenn: It might be at the airport.
• 18:28
  Jenn: I guess they'd maybe they tell you what time to show.
• 18:31
  Meggan: I suppose you have to have a little bit of info.
• 18:33
  Jenn: I mean, yeah.
• 18:34
  Jenn: I think they give you like a packing list or like something that you would do, but like, it's funny, I've discovered this company a few like pre pandemic and I was like, this is really cool.
• 18:44
  Jenn: Like, I.
• 18:45
  Jenn: As much as I am a planner and I love planning trips.
• 18:48
  Jenn: I think this would be really fun.
• 18:49
  Jenn: And I, I would do this if they offered something out of, out of Halifax airport, I think I would do like, especially like a short weekend, you know, four day getaway or something like that.
• 19:02
  Jenn: I don't know if I'd let them play on like a two-week vacation for me, like a weekend getaway.
• 19:09
  Jenn: I think I would do that.
• 19:10
  Jenn: And I think it would be really cool.
• 19:12
  Jenn: What did you, what do you think Megan, would you do.
• 19:14
  Meggan: I mean, I agree.
• 19:15
  Meggan: Like I don't want to give, you know, my budget for two weeks and have a plus my vacation time.
• 19:22
  Meggan: And then.
• 19:23
  Meggan: What?
• 19:24
  Meggan: But yeah, like maybe a shorter getaway.
• 19:26
  Meggan: Okay.
• 19:26
  Meggan: Maybe we'll be adventurous someday.
• 19:27
  Meggan: If this ever comes our way.
• 19:30
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 19:31
  Jenn: Make good show content.
• 19:32
  Jenn: Anyway,
• 19:34
  Meggan: if we're doing it for the broadcast, if nothing else,
• 19:41
  Jenn: the next thing we're going to talk about, Next inspiration place is social media.
• 19:45
  Jenn: Like Instagram, Facebook.
• 19:48
  Jenn: We can't leave out social media and the effect it has on all of us.
• 19:52
  Jenn: Right.
• 19:53
  Jenn: And who hasn't seen like an amazing photo and been like, I want to go there.
• 19:58
  Jenn: I need to book a flight to there.
• 19:59
  Jenn: Right,
• 20:00
  Meggan: right.
• 20:01
  Jenn: So like Instagram, there's hashtags that you can search.
• 20:04
  Jenn: Like, I mean, hashtag travel will bring you like probably a billion different results.
• 20:09
  Jenn: Right.
• 20:10
  Jenn: You can kind of see where people go through Instagram.
• 20:12
  Jenn: I will say.
• 20:14
  Jenn: During the pandemic when I was missing travel so, so much.
• 20:17
  Jenn: In the beginning stages of the pandemic, I found this place called Mackinac island in Michigan, and it is an island.
• 20:23
  Jenn: There are no cars.
• 20:24
  Jenn: You take a ferry there.
• 20:27
  Jenn: I'm obsessed.
• 20:28
  Jenn: I want to go there so bad.
• 20:30
  Jenn: So freaking cute.
• 20:31
  Jenn: I mean, obviously their tourist season in the summer, but people do live there year round and they drive snowmobiles to school.
• 20:38
  Jenn: Like it's just,
• 20:39
  Meggan: oh my God
• 20:40
  Jenn: looks so beautiful and like idyllic and just, I want to go there so, so bad.
• 20:47
  Jenn: I can't wait to go there.
• 20:48
  Meggan: And did you find them like on social media, on social media?
• 20:52
  Jenn: I don't even know.
• 20:52
  Jenn: Like where, like if someone I follow posted, I can't even remember like how I found it.
• 20:58
  Jenn: I saw a picture on Instagram and I was like, where is this place?
• 21:02
  Jenn: And then I started following a whole bunch of their like tourist accounts.
• 21:06
  Jenn: Cause I was like, oh, I won't go here so bad.
• 21:08
  Jenn: But what else could I learn about obsessed, obsessed.
• 21:13
  Jenn: This was like May, 2020.
• 21:15
  Jenn: So I had nothing else.
• 21:19
  Meggan: Those were some sad times.
• 21:21
  Jenn: Yes.
• 21:21
  Jenn: I I've also found some cool places in Nova Scotia as well.
• 21:26
  Jenn: The glamping domes that we did Archer's edge, I found them on Instagram.
• 21:31
  Jenn: The burnt coat head.
• 21:33
  Jenn: I think we talked about that a few episodes ago.
• 21:35
  Jenn: Really cool did that found that on Instagram and balancing rock?
• 21:39
  Jenn: I think I knew about it and then I saw it on Instagram, like, oh yeah, I need to go there.
• 21:44
  Jenn: Yeah, you can definitely find places like, even close to where you live.
• 21:48
  Jenn: Doesn't have to be, you know, some random island that doesn't have cars and a super cute.
• 21:54
  Meggan: But those aren't bad either.
• 21:55
  Meggan: No, no, no.
• 21:59
  Meggan: When I think of Mackinac now, there was an episode of Seinfeld where they had this big deal.
• 22:03
  Meggan: It was the Mackinac peach that it only was ripe at a certain time of year.
• 22:07
  Meggan: Anyway, it's a whole episode, but I'm now I'm wondering the Mackinac peach from this Mackinac island.
• 22:16
  Meggan: Just recently, we've just started rewatching Seinfeld recently, you will, you will, you will know.
• 22:29
  Meggan: So next I want to talk about not something I've always done, but something we've started probably the last three or four years.
• 22:35
  Meggan: And that's watching YouTube travel vloggers we've talked about the bloggers.
• 22:40
  Meggan: Now we're going to talk with the vloggers now, before I dive in, do you have sort of any that you watch on the regular or anything like that?
• 22:47
  Jenn: I would say the only one I watch on the regular is called the Tim tracker.
• 22:51
  Jenn: And he is like mostly Disney and like Florida based.
• 22:55
  Jenn: They sometimes could be like, they've done California and they've done some overseas Disney parks.
• 22:59
  Jenn: They're the only ones that I follow.
• 23:01
  Jenn: Like they put out a video almost every day.
• 23:03
  Jenn: Like they go to the desert, they go to like, not just Disney, but universal SeaWorld, like Atlanta, like all of them.
• 23:10
  Jenn: Theme parks in Florida.
• 23:11
  Jenn: Yeah, those are the, that's the only family I follow vlogging on YouTube.
• 23:17
  Meggan: And there really is a vlogger for every person.
• 23:21
  Meggan: There's such a wide variety out there.
• 23:23
  Meggan: And some are highly edited, really flashy, some travel to dangerous places, sort of just to give us an insight of somewhere we likely would never go.
• 23:32
  Meggan: And then there's just a regular people out there sort of.
• 23:35
  Meggan: Traveling the world or different regions that fascinate them and then really just sharing them with us.
• 23:40
  Meggan: And I don't think personally, you need all the glitz and glam or the perfect dialogue.
• 23:47
  Meggan: My preference, but there's definitely something for everyone.
• 23:49
  Meggan: If you love highly edited, et cetera, that's out there too.
• 23:52
  Meggan: So it really just depends on what you want.
• 23:55
  Meggan: We have watched a variety of logs prior to trips just by literally Googling the place we were going.
• 24:02
  Meggan: Gotten some great insight.
• 24:03
  Meggan: One thing I find though is we try not to watch too close to the trip cause I'm like, I want to see it with my own eyes.
• 24:08
  Meggan: Like I don't want.
• 24:10
  Meggan: Yeah, I don't want to get there.
• 24:12
  Meggan: And like, yeah, I saw that on YouTube.
• 24:14
  Meggan: But we do follow those three of loggers regularly.
• 24:17
  Meggan: As they travel the world and whatnot, it really does.
• 24:20
  Meggan: And has given us, given us an insight into places that fascinate us.
• 24:23
  Meggan: Some we'd never traveled to these places, other places.
• 24:26
  Meggan: I never really would've thought of it and other, and sometimes I'm like, oh my God, we have to go there.
• 24:31
  Meggan: Like, especially European countries.
• 24:34
  Meggan: Are more like Jordan or Georgia or other places like that.
• 24:38
  Meggan: It's really been interesting.
• 24:39
  Meggan: Plus they can give you an insight into culture, the cost of things hotel room costs.
• 24:45
  Meggan: I love seeing what people eat.
• 24:47
  Meggan: I am all about the food.
• 24:49
  Meggan: Show me the, show me your food, and then put how much it costs and the screen.
• 24:52
  Meggan: And you have, I love it.
• 24:56
  Meggan: I'm in.
• 24:57
  Meggan: So RSV go-to is our first and foremost Gabriel traveler, he's American and Canadian.
• 25:02
  Meggan: We actually found him in Iceland.
• 25:04
  Meggan: We were in a city and we just wanted to understand maybe what we could do a little bit more there.
• 25:08
  Meggan: So we Googled it on YouTube.
• 25:10
  Meggan: That's not how you do it.
• 25:12
  Meggan: We researched.
• 25:14
  Meggan: I guess we Googled that on YouTube anyway.
• 25:15
  Meggan: And he just popped up.
• 25:17
  Meggan: And so ever since that we'd liked his video he had been in the city we were in.
• 25:21
  Meggan: So then when we came home, we just kind of started watching him regularly.
• 25:25
  Meggan: He used to be budget travel, but now he makes more money on YouTube.
• 25:28
  Meggan: So his accommodations have gotten better.
• 25:32
  Meggan: He drinks wine with dinner now.
• 25:34
  Meggan: So.
• 25:36
  Meggan: It's not as neat youth hostels are eating yogurt.
• 25:38
  Meggan: Oh.
• 25:38
  Meggan: Back of the grocery stores, like he used to, but we still like them.
• 25:42
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 25:42
  Meggan: The other one is here, old Boulder.
• 25:43
  Meggan: So he is Norwegian.
• 25:45
  Meggan: He travels to a lot of places.
• 25:47
  Meggan: Like I may never go there and he does hikes.
• 25:49
  Meggan: I would never survive.
• 25:51
  Meggan: But he does give amazing insights.
• 25:52
  Meggan: He really integrates himself with the culture.
• 25:55
  Meggan: The people he even goes to work sometimes with people to show you sort of.
• 26:00
  Meggan: What, as a tourist, your seeing what's the other side of it?
• 26:04
  Meggan: I love that.
• 26:05
  Meggan: Like he went, he was in Brazil recently went to work with someone who sells like Asahi ice cream along one of the famous boardwalks there and like what that actually means.
• 26:15
  Meggan: And it was, it's really incredible.
• 26:17
  Meggan: And it gives you a better appreciation a for your own life, but B when you're on trips for the people that are actually doing the jobs while you're there.
• 26:26
  Meggan: Yeah, so that one's really important.
• 26:27
  Meggan: And then finally, the one we love, I would say I probably enjoy the most is bald and bankrupt.
• 26:32
  Meggan: So he's British his name's Benjamin.
• 26:34
  Meggan: He started in 2018.
• 26:36
  Meggan: He literally shot to fameso fast, Harold bolder actually introduced him to the YouTube world and he has since 2018 amass 3.2, 1 million subscribers.
• 26:47
  Meggan: And he spends a lot of his time in the former USSR.
• 26:51
  Meggan: And that region of Europe, right?
• 26:53
  Meggan: He, he speaks Russian, so it really does help learn about the culture of the people are always so kind and friendly.
• 27:00
  Meggan: Some of the nicest people I've ever witnessed who have so little so his videos are really good and insightful and impactful.
• 27:07
  Meggan: So those are just three that we watch.
• 27:09
  Meggan: I really think especially when you're not traveling as much, it can be really great to follow someone who is.
• 27:15
  Meggan: I've cursed them out a few times, like damn you for being out there on the road.
• 27:19
  Meggan: But it's also really great.
• 27:20
  Meggan: Just sort of learn about other places, even if you'll never go there.
• 27:24
  Jenn: Yeah, we've done a couple of like travel blogs on the, Will Save For Travel YouTube channel.
• 27:31
  Jenn: Of our travels and not only, you know, it's out there for other people, do I have 3.2, 1 million subscribers?
• 27:38
  Jenn: No, but I have like, you know, 15 um, but it's also nice for us to kind of go back and like, Relive some of that trip.
• 27:50
  Jenn: Right.
• 27:51
  Jenn: And, and what you've done.
• 27:52
  Jenn: So I think it's really cool.
• 27:54
  Jenn: And I, I, I love YouTube.
• 27:56
  Jenn: Like there's so many, you can find anything there.
• 27:59
  Meggan: You really can.
• 28:00
  Meggan: You can watch millionaire children now who unboxed toys, but anyway, whatever, it's a weird, weird world.
• 28:11
  Meggan: Where, what else can we do for inspiration,
• 28:13
  Jenn: inspiration, talk to other people.
• 28:17
  Jenn: I know I have to.
• 28:18
  Jenn: I mean, you don't have to, we have all of the, you could watch YouTube, right.
• 28:21
  Jenn: But
• 28:22
  Meggan: we have our own podcast.
• 28:23
  Meggan: I can just talk to you.
• 28:27
  Jenn: But talking to other people about their travel has definitely inspired me to, to put things on my bucket list and I think.
• 28:37
  Jenn: People who like to travel.
• 28:38
  Jenn: So we to talk about their travels, right?
• 28:40
  Jenn: Like that's just kind of who we are as traveler people.
• 28:46
  Jenn: And I have a variety of people in my life who are big travelers and, and like to travel.
• 28:52
  Jenn: And so I love chatting with them about their travels.
• 28:55
  Jenn: I know my best friend's parents.
• 28:58
  Jenn: I love to travel and have traveled quite a bit.
• 29:00
  Jenn: And it's really fun.
• 29:02
  Jenn: You know, we've gone over to their house and gone through like their photo albums from like the nineties and like talk to them trips.
• 29:08
  Jenn: Right?
• 29:08
  Jenn: Like it's, it doesn't even have to be like the latest trip you've gone on.
• 29:11
  Jenn: Like talk to your parents, talk to your grandparents about like places they've gone and.
• 29:17
  Jenn: And, you know, let them share your stories or you let them share their stories, share your own stories.
• 29:25
  Jenn: But it's just a really great way to connect, you know, with another person.
• 29:29
  Jenn: And, and if it's someone that you don't know that well, like get to know them and also nice for like heritage reasons.
• 29:36
  Jenn: Like, especially if your grandparents or great grandparents came from another country, right.
• 29:41
  Jenn: Like it's.
• 29:42
  Jenn: I mean, I, obviously, Megan, I love talking about travel.
• 29:45
  Jenn: We do it on a podcast
• 29:47
  Meggan: Here we are
• 29:50
  Jenn: doing it in my, in my everyday life.
• 29:53
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 29:54
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 29:54
  Meggan: I would say the most traveled persons sort of outside of me and Peter in terms of, in our lives directly in terms of family or whatever is Peter's aunt.
• 30:03
  Meggan: She uh, she's been traveling since the sixties.
• 30:06
  Meggan: She went to the former Soviet union when it was still the Soviet union or the USSR, I guess.
• 30:12
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 30:13
  Meggan: When he was first adopted, she actually mailed him a postcard.
• 30:17
  Meggan: It was his first piece of mail ever.
• 30:19
  Meggan: She was on a trip and it was from Barbados and she'd sent him this and he still has it to this day.
• 30:25
  Meggan: Like, so her trips have actually been a part of his whole life.
• 30:29
  Meggan: And so she's very, very, very well-traveled and you're right.
• 30:32
  Meggan: Like, You are going to go somewhere and, you know, people have gone there, go and chat with them before you go to that's.
• 30:40
  Meggan: What we did before Iceland.
• 30:41
  Meggan: I had a friend, I worked with her and her partner had gone to Iceland and we just went over there and spent the evening.
• 30:47
  Meggan: It was lovely anyway, but they just sort of gave us some insight.
• 30:50
  Meggan: There was something funky about when you get to a gas station, how you have to start the pump.
• 30:54
  Meggan: Like we never would have known, right.
• 30:57
  Meggan: So they're like an idiot trying to figure it out.
• 30:59
  Meggan: So like even that one piece of information was valuable enough, so you're right.
• 31:03
  Meggan: Like just chatting with people about their travels and people do like to talk about where they've been.
• 31:08
  Meggan: So it's a great opportunity to sort of hear them.
• 31:11
  Meggan: And even if we're not going there, it's, it's it's still enjoying.
• 31:14
  Meggan: It is.
• 31:16
  Meggan: All right, so let's finish things off with something that could be familiar, but something maybe you haven't thought about either and that's exploring travel booking website.
• 31:27
  Meggan: Or Google flights.
• 31:28
  Meggan: So Google flights is like kinda newish to me.
• 31:30
  Meggan: I'd say a couple of years ago, Peter brought it up with a computer.
• 31:33
  Meggan: I'm like, what even is this?
• 31:35
  Meggan: Um, But it's, it's a really cool resource.
• 31:38
  Meggan: If you want to fly somewhere, you don't know where, but you know how much money you have because you can literally.
• 31:43
  Meggan: Figure it out that way.
• 31:45
  Meggan: So it's a great resource.
• 31:46
  Meggan: If you're on a budget, how far is this money going to take me?
• 31:51
  Meggan: And then you really could pick a random spot.
• 31:53
  Meggan: I think it's really cool.
• 31:54
  Meggan: And they have all the airline options.
• 31:56
  Meggan: And it can really maybe take some you somewhere.
• 31:59
  Meggan: You never dreamed of.
• 32:00
  Meggan: I mean, who knows?
• 32:02
  Meggan: Right?
• 32:03
  Meggan: Uh, Travel booking websites.
• 32:05
  Meggan: So whether it's kayak or Expedia those sites have been around for awhile.
• 32:09
  Meggan: But maybe we're all a bit out of practice like we haven't really been booking stuff.
• 32:13
  Meggan: I don't know if you know, but these are really great sites to help you pick a travel destination based maybe on your book.
• 32:19
  Meggan: Once, you know, a country, it can really help narrow things down, whether it be experiences, car rentals or hotels.
• 32:26
  Meggan: Airbnb actually has a section for experiences specifically.
• 32:32
  Meggan: So you don't just have to book a room on there, or you can maybe try to find.
• 32:36
  Meggan: Experience first and then book around that something you never thought of either.
• 32:39
  Meggan: So I think that, you know, those sites while we just think of them, oh, I go there to book a hotel?
• 32:44
  Meggan: They can actually provide probably a little bit more insight or inspiration there as well.
• 32:49
  Meggan: Yeah.
• 32:50
  Jenn: I think also, I I've mentioned this before, but I've used like, Travel Tour websites to like, look at their itineraries and take
• 32:59
  Meggan: Yes.
• 33:01
  Meggan: I mean, whatever, if it's on the internet and you don't have, and you're not getting it by not paying for something, then that's yeah,
• 33:11
  Jenn: no it's posted there.
• 33:13
  Jenn: So yeah, it's kind of, especially if you're planning like a road trip, it's kind of a good cause.
• 33:18
  Jenn: Kind of give you an idea, like how much you can accomplish.
• 33:20
  Jenn: Right.
• 33:21
  Jenn: And like that period of time, because yes, it's really great.
• 33:25
  Jenn: I think there, they're a little sneaky option to yeah.
• 33:28
  Jenn: plan a little trip I think that's all of the tips that we have and we want to know, like, how do you find places that you want to go to?
• 33:38
  Jenn: So we'll have that question on Facebook and Instagram, so you can go answer us and maybe you have an amazing idea.
• 33:45
  Jenn: That we haven't thought of.
• 33:47
  Jenn: So also if you liked this episode, please consider leaving us an apple podcast review that helps people find us and share the show with a travel loving pal.
• 33:59
  Jenn: So we can talk to them about travel too.
• 34:04
  Jenn: Check back next week for our second travel tip Tuesday.
• 34:09
  Jenn: And we'll talk to you soon.
• 34:11
  Jenn: Bye.