Transcript
Speaker: It's nice to get those automatically with your status. Yeah. As long as I can get there in the cheapest way, that's what I'm looking for. Middle seat or not, I'll do it. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Unprofessional Opinion. I'm so glad you could join us today because we have a special guest. Eva is here all the way from Atlanta. Hey, Eva. Hi. I'm so glad you could join us today to talk about some cool travel stories and tips. It's really the reason I wanted you to be on because you just have so much cool, so many cool stories, experiences, and upcoming travel too is what I found out recently, which is cool.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, I'm so happy to be here. I'm excited that you asked me to come on. Yeah, absolutely. Well, before we dive into at least the question where you would give your unprofessional opinion today, how is your weekend or how is your weekend going? It's great. Just like a chill Saturday morning sleeping in. It's a little
Speaker: like rainy and gray here in Atlanta. Yeah, which is nice. Nothing too busy going on, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess backstory. So you're one of my best friend's sisters, and she's had a little baby. She did. Little Charlie.
Speaker: I know. It's so funny. We were talking before this and she's already out and about over a week. She just wants to recover quickly and is snapping photos out and about at a brewery. So funny. It's very spot on for Grace. They look great.
Speaker: She already had the newborn photo shoot. It's got to be within five days, really. Oh my gosh. What was funny was they were in the photos. If I just had a baby after five days, I'd be like, do not photograph me. I know. She was asking me which dress to wear. And I was like, I would be a hermit if I just fell. Do not look at me. No one would see me. I'd be a troll living under a bridge. Yeah, honestly, I would. And I would want to be that way. This is the time to be a troll.
Speaker: So funny. Oh my gosh. And Blaine is just going along with it. I love it. Instagram dad in full, full mode. Yeah. He knew what he was getting into when he married her too. So this is just the same thing when they have a baby. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, okay. Let's dive right into it. So, um, the question that I know we kind of came up with that would be, you've been asked before, I've been asked before. So it is why is traveling important? So what would be your unprofessional opinion to that? So obviously it's different for everyone, but for me, traveling is important for personal growth.
Speaker: I feel like travel gives you the opportunity to learn so much about a culture, a destination, to learn about the music, the art, the history. And I feel like I've learned the most through travel. And that's something that you can't really get anywhere else. Like the experiences you get in travel, you can't get anywhere else.
Speaker: So that's probably the most important reason why I travel. I love it. Yeah, that's awesome. And it's funny because traveling can just be, when I think of traveling, it's just like leaving your typical day to day.
Speaker: It doesn't need to be this crazy Africa trip like you guys are going to later in the year. By the way, I think it's so cool. But it can just be like a quick Fredericksburg trip with girlfriends or going up to Broken Bow and getting a cabin in Oklahoma or anything like that. I think it just helps you break away from your typical day, helps you reset.
Speaker: And then when you do travel or have the opportunity to travel to other cultures and see other people, it just makes you more appreciative of maybe what you have and makes you appreciate others as well. Because otherwise it's like, you don't know what you don't know. And that's at least how I was growing up. My parents didn't really care to travel much. I later found out it's because we didn't have the money to travel.
Speaker: I mean, it was, I guess they raised me right because they never asked about it. But then I got older and I didn't even think about traveling or think it was important at all. Yeah, totally. And I agree with you. It doesn't have to be traveling abroad. I travel a lot for work and it's taken me to some really unexpected places that I would have never visited before, like Wisconsin. Wisconsin is really sweet.
Speaker: There's Door County, which is absolutely beautiful destination surrounded by Lake Michigan and Green Bay. So there's tons of shoreline opportunity for outdoor recreation, great food. But it's one of those places where I would have never thought about or never onto. And it's also interesting going to
Speaker: like different states, just getting outside of your environment and seeing how other people live, what they eat, what they experience day to day. I think that's something really exciting.
Speaker: That's true. Everybody's different. Honestly, I know nothing about Wisconsin, but I'm sure it's pretty. It's near Lake Michigan, so that's awesome. And it's cool because you work in the hospitality industry, is that right? Or what's hard to describe it? It's destination marketing and public relations. Yeah. Okay, cool. So do you choose the cities that you get to go to or you're just asked to
Speaker: Well, I have my specific clients that I work with, and so I go to those places a lot, but sometimes I'll help with other clients and I end up in other destinations. Right. But I mostly work in Fredericksburg, Texas, which you're familiar with. I know. And why we've never tried to meet up with you when you're in Fredericksburg? I don't know, but let me know when you're there next. It's such a great place.
Speaker: One of the things I've loved learning about Fredericksburg is the history. I mean, as you know, they're such a big German.
Speaker: history there. And a lot of people go to Fredericksburg just for the wine. I didn't know about the history. I just go there for the wine. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's cool to learn about the German immigrants that came from Germany and settled in Fredericksburg. Really? You'll see that today in the food, in the architecture. And it's really neat to
Speaker: you know, know about the history and get to experience that. Yeah. And New Braunfels is close by too, right? Isn't that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Is that German or what is that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. New Braunfels was actually settled first and then Fredericksburg. Okay. Texas history. Eva, who would have been? Yeah. You got to check out the Pioneer Museum next time. Really? Is it cool? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. They also have a
Speaker: It's a Smithsonian affiliated museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War. It's all about the Pacific theater of World War II. It's incredible. For a small town, it is on par with the World War II Museum in New Orleans. It is so good. Definitely worth checking out. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, I want to make a trip down with my mom and sister this year, so I can try to explore and not just do
Speaker: maybe wine tours all day long. So that's cool. And I think that's such an important part of travel is researching the destination before you go, but also trying to learn a little bit about the history, trying to learn a little bit of the language, if there's a language barrier there, putting in that little bit of extra effort,
Speaker: I feel like pays off in the long run. It really helps you grasp a bigger picture of the destination, the place you're traveling to. Yeah. If I can pick up just like a little bit of the language, like high by the basic, like, can I get another? I feel so accomplished, you know? Totally. It's, yeah, it is really good to do that. And I feel like the locals appreciate it too. Yeah. Because you're wanting to learn about their culture, learn their language. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.
Speaker: Okay, well, I thought it'd be cool to talk about first time like traveling abroad. I'll go first. Just funny like abroad stories. I know so many stories, but any fun stories feel free to share. But I think it's so it's so funny. I had my first time ever abroad and I just shared with you it was with Grace, your sister and we it was just us we went on like a it was one of those like young adult type trips. It was
Speaker: 18 to 20 young adults, I think Grace and I, but it was super easy to see a bunch of different countries at one time. I think we saw like five or six and well, maybe cities, but
Speaker: a couple of different countries. But anyway, it was a great way to maximize our time out there. But it is so funny. Grace can be high maintenance sometimes. I love her to death, but she can be. But more so around the photos. It's like you have to balance between capturing the moment so you don't forget it or so you remember. And then
Speaker: like living in the moment where you just want to just stare at the ocean and stare at the mountains and just feel the presence or just be in the moment. And I hear Grace just chirping in my ear, let's, can you take a photo? Can you take a photo of me? I was literally her photographer. This is like pre -blame. This is BB before Blaine. But yeah, it's so funny because I appreciate it though. I really, if she did not take as many photos as she did, I probably wouldn't have like remembered all the little moments that we had. So it's a
Speaker: tough balance. But I'm sure you have a little bit of that with your husband being a videographer and a photographer. So that probably comes up a lot. Well, it's funny. We really don't take as many photos and videos as you think we would. Really? Okay. I'm not on the level that Grace is on.
Speaker: But I do appreciate it because you always come out with great photos. You do. You do. We went to Menorca, Spain this past summer and she was taking photos and videos the whole time. And there was a point where we actually got in a fight because she was mad. I wasn't taking more videos and photos of her. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: This is such a sister fight right now. It's like I'm taking them of you. Can you take them of me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I, as far as taking photos and video, I like to just randomly take them like, especially when it comes up.
Speaker: But I try to avoid being on social media a lot during the trip. Like if I post something, I'll just post a bunch at the end of the day and do like 30 minutes and that's it. Because I agree with you, I think it kind of takes away from the moment. You want to be present in like the sights, the smells, the sounds, all of those sensory experiences. So I try to avoid being on social media a lot.
Speaker: during travel. I could go on a trip, whether that be abroad or in the States and truly not take a photo, like just track it. But then my memory would just be so gone. Like those two weeks traveling abroad, I would not like remember what that sandwich looked like and like remember them the taste. So yeah, I don't know. It's a tough balance between the two. It is. I saw some article recently and I was talking about like being detached from your phone for
Speaker: four to five days or something in the impact that can have. And I was like, oh crap, I cannot remember the last time I was detached from my phone. Like did not look at anything for four to five days. Okay. Like no texts, no phone calls. Nothing.
Speaker: Yeah, we do not live in that world. We know. I was like, I have to go to a fully remote place where there's literally no internet access. No, truly. That's honestly why I like being on airplanes where they're like a quick flight where you can't catch the Wi -Fi or I don't know. You truly cannot have Wi -Fi. Say what? So many of them have Wi -Fi now. They do. Yeah. Yeah. I know that's true. But if you don't want to pay for it, then there you go. Got a few hours of
Speaker: being happy with yourself. Enjoy yourself right now. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh gosh, so cool. Another balancing act I feel like you have to do with traveling is budgeting too. And I'm really curious how you guys budget because I see you guys go on cool trips all the time, which is awesome. I struggle with budgeting and balancing saving too much and then hindering myself from not being able to spend it on the things I want to do, which those big package items are traveling for the most part.
Speaker: Yeah. But I was saving a bunch last year and then this year is going to be like my more travel year. So I'm actually going to head out to London to see our friend Cara out there. I know I haven't told you that. I'm so pumped. I'm so excited for you. I know. We're like trying to figure out where we want to go outside of London because we'll be there for probably like seven days, a little bit over. They go to Switzerland, which would be so cool. They actually, I highly recommend Scotland. Really? Okay.
Speaker: one of the most underrated, but like most stunning destinations I've ever been to. And it's a quick train ride from, well, maybe not quick, but you can take the train from London. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. How long is the train ride? I don't know. I don't know the train, but I had some friends that did it, but we flew from Ireland to Scotland last summer before last. Okay. And it was amazing. Okay.
Speaker: I'll have to try that. I was looking at just what was close to London. And I was looking at Belgium and Netherlands and I texted her this morning and she was like, those are my least favorite countries in the UK. No, no diss to Belgium and Netherlands. But she was like, it's just not, again, this is one person's opinion. But she's like, out of all the places you could go to in Europe, those would not be the ones you would go to. So.
Speaker: Oh, I know. But anyway, so that's good to have Scotland in mind too. Yeah. Yeah. Budgeting. Okay. So the way we budget and we've been doing this since our early twenties, like way before we were married, uh, we actually have a separate travel savings where, um, it's like separate from our home and, um, like car savings and that sort of thing.
Speaker: but we just have automatic deposits from our paycheck, go straight to that travel savings. So we don't even think about it. And we just have a strict rule that we only spend it on travel. And then on top of that, we have travel credit cards that we use. And I think, you know, credit cards, obviously you have to be careful, you want to be able to
Speaker: paid off. Yeah. Like American Airlines credit cards and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. But, um, there's some general credit cards that you can get like the venture reward card or the chase staff fire preferred. Those are great cards for travel. We actually, we went to Peru this past summer and we used, booked all of our hotels on credit card points. So we didn't spend any money on lodging. That's just incredible. Yeah.
Speaker: Um, so I think you can get a lot of bang for your buck with the credit cards. Um, and in some instances, like if you live in a city like Dallas, where you fly American all the time or Atlanta, where you fly Delta all the time, it can make sense to get a, um, like a flight credit card, airline credit card.
Speaker: But it just depends. You kind of have to look at where you live. Are you loyal to one airline? Are you loyal to one hotel group? Or do you just want a general credit card where you can accumulate points and spend it on what you want to? Yeah. Is it better just to stick to one hotel conglomerate or one airline? What do you think?
Speaker: I think so. I mean, it kind of depends on how much you travel. And I think if you're already traveling for work, you might as well stick to one hotel group and accumulate as many points as you can.
Speaker: I think, you know, we've gotten spoiled now because we both travel for work and we have status with Delta. And so we were super loyal to Delta. Once you get status, I will not break my loyalty. 100%. What does the status look like at Delta? Because I fly American and once I hit a certain status, I told everybody in their mom that I hit the status too. But what awards do you get or what
Speaker: I don't know. You just get perks like you get upgrades with your flights. So a lot of times will be instantly upgraded to comfort plus where you get free drinks or you'll get extra snacks and more leg room. So it's just more comfortable for travel.
Speaker: And I'm the type of person, like I will not pay for a first -class ticket or an upgrade to Comfort Plus. So it's nice to get those automatically with your status. Yeah. As long as I can get there in the cheapest way, that's what I'm looking for. Middle seat or not, I'll do it. Yeah. What is your favorite place to visit, let's say outside of the US? Oh gosh. And why?
Speaker: That's really hard because I feel like each destination is so unique and they all have something to offer, something I've learned and taken with me throughout life. I'd say one of my favorite trips has been Australia. We went to mainland Australia in Tasmania and I love wildlife and Tasmania has
Speaker: tons of wildlife. Really? And this is kind of like a side story, but we went to Crater Mountain, Crater Lake, Crater something, Cradle Mountain National Park in Tasmania. And we decided to stay late and watch the stars because the stars are absolutely incredible. Yeah. And we did like a time lapse with the stars and just like sat out.
Speaker: and like got wine and cheese and that sort of thing. But driving home, I have never seen so much wildlife in my life. Like we started counting, keeping tabs. We would see like a wallaby or a Patamelan and some other opossum. And we even saw a Tasmanian devil, which was amazing. What did it look like? Is it like the Tasmanian devil, like the cartoon?
Speaker: Um, no, they're like really cute, but they're really small and they like just scurry across the road. They kind of, it reminds me of like.
Speaker: how an opossum is, but like a little bit smaller. But it was just really fun to see so many wild animals. And I don't know, it was like something spontaneous that we hadn't planned for the trip. And that's another point is like, when you travel, leave room for spontaneity. I'm so glad you brought that up.
Speaker: walk around and soak in the city or soak in the natural area. Yeah, that's so true. I feel like if you go on a trip and you don't have any plan, that would give me so much anxiety. How are we going to be able to maximize the time that we have? Well, and that's the other thing is I think back to when we first traveled and we would just
Speaker: somewhere with no planning whatsoever. Really? Okay. And now I cannot imagine doing that. And part of the reason is I feel like you miss so much of a place if you don't plan a little bit. Actually, your sister taught me that. Really? Yeah. Yeah. But she's okay. Yeah, you taught her well.
Speaker: No, it's true. She, uh, any trip that we would like book, she would want to have something in place or just like at least, and even if we don't have it booked, just know what's available and know our options. So that way when we get there, it's not like, okay, well, where are we going to eat? Or what do we, what do you want to do today? Like it's, uh, it's okay to have a couple of days like that, but you don't want every day to just be like starting from zero. You're like having to plan your full day because you don't want to plan on a vacation.
Speaker: And if you can do the research ahead of time, why not? I agree. And there might be some amazing piece of art in a museum that is worth seeing, but you wouldn't know unless you researched it. And I try to plan at least one meal a day, at least one outing a day, and then leave room in between. Because one of my favorite things to do in a city is just walk around and get lost. Yeah.
Speaker: I found some of my favorite places that way. So it's a balance. Yeah, that's true. So one of my favorite places that I visited, and I haven't gone abroad a ton, so I'm excited to explore more this year, but was Nice, France. It was just such a small little city in France and it was
Speaker: I guess at least the time that we had there, it was just very unstructured, which is what I loved about it. And then I was training for a half marathon at the time, which I don't know why, I think I was running sometime in January and we went in December.
Speaker: to France. So I was like, I needed to keep up my training. It was just like, too aggressive, too aggressive. But anyway, so I needed to run a few miles that morning. And it was just, and Grace like ran with me, which thank God she did because running the streets, the cobblestones of Nice, France, we saw
Speaker: We saw people like coming home from bars. Then it was just like definitely good to just be with another person, but it was, we truly just got lost. We were just running around, just, I mean, not like the scary lost, like the fun last where you're like, I think I know the direction I'm going, but it was so fun and so freeing. And we saw the sunrise. I mean, it was just such a cool experience because yeah. Cause I mean, I don't really want to get too lost when I'm traveling, but that feeling of being
Speaker: lost or just trying to find your own way. It's really freeing too. So that's definitely what I feel like traveling has a big plus. Again, that doesn't need to be abroad. That can be just local too, or honestly, maybe even your own city. Just go around and just get lost, find a way back, bring your cell phone. Yeah. I actually have a funny story that's
Speaker: the opposite. It's not planning enough. Okay. When Bud and I were young, we were in Paris. Okay, you're still young. Okay, I'll stop you. In our early 20s. Okay. We were very naive then. Yeah. It's funny thinking back to traveling because things are so different now. Like I said, show up in a city and not have any plans.
Speaker: So we were in Paris, and Bud was like, ooh, I want to take Eva out to a really nice restaurant. So he talks to the concierge, which is a great way to get to know. It really is, yeah. What restaurants are great in a city. And the concierge was like, ooh, you have to go to La Sare. And so Bud calls, and he's able to get a reservation.
Speaker: and we go in that night and you immediately walking in, I was like, damn, this is a bougie place. They like take their jackets from you and you go up this elevator to the second floor where the restaurant is. There's like a beautiful mural painted on the ceiling. Like everything is just really palatial and beautiful. And there's like even a butler
Speaker: who's like helping to escort you. Oh my gosh, okay. Because at Matredy, whatever. And so we sit down and we open the menu and our jaw just drops. Like we had not looked at the menu ahead of time to like see how much this restaurant would be. Like the minimum plate was like a hundred euro. And at the time we were, we did not have that kind of money. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh my gosh, maybe I would splurge on a meal like that. But no way back then. It's so we would they brought us complimentary champagne. We literally ordered an appetizer and left. And we still spent like 300 euro because it was expensive. Oh my gosh. And the worst part was Bud's card was like declining because
Speaker: I mean, we were just, you know, we were poor, fresh out of college. We had no real savings at that time. It was so embarrassing. But now I look back and it's like a three Michelin star restaurant, like of course it's not expensive. It's super nice. But now we can say we've had dinner at La Sare. You can tell everybody about that now. You're like, we had the best appetizer there.
Speaker: Yeah. That's wild. No, it's really, it's, I feel like it's definitely good to play in for that. For that reason too, you could overspend and then waste your time as well too. Definitely look at the menu ahead of time because like a $4 sign in Paris is a different, different $4 signs from the US. Yeah. It was, it was a lot.
Speaker: What are your thoughts on Costa Rica? Have you been there before? I have not. That's on my short list. Oh, for some reason I thought you went, but you guys went to California. It was like one of my favorite girl trips ever. Yeah, we went out to California. This was again, like young 20s, like we're like 22, 23. Like so many fun memories, but it was, yeah, Grace and I, and then Caitlin and Morgan.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah, that feels like forever ago, but it was so much fun. So we flew into Venice, drove up highway one, we did Yosemite, so we like drove inland a little bit, and then basically like a triangle came back down to Venice. Yeah. So how was it traveling with a group of girls? Yeah, I mean, I loved it. But you can't I mean, but it's okay. I mean, I loved it. But there are some times where
Speaker: It's a different level of friendship. Let's just say that. You can be friends with some girls or even just go with a group of people with girls and guys, but when you travel, it's different. You see a different side of somebody. You see the type A. You see the... I don't know. You just see it all. You really do. Unless you maybe live with them, but you see it all. This was, I think, the first trip that we all went on together to be like, okay, what is it going to be like?
Speaker: And it's so funny i just like have this core memory of the trip where it was amazing i absolutely loved it so many fun memories but we're driving or in malibu we're trying to find a parking spot to go to malibu farms and
Speaker: It's just like you have to be, anyways, all the parking spots are on the right side of the street and it's like a busy street. And Morgan's driving, Grace is in the shotgun seat and then Caitlin and I are like the children in the back, like Laddie Dot, don't even know where we're at. And Grace is like, you missed one. You missed one. You missed one. Morgan's like, she's trying to calm down and Grace just kept doing it. When we were missing this thoughts, and don't mean to like roast Grace on this episode, we love you. We love you, Grace.
Speaker: But Morgan was like, shut up, shut up, shut up. Morgan does not lose her temper. It was the funniest thing that all of us just started dying laughing. So you just, you kind of, you can test each other at times for sure. But oh, I mean, the girls ships that got on have been so fun. The majority of them. It's, I mean, it's a blast to hang out with people outside of your, your day to day friendship and your city or maybe even outside of your city.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I think it's so much fun. So many cool memories made. And it's all like the in between, which is just so fun. Like just riding in the car, you know, like we had a sunroof and we were like, Grace, can we put our heads out the window? No, you can't. And then we kept asking like, okay, you can do it now. I mean, just like, I don't know. It was just so fun. Like little memories like that. And of course, Grace captured the picture and video. So we have memory, but, uh, yeah, it's, I love it. What do you think about girl strips?
Speaker: I think it's great. I have a group of girlfriends and we do just domestic places each year, a group trip. I definitely think it has to be a group that you're close with and you're comfortable resolving conflict if conflict arises because otherwise I feel like it's not super enjoyable.
Speaker: It's also important for like everyone to contribute to the trip in some way. So like one person isn't carrying the burden of planning the trip. Um, like that's typically how it goes though. Yeah, I'm usually the person that plans in some situations, but it can be a lot. Yeah, definitely. I feel like there's when you at least are planning a trip, everyone just falls into their silos. There's the big planner. There's like,
Speaker: Well, even if you're like driving or flying or whatever, there's like kind of like the pseudo planner, the one that just helps out. And there's the one who does absolutely nothing at all. And oftentimes I fall into the nothing at all or the pseudo planner. So I do need to do better. I do.
Speaker: Well, and I've, I've heard of people planning trips where like each person plans a different day, which I think is a great way to get people involved. Um, and then it helps the people who don't want to plan anything, like gain a little more interest in the, in the place that they're going. Definitely. For sure. And that's how you could be sure that like when people, when you're traveling with multiple people, you
Speaker: everyone has different ideas of what they want to do. So if you plan a portion of the day, everyone's going to be happy, you know, versus like just one person planning what they want to do. So yeah, that's a good idea. I totally agree. Awesome. Even since it's so great having you on and hearing all of your tips and tricks, any closing tips and tricks, I'd be good for travel. As far as researching for a trip, I feel like YouTube is kind of an underutilized resource. Okay.
Speaker: because there are so many people like showing the layout of the city or the layout of the airport and it helps you, especially if you're a nervous traveler, I think it can help you kind of know what to expect when you're going somewhere. Like when we did, we did a
Speaker: trek in Peru to Machu Picchu and we watched YouTube videos before we went to see like what are the people wearing? What does the weather look like? How is the terrain? What kind of shoes are they hiking in? And it was so helpful as far as like knowing what to pack and knowing how to prepare. And then another piece of advice I have is I would recommend
Speaker: almost always bringing a carry on when you're traveling, especially when you're traveling abroad, because you never know what's going to happen with flight schedules, cancellations, and it's easier to just have your luggage with you. Yeah, and an extra fair place too. Yeah, exactly. And then you don't have to worry about a lost bag. And a lot of times the streets over there, cobblestone, or it's just, I have traveled with
Speaker: large suitcases before and every single time I regret it. You can always put a duffel bag in your carry -on if you want to bring home more stuff, but I'd say try to stick to a carry -on. So you're saying no check bags. No checked bags. I mean, I will say when I took a checked bag to Italy and that whole trip, it was so hard to carry it around. I mean, it was like 50 pounds. It was terrible.
Speaker: Yeah. And I feel like, I mean, you can just wear all black, all neutral colors, black, white, you know, just bring a bunch of stuff that goes together, your little capsule wardrobe. I think this is what you and Grace did. You guys used a tour company. Yeah, it was super helpful. Yeah. And I was going to say that for some people, especially if it's your first time abroad and you're nervous about planning everything,
Speaker: you can always utilize it to our company because they just do everything for you. And you're with a group of people, so it feels safe. Like we did that when we went to Jordan in Israel. I had no idea how to plan that or how to navigate crossing borders and all that. So I think that's something that a lot of people don't really think about when it comes to international travel.
Speaker: But it's a great, great resource. When I traveled to Italy and Spain with Grace there, I don't know, I was just kind of nervous that I just hadn't traveled in a while. My first travel experience was to Vietnam back in school and it was organized by the school.
Speaker: wanted to have some sort of company that was like could hurt us, at least in a way that I just felt safe. I never felt unsafe the whole time. There was always a plan. There was always transportation. So I completely agree. I loved it for that trip. Now knowing that I feel a little bit more confident in at least the travel and that experience, I probably wouldn't need to do it at least in the in the immediate. But again, if it's like a certain place where you're just like not sure of the rules, I could definitely see that would be helpful. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and the other great part of that is you kind of have a built -in tour guide, someone to tell you about the cities you're going to. And one of my favorite things to do outside of having a tour company is to book a local guide in that city. And I've done a lot of those through Airbnb experiences, actually. And it's paid off every single time because
Speaker: the guide, they know the city better than most people. And a lot of times they have a list of local restaurants and things to do in the place you're visiting. So I think that's definitely a tip I recommend looking for a guide. I feel like I see commercials about it, but it's good to know that people actually use it too.
Speaker: That's awesome. Well, Eva, thanks so much for being on and sharing all of your travel tips and fun stories. I feel like I have a now list of places that I want to add to my shortlist too. So it's awesome. And if anyone ever has any questions, I'm happy to be a resource to anyone that's looking to travel more. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, thanks again. And thank you all so much for joining. We will catch you next time. Bye.
