0:03

What is wrong with you that you're not taking your vacation

0:06

days like this is absurd?

0:08

And then I made a promise to myself that

0:10

in two thousand nineteen, I was going to get

0:12

back like on my travel grind, and I was going to travel

0:15

at least once a month, and I was going to make it into this twelve

0:17

Trips in twelve Months project.

0:21

Welcome to A Way to Go, a production of I

0:23

Heart Radio and Fathom. I'm Jeraln

0:25

Garba and I'm Pavio Rosatti. We're

0:28

at the time of year when people are abandoning

0:30

resolutions right and left. But on

0:32

this episode, we're going to talk about one of those kinds

0:34

of projects that only an industrious,

0:36

thoughtful planner and resolution keeper

0:39

can make. We're talking with

0:41

Marcy Topina, an ethno musicologist,

0:44

a dj A radio host, and

0:47

arts and culture advocate, and the

0:49

producer of this Here podcast. An

0:52

avid traveler, Marcy embarked

0:55

on a passion project in entitled

0:58

hashtag twelve Trips twelve

1:00

Months to experience new spaces,

1:03

people, and culture and was

1:05

documenting along the way her journey

1:07

through what will be a podcast of the same name.

1:10

Marci, Nice to see you on this sphone,

1:13

Hi, this is so strange

1:16

to be on this size fun of

1:18

the of the table. We would

1:20

love to have you talk

1:22

about how this trip project came

1:25

about, this life, whether this year

1:27

long goal really because it's more than a trip, it's

1:29

kind of a goal. It's actually

1:31

turning into a lifestyle. We

1:33

applaud that I that I figured

1:35

you would um as average travelers yourselves.

1:38

Basically what happened was in two

1:40

thousand and eighteen, I was working a job

1:42

as an executive director of an organization

1:45

that was really intense. I had been with this company

1:47

for four years and in the summertime, I

1:49

have like no life whatsoever, program

1:52

or park in the city of north And

1:54

that means that all summer long, Monday

1:57

through Sunday, I was working. And

2:00

I've always been an average traveler. Up until

2:02

that point, most of my career had

2:04

been revolved around travel, you know,

2:06

doing international music festivals, that booking

2:08

artists overseas. There was a lot of travel

2:11

in my work. And now all just came

2:13

to like a screeching halt because suddenly I was like grounded

2:15

in Nork. And so in two thousand and eighteen,

2:17

I was like, Okay, I can't do this anymore. December,

2:19

I booked a trip to Guadaloup in the Caribbean,

2:22

and I came back on

2:25

I think it was December nine, and I went to go put

2:27

in my time for you know, my

2:29

my time sheet, and I realized

2:31

that I had like twenty eight vacation days left.

2:33

And I was like, what is going on

2:36

in the world. Yeah, Like, first of all,

2:38

I could have stayed in Guadaloup, like that was like the first

2:40

thing. It was the off season. Second of all, I was like,

2:42

what is wrong with you that you're not taking your vacation

2:44

days? Like this is absurd

2:46

and you can never do this again. So

2:49

right then and there, I took out there, I took off the rest

2:51

of the month, and then I made a promise to myself

2:53

that in two thousand nineteen, I was going to

2:56

get back on my travel grind and I was going

2:58

to travel at least once a month in make this

3:00

into a project, a podcast,

3:02

because I am a producer and it's kind of like what

3:04

I do, and I was going to make it into this twelve

3:07

trips in twelve months project.

3:09

And that was the beginning of the journey. And did

3:11

you actually take all twelve trips? I

3:14

did. I did. I actually took seventeen

3:17

trips in two thousand nineteen way

3:19

to crush the goal. Marcie,

3:22

how did you pick Guadaloup as the spark

3:25

for this? Well, I was actually in Guadaloup

3:28

in December. I went back to Guadaloup in

3:30

March of two thousand nine. It

3:32

is just such a magical place. It really

3:35

makes you feel like you're getting away from the

3:37

hustle and bustle. It's very different from

3:39

the urban environment that we live in here. And

3:43

you know, for me, it was just the Internet,

3:45

wasn't that great? Which is always

3:48

the best vacation. Yeah, Because

3:50

I'm sort of like a low key or maybe hike

3:52

orkholic. So the only way for

3:54

me to really relax is when I'm away and

3:57

I can kind of turn everything off. So

3:59

Guadaloupe from me is that place where I can

4:01

go and I'd be like, hey, sorry,

4:03

my internet is not working. But that's

4:05

what I'm telling myself, Like I'm telling myself,

4:07

he's Harry, the internet is not working. You should be on

4:10

the beach. Whatever it takes, whatever it takes.

4:12

What was your criteria for choosing

4:15

the destinations? So

4:17

I realized really quickly that I was going to have to be flexible.

4:20

So the main criteria for me was that I had

4:22

to go someplace I was going to stay overnight. So

4:25

that obviously made it a little bit easier

4:28

to achieve the goal because I didn't have to get on a

4:30

plane every time that I was taking a trip,

4:32

but I did have to go someplace

4:35

and stay overnight. Did you find yourself on the

4:37

any month looking at the Jersey Shore thinking well, you're

4:39

only fit twenty minutes away. I gotta squeeze you

4:41

in. That happened to me with Philadelphia. Philadelphia,

4:44

that's a great place to go. No, Philly

4:47

is great for New York City overnights

4:49

or just yes, somebody where on the East

4:51

coast. Now, Philly is a great good

4:53

food too, Yeah it was. It was really interesting too

4:55

because I actually went there for a meditation

4:57

retreat. Who goes to Philly to meditate?

5:00

Marsifu, City of brotherly love, I guess,

5:02

also teaches you how to be at

5:04

one in pieces. Now Philly

5:06

teaches you a good uh.

5:08

Well, I like going

5:11

for the rest poor coogies. That's

5:14

funny. Well I didn't have any of that. But what was interesting

5:16

about it is that I booked an Airbnb,

5:18

and I booked a tiny house, and

5:21

I've al I always wanted to stay in a

5:23

tiny house. And I was like, where am I going to stay in Philly?

5:25

Like, I'll just get a hotel, I'll stay right next to the convention

5:27

Center. And I was like, maybe they'll be like a cool

5:29

Airbnb. And I went on you

5:32

know, Airbnb, and I found this incredible

5:35

little tiny home and when I got there, it was

5:37

in the back of this woman's house in Germantown,

5:40

which was not exactly the nicest neighborhood.

5:42

I literally came around the corner and

5:44

I was like, whoa, okay,

5:46

Like, am I going to be safe in this tiny house?

5:48

And you live in Nork right exactly, you're

5:51

a stranger to no. Listen, it's

5:53

not though you live in a really

5:55

posh, protected suburb. You

5:57

are somebody who lives in a city and no cities.

5:59

Yeah, I've so as we all are. Yeah. Absolutely.

6:02

And so when I arrived there, it was you

6:04

know, this is this woman at her house and she has this tiny

6:06

house in the backyard of her property.

6:08

And I walked back there

6:11

and it was first of all, it was like all Cedar would

6:13

so it smelled a

6:15

little sauna. It was amazing, and

6:18

she had all of these little yoga

6:20

and meditation details all throughout

6:22

the whole place. So it was k Yeah,

6:24

it was totally Kisma. It was meant to be. And

6:26

it was so quiet because it was fully

6:28

insulated. So every night when I would

6:31

get home I was there for three nights, there was all this commotion,

6:33

police sirens, you know, loud noises, people

6:36

whatever, And then the minute I would shut that door, it was

6:38

silence. German towns end

6:40

in exactly. Could

6:42

you list all the seventeen places

6:44

that you went or would it take you a long time? Would you have to make

6:47

a list to me? Like, no, Um,

6:49

I think I can list them. I probably should

6:51

go in chronological order, because

6:53

then I will be able to

6:55

give you a better Um. I like that

6:57

you're talking slowly because you're trying to go. Can

6:59

you wary? Yeah? Okay.

7:02

So I started out in January and I

7:04

went to Rome. That was my first

7:06

place. Yeah, and I had

7:08

to start big. The second trip was to California.

7:11

I went to Palm Springs and l A. The

7:13

third trip was again Guadalupe. I went to

7:15

Woodstock for the fifth trip, which was

7:17

also like a quick like it's the end of the month,

7:20

I need to Yeah. For

7:22

the next trip, I went to Florida.

7:24

I was in Fort Laarderdale and around that area.

7:27

Then I went to Philly. I went to Albuquerque, New

7:29

Mexico. I went up to a different

7:31

place in the cat Skills, which was really cool. There's

7:33

a Tibetan mosque that's up there, so I went

7:36

to Tibetan Moscow, Tibetan temple

7:38

um so I went to that, which was like amazing. I

7:40

climbed this mountain. It was I was like, okay, where

7:43

am I It's

7:45

that's in the Skills. Yeah, and

7:48

it was so interesting. Do you know it? Yes, it's

7:50

the Karma Trianna Dharma Chaklate Tibetan

7:52

Buddhist monastery exactly in wood

7:54

stuff exactly and overlooked mountain is right

7:57

there. So I climbed the mountain and I went to the monastery.

8:00

That was actually incredible. I felt I literally

8:02

felt like I was not in the

8:04

United States, and I definitely felt like I was not in New York.

8:06

So that was really really cool. Then I

8:09

went to New Orleans, which was my first time going

8:11

there. That had been on my bucket and

8:14

then I went down to the Florida Keys. I

8:16

went to Portugal to Lisbon and Sincra,

8:18

and then I went to Savannah, which was also Savannah.

8:22

Savannah was incredible. I

8:25

had always wanted to go there. That was another

8:27

place that I had never been, which was really cool. And

8:30

that was Trip twelve actually, so I was technically

8:32

done, but I didn't stop there because the

8:34

goal was to go someplace once a month and

8:37

that was only September. So

8:39

then I went to Greece. In October, I

8:42

went back to Florida for a family trip to Orlando,

8:45

which was interesting, and

8:47

then I went to Las Vegas.

8:50

But I can't tell you about it. Why because

8:52

I can't. You're not supposed to talk about what happens.

8:54

And where did you stay in Vegas? I

8:57

stayed at where did we stay?

8:59

Oh god, I was there for the Soul Train Awards. That's

9:01

actually the reason why. Yeah,

9:03

I saw some pictures on Instagram feed and they're

9:05

pretty hot. Yeah, it was. It was so much fun. We stay at

9:07

the Palms. We said at the Palms because that was where

9:09

like, yeah, that's where all the crew was

9:11

staying for the Soul training. Were

9:14

you working the soule train awards or were you just dancing

9:16

like a no, so

9:19

you were just there for the party? Pretty much. Awesome.

9:21

It was so much fun. Okay, so after

9:24

vegans, that's all we're going to ask you about it. You can keep

9:26

the rest, thank you. Then

9:28

I went to Atlanta, and then my

9:30

final trip at the end of the year, which was really

9:32

interesting, was Montreal. And I drove

9:35

to Montreal, which was really fascinating

9:37

to drive there in December because

9:39

it's so and I almost died

9:42

on the way. That's a lot of traveling

9:44

and one question I have immediately is

9:46

how did you budget for this? That's

9:49

the question everybody asks me. Okay,

9:51

So in December, I received

9:53

a bonus from work and I think it was like, I don't know, like

9:55

two thousand dollars or sometimes it was, and

9:58

I literally took that and bought used it

10:00

all to buy tickets. So I went online

10:02

and I was like, Okay, I have to be smart

10:04

about the way that I'm going to go about this. I have a list,

10:07

sort of a wish list of places that I want to go and when

10:09

I want to go, but I also remained

10:11

really flexible about where I

10:13

could go, how expensive

10:16

things were, was it the high season, the low season,

10:18

so on and so forth. And I

10:20

really organized my travel around that

10:23

because I knew that I wasn't going to I mean, that's a lot

10:25

of trips. If you really go all out, I

10:27

would have spent a small fortune doing

10:29

that. So I just found really

10:31

great deals. My ticket to Greece

10:33

was three where

10:36

I went to Rome for two hundred I

10:39

did for the flight. I

10:41

was unbelievable. And you kind of bulk

10:44

bought tickets some of them, and it upfront,

10:47

so you knew some of the bigger trips and then you

10:50

kind of filled them in with smaller trips that you were driving

10:52

to within the US. Yeah, and then I kind of did

10:54

the same thing, Like when I got my tax return, I took a portion

10:56

of that and then I used that to purchase other

10:58

tickets, and then you flew whatever

11:00

was the cheapest. You didn't have any loyalty to

11:03

flying Delta, for example. I didn't

11:05

have any loyalty to flying a particular airline.

11:07

But there's airlines that I will absolutely not

11:09

fly on, which was never

11:14

like if you get what you pay for, yeah, if your seat

11:16

doesn't recline, like I'm sorry, I can't be on a flight

11:18

with your airline. That's just ridiculous.

11:21

I know, it's like keeping animals in a little cage.

11:35

And when you were going on these trips, did

11:37

you plan to go alone or

11:40

were you inviting people along the way. So

11:42

part of what I had to do to make this happen

11:44

was to be willing to step outside of the

11:47

normal way that I would travel, which is usually

11:49

with friends or family, and

11:52

you know, take the leap of faith and travel on my

11:54

own. It was the first time that I had ever traveled completely

11:57

on my own to a destination where I didn't know it, Like, I

11:59

didn't know anybody in home. I knew two people

12:01

in Rome through other people, but I didn't actually

12:03

know anybody in Rome. And I was

12:05

like, okay, I'm just gonna do this.

12:07

So I really had to, you

12:10

know, be bold about

12:12

the choices and where I was going to go. And of

12:14

course my mother was like terrified. She's like, you're

12:16

trappling by yourself and you're a woman.

12:18

And I'm like, it's okay, Mama, I live

12:21

it again. I live in Nork. I think I'll be okay.

12:23

Do you have a favorite trip the

12:25

one that when you think back, you're like, yes, I love

12:28

you all equally, but this one

12:30

was amazing. I there

12:33

were two, can I say two favorites? Yes, okay.

12:35

I absolutely loved Rome and I absolutely

12:38

loved Greece. I loved it. I

12:40

felt like I was seeing a Mediterranean thing. Yeah.

12:43

I really just felt at home in both of those

12:45

places. And they're so different

12:48

but have so much like the history, the

12:50

culture that's there, the warmth of

12:52

the people that you know it.

12:54

It was really interesting in some ways. I felt like I was

12:56

taking like this historical journey that I started

12:58

off in Rome was really significant for

13:00

me because there's all this rich history there.

13:03

I went to the Vaticant. I felt like I was sort

13:05

of retracing some steps of human

13:07

history throughout this process. And

13:10

then I went to Greece and I was like, okay, now

13:12

I've gone back even a little further, you

13:14

know. So I felt like I was uncovering these

13:17

gems and the people that I'm at. The one great

13:19

thing about traveling on your own is

13:21

that you talked to people, like you really

13:23

talk to people. I ended up having dinner with

13:26

this couple that was on a

13:28

tour that I did in Greece, and like, I ended up

13:30

hanging out with them for like two days. They were the nicest

13:32

people and I never would have done

13:34

that if I was with my friends. It's such

13:36

a benefit to going so as you're

13:38

much more open and you don't have to check with

13:40

anyone. You're like whatever strikes

13:43

that sounds great, And

13:45

meeting people was like so cool. Like when I was in

13:47

Italy, I met this woman she actually reads

13:50

tarot cards, and so I went to her house,

13:52

Like she invited me in her home? Did

13:54

she charge you? She did charge me.

13:56

It was an air ME and B experience that I found,

13:58

which was fine. We ended up talking to each

14:00

other for like three hours. It was great

14:02

and we're still friends now, you know. That's

14:05

really it's interesting mentioned AIRB

14:07

and B experiences. Were there any

14:09

other things that you pre planned. I

14:12

did pre plan because I'm the type

14:14

of person that likes to know things whenever

14:17

I travel, Like I'm that person that

14:20

you know gets a book or goes online

14:22

and figures out like where the key places to go. I don't

14:24

always go to them, Like I have this

14:27

one thing that I always kind of leave open

14:29

where I want to see where the people live in

14:31

just insurance, Yeah

14:33

exactly. Um so I did pre plan

14:36

a lot of stuff, but not everything. I definitely

14:38

depended on where I was. Like when I was any

14:40

place in the United States, I didn't pre plan a whole

14:42

lot because I didn't need to. You know, I know the language.

14:44

It's pretty easy to figure out what you know, you kind of know

14:47

what to do. But definitely, like Rome,

14:49

Greece, I pre planned where did you go in Greece?

14:52

I went to Santa Reni and

14:55

after that I went to Athens. When you were in Greece

14:57

and round where you mostly with other travelers

14:59

or were you with Italians and Greeks? Both

15:01

in Rome, because I did three

15:04

or four tours, because I knew that. Because

15:06

what amazed me about Rome was that everywhere you go

15:08

it's like a museum. Like you're walking down the street

15:11

and it just looks like you're in a museum. And I

15:13

was overwhelmed by that. You know,

15:15

I live in the United States, where like our

15:17

country is not that old, so we

15:19

don't have things like that, So it was mind

15:21

boggling to me. I know, we think nineteen

15:23

sixties is old there, it's like, oh no, this is from

15:25

the sixties, the first one

15:29

exactly exactly. So

15:31

I did do a lot of tours there because I really

15:33

wanted to understand what all these things were

15:36

and I knew that like just walking trying to look at signs,

15:38

that wasn't going to happen. So on

15:40

those tours, I did meet American people like I met

15:42

other Americans, but I tried

15:44

my best to spend my time with people

15:47

that were from there in Greece.

15:49

I didn't talk to any Americans.

15:52

I didn't see any Americans because I was there

15:55

in October, so it was the

15:57

end of the season, so Santorini

15:59

was like a ghost town. That's amazing. You're

16:02

like the first person I've ever heard he said

16:04

there there were no tourists in Santa Many.

16:07

Yeah, it was great. Okay, let's ask the flips

16:09

out of the question. Is there any place you went

16:11

that you're like, well, I don't ever need to go back there again.

16:15

I don't think I need to go to Vegas again. That was my

16:17

first time there, and I was like, yay

16:22

for adults. And similarly,

16:25

I never want to go back to Orlando.

16:27

I really don't. Did you

16:29

you only did the theme park? There were you in

16:32

Orlando the city as well? We were in the

16:34

city we stayed on one of the properties and we

16:36

did Universal Studios and Disney.

16:38

And first of all, that

16:41

trip for four days was

16:44

the most expensive trip that I took.

16:46

It was insanity. I couldn't

16:48

believe. And I said to my family and like, we

16:50

just planned a family trip to go to Orlando. We

16:53

could have gone to Greece like the same

16:55

money for less, Yeah,

16:57

for less. But I do think that

17:00

once you are adding people to the

17:02

trip, people and their ideas and their

17:04

opinions, that's when the budgets

17:06

expand, it's really hard and you can't be

17:08

as flexible. It's true. That is

17:11

true, because it was like, oh, we need to eat

17:13

hear okay, we want to get Voodoo donuts

17:15

and that was it was great, but it was we had

17:18

I think there were eight of us and like twelve

17:20

donuts was like sixty bucks. Right,

17:23

are they amazing donuts? They're pretty good. Yeah,

17:25

they're like a famous Donah, they're pretty good. Yeah,

17:28

I know. The Voodoo with tato chips. Those

17:30

are do you know? That was

17:32

Zapps New Orleans potato chip

17:34

company. I love New Orleans. It was my first

17:37

time there and I was

17:40

really partly overwhelmed

17:43

because there's so much. There's

17:45

like I mean, the stimuli is insane,

17:48

between the colors, the

17:50

crazy people that you see, the sounds

17:52

of the music, the tastes. It was just

17:54

like a sensory overload in the best

17:56

kind of way. And I have this weird thing when I

17:58

travel, like leays go to the hood, I

18:01

always do it, Like it doesn't matter where I am,

18:03

I always figure out, okay, like where do

18:05

the people that are not well off live

18:07

or where, you know, like what's happening. So I

18:10

literally was in like every neighborhood

18:12

in New Orleans, like searching for a second line. You

18:15

know. We were all over the place, just and

18:17

we ended up in like this crazy party that

18:19

was like partly outside and partly indoors

18:21

that we had to walk through a huge metal detector. But

18:24

they had the best crawfish Like they

18:26

had this huge boil. It was unbelievable.

18:29

Just dump it on the table and everybody gets

18:31

in there. It's awesome and the music was great. So

18:33

I have a question about the music were you so you said

18:35

you were making a podcast along the way, what

18:37

kinds of sounds were you recording

18:40

everything and anything I could find? So it's you

18:42

know, as an athe musicologist. I'm looking at how

18:44

music moves a culture, like what is the purpose

18:46

in the culture, And you know music, as you know, there's

18:48

many different layers. You have traditional music,

18:51

you have popular music, you have music

18:54

that's more like for chilling out and meditation

18:56

like that kind of stuff. So for me, I was like,

18:58

okay, what are people listening to? Just across

19:00

the board in Italy. It was really interesting

19:03

to me because everywhere I go I kept hearing reggae tone

19:05

and I was like, what's like the Italian pop music?

19:07

And they're like, this is the attempt this is like what we

19:09

listened to. We listened to this. There was a lot of Italian hip

19:11

hop, but I couldn't find classic

19:14

Italian music. I guess I needed to

19:16

go to a place that was playing classic

19:18

Italian music. But then I found these guys. They

19:21

were like on the street with an upright basse

19:23

and the guy had an accordion and they were making

19:26

music, and I just, you know, in my like broken

19:29

Italian I started talking to them and I'm like,

19:31

Hey, what's this music called? And they started telling

19:33

me about it and they're like, yeah, these are folk songs recorded

19:36

them when I was in Guadalupe, I recorded

19:38

people doing go quam music that were on just

19:40

like randomly on the beach doing it. But

19:42

then I also went to like a zook party and

19:45

did some you know, like recording there to like

19:47

kind of get the vibe of what it feels like to

19:49

be in a dance party. And Guadalupe, you know,

19:51

other places, it was a little bit different. When I went to

19:53

Palm Springs, I went to a sound bath. So

19:56

that's like a totally different type

19:58

of music. It's not pop music,

20:00

it's not classical music. It's healing music. So here

20:02

I am in the middle of the Mojabi desert with

20:04

these massive courts singing bowls

20:07

that they're making, and I'm like, can I record

20:09

this? They're like no, I just

20:11

recorded my mind and then find I'll find

20:13

things to splice in. So

20:25

what would you tell people who wanted

20:27

to implack on this kind of project,

20:30

knowing what you know now, I

20:32

would tell them to plan ahead, be

20:35

flexible, be open to do

20:37

doing something totally different, like traveling

20:39

by yourself or going someplace that maybe you hadn't

20:41

considered but that came up on your radar and

20:44

fits your budget, your time schedule, you

20:46

know, all of that. And I would also tell

20:48

people to leave your expectations

20:52

and be completely open to

20:54

whatever experience that you might have, the

20:56

people that you might meet, the challenges,

20:58

all of it, just like embrace it. No place

21:00

is like home. Every you know, the way the comforts

21:02

of home, the way that people do things

21:04

at home. Whether it's your city and you're going to another

21:07

city or you're going to another country, everybody

21:09

does things differently. So I feel like when

21:11

you travel you have to be patient, you have to really

21:13

really be patient. And part of that for me is

21:15

not having expectations. Like you

21:17

know, we live in a fast paced city, Like I'm used

21:19

to everything happening like right now, and

21:21

that can be like annoying when you're traveling

21:23

because nobody moves the way New York City

21:25

moves. So those are the kind of things like

21:27

for me, that's that's I think the key things for

21:30

anybody that wants to do something like this. And

21:32

when you get money by those tickets, do

21:35

you have any souvenirs that you have brought home

21:37

from every one of your trips? Yeah? I

21:39

do. I get a few things. Um, I

21:42

like to shop. I always want something like cultural

21:45

like that I can wear, so it's either an

21:47

article of clothing or piece of jewelry. Always,

21:50

I always do that. Um. The other

21:52

thing is music. I always bring

21:54

back music like That's probably one of the big things

21:56

for me. Sometimes I bring back instruments. If there's

21:58

an instrument that I've never seen before, I'll buy the instrument,

22:01

as long as it's not like ridiculously expensive,

22:04

which sometimes they are. So

22:06

tell us some of the instruments that you've brought back. I'm curious.

22:09

Piano, Yeah, so I have a mediva.

22:11

I have UM. When I was in Santorini,

22:13

I was like, this is very African, but they're

22:15

like, no, this is from Santorina. I'm like, okay, whatever

22:18

if you say. So. I got like it's like a

22:20

shaker kind of thing. It's like a stick and on the

22:22

end are like husks of some

22:24

type of gourd, yeah, or

22:26

seed or something, and it shakes. I

22:28

have m castanets. Castanets

22:31

from Portugal or from no I got them in Morocco

22:33

actually, but they have a different name for I

22:36

forget what it is, um, but the belly dancers

22:38

use them. So the little tiny castanets

22:41

UM. I have a couple of like ks the

22:43

you know, like the gourd that shakes. I have

22:45

a couple of those from

22:48

I have one from Santegal and I got one in Gambia.

22:51

I have from Cape Verde. I have it's

22:53

called the chebeta. It's a type of drum.

22:55

It's made out of cloth. It's very

22:58

traditional Cape Verdian. When I was in Guadaloupe,

23:00

I got another little type of drum. You know. I

23:02

try to get something that's not like crazy for me to bring

23:05

back on the plane. No, but you have a whole rhythm

23:07

section in the house. And it's fun because

23:09

when I make music with friends, I'm like, oh, bring some instruments.

23:11

Yeah, you have a party, You're like, everybody, grab an instrument

23:14

exactly, let's do this. If

23:16

there's any kind of like little food thing that

23:18

the place is famous for, I usually try to get

23:20

at least a small sample of that. And

23:23

for my son, I always bring well, now he's older

23:25

so he doesn't care, but I still do it. I always bring

23:27

him back a toy that's so sweet.

23:31

Local. You were

23:33

so inspired by your twelve

23:36

and twelve months that you're doing something

23:38

else, aren't you. Yeah,

23:41

I'm sort of insane. I guess you could say, but I

23:43

can actually blame somebody for this. There is a person

23:45

to blame and his name is Christopher hasiotis

23:48

our producer. Christopher was

23:50

like, well, you did seventeen and it's

23:52

twenty. It's a new decade.

23:55

Why don't you just do twenty and twenty? And I

23:57

was like, Okay, why not. Have you made

23:59

your list of twenty and twenty? Yes,

24:03

I have. I have like my wish list. Never been to Asia,

24:05

so I definitely have Asia on my

24:07

list. I would like to go to Japan, Um, maybe

24:10

Bali, Thailand. Those are like

24:12

three places I wouldn't be interested in Korea.

24:14

I'm working on a podcast about Korean culture

24:16

and now I'm like sort of fascinated with all

24:18

with all things Korean. Um ill

24:20

can't get a bad meal in Korea? Is that true? I'll

24:23

say a millionous. Korea is

24:25

crazy. Soul is one of the coolest places I've

24:27

ever been. You're inspiring

24:29

me, so that to Yeah,

24:31

And I've also never been to the Middle East, so that's

24:34

definitely on my list. Where I

24:37

would like to go to Jordan's I think Jordan would

24:39

be an interesting place. Yeah, I've heard it's really beautiful.

24:42

I also would like to go to

24:44

Israel. I would be very interested to see Israel

24:46

and Palestine. Um, I know it's a little bit of a

24:48

dangerous trip, but I still I heard Israel

24:50

is like absolutely breathtaking. It is. Yeah,

24:53

I'd like to go to Turkey. I worked for a Turkish

24:55

television station for several

24:58

years, so I'd love to go and ext pick

25:00

up a lot of the language a little bit a bit.

25:02

Yeah. Good food, yeah, really good food,

25:04

and cool people. Good shopping, yeah, good

25:06

shopping. I also would love to

25:09

go to some other places in South America.

25:12

I've been to French guy On, I've been to Surinam.

25:14

I'd like to go to Brazil, maybe

25:16

Chile, but leaving

25:18

a little bit up to chance as well. I'm leaving a little bit

25:20

up to chance because I

25:23

kind of want I don't want to repeat things. So

25:26

even though I really want to go to Italy

25:29

and I saw great tickets, I'm like, Okay,

25:31

you can go to Italy, but you can't go to Rome, like

25:33

you have to go someplace else in Italy. So

25:36

I bought some tickets. I'm going

25:38

to Cape Bird in April,

25:40

which is where my family is from. So I'm really looking

25:42

forward to that. I haven't been since two thousand fourteen,

25:44

so that's definitely a great trip for me,

25:46

and I'll stop at Morocco. Also, you're

25:49

gonna have a great time. You are right, absolutely

25:51

inspiring traveler. Absolutely, we're

25:53

super excited for the Thank

25:56

you. Thank you so much, so much for joining

25:58

us at the table for one. This has

26:00

been so much fun. Hey, if people wanted

26:03

to follow you, could they

26:05

could they see what you're doing on Instagram or on Twitter?

26:07

Absolutely, Um, you can find me on all social

26:09

media at just my name Marcy Topina. That's

26:12

m A r c y d E and

26:14

it is a capital P I n A. And

26:16

that's our show. Thanks for listening. If

26:19

you like what you heard, please subscribe and

26:21

you know, leave us a five star review. Oh

26:23

Way Ago is a production of I Heart Radio

26:26

and fathom You can find the details we

26:28

talked about in the show notes and on our website

26:30

fathom away dot com. Don't

26:32

forget to sign up for our newsletter when you're there. You

26:34

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at fathom away dot com and follow

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us on all social media at at fathom

26:41

Way to Go. Please tag your best travel

26:43

photos hashtag travel with Fathom.

26:45

If you want to really go deep on the travel inspiration,

26:48

pick up a copy of our book, Travel Anywhere And

26:50

Avoid being a tourist. I'm Jarlyne

26:52

Gerba and I'm Pavio Rosatti, and we'd like

26:54

to thank our producer, editor and mixer Marcy

26:56

Topina and our executive producer, Christopher

26:59

Hassiotis. For more podcasts

27:01

from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart

27:03

Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

27:05

wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M