0:09

Hello, and welcome to Travel Genius. I'm

0:11

Marcos and I'm Nicki Eckstein, where

0:14

the Travel Genius is. Yes, we are, and

0:16

this week we're helping you plan your

0:18

trips for It's new year,

0:20

New you in US.

0:22

We'll be joined by Dr Evan Hampton, the

0:25

globe tritting veterinarian host of Animal

0:27

Planets. Evan goes wild on

0:30

this week's Travel Genius. So

0:42

mark Every year here at Bloomberg we do a

0:44

really really big package that's basically

0:47

our look ahead at where you should go in the coming year.

0:49

So in this year where to go I

0:51

was gonna say this is if anyone is planning

0:53

a trip for this this year, they should

0:55

start with this list. Right. Well,

0:57

I'll tell you what makes it special because a lot of people pub

1:00

wish lists like this that give you kind of the trending

1:02

destinations for the year ahead, or where the cool hotels

1:04

are opening, or where there's a neat museum exhibit.

1:06

We do that, but we layer it with

1:09

data from Google and m insights

1:11

from our favorite travel agents that are experts

1:13

in all of these places, so that you know

1:15

not just why you should go to a particular place,

1:18

but when you should go there based off

1:20

of both seasonality, pricing

1:22

and the recommendations of people who are really in the know. And

1:25

people will find this list in print if they don't

1:27

have to take notes while we're talking. This is really like

1:29

a tease, so they don't have to worry about

1:31

sitting down and grabbing a pen. Okay, so Mark, you and I

1:33

are going to talk about some of our favorites from this list. But

1:35

the list actually encompasses twenty four

1:38

different destinations around the world, and

1:40

you can find it if you want to look at the whole list, you can find

1:42

it in Bloomberg Business Week, in print or online

1:45

just Google. So now we're going to inspire

1:47

people, right so they don't take notes. They just want

1:49

to dream about places. Let's just dream,

1:52

NICKI take me somewhere. Take me to the Caribbean where

1:54

I'm gonna take you to an overwater bungalow

1:57

with a hammock net that juts out over the

1:59

ocean, where you can feel the wind

2:01

in your hair. And it's an Antigua

2:03

of all places. We're both we're both closing

2:05

our eyes and stretching grounds. You can't see this

2:07

right now, um, Why so tell me about Antigua

2:10

I've I've been to the Italian part of Antigua,

2:12

this so southern coast, which is full

2:14

of expat Italians who are in the Marinas.

2:16

This is a new thing for Antigua right well,

2:18

and most of the Caribbean doesn't have over water bungalows.

2:21

In fact, you have to go usually to southeast, as

2:23

are the Maldives in order to find these types

2:25

of accommodations which people dream about and kind

2:27

of pin on Pinterest and flag on Instagram

2:29

and do all of the things. So this is

2:31

for Americans at least, a much more accessible

2:34

way to have that bucket list experience.

2:36

But it's not the only thing that we're excited

2:38

about in Antigua, and all fairness, there's quite

2:41

a few hotel renovations and openings

2:43

throughout the entire island that are all truly

2:46

next level. I mean, there's one place that

2:48

has I mean the bathrooms in the rooms are literally larger

2:51

than my apartment. It's called Hammett Cove, and interestingly,

2:53

it's all inclusive, which is kind of a trend. We're

2:55

flagging for the coming year, and Antigua is rebuilding

2:58

off to the hurricanes, So this is a another if

3:00

you spend money there that's really helping the economy.

3:03

Anyway, a place also not too

3:06

far from Antiqua, but worlds away. Jamaica

3:09

totally on our list, not just for

3:11

all of the things that we know and love about it. But this

3:13

year the Bond movie No

3:16

Time to Die is coming out in April, Daniel

3:18

Craig's last Bond movie. Everyone is Poor

3:20

one out But anyway, I

3:24

think this is it Markum. There's

3:27

a lot going on, and a lot

3:29

of it will let you channel your inner Bond because

3:31

some of the hotels that are renovating and doing

3:33

interesting things are actually insights where the movies

3:36

have been shot over the last couple of decades,

3:38

which is cool. Um. One of those

3:40

is half Moon Resort, which is expanding

3:42

and they're they're opening something called Eclipse at half

3:44

Moon Resort, which it just

3:46

sounds so dreamy. They're going to have like this bar and restaurant

3:49

with palm trees outside and hammocks. Can

3:51

you tell I'm really into hammocks right now? I

3:54

think think he needs a vacation and you can sip

3:56

your rum drinks from a hammock. Is

3:58

it wrong that I wanted to wear a tuxedo?

4:01

To one of those resorts. I want to bring out

4:03

my inner bombs. Okay, well, here's where you do

4:05

it. There's there's a place called Gi Jim

4:07

run by Chris Blackwell who's a very famous

4:10

music producer, and his hotel

4:12

Gi Jim is expanding not just

4:14

to have more really cool rooms, but also a

4:16

stage for live music. It has a recording studio.

4:19

I mean, you can go in there and

4:21

live out your rock star fantasy. Well, he's

4:23

the man who brought Bob Marley to the world, so

4:26

you can trust Chris Blackwell's bonefit

4:28

as when it comes to music. And then I

4:30

will highlight one more before kicking to you. Mark

4:32

about the places that you're excited to get to. But um,

4:35

the one place on the list that I'm

4:38

dying to plan a trip like dying, dying,

4:40

dying is Bolivia. And I've

4:42

always wanted to go to Bolivia, like always. Why

4:45

is Bolivia so exciting right

4:47

now? Because again, I think Bolivia is a mythical

4:50

place. It feels so exciting

4:52

and I can picture lots of amazing

4:54

food and really interesting indigenous

4:56

culture. Well yeah, what now? So the salt

4:58

flats of Uni, I think are a lot of people's bucket

5:00

lists, whether they know the name of them or not. You've seen

5:02

pictures. So yeah, they're

5:05

spectacular, and you know, I think

5:07

it's a totally different experience depending what time of

5:09

the year you visit them. So it's the type of place that you

5:11

could visit more than once in your life and see it totally

5:13

differently. But I do agree

5:15

with you that they're all of those again, disparate

5:17

draws between culture and nature and

5:19

food and so on and so forth. It's

5:22

just always been really hard to find a

5:24

comfortable place to stay, especially when going out

5:26

to the salt flats. You've usually had to camp

5:28

out. Um, the roads are really bad conditions.

5:31

It's it's generally fairly

5:33

impenetrable unless you're very rugged

5:36

type of travel. The infrastructure was

5:38

hit and miss. It's but it's a poor country and the

5:40

infrastructure has been really neglected.

5:42

Yeah, and so there's a company called Explorer

5:44

that's I mean, they're amazing. They run

5:47

South American lodges throughout

5:49

the most spectacular parts of the continent. And now

5:51

they have popped up three different

5:53

camps throughout the salt flats so that you could do kind of a sequential

5:56

circuit And what's neat about Bolivia

5:58

is that as much as the government has been

6:00

going through kind of a difficult

6:02

moment politically speaking, um

6:05

with a political uprising that's

6:07

happened over the last number of months, the people

6:09

of Bolivia have largely been taking

6:11

control of their tourism narrative and coming

6:14

up with locally owned products that are really spectacular

6:17

and will be really game

6:19

changing for that country and its entire

6:21

future. I think it is really near the top of really

6:23

near the top of my list. Can I tell where else? Tell

6:26

me where else? Now it's your Chine. I was gonna say,

6:28

I would I would say I think Cairo

6:30

is a very very interesting

6:32

destination for I'm

6:34

sure people have read over the years

6:37

that Kyra was building some big new

6:39

museum, and it just never seemed to happen. I think

6:41

because every year they were like, this is the year, and

6:43

then it wasn't. People lost faith. Well apparently,

6:46

and I do believe it. Now next year will

6:48

be the year and this extraordinary

6:51

new showcase for Egypt's

6:53

treasures will open in Cairo.

6:55

And you're also seeing new hotels

6:58

opening in Cairo. You're seeing more

7:00

upgraded experience, which I think

7:02

means you can go really have your

7:04

culture fixed, but you're not going to rough it. And

7:07

what I think is cool is that in the past Cairo

7:09

has been seen as an entry point to the rest of Egypt

7:11

draws, so you would go to Cairo because you had

7:13

to fly through there, but you would go to Cairo to

7:15

leave more or less. And

7:19

yes it's true, but now this is the year

7:21

we're staying in Cairo and making a trip out of

7:23

Cairo is feasible and exciting. I

7:25

would also say on a more I think

7:27

on a more on the more traffic list,

7:30

I was very excited to see northern

7:32

Italy there. Everyone knows I've

7:34

talked about Italy a great deal. I worked in Italy.

7:36

It's very near to my heart, but northern

7:39

Italy, especially that part around Milan. Ever

7:41

since there was the Expo in Milan a couple of years

7:43

ago, there's been a little bit more energy

7:46

around there. Milan was again that place

7:48

you flew to in Italy to kind of go somewhere

7:50

because you had to because work sent you there.

7:52

And I think Milan had many charms,

7:55

but they were kind of under the surface. Having

7:57

the Gallery of Vic, the new that new hotel

8:00

open it that's a fabulous

8:02

tell us a little bit more about it. Contextualize that

8:06

he's Uruguayane hotelier. You might have come across

8:08

another one of his namesake hotels, so he's sort

8:10

of bringing his It's ultra ultra

8:13

luxury, right, I mean, it's super bespoken.

8:15

I hate that word normally because it doesn't mean much

8:17

in most circumstances. But this guy designs

8:20

like every bath type individually himself.

8:22

He is a mastermind of design, and

8:25

he's pumped out all of his

8:27

art collection, well part of his art collection into

8:29

each room of the hotel. It's spectacular.

8:32

You know where else I think has amazing hospitality? Australia,

8:35

Well you would do. I mean again, I love

8:38

Australia. We've talked, We've done our deep dive to Australia

8:40

this season. Queensland is

8:42

fascinating. Obviously there are lots of problems

8:44

with the wildfires, but if you head further

8:47

north to the reef, I would

8:49

encourage people to visit the reef again. I think

8:51

we have this eco quandary,

8:53

are we going somewhere that we could damage?

8:56

And what you're seeing with places

8:58

like cruise with sundays and a lot

9:00

more of the sustainable operators

9:03

Australia is taking a responsible approach

9:05

to the reef. Yeah, I think that's right. You know,

9:08

there's definitely a get there while you can mentality

9:10

that's fueling tourism and so they've had to be very

9:12

careful about how they develop and how they

9:14

accommodate the people that want to go. This

9:17

um the product that you're talking about, the cruise Wit Sundays,

9:20

this is just kind of a local sort of scuba

9:22

leaning operator. But they created something called Reef

9:24

Sweets, which is a place where

9:26

you would ideally spend just one night. It's

9:29

a platform, it's more, but it's a floating

9:31

platform near one of the big

9:33

reefs that's part of the Great Barrier Reef, and

9:35

it's underwater, literally underwater

9:38

against sleeping. Cute que jokes about

9:40

sleeping with the I've been told

9:42

you you have to sleep with your pajamazon because

9:45

scuba divers might combine the morning, or

9:47

you could just sleep naked and charge them for the view.

9:51

I will say that I love Queensland. I love

9:53

Brisbane. Brizz Vegas often made fun of brez

9:56

Vegas. I actually think Brisbane is a charming

9:59

part of Australia and we say so

10:01

too. We we agree that it is actually getting

10:03

surprisingly cool, even if you've loved to hit on it

10:05

in the past. And also the rest of Australia's

10:07

kind of any listeners you can tweet as I know, if

10:10

you're from Brisbane you'll feel very defensive of it, but

10:12

the rest of Australia treats it like a punchline. Very

10:14

unfair, you know what. I do wonder if our globetrotting

10:17

guests this week has been there, because he's

10:19

been sort of everywhere, and he's also

10:21

been named People's Sexiest vet

10:23

Alive. We're talking about Evan Anton.

10:26

Dr Evan Anton, one

10:28

of People Magazine's sexiest veterinarians

10:31

alive and also the star of Animal

10:33

Planets TV show Evan Goes Wild. As

10:35

part of that show, he has literally crossed

10:38

the globe looking for indigenous species

10:40

everything from rhino to snakes, in

10:43

every corner of pretty much every

10:45

continent. So let's bring him in. Evan,

10:59

thank you so much for being on the show. We're so happy

11:01

to have you. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having

11:03

me and Evan before we dive in, I'm

11:05

sure you've listened to other episodes, and you know what

11:07

I'm gonna say, Nicky ring your bell. That

11:11

is our trusty hotel bell, which

11:13

we will sound every time a

11:16

particularly amazing genius

11:18

tip is given by you, and

11:20

then at the end of the episode, we will tally

11:22

it up for your episodes. School. All

11:24

right, So, I

11:27

mean, I know that you've been traveling the world for your TV

11:29

show, and I know that you've been working with a lot of the animals

11:31

that people generally do travel for, like

11:33

elephants and rhinos and lions.

11:36

But I know that when you travel for you

11:38

for your passions, there is a particular

11:40

type of animal that you're really obsessed

11:42

with that you love to go see. Talk to us about

11:45

that. Yeah, So a lot of my travels

11:47

involve me trying to find

11:49

snakes native to different countries.

11:51

I'm a huge snake fan, have always been a big reptile

11:53

nerd. I particularly have a

11:55

big pension for venomous snakes, and

11:58

um, my travel, like my international

12:00

traveling, you know, kind of all started

12:03

with hugely in mind looking

12:05

for reptiles and looking for snakes, and that that started

12:07

in Australia. But yeah,

12:09

I wouldn't say that's your common common

12:12

goal for for a lot of people traveling. In

12:14

fact, when when I when I go places

12:16

and I go to these you know, whether it's reserves or cities

12:19

or rural you know, random

12:21

farms or whatever, and I'm asking, you know what kind of

12:23

snakes are native here? They think I'm worried

12:25

about the opposite, and they're like, oh, don't

12:27

worry, we don't see snakes. Often I'm like, no, no, no, you don't

12:29

get it. I want to see as many snakes

12:31

as I can find. Evan. I

12:33

was always told, actually that one of the reasons

12:36

to not be afraid of snakes and spiders

12:38

or whatever might bite you is that the

12:40

reaction if you do get bitten is always

12:43

you need to kill a scorpion or spider and take

12:45

it with you to the doctor, so

12:47

that then whoever you is treating

12:49

you can say, oh, don't worry,

12:51

we're giving you the right venom anti venom.

12:54

Have you come across that, Yeah, I mean it's

12:57

nice to be able to identify what

13:00

kind of animal was than bit or stung

13:02

you. Obviously, um I

13:04

I don't often recommend that because that

13:06

means you're encounter you're you're engaging

13:08

with this animal more than you already were.

13:11

So for people that don't have experience working

13:13

with venomous snakes or spiders or scorpions

13:15

or whatever, that now you're at a higher risk

13:17

of getting stung or bit again. Okay,

13:19

so what should we do? Do you travel

13:21

with anything just in case you do get bit? Like, what's

13:24

your what's your plan? Be your recourse

13:26

in case something goes wrong. I've traveled with

13:28

anti venom before, I've had like dehydrated

13:30

anti venom or a worst case I

13:33

could, you know, put in some sterile sailine or sterile

13:35

water and give myself an ivy injection

13:37

and thank goodness, it's never come to that. Yeah,

13:41

we're looking for advice for our listeners. I wouldn't if

13:44

I tried to give myself an I would probably

13:46

die. But yeah, that would kill me. Yeah

13:48

right, that's my advice. Bring anti venom and

13:50

syringes and sterile, a sterile

13:52

vehicle. I wouldn't engage with it more than you

13:55

need to. I mean, these days we all can take pictures,

13:57

and so if you can take a picture of it, if you if

13:59

you have the wherewithal to be able to

14:01

do that, and that kind of a frightening moment

14:04

and I would do that. So in terms of defending

14:06

defending one's self about from noxious

14:09

creatures, you are going to have a macheteo on

14:11

handed all times, aren't you. Honestly,

14:13

the machete is not for defending against animals.

14:16

It's really just for bush whacking and

14:18

just getting through heavily forced. I love that

14:20

word backing. The only time I've ever encountered

14:22

it was when I was on safari. It's like the guide's favorite

14:24

thing to do. I mean, that's just what you do. I

14:26

mean you can do it in the New World, the Old World. I've done it

14:28

all over the world. I think what Mark was getting

14:31

at was that you like to collect machete

14:33

is is that right? I do? I

14:35

do? That's kind of um. Yeah,

14:37

that's one of the few things I collect, and I

14:39

love collecting machetes around the world. And I never

14:42

I never like buy them at those you know, the trinket

14:45

shops are like those, you know, those prefound ones,

14:47

and they have for tourists. I usually just buy them

14:49

off my guide, so they actually they don't look that

14:51

special. Um. But when

14:53

you're with a guy at camping, you know, in

14:55

the middle of nowhere in the Cardamon Mountain to

14:58

Cambodia for a week, and this is the tool

15:00

and he's used and it's clearly uses

15:02

for just about anything he does. I

15:04

find that fascinating. If I can

15:06

get my guide or you know, someone I was with,

15:09

some you know, really authentic

15:11

tool from them, I find those really really

15:13

neat, and so I do like to collect those. I

15:15

like the idea of bartering, not even

15:18

buying, but bartering for a really

15:20

authentic souvenir. I just I like that idea.

15:22

I also love the point you're making, Evan, which

15:24

is by something from someone. It

15:26

has meaning, It has a story attached

15:29

to it because you think of the adventure you

15:31

had around it. You're planning money directly

15:33

back into the local economy. You know it was made there,

15:36

and it's it's a lovely kind

15:38

of moment to say we finished this. I

15:40

want to say two words to you, because you really you

15:43

struck fear into my soul that I do not

15:45

pack on every trip. Toilet

15:48

paper, tell

15:50

us why no one

15:53

should travel without emergency toilet paper.

15:56

I mean, yeah,

15:58

I mean I do what I mean? Do I really need to say? You just

16:00

you don't want to be in that situation where you don't have toilet paper.

16:02

It's just the worst thing. And I mean there's been times, I

16:04

mean there's there was you know, one of the first times that's

16:07

happened to me. I was in like Tanzania

16:09

and I was I was on this private reserve

16:12

and it was really cool because I got a lot of autonomy.

16:14

I got that I got to do kind of whatever I want. I got to

16:16

walk on the reserve. There wasn't a ton of predators there

16:19

or hippos are really dangerous animals,

16:21

so it was it was relatively safe

16:23

to just kind of walk on your own and do

16:25

a little walk in safari's every day and hang out and

16:27

look for wildlife. Um. But man,

16:30

you know the I had I

16:32

had to take care of some business and I did do it in

16:35

the field. By

16:37

O t p Okay

16:40

No. But but I do. I have a friend.

16:42

I have a friend who's a byot P

16:45

believer. No no, no, no friend,

16:47

someone very close, very much a friend. But

16:49

I learned from her. I learned

16:51

from her. I

16:53

learned from her that they sell toilet paper and little

16:55

ply packs like you know, the Kleenex packs

16:58

that you don't you don't have to bring a role it.

17:01

I do think, though, although I'm not a big fan

17:03

of moist wipes because they're not particularly

17:06

sustainable to use them as substitutes for

17:08

toilet paper. I think when you're traveling, taking

17:10

a little pack of moist wipes which can

17:12

do double duty, say you can do triple

17:14

and quadruple, do do you? Nicki's

17:17

a mother, so I'm sure you've always got moist wipes

17:19

everywhere. But I think thinking about bathroom

17:21

emergencies, thank you. I think there's

17:23

a little ding there because we've all

17:26

been caught short and it's not particularly

17:28

glamorous, but it's a really good reminder.

17:30

I'm sorry the ding was slightly delayed because I had to

17:32

get over my feelings about

17:34

the b y O t P. But yes, I will

17:36

concede it is a good strategy

17:54

as a vet. I'm curious tell us

17:56

about traveling with animals.

17:58

You've traveled four and I'm tell us about

18:01

how people can prep their pets

18:04

better for trips. What do people

18:06

not realize that are great shortcuts

18:08

to get your cat, dog, whatever ready

18:11

to to kind of get on a plane or change

18:13

time zones. I mean, I think one of the most

18:15

helpful things for really doing anything with animals

18:18

is just making you know, making it familiar

18:20

and then making positive associations.

18:24

Okay, And so what I mean by that, like,

18:26

for instance, okay, so say you're gonna take your dog

18:28

and you're gonna travel, you know, from l

18:30

A to New York or vice versa for the holidays,

18:33

and this isn't something they do often. And

18:35

so what I recommend is, you know, have that

18:37

you're gonna have to have. It's probably a carrier or some kind

18:40

of little dog create or something. Um,

18:43

you want to have that create set out,

18:45

you know, a week or two in advance, just in the house,

18:47

just open so you can go in and out. Is leisure,

18:50

Um, I mean for you know a lot of times, initially I'll

18:52

put I'll put treats in there and make it a

18:54

positive place. Or when I do want to reward him, I'll

18:57

go you know, I'll do it from the carrier, you know,

18:59

or not not me in the carrier obviously, but I'll

19:01

put a treat in the carrier and just make it like, hey, this is

19:03

a cool place, is a happy place. I get treats here

19:05

like I like this, like this is cool, you

19:07

know, And then you know, the familiarity,

19:09

you know, doing you know, getting him in the

19:11

crate and going for a little drive and just start

19:14

with a five or time in the drive and then maybe do like a

19:16

little bit longer drive and then you know, do that a

19:18

couple of times before you go. I mean, some pets

19:20

are more mellow than others. You know, there are

19:22

there a lot of pets I work with where you can do something

19:24

the first time and it really doesn't matter. They're

19:27

cool, they're trusting. There, you know your

19:29

pet, right. I think that's right at the end of the

19:31

day. I mean, I think most people do. That's

19:33

smart. Also, I'm curious what you have to say

19:36

about pets's cargo. I

19:38

mean, I I had a big dog, a very big

19:40

dog, so I could never fit her in any

19:42

type of carrier, um much

19:44

less one that would fit under a plane seat. And

19:47

I had relegated myself to never traveling

19:49

with her unless we were driving, because I refused

19:51

to put her under a plane. Talk to us

19:53

about what is the real risk there? You

19:56

hear what happens in the media or

19:58

you know what what the media for trays and those

20:01

rare circumstances where a

20:03

dog gets out or goes missing

20:06

or you know, passes away

20:08

in cargo. So those things technically

20:11

can happen, I mean statistics,

20:13

statistically, I think that's extremely rare,

20:16

but it is a possibility, yeah, I mean

20:18

it doesn't seem as rare the way

20:20

that the media makes it out to. It doesn't seem as rare as what

20:22

you might be saying, right, But I mean it's like shark

20:25

attacks or shark bites or whatever. You know. I mean people,

20:27

there's you know, less than two hundred trunk bites a year

20:29

around the world, but we hear about

20:31

every one, and we think of sharks are getting worse. But

20:34

you know, technically there's millions of people at risk

20:36

of it happening. So I would imagine it's the same

20:38

with dogs. I would imagine there's thousands,

20:41

thousands of dogs traveling every day.

20:43

But when you hear about a French eeping being put

20:45

up in the carry on luggage ben and dying, or

20:47

you hear about a Golden retriever escaping and getting

20:49

out or some you know, stuff like that, like that's

20:51

scary. You know, that gets our attention. Um,

20:55

And so it's you know, I don't know, I don't

20:57

know statistically where it's at I don't know exactly

20:59

how many pets travel every day,

21:02

but I would imagine that's not that common, but

21:04

it's enough where I mean I'm even concerned. You know,

21:06

I think I'm pretty rational about this stuff, but that would concern

21:08

me too. And I'm thankful that my little dog, Henry

21:11

is eight and a half pounds and

21:13

I usually, you know, between us, I put him on

21:15

my lap and put a little sweatshirt

21:17

over him, so the flight attendants don't even see

21:19

that he's out of his carrier. So because

21:21

he's so much more comfortable, Yeah, I mean,

21:23

he's his stress level is so much reduced

21:26

when he's just with

21:28

me. I mean, if he's in his carrier at my

21:30

feet, he'll calm down. But if

21:32

he's on my lap, we can be we can

21:34

be in high turbulence. And this guy

21:36

is like, I'm with Dad. Like, if I'm with Dad, everything's

21:39

gonna be fine. It's totally cool. You

21:41

know, do you have a particular resource

21:44

that you like to use or website

21:46

or something like that where you find pet friendly

21:48

hotels or what are the tools of the trade

21:51

that you like to employ to make sure that you can travel

21:53

with Henry. Once we've traveled. Once we've got got

21:55

him on the plane, tell us about at the destination,

21:57

what what hotel chains a most pet friend

22:00

lee? What who really live up to their claims?

22:02

And are there any secret pet

22:04

travel sites we should know about that you

22:06

check all the time. I

22:08

I I'm sure there are good resources

22:11

for pet travel sites. I mean, when I travel and I'm

22:13

bringing Henry, if I'm staying in a hotel on

22:15

my own accord, I mean, I'll stay looking to buy Wyndham.

22:18

They've always done, you know, a good job, which

22:20

is accommodating business traveling. But then they're

22:23

really pet friendly too, and so I can

22:25

bring Henry everything sorted

22:27

out. You know a lot of those that they will

22:29

have little beds and water bowls and that kind

22:31

of thing just ready for him, and it just it makes everyone's

22:34

life easier. And so that's that's

22:36

I mean, that's one you can definitely trust. I'm

22:38

sure there's others, and I'm sure there's sites too, but

22:41

honestly, I don't I don't know off

22:43

the top of my head. So I'll give

22:45

you I'll give you one tool in that case. Um.

22:48

Interestingly enough, booking dot Com

22:50

has a pet friendly vertical

22:52

where you can find all of the local pet friendly

22:55

hotels. And I found it

22:57

particularly fun because since

22:59

I couldn't fly with my dog, we still

23:01

love doing staycations together. And

23:04

I came to know all the pet friendly

23:06

hotels in New York City. Um, my favorite

23:09

one, I think was the Whitby in Midtown

23:11

because it's right by Central Park and I could take her on walks

23:13

into the park and everything because we live in Brooklyn, so

23:15

it's not that close for us to go there. And

23:18

the staff was just super doting on my

23:20

pop pop and they brought her beautiful bed. And

23:22

you know, all of these types of properties

23:24

that are independent, not associated with a huge

23:26

chain, not easy to identify as

23:28

being pet friendly. You can actually find them

23:30

on booking dot com through a particular

23:33

pet friendly Even if you just search like pet friendly

23:35

booking dot com, it will take you right to that side of the website.

23:37

I would also even if a hotel doesn't

23:40

even if an independent hotel doesn't boast

23:42

that it's pet friendly, it can't

23:44

hurt to email the gym and hello,

23:47

I have a small dog. Here's a picture. Can

23:49

I bring him a home with me? And you know what, small

23:51

dogs are not necessarily the only

23:54

dogs that are easy to travel with. My

23:56

dog Wade ninety or so pounds.

23:58

But she was an amazing traveler because she was super

24:00

lazy. She didn't she didn't

24:03

ever bark. She was a very well behaved

24:05

traveler and people loved her. But

24:07

yeah, all all very fair points. And

24:09

I actually think Nicki is making a great point where

24:12

don't assume that you can't even if

24:14

you if you have a dog and you can't travel with them, don't

24:16

assume you're cut off from vacations. I think

24:18

it's often I love dogs, but I traveled

24:20

too much to leave a dog

24:22

behind that much. But if you

24:24

do have a dog, you can still got to stay in hotel. I'm

24:27

going to give this whole conversation ding

24:31

ding ding. I just I loved traveling with

24:33

my My pet passed away earlier

24:36

in and we can't wait to get another

24:38

one. And part of what it's okay, you know this, this

24:40

is part of having a pet, but I can't wait

24:43

to share these experiences with another animal in

24:45

my life. And I'm going to steal

24:47

your prep your pet solutions for that

24:49

moment in time when it comes. So

24:52

we love that. Evan, what where are you going tell

24:54

us where are you and your dog going next?

24:57

I mean when I travel with Henry. To be honest, it's it's

24:59

just a stick traveling internationally

25:01

with the pet, just f y. I This is probably

25:04

you know, something people should be made aware of. It's

25:06

a lot more complicated. You have to

25:08

get certain international travel health

25:10

certificates. Every country is

25:13

different, um, and some of them

25:15

can be really challenging, Like they have to have a lot

25:17

of documentation, They have to have all these

25:19

different vaccines and checks within the time that

25:21

you go. There's a lot you know that goes

25:23

into it, um and so just be prepared

25:26

for that if you do want to take your pet outside

25:28

of the country, and often there's you know, some countries

25:30

have quarantine periods where your pet

25:32

has to be in quarantine for a week or ten

25:34

days or three months or you know, just there's

25:37

there's Every country is different, So

25:39

be made aware of that, uh, you know, before

25:41

you before you go, and plan well

25:44

in advance for that, like months, be prepared

25:46

because you don't want to show up the day of because

25:48

there's no way they're gonna point international

25:52

travel. If in doubt, I'll ask you that the

25:54

asking months in advance. I think as soon as you get

25:57

the trip on the book to ask your vet. I think that's

25:59

the point that we're wires the ding there, because you would

26:01

oftentimes forget to think about it until a few

26:03

weeks before. And also

26:06

some airlines have limits to how

26:08

many dogs or cats are allowed

26:10

on a single aircraft, so you

26:12

don't want to leave it too late and try

26:14

and book space for your pet and

26:17

find that on the flight you're booked, you're not entitled.

26:19

You know where that's not true on

26:22

a private jet. Yeah, this

26:29

is my ultimate This is my ultimate bucket

26:31

list is so I had a Bernie's Mountain Dog. We

26:33

will have another Bernie's Mountain Dog in due course, and

26:35

my ultimate dream is to take my Bernie's

26:37

Mountain Dog on a private jet. Actually,

26:40

Vista Jet, the Fractional Ownership, it's not a

26:42

Fractional Ownership is a membership club for

26:44

private jet flyers launched a program

26:46

where the chefs will like cook your dog

26:48

some ridiculous meal and serve it and

26:50

like basically China, it's hysterical.

26:53

They treat your dogs like kings and queens. They do

26:55

the dog your dogs better than I usually

26:57

get treated on a plane of the Okay,

27:00

Evan, tell us where everyone can find you. They're

27:02

gonna want to follow along on your travels. What are

27:04

your social media handles that people can sign

27:06

up for? On Instagram, it's Dr

27:08

Evan Anton, so it's d R period

27:11

Evan Anton, E V A N A T I

27:13

N. On Facebook, it's just Evan dot

27:15

Anton. It's my name. Well, we'll definitely

27:17

be following you for sure. Thank

27:20

you awesome, Hey, thank you guys so much for your time.

27:22

Is a lot of fun. Okay,

27:43

nicky, how did Dr Evans school?

27:45

Well? Our very best Traveled

27:48

vet scored a lopping five points.

27:50

One for bartering with guides for the most

27:52

authentic souvenir we've ever heard of. Number

27:55

two for the b y O T P idea

28:00

then is right. Number three for

28:02

the idea that you can prep your pet well ahead

28:05

of a vacation and make their carrier or

28:07

create a really positive place weeks

28:10

ahead of your departure. Number

28:12

four for all of the many pet friendly

28:14

ways to find a hotel, including

28:17

Dr Anton's favorite chain like Quinta,

28:19

and our luxury options that we can

28:21

find on booking dot com. Number

28:24

five the last point. I thought

28:26

this was really counterintuitive. Talking

28:28

to your vet about international travel as

28:30

soon as your trip is booked, even if that's

28:33

months ahead, just to get around any

28:35

weird quarantine issues that you might be looking into.

28:38

I'd more anyone who I love pets. I

28:40

travel so much. I'd more anyone who

28:42

can travel with a pet. It's a lot of extra work,

28:44

but it's worth it. Thanks

28:51

for listening to Travel Genius. I'm Nicky Eckstein.

28:54

I do you have a

28:56

favorite travel tip or hat or do you have thoughts

28:58

on what you heard about today? We want

29:00

to hear them. Just drop us a line at six four

29:02

six three two four three nine

29:05

zero. If you leave a voicemail, we might

29:07

even play it on the show. Or you can find

29:09

us on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Nikki

29:11

Xstein that's three ks and no ces, and

29:14

I'm on Twitter at Mark j Ellwood and Instagram

29:16

at Mark Ellwood. If you haven't subscribed

29:19

to travel Je's already, I would ask why not, but

29:21

of course you can do so on Apple Podcasts,

29:24

Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

29:26

And while you're at it, please take a moment to rate and

29:28

review the show on Apple Podcasts. It helps

29:30

more people find us. This show was

29:33

produced by Tofur Fees. Francesco

29:35

Leafy is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks

29:37

again for listening.