0:00

On parts unknown, Anthony

0:02

Bourdain helped to see the world with new

0:04

eyes from beautiful temples and Myanmar.

0:07

My crew and I are among the first to record

0:09

what has been un seen for decades by

0:11

most of the world to sharing meals with

0:13

trailblazers on the lower east side of New York

0:15

City. When was the last time that something that's put

0:17

in your mouth. I know you eat well, but this is like

0:19

This is pretty incredible. Now you can

0:21

revisit your favorite episodes right from

0:24

your podcast feed. Anthony Bourdain,

0:26

Parts unknown. Listen wherever you

0:28

get your podcasts.

0:39

I'm

0:39

Katrina Tawsey, and this is Out Travel

0:41

the System.

0:56

Hello.

0:56

Hello. And welcome to the

0:58

final episode of the season.

1:01

I can't believe it. It has been such

1:03

a great couple of episodes that we've

1:05

had here this season. We have learned so

1:07

much. We've had some unbelievable guests

1:10

on. I'm really, really happy with just

1:12

all of the knowledge that's been shared.

1:15

This week, we'll be revisiting some of

1:17

our favorite conversations and

1:19

episodes that feature the best of what

1:21

we found out about travel takeaways

1:23

for you to plan your next vacation.

1:26

I've had so many eye opening conference

1:28

stations this season. Each guest was

1:30

jam packed with expert tips, tricks,

1:33

advice, hacks, and more

1:35

on everything about travel. vacations

1:38

for extended family, orchestrating special

1:40

honey moons, or maybe taking that big

1:43

epic bucket list trip. Our guests

1:45

covered all of it this season, and I'm

1:47

so excited to revisit our favorite moments.

1:49

This season, we did something

1:52

fun and coined the term, doppelganger,

1:55

Des destinations, which for me

1:57

was a really fun conversation because

1:59

we're all about trying to make travel

2:02

accessible for everybody and sometimes

2:04

it's not that easy whether it's distance

2:07

or price. So finding some

2:09

alternatives to some of the most popular

2:11

tourist spots was a really great

2:13

way of hopefully opening

2:16

eyes to all of the different options that they have

2:18

out there. For me, one of them was

2:20

Montreal. And while Paris isn't

2:23

something that you can really

2:25

replace. Going to Montreal felt

2:27

like a pretty good second

2:30

Right? I sat down with travel journalists

2:32

Shavon Reid to discuss some of the

2:34

uncanny destinations that sort

2:36

of give that same out of this world

2:38

experience, but are maybe a little less

2:40

tourasty and in some cases less

2:42

expensive. In terms of doppelganger

2:44

destinations for

2:46

Santorini and Mikonos, I

2:48

have a few faves. Last

2:51

summer, I traveled to Paros

2:53

and anti Paros, and

2:55

these

2:55

are kind of within the same

2:58

they're within the same island chain Santorini

3:00

and and Nicos.

3:01

So easy to access

3:04

from from Athens. And

3:06

I just thought that these two islands

3:08

are the ultimate Greek islands. You

3:11

could easily travel between them. Tariffs

3:13

has more sightseeing It

3:16

has great restaurants. It has these

3:18

beautiful mountain

3:18

villages. It has the seaside villages.

3:22

There's so much to do and discover

3:24

And once you kinda get your fill,

3:26

you

3:26

can go more

3:28

off the grid

3:29

to antivirus, which

3:31

is more laid back, a little bit more

3:34

a little bit less developed.

3:35

on And

3:37

you can you know, I I rented a motorcycle

3:39

and drove along the coast,

3:40

and it was amazing. I felt like

3:42

I had the islands myself. So for

3:45

a lot of Americans going to

3:47

Montreal is a little bit of an easier

3:49

trip than flying all the way to Paris France.

3:51

So I love that we

3:52

sort of talked about that as an option. I

3:55

am a big fan of Montreal

3:57

and Quebec City. Sure.

3:59

It's not Paris.

3:59

And, you know, Paris

4:02

is just one of those cities that let's be real.

4:04

It it has no equal. Paris has it

4:06

all. It's it's singular and it's beauty.

4:08

But Montreal and

4:10

Québec City offer

4:12

incredible history. Both cities

4:15

have UNESCO recognized

4:17

old towns, Cobex

4:20

City is actually

4:20

home to the largest fort in North America.

4:23

I have no idea. And it's the only

4:25

walled city north of Mexico.

4:27

So, Quebec City is a fascinating

4:29

place to discover, and the

4:31

cuisine in Quebec is truly

4:34

wonderful. Like, I I

4:36

go back often. And I'm

4:38

always amazed at kind of like the culinary

4:40

tapestry in in Quebec, I

4:42

think, because you have

4:43

so many people from all over the world

4:45

living in the province. You

4:47

know,

4:47

it's not just French bistros. You

4:50

also have

4:50

incredible shawarma shops. You have

4:53

incredible Israeli food. You have

4:55

Mexican restaurants. And

4:56

then in Montreal, it's

4:58

it's a city to

4:59

be a slinter in. You

5:01

know, it's it's one of those places you just wanna

5:03

walk around and kind

5:04

of lose time in. You

5:06

don't need a map. Just role.

5:08

Start in the downtown. Go to

5:10

the plateau. Go to the mile end.

5:13

Like like Paris is

5:15

just a wonderful

5:16

city to to stroll around.

5:19

Planning for a vacation is frankly

5:21

a daunting experience.

5:23

but as we've learned this season, it

5:25

doesn't really have to be. Your

5:28

dream vacation is actually a

5:30

lot more attainable than you might think.

5:32

And as we all know,

5:34

you never really know when that window

5:36

of opportunity will fully close.

5:38

And hopefully, twenty twenty doesn't

5:41

make a reappearance, but at least now

5:43

we're prepared for it. This

5:45

guest was Travel Icon and bestselling

5:47

author of a thousand places to see

5:49

before you die, Patricia Schultz.

5:51

And we learned how actually planning

5:54

for that bucket list vacation is

5:56

not out of reach. We chatted

5:58

about turning your wildest travel

5:59

plans from dreams to

6:02

reality. Yeah. Do

6:03

you need eleven pairs of shoes every third

6:05

month? Or do you need the new iPhone,

6:07

you know, every year? I've never had a

6:09

car. I mean, my transportation was

6:11

an airplane instead of you

6:13

know monthly auto loan payments. So

6:15

it's it's all about priorities, I think,

6:17

and when travel is

6:18

foremost on on your

6:20

list of what's important to

6:22

you, hopefully, you've got a bucket

6:24

list of your own. You've seen a movie.

6:26

You've seen a documentary. You've gone

6:28

out with, you know, a guy from Amsterdam

6:30

and

6:30

you're desperate to see where he came

6:33

from because you've never been

6:35

and you've heard only wonderful

6:35

things. And so kind of narrow it

6:38

down to three or four and see what's feasible.

6:40

And then see if you do have a traveling

6:42

mate who's on the same page

6:44

and wants to see the same places you do

6:46

and at the same time. And if

6:48

that doesn't happen, like I said, solo

6:50

travel is a wonderful thing.

6:52

I can't encourage it enough. Even

6:54

if it's your first time, I

6:56

couldn't have agreed with her more.

6:58

And see, this is where I thought

7:00

Patricia was really great to talk

7:02

to because we learned a lot

7:04

of different ways to really capitalize

7:07

on airline miles and sort

7:09

of maximize the way to

7:11

travel frugally. And while Patricia

7:13

might encourage us all to really max

7:15

out our credit cards, I feel like we've

7:17

got a bit of a balance now with some

7:19

of her helpful tips. I can't tell

7:21

you how many people are not saving

7:23

their points. And it's just like, you know,

7:26

miles out the window that, you know,

7:28

it you may not get a free ticket

7:30

every month and a half, but over the course of

7:32

a year, you can probably accrue

7:34

enough mileage

7:36

points with any of

7:38

the airlines to

7:40

get you to Europe or to get you

7:42

to, you know, to Manitoba

7:45

to see the polar bears or to get

7:47

you to the Dominican Republic.

7:49

So be very, very conscious that

7:51

these possibilities are

7:53

real and they're, you know, yours for

7:55

the cost of signing up with credit

7:58

card, which sometimes will have joining

7:59

options that are as

8:02

much as thirty thousand, forty thousand miles.

8:04

and that's half your ticket to

8:07

Paris. Patricia also gave

8:09

us some really good reminders.

8:10

Time is running out for some destinations

8:13

and simply

8:15

we're all getting older and it

8:17

can be a little bit harder sometimes

8:19

to shop around the way we used to.

8:22

Certainly, if you have kids, that's for sure.

8:24

The pandemic literally took

8:26

years away from travel. So

8:29

She was really a good reminder that now is

8:31

the time to take advantage. If you've got

8:33

the means and you've got the able body,

8:36

get out there and see those spots because

8:38

you never know what's gonna happen. Yeah.

8:40

And I usually get it

8:41

from older folks.

8:42

And just two nights ago

8:44

at some place I was on

8:46

the book tour for why we travel.

8:47

A woman said that she

8:50

was one of legions of

8:53

people who waited until she retired.

8:55

And this is especially not

8:57

good because people are retiring

9:00

later and later in life. often

9:02

because they have to financially,

9:04

sometimes because they love their jobs so

9:06

much. So, you know, you don't wanna

9:08

oh, I'm so tired

9:09

or all of a sudden,

9:10

my vacation time, I have to use

9:12

it within the next forty

9:13

eight hours or so I didn't make any

9:15

plans, so I'm gonna organize my closets

9:17

or I'm gonna paint the deck or I'm going to,

9:20

you know, I don't know, take the kids out.

9:22

People have all kinds of excuses.

9:24

But if you wanna travel, you need

9:26

a plan. It has to be your

9:28

reality, and you have to do it and not

9:30

just when you're retiring or

9:32

when you're, you know, on your honeymoon.

9:34

I mean, make that honeymoon happen

9:36

alone. I'll

9:36

just say it, packing and

9:39

packing well for that matter can

9:41

be a nightmare, but

9:43

I will tell you this. Since I

9:45

had a chance to speak with

9:47

celebrity stylist, Jennifer

9:49

McCalskey Bray, I used to be a

9:51

chronic over packer And let me

9:53

tell you, I'm not anymore.

9:55

This past Thanksgiving, I packed

9:57

only what I needed, I wore absolutely

9:59

everything I packed, and I feel like I owe

10:01

it all to Jennifer. I

10:03

think this circles back to wearing

10:05

neutrals again or wearing something that's

10:07

total, so you can mix and match different

10:09

pieces. that you packed. So you could

10:11

pack, you know, eight pieces instead

10:13

of sixteen because you can

10:15

mix and match and wear them again. And

10:17

when you steam, going back to

10:19

steaming, it basically cleans the

10:21

outfit for you. So, like,

10:23

it gets rid of all of those germs

10:26

and it's basically, like, washing your

10:28

shirt. She also talked about

10:30

what to wear to the airport to

10:32

maximize room in your

10:34

suitcase for more cute outfits,

10:36

which I also did for Thanksgiving.

10:38

I wore my UGG boots on the plane

10:40

because I was going home to Chicago

10:42

and it was absolutely freezing, which

10:44

it's not in Seattle. So

10:46

I still wore those boots because I wanted to save space.

10:48

Loads of layering. So I

10:50

will always be in a plane in

10:52

layers if it's gonna be colds.

10:55

And I always find that super handy, and

10:57

you only need, like, one jacket or

10:59

one card again. You don't need to have a

11:01

different jacket or card again. for each

11:03

outfit because you're

11:05

packing a tonal wardrobe

11:07

so that jacket or cardigan will match

11:09

everything else that you have in your

11:11

suitcase. And lastly,

11:13

Jennifer shared her essential

11:15

items to pack when traveling with

11:17

kids, which we all know is a

11:19

bit of a trying

11:21

time. So all the tips are

11:23

welcome. Well, back when I was

11:25

breastfeeding, I love the

11:27

LV pump because I went straight

11:29

back to work, so I didn't take any

11:31

time off after the kids. I just kind

11:33

of, like, made do and would, like, have

11:35

them strapped to me on set

11:37

and just bring them around for fittings

11:39

just dangling off

11:41

me. So I

11:43

would have, like, the LV pumps

11:45

when they couldn't be with my ears so I

11:47

could pump and it's you know,

11:49

not attached to anything and

11:51

just stick them in your bra and

11:53

it has a little app on your phone. It's

11:55

so so handy. Yeah. So

11:58

good for any new moms. It's worth the investment

12:00

because I know they're not very cheap,

12:03

but it's something that I highly

12:05

recommend. I think if adults go to

12:07

a New World Resort, it's really

12:09

only fair that they also get to have a little

12:11

bit of fun. Whether it's a

12:13

break from the family, a quick trip to

12:15

the bar, I spoke to a certified

12:18

Disney expert to get some firsthand

12:20

advice. And let me tell you this

12:22

conversation was

12:24

so fun. And we have done

12:27

three Disney episodes on

12:29

Out Travel the System. And every

12:31

single time, I walk away

12:33

feeling a, super

12:35

informed and be

12:37

super jazzed about going to Disney.

12:39

And it's always new

12:41

information, like literally nobody has

12:43

shared the same tip

12:45

more than one. So a note

12:47

to all of you to go back and make sure you

12:49

listen to all of the Disney episodes that we've

12:51

got because they have so

12:53

much good information. But let's

12:55

hear what Lou actually had to say.

12:58

So

12:58

it basically is themed after sort

13:00

of old Victorian era of

13:02

Florida. So if you

13:04

imagine the the hotel door coronado

13:06

in San Diego with

13:09

the white exterior with those

13:11

red shingled roofs, very

13:13

delicate ornate features in

13:15

it. Disney's highest end restaurant or

13:17

something called the Toryn Albert. It's a it's a

13:19

triple a five diamond award

13:21

winning restaurant absolutely gorgeous

13:23

and some of the best food you'll have anywhere.

13:25

And you're right on the monorail loop. So you

13:27

can literally hop on a monorail from the

13:30

resort or take a boat across

13:32

the lagoon and you'll be right at the steps of

13:34

magic kingdom. If you have young kids and maybe

13:36

you wanna take and sometimes if you come in

13:38

summer, you're gonna maybe need to take a

13:40

nap in the middle of the afternoon the

13:42

ease of accessibility of quickly

13:44

getting back to your resort for a

13:46

nap, for a swim in the pool, you

13:48

know, maybe you need to change your kids or whatever

13:50

it might be. there's a lot of

13:52

value that I think has to be factored

13:54

into that. We

13:55

all know Disney can also be a little bit

13:57

expensive at times, but what was great about

13:59

the conversation with Liu was that

14:01

he had a lot of really

14:03

good inside tips on the

14:05

best seasons to go to Disney

14:07

to get a more affordable price. So

14:10

sometimes the time of year that you go

14:12

makes actually a big difference, and

14:14

Lou had all the

14:14

details. So value season is a

14:16

is a number of times throughout the year. So it's

14:19

the first week after New

14:22

Year's. It's also the

14:24

middle of January to early February. Right?

14:26

As long as you start avoiding some of

14:28

the president's day in in some

14:30

of the holidays. But even like in

14:32

August, mid August to early September when

14:34

the kids are getting back into school, that's

14:36

also it's a nice sort of easy way to sort

14:39

of sneak in, like, it's

14:41

summertime, but it's value season.

14:43

So again, there's no sort of defined

14:45

this date to this date, this date to this

14:47

date, there they come and go. But so

14:49

value season might be around

14:51

seven sixty if you wanna come

14:53

for Christmas. Right? The the busiest

14:55

time of the year, you wanna come in between,

14:57

you know, December fifteenth

14:59

through Christmas day, number is

15:01

gonna jump up to about twelve hundred. dollars

15:03

I

15:03

think a highlight of this episode

15:05

though was Lou telling us all

15:07

about the most affordable

15:09

Disney resorts and what

15:11

their accommodations could look like

15:13

for the entire family. Knowing

15:15

the difference between the top of

15:17

the line and maybe something that's a little bit

15:20

more budget friendly, I thought

15:22

was really, really helpful for people to

15:24

understand what the trade offs might

15:25

be. Disney has basically four

15:28

moderate resorts. There's Caribbean

15:30

beach, Coronado Springs, and

15:32

then Port Orleans has two resorts. There's

15:34

the Port Orleans French quarter

15:36

and Port Orleans riverside. And honestly,

15:38

these are some of my favorite resorts on

15:40

property. I think they really sort of hit

15:42

a sweet spot in terms of theming,

15:45

location, dining, amenities,

15:48

and even transportation because

15:50

places like Disneyland Beach

15:52

Resort you have access to

15:54

the skyliner. Corn on our springs, you have

15:56

access to the skyliner. These beautiful

15:58

very quiet serene skyway

16:01

buckets that will take you to

16:03

other resorts, as well as

16:05

places like Disney's Hollywood studios

16:07

or EPCOT. So you don't have to worry about

16:09

a bus. You don't have to worry about getting on a

16:11

boat. That skyliner that's going back

16:13

and forth runs throughout the day and the

16:15

evening. And the theming in the resort is

16:17

gorgeous. Portland's French quarter is

16:19

the smallest of all of the Disney

16:21

resorts in terms of size,

16:23

but it's also I think one of beautifully

16:25

well themed. There's an intimacy to it

16:27

on these small quiet streets

16:29

with broad iron railings that make you

16:31

feel as though you are in the

16:33

heart of the French quarter, but yeas in

16:35

the morning are awesome too, for as long as we're gonna

16:38

mention it. And again,

16:40

modern resort prices are going to,

16:42

you know, offer you a much

16:44

greater discount. You can stay at a place

16:46

like Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

16:48

for two hundred

16:50

fifty or so dollars during

16:52

value season. Obviously, that'll go up to

16:54

probably, you know, in the five hundreds

16:56

for a similar room. but

16:58

it's I think it's actually a great value

17:01

for all of those different

17:03

factors. And if it's

17:03

better for you and your family to

17:06

maybe stay off the property and

17:08

not necessarily in the park?

17:10

No worries. Lou even had all the

17:12

answers for that too. There's

17:13

somewhat of a secret

17:15

hotel option. And I think a lot of visitors,

17:18

not just to Disney, but the Orlando area don't

17:20

think about, or what Disney likes to call

17:22

their good neighbor hotels. So

17:24

in Walt Disney World property, there's an area

17:26

called Disney Springs. I consider

17:28

it like Disney's Fifteen Park because

17:30

it is a huge dining,

17:33

entertainment, recreational that you don't need

17:35

a theme park ticket for, but has

17:37

some of the best restaurants not to Walt

17:39

Disney World Orlando, but like some of the best

17:41

food I've ever eaten anywhere.

17:43

There's a served asole show

17:45

there. There's a lot of stuff for

17:47

adults to do at night, families to do together.

17:50

But on hotel Plaza Boulevard,

17:52

just literally like across the street,

17:54

from Disney Springs are some Disney good

17:57

neighbor hotels. There's a

17:59

Wyndham, there's a double tree, there's

18:01

a Hilton there's a holiday in, there's

18:03

a a dreary resort that's being built

18:05

now that are literally within walking

18:07

distance of Disney Springs, have

18:09

a lot of the same amenities

18:11

and privileges of that the Disney

18:14

owned and operator resorts get,

18:16

but oftentimes at a much lower

18:18

rate as well. You could stay at the Wyndham

18:20

in Disney Springs for about a hundred

18:23

dollars a night in value season.

18:25

Yeah. And sometimes the rooms are even

18:28

bigger too. You're not gonna get all the

18:30

theming, but they have pools, they

18:32

have restaurants, and you're literally a

18:34

walk across the street where you can hop on

18:36

busy transportation if you want to.

18:37

So every

18:38

year, we also do a

18:41

family travel episode because

18:43

we know it's in credibly

18:46

stressful for everybody to plan

18:48

and go, but we

18:50

learned once again that it doesn't

18:52

have to be. Another great guest that we

18:54

had was this incredible family

18:56

and travel journalist, Nevan

18:58

Martell, whether it's choosing the right

19:00

kind of hotels or planning different

19:03

activities and itineraries, he really had

19:05

all the answers. This

19:07

episode was super helpful for me,

19:09

especially because the holidays are right around the

19:11

corner. But also he

19:13

really inspired and reminded me

19:15

the beauty that traveling with your

19:17

family and kids can really bring. And

19:19

while We sometimes avoid

19:21

situations like that because we don't wanna deal with

19:23

the stress. He kind of reminded that that's

19:25

almost part of the fun event. So let's hear

19:27

what Nevan had to say. I find

19:29

when traveling with big groups that, you

19:31

know, something I always look for whether

19:34

we're renting a property or we're at a

19:36

hotel, you know, a water feature,

19:38

whether it's on the beach or it has a

19:40

pool. If it's that time of year,

19:42

you know, even if it's if there's a hot tub, you

19:45

know, that's always a great

19:47

feature for every age group in

19:49

the family.

19:50

This next tip was a personal favorite of

19:52

mine because I think sometimes when you're

19:54

planning these trips, you want

19:57

everyone to do all of the same things and do

19:59

it all together. But

20:01

Nevan kind of reminded us that that's

20:03

not necessarily the case and you

20:05

can carve out some time for

20:08

yourself, set some boundaries without

20:10

really feeling guilty about it.

20:12

Absolutely.

20:12

I think you're right in the sense that

20:14

people feel like this is our family

20:16

time together, so it has to be all family

20:19

all the time. But think about your normal

20:21

life. That's not the way normal life is.

20:23

It's like people go off to work, people go off to school, people go off

20:25

to do their extracurriculars. They take their job

20:27

in the evening. Whatever. When

20:30

you suddenly say, like, for the next seven to ten days or

20:32

whatever it is, we're all gonna spend all

20:34

this time altogether. that's

20:37

that's just weird and abnormal for people. People

20:40

need their time on their own. And people

20:42

have their own interests that are specific

20:44

to them. Let them enjoy themselves.

20:47

And if you're where the planning hat

20:49

in your family, Nevan gave some

20:51

great advice on that too. Well, what I like

20:53

to

20:53

do is, like, my rule in

20:55

life is if if you're the

20:57

cook, you don't clean up. And so if

21:00

you plan the trip, you know, there's

21:02

gonna be drudge work that happens on that

21:04

trip. So delegate and

21:06

give people stuff that you don't wanna

21:08

do. And, you know, if they give

21:10

you grief about it, just remind them how

21:13

much work you did to get

21:15

them there and how much work you're doing as

21:17

you're there. Don't over plan,

21:19

plan just enough so that there's

21:21

flexibility in your schedule there's

21:23

time for people to just enjoy a place at

21:25

their own pace and do what they wanna do.

21:27

Try to pick activities that are

21:29

both within people's comfort zones, but

21:32

also pick activities that are

21:34

slightly out of people's comfort zones that introduce

21:36

them to new things, whether that's new

21:38

cuisines or new kind

21:40

of adventure elements to a trip. nothing

21:42

too far out. But, you know, push

21:44

people to get out of their comfort

21:46

zones and really experience the

21:48

place that you're in, the people that you're

21:50

meeting, the things that you're doing. the last

21:52

piece of advice I would give is

21:54

that every trip you take is

21:56

really prep for the

21:58

next trip you take as a family. that

21:59

if things go really bad because

22:02

of you, you know, I am always

22:04

thinking, like, I want this trip to go well

22:06

enough that we all wanna go on a trip

22:08

together again soon. and

22:10

just conduct yourself

22:12

well in the world. And

22:14

of course, everyone's favorite

22:17

episode year after year if

22:19

you're looking for tips on the best

22:21

time to book, whether it's a

22:23

flight or lodging

22:25

My data correspondent, Christie Hudson, had

22:27

the latest Expedia data on

22:29

holiday travel. First, here's what

22:31

Expedia Traveler data is saying about

22:34

holiday travel twenty twenty two.

22:36

Airfare is pricey. The

22:38

combination of strong traveler demand

22:40

and airlines not fully up to their

22:42

pre COVID capacity levels

22:44

means that ticket prices are higher than normal for

22:46

the holidays. So the key to

22:48

saving a bit of money on airfare

22:50

is to be strategic about your

22:53

travel dates.

22:53

You can actually save

22:56

between twenty and thirty percent

22:58

just by departing on the Monday

23:00

before the holiday instead of

23:02

over the weekend. So this season, we learned of

23:05

a new trend popping up in

23:07

the honeymoon space. We

23:09

learned about a little thing called

23:11

dual moons, which ironically,

23:13

I actually did myself

23:16

when I got married about ten

23:18

years ago. We did

23:20

a quick little trip to Belize and

23:22

then saved up the big

23:24

big trip for when we went to

23:26

Switzerland later on that summer.

23:28

So I guess you can call me a trendsetter

23:30

and I didn't even know I was.

23:32

So let's hear from Mike and Anne

23:34

of HoneyTrak who are currently on

23:36

the world's longest honeymoon. And

23:39

that's totally what

23:39

the duo moon is for. Right? It's

23:42

stay a few days. Tell all your friends, we did

23:44

this at our wedding. We got married on

23:46

a Saturday And we said, hey, guys, we're

23:48

throwing a big party on Sunday for

23:50

anybody who wants this day. We really only told our,

23:52

you know, the young kids, you know, we

23:54

didn't We didn't tell the the old folks about it,

23:56

but we had, like, forty five

23:58

or forty eight people stay for a

24:00

Sunday party. a lot even stayed Monday nights, so

24:02

we had two nights at the wedding, then we did our

24:04

little three, four day mini moon. And

24:06

then you can be like, okay. Well, yeah, we're

24:08

not gonna go to London in

24:10

November. But if we wanna go in the springtime

24:12

when things are blooming for the queen's

24:14

jubilee, cool. Back to our Instagram thing. If

24:16

you see it featured on Instagram,

24:19

look at other locations even in that same country.

24:21

Right? Your hotels will be cheaper. People will

24:23

be more friendly to you when you get there because

24:25

you're not just another tourist

24:27

crowding their city and creating waste and and

24:30

traffic. On that

24:31

same note is we lean on

24:33

these household names. So you're like, honeymoon.

24:36

What does that mean? Bali, Maldives,

24:38

you know, and Paris.

24:40

And then Ben, it's it's that we

24:42

need to expand our vocabulary. It's

24:44

almost like, you shouldn't know the name.

24:47

the plates are going. You should go based on what interests you,

24:49

not what you've heard before.

24:51

One of the reasons why we really wanted

24:53

to talk to Anne and

24:55

have them on the show was because they've just

24:57

been on so many

24:59

honeymoon. They have so many tips

25:01

and they know exactly what are

25:03

the core elements that just make for a

25:05

great honeymoon. I think it's

25:08

mixing it up. Even if you have the

25:10

budget for five star hotels every

25:12

single night, that is a

25:14

very limited view of a place. You have

25:16

just traveled in theory across the

25:18

world and to

25:20

reach create the comfort that you know from home.

25:22

You're not getting the most out of that travel experience.

25:24

because this is

25:25

this is your opportunity. This is

25:27

the chance when your parents aren't gonna

25:30

think it's weird that you're going for a three

25:32

week trip to Southeast Asia. Your

25:34

boss is also gonna approve

25:36

it because he's like, wow, this is your

25:38

honeymoon. Okay? gift to you. Here's an extra week

25:40

vacation. We'll get somebody to cover

25:42

for you.

25:42

Whether it's Expedia or an

25:45

airline or your favorite hotel

25:47

company, there are a lot of really

25:49

great rewards programs out there that can

25:51

save you and your

25:53

family hundreds of dollars

25:55

each year that can go towards your

25:57

next trip. There's so

25:59

many deals and rewards

25:59

programs out there in the world

26:01

of travel, though, that make it a

26:03

little bit intimidating and

26:05

hard to know where to start. And if you're not somebody

26:08

who travels all the time, sometimes you

26:10

might think that it's not even worth it to sign

26:12

up. I got a chance to sit down with

26:14

the Points Guy writer Catherine Fan to

26:16

talk about some of the ways that

26:18

the pandemic has really changed

26:20

airline bookings and some of her hacks

26:22

for favorite loyalty programs.

26:25

Well, I think some of the

26:27

typical trends you'll see when it comes to

26:29

sale fairs is just kind of think of it

26:31

from the bigger picture If these are

26:33

countries or destinations that

26:35

heavily rely on tourism and

26:36

have been really impacted by the

26:38

pandemic the last couple of years,

26:41

they're gonna be very motivated to offer

26:43

rates that are encouraging

26:45

for travelers who may not have been there

26:47

in the last couple of years.

26:50

So I think one reason we saw

26:52

Croatia and Amsterdam being such

26:54

wobbly popular places

26:55

to go again this past summer

26:57

was precisely because of that. So

26:59

I would encourage travelers

27:00

to keep a running list of places

27:02

that you'd like to go. And

27:05

whenever your board honestly just run them

27:07

through a flight

27:09

search tool, plug

27:11

them into Expedia. And

27:12

also, our lovely data correspondent,

27:15

Christy Hudson, had some

27:17

great Pointer specifically about how the

27:19

Expedia Rewards program works and some

27:21

of the hacks and tips that you can use

27:24

there. So first of all, Expedia Rewards lets you earn

27:26

and redeem points on anything you

27:28

book on Expedia. That means flights

27:30

and hotels, yes, but

27:33

also car rentals and

27:35

activities. So if you have some

27:37

points from a hotel stay, you can

27:39

then redeem them later on a car

27:41

rental or a sunset

27:42

catheter and cruise, for example.

27:44

There's

27:44

also no minimum needed to start

27:46

redeeming points, so you can start saving

27:49

after just one trip. And then the third

27:51

thing to know is once you collect

27:53

enough trip elements, you earn

27:55

silver and eventually gold

27:57

status. this doesn't actually take

27:59

long. In

27:59

fact, it's completely possible to get to

28:02

silver in just one trip.

28:04

And members with status

28:06

earn points faster and get perks

28:08

like free breakfast and room upgrades

28:11

at thousands of hotels on

28:13

Expedia. So those are all

28:15

the basics. that there are a few additional ways to

28:17

maximize on the program. Number

28:19

one,

28:19

always use the Expedia app.

28:21

You'll earn bonus points on every single

28:24

booking. Number

28:24

two, and this is truly

28:26

my favorite hack. You can still

28:28

earn your frequent fire miles on

28:30

top of your Expedia rewards points.

28:33

you just enter those mileage plans in at checkout

28:35

and then you're double dipping. You

28:37

can learn more about the Expedia Rewards

28:40

program on our blog So

28:42

just head to Expedia dot com

28:44

forward slash outtravel the

28:46

system. I thought I was well

28:48

traveled until I started

28:50

reading more about our guests. Jessica

28:53

Nabango. Jessica really

28:55

instilled a new sense of

28:57

fearlessness within me, and

28:59

I personally have always felt like I was someone

29:01

who was open to a little

29:03

bit of adventure and took

29:06

some risks but let me tell you

29:08

after I spoke to Jessica, I

29:10

definitely feel like I can push

29:12

myself a little bit

29:14

further. It was so great So

29:16

let's hear from Jessica on some of her valuable

29:18

trip experiences. Of

29:20

those three. Like, they all made the

29:22

book because they're all amazing places, but

29:25

Venezuela was probably one of the top

29:27

three just because the beaches in

29:29

Los Durokas were amazing. Like,

29:31

just stunning Caribbean beaches.

29:33

South Sudan was

29:36

really amazing, so I connected

29:38

with some local people. And we

29:40

spent a long time,

29:41

like, several hours in a

29:42

cattle camp. because cattle are

29:45

incredibly important in Zinca

29:47

culture. Zinca know more about the

29:49

culture, more about the the political

29:51

history was really amazing. Obviously, it's the world's

29:53

newest country. Mhmm. Then so

29:55

MALIA was great. Being able to connect

29:57

with local people is always the

29:59

best

29:59

for me. So you know, we went to the

30:02

markets. We did a road trip to the coast

30:04

to Baerba, which

30:06

is on the coast. on the

30:08

Red Sea. Everyone asked about North

30:11

Korea, Saudi Arabia,

30:14

Venezuela, Even I

30:15

feel like even when I went to Columbia

30:17

in Haiti, I went

30:18

to Haiti in twenty

30:21

fifteen to celebrate my

30:23

fiftieth country. And

30:25

everyone assumed I was going for work and I'm

30:27

like, no, I'm going for a beach vacation.

30:29

People just focus on the politics of a

30:31

place. And for me, politics

30:34

and the citizens themselves exist

30:36

on two very different planes, but

30:38

you have to separate politics and people

30:40

because they aren't the same thing. That's why

30:42

I hate when countries do embargos because

30:45

it doesn't actually hurt leadership. It

30:47

actually just hurts the regular everyday

30:49

people living in that country.

30:51

Well, that's

30:57

that

30:58

our show for today and that's our

31:00

season for twenty twenty two.

31:03

I hope this season was just as

31:05

informative to you as it was

31:07

for me. I think at the end of the

31:09

day, every time I wrap

31:11

up a season, I walk

31:13

away feeling so

31:16

incredibly honored to get a chance to talk to

31:18

all of these amazing people. But

31:20

also, it reinvigorates my

31:23

love for travel and it really

31:26

reminds me why I do this every

31:28

single day and why I love my

31:30

job because travel

31:32

has such a huge impact

31:34

on my life and a lot of

31:36

your lives as well. So I

31:39

love being able to impart all of

31:41

this wisdom I hope that at least

31:43

you take away a little bit of something

31:45

whether it's inspiration or a helpful

31:48

tip from each of these episodes.

31:51

So thanks for joining me

31:53

and listening this season. I

31:56

can't wait to have you hear

31:58

what's in store for the years ahead and

32:00

happy holidays. What was

32:02

the best travel hack that you

32:05

learned this season? Go

32:07

ahead and share it with us and don't forget to tag

32:09

at Expedia. Or if you've got a tip

32:11

or a half of your own that we didn't talk about,

32:13

share it too. We love to hear it.

32:16

more info on episodes, guests,

32:18

and to find travel inspiration,

32:20

be sure to visit out travel the systems

32:22

blog at expedia dot com

32:24

forward slash stories

32:25

forward slash podcast. If you

32:28

have any

32:28

questions for me or comments, or

32:31

thoughts, of course, be sure to hit me up. You can DM

32:34

us on at Expedia, or

32:36

you can visit Expedia dot com

32:38

forward

32:38

slash out travel the system.

32:41

follow, subscribe, and share so that you don't miss

32:43

an episode.

32:46

I'll travel the system

32:46

is brought to you by Expedia to

32:49

special thanks to PRX and Sonic

32:52

Union. I'm the executive producer

32:54

and your host, Missrina Tasi.

32:56

Special thanks to the following.

32:58

Additional writing Camo Alonlea

33:00

producer, Rashika Sharma,

33:02

Associate producers, Simon

33:04

Mohammed, and Nathaniel Taylor,

33:07

production assist it is Alex Keel

33:09

and Carolina Garago, theme

33:11

music and original composition by

33:13

Kevin j Simon, music

33:15

edit, sound design, and mix

33:18

by Rob Balingall and

33:20

music supervision by Justin

33:22

Morris. Executive producer

33:24

and writer, Hallie Petrou, PRX

33:26

executive producer, Jocelyn Gonzalez.

33:29

Outtravel the system is recorded with

33:31

Sonic Union in New York City,

33:33

Canada. Until next time. This is your

33:35

host, Miss Reina Tati for Out Travel

33:37

the System. Find us on Apple

33:40

Podcasts wherever you

33:42

listen. Happy travels.

34:00

from

34:04

PRX.