0:05

It's Reginald TL , coming to you from lovely city of

0:07

Atlanta , georgia , going out to what

0:09

I assume is Houston

0:11

with Laura . Laura , is it Houston

0:13

? No , laura , this

0:16

is a travel show that we've been trying to do several

0:19

times . This is like our third time trying to do the show . We're

0:21

going to try to get it done here this time

0:23

, and

0:25

one of the places I've always wanted to go to was Houston

0:27

. I don't really never a big , huge Texas

0:30

guy , but

0:33

Houston , places like Houston , dallas , austin

0:35

they do kind of intrigue me in a sense , right Like

0:38

a places to visit . Now , if

0:41

a person , a person like me , who has never been

0:43

to Texas and I think I've asked you this on

0:45

every single one of these shows and I don't think you've answered

0:47

it on any one of them , but I'm going to try again

0:49

for the third or fourth time Is

0:52

there a favorite , laura ? Is there a favorite between

0:54

those areas

0:57

for you ?

0:59

In Texas . So

1:02

the thing about Texas is that

1:05

and this is why it's so hard to

1:07

answer it's

1:09

like a California , you

1:11

know , from Northern to Southern you're going to get

1:13

a totally different vibe , and

1:15

so it's the same thing , I think in Texas . Houston

1:19

, by far , is the most diverse

1:21

of the cities , probably

1:24

, you know , most populated . You've

1:27

got an amazing nightlife , You've

1:29

got cultural things . I mean it's , it

1:33

really is fabulous . Dallas

1:35

is pretty , you know . I think it's a very

1:37

nice and you still get that city

1:40

feel . San Antonio is smaller

1:42

, Very Isn't

1:46

that ?

1:46

that's where you're from , though right Is San Antonio where you're from

1:48

.

1:50

Yeah , and it's very rich in culture

1:52

. In like like

1:54

Mexican culture , you

1:58

know , because I would say Hispanic , but it's particularly

2:00

, you know , people

2:02

from Mexico and they have , you know , they're big on feet

2:05

. It's a beautiful city . It's a great place to travel

2:07

to and

2:09

for tourists . For me personally

2:12

, not to live , but

2:15

that's just my opinion because I like a diverse city

2:17

, austin will put you in the minds

2:19

of California . It's got the beautiful hills

2:21

. I mean Texas has hill country , texas

2:23

has , you know , you've got Bayou's in Houston

2:26

. You've got anything that you want

2:28

. You can get it here in Texas , including

2:31

severe heat and severe cold .

2:34

Really . Yeah , we're going through severe cold here

2:36

in Atlanta , so I know

2:38

that's , that's all about . Now let's

2:40

talk about the city . That's

2:42

on your sweatshirt there , because you're not . We're in

2:45

a Houston , you're not wearing a Texas

2:47

sweatshirt there . You were in that New

2:49

York shirt and New

2:51

York I love New York

2:53

, by the way let's

2:55

talk about , because one of the things I wanted

2:58

to speak on in this particular episode is

3:00

is all the different types of perceptions

3:02

you get about places that you've never been to , right , and

3:04

the people that are there and the things that you hear

3:07

in the news . You know , when you

3:09

are just in the media in general , and one

3:11

of the things is in Atlanta , you always hear

3:13

about those Yankees there , this , that and the other

3:15

, and they're just so rude and everything is

3:18

dirty up there . There's rats the size

3:20

of cats running around up there and

3:23

I've got to say that my experience personally

3:26

was pretty good . I didn't experience

3:28

there was , I

3:30

think the people was probably about

3:32

biggest shock . I would say I wouldn't , and

3:34

I wouldn't even say shock , because after you traveled for a bit

3:37

, you kind of know not to make these assumptions

3:39

, right . Right , and

3:41

I would say that people , the

3:43

people there , were a lot nicer

3:47

than giving credit for and a lot more helpful

3:49

than giving credit for what has been your perception

3:53

of of New York .

3:55

I think the same thing . I think you know it

3:57

gets a bad rap and I I

4:00

by no means am a connoisseur of like

4:02

New York , right , you'd have to ask for sure

4:04

, and how many times would you have to go

4:06

to ?

4:06

I mean , I mean , think about it from a visiting standpoint

4:09

. New York has so much to see . Can you

4:11

ever really be a connoisseur without living

4:13

there ? I don't know if that's possible in any place

4:15

, right ?

4:16

Yeah , I mean , I

4:19

can honestly say I I've traveled

4:21

to New York probably more

4:23

times than any other place that I've

4:25

been . I probably would at one

4:27

point , maybe once a month . My best

4:29

friend lived there . It was my birthday

4:32

, my 18th birthday gift . My

4:35

aunt asked me she was a flight attendant for

4:37

American and she said you can go anywhere in the United States

4:39

you want to go and I picked New

4:41

York city . We stayed in Manhattan and

4:43

this was pre-Juliani I'm giving

4:45

away my age and

4:48

York has made a

4:51

lot of changes since then

4:53

and you know people who know

4:56

New York . They know like pre-Juliani

4:58

it was a certain way it was probably where you got these

5:00

, you know those , those kind of CD

5:03

you know like .

5:04

Yeah , the underbelly like all the stereotypes

5:07

that people probably come with come from From around that

5:09

era , which is like a long , long , long

5:11

time ago .

5:12

Right , exactly . And then

5:14

it also changed with 9-Eleven . It changed

5:17

the city , it changed the people

5:19

. I think a true New Yorker

5:21

who was there at the time

5:24

can probably best articulate

5:27

what went on , like the

5:29

shift in energy and

5:31

everything . But it really did change New York

5:33

. It's like , when you know , covid

5:35

changed the world . But

5:39

I think New York gets like this

5:41

bad rap because anytime

5:43

you have so many people in such a small

5:47

place right , it's so populated , of

5:49

course the crime is going to be more because you've got

5:51

more people . And about

5:54

New Yorkers being rude

5:56

, they're just always on

5:58

a mission , going where they need to go . You

6:01

know they walk around

6:03

like they have blinders on and so you've got to like

6:05

really get in that shuffle . You can't

6:07

just stop and you know what is that

6:09

? Like they're always trying to get somewhere . Everything

6:11

is like this . You know that saying a

6:13

New York minute yeah

6:15

sure that that is real .

6:18

I did experience that when I was up there .

6:20

Yeah , so what was that experience

6:22

for you for the New York minute ?

6:24

In the sense of just like everybody being pressed

6:26

. You know , there wasn't only . If you saw people

6:29

that were kind of like

6:31

hanging out and hanging around , they were typically tourists

6:33

, yeah , whereas

6:35

you're . So you're doing your tourist thing

6:37

, you're taking your selfies , you're looking at all this

6:39

, all this stuff , and people are just trying to

6:41

get to work man , trying to get home

6:44

, trying to get to their next destination

6:46

, and they're pretty much focused on where they're going . I

6:49

feel like I I

6:53

mean that resonated with me to a certain degree because when

6:55

I'm on trips , a lot of times I might have days

6:57

that are kind of like off days on trips , versus

7:00

the other days when I'm really focused on

7:02

the next . I'm really focused on getting to

7:04

what I'm trying to get to . You know

7:06

, I wanted to go to the Met , I wanted to go do so many things

7:08

. I was on tour guides , we were , you

7:11

know , our tour guide , of course , is in New York , so he's he's

7:13

popping from this spot to this spot , to this spot , to this spot , to

7:15

this spot , so we're all running behind . Well

7:18

, I wasn't like a group , so we're all running behind , you

7:20

know , in that group . So

7:24

that kind of resonated with me because I had places

7:26

I wanted to go . I guess I would be . That would

7:28

have maybe been more off putting to me if

7:30

I wanted to kind of sit around and smell

7:33

the roses , so to speak , and just kind of like look

7:35

at stuff . But being that I was so

7:37

like on the move myself of wanting

7:40

I've had a purpose of things

7:42

I wanted to kind of do , that

7:44

kind of resonates . Because I mean , who wants to

7:46

kind of just stand around taking pictures

7:48

and stuff ? I mean , I had those moments but

7:51

I didn't have a lot of them . So I kind of get that

7:53

. And also I think another thing

7:55

to that when you're in a city that's

7:57

a popular tourist city , I

8:00

think that sometimes it can get

8:02

kind of annoying that people

8:04

are always just kind of in your way , stopping

8:06

to take selfies , maybe one ask for directions . I will tell you I

8:08

didn't necessarily have to ask for directions , like

8:11

all I did a couple of times was

8:13

somebody look at my phone , laura , and somebody would help me out . That's how

8:15

. That's how easy it was . I'm looking at my phone , maybe

8:18

I just look so lost . Look I think .

8:20

And the weird headlights look .

8:23

Yeah , is that it's really ?

8:25

easy Is that ? It's really . You know their streets

8:27

are numbered and so it's easy

8:29

. You know . You know uptown

8:32

from downtown by the numbers of the streets , so they

8:34

make it really easy . Their blocks are shorter

8:37

, so it

8:39

really is a little bit easier to

8:41

me to navigate than a lot

8:43

of these cities . But I remember

8:45

my first time going to New York . And

8:47

then that brings me to the point where I was thinking because

8:50

you know , you and I travel differently . You love

8:52

and itinerary and I don't . I

8:54

remember my first time going to New York and

8:57

we got in our flight , got

8:59

in late , I'm 18

9:01

, you know , it's many moons

9:03

ago , like many moons ago . And

9:06

so my aunt , you know , tells me

9:08

when it when it really was not probably

9:10

safe for me to go by myself at night

9:12

. And so I'm like

9:14

, okay , you know , I'm ready to go . And she was like , oh no , no

9:16

, we , you know , we'll go tomorrow and we'll go to

9:19

the Empire State Building and we'll go here and we'll go there . And

9:21

I'm like , oh , I want

9:23

to . Like , I want to see the grittiness

9:26

, the streets , I want to see the people , I

9:28

want to see , you know , the side

9:31

street fashion and all of that . And she

9:33

was like Laura , this is not San Antonio . Like

9:35

you , just don't walk down the street . And I was like

9:37

, well , what do people who are from New York do ? So

9:41

she was like but you don't know where you're going , you've

9:43

never been here . And I said , okay , this is what I'll do , I'll

9:45

go out of the hotel , I'll make a right , I'll

9:48

walk until I get that you know

9:50

that New York feel . And then

9:52

I'll turn around and walk back . Can't

9:55

go wrong , right ? And

9:57

then she was like okay , don't take your purse , because you don't

9:59

want to look like a tourist , don't take pictures , just

10:01

walk . And so I was

10:03

very it was ultra

10:05

shock for this little Texas , san Antonio

10:08

, texas girl , in

10:11

the best kind of way , and that's exactly

10:14

what I did . Like I , I tried

10:16

not to , like you know , just

10:18

stare in awe with my mouth open

10:20

, but really taking in

10:22

the streets was just

10:24

one of the best experiences

10:26

that I could have ever had , by

10:29

far of any trip that I've ever taken

10:31

.

10:32

Really .

10:33

By far , by far , that

10:35

that experience as an 18 year

10:37

old was

10:41

. It was one of those

10:43

experiences that changes your life , like

10:45

you can travel and you see beautiful things and you're

10:47

you know , but this really did change my life . Again

10:50

, it was culture shock for me . I was this , you

10:53

know , little girl from San Antonio , Texas , who

10:55

had not been a whole lot of places . I've been places

10:57

, but with my family not

11:00

really experiencing , you

11:02

know , lots of different cultures in San Antonio

11:04

, always being this , you

11:07

know , like asked what are you ? And

11:10

when you go to New York , nobody asks you what

11:12

are you ?

11:13

because there's a , there's so many

11:15

.

11:16

Yes , and so I

11:18

. I finally

11:20

, finally , Reggie , I felt

11:22

like I fit in somewhere . I

11:24

never really felt that in my life until I went to New

11:26

York and just saw so

11:29

many shades

11:31

of people and you know , it

11:35

was amazing .

11:37

You know that's interesting because I will say

11:39

that I had a very so with me

11:41

, the kind of person and kind of how I travel , I

11:44

like to , and I stay up very late . So

11:46

this is I don't know if this is a

11:48

recommendation I can give people , because I'm can

11:50

be pretty adventurous and I and I'm naturally

11:52

a night owl what I would typically do

11:54

is I'll have itinerary

11:57

days , okay , and

11:59

I and I have three nights . So

12:01

what I would do and when I did what I

12:03

was in New York is we'd pop out 1112

12:06

o'clock at night is because

12:08

people are still out . So we're out of here , like

12:11

like we'll . We might do like a itinerary

12:13

in a daytime of some sort . I

12:16

think that's when we went to see Hamilton . We saw that I went to

12:18

Broadway , that was all in daytime came back

12:20

, we chilled for a second

12:22

, popped

12:25

back out of the hotel for whatever our night thing Maybe

12:27

. One day was going to the Met , another

12:29

day was just riding around . My brother was there . He's

12:32

been in New York for about 20 years , so he just took

12:34

us around all the real new york , like not just the

12:36

Times Square , touristy stuff , so like neighborhoods and

12:38

stuff like that , because there's certain parts that once you get

12:40

outside of the city of new york , that looked like

12:42

a lot of other places , um , once

12:44

you're outside of like the city portion

12:46

and you're just going to where people actually live in residential

12:48

areas and different burros and stuff like that . So

12:51

we did that night , um

12:53

, but I enjoyed Walking

12:55

around and to me it was nothing like

12:57

it walking around new york about one

13:00

o'clock in the morning with all these people out

13:02

, um , there was nothing like it and

13:04

and I enjoyed it . Yeah , correct

13:07

, likes everywhere , people everywhere

13:09

there's and we were right in Times Square . So I understand

13:11

that's like the most touristy Place

13:13

in new york you can go is like right in

13:16

Times Square . Um , but

13:18

when you're there , the lord , the lights were so much

13:21

it seemed like it was day , didn't even seem like nighttime

13:23

, like you're out there in the light . There's so many lights

13:25

out there that it just didn't seem Unsafe

13:28

. And in a sense , when you're from , I

13:31

will tell you , just being from Atlanta , in general , I guess

13:33

it's different , yeah , uh , when you're

13:35

from a city Going to

13:37

a bigger city versus being from

13:39

the country Going to

13:41

the city , if that makes sense . You're already aware

13:44

of city dynamics and I will tell you , the city

13:46

dynamics are . City dynamics is you need to be looking

13:48

Over your shoulder to a certain degree , only

13:50

that certainly need to be afraid of the city , but you need

13:52

to be cautious . That's just city dynamics . In my opinion

13:54

, whether I was in Korea , where I

13:56

was in new york , it was the same thing , um

13:59

, because you know , when you're in Seoul , it's always a massive

14:01

city , it's a city Um , so

14:04

it . There's a lot of city dynamics there

14:06

. The people do it . Everywhere you look down

14:08

an alleyway , there's like 30

14:10

, 40 businesses right down a random alleyway

14:12

with people all selling all kinds of stuff

14:14

, all kinds of stands and stuff like

14:16

that . But I feel like , if you

14:19

naturally , um , if

14:21

you're naturally equipped to

14:23

Look out for yourself in these

14:25

settings , um , maybe

14:27

you just elevated a bit , you know , maybe you

14:30

, if you're not , you shouldn't be doing

14:32

stupid stuff . I think , in any city , like you shouldn't

14:34

be telegraphing that you're not from

14:36

a place . Um , you shouldn't

14:38

be , because that makes you an easy target , especially in New

14:40

York , because the people , like you'll

14:43

see people in Deadpool costumes and stuff

14:45

like that and that's gonna cost you , ladies and gentlemen

14:47

, you , you , you Don't let that

14:49

guy , that spider-man guy walk up to you and

14:52

I think that's gonna be sweet because he's gonna ask for some

14:54

money and they're gonna be pretty aggressive . So

14:56

, um , yeah , you got to get over that

14:58

. Did you experience any of that when you ? Because

15:00

where were you ? Were you in Times Square when you went ? Has

15:03

you been several times ?

15:05

I have and I've been um

15:07

to every borough , uh

15:12

, except for maybe Staten

15:15

Island , but I've been to , you know

15:17

, queens and Brooklyn

15:19

and the Bronx .

15:20

Brooklyn man . I like Brooklyn . Brooklyn's a coming

15:22

up area right now .

15:23

Yeah and um , I'll never forget

15:25

, like when I , when I first went . You know the

15:28

guys will sell you like a bracelet or something

15:30

. I like you know , yeah , yeah , yeah , come on

15:32

. Okay , and you're so pretty , you know , just just

15:34

just 20 dollars , two dollars . I'm like , oh really

15:36

, yeah , yeah , yeah , here

15:39

you go and you give them the money and you go , and then you

15:41

get back to your room You're like that's

15:43

not what I . He sold me

15:45

something different , you know . And then you start

15:47

watching . But I've always been the type

15:49

I will say this . I've I've

15:51

always been the type to be able to kind of read the room

15:53

and . You

15:56

know , look around , and I think part

15:58

of that is because I love human

16:00

nature and people watching and

16:03

just to watch interaction between people and

16:05

how they react to different things , and so Naturally

16:08

, I'm able to read the room or read the city

16:10

to be able to see . You know

16:12

, like Something

16:14

is off about this , is not feeling right

16:17

, and I go with my gut . Um

16:19

, you can't go wrong if you go with your

16:21

gut . Even if it's this very slight inkling

16:23

of no

16:26

, then you know , and there are

16:28

just some people who either ignore it or I

16:30

don't know , they just don't have it . I don't , I don't know

16:32

, I don't know . But being

16:34

a traveler and wanting to go off the beaten path

16:37

, um , because I

16:39

we've talked about this before you know , when you

16:41

really want to know a city , you ask the locals . So

16:43

, where do you go eat ? I don't want to go to

16:45

, you know this place . That's

16:47

this Pamphlet in my

16:49

hotel . I want to go where the locals eat . I

16:52

want to go where the locals shop , where they

16:54

go out , where they go get coffee , where

16:56

they . You know , that's what I

16:58

want to do , um , and that's how you really

17:00

learn a city . Um , and

17:02

just get that real feel right

17:04

. Um , yeah , absolutely , yeah , yeah

17:07

.

17:07

I feel like , uh , when I was

17:09

there , you , you kind

17:11

of get . It only takes a couple of

17:13

days for you to know the difference between , um

17:16

, new Yorker pricing and tourist pricing

17:18

. Yeah , so there's , there's , and I feel

17:20

like that's not a new york thing

17:22

, that is a traveling thing

17:24

. You have the tourist price and

17:26

you have the actual price . Yeah

17:29

, um , I , when I first got to New York , I

17:32

went , uh , I was in my hotel , we

17:34

went out to eat my hotel , and this is the only

17:36

that has happened and people , my brother laughs

17:38

at me . Uh , when I told him , when I told him this

17:40

, he was like you're crazy . Uh , so I went down

17:42

, went down to the hotel lobby real quick and we're

17:44

like , hey , we're really hungry , right . So we went

17:47

and put our stuff up , went out to the hotel lobby

17:49

to eat and I had some . I had

17:51

three hot dogs . There was a little mini hot dogs about that

17:53

big three mini hot dogs . Um

17:55

, those hot dogs were 23

17:58

dollars For three Little

18:01

mini hot . They weren't even full-sized hot

18:03

dogs . Now , anybody who's been in New York knows

18:05

how cheap you can get a hot dog

18:07

for at any food stand and they're delicious , by the way

18:09

, at any of those food stands are amazing . Yeah

18:12

, um , amazing food stands in New York

18:14

. Uh , we build , but be on the lookout for

18:16

tourist pricing there too , um , but

18:19

I'm in a hotel and and the hotel wasn't

18:21

necessarily tourist pricing was just a bad decision

18:23

, in my opinion , just because we were staying in a nice

18:25

hotel . So if you're staying in a nice hotel and

18:28

you decide to eat at that hotel

18:30

, be prepared to pay a lot of

18:32

money . But I will tell you , lord , those hot dogs are delicious

18:34

. Those , those are some of the best . Those little three mini hot dogs

18:36

I had were absolutely amazing . I

18:39

don't know what they did to them , but they were great

18:41

. But they were not worth 23 dollars

18:43

. Don't pay 23 dollars for three little mini hot

18:45

dogs . And they didn't even come in french fries , they

18:47

came with chips and , um

18:49

, I do regret the price

18:51

, but I don't . I don't regret that experience and I made

18:53

that mistake when I first got there . So everything

18:56

else was a little better price wise , because

18:58

I made that mistake very early on . Um

19:00

, but it is something that you have to look

19:02

out for , I think , in in any of these stands

19:04

and , moving on from from

19:07

New York , let's talk about some other places that you've been to , because

19:09

you have an interesting story that you've told me about

19:11

when you were in israel and , and let's

19:14

, let's talk a little bit about that , because you told me that was also

19:16

a , uh , one of the highlights of

19:19

places that you've been .

19:20

Yeah , it absolutely was , um

19:23

. And then you talk about like um , you

19:25

know , getting taken advantage of that . That

19:28

happened to us in israel as well

19:30

and luckily our god went

19:32

back to the guy and he was like no , given their money back

19:34

. So not only are you getting taken

19:36

advantage of , but you kind of got to . You know

19:38

, do like um . You

19:41

know your money is it's not an american

19:43

dollars and you're like okay , that's , you

19:45

know , or let me get out my . I'm trying to . You

19:47

know your money and you're trying to . You

19:49

know it was a mess , but in

19:51

israel , twice

19:54

I was with a group and

19:57

twice Someone

19:59

offered to Buy

20:03

me and the first

20:05

time it happened we thought it was

20:07

. Because I still think

20:09

it is . Um , you

20:12

know , because of my upbringing

20:14

and background , I'm I'm very careful

20:16

with being judgmental on other cultures , because

20:19

that's what you know and that's how

20:22

you're brought up and that's what you know . And you

20:24

know who am I to say it's right or wrong , but

20:27

you know where it's it's . It's absolutely

20:30

ludicrous for a man to go to another man and you know I'm

20:32

standing there as if I'm not standing there . So

20:34

what you know , what would you take for her ? You know I want to buy her . I

20:37

want to buy her . Uh , what would you take

20:40

? And you know it's just ludicrous

20:42

, it's right . But that happened

20:44

to us twice . In the first time we thought

20:47

it was a joke , we laughed and our guide was

20:49

like no , that's , you know it's

20:51

offensive for you to laugh

20:53

and like not take it seriously , like

20:55

you can decline that offer , but

20:58

that's he's serious . And

21:00

so , yeah , that

21:02

was , that was a trip .

21:05

So tell me something real quick . There . Two

21:07

things here , laura . So one

21:10

Flattering or

21:12

not flattering , because were you the only female

21:14

in the group or you were there multiple females

21:16

in the group .

21:17

There was one other female in the group . Um

21:20

, she was an older lady , um

21:22

, so

21:26

let's see if if I just want to be

21:28

partly honest it I'm

21:32

not gonna say it was flattering , um

21:34

, because I really am very independent on my

21:36

own , my own woman , but I

21:38

must say I'm there must have been

21:41

some type of flattery there , because I remember

21:43

saying , like , is that all

21:45

I'm worth ? You

21:49

know , still not knowing what the going , what

21:51

the going rate is for a wife , but

21:54

, um , yeah , so I

21:57

don't , I don't know that I was flattered . I

21:59

think , like , had it

22:01

been this huge amount

22:03

, you know , then it was been like

22:05

yeah , all right , but Absolutely

22:10

felt , very , not

22:13

degraded , but you know , like , do

22:16

come on . Um , are

22:18

you serious ? Like no , we're not gonna

22:21

do that . Um , but it's the same way

22:23

I feel about when people are telling women

22:25

what to do with their bodies here in

22:28

the united states . Um , like

22:30

, are you , are you serious ? This

22:32

is , this Belongs to me , you

22:35

know I'm and god

22:37

, but this belongs to me . And no , it's

22:39

not for sale . You can't , at

22:42

least for me . Um

22:44

, you can't tell me what to do with it , things like that . So

22:47

, but the culture is so different

22:49

there , which and we've talked about this

22:51

before too like , when you're traveling

22:53

abroad , you really need to know

22:55

the culture , you need to read

22:57

, to educate yourself , because you are

22:59

not , you are in someone

23:01

else's land . You

23:04

know , you really need to be

23:06

educated in that , and it's and it's very , not

23:09

just ignorant , but it's very um pompous

23:12

and arrogant of anyone

23:15

, but especially of americans and united

23:17

states , for us to Not

23:21

educate ourselves and not know

23:23

the culture when we're traveling abroad

23:26

. Um , even when I went to I'll

23:28

never forget this I went to new york once and

23:31

A cab driver

23:33

was saying something to me and he said where are you from ? And I

23:35

said oh , I'm from texas . And he said yeah , I can

23:37

tell by your voice . He said but you're

23:39

the first person from texas who didn't

23:41

tell me exactly where they're from . Like

23:43

, we know all about

23:45

texas , you know and I wow

23:48

, texas , and texas do have that

23:50

kind of . You know , I'm

23:53

a texan , you know , and we're

23:55

that's in texas , that

23:57

that it doesn't mean anything in california

23:59

or new york or wisconsin , or Only

24:02

in texas , right . And so I'm

24:04

very arrogant of us , when we travel

24:06

, um , not

24:09

to educate ourselves on the customs and

24:11

the cultures , because everyone does not

24:13

have the same rights In different countries

24:15

, in different places , um , that

24:18

we have that we , you know that are amazing

24:20

in the united states , that that we tend

24:22

to take for granted , um

24:24

, but you really

24:26

see that another thing in israel is

24:28

our guide , who was jewish , couldn't

24:30

go into becla hem with us , um

24:33

, because he was jewish . And we just we were like what

24:35

do you mean ? Like you just walk , walk over here

24:38

? And he was like no , I can't , you can , even

24:40

though we weren't muslim , but we were still tourists

24:43

, I guess , and we had our passports , but

24:46

he could not enter because he was jewish . So

24:49

you know , we take those things for granted . There's nowhere

24:52

that you can't go here

24:55

. There are some places where you you

24:57

think twice about going if you're a certain skin

25:00

color or if you're a woman , but you

25:02

know , in , in

25:04

theory , there is no place that you can't go . So

25:06

we do take those , those freedoms , for granted

25:08

, but we've got to know what we're dealing with when

25:10

we're traveling abroad .

25:13

It's interesting and and I'm gonna bring up a couple of

25:15

things as we kind of um , as

25:17

you get towards the end of the shows , I'll bring up some , some things that

25:19

I think will be helpful , kind of towards the end of the show , and we'll kind of piggyback

25:22

off that , and but right now let's talk

25:24

about some things that were just unexpected . Um , now

25:27

, when I can tell you when

25:29

I uh was in korea and korea is an

25:31

amazing place I really could do a whole show on

25:33

korea . I love it so much . I have , like a korean

25:35

plate here that I just like have sitting

25:38

to the side here . I'm not sure , I'm not sure if you can see

25:40

that . Sure , if you can see that right there

25:42

.

25:42

That's gorgeous .

25:44

Yes , and you can get stuff like that

25:46

, a ton of stuff . But I have a stuff , a lot of ton of trinkets

25:48

like that from Korea a million and it's

25:50

amazing place to be . But I will

25:52

tell you there were some unexpected

25:55

things , just like we talked about with with

25:57

New York , and one

26:00

of the unexpected things was

26:02

, for one , of American

26:04

culture and black American , african American culture

26:06

In general . African American

26:08

culture in the impact of

26:10

American culture on other cultures

26:12

and this is not just Korea and places

26:14

I've been to , but in the impact of American culture

26:17

on other places is vast , you

26:20

know , and the impact of African American

26:22

culture on other places is is a

26:24

vast . It travels man , and so

26:27

that was something that was like surprising to me . You go there

26:29

, you see all the you know rappers and all this other

26:32

kind of stuff that you see in these other cultures

26:34

that you would Be ubiquitous for

26:36

. That African American culture here in America is

26:38

something that was surprising to me to see

26:41

so far away On the other side of the earth

26:43

. You know that's

26:45

a show .

26:49

That's a show within itself as well , just

26:51

the impact of African American

26:54

culture on the world . But go

26:56

ahead .

26:56

Yeah , it's vast and and that was

26:59

surprising to me I wasn't necessarily Expecting

27:01

that . Another thing is like your treatment . I

27:03

feel like If

27:06

you have a personality and we talked about this before

27:09

off you

27:11

know off air , so to speak if you have

27:13

a personality and people

27:15

tend to like you , where

27:18

you are from , whether you're in from the country

27:20

, whether you're from a city

27:22

with millions of people that will

27:24

travel , people will like you in

27:26

other places . It doesn't matter

27:28

. Like it , that won't be just a an

27:30

American thing for you . If you're Friendly

27:33

and you send the attract people and people tend

27:35

to like you , people will like you in other

27:37

places . You know You'll have the same kind of interactions

27:40

In other countries

27:42

. You might not speak the language , but you'll have

27:44

the same kind of interactions there in other

27:46

countries . So that was something that surprised

27:48

me and is how and just how well you

27:51

will be Treated , because I think

27:53

that from , especially from a , an

27:56

African-american standpoint , you always feel

27:58

like or people , I should

28:00

say that and this is kind of more the stereotype than

28:02

the reality People always feel like you're

28:04

just gonna go everywhere and just be this oppressed individual

28:06

. They're just gonna hate on you everywhere you go

28:09

in in the world and not

28:11

knowing that a lot of people feel like America's the most

28:13

oppressed place . So when you go

28:15

to places , other places in the world , they

28:17

feel like America's the most Most discriminative

28:21

place that you'll ever be . So when you go to these places

28:23

, a lot of times there's . They're surprised

28:26

that you feel like way about them because

28:28

they're like look at where you're from , are you crazy ? Like

28:30

Right . So that

28:32

was something that was surprising . The treatment be

28:34

very friendly people . Other friendly people weren't surprised and

28:36

I thought this Just a lot of cultures in general

28:38

is mostly mostly by encounter are

28:40

friendly people . Now , it's not to say that there aren't Some

28:43

assholes out here for sure there are . Every place has their

28:45

share of them . There are dangerous people every

28:48

place , every place has their share of them , but

28:51

the vast majority friendly

28:53

. It was a Very fast moving

28:56

city because it is a city with millions of

28:58

people , so it was extremely fast moving . What

29:02

are some of the things that surprised you about places

29:04

that you've gone ?

29:05

I Think

29:09

I think one is , I

29:12

Probably

29:15

you know the , the freedoms that

29:17

we take for granted when you go to some places outside

29:20

of the United States and

29:22

you kind of see some of the things that they do . It's it

29:24

, it really makes

29:26

you think about how

29:29

fortunate you are , you know , even though we have so

29:32

many Things that we could work

29:34

on here . And you're right , I

29:36

think , that energy transcends wherever you

29:38

go . It's just like Music

29:42

, right , like a good song

29:44

. It doesn't matter what language it's in

29:46

, like , if it's right that rhythm is going

29:49

, it doesn't matter , people are still gonna

29:51

move to it because it moves you . So You're

29:54

right that energy transcends

29:56

, no matter where you go . Um

29:59

, and , and you can see that it just

30:01

doesn't matter , I think . Let

30:03

me see what are some of the things that have surprised

30:05

me . Um , I Don't

30:08

, I can't think of a lot

30:11

of things , probably

30:13

just there are some

30:15

similarities in the places that you

30:17

go . Some things are the same , but

30:20

you know , depending on where , in Certainly

30:24

, in the United States you go , even though we're the

30:26

, you know , we're the United States

30:28

, there are lots

30:30

of different . There are differences in the way people

30:33

talk , you know . In the way

30:35

you know some

30:37

people call it pop , some people call it soda , in

30:39

the way you eat your hot dog . Do you eat it ? With

30:41

coleslaw , do you eat it ? You know

30:43

, and so that's always interesting

30:46

to me to go To different

30:48

places , even in the United States , and

30:50

just kind of learn how people do

30:52

things there . You know the the New Orleans

30:54

culture . There's nothing like

30:56

it . You

30:58

know when you go to Vegas how people , you

31:00

know how people act , and I think Times

31:02

Square is kind of , doesn't it remind you , like the

31:04

Vegas strip with the lights ?

31:07

Yeah , you know , it reminds me in a sense , you know

31:09

what ? What the similarities between Times Square

31:11

and Vegas to me are is how

31:13

different things are once you leave the

31:16

strip , once you leave Times Square , like once you

31:18

leave those areas . If you leave Vegas

31:20

, you leave this trip and you just out in Henderson

31:22

or wherever you are , you just out in the neighborhood

31:24

in the dead very much you . You

31:28

pretty much typical USA Outlet

31:31

malls , strip malls , stores

31:34

, saying that you see everywhere , and

31:36

then you have the strip which is like nothing that you see anywhere

31:38

.

31:39

Yeah , yeah .

31:41

So they were very similar , uh , in that

31:43

aspect . And one of the things that

31:45

I do want to close with is one of my main

31:47

takeaways and then I'll get one

31:50

from you as well , because , of course , we

31:52

can make a whole list . We could do another show . Maybe we will do

31:54

another travel show With just a few tips

31:56

for people who are just kind of embarking on

31:58

their travel journeys . But

32:01

one of the things that you touched on , I feel like it's

32:03

super important . No matter where you go , even

32:05

if it's in the united states and that's

32:07

gonna be my main one um , if

32:10

you're going to another place and

32:12

you feel like you

32:14

got to learn the language , you're doing your

32:16

dual lingo , you're getting up , you're doing

32:18

everything to try to learn the language and and how people

32:21

speak in that place , I feel

32:23

like your time will be better spent

32:25

learning the customs . Learn

32:27

the customs of where

32:29

you are going . Learn the

32:32

customs because people will

32:34

be impressed with that . People will be impressed

32:36

that you know you don't have to know the language

32:38

, but if you know the certain customs

32:40

if you're in korea , you know how to hold your chopsticks , how to place

32:42

your chopstick , if you know how that kind of stuff

32:45

goes a long way because to them it

32:47

shows and and this is

32:49

anywhere , I think when people

32:51

come into your house , you want them to . You

32:53

want you can appreciate the fact that they appreciate

32:56

your customs . You take your shoes off at the door

32:58

. If you see , my shoes are at the door , and

33:00

when you come into my house do you take them off , and then people

33:02

may appreciate that small gesture . They're not gonna

33:04

like they might not be on you if you don't

33:06

take them off , and that's the same kind of thing . They're not . They know you

33:08

are a tourist in these places , so they don't

33:11

have a high bar of you knowing what

33:13

their customs are , but it goes a

33:15

very long way when you do so

33:18

. I feel like you're better , you're

33:20

better off learning those customs . I don't know if you

33:22

watch shows . I watch shows like Uh

33:24

, 90 day fiance when I grow up , and we'll be watching these shows

33:26

, right , and it'll be like the other way though . So not , it'll

33:29

be them going over there , more so than people

33:31

coming over here , and so they'll go over

33:33

there and they'll go to these different countries and they'll

33:35

want to Americanize the countries , and it makes me cringe

33:37

. It makes me cringe because they'll be over there

33:39

. Well , where's it ? Where is the air conditioning

33:42

? Where is , where is all this I'm so used to in America

33:44

? And he's like , did you even Remotely

33:47

study up on where you were going ? Like , did you even

33:49

look it up on the internet , even google

33:51

it ? Um , so I feel like

33:53

learning the customs Goes

33:55

a very far away . That would be one of my main

33:58

takeaways . If you take away anything

34:00

. Yeah , one of my main takeaways

34:02

would be that learn about

34:04

where you're going .

34:05

Yeah , yeah , I know we try to gentrify everything

34:07

, don't we ? Some of us ? Um

34:09

, I think it's respectful if I

34:11

go to a country

34:13

where the women Whether I agree with

34:16

this or not If the women

34:18

have to cover their hair , that

34:20

is what I'm going to do , because that's

34:22

your . It's disrespectful

34:24

if I don't , um , but

34:28

you know , you've got to be at a level of of

34:30

maturity really to do

34:32

that as well , and so , um

34:35

, I think , one of the things that

34:38

I could say for people and

34:40

everybody doesn't have a job like this , I realized

34:42

that , but I remember I

34:44

was at a job and it sent me a lot

34:47

of different places and I would always

34:49

take a few days after or

34:51

before and , um , make

34:54

sure that I stayed , whether you know , like

34:56

, if it was like a Chicago or , um

34:59

, you know , denver , someplace

35:01

like that , if I had to go on a business trip , I

35:04

would take a few days after or before um

35:06

Orlando , places like that , and

35:09

that would be my vacation

35:12

, and that meant my airfare

35:14

was paid for , um

35:16

, my hotel was partially paid for

35:18

, um , you know , for three

35:20

of the five or six days that I'm there , my

35:22

meals are paid for and I've got amazing

35:25

vacation . So you

35:28

know things like that . There are so many travel

35:30

clubs right now , um

35:33

, that people could take advantage of , because

35:35

, and and flights are not crazy expensive

35:37

. Um , like there

35:39

are ways that people can

35:41

travel without spending a lot of money , um

35:44

, and I

35:46

see people doing that too Like people are making

35:49

money off of traveling . But I think

35:51

amazing things about travel is

35:53

that you do

35:55

get to experience , um

35:58

, something different than

36:00

you know . You're not . You're every day

36:02

what you're , what you're living with every day , and

36:05

that's not to say that that's bad , it's just different . And

36:08

I've always said , like , when you travel , I

36:10

made sure that I made my , I took my

36:12

son everywhere with me , I made sure

36:14

that he traveled , because when you stretch your mind , especially

36:18

through traveling , and you meet people who are

36:20

different than you and they're you know , they talk and walk

36:22

and eat different things

36:24

, it's really hard for your mind

36:27

to go back to the way it was

36:29

because of that exposure . I know people who

36:31

don't leave their neighborhoods

36:33

, their cities , their states , their countries

36:36

, um , and I'm not saying

36:38

those who financially can't , um

36:40

, but if you can like , there's

36:43

nothing like that . And then one last thing , reggie , and

36:46

I don't want to say I'm too , too old , but I

36:48

, when I did travel , it was before social

36:51

media and I really had the pleasure Of

36:54

being in the moment because I didn't

36:57

have to post anything , I

36:59

didn't have to Prove

37:01

I was here . I didn't have to take a picture of my food

37:03

before I ate it Not that

37:05

there's anything wrong with that , because I love living

37:07

vicariously through all of these people

37:10

on social media . You know who travel

37:12

, um , but there

37:14

is something about going

37:16

somewhere and really being in the moment

37:19

and not worrying about Um

37:21

. Is this a great shot for you

37:23

know , for tiktok ? Or you

37:25

know , instagram ?

37:28

It's very interesting and people my

37:30

know my social media struggles . I

37:32

absolutely struggle . We could do

37:34

a whole show on my struggles with social

37:36

media because I am just so mister , not

37:38

social media . I even know I do take a lot of pictures when

37:41

I'm traveling , of random stuff . It'll be the random

37:43

. I have like 30 pictures of random trees , um

37:46

, when I'm going back through my stuff , uh , and looking

37:48

at them , so I get it , um , and

37:50

I think that social media is great for

37:52

people who are into that , and and that's something that you do

37:54

see when you go to a lot of places is groups

37:58

and groups and groups of selfies , selfies

38:00

, selfies , selfies , selfies , selfies . People

38:03

on their traveling vlogs right , they're

38:05

walking with their phone . No one's you in their shot

38:08

, you know , and and and there's a . There's

38:10

a lot of that that you do see now traveling

38:12

now versus , I guess , been , but

38:14

it , um , it's still amazing and , um

38:16

, we'll probably be some more shows on this

38:18

. I definitely appreciate you taking some time

38:21

out here , laura .

38:22

Yeah , it's always fun talking to you , reggie .

38:25

All right , this is Reggie natl . Check us out to dry heart

38:27

radio , google podcast ever podcast butterfly , where

38:29

you find your podcast , as well as tiktok

38:31

and on instagram , which I'm going to have to actually

38:34

pay attention to here at some point in my life

38:36

. See you next time , guys . All

38:39

right we got it .