November 8, 2024 • 22 mins
Click Here to Chat with Us! We're all ears (& probably wine).
Travel doesn't have to be a luxury reserved for the rich or adventurous. Join us as we uncover the secrets of jet-setting on a budget, sharing hilarious tales from partying with seniors on cruises to adrenaline-packed under 30 tours with EF College Break. Ever thought you could enjoy tax-deductible trips to exotic locales? Groups like Souls for Souls make it possible. We promise you'll pick up practical tips like timing your trips during the off-peak seasons for unbeatable rates and learning to appreciate the transformative power of travel, even if it's just to your local landmarks.
Reflecting on personal journeys, we share how travel has shaped our lives, from Brittany's eye-opening adventures in China to collecting art and unique keepsakes from around the globe. We discuss the joy of playing tourist in your own backyard and the surprising revelations it can bring—like discovering iconic sites you've never bothered to visit. As we spill the beans on our own travel plans, we're here to ignite your wanderlust and encourage you to embrace the spontaneity and excitement that travel, near or far, can bring. So grab a drink, kick back, and get inspired to explore the world without breaking the bank!
🎙️fearlesslyfemaleuncensored@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Meghan (00:05):
Welcome to Fearlessly Female, where two blondes make a
right.
We are Megan and Brittany, thehosts of Fearlessly Female.
This podcast was born out ofambition, drive and a lot of
wine.
We're two powerhouse comedicwomen having uncensored
conversations about topics thataffect women.
We're airing all the dirtylaundry, so grab your favorite
drink and give us a listen.
Today's podcast is All BossesNeed a Break, where we highlight
(00:30):
some of the wildest travelexperiences we have had.
Brittany (00:34):
Don't worry, we're not talking about scaling
Kilimanjaro here, just some goodold-fashioned travel Warning.
Calm your tits.
Offense will not be taken here.
So grab your favorite drink,burn your bra and let's have a
good time.
Meghan (00:45):
When we say we cover everything.
We cover everything in thispodcast, but I think the
importance of talking abouttravel experiences is one so you
get lessons learned from us.
We made a few mistakes, butalso we talk about it because
traveling is so incrediblyimportant to the education of
your life, important to theeducation of your life and has
impacted on how you think aboutcareers, gratitude, perspectives
(01:08):
and a whole unknown squish thatyou can't tie to anything.
I know it made some differencepersonally in my life.
Oh, I love that Unknown squish.
Brittany (01:18):
I 1000% agree, and it's crazy how much traveling
impacts you.
I think there's different waysto travel too, and also how you
travel dictates the experienceyou get right.
So, for example, if we go inlike cheap off brand names, you
know you're going to have onehell of a story when you get
back versus you know, juststicking to only brand names,
like eating at McDonald's,you'll see some cool stuff, but
(01:40):
the stories won't be nearly asfun.
Meghan (01:42):
Oh my gosh, foreign Foods could do an entire podcast
on, but I want to start talkingabout how you travel for cheap,
because we can talk about allthe fun stories, but if you're
sitting there or driving Rightsitting driving, walking or
drinking and thinking, oh thisis grand, but I don't have the
money to travel.
Have we got news for you?
Britt and I have unlocked a fewcheat codes for you.
Brittany (02:05):
I think one of my favorites is going through a
under 30 tour.
It's called EF College Break.
Meghan (02:12):
Why does it have to be under 30?
Is there an under 40 I can usefor like six more years.
Brittany (02:17):
I feel like you know under 40 would be cool for that
one.
So this one is all about likeit was more or less geared
towards like younger people, sothey do like more active things.
They traveled all around theworld for whatever duration you
can go, like you know, if youwant to go for a whole like
month, or just a couple days aweek, two weeks, whatever, but
they were very active.
(02:38):
There was people that were moreor less within your age group,
right.
So I totally get the under 40things, but you also have to
keep in mind you're with peoplethat are like 18 and 21 and you
know they want to.
You know go out and like bingedrink, so pass on the 18 year
olds.
Meghan (02:51):
Love y'all, but I am way too old for that.
Brittany (02:54):
But that one was cool, right.
So they have like payment plans, right, you can make payments
over time, they have discountcodes, sales, all that jazz.
But then on the flip side, Iwent on a cruise with my mom and
it was kind of like a lastminute thing.
She's like just come on thiscruise with me to Germany.
Okay, whatever, cool, I haven'tbeen.
So I went and it turns out itwas like a whole like senior
cruise which.
(03:14):
I love.
Oh my gosh.
I had like the time of my life,so I had like under 30 tour and
then like the senior cruise andman, let me tell you, those
people can party so much.
It was a tad bit more expensivebut, oh my gosh, it was still
so much fun.
But it was definitely like twodifferent flavors.
Going under 30 in the seniorcruise.
What tips do you have fortraveling?
Meghan (03:34):
on the cheap.
So if you listen to our GivingGives Back podcast, you heard me
talk about Souls for Souls.
I traveled twice with them,once to Costa Rica and once to
Tanzania.
Both trips were about $2,000each and tax deductible folks.
Now please understand.
I went on these trips becausethey were places I wouldn't
necessarily go alone.
(03:54):
I was curious about the PeaceCorps at the time and it was
recommended to do somethingsmaller, try it on for size
versus making that huge of acommitment.
And it was cheap For $2,000 tofly across the world.
Have all lodging, food,itinerary handled.
It was such an easy decisionfor me.
And then, yeah, it was nicewhen I got my taxes back.
Brittany (04:13):
Oh, I bet, Especially going to places that you
wouldn't normally go to, atleast you know you're safe and
with like a group.
And yeah, I'm all for thatAbsolutely, and I hate to say
this, but I saw this, you know,for that Absolutely, and I hate
to say this, but I saw this, youknow, trips planning guide on
Instagram.
I'm rolling my eyes right nowbecause I have to make that
reference, but they did make alot of like good suggestions on
there, and one was, you know,travel in the off seasons.
(04:34):
It really, you know, kind ofdepends where you're going, of
course.
So if you're coming to Floridain July, you might get swept up
by a hurricane, you know justsaying but it's still nice,
right, you're not going to bepaying as much as if you're
going to come in December.
Just don't pack a sweatshirt orpants, you don't need them.
And then two is let thedestination be the deciding
factor, not the date, becauseyou know you do have those peak
(04:58):
travel times, but this allowsyou to book flights and hotels
when they're at their cheapest,versus trying to something,
trying to find something thatfits your schedule because you
know it's Labor Day, weekend,christmas, whatever.
Meghan (05:06):
I would also say that if you go to a country that has
cheaper currency exchange rateor that may be recovering from a
harsh economy I went to Greecefor fairly cheap and it met both
of these criterias Two weeks,two people, 5k including all the
extras, like brand new luggage.
Basically, the more flexibleyou can be, the cheaper it will
(05:28):
be.
Brittany (05:29):
oh, I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so now that we have ourcost out of the way and our
options, you know, fordestinations, let's talk about
experiences hands down vietnam.
Meghan (05:41):
oh my gosh.
I've traveled all over theworld and so I've experienced
different cultures.
Right, we're in the UnitedStates.
If I travel to the UK, there'sso many similarities it's not
really a different culture, andso I encourage you to travel and
experience different cultures.
So I had done that by the timeI went to Vietnam.
So when I went to Vietnam, Iwent with my parents and I got
(06:02):
to see them experience thatculture change, right Because.
I had already done it so I knewhow it rolled.
It was so fun to watch them.
But I can tell you like we youknow 24 hour flight we land and
we go to this family's house.
It's three stories.
We're on the rooftop.
There's like so much food it'sunreal.
Like.
I mean platters upon plattersupon platters.
(06:24):
All these servants keepbringing out more food and I'm
like who's this?
For?
There's three of us right inthe family like super small,
just, I mean pile hide withcrabs.
Like I can only eat one crabplus.
Like a corn on the cob.
I can't eat like this much food, right?
So it starts raining and wekind of like get under like an
(06:46):
awning.
It starts raining and then itstops and if you're familiar
with places like this, after itstops raining, humidity shoots
through the roof.
So it starts getting likemassively hot, right.
And imagine this I mean we'rejet lagged, we've been in the
country a few hours and itstarts shooting through the
(07:07):
humidity and more food isbrought out.
And dad and I just lost it, likewe were hysterically laughing,
could not believe, like we'relike where's all this food going
to go?
So it was like the mix of jetlag, humidity, food, chaos and
that was day one.
Like I was there for two weeksand have that many stories.
(07:28):
So you will actually hear morestories about when I was in Nam.
Brittany (07:32):
Oh my gosh, I'm like picturing this to like hairs,
just like poofing out, and thenyou have like sweat on top of
sweat from the plane and then,oh, good, good, just what I want
is more.
I don't want to be rude becauseyou guys are like hosting,
right.
Meghan (07:46):
Like, we're like trying to eat as much as we can, but
there's just no way it'shappening.
What about you, brittany?
What do you got?
Brittany (07:53):
Oh, I have like a whole bucket load of stories
here.
I'm going to probably picksomething a little bit more tame
, but one of my best ones waswhen I went to Italy, and the
reason being is I didn't reallytravel like a lot from I don't
know, maybe like second, thirdgrade, up until I graduated
school.
I was just very focused onschool.
So it was like my first tripout of the country in a long
(08:16):
time and it was something that Ireally wanted to do.
I've always wanted to go thereand I don't know how, but I
somehow talked like two of myfriends into coming with me and
it was just like the bestexperience, like ever.
So we were there.
I went with the EF collegebreak, so I was about I don't
know 20.
Am I really 20?
I'm not going to date myselfhere, but it was just so much
(08:38):
fun.
We had a blast.
We got to see so much coolstuff.
You know I had some you knowmore or less advice from my
parents that had gone, but youknow it had been quite a while
since they went and I more orless take people's advice.
My mom's like don't bring heels.
Blah, blah, blah.
There's a lot of cobblestone.
Okay, cool, got it.
Well, what my parents didn'ttell me was that entire country
is the Stairmaster 5000.
(09:00):
You wonder why Italians are notfat and eat pasta and bread
like it's coming out of placesthat you don't want it to come?
It's because they're hiking upstairs and it's not just cool
like stairs as a handrail.
Now these are like cobblestonestairs, right?
So we have our luggage and youknow, I have a couple of friends
that aren't really like thebest packers, right?
So they have these giantluggages that they're trying to
(09:23):
like pull up these stairs andI'm like I have my little thing
and I was just struggling andit's just hot and humid and it's
just, oh, it's just fun.
Meghan (09:29):
If you spend any time with me, you will know that
Megan does not believe inchecked luggage.
I'm sure this will come up, but, yeah, no lugging huge luggage
across Cobblestone, and I willdefinitely not pack heels
because Italy is on my list andI would love to go, but I think
that's the best like makingmemories with your friends.
So let's talk about travelingmore on the like impact or
(09:52):
something that was hard For me.
It was Tanzania.
It was one of my favoriteplaces and I say that about so
many right, but they're favoritefor different reasons.
It was incredibly hard from anemotional standpoint, though.
We landed in the country a dirtrunway by the way.
And before they would even letus up, we were being held up
(10:14):
with guns Like they didn't wantto let our group into the
country.
So, like I mean eyes wide open,right, that's that like culture
change experience that I hadWelcome to our country Right
Like by the time I got toVietnam I was like this is cool,
like I can do this because Ihad already been held up with
guns before, like no big deal.
But we got to love on childrenin orphanages.
(10:34):
We were washing their feet andgiving them brand new shoes, and
then we got to play with themlike going down the slide and
swings and on a jungle gym withthem, and it was just.
It changes your heart, right.
And when I came back I had toremind myself that other people
didn't have that experience andso I certainly lost patience
(10:55):
several times when people wouldcomplain about like little stuff
.
I'm like you don't even knowRight but.
I forget they didn't have thatexperience.
So it was very hard from anemotional standpoint.
Incredibly rewarding.
I wouldn't change it any otherway.
But I did learn so much,particularly that kind of
relation of not being allowedinto a country, and I mean
(11:15):
obviously we were.
But you know, just having thatstop gate first.
Brittany (11:20):
Yeah, I don't agree with you there.
It puts things in a perspectiveand it humbles you really quick
.
But it's also good too, becauseyou see how genuinely happy
people are with not even likehalf of what you have in America
.
So you come back and it's likewhat do I have to complain about
Really?
Meghan (11:36):
Like.
I could not agree more.
I mean, the joy that you couldsee in the children was
unmatched.
But what about you, brittany?
What was your most impactful ordifficult trip?
Brittany (11:48):
Oh, my goodness, All right.
So when I was probably secondthird grade, my parents, we took
a cruise throughout SoutheastAsia and one of the stops was
China.
And at the time, you know, thisis back in the 90s, so the
internet was China.
And at the time, you know, thisis back in the 90s, so the
internet was just coming up.
There wasn't Instagram, allthat jazz.
So we get off the ship and atthe time I had super long blonde
hair like down to my butt, andit was bright blonde, and then I
(12:16):
was like you know, a little hotshit, my little pink, hot pink
fleece, little jacket, Okaypause for a second.
Meghan (12:19):
First off for our listeners.
You probably can't see how longher hair is.
It's still down to her buttLike she's very much in denial.
Continue Pink jacket.
Brittany (12:29):
So I get off the ship and we're walking, you know,
into town and these people hadjust never seen a blonde person
before.
And so I have like, basicallylike a small mob of like Chinese
people like coming up to me andthey're like, oh, lucky hair,
lucky hair, you know and askingif they can touch my hair.
And you know, at the time I'min second, third grade, right.
So it was very traumatic, likebeing bombarded by all these
(12:51):
people, but you know, it was.
You know, gold is very lucky intheir country.
They wanted to touch it andstuff like that.
So, okay, fine, so I ended up,just, you know, putting my hair
in a bun and then putting myhood on, which you know was pink
I still stood out because I waswhite and you know whatever.
But fine, I kind of like gotover that.
But then we were at a restaurantand my aunt was outside smoking
(13:12):
and I was just hanging out withher and my dad comes out and is
like, okay, where's Brittany?
And it's like, ok, where'sBrittany?
And he's looking around,looking around, and he sees this
like Asian woman that just kindof like took my hand and is
like walking off with me downthe street and my dad's like
what the hell Like?
You're like basically trying tokidnap my kids.
So he's like running after meand, you know, grabs me, but I
(13:34):
don't know.
Just the whole part of likekind of almost being kidnapped
was being a little traumatic andI try not to think about how my
life could have been a lotdifferent if he didn't come out
at that time.
But you know, that was thewhole experience there.
I don't know if I necessarilygo back to China.
I'd probably have to go througha lot of therapy before I go
back.
Meghan (13:53):
I'm glad you made it back and weren't actually
kidnapped.
But let's lighten it up a bit.
So what is one thing you alwaysbring back, no matter where you
travel and why?
Brittany (14:02):
Oh my goodness All right.
So I love like print and likeart, so canvas art, I love going
to try and find you know littlemom and pop shops that have
different art and really kind ofportray the country in certain
ways Very colorful, bright,cheery.
You know, sometimes I'll getlike the black and white ones,
but I think I just went to Parisand got you know like the
(14:23):
landmarks and then a couple coolpieces, but I think it's just
very fun just to see thedifferent styles you know
throughout the world.
Meghan (14:30):
What about you?
So I collect sand.
I started this collection in1999.
I was visiting my Bible schoolteacher and she had a sand
collection that she was showingme, and I happened to be going
to the UK after that trip, andso I said, oh my gosh, I'm going
to do this, I'm going to starta sand collection.
This is a perfect time, I'mstarting to travel.
(14:50):
And she started me off with myfirst sand, and so she gave me
some sand out of her collection,and it was from Egypt.
And so I have this huge map inmy guest bedroom that has like
all the sand pins, and Egypt isnumber one, and I have over 150
samples of like sand, and it'snot just me who collects them.
I have a lot of friends whohave contributed to it.
(15:14):
I don't care if you have tosmuggle it, if you get in
trouble like, bring me the sandright, and so there's so many
stories that have like added tothis collection.
It's a mix of stuff that I'vetraveled on and that other
people have traveled with aswell.
And then a little side note toour listeners if anybody's going
to Russia, I need some sand.
Brittany (15:34):
I'm really struggling to get some sand out of Russia
right now.
Yes, I agree, that's so funny,funny story.
Megan asked me to bring somesand out of Russia right now.
Yes, I agree, that's so funny,Funny story.
Megan asked me to bring somesand back from.
I think we were in Vienna.
I want to say I almost cameback with the husband from there
because I'm out here on thislike beach right.
So we're docked on this cruiseto Germany.
It was like through you know acouple of countries and I'm
(15:55):
there, my mom's like what areyou doing?
I'm like I have to get sand forMegan, just, you know whatever.
And then I meet this likerandom guy, like walking, and
he's like talking to me, like oh, cool, Hi, you know, you know
small talk, he's friendly.
And then he starts following meback to the cruise and like
walking me back, asking me likeall these things when I'm coming
back next.
And it's just a bunch of funstories, right.
Meghan (16:14):
Yes, so I am absolutely willing to sacrifice your life
for my sand.
But let's talk about our biggestlearning as it relates to
travel.
So not everyone travels thesame.
You need to find someone whodoes, and so I have two examples
of this.
One person I traveled with.
She just kind of startedgetting like attitude and wanted
(16:36):
me to be like her little socialmedia manager and like I had
taken a video wrong and likejust it was a lot of like drama,
right, and we ended up actuallynot speaking for the rest of
the trip and we were sharing aqueen bed.
Oh, and then, by the way, shealso was my employee and like
fast forward a year.
Brittany (16:55):
I ended up having to fire her, but that's another
podcast.
Meghan (16:56):
And then the second example is a friend I'm still.
I ended up having to fire her,but that's another podcast.
And then the second example isa friend I'm still really really
good friends with her, but wetravel so differently.
So if I'm going to be on aplane for 24 hours, 18 hours,
whatever it is you best believe,I'm hitting ground and I'm
running Like we are going to seethis place right, jam-packed
(17:18):
agenda.
I don't know when I'm going tocome back here, so I'm going to
just try and cram it all in.
But my friend, who I'm stillfriends with and I love she, was
like, okay, we'll meet in thelobby at this time and then
we'll leave at this time andwe'll figure it out.
And we met in the lobby, not atthat time, and it just
(17:38):
everything felt so slow and Ijust felt like I was wasting my
time.
And so just know that whenyou're traveling, you may want
to find someone who likes thespeed that you're traveling or
like beat your guests intocompliance, because I have
several stories of that as well.
Brittany (17:54):
I'm the same way too.
I'm like, if I'm getting on aplane to go anywhere, like I
expect, either you're planningthe itinerary or I'm planning
the itinerary but it's going tobe jam packed and we're hitting
all the highlights and some offthe road stuff and you're
getting some great stories aboutit.
But yeah, I definitely agree,you have to figure out what
their travel style is like andstick with those, otherwise it's
(18:14):
not going to be fun and youreally just have to be, you know
, open minded and adopt, youknow, more or less like a go
with the flow vibe.
You know stuff's not alwaysgoing to be.
You know, go according to theplan or the itinerary.
You might order the wrong dish,you're going to end up with
goose liver or somethingdisgusting, but you know that's
where the fun comes in, right,and that's where the memories
are made and you have the funstories to tell.
Meghan (18:36):
Oh, absolutely.
I went to Catalina and like Iwanted to make the most of it,
right, like I got this braceletand you, you bought the bracelet
and it gave you however manyexperiences you could fit in.
And I realized like if I rent agolf cart, it'll get me to the
experience faster because, likewalking was too slow and we're
talking like 500 feet Right, andso it was just like jam packed,
(18:58):
jam packed, jam packed, right,and you know, had to make dinner
at a certain time and then wewere going to go hit another
experience.
And finally the person I wastraveling with was like stop,
we're not going to go on thatexperience, we're going to sit
here and drink wine.
And I was like, okay, so, likeI love going in with a plan, but
if something goes awry, goingwith the flow is the best advice
(19:21):
, because, you know, the worstof it was I had to enjoy a
bottle of wine.
Brittany (19:24):
Oh darn, such a bad time.
I know I went on a camping trip.
Me and my girlfriend planned it.
We were working at retail atthe same time.
So we got off work, we're like,all right, we're going to go
camping, we're going to meet ourfamily up there, we're going to
road trip.
It was only supposed to be atwo-hour drive, so we got off
work, left right off work andwe're supposed to be there at 7,
right, maybe 8 with traffic.
(19:45):
So we're driving and we're notat the campsite and I'm like,
okay, cool, you know, we're on adirt road.
And then it started to get likea little bit like four-wheelie,
which fine, but in like aHyundai, like sedan, not, you
know, like an SUV or any sort offour-wheel vehicle.
(20:06):
And we have our dog in the backand again, not a small dog, he's
about like an 80 pound, likepitbull, and this poor guy is
like trying to jump between,like the driver's side door
panel and her door, like intoher lap, because we're like on
an off-road trail and not anoff-road car.
He's like scared, like shitless,and we ended up like sleeping
at a gas station.
And then the next day we leftlike, okay, we're going to find
(20:28):
this campsite and we ended uplike on the ATV trail, a couple
more dirt bike trails.
They only finally found thislake but, like you know, the
sign for it was just like sotiny and when you're looking at
it you know things to expect,like in certain parts of your
visual cue, like okay, it'sgonna be left, the right, it was
(20:50):
like hidden behind, like thistree.
Long story short, we ended upfinding the campsite finally,
but it was just like the wholestory about like having to sleep
at a gas station.
We didn't know if we were goingto be like murdered in the
middle of the night.
Meghan (20:57):
Yeah, that's exactly where my brain went is like, oh
my gosh, brittany could havegotten murdered and we wouldn't
have this podcast, but at leastI would have been able to listen
to her on Crime Junkies Littleshout out to them, I love them
(21:17):
Well.
Anyways, I have just very fewsoapboxes I get on, but one is
travel.
I have a friend who has livedin California her whole life and
she has never been to Yosemite.
Like, people travel from allover the world to go to Yosemite
and that's a day trip from theBay Area.
So my biggest encouragement is,if you can't travel abroad,
like, find what's around you andgo do it.
Brittany (21:37):
Yes, you definitely have to do like the touristy
things in your backyard because,I mean, it's always fun to play
tourist for the day and youknow you have things when people
come and visit like, hey, theseare cool things to do, but I
think we're out of time becauseI'm going to go grab my passport
and probably hop on a flightpretty soon.
But if you guys have ideas ondestinations, trips, even
(21:58):
planned itineraries, you know,shoot them our way, Add them to
our comments section, Add yourfavorite places too, and you can
always email us atfrisleyfemaleuncensored at
gmailcom.
Welcome to Fearlessly Female, where two blondes make a
right.
We are Megan and Brittany, thehosts of Fearlessly Female.
This podcast was born out ofambition, drive and a lot of
wine.
We're two powerhouse comedicwomen having uncensored
conversations about topics thataffect women.
We're airing all the dirtylaundry, so grab your favorite
drink and give us a listen.
Today's podcast is All BossesNeed a Break, where we highlight
(00:30):
some of the wildest travelexperiences we have had.
Brittany (00:34):
Don't worry, we're not talking about scaling
Kilimanjaro here, just some goodold-fashioned travel Warning.
Calm your tits.
Offense will not be taken here.
So grab your favorite drink,burn your bra and let's have a
good time.
Meghan (00:45):
When we say we cover everything.
We cover everything in thispodcast, but I think the
importance of talking abouttravel experiences is one so you
get lessons learned from us.
We made a few mistakes, butalso we talk about it because
traveling is so incrediblyimportant to the education of
your life, important to theeducation of your life and has
impacted on how you think aboutcareers, gratitude, perspectives
(01:08):
and a whole unknown squish thatyou can't tie to anything.
I know it made some differencepersonally in my life.
Oh, I love that Unknown squish.
Brittany (01:18):
I 1000% agree, and it's crazy how much traveling
impacts you.
I think there's different waysto travel too, and also how you
travel dictates the experienceyou get right.
So, for example, if we go inlike cheap off brand names, you
know you're going to have onehell of a story when you get
back versus you know, juststicking to only brand names,
like eating at McDonald's,you'll see some cool stuff, but
(01:40):
the stories won't be nearly asfun.
Meghan (01:42):
Oh my gosh, foreign Foods could do an entire podcast
on, but I want to start talkingabout how you travel for cheap,
because we can talk about allthe fun stories, but if you're
sitting there or driving Rightsitting driving, walking or
drinking and thinking, oh thisis grand, but I don't have the
money to travel.
Have we got news for you?
Britt and I have unlocked a fewcheat codes for you.
Brittany (02:05):
I think one of my favorites is going through a
under 30 tour.
It's called EF College Break.
Meghan (02:12):
Why does it have to be under 30?
Is there an under 40 I can usefor like six more years.
Brittany (02:17):
I feel like you know under 40 would be cool for that
one.
So this one is all about likeit was more or less geared
towards like younger people, sothey do like more active things.
They traveled all around theworld for whatever duration you
can go, like you know, if youwant to go for a whole like
month, or just a couple days aweek, two weeks, whatever, but
they were very active.
(02:38):
There was people that were moreor less within your age group,
right.
So I totally get the under 40things, but you also have to
keep in mind you're with peoplethat are like 18 and 21 and you
know they want to.
You know go out and like bingedrink, so pass on the 18 year
olds.
Meghan (02:51):
Love y'all, but I am way too old for that.
Brittany (02:54):
But that one was cool, right.
So they have like payment plans, right, you can make payments
over time, they have discountcodes, sales, all that jazz.
But then on the flip side, Iwent on a cruise with my mom and
it was kind of like a lastminute thing.
She's like just come on thiscruise with me to Germany.
Okay, whatever, cool, I haven'tbeen.
So I went and it turns out itwas like a whole like senior
cruise which.
(03:14):
I love.
Oh my gosh.
I had like the time of my life,so I had like under 30 tour and
then like the senior cruise andman, let me tell you, those
people can party so much.
It was a tad bit more expensivebut, oh my gosh, it was still
so much fun.
But it was definitely like twodifferent flavors.
Going under 30 in the seniorcruise.
What tips do you have fortraveling?
Meghan (03:34):
on the cheap.
So if you listen to our GivingGives Back podcast, you heard me
talk about Souls for Souls.
I traveled twice with them,once to Costa Rica and once to
Tanzania.
Both trips were about $2,000each and tax deductible folks.
Now please understand.
I went on these trips becausethey were places I wouldn't
necessarily go alone.
(03:54):
I was curious about the PeaceCorps at the time and it was
recommended to do somethingsmaller, try it on for size
versus making that huge of acommitment.
And it was cheap For $2,000 tofly across the world.
Have all lodging, food,itinerary handled.
It was such an easy decisionfor me.
And then, yeah, it was nicewhen I got my taxes back.
Brittany (04:13):
Oh, I bet, Especially going to places that you
wouldn't normally go to, atleast you know you're safe and
with like a group.
And yeah, I'm all for thatAbsolutely, and I hate to say
this, but I saw this, you know,for that Absolutely, and I hate
to say this, but I saw this, youknow, trips planning guide on
Instagram.
I'm rolling my eyes right nowbecause I have to make that
reference, but they did make alot of like good suggestions on
there, and one was, you know,travel in the off seasons.
(04:34):
It really, you know, kind ofdepends where you're going, of
course.
So if you're coming to Floridain July, you might get swept up
by a hurricane, you know justsaying but it's still nice,
right, you're not going to bepaying as much as if you're
going to come in December.
Just don't pack a sweatshirt orpants, you don't need them.
And then two is let thedestination be the deciding
factor, not the date, becauseyou know you do have those peak
(04:58):
travel times, but this allowsyou to book flights and hotels
when they're at their cheapest,versus trying to something,
trying to find something thatfits your schedule because you
know it's Labor Day, weekend,christmas, whatever.
Meghan (05:06):
I would also say that if you go to a country that has
cheaper currency exchange rateor that may be recovering from a
harsh economy I went to Greecefor fairly cheap and it met both
of these criterias Two weeks,two people, 5k including all the
extras, like brand new luggage.
Basically, the more flexibleyou can be, the cheaper it will
(05:28):
be.
Brittany (05:29):
oh, I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so now that we have ourcost out of the way and our
options, you know, fordestinations, let's talk about
experiences hands down vietnam.
Meghan (05:41):
oh my gosh.
I've traveled all over theworld and so I've experienced
different cultures.
Right, we're in the UnitedStates.
If I travel to the UK, there'sso many similarities it's not
really a different culture, andso I encourage you to travel and
experience different cultures.
So I had done that by the timeI went to Vietnam.
So when I went to Vietnam, Iwent with my parents and I got
(06:02):
to see them experience thatculture change, right Because.
I had already done it so I knewhow it rolled.
It was so fun to watch them.
But I can tell you like we youknow 24 hour flight we land and
we go to this family's house.
It's three stories.
We're on the rooftop.
There's like so much food it'sunreal.
Like.
I mean platters upon plattersupon platters.
(06:24):
All these servants keepbringing out more food and I'm
like who's this?
For?
There's three of us right inthe family like super small,
just, I mean pile hide withcrabs.
Like I can only eat one crabplus.
Like a corn on the cob.
I can't eat like this much food, right?
So it starts raining and wekind of like get under like an
(06:46):
awning.
It starts raining and then itstops and if you're familiar
with places like this, after itstops raining, humidity shoots
through the roof.
So it starts getting likemassively hot, right.
And imagine this I mean we'rejet lagged, we've been in the
country a few hours and itstarts shooting through the
(07:07):
humidity and more food isbrought out.
And dad and I just lost it, likewe were hysterically laughing,
could not believe, like we'relike where's all this food going
to go?
So it was like the mix of jetlag, humidity, food, chaos and
that was day one.
Like I was there for two weeksand have that many stories.
(07:28):
So you will actually hear morestories about when I was in Nam.
Brittany (07:32):
Oh my gosh, I'm like picturing this to like hairs,
just like poofing out, and thenyou have like sweat on top of
sweat from the plane and then,oh, good, good, just what I want
is more.
I don't want to be rude becauseyou guys are like hosting,
right.
Meghan (07:46):
Like, we're like trying to eat as much as we can, but
there's just no way it'shappening.
What about you, brittany?
What do you got?
Brittany (07:53):
Oh, I have like a whole bucket load of stories
here.
I'm going to probably picksomething a little bit more tame
, but one of my best ones waswhen I went to Italy, and the
reason being is I didn't reallytravel like a lot from I don't
know, maybe like second, thirdgrade, up until I graduated
school.
I was just very focused onschool.
So it was like my first tripout of the country in a long
(08:16):
time and it was something that Ireally wanted to do.
I've always wanted to go thereand I don't know how, but I
somehow talked like two of myfriends into coming with me and
it was just like the bestexperience, like ever.
So we were there.
I went with the EF collegebreak, so I was about I don't
know 20.
Am I really 20?
I'm not going to date myselfhere, but it was just so much
(08:38):
fun.
We had a blast.
We got to see so much coolstuff.
You know I had some you knowmore or less advice from my
parents that had gone, but youknow it had been quite a while
since they went and I more orless take people's advice.
My mom's like don't bring heels.
Blah, blah, blah.
There's a lot of cobblestone.
Okay, cool, got it.
Well, what my parents didn'ttell me was that entire country
is the Stairmaster 5000.
(09:00):
You wonder why Italians are notfat and eat pasta and bread
like it's coming out of placesthat you don't want it to come?
It's because they're hiking upstairs and it's not just cool
like stairs as a handrail.
Now these are like cobblestonestairs, right?
So we have our luggage and youknow, I have a couple of friends
that aren't really like thebest packers, right?
So they have these giantluggages that they're trying to
(09:23):
like pull up these stairs andI'm like I have my little thing
and I was just struggling andit's just hot and humid and it's
just, oh, it's just fun.
Meghan (09:29):
If you spend any time with me, you will know that
Megan does not believe inchecked luggage.
I'm sure this will come up, but, yeah, no lugging huge luggage
across Cobblestone, and I willdefinitely not pack heels
because Italy is on my list andI would love to go, but I think
that's the best like makingmemories with your friends.
So let's talk about travelingmore on the like impact or
(09:52):
something that was hard For me.
It was Tanzania.
It was one of my favoriteplaces and I say that about so
many right, but they're favoritefor different reasons.
It was incredibly hard from anemotional standpoint, though.
We landed in the country a dirtrunway by the way.
And before they would even letus up, we were being held up
(10:14):
with guns Like they didn't wantto let our group into the
country.
So, like I mean eyes wide open,right, that's that like culture
change experience that I hadWelcome to our country Right
Like by the time I got toVietnam I was like this is cool,
like I can do this because Ihad already been held up with
guns before, like no big deal.
But we got to love on childrenin orphanages.
(10:34):
We were washing their feet andgiving them brand new shoes, and
then we got to play with themlike going down the slide and
swings and on a jungle gym withthem, and it was just.
It changes your heart, right.
And when I came back I had toremind myself that other people
didn't have that experience andso I certainly lost patience
(10:55):
several times when people wouldcomplain about like little stuff
.
I'm like you don't even knowRight but.
I forget they didn't have thatexperience.
So it was very hard from anemotional standpoint.
Incredibly rewarding.
I wouldn't change it any otherway.
But I did learn so much,particularly that kind of
relation of not being allowedinto a country, and I mean
(11:15):
obviously we were.
But you know, just having thatstop gate first.
Brittany (11:20):
Yeah, I don't agree with you there.
It puts things in a perspectiveand it humbles you really quick
.
But it's also good too, becauseyou see how genuinely happy
people are with not even likehalf of what you have in America
.
So you come back and it's likewhat do I have to complain about
Really?
Meghan (11:36):
Like.
I could not agree more.
I mean, the joy that you couldsee in the children was
unmatched.
But what about you, brittany?
What was your most impactful ordifficult trip?
Brittany (11:48):
Oh, my goodness, All right.
So when I was probably secondthird grade, my parents, we took
a cruise throughout SoutheastAsia and one of the stops was
China.
And at the time, you know, thisis back in the 90s, so the
internet was China.
And at the time, you know, thisis back in the 90s, so the
internet was just coming up.
There wasn't Instagram, allthat jazz.
So we get off the ship and atthe time I had super long blonde
hair like down to my butt, andit was bright blonde, and then I
(12:16):
was like you know, a little hotshit, my little pink, hot pink
fleece, little jacket, Okaypause for a second.
Meghan (12:19):
First off for our listeners.
You probably can't see how longher hair is.
It's still down to her buttLike she's very much in denial.
Continue Pink jacket.
Brittany (12:29):
So I get off the ship and we're walking, you know,
into town and these people hadjust never seen a blonde person
before.
And so I have like, basicallylike a small mob of like Chinese
people like coming up to me andthey're like, oh, lucky hair,
lucky hair, you know and askingif they can touch my hair.
And you know, at the time I'min second, third grade, right.
So it was very traumatic, likebeing bombarded by all these
(12:51):
people, but you know, it was.
You know, gold is very lucky intheir country.
They wanted to touch it andstuff like that.
So, okay, fine, so I ended up,just, you know, putting my hair
in a bun and then putting myhood on, which you know was pink
I still stood out because I waswhite and you know whatever.
But fine, I kind of like gotover that.
But then we were at a restaurantand my aunt was outside smoking
(13:12):
and I was just hanging out withher and my dad comes out and is
like, okay, where's Brittany?
And it's like, ok, where'sBrittany?
And he's looking around,looking around, and he sees this
like Asian woman that just kindof like took my hand and is
like walking off with me downthe street and my dad's like
what the hell Like?
You're like basically trying tokidnap my kids.
So he's like running after meand, you know, grabs me, but I
(13:34):
don't know.
Just the whole part of likekind of almost being kidnapped
was being a little traumatic andI try not to think about how my
life could have been a lotdifferent if he didn't come out
at that time.
But you know, that was thewhole experience there.
I don't know if I necessarilygo back to China.
I'd probably have to go througha lot of therapy before I go
back.
Meghan (13:53):
I'm glad you made it back and weren't actually
kidnapped.
But let's lighten it up a bit.
So what is one thing you alwaysbring back, no matter where you
travel and why?
Brittany (14:02):
Oh my goodness All right.
So I love like print and likeart, so canvas art, I love going
to try and find you know littlemom and pop shops that have
different art and really kind ofportray the country in certain
ways Very colorful, bright,cheery.
You know, sometimes I'll getlike the black and white ones,
but I think I just went to Parisand got you know like the
(14:23):
landmarks and then a couple coolpieces, but I think it's just
very fun just to see thedifferent styles you know
throughout the world.
Meghan (14:30):
What about you?
So I collect sand.
I started this collection in1999.
I was visiting my Bible schoolteacher and she had a sand
collection that she was showingme, and I happened to be going
to the UK after that trip, andso I said, oh my gosh, I'm going
to do this, I'm going to starta sand collection.
This is a perfect time, I'mstarting to travel.
(14:50):
And she started me off with myfirst sand, and so she gave me
some sand out of her collection,and it was from Egypt.
And so I have this huge map inmy guest bedroom that has like
all the sand pins, and Egypt isnumber one, and I have over 150
samples of like sand, and it'snot just me who collects them.
I have a lot of friends whohave contributed to it.
(15:14):
I don't care if you have tosmuggle it, if you get in
trouble like, bring me the sandright, and so there's so many
stories that have like added tothis collection.
It's a mix of stuff that I'vetraveled on and that other
people have traveled with aswell.
And then a little side note toour listeners if anybody's going
to Russia, I need some sand.
Brittany (15:34):
I'm really struggling to get some sand out of Russia
right now.
Yes, I agree, that's so funny,funny story.
Megan asked me to bring somesand out of Russia right now.
Yes, I agree, that's so funny,Funny story.
Megan asked me to bring somesand back from.
I think we were in Vienna.
I want to say I almost cameback with the husband from there
because I'm out here on thislike beach right.
So we're docked on this cruiseto Germany.
It was like through you know acouple of countries and I'm
(15:55):
there, my mom's like what areyou doing?
I'm like I have to get sand forMegan, just, you know whatever.
And then I meet this likerandom guy, like walking, and
he's like talking to me, like oh, cool, Hi, you know, you know
small talk, he's friendly.
And then he starts following meback to the cruise and like
walking me back, asking me likeall these things when I'm coming
back next.
And it's just a bunch of funstories, right.
Meghan (16:14):
Yes, so I am absolutely willing to sacrifice your life
for my sand.
But let's talk about our biggestlearning as it relates to
travel.
So not everyone travels thesame.
You need to find someone whodoes, and so I have two examples
of this.
One person I traveled with.
She just kind of startedgetting like attitude and wanted
(16:36):
me to be like her little socialmedia manager and like I had
taken a video wrong and likejust it was a lot of like drama,
right, and we ended up actuallynot speaking for the rest of
the trip and we were sharing aqueen bed.
Oh, and then, by the way, shealso was my employee and like
fast forward a year.
Brittany (16:55):
I ended up having to fire her, but that's another
podcast.
Meghan (16:56):
And then the second example is a friend I'm still.
I ended up having to fire her,but that's another podcast.
And then the second example isa friend I'm still really really
good friends with her, but wetravel so differently.
So if I'm going to be on aplane for 24 hours, 18 hours,
whatever it is you best believe,I'm hitting ground and I'm
running Like we are going to seethis place right, jam-packed
(17:18):
agenda.
I don't know when I'm going tocome back here, so I'm going to
just try and cram it all in.
But my friend, who I'm stillfriends with and I love she, was
like, okay, we'll meet in thelobby at this time and then
we'll leave at this time andwe'll figure it out.
And we met in the lobby, not atthat time, and it just
(17:38):
everything felt so slow and Ijust felt like I was wasting my
time.
And so just know that whenyou're traveling, you may want
to find someone who likes thespeed that you're traveling or
like beat your guests intocompliance, because I have
several stories of that as well.
Brittany (17:54):
I'm the same way too.
I'm like, if I'm getting on aplane to go anywhere, like I
expect, either you're planningthe itinerary or I'm planning
the itinerary but it's going tobe jam packed and we're hitting
all the highlights and some offthe road stuff and you're
getting some great stories aboutit.
But yeah, I definitely agree,you have to figure out what
their travel style is like andstick with those, otherwise it's
(18:14):
not going to be fun and youreally just have to be, you know
, open minded and adopt, youknow, more or less like a go
with the flow vibe.
You know stuff's not alwaysgoing to be.
You know, go according to theplan or the itinerary.
You might order the wrong dish,you're going to end up with
goose liver or somethingdisgusting, but you know that's
where the fun comes in, right,and that's where the memories
are made and you have the funstories to tell.
Meghan (18:36):
Oh, absolutely.
I went to Catalina and like Iwanted to make the most of it,
right, like I got this braceletand you, you bought the bracelet
and it gave you however manyexperiences you could fit in.
And I realized like if I rent agolf cart, it'll get me to the
experience faster because, likewalking was too slow and we're
talking like 500 feet Right, andso it was just like jam packed,
(18:58):
jam packed, jam packed, right,and you know, had to make dinner
at a certain time and then wewere going to go hit another
experience.
And finally the person I wastraveling with was like stop,
we're not going to go on thatexperience, we're going to sit
here and drink wine.
And I was like, okay, so, likeI love going in with a plan, but
if something goes awry, goingwith the flow is the best advice
(19:21):
, because, you know, the worstof it was I had to enjoy a
bottle of wine.
Brittany (19:24):
Oh darn, such a bad time.
I know I went on a camping trip.
Me and my girlfriend planned it.
We were working at retail atthe same time.
So we got off work, we're like,all right, we're going to go
camping, we're going to meet ourfamily up there, we're going to
road trip.
It was only supposed to be atwo-hour drive, so we got off
work, left right off work andwe're supposed to be there at 7,
right, maybe 8 with traffic.
(19:45):
So we're driving and we're notat the campsite and I'm like,
okay, cool, you know, we're on adirt road.
And then it started to get likea little bit like four-wheelie,
which fine, but in like aHyundai, like sedan, not, you
know, like an SUV or any sort offour-wheel vehicle.
(20:06):
And we have our dog in the backand again, not a small dog, he's
about like an 80 pound, likepitbull, and this poor guy is
like trying to jump between,like the driver's side door
panel and her door, like intoher lap, because we're like on
an off-road trail and not anoff-road car.
He's like scared, like shitless,and we ended up like sleeping
at a gas station.
And then the next day we leftlike, okay, we're going to find
(20:28):
this campsite and we ended uplike on the ATV trail, a couple
more dirt bike trails.
They only finally found thislake but, like you know, the
sign for it was just like sotiny and when you're looking at
it you know things to expect,like in certain parts of your
visual cue, like okay, it'sgonna be left, the right, it was
(20:50):
like hidden behind, like thistree.
Long story short, we ended upfinding the campsite finally,
but it was just like the wholestory about like having to sleep
at a gas station.
We didn't know if we were goingto be like murdered in the
middle of the night.
Meghan (20:57):
Yeah, that's exactly where my brain went is like, oh
my gosh, brittany could havegotten murdered and we wouldn't
have this podcast, but at leastI would have been able to listen
to her on Crime Junkies Littleshout out to them, I love them
(21:17):
Well.
Anyways, I have just very fewsoapboxes I get on, but one is
travel.
I have a friend who has livedin California her whole life and
she has never been to Yosemite.
Like, people travel from allover the world to go to Yosemite
and that's a day trip from theBay Area.
So my biggest encouragement is,if you can't travel abroad,
like, find what's around you andgo do it.
Brittany (21:37):
Yes, you definitely have to do like the touristy
things in your backyard because,I mean, it's always fun to play
tourist for the day and youknow you have things when people
come and visit like, hey, theseare cool things to do, but I
think we're out of time becauseI'm going to go grab my passport
and probably hop on a flightpretty soon.
But if you guys have ideas ondestinations, trips, even
(21:58):
planned itineraries, you know,shoot them our way, Add them to
our comments section, Add yourfavorite places too, and you can
always email us atfrisleyfemaleuncensored at
gmailcom.
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