June 11, 2025 • 50 mins
Avid globetrotter and history buff, Jackie Lapin, is the author of The Historic Traveler Blog and Directory. Lapin's stunning photos and lively descriptions of historic locations around the world include recommendations for historic novels, mysteries and biographies for each destination. Lapin's diverse career includes being one of the nation’s first woman sportswriters, a four-time author and marketing business owner. She shares some of her travel tips and insights. www.thehistorictraveler.com
Fearless Fabulous You is broadcast live Wednesdays at 12 Noon ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Fearless Fabulous You Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Fearless Fabulous You is broadcast live Wednesdays at 12 Noon ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Fearless Fabulous You Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should
(00:20):
be directed to those show hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you for choosing W four WN Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am your host, Melanie Young,
and welcome to my show. Welcome to my lifestyle about
inspiring women around the world. If you follow me regularly
on my social media feed or my other show, The
Connected Table, you know that I am an intrepid lifelong
traveler the capital T. Well, my guest today is like me,
(01:03):
an intrepid lifetime traveler with a capital T, and like me,
she's had a long career in public relations, running a
very successful agency managing dual careers, but following her passion,
which is like me, travel, to create an amazing site
called The Historic Traveler. In it, you can find really helpful,
(01:25):
condensed authoritative information on places to visit. There is a
new travel guide out which we're going to talk about.
I have it on Florence right now, where I just was.
I'm heading to Rome soon and we're going to talk
about how my guest. I love her name, Jackie Lapan.
Lapan is French for rabbit, like jack rabbit. I think
(01:46):
that's so cute how she got started in the business. So,
Jackie Lapan, I'm giving you your French name. If you
go buy another version of that, please share. But Jackie,
welcome to my show, Fearless Fabulous.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
You well, Melanie, I'm just delighted to be here. And
of course yes it is Lappin, but you spotted it.
My mother made me Jack Rabbit and didn't even realize that.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So I just had to smile because I knew a
writer named Harry Covert in French, that's Harry Covert, which
is green beans. So you have to know your French
to do that. So Jackie, as I said, you're a
traveler with a capital T. Did you grow up in
a traveling family? Give me a little bit about your
(02:32):
backstory where you're from, because I just you know, I
was from Chattanooga, which was like podunk back then. But
my parents loved to travel, and that is how I
caught my bug.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
What about you, Well, my father had I got the
wanderlust gene for him, but we didn't travel as a child.
He had a physical limitation and so we didn't travel.
But I yearned to travel and he loved to travel,
and he instilled that in me, that curiosity about the
rest of the world.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The men.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
When I got to fourth grade, they took us on
a field trip to the California Missions, and I think
that was what really hooked me, you know, to see
history live right there in front of me. And then
from there I had two fabulous Well in high school,
I study California history. When I got to college, I
(03:21):
had the leading historian of California history, all barnun In,
and so watching him present history, it was theatrical. It
was so all engrossing that I just dove right in.
But by then I'd already started reading. You know, I
love to read, and I was drawn to history and
(03:43):
historic novels, and of course that became my go to
That's where you know, when I'm under pressure in the world,
is closing in or I just need to rest and relax.
I will go to my library of historic novels and
dig in. And I've got them on my kindle, I've
got them on my uh you know, on my phone,
(04:04):
I've got them on my in my shelves. You know,
there are novels on my everywhere that you can find
them in my life.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So I love the fact that on the Historic Traveler
of the Guide there are recommended reading, which I'm a
big believer in because I'm always traveling with at least
two books and I love to read up before I go.
Was there an author or a book that inspired you
in your traveling life? I know I have one. Was there?
(04:35):
Was it either an author or a book?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Well, I think James Mitchener initially, certainly Ken Fillot Pillars
of the Earth was a big one. But there are
other people I love. I love Edward Rutherford, I love
Leon Leon URIs you know, uh Exodus uh and uh.
(04:57):
Also or being strong his biographies of famous people. So
all of that sort of started off. I called those
the the sort of like the godfathers of historic fiction
today's world, and I'm trying to bring them back. Actually,
in my magazine, I feature one of the grand old
(05:20):
men and women in the magazine section of books, because
people today may not even know those authors, and I
want to bring them back because their books are timeless.
So you know, that's kind of where I started, and
then I expanded out from there, and there's a lot
of contemporary authors that I now love as well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
My parents were avid readers and also authors, and they
had a huge library which was very difficult to get
rid of during our estate sale. But I took the
leon Yuri's paperback Exodus and read it again, and it
was really I think everybody should be reading that book,
particularly right now giving going on in the same I
grew you with Mitchener, just epic, I think contemporary. The
(06:03):
book that probably changed how I live was Francis Mays
A Year in the World, where she lived in different
six different every six weeks she lives somewhere different, Oh lovely,
And it was my goal and I pretty much kind
of started doing that in a period of my life.
Now this is the historic Traveler is like one dimension
(06:26):
of your life. You've had, like me, a successful career
in public relations. And you did say before we started
this conversation, you're still kind of juggling that give us
a little bit of backstory about that, and when did
you decide to add the historic traveler to your amazing roster.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
So let's go back a little bit further. I started
out as one of the first women's sports writers in America,
and I was at the Detroit Free Press at twenty
at the Associated Press and the front pages of the
La Times at twenty one, and co hosting dodgree Dog
Out on television and at the Washington Post at twenty two.
Turned out and turned around and had one of the
largest sports special events in cable tvpr agencies in the
(07:04):
world with a world class client list. And I ran
that for twenty years. I mean Toyota and Avon and
the Golf Channel, and I could go on the National
Acay League, I could go on and on. From that,
I wrote two books in personal growth. One was the
best spiritual book of the Year at the International New
Age Trade Show. But from there I realized that my
(07:26):
heart lay with the world, with the people who were
making the world a better place. So I rebranded the
company Conscious Relations and started doing radio podcast tours and
I have been doing that for fifteen years. And that's
the other half of my life do we offer authors
to nine thousand podcasts and radio shows, And I love
that part of my life. But when I hit seventy
(07:48):
something clicked in And the first thing that happened was
I realized that there were less years ahead than behind.
And if I didn't go see my bucket list cities
that I had always wanted to photograph and see, I
didn't know how much longer I was going to lug
a suitcase and a backpag full of cameras. So I said,
(08:09):
I'm doing it. So I did a nine week tour
of Europe to see all my bucket list cities. When
I got done with that, and I realized that I've
had years and years with the photography that I've yearned
to share with the world, and someone it's pretty good,
I will say, And it just I was ready for
(08:32):
the next phase in my life. And ironically, I had
an intuitive reading with a girlfriend who said, you know,
I know what you're going to be doing next. She says,
You're going to be doing a blog. And it was
like the heavens opened up and I saw the vision.
And what was unique about what I was seeing was
not just a travel blog, where I'm telling you about
the places and I'm showing you my photographs from over
(08:55):
five hundred localities and fifty different countries. But I wanted
to give you the book recommendations so that not only
did you experience the visual, but you could read and
feel as if you'd live there, live through that time.
And so every post on the blog the Historic Traveler
(09:17):
and it's Thehistoric traveler dot com, there is a more
than one book recommendation with the post. So we really
believe that this is what you makes us unique, so
and so, and there's a lot more on the website.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
But for me, it was like, I've been serving other
(09:40):
people my whole life. Now's the time to serve me.
Now's the time to really open my heart and share
it with the world what I love, what I've experienced.
And there's so many other closet historic travel lovers just
plain history lovers and historic novel lover that I know
(10:01):
that really want to connect with others, and so I
created a community that goes along with.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And so I think that's terrific. I think you said
something that's really really important that I want to paraphrase
for myself and my listeners, that you wanted to be
more of you. You live such of so much of
your professional life was serving others right, and you wanted
to do something for you at age seventy, I think
(10:28):
that's really important because you realized that a lot of
your life had been lived, but you still had more
life to live. And I went through that threshold myself.
I started my podcast because I was tired of putting
words in other people's mouths as a public relation specialist.
I was always being told to get out of the camera,
get out of the way, but I was creating the
(10:49):
words and I wanted to have my own voice. And
I think that's really important for what you've done, what
I have done, and where anyone listening is seeking to
do right. And so I think that that's very important
to underscore. I think your photography, by the way, is
terrific if that's if it's on the site. I do
(11:12):
want to make sure that my listeners know it's the
Historic Traveler one l because there I did see it's
a British one, which kind of made me upset, because
I want you to own this. It's the Historic Traveler
dot com now you have been to over fifty countries,
and it looks like a lot of what you focus
(11:32):
on is Europe. Is there an area of the world
you've not been to yet that you want to dive into.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Oh yes, Egypt is next, Turkey and more Greece is
after that. I still want to go to Morocco and
then I have almost not at all virtually hit South America,
and I would like to do that in the future.
It's it's a little lower on my list, but I
would like to cover that area as well. But definitely
(12:03):
Egypt is number one next on my list.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Well, I have never been to Egypt. I was the
Middle East. You know, a lot of people are afraid
to go to the Middle East right now, and I
think it's important to assure people where to go because
I think we're living in a horrifically bad era of
travel fear versus travel embrace, and I think we should
address that. I think travel is your higher education and
(12:29):
you should travel without fear and step out of your
comfort zone. I have been to South America. I do
highly recommend it. A lot of people can't get their
heads around it. It's wonderful, but I want you to
share to my listeners why it's important to keep traveling
and why it's important to step out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Well, the first thing that I believe is that connecting
with other people widens your view of the world. It
opens your heart if that's the attitude you're willing to
go in with, and that just gives you a much
bigger view of what's possible in life. But you know,
I had a seminal experience of traveling when I was young,
(13:14):
and that experience changed me radically. I was I just
finished my first books and needed to really run away
from all that hard work I did, and a cousin
invited me to come along with her boyfriend and a
(13:34):
group of architectural students, and I thought, great, you know,
I'll be I'll have other people. And when I got
over there, it took me fifteen minutes to realize that
they were ugly Americans and I was not going to
travel with these people. And for the first time in
my life, I decided to be completely spontaneous for the
next six weeks. I let whatever opportunity arose or just
(13:58):
picking you know, okay, I tink it takes me to
this place or this base which one am I going
to pick? It was completely I stayed with friends, et cetera.
I just spontaneously went through Europe. But what that taught
me was it gave me courage. It gave me faith
in myself. It gave me the confidence and I know
to make the right decisions. It gave me the fact
(14:18):
that I don't need to be afraid, that I can
handle myself into just about any circumstances. And so from
that point, for I was in my late twenties, that
enabled me to carry forth the rest of my life
in such a way that I believed in myself more fully.
(14:40):
And so, and I believe that travel can give you
all kinds of experiences and not specific to me, but
whatever your experience is, that just opens you up.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I completely agree, and I think it's important that everyone
to consider traveling alone. When I was single, I traveled
alone all the time, only child. There was no you know,
I had no brothers, sisters. Nobody wanted to go to
the strange places I wanted to go because I travel
for New Year's my birthday. I made a vow when
I turned thirty after bad New Year's dates, to spend
New Years in a different part of the world to
(15:13):
expand my horizons and really celebrate Jackie. Most of that
was done when I was single and on my own.
Occasionally I would join groups, you know, like Overseas a
Venture travel to do the trekking and anywhere where I
couldn't just go on my own, but I think it
was I kept a diary of every year and it
is the story of my life. And I encourage everyone
(15:34):
to say, I'm going to just go out there and
do something on my own. You don't need a group,
you don't need a spouse, you don't need your besties.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Just do it right, absolutely, and I like you. But
I've been seeing all my whole life. And occasionally I'll
take a trip with a girlfriend or tie it to
a business trip, but buying and large much of my
travel has been on my own or again, I'll also
grab a tour in areas that I'm not familiar with,
but you know, I've made friends. Some of my favorite
(16:04):
people on the planet are the tour guides that I've
stayed in contact with and who And here's a little
tip for anybody that travels. Don't hang at the back
when they're doing the tour. Go up to the front,
ask questions, get to know them. You're going to learn
a lot more just from the local guides, but from
what they tell everybody else you'll learn more.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That was a really important takeaway for me in your tips, Jackie,
because we go on a lot of organized, hosted trips
to wine countries and now I do have a husband
and he likes to sit in the back of the
bus and I like to be I find that the
people upfront seem to have greater conversation and that one
tip I thought was very important because you do talk
to other people, and this is not a time to
(16:48):
isolate yourself. If you're with a group, it's a time
to integrate yourself and ask questions. And talking to locals
is so important.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I remember on a trip to New Zealand, we had
a bus drive who's Maori and I sat up in
the front where he sang mawori songs. I mean, how
much more authentic can that experience be? And if I've
been at the back of the bus, I never would
have experienced that.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Well, my husband's in for a surprise on our next
trip because I'm going to be in the front of
the bus and he's going to be in the back.
And often we split up when we do these trips
and we each take separate mini trips just to kind
of broaden our horizons. And that's really wonderful. You know.
Let's talk about some other wonderful things that my listeners
(17:34):
can experience in your guide. Okay, I'm going to pull up.
I've got Amsterdam up, which for me was important. That
was my thirtieth birthday. Solo, by the way, New Year's
and Amsterdam. Give us a little example of what you
would find in the Amsterdam section. And you're recommended reading.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Well, the first thing you're going to get is some history.
I'm going to give you the perspective, so you know
what the context is is for what you're seeing. It's
not just here's a building. This is how this building
got here. This is why this was built. So you're
going to understand the economics of why the canals were
built and the tall buildings with the winches on the
(18:13):
top so that they the merchants could bring their merchandise
up to the second and third floors. Then you're going
to see, Okay, we'll talk about the canals and how
important they were and how they got developed, and then
I'm going to talk, you know, talk about you know,
a major church for example, or you know the bridges
(18:33):
and how you know how lovely they are that they
crossed across the canals and you know, and then I'll
pick particular buildings that might be significant that you're going
to want to look at. So essentially, I'll go down,
one step at a time, all of the highlights of
what you really need to see when you are in
that market. That's really the key to it.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
It's really terrific, particularly if you were interested in the economy.
What makes an economy tick in the city or a country,
which I do find is very important because it also
impacts the architecture and the art. A city that has
wealth has an amazing architecture in art as well, as
you can see whether it's Amsterdam or Florence or I
was recently in Vittoria in Sicily, and we were touring
(19:16):
the town as part of a wine trip, and I said,
what is the economy here? Because Sicily is many places
quite poor, but it seemed very wealthy here. It's because
that particular area of Sicily is a center for all
the eggplant and lemons and tobato is that they are
exported around the world, so there's a lot of money
in addition to wine. So it's very important and I
(19:37):
love that. The reading is of course The Girl with
the Pearl Earring and The Coffee Trader interesting in Tulip Fever,
which I think is really fun. I love Amsterdam. I
love going to that airport. Schipple Airport's one of my
favorite in Europe, it really is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And those books really evoked the time. You know, The
Coffee Trader was a great book that you know a
lot of people know of The Girl with a Pearl Airing,
but The Coffee Trader is a really fascinating book about
how coffee really came to the New World and how
Amsterdam was the center of all that and how it
grew and the competition for the dollar or in that
(20:13):
case with the guilder to you know, to make a
living and the people that oppose them. So you know,
it's going to give you a really a significant sense
of what made Amsterdam Amsterdam.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
It's so interesting because I have a psych of wine
and food traveler. My companion piece of this would be
all the eating and drinking aspects of it, because there's
a whole historical aspect there for each of these of
these to the what people eat and drink. It's really
quite fascinating. And I'm also curious when you travel. This
is a constant headbutt with my husband David packing. Do
(20:52):
you have certain methods of packing when you travel, things
you must take and tips for that? Because we are
in high sum season and this is an evergreen content show,
but more Americans are traveling abroad because they want to
and get away, and it's it's tough to travel these days.
We have limits on how much luggage you can check.
(21:12):
What are some of your packing tips?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, one of the things I discovered having not been
in Europe during the summer for a couple of years
is it's getting hotter. Yes, and the one type of
clothing that you can have that breeze is linen. So
if you you know, India makes a lot of the
light linen tops. And also don't get them sleeveless. I
(21:36):
see you're wearing sleeveless, but out in the sun, you're
going to get sunburned when you do that. And I
have had skin cancer, so I really make sure that
my sleeves are covered at least three quarters so a
bright colorful linen top that you can just throw in
the wall, in the in the sink if you're you know,
hang it up in the bathtub. But one caveat sometimes
(21:56):
the colors will run, so don't put them together. Wash
some individual and then paths to match. I like the
linen pants as well. Now that you granted, they'll wrinkle,
which is why it's easiest to wash them and hang
them up. So that's my a number one stay cool recommendation.
And the nice thing about Europe, and of course, and
(22:20):
I'm subject to allergies and other things, and anytime I
get on an airplane, you know, I almost inevitably get
some kind of pick up something. So I actually carry
a little what I call a medicine chest, which is,
you know, a plastic bag packed with things like de
quoil and those kinds of things. Now, the good thing
(22:41):
about Europe, and many people don't know, is that you
can walk into many apothecaries as they call them, are pharmacies,
and you don't have to have a prescription for things,
so if you run out of something, you can just
walk in and get them. So that is a real
benefit of traveling in Europe and people are so welcoming.
(23:02):
You know, what do you need? How can I help you?
You know, well, we don't carry that one, but we
carry this one. So that's a little something that I
always uh, you know, take take ass and I only
pair basically, bring two pairs of shoes. I bring my
tennis shoes and a little pair of soft soft not sandals,
(23:27):
but you know, an enclosed shoe in black, so I
can wear with black pants, black anything, you know, And
and and then it makes it easier not to have
a whole lot of shoes in my bag. So those
are something the tips that I would.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Use, well, I'm going to build upon that. And the
sleeveless is important, I always uh. I live in New Orleans,
so we wear a lot of loose fitting clothes all
the time, like I'm wearing now because it's hotter than haitis. However,
having sleeves is critical, not only because and I usually
have a wrap, a light linen wrap, or I have
small little jackets, loose spinning jackets that also great for
(24:05):
dressing up. But if you go to certain churches, cathedrals,
whether you're in Europe at Catholic churches, Israel or Asia,
you must have your shoulders covered and your knees covered. Well,
I will make a fatal mistake about that and come
in and properly dressed, and they can't go in.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
One other thing. In Europe, you get a lot of
rain in the summer, so and certainly if you're not
traveling during the summer. So what I do is I
usually my overthing is a little light hoodie. You know.
Sometimes you get the multicolor hoodies, you know, with the
you know, colors for sleeves and a little hood over it,
(24:43):
and so I can wear it with anything, but it
covers me just enough that it's raining, I don't, you know,
I don't feel it nearly as much. And then of
course you want to take you can take a plastic
rain slicker that you can throw over and just throw
in your camera bag. I do that as well. And today,
you know, I'll still carry three cameras. I will carry
(25:04):
a big camera, I'll carry a smaller camera. I use indoors,
and then I'll use a cell phone. And a lot
of people just only need the cell phone because the
quality these days is so good. But I like to
use a belly bag, and the belly bag enables me
to stick my money in there, put my camera in
there when I'm you know, doing other things when I
(25:26):
need to have my hands free, if I need to
grab a room key, you know, all of those kinds
of things. So that makes a lot easier for me too,
because that gives me my hands free. I deal with
my backpack, which have my cameras and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
What are some of the travel hacks to avoid long lines?
Do you have any that you'd like to share, because
that's a big problem. I was actually shocked in Florence.
We're usually there in February when it's not very crowded,
and then we were there in May and I was like,
what happened? So are there some travel hacks there or
things you should know, such as the days where the
museum is free or openly, or special passes you can get.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Well, I think most of the time, unfortunately, money talks,
and a lot of times you can buy skip the
line passes, and that's what I will almost always do.
It's it's a little bit more money. Sometimes it's a
bit more money, but your time is valuable when you're
on the road, and especially like when I'm going from
city to city to city and have to get as
(26:26):
much in as possible because I want to shoot it,
I want to experience it, I want to live it
in so many different ways. So I will try to
make sure that, you know, I spend the extra money
to get in front, and so that's you know, the
most effective way then I know to do that. And
then also make your reservations early, don't wait till the
(26:48):
last minute, and so that you're you know, if they
do have a sequence numbered sequence, you're you know, in
the far in the beginning of that instead of at
the end.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
So and if you really want, you know, sometimes it's
you know, get the guide, get the private guide, get
the guide to tour, get the headphone. Since I'll figure
it out myself. You do get a much more enriched
and historic and culturally strong perspective when you do that.
It's worth the investment. I mean, there's certain things you
really don't want to scrimp on when you're traveling. And
(27:20):
it's like, if you're going the knowledge that goes with
that museum tour or the guide. And we're working on
a trip to the Vatican David's ever been, and I'm
researching best way to visit the Vatican right now, because
it's you know, there's some six million ways to do it.
I think that's also important. Also if you were a
member at a certain level of a museum, there is
(27:43):
a lot of reciprocity memberships. I take. I don't know
about you. I take advantage of all the AARP trip
LEA airline clubs, my credit card. I look at everything
to see where I can get not only value, but
enhanced benefits.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Those are all great recommendations. You know, you really can
look at or two or three different ways you can
see something. You can do it yourself. You can get
a low cost program like I'm an affiliate a Viator.
I love their tours. They're little in city tours, walking tours,
bus tours, hop on, hop off, bus tours, all of
(28:24):
those kinds of things. You can get join a tour
group to see something, and then you can get a
private tour. I have done all of them, depending on
where I am, what the circumstances are, how much attention
I need, how physically a part things are. All of
those and you need to calculate that in And I'm
also a big believer that if you can use a
(28:45):
travel agent to do so, you.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Just know you have a membership option which adds a
host of benefits, and you know, for those who want
to learn about that, it's the Historic Traveler dot com.
You know, sometimes becoming a member of something, whether it's
the Historic Traveler dot Com or a museum group or
an arts group or I know my university TWU Lane
(29:10):
has a very impressive travel program. It's worth it to
do that, and you can get, as we say, perks
and benefits and enhancements that may not be available. I
like a via It's a Viator, that's how you name.
I love those programs. I'm actually looking at them right
now for when we go to Rome for a big
(29:32):
free two days.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
And but my travel agent gave me, you know, she
gave me some tours. I said, that's too much money.
I don't want to spend them. She very graciously just
went back to Viator, which anybody can book on their own,
and she filled in those spots with Viator that were
way less expensive.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Yeah. I mean, you know, another way if you're really
on a budget. Meet up. We were in Peru and
I think I found a really inexpensive guy through a meetup,
believe or I, and it was one of the best
one on one very inexpensive tours where we remain friends.
I had such a great experience in some places like Peru.
(30:11):
I've been to a couple places in South Amyriica. You
really do need guides. You cannot do it on your own,
particularly when the culture is so different and the language
is so different and you're in rural areas, whether it's Asia, Borneo, Peru.
I did do a drive. Me and a girlfriend drove
(30:32):
around Chile on her own. That was a little more easy,
but Peru you can't. So it's important to think about
where you're going, and the more rural you were going,
the more you need to think about someone to guide you,
particularly when you're in areas where you just be.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
The language I found that was in China. Now I
was in China like twenty years ago, but at the time,
if you got out of the tourist hotel and the
tourist restaurant, nobody spoke English all the people on the
street and I got lost. I was dumped somewhere where
I didn't know how to get home, and all of
that kinds of stuff. So, and of course reading menus
(31:08):
and reading street signs, all of that becomes very very challenging.
So and even in Japan, you know, where most people
speak English but not all. You can't read the street signs,
you know, it's hard to tell where to get off
the subway, and and and of course and I you know,
the food is a mystery food to me. But you
(31:31):
know when you're looking at a menu, and it could
be all kinds of things that you may not want
to eat. So it's hard to get the answers that
you need sometimes. So yes, going in any of those
particular places for me was much better when I had
a guide.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Now I saw.
You know, are you going to do any other guides
down the road beyond what you have with Europe? You're
gonna do anything in the United States, for example, or.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I suly have one if you would like, Hey, we
can talk about that one too. That's eighteen international cities
where you can immerse eighteen North American cities where you
can immerse yourself in history and the books that make
you feel as if you live there.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
And so that one is also available, so you know,
let's talk. I can give the if you'd like, I
can give the links for both.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Of those that would be great.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So the link for the international guide is the you
got to put the THHG in be first Historic Traveler
one el Thehistoric Traveler dot Com Volage slash guide. The
link toward the North American guide is Thehistoric Traveler dot
Com FORWARGE slash guide n A. And the reason it's
(32:45):
North America is because I love Quebec City and so
you know that's a very wonderful historic city. So we
cover all of North America in that particular guide.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Oh that's great because I'm looking at I'm looking at
Quebec City again and I spent a New Year's there.
It was great. I'd like to go in the summer,
and like you mentioned earlier in our conversation, it is
hot in Europe. It was getting really hot when we
were we're going back in a few weeks on a
wine trip. But I said to David, there is no
way I would go to Europe in July or August
(33:19):
in this heat, with these crowds. I like to go
in the shoulder season, the more affordable and cooler shoulder seasons,
where there's less people and you're not going to get hot.
The world is getting hotter, and you have to think
about that when you travel. And yet when I was
in Italy in April, I was wearing a coat. You
have to really watch that because most people in North
(33:41):
America and the United States think it's the same summary
weather when they go to Europe. And no, you like
Paris right now, the French Open is happening and everybody's
in a coat. You have to pack like it was
two months early, you know, like spring instead of summer.
But it is hot in Europe, it really is, and
I think it's going to only get hotter. So did
(34:02):
you finally get to Savannah, because I saw on an
interview you've not been to Savannah yet.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
No, I have. That's on my bucket list. I'm looking
to do that sometime in the next year or so.
But I also want to go see the trees turn
in Upstate New York. So that's something that I'm looking
forward to too. I haven't done a lot of you know,
not since I had an office back in New York
(34:28):
have I done much in that part of the world.
So I'm going to do that and do parts of
New England again. One thing I wanted to talk about
is we're talking about a lot of historic sites here. Yes,
make sure that if you're going on a Monday, it's open.
Because much of Europe museums and historic sites close on
(34:50):
Monday because they're open through the weekend. They hit the
tourist trade and they close on Monday. I actually ended
up one time in Naples wanting to go to on
Pay and pump Pei was closed. Un made it there
on a later trip, but you know you're gonna find
that those kinds of so don't make assumptions on a
Monday that it's going to be open.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Well, I actually think Monday is a great travel day,
so whenever possible. In New Orleans where I live now,
a lot of I mean everything's closed on Monday. All
you can get is red beans and rice. And with
post COVID now many places in North America I'm not
sure about Europe, and your restaurants are not open even
until Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Sundays can be iffy in
(35:35):
some places as well, depending on church schedules. More European
places are probably open on Sunday now than Monday. But
if you're planning a trip, and I've also learned this
from an affordability standpoint, going home on a Monday, or
even better a Tuesday or Wednesday. You can save money
(35:55):
and Monday really is a dad day. Monday is the
day you should get on the train and go somewhere
else or gifts fly home. Sundays are very valuable. Sundays
are valuable because that's when a lot in Europe, as
you know, the families go out and they have big
lunches and it's very festive. And in Spain people there's
festivals and people walk around and it's just a wonderful
(36:16):
time to see like life as it naturally occurs on
a Sunday. But you do have to watch those closure
dates and more importantly, and if you're traveling in fer
Augusta and august a lot of Europe is shut down well.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
And you also have to figure that if you're going
to do churches going at time of mass' during is
going to be curtailed, so it's best not to go
in the heart of the religious service time and or
same old synagogues going on a Saturday, so your best
to pick you know, remnant times other days so that
(36:53):
you can really wander around those churches and synagogues and
see what they have to offer. One of my favorites
churches is Sharp and I have done both a magazine
article and a blog on it. And it's an extraordinary
church because it has some of the most beautiful and
largest amounts of stained glasses in the world. It has
(37:14):
a elabyrinth, and also it has this incredible screen around
the backside of the altar that is carved scenarios from
the Life of Christ. And these are masterpieces. You know,
that is you know, one of my all time favorite churches.
(37:35):
It is worth a trip just to Shart to see it.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I completely agree. And the cathedrals are such an important
part of the history of a village and in a country.
Even and we always go to synagogues and cathedrals, we
try to see as many as I consider the works
of art. They're the museums unto themselves, and I think
(37:59):
they're really important. Even if you don't have an ounce
of religious spirit in you, it's really really important. We
obviously tour a lot of wineries. I just want to
note that many wineries have large amounts of history tied
to them because they were formerly the country estates of
the nobility or the medici or the aristocrats, and they've
(38:20):
been converted many of them now to both through their
economy do what they call agro tourism. There's a big
movement right now to invest in agro tourism, wine tourism,
agricultural tourism. So many of these historic wineries now have
places on site where you can stay well.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
And just having dinner. I mean, on one of my tours,
you know, we had a fabulous dinner in a winery
where the family been there six since the sixteen hundreds,
and you know, mom and grandma made the meal for us,
and so I mean, how much more authentic can you
can you experience? I'm not a wine drinker. My problem
is that when all the tours take us to wineries
(39:04):
and I'm like, okay, guys, what else is there? Let
me go look at the plants, let me go look
at the animals. But and you know, and do a
little wine tasting. But you know, so I'm I am
always interested in some of the other place places, you know, strongholds, churches,
I mean, castles, chateaus, historic buildings where things occurred. One
(39:30):
of my favorite places is Chanalsaul in Europe, in the
Laura Valley, which is called the Ladies Chateau because it
was owned by women. My favorite stories, if you've seen
the Showtime television The Serpent, Queen Catherine de Medici, her
king husband had a mitch mistress that he had installed
(39:51):
in that place, and the minute he died, Catherine threw
her out and moved in. And you could stand in
the bedroom where Catherine I manage. She lived in rule
France basically, and her son suns for you know, decades.
So any of those kinds of experiences you just can't duplicate.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Absolutely. That is one. I've been to the Laire several
times and that is the one castle I still haven't
been to that I want to go and just for everyone,
that is a beautiful part of France, just such in
a unique beautiful It's a garden of France, it really is.
I know that we all have travel bucket lists. I
have a wine travel bucket. I have a wine bucket,
(40:35):
travel list and a travel bucket list. I update it
regularly because I check things off. I would still like
to spend more time. I still haven't gone to Argentina,
and I've always wanted to do the Argentina top to bottom.
In South America, I would love to go deeper into
Southeast Asia. I never got to I had to cancel
(40:58):
a trip because of a cancer diagnosis, and where I
was going finally to Cambodia and Laos. So those are
my bigger trips. But I'm also at this point in
my life where I'm saving up all those freaking flyer
points so i can go business or first class because
I'm not going to do those long hauls anymore. Coach,
(41:20):
I can do it when I'm going quickly going to
Europe and back, but not the long haul. I'm just
I need that comfort. Now, what is on your bucket list?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Oh, as I indicated, Egypt is first, Yes, I'm Turkey
and Greece and then but I'd love to go to Malta.
There are I'd like to go to Sofia in Bulgaria.
I haven't done much of Scandinavia, just Denmark. I want
to do the other two countries up there. I would
(41:50):
like to spend more time exploring I want. I'd like
to go to Bali and Indonesia. I haven't done that yet.
I'm just trying to think. I mean, the list is long,
and you know, like you kept a diary, all I
kept was I kept a journal and all it did
was list on each page a trip and all the
different places I went to on that trip. When I
(42:13):
was digitizing thirty five thousand images this year, as I
have just finished doing that diary, that journal was so
vital because you can't depend on your memory, and just
to open that page and say, oh, yeah, I went there,
I went there, Oh that's where that was was a
really good thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should
(42:36):
write all of the details that you experienced, but just
put a little note of where you were and what
you saw. Because and now when I'm traveling on when
I went to this trip to Europe for nine weeks
in twenty twenty three, I kept it on my phone
every day a little bit what did I see, so
that it was so much easier when I was. Now
(42:57):
that I'm writing the blog, I can go back and
say where was that? What was that church? And I
can look it up and pop it in. So and
of course the magazine is really fun too, because I
do a eighty five eighty page magazine. The first half
is destinations, the second half is all the media, the books,
(43:18):
et cetera. But we have a big interview in each
one of those one. The first issue had the person
who saved all the lighthouses in America, and the next
one is a gal who's an expert on ossuaries and graveyards.
The next one is going to be two guys that
renov a dudehouse, dude ranches, and then there's also also
(43:40):
an author a Q and A. And the one that
I'm really just excited about is that Tony Riches, who's
Elizabethan and Tudor series is huge, you know when you
can can't miss it on Amazon or audible. Tony is
also he's my next interview, so I'm really excited. It
was really juice interviews. So are you doing this all yourself? Yeah,
(44:03):
I do it all myself. I'm a writer, so I
write the article and then I pull the photographs. And
what's really fun is, you know, I'm looking for unique
little things like I did want an article on the
four Roman arenas where you can still see a performance.
The next one is going to be the lovely funiculars
that connect me with old cities and new cities all
(44:24):
over the world. So you have a big feature on
a place, then you have anyway somewhere in the world,
then you that's a cover story. Then you have something
of us and the somewhere in the US, and then
the spotlight, like I was just telling you, and then
we have I'll do a church, I'll do a grand man,
or I'll do adaptive reuse the buildings that have been
(44:44):
reused for things. So I'm always finding the unique history.
We also feature sovereign and where he or she made
their home and what that you know, and how they
influence the our history and what you see in those places.
So it's just really fun and if you love history,
it's you know, it gives you a way to dig deep,
(45:06):
dive deep, and the magazine is just really a hoot
for me.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
So is the magazine available as part of the pre
content or is it part of the member content?
Speaker 4 (45:14):
That is part of the member content. However, I have
a photo gallery that is absolutely true, and that photo gallery,
there's actually thirty five different galleries in there, divided into cityscapes,
spotlights on a particular location, collections of things like flowers
and hot air balloons and whatever. And then I give
(45:37):
you landscapes and I give you animals from all over
the world. And so you can just dig in there
and you can pick by subject matter or just waner
and it's going to grow constantly. It'll go to well
over one hundred galleries.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Well, I think it's amazing that you're doing all this.
Is it?
Speaker 4 (45:56):
You know?
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Is it a business for you now or a pleasure
for you now? I mean? Or is it both?
Speaker 4 (46:03):
It is both? Absolutely. You know, you can see how
passionate and excited I am about it. So that's the
pleasure part of that. And then I'm going to get
to travel. And I'm also eventually going to hook up
with one of those wonderful tour companies and I will
help people lead tours. But we're not there yet. That's
going to happen in the future. But it's a business
(46:25):
as well, as you talk about. We have a membership.
It's very inexpensive and it has all kinds of things
like the world's largest directory of historic novels, mysteries, history books,
and biographies by location. You can pick by city, state,
or a country wherever you want to read before you go.
We also have a directory of and this is open
(46:46):
to anybody of insight guides because I believe that the
best guides for people who love history and so, you know,
thank you, and so yes, you can dig in there
and pull the insight guide that you're wherever you're going
to be going to so that there's no you know,
no fee to access that. Some of the other things
(47:07):
that you know we do is we have a book club,
we have a book swap, we have a travel matching program,
we have a community meeting. We have the world's largest
list of historic dramas on television and where you can
find them on streaming or TV or elsewhere. And then
we also have the world's largest list of historic hotels.
(47:27):
And I'm going to be also adding one of museums.
You know, I'm just like going to give you the
you know, certain kinds of museums that you know are
specific to you know, currents and more current kinds of things.
I'm going to give you the extream museums. So so
all of that is coming, and it's a repository of
all things travel history and historic novels.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
I think it's a great focus and a great resource.
For that reason. I remember the hardest thing for me,
having moved now twice in six years, different homes up state,
was having to get rid of all my travel books.
Had so many, but I had to go digital and
this is a great digital asset. It really is. Well,
(48:12):
Jackie Leppin, this has been a great conversation. I think
it's a terrific site. Again, it's the Historic Traveler dot
Com one Alan Traveler. If you're a history boff, a
travel boff and it's your passion, and even if you're
an armchair traveler or a true globetrotter, it's a great source.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with me
on Fearless Fabulous You.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
Wonderful Melanie, thank you. One thing I want to point
out if you're not the history not in your family
and somebody else is, we actually have gift certificates.
Speaker 3 (48:46):
Yeah, it's a great idea for someone who's a history above.
It takes a mystery out of history. So anyway you've
been listening to Fearless Fabulous You. My parting message is
one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite
authors on travel and life, Mark Twain. He said travel
is a school where illustrations learned without walls. I've always
(49:09):
believed that travel was my higher education life and I
continue to embrace it whenever I can get out there
and explore the world, and if even if you say
I can, and all the money whatever I have a family,
get out and explore your own backyard. You can find
amazing things if you create a staycation. I've done it
many times when I was short on money long on time.
(49:33):
I did it great staycations and learn to love where
I lived even more so, learn to be a tourist
in your hometown and then expand your horizons. Because my
partying message is always you can choose the life you live.
Don't let life choose you, and always choose to live
on your terms and stay fearless and fabulous. Thank you
(50:02):
the fast
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should
(00:20):
be directed to those show hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you for choosing W four WN Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am your host, Melanie Young,
and welcome to my show. Welcome to my lifestyle about
inspiring women around the world. If you follow me regularly
on my social media feed or my other show, The
Connected Table, you know that I am an intrepid lifelong
traveler the capital T. Well, my guest today is like me,
(01:03):
an intrepid lifetime traveler with a capital T, and like me,
she's had a long career in public relations, running a
very successful agency managing dual careers, but following her passion,
which is like me, travel, to create an amazing site
called The Historic Traveler. In it, you can find really helpful,
(01:25):
condensed authoritative information on places to visit. There is a
new travel guide out which we're going to talk about.
I have it on Florence right now, where I just was.
I'm heading to Rome soon and we're going to talk
about how my guest. I love her name, Jackie Lapan.
Lapan is French for rabbit, like jack rabbit. I think
(01:46):
that's so cute how she got started in the business. So,
Jackie Lapan, I'm giving you your French name. If you
go buy another version of that, please share. But Jackie,
welcome to my show, Fearless Fabulous.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
You well, Melanie, I'm just delighted to be here. And
of course yes it is Lappin, but you spotted it.
My mother made me Jack Rabbit and didn't even realize that.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So I just had to smile because I knew a
writer named Harry Covert in French, that's Harry Covert, which
is green beans. So you have to know your French
to do that. So Jackie, as I said, you're a
traveler with a capital T. Did you grow up in
a traveling family? Give me a little bit about your
(02:32):
backstory where you're from, because I just you know, I
was from Chattanooga, which was like podunk back then. But
my parents loved to travel, and that is how I
caught my bug.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
What about you, Well, my father had I got the
wanderlust gene for him, but we didn't travel as a child.
He had a physical limitation and so we didn't travel.
But I yearned to travel and he loved to travel,
and he instilled that in me, that curiosity about the
rest of the world.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The men.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
When I got to fourth grade, they took us on
a field trip to the California Missions, and I think
that was what really hooked me, you know, to see
history live right there in front of me. And then
from there I had two fabulous Well in high school,
I study California history. When I got to college, I
(03:21):
had the leading historian of California history, all barnun In,
and so watching him present history, it was theatrical. It
was so all engrossing that I just dove right in.
But by then I'd already started reading. You know, I
love to read, and I was drawn to history and
(03:43):
historic novels, and of course that became my go to
That's where you know, when I'm under pressure in the world,
is closing in or I just need to rest and relax.
I will go to my library of historic novels and
dig in. And I've got them on my kindle, I've
got them on my uh you know, on my phone,
(04:04):
I've got them on my in my shelves. You know,
there are novels on my everywhere that you can find
them in my life.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So I love the fact that on the Historic Traveler
of the Guide there are recommended reading, which I'm a
big believer in because I'm always traveling with at least
two books and I love to read up before I go.
Was there an author or a book that inspired you
in your traveling life? I know I have one. Was there?
(04:35):
Was it either an author or a book?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Well, I think James Mitchener initially, certainly Ken Fillot Pillars
of the Earth was a big one. But there are
other people I love. I love Edward Rutherford, I love
Leon Leon URIs you know, uh Exodus uh and uh.
(04:57):
Also or being strong his biographies of famous people. So
all of that sort of started off. I called those
the the sort of like the godfathers of historic fiction
today's world, and I'm trying to bring them back. Actually,
in my magazine, I feature one of the grand old
(05:20):
men and women in the magazine section of books, because
people today may not even know those authors, and I
want to bring them back because their books are timeless.
So you know, that's kind of where I started, and
then I expanded out from there, and there's a lot
of contemporary authors that I now love as well.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
My parents were avid readers and also authors, and they
had a huge library which was very difficult to get
rid of during our estate sale. But I took the
leon Yuri's paperback Exodus and read it again, and it
was really I think everybody should be reading that book,
particularly right now giving going on in the same I
grew you with Mitchener, just epic, I think contemporary. The
(06:03):
book that probably changed how I live was Francis Mays
A Year in the World, where she lived in different
six different every six weeks she lives somewhere different, Oh lovely,
And it was my goal and I pretty much kind
of started doing that in a period of my life.
Now this is the historic Traveler is like one dimension
(06:26):
of your life. You've had, like me, a successful career
in public relations. And you did say before we started
this conversation, you're still kind of juggling that give us
a little bit of backstory about that, and when did
you decide to add the historic traveler to your amazing roster.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
So let's go back a little bit further. I started
out as one of the first women's sports writers in America,
and I was at the Detroit Free Press at twenty
at the Associated Press and the front pages of the
La Times at twenty one, and co hosting dodgree Dog
Out on television and at the Washington Post at twenty two.
Turned out and turned around and had one of the
largest sports special events in cable tvpr agencies in the
(07:04):
world with a world class client list. And I ran
that for twenty years. I mean Toyota and Avon and
the Golf Channel, and I could go on the National
Acay League, I could go on and on. From that,
I wrote two books in personal growth. One was the
best spiritual book of the Year at the International New
Age Trade Show. But from there I realized that my
(07:26):
heart lay with the world, with the people who were
making the world a better place. So I rebranded the
company Conscious Relations and started doing radio podcast tours and
I have been doing that for fifteen years. And that's
the other half of my life do we offer authors
to nine thousand podcasts and radio shows, And I love
that part of my life. But when I hit seventy
(07:48):
something clicked in And the first thing that happened was
I realized that there were less years ahead than behind.
And if I didn't go see my bucket list cities
that I had always wanted to photograph and see, I
didn't know how much longer I was going to lug
a suitcase and a backpag full of cameras. So I said,
(08:09):
I'm doing it. So I did a nine week tour
of Europe to see all my bucket list cities. When
I got done with that, and I realized that I've
had years and years with the photography that I've yearned
to share with the world, and someone it's pretty good,
I will say, And it just I was ready for
(08:32):
the next phase in my life. And ironically, I had
an intuitive reading with a girlfriend who said, you know,
I know what you're going to be doing next. She says,
You're going to be doing a blog. And it was
like the heavens opened up and I saw the vision.
And what was unique about what I was seeing was
not just a travel blog, where I'm telling you about
the places and I'm showing you my photographs from over
(08:55):
five hundred localities and fifty different countries. But I wanted
to give you the book recommendations so that not only
did you experience the visual, but you could read and
feel as if you'd live there, live through that time.
And so every post on the blog the Historic Traveler
(09:17):
and it's Thehistoric traveler dot com, there is a more
than one book recommendation with the post. So we really
believe that this is what you makes us unique, so
and so, and there's a lot more on the website.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
But for me, it was like, I've been serving other
(09:40):
people my whole life. Now's the time to serve me.
Now's the time to really open my heart and share
it with the world what I love, what I've experienced.
And there's so many other closet historic travel lovers just
plain history lovers and historic novel lover that I know
(10:01):
that really want to connect with others, and so I
created a community that goes along with.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And so I think that's terrific. I think you said
something that's really really important that I want to paraphrase
for myself and my listeners, that you wanted to be
more of you. You live such of so much of
your professional life was serving others right, and you wanted
to do something for you at age seventy, I think
(10:28):
that's really important because you realized that a lot of
your life had been lived, but you still had more
life to live. And I went through that threshold myself.
I started my podcast because I was tired of putting
words in other people's mouths as a public relation specialist.
I was always being told to get out of the camera,
get out of the way, but I was creating the
(10:49):
words and I wanted to have my own voice. And
I think that's really important for what you've done, what
I have done, and where anyone listening is seeking to
do right. And so I think that that's very important
to underscore. I think your photography, by the way, is
terrific if that's if it's on the site. I do
(11:12):
want to make sure that my listeners know it's the
Historic Traveler one l because there I did see it's
a British one, which kind of made me upset, because
I want you to own this. It's the Historic Traveler
dot com now you have been to over fifty countries,
and it looks like a lot of what you focus
(11:32):
on is Europe. Is there an area of the world
you've not been to yet that you want to dive into.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Oh yes, Egypt is next, Turkey and more Greece is
after that. I still want to go to Morocco and
then I have almost not at all virtually hit South America,
and I would like to do that in the future.
It's it's a little lower on my list, but I
would like to cover that area as well. But definitely
(12:03):
Egypt is number one next on my list.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Well, I have never been to Egypt. I was the
Middle East. You know, a lot of people are afraid
to go to the Middle East right now, and I
think it's important to assure people where to go because
I think we're living in a horrifically bad era of
travel fear versus travel embrace, and I think we should
address that. I think travel is your higher education and
(12:29):
you should travel without fear and step out of your
comfort zone. I have been to South America. I do
highly recommend it. A lot of people can't get their
heads around it. It's wonderful, but I want you to
share to my listeners why it's important to keep traveling
and why it's important to step out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Well, the first thing that I believe is that connecting
with other people widens your view of the world. It
opens your heart if that's the attitude you're willing to
go in with, and that just gives you a much
bigger view of what's possible in life. But you know,
I had a seminal experience of traveling when I was young,
(13:14):
and that experience changed me radically. I was I just
finished my first books and needed to really run away
from all that hard work I did, and a cousin
invited me to come along with her boyfriend and a
(13:34):
group of architectural students, and I thought, great, you know,
I'll be I'll have other people. And when I got
over there, it took me fifteen minutes to realize that
they were ugly Americans and I was not going to
travel with these people. And for the first time in
my life, I decided to be completely spontaneous for the
next six weeks. I let whatever opportunity arose or just
(13:58):
picking you know, okay, I tink it takes me to
this place or this base which one am I going
to pick? It was completely I stayed with friends, et cetera.
I just spontaneously went through Europe. But what that taught
me was it gave me courage. It gave me faith
in myself. It gave me the confidence and I know
to make the right decisions. It gave me the fact
(14:18):
that I don't need to be afraid, that I can
handle myself into just about any circumstances. And so from
that point, for I was in my late twenties, that
enabled me to carry forth the rest of my life
in such a way that I believed in myself more fully.
(14:40):
And so, and I believe that travel can give you
all kinds of experiences and not specific to me, but
whatever your experience is, that just opens you up.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I completely agree, and I think it's important that everyone
to consider traveling alone. When I was single, I traveled
alone all the time, only child. There was no you know,
I had no brothers, sisters. Nobody wanted to go to
the strange places I wanted to go because I travel
for New Year's my birthday. I made a vow when
I turned thirty after bad New Year's dates, to spend
New Years in a different part of the world to
(15:13):
expand my horizons and really celebrate Jackie. Most of that
was done when I was single and on my own.
Occasionally I would join groups, you know, like Overseas a
Venture travel to do the trekking and anywhere where I
couldn't just go on my own, but I think it
was I kept a diary of every year and it
is the story of my life. And I encourage everyone
(15:34):
to say, I'm going to just go out there and
do something on my own. You don't need a group,
you don't need a spouse, you don't need your besties.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Just do it right, absolutely, and I like you. But
I've been seeing all my whole life. And occasionally I'll
take a trip with a girlfriend or tie it to
a business trip, but buying and large much of my
travel has been on my own or again, I'll also
grab a tour in areas that I'm not familiar with,
but you know, I've made friends. Some of my favorite
(16:04):
people on the planet are the tour guides that I've
stayed in contact with and who And here's a little
tip for anybody that travels. Don't hang at the back
when they're doing the tour. Go up to the front,
ask questions, get to know them. You're going to learn
a lot more just from the local guides, but from
what they tell everybody else you'll learn more.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
That was a really important takeaway for me in your tips, Jackie,
because we go on a lot of organized, hosted trips
to wine countries and now I do have a husband
and he likes to sit in the back of the
bus and I like to be I find that the
people upfront seem to have greater conversation and that one
tip I thought was very important because you do talk
to other people, and this is not a time to
(16:48):
isolate yourself. If you're with a group, it's a time
to integrate yourself and ask questions. And talking to locals
is so important.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I remember on a trip to New Zealand, we had
a bus drive who's Maori and I sat up in
the front where he sang mawori songs. I mean, how
much more authentic can that experience be? And if I've
been at the back of the bus, I never would
have experienced that.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Well, my husband's in for a surprise on our next
trip because I'm going to be in the front of
the bus and he's going to be in the back.
And often we split up when we do these trips
and we each take separate mini trips just to kind
of broaden our horizons. And that's really wonderful. You know.
Let's talk about some other wonderful things that my listeners
(17:34):
can experience in your guide. Okay, I'm going to pull up.
I've got Amsterdam up, which for me was important. That
was my thirtieth birthday. Solo, by the way, New Year's
and Amsterdam. Give us a little example of what you
would find in the Amsterdam section. And you're recommended reading.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Well, the first thing you're going to get is some history.
I'm going to give you the perspective, so you know
what the context is is for what you're seeing. It's
not just here's a building. This is how this building
got here. This is why this was built. So you're
going to understand the economics of why the canals were
built and the tall buildings with the winches on the
(18:13):
top so that they the merchants could bring their merchandise
up to the second and third floors. Then you're going
to see, Okay, we'll talk about the canals and how
important they were and how they got developed, and then
I'm going to talk, you know, talk about you know,
a major church for example, or you know the bridges
(18:33):
and how you know how lovely they are that they
crossed across the canals and you know, and then I'll
pick particular buildings that might be significant that you're going
to want to look at. So essentially, I'll go down,
one step at a time, all of the highlights of
what you really need to see when you are in
that market. That's really the key to it.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
It's really terrific, particularly if you were interested in the economy.
What makes an economy tick in the city or a country,
which I do find is very important because it also
impacts the architecture and the art. A city that has
wealth has an amazing architecture in art as well, as
you can see whether it's Amsterdam or Florence or I
was recently in Vittoria in Sicily, and we were touring
(19:16):
the town as part of a wine trip, and I said,
what is the economy here? Because Sicily is many places
quite poor, but it seemed very wealthy here. It's because
that particular area of Sicily is a center for all
the eggplant and lemons and tobato is that they are
exported around the world, so there's a lot of money
in addition to wine. So it's very important and I
(19:37):
love that. The reading is of course The Girl with
the Pearl Earring and The Coffee Trader interesting in Tulip Fever,
which I think is really fun. I love Amsterdam. I
love going to that airport. Schipple Airport's one of my
favorite in Europe, it really is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
And those books really evoked the time. You know, The
Coffee Trader was a great book that you know a
lot of people know of The Girl with a Pearl Airing,
but The Coffee Trader is a really fascinating book about
how coffee really came to the New World and how
Amsterdam was the center of all that and how it
grew and the competition for the dollar or in that
(20:13):
case with the guilder to you know, to make a
living and the people that oppose them. So you know,
it's going to give you a really a significant sense
of what made Amsterdam Amsterdam.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
It's so interesting because I have a psych of wine
and food traveler. My companion piece of this would be
all the eating and drinking aspects of it, because there's
a whole historical aspect there for each of these of
these to the what people eat and drink. It's really
quite fascinating. And I'm also curious when you travel. This
is a constant headbutt with my husband David packing. Do
(20:52):
you have certain methods of packing when you travel, things
you must take and tips for that? Because we are
in high sum season and this is an evergreen content show,
but more Americans are traveling abroad because they want to
and get away, and it's it's tough to travel these days.
We have limits on how much luggage you can check.
(21:12):
What are some of your packing tips?
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, one of the things I discovered having not been
in Europe during the summer for a couple of years
is it's getting hotter. Yes, and the one type of
clothing that you can have that breeze is linen. So
if you you know, India makes a lot of the
light linen tops. And also don't get them sleeveless. I
(21:36):
see you're wearing sleeveless, but out in the sun, you're
going to get sunburned when you do that. And I
have had skin cancer, so I really make sure that
my sleeves are covered at least three quarters so a
bright colorful linen top that you can just throw in
the wall, in the in the sink if you're you know,
hang it up in the bathtub. But one caveat sometimes
(21:56):
the colors will run, so don't put them together. Wash
some individual and then paths to match. I like the
linen pants as well. Now that you granted, they'll wrinkle,
which is why it's easiest to wash them and hang
them up. So that's my a number one stay cool recommendation.
And the nice thing about Europe, and of course, and
(22:20):
I'm subject to allergies and other things, and anytime I
get on an airplane, you know, I almost inevitably get
some kind of pick up something. So I actually carry
a little what I call a medicine chest, which is,
you know, a plastic bag packed with things like de
quoil and those kinds of things. Now, the good thing
(22:41):
about Europe, and many people don't know, is that you
can walk into many apothecaries as they call them, are pharmacies,
and you don't have to have a prescription for things,
so if you run out of something, you can just
walk in and get them. So that is a real
benefit of traveling in Europe and people are so welcoming.
(23:02):
You know, what do you need? How can I help you?
You know, well, we don't carry that one, but we
carry this one. So that's a little something that I
always uh, you know, take take ass and I only
pair basically, bring two pairs of shoes. I bring my
tennis shoes and a little pair of soft soft not sandals,
(23:27):
but you know, an enclosed shoe in black, so I
can wear with black pants, black anything, you know, And
and and then it makes it easier not to have
a whole lot of shoes in my bag. So those
are something the tips that I would.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Use, well, I'm going to build upon that. And the
sleeveless is important, I always uh. I live in New Orleans,
so we wear a lot of loose fitting clothes all
the time, like I'm wearing now because it's hotter than haitis. However,
having sleeves is critical, not only because and I usually
have a wrap, a light linen wrap, or I have
small little jackets, loose spinning jackets that also great for
(24:05):
dressing up. But if you go to certain churches, cathedrals,
whether you're in Europe at Catholic churches, Israel or Asia,
you must have your shoulders covered and your knees covered. Well,
I will make a fatal mistake about that and come
in and properly dressed, and they can't go in.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
One other thing. In Europe, you get a lot of
rain in the summer, so and certainly if you're not
traveling during the summer. So what I do is I
usually my overthing is a little light hoodie. You know.
Sometimes you get the multicolor hoodies, you know, with the
you know, colors for sleeves and a little hood over it,
(24:43):
and so I can wear it with anything, but it
covers me just enough that it's raining, I don't, you know,
I don't feel it nearly as much. And then of
course you want to take you can take a plastic
rain slicker that you can throw over and just throw
in your camera bag. I do that as well. And today,
you know, I'll still carry three cameras. I will carry
(25:04):
a big camera, I'll carry a smaller camera. I use indoors,
and then I'll use a cell phone. And a lot
of people just only need the cell phone because the
quality these days is so good. But I like to
use a belly bag, and the belly bag enables me
to stick my money in there, put my camera in
there when I'm you know, doing other things when I
(25:26):
need to have my hands free, if I need to
grab a room key, you know, all of those kinds
of things. So that makes a lot easier for me too,
because that gives me my hands free. I deal with
my backpack, which have my cameras and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
What are some of the travel hacks to avoid long lines?
Do you have any that you'd like to share, because
that's a big problem. I was actually shocked in Florence.
We're usually there in February when it's not very crowded,
and then we were there in May and I was like,
what happened? So are there some travel hacks there or
things you should know, such as the days where the
museum is free or openly, or special passes you can get.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Well, I think most of the time, unfortunately, money talks,
and a lot of times you can buy skip the
line passes, and that's what I will almost always do.
It's it's a little bit more money. Sometimes it's a
bit more money, but your time is valuable when you're
on the road, and especially like when I'm going from
city to city to city and have to get as
(26:26):
much in as possible because I want to shoot it,
I want to experience it, I want to live it
in so many different ways. So I will try to
make sure that, you know, I spend the extra money
to get in front, and so that's you know, the
most effective way then I know to do that. And
then also make your reservations early, don't wait till the
(26:48):
last minute, and so that you're you know, if they
do have a sequence numbered sequence, you're you know, in
the far in the beginning of that instead of at
the end.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
So and if you really want, you know, sometimes it's
you know, get the guide, get the private guide, get
the guide to tour, get the headphone. Since I'll figure
it out myself. You do get a much more enriched
and historic and culturally strong perspective when you do that.
It's worth the investment. I mean, there's certain things you
really don't want to scrimp on when you're traveling. And
(27:20):
it's like, if you're going the knowledge that goes with
that museum tour or the guide. And we're working on
a trip to the Vatican David's ever been, and I'm
researching best way to visit the Vatican right now, because
it's you know, there's some six million ways to do it.
I think that's also important. Also if you were a
member at a certain level of a museum, there is
(27:43):
a lot of reciprocity memberships. I take. I don't know
about you. I take advantage of all the AARP trip
LEA airline clubs, my credit card. I look at everything
to see where I can get not only value, but
enhanced benefits.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Those are all great recommendations. You know, you really can
look at or two or three different ways you can
see something. You can do it yourself. You can get
a low cost program like I'm an affiliate a Viator.
I love their tours. They're little in city tours, walking tours,
bus tours, hop on, hop off, bus tours, all of
(28:24):
those kinds of things. You can get join a tour
group to see something, and then you can get a
private tour. I have done all of them, depending on
where I am, what the circumstances are, how much attention
I need, how physically a part things are. All of
those and you need to calculate that in And I'm
also a big believer that if you can use a
(28:45):
travel agent to do so, you.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Just know you have a membership option which adds a
host of benefits, and you know, for those who want
to learn about that, it's the Historic Traveler dot com.
You know, sometimes becoming a member of something, whether it's
the Historic Traveler dot Com or a museum group or
an arts group or I know my university TWU Lane
(29:10):
has a very impressive travel program. It's worth it to
do that, and you can get, as we say, perks
and benefits and enhancements that may not be available. I
like a via It's a Viator, that's how you name.
I love those programs. I'm actually looking at them right
now for when we go to Rome for a big
(29:32):
free two days.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
And but my travel agent gave me, you know, she
gave me some tours. I said, that's too much money.
I don't want to spend them. She very graciously just
went back to Viator, which anybody can book on their own,
and she filled in those spots with Viator that were
way less expensive.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Yeah. I mean, you know, another way if you're really
on a budget. Meet up. We were in Peru and
I think I found a really inexpensive guy through a meetup,
believe or I, and it was one of the best
one on one very inexpensive tours where we remain friends.
I had such a great experience in some places like Peru.
(30:11):
I've been to a couple places in South Amyriica. You
really do need guides. You cannot do it on your own,
particularly when the culture is so different and the language
is so different and you're in rural areas, whether it's Asia, Borneo, Peru.
I did do a drive. Me and a girlfriend drove
(30:32):
around Chile on her own. That was a little more easy,
but Peru you can't. So it's important to think about
where you're going, and the more rural you were going,
the more you need to think about someone to guide you,
particularly when you're in areas where you just be.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
The language I found that was in China. Now I
was in China like twenty years ago, but at the time,
if you got out of the tourist hotel and the
tourist restaurant, nobody spoke English all the people on the
street and I got lost. I was dumped somewhere where
I didn't know how to get home, and all of
that kinds of stuff. So, and of course reading menus
(31:08):
and reading street signs, all of that becomes very very challenging.
So and even in Japan, you know, where most people
speak English but not all. You can't read the street signs,
you know, it's hard to tell where to get off
the subway, and and and of course and I you know,
the food is a mystery food to me. But you
(31:31):
know when you're looking at a menu, and it could
be all kinds of things that you may not want
to eat. So it's hard to get the answers that
you need sometimes. So yes, going in any of those
particular places for me was much better when I had
a guide.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Now I saw.
You know, are you going to do any other guides
down the road beyond what you have with Europe? You're
gonna do anything in the United States, for example, or.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I suly have one if you would like, Hey, we
can talk about that one too. That's eighteen international cities
where you can immerse eighteen North American cities where you
can immerse yourself in history and the books that make
you feel as if you live there.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
And so that one is also available, so you know,
let's talk. I can give the if you'd like, I
can give the links for both.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Of those that would be great.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So the link for the international guide is the you
got to put the THHG in be first Historic Traveler
one el Thehistoric Traveler dot Com Volage slash guide. The
link toward the North American guide is Thehistoric Traveler dot
Com FORWARGE slash guide n A. And the reason it's
(32:45):
North America is because I love Quebec City and so
you know that's a very wonderful historic city. So we
cover all of North America in that particular guide.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Oh that's great because I'm looking at I'm looking at
Quebec City again and I spent a New Year's there.
It was great. I'd like to go in the summer,
and like you mentioned earlier in our conversation, it is
hot in Europe. It was getting really hot when we
were we're going back in a few weeks on a
wine trip. But I said to David, there is no
way I would go to Europe in July or August
(33:19):
in this heat, with these crowds. I like to go
in the shoulder season, the more affordable and cooler shoulder seasons,
where there's less people and you're not going to get hot.
The world is getting hotter, and you have to think
about that when you travel. And yet when I was
in Italy in April, I was wearing a coat. You
have to really watch that because most people in North
(33:41):
America and the United States think it's the same summary
weather when they go to Europe. And no, you like
Paris right now, the French Open is happening and everybody's
in a coat. You have to pack like it was
two months early, you know, like spring instead of summer.
But it is hot in Europe, it really is, and
I think it's going to only get hotter. So did
(34:02):
you finally get to Savannah, because I saw on an
interview you've not been to Savannah yet.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
No, I have. That's on my bucket list. I'm looking
to do that sometime in the next year or so.
But I also want to go see the trees turn
in Upstate New York. So that's something that I'm looking
forward to too. I haven't done a lot of you know,
not since I had an office back in New York
(34:28):
have I done much in that part of the world.
So I'm going to do that and do parts of
New England again. One thing I wanted to talk about
is we're talking about a lot of historic sites here. Yes,
make sure that if you're going on a Monday, it's open.
Because much of Europe museums and historic sites close on
(34:50):
Monday because they're open through the weekend. They hit the
tourist trade and they close on Monday. I actually ended
up one time in Naples wanting to go to on
Pay and pump Pei was closed. Un made it there
on a later trip, but you know you're gonna find
that those kinds of so don't make assumptions on a
Monday that it's going to be open.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Well, I actually think Monday is a great travel day,
so whenever possible. In New Orleans where I live now,
a lot of I mean everything's closed on Monday. All
you can get is red beans and rice. And with
post COVID now many places in North America I'm not
sure about Europe, and your restaurants are not open even
until Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Sundays can be iffy in
(35:35):
some places as well, depending on church schedules. More European
places are probably open on Sunday now than Monday. But
if you're planning a trip, and I've also learned this
from an affordability standpoint, going home on a Monday, or
even better a Tuesday or Wednesday. You can save money
(35:55):
and Monday really is a dad day. Monday is the
day you should get on the train and go somewhere
else or gifts fly home. Sundays are very valuable. Sundays
are valuable because that's when a lot in Europe, as
you know, the families go out and they have big
lunches and it's very festive. And in Spain people there's
festivals and people walk around and it's just a wonderful
(36:16):
time to see like life as it naturally occurs on
a Sunday. But you do have to watch those closure
dates and more importantly, and if you're traveling in fer
Augusta and august a lot of Europe is shut down well.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
And you also have to figure that if you're going
to do churches going at time of mass' during is
going to be curtailed, so it's best not to go
in the heart of the religious service time and or
same old synagogues going on a Saturday, so your best
to pick you know, remnant times other days so that
(36:53):
you can really wander around those churches and synagogues and
see what they have to offer. One of my favorites
churches is Sharp and I have done both a magazine
article and a blog on it. And it's an extraordinary
church because it has some of the most beautiful and
largest amounts of stained glasses in the world. It has
(37:14):
a elabyrinth, and also it has this incredible screen around
the backside of the altar that is carved scenarios from
the Life of Christ. And these are masterpieces. You know,
that is you know, one of my all time favorite churches.
(37:35):
It is worth a trip just to Shart to see it.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I completely agree. And the cathedrals are such an important
part of the history of a village and in a country.
Even and we always go to synagogues and cathedrals, we
try to see as many as I consider the works
of art. They're the museums unto themselves, and I think
(37:59):
they're really important. Even if you don't have an ounce
of religious spirit in you, it's really really important. We
obviously tour a lot of wineries. I just want to
note that many wineries have large amounts of history tied
to them because they were formerly the country estates of
the nobility or the medici or the aristocrats, and they've
(38:20):
been converted many of them now to both through their
economy do what they call agro tourism. There's a big
movement right now to invest in agro tourism, wine tourism,
agricultural tourism. So many of these historic wineries now have
places on site where you can stay well.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
And just having dinner. I mean, on one of my tours,
you know, we had a fabulous dinner in a winery
where the family been there six since the sixteen hundreds,
and you know, mom and grandma made the meal for us,
and so I mean, how much more authentic can you
can you experience? I'm not a wine drinker. My problem
is that when all the tours take us to wineries
(39:04):
and I'm like, okay, guys, what else is there? Let
me go look at the plants, let me go look
at the animals. But and you know, and do a
little wine tasting. But you know, so I'm I am
always interested in some of the other place places, you know, strongholds, churches,
I mean, castles, chateaus, historic buildings where things occurred. One
(39:30):
of my favorite places is Chanalsaul in Europe, in the
Laura Valley, which is called the Ladies Chateau because it
was owned by women. My favorite stories, if you've seen
the Showtime television The Serpent, Queen Catherine de Medici, her
king husband had a mitch mistress that he had installed
(39:51):
in that place, and the minute he died, Catherine threw
her out and moved in. And you could stand in
the bedroom where Catherine I manage. She lived in rule
France basically, and her son suns for you know, decades.
So any of those kinds of experiences you just can't duplicate.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Absolutely. That is one. I've been to the Laire several
times and that is the one castle I still haven't
been to that I want to go and just for everyone,
that is a beautiful part of France, just such in
a unique beautiful It's a garden of France, it really is.
I know that we all have travel bucket lists. I
have a wine travel bucket. I have a wine bucket,
(40:35):
travel list and a travel bucket list. I update it
regularly because I check things off. I would still like
to spend more time. I still haven't gone to Argentina,
and I've always wanted to do the Argentina top to bottom.
In South America, I would love to go deeper into
Southeast Asia. I never got to I had to cancel
(40:58):
a trip because of a cancer diagnosis, and where I
was going finally to Cambodia and Laos. So those are
my bigger trips. But I'm also at this point in
my life where I'm saving up all those freaking flyer
points so i can go business or first class because
I'm not going to do those long hauls anymore. Coach,
(41:20):
I can do it when I'm going quickly going to
Europe and back, but not the long haul. I'm just
I need that comfort. Now, what is on your bucket list?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Oh, as I indicated, Egypt is first, Yes, I'm Turkey
and Greece and then but I'd love to go to Malta.
There are I'd like to go to Sofia in Bulgaria.
I haven't done much of Scandinavia, just Denmark. I want
to do the other two countries up there. I would
(41:50):
like to spend more time exploring I want. I'd like
to go to Bali and Indonesia. I haven't done that yet.
I'm just trying to think. I mean, the list is long,
and you know, like you kept a diary, all I
kept was I kept a journal and all it did
was list on each page a trip and all the
different places I went to on that trip. When I
(42:13):
was digitizing thirty five thousand images this year, as I
have just finished doing that diary, that journal was so
vital because you can't depend on your memory, and just
to open that page and say, oh, yeah, I went there,
I went there, Oh that's where that was was a
really good thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should
(42:36):
write all of the details that you experienced, but just
put a little note of where you were and what
you saw. Because and now when I'm traveling on when
I went to this trip to Europe for nine weeks
in twenty twenty three, I kept it on my phone
every day a little bit what did I see, so
that it was so much easier when I was. Now
(42:57):
that I'm writing the blog, I can go back and
say where was that? What was that church? And I
can look it up and pop it in. So and
of course the magazine is really fun too, because I
do a eighty five eighty page magazine. The first half
is destinations, the second half is all the media, the books,
(43:18):
et cetera. But we have a big interview in each
one of those one. The first issue had the person
who saved all the lighthouses in America, and the next
one is a gal who's an expert on ossuaries and graveyards.
The next one is going to be two guys that
renov a dudehouse, dude ranches, and then there's also also
(43:40):
an author a Q and A. And the one that
I'm really just excited about is that Tony Riches, who's
Elizabethan and Tudor series is huge, you know when you
can can't miss it on Amazon or audible. Tony is
also he's my next interview, so I'm really excited. It
was really juice interviews. So are you doing this all yourself? Yeah,
(44:03):
I do it all myself. I'm a writer, so I
write the article and then I pull the photographs. And
what's really fun is, you know, I'm looking for unique
little things like I did want an article on the
four Roman arenas where you can still see a performance.
The next one is going to be the lovely funiculars
that connect me with old cities and new cities all
(44:24):
over the world. So you have a big feature on
a place, then you have anyway somewhere in the world,
then you that's a cover story. Then you have something
of us and the somewhere in the US, and then
the spotlight, like I was just telling you, and then
we have I'll do a church, I'll do a grand man,
or I'll do adaptive reuse the buildings that have been
(44:44):
reused for things. So I'm always finding the unique history.
We also feature sovereign and where he or she made
their home and what that you know, and how they
influence the our history and what you see in those places.
So it's just really fun and if you love history,
it's you know, it gives you a way to dig deep,
(45:06):
dive deep, and the magazine is just really a hoot
for me.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
So is the magazine available as part of the pre
content or is it part of the member content?
Speaker 4 (45:14):
That is part of the member content. However, I have
a photo gallery that is absolutely true, and that photo gallery,
there's actually thirty five different galleries in there, divided into cityscapes,
spotlights on a particular location, collections of things like flowers
and hot air balloons and whatever. And then I give
(45:37):
you landscapes and I give you animals from all over
the world. And so you can just dig in there
and you can pick by subject matter or just waner
and it's going to grow constantly. It'll go to well
over one hundred galleries.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Well, I think it's amazing that you're doing all this.
Is it?
Speaker 4 (45:56):
You know?
Speaker 3 (45:57):
Is it a business for you now or a pleasure
for you now? I mean? Or is it both?
Speaker 4 (46:03):
It is both? Absolutely. You know, you can see how
passionate and excited I am about it. So that's the
pleasure part of that. And then I'm going to get
to travel. And I'm also eventually going to hook up
with one of those wonderful tour companies and I will
help people lead tours. But we're not there yet. That's
going to happen in the future. But it's a business
(46:25):
as well, as you talk about. We have a membership.
It's very inexpensive and it has all kinds of things
like the world's largest directory of historic novels, mysteries, history books,
and biographies by location. You can pick by city, state,
or a country wherever you want to read before you go.
We also have a directory of and this is open
(46:46):
to anybody of insight guides because I believe that the
best guides for people who love history and so, you know,
thank you, and so yes, you can dig in there
and pull the insight guide that you're wherever you're going
to be going to so that there's no you know,
no fee to access that. Some of the other things
(47:07):
that you know we do is we have a book club,
we have a book swap, we have a travel matching program,
we have a community meeting. We have the world's largest
list of historic dramas on television and where you can
find them on streaming or TV or elsewhere. And then
we also have the world's largest list of historic hotels.
(47:27):
And I'm going to be also adding one of museums.
You know, I'm just like going to give you the
you know, certain kinds of museums that you know are
specific to you know, currents and more current kinds of things.
I'm going to give you the extream museums. So so
all of that is coming, and it's a repository of
all things travel history and historic novels.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
I think it's a great focus and a great resource.
For that reason. I remember the hardest thing for me,
having moved now twice in six years, different homes up state,
was having to get rid of all my travel books.
Had so many, but I had to go digital and
this is a great digital asset. It really is. Well,
(48:12):
Jackie Leppin, this has been a great conversation. I think
it's a terrific site. Again, it's the Historic Traveler dot
Com one Alan Traveler. If you're a history boff, a
travel boff and it's your passion, and even if you're
an armchair traveler or a true globetrotter, it's a great source.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with me
on Fearless Fabulous You.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
Wonderful Melanie, thank you. One thing I want to point
out if you're not the history not in your family
and somebody else is, we actually have gift certificates.
Speaker 3 (48:46):
Yeah, it's a great idea for someone who's a history above.
It takes a mystery out of history. So anyway you've
been listening to Fearless Fabulous You. My parting message is
one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite
authors on travel and life, Mark Twain. He said travel
is a school where illustrations learned without walls. I've always
(49:09):
believed that travel was my higher education life and I
continue to embrace it whenever I can get out there
and explore the world, and if even if you say
I can, and all the money whatever I have a family,
get out and explore your own backyard. You can find
amazing things if you create a staycation. I've done it
many times when I was short on money long on time.
(49:33):
I did it great staycations and learn to love where
I lived even more so, learn to be a tourist
in your hometown and then expand your horizons. Because my
partying message is always you can choose the life you live.
Don't let life choose you, and always choose to live
on your terms and stay fearless and fabulous. Thank you
(50:02):
the fast
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.