From Lost Luggage to Spiritual Discovery: European Travels and Insights

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What happens when your carefully planned European vacation starts with a mid-air flight turnaround and four days in the same clothes? A spiritual journey unlike any other.

When Chione's flight to Amsterdam was diverted back to Baltimore due to a fire in a substation of the Heathrow Airport, it was just the beginning of a series of travel mishaps that would transform her perspective forever. 

Details

Traveling through the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg without luggage might sound like a nightmare, but it became the perfect backdrop for profound discoveries about humanity, history, and the power of chosen happiness.

The heart of this episode lies in unexpected encounters with three Moroccan taxi drivers who shared not just their cultural pride ("We have the best food in the world!") but profound wisdom about peaceful coexistence. "Allah tells me to live in my house over here and you live in your house over there... Why do we have to tell each other how to live?" one driver asked, offering a simple but powerful perspective on global conflicts.

Standing in the remains of 2000-year-old Roman baths built in 4 AD and marketplaces where witch trials led to the execution of countless women (research showed one out of two women were killed in certain regions), Keone confronts the duality of human existence—our capacity for remarkable creation and shocking cruelty. The persecution methods detailed from historical torture museums reveal uncomfortable truths about how societies have systematically silenced women throughout history.

Between fascinating historical revelations and philosophical taxi rides, this episode weaves together moments of vulnerability, humor, and spiritual insight. The most powerful takeaway? "Happiness is a choice" and true magic isn't found only in distant lands but in opening our eyes to see beauty everywhere—even when wearing the same socks for four days straight.

Tune in for a journey that will transform how you think about travel mishaps, cultural connection, and finding wonder in the most unexpected circumstances.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Mystical Mermaid Lounge Podcast,
a space where all spiritualseekers are honored and
celebrated.
This podcast was born from thejourneys of your hosts, who have
each faced her own dark nightof the soul, but they've emerged
with an unshakable belief indivine connection, cosmic

(00:29):
inspiration and her true life'scalling.
Join us on a journey ofpersonal growth, transformation
and magical self-discovery.
Your first co-host is ChloeBrown, a gifted intuitive empath
and shadow work life coach.
Your second co-host is KeoniStarr, an intuitive energy

(00:53):
worker and acclaimed past liferegressionist.
The Mystical Mermaid Loungepodcast starts now.
Hi, I'm Chloe, hi I'm Keone.
Welcome to the Mystical MermaidLounge Podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Keone has recently returned from a beautiful and
glorious trip overseas with somefriends and loved ones, and I'm
hoping that today she can sharethat story and her takeaways
not only with me, but with allof you listeners.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Thanks, chloe.
I like to choose a locationthat speaks to me, then kind of
get my thoughts together aroundwhat it is I want to see when I
get there and I do a little bitof research not a whole lot, but
a little bit of research tomake sure that I'm in tune with

(02:00):
the places that I'm going to betraveling and make sure that I
get what I really want to getout of it during the downtime
that we have.
But I think this experienceheading to the Netherlands over
March of this year was really.

(02:22):
It gave me an interesting timeto do some introspection on not
just external what do I want tosee?
Where do I want to visit?
Because the trip itself wasdelayed by several days due to

(02:43):
the substation fire thatimpacted the electricity at
Heathrow Airport.
What?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
are the odds.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Right, I've been planning for this trip for one
year and then I am on a flightwith my sister to Heathrow and
after several hours I hear anannouncement that we will be
landing in an hour.

(03:13):
And just to give you all aheads up, we'll be back in
Baltimore, maryland, notHeathrow Airport.
And I think, as sleepy and asout of it as most of us were
when that announcement came over, we all kind of thought maybe
we were hoping we were having anightmare, but it was truly

(03:34):
stunning.
We found out that way that wewere about to land right back at
the airport after hours offlying right back at the airport
that we had departed from.
That's how they told you guys,yep, the pilot came on and said
he was happy to announce that wewere getting ready soon to land

(03:55):
.
And we all kind of lookedaround thinking, well, this
flight's only about half over,right, maybe we were in a time
shift, maybe something happened.
And he said you know that wewould be heading back to
Baltimore, where we departedfrom.
And everybody just kind ofpopped up looking around like

(04:15):
what is going on.
And that's when we were toldthat he had been asked to turn
around because of the fire atthe substation near Heathrow and
there had been over 1300flights, I believe, that were
impacted by that fire and theelectrical problems with the

(04:38):
airport, and that these 1300flights had to be diverted and
some of us were being sent backto our departing city.
So my sister and I were tryingto make heads or tails out of
what to do, because she and Iwere heading to Amsterdam to
begin a tour and the tour wasgoing to go from Holland for a

(05:05):
couple of days and then go toMaastricht, and then go to Trier
, germany, and to Luxembourg,and then wind up in Brussels and
everything hinged on this tourstarting in Amsterdam and we
only had a couple of days to getthere before the tour moved on.

(05:29):
So that was a little bitunnerving.
But I will say my sister did ayeoman's job just a little Navy
terminology there did a yeoman'sjob getting and working with
the travel agency to get usrerouted out of a different
airport that wasn't as far awayto get us to Heathrow in time to

(05:53):
eventually get to Amsterdambefore the tour moved out of
that city.
So that worked out.
I think the biggest thing thatshe and I had to deal with was

(06:19):
not having our makeup, nothaving our hair products nor
having anything that was in ourregular luggage readily
available, because while we werestuck at the airport, our bags
were also stuck at the airportin a place where we couldn't get
to them.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, that's terrible.
Please tell me, you packed atleast a few spare pairs of
panties in your carry on.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I wish I could tell you that, oh gosh.
So after I think what she and Ifigured out we had been in the
same clothing for four days wefinally get to Amsterdam.
Yeah, it's smelling lovely,Trying to not look any worse for

(06:58):
the wear.
Meanwhile, I had just had apeel done not too long prior to
that, and my skin was flakingoff like a snake Every time I
moved my head.
These huge flakes and thenthese small flakes were flying
off my body.
In fact, my sister said it wassomewhat disgusting.
I like left a pile of skindebris behind me wherever I went

(07:24):
it just wasn't the look I wasgoing for.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
You're speaking to the lizard people out there.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
I felt like a nut.
I'm in the same clothes, I feeldisgusting.
I need to rinse my underwear.
My skin is flaking everywhere.
My socks are now so they canwalk by themselves.
So we finally get to Amsterdamand we're waiting and waiting

(07:54):
and waiting for our luggage andwe've walked into the bowels of
the airport.
At this point the customerservice people don't worry the
people from your flight.
They've already picked up theirbags.
Yours just probably went to adifferent belt.
And we're thinking, yeah, aftertwo hours that luggage was lost

(08:19):
.
So we ended up having to file aclaim for our luggage.
We did not get that for anothertwo days, and so my sister and
I had some close moments withsome nudity that I it's a good
thing she and I are twins.
We shared nudity in utero.

(08:39):
I don't know, this is probablyway too much for, oh my gosh, I
am dying over here for laughter.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
But anyway.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Um, at least we were able to finally shower and start
the tour looking a little worseand a little flaky for the wear
, but at least we did.
We got the tour started and wesaid to ourselves you know what
we made it?
We're safe're safe.
We only missed a couple ofthings that, yes, we had wanted

(09:10):
to see, but we were assured thatif money was the issue, we
could get some money back.
Blah, blah, blah.
So we decided to make happinessour choice, and we decided to
not fret about the hair products.
So we bought hats.
And we decided to not fretabout our bare faces, so we wore

(09:34):
sunglasses in every picture andwe decided to look outward and
not inward and just enjoyed themoment for what it was.
And, yeah, possibly one of theworst experiences we've ever had
traveling, but, like I said,when it all comes down to it, we

(09:57):
had life, we had limb and lifewas good, you made some lemonade
out of that lemons man.
I was struggling.
My sister, I think, wasstruggling more than me, or it
could be that she's justblatantly more honest than me.
People were saying, hey, how'sit going?
We don't have our luggage yet.
Alrighty then.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
That would be me in the group.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
And okay, I was really just asking you if you
wanted schnitzel for lunch, butit's good to know your luggage.
So anyway, we did meet somevery nice people and had some
close friends on the tour to whowho were very generous with
combs and brushes and deodorantand toothpaste I mean all that

(10:46):
stuff People do, even forsomething that seems minor.
They do realize that you're ina vulnerable way when you're
wearing the same clothes day inand day out.
And they did rally around us,maybe not as closely as they
would have had.
We had our own deodorant, butthey did rally around us.
Maybe not as closely as theywould have had.
We had our own deodorant, butthey did rally around us.

(11:06):
And so the airport let me justsay it this way I never knew
this before and I don't know ifthis is something specific to
the Amsterdam airport or maybethis is just on the DL on all
airports but when they say wewill definitely courier your

(11:27):
luggage to you, let us knowwhere we need to send it what
they're really saying is, if wefind somebody who happens to be
going your way in the next weekor so, we'll get a hold of them
and maybe add your luggage tothat vehicle.

(11:49):
If you're lucky, it may get toyou, and so, fortunately for me,
I found somebody who is willingto give me that little detail,
and so I made a couple of extratrips.
I didn't go to some of the tourspots I didn't get to see the
hag, which was a little bitdisappointing, and I didn't get

(12:13):
to go to a specific potteryplace that sounded like it was
super cool, and I didn't get tostay at the Kuchenhof to see all
the tulips and the daffodils asmuch as I would have liked to.
But I did get a super cool taxidriver to take me to the
Amsterdam airport, and as we'redriving to the Amsterdam airport

(12:37):
, as I decide, I'm taking thissituation into my own hands and
I'm picking up my luggage myself.
This situation into my ownhands and I'm picking up my
luggage myself and I'm not goingto wait for a courier right to
make it his way or Amsterdamairport.
I get into the vehicle and themost kindest driver ever talks

(12:59):
to me Hi, how are you?
Are you visiting?
Yes, I'm visiting.
Thank you for picking me up.
I need to go to the airport.
Do you want me to wait for you?
You know all the typicalconversation and out of nowhere,
he says to me I'm Moroccan.
And I said wow, that's sointeresting because my sister is

(13:24):
dying to go to Morocco and hasalready established that that is
where we're going to bevisiting on our next
international trip.
And he said you'll love it, wehave the best food in the world.
And so he begins to tell meabout Morocco.
We finally get to the airport,he gives me his card.
Please call me if you need anyother travels while you're here

(13:46):
in Amsterdam.
Yes, no problem.
I go, wrangle my luggage out ofbowels and depths of the
Schiphol airport and I finallycome back with three bags Thank
God they all have wheels goingin the opposite direction.
I heard these cats of bags ofluggage get another taxi driver

(14:07):
and we're talking as he's takingme back to the hotel.
And he says I'm from Morocco.
And I said you are no way Funny.
You should say that my sisterhas decided that next year we
are going on our nextinternational trip to Morocco.

(14:28):
And he said you're going tolove it, they have the best food
in the world.
And I thought is that thecountry tagline Go to Morocco,
we have the best food in theworld.
Anyway, he tells me about hisfamily, tells me about his
family, tells me how kindeveryone is there, and I am so
just blown away by hisfriendliness.

(14:50):
And he gives me his card and hesays if you need any other
rides while you're in Amsterdam,please give me a call.
So I'm finally catching up withmy folks who are already been at
the Kuchenhof already lookingat tulips and daffodils, I get
my third taxi driver on the wayto the Kuchenhof from the hotel,

(15:12):
after dropping off the luggagethat I have missed so dearly.
But I did take a few moments toreacquaint myself with some of
my own deodorant and hairproducts.
But despite all of that I getinto the taxi that the hotel has
called for me.
And what do you think thenational origin of my driver is?

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Moroccan Did he advertise the food.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
The first thing he says is we have the best food in
the world.
I couldn't have asked for threemore lovely people to drive me.
I trusted them instantaneously.
I mean, they talked my language, food fezes, moroccans.
And on top of it, the last taxidriver said to me I'm a little

(16:02):
concerned about what's happeningin your country.
And I said my country.
He said yes, and I said oh, I'msorry, how so?
And he said it's Mr Trump.
And I said oh, okay.
So I'm thinking, keone, this isnot the time or place for you to

(16:24):
spew your own personal opinionson politics.
You're in a different countrywith a different economy, with a
different political system.
Let's hear what someone elsethinks, right.
So I said please tell me whatare your concerns?
And he said I believe that MrTrump is very good and very bad.

(16:48):
And I said how?
So he said I think he's goingto be very good for all of us if
he can stop the Russiansattacking the Ukrainians.
And I also think he will bevery good for the world if he
can stop the Israel Palestinianconflict.

(17:10):
And I said I agree that thosethings would be phenomenal if
they would end for everyone.
And he said and I think he'sbad for everything else.
No, oh my gosh.
And I just started laughing,because that was his opinion.

(17:32):
What are you going to say tothat?
I mean, it's his opinion.
I've learned a long time ago.
Was it Sun Tzu who said only afool tries to convince someone
that his opinion isn't right?
So I listened and I said Icompletely agree that those two

(17:56):
scenarios would be wonderful ifthey ended.
And he said you Americans don'tunderstand what it's like to be
part of a country that issurrounded by other countries in
conflict.
He said the world is a lotsmaller than the United States

(18:17):
realizes because you'resurrounded by the Atlantic and
the Pacific Ocean.
And I thought of that viewpointand I said you're right.
I mean, we have generally verydecent relations with our
Northern neighbors, theCanadians, and our Southern

(18:38):
neighbors, mexico.
We are not in conflict withthose countries and North
America as a whole is in peaceas a whole.
From their perspective yeah,From that political perspective,
we're not in strife, we're notfighting with each other.
They're not fighting with eachother or fighting anybody else.
And he said yeah, for me to seeIsrael and the Palestinians

(19:03):
fighting or to see theUkrainians trying to defend
themselves against Russia is alittle too close for home,
because who's to say if and whenit escalates, when we're all
going to be impacted?
And so I continue to listen tohis viewpoint.
And he said I just don'tunderstand.

(19:25):
And I said what is it you don'tunderstand?
He said Allah is good and Isaid Allah, I forgot, you're
Muslim, correct?
And he said yes, and I saidright, everybody has a who God
is, whether it's source, god,goddess, all there is Allah,

(19:49):
yahweh, whatever it is we wantto call it, we all have a sense
that there is a higher being.
He said absolutely.
He says Allah tells me to livein my house over here and you
live in your house over there,and we each do our own thing and

(20:10):
we each believe what we need tobelieve and we get along that
way.
I don't understand why youwould have to come from where
you are over to where I am andtell me who I have to pray to
and how I have to live.
And I said I don't understandthat either.

(20:32):
He said you're not hurting meand I'm not hurting you.
Why do we have to tell eachother how to live and why do we
have to impose our own beliefson anyone?
If we live knowing that Allahis greatest and that we treat

(20:53):
each other as children of Allah,then we would live in peace and
harmony and just go on, havefamilies to love, be with our
friends and just live.
And so I congratulated him onsolving the world's problems
with me.
Well, I mostly just listened.

(21:15):
And then I hopped off and wentinto the Kuchenhof and a very
wonderful woman allowed me to gointo the gardens and visit
without my ticket because I didnot show up with my group, and
thankfully she could tell I wastrying to meet some people that
I had missed and believed meunbelievably without having a

(21:39):
ticket to get in.
And then I was able to catch upwith my tour people from there.
But those discussions with allthree of those Moroccans really
set this stage and reframed myposition of that trip from that
point forward, who had theirfamilies had been subjected by

(22:03):
imperialist Dutch, whosefamilies came to the Netherlands
to work after being ruled overcolonialized Dutch, ended up
showing me what it felt like tobe happy to be alive, to be from

(22:25):
a country that had the bestfood in the world, which I am
going to pretty much assume istrue, because schnitzel just
does not have a whole lot oftaste.
I'm just saying, and it's notbad, but I mean, come on,
schnitzel, schnitzel onschnitzel schnitzel and they

(22:50):
were so happy to be alive.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah, that zest for life was infectious.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
It sounds like in such the most positive beautiful
way, and the first thing I didwhen I caught up with my group
at the kuchenhof was take acouple pictures with a dutch
shoe.
My sister could not wait.
The whole reason she wanted togo to the Netherlands.
Once she realized that that waswhere I said we're going to go
every year.
She chooses a place and then Ichoose a place, so we alternate

(23:16):
back and forth.
She was like, if I don't seemyself in a Dutch shoe, that's
it.
The entire trip will have meantnothing to me.
So we both jump into a shoe andI realized that at this point
in time her trip's been made forme.
It was just beginning because Ifinally have my hair products.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
So life was good and in those photos were you both
wearing sunglasses and hatsstill yeah, I'll have to do some
Photoshopping so people knowwho we are.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
We were just so embarrassed to just be bare
faced and just not feeling likewe put our best selves forward.
It's a very vulnerable thing tobe a female and when you're
used to presenting yourself acertain way, it's just a
vulnerable feeling.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
I think as humans we can identify that.
We can all identify with that alittle bit because, at least in
my world, all the humans Icircle myself with are very
routine based, and so it's notnecessarily about whether I have
the makeup to put on Personally, I don't even wear makeup but
it's the routine of which thatI'm completing that makes me

(24:33):
feel comfortable.
It's not the products that I'musing in said routine.
So I think a little bit of allof us can relate to that,
regardless of what it is,whether it's not having fresh
socks or panties or a t-shirt orhair product, not being able to
complete that routine right Onsomething that we've looked
forward to for so long and we'vesaved for and we've researched.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, it was funny.
There was a guy that was on thetour and he said I just have to
tell you both, if this had beenme, I would have thrown a fit
at the airport.
I would have screamed andkicked the belt when my luggage
didn't come out.
And he said and I'd probably beon my way back home right now.

(25:19):
He said that is a nightmare.
You turned around in mid flight.
You had nowhere to go.
You end up sleeping in how manyairports and then having to
drive to another airport andthen you don't have your.
Like he said, I don't know whatI mean.
There was just like one badsituation on top of another bad

(25:48):
situation on top of another.
And I was just laughing becausemy sister and I don't even top
out at 5'1".
We would have looked like oldtoddlers throwing ourselves on
the ground, throwing a fit overa piece of luggage.
Yeah, if I don't get somehairspray now, there's going to
be hell to pay up in here inAmsterdam.
It taught me a couple of really, really important things.

(26:09):
One is to never go without someextra underwear on you.
Yeah, not physically wearingthem, but definitely on my carry
on bag.
That whole adage of it'll neverhappen to me, it'll happen to
you, yeah.
And thirdly, if you are reallythat concerned about not having

(26:34):
your mascara, then pack a smalltravel tube with you so that you
can hold on to it like yourlucky rabbit's foot, you, so
that you can hold on to it likeyou're lucky rabbit's foot.
So that those are the thingsthat I have learned through my
time without luggage and wearingthe same clothing.
My sister, she's all aboutgetting a refund, so I'm sure

(26:56):
when she gets reimbursed, for Iam that person in my friend
circle.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I want my money back.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Dang it I want my money back.
That was that.
The other thing I wanted toshare about this trip was I had
the opportunity to go to Trier,germany, and it was an optional
excursion that I'm glad that Idid opt in for One that I'm glad

(27:24):
that I did opt in for One.
We got to stand in thefoundational area of a Roman
bath that was built in 4 AD.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Wow, what is all of that?
Obviously it's in Germany, butI don't know anything about it,
right?

Speaker 1 (27:41):
so I had seen some Roman baths that were very, very
old, obviously from the Romantimes, when I was in France and
I was just blown away at beingin a place that had such deep
history, where you could see theactual construct of a building

(28:06):
created and not touched sincethat period of time.
Obviously, all of our land hasthat history, but how often in
the United States do we standand get our hands on something
that was built at that timeperiod?
Right, because our NativeAmericans do not put things on

(28:28):
land that then stands forever tobe in disruption of the flow of
life.
So I'm standing at this Romanbath and they're giving us the
history of how people would cometo the Roman bath for community

(28:49):
.
It's really hard for us tothink Chloe, I haven't seen you
in ages.
Let's go bathe together.
It's really not something thatour culture can understand.
Yeah, awkward.
Meet me down by the bathtub.
I got so much to tell you.

(29:12):
We have so much to catch up on.
There's a level of justcultural awesomeness that is
just hard for us to wrap ourheads around.
The second thing is they wereable, in a time period where
plumbing is not what we imagineit, to run water for six miles

(29:37):
from a river to a bathhouse.
That was huge.
It was a huge building and ithad been built with handmade
bricks that had no mortarholding the bricks together and
this thing was still standing.
And so for a house well, in thecase of my house that was

(30:03):
purchased a little over twoyears ago as new construction
and having my husband's bathroomdrywall peeling off and
crumbling after two years To seesomething that's over 2000
years old still standing withoutany mortar between the bricks

(30:24):
was just amazing.
So there's that level of justbeing awestruck when you're
standing in that.
The thing that was superpainful was understanding that,
while people in the communitywho were more in the higher

(30:46):
classes were using that bath asa place to commune, as a place
to catch up on politics, as aplace to catch up on family
events and such, there wereslaves in the proverbial
basement, who were literallyshoveling and scraping stuff out

(31:11):
of the sewage lines that wererunning beneath this bathhouse.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
To maintain the bathhouse itself for said
community.
Am I understanding that right?

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Correct.
And so when the different poolswere drained, people had to
slop out all of that drainageand sewage After the toilet area
had been used and the waste wasflushed down.
These guys had to handle thathazardous material.

(31:48):
And so you could feel thatdifferent, just that different
feeling when you were in thatportion of the bathhouse where
the slaves would have worked tokeep things pristine and warm
and operating perfectly for thepeople of the upper classes.

(32:12):
It just makes you reflect onwhat we consider to be upper
class versus lower class, andwho actually does the rough work
behind the scenes, becausethese people were underground,
they weren't even seen.

(32:32):
So it wasn't like you and I havedone service jobs.
We may have worked inrestaurants, we may have worked
in retail.
We were there, we were seen.
These people weren't to be seen.
So tragic, so tragic, so awful.
Yeah, they're in the darkshoveling human waste, yep.

(32:55):
And after we looked at thebathhouses and we moved over to
a portion in Trier where someother tragic things had happened

(33:16):
and we found out that this thenbegan the major witchcraft,
trials and movement in Europe asfar as the persecution of
people who were either found tobe witches, were accused of
being witches, or were torturedand had to give up names in

(33:36):
order to, presumably, savethemselves, but ended up dying
anyway.
And so we're standing in amarketplace and it's just
gorgeous, and it was coolbecause the American Embassy,
mcdonald's, was right on thecorner, and so Wait, wait, wait

(33:57):
wait, wait.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Are these one and the same?
I'm dying to know, because Ithink a lot of non-Americans
could have an opinion on thatstatement.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
I cannot take credit for that joke.
Our tour guide said and as youcan see, here's a building that
was built in the Gothic era,here's one that was built in the
Renaissance era, here's onethat was built in the more
modern time, and across thestreet is the American Embassy
McDonald's.
And yes, there was the bigyellow arches, and we left and

(34:32):
then half of the people on ourtour probably went over there
and grabbed some McNuggets.
But despite all of that, we'restanding in a marketplace that
is as gorgeous and cobblestoneas you can possibly imagine from
thousands of years to hundredsof years ago, and know that over

(34:55):
300 people who had been accusedof witchcraft had been killed
there.
And when I asked the tour guidespecifically about it and she
told me a few more details, Ibelieve there were 320, some
people that were initiallycaught, she said a good portion

(35:17):
of those were actually isolatedin small type of cabin shack
places, and so they're bythemselves, they're fearful,
they know what they've beenaccused of, they know what the
church believes in doing withpeople who have been accused of
witchcraft, and they weresomehow convinced and I say

(35:40):
somehow convinced to give up 10people.
And if they could give 10 names.
We believe, or at least thetour guide believes that perhaps
they thought they'd be releasedand they'd be able to go back
to their families, but in factthey were killed anyway.
And it gave Fenmore, yeah, itgave the impetus to then go grab

(36:04):
more people and more people andpersecute them and kill them
for witchcraft.
So when I was doing someresearch, it was found that most
of the people that had beenkilled for witchcraft were
primarily herbalists and orforagers and made homemade

(36:25):
remedies.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
So the medicine woman that didn't make the man happy
got reported as a witch.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Correct.
Or there were some people that Ihad talked to afterwards who
also mentioned that if afemale's family had money and
the male wanted to get his handson it, the best way to remove
the female from the picture andfor him to get hold of her

(36:54):
wealth was to accuse her ofwitchcraft, insanity, cavorting
with the devil, any or all ofthe above.
So I did a little bit moreresearch into that and found
that within I forget whether itwas a 20 mile radius of Trier,
germany, that one out of twowomen were killed during that

(37:15):
time period in every villagewithin that specific area.
And so the juxtap of standingand this is not intended to be
funny of standing with aMcDonald's in front of me and
with opera houses and cathedralsand basilicas and Roman baths,

(37:42):
right To know that all of thisculture and growth and progress,
while all of that was beingdone and we could stand there in
amazement that there was stillthis level of persecution,
whether it's in the basement ofthe bathhouse, or whether it's
females primarily females whohad been working on home

(38:05):
remedies or had a knack forforaging and using mushroom for
certain things, or just happenedto be drawn to the moon for
whatever reason.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
I've actually read a lot of documentation that states
a lot of I don't know how theydid or didn't prove this, but
they do say that a lot of theaccusations came from kind of,
what you just said is a man'sway to figure out how he could
just resolve the problem,Because back then there wasn't a
divorce right and women werenot people, they were objects.

(38:41):
So that is really one out oftwo women.
Is that what you said?

Speaker 1 (38:47):
That is what my research showed.
One out of two women werekilled during that specific time
period of the Trier witchtrials.
That then began a movementthroughout all of Europe.
It triggered a movementthroughout Europe.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Amazing.
As somebody who's not educated,I think that would absolutely
qualify as genocide, wouldn't it?

Speaker 1 (39:11):
For sure, and gross misogyny.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's an understatement that is so
disgusting.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
And so my sister and I, one of the places that she
and I had heard so much aboutwas Bruges, or, as they say in
Bruges, they call it Bruga.
So we went to Bruges.
What's that?
Sorry, did you?

Speaker 2 (39:32):
feel any?
Could you feel that sorrow Wasthere?
Did you feel like there was?
Was there monuments andanything to pay respect to that?
Was that mostly just youseeking out that type of tour?
Did it?
Did it stand out as part of therepresentation in that
community?
Would you even know it wasthere if you weren't a part of
it?

Speaker 1 (39:51):
It wasn't where we were, which was surrounded by
cathedrals and extremely oldchurches, and the interesting
thing was the Catholic and theProtestant churches had an
architectural showdown.
So where one on one side of thecity of Trier would, where the

(40:17):
Catholics would build a justabsolutely gorgeous cathedral
and this spire at the top of thechurch would reach however many
hundreds of feet high in theair, the Protestants would
answer with another cathedralthat was slightly bigger but
with a spire and a bell towerthat was taller than the

(40:39):
Catholic church.
And then the next time theCatholics had time to build and
maintain on their cathedral, hadtime to build and maintain on
their cathedral, they added acouple of bricks higher to that.
So the Protestant versusCatholicism showdown that was

(41:00):
done architecturally was superamazing.
And I mean you cannot not justbe amazed at what these people
built with their hands, amazedat what these people built with
their hands and I'm sure they'reslaves hands to be just so
amazing.
But there was nothing because ofand I'm saying this as an
assumption there was nothingthere that specifically spoke to

(41:21):
the witch trials.
I asked our tour guidespecifically about it and she
was quite knowledgeable, but wewere not in a place where those
people that were persecuted andkilled we were not in a place
where they were recognized foundit.

(41:43):
We found an entire.
They called it a witchcraftmuseum and I thought it was
going to be super kitschy andthey would have silly wands on
display and maybe pictures ofold, old pictures of displays of
people in capes.
It was not that.

(42:04):
It was lists and lists andlists of people killed, and why
so?
It would say Chloe killed 1,716, as an example, herbalists.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Wow Keone being honored.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Yeah, 1812, agrarian and farmer, and so, while there
was some kitschy stuff there, italso showed, for instance, the
pentacle and the pentagram, butalso the definition beside the
pentagram and how it was east,north, south, west and the

(42:48):
spiritual pole that the staractually related to, as opposed
to it all being 666 and demonic.
In fact, I don't think therewas one mention of demons or
negativity in that entire museumnegativity in that entire
museum, Although, if you want totalk about negativity and

(43:09):
demonism, right beside thewitchcraft museum was the hall
of torture, which my sister andI had to go into.
Why wouldn't you?
I have to know Every singleappliance, modality, torture

(43:29):
mechanism that you couldpossibly think of had already
been created.
And if you want to think ofwhether something is evil or
demonic, think about what wehave been doing to people.
In fact, some of those torturemechanisms in some of the
countries listed just stopped inthe 1950s.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
That's so sad and so gross, but I think, like so many
other disgusting topics thathave unfortunately seeped into
the beauty of this story, suchas the slavery and the
difference between socialclasses we still talk about as
far as when did they stop?

(44:12):
Have they stopped?
Did we just transition thelabel?
Wow, that's so sad.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
The barbarism has always been there, right, and
the ability to torture eachother, for whatever reason, has
always been there.
Incredibly painful orincredibly hurtful, outside of
humiliation, was what was calleda braid, which was essentially

(44:55):
made out of what you make ropeout of right, and so you would
braid a rope, these fibers whichyou know, rope or twine, those
types of things, they're notsoft.
They would put it around yourhead almost like you were being
measured for a hat, right?

(45:15):
They would put it around yourhead and then let this braid
hang down your back and you wereessentially humiliated by
wearing that braid, by thepublic, because you were a
gossip.
And do you know who?
They put that braid on Women,of course they did.
And also, if you were a potstirrer or a gossip or someone

(45:42):
who just essentially loved drama, who just essentially loved
drama, they would make you wearan iron mask so that,
essentially, I think there wassomething on the inside of this
mask that fit into your mouth,so that, essentially, you
couldn't talk, and those weremade for women as well.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
So I may be a little off key here, but I feel like
we're hitting one of mysensitive topics.
So essentially, this waspatriotism at its finest, and
what we still see in modern dayplaying out is if a woman has a
problem with something, it'sdramatic and emotional, but if a
man has a problem with it, it'sfacts.

(46:23):
It needs to be addressed, atleast that's my opinion,
absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
And the braid was used for young women, so maybe a
teenager.
So she learned early on to keepher opinions to herself, right.
And then, if you just couldn'tbe deterred, or you said
something that was so forwhatever reason maybe reality,
who knows or you had an opinion,or for whatever reason, someone

(46:52):
deemed whatever you were sayingto be so dramatic that you were
not yet deserving of beingdrawn and quartered per se, but
it was enough where you neededto be humiliated and also
silenced.
Then you were put in this maskwith essentially what looked

(47:14):
like a ball gag type of thing,and we won't go down the ball
gag route, because I'm talkingright now about persecution of
women for things that, not whatsome people enjoy for their
extracurriculars.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Right, we're talking about egregious behaviors, not
something that could be fun.
Anything other than that.
Yeah, Now that is so disgustingto me.
It makes my stomach turn and Ifeel like the little green emoji
right now, like I don't know ifI'm going to get sick to my
stomach just thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Like it's so disgusting and I don't need to
get on a rant.
It is humiliating.
It's like being put in astockade.
But right, the stockades werewhere you humiliated people.
Right, you threw rotten food atthem.
That also was shown.
But we're all pretty used tonot that it's a good thing, but

(48:13):
we're kind of used to seeingthat image of public humiliation
.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Yeah, the Muppet babies kind of helped
desensitize us to that as wegrew older.
I hear you Exactly Following.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
I think the thing that got me most about the braid
and the metal, the iron mask,was not that it was.
It was more than just the factthat that's humiliating, right.
It was more than just the factthat they only put it on women,
and they said that.
I mean, clearly this is whatwas used for women who were

(48:48):
gossips, as an example.
But the braid after a while,because of the fibers, would
wear your skin raw, right?
So you had that permanent mark.
For older women, this iron maskwas heavy, like maybe 10 pounds

(49:08):
, that you're wearing aroundyour neck and it's rubbing,
because it fit over the front ofyour face and then had a collar
so you couldn't just take itoff and it was fastened on there
.
And if you remember seeing theold Halloween masks that had the
beaks that came out of thefront, it had that too, so that

(49:31):
adds extra weight.
So these females wereidentified and then humiliated
to wear these things and theneventually it hurt their heads,
it hurt their necks and whatcan't you do?
You can't sleep because youhave.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
the whole purpose of all of this is to make them
clearly a second or lesser thantype of citizen with no value,
demoralize them, treat them likeI would never even want anybody
to treat a mouse in my house,if we're being honest, and
that's a pest in modern Americanculture, right?

Speaker 1 (50:07):
I still would never do that to an animal Right?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
That's my point and that, oh, it's boiling my skin.
That's so gross, it makes me soangry and I think it ties into
why we need to always recognizewhat our energy is feeding into.
Always recognize what ourenergy is feeding into Because

(50:32):
in the moment it may feel rightto be a part of the collective,
but is it really?

Speaker 1 (50:34):
the right thing to do .
You're right, becauseoftentimes the collective is not
used for good.
It becomes a mob mentality.
And it made me think ofsomething else I noticed and
this is not something that wedon't think of when we think of
the Middle East and religiouspersecution of females who do

(50:57):
not wear their burqas or theirhijabs, or we think of women who
have been found guilty offornication or adultery and are
stoned to death.
The other thing that obviouslystill happens in the Middle East
because of religious related orsin related persecution that

(51:21):
had been also punished in avariety of horrendous, Also
punished in a variety ofhorrendous, painful, torturous
ways, was homosexuality.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
And so we know about that very much across the board,
in lots of cultures, sadly, andthat's why we're here doing
this, to let everybody stimulatetheir own thoughts, because the
collective, like you said,often is not helping.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
It's a mob mentality, right.
Often it's not helping mobmentality, right.
And there were.
There were torturous uh imagesand the the torture museum, we,
they had a lot of tools anddevices that you could see and
touch and really put yourself ina position where, for instance

(52:05):
this is one thing they did tomen which I just can't fathom
this but especially if you werea gay man, they would impale
your anus down onto a pike or aspike which I just Talk about
egregious.
Yeah, I just can't imagine.
Yeah, it was interesting to goin there because you could

(52:31):
imagine looking at some of theseold implements.
Or you could look at that braidand feel it and know that
because you were considered agossip that you would wear this
thing and wear the skin off yourhead, and so, therefore, once
you had the braid removed, youwere still branded right Until

(52:57):
and if you eventually healed.
And there was also somethingelse that reminded me of the
religious persecution was thecrown of thorns that they would
put on people as well and thathad some level of religious
implication, but I don't recallat the time what a heavy feeling
that must have felt like.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
being there in such a sorrowful yet historic building
where you want to pay homage tothe culture and the history and
those who have not had properjustice through millennia.
It sounds like, wow, that's aheavy burden to try to bear to
be in there and to repayrespects.

(53:33):
That's heavy, that's hard.
Did you feel all of that inthere as well?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
You know what I thought was really commendable.
Of course there's somethingabout and I think you even said
it earlier about a train wreck,just the bottleneck that happens
when you go past a car accidentor something heinous.
There's just something human inus that, if nothing else, we

(54:00):
want to know what happened.
Well, I went halfway around theworld to score a pair of
earrings.
If you'd like to hear that one.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Oh, please.
I actually love this earringstory.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
You shared a little bit with me.
So one of the things that Ilove to do when I'm traveling is
to find a little tchotchke andit's usually jewelry related
that is either handmade orinspired by the village or
culture that I'm visiting and Ijust like to feel it, I like to

(54:36):
wear it.
It's not because I want topublicize to the world hey, I
went to Amsterdam, or hey, Irode on a boat through a canal
in you know Voldenhall orwhatever in you know Volden Hall
or whatever.
It's mostly because I look atthese things as I'm getting

(54:59):
ready to put them on and I thinkI was there.
How cool is that?
And it still has the energy ofthe place, or of me or of my
sister saying my luggage isn'there yet, you know, or my sister
saying my luggage isn't hereyet, you know.
So it just.
It makes me laugh, it makes megiggle, it makes me smile.
It might make me sad, whateverit is right.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
It's an expression of love.
I don't know if everybody knowsthis about you, but what I've
learned about Keone is you'renot going to these foreign
countries to, you know, buy thisbig name brand piece that's
going to sit on your neck andyou're going to say look at how
bling, bling I am.
No, you're going for somethingthat's handmade, that's made
with a form of art that shows anexpression of love from each

(55:39):
culture.
Just to clear that up for thoseof our listeners who are not
lucky enough to know youfirsthand.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Right, or they may mistakenly think I can afford
the Hope Diamond.
And would I wear that thing ifI could afford it?
You know, probably not.
I think everybody should seethat amazing piece of carbon
compressed for how long?
And just feast their eyes onthat gorgeous gift from nature.

(56:11):
But I digress.
Plus, it'd be a little bitheavy around my neck.
I am only five feet tall, butanyway.
So I'm looking and looking andthe one thing I will say and
this is always the way when youare on tours that are being
guided you can only get one, onethousandth of the places that

(56:37):
you want to be.
When you're in a place, right,it's.
Unless you live there, you'rejust not going to be able to
experience any and everything.
Although I will say one thingthat did give everybody that was
on this tour a pause was thatour tour guide, who is from
Amsterdam, but we saw somehomeless, unhoused people of

(57:01):
different ages, and it wasn'tvery many.
And of course we're going toareas that are more touristy, so
the prevalence of seeing thatis much lower than what you
would experience, obviously, ifyou lived in a place and saw
non-touristy areas.
Right, and he looked over to theside where we happened to be

(57:24):
passing some unhoused people andone of the individuals seemed
to be talking to himself and thetour guide stopped whatever he
was talking about educationalinformation he was giving us.
And he said, and sadly, and I'mafraid to say this, and I've

(57:44):
lived and guided tours all overthe world and guided tours all
over the world, he said, I haveyet to find any country that
homelessness does not exist.
The look on everyone's face atthat moment as they looked over
and they viewed the homeless wassomewhere between major

(58:07):
compassion and just wishing thatthat didn't have to be a
reality for people for whateverreason you could just tell this
group of people.
They honored those people bylooking over and not shaking
their heads in disgust or sayingdrug addict all the things we

(58:29):
happen to hear it was Withoutjudgment.
Right, it was compassion.
So back to the earring story.
So I'm looking for my versionof the Hope Diamond, which is,
as you mentioned, something thatwould be be indicative of the

(58:56):
culture and the art of thatplace.
And everywhere I go and it'sprobably because we're going to
these touristy areas they aremore the things that you may see
in mainstream, or just bulkaccessibility, right, the
different, the different jewelrystores in different places.
And so I didn't want somethinglike that.

(59:17):
I wanted something specific tothe area, something that spoke
Netherlands.
You know, I should have justbought a pair of little wooden
shoes and hung them from my ears, because that, to me, would
have been the shit, right, Imean, that would have been cool
and I probably would have had mysister chasing me whenever I

(59:39):
wore them.
But regardless, that's the kindof thing I'm talking about,
that when I would just giggleand put them on and people would
say, why are you wearing shoeson your ears?
And I'd be like, don't you?
And no, not really.
Mine are yellow.
What color are yours type ofthing?

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Mine are on my feet.
That's just a thing.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Right.
So by the ninth day, which isI'm coming to the end of this
tour, which was just absolutelywonderful, particularly once and
the last time I'll speak abouthair products, but again, once I
finally got my hands on that,I'm getting to the end of this
tour.
I'm on the ninth day and I saidto my sisters as we're entering

(01:00:21):
our last hotel room I said thisisn't working out.
I have not found one pair ofearrings, one bracelet, one
tchotchke necklace, somethingthat I can say.
This was the Netherlands to me.
And she said, keone, you have24 hours, get over yourself.

(01:00:43):
You're giving up already.
And I said I think I am.
I just don't see this happening.
So we're fighting to get in thedoor.
And who's going to take the bedclosest to the bathroom?
You know all the typical stuffyou do when you get into a room
that you have to share withsomeone, with your twin.

(01:01:04):
With their twin and I decided totake the bed that's closest to
the desk.
I think that makes me lookindustrious, while my sister
would tend to look like she hasto pee a lot because she's
taking the bed closest to thebathroom.
So I take the bed closest tothe desk and I'm looking at the

(01:01:28):
desk and I realize there'ssomething on the desk.
I lean over and I pick up asmall plastic package of
earrings and I'm looking at itand I notice that in the package
there's a business card and thebusiness card is a handmade

(01:01:53):
jeweler's business card that sheslipped into the package.
And I take the earrings out andI'm looking at them and I
realize that these handmadeearrings have come the whole way
from Ohio, just like you kindof different state, but across
the ocean.

(01:02:13):
And I said to myself self whatare the chances of me saying I'm
never gonna like Eeyore, I'mnever gonna get, and me finding
this beautiful set of earringslying on this desk?

(01:02:34):
So, I don't know if someone'sleft them behind or if my
guardian angel has left them forme.
So I stopped confetching aboutit because everybody's sick of
hearing about it already.
So I take these earrings and ofcourse I bring them home.
So I take these earrings and ofcourse I bring them home, and I
notice on the back of thebusiness card it says how to

(01:02:54):
clean these earrings, that theyare handmade, they're made from
upcycled products and to neverwear them if you have a
pacemaker.
And so that is the first pieceof jewelry which tells you the
kind of jewelry I buy that had awarning on it.

(01:03:19):
Just call me crazy.
I've never had anything with awarning sign on it before, but I
really.
You know, when you'remanifesting gifts you can't be
super picky.
You got to kind of take whatthe angels leave behind.
And so now I'm really sort ofcurious how I got these earrings

(01:03:40):
, merch, that can't be worn witha pacemaker.
So I did reach out to theartist to see what she has to
say and whether she actuallyaccidentally left these behind,
or maybe she left them for me,felt compelled from her store in
Ohio.
Maybe she's looking to gointernational, start a chain, I

(01:04:01):
don't know.
But as soon as I find out whatshe says, I will be sure to let
you know, chloe, but in themeantime I am going to be very
careful who I wear theseearrings around.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Right when I heard this story, I could not get over
the fact that you went acrossthe pond, I think they say, to
find earrings from our owncountry, when the whole purpose
was to find something local thatspoke to you in an artistic way
.
But then, as somebody who wasspeaking to you through this,

(01:04:36):
knowing how deeply concerned youwere that somebody purchased
these and left them behind, andhow hurtfully panicked I think I
could say Fairly you were totry to connect these to the
beautiful soul who must havejust left them behind.
But it did distract you fromyour, you know, deep dive search
that you had been on for ninedays for some local art.

(01:04:59):
But then when I heard you couldnot wear these with a pacemaker
instantaneously as I'm talkingto you, I am feverishly Googling
, but, yeah, I'm eager, eagerand so curious to hear back from
that artist, but also from Ohioand you were in all of the
countries.
That's so crazy to me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
It really is.
And, on top of it, I'm dying towear these earrings and I don't
feel that I should wear themuntil I know whose they are,
because if they're mine for sureI'm going to wear them.
They're beautiful.
Yeah, they are super cute.
The other thing I wanted to say,because this is a podcast for

(01:05:45):
spiritual seekers, is that thespirit and I hope I did justice
the spirit that I felt, forinstance, of the baths and it
being a community place forpeople to gather and to connect,

(01:06:06):
connect and just the amazingspirit of that culture in and of
itself, just imbued within theremaining standing brick walls
that just totally blows my mind.
Or the plumbing that hasextended for over six miles,

(01:06:26):
laid by hand, is just asvisceral as that sadness or just
even the awareness of thingsthat people have been through
throughout time.
Right, yeah, you and I aresuper similar, chloe.
We feel things she and I bothadmitted to each other in a

(01:06:50):
moment of vulnerability notquite as vulnerable as my sister
and me fighting for the bednear the bathroom, but close
that she and I both, at times,can hear our plants talking to
us and or maybe talking back tous, because I know we both talk

(01:07:11):
to our plants constantly, eitherinternally or out loud.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
And I have some sassy ones, so that's so true yeah
it's his damn cactus.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
But, I warned you about them, but here I am
looking to get some hops intoabout them.
But here I am looking to getsome hops.
I'm getting plants with doublemeanings for double purposes.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
Yes, you could tell everybody.
My Pacific Northwest friendtold me about these and we're
trying to blend the communities.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Yeah.
So I want to make it clear thatthe way I felt in those
different places or in talkingto those incredibly generous
taxi drivers who went out oftheir way to talk to me about
their perception of the worldand how to dissolve the strife,

(01:08:10):
was not lost on me.
In fact, that's part of thereason why Chloe and I felt it
was so important to share thatexperience.
So we feel it in the land, wefeel it with the water, we feel
it with the materials thatpeople made these stunning

(01:08:31):
cathedrals and how humanity hasnot changed that much through
time, and you can feel thesorrow, you can feel the
inspiration, you can feel thecreativity the value of

(01:08:53):
community.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
You know all the beauty that comes with that, and
then the duality of what makingthat looks like, I think, is
what you are very beautifullyarticulating the yin and yang of
it all.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Right, somebody's got to work this thing and and they
were hidden away.
Yeah, to make another, anotherpopulation or another class's
experience top-notch, while theywere hidden away.
Yeah, to make another, anotherpopulation or another classes
experience top-notch, while theywere doomed to shoveling sewage
.
But the other thing that reallysuper surprised me, and I don't

(01:09:24):
know why, because I mean, I amnot just the person like when my
kids took things and colored inBarbie or Snow White and they
were all outside the lines onthe coloring book and I was just
thinking, my God, this isgorgeous, they're the next Van
Gogh, and I'm pulling thatcoloring sheet out of the book

(01:09:46):
and I'm plastering it all overthe refrigerator.
I'm not just that guy, right,because I knew that my children
wanted to create.
They took crayons and they didthe best they could and felt
proud of that, right?
So, yeah, I am that person.
But I'm also the person thatwent to the Rijksmuseum and I'm

(01:10:11):
standing in front of thispainting that is hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of yearsold.
That was painted by JohannVermeer, and a lot of you may
not even recognize the name, butyou'll recognize one of the
paintings, which is the girlwith the pearl earring and you
can see her with the profilewith this little earring and

(01:10:36):
it's just so inexplicably Dutchand you don't even know why.
You know it's Dutch, it's just.
You know it's Dutch and I'm inthis.
I'm in the Rijksmuseum and I'mlooking at these paintings by
Rembrandt and Vermeer and I'mjust standing there and all of a

(01:10:57):
sudden I got chills goingthrough me as I'm picturing
these people holding thesepaintbrushes.
Brushes, or?
Rembrandt was big into sharingthe paintings.
If it was a colossal paintingas an example of a huge scene,

(01:11:22):
he and other painters would workon one big project together.
So their communication betweeneach other.
Look, I'm going to do thisportion of the ship and the
captain and you handle some ofthe sailors on the ship and you,
over here, you'll handle someof the ship and the captain and
you handle some of the.
You know the sailors on theship and you, over here, you'll
handle some of the people thatare, you know, standing around
watching them christen the shipor whatever, whatever the object

(01:11:42):
of the of the painting was, andI, yeah, and I realized that
not only am I standing in frontof something that is so old and
original, but that I just can'tescape the creative spirit just

(01:12:05):
vibrating off those paintings.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
That's beautiful, gosh, that's amazing.
How could you not feel it,though?
That's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:12:15):
It's a good point.
So, you know, I had tocommemorate this and because I
didn't have any luggage, I didbuy myself some socks and it did
say Vermeer, from theRijksmuseum, and I thought I am
wearing those socks, which werevery comfortable, by the way,
but I am wearing those socks andfeeling that spirit for the

(01:12:39):
rest of my life, or as long asthey're stitching, because it
was just, I just didn't, Ididn't want to leave, I didn't
want to lose that.
And I said to myself again self,I have got to stop finding
magic in places outside of whereI live.

(01:13:01):
I need to open up my eyes andsee it everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
Yeah, you do see the beauty in a lot of things.
I think you're harder onyourself than you realize.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
I definitely know that the thing that makes beauty
super easy to see when you'reoutside of your own realm is
because you're outside of yourown realm and you're outside of
your routine, and so it's easierto focus on those things.
There was a couple that was onour trip that was coming from

(01:13:39):
Copenhagen, and they too,because of the Heathrow scenario
, had problems getting theirluggage.
They chose to be miserable for,I would say, 80% of the trip.
They got their luggage a lotquicker than we did.

(01:14:00):
So to me, I'm like you havedeodorant?
Do you have socks?
What the heck is your problem?
Why are you angry?
I'm actually angry thinkingabout how quickly you got here,
but anyway, I thought to myselfokay, well, we don't know their
scenario right, it was a marriedcouple, maybe they were having

(01:14:25):
marriage issues, who knows, butthey were miserable and they
were not appreciative of whatthey were seeing around them.
And I could tell that and youalways have when you're on a
tour and or you're in groups ofpeople, you will almost always

(01:14:46):
have people of all different ilkright, different realities,
different thought processescoming together, so you can't
expect everyone to react thesame way.

Speaker 2 (01:15:00):
I think the American phrase is you always have that
one.

Speaker 1 (01:15:04):
Yep, in this case we had two, but by the end of the
trip we're at our farewelldinner too.
But by the end of the tripwe're at our farewell dinner and
I heard them say to someonethis will be the last time I
come to Europe.
They hate all Americans andthey're just plain nasty.

(01:15:25):
And I looked at my sister andshe said did they just say that
they were treated nasty?
And I said yeah, she's like.
What tour have they been on?
I said I don't know.
She said they've been miserablesince they got here and I said
law of attraction maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
Perception's reality.

Speaker 1 (01:15:50):
And you throw out.
Isn't that karma, what you give?
So, for whatever reason, theyfelt miserable and maybe people
reacted to that vibe to thatvibe.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Yeah, I mean, you know me pretty well and I really
do like to play devil'sadvocate to try to understand
both sides, because, as a human,it can become very easy to find
judgment without evenrecognizing it.
And so, playing that role inthis conversation and using
myself as the vulnerablesuggestion or example, I've
absolutely been that person.
You know, there was one tripthat stands out in my mind that

(01:16:38):
I had saved for an exceptionallylong time.
It was to connect with an oldfriend that I had put on a huge
pedestal.
I had finally gotten enoughvacation time to make this
cross-country trip.
I had to take a flight and youknow, being prior military, I
was pretty used to flights, so Ithought it'd be easy, breezy,

(01:17:02):
and at that time I still alwayschecked all of my luggage.
This is the trip that changedthat forever.
We all have one.
Yes, yes, yes, I'm sorry tohear it too.
Yes, it's awful, and that's whyI think I can have so much
compassion, because I canunderstand.
There was so much, withoutrecognizing it, on my end, such

(01:17:26):
expectation on this getaway tripand reconnecting with somebody
who I had already put on such ahigh pedestal that, when you
know, flight after flight gotcanceled and I finally end up a
couple days later showing up, Istill had no anything, whether
it was medication, makeup,panties, socks, didn't matter.

(01:17:48):
I was lucky enough to be ableto just go to a Walmart and pick
up some stuff, but it reallythrew me off my game as a female
.
I had started my menstruationin the middle of that flight and
so I internally turned on myown self.
And then just the lack ofluggage on top of that.
That just compounded the issueright.

(01:18:10):
So I felt disgusting and I feltawful, and the trip went pretty
much how I was feeling about myluggage, and I can, in hindsight
, absolutely see that it'sbecause I took that attitude
into the entire trip and I neverlet it go.
I would like to think I'm notthat person anymore, but I can

(01:18:31):
see, having been that person inthe past, how easy it can be to
be consumed in those.
Well, I just paid all thismoney, I finally got all the
vacation approved, I justfinally made this once in a
lifetime trip, not to justify it.
I can just understand, even ona regular, every day without
other stuff going on, how easyit can be to get consumed into

(01:18:53):
those moments of not our bestself.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
That is incredibly insightful Because I think it's
super easy to look at someoneelse and say, dude, you've been
miserable since you got here.
People have asking you how's itgoing and you're snarling.

(01:19:19):
And in Europe, as an example,in most places you have to pay
to use the toilet and onceyou've been there, you'll never
forget it, you always make sureyou have enough euros on hand to
get into the bathroom.
They don't have publicbathrooms.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
I would be so broke.
I pee every five minutes andI'm not pregnant.

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
You learn to apportion your water intake
carefully.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
There's the yin and the yang.
You're not spending as much onwater because you're afraid to
go pee.

Speaker 1 (01:19:59):
Sorry I digress, and they're miserable.
But having to pay to get intothe bathroom.
And the European mindset in alot of these places is look, I'm
not running a public bathroom,I'm running a restaurant, so you
know.
You can't pull up to myrestaurant and 50 people roll in
and then say, oh, we're no,we're good, we ate.

(01:20:21):
We just got to use the toilet,so you know it's.
You got to, you got to justroll with it.
And wouldn't it have been niceif they would have noticed that
they were very responsible forthe response they got?

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
how interesting is it that he blamed americans for
all of his attitude problems.
So I wonder if that was because, perhaps subliminally, there
was a portion of them thatrecognized wow, I am really
giving off a shit attitude.
Yet these Americans, who gottheir luggage after us, are
still able to try and enjoy sometime here.

(01:21:08):
Try and enjoy some some timehere.
Yeah, they may be wearing thesehuge sunglasses and giant hats
on their little tiny heads,trying to hide, but they're
still giggling and having a goodtime and maybe something inside
them wished that they couldjust let go like that.

Speaker 1 (01:21:21):
Interesting, very interesting I just have one
statement to leave with peopleand then I'll hand it to you, ch
, to see if you have anythingelse to add.
As a repeat of one of ourearlier podcasts happiness is a

(01:21:41):
choice and, secondarily, see themagic and the special qualities
around you everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
Yeah, Seeing that beauty in the mundane for me has
been the key to unlock thewhole world.
Thank you for joining theMystical Mermaid Lounge podcast.
Constructive and positivefeedback are always welcome.
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(01:22:14):
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