July 22, 2023 • 45 mins
Ever wondered how to navigate the uncertainties of travel with grace and grit? Be prepared to get your passport to wisdom as my friend, Ashish and I embark on a journey discussing travel hiccups and how to handle them. We share our personal experiences and throw in some practical tips that will help you stay calm and composed when things don't go as planned.
Air travel is exciting but it can come with its share of challenges. From discussing Richard Branson's high altitude commercial flight vision, to contemplating the intricacies of sustainability and fuel possibilities, we take a detour into the revolutionary future of travel. But what about the world below the clouds? We also discuss the economic impact of the pandemic on tourism-dependent countries and how empathy and informed choices can make a difference.
Zooming out from the travelling microcosm, we broaden the horizon to discuss perspective in an overwhelming world. With a sea of information available at our fingertips, how do we sift through the noise and understand what matters? We ponder on the impact of large corporations on global issues and encourage maintaining perspective amidst complexity. All this while, never losing sight of the sheer joy of travelling. So, come along as we navigate these intriguing travel terrains for a smoother take-off, a fantastic flight and a perfect landing into the world of being an informed and empathetic traveller.
Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of The Intrepid Traveler podcast! If you enjoyed today’s episode, please rate and review our show to help us reach even more aspiring travelers. Don’t forget to check out our website, visit us on Facebook, Instagram or follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on our latest epic travel adventures!
Use the following links when planning your own travel!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Have you ever wondered how the pros put
together epic, tailor-madetravel adventures?
Welcome to the IntrepidTraveler Podcast.
I'm your host, robin Klein, andI'm going to explain to you
just how that is done during myconversation with today's guest.
When it comes to luxuryadventure and expedition travel,
the possibilities are endless.
(00:29):
In each episode, you'll hearfrom an expert in his or her
field about how theseexperiences, and more, are
created.
This episode of the IntrepidTraveler is brought to you by
Klein and Co Travel Consulting,a luxury adventure and
expedition travel planningcompany specializing in
un-Googleable experiences.
(00:49):
You can find us on the web atKleinandCoTravelcom.
On Instagram at Klein and CoTravel, we have a private
Facebook group you are welcometo join.
You can find us on LinkedIn orcatch the video version on
YouTube.
With that said, let's welcometoday's guest.
Well, you know how sometimesthings just happen and you
(01:12):
didn't intend for them to.
Well, today's episode is alittle like that.
My friend, ashish Sangrachkahas been a guest on my podcast
several times.
His podcast is called theSustainable Voice and I've been
a guest on his, and we had somuch fun doing these podcasts
together and admittedly fallinto a lot of rabbit holes along
(01:35):
the way that we decided wewould do a few episodes as
co-hosts, and so today's episodewill be us talking about the
things that we shouldn't freakout about in the world of travel
.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Hey everybody, welcome back to Sustainable
Voice.
This is Ashish, your host.
Look who's back.
Hey Robin, how's it going?
Oh, I'm good.
How are you, ashish?
I'm good.
So we talked about a few weeksago about this new monthly
episodic podcast we're doingwithin our network and within
our environment, called Thingswe Shouldn't Freak Out About.
(02:15):
Exactly, I'm kind of freakingout, are you?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
No, no, I never freak out.
You liar Pass on time.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, that's probably true actually, you know what I
mean.
The thing is that we alwaystalk about this because you know
, whenever we're together onthis podcast, whether it's your
podcast, which what's it called?
Again, your podcast.
It's really just a really coolname.
The Trepid Traveler I love thatname, you know what?
(02:42):
Something about the wordintrepid.
That's actually really, reallycool that I just something about
it.
Just it invokes a sense ofadventure, it invokes something
which is really cool.
I tried stealing it but youtrademarked it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
No, I had to do that quickly,otherwise, you know, I would be
getting all kinds of cease anddesist orders.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's right.
That's exactly right, Exactlyright.
Well, you know what this is onewhere you know, as we start
looking at the different levelsof what we're doing.
You always talk in this podcastabout, you know, sustainability
and conservation, and that'sstill a core part of your
podcast and mine adventure.
But within this travel industry, there are things that happen
(03:26):
that are out of our controlevery day, and the sooner we
come to grips with the stuff wecan control, the sooner we can
start really enjoying what it isthat we do right, and not just
us, but the people we work withas well, so I was just about to
say the folks that we arehelping to get on their way on
their trips and everything, andthe more prepared we can make
(03:48):
them for what they can't control, the more time they're going to
have.
You know what I was talking along time ago and I know that
you and I have talked about thisthat the only things we can
really control in life isactions and attitude.
You know we really can'tcontrol other things, and you
and I have both seen how peoplesometimes just freak out over
things.
You kind of scratch your headand go is that really worth that
(04:10):
much energy being extended?
Exactly you know.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So yeah, well, I'll tell you what let's go down this
rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
There's a couple of things we want to talk about
today, so welcome first of all,everybody to the first episode
of Things you Shouldn't FreakOut About, Robert.
Where are we starting?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We are starting with the airlines.
Oh pretty, yes, and I could goon a stream of consciousness
diatribe here, but we'll try tokeep it as focused as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Send it, let's go, come on Send it, send it, send
it.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Come on, let's go.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, the first thing is is arguing with the airlines
is pointless, so save yourenergy on that one.
My advice there is no.
There will be changes to yourflight.
The further out you book, themore changes there will be.
So just prepare Every time youget an email that says your
(05:13):
flight has been changed.
Sometimes it might only be by10 minutes, it might not be a
big deal.
Sometimes they're going to sendyou one that says we've
rebooked you on a flight nextweek.
You're gonna go what, what?
I can't get there.
Next week the trip will be over.
So you know, this is a coolerheads prevail kind of situation,
(05:37):
and you have to realize toothat sometimes it's a machine
that makes these mistakes, nothuman beings.
And you know, having to call inand deal with the airlines,
nobody loves it.
That is a frog eating deal Like.
That is the eat the frog thing.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I'm convinced that they make you wait for three
hours because they want you tocalm down before you talk to
them.
I'm convinced that three hour,whole time, is actually on
purpose to go all right, youready yet?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
No, all right keep holding how about?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
now you ready to talk now?
No keep holding.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, I'm convinced what they're hoping for actually
is that people will forget whothey're on hold with and that
they will have, like, their mindblow gone somewhere completely
different.
So by the time they're off holdthey'll be like, oh, oh yeah,
that's why I'm calling them.
So anyway, but yeah.
(06:28):
So back to the point.
You know, things are differentwith the airlines than they were
in 2019 and the beginning of2020.
And they're going to bedifferent.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Maybe forever, but definitely for a long time it's
going to take.
It's going to take time for theairlines to get experienced
people, or the people, the newhires, to become experienced.
So many people left thatindustry and you know, there's
new pilots, there are new deskagents, there are new baggage
(07:00):
handlers, there are new, youknow, flight attendants, you
name it.
There's new people everywhere.
So we, I think, need to realizethat this is one of those
things that's out of our control.
We cannot, you know we can'tcontrol who picks up the phone
on the other end and you justhave to deal with it the best
(07:22):
you can, and being kind andpolite will go a lot further.
Absolutely and being rude andlosing your cool.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, you know, you know and I can't wait to hear
what story you have about this,but I mean whether we're at
lines.
But you know, when we talkabout sustainability and
conservation and whatnot, thecore, the basis of that is being
a good human being.
Yeah, right, don't be that guy.
Don't be that person.
Don't be that person thatthat's just passive, aggressive.
(07:52):
Yeah, that it pretends to benice and is just absolutely
passive, aggressive and is, youknow, could tell that they're
using something.
Don't, just, don't be thatperson, right?
You can't chat around and saythat, okay, I believe in
conservation and I believe inbeing a good human being.
Then turn around and behavelike that in an airport.
That just doesn't make sense.
Well, all right, give me yourairline story where you are the
(08:13):
better person, and I'll give youmine.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh my gosh.
Actually you're going to haveto go first because I'm going to
have to like give it a minuteto pick which one.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, I'll tell you what.
I have two that are short, thatare there, all right.
So the first one actuallyhappened to me on the way to
Africa.
I was flying an airline goingthrough Istanbul, you know what,
and I got to the airport andthey said you know what, listen,
your flight's been delayed,you're going to miss your
connection.
You're going to be arriving twodays later into.
Tanzania.
So probably level one is likeoh my gosh, what a second.
(08:48):
I can't get through this later.
No, no, no, no, but it tookabout 30 seconds to go.
Okay, do I have any otherchoices?
Well, you can go through.
And it was like 10 stops.
Like I'm not doing that, I'mlike all right, so what about
this?
Okay, don't worry, it'sperfectly fine.
It's perfectly fine.
You could tell that Anaheim wasbeing yelled at by every single
person in front of me and she'slike I'm sorry, the flight got
(09:09):
delayed leaving Istanbul, likeshe had any control over it.
So I said you know what, don'tworry about it, it's okay, you
know.
Look, I'm sorry, having alwaysdifficult conversations.
If you have one that theperson's just understanding,
just remember my conversation,because I'm totally fine, you
never know what happens, right?
So I ended up.
I contacted a friend of minewho runs a company in Istanbul
(09:29):
and said listen, I'm going to bestuck here for a few days.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The airlines give me a hotel.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I really don't want them to.
I don't think they're going toget the hotel right.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Plus, what am I going to do?
Surround the hotel?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Can you help me out?
Just like, yeah, we can do this, this, this, this, this, this,
this, and I'm going to be.
I get down to the Grand Bazaarin Istanbul, the old city, and
this is where James Bond I'm ahuge Bond junkie I'm a James
Bond junkie and this is you know, I, I, I choose to ignore the
Roger Moore years and I chooseto ignore the Jordan, Lays and
(09:59):
Beers.
And I definitely have to racethe Timothy Dalton years.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But you are now.
You're really digressing here.
Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
But let me get back to this.
Come back, come back to eachwhat happened.
So I get there and I saidlisten, this Grand Bazaar looks
really fine.
I go wait a second.
Skyfall was filmed here because, yeah, this is probably one of
the greatest Bond movies evermade.
And I go okay, let's go here.
So my friend basically saysgive me a second.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Let me make a few calls.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I get the Grand Bazaar and I get up to the
rooftop special access that Iwalk and security got on the
rooftop of the Grand Bazaarwhere they actually filmed
Skyfall.
This is the scene where JamesBond was right in the motorcycle
.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I'm jealous, I'm not that way, all right, so let me
tell you what happened.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Okay, I got back to Istanbul.
I got to Kilimanjaro, got tothe US later, made the best of
it.
Everything was fine.
When I got back to the airporthere state side, I went upstairs
to look for that gate agent.
She was there.
I walked up to her and I said Iwanted to say thank you.
She goes, what for?
I said you post one for twodays because something is out of
(11:01):
control.
Let me tell you what I did withthat time.
I showed her she was in tears.
I said I just wanted to saythank you.
Because of you I got to liveout of childhood fantasy,
including having a video on howthe Grand Bazaar and I literally
on the video said anybody got amotorcycle I can borrow.
I even got to ask that as well.
So the second one was justhappened on the way to Canada.
(11:22):
This one was just getting ridof somebody who was just a
complete idiot.
So he was basically passive,aggressive, yelling at everybody
, whatnot.
So he was trying to board theplane.
We were so three, zone, four,whatever it was.
Get down the gate and I livedwith the pilots there, the
flight crews there.
I put my hands on I go, stop,stop.
I looked and I go.
Listen, the guy in front of meneeds to get seated down.
(11:44):
This is what I'm saying to theflight crew.
The guy in front of me has areal need to sit down.
I don't want to have himstressed out.
I think he's got a condition ofsome kind.
Please, I will hold back thenext zone right here.
I have big, strong arms.
I have a broad shoulders.
I will hold back the next zone.
Can you guys take him in andget him seated?
He looked back, realized,looked at my side, realized he
(12:04):
probably was out of his league,turned back around, walked in on
the plane, put his head down.
Or the flight crew.
I said please give himeverything he needs.
All right, give him his pillows, blanket, everything he needs.
Get him situated, because he'sbeen through a lot.
Don't worry, I got everybodyhere, I got this.
So the captain looks and hegoes can you come back tomorrow?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah right exactly you want to pay roll those of my
two was awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I could help myself.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's great, that's great, and
you know, sometimes we have to,you know, we have to step up for
people like that too, I thinkit's really easy to just stand
aside and say something like oh,that poor person.
I feel so bad for them, rightno?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
you're excited.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Exactly, but you know , not do anything about it.
So my own personal situationwas recently I did a trip where
I went kind of all over theplace and I had to book all
these one way legs on my ticket.
And then the other thing, whichwas my own choice because I was
trying to do it as economicallyas I could, I booked a lot of
(13:04):
it on points, so I had differentrecord locator numbers for
everywhere.
And then, like if you're sneakylike I am, you can transfer some
points into a partner airlineaccount and then you can book
there the one you want for like30,000 points, when they're
telling you it's 120,000 andthings like that.
(13:25):
So I did all that, you're thatperson?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Screw the points guy.
You're that person.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, I am, and you know what and when you do that,
just know you're basically likegiving up all your rights as a
passenger, don't?
You're not going to get yourupgrade, your status is not
going to be, you know, valued,all of those things.
When you book with points, youknow you're kind of like persona
non grata.
They want to they want to giveyou the you know incentive to do
(13:51):
that, but at the same time theydon't really want you to do
that, so they don't.
Of course, that's my record.
That's my record.
You're gaming the system,aren't you exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
My miles are worthless because of people like
you.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, that's me Anytime.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You wreck the curve.
Thanks a lot, Robin.
You wreck the curve, so okay.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So I arrived in Qatar , doha, no problem, all the legs
.
Up until then, everything hadbeen good.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But then I go to leave.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I go to leave Doha and they're looking at my.
You know, you have to go inthrough the security and you
have to have your either your QRcode or printed ticket or
whatever.
And so the first guy waves methrough, I get into the airport.
Well, from there it wasdownhill.
It was like wait a minute,you're booked on Iberia.
Airlines.
Iberia doesn't fly to, you know, qatar to Doha.
(14:47):
So what are you doing here?
And I'm like no, it's actuallyIberia is a co-chair partner
with Qatar Airlines.
Well, there was a few languagebarriers as well, a few things.
So I mean, I kind of went.
I was really glad I got thereearly, because I was sent to
probably four or five differentdesks.
Oh my gosh, yeah, it's OK, it'sOK, thank you.
(15:09):
They send me to the.
They.
Thank goodness they actuallyhad an office that was staffed
and manned and I go in there andthey had to print something out
for me that I then, had to takeback to the check-in and they
said, just, you know, go back tothe same person.
Right now it's like, oh, we'regonna be tricky.
So you know, cuz there's like25 people, which is unusual
(15:30):
these days at any airport to see25 people checking people in
for flights, but there wereanyway.
I finally did that, beingpolite as telling people I need
to actually go to that person.
Well, it finally worked outfine and and I, you know, got
there, got it done, got to mynext stop, which was in Kenya,
and All was good.
(15:51):
But you know, there was a lotof opportunities where I could
have lost my you know, you knowwhat, and but that wouldn't have
helped.
Right like there's, there'snothing that would have been
accomplished by me freaking out.
So you know, again, it's justyou have to be that cooler heads
prevails mentality.
You got to think it through andI think you also have to think
(16:14):
about it from the side of theother person.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's a human being out.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Well, not only that, but like I did all these
bookings with through a machine,right you know there wasn't a
human involved in any of thesebookings I did that's right so
who knows what the machine didand if the human can figure it
out or not, you know, so it just, you know, it just took some
time and patience and so forth.
(16:39):
So so there was that that was myown story, and then recently I
had a client that I Absolutelylove her because she plans
everything in advance.
Like she's so far-planned inadvance, we have booked her into
2024 already.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And she has got everything planned out.
She, like, wants to book thetickets for that trip and
they're not even online yet.
We can't, we can't do that andanyway, but she went to France
and.
You know we got the tickets asearly as we could and she's very
particular about where shelikes to sit in the plane too,
and she's early, so she usuallygets the seat and all of that.
(17:17):
Well, about three times theflight changed when she was in
France.
The flight, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Now the good news is that it we ended up being able
to get her to back home to herairport of choice, rather than
the one that's two hours away,which is what we originally
booked to save on Money andflight time and all that.
She was originally supposed tocome home through JFK, which,
but anyway, we ended up beingable to get her home through
(17:50):
Detroit, which is much betterfor for coming home to where we
live.
But there was there's definitelysome confusion because, like
you know, we use this app forour travel clients, partners,
and I would update it, but itwouldn't always update as
quickly on her end, and then herDelta app was showing both
flights, oh god.
(18:11):
And so you know it was a littlestressful.
We, you know, we got it allworked out and eventually the
other thing, the but the thingthat didn't happen was she did
not get to sit On the side ofthe plane or in the section of
the plane that she likes.
And once, and I just had to say, look, this is completely out
(18:32):
of our control, right?
I mean, like, the originalflight doesn't exist anymore,
right, like?
So that's not an option.
Take that out of the equation.
Yeah, we had a seat booked onthat one, but it's not flying.
And then we also I had to say,look, you know, if you want to
go home on this particular dayat this particular time?
You're gonna have to take thisparticular seat, or you're just
(18:53):
gonna have to wait for a flight.
That's that seat you want.
So that's such a choice, andI'm not giving you permission to
be mad about this becausethere's nothing you can do about
it.
Just that's right, that's right.
Very Air travel is.
I mean, I've already said it'sdifferent from 2019, but we, I
think, all have to remember thatthis, really, even though it's
(19:15):
a cost a lot of money and it'snot, you know we all would like
a direct flight from ourdoorstep to the other doorstep,
and you can do that, just getout your checkbook.
But is that?
You know what a privilegereally to be able to.
I mean, think back like.
I mean it used to take weeks toget to certain of these places,
and now we're complaining if ittakes more than 24 hours.
(19:37):
You know, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I gotta tell you, this is your spot on, this is,
and this is down to the samerabbit hole.
I was at a conference years agoand I actually had the pleasure
of meeting Richard Brents and Igot a chance, and this is when
Virgin.
Galactic was first starting outright so it was basically that,
and so I you know you meetsomebody who just makes you feel
stupid.
Yeah, this is what basicallyhappened.
(19:59):
He was right, he was, he was,he was right.
So I talked and I said you know, congratulations on Virgin
Galactic.
This is way, way.
We're talking like, probablygosh, almost 10, 12 years ago.
And and so it was.
You know, congratulations on it.
And starting out, and it wasthe view of the future.
And I said you know, spacetravel, is this the next
frontier for you?
(20:19):
He goes are you stupid oryou're not paying attention?
I said I'm paying your pardon.
He said you think this is aboutspace travel.
You've missed the pointcompletely.
I said all right, you have myattention now, yeah.
And he says this is VirginGalactic.
Isn't an exercise in spacetravel.
Yes, for taking people up tospace.
He said it's an exercise in flyin aviation at higher altitudes
(20:43):
.
He goes.
If we can figure out how to flyat 85,000 feet in a commercial
liner right, or 100,000 feet atthe you know edge of the
stratosphere.
Whatever the case, right In acommercial liner where, a the
fuselage can take it, b yourhuman being, the human body can
take it.
The G-forces at that speed.
I can get you to Sydney in timefor lunch.
(21:05):
I can get you to London andback.
On the same day, vancouverbecomes, they goes, and this is,
before you know, boom aviation.
Before all these supersonicjets.
Before this is when the Concordewas still just a thing, right,
it was just starting to reachend of life and whatnot, and it
just I think it had just beenretired and he was talking about
this fact that this is the nextevolution.
We're simply practicing highaltitude flight.
(21:27):
Because I did ask him, I said,you know, because at this time I
think SpaceX was just startingout and where we live, spacex is
a big thing and so it was juststarting out and space travel in
general.
So I said is this aboutcommercialized space travel?
He goes there are plenty ofpeople that do that.
This is not about that.
Yes, it's about getting peopleto space, monetizing it, and you
know who knows.
And it's important because he'staken us, for the first
(21:48):
commercial flight happened thispast weekend as a test.
Now that first one's happeningin June with actual passengers
on.
So he's.
Clearly it's a huge step forhistory.
But when he said to me he goes,you must be stupid.
I said oh, or just not payingattention.
I literally stopped and I saidI think he's actually right.
I must be because I'm missingsomething.
Clearly I'm a pretty sharp guyand I missed this.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And this is like I'm going with you just weren't
paying attention.
Part, because you're not stupid.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, I mean there, I have my moments.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
So we all do.
We all do.
We all have a stupid attackevery now and then.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
But that's the thing is, this wasn't even on stage
where you can embarrass me infront of like 100 people.
This was backstage, justtalking, because I happened to
bump into him.
Yeah, I don't know whatsecurity guard wasn't paying
attention, where, what handlerwasn't watching, but I'm pretty
hard to miss and I don't knowhim personally, but he's got to
him and he's the most down toearth guy and he was.
(22:46):
When we got to talking he saidhe want to explain it to me.
It was like a light bulb wentoff and I said that's incredible
.
Then I asked him a question.
I said what about fuel?
He said now you're asking theright question.
And we left the conversation.
I think I was doing it, but heasked that question.
Now you're asking the rightquestion.
So it does still lead back tosustainability.
(23:06):
But when he said that, I justit was thought provoking and
yeah, like, exactly as you said,it's a privilege.
You know it is still a steeltube that we're getting into,
but it is a privilege.
I joke with people, you knowsometimes just the fact that you
know when people get on theplane they're like oh well, I'm
going to turn left and I'm goingto sit here and my bed is like
this and the seats like this,and I just stop and go.
It's a steel tube with wings onit.
(23:28):
I just want to make sure youknow that it's still a steel
tube.
The windows still the window,right, yeah, but what Richard
Branson said and I'm not namedropping him just because of the
no.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
No, no, you've only said it like four or five times
what Richard Branson?
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I know, rich, how's it going, man, my buddy
Richard, my buddy, my friend Ididn't say my friend Richard,
because I don't know who he isand I'm pretty sure his security
has my picture up at Walton.
Don't let this, don't let thismaniac near him again.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, so all right let's, let's, move on to the
next topic.
Yep, yep, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
What is it?
What's the next topic?
The next one is one that youand I have experienced with Last
met itinerary changes.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Ah, yes.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Guide not showing up or tour not showing up.
All right you, you've beenraring to go on this one, so go
ahead, knock it, go ahead Sendit.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Well, you know, again , it's a you know.
I mean, yeah, there's alwaysgoing to be that danger.
I mean, you know, some peopleare going to flake out, some
people are going to see thewrong day on the schedule,
whether that's your client orthe tour guide himself or your
driver, or you know, sometimesyou know if you're waiting at
the airport to be picked upafter your flight and you're not
(24:40):
finding a driver or something,you know sometimes I mean we
don't.
I don't want to encouragepeople to like go down the whole
rabbit hole of assuming theworst, but you know, sometimes
there's car accidents, sometimesthere's things that just happen
.
So don't just automaticallyassume that you've been dissed
or that you've been dragged orthat you've been forgotten or
you know whatever.
Think to the times.
(25:00):
Maybe you've made the samemistakes where, like, I've
looked at my calendar and beenlike, ready I've been, I have
sat on the Zoom call waiting forthe host to let me in and been
like tapping that I was the host, like you know, going come on
when I, and then I look at myyou know, make sure I have the
right Zoom link, and all that,and I was like, oh, I'm here on
the wrong day.
(25:21):
It's no wonder they're notletting me in, you know.
So it's to take a deep breath,you know.
First off, let's make sure thatwe've got you know our itinerary
correct, that we're where we'resupposed to be on the right day
.
Then start making calls.
Use the numbers that you'vebeen provided.
If you're a traveler, you knowyour travel advisor is probably
(25:44):
giving you these numbers.
They've probably told youprotocol for how to go about
handling these situationsinstead of just immediately
hitting whoever you've got onspeed dial.
That's right.
You know, because that's notgoing to help.
No, no, you just you know,calling to complain to somebody,
Well, one that's not going tohelp for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Especially if you're angry dialing or if you're
basically tough talking througha phone.
I mean, come on, right, right,yeah, what do we?
13,?
I'll meet you at the playgroundafter school.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, you know, when you try to explain to people
ahead of time, I mean like, look, there are shortages of guides,
shortages of drivers.
There are people that are doingthis now that are inexperienced
because they're new to thiscareer, they're new hires in the
industry and so they're stilllearning all the nuances and all
(26:36):
of that.
And yeah, I mean, when you'reputting your money on the line,
yes, you want the best serviceyou know possible but at the
same time.
I mean, you can?
There's only so much bandwidth,there's only so many guides,
right, you know, everybody can'thave the best guide, and the
best is subjective.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Look, so maybe your friends, japan's a great example
, yeah.
Japan's a great example, rightnow, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I had some clients inJapan and they had a tour guide
that didn't speak English.
Right, right, that was not aproblem, that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
That was not awesome.
What?
Google Translate didn't work.
You're going to chat GPT?
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
That's what chat.
Gpt might have done a betterjob, anyway, you know, but
fortunately in that case theyfocused on all the rest of the
parts of the trip that wereawesome, right.
And they were veryunderstanding about it and they
had heard what I had said priorto that, that you know the guide
(27:38):
shortage, the inexperience, theeverything else.
I mean none of us were quiteprepared for that much, but at
the same time they handled itwith grace.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Well, that's the right word.
That's the right word grace.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so I think again.
You know, in our last episodeleading up to this, we talked
about paying attention.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And this is, I think, a great thing you know to pay
attention to, like pay attentionto your itinerary, Look at each
day, Look at exactly whereyou're supposed to be, at what
time you're supposed to be there, Right, and all of that, and I
think that that will help thingsgo better.
But at the same time, just knowwhen you travel that you know
(28:23):
some things are going to gowrong, Some things are going to
be.
You know I hate to use the wordderailed because it makes it
sound kind of catapulting,Catastrophic.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
No, but that's.
But.
No, yeah, exactly, but that's asilver lining and all of it.
I mean, come on, hello theGrand Bazaar, I stumble.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, I mean sometimes you
end up, you know, when you get aset on a different course.
Right, let's say that you endup experiencing some things you
might not have other.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That's right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
You know, it's all about that mindset and but yeah,
just go into it knowing therewill be changes there will.
And if you are one of thosevery fortunate people that comes
out the other side andeverything in your trip went
really well and you had nodelays and no like real problems
, other than you had to flyovernight sitting up right, then
(29:15):
you are really fortunate,Exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Exactly.
Look, and this is somethingthat we're going to be talking
about.
You know, one of our futureepisodes we've got this program
dinner ready is you know thecountries like, for example,
japan that you mentioned?
Where there are?
You know there's new people.
Tourism isn't the mainlifeblood of the economy, right?
I mean like, in case I'm quiteIndia, right, india tourism, you
know, 2019, with 7% GDP, andthat's even counting Indians
coming back.
(29:38):
If you count real tourism in acountry of one and a half
billion, almost two it's 1%, 2%of their economy.
So, when you know, in a countrylike Japan, a country like
India, when these people leavethe industry during the pandemic
and they left, they don't comeback because they don't have to
it's, you know, one in six jobs,or one in 10 jobs.
(29:59):
Globally, is tourism based incountries like that.
It's more like one in thehundred.
Yeah, now you know you want toget it to one in 20, one in 10.
So it's a more connectedeconomy, obviously.
However, they're not there yetand people, you know people have
to understand it.
So we shouldn't, as you said,we shouldn't freak out about it.
Focus on the stuff that workedWell, silver lining that that's
(30:19):
really important Always payattention to and you know what I
mean.
Look, you and I talk about thisa lot as well.
I mean the stuff that you and Ido philanthropically when we're
outside and stuff that we'veseen in different countries.
It could be a lot worse.
You know it could be a lotworse.
Yes, you didn't get the guideyou want or the guide on
language barrier.
Yes, I understand it shouldn'thave happened, but that doesn't
(30:40):
mean you know, first of all, itwasn't done intentionally.
Secondly, there's circumstancesbeyond anybody's control that
contributed to it.
You know and you know I saythis because I, for example, now
this whole range of you knowelectric vehicles you start
looking at the biggest concernis now build quality in these
vehicles and everything else.
It's the same thing, like youknow, we're gonna.
You know, for example, there'sone particular company people
(31:01):
complain nonstop about just howshoddy the build quality is.
They're still buy them in drops.
So you're clearly willing toaccept mediocrity when it comes
to that, but you won't do ithere.
I'm not saying that we shouldaccept it.
I'm not saying at all that thecase.
But we should at least be ableto understand, to process, to
comprehend and then be able toreact with information in hand,
(31:23):
versus just firing both barrelsand seeing, seeing well and then
thinking later.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And the other thing is, I thinkyou just made a really good
point without even knowing it.
This is that you know if youare going.
You know what's more importantthe price point or the quality.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You can't have both.
Most of it Can't have both.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's either done right or done cheap.
Can't have both.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It's the same thing in travel.
Like you can't have the privateguide, the private driver, the
first class air, the five starresort on the four star budget,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That's right.
What's the price?
Champagne tour or beer budget?
You can't have that.
If you want champagne, you gotto pay for champagne.
Exactly, that's exactly right.
No, especially when it comes tocommunities.
No, this is look and this is so.
This is so key, right?
I mean, just because of thefact that you and I both know
some of the same guys and weknow what kind of duress they
work in and hotel management,and it also says that we know
(32:14):
kind of duress they work in andwe know what they have to deal
with and they're doing theirbest, right, they're so grateful
to have you there, but they'redoing their best.
We have to remember that theyhad basically essentially, these
are all basically globalgeekworks and lost their job for
two years.
Yeah, in case of Japan's threeyears, yeah, absolutely.
You know there's some nervousthat you get, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
If you haven't done something for three years.
And people that work inhospitality and in tourism do it
because they love it Right.
They do not do it for theglamour and the money.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
No, no, no, look, this is coming from a guy in
finance, right.
I mean, I worked for a companythat had trillion dollars in
assets with a team, and I leftbecause we couldn't make the
type of social impact that wewanted to in this world.
I was just disappointed withthe type of social impact that
they were set up for.
Yeah, you're right, it's nothere because of glamour.
It's not here because you'regoing to make billions, and
you're here because yougenuinely care about what you do
(33:08):
and because you're making aviable impact, a positive,
viable impact in the world.
At times is the job Thankless,absolutely, but that's the
minority.
The majority of the time you'rechanging people's lives and you
see their lives transforming,and right in front of you, and
it's pretty cool to watch.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
It is.
It is.
So what's your thing?
What are we going through?
We went through my two and tookup way too much time.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
No, no, that's so now ?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
So now you have two minutes.
Now I'm kidding, so well.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I mean, look, you've given some great examples, but I
think my thing is the very nextpoint on our list, and my thing
is is because, when it comes toyou know it's in the same vein,
right, I mean it's just, youknow, when you see itinerary
changes, you see differentthings.
You see what I get.
It's like OK, yeah, it happens,but I think you and I come from
the same plot.
(33:56):
Where people start freaking outis when they start looking at
headlines and they startthinking that, oh, the world's
coming to an end.
That one rule the sun comes upthe next day.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Even if they're not, even if they're not picking up
garbage, right, exactly, exactly.
What's the?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
phrase is a great.
There's a movie, the great,exotic Marigold's Hotel.
Have you seen this movie?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Oh, it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I love.
The line in this movie isawesome In the end, everything
will be all right.
It's not all right.
It's not yet the end.
The sun will come up.
Until it doesn't, if it comesup the next morning, go on Like
that, that's just it.
Like, ok, you've got all theseheadlines that show up and that.
Ok, whoa, let's take it, takeit.
No, it's a wonder why we're notall an antidepressants all at
(34:43):
once.
When you read this headlinesRight Like I mean, you just have
to stop and go.
And I had this conversation withsomeone and said OK, we have a
choice and I'm not and I'm notdownplaying people who are
genuinely depressed.
I'm not downplaying at anymeans.
But I have a coffee at thisplace every morning, every
Saturday morning.
This is one particular baristathat's back there who I get not
(35:08):
annoyed.
I guess I'm disappointed withwith how she behaves, because
she freaks out about thesmallest things.
The last weekend was TaylorSwift tickets.
I'm going to cry at the tickets.
I just stopped and I literallyhad to stop.
I go.
Are we seriously talking aboutthis?
Yeah, Is this really whatyou're worried about?
(35:28):
Then it's shifted to Disney.
Oh well, what's going to happenwith Disney and this and that I
have to stop?
And I said again, I'm trying toenjoy my coffee, but I had to
chime in here and I you know,you know me, I just can't help
myself.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I just I can't it.
Just you know the world wouldlike.
Well, like you just said, workscut from the same clock.
I resemble that remark.
You know what, you know what?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I told yeah, I resemble it too.
And I told my family this I saidat one point someday I'm going
to get my butt whooped in anairport somewhere.
I'm going to get absolutelyjust work.
Somebody's going to beat me upand kick my butt and you know
what?
They were the most deservedbutt kicking in my entire life.
I will have deserved it.
I will have, but I will.
I will have gotten my mentalpunches in before I get my
(36:09):
physical body beaten up.
I would have.
I will take it like a manbecause I will have fully
deserved it.
I said, yeah, I deserved it.
I did.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
You're saying that sarcasm is your love language.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
It is totally.
It is totally.
I see somebody who's just notyou know.
I mean, just like taking candyfor a baby when you just see
like, all right, my brain needsto work out, let's go, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Oh yeah.
Well, I don't want to be thereto witness that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
But this is one that this barista is just going crazy
about.
Well, we're looking what'shappening with Disney and look
what's happening with this andthat, and you have to stop and
go.
Okay, listen, it's Saturdaymorning.
It's a beautiful day outside.
I'm having this amazing coffee.
I'm having this amazingbreakfast.
Let's, let's just take a stepback, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, and so I sort of take your, take your head out
of the news cycle for just aminute Right, look at your
surroundings, look at the peoplethat you have in your life,
that you love them and like justthe gratitude thing.
Let's look at the, let's lookat the good for a bit.
Well, so I couldn't help myself.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I stopped and said you know Taylor Swift can't hear
you, but I can't myself.
I couldn't help myself.
I said Taylor Swift can't but Ican.
And I just stopped and said youare going on about these things
.
I started talking about some ofthe things that we see around
the world and you and I both seeright people really suffering,
yeah, and I said they would wishthat Taylor Swift was the
(37:32):
biggest problem.
They would wish that seeingDisney getting into a lawsuit
with the state governor is theworst thing to happen.
It's not, it's just like it'sthe icing on the cake.
What they're going through is athousand, a million times, even
infinite times, worse, yeah,and we have to take stock of
that.
So so the things we shouldn'tfreak out about.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
My thing is Disney versus the world.
Yeah, I think that that isthat's such a good point about.
You know, just thinking aboutwhat information we're taking in
, are we checking?
Is it credible information andare are we just taking it at its
word?
And just reading the headlines,and this guy is falling Right
(38:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Exactly, exactly and well, not only.
And then the other part is likeokay, how does this actually
impact any of us?
Yeah, okay, it may have animpact tax bill, wise, if you
live in Florida, but beyond that, does it impede you from
getting out of bed the nextmorning?
Does it impede you from livingyour life?
Right, if something impedes youfrom living your life, I agree,
do something about it.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
But if it's not impeding you, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Bob Iker is not going to, is going to be 10 cents.
You know the stock price isgoing to be 10 cents low, which
means he won't be a trillionhere, he'll be a billion there.
All right, cool, I'm okay withthat.
You know, I mean for.
Bob, exactly like it's just youknow and we have to.
You know the thing that, thething that, and I asked this
person is.
I said, okay, you're freakingout about Disney.
Let me ask you a question Doyou have kids?
She's like no.
I said do you have any?
(38:59):
She said yes, yes, young ones,yes.
Would you take him to school togo see Mickey Mouse?
Well, of course I go.
Well, this conversation is over.
Yeah, if you're.
If you're, if you would stillgo to see to the mouse, you
would still go to the mousehouse, you still go to see
Mickey that mouse.
By the way, forget the TreasurySecretary.
That mouse is the most powerfulperson.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
All right, so okay, here's.
Here's what we've solved theworld's problems today.
Mickey Mouse will be in chargeof the world's problems, and
chip play will take over the USgovernment.
Well, all will be well in theworld.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
I just I just want to hear.
I just want to hear somebodycome and say here's your talk to
me.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
But oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
But I think that that's just it, like I mean,
when we start looking at theseagain, it's the same thing.
We're talking about airlinesitinerary changes.
We started demonizing somethinglike Disney or even not just
Disney but large corporations asa whole, Right.
So I mentioned you.
I'm a recent member of ourglobal tourism council and we
we've had people come up thereand talk about just demonizing
(40:04):
large companies like Disney andsaying they're the problem,
Stannibalism is not happening.
And we have to stop them andsay listen, what intent jobs
worldwide come from tourism andif they're done the right way
they're, they're contributingquite well.
Yes, are there places toimprove?
Absolutely, but it's not likelack of trying.
What's happening between Disneyand any state government,
(40:24):
whatever the case.
Look, whatever's happening isbeyond our pay grade.
Whatever is happening is titand tat back for the back and
forth, I mean we have to.
We can't lose track of the factthat the former CEO of Disney
lost his job because of thisfight and then the old CEO came
back, right, so something,whatever is happening is bigger
than than what you and I see.
(40:45):
Right, it's bigger than whatthe headlines see.
What we're getting is asnapshot.
We have to believe that thisgoes 20 feet below that, and
there's so much more to thisnews that because otherwise we
would have heard about it for 30years you think about any kind
of strife anywhere in the world,whether it's political, whether
it's economic, whether it'sgeopolitical.
It's something that has been inplace for 40 years, whether
it's Kashmir, whether it is, youknow, a civil dispute between
(41:07):
the, you know Falkland Islandsor whatever the case.
It's been there for decades.
Yeah, yeah, this hasn't been anissue for decades.
This just happened this year.
Yeah, so clearly something isbrewing that we don't know.
So what are we doing?
Freaking out about it?
Right, sun's up, the sun's comeout the next day.
It's painting across my facelike a zebra right now, but it's
(41:29):
there, and I think we can'tlose stock of that, especially
considering what you and I haveseen in this one.
Look, I leave for Columbia.
Tomorrow I'm going back to seethese things again, and I
figured you would be, but Ithink that's just that's what
(41:50):
this, that's what makes this soimportant, that's what makes
this where.
You know, we just like I said,we need to make sure we don't
lose track of this.
We don't lose track of what'sperspective, right, and that's,
I guess, what we're saying here,right?
Is it?
Things we shouldn't freak outabout?
Is that we should never loseperspective of what's around us.
(42:11):
Did I get that right?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Absolutely, absolutely it is.
It's not worth freaking outabout things.
And well, the bottom line isyou know, if you have no control
over it, you really can't.
Well, you can, but youshouldn't, right, right.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Well, if they are, I will ask all those people
freaking out.
Would Richard Branson ask meare you stupid or just not
paying attention?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, yeah, he could get away with saying that, yeah,
I can't, I might get punched.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I told you, if I get my butt kicked in the airport,
I'm going to earn it.
It'll be something.
I want to earn this.
And you know what, if I earn it, I mean it's yeah, look, it's
one where I I don't know whatyou call it.
I mean, you and I have cut thesame part, in this sense that we
if we some sort of it is theysee some sort of an injustice
happening where somebody is justtreating somebody poorly, we're
(42:55):
going to stand up and saysomething.
We're going to stand up and saysomething because it's just not
right.
As you said, it's a machine thatmade this decision, but there's
a human being now paying theprice for that, that person
getting a verbal lashing forsomething that is out of their
control.
Right, you know, we're allhumans.
We're going to make mistakes ashuman error.
Right, I mean, that's just it,you know.
(43:17):
I mean, if we could think aboutit, right, if we didn't make
mistakes wouldn't discoverthings like peanut butter and
jelly.
You know, who's the person thatmade a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich?
Who's the person that made thatsandwich and said, well, this
is cool, you know what the heckhappened by accident.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
How did you have to have a accident?
I can see that one a lot morethan I can the first person that
ate an oyster.
That person had to be stung.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Oh yeah, or or or or not.
Pay attention.
Oh, it's sliding inside of alarge shell.
That's, this must be fun.
Let's pry it open.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Okay, now we are really down around the whole now
.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't freak out, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I think, I think we better call it quits for today,
we better call it quits over.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Well, definitely.
Look then for our first episodeof things we shouldn't freak
out about.
I think we covered a lot ofground and probably set the
things we probably shouldn'thave so to everybody who was
listening.
We hope you enjoyed everybodyelse.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I'm sorry, not sorry, yeah yeah, I guess we'll come
back.
Come back next time.
We'll have some more, have somemore things you should not
freak out about.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Well, we're going to be doing this every month.
Every month, we're going to behaving a new episode that talks
about things we shouldn't freakout and and as you guys listen,
if you guys like it, you know,chime in, let us know that you
like it.
You know where to find us onSpotify and on Apple and on
Amazon, you know and just take alisten and maybe, if nothing
else, you've heard this episodeand all the other episodes we've
(44:42):
talked about.
You know big successes in smallplaces, and we've talked about
perspectives.
We're always designed to beable to illustrate what happens
when you lose perspective.
Yeah, things we shouldn't freakout about.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
So, robin, any final words before we sign off.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
No, I think we've covered it all, she's and then
some.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I don't know.
I don't even want to know howbig copyrights we've finished on
this one.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
All right till next time.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
All right, thanks again.
I appreciate it.
Robin, appreciate the time tohave a real listening.
Thanks again.
See you next time.
Take care, all right.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Thanks, bye.
Adventure and Expedition TravelPlanning Company specializing
(45:48):
in un-Google-global experiences.
Have you ever wondered how the pros put
together epic, tailor-madetravel adventures?
Welcome to the IntrepidTraveler Podcast.
I'm your host, robin Klein, andI'm going to explain to you
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When it comes to luxuryadventure and expedition travel,
the possibilities are endless.
(00:29):
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This episode of the IntrepidTraveler is brought to you by
Klein and Co Travel Consulting,a luxury adventure and
expedition travel planningcompany specializing in
un-Googleable experiences.
(00:49):
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On Instagram at Klein and CoTravel, we have a private
Facebook group you are welcometo join.
You can find us on LinkedIn orcatch the video version on
YouTube.
With that said, let's welcometoday's guest.
Well, you know how sometimesthings just happen and you
(01:12):
didn't intend for them to.
Well, today's episode is alittle like that.
My friend, ashish Sangrachkahas been a guest on my podcast
several times.
His podcast is called theSustainable Voice and I've been
a guest on his, and we had somuch fun doing these podcasts
together and admittedly fallinto a lot of rabbit holes along
(01:35):
the way that we decided wewould do a few episodes as
co-hosts, and so today's episodewill be us talking about the
things that we shouldn't freakout about in the world of travel
.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Hey everybody, welcome back to Sustainable
Voice.
This is Ashish, your host.
Look who's back.
Hey Robin, how's it going?
Oh, I'm good.
How are you, ashish?
I'm good.
So we talked about a few weeksago about this new monthly
episodic podcast we're doingwithin our network and within
our environment, called Thingswe Shouldn't Freak Out About.
(02:15):
Exactly, I'm kind of freakingout, are you?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
No, no, I never freak out.
You liar Pass on time.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, that's probably true actually, you know what I
mean.
The thing is that we alwaystalk about this because you know
, whenever we're together onthis podcast, whether it's your
podcast, which what's it called?
Again, your podcast.
It's really just a really coolname.
The Trepid Traveler I love thatname, you know what?
(02:42):
Something about the wordintrepid.
That's actually really, reallycool that I just something about
it.
Just it invokes a sense ofadventure, it invokes something
which is really cool.
I tried stealing it but youtrademarked it.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
No, I had to do that quickly,otherwise, you know, I would be
getting all kinds of cease anddesist orders.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's right.
That's exactly right, Exactlyright.
Well, you know what this is onewhere you know, as we start
looking at the different levelsof what we're doing.
You always talk in this podcastabout, you know, sustainability
and conservation, and that'sstill a core part of your
podcast and mine adventure.
But within this travel industry, there are things that happen
(03:26):
that are out of our controlevery day, and the sooner we
come to grips with the stuff wecan control, the sooner we can
start really enjoying what it isthat we do right, and not just
us, but the people we work withas well, so I was just about to
say the folks that we arehelping to get on their way on
their trips and everything, andthe more prepared we can make
(03:48):
them for what they can't control, the more time they're going to
have.
You know what I was talking along time ago and I know that
you and I have talked about thisthat the only things we can
really control in life isactions and attitude.
You know we really can'tcontrol other things, and you
and I have both seen how peoplesometimes just freak out over
things.
You kind of scratch your headand go is that really worth that
(04:10):
much energy being extended?
Exactly you know.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So yeah, well, I'll tell you what let's go down this
rabbit hole.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
There's a couple of things we want to talk about
today, so welcome first of all,everybody to the first episode
of Things you Shouldn't FreakOut About, Robert.
Where are we starting?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
We are starting with the airlines.
Oh pretty, yes, and I could goon a stream of consciousness
diatribe here, but we'll try tokeep it as focused as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Send it, let's go, come on Send it, send it, send
it.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Come on, let's go.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, the first thing is is arguing with the airlines
is pointless, so save yourenergy on that one.
My advice there is no.
There will be changes to yourflight.
The further out you book, themore changes there will be.
So just prepare Every time youget an email that says your
(05:13):
flight has been changed.
Sometimes it might only be by10 minutes, it might not be a
big deal.
Sometimes they're going to sendyou one that says we've
rebooked you on a flight nextweek.
You're gonna go what, what?
I can't get there.
Next week the trip will be over.
So you know, this is a coolerheads prevail kind of situation,
(05:37):
and you have to realize toothat sometimes it's a machine
that makes these mistakes, nothuman beings.
And you know, having to call inand deal with the airlines,
nobody loves it.
That is a frog eating deal Like.
That is the eat the frog thing.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I'm convinced that they make you wait for three
hours because they want you tocalm down before you talk to
them.
I'm convinced that three hour,whole time, is actually on
purpose to go all right, youready yet?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
No, all right keep holding how about?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
now you ready to talk now?
No keep holding.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, I'm convinced what they're hoping for actually
is that people will forget whothey're on hold with and that
they will have, like, their mindblow gone somewhere completely
different.
So by the time they're off holdthey'll be like, oh, oh yeah,
that's why I'm calling them.
So anyway, but yeah.
(06:28):
So back to the point.
You know, things are differentwith the airlines than they were
in 2019 and the beginning of2020.
And they're going to bedifferent.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Maybe forever, but definitely for a long time it's
going to take.
It's going to take time for theairlines to get experienced
people, or the people, the newhires, to become experienced.
So many people left thatindustry and you know, there's
new pilots, there are new deskagents, there are new baggage
(07:00):
handlers, there are new, youknow, flight attendants, you
name it.
There's new people everywhere.
So we, I think, need to realizethat this is one of those
things that's out of our control.
We cannot, you know we can'tcontrol who picks up the phone
on the other end and you justhave to deal with it the best
(07:22):
you can, and being kind andpolite will go a lot further.
Absolutely and being rude andlosing your cool.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, you know, you know and I can't wait to hear
what story you have about this,but I mean whether we're at
lines.
But you know, when we talkabout sustainability and
conservation and whatnot, thecore, the basis of that is being
a good human being.
Yeah, right, don't be that guy.
Don't be that person.
Don't be that person thatthat's just passive, aggressive.
(07:52):
Yeah, that it pretends to benice and is just absolutely
passive, aggressive and is, youknow, could tell that they're
using something.
Don't, just, don't be thatperson, right?
You can't chat around and saythat, okay, I believe in
conservation and I believe inbeing a good human being.
Then turn around and behavelike that in an airport.
That just doesn't make sense.
Well, all right, give me yourairline story where you are the
(08:13):
better person, and I'll give youmine.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh my gosh.
Actually you're going to haveto go first because I'm going to
have to like give it a minuteto pick which one.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, I'll tell you what.
I have two that are short, thatare there, all right.
So the first one actuallyhappened to me on the way to
Africa.
I was flying an airline goingthrough Istanbul, you know what,
and I got to the airport andthey said you know what, listen,
your flight's been delayed,you're going to miss your
connection.
You're going to be arriving twodays later into.
Tanzania.
So probably level one is likeoh my gosh, what a second.
(08:48):
I can't get through this later.
No, no, no, no, but it tookabout 30 seconds to go.
Okay, do I have any otherchoices?
Well, you can go through.
And it was like 10 stops.
Like I'm not doing that, I'mlike all right, so what about
this?
Okay, don't worry, it'sperfectly fine.
It's perfectly fine.
You could tell that Anaheim wasbeing yelled at by every single
person in front of me and she'slike I'm sorry, the flight got
(09:09):
delayed leaving Istanbul, likeshe had any control over it.
So I said you know what, don'tworry about it, it's okay, you
know.
Look, I'm sorry, having alwaysdifficult conversations.
If you have one that theperson's just understanding,
just remember my conversation,because I'm totally fine, you
never know what happens, right?
So I ended up.
I contacted a friend of minewho runs a company in Istanbul
(09:29):
and said listen, I'm going to bestuck here for a few days.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The airlines give me a hotel.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I really don't want them to.
I don't think they're going toget the hotel right.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Plus, what am I going to do?
Surround the hotel?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Can you help me out?
Just like, yeah, we can do this, this, this, this, this, this,
this, and I'm going to be.
I get down to the Grand Bazaarin Istanbul, the old city, and
this is where James Bond I'm ahuge Bond junkie I'm a James
Bond junkie and this is you know, I, I, I choose to ignore the
Roger Moore years and I chooseto ignore the Jordan, Lays and
(09:59):
Beers.
And I definitely have to racethe Timothy Dalton years.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But you are now.
You're really digressing here.
Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
But let me get back to this.
Come back, come back to eachwhat happened.
So I get there and I saidlisten, this Grand Bazaar looks
really fine.
I go wait a second.
Skyfall was filmed here because, yeah, this is probably one of
the greatest Bond movies evermade.
And I go okay, let's go here.
So my friend basically saysgive me a second.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Let me make a few calls.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I get the Grand Bazaar and I get up to the
rooftop special access that Iwalk and security got on the
rooftop of the Grand Bazaarwhere they actually filmed
Skyfall.
This is the scene where JamesBond was right in the motorcycle
.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I'm jealous, I'm not that way, all right, so let me
tell you what happened.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Okay, I got back to Istanbul.
I got to Kilimanjaro, got tothe US later, made the best of
it.
Everything was fine.
When I got back to the airporthere state side, I went upstairs
to look for that gate agent.
She was there.
I walked up to her and I said Iwanted to say thank you.
She goes, what for?
I said you post one for twodays because something is out of
(11:01):
control.
Let me tell you what I did withthat time.
I showed her she was in tears.
I said I just wanted to saythank you.
Because of you I got to liveout of childhood fantasy,
including having a video on howthe Grand Bazaar and I literally
on the video said anybody got amotorcycle I can borrow.
I even got to ask that as well.
So the second one was justhappened on the way to Canada.
(11:22):
This one was just getting ridof somebody who was just a
complete idiot.
So he was basically passive,aggressive, yelling at everybody
, whatnot.
So he was trying to board theplane.
We were so three, zone, four,whatever it was.
Get down the gate and I livedwith the pilots there, the
flight crews there.
I put my hands on I go, stop,stop.
I looked and I go.
Listen, the guy in front of meneeds to get seated down.
(11:44):
This is what I'm saying to theflight crew.
The guy in front of me has areal need to sit down.
I don't want to have himstressed out.
I think he's got a condition ofsome kind.
Please, I will hold back thenext zone right here.
I have big, strong arms.
I have a broad shoulders.
I will hold back the next zone.
Can you guys take him in andget him seated?
He looked back, realized,looked at my side, realized he
(12:04):
probably was out of his league,turned back around, walked in on
the plane, put his head down.
Or the flight crew.
I said please give himeverything he needs.
All right, give him his pillows, blanket, everything he needs.
Get him situated, because he'sbeen through a lot.
Don't worry, I got everybodyhere, I got this.
So the captain looks and hegoes can you come back tomorrow?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah right exactly you want to pay roll those of my
two was awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I could help myself.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's great, that's great, and
you know, sometimes we have to,you know, we have to step up for
people like that too, I thinkit's really easy to just stand
aside and say something like oh,that poor person.
I feel so bad for them, rightno?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
you're excited.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Exactly, but you know , not do anything about it.
So my own personal situationwas recently I did a trip where
I went kind of all over theplace and I had to book all
these one way legs on my ticket.
And then the other thing, whichwas my own choice because I was
trying to do it as economicallyas I could, I booked a lot of
(13:04):
it on points, so I had differentrecord locator numbers for
everywhere.
And then, like if you're sneakylike I am, you can transfer some
points into a partner airlineaccount and then you can book
there the one you want for like30,000 points, when they're
telling you it's 120,000 andthings like that.
(13:25):
So I did all that, you're thatperson?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Screw the points guy.
You're that person.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, I am, and you know what and when you do that,
just know you're basically likegiving up all your rights as a
passenger, don't?
You're not going to get yourupgrade, your status is not
going to be, you know, valued,all of those things.
When you book with points, youknow you're kind of like persona
non grata.
They want to they want to giveyou the you know incentive to do
(13:51):
that, but at the same time theydon't really want you to do
that, so they don't.
Of course, that's my record.
That's my record.
You're gaming the system,aren't you exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
My miles are worthless because of people like
you.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, that's me Anytime.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
You wreck the curve.
Thanks a lot, Robin.
You wreck the curve, so okay.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So I arrived in Qatar , doha, no problem, all the legs
.
Up until then, everything hadbeen good.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But then I go to leave.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I go to leave Doha and they're looking at my.
You know, you have to go inthrough the security and you
have to have your either your QRcode or printed ticket or
whatever.
And so the first guy waves methrough, I get into the airport.
Well, from there it wasdownhill.
It was like wait a minute,you're booked on Iberia.
Airlines.
Iberia doesn't fly to, you know, qatar to Doha.
(14:47):
So what are you doing here?
And I'm like no, it's actuallyIberia is a co-chair partner
with Qatar Airlines.
Well, there was a few languagebarriers as well, a few things.
So I mean, I kind of went.
I was really glad I got thereearly, because I was sent to
probably four or five differentdesks.
Oh my gosh, yeah, it's OK, it'sOK, thank you.
(15:09):
They send me to the.
They.
Thank goodness they actuallyhad an office that was staffed
and manned and I go in there andthey had to print something out
for me that I then, had to takeback to the check-in and they
said, just, you know, go back tothe same person.
Right now it's like, oh, we'regonna be tricky.
So you know, cuz there's like25 people, which is unusual
(15:30):
these days at any airport to see25 people checking people in
for flights, but there wereanyway.
I finally did that, beingpolite as telling people I need
to actually go to that person.
Well, it finally worked outfine and and I, you know, got
there, got it done, got to mynext stop, which was in Kenya,
and All was good.
(15:51):
But you know, there was a lotof opportunities where I could
have lost my you know, you knowwhat, and but that wouldn't have
helped.
Right like there's, there'snothing that would have been
accomplished by me freaking out.
So you know, again, it's justyou have to be that cooler heads
prevails mentality.
You got to think it through andI think you also have to think
(16:14):
about it from the side of theother person.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's a human being out.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Well, not only that, but like I did all these
bookings with through a machine,right you know there wasn't a
human involved in any of thesebookings I did that's right so
who knows what the machine didand if the human can figure it
out or not, you know, so it just, you know, it just took some
time and patience and so forth.
(16:39):
So so there was that that was myown story, and then recently I
had a client that I Absolutelylove her because she plans
everything in advance.
Like she's so far-planned inadvance, we have booked her into
2024 already.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And she has got everything planned out.
She, like, wants to book thetickets for that trip and
they're not even online yet.
We can't, we can't do that andanyway, but she went to France
and.
You know we got the tickets asearly as we could and she's very
particular about where shelikes to sit in the plane too,
and she's early, so she usuallygets the seat and all of that.
(17:17):
Well, about three times theflight changed when she was in
France.
The flight, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Now the good news is that it we ended up being able
to get her to back home to herairport of choice, rather than
the one that's two hours away,which is what we originally
booked to save on Money andflight time and all that.
She was originally supposed tocome home through JFK, which,
but anyway, we ended up beingable to get her home through
(17:50):
Detroit, which is much betterfor for coming home to where we
live.
But there was there's definitelysome confusion because, like
you know, we use this app forour travel clients, partners,
and I would update it, but itwouldn't always update as
quickly on her end, and then herDelta app was showing both
flights, oh god.
(18:11):
And so you know it was a littlestressful.
We, you know, we got it allworked out and eventually the
other thing, the but the thingthat didn't happen was she did
not get to sit On the side ofthe plane or in the section of
the plane that she likes.
And once, and I just had to say, look, this is completely out
(18:32):
of our control, right?
I mean, like, the originalflight doesn't exist anymore,
right, like?
So that's not an option.
Take that out of the equation.
Yeah, we had a seat booked onthat one, but it's not flying.
And then we also I had to say,look, you know, if you want to
go home on this particular dayat this particular time?
You're gonna have to take thisparticular seat, or you're just
(18:53):
gonna have to wait for a flight.
That's that seat you want.
So that's such a choice, andI'm not giving you permission to
be mad about this becausethere's nothing you can do about
it.
Just that's right, that's right.
Very Air travel is.
I mean, I've already said it'sdifferent from 2019, but we, I
think, all have to remember thatthis, really, even though it's
(19:15):
a cost a lot of money and it'snot, you know we all would like
a direct flight from ourdoorstep to the other doorstep,
and you can do that, just getout your checkbook.
But is that?
You know what a privilegereally to be able to.
I mean, think back like.
I mean it used to take weeks toget to certain of these places,
and now we're complaining if ittakes more than 24 hours.
(19:37):
You know, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I gotta tell you, this is your spot on, this is,
and this is down to the samerabbit hole.
I was at a conference years agoand I actually had the pleasure
of meeting Richard Brents and Igot a chance, and this is when
Virgin.
Galactic was first starting outright so it was basically that,
and so I you know you meetsomebody who just makes you feel
stupid.
Yeah, this is what basicallyhappened.
(19:59):
He was right, he was, he was,he was right.
So I talked and I said you know, congratulations on Virgin
Galactic.
This is way, way.
We're talking like, probablygosh, almost 10, 12 years ago.
And and so it was.
You know, congratulations on it.
And starting out, and it wasthe view of the future.
And I said you know, spacetravel, is this the next
frontier for you?
(20:19):
He goes are you stupid oryou're not paying attention?
I said I'm paying your pardon.
He said you think this is aboutspace travel.
You've missed the pointcompletely.
I said all right, you have myattention now, yeah.
And he says this is VirginGalactic.
Isn't an exercise in spacetravel.
Yes, for taking people up tospace.
He said it's an exercise in flyin aviation at higher altitudes
(20:43):
.
He goes.
If we can figure out how to flyat 85,000 feet in a commercial
liner right, or 100,000 feet atthe you know edge of the
stratosphere.
Whatever the case, right In acommercial liner where, a the
fuselage can take it, b yourhuman being, the human body can
take it.
The G-forces at that speed.
I can get you to Sydney in timefor lunch.
(21:05):
I can get you to London andback.
On the same day, vancouverbecomes, they goes, and this is,
before you know, boom aviation.
Before all these supersonicjets.
Before this is when the Concordewas still just a thing, right,
it was just starting to reachend of life and whatnot, and it
just I think it had just beenretired and he was talking about
this fact that this is the nextevolution.
We're simply practicing highaltitude flight.
(21:27):
Because I did ask him, I said,you know, because at this time I
think SpaceX was just startingout and where we live, spacex is
a big thing and so it was juststarting out and space travel in
general.
So I said is this aboutcommercialized space travel?
He goes there are plenty ofpeople that do that.
This is not about that.
Yes, it's about getting peopleto space, monetizing it, and you
know who knows.
And it's important because he'staken us, for the first
(21:48):
commercial flight happened thispast weekend as a test.
Now that first one's happeningin June with actual passengers
on.
So he's.
Clearly it's a huge step forhistory.
But when he said to me he goes,you must be stupid.
I said oh, or just not payingattention.
I literally stopped and I saidI think he's actually right.
I must be because I'm missingsomething.
Clearly I'm a pretty sharp guyand I missed this.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And this is like I'm going with you just weren't
paying attention.
Part, because you're not stupid.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, I mean there, I have my moments.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
So we all do.
We all do.
We all have a stupid attackevery now and then.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
But that's the thing is, this wasn't even on stage
where you can embarrass me infront of like 100 people.
This was backstage, justtalking, because I happened to
bump into him.
Yeah, I don't know whatsecurity guard wasn't paying
attention, where, what handlerwasn't watching, but I'm pretty
hard to miss and I don't knowhim personally, but he's got to
him and he's the most down toearth guy and he was.
(22:46):
When we got to talking he saidhe want to explain it to me.
It was like a light bulb wentoff and I said that's incredible
.
Then I asked him a question.
I said what about fuel?
He said now you're asking theright question.
And we left the conversation.
I think I was doing it, but heasked that question.
Now you're asking the rightquestion.
So it does still lead back tosustainability.
(23:06):
But when he said that, I justit was thought provoking and
yeah, like, exactly as you said,it's a privilege.
You know it is still a steeltube that we're getting into,
but it is a privilege.
I joke with people, you knowsometimes just the fact that you
know when people get on theplane they're like oh well, I'm
going to turn left and I'm goingto sit here and my bed is like
this and the seats like this,and I just stop and go.
It's a steel tube with wings onit.
(23:28):
I just want to make sure youknow that it's still a steel
tube.
The windows still the window,right, yeah, but what Richard
Branson said and I'm not namedropping him just because of the
no.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
No, no, you've only said it like four or five times
what Richard Branson?
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, I know, rich, how's it going, man, my buddy
Richard, my buddy, my friend Ididn't say my friend Richard,
because I don't know who he isand I'm pretty sure his security
has my picture up at Walton.
Don't let this, don't let thismaniac near him again.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, so all right let's, let's, move on to the
next topic.
Yep, yep, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
What is it?
What's the next topic?
The next one is one that youand I have experienced with Last
met itinerary changes.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Ah, yes.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Guide not showing up or tour not showing up.
All right you, you've beenraring to go on this one, so go
ahead, knock it, go ahead Sendit.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Well, you know, again , it's a you know.
I mean, yeah, there's alwaysgoing to be that danger.
I mean, you know, some peopleare going to flake out, some
people are going to see thewrong day on the schedule,
whether that's your client orthe tour guide himself or your
driver, or you know, sometimesyou know if you're waiting at
the airport to be picked upafter your flight and you're not
(24:40):
finding a driver or something,you know sometimes I mean we
don't.
I don't want to encouragepeople to like go down the whole
rabbit hole of assuming theworst, but you know, sometimes
there's car accidents, sometimesthere's things that just happen
.
So don't just automaticallyassume that you've been dissed
or that you've been dragged orthat you've been forgotten or
you know whatever.
Think to the times.
(25:00):
Maybe you've made the samemistakes where, like, I've
looked at my calendar and beenlike, ready I've been, I have
sat on the Zoom call waiting forthe host to let me in and been
like tapping that I was the host, like you know, going come on
when I, and then I look at myyou know, make sure I have the
right Zoom link, and all that,and I was like, oh, I'm here on
the wrong day.
(25:21):
It's no wonder they're notletting me in, you know.
So it's to take a deep breath,you know.
First off, let's make sure thatwe've got you know our itinerary
correct, that we're where we'resupposed to be on the right day
.
Then start making calls.
Use the numbers that you'vebeen provided.
If you're a traveler, you knowyour travel advisor is probably
(25:44):
giving you these numbers.
They've probably told youprotocol for how to go about
handling these situationsinstead of just immediately
hitting whoever you've got onspeed dial.
That's right.
You know, because that's notgoing to help.
No, no, you just you know,calling to complain to somebody,
Well, one that's not going tohelp for sure.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Especially if you're angry dialing or if you're
basically tough talking througha phone.
I mean, come on, right, right,yeah, what do we?
13,?
I'll meet you at the playgroundafter school.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, you know, when you try to explain to people
ahead of time, I mean like, look, there are shortages of guides,
shortages of drivers.
There are people that are doingthis now that are inexperienced
because they're new to thiscareer, they're new hires in the
industry and so they're stilllearning all the nuances and all
(26:36):
of that.
And yeah, I mean, when you'reputting your money on the line,
yes, you want the best serviceyou know possible but at the
same time.
I mean, you can?
There's only so much bandwidth,there's only so many guides,
right, you know, everybody can'thave the best guide, and the
best is subjective.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Look, so maybe your friends, japan's a great example
, yeah.
Japan's a great example, rightnow, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I had some clients inJapan and they had a tour guide
that didn't speak English.
Right, right, that was not aproblem, that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
That was not awesome.
What?
Google Translate didn't work.
You're going to chat GPT?
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
That's what chat.
Gpt might have done a betterjob, anyway, you know, but
fortunately in that case theyfocused on all the rest of the
parts of the trip that wereawesome, right.
And they were veryunderstanding about it and they
had heard what I had said priorto that, that you know the guide
(27:38):
shortage, the inexperience, theeverything else.
I mean none of us were quiteprepared for that much, but at
the same time they handled itwith grace.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Well, that's the right word.
That's the right word grace.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, so I think again.
You know, in our last episodeleading up to this, we talked
about paying attention.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
And this is, I think, a great thing you know to pay
attention to, like pay attentionto your itinerary, Look at each
day, Look at exactly whereyou're supposed to be, at what
time you're supposed to be there, Right, and all of that, and I
think that that will help thingsgo better.
But at the same time, just knowwhen you travel that you know
(28:23):
some things are going to gowrong, Some things are going to
be.
You know I hate to use the wordderailed because it makes it
sound kind of catapulting,Catastrophic.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
No, but that's.
But.
No, yeah, exactly, but that's asilver lining and all of it.
I mean, come on, hello theGrand Bazaar, I stumble.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, I mean sometimes you
end up, you know, when you get aset on a different course.
Right, let's say that you endup experiencing some things you
might not have other.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
That's right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
You know, it's all about that mindset and but yeah,
just go into it knowing therewill be changes there will.
And if you are one of thosevery fortunate people that comes
out the other side andeverything in your trip went
really well and you had nodelays and no like real problems
, other than you had to flyovernight sitting up right, then
(29:15):
you are really fortunate,Exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Exactly.
Look, and this is somethingthat we're going to be talking
about.
You know, one of our futureepisodes we've got this program
dinner ready is you know thecountries like, for example,
japan that you mentioned?
Where there are?
You know there's new people.
Tourism isn't the mainlifeblood of the economy, right?
I mean like, in case I'm quiteIndia, right, india tourism, you
know, 2019, with 7% GDP, andthat's even counting Indians
coming back.
(29:38):
If you count real tourism in acountry of one and a half
billion, almost two it's 1%, 2%of their economy.
So, when you know, in a countrylike Japan, a country like
India, when these people leavethe industry during the pandemic
and they left, they don't comeback because they don't have to
it's, you know, one in six jobs,or one in 10 jobs.
(29:59):
Globally, is tourism based incountries like that.
It's more like one in thehundred.
Yeah, now you know you want toget it to one in 20, one in 10.
So it's a more connectedeconomy, obviously.
However, they're not there yetand people, you know people have
to understand it.
So we shouldn't, as you said,we shouldn't freak out about it.
Focus on the stuff that workedWell, silver lining that that's
(30:19):
really important Always payattention to and you know what I
mean.
Look, you and I talk about thisa lot as well.
I mean the stuff that you and Ido philanthropically when we're
outside and stuff that we'veseen in different countries.
It could be a lot worse.
You know it could be a lotworse.
Yes, you didn't get the guideyou want or the guide on
language barrier.
Yes, I understand it shouldn'thave happened, but that doesn't
(30:40):
mean you know, first of all, itwasn't done intentionally.
Secondly, there's circumstancesbeyond anybody's control that
contributed to it.
You know and you know I saythis because I, for example, now
this whole range of you knowelectric vehicles you start
looking at the biggest concernis now build quality in these
vehicles and everything else.
It's the same thing, like youknow, we're gonna.
You know, for example, there'sone particular company people
(31:01):
complain nonstop about just howshoddy the build quality is.
They're still buy them in drops.
So you're clearly willing toaccept mediocrity when it comes
to that, but you won't do ithere.
I'm not saying that we shouldaccept it.
I'm not saying at all that thecase.
But we should at least be ableto understand, to process, to
comprehend and then be able toreact with information in hand,
(31:23):
versus just firing both barrelsand seeing, seeing well and then
thinking later.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And the other thing is, I thinkyou just made a really good
point without even knowing it.
This is that you know if youare going.
You know what's more importantthe price point or the quality.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
You can't have both.
Most of it Can't have both.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's either done right or done cheap.
Can't have both.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It's the same thing in travel.
Like you can't have the privateguide, the private driver, the
first class air, the five starresort on the four star budget,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That's right.
What's the price?
Champagne tour or beer budget?
You can't have that.
If you want champagne, you gotto pay for champagne.
Exactly, that's exactly right.
No, especially when it comes tocommunities.
No, this is look and this is so.
This is so key, right?
I mean, just because of thefact that you and I both know
some of the same guys and weknow what kind of duress they
work in and hotel management,and it also says that we know
(32:14):
kind of duress they work in andwe know what they have to deal
with and they're doing theirbest, right, they're so grateful
to have you there, but they'redoing their best.
We have to remember that theyhad basically essentially, these
are all basically globalgeekworks and lost their job for
two years.
Yeah, in case of Japan's threeyears, yeah, absolutely.
You know there's some nervousthat you get, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
If you haven't done something for three years.
And people that work inhospitality and in tourism do it
because they love it Right.
They do not do it for theglamour and the money.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
No, no, no, look, this is coming from a guy in
finance, right.
I mean, I worked for a companythat had trillion dollars in
assets with a team, and I leftbecause we couldn't make the
type of social impact that wewanted to in this world.
I was just disappointed withthe type of social impact that
they were set up for.
Yeah, you're right, it's nothere because of glamour.
It's not here because you'regoing to make billions, and
you're here because yougenuinely care about what you do
(33:08):
and because you're making aviable impact, a positive,
viable impact in the world.
At times is the job Thankless,absolutely, but that's the
minority.
The majority of the time you'rechanging people's lives and you
see their lives transforming,and right in front of you, and
it's pretty cool to watch.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
It is.
It is.
So what's your thing?
What are we going through?
We went through my two and tookup way too much time.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
No, no, that's so now ?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
So now you have two minutes.
Now I'm kidding, so well.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I mean, look, you've given some great examples, but I
think my thing is the very nextpoint on our list, and my thing
is is because, when it comes toyou know it's in the same vein,
right, I mean it's just, youknow, when you see itinerary
changes, you see differentthings.
You see what I get.
It's like OK, yeah, it happens,but I think you and I come from
the same plot.
(33:56):
Where people start freaking outis when they start looking at
headlines and they startthinking that, oh, the world's
coming to an end.
That one rule the sun comes upthe next day.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Even if they're not, even if they're not picking up
garbage, right, exactly, exactly.
What's the?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
phrase is a great.
There's a movie, the great,exotic Marigold's Hotel.
Have you seen this movie?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Oh, it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I love.
The line in this movie isawesome In the end, everything
will be all right.
It's not all right.
It's not yet the end.
The sun will come up.
Until it doesn't, if it comesup the next morning, go on Like
that, that's just it.
Like, ok, you've got all theseheadlines that show up and that.
Ok, whoa, let's take it, takeit.
No, it's a wonder why we're notall an antidepressants all at
(34:43):
once.
When you read this headlinesRight Like I mean, you just have
to stop and go.
And I had this conversation withsomeone and said OK, we have a
choice and I'm not and I'm notdownplaying people who are
genuinely depressed.
I'm not downplaying at anymeans.
But I have a coffee at thisplace every morning, every
Saturday morning.
This is one particular baristathat's back there who I get not
(35:08):
annoyed.
I guess I'm disappointed withwith how she behaves, because
she freaks out about thesmallest things.
The last weekend was TaylorSwift tickets.
I'm going to cry at the tickets.
I just stopped and I literallyhad to stop.
I go.
Are we seriously talking aboutthis?
Yeah, Is this really whatyou're worried about?
(35:28):
Then it's shifted to Disney.
Oh well, what's going to happenwith Disney and this and that I
have to stop?
And I said again, I'm trying toenjoy my coffee, but I had to
chime in here and I you know,you know me, I just can't help
myself.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
I just I can't it.
Just you know the world wouldlike.
Well, like you just said, workscut from the same clock.
I resemble that remark.
You know what, you know what?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I told yeah, I resemble it too.
And I told my family this I saidat one point someday I'm going
to get my butt whooped in anairport somewhere.
I'm going to get absolutelyjust work.
Somebody's going to beat me upand kick my butt and you know
what?
They were the most deservedbutt kicking in my entire life.
I will have deserved it.
I will have, but I will.
I will have gotten my mentalpunches in before I get my
(36:09):
physical body beaten up.
I would have.
I will take it like a manbecause I will have fully
deserved it.
I said, yeah, I deserved it.
I did.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
You're saying that sarcasm is your love language.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
It is totally.
It is totally.
I see somebody who's just notyou know.
I mean, just like taking candyfor a baby when you just see
like, all right, my brain needsto work out, let's go, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Oh yeah.
Well, I don't want to be thereto witness that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
But this is one that this barista is just going crazy
about.
Well, we're looking what'shappening with Disney and look
what's happening with this andthat, and you have to stop and
go.
Okay, listen, it's Saturdaymorning.
It's a beautiful day outside.
I'm having this amazing coffee.
I'm having this amazingbreakfast.
Let's, let's just take a stepback, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, and so I sort of take your, take your head out
of the news cycle for just aminute Right, look at your
surroundings, look at the peoplethat you have in your life,
that you love them and like justthe gratitude thing.
Let's look at the, let's lookat the good for a bit.
Well, so I couldn't help myself.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I stopped and said you know Taylor Swift can't hear
you, but I can't myself.
I couldn't help myself.
I said Taylor Swift can't but Ican.
And I just stopped and said youare going on about these things
.
I started talking about some ofthe things that we see around
the world and you and I both seeright people really suffering,
yeah, and I said they would wishthat Taylor Swift was the
(37:32):
biggest problem.
They would wish that seeingDisney getting into a lawsuit
with the state governor is theworst thing to happen.
It's not, it's just like it'sthe icing on the cake.
What they're going through is athousand, a million times, even
infinite times, worse, yeah,and we have to take stock of
that.
So so the things we shouldn'tfreak out about.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
My thing is Disney versus the world.
Yeah, I think that that isthat's such a good point about.
You know, just thinking aboutwhat information we're taking in
, are we checking?
Is it credible information andare are we just taking it at its
word?
And just reading the headlines,and this guy is falling Right
(38:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Exactly, exactly and well, not only.
And then the other part is likeokay, how does this actually
impact any of us?
Yeah, okay, it may have animpact tax bill, wise, if you
live in Florida, but beyond that, does it impede you from
getting out of bed the nextmorning?
Does it impede you from livingyour life?
Right, if something impedes youfrom living your life, I agree,
do something about it.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
But if it's not impeding you, okay.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Bob Iker is not going to, is going to be 10 cents.
You know the stock price isgoing to be 10 cents low, which
means he won't be a trillionhere, he'll be a billion there.
All right, cool, I'm okay withthat.
You know, I mean for.
Bob, exactly like it's just youknow and we have to.
You know the thing that, thething that, and I asked this
person is.
I said, okay, you're freakingout about Disney.
Let me ask you a question Doyou have kids?
She's like no.
I said do you have any?
(38:59):
She said yes, yes, young ones,yes.
Would you take him to school togo see Mickey Mouse?
Well, of course I go.
Well, this conversation is over.
Yeah, if you're.
If you're, if you would stillgo to see to the mouse, you
would still go to the mousehouse, you still go to see
Mickey that mouse.
By the way, forget the TreasurySecretary.
That mouse is the most powerfulperson.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
All right, so okay, here's.
Here's what we've solved theworld's problems today.
Mickey Mouse will be in chargeof the world's problems, and
chip play will take over the USgovernment.
Well, all will be well in theworld.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
I just I just want to hear.
I just want to hear somebodycome and say here's your talk to
me.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
But oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
But I think that that's just it, like I mean,
when we start looking at theseagain, it's the same thing.
We're talking about airlinesitinerary changes.
We started demonizing somethinglike Disney or even not just
Disney but large corporations asa whole, Right.
So I mentioned you.
I'm a recent member of ourglobal tourism council and we
we've had people come up thereand talk about just demonizing
(40:04):
large companies like Disney andsaying they're the problem,
Stannibalism is not happening.
And we have to stop them andsay listen, what intent jobs
worldwide come from tourism andif they're done the right way
they're, they're contributingquite well.
Yes, are there places toimprove?
Absolutely, but it's not likelack of trying.
What's happening between Disneyand any state government,
(40:24):
whatever the case.
Look, whatever's happening isbeyond our pay grade.
Whatever is happening is titand tat back for the back and
forth, I mean we have to.
We can't lose track of the factthat the former CEO of Disney
lost his job because of thisfight and then the old CEO came
back, right, so something,whatever is happening is bigger
than than what you and I see.
(40:45):
Right, it's bigger than whatthe headlines see.
What we're getting is asnapshot.
We have to believe that thisgoes 20 feet below that, and
there's so much more to thisnews that because otherwise we
would have heard about it for 30years you think about any kind
of strife anywhere in the world,whether it's political, whether
it's economic, whether it'sgeopolitical.
It's something that has been inplace for 40 years, whether
it's Kashmir, whether it is, youknow, a civil dispute between
(41:07):
the, you know Falkland Islandsor whatever the case.
It's been there for decades.
Yeah, yeah, this hasn't been anissue for decades.
This just happened this year.
Yeah, so clearly something isbrewing that we don't know.
So what are we doing?
Freaking out about it?
Right, sun's up, the sun's comeout the next day.
It's painting across my facelike a zebra right now, but it's
(41:29):
there, and I think we can'tlose stock of that, especially
considering what you and I haveseen in this one.
Look, I leave for Columbia.
Tomorrow I'm going back to seethese things again, and I
figured you would be, but Ithink that's just that's what
(41:50):
this, that's what makes this soimportant, that's what makes
this where.
You know, we just like I said,we need to make sure we don't
lose track of this.
We don't lose track of what'sperspective, right, and that's,
I guess, what we're saying here,right?
Is it?
Things we shouldn't freak outabout?
Is that we should never loseperspective of what's around us.
(42:11):
Did I get that right?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Absolutely, absolutely it is.
It's not worth freaking outabout things.
And well, the bottom line isyou know, if you have no control
over it, you really can't.
Well, you can, but youshouldn't, right, right.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Well, if they are, I will ask all those people
freaking out.
Would Richard Branson ask meare you stupid or just not
paying attention?
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, yeah, he could get away with saying that, yeah,
I can't, I might get punched.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I told you, if I get my butt kicked in the airport,
I'm going to earn it.
It'll be something.
I want to earn this.
And you know what, if I earn it, I mean it's yeah, look, it's
one where I I don't know whatyou call it.
I mean, you and I have cut thesame part, in this sense that we
if we some sort of it is theysee some sort of an injustice
happening where somebody is justtreating somebody poorly, we're
(42:55):
going to stand up and saysomething.
We're going to stand up and saysomething because it's just not
right.
As you said, it's a machine thatmade this decision, but there's
a human being now paying theprice for that, that person
getting a verbal lashing forsomething that is out of their
control.
Right, you know, we're allhumans.
We're going to make mistakes ashuman error.
Right, I mean, that's just it,you know.
(43:17):
I mean, if we could think aboutit, right, if we didn't make
mistakes wouldn't discoverthings like peanut butter and
jelly.
You know, who's the person thatmade a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich?
Who's the person that made thatsandwich and said, well, this
is cool, you know what the heckhappened by accident.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
How did you have to have a accident?
I can see that one a lot morethan I can the first person that
ate an oyster.
That person had to be stung.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Oh yeah, or or or or not.
Pay attention.
Oh, it's sliding inside of alarge shell.
That's, this must be fun.
Let's pry it open.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Okay, now we are really down around the whole now
.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't freak out, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I think, I think we better call it quits for today,
we better call it quits over.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Well, definitely.
Look then for our first episodeof things we shouldn't freak
out about.
I think we covered a lot ofground and probably set the
things we probably shouldn'thave so to everybody who was
listening.
We hope you enjoyed everybodyelse.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I'm sorry, not sorry, yeah yeah, I guess we'll come
back.
Come back next time.
We'll have some more, have somemore things you should not
freak out about.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Well, we're going to be doing this every month.
Every month, we're going to behaving a new episode that talks
about things we shouldn't freakout and and as you guys listen,
if you guys like it, you know,chime in, let us know that you
like it.
You know where to find us onSpotify and on Apple and on
Amazon, you know and just take alisten and maybe, if nothing
else, you've heard this episodeand all the other episodes we've
(44:42):
talked about.
You know big successes in smallplaces, and we've talked about
perspectives.
We're always designed to beable to illustrate what happens
when you lose perspective.
Yeah, things we shouldn't freakout about.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
So, robin, any final words before we sign off.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
No, I think we've covered it all, she's and then
some.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
I don't know.
I don't even want to know howbig copyrights we've finished on
this one.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
All right till next time.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
All right, thanks again.
I appreciate it.
Robin, appreciate the time tohave a real listening.
Thanks again.
See you next time.
Take care, all right.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Thanks, bye.
Adventure and Expedition TravelPlanning Company specializing
(45:48):
in un-Google-global experiences.
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