January 16, 2025 • 39 mins
What happens when two fashion enthusiasts embark on a European road trip? Plenty of laughs, unexpected encounters, and a fair share of wardrobe mishaps, that's what! On this episode of "Two Voices, One Vibe," we kick things off with an amusing look at our love for Aerie's comfy clothes and the surprisingly tricky trend of all-brown outfits. From the art of accessorizing to the dreaded search for the perfect black jeans, we share relatable and hilarious moments about the quirks of fashion. Plus, you'll hear about our pre-podcast antics that are too wild to keep to ourselves!
Our travel tales take center stage as we reminisce about a chance romance on a 2006 family cruise that led to a lifetime connection. The unexpected journey continues with a chaotic yet thrilling European road trip from Zurich to Budapest, where everything from car rentals to cultural customs kept us on our toes. Despite the hurdles, the excitement of a race weekend and spontaneous adventures highlight the unpredictability and joy of travel. These stories remind us that sometimes the most chaotic plans lead to the best memories and connections.
We wrap up with spontaneous travel adventures and the joys of serendipity. From reconnecting with an old friend through MySpace and jetting off to Germany, to receiving an unexpected bachelorette party invitation that leads to newfound friendships in Miami, our tales underscore the magic of unexpected turns. We also share our bucket list dreams, from exploring Southeast Asia to the thrill of bungee jumping in New Zealand. With heartfelt moments, infectious laughter, and unpredictable twists, this episode is a delightful reminder to embrace life's surprises and cherish the journey. Join us for this wild ride!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nikita (00:01):
Hi, I'm Nikita and I'm Lina.
We're two best friends withendless curiosity and plenty to
say.
Lina (00:07):
Join us as we dive into everything and anything life
throws our way From hilariousstories and pop culture, hot
takes to life lessons and deepdives.
Nikita (00:15):
No topic is off limits.
Whether you're looking for alaugh, a new perspective or just
some fun company, this podcastfeels like a chat with your
bestie.
Lina (00:24):
Get ready for unfiltered conversations, lots of laughs
and a whole lot of heart.
This is Two Voices, one Vibe.
Nikita (00:38):
I can't
you good.
No, why do our podcasts always start like this?
Lina (00:44):
Because we're funny bitches.
Nikita (00:46):
And on that note, are you ready to start this?
Let's do it.
Welcome back to two voices,
one vibe, sorry I had to
welcome back to two voices.
Lina (00:58):
One, vibe
Nikita (00:58):
, how are you?
Lina (00:59):
I'm great.
Nikita, how are you.
Nikita (01:01):
I I'm trying to compose myself and I clearly can't do
that today.
You're trying to keep ittogether.
I'm too funny,
oh my gosh.
Our shenanigans before podcastsstart are always entertaining.
Lina (01:12):
I feel like the pre-podcast is probably the best
meat and potatoes of thepodcast.
Usually it's not playable.
Nikita (01:19):
No, and I can't even save it for bloopers at the end
of the year, because it's justnot safe for work or children or
youtube or life.
Anyway, how are you?
Lina (01:32):
I'm fabulous.
How are you?
Nikita (01:33):
I am just wonderful.
Thank you,
you look great
thanks.
Lina (01:37):
I really like this waffle knit thing that you have going
on
Nikita (01:39):
.
It's from ari.
Lina (01:41):
I love it
Nikita (01:41):
I love a lot of things from ari.
You got me the sweatshirtMm-hmm and I have a couple of
shirts from Aerie.
They're just, they'recomfortable.
Lina (01:48):
I know I got these sweatpants from Aerie.
Nikita (01:50):
That are covered in dog hair.
Lina (01:51):
They're the flower ones yeah, your dog hair, mostly
Mm-hmm, but I could live on themthey're.
I think they have like maybesix or eight different colors.
Oh wow, really.
But some of them are just really random colors like brown
and yellow,
brown's like the new color,though, is it?
I've noticed some of mygirlfriends at work.
They're all wearing like brownleggings, and I'm like, actually
(02:14):
, there was a girl at work todayshe had head to toe.
She comes in, she goes.
I look like a turd.
I was like what.
That I was like what that's interesting comment to
yourself
Nikita (02:28):
and I.
It was six o'clock in themorning and I was not expecting
that.
I was like, um, okay,
Lina (02:31):
yeah, I'm not sure that I would know how to accessorize or
wear all the brown.
Nikita (02:36):
I could do like a top.
Yeah, I don't even know that Icould do brown bottoms, unless
they were like khakis orsomething like that Even khakis,
I'm really weird about.
Lina (02:45):
I feel like if I wore like a light colored khaki, you
might think I'm naked.
Since I'm so white, you'd belike are she wearing pants?
You know, it might be a littlebit of confusion, but I feel
like I could do a brown top.
I could definitely do likebrown boots or a brown belt and
accessorize with it, right, butI don't know, am I gonna wear
them with?
Nikita (03:03):
a white shirt or a cream colored shirt
Lina (03:06):
?
It's possible.
Nikita (03:08):
It was like that blue two-piece set that you just
recently bought.
You're like, what do I do?
I'm like you wear the top withone thing, you're like, but it's
a set.
I'm like you don't have to wearit
Lina (03:17):
together so it sinks because the color is gorgeous.
It's like this beautiful royalblue color yeah, but when I
tried it on I'm like it's reallycute and I like the top and I
like the bottom and I like theway it looks, but it just was a
lot.
So I'm like I don't know if Icould wear it as a set, but then
if I were to bring it up, Idon't know.
I'm really weird about wearingblue with jeans.
I know that that might soundweird, but I don't know.
(03:37):
Sometimes I just feel likeblues and blues don't always
match.
Nikita (03:40):
I think it depends on the color right the shade like,
yes, the shade, or the shade ofthe top?
Lina (03:45):
yeah, but yeah so we'll figure it out.
So I did end up orderinganother one of the same set that
I got in that royal blue inblack, because I feel like it's
just kind of a classy color andit'll always kind of go.
Nikita (03:55):
You know what you need to get, though
tell me
black jeans.
Lina (03:57):
I do need to get black jeans.
Yeah, so our last trip to themall when we went shopping, I
was was like, do not let me buyjeans.
And then I walked out buyingthree pairs of jeans.
And then when we were going togo to the mall after that, I was
like I really need black jeans.
You're like, nope, you're notallowed to buy jeans.
I'm like, but I need blackjeans.
And you're like you can't buythem.
You told me you weren't allowedto buy jeans.
(04:18):
I know, but now you know I really jeans with your money.
So I feel like I need maybelike a pair of black skinny
jeans and then a pair of maybelike black flare bootcut jeans
or wide leg or ripped yeah, wideleg kind of jean kind of thing
too yeah,
it's hard being a girl
most difficult.
Yeah, guys have like two pairsof jeans and they wear them for
their whole life and they lookgreat.
They just alternate them withtheir three tops and they always
(04:40):
look good.
And nobody ever says is thatthe same outfit you were wearing
yesterday?
But, god forbid, we post andpick in an outfit that we wore
on a vacation.
They're like oh, my god, didn'tyou wear that when you were in
Bermuda?
And it's like, really, fuck you, why, why can you tell that
Nikita (04:53):
?
Tell me how you really feel,
Lina (04:56):
really.
And people notice that.
So that's like on my upcomingtrip, I'm buying all these new
clothes because I'm like I don'twant people to be like, oh,
that's cute, but it's the sameoutfit you wore last time.
Nikita (05:06):
Meanwhile, I'm wearing the same bathing suits in
Thailand that I wore on the lastfour vacations that we've taken
.
Lina (05:09):
But you're also only packing like two or three
bathing suits for like 15 days.
I don't know how you're doingthat.
I think I'm packing six bathingsuits for six days.
Because you're psycho?
No, because I like photo ops.
I'm not going to look like thisforever.
Let's be serious.
I'm only getting older every dayfrom here on out,
Nikita (05:27):
but you're still younger than me, so there's that.
Lina (05:29):
I'll always be younger than you and I'll revel in that.
Thank you,
you're welcome.
Thank you,
you brought it up, not me.
What
you brought it up, not me
Anyway.
I love you, though we're so cute,
Nikita (05:44):
um, so I thought today we could talk about travel,
since we love travel.
Uh, yeah, and you are gettingready to set out on a travel
expedition and I am gettingready to travel to the other
side of the world.
Yeah, I thought it might be funto reminisce on some of our old
trips and maybe retell some ofthe good stories, horror stories
(06:09):
, all the stories.
Lina (06:10):
Well, that's great.
So I think one of the storiesthat comes to mind most when I
travel is when my friends andfamily will say please don't
come back with a husband.
Nikita (06:17):
Oh because do we think you're going to do that?
Lina (06:20):
Anything's possible, really?
I hope not.
Maybe Depends who it is, is youknow?
If an opportunity presentsitself, why not?
No, I'm kidding,
oh my god.
But um, I did go on a big family cruise with a bunch of,
you know, my cousins and myaunts and uncles, my parents,
thanksgiving?
No, no, this was.
This was many, many years ago.
Oh, okay,
uh.
So this was back in 2006 and Imet a guy on that cruise who I
(06:43):
ended up marrying.
So that was the big joke.
Yeah, yeah.
So I had met him.
I was, yeah, I was walking downone of the quarters on the boat
and he was walking past me and Isaid hi and he said hey and uh,
I was like how you doing?
And he turns around.
He's like better now that I'veseen you.
And I just bursted out laughingin his face like the horniest
(07:06):
pickup line you could ever see,and just kept walking right past
him.
He turned around, he tried totalk to me and ignored him.
So I went, I sat down at thebar and I started talking to
this older gentleman that wassitting at the bar and he
started buying me drinks and Imean older, he's probably in his
like 60s or 70s, like,
and how old were you at thetime?
Um, I was 18,
okay.
So, um, I was talking to this older guy super nice, and
he's telling me how he's on thetrip for his retirement.
And I'm like, oh, that's great,what did you do for a living?
(07:27):
And you know he's talking to meand in comes this guy from the
hallway you know whatever it washalf an hour earlier and he
sits next to me.
So now all three of us are kindof conversing and talking to
one another and both of them arebuying me drinks and, you know,
having a really good time anddancing and singing and laughing
and the music's going.
And, um, I had made a joke tothe younger guy and said you
(07:48):
know, you better be nice,otherwise I'm going home with
this guy tonight.
And he was like that'sdisgusting, yeah.
And then I felt really bad.
I'm like how could he talk likeabout this older gentleman?
Like that was really so.
I turned around and I was likethat was really rude of you.
And he's like that's my father.
I had no idea.
How was I supposed to knowthere was a seat in between the
two of them?
Like when I sat down, nobodywas there, and he sat down on
(08:09):
the other side of me, so it'snot like he was even like oh
excuse me, could you move overso I can sit next to my dad.
And when I started talking tothem, at no point did they say
hey, this is, you know, my son.
So-and-so like they had nevereven introduced each other and
they didn't act like they kneweach other.
I was talking to them bothindependently.
So here I was.
You know, take a shot with thisone, take a shot with this one.
This one's buying me a drink.
I'm laughing and having a good,I'm just having a good time in
general and had no idea thatthat was my future father-in-law
(08:32):
,
oh my God.
So, um, when I asked him where he was from, he was
actually from the town that allof my family is from in New
Jersey.
Nikita (08:39):
Okay,
Lina (08:40):
so when we were getting off the boat, he had made a
comment that he drank so much.
He was like I drank so much,it's going to take me another
six days to sober up.
So I actually didn't give himmy phone number,
which is probably a smartdecision,
did not get my phone number, actually, was not
interested in ever seeing him ortalking to him again.
About four days later, my dadtells me oh Lina, you had a
(09:01):
phone call, somebody called foryou today.
So I said who?
So he tells me his name and I'mlike who's that?
And my dad's like you know theguy from the cruise.
And I'm like what?
I'm like no, I didn't give myphone number.
So my dad shows me the phonenumber and I'm like you gotta be
kidding me.
So I called find you.
Nikita (09:22):
How did he find you?
Lina (09:24):
Yellow pages.
Nikita (09:25):
Oh my gosh Like the actual phone book.
Lina (09:28):
He opened up like the yellow pages and the white pages
section where the people wereand we had carted each other on
the boat.
So we were 14 years apart.
So when he found out that I was18, he didn't believe me.
When I found out that he was 32, I didn't believe him.
So we actually pulled out ourIDs.
So he looks at my ID and hegoes why is your ID vertical?
So back in the day a New Jerseylicense was a vertical if you
were under the age of 21.
Nikita (09:47):
They still are, though is
Lina (09:48):
it still
Nikita (09:48):
?
Yeah,
Lina (09:48):
I don't know, I'm so old now that I wouldn't have any
need to know that.
Um, but it was vertical.
And he's like why is itvertical?
And I'm like because whenyou're under 21 it's vertical.
And so he didn't believe me.
I didn't believe him and he hadsaw my last name on it and I
have a very unique maiden name.
So he went through the whitepages and he found the name and
of course, there was only one inthe town that he knew I grew up
in and he called and it was myparents landline
Nikita (10:08):
.
Oh my god, it's so funny.
Lina (10:10):
So, basically, like I cursed him out on the phone and
I'm like you stalker, I can'tbelieve you did that.
And I freaked out and he waslike I just wanted to make sure
I had the right address, becauseI was gonna send you flowers.
And then I kind of felt bad,and then that's how we started
dating each other.
So anytime I go on vacation nowI get a warning by my friends
and family and they're likeplease don't come back married.
So now I'm like I'm gonna trymy best, but I'm not making any
promises, because sometimesLena's just as surprised about
(10:33):
what she does, as you guys arelike, sometimes it just happens.
Nikita (10:35):
You know, yeah, let's not get married anytime soon.
Yeah, I'm gonna try not tookay what you got for me.
Well, I thought I would share.
So I went to Europe over thesummer with my boyfriend, right,
and our initial plan was wewere leaving from Newark and we
were flying to Frankfurt,germany, okay.
(10:56):
And then from Frankfurt we weregoing to Budapest.
And I will preface this withsaying and I know, budapest is
like a random place to go, butwe were going to an f1 race.
So we go to the airport, we getchecked in, we're sitting at the
airport and our flight getsdelayed.
I'm like all right, whatever,you know, we're waiting.
Then our flight gets delayedagain and we're like what the
heck?
So then we found out that,excuse me, we found out that the
(11:19):
plane coming to norc to pick usup got delayed because of
weather.
Mind you, it wasn't raining, itwas perfectly nice out, yeah.
So now we're scrambling becausewe have to make a connection
flight in frankfurt to go tobudapest and the flight was
delayed like two hours orwhatever it was, and we weren't
going to make our our connectingflight.
(11:40):
So I'm on the phone with unitedand I'm like um, I need to get
to budapest.
And I need, because we hadthree day tickets.
We were leaving.
We were supposed to leaveWednesday night.
So this is all going onWednesday night and they're like
, well, there's nothing we cando.
I'm like, what do you mean?
There's nothing you can do.
So now I get on the phone withUnited and the lady that was on
the phone with she was so niceshe's like oh yeah, yeah, I can
(12:01):
put you on a flight to zurich.
I was like fine, I don't carewhat city we go to, just get me
to budapest.
Like I don't care how you getme there, just get me there.
So we wind up going home.
No, I'm sorry, before thathappened, they put us on a
flight to brussels.
So so we go to the new gate andwe're like all right, let let's
(12:23):
wait.
And we're waiting for ourflight.
Now it starts fucking pouring,pouring, thunder, lightning the
whole nine yards.
Our flight gets delayed.
We had a four-hour layover inBrussels.
Okay, no problem, you know,whatever we'll make it.
Flight gets delayed again.
I'm like, oh no, flight getsdelayed a third time.
Finally, the flight getscanceled.
(12:44):
My boyfriend and I look at eachother.
We're like this can't behappening.
So he's online at the ticketcounter waiting, and so is half
of the airport at this point.
And I'm on the phone withUnited.
I'm like, listen, I need to getto Budapest.
I need to get to Budapest byFriday, because the tickets
start Friday night.
Get me to Budapest, I don'tcare how you get me to Budapest,
(13:06):
get me there.
So they're like, oh well, wecould put you on a flight
tomorrow to Zurich.
And I'm like, is that my onlyoption?
And they're like, yeah, I waslike, fine, give it to me.
So now we go home, spend thenext day, because now it's a
night flight.
So Thursday we go back to theairport and we're like all right
, we're going to get on thisflight.
So we're online and we're aboutto board this Zurich flight and
(13:27):
I happen to look out the window.
This is totally random, thishas nothing to do with the
flight, but it was just one ofthose random things.
I'm like, huh, I happen to lookout the window and Trump's
airplane was across the airport.
I'm like, what is going onright now?
It was just random, anyway.
So we get on the flight toZurich, get to.
It was just random, anyway.
So we get on the flight toZurich.
Get to Zurich and we'reexhausted.
I didn't sleep at all on theflight, which is not normal.
(13:49):
Usually I can sleep on a flight.
My boyfriend slept the wholeflight.
We grabbed some food.
I go to the bathroom, I stopand I look at the board to see
if our flight connecting toBudapest is on time.
It's still on time.
Check back for your boardingthis, that and the other thing.
Okay, great, go back to thetable.
Boyfriend has to go to thebathroom, so he goes and he
comes back and he's got thisshitty grin on his face and I'm
(14:09):
like what he goes?
You're not going to believethis.
I'm like don't you dare?
He's like I don't want to tellyou.
I'm like what?
What do you mean?
Now we're in Zurich.
I'm like what do you mean?
Our flight was canceled.
I said I just went to thebathroom and I looked at the
board and it said stay tuned formore information or whatever it
(14:32):
said.
He's like I know, but now itsays canceled.
I'm like you've got to bekidding me.
That's terrible.
More information,
oh my gosh.
So now we're like well, nowwe're like stranded in Zurich,
how are we getting to Budapest?
We're like racking our brains.
We're at each other's throats.
You ever travel with asignificant other?
Oh, it brings out all thethings.
(14:52):
So I'm getting snippy.
He's getting impatient with me,understandably.
So.
So we go down cause.
So in the Zurich airport, thetrain station is right on the
bottom level.
Oh, that's pretty cool.
So we go and we look into getting a train and they're
like, oh, we can't get youthere until whenever.
So then we go back upstairs andwe're like, well, let's see if
(15:13):
there's another connectingflight.
Well, I go upstairs and I cometo find out it wasn't just our
flight that got canceled.
Do you remember?
Last summer there was thatmassive like it thing
Lina (15:25):
.
Oh, yeah, that like cyberattack.
Nikita (15:27):
Yes, the cyber it affected us.
This is why we got stranded inzurich.
But we didn't know that until Iwent upstairs to see if we can
get our flight.
Yeah, I get another flight.
So my boyfriend got our luggageand he came upstairs to me and
I'm like what are we gonna do?
He's like I don't know.
I don't know what to do.
So we went and ate ateMcDonald's for the fourth time
we ate so much McDonald's, it'snot even funny.
(15:48):
So, uh, now, maybe that was thesecond time we ate McDonald's.
Anyway
Lina (15:53):
, did you have hot shits?
Nikita (15:54):
No, I was good.
Actually, do you ever haveMcDonald's in?
Lina (15:57):
Europe.
Oh yeah, it's nothing likeMcDonald's here.
Nikita (16:00):
It's delicious.
I remember eating.
I was like this is the bestMcDonald's I've ever had.
Lina (16:03):
They have like servers and menus and it's totally
different
Well, not in the airport.
But anyway.
So now we're like sitting.
And now my boyfriend has theidea well, maybe we can rent a
car and return the car inBudapest.
Well, they don't do that inEurope.
It's not like in the States,where you can rent in one city
and return it in another.
So now we're like alright,maybe we could just take a train
(16:27):
.
Again, the trains couldn't getus there.
Then we had the bright ideawell, what if we rent a car,
drive to Budapest and then drivethe car back to Budapest To
Zurich
Sounds like a terrible idea.
I'm in.
Nikita (16:38):
Do you know how far of a drive it is from Zurich to
Budapest?
Oh no, hit me,
it was like 12 hours, oh my God.
So here we are, taking off at 7pm, driving, driving After I
didn't sleep at all on theflight he slept, thank God.
So here we are, tag teaming Inforeign land, in foreign
(16:58):
countries.
We went through Switzerland,lichtenberg, or how are we?
Liechtenstein?
No, no, lichten, liechtenstein,sure, okay, germany and Hungary
.
12 hours.
And then we stopped in Germanyto get gas.
Do you know?
(17:19):
You have to pump your own gasin Germany.
Oh yeah,
do you know?
Lina (17:22):
that pumps aren't the same .
Nikita (17:23):
Oh yeah, they aren't the same.
Nope, not the same.
And you know how, in the States, you pay at the pump.
You don't pay at the pump, no,no, you pump your gas and then
you go in and pay.
They trust you.
It's the honor system
pump your gas and then you go in, and they trust you.
It's a whole different world outthere, and so we're trying to
figure out how to put gas inthis car that we are not
(17:44):
familiar with.
And there's this random germanguy I'm like can you help us?
And he's talking to me ingerman.
I have no idea what he's saying.
Right, he was so.
He was a saint, though.
He came over and he helped us.
And then we paid and we got onthe road.
When I tell you, every twohours we wound up switching.
I was drinking Celsius, energydrinks, trying to stay awake,
(18:07):
coffee, eating snacks.
So we finally get to Budapestat 5 am, get into our hotel,
sleep for a couple hours, andthen we were at the track that
day for practice.
That's crazy, it was insanity.
Then we get through the weekend, get through the race, had a
great time at the race.
That's a whole nother story.
Blast at the race.
(18:28):
Now we have to drive back tozurich.
Lina (18:31):
So how long were we actually in budapest?
Nikita (18:32):
for 48 hours but wait, we had it booked, originally
planned that we would have acouple days before the race
weekend so we could sightsee.
Sure, we didn't get any of oursightseeing and we had pizza on
the streets of budapest, like wedidn't even have any
traditional, like budapestianfood.
I don't even think that's aword, but whatever, um, like
(18:55):
there was a couple of things,goulash, that yeah, hungarian
food, that would be the word Iwanted.
Lina (19:00):
You just talked to your eastern european friend over
here.
I got you.
Nikita (19:03):
I forgot about you um, we didn't have any of the like.
There was the you ever heard of?
Um, do you ever hear of chimneycake?
I wanted to try chimney cake.
Yeah, then there was like thislike flat dough thing that they
put sour cream on Like a pancake.
Yeah, yeah, pizza pancake thing.
Wanted to try that, didn't trythat, anyway.
So after the race weekend now wewere in Budapest and the way
(19:28):
our trip was planned out, wewere a few days in Budapest and
then we were going to Germany.
We were spending some time inMunich and then we were going to
where did we go from Munich?
We went to Prague.
No, another town in Germany, ohmy gosh, I can't even think of
the name of the town.
Berlin, oh my God.
So then we went to Berlin for afew days.
(19:49):
Berlin Wall, yep, we saw theBerlin Wall.
And then from Berlin we went toback home.
Yeah, yeah, we flew home fromBerlin.
So we were driving back fromZurich.
We stopped in Berlin because wedrove literally right through
Berlin, right, dropped off ourstuff at the hotel and then
drove the rest of the way backto to Zurich, because now we had
(20:13):
, we were getting on a train inZurich and taking the train to
Munich, madness, oh, it wasinsanity.
Lina (20:22):
I think I would have just given up at that point,
Nikita (20:24):
you know, there was a couple times during the whole
like panic of how are we gettingto Budapest?
And we were like, well, maybewe just don't go to the weekend,
we don't go to the race and wejust pivot, right, you know,
because we I mean mean there wasa point where we were seriously
considering selling our ticketsbecause it was just complete
and utter chaos.
Lina (20:41):
But I was gonna say I'm sure you could have sold your
tickets and at least recoup some, if not even made money off of
it yeah,
Nikita (20:46):
yeah, but neither one of us really wanted to do that,
because we were both reallylooking forward to this trip and
the experience, you know, andand it was a once-in-a-lifetime
trip.
It was a once-in-a-lifetimeexperience although, granted, we
went to two races because wewent to the hungarian gp and
then, when we were in cologne,we went to the spa gp, which was
(21:11):
amazing too.
So, but, yeah, so that was,that was my europe trip.
In a nutshell, it was ratherinteresting
Lina (21:17):
.
Yeah, I probably would havecanned that one.
Nikita (21:19):
Yeah, no, we didn't.
Lina (21:20):
We said where else can we go?
And just kind of went to a mapand thrown a dart somewhere and
said, yep, there.
Nikita (21:25):
But you know what, once we got to Munich, we were back
on track, back on schedule andnothing else, thank God, went
wrong.
That's awesome.
So it really worked out really well.
And munich have you ever beento munich?
I have not.
Oh my gosh, we loved munich really.
It was.
We wished we spent more time inmunich than we did.
(21:46):
Really it was so nice, thepeople were nice, the city was
clean, it was walkable.
And then, like I said, we wentto.
We went to ber, and the one daywe must have walked 30 miles,
like no joke.
We walked all over Berlin, yeah.
And then we were in Cologne fora couple days and then we went
(22:06):
to the other GP at Spa, whichwas in the forest.
That was interesting.
Literally a Formula One trackin the middle of the forest.
It was the coolest thing.
So random,
oh, so cool though.
Lina (22:20):
I have been to Germany, but it was really only as I was
driving through from Poland toItaly.
Okay, there's kind of a passthrough, but I never really kind
of stopped or explored orsightseed anywhere.
So, right, need to go back forsure.
Nikita (22:31):
Yeah, germany we want, we want to go back to Munich, so
hopefully we get there soon.
Yeah, oh, very cool.
What other stories you got for?
me.
Lina (22:38):
So when I was going through my divorce, my really
good friend and my mom both saidwe need to go away.
Take your mind off of stuff.
Let's go away for a little bit.
So we went to Puerto Rico and wehad a great time.
I think we were there for likenine or 10, nine or 10 days and,
uh, the one night we're there,we go out dancing.
There's this really beautifulplace that has the best sunsets
(22:59):
at their bar and they have thesethings that are called piratas
and they're giant coconuts thatare alcoholic drinks.
So we're all drinking anddancing and having a really good
time and I'm on the dance floorwith my mom and my mom and I
are killing it.
So my mom actually has a Latinand Bolton dance studio on the
side, so we're really dancing.
So sometimes it's kind of funnybecause people will be like, oh
(23:20):
my gosh, look at you guysactually showing up the Puerto
Ricans.
So we're dancing and all of asudden some man grabs my mother
from me on the dance floor tostart dancing with her.
Oh no,
I was about to throw one of these piratas at this man's
head and like go full onfighting
Nikita (23:34):
.
I can just imagine,
Lina (23:39):
until I realized it was one of my childhood best
friends' dads.
How does this happen?
How is that the most random thing ever.
So like I'm literally about tofight this man who grabs my mom
on the dance floor and I look athim and I say his name and he
looks at me and he says my name.
So I just look at him and givehim the biggest hug ever and it
was just absolutely crazy, likewe never skipped a beat.
And turns out that he hasfamily that lives in that area
(23:59):
of Puerto Rico.
So we weren't like in San Juan,we weren't in a real touristy
area, we were on the East Coast,not the West Coast, of Puerto
Rico.
So that was just kind of areally random thing.
But anytime I travel with my momwe run into people.
She knows it's the weirdestthing.
One time we're in Aruba, we'reon a family vacation and we're
(24:19):
about to cross the street andsomebody yells my mom's name and
it turns out it's this Germancouple who did Argentine tango
with my mom.
Oh, that's wild,
from Germany in Aruba.
And then one of the otherreally weird things that
happened to me and even to thisday I still get chills thinking
about it.
We were at the same resort inArubauba and it was in the hot
tub.
And this girl comes in the hottub and she says Lena.
(24:40):
And I'm like there's no waythat girl just said my name.
I'm going to pretend that Ididn't think that I knew that,
because that was really weirdand she's like Lena, do you
remember me?
And I look over.
And it was a girl that I met inthe teen club a year prior on a
cruise that me and my familywent on
Nikita (24:57):
.
Oh my gosh,
Lina (24:58):
so super random.
She was from like Iowa orWyoming, somewhere, really weird
.
The cruise was out of Florida.
It's not like we were evenanywhere close.
It wasn't even the same week ofthe year, like everybody took
vacation the same week and wehadn't kept in touch because
back then we didn't have cellphones or you know texting each
other or any ability to doanything like that.
So it was the same girl that Imet on the teen club of a cruise
(25:19):
the year prior, in the same hottub at the same resort in Aruba
, not even a day after my momran into the Germans that did
Argentine tango in her.
Nikita (25:28):
That's crazy,
Lina (25:29):
isn't that weird?
Yeah, that like made my skincrawl.
I was so freaked out.
And then I had a friend for thewhole rest of the trip because
her and I kind of hung out andit was really cool.
But I just don't know how thathappens.
Everybody says there's sixdegrees of separation, but I
don't really believe that.
I think it's definitely morelike three, maybe two
For you.
Yeah, I feel like the world keeps getting smaller and
smaller.
Nikita (25:48):
Speaking of trips after divorce, so after my first
divorce I had a flight creditfrom a trip that I was supposed
to take with a friend way backwhen we were supposed to go to
the DR and she wound up havingto cancel.
So I had this flight credit.
So after I got my first divorce, I was talking to who is now my
(26:11):
best friend.
One of my other best friendsand her husband and I went to
high school together.
We were bio partners and we had, and I had switched high
schools halfway through mysophomore year.
So you know, I was like kind oflike the odd man out and he
didn't have a bio part, hedidn't have a partner and I
happened to be sitting next tohim.
So we inevitably wound up beingbio partners, wind up being one
(26:35):
of my best friends in highschool.
We graduate, he goes into thearmed forces, goes about his
business.
Lose contact with him.
Find him and his now wife onMySpace, do you?
remember MySpace?
Lina (26:49):
I do.
I never had a MySpace page, butI had a MySpace, wasn't that?
Like your friend, tom George, Ithink it was Tom.
Nikita (26:56):
Oh yeah, the MySpace friend.
I was like I don't know, are wejust naming people now?
No, no, it's Tom.
So I find my friend and his nowwife on MySpace and me and his
wife start BSing
Lina (27:08):
.
Did they have a joint page?
Nikita (27:09):
Yeah, back in the day.
Lina (27:10):
Oh, that gives me cringe.
Nikita (27:12):
Yeah, but you know what?
They did it?
Because it was just easier withkeeping in touch with family,
so I understand why they did it.
Sure, so they both have theirown private Facebook account,
like it was literally just aMySpace thing.
So, anyway, so me and herbecome pen pals, essentially,
and we were talking back andforth and we became really
really good friends.
So I was going through mydivorce and I was complaining to
(27:33):
her and the divorce got finaland I texted her.
I'm like, hey, what are youdoing?
Such and such date?
She's like nothing.
I'm like, yeah, you wantcompany?
She's like sure, fly out toGermany, because they were
stationed in Germany, spent aweek and a half out in Germany,
had the best time ever, have anew best friend, reconnected
(27:53):
with my high school bio partner,and we've been best friends
ever since.
There you go wild.
So you're not the only one withcrazy reconnection stories.
Lina (28:01):
Yeah so I have a crazy reconnection story too.
I am sitting home one day and Iget a group text message and I
hate group text messages, I amnot a fan.
So I open it up and all I seeis, hey, it's jamie gabbs, m-o-h
.
And I'm like I don't knowanybody named Jamie anymore.
I'm like I don't know what agab is and I'm not really sure
(28:23):
what a mo is.
So I shut my phone and I justkept about my business.
So next thing, I know peopleare replying to this group
thread and everybody's sendingtheir email address.
So now I open it back up andI'm kind of curious, like what
is this?
So I start reading the textsthat I stopped reading and it
starts talking about how they'regoing to go to the Fountain
Blue in Miami, which is one ofmy favorite hotels and I love
Miami.
(28:43):
So I'm like I'm not sure whothese people are, what they're
doing, but I want to go to Miami.
So I just replied back with myemail address.
No idea what's going on,
oh my God.
So next thing, I know they're putting together pricing
and then like if everybody whosent their email address and is
going to go, this is what it'sgoing to come out to per person
person.
So I'm like, wow, that's superreasonable for five days in
Miami.
And I'm like, can I really dofive days in Miami with a bunch
(29:04):
of people I don't know?
And I'm like I can't.
I'm like, but I can definitelydo like three, I'm pretty
likable.
So I booked the trip.
Oh my God.
So I get there two days aftereverybody else had already
gotten there.
So my flight arrives.
It's about 11 o'clock that I getto the hotel, the Fountain Blue
, and I'm knocking on the doorbecause I know everybody has
(29:26):
already checked in, but I don'thave a key or any way to get in.
So I'm banging on the door.
Nobody's answering.
I mean, it's going on like fiveminutes.
I am banging on this door andI'm like this is a terrible idea
, I'm going to be stranded.
Opens, but not all the way.
It like unlocks and somebodywalks away.
They just opened the door andwalked away.
Did you walk in?
(29:46):
So I opened the door and it's pitch black.
Like I said, 11 o'clock inMiami, it's pitch black inside.
So as I opened the door, thelight from outside is shining
into the room and there aregirls passed out everywhere.
I mean girls sleeping on thecouch, girls sleeping on the
floor, and I'm like, wow, thisis another really bad life
decision from Lena.
I'm like, but this one's likereally bad, because I'm stranded
here for three days and I don'tknow any of these people and
(30:07):
like I don't know, are they ondrugs?
Are they dead?
Like what is happening?
So I literally have my suitcaseand I'm climbing over bodies,
oh God.
So I'm like, okay, I'm justgoing to go hang by the pool.
(30:27):
So I go out, and you know, I'mhanging by the pool and then a
couple hours later, this grouptext starts up again hey,
where's everybody at?
What's everybody doing?
So I replied I was like, hey, Imade it in, I'm by the pool.
So you know, next thing, I knowthere's a bunch of people
coming down and they're allwearing like the same kind of
shirts and we had to send in ourshirt size.
So I sent in my size.
They ordered a shirt for me.
So I start talking to, you know,a couple of the girls that are
there, and the one girl was fromthe same town that I grew up in
(30:48):
and I'm like, no freaking wayit turns out, I went to high
school with her sister.
Oh gosh, I'm like how does thishappen?
It is such a small freakingworld.
Yeah, that's wild.
Um turns out the bride, who'sGab was a nickname of the bride.
The bride was marrying mycousin and, yes, somehow I got
(31:09):
invited to the bacheloretteparty.
So I'm like this is great, I'mtotally here for this.
So it really made me laughbecause they were all probably
somewhere between five and eightyears younger than me and I had
already gone through a divorceand I already had a kid.
So they were looking at me aslike the mom of the group and
like, asking me advice.
I'm like I'm not really sureyou want to take marriage advice
from me.
(31:29):
I'm divorced and stuff like,but like you've been through it
all and you have a kid andyou're so cool and I'm like, oh,
thanks.
But um, I really did feel likethe mom of the group but it was
great.
So the next day we hadchartered a private yacht to,
you know, go out and just kindof be on the water and sunbathe.
So when we had gotten back, Isee the mayor of Elizabeth, new
(31:50):
Jersey Stop, yeah, chrisBullwich, who was the mayor at
the time, right, and I did a lotof like critical infrastructure
and key resource work with myprior job and we had a building
in Elizabeth.
So I knew him, so I see him,and I was like Chris and he's
like Lena and I'm like what areyou doing here?
And he's like a mayor'sconference, what are you doing
here?
And I was like bacheloretteparty and they're like only you
(32:12):
would freaking know a mayor inMiami and I'm like I know, I'm
like I don't even know anybodythat I was on this trip with,
but I knew the mayor of you knowdown here in Miami.
So that was a great trip.
So it definitely made thewedding a lot more fun.
Yeah, because then I knew allof the bridal party and, like I
said, the groom was my cousin,it wasn't even the bride.
Nikita (32:29):
Did you even know that this wedding was?
in existence.
Lina (32:31):
No, well, I knew that they were getting married, okay, but
I didn't know that this wastheir bachelorette party because
I, I would be invited,
right, um, and when did youknow the bride?
Like,
I knew the bride from, like you know, family events and
stuff like that, but we hadnever hung out one-on-one.
And when they called her Gab, Ididn't recognize that as her
name.
Right, that was like a nicknameof her, so I didn't know.
(32:53):
And when they said, you know,this is Gab's Mo, I didn't know
what a Mo was.
Come to find out.
Moh, maid of honor.
But I didn't put it alltogether.
Oh, that makes sense.
And the maid of honor whoreached out in the group text,
reached out from her cell phoneand I'd never met the maid of
honor right so and I didn't knowany of the phone numbers that
were on that group text and thebride wasn't on the group text
(33:13):
because it washer.
It was a surprise.
It was her bachelorette party.
So I literally didn't knowanybody on that group text and I
was like, yep, I'm in going toMiami with a bunch of girls I
don't know.
I'm like what could possibly gowrong?
Everything?
Yeah, this is great.
Only you,
only me.
I don't know how these thingshappen to people and I feel like
(33:34):
what are the chances thatsomething like this would happen
?
But then I think like it mustbe pretty good, because this
happens to me all the time.
Yeah, right, yeah, but toanybody else, like slim to
Nikita (33:44):
none yeah, I don't have any crazy random people texting
me.
Let's go on a trip.
Okay, I'm in,
Lina (33:50):
yeah no, I mean, but that's happened to me a couple
times within the last couplemonths too, right, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, it just kind ofhappens.
You just got to go with theflow.
You know what are the youngkids say these days YOLO, baby,
yolo, wasn't that big.
Nikita (34:05):
That was like a thing.
Yeah, that was a thing.
Lina (34:07):
Right, I mean, that's not how I feel.
I don't feel like I'm going tolike take absolute crazy chances
, because you only live once.
But I do feel like I love totravel, I love to see the world,
rather have an experience oversomething materialistic oh, 100,
you know.
So, like you're looking for abirthday gift or a christmas
gift, I'm all about let's makean experience over.
This is a thing, yeah, um.
(34:27):
So I love to make memories.
I love to experience newcultures and foods and sightsee
and just got get that you knowcultural background that you're
not going to be able to getotherwise,
right well, there's nothing.
There's nothing like that,though.
Yeah, like yeah, I'd muchrather go on a vacation
somewhere.
I have a whole bucket list ofplaces I want to go.
(34:48):
What's on your bucket list?
Nikita (34:50):
Australia?
Oh, that's a good one.
Um, I want to go back to europe where um, I want to go
to london and I want to go tofrance.
Nice, um, australia, like Isaid, thailand, which is going
to become a reality and I alsobelieve it, or not.
Want to do iceland and I wantto do tahiti, the philippines,
(35:14):
okay, cambodia.
I want to go to anchor watt incambodia.
Do you know what that is?
Oh, yeah, it looks amazing.
That's awesome.
Yeah, what?
about you.
Lina (35:22):
So I definitely want to do French Polynesia.
So, whether it's Tahiti, boraBora, the Maldives, fiji, one or
all, I just kind of want toexperience that whole area.
There's a girl that I went tohigh school with.
We weren't, you know, likefriends in the sense that we
hung out or anything, but we hadclasses together.
We were always really friendly,and she's a photographer and
(35:47):
she lives in New Zealand.
So she had just recently postedon social media that she was
looking for a model tophotograph for her portfolio.
So I'm like, well, if itincludes a trip to New Zealand,
I'm in.
And she wrote back and she'slike, well, I wish I had that
much money.
I don't.
She's like you'd make afantastic model.
(36:07):
I'm kind of like tossing aroundthe idea of flying to New
Zealand.
That's a long flight too.
It'd be a really long flight.
Um, I can stay with her andshe's got a beautiful family now
and, like I said, we were neverreally friends in high school,
but we always got along reallywell and she was always really
nice.
So I think it'd be pretty cool.
I mean, I'll go with you,
nikita.
This is gonna be the beginningof something, because I know you
don't mess with me.
When somebody says I'm going togo with you,
Nikita (36:23):
but we have to go bungee jumping.
Lina (36:24):
I'm going to bug a bitch.
I don't know if I can bungeejump since my back surgery,
whatever but we'll do somethingequally crazy.
If I can, I'll find out.
If I can
Nikita (36:33):
, you're going to eat bugs,
Lina (36:34):
no, no, I don't eat things that make me gag.
Do we need to edit that partout?
No, I'm not editing that out.
I'm just saying I don't eat things that make me gag.
And, by the way, if you guysheard the story about how my New
Year kicked off my dog gaggedand I fell down the stairs and
I'm all banged up.
So we're not going to go backthere, we're moving forward.
(36:58):
Yeah, let's take it easy on thegagging Please and thank you.
Nikita (37:02):
Oh God, Well, this is an interesting conversation for
sure.
Lina (37:05):
Definitely is an interesting conversation.
I see travels to New Zealand inour future.
Nikita (37:10):
Well, you got some major things coming up
Lina (37:12):
.
I do so.
Nikita (37:13):
You got to get through that first.
I have some major things comingup that I need to get through
first.
So maybe I'm the back end of2025.
Because our winter would betheir summer too.
Lina (37:24):
I'm here for it and our winter is also our birthday
true, two weeks apart.
Yeah, three weeks.
Two, two, two.
I don't do maths no, no, clearly we've had this
conversation before I did mathswith your daughter today, though
how'd that workout,for you
killed it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was she doing?
We were doing long division.
I was so good at it, thoughthat's because there was no
(37:47):
letters involved.
Yes, I'm really good at mathand there's no letters.
Yeah, yeah, there could bedecimal points and numbers and
all sorts of stuff.
I'm here for it.
You throw a letter in there,I'm out.
Yeah, I'm out.
Nikita (37:57):
Speaking of being out.
Yes,
I think we better be out before this goes down some
other tangent road.
Lina (38:03):
Well, I thought I was gonna go somewhere when you said
the back end,but
Nikita (38:07):
I can't I have no comment.
Lina (38:09):
I know, I know you love me .
You wanna hug me,
miss congeniality.
I love sandra bullock and also wanted to be an fbi agent
all my life.
Did you know?
I went to the fbi academy
Nikita (38:20):
.
Yes, did know that
Lina (38:21):
great story.
We can save that for anotherday.
Or maybe we just won't tell itbecause if I tell it I might
have to kill you.
Nikita (38:28):
In Quantico,
yes or DC,
and then we can go to Alcatraz.
Although you already didAlcatraz,
Lina (38:34):
I was there, yeah, in September.
Awesome, super, super cool.
All by yourself,
all by myself.
All, all by yourself, all bymyself, all by myself.
Nikita (38:44):
See, I went to I'm All Alone from.
Was it in the Lion King withthe parrot?
The parrot, yeah, is that aparrot?
No, in the Lion King he was inthe little rib cage of the dead
animal.
No, I think.
I'm thinking of the wrong movie.
Lina (39:02):
Yeah, I'm not sure what you're thinking of, but I'm not
quite following it.
No, I, I think I'm thinking ofthe wrong movie.
Nikita (39:04):
Yeah, I'm not sure what you're thinking of, but I'm not.
No, I know what I'm thinking of.
I'm thinking of donkey fromshrek.
Lina (39:08):
Oh, yep, that would do it on that note
Nikita (39:11):
, I think it's time that we say goodbye.
Lina (39:13):
I think it's time we go.
We cut off nikita from whateverit is that she has in her yeti
water.
Yep, that's what she says
not tequila,
because tequila is to kill you oh,
my god.
All right, on that note, thanksfor watching and we will see you
next time.
On two voices, one vibe.
Hi, I'm Nikita and I'm Lina.
We're two best friends withendless curiosity and plenty to
say.
Lina (00:07):
Join us as we dive into everything and anything life
throws our way From hilariousstories and pop culture, hot
takes to life lessons and deepdives.
Nikita (00:15):
No topic is off limits.
Whether you're looking for alaugh, a new perspective or just
some fun company, this podcastfeels like a chat with your
bestie.
Lina (00:24):
Get ready for unfiltered conversations, lots of laughs
and a whole lot of heart.
This is Two Voices, one Vibe.
Nikita (00:38):
I can't
you good.
No, why do our podcasts always start like this?
Lina (00:44):
Because we're funny bitches.
Nikita (00:46):
And on that note, are you ready to start this?
Let's do it.
Welcome back to two voices,
one vibe, sorry I had to
welcome back to two voices.
Lina (00:58):
One, vibe
Nikita (00:58):
, how are you?
Lina (00:59):
I'm great.
Nikita, how are you.
Nikita (01:01):
I I'm trying to compose myself and I clearly can't do
that today.
You're trying to keep ittogether.
I'm too funny,
oh my gosh.
Our shenanigans before podcastsstart are always entertaining.
Lina (01:12):
I feel like the pre-podcast is probably the best
meat and potatoes of thepodcast.
Usually it's not playable.
Nikita (01:19):
No, and I can't even save it for bloopers at the end
of the year, because it's justnot safe for work or children or
youtube or life.
Anyway, how are you?
Lina (01:32):
I'm fabulous.
How are you?
Nikita (01:33):
I am just wonderful.
Thank you,
you look great
thanks.
Lina (01:37):
I really like this waffle knit thing that you have going
on
Nikita (01:39):
.
It's from ari.
Lina (01:41):
I love it
Nikita (01:41):
I love a lot of things from ari.
You got me the sweatshirtMm-hmm and I have a couple of
shirts from Aerie.
They're just, they'recomfortable.
Lina (01:48):
I know I got these sweatpants from Aerie.
Nikita (01:50):
That are covered in dog hair.
Lina (01:51):
They're the flower ones yeah, your dog hair, mostly
Mm-hmm, but I could live on themthey're.
I think they have like maybesix or eight different colors.
Oh wow, really.
But some of them are just really random colors like brown
and yellow,
brown's like the new color,though, is it?
I've noticed some of mygirlfriends at work.
They're all wearing like brownleggings, and I'm like, actually
(02:14):
, there was a girl at work todayshe had head to toe.
She comes in, she goes.
I look like a turd.
I was like what.
That I was like what that's interesting comment to
yourself
Nikita (02:28):
and I.
It was six o'clock in themorning and I was not expecting
that.
I was like, um, okay,
Lina (02:31):
yeah, I'm not sure that I would know how to accessorize or
wear all the brown.
Nikita (02:36):
I could do like a top.
Yeah, I don't even know that Icould do brown bottoms, unless
they were like khakis orsomething like that Even khakis,
I'm really weird about.
Lina (02:45):
I feel like if I wore like a light colored khaki, you
might think I'm naked.
Since I'm so white, you'd belike are she wearing pants?
You know, it might be a littlebit of confusion, but I feel
like I could do a brown top.
I could definitely do likebrown boots or a brown belt and
accessorize with it, right, butI don't know, am I gonna wear
them with?
Nikita (03:03):
a white shirt or a cream colored shirt
Lina (03:06):
?
It's possible.
Nikita (03:08):
It was like that blue two-piece set that you just
recently bought.
You're like, what do I do?
I'm like you wear the top withone thing, you're like, but it's
a set.
I'm like you don't have to wearit
Lina (03:17):
together so it sinks because the color is gorgeous.
It's like this beautiful royalblue color yeah, but when I
tried it on I'm like it's reallycute and I like the top and I
like the bottom and I like theway it looks, but it just was a
lot.
So I'm like I don't know if Icould wear it as a set, but then
if I were to bring it up, Idon't know.
I'm really weird about wearingblue with jeans.
I know that that might soundweird, but I don't know.
(03:37):
Sometimes I just feel likeblues and blues don't always
match.
Nikita (03:40):
I think it depends on the color right the shade like,
yes, the shade, or the shade ofthe top?
Lina (03:45):
yeah, but yeah so we'll figure it out.
So I did end up orderinganother one of the same set that
I got in that royal blue inblack, because I feel like it's
just kind of a classy color andit'll always kind of go.
Nikita (03:55):
You know what you need to get, though
tell me
black jeans.
Lina (03:57):
I do need to get black jeans.
Yeah, so our last trip to themall when we went shopping, I
was was like, do not let me buyjeans.
And then I walked out buyingthree pairs of jeans.
And then when we were going togo to the mall after that, I was
like I really need black jeans.
You're like, nope, you're notallowed to buy jeans.
I'm like, but I need blackjeans.
And you're like you can't buythem.
You told me you weren't allowedto buy jeans.
(04:18):
I know, but now you know I really jeans with your money.
So I feel like I need maybelike a pair of black skinny
jeans and then a pair of maybelike black flare bootcut jeans
or wide leg or ripped yeah, wideleg kind of jean kind of thing
too yeah,
it's hard being a girl
most difficult.
Yeah, guys have like two pairsof jeans and they wear them for
their whole life and they lookgreat.
They just alternate them withtheir three tops and they always
(04:40):
look good.
And nobody ever says is thatthe same outfit you were wearing
yesterday?
But, god forbid, we post andpick in an outfit that we wore
on a vacation.
They're like oh, my god, didn'tyou wear that when you were in
Bermuda?
And it's like, really, fuck you, why, why can you tell that
Nikita (04:53):
?
Tell me how you really feel,
Lina (04:56):
really.
And people notice that.
So that's like on my upcomingtrip, I'm buying all these new
clothes because I'm like I don'twant people to be like, oh,
that's cute, but it's the sameoutfit you wore last time.
Nikita (05:06):
Meanwhile, I'm wearing the same bathing suits in
Thailand that I wore on the lastfour vacations that we've taken
.
Lina (05:09):
But you're also only packing like two or three
bathing suits for like 15 days.
I don't know how you're doingthat.
I think I'm packing six bathingsuits for six days.
Because you're psycho?
No, because I like photo ops.
I'm not going to look like thisforever.
Let's be serious.
I'm only getting older every dayfrom here on out,
Nikita (05:27):
but you're still younger than me, so there's that.
Lina (05:29):
I'll always be younger than you and I'll revel in that.
Thank you,
you're welcome.
Thank you,
you brought it up, not me.
What
you brought it up, not me
Anyway.
I love you, though we're so cute,
Nikita (05:44):
um, so I thought today we could talk about travel,
since we love travel.
Uh, yeah, and you are gettingready to set out on a travel
expedition and I am gettingready to travel to the other
side of the world.
Yeah, I thought it might be funto reminisce on some of our old
trips and maybe retell some ofthe good stories, horror stories
(06:09):
, all the stories.
Lina (06:10):
Well, that's great.
So I think one of the storiesthat comes to mind most when I
travel is when my friends andfamily will say please don't
come back with a husband.
Nikita (06:17):
Oh because do we think you're going to do that?
Lina (06:20):
Anything's possible, really?
I hope not.
Maybe Depends who it is, is youknow?
If an opportunity presentsitself, why not?
No, I'm kidding,
oh my god.
But um, I did go on a big family cruise with a bunch of,
you know, my cousins and myaunts and uncles, my parents,
thanksgiving?
No, no, this was.
This was many, many years ago.
Oh, okay,
uh.
So this was back in 2006 and Imet a guy on that cruise who I
(06:43):
ended up marrying.
So that was the big joke.
Yeah, yeah.
So I had met him.
I was, yeah, I was walking downone of the quarters on the boat
and he was walking past me and Isaid hi and he said hey and uh,
I was like how you doing?
And he turns around.
He's like better now that I'veseen you.
And I just bursted out laughingin his face like the horniest
(07:06):
pickup line you could ever see,and just kept walking right past
him.
He turned around, he tried totalk to me and ignored him.
So I went, I sat down at thebar and I started talking to
this older gentleman that wassitting at the bar and he
started buying me drinks and Imean older, he's probably in his
like 60s or 70s, like,
and how old were you at thetime?
Um, I was 18,
okay.
So, um, I was talking to this older guy super nice, and
he's telling me how he's on thetrip for his retirement.
And I'm like, oh, that's great,what did you do for a living?
(07:27):
And you know he's talking to meand in comes this guy from the
hallway you know whatever it washalf an hour earlier and he
sits next to me.
So now all three of us are kindof conversing and talking to
one another and both of them arebuying me drinks and, you know,
having a really good time anddancing and singing and laughing
and the music's going.
And, um, I had made a joke tothe younger guy and said you
(07:48):
know, you better be nice,otherwise I'm going home with
this guy tonight.
And he was like that'sdisgusting, yeah.
And then I felt really bad.
I'm like how could he talk likeabout this older gentleman?
Like that was really so.
I turned around and I was likethat was really rude of you.
And he's like that's my father.
I had no idea.
How was I supposed to knowthere was a seat in between the
two of them?
Like when I sat down, nobodywas there, and he sat down on
(08:09):
the other side of me, so it'snot like he was even like oh
excuse me, could you move overso I can sit next to my dad.
And when I started talking tothem, at no point did they say
hey, this is, you know, my son.
So-and-so like they had nevereven introduced each other and
they didn't act like they kneweach other.
I was talking to them bothindependently.
So here I was.
You know, take a shot with thisone, take a shot with this one.
This one's buying me a drink.
I'm laughing and having a good,I'm just having a good time in
general and had no idea thatthat was my future father-in-law
(08:32):
,
oh my God.
So, um, when I asked him where he was from, he was
actually from the town that allof my family is from in New
Jersey.
Nikita (08:39):
Okay,
Lina (08:40):
so when we were getting off the boat, he had made a
comment that he drank so much.
He was like I drank so much,it's going to take me another
six days to sober up.
So I actually didn't give himmy phone number,
which is probably a smartdecision,
did not get my phone number, actually, was not
interested in ever seeing him ortalking to him again.
About four days later, my dadtells me oh Lina, you had a
(09:01):
phone call, somebody called foryou today.
So I said who?
So he tells me his name and I'mlike who's that?
And my dad's like you know theguy from the cruise.
And I'm like what?
I'm like no, I didn't give myphone number.
So my dad shows me the phonenumber and I'm like you gotta be
kidding me.
So I called find you.
Nikita (09:22):
How did he find you?
Lina (09:24):
Yellow pages.
Nikita (09:25):
Oh my gosh Like the actual phone book.
Lina (09:28):
He opened up like the yellow pages and the white pages
section where the people wereand we had carted each other on
the boat.
So we were 14 years apart.
So when he found out that I was18, he didn't believe me.
When I found out that he was 32, I didn't believe him.
So we actually pulled out ourIDs.
So he looks at my ID and hegoes why is your ID vertical?
So back in the day a New Jerseylicense was a vertical if you
were under the age of 21.
Nikita (09:47):
They still are, though is
Lina (09:48):
it still
Nikita (09:48):
?
Yeah,
Lina (09:48):
I don't know, I'm so old now that I wouldn't have any
need to know that.
Um, but it was vertical.
And he's like why is itvertical?
And I'm like because whenyou're under 21 it's vertical.
And so he didn't believe me.
I didn't believe him and he hadsaw my last name on it and I
have a very unique maiden name.
So he went through the whitepages and he found the name and
of course, there was only one inthe town that he knew I grew up
in and he called and it was myparents landline
Nikita (10:08):
.
Oh my god, it's so funny.
Lina (10:10):
So, basically, like I cursed him out on the phone and
I'm like you stalker, I can'tbelieve you did that.
And I freaked out and he waslike I just wanted to make sure
I had the right address, becauseI was gonna send you flowers.
And then I kind of felt bad,and then that's how we started
dating each other.
So anytime I go on vacation nowI get a warning by my friends
and family and they're likeplease don't come back married.
So now I'm like I'm gonna trymy best, but I'm not making any
promises, because sometimesLena's just as surprised about
(10:33):
what she does, as you guys arelike, sometimes it just happens.
Nikita (10:35):
You know, yeah, let's not get married anytime soon.
Yeah, I'm gonna try not tookay what you got for me.
Well, I thought I would share.
So I went to Europe over thesummer with my boyfriend, right,
and our initial plan was wewere leaving from Newark and we
were flying to Frankfurt,germany, okay.
(10:56):
And then from Frankfurt we weregoing to Budapest.
And I will preface this withsaying and I know, budapest is
like a random place to go, butwe were going to an f1 race.
So we go to the airport, we getchecked in, we're sitting at the
airport and our flight getsdelayed.
I'm like all right, whatever,you know, we're waiting.
Then our flight gets delayedagain and we're like what the
heck?
So then we found out that,excuse me, we found out that the
(11:19):
plane coming to norc to pick usup got delayed because of
weather.
Mind you, it wasn't raining, itwas perfectly nice out, yeah.
So now we're scrambling becausewe have to make a connection
flight in frankfurt to go tobudapest and the flight was
delayed like two hours orwhatever it was, and we weren't
going to make our our connectingflight.
(11:40):
So I'm on the phone with unitedand I'm like um, I need to get
to budapest.
And I need, because we hadthree day tickets.
We were leaving.
We were supposed to leaveWednesday night.
So this is all going onWednesday night and they're like
, well, there's nothing we cando.
I'm like, what do you mean?
There's nothing you can do.
So now I get on the phone withUnited and the lady that was on
the phone with she was so niceshe's like oh yeah, yeah, I can
(12:01):
put you on a flight to zurich.
I was like fine, I don't carewhat city we go to, just get me
to budapest.
Like I don't care how you getme there, just get me there.
So we wind up going home.
No, I'm sorry, before thathappened, they put us on a
flight to brussels.
So so we go to the new gate andwe're like all right, let let's
(12:23):
wait.
And we're waiting for ourflight.
Now it starts fucking pouring,pouring, thunder, lightning the
whole nine yards.
Our flight gets delayed.
We had a four-hour layover inBrussels.
Okay, no problem, you know,whatever we'll make it.
Flight gets delayed again.
I'm like, oh no, flight getsdelayed a third time.
Finally, the flight getscanceled.
(12:44):
My boyfriend and I look at eachother.
We're like this can't behappening.
So he's online at the ticketcounter waiting, and so is half
of the airport at this point.
And I'm on the phone withUnited.
I'm like, listen, I need to getto Budapest.
I need to get to Budapest byFriday, because the tickets
start Friday night.
Get me to Budapest, I don'tcare how you get me to Budapest,
(13:06):
get me there.
So they're like, oh well, wecould put you on a flight
tomorrow to Zurich.
And I'm like, is that my onlyoption?
And they're like, yeah, I waslike, fine, give it to me.
So now we go home, spend thenext day, because now it's a
night flight.
So Thursday we go back to theairport and we're like all right
, we're going to get on thisflight.
So we're online and we're aboutto board this Zurich flight and
(13:27):
I happen to look out the window.
This is totally random, thishas nothing to do with the
flight, but it was just one ofthose random things.
I'm like, huh, I happen to lookout the window and Trump's
airplane was across the airport.
I'm like, what is going onright now?
It was just random, anyway.
So we get on the flight toZurich, get to.
It was just random, anyway.
So we get on the flight toZurich.
Get to Zurich and we'reexhausted.
I didn't sleep at all on theflight, which is not normal.
(13:49):
Usually I can sleep on a flight.
My boyfriend slept the wholeflight.
We grabbed some food.
I go to the bathroom, I stopand I look at the board to see
if our flight connecting toBudapest is on time.
It's still on time.
Check back for your boardingthis, that and the other thing.
Okay, great, go back to thetable.
Boyfriend has to go to thebathroom, so he goes and he
comes back and he's got thisshitty grin on his face and I'm
(14:09):
like what he goes?
You're not going to believethis.
I'm like don't you dare?
He's like I don't want to tellyou.
I'm like what?
What do you mean?
Now we're in Zurich.
I'm like what do you mean?
Our flight was canceled.
I said I just went to thebathroom and I looked at the
board and it said stay tuned formore information or whatever it
(14:32):
said.
He's like I know, but now itsays canceled.
I'm like you've got to bekidding me.
That's terrible.
More information,
oh my gosh.
So now we're like well, nowwe're like stranded in Zurich,
how are we getting to Budapest?
We're like racking our brains.
We're at each other's throats.
You ever travel with asignificant other?
Oh, it brings out all thethings.
(14:52):
So I'm getting snippy.
He's getting impatient with me,understandably.
So.
So we go down cause.
So in the Zurich airport, thetrain station is right on the
bottom level.
Oh, that's pretty cool.
So we go and we look into getting a train and they're
like, oh, we can't get youthere until whenever.
So then we go back upstairs andwe're like, well, let's see if
(15:13):
there's another connectingflight.
Well, I go upstairs and I cometo find out it wasn't just our
flight that got canceled.
Do you remember?
Last summer there was thatmassive like it thing
Lina (15:25):
.
Oh, yeah, that like cyberattack.
Nikita (15:27):
Yes, the cyber it affected us.
This is why we got stranded inzurich.
But we didn't know that until Iwent upstairs to see if we can
get our flight.
Yeah, I get another flight.
So my boyfriend got our luggageand he came upstairs to me and
I'm like what are we gonna do?
He's like I don't know.
I don't know what to do.
So we went and ate ateMcDonald's for the fourth time
we ate so much McDonald's, it'snot even funny.
(15:48):
So, uh, now, maybe that was thesecond time we ate McDonald's.
Anyway
Lina (15:53):
, did you have hot shits?
Nikita (15:54):
No, I was good.
Actually, do you ever haveMcDonald's in?
Lina (15:57):
Europe.
Oh yeah, it's nothing likeMcDonald's here.
Nikita (16:00):
It's delicious.
I remember eating.
I was like this is the bestMcDonald's I've ever had.
Lina (16:03):
They have like servers and menus and it's totally
different
Well, not in the airport.
But anyway.
So now we're like sitting.
And now my boyfriend has theidea well, maybe we can rent a
car and return the car inBudapest.
Well, they don't do that inEurope.
It's not like in the States,where you can rent in one city
and return it in another.
So now we're like alright,maybe we could just take a train
(16:27):
.
Again, the trains couldn't getus there.
Then we had the bright ideawell, what if we rent a car,
drive to Budapest and then drivethe car back to Budapest To
Zurich
Sounds like a terrible idea.
I'm in.
Nikita (16:38):
Do you know how far of a drive it is from Zurich to
Budapest?
Oh no, hit me,
it was like 12 hours, oh my God.
So here we are, taking off at 7pm, driving, driving After I
didn't sleep at all on theflight he slept, thank God.
So here we are, tag teaming Inforeign land, in foreign
(16:58):
countries.
We went through Switzerland,lichtenberg, or how are we?
Liechtenstein?
No, no, lichten, liechtenstein,sure, okay, germany and Hungary
.
12 hours.
And then we stopped in Germanyto get gas.
Do you know?
(17:19):
You have to pump your own gasin Germany.
Oh yeah,
do you know?
Lina (17:22):
that pumps aren't the same .
Nikita (17:23):
Oh yeah, they aren't the same.
Nope, not the same.
And you know how, in the States, you pay at the pump.
You don't pay at the pump, no,no, you pump your gas and then
you go in and pay.
They trust you.
It's the honor system
pump your gas and then you go in, and they trust you.
It's a whole different world outthere, and so we're trying to
figure out how to put gas inthis car that we are not
(17:44):
familiar with.
And there's this random germanguy I'm like can you help us?
And he's talking to me ingerman.
I have no idea what he's saying.
Right, he was so.
He was a saint, though.
He came over and he helped us.
And then we paid and we got onthe road.
When I tell you, every twohours we wound up switching.
I was drinking Celsius, energydrinks, trying to stay awake,
(18:07):
coffee, eating snacks.
So we finally get to Budapestat 5 am, get into our hotel,
sleep for a couple hours, andthen we were at the track that
day for practice.
That's crazy, it was insanity.
Then we get through the weekend, get through the race, had a
great time at the race.
That's a whole nother story.
Blast at the race.
(18:28):
Now we have to drive back tozurich.
Lina (18:31):
So how long were we actually in budapest?
Nikita (18:32):
for 48 hours but wait, we had it booked, originally
planned that we would have acouple days before the race
weekend so we could sightsee.
Sure, we didn't get any of oursightseeing and we had pizza on
the streets of budapest, like wedidn't even have any
traditional, like budapestianfood.
I don't even think that's aword, but whatever, um, like
(18:55):
there was a couple of things,goulash, that yeah, hungarian
food, that would be the word Iwanted.
Lina (19:00):
You just talked to your eastern european friend over
here.
I got you.
Nikita (19:03):
I forgot about you um, we didn't have any of the like.
There was the you ever heard of?
Um, do you ever hear of chimneycake?
I wanted to try chimney cake.
Yeah, then there was like thislike flat dough thing that they
put sour cream on Like a pancake.
Yeah, yeah, pizza pancake thing.
Wanted to try that, didn't trythat, anyway.
So after the race weekend now wewere in Budapest and the way
(19:28):
our trip was planned out, wewere a few days in Budapest and
then we were going to Germany.
We were spending some time inMunich and then we were going to
where did we go from Munich?
We went to Prague.
No, another town in Germany, ohmy gosh, I can't even think of
the name of the town.
Berlin, oh my God.
So then we went to Berlin for afew days.
(19:49):
Berlin Wall, yep, we saw theBerlin Wall.
And then from Berlin we went toback home.
Yeah, yeah, we flew home fromBerlin.
So we were driving back fromZurich.
We stopped in Berlin because wedrove literally right through
Berlin, right, dropped off ourstuff at the hotel and then
drove the rest of the way backto to Zurich, because now we had
(20:13):
, we were getting on a train inZurich and taking the train to
Munich, madness, oh, it wasinsanity.
Lina (20:22):
I think I would have just given up at that point,
Nikita (20:24):
you know, there was a couple times during the whole
like panic of how are we gettingto Budapest?
And we were like, well, maybewe just don't go to the weekend,
we don't go to the race and wejust pivot, right, you know,
because we I mean mean there wasa point where we were seriously
considering selling our ticketsbecause it was just complete
and utter chaos.
Lina (20:41):
But I was gonna say I'm sure you could have sold your
tickets and at least recoup some, if not even made money off of
it yeah,
Nikita (20:46):
yeah, but neither one of us really wanted to do that,
because we were both reallylooking forward to this trip and
the experience, you know, andand it was a once-in-a-lifetime
trip.
It was a once-in-a-lifetimeexperience although, granted, we
went to two races because wewent to the hungarian gp and
then, when we were in cologne,we went to the spa gp, which was
(21:11):
amazing too.
So, but, yeah, so that was,that was my europe trip.
In a nutshell, it was ratherinteresting
Lina (21:17):
.
Yeah, I probably would havecanned that one.
Nikita (21:19):
Yeah, no, we didn't.
Lina (21:20):
We said where else can we go?
And just kind of went to a mapand thrown a dart somewhere and
said, yep, there.
Nikita (21:25):
But you know what, once we got to Munich, we were back
on track, back on schedule andnothing else, thank God, went
wrong.
That's awesome.
So it really worked out really well.
And munich have you ever beento munich?
I have not.
Oh my gosh, we loved munich really.
It was.
We wished we spent more time inmunich than we did.
(21:46):
Really it was so nice, thepeople were nice, the city was
clean, it was walkable.
And then, like I said, we wentto.
We went to ber, and the one daywe must have walked 30 miles,
like no joke.
We walked all over Berlin, yeah.
And then we were in Cologne fora couple days and then we went
(22:06):
to the other GP at Spa, whichwas in the forest.
That was interesting.
Literally a Formula One trackin the middle of the forest.
It was the coolest thing.
So random,
oh, so cool though.
Lina (22:20):
I have been to Germany, but it was really only as I was
driving through from Poland toItaly.
Okay, there's kind of a passthrough, but I never really kind
of stopped or explored orsightseed anywhere.
So, right, need to go back forsure.
Nikita (22:31):
Yeah, germany we want, we want to go back to Munich, so
hopefully we get there soon.
Yeah, oh, very cool.
What other stories you got for?
me.
Lina (22:38):
So when I was going through my divorce, my really
good friend and my mom both saidwe need to go away.
Take your mind off of stuff.
Let's go away for a little bit.
So we went to Puerto Rico and wehad a great time.
I think we were there for likenine or 10, nine or 10 days and,
uh, the one night we're there,we go out dancing.
There's this really beautifulplace that has the best sunsets
(22:59):
at their bar and they have thesethings that are called piratas
and they're giant coconuts thatare alcoholic drinks.
So we're all drinking anddancing and having a really good
time and I'm on the dance floorwith my mom and my mom and I
are killing it.
So my mom actually has a Latinand Bolton dance studio on the
side, so we're really dancing.
So sometimes it's kind of funnybecause people will be like, oh
(23:20):
my gosh, look at you guysactually showing up the Puerto
Ricans.
So we're dancing and all of asudden some man grabs my mother
from me on the dance floor tostart dancing with her.
Oh no,
I was about to throw one of these piratas at this man's
head and like go full onfighting
Nikita (23:34):
.
I can just imagine,
Lina (23:39):
until I realized it was one of my childhood best
friends' dads.
How does this happen?
How is that the most random thing ever.
So like I'm literally about tofight this man who grabs my mom
on the dance floor and I look athim and I say his name and he
looks at me and he says my name.
So I just look at him and givehim the biggest hug ever and it
was just absolutely crazy, likewe never skipped a beat.
And turns out that he hasfamily that lives in that area
(23:59):
of Puerto Rico.
So we weren't like in San Juan,we weren't in a real touristy
area, we were on the East Coast,not the West Coast, of Puerto
Rico.
So that was just kind of areally random thing.
But anytime I travel with my momwe run into people.
She knows it's the weirdestthing.
One time we're in Aruba, we'reon a family vacation and we're
(24:19):
about to cross the street andsomebody yells my mom's name and
it turns out it's this Germancouple who did Argentine tango
with my mom.
Oh, that's wild,
from Germany in Aruba.
And then one of the otherreally weird things that
happened to me and even to thisday I still get chills thinking
about it.
We were at the same resort inArubauba and it was in the hot
tub.
And this girl comes in the hottub and she says Lena.
(24:40):
And I'm like there's no waythat girl just said my name.
I'm going to pretend that Ididn't think that I knew that,
because that was really weirdand she's like Lena, do you
remember me?
And I look over.
And it was a girl that I met inthe teen club a year prior on a
cruise that me and my familywent on
Nikita (24:57):
.
Oh my gosh,
Lina (24:58):
so super random.
She was from like Iowa orWyoming, somewhere, really weird
.
The cruise was out of Florida.
It's not like we were evenanywhere close.
It wasn't even the same week ofthe year, like everybody took
vacation the same week and wehadn't kept in touch because
back then we didn't have cellphones or you know texting each
other or any ability to doanything like that.
So it was the same girl that Imet on the teen club of a cruise
(25:19):
the year prior, in the same hottub at the same resort in Aruba
, not even a day after my momran into the Germans that did
Argentine tango in her.
Nikita (25:28):
That's crazy,
Lina (25:29):
isn't that weird?
Yeah, that like made my skincrawl.
I was so freaked out.
And then I had a friend for thewhole rest of the trip because
her and I kind of hung out andit was really cool.
But I just don't know how thathappens.
Everybody says there's sixdegrees of separation, but I
don't really believe that.
I think it's definitely morelike three, maybe two
For you.
Yeah, I feel like the world keeps getting smaller and
smaller.
Nikita (25:48):
Speaking of trips after divorce, so after my first
divorce I had a flight creditfrom a trip that I was supposed
to take with a friend way backwhen we were supposed to go to
the DR and she wound up havingto cancel.
So I had this flight credit.
So after I got my first divorce, I was talking to who is now my
(26:11):
best friend.
One of my other best friendsand her husband and I went to
high school together.
We were bio partners and we had, and I had switched high
schools halfway through mysophomore year.
So you know, I was like kind oflike the odd man out and he
didn't have a bio part, hedidn't have a partner and I
happened to be sitting next tohim.
So we inevitably wound up beingbio partners, wind up being one
(26:35):
of my best friends in highschool.
We graduate, he goes into thearmed forces, goes about his
business.
Lose contact with him.
Find him and his now wife onMySpace, do you?
remember MySpace?
Lina (26:49):
I do.
I never had a MySpace page, butI had a MySpace, wasn't that?
Like your friend, tom George, Ithink it was Tom.
Nikita (26:56):
Oh yeah, the MySpace friend.
I was like I don't know, are wejust naming people now?
No, no, it's Tom.
So I find my friend and his nowwife on MySpace and me and his
wife start BSing
Lina (27:08):
.
Did they have a joint page?
Nikita (27:09):
Yeah, back in the day.
Lina (27:10):
Oh, that gives me cringe.
Nikita (27:12):
Yeah, but you know what?
They did it?
Because it was just easier withkeeping in touch with family,
so I understand why they did it.
Sure, so they both have theirown private Facebook account,
like it was literally just aMySpace thing.
So, anyway, so me and herbecome pen pals, essentially,
and we were talking back andforth and we became really
really good friends.
So I was going through mydivorce and I was complaining to
(27:33):
her and the divorce got finaland I texted her.
I'm like, hey, what are youdoing?
Such and such date?
She's like nothing.
I'm like, yeah, you wantcompany?
She's like sure, fly out toGermany, because they were
stationed in Germany, spent aweek and a half out in Germany,
had the best time ever, have anew best friend, reconnected
(27:53):
with my high school bio partner,and we've been best friends
ever since.
There you go wild.
So you're not the only one withcrazy reconnection stories.
Lina (28:01):
Yeah so I have a crazy reconnection story too.
I am sitting home one day and Iget a group text message and I
hate group text messages, I amnot a fan.
So I open it up and all I seeis, hey, it's jamie gabbs, m-o-h
.
And I'm like I don't knowanybody named Jamie anymore.
I'm like I don't know what agab is and I'm not really sure
(28:23):
what a mo is.
So I shut my phone and I justkept about my business.
So next thing, I know peopleare replying to this group
thread and everybody's sendingtheir email address.
So now I open it back up andI'm kind of curious, like what
is this?
So I start reading the textsthat I stopped reading and it
starts talking about how they'regoing to go to the Fountain
Blue in Miami, which is one ofmy favorite hotels and I love
Miami.
(28:43):
So I'm like I'm not sure whothese people are, what they're
doing, but I want to go to Miami.
So I just replied back with myemail address.
No idea what's going on,
oh my God.
So next thing, I know they're putting together pricing
and then like if everybody whosent their email address and is
going to go, this is what it'sgoing to come out to per person
person.
So I'm like, wow, that's superreasonable for five days in
Miami.
And I'm like, can I really dofive days in Miami with a bunch
(29:04):
of people I don't know?
And I'm like I can't.
I'm like, but I can definitelydo like three, I'm pretty
likable.
So I booked the trip.
Oh my God.
So I get there two days aftereverybody else had already
gotten there.
So my flight arrives.
It's about 11 o'clock that I getto the hotel, the Fountain Blue
, and I'm knocking on the doorbecause I know everybody has
(29:26):
already checked in, but I don'thave a key or any way to get in.
So I'm banging on the door.
Nobody's answering.
I mean, it's going on like fiveminutes.
I am banging on this door andI'm like this is a terrible idea
, I'm going to be stranded.
Opens, but not all the way.
It like unlocks and somebodywalks away.
They just opened the door andwalked away.
Did you walk in?
(29:46):
So I opened the door and it's pitch black.
Like I said, 11 o'clock inMiami, it's pitch black inside.
So as I opened the door, thelight from outside is shining
into the room and there aregirls passed out everywhere.
I mean girls sleeping on thecouch, girls sleeping on the
floor, and I'm like, wow, thisis another really bad life
decision from Lena.
I'm like, but this one's likereally bad, because I'm stranded
here for three days and I don'tknow any of these people and
(30:07):
like I don't know, are they ondrugs?
Are they dead?
Like what is happening?
So I literally have my suitcaseand I'm climbing over bodies,
oh God.
So I'm like, okay, I'm justgoing to go hang by the pool.
(30:27):
So I go out, and you know, I'mhanging by the pool and then a
couple hours later, this grouptext starts up again hey,
where's everybody at?
What's everybody doing?
So I replied I was like, hey, Imade it in, I'm by the pool.
So you know, next thing, I knowthere's a bunch of people
coming down and they're allwearing like the same kind of
shirts and we had to send in ourshirt size.
So I sent in my size.
They ordered a shirt for me.
So I start talking to, you know,a couple of the girls that are
there, and the one girl was fromthe same town that I grew up in
(30:48):
and I'm like, no freaking wayit turns out, I went to high
school with her sister.
Oh gosh, I'm like how does thishappen?
It is such a small freakingworld.
Yeah, that's wild.
Um turns out the bride, who'sGab was a nickname of the bride.
The bride was marrying mycousin and, yes, somehow I got
(31:09):
invited to the bacheloretteparty.
So I'm like this is great, I'mtotally here for this.
So it really made me laughbecause they were all probably
somewhere between five and eightyears younger than me and I had
already gone through a divorceand I already had a kid.
So they were looking at me aslike the mom of the group and
like, asking me advice.
I'm like I'm not really sureyou want to take marriage advice
from me.
(31:29):
I'm divorced and stuff like,but like you've been through it
all and you have a kid andyou're so cool and I'm like, oh,
thanks.
But um, I really did feel likethe mom of the group but it was
great.
So the next day we hadchartered a private yacht to,
you know, go out and just kindof be on the water and sunbathe.
So when we had gotten back, Isee the mayor of Elizabeth, new
(31:50):
Jersey Stop, yeah, chrisBullwich, who was the mayor at
the time, right, and I did a lotof like critical infrastructure
and key resource work with myprior job and we had a building
in Elizabeth.
So I knew him, so I see him,and I was like Chris and he's
like Lena and I'm like what areyou doing here?
And he's like a mayor'sconference, what are you doing
here?
And I was like bacheloretteparty and they're like only you
(32:12):
would freaking know a mayor inMiami and I'm like I know, I'm
like I don't even know anybodythat I was on this trip with,
but I knew the mayor of you knowdown here in Miami.
So that was a great trip.
So it definitely made thewedding a lot more fun.
Yeah, because then I knew allof the bridal party and, like I
said, the groom was my cousin,it wasn't even the bride.
Nikita (32:29):
Did you even know that this wedding was?
in existence.
Lina (32:31):
No, well, I knew that they were getting married, okay, but
I didn't know that this wastheir bachelorette party because
I, I would be invited,
right, um, and when did youknow the bride?
Like,
I knew the bride from, like you know, family events and
stuff like that, but we hadnever hung out one-on-one.
And when they called her Gab, Ididn't recognize that as her
name.
Right, that was like a nicknameof her, so I didn't know.
(32:53):
And when they said, you know,this is Gab's Mo, I didn't know
what a Mo was.
Come to find out.
Moh, maid of honor.
But I didn't put it alltogether.
Oh, that makes sense.
And the maid of honor whoreached out in the group text,
reached out from her cell phoneand I'd never met the maid of
honor right so and I didn't knowany of the phone numbers that
were on that group text and thebride wasn't on the group text
(33:13):
because it washer.
It was a surprise.
It was her bachelorette party.
So I literally didn't knowanybody on that group text and I
was like, yep, I'm in going toMiami with a bunch of girls I
don't know.
I'm like what could possibly gowrong?
Everything?
Yeah, this is great.
Only you,
only me.
I don't know how these thingshappen to people and I feel like
(33:34):
what are the chances thatsomething like this would happen
?
But then I think like it mustbe pretty good, because this
happens to me all the time.
Yeah, right, yeah, but toanybody else, like slim to
Nikita (33:44):
none yeah, I don't have any crazy random people texting
me.
Let's go on a trip.
Okay, I'm in,
Lina (33:50):
yeah no, I mean, but that's happened to me a couple
times within the last couplemonths too, right, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, it just kind ofhappens.
You just got to go with theflow.
You know what are the youngkids say these days YOLO, baby,
yolo, wasn't that big.
Nikita (34:05):
That was like a thing.
Yeah, that was a thing.
Lina (34:07):
Right, I mean, that's not how I feel.
I don't feel like I'm going tolike take absolute crazy chances
, because you only live once.
But I do feel like I love totravel, I love to see the world,
rather have an experience oversomething materialistic oh, 100,
you know.
So, like you're looking for abirthday gift or a christmas
gift, I'm all about let's makean experience over.
This is a thing, yeah, um.
(34:27):
So I love to make memories.
I love to experience newcultures and foods and sightsee
and just got get that you knowcultural background that you're
not going to be able to getotherwise,
right well, there's nothing.
There's nothing like that,though.
Yeah, like yeah, I'd muchrather go on a vacation
somewhere.
I have a whole bucket list ofplaces I want to go.
(34:48):
What's on your bucket list?
Nikita (34:50):
Australia?
Oh, that's a good one.
Um, I want to go back to europe where um, I want to go
to london and I want to go tofrance.
Nice, um, australia, like Isaid, thailand, which is going
to become a reality and I alsobelieve it, or not.
Want to do iceland and I wantto do tahiti, the philippines,
(35:14):
okay, cambodia.
I want to go to anchor watt incambodia.
Do you know what that is?
Oh, yeah, it looks amazing.
That's awesome.
Yeah, what?
about you.
Lina (35:22):
So I definitely want to do French Polynesia.
So, whether it's Tahiti, boraBora, the Maldives, fiji, one or
all, I just kind of want toexperience that whole area.
There's a girl that I went tohigh school with.
We weren't, you know, likefriends in the sense that we
hung out or anything, but we hadclasses together.
We were always really friendly,and she's a photographer and
(35:47):
she lives in New Zealand.
So she had just recently postedon social media that she was
looking for a model tophotograph for her portfolio.
So I'm like, well, if itincludes a trip to New Zealand,
I'm in.
And she wrote back and she'slike, well, I wish I had that
much money.
I don't.
She's like you'd make afantastic model.
(36:07):
I'm kind of like tossing aroundthe idea of flying to New
Zealand.
That's a long flight too.
It'd be a really long flight.
Um, I can stay with her andshe's got a beautiful family now
and, like I said, we were neverreally friends in high school,
but we always got along reallywell and she was always really
nice.
So I think it'd be pretty cool.
I mean, I'll go with you,
nikita.
This is gonna be the beginningof something, because I know you
don't mess with me.
When somebody says I'm going togo with you,
Nikita (36:23):
but we have to go bungee jumping.
Lina (36:24):
I'm going to bug a bitch.
I don't know if I can bungeejump since my back surgery,
whatever but we'll do somethingequally crazy.
If I can, I'll find out.
If I can
Nikita (36:33):
, you're going to eat bugs,
Lina (36:34):
no, no, I don't eat things that make me gag.
Do we need to edit that partout?
No, I'm not editing that out.
I'm just saying I don't eat things that make me gag.
And, by the way, if you guysheard the story about how my New
Year kicked off my dog gaggedand I fell down the stairs and
I'm all banged up.
So we're not going to go backthere, we're moving forward.
(36:58):
Yeah, let's take it easy on thegagging Please and thank you.
Nikita (37:02):
Oh God, Well, this is an interesting conversation for
sure.
Lina (37:05):
Definitely is an interesting conversation.
I see travels to New Zealand inour future.
Nikita (37:10):
Well, you got some major things coming up
Lina (37:12):
.
I do so.
Nikita (37:13):
You got to get through that first.
I have some major things comingup that I need to get through
first.
So maybe I'm the back end of2025.
Because our winter would betheir summer too.
Lina (37:24):
I'm here for it and our winter is also our birthday
true, two weeks apart.
Yeah, three weeks.
Two, two, two.
I don't do maths no, no, clearly we've had this
conversation before I did mathswith your daughter today, though
how'd that workout,for you
killed it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was she doing?
We were doing long division.
I was so good at it, thoughthat's because there was no
(37:47):
letters involved.
Yes, I'm really good at mathand there's no letters.
Yeah, yeah, there could bedecimal points and numbers and
all sorts of stuff.
I'm here for it.
You throw a letter in there,I'm out.
Yeah, I'm out.
Nikita (37:57):
Speaking of being out.
Yes,
I think we better be out before this goes down some
other tangent road.
Lina (38:03):
Well, I thought I was gonna go somewhere when you said
the back end,but
Nikita (38:07):
I can't I have no comment.
Lina (38:09):
I know, I know you love me .
You wanna hug me,
miss congeniality.
I love sandra bullock and also wanted to be an fbi agent
all my life.
Did you know?
I went to the fbi academy
Nikita (38:20):
.
Yes, did know that
Lina (38:21):
great story.
We can save that for anotherday.
Or maybe we just won't tell itbecause if I tell it I might
have to kill you.
Nikita (38:28):
In Quantico,
yes or DC,
and then we can go to Alcatraz.
Although you already didAlcatraz,
Lina (38:34):
I was there, yeah, in September.
Awesome, super, super cool.
All by yourself,
all by myself.
All, all by yourself, all bymyself, all by myself.
Nikita (38:44):
See, I went to I'm All Alone from.
Was it in the Lion King withthe parrot?
The parrot, yeah, is that aparrot?
No, in the Lion King he was inthe little rib cage of the dead
animal.
No, I think.
I'm thinking of the wrong movie.
Lina (39:02):
Yeah, I'm not sure what you're thinking of, but I'm not
quite following it.
No, I, I think I'm thinking ofthe wrong movie.
Nikita (39:04):
Yeah, I'm not sure what you're thinking of, but I'm not.
No, I know what I'm thinking of.
I'm thinking of donkey fromshrek.
Lina (39:08):
Oh, yep, that would do it on that note
Nikita (39:11):
, I think it's time that we say goodbye.
Lina (39:13):
I think it's time we go.
We cut off nikita from whateverit is that she has in her yeti
water.
Yep, that's what she says
not tequila,
because tequila is to kill you oh,
my god.
All right, on that note, thanksfor watching and we will see you
next time.
On two voices, one vibe.
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