Pack Your Bags

The Red Lips Real Talk Podcast, hosted by South Florida Latinas Jasmin, Jessica, Monica, Maritza, and Deibys, starts with introducing new member Jessica. They discuss her excitement about joining, Deibys' work trip to Atlanta, and balancing travel with family life. The hosts share travel memories, emphasizing cultural immersion, family ties, and the emotional depth of new experiences. They highlight the benefits of travel with tips and personal stories from places like Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Colombia. The podcast encourages living fully and exploring the world, wrapping up with heartfelt stories and travel advice.

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Transcript

Hey, chicas, welcome to Red Lips Real Talk Podcast. I'm Jasmin. I'm Jessica. I'm Monica. I'm Maritza. And I'm Deibys with a Y. Get ready. Somos Latinas from South Florida, bringing you real talk on life, love, and everything in between. Time to get real.

Welcome to Red Lips Real Talk Podcast. I'm Jasmin and we got a sponsor, bitch. Woo woo. Yeah. Would you hear that intro? That's what happens when you got money. Mm hmm. You get beats. You get the beats. You get beats. Go ahead. That's right. We have a sponsor. But guess what? Did you guys, the listeners, did you guys listen to the beginning of our show, our real intro?

Did you notice a new name? Yeah, there's a new name. I know I heard something. Bueno. Get ready and buckle up because we're now, when we go out, we're not going to say table for four. We're going to say table for five, because we have a new Red Lips cast member.

Guess who it is? Jessica. Jessica. Welcome. Thank you. You are officially now a member. I feel so special. And we're so happy to have you here. Welcome to Red Lips. Thank you, ladies. So tell us, how does it make you feel? I'm really happy. I'm excited. I'm really excited. I mean, especially, uh, because I'm with a group of amazing ladies that I admire very deeply and that we've shared a lot of seasons and just ups and downs of life, but we've leaned on each other and I just got to be a part of this amazing project, this platform that you all started.

So thank you, Bravi. Yeah. Yay. I'm excited you're coming too because I think you're going to bring a different energy and you're going to have so many, you know, you have a lot of life experience and you've also in the health industry as well. You're an expert. I mean, I think you're an expert in my world.

You're an expert. So I'm excited about you being here because You know, your professional background and your medical field and I'm excited about being able to talk about heavier and deeper subjects and, and having someone at the table who is very knowledgeable in that. So I'm excited about that. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies. It's only getting better. Yeah. Yes. So, Deibys, tell us a little bit about where you went for your job. Um, I had to do a little traveling for work. I was in Atlanta, Georgia, recently, and it was good, it was busy, it was fun, you know, it's always a good time. Did you get to do anything outside of work there?

No. I mean, I had fun, though, because, you know, our hotels are always near the convention center, wherever we're hosting the trade shows, or attending the trade shows, because we exhibit there. So, we, you know, we always get to walk around. It's always usually in the city area, so that's nice, too, you know, in the morning you get to walk down.

there. And we do dinners. So I get to, you know, see a lot of the nice restaurants in the area, but I don't have any free time to like go anywhere. Like we were very close to the college football hall of fame. Like I passed it every morning when I walked, walked to the convention center and I was like, Oh, it'd be so nice if I could go in there.

But there's like no time for anything. Yeah. How does it make you feel when you travel and you have to leave your two daughters behind? It's hard. It's hard. I recently just started doing this. The company I've been with, I've been there for years, but this position is new. So I just started traveling last year and luckily it's only twice a year, but um, it's still hard.

And another thing that is not too bad is I don't travel on the weekends. It's always during the week. So they're in school sports, puts a lot more on my husband, you know, but it's hard. I miss them. I miss them a lot. It's hard. I miss my husband. I do. I definitely feel guilty. I do. The mom guilt is incredible.

One hundred percent. Especially if they got something going on in school or, you know, they have something with sports. Like, that's why I'm glad I don't miss the weekends because I wouldn't miss a game, you know? I don't have to miss a game, but it is, I feel guilty, but I, you know, we FaceTime, I call them at night.

I try to call them during the day, like when they get home and, you know, but that's one thing I really admire about you. You know, you're a full time worker, you're an incredible mother, you're a beautiful wife, a great friend. Bye. And you still make time for our podcast. That's pretty incredible. Oh, thank you.

Yeah. Well, I love you ladies. And this is just too much fun to not do. And I'm a little jealous because a cousin of mine was like, I really like Deibys. I'm like, oh, I'm glad. I'm glad that you like Deibys. I know. I loved hearing that. So thank you. Well, we love Deibys. cousin. You know who you are. La prima. La prima.

How dare she? Deibys is my favorite. Oh, I loved hearing it. I loved it. So how's everybody else's weekend? Anything to share? No. Not on my part. I don't do nothing. Maritza? Cleaning. That's it. Oh, that's always fun. Yeah. And it's always there to do. Yep. Yessica. Oh, Yessica? Bueno, Yessica. Yessica escaped with her family to Orlando.

Nice. Which can be, you know, a circus and it's all, it's like, you don't know what you're in for. It's like, it sounds like a great idea. And then when you're there, you're like, well, how was I thinking? Where? Where'd you go? Did you go to an amusement park? We did. Well, actually every year we go at least. Uh, during the summer, we go to Volcano Bay.

You know, that's the one I haven't been to yet, and I'm dying to go. Oh, I highly recommend. I think it's a great kids place. They say it feels like you really are somewhere else when you're in there because of the way that they make the area feel with the volcano. Exactly. And it's not like those long lines.

Even though the next day we went to Animal Kingdom, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. So, whew. Nice. But we had a good time. I love going to Orlando. Yeah. A little break. I actually was with Monica this weekend, though. We had a really nice weekend when I got back from my trip. We played Spanish Lotería.

What is that? Spanish, Spanish bingo. Yeah. Oh, Spanish bingo. With pictures. So, you have cards. It's like a kid's game. And you flip them. Even in Spanish. Memory. The memory game? No, no, no, no. Bingo. It's bingo. But instead of pulling numbers out, and there's numbers on your card, your card has pictures. So you'll pull out, like you have a stack of cards and you flip.

It'll be like

Those are real words. Those are real words in there. Yeah. So when you flip,

it's No, no.

Oh my gosh. Everybody had to shut up in my house. Everybody had to stop what they're doing. Yes, yes. And my dad would always be the one talking. And my grandmother lived with us. It'd always be me, my sister, my mom, my grandmother. We all be like, Cállate, cállate, cállate, guárdame calo. And you, everybody had to be quiet until he said, Everybody sign.

Yes, exactly. Mucho, mucho. Amor. Amor. Whenever he would say They did a documentary about him. I saw the documentary. Did you see it? I did. I did. It was very good. It was very good. Yes. I loved when he always said, for example, I'll say Virgo. He'd be like, Virgo. Yes. And you believe that shit? Oh my gosh. Yes. And then all the rings that he had.

You know, that might be why I like astrology. Because I've been watching one of them examples for many decades. We get it. We understand. You are third for me. It's real. But anyways, he's not on the bingo card. Loteria. I should be. Well, do they sell that on Amazon? Yes. That's where I got it. Ah, bueno. Lo voy a comprar.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for telling me that. It was fun. We were drinking. We had dinner. My parents were over. We had a good time. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And the kids can play too. So it's, you know. Oh, that's true. The kids can play. Yeah, the kids were playing. It was actually my daughter's idea.

She was like, should we play Loteria with Abuela and Abuela? I was like, yeah, that's a good idea. Aw. Yeah. Oh, your girls are sweet. Thank you. Well, you know, I like that all of us always talk about the things that we do. And you brought up that. Jessica, you brought up that you went to Orlando, which makes me think about, you know, traveling and all the things that I've experienced and like, you know, how you should travel with little kids and teenagers or single traveling or with your spouse.

Yeah. I don't know. I just, it made me remember right now, it triggered something in me. The first time I genuinely said, I'm going to travel. And I was watching TV. Do you remember Anthony Bourdain, May He Rest In Peace, No Reservations? Oh, yes. I was a really big fan of that show and in that particular episode, he was traveling in Spain and my husband and I were enjoying a bottle of wine and I got a little tipsy.

I had never really traveled in Spain. abroad and I just bought two tickets to Spain a week before Thanksgiving. Oh my God. And I remember he was like, what are you doing, Jay? Come on. That's crazy. Get the money back. Like that's nuts. And I cried and everything. Cause I just remember feeling so irresponsible, but there was no way that I could get out of it.

I had to find babysitters for my daughters. They were in school. They were little. This was 10 years ago. Wow. Anyway, I could have you here forever, but it was the best mistake of my life. Those usually are. And I remember. arriving in Barcelona and I just was like, okay, that's it. This has been the gateway for me to, to just never stop traveling because it just fulfilled me in so, in so many ways that has actually made me think in the future when I'm an older person, much older.

I'd like to be able to live in another country for a little while. Yeah. I, I would like to do that for sure. My kids are still little. It doesn't mean I can't travel with them, but fund wise, you know, like money wise, it makes it a little bit more difficult, but I definitely look forward to that. Like my husband would love to travel.

I would love to travel. I know there'll be a time where we can, you know, have the money that we spent on the kids now cause they're little, put it towards more traveling later. So I'm really looking forward to that. Well, can I make a suggestion for you? So I did travel with my daughters, but never abroad, but I did travel in the United States.

And I found that there are such incredible places to visit because you have to bear in mind that the United States is practically almost the same size of all of Europe. Yeah, yeah. That's why a lot of people don't leave the United States because people forget how grand the The United States is alone.

And uh, I got to visit so many places in South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, the Smoky Mountains, just so many incredible places that are kid friendly. Yeah. Yeah. And if you No, I agree with that. I definitely have taken them to some places and I want to do more of that for sure. Have you gone to Helena, Georgia?

No, but I heard of it. It's like a small little town or something. Well, I've never been either, but I did hear it looked like Copenhagen, Denmark. Yeah, I hear it's like really, really nice. Yeah. So I do suggest that for you if you want to start introducing that type of travel and then by the time your kids get older, they'll be ready for Europe or Asia, you know?

Yeah. That's just a little suggestion I have for you. Ty, anybody else traveled anywhere? Yeah. So I think, uh, with families, I think it's a little tricky too. I was, I've been married 12 years and my husband and I have always traveled. It's been part of like our marriage. It's like our, you know, we're business owners.

So it's been our outlet to kind of disconnect. And so it's been like really important for our marriage, honestly, and it's been our outlet. But then we became parents and it's, traveling is very different. And what we did this summer, we've been talking about it for like a year and a half that we wanted to experience, as you were saying earlier, I wanted to really experience how it would be to live abroad for a short period of time.

And so we've been planning it for about a year and a half and talking about it and we decided. Let's just do it. Our kids are not in school right now. Right. They're little. Honestly, we really are type of parents that we just want to get our kids accustomed to traveling. So, and even though we haven't, you know, I haven't taken the plunge in, I've traveled to Europe, but now that we have babies and they're little, but I have been toying around with the idea and now, you know, we decided to go to Columbia.

And we wanted to go somewhere that wasn't too far, that wasn't going to be expensive, because obviously it's not, no more traveling for two, but now it's four of us, right? So we have to be able to go somewhere where it's inexpensive, that it's easy to get around, the language is not going to be in hindrance.

And so that's what we did. We just packed up the kids and you know, we planned it. But we're like, okay, let's make this feasible. Let's make this, you know, able to, to stay away the whole summer. And that's basically what we did. And we wanted to go somewhere too, where we felt safe and that was very family friendly.

And if we wanted to go and visit other areas that we'd be able to do so. And you know, it was, it was easy and somewhere obviously that we have visited before, but we wanted to make sure that it was somewhere where we can enjoy our time and really experience like a different quality of life. And we, just to put things in perspective, we're.

parents. We became parents later in life. So our work life is very different. I'm not in the hustle and bustle of like how I was like in my 30s. Right. So taking a step back so we have that flexibility, you know, and we're able to, you know, like we're at that stage in our life where our finances are in place and we've worked really hard to get there and.

Right. So why not do it for sure. On a personal level. polygetically were like, we could do this. Let's do it. Yeah. And it was an amazing experience and I really wanted our kids to have that experience of living in another country. And what would that entail? And would we even really like it? You know, it's funny because you said I wanted to go to a place where I felt safe and I have mentioned to a few people in the past, Oh, I'm going to Colombia and they're like, Oh my God, aren't you scared?

That's a stigma. It's a horrible stigma and I'm always like, have you ever been to Colombia or when was the last time you were in Colombia? And I always try to tell them you, you really don't know what it's like now. It's stunning. It's beautiful. The food is delicious. The people are nice. It's affordable.

The country in itself is just aesthetically beautiful. It is. But it's still, it's, it's interesting because I. Remember going actually for your sister's beautiful wedding. That was a great memory. Yeah. Yeah. That's the one you went there, Monica. The pictures. Oh, I saw the pictures. Beautiful. One of the most beautiful weddings I've ever gone to in my life.

And I want to say, am I wrong to say, Monica, that was like your first stamp on your passport? That was my first passport. I was so excited when you said that. I was excited. I was excited for you. I got a passport. Yes. Absolutely. That's when I said, there's no stopping me now. Oh my God. Yes. She's just, yes, yes, yes.

I've just been going. Good. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah. And, you know, I've actually met people that don't want to travel or have zero interest in traveling. And I respect that. Everyone has, you know, you spend your money and your time the way that you see fit. The only thing I always feel like, oh, you're missing out on learning about other ways of living, other cultures, other smells, other foods, how people, you know, work in balance.

And, um, how they just, in some countries, how they really just enjoy life differently than we do. I had this preconceived notion of what I thought things were, how things were supposed to be. Right. And then when I was given the opportunity to visit so many beautiful places, it made me less narrow minded.

And it made me want to learn more languages, to be honest. And I wanted to say that since like we're in a different stage in our life, we had a different perspective about traveling. It was also in a way to like reset and just, I wanted to create different memories with my kids. My parents, um, you know, being immigrants, they were just in survival mode.

Same here. There was like a limited time for us to have vacations and then we didn't take any vacations after. No. I don't. I don't, I think I went like twice somewhere that yeah, we did it. My parents were always that just working, working, working, working, working. So I wanted to create a different life for my kids and I want my kids to actually get accustomed to traveling and also myself as a parent and be able to like to get through that.

And it is a privilege. It's not easy traveling with little kids. No. I was going to say, do you have any tips on that since you've traveled with them? Like, even just on the plane, what things you do when you're there? Yeah. I have to say, like, I have my little checklist on my phone and depending on what stages, my kids have been trying.

The first international trip was when they were a year old and it was a different, they were a year. So I definitely have to keep them busy on the flight. Yeah. And you just have to really like, I have to have a glass of wine. I would too have a glass of wine because it's like, I mean, I would even call you and I'm like, Oh my God, I'm getting on the flight.

Let's see how this goes. And you know, you just pray to get to the end. So I think when they're smaller, it's definitely, honestly, it's just not fun, but just once you're there, you're like, all right, I made it through, right? It was worth it. It was, I made it through. That's it. Let's just do this. But it's definitely, uh, I think with kids also just keeping in mind that they are, like, amazed by the fact that they're getting on a plane.

They're very excited. They're very excited. And which is so sweet to see that. And, and I just think it just depends on, on the stage they're at. Yeah. My sister got the kids, the boys, like, headset so that you plug in instead of the Bluetooth. So I thought that was very helpful. And I always have like two little traveling backpacks that I just fill up with little toys for them.

And I make sure I have their headphones because now they're at that age where they can kind of sit through a movie. Right. Yeah. You just got to find a lot of things to keep them entertained. And lots of snacks. And yeah, the rest is just pray that you make it to that point. You know what I had, I had read somewhere too, like a little tip, um, I haven't had to do it.

Because I ended up not traveling there when they were that little, but like window clings too. Like you can put the little window clings. Little stickies. Yes. So they can like play on the window. Those puppy stickers. Yeah. Yes. I was like, that's a good idea. Definitely stuff my bags with all of that. So yeah.

And just little trinkets. Two, what I always found was helpful. I would give them like a little, uh, travel size. Uh, miniature kit of like Play Doh, and they love it and they would put it on the little trays that you, you know, you pull down on the flight. So that was also entertaining. And if you go with more people, even better, cause all they want to do is just walk down the aisle and it's like, you take turns and then the bathroom is a whole other situation.

What's the longest? Oh my God. And those things are so tiny. You can barely fit in there. How about, um, like what's the longest flight you've taken with that? So that's one of the reasons hence why I haven't gone, uh, to Europe because those are some long ass flights. So it's been, I want to say just three hours, just three hours, just under three hours.

That's doable. Yeah. So it is. It's just a movie. Exactly. Exactly. Watching. Yeah. Fidgeting. Maybe hopefully you're praying they take a nap. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But other than that and taking a nap. They have this amazing, it's so crazy how like what they have now available for her moms. Like now they have travel, like really easy, uh, foldable strollers that you could fit through the compartments.

Yes, the overhead compartments and those are the ones you just put them through your shoulder. And I find those to be so amazing. It's like brand called Yo Yo. My sister and I like, we're like, that's the one you have to, we have to get that one. So it's like the same one that I saw you. What is it called?

It's called Yo Yo. Yo Yo. This is good. And you know, you know, you know, you know, that's the one that you see all over traveling. And that's like the best. That's a good tip. And it's lightweight and it's lightweight. So and every time I go on the board, the, the, the attendants are like, Oh, do you want to check that?

I was like, no, this fits right over the compartment. So it's going in. No one's taking this away from me. So yeah, I definitely recommend that. Just your kids pay. You pay for their tickets. Yeah, those days of them sitting on your lap. What age is it? No, I want to say that's two. Two and over. I want to say it's two and over.

Do you have a, um, rewards program for them? I use, I have my Amex. I find that my Amex is like the best. I heard that you can sign up for, um, Your kids, once they start purchasing their own tickets, they have their own ticket, they have their own flight. So you can sign them up for like flight rewards. Oh, okay.

Start them young. Yeah. Because their names are on the ticket. They should build points. That's a good tip. Because you're paying for the flight. Yeah. Definitely look into that. Not to change the subject, but just because you mentioned that, I actually gave my daughters when they were 16 years old. An American Express card through my card and said they worked for me.

I put a limit on it and by the time they became 18 years old, they already had 800 credit scores. Wow. A little tip there, a side note, I know it has nothing to do with, but these are the things that. That, you know, parents sometimes don't know and you can empower your children with little things like that.

So I didn't mean to change the subject, but it's just because, you know, these are, these are things that you can do and it teaches them responsibility on a little budget, you know, they can earn rewards with it and they can earn where they're spending their money instead of giving them a debit card. You can give them that and it helps them with their credit and you can control.

you know, how much they're spending and where it's going, just a little tip for if you have teenage kids. for that. That's a good one. Good to know. So Monica, why don't you talk about that special trip? Which one? Well, you know. You know the one you and I did. We went to Switzerland. That's right. We did. That was a trip that I kind of like invited myself on.

Did you? Is that how it happened? Yeah. Tell that story. She, we went to lunch and she was talking about her husband's business. Birthday's coming up, and Well, no, tell them why we went to lunch, because that's a good story, too. That was a beautiful story. Oh, well, that was the hurricane in Fort Myers at that time.

I forgot the name of it. But we went there. We, you know, we had bought a bunch of stuff and decided to take a drive, me and my husband. to make a donation to people out there, and they were in the area as well. So then we met, you know, we met for lunch after that, and she was talking about her plans to take her husband, they were going on a trip for his birthday, and I was like very intrigued.

Hurricane Ian. Ian. Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian. Very destructive out there. Yeah. It was devastating. So the company that you work for, no, it wasn't, it was just, it was through us. Oh, it was. Yeah. Oh, I thought it was. Yeah. I'm sorry. I apologize. Um, some of our friends also decided to give us stuff to donate.

You're very generous, Monica. I don't think you realize that. You've always been a very giving person. Oh, No, I just wanted to say that. She really is. You have a huge, huge heart. I like, I like doing things for others. Yeah. I do. You do. But, um, we were, you know, she was talking about her trip and I was like very intrigued and I was like, wow.

And I think she was like, you should come. Just because I was there. You know, that's not true. But she said, you should come. I was like, I don't know. We'll see. Maybe. I'm on. I never really. Okay. I wanted to travel. Just never took the plunge. Right. Always. Because you got to plan it. This, that, and the other.

Money, whatever. There's always an excuse. And, um, yeah, I went home and I started looking and I was like, oh, this is, this is, this It's so doable. Hold on a second. And I booked the flight. And that was it. How far were you, like, to your date that you were leaving? Like, how far? It was, it was less than two months.

Oh, wow. I think so, yeah. That's pretty wild. That's pretty, uh. But she, she sent me a text message. Adventurous, Monica. Exactly. Yeah. I think it was a text message. Yeah, because we you sure it's okay for us to join you? Yeah. And I was like, yes. And she goes, oh, good, because I already got the ticket. No, and we were in a group chat because she was sending me and my husband photos.

And. You know, little things, what they're planning on doing. So, you know, and then he called me as soon as I sent her that message. He was like, wait, what? What? You bought the tickets? And I was like, yeah, we're going. Yeah. Even if Jasmin says we can't go, we'll just, you know, we'll cross paths at some point.

What are you doing here?

It was, it was actually more than two months. It was. It was a while, because we had some time to plan for it. Did we? Yeah. It wasn't that long. I did a lot of research. Okay, it was three months. Well, I'm grateful. Well, I thought I was organized. In trip planning, but she took the cake. Well, she was organized because she sent me an itinerary, you know, let's do this, let's have an Excel sheet.

Yeah, she did a whole Google sheets. Yeah, yeah. And it was, I was like, oh, OK. And I just started doing research. No, but then she. Monica's good at researching though. I made plans. I was like, let's do this. Let's go on the train. This, that, the other. And yeah. And I think that's fun. Like once you like, all right, I did the deed.

Then you're like, all right, now let's start planning like all the activity. It's fun. It was a lot of fun and it was It was, it was special that we got to, to share that as friends. It was. And I have to, I can't speak for her, but I, I will say that it was a beautiful experience as friends. I think it brought us closer.

It did. And I know that Switzerland for me, again, I can't speak for her, but aesthetically, it's probably a nature wise, nature wise. That's on my bucket list. Yeah. It's probably the most beautiful country made by the hand of God. Yeah. And I remember we went to Grindenwald, and it was very, very cold. We were prepared.

We had the right clothing attire, and we did the cliff walk. And you go up these cable cars, and it was freezing, and it was just like What month were you guys there? March. March. March. I remember seeing those pictures. Me too. I was like, whoa. And we get there to the top. It was just like a winter wonderland.

I'm going to send you some videos and pictures, Maritza. Maybe you can put them on the Instagram if people want to see them. Um, but anyway, make a long story short, we get to the entrance of the cliff walk and I just remember, I just, I just started immediately crying. I've never experienced any, and I'm being, I'm being really serious.

It was the first time I felt that close to God. Yeah. Yeah. I even still get emotional about it. I felt like God was there. And Monica was like, are you okay? But you know what? That reminds me of the book, Eat, Pray, and Love that I read. I think that thing, I think that book came out like in 2000s. Yeah, it was a long time ago.

I have that book. 2007, 2008. And when I read that book, I, I just, I don't know, it was just, I started traveling a little bit after that, but that just set a fire in me that I was like, I can't miss out. Like the, you know, one day you're here and another day you're not. And like, I have one key thing that she says is like, I need this.

to marvel at something. My eyes need to marvel. And that just stayed, and it just, like, reached my soul. Mm hmm. And it's like that. You saying that, I don't know, but that's just what brings to my mind. And it made me, like, I always feel a little guilty when I have these. Life experiences because I want everyone that I love.

You wanna share it to share that with me? Mm-Hmm. And there's always a little sense of guilt. Mm-Hmm. . Like, why am I worthy of this opportunity? Mm-Hmm. . But why are you not I, no. Right. I was gonna say that. I'm not saying that. I'm not. Um, and I've learned, thank you for saying that. Mm-Hmm. . I have learned that, but there's always a little guilt because I grew up extremely poor and I grew up in extreme poverty and.

It makes me emotional because those were things that I never thought were attainable, that I could even dream of having that type of experience in my life. And then God has blessed me with it. And I'm just so grateful. And I had many moments like that in Switzerland where I just cried so much and Monica witnessed it.

And I, I don't think I've ever been on a trip that made me feel quite like that, where I felt so appreciated, appreciation for it. And I think it was because of the natural aesthetic beauty of the country. And I was there with it. with a lifelong friend, you know, it was more meaningful because it was very, there was like a snow blizzard, storm, whatever you want to call it.

We get up there and it's just snow. You can't see anything. And then we get to the end of that first cliff side. And when you, that's when you catch her crying and you turn around and it's just beautiful. You see everything. You feel like, well, first of all, how high is that cliff? Oh, I don't know. 4, 000 feet and up in the.

Air, and it was very cold and there was like a, a snow, like a white, you felt like you were in the clouds? Yes. You were in the clouds. Because in the pictures it looked like, I remember seeing the pictures. It was like fog, clouds, light. Like you were that all high up. It was all white. You couldn't see anything.

So I just remember thinking, oh, I can't see anything. I can't see. And I was like, I, I hope this will clear up. Mm-Hmm. . And then out of nowhere guys, it was just like, Mm-Hmm. . And then you just, I think there's a spiritual connection, everything that when you see something's open, your, I agree. And I just felt at that moment, like, I am so lucky.

Because you're like in awe. To be here. It's like a splendidness. And I felt gratitude. Yes.

We have a sponsor.

So, you know, if you're thinking about traveling and you think it's not attainable. Or it's never going to happen. I hope my story has inspired you because I never thought I would say that publicly about growing up in poverty. But you know, sometimes you think that these things can't happen and I'm here to tell you that they can.

And I think those are like beautiful things because from what you weren't able to have, then it kind of pushes you towards like, you know, I want to experience it. I don't want to lose out on it. Yeah. And that's why I feel like for me, again, this is just for me, I want to have experiences. You know, I don't need the, I'm sorry, Jasmin, you know what you said when you guys were talking about like the moment that you guys shared, it came to me too, that this summer for my family, I've always, I love Columbia very deeply because it's my roots and I never had the experience of having memories with my grandparents and that's like something that I've always carried deep in my heart and my children are able to have that.

My nephew and niece are able to have that. And to me, like Columbia is a very, very special place. special place spiritually, even for myself, because I feel like more connected to my roots, to my dad, that one day he's not going to be here. And I've been able to connect with my family over there and create relationships with them because my parents are the only connections where I have of my, you know, my past of my ancestors.

And so to me, it's always been really important. for me specifically. And so this summer that we were there for such a length of time, it coincidentally, as that was happening, my nephew was there for the summer and he's, he's a senior in high school this year. And my niece, my sisters, we were all able to be for the first time since the wedding and the wedding happened.

So I was so busy. I, we really didn't get to like do any of that. But this time we did. And my parents are, I guess you could say snowbirds. So they live six months over there in Columbia and six months here. So we were able to spend the summer with them and my kids. So we made some great memories and I was able to share a special moment with my nephew.

I think I shared that with you ladies. We went hiking in Armenia, which is a beautiful area in Colombia. It's in the valley, but you're like hiking. And so you, you gotta go like climb up. And I had a moment, I was actually with my kids too, and my husband and my, we took our nephew with us and we were in this part of El Valle that is just, the scenery is just so majestic and just so much beautiful foliage that is It's just so hard to even explain because like words can't even capture that moment just like you, you know, even in a photo, I was going to say, even enough, take pictures and it just doesn't capture it.

It doesn't, it doesn't because it's the feeling that you're, that you're acquiring in that experience. You just want to capture it. You want to keep it, everything, the wind, everything. Yeah. And photos won't. And I was so, and you said gratitude because I was so grateful in this moment. My husband, we were with our kids and I wanted to climb like all the way up and, but I, you know, I was conflicted cause I was with my little guys and my husband was like, babe, just go up, go with your nephew.

And we went up there and I was like, that was such a gift that he gave me for like, just that. Slight bit because I was able to like just disconnect from my boys and just go up and just be there in The massiveness of just this beauty and I was that was one of my goals That I had missed that for a bit because he's so involved with the day to day and I that was one of like my prayers I was like I can have like that again for one other time and I did it was like God just was like here's a little gift from me to You know, and, and my, my nephew and I were up there and we had like this stillness and quietness from just soaking in that moment.

And I was like, I was like, Hey, I was like, so how, how does this make you feel? And he was like, he was like, it was just like, God's here. And it was the stillness that I felt like it brought tears to my eyes at that moment. And I will, it's a picture that I carry with me in my heart. Like it's there. And we created that moment.

Yes. And all I. Felt was just complete gratitude. That's why like it was a gift. Yeah, I know traveling is expensive, so I wanna make that very clear. And it is a privilege and it's difficult and sometimes maybe someone's listening's like, I wanna do that too, but I can't afford it. Right. So what are some tips that we can give people, whether they're single married or have children that we can give to them and say, no, you can.

You can make it happen. Because I know we made it happen and it's total totally doable. So there are several tips. that you can do. Like, what's the best time of year for you to travel on a budget? So I know that high season always is going to be like around the summer months and things of that nature.

But January is way too cold. But if you want to go to Europe in January, you can have some pretty remarkable experiences. But it's going to be very cold, and you need to bear that in mind, but it's going to be a fraction of the cost. But March, April, and May tend to be pretty good months to travel as well.

That's how we were able to go to Switzerland and, uh, where else did we go? Venice. Venice. But you wanted to go to Germany, and I was like, I'm not going to Germany. Yeah, she wouldn't budge. Because we were supposed to go to Paris and then they were having the Yeah, the strikes. The strikes. They're always striking.

Paris is always a hot mess. So we were like, okay, not there. Ellos siempre están peleando. So we were, you know, because over there you can definitely, once you're there, it's easy to kind of get around, whether it's a train or a flight. I envy the train system. Oh my God. It's beautiful. It's amazing. On point.

Really it is in incredible. Yeah. If it says it's leaving at 2 51, it's leaving at 2 50, 51, 2 51, they're clean. Yeah. That's one thing that I admire about Europe is their transit system. That we don't have that in the United States. There's mind blowing, there's nothing like that. It's mind blowing. Yeah. But, um, it's easy to fly from, you know, one country to the other.

There's not 2030, they're like, they're like 50, $40. Depending on the season. From one country to another. Yeah, over there. Yeah, I've heard like, to leave here to go there, the most expensive thing you'll probably spend is the flight. That it's not expensive to be out there and actually do things. Deibys, I've seen flights from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Paris for 300.

Well here's the thing, if you, there's um, And once you're there, then you fly within the country. Right, right. Or take the train, yeah. I don't know if you've ever heard of Google Explore? No. Okay. So it's uh, Google. And always do this on, um, Google. Privacy mode or whatever they call that. I can't. Privacy mode.

Incognito. Incognito. So you go to Google Explorer and you pick your airport and you leave the where to blank. And it'll tell you like, you know, how far along I think it gives you six months out. So you could pick one week in six months from now, September, whatever, whatever that is. And then you zoom out.

And it shows you the prices for all the different places. So like Europe, New York, whatever the case is, wherever you want to go. I have seen flights to Budapest doing that for 400. Really? So if you don't know when you want to travel, that's a good way to do it. And you're flexible. You're flexible. You pick, okay.

You don't know where you want to go. So you kind of just get a view of everything. And pack light. Don't take luggage to Europe. Don't you dare get a backpack. What do you want to bring back? Bring a backpack. Uh, the heavy duty backpack. But the stuff you bring back. You buy another backpack over there and you fill it up.

I'm an overpacker. No, don't. Yeah, I am. And there's no point in you taking things with you because you can buy everything over there. I mean, I would say definitely take Tylenol, Ibuprofen, sunscreen, things of that nature because you need a prescription to buy Ibuprofen and Tylenol. In many countries, you need to see a doctor.

It's not like you go into a CVS and you can get a Tylenol. Not in Spain. You gotta see a doctor. Sure. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Glad you know that. And it's a good idea to get travel insurance. Definitely. And what's that for? I have a hookup if you guys want to know. What's the travel insurance for? So if you get hurt out there, you pay, you pay, what is it like, maybe?

God, I paid I think 40 and if God forbid anything happened to me, I would have complete 100 percent health care. Yeah, you're covered with health care over there. Oh, okay. It's worth it. Yeah. And they, and it's probably like 100 bucks if you know you're going to travel multiple times out of the year. We did it in Switzerland.

We were going to mountains and stuff. Yeah. You never know. Right. Yeah. So you get that and you're covered over there. Make sure that if you're, you call your cell phone company and you tell them you're going to be traveling abroad, they ask you what countries are you going to and they'd say, okay, it's 10 a day and you have full data.

So you call your insurance company? No, no. Your cell phone company. Oh, your cell phone company. Sorry. I got lost. No, no. What you were saying. Yeah. You have to think about the, yeah, those type of things. Yeah. Change it to a, don't think you don't need data. You need data. Change it to an international plan or for the time that you're going to be away.

And then don't forget when you come back to switch it back, take Imodium because food is different. The food is delicious. Cause I was going to ask about that. I've also heard, um, like they say, don't drink the water, drink bottle water. If you get like soda or anything to drink, say no ice. It's like, do you guys.

Well, Switzerland has the best water in the world. You can literally get water from a fountain that's just in the middle of nowhere. Unless you're like in Mexico. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where you're like, okay, you don't want to drink the water. I don't know, because I went to Lisboa, I'm in Portugal and it's very clean there.

The food is delicious and my husband got food poisoning. Yeah. And everything that we ate was beautiful. High end quality. Like everything's perfect. And he's still got sick. So you never know. Yeah. They say, take a shot before you eat. So the alcohol kills everything. I don't travel, but I got tips. Well, you will travel after this.

Make sure you take a universal charger because you need to charge yourself. Yes. And the outlets are different. Blow dryer and all that stuff. In Europe, yes. No, no, no, no, no. Don't take a blow dryer. Well, no, I wouldn't pack a blow dryer. Because you're not, because you're going to blow up the hotel room. It ain't just my hair I'm blow drying.

It's cheaper for you. This is for you. No, I wouldn't pack it, but I was thinking of that. It's cheaper for you for whatever country. If you're in Milan, in Italy, in Spain, or whatever country you're visiting, go buy a blow dryer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like 30 bucks and you do your hair there. And I hear it so much more like laid back, slow pace.

People aren't stressed out. I think the quality of life is very different. Although now they do sell dual voltage because I was, I was gifted one. It was a flat iron and I was able to take it. I was like a curling iron, something like that I would take. But like a, like a hairdryer is so big, like a curling iron.

I would, yeah, that that's. Yeah. You know what? Hotels have blow dryers. Right. That's why I don't take it. Cause I always, the hotel, I use that there, but the curling iron, I use it. Yeah. But I still end up looking like Mufasa. I was going to say like me during the whole time I'm usually traveling. It's just.

Yeah. Not always. Let's say for those days when you're going out somewhere nice. You know, these beautiful people that travel and they take these stunning pictures and they're like, Oh, I'm here in Santorini or I'm here in, you know, Dubai. And they look gorgeous. When I travel and you look at my pictures.

I'm sure you still look beautiful. No Deibys. Our hair is up. What our travel cap? Listen. The travel cap. It's not cute. The travel cap. I'm not there for a fashion show. Although it was embarrassing when we went to Milan. So we drove from Switzerland to Milan. See, that's where I grow my hair. The fashion city.

The fashion city. We drove there through the Mont Blanc. It was stunning, but super scary, okay? We show up to Milan. We stay, we're staying in this beautiful hotel with a rooftop bar and we look all, all of us, Monica, I'm just going to say, we all looked homeless. No, we looked, well, cause we, we packed clothes for hiking.

Right. Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. We were wearing like North face and we looked hideous. Okay. So we get to the rooftop bar and they're like in Italian, I can't speak Italian, but I'll just speak Spanish. We're like, Bienvenido. Do you have a reservation? But, but, you know, all this beautiful language. And she's looking at me like, She's looking at you like the lady in Pretty Woman.

She says no, she has no reservation. And I said to her, I know that we're not dressed properly. We just arrived and we're really tired and we're very hungry. And she goes, I'll get the table for you all the way in the back. Oh no. Right, so she sits in the back. It ended up being gorgeous, but then I understood why she sat us in the back.

Everyone that it was go, it was a rooftop bar, Courtney Milan. It was a hot highend. Yeah. Everybody walked in like a Vogue cover shoot. And me, Monica, her husband, and my husband, and we're like, she is homeless. . She's homeless. la They're hungry. Throw them bread. . Throw them bread. Milan does not play. I wouldn't think so.

Milan does not wear the fashion in Milan is, men were walking in with fur coats. Yeah, I believe it. Because what happened was Switzerland was very well planned out, but we left five days that we were going to wing it. I was going to ask that. Do you plan everything? Because I think I would like a little bit of.

Yes. I like winged days. Me too. You need like a little to Yeah. Adventure. Check the area out. Decompose and take it easy. Take your breath. I would like both. The plan was to go to Paris, but they were on a strike and it was, it was a very, very bad strike. So that's when Monica was like, let's go to Germany.

And I was like, let's not. Was there a point that you guys split? Wasn't there a point where you guys We were going to do that. We were going to do that. That was the plan. I thought you guys said, okay. But then eventually I admitted to her that I have a fear of Germany. And she's like, well, then why, Jasmin?

Why didn't you just say that? Why were you being weird? Yeah, she was being very weird. No. What's the fear, though? But why? No. Just no. I'm just a little afraid of Germany. So I had said, Monica, I don't want to go to Germany. I'm scared. I'm scared. And she was like, well, Jay, you should have just said that. And she was like, well, let's just go to Italy.

And my husband was like, we could drive there. And I was like, we're going to rent a car because I wanted to fly. And they were like, yeah, we're going to rent a car. We're going to drive. And I'm like, and how long was the drive? An hour, two, three, four, five. It was a couple of hours. It was a few hours. Yeah.

And it was driving in Milan. Was it dark? Were you driving on the opposite side of the car? Wait, who drove? No. No. Her husband drove. Oh, no. And the steering wheel wasn't on the opposite side? No, it wasn't. I thought all cars were like that. No, but I think driving in another country, period, no matter where you are, is scary.

Because I'll be honest with you, I've traveled to, I've traveled to Europe and I've traveled even into Colombia and my husband just like in the last couple of trips drove over there and I'm like, Oh no. No, Colombia is no joke. Colombia is no joke with the driving. It's chaos. It's organized chaos. I remember when you're driving on the road and sharing the road with donkeys.

Yes, well, I remember going to DR actually and the ride from the airport to, to the resort we got was great. The guy was going super fast. It was like rocky dirt roads, very like small. It's crazy. And then the motor. Yes. The yes in America is no joke. They're like mosquitoes. They're like, they're like little mosquitoes everywhere.

That's funny. . Yeah. Driving. Driving in another country as brave. Yeah. It reminds me of when we went to your sister's wedding, we had gotten a taxi. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And the taxi broke down in a tunnel. So as the cars are coming, they don't know that your car has broken down. So they're coming 80, 90 miles per hour.

And the taxi drivers turns like this is like a, you know, Latino, Colombian, darker skinned man, a newer cab, by the way, newer, not like, uh, yeah. He turned white as a goat and he was like,

And I was like, what is happening? And Monica goes, get the fuck out of the car. I opened the door and I throw myself in it. ditch. Yeah. What? Yes. All of that happened. And then my husband gets out and he's flagging the cars, stop, stop, stop. And then we ended up in some arepa place waiting for someone to come and save us.

It was arepas number three. Yeah. I remember the picture of us in the group chat. Oh my God. And where was this again? In Colombia. In Colombia. In Medellin. Yeah, but it's in Colombia. It's safe. It's safe. Yeah. Just don't ask the cab driver to put the air conditioner on, that's it. Because I was being a diva and I was, uh, and I was like, can you put the AC on?

And he was like, well, I'll keep the windows more open. And I was like. Why? They don't have AC in the car? They don't work with the AC. That's why the car broke down. This particular car. This particular car. That's why. Okay. Yeah. But we have stories, we have stories, but I did want to say this before I forget.

So we ended up not going to Germany and we didn't go to Paris and we were going to drive through Milan. And then we were already in Italy. And I said, Monica, let's go to Venice. And she was like, let's go to Venice. And it was not organized. We stayed in the shittiest hotel. It was just pure chaos. But I'm going to tell you everything they say about Venice.

It's true. And I just remember, I wasn't feeling very well that day. I had some like stomach issues. Actually your husband has stomach issues too now that I think about it. So we encountered some health issues. But with that said, I just remember being in Venice. Looking at Venice and I was like, again, having one of those moments where I was like, I am so grateful to be here.

And if you're thinking about going to Venice, do it soon because they said that Venice may not be here within the next 25 years. That's what I hear. So don't put, that's why I wanted to say it because if that's on your bucket list, I would love to see it. Do it as soon as possible. Soon as possible. Wow.

It's a magical place. And definitely stay in Venice because we weren't prepared and we stayed outside of Venice. Mm-Hmm. . It really wasn't a big deal. Right. But looking back and you're looking, if I could do it again, I would stay here. I would love to do it again. Actually, my husband, he's the type of person he goes to one place and doesn't go back and he wants to keep it moving because he wants to see, but he was like, but I would go back to Venice.

You know what I've heard is a good idea too, that I would like to do for reasons like that. You get to kind of see a little bit of everything. I had a friend of. Mine that did a European cruise and actually my sister did it as well. So I know two people that did it and they said it was nice because they got to go to different areas and visit them and then kind of get that feeling of like, this is beautiful.

This is beautiful. I would like to make a trip to come back here and I'll stay here. So it's kind of like a little test drive. You kind of get to see everything, but they both also picked a place. I forgot if it was before the trip. or at the end of the trip where they stayed a couple days. My friend specifically stayed in Spain.

So she stayed there for like two or three days after the cruise was over or before. I want to say it was after. But it was like such a wonderful trip because she's like, we got to see so many different places and she said Spain was like amazing that she would totally like live there. She said it was so laid back.

She's like, you live in Spain in a heartbeat. It's like having breakfast during the week because they went like, I think it was during the weekday. It's just the quality of life. She's like, everybody is like slow paced. No one's rushing to get to work. People are actually sitting down with their families.

You see them having. And it's the simplest thing. Yes. It's the simple things. Simple things. And I'm all about the small things. You know what I mean? It's the simplest things. I mean, Spain, I experienced the last time I was there. I saw children playing outside. Like the old times, and I couldn't remember the last time I saw children playing outside like that.

So it's definitely beautiful, but they're encountering a huge tourism problem right now. So yeah, I mean, there's challenges in every country, pros and cons. They also have, you know, issues with their economy and labor and stuff like that. So it's totally doable. You know, you could live there, but you have to be prepared financially.

You have to be prepared. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you mentioned, Jessica, that your parents live six months here and six months. That's a dream of mine. I just don't know if that's feasible because of our lifestyle and our children, our grandchildren. But I think two, three months out of the year living somewhere else is totally doable once you fully retire.

Yeah. And, and my husband and I, I mean, we're not retired, but we definitely want to do it again. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If we go back to the same place or visit another country and be able to, and again, our kids are little. So that's another reason why we're doing it. But even when your kids are older, your summertime, when they're off of school, you know, even if you pull them a week out early, if you had to, you know what I mean?

Like it's not, I definitely would want to do it again. And it gives you, I felt like we had a really intimate family time, like real meaningful quality time together. Just like, and when we. You know, the other thing is while we were away, it's like, honestly, I got to compare our lifestyle here and over there.

First of all, honestly, the U. S. is getting very expensive to my God. 100%. And we were able to, my parents, that's another reason why they do it, is that they're able to, you know, um, stretch out their pension a lot longer with, uh, their retirement funds. in another country. And a lot of baby boomers, you know, that's what they do.

They're retiring in other countries. And, um, you know, with the benefit of being able to stay in another country with a U. S. passport, I believe if I'm not mistaken, the U. S. passport is probably the strongest stable passport that you can have worldwide and be able to even stay in another country for years.

Like there's no time limit for a natural born American. Uh, U S citizen and you can still utilize your benefits of a retiree outside, which is why a lot of baby boomers are doing that. They're trying to stretch out their dollars and what other way to like, enjoy your retirement by staying in another country and you know, being able to save money.

And what about the current, now that you're saying about the money and stuff, like how does the currency work when you're in other countries? And it depends on where you are. Like I know for instance, um, in Columbia and that's another, a lot of people from the U S I bump into a lot of retirees in Columbia.

Columbia. Even in, uh, Central America, a lot of people are moving out because of the dollar exchange. Um, particularly in Columbia, the peso, I mean, it's 4, 100 pesos per dollar. Like, and for, I mean, me particularly, like, for like to do my nails. To do a manicure, a pedicure, eyelashes, and, you know, like, uh, eyebrow waxes, like, with a tint, you can get all that done for less than a hundred bucks.

Wow. Like, I did my gel manicure and pedicure for, like, 40, less than 40, you know, so, I mean, and you can, like, especially when you're traveling with four. You know, the restaurants, but you know, as far as the exchange, that's another thing with when you're traveling families, you want to go to a country where, you know, you're going to get a lot more for your buck.

So like when you go in and get your nails done and stuff, so how do you pay? With your card. You can pay with your card. With your, with your debit card. With my debit card. Connected to your account in America. Knowing, knowing first. If your card is going to charge you an international fee for the exchange, so look into that.

That's really important. Check with your bank. Yeah. Banks, they do all different banks. Yeah. Capital One does not. Capital One is one of them. Right. Okay. Well, I wanted to add like one of the things, and this sounds so little, you know, Davey's we were saying like just the little things regarding quality of life.

Um, and those, one of the things that I really, reflected on being away. And honestly, one of the main reasons why my husband and I wanted to live somewhere else for a time um is because of you know, just being able to have the comparison of what it would be like and what are the things that we would miss and not miss.

And really the fast paced life I did not miss. Yeah, I don't, I don't think I'd miss it. Yeah. And I think Move it. You know, a couple of times I would call and check up on my friends, of course, cause that is one thing that I did miss. Of course. Was my friends. And, you know, I remember expressing to you and it was like, you know what?

I don't, it's strange. I just did not miss the U. S. Yeah. I did not miss here, but I missed my family and I missed my friends, but I did not miss the lifestyle. I'm, I, yeah, I, the busy lifestyle doesn't let you enjoy the little things, right? Because you're too tired when it comes time. to have a moment. You're just like, I just, I just want to lay down.

I just want to read. I just want to watch show. I just want to go to sleep. Right. And here's the thing. One observation. I don't know if you guys observed this guy. I know when I went, cause I went for my honeymoon to Italy and that one key thing that always stay with me is like people would go out to dinner and they would stay out for hours or dinner with their glass wines and no one was on their phone.

I felt like so weird being on my phone. And another thing too I've heard is that, I obviously talk to people that travel a lot because I'm like, what they heard this, I heard that, but they say that they don't rush you out of the restaurant. Like when you eat here, it's very like, you know, not like you're being rushed out.

If you go to a nice, really nice high end restaurant, you're not going to get pushed out the door. But there is like a timestamp in a way. And I've heard like when you go to these other places. countries and you go to these nice restaurants, you could be there for hours drinking your coffee. Cause that's what they want.

It's expected. Right. It is. It's part of the culture. Right. It's part of the culture. That's the way to explain it. And one of the other things was, I felt like. Well, particularly because I did, I was lastly in Columbia and I spent so much time there. It's like the friendliness, the family priority, wherever you go, I would go to a restaurant and people would consider my kids, right?

I was going to say, how is the difference in the people? I feel like that is very lost here in the US. I do not think that families come first here. Yeah. Um, just the amenities for, for families with kids. kids. I don't think is a priority. And over there, it's just part of the culture, right? Oh, you guys got little ones.

Okay, hold, let me see you. Let me do this. You need that. Oh, it's just, it's a natural thing. It's not a thought. Yeah. So I want to jump in here because one thing that I noticed when you go out to dinner or go out to eat with your children in the United States, most of the time, If you're with a child, they give your child a kid's menu and what's on the kid menu.

It could be a burger, it could be chicken tenders, pizza, french fries, but when you're traveling abroad, you eat what's on the menu that the adults are eating, which allows your child to start exploring real food, food that's made organically, that doesn't have all these weird ingredients. Oh, you just hit it.

I was going to talk about that have a five and a six year old who's eating, you know, foie gras or having Pate or having shrimp or having onion soup. But even the food, even the quality, the quality of food over there is different. Like it is, you hear like even the ketchup bottle, like, Oh, let me tell you, the ingredients compared to the ingredients here.

And it'll be Heinz. It'll be the same brand. You will have me talking about the egg yolks, bright, bright yellow, orange. Well, we went to a McDonald's in Switzerland. I don't eat McDonald's. That is one thing I do not eat here. You've never liked the smell of McDonald's. Yes. If I have to pull over to get McDonald's for my kids or Yeah.

You've never liked it. Or my husband, windows down, cause the smell itself just makes me sick. I hear you. I despise it. But we went there and my husband's like, I want to try McDonald's. I remember. Are you guys telling me you went there? And Jasmin, you tried some stuff too. Well, I like to, I don't like McDonald's either.

However, when I travel, I do like to try foods from the McDonald's that I'm visiting because They have a drastically different menu, so I'm always curious to see what are the things that they offer. Right. So, when we were in Switzerland, they had chicken wings. At McDonald's? At McDonald's, and they had like a, a different type of burger.

Have you ever seen Pulp Fiction? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No, that's okay. I'm thinking cause Samuel Jackson says the royal something. He calls it like, in another country, the burgers called the royal mix something. I don't know. I'm not sure. If you know, you know, people, the way listeners, if you listen, if you watch Pulp Fiction, you know what I'm trying to say.

In Paris, it's mix something. Cafe and they have, I ate in Paris at a McDonald's. It's just a whole experience that they're using. You're probably like a lot fresher, which I don't want to change the subject, but there's this lady in Congress that's literally fighting to get certain ingredients taken out of our food in the United States.

Like red 40 is poison for children. Horrible stuff in Gatorade, like all these things that are banned in Europe. And we are here like six Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole other episode. I'm not even controlling it. We could talk about that. Yeah, yeah. That would be a great, no, but that would be a great topic. Yes.

Cause I'm, I'm like very interested in that. So that's what I'm saying. When you travel abroad and you see a five and a six year old eating, you'd be like, Oh my, my son would never eat that because your son or daughter is only given a kid's menu with chicken tenders and french fries. It's on the parent too to say you're eating something else.

I mean, but, but, but the, but It's not there to give it as an option. It's like pushed in their face. They see this fun little menu and then, you know, it's like. They're included. They give them like a coloring box and crayons or like a little menu to color. And over there it's like, no, engage in the conversation.

You said the right word. It's engaging. I did something so simple and it's probably going to sound silly, but I, um, I had gone out with a couple of my friends at the time there and. We went to go have coffee, and I was so simple, un café con leche, and con un pancito colombiano pan de bueno. And we were there, like, I never looked at my watch, and it was, I was so fulfilled.

And no one's looking at you like, when are they leaving? No. And I was so content with just that, just, it's a great memory. Those So those are the things that I love. Well, I'm going to tell you the things that I appreciate about the United States, and that's iced coffee, air conditioning, a washer and dryer.

When you call downstairs and order ice and they bring it to you in a bucket. Ice is a big one. My husband and ice were like, where's the ice? People don't believe in ice in Europe. And I'm like, ice, ice. baby. Yeah. That's a big one. Listen. So you mean like if you're getting a drink, they don't, it's hard to get ice?

bro. You get like three cubes. Listen, this is a true story. When we were in Portugal, I think, yeah, was I in Portugal? I don't know where I was. I was somewhere. I was in Portugal in Spain and I asked them for ice. And she was, looked at me like if I had a third eye. And I was like, yellow. And she was like, okay, I bring, I bring.

She, not the color, bring yellow. A plate. English. Like a little cereal bowl with three little ices in it. And I was like, oh, um, a bucket. She goes, no madam, no, no ice. That's it. That's all you get. I was like, thank you. And that's how it is. Which reminds me of a funny story. We went out to dinner and it was my daughter, my stepdaughter and my daughter in law and me and we were in um, we were in Barcelona and we had made this beautiful dinner reservation and you know, we're, we're ready to order like we do in the United States.

You get your drinks, you order your appetizers, you order your food, you order your dessert and then you leave. But that's not how it is. So, my stepdaughter wanted to order a bottle of wine and she wanted to order some appetizers and I guess the structure of that particular restaurant didn't work that way.

But she was trying to make it work that way and the waiter says, no, you can't eat that. You can't, you cannot have that. You, there's too much food. And she was like, well, that's what I want. He goes, no. Huh? And she's like, well, that's what I want. And he goes, no. Madam, I told you, no, it's too much food. And just get this or this, but you cannot get a dot and dot and dot.

That's too much food. And she was like, this motherfucker is about to get a beat down because she's you know, she's she was ready to fight. And I was just just listen to him. Just listen to him. She's like, I swear to God, I want to kill him, Jay. And I was like, well, whatever. We ordered the food. It ended up being.

the perfect amount of food and it was delicious. Because they serve you probably in big servings. And he was like, you see, I told you. Is it good? She goes, he goes like, it's good, right? She goes, it's delicious. He goes, you're full, right? And she goes, yeah. And he goes, I told you. Oh my God. That happens a lot in Europe.

And you don't tip. What? You don't tip. Yeah, you don't have to. If you want to leave a little something, but no, you don't tip. That's what I'm saying. Like, if you do your due diligence and you want to start traveling, you can start in places like Colombia, Ecuador, certain, uh, there's so many parts in South America that are safe that people are afraid to travel to.

You can have a really cool, I mean, and this I, I do recommend, like, if you've never been to like Medellin to Colombia and you want to just go somewhere just like for four day, you can definitely go fly out to, um, to Medellin. It's great weather. It's like springtime. If you want to get away from this freaking South Florida heat.

Yeah. Instead of going to like South Beach where it's like an arm and a leg sometimes to go and stay at a freaking hotel and a high end thing and a high end, um, a restaurant for that amount. I mean, you could book a flight, leave Thursday, come back Sunday, go get your hair did and go to your nails and spend a nice little weekend with your husband, a little break and come back and it's a short flight.

When we went to your sister and go to some really nice restaurants, I'll going next weekend. So the next podcast, I recommend it ask me, Debbie, how was your weekend? sister. Sister wedding . I remember. So we got the airline tickets, the hotel, and I remember we were just. Right. And I had one particular card that everything went on that cards that way.

When I came back, I knew, you know how much we spend. Yeah. And I, I had a budget. Right. But it keeps it all organized and you can just check it in one place. So I'm charging and I'm in my brain, the exchange rate in Columbia was a little more difficult for me, like in my brain. So I was like, I kind of already lost control.

So I was like, okay, this bill is good. That's why I asked. Cause I can get very easily confused when Bill's gonna be chunky monkey when I get home, you know, because I was, I was like, I'm here having the time of my life. I really did have one of the best experiences at a wedding and that was, I really profoundly am being truthful.

But anyway, so we're like having all these beautiful experiences. Anyway, I finally get my bill and I'm like, this shit's gonna be chunky. I was like, this can't be right. This can't. This can't be right. It was just, I don't know. I'm just gonna say it. Half of what you thought it would be. Not even. I think my bill was like 1, 000.

What? And I was like a Kardashian. I was like a Kardashian. I remember ordering, cause I love rum, like one of my favorite drinks is rum and coke. I know that's boring. I like rum a lot. No. When they say, what's your favorite drink? And they tell you what's your favorite sexual position. So I put rum and coke and they're like, Oh, you're definitely missionary style.

You're boring. I'm like, that sounds about right. So, um, so yeah, so I told her, give me the best rum that, that you have. And she, the lady came and she goes, Oh, it's this one. I don't know. She said something pesos or whatever. Yeah. And I was like, that's fine. Um, that's what I want. She goes, are you sure? And I was like, yes, I'm sure.

So she gave it to me and it was absolutely delicious. So I looked at my husband, I was like, hi, can I get one more? I go, I think it's like 50 a drink. And he was like, babe, go for it. I got another one. She was like, you want another one? Are you sure? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm sure. She's like, this shit's probably like 80 a drink.

That's what I'm thinking. Cause I'm thinking South Beach Miami, you know, they were 15, 15. It's incredible. I'm Also, within the same United States, there's so many beautiful places that you can go to. So, how would you know exactly where to go? Do you guys ever look at sites, look up the areas, besides knowing like family members?

Monica brought up that great point again, about Yeah, the Google Explorer. It'll show you also That's good. I didn't even know about that. But it'll also show you like the good areas. Well, you figure, okay, this is 400 round trip. I think I want to go here. Then you start doing your research because at this point you have TikTok, Instagram.

Exactly. Social media, definitely. I just put the country and it'll show you. It'll start telling. Yeah. And I find a lot of great restaurants. Through Instagram. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a good visual, especially like with TikTok, so yeah, we did a lot of, YouTube was very helpful. Mm-Hmm. because a lot of people, they just, they, right.

You get people blog on trips and they take you to places and they're showing you, okay, so there's, they have places that people do a whole itinerary for. Yeah. Yeah. The whole thing. They'll even follow it. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. Wow. You research it. Yeah. And Google's very. Very helpful. Because you could even save on Google Maps.

So like if you do your research and you say, I want to go here, here, here, and there, you save it on your Google Maps. I've done that. And you download it offline so that it's working for you when you're offline. Yeah. And it'll show you where to go. Nice. And Google's very helpful with like, um, I noticed that when we went to Switzerland picture.

Picture finds on your map. Like. Yeah. Like a good place to take a picture. If you're going to be here. Oh. And you click on it and it'll show you like the scenery. Like, Ooh, I want to take a picture. Oh, cool. You did not share that with me. That's why our pictures were always fabulous. You kept that secret to yourself.

Like, let's go here. Let's go there. And I'm here like, wow, she's amazing. That's cool. Que mentirosa. Las verdades siempre salen. Little secret. I just know things. Well, you know how we use Yelp here? In Europe, it's the fork. Oh, I've heard of the fork. I'm going to tell you some of the best meals I ever had at 50 percent off.

If you do the reservation on the fork and we would show up and then you had your name, you would get your bill and it was minus 50%. Wow. Okay. So the fork is a good one. Absolutely. It's good to know. Well, I hope that this has inspired our listeners. If you guys are still here, you are a fan. Yeah. Right.

Let's do something for our listeners here. This is for you

because we appreciate you. If you've always wanted to travel, I hope this has inspired you. I know it can be a little hard if you have to travel.

Thank you ladies for sharing your beautiful stories with us. Thank you ladies. And maybe we can put in the show notes all, like some of the, all the information. Absolutely. I wrote some of them down, like the yo yo link, the fork, the Google Explore. Yeah. It's good stuff. I'll put that in the show notes for sure.

All right. Well, thank you, ladies. Thank you, ladies. All right. Pack your bags. I know. Start living your life because you got to start now and go to Venice before it disappears. Yeah. I'm going. You have to go, Deibys. I'll go with you. Okay. Let's go. I love you guys. Love you. Love you. Hasta la proxima. Hasta la proxima.

Thank you for listening. Make sure to subscribe to our show so you don't miss an episode. We will be dropping an episode every two weeks. Oh, yeah. No, like, seriously, subscribe now. So just chill to the next episode. Follow us on Insta and Tik Tok. Hasta la proxima.