Crafting Your Dream Trip: Tips for Intentional Travel Planning

Welcome to The In Between Podcast. I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. And we're 2 best friends on a journey to living a fun, intentional life.

We know it's easier to share on a season of life once it's behind you, but what about when you're in the middle of the growth, confusion, and decision-making?

This lifestyle podcast is for the everyday gal who loves to travel, talk about business, relationships, fashion, and everything in between.

Hello friends, and welcome back to another Welcome to another episode of The In Between Podcast. This is one of your hosts, Astrid, and the other half, Alexis.

And today on the podcast, we're going to be talking about one of our favorite topics, honestly, which is travel. Like, if you, if you follow Astrid or I on Instagram or you listen to the pod, even at some point you have probably heard us mention a trip or share photos and experiences And it's just that time of year where like we're thinking about summer vacay, we're thinking about spring break. We're like, you know, the, the Europe summer vacation content that everyone that we see online is upon us. And so we wanted to put together a list of some of our favorite travel tips, um, along with some stories that we've learned along the way of like, how do we plan these trips? What decisions go into them? And I will say I was actually reflecting on this before we recorded. And I feel like I need to caveat by saying that I am a mid-tier traveler. So like when I think of budget travel, I think of someone that's probably staying in like hostels and like you're, you know, you're finding hotels that are sub $100 a night. I love that for you. And then when I think of like high-end travel, I think of people that are staying, you know, $1,000 a night someplace. They're like 5-star resorts and/or, you know, first class, business class, and they're staying in places like the Four Seasons. Okay. Different budgets, right? I just feel like you and I are in this middle place. Would you agree?

Absolutely. I also think it depends on like place and location. We'll sacrifice a little bit one way or we'll say, hey, let's splurge. Like, this is the place to splurge, right? And just enjoy the view. And this is the place where we want to have a really nice hotel to hang out at.

Yeah.

And other times it's just, hey, we want to explore the city mostly, so we're gonna choose a safe, a nice, cute, affordable place, and that's that. So, um, there is so many things that go into travel, and honestly, travel can be one of those things that feels intimidating if you haven't done it quite a bit before. And it's also the thing that most people will say, I want to travel more, or I regret not traveling more in my 20s or 30s. So hopefully this episode will help demystify some of those things that can make travel scary. Just being able to provide some of our tips to make it more affordable too. I love, love, love telling people tips for how to do travel where you don't really have to pay everything out of budget, and that can make it a lot more attainable as well. So I am stoked for this episode, and honestly, I just love that we're in that season of life where we get to travel quite a bit.

I know, it is definitely like, it can feel very seasonal, but I also feel like no matter what season of life, I wanna, I wanna be traveling. I wanna be on a plane. Um, but Before we dig into today's topic, let's do some quick life updates. We'll share what we're in between right now and then we'll dig into it. So do you want to go first? Life updates?

Yeah. Life update. I just wrapped up my crazy travel month of February and it feels so, so good to be home. Wrapped up with a crazy travel story that I'll share later on in our episode and just truly I learned a lot. Let's just say that. But I took this last trip with my mom, and I wouldn't say that it's healing to my inner child because I feel like I did have a really great childhood, but it was more a discovery trip where having that quality one-on-one time with my mom, I learned so much about her and her relationship with my dad. and how their dating life was, how their marriage was, more about my grandma and my family history in a very just fun way. And if you have the opportunity to take a trip with your parents, if you still have them in your life and you have a healthy relationship with them, I highly recommend it. Because some of these stories I had heard before as a child, but now hearing them almost like a friend vibe with my mom of her telling me her most romantic with my dad and how much she loved it and how she cried when it ended up and all of that. It was just a different connection. And yeah, I know this will be one of those trips I'll always remember. And I just feel so inspired by her and so proud of who I have as a mom. But I mostly love getting to see her in a friend light. And just because everyone spoke Spanish there, her extroverted personality came out. we're here because she can't speak English. She doesn't really have many friends and she goes into a more introverted side. And so, yeah, I feel like I got to know her in a way better light. So I'm in that. And then— Really quick, hold on.

That's so cute. I love that. I also think just hearing you talk about that, I think there's something about going on trips with your parents Or in this case, your mom, where you're also in a different environment. And sometimes when you're at home, not that you can't have those discussions and learn those things there, but sometimes you're kind of in the day-to-day and there's something about like being in a different environment with your friends or your family that just brings out a different side of them. It's so cool that you got to have that experience with your mom.

Yeah, that's so true. We always talk about travel, even within relationships, how it can help Just having that new experience in a new location to really connect with you and your partner or even within friendships. And that's so right. Like, I had that with my mom, having that girly energy of like holding to each other's arms and walking out of the airport and like people were hitting on her and on me and they were like, goodbye, mother-in-law. And we just like laughed and it was just like the most— carefree energy that you're right, I wouldn't have that kind of experience at home. So yeah, highly, highly recommend to— even if it's just like a day trip to a nearby city that you can take with your parents, it's just different.

Yeah.

And I think everyone deserves to have that in their adult life with their parents. So yeah, I'm there. That's pretty much my biggest life update. But overall, I feel like now that all this travel is wrapping up, I'm setting roots for the next few months and like, okay, what do I want to get done before my next, you know, stint of travel comes through? And things just feel a little bit chaotic. Like, I didn't really look at my budget in February. I didn't really like look at a lot of things because it was just so in and out.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's kind of where I'm at right now. It's like the aftermath of all the travel and catching up with life that can feel a little daunting. Um, but yeah, I think those are the main ones. Feeling very grateful, very inspired, and, um, navigating lots of in-betweens. It'll be hard to pick later on. It's kind of like, what have been your— oh, sorry, go ahead.

No, I was just hearing like you talk about the aftermath of travel and like just being so busy back-to-back weekends of shooting weddings in different countries and different places, it's like almost your March is a reset month for you where it's like resetting, you know, the budget, the finances, cleaning, organizing, like kind of feeling like grounded again in your space.

Yeah, I feel like it's my January, honestly. Yeah, January was a recovery month for me and then jumped straight into February craziness. Now is like when I'm actually going to execute a lot of the intentions and goals that I had in January and Refocus a lot of things. And, um, yeah, I, I feel a little bit lost in my business and some things. And so I'm excited to, to dive into creating that focus.

Yeah. Well, I am excited for you on that. I've seen that going around online a lot that March 1st is January 1st, so rebranding.

Really?

So for those of you that just feel like, you know, January and February for whatever reason just didn't hit and you need to restart. You can do that. That's that's what this month is for, or today, or next week, or whenever you decide. But you can genuinely like have that restart energy anytime. Life update on my side: I feel like February was a very like I kind of already mentioned this a lot on last week's episode, but just like very ups and downs. And I feel like the last couple of days, I also just I'm coming off my period and. For any women listening, it's like that period week, mentally, you just get so wonky, you know? And I, I'm officially 2 months off birth control. And so I think like just really feeling my cycle and feeling all of the emotions in every stage of my cycle has honestly been very new to me because on birth control, I kind of just felt very like flat throughout the month. Um, So all that to say, like, the being off birth control has been going really well. I haven't had any like crazy bad, you know, inconsistent symptoms other than just feeling my hormones and my emotions more than normal. Um, you know, more than I guess I'm used to. I shouldn't say normal. And then just getting ready for a month of hosting. Like, we got to host my parents this past weekend. We had such a wholesome, great visit with them. And then my husband's childhood best friend is with us. Oh, that's so fun. this week and this weekend. And then, I leave for Turkey for a week-long work trip. And then, we get back and I'm hosting one of my best friends from Nashville, Jess, and her new husband, John.

Wow.

And so, it's just like every weekend, we're just filled with community time. And, it's been so enriching. And, I love that we have a home where we have a guest room and people can come stay with us. And, that's something that in my 20s I just longed for. And now, I have it. And, I feel like this month, I'm just really embracing that. And, Letting it be messy, letting it be imperfect, and just like enjoying time with our people. So yeah, it's been really good. I'm like really looking forward to this month.

Oh my gosh, I love that for you. For anyone that is listening that's new to the podcast, Alexis loves hosting and she absolutely kills at it as well. So yeah, I feel like some people would hear that and be like, I need a break after hosting for a whole month. And then other people are enriched and I feel Like, that's so beautiful that you have incredible people in your life that you're excited to host them and they don't drain you. And I think that's going to be so, so good for both of you to just be able to show a bit of your, your city, your life to honestly, like, your best friends, because both of the ones that are coming to visit and your family are close. So I'm, I'm stoked for you. Thank you.

It's been like really fun to put together little care packages. I'm like getting into like that too. And like getting their room to feel like a hotel. I bought new sheets for the guest bedroom, which is like, you know, you're in your, you're like, um, nesting, you know, you just like want to have your house feel like really good for people that come visit. So that's been really fun. Um, so yeah, that's my life update. What are you in between right now? And if you're new to the podcast, we always talk through this together weekly because we believe that you're always in between something.

Mm-hmm.

In life, business, relationships. So what are you in between right now?

Hmm, girl, there's a lot. I think I'm in between— how do I word this? I'm in between learning what might be a trigger and what might be actually true about my life. And so there's just been quite a few things that happened in February that felt triggering to past traumas. And that's not always bad. I think sometimes when we have those triggers, it's an invitation to heal that layer. But it's also scary. And the more that you heal, the more you get to the core of it and the harder it gets. And I think that navigating that has felt really challenging because you conquer one and it only gets harder. And you would think, okay, I conquer this one, it'll be easy to conquer the next one. And so I actually started reading again The Mountain Is You after you mentioned it last week. I had read it like 2 years ago, but we were reading it in this season of life. She was talking about your gut feeling and how when your gut feeling is about the future, It's a lot of times projections and your own fears.

Right.

And that unlocked so much for me because a lot of my anxiety and triggers were about the future. And it's like, okay, so that gut feeling, it's just my fears trying to protect me so that this thing doesn't happen again. But at the same time, where do I wave the magic wand to know? I just want to be able to see clearly. And so I think it's just part of life, of navigating life after a very traumatic event, where sometimes it just feels very, very muddy to see through a lens where other people can see clearly. And depending on your trauma, you just can't see clearly sometimes. And it's your job to clean that mud off every single day, every single time. And it's not easy.

And so Yeah.

So I just feel like I was navigating a lot of those emotions in February while traveling, ups and downs. And I'm someone that doesn't like not knowing. I like knowing. I like control. I'm healing that and I'm working on that. But I'm a very decisive person when it comes to most areas of my life. But when it comes to areas where I've felt traumatized, I don't Yeah, it just feels so out of control. And so there's been just multiple things that have happened in my romantic life, in my family, just a lot of different aspects where one thing has set it off. And so, for example, I've shared a little bit about this earlier this month, but my stepdad had some health complications. My mom had a small incident on our trip. the first day that we were there in the middle of the night. And it wasn't like she had like— we had to sprint to our gate to be able to make it. And thankfully, like, she's been losing weight and she's gotten very healthy. So she was able to make it and do it just fine. But that night, her body's just not used to running like that. And so she got horrible leg cramps. Like, I could feel the bumps on her leg and she was in so— Oh my gosh. much pain. Her lips were like turning purple, and I just started freaking out. I was like, I'm gonna have to take her to like the Dominican like emergency room or whatever if this doesn't go away. And then it ended up like passing, and then 2 hours later it came again. And it, it was just one of those things that sent me into fight or flight just because of losing my dad and then having the responsibility of like my mom is there and I'm the one there to help her.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's just one of the scenarios, the many things that I've experienced this month that have just been triggering. And so in a way, it's just I've put them away in a little closet, and now that I'm home and settled in, I have to clean up that mud myself. And it just feels messy, and it's hard, and it's complicated, and it's part of healing.

Yeah.

Part of living in a life where there's horrible things that can happen to us. And so, um, yeah, so if you saw my Instagram and see all the travel and all the things, yeah, it's been a great blessing. And just know that there's always, there's always things happening to all of us behind what we share online. And that's just things that I only wanted to share with our pod community because this feels more, um, where the space should live for that. So, uh, yeah, that's what I'm in between.

Oh, babe, thank you so much for sharing. Like, I think your analogy of all the different things that have happened this month, it's almost because of your schedule and like you've had to put them in a box. Like, you felt them maybe in the moment and you recognize like, I'm gonna need to process this later. So there was awareness there, but you had to almost like put it somewhere so that you could show up to work and shoot weddings and be present. And then that work of now bringing them out and looking at them and saying, let's dismantle this. Let's not suppress it. And let's really process it.

Yeah.

I just want to commend you that you are committed to doing that work. And it could be very easy to just let those things live in the boxes and never take them out. And even though it's been a hard month, I think the fact that you have this next month to just like really sit through it, think through it, process it, feel how you want to release it, like that's so powerful. And I, you know, a lot of people don't do that work and not, you know, not speaking ill of them. It's just like, you know, you have the tools, you have like chosen to live that life. where you're honest and your character and your integrity is like, no, I'm not going to hide from things that make me feel. And I just think that's really powerful.

Thank you so much. It's hard. It's so freaking hard. And sometimes it just feels unfair that we're the ones that have to deal with the aftermath of it all. But I never want to be that person that feel so heavy all the time because of unforgiveness or of not processing or letting it steal joy from my life because of those triggers. So got to do the work, got to pay the price. But what are you currently improving?

Let's see. What do I want to pick off the floor? What do I want to take out of the box today? What's in the box? I think that my— I talked about this a little bit on the podcast last week around being in between something and really embracing the journey. I've been thinking so much about my body dysmorphia and just trying really hard to heal that. And I've been loving my going to my personal trainer and like loving the movement journey that I'm on and like my nutrition and all of that. But I just there's just still I'm still in between that, and it's something that I spend, in my opinion, too much energy thinking about. And it's something that like I'm in between figuring out how do I let even 50% of the energy that I spend thinking about my body, thinking about what I'm going to wear and how it's going to look on me, thinking about angles and just over-obsessing about my perception and my looks. If I could just let 50% of that go, I would feel so much lighter.

Wow.

And I don't know, I want to get back to— I used to actually not care at all. And like, I want to figure out how to tap back into that mental resilience and like recognizing that every part of my body has a function and that's beautiful. And it doesn't necessarily matter how that function looks. And so I'm really trying to like get back to that. And that's something I'm trying to work through prior to summer.

Yeah.

It's so crazy because it's getting warmer here in Houston and I think that Being in shorts and being in short sleeve things really brought up a lot of stuff for me the last couple of weeks where I'm like, I literally don't like any of my clothes. I do not want to be wearing this because I'm not in like jeans and a long sleeve shirt. So I'm like, wow, that feels heavy to feel that about myself. And like, how do I work through that? And I also recognize that like. There is nothing wrong with my body or anyone that looks like anything. Like I do recognize that I am privileged in the body that I have. So anything that I'm saying, I'm saying with like a lot of vulnerability here and recognizing that like it's not even about weight. It's just like being way too obsessive about like my hair and my skin and just like everything. So yeah, I'm in between that right now, and I I really want to dig. deeper into that with myself the next couple of months as I prepare for summer because I don't want to live in a headspace of comparison or just over-obsessing about photos or just want to be in the moment so much. And I crave that and I'm just struggling with it right now.

Thank you for your honesty. I think all of us or most of us can relate to that as well where Summer's coming up, the content's popping up. Maybe you took a warm trip this winter and you felt that as well. And it's so hard that we have to carry that weight as women. We don't have to, but it's almost coded in us.

Yeah.

And it's so hard to get rid of it. When you said, if I could just get rid of 50% of that, I immediately felt like something in my shoulders just lift. And it made me aware of, I need to work on this as well. And so I'm curious because you mentioned you have had a season before where you didn't care about it. What did you do different in that season that you're not doing now that you feel like helped you at that time to not care? Because I think it can be easy, or not easy, but we can say, I want to work towards not caring, but the technicalities of getting there can feel really hard.

Mm-hmm.

Just don't know what to do next.

Yeah, that's a good point. And I do think I want to caveat that there was a season of that not caring that was actually not healthy for me. So in terms of like, I didn't care, so I drank and ate and did— smoked and literally did not care. And so like, didn't— not that I was even thinking about the consequences of what it was doing to me physically and like health-wise. It was like, oh, I don't— I don't care. And like, I think that's— I want to get to the healthy version of that. And I can specifically remember myself in Nashville. There was like a really great season towards the last year of me living in Nashville where I wore what I want and like my confidence was just at its freaking peak. And I didn't think about weight. I didn't think about what my body looked like. I just like felt so good in my skin and the way I was showing up and the person that I was and am. And I think it's like being proud of every version of myself, showing compassion for every version of me at any moment in time. And if that means like going back to myself when I was at my most depressed, when I was at my most unhealthy mentally and physically, like I feel like there's some healing I need to do for that version of me instead of looking back at her and being like, thank God I'm not her anymore. And I think that that's the root of some of my healing, if you will. So I want to go back and how can I be softer and more gentle with all the versions of me, past and present, so that I can feel more present in the moment and not be having this mental headspace where I'm thinking about You know, how do I look and what's my perception? And like, just, or like reflecting on who I was 3 years ago to who I am now. Like, that's not kind. That's not rooted in like love. So I'm just working through all of that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for sharing. I think this conversation is something I would love for us to even do a podcast episode on a few months from now where, um, I guess I wonder as women, how can we challenge ourselves to do practical things every day that can help us to accept our bodies more? And also, what can we do more as a community to avoid getting there or help each other out to not get there? Because it's something that's been coded in us for generations upon generations, and to expect ourselves to just break that from one year to another is unrealistic. But it's still very valid to put in that work and work towards that. And I know it's so possible to do. But, um, yeah, I think this conversation has made me curious, like, what can we do as a next step and what can we do as a community as well?

Yeah. Yeah. I would love to continue that conversation. And like, I want to, as I mentioned, like spend some time thinking through what this looks like for me, but I think just talking about it, like hearing other women talk about it is very healing to me. And I'm like, wow, okay, like this is, this is what it can look like to just embrace this and, and like let it exist and not let it be something that hides in the shadows.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, completely agree. Um, on that note, let's talk about our travel tips.

Listen, listen, you cannot say that we do not have range. Okay.

Like.

We will give you the nitty-gritty, the most vulnerable versions of ourselves in the first half. In the last half, we're going to talk about travel and credit card points. Okay.

We have the entire color spectrum that you see when you're color picking on Instagram stories. We have it all.

We have the whole, the whole spectrum here, baby. So let's talk about travel tips. Um, do you want to kick things off or do you want me to?

Um, you can go ahead.

Okay. Well, I think that when I, when I plan any trip, regardless of who it's with, I always step back before I even go into research and logistics and all of that mode. I kind of ask myself, what's my intention with this trip? Is it to see everything and we're in a new place and we want to explore? Is it, gosh, okay, that time of year with where that falls on my work schedule, I think I'm going to need like a true unplugged vacation. I want to relax. I don't want to do a lot of things. I just want to be in a beautiful location and just chill. So I think getting clear on what the intentions are for a trip makes planning it so much easier because then you're like, okay, this is this kind of trip. I'm going to choose these kinds of activities. I'm going to want to stay in a place like this. And that's going to vary based on what your intentions are. So that's my big first tip. Is figuring out, you know, if you're traveling with your family, your parents, your partner, your best friend, like what is the intention and making sure that you and that person are aligned on that. And then that also helps for a smoother trip as well, because then you both feel taken care of and you both get the most out of the trip together versus one person wants to chill and the other person's like, why are we not— it's 8, it's 8:30. Why are we not out and about seeing a bunch of things?

Yeah.

So I think that can like help you get on the same page from day one.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that also helps with breaking down realistically how many days do you have in the location. And so maybe you want to explore one day and then relax another one. And if you want to see all these locations, like laying it out in a very loose itinerary can really help to say, what can, how can we make this work without it feeling so stressful and like back-to-back things. And so, um, something that's really helped me, of course, is TikTok. But sometimes it's hard to know what to look for in TikTok. And so some of the main things that I look for in TikTok when planning a trip is first I'm looking at where I'm gonna stay, right? So let's say I'm gonna stay in a specific city and I'm not really gonna move around a lot. I am researching, for example, best neighborhoods to stay in Rome. And I'm watching all those TikToks on neighborhoods for safety, for entertainment. Like, I want to walk around. I don't want to feel like I am in this very remote area and need a, a bus to get somewhere and it's 9 PM, we're having dinner. So I think like, first you got to know where you're going to stay.

Mm-hmm.

And so that can help a lot based off of your activities too, like what's nearby, making sure that you're not so far in the cheapest location where now you have to spend the difference literally on Ubers or trains or whatever it is you need to do.

Yeah.

Same thing goes on TikTok for entertainment and restaurants and all of that. Just save all the ones that you see and then narrowing down like, okay, what are my top ones? Because otherwise it's so overwhelming to And unrealistic to say that you're going to visit all of these locations. So a little hybrid of both of those can really help you nail down on a map where you should stay. And then of course, figure out the neighborhood that might work best for you in that city.

Yeah. Another tip around picking neighborhoods is if you're going Airbnb or you're going hotel, a lot of times you can triangulate like where it is and drop, go to Google Earth. And drop the little, like drag the little man to exactly where you're staying and literally walk around. That has saved me from staying in some like sketchier areas or like, oh, I didn't realize that the entrance to this Airbnb is actually a no outlet alley. Wow. Okay. And I'm going to be with me and my girlfriend. Absolutely not. Like that's not going to work for us. So a lot of times you're not going to get that kind of information from a hotel website or for You know, especially in Europe because the streets are small and different places like that. Like you're not going to necessarily know that unless you do Google Earth. The other thing that you mentioned that I loved was like getting a loose itinerary first. And Matthew and I do this on Notes. Like we have shared notes, um, in the Notes app. Astro and I have done this with Google Docs. It doesn't matter where it lives, but just saying like, okay, we're going to be gone for 5 days. List out each date. And then start to kind of like play around with ideas of like, okay, this is going to be the day that we're going to do this and this and look at the proximity in the city. Whereas like maybe you don't want to do 2 activities that are actually an hour and a half away from each other. That doesn't necessarily make sense. So just like that will help you start to narrow down how you plan the structure of the trip as well. I'm also someone that like, I like structure. and freedom. So when I'm able to know, like, we're going to take a day trip here and then here are some things we can do when we get there. But none of that necessarily is planned. But the— but I've got my ferry figured out. I know what time I'm leaving and I'm going to go. But then once we get there, we're like, there's this beach club and we're going to go check out this cafe. It's like a little bit more loose. So I think also knowing like your pacing is really important. I'm someone that I do not like having a plan from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. I need space. I want flexibility, but I want to have my dinner reservation, you know? So it's like figuring out what level of structure works for you and works for the people that you're traveling with. Because, you know, too much structure can make people feel like they're on a treadmill. There's no relaxation. And not enough structure can make you feel like you're almost wasting your PTO. You're wasting time.

Yeah.

And you're like, I don't feel like I'm getting the most out of this vacation because nothing has been planned. So it's like, what does that middle ground look like?

Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. I think being able to do the research ahead of time can help save you so much time where you're not saying, okay, uh, what should we do today? And then now you're thinking and now you're browsing and you're looking at restaurant recommendations. Like, have a big list of, hey, these are awesome recommendations for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that you can always pull from to be able to get to go to those locations when you're there. And another thing too is if you do find, say, a beach club or a restaurant you really want to go to, make sure you look ahead of time. Because, for example, for Europe, there was this one beach club we— I really, really wanted to go to, and it books out as soon as the tickets go out in February or March.

Wow.

And when I went in there the day after, it was half of them were already gone. I was able to secure it, but Um, if you wait too long to book some of this stuff, it might be gone. Or if you're like, oh yeah, we'll book it when we get there. So there are some anchor things that if you really want to do something, do research on the reservations, on the tickets, on how it all works so that you're not disappointed where you, you know, fly across the country or make the drive up somewhere and then you can't even get in.

Yeah, that's a big one. I think Another aspect of this, and whenever we were planning the trip to Paris for my 30th with my girlfriends, I asked every single one of them individually, what's the big things that you care about for this trip and how do we make sure to make that happen? So we wanted to have a picnic by the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to have a really fancy dinner. We wanted to go shopping/thrifting. We wanted to sit at cafes and be outside and people watch and drink coffee. I kind of got the vibe from each of the women of what was important because it's their vacation too. And so I think like if you do fall into the role of planner, how can you— which I do and I love that role, like I thrive in that role— but how can you make sure that like, okay, you know, parents, partner, family, like what's most important to you that we do together? Are there things you want to go check out individually? So that way everyone just feels like they're being taken care of and they're on a trip that— I think this is where like a lot of group trips and friendship trips go wrong is like, it's all about one person's itinerary and everybody else is just like following and not really enjoying it. Or maybe you're off on budget too. And like you pick a place that it's like $80 a plate and someone's like, uh, whoa, that's like way out of my budget for this trip.

Mm-hmm.

So I think just like really being very conscientious and thoughtful of where everybody is and what they want to do too.

Absolutely. Now that you mentioned Paris, this reminds me of the iconic Google Maps itinerary that you created. Can you please share and tell everyone how they can do it? And before you jump into that, guys, this was amazing. Like basically any location that we had potentially picked out, the ones that were picked out. Even down to potential photo spots that Alexis found on TikTok were mapped on this Google Maps. And it was the best because we're on the go. We just go there and we're like, oh yeah, we're going to take pictures. Here's the location route. And we'll just walk or Uber or whatever it is. So how did you do that? Share all the tips. Yes.

So I did this on Google Maps. You can create different shared folder filters. Over a map, so like right now if I were to go to if I were to go to Paris on my Google Maps, I would see all of my saved locations from that like filter of the trip. You can also share that with your friends too. So once you create it, you can share that with your friends and then it'll show up on their Google Maps as well. So all you do is you go to a location on Google Maps. Let's say you want to go to the Louvre. in Paris, you type in the Louvre, there is a little bookmark icon in Google Maps that you click on and you can hit save location and then you can save it to Paris and then you can like save it to these different folders. So I did one for Florence, I did one for Venice. And so, okay, now I've got— now when people literally ask me, where'd you go in Florence? I genuinely just send them the link to all my saved locations in Florence and I'm like, have at it. Like, These are all the places I've put research into. I found on TikTok, I researched on Pinterest, and it's a great way for you to share itineraries. But also, like, for us girls, there are so many different pockets of Paris and you never know, like, because we liked the flexibility, you never knew exactly where you were going to be. But it's like, hey, we're actually over here in this pocket of Paris. 3 blocks away, there's this really cute cafe I'd already found.

Yeah.

Let's go there. Instead of like, where should we go? Let's look stuff up on our map. It's like, no, all of that has kind of been done. And then you can just pull up the map and say, oh cool, we're 4 blocks away from that restaurant that we've been wanting to try. Let's pop in there and see if we can get a table. It allows for the casualness, but also gives you the— you get to cut down on the anxiety of in the moment. Not knowing what to do and feeling like you're wasting time. It's like, okay, you've got options. I like options.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. That is today, like one of the most cool things I've seen. That was, it really saved us a lot of time. I know that a lot of time went into it on the forefront, but when you're on the trip and you've invested in flights and all this stuff, it saved a lot of time there. So Absolutely love that tip. Okay, let's talk about when things go south.

She says with a huge smile on her face. Let's talk about when things go wrong.

When things go wrong. So I alluded to at the beginning of the episode or today's podcast recording that your girl did not have the best travel experience. I mean, overall this past month, But specifically my last flight. And so long story short, I exclusively flew American this past month, and 8 out of the 10 flights that I took this month were all delayed. And the first one that really put a dent into things was on our way to Mexico, where we had to quite literally sprint to try to make it to our I didn't even get to put my shoes on. Like, it was a whole mess, but we made it. And then on this next one, um, to Puerto Vallarta, same thing on the way there. My poor mom, I mentioned this earlier, had to sprint through the airport to try to make it to the connecting flight.

Okay. So is it mostly like because it's delayed, you're almost missing your connection flight? You're like, okay, on your layover. Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so then on the way back, I was like, well, even if it runs late, we have almost 3 hours of a layover. There's no way. Like, it could— we could miss it, right? So we were all chill. The flight gets delayed about an hour. We're like, hey, we'll still have more than enough time. We land in Charlotte and it is quite literally the worst airport TSA experience or passport control thing I have ever experienced. I never ever want to have a connecting flight there again. But this passport control line was an hour and a half. And all of these flights were coming in from international, so about 80% of the people had connecting flights. So a lot of us missed it. Like you would think that the airport would have enough logic to just look at the itinerary and say, "Hey, we have 10 flights coming internationally with X amount of people. We should probably have more agents." No. So we stand in that massive line for an hour and a half.

We're like.

My app says that my next flight to home, St. Louis, is boarding and we're not even remotely close to making it. And you still got to go through the passport control. No matter what, there was nothing we could do there. So we finally make it through the passport thing. We're like, well, maybe we could still make it to our flight. So we get out of the passport control thing and it looked like an apocalypse had happened. There was No bags on the carousel. They were just out everywhere because it had been so long since the flights had all landed. You just had to rummage to try to find your bags.

Get out.

And so, yeah, thankfully I just bought a new bag that's like a gold color, so I was able to spot it quickly. My mom's was next to it and we just like run to the gate. There's your cheat code.

Get a noticeable bag.

Literally. So we're running, we're running. We like find— I'm like freaked out that my mom's gonna have something happen to her because we're running. And we finally make it to the place to recheck your bag in for the connecting flight. And she scans it and she's like, nope, it's too close to the flight. You're not gonna make it. You have to go to rebookings. And we're like, okay, so it's, it's happening. We're staying in Charlotte. And so we go up to the check-in counter. They only have 2 people. It takes another half an hour to do things. They code the thing as air traffic. It was air traffic control's fault because my argument to them was even if the TSA line or the passport control would have been late, we had enough time. If my flight would have been on time, we would have made it to it. And it's your fault for having this late. She said what she said. Anyway, yeah. So anyway, she's like, I can't do anything, but here's a number you can call. We had to book. Blah, blah, blah. So all of this to say, it was a nightmare. Didn't make it back home yesterday until like 2. We could only— we only got like 4 hours of sleep in the hotel the night before. So here are some tips. Here's the tips part. Um, one, always have an AirTag in your bags, your checked bags. Ours didn't get lost, but I was always tracking it. And so I have heard of friends where their bags got lost and because of the AirTag, they were able to find it.

Yeah.

Always do that. It's so cheap to do. 2, if you do have Chase Sapphire, they will reimburse you for any travel delays and all that stuff.

Correct.

Now unfortunately, your girl bought it with the business account, which is Chase Ink Preferred, not Sapphire, because it was a business trip. And so the Ink one that I have does not have coverage. So if you have a business credit card, keep that in mind. It's something you should totally look out for, especially if you travel a lot. And so I'm looking into getting my credit card upgraded. But then another thing that I did was I did add trip insurance because a lot of us love to save a few extra dollars and waive that. I did add it to this trip. And so I'll get reimbursed some of the expense. And a different travel story that a hurricane was coming through when I had originally planned to go to Punta Cana at the time. And because I added the insurance, they changed everything over to Cancun, no expense. Like, they covered all the expenses. So add travel insurance, use your AirTags, and buy your trip with a credit card that has travel protection. That can really help when things are being chaotic.

And so if you, if you, with the travel protection, If you lose your bag and you have purchased anything with that credit card, they will also reimburse you if it's been stolen or lost, which like the insurance on the credit card goes beyond just like the travel flights itself or hotel. It's also for your belongings that you purchase on that card.

Yeah. And a lot of them also have like medical things that if something medical happens on your trip, it is covered as well. So Highly recommend check those things out. It can add a lot of peace of mind. Um, and lastly, if you don't travel a lot internationally and you plan to do so, just keep in mind that if you do have connecting flights, especially coming back into the US, you have to go through customs of that country for that connecting flight, grab your bag again, passport control, et cetera. So give yourself enough wiggle room in that connecting flight, even though it feels excessive. to make it to your next one. I got so many DMs of people like, I got stuck in Dublin because of this. So, um, yeah, that's my story. Those are my tips on the bad worst case scenarios.

Oh, I'm sorry that you and your mom had to experience that. It literally sounds like the travel day from hell. And it's always things like that that you're like, okay, I'm glad I did this. I'm glad I did that. And sometimes it's just going to happen. And when you experience those things in travel, they will happen. Like you will experience long lines, um, airplanes that don't have air, public transport that breaks down. Like it's gonna happen. And so I think embracing the fact that that is a part of the process, it's a part of the experience, and not let that be the reason you don't travel. Just recognize that it, it is an unexpected and somewhat normal part of travel. Um, you never want those things to happen, but Sometimes they just do and it like freaking sucks. So if there's things you can do to prepare for that, um, that can really help. And another thing too, I am experimenting, okay, with a carry-on, which is very small.

Yes.

I'm flying to Turkey with a carry-on for the first time. Like I bought a carry-on. I didn't even own one. Like I didn't even own a size for carry-on, which is hilarious. Um, So I'll let you know how that goes. But that's another thing that so many people at my last company offsite lost their luggage on their way to the offsite. And it was like, so we're only there for a couple of days. It's so uncomfortable for those, my colleagues that literally had to wear the same clothes. I lent my clothes to my colleagues because they didn't have anything to wear. And I'm like, you know what? It's a short enough trip. I'm going to do a carry-on. And so I'm like trying to push myself for these shorter trips. And then you also like for connecting flights, you don't have to recheck your bag because your bag's with you. And so like little things like that, if I know that the trip's going to be short enough and I can have a more limited wardrobe, which I don't love to have, but, um, I'm testing that out. So I'll let you know how that goes.

Yeah. I love that tip. I've been really working on narrowing down my stuff. And I actually did really good this past trip because I'm like, I got to practice for Europe. We cannot be taking all this stuff and have a very heavy suitcase going around. And one thing that's really helped me is the not just packing cubes, but I bought compression packing cubes. So you'll close them and then there'll be another layer where you zip it up and it literally compresses down to half the size, which can be dangerous because it still weighs just as much.

Exactly.

So you gotta watch the weight on your suitcase, but it does fit more. So that helped a lot on this trip and the previous one, um, to that. And so I'll share a few things, just favorite items for travel is the compression cubes, the AirTags. Um, I also bought like this, the neck pillows, um, I bought for Paris, but I bought one that you can just blow up in the plane so you're not carrying around this massive thing. And it was so great for the way there, as well as of course bring your noise-canceling headphones because there's bound to be unfortunately like a baby or something that can just disrupt, especially if you're needing to sleep. Um, a cord organizer. So I have a little zipper thing where I have all my different charging things. And you recommended to me the portable charger for your phone.

Yes.

10 out of 10 must-haves for travel because any emergency that could happen, like for me on Monday, my phone was running out of battery. I needed to rebook a hotel, order an Uber, do all the things. And I just pulled that thing out and plugged it into my phone and it was good to go. Very important. And lastly, just add the lock for your suitcase. I don't usually lock my suitcases, but now for international travel I have. I've bought small little locks. And even for my gear for when it's at the hotels, I just lock it before I leave. It's a little extra measure. It doesn't take all that long, but you just never know.

I love those tips. Good idea on the lock. The carry-on I just bought from Beis, has a lock on it, like lock, like, you know, um, in the suitcase. Some of my favorite items are— yes to packing cubes. They're truly a game changer. I also just got, um, some like base organizer, like it's a 3-set different sizes, like mesh organizers, just to have like everything kind of feel a little bit more uniform.

Mm-hmm.

I don't like, especially for longer flights, I also have the Beis Weekender carry-on tote, and that is a game changer because it literally has a packing cube on the bottom of the tote bag. So like I will be able to fit my workout shoes and 3 workout sets just in that carry-on, like, uh, packing cube underneath the Weekender tote. So if you've been on the fence of whether or not to get that, I love it. And then I'm able to have all my electronics and all my carry-on stuff, um, in the Uh, tote part. But that is a big one. The other thing that I've been loving is I have this Bluetooth, um, like adapter that I plug into, especially for longer flights. A lot of older planes don't have Bluetooth from the TV to whatever device you have. And so I bought a Bluetooth adapter that you just plug into the aux in the, like the head set TV. And then I've paired my headphones to that Bluetooth adapter. And so I can watch, you know, whatever I want with my noise-canceling headphones. And I'm not worried about, you know, I don't love the airline headphones. They kind of suck for like—

Yeah.

They suck. So that's awesome. And I don't have like an iPad, so I'm not downloading shows. I, I really only have that. So that's a great one. The other thing is making sure that you have everything that you could want downloaded from Kindle beforehand.

Yes.

That's a big one. The other thing that I've been doing for longer overnight flights is I don't wear skincare. I don't wear any makeup to flights anymore. If I'm going to be flying, just clean face. And then for longer overnight flights, I've been taking micellar water, which is just like a cleansing water that you can use to take off your makeup or Yeah, remove excess oil on your face. I put the micellar water on cotton pads, and then I put it in a sandwich bag, seal it up, and put it in my carry-on tote. And then before I get ready to go to bed— like, bed on the flight— I'll pull out one of those micellar water cotton pads and I'll rinse my face off.

Mm-hmm.

And then I'll get my little moisturizer out, and then I'll put my silk head mask on. And I feel ready for bed. There's something about that that's ritualistic, especially when you're trying to go to sleep, you're uncomfortable. You're not going to have the best sleep of your life, but if you can take care of your skin, brush your teeth, get a good eye mask that really isn't uncomfortable, doesn't give you a headache, I think those are things that are worth the investment.

I love those all so, so much, especially the hydrating the skin on the flight for long flights.

Big time.

I never feel the most like as insanely dehydrated as I do on planes and flights. So crazy. Ten out of ten.

Are you the one that was telling me about not eating on flights? Did you send?

I sent you a TikTok on it. Yes.

I'm like that.

That was insane.

Wow! Should we talk about it for a second?

Yes. Well, I just saw this TikTok where some kind of expert was saying that you shouldn't. You shouldn't eat on flights because it basically slows down your metabolism and a lot of the food that they give you, something to do with the pressure of the plane, it can affect the way that you process food, which makes sense if you get stomachaches when you travel and everything, which that happens to me. That makes sense why it happens.

Yeah.

So he will literally eat before he gets on a plane and then once he lands. never on the plane, which I'm going to try to be more mindful to do on shorter flights. But honestly, I think it'll be just really hard to do for international flights.

For sure. For sure. But for those shorter flights, I'm like, that makes sense why I— you feel a little bit more bloated. You feel a little bit dehydrated, things like that. I was like, I'm going to try that. But the last thing I'll say around travel Is think about the, like, the value that it gives you outside of the money you're spending to be there. And I know that, like, yes, travel can be expensive. It is expensive, especially now in today's economy. Um, but like, what do you get from it? And, you know, the value that it brings your life. Does it open your eyes? Does it show you new culture, new ways to live life, introduce you to art? Music, people, experiences that you've never had before. And I think that when we think about the value that travel gives us, it helps us prioritize it in a different way. And so if you're really craving that, like, how can you prioritize that? And maybe right now you don't want to do an international trip, but like, where can you experience that domestically, you know, within your country or within your state where you can like tap into Some of the things that you've been craving that, you know, maybe you don't want to get or cannot invest in like a bigger trip. But I still think that there's so much beauty to be seen in the world outside of where we live. And that can also be 2 hours away. It's just like, you know, that craving for something new, a new experience. And, um, I hope these tips have helped you plan, figure out, get some clarity on, you know, what, what your next trip's going to look like. And let us know and tag us because we want to celebrate you traveling.

Yes. Yes. I love that so, so much. The last tip that I have is also along those lines of travel doesn't have to be this big taboo thing, and especially when it comes to finances. I've shared this before, but if you use your Chase Sapphire, any kind of credit card that actually gives you money back for the expenses you already have in your life, A lot of times you can either get your flights covered or your stays covered. Also using Hotels.com when you're booking your hotels, you double down where you're getting rewards on your credit card for that, and then you get your 10th night free with them. And so a lot of times where I'm a little bit of a tighter budget and I want to say take a weekend trip to Chicago or something, I'll book my night stay with the Hotels.com one or with my points, and it's free. It's just Food. So there's a lot of different options out there where you can waive those costs and you're able to really maximize your trip and not feel like everything is just straight up cash for your trip.

Yeah, agreed. I love hotels.com. I also, the more that you've booked through them as well, you become, you unlock different like statuses. So with my status, I get 15% off, like any 15% off on top of any discount that's happening for that room rate. And it's just like, you know, more money off, which is, which is great. We love that. So if you can double down and like choose a card, choose an airline, like we have the United card. Like if you can kind of go all in on a couple of different companies or a couple of different brands, I also think that that helps a lot because you can usually get more perks upgraded. And, you know, because you have that status and you've spent so much with those certain companies and brands, it definitely helps and pays off versus like. Flying whatever airline, you're not going to be able to unlock different statuses, um, and more perks that way.

Absolutely. I feel like we could totally do a part 2 on travel tips. So if there's anything from this whole, uh, podcast episode that piqued your interest and you want us to share more, whether it is the financial planning for a trip or whether it's the actual planning of it, how do you do it? How do you narrow down locations? All of that. Let us know. But either way, I hope that this episode has really inspired you, has hopefully made things feel a little bit more digestible for travel, and that you're able to explore wherever it is that it has piqued your interest and that you've been wanting to visit. So thank you all so, so much for listening. Make sure to connect with us on Instagram @inbetween.pod. And you can always connect with me on Instagram as well, @astridjohannaphoto.

Or me, @alexistechmiller. We are so thankful for you, and we will see you next week.