Our Europe Adventure, Legging Problem, and American Health with My Husband Brooks Hollan

Today on Midlife Conversations, I'm doing something a little different. I've got my husband here. Brooks. Brooks, say hi.

Hello.

And we are going to do a little update, a life update. What's been happening. I want to talk about Europe. I was sharing as we were traveling through Europe and many of you messaged me questions. You now want my husband to be your travel agent? All the things. So I thought, let me just do this conversation with Brooks. We're going to tell you all about what we learned, what we saw, what we noticed, how we planned it, what. But we're also going to talk about things we're doing now that we're in the crazy heat of Arizona because that's where we live right now, to stay fit, keep things healthy. All the things. We've got a lot of things we're going to be talking about today. So thanks for joining us. And Brooks, thanks for jumping on with Midlife Conversations today.

You're welcome.

So, so much, so much to fill you in. I'm going to start with just what, why we ended up going to Europe and what happened there and how I feel like a ding dong that it's been 30 years since I had actually been in Europe. I actually went there after college. I did like a fun backpacking tour situation with one of my good friends years ago, 30 years ago. And I don't really have a good answer for why I had not made it back. And Brooke, you, Brooks, you had been to Europe years ago, too, right? When was, when did you go?

I went in 2002, 2003.

And then when I went right after College, I did 13 countries. And I just remember, I remember going there. You know, I was 22 years old, 21 years old. 22 years old, actually. My dad had just passed away. I remember this. And I remember I stood out like a sore thumb as an American because I had those big, remember those big white bunchy Reebok socks people would wear? They look like leg warmers. I had was wearing those and I had like my Reeboks with like the little Velcro straps. And I wore these big in the, at the time, this is what was in this big, huge, oversized University of Maryland sweatshirt, a big, huge scrunchie on my head. And I was backpacking so I couldn't bring a lot. So that was pretty much my uniform. And I remember everywhere I walked throughout Europe at that time, people would be like, Americana, Americana. And I was giggling because my husband and I, when we got there, we're talking about the packing situation and the travel in a minute. But. But when we got there, we were walking one day in Spain, and somebody pointed at us, probably me, and they said, Americana. And I was giggling because I realized it's because I had leggings on and a tank top and sneakers. I looked. I was. I was at leisure, athletic. And that's not a thing in Europe. That's not what they walk around in. We were in Spain and everyone was, like, dressed to the nines, and they're pretty flowy skirts. So, Brooks, what did I. What did I. I said it.

And then they're not dressed to the nines, but they're just. They're not just living in workout gear like we seem to do in the United States.

They're dressed a lot. They look nicer. Like, women were wearing skirts and, like, sundresses.

Oh, for sure.

They were a little dapper. They're more dapper. Just like. Well, we have so much to share. Like, when we went in the dressing room and they brought you those pinstripe shorts. But. But wait, I don't want to get too far off track here. So I would. I didn't like that they called me Americana. I'm like, I want to look Spanish. I want to fit in. So we. So Brooks was super supportive. We went into the store. We did.

As if my wife needs an excuse to go shop. It just so happens she's like, I'm not going to look like an Americano. So.

But hold on. We found a whole bunch of clothes. I bought, like, a whole new wardrobe in the store. Like a jumpsuit, skirts. And what did we spend? Seriously?

So I got to be honest. We go in this store and there was this nice blue. I mean, I don't know what you call it. A jumpsuit.

It was a jumpsuit.

It was a jumpsuit. And I looked at it, and I looked at the price tag. It was like $16.90, and that's euros. So add another 9 or 10%, whatever the exchange rate is on the given day. But everything in the store, I mean, it was well made, quality stuff. But the prices were amazing. So I think Natalie literally got five or six outfits in a couple other pieces, and we were literally out the door for €87.

And I was like a superhero because I, like, slid in all Americana with my leggings, my sneakers and my tank top and my scrunchie or whatever. That baseball. The baseball cap. Let me add that to it. And then I. I slid out of the store because I went to the job and I all sneak. I changed. I had a jumpsuit on. I. I looked. I bought a purse. I fit in. So I walked in looking Americana. I walked out looking like I fit in in Spain.

Yeah. You had a hat, a purse. I mean, the only time on that one, you didn't get any new shoes.

But we did shortly after.

I know there's.

I had. I had to make sure the shoes.

Worked because I had that store. We made it about a block half, and then it was a intersection in Caddy corner. There was the shoe store, and.

Yeah. And then I looked. I looked Spanish. It was perfect. It looked. So the funny thing is, Brooks found this blue shirt that he really loved. And they had a medium and they had an extra large, but the medium was too tight, and the extra large was way too big. But it was a. It was a perfect shirt for Brooks. It matched your eyes. It was, like, amazing. So Brooks was like. We. We sat in the store contemplating for, like, probably 30 minutes, could we make the medium or the extra large work? But. But the funny thing. And I don't want to get too far ahead, but the funny thing was when we. We ended up, like, saying, we're gonna find the shirt in another store in Europe, which we ended up finding. But when we went to the other store in Europe, they. They picked up matching pinstripe shorts. And really, we're not that ready to, like. I can't. I just can't put you in a pinstripe jacket.

It was. So I. I tried on that shirt. They had the large, which is great. They had this nice seersucker jacket, which it's. I've been to events where you had to wear Sears, so it's cool. But it's one of those things, like, I don't really need it because you only use it maybe once every couple years. So I was just pulling on this jacket just to see how it fit, and then the guy comes over and brings me, like, the matching seersucker shorts that would go with it. And, I mean, in the right place, the guy would totally rock it. But I was like. I couldn't see myself coming back to America.

No. In Arizona. In Arizona and like, the country of Arizona. Yeah. It wasn't going to. It wasn't going to work. It wasn't. Okay. But we got. I got a little off track there. I knew that was going to happen. But I want to talk to you about the travel you all, because I'm a travel snob. And when we. So the reason we ended up going to Europe is my daughter, who I share custody with her dad. We have since she was a baby. Her, my daughter and her dad's whole side of the family. They were going to Europe for two months this summer. So they were, they planned this whole amazing European vacation. And I'm super close with her bonus mom and my ex and all that. And they said, you know, instead of me not seeing my daughter for two months, what if we overlap a little? Like Brooks and I had not been to Europe. What if we go there and we overlap our trips a little bit so I get to hang out with her and them for a little while too. So that's how this even happened. So Brooks and I were going to plan this trip and he was kind of holding back on, like, do we really need to do all this? Because I'm a travel snob, y'. All. Like, I'm a travel snob. I, if I'm going to fly, if there's evolving over water and it's a long situation, I need the lay down seat. I just do. I'm 52 years old, that's what I require. I want to lay down flat. I want to get on, I want to take a little Tylenol PM or something and then I want to zonk out and I want to wake up like I did when we went to Australia. I just want to wake up.

So she said it correctly. They're saying, she goes, I want to lay down. Because we always have this husband wife between needs and wants. But that's a whole nother.

Well, you know, one can argue that I need to because if you want me to be happy and nice, I need to. So, so, so when we went to Australia, we did like the whole lay down seats. And Brooks liked it too. He liked it.

I never nobody. It's not about not liking it. Like who wouldn't want to be, you know, who doesn't want to fly first class, who doesn't want to get picked up in chauffeur driven Bentleys? But it comes down pay for it.

So here was the problem. So Brooks agreed that we're going to go. And now us going overseas is, it's kind of an ordeal. Like we got to figure out our business, we got to figure out our dog. We, there's a lot of things you got. Like anyone, we have to figure out a whole situation here. So we're, we're looking and it's not cheap just to go travel Europe, but we're looking at flights and there's like a world of difference between Economy and first class. But hold on, there's a world of difference. And Brooks is like telling me these prices and it's basically like someone's year long salary. I got it. It's expensive. But my. So he's like, we don't, we're not doing this. Let's. Let's do something in between. Let's do something in between. Like there's something called premium economy. And I said, my attitude is no, let's just find a way to pay for it. Let's just generate. I'll just, we'll just generate something else. Let's pay for it. So we think different. He's like, let's save. And I'm like, no, let's just generate more. So we had this like ongoing discussion for a few weeks about this, didn't we?

Yeah. And then I'll share my side of this because.

Oh, what's your side? I want to hear it.

So let me just get some context. So for these flights you had economy, that was 1800 bucks. The premium economy was 3600 bucks. And it's not always case, but for these particular flights to go up to business class was $13,700 per person.

So going to cost us somebody's salary.

Basically it cost us. The total for both of our flights was 6,600 bucks for premium economy. And it would have been 275 for both of us to do it the other way.

So we waited a while on booking the flight because I was being a brat and I said, I need to fly in comfort and this is what I want and this is what's happening and we're just going to do that. And Brooks was like, but you know when you were like, decide something. I always talk about deciding. Like when you decide something and you're stuck. Well, Brooks and I both decided different decisions. I decided we were flying first class there. It was just going to happen. He decided that we were going to do premium economy and I was going to like it. So his decision won. But I want to share this. I want to apologize publicly to my husband because it actually was really nice. Premium economy was nice. It's like, it was like regular first class in the U.S. it's better than, yeah, they served us two meals. They were big gushy seats. Like we had TV the whole time. So it really wasn't a big deal. So if you're thinking you want to fly to Europe and you're a brat like me, and you're like, I will only go, but you don't want to spend $26,000 on your tickets. Look at premium economy. Because it actually was nice. It was fine. I survived it. I survived it.

And so this is my thing. So you just do one person. So if you go from 33, 300 bucks or 3600, whatever, I mean, it was 3300 for the premium economy. Like that $10,000 Delta, in my mind that's $10,000 to be slightly more comfortable for 12 hours of flying. Or you could stay in a thousand dollar a night hotel for 10 nights.

Well, well, we're not saying that I've changed my tune forever. We're just sharing that I'm open minded now. And it worked for us because we flew first to Philadelphia during the day and then so the flight was actually like six hours, maybe seven from Philadelphia to Lisbon.

Social media. We could take a poll. If we could put a poll in the podcast, see what the viewers think.

Well, well, I'm just telling them if they've been not going to Europe because they're worried about that, you can rest assured that it was amazing. And I actually, we, it was fine. Now you guys are like, well, why didn't you use points? Well, Brooks looked at points. It was literally going to be a million points. And I'm not exaggerating. Wasn't it gonna be like a million points to.

I'm not this super points expert, but, you know, we had some points with the airlines and we also had Amex points. And it all comes down to dollar value. So if you're, I mean, there's times I've looked at other flights where that same business class ticket for, for us, for the dates that we were going, that was 13,700. Sometimes that business class ticket's five or six grand. So the whole points, it's also tied in with, with the price. And it just, you know, we were on the early cusp of going into the peak season. Plus you got the Olympics coming up in Europe later. But because we, we flew out on May 29th. And so that's, that's getting into the, like you're getting into the cusp of the peak season over there, which really hits mid July, which is when we were coming back through August.

So we made it there. We did it. We made it there. And I gotta give it to my husband because what we, what we did, our plan was we were gonna, we were gonna explore Portugal. That was our only plan. And we had booked, Brooks had booked a few nights in Lisbon, which I think was plenty, by the way. Like, I don't know that you need more than three nights in Lisbon. Yeah, three. Three was good. Depends on what you love. But it's a big city. I mean, it was cool. It was fascinating. One of the things that we did, which I highly recommend if you ever go to Lisbon, is we took. We hired like, a private tour situation where they took us to, like, all the local beach towns and then to the palaces, which was wild. That was awesome.

Cascais, Cash case. Cash case and Sintra.

But the actual city of Lisbon is a big old city. It's cool. It's just like you. It's more than a couple days of walking around it, and you're like, okay, I'm ready for the next thing. So what we did was we planned a few nights there, and then we planned one night at this point place, the. The Algarve region of Portugal, which is the south part of Portugal, which I could live that forever. I. It was like my dream. It was basically San Diego, but not crowded. And you all know I love San Diego. I live there for 20 years. It was that. But not crowded. Empty. So beautiful. So we check in one night there, and the plan was we were going to kind of see where we wanted to float to what we want to do next. But we walked in and it was like a kid opening their presents on Christmas. I'm sure Brooks will can tell you his version, but I. My eyes were so big. I'm like, I. To stay here. I don't want to leave. I want to be here more than one night. So what do we do?

So we ended up extending at that place not once, but twice. So we. So let me just back up. So when we did, when we had now was like, I want to go to Portugal. And I was kind of like, what do you want? She's just like, I just want to go to Portugal. You figure it out. And I was like, awesome.

Like, knew I wanted to go.

No, like, trying to figure it out.

I volunteered to hire a travel person agent. You just said you like to do it.

I said, I'll figure it out. But then I just had to get it. Okay. Because basically we did. When we flew into Lisbon, we did three nights in Lisbon, and that Sunday we went back to the airport and picked up a rental car. Because just so you know, picking up and dropping off a rental car at the same place is way cheaper than doing point to point or any of that stuff. And since you certainly do not need a car in Lisbon because it's a big city, you're just going to pay for parking. You're not going to use it. So we picked it up on our way out on Sunday, drove down the Garvey. And so that was why I only booked one night, because now I was like, I want to see all of Portugal. And it's really hard to kind of plan where, you know, if you haven't been to these places, how many nights do you need to be at a place? And I looked, there was enough flexibility for finding rooms or whatever, so I wasn't worried about that. So I was like, all right. Because the Algarvey. Think of the Algarvey is kind of like Southern California. It's about 100 miles wide. You know, that's kind of like saying, I'm going to go to Southern California. Well, that's going to take you from south la, Orange county, down to San Diego. There's a lot of beaches there. So I didn't know if we wanted to hop, but it just turns out this first place was absolutely amazing.

So I want to tell you guys where we stayed too, just so you know, like. So the first place we stayed at in Lisbon was the Intercontinental. And we use points for that. We use American Express points. Brooks was a ninja with that. And we. But the key was the top. That how you upgraded us to the top room.

That room upgraded so that we had. We had a huge balcony, if you followed a whole huge view of Lisbon, huge balcony. So it was worth the upgrade. And it's literally right across from a park. It's right next door to the Four Seasons, which is like.

We walked everywhere five times the amount.

But the Intercontinental was great. The food was great, Their breakfast buffet was great. The people, everything there was great. And you could walk everywhere from there. Like the main little shopping area, super safe and easy to walk to. You could walk all the way down to the water from there. So.

And then where was the name? Villa Vita Park. Is that. Did I say it right?

Villa Vita Park.

Villa Vita is where we stayed in the Al Garb you all. This was. I've been in a lot of nice resorts. This was the nicest resort I have ever experienced. I did not want to leave. If you ever can't find me, that's where I am at. I. I could have stayed there the rest of my life. I was so happy there.

She wanted to live there.

I want to live there. I thought, I will work at this resort. I will literally work here, just so I can be at this resort every day. I'm going to be the person teaching a little fitness Class in the background. That's going to be me because I would like to retire and live there. It's amazing. It really was amazing.

It was really nice. The rooms are great, the food's amazing and just it's on the cliffs there and it's got five or six different pools. It's got a gym.

So this is where we started to.

Notice 12 or 15 restaurants. There's a Michelin star restaurant there.

So that, that I couldn't eat at. But funny story about that. So Brooks is like, there's. They have like a bunch of restaurants on this property there. Everything was good, everything was amazing. But you have to have a reservation and that one of them is a Michelin star restaurant. And he's like, it's very hard to get into. We were on a waitlist. We finally. We actually somehow got. And Brooks enrolled them and letting us in. We go up to eat, we sit down, we open the menu. And first of all, it's like going to be like $500 a person. Easily. Easily.

Before it was 275. Because this thing, it's not a menu that you order from. It's basically like there's two choices and there, there's two 15 course tasting menus. Like you don't, it's not like going, oh, I want this. You don't order. You get A or B. And then you have three choices. You can get alcohol, premium alcohol or.

Non alcohol, which we don't drink by the way.

So even the non. So it was 275 a person and then the non alcoholic was 120 or 125 bucks.

So you're gonna be like, at least.

You'Re looking at 400 bucks a person before tip.

So okay, so we open the menu and I'm a celiac. So I. Even though the Europe food's amazing, which we're gonna talk about in a minute everywhere, I still cannot have gluten or wheat even in Europe because I am actually a celiac. But it's never an issue. Like I go to a restaurant, I look at, typically look at what I can have and if I ask for a slight modification, so I'm looking at the menu and literally everything on the menu is, is questionable. So. And they don't have a lot of choices. You say just pick your tasting like it's like, it's like either protein or a veg vegan. So I said I'm a celiac. And he's like, oh, the waiter, the waiter. I'm like, what do you mean? Oh, He. He says we don't accommodate for celiacs here. I'm like, what do you mean? I just. Can you just. There looks like there's things that cannot have sauce. He's like, well, we don't adjust anything, so they should have told you when you book this. So I'm, I'm. First of all, I'm starving, but I'm trying to take one for the team. So I'm like, well, Brooks, you. And he knew. He was so excited to eat there. I'm like, you can eat. I'll just sit here.

Pictures of this place. Like it was called Ocean and it on this property probably had the best view of any place on the property. And then the way the inside was decorated with the blues and the whites. I mean, it was, it was awesome.

But only.

And it was only 12. I think I counted. There's 12 or 13 tables in the entire place.

So long story short, we didn't get to eat there. My glass of champagne, my one glass of champagne, they gave on me and they hired us. They hired, Got us a little golf cart thing to drive us to someplace else. And then we went and sat with all the families and the little kids since we didn't have a reservation. That's what happened. So we didn't get to. But. But I, I said, look, we saved $1,000. We saved a thousand dollars.

We did.

We did. So my celiac saved.

That's kind of funny when Natalie talks about, oh, we saved $1,000. And I'm.

But we did.

I like it when you rationalize, oh, we're saving a thousand dollars.

Yeah.

On the other hand, loves experiences, but.

So let's get into some things that we notice in Europe though, and then we'll continue like telling you where else we went. But the first thing I want to share that we noticed. Well, first of all, you already heard from the beginning, no leggings. Do not pack leggings when you go to Europe, unless you want to stand out as a major American. They don't wear. That's not a thing there. Don't wear leggings. The next thing we noticed was the driving. And Brooks is going to talk about this because, look, he gets excited. Y' all people do not drive slow in the left lane there. Brooks, carry on. Tell us what, Tell them what you notice.

That's. It was sublime driving there, especially when you got city. The cities are always crowded and you get traffic, but once you get out on the. The four lane roads where there's just two lanes on each side they do have speed limits, but the overriding rule is slower traffic. Keep right. So, like, even if you pass a car and there's a car way up there that you're going to eventually pass, you don't stay in left lane. You move over. You just constantly move over. And here's the thing. Even I got past. I got past, I think, three times during the whole trip. Then I just found somebody that I was like, oh, well, if you can go that fast.

Well, let me paint the picture, because when we're driving here, this is what it's typically like. So Brooks is a train race car driver. Let me just leave it at that. So I know he's safe. I know he's got the things. But still, I'm a. I'm a total backseat driver. So when we're driving here, this is what it's like. Brooks is like, oh, why is this person in front of me going so slow in the left lane that he says that out loud every time? And he makes the faces every time, and then he pulls up right up on their butt. And then they end up flicking him off and getting all mad. And then Brooks and I end up in an argument. This is like an ongoing situation. When we drive in Europe, it was very pleasant and peaceful. You know why? Because every time Brooks approached up, they just moved over. And they'd wave at him, hi, have a good day. Like, no one cares. It's just a thing. They move over.

Like, we move over signs in America. Slower traffic keep right. But to me, it's the easiest concept ever. But somehow it just. People don't do it.

If Brooks ever becomes a cop, which I don't think he will, but if he ever does, we talked about all he would do all day long. This is all he would do. He would win the award for most tickets written for people driving slow in the left lane.

Yeah, I would just. That's all you would do, Eating the flow of traffic. Like, here's the deal. It doesn't matter if you're transporting a minivan full of kids or fine china or wedding cakes. Just move over.

Okay, so the other thing we notice. Well, so then we drive. We drive from Agarvey, which I. You had to pull me away from that place. I did not want to leave, but I know there was more to see. So we drove from the Algarve down to. To Jerez, Spain, and this was flipping cool. Now, how did you find this place? Yeah, how did you find it?

I found it because my good buddy Dieter, who's From Germany. And he's also. If you need a good Porsche person and you're in San Diego, go see Dieter up at Hohen, because we also got your car from him. I've known dieter for like 15 years, so he's a really good friend of mine and he had been in that town with his family and he's in the place that we stayed at. I guess they stayed next door, but they studied. He goes, if you go, he goes, if you go back, he goes, you have to stay at this place.

What was it called? The place took a picture of it. I'll put it in a.

It was something. Maria Louise something.

Because it was the coolest looking hotel.

Look at it. Because I can say it. Really cool.

It was so cool. It was like total. And funny thing is, we're sitting in the garden having wine and cheese. Because I did drink wine in Europe, because we were in Europe. You had to have wine and cheese in Europe. And we're sitting in the garden and I said, I love how they decorated it so Spanish here. And Brooke starts laughing and he's like, oh, because we're in Spain. I just. I liked the Spanish decor and they did a good job.

And what's really cool about it's a smaller town. It's. It's about. I can't remember, I think it was about an hour south of Sevilla. But on the inside there's a. There's like a walking zone. So there's literally no cars.

Walking city.

Yeah. Where there's like inside the walls. I mean. Yes. Like, there's special exceptions for like a delivery truck like that. But there's. There's no. I mean, you can just. I. That's the one. I probably could have spent another night there. Just.

I wish we had one more night there because we did that quick. And that was a cool hotel.

Yeah. Because basically we got there about one or two o' clock in the afternoon and then we spent the night. We spent that night and then we left the next day about 11 or noon. So we were there about 24 hours. But if I had an extra, if I had a full day, so two nights there, it would have been perfect.

So it was. It was cool. So we loved that. So this is when I started to like really notice some things. So in the Algarvey, you're like really in a beach town, so I didn't notice it as much. But in Lisbon and then in Jerez, you really notice. Number one, I'm gonna say the negative first. The negative is people smoke A lot. Like, cigarette smoke is heavy and so is perfume. Like, all I could smell was perfume. And cigarettes. Perfume and cigarettes. But here's the wild thing, y'. All. There was no obesity. I did not see obese people. There was no obesity. It's an American thing. I felt like.

But they were all Americans or Britons.

If. Oh, if they were.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of people. Here's the thing that you still can't smoke indoors there, at least.

I do smoke outdoors a lot.

Yeah, but that doesn't bother me as much. But, I mean, yeah, there was definitely people smoking. But, yeah, the only overweight people really.

Were Americans or Britons, which got us thinking because, like, why. Like, why do we have an epidemic here? And we don't seem to have it there now. I can't speak for all of Europe. We were in Portugal and Spain. But what we saw is one, people were way more active. Like, they walk everywhere. Walking is the thing. Like, we just even tracking our steps, we definitely got in a lot more than we do here on a daily basis. Plus, the food. Like, anything you eat there. There's a list of 2,000 chemicals. We learned that America, United States, allows in their food and cosmetics that are banned in the uk, that are banned in Europe, in the EU in general. So their food is a lot healthier. So just like you would have dairy here and maybe be bloated and have a stomachache, you don't have that problem there. Same thing. A lot of people other than Celiacs could eat wheat there and not have the same issue. The food is better quality, and you could taste it. It tasted different.

Yeah, the food quality. But the other thing I think they have is the portion sizes.

Oh, yeah, that's true. The portion sizes were normal. They were, like, small. A lot smaller.

Well, I mean, we. We say small, but it's the portion size that you need because, again, let's be honest, 70% of the people in the United States are overweight or obese. So we, like, even say, like, oh, it's small. It's not small. It's the appropriate portion that our bodies actually need.

So I think there's a lot of reasons for it, and I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole here, but I think portions. I think people are more active. I think the quality of food is totally different there. Totally different there. I think people. There's less stress because people work to live. They don't live to work. That was super evident. Like, people take naps. They're more family time. It's like people are living different. But then I also think the whole healthcare thing is completely different. Like we are run by pharmaceutical here and they can't advertise pharmaceuticals there. And so if you follow money, a lot of times you're going to see that, that I think there's a, there's a profit in people being sick here.

It's a huge business.

Huge business.

They make money, you sick and then make money with the sick care.

And so for the first time, I mean I, I, I'm definitely, I could say I'm proud to be an American, but I was kind of embarrassed to be American at times over there. I'm not gonna lie. Like I was, I would look at how we've been taught how we live versus what I was seeing there. And it was definitely different. It was definitely different. So we left dress spade. We didn't, we didn't spend enough time there. I would have liked one more day. There was. And we went to say it. Brooks, how did you say it? The Rock. No, you guys say it, say it in your accent first.

We went down to Gibraltar.

Okay, but, but every time we'd go.

Down to Gibraltar, Gibraltar is, it's actually a British territory. It's a British territory on the most southern part of Europe on the, the very tip of Spain. It's right across from Africa, so there's about nine miles. So you can literally see Africa. And I, I just remember it from a kid because the Straight of Gibraltar was basically the gateway to the Mediterranean. Like it was a huge military, like a lot of history there. And so I wanted to go see the Rock of Gibraltar.

So he kept going. The Rock of Gibraltar. But which is funny because when we were in Arizona, in Arizona, when we were in Australia in Sydney, we found this beach called Manly Beach. Yeah, he's so, so every trip he has a little accent term that he'll use. So he would go, Manly Beach.

Do you want to go to Manly Beach?

So this time it was the Rock of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar.

So we did that and I would have changed that up a little bit too. So what we did was we drove there, we left our place in Spain, drove there, took several hours to get there and then got there.

90 minute drive.

Okay. Oh, it was not. Oh, I have a chips mixed up of what was longer. Okay.

The one from the Algarvey to Jerry's was about three and a half hours and then we were an hour and a half down to, to the Rock of Gibraltar.

So we, so we got there and we. What we. This is what we did. And this is what we would have done different. What we did was we checked in, we ate a little lunch. So I gotta eat. I had a little lunch looking at the Rock of Gibraltar. Then we walked to the Rock of Gibraltar. And then we took a little tram ride up to the top, because it goes pretty high up. And then when you get to the top, there's these amazing views. And then you hike or walk all the way down, but you're a whole way down. There's, like, cool things to see. Now, the coolest thing to see. Brooks was all into the history. The coolest thing for me to see was the monkeys. They had wild monkeys everywhere. You all. And they, like, climb on you and stuff. They were cool. Brooks took a selfie with one, and then he got a little too close, and the monkey shoved him.

I got a little cocky because I was getting pretty close to the monkeys. And after, like, several.

So funny.

And this one monkey, like, we were kind of touching. I was like, I'm gonna see if I can get even closer. And he just kind of, like.

He shoved him.

Just kind of like.

And he has a scratch on his arm from it. It was so funny. And I was filming it, and I shut off the camera right before he shoved you. I was so mad. That would have been great. Yeah, it did have. It was so funny. So that was my favorite part. But here's what I would have done different, because it took us several hours to, like, really explore and walk down and see. You could see some cool things, and you could see Africa from the. The top. That was really wild. But if. If you're listening to this and you want to go do the Rock of Gibraltar, what I would do is I would have driven there the night before. I would have gotten up early, and I would have hiked up to the top, because you could do it. It's paved. It's not. I mean, it's steep, but you could do it. All levels were doing it. You would hike up to the top, you'd have lunch at the top. They sell ice cream at the bottom.

You have to get the $19 pass because basically it's. It's $38 to get, which includes the $19 to go up and down on the tram and then $19 for the pass. That gets you in all the things on the rocket rod. Yeah, you can just go walk the street up there, but you can't go into or see or do any of the cool stuff without the $19 pass. So you definitely have to get that down at the bottom. So I would do that. And the reason we paid for the tram up and down is because it was. It was $36 to take the tram up or it was 39 to be able to take it down. So the extra three bucks had it in case.

But we didn't need it.

We didn't need it.

But it was, it was awesome. And then. So that was cool. And then the next thing that we did after the Rocket Gibraltar because we only stayed there briefly like we didn't.

Want to just there that whole day but just, you know, like there's awesome, there's awesome history there. There's these World War Natalie's. Would you have a blister? Your knee was bothering you. So she waited and I went. They had these World War II tunnels that go into the mountain where you could see where they'd shoot cannons out of there. So there was a lot of. There's a lot of history there than just going to the top and seeing the views. There's an amazing cave that's in there that's pretty incredible. And there's just. There's a lot of historical stuff that I was really enjoying coming down.

And then the final place we went, this was super cool. Brooks found a farm to table and he's going to tell you about it in a second. But what I'm going to tell you about it first is it was super cool. And the only thing I had a hard time with was I. There were cows every. I love cows. Like it's truly farm to table. So there are cows everywhere and I love cows. Like I love. I, I feel them. I'm like they're. I. So I'm like how do people eat these? I can't. I couldn't with that. So that was my only, that was my only complaint there. But talk about this place because it was pretty cool.

Yeah. So I. Because originally I was looking at. There's a town called. I thought it was Evora, but I guess it's Evora. And I was looking for some stuff there and somehow I stumbled across this hotel. It's not even really hotel but it's called Sao Lorenco de Bordocal and it's been in this family for over 200 years. And it's basically a 2,000 acre farm and it's certified organic, 100% farm to table. They make their own wine, they make their own olive oil and I think there's only about 30 rooms/cottages that they have there and they've all been converted from parts of the farm. So there's like, there's a farm area, there's a vineyard area. I mean, it's all. But they just kind of converted everything.

It was really peaceful and pretty and cool, but I was, my. I had to get past it. I was like, how do you. Because I even asked the guy. We went on a little tour there and I'm like, so the cows are raised amazing by the way they're like grass fed, they roam. They have like 2,000 acres. They're like, it's. They treat them well. So I was like, well, how. How long do the cows get to live? And he's like, started out good. He's like, well, you know, 10 to 15 years. He goes, but the, the babies don't have it so well. The calves, I was like, oh. He said, they don't get to live as long. And I. Then I was sad because they have ve on their menu.

As you can tell of all the things here, when Natalie gets something stuck on, she stays on track. So.

Yeah. So I wouldn't let my husband order veal. It's true. I was bossy and I was like, please don't order the veal. I can't. That's. They're baby cows. I couldn't do it.

But the other thing is too, is, yes, they're baby cows, but a lot of times it's baby cows where it's like there's some issue or, or something with them.

Do you want me to start crying, Brooks?

Oh, I know, baby.

Other than that, most of you don't. Most of you don't get stuck on thoughts like this. Like, I do. But, but yes, they, they. But their vegetables and their fruit and their every. Their eggs, everything was so good there.

You have to see where they grow all their herbs, all places, everything. They have an amazing chef on there. I mean, literally everything comes from there.

So Brooks and I, I mean, I love. I absolutely loved our trip. We're going to go. We're going to. We were there for two weeks exactly. Or actually like one day short of two weeks.

We were there the whole trip was two weeks. That includes the flying days.

So. Well, we went Wednesday to a Tuesday, Wednesday to the following Tuesday to two weeks.

So 14 days.

So it. I would have liked a little bit longer there, but we missed flops. We had to get back. So I think we'll probably go back and explore Europe probably in September. Want to do a little bit more. But. So some of the big takeaways that I Had like, bringing Europe home with me was I was like, I'm gonna wear less leggings. I'm going to stick to what I know with eating, but I'm going to be really more aware of that. Like, even more aware of what's going into things. I'm not going to start smoking, even though everyone smokes over there. Everyone's not gonna happen.

It's just more, you know, it's. Yes, people smoke there, but I did.

Start forming a crazy cappuccino habit over there. So we get to figure. And a gelato habit. We. We formed a coffee and gelato habit. And we have an ice cream maker on our counter now that Brooks ordered because we're going to start. We're going to be that person that makes gelato now. We're gonna do it.

We're gonna make it always. I always enjoy. So here's the avocado or ice cream.

The epiphany I had. Yeah, I was an epiphany that I had. Was that, like, a lot of what you and I have believed about fat loss, like, like, it just became even more evident in Europe. And what was wild is I was, gosh, a lot of people in Europe don't need what I teach because they live this year. They live this year. And we've gotten so backwards over here. And I like, just the rise of so many things wrong in our health. And like, I didn't see. And I. Again, we didn't travel all of Europe. I can't speak for every country, every area, but we just didn't see it. It seemed very different.

Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of it goes back to the portion sizes. Yes. The food quality and everything else, but the portion sizes are way more in line.

And then. But lifestyle too. Like, I feel like the less stress. Also the water. Do you. I mean, here we have like this purified water junk. Like there, everything was mineral or spring water.

Yeah, that was it.

Yeah. So it's simple. It was just simple.

Oh, and I forgot about their ham.

Oh, yeah, Tell them about the ham.

For their Iberian ham. Think of it as basically like the wagyu of ham. And I forget there's a special protocol that they feed all the pigs. But then basically, after their. Whatever I hate Natalie gets, but they salt it for two weeks and then they let it cure for two and a half to four years. And like, the color, like. So I was getting the Iberian black ham wherever I saw it on the menu, and I had it in Michelin Star place. It was phenomenal.

So we're gonna link. I know because so many people messaged on, at least on Instagram and Facebook asking like, where did we stay? Where are all things. So I'm gonna link in. In the show notes. We're going to put a little link to the blog that has us talking about all this, but then has a link to all the different places just in case you want to do kind of our itinerary or know exactly what we did and let us know if you liked this format, because if so, maybe we'll do another one when we get back from when we go again. When we go back and do it again. Speaking of health, fat loss, all the things. Brooks, did you gain any weight on the trip?

No. I mean, they. So obviously when I got back home, I should not. Like, I literally had cankles. That's just from being.

Did have cankles from that plane.

So that's into when you go on a trip. So I get. I said I'm gonna give myself 24 to 36 hours. I mean, I weighed myself when I got back and I was definitely heavier, but I knew it was all water weight. Like, I could feel it in my ankles. And then by the next morning, I'd lost £4. But that's again, this is just water weight. It's not body fat. And then, you know, after I'd been back a day or so, I was. I didn't gain, losing, but I got five or six good weight workouts in there, plus the, plus the walking.

And so, yeah, so I ate gelato every single day. I had a full fat cappuccino every single day. I definitely ate whatever the heck I wanted over there. And I had. They didn't have. Well, they didn't. I couldn't eat gluten, but I had gluten free bread with olive oil. And I'm talking like so much olive oil. I was like swimming in olive oil. Swimming in it. In fact, Brooks laughed because they would fill up my little container and I'd be like, I have more. Can I?

More like they brought us both the same little container of olive oil. She had gluten free bread, I had gluten bread, and I ate my entire loaf of gluten bread and still had a little bit of olive oil left. She had one swimming in it, one piece of her bread and all of her olive oil was gone.

But my point behind this is I got on the scale this morning. Sure, I was like, I must have gained at least five pounds and I hadn't gained anything and I believe it's because we were eating such high quality food and moving so much and I believe that's why I only worked out one time when I was there one day, literally one day other than that I it was just walking and sticking to this. But speaking of that because we're going to wrap because we're right about on the hour here and I know well to be continued because I think if you all like these kind of conversations we'll do a little bit more like this. To be continued. But one thing I do want to make sure you know about is I do these twice a year and it happens to be that time where it's coming up again where I do a fat loss as you age masterclass where I'm going to teach a lot of tips which is pretty cool because some of it is just you would learn being in Europe some of it but what I'm teaching is some different stuff and I believe if you learn some of these things no matter where you're traveling, what you're doing, how you're spending your time, you can age very well and stop the nonsense of the pounds that have to keep crap creeping up. They don't have to. So I would love for you to attend this free class. It's completely free if you just go to Natalie jillclass.com you want to save your spot. We've got two of them coming up. Natalie jillclass.com you'll get more of it'll be interaction on zoom with me. I'm going to teach you a really simple method. These classes are a hit and get filled up every time I do them and I only do them twice a year so NatalieJo Class.com and I will see you there on that fat loss class and if you want more from me and Brooks together please let us know in the comments so we know.

To do more and slower traffic. Keep right thank you very much.

Slower traffic keep right and say Rock of Gibraltar one more time.

Rock of Gibraltar.

We'll leave it at that.