Listen to Episode

Read Episode Transcript

Ramble. No one is slowing down in this hiring race for the best talent, and offering the right benefits may help you reward and retain your team, helping them feel valued, motivated, and ready for the future. And that can make all the difference for your business principal offers retirement and group benefit plans, customized to help you meet your goals. Your company's future depends on its people. Show them they are valued and give them the tools they need to succeed. Talk to your financial professional today about the right benefits and retirement plans. In principle and visit us at principal.com business. This message was brought to you by Principal Financial Group. But it's important to our wonderful lawyers that we share our legal name, which is the principal life insurance company, Des Moines, IA. For important information about our products, visit principal.com/disclosures. This episode is brought to you by Carvana. They'll drive you happy. Carvana has purchased over a million cars from Happy customers by giving them an offer within minutes, and they can do the same for you. Carvana will give you a real offer for your car within minutes. Then they'll come to pick up your car and pay you on the spot. So to get a real offer on your vehicle in minutes, download the app or visit carvana.com. Hey guys. I am recording this live from my bed. In my hotel in New York City. Geez, I'm so sorry if you're listening to this with headphones in like, I'm just genuinely sorry that you had to hear that. In the aged quality in your ears. That is so unfortunate. I'm so sorry. Hopefully it was kind of good. Anyway, I am in New York and I'm recording this in New York. Because. I'm kind of on a travel kick. Recently I was in New York. Two weeks ago. And then I went back to LA and then now I'm back in New York. For another little vacation. I mean, I'm I'm technically working while I'm here too, but. It's a vacation. In my eyes, in my eyes. It's a vacation. But. I've been traveling a lot recently. I mean, as I just described, I was in New York earlier this month. I was also in Paris. Now I'm back in New York. I'm going to Paris in a few days. And then I'm going back to New York after Paris. And then I'm going somewhere else. Like, I don't know what's going on with me. I'm just on a travel kick, but all this traveling is really. Taught me a lot of lessons about traveling because. My God, you know, like when you travel that much, you really you learn a lot of **** about how to travel in the best way possible. Because. Traveling is not easy. It's very stressful and borderline upsetting sometimes cause it can be really. Physically and emotionally exhausting. And. I feel like everybody's goal when traveling is to make it as easy as possible, but making it easy takes some practice, and I've definitely gotten my practice in. Within the last month because I've been traveling so much and so I thought that I would share some of my favorite tips and tricks. In today's episode on how to travel. In the most pleasant and easy way possible. And also just give some hacks and tips on how to make traveling the most enjoyable experience possible because. You know, I think a lot of people romanticize the idea of traveling. I even do it myself. You know, you might look at your favorite travel Blogger on Instagram and think, wow, they really have it made. But the truth of the matter is, traveling is one of the most stressful things on this planet. And and I mean that fully, and I'm grateful. Every time I get to travel but at the same time it always. Ends up being more exhausting than I expect. But on that note. Here's some advice on how to travel like a real pro. And listen, I don't know if I really am a pro. And I feel kind of weird calling myself a pro. Because there's definitely a lot of people on this planet that have travelled a lot more than me. But listen, I'm doing my best, OK? This is my travel advice. OK, first we're gonna start out with packing advice. This is. Possibly the most boring. Part of travel is the packing, but I do think it's important to touch on. Number one. I recommend packing outfits rather than packing random. Pieces of clothing. The reason for this is that you're streamlining the process. And. You're ensuring. That you won't. Pack useless. Pieces of clothing that won't match other things in your suitcase. Do you see what I'm saying? If you pack in outfits, then you're insuring, OK, I have. X amount of outfits that I can rely on. That are already. Pre chosen for me by me. That I can just go to at any given moment while I'm on this trip. It takes the thought out of everything. It makes life so much easier. I started doing this a few years back when I went to my very first Coachella and I. Picked out all of my Coachella outfits beforehand and I packed them all in my suitcase and I realized I was like, I just packed. So much less **** than I normally pack because I packed outfits instead of a bunch of random ****. And this is really *** **** efficient. Like, I'm going to start doing this more often and I've been doing it ever since. The other option. If you don't really want to pack outfits is to pack with a color scheme. So. Instead of pre picking out outfits you know, stick to a color scheme. So maybe your color scheme is all neutrals like white, black, tan, Gray. Whatever, only packed pieces of clothing that are in that color scheme. And then you can kind of mix and match everything to make outfits once you arrive. That's also good. That's also really good. That's good for longer trips. Because. You can make even more outfits. Out of the stuff that you packed, then if you pack outfits because you know, obviously the mixing and matching really leaves. Room for endless possibilities. My next packing tip is. Listen. If you're stressing out because you can't fit a shampoo and conditioner bottle in your bag, or you can't fit a toothpaste in your bag, OK, that's pretty small if you can't fit a toothpaste in your bag. You need a bigger bag. But you know what I'm saying? Like if there's something that's just not fitting in your bag, or. Let's say you're not checking a bag. So you can't pack like a full size shampoo and conditioner, but you really want that. Don't ******* stress out, relax. Take your panties out of a bunch and when you get to your final destination, go to the store and buy some. I don't know what it is, but for so long I felt like I needed to pack everything. Down to a tee. When I would go on a trip. Because I had this mental block, I felt like if I forgot something then I was screwed. Like I couldn't go and fix my problem and I couldn't go and get what I forgot. Find peace in knowing that you can go to the store. I don't know why we forget this, and maybe this is just a personal issue that I had. Maybe nobody else can relate to this, but I always felt like if I forgot one thing or one thing didn't fit in my bag that I was screwed. Absolutely not. Utilize the store if you're too lazy to pack a shampoo and conditioner. Go to your nearest. Pharmacy store. And picks them up when you arrive. It's not that hard, and it's actually kind of fun because you get to go on a little adventure and pick out a little shampoo and conditioner for yourself for the trip. And maybe you can even try a new brand that you haven't tried before. And you can be adventurous with a new flavor of shampoo and conditioner while you're on your trip. OK, it's cute. It's fun. Don't worry if you forgot. One of those essentials, or. They didn't fit in your bag. Whatever it may be, don't stress. Always remember that there's a store nearby and that you're going to be fine. My 3rd and final packing hack. Is. When you're packing your clothes in your suitcase. The best way? To fit the most things you can possibly fit into your suitcase. Is by rolling your clothes OK? Don't fold. Roll. I know this is pretty well known, but for those of you that are not rolling your clothes. You need to start rolling because it really changes the game. You can fit 10 times more **** in your bag. Umm. Also, if you're packing purses or bags in your suitcase, fill those purses with stuff. Jewelry, hair clips, sunglasses, socks, whatever it may be. Fill your purses in your bags. That are going inside of your suitcase with stuff. Shove socks inside of your shoes that you're packing like utilize every blank space in your ******* suitcase. And you can do this. Those are all my packing hacks. They're honestly so boring, but I felt like we had to talk about them because, you know. Packing is a big part of travel. But now we can get into the front ship. My first travel hack. Is. Utilize the grocery store. OK. I just started doing this recently, but it's been a life changing. Lesson. Food and eating when you're traveling can be really difficult, right? Because number one, you're unfamiliar with the area usually, and you don't really know, you know what the good restaurants are and then. Room service is really expensive, so you know you don't want to do that for every meal. And the snacks that the hotel usually provides are? Overpriced and not that great anyway. This is why you need to be going to the grocery store on the first day of every trip. I always go to the grocery store and I load up on a bunch of snacks. I get fresh fruit. I get crackers and chips and nuts in protein bars. Like the whole 9 yards. I get a bunch of **** right? And then I get back to my hotel room and I unpack it and I fill the little mini fridge in the room with all of my groceries. And sometimes, you know, you might need to rearrange the fridge. That's OK. It's not the end of the world. And then the reason why this is great is because if you wake up one morning and you're like. I'm hungry. I don't want to wait for room service and I don't want to try to figure out. You know a cute little restaurant to eat at? You can just go into your little mini fridge. And whip out. A yogurt or something that you bought at the store? And now you're set for the day and you don't have to think. And sometimes that's exactly what you need. You know what I mean? If you want to travel for a long period of time, like maybe for a week or maybe for two weeks, eating out for every meal is just simply not sustainable. It's gonna **** ** your stomach for one. Maybe not, but for me, it ***** up my stomach to be eating out for every meal. It's also very expensive. And it can be really exhausting and sometimes you don't have the energy to go out, you know, for every single meal. This is why having a fully stocked fridge. With your own groceries can be a serious lifesaver. I also enjoy it too, because I feel like I'm. Immersing myself in whatever city I'm in by going to the grocery store and going grocery shopping. It immediately makes me feel like a local, which I just adore. I love feeling like a local when I'm traveling, and so going into the grocery store and shopping is a very local. You know, kind of behavior and so you kind of get to feel like you're a part of the community for a second and it's very fun. The other thing is you can get kind of creative with it, like. I found pre hard boiled eggs. At the grocery store nearest my hotel and I was so excited. I mean I've had pre hardboiled eggs before but you know you don't know if you're going to be able to find something as specific as that when you're traveling, but I was so excited because I was like I'm going to have my pre hard boiled eggs. And I can, you know, I bought a salt shaker so that I could have some salt. I bought hummus so that I could eat hummus with my eggs, you know? And I really made it happen. I also bought. Oatmeal. Like raw oatmeal. And I bought almond milk the other day so that I could make overnight oats. You know, and like, it's fun. And then, like, you have to get all crafty in your hotel room to figure out how you're going to make this **** in your hotel room. Like. In order to make the overnight oats, I had to use a cup. That I had used earlier in the day. For water. And fill it with the oats and the almond milk. And then mix it up and then put it in the little mini fridge and it was like I had to get crafty and you know what? **** like that. Makes me happy and I don't know why that is, but when I have to get crafty and I have to get creative a little bit. I don't know, it just like makes me feel good and I feel like. Trying to feed yourself in a hotel room is really a fun challenge. You know? It's a fun challenge. So overall I would say. Grocery shopping on vacation is underrated, even if you're in a hotel room that has great room service. Go to the ******* grocery store. My next tip. Is that if you're staying in a hotel room? Be careful when you let. Housekeeping coming to your room. Because let me tell you a Horror Story. So. I was staying in a hotel in Paris and. I had all of my camera equipment laying out on my bed because I do everything from the comfort of my bed. That includes filming, editing videos, the whole 9 yards. So all my camera equipment was on my bed. And. I didn't put out the little slip on my door that says don't come in, and so while I was out and about during the day, housekeeping came in and cleaned my room, which is. Incredible and very nice. But. All of my camera equipment was in my bed. And. 99% of my camera equipment. Made it onto the night stand safely except for one chord. I have this white. Cord that I use to import footage from my camera to my computer. It's a very important cord. And it's white and the sheets in the bed are white and so it got tangled up in the sheets. And taken by. Housekeeping. I was devastated because I need that cord in order to edit YouTube videos, which is. My passion in life and my also something that I have to do. I guess I don't have to do it, but I want to do it. You know and so. I was so upset because. I was in Paris. And. I don't speak French, like I don't know who to ask. Where to go? What to do to find? This cord, you know what I mean. It was a very specific cord for my camera. And. I needed that cord to work on my YouTube video and so. I was beside myself, luckily. I had a mutual friend who was a YouTuber who lived in Paris who actually brought me one of the chords and shout out to her because that was incredible. She had one at home and she just came over and brought it to me and it was just the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me and so I used that. In the meantime, and then the next day I managed to find a camera store and then I replaced the cord and everything was fine but. The moral of the story is is that. As great as housekeeping is, be careful about letting them in your room to clean. Make sure that all of your valuable stuff is packed away in your bag before you let housekeeping come in. And if you're not ready and you have **** all over your room, put out the little slip on your door that says don't come in. Do not disturb because. I can't tell you how upsetting it was to lose a chord. You know, while in the middle of Paris. Not knowing how I could replace it or how soon I could replace it, or if I could even replace it like it was one of the most upsetting things ever. And obviously it's not the end of the world, but. You know. It was a huge bummer. So I would say be careful about letting house keeping in housekeeping. I keep wanting to call it House cleaning housekeeping into your room. Clean your room up a little bit before you let them in, OK? Be responsible. ******* adult. We're talking about Macy's again. My favorite one stop shop in such a beloved friend to anything goes. Macy's is the best because it really has something for everyone and every occasion. Whether it's clothes, HomeGoods, cooking Ware, whatever it may be, Macy's has something for you in the spirit of everybody having their own individual Macy's shopping experience. They're making us feel like true VIP's for the next couple of weeks because Macy's VIP sale has arrived just in time to get everything you need to cozy up this fall. From September 23rd to October 3rd, get 30% off regular sale and clearance items plus. 15% off beauty and again, outside of beauty, that's 30% off. Pretty much everything from clothing, shoes and handbags to home decor and appliances. It's happening at Macy's. You want to know what I'm going to get? I'm going to get scarves because I really wanna have a scarf. I live in California. It's only cold for like 3 months here and it's not even that cold. Like it never snows, but I need to be leaning into the winter attire this year because last year I wasn't going hard enough. So I will be picking up a few things from Macy's. If you need to get some stuff for fall, check out Macy's. Com. That's Macy's com. You'll find what you need. I can guarantee you that. Clothes are one of the many ways that we express ourselves and we're constantly switching up our wardrobes. To reflect our interests and styles. But one thing that is a little bit more difficult to switch up is our glasses. Until now, because now with pair eyewear. You can have a different frame every day, OK? With pair eyewear, you start with a chic pair of glasses, right? That look great just by themselves, but they have a special secret. Which is that they have at little. Magnet inside so you can snap on. A cool frame on top of your existing glasses. I got the crystal clear Reese's base frame which is just a really chic pair of all clear glasses. The frame is clear, obviously, the lenses are clear and I got a tortoise frame and a Plaid frame so I can now it. Basically I have 3 pairs of reading glasses now. There are so many options, iconic base shapes and then all sort of frames to go on top retro classic neon sparkle. You'll definitely find your vibe. I also love. Buying from a brand that really, really cares and pair provides glasses to a child in need for every pair that you buy. Get glasses as ever, changing as you are with pear. Go to pair eyewear com Emma for 15% off your first purchase. That's 15% off at PAIR eyewear.com/emma. Next. Utilize. Yelp. Yelp if you ever want to sponsor me, I would love to be sponsored by you guys because I am the biggest Yelp queen on the ******* planet. If you don't know what Yelp is, Yelp is basically an app. Slash website. That basically shows you. What even is Yelp? I'm literally looking up what Yelp is because I don't know how to describe it and I feel like the Internet would help me describe it better. Yelp.com is a crowdsourced local business review and social networking site. The site has pages devoted to individual locations such as restaurants or schools, where Yelp users can submit a review of their products or services using a one to five star rating scale. That's a great way to put it. I use Yelp for everything when I'm traveling. Sometimes I even go on Yelp before I travel. To nail down like what restaurants I want to eat at, what stores I want to shop at, what the nearest grocery store is, what the nearest pharmacy is like, I will go on Yelp and just find. All of the addresses and all the information I need about all of the establishments in the area that I'm traveling to so that I feel prepared. I use Yelp to find a coffee shop. In the morning I use Yelp to find. Restaurants to eat at. I read reviews to see, you know. If the places are good or not, like I use Yelp for everything when traveling and I think a lot of people. At least like people I've traveled with in the past. Have not utilized Yelp and they don't know what to do when they're on a trip. They're like, I don't know where to eat like. We're in the we're like in a new city. I don't know where the **** to eat. I'm like a *****. Have you ever heard of Yelp? What the **** are you doing? Not going on Yelp? It is a lifesaver. I've found some of the most amazing restaurants, most amazing coffee shops, most amazing whole in the wall thrift stores on Yelp. It's incredible. You go on the app and you just search coffee shop and it'll show you the top rated coffee shops. Within you know a 2 mile radius of you, or even less if you want you can, you know. Use a bunch of filters on the app to, you know, decide like. What kind of specifications you you want for the certain establishment you're looking for, but whatever. Utilize Yelp because it is going to be your best friend when traveling. If you want to find the cool **** you have to go on Yelp. Otherwise you're going to be eating at the ******* Cheesecake factory. Now listen, I get it. The Cheesecake Factory is fun every once in a while, but if you're on vacation and you're in a new city, it's time to branch out and it's time to find the local. Cool. Yummy. Fun hole in the wall, awesome spots. I use the word yummy, but Yelp can be used for things that aren't food, so I don't know why I used the word yummy. Yelp is just the perfect way to find. A little bit of everything you know and you can be really specific with your search to find exactly what you're looking for, and I think that's why it's so great, you know, you can look up. French restaurant. If you want to eat at a French restaurant and it'll just list every French restaurant in the area, or. You can look up. Outdoor dining if you're in the mood to eat outside and you can find all that information on Yelp, it's just the ******* best. Yelp if you ever want to collaborate. Or you just want me to come into the office, the Yelp office, to give you guys all hugs and kisses on the lips. I would be happy to come into the Yelp office and give all of you literal kisses on the lips, because I'm very that's gross. I'm sorry, I'm taking it a little bit too far, but you get what I'm saying. I love Yelp. When you're traveling, use Yelp. How many times I have to bang that **** into your guys's head? If I see one of you eating at a cheesecake Factory when you're in New York, I'm calling the police. On you. That's a disgrace. You do not need to be doing that. You do not need to behave be behaving like that. If I see you at a ******* Starbucks, I am literally going to find you, hunt you down. In scream at you in your face because you could be going to a very precious local coffee shop if you just spent two minutes going on Yelp. I don't want to see you going to the ******* Starbucks. You can go to Starbucks when you get back home. There's no need to be doing that. Next tip? If you're booking with some sort of site like Airbnb or. Anything like that, you know, like you're booking a rental rather than like a hotel room. Please. Read the reviews, and I mean read the reviews for an hour before you book a place. Because let me tell you a Horror Story that actually happened to me on this trip. Because I'm I'm in New York right now. So I basically had this concept where I wanted to come to New York and I wanted to. Do a real New York thing, right? I wanted to book an apartment rather than a hotel room, and I wanted to cook for myself and clean up after myself and spend, you know, 10 days or so in New York and really live the experience. Just to see if I liked it. You know, I'm always kind of having moving to New York in the back of my head just like, not right now, but like maybe one day, you know, I always have in the back of my head. So I was like. Let's really try it out. Like, let's really try it out and see how it feels. And there's no better way to do that than to. Rent an apartment. So I went on Airbnb and I found this super cute apartment. And, you know, the price of it was the same as a hotel, like a decent hotel. But I was willing to splurge a little bit because I was like, you know what? I really want to make sure I'm in like a safe, clean apartment that's well maintained, you know, because. Airbnb can, you know, be a little bit iffy, right? I was like, I want to ensure that I'm going to have a good Airbnb experience, so I'm going to spend a little bit more money than I normally would just to ensure that the experience is good. And I had this expectation I was like, this is going to be great. And you know, it was weird because all the reviews were. Pretty good. I I skimmed through them, you know, I didn't read every single review. I only read maybe. Three to five, right? But I was like, yeah, these three to five reviews look pretty good. The pictures of this place look pretty good. I'm just going to book it. And so I did, and I showed up to New York at 9:00 AM. That morning and I. Rolled up to my Airbnb and you know, the outside looked a little bit. Worse than I expected. But I was like, hey, I don't mind. Like, I'm as long as it feels safe and secure and it's clean, like I'm happy. I don't care. It doesn't need to be extravagant, you know? I'm not like I don't give a **** about that. Like it's. I'm more just like, want the bare minimum of a good experience. I don't need something super crazy. I get into the lobby. Of this apartment. After spending 20 minutes trying to unlock the front gate, which was very frustrating, but I figured it out. Get into the lobby of this apartment and there's just like trash everywhere. And it was so dark and gross and scary and I was like, ****. OK, like, you know what? That's all right. You know, like. I am getting an Airbnb in a big city like big cities, you know, tend to be a little bit. Less pristine, you know, I totally understand that I grew up near San Francisco. I know how it rolls in these bigger cities. Like, I've been around it for a long time. I know how it how it rolls. You know what I mean? I know how it goes. So I just was like, yeah, well, you know, the lobby is a little bit disgusting, but, Umm, maybe the unit itself will be pretty. I get into the elevator and the elevator is like creaking and like it barely ******* moved, I swear to God. But I was like, hey, you know what? It has a little bit of character. I'm just going to try to look at it on the bright side here. Whatever. I get up to the room, I open the door and it's just so bad. It was just so bad. It looked nothing like the photos. It was not very clean. It was kind of disgusting in there. Umm. It was way smaller than they described online. It was like 100 degrees inside of the apartment. Meanwhile outside it was like 75 degrees. So I don't understand why it was so hot in there. The decor inside was like really bad. And it was nothing like the photos and the photos it was decorated. Differently. The room itself was like super. It like if I were to, like, wipe my hand on the floor and pick my hand up, it would have just dirt all over it. Like, that's kind of the vibe. Listen, it wasn't. I was going to say it wasn't the worst. Airbnb I've ever seen, but it might be actually the worst Airbnb I've ever seen. Now listen, if I paid, you know? Under 100 bucks for this place. Then it would make sense, you know what I mean. But I paid a A, you know? A decent amount for this, Airbnb and it. The the value of the Airbnb was maybe 80 bucks. And lets you say I I paid a lot more than 80 bucks a night for this room. Like this room? Should be priced at maybe? 60 bucks a night. I I kid you not it. It's value was 60 bucks a night. Maybe 80 because the location is good. But it was bad, so I. Called the nearest hotel and was like, hey, do you guys have space? Like, I need. I had a unfortunate Airbnb situation. Like, do you guys have space? And they're like, yes, come in now. And so thankfully, I got a hotel. And. Airbnb actually ended up refunding me. So thank you, Airbnb, because I was really upset. I was like, I'm out. Like, I'm like, I just wasted a **** ton of money on this place for like 10 nights, you know? And now I'm not even staying there. It just felt like such a waste. And I was so upset, but I did get a refund. So thank you, Airbnb for that. But I think what I learned from that was, you know, #1 read every single review. Before you book an Airbnb and #2. Maybe don't book an Airbnb in a big city like. If you're going to the desert or to like a beach town or to the mountains or something, renting a cabin or, you know, a cute little house in one of those areas makes a lot more sense, and there's a lot less scamming going on. But renting an Airbnb in a big city is just you're bound to get scammed, and that is what happened to me. So I would say if you're going to a big city, just book a hotel room and honestly weigh the pros and cons. Of booking an Airbnb because I kind of romanticized the idea of booking an Airbnb. And I was like, oh, like, it's so much cheaper and all this stuff, but it really isn't. It's actually the same price as booking a hotel room, so. Unless you're getting a really good place. That has a lot of space and it's like a house. I would say you're better off booking a hotel room. I'm not going to be booking Airbnb's in big cities ever again. That was a huge mistake. And when it comes to booking a hotel, like, again, read the ******* reviews and look at a bunch of photos online. I would recommend going on TripAdvisor. It's a website. And. They have photos on their site taken by real people. And I think. That shows. The truth. Of the hotel a lot better than the website of the hotel because the website of the hotel wants you to stay there, so they're going to make it look as beautiful as they possibly can, whereas when you're looking at real people. In their photos from their experience. At the hotel. That's going to give you a real. Vision of what you're getting, you know what I'm saying? Also, you can go on Yelp and look at reviews of the hotel and like, really get in there and read the ******* reviews. You know because. It's super telling, you know? You want to make sure that where you're staying is. Worth the money that you're paying for it because staying in a hotel, staying in an Airbnb, it's really ******* expensive, you know what I mean? It is it's really expensive and the last thing that you want. Is to show up in like hate where you're staying. Because where you're staying is a big part of your travel experience, and if you don't feel comfortable and happy there, it's a big bummer. And listen, the truth of the matter is like. You don't need to stay at the most extravagant place ever. It just needs to be something that matches your vibe and what you're looking for. And so that's why doing the proper research is so important and is really worthwhile. Don't rush into booking. You know. The first hotel that you see. Do a little bit of research and dig in there and make sure that you know you're finding a place that's perfect. Next hack? Is to steal the shampoo and conditioner from your hotel room. So basically, here's my thing. I. Always steal the shampoo and conditioner and body wash and lotion from the hotels that I stay in. Because. They're the perfect size for traveling and. The next time that I travel. I'll bring the shampoo and conditioner with me. Just in case, you know, the next hotel that I stay at doesn't have shampoo and conditioner, now I have the perfect travel size shampoo and conditioner that I stole from the hotel and they don't charge you usually for it and it's usually pretty good quality. So I mean. A lot of people. Don't steal the shampoo and conditioner, but I always do because the other thing is. If you use some of it like, they're going to just throw it out anyway, so like you might as well steal the whole thing. Also, if you use it while you're, you know, staying at the hotel, usually they'll replace it. As you're running out of it. And then you can just keep getting more. So I don't really feel like that's a good tip, but I just, like, had to mention it because I always steal the shampoo and conditioner. I didn't used to do that when I was younger because I was like, that's stupid. I have my own. But there's something kind of weirdly exhilarating about stealing it. And it does come in handy later. You know? It does definitely come in handy. It's nice to have for an emergency. You never know when you might need it. And then also creating a stockpile at home of all of your travel shampoo and conditioners that you've stolen. Is also useful because then when you go to travel again, you can bring some for backup and it's just overall a great experience. But again. Let's say your hotel doesn't have any shampoo and conditioner and you didn't bring any because you forgot. Let's take it back to my first hack that I gave you guys, which is to utilize the store. Don't forget that you can always pick things up from the store. It's not the end of the world. You won't die. If you have to go to the store to pick up some last minute things, you know what I'm saying. My last few travel hacks are for those of you who. Are traveling alone. Because I travel alone quite frequently, and I have a few hacks. Because I know that traveling alone can be #1 intimidating, but #2 kind of lonely. I mean, it can be really lonely, you know? And I even have moments. I consider myself to be very independent. I spend a lot of time alone. I love doing things alone. It's great, but. You know, it can still feel lonely at times and. I think that traveling alone is far more difficult than travelling with other people, and it would be a disgrace if I did not give some traveling alone hacks. My first and most important tip. For traveling alone is to make an itinerary for yourself. The thing about traveling alone is that there's nobody there to inspire you to get out and do **** right. You have to kind of rely on your own inspiration and. What I've learned overtime is that creating an itinerary and a plan for yourself can really help you motivate to get out of your room and explore. The perfect scenario would be. To pick up your morning coffee, sit down on a bench somewhere or sit at the coffee shop. And to go on Yelp and. Just start looking up things that pique your interest, like maybe look up restaurants in the area, look up. You know, thrift stores in the area, look up. Museums in the area. Look up stuff in the area and. Make like a basic plan for yourself for the day you know. Write down in the notes app on your phone. Your ideal plan for the day? That might look a little something like this. 10:00 AM. Go for a walk in this park. 11 AM. Go get brunch at this restaurant that I found at 12:00 PM. Go shopping in this cute shopping center, you know? At 3:00 PM go to this museum and at 5:00 PM go to dinner at this restaurant. Write down an itinerary. Plan on a day for yourself that's exciting to you. Not only will this distract you from the fact that you're by yourself and you might be a little bit lonely, but also it it will motivate you to actually go and make the most of your trip. I find that when I'm by myself, I tend to just lay in bed a lot. And I don't mind that, you know, I love laying in bed. Just as much as the next guy, OK? I love laying in bed. It's important. But you know, when you're OK, there is a siren. So to any of you who thought I wasn't in New York, if you can hear that siren, you should now believe that I am in New York. There's been, there's a lot of sounds going on. OK, anyway. It'll really motivate you to make the most out of your day, you know, and ensure that you're not just hiding out in your room all day because, you know, you're kind of scared to get out there and get going. I have a lot of fun making itineraries for myself. One of my favorite things to do is lay in bed the night before. You know, I have a free day in a city. And. Just write down all the types of things that I want to do that day, and if I don't end up accomplishing all of them, it doesn't matter, but it just gets me excited and it. Gets me motivated to, like, really make the most out of my trip and. Travelling alone can be such a beautiful thing. In such a amazing thing. You just have to make sure that you know. You have a plan for yourself so that you don't just spend all day in bed. The other thing is, is that if you have an itinerary for yourself and you have a bunch of different activities planned. You know you'll end up meeting people along the way because when you go out and adventure, you know, you just naturally end up meeting people and having conversations that you wouldn't have otherwise. And. That's awesome, but the only way to do that is to go out and experience the city. You know you're not going to have those experiences just sitting in your hotel room or ordering room service. Like you need to go out and you need to do **** you know? And don't be scared about what people think of you. If you're walking around by yourself, nobody gives a ****. Nobody's paying attention to you. And if anything, you're going to look like a ****** for rolling through a city by yourself. That's a very cool look, OK? Next tip for traveling alone? Bring your headphones. This might sound stupid, but. When I'm traveling alone, especially for a long time. I can start to get a little bit lonely and walking around the city all day, exploring. Can be fun, but it can get a little bit lonely at a certain point. Which is why I love bringing headphones, plugging in my headphones, and listening to like a podcast or listening to music or. Calling someone on the phone while I'm doing my daily adventures. Especially if you're somebody who. He's planning on eating alone at restaurants, like making reservations and sitting at a table alone. That can feel kind of intimidating at times, and I think it feels a little easier if you have headphones with you, so you can just pop them in and watch something on your phone while you're eating. That can be really comforting and make the experience a little bit less awkward, because I know that eating alone at a restaurant can feel kind of awkward. The other day I got a table for one at this restaurant. And, you know, people were walking by me and. I, you know, I'm used to eating at restaurants by myself, but for whatever reason, you know the crowd of people that were walking by my table. Were like I felt kind of judged. Like a lot of them were kind of my age and I don't know, I just felt like I was being judged a little bit and I probably wasn't. But I felt like I was, and so I just popped in my headphones. And just started watching. Random **** on YouTube and I felt safe. I was like. None of these 20 somethings can judge me now. Because I can't ******* see them and I can't ******* hear them. Because I'm watching. **** that's delicious on Hulu. Not sponsored. But that is my favorite thing ever to watch. But yeah, I just kind of, like, takes the awkwardness out of it. My last tip for traveling alone. Is to visit a place that. It's kind of busy. You know, I think that some of the best places to travel alone to are big cities. Chicago, Boston, NY, San Francisco, Los Angeles, places like that. The reason for that being is that there's so many people around that you don't ever feel that lonely. When I travel alone and I go to a place like. The desert. You know, one time I did a solo trip to Joshua Tree and it went terribly because there's nobody in Joshua Tree. It's a very, very. Quiet. Vacant feeling city and. I felt very isolated there because there was nobody around, so it wasn't like I could just walk out onto the street and see hundreds of people. You know, if I wanted to see hundreds of people, I'd have to drive 45 minutes. And. I didn't really know what to do. With myself and I ended up leaving that trip early because it just like. There is just no one around. Whereas when I'm in New York by myself, I thrive. I thrive because. Even though I'm there by myself, I never feel lonely like. I can go sit at a busy *** restaurant on a busy *** street at anytime of the ******* day. You know, I can spark up a conversation with anybody. There's so many people around like. If you want to just have a little cute conversation with somebody on a street corner, you can. It's like there's just so many people everywhere that there's endless room for socializing, even though you're by yourself. So I would recommend, if you really want to do a solo trip, go to a big city, because I think that that's the best place to do it, and if you want to. You know, go to a place like the desert or a little beach town or something like that. That's a trip that you should do with friends and family, you know. Because those kind of more quaint, quiet vacations are better for bonding with people. And spending quality time with the people that you love rather than. You know. Doing that by yourself, it just it just you're not going to get as much out of it. I think that that actually is a really good travel hack. Visit big cities by yourself. Visit small towns, quiet towns with your family and friends. That's the golden recipe. Not all the time, but I think generally that's a good rule, you know? What does it really take to make it in New York City when you're young? The come up is a new freeform docu reality series on Hulu. It follows 6 ambitious creative 20 somethings in NYC as they break the status quo and take up all the space. It's a real look into how this next generation of icons are breathing life back into the downtown scene, all while pursuing their dreams, which is a long way of saying they're killing it. The show follows Sophia, a breakthrough photographer who shot her first spread for nylon at just 13 and has been shooting major campaigns ever since. Fernando Modeling's next international star, Tawfiq, the youngest fashion designer to show at New York Fashion Week, Claude, a New York native and aspiring actress. Ben arising, entertainer from Texas and a newbie to New York City, and Ebon, a trans rights activist and fixture of New York underground nightlife. This is now or never. With big goals and even bigger ceilings to break through, they'll need to bust their ***** to chase their dreams. It's time to hustle free forms the come up new episodes Wednesdays on Hulu. OK, so if I were to host a live radio show and I could play any music I wanted. I would honestly probably have the time of my Life OK, but I'll admit I would probably end up playing. Just sad music. I don't know what it is about me, but I love sad music, OK? And so I'd probably end up playing. A lot of sad music. Specifically for the people who are listening in the car by themselves. That want to shed a tear in a good way? Well now there is a place that I or you or anyone can host a live show. Amp is the platform that allows people to come together and create live, unfiltered radio shows with whatever music or content that they love. And this is like a real show where you can have people listening live and you can pick exactly which songs to play, and you can even have fans calling in to chat while you're on air. If I had a live show, I would definitely. Have people call in and ask me for dating advice honestly, so I think I'd have to do dating advice. You know what this actually sounds like the perfect radio show sad music combined with dating advice because all of the shows on amp are run by real people. You can tell that the playlists are authentic. A playlist generated automatically just sounds different than one that an individual is controlling based on their passions and tastes. And with 10s of millions of licensed songs to choose from, everyone will find the music that appeals to them. But it's not just music. You can have a talk show, or react to news, or riff on pop culture, and that's one of the best parts about being a podcast host. You can just riff. On whatever. Excites your mind on any given day. So download AMP today in the App Store that's a amp, or ask Alexa to play amp. That's pretty much all the advice I can think of. Hopefully that was helpful. I asked you guys on the Twitter at AG podcast to ask me questions about traveling and now I'm gonna answer them and hopefully give more useful advice. And maybe it's not useful. I never know. I never know what this ****** OK. I'm just doing my best. OK. Let's get into the questions. Somebody said what is your favorite comfort item that you bring around with you when you travel? I love this question because I have such a specific answer. It is my heating pad. I have an emotional connection to my heating pad. I. Love laying on a heating pad at the end of the day, I. Just think it's so relaxing and comforting and it's become kind of like an addiction for me in a weird way. Like I cannot lay in bed without a heating pad, and I've talked about this before, but my favorite body temperature? Is to be really cold, but then to get into bed and get warmed up by my heating pad. Yes, it is stupid and weird, but it's my favorite. Body temperature is to be cold but then warmed up by my heating pad. I can't explain it, but my AC is always at 65 degrees and then. I'm in bed, bundled up on my heating pad. It's. Definitely a little bit unnecessary, but there's something really comforting about it, so I always make sure I travel with a heating pad and if I forget one I will go to CVS and buy one. Or any pharmacy or whatever. Actually, on this trip I forgot my heating pad and so this morning I literally. Went to the store and got a heating pad because I had to go like 5 days without one and it was genuinely upsetting for me. And you know, it's like 30 bucks. It's not cheap, but it's. Something that makes me feel comforted and. Weirdly at home. And so I always make sure I have a heating pad. Somebody said, do you poop on the airplane or do you wait until you land? I will poop anywhere. I have no rules. If my body is ready to poop, I'll poop. And as somebody who has stomach problems. I don't fight my body when it comes to pooping because I am constipated quite often. And so when my body says am it's time to poop, I'm ecstatic and I'm not going to hold back. I'm not going to wait. I will ******* let it go anywhere. I don't care on on a ******* street corner if I have to. Like, if my body wants to poop, I let it poop because it's rare that my body actually wants to poop. So yeah, I poop on the plane. Somebody said favorite self-care item when traveling. Well, when I travel I find that my skin. Gets really dry. And so. I love to bring a bunch of hydrating products, you know? My thickest face moisturizer is always in my bag. I love to bring hydrating like sheet masks and. Under eye masks and things like that that are easy to bring around and just whip out on the plane or once I get into the hotel room, just easy stuff to take around that's hydrating because I've noticed that my skin just gets so dry and honestly this sounds weird, but coconut water? Coconut water has a bunch of electrolytes in it, and when you're traveling, you know you tend to forget to drink water. Your body. You tend to sweat because you're carrying a bunch of heavy bags and you're losing electrolytes. And you're becoming dehydrated quicker than you even can imagine. So drinking things like coconut water that have electrolytes in them. Can really help you rehydrate and keep you feeling energized and good. So I'd really recommend. You know, getting a few. Coconut waters either in the airport or once you arrive at your location, because I found that that's the best way to rehydrate after a long travel day. Somebody said what's the most comforting place that you've traveled to? That's a really good question, I think. Hmm, I think Paris. Because the pace of Paris is. Slow, you know, it's like. Very relaxing because the lifestyle there is very relaxing. You know, it's a little bit stressful because, you know, I don't speak French, so there's definitely a language. Situation going on, a little language barrier, but. Most people speak English there, and you know, it's pretty easy to get help. If you need help like translating stuff, there's usually somebody around that speaks English and French that can help translate. Like it's never been a massive problem. And I just think that it's very relaxing because it's it's beautiful and. The lifestyle in Paris is very relaxed. You know, you wake up. Whenever you want, you look outside. It's so beautiful outside. It's so calm outside. I mean, obviously, depending on where you stay, if you stay in like the downtown, think of it in Paris, you know, you might have a different experience, but generally Paris is very relaxing. Up in general. All of the cities I've been to in Europe have all been very relaxing. Paris was very relaxing. When I went to Dublin, Ireland, when I was younger, that was really relaxing. There's just a lot of beauty and nature. In Europe? And even the bigger cities. Tend to be more relaxed. Then. Big cities in the United States, you know? So I would say definitely. Paris. Or Ireland. They're still exciting and there's still a lot of shape going on, but the pace is just slower. Like, don't get me wrong, I love coming to New York and I love going to San Francisco, but those are kind of. Big cities, you know, there's a lot of **** going on and there's a lot of traffic and it's like. You know, really stressful for some reason there's just something more stressful. I guess. There's traffic in Paris too, I don't know. There's something about the energy in Paris and the energy in Ireland that. Are more relaxing, even though they're still busy and there's still a lot of **** going on. I can't explain it, but there's just this calming energy. Whereas like New York and San Francisco, I cannot say the same. It's very, very stressful, but it's exciting and I love it there. But it's definitely a little bit more exhausting for some reason and I can't put a finger on why, but. Yeah. Somebody said, do you prefer traveling alone or with a group? I like doing both, you know? I really do. I really appreciate both for different reasons. If I'm coming to New York. Or I'm going to San Francisco or. I'm going to a big city. Sometimes it's nice to travel alone because there's so much **** going on already that the last thing I want is somebody chirping in my ear about what types of activities that we should be doing that day. Sometimes it's nice to be able to attack the city by yourself and do whatever you want. On your own schedule and on your own time. In an already busy city, whereas if I'm going to a smaller town, I love going with a group because. The main activity. On that kind of vacation is spending time with people rather than trying to navigate a rustling, bustling city, so I think that there's a time and a place. For traveling alone and for traveling with people, and I think that both serve a very important purpose in life. I just think it's about figuring out what makes the most sense for your specific trip, you know? Traveling alone helps you reconnect with yourself. And helps put your own life into perspective and can help you. Have realizations about your own personal life, because. When you're by yourself, you know you're kind of forced to like reflect in, especially when you're. Ripped away from your daily routine at home? It kind of changes your brain pathways. It changes your thought. Process because you're outside of the norm, and so being alone in a unfamiliar city, you know, can help you have realizations in a weird way. Traveling with one other person can help strengthen your bond with that one other person. Whether that's your best friend or one of your family members, or you know your significant other, it can really help. You bond with one person because you're. Navigating a city with one other person and you really get to see how they function outside of their own normal routine, you know, which can be really interesting and can teach you a lot about a person. And then traveling with a group is just a ******* party. It's so fun. Traveling with a group can be really ******* fun, you know? The only problem is, is that sometimes you know there's conflicts of interest. One person wants to go to this restaurant, the other person wants to go to this restaurant. You know, one person wants to lay in bed, the other person wants to. You know, go on a hike. It can be kind of stressful in that way, but I think it can also be extremely fun because. You know, you get to bond with multiple different people at once and if. Really cool place, and so I think it's just about figuring out what makes the most sense. Somebody said do you usually feel homesick? And what do you do to help with homesickness? I might be a sociopath, but I don't really get that homesick. And it might be because I'm kind of desensitized to traveling, because I've been traveling a lot since I was. Like 17 just for. You know. My. Unique lifestyle in a sense. I've just had to travel a lot more. Than I ever expected and. That started at a younger age for me, so I feel like it. I'm just so immune to traveling that. I don't really get homesick anymore. I also think that the fact that I moved out at 17. Desensitized me to like being away from home. And being away from family and stuff like that. So now I'm just kind of numb in that way. Like when I travel, I just feel nothing. I'm very used to it now. But I do occasionally get homesick for sure it doesn't happen a lot. But every once in a while I will, and in in those moments I just call someone immediately. Call a friend, call my parents, call somebody. And just hearing someone's voice can be comforting beyond belief. And usually that kind of helps me snap out of it, and I might even vent to whoever I call about. How I'm feeling homesick and. I create a plan, you know, about how I'm going to turn my mood around. So, you know, I might talk on the phone with my parents and be like, OK, you know what? After we hang up on the phone, I'm going to go and get coffee and then I'm going to go walk in this park. And I create a plan for myself to kind of get myself out of the rut. And usually by the time I'm. Off the phone and out the door, I already feel better. Somebody said. How to avoid being scared of travelling alone? I would say. My 2 tips for that is #1 do a lot of research ahead of time. There's nothing more comforting than feeling familiar with the place that you're going. So doing a lot of research about you know what types of things are in the area of where you're staying. You know what? The situation is when it comes to transportation like. Are you going to have to take a taxi or are you gonna have to take a subway? A bus? Like what the transportation situation looks like. You know, figuring out where the closest police station is, like just, you know, doing basic research like that. In order to feel familiar with the area. That really helps me personally. But also travelling during the day. You know, if you're new to travelling alone, don't travel at night. You know what I'm saying? Travel during the day, travel in the middle of the day. It's really, really comforting to, you know, go on an adventure. When it's light outside. It just feels so much better. Traveling at night can be upsetting to me even now at times. You know, if it's really late at night and I'm having to go to the airport, sometimes I can get a little uneasy. But I mean, I'm pretty good about it now. I I think I'm kind of over it at this point. I'm like, again desensitized to traveling at this point. But I would say travel during the day, book your flights during the day. You don't need to be, you know, running around late at night or really early in the morning. There's no need for that. That's just going to make you more stressed out and more freaked out. It's just nice to know that there's people out and about and that things are open and that the world is awake and that if something goes wrong, you know, there's so many people around and awake. To protect you. Somebody said, do you bring spices with you? Lol. Is that weird? No, that's not ******* weird. That is very smart if you are like me and you want to go grocery shopping and feed yourself in your hotel room. Having spices on hand is not a bad idea and I always forget to pack my spices and so I always end up having to buy new ones. But on this trip I bought a really nice salt grinder and I'm actually going to keep it in my suitcase. Indefinitely, and I'm going to leave it in my suitcase. Permanently, so that I always have salt with me as I travel. Because. That's really the only seasoning that you need when you're traveling. I mean, obviously it's nice to have like garlic salt, or like everything but the bagel seasoning or something like that. Like, it's nice to have that **** too. But like, most importantly, you need salt. So I now have a designated. Salt. For my suitcase, and I do not think that that's weird, I think that's actually very smart. Another thing that's really important to always have with you is scissors. I know that that sounds really random, but having a pair of scissors in your suitcase permanently is very useful. You will be surprised how often you need scissors. You will also be shocked at how often you need a nail Clipper, and you will also be shocked at how often. You'll need a portable charger. All of those things I think are very important to keep in your suitcase at all times. Like buy an extra of each of those things and just keep them in your suitcase at all times. Very useful. Somebody said I love your packing mechanism. Like planning that office before packing, but I feel like it takes a really long time. Do you have any advice for fast packing? Yes. If you want to pack really fast. I recommend going with the color scheme. When I have to pack really fast for a trip, I tend to pack a little bit like this. I'll pack a few pairs of jeans. A few white T-shirts. One or two jackets that I can wear over and over again. And then one pair of sneakers that's like solid like that I can wear with anything and I just basically wear that uniform every day. So the uniform being jeans, white top jacket and some sneakers or boots, and I just wear, you know, very similar variations of that every day. The truth of the matter is if you're going on vacation. And you're there to just enjoy the scenery. You don't need to be dressing up every day. You can kind of dress in a uniform like that, and it's not going to affect your experience. Like you're still gonna have a great experience. So for example, on this trip I packed mainly just jeans, white tank tops. White T-shirts, sweatshirts. And. Basic shoes that are very versatile, and I didn't really pack any crazy outfits because I was like, I'm not here to be fashionable right now. I just want to be in New York and enjoy myself. And so I was able to pack a lot quicker for this trip because I just packed my daily uniform. Somebody said what are your favorite activities to do while in the airport to kill time? If you have a lot of time. Go sit down at a restaurant and even if you just get like a drink or something. It really helps to pass the time. And it really is a great distraction. I always do that. If I have like a long layover, I'll just go and sit at a restaurant in the meantime and even if I'm not hungry, like just getting a sparkling water or something. Just stimulates my brain just enough to pass enough time until my next flight. Or whatever. I also love going into the bookstores. And just looking at books, that can be really fun. You can even, like, start reading a book you know in the airport, and if it catches your eye and you like it, then you can buy it for your flight. And if not, whatever, at least you got a few minutes of reading in. You know it'll pass some time. Or, if you're really feeling lazy, you can also just literally set up your laptop or your phone in the airport and start watching a movie. I do that all the time because I'm like, I don't really want to go into adventure right now. I'm just gonna watch **** on my phone. That's very ******* obvious. But I mean, you know, maybe it's not obvious. I don't know. Somebody said what's your go to travel outfit? OK, it's evolved over the years I used to travel. In sweatpants. Strictly, but recently, traveling in sweatpants has been not my vibe. Like, sometimes it's the vibe, but I also think that sometimes sweatpants can get really sweaty for some reason. I love traveling in exercise pants like leggings, yoga pants, anything like that. Because they're comfortable and you can like sleep in them, but. They also. Don't get stinky and gross like sweatpants do. For some reason sweatpants just like insulate, heat and I feel like I get uncomfortable and I start to feel dirty after wearing sweatpants for like 5 hours, whereas with exercise pants I. Don't feel sweaty and gross in them because they're sweat wicking and they're meant. For activity. Do you know what I mean? So I would say that my go to airport outfit would be a pair of. Cute. Comfy yoga pants that have a cute little flare at the bottom. A cute pair of sneakers. A plain white tank top and a cute little sweatshirt over it. Easy. Simple. Somebody said, what's your favorite road trip snack? Number one I like. RX bars. They're like little protein bars made out of egg whites and dates and **** and it kind of sounds gross, but they're actually pretty good. My favorite flavor is the Maple. Sea salt pecan flavor. Absolutely ******* delicious. Tastes like a pecan pie. In a protein bar, very good. I also like almonds. Sounds random and boring, but for whatever reason, almonds are just. 10 times more delicious when you're in an airplane or you're on a road trip. I don't know why I don't really eat almonds otherwise, but when I'm traveling, I always eat almonds. I specifically like the smokehouse ones. They're kind of gross, but I also weirdly like them at the same time. I can't explain why. I'm not the only one who thinks that, either. Like, I had a conversation about this with somebody once. They were like, they were on a trip and they brought smokehouse almonds and they're like, why am I eating these? And I was like, I don't know, but like, why do I want some right now? And ever since I traveled with that person and they ate smokehouse almonds, now I always eat them. They taste like BBQ almonds. It's so random, but they're really good and they like. Are perfect for travel because they have like, you know, an interesting flavor. Also cheese its but I try not to eat cheese its because they make me get a really bad stomach ache but I just like love them so much and. I wish that they didn't give me a stomach ache because they would be my. Immediate go to travel snack, but they just hurt my stomach so bad now. They didn't used to, but now they hurt my stomach so we don't eat. Those when we travel anymore, because the last thing I want is to have stomach cramps while I'm on the plane. That's a really unpleasant. But I do love them. All right, you guys, that is it. That's all I got for today. I had so much fun talking about this with you guys today. It was really fun and. I hope that this was helpful. I hope that you enjoyed. If you did. Let me know you can tweet at me at AG podcast. You can leave a review on Apple Podcasts I really appreciate. All of the feedback, it always makes my day and I just. Really appreciate you guys so much and I love hanging out with you guys every week. And if you want to subscribe to anything goes, you can do so on any platform that you listen to podcasts. And I think that that's all I got for this week. I will keep you guys updated on my travels. The next time I speak to you, I will be in Paris. Which is going to be interesting and. It's almost like you guys are on this trip with me, so I love it. Have an amazing rest of your day. I love you and I will talk to you soon. Bye.