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Prepare to unlock the secrets of seamless, stress-free travel. We guarantee that our personal experiences and tried-and-true strategies will transform your next adventure into a pleasure, rather than a chore. From the simple yet crucial routines the night before a flight, to maintaining comfort and productivity during long-haul flights, we've got everything covered. We even spill the beans on our on-flight survival kit that makes jetlag a thing of the past.
Traveling with a pet? No problem. We share our experiences, pitfalls, and wins on flying with Kramer, our four-legged travel companion. We reveal what it takes to get your pet through airport security without a hitch and why professional pet training can make your journey smoother. The quiet oasis of airport lounges and how to gain access to them is also on the menu. Our advice doesn't stop at air travel; be ready for an in-depth look at road trip preparation, too. From packing hacks to finding the cheapest fuel, we've traveled the miles, so you don't have to.
Compare the merits of flying versus driving with us. We shed light on how we keep our food cold on the road, our favorite snacks for the journey, and the secret to beating rush-hour traffic. We discuss the luxury of reaching a totally different place within hours while flying versus the convenience and fun of road trips. Whether you're an experienced globetrotter or a novice explorer, this episode is packed with practical information to elevate your travel experience. Just sit back, relax, and let us guide you to your next journey.
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Get inspired by world travelers Chris and Sara with "What No One Tells You," their conversational podcast. Each episode is a fun chat with friends sharing personal experiences, insider tips, and riveting stories. The show is elevated by amazing guests from Youtubers, ultra marathoners, bloggers, and adventurers who bring their unique energy and perspectives to the table. With Chris and Sara, you're sure to feel a part of the group, ready to embark on a new adventure. Explore the world one story at a time and join the conversation today.
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Hey y'all! We're Chris + Sara (or as you know us, Let’s Be Us), a husband and wife digital nomad travel duo currently working and traveling full time with our pup, Kramer. We've always dreamed of traveling full time, and in May of 2018 we took the leap and made it happen! Today we're balancing work and fun everywhere between the Pacific and Atlantic. From hiking and cycling to tacos and coffee, we're trying to see and experience as much of this world as we can! While our home is currently on wheels in our DIY Sprinter van, our travels take us all around the world.Be sure to hit subscribe here on Youtube and follow along on Instagram for more daily fun! Oh, and be sure to say hi while you're here. :)
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NOTE: There were 2 speakers identified in this transcript. Speaker separation errors can arise when multiple speakers speak simultaneously.
0:00:00 - Sara
Today is episode three of Wanderlust 101.
0:00:03 - Chris
Yeah, and if you're listening to this in real time, you may be thinking, hey, why didn't you release a podcast last week?
0:00:10 - Sara
And yeah, if you're watching in live time you'll notice, you'll notice, it's totally my fault.
Okay, let's start. Let's jump back and talk about last week, Because last week was a great week. We had a lot of driving, we had a lot of fun. But this past episode, the one that we're recording now, this is our third time recording this episode. This episode, I am bound to determine to get it out. It's not that it's so amazing I mean keep listening because I think it's okay but it has been like pooling teeth to get this one out.
0:00:37 - Chris
We finally, after the second take of recording last week's episode. I had the micro SD card and then I lost it.
0:00:45 - Sara
Lost the micro SD and that Chris. Let me just say Chris is really great about consistently keeping track of all of our memory cards, all of our batteries. He's always making sure everything's charged, all the memory cards are dumped off that we can record or whatever. This is not like him to lose this little micro SD card. I mean, they are like what? Half an inch big. They're so tiny. Yeah, they're so tiny.
0:01:05 - Chris
So if you're not listening in lifetime, just pretend that this announcement didn't happen and that we have everything under control and we are very responsible adults. But welcome to what no one tells you. I'm Chris.
0:01:18 - Sara
I'm Sara.
0:01:19 - Chris
And we are travelers, we like to travel and this podcast is kind of about adventures or other people's adventures.
0:01:27 - Sara
Everyone's adventures. I think we said that this is a travel podcast but it definitely dives into lifestyle. But this little mini series that we're in right now is called Wanderlust 101. We don't love that name. We sort of threw that out there as a joke. Not even a joke, we're like, ah, wanderlust 101. And then it just sort of we called it that in the first episode and then in the second episode. Here we are today, so I think we're stuck with it. We're stuck but Wanderlust 101, in each episode you can go back and listen to.
The other ones are about different topics. So the first week was about choosing your first destination. The second one was about packing like what to pack, and today we are talking about navigating, the actual launching into the travel process. So, whether that's at the airport or loading up the car for a road trip, we're just gonna kind of like walk you through that process. Maybe you have nerves or jitters about flying, or maybe you are always forgetting something for a road trip. This is kind of like how we go about both of those processes.
0:02:16 - Chris
Because if you've never flown before, it can be daunting to going into a major airport and trying to figure out where to go, what to do, who to talk to. This episode is for you, and it's not just about airplane travel. It's about road travel too, because a lot of our travels have been by road.
0:02:33 - Sara
Yeah, if you don't know who we are, we do travel, like Chris said, but we're I'd say we're not typical YouTube travelers in the sense that travel for us looks really slow, like we'll go and stay at a place for a month at a time or we'll travel on the road in our truck camper, like we're in right now. So this is the first time you're listening. We are in our truck camper in Crested Butte, colorado, right now, which is beautiful. We should have positioned the truck to where, in the background, outside this window, we had Crested Butte, because we can see it out the front window.
0:02:58 - Chris
You guys won't get to see it but we can see it. I didn't reverse the truck.
0:03:01 - Sara
Whoops, I'm sorry. We'll enjoy it for you all. Anyway so that's sort of who we are, and most of you all probably know that by now. But this is sort of our take on the different ways of traveling and being prepared. So let's just go ahead and launch into it. Let's go ahead and start with the airport. So we start with the road trip. So we should start with airports first.
0:03:21 - Chris
Let's go ahead and start with airports because I feel like that's the one if you're taking a big trip, a vacation that's probably a lot of people do that by flights, so let's do it. We bought our ticket.
0:03:33 - Sara
We bought our tickets. Let's start with night before You're at home and if you're like me, okay, this is a really honest moment, y'all. But I'm going ahead and saying this because we have an episode coming up about it in a few weeks. But I it's a very new thing for me, but I'm a fearful flyer. This is in less like two years.
I haven't let it stop me from flying, but it's not fun for me now. I used to love it, but anyway, I say all that to say it's been a whole new process for me Every time we've flown the last few years that I don't love it and that's one reason why sometimes we're like we'll just go for longer, because getting on that plane is very stressful for me, like I don't eat for a couple of days before, like I am just wrecked. You are, and I don't usually skip meals Like I like to eat.
0:04:14 - Chris
So that's a very bad sign, and we finally got lounge status. This is the first time ever in our lives we're able to go into a lounge, and so they have free food. And I'm back there with a Ziploc bag like bagging everything. I'm just not really. But you, you don't. You do lose your appetite and you're missing out on this good food.
0:04:35 - Sara
I don't want to say every flight's fearful for me, because I've had a few lately that have been completely fine and, like I said, we have a whole episode where we talk to a pilot about this. I already recorded it. It comes out in a few weeks. But I don't dread every flight. Sometimes I'm totally fine, but sometimes it's just like this mental game of like claustrophobia. I don't want to be stuck in this plane for so long, like I can't sit still. So anyway, the night before is really where the preparation starts for me. I make sure I impact before the day before. At least that's not how I used to travel. I used to travel packing morning of and I just throw things in a suitcase and be like whatever.
I'm going to the airport. I can't do that anymore Because I just morning of. I need every possible thing, not that you can schedule out life perfectly, but I need as few Issues and hiccups of my day, things less distress about, as possible. I don't need to be worried worrying about today. I forget my passport? Did I forget my socks for my tennis shoes, like? I just want to make sure I have everything I'm done and I can focus on Relaxing and enjoying the day.
0:05:33 - Chris
So how do you go about doing that?
0:05:35 - Sara
So night before go to bed early. If I can, I will go to bed early. I will take a bath or like a shower, just relax, go to bed, read, do not get on my phone. You know all the things they say like sort of amp up anxiety. I really try to Loosen or stop that a few days before I also about a few days before sometimes a week, I will go to decaf coffee and get myself off caffeine and I will not drink caffeine the day of the flight because it just like amps up and you're thinking a week ahead now.
Well, I'm trying, but it's not perfect, because I love my morning coffee, especially on the way to the airport. Like I used to be that Person in lime for coffee before the flight, I'd walk in with my grande latte or whatever it was. Anyway, now I just cut that out kind of helps me. I make sure all of our electronics are charged. Actually I say I do that, but that's your job.
0:06:18 - Chris
You're really good at that. I'm plugging in everything. I'm making sure all the batteries are charged and we should say the night before everything is packed, we make sure that everything is in our suitcase ready to go, except for the electronics which are charging.
0:06:31 - Sara
Well, you're actually really good about getting that done early in advance. Like our guest bedroom, the bed in there, it looks like mission control. And then we have like all these wires it looks like Chris is building something dangerous, but like all these wires, all these batteries, and he gets everything lined up for us. He empties all the memory cards off, charges all the batteries and that tech stuff is the most important. We make sure we have every wire adapter we need. Y'all may not need all this, but if you do travel for work, like we do, make sure that you have all of your work stuff too, not just your clothes for vacation. Have your work stuff and that's what the night before looks like. For both of us. It's just getting all those little things in order, so we're not stressed. The next day.
Oh, and downloading shows on.
0:07:08 - Chris
On our iPads. Download. Make sure you have Netflix or Disney, plus something that whatever whatever you want to watch. Whatever streaming services download your shows, because the worst thing possible is trying to connect to the Delta Wi-Fi and it's not working that and a lot, of, a lot of planes.
0:07:25 - Sara
one they don't have Wi-Fi yet it's not more common now. But they don't have Wi-Fi or they don't have TV screens in front of you. Yeah, you want to look at your airline, whoever you're flying, and see what their entertainment looks like. So, like for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines, they don't have TVs in the back of their seats anymore, so you watch it in the app.
0:07:42 - Chris
You watch it in the app, for they have an iPad stand for you or a phone stand and they're like, oh, look what we did, but really they saved themselves money, but they're making it look like they did you a favor. Yeah, they didn't but okay.
0:07:52 - Sara
So TV is very important, making sure you're distracted on the plane.
0:07:55 - Chris
Yeah, maybe you have your favorite podcast downloaded, like this one.
0:07:58 - Sara
Yes, because I know we're the most soothing thing to listen to when you're stressed on a flight. Yeah, yeah when you're running through the airport and you're already anxious you need us in there, yeah, talking about how we're not prepared for anything. Okay, so we've got night before day of comes. Well, what is?
0:08:13 - Chris
your morning look like the morning of the flight comes. We have everything packed, everything's ready to go. I have, I try to have a cup of coffee, and then we typically have somebody either drive us to the airport, but we take an Uber there. So we live in a small town, we're able to do that.
0:08:29 - Sara
Small town also means you get like two different flights. We're either on the 5 30 am flight to Atlanta or we are on the 7 45 pm flight to Atlanta, so it's never like this in between. Getting ubers is like next to impossible and I know it's true.
0:08:40 - Chris
Yeah, so it's mostly relying on friends. They're very kind anyway.
0:08:46 - Sara
So we morning of we get to the airport, we're going through the motions. First thing is you drop off your bags, custom. One thing that we are Starting to do is putting air tags in our suitcase so we're sure not to lose them, like, yes, the airlines say they track your suitcase, but we learn this trick from some other travelers. Put it in the suitcase. It's that way you know where it's at in the world. So if somebody can't find it, you can say look, I know it's in Cairo, egypt. I can see it right now.
0:09:10 - Chris
My air tag says so yeah, I was supposed to go to Chicago, but somehow my luggage is in Cairo. How?
0:09:14 - Sara
did that happen?
0:09:15 - Chris
How did that happen?
0:09:16 - Sara
There's this one part in Seinfeld where Jerry and Elaine are checking at the airport and Elaine's being really difficult to the guy who's checking in her luggage outside, mm-hmm, and Jerry's nice and so he puts Jerry's large back on the flight to New York and he tosses hers to Honolulu.
0:09:30 - Chris
So it's be nice with people, yeah, yeah so luggage counter. Yeah, any tips for that? So you're at the luggage counter. One always be nice to the attendant there like Sara said a roll thumb. It's just a good roll of thumb, you know, because they have to deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of people and, yeah, if you're not difficult, it's probably a good day for them.
0:09:53 - Sara
And I think a lot of people blame the people working the counters and think that they're the ones or they act like they're the ones who Cancel the flight or they're the ones who lost the bag. They are the ones checking you in and they really don't, to my knowledge, have that much power. Yeah they can't just give you free vouchers all the time yeah they don't have that much power, they're just. They're working their job and getting by yeah, and one way, a lot of.
0:10:14 - Chris
For whatever reason, a lot of people don't use the digital kiosk. Yeah, they don't, and they need to, because you can save time and actually cut the line and then get in line to put your luggage in.
0:10:25 - Sara
Yeah, most airlines offer like a little digital kiosk. So even if you've checked in on the mobile app at a time, you go to the kiosk and if you're checking luggage, you go and print out the tag at the machine and then you put the tag on the bag yourself and then you just drop it off.
0:10:39 - Chris
Mm-hmm.
0:10:40 - Sara
That way you aren't standing in them, the massive queue to have them check it in and take your passports, like you do all that on your own. So you just drop it off and run.
0:10:47 - Chris
Yeah, and for the digital kiosk, all you have to do is put a credit card in, or your passport, or you can even search by your last name in your ticket number.
0:10:55 - Sara
Yeah, they just need to verify that it's you that's going with that bag. Yeah so that's really not that hard. Getting through luggage to me is not that bad. Then again, we, nine times out of ten, fly out of a very tiny airport and our security check line and everything is like next to nothing. I've we have been there before an hour before flight and there's literally no one behind the counter. Mm-hmm working our airlines with like where are they?
0:11:14 - Chris
and the plane leaves in an hour.
0:11:16 - Sara
Yeah, there's just no one there. We have to go find them. Good times, yeah, good times.
0:11:20 - Chris
All right, this is the easiest part. Let's just say everything goes off without a hitch. You've went to the kiosk, you've got your ticket, you and now? Oh, that's another thing that we need to talk about really quick. You can either print your ticket or have it in the app.
0:11:36 - Sara
Do you have a preference? I just do the app, it's easier.
0:11:38 - Chris
I do the ticket. Why do you do that? I'm old school.
0:11:43 - Sara
Analog. Speaking of old school, your birthday is coming up this next weekend.
0:11:46 - Chris
I wish a happy birthday. Oh yeah, thank you.
0:11:49 - Sara
We tell them the age or we just want to be in big. Now let's just say, are we that age now that we don't tell our age 23 and oh my gosh, you're gonna 23, but okay, we should just tell your age, because I think you look really young for your age.
0:12:00 - Chris
Oh well, somebody the other day said I did not look you there, though that's where I was heading. I will be 35.
0:12:05 - Sara
He's gonna be 35.
0:12:07 - Chris
He is one year older than our truck and this jerk at the other day at the I just need to vent this out. He looked at me and he was like what are you like 40, 45? And I wanted to come alive. I was actually at the dump station for our RV.
0:12:20 - Sara
Why do people strike up every time Chris is dumping out our toilet at a dump station? They always want to strike up a conversation every time I mean this is in the old vans and the new truck. I mean it is just like the water cooler.
0:12:31 - Chris
Yeah, and so I wanted to sling our toilet at him for calling me, you know 45.
0:12:37 - Sara
I don't think you look 45. I think you really do look. It is what it is.
0:12:39 - Chris
All right, your skin well, I do the printed ticket just because I like having something in my hand. But now is the time to go through security. This is this is where it all comes to like the battle. It's not really a battle, it's just kind of everybody's favorite part yeah, everybody's favorite part, key number one, where something comfy and socks and socks. Wear socks because if you don't have pre-check, if you, if this is your first time going through security, they're gonna make you, they're gonna make you take off your shoes.
0:13:11 - Sara
Take off your shoes, yeah.
0:13:13 - Chris
And you don't want your nasty feet on that nasty floor.
0:13:16 - Sara
Let's go back a second and talk about TSA PreCheck. Okay, so that works only domestically. So if we are flying internationally out of the US, sure we get a used PreCheck on the way to that destination, but on the way back we still have to do the same procedures as everybody else, like taking off the shoes, taking the electronics out of the bag. But let's talk about TSA PreCheck If you're not sure what that is. Essentially it's this verification you can get on your ticket, like you get a little number and it's good for like four or five years and you have to renew it.
But what it is is they do a background check on you to make sure that you're not, like, a huge threat. There's certain things that you can't have a criminal record, so there are a few things that could keep you from getting TSA PreCheck. But a lot of people do qualify and we qualify. So what that means is we, when we go through security, they'll have on our ticket TSA PreCheck and we don't have to take our electronics out of the bag, we don't have to take our shoes off, we don't have to go through the.
0:14:07 - Chris
We don't take our laptops out of our bag or anything. You just got to make sure you're not wearing metal for the metal detector, and that's it.
0:14:13 - Sara
The liquid roll still applies. We can't have more than 3.4 ounces in the container. But other than that, it is so much smoother and so traveling for us, since we both carry cameras and laptops and iPads. I mean, it is not fun going back to security when we're there. That's my least favorite part, because we're like pulling out all of our electronics. I'm like trying to keep an eye on it, make sure nobody sweeps one and steals my laptop.
0:14:34 - Chris
And rarely is somebody that bold to steal something out of the security line. But I did just see a video of a TSA agent doing that from Miami.
0:14:42 - Sara
No, what are they?
0:14:43 - Chris
stealing Just something from somebody's bag. I don't know what it was. But yeah so we do try to be cautious in there. That is, the reason it made national news is because it never happened and this kid, who was a TSA agent, decided to break the rules.
0:14:59 - Sara
I wasn't even thinking of agents. I was thinking about people behind me in line like they see, because you have to sometimes leave your bin and then walk through the security thing and you can't get back to it and I'm always worried that somebody's gonna like snatch my phone or something real small, and it's easy to grab. But yeah, I just keep an eye on that. That's never fun, but we make through security. The other fun thing with security is we take Kramer through security.
0:15:18 - Chris
That's always. That is always fun. I always want to film that part because it's so awesome, it's hilarious. But I'm not allowed to film during the security checkpoint.
0:15:27 - Sara
They don't like that. But if you're traveling with an animal and you're curious what that looks like, they can't go through the scanner thing with you. Kramer has to sit out. He's looking at me right now. Kramer has to sit on the other side of the scanner that you walk through. I have to take my his leash off him, his collar, everything that has metal. He sits there, I walk through and then, as long as I'm good, they say I have to say the word okay, and so he comes and then he walks the scanner on his own to make sure he doesn't set it off. Thankfully, kramer's really good, but he's really funny because he thinks it's a game. Yeah, and he's like this is awesome, he's professionally trained.
0:16:03 - Chris
He is, but he still acts like a puppy when he runs and so he sits very proper. And then when Sara says okay, it's just like all the life comes back into him and he's so joyful and he just, he just hops right through the metal detector and then every time the security agents just roll their eyes.
0:16:21 - Sara
They think it's hilarious. Most of them, the pet loving ones, are Anyway. So that's one more thing we have to do. So if you're curious about traveling with a pet, know that at least for dogs. They make him stand on the other side and wait for me. So make sure dogs well trained.
0:16:35 - Chris
Maybe that's different for some people, I don't know, I'm sure Well, if they have their dog in a carrier if they're.
0:16:39 - Sara
I don't know what that looks like. Kramer's always on the leash.
0:16:41 - Chris
Yeah, I think they're always. I don't know if they go through the. X-ray machine or not?
0:16:45 - Sara
I don't think they do. They've never had a security line. Tell me to put them in a cage or anything. So you're through security. You get into the terminal. Like you said earlier, we have lounge access at a lot of airports. So if we have a lounge access, we go. We get breakfast. We try to calm down. For me At least, Chris will go and just stuff his pockets full of chocolate, croissants or whatever they're serving.
0:17:05 - Chris
Oh man, I just, I'm like, hey, this is free Anytime, it doesn't matter if I'm at a hotel, gas station, wherever. If it says free, I'm all about the free and I will take my free sample and this is free food.
0:17:16 - Sara
Yes. So we go to the lounges that we can. If not, we sit out in the terminal like common folk that we've always been, but until this year, until this year.
0:17:24 - Chris
Until this year.
0:17:25 - Sara
No, the lounges are really nice because they do give you kind of a quiet place, especially for me. If I'm having an anxious day where I don't Not looking forward to the flight, if I know it's going to be a turbulent flight, I can go in there and it's quieter. It's not complete chaos. There's not constant you know, intercoms going off of, like make sure you don't see any unattended luggage and like constantly there's something going off. Yeah, you can go in there and kind of have a quiet moment.
0:17:45 - Chris
I've slept in a chair before, like it's nice Some lounges, you even have massages or you can get your nails done.
0:17:51 - Sara
Oh my gosh, the Centurion one.
0:17:53 - Chris
Yeah. So, and if you're saying to yourself well, how do you get into these lounges? There's a lot of different ways, yeah.
0:17:59 - Sara
I'm not. We're not big on pushing credit cards. We didn't have credit cards for years Like that was that's how we were raised. But we do have travel credit cards now and so we don't push them, because I know some people may not be great with managing money and that's totally your call. But we do have one that gets us in the lounges and it's expensive and it's the Platinum card by AMX, and we may cancel it because Delta just changed up all the rules for lounges and we fly Delta nine times out of 10. And since we can't use their lounges anymore as often, we used to get like unlimited access to a Delta lounge when we were flying Delta and they just cut it back to six access passes a year for our credit card, which is completely a joke to me for how much we pay for it. We don't need to get started on that, but where was I going with that?
0:18:40 - Chris
So how do you, how else do you get?
0:18:41 - Sara
Oh, you can buy passes to like priority pass, and our credit card does include that too. But there's other credit cards out there that include memberships to priority pass that don't cost what our credit card costs and maybe you don't want and correct me if I'm wrong maybe you don't want a credit card, but you still want to get into a lounge.
0:18:57 - Chris
You can still pay for a day pass.
0:18:58 - Sara
You can still pay for a day pass, and if you have a long layover, maybe it's worthwhile, because, I mean heck, buying lunch and a coffee on the terminal is going to cost you $25 a person.
So it's really up to you. Not all lounges are created equal. The one that we were talking about with the massages and the manicures and stuff, that was actually the Centurion Lounge in Dallas, and not all Centurion Lounge just have that. There's usually something special in each one, and that one just so happened. They had, you know, quick manicures. It was like a 20 minute manicure and a 20 minute massage or something like that, and they had full availability when we were there, so I got a manicure on our layover.
0:19:29 - Chris
It was kind of fun. But Sara's right. You know, if you look at the day pass price and then look at what you would pay for a Starbucks coffee, and then maybe you're going to eat lunch in the airport depending on how long your layover is it could be worth it just to buy the day pass.
0:19:43 - Sara
I mean that's how we justified getting the travel credit cards. We were like, okay, we're flying more, we haven't. This year that's kind of kicked us in the butt a little bit. But last year we did fly more enough to pay for the credit card. And you counted up all the layovers and the days and you know it. Just, it made sense because we would go, we'd have, you know, five hour layovers. You always have at least one, but usually two layovers because we fly out of Chattanooga, which is really small. Do the math on it. It does make sense for us but it may not for you. But to do it, day passes are totally an option. You can buy a priority pass membership aside from the credit card, but I think that's probably more expensive than some of these credit card memberships and they include more perks.
0:20:18 - Chris
All right. So maybe you've gotten to the lounge or maybe you're just sitting at your terminal. You know, the best way to find your terminal again is looking at they. Typically, airports have a big display a big screen. I think everyone does. Yeah, Probably required. I think they are too. So, you're at your gate and then it's time for your flight.
0:20:37 - Sara
Yes, All right. So sitting at the gate and in the airport lounge though noise canceling headphones, From the moment I like night before I'm downloading my calm music or my happy music or whatever that looks like, it changes Like, if I'm not anxious I don't stress about it, but I like to have it ready just in case. So for me that looks like some of my favorite like instrumental music. I'm kind of old school like that, even like classical music.
0:21:00 - Chris
You listen to air, though sometimes.
0:21:01 - Sara
Yeah, that's my other thing. So the sometimes the sound of the engine is just like one more noise, like I don't like noise. And I figured out that if I had not even white noise but like the box fan, I had downloaded eight hours of a box fan on my phone for the flight. It was back from Brazil, it was like a 10 hour flight and I play this on playlist. It lasts me almost the entire flight, but it almost mimics the sound of the engine. So, like when the engine would do different things, I didn't notice it as much. So that was like that was actually really nice and it was just white noise enough that I could fall asleep.
0:21:32 - Chris
I picked it up and I listened to it and it was, it was just like that. I'm like you, ok, Sara, and she's I'm fine, I'm fine.
0:21:40 - Sara
I'm the psychopathic and not. I don't really watch TV on planes, I just I. My attention span is not great.
0:21:46 - Chris
You don't read books either. I can't. I mean, I read books, but not on the plane.
0:21:51 - Sara
She isn't read. I'm smart, I am smart Plane, you download TV shows. Sometimes we work.
0:22:02 - Chris
Yeah, sometimes we work A lot of times it is hard to pull out of a laptop a laptop, especially if you are sitting in an economy and you're very close to your neighbor.
0:22:11 - Sara
We have 16 inches laptops, bigger than the tray table, yeah, yeah, it's.
0:22:15 - Chris
it can be bigger than the tray table, so but it is doable. It's a good time to work or journal or you know, just get something done. You know because you are essentially in the air for two and a half eight hours, however long your trip is, and you're there. You can't go anywhere like you're just there.
0:22:33 - Sara
Yeah, for the long haul flights, we try to, you know, handle our jet lag. There's apps out there. What's the time shifter? Is that the one? There's an app called Time Shifter and it actually you start using it, if you did before you travel, and start telling you like, ok, where are sunglasses inside? Or go to bed at this time, make sure you drink water, your meals at this time, just to kind of help you with the jet lag. It tells you like you put where you're going and it helps you figure out what the best process is. So there's little tips like that. But for us, like on a long haul flight, we will sleep some, we'll eat a little bit, we will try to work. I would rather be productive on a plane and actually work. Watching TV is not my favorite off the plane either, so working is better for me. It keeps me distracted, keeps me entertaining. The plane that passes faster.
0:23:15 - Chris
Working for you you love, this is your chance to this is my chance to catch up on TV shows, Just kind of relax. Just, you know, do whatever vacation or not and I think, one thing we forgot to mention we do like to pack little protein bars in our bags.
0:23:29 - Sara
Yeah, so if you've ever watched our gear video we released I think it was like back in May we have this little tech pouch by Peek Design that we love, and this little tech pouch holds everything that we need. It holds, like, our phone chargers and our hard drives, but we also, in their throw, a few like cosmetic things. So like we always carry I carry chapstick, moisturizer, face wipes, and then we both always carry protein bars and some sort of water supplement for electrolytes, like a liquid IV or noon.
0:23:57 - Chris
Yeah, just to have, because you know they have the cart that comes down into the airplane and they'll give you, like, a free Coke or in then a Biscoff cookie or something like that. Oh, those Biscoffs, those Biscoffs, man. But sometimes you may need a little bit more and then after a while, one of the best things that you pack the face wipes, because just being on an airplane, no matter how long the distance, you just kind of feel yucky yeah.
0:24:20 - Sara
I always bring like a deodorant, some mouthwash, like I don't care if the flight's only four or five hours, like. I bring these because I know that when I get off the plane usually we have to go somewhere after that. Either the hotel's not ready or we're hitting the ground running. Yeah. So I always bring like a little mouthwash, some deodorant, face wipes, moisturiser, tapstick, because the planes will dehydrate you, which is why we also bring like the water, electrolyte things, just to kind of like make sure that we're drinking enough that we are replenished, that when we get there we're not feeling worn down and exhausted any more than we have to. Yeah, oh, compression socks, that's the other one.
0:24:52 - Chris
Oh, yeah, talked about dressing comfortably. Yeah, that is dress comfortably these fools who are in business meetings and suits going somewhere.
0:24:59 - Sara
They're fools. No, they have to. They have to.
0:25:02 - Chris
I'm saying dress comfortable because you're traveling and, at the end of the day, who cares what you look like? You're just getting from point A to point B and do it in style. Do it in sweatpants.
0:25:13 - Sara
Man, my favorite, like Viori, is one of our favorite brands. It's not cheap but, man, those things like they last a long time and they are so soft and also athletic. I love their pants Like I'm actually wearing them right now. They're like my around the house or truck pants. They're so soft and comfy. But we both like to wear really soft things and layers, because I get cold on the plane so we like to layer up and compression socks.
And that sounds like an old person thing, but man, I've worn those for years, even after a long run, like they just help you recover, but it helps your circulation. So your legs don't in your feet, don't get a swollen.
0:25:46 - Chris
Yeah. Here's another tip Look at the flight, the where you're at in the flight, see what the time is. Say it's about 45 minutes until you land. The pilot normally says hey, we're coming in for a landing around 30 minutes, so at 45 minutes go to the bathroom before all the rush happens because he makes that announcement and it's like, good yeah. All of a sudden everybody's like, oh, I got to use the restroom. But they don't do it at 45 minutes, they do it at 30.
0:26:13 - Sara
They do usually around 30 minutes, and if you have to sit on that runway for a long time waiting for a gate to open, they won't let you go to the bathroom.
0:26:21 - Chris
That's right.
0:26:21 - Sara
That's a very miserable place to be, because I have been in that position before you sit in there and crossing your legs, yeah.
0:26:27 - Chris
Yeah, and we always prefer the aisle in the middle seat. You're really kind to me for that. We sit next to each other. We do the window seat. Yes, it's beautiful to be able to look out. But think about it If you've got to use the restroom, you've got to crawl over two people, sometimes five, not really, I mean, I guess not.
0:26:44 - Sara
Yeah, not really, usually just three rows yeah.
0:26:47 - Chris
So, but you still have to crawl over two people, and if you're not family or friends, it gets awkward very fast.
0:26:53 - Sara
It's not fun. I've had to be that person tapping on some gentleman's shoulder. They say, excuse me especially while he's snoring. I have to pee, excuse me.
0:27:01 - Chris
I always embarrass.
0:27:01 - Sara
Chris. So he gives me the aisle seat and I usually have cram around my feet and that gives him more room.
0:27:05 - Chris
Yeah.
0:27:06 - Sara
But yeah, I do whatever works for you. But if you were like me and you get claustrophobic, I'll see it all the way.
0:27:10 - Chris
Yes, all right. Now the flight's complete, you've landed, you're at the other airport. The best thing for me is rushing to the luggage.
0:27:19 - Sara
Sometimes but if it's been a long flight like I talked about I run to the bathroom and I that's where I kind of like wipe my face off, I do a little mouthwash, I feel fresh before I leave a terminal. That's my chance, because you don't want to do that in the airplane bathroom you have to Like, I just don't do it and I say rush, don't.
0:27:34 - Chris
You don't have to rush to the luggage. The airline has to get it off and they normally do it in about 20, 25 minutes.
0:27:41 - Sara
Usually I think it's Delta. I know I need a look. I think it's 15 or 20 minutes. If your bag is not at the gate from the time your door comes open on the plane, like start the top, softwatch, you get so many points. It's like 5000 points. Yeah, like my bag is always made on time. I can't remember what the time limit is. I think it's 15.
0:27:59 - Chris
Yeah, so they still. It still takes a little bit of time for them to get the luggage over there and you don't have to rush, nobody's running around with your luggage. If you fly internationally, for whatever reason, the the US domestically there you don't typically see security guards around, you know. But internationally at airports they especially like Central America, like I was just in Guatemala they have the at the luggage, they have security guards and they will pick the luggage up for you and then you have to go up to them to get it.
0:28:31 - Sara
Yeah, that's much safer. It's a free for all. In the US, I mean, they make you go through all this security and then comes to bags, and I cannot believe it's not more common for people to have stuff stolen. It's crazy. Maybe it is, I just I've never heard of it. So let's talk worst case scenario. Worst case scenario your flight gets canceled or your luggage doesn't make it. I think the number one thing I would recommend is keep your cool, breathe, it's going to be fine.
Do not yell at the gate agents. You may have to be firm, not like aggressive firm, but just be like hey, this is what happened. This is what I have to do. Could you help me read book? Just tell them exactly what you need, like know what you need, and go in there with that ask. That's probably a better way of saying it than saying be firm but go to the gate agent. But a little trick is we just had to do this recently in San Diego, I think our flight got canceled or delayed or something it's. Everybody there was trying to read book and so the line to get to the counter to talk to the people was about two hours long. So when we got in line, we went ahead and called the customer service line on the phone and we're on the phone in line. While we were standing in line and we got through on the phone to handle the ticket issue within like 10 minutes, we would have been in that line for two hours.
It was so long it was at the door. Yeah, so it's a little tip, call and stay in line.
So if something goes wrong, don't panic. I mean, obviously it sucks, but never put anything that's urgent that you have to have in your checked bag. There are certain things I never put my check bag. Like, if I'm traveling with my engagement ring, I never put something that's you know, cinnamonally or financially expensive or whatever I don't. I don't put expensive things in that bag. I also don't put things like medication. If I need my medication, I don't put that in my check bag because there's a chance you're going to lose it. So everything you're going to need keep it on you in your carry on.
0:30:19 - Chris
Yeah, keep it on your person.
0:30:21 - Sara
I don't know why that's a thing. I guess it's grammatically correct.
0:30:24 - Chris
I don't know why either. Yeah, so I mean that's really what to expect going to an airline you know flying for your first trip. I mean, obviously there's a lot of different variables that we probably didn't talk about how?
0:30:36 - Sara
about customs? You're going into a new country declaring things.
0:30:41 - Chris
Yeah, oh, what do you? My favorite story to tell about declaring something is I was coming. I was coming back into the US. I love these story times. I was coming back into the US.
0:30:52 - Sara
You were very much a teenager.
0:30:57 - Chris
And the customs guard said do you have anything to declare? And I looked at him and I said I'm home, like that. And he just like rolled his eyes. He was not having me. He thought I was being a smart.
0:31:10 - Sara
You were, which I I wasn't. I wasn't there, but I know you were, I wasn't there.
0:31:16 - Chris
But I know. So when they say, do you have anything to declare, what they're really meaning is did you buy something?
0:31:22 - Sara
expensive, or do you have a lot of?
0:31:24 - Chris
money that are produced. Yeah and yeah, I always have to declare government about it.
0:31:29 - Sara
And that's a whole other thing. I have to go to the agriculture office and, like traveling with the dog, like that's a whole other conversation. But yeah, make sure you have everything that you need to declare. Don't travel and think you're not supposed to. Don't travel with produce.
0:31:40 - Chris
You know this is a great tip. Oh, this is a great tip Whether you're mostly for traveling international, but this could apply to everybody.
0:31:49 - Sara
Travel with a pen. Nobody uses paper and things like that. Always have a pen. You're going to need it for the customs form on the plane.
0:31:55 - Chris
You're going to need it. Yep, you're going to need it. So always have a pen on you.
0:31:59 - Sara
Road trips is obviously not going to be near as extensive as a section here, but some of the same principles still apply. You know, packing ahead. That way you're not running around day of trying to make sure your house is locked up, that you've turned off the lights and the stove and you know all that kind of thing you can focus on actually the anticipation of the trip. They say half the fun of a trip is the anticipation. But if you're running around stressed the day or two before, it's not going to be fun.
0:32:24 - Chris
No, no fuel up before your trip. So the night before we always go to the gas station, tank is full. Coffee you never have to stop. First thing in the morning.
0:32:33 - Sara
So for driving, we definitely stop for coffee, but we always make sure the car's packed early. We still dress comfortably from the road, assuming that you know casually, comfortably enough to go in and out of you know gas stations or wherever to go to the bathroom. We still wear compression socks, if we can, because that's a really nice little way to keep circulation good, Like we get up and we walk around. But the nice thing about traveling on the road is you have the option to stop whenever You're more in control.
0:32:59 - Chris
You're more in control.
0:32:59 - Sara
I have a hard time sitting still and traveling by road. Every hour and a half two hours we stop.
0:33:08 - Chris
Yeah, and it's really bad for you to travel for a long time it is. It's really bad you not get up and do something? It's extremely bad for you. And we're guilty of, you know, just hauling it, doing, you know, crazy amounts of miles and a short amount of time and that is not healthy. So we've been trying to implement, we do, we just kind of you know what.
0:33:29 - Sara
It's going to take us longer to get there. It may take an hour or two longer but we feel better when we get there. Sometimes halfway through the road trip if it's an eight hour road trip, 10 hour road trip we'll find somewhere to stop for, usually lunch. That has a town, maybe has a town park with a dog park, and we will go run. Even if it's just a couple of miles, we just go run and get that circulation going, usually at rest stops or gas stations. We tried, we started this on our drive to Alaska several years ago. We try to do you know 50 squats at every stop or you know 50 jumping jacks. That way you're at least like you're getting blood flowing again, you don't feel disgusting. So maybe by the time you've reached your destination 10 hours later, you've run three miles, you've done 200 squats and like you've actually like okay.
0:34:10 - Chris
I didn't go to the gym, but I still stretch my muscles. Yeah, yeah.
0:34:16 - Sara
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:34:17 - Chris
And yeah, so you'll feel, you'll feel great doing that and in the long run you may show up an hour or two. The problem with Google Maps is that it gives you an estimated time of arrival and then in my mind I'm like gotta beat that number Time to beat. And so we still use Google Maps. We use our Garmin GPS as well, but I try not to look at that ETA because it just becomes a game for me.
0:34:42 - Sara
It's interesting because Garmin, since it's our personal computer, essentially, it's learned our speed and knows what we go under the speed limit on our new truck. So, like Google, will say, oh, you're going to get there in five hours, and Garmin says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know you guys go 15, 20 under the speed limit. You're going to be there in five hours or six hours whatever it like an extra hour or two later. Yeah, that's just kind of cool, I like the Garmin gives me a more realistic expectation.
And it's usually right within a few minutes. Yeah, the other frustrating thing about routing and this is something to keep in mind is look at where you're going that day, see if you're going to hit any major cities and, if you are, try to avoid them before rush hour or get there before or after rush hour. And then we sometimes plan our stops Like if we know, okay, we aren't going to make it to the city before rush hour, we'll stop on like on the other side of the city before we get to it and make that our long break. We'll go for the run, we'll go get dinner and just get out of the car, because otherwise we're wasting our lives sitting in traffic.
0:35:33 - Chris
Yeah. So since then, and also, instead of buying snacks at a gas station or, you know, on the road fast food what we like to do is go to a grocery store the night before and we buy all the snacks and then we'll load it in our car. One it's cheaper. Two, it can be healthier Sometimes it's not healthier.
0:35:50 - Sara
It's not if I let you go when they're in shop and just like if I go to Crisco and they he'll come out with a box of pop darts and a box of cheeses.
0:35:56 - Chris
Oh man, there's like two for one, two for one, we're set.
0:36:00 - Sara
You're not that bad. But, man, if you do see some pop darts, you go for all. Oh gosh, strawberry, strawberry, pop darts they're good. Brown sugar. Oh, those are good. Okay, we're getting drilled again.
The Trader Joe's is like our favorite place to get snacks. They have fun snacks for a good price. But we are spoiled now in our truck camper, where we have a fridge and a freezer on the road. But even when we traveled in our truck or like our old other truck that didn't have a fridge and freezer, or you know a car, we would still take a little. You know those little red coolers that are like 30 bucks of Walmart.
0:36:27 - Chris
Yeah the igloos, Well igloos.
0:36:29 - Sara
We have one of those. They're great. We pack, you know, sparkling waters in there. We pack some salads or wraps or whatever we end up buying at Trader Joe's, like the lunch stuff will throw in there, and that way we have healthier food that can be kept cold, whether it's fruit or vegetables or whatever. And then if we're staying in hotels, we can redo the ice most night. Most hotels have ice machines so you can just like refresh the ice that day. It's kind of annoying, but you know that you're eating healthier and saving money.
0:36:57 - Chris
Yeah, yeah. So I mean traveling by road, I feel like is a lot easier than playing. It is much easier. We also use Gas Buddy. That's something that we didn't mention. Gas Buddy we'll use to check the price of fuel, trying to get the cheapest, and there we don't. Workstops are great to stop at because they have lots of bathrooms, lots of bathrooms, everything like that, but typically their pricing is really expensive, especially on diesel and we're diesel.
0:37:23 - Sara
So, yeah, we try to find the best price. Usually it's like a Costco and Costco's are usually close to the interstate. Can't do Costco very often because very few have diesel, but maybe you're gasoline and you can do it yeah.
0:37:33 - Chris
But you have to have a membership for Costco.
0:37:35 - Sara
Oh, that's, true, yeah.
0:37:38 - Chris
If you're in Idaho Idaho, utah Maverick gas stations are the best.
0:37:43 - Sara
If you're in the South, no hang on.
0:37:44 - Chris
the people need to know this.
0:37:45 - Sara
The South Buckeys if you can do.
0:37:48 - Chris
Buckeys. Buckeys is a weird demographic because you have a weird like, I Want to say that it's a cracker barrel. It's like cracker barrel and Walmart had a baby it is, and so you have to deal with people at Buckeys. But man, it's fun.
0:38:04 - Sara
I mean they're doing their holiday shopping, they're getting their? Doing everything at the line out the door for the bathroom. But they have like what 40 stalls they have. I've been in there. They've had bathroom attendants, like waving people, checking every stall every time somebody comes out, and they're the cleanest bathroom.
0:38:17 - Chris
So it's like a love-hate relationship with Buckeys. I want to go all the time, but then as soon as I pull in, I'm like I've made the worst.
0:38:25 - Sara
But man, they do have good snacks. They do if we if we aren't going healthy on that trip? Yeah it's Florida's on some Buckey snacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:38:31 - Chris
So I mean that's I mean traveling by car is A little easier.
0:38:37 - Sara
I think I mean, I really do prefer traveling by air. I think, yeah, no, I don't say I, just what I say, that that's not true. I really like road trips. I like going slower and seeing back roads, I don't know. They both have their advantages. Flying is really cool because you can get on the plane and Eight hours later you can be somewhere totally different, which is amazing. When it's, you know, the middle of winter, it's been 30 degrees and raining, and then eight hours later you are in sunny Brazil or something like it.
0:39:00 - Chris
Just so nice. Flying's amazing, yeah, but road trips are amazing too, because you make a lot of memories on road trips.
0:39:08 - Sara
You really get to see the backgrounds of places if you lie yourself to slow down and that's one reason we're really excited about overlanding is just we get to go these places and most people never get outside that like our radius of an international airport when they go to a country. Yeah, you know, they never get away from the transportation destination like where the transportation goes like a plane or a train or yeah.
That's. We're excited about that. So to each his own. There's a lot of pros and cons in both, but this is just sort of you know how we navigate Starting a trip.
0:39:34 - Chris
Yeah, I hope this was helpful. If it was, could you leave us a review? That would be really helpful for us. It helps our show and it just gets the word out of you know to new people about what no one tells you yeah, all right, y'all see you next time.
0:39:49 - Sara
Yeah, thanks for listening to what no one tells you with Chris and Sara. You have a comment or question that you want answered on the air? Be sure to send us a message to hello at christen Saracom, or you can call or text our phone number at 423 825-9572. Thanks for listening.
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