Hidden Habits of Great Travelers for Smoother Smarter More Enjoyable Trips - with Mark Wolters

0:00 One, it's like unwritten rules. So this is unwritten cultural

0:04 rules about going so you might not think about.

0:06 So we have like the unwritten rules of going to France and

0:09 Germany, these things, we got those.

0:10 And then I I've done all these like what to know before you go,

0:14 but I'm like, you know what, what do I wish I would have

0:17 known before I went? So instead of the general, like

0:20 here's the money. Do you need a visa?

0:22 Where the transportation, it's like, oh, yeah, I wish I would

0:25 have known when I went to Portugal that nothing they put

0:28 on a plate is free. So they put bread in front of

0:30 you. You're literally paying for

0:31 every piece, every pound of butter.

0:33 You're paying for that, like, all right.

0:36 Every time you land somewhere new, there's a fork in the road.

0:39 You can be that tourist who is confused and unintentionally

0:43 rude, or the traveler who blends in, connects and gets welcomed

0:47 in. The difference is in the

0:49 itinerary or your passport. It's a tiny mindset shifts how

0:54 you approach planning for the trip and how he handled the

0:57 unexpected. In this episode, I mind Blend

1:00 with Mark Walters from Walters world.

1:03 His travel don'ts videos have saved millions of us from

1:06 awkward moments. If you want your next trip to be

1:09 smoother and kinder to the people who live there, keep

1:12 listening. Welcome to the show Mind Blend.

1:18 I'm your host, Karen Chong, and I'll be diving into the minds of

1:21 incredible people, each an expert in their very own way.

1:26 Together, we'll uncover insights and share ideas so you can be

1:29 inspired and empowered to navigate your own unique journey

1:32 in life. Ready to get curious and

1:35 discover what's possible? Let's blend.

1:40 Today I'm joined by Mark Walters of Walters World, best known for

1:44 travel content that goes beyond Instagrammable spots.

1:48 We're talking about honest, practical advice, the kind that

1:51 can save you money, time, and sometimes even keep you out of

1:55 trouble. If you're a travel enthusiast,

1:58 you probably already know Mark. I've been following him for

2:01 years, and I always watch his video before I travel somewhere

2:05 new. In fact, I just came back from

2:07 Berlin this morning. And yes, I did watch his video

2:10 before it went, so the timing couldn't be better.

2:13 Hi Mark, welcome to Mindland. Hey Karen, thank you for the

2:17 invitation and thank you for the very nice, kind words.

2:20 A lot of people who will recognize you when they see your

2:23 name and I discovered you through your trouble videos,

2:27 obviously, but I'm not the only one.

2:29 Given your millions of followers, but maybe not that

2:33 many people know that you are also a marketing professor.

2:38 Yeah, yeah, but you, you too doesn't pay all the bills.

2:40 You got to have a day job too. So yes, I'm a marketing

2:43 professor as my day job. How did you like?

2:47 What inspired you to start your travel content?

2:52 So I remember, I remember it well, I was in Italy and well,

2:56 I'd made videos before, like I'd made videos for my, my wife, who

2:59 was then my fiance, I was making like, Oh, she's going to move to

3:02 Portugal. So I was making like learn

3:04 Portuguese videos for her. And then I was teaching in

3:06 Portugal and not all my students were like fantastic English.

3:10 So I was like doing like summary videos of like Thomas for class.

3:13 So I was doing that. But when I decided to really go

3:16 into like the Walters world, like, no, I got to make this on

3:18 a content like we're, we're doing this.

3:20 I was in Italy and I got a guidebook and the guidebook made

3:24 every city sound amazing. You know, you're like, oh, the

3:26 greatest thing is this, you know, it's the new Prague, it's

3:29 the, the Paris at the door, you know, all this stuff, all these

3:31 things. And I remember I went to this

3:33 one place. I got the book and I, I was

3:36 reading through it and I'm like, wow, this town sounds fantastic.

3:38 And it was in Italy. And my friends, their families

3:41 have been in this region for, I don't know, 506 hundred years.

3:44 None of them, none of them had ever gone there.

3:46 I'm like, that should have been a red flag.

3:47 But they're like, man, this book makes it sounds amazing.

3:50 They're like, Mark, you go, 'cause I was on vacation.

3:52 It's like, Mark, you go during the week.

3:53 If it's good, we'll all go on the weekend as well.

3:55 And so I go and they're like, oh, the Palazzo is amazing.

3:59 The museum is world class. Oh, you'll feel like you're in

4:02 old world Europe when you're at the market.

4:05 Yeah, the Palazzo was under construction.

4:07 The museum didn't have anything there.

4:08 And then the Old World Market. Yeah, it was the farmer's market

4:12 on Saturday only, you know, it's a, it was a parking lot.

4:15 I'm like, oh, come on. And that's, that's really what

4:18 it hit me that there's a lot of creators out there that, you

4:21 know, they'll get paid to say this is the best place to go and

4:24 they'll get paid to say nice things.

4:26 I'm like, this isn't right. Because at the time, I mean, it

4:28 was, it was many, many years ago.

4:30 And I was thinking my friends in the US who had maybe like, you

4:33 know, two weeks vacation a year, yeah, yeah, if they had time for

4:37 that and, and you know, maybe they get to go to Europe once in

4:39 their life. And I was thinking, actually I

4:41 was thinking of my aunt who went to Europe once in her life.

4:43 And if she would have read that book, she would have thought she

4:46 need to spend 3 days in that town.

4:47 And I'm like 10 day vacation, three days in that town. 30% of

4:51 your once in life vacation is, is, you know, wasted because

4:55 somebody was overinflating how this place was.

4:58 I'm like, this isn't right, Like this is not right.

5:00 And so that moment on I was like, I'm going to make honest.

5:02 I mean, I wasn't making bad traffic.

5:04 And I was like, I'm going to focus on content so people know

5:07 the good and the bad of going places.

5:08 And that's what I really focused on.

5:10 And that that's what we did. And it's funny because like when

5:12 we started and we started doing videos, I remember people who

5:14 went, dude, who's going to listen to like a bald fat guy?

5:17 Like, how are you going to beat these like women in bikinis,

5:21 these guys that look so good? And I'm like, I don't know, I'm

5:23 going to make content that I would like to know, like I don't

5:26 have time to watch 100 videos. So if I can watch one or two,

5:28 that's going to help me with that destination.

5:29 Great. And so I started doing that and

5:31 really focus on the like I it's hard for the the five love and

5:35 hate's, but then it's more than thanks, but it was really like,

5:38 I just want people like if you only got time to watch on video,

5:40 you can watch our video, you'll be ready.

5:41 It was tell the sights what to watch out for so you can be a

5:44 good tourist. So that was that was my big

5:45 thing. But I was just thinking back to

5:47 that, like that book going. That is just not, that's not

5:51 fair. It's not fair to other people.

5:52 So that's why I really focus on the honest tribal stuff.

5:55 Do you remember what town that was?

5:58 Yes, I do. And it's no longer than the

6:01 guidebooks at all. So I think people probably

6:03 complained about it enough that I was like, basically if you'd

6:06 go there, it would be like it was Rovigo.

6:09 It would be like a 9th tier Italian village to visit like

6:14 1917 Italy you can pass by so. Would you say that was

6:21 influenced a little bit by your being a professor, like

6:26 education background? Oh, yeah.

6:28 I think because that's one of those things is being a

6:30 professor. I always want people to learn

6:32 how people grow and have a better experience, you know?

6:35 And I, I can tell when I look at other content creators, like a

6:38 lot of them are travel influencers.

6:40 You're like, oh, look at me doing these things.

6:42 Look at me doing this. Here's me having my coffee here,

6:44 here's me, me, me, me, me. And I'm more like, hey, here's

6:46 what you need to know. And so I actually would like to

6:49 say I'm more of a travel educator.

6:51 So like people, like you said, you watched my Berlin video

6:53 before you went to Berlin. And that's my stuff.

6:56 It's like, look, I, I, it's, I'm OK that people don't subscribe.

6:59 You know, I'm like, just what what you're going to go to a

7:01 place, Just look up Walter's world, the destination.

7:03 And then, you know, if I have a video, it's going to help you

7:06 out. And that's fine because I know

7:07 not everybody wants to watch. I mean, we all want to eat three

7:09 times a day and we would entertain 24 hours a day.

7:11 But we need 5 when you're traveling.

7:14 Yeah, two or three times you. So I want to educate for that

7:16 little part of your life. If I can help out, I'm cool with

7:18 that. Yeah, the one of the most useful

7:21 1 was like, Germans don't jaywalk.

7:26 Like I tend to not jaywalk, but funny enough, London people only

7:32 jaywalk when it turns red, they go.

7:36 So that was really useful. Because like, now sometimes, you

7:39 know, we get comments like germs, like weep, jaywalk all

7:41 the time. I'm like, no, you J1 twice in

7:44 your life and you're like a rebel.

7:45 No, no, it's not because I used to live in Germany.

7:49 I mean, literally I'd have people like hand across my

7:52 chest. No, you can't cross.

7:54 It's red. I'm like there's literally no

7:57 cock at all. They're like, no, no, we'll

8:00 wait. So I'm I, I try to be a good

8:02 person now and wait all the time.

8:05 How many years have you been doing travel videos?

8:09 So I think the Walters World Channel started in April, in

8:13 April of 2009. And I had a channel before where

8:17 I was doing like stuff for to help my wife with the language

8:19 stuff and then and then my students was probably started in

8:24 2008. So I've been going for, what, 17

8:27 years? Wow, that's a long time.

8:29 Yeah. Hold on, it was my math laugh.

8:30 Yeah, 17 years. Yeah, that's and travel has

8:34 changed quite a bit, yeah. Oh, it's it's amazing how it's

8:37 changed. I like, yeah, like I watched,

8:40 I'll watch some of our older videos because because one thing

8:42 I always pride about is stuff is I don't focus on like here's a

8:45 restaurant you need to go to or hotel to stay at because those

8:47 things change. So I really focus on, it's going

8:50 to be food. Here's the traditional food from

8:51 that. You should try.

8:52 Here's the the cultural things, the stuff that stays over the

8:56 long term. But you see some things kind of

8:58 changing over time. And it's funny, like I'll look

9:00 at some of the older videos. I'll be like, oh, look at the

9:02 clothing. Look at, you know, it's funny.

9:04 Like when the first, you know, iPhone one, 2-3 people took

9:08 occasional pictures through 56. Now it's like people literally

9:11 recording the whole time like for anything.

9:13 And you're like, OK, that's really changed how people do

9:15 things. Like I remember when people

9:17 would come with their iPads and hold their.

9:18 IPads, yeah, yeah, yeah. And stuff, you know, and it's

9:21 like, oh, that's so nice. I mean, we were in, we were in

9:24 the Bahamas and I took my old school.

9:26 I actually happened here. Yeah.

9:28 I took my old school Fuji underwater camera.

9:34 My kids like what is that? I'm like this sounds cool

9:38 camera. He's like, huh, funny thing was

9:40 the thing didn't work. We were there.

9:41 I thought we filmed on this underwater stuff early Goldwater

9:44 film. Nothing underwater.

9:45 I'm like, you got any kidding me?

9:47 But like I had that just from way back in the day.

9:50 But now now I get a little zip lock bag thingy.

9:52 You put your phone in there, boom, you're good to go.

9:55 But but isn't awesome like how it was?

9:57 I remember back when we used to do like, oh, hidden gem videos

10:01 like here's some place you can maybe not think about now.

10:03 There's so much content out there.

10:04 There really is no hidden places.

10:05 Anymore. No.

10:08 If they're making a video of it being hidden, it's not hidden.

10:11 Yeah. So in one way, well, one way

10:13 it's nice because now if you want to go places, there's

10:15 always something to help you out.

10:17 I mean, that's one thing. Like we were in Rwanda when we

10:18 went to Rwanda a few years ago, like there was no content in

10:21 Rwanda. It was just about the genocide.

10:23 And so we didn't know it too. Even we got guidebooks and

10:25 stuff. There's just a little bit of

10:26 stuff there went there and it was an incredible experience.

10:29 So for us, it was like a new kind of thing.

10:31 And so like making the videos there for people to feel

10:33 comfortable because the genocide from 30 years ago, people were

10:35 like, that's all they ever heard about was the.

10:37 Genocide, you know. Like Hotel Rwanda, like that was

10:40 30 years ago, like it's a whole different world now.

10:42 Like you can, you can really see a lot of people were wonderful,

10:46 you know, it was just a amazing experience.

10:48 But it's interesting how you, like, now there's information,

10:51 you can figure these things out if you want to go to some random

10:53 island somewhere or you know, it's really kind of cool because

10:57 I remember way back before I was making videos like I was

11:00 backpacking South America in the 90s.

11:02 You have like your Lonely Planet book and you're like, well, I'm

11:05 getting off of this town and they have 2 pages 11 there's a

11:09 hotel. We'll see what happens, you

11:11 know, in a hotel room. But now it's not.

11:13 Now you got to like, plan it out more.

11:14 Yeah, and you're talking about Lonely Planet book.

11:17 They're already like the long version of things and it's about

11:21 2 pages. Yeah, because, because you know,

11:23 you go because I backpack all throughout South America.

11:25 So I wouldn't get like the Brazil book.

11:26 I get the South America book then had like the Brazil

11:29 section. And then the spot so.

11:32 You're like, hey, they'll be like, hey, they have a hotel

11:34 there. I mean, I remember one I was, it

11:37 was it was the very north of Brazil, the Tao, the north of

11:41 Brazil. And they had like 3 hotels in

11:43 there was like high end because I was like just out of my mouth,

11:47 just out of my masters. And so I was like, how much

11:49 money is like high? It was like high end, high end.

11:51 And this other one. And I went to the other one and

11:54 the taxi driver was like, Are you sure you want to go there?

11:57 I'm like, well, it's simply plans so it's probably OK.

11:59 And I got there and the guy was like, I can take you some place

12:02 else. And I was thinking the guy was

12:03 trying to scam me. And then, but then I got there

12:06 like I, I checked, I got stuff like, yeah, I completely

12:09 understand what the guy like, why is like, Are you sure, dude?

12:13 So yeah, the adventures, the adventures were different then.

12:17 So all these years, like how did you develop all these wisdom?

12:22 Because there must be new places for you too.

12:24 Oh, there's like for me, one thing I love is when I get it,

12:28 whenever I go to a destination, especially as I've gone like

12:31 I've gone to a lot of places over the years.

12:32 So now it's like I have a rough idea before I go, but if it's a

12:35 new place, it's kind of like, Hey, I'm going to talk to any of

12:38 my friends. Like if they've gone there, I'll

12:40 talk to like I'll reach out to our fans that are from different

12:43 countries. Like is there anything you want

12:45 to make sure I'm mentioning? Because like I'll have my list

12:48 of stuff. Like I'll do my research, have

12:49 my my things. And I'm like, OK, I have that

12:50 idea. And then when I end up going to

12:52 the destination, I want to see like what my research says.

12:55 But if it's my experience and then I film after all that, but

12:58 I always make sure it's like, Hey, is there something you

13:00 would want me to talk? Is there something you want me

13:02 to mention? And sometimes you don't really

13:04 think about it. And then other times like, Hey,

13:05 you know, I was in the Bahamas. There's just like, hey, could

13:07 you just tell us that we're not the Caribbean?

13:09 Yeah. Because they like, they feel

13:10 it's like an insult. We're not.

13:11 We're in the Atlantic. Yeah, you could just mention

13:14 that because people are like Caribbean, Caribbean.

13:15 You're like, we're not in the. Caribbean, we're in the

13:17 Atlantic, OK. And sometimes it's something

13:19 like that. Other times, yeah, like Chicago

13:21 people are like, stop cherry people.

13:23 We deep dish. Pizza Hagen.

13:25 Style pizza. I'm like, yes, you do, but if

13:29 you want to know officially that probably the number one selling

13:32 pizza in Chicago is probably Domino's.

13:34 OK, so you're like, The thing is we're looking at like old school

13:38 traditional stuff, but I'll make sure I put that in like hey,

13:40 tourists, you'll get the deep dish and Chicago indication, but

13:43 they prefer the talent style. But then crispy crust stuff.

13:46 So it's kind of different. So it's kind of like that 'cause

13:49 you'll get people that will be like, hey, have you checked out

13:51 this destination? Like there's, there's a couple

13:54 of cities in, in Italy that I have some people that are

13:56 literally they'll send me stuff every day.

13:58 When are you going to come film? When I'm like, I've been there.

14:00 I didn't know when I was there, but I was there.

14:02 And I just, I mean, so it's kind of hard to go back because so

14:05 like once Bergamo and the guy's like, please come, please come.

14:08 I'm like, I will get there. I will get there, don't worry.

14:10 But it's funny, like every day I don't go on, there'll be a

14:12 little thing about Bergamo he'll send to me.

14:14 And it's just like, you know, so sometimes like, you know what, I

14:16 will check it out. And that's the things like,

14:18 that's what I love when like other travellers reach out

14:21 because then it's like, Hey, have you thought about this or

14:23 have you done this? Because sometimes, especially

14:25 when it comes to like topics for like advice videos, because I've

14:29 travelled so much, you know, I, I don't think, hey, what's it

14:31 like going through customs? What's it like?

14:34 You know, like I did a couple of videos, like literally it was

14:37 like, what's it like flying abroad?

14:39 Because they didn't know I'm like, OK, so you're, you're

14:40 going to check in, but you've got to have your passport.

14:42 It needs to be at least six months valid.

14:44 Or then they're like, how do I get a passport?

14:45 Like, oh, wait, we got to go back to like, how do we get a

14:48 passport? All right, So like trying to

14:50 figure those things out. And then, but I still remember

14:52 like there's people I ask because like they were scared.

14:55 Like, do we have to like, do they check us on the plane, like

14:58 on the buses or something? I'm like, no, no, when you land,

15:01 you're going to follow the signs for passport control, border

15:04 cross that you're going to follow the sign.

15:05 Just everyone's going there. Don't worry if you're going to

15:07 get off there and I'd ask her, you're going to get off there.

15:09 Then you're going to look for this.

15:10 If you're going to connect, you're going to do this, but

15:12 you're going to go through the passport control.

15:13 They're going to ask you typical questions.

15:15 How long are you going to be here?

15:16 Where are you going to stay? I mean, I as I was like, make

15:18 sure you have like your reservations on your phone.

15:20 You have your stuff there. So it's like, let's go through

15:23 these things because like for me, it's like in nature, like I

15:25 already have the yeah, I have my itinerary.

15:28 But you know, like when you've done so much, you sometimes

15:30 forget that. And that's why I like when fans

15:32 reach out like, hey, could you do that for us?

15:34 Like, yeah, sure. This lady wrote was like, hey,

15:36 could you talk about it was one of the one of the like the food

15:39 allergy videos. So I filmed, but I just have to

15:42 produce it and I'm like, hey, I have it coming out for you.

15:44 I'm like one of the biggest thing I told you is one of the

15:46 biggest things you do go online. You can buy like with your

15:49 allergy, you can buy, like laminated cards for all these

15:53 different languages. So when you go to a restaurant,

15:55 you don't have to try to explain what celiac is or whatever.

15:59 Just give them this like, OK, they'll say like, what?

16:01 You can't have all kinds of stuff.

16:02 And she's like, oh, I didn't know about that.

16:04 Yeah. So I did, you know, send her the

16:05 link. And so I got to make, I got to

16:07 make sure I get that video out for her, so.

16:08 So by travelling and then doing exchanges for with your fans and

16:13 obviously just, you know, practicing common sense, I feel

16:16 like when you're travelling there's a lot of bad.

16:20 Sometimes common It's isn't quite as common as we would like

16:23 it to be. I think I started watching the

16:26 Do's and don'ts, love hate and then I watched more of the

16:30 Don'ts recently. Was there something that's like

16:34 sparked you to like focus on the don'ts?

16:37 I know you the Italy experience inspired you to produce these

16:41 honest advice, but like the don'ts, like all the bad

16:45 behaviors. Well, yeah.

16:46 And that The thing is when I started making the don'ts, so

16:48 like how it's kind of worked, the first videos that really

16:51 took off were these five love and hates.

16:53 And it was, it's more like 5 loves and five mild annoyances

16:56 most of the time. But you know, it's the Internet.

16:57 No one like loves mild annoyances.

17:00 So that was important. So that was one.

17:02 And then I did a video on like culture shocks in China and it

17:07 did like, it didn't do millions of views.

17:09 It did like, like it did way better than other kind of kind

17:11 of like, oh, that's kind of interesting.

17:12 So, and that the culture, it was like fun culture shocks.

17:15 So it's kind of like lemon hates was kind of more serious than

17:18 the culture shocks is more the fun little things, you know,

17:20 like when you go to the Bahamas, don't be surprised if you go

17:23 swim with the pigs because literally there's an island you

17:25 can go to and you can swim with pigs, but it's not everywhere.

17:27 And so it's like fun things like that.

17:29 And then then I was like, I felt like my 5 lemon hates were kind

17:33 of limiting me like to because I'm like, I want to get more

17:35 information. So then I went into these don'ts

17:37 and I always like to keep things positive, though a lot of people

17:40 do or don'ts videos be like, oh, you're going to say something

17:42 bad and then like, oh, you actually say good things.

17:44 Yeah, because when I talk about like, don't like, don't forget

17:48 to do this or don't forget to watch out for that.

17:50 Don't forget to eat this. And then I'm like, Oh yeah, and

17:52 don't forget about the crime in this part of town you want to

17:55 avoid People like the locals aren't as upset because you

17:58 start getting bad. Like talking things about.

18:00 Things people get upset like hey, I'm I'm trying to give it

18:02 both sides and that's one thing I really love is those dunks

18:05 videos like locals will watch them like hey, that's a really

18:08 good job, like hey, nice. And that kind of went from

18:12 there. And then, like, as I kept

18:14 developing stuff, I have like, this series called the Mistakes

18:17 of the Destination you're going to go to.

18:19 Like, I'll be filming the mistakes of Berlin by next year

18:21 to Berlin. I'm going there next year.

18:23 They'll be out. But these are like the little

18:25 mistakes, like the little things people don't think about.

18:27 Like, Oh yeah, you don't think they're going to check your

18:30 public transportation ticket until the guy shows up?

18:34 Like it's not like things that most people won't think about,

18:36 but it's like, OK, you've done the don'ts.

18:38 You got the most important stuff.

18:40 Here's a little like the little things out there that kind of

18:43 like help you not make the little mistakes.

18:45 So it's you're going to be traveling more often because

18:47 people were asking me for like, Hey, you got these things.

18:50 You can go more in depth. So like the mistakes were a

18:52 little bit more in depth, right. And so you had that.

18:54 And then we've got I've got some new series I started.

18:57 I haven't even released any of them yet.

18:59 So hey, you're here. Well, first to hear about it.

19:01 One, it's like unwritten rules. So this is unwritten cultural

19:05 rules about going to this. So you might not think about.

19:07 And sometimes they were the things that like doesn't work

19:10 for a shock or don't. But I think it's important for

19:12 me the really one of the culture, like I don't want to

19:13 offend people or I don't like, I don't know, like this.

19:16 So we have like the unwritten rules of going to France and

19:18 Germany, these things, we got those.

19:20 And then I, I, I've done all these like what to know before

19:23 you go, but I'm like, you know what, what do I wish I would

19:27 have known before I went? So instead of the general, like,

19:30 here's the money. Do you need a visa where the

19:32 transportation, it's like, Oh yeah, I wish I would have known

19:36 when I went to portrait. Well, that nothing they put on

19:38 the plate is free. So they put bread in front of

19:40 you. You're literally paying for

19:41 every piece, every pound of butter.

19:43 You're paying for that like, oh, right.

19:45 And so there's other little things like the unwritten rule,

19:47 like don't ever compare things, you know, portrait don't compare

19:49 to Spain because they say nothing good comes from that

19:51 direction. You know, like, all right, more

19:53 of like internal culture things like if you're in Illinois, like

19:56 I'm from Illinois in the US, but if you go to other states, some

19:58 people say, oh, Illinois with an S at the end, because S at the

20:02 end island. And it's like, yeah, if you want

20:04 people to respect you in Illinois, don't say Illinois.

20:06 You know, it's like don't and don't be like, because Siri said

20:09 it that way. No, Siri was wrong.

20:12 So it's like just things like that, but.

20:15 But it's also, I think the unwritten rules, it's another

20:17 place where I can put some safety things in there, you

20:19 know, like some place when you're going to South America,

20:21 people are like, oh, it's not safe anywhere.

20:23 Like, you know, they're safe places.

20:24 But honestly, one of the unwritten rules, whenever the

20:26 hotel get the get the map and then have the people go, here's

20:32 the size. But hey, where should I make

20:33 sure I don't go? Where do I need to be more

20:34 careful? And they'll circle it for them,

20:36 like, oh, yeah, this part. Yeah, this part here, don't go

20:38 there. Yeah, we were in, we were in

20:40 Bogota and Bogota at Columbia, everyone's usually, oh, it's

20:43 Columbia, Oh, the drugs are they're going to the, the narcs

20:45 going to get you. And like Columbia, that.

20:47 Was in your video. Yeah, Columbia's fine.

20:50 Yeah. But like, it's one of those

20:51 things like, hey, but you got to know there's bad parts of town.

20:53 Like, dude, there's bad parts every town, everywhere.

20:55 Oh no, it's like, there's nothing wrong in my town.

20:57 No, there's, there's parts you don't go to everywhere.

21:00 And so little, little things like that to ask make things a

21:03 lot easier on you. So there's that there.

21:05 So that's those I kind of wish I would have known beforehand that

21:08 I've written things. So those are two new series that

21:10 we have coming out in the new year.

21:12 I realize 2026 because you know, it's Chris where, you know, when

21:16 we're filming this, it's not when we're filming this

21:19 recording this, it's not peak how it's not peak travel season.

21:22 So I'll get those out. What people are thinking about

21:23 travel, because that's one of the tough things is like, you

21:26 know, if you're in like travel content, people don't think

21:30 about travel from like end of September through literally like

21:35 until the day after Christmas on the 26th.

21:37 No joke, the 26th of December, our views triple.

21:40 Really. Because it's like everyone's,

21:42 yeah, it's like everyone's done with their family.

21:44 I'm done with the get me on vacation, like, and for the next

21:48 two weeks, it's like gangbusters with people looking for

21:50 destinations, searching stuff. So I've got a bunch of videos

21:53 that are going to come out at the end of December that's

21:56 really geared to those people getting ready for that summer

21:58 trip. Like, hey, how do I have that

21:59 conversation with with my family about this trip?

22:01 Or if like, let's say you and your you and your girlfriends

22:05 want to go on a girls trip. Like, hey, what are the things

22:07 we need to talk about beforehand?

22:08 Yeah, it's like you always have to have the money question.

22:11 But sometimes do we bring the friend that brings the drama,

22:14 you know, like these kind of conversation stuff they don't

22:16 think about that's. Interesting.

22:18 Yeah, so, so my wife filmed that with a friend of hers because

22:20 they travel all the time together and they don't always

22:23 travel some of their other friends.

22:24 For that reason. I also have some friends.

22:27 I'm like, I love you, but I love you.

22:30 Yeah, like I I had travelled to Europe with just girls when like

22:35 I first visited Europe. I swear not to do that ever

22:39 again. Well.

22:41 And that's it. You got to live and learn.

22:42 Like that's one thing I've loved about our videos because like

22:45 we've made mistakes, you know, we do things just to try things

22:47 about if I can make that mistake and then I can share with

22:50 someone else, they don't make that mistake.

22:51 So they give a better time. That's that's what we're doing.

22:55 We're trying to help people. Out yeah, so I have so much

22:57 respect and admiration for what you're doing because I'm.

23:00 Very nice of you. Thank you.

23:01 I, like, I am a big fan of respecting the culture.

23:05 Yeah. And we've all seen it over

23:06 tourism, not just Japan, in a lot of places.

23:09 And they're just doing things that just make the locals.

23:13 That's why the locals are reacting the way they did.

23:15 Yeah, well, and that's just it. It's like there's, there's I

23:19 what's funny is I do a lot of videos to help people not do

23:22 those things, but I'm like, but the people that are watching our

23:24 videos are not the people that are going to do that anyway.

23:27 You know, you're watching. I mean that that's one of the

23:29 reasons why like I have. So starting the new year, I got

23:32 another thing for you. Starting the new year, We're,

23:35 we're putting out literally 3 like those vertical short

23:39 videos, reels and stuff every single day through the 1st 3

23:42 months of the year just because there's so many bad travel hacks

23:47 and like on TikTok and Instagram that you'll see people like, oh,

23:50 I do this trick all the time. Like no, you're not because you

23:52 get banned from the airlines. You're like, I've seen so many

23:55 of these things. Like the ones are like, Oh yeah,

23:57 buy all three seats. You know they say that well, I

24:00 think. They call it like poor.

24:01 Man's first class, you buy all three seats and then you cancel

24:04 the tickets, you know, like 10 minutes before a take off.

24:06 I'm like, dude, there's so if you go on standby, those seats

24:09 aren't even taken. And like, if you do that more

24:11 than once, like the airlines know this and then you're going

24:13 to get banned. Like, and they're always like,

24:15 well, we do it all the time. Like the Internet lies people.

24:17 That person does not do that. You know, it's like, and there's

24:20 like for, for your UK pans, there's like the Ryan, the

24:23 Ryanair hacks. Oh yeah, I'll go and book.

24:25 I, I don't want to have to pay for an aisle seat.

24:28 So I'll go and book 10 tickets while like while I'm at the

24:32 airport. And then it holds them for 10

24:34 minutes. And then that's when I go in on

24:36 another window and then I book my ticket because there's no

24:39 seats available. So I have to get that one that

24:41 they can give me and then I get it and then I cancel the other

24:43 ones. I'm like dude and that is way

24:46 more complicated in the the £15 for the ticket.

24:49 You know, yeah. Yeah, come on.

24:51 You know, and you know, they're not doing it all the time, but

24:53 they make they seem like they are.

24:54 Yeah. And I and I, I've talked to

24:55 people at airlines like, no, we find out you do that.

24:57 You will be, you'll be like not flying with us.

25:01 But they don't mention those things because you know, it

25:03 doesn't, it doesn't get 1,000,000 of views.

25:05 Yeah, it's a hack, but it's not a like.

25:07 It's just inconsiderate hacks. Yeah, and that's The thing is

25:10 like, I want, I want considerate travellers.

25:12 Like that's the reason why people get upset with over

25:14 tourism. I mean, well, one, the housing

25:17 thing with the Airbnb, VVRBO, apartment rental stuff, like I

25:19 can understand that like housing affordability is a huge issue,

25:22 especially in tourist cities out there.

25:23 I I understand that completely, but you know, people blaming

25:26 tourists for that. I'm like, well, that's also, you

25:28 know, you elected a government that's supposed to look out for

25:30 you and they didn't like, that's the whole thing there.

25:32 That's why with Barcelona, like, hey, we're not letting anymore

25:34 this company, we're going to close them down.

25:35 Hey, there you go. Your government's making a

25:37 making a difference. But in also, you know, it's

25:40 their anger. They have it that is directed

25:42 towards tourists because that's an easy scapegoat because

25:46 they're not going to be there tomorrow.

25:47 So I could shoot a water gun at them.

25:48 But also, like, I took students to Barcelona during those

25:51 protests and stuff and oh really?

25:53 Oh yeah. But my students, we were there

25:55 for like 12 days and we're going to city festivals, We're hanging

25:59 out with locals. 0 people were complaining because my, my

26:02 students acting respectfully, trying to speak Spanish, a

26:06 little bit of Catalan. They're going to the local

26:08 festival. They're not like doing that.

26:10 Like, oh, look at me, you know, selfie kind of they're being

26:12 respectful. If you're doing that, people are

26:14 going to be OK with it. That's one thing I always laugh

26:16 at would be like, oh, I never want to tell people are

26:18 American. I'm like, nobody cares where

26:19 you're from. If you're, if you're respectful

26:21 tourist, people treat you great no matter where you go in the

26:23 world. Like I've seen this everywhere I

26:25 go. I've been like, everyone's been

26:27 super nice because you're a good tourist.

26:28 You'll be fine. It's just if you're not a good

26:30 tourist or you're, you're, you know, you're being

26:32 disrespectful. It's, it's, you know, there's,

26:34 there's simple things you can do.

26:35 Just learn the pleases and thank yous, how to say good day.

26:37 When you walk into a store, you say Bonjour in France or Buenos

26:40 Dias in Spain or Bungia in Brazil.

26:42 I was like, oh, 'cause they'll know you don't speak the

26:45 language, but they know you tried.

26:47 And all of a sudden you're the greatest tourist ever.

26:49 Like you pointed out, it's unfortunate that the people who

26:51 need to watch your videos are not the people watching.

26:54 I know, I know their videos, but yeah, like 'cause I am an

26:59 American living not in the US now, so when I travel, well,

27:04 they won't guess that I'm American first of all, 'cause

27:06 obviously. But when they started talking.

27:10 That's well open up America. Everybody could be American, so

27:12 there's no. Yeah, well, you don't have a

27:14 cowboy hat on. Where's your cowboy hat and

27:16 cowboy boots? Damn it if you don't have those.

27:18 And you got your eagle tattoo right here, right with American

27:21 flag. Yeah, there's so many.

27:23 I know you have one video about like how to spot Americans and

27:27 there are actually many threats I've seen spotting Americans,

27:32 but those are like not so great things.

27:35 Yeah, well, the fun thing is, is sometimes you can do that for

27:37 other tourists as well. Like I've talked like, oh,

27:40 talking about reaching out, like I've had so many.

27:42 It's from Orlando and New York where a lot of German tourists

27:47 go and waiters will reach out to me and hoteliers will reach out

27:51 to me. Is like, could you please put in

27:52 your video for German tourists coming to the US that we do not

27:56 put out ham and cheese slices like cold cuts for breakfast.

27:59 Here we do pancakes, eggs, bike and sausage, not that.

28:03 And so the hotels will get yelled at by the germs.

28:05 Why don't you have cold cuts? That is a real breakfast.

28:08 I don't want dessert for breakfast.

28:09 I'm like, well, we have the other 99% of the people at hotel

28:13 actually do eat this and that's what we have here.

28:15 Or then the waiters are like the Germans.

28:17 They're like, oh, we would fight who would not get the German

28:19 tourists because they'd make us do a lot of work and then they'd

28:21 tip us like 2% and they'd be like, you should be happy I gave

28:24 that to you. I am.

28:26 So it it's very interesting, like the the comments on my

28:28 videos about tipping is always interesting of.

28:32 Course there's and I think it's a it's very smart for you to do

28:37 a positive spin on your don't video so people don't get too

28:41 offensive. Yeah, and and then also it helps

28:43 because if you put it in a positive light, people feel

28:45 better about it because there's so much negativity out there in

28:48 the world. Like I'm talking about negative

28:50 things, but not all of the don'ts are negative.

28:51 But it's like, hey, I can put a good spinner on it.

28:53 It's not going to stop you from travelling.

28:55 It's going to open your eyes because one of the best things

28:57 is why I teach people these things.

28:59 Then they see it. It's not something that ruins

29:01 their vacation. They're like, oh, I don't want

29:03 to pay for that meat and cheese today.

29:05 Thank you, Obrigado. Like they'll push it away.

29:08 They don't. They're like, hey, I caught

29:10 that, I caught that. And then it's like, it's like it

29:12 boosts their morale about their trip.

29:13 Like I know something about the culture, you know?

29:15 And so that's what I love doing, is give people that kind of like

29:17 superpower being a better traveler.

29:20 If someone is going somewhere new, what would you suggest them

29:24 to prioritize when they're planning their trip?

29:27 Well, after looking for Walter's world, putting Walter's world in

29:31 that destination, watching our videos, I would say just put the

29:35 destination in, put like what to know before you go.

29:39 Because a lot of times like videos and, and a lot of blogs

29:43 will have a lot of like basic information that's going to help

29:46 you out where it's not them talking about, well, I had a bad

29:48 time at this, you know, on this trip or I ate this food here and

29:52 I didn't like it. It's more like, here's what you

29:54 need to know. Like getting those basic things

29:56 in there can really help you out.

29:58 Also, I would say, like I said, learn, you know, please, thank

30:01 you. Good day toilet.

30:03 You know those yes, don't like, you know those 5 or 6 words,

30:06 you'll be fine. You can communicate with anybody

30:08 the world if you know those ones.

30:10 But honestly, one thing I really like is I like to find some of

30:12 like The Walking channels just kind of show the city beforehand

30:15 because sometimes she's like, I just want to have a feel what

30:17 it's like, you know, especially this place.

30:19 You don't know, you're like, we were in Macedonia this summer,

30:23 you know, and I there wasn't a lot of stuff on Macedonia.

30:25 And I'm like, I'm not sure what to expect.

30:28 And so we come in, I'm like, oh wow, they really have like

30:31 hundreds and hundreds of statues all over here.

30:33 Oh, now I understand the, it was like Scopy 2007.

30:36 They redid the whole city and like made it classic where they

30:39 put tons and tons of statues everywhere.

30:40 It's awesome. Like I loved it, but like how

30:42 people explained it, I didn't see, it's like if I saw a video

30:45 on it, that would be more helpful.

30:46 But there wasn't a lot of stuff out there 'cause it's the, it's

30:49 relatively new on how they do these things.

30:51 But it was like, oh, now I get it.

30:52 Now I see. It was kind of like, if you

30:55 don't know how to eat the food, it's like, what's some of the

30:58 more common foods that are there and you're not sure how Like you

31:00 see, like, well, how do I use my hands?

31:02 Do I use a fork? Do I use chopsticks?

31:03 What do I do here? Like sometimes just those little

31:05 things can be a nice little fun thing and it gets you kind of

31:07 excited for like, oh, I want to have that food when I'm there.

31:10 You were saying the unwritten rules.

31:13 The country that came to mind was Japan.

31:15 Yeah, immediately, because there are so many of them, even for

31:18 people who are not tourists. And it reminded me a funny

31:22 story, my friend, just a couple months ago.

31:26 Yeah, she thought she was stripped because they charge her

31:29 for appetizers that they didn't order, but it wasn't free.

31:33 And I told her, oh, I no, that's a standard thing.

31:36 Like they especially when you order alcohol and it just made

31:40 her so happy. So I wish she knew before, yeah,

31:43 because it wouldn't have ruined her mood.

31:45 Exactly. And I've had people that have

31:46 written me and they're like, there's one.

31:48 I mean he's watching her videos for lots of stuff.

31:50 He's like, I hate Italy, I will never go back, whatever make

31:53 Italy video. He always comments like never go

31:55 there. I'm like because basically what

31:56 happened is he felt like he got ripped off because he had to pay

31:58 the Coberto. Like, he paid the €2 per person

32:01 to sit and then like, and he, I thought it was free.

32:05 And so he was so upset. Like, wait, you went to the

32:07 Vatican, You went to the yeah, you went to the Colosseum, you

32:10 went to the vet. You had all this great time

32:12 there. But you're focusing on that one

32:13 thing and you hate Italy because of that.

32:16 I'm like, if I could have like, if you would have watched our

32:18 videos before that, like, then you wouldn't have been like you

32:22 would hate Italy for the rest of your life.

32:23 And that's one of the things that I really am like trying to

32:25 help people especially like, you know, people get robbed and they

32:28 get pickpock when they're on the trips.

32:29 I'm like, hey, don't let it ruin your trip.

32:30 I know it sucks. Like it sucks, like it's had my

32:34 wife before. It's like, oh, we got to get a

32:35 new ID, we got to go. Oh, it just sucks.

32:37 But you know what, Don't let it ruin the whole trip because the

32:40 same stuff can happen to your hometown because like some

32:43 people associate it with the whole country, like sometimes

32:45 just bad luck and just, you know, you know what, it's gone.

32:47 You can take the pictures again. You can go back and see these

32:50 things again. You have the memories and

32:52 everyone takes thousands of pictures, but we all go look

32:54 through our, our, our, our picture role again, maybe not,

32:57 you know, so it's like, you know, just just don't let it,

32:59 don't let it like ruin it for you.

33:01 Because I just, that's where I've seen people.

33:03 I feel so bad because like something about, and sometimes

33:06 it's like, oh, I hurt my ankle or I fell, you know, or I, you

33:09 know, I got sick from the food and they like turn it like, Oh,

33:12 I'm never going to go back there again.

33:13 Like a friend of mine, he, he took it the right way.

33:15 We were in Portugal and he got, so we were, I used to live there

33:20 and we went out with some of our friends and it was like 3 in the

33:23 morning. And my buddies like I would

33:25 really love the seafood here is amazing.

33:27 My buddy and another friend who's from there is like, I

33:29 might be able to get you something.

33:30 So like 3:30 in the morning, he's finding oysters and mussels

33:35 and stuff. And I'm like, I don't that's a

33:37 good idea. But my friend's like awesome.

33:39 So he's like some he was so sick.

33:42 Like, I mean, he was in his, he was in his hotel room for three

33:45 days. Like, that was kind of a good

33:47 trip. Not for like we get you a doctor

33:50 and he's like, yeah, I learned my lesson.

33:52 No late night shelf, but he had the positive attitude with it,

33:57 though. He really thought he was going

33:58 to die because he was so sick from it.

34:01 But he took it from a positive light, like, OK, live and learn.

34:04 And like when he was finally back again, he's like, all

34:06 right, you're nice to stop where I'm not getting that again.

34:10 So. I mean, that's just it.

34:11 You got to take it like in a positive way, like, hey, you

34:13 know what? It's an experience, let's just

34:15 enjoy it. Yeah.

34:17 And Speaking of that, so you have kids.

34:20 Yes. And you travel with your kids,

34:22 and that takes a whole different level of planning.

34:26 Yeah. And yes, parents, their

34:28 vacations could be ruined, but I think you and your wife are

34:31 enjoying traveling with your kids very much.

34:33 Oh, yeah. What do you do?

34:35 Honestly, I I'm sad when I don't get to take the kids with us.

34:38 OK, yeah, I mean, they're older now, like my kids.

34:40 I have a freshman in college and a freshman in high school.

34:42 So like a 14 and 19 year old? Yeah.

34:44 So yeah, that's big. Yeah, so it's like, it's like,

34:47 it's not like when they're tiny, you're like, oh, we're all into

34:49 like my youngest, he took his first steps on his own and

34:51 parents, you know, you're like, I'm like, dude, that is so cool.

34:55 And people are like, oh, he won't remember that.

34:57 I'm like, dude, I remember him. We're like, he throwed the

34:59 Eiffel Tower trying to get him to walk.

35:01 And then we finally did it by himself.

35:02 We're in our hotel room and he like, crawled around, like into

35:05 the hallway and then comes walking around going and

35:09 literally he's like taunting us. Look, I'm walking here.

35:12 Not the famous stuff, just here in our hotel room.

35:15 I'm like that little boy, but like I still remember like it

35:18 was yesterday, you know, and you had those experiences.

35:20 Like I remember when we would travel when our 14 year was a

35:24 baby, like we were living in Portugal and we went to Italy

35:27 and we're in the airport flying back and the like Carbonieri

35:32 like the border guards that said there's these ladies, they're

35:34 like being bold, which is baby. It's like they're literally like

35:38 that's a huge line in Italy. If you had a little kid, you

35:40 don't wait in mind that you can ride but we.

35:42 Had a he was like. 8 weeks old, 9 weeks old, he was baby like

35:46 baby like we were walking around Rome.

35:47 People were like, that's a little baby.

35:50 You know, it's no, they're like, no, you come with us.

35:52 And so like these, it was funny because they're like supermodels

35:55 and police officers at the same time.

35:57 And they take like, we will carry the baby through for you,

36:00 You guys, you guys go ahead. So they're like walking

36:02 everything. It was like such a great

36:06 experience, you know, like, yeah, he's not going to remember

36:08 that, but we remember it. We talked about it.

36:09 And that's what The thing is. You have those memories.

36:12 And that thing is you have the pictures, you have the you have

36:13 the videos, these kind of things later on in life.

36:15 Hey, you did this there and you have that because one of the

36:18 saddest things I hear, I mean, like, you know, we're older now.

36:21 So our kids are now our friends kids are starting to have their

36:23 own kids are like Oh well we got a kid on the way.

36:25 I guess I might as well burn my passport.

36:27 And I'm like, why like you? Can kids can travel?

36:31 We my wife has this great joke. She's like, you know, they have

36:34 diapers all around the world. Babies.

36:37 Babies, baby everywhere. Like it's funny, like we've gone

36:41 places like we'll go to restaurants around and like when

36:43 the kids were tiny, like hey, try we have them try different

36:45 stuff. How dare you give them that?

36:48 I'm like, what do you think the kids in India eat?

36:51 What do you think the kids in Mexico?

36:52 What do you think the kids in Brazil eat?

36:53 You know, like this is normal food.

36:55 Like we eat normal food. You're giving your kid Doritos.

36:57 OK, Don't, don't let me give my kid beans, Right.

37:00 You know, So that's one of those things, like, kids will be fine

37:03 into where you go. They're more adaptable.

37:04 Actually what I've seen it's the parents to get more freaked out

37:07 about the travel than the kids. Because the kids, I mean a road

37:10 trip and a plane trip are the same thing.

37:13 Put them in the car seat and go. It's a long drive.

37:15 Give them their little devices or give put on, you know Bluey

37:18 or whatever and everything will be OK.

37:21 Wow it like I remember watching videos when they were really

37:24 little. Now they're 90.

37:26 I know I've got the a new series of Paris videos coming out

37:30 because it was like the videos were sold.

37:31 It's like big, big new ones. And I'm like, wow, it's I, I

37:35 told my, my editor of like, hey, you know, use some of the like

37:39 stuff from 2012 when Caitlin and Liam were like baby and toddler,

37:43 throw that in and then cut it to them like fighting each other

37:47 ten years later in front of the Eiffel Tower and then cuts when

37:50 we were there last year. So it's like, you see all the

37:52 differences. Like, look, we've been going

37:54 with our kids all the ages. And then I think that that helps

37:57 people because, you know, for a long time people thought of us

37:59 as just like a family travel Blogger.

38:01 I'm like, yeah, we take our kids with us.

38:03 But some of our family travel bloggers, we're just travelers

38:06 that happen to travel with our kids.

38:08 And that's what those things, if you're like, well, how's it

38:09 going to be different? It's OK, you're taking some

38:12 diapers with you, you know, but you can get those things there.

38:14 It's just a little more preparation and you're when you

38:17 see a park, you stop and let them play like it always it

38:20 always tell people bringing a deck of Uno cards because no

38:23 matter where you go in the world, everyone knows numbers

38:25 and colors. So you can play that and a

38:27 little. And we'd always take like a

38:28 little soccer ball and Caleb made friends and Lien made

38:31 friends all over the world just playing like kicking the soccer

38:33 ball around in parks and stuff. Or heck, I remember one, it was

38:36 Christmas time and we were in Munich and it was a huge

38:39 snowstorm. So we were iced in like my

38:40 parents got iced into Prague and we were like iced into Munich.

38:43 And so Caleb is before they was even more.

38:46 Caleb is in there playing and soccer in the hotel lobby in

38:48 Munich with these two little German kids.

38:51 They didn't speak any language together.

38:52 If they had a good time together, you know, so it's.

38:53 Like it's awesome. And then that helped us meet the

38:56 parents who were Germans. They were really nice.

38:58 So we could we chatted for a while.

38:59 So it was pretty nice. Yeah, because when I travel, I

39:03 see families, I the parents are really struggling.

39:06 I guess the kids are not comfortable maybe?

39:09 Well, I think one of the things you have to realize you still

39:12 have the parent when you travel. You know, a lot of people are

39:14 like, I'm on vacation. I don't want to do this.

39:16 Like, you know, you got to, you got to the same consequences.

39:19 You got to the same things. And the more you travel with the

39:22 kids, the more they get used to it.

39:23 It's when it's like the first time and they're not sure.

39:25 And The thing is like, parents were like, oh, it's a big deal.

39:27 We're going to fly. It's a big deal.

39:28 And so then the kids feel this pressure.

39:31 Yeah, if you're acting like you're going to grandma's house,

39:33 they'll they'll, they'll be more kind of like calm about it

39:36 because kids feed off your energy.

39:38 You know, it's like if you're chill, they'll be more chill.

39:41 I mean, there's no guarantees, you know, blow UPS happen.

39:43 I have had to clean up blown up diapers on airplanes before it

39:47 it happens. But you know.

39:48 It that happens on land. But you know, you get, you get,

39:52 you just kind of roll with it. And that's the thing.

39:54 It's like a lot of times people when they try to do trips with

39:57 their with little kids, they're like they're trying to do

40:00 everything like it's, they're going on a trip when they didn't

40:02 have kids. Like, no, you're going to have

40:03 you have to plan the nap times. You have to plan those things.

40:05 I understand. And then when they're, when

40:06 they're like kids, like, you know, 3 to 8, like you got to

40:10 plan things for them. You're going to go to the kid

40:11 museum, you're going to go to the Science Museum and have

40:13 stuff you have that they're teenagers.

40:15 OK, We're going to do cooking classes.

40:17 We're going to have them pick like with my with our 19 year

40:20 old like the last. You know, three or four years,

40:23 I'm like, hey, look up some place for us to eat because he'd

40:25 be he'd look it up like, huh, here's what I found.

40:27 This food looks really good. I read the reviews.

40:29 He was doing the research, like, all right, let's go there

40:31 because that's his restaurant and he has buy in.

40:34 Also, if you get your kids kind of excited about the

40:36 destination, like help, you know, hey, here's three places

40:39 we're thinking about going and you're all you're OK with all

40:41 three. You let them choose.

40:42 All right, you look it up because we're going to go to

40:44 your place. And then therefore they feel

40:46 like they're part of it, like they picked a destination like

40:48 this is you want to go here, That's your thing that gets them

40:51 have more buy and have them be a part of it.

40:53 Well, that's like adults the same way.

40:54 Like it's kind of like when people go on trips with grandma

40:57 and grandma's paying, it's like, oh, it's going to be grandma's

40:59 trip because she's paying, but they're not as happy.

41:02 It was like, make sure everybody gets involved.

41:03 Have the kids pick some stuff, you know, there's something

41:05 there and then it goes a little bit smoother.

41:07 Yes, stuff happens, but stuff happens when you go to Disney

41:11 World, you know, like when you're or when you're going

41:13 mall, you know, so. Oh yeah, like when you go to

41:16 Target or something? Yeah.

41:18 So watch your videos, keep an open mind.

41:21 Keep an open mind, watch your videos and just be prepared for

41:24 it's Murphy's Law. Things will happen.

41:28 You playing gets to like, hey, you know what?

41:29 They'll get you on the next one. Oh, you missed your train.

41:31 Well, there'll be another one. Just enjoy, sit down, grab a

41:34 coffee, wait for the next 1. You know, just don't let the

41:37 little things get to you because if you start focusing on those

41:39 things, that's what drives you nuts.

41:40 And so or not to. Yeah, Yeah, because I really

41:44 enjoy traveling. I don't think there's any

41:46 countries that I will never go back to because I didn't have a

41:49 good experience. Yeah.

41:50 And I really want people to enjoy that as well.

41:52 Yeah. And with your tips, definitely

41:55 help people avoid a lot of mishaps.

41:58 Fingers crossed, I try, we try. Yeah, yeah.

42:01 Like the things that you can control, the things that you can

42:03 avoid. Yeah.

42:05 Yeah. So I want to play a rapid fire

42:07 round with you all. Right.

42:09 Let me stretch out here a bit, OK?

42:13 All right. I don't know if you've covered

42:15 these in your videos, Let's hope you haven't because I'll be a

42:18 surprise. I'm ready.

42:21 Are you a window or IO seat? Aisle every time.

42:23 I'm a I'm a chunky guy and I'm like, that way I only bother one

42:27 person and I can like roll my fat out into the aisle.

42:30 I'm definitely an aisle seat person too.

42:33 If you had to pitch one destination, you're selling it

42:36 in 10 seconds. Which one is it going to be and

42:39 what's your pitch? Italy is a place where no matter

42:43 if you speak a town or not, the people will fall in love with

42:45 you and communicate with you and you're going to have the

42:47 greatest food, you'll see the amazing culture and you have the

42:49 nicest people. So get on that plane and get

42:52 over to Italy. Wow, it was literally 10

42:54 seconds. Great job.

42:56 What's your fondest travel mishap that you still laugh

42:59 about today? So we were in Rwanda and we

43:06 were. So is my mom, dad, my wife and

43:10 my kids We're together and we have a driver and my son Caleb.

43:14 He would have been baby like 1314 at the time.

43:17 And he's like dead. I got to poop.

43:20 I'm like, all right, well, we're we're we're about 30 minutes

43:22 away. He's like, no, no, I have to

43:24 poop now. I'm like, all right, so we're

43:26 going to pull over. You know, it wasn't like a

43:28 safari thing. So like.

43:29 Sorry they got. It because they're wrong.

43:31 So we're like it's like a pseudo state like highway issue in in

43:34 Rwanda guy pulls over. He's like, there's some trees

43:37 over there go over there and we see Caleb and he's like looking

43:39 around and he goes to tree, drops his pants, starts to squat

43:43 down. And no joke, like, like in the

43:46 movies, like a monkey's head pops up and then from belong and

43:50 then a bunch of monkeys pop up. And then kids, like kids like

43:53 trying to like run to the next tree.

43:55 And then all the monkeys kind of start going after him.

43:57 So he's like trying to poop while the monkeys are running so

44:02 that he's like pulls up his pants and runs like I don't have

44:04 to go anymore. I don't have to go anymore.

44:06 That's so funny because we still laugh because he was like, he

44:09 was like watching like if you saw it now, you'd think it was

44:12 like an AI thing. So like that doesn't happen.

44:14 But seeing the monkeys like 123 and then all in there and

44:19 they're like whoa, he's like, no, that is very much a mishap.

44:26 I'm sure. Like it's it definitely scared

44:27 the poop back ending. But that is what it does.

44:31 Always cracks me up whenever I think about it.

44:34 Oh, memories. You make memories when you

44:36 travel. See, that's why they travel

44:37 their kids, so they can get harassed by monkeys while they

44:39 try to. Poop.

44:41 Yeah, it's not your mishap. That's right.

44:42 What? It would be I'm like, they're

44:44 going to kill me. I just give up.

44:48 All right, next one. What should we never order on a

44:52 flight in your opinion? Never order on a flight.

44:57 Well, if you don't have clothes to change into the pasta because

45:00 it always spill on you always get something on yourself.

45:02 But I would avoid anything that's like very heavy because

45:09 you already feel really bloated because the gas.

45:11 Then when you land, you'll feel even more gashes and stuff.

45:14 That's why I like a lot of times when I'll fly, I might not even

45:16 take the meal. I might just have that snack

45:18 before we land because I just don't want to feel bloated and

45:20 gross. And that's one of those things.

45:22 But like, if you're at the airport and stuff, you know, if,

45:25 if you know, you have some kind of like, like I love dairy and I

45:28 love seafood, but if I put dairy and seafood together, bad things

45:31 happen to me. I know never ever, ever to have

45:34 seafood before I, you know, so any of those little things, like

45:37 sometimes my tummy doesn't like that.

45:39 Never like, not the day of or the day before.

45:42 You don't want to take a chance. Yeah, I started not having any

45:46 raw food before I fly, like sushi at the airport type thing.

45:50 Smart move. Smart move.

45:52 Yeah, yeah, nothing has happened.

45:53 But I just read. Read somewhere.

45:58 Yeah, yay. If you had to make one, what was

46:02 your best meal when you were traveling?

46:07 Wow. There's there's a lot of good

46:09 meals. I think the prettiest meal we

46:12 ever had was this fish we had in El Salvador.

46:16 And I mean the fish, I mean, if you're listening to us on the

46:19 radio, I mean, it was like 2 foot long fish, beautiful.

46:23 I mean, it looks like it looked like a piece of art.

46:26 And they had all the fruit going around it and all the side, the

46:29 plantains. I mean, it was amazing.

46:31 Like my wife, we had to like order it the day before because

46:33 it was like one of these super special things.

46:35 And we're like, Oh my God, this is amazing.

46:38 And my life. We got the water, got the wrong

46:42 water that morning. And my wife couldn't eat.

46:45 She's like, I can't eat this. I got to go.

46:46 And so she went and we had that was a whole other bad experience

46:49 about like X-Files stuff basically happening.

46:52 And then I'm like, Oh no, poor mom.

46:54 And we're having it. And the food was so good.

46:56 And then like I had three bites and all of a sudden because I

46:58 had some of that water too, just not as much.

47:00 And I'm like, oh, Oh no, Oh no. It's so like literally it was

47:05 X-Files out of everywhere and the kids, the kids got to enjoy

47:08 it because they didn't drink the water, you know, and like, and

47:11 those that are saying, well, you should know not to drink the

47:13 water in El Salvador. We know that at the hotel, they

47:15 said, ask us, we will get you the bottled water, the, the, the

47:18 treated water. The person we asked it didn't

47:20 bring it that time. So that's why we got banned.

47:23 And but the kids got to enjoy that.

47:24 But that was, that was incredible.

47:26 Another really good one. There's, there's this kind of,

47:29 it's like a chain in Italy or sorry, in France called

47:32 Intracode. And basically it's steak and.

47:34 Fries takes feet. And they literally that's all

47:36 they serve. Like you come like, what do you

47:38 want to drink? And then they bring the steak

47:41 and fries and they're like, oh, and it's just amazing.

47:43 Like we still talk about like we, we took friends to to

47:47 Bordeaux the one of years ago and still to this day, they're

47:50 like, could we go back there just to go eat there?

47:53 I'm like, yeah, we could. Do that.

47:55 We could do that, sure. But.

47:57 So many, so many good foods over there, so many different things.

47:59 But yeah, there's been so many good ones.

48:01 Yeah, like there's so many good food things that are different

48:06 from your home culture. And part of the reason why I

48:10 moved to London is also like, so that I'm closer to all these

48:13 other countries. Yeah.

48:14 So I really want people to enjoy travelling.

48:17 And so glad you're talking to me today.

48:20 Mark is like meeting a celebrity.

48:22 Thank you Karen, I really love this.

48:23 It's been a fun chat. I appreciate you inviting me on.

48:26 Yeah, and just help people be happier when they travel and the

48:30 locals are happier. That's right, because you're

48:33 respectable to them. Amen to that.

48:35 Well. Amen.

48:36 Well, thank you very much. Thank you.

48:37 Happy holidays, Happy holiday, December right now.

48:40 Yeah. Yeah, it is.

48:42 Yes, it is. Yeah, so a lot of people may be

48:44 finding that Christmas travel. Yes, and you're going to learn

48:47 all about places to go and advice on winter travel at

48:49 waltersworld.com or on YouTube at Walters World.

48:52 Or just put in your destination in YouTube and put Walters

48:54 World. We'll pop up.

48:55 Our mind. Man looking for a bearded bald

48:58 guy with a ponytail and he'd be like, oh, the chubby guy, that's

49:01 him and he'll be. All right.

49:04 Thank you very much. Thank you, Karen.

49:09 Thanks for listening to this episode of Mind One.

49:11 If you enjoyed the conversation, don't forget to follow and share

49:14 it with anyone who needs to hear it.

49:17 And let's keep the conversation going.

49:18 Connect with me on LinkedIn or leave me a comment.

49:22 Until next time, stay curious, keep exploring, and let's

49:25 continue to plan our minds and discover what's possible.