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 rules about going so you might not think about. So we have like the unwritten rules of going to France and Germany, these things, we got those. And then I I've done all these like what to know before you go, but I'm like, you know what, what do I wish I would have known before I went? So instead of the general, like here's the money. Do you need a visa? Where the transportation, it's like, oh, yeah, I wish I would have known when I went to Portugal that nothing they put on a plate is free.

0:29 So they put bread in front of you. You're literally paying for every piece, every pound of butter. You're paying for that, like, all right. Every time you land somewhere new, there's a fork in the road. You can be that tourist who is confused and unintentionally rude, or the traveler who blends in, connects and gets welcomed in. The difference is in the itinerary or your passport. It's a tiny mindset shifts how you approach planning for the trip and how he handled the unexpected. In this episode, I mind Blend with Mark Walters from Walters world.

1:03 His travel don'ts videos have saved millions of us from awkward moments. If you want your next trip to be smoother and kinder to the people who live there, keep listening. Welcome to the show Mind Blend. I'm your host, Karen Chong, and I'll be diving into the minds of incredible people, each an expert in their very own way. Together, we'll uncover insights and share ideas so you can be inspired and empowered to navigate your own unique journey in life. Ready to get curious and discover what's possible?

1:37 Let's blend.

1:40 Today I'm joined by Mark Walters of Walters World, best known for travel content that goes beyond Instagrammable spots. We're talking about honest, practical advice, the kind that can save you money, time, and sometimes even keep you out of trouble. If you're a travel enthusiast, you probably already know Mark. I've been following him for years, and I always watch his video before I travel somewhere new. In fact, I just came back from Berlin this morning. And yes, I did watch his video before it went, so the timing couldn't be better.

2:13 Hi Mark, welcome to Mindland. Hey Karen, thank you for the invitation and thank you for the very nice, kind words. A lot of people who will recognize you when they see your name and I discovered you through your trouble videos, obviously, but I'm not the only one. Given your millions of followers, but maybe not that many people know that you are also a marketing professor. Yeah, yeah, but you, you too doesn't pay all the bills. You got to have a day job too. So yes, I'm a marketing professor as my day job.

2:45 How did you like? What inspired you to start your travel content? So I remember, I remember it well, I was in Italy and well, I'd made videos before, like I'd made videos for my, my wife, who was then my fiance, I was making like, Oh, she's going to move to Portugal. So I was making like learn Portuguese videos for her. And then I was teaching in Portugal and not all my students were like fantastic English. So I was like doing like summary videos of like Thomas for class. So I was doing that. But when I decided to really go into like the Walters world, like, no, I got to make this on a content like we're, we're doing this.

3:20 I was in Italy and I got a guidebook and the guidebook made every city sound amazing. You know, you're like, oh, the greatest thing is this, you know, it's the new Prague, it's the, the Paris at the door, you know, all this stuff, all these things. And I remember I went to this one place. I got the book and I, I was reading through it and I'm like, wow, this town sounds fantastic. And it was in Italy. And my friends, their families have been in this region for, I don't know, 506 hundred years. None of them, none of them had ever gone there.

3:46 I'm like, that should have been a red flag. But they're like, man, this book makes it sounds amazing. They're like, Mark, you go, 'cause I was on vacation. It's like, Mark, you go during the week. If it's good, we'll all go on the weekend as well. And so I go and they're like, oh, the Palazzo is amazing. The museum is world class. Oh, you'll feel like you're in old world Europe when you're at the market. Yeah, the Palazzo was under construction. The museum didn't have anything there. And then the Old World Market.

4:10 Yeah, it was the farmer's market on Saturday only, you know, it's a, it was a parking lot. I'm like, oh, come on. And that's, that's really what it hit me that there's a lot of creators out there that, you know, they'll get paid to say this is the best place to go and they'll get paid to say nice things. I'm like, this isn't right. Because at the time, I mean, it was, it was many, many years ago. And I was thinking my friends in the US who had maybe like, you know, two weeks vacation a year, yeah, yeah, if they had time for that and, and you know, maybe they get to go to Europe once in their life.

4:40 And I was thinking, actually I was thinking of my aunt who went to Europe once in her life. And if she would have read that book, she would have thought she need to spend 3 days in that town. And I'm like 10 day vacation, three days in that town. 30% of your once in life vacation is, is, you know, wasted because somebody was overinflating how this place was. I'm like, this isn't right, Like this is not right. And so that moment on I was like, I'm going to make honest. I mean, I wasn't making bad traffic.

5:04 And I was like, I'm going to focus on content so people know the good and the bad of going places. And that's what I really focused on. And that that's what we did. And it's funny because like when we started and we started doing videos, I remember people who went, dude, who's going to listen to like a bald fat guy? Like, how are you going to beat these like women in bikinis, these guys that look so good? And I'm like, I don't know, I'm going to make content that I would like to know, like I don't have time to watch 100 videos.

5:27 So if I can watch one or two, that's going to help me with that destination. Great. And so I started doing that and really focus on the like I it's hard for the the five love and hate's, but then it's more than thanks, but it was really like, I just want people like if you only got time to watch on video, you can watch our video, you'll be ready. It was tell the sights what to watch out for so you can be a good tourist. So that was that was my big thing. But I was just thinking back to that, like that book going.

5:49 That is just not, that's not fair. It's not fair to other people. So that's why I really focus on the honest tribal stuff. Do you remember what town that was? Yes, I do. And it's no longer than the guidebooks at all. So I think people probably complained about it enough that I was like, basically if you'd go there, it would be like it was Rovigo. It would be like a 9th tier Italian village to visit like 1917 Italy you can pass by so. Would you say that was influenced a little bit by your being a professor, like education background?

6:27 Oh, yeah. I think because that's one of those things is being a professor. I always want people to learn how people grow and have a better experience, you know? And I, I can tell when I look at other content creators, like a lot of them are travel influencers. You're like, oh, look at me doing these things. Look at me doing this. Here's me having my coffee here, here's me, me, me, me, me. And I'm more like, hey, here's what you need to know. And so I actually would like to say I'm more of a travel educator.

6:51 So like people, like you said, you watched my Berlin video before you went to Berlin. And that's my stuff. It's like, look, I, I, it's, I'm OK that people don't subscribe. You know, I'm like, just what what you're going to go to a place, Just look up Walter's world, the destination. And then, you know, if I have a video, it's going to help you out. And that's fine because I know not everybody wants to watch. I mean, we all want to eat three times a day and we would entertain 24 hours a day. But we need 5 when you're traveling.

7:14 Yeah, two or three times you. So I want to educate for that little part of your life. If I can help out, I'm cool with that. Yeah, the one of the most useful 1 was like, Germans don't jaywalk. Like I tend to not jaywalk, but funny enough, London people only jaywalk when it turns red, they go. So that was really useful. Because like, now sometimes, you know, we get comments like germs, like weep, jaywalk all the time. I'm like, no, you J1 twice in your life and you're like a rebel. 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 chest. No, you can't cross. It's red. I'm like there's literally no cock at all. They're like, no, no, we'll wait. So I'm I, I try to be a good person now and wait all the time. How many years have you been doing travel videos? So I think the Walters World Channel started in April, in April of 2009. And I had a channel before where I was doing like stuff for to help my wife with the language stuff and then and then my students was probably started in 2008.

8:24 So I've been going for, what, 17 years? Wow, that's a long time. Yeah. Hold on, it was my math laugh. Yeah, 17 years. Yeah, that's and travel has changed quite a bit, yeah. Oh, it's it's amazing how it's changed. I like, yeah, like I watched, I'll watch some of our older videos because because one thing I always pride about is stuff is I don't focus on like here's a restaurant you need to go to or hotel to stay at because those things change. So I really focus on, it's going to be food. Here's the traditional food from that.

8:51 You should try. Here's the the cultural things, the stuff that stays over the long term. But you see some things kind of changing over time. And it's funny, like I'll look at some of the older videos. I'll be like, oh, look at the clothing. Look at, you know, it's funny. Like when the first, you know, iPhone one, 2-3 people took occasional pictures through 56. Now it's like people literally recording the whole time like for anything. And you're like, OK, that's really changed how people do things.

9:16 Like I remember when people would come with their iPads and hold their. IPads, yeah, yeah, yeah. And stuff, you know, and it's like, oh, that's so nice. I mean, we were in, we were in the Bahamas and I took my old school. I actually happened here. Yeah. I took my old school Fuji underwater camera. My kids like what is that? I'm like this sounds cool camera. He's like, huh, funny thing was the thing didn't work. We were there. I thought we filmed on this underwater stuff early Goldwater film. Nothing underwater.

9:45 I'm like, you got any kidding me? But like I had that just from way back in the day. But now now I get a little zip lock bag thingy. You put your phone in there, boom, you're good to go. But but isn't awesome like how it was? I remember back when we used to do like, oh, hidden gem videos like here's some place you can maybe not think about now. There's so much content out there. There really is no hidden places. Anymore. No. If they're making a video of it being hidden, it's not hidden. Yeah. So in one way, well, one way it's nice because now if you want to go places, there's always something to help you out.

10:17 I mean, that's one thing. Like we were in Rwanda when we went to Rwanda a few years ago, like there was no content in Rwanda. It was just about the genocide. And so we didn't know it too. Even we got guidebooks and stuff. There's just a little bit of stuff there went there and it was an incredible experience. So for us, it was like a new kind of thing. And so like making the videos there for people to feel comfortable because the genocide from 30 years ago, people were like, that's all they ever heard about was the.

10:37 Genocide, you know. Like Hotel Rwanda, like that was 30 years ago, like it's a whole different world now. Like you can, you can really see a lot of people were wonderful, you know, it was just a amazing experience. But it's interesting how you, like, now there's information, you can figure these things out if you want to go to some random island somewhere or you know, it's really kind of cool because I remember way back before I was making videos like I was backpacking South America in the 90s. You have like your Lonely Planet book and you're like, well, I'm getting off of this town and they have 2 pages 11 there's a hotel.

11:09 We'll see what happens, you know, in a hotel room. But now it's not. Now you got to like, plan it out more. Yeah, and you're talking about Lonely Planet book. They're already like the long version of things and it's about 2 pages. Yeah, because, because you know, you go because I backpack all throughout South America. So I wouldn't get like the Brazil book. I get the South America book then had like the Brazil section. And then the spot so. You're like, hey, they'll be like, hey, they have a hotel there.

11:34 I mean, I remember one I was, it was it was the very north of Brazil, the Tao, the north of Brazil. And they had like 3 hotels in there was like high end because I was like just out of my mouth, just out of my masters. And so I was like, how much money is like high? It was like high end, high end. And this other one. And I went to the other one and the taxi driver was like, Are you sure you want to go there? I'm like, well, it's simply plans so it's probably OK. And I got there and the guy was like, I can take you some place else.

12:02 And I was thinking the guy was trying to scam me. And then, but then I got there like I, I checked, I got stuff like, yeah, I completely understand what the guy like, why is like, Are you sure, dude? So yeah, the adventures, the adventures were different then. So all these years, like how did you develop all these wisdom? Because there must be new places for you too. Oh, there's like for me, one thing I love is when I get it, whenever I go to a destination, especially as I've gone like 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 new place, it's kind of like, Hey, I'm going to talk to any of my friends. Like if they've gone there, I'll talk to like I'll reach out to our fans that are from different countries. Like is there anything you want to make sure I'm mentioning? Because like I'll have my list of stuff. Like I'll do my research, have my my things. And I'm like, OK, I have that idea. And then when I end up going to 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 I always make sure it's like, Hey, is there something you would want me to talk? Is there something you want me to mention? And sometimes you don't really think about it. And then other times like, Hey, you know, I was in the Bahamas. There's just like, hey, could you just tell us that we're not the Caribbean? Yeah. Because they like, they feel it's like an insult. We're not. We're in the Atlantic. Yeah, you could just mention that because people are like Caribbean, Caribbean.

13:15 You're like, we're not in the. Caribbean, we're in the Atlantic, OK. And sometimes it's something like that. Other times, yeah, like Chicago people are like, stop cherry people. We deep dish. Pizza Hagen. Style pizza. I'm like, yes, you do, but if you want to know officially that probably the number one selling pizza in Chicago is probably Domino's. OK, so you're like, The thing is we're looking at like old school traditional stuff, but I'll make sure I put that in like hey, tourists, you'll get the deep dish and Chicago indication, but they prefer the talent style.

13:45 But then crispy crust stuff. So it's kind of different. So it's kind of like that 'cause you'll get people that will be like, hey, have you checked out this destination? Like there's, there's a couple of cities in, in Italy that I have some people that are literally they'll send me stuff every day. When are you going to come film? When I'm like, I've been there. I didn't know when I was there, but I was there. And I just, I mean, so it's kind of hard to go back because so 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. But it's funny, like every day I don't go on, there'll be a little thing about Bergamo he'll send to me. And it's just like, you know, so sometimes like, you know what, I will check it out. And that's the things like, that's what I love when like other travellers reach out because then it's like, Hey, have you thought about this or have you done this? Because sometimes, especially when it comes to like topics for like advice videos, because I've travelled so much, you know, I, I don't think, hey, what's it like going through customs?

14:33 What's it like? You know, like I did a couple of videos, like literally it was like, what's it like flying abroad? Because they didn't know I'm like, OK, so you're, you're going to check in, but you've got to have your passport. It needs to be at least six months valid. Or then they're like, how do I get a passport? Like, oh, wait, we got to go back to like, how do we get a passport? All right, So like trying to figure those things out. And then, but I still remember 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 on the buses or something? I'm like, no, no, when you land, you're going to follow the signs for passport control, border cross that you're going to follow the sign. Just everyone's going there. Don't worry if you're going to get off there and I'd ask her, you're going to get off there. Then you're going to look for this. If you're going to connect, you're going to do this, but you're going to go through the passport control. They're going to ask you typical questions.

15:15 How long are you going to be here? Where are you going to stay? I mean, I as I was like, make sure you have like your reservations on your phone. You have your stuff there. So it's like, let's go through these things because like for me, it's like in nature, like I already have the yeah, I have my itinerary. But you know, like when you've done so much, you sometimes forget that. And that's why I like when fans reach out like, hey, could you do that for us? Like, yeah, sure. This lady wrote was like, hey, could you talk about it was one of the one of the like the food allergy videos.

15:39 So I filmed, but I just have to produce it and I'm like, hey, I have it coming out for you. I'm like one of the biggest thing I told you is one of the biggest things you do go online. You can buy like with your allergy, you can buy, like laminated cards for all these different languages. So when you go to a restaurant, you don't have to try to explain what celiac is or whatever. Just give them this like, OK, they'll say like, what? You can't have all kinds of stuff. And she's like, oh, I didn't know about that.

16:04 Yeah. So I did, you know, send her the link. And so I got to make, I got to make sure I get that video out for her, so. So by travelling and then doing exchanges for with your fans and obviously just, you know, practicing common sense, I feel like when you're travelling there's a lot of bad. Sometimes common It's isn't quite as common as we would like it to be. I think I started watching the Do's and don'ts, love hate and then I watched more of the Don'ts recently. Was there something that's like sparked you to like focus on the don'ts?

16:37 I know you the Italy experience inspired you to produce these honest advice, but like the don'ts, like all the bad behaviors. Well, yeah. And that The thing is when I started making the don'ts, so like how it's kind of worked, the first videos that really took off were these five love and hates. And it was, it's more like 5 loves and five mild annoyances most of the time. But you know, it's the Internet. No one like loves mild annoyances. So that was important. So that was one. And then I did a video on like culture shocks in China and it did like, it didn't do millions of views.

17:09 It did like, like it did way better than other kind of kind of like, oh, that's kind of interesting. So, and that the culture, it was like fun culture shocks. So it's kind of like lemon hates was kind of more serious than the culture shocks is more the fun little things, you know, like when you go to the Bahamas, don't be surprised if you go swim with the pigs because literally there's an island you can go to and you can swim with pigs, but it's not everywhere. 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 of limiting me like to because I'm like, I want to get more information. So then I went into these don'ts and I always like to keep things positive, though a lot of people do or don'ts videos be like, oh, you're going to say something bad and then like, oh, you actually say good things. Yeah, because when I talk about like, don't like, don't forget to do this or don't forget to watch out for that. Don't forget to eat this. And then I'm like, Oh yeah, and don't forget about the crime in this part of town you want to avoid People like the locals aren't as upset because you start getting bad.

17:59 Like talking things about. Things people get upset like hey, I'm I'm trying to give it both sides and that's one thing I really love is those dunks videos like locals will watch them like hey, that's a really good job, like hey, nice. And that kind of went from there. And then, like, as I kept developing stuff, I have like, this series called the Mistakes of the Destination you're going to go to. Like, I'll be filming the mistakes of Berlin by next year to Berlin. I'm going there next year. They'll be out.

18:24 But these are like the little mistakes, like the little things people don't think about. Like, Oh yeah, you don't think they're going to check your public transportation ticket until the guy shows up? Like it's not like things that most people won't think about, but it's like, OK, you've done the don'ts. You got the most important stuff. Here's a little like the little things out there that kind of like help you not make the little mistakes. So it's you're going to be traveling more often because 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 little bit more in depth, right. And so you had that. And then we've got I've got some new series I started. I haven't even released any of them yet. So hey, you're here. Well, first to hear about it. One, it's like unwritten rules. So this is unwritten cultural rules about going to this. So you might not think about. And sometimes they were the things that like doesn't work for a shock or don't. But I think it's important for me the really one of the culture, like I don't want to 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 Germany, these things, we got those. And then I, I, I've done all these like what to know before you go, but I'm like, you know what, what do I wish I would have known before I went? So instead of the general, like, here's the money. Do you need a visa where the transportation, it's like, Oh yeah, I wish I would have known when I went to portrait. Well, that nothing they put on the plate is free. So they put bread in front of you. You're literally paying for every piece, every pound of butter.

19:43 You're paying for that like, oh, right. And so there's other little things like the unwritten rule, like don't ever compare things, you know, portrait don't compare to Spain because they say nothing good comes from that direction. You know, like, all right, more of like internal culture things like if you're in Illinois, like I'm from Illinois in the US, but if you go to other states, some people say, oh, Illinois with an S at the end, because S at the end island. And it's like, yeah, if you want 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 it that way. No, Siri was wrong. So it's like just things like that, but. But it's also, I think the unwritten rules, it's another place where I can put some safety things in there, you know, like some place when you're going to South America, people are like, oh, it's not safe anywhere. Like, you know, they're safe places. But honestly, one of the unwritten rules, whenever the hotel get the get the map and then have the people go, here's the size.

20:32 But hey, where should I make sure I don't go? Where do I need to be more careful? And they'll circle it for them, like, oh, yeah, this part. Yeah, this part here, don't go there. Yeah, we were in, we were in Bogota and Bogota at Columbia, everyone's usually, oh, it's Columbia, Oh, the drugs are they're going to the, the narcs going to get you. And like Columbia, that. Was in your video. Yeah, Columbia's fine. Yeah. But like, it's one of those 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. Oh no, it's like, there's nothing wrong in my town. No, there's, there's parts you don't go to everywhere. And so little, little things like that to ask make things a lot easier on you. So there's that there. So that's those I kind of wish I would have known beforehand that I've written things. So those are two new series that we have coming out in the new year. I realize 2026 because you know, it's Chris where, you know, when we're filming this, it's not when we're filming this 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 travel, because that's one of the tough things is like, you know, if you're in like travel content, people don't think about travel from like end of September through literally like until the day after Christmas on the 26th. No joke, the 26th of December, our views triple. Really. Because it's like everyone's, yeah, it's like everyone's done with their family. I'm done with the get me on vacation, like, and for the next two weeks, it's like gangbusters with people looking for destinations, searching stuff.

21:52 So I've got a bunch of videos that are going to come out at the end of December that's really geared to those people getting ready for that summer trip. Like, hey, how do I have that conversation with with my family about this trip? Or if like, let's say you and your you and your girlfriends want to go on a girls trip. Like, hey, what are the things we need to talk about beforehand? Yeah, it's like you always have to have the money question. But sometimes do we bring the friend that brings the drama, you know, like these kind of conversation stuff they don't think about that's.

22:17 Interesting. Yeah, so, so my wife filmed that with a friend of hers because they travel all the time together and they don't always travel some of their other friends. For that reason. I also have some friends. I'm like, I love you, but I love you. Yeah, like I I had travelled to Europe with just girls when like I first visited Europe. I swear not to do that ever again. Well. And that's it. You got to live and learn. Like that's one thing I've loved about our videos because like we've made mistakes, you know, we do things just to try things about if I can make that mistake and then I can share with someone else, they don't make that mistake.

22:51 So they give a better time. That's that's what we're doing. We're trying to help people. Out yeah, so I have so much respect and admiration for what you're doing because I'm. Very nice of you. Thank you. I, like, I am a big fan of respecting the culture. Yeah. And we've all seen it over tourism, not just Japan, in a lot of places. And they're just doing things that just make the locals. That's why the locals are reacting the way they did. Yeah, well, and that's just it. It's like there's, there's I what's funny is I do a lot of videos to help people not do those things, but I'm like, but the people that are watching our 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 reasons why like I have. So starting the new year, I got another thing for you. Starting the new year, We're, we're putting out literally 3 like those vertical short videos, reels and stuff every single day through the 1st 3 months of the year just because there's so many bad travel hacks and like on TikTok and Instagram that you'll see people like, oh, I do this trick all the time. Like no, you're not because you get banned from the airlines.

23:53 You're like, I've seen so many of these things. Like the ones are like, Oh yeah, buy all three seats. You know they say that well, I think. They call it like poor. Man's first class, you buy all three seats and then you cancel the tickets, you know, like 10 minutes before a take off. I'm like, dude, there's so if you go on standby, those seats aren't even taken. And like, if you do that more than once, like the airlines know this and then you're going to get banned. Like, and they're always like, well, we do it all the time.

24:16 Like the Internet lies people. That person does not do that. You know, it's like, and there's like for, for your UK pans, there's like the Ryan, the Ryanair hacks. Oh yeah, I'll go and book. I, I don't want to have to pay for an aisle seat. So I'll go and book 10 tickets while like while I'm at the airport. And then it holds them for 10 minutes. And then that's when I go in on another window and then I book my ticket because there's no seats available. So I have to get that one that they can give me and then I get it and then I cancel the other ones.

24:43 I'm like dude and that is way more complicated in the the £15 for the ticket. You know, yeah. Yeah, come on. You know, and you know, they're not doing it all the time, but they make they seem like they are. Yeah. And I and I, I've talked to people at airlines like, no, we find out you do that. You will be, you'll be like not flying with us. But they don't mention those things because you know, it doesn't, it doesn't get 1,000,000 of views. Yeah, it's a hack, but it's not a like. It's just inconsiderate hacks.

25:09 Yeah, and that's The thing is like, I want, I want considerate travellers. Like that's the reason why people get upset with over tourism. I mean, well, one, the housing thing with the Airbnb, VVRBO, apartment rental stuff, like I can understand that like housing affordability is a huge issue, especially in tourist cities out there. I I understand that completely, but you know, people blaming tourists for that. I'm like, well, that's also, you know, you elected a government that's supposed to look out for 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 this company, we're going to close them down. Hey, there you go. Your government's making a making a difference. But in also, you know, it's their anger. They have it that is directed towards tourists because that's an easy scapegoat because they're not going to be there tomorrow. So I could shoot a water gun at them. But also, like, I took students to Barcelona during those protests and stuff and oh really? Oh yeah. But my students, we were there for like 12 days and we're going to city festivals, We're hanging out with locals.

26:00 0 people were complaining because my, my students acting respectfully, trying to speak Spanish, a little bit of Catalan. They're going to the local festival. They're not like doing that. Like, oh, look at me, you know, selfie kind of they're being respectful. If you're doing that, people are going to be OK with it. That's one thing I always laugh at would be like, oh, I never want to tell people are American. I'm like, nobody cares where you're from. If you're, if you're respectful tourist, people treat you great no matter where you go in the world.

26:24 Like I've seen this everywhere I go. I've been like, everyone's been super nice because you're a good tourist. You'll be fine. It's just if you're not a good tourist or you're, you're, you know, you're being disrespectful. It's, it's, you know, there's, there's simple things you can do. Just learn the pleases and thank yous, how to say good day. When you walk into a store, you say Bonjour in France or Buenos Dias in Spain or Bungia in Brazil. I was like, oh, 'cause they'll know you don't speak the language, but they know you tried.

26:47 And all of a sudden you're the greatest tourist ever. Like you pointed out, it's unfortunate that the people who need to watch your videos are not the people watching. I know, I know their videos, but yeah, like 'cause I am an American living not in the US now, so when I travel, well, they won't guess that I'm American first of all, 'cause obviously. But when they started talking. That's well open up America. Everybody could be American, so there's no. Yeah, well, you don't have a cowboy hat on.

27:15 Where's your cowboy hat and cowboy boots? Damn it if you don't have those. And you got your eagle tattoo right here, right with American flag. Yeah, there's so many. I know you have one video about like how to spot Americans and there are actually many threats I've seen spotting Americans, but those are like not so great things. Yeah, well, the fun thing is, is sometimes you can do that for other tourists as well. Like I've talked like, oh, talking about reaching out, like I've had so many. It's from Orlando and New York where a lot of German tourists go and waiters will reach out to me and hoteliers will reach out to me.

27:51 Is like, could you please put in your video for German tourists coming to the US that we do not put out ham and cheese slices like cold cuts for breakfast. Here we do pancakes, eggs, bike and sausage, not that. And so the hotels will get yelled at by the germs. Why don't you have cold cuts? That is a real breakfast. I don't want dessert for breakfast. I'm like, well, we have the other 99% of the people at hotel actually do eat this and that's what we have here. Or then the waiters are like the Germans.

28:17 They're like, oh, we would fight who would not get the German tourists because they'd make us do a lot of work and then they'd tip us like 2% and they'd be like, you should be happy I gave that to you. I am. So it it's very interesting, like the the comments on my videos about tipping is always interesting of. Course there's and I think it's a it's very smart for you to do a positive spin on your don't video so people don't get too offensive. Yeah, and and then also it helps because if you put it in a positive light, people feel better about it because there's so much negativity out there in the world.

28:48 Like I'm talking about negative things, but not all of the don'ts are negative. But it's like, hey, I can put a good spinner on it. It's not going to stop you from travelling. It's going to open your eyes because one of the best things is why I teach people these things. Then they see it. It's not something that ruins their vacation. They're like, oh, I don't want to pay for that meat and cheese today. Thank you, Obrigado. Like they'll push it away. They don't. They're like, hey, I caught that, I caught that.

29:10 And then it's like, it's like it boosts their morale about their trip. Like I know something about the culture, you know? And so that's what I love doing, is give people that kind of like superpower being a better traveler. If someone is going somewhere new, what would you suggest them to prioritize when they're planning their trip? Well, after looking for Walter's world, putting Walter's world in that destination, watching our videos, I would say just put the 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 will have a lot of like basic information that's going to help you out where it's not them talking about, well, I had a bad time at this, you know, on this trip or I ate this food here and I didn't like it. It's more like, here's what you need to know. Like getting those basic things in there can really help you out. Also, I would say, like I said, learn, you know, please, thank you. Good day toilet. You know those yes, don't like, you know those 5 or 6 words, you'll be fine.

30:06 You can communicate with anybody the world if you know those ones. But honestly, one thing I really like is I like to find some of like The Walking channels just kind of show the city beforehand because sometimes she's like, I just want to have a feel what it's like, you know, especially this place. You don't know, you're like, we were in Macedonia this summer, you know, and I there wasn't a lot of stuff on Macedonia. And I'm like, I'm not sure what to expect. And so we come in, I'm like, oh wow, they really have like hundreds and hundreds of statues all over here.

30:33 Oh, now I understand the, it was like Scopy 2007. They redid the whole city and like made it classic where they put tons and tons of statues everywhere. It's awesome. Like I loved it, but like how people explained it, I didn't see, it's like if I saw a video on it, that would be more helpful. But there wasn't a lot of stuff out there 'cause it's the, it's relatively new on how they do these things. But it was like, oh, now I get it. Now I see. It was kind of like, if you don't know how to eat the food, it's like, what's some of the more common foods that are there and you're not sure how Like you see, like, well, how do I use my hands?

31:02 Do I use a fork? Do I use chopsticks? What do I do here? Like sometimes just those little things can be a nice little fun thing and it gets you kind of excited for like, oh, I want to have that food when I'm there. You were saying the unwritten rules. The country that came to mind was Japan. Yeah, immediately, because there are so many of them, even for people who are not tourists. And it reminded me a funny story, my friend, just a couple months ago. Yeah, she thought she was stripped because they charge her 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. Like they especially when you order alcohol and it just made her so happy. So I wish she knew before, yeah, because it wouldn't have ruined her mood. Exactly. And I've had people that have written me and they're like, there's one. I mean he's watching her videos for lots of stuff. He's like, I hate Italy, I will never go back, whatever make Italy video. He always comments like never go there. I'm like because basically what happened is he felt like he got ripped off because he had to pay the Coberto.

31:59 Like, he paid the €2 per person to sit and then like, and he, I thought it was free. And so he was so upset. Like, wait, you went to the Vatican, You went to the yeah, you went to the Colosseum, you went to the vet. You had all this great time there. But you're focusing on that one thing and you hate Italy because of that. I'm like, if I could have like, if you would have watched our videos before that, like, then you wouldn't have been like you would hate Italy for the rest of your life. And that's one of the things that I really am like trying to help people especially like, you know, people get robbed and they get pickpock when they're on the trips.

32:29 I'm like, hey, don't let it ruin your trip. I know it sucks. Like it sucks, like it's had my wife before. It's like, oh, we got to get a new ID, we got to go. Oh, it just sucks. But you know what, Don't let it ruin the whole trip because the same stuff can happen to your hometown because like some people associate it with the whole country, like sometimes just bad luck and just, you know, you know what, it's gone. You can take the pictures again. You can go back and see these things again. You have the memories and everyone takes thousands of pictures, but we all go look through our, our, our, our picture role again, maybe not, you know, so it's like, you know, just just don't let it, don't let it like ruin it for you.

33:01 Because I just, that's where I've seen people. I feel so bad because like something about, and sometimes it's like, oh, I hurt my ankle or I fell, you know, or I, you know, I got sick from the food and they like turn it like, Oh, I'm never going to go back there again. Like a friend of mine, he, he took it the right way. We were in Portugal and he got, so we were, I used to live there and we went out with some of our friends and it was like 3 in the morning. And my buddies like I would really love the seafood here is amazing.

33:27 My buddy and another friend who's from there is like, I might be able to get you something. So like 3:30 in the morning, he's finding oysters and mussels and stuff. And I'm like, I don't that's a good idea. But my friend's like awesome. So he's like some he was so sick. Like, I mean, he was in his, he was in his hotel room for three days. Like, that was kind of a good trip. Not for like we get you a doctor and he's like, yeah, I learned my lesson. No late night shelf, but he had the positive attitude with it, though.

33:57 He really thought he was going to die because he was so sick from it. But he took it from a positive light, like, OK, live and learn. And like when he was finally back again, he's like, all right, you're nice to stop where I'm not getting that again. So. I mean, that's just it. You got to take it like in a positive way, like, hey, you know what? It's an experience, let's just enjoy it. Yeah. And Speaking of that, so you have kids. Yes. And you travel with your kids, and that takes a whole different level of planning.

34:26 Yeah. And yes, parents, their vacations could be ruined, but I think you and your wife are enjoying traveling with your kids very much. Oh, yeah. What do you do? Honestly, I I'm sad when I don't get to take the kids with us. OK, yeah, I mean, they're older now, like my kids. I have a freshman in college and a freshman in high school. So like a 14 and 19 year old? Yeah. So yeah, that's big. Yeah, so it's like, it's like, it's not like when they're tiny, you're like, oh, we're all into like my youngest, he took his first steps on his own and 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. I'm like, dude, I remember him. We're like, he throwed the Eiffel Tower trying to get him to walk. And then we finally did it by himself. We're in our hotel room and he like, crawled around, like into the hallway and then comes walking around going and literally he's like taunting us. Look, I'm walking here. Not the famous stuff, just here in our hotel room. I'm like that little boy, but like I still remember like it was yesterday, you know, and you had those experiences.

35:20 Like I remember when we would travel when our 14 year was a baby, like we were living in Portugal and we went to Italy and we're in the airport flying back and the like Carbonieri like the border guards that said there's these ladies, they're like being bold, which is baby. It's like they're literally like that's a huge line in Italy. If you had a little kid, you don't wait in mind that you can ride but we. Had a he was like. 8 weeks old, 9 weeks old, he was baby like baby like we were walking around Rome.

35:47 People were like, that's a little baby. You know, it's no, they're like, no, you come with us. And so like these, it was funny because they're like supermodels and police officers at the same time. And they take like, we will carry the baby through for you, You guys, you guys go ahead. So they're like walking everything. It was like such a great experience, you know, like, yeah, he's not going to remember that, but we remember it. We talked about it. 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 the videos, these kind of things later on in life. Hey, you did this there and you have that because one of the saddest things I hear, I mean, like, you know, we're older now. So our kids are now our friends kids are starting to have their own kids are like Oh well we got a kid on the way. I guess I might as well burn my passport. And I'm like, why like you? Can kids can travel? We my wife has this great joke. She's like, you know, they have diapers all around the world.

36:35 Babies. Babies, baby everywhere. Like it's funny, like we've gone places like we'll go to restaurants around and like when the kids were tiny, like hey, try we have them try different stuff. How dare you give them that? I'm like, what do you think the kids in India eat? What do you think the kids in Mexico? What do you think the kids in Brazil eat? You know, like this is normal food. Like we eat normal food. You're giving your kid Doritos. OK, Don't, don't let me give my kid beans, Right. You know, So that's one of those things, like, kids will be fine into where you go.

37:03 They're more adaptable. Actually what I've seen it's the parents to get more freaked out about the travel than the kids. Because the kids, I mean a road trip and a plane trip are the same thing. Put them in the car seat and go. It's a long drive. Give them their little devices or give put on, you know Bluey or whatever and everything will be OK. Wow it like I remember watching videos when they were really little. Now they're 90. I know I've got the a new series of Paris videos coming out 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 told my, my editor of like, hey, you know, use some of the like stuff from 2012 when Caitlin and Liam were like baby and toddler, throw that in and then cut it to them like fighting each other ten years later in front of the Eiffel Tower and then cuts when we were there last year. So it's like, you see all the differences. Like, look, we've been going with our kids all the ages. And then I think that that helps people because, you know, for a long time people thought of us as just like a family travel Blogger.

38:01 I'm like, yeah, we take our kids with us. But some of our family travel bloggers, we're just travelers that happen to travel with our kids. And that's what those things, if you're like, well, how's it going to be different? It's OK, you're taking some diapers with you, you know, but you can get those things there. It's just a little more preparation and you're when you see a park, you stop and let them play like it always it always tell people bringing a deck of Uno cards because no matter where you go in the world, everyone knows numbers and colors.

38:26 So you can play that and a little. And we'd always take like a little soccer ball and Caleb made friends and Lien made friends all over the world just playing like kicking the soccer ball around in parks and stuff. Or heck, I remember one, it was Christmas time and we were in Munich and it was a huge snowstorm. So we were iced in like my parents got iced into Prague and we were like iced into Munich. And so Caleb is before they was even more. Caleb is in there playing and soccer in the hotel lobby in Munich with these two little German kids.

38:51 They didn't speak any language together. If they had a good time together, you know, so it's. Like it's awesome. And then that helped us meet the parents who were Germans. They were really nice. So we could we chatted for a while. So it was pretty nice. Yeah, because when I travel, I see families, I the parents are really struggling. I guess the kids are not comfortable maybe? Well, I think one of the things you have to realize you still have the parent when you travel. You know, a lot of people are like, I'm on vacation.

39:15 I don't want to do this. Like, you know, you got to, you got to the same consequences. You got to the same things. And the more you travel with the kids, the more they get used to it. It's when it's like the first time and they're not sure. And The thing is like, parents were like, oh, it's a big deal. We're going to fly. It's a big deal. And so then the kids feel this pressure. Yeah, if you're acting like you're going to grandma's house, they'll they'll, they'll be more kind of like calm about it because kids feed off your energy.

39:38 You know, it's like if you're chill, they'll be more chill. I mean, there's no guarantees, you know, blow UPS happen. I have had to clean up blown up diapers on airplanes before it it happens. But you know. It that happens on land. But you know, you get, you get, you just kind of roll with it. And that's the thing. It's like a lot of times people when they try to do trips with their with little kids, they're like they're trying to do everything like it's, they're going on a trip when they didn't have kids.

40:02 Like, no, you're going to have you have to plan the nap times. You have to plan those things. I understand. And then when they're, when they're like kids, like, you know, 3 to 8, like you got to plan things for them. You're going to go to the kid museum, you're going to go to the Science Museum and have stuff you have that they're teenagers. OK, We're going to do cooking classes. We're going to have them pick like with my with our 19 year old like the last. You know, three or four years, I'm like, hey, look up some place for us to eat because he'd be he'd look it up like, huh, here's what I found.

40:27 This food looks really good. I read the reviews. He was doing the research, like, all right, let's go there because that's his restaurant and he has buy in. Also, if you get your kids kind of excited about the destination, like help, you know, hey, here's three places we're thinking about going and you're all you're OK with all three. You let them choose. All right, you look it up because we're going to go to your place. And then therefore they feel like they're part of it, like they picked a destination like this is you want to go here, That's your thing that gets them have more buy and have them be a part of it.

40:53 Well, that's like adults the same way. Like it's kind of like when people go on trips with grandma and grandma's paying, it's like, oh, it's going to be grandma's trip because she's paying, but they're not as happy. It was like, make sure everybody gets involved. Have the kids pick some stuff, you know, there's something there and then it goes a little bit smoother. Yes, stuff happens, but stuff happens when you go to Disney World, you know, like when you're or when you're going mall, you know, so.

41:14 Oh yeah, like when you go to Target or something? Yeah. So watch your videos, keep an open mind. Keep an open mind, watch your videos and just be prepared for it's Murphy's Law. Things will happen. You playing gets to like, hey, you know what? They'll get you on the next one. Oh, you missed your train. Well, there'll be another one. Just enjoy, sit down, grab a coffee, wait for the next 1. You know, just don't let the little things get to you because if you start focusing on those things, that's what drives you nuts.

41:40 And so or not to. Yeah, Yeah, because I really enjoy traveling. I don't think there's any countries that I will never go back to because I didn't have a good experience. Yeah. And I really want people to enjoy that as well. Yeah. And with your tips, definitely help people avoid a lot of mishaps. Fingers crossed, I try, we try. Yeah, yeah. Like the things that you can control, the things that you can avoid. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to play a rapid fire round with you all. Right. Let me stretch out here a bit, OK?

42:13 All right. I don't know if you've covered these in your videos, Let's hope you haven't because I'll be a surprise. I'm ready. Are you a window or IO seat? Aisle every time. I'm a I'm a chunky guy and I'm like, that way I only bother one person and I can like roll my fat out into the aisle. I'm definitely an aisle seat person too. If you had to pitch one destination, you're selling it in 10 seconds. Which one is it going to be and what's your pitch? Italy is a place where no matter if you speak a town or not, the people will fall in love with you and communicate with you and you're going to have the greatest food, you'll see the amazing culture and you have the nicest people.

42:50 So get on that plane and get over to Italy. Wow, it was literally 10 seconds. Great job. What's your fondest travel mishap that you still laugh about today? So we were in Rwanda and we were. So is my mom, dad, my wife and my kids We're together and we have a driver and my son Caleb. He would have been baby like 1314 at the time. And he's like dead. I got to poop. I'm like, all right, well, we're we're we're about 30 minutes away. He's like, no, no, I have to poop now. I'm like, all right, so we're going to pull over.

43:27 You know, it wasn't like a safari thing. So like. Sorry they got. It because they're wrong. So we're like it's like a pseudo state like highway issue in in Rwanda guy pulls over. He's like, there's some trees over there go over there and we see Caleb and he's like looking around and he goes to tree, drops his pants, starts to squat down. And no joke, like, like in the movies, like a monkey's head pops up and then from belong and then a bunch of monkeys pop up. And then kids, like kids like trying to like run to the next tree.

43:55 And then all the monkeys kind of start going after him. So he's like trying to poop while the monkeys are running so that he's like pulls up his pants and runs like I don't have to go anymore. I don't have to go anymore. That's so funny because we still laugh because he was like, he was like watching like if you saw it now, you'd think it was like an AI thing. So like that doesn't happen. But seeing the monkeys like 123 and then all in there and 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 the poop back ending. But that is what it does. Always cracks me up whenever I think about it. Oh, memories. You make memories when you travel. See, that's why they travel their kids, so they can get harassed by monkeys while they try to. Poop. Yeah, it's not your mishap. That's right. What? It would be I'm like, they're going to kill me. I just give up.

44:48 All right, next one. What should we never order on a flight in your opinion? Never order on a flight. Well, if you don't have clothes to change into the pasta because it always spill on you always get something on yourself. But I would avoid anything that's like very heavy because you already feel really bloated because the gas. Then when you land, you'll feel even more gashes and stuff. That's why I like a lot of times when I'll fly, I might not even take the meal. I might just have that snack before we land because I just don't want to feel bloated and gross.

45:20 And that's one of those things. But like, if you're at the airport and stuff, you know, if, if you know, you have some kind of like, like I love dairy and I love seafood, but if I put dairy and seafood together, bad things happen to me. I know never ever, ever to have seafood before I, you know, so any of those little things, like sometimes my tummy doesn't like that. Never like, not the day of or the day before. You don't want to take a chance. Yeah, I started not having any raw food before I fly, like sushi at the airport type thing.

45:50 Smart move. Smart move. Yeah, yeah, nothing has happened. But I just read. Read somewhere. Yeah, yay. If you had to make one, what was your best meal when you were traveling?

46:07 Wow. There's there's a lot of good meals. I think the prettiest meal we ever had was this fish we had in El Salvador. And I mean the fish, I mean, if you're listening to us on the radio, I mean, it was like 2 foot long fish, beautiful. I mean, it looks like it looked like a piece of art. And they had all the fruit going around it and all the side, the plantains. I mean, it was amazing. Like my wife, we had to like order it the day before because it was like one of these super special things. And we're like, Oh my God, this is amazing.

46:38 And my life. We got the water, got the wrong water that morning. And my wife couldn't eat. She's like, I can't eat this. I got to go. And so she went and we had that was a whole other bad experience about like X-Files stuff basically happening. And then I'm like, Oh no, poor mom. And we're having it. And the food was so good. And then like I had three bites and all of a sudden because I had some of that water too, just not as much. And I'm like, oh, Oh no, Oh no. It's so like literally it was X-Files out of everywhere and the kids, the kids got to enjoy it because they didn't drink the water, you know, and like, and those that are saying, well, you should know not to drink the water in El Salvador.

47:14 We know that at the hotel, they said, ask us, we will get you the bottled water, the, the, the treated water. The person we asked it didn't bring it that time. So that's why we got banned. And but the kids got to enjoy that. But that was, that was incredible. Another really good one. There's, there's this kind of, it's like a chain in Italy or sorry, in France called Intracode. And basically it's steak and. Fries takes feet. And they literally that's all they serve. Like you come like, what do you want to drink?

47:39 And then they bring the steak and fries and they're like, oh, and it's just amazing. Like we still talk about like we, we took friends to to Bordeaux the one of years ago and still to this day, they're like, could we go back there just to go eat there? I'm like, yeah, we could. Do that. We could do that, sure. But. So many, so many good foods over there, so many different things. But yeah, there's been so many good ones. Yeah, like there's so many good food things that are different from your home culture.

48:08 And part of the reason why I moved to London is also like, so that I'm closer to all these other countries. Yeah. So I really want people to enjoy travelling. And so glad you're talking to me today. Mark is like meeting a celebrity. Thank you Karen, I really love this. It's been a fun chat. I appreciate you inviting me on. Yeah, and just help people be happier when they travel and the locals are happier. That's right, because you're respectable to them. Amen to that. Well. Amen. Well, thank you very much.

48:37 Thank you. Happy holidays, Happy holiday, December right now. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yes, it is. Yeah, so a lot of people may be finding that Christmas travel. Yes, and you're going to learn all about places to go and advice on winter travel at waltersworld.com or on YouTube at Walters World. Or just put in your destination in YouTube and put Walters World. We'll pop up. Our mind. Man looking for a bearded bald guy with a ponytail and he'd be like, oh, the chubby guy, that's 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. If you enjoyed the conversation, don't forget to follow and share it with anyone who needs to hear it. And let's keep the conversation going. Connect with me on LinkedIn or leave me a comment. Until next time, stay curious, keep exploring, and let's continue to plan our minds and discover what's possible.