¶ New York and Texas Travel Perceptions
It's Reginald TL , coming to you from lovely city of Atlanta , georgia , going out to what I assume is Houston with Laura . Laura , is it Houston ? No , laura , this is a travel show that we've been trying to do several times . This is like our third time trying to do the show .
We're going to try to get it done here this time , and one of the places I've always wanted to go to was Houston . I don't really never a big , huge Texas guy , but Houston , places like Houston , dallas , austin they do kind of intrigue me in a sense , right Like a places to visit .
Now , if a person , a person like me , who has never been to Texas and I think I've asked you this on every single one of these shows and I don't think you've answered it on any one of them , but I'm going to try again for the third or fourth time Is there a favorite , laura ? Is there a favorite between those areas for you ?
In Texas . So the thing about Texas is that and this is why it's so hard to answer it's like a California , you know , from Northern to Southern you're going to get a totally different vibe , and so it's the same thing , I think in Texas . Houston , by far , is the most diverse of the cities , probably , you know , most populated .
You've got an amazing nightlife , You've got cultural things . I mean it's , it really is fabulous . Dallas is pretty , you know . I think it's a very nice and you still get that city feel . San Antonio is smaller , Very Isn't that ?
that's where you're from , though right Is San Antonio where you're from .
Yeah , and it's very rich in culture . In like like Mexican culture , you know , because I would say Hispanic , but it's particularly , you know , people from Mexico and they have , you know , they're big on feet . It's a beautiful city . It's a great place to travel to and for tourists .
For me personally , not to live , but that's just my opinion because I like a diverse city , austin will put you in the minds of California . It's got the beautiful hills . I mean Texas has hill country , texas has , you know , you've got Bayou's in Houston . You've got anything that you want . You can get it here in Texas , including severe heat and severe cold .
Really . Yeah , we're going through severe cold here in Atlanta , so I know that's , that's all about . Now let's talk about the city . That's on your sweatshirt there , because you're not . We're in a Houston , you're not wearing a Texas sweatshirt there .
You were in that New York shirt and New York I love New York , by the way let's talk about , because one of the things I wanted to speak on in this particular episode is is all the different types of perceptions you get about places that you've never been to , right , and the people that are there and the things that you hear in the news .
You know , when you are just in the media in general , and one of the things is in Atlanta , you always hear about those Yankees there , this , that and the other , and they're just so rude and everything is dirty up there . There's rats the size of cats running around up there and I've got to say that my experience personally was pretty good .
I didn't experience there was , I think the people was probably about biggest shock . I would say I wouldn't , and I wouldn't even say shock , because after you traveled for a bit , you kind of know not to make these assumptions , right .
Right , and I would say that people , the people there , were a lot nicer than giving credit for and a lot more helpful than giving credit for what has been your perception of of New York .
I think the same thing . I think you know it gets a bad rap and I I by no means am a connoisseur of like New York , right , you'd have to ask for sure , and how many times would you have to go to ?
I mean , I mean , think about it from a visiting standpoint . New York has so much to see . Can you ever really be a connoisseur without living there ? I don't know if that's possible in any place , right ?
Yeah , I mean , I can honestly say I I've traveled to New York probably more times than any other place that I've been . I probably would at one point , maybe once a month . My best friend lived there . It was my birthday , my 18th birthday gift .
My aunt asked me she was a flight attendant for American and she said you can go anywhere in the United States you want to go and I picked New York city . We stayed in Manhattan and this was pre-Juliani I'm giving away my age and York has made a lot of changes since then and you know people who know New York .
They know like pre-Juliani it was a certain way it was probably where you got these , you know those , those kind of CD you know like .
Yeah , the underbelly like all the stereotypes that people probably come with come from From around that era , which is like a long , long , long time ago .
Right , exactly . And then it also changed with 9-Eleven . It changed the city , it changed the people . I think a true New Yorker who was there at the time can probably best articulate what went on , like the shift in energy and everything . But it really did change New York . It's like , when you know , covid changed the world .
But I think New York gets like this bad rap because anytime you have so many people in such a small place right , it's so populated , of course the crime is going to be more because you've got more people . And about New Yorkers being rude , they're just always on a mission , going where they need to go .
You know they walk around like they have blinders on and so you've got to like really get in that shuffle . You can't just stop and you know what is that ? Like they're always trying to get somewhere . Everything is like this . You know that saying a New York minute yeah sure that that is real .
I did experience that when I was up there .
Yeah , so what was that experience for you for the New York minute ?
In the sense of just like everybody being pressed . You know , there wasn't only . If you saw people that were kind of like hanging out and hanging around , they were typically tourists , yeah , whereas you're .
So you're doing your tourist thing , you're taking your selfies , you're looking at all this , all this stuff , and people are just trying to get to work man , trying to get home , trying to get to their next destination , and they're pretty much focused on where they're going .
I feel like I I mean that resonated with me to a certain degree because when I'm on trips , a lot of times I might have days that are kind of like off days on trips , versus the other days when I'm really focused on the next . I'm really focused on getting to what I'm trying to get to .
You know , I wanted to go to the Met , I wanted to go do so many things . I was on tour guides , we were , you know , our tour guide , of course , is in New York , so he's he's popping from this spot to this spot , to this spot , to this spot , to this spot , so we're all running behind .
Well , I wasn't like a group , so we're all running behind , you know , in that group . So that kind of resonated with me because I had places I wanted to go . I guess I would be . That would have maybe been more off putting to me if I wanted to kind of sit around and smell the roses , so to speak , and just kind of like look at stuff .
But being that I was so like on the move myself of wanting I've had a purpose of things I wanted to kind of do , that kind of resonates . Because I mean , who wants to kind of just stand around taking pictures and stuff ? I mean , I had those moments but I didn't have a lot of them . So I kind of get that .
And also I think another thing to that when you're in a city that's a popular tourist city , I think that sometimes it can get kind of annoying that people are always just kind of in your way , stopping to take selfies , maybe one ask for directions .
I will tell you I didn't necessarily have to ask for directions , like all I did a couple of times was somebody look at my phone , laura , and somebody would help me out . That's how . That's how easy it was . I'm looking at my phone , maybe I just look so lost . Look I think .
And the weird headlights look .
Yeah , is that it's really ?
easy Is that ? It's really . You know their streets are numbered and so it's easy . You know . You know uptown from downtown by the numbers of the streets , so they make it really easy . Their blocks are shorter , so it really is a little bit easier to me to navigate than a lot of these cities . But I remember my first time going to New York .
And then that brings me to the point where I was thinking because you know , you and I travel differently . You love and itinerary and I don't . I remember my first time going to New York and we got in our flight , got in late , I'm 18 , you know , it's many moons ago , like many moons ago .
And so my aunt , you know , tells me when it when it really was not probably safe for me to go by myself at night . And so I'm like , okay , you know , I'm ready to go . And she was like , oh no , no , we , you know , we'll go tomorrow and we'll go to the Empire State Building and we'll go here and we'll go there . And I'm like , oh , I want to .
Like , I want to see the grittiness , the streets , I want to see the people , I want to see , you know , the side street fashion and all of that . And she was like Laura , this is not San Antonio . Like you , just don't walk down the street . And I was like , well , what do people who are from New York do ?
So she was like but you don't know where you're going , you've never been here . And I said , okay , this is what I'll do , I'll go out of the hotel , I'll make a right , I'll walk until I get that you know that New York feel . And then I'll turn around and walk back . Can't go wrong , right ?
And then she was like okay , don't take your purse , because you don't want to look like a tourist , don't take pictures , just walk . And so I was very it was ultra shock for this little Texas , san Antonio , texas girl , in the best kind of way , and that's exactly what I did .
Like I , I tried not to , like you know , just stare in awe with my mouth open , but really taking in the streets was just one of the best experiences that I could have ever had , by far of any trip that I've ever taken .
Really .
By far , by far , that that experience as an 18 year old was . It was one of those experiences that changes your life , like you can travel and you see beautiful things and you're you know , but this really did change my life .
¶ Experiencing Culture Shock in New York
Again , it was culture shock for me . I was this , you know , little girl from San Antonio , Texas , who had not been a whole lot of places . I've been places , but with my family not really experiencing , you know , lots of different cultures in San Antonio , always being this , you know , like asked what are you ?
And when you go to New York , nobody asks you what are you ?
because there's a , there's so many .
Yes , and so I . I finally , finally , Reggie , I felt like I fit in somewhere . I never really felt that in my life until I went to New York and just saw so many shades of people and you know , it was amazing .
You know that's interesting because I will say that I had a very so with me , the kind of person and kind of how I travel , I like to , and I stay up very late .
So this is I don't know if this is a recommendation I can give people , because I'm can be pretty adventurous and I and I'm naturally a night owl what I would typically do is I'll have itinerary days , okay , and I and I have three nights .
So what I would do and when I did what I was in New York is we'd pop out 1112 o'clock at night is because people are still out . So we're out of here , like like we'll . We might do like a itinerary in a daytime of some sort . I think that's when we went to see Hamilton .
We saw that I went to Broadway , that was all in daytime came back , we chilled for a second , popped back out of the hotel for whatever our night thing Maybe . One day was going to the Met , another day was just riding around . My brother was there .
He's been in New York for about 20 years , so he just took us around all the real new york , like not just the Times Square , touristy stuff , so like neighborhoods and stuff like that , because there's certain parts that once you get outside of the city of new york , that looked like a lot of other places , um , once you're outside of like the city portion and
you're just going to where people actually live in residential areas and different burros and stuff like that . So we did that night , um , but I enjoyed Walking around and to me it was nothing like it walking around new york about one o'clock in the morning with all these people out , um , there was nothing like it and and I enjoyed it .
Yeah , correct , likes everywhere , people everywhere there's and we were right in Times Square . So I understand that's like the most touristy Place in new york you can go is like right in Times Square . Um , but when you're there , the lord , the lights were so much it seemed like it was day , didn't even seem like nighttime , like you're out there in the light .
There's so many lights out there that it just didn't seem Unsafe . And in a sense , when you're from , I will tell you , just being from Atlanta , in general , I guess it's different , yeah , uh , when you're from a city Going to a bigger city versus being from the country Going to the city , if that makes sense .
You're already aware of city dynamics and I will tell you , the city dynamics are . City dynamics is you need to be looking Over your shoulder to a certain degree , only that certainly need to be afraid of the city , but you need to be cautious . That's just city dynamics .
In my opinion , whether I was in Korea , where I was in new york , it was the same thing , um , because you know , when you're in Seoul , it's always a massive city , it's a city Um , so it . There's a lot of city dynamics there . The people do it .
Everywhere you look down an alleyway , there's like 30 , 40 businesses right down a random alleyway with people all selling all kinds of stuff , all kinds of stands and stuff like that .
But I feel like , if you naturally , um , if you're naturally equipped to Look out for yourself in these settings , um , maybe you just elevated a bit , you know , maybe you , if you're not , you shouldn't be doing stupid stuff . I think , in any city , like you shouldn't be telegraphing that you're not from a place .
Um , you shouldn't be , because that makes you an easy target , especially in New York , because the people , like you'll see people in Deadpool costumes and stuff like that and that's gonna cost you , ladies and gentlemen , you , you , you Don't let that guy , that spider-man guy walk up to you and I think that's gonna be sweet because he's gonna ask for some money
and they're gonna be pretty aggressive . So , um , yeah , you got to get over that . Did you experience any of that when you ? Because where were you ? Were you in Times Square when you went ? Has you been several times ?
I have and I've been um to every borough , uh , except for maybe Staten Island , but I've been to , you know , queens and Brooklyn and the Bronx .
Brooklyn man . I like Brooklyn . Brooklyn's a coming up area right now .
Yeah and um , I'll never forget , like when I , when I first went . You know the guys will sell you like a bracelet or something . I like you know , yeah , yeah , yeah , come on . Okay , and you're so pretty , you know , just just just 20 dollars , two dollars .
I'm like , oh really , yeah , yeah , yeah , here you go and you give them the money and you go , and then you get back to your room You're like that's not what I . He sold me something different , you know . And then you start watching . But I've always been the type I will say this .
I've I've always been the type to be able to kind of read the room and . You know , look around , and I think part of that is because I love human nature and people watching and just to watch interaction between people and how they react to different things , and so Naturally , I'm able to read the room or read the city to be able to see .
You know , like Something is off about this , is not feeling right , and I go with my gut . Um , you can't go wrong if you go with your gut . Even if it's this very slight inkling of no , then you know , and there are just some people who either ignore it or I don't know , they just don't have it . I don't , I don't know , I don't know .
But being a traveler and wanting to go off the beaten path , um , because I we've talked about this before you know , when you really want to know a city , you ask the locals . So , where do you go eat ? I don't want to go to , you know this place . That's this Pamphlet in my hotel . I want to go where the locals eat .
I want to go where the locals shop , where they go out , where they go get coffee , where they . You know , that's what I want to do , um , and that's how you really learn a city . Um , and just get that real feel right . Um , yeah , absolutely , yeah , yeah .
I feel like , uh , when I was there , you , you kind of get . It only takes a couple of days for you to know the difference between , um , new Yorker pricing and tourist pricing . Yeah , so there's , there's , and I feel like that's not a new york thing , that is a traveling thing . You have the tourist price and you have the actual price .
Yeah , um , I , when I first got to New York , I went , uh , I was in my hotel , we went out to eat my hotel , and this is the only that has happened and people , my brother laughs at me . Uh , when I told him , when I told him this , he was like you're crazy .
Uh , so I went down , went down to the hotel lobby real quick and we're like , hey , we're really hungry , right . So we went and put our stuff up , went out to the hotel lobby to eat and I had some . I had three hot dogs . There was a little mini hot dogs about that big three mini hot dogs .
Um , those hot dogs were 23 dollars For three Little mini hot . They weren't even full-sized hot dogs . Now , anybody who's been in New York knows how cheap you can get a hot dog for at any food stand and they're delicious , by the way , at any of those food stands are amazing . Yeah , um , amazing food stands in New York .
Uh , we build , but be on the lookout for tourist pricing there too , um , but I'm in a hotel and and the hotel wasn't necessarily tourist pricing was just a bad decision , in my opinion , just because we were staying in a nice hotel . So if you're staying in a nice hotel and you decide to eat at that hotel , be prepared to pay a lot of money .
But I will tell you , lord , those hot dogs are delicious . Those , those are some of the best . Those little three mini hot dogs I had were absolutely amazing . I don't know what they did to them , but they were great . But they were not worth 23 dollars . Don't pay 23 dollars for three little mini hot dogs .
And they didn't even come in french fries , they came with chips and , um , I do regret the price , but I don't . I don't regret that experience and I made that mistake when I first got there . So everything else was a little better price wise , because I made that mistake very early on .
Um , but it is something that you have to look out for , I think , in in any of these stands and , moving on from from New York , let's talk about some other places that you've been to , because you have an interesting story that you've told me about when you were in israel and , and let's , let's talk a little bit about that , because you told me that was
also a , uh , one of the highlights of places that you've been .
Yeah , it absolutely was , um . And then you talk about like um , you know , getting taken advantage of that . That happened to us in israel as well and luckily our god went back to the guy and he was like no , given their money back . So not only are you getting taken advantage of , but you kind of got to . You know , do like um .
You know your money is it's not an american dollars and you're like okay , that's , you know , or let me get out my . I'm trying to . You know your money and you're trying to . You know it was a mess , but in israel , twice I was with a group and twice Someone offered to Buy me and the first time it happened we thought it was . Because I still think it is
¶ Impacts of Culture and Treatment Abroad
. Um , you know , because of my upbringing and background , I'm I'm very careful with being judgmental on other cultures , because that's what you know and that's how you're brought up and that's what you know . And you know who am I to say it's right or wrong , but you know where it's it's .
It's absolutely ludicrous for a man to go to another man and you know I'm standing there as if I'm not standing there . So what you know , what would you take for her ? You know I want to buy her . I want to buy her . Uh , what would you take ? And you know it's just ludicrous , it's right . But that happened to us twice .
In the first time we thought it was a joke , we laughed and our guide was like no , that's , you know it's offensive for you to laugh and like not take it seriously , like you can decline that offer , but that's he's serious . And so , yeah , that was , that was a trip .
So tell me something real quick . There . Two things here , laura . So one Flattering or not flattering , because were you the only female in the group or you were there multiple females in the group .
There was one other female in the group .
Um , she was an older lady , um , so let's see if if I just want to be partly honest it I'm not gonna say it was flattering , um , because I really am very independent on my own , my own woman , but I must say I'm there must have been some type of flattery there , because I remember saying , like , is that all I'm worth ?
You know , still not knowing what the going , what the going rate is for a wife , but , um , yeah , so I don't , I don't know that I was flattered . I think , like , had it been this huge amount , you know , then it was been like yeah , all right , but Absolutely felt , very , not degraded , but you know , like , do come on . Um , are you serious ?
Like no , we're not gonna do that . Um , but it's the same way I feel about when people are telling women what to do with their bodies here in the united states . Um , like , are you , are you serious ? This is , this Belongs to me , you know I'm and god , but this belongs to me . And no , it's not for sale . You can't , at least for me .
Um , you can't tell me what to do with it , things like that . So , but the culture is so different there , which and we've talked about this before too like , when you're traveling abroad , you really need to know the culture , you need to read , to educate yourself , because you are not , you are in someone else's land .
You know , you really need to be educated in that , and it's and it's very , not just ignorant , but it's very um pompous and arrogant of anyone , but especially of americans and united states , for us to Not educate ourselves and not know the culture when we're traveling abroad .
Um , even when I went to I'll never forget this I went to new york once and A cab driver was saying something to me and he said where are you from ? And I said oh , I'm from texas . And he said yeah , I can tell by your voice . He said but you're the first person from texas who didn't tell me exactly where they're from .
Like , we know all about texas , you know and I wow , texas , and texas do have that kind of . You know , I'm a texan , you know , and we're that's in texas , that that it doesn't mean anything in california or new york or wisconsin , or Only in texas , right .
And so I'm very arrogant of us , when we travel , um , not to educate ourselves on the customs and the cultures , because everyone does not have the same rights In different countries , in different places , um , that we have that we , you know that are amazing in the united states , that that we tend to take for granted , um , but you really see that another thing
in israel is our guide , who was jewish , couldn't go into becla hem with us , um , because he was jewish . And we just we were like what do you mean ? Like you just walk , walk over here ?
And he was like no , I can't , you can , even though we weren't muslim , but we were still tourists , I guess , and we had our passports , but he could not enter because he was jewish . So you know , we take those things for granted . There's nowhere that you can't go here .
There are some places where you you think twice about going if you're a certain skin color or if you're a woman , but you know , in , in theory , there is no place that you can't go . So we do take those , those freedoms , for granted , but we've got to know what we're dealing with when we're traveling abroad .
It's interesting and and I'm gonna bring up a couple of things as we kind of um , as you get towards the end of the shows , I'll bring up some , some things that I think will be helpful , kind of towards the end of the show , and we'll kind of piggyback off that , and but right now let's talk about some things that were just unexpected .
Um , now , when I can tell you when I uh was in korea and korea is an amazing place I really could do a whole show on korea . I love it so much . I have , like a korean plate here that I just like have sitting to the side here . I'm not sure , I'm not sure if you can see that . Sure , if you can see that right there .
That's gorgeous .
Yes , and you can get stuff like that , a ton of stuff . But I have a stuff , a lot of ton of trinkets like that from Korea a million and it's amazing place to be .
But I will tell you there were some unexpected things , just like we talked about with with New York , and one of the unexpected things was , for one , of American culture and black American , african American culture In general .
African American culture in the impact of American culture on other cultures and this is not just Korea and places I've been to , but in the impact of American culture on other places is vast , you know , and the impact of African American culture on other places is is a vast . It travels man , and so that was something that was like surprising to me .
You go there , you see all the you know rappers and all this other kind of stuff that you see in these other cultures that you would Be ubiquitous for . That African American culture here in America is something that was surprising to me to see so far away On the other side of the earth . You know that's a show .
That's a show within itself as well , just the impact of African American culture on the world . But go ahead .
Yeah , it's vast and and that was surprising to me I wasn't necessarily Expecting that . Another thing is like your treatment .
I feel like If you have a personality and we talked about this before off you know off air , so to speak if you have a personality and people tend to like you , where you are from , whether you're in from the country , whether you're from a city with millions of people that will travel , people will like you in other places . It doesn't matter .
Like it , that won't be just a an American thing for you . If you're Friendly and you send the attract people and people tend to like you , people will like you in other places . You know You'll have the same kind of interactions In other countries . You might not speak the language , but you'll have the same kind of interactions there in other countries .
So that was something that surprised me and is how and just how well you will be Treated , because I think that from , especially from a , an African-american standpoint , you always feel like or people , I should say that and this is kind of more the stereotype than the reality People always feel like you're just gonna go everywhere and just be this oppressed
individual . They're just gonna hate on you everywhere you go in in the world and not knowing that a lot of people feel like America's the most oppressed place . So when you go to places , other places in the world , they feel like America's the most Most discriminative place that you'll ever be . So when you go to these places , a lot of times there's .
They're surprised that you feel like way about them because they're like look at where you're from , are you crazy ? Like Right . So that was something that was surprising . The treatment be very friendly people . Other friendly people weren't surprised and I thought this Just a lot of cultures in general is mostly mostly by encounter are friendly people .
Now , it's not to say that there aren't Some assholes out here for sure there are . Every place has their share of them . There are dangerous people every place , every place has their share of them , but the vast majority friendly . It was a Very fast moving city because it is a city with millions of people , so it was extremely fast moving .
What are some of the things that surprised you about places that you've gone ?
I Think I think one is , I Probably you know the , the freedoms that we take for granted when you go to some places outside of the United States and you kind of see some of the things that they do . It's it , it really makes you think about how fortunate you are , you know , even though we have so many Things that we could work on here .
And you're right , I think , that energy transcends wherever you go . It's just like Music , right , like a good song . It doesn't matter what language it's in , like , if it's right that rhythm is going , it doesn't matter , people are still gonna move to it because it moves you . So You're right that energy transcends , no matter where you go .
Um , and , and you can see that it just doesn't matter , I think . Let me see what are some of the things that have surprised me . Um , I Don't , I can't think of a lot of things , probably just there are some similarities in the places that you go .
Some things are the same , but you know , depending on where , in Certainly , in the United States you go , even though we're the , you know , we're the United States , there are lots of different . There are differences in the way people talk , you know . In the way you know some people call it pop , some people call it soda , in the way you eat your hot dog .
Do you eat it ? With coleslaw , do you eat it ? You know , and so that's always interesting to me to go To different places , even in the United States , and just kind of learn how people do things there . You know the the New Orleans culture . There's nothing like it .
You know when you go to Vegas how people , you know how people act , and I think Times Square is kind of , doesn't it remind you , like the Vegas strip with the lights ?
Yeah , you know , it reminds me in a sense , you know what ? What the similarities between Times Square and Vegas to me are is how different things are once you leave the strip , once you leave Times Square , like once you leave those areas .
If you leave Vegas , you leave this trip and you just out in Henderson or wherever you are , you just out in the neighborhood in the dead very much you . You pretty much typical USA Outlet malls , strip malls , stores , saying that you see everywhere , and then you have the strip which is like nothing that you see anywhere .
Yeah , yeah .
So they were very similar , uh , in that aspect . And one of the things that I do want to close with is one of my main takeaways and then I'll get one from you as well , because , of course , we can make a whole list . We could do another show .
Maybe we will do another travel show With just a few tips for people who are just kind of embarking on their travel journeys . But one of the things that you touched on , I feel like it's super important .
No matter where you go , even if it's in the united states and that's gonna be my main one um , if you're going to another place and you feel like you got to learn the language , you're doing your dual lingo , you're getting up , you're doing everything to try to learn the language and and how people speak in that place , I feel like your time will be better
spent learning the customs .
¶ Learn Customs When Traveling
Learn the customs of where you are going . Learn the customs because people will be impressed with that .
People will be impressed that you know you don't have to know the language , but if you know the certain customs if you're in korea , you know how to hold your chopsticks , how to place your chopstick , if you know how that kind of stuff goes a long way because to them it shows and and this is anywhere , I think when people come into your house , you want them
to . You want you can appreciate the fact that they appreciate your customs . You take your shoes off at the door . If you see , my shoes are at the door , and when you come into my house do you take them off , and then people may appreciate that small gesture .
They're not gonna like they might not be on you if you don't take them off , and that's the same kind of thing . They're not . They know you are a tourist in these places , so they don't have a high bar of you knowing what their customs are , but it goes a very long way when you do so . I feel like you're better , you're better off learning those customs .
I don't know if you watch shows . I watch shows like Uh , 90 day fiance when I grow up , and we'll be watching these shows , right , and it'll be like the other way though .
So not , it'll be them going over there , more so than people coming over here , and so they'll go over there and they'll go to these different countries and they'll want to Americanize the countries , and it makes me cringe . It makes me cringe because they'll be over there . Well , where's it ? Where is the air conditioning ?
Where is , where is all this I'm so used to in America ? And he's like , did you even Remotely study up on where you were going ? Like , did you even look it up on the internet , even google it ? Um , so I feel like learning the customs Goes a very far away . That would be one of my main takeaways . If you take away anything .
Yeah , one of my main takeaways would be that learn about where you're going .
Yeah , yeah , I know we try to gentrify everything , don't we ? Some of us ? Um , I think it's respectful if I go to a country where the women Whether I agree with this or not If the women have to cover their hair , that is what I'm going to do , because that's your .
It's disrespectful if I don't , um , but you know , you've got to be at a level of of maturity really to do that as well , and so , um , I think , one of the things that I could say for people and everybody doesn't have a job like this , I realized that , but I remember I was at a job and it sent me a lot of different places and I would always take a
few days after or before and , um , make sure that I stayed , whether you know , like , if it was like a Chicago or , um , you know , denver , someplace like that , if I had to go on a business trip , I would take a few days after or before um Orlando , places like that , and that would be my vacation , and that meant my airfare was paid for , um , my hotel
was partially paid for , um , you know , for three of the five or six days that I'm there , my meals are paid for and I've got amazing vacation . So you know things like that . There are so many travel clubs right now , um , that people could take advantage of , because , and and flights are not crazy expensive .
Um , like there are ways that people can travel without spending a lot of money , um , and I see people doing that too Like people are making money off of traveling . But I think amazing things about travel is that you do get to experience , um , something different than you know . You're not .
You're every day what you're , what you're living with every day , and that's not to say that that's bad , it's just different .
And I've always said , like , when you travel , I made sure that I made my , I took my son everywhere with me , I made sure that he traveled , because when you stretch your mind , especially through traveling , and you meet people who are different than you and they're you know , they talk and walk and eat different things , it's really hard for your mind to go back
to the way it was because of that exposure . I know people who don't leave their neighborhoods , their cities , their states , their countries , um , and I'm not saying those who financially can't , um , but if you can like , there's nothing like that .
And then one last thing , reggie , and I don't want to say I'm too , too old , but I , when I did travel , it was before social media and I really had the pleasure Of being in the moment because I didn't have to post anything , I didn't have to Prove I was here .
I didn't have to take a picture of my food before I ate it Not that there's anything wrong with that , because I love living vicariously through all of these people on social media . You know who travel , um , but there is something about going somewhere and really being in the moment and not worrying about Um . Is this a great shot for you know , for tiktok ?
Or you know , instagram ?
It's very interesting and people my know my social media struggles . I absolutely struggle . We could do a whole show on my struggles with social media because I am just so mister , not social media . I even know I do take a lot of pictures when I'm traveling , of random stuff . It'll be the random .
I have like 30 pictures of random trees , um , when I'm going back through my stuff , uh , and looking at them , so I get it , um , and I think that social media is great for people who are into that , and and that's something that you do see when you go to a lot of places is groups and groups and groups of selfies , selfies , selfies , selfies , selfies ,
selfies . People on their traveling vlogs right , they're walking with their phone . No one's you in their shot , you know , and and and there's a . There's a lot of that that you do see now traveling now versus , I guess , been , but it , um , it's still amazing and , um , we'll probably be some more shows on this .
I definitely appreciate you taking some time out here , laura .
Yeah , it's always fun talking to you , reggie .
All right , this is Reggie natl . Check us out to dry heart radio , google podcast ever podcast butterfly , where you find your podcast , as well as tiktok and on instagram , which I'm going to have to actually pay attention to here at some point in my life . See you next time , guys . All right we got it .