Plan the Ultimate International Vacation with Alexis Bowen

Hey Bessies, Hello Sunshine.

Today on the bright Side, we're spilling the secrets to planning the ultimate international vacation with travel expert and co founder of the travel company Elsewhere, Alexis Bowen. She's here to reveal the three essentials for making your trip absolutely unforgettable and why going solo might be the best part.

Plus, stand up comedian and TV host Jesse Crookshank joins us to talk the sexiness of mothers and minivans. She's also taking us back to performing Improvent High School with none other than comedian Seth Rogen and Nathan Fielder. It's Monday, August twenty sixth. I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Boys, and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn, and brighten your day. Happy Monday, Danielle. All Right, you

What you got, Okay, I'm gonna give you a little bit of a curve ball, but stick with me. I think quitting is underrated. What's the best thing you've ever quit?

My job? Okay, when did you quit your job? I quit my job two years ago, being a reporter. Yeah, that was the best thing I ever quit.

Did you have any like fallout after? Did you cry or were you relieved?

No? I didn't cry. I quit it with the most piece that I've ever had making a decision.

I've quit a few jobs in my life. I'm like, actually, the Queen of quitting, are you really?

Yeah?

Because here's the thing. I think quitting gets a bad rap.

Quitting can be like taking off a pair of shoes that are too tight, or taking off your bra after a long day. You just feel like, why didn't I do that earlier?

Was instant relief? You know?

I think whether it's leaving behind a stress job, or an exhausting friendship, or even a hobby that doesn't bring you joy, quitting can clear space in your life for things that truly make you happy.

I'm going to quote Steve Harvey. Okay, he says, you.

Can't buy a new car when the old car is in your garage. You gotta make space, And so for me, quitting is not about giving up. It's about giving in to yourself and honoring what works for you and what truly brings you joy.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Well, I came across this article about quitting, but it's about quitting a book.

We ever quit a book. I have strong feelings about this. I'm unable to quit books. Oh, I have to finish them once I start. Okay, So I actually totally disagree.

So we're gonna have it out ready, Yes, I'm going to give you what the article says, and then we'll disagree.

Okay.

Sophie Verschbau wrote a piece from The Atlantic giving all of us a rubric for deciding whether it's time to put a book down without finishing it, which is hard to do for a book lover. But before I begin, there are those of you, you like Simone, who struggle with abandoning a book and feel like you gotta finish no matter what.

And I see you.

I feel like life is too short to ever read something you're not thoroughly thrilled with. So as we go through this, I want you to determine if you're a Simone.

Or if you're a Danielle.

Okay, So she says Number one, before dropping a book, you need to figure out what's motivating you to stop reading it. Is it bad writing or is the author experimenting in a creative way that might push you as a reader, but you're sort of uncomfortable with.

So the book that I'm currently thinking of, the writing was just bad. Oh yeah.

See. I always feel bad saying the writing is bad because it's like, maybe it's just not for me.

Is it bad writing? Like who gets to decide that? I think if you've read enough books, you can decide what's bad writing and just bad storytelling, like flat characters, you know, not well developed. Right, that's a good point. Yeah.

Well, She says that reading is linked to empathy, increased empathy, which I think is cool and one of the best opportunities we have to digest experiences and opinions that we don't agree with or haven't considered is reading. So sometimes you got to like push through Number two. Time constraints. She says, for busy people, reading is a luxury, So I kind of have a page constraint. I'm like fifty pages. If I'm not in I'm actually lying I'm being generous.

I know. I feel like you got to give it one hundred. I can't do it. I don't have time. There's too many books I want to read. I feel that very strongly.

Do you ever Sometimes I go into a library and I get anxiety because I look around and I'm like, I don't know anything.

I need to read all of these books. I do feel that. I also feel the tension between we have books at home and I want to buy this book. Yes, that is so relatable. Yeah, okay.

Number three, she says, you got to stop gamifying reading. Don't just push through for the sake of bragging rights.

I'm looking at you. It's not bragging rights, it is. That's not bragging rights for me. It's a personal thing for me. It's like I made I bought this book, which means I made a commitment to read it, so I'm going to finish it. It's like it's a personal covenant that I make with myself, even if it's like a six hundred page book. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, six hundred pages, that's a big commitment. I don't read a ton of six hundred page books. I gotta be honest.

Well, the next one is sort of funny because she's kind of going back and forth.

She might agree with you.

She says, if it's a trendy book, that you have to keep going so that you can hate on it intellectually with your friends and be a real critic.

I love how real this is. That's so you can walk up into the book club like guns blazing. Yes.

So I have a friend named Brooke who is like my reading buddy, Like she always reads.

She has so much time on her hands, way more than me, and so she.

Reads all the books, especially the trendy ones, as soon as they come out. And she told me this year I have to read The Women and all fours and I haven't started either, and it's killing me.

The Women is on my list too.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

The last one is lean on the Live.

She said, there's no sunk costs, like you said about buying a book and not finishing it if you didn't pay for it.

I'm currently fighting with my library. Why because they say that I haven't returned like ten books from my kids. So I try to have returned them so when I was.

Growing up in Chicago, there was always a day in April where you could bring in a ton of canned.

Goods to the library.

It was like a drive of a can goods drive and if you brought in enough, they would waive all your overcharges.

I need to see if that's an option at my library. I swear I've returned these books.

Okay, So have I convinced you otherwise? Are you still on your page? So to speak?

These are good, you know, questions to think about. I think that for me, if I'm going to get really deep, it's like I don't want to make a commitment that I can't keep. So like I it's like, what, that's so funny that you attribute books to that. Yeah, it's it's part of Yeah, it's just part of like an over writing life philosophy. Like if you say you're going to do something, do it. Yeah. Yeah, but maybe I need to loosen up a little bit. No, I don't.

It's I think if you've like, you know, tied those two things together, that's that's totally fair.

Yeah, Okay. A book that was really easy to finish was Wild Mmmm. That is a book, It really really is, And it's a book that got me thinking a lot about the role that travel plays in my own life. Research shows that traveling is beneficial to personal growth. It leads to greater emotional agility, creativity, and empathy. But if you've ever had an international journey that's deeply touched you on a personal level, like, you don't need to see

Isn't that really Yeah, that is not the case in my house. My dad is our travel agent. Interesting, what's your mom's role in all of it?

Everything else? I thought you mine in the house. No, no, no, Like when it comes to travel and planning, travel's way too much travel and planning trips. My mom's the restaurant gal. Nice. Yeah, she makes the reservations, so she'll like go through the Yelp reviews or whatever they're in that country.

Yeah, how about you, Oh, he does the reservations in your house?

You are, Michael Gosh, that's a really good question. I think it's kind of shared. I think it's shared marriage in twenty twenty four, But you have completely different travel approaches. Like I'm a wanderer. I just want to I just want to go to a city without a lot of structure and wander. Although I do think there's there has to be a balance between structure and spontaneity. I call myself a traveler. My husband prefers vacation, and there's a

I think if you go and travel, you need you need a vacation after.

Sometimes, yeah, I think it's good to like try to weave in the vacation elements in the travel.

But my dad has this travel rule. He says, you always end on a beach. So, like if you have eight or ten days of like tough touring, because he wants to tour from like eight am to eight pm. Yeah, that somehow you have to end two or three days on a beach.

That's smart. Yeah, that way you come back feeling rested. Oh another travel hack. So whenever you return, make sure that you've taken a day off, a buffer day, so that you don't go right back to work after making it.

I'm laughing because I want every single ounce of the time off I have. I will take a red eye and show up to work at eight am that morning.

I hear you, but there is something really nice about having a day to adjust. Totally agree, I just it's not me. Well, our next guest has had the travel bug since she was thirteen years old. Alexis Bowen went on to create Elsewhere, a travel company that was eventually acquired by Lonely Planet, and together they're on a mission to make tourism better, more sustainable, and more ethical. And today Alexis is telling us about the solo trip that changed her life, the benefits of traveling so and how

Us, Alexis, Welcome to the bright Side.

Hi, thanks so much for having me.

You've traveled all over the world. Is there a solo trip that has changed your life? Oh, that's such a hard question. I've done a lot of solo trips. I would have to say my first one has to be the most formative for sure. Actually, I took my first international trip solo, which is kind of wild, and I was thirteen years old, so I mean it was a totally new experience that blew my mind and really got me the bug.

Where did you go? Would you tell us a little bit about that trip?

I went to England and Ireland. I always wanted to travel. I always wanted to see the world, and I grew up with Irish grandparents, so I grew up with people who came from a different place and talked about it, and so I just wanted to see where they came from. I didn't grow up traveling. My parents didn't take us all over the world. And I think a lot of people who end up in the industry got the bug from that from their parents, But for me, it was

So at twelve, I was like.

I'm gonna take this in my own hands, and I'm gonna get myself a passport and I'm gonna buy a ticket and I'm gonna.

Go, Wow, that's incredible.

Wow, Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

So I convinced the owner of this cafe down the street to let me be a bus boy on the weekends during their brunch rush, and it took me about a year, but I saved up enough money to buy a plane ticket and got myself a passport and I went.

You turned your passion into a profession because you started a new travel company called Elsewhere, And I think the mission is so brilliant. It's about curating itineraries defined by local communities, and I have a.

Personal investment in this.

I hate a tourist trap, Okay, I really do any place that, like everybody tells you on a blog or any sort of list to go see, I want to go see something two or three steps like more distinct.

To that place.

So I'm so curious how you incorporate local businesses and these local recommendations to enhance the travel experience.

Yeah, this, Danielle, this is something that's so important to me and was really what we thought about when we were building Elsewhere. So the traditional travel industry, you work with an agency, they're probably based in the US, and they actually work with other companies all over the world, And we knew that it was really the locals and those local agencies who had their finger on the pulse of what's new, what's cool.

You know.

Also, like you said, the things that you should avoid, those tourist traps, and so we kind of we wanted to cut out the intermediary. We wanted to connect travelers directly with these local experts on the ground who grew up there, know their home country inside and out.

Love it, live to share it.

And so that's what Elsewhere is about, where a travel platform that connects travelers to these local experts to plan and book your trick.

So, alexis we are part of the Hello Sunshine family, and Cheryl Strade, the incredible author of Wild who walked the Pacific Crest Trail alone, is as well, and she's become one of my travel inspirations. And this quote of hers really sums it up for me. She says, it had nothing to do with gear or footwear, or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era, or even with getting from point A to point B. It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild.

There's a reason that bucket list places are bucketless places. But I love this term of second city, So that's the Marseille instead of Paris, or like I did recently, I went to the Ecuadorian Andes in the highlands and Ecuador instead of Peru, which is largely touristed. And you do have a better experience, because I mean, for me, I do think a better experience is kind of boils down to a tourist to local ratio.

When you are more immersed in.

The place, you can have authentic exchanges with people. You can see things without a million selfie sticks or cameras, and that's what's so great about traveling is getting you out of your space. I think what's so amazing about travel is that you know it's in the real world, but it's a world outside of your own, and it's full of these unpredictable experiences and it's hard to do that when you're just on the same circuit as everybody else.

We're totally siloed.

We're like constantly fed things that reinforce our interests in our opinions, and travel gets you out of that loop, and I think that's really powerful.

How I planned my solo trip to Southeast Asia, I knew a lot of people were going to the beaches in Thailand and they had become super overrun. So I decided to go to Laois instead. And honestly, when I went to Luwong Probong, it completely like exploded my world and opened up my mind in a way that completely changed my life. I know you went to Southeast Asia too on a solo trip. I did tell me some of the highlights.

Yeah, I mean again, no plans. This is also pre smartphone, So I think there's a beauty in the pre smartphone era as well, is because you have less plans, you have to talk to people to figure out what you're going to do, what's good, how you get where you're going. And I actually kind of have a nostalgia for that era now. But yeah, I was eighteen years old. Everyone was doing their Europe trips and Southeast Asia was more exciting but also a lot cheaper, so I decided to

Alexis, how many trips do you think you've planned so far professionally?

Oh, my gosh, I mean thousands. I've been in the industry for a long long time.

So having planned thousands of trips, what do you think are the three pillars or a great trip?

You should know somebody on the ground, not so much for a safety reason, but just to really get beneath the surface of a destination and be able to experience it from their perspective. I think that's really important. Another pillar, I would say is having some structure, but not too much structure. You want to leave it open enough that you can say yes to an opportunity that arises or something unplanned that's exciting. I think those are the moments

And I just find that It's always been a good decision for me.

When you start planning, obviously, fo cuisine restaurants are a big thing. If you don't know somebody on the ground, where do you start.

I like talking to people.

I know people turn to Google, and Google can be a great resource, but I really do just like asking people. I also like seeing what restaurants are crowded. I don't like restaurants that have an English menu. If they don't have an English menu, that's a good sign. If they don't have a long menu, that's a good sign too. They've only got a couple dishes, it means it's fresh. If it's fresh, the restaurant is packed with locals. It doesn't matter if it's you know, Michelin starred or a

Anyways, that's such a great tip. I always say, if you find the spot that has the longest line of locals, your set totally.

I want to talk to you about safety because I think traveling alone as a woman can be both empowering and challenging. I know that I've felt that way. I think While it offers a lot of independence and opportunity for personal growth and excitement, there's always safety concerns And I don't know if it was just imprinted on me because of my parents, but it's always on the forefront of my mind. So in one survey, more than seventy percent of women who responded said that they worried about

Yeah, there are some easy, practical tips that I sometimes do if I feel uneasy about a situation. You know, things like getting dropped off a block away from your location so people don't know exactly where you're staying. If asked, I always say a friend is just meeting me, or my partner or my spouse, whatever, those kind of things. Sometimes I've even worn a wedding ring to kind of send off those kind of questions or unwanted attention.

So I've done all of those things.

But really what I tell people is that I understand feeling unsafe, but these are the minority of experiences, and I tend to really be trusting, and I think being in the kind of power seat where you are aware of your surroundings and you feel empowered puts you in a safer position. I trust my gut for sure. I get out of situations where I don't feel okay. I follow cultural norms, you know, etiquette, dress code, things like that you want to be respectful, and you will also

Also helps, and also talking to strangers.

I know I keep saying this, but this contradicts your mom's advice, But I think by you taking the step to speak with strangers, that power dynamic changes and really opens you up to whole host of new experiences that will really transform your understanding of the place.

I think what you said about the bad experiences or instances of crime or homicide, even like those are really the minority, and I think the benefits really outweigh the risks for traveling as a woman alone. And that's what the research shows as well. Would you elaborate on some of those benefits. What have been the real standout benefits to you of traveling alone?

Yeah, I mean research shows that traveling is good for your brain, it's good for your mental health.

But I just think traveling is so important.

It really gives people a wider and more inclusive view of the world. It reinforces this shared humanity that we all have. I really believe that if everyone traveled the world would it would honestly be a better place. There's so many things, getting outside, having new experiences. These are all rewiring your brain, boosting confidence, improving productivity. Research shows that going outside increases optimism and feelings of hope. You know, these are all important things.

Okay, it makes me very sad to say this, but summer is almost over. I think it's my favorite season, and it's a bit of an existential crisis. But let's find the bright side. We're going to start looking ahead to twenty twenty five and start getting excited about where we'll go then. So what do you predict will be one of the more in demand travel destinations next year?

Italy and Japan. Italy is everybody's favorite country in the world. Japan is an incredible, incredible place. But I think what's also made it so popular in the last couple of years is that it had one of the longest closures during COVID, and so when it finally reopened, I think it was closed for about three years, people were just so hungry to go and to see what was going on. That hand continues to be our most requested and most traveled to destination.

Are there any places that you would suggest that we add to our potential travel destination lists.

I just got back from Ecuador and it was amazing. It was incredible. We were in the Ecuadorian Andes and the highlands. We're staying in a hacienda. We were living chakra life, which is like Ecuadorian cowboys, and we were riding horses in this area. Hacienda's in a valley called the Avenue of Volcanoes, and so you're surrounded by seven volcanoes. Is absolutely stunning, and you ride horses and you feed the lamas, and you eat in at the hacienda and

You can go to the.

Adean Highlands like I did, which is completely different flora and fauna and landscapes and it's just absolutely stunning. You can go to places with hot springs and incredible hiking. And Kito is actually the first UNESCO World Heritage Site ever and people don't know that. It's colonial center is one of the most preserved and it's really beautiful.

So I think people are sleeping on Ecuador. I think more people need to go to Ecuador.

Alexis, thank you so much for joining us on the bright Side.

Thanks so much for having me.

Alexis Bowen is the co founder of the travel company Elsewhere.

We're taking another short break, but when we come back, comedian and TV host Jesse Krukshank joins us to talk Motherhood, Minivans, MTV, and more, Don't Go Anywhere.

Welcome back, Bestie's. Before we close out the show, We've got a special segment for you in partnership with Airbnb. Jesse Criikshank is a woman of many talents.

She's a stand up comedian, a TV host, and the creator of the new mom Whods website, which she calls an imperfect guide to motherhood. And in her new comedy special Minivan Money, she pumps breast milk on stage, making women, girls, mothers, and people everywhere very proud. Jesse, welcome to the bright Side.

Thank you so much for having me, and we're in person.

This is really just very thrilling, It really is. And we have to tell everybody she wore bright Side yellow. I did you came and you came to play well?

I said to you, I was like, I should have put on something more professional. I literally, like, basically, am not wearing pants. It's so hot in Los Angeles. I came in poolside attire to record this podcast.

All right. We just talked to Alexis Bowen about solo travel and as a comedian, you're on the lot. I mean, in my eyes, you're a professional traveler at this point, what are some of your best travel hacks and tips?

Oh my gosh, like you would think I would have my little carry on and my No, I'm the girl who they open the bag at security every time, and like my chicken cutlets fall out and my hair extensions they're like going through red weave at the I am so disorganized when it comes to travel, and it's because I have three.

Little kids at home, so get it.

Most of my life is trying to like keep their lives together, and when I have to hit the road, I am throwing shit in my bag and like if I make the airplane on time, then it's a success.

Honestly, I love this answer because it's so relatable, Like this is perfect.

Okay, good, Yeah, I don't even have a bag to put my clip on extensions in.

They go raw dog in with raw dog, Jessie. Oh no, no, I know.

Well, we have to send you a big congrats because you have your first ever stand up special minivan money.

I love the title. How did you name it?

Thanks?

Well, I went on the road before this became a special. I went on the road on tour when I had identical twin boys who were three, maybe four at the time, and I had just had a newborn baby.

Which is this that's wild that you took that on right.

This is why my hair extensions are just sitting loose in my bag because I can bear.

I mean, and while you're pumping on stage, and while.

I'm pumping on stage, thank you, Danielle.

You just took it in your bra.

Oh no, I came out with fully exposed liquid breast pumps with milk actively pouring from my bosom while dancing to the Bactory boys everybody.

But here's the thing that I love.

There's this quote that I associate with the best type of comedians, which is, if you can make them laugh, you can make them listen.

And so you're making everybody laugh.

But I think you're saying something deeper too, hm am I giving you too much credit?

Probably, No, that's exactly right.

Also, I think the minute you walk on stage and you give people permission to laugh at you, and you're able to laugh at yourself, and like, I have very few inhibitions, and I sort of like, am me and this is it, And I have a baby at home and I'm coming up pumping, and like, deal with it, and that sort of sets the tone first an honest

Ooh, he's he's hat he's rich. No, he's not the rich one.

It's the mom of four in the Siena with like the kids whose daycare cost fifty grand and who's eleven year old just got braces for ten grand and she's gonna have to drop that on the rest of them, Like that's the woman. We should get horny for the woman the damn minivan that is wealth.

That's well, yes, honey, I agree.

So next time I come to do this pot, I'm gonna pull up in a straight up. Guys are going to be fanning yourselves in your crop tops, like, oh, she's made it.

My mom's favorite car ever, was the Honda Odyssey. It was with the bucket seats.

The bucket seats because my brother and I would stop fighting about who was in the middle.

So you grew up in a minivan, Yeah, I did. I'm here with you, lucky lady. Okay, So before you normalized pumping on stage as a comedian, that's not exactly how you originally burst onto the scene. A lot of audiences got to know you from your MTV days hosting shows, including The Hills After Show alongside Dan Levy. Did you ever imagine this being your next chapter?

Like?

How did you would you connect the dots for us between those two? Yeah? I mean no.

When I was at MTV, Dan and I were just like drunk half the time and we never sat down and we're like, would you like to have children?

One day?

We were no, But yes we hosted The Hills After Show, which I think are producers initially just thought in Canada we had to create a certain amount of Canadian content for a like, for every thirty minutes of American programming, we had to have a Canadian show. So our producers were like, well, let's just throw Dan and Jesse on after every episode of lauguna Beach in the Hills and they can talk about it like no one cared. We were an afterthought. It was called the After Show and

Like, what is going on?

But it's because you two are so funny together individually and then together too.

I think we have we still to this day like he's one of my closest friends. We have good you know you too feel probably feel that way about each other when you meet someone who like can finish your sentences or has the punchline to your Joe, or you are like, you're like kindred spirits. So we did work really well together, and I think that sort of like pointed me in a more comedic direction.

I read that prior to your days on MTV, you were also in an improv troupe with some lesser known comedians Nathan Fielder, Seth Rogen. I am. I have so many questions to ask you about this because I'm such a huge fan of both of them. Please my first question, Nathan Fielder, what was his vibe like when he was performing improv? Was he still doing kind of like that dry same delivery that he has or did he have more range?

The literal exact same. Nathan Fielder was the same man. He's one of my closest friends now to this day. He's the same now as he was.

When he was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old.

And Seth Seth too. Seth was just like a stoner kid in high school. He literally had bleach blonde dreadlocks. Nobody looked at Seth and thought like that guy's a star, said him to Hollywood.

It was the opposite.

If you were like put least likely to succeed in our high school yearbook, it would probably have been Seth.

Oh my god.

And I think the funny thing was that we were on this improv team and we were successful, like our in our province in British Columbia. We won the provincial championships and then we went to the nationals the Canadian This is so.

Embarrassing to what was the name of the team.

We were like Point Gray High School as our high school improv team, okay, And when we got to the nationals, we were doing like Seth and Nathan style of comedy, very cerebral, very low key, not like Jim Carrey vaudeville style, and we got there and everyone was doing human pyramids and like full on musicals, and our jokes about the Bible did not hit. And I think we finished last or second to last in the National Improv Championships because people weren't ready for that style.

I think at that time. And now Righteous Gemstones is a huge hit, right ahead of your time. Yeah, y'all got the last laugh for sure. Now that you're on the road, you have a new side hustle. You started hosting on Airbnb. You have to tell me about that, because I'm about to start hosting on Airbnb for the first time.

Oh gosh. I mean, I'm away so much. So we have a little guest house. It was a garage, and during the pandemic, I had identical twin two year olds running around and suddenly had to shoot a daytime talk show from home and was like, I'm gonna have to do it in the garage. So we converted the garage into a beautiful six hundred square foot guest house.

And because I'm on the road so much, it kind of just sits there.

And at one point I thought like, what if we just rented it when we're away, like when we're not in the house. And we did it and it was so easy, and we made, like you said, a little extra income while I was away. And I thought like, oh my gosh, why don't we do this every time we travel? And I feel like, honestly now, as a family, we travel more because we can just I mean, it's it's not cheap to go anywhere these days, especially if

While we're away. Okay, so you're going on tour this fall. I'm so curious which is the tougher crowd a comedy club or the family dinner table.

Oh my god, my family, yeah, oh god, my family.

My children are like, what do you do? Why do people think you're funny?

Like, no, no, no, I can crush on stage like give me a theater or whatever.

Yeah.

Like at home, I'm the least funny person. In fact, my kids think my husband is way funnier than me. No way, Yeah, my husband's like the Human Pyramids, doing the Human Pyramids and the music like way back at that improv competition. I'm I'm slightly more cerebral. My kids don't get.

It yet, you know what I mean. Jesse, thank you so much for coming on the bright Side. Thanks for joining us. Thank you guys. Jesse Crookshank is a stand up comedian, TV host, a mom of three, and so much more. You can catch Jesse on tour this fall, and you can find her guest house on You Guessed It Airbnb. This segment was in partnership with Airbnb. That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're back with another edition

TikTok Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok that's ro Ba.

Y see you tomorrow, Folks, keep looking on the bright side.