The following is a transcript of this episode. It has been edited for clarity.
Intro: Have you ever dreamt of getting off the grid, leaving your job and your life behind, and setting off to travel the world, or at the very least, finally embarking on that once in a lifetime vacation? My guest on this episode is a woman who left her life and her job as a consultant behind for an entire year to travel solo. She says anyone can do what she did with a little planning and saving, and that the experience can be life changing. So whatever kind of travel you’re yearning for, this episode is for you. We’re dishing up travel tips, we’re chatting about dream destinations, and most important, we’re talking about how you can start checking those items off your travel bucket list and making it happen.
Welcome to More Beautiful, the podcast for women rewriting the midlife playbook. I’m Maryann LoRusso and I invite you to join me and a guest each week as we strive for a life that’s more adventurous, more fulfilling, and more beautiful than ever before.
Maryann: I’m here today with consultant and travel buff Natasha Augustine. Natasha’s day job is providing companies with human analytics and behavioral science data and strengthening leadership teams by aligning their people strategy with their business goals, values and purpose. Natasha has consulted in many different sectors, including the hospitality industry, which is where she may have gotten bitten by the travel bug, but we will find out. Hello, Natasha.
Natasha: Hello. How are you?
Maryann: I’m well. How are you doing today?
Natasha: I am wonderful. Thank you so much for asking.
Maryann: Good, good, good. Natasha, your career seems so interesting. You’re a coach, you work with companies, but we’re here today to talk about travel. You recently decided to take a year off from work in order to travel. Tell us how this came about and how it ties into your work, how you managed to get the time off and why it was so important to you.
Natasha: In, 2018, I had decided I was going to get into a relationship, so I hired a matchmaker. I believe that if you want something, you should put some investment towards it. Well…I went on six dates and got to the point where…I realized that I’m not going to wait to go places. People always say, I’ll wait till I retire to travel or I want to go places with other people. And I realized, you know what, if you do not do it now, it’s not going to happen. So I started saving and I cut back on my living expenses significantly. I stopped buying shoes.
Maryann: Oh, God. [Laughs] That’s where I draw the line, girl.
Natasha: I stopped buying shoes. And you don’t realize how much money you pay for shoes, especially until you start buying plane tickets. You’re like, wait a minute. Right.
Maryann: You’re so right.
Natasha: That was a pair of shoes. And so I was walking around on, my travel, you know. So I stopped. And when you start saving money, you realize how easy it is to save money. And you get very, very frugal. You start not needing things. And when I put my money into a high yield savings account and I started seeing that interest build that sort of did it, I just saw that money growing. So that started in about 2018, 2019. Long story short: Saved money, put it into the account, reduced my living expenses, stopped going out and drinking as much. Covid helped with that. And I started putting it out into the world that I’m going to take a year off. At first it was very internal. And then I said, you know what? Put it out there. Start telling people.
Maryann: You made a declaration.
Natasha: Yes, I made a declaration. And, everyone that I shared it with was like, how are you going to do that? They had a lot of questions and it was very disparaging, as if I were spending their money. Well, what about work? Well, what about this? Well, what about that?
Maryann: The questions they were asking you are the questions they really wanted to know for themselves.
Natasha: Yeah, they were looking at it through the lens of their life, not the lens of mine. So moving on, I started booking flights. So I’ve been working since I was 13 years old. Here I am, 50 years old, and I was like, you know what? You’re telling me I can’t have a year? I have a coach—I always tell people, all elite athletes have a coach. And in my world, I’m an elite athlete, just like you should be an elite athlete in your world. So having a coach is something that is going to make you better. That’s why people have coaches. And my coach and I, we talked about it for years and we went through the whole why and what’s the story behind it and what’s going to prevent you from doing it? What’s the worst case scenario? What’s the worst thing that could happen? What about money? All of these different things. And so I decided it’s time. And it was a year before I wanted to start. So that had to be 2020.
Maryann: You really planned ahead.
Natasha: I can’t say I planned, it was just in my mind. I didn’t have a how, I just had a what. And so I finally went into work and I told my boss [at my small consulting firm], I’m looking to take a year off to go travel. And of course, just like everyone else, it was met with disbelief. Well, what about, what about, what about, right. And so one of the things he said, and this was the thing that took me over the edge, he said, so you’re telling me if you were to leave today, you have the means by which you could do this? And it was the most empowering, beautiful moment because the answer was, yes, I do. And there was nothing that anyone could take away from me. I was willing. I was resigning my job. I didn’t expect to. So it was, you know, well, if I have a job [when I return], I do. If I don’t, I don’t…[and] I’ll figure out a way to make money. There was a time in my life where it was all about the money, the title, the clothes, the hair, the nails, the shoes. And you had to have means to do all those things, right? That changed for me. I’ll tell you, when I hit right about 50, I was like, you know what? I have zero F’s to give anymore.
Maryann: I host a podcast for midlife women. That’s all we say around here.
Natasha: And then this man said to me, this 60 something year old man said to me, well, what are you going to do about insurance? I said, I don’t know. I guess I’ll get like an Obamacare or something. I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. And he goes, a year is not a really long time. We’ll see you when you get back. And I just stopped because that is not what I expected to hear. And he says, why don’t you just call me once a quarter, say there’s nothing out there, and we’ll pay your insurance. OK, so now it’s real. Now you gotta do it. You’ve been talking all of this junk for all of these years, and now you’ve got to do it.
Maryann: I love the way you point out that our priorities have changed in midlife because they have. Right? And if you’re not going to do it now, then when? And as soon as you say you’re going to do something, I like the way you set an intention to do it, because then you’re kind of putting yourself on the hook to do it. And I’m so happy that you gave yourself permission to do that, to finally, you know, do what you were dreaming of doing.
So many women in midlife have travel on their bucket list
Because so many women in midlife, they have travel on their bucket list. Either we’re looking forward to travel because we’re becoming empty nesters, or maybe soon we’re going to be empty nesters. We could be thinking down the road to retirement or semi retirement, or we just want to take some time off like you did,
and we may just have this bucket list that we’re ready to start checking off. Why do you think so many of us have these travel dreams. And what was yours like before you set off on this journey? I mean, did you have specific locations in mind? Was there one place you were dying to go to?
Natasha: Well, I think that when you get to midlife, you start realizing, well, what I realized. Let me rephrase this. Half my life’s over. If I’m lucky, half my life is over.
Natasha: And many people in midlife, they have children that are coming out of college, going into college or coming out of college, and they realize they’ve given their entire lives to this thing. They’re formidable years to this thing, whether it be to a family, to a job, to, building a home, acquiring the things. Right. The George Carlin skit. And there’s this. I feel like there’s this emptiness sometimes in people. Things that they regret or that they should on themselves, is what I like to use the terminal. You should on yourself. And I always tell people, are you shooting on yourself right now?
Maryann: When you put it that way, it’s kind of makes you think.
Natasha: It makes you think, right? And so from a travel perspective, when you were in school, they tell you all of these things. They. It’s in books. You study all of these things. And I thought, you know what? I want to go put my eyes on it. I want to go see it for myself. I did not have, and I do not have, because I’m in the middle of this thing right now. I do not have an agenda. I do not have a, per se. I want to go and just touch it, see it, feel it. I’ll give you an example. I was in Germany, and I was walking on the cobblestones in Germany, and something just came over me. Like, this was here hundreds of years before me. It’s going to be here 100 years, thousands of years, maybe even after me. I am this little blip on the screen. How important are all of the things that we deem important in the space of time? We’re only here for 100 of these. This cobblestone has been here ten times as long as I have or will be.
You’re still in the middle of your year of travel, right?
So just to clarify, you’re in the. You’re still in the middle of your year of travel, right?
Natasha: Yeah. Started in November.
Maryann: In November. Oh, so exciting. And where are you right now? Where are you zooming from?
Natasha: I am zooming. I am at home. Dallas, Texas. I leave Cuba in three days.
Maryann: Okay. And so far. Tell us where you’ve been so far.
Natasha: Okay. I had to write it down. I have a travel journal that a friend of mine gave to me, and it has all the places and it has notes and things like that. So I started in Turks and Caicos in November. Then we went to Ecuador, the Amazon, and Galapagos, which, the galapagos is one of the places I want to go back to. I’ve done Morocco, which is awesome. Vietnam and Cambodia. Bali, Hong Kong, Dubai, the Maldives, Belize, the Bahamas, Cancun. I don’t really count those because everybody goes there, you know. and most recently, I just got back from China.
Traveling solo is hard because it’s expensive. Right? Did you have a list before you started
And did you have a list before you started, you said you were kind of just throwing it to the wind, but obviously you had a first destination. Right? Did you know what your first destination was going to be?
Natasha: I did not know. I decided whatever’s on sale, that’s a.
Maryann: Great way to look at it. Yeah.
Natasha: And traveling solo is hard because it’s expensive. Right. So what I started to do is I started to call travel companies, like, tour companies, to see if they had, like, last minute spots left, like they were trying to fill a tour, and I would ask for a discount.
Natasha: Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. So it was a mix of group tours. group tours and solo tours has been the mix. So I didn’t necessarily have a bucket list. I just knew I wanted to see things like Egypt. I did Egypt five years ago and just, again, like, just like Germany. Just seeing it was just magnificent. And I felt amazing. I felt so liberated and so free.
Natasha: And everywhere I go, I realize that people. People are the same. People just want love. It doesn’t matter how much money they have. And everyone said to me, you were so lucky to be born in the United States, which also puts things in a lot of perspective as well, because we’re thinking we just want to get out of here.
Natasha: And everybody else just wants to get here, you know?
Maryann: No, I was going to swing. Just circle back to what you said about solo travel and it being more expensive, and we’re going to get into all the different types of travel and a little later in the show, but, you know, certain things are cheaper when you’re solo traveling. Like, for instance, when I go to New York alone, which
Maryann: I do a lot, I can get a Broadway ticket for so cheap, you know, for one. Like, a lot of things for one, end up being cheaper.
There seems to be this travel bug that midlife women are catching
So we’ll talk a little bit about that later, but I would love to just mention for our listeners out there, that there seems to be this travel bug that midlife women are all catching and there’s so many articles being published about this and I love to throw out some interesting stats. Okay. Forbes magazine recently reported that 64% of travelers worldwide are female and that the average Us traveler is a 47 year old woman. They also reported that 80% of all travel decisions are made by women and that, women spend $125 billion on travel a year. This was in 2023, but roughly that every year. So we are really leading this, this travel movement. I feel like women are out there. They are flying and driving and boating and taking, you know, planes, trains and automobiles everywhere. They’re doing it alone, they’re doing it with partners in groups. So it’s so exciting and I think it’s a kind of a part of that midlife picture that we all have for ourselves.
Natasha King says her favorite solo trip is getting lost alone
of all these different kinds of trips, I know you’re in the middle of this massive solo trip, but of all the different types, like, you know, family vacations, girls trips, solo excursions, they all have their benefits and their purposes. What’s your favorite, and do you like to do all of those?
Natasha: Yes, is the answer. I like to do all of those. But my favorite is getting lost alone.
Maryann: Or it doesn’t matter.
Natasha: My favorite is getting lost alone.
Natasha: Being lost trying to find a bathroom. Being lost trying to find this, maybe not that. No, seriously, just trying to find a bathroom. Because you’ve got to speak. You’ve either got to speak the language. You’ve got to have a amazing charades game. Okay. You know, or you have to have, or be in a. Because I don’t believe you always have to spend money to travel. Once you’re in a spot, you discover parks, you discover little nooks and crannies. And I love the group trips because one, you don’t have to plan anything. And going back to what you said about women. Absolutely. Women have always been the one that books the travel. We bear the brunt of, not only supporting the household and managing the household dollars, but also when we’re going to go somewhere, we’re the ones doing the research, so we know how to do, but it’s always for someone else. When you’re doing it for yourself, it changes everything from the type of hotel you stay in. Because we like pillows and we’re hot.
Maryann: Well, that’s a whole other episode. Yeah.
Natasha: Yeah. So we want a place that has, you know, a great air conditioning and you can get a drink at the bar and you feel safe walking at night and you meet people. That’s the beauty about the very solo travel, even if just not even traveling with a friend, but just going by yourself. You meet people, you talk to people.
Maryann: I thought you were going to say you can control the air conditioning and.
Natasha: Your, and you control the air conditioning.
Maryann: And what is kind of saying, natasha, what is it with these hotels that now the AC shuts off in the middle of the night to conserve money? That makes me bonkers. If a hotel does that to me, I’m never going back.
Natasha: Well, let me tell you the other thing they’re doing now. You know how you have to put the key in the thing to turn the electricity on?
Natasha: One, always. Everybody knows this. Carry an expired, an expired card from another hotel and you keep it in there so you don’t have to worry about that. But two, they lock it to 22 degrees. Celsius, which is hot.
Natasha: So this is another time where I, you go downstairs and you act like, you know, just either you have two choices. You act crazy or you act ignorant, like I don’t know what’s wrong with my room. It’s just so hot. And you caught, you have to call down three times because they ignore you.
Natasha: Yeah, yeah, they ignore you and they’re like, oh, no, it’s fine. Oh, no, we fix it. No, it’s hot. No, it’s hot.
Maryann: Or, but my thing is they fix it and then it goes, it turns off in the middle of the night. There’s like a 02:00 a.m. cutoff or something.
Natasha: You get up, you open the door, you turn on the lights, and then you close the door again and it has to start back. It’s like connected of somehow.
Maryann: Oh, it drives me crazy.
Natasha: It makes me insane. But, but yeah, to be hot. And then, you know, there’s a couple of different things. You have, you have your, you know, your cooling jewelry, your wet towel, you know that wet towel that when you. The cooling towels, that’s the saving grace, right? Or you go get a wet towel out of the shower and you just rub yourself down and as you’re, as it evaporates off of your skin, you cool off. And here’s the other thing. King size beds.
Natasha: Because you’re on one side, that side gets hot. So you flip over.
Maryann: God, these are good. Oh, my gosh. I know. You know, and I also read somewhere about
Maryann: going back to the stats and stuff, that even women who are married or partnered, they like to go on solo trips because, I mean, it’s just the thing that we’re doing right now and then the girls trips and all of that.
Natasha: We’re going back to the solo trips. The reason why they like traveling to solo, because you only have to worry about you exactly. When you’re with your, let’s just say, okay, let’s just go solo trip. First solo trip, you only worry about you, what you want to eat, where you want to go, when you want to get up, all those standard things. Right? When you do the girlfriend trip, just one girlfriend, it brings back your years.
You’re not as cute as you used to be when you were 26
And this was something I wanted to make sure that I wanted to bring up to you. You’re not as cute as you used to be when you were 26, 25. My travel tip when I was in my twenties was you just make friends with the guys on the resort that do the water sports, and you say, oh, we want to go off the resort, but, you know, we don’t have a car. And they always say, we’ll come pick you up because they want to travel with pretty girls and take them out and say, you know, and they don’t want to lose their jobs. So for the most part, you’re fairly safe. All right. When you get 50, you’re not one, you’re not a stupid one, right?
Maryann: Absolutely. Yeah.
Natasha: And then, and then two, you have more money, more disposable income, and you, you just don’t, it just doesn’t flow the way it used to flow.
Maryann: So I will object to the fact that we’re not as cute as we used to be. I, think we’re just cute to the different types of people. I mean, do you really want to catch a vote ride from a 25 year old at this stage in your life? I don’t. Exactly. Right.
Natasha: So, like, you’re just. It’s a different kind of cute. Like, we’re a different kind of cute. Right. We’re like, more. We’re. We’re more sexy and refined now, as opposed to just.
Maryann: Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that.
Natasha: Yeah. Sexy and refined versus silly cute. Let’s go that way.
Natasha: but it’s still a technique. The water sports guys like to hang out. So if you want to find out where to go, you ask those guys, because the people in concierge and the ones behind the front desk, you know, the bougie ones. Right? Because they’re so important. They’re behind the front desk, and I was in hospitality. So there is a tertiary structure in the hotel industry. Call it what you like. It’s the truth. The guys in the water sports are the most fun because they’re out there all day in their trunks getting people to have fun. So if you talk to those guys, they will tell you where to go. They’ll tell you where to eat. They’ll tell you where to hang out. And it’s usually the guys, not the girls, because the girls are usually behind the desk or either getting you drinks or whatever. And they can be fun, too, but you chat those guys up. So when you’re with your girlfriend, going back to the original story, when you’re with your girlfriend, you remember those times, and you. You. You lower these boundaries that you have all the time because you’re taking care of things. You’re so responsible, all that stuff. So we’re having fun again, right? So that’s the girlfriend trip, then the girls trip, right. You have the different levels of traveler. The one that never goes anywhere, the one that doesn’t have any money, the one with five kids that you can’t find, the one that’s going to sleep the whole time because she’s just tired.
Maryann: I think you’re writing a screenplay for a girls trip. Two.
Natasha: It’s true. And then there’s the one that. Which is the one I sort of am, the adventurer. I want to go see stuff. I want to get off the resort. I want to go stay in an Airbnb, not on the hotel, whatever. So you have all these girls, and you’re trying to manage those personalities and that, So if you don’t have an itinerary, you will spend your time talking about, well, what do you want to do? What do you want to do?
Maryann: Are you the one that’s like, get up, everybody. We’re going.
Natasha: I’m the one that’s. I’ll be back. And when I come back, I’m gonna have a great story. So you can either go with me, right? Or you can stay. It’s up to you. Because here’s the other thing I believe about vacation. Going back to the group trips. The vacation is your vacation. If you choose not to talk the entire time, don’t talk. If you don’t want to eat, don’t eat. If you don’t want to go, don’t go. This is your vacation, and we have enough on us on an everyday basis for me to relegate what you do on your vacation.
Natasha: And I think that takes a different kind of person because some people want that involvement. Some people want to pull everybody in and do the group thing.
Maryann: Yeah. I think the best groups. The best groups are when everybody’s chill. Right. No matter what they want out of the vacation. They’re just chill and relaxed about it. And they’re not blaming people for not wanting the same type of vacation they do. And they just go with the flow. Like you wake, somebody might want to wake up at seven and go for a walk. And like you said, who wants to come with me if they don’t? So what? You know, you have to be flexible when you’re traveling in groups.
Natasha: Absolutely. And then in midlife, it’s also different because you don’t feel this responsibility for everybody else’s fun.
I like surprises. I’m not one of those people who just does what tour books tell me
And this is another term and you don’t yuck anybody else’s yum. Right. I’m not going to yuck your yum. If you want to eat
at the five star restaurant instead of I like street meat, okay? If somebody’s cooking it on the side of the road, that’s the meal that I want. But I’m not going to yuck your yum because you want to put on a dress and go to the high end restaurant with a tablecloth. Right?
Natasha: So that’s the group trips. Then there’s the tours. And I love a good tour because you pay your money and all you have to do is show up on time. Somebody else does the transportation, somebody else does the itinerary, somebody buys the tickets, somebody tells you what time to be there, and you go places that you would never go yourself if you were booking this trip, there’s no way you’re going to plan to go to 15 cities and what hotels you’re going to stay in. You spend all your time planning. And I like surprises.
Natasha: Go on these group trips. It’s like, I’ll never forget, I was in, Morocco and we were in this little. Did you know there was skiing in Morocco?
Natasha: Morocco was not at all what I thought it was going to be. And the tour we got, our bus broke down, which you got to have a bus broke down story. Always the best story. And we broke down in this little ski town in Morocco. It looked like the Swiss Alps.
Natasha: And we were supposed to just stop there at this coffee shop. So we stopped and it was like a coffee shop that you would never think would be in Morocco. It was just like a very m modern, very beautiful shop with a fireplace and all this stuff. Anyway, bus broke down, didn’t tour. Guy was getting a little antsy and he was pretty chill the whole time, so he’s getting antsy. And we were all just like, dude, we’re good. You know, it was like, I think 15 of us. We’re like, we’re good. Don’t worry about it. We’re going to go here, have coffee, we’re taking pictures. It’s all good. So needless to say, so the bus finally came, whatever. And he’s humping it. We skipped lunch and everything. He is humping it and we’re trying to figure out why is what’s his. Well, not, we’re trying to figure out. I’m trying to figure out why is he tripping. I didn’t realize we were going to go ride a camel and sit on the sand dunes and watch the sunset. It’s one of my favorite pictures that I have, and I didn’t read the itinerary, so it’s this amazing surprise. And I know for some people they’re like, what do you mean? You aren’t reading the itinerary. Right? I like the surprises. So I think that.
Natasha: Getting running the streets of Paris like a stray dog with no itinerary versus the group trip where everything’s planned, there’s a spectrum, and until you do it, you don’t know what you like.
Maryann: It’s so true. Yeah.
Natasha: And I believe that’s the, for middle age, that’s one of the most important things. You remember Runaway bride, how she liked her?
Natasha: It’s like that. You don’t know what kind of eggs you like until you eat the eggs.
Natasha: So it’s, I believe travel is like eating the egg.
Maryann: Yeah. It’s funny because I like to plan the basics of a trip, but then leave, like you said, leave room for exploration and spontaneity. I’m not one of those people who just does what the tour books tell me to do. I don’t like to spend my entire trip visiting museums and tourist sites. So I will hit the top sites. But then what I love to do is spend the bulk of my time wandering around. Like finding the locals favorite spots, those little hidden gems, right. And talking to people and asking them what they think I should do. Like asking the locals, asking the concierge, how about you? How do you approach it once you’re there?
Natasha: 100%. We could go together.
Maryann: Absolutely. Yeah. Let’s plan something.
Natasha: We can go together. Because if you book your time, I’ve got to see this. I’ve gotta, gotta, gotta one. You just put yourself back at work, it becomes a job.
Natasha: And there’s no space for you to just enjoy who you are. You find out who you are when you talk to the guy at the coffee shop. You look up, they say Americans smile too much. I learned that. I know I smile too much. They say they know Americans buy. They smile too much. They tip in their shoes, and it’s all true. But I talk to people. I make eye contact. And, can’t think of the name of the book right now. The celestine prophecy. Have you read it?
If you compliment someone, it sparks a conversation
Natasha: All right, so, you know, there’s no such thing as a coincidence when you are traveling by yourself. You make eye contact. When they make eye contact back, don’t look away, and it always sparks a conversation. Or you see it. My other thing is shoes and bags. And when I say shoes, I mean comfortable shoes. Those look like comfortable shoes. Oh, that bag is perfect. And you. If you compliment, just like Dale Carnegie, right? And, you know, I’m a coach, so, it’s the books that come out, right?
Maryann: How to win friends and influence people.
Natasha: There you go. It’s a standard. It’s old, it works holdy.
Natasha: Or there. But if you tell someone, if you remember their name. If you ask their name, and then you remember their name in conversation, and you compliment someone about something that they have, something simple. Oh, you know, the right cup of coffee. The right cup of coffee to order. Or my favorite. You look like the kind of person that knows
Natasha: your way around here. I’m looking for. Or I wanted to get. Or I hear there’s a drink I’m supposed to get. People offer advice. People love offering advice.
Maryann: M. It’s so true.
Natasha: You ask, and if you ask questions. And this is a coaching, thing, but I’ll use it without using who, what, when, where, how.
Maryann: That’s the journalism thing. Yes, that’s my thing.
Natasha: So, you know, tell, describe, explain. Help me understand, explore with me. If you. If you start your sentences off those five ways, you get so much more information.
Natasha: I was in. I was in Paris another time, and I was in this coffee shop, and I just started talking to this girl named Flora, and she was with her friends, and everybody wants to practice their english, so they were talking to me. I was pseudo talking with them. I ended up in Paris at a nightclub, dancing to music. I have no idea what the music was saying, but it was just music. But I would have never done that had I not met Floyd. And we’re still friends on Facebook.
Maryann: That’s awesome. Yeah. That is so cool. we were in Indianapolis, my husband and I, taking my son to see his school. And we were at this restaurant, and this waiter, he looked so unhappy. He was kind of sullen looking, and I just started asking him questions. And I asked him about the Indy 500, because there was a picture on the wall, and then his eyes just lit up. He started talking about how he and his mother still go every year. This guy was probably 40, and he goes every year with his mom to the Indy 500, and they picnic outside, and they watch this thing from the spectators, grass. And he just, like, got so happy. And then he started telling us about secret tips for getting into the Indy 500. And, I mean, people’s eyes light up sometimes when you just start asking questions. Right?
Natasha: Yeah, because you’re. Because it’s. It’s reciprocal. And like I said earlier, human beings are the same. I was in Cambodia on this boat. I can’t remember the name of the lake, but it was this boat camp where all these. Some people will use the word refugees. I’m not going to use that word. I’m going to just say people that are housed alternatively. And we were touring, and it’s awful. But you know what? We were given a money, so. And I mean that by spending money. Nothing. Giving money. Not just, but spending money. And there was this boat built on top of those blue barrels, those big blue plastic barrels that you would put waste in, or whatever you want to call it. And we were in this boat. It was a man and a woman, and they were dancing.
Natasha: So all. It’s the human condition. People, no matter where you are, want to be loved. People love, people laugh. People dance. And if you’re fortunate enough and lucky enough to be a part of or experience that moment of joy, that’s where you realize your joy is. And the thing that I’ve learned more than anything else is we have too much stuff. So true, and we don’t need it. And it’s really helped me because I minimize. Because I moved out of my place. I live in a rented room in this lady’s house.
The moment that you realize that it’s really about the joy is when this changes
Everything that I own is in a ten by ten room. And I got rid of so much, and I don’t miss any of it. So the moment that you realize that it’s really about the joy and you let go of the material things, that’s when this makes the difference.
Maryann: So many of my m guests say that, yeah.
Natasha: Putting your eyes on it yourself, making connections with people, and realizing you don’t need all this stuff, I think, is what I’ve gotten out of this board, and I’ve learned a lot about that. I’ve become more communal. I’m, a much more communal person than I thought. That’s what I’ve gotten out of this.
Do you like to bring home a souvenir from every trip
Maryann: Speaking of stuff, we’re just talking about how you don’t need all this stuff. Do you like to bring home a souvenir from every trip? Like something special that reminds you of that trip or a photo is enough.
Natasha: I buy one souvenir everywhere I go. And I’m going to tell you, this souvenir I buy. I buy a magnet for my mother.
Maryann: Oh, and that’s so sweet. Collect them.
Natasha: Yeah. Well, I don’t know she even likes it. Okay. I don’t even know. I don’t even know if they’re in her refrigerator, but I buy it for her because we grew up without a lot of means. And my mother, every now we all talk. Every now and then we’ll talk and she’ll say, can you believe a little girl from the 9th ward is traveling the world? And I know my mother would never, it wouldn’t have even crossed her mind because she was trying to survive her entire life.
Natasha: And no one knows why it crossed mine, but I feel like I take her with me and I buy her these magnets. And that’s the only thing I buy. I take zillions, ridiculous amounts of pictures. Like all of us, too many. But that one magnet. And I’m looking at my refrigerator right now because, you know, I can see everything in my room. and I have all these magnets. And every now and
Natasha: then I’ll open up a box, put all the magnets in the box, ship them to my mom. And then I have one other thing. I have this.
Natasha: This is called the wanderer key fob.
Maryann: Oh. And you collect those. Okay.
Natasha: And it has like a little token for all of the different countries.
Maryann: It’s almost like a charm bracelet, but it’s a key ring type of a scenario. Yeah, that’s cool.
Natasha: So that way you don’t have a bunch of, again, accumulating.
Maryann: Right, right. One thing I do like to bring home is something food related, because like, for instance, my husband and I were in Mexico City and we fell in love with. I eat tuna tostadas with this matcha sauce, which has like, this yummy peanut y flavor. And I have since tried making it myself. And it’s good, but I bought a jar of that. Like, you know, things that we know we want to recreate. Like, if you want to recreate an experience, an incredible dinner or, you know, a bottle of wine from, you know, Paris or something like that, is also special. And it doesn’t take up room in your house. Right.
Natasha: I. And you eat it, so it’s not gathering dust in your house either. Right. So, Okay, so I’ll have to say yes. Do I do that? Yeah. But it never makes it onto the plane because I found this milk cake in China, and I was eating this milk cake like it was going out of style. And it’s just a cheapy little milk cake. And I bought four of them to bring home.
Maryann: Well, that’s. Well, you enjoy them. That’s the. That’s the important thing.
Natasha: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Long flight.
Maryann: Well, yeah, the food stuff. I also like art. Sometimes local art. If I find something really, really special or if it’s something to commemorate a trip, a special trip, like an anniversary trip or, like my daughter’s birthday trip or something like that, and we find something that’s just so beautiful and special that we know we’ll have forever. But you’re right. I don’t like hauling a lot of junk home. I don’t do that anymore.
Natasha: And you don’t need as many clothes as you think you do.
Natasha: And I’m not telling you to backpack for, you know, a month. I’m not saying, you know, put everything in a backpack. I’m not. I’m not one of those people. I bring enough, but I’ll bring a big suitcase, or I’ll take a big suitcase, but I only fill it halfway. I use the compression packing cubes, so you find your packing.
Maryann: Those are awesome. Yeah. And it’s so funny. I recently read, a quote somewhere that said, dress on vacation to see the world, not to be seen. So instead of worrying about what you’re wearing, just put on something simple. And, you know, those mix and match outfits. And I worked in fashion for many, many years, so I love talking about fashion, too. But, you know, I love also the idea of having, like, three colors, like, you know, like beige, white, and blue or something like that. And you can mix and match. So you bring less clothing with you on your trips and just get up in the morning and go, like, easy dressing for, you know.
Natasha: You are a fashionista. I am not. I went to rei and got outfitted for my trip. I basically have a uniform.
Maryann: What is it? Tell us.
One kind of trip where I do get suckered into buying clothing wise is resorts
Okay, one. The Columbia shirts. Right, the button down shirts, because you can take those off, put them on the duluth trading company, tank tops with the shelf brae.
Maryann: Oh, those are good.
Natasha: Yeah, under the shirts. And you can take them off, or you can tie them around your waist. Or you can, you can use them to tie your head up when you go into temples, things like that. The men’s cargo pants, because the women’s, I don’t know why they cut them or think we want our butts to be that tight while we’re walking around. I don’t know. And, and the ones that cut off at the, the knee that you can slip off for shorts so you don’t have to look mannish. a very definitely the comfortable shoes. I let go of trying to be cute, right? Because, like you said, it’s not about being seen. And some people, and when I like, I’ll never forget Bali. All those beautiful pictures on Instagram of these wonderful, these beautiful long dresses. And you’re standing there in the sunset. Those, those pictures. No, no, it’s too hot. I did it. I brought a whole, anger watt Cambodia. I had this dress. And I want. Because you go to this temple and you go watch the sunset at this temple. And I wanted these pictures. Golden hour. The whole thing had on. This dress was sweating ridiculously. No more.
Maryann: I have to say, though, the one kind of trip where I do get suckered into buying something, clothing wise, is those resort vacations, like, beachy vacations, because you never buy that stuff normally. And then you’re, like, walking, you know, in a hotel, and you see this resort shop and you see this, like, I don’t know, like a sarong or a bathing suit or a sundress that you would never in a million years wear at home, but you just get caught up in the, in your surroundings. And, in fact, like, a couple years ago, I did an episode with Sigrid Olsen, the fashion designer who is designing. She does a resort line, and she says that’s where she’s planting most of her goods in or in resorts because that’s where people buy that stuff.
Natasha: Yeah, you just, you either. You either are. You either do or you don’t.
Natasha: And I just make a point not to every now and then. I was in I remember Cambodia once, and I was so hot, I was soaking through all my clothes. I walked to the little vendor, and I was like this with my arms out, and I was just, take my clothes off. They took all of my clothes off and put me in, you know, a new outfit. And that was it because I was just hot. But it’s just. Oh, and my biggest hat, my biggest hack, disposable underwear.
Maryann: Hats. Hats are hard to tell. Pack that. I have, like, a little hat that, you know, a straw hat that you can roll.
Maryann: And tie and stick in your suitcase. And then it expands. It’s, it’s wonderful. I’ll put one link in the show notes. Yeah.
Natasha: How do you dress on the plane? Because it’s chilly
But Natasha, other tips for maybe even like, how do you dress on the plane? Because it’s chilly in there. Gets hot in there.
Natasha: Absolutely. So my backpack is what I call my comfort pack. I bring my own blanket. I have a foot hammock.
Natasha: You put it on the back of the tray table. Because I’m, five two.
Maryann: I’m short, so I’m five one. I get, I gotcha.
Natasha: Yeah, I understand for you to sit for 13 hours in coach because I’m not buying business class for, with your feet on the ground, it hurts your back, but a foot hammock, it puts your feet up. You put your foot in a little hammock underneath the tree table.
Maryann: I have to get one of these.
Natasha: Dollars, $15 on Amazon. So I have that, I have the blow up foot rest. If you put it in between the two seats, you blow it up, it makes it flat. So you can literally just kind of curl up if you get the window seat. Oh, so I bring my blankie. I bring, something. I always bring my water bottle. Always have your Columbia water bottle. Fill it up so that way you don’t have to wait for them to bring you drinks. Yeah, I always have some gummy bear, so something sweet, something salty. Your podcast download. I used to do my iPad, but international travel, I’ve seen all of the movies, but, you know, download what you want on your iPad, and on your phone, your podcast, like whatever your standard podcasts are, go ahead and download. And then your audible books. So it’s like a three year old. Keep yourself entertained.
Maryann: Absolutely. What about a shawl? I feel like I need to bring a shawl wherever I go. Or at least like a light, light jacket.
Natasha: Well, I bring, well, like what you asked me originally, the original question was, what do you wear? So, elastic pants, right? I have my booty, my booty socks in my comfort kit. So you take your shoes off? I always. Tennis shoes, always lace up shoes. I never wear slides or anything like that because what if something happens and you gotta run?
Maryann: Always thinking, yeah, so I always wear.
Natasha: Lace up shoes, but I take them off and put my booties on. I have my blanket, and then I wear the tank top with a long sleeve shirt. So because a jacket is another thing to leave. By the way, I keep an apple airtag in my jacket now. smart as I’ve lost many of them. so I don’t. The jacket is in the book bag if I need it. but I don’t literally use it. So the long sleeve Columbia shirt or the rei shirt, you know what I’m talking about? Like the safari shirts, the. With the little. Because they have a little pocket. So, so you can take that on and off with the tank top. And then always. I have a, purse about eight inches by six inches.
Maryann: Yep. That’s what I have. And you tuck it into the bigger bag, right?
Natasha: Nope. It know my body.
Maryann: Oh, you just keep it on. Even sleeping on the plane.
Natasha: Even sleeping on the plane. I tuck it on the side of it. Has my passport in it, my money in it, my lip gloss, of course. Facial, little thing for your. Because the skin gets dry. and your lip gloss, your phone or whatever. But. And I’ll tell you why I don’t ever take it off. One time, a flight attendant told me to take it off because she caught me. Like, usually they don’t even pay attention to it, right? And I, because I was, like, trying to get off the plane and all the hubbub that goes on. I left it on the plane.
Maryann: Oh, that’s the worst.
Natasha: My passport, everything. Because you can get separated from a bag, but if it is on your body, because I also have my wrist wallet with a little zipper. Do you know that? Wrist wallet?
Natasha: Wristband. and of course, your money belt. If you want to bring a money belt, because you have to bring small bills, a lots of ones and fives when you travel. So if you have hundred, if you have 300 ones and, you know, ones, fives and tens, which is what I always suggest. $20 bills are ridiculous to break in countries.
Maryann: Yeah. So I always put a small crossbody inside my tote bag, and I never take it out unless I’m walking through the airport. I take it out immediately when we land and put it on my body. But then during a flight, I’ll just put it inside there. And I also carry a very, very, very light travel umbrella. Like one of those. Just a few ounces.
Natasha: Yeah, I keep that in my bag, but my selfie stick.
When traveling alone, you don’t have to worry about somebody else taking your pictures
So I bought a really nice selfie stick with a remote. It’s actually not a tripod, it’s a quad pod. because when you’re traveling alone, you don’t have to worry about somebody else taking your pictures. You can take your video and I believe, put you open it up, take your video. People love my videos. They always ask, do you have a podcast? Do you have a video? You know, a YouTube channel?
Nope. I make it for my friends. But guess what it does. Starts conversation with people.
Maryann: Yeah, that’s okay.
Natasha: I always have my selfie stick. I always have my twelve by twelve ounce, my 20 1oz backpack that folds into a little deal, that folds into a little pack. So you have that, the compressed towels. You get it in camping goods. It’s a little silver cylinder and it has a compressed towels and towels come about twelve by twelve and you can use those for everything if you get hot or just to wipe something down. so certain things I keep in my bag at all times, but that crossbody thing with the pet, your passport and everything in it. Everybody has their thing. I have adhd, so if it’s out, it’s just like men, out of sight, out of mind. So I keep it on my body, but keeping, and then in my bag, my backpack, there’s a secret pocket. That’s where I keep extra credit cards and extra money.
Maryann: Very cool. Yeah. And keep your cards in your phone if you have a, like a wallet, like an apple wallet or something, in case you do lose your actual wallet. Yeah.
I’m noticing that more people are doing theme trips
So Natasha, I love to move on to this idea of theme travel because I’m noticing that so many more people are doing these theme trips, whether they’re, you know, like, I don’t know, adventure travel, things like whitewater rafting or hiking trips. Other people are doing cooking excursions, maybe in Europe, food and wine, tourists. Is there anything that you’ve done or have been itching to do in that arena?
Natasha: My favorite one was crazy rich Asians.
Maryann: You remember the one? Yes. Is that a tour?
Natasha: No, a group of friends of mine, we did crazy rich asian style in Singapore and we did everything in the movie. Ah, so we stayed at the marina, marina Sands hotel. I mean the Marina Bay hotel. We went to the gardens, we went to the place where they had the Singapore sling. We did everything that was in the movie. So that was one, the there was another one, it was surrounding music, so we just went, it was me and my friend and we just went for live music. So we went to a city and we just found live music. some people do the cooking, but I’ve done cooking, cooking shows, that shows cooking classes, so I like to do classes, whether it’s a dance class. I try to, so it’s not the whole trip, isn’t surrounded by it, but I try to do a cultural event in every trip of some sort.
Maryann: Yeah. And, you know, I think it’s so great that you guys are doing your own. You’re inventing your own tours. But there are also these pre packaged tours people can buy. And then also, even if you just go to a city for a weekend, what I like to do is, if you’re looking for something original, you can look into local walking tours. Like in New York, they do an awesome literary tour. And I did, in Savannah, like this haunted house tour. I mean, those are. And Seattle has a great one. They have an underground Seattle tour because who knew there was an entire town under built on top of the one, you know?
Natasha: Yeah. And you discover these things. Like, you talked about Chicago, and New York, the boat tours. Whenever you go to a city with a port, the boat tour. But a walking tour lets you get kind of a lay of the land. And then you can go back to places that you want to. And I do that even in town. I just did a bank tour in Fort Worth, Texas.
Maryann: Oh, interesting.
Natasha: And they did the history and architecture of banks in Fort Worth. And he does it once a month. And it’s different things. So every city buy a city pass and do a stake. That’s. And. Okay, yeah, city pass.
To do something solely just for you is the most beautiful thing
Maryann: Let’s touch on that.
Natasha: City pass. So when I lived in Fort Worth, I don’t know if you know much about Texas. They say it’s called DFW. It’s not DFW. Dallas Fort Worth is not Dallas Fort Worth. There’s Dallas and there’s Fort Worth.
Maryann: Yeah. I used to go to the, juvenile products, manufacturing, industries, trade shows. Because I used to edit a baby magazine back in my twenties. I used to go to Dallas like twice a year. Yeah.
Natasha: Yeah. So Dallas Fort Worth, it’s like cash and credit is what they say. Okay. And when I lived in Fort Worth, I took a day trip to Dallas, got on the train, bought a city pass. And alone. If you’re not comfortable with the solo vacation yet, because once you do it, you won’t ever want to do anything else. just take a day trip to another city, buy a city pass. That kind of gives you some guidelines. Eat, drink and be merry for a day. Maybe even spend the night in a hotel and then come home. I did it just. I just. That’s what I came back yesterday. I went down to the hill country and did winery tours yesterday because I just wanted to get out of the house. I left on Friday. Friday. I’m sorry. I left on Saturday night, got a hotel, drove down, got a hotel, went to some wineries and bummed around, found a great Terry black barbecue, in Waco, Texas. Ate there, went to some wineries and then just drove back. I did that yesterday because I’m bored.
Maryann: Funny you say that. Once when I was in Dallas for that show, a photographer I was working with, she lived in the area, and she drove me out to Waco for the best Texamax
Maryann: food. And it was, I can’t remember the name of the place.
Natasha: Yeah, so, there’s, there’s a million ways to do it and there’s not a right, and that’s the thing, don’t wait for the right way, because the way I’m doing it might not work for you. The way, the way I’m spending my money might not work for you, but if it’s in you and you want to do it, it doesn’t have to be high risk. Just do this little thing for you. And when you do it for you, it changes everything because you get a little. My mother always said a woman should always have a hobby, not to make money, not for anyone else, but just for herself. So whatever that little thing is that you do for you will be the most fulfilling, beautiful thing. And it’s just, we give so much of ourselves, so much, all the time to other people. To do something solely just for you is the most beautiful thing that you can do.
Maryann: Okay, that was so nicely put. I wish we could end the podcast there, but I have a couple more questions you should have ended with.
You can’t talk about travel without talking about food, right
That would have been a great exit line, you know, because, you know, we’re talking about food a second ago, and I was going to say that you can’t talk about travel without talking about food. So are you the kind of gal who needs to get, you know, I don’t think you are. But you know, some people need to get a reservation at the Michelin star restaurants when they go to a new city. Other people like to find the local hangouts and food trucks. Or are you somewhere in between? Like what are you looking for when you’re in a new city or place?
Natasha: Again, it depends on, it depends on the city, because I believe there’s value in spending the $500 and getting the wine and getting the tablecloth and getting the service and having the yummy, yummy, right. But I love street meat.
Maryann: You mentioned that.
Natasha: Eating it off the street, I love good food. Like in China. Oh my gosh, the food was so fresh all the time. You do? I don’t feel like you need to go to the best restaurants to get something curated when you can just eat great fresh made right in front of you. Food from a mom and pop shop. And I also believe in supporting mom and pop, not corporate America or franchises.
Maryann: They say you have to take precautions eating street food in some places.
Natasha: Okay, so there’s another thing. Charcoal pills, because I know I eat street meat. I always have charcoal pills because if you start feeling. And I’ve been fortunate, and I’m not saying I have a rock gut stomach, because I do not. if you feel a little ill, people have. Because you always travel with your, of course, your diarrhea medication, your alka cell. So your pepto bismol, you know, all your things, you always have that in your bag. But charcoal pills, if you feel like you’ve eaten something that just didn’t sit right, it will suck the toxins right on up. So that’s another. Even though I haven’t had to know.
Maryann: that they’re there.
Are there any websites or apps that you couldn’t live without for travel
Are there any websites or apps that you couldn’t live without for travel? Like for girls trips? I love split wise. Cause it kind of, like, lets you keep tabs on who’s spending what. So you don’t have to. Right. And at the end of the trip, you just kind of, like, settle everything up. It’s so convenient. And then I also, in terms of books, not apps, I love this book called Road Trip USA because my husband and I have been using it for countless road trips, not just on the west coast where we live, but across the country. We once did a six week cross country road trip, and another time we drove with the kids up the east coast from Florida to Maine. And this book was so incredible. So do you have any secret weapons, like books or apps that you like to use?
Natasha: Again, I like surprises, so not necessarily books. but you know your apps, your Google translate. Right? Your, currency converter.
Maryann: Those are great.
Natasha: Yeah. There’s a. There’s a. An app that you can book excursions. I don’t know if you want me to name it.
Natasha: Okay. So I use viator a lot. and then I use, I guess, just regular google because I just like to go places and do the thing. But via tour, if you want to do something very specific that’s set up for you. But if you’re doing group travel, a lot of times it’s set up.
Maryann: Oh, I want to also mention there’s an app called Road Trippers that’s really fun if you’re taking your road trip, because it will tell you, like, all these little secret pit stops and roadside attractions and restaurants. So that one’s fun, too.
Natasha: That’s cool. That is so very cool.
Southeast Asia seems to be the hot spot for travel these days
Maryann: Natasha, have you heard about any hotspots lately? Like, it seems like every year there’s one or two locations that everybody’s going to, like. A few years ago, I think it was Costa Rica. Everybody I know was going to Costa Rica, and then it was, like, Australia. And I feel like the last year it’s been Cambodia or Vietnam. Like, what are you. What’s buzzing around you now?
Natasha: Where? Southeast Asia?
Natasha: Yep. It’s. It’s the, you know, I did the Bali, I did the Vietnam, I did the Cambodia. I didn’t do the Thailand. I really want to do the Thailand. but it seems like Southeast Asia is where people are sort of going. People are going everywhere, mind you. but Southeast Asia seems like the hot spot. And, of course, I did the flying
Natasha: dress tour in Bali. I was magnificent. I was a Disney princess. you, fun field. If you ever go to Bali, you fun field. The guy’s name is Michael. He is amazing, and he owns this place, and it is. He has the longest dress in the world. You know what I’m talking about? The flying dress?
Natasha: I’ll have to send you a picture. You’ll love it. I’m so cute. but he has the longest dress in the world, and it’s just a great experience. And then he takes you on a nature tour barefoot. You experience the rice fields barefoot.
Natasha: On this whole nature tour, you’re walking through. and I don’t walk barefoot, so it was crazy. But you go visit the farmer. You’re with the chickens, you plant rice with the farmer.
Maryann: I am dying to go to Bali. That’s my bucket list.
Natasha: Transformative. Bali was mine. My Bali is. I stopped saying my favorite. One of my favorites. It was transformative. Can I tell you about that trip really quickly?
Natasha: Okay. So originally, I was planning to go with a friend, and we were going to go to Bali. Last minute, she fell out. That’s the other thing about travel. If you’re going to go, go, you have to be prepared for the fallout. Okay. Anyway, she fell out, and we were booking this trip just for her and me. So I called the agent who was booking everything, and I told him, she’s gone. He goes, well, I can just. I’ll just re engineer it. So he reengineered it for me. I did not realize what I had done. I got there, there was a car waiting for me. This really nice car. A driver and a guide. I had booked a, two week trip solo with a driver and a guide the entire time. So I had this, man to myself the entire time. He’d pick me up every day and he would teach me something. I didn’t realize it until, like, the middle of the end of the trip, he would teach me something every day. We did these meditative trips. We did all these things off the grid because it was just, well, I think you might like this. And I got to the point where I realized I had booked too much. And that’s very doable when you don’t know you just book stuff. So I booked too much, and I was complaining, and I was like, oh, we going wherever? And then I was like, stop. One, you booked this tour. Two, you’re complaining in the back of a beautiful suv with a driver and a guide about you’re tired, you’re doing too much. Get over yourself, little girl. Because it was the little girl in me come. The little whiner in me coming out. Right. How fortunate are you to be with Pooja? And we’re doing black sand meditation on the beach. We’re going to these waterfalls that you’ve got to. You’ve got to hike a mile and a half. And this man was 60 some years old, hiking in flip flops.
Maryann: I can’t imagine what kind of information he had to share.
Natasha: Oh, trans. Bolly was trans.
Maryann: Okay, I need to call you back when I’m headed there because I need to pick your brain more on that trip.
Natasha: I’m all in. I will go. I will meet you there. How, about that.
China was not at all what I expected it to be
What was another transformative trip like? What would you say really sticks in your mind?
Natasha: China. China was not at all what I expected it was going to be. It was one of the cleanest places I’ve ever been in. I felt it was so comfortable. The people were super friendly. It was almost calming. And other people that were with me on the trip, they were like, it is not what we expected at all. And it wasn’t. It was amazing. It was beautiful. And I would absolutely highly suggest people go there to see for themselves before they assume something about a place.
Maryann: Did you go on a tour there or just.
Natasha: I went on a tour. Okay, I went on a tour. Now I had an opportunity to wonder. I had the best Alison again, you and I could be on the phone for hours. I’m not going to do that to you. Had the best Alice in Wonderland story. just following this old guy. So I had a lot of time on my own, and I was so glad that I did. It was so good. It was so worth it, and so not at all what you thought it was going to be.
Every time I go solo, I wish I was on a group trip
Maryann: So do you at the point where if you go on a group trip, you’re kind of like, oh, I wish I were here alone. Do you ever think that?
Natasha: Yeah. Every time I go solo, I wish I was on a group trip. And every time I go with a group, I wish I was on a solo trip. So there’s a balance. There’s. Because when you go on a group trip, there are things that you would never do on your own because it would just be too tedious.
Natasha: When you’re on a solo trip, that freedom. So there’s, like, cuba. I’m going early, and then I’m going. There’s the group trip part of it, and then I’m staying. So there’s. I believe you find your freedom in between the two, and that’s just what works for me. That might not work for everyone else. So.
So what’s up next for you? What’s remaining on your bucket list
So what’s up next for you? What’s remaining on your.
Natasha: Okay, so what’s remaining is. All right, so we have Cuba coming
Natasha: up. On, my last trip, I met all these people from London, and I’ve never been to London, and it’s a disparaging reason.
Maryann: I love London so much.
Natasha: I’m so glad you’re saying that, because I’ve never been to London, because everyone’s like, well, everything is free. And I was like, you know, all the museums and things are free. And I was like, well, they stole it from everybody else. Why would I want to go see stuff they stole? And I could go to the place where it came from. Right? So that’s why I never wanted to go to London. But having met all these wonderful people, it’s so multicultural.
Maryann: Once you get there, you’re gonna be like, this is not what.
Natasha: I’m pretty excited about that. Right. So I am. Literally, before I got on the phone with you, I was booking London. So I have London left. I have London coming up. I have. So August is open because I was. And it’s this thing that I do that I say I don’t do. my girlfriend’s birthday is in August, and I was kind of leaving that spot open, so maybe she would join me for a trip. Okay.
Maryann: Is she. Is she. Does she need a little coaxing? What do you know?
Natasha: Her name’s Carmen and Adeline.
Maryann: Carmen. Carmen. Come on. You want to go on this trip? You know? You do.
Natasha: Yeah, I know, right? And so I was saving it for her, so there’s a little hole there. September is Ireland.
Maryann: I recently went to Dublin on a girls trip, so I love Dublin. So we went to London and Dublin.
Natasha: Okay. So that’s cool, because I wanted to go to the Guinness factory, so I booked the vi. Yes.
Maryann: That’s a fun. That’s a fun tour.
Natasha: Yeah. So I’m gonna go do that.
Maryann: And you can get your faces on a mug of beer.
Maryann: Not a mug. What’s the foam called?
Natasha: So I’m gonna do that. so then, September, October is Iceland.
Maryann: Oh, another list, too.
Natasha: Yeah. November, I go to Connecticut to pick up my cat.
Maryann: Where in Connecticut?
Natasha: A new place to live. And I have a birthday trip. I haven’t decided my birthday trip. I’m thinking Thailand. And then December, I go back to work. See, how fast it goes by. This year has flown by.
Maryann: Of course it has, because it’s been amazing.
Maryann: Yeah. wow. I’m going to circle back with you in December to see how you’re feeling about going back.
Natasha: I will tell you this. There. There are women that are. That are on your podcast or in your. Your multiverse that have retired. This was a little taste of it.
Maryann: I’m glad you said that.
Natasha: And ladies, it is amazing not having to be anywhere. And that’s the thing about, they’re like, well, how do you handle jet lag? I was like, jet lag is only important if you got something to do.
Natasha: I got nothing to do. I, wake up when I finish. That’s my favorite thing I want to do when I retire. You want to know what my retirement goal is?
Natasha: To wake up when I finish sleeping.
Maryann: Mmm. That is my dream, too.
Natasha: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if something happens, you know, and I find the Saudi prince that wants to marry me, I will let him, because I love my job. I love my people.
Maryann: A Saudi prince may not let you travel alone.
Natasha: You know what I mean. I enjoy my life and what I do for a living and helping people be the best people that they can be. But not having to work is a very wonderful goal that I am looking forward to. I don’t know if and when it’s going to ever happen, but I will say this. Once I go back, no one will ever be able to take this experience away from me. And I’m proud of myself. I’m happy for me. And I can’t think of any better gift I could have ever given myself than this year.
Maryann: And I will say that a lot of women are trying to reconcile their work lives with this. This desire to travel. And so many of them are trying to figure out, well, how can I take my job on the road, or how can I get a job that allows me to be mobile? Right. And that’s another way you can approach it.
Natasha: Yeah. Yeah. And I chose not to do that. That was one of the options when I originally brought it up. Well, you know, we work remote because after Covid, we never went back.
Natasha: so I can work wherever, but I’m either. I’m a 100 percenter. I’m either working all in or all out. Yeah. So I decided to be all out. And I. A year? You telling me I can’t have a year for me? So I did it, and I’m glad that I did.
Maryann: Well, I am so glad that you showed us how to do it and that it’s possible. And I think so many women out there, I hope we’ve revved them up to either take a trip now or to start planning for that retirement or to just. Just get out there and see the world, because it’s, you know, it’s one life. Right? We only got one life to live.
Natasha: Yeah. And on your deathbed, you’re not going to be saying, I wish I would have stayed one more hour at the office.
Maryann: That’s right. Any last-minute tips we didn’t cover?
Natasha: Disposable underwear.
Maryann: How did we miss that?
Natasha: We were talking about the best travel hack on the planet.
Maryann: I heard that from somebody else.
Natasha: Buy them by the pack on Amazon, disposable underwear. Throw them away and move on with your life.
Maryann: And, I’m always out here saying that disposable fashion is not good. But that’s probably the one time it’s OK. Like, if you’re backpacking through Nepal, it’s okay to throw out your underwear.
Natasha: Or if you’re 100 degrees in Egypt and you’ve been climbing all day. I don’t want that in my bag.
Maryann: Natasha, tell everybody out there where they can find you.
Natasha: You can find me on Facebook. I make my posts public so you can see I really try to take you with me. And I’ll tell you what my uncle said to me. He goes, you’re the most traveled person I know. And I said, well, as I’m traveling, I’m realizing I’m not. I’m meeting people far more traveled than me. And what he said to me, he said, but you’re taking all of us with you. And there are people that may never get on a plane or may never travel. I am trying to share with them what I’m experiencing. Send me messages, you know, let me know what’s going on with you. If you’ve been there, if there’s a place that I’m in the neighborhood and I need to be there, let me know. And I love it. And I enjoy you. And Maryann thank you so much. This was fun for me.
Maryann: Thank you so much. And good luck with the rest of your trip. Have an amazing time and keep us posted.
Natasha: Absolutely. You take care of yourself, lady.
Thank you so much for tuning in to More Beautiful. Please visit Borebeautifulproject.com for show notes and bonus content. And it would mean so much if you could subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening together. Let’s continue to change the conversation around aging.
