anything goes with emma chamberlain - travel tips

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

well…. i lasted 4 days back in la and decided i needed to go back to nyc, so i’ve been traveling A LOT. needless to say i’ve picked up a lot of travel tips over the years that has made my life easier and i wanted to share with you guys. some boring but very useful packing tricks, how to plan things in advance, tips on traveling alone, and seriously plz stop going to cheesecake factory i beg you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm recording this live from my bed in my hotel in New York City. I'm so sorry. If you're listening to this with headphones in, like I'm just genuinely sorry that you had to hear that in HD quality in your ears, that is so unfortunate. I'm so sorry. Hopefully it was kind of good. Anyway, I am in New York, and I'm recording this in New York

because I'm kind of on a travel kick recently. I was in New York two weeks ago, and then I went back to LA, and then now I'm back in New York for another little vacation. I mean, I'm technically working while I'm here too, but it's a vacation in my eyes. In my eyes, it's a vacation. But I've been traveling a lot recently.

I mean, as I just described, I was in New York earlier this month. I was also in Paris. Now I'm back in New York. I'm going to Paris in a few days. And then I'm going back to New York after Paris. And then I'm going somewhere else. Like, I don't know what's going on with me. I'm just on a travel kick. But all of this traveling has really taught me a lot of lessons

about traveling because my God, you know, like when you travel that much, you really, you learn a lot of shit about how to travel in the best way possible. Because traveling is not easy. It's very stressful and borderline upsetting sometimes because it can be really physically and emotionally exhausting. And I feel like everybody's goal when traveling is to make it as easy as possible. But making it easy takes some practice. I've definitely gotten my practice in within the last month because I've been traveling so

much. I thought that I would share some of my favorite tips and tricks in today's episode on how to travel in the most pleasant and easy way possible. Also just give some hacks and tips on how to make traveling the most enjoyable experience possible because, you know, I think a lot of people romanticize the idea of traveling. I even do it myself. You know, you might look at your favorite travel blogger on Instagram and think, wow, they really have it made.

But the truth of the matter is, traveling is one of the most stressful things on this planet. And I mean that fully. And I'm grateful every time I get to travel. But at the same time, it always ends up being more exhausting than I expect. But on that note, here's some advice on how to travel like a real pro. And listen, I don't know if I really am a pro, and I feel kind of weird calling myself a pro, because there's definitely a lot of people on this planet that have traveled a lot more than me. But listen, I'm doing my best, okay. This is my travel advice. Okay, first we're going to start out with packing advice. This is possibly the most boring part of travel is the packing,

but I do think it's important to touch on. Number one, I recommend packing outfits rather than packing random pieces of clothing. The reason for this is that you're streamlining the process and you're ensuring that you won't pack useless pieces of clothing that won't match other things in your suitcase. Do you see what I'm saying? If you pack in outfits, then you're ensuring, okay, I have X amount of outfits that I can rely on that are already pre-chosen for me, by me, that I can just go to at any given moment while I'm on this trip. It takes the thought out of everything. It makes life so much easier. I started doing this a few years back

when I went to my very first Coachella and I picked out all of my Coachella outfits beforehand and I packed them all in my suitcase. And I realized I was like, I just packed so much less shit than I normally packed because I packed outfits instead of a bunch of random shit. And this is really goddamn efficient. Like I'm gonna start doing this more often and I've been doing it ever since. The other option if you don't really want to pack outfits is to pack with a color scheme. So instead of pre-picking out outfits, you know, stick to a color scheme. So maybe your color scheme is all neutrals, like white, black, tan, gray, whatever, only

packed pieces of clothing that are in that color scheme. And then you can kind of mix and match everything to make outfits once you arrive. That's also good. That's also really good. That's good for longer trips because you can make even more outfits out of the stuff that you packed than if you pack outfits. Because obviously the mixing and matching really leaves room for endless possibilities. My next packing tip is listen. If you're stressing out because you can't fit a shampoo and conditioner

bottle in your bag or you can't fit a toothpaste in your bag, okay, that's pretty small. If you can't fit a toothpaste in your bag, you need a bigger bag. But you know what I'm saying? Like, if there's something that's just not fitting in your bag or let's say you're not checking a bag, so you can't pack like a full-size shampoo and conditioner, but you really want that. Don't fucking stress out. Relax. Take your panties out of a bunch and when you get to your final destination, go to the store and buy some. I don't know what it is, but for so long, I felt like I needed to pack everything down to a T when I would go on a trip

because I had this mental block. I felt like if I forgot something, then I was screwed. Like I couldn't go and fix my problem and I couldn't go and get what I forgot. Find peace in knowing that you can go to the store. I don't know why we forget this. And maybe this is just a personal issue that I had. Maybe nobody else can relate to this, but I always felt like if I forgot one thing or one thing didn't fit in my bag that I was screwed. Absolutely not. Utilize the store.

If you're too lazy to pack a shampoo and conditioner, go to your nearest pharmacy store and pick some up when you arrive. It's not that hard and it's actually kind of fun because you get to go in a little adventure and pick out a little shampoo and conditioner for yourself for the trip. And maybe you can even try a new brand that you haven't tried before

and you can be adventurous with a new flavor of shampoo and conditioner while you're on your trip. Okay, it's cute, it's fun. Don't worry if you forgot one of those essentials or they didn't fit in your bag, whatever it may be, don't stress. Always remember that there's a store nearby and that you're gonna be fine.

My third and final packing hack is, when you're packing your clothes in your suitcase, the best way to fit the most things you can possibly fit in your suitcase is by rolling your clothes. Okay. Don't fold roll. I know this is pretty well known, but for those of you that are not rolling your clothes, you need to start rolling because it really changes the game. You can fit 10 times more shit in your bag.

Also if you're packing purses or bags in your suitcase, fill those purses with stuff, jewelry, hair clips, sunglasses, socks, whatever it may be, fill your purses in your bags that are going inside of your suitcase with stuff, shove socks inside of your shoes that you're packing. Like utilize every blank space in your fucking suitcase and you can do this Those are all my packing hacks. They're honestly so boring, but I felt like we had to talk about them because you know packing is a big part of travel, but now we can get into the fun shit My first travel hack is Utilize the grocery store. Okay, I just started doing this recently, but it's been a life-changing lesson.

Food and eating when you're traveling can be really difficult, right? Because number one, you're unfamiliar with the area usually and you don't really know you know what the good restaurants are and then room service is really expensive so you know you don't want to do that for every meal and the snacks that the hotel usually provides are overpriced and not that great anyway. This is why you need to be going to the grocery store. On the first day of every trip, I always go to the grocery store

and I load up on a bunch of snacks. I get fresh fruit, I get crackers and chips and nuts and protein bars. Like the whole nine yards, I get a bunch of shit, right? And then I get back to my hotel room and I unpack it and I fill the little mini fridge in the room with all of my groceries. And sometimes, you know, you might need

a rearrange of the fridge, that's okay. It's not the end of the world. And then the reason why this is great is because if you wake up one morning and you're like, I'm hungry, I don't want to wait for room service and I don't want to try to figure out, you know, a cute little restaurant to eat at. You can just go into your little mini fridge and whip out a yogurt or something that you bought at the store, and now you're set for the day and you don't have to think. And sometimes that's exactly what you need.

You know what I mean? If you want to travel for a long period of time, like maybe for a week or maybe for two weeks, eating out for every meal is just simply not sustainable. It's gonna fuck up your stomach for one. Maybe not, but for me, it fucks up my stomach to be eating out for every meal. It's also very expensive,

and it can be really exhausting. And sometimes you don't have the energy to go out for every single meal. This is why having a fully stocked fridge with your own groceries can be a serious life saver. I also enjoy it too because I feel like I'm immersing myself in whatever city I'm in by going to the grocery store and going grocery shopping.

It immediately makes me feel like a local, which I just adore. I love feeling like a local when I'm traveling. And so going into the grocery store and shopping is a very local kind of behavior. And so you kind of get to feel like you're a part of the community for a second, and it's very fun. The other thing is you can get kind of creative with it. Like, I found pre-hard boiled eggs at the grocery store nearest my hotel.

And I was so excited, I mean, I've had pre-hard boiled eggs before, but you know, you don't know if you're gonna be able to find something as specific as that when you're traveling, but I was so excited because I was like, I'm gonna have my pre-hard boiled eggs. And I can, you know, I bought a salt shaker so that I could have some salt. and I can, you know, I bought a salt shaker so that I could have some salt.

I bought hummus so that I could eat hummus with my eggs. You know, and I really made it happen. I also bought oatmeal, like raw oatmeal, and I bought almond milk the other day so that I could make overnight oats, you know, and like it's fun. And then like, you have to get all crafty in your hotel room to figure out how you're gonna make this shit

in your hotel room. Like in order to make the overnight oats, I had to use a cup that I had used earlier in the day for water and fill it with the oats and the almond milk and then mix it up and then put it in the little mini fridge. And it was like, I had to get crafty. And you know what, shit like that makes me happy. And I don't know why that is,

but when I have to get crafty and I have to get creative a little bit, I don't know, it just like makes me feel good. And I feel like trying to feed yourself in a hotel room is really a fun challenge, you know? It's a fun challenge. So overall I would say grocery shopping on vacation is underrated even if you're in a hotel room that has a great room service. Go to the fucking grocery store. My next tip is that if you're staying in a hotel room, be careful when you let housekeeping

come into your room. Because let me tell you a horror story. So I was staying in a hotel in Paris and I had all of my camera equipment laying out on my bed because I do everything from the comfort of my bed. That includes filming, editing, videos, the whole nine yards. So all my camera equipment was on my bed. And I didn't put out the little slip on my door that says, don't come in. And so while I was out and about during the day, housekeeping came in and cleaned my room, which is incredible and very nice.

But all of my camera equipment was in my bed. And 99% of my camera equipment was in my bed and 99% of my camera equipment made it onto the nightstand safely except for one cord. I have this white cord that I use to import footage from my camera to my computer. It's a very important cord and it's white and the sheets in the bed are white. And so it got tangled up in the sheets and taken by housekeeping. I was devastated because I need that cord in order to edit YouTube videos, which is my passion in life and also something that I have to do. I guess I don't have to do it, but I want to do it. And so I was so upset because I was in Paris and I don't speak French like I don't know who to ask Where to go what to do to find this cord, you know what I mean? It was a very specific cord for my camera and

I Needed that cord to work on my YouTube video and so I Was beside myself Luckily And so I was beside myself. Luckily, I had a mutual friend who was a YouTuber, who lived in Paris, who actually brought me one of the cords, and shout out to her because that was incredible. She had one at home, and she just came over and brought it to me, and it was just the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me.

And so I used that in the meantime, and then the next day, just came over and brought it to me and it was just the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. And so I used that in the meantime and then the next day I managed to find a camera store and then I replaced the cord and everything was fine. But the moral of the story is that as great as housekeeping is, be careful about letting them in your room to clean. Make sure that all of your valuable stuff is packed away in your bag before you let house keeping come in. And if you're not ready and you have shit all over your room, put out the little slip

on your door that says don't come in. Do not disturb. Because I can't tell you how upsetting it was to lose a cord, you know, while in the middle of Paris, not knowing how I could replace it or how soon I could replace it or if I could even replace it. Like, it was one of the most upsetting things ever. And obviously, it's not the end of the world, but, you know, it was a huge bummer. So I would say, be careful about letting house keeping in. House keeping, I keep wanting to call it house cleaning. House keeping into your room.

Clean your room up a little bit before you let them in, okay? Be responsible, fucking adult. Next, utilize Yelp. Yelp, if you ever want to sponsor me, I would love to be sponsored by you guys because I am the biggest Yelp queen on the fucking planet. If you don't know what Yelp is, Yelp is basically an app slash website that basically shows you what even is Yelp? I'm literally looking up what Yelp is because I don't know how to describe it,

and I feel like the internet would help me describe it better. Yelp.com is a crowdsourced local business review and social networking site. The site has pages devoted to individual locations such as restaurants or schools where Yelp users can submit a review of their products or services using a 1-5 star rating scale. That's a great way to put it. I use Yelp for everything when I'm traveling. Sometimes I even go on Yelp before I travel to nail down like what restaurants I want to eat at, what stores I want to shop at, what the nearest grocery store is, what the nearest pharmacy is, like I will go on

Yelp and just find all of the addresses and all of the information I need about all of the establishments in the area that I'm traveling to. So I feel prepared. I use Yelp to find a coffee shop in the morning, I use Yelp to find restaurants to eat at, I read reviews to see, you know, if the places are good or not, like, I use Yelp for everything when traveling, and I think a lot of people, at least like people I've traveled with in the past, have not utilized Yelp and they don't know what to do when they're on a trip. They're like, I don't

know where to eat. Like we're in the, we're like in a new city. I don't know where the fuck to eat. I'm like, uh, bitch, have you ever heard of Yelp? What the fuck are you doing? Not going on Yelp? It is a life saver. I've found some of the most amazing restaurants, most amazing coffee shops, most amazing whole-in-the-wall thrift stores on Yelp. It's incredible. You go on the app and you just search coffee shop and it'll show you the top-rated coffee shops

within a two-mile radius of you or even less if you want. You can use a bunch of filters on the app to decide what kind of specifications you want, you can use a bunch of filters on the app to decide what kind of specifications you want for the certain establishment you're looking for but whatever, utilize Yelp because it is going to be your best friend when traveling. If you want to find the cool shit, you have to go on Yelp. Otherwise, you're going to be eating

at the fucking cheesecake factory. Now listen, I get it, the cheesecake factory is fun every once in a while. But if you're on vacation and you're gonna be eating at the fucking Cheesecake Factory. Now listen, I get it. The Cheesecake Factory is fun every once in a while. But if you're on vacation and you're in a new city, it's time to branch out and it's time to find the local, cool, yummy, fun hole in the wall, awesome spots. I use the word yummy, but Yelp can be used for things that aren't food. So I don't know why I use the word yummy. Yelp is just the perfect way to find

a little bit of everything, you know? And you can be really specific with your search to find exactly what you're looking for, and I think that's why it's so great. You know, you can look up French restaurant. If you want to eat at a French restaurant, and it'll just list every French restaurant in the area or You can look up

Outdoor dining if you're in the mood to eat outside and you can find all that information on Yelp It's just the fucking best Yelp if you ever want to collaborate Or you just want me to come into the office, the Yelp office to give you guys all hugs and kisses. On the lips, I would be happy to come into the Yelp office and give all of you literal kisses on the lips because I'm very, that's gross. I'm sorry, I'm taking it a little bit too far, but you get what I'm saying. I love Yelp. When you're traveling, use Yelp. How many times I have to bang that shit in your

gazes head? If I see one of you eating at a cheesecake factory, when you're in New York, I'm calling the police on you. That's a disgrace. You do not need to be doing that. You do not need to behave, be behaving like that. If I see you at a fucking Starbucks, I am literally going to find you, hunt you down, and scream at you in your face. Because you could be going to a very precious local coffee shop. If you just spent two minutes going on Yelp, I don't want to see you going to the fucking Starbucks.

You can go to Starbucks when you get back home. There's no need to be doing that. Next tip. If you're booking with some sort of site like Airbnb or anything like that, you know, like you're booking a rental, rather than like a hotel room, please read the reviews.

And I mean, read the reviews for an hour before you book a place. Because let me tell you a horror story that actually happened to me on this trip, because I'm in New York right now. So I basically had this concept where I wanted to come to New York and I wanted to do a real New York thing, right? I wanted to book an apartment rather than a hotel room and I wanted to cook for myself and clean up after myself

and spend, you know, 10 days or so in New York and really live the experience. Just to see if I liked it, you know, I'm always kind of having moving to New York on the back of my head, just like not right now, but like maybe one day, you know, I always have in the back of my head. So like not right now, but like maybe one day, you know, I always have in the back of my head. So I was like, let's really try it out.

Like let's really try it out and see how it feels and there's no better way to do that than to rent an apartment. So I went on Airbnb and I found this super cute apartment and you know, the price of it was the same as a hotel, like a decent hotel. But I was willing to splurge a little bit because I was like, you know what? I really want to make sure I'm in like a safe, clean apartment that's well maintained,

you know, because Airbnb can, you know, be a little bit iffy, right? I was like, I want to ensure that I'm going to have a good Airbnb experience. So I'm going to spend a little bit more money than I normally would just to ensure that the experience is good. And I had this expectation, I was like, this is going to be great. And you know, it was weird because all the reviews were pretty good. I skimmed through them. You know, I didn't read every single review.

I only read maybe three to five, right? But I was like, yeah, these three to five reviews look pretty good. The pictures of this place look pretty good. I'm just going to book it. And so I did. And I showed up to New York at 9 AM that morning. And I rolled up to my Airbnb and, you know,

the outside looked a little bit worse than I expected, but I was like, hey, I don't mind. Like, I'm, as long as it feels safe and secure and it's clean, like, I'm happy. I don't care. It doesn't need to be extravagant. You know, I'm not like, I don't give a fuck about that. Like, I'm more just like, want the bare minimum of a good experience.

I don't need something super crazy. I get into the lobby of this apartment after spending 20 minutes trying to unlock the front gate, which was very frustrating, but I figured it out. I get into the lobby of this apartment and there's just like trash everywhere and it was so dark and gross and scary and I was like, fuck. Okay, like, you know what, that's all right. You know, like, I am getting an Airbnb in a big city.

Like, big cities, you know, tend to be a little bit less pristine. You know, I totally understand that. I grew up near San Francisco. I know how it rolls in these bigger cities. Like I've been around it for a long time. I know how it, how it rolls, you know what I mean? I know how it goes. So I just was like, yeah, well, you know, the lobby is a little bit disgusting, but, um,

maybe the unit itself will be pretty. I get into the elevator. And the elevator is like creaking and like, it was a barely fucking move. I swear to God. But I was like, hey, you know what, it has a little bit of character. I'm just going to try to look at it on the bright side here, whatever. I get up to the room. I open the the door and it's just so bad. It was just so bad It looked nothing like the photos. It was not very clean. It was kind of disgusting in there It was way smaller than they described online It was like a hundred degrees inside of the apartment. Meanwhile outside, it was like 75 degrees.

So I don't understand why it was so hot in there. The decor inside was like really bad. And it was nothing like the photos in the photos. It was decorated differently. The room itself was like super, like if I were to like wipe my hand on the floor and pick my hand up, it would have just dirt all over it.

Like that's kind of the vibe. Listen, it wasn't, I was gonna say, it wasn't the worst Airbnb I've ever seen, but it might be actually the worst Airbnb I've ever seen. Now listen, if I paid, you know, under a hundred bucks for this place, then it would make sense, you know what I mean? But I paid a, you know, a decent amount for this Airbnb and the value of the Airbnb was maybe 80 bucks. And let's just say I paid a lot more than 80 bucks a night for this room.

Like this room should be priced at maybe 60 bucks a night. I kid you not. It's value was 60 bucks a night. Maybe 80, because the location is good. But it was bad. So I called the nearest hotel and was like, hey, do you guys have space? Like I need, I had an unfortunate Airbnb situation. Like, do you guys have space? And I need, I had an unfortunate Airbnb situation. Like, do you guys have space?

And they're like, yes, coming now. And so thankfully, I got a hotel and Airbnb actually ended up refunding me. So thank you, Airbnb, because I was really upset. I was like, I'm out. Like, I just wasted a fuck ton of money on this place for like 10 nights, you know, and now I'm not even staying there.

It just felt like such a waste and I was so upset, but I did get a refund, so thank you Airbnb for that. But I think what I learned from that was, you know, number one, read every single review before you book an Airbnb. And number two, maybe don't book an Airbnb in a big city. Like if you're going to the desert or to like a beach town

or to the mountains or something, renting a cabin or you know, a cute little house in one of those areas makes a lot more sense. And there's a lot more sense. And there's a lot less scamming going on. But renting an Airbnb in a big city is just your bound to get scammed. And that is what happened to me.

So I would say if you're going to a big city, just book a hotel room. And honestly, way the pros and cons of booking an Airbnb, because I kind of romanticized the idea of booking an Airbnb. And I was like oh, like, it's so much cheaper and all this stuff, but it really isn't. It's actually the same price as booking a hotel room. So unless you're getting a really good place that has a lot of space and it's like a house,

I would say you're better off booking a hotel room. I'm not gonna be booking Airbnb's in big cities ever again. That was a huge mistake. And when it comes to booking a hotel, like again, read the fucking reviews and look at a bunch of photos online. I would recommend going on TripAdvisor, it's a website, and they have photos on their site taken

by real people, and I think that shows the truth of the hotel a lot better than the website of the hotel, because the website of the hotel wants you to stay there, so they're going to make it look as beautiful as they possibly can. Whereas when you're looking at real people in their photos from their experience at the hotel, that's going to give you a real vision of what you're getting. You know what I'm saying? Also, you can go on Yelp and look at reviews of the hotel and like really get in there and read the fucking reviews.

You know, because it's super telling, you know? You wanna make sure that where you're staying is worth the money that you're paying for it. Because staying in a hotel, staying in an Airbnb, it's really fucking expensive. You know what I mean? It is, it's really expensive. And You know what I mean? It is. It's really expensive. And the last thing that you want is to show up in like,

hate where you're staying because where you're staying is a big part of your travel experience. And if you don't feel comfortable and happy there, it's a big bummer. And listen, the truth of the matter is like, you don't need to stay at the most extra avidant place ever. It just needs to be something that matches your vibe and what you're looking for. And so that's why doing the proper research is so important and is really worthwhile.

Don't rush into booking the first hotel that you see. Do a little bit of research and dig in there and make sure that you're finding a place that's perfect. Next hack is to steal the shampoo and conditioner from your hotel room. So basically, here's my thing. I always steal the shampoo and conditioner and body wash and lotion from the hotels that I stay in, because they're the perfect size for traveling.

And the next time that I travel, I'll bring the shampoo and conditioner with me, just in case, you know, the next hotel that I say at, doesn't have shampoo and conditioner. Now I have the perfect travel size shampoo and conditioner that I stole from the hotel, and they don't charge you, usually, for it. And it's usually pretty good quality, so I mean, a lot of people don't steal the shampoo and conditioner, but I always do, because the other thing is, if you use some of it, like, they're gonna just throw it out anyway,

so like you might as well steal the whole thing. Also, if you use it while you're staying at the hotel, usually they'll replace it as you're running out of it. And then you can just keep getting more. So I don't really feel like that's a good tip, but I just like had to mention it because I always steal the shampoo and conditioner. I didn't used to like that's a good tip, but I just like had to mention it because I always steal the shampoo and conditioner. I didn't used to do that when I was younger because I was like, that's stupid, I have my own.

But there's something kind of weirdly exhilarating about stealing it, and it does come in handy later. You know, it does definitely come in handy. It's nice to have for an emergency, you never know when you might need it, and then also creating a stockpile at home of all of your travel shampoo and conditioners that you've stolen is also useful because know when you might need it. And then also creating a stock pile at home of all of your travel shampoo and conditioners that you've stolen is also useful because then when you go to travel again, you can bring some for backup.

And it's just overall a great experience, but again, let's say your hotel doesn't have any shampoo and conditioner and you didn't bring any because you forgot, let's take it back to my first hack that I gave you guys, which is to utilize the store Don't forget that you can always pick things up from the store. It's not the end of the world. You won't die If you have to go to the store to pick up some last-minute things, you know what I'm saying My last few travel hacks are for those of you who are

traveling alone, because I travel alone quite frequently and I have a few hacks because I know the traveling alone can be number one intimidating, but number two kind of lonely. I mean, it can be really lonely, you know, and I even have moments. I consider myself to be very independent.

I spend a lot of time alone. I love doing things alone. It's great, but you know, it can still feel lonely at times. And I think that traveling alone is far more difficult than traveling with other people. And it would be a disgrace if I did not give some traveling alone hacks. My first and most important tip for traveling alone is to make an itinerary for yourself.

The thing about traveling alone is that there's nobody there to inspire you to get out and do shit, right? You have to kind of rely on your own inspiration. And what I've learned over time is that creating an itinerary in a plan for yourself can really help you motivate to get out of your room and explore. The perfect scenario would be to pick up your morning coffee, sit down on a bench somewhere, or sit at the coffee shop, and to go on Yelp, and just start looking up things that peak your interest, like maybe look up restaurants in the area, look up, you know, thrift stores in the area, look up museums in the area, look up stuff in the area, and make like a basic plan for yourself for the day. You know, write down in the notes app on your phone, your ideal plan for the day. That might look a little

something like this. 10 a.m. go for a walk in this park, 11 a.m. go get brunch at this restaurant that I found. At 12 p.m. go shopping in this cute shopping center. You know, at 3 p.m. go to this museum and at 5 p.m. go to dinner at this restaurant. Write down a night in a library, plan on a day for yourself that's exciting to you. Not only will this distract you from the fact that you're by yourself and you might be a little bit lonely, but also it will motivate you to actually go and make the most of your trip. I find that when I'm by myself, I tend to just lay in bed a lot and I don't mind that,

you know, I love laying in bed. Just as much as the next guy, okay, I love laying in bed a lot. And I don't mind that. I love laying in bed. Just as much as the next guy, okay? Love laying in bed, it's important. But when you're, okay, there is a siren. So to any of you who thought I wasn't in New York, if you can hear that siren, you should now believe that I am in New York. There's a lot of sounds going on, okay? Anyway, it'll really motivate you

to make the most out of your day, you know, and ensure that you're not just hiding out in your room all day because, you know, you're kind of scared to get out there and get going. I have a lot of fun making itineraries for myself. One of my favorite things to do is lay in bed the night before. You know, I have a free day in a city and just write down all the types of things that I want to do that day. If I don't end up accomplishing all of them, it doesn't matter, but it just gets me excited and it

gets me motivated to like really make the most out of my trip. And It gets me motivated to like really make the most out of my trip. And traveling alone can be such a beautiful thing and such an amazing thing. You just have to make sure that you know, you have a plan for yourself so that you don't just spend all day in bed. The other thing is that if you have an itinerary for yourself and you have a bunch of different activities planned, you know, you'll end up meeting people along the way because when you go out and adventure, you just naturally end up meeting people and having conversations that you wouldn't have otherwise.

That's awesome. But the only way to do that is to go out and experience the city. You're not going gonna have those experiences just sitting in your hotel room or ordering room service. Like, you need to go out and you need to do shit, you know? And don't be scared about what people think of you if you're walking around by yourself. Nobody gives a fuck.

Nobody's paying attention to you. And if anything, you're gonna look like a badass for rolling through a city by yourself. That's a very cool look, okay? Next tip for traveling alone, bring your headphones. This might sound stupid, but when I'm traveling alone, especially for a long time. I can start to get a little bit lonely and walking around a city all day, exploring can be fun, but it can get a little bit lonely at a certain point, which is why I love bringing headphones, plugging in my headphones, and listening to a podcast, or listening

to music, or calling someone on the phone while I'm doing my daily adventures. Especially if you're somebody who is planning on eating a loan at restaurants, like making reservations and sitting at a table alone, that can feel kind of intimidating at times, and I think it feels a little easier if you have headphones with you, so you can just pop them in and watch something on your phone while you're eating. That can be really comforting and make the experience a little bit less awkward, because I know that eating alone at a restaurant can feel kind of awkward.

The other day I got a table for one at this restaurant and people were walking by me and I, you know, I'm used to eating at restaurants by myself. But for whatever reason, you know, the crowd of people that were walking by my table were like, I felt kind of judged, like a lot of them were kind of my age and I don't know, I just felt like I was being judged a little bit and I probably wasn't,

but I felt like I was and so I just popped in my headphones and just started watching Random shit on YouTube and I felt safe. I was like None of these 20 somethings can judge me now Because I can't fucking see them and I can't fucking hear them Because I'm watching fuck that's delicious on Hulu. Not sponsored, but that is my favorite thing ever to watch. But yeah, I just kind of like takes the awkwardness out of it. My last tip for traveling alone

is to visit a place that is kind of busy. You know, I think that some of the best places to travel alone to are big cities. Chicago, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, places like that. The reason for that being is that there's so many people around that you don't ever feel that lonely. When I travel alone and I go to a place like the desert,

you know, one time I did a solo trip to Joshua Tree. And it went terribly because there's nobody in Joshua Tree. It's a very, very quiet, vacant feeling city. And I felt very isolated there because there was nobody around. So it wasn't like I could just walk out onto the street and see hundreds of people. You know, if I wanted to see hundreds of people,

I'd have to drive 45 minutes. And I didn't really know what to do with myself. And I ended up leaving that trip early because it just like, there was just no one around. Whereas when I'm in New York by myself, I thrive. I thrive because even though I'm there by myself, I never feel lonely. Like, I can go sit at a busy-ass restaurant

on a busy-ass street at any time of the fucking day. You know, I can spark up a conversation with anybody. There's so many people around. Like, if you wanna just have a little cute conversation with somebody on a street corner, you can. It's like, there's just so many people everywhere that there's endless room for socializing even though you're by yourself.

So I would recommend if you really want to do a solo trip, go to a big city because I think that that's the best place to do it. And if you do a solo trip, go to a big city because I think that that's the best place to do it. And if you want to go to a place like the desert or a little beach town or something like that, that's a trip that you should do with friends and family, you know, because those kind of more quaint, quiet vacations are better for bonding with people and spending quality time with the people that you love rather than you know Doing that by yourself. It's just it's just you're not gonna get as much out of it. I

Think that that actually is a really good travel hack Visit big cities by yourself Visit small towns quiet towns with your family and friends. That's the golden recipe. Not all the time, but I think generally that's a good role. That's pretty much all the advice I can think of. Hopefully that was helpful. I asked you guys on the Twitter at AG podcast to ask me questions about traveling and now I'm going to answer them and hopefully give more useful advice.

And maybe it's not useful. I never know. I never know with this shit. Okay, I'm just doing my best. Okay. Let's get into the questions. Somebody said, what is your favorite comfort item that you bring around with you when you travel? I love this question because I have such a specific answer. It is my heating pad. I have an emotional connection to my heating pad. I love laying on a heating pad at the end of the day. I just think it's so relaxing and comforting and it's become kind of like an addiction for me in a weird way. Like I cannot lay in bed without a heating pad. And I've talked about this before, but my favorite body temperature is to be really cold, but then to get into bed and get warmed up by my heating pad. Yes, it is stupid and weird, but it's my favorite body temperature. It's to be cold, but then

warmed up by my heating pad. I can't explain it, but my AC is always at 65 degrees, and then I'm in bed bundled up on my heating pad. It's definitely a little bit unnecessary, but there's something really comforting about it. So I always make sure I travel with a heating pad, and if I forget one, I will go to CVS and buy one, or any pharmacy or whatever. Actually on this trip, I forgot my heating pad and so this morning I literally went to the store and got a heating pad because I had to go like five days without one and it was genuinely upsetting for me.

And you know it's like 30 bucks, it's not cheap but it's something that makes me feel comforted and weirdly at home. And so I always make sure I have a heating pad. makes me feel comforted and weirdly at home. And so I always make sure I have a heating pad. Somebody said, do you poop on the airplane or do you wait until you land? I will poop anywhere, I have no rules.

If my body is ready to poop, I'll poop. And as somebody who has stomach problems, I don't fight my body when it comes to pooping because I am constipated quite often. And so when my body says, am I, it's time to poop. I'm ecstatic and I'm not going to hold back. I'm not going to wait. I will fucking let it go anywhere. I don't care on, on a fucking street corner if I have to. Like, if my body wants to poop, I let it poop because it's rare that my body actually wants to poop.

So yeah, I poop on the plan. Somebody said, favorite self-care item when traveling. Well, when I travel, I find that my skin gets really dry and so I love to bring a bunch of hydrating products. You know, my thickest face moisturizer is always in my bag. I love to bring hydrating like sheet masks and under eye masks and things like that that are easy to bring around and just whip out on the plane or once I get into the hotel room, just easy stuff to take around. That's hydrating because I've noticed that my skin just gets so dry.

And honestly, this sounds weird, but coconut water. Coconut water has a bunch of electrolytes in it. And when you're traveling, you tend to forget to drink water, your body, you tend to sweat because you're carrying a bunch of heavy bags, and you're losing electrolytes and you're becoming dehydrated quicker than you even can imagine. So drinking things like coconut water that have electrolytes in them can really help you rehydrate and keep you feeling energized and good.

So I'd really recommend getting a few coconut waters either in the airport or once you arrive at your location because I found that that's the best way to rehydrate after a long travel day. Somebody said, what's the most comforting place that you've traveled to? That's a really good question. I think Paris, because the pace of Paris is slow. You know, it's like very relaxing because the lifestyle there is very relaxing. You know, it's a little bit stressful because I don't speak French,

so there's definitely a language situation going on, a little language barrier, but most people speak English there, and it's pretty easy to get help if you need help translating stuff. There's usually somebody around that speaks English and French that can help translate. It's never been a massive problem.

And I just think that it's very relaxing because it's beautiful and the lifestyle in Paris is very relaxed. You wake up whenever you want, you look outside, it's so beautiful outside, it's so calm outside. I mean, obviously depending on where you stay, if you stay in like the downtown thick of it in Paris, you know, you might have a different experience. But generally, Paris is very relaxing. Europe in general, all the cities I've been to in Europe have all been very relaxing. Paris was very relaxing. When I went to Dublin,

Ireland, when I was younger. That was really relaxing. There's just a lot of beauty and nature in Europe. And even the bigger cities tend to be more relaxed than big cities in the United States. So I would say definitely Paris or Ireland. They're still exciting and there's still a lot of shit going on, but the pace is just slower. Like don't get me wrong, I love coming to New York and I love going to San Francisco, but those are kind of big cities, you know, there's a lot of shit going on and there's a lot of traffic and it's like, you know, there's a lot of shit going on and there's a lot of traffic and it's like

You know really stressful for some reason. There's just something more stressful. I guess there's traffic in Paris too I don't know. There's just something about the energy in Paris and the energy in Ireland that are more relaxing even though they're still busy and there's a lot of shit going on I Can't explain it, but there's just this calming energy Whereas like New York and San Francisco. I cannot say the same. It's very very Stressful, but it's exciting and I love it there, but it's definitely a little bit more exhausting for some reason and I can't put a finger on why but Yeah

Somebody said do you prefer traveling alone or with a group? I like doing both. I really do. I really appreciate both for different reasons. If I'm coming to New York or I'm going to San Francisco or I'm going to a big city, sometimes it's nice to travel alone because there's so much shit going on

already that the last thing I want is somebody chirping in my ear about what types of activities that we should be doing that day. Sometimes it's nice to be able to attack the city by yourself and do whatever you want on your own schedule and on your own time in an already busy city. Whereas if I'm going to a smaller town, I love going with a group because the main activity on that kind of vacation is spending time with people rather than trying to navigate a rustling bustling city.

So I think that there's a time and a place for traveling alone and for traveling with people. And I think that both serve a very important purpose in life. I just think it's about figuring out what makes the most sense for your specific trip. You know, traveling alone helps you reconnect with yourself and helps put your own life into perspective and can help you have realizations about your own personal life because when you're by yourself, you know, you're kind of forced to like reflect and especially when you're ripped away from your daily routine at home, it kind of changes your brain pathways. It changes your thought process because you're outside of the norm and so being alone in a

unfamiliar city you know can help you have realizations in a weird way. Traveling with one other person can help strengthen your bond with that one other person, whether that's your best friend or when your family members or, you know, your significant other, it can really help you bond with one person because you're navigating a city with one other person and you really get to see how they function outside of their own normal routine, you know, which can be really interesting and can teach you a lot about a person. And then traveling with a group is just a fucking party. It's so fun.

Traveling with a group can be really fucking fun. You know, the only problem is that sometimes, you know, there's conflicts of interest. One person wants to go to this restaurant. The other person wants to go to this restaurant. You know, one person wants to lay in bed. The other person wants to, you know, go on a hike. It can be kind of stressful in that way, but I think it can also be extremely fun because, you know, you get to bond with multiple different people at once in a really cool place. And so, I think it's just about figuring out what makes the most sense. Somebody said, do you usually feel homesick and what do you do to help with homesickness?

I might be a sociopath, but I don't really get that homesick. And it might be because I'm kind of desensitized to traveling because I've been traveling a lot since I was like 17 just for, you know, my unique lifestyle in a sense. I've just had to travel a lot more than I ever expected. And that started at a younger age for me. So I feel like I'm just so immune to traveling that I don't really get homesick anymore. I also think that the fact that I moved out at 17, dissensitized me to like being away

from home and being away from family and stuff like that, so now I'm just kind of numb in that way. Like when I travel, I just feel nothing. I'm very used to it now. But I do occasionally get homesick, for sure. It doesn't happen a lot, but every once in a while I will. And in those moments, I just call someone immediately. Call a friend, call my parents, call somebody, and just hearing someone's voice can be comforting beyond belief.

And usually that kind of helps me snap out of it. And I might even vent to whoever I call about how I'm feeling homesick. And I create a plan, you know, about how I'm going to turn my mood around. So you know, I might talk on the phone with my parents and be like, okay, you know what? After we hang up on the phone, I'm gonna go and get coffee and then I'm gonna go walk in this park. And I create a plan for myself to kind of get myself out of the rut.

And usually by the time I'm off the phone and out the door, I already feel better. Somebody said, how to avoid being scared of traveling alone. I would say my two tips for that is number one, do a lot of research ahead of time. There's nothing more comforting than feeling familiar with the place that you're going. So doing a lot of research about what types of things are in the area of where you're staying. You know, what the situation is when it comes to transportation, like, are you gonna have to take a taxi, are you gonna have to take a subway, a bus,

like, what the transportation situation looks like, you know, figuring out where the closest police station is, like, just, you know, doing basic research like that in order to feel familiar with the area. That really helps me personally. But also traveling during the day, you know, if you're new to traveling alone, don't travel at night.

You know what I'm saying? Travel during the day, traveling the middle of the day, it's really, really comforting to, you know, go on an adventure when it's light outside. It just feels so much better. Traveling at night can be upsetting to me even now. At times, you know, if it's really late at night and I'm having to go to the airport, sometimes I can get a little uneasy, but I mean, I'm pretty good about it now. I think I'm kind of over it at this point. I'm like, again, desensitized to traveling at this point. But I would say travel during the day.

Book your flights during the day. You don't need to be, you know, running around late at night or really early in the morning. There's no need for that. That's just gonna make you more stressed out and more freaked out. It's just nice to know that there's people out and about in that things are open and that the world

is awake and that if something goes wrong, you know, there's so many people around in a wake to protect you. Somebody said, do you bring spices with you? LOL is that weird? No, that's not fucking weird. That is very smart. If you are like me and you want to go grocery shopping and feed yourself in your hotel room, having spices on hand is not a bad idea.

And I always forget to pack my spices. And so I always end up having to buy new ones, but on this trip I bought a really nice salt grinder. And I'm actually going to keep it in my suitcase indefinitely. And I'm going to leave it in my suitcase permanently so that I always have salt with me as I travel. Because that's really the only seasoning that you need when you're traveling.

I mean, obviously it's nice to have garlic salt or like everything but the bagel seasoning or something like that. Like it's nice to have that shit too, but like most importantly, you need salt. So I now have a designated salt for my suitcase. And I do not think that that's weird. I think that that's actually very smart.

Another thing that's really important to always have with you is scissors. I know that that sounds really random, but having a pair of scissors in your suitcase permanently is very useful. You will be surprised how often you need scissors. You will also be shocked at how often you need a nail clipper, and you will also be shocked at how often you'll need a portable charger.

All of those things, I think, are very important to keep in your suitcase at all times. Like buy an extra of each of those things and just keep them in your suitcase at all times. Very useful. Somebody said, I love your packing mechanism like planning that off it's before packing, but I feel like it takes a really long time. Do you have any advice for fast packing? Yes. If you want to pack really fast, I recommend going with a color scheme.

When I have to pack really fast for a trip, I tend to pack a little bit like this. I'll pack a few pairs of jeans, a few white t-shirts, one or two jackets that I can wear over and over again, and then one pair of sneakers that's like solid, like that I can wear with anything. And I just basically wear that uniform every day. So the uniform being jeans, white top, jacket, and some sneakers or boots. And I just wear very similar variations of that every day.

The truth of the matter is, if you're going on vacation and you're there to just enjoy the scenery, you don't need to be dressing up every day, you can kind of dress in a uniform like that. And it's not going to affect your experience, like you're still going to have a great experience. So, for example, on this trip, I packed mainly just jeans, white tank tops, white t-shirts, sweat shirts, and basic shoes that are very versatile.

And I didn't really pack any crazy outfits because I was like, I'm not here to be fashionable right now. I just want to be in New York and enjoy myself. And so I was able to pack a lot quicker for this trip because I just packed my daily uniform. Somebody said, what are your favorite activities to do while in the airport to kill time? If you have a lot of time, go sit down at a restaurant. And even if you just get like a drink or something, it really helps to pass the time.

And it really is a great distraction. I always do that if I have like a long layover, I'll just go and sit at a restaurant in the meantime. And even if I'm not hungry, like just getting a sparkling water or something, just stimulates my brain just enough to pass enough time until my next flight or whatever. I also love going into the bookstores

and just looking at books. That can be really fun. You can even start reading a book, you know, in the airport and if it catches your eye and you like it, then you can buy it for your flight and if not, whatever. At least you got a few minutes of reading in, you know, it'll pass some time. Or if you're really feeling lazy, you can also just literally set up your laptop or your phone in the airport and start watching a movie.

I do that all the time. Because I'm like, I don't really want to go in an adventure right now. I'm just going to watch shit on my phone. That's very fucking obvious, but I mean, you know, maybe it's not obvious. I don't know. Somebody said, what's your go-to travel outfit? Okay, it's evolved over the years. I used to travel in sweatpants strictly, but recently traveling in sweatpants

has been not my vibe. Like sometimes it's the vibe, but I also think that sometimes sweatpants can get really sweaty for some reason. I love traveling in exercise pants like leggings, yoga pants, anything like that. Because they're comfortable and you can like sleep in them, but they also don't get stinky and gross like sweatpants do. For some reason sweatpants just like insulate heat and I feel like I get uncomfortable,

and I start to feel dirty after wearing sweatpants for like five hours. Whereas with exercise pants, I don't feel sweaty and gross in them, because they're sweat wicking and they're meant for activity. Do you know what I mean? So I would say my go-to airport outfit would be a pair of cute Comfy yoga pants that have a cute little flair at the bottom a cute pair of sneakers a plain white tank top and a cute little sweatshirt over it easy simple Somebody said what's your favorite roadtrip snack?

number one. I like Rx bars. They're like little protein bars made out of egg whites and dates and shit and it kind of sounds gross, but they're actually pretty good. My favorite flavor is the maple sea salt, pecan flavor, absolutely fucking delicious. Taste like a pecan pie in a protein bar, very good. I also like almonds, sounds random and boring,

but for whatever reason, almonds are just 10 times more delicious when you're in an airplane or you're on a road trip. I don't know why I don't really eat almonds otherwise, but when I'm traveling, I always eat almonds. I specifically like the smokehouse ones. They're kind of gross, but I also weirdly like them at the same time I can't explain why.

I'm not the only one who thinks that either. Like, I had a conversation about this with somebody once. They were like, we were on a trip and they brought smokehouse almonds and they're like, why am I eating these? And I was like, I don't know, but like, why do I want some right now? And ever since I traveled with that person

and they ate smokehouse almonds, now I always eat them, they taste like barbecue almonds, it's so random, but they're really good. And they like are perfect for travel because they have like, you know, an interesting flavor. Also cheesets, but I try not to eat cheez-its because they make me get a really bad stomach ache, but I just like love them so much and I wish that they didn't give me a stomach ache because they would be my immediate go-to travel

snack, but they just hurt my stomach so bad now. They didn't use to, but now they hurt my stomach. So we don't eat those when we travel anymore because the last thing I want is to have stomach cramps while I'm on the plane. That's a really unpleasant. But I do love them. All right you guys, that is it. That's all I got for today.

I had so much fun talking about this with you guys today. It was really fun. And I hope that this was helpful. I hope that you enjoyed. If you did, let me know. You can tweet at me at AG Podcast. You can leave a review on Apple Podcasts. I really appreciate all of the feedback.

It always makes my day and I just really appreciate you guys so much and I love hanging out with you guys every week. And if you want to subscribe to anything goes you can do so on any platform that you listen to podcasts And I think that that's all I got for this week. I will keep you guys updated on my travels The next time I speak to you, I will be in Paris Which is gonna be interesting and It's almost like you guys are on this trip with me, so I love it Have an amazing rest of your day. I love you and I will talk to you soon

Bye on this trip with me, so I love it. Um, have an amazing rest of your day, I love you, and I will talk to you soon. Bye!