Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - How to Survive Long-Haul Flights When You’re Stuck in Economy

Episode Date: September 8, 2018

Flying messes with our mind, body, and spirit in all sorts of crazy ways. And if you’re stuck in economy for hours, it feels downright painful. On this episode, my friend, Kelly, and I talk through some of our top tips that made our recent 25-hour journey to Bali more comfortable. We'll also share what we've been up to in Bali so far (it involves good food, lots of massage, and working through our phobias). Visit postcardacademy.co for more on what we discuss.    I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insurance  Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Mike Gittel, speaking to you from Bali. It took us 25 hours to get here, and I haven't been on a flight this long in years, but it actually wasn't as horrendous as I thought it was going to be. On this episode, Kelly, my travel friend on this trip, talked to you about what we've been up to in Bali so far, and we also share our tips for surviving a long-haul flight when you are stuck in economy. We'll also chat about how we packed everything we needed for this two-week trip, into a carry-on and how you can do that too. If you're making a trip this long, it's a good idea to have travel insurance

in case something goes wrong. I use World Nomads, and I like them so much I became an affiliate for the World Nomads Partner program. I actually got violently ill after recording this episode. Did I go to the doctor? No. But it was nice to have the peace of mind that World Nomads would have had my back

if I really needed it. For more information on travel insurance from World Nomads, visit postcardacademy.co. slash insurance. Now into my conversation with Kelly. All right, coming at you live from Kelly's bed. My bed in Bali. Should we talk about how we even met? We met in London. Both Americans. And I think we met within like two weeks of us moving there. Didn't we? Yeah, it was definitely within a few weeks, I think.

Yeah, I feel very lucky because we fell into like a nice group of friends quite quickly, just kind of by chance. We have been traveling together for a few years now. It's been a while. This is kind of a bit of a reunion trip. Yes. But we've been to Istanbul together, to Iceland, to Paris. Yes. Vienna, I think. Vienna as well. Yeah. I'm very glad that we're here in Bali together. Yeah. Likewise. And we started out in Chengu. And then we took a taxi to Ubuj. And this is also, has become quite famous this town because of E. Pray Love. This is where... Yes. Elizabeth Gilbert came for her love. The love part.

Yeah, the third leg of her trip. Yes. And so Uphood is known as being like the spiritual and artistic hub of Bali. There's lots of art galleries here, a huge expat community. So it's quite busy. It's busier than I thought it would be. Like lots of traffic, but lots of people out walking around. And it's quite buzzing.

but on our first day here we went to a place called Clear for lunch and even though I had a massage that morning at the Karana I got another massage later that day at queer why not I was kind of thinking like is this obscene to get two massages in one day no but in the end I just decided why not I should like the services here are cheap And so I just decided to go for it. So lots of eating, lots of massage. I was telling you, I feel like I need to find more of a spiritual connection.

Yeah. Because the high school version of me, if I came here, would have died and gone to heaven. Like, it's just Indian prints and, like, hippies everywhere and so much delicious vegetarian food. Yeah. And I feel like I would have wanted to, like, meditate or to, like, do all of this stuff. And so I feel like I want to reconnect with that side of me. So tomorrow I'm going to go on a tour of a bunch of different temples. And so I'm very much looking forward to that.

Yep. And then you signed us up for this tour on electric bikes. Yes. Which I was so scared of doing. But I was like, growth mindset. I have to try this out because I'm not used to riding bikes. Right. I ride maybe once a year because Elki forces.

me on whatever like whatever city or country that we're like visiting together she wants to ride bikes so I say okay I will give it a shot but I always work myself up like I'm gonna fall I'm gonna hurt someone I'm gonna hurt myself da da da da da da and ended up being a blast I'm so glad that we did it but tell us more about this tour and why you signed up for it yeah so just looking on TripAdvisor you know some of the top ranked activities this electric bike tour was was ranked really highly. And I've never been on an electric bike before. And I don't, yeah, I'm also not a frequent cyclist either.

But, you know, I felt comfortable enough on a bike that I thought it would be fun. So, yeah, so there, we, the tour I picked was one that went through some of the rice, rice farms, rice potties outside of Ubued. So it was kind of, it was nice to get sort of out of central Ubu'd into more of the countryside and riding, we rode actually through some rice patties and then as well on some of just the country, more country roads, which was great because you, you know, I think we got to see quite a lot of things that would have been difficult. I mean, we wouldn't have been able to walk there certainly or, you know, without taking a cab

or something like that. And then through the rice paddies was a little harrowing because of the narrow paved path, which was quite bumpy at times. Bumpy at times, but it was also like a narrow little bridge. Yeah. And so we are raised above these rice paddies that are like river. Like we're kind of going over rivers at a certain point on this narrow path. And before we started doing this, he said, these rice fields are teeming with snakes.

Yeah. And that, if you listen to this podcast, you know that's one of my biggest phobias. And the reason that there are snakes is because they put out, they used to put out rat poison in the fields, right? Yeah. So kind of for pest control, I guess. They used to use rat poison, but there were, unfortunately, the poison was killing other creatures such as dogs would get in there and eat it and that sort of thing. So they decided to

stop using the rat poison and they put snakes in the water instead. So, and I guess the snakes do a pretty effective job of pest control. But yeah, I agree that I would not like to come face to face. I was so frightened. So before we were on the bikes, we walked into the fields. And he was just telling us a little bit about the history. And, you know, it was fascinating and beautiful. And, you know, how each farmer, like, they're doing all this by hand, which is incredible. And they have little shrines to mark the plots of land and things like that. And so it was wonderful being out there.

But then when he said, there are tons of snakes here, I'm not joking. This is not a joke. I was just, like, oh, God, get me out of here. I'm going to pedal as fast as I could. Yeah. But it was also the first time that I was. on an electric bike and it was really fun because I, you know, I've already said I'm not a very experienced bike rider. He mentioned shifting the gears and I was like, I've never even shifted

a gear on a bike. But for the electric bike, all you do is press this little lever and you don't have to worry about gears. You can just go as fast or slow as you want. And then when we weren't in the rice fields, we were actually driving in the traffic. And so I just kept my eyes in front of me and hoped that everyone else would just ride around me. Yeah. It worked because I'm still alive. It's got some get up and go, so it took some getting used to, but I really enjoyed it, and our guide was going pretty fast.

So you really did, unless you're some sort of Tour de France cyclist, you really do need the extra help from the electric part of the bike to keep up. But I also think, like, I was thinking, you know, motorbikes seem like a preferred mode of transportation here. And so it was sort of like a little, I think a little similar to writing a motorbike. So it was like a taster. Yeah. I feel like I can work my, gradually maybe work my way up. So maybe next step is motorbike.

Yeah, maybe motorcycle? Maybe never a motorcycle, but maybe motorbike or VESPA. Never say never. I can see myself on a VESPA now. I think that would be really fun. I think so. Yeah, I think, you know, with your experience in Italy, I think a Vespa would be very suited. It's been many years.

It's time to get on a Vespa, I think. Yeah. But, yeah, so it was great. And then we went to this UNESCO World Heritage site, the rice terraces, the famous rice terraces and took some photos there. That was lovely. Went to a little coffee farm. In Indonesia, this is where they have that famous coffee, where the animal poos out. The coffee bean.

The coffee bean. and then they make coffee from that. That's very expensive. But I don't think the animals are treated well. I've heard that they're not. And so I don't like supporting that. It makes me a little bit sad. So I wasn't a big fan of that.

It's been interesting seeing how animals are treated here because you're like up and you see them face to face, literally. We should talk about the monkey forest. The monkey forest. Oh gosh, how did I forget that? Yeah, we'll go back to that in a second. But so I think, you know, obviously in like America and places like that, there's factory farms, which I definitely don't support. But here, like, we went on another little tour that I picked.

That one was a bit of a wash literally. Like, we ended up, I thought it was going to, we would see more temples. And it ended up us, it was going to be like a trek through a rice field. Again with the rice field. The short version was an hour and a half. so we get there. Well, it was like more snakes, right? Yeah, it was more snakes.

I was so scared, so I don't want to sound like a spoiled brat, but I have like a legit terror. Like, I just don't like it. And, but I tried to be a sport, so we're just walking. I mean, nobody else was around. We saw one farmer, so I feel like. And he tried to warn us that it was going to rain. Yeah, yeah. And so I feel like the chances of seeing a snake would be more there.

because it wasn't like a well-trodden path. And then it started to downpour. And so we found this farmer's hut. We weren't by herself. We were with like a local guide. So we're hanging out in this hut that reminded me of something from Plymouth Plantation. It was just like the clothes were hanging up and there's firewood and a big metal pot. And I just felt like we were in another age.

And we were next to these animals that were in a very confined space. So like this poor cow and its baby. It was just in such a tight space, and I hated seeing that. And I'm not criticizing people here for being any different than anywhere else, because when it comes to animal welfare, most places are pretty bad. But it made me sad to see that. So anyway, we're like huddling in this farmer's hut next to these cage animals. I'm glad you described it as the Plymouth Plantation,

because my mind was going to more like chainsaw massacres. It was a little creepy, but yeah, Plymouth Plantation is a little more pleasant. It was homey. Like, I felt, I actually felt okay there. It just, yeah, brought me back to, like, school field trips and stuff. But it felt quite remote, and the rain was coming down so hard. And I had a flashback to a time when I was in Thailand many years ago where my sister and I tracked to the middle of nowhere with this group, and we were sleeping in these huts.

and there were kerosene lamps at the front of the door. And I was just thinking, if this place goes up in flames, no one knows I'm here. And how would I get to hospital? I was thinking, like, if we get flooded out or, like, I don't know. I was thinking I wish I had brought my travel insurance policy in my backpack. So if they needed to air back us out, I'd be like, look, I have coverage. We made it out alive. and yeah it was I felt like the worse that got on this trip

like the more fun I was having yeah it just was getting ridiculous it was an adventure is you just didn't know what was going to happen next yeah oh and they they also our guide showed us so they have you know chickens that kind of roam around but then they also have these roosters that are kept in these wicker cages and he was very upfront about it he's he's like these are for cockfights and for gambling. So, you know, that was a little awkward for us, I think, just, you know, obviously having a little more, you know,

concerned about animal welfare. So, but I found it a little funny that when we were hiding out in the farmer's hut, our guide was very concerned about this rooster in a, you know, in the cage, you know, that they're prepping for cockfights, but he was getting wet. So our guide was very concerned. to move the rooster under the shelter. I think that's because I was complaining so much about the poor animals.

Like, I'm just going to set them all free. But yeah, that ended up being a fun day. So we're here for two weeks. We've been here for about a week now, I think. Let's start from the beginning. Our flights were at like two and three in the morning. I flew from Boston, you flew from New York. I think that's pretty common to have to fly.

common to fly out at that hour. My flight was supposed to leave at 1.30 a.m. and then it was delayed to 3 a.m. So I think we were the only flight leaving from the international terminal at JFK, and lots of people were falling asleep at the gate. Yeah, same with mine. We were the last flight to leave Boston, and everything was closed. So I think we said that was something that for next time we would do is make sure we brought lots of snacks just because I think we were both hungry by the time. The flight rolled. And then on the flight, like, I ate all of my snacks before I even got onto the plane. I didn't bring any snacks. I just, I guess I just didn't have time to really think about what I would bring. But I definitely wish I would have brought a refillable water bottle. They had the water station for filling water bottles. So, yeah, that was a

One thing I was kicking myself was, why didn't I bring a water bottle? Even, you know, in Bali, while you're supposed to drink filtered water, bottled water. But I think I've seen a few water station areas here. So it would have been nice to be able to just refill a reusable one, obviously. A little better for the environment if we can eliminate using some plastic bottles. But so I would say that's one thing. I wish I had breath. Okay. So water bottles, well, empty bottles that you. You could put water in and then snacks. So I would have brought more Pepperidge Farm, Goldfish crackers.

Yes. And then maybe some protein bars. I agree on the protein bars, definitely. Yeah. And we both flew Cathay Pacific, which I thought was pretty great. I flew them a really long time ago when I went to Thailand and just very good customer service. Yes, I agree. The flight was over 15 hours, so they were great about, you know, making sure everybody had enough water to drink or orange.

shoes and they were really polite and well-mannered, which sometimes you don't get on other airlines in the United States, not mentioning names, but no, I thought it was really enjoyable. Oh yeah, they were so much better than my horrific experience recently. I was supposed to be flying Norwegian, and I ended up flying, what was their name? Wamos Air, who refused to give me any food and they were just the absolute worst. I have never heard of that airline before. Norwegian Air. Stop partnering with Wamos. They're the worst. Oh gosh.

But I'm digressing. So, yes. So Cathay Pacific was great. And 15 hours, but that was just to get to Hong Kong. Then we had a layover for a few hours. And then we had another flight of like six or seven hours to get to Bali. So in total it was like 25 hours or so. So some of our other flight tips going along with the bottle thing, just staying hydrated because airplanes, I think, suck a lot more water out of people than they think. That's right. It can make you feel quite sick. So just make sure you're drinking water like consistently throughout your flight, get it, walk around. And another tip to avoid getting sick is bacterial wipes. You were telling me about an article you read recently. Yeah. And I don't

remember the source of the article, but they were, they did a study on what truly is, uh, the most sort of contaminating part of taking a flight. So they looked at, you know, a lot of people think about recirculated air. And so they looked at actually how the engineering of the air system on planes and found that actually there's very little air that's truly being recirculated. Then they looked at as well kind of the bacteria around, you know, your seat and your tray table. and they found that actually the most contaminated area was the tray table itself, as well as, you know, if you think about anything you touch.

So if you have a screen in front of you, you know, you're touching the buttons on the screen or your armrest or your seatbelt buckle, those are really the areas found to be the most contaminated. And this is kind of a little gross to think about, but they actually found those areas were more contaminated than, you know, the bathroom fixtures. So when you think about that, it makes sense to, when you see someone wiping down their seat area and their tray table, it's kind of like, well, that's probably a good idea to do. Oh, that's so gross.

And, yeah, so I did pack bacteriable wipes. I forgot to use them. But, like, it's a good idea because just hearing that, that's so disgusting. I think we both had better than average flights because we were a little bit... We went in with a little bit more of a strategic plan and we experimented with some new travel accessories.

One was the travel pillow that wraps all the way around your neck. So you kind of like squeeze it. You don't have that gap where your throat is usually. And I think that worked for both of us to help us sleep better. Do you think so? Yeah. It was a little, the pillow is a 360 pillow. So, yeah, you're right.

It doesn't have the area on other travel pillows where your chin kind of can drop down. So it keeps your head upright and your neck aligned. And it was a little, I had to get, kind of get used to it because it's what I would imagine wearing a neck brace probably feels like. But once I kind of got used to the way it felt, you know, it was pretty comfortable. And I did feel like, you know, it kept me definitely better. aligned and better posture and I didn't have that situation that you sometimes had have of your your head dipping forward or dipping to the side. Yeah. It made my shoulders a little bit tense. I don't

know why. Maybe I like naturally felt like I needed to like hold it up. I don't know. But it also did help me sleep better. I actually slept for a few hours on the on the flight to Hong Kong. And I was shocked because I never sleep on planes. Yeah. Yeah. No, I slept really well, which is definitely an exception for me because I have a lot of trouble sleeping on flights. I would say also just the fact that we left so late was kind of helpful in that regard. So by the time we boarded at 3 a.m.,

I was definitely ready for some shut-eye. But yeah, no, the pillow I think was great. Sleeping mask and earplugs were definitely essentials. I did have in the row behind me a mom with two small kids and they were pretty active during most of the flight, it seemed like. But, you know, I think my earplugs helped drown out most of the sound. Yes.

We also tried a foot hammock that didn't really do anything for me. Yeah. Yeah, the foot hammock looked like a good idea on Amazon, which is it's kind of the sling that you attach to your tray table. It hangs below the seat in front of you, and it allows you to stretch your legs out and kind of keep your feet a bit elevated. Yeah, it didn't really work for me that well because I think my, well, I'm kind of tall and my legs are quite long. So my feet just kind of touch the ground sort of like whether I wanted them to or not.

So I didn't really get the benefit of the elevation piece of it. It might work for some people. Yeah, maybe I was using it wrong. I don't know. But so the pillow we would use again, the foot hemick, maybe not. Yeah. Another thing that we didn't do, at least I didn't. I think you didn't as well, but I didn't watch any movies on my way to Hong Kong.

I just had my eye mask on and my noise-canceling earbuds in and was listening to podcasts. And not having that visual stimulation really helped me sleep, I think. Yeah, I didn't watch any movies. until I had already slept for quite some time. And then when I finally kind of woke up, there was only about four hours of the flight left. And then I thought, you know, that's for a 15-hour flight, I had slept for 10 to 11 hours.

So I thought I'd probably wake up at that point. And I did watch a couple of movies. I usually spend flights catching up on, you know, just silly movies that I wouldn't normally go pay to see. or runt. Those are airline movies. Like, I think we all watch those movies that we never, in real life,

probably not. I think I watched, I watched one of the Avengers films, the most recent one, and also a movie called Rough Night, which is Scarlett Johansson

on her bachelor's party in Miami. It was truly terrible, but... Never even heard of it. Yeah, it was, yeah, I can't say I would recommend it, but it was fine for just passing time on a flight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you've been sleeping like a champ. You have fully embraced vacation time. Is there anything that you brought where you're

like, oh, I'm so glad that I brought this? Yeah. So in Bali, there can be quite a few mosquitoes and other insects. And so I brought, there's two things I brought that I think have worked really well. So I did bring insect repellent, but, you know, it's a spray and it's not the most pleasant things. So I also brought these bracelets that have a capsule inside of sort of liquid repellent. And they, you know, you wear the bracelet and it kind of emits this odor and this kind of small amount of repellent. And then also a scarf that I found on Amazon that is the material has some repellent type of chemical in it. So I've been wearing those things, and I think it's done a pretty good job. I think I've had maybe one sort of small bite, but other than that, usually mosquitoes eat me alive.

So I've been pleasantly surprised that those accessories have helped stave that off, and I haven't had to wear much of the actual repellent spray. So that's been pleasant. Very cool. my new purchase that I'm so glad that I got was this underarmed unscented deodorant solid stick. So I'm always looking for ways where I can cut back on the small bag of liquids that you can take on carry on. So this was a solid organic, cruelty free. It also says it's gluten-free, which I found a little bit strange.

But like a family-owned business and Made in America, it has worked great. I've been wearing the same shirt for days. I don't think I smell. You can be the judge. I haven't noticed. And it is quite expensive. I think it was like $15 on Amazon, but so worth it. It's honestly the best deodorant that I've ever found.

I've been wearing like a few black things. I don't think there was any marks. So I think I'm going to start wearing this from now on. But the reason that I purchased it was because it was organic and also it wasn't a liquid. So I think that was like my major win on this trip because we didn't care. a big suitcase. We just used carry-on, which I'm very proud of the way we packed for this trip. Yep. Me too. It was so easy to get off the plane and then just get out of there and not have to worry about finding our luggage or anything going missing. So. Yeah. And I think, you know, I was glad that like we found a couple pharmacies here in Bali that, you know, they stock your necessities in toiletries and things like that.

So, you know, I had to buy some toothpaste and I needed to buy some skincare products. And, you know, I was able to find those here at the pharmacy and restock, you know, my travel-sized products. So there's no reason to feel like you have to pack everything you're going to need because you will be able to find common products here. Yeah. I think most places that most people travel to will have these items, shampoo, sunblock. anything you really need. So, yeah, I think it's just so worth it when you want to do a carry-on to just pick up those items once you get there.

As far as, like, clothes, I just brought a few dresses, some shirts like bra underwear, but just rolled everything up really tight. Some people talk about packing cubes. I've never used those, have you? I have. Yeah. I've had some packing cubes that I've used for quite some time, probably about 10 years. and yeah, I like them because for me it just helps keep things organized in my bag.

And so I feel like everything has like it's a spot and I don't need to worry about things shifting around or like opening my bag and things falling out. What are they exactly? Because I use Ziploc bags if I want to pack like socks or underwear and just like squeeze the air out of them. I just use a zip block bag. is how is the packing cube different? So they're usually canvas with a zipper. So kind of this similar to what you do with the Ziploc bag, I just use the packing cube.

It doesn't have the ability, or at least mine, don't have the ability to squeeze the air out of it. But you can buy them that have a pocket on one side or two-sided as well. And I kind of like the two-sided kind, because obviously you can put more in them. Yeah, like I said, they just, they fit really neatly in my carry-on suitcase, and it just helps me feel a little bit more organized. I did bring a large Ziploc bag for my, I brought some just various, you know, medications like things for stomach, things for allergies, some pain reliever just in case we needed something.

But yeah, for clothes, underwear, that sort of thing, I use the packing cubes. When it comes to organizing chords, I actually have this very cool thing that I would totally recommend for people to get. It's just a cord organizer because in the past, you know, I have a lot of electronics that I like to travel with. So my headphones and, you know, my phone and my computer and just different things like that. And they all have their own little cords. And they used to get completely tangled up. And then I've had a few, like, lightning cables for my phone break and have to buy new ones just because, you know, there was two. much wear and tear, where if I took better care, as I do now, they wouldn't have broke.

And I actually got mine because I was on a Southwest flight for the first time in ages. I don't really fly domestically very often. And so I was on Southwest and they gave me a snack and I was so astounded because over in Europe, even British Air doesn't give you snacks anymore on a lot of their flights. And so on Instagram, I just, in my story, just wrote something like, oh my gosh, I love Southwest. And they nailed me this court organizer. Oh, wow. He was like, you guys know customer service.

It was just so above and beyond. So, yes, huge love shout out to Southwest. It was such a nice surprise. And just such like a good gift. It was something I actually used. Yeah, that's a great idea. I need to look into the court organizer concept because I could definitely. use that as well. Yeah, totally, totally recommend it. And then yesterday we had a cooking class.

That was so much fun. Yeah. I'm really glad that you found that. Yeah, yeah. Definitely, it was fun in a different way. Yeah. The day before was the adventure through the downpour in the back country of the valley. And then the cooking class was very, it was pretty like, I don't know, refined compared to that. organized that. And we also made offerings at the beginning, which I thought was really cool because you see these beautiful floral offerings everywhere, every morning, everywhere you go. And so we made those out of like the leaves and flowers and then made an offering, I guess,

that we wouldn't have a major accident in the kitchen while we were cooking. Yeah, yeah. And we made some delicious food. and they were really good about there was one other vegetarian amongst us. And so most of the stuff we could eat. And then when you guys were making chicken, we just made like a few alterations, like used mushrooms and stuff. But yeah, the food was delicious.

Can't remember what any of it's called. Yeah, I know. I know. We'll have to get the menu out. They did give us a menu packet. Of course, a lot of rice, a lot of vegetables. And then we made a hot sauce, a peanut sauce, chicken, fish, fish wrapped in banana leaves, which was quite good. And then the tempe for the vegetarian.

Yeah, it was really good. Yeah, it was just a fun day. I think my favorite meal here so far has been melting wok. Yeah, yeah. That was a really good pick. I had a vegetable curry. It's delicious. Yep.

Would I mind going back there today, to be honest? Yeah, we can. Yeah, I think, what did I have? I think it was the chicken special. I think it was a chicken curry with rice. It was, yeah, it was excellent. Actually, I mean, the food here so far is, I can't say that I've had a bad meal. Yeah, it's been good.

It's been good. What do you plan on doing today? So today is pretty rainy and overcast. We didn't set up any tours today, so I think it's a good day to kind of like maybe do a little more shopping. We've done a little shopping, but do a little more shopping. And one thing I forgot to bring on my list of what I forgot is some reading material for the beach. So there's a bookstore, well, a couple bookstores here. So I'm going to try to find a book for our next destination center, which will be,

you know, some beats, some more beach time. And probably, well, there's, there's so many wonderful places to eat here. So we could go back to the walk or explore someplace new. And, yeah, it's nice to have just kind of a free day to wander around a bit more and, you know, explore some of the, some of the, like, little hidden streets that we seem to keep finding, which is really fun. Yeah. I might go for another spa treatment. I could get another massage. That sounds like a great idea. I may join you as well. I might try to find a walking tour because we haven't really seen much of that. We've been walking around on our own, but I always love to get my bearings with a good walking tour, and I can't find one. Yeah, I know. I had

looked for one as well, because I agree like you. I like to get a walking tour that gives you a sense of just the city itself. And I don't know why, but that doesn't seem to be. a thing here. I'm shocked. I'm gonna go look one more time and then I want to buy some bamboo straws as gifts for people. Yes. So we went to Ubud Market yesterday, which is a very, very big market. It was like mostly just touristy stuff, not that much stuff that I was interested in, but I would like to get some bamboo straws since we're not supposed to drink out of plastic anywhere. Yeah. It is quite bad for the environment. And I bought a kimono for no reason at all. I just...

Because you want one. That's a good reason. Well, quite a few episodes ago, I interviewed the author of a book called The Extra Woman. And in the 1930s, this woman named Marjorie Hillis was sort of like the Carrie Bradshaw of her day. And she just gave advice to women who lived on their own.

And one of her... So she wrote a book called Live Alone and Like It. And one of her things was women should have luxurious loungeware. And, you know, just because you're living alone doesn't mean you should be dressing like a schlub. Like, you deserve some luxury in your life. And also if somebody comes to the door, you can look nice. I wonder what she would say about athleisure.

I think she would probably say do whatever you want, but you deserve to treat yourself. But I wasn't thinking of her when I bought this kimono, but later I was like, you know what? That was a wise purchase. If anyone unexpectedly comes to your door, you can answer it wearing your lovely kimono. Hopefully cute, UKFN. So worth it. And what did you buy at the market? I bought two Pajmina scarves.

They had really lovely prints. And then a sarong as well. So the sarongs, obviously, in Bali are very important. And even the men wear them. And we were chatting yesterday about how we enjoy seeing the men wearing the sarongs. They look so cool. Yeah, they do. They look really, really great.

And, you know, they'll wear them with, like, T-shirts or polo shirts or, you know, whatever. But, yeah, sounds some really, I mean, the prints here are just amazing. So I could spend all my money on scarves and sarongs easily. But I have to cut myself off at some point. Yeah, and what else? Did I buy anything else? I don't think so. I think today will be another shopping there. Okay, sounds good. All right, well, thank you for chatting with me, and I guess let's go get ready to finish the rest of our day. Yeah, sounds great. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you. For a roundup of our top tips to survive a long haul flight, visit postcardacadademy.com. There,

you'll also find a complete travel packing list so you don't forget anything behind. If you like this episode, please subscribe to this podcast and tell a friend about it. It's the best way to grow the show. That's all for now. Thanks for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.