Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers - ILONA MAHER Went To Greece When It Was Snowing

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Ilona Maher joins Seth and Josh on the pod this week! She talks all about growing up in Burlington, Vermont with sisters Olivia and Adrianna, competing in the Olympics, what she wished she did with her teammates to celebrate, her mom’s infamous pacing, visiting the largest escalator in North America, going to Greece when it was snowing, and so much more! Plus, she chats about her new show with her sisters, House of Maher premiering March 25th! Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 Support our sponsors: Mint Mobile New customers can make the switch today and for a limited time, get unlimited premium wireless for just $15 per month. Switch now at https://MINTMOBILE.com/TRIPS. Upfront payment of: $45 for 3-months, $90 for 6-months, or $180 for 12-month plan required ($15/month equivalent.). Taxes & fees extra. Initial plan term only. Over 50GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, & coverage varies. Additional terms apply. See mintmobile.com. Blueland Blueland has a special offer for listeners. Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to https://Blueland.com/trips Shipt Download the app or order now at https://shipt.com Fitbod Join Fitbod today to get your personalized workout plan. Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE for seven days at https://fitbod.me/trip Mill Try Mill risk-free for 90 days and get $75 off at https://mill.com/trips and use code TRIPS at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, tripsters. It's just Pasha here. Just for the intro, Sufi is back. He's had a lot of great travel and we're going to get into that. And our next intro, but for this one, he's back, but he's also still very busy. I do want to give a big shout out to our mother, who was my co-host in last week's listener episode. She was very nervous. And I really thought she couldn't have been more charming, which what else would you expect? from Sweet, Hurry Myers. I am supposed to be flying to New York City tomorrow as we record this to record a live episode of the podcast at the on-air fest in Brooklyn. I'm really hoping that the snow isn't going to gum up the works, but it's possible. So yeah, crossing my fingers. And today's episode is really exciting, huge fan of this woman. Alona Marr is a rugby player.

She's on the U.S. national team. She is a star. I highly recommend you check out some of her highlight clip packages that you can find on YouTube. Also, we will talk about the bronze medal game from Paris. And if you don't know how that game ends, we talk about it here. But that video is really worth watching. It's insane. And Alona's great. She's so funny. She's so charming. She and her two sisters have a podcast called House of Mar, so do check that out. They chat. They chat about some pop culture stuff. They chat about some not great books according to her. And yeah, chatting with her today was lovely for us, and we hope you enjoy it.

and chips Hello Whoa, the royal wave Nice, thank you for that I treat people with respect Very well You're obviously very well Traveled to do a royal wave

That well Yeah, it's hard to learn that You have to travel to know that And you're an athlete though So it comes naturally Exactly Other people would have a hard time You're just like, come on guys

It's nice to see you again, Lona, how are you? I'm good, I'm in L.A. Are you guys in New York? I am and Josh is in L.A. Are you getting snowed in? Are you okay? We're okay.

Thank you for checking. But we have, uh, it was, it wasn't full blizzard. They promised blizzard. Oh, really? Yeah. I was like fully walking on the streets on Sunday. Oh. Yeah.

Yeah. Very disappointing. I wanted to be, uh, I wanted to be completely snowbanked in. Hey, real quick, because I noticed your mother is a native, uh, native lander. Yeah. So Josh, we both lived in Amsterdam for a couple of years and Josh's Dutch is better than not. So he's going to read your mother's name and you tell him if you pronounced it correctly.

Minica? Yeah, so her real name is Wilhelmina. Yeah, well, everybody's name is Wilhelmina. But, like, so her nickname is Minica. Okay. And I think the problem is actually people, she stopped correcting people because they said it wrong. So what is, what do they call her at the hospital?

Minica. Everybody calls her Minica. And we're all like, mom, that's not your name. She's like, it's too late now. Yeah. It also like initially I said, Meineke when Seth, and then he was like, no, she's Dutch. And I was like, oh, Minika then.

And her last name is Boakenkomp. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. So spell it, Josh, based on that pronunciation, spell Bokencombe. B-U-I-K-N-Bok-N-O-K-B-N-K-O-K. Yeah, okay.

Or B-U-E-E-U. I don't know either. That makes me feel better if you're not 100% sure. If it's pronounced Minichie, that means you're a muffler heir. Exactly. You're an heir to a muffler fortune. Which wish, but no. Yeah, no, it did not happen.

So where in the Netherlands is your mom from? So my OMA is from Sittart, which is the southern part of Holland, and then Opa is from more of a northern part of Holland. But mom goes over there a lot. We still have a lot of family in Sittar. And then, have you ever been to Harlem? Yeah. Like, that's to me, our favorite city, I think. whenever we go, we stay more in Harlem

because we have uncles there and it's just, I think, a better place. Yeah, super cool. Super cool. It's kind of Amsterdam, but a little bit less touristy because you go to Amsterdam and you're like, all right, this is another big city.

The first apartment I lived in was in Amsterdam, but it was on Harlemerveg, which basically was just basically a road that would eventually get you to Harlem. Yeah, all roads lead to Harlem. Did you go? Did you ever head over there

when you were young or do you go more when you got older? When we were younger, my mom took each of us on our own separate trips to the Netherlands. So I went, I don't know what age I met. I might ask my sister a lot of questions. And I remember we went and I got to eat Ponakuka, which is like, and they put bacon in it. I was like, this is the real deal. A savory pancake is completely underrated.

And like puffichas from a stand and strope waffles. and it's so funny now that there's strope waffles are so popular around here. But when you hang out with Dutch ladies and they go to Trader Joe's and like, that's actually a strope waffle. It's not a strupe waffle animals. But my mom really prioritized taking us on trips. But did she always just take one of you at a time? Were you too much? We're three Mar girls at a time, just too much to travel with?

I think international for a while when we were those ages was on our own because then she could get her family trip done. but then we would go like to Washington, D.C. as all of us or to New York as all of us. Gotcha. And then as we got older, we would do more international trips as all of us as we maybe got a little bit more independent.

And you're the middle of three, correct? Middle three girls. Gotcha. And which sister of yours is right off camera that you've referenced like nine times already? I don't think for myself. It's my oldest sister Olivia. She's also my manager. Gotcha.

Like she knows exactly what I'm going to answer before I answer it. Sometimes she'll be like mouthing the words like, and then I started buggy when I was in high. She can do all this stuff. She's really good. How, what is the age gap between you and Olivia and Adriana? Yes, Olivia and I are two years apart in age, but only were one year apart in grade. So we're very close in that sense and we did everything together.

We did sports together. When she got to watch the PG-13 movies, I got to watch PG-13 movies. But Adriana is about two and a half years, than me, but was when I was a senior, she was a freshman, so it was a much bigger gap and kind of... Got it. So she was left out. Yeah. And we have apologized for that now.

And still is today. Still is today. Yeah, she's not there. Hey. She's out living her life. She's in New York. Yeah, well, there is. Okay, there go.

But you guys are all doing a show together. Yes, we all do a podcast, House of Mar. Great. And we just chitty chat. And we love books. So we've kind of become a big book-talking sort of podcast. podcast. We're readers of not the finest literature, of course, but of the fun, fairies, vampires, and everything like that. And so we love it. People love to hear. We've gotten to interview some

really great authors and whatnot. So yeah, and we just get to chitty chat. It's very nice. I mean, Josh and I have remarked many times that I don't know if brothers and sisters if it's fair to stereotype like this, but I feel like adult male brothers chit chat less than maybe is healthy. And the podcast has really brought us together. How often would you FaceTime each other? Because, like, my sisters and I, we FaceTime, even though we have a podcast all the time. Right. We FaceTime, I would say, once every 10 years.

Right. And it's by accident. Oh, sorry. We'll FaceTime when, like, when the kids are, when Seth's kids are doing something that maybe I need to see or be looped in on or when the baby, who's not a baby anymore, but she'll be like, I want to call him. She mostly, yeah, the little girl wants to call and talk to John. Josh's wife and have her show my daughter, Addy, what's in the refrigerator.

That's kind of their favorite FaceTime. Yeah. Cool. Different strokes, right? Yeah, hey. So when you would go on a, and so were you Connecticut? I'm remembering this right? Vermont.

Vermont. But I went to school in Connecticut. That's right, that's right. Quinnipiac, right? Yes. Thank you. So you're a New England family and you go to Washington, D.C. Is that all five of you?

That would be usually. mom and the three girls. Wow. So your mom really, uh, my, again, my mom just really, like, instead of saving up, she was like, I want to take my kids on trips and get them to explore. And I think it was so great because the, the stuff that we learned, even just how to navigate a city, like, by the time I was, I don't know, 14, I'd be like, let's check the metro, we'll take the metro here. And then, you know, and then I had friends whose parents never did that because it wasn't just a priority for them. They had different priorities. They, you could plop them down in a city, and they wouldn't know what to do.

So my mom took us to D.C. Because it's just a great place for kids. You can walk into any museum. Right. Let them run free a little bit. And then they have, I just love those popsicles that you could get in the carts around the mall.

Love it. This is not a thing. This is a Washington, D.C. thing that I don't know about. To me, it's a Washington, D.C. thing. It's like the rainbow things. And then as you lick another color happens. I mean, whenever I go to D.C. Didn't have popsicles in Vermont?

Like, this is shocking to me. They did just the experience if you go outside of the Nationalist Museum and you get a popsicle. Yeah, that's true. And it's so hot in D.C. It is so... By the way, a summer trip to D.C., which I feel like is essential for any American, can be so hot. Oh, I mean, devastating. It's it, the humidity.

And then you just would prefer to walk to... Oh, well, let's walk to the other one, walk across the mall. I mean, it's a doozy. I feel like our mom on a hot day will only complain about how hot it is. There's no amount of American history you can show her where that will become the headline. No, no, no. Yeah. Well, there you go.

Certainly not. But there was a few years back, mom and dad started buying these, like, banana popsicles at some, like, weird grocery store that I've never been to in our hometown. And they're like, we go there and we get these bags of 60 banana popsicles. And then it's just like, yeah. Banana flavor. It was a phase. It was a phase. It was a phase that they went through.

It's very fun to have like sort of parents who in their later years keep falling for fads. Is it? Yeah. Like we should just be happy it was banana popscles that they didn't blow their retirement money on the boo-boos. Could be a lot worse. Yeah, truly. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from Shipped.

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see MintMobile for details. In partnership with Airbnb, I'd like to share a travel store. Is that okay with Yousuf? Yeah, I would love that, buddy. Last minute this year, before my birthday, I really wanted to go skiing. There was a lot of snow up at Mammoth Mountain, and I looked at some of the places that I usually stay, some hotels in the area, and they were all so expensive. They were so, I don't know why, the prices were so expensive.

So I look up Airbnb, and I found a perfect little two-bedroom spot, condo, private hot tub, drove up. my host, Charlotte, couldn't have been nicer. I told her that I was skiing. She was like, if you need to get in early, you know, that's fine as well. You don't have to ski until four. I was like, I'm probably going to ski until four. But she made that available to me. She was so friendly, so responsive.

I got back to the spot. I had a great kitchen, so I didn't have to be going out to dinner every night. I asked her. I was like, hey, I've walked around the property. I don't see this hot tub. And she said it's right out the door from the main bedroom. So I pulled the curtain back and ta-da, hot tub. Wow.

You love a hot tub. I love a hot tub. And it was great. It was my little home away from home, a perfect spot for me to spend a couple days while I was getting up on the mountain. Perfect location to any of the three sort of base lodges. It was great. And I would stay there again and heartbeat. Well, it's wonderful.

I'm so glad you booked on Airbnb. My friend? Yeah, well, booking a trip on Airbnb makes for a better trip. You could be traveling with family or looking to discover authentic and local experiences. Airbnb? Uh, where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Any.

Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at walla.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without. leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in store. Many promotions are available both in store and online, though some may vary. Was traveling for sport a big part of your upbringing? Traveling for sport and like travel ball like AAU, my dad and I would get in the car and go down to Providence, Rhode Island and walk around Providence a little bit and then play

the next day. So that was big for me. But with rugby, once I joined the seventh team, I've been able to travel the world five times over and see so many things. I've been to Dubai six times. I've been to South Africa four times. Australia four times. Like it's really been amazing all the places I've been able to check off. Like when you tell somebody you've been to Dubai six times, it's like, what? I've only left the country once. So it's a really interesting life I get to lead of going to these amazing places to do a job, of course, but also to experience it and get to play the sport you love and the sun with your friends. And then afterwards, you're going out in Hong Kong. I would imagine probably not unique to the rest of the team either, right? It has to be all of

you are going to these places for the first time. A lot of it. And I think it's funny, though, once you, you know, my first time in Dubai was so exciting. And we did four wheelers in the desert and we did the dunes. And then, you know, once out the fourth time comes around, the new kids are like, yeah, get out to the desert. No, we're going to a beach club. The same one I always go, oh, it's boring. I've been there so many times.

So it is interesting. I try to, at least when I go back into rugby, when I do this traveling, I just try to experience it through the new kids' eyes, how it feels to go to Hong Kong and the enjoyment of it. Because, yes, I've been there, you know, twice, whatever, but to see it through their eyes is this whole new thing. I'm like, where are you going?

Yeah, let's go do that. Let's go check a new coffee shop or something. Of every place you've gone from, for rugby, what is the place you would most recommend for non-rugby travel? For non-rugby travel. I think that Australia is a really beautiful place. The beaches and everything. Have you played all over Australia?

I've played in Perth, Canberra, and Sydney. Big ones. Canberra, you don't have to go there. Okay. Okay. That's okay. But Sydney is beautiful, great beaches, a cool coffee culture there, really nice people. I think that's not for rugby.

If for rugby purposes, like South Africa is a really amazing place. A lot of strife and racism and other problems there. But it is a beautiful country. The people are very nice and have a really... The first I'm hearing about the racism problem in South Africa. It's new. Yeah. It's just a country you never heard of.

Oh, we do love to break news here on the pond. Can we break news? It's, it is an interesting kind of place where you go that you pass by these townships on the way to living in these kind of like glamorous, high profile cities. So it's an interesting juxtaposition at times when you're in South Africa, yet amazing food, amazing culture there. The people love rugby. And rugby has in some ways united the country like that.

You ever see how Envictus? The way that it did that. So it's an interesting. interesting place. I've learned a lot when I've gone there. I've loved to like go to the townships and meet people. So it's, it's interesting. When you travel to compete, do you have time after sort of a tournament to go explore or is it really like you need to fit it in in between training and games and whatnot? It's really before, because we get to a place about a week before we play to acclimate to time, to acclimate the temperature. So I'm, you know, we're in Dubai for like five, six days. before we play. You only practice for about two hours a day before you get heat stroke, you know? And then you do maybe a gym.

So there's a lot of time in the day. So I try to use whatever time in the day I'm looking at my calendar. Okay, let's go check out this coffee shop. Coffee is big in our team. Right. Of a way to, like an adventure, come together, a little activity outside of it.

So whenever I'm in a new place, during the week we'll have an off day. And so on our off days, we will schedule the, the four-wheelers in Dubai, or we'll schedule going to Penguin Beach in South Africa. It's really, we try to make the most of it wherever we are in that time period, because who knows if you're going to be selected to go again. So it's really, and I think we're all pretty aware that this is an experience not many people get to have. Right. Yeah. When you,

you grew up in Burlington, Vermont, is that correct? So what were your, were you sort of playing sports during the summer or what were your summer vacations? Were you camp kids? Were you? Oh. No, my mom would never camp. My mom, the thought of camping for my mom, not it. Okay. I did play sports the summer though. So in high school did travel ball like AAU. So that was kind of the vacation we took. During the summer we would do like random camps here and there. I think our mom would make a point to do some sort of trip at some time whether it was to New York

I think one summer we went to San Diego I think we did D.C. like three times or something Olivia's nodding so we did that but there was also the my dad was the believer in like a sport every season so we were working at the field

or the court during our summers yeah did you all did all three of you girls enjoy sport the same? No. Olivia and I enjoyed sports.

I think that we played a lot of the same sports. Well, I played field hockey. She would play soccer, but we'd play basketball together and we would do softball together. So what worked out was that in basketball we were kind of different players.

She was more of a shooting forward, whereas I was a center in the paint just running through people. elbows. Throwing elbows. And then in softball, she was a very finesse player. She could throw a change up all this, me fastball all day long, also hated softball. But our younger sister, I think, when she got to high school, there was this expectation on her to, oh, so you're going to be like your sisters. You're going to be the basketball star, the softball star like your sisters. And so all this pressure put on her. And one thing about Adriana is she's going to do what she wants to do.

Yeah. And she, I think, was like, this pressure that she put on, she's like, I'm not my sisters, I'm my own self. So she did other sports. She did Shopput. Okay. She did volleyball. So all sports were like,

shopputt, I was like, I don't understand what that is. Why would you do that? Are you going to hit somebody after you throw it? Was she okay at Shopput? Was she a good... She was pretty good at Shopput. But she wanted to do like, I think what she wanted to do? Swimming.

She wanted to do swimming, which I don't think my dad was ready to wake up in the morning and drive or to swimming practice. I feel very, I mean, first of all, nothing but love and respect for the parents of swimmers. Yeah. Truly, because it's such a early morning thing. Also, you have to smell pool water. Mm-hmm. And on top of that, not that fun to watch.

You know what I mean? Like, you're just watching the top half of your kid as a splash, really. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And my dad, I think, you know, he also loved watching sports. So I don't know if he wanted to be watching that. But Aalajana found her own tune.

She goes by the beat of her own drum. And she decided to do like study abroad and all sorts of stuff. And she wanted to do like theater. Correct. Prenotation. We appreciate it. As those of us in the arts, we do. I was a theater major in college.

Theater major. A major. But she's amazing now. Like I think she's taught Livy and I so much about kind of being independent, being your own self, and doing what you want. Whereas Livy and I were more like, sure, Dad, what do you want us to play this season? Okay, got it. Third kids, that's a great third kid, where they're like, nah, these other two.

They didn't realize you could be independent. When she studied abroad, where did she study? So in high school, she studied in Sweden. Wow. Okay. She wanted to do Holland, but I think that something got mixed up or they knew that she had family there and were like, nope. You're going over here. we have no family.

And then in college, she started, in 2020 college, she went to Morocco. Wow. And almost got caught there during the COVID, the COVID. Oh, right. And it had to be, I think, like lifted out by the British military or something like that. Morocco is wonderful and beautiful. You know, I would not want to be there for 18 months. No, no, no.

Like away from my family if I didn't live there. Yeah. Did you all go visit her when she was in Sweden? Did anybody visit her when she was in Sweden? Sweden. Well, you guys were in college. It would be hard to leave college to visit somebody. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

That's right. Yeah, no, nobody did. We were all in college. And also, I think that was her space for a minute there. Right. I think maybe my mom did want to, but she was probably like, no, mom. Oh, interesting. So she didn't even want it.

She, I think, was building her own thing there. And she wasn't there for too long. If there's a takeaway from this podcast, she just, the amount she ran from your family. Yeah, exactly, hon. The amount of like, no, I don't want to do that. That's her. I want to do with this. And Olivia and I are like, oh, my, okay, you're going to do your own thing?

Oh, that's awesome. But not that we were pressured, really, to do whatever our dad wanted, we just, we were like, yeah, I'd love to do basketball, travel basketball. Yeah, I'd love to practice on a Thursday night. Yeah, it sounds really fun instead of going to hang out with my friends, yeah. Did you, has your sort of international athletic career provided travel for your family if they come to watch stuff together. That's what's been really cool actually is my dad's kind of a home body. All of his buddies could be out at a bar, but if he's not feeling it, he won't go. I'm like, you're not a FOMO like that, man? You don't want to go chat to the guys, see if you're missing

anything? But with rugby, because he's a rugby guy. He's been playing for years and years and coaches and whatnot. Now, it just so happened, his daughter became an international rugby star with this thing that he loves so much. He's been able to travel the world. My mom's gotten him to travel the world, which he probably wouldn't have. They might have done a trip here and there to maybe, I don't even know where they would have traveled without rugby, but my mom's gotten him to France, gotten him to Spain two times.

They've been to South Africa up to Canada a couple times. You know, it's been really cool, and he loved Spain. I mean, obsessed with it when he went. He loved South Africa when he went. So that's been really exciting that I have kind of given this, this, hey, I'm going to be here playing. There's a reason for you to go, because you would, to go to South Africa

or to go to these places a lot of time, you'd want to have a solid reason because it's a 16 hour flight. He's a big guy. And now, you know, I didn't have as much money back then. Maybe later on he'll get moved up in classes. We'll see if he acts, right? So it's been a real cool joy of mine

that because of what I do, they get to travel as well. So what's interesting is a lot of times when they all travel, they travel as the four of them to see me play. So I'm actually not as much traveling. with them. I see them when I can, but I am there in many ways to do a job as well. So they're certain, like, I can't do the wine tour. Right. Right. The VIP wine tour. It looks awesome. Yeah. And so how often do you see them on a trip like that? Do you see them once a day or do you,

do you try to do meals together? We'll try to do meals together. We'll try to do like, hey, I have two hours for coffee here. I'll meet you here. Because I'm also never been an athlete. What do you put down? Like, would you say 10, 20 cups of coffee a day? I know. I talk about coffee a lot, huh? I'd say, yeah, 12 shots. I love coffee. No, no, no, no.

I've had a good amount. Yeah, a good amount. Especially when you're on tour, you're like, should we just go get another flat white? That's what people get, by the way. You got to start ordering flat whites when you go international. Why do you think flat white is the drink of choice for the international superstars? Is it cool maybe to say flat white?

Like the first time I heard a flat white, it was ordered by an Australian person. And I wonder if the sort of Australian rugby sort of connection there, culture, has flat white across the sport. Let's be real, it's just a cappuccino in other form. Yeah. Don't ruin it for everybody. I was so excited about it.

Sorry. To order their first. Flatweight. Do your parents watch, I mean, I know you are not sitting with them when it's happening, but what kind of fans are they when they watch you compete? Are they nervous? Great question. Mother has to pace. She's off somewhere. She's walking the halls. Oh, she's a pacer. Got it. She's not pacing herself. She's literally walking, right? Okay. She's literally walking around. She's, I think, maybe checking. I'd have to ask Olivia. Does mom actually watch me play?

She has moments of it. But it's always like, there's always noise coming out of her mouth. Like, okay. Olivia goes, yes, there's moments of it, but there's always noise coming out of her mouth. Does she have an accent? Does your mom still have an accent? No, sometimes she says some words. Like, what word does she say that she has an accent on? When she says people's names. When she says people's names, she'll put an accent on. Like, Mom, that wasn't even how she said that. Why are you doing that?

So mom gets service. She is also an ER nurse. So it is a rough sport to play and to watch at times knowing your baby could be hurt. That's what I was wondering if watching rugby, because, you know, when I watch sports, it's always about, like, right results. Like I'm eye pace because it's who's going to win, who's going to lose. But as a parent of a physical sport, I would imagine there's that whole other trance of fear. Absolutely.

Yeah. She's really stressed. And then dad, though, loves rugby for rugby. So he's watching the game. Yeah. He's just watching the great game play. There's a great film during the Olympics. They put a camera on my family at the last moments of our bronze medal match.

And it's just a really cool. My sisters are so excited. My dad's there. My mom's nowhere in sight. Olivia has to call Like mom mom get over here because she's been pacing this whole time Because she's so nervous Where does she pace?

Does she like go Does she's is she pacing with an eye line on the game Yes She's around she's haunted You know She just doesn't want to be around the rest of the family Yeah It was the end of that bronze medal game

Was one of the greatest finishes To any sporting event I've ever seen in my life One of the greatest Olympic moments I think It was insane Yeah Dramatic

But yeah I I just watched yesterday. I just showed a man that clip yesterday. I was like, you got to sit down and see this, buddy.

Take a look. I showed my wife last night. I'm pausing it for him. I like, I like, there's no context on why this man was,

had to watch this clip. I just like, you just got watched by saw a man. I make most men watch it, honestly. I'm like, you've got to check this out.

And then I pause it periodically like you see this. So we didn't have a kicker on the field. Keep watching. But just an amazing. amazing moment and, like, I think, changed rugby in America in some ways. And I can watch that clip every day.

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Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. When your dad was playing, that seems like a generation where there was probably not a lot of rugby going on. Why was, was that rare back in the day in America? You know what's shocking, actually? That was when rugby was at its kind of heyday, honestly. Interesting. In the States. In the States, yeah.

Not like the culture of rugby was at its best. Got it. Of, I would say like early 2000s, we were getting pretty good numbers out. It was a club. People were going for the social aspect of it, the joy of it and playing. I think we're kind of losing numbers in terms of club rugby. Yeah. Maybe people not wanting that craving that socialness that it could bring.

Not drinking as much. People aren't drinking as much. What's happening? I know. Boring. Because that's such like, I feel like when I think about guys like are, you know, getting together to play rugby, there's like, I always imagine a keg there. Exactly.

Yeah. That's like part of the culture as well. Yes. Yeah. People always ask me too now like, oh, should you be drinking? and I'm like, this is my culture. Don't take, what are you talking about? Is that what is the hardest,

was the bronze medal game, the aftermath of that, the hardest you partied post a match? I wish I could say it was, but we went on a, it was like a media tour. Like that, right afterwards, I mean, Team USA,

NBC was putting us on. We had to go on a late night show for a, little five-minute stint, then the next day for 12 hours, we're doing interviews. And because I'm the, was the, you know, breakout star, I'm doing every single interview. Nike gave us these outfits to wear that were so hot in this Paris heat. And we just throughout the day, have to go through, hold these heavy metals around. Like, I'm sorry, I'm complaining about winning a medal. But actually, it's really kind of something that is sad for us is we never really

fully got to celebrate our win altogether. The next day was literally from 11 a.m. to 11, 12 p.m. 12 a.m. of just doing interviews and kind of. I'm so disappointed. Because, you know, I was just in Milan and was lucky enough to go to the women's gold medal hockey game. Yeah. And then I saw the team the next day. They were doing the Today Show, which is in Milan like two in the afternoon. It struck me that they had maybe gone fairly hard that night. I wish I'd said no to that late night show. Sorry to late night shows.

Yeah, no worries. I mean, when you came on mine, we didn't steal you from a party. No, no, that was fun. We waited until enough time had passed. I just wish that after that, when I'd won that medal, I'd been like, no, I'm not going to do a five-minute interview. I want us all to meet at this bar. Yeah.

Bring your medal. Tell your family to come here and let's have fun. But instead, I think it was so new because it was so big for the U.S. to finally have won it. Like, our metal was bronze, but most people treated it as almost gold. Yeah. Yeah. So I just think we were so unexpected and what we did was so amazing that we were kind of trying to build on it as much instead of actually appreciating what we did for ourselves.

Right. And so it makes me sad a lot that that group of girls isn't together often. We just had a friend's wedding last summer where we kind of celebrated it a little bit there. but it is a sad that we will never be in Paris again having just won a medal still being sweaty with our hair and braid still dirt everywhere so thanks for bringing it up

yeah I really do apologize so did you get was the medal ceremony the next day no right after you go change into you have to change into a certain outfit but when was the gold medal match when was right after ours is like 14 minute games So we had our bronze medal match, probably like 10 minutes in between, and then they had the gold medal match. So we're just absolutely jazzed.

They're like, you guys have to go in and change to get ready for the medal ceremony. We're trying to see our parents. They're shuttling us everywhere. And then we go up on the podium and get our medals. It was amazing. Having watched the medal ceremony, I feel like bronze metal energy is a super fun energy. Because you've had, first of all, you guys overachieved and was historic. So it felt like, you know, like you said, it felt like a gold medal.

But also, you've had time to process your, it's not gold or silver. Yes. So you literally woke up that morning. Your ceiling was bronze. You got bronze. Super psyched. So we woke up that morning going into semifinals. Right.

Because we played two games that day. Oh. Yes. Semis was against New Zealand. Got it. Got it. We won the gold. They're a great team.

Like, we're just like hoping to, because if you get into that gold medal game, you're at least guaranteed a medal. Right. So we lost and semi. So then we're going to play bronze for Australia. But what's so funny is kind of like you said, people almost think, oh, you lost silver. You're like, oh, I didn't get gold. But then when you get bronze, you're like, fuck yeah, these guys didn't get anything.

And I feel like the silver, the silver energy is you can't look psyched because you're coming off a loss. Yeah, exactly. Olympics ended on a win. Yeah. On an amazing win. On a ridiculous, like, insane. We call it Rose Gold, too. If you, like, squint at it, it's, like, Rose Gold.

Yeah. So, obviously, Olympics, no, you didn't get to rock out. Was there any? I mean, you've been in so many tournaments now. Was there any? Have I rocked out? Yeah. Tell us about you rocking out alone.

Yeah, I've had some fun. Oh. I've had a little bit of fun after rugby tournaments. Does your family come to a big celebration? Like if you win a match or like is your dad tearing it up over in the corner? He's more of like a quiet drinker. He'll get a little happier. I'll bring my sisters out.

I'm like, you guys got to come out. And so then it's just them with like rugby players and I'm getting really drunk and dancing everywhere. I'm like, you guys having fun? You guys having fun? But it is like a culture of rugby, which is really cool. that we drink and we hang out all together. So even though we just tried to absolutely murder each other on the field, we come together as friends in many ways.

Oh, really? With other countries. With the other countries. I have many friends on all the teams who, after the game, I just dumped tackled her, but I'm like, hey, that was great hit or whatever. So it's a very special sport compared to, I think, others. And also, our tournaments are like, say, 12 to 8 women's teams, 12 to 8 men's teams that come together.

So there's a lot of people from all over the world. So many cultures and people colliding that afterwards you have a drink, you party. It's really a cool time. I love it. You had a, what was your worst injury? You broke a leg? I broke my ankle. Ankle.

Was your mom at that one? She came afterwards. She was ready to get on a flight and I was like, Mom, chill. Olivia came down. I used to train in San Diego. Olivia was in L.A. She drove down from L.A. came and saw me in the hospital.

And then I got surgery on it. My mom was there with me for those two weeks. And then I got C-DIF. Don't get C-Diff. What was C-DF? Oh, you shit yourself. After surgery. I don't know why I had to share that, but just...

I mean, I think I'm glad as a, you know, just as a public service announcement. Don't get it. Do your best to not get C-Diff, guys. It's great. So the perfect sort of order for you, Alona, would be Flatwife. Flat-white, no C-Diff. Flat white, hold the seat in, please. When you went to San Diego on a trip when you were younger,

like what is that trip? Are you guys just doing touristy things? Are you just? That one is so cool because I ended up living there and I ended up, oh my gosh, I remember this when we went to here when I was younger. So my mom had gone there, I think, for a nursing conference years ago. And it was a great place. So she was like, well, let me just go again.

I think she had like points with a hotel. So we stayed there. the safari park, extremely hot. We had a camel pack and all of us would just take that. Yeah. You know, and we had to fill it up like 50 times throughout the day. We did the San Diego Zoo. We did the beach.

So I sometimes, now that I, when I go on trips now with my friends, and I kind of take on the role of the, like, leader and I find us where to go, the restaurants would do, today we're going to do this, how much stress it is and how much stress my mom was put under at all these times. And yet she continued to do it. She took all five of us to Ireland, and we had a weird hostile experience. She took all of us to Greece, and, you know, we were rented a car through the snow. It was snowing in Greece.

She's an amazing woman in that. I just know she stressed out so much, but she knew that we were getting these experiences, and she continued to just do it for us. That's great. Can you tell us more about this hostile experience? Yes. So we're in Dublin, right? No, where do we do that hostel?

Kilkenny? We're somewhere in Ireland. Sure. And my mom rents, I think what she thinks is a room, or maybe she rented like five beds at a hostel, but she's rented a room in a hostel. And so we go there. It's just kind of a gross room.

All five of us in twin beds in random places. And in the middle of the night, some guys comes walking in. My dad and his boxers are like, hey, hey, get out of here. So it was really like a not good. And my mom, you know, and takes it on like, oh, that's her fault. But we end up, because of that, we end up going to this old, what used to be an old jail that this lady had converted into an inn. And she was so lovely.

And like, my parents were like, oh, we're going to go take him to get some fish and chips. She's like, you know, you shouldn't take them to get fish and chips. That was my best Irish accent. It's not part. And it was like what that experience led to this cool experience of staying in an old jail in Ireland. We've had a lot of really great memories that we talk about even now. And a lot of times, you know, never is a family trip perfect. Never is it like this really went swimmingly.

Everything happened as we'd hoped it had. It's always a little bit, you know, you get the great memories. You also get the ones you learn from you, you talk about more. I think it's then, it reflects on the kind of family you are, which is what do you choose to remember? You know what I mean? And if you can, I think with a, you know, time plus tragedy is comedy. So sometimes the worst moments. We choose to remember the worst moments, I guess.

Do you have any other standout bad moments? Stand out bad moments. We've, so we've done Greece before. We've done like a weird restaurant tasting in Mexico City where it was like, who. Like it was trying to take us on a culinary tour of Mexico. but it was like really not good. They first start off with giving you like carrot juice. And like just big pictures of what was carrot juice.

But then when you asked me, I was like, is that carrot juice? He's like, no, no, no. I was like, you're blending carrots into that. That one was tough, but it was funny because they were giving us just the not. I'm like, they're not eating this one in Wauaca. Yeah. What else? We've been to

What else we have Any other moments that we remember? Oh, the big thing was in Washington, D.C. Our mom was like, took us to see the biggest escalator in the world. What is it? Oh, North America. It's like the largest escalator in North America.

So she brought all of us to this escalator. There's pictures of us like looking down at her like, you know? That's just something. Just like she had that intention. She's like, this is something the girls are going to want to see.

I, by the way, I'm guessing that the photo you want, which shows how big the escalator is, but also has your children in it, is a bad picture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, in your mind's eye, it's a great picture. But then when you actually see it, you're like, this is mostly just a picture of an escalator. Yeah, this looks like a normal size escalator. When you talk about Greece being a bad trip, you just say we went to Greece. Greece wasn't a bad trip.

Greece wasn't interesting. We went to Greece in winter. I was going to say, I've never heard of like. I mean, shame on me for not knowing it snows in Greece, but I'm shocked. I don't know if we knew either. We went to Greece. I think we left like Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. And we rented a car and we had like no plans.

That was my mom towards the end just kind of got it to a way. We just was kind of going where the wind took us. So we got a car. We drove around. A lot of things were closed and we would go places and be like, they'd be like, why are you here? We're on a trip. It was really cool. We got, yeah, we went to a mountain town and it was snowing in Greece.

We went to the island of Hydra and it was kind of like deserted. It was actually really cool. Usually a bustling island. No cars are allowed. But we went there for on New Year's Eve. My sisters and I were in a bar just drinking. And it was like we walked all around this island, walked up into the mountains. The most quiet I've ever heard.

I don't know how to say that. But my mom and I walked up and since there was no cars allowed, it was so. silent in a weird way, but also like really cool. And what else? I remember the day we were leaving, I went to a bakery to try to get some stuff for us to eat, but because it was winter, they weren't really cooking a lot of stuff

fresh, and we got all this stuff, and I was like, this was made probably four days ago. You dropped a piece of bread and it went clang. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, that's a texture. Which of you, be honest, which of you or your two sisters is the worst traveler? I'm the worst traveler. Really?

Yeah, I'm the worst traveler. Olivia's the best traveler and that she knows how to make a plan. Usually now when we travel, Olivia's kind of become our captain. Even our mom takes a little bit of a backseat. I think she's like, oh, well, my daughter now can do it all. So Olivia is like, she's, what do they call with cats when they're... Herding cats? Herding cats.

She's hurting cats. So she's become really the leader and has, you know, created some really great adventures for everybody. My mom still does great stuff, but I think my mom spent a lot of years doing it, so she's like, chill, I'm chilling. Adriana's more of a, yeah, okay, is that what we're doing? Okay, perfect, yeah, I can't wait. I haven't been able to travel as much with my family because, again, I travel so much for my other job that I don't really travel with them. So my form of traveling is like, I go to, I get a trip to Dubai, and I hang out, and I get my hotel. and everything is parceled out for me.

What do I need to do? I got meals here. I get on the bus here. If I want to, I'll go to a beach club. You know, so I don't, I'm getting better at traveling. I don't think I fully know how to travel yet with my family and how to do that in the best way as an older person. Because then you have to take into account a lot of people.

Yeah. And what everybody wants to do instead of just what you want to do for your 12 flat white of the day. And I would imagine at this point It's an addiction So if you're not getting that 12 flat white You probably turn against the ones you love the most Exactly

And that's dangerous This has been wonderful talking to you House of Marr How many episodes have you guys done? 39 Look at you with the number Yeah, yeah Because I think it's almost like done

With the first season or something like that I just show up and talk You know what I'm saying Yeah no hey, we know Hey, you guys know But before you go, Josh is going to ask you our speed round questions. Go. All right, here we go.

You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational? Relaxing. What is your favorite means of transportation? Private car. If you can take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real, or fictional, what family would you like to take a vacation with? Okay.

maybe like the family from the fresh Prince of O'Leare. I don't know why I thought that, but that's good answer. The Adam's family. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be? I guess maybe my manager, Olivia, over there. Yeah, good call. She would take on the duties. She would help me on a deserted island.

What is your dream destination for a family vacation? I would love to get us like a really nice house somewhere in Italy or on the coast of some gorgeous foreign place and just have us relaxed there but have like a nice town close by that we can walk to because my dad's big walker my parents aren't really relaxed

just chill out relax people they're more like let's go do something yeah and you are from Burlington Vermont if you had to get more families to come visit Burlington Vermont how would you sell that town well I would tell them first to go in the summer it's a place unlike any other

right on Lake Champlain a beautiful lake to swim in to do all sorts of water, sports in. We have amazing farm-to-table restaurants. We have Ben and Jerry's. Great walking hiking trails. A bike path that just takes you all the way through multiple cities over the lake.

It's a spectacular place in the summer. Great. Excellent. I agree. I was there in the winter. And then Seth has our final questions. I was there two years ago, February. And I can't tell you how much I recommend going in the summer. I went for the job.

July. It was great. Oh, beautiful. All right. Final question. Have you been to the Grand Canyon, Lona? I have not been to the Grand Canyon, no. I should travel more. I should travel more in the U.S., yes. You do want to go? Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you for your answer.

And then finally, my final question is- Do I get a trip? Nope, you don't. Can, would Olivia be willing to pop her head in to just say hello? Olivia, can you pop your head in to say hello? She runs to put makeup on? No, she's here. Hold on. I can't hear anything

Some would say she's my twin We just wanted to say hello It seemed wrong to have a sibling It seemed wrong to have a sibling here And to not get them on camera for a second Yeah, one talking to one as much as she has been as well Also, it feels like you've mostly been talking through her This was my interview

She can literally do interviews for me And she knows exactly what I would say at this point where I'm like Yeah, I was pretty good Olivia Good job, man, that's exactly what I would say Nice to see you both Give our love to Adrienne as well And thank you so much It's great to see you again

Thank you guys Bye Bye thank you Bye Whether she is in or in Sydney