How To Optimize Your Travels (Costs & Experiences) - w/ Melissa

did you ever have any like dodging experiences with food I feel like they were scorpions I could be wrong though I was in Syria and a few of us got sick Qui identify I of the back that that restaurant is very clearly like that's should be expensive but it's worth it again I've been to a couple Fallen PR I should say various what called museums that aren't actal museums they're just plac to take a billion Instagram photos at I've been to 44 countries and territories separate philosophy around travel which is like I want to get in and out at the most affordable most budget friendly way possible definitely resources online that tell like when Peak seasons are for different different countries and jaw flights can be cheaper guys you have to check out this local

guys you have to check out this local bar this is the bar I go to all the time you might have been talking about Mars colies right now and I would have but when you actually immerse yourself in culture a little bit it makes sense welcome to the ready said do podcast where we discuss journeys of not experts who are just two steps ahead of us I'm Naman Pandi and in this episode my guest is Melissa weinman Melissa is a huge travel Enthusiast with her current tally of countries and territories visited at a whopping 44 at the time of recording having explored most of the World by herself over the years Melissa has learned a multitude of travel hacks and tools that anyone can leverage while planning out their next trip We Begin by

planning out their next trip We Begin by Deep diving into some of Melissa's experiences in Europe melanesia and Southeast Asia with the latter two being covered during her time with the p score candidly some of her experiences in wuu were absolutely mind-blowing and I for one did not even know that such a place existed we then go over the touchy topic of the Instagram iation of travel that we've been seeing we also cover handy tips and tricks on booking flights accommodation Transportation how to to unlock and access memorable experiences while traveling and really the essense of what makes traveling such a fulfilling experience for countless people all over the world to top it all off Melissa shares a couple of lesser known websites that are really cool in

known websites that are really cool in terms of finding hidden gems in places all over the world this discussion is for anyone who's interested in traveling solo or not on a budget or not in keeping with our theme of learning from somebody that's just two steps ahead of us instead of an expert I'd like to emphasize that my goal is to merely disseminate the amazing knowhow that Melissa has accumulated over her many years of traveling for you all this is The Ready Set do podcast and to support it please subscribe to my YouTube channel and now without any further Ado my friends my conversation with Mana welcome and thank you so much for hosting me at the high Chicago library today to record this session with us yeah thanks for inviting me on to your podcast I'm so excited to jump in here

podcast I'm so excited to jump in here and get started on all the wonderful Tippets that we're going to uncover here today can you um kick us off by just for context um telling us about some of your travels your experience with travels I know you've been to 40 countries so some context around that and maybe what was your or what is your favorite area in the world that you know you keep wanting to go back to my first ever international trip uh I was fortunate enough to travel with my family we went to Mexico we went to Cancun Mexico which is a very touristy spot um but my dad actually traveled a lot for work he uh he's retired now but he was a structural engineer and that brought him to many parts of the world and he would do long-term projects so I

and he would do long-term projects so I remember like trying to keep in touch with him when he was abroad and you'd call the hotel and they'd be answering phone in Korean and you'd be like hopefully old understand what I'm saying like I'm trying to talk to my dad here's his name um when I in college I had an opportunity to study abroad so I studied abroad in Spain in s Sebastian and um when I had studied abroad there I traveled a bit around my second semester senior year I only had to do three credits to finish my my graduation I know they were like this is one that's one course so I talked to my guidance counselor and I was like could I do this abroad and she's like I don't

I do this abroad and she's like I don't see why not so I was like let's go to Spain again so I went to hante Spain um which is in the lake Valencia region and I did that my second time studying Broad and then I worked in Spain after um graduating as a marketing translator um and then um I did the Peace Corp when uh like just before the pandemic so I did the Peace Corp from 2017 to 2020 ended because of the pandemic um but I was there for two my two was there I was there for two my two full years of service and I extended a year and I was just at the tail end of it I was supposed to finish in July of 2020 so I was almost

2020 so I was almost finished when we're evacuated so but when I was in the peace for like you do have vacation time as well so when I was in the piece for I also traveled during my service like here and there in total as you mentioned have a doc I have all my my notes I've been to 44 countries and territories and I count territories because that includes like Tibet and that includes places like New Caledonia which is not independent for France yet I so like in calonia similar to kind of like PTO Rico Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States Oram but it is its own whole culture and everything so me calonia I count as a separate entity I that as France because it's way in the South

France because it's way in the South Pacific it's drastically different than France um and yeah that includes like Tibet and Hong Kong which I don't believe it's technically a country but you know it's it's a territory kind ofation so push yeah countless because they're all Cally different absolutely so in your experience um do you gravitate towards I guess certain style of traveling what I'm getting at here is are you more of you know just like any average job book a hotel s SE come back and or I know there's some almost a separate philosophy around traveling which is like I want to get in and out at the most affordable most budget friendly way possible I I personally like the latter it almost a it just

like the latter it almost a it just makes things more interesting you know so do you have a refence in between the two at all in your experience of the kids sometimes are will go to areas because I have like friends who live in a certain area and I want to visit them so then I work around that like knowing that they're in a particular country or they're near a specific airport I'll be like okay what flies directly there from like in that region it's like oh I can go to this country and be able to just hop on a direct flight to go visit them after I checked things out in that country so that will sometimes be part

country so that will sometimes be part of it um sometimes I do let um just flight prices guide me so some of my earlier trips I would just go on Google flights and um there's an option where you select where you're coming from which is Chicago and then I would select um like anywhere in the world or everywhere and then like select my budget like okay I don't want to fly round trip for more than 600 or 700 and I don't want more than one layover sometimes that has dictated like I don't know where I want to go but I'm just like I want to go somewhere where can I go for this price and then is is there such thing as an offseason at all or does the Google search with the flying Search tool that

search with the flying Search tool that you mentioned does that already factor that in um I so I don't know I think every location in the world has different SE like off Seasons typically in the United States because where we're physically Loc like the typical travel season for us is summer which would be from like June to August um but other parts of the world that's their winter or that's their wet season or their hurricane season or whatever so people don't travel during those or that's a popular time um I've learned from working at the hostel here that San Francisco their peak season is actually like August September October because it's really foggy in our typical summer time so no one ever wants to go in the summer time family that lives out there I

time family that lives out there I should do so like here in Chicago our peak season for sure is June July August um but for other places even within the United States it could be different parts of the year so for them it's early fall okay you know yeah so with that in mind I would say Europe I have heard that Europe peak season is typically summer like prices to go to Paris and things like that will be from like May to August those will be like higher prices and then um say I'm a person kind of say in your shoes maybe a few years ago I just want to go somewhere for like you know a cheap budget friendly option I don't care where that place is so I'll go on Google I'll put in my budget I'll use the tool

I'll put in my budget I'll use the tool that you use um besides that can you think of any other apps that you you know learn or any tools that you come to that help with that way I like to go to places that people don't travel to and those tend to be less expensive um because anywhere that is a very touristy place is going to be far more expensive so like despite having been to like 44 territories and countries I've never been to Italy I've never been to Paris I've been to France but only like right next to where I was living in s Sebastian like just over the border of France and bits never been to Paris never been to Italy my parents have been to Italy like a dozen times in different regions um and like I'll make it there sometime at

and like I'll make it there sometime at some point but I would say one of the things I remember I would say back in 201 201 16 I had gone to um Eastern Europe so this was a trip where I went to Scandinavia so I flew into Copenhagen I went from like Copenhagen I went from Denmark to Norway to Sweden to Finland to laia and finished in Estonia and I it was cheap to do what's called an open jaw flight and an open jaw flight is when you fly into one place and out of another place so I flew into Copenhagen and flew out of toin and that's called an open jaw I'm not flying in and out of Copenhagen is that the same with a Mony City yeah basically so

multi the I don't know where like the H jaw thing comes from but the way you do it nowadays because you can book your own flights and things online um you can just go and look at prices for like a round trip mhm and then see like in that search that I was doing I was like oh two and from to Lin is really cheap tune from Copenhagen is she what if I flew into one and out the other what would that round trip price be and it was comparable I think it was only like 500 round trip or something when I was on act trit I remember getting to um like laia which most people have not heard of or like

most people have not heard of or like they don't know where it is on a map it's a beautiful European city it's actually or um country it's actually um uh in Ria it's known as almost like the Silicone Valley of Europe and I think a lot of people who have not traveled a lot they only go to what they've heard of because that's to them very comfortable so they're like I've heard of Paris I've heard of Rome I'm go inam right they're like that sounds like place I would like because I've seen it in 100 movies and they have this or you know I've seen England and they have castles you most European countries have castles so you could go anywhere and they have a castle so it's like if you

they have a castle so it's like if you just want some like medieval history you want to look at some cool old buildings eat some good food like most of are P that you don't have to go to the most expensive most touristy location for that that's an investing call up yeah I mean that almost makes so much sense and I guess I'm curious to hear your take on the I guess Instagram iation of travel almost and I know we have important things to cover here that's fine but we basically on the brink of that so I'm very curious to hear um yeah what do you think about you know how I feel like Google Maps now does this feature where it points out the most Instagram stories

it points out the most Instagram stories at a given location oh interesting so then you can use that or vice versa you could go on Instagram look for I don't know like Eiffel Tower and it'll show you the exact spots where like say 50k people to they posting their story so from what I'm getting it sounds like you're saying don't do that go somewhere where there's nobody and it's like just a special maybe and you know so any other um additions to that or you yeah I have a lot of feelings about like these sto not stories um that people share on like Tik Tok or Instagram because working at a hostel there's tons of guests who will come to me and ask for advice on where to explore and things and they'll have lists and whenever there's some outlier

lists and whenever there's some outlier on the list I'm always like where did you hear about this what do you know about this and I'm curious to know more because you know when you go on trip visor there's the typical Chicago sites there's the park there's the wheel to there's uh like bucking Camp Fountain there's all these like big tourist attractions but then sometimes a guest will have this list on their phone and they'll be like I have printers well which is this like little pocket of a neighborhood that's a few blocks from the hostel and I'm like what what about printer what do you have here like in your notes and they're like oh I saw this reel that said it was this like really cool old area where there's um they used to do like printing presses it's called printer because they used to do a lot of Publications there back in the

the day but now it's like like my doctor's office is over there it's like there's an apartment building like it's just there's not like attraction yes but there's so many reals that are like guys you have to check out printers look at this like Old Clock Tower it used to be like there's there's a cool building there's Dearborn station which was a former train station and now it's like a multi-use building it has a big clock tower on it but again that's a doctor's office a UPS um there's like a pizza place inside but it's like is it a is it something to go check out for a as aist no not it's like there's like medical offices and like but not much else um so I see that a lot and it kind

else um so I see that a lot and it kind of cracks me up seeing that on Instagram of like guys you have to check out this local bar and it'll just be like bar like it's just the bar I go to all the time but there's like someone taking snazzy video and selfie zooming yeah zooming in on the food and like having their friend film it's just it's kind of funny to see in real life now when I go on trips I find myself actually trying to not be with my camera all the time like I actually in the last few years started bringing like uh a notebook on my trips to just like stare out the window and try to like sketch an image that I was seeing or something like that

that I was seeing or something like that um just because the default is like oh that's a cool sign I'm just going to snap a photo of it and it's like you can snap a photo of anything all the time never look at it ever again like like when people at concerts are like recording 10 hour videos never ever see the light so I guess to take from that being then is it true that when you see something that really captures your attention maybe verify and maybe just don't blindly go to that place just because you saw like a nice you can read of that like maybe cross setence from Google or somewhere else and make sure that it actually is um what it's claiming to be before you find yourself

claiming to be before you find yourself going dead shifting gears a little bit um what tips do you have for us in terms of Transport so I know we covered flights to a decent extent but um obviously once you some where you have a decent amount of options you can do rental cars you can hitch hike for the more I guess Adventure oriented people so yeah any um suggestions SL insights from your experiences that you can share at our transport one of the first things I always make sure to do and this is also kind of a safety standpoint but also not necessarily it's just like wanting to like hit the ground running like as soon as you arrive in the destination you're excited to be there and you probably want to drop your bags and immedately start exploring

and immedately start exploring absolutely one of the things I always do when I plan my trip is how am I getting from the airport to my first stop like whether it's a place that I just need to like lock up my bags before check-in or is it directly at the hospital or whatever I pre research that because again I'm to a smartphone game so it's only been a few years that I can travel with a smartphone but I would always have that plann out like just knowing where the taxi stand is at the airport or just knowing if there's like a training that takes me directly into the city center or something like because as soon as I'm through customs and security or whatever like I want to go I want to

or whatever like I want to go I want to be at my place so um I like to just have that so I'm not just sitting at the Airpor 30 minutes using Wi-Fi to figure the next step out I just want to like be there um okay in general I really like to travel in different modes of transportation just because it's so fun like like traveling I mean here in Chicago We're fortunate to have really good public transit so you can take buses and trains pretty much everywhere when I'm traveling especially if there's an area that's known for a particular type of special travel like Tok Tok ories fairies exactly yeah um I love to incorporate that into my trip and like maybe getting to a destination that way um so I would say like that

that way um so I would say like that Scandinavia and like Eastern Europe trip utilized that um I did I flew into Copenhagen I took an overnight fairy because I just I think I just like found out that that was a thing that existed and it took you direct to Oslo so I was like why not it was only um I think it was like 80 or something and it was over night so in my mind I'm like that's my accommodations for the night that's my transportation so it's like all combined into one cost and it was way better than I had expected I had um because when I think of fairies in the US I think of

think of fairies in the US I think of the ferry that I take to like the Wisconsin Dells which is I don't know 20 minutes minutes long being you can see like last yeah exactly it's like you know people have their bikes or something you're just like hopping over this small water passage um but this was an overnight Fair and it was essentially a cruise ship which again I was not expecting cuz I think of fairy I think of like oh 10 cars can pull on to this I there's like bike parking but obviously it would be the case for an overnight fairy but it was yes it was essentially a cruise ship they had like three restaurants on the on the ship they had um like a night club with a band that was like playing

club with a band that was like playing all night long I think they had a casino I didn't go to the casino when I was in Peace Corp I was in vonu which is in the South Pacific um most people have not heard of vonu so it's very typical that I have to explain where it is but it's um it's a melanesian country it's near Fiji it's near Australia but when I say near it's like a 4-Hour flight from Australia like in the the ocean is that around the area of likeor Le and all of that um it's near just for context I guess right there PA New Guinea is that yes oh it's near Pap Guinea um that was actually like the closest uh US Embassy was in

like the closest uh US Embassy was in Pap Guinea um from where we were uh so yeah where I was flights within the country so it's a very it's Vanoni is an island nation there's like 80 different Islands in in this y formation um and they're tightly together I think like visualizing this I think it's roughly like the size of like Florida like not land area but like shape like the formation of it but they're like sparely squeezed together um that's like roughly how much space it takes up I think um and when you're traveling from like one place to another within the country are flights but they're more expensive so there was a time that I went with some other Peace Corp friends to visit other Peace Corp friends because we were all spread out there was like 60 or 70 of us in the country but

like 60 or 70 of us in the country but like all sprinkled throughout um and we around Christmas time went on an overnight ferry from the capital of P vaa up to um luganville which is up in um Aspirus Sant so Aspirus Santo Island um and it took us yeah I think it was like 12 or 13 hours yeah I just realized so you might have been talking about Mars qualities right now and I would have no idea I'm like that's just so and again I'm going to C our little script here but yeah what was that place like like what is something that I guess an average such as myself can use to visualize the you know Landscapes or even the like island formations or something in that place what was your you know so oh it's a

what was your you know so oh it's a tropical island okay tropical it's a tropical island okay it's in the South Pacific um so lots of like palm trees coconuts as far as like food it's very similar to Southeast Asia or South America like there's a lot of root vegetables like Yuka which they call um Mania but it's the same as like Cava root it's what tat Yuka is made out of okay okay um um mangoes pineapples coconuts coconuts fish um that sort of like tropical food um and then like it's in the melanesian area which is also like the Solomon Islands in Fiji or melian um countries but all of the culture training it's very interesting because how things are in a different place you can very it's very easy to just be like this is stupid or

easy to just be like this is stupid or this is so different why do they do things this way it makes no sense but when you actually are there for a while or you just immerse yourself in the culture a little bit it makes sense everywhere there is something that makes sense because of the context so uh in vanon too it would be you know like why do they eat all of these root vegetables like why not grow like their land is very um fertile why not grow this why not grow that it's like because they get hit with Cyclones all the time so root vegetables are a safe bed because they're underground so if a hurricane comes those root vegetables if you have to uproot them you can keep them at like room temperature storage for like a month before having to consume them if

month before having to consume them if you only grew things like mango trees and pineapples those things are going to spoil immediately you know bananas were the first thing like if we were hit by a cyclone The Village would always like eat all the bananas first because they're like this is going to spoil in 2 days so eat all bananas and then we'll move on to the other stuff because that stuff can keep longer um so there's things that you just learn that make sense and so when we were in training we learned about gender roles in the community we learned about um the cheaply structure in a community um and how like here in Chicago if I had an issue with

issue with the sidewalk I could report it to 311 I could report it to my Alder I could report it to like there's city services to face something but when you're in a place like Batu and you're living in a village of 300 people and there's an issue who you reported to you don't just tell some random person you can tell one of the local police who like my host mom was a local police um you could tell a a small Chief or the main Chief and like things would progress that way so you just have to learn how things work and that's how peace cor was done where you would do that you do training and then when you went to site you weren't allowed to do anything for 3 months you were just supposed to integrate in the

were just supposed to integrate in the culture um they don't want you to just show up in a vage and be like you guys need water tanks because they'll be like you don't know what we need you haven't been here you don't live here did not right exactly so it's like you have to like gain people's trust you have to learn um how things are I worked at a school I worked in the education sector um but you have to like learn how things are done who's in charge of what definitely living there has changed my perspective a lot about other countries I've visited since then because While most people in America have not heard of Anu lots of Australians and uh kiwis new zealanders have heard of Anu because for

zealanders have heard of Anu because for them it's like Hawaii it's like where you do your honeymoon it's where you do a destination wedding it's where you go to just have a little tropical vacation to yourself it's a very popular tourist destination and it's mostly Australians and new zealanders going there there's cruise ships that go there but yes it coming back to this I think it definitely gave me perspective and so when I was in tcore I traveled around the South Pacific and I traveled to South southeast Asia and um I was actually one of my friends had just asked me today she was asking if anyone had been to Cambodia and I was like oh I went to Cambodia in 2018 and she was asking what I was doing and I kept a Blog at the time so I was just

kept a Blog at the time so I was just reading back on my blog and one of the things I had noted in my blog was I had already been one year into peace cor and one of the things I did in Cambodia was I did a floating village tour it was like a tour of these floating villages they basically people live in this area where there's like very high tide and all the houses are on built to get to the Village you have to take a boat from like a higher land area and then you take the boat down and kids will like get in canoes to go to school because like the whole village is essentially just like on stils and when there's high

just like on stils and when there's high tide that's just how you get to the school or how you get to the store things like that so uh I remember there was a woman on the tour who there was like shops in the village that sell basic Goods like you know light bulbs and batteries and things and she's like well why do they have these if there's not a lot of tourists that come here well locals need batteries locals need light bulbs like they need matches they need everything is for yeah not everything is for us Outsiders like they live here so that was something that like what a silly question how would we we get rid of our trash well there was like trash piles on the fringes of the village and you would burden the trash um and you know there's other tourists

um and you know there's other tourists on the trip on this in this group travel that were like this is so disgusting and how pollutive and like this and this and I'm like yes but they also don't have paved roads they don't have garbage trucks in this area how else would you recommend they get rid of their trash like they like it has to go somewhere and they don't want to pollute the water because that's where they're fishing and like you know maybe getting their drinking water so it's things like that it's like you have to think about what makes sense for that place and I feel like I have a lot more perspective after having been in want to yeah I really like that perspective it's not something I have entertained up until you first said it but you basically you're um your

said it but you basically you're um your not around um just because it doesn't make sense to you as a tourist or a traveler and it feels odd or stupid doesn't mean that it is maybe you just don't get and I guess what you what you were laying out was that once you spend enough time you begin to notice how those things have a reason I mean this is oversimplifying things but there's like independent cultures and communal cultures and bat is definitely a communal culture but just understanding that because America is very much an independent culture once you understand like a communal culture it's like okay the rest makes sense just understanding this it's applicable as you said across borders to other communal cultures and you're like yeah I

communal cultures and you're like yeah I get why this family might want to invite 500 people to their wedding I would never do that but I get it now I get why it would be so offensive not to invite your third cousin twice removed you know that would you you know cut off half of your family so yeah awesome um moving forward do you have any recommendations around I guess you did Cover a decent amount of food INRI but yeah basically in terms of optimizing a person's dayto day so like let's pretend I'm big X European city like I have 3 days to spend that what's the best way I can optimize for um not leaving stuff on the table no pun intended with food and drinks but also with sseeing avoiding tourist traps um and any you know

tourist traps um and any you know overarching tools that you found help with that or just protocols Etc I that um I would say with Europe uh definitely I mean not even Europe Asia is like this too like groceries are very cheap I have learned this from traveling I hear it all the time from hostile guests I'm like grocery stores are expensive I'm like I get it they are like I even though I hear it all the time um I was just in Europe about a year ago and I was like yep still remembering eating here is far cheaper than in back at home um so I'm a terrible person to ask about food because when I travel I often forget to eat because I'm so

often forget to eat because I'm so distracted and then I'll be like I'm starving oh right I haven't eaten in seven hours like I should eat something right now so what to eat is yeah or I'll I also when I was in Spain I really enjoyed like the habits of spay where you have something very light in the morning you have a heavy middle meal at like 2: or 300 p.m. and then you have like a lighter dinner at like 900 p.m.

like a lighter dinner at like 900 p.m. and I still eat like that I don't eat at like 8 noon and 5:00 p.m. like that's just throws me I can't eat at those times I'm not hungry at those times but I would say for me I'm not very hungry in the morning so I like to just have something light so if the hospit provides free breakfast um I'll have that but usually I don't even seek out a place that has free breakfast cuz all I'm looking for is like juice and a muffin like I just need something to TI me over for like 3 hours and a small snack will suffice um and then I'll you know maybe plan to be

and then I'll you know maybe plan to be in a certain area or end up near something um midday or in the evening um but I don't don't I think one of the things that people often Overlook is they might look into restaurants you know they find their Instagram real that they really want to go to some restaurant or something with like a flame on top of the CH like five boards I don't know yeah when I was in Amsterdam recently I think I went into a grocery store and I got a juice like 100% juice like the nice juice whereas here you so many of the juices are like cornr it's like orange artificial flavor Etc and but this is like a real juice you know it was like 100% mango juice or something and then you could go to like the bakery

and then you could go to like the bakery section and get maybe like a Cris salant or uh some pastry that has like you know ham in it or something like that and then like an apple and that would be like a dollar for all three of those things like this is so cheap that would never be that cheap here in America um but you can do something like that and then it's like okay like I wanted to throw to this park anyways once I find a nice little Sunny Spot I'll just sit on a park bench and people watch and eat my little snacks um and then for meals like especially in Europe a lot of European countries will have like the midday special for Monday through Friday so I always will look for that um Spain I got

always will look for that um Spain I got used to this but they have in other countries but basically what that is is they call it like the menu of the day and it is like a drink and that drink could be like a wine a beer a cough like an espresso or tea or a juice and then it will be a main dish um that's perfectly portion cuz United States over portions portions everything so it'll be like a SI like a normal amount of food that at one for you can eat and then like sometimes it'll come with a dessert too so like in Spain it could be like rice like valencian rice with like shrimp and then

valencian rice with like shrimp and then it comes with like a little fla for dessert with a beer and that in total is like 12 be wow which is like I don't know $15 or something like that um so there's like so many places that have something like that and they're all like build your own um where you know you choose the drain you choose one of these three dishes do you want fried eggplant do you want the rice dish do you want this steak and potatoes and then the dessert it's like do you want this soret or the flum I see and then you just like mix and match and it's $112 or something that's usually just Monday through Friday because it's it's meant for like the people like the workplace people um

the people like the workplace people um to do like their business launch ex um but a lot of European countries have that so it's easy to not spend money on a decent meal and how about Asia and like South America is it the similar Norm there or are there any notable differences so I haven't been to South America I've been to Europe Asia Pacific I have not gone to anywhere in Africa or anywhere no no no no worries um not to say that like I should go I will go I know Spanish so there's a whole C there um but I would say um in Asia I feel like there is a lot of like especially in like Thailand there's Street vendors everywhere

there's Street vendors everywhere selling street food and the street food is really good you can go to sit down restaurants but the locals would tell you that that's like a ripoff and you should definitely just go to Street vendors and you could get like a chicken skewer from this vendor and then you can go to this vendor and get like mango sticky rice and then you can go to this place and get I don't know some other sort of like meat or something and that would be like2 or $3 as opposed to like going to a sit down restaurant and then the cost is like12 or $15 like sit down meal so and did you ever have any like dodgy

and did you ever have any like dodgy experiences with food cuz like I've seen online that some of it it's kind of scary to that in terms of how spicy it isor I'm trying to think especially street food you know in Asia especially right I haven't there's been things that I've seen that I didn't eat okay um but like in um in Shian China there were uh what were were they scorpions or I feel like they were scorpions or some sort of creature on a stick and like some of them I feel like we're still moving I I feel like they were scorpions I could be wrong though um but it was something I did not eat I think someone in my group was like well I have to try it like I saw it so I have

I have to try it like I saw it so I have to have it uh what do do they I think they were just like salty and crunchy like that was pretty much him and these the people that I was traveling with in China um they have traveled even more like far more countries than me um so they um were they were like yeah I mean it's different like maybe order it again I this I don't think I've ever been anywhere where like spice has been I was in Syria and I a few of us not all of us a few of and I a few of us not all of us a few of us got sick towards the end and I want to say that like sering food is fantastic I want this to reflect borly on Syria at all their food is incredible it's like super fresh and amazing

it's like super fresh and amazing um all of those meals were just like so delicious and amazing but I think it might have been water at one point there was a couple times that we had purchased water bottles from a store and they were like already open like he would be like this one was refilled so there was a couple times this happened and we told our guide who was local and she's like that's not normal like don't drink that um but there' be times where I feel like we'd be like oh like we just take a SI like really hot or something so I'm like I wonder if that was what got happened I really don't think it was any of the food that we consumed I think it was just like some dodgy water bottle I see know that checks out you said there's

know that checks out you said there's places that we like put on a show at like a country that are tourist I don't want to say traps but they are kind of like traps because if I'm a tourist I would not want to go that I would rather go somewhere where I can get an authentic that play Centric experience so have you seen any like telltale signs that one could quickly identify right up the back that that restaurant is very clearly like a Honey Trap For Tourists and so what uh if there's pictures of the dishes on the outside of the restaurant wow so this is very common in European countries because if people are visiting from like Asia where they don't necessarily understand like the um Latin

necessarily understand like the um Latin characters if they see a picture of like spaghetti they they know what they're going to get so so um anywhere that has photos of the food something that I had noticed when I I went to Quebec City before I went to Montreal and when I was in quec City loved it it's like so like if you can't go to Europe and you just want to hop over to Canada like go to Quebec City and you'll feel like you're in Europe um just like beautiful flower boxes overflowing with flowers cute little cafes everyone just it feels like the whole City's just on medication with you like taking these midday like 3our

you like taking these midday like 3our coffee breaks and things it's just very Charming one of the things that I noticed there is it didn't feel touristy it just felt real and authentic um but then Montreal you go through the old part of town and they have their little cobblestone streets and like pedestrian area um but outside of every restaurant there's big sandwich board and it's like two for one this one you know this for $5.9 $5.9 and they have like pictures of spaghetti like pictures of and it's just like it feels really cheesy and tacky um because if you think about that here in Chicago like you would never see that in a neighborhood you might see that downtown where the tourists are where it's like come here for our like Margarita there's like a photo of a margarita in case you

like a photo of a margarita in case you don't know what that is um whereas like in those neighborhoods they might have a sign but they're not going to like have a photo of like you have cheeseburgers here's what cheeseburger looks like like that's so C especially as somebody that lives in L Park I feel like yeah I almost never see I guess there's some um more offbeat food uh places such as like really Thai food I think that makes sense to me if you're a t restaurant in Chicago I think it's fair to say why they would have um pictures but you're right 100% if it were like an American restaurant yeah they have no business um putting pictur of cheeseburgers or like flight pickles or whatever somebody should know exactly what to expect when

should know exactly what to expect when they order a flight pickle so so I think that's like a Telltale sign and it's it's a sign of them adapting to a foreign tourism economy because they're like yes someone who doesn't understand our language whether this is in English or French or whatever we have to show them a photo of this because they're not going to know what pigs in a blanket is exactly or something like that another thing too Hit or Miss I wouldn't say this you should avoid this at all cost but a lot of tourist restaurants in foreign countries will have readily available menu in English because there's tourists so you know you go into a restaurant and

so you know you go into a restaurant and they're like ah yes here take this menu you seem to need this one um so like you'll see that but at the same time like you can find restaurants that are good restaurants they just happen to have foreign clientele so they're like we're just prepared for that yeah or like like International claiming or exactly inclusively that maybe one could say or maybe they believe that being inclusive body having like English stuff or English menu very cool yeah so I think that's like a Telltale like touristy sign yeah I think even if it's not food related experience related like maybe there's like a big I don't know fer that takes really high but cost like $200

takes really high but cost like $200 like what's the general rule of th to pick out that should be expensive but it's worth it ver there any ex that's like you know that just looks good on paper I'm not actually going to do it um I always use Paris as a perfect example because it is actually like one of the most touristy I think it's the most tourist visited city in the world um everyone's heard of Paris everyone knows what Paris has um if I were to go to Paris I would Paris if I were to go to Paris I would not seek out the eiel tower I know I see it at some point from somewhere like it's hard to miss I'm sure i' be somewhere at a restaurant at Museum and I would get a view of it I'm not going

I would get a view of it I'm not going to go to whatever the plaza promade or go up like I would see it I'm sure I would see it so that's kind of like my perspective when I go to a city but there's a lot of people who are like well I can't not go like that's what Paris is know for I have to go to the OS Tower so like to each their own but for me personally it's like I I like to just go where locals go I like to explore what people there do like that's for me is like I just like to um visit

for me is like I just like to um visit the culture of that area something I've noticed in the last few years is there are attractions that are franchise attractions that are in different cities and they're very popular and they tourists will go to them from different countries and I feel like I would never seek those out because that's not what travel's about so a perfect example is a a few years ago maybe more than a few years maybe like 10 years ago you started to like look up any City on trip advisor and within the top 10 there was like an escape room listed as the top attraction you think this was true for 10 years ago 10 years okay maybe not 10 years maybe like 7 years that just no no no I think you're

years that just no no no I think you're right though I think maybe like because I'm trying to think like when escape room he started becoming popular I would say like 2015 is and Beyond but like youd look up any City you'd like look up Philadelphia and there' be like escape room in like trip advisor's top 10 you look up Chicago escape room and you think of like Chicago and you're like the escape room really someone's coming here and like exploring an escape room here in Chicago like why you're in Chicago would even make like top 30 list no they're like everywhere Europe they're all over in Europe wow but there's such like an a popular attraction but that's not that was like the first time I started noticing that now I've just seen it with other things um I forget the company that does it but

um I forget the company that does it but there's a like a light projection company that does like the immersive Mozart for the immersive and it travels yeah so it's like I have friends in New York who go to it I had friends here in Chicago go to it and it's the same attraction and it's duplicated for different spaces and I've had friends like come here to Chicago from like Michigan and they're like oh I'd love to go to this immersive Lighthouse or whatever it's called immersive lightings they it and to me I'm like like that's not a like if I'm going to show you Chicago like that's not something I want to show you because like it'll come to Michigan especially

especially like so I've seen that with like light things candle light concerts are now like a thing in many countries there's also like uh various quote unquote museums that aren't actual museums they're just like places to take a million Instagram photos at perfect examples ice cream Museum here in Chicago if you like read reviews a few of the reviews will be like Angry like there's no history of Museum here it's just like a bunch of rooms that have like cool things hanging on the wall that you can take a picture in front of but like I was hoping to like learn about ice cream like no well when we say ice cream Museum we really mean just like a bunch of photo ops like that's so there's a handful of those type of

there's a handful of those type of places here here in Chicago as well as worldwide that are more just photo ops any other maybe bucket that we didn't cover so far or really any other call outs that you can have for any person that's remotely interested in traveling to you know maximize their experience according to you one of the things I always look for for when I'm doing something um is I look my two favorite websites for when I'm exploring new place is I go to atlas obscura and I go to spotted by locals um so Atlas obscura is a worldwide it's a website of like weird things worldwide I've never heard of that but that sounds it's fantastic it's what's really nice about it too is they have the map so you can search by a city

have the map so you can search by a city or you can just like look at the world map and be like oh I this region and like zoom in and say like oh there's a few things here um I really like Atlas obscura um because those are the things I like to see so um every once in a while they will have like for Chicago I'm pretty sure they have cloudgate on there from Millennium Park it is kind of obscure because it is like an obscure St but it is also like one of our major tourist attraction um so they'll have stuff like that but then they'll also have just like weird things um like maybe some like historic things like a lot of Chicagoans don't realize that

lot of Chicagoans don't realize that Route 66 starts in Chicago and there's a sign of the Route 66 start and it's right in front of the artwork Institute on Adams and so lots of people like go there and take a picture and be like this is the startout 6 six um so things like that will be in there like some obscure like oh this is the narrowest street in the world or like you know things like that that aren't necessarily like well I'll spend half day exploring this but like if in this neighborhood oh it's kind of cool to like wander through or check out um and spotted by locals I don't remember how I stumbled upon it but I used it way back in 2015 I was using it um

it way back in 2015 I was using it um it's basically it started in I believe the Netherlands and the owners of it basically reached out to locals in different cities in Europe to write articles about non tourist attractions because they're trying to prent over tourism so they're like we want you to write about local attractions local restaurants local bars art exibits Etc um and they had to keep them updated so part of like writing for them I actually wrote for them for Chicago back in oh wow that's awes 2016 and one of our volunteers Lydia writes for them because she's she likes journalism and I recommended it to her and she's actually one of the people for the Chicago site right now but basically you write articles about yeah your favorite spots in the city um

yeah your favorite spots in the city um and typically they're the non-touristy things and through spotted by locals I when I was in I believe it was Helsinki there was an art installation that was posted on there and it's in this little residential area so not a touristy area at all um there's art installation inside of a sewer grate so like you're walking through this little like neighborhood and it's like the sewer grate right by the curb there's like an opening where the water drains through but if you go down to it you'll hear there's a speaker inside and there's um I forget the name of the art installation but basically when you like lean in and listen there's it sounds like an airport intercom system that's like flight 282 is now boarding at gate

like flight 282 is now boarding at gate 53 and like it was just this like weird art installation like right there that tons of people I'm sure just like walk by daily but like you could point it out and like oh that's that's right therey and through that website there you can find just like a bunch of interesting um like restaurants or local sites and before I travel usually what I'll do is I'll I'll browse through Atlas obscura and spotted by lals and I'll go onto a Google map and just like pin a bunch of places without expectation of going to every single one but I just pin them how to how you back poet just to know like maybe roughly what neighborhood I want to explore or where I want to be sleeping and then when I'm out exploring it's like oh I'm

when I'm out exploring it's like oh I'm hungry are there any cafes that I pinned within like a 20 minute walk up here and then I'm just right there we didn't talk about credit cards I was going to say that oh yeah um money money tips right I would say if you can like get a credit card that has bonus miles or that gives you lots of reward points for travel I personally use the Capital One Venture Card um but there's also like the Venture X Card which is a little more expensive but you actually I learned this after the fact so I'm waiting for the time that I can upgrade um but the Venture X Card it costs like almost 400 annual feed which that's why I

annual feed which that's why I originally was like no I would never yeah but you actually get 300 of it back in travel credit gotta that you can use on the Travel website for like book booking hotels uh flights Etc and you get LNG Dan right cuz I one of thees with free food amazing so I'm like why didn't I B this I just didn't know that it like came back to you pretty much immediately so I was like I want to just throw 400 out the window um so I have just like the Venture Card but those cards are really useful if you're traveling abroad because you don't have the uh foreign um transaction Fe um okay so you don't ever like buying

Fe um okay so you don't ever like buying the local currency I do sometimes CU sometimes yeah sometimes you need it for Europe no but if I'm going somewhere where it's like Islands or somewhere that's like a little bit less technically Advanced where I know I'm not going to be able to like tap to pay everywhere I go I definitely convert currency and I'm fortunate enough to be an American citizen that has US Dollars which is like a very strong currency to have worldwide cheap good so it's like if anything just bring US dollars that you can maybe convert if you need to um if you're converting the best way to convert is to just draw money directly out of an ATM but that only is smart if you plan on drawing a lot

is smart if you plan on drawing a lot because there's like a there's a conversion fee or there's like a one time it might be like $5 to just use a foreign ATM and then there's the convery on top of that but if I'm pulling out like $500 it kind to cancels out in the long run but I would do that for like $30 to draw out but cashes is useful for um like I do a lot of Tours um I really like free t Tour by foot which is like a pay what you can kind of model so they're all technically free but you tip at the end whatever you think the tour is worth and

whatever you think the tour is worth and they're all around the a place that you can go to find them I believe it's called free free tours by foot okay um yeah three tours by foot uh and so I've done that in many places I've traveled to they're very widespread in the US but you can also find them elsewhere or if you just Google that I've done that I did that Inc City there's like this one guy I think his name is Sam and he does these like free tours um of Quebec City and and those are really great for um to just like have some cash on hand however nowadays again US dollars are very strong so you don't even have to bother converting it because sometimes they'll be like just if you have US dollars if

be like just if you have US dollars if you have British pounds if you have Australian dollars like I'll take it because I could just like collect it until I get like a hundred and then I'll just go to bank um but if you have something else that's more obure then they'll probably not take take it but um yeah I think that's it and then whenever I'm looking for accommodations um I I personally love staying in hosts um and I look for hosts for different reasons um a lot of times if I'm traveling solo I do look for something that is social so I want a hostel that either has a bar in it or has a vents or something that will create create socialization um but sometimes I'm

socialization um but sometimes I'm traveling and it's just like a stop overing my next destination so I literally just need a bed to sleep in so like just give me one bed in the 20 person dorm like I literally will be there for 8 hours resting my head and then I'm out the door so I can care about having those R but I think one of those things that I heard from people who have like bad experiences with hostiles or have heard about bad experiences is they're not using um they're not looking at reviews why not so um I always look at reviews um because if you see a recurring them of like multiple reviews saying like this

like multiple reviews saying like this is such an antisocial hostile like no one ever talks to each other like everyone's like in their own world is like okay I don't want to stay at that hosital um or if you hear like other things like oh this place is so dirty and not like H world you can narrow it down by review so I won't go to a place that's less than like eight out of 10 um and then I'll look at Region neighborhood or whatever um but look at reviews don't just blindly book whatever is the cheapest just look at it especially if you know you're going to be fussy about certain things for sure so makes sense um and then on the topic

so makes sense um and then on the topic of hosts I guess um I guess any other tips especially around the socialization aspect I know it on paper sounds as simple as like just go to the common area like we have such a great area here where all our guests interact um but I guess what if there is no area to facilitate that do you just go up to people and be like high or do you have an approach that FS I would say in in general if I'm staying at a place that I'm hoping to like make connections I'm already staying at a place that has some social aspect to it you done your homework before like they'll either have a bar located in the hostel or they'll

a bar located in the hostel or they'll have like you know a bar crawl or a tour or something that you can meet people at um otherwise I will look at um a lot of cities will do like touristy bar crawls that are like meant for tourists not for locals so you can like if your hostel doesn't host that then you can find like another hostel might host it for neighboring h hostals and they all collectively come together for an event um or like your room you know if you're staying in a private room you're not going to meet anyone but I've met people in hosts by like just making my bed and someone like walks in the room and you're like oh hey like where you from

you're like oh hey like where you from oh cool like what are you doing today oh I was going to do this hey want come up come with me I like sure so just like chatting with people I I think it's I've noticed a shift with like the smartphone era where everyone defaults to just looking at their phone instead of just like you know just instead of just like you know looking around and like conversing with the person near you um so you know yeah just kind of sitting or doing something that's like easily interrupted that like makes you look open like if you're sitting and like doing something like seems you're very focused on no one's going to approach you but if you're just like sitting in the lobby like filling

like sitting in the lobby like filling out postcards or something someone is maybe more likely to um come up to you and just be like hey like EXA and just like have a couple I'm trying to think of like some conversation topics you know it depends on like the scenario just have a couple like ice breakers exactly and if you're um like traveling internationally I think it's literally as simple as just speak like you know where are you from I'm from X that's it like what what better better exactly Icebreaker can you have that yeah so awesome thank you so much Melissa for taking the time today I feel like I have learned more things about traveling just in this past hour than I don't know ever

in this past hour than I don't know ever really and like it's it's so amazing to watch you talk about your experiences cuz I can tell just how much you've enjoyed and how much you continue to you know gain from those experiences obviously you your um the work you do at high Chicago is having worked with you it's I've got to goodness firsts hand um the difference that you're making and making me make uh by answering questions for our guests and such so really feels like have been immersed into this world that I was aware of but not to the extent that I feel like I understand now honestly just because of you and I'm hoping and I'm sure that our listeners will have um few will have a similar effect on our listeners So yeah thank

effect on our listeners So yeah thank you so so much today for taking the time thanks for inviting me I really appreciate it that brings us to the end of episode 16 of The Ready Set do podcast and I would like to thank all of you that shared these episodes with those that continue to benefit from them if you would like to support me the easiest way to do that is by subscribing to my YouTube channel and by leaving me up to a festar rating on Spotify new episodes every Wednesday catch you all in the next one