I came across a few articles detailing rare and unique travel experiences and I have some thoughts...

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salutations and shit folks welcome back to another episode of your favorite travel podcast we're on your host D Carrie have an experiential conversation about the nuanced ways that travel intersects with regular life welcome back to another episode if you are new here I'm happy that you have decided to join us I'm gonna dive right into this because I'm a little bit excited dream excursions

not necessarily dream trips. So you can find beauty in everything, right? Beauty's in the eye of the beholder. It is really a personal taste, personal preference kind of thing, right? So instead of really focusing on what a dream trip would look like, this week I want to touch on what a dream experience would look like. Like what would my ideal excursion

look like. I immediately thought of a hot air balloon. Very accessible. Had one booked in the past. I was actually in Vegas when I had it booked and it ended up getting canceled a few hours after I booked it because I had booked it for the next day. And I guess the weather just wasn't looking good and so they were just like, it's a dead. Cool. Don't want to die. Totes appreciate safety first. But that was a bit disappointing.

Really looking forward to getting into a hot air balloon. Boyfriend, not so much. I asked him if he was down. It was an absolute hard no. And I told him, well, I absolutely would go. And it kind of became one of those things where it's just like, all right, well, I kind of can't let you go by yourself. So.

like that you looking, I'm looking, like those memes. I don't know what that, I was about to call him light skin, but then I realized he's about my complexion. And I don't refer to myself as light skin. I refer to myself as brown skin. So shout out to those of y'all that have called me light skin and I vehemently disagreed with it because here we are. But the one with Diddy and the guy with the curly hair and it's like y'all both looking at each other. That's kind of what the impasse was where, so we're going on a hot air balloon.

Definitely high on my list of things to do, very attainable. And I ended up coming across a travel noir article. It was posted, I want to say August 18th. They actually tweeted it. That's how I came across it. And so I checked it out, and they were talking about.

The article is, these are some of the world's rarest travel experiences.

Bye.

was tickled, if you will. So before I go into what these experiences are, let me just give you a taste of where I'm already at with the shits. This is the type of time I'm on. I'd probably say the wildest thing that I've done would be swimming with sea lions. Picture it, Peru. We ended up on a boat.

from the mainland. I stayed in shit, what was it called? Starts with an M, I wanna say. Not far from the capital. I wasn't getting too crazy. My homegirl was from Peru and she was just like, Mira Flores, peep game. This is where you're gonna stay because I feel comfortable with you being here. I said, say less. I always trust locals or even if you're not, she's not local to there. She lives in the States. We used to work together.

Hey, Rena, her family's from there. So she knows way more about what she's talking about than I fucking do. So if you're telling me that this is comfy, this is comfy, this is my space here, I hear you. I'll be there. So I stayed in Miraflores and I ended up taking an excursion. I don't think I had to travel far for the excursion. Went down to the water and I wanna say we were on that boat for a little bit though.

That could just be me and not knowing any better, but it felt like we were on the boat for at least 30 minutes. There were sights to be seen. Look this way, I don't know, fucking penguins. Look up here, these birds generally hunt or whatever in this space over here. We ended up going to a little island, if you will, in the middle, not if you will, it's an island, right? But in the middle of the ocean, it wasn't the middle of the ocean, but it's not like we could easily swim back to shore.

should the need arise. Real talk, I did ask about the shark sitch, considering we were at an island of thousands of fucking sea lions. And the answer I got was like, oh, no, no. You're fine. Was I fine? I don't know. But I did it any fucking way. Jump off the boat into what felt like the middle of the ocean. There is a island of s**t.

Thousands of sea lions just I don't know if they move but it's the sea lions out they Google that I'm not about to do the sound but it was wild so they're made. It's just a sea like That's really all you can hear outside of the person next to you talking to you or the person like a couple feet away from you shouting at you oh Pro tip there's a right and a better way to put on

life preserver. If you've got the option to step into the life preserver, and I don't mean like into the sleeves, I mean like into straps that are attached to the bottom of the life preserver, please do. I could not stay upright. I don't know if it was my size for reference. I'm about, I'm

pounds for those of you that are not in the States. Shout out to those of you in Croatia, and I can't remember the other country. Doing pretty fucking well on the charts over there. Appreciate y'all. Really, truly I do. And I'm glad y'all appreciate me, apparently. But, by five, about 125, give or take, and I could not stay upright. Like, I kept like rotating.

onto my stomach. It was the wildest thing and I so I couldn't like I can swim. I am not an Olympic swimmer. I can't save both of us. Want me. I'm the only one that's likely going to make it out if it came down to you know me having to save some lives in the water. You don't want me responsible. But I can keep myself up. But even with the life vest I was really struggling not.

floating, but staying upright so that I could swim, so that I could move and get about in the water. Step into the Preserver, because it does whatever it's supposed to do better. So step into the shit, and then strap yourself up. I was in there. Didn't work out well for me. I was very uncomfortable. I had to basically lean on strangers, kind of hook arms, or thankfully, the guy that was hosting the tour just kind of

told me by my collar to where we were. But just so you have a feel for where I'm at with it, middle of the fucking ocean, random ass, wild ass sea lions just, you know, in the water. Yes, they swim up to you. Yes, they will kind of, you know, nose to toe. Thankfully that was not my experience because I absolutely would have responded. Raka ka. Yeah, don't touch me. I want to see you. Get close. You still wild. But yeah.

That shit was nuts. Don't know what the fuck I was thinking. In the ocean with wild animals. This isn't the zoo. This isn't, this ain't for play. And in hindsight, it's just like.

Maybe not the best decision, but it was a great time. Soup's cool. Another wild one that I set myself up to do was swimming with the mantas. They look like, I wanna say, like huge stingrays. Thankfully, and I was terrified. This was the one experience that it was one of those things where, all right, I'ma just decide when I get there if I'm gonna do it. Fortunately for moi.

The experience kind of didn't happen. It ended up just being a snorkeling trip because the water was too rough for us to anchor where we were supposed to anchor so that we could actually experience the mantas. So we didn't come into contact with any mantas at all, but we ended up just, you know, snorkeling way, way off the coast. Like, at a certain point, we couldn't see the coast, and then we ended up moving a little bit closer, and we were able to see the coast, but it was still quite a distance away.

Um, that was, I'd say a little harrowing. I ended up getting caught in a rip current and I didn't realize what was going on until I started panicking. And then you have to kind of like, Oh, this is when I'm not supposed to panic. And you kind of, cause we were over like coral reef. And even though we were quite far from the, what is, what I just said it, from the coast, from, you know,

land.

would have been able to stand on the coral to kind of like give myself a break because I was getting tired of fucking swimming at this point. And I'm realizing that I'm moving, but I'm not moving. Like I'm swimming, but I'm not going anywhere. And at this point I was being like separated from the rest of the group. And like I'm watching, it feels like they're getting further away even though I'm trying to swim to them. It was rough. And then I realized, okay.

pull it together, and then I'm panicking because I didn't want to stand on the coral reef because I'm like, I can't destroy the oceans. I can't destroy the Earth. This is it. And it was a lot, y'all. It was a fucking lot. But I'm here, right here talking to you. So everyone is fine. I'm safe. But yeah, that was another kind of nutty one. But it wasn't as nutty as it could have been because didn't end up seeing the huge mammoth animals that we were supposed to see and swim with. So it got me thinking.

What other wild shit would I do? And of course, this article came in handy. And as we're going through this list, I kind of want you to think, what the fuck would you do? Remember that show, What Would You Do? I forgot what that man's name was, but it was one of those things where they, like, low-key put you in wild situations just to see what it is, like, the average person would do. So first on this motherfucking list, and this is again, Travel Noir, this link will be in the description box below.

if you care to peruse on your own. And it says, be among the first to look at planet Earth from a space balloon. Hard pass. I have absolutely no human desire to leave this planet. No. I love all things celestial. I am a moon girl, love the stars, live, love.

That's my girl, right? I am a child of the moon. I love the night sky. However, no desire to be fucking launched into it. I don't want to leave the planet. Low key sounds cool, but high key terrifying. I don't remember what the movie was. Event Horizon comes to mind. I don't know if it's the appropriate analogy that I'm looking for, or the-

Appropriate reference, excuse me. I don't know that it's the appropriate reference, but I remember it being like one of them, whoa, sci-fi kind of shits, and it was just like, yeah, I'm good on that. I've seen quite a few ways for things to go absolutely, terribly, horrifically wrong in space. No parts, it's a no. I don't need to go to space. Would love to speak to an astronaut, so if someone can put me in contact with an astronaut.

of color, unless she's a woman. I would love to talk to an astronaut about that kind of travel, space travel, but, excuse me, but a professional, like, I don't, I don't need to go. I trust you and your degree. I trust them other people. Y'all don't need my opinion on space. Tote's cool on that. No desire.

Yeah, read full article. What was the other one? Participate...oh, here was another one. Participate in a tamaskol ceremony. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. T-E-M-A-Z-C-A-L. Tamaskol, temes-kol. I think it's tamaskol. Not certain. Ceremony in Mexico. That had me thinking in general of...

spiritual experiences that align with cultures and peoples that have absolutely nothing to do with myself and my culture.

I am a spiritual person, but not a religious person. So I am infinitely curious about all spiritual things. However, within respectful reason, I believe in the shit. So it is something that I hold at a higher guard and it's something that I know better than to play with. It's like a Ouija board.

Never in my life have I touched one, never in my life will I touch one. Gavrone fucking T. It hard pass, couldn't pay me to do it. Just like you couldn't pay me to do hard drugs. It's no, there's no amount of curiosity that I possess in my body that would tempt me to touch either. I'm good, super good.

Traveling shit. T-R-A-V-E-L, the letter N-S-H-underscore-T. I'll tweet about it. It'll be there. But, this shit was funny about the Ouija board. I would never fucking touch one. So, participate in a tamaskal ceremony in Mexico. It says that it is an ancestral shamanic ritual practice by ancient civilizations throughout central North America, including the Mayans, Aztecs, and Toltecs. I think that's what it says from here.

Gotta get my eyes checked. Often compared to saunas and hot baths, ancient civilizations believed to mask will help to relieve stress, aches and injuries, cure skin diseases and help with respiratory conditions, to name a few. Shamans and company people who want to participate in a tamaskal ceremony in Mexico, the ceremony is said to help people to detoxify their bodies and purify their minds. Now, I'm all for detoxifying and purifying. However, when you add the level of

ceremony to it. This is someone's faith, this is someone's belief, this is what people truly believe in and people give their lives for things that they believe very strongly in. I do not enjoy playing in people's faces about that. It's kind of like Palo Santo.

There is a certain line in terms of usage and participation that I feel some people kind of ignore and become blind to when they find themselves curious about something.

I don't think there's anything wrong with being curious, but I feel like respect often gets lost by people when it comes to things that they don't know anything about and are curious about learning. I feel like respect should always come first. Respect should always come before your curiosity. And when it comes to spirituality, I am in no...

I was gonna say I'm in no position to invite any type of negative energy. I don't care if I'm in the best position. I would never want to invite negative energy into my personal existence. And I feel like playing with spirituality and faiths, religions, belief systems that you know nothing about, it's fucking dangerous. So I'm very hesitant to.

participate in or be part of any type of spiritual ceremony that I was not personally invited to participate in by someone that I know and trust. I will however say that the one I'm pretty certain to

And by three, two of them were visiting, okay, so distinction, visiting sacred grounds respectfully, as in I visited Big Buddha. I wanna say it was watch along, both in Thailand. And then I visited...

was the other one someplace else. I think it was actually the same. Oh, temples in China. So I've visited tons of religious structures, buildings, places of worship. Same with Casablanca. I cannot remember what it is, but it's one of the tallest mosques in the world. Have visited, respectfully. I don't find that.

monument structures that are built by people of a certain belief system to

I don't want to say instantaneously present or...

Hmm. Fine line because respect, right? I feel like visiting places of worship is a little different than participating in spiritual practices. You following me here? It's one thing to remark, revel, and enjoy the beauty of a structure. Structures tend to tend, not always, but tend to be...

to some extent, a public display. They may not always open their doors to the public, but when they are open to the public, I feel like that's a little bit more of a welcoming space to me versus a ceremony.

led by a smaller facet, as in one person, or like just a few people that practice or participate in a certain belief, and then sharing that with others. You feel me where I'm going here? There is a difference to me. The one spiritual experience that I did participate in.

was actually in Cuba. I did an afro

It was Afro Roots. I'll put it in the description box because I'm pretty sure that they are still in business. Afro Roots Cuba, I think was the name of the company. Essentially they did a tour about Voodoo, Houdon, or is it Hoodoo? Voodoo, Hoodoo, and I think it was Voodon or it was like a third religion. But it was about Afro Caribbean religions in Cuba. The...

origination of them, how they're practiced. We went to a really bomb museum that housed a lot of artifacts and representations of what different things and symbolism in the different religions meant and represented. And we had really, really incredibly led conversations and explanations from

locals in the area that were giving us a.

walk through a basic introduction to the religions. And there was also a portion of it where you could have a reading done by a Babylon that I did do. I'm black. I felt a lot more comfortable participating in that than I would feel.

going to Mexico and participating with a religion that I personally know I've got no ancestral connection to. So, a lot of words to say basically that spirituality, spiritual practices, spiritual invitations, I personally don't fuck with. So something like a ceremony where I don't necessarily

feel that I can.

I trust that certain things are going to be in alignment with how I personally live my life and the things that I hold dear. Not to say that...

other spiritual practices, good, bad, right or wrong. That's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that I have no cultural context. I have no... Damn, there's certain things about blackness that are really difficult to express and to explain. So I feel like some of you get what I'm saying, but I don't want to leave an open gap here so that there is space for interpretation of something that I don't really mean, if you get, you feel me?

I don't practice voodoo. However, as a black woman who has no idea what my ancestors practiced when they were dragged over here or after they established themselves over here or in terms of my ancestors that just aren't fucking American, it is more likely that someone down the line practiced voodoo than it is a...

one of my ancestors were to practice or believe anything along the line of a tamaskal ceremony. So I felt way more comfortable learning and tangentially participating in a.

tenant or practice of voodoo than I would feel practicing or being involved in something along the lines of this tamaskal ceremony. That's the gist. Spirituality is a really tricky thing to me and it's one of those things that, like I said before,

I believe in all that. That's like another thing that I don't fuck with is, I ended up having to stop and record again. I don't remember if this version of the video had the Ouija board talk, but you couldn't pay me to touch a Ouija board. And I don't play with certain like ghost tours and visiting haunted spaces, staying in haunted hotels. I'm good on that.

because I'm not trying to bring nothing home. I don't want any parts of that. And one of the tenants of a lot of that is, well, if you don't believe it can't hurt you. Well, bitch, I believe. So I'm not trying to put myself in no situation to get fucked up. Pretty simple. Next one.

Mars on Earth visiting Wadi Rum in Jordan or Wadi Rum. I'm not familiar with the pronunciation. Now, oh the next one right after it is Flo in Jordan's Dead Sea.

So I went to Tel Aviv and had a moment where I could have booked a trip to Petra, which is in Jordan. And I was tap dancing on going, but I knew that part of that excursion involved a Dead Sea visit. And it was fucking freezing. So I knew I wasn't getting in the Dead Sea. So I ended up not going because I knew that I have really no idea what the significance of Petra was.

I was not at the moment inclined to look it up, still haven't looked it up. And so part of me regrets not going because I would have figured it out and may have enjoyed it while I was there, even if I didn't get to go on the Red Sea. But I bring that up because it's in the list, two different points on said article. I'm not interested in either, honestly, to tell you the truth.

Mars on Earth I get because it has like red sand, red desert, is that what it says, right? Yeah, red sand, sandstone rocks, and otherworldly landscapes that easily convince visitors they're on another planet. I wanna say, yeah, precisely why Star Wars, the rise of Skywalker and Rogue One were filmed there. Interesting, but I'm not called to it.

I personally feel like hot in another country is different than hot in the US. For some reason, I am much more easily able to bear extreme heat outside of the United States. But as soon as you put me in Louisiana, baby, ooh, put me in Florida, fucking miserable. Something about the heat there is just, it did not feel the same as the unbearable heat in Cuba.

and it for some reason did not feel the same as the unbearable heat in Columbia. It just didn't feel the same to me. Debate with somebody other than me. I felt it and I feel like the American heat was worse. Maybe because it's home. Maybe because it's the state. So you feel like your country owes you something, whereas another country is just like, oh, I'm not here all the time. Maybe this is just what it is. This shows different. It was different for me.

they were very separate experiences. And the idea of going to the desert, what I will say, I did go to the desert in, where was that? Doha in Qatar. And oddly enough, I feel like we had great weather because it wasn't wildly hot, like it was hot, but I wasn't unbearably uncomfortable. And I was able to stand in the sand barefoot.

Usually he was just like, oh, it's usually wild. It's usually too hot to stand on. And I was good. So that was, I was very happy about that. But honestly, something about that just isn't as appealing to me. I'm more interested in going to visit the Southwest of the United States, getting back to Nevada, Arizona, Utah. And I feel like there's...

Oop, it was right there, Arizona, Nevada, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and.

There was another, I know the three of those states kinda tip, kinda touch. Definitely wanna go to the Southwest, explore all of those, like the Grand Canyon-esque kinda area, but I don't need to go back to the Grand Canyon. I had a really great experience there before. I'm good. I would go with other people so they can experience. I would never wanna hold that back from somebody, but.

there's more over there that I would like to see as opposed to like those typical kind of visits. Another thing that came to mind when I was looking at this, cause I looked at a couple of other articles about unique travel destinations and rare vacation experiences and stuff like that. And honestly, a lot of like one article in particular, I wanna say it was from, was it Bizarre? Hold on, let me look it up.

I don't need something that's wildly expensive for me to feel like it's wildly unique. I've done some wildly unique shit and I don't have wildly expensive dollars. Like I don't have money for wildly expensive. With the caveat that in other countries the American dollar that I possess

can often afford you luxury. It just really depends on where you're going. But I'm talking about shit that's expensive for Americans that are spending dollars. That kind of money I don't fucking have. But one of the things that really made me kind of feel sick was...

Zoot, zoot, is this it? Mm, yep, this is it. It was number seven, private diamond and gemstone experience in South Africa.

South Africa's storied history of diamond mining is one of the most famous in the world, producing both the crown jewels and five of the ten largest diamonds in history. Truly dazzling, a private hands-on experience at the premier diamond and Tanzanite wholesaler in South Africa's spellbinding only opens to very select guests. This grants unheard of access for travelers to adorn themselves with some of the rarest gems in the world.

exceptional hospitality accompanies this experience escorting you into an elegant viewing room where an expert gemologist will bring out a vast array of finished pieces and standalone diamonds, gemstones, and tanzanite to test drive.

Everything about that makes my soul cry. It, I mean, did we not all watch Blood Diamonds? I don't even remember if I watched it. I feel like I did, but.

for people to be so fucking.

dense, like just so disconnected. Like one of the things that really stood out to me in doing the little Google scan, none of this is scholarly research by the way. I like to remind you guys of that. When I say I look something up, I'm just asking Google, that's it. This isn't scholarly, this isn't deep digging, this isn't 17th page.

I don't use Google appropriately. I'm telling you that now. I don't use the commas, the colons, the backs, forward slashes. I haven't arrived there. I know that there is an appropriate way to Google, the plus, the ands, and all that jazz. I don't know how to do that yet. One day I will get there. I'm not there yet. Please be patient with me. God, it's not through with me yet. But that being said, one thing that jumped out to me was how it seems people with money...

tend to not give a fuck about people that don't have money. And I mean that not in the general context of the way people with money don't give a shit about people without money, but in the context of because I can afford this, it's OK for me to do. That is problematic for me. And it especially was like a click when I read this shit. And it was just like, have we not like?

come to terms with diamond mining being so problematic and detrimental and harrowing and terrible for the people that actually do it and for you to spend an obscene amount of money for a luxury experience where you get to kind of handpick and craft diamonds from South Africa. It feels exceptionally callous, cold and

nasty, nasty work. Like to me, that just feels like whatever you bring home would be cursed. I don't have the money to see for myself, but I also can't see myself being interested in something like this. This to me is disgusting.

I think that's enough words. I truly think that that's disgusting. And it doesn't baffle me because the older you get, it's one of those things where I'm not surprised, but I'm surprised. It's like, I'm taken aback by it. That it's just so, first of all, it's a fucking bizarre article, right? Well, again, not surprising.

High fashion. That's, I guess that's the demo. That's the demographic. Not everything's for everybody. I don't, cause I wanted to say.

I'm too poor to like this kind of stuff, but I'm not poor. And two, even if I were extremely wealthy, I think I'd be too good for this. This isn't to me what travel is about. To me, travel is not about collecting, and again, pausing, I'm gonna wheel the barrel back a little bit and say that everybody...

gets to different places in life at a different time.

I can absolutely appreciate somebody wanting to collect passport stamps. I don't remember who it was. I saw a post about it. Hopefully.

it will come to me because I really do enjoy her travel content on Instagram. I see her face, but I don't remember her actual name. So I'ma just hold that in the back pocket. But one of the things she was saying was it alluded to like, we don't collect stamps, we collect experiences, right? Something like that. And I can understand someone who is newer to travel.

I was newer to travel at one point. I hadn't always been to over 20 countries. That's not the case. When I started, I ain't been nowhere. I didn't leave the country until I was 30 years old. Late to the game, comparatively. I ran into quite a few 20-somethings on my trips, and baby, they had a great fucking time, and I was so happy to see them out there. So people arrive at different places in life at different times.

and I am cautious or I try to avoid judging people in the stage that they're in, not even on some like, oh, they're not mature yet or they're still young, not even like that. Regardless of whatever your age is, your experiences and your personal view on things is going to dictate how you view and kind of ingest the content that...

you come across and by content I don't mean just like media like you know stuff given to you by other people like created by other people I mean just like life content if you will the things that you your life experiences I could do the exact same experience with someone but we are going to experience it differently because of our experiences their life is not my life mine not theirs so they are never going to internalize or take in

the exact same things that I am going to absorb because we are different people. So the same thing can mean something different to everybody. That being the case.

This article in particular is for a different type of bitch. It ain't me. I am so turned off by a lot of what they're spewing or presenting because it's giving consumer and not lover. I love new experiences. I love.

kind of taking in newness, but not necessarily consuming it. Because I don't take it from mine, it's not mine. I am just an experiencer. I just am able to experience these things. And this is giving very consumer to me. It didn't feel good reading a lot of these things. It felt like this was like a...

race to arms, like who could do the biggest, most expensive, you know, I don't even want to say luxury, but you know how luxury, for example, luxury, right? There's luxury that's just really nice and expensive, but then there's luxury that is exclusive and restricted to a lot of people. Like even if you were able to come up with the money, a lot of people or places, entities, if you will, would still restrict access because...

you are not their typical demographic. So a lot of what this list is giving is like, oh baby, even if I had the money, I feel like they would look at me crazy and kind of be like, oh well, we're booked. You see me? Yeah? So a lot of this is giving consumer and I kind of want to bring to your awareness.

You know, a lot of the things that may be on like your bucket list or your dream list or that you're really interested in, maybe give some thought as to why you're interested in it or what about it is interesting. Not in the, you got to explain yourself to anybody, but in the sense of are you doing it because somebody is telling you is really popping or are you doing it because you're genuinely interested or curious about it? Or it's just like, Oh shit. Oh damn, I never considered that. I want to do it. Let's see what it's like.

Is it a natural curiosity? Is there something about this that's just like, oh man, I love a really good, idyllic look. Like, oh, this is giving quiet and a green game. Oh, this is giving really like, are we gonna milk goats instead of cows? Or is it like, bitch, how much is it? Who did it? Okay, let's do that too.

Mm-hmm, we see where we're going, right? So I would gently, ever so peacefully ask, why are you interested in some of the things you're interested in? Because a lot of these different lists that like to highlight the fun and exciting and the luxury is really just giving, it's on this list because a lot of people can't do it.

And if you're able to do it, then you're it. You're the in crowd. And I don't really like that. I feel like travel should be democratized because travel should really just be like, travel is for everybody. The world is an open globe. Borders are manmade. Not to say you should just be traipsing all over the place. And that leads me to the next one. Pink River dolphin watching in Brazil.

in Brazil. This was on the travel noir site and where you had me fucked up was the Amazon. First of all, I don't do mosquitoes well. They love me. Love. Okay. Still have scars from the mosquito bites that I got in Mexico in March. Tronitized. There's something about

certain types of exploration that don't sit well with me. Now this one in particular, not completely against Pink River dolphin watching in Brazil, doesn't really stand out to me as, I mean, dolphins are cute, cool, flipper was gang in the 90s, you know, enjoyed it, watched it, good time. However,

As soon as I heard that it was in the Amazon, it got me thinking of like those really kind of secluded, you know, tribes and groups of people who keep to themselves and don't want visitors. My fear is being someplace where I am not invited. It's one thing to go into a rainforest, a jungle, a forest, the woods, whatever, spaces that are...

public national parks cultivated and preserved and maintained in ways that are specifically for public exploration and...

Visiting, right? My fear is Keith, Beth, Robin, Terry, whomever, right? Whomever owns this little travel company just happens to know about a really cool cenote or a really gorgeous, beautiful, huge tree a mile and a half from.

public roadway and all of a sudden we're on private property and folks is trying to kidnap me or harm me or people I care about because you decided to make money off of other people. I, something about that just kind of stood out like, I'm kind of good on really going into also, also.

What movie was, well, one of the many movies, there are so many different like little scenes in movies where you'll have, was it even, it was probably, shit, was it Jurassic Park? I kinda wanna hit y'all with a, babe, and ask boyfriend like what that movie was we were watching, but it was one of those movies where they were on like a riverboat or they were on a boat cruising down a river trying to get out or away from something and they ended up like running into,

people indigenous to the area and battle scene. I don't want that. Again, one, mosquitoes. Two, not everywhere is for everybody. There are some places that are sacred for a reason and sacred outside of public shows of faith, outside of buildings of worship or s-

structures, buildings felt very cold. But going into a church or a temple, little different than kind of going into someone's home to me. And that's a fear of mine that in spaces that are not necessarily used, used to.

commercial traffic because this is something that we'd be paying for. So in its essence, it is a commercial endeavor. We are trading goods for services and experiences.

I don't want to end up infringing on someone else's personhood or someone else's personal community that I am not welcome to be in. In Columbia, went to visit Palenque, which is a visit that was established by escaped slaves in that region.

welcome outsiders into their community to get a better sense of how people lived and how in some ways they continue to live.

I am still, oh, also, perfect point to bring up consent for photos. I hate, don't wanna say hate, I strongly dislike, cause I get it, right? You want to have a memory. You want to remember these beautiful experiences, these really bomb, you know.

views, right? But taking photos of people's kids, taking photos of people in general without asking if it's all right first or without knowing that you are in a particularly public space where that level of privacy is not really expected always grinds my gears. That's always something that visits me.

One of those things that I often wonder, and I wonder if y'all wonder, have you ever wondered who's selfie you're randomly in, or whose random photo you are minding your business in the background of, because people are taking pictures everywhere. We have arrived in the time of this Lord's world, where our phones are attached to us, people are always recording, we're always taking photos.

Documentarians of our life histories, documentarians of our experiences, all for it, right? I got a fucking podcast. I document my life and my experiences. But when people just randomly take photos and videos of people that are living their regular lives while they're on their vacations and stuff, that always rubs me the wrong way because it's, have y'all considered like, what if somebody were in witness protection?

and you just randomly on TikTok or on IG live or something like that. And I mean, it's not your job to walk around and ask everyone if they're okay, but like to a certain extent, even when you go to a hotel and you just randomly start, you know, recording people that are at work, like, you don't, what if this person is like, trying to leave an abusive relationship and they, you know, finally got a new job that this person don't know that they work at.

or even something not as traumatic, but you know what? They just wanted to start fresh where nobody fucking knows them, and here you come walking in and be like, hey, I'm ready to check in. Good, good afternoon, ma'am, but could we not have the phone in my face while I'm trying to work? Stuff like that, right? So just the idea of even photographing and recording.

people living their regular lives rubs me the wrong way. So the idea of just walking into somebody's house with your shoes on, or just walking into spaces that I don't know that I'm welcome in, and the Amazon really gives that to me. Certain areas of it, I am sure, have been maintained and purposed for.

public consumption and by public, I mean, people who aren't from their national park status and, you know, areas where there are places that you can safely go in and experience and say you've been to the fucking Amazon. But though that would take a little bit more for me, I would need to kind of see thousands of reviews or like hundreds and hundreds of reviews and

feel a little bit safe as if I'm going someplace where I am welcome. That is something that immediately came to mind in terms of, you know, and then I also thought of all the movies that I've seen where people are minding their business here, air quote, yeah, I was all there doing some wild shit that you needed to escape or that you were trying to get into to capitalize on something and then you got fucked around you found out and that's what it gives me when I saw that so I don't want to be part of that.

Let me see what was else on the list.

Oh, and the last one was cruise to Antarctica. So I'm not a cold weather girl. Not. However, one of my favorite vacations, one of my favorite trips was absolutely cold weather. Went to Banff in, I think it was September or October. Baby, beautiful. Shit ton of snow, snow everywhere. But thankfully,

We were doing a lot of hiking and walking and moving. We were outside getting that life. We was in the trees. And national parks, again, preserved and maintained for public access and usage. We were doing a lot of hiking. And the beautiful thing about that is just like your body's moving. So we were getting warm. It was, you know, you take off your layers but you're still able to regulate your temperature so that you're not.

Wildly hot or wildly cold.

So I can say that, yes, I would do a cold weather trip. Boyfriend and I were actually just talking about not too long ago that we haven't done a cold weather trip together. I think the coldest we've done was Joshua Tree because it got pretty cold, definitely at night. It was, we went to Joshua Tree in California. We went to Joshua Tree, which is in California, but we went in January.

So it was relatively cold while we were there, but it wasn't as cold as it was back in New York. But cruise to Antarctica. So this one was interesting because it's like a pretty expensive fucking cruise because there are no commercial flights that are gonna get that ass to Antarctica because no runways and who the fuck is going to Antarctica? There's nothing there. But what does it say?

Visiting Antarctica isn't impossible, but it's rare and challenging. Its extreme weather and harsh conditions mean no regular passenger plane flights are available for people. People get around the challenge by booking a trip to Argentina and then sailing to the continent. It's a polar expedition allowing brave explorers to cross the iconic Drake Passage, which I feel like I remember from some history class that was actually a really horrific...

undertaking, certainly why shit gets named after people. Witness iconic wildlife and icebergs, but most importantly, set foot on the white continent that very few people have ventured to. So I would low key like to do that. It is like traveling in space and our cruise has a hefty price tag averaging between $10,000 and $20,000. National Geographic and Poseidon expeditions offer the opportunity to visit and

article with a team of scientists and experts to lead the way. Two final things that came to mind on that one, because we're wrapping it up. Yes, this one I would do. I've never been on a cruise. Can't say that this would ever be my first cruise, but if it needed to be, if I had the opportunity, feel free to tap the girl. This I would do. One reason being

There are fucking scientists and experts there to help guide the way. I would love if I could make my mama's dream of being able to go, now this ain't the trip for it, but kind of comes close, right? In the realm of going on like an excavation, like being able to be, what do you call, is it a paleontologist?

think it is, but you know, the scientists that dig up fossils and dinosaur bones, my mom would love to do some shit like that. So that's one of like my top tier gifts that I would love to be able to give her one day is to take my mom on, um, I guess, is it an excavation or is it? Cause I feel like you can excavate with like trucks, like bulldozers, cranes and stuff like that's also, I feel like an excavation sites. And it's not what I'm going for, but, um, like an archeological dig.

That would be fucking cool. And this is giving, oh, so we've got degreed folks. Like we have actual professionals that are involved in this whole shebang. And that part seems pretty fucking cool. Yes, there is a scary movie about Antarctica and some beasts or some shit. I don't remember what it is because I came in on the tail end. So that's also playing in the back of mind. So I really wanna know how long this ship is supposed to be.

Granted, shit could happen in a day, but if we're going longer than like say a week, and then also like if it's gonna take that much to get there, you're not gonna be there for like three days. I feel like they're gonna have you there maybe for like eight days, 10 days to make all that trip and all that money you fucking spend worth it. But again, I don't got no $10,000, let alone $20,000, so it's not like it's something that I've been looking into. Yes, I would do this cruise to Antarctica, mostly because there are highly trained professionals that'll be...

on board and around to kind of help make sure shit goes well. But I also can't say that I really want to be in cold weather for that fucking long and I'm not trying to work. I don't have my degree in that. I kind of want to just, ooh, this is cute. I say I've done it. Let's, you know, explore some cold weather shit that I'd never be able to get to do anywhere else. I'm curious how they make it work out there, but not enough to be there for like

longer than maybe five days. I really feel like that would be my tap out point. Run me out. So if it were longer than that, don't think it's a trip for me, but can't say that would necessarily it for me depending on what I knew would be available to me to experience.

The other part about that I wanted to tap on let's see if it comes to me when I am reading sailing I'd seen on another list a sailing Voyage Excursion if you will and I know Two black women that sail. Hi Susie. Don't know if you listen to the podcast but Susie

And her husband, hi Marco, never met Marco, but I've known Suzy my whole life. They have a sailboat and I feel like.

I don't know if Susie went with him, but I feel like he's like, what do you call it? Sailed to like Bermuda or sail to not, sailing, terrified, not sailing. Open water terrifies me. And the idea of being on a tiny ass sailboat in the middle of the open ocean, I don't know that this baby girl could handle that. So sailing like far.

And past guest, Felicia, I feel like she and her husband bought a boat also, and they are intending to do a lot of sailing also. Don't know if they are going to like remote life onto a sailboat, or if they're gonna still do RV light. Sailing, girl. Girl.

I don't know that I could do that. Terrified, terrified of open water. Night sailing, don't know if I could do that. Absolutely don't know. I would absolutely get on a sailboat. I've been on a sailboat. It was one of those smaller ones. It was like a two person kind of sailboat. I was in sleepaway camp as a kid. We were on a fucking lake. It was wild, but it was cool because I'm like, what was gonna happen?

I was also like probably 12. So it was kind of like, okay, I'm with an adult. What could happen? But as the adult, open water, I know my limitations. Don't think that I could do like an extended sailing kind of sitch. It would have to be like a really, I can't even say like a big boat because it's not gonna be a cruise vessel. The Titanic fucking sank.

how am I supposed to feel safe on a sailboat? And yeah, so some things, not for me, not for me, other things could be talked into. Same way I would have to talk my partner into a hot air balloon, I might be able to be talked into a extended sailboat trip. I could say maybe a day if I knew that I could like go to sleep.

and then wake up first thing in the morning, like at where we were supposed to be. But I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know enough about the open water or boating to know what would make me feel safe or secure in that situation. But I'm going to skip the listener question on this solo episode because this episode is long enough as it is.

Um, and I actually had a really good one to use for this topic in particular, but, um, we'll keep it cute. We'll do it. Um, next solo episode, but y'all get some thought to why you want to go where you want to go and why you want to do what you want to do when you go where you want to go, because like, I like to remind y'all travel is so much more than vacation. There is so much experience to be gained.

from stepping out of your comfort zone and stepping out of the world and the space that you generally occupy. But, but I feel like if we give a little thought to what it is we would like to receive, we can do a better job of curating the right experiences to actually get that shit that we're looking for. So hope y'all enjoyed this week's episode. Can't wait to see y'all next week.

I hope y'all have a good time without me and you know what you don't have to be without me You can just pay play a past episode and still be with me So technically I can be with you all throughout the week until the next episode But just a little throwing that little tidbit out there for you Hope you enjoyed this episode and I'll be back next week with another