Episode 843 – Situational Awareness in Travel with Kenny G
Today, I am talking with Kenny G from R3 Contingencies about being prepared for travel, both by car and by plane, as well as developing situational awareness while planning your trips.
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Show Resources
Main content of the show
Kenny G started R3 contingencies in 2020, Since then he has helped expand their services. So they can help if you lost everything from your cell phone charger to a full suit, to giving you a plan after a break-in.
Why should I prep for travel? I have a good travel agent isn’t that enough?
What should I be concerned with road trips I have AAA is’nt the best thing to have?
What is the most common problem you see and what is the easiest way to prevent it?
How about flying?
What if I want to travel internationally?
What if it’s for business vs pleasure? Does it change my travel plans?
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
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Advisory Board
- The Booze Whisperer
- The Tactical Redneck
- Chef Brett
- Samantha the Savings Ninja
Resources
Transcript
00:03.643 –> 00:09.346
Howdy, everybody, and welcome to today’s live interview with Kenny G. Kenny G, you going to play some music?
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Maybe a little later.
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I think I forgot my guitar at the show.
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Is Kenny G your real name?
00:17.231 –> 00:17.891
Close enough.
00:19.712 –> 00:20.293
That’s right, guys.
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Kenny G’s been on our podcast before on a different topic, but he reached out to me and said, hey, I want to talk about things people should know while traveling.
00:30.359 –> 00:30.519
And
00:31.329 –> 00:47.931
I kind of added because I know you’re going to end up talking about this like situational awareness, something that has really struck me in the last couple of years that I’ve been on the road is so I was driving to Texas and you know how those alerts come over your phone that everybody turns off because they’re annoying.
00:47.952 –> 00:48.873
Yep.
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Okay, so one of those alerts came over my phone.
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I’m like, I have Amber Alerts.
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Shut off.
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Like, what’s up?
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And a convict had escaped prison.
00:57.022 –> 01:00.963
So it was a different kind of alert.
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And he had taken people hostage.
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And they said, this is going on in this area.
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Well, I had made the critical error of following my GPS instead of my map to get around, to route around a traffic issue.
01:14.886 –> 01:16.446
So I didn’t actually know where I was.
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And so when it said where it was, I didn’t know where I where I was, where it was in relationship to that.
01:23.756 –> 01:30.864
And luckily, I had more than half a tank because I usually top off about every half tank when I’m driving somewhere long distance.
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And I got all the way to my destination.
01:33.226 –> 01:35.829
And it turned out I was within a couple of miles.
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And the guy ended up taking a family hostage, driving to Ohio and killing them before he was caught.
01:42.905 –> 01:45.507
And so that’s what I mean by situational awareness.
01:45.587 –> 01:53.572
Like we get so used to technology that sometimes it’s a really bad idea to just put your faith in it.
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But there’s a lot of stuff you can do.
01:55.053 –> 01:56.074
Oh, I lost the light.
01:56.454 –> 01:59.516
There’s a lot of stuff you can do between now and then.
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But let’s start with before we jump into that.
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I’m just giving everybody the overview.
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Tell us who you are and how you ended up on LFTN anyway.
02:11.467 –> 02:14.528
Um, Ken or Kenny G if you prefer.
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And yes, that is the real first initial for my last name.
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Um, I am working or I work for the emergency concierge service, our three contingencies.
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We see a lot of things happen up, down, left, right.
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And I thought it would be a great topic here.
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And not to mention, I’ve reached out to Nicole for several things regarding business.
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So pay it back, right?
02:37.858 –> 02:37.998
Yeah.
02:38.018 –> 02:40.759
So what is our three contingencies before we jump in there?
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They are, as far as I know, the world’s only emergency concierge service that there is.
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What does an emergency concierge service do?
02:51.949 –> 02:57.795
For example, let’s say you go on a flight and they lose your luggage and you have a business meeting.
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It would have been something that we prep for and we would have clothes delivered to your hotel room.
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Well, that’s pretty cool.
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With, you know, a Visa gift card if you need it, a phone charger, standard stuff that you may have forgotten or gotten lost.
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Or example, you run out because your kid’s in the hospital.
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We deliver a phone charger to you, food, basic necessities, toothbrush, toothpaste, stuff like that.
03:24.226 –> 03:24.406
Wow.
03:24.426 –> 03:25.207
That sounds really good.
03:25.227 –> 03:25.547
Yeah.
03:26.588 –> 03:26.748
Yeah.
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I found your website.
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So I thought I had to, you know, show it.
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Cause we have that capacity here.
03:33.374 –> 03:33.694
Okay.
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So let’s go back to traveling though.
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Cause traveling has probably taught me more about prepping than anything else.
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One thing I learned is you never leave the house without a snack in your bag.
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Because you’re going to end up on a train somewhere in the middle of the night in Eastern Germany and you didn’t have time to get dinner.
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And luckily you have that snack in your bag.
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But why should I prep for travel?
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And if I’m like with a tour group, should I still should I still prep for travel?
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And if so, why?
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Absolutely, you should still prep for travel.
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And prepping for travel is essential because let’s face it, you never know.
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I live in New Hampshire, I’m really close to Boston.
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When the big dig was happened, I have literally driven into Boston and had the road closed that I drove in on, on the way out.
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Yeah, what’s that mean?
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Do you just get stuck on the road?
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uh yeah i had to get rerouted and i was stuck in a traffic jam for about four hours what should have been an hour and a half trip literally took me all day and had i not done things like you know make sure my gas tank is kept half topped off bare minimum i keep a gallon of water in the car i keep cliff bars in the car i mean i know they’re not the healthiest thing for you but they do help satisfy your hunger and there is such a thing as driving hangry and i would not recommend it
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Well, why not?
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Because you make stupid choices when you’re hangry.
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I mean, I know it says no U-turn, but I don’t see anyone here and I’m starving.
05:14.334 –> 05:22.897
Yeah, I took a wrong turn on my way from Oklahoma City to Tennessee, which literally all you need to do is stay on the stupid freeway, which is I-40, right?
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Right.
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But I got on the freeway going the wrong direction after getting gas.
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And then I took the next exit, which was a terrible idea.
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Ended up driving 28 miles one direction to where I could finally turn around after paying a toll and 28 miles back.
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And I kept looking at the gaps every so often that said, don’t drive through here.
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And I finally like I was like, well, there’s so many cars coming.
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I’m not going to do it right.
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But I was really tempted and I got to the toll booth and I asked about those things like, oh, yeah, we actually have cameras up.
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We would have busted your ass because people get into accidents when they do that.
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So I made the right choice in that turn and in that situation.
06:00.968 –> 06:06.470
But what does what does prepping for travel look like?
06:08.410 –> 06:08.970
Depends.
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Are you flying or driving?
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I mean, we’re talking about driving, so let’s go with that.
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A simple low-hanging fruit is get AAA.
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It doesn’t cost much, and if you get one tow, just one in like four years, it pays for itself.
06:24.994 –> 06:30.875
I used to work for a towing company back when I was younger and had hair, and it started out like $150 to pick you up plus $15 a mile.
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That adds up really, really fast.
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Yeah.
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So I have AAA for this reason and the poor people have had to tow me at least twice a year since I got it.
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And except for this year, because it’s the second or third or something.
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What happened in 2020 with AAA is they would pick your car up, but not you.
06:59.122 –> 07:03.006
Yeah, that sounds about right.
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And they said they didn’t want to risk giving the drivers COVID.
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So I was in 2020.
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Maybe it was 2021.
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It was still in effect.
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I get caught in the middle of the wilderness, basically, between Chattanooga and Sparta.
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So I’m like literally on the side of the road.
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There’s nothing around.
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And they’re like, well, you can’t ride with the driver because of our policies.
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And I’m like, what am I supposed to do?
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You know what they told me to do?
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Get an Uber?
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Call a cab.
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I’m like, I don’t know if you understand where I am right now.
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Because, you know, they’re always like, are you safe?
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I’m like, no, I’m not safe.
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I’m on the side of the road in the middle of the winter.
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And so they were like, well, we don’t know what to tell you, ma’am.
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This is this is the deal during covid.
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And that made me rethink my relationship with Triple A. Now, what I ended up doing was asking the driver if he cared if I jumped in and he said, are you sick?
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And I said, no.
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He said, then go ahead.
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And I did get it.
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Like it was a driver decision.
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And I did have friends coming to pick me up if that didn’t happen.
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But they were going to have to drive like two hours to get me.
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Meanwhile, my car was towed, you know, because it was broken down.
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So what do you think about that in AAA?
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Like they’re kind of dead to me, but not dead to me because it’s the only towing service I’ve really found that seems to work at all.
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That doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg when you have to get it.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, like, okay, first of all, everyone went insane during COVID.
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I mean, let’s face it, totally reasonable, rational people I know lost their freaking minds.
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So I can’t fault AAA too much, and they’ve probably done away with that policy.
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Like way, way back in the day, 2010, they actually could not leave you on the side of the road.
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They had policies against that.
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If you had to like load five people into your tiny two person cab, you did it.
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You drive to the next exit and you let them off.
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But as I said, people lost their minds during COVID.
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Yeah, that happened once to my mom too.
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She was stuck in the middle of the freeway, like the middle left middle because the car went into limp mode.
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Do you know what that is?
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Yes, that is when it enters in when it only does 30 miles an hour.
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Oh, no, it did five, five, five in a rainstorm on I-40 won’t go more than five rush hour traffic.
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She pulls into the left shoulder, calls AAA.
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And they’re like, well, we can’t get there for four hours.
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Are you safe?
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And I’m like, no, she’s actually not safe.
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Like anybody could just reef into the back of that car and they go super fast and whatever.
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And you can’t see.
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So the police came and they actually drove her to the next exit, which was nice.
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That is something you should probably look at depending on your location.
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Suppose the police had said, no, we don’t want to wait for AAA.
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We’re going to call one of our guys and they’ll tow you.
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And a lot of AAA states, if they cannot get to you in a reasonable amount of time, they will pay for the tow.
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I have had that happen with them too, where they couldn’t get there for four hours.
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And I said, what’s my option?
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And they said, you get reimbursed.
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And then they reimbursed me 80 bucks.
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Yeah, that probably wasn’t enough to cover the tow, was it?
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It actually was in that case, because I live in the middle of nowhere.
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Yeah.
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It would not have been the case had it been that incident in the middle of the road.
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So we didn’t know what limp mode was.
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So I didn’t know why the car was only going five miles per hour and going doop, doop, doop, doop, doop.
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But I was like, hmm, sounds like a transmission problem, right?
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Had I known about limp mode, I would have been like, hey, cops, let us get over to the right hand shoulder and then we’ll just limp to the next exit.
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Down to the next exit.
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It seems to me that limp mode is a really dangerous thing when it drops you to five miles an hour and won’t let you do anything because you basically can’t get yourself out of a situation at that point.
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I don’t have that car anymore for that reason.
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They’re dead to me.
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People become dead to me easily.
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Well, if it’s between limp mode and the car not running, I prefer limp mode because, you know, at least I can move a little bit versus some cars.
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They will literally just shut down and tell you, nope, not moving.
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But you’re capable of it.
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Don’t care.
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Not doing it.
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Exactly.
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I mean, I’ve driven on on rims before to get out of dangerous situations just because I’m like, I know this is going to cost me a lot, but I’d rather pay money for that than like die on the side of the road because my car had a blowout of some sort in a really dangerous place.
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Um, but you know, I’m a weirdo and everybody’s like, why do women always do that?
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I’m like, cause I’m not going to get out of my car and get hit by a semi.
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That’s why I, I feel like woman versus semi semi wins every time, every time.
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Yeah.
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Red fire made it says waited six hours in Austin at night with a motorcycle.
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So, um,
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How what else should you do besides have something like AAA?
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Because I mean, it works.
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It is better than nothing.
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It’s probably the best option I found out there from a price to benefit ratio.
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But obviously, I have lots of stories about being stranded by AAA.
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And we have some in the comments here.
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Like, what else can you do?
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something else this is just very basic stuff get a floor jack one with wheels on it i don’t recommend the bottle jack and the reason i say the floor jack with wheels is because if you need to you can use it to help get your lug nuts off keep your car on the ground put those stupid little bar they give you and put the jack on the side of the bar so that way when you jack it up it turns the lug because some people out there like my wife she weighs 110 pounds soaking wet
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If she’s driving an F-250, she does not have the body mass to get that lug off.
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It doesn’t matter.
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It’s not happening.
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However, she can jack it up, then stand on it, or use the jack in reverse to retighten the bolts if she needs to.
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And to know how to do that, how do you know those things to do besides just that one tip?
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Heard a lot of horror stories and found ways around them.
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Yeah.
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The other thing is try to have more than your cell phone.
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I mean, I know, like you said, we’ve become so reliant on these things.
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It has a light.
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What do I need a flashlight for?
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You want a flashlight.
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If it’s pouring rain out, you do not want your cell phone sitting there as you’re trying to get your lugs off.
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And your cell phone is not as bright as something like a Streamlight or like a decent pocket flashlight even.
13:53.244 –> 13:53.825
Correct.
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Another thing is, and I hate saying this, but dollar store glow sticks, they’re not road flares.
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But, you know, if you buy five of them and just crack them and toss them down the road, at least they give people something.
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And worst case scenario, you have a glow stick light.
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Yeah, that makes sense.
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You know, I have one of those…
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cigarette lighter plug-in tire inflator, like compressors, it has a built-in light too.
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So every time it’s on, it’s flashlights on.
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Cause they just assume you need me in the middle of the night and you can’t see anything outside.
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So that’s another good one to have.
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The only thing I worry about with those is if your alternator dies or
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Because most people don’t know that their alternator dies until they’re going, why are my headlights getting dimmer?
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Yeah.
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And why did my radio stop?
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Oh, that’s weird.
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So they just keep driving and then now your car is literally out of power.
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Right.
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I mean, those you’re using it because you have a flat tire.
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And I don’t know if you know this about me, but I have the flat tire curse.
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I may have actually finally passed it on, but there was a series of years where every time I went on any road trip of any kind.
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There was a tire blowout or a flat or I came out from the hotel one morning and there it was flat.
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And so that’s why I have that thing, because I was like, OK, I can pump it up, get to where I need to go to get it patched or whatever.
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I do have a patch kit.
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I’m not terribly good at patching tires myself.
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But I like I can plug them if I need to.
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Usually it’s it’s a strength issue of getting the thing into the hole.
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The reamer.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That’s that’s my challenge with those.
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But I think like the more stubborn I am about it, the better it is.
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But having that way of inflating tires, no matter what, has been really helpful because I’m usually 20 miles from somewhere useful.
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at any given time when there’s a problem.
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It’s not like, oh, hey, look, there’s a repair guy and my car just broke right here.
15:58.301 –> 16:00.944
Or there’s a gas station and my car just broke right here.
16:00.964 –> 16:04.287
It’s always like, okay, nope, no self service.
16:06.049 –> 16:06.770
Now what do I do?
16:06.810 –> 16:08.713
I got to get somewhere where I can go somewhere.
16:09.493 –> 16:11.736
So what’s the most common?
16:12.337 –> 16:12.497
What?
16:13.587 –> 16:18.268
Another advantage to those is, at least around here, we get weather that’s like negative 20.
16:18.848 –> 16:22.389
And when it is, those gas station compressors will not work.
16:22.990 –> 16:24.930
They turn on, but they don’t pump air out.
16:25.290 –> 16:29.531
Those little plug into your lighter air compressors still work.
16:30.192 –> 16:31.492
Yeah, especially if your car is warm.
16:32.692 –> 16:33.192
Exactly.
16:33.813 –> 16:37.734
What do you tell people to do who are driving in environments like yours where it is really cold?
16:37.754 –> 16:42.675
Like what else should they have in the car besides some, you know, basic water and food?
16:43.775 –> 17:09.888
space blanket you can buy 10 of them for like 12 bucks on amazon and they are a lifesaver and this may sound weird but believe it or not if you are broken down in a car with no gas the car will be colder than the actual outside because why is that a giant ice box something to do with the metal and thermal dynamics and some math that is just beyond me at the moment
17:10.339 –> 17:14.622
But yes, there have been multiple studies done, one of them actually done by AAA.
17:15.222 –> 17:19.465
And it turns out outside of your car actually is warmer than inside of your car at a certain point.
17:19.765 –> 17:21.627
Yeah, unless you have a windshield, I assume.
17:21.647 –> 17:23.188
That’s insane.
17:23.728 –> 17:23.948
Yeah.
17:26.250 –> 17:26.870
Oh, the cat.
17:27.871 –> 17:28.291
What else?
17:28.612 –> 17:30.893
Space blankets, water, food, anything else?
17:31.273 –> 17:32.814
Hand warmers, anything like that?
17:33.535 –> 17:35.817
Hand warmers are a nice one to keep.
17:35.897 –> 17:37.698
However, most people lose them.
17:39.180 –> 17:41.381
I’ve stopped recommending them because people throw them in their trunk.
17:41.422 –> 17:45.444
Then when they need them, I can’t find them or they throw them in their glove box.
17:45.524 –> 17:50.006
And then, you know, I throw 10,000 other things in my glove box and I cannot find them.
17:50.647 –> 17:54.269
You mean they don’t all have a little kit in their card with all the stuff in it?
17:54.689 –> 17:55.489
No, no, no.
17:55.529 –> 17:56.110
Most people don’t.
17:56.150 –> 17:59.271
They just throw it in the back of their truck or in their trunk, whatever.
18:01.713 –> 18:05.495
Another thing I tend to recommend is just some basic toiletries.
18:06.431 –> 18:09.033
Toothbrush, toothpaste, face cloth, soap.
18:10.234 –> 18:19.961
I mean, if you happen to get stuck or God forbid sleeping in your car because the roads are closed, they washed out, they had to close down the road because some guy’s holding a family hostage.
18:21.142 –> 18:28.628
If you can sleep in a Walmart parking lot, go into the Walmart and just, you know, wash your face, some other necessities.
18:28.788 –> 18:30.449
It makes you feel 10 times better.
18:31.860 –> 18:32.120
Yeah.
18:32.180 –> 18:35.122
I know somebody who actually ended up in a Walmart parking lot.
18:35.162 –> 18:42.948
I think recently waiting for her husband when the past got just jacked up with truck trucks sliding all over the place.
18:42.968 –> 18:44.509
And luckily they got a hotel that night.
18:44.749 –> 18:50.713
That’s the other thing is when they closed the highway snow or something, all of the hotels are instantly booked.
18:51.534 –> 18:51.694
Yep.
18:52.655 –> 18:54.396
So how do you get your hotel room in that case?
18:54.476 –> 18:57.198
If you see a road closing, how do you get the hotel first?
18:59.209 –> 19:01.230
Go for off the beaten path.
19:01.350 –> 19:03.212
Don’t look for hotels next to airports.
19:03.252 –> 19:04.332
That’s what everyone goes for.
19:05.133 –> 19:07.134
And those tend to be the first ones that fill up.
19:08.175 –> 19:10.116
And this is a little tweak here.
19:10.436 –> 19:11.317
Don’t look for hotel.
19:11.357 –> 19:12.157
Look for motel.
19:12.437 –> 19:13.618
Everyone looks for hotel.
19:13.938 –> 19:14.679
Those fill up.
19:14.819 –> 19:15.820
Look for motel.
19:16.480 –> 19:18.782
And you might be able to find something a little better.
19:19.942 –> 19:24.505
Downside motels tend to be a little lower quality.
19:24.645 –> 19:25.706
So, yeah.
19:26.306 –> 19:27.307
Bed bugs are a thing.
19:28.047 –> 19:28.468
Oh, yeah.
19:29.304 –> 19:35.029
Well, that and fights outside your door at certain motels.
19:35.329 –> 19:36.110
Oh, yeah.
19:36.130 –> 19:36.991
Three in the morning.
19:37.271 –> 19:37.591
Yeah.
19:38.212 –> 19:38.352
Yeah.
19:38.432 –> 19:43.076
I like to when I’m going to be if I’m at a motel that feels sketchy, which I try not to do.
19:43.756 –> 19:47.800
I love to be on the front office side of the building.
19:49.521 –> 19:52.544
Because the fights all seem to happen in the pool area.
19:53.826 –> 20:14.091
where they can’t see so just a little i mean if you end up in that situation and it’s safer than staying in your car then you know see if you can get located somewhere where the people who are there all night and awake all night are are also able to see your door that’s super helpful um
20:15.379 –> 20:20.782
The thing I noticed, so I was one time, I’ve done a lot of things on I-40.
20:20.822 –> 20:22.703
This was in New Mexico.
20:23.183 –> 20:24.504
Blizzard was coming through.
20:24.524 –> 20:29.327
And one person was driving, one person was calling.
20:30.427 –> 20:33.309
to make reservations.
20:33.409 –> 20:39.995
Calling was better than the websites at that time because the websites would allow reservations to go through when there weren’t rooms.
20:40.735 –> 20:41.716
So it was better to call.
20:42.197 –> 20:50.323
It’s almost better to pull over for 10 minutes and find where you’re going and then go rather than drive as fast as you can out of that situation.
20:50.383 –> 20:54.647
But everything was booked for hours around that closure.
20:54.687 –> 20:57.329
And I-40 was closed for a couple of days because of that blizzard.
20:58.314 –> 21:01.195
I ended up actually driving south.
21:01.916 –> 21:02.796
We didn’t get a hotel room.
21:04.077 –> 21:04.717
We drove south.
21:04.737 –> 21:07.378
Because you know what happens as you go further south?
21:07.638 –> 21:09.880
Usually, it gets warmer.
21:10.780 –> 21:15.582
And eventually, we got to the rain part of the storm instead of the snow part of the storm.
21:15.622 –> 21:16.383
And then we get heavy.
21:16.423 –> 21:20.524
So we just replanned our entire route around.
21:21.285 –> 21:23.606
I’m not driving in the snow and I-40 is closed.
21:27.503 –> 21:29.025
Oh, I get that.
21:29.425 –> 21:38.395
Something I’ve seen is if it’s a blizzard, hotels actually will put a cot in like the gym and only be like, tell you what, 50 bucks on a choice.
21:39.697 –> 21:40.438
Is it pleasant?
21:40.758 –> 21:41.078
No.
21:41.098 –> 21:42.680
Is it better than sleeping in your car?
21:43.101 –> 21:43.361
Yep.
21:44.262 –> 21:44.642
Yep.
21:45.183 –> 21:46.645
That’s actually not a bad play.
21:48.004 –> 21:49.265
Lots of cots in the gym.
21:49.305 –> 21:49.825
Who cares?
21:49.905 –> 21:52.326
I mean, it’s actually better than dying outside.
21:53.606 –> 21:59.548
What’s the most common problem you see when people are traveling and are there ways to prevent it?
22:02.229 –> 22:06.371
Most common problem, especially with flying, is lost luggage, believe it or not.
22:08.152 –> 22:11.253
There is, well, I haven’t used this trick in a few years, but
22:12.637 –> 22:15.618
A friend of mine actually recommended this one to me for your carry-on.
22:16.278 –> 22:21.440
If you put a starter pistol in your bag, you have to declare that you have a gun in your bag.
22:21.940 –> 22:29.602
Starter pistols are legal in all 50 states, and they are then required to take much better care of that bag.
22:31.223 –> 22:35.304
So it increases the tracking on it and increases the odds that it’ll get to your destination.
22:36.400 –> 22:45.284
Now, if you don’t want to go this route, and if you don’t have a starter pistol, it’s just not something you want to do, it depends.
22:45.344 –> 22:46.965
Are you traveling for business or pleasure?
22:47.685 –> 22:52.807
If I’m flying for pleasure and I get there and they’ve lost my bag, whatever.
22:53.227 –> 22:54.828
My friends make fun of me a little bit.
22:54.948 –> 22:56.909
I wear the same clothes for a few days.
22:57.029 –> 22:57.990
I go to Goodwill.
22:58.010 –> 22:58.950
It’s not a big deal.
22:59.867 –> 23:03.850
Suppose I’m traveling for business and my bag had my suit in it.
23:04.350 –> 23:10.094
This is now a significantly bigger deal because I need to go to the place and look nice.
23:10.154 –> 23:17.840
I can’t show up in my travel clothes because let’s face it, I look like a hobo at this point because I dress for comfort on the flight, not to impress anyone.
23:18.860 –> 23:26.186
In this case, something we recommend doing is if you’re traveling locally, look up places where you could buy a replacement and get an idea.
23:27.142 –> 23:43.909
so you know i need a new suit well i don’t want to buy one well there’s a men’s warehouse right here how much will this cost me okay cool if you’re traveling internationally this changes significantly because at this point now you need to before you go look up the translations
23:45.385 –> 23:47.546
Europe does not use the same sizes we do.
23:48.326 –> 23:53.448
And if you go in there with American sizes, you are not going to get clothes that fit at all.
23:53.928 –> 24:01.430
And it can save you a lot of hassle in the long run, just looking up basic translation for sizes, especially when it comes to undergarments.
24:03.991 –> 24:07.712
The way I learned that was by being there and asking him, what size do you think I should try on?
24:10.143 –> 24:14.606
but I actually get really frustrated with the American sizes on Birkenstocks.
24:14.686 –> 24:20.811
Cause I know my Birkenstock European shoe size, which is different in a Birkenstock than other shoes in Europe.
24:21.652 –> 24:28.137
They are the same sizes, but yeah, anyway, something about the wider footbed means I can have a smaller size on that.
24:30.880 –> 24:34.262
You order them on Amazon and they’re like, get size nine.
24:34.303 –> 24:35.944
And I’m like, but is it,
24:37.691 –> 24:38.812
Is it a 42?
24:39.072 –> 24:39.853
Is it a 40?
24:40.073 –> 24:40.914
Is it a 39?
24:40.954 –> 24:42.316
Like, what are you actually going to send me?
24:42.976 –> 24:46.620
So I’ve had a lot like it varies the translation a little bit.
24:49.322 –> 24:52.345
It varies, especially depending on undergarments.
24:55.528 –> 25:00.213
Bras in particular tend to go by much different sizes over in Europe than they do here.
25:01.491 –> 25:04.413
So that’s something you need to prepare for and be aware of.
25:04.433 –> 25:11.918
I mean, I know women’s sizes are all over the place anyway, but you’re going to have to deal with the translation and the sizes being all over the place.
25:12.679 –> 25:15.921
Yeah, I was really frustrated because I had to order a bra here.
25:15.941 –> 25:21.525
And it’s like you measure yourself under your boobs and there’s a number.
25:21.545 –> 25:24.447
So one would think logically you use that number.
25:24.487 –> 25:27.769
No, you add two to four inches to that number and then you order that size.
25:28.618 –> 25:29.738
And I had to go look it up.
25:29.818 –> 25:33.699
I’m like, how do I stop getting bras that are like too tight?
25:33.739 –> 25:34.659
Cause I’m not going to wear these.
25:34.679 –> 25:35.700
I kept returning them.
25:35.720 –> 25:38.120
And I was like, Oh, because it doesn’t make sense.
25:38.140 –> 25:40.421
That’s why it does not make sense.
25:41.381 –> 25:41.561
So.
25:41.581 –> 25:44.102
Men’s sizes are easy, at least in America.
25:44.122 –> 25:46.242
Like you just wrap a tape measure around your waist.
25:46.262 –> 25:46.522
Okay.
25:46.722 –> 25:47.043
34 inches.
25:47.343 –> 25:50.403
That’s how it should be done for women.
25:50.503 –> 25:56.425
Like waist, this hip, that like, here’s your size in seam.
25:56.465 –> 25:56.805
The other.
25:58.175 –> 25:58.836
Imagine that.
25:58.916 –> 26:03.599
No, we have to call them numbers so we don’t admit how big around our waist are.
26:03.739 –> 26:05.620
I think it’s a vanity thing here.
26:06.440 –> 26:08.301
Somebody in the comments is going to fix that for me.
26:08.321 –> 26:10.103
They’re going to be like, no, it’s based on blah, blah, blah.
26:11.844 –> 26:13.184
No, I agree with you.
26:13.224 –> 26:16.406
I think it’s, oh my God, my hips are this big?
26:17.547 –> 26:19.909
Instead of just saying, oh yeah, you’re a size 12.
26:20.429 –> 26:21.730
Yeah.
26:21.750 –> 26:22.430
12 is beautiful.
26:22.990 –> 26:25.392
And then 12 has changed from the 50s till now.
26:27.396 –> 26:27.977
What hasn’t?
26:28.617 –> 26:30.459
Yeah, that’s also true.
26:30.479 –> 26:32.921
I mean, and it will again by the next 50s.
26:32.961 –> 26:34.642
I’m not sure I’ll be alive for the next 50s.
26:34.662 –> 26:35.003
We’ll see.
26:37.205 –> 26:43.110
OK, well, so let’s go back to getting prepared for air travel.
26:43.170 –> 26:45.812
Like, what do you recommend people do for that?
26:48.573 –> 26:52.837
Okay, the key to being prepared for air travel is being prepared for the TSA.
26:53.457 –> 26:55.639
I hate to say it, but that is the number one thing.
26:56.159 –> 26:59.162
Make sure you wear shoes that you can take off easily.
26:59.702 –> 27:06.388
Try to limit the metal on you, like your watch, your ring, whatever, take it off, throw it in your carry-on.
27:07.449 –> 27:09.610
Always make sure when you travel, you have a carry-on.
27:09.670 –> 27:16.276
Worst case scenario, at least you have, you know, a spare pair of pants, boxers, shirt, and socks that you can change into.
27:16.561 –> 27:18.942
I mean, I always need that spare pair of boxers in my luggage.
27:20.063 –> 27:20.883
I figured you would.
27:24.064 –> 27:25.685
I got what I get pulled out for.
27:25.705 –> 27:32.889
I got I actually started setting off the the thingy on my last trip.
27:34.509 –> 27:37.991
And oh, I have a metal hair comb.
27:40.313 –> 27:56.332
that on you know in nashville didn’t set it off but it totally set it off at this other airport and they were like you got to take it all the way out ma’am we have to make sure that’s what it is i was like okay here yeah here’s my non-sharp metal hair comb
27:58.050 –> 28:03.094
The TSA is not a group you want to play a F around with.
28:03.354 –> 28:03.734
Yeah.
28:04.114 –> 28:07.397
And I will drag you into a side room faster than you can blink.
28:07.457 –> 28:07.757
Yeah.
28:07.837 –> 28:11.920
I mean, whatever it’s, it’s, it is important to know that I, I travel a lot.
28:11.980 –> 28:14.501
So I work really hard not to have to get pulled aside.
28:15.062 –> 28:23.708
And in the last year, because I travel with my food now, mostly to stay on my eating plan, the food trips them up more than anything else.
28:25.629 –> 28:32.016
Like, if you have a summer sausage in your bag, you can guarantee that they’re going to have to look at it and make sure it’s not a liquid.
28:32.977 –> 28:33.938
Oh, yeah.
28:34.498 –> 28:38.362
I have problems with highly processed food.
28:38.843 –> 28:41.586
So a lot of the times I’ll pack a protein powder with me.
28:42.407 –> 28:45.570
Every time I go through, they need to get someone to test that powder.
28:46.551 –> 28:47.132
Every time.
28:48.503 –> 28:50.325
The same goes for cheese starters.
28:50.805 –> 29:02.153
Like the cheese, I did a cheese making class and I had to go through and I, you know, like when you’re teaching a class, you’re not going to check under the plane, risking it getting lost the culture you need to teach the cheese class.
29:03.254 –> 29:08.698
So I had this little white packet of powder and they were like, what’s that?
29:08.978 –> 29:13.162
And I was like, well, it’s a mesophilic culture for making cheese.
29:14.383 –> 29:14.843
Duh.
29:16.363 –> 29:19.067
And they were like, yeah, we can have to get someone to do this.
29:19.448 –> 29:22.032
We need to make sure that’s not cocaine, ma’am.
29:22.072 –> 29:22.773
I’m like, really?
29:24.943 –> 29:26.364
Do I look like I’m on cocaine?
29:26.384 –> 29:27.245
But I guess whatever.
29:27.545 –> 29:28.986
Maybe I do look like I’m on cocaine.
29:29.006 –> 29:30.648
I do drink a good amount of coffee.
29:33.030 –> 29:33.650
You and me both.
29:35.432 –> 29:36.693
I love me some good coffee.
29:37.754 –> 29:40.516
So let’s go back to situational awareness now.
29:40.556 –> 29:45.160
Let’s say I know I need to fly to Texas in May for Exit and Build Lamb Summit.
29:45.220 –> 29:49.623
And I’m going to go from Nashville to Austin.
29:50.524 –> 29:57.527
And then I’m going to like grab an Uber to wherever I’m staying for the exit and build land summit in Bastrop.
29:58.368 –> 30:09.212
How do I figure out from a just geopolitical slash whatever’s going on standpoint, what I need to be aware of there?
30:09.372 –> 30:19.697
And it’s sort of like, I guess the background for this question is when I flew from California home for Christmas or home here after Christmas, I got a text from my dad saying, did you make it home?
30:21.092 –> 30:21.852
And I was like, yeah.
30:21.932 –> 30:26.294
He’s like, well, there were protests that shut down the airport in LAX.
30:26.334 –> 30:28.134
And I was like, well, I didn’t fly out of LAX.
30:28.214 –> 30:29.815
So because I just try not to.
30:31.495 –> 30:40.558
But I know I’ve been in one other incident where protests and riots kind of broke out at the hotel I was in in Ferguson.
30:41.741 –> 30:49.927
Which I totally, by doing a little bit of situational analysis, could have avoided that one by just knowing what was going on in the world.
30:49.967 –> 30:54.211
So like, are there steps you recommend people take or how do we prepare ourselves for that?
30:56.212 –> 31:00.356
Depending on where you’re going in the world, as you know, most places have patterns.
31:01.056 –> 31:02.077
It’s something to look into.
31:02.557 –> 31:06.921
Like last time I checked, France rioted around the same time every year.
31:07.878 –> 31:09.159
Don’t go to France during that time.
31:10.300 –> 31:13.143
If you get invited to stay at a place, do a little bit of Googling.
31:13.663 –> 31:18.507
This may sound basic, but look at house prices around there.
31:18.688 –> 31:25.834
If you’re seeing a giant four-bedroom house that’s 2,000 square feet and it’s only valued at $40,000, not a good neighborhood.
31:26.615 –> 31:27.375
Not a good neighborhood.
31:29.827 –> 31:31.408
Be aware of that before going in.
31:32.248 –> 31:34.009
And most of all, listen to your gut.
31:34.409 –> 31:38.110
If your gut says, uh-oh, bad things, bad things, don’t go.
31:38.130 –> 31:42.352
It doesn’t matter if you’re Sac-A-Meal or Navy SEAL.
31:42.912 –> 31:45.433
There are certain situations that you do not want a part of.
31:45.813 –> 31:47.894
And even if you win, you lose.
31:49.568 –> 31:59.485
and this is a tip for international travel a lot of places they have signs that say beware of pickpocket everyone does the same thing they touch their wallet when they see that sign
32:00.543 –> 32:02.083
Don’t touch your wallet.
32:02.744 –> 32:04.864
If you’re a woman, keep your purse zipped up.
32:05.224 –> 32:08.625
Keep it going around your body, not hanging off one shoulder.
32:09.046 –> 32:11.466
If you’re a man, keep your wallet in your front pocket.
32:11.906 –> 32:13.567
No one goes for your front pocket.
32:13.887 –> 32:15.868
It is way too close to the family jewels.
32:16.288 –> 32:20.609
If someone sticks anything in my front pocket, I am aware that they are there.
32:22.349 –> 32:23.950
I got pickpocketed in Prague.
32:25.175 –> 32:32.182
And it was not a lot of money, but I always kept a little change purse in my bag.
32:32.963 –> 32:36.286
And somebody got it out of my bag and that was it.
32:36.366 –> 32:39.829
And I was like, well, I’m glad I don’t keep, like I always wear one of the undershirt
32:41.673 –> 33:06.621
things when i have to travel with cash and that’s where you know my important stuff was but i lost five bucks man so they had a good day so even when you know you could be pickpocketed and you think you’re situationally aware you can still get pickpocketed and not know it absolutely if you’re going into a high pickpocket area it is not a good idea to carry cash in your wallet
33:07.589 –> 33:35.989
or in your bag worst of all um another place people usually get swiped is falling asleep at the airport oh yeah yeah tell you how many people i’ve talked to said hey i fell asleep in the airport and my laptop’s gone my wallet’s gone my cell phone’s gone i’m calling you from a random person’s cell phone can you please help me yes we could but still shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place oh i know somebody whose laptop got swiped on the airplane
33:37.401 –> 33:38.421
That’s kind of impressive.
33:38.601 –> 33:39.021
It was.
33:39.061 –> 33:40.362
They were in the airplane.
33:41.162 –> 33:44.742
They worked on their laptop, put it in the bag, and at some point got up to pee.
33:45.723 –> 33:52.684
Came back to their seat, didn’t notice it until they walked off the plane and were going to sit down and do something, and their laptop had been taken out of their bag.
33:53.324 –> 33:55.544
Presumably by the person sitting next to them.
33:56.705 –> 34:00.865
They were able to report it and catch the person before they got to the next flight.
34:01.225 –> 34:04.006
So they got their computer back, but…
34:05.319 –> 34:13.866
Like some people are very brazen about stuff, which is kind of interesting because now I’m making everybody paranoid about being around people all the time and their stuff getting stolen.
34:13.906 –> 34:16.188
But the other thing is when you travel.
34:18.550 –> 34:20.771
Do your best not to bring stuff that can’t get stolen.
34:20.811 –> 34:22.513
That’s that’s something I’ve always thought like.
34:23.900 –> 34:28.024
If this gets stolen, it’s going to be a bummer, especially if they can crack my password.
34:28.064 –> 34:32.648
But if they can’t crack my password, what happens is this gets reset, right?
34:33.749 –> 34:36.171
And gets resold somewhere in theory.
34:37.912 –> 34:43.917
Everything that’s on this, I can restore to another one of these in about 10 minutes right now.
34:45.699 –> 34:49.202
My laptop, it would actually really hurt if that got stolen right now.
34:51.331 –> 34:54.797
So that’s where I’m like, oh, that’s my weak spot.
34:54.817 –> 34:56.519
Because that’s usually like this.
34:56.599 –> 34:57.721
It usually can be restored.
34:57.761 –> 35:03.891
But right now there are some decisions I made about the laptop that need to be unmade if it’s going to travel with me.
35:05.683 –> 35:07.705
And some things like that you can’t get around.
35:08.265 –> 35:11.528
I mean, I need to bring my laptop if I’m traveling, period.
35:11.588 –> 35:12.088
End of story.
35:12.108 –> 35:12.869
It has stuff on it.
35:13.309 –> 35:14.470
I mean, like you said, my phone.
35:15.251 –> 35:18.954
I can, you know, back up everything and get it all on my new phone in 10 minutes.
35:19.534 –> 35:23.558
Also, I have a nifty app that allows me to track this, take pictures, and listen to what you’re saying.
35:24.398 –> 35:27.601
So, yes, I stand good odds of getting my phone back.
35:27.701 –> 35:30.183
But if it gets lost, eh, whatever.
35:30.523 –> 35:33.085
I can literally pick up a burner at Walmart and is it great?
35:33.345 –> 35:33.546
Nope.
35:33.926 –> 35:34.747
Will it do what I need?
35:34.987 –> 35:35.147
Yep.
35:35.492 –> 35:36.192
Will it get me through it?
35:36.552 –> 35:36.752
Yep.
35:38.573 –> 35:45.434
Another thing people can do is take photocopies of your identification and any cards you have with you and put them in your safe at home.
35:46.634 –> 35:56.896
And then if you’re out and about and your passport gets stolen, at least you have the information you need to start the ball rolling to get some sort of identification.
35:57.816 –> 35:59.996
That brings me up to another travel tip.
36:01.016 –> 36:03.857
Take copies of your ID and email them to a friend.
36:04.757 –> 36:04.997
Oh, yeah.
36:05.768 –> 36:09.451
We keep copies of frequent travelers ID on hand.
36:09.871 –> 36:14.595
And if you lose your driver’s license, your odds of checking into that hotel go way down.
36:16.197 –> 36:21.641
If we send them a picture of your driver’s license, about 50 to 60% of the time, they’ll take that.
36:22.422 –> 36:25.104
And they’ll go, okay, you lost your driver’s license.
36:25.144 –> 36:25.645
Totally get it.
36:26.305 –> 36:27.386
We’ll work with you on this.
36:27.807 –> 36:29.508
Hopefully your card was already on file.
36:30.390 –> 36:30.650
Yeah.
36:31.251 –> 36:35.354
Well, and if you if you store things in more than one place in that situation.
36:35.374 –> 36:39.517
And this is because I’ve done months of travel with a backpack.
36:41.078 –> 36:44.060
If you don’t have all of your identification with you.
36:44.360 –> 36:45.922
So if you have some at home, that’s real.
36:46.846 –> 36:48.408
that can be overnighted to you.
36:49.148 –> 36:56.576
If you have a passport and a driver’s license in two different places, if one gets stolen or lost, you probably have the other one.
36:56.596 –> 37:02.062
If you have them all in a nice, neat little container with your credit cards, you just lost everything at once.
37:03.163 –> 37:10.090
So I usually would have two different credit cards, separate places, two different IDs, separate places and cash separate places.
37:11.593 –> 37:11.773
Yep.
37:12.153 –> 37:14.555
And sometimes you lose your social security card too.
37:15.935 –> 37:17.336
I do not walk around with that thing.
37:17.736 –> 37:18.597
Me neither.
37:20.218 –> 37:22.099
No, don’t walk around with your social security card.
37:23.139 –> 37:27.742
Like some of our frequently travel clients, what they do is they keep an Amex on file with us.
37:28.262 –> 37:28.522
Yeah.
37:28.682 –> 37:30.963
So that way, like, and they just leave their Amex at home.
37:31.443 –> 37:38.067
So no matter what happens, oh crap, I got here and the border patrol literally stole my wallet.
37:38.367 –> 37:39.728
They do that depending on where you go.
37:40.859 –> 37:46.142
Okay, we got you, call up, get you this, get you this, get you that, charge it all, you’re set.
37:47.042 –> 37:55.206
What could have been a major, you know, hiccup now just became a slight little bump in the road and you can go on with your trip in relative ease.
37:56.907 –> 38:01.369
So with your concierge service, if I lose my ID, like how do you help me out?
38:02.790 –> 38:07.332
We’ll email you a copy of your ID that we got previously from you because you told us that you travel.
38:08.052 –> 38:12.975
We’d also get a general indication of the sizes and type of clothes you like to wear, long or shoe sizes.
38:13.956 –> 38:16.498
Know what type of phone you have, whether it’s an iPhone or Android.
38:16.558 –> 38:18.879
So that way we can send you an appropriate charging cord.
38:20.941 –> 38:23.082
Do you ever like shoot out phones to people?
38:24.083 –> 38:24.243
Yep.
38:24.623 –> 38:26.405
We had one guy who called us.
38:26.745 –> 38:28.866
I remember this one because it was from the Washington airport.
38:29.687 –> 38:31.528
And he’s like, hey, can you help me?
38:31.988 –> 38:33.149
Everything just got stolen.
38:33.569 –> 38:34.810
I’m like, okay, you got your phone?
38:35.010 –> 38:37.092
No, I’m calling you from some random stranger’s phone.
38:37.771 –> 38:39.032
Okay, what’s around you?
38:39.052 –> 38:40.072
I’m at the Washington Airport.
38:40.132 –> 38:40.513
No, no, no.
38:40.613 –> 38:41.913
What is actually around you?
38:42.254 –> 38:43.114
There’s the five guys.
38:43.514 –> 38:43.854
Cool.
38:43.894 –> 38:44.555
You like burgers?
38:44.655 –> 38:44.855
Yep.
38:45.175 –> 38:47.697
We’re going to order you a burger, fry, and a drink.
38:48.437 –> 38:49.037
Go over there.
38:49.157 –> 38:49.417
Get it.
38:49.578 –> 38:50.058
Sit down.
38:50.478 –> 38:51.058
Relax.
38:52.259 –> 38:57.102
And we had someone deliver him a cell phone, a $500 Visa gift card.
38:57.522 –> 39:01.864
We emailed a copy of his ID to the hotel and had an Uber pick him up and take him there.
39:03.445 –> 39:04.646
I bet he was happy about that.
39:05.529 –> 39:07.651
He was, he upgraded it next time he got home.
39:10.493 –> 39:11.714
So how does that get paid for?
39:11.774 –> 39:19.580
It’s like, okay, so this $500 gift card, is that you pay in addition to it and the subscription that you’re paying is like for the service or how does that work?
39:20.561 –> 39:24.664
In his case, the $500 gift card was wrapped up in his subscription fee.
39:25.644 –> 39:25.885
Okay.
39:26.482 –> 39:29.024
So that was just part of part of the service.
39:29.824 –> 39:39.651
On the financial side, does that work because you have multiple people you’re working with and it leverages together or do you buy insurance policies on top of that to cover costs?
39:39.671 –> 39:45.815
So we refer to it as flex funds per account and your flex funds can be used for anything.
39:46.556 –> 39:48.117
I need a $500 gift card.
39:48.218 –> 39:48.478
Okay.
39:48.618 –> 39:49.259
I need a phone.
39:49.419 –> 39:49.760
Okay.
39:50.280 –> 39:56.488
I need Uber Eats delivered to me for a week straight because my kid just got into a motorcycle accident and I’m not leaving his side.
39:56.808 –> 39:57.169
Gotcha.
39:58.671 –> 39:58.911
Okay.
39:59.031 –> 40:03.577
So you pay, I noticed on your site, it’s like $50 a year up to $1,200 a year.
40:06.105 –> 40:06.866
Yep.
40:06.966 –> 40:08.768
Are you adding flex funds on top of that?
40:09.048 –> 40:10.850
Or is that part of that?
40:10.870 –> 40:13.932
Flex funds are wrapped up into the subscription fee.
40:15.033 –> 40:17.395
Some guy, he travels in and out of Canada a lot.
40:17.435 –> 40:20.398
He cannot stop mouthing off to the border patrol.
40:20.858 –> 40:24.021
So they take his cell phone every single time.
40:24.702 –> 40:28.305
So every time he gets out, he’s like, hey, can I get another cell phone?
40:28.665 –> 40:29.005
Yep.
40:30.587 –> 40:32.749
He should just not have a cell phone in Canada.
40:34.338 –> 40:39.359
You know, he actually tried just deleting everything off it so they wouldn’t have anything to hold them for.
40:39.679 –> 40:40.459
And they held them for that.
40:41.419 –> 40:42.839
Wait, why’d you delete everything off this?
40:43.560 –> 40:44.120
What are you hiding?
40:44.900 –> 40:47.900
Because at the border, you’re required to open your cell phone.
40:48.720 –> 40:49.161
Really?
40:50.221 –> 40:50.421
Yeah.
40:50.741 –> 40:51.281
You didn’t know that?
40:51.901 –> 40:59.562
No, because I don’t know that I’ve gone to Canada with a cell phone since before flip phones went out of fashion.
41:00.142 –> 41:03.083
When you come back, they will tell you to open up your cell phone.
41:04.568 –> 41:05.509
What are they looking for?
41:05.529 –> 41:10.853
Nefarious text messages?
41:11.494 –> 41:11.814
Yes.
41:12.254 –> 41:14.396
Proof of nefarious acts, stuff like that.
41:15.177 –> 41:17.659
It’s one of those, what I believe is government overreach.
41:18.019 –> 41:19.000
That is awful.
41:19.941 –> 41:20.261
Isn’t it?
41:20.281 –> 41:23.924
Is that going into Canada or coming back to the U.S.?
41:24.164 –> 41:24.825
Coming back.
41:25.305 –> 41:25.605
Okay.
41:26.406 –> 41:26.986
So it’s the U.S.
41:27.027 –> 41:27.707
government doing that?
41:28.688 –> 41:28.788
Yep.
41:29.468 –> 41:31.170
Well, at least he always gets held up coming back.
41:31.250 –> 41:31.610
So, yes.
41:31.950 –> 41:32.371
It must be.
41:32.391 –> 41:33.071
Yeah, those are U.S.
41:33.151 –> 41:34.893
agents asking to see yourself.
41:35.173 –> 41:41.899
Yeah, so I have traveled with smartphones to Europe and back and not had that.
41:41.959 –> 41:43.741
I don’t know why Canada would be different.
41:46.523 –> 41:48.805
They’re more worried about it because we’re their neighbors.
41:48.886 –> 41:49.706
I don’t know what to tell you.
41:49.726 –> 41:52.669
I mean, but it’s our agents on your way back in, not their agents.
41:53.370 –> 41:53.710
Correct.
41:54.010 –> 41:54.771
And heck, screw you.
41:56.752 –> 41:57.573
just gave up my rights.
41:57.673 –> 41:57.773
Okay.
41:57.793 –> 41:58.493
We have a question.
41:58.513 –> 42:03.276
Do they, do you help people with alternative travel arrangements?
42:03.336 –> 42:06.498
Example in July, I took a train from Hungary to Romania.
42:07.079 –> 42:14.484
There was a train wreck and one train for eight hours became a five plus a bus for 22 hours.
42:14.584 –> 42:20.928
So basically in that situation, do you help them find a better way to get somewhere when, when stuff goes wrong or.
42:21.792 –> 42:24.073
Yes, that is one of the reasons we are here.
42:24.193 –> 42:30.395
We have done everything from getting you a ride service because they have different ride services depending on where you go.
42:30.955 –> 42:33.316
And we also partner with various travel agencies.
42:34.696 –> 42:34.936
Okay.
42:35.116 –> 42:39.598
I mean, generally speaking, if you book through a travel agency and something happens, they got you.
42:40.138 –> 42:41.939
They will help you work around that.
42:42.299 –> 42:43.939
Will they answer the phone 24 hours?
42:44.120 –> 42:44.820
Usually not.
42:45.520 –> 42:48.441
But when they do pick up the phone, they will help you.
42:49.764 –> 42:53.867
we had a client who his flight got canceled and he’s like, I don’t know what to do.
42:53.887 –> 42:54.888
I just need a ride home.
42:55.308 –> 42:56.269
I just need a ride home.
42:56.329 –> 42:57.170
I just need a ride home.
42:57.190 –> 42:58.351
I’m like, relax, relax.
42:58.871 –> 42:59.852
Ended up calling everyone.
43:00.252 –> 43:01.353
No one had a ride for him.
43:01.413 –> 43:05.336
The only thing was like one taxi service and it was going to cost a small fortune.
43:05.856 –> 43:08.819
Well, it turns out it was off season for limo services.
43:09.659 –> 43:12.962
So they were offering rides like dirt cheap.
43:13.302 –> 43:15.163
So we got this guy to stretch the limo.
43:17.265 –> 43:18.386
That’s actually hilarious.
43:19.761 –> 43:20.602
Screw the taxis.
43:20.662 –> 43:21.542
I’m taking a limo.
43:22.883 –> 43:24.244
If it’s cheaper, why not?
43:26.045 –> 43:31.449
Well, what basic overview advice would you give anybody who’s looking to travel in 2024?
43:32.129 –> 43:33.690
Just like around the U.S.
43:37.172 –> 43:41.375
Number one piece of advice is know where you’re going and know the local culture.
43:42.656 –> 43:45.398
I mean, I know that seems simple, but it’s…
43:46.428 –> 43:47.990
Really not.
43:49.431 –> 43:51.333
Example, you go to Hawaii.
43:51.914 –> 43:53.115
They don’t like to be rushed there.
43:53.716 –> 43:54.197
Period.
43:54.677 –> 43:55.578
End of story.
43:56.699 –> 43:59.762
I once lived there for over two years and I never once heard a car horn.
44:00.704 –> 44:05.288
Versus you go to Boston and it’s, hi, welcome to Boston.
44:05.889 –> 44:07.431
I mean, it’s just the way it is.
44:07.451 –> 44:08.432
Same thing with New York.
44:10.816 –> 44:14.580
Verse over there, you’ll never hear a horn when the emergency vehicles come down.
44:14.921 –> 44:15.942
Everyone just pulls over.
44:15.962 –> 44:17.463
It doesn’t matter what side of the road you’re on.
44:17.964 –> 44:19.045
They don’t like to be hurried.
44:19.085 –> 44:20.647
Your meal’s coming out slow.
44:21.828 –> 44:24.351
And if you’re a tourist, they’re going to refer to you as a Howley.
44:24.371 –> 44:27.674
They will be very polite to you because you are bringing them a large amount of money.
44:27.694 –> 44:29.837
However, you are not one of them.
44:29.897 –> 44:30.838
Do not confuse it.
44:32.372 –> 44:41.359
Go down south, people tend to be a bit more on the polite side when it comes to customer service and a bit more rude in their personal lives.
44:42.099 –> 44:45.662
It’s a weird formula, but is what it is.
44:46.422 –> 44:55.849
You go to New York, Boston, California, people talk fast, people drive fast, and you might as well get used to hearing the sounds of horns with red lights because that is your life.
44:57.470 –> 45:01.373
I’ll tell you what, I live in the south and I flew home to Portland, Oregon.
45:02.227 –> 45:06.831
Well, it’s not home anymore, but at the time, and I’d been here for years.
45:07.111 –> 45:13.036
And what happens in the checkout line here is you talk to people you don’t know and nobody thinks it’s weird.
45:14.918 –> 45:20.063
So I’m at the airport and we’re going down the escalator and it’s like kind of backed up.
45:20.123 –> 45:26.128
And I say something to the people in front of me and they’re like, like, I’m going to ask them for money.
45:28.337 –> 45:29.638
Why did you talk to me?
45:29.698 –> 45:32.079
Northwest, you don’t talk to strangers, apparently.
45:32.099 –> 45:40.545
And it seemed very unfriendly to me because I had apparently acclimated to polite conversation here out and about.
45:41.445 –> 45:42.146
Exactly.
45:42.166 –> 45:45.688
And I thought, man, I’m from here and you guys are rude.
45:47.819 –> 45:52.643
Or you go to New York and you try that, people are going to be reaching behind their back or backing up slowly.
45:53.023 –> 45:54.545
Because, oh, they’re going to rob me?
45:55.065 –> 45:56.967
I talk to people in New York all the time.
45:57.007 –> 45:59.288
And what I learned is usually I’m asking directions.
46:00.650 –> 46:02.951
Like, is it that way to this street or that way?
46:02.972 –> 46:06.795
Because they all pop up out of the ground like a freaking prairie dog.
46:06.815 –> 46:07.856
And I’m like, I don’t know where I am.
46:07.876 –> 46:10.298
And they’ll be like, it’s Fifth Avenue that way.
46:10.418 –> 46:15.121
And as long as you’re walking the direction they are, they usually be like, yeah, that way.
46:15.998 –> 46:18.841
But if you try to stop somebody and ask them, they’d be like, screw off.
46:19.682 –> 46:22.104
So that was my hack in New York.
46:23.646 –> 46:27.770
New York, New York, and like Pine Bush, New York, very different cultures.
46:27.810 –> 46:30.573
You think that you just crossed six borders in a time zone.
46:31.293 –> 46:32.535
That is how different they are.
46:33.813 –> 46:35.394
Pine Bush, New York is out in the country.
46:35.454 –> 46:37.395
Last time I checked, it was a UFO hotspot.
46:37.895 –> 46:40.176
People went out there, watched little lights dance in the sky.
46:41.116 –> 46:42.657
Everyone’s all friendly, whatever.
46:43.117 –> 46:45.938
You go to New York, New York at like two in the morning, you step outside.
46:46.619 –> 46:47.679
Very different environment.
46:48.420 –> 46:50.821
Yeah, I don’t I haven’t really been to rural New York much.
46:51.501 –> 46:56.443
I had an uncle who lived in Manhattan, so he used to always go there and visit him.
46:56.503 –> 46:58.344
But I don’t know if he’s still there or not.
46:58.624 –> 46:58.964
Anyway.
46:59.324 –> 47:02.746
OK, well, if people want to learn more about your service, like how do they do that?
47:04.281 –> 47:07.422
Go to r3-kon.com.
47:07.862 –> 47:19.767
Also, we are starting up a YouTube channel, giving various sorts of advice, like how to avoid bed bugs, especially if you have a job that requires you to travel and puts you up in cheap hotel rooms.
47:21.108 –> 47:21.468
All right.
47:21.668 –> 47:22.529
Any last words?
47:25.710 –> 47:26.370
Arrivederci.
47:27.290 –> 47:27.611
All right.
47:27.651 –> 47:28.771
Well, thanks for being on today.
47:28.891 –> 47:31.932
Thanks for having me, Nicole.
47:32.232 –> 47:33.253
It was a great time as always.
