Today is Jamal’s 37th birthday! Jamal is our trip driver and transportation planner. We often refer to him as dad So we thought we would celebrate his special day by asking him a few questions from us as well as our squaddies.

Jamal’s Bday Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hey Squatty’s Travel Squad Podcast is back with Just the Tip, a new Friday mini episode series where we give you quick travel stories, hacks and recommendations to set you off into the weekend.

Right.

Today is Jamal’s 37th birthday.

0:53

Happy birthday, Jamal.

Thank you, happy birthday to me.

Jamal is our trip driver and our transportation planner of the podcast, and we often refer to him as dad because he often pulls out that credit card and make sure all of the girls are taken care of on the trip.

1:09

So we thought we’d celebrate today and his secial day by asking him a few questions from us as well as our squatties.

Are you ready for this, Jamal?

I’m ready.

I’m super excited.

You know, we’ve done several question episodes in the past where they’re all surprise questions to each other.

I’m excited to have them focused solely on me.

1:25

Not that I just want the attention for myself, but I love these type of episodes when we just do questions.

They’re always fun and exciting.

Jamal, me and Brittany had a discussion of how many questions should we ask, and we said, you know, we should probably limit it to just a few because Jamal’s a talker and we’ve got to keep him on a short leash here.

1:42

I’ll keep it on a leash.

I know this is a many episodes, so we keep it time appropriate for everybody.

So I’m going to kick off the questions and I’m going to ask you, Jamal, what has been your favorite birthday trip that we’ve taken?

Oh gosh, that’s a really great question.

There have been so many, and I know the running inside joke is I don’t want to do birthday trips, which is kind of true, but also kind of not true in that regard.

2:04

But I will have to say my favorite that we’ve done only because it was a lifelong goal of mine to make it to Cedar Point in Sandusky.

OH, because I am a roller coaster fan, I’m going to have have to say Cedar Point.

I knew you were going to say that, Jamal, probably because that’s the only birthday trip you actually had a say in where you were going.

2:25

Right.

And that’s kind of right.

There’s the inside joke about me not really wanting to go on them.

I always appreciate a trip, but sometimes I just want to relax.

But Brittany will take the initiative to plan the trip and they are always great, but really kind of without my input.

But the year 2022, I told Brittany, I said if we’re going to do a trip, we’re going to go to Cedar Point.

2:44

I love roller coasters.

I want to ride them.

They have some of the biggest and the best in the world over there.

Tons of record Breakers.

And I threw Brittany a bone even on my birthday, being as generous as I am, because we were in Ohio and we made our way to a National Park just as well.

So I mean, that was fun, That was fine.

3:01

But Cedar Point was the highlight.

All right, next hard hitting question, Jamal, why do you think old ladies love you so much?

I think Jamal just has charisma, you know what I mean?

You see me talking in the third person right there.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

I don’t know what it is.

3:16

The old ladies dig me.

I know Brittany’s sitting next to me.

We’re married.

I’m not really going to do anything, but I’m trying to lower that demographic from older ladies, the boomers to the Cougars.

That’s really where I want to go right now, to have them just really give Jamal a little bit of love, you know, little competent.

3:32

Talked about this.

We’ve talked about this in some episodes, but every time we go on a trip, me and Brittany are standing around, we turn back and Jamal is just talking to a group of old ladies taking their picture.

Like long discussions too.

No matter where we go, the old ladies flock to.

3:49

You, I don’t know how or why it happens, but honestly, this always happened to me when I was a waiter at Denny’s.

That was my first job ever.

Of course, lots of elder people coming to Denny’s and I don’t know, I just have a knack for it.

And I think that persona that I had to have, of course, being a waiter and just talking to people, it’s really carried over into other aspects of life.

4:10

So that’s why on those trips you always see me just chit chatting with the old birds, you know?

I know Kim, you were on our South Africa trip, but we went somewhere in South Africa and this lady wanted to go over like a ledge and she needed help up.

I look back and Jamal’s like lending his hand, helping her over, telling her age is just a number.

4:27

You got this really encouraging her.

She was like 70 years old and I’m just like, Oh my God.

I looked away for like one second and here he is like picking this lady up and helping her over.

Well, I saw her.

I knew she wanted to kind of go over the fence or barrier to get to the ledge.

4:43

Of course, it wasn’t going to be like super dangerous to go over because there was still tons of space, but she was concerned about it and unsure.

And you know, sometimes you just needed to give people encouragement.

That situation just happened to be an elder lady.

I would have done it to anybody, but just was an older lady on that one.

So another question for you, Jamal.

5:00

This one comes in from a squatty.

This comes in from Matt who was a guest on our pod before and is the host of Making Moves by Matt.

He asks what is your favorite country?

Oh, my favorite country.

That is a great question.

As a whole, I’m going to have to say Japan.

I feel like I’ve said that a million times on this podcast.

5:18

Or if I haven’t, it feels like it ’cause I always hype up Japan, right?

Japan generally as a whole, Food culture, cleanliness, loved it.

If I’m really going to go straight in nature aspect though of the maybe favorite destination or vacation we’ve ever been on, it’s going to be Uganda.

5:35

So those ones are really a toss up for me.

But as a whole, Japan.

Both good countries.

Here’s a different one for you, Jamal.

What is one thing you wish you knew about podcasting before you started?

That’s a really good question.

One thing I wish I knew before we started.

5:53

I don’t know, you know.

It could be about your impact on other people or behind the scenes work or opportunities or anything else.

Maybe like you really absolutely love your Co host more than you ever thought you would.

Well, I, I love all my Co hosts as much as I can, so that’s not really going to be it.

6:14

But I don’t know.

I really wish I knew more about the impact our podcast would have on people because when we get those messages from people and squatties telling us like, oh, you really helped us out with this.

This is great advice.

And we have lots of squatties who message us all the time and who are kind of really like our regulars and we’re always in communication and chatting with.

6:34

I wish I kind of knew that because from the get go, I don’t want to say we weren’t all motivated, but I think if we knew we were going to get that kind of feedback, all of us, more particularly me would be really motivated to put out like an excellent product for everybody.

And I feel like we do put out a great podcast for you guys, but I wish I knew that ahead of time.

6:52

That way I had a little bit more at the start for everybody.

Yeah, in the beginning you’re kind of talking into the void, and then at a certain point it starts talking back.

And that’s pretty cool, right?

Absolutely.

So this is a hard hitting question from our squatties Jamal Lauren from Japan, she wrote in and asked What is your most justified freak out?

7:10

My most justified freak out.

Wow.

Well I you know what?

I am going to go ahead and say the monkey scratching me in Morocco was my most Just say it.

I’m going to say it.

You want to know why?

Again, for anyone who hasn’t heard the story, A St. performing monkey in Morocco scratched me because his handler was trying to chase me, trying to get out a tip and the monkey just reached gave me a scratch.

7:33

We’re with Brittany nurse, of course, our friend Kasha.

She’s also a nurse.

They all kind of were like, oh, it’s not really like a big deal.

I’m like, this is a street performing monkey.

Who knows what like bacteria or virus is sitting under his fingernails and it’s just any wild animal.

It’s not that it’s a wild animal in Morocco, right?

7:50

And you know, primate to primate, you can catch diseases.

Let’s not kid ourselves.

And everybody who I tell the story to that I got scratched by the monkey, they will look at me and be like, Oh my God, like they are really worried for me.

And I’m like, thank you.

I feel like you should be worried.

8:07

And then the nurses are like, no big deal, no big deal, but everybody.

How big was the scratch really?

It like barely broke any skin at all, maybe like 2 flakes of skin and he was freaking out.

It was not adjusted it.

Was a scratch, it scabbed over and it was red around and my skin started to get warm in the area.

8:25

No, it did.

My skin did something to get warm in the area Anyway.

Everybody else other than Brittany and Kasha were like, Oh yeah, like I wouldn’t want to be scratched.

I’d be concerned too.

So I would say that is my most justified freak out.

And I really love that question.

Coming in from Japan too, even better.

That’s not what I would have thought.

8:41

I thought you would have said Burke discarded.

Oh, Burke discarded.

Well, that is also a justified one.

You know, I was trying to make a great trip for our friends who this was really their first big international Things were just going wrong that day.

That was justified.

8:56

But you know, safety 1st and that monkey could have caused some serious damage.

Has nobody seen the movie Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman?

It’s about a monkey that things go crazy once it starts infecting people.

What about the freak out about the blowfish in Japan?

Was that one justified?

Well.

That was like an internal panic attack.

9:13

Yeah.

When I ate the fugu out there, I really thought the toxins were kicking in on me and I was going to go into paralysis and asphyxiate.

That I got.

I got in my head a little.

Bit but anyone talked to him he was like I don’t know I.

Can’t.

I don’t know if it was justified, but at the same time I don’t think it was.

9:32

I mean, it was overblown, but at the same time really worried.

That one was actually probably one of my favorite freak outs to watch because it’s like I couldn’t do anything.

I couldn’t like calm him down.

I couldn’t.

If I try to hype him up a little bit he would like freak out even more.

So like just watching it that play out was probably one of my favorite freak outs to watch out because it was so unjustified and it was more of a panic attack, which is kind of mean to say.

9:56

But anyways, it was a good laugh.

I have some good freak outs from time to time, but yeah.

And.

We love you for it, Jamal.

That’s what makes me me.

What can you say?

On that point, Jamal, what do you think makes a good travel companion, whether it’s a friend or your partner?

10:11

I would say what makes a really good travel companion is going with somebody who’s going to reciprocate on the things that you want to do.

Because when you travel with anybody, whether it be me and Brittany, or even when we’re traveling as a squad or with other friends, yeah, you know what trip you’re going on because you’re all going on that trip together.

10:30

But there are things that each person may want to do that the other doesn’t, but it’s everybody’s trip.

So there’s got to be give and take.

And you just really need to understand that you have to reciprocate in kind and they have to reciprocate in kind to you to make sure that everybody can do what they want to do, even if it’s something that you don’t necessarily really want to.

10:53

But that’s what makes a good travel partner.

That’s with anything in life or any friendship, just give and take.

It sounds a little more like they’re bringing a little bit of energy to it.

They don’t just do it because you want to do it, but they get excitement about it because it is something you want to do it.

That does make it more fun, doesn’t it?

11:08

Absolutely.

This is another question sent in from a squatty.

It’s from Trent from North Dakota.

And he wants to know, Jamal, how do you afford to travel so much?

Really great question.

Well, fortunately Brittany and I make traveling a priority.

So travel budgeting is part of our everyday life budget.

11:28

So a lot of times, you know, we live here in San Diego and a lot of people will say to us like why don’t you guys go out and do anything?

You live in San Diego.

And I guess it’s not really that we’re not doing stuff and being cheap while we’re here, but we really fund all of that towards when we go to travel.

11:45

Like we rarely eat out here in San Diego, although there’s great restaurants.

I really get to explore a lot of San Diego when family and friends come into town.

Otherwise, we’re homebodies.

And I would say it’s just really budgeting for those trips and making it an everyday priority to say, yes, this much from this paycheck, whether it be mine or Brittany’s, is funded towards travel.

12:05

And a lot of times there’s travel hacking.

I tell this to people all the time to, you know, we really hack with the credit cards.

We’ve mentioned Southwest and Companion Pass.

They’ll usually have those promos going on every once in a while.

If you do a certain minimum spend, then you get Companion Pass, which is the second person for a year flies free, only the taxes.

12:23

So that really gets us a lot of domestic travel.

So there’s a combination of things, and I’ll say that’s what makes us able to travel as much as we do.

Good points.

Save and plan for it and maximize free travel.

Love it.

On that note, Jamal, has Brittany ever booked a trip without getting your approval on it first?

12:40

She has, she used to be very notorious.

She used to be very, very notorious for this.

And as I’ve gotten older, I don’t want to say I don’t want to travel as much, but, you know, just with everyday life, work, personal things that we need to do at home, you know, sometimes I just want a little free time.

12:57

I feel like that’s sometimes an ongoing theme in the podcast, too, that I will bring up.

But Brittany has gotten better about not just booking something without running it by me.

And if I don’t really want to do it, she’ll just keep pushing me the next day, the next day, the next day.

13:12

But what she will do if she really wants to book something without telling me is she’ll make sure it’s, you know, refundable and she’ll just book it and say, hey, I booked this, but it’s refundable.

So are we going to go or not?

And sometimes more particularly if it’s a Southwest cheap flight, she’ll do that because we’ll maybe have Southwest flight credits.

13:30

Or the beautiful thing about Southwest is if you book and pay cash and then cancel, unfortunately you don’t get your money back.

But what’s great about them is they put it in your travel bank so you don’t really lose it.

We’re going to be flying anyway.

So those are the type of things that she still does if she wants to push me just a little bit and book without running.

13:47

It by me also, if he’s like doing something with his friends and you know, he’s like out with a guy drinking and I know he’s had a few drinks in him or something like that, that’s a great time to text him saying like, hey, what do you think about this trip?

I’m looking at flights right now, like guards kind of down.

14:03

So he’ll be like, all right, just go ahead and book it.

Well, I don’t know if it’s the guard down from the drinking.

It’s that you gave me a leash.

I’ll give you a little bit of a leash on that one.

And as a matter of fact, what she’s probably referring to is the fact that I said yes for a trip that we have coming up to Wisconsin in a couple days here at the end of the month.

She hit me with that when I was out and about with my friend Josh in Mexico.

14:22

So she she knew when to send that text in and I just said go for it and book it.

Jamal, when you get a few drinks and you you turn into a yes man, you have a huge smile on your face.

You are down for anything.

You’re just having so much fun.

So that’s a really good hack, Brittany, for getting the trips you want.

14:38

Yeah, ladies, if you’re listening, try this one out.

It’s worked for me so far.

Well, Jamal, I have one last question for you.

I’m ready for it.

It is.

What is your ideal way to spend your birthday?

I’ve told you a million times, Brittany, my ideal way to spend my birthday is sitting home and relaxing.

14:55

No, that’s not the right answer.

No, I just would say, well, honestly though, as I get older, birthdays are kind of depressing, ’cause you’re getting older, right?

I mean, yes, you still want people to tell you happy birthday and feel special, and I still want that.

Let’s not kid ourselves.

I think everybody does.

But I would say the ideal way to spend my birthday is a trip, but maybe a trip that doesn’t require so much go, go that I can actually really relax.

15:20

And not that I don’t have fun on all of the trips that we take, but you know this, if you’re a traveler, right?

There’s some trips where you’re go, go, go and you have a great time.

And then there’s some trips where you’re just relaxing and enjoying yourself, enjoying the ambiance atmosphere of wherever you’re at.

And as I’m getting older, that is what my ideal birthday trip is now, just a relaxing birthday somewhere else.

15:41

Well, that’s beautiful, Jamal, and my birthday wish for you is that one day you’ll get that.

I’ll get it soon, sooner or later.

I know we just got to both keep pushing Brittany a little bit or when we go on our squad trips, we really have to cater it around being a trip that’s like that so Brittany can see that type of lifestyle and travel style.

15:56

Well, I think you’re going to get that in your upcoming birthday trip this weekend because we will be in Wisconsin, Door County, small area on the lake kind of go as we flow, relaxing I think, I think we’ll get that on this vacation.

I’m really excited about it.

16:12

That’s half the reason why I said yes when you texted me saying let’s go to Wisconsin.

And if it doesn’t work out, Jamal, you can always try the reverse on her.

Yeah, I can’t.

I get.

But the problem is her birthday is in October and that is a busy month for me for work.

So I really can’t take over her birthday trips because we’re not really traveling around that time.

16:30

But sooner or later I will book one.

No I mean try the reverse on her.

Get a few drinks in her and then plan a trip and get her to give you the thumbs up on just laying by the beach and relaxing.

Oh yes, well, that is a very good idea.

Although, you know, I don’t want to say I get too wild when I drink.

16:47

I really loved the description you gave of me.

Yes, go with the flow.

I feel like to think that I’m fun.

Brittany, when she drinks, she does have fun, but she still keeps her wits about her and her guard up.

So I’m going to have to try really hard to be really sneaky on that technique, but I think it can work on her again.

We’ll hold out for that.

17:03

And with that, thanks so much for tuning into just the tip.

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And have fun traveling this weekend.