Diving into how travel affects mental health positively in various aspects of development and quality of life.

In this episode we are announcing some major Travel Squad Podcast news! We’re changing the format of our podcast to include traveler and travel business owner interviews and bring you more deals and news in travel. We also take a moment to acknowledge the mental health benefits of travel and really look at how travel affects mental health. 

We also share some of our personal stories how travel has made us happier people plus how we’re dealing with the lack of travel lately. And offer some interesting insight into the state of travel, and end off with the latest promising travel updates.

Announcements + Travel & Mental Health- Episode Transcript

3 (58s):
Welcome to week’s episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today, we’re going to be diving into the correlation between travel and Mental Health and sharing some exciting news about changes coming to the podcast. Exciting yet sad at the same time, I will say

1 (1m 13s):
Yeah, this past year has been such a crazy year. There’s been a lot of canceled travel plans, lots of trips to push off to another unknown date. And a lot of that excitement and fun that comes with planning and taking a trip has been missing from a lot of people’s lives. So we just want to dive into that a little bit more

2 (1m 30s):
And because travel has changed so much, we also have to change when we started this podcast about two years ago. Now we started it with the goal of bringing the excitement of travel into audio form, which is where it’s ideal, really to show emotions. And storytell, we also want to do inspire you to travel. We wanted to show you how easy it can be when you plan out the details in a short amount of time, we wanted to show you how affordable it can be by telling you how much we paid and how we save money. And those things are definitely staying on this podcast.

3 (1m 60s):
Travel definitely looks different than it did year ago. I mean, there’s no doubt about that or two years ago for that matter when we started, but our passion for travel is definitely still there. That’s not going anywhere and we’re going to adapt through our first major change just as well, minus everybody’s major changes in terms of COVID cancellation travels, but our first major change happening to us here at the Travel Squad. I’m sure you can tell by her intro. I’m sure you can tell by the lack of Zena’s voice here is that Zayna is no longer a co-host of the Travel Squad Podcast.

2 (2m 35s):
And I guess that makes us a threatful. Now

3 (2m 38s):
We’re going to miss the quadruple aspect, but yes, up now.

2 (2m 42s):
So yes, Zayna is no longer a co-host on this podcast, but what does that actually mean for us? That means that she will no longer be recording new episodes with us,

1 (2m 52s):
But there might be some throwback episodes that we have in stories that include her. And she might be on a few future trips. So she might be on future episodes, but she’s not a routine part of the Travel Squad Podcast.

2 (3m 5s):
And one of the big reasons that she made this decision was, and she’s mentioned it on episodes before, is that she does have a business that she’s building, where she helps women reclaim their empowerment after going through really tough heartbreaks. And so, you know, there’s only 24 hours in a day and she couldn’t really focus on both. And her passion was really pulling her to her purpose, which was no longer the Travel Squad Podcast, unfortunately for us.

3 (3m 31s):
And that’s a little bit about how it’s going to be different here. We are going to miss Zaina, but as we mentioned, she is going to be coming on another travel adventure with us, for sure that we know about Ecuador, few more trips potentially. And like Brittany said, maybe those reoccurring, but what’s going to stay the same here for us is we are still going to continue to put out episodes every travel Tuesday that ain’t changing. I can tell you that much.

1 (3m 54s):
And we’re going to still travel as a Travel Squad, the Rupal or tripod.

2 (4m 0s):
And we’re definitely going to be sharing every single detail of those trips, in fact, even more detail.

1 (4m 5s):
And we also might have other people that travel with us and we’re kind of expanding our squad in some stuff.

3 (4m 11s):
Yes. People, as you know, our honorary squad members, we’ve had our trips with Charlotte, you know, Casha and Ryan are really good friends. So we are expanding the honorary squad in that sense. And maybe they will be on as guests, one of these days just as well.

2 (4m 27s):
Yeah, absolutely. And so you’ll probably still see content with Dana in it. When we post on social media or we tell stories or share memories from trips in the past. I mean, we literally spent four and a half years traveling as the Travel Squad and it’s truly the end of an era here, but Zane is not the ghost of Travel Squad past. She’ll still be featured in some ways or another,

3 (4m 52s):
She’s an original squad member of what can we say? She’s not going anywhere, right? Oh, G squad member. That’s for sure.

2 (4m 58s):
But now that Zayna has moved on and we have made some adaptations, as you all have had to do this last year, we have some exciting announcements that we’re going to bring on changes that we’re making.

1 (5m 9s):
So we’re going to do some more interview episodes with interesting fellow travelers and people that have transformed their passion for travel and to business.

2 (5m 17s):
I’m really, really excited about this really capturing people’s stories of how they love travel. They’re fueled by travel and how they turn that into a moneymaker for them. I’m so excited for this.

3 (5m 29s):
Yeah. We got a few interviews lined up or these coordinating times to record with those. So those episodes are coming down the pipeline. I’m really excited about it, just talking with them, coordinating, finding out about them. So that’s going to be really good content and something that we want to focus more on in the future is having those guest interviews to share those other stories other than hours with you guys.

1 (5m 50s):
And with that being said, if you’re listening and you have done that, and you are interested in being on our podcast, please email us because we would love to have you on as a future guest

2 (5m 58s):
Travel Squad Podcast at gmail.com, we’re also going to have more episodes with different types of content like current events and traveled. The travel industry is changing rapidly by the day it has been in the last year. And so we’re going to bring you more news like that travel news, those headlines that we’re seeing every day. And we want to bring you more timely money, saving tips and deals in travel that we uncover that we want to share with you.

1 (6m 23s):
Also, as you guys know, we have YouTube. And so we want to do some more mini videos on YouTube of our trips. And if you haven’t already please subscribe to our channel

2 (6m 32s):
At Travel Squad Podcast. We have a really cool video on there right now of a Caribbean sea turtle chomping down on a jellyfish. You got to check that out.

3 (6m 42s):
Yes, that was actually from our trip to the us Virgin islands. That episode just aired when we were in St. Thomas next week’s episode is actually going to be St. John, where I filmed that in the U S national park. So do go check that out. It’s a great video, nonetheless, and it will get you excited for next week’s episode. And we’re hoping to bring you more content of awesome nature videos that we’ve gotten from our trips. If you recall, we have an Africa episode talking about our ventures on safari. I have amazing, amazing videos. So I want to put more wildlife content on there just as well, in addition to all our other travel stuff for you guys.

2 (7m 20s):
Yeah. That’s going to be awesome. And it just goes to underscore mission of enticing you to travel and really putting you in the trip with us so that your encouraged to take it or inspired to take it. You’re really going to be capturing that even more with these videos.

1 (7m 34s):
So I know this is a lot of change to deal with, and there’s been a ton of change over the past year, but change is inevitable and it can be really hard to deal with. So we really want to address some of these changes to travel and how it’s impacted not only our mental health, but everyone’s mental health.

2 (7m 51s):
I can definitely attest to my mental health being pushed to its limits over these last few months.

3 (7m 57s):
I think in everyday life. It definitely has. And when you add the travel mishaps or cancellations on top of that, especially for us people being avid travelers listeners, if you’re listening to this, obviously you’re an avid traveler have that sense of wanderlust. So it’s in a sense, I feel like a lot more harder because we know what Travel brings us in terms of benefit in terms of our mental health clarity sense of refreshment when we come back to work. So we’re really going to talk about all that and how 2020 through everything for wrench and throw in good news too, about how travel is going to be rebounding here and getting us all excited for that.

2 (8m 32s):
And we are excited. And I know you are too, because we recently just hit a record high for the most downloads we’ve ever had in a single week.

3 (8m 42s):
Thank you guys so, so much. Yeah.

2 (8m 44s):
Thank you guys so much for sticking with us over these last few months. And this isn’t the only record we’ve ever hit. Actually throughout 2020, we hit several weekly records and they keep increasing, which is just showing us, you guys still passionate about travel. You’re still dying to hear about these trips, even if you can’t necessarily take them right away. And so we are renewing our commitment to bring you that.

1 (9m 5s):
So we were doing some research and we found that American express did a poll and the survey found that 48% of people not being able to travel makes them feel anxious or stress.

2 (9m 17s):
I can also agree with that. And part of that 48%

1 (9m 20s):
Too, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, when there was a lot of unknown, I was very anxious.

3 (9m 26s):
Yeah. Because a lot of people probably had travel plans at that point. I mean, I know we did, and I know we’re not the only ones, even as avid travelers, I’m sure just the everyday person had travel plans. I mean, summer and spring was the writer. Well, spring was right around the corner. Some are coming next and no one really knew for sure what, if anything, we’re going to do. So that creates that sense of anxiousness and anxiety. What am I going to do? Am I going to get money back and all that stuff. But 78% in that same poll said that traveling is one of the activities that they missed the most right now, which makes a lot of sense. I think everyone’s been tired of being cooped up in a sense, and we’re all ready to get out.

2 (10m 5s):
You know, when the pandemic was starting to gain traction here in the U S and in San Diego, it was probably end of February where we started to hear more and more in the warnings. And in the anxiety was really kicking in. Lockdown happened March 16th here in San Diego, the

1 (10m 21s):
Day that Jamal and I went to big island Hawaii.

2 (10m 23s):
Yeah. And so leading up to that those few weeks before that I had a trip to Cabo or no, no, not Cabo Ken Kuhn planned. And we are really anxious. Isn’t going to go through, are they going to close the borders? Is it going to be canceled? And so for a couple of weeks leading up to that, that’s what I was going through. Locked down, happened on the 16th. The trip was supposed to be the 22nd and it was canceled. So that just set off a domino effect of canceled trips over the next year.

1 (10m 48s):
Yeah, I know. So when lockdown was starting to happen, Jamal and I were on a plane going to big island Hawaii, and Zaina was texting us. Kim was texting us. San Diego is going to lock down. We’re like, oh, well, we’re already on the plane. Like getting ready to leave.

3 (11m 3s):
Like literally we were about to take off and Zaina had text message just saying, I’m at Costco. Things are going crazy right now. What do you guys need? Cause everything’s flying off the shelf. And I mean, that made us really anxious cause we were leaving and we were going to someplace tropical and exciting. And even though I guess everyone could have maybe seen the writing on the wall, it just really took us by shock and going to Hawaii. We’ve mentioned this in another episode that was already a rescheduled or altered trip and on the fly because we were actually on that same day supposed to go to Hong Kong because we were going to Hong Kong Disneyland. And that was going to be the last Disney park in the world. Brittany and I need to go to, and we’ve mentioned this in past episodes.

3 (11m 46s):
So we already had to alter plans. Weren’t able to go that created that added stress here we are sitting on a plane. The moment lockdown happens here in San Diego, California, and I’m finding out supplies are running out of the store and I’m supposed to be in the mental mindset of I’m ready to have a great time here on vacation.

1 (12m 4s):
Yeah. And so when we landed in Hawaii, everything was kind of normal at first, probably for the first two to three days. And then once we got to the very end of our trip, when we were in Hilo, we started to see the effects of the pandemic and things start to get shut down. And I remember lying in bed at one of our hotels and Kim texting me saying that she wasn’t going to be able to go to canned Coon. And like she was at first, she was like, I’m still gonna go, I don’t care. And then eventually it was like her, her tune changed. And it was like, oh, I guess we’re going to have to cancel this trip. It looks like they’re really locking shit down.

2 (12m 39s):
Well, Southwest canceled it.

1 (12m 41s):
Yeah. Like, are you going to be able to come back to San Diego? And we were stressed too, because we knew that the grocery stores in San Diego looked like shit. Like there was nothing on the shelf. And that was really stressful for us coming back from a vacation. Like when you come back from vacation, you should be like nice and relaxed. And like you had this really good time,

2 (13m 2s):
But in your fridge is usually empty.

1 (13m 4s):
Right. And they were like, so scared of what we were going to find. And like the grocery stores had changed their hours. So they weren’t open at the normal time.

3 (13m 12s):
Literally the moment we landed and got home, I went to the local grocery store and the shelves were empty. So that had that extra sense of panic, which is crazy. Cause two weeks beforehand, again, I know I said earlier, maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall, but everyone I don’t want to say was oblivious to it just didn’t really want to think about it two weeks before we were having a great time in Boise, Idaho as a squad, eating out in restaurants, going to hot Springs and fly on a plane without a mask. And it’s just crazy how everything turned all of a sudden. So that’s the initial stress, you know, from our standpoint. But I know everybody else has a very similar story in that matter.

2 (13m 52s):
So when the pandemic started, there was undoubtedly a ton of anxiety worry, but people still have that worry 43%. According to that same Amex survey say that they feel negatively about the travel industry. I know several people personally, they’re still afraid to go out to eat or gather with friends and family.

1 (14m 11s):
Yeah. And 55% said, they’re less likely to take a cruise once the pandemic is over.

2 (14m 16s):
Once the pandemic is over.

1 (14m 18s):
Yeah. And I’m like, kind of like, all right, cool. I can’t wait to hit up

2 (14m 22s):
All those cruise deals. And you know, there’s going to be a lot of cruise deals. I’m already getting emails that are throwing in free drink packages,

3 (14m 30s):
Cruz. I mean, I hate to say, sign me up. As we know, more than apparently half the population is scared to travel and go on a cruise after the fact. And you know, everybody’s comfort level is different. I completely understand that. But me as an avid traveler, I’m seeing this and you know, once we all are fully vaccinated or at least the tripod or couple here now at this point, I’m ready to get onto those cruises. But the scare is still out there. Evidently.

2 (14m 57s):
Yeah. And just like the cruise number at 55, 50 2% are fearful of overseas travel. And I get it. I mean, you just don’t know what COVID is like outside of your own region. You don’t understand what kind of precautions they’re taking or what kind of risk you’re putting yourself in front of, which is why we are committed to when we take these trips, when we go international, we’re going to report back and we’re going to tell you, what was the airline? Like? What was the hotel like? What were the social distancing procedures like both while this pandemic is still going on and after, and how we transition back into a real world or our new normal, as we’ve been saying,

3 (15m 38s):
I’m hoping it’s no new normal after a while. And it just goes back to normal.

2 (15m 42s):
I definitely will. I mean, we have had pandemics before and they had gone through masks and everything like we’re going through now and you wouldn’t have known it.

3 (15m 52s):
The last one, big one was 1918 and we had the roaring twenties afterwards. I’m hoping we have the same situation going on right here if history repeats itself. So let’s knock on wood for that one and hope.

2 (16m 2s):
Let’s just hope there’s no prohibition with this one.

3 (16m 5s):
Definitely not. That would be the worst, but if there was all the more reason to inspire people to go international, I guess, get your drink out there.

1 (16m 14s):
And at the time of this recording, I just want to throw out Jamal got his first COVID vaccination

3 (16m 20s):
Just today. So I’m super excited about it and that sense of things. But you know, we’ve talked a little bit here about our experiences getting into COVID we’ve talked about in other episodes in the past too, and how it’s really affected us and trips that we had. But this episode really more is to talk about that correlation between travel and mental health, the good and the bad, and you know, even outside of COVID the positive benefits that travel has and just how most people right now are probably having those negative feelings because of that anxiousness of having to cancel and sense of depression, of not being able to do anything fun and exciting.

1 (16m 55s):
Yeah. So there’s actually a huge correlation between travel and mental health. And it’s a really good stress reliever. It allows you to take a break from the daily hustle and grind. It helps you keep you calm and relax you. And there’s just so many benefits

2 (17m 11s):
While you’re on this trip, your mind can kind of reframe the issues that you’re dealing with and allow you to reflect on your personal goals and your personal interests. And when you do come back to work and hit the grind, again, your feeling more refreshed and rejuvenated and inspired and just with that as well, it helps you reinvent yourself since you do have that RNR and that time for reflecting on what you’re looking for out of life, you can kind of take in the experiences that you have and, you know, change your mind, alter your mind. You kind of like see things in a different way. I mean, I know I do. When I come back from trips, I feel humble. I feel smaller. I feel like the typo in my email that someone’s freaking out over is just not worth it,

1 (17m 55s):
But it’s not worth it. There’s so much culture and exposure that you get when you visit another country. And like Kim, you said it really great. It does make you feel humble and makes you feel like the life that you have is so

2 (18m 10s):
Blessed.

1 (18m 11s):
Yeah. So blessed. So I love going to new countries and exploring and experiencing their culture.

3 (18m 17s):
And just at the everyday stress of life is really trivial compared to the grand scheme of things. I mean, you said a phrase earlier, Kim, that really resonated with me and that was helped to reinvent yourself. Now, when we come back from trips, I don’t want to speak for Brittany. And that the only way that she’s reinvented as ready to go on another trip. But I do know that she’s mentioned to me before her favorite thing about going on trips, other than the experience itself in terms of mental health is really, it gives her that break from work to really refresh her mind, to go back and especially in the line of work that she does, you know, as a hospice nurse, it gives you that good reprieve and break and sense of clarity to come back, refresh and recharge.

1 (18m 57s):
Absolutely. And you know, as we were talking about other cultures and stuff, it helps open up your mind and like, and problem solves in a way that you haven’t done in the past. And what’s also fun is if you guys didn’t know, Jamal is the chef of our household. And so every time we go to a new country and we try a new dish, I’m like, babe, can you try to reinvent this at home and remake this? And that’s always fun too.

3 (19m 20s):
I will say 85% of the time. I usually make a pretty good replication.

2 (19m 25s):
Nice. I had this really good linguini with a Sherri sauce and chicken and artichokes in south lake Tahoe.

3 (19m 35s):
I thought you were about to say, when you were in Italy, south lake Tahoe,

2 (19m 38s):
That was so good. And I tried to recreate it. It didn’t come out as good, but in Italy I had Gorgonzola stuff Naoki and it was so fucking good. And I tried to recreate it at home and it was nothing like it,

3 (19m 51s):
The stuff in yolk, you would probably be hard. I’ve had Gorgonzola Naoki as a topping and a sauce, but stuffed, wow, that’s a, you have me intrigued now catch up.

2 (20m 1s):
And it, it was like a quarter of the way there.

3 (20m 5s):
I think on the next round, maybe you’ll get 50% of the way there then.

2 (20m 7s):
Absolutely. And it, it does trouble does make me feel more creative. I work in a creative line of work. And so when you’re work, work, work, work, and stress of life and everything else, your mind can’t tap into its creativity and its flow and going on trips and living it up and go, and Hawk is on. And all those other things we do on our travels, really, I bring that back with me for my work.

1 (20m 31s):
Yeah. And you know, our brains are really, really sensitive to change and we’re in a routine every single day. And when you go into a new environment or have a new experience, the neurons in your brain are just like firing like crazy. And so

3 (20m 44s):
That’s science by the way.

1 (20m 47s):
And that just, you know, enhances your creativity.

2 (20m 50s):
Definitely. I also think, I know travel makes you more resilient. I’m, we’ve definitely experienced it with all of the canceled trips, but even on trips that you do go on when you miss your train and you have to figure out how to find the next one and everything else is in Italian and you don’t speak any, you have to be resilient to bounce back from that. When your phone gets stolen, you have to keep your cool and not blow the trip because you’re mad or any number of those things like your Airbnb host is taking forever and you can’t get ahold of them.

1 (21m 20s):
That happened to you.

2 (21m 21s):
I mean, it’s happened to so many people, but, but it just, it, it builds the character as Brittany likes to say,

1 (21m 28s):
Just say that. And you know, it makes you more patient, it promotes independence and it helps with your problem solving skills, really

3 (21m 37s):
Speaking on the promotes independence. I really want to go back to a couple episodes back where we had Zane featured episode, really of female solo travel. And I don’t know how anyone could listen to that and not take away the independence and resilience of doing something on your own. Now I’m going to say, men could do the same thing too, not raining on the women parade too. But you know, it goes all around for everybody is really what I’m trying to say by that is it creates more resilient people just by doing something simple, like traveling by having the unexpected thrown at you and having to figure it out as you go, because you have no option otherwise.

2 (22m 14s):
Yeah. I think it’s great for younger people who may have only traveled as a family to take your first trips without your parents there to guide you or planet or get your ticket for you. That is some character building right there.

1 (22m 28s):
You know, one thing that Zaina did mention too, is that travel helps boost your self esteem and it helps boost your happiness and satisfaction because you’re exposed to new events, new experiences. It gives you a sense of achievement and it gives you something to look forward to.

2 (22m 43s):
I would say, not just a sense, but it truly makes you smarter. You learn while you’re traveling.

1 (22m 49s):
Absolutely. And not only that, but travel, boosts your mood for a long duration of time. And so that can really decrease like depression and overall boost your baseline of happiness.

2 (23m 0s):
I think mine booze for about two months, and then I’m itching to go somewhere again,

1 (23m 5s):
Probably a little bit less than that though.

2 (23m 7s):
So yeah, there are many, many, many ways that travel helps improve your mental health and your happiness overall. But like we’ve been talking about, we haven’t been able to travel as much as we’d like to in these last several months and these canceled trips and everything else with the pandemic has taken away those positive benefits that we just listed out. And I know for me, going on the trip is of course amazing. I love it. But the anticipation leading up to a trip, planning the trip, I love to plan discovering things. I’m actually researching for a trip right now to Mexico city. And I just discovered this neighborhood where all these beautiful trees are blooming purple, deep, purple.

2 (23m 47s):
The whole neighborhood

1 (23m 49s):
Sounds beautiful.

2 (23m 49s):
Wow. I can’t wait to go see that.

3 (23m 51s):
It’s funny that you mentioned that. Cause I heard something today talking about the cherry blossoms in Japan right now. So, and that got me excited to go back to Japan even because when we went, it wasn’t during cherry blossom season. So those little things and just seen a photo of somewhere where if you like nature, like you’re talking about those trees blossoming and the cherry blossoms that I’m mentioning, you know, it just gets people really excited and how can you not be in nature and see something so beautiful and not be happy and have that be a positive impact on your mental health?

2 (24m 20s):
Yeah. And we’re talking a lot about the pandemic here, but that’s not the only cause of canceled trips. We just recently had a trip canceled very last minute on us.

3 (24m 30s):
Very last minute. As a matter of fact, I do want to say Kim, we were trying to be smart about it and say, we shouldn’t go because we were reading the weather forecast and Brittany and I kind of felt pressured to go along with it and say, all right, let’s go. And then mother nature had other plans in the airline canceled on us. Date up,

2 (24m 49s):
I don’t know who you felt that pressure from, But the Denver Breckenridge area was facing its worst winter storm since 1885. As the news reports claimed and airlines, preemptively canceled all flights.

1 (25m 8s):
Yes. And we were seeing the weather reports and I was sending it to Kim and Kim was like, you know, we just need to be prepared to hunker down in the car for a few hours.

3 (25m 17s):
It was Thursday night as we’re about to fly out Friday after work. And then we decided that we’re going Thursday night. All right, we’re going to brave it out. We’re going to see what happens.

2 (25m 25s):
Sure. We would’ve made it in hindsight.

3 (25m 27s):
Probably, probably not.

1 (25m 29s):
It’s going to be four of us cause it was going to be a couple’s trips. So you know, obviously myself, Kim, Jamal, and Kim’s boyfriend, Louie, and we’re like, who is going to drive in this winter storm? And then Kim’s like, well, you know, there’s like two drivers immediately discounted, but with her and I, and I’m like, yeah, there’s only

2 (25m 47s):
Chatting to get us there safely

3 (25m 50s):
Point being the airlines canceled on us because they knew what the weather was going to look like. And probably not going to be able to fly out or in so day of literally around like 11 o’clock when our flight was at 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM. I forgot they canceled on us. So it happens outside pandemic. I mean weather for sure as a major trip cancellation.

2 (26m 9s):
And I definitely felt the depression lay in. Once again, it was sad.

3 (26m 15s):
We saw you the next day and you did look a little depressed. I must say

2 (26m 19s):
That might’ve been depression or it might’ve been what I substituted with, which was exploring your own backyard and all the wonderful bars they have. So yeah, we’re not the only ones who were facing canceled trips, pandemics, not the only cause for canceled trips. In fact, in 2020, there were 62% fewer passengers than in 2019, which is crazy

1 (26m 42s):
62%.

2 (26m 43s):
Yeah, it’s crazy though, because in 2019, the U S had a record high of 1.1 billion passengers.

3 (26m 52s):
Wow. Airlines passengers. Yes.

2 (26m 55s):
Yes. That’s just wild to think what the trajectory would have been had. The pandemic not happened, but I’m fully confident we will rebound. And then just to drive it back home, you were probably part of this 46% of people that had upcoming travel plans that lost some form of money from their trip.

3 (27m 15s):
We’re one of them, we’re one of them that Hong Kong trip didn’t get the money back for the hotel. Granted, we used it with points from our credit card, but those points are like money. So I lost it in that sense, but I feel like a little bit later on into the pandemic because they wanted people to start planning for the future and traveling. They became really a lot more flexible with those refundables and change to any time if need be. So there’s anything, that’s the one blessing. And I’m hoping that trend actually stays post pandemic.

2 (27m 45s):
It’s funny thinking back to the beginning of the pandemic, the kind of stipulations they had on changes or cancellations and how strict they were still trying to be. And then they realized I’ll fuck it. We have no hope here.

1 (27m 58s):
When we were going to Breckenridge, you know, we were flying in on Friday night and we did book a hotel that we were able to cancel, but you had to cancel the day before to get your refund. And so I ended up calling them saying like, Hey, you know what? Our flight got canceled. And we can’t see in the hotel because we can’t get there. And they were really nice and they did fully refund us, which was awesome.

3 (28m 20s):
And that’s not to say that had, COVID not happened that we would have not been able to get that money back. But I feel like businesses now are being a little bit more generous and they were more inclined to do it had COVID not really happened. And they would have just said, oh no weather. That’s not my problem. Right?

2 (28m 36s):
Squad tip. Even if they say cancellation within 24 hours or no refunds always call

1 (28m 45s):
Always call. I mean, we had reservations to go cross country skiing. And their cancellation policy was that we would have to cancel within five days. And we had to cancel the day before and we called them and said, Hey, there’s a major storm that you obviously know about going through your area. Is there any leeway on this? And they did refund us. And they said, you know, normally we’re a little bit more strict, but this is kind of out of your control.

2 (29m 9s):
Yeah. Always worth the phone call.

3 (29m 11s):
But the good news is throughout all. This is that travel will rebound. I mean, one in four Americans are planning a celebratory trip once the threat of coronavirus disappears. I

2 (29m 21s):
Know I am.

3 (29m 22s):
Yeah. Especially millennials, genexers parents of children under 18 and six figure earners. So yeah, the people who have the money, they’re going to go, I hate to say it that’s the reality, but lots of people are planning on making that trip post COVID. And some people right now are traveling. It’s rebounding the flights that I’ve been on all since December 1st, once most airlines took away leaving the middle seat open. I can tell you this, every flight I’ve been on has been full and that’s just like here domestically. So it’s definitely rebounding in that sense,

2 (29m 56s):
But just like tamale always says,

3 (29m 59s):
Don’t forget your travel insurance

2 (30m 1s):
In that same survey, 40% of people said that they are more likely to purchase travel insurance for future trips due to coronavirus. This is insurance for protecting your investment in your trip, as well as health insurance for traveling while you’re on that trip.

1 (30m 17s):
Some places even require you to have health travel insurance while you’re

3 (30m 21s):
Yeah, lots of countries now that are open for travel to foreigners, especially Americans are requiring as a stipulation that you have to have travel medical insurance in order to enter the country. They don’t want you to catch COVID there. Be responsible for the bill. So do check out our website, Travel Squad, Podcast dot com. We do have a link to the travel insurance on there that travel insurance link that we have does cover COVID. So a very, very good resource for you to start looking into and purchase on when you make that first international travel trip, because I could pretty much guarantee you once the majority of countries reopened for international flights guarantee you, 90% of them are going to make sure you have that travel insurance.

2 (31m 5s):
And it’s pretty affordable. I think I’ve spent anywhere from like 20 to 30 bucks for a one to two week trip and Jamal has hooked it up

1 (31m 12s):
And you know, it’s not any additional cost to go through our website. We just get a little bit of a bonus.

2 (31m 18s):
So thank you for supporting the Travel Squad Podcast, tripod.

1 (31m 22s):
Hey travelers, let’s take a quick detour to talk all about our traveler itineraries that we’ve created just for you. We now have six different trip itineraries one week in Kauai and

2 (31m 33s):
American Southwest weekend or road trip a

3 (31m 35s):
Week in Yellowstone and grand Teton, national parks,

1 (31m 38s):
A road trip adventure featuring all three of Washington. State’s national parks,

3 (31m 43s):
Big island, Hawaii, and an Arizona road trip that features all three of Arizona’s national parks.

2 (31m 49s):
We are obsessed with these. These itineraries are 20 to 30 page PDF guides with every detail of the trip laid out. We’re talking where to fly into the exact route to take where to stay park entrance prices, where to eat and driving distance between attractions plus what things to see and do even the hikes we recommend and their mileage and the time to allow for each one and so much more.

1 (32m 10s):
We have story highlights on our Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast, where you can see the full guides. We’ve done all of the research and have taken these exact trips, taking out all of the guesswork from the planning. So all that you have to do is show up and have fun

3 (32m 24s):
And purchase your comprehensive Travel Squad Podcast, itinerary on our website at Travel Squad, Podcast dot com, best of all, they’re on sale right now for $30. So travel on over and get yours today.

2 (32m 36s):
So we want to round out our episode with good positive news. We are already seeing some great headlines coming out of the travel news section Delta and Southwest have reported that booking started picking up in mid February, which is very exciting,

3 (32m 52s):
Super exciting for the travel industry as a whole. But like I said, my flights on Southwest since December all have been full at best, maybe five seats had been open, but all of them have been full. So I feel like a little bit before that mid February mark.

2 (33m 6s):
And at the end of March, there was a headline that came out that said for 18 straight days, more than 1 million people pass through airline checkpoints and this, according to the travel analysts out there and your fellow Travel Squad Podcast, this is showing that the tides are turning

1 (33m 23s):
And some airlines that we’re not serving beverages, alcoholic ones are starting to serve beverages again. Oh,

3 (33m 31s):
This might be the most exciting news of the mall. Cause I am ready to use my Southwest re drink coupons that I’ve been storing up since COVID I have about 20 of them ready to use them. Once Southwest allows us to have those drinks again, my last flight that I was just on going home to see my parents here, they’ve started to serve stuff other than just water. So soft drinks are included now still no alcohol that alcohol is around the corner. I know other airlines are already doing that unless you’re bougie and fine first class, which I know they never really changed any of that. But for us back in the rear, no steerage than I thought not. And then he said peasants, so maybe we’ll go with it. But those of us in the rear, we’re still waiting on that.

2 (34m 14s):
That’s funny. I think this makes our tip for getting upgraded for free, even more valuable. I know flight attendants. I’ve had to deal with the worst of the worst and continue to do so. I recently saw a headline where a plane had to emergency land in an unintended airport to kick someone off who wouldn’t put his mask on and he got booed off the plane. That’s

1 (34m 35s):
Such an inconvenience for everyone.

2 (34m 37s):
For

1 (34m 38s):
The other passengers, all of the flight tendons,

3 (34m 40s):
They should kick him off the plane and then may can pay for the extra fuel charge that they need for that extra takeoff. Yeah, seriously.

2 (34m 48s):
So we do have an upgrade tip that involves how you treat your flight attendants, but it’s more than that. And we will give you our secret tip that will guarantee you are upgraded for free. If there’s room, if there’s not room, you’re going to get treated like you’re in first class, like we did on our flight from San Diego to London. So all you have to do to get this free tip is leave us a written five star review on apple podcasts and screenshot it to us and we will send it to you.

1 (35m 15s):
So we still have a long way to go in all of the changes, but if you’re itching to do some traveling, you don’t have to wait to incorporate some type of travel into your life. We have some suggestions for you guys.

3 (35m 26s):
Number one makes the most sense. We say it all the time, explore your own backyard. Start with that staycations in your home city or another nearby local city. We’re blessed here in San Diego because San Diego, San Diego, we’re blessed because we’re by the border. We’ve had a Vita Guadalupe episode recently. It’s not too far to go there, maybe about an hour and a half. And in wine country gives us that little bit of international. So we have definitely been doing our fair share of staycations, but even for you who don’t live here anywhere else, you can always find an amazing staycation, even if that means going camping somewhere for that.

2 (36m 2s):
And, and I do think when you hear staycation, you think it has to be in your own city, but I don’t think so. I think that you could go to a neighboring city that you drive to post up in a nice hotel, sit by the pool, drink a pina colada, you know, do do things locally in that area. But no you’re not going out and venturing and doing your typical travel things.

1 (36m 23s):
And you know, Jamal did mention via Guadalupe. And I want to say we’ve been there at least two to three times this year. And we had never been before. It’s a great place to visit. We just had a recent episode on it. So if you haven’t checked it out, go listen. And if you missed it, please be sure to subscribe to all of our podcast episodes. So that you’re very well informed of when they’re released, but there’s just so much to do. And other cities that you don’t even know about, like just maybe one neighboring city over, sometimes you might just drive through it, but to actually go there and explore and do the things that are recommended, gives it a new light and makes it more enticing.

3 (36m 58s):
Yeah. And I think a lot of time as locals, we know what’s around or we think we know what’s around, but there’s always some sort of hidden gym or some activity that you never do because it’s close and it’s not even really a thing. I mean, we grew up in Sacramento and you know, you go over to the state, Capitol wants is a field trip, but if I never had that, I would have never gone inside the state Capitol. When you could just do that for free, watch the legislation be passed or go to the park that’s behind the Capitol grounds. And not that everyone lives in a capital city, but you get the idea. There’s a lots of things that are specific to a city that we just take for granted because it’s so commonplace that we never really do. And now’s a good time to start exploring that to dip your toes back in the water before that big travel after COVID.

1 (37m 41s):
So, as Jamal says, you know, start exploring your own backyard. And we have been working on a city guy to San Diego and it’s going to be coastally themed, eating, drinking, and hiking down the coast of San Diego.

3 (37m 55s):
Some of my favorite things, eating, drinking, and hygiene.

1 (37m 59s):
And as we’re creating this guide, we realize, you know what, we have to take this exact trip. So we actually have that plan. And we’re working on getting this up for you guys. And we’re super excited and you know, we live locally and all of these things are accessible to us, but putting it in a guide and like making a day out of it just brings a whole new element.

2 (38m 18s):
Yeah, it’s going to be really fun. And the itinerary will be up very shortly on our website. And this is one that we are going to sell like your other itineraries, but we’re also going to be giving it away for free for a written review on apple podcasts. If you haven’t got the hint, we want your reviews on apple podcasts. We not only want to hear from you and hear what you like this episode is all about changes. So what do you think about those changes? But not only that we want to bring more travel inspiration to more people. And when we have reviews on apple podcasts, it helps more people discover us and we can just spread the joy farther and farther.

3 (38m 54s):
And another really good idea for a suggestion of what to do in the meantime, while everybody’s really getting themselves geared up to make that travel. When they feel safe, a good activity in the meantime would be to do a road trip to a national park

2 (39m 8s):
Road. Trips are safe because you’re in the comfort of your own car. You’re driving. You’re not going through airports or being around tens of people. National parks are outdoors, big, wide open, vast spaces of gorgeous nature. Bring back those healing, creativity, stress, relieving qualities we talked about earlier.

3 (39m 25s):
And I was going to say that travel in general gives those qualities, but being out in amazing nature enhances those qualities too. So you’re getting a two for what the national parks in that.

2 (39m 34s):
Yeah. And if you can’t do that, go on a hike nearby where you live.

1 (39m 38s):
You know, as we were talking earlier, one of the things travel does is it can actually improve relationships. And can you imagine when you’re on a road trip, all you have is time to talk to each other or your partner,

2 (39m 50s):
I guess it could destroy them too.

1 (39m 53s):
I was trying to focus on the positive.

2 (39m 55s):
We’ll go with that.

1 (39m 56s):
But Jamal always asks me question, like, tell me about this, or we’ll start talking about other things and it forces us, not that we don’t want to, but like in your daily hustle and grind, you don’t always have all of these conversations

2 (40m 9s):
Creates the opportunity and

1 (40m 10s):
It creates the perfect opportunity. Absolutely. And if you’re not ready to take a staycation or go on a road trip, you can always plan a future trip because with planning a future trip, it still brings you excitement and joy of finding out all of those details and figuring it out. And you know, you having to do their research. And so, although you might not feel comfortable to take that trip, now you can store it aside so that when you can take it, you already have it planned out,

2 (40m 37s):
Fully planned out.

3 (40m 38s):
I already have it planned and have the joy in the meantime, just thinking about it, getting excited. I think that was the perfect one to end on Brittany, specifically, you talking about it because you’re always planning a future trip.

1 (40m 50s):
That’s my brand.

2 (40m 50s):
I think as you plan too, you’ll discover sings about the destination that will make you feel more comfortable to take that trip. So plan away, let us know what you’re planning. And that was a very long episode of tons of changes. Very important topics though, that I really wanted to cover being that I’ve experienced a lot of sadness and let down from trips, but we have a lot of good things on the horizon travels, rebounding. The tripod is up and running and we have a lot of really cool stuff planned for you. So thank you. Thank you so much for staying with us and tuning into this week’s episode. I know you’re going to keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram and tagging us in your adventures.

2 (41m 30s):
Please, please, please send us in the questions of the week. Cause we’re also

3 (41m 33s):
Keeping that if you found the information in this episode will be useful, or if you thought we were just playing funny, please share it with a friend that would enjoy it too. And as always guys, you know it, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes,

1 (41m 48s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.