Scott Barronton (00:00)
Welcome back to the Sunshine Travelers podcast. With this being the week after a holiday, we decided that we'd keep this episode a little light, a little more unscripted, but yet be just a little bit revealing. So we're playing a round of this or that, the travel edition, where we'll go head to head on all kinds of travel preferences.
From window versus aisle seats to street food or fine dining, we're gonna find out just how much we really agree on and maybe where we totally don't agree. So grab your favorite travel snack and let's dive into some rapid fire travel decisions that just might say more about us than we think.
All right, Melissa. So today we're switching things up just a little bit. You know, no itinerary talk, no travel tips, but a little bit of spontaneous fun around travel. Yes. So we're going to play this or that travel edition, but I think these are really important. Like, I mean, all these are such a big part of travel. It's just not specific. So I think it'll be a lot of fun. So quick for our choices, no time to think.
I haven't even read the questions, which normally you would be like, my gosh, why didn't you prepare? But that's actually how we wanted it to be. And I think that's what's going to make this both fun and slightly dangerous. So let's jump right in. I'm going to start with some easy ones for us and just caution the listeners that we're going to jump around quite a bit. So there's no.
rhyme or reason to the order of why I'm asking these questions.
All right, with the first one, let's start aisle or window seat? Okay, window seat, except if I'm not traveling with you typically and it's going to be a long daytime flight and I want to go to the bathroom.
Unfortunately, probably a lot of mine are going to be this, but all these like not there's never anything cut and dry with me as their sky. Yeah. Welcome to my world. Okay. I'm a hundred percent. aisle seat and it, and there's a reason why is because the airplanes curve inward. So if you're short and you sit lower in the seat, the curve doesn't matter. But then if you're taller and
that curve comes into play, you're bent like this for the whole trip. So that's why I always choose aisle. Okay. And so window seat is that depending on where you are and what the weather is, like, it's like a free sightseeing tour. mean, sometimes you get really good, like I've had good views of the sunset, of New York city at night. Like you get to kind of see coming in.
when we flew recently from Germany to Italy, like the top of the Alps and the German countryside. So it's like a free flight seeing tour sometimes. Yeah, okay. Well, that's my reason. So we're not going to agree on that one. How about the next one? Beach or mountains? Okay, so ideally it would be both.
You know, when you go to those beaches, no, listen, hear me out. don't think she understands the rules of this game. So hear me out. You know, when you go to the beaches that go straight up into the mountains, I mean, think about Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, Greece. But if I have to choose one or the other and you can't have both, it's beach 100%. I would choose beach as well. Except for when you just need that break from the heat.
and then the mountains may be the place to go. But we've seen before that that didn't work down in Belize. Where when we went up into the mountains, it was actually hotter. Yeah, it was very, yeah, you're right. You're right. It was very hot there. And sometimes you just never know. Yeah, you never know what you're going to get. But that would be my answer if I have to choose one or the other for sure. All right. Let's go on to the next one. Luxury hotel or boutique guest house?
Oh my gosh, Scott, like it depends on all of these, but I would say, okay, one or the other boutique guest house for sure. Like you're just going to have the more unique experience usually. I think I agree with you on that one. Sometimes luxury hotels can be a little bit too stiff upper lip for me, right? And not as personal. And so I think that the boutique guest house offers more of
of the type of experience that we like. But the Lanesboro in London wins the prize of luxury hotel. About sunrise hike or sunset cruise? sunset. don't... Rarely do I see the sunrise. So... Well, I was going to say that, but I'm going to get to one in just a few minutes where I think that you're going to change your mind. But I would...
I think I would rather do the sunset cruise. I don't know. just depends. Sometimes I'm worn out by the time the sun's setting. That's true. just for sun. I mean, not that the sunrise is not absolutely gorgeous, but you know, you see like if you're going to do a sunrise hike, then like you have to get up at like three or four to do the hike to get to the sunrise.
So I've got an option for you. If you want to do sunrises, but you don't like to get up early in the morning, Iceland may be the place for you to look at.
certain times of the year. Yes, I was going to say at certain times of the year for sure. Yeah, that's that's definitely true. How about traveling with a group or going solo? OK, do you mean like a group and then completely by yourself? Or well, for us, would be like we would travel solo, just the two of us or traveling as a part of a large group. And now this one
is incredibly tricky.
You go first. Well, I think we prefer to travel solo because of the way that we like to see things. However, we are so excited about leading these group trips. So I think we're kind of split on this one on what we would do. Yeah. So I mean, it definitely depends on like, like what that entails.
Right. And what that looks like. So if you're in charge of the group and you've kind of, planned everything and planned everything out. But so my problem is. I mean, sometimes even with you, this happens. Like, I'm a people pleaser. And so sometimes the things that I want to do might even with you, but definitely with other people. And I don't know if it's a
You know, it's not really a people pleaser as much as I want other people to be happy. That's what it is. But I mean, I guess that's kind of the sometimes kind of the same thing. I want them to be happy and I want them to enjoy. So I would rather default to where they want to eat or what they want to do, which is fine. But then sometimes like it's just different. If I go completely by myself and I have to, just pick this is.
what I want to do. So that is hard. But it's really fun to travel with a group and seeing things, I guess, from a different perspective. You know, we've done that with our kids and extended family. We have done that, like with your aunts when we were on the safari. So I think it really just, it depends on the trip. And I'm also not good about like going off and doing your own thing. I don't know. That is hard, Scott.
We'll see what others have to say about this one. And, you know, as we go along, feel free to yell at us if we've, if we're getting it totally wrong based on the way that you like to see things. won't hurt our feelings because we can't hear you as you're yelling at us, but also do feel free to go on and, you know, leave us a message with, with your thoughts on any of these topics. Let's go to the next one. Overpack or underpack?
Okay. I can do this like quick fire under pack a hundred percent. Do you always under pack or? No, I try to exactly pack, but I would, if I had to choose between those two things, I would under pack. cannot stand having piles of stuff that I'm not going to use. I would do better with having to rewear clothes or go to the drug store down the street or whatever. Yeah. I think with me, it's about just carrying all the stuff.
And we typically end up having to carry more stuff because we're, trying to create content. So we've got cameras and these other things. And boy, if it was just us traveling, throw everything you can fit into a backpack and find a laundromat or something. Buy more clothes when you get there. I don't care, but I would rather underpack. Yeah. 100%.
How about this one? This one should be easy. We're getting back a little more on the easy side. A digital itinerary or a paper printout. Digital, for sure. However, it's always good to have a printed copy, Yeah. For in case something happens to your phone or, battery goes dead, whatever, to have that paper copy. And we've seen this at airports before.
where you need to show them something in order to get inside the airport. Yeah. I mean, so there are certain things that, you know, and I'll kind of look through the different things we need to say, okay, what do we absolutely need on paper or what would be difficult to, you know, access? It drives me crazy when you go to things though, and they're like, you can't have anything except for this piece of paper. And then they have a digital thing. But I will say, for example, like my Brazil visa,
you had to have that piece of paper. you like, there was not any showing that electronically and so. This one's going to be a really good one here. Eating at the airport or waiting to find food after landing? Okay, and you're saying eating at the airport after you land? Or what are you saying? I guess before you go on your trip, grabbing something to eat.
That probably doesn't work with like long haul trips, but let's say on shorter trips, should you just go ahead and grab something at the airport and eat and get it over with or wait to get there and see if you can find something. So you should eat at the airport or have a snack with you because the problem is what happens if you sit on the flight for two hours before you take off? Like that happened to us leaving from Cape Town.
I think we have this grand idea sometimes that we're going to go and find this perfect restaurant once we get there and it's going to be open the hours that we want it to be open. It's going to serve, the times that we want them to serve and it's going to be available for us. And then you get there and you're so hungry that you're just like McDonald's. I don't care.
McDonald's is fine. Yeah. So I'll give an example. So we, when we're in Cape Town, like I knew I'm going to find a place that we can drive to and go. Like we already had it pre like, this is what we're going to have for lunch. And that was so helpful. But you're right. Like what happens when, the time doesn't work out. I would say like air on the side of you need to kind of eat something and then, but know what you're going to do. But I will say
you know how some airports have little things, as you're leaving. I mean, there's sometimes, and this is another example of where I'll just be like, Hey Scott, maybe we should get something to eat. No, we'll get whatever. Okay. So I think from now I'm just going to be like, Hey, I really want that cup of coffee in that. I'm going to get it right now. And so that we don't have, I don't have a meltdown and get grumpy and you don't prevent me from that. so that's, I know. And so that's my own.
You say, okay, but we're going to do this and I should just say, I'm going to get this anyway and then I can eat again. Like it's not a big deal. So I would appreciate if you'd do that. I I know. I have a hard time reading what's in your mind. How about this one? A quick break to the city, a big city or a countryside escape.
I would say countryside escape. For me, like a city is not really a break. It's overwhelming to me. Yeah, because I think for the city, like for us, it would be like, okay, what are we going to do? Then where are you going to eat? Unless you had a very specific, like, I want to see this museum or I want to see these sites or I want to eat at these certain restaurants or I want to see these plays or something. Like, so that would be...
itinerary among itself, but for me, like city doesn't seem like a break. I would rather have a break in the country or a smaller place. An early flight or a red eye?
know, early flights always sound so appealing when they're cheap and then you book them. And then when it's the time to get up, you're like, what in the world was I even thinking?
But is that like a... me, red eyes are really tough though, because I don't sleep well on planes. And so I've been up the whole day. Now I'm going to take a flight where I'm probably going to be up all night. And then when you get there the next day, you've got a whole nother day to be up and doing things. So that's my problem with red eyes. So I wouldn't choose a red eye.
unless you have to. And so I don't know, like, so what in your opinion, is a red eye always an overnight flight or no? I think it's one that goes through the night. So it doesn't have to be all night. You could get there at 4 a.m. which to me is still middle of the night, but that would be a red eye. Okay. So like when you fly to Europe, I don't call that a red eye because like you don't have a choice. Like there's not another option when you fly from the East coast to the U.S. Like you're not flying.
I mean, I know we had one time where we flew from JFK to Egypt, but it was still overnight. I mean, that to me is not a red eye. A red eye to me is like, okay, if I want to fly home from Arizona or somewhere like that, let's just say Vegas, I don't know, somewhere in that for us to come back to the East coast and you could have left at two or three in the afternoon and gotten home late, or you could have all day and then fly home overnight. No, I don't. Like if it's a choice, I'm not going to pick the red eye.
So I chose a red eye coming back from Vegas, you know, in a couple of months from now. And I did that because I could, stay through the last day and then come home or I could spend another night and then come home the next day. And then it takes the whole day to get home. Yeah. And so I chose to do the red eye and just get on back home. Yeah. I mean, it take the whole day to get home, but by the time you have the time change, then it feels like it takes the whole day to get home.
So I see what you're saying. so like another example is like when we come home from Alaska, like there's not another choice. Like it is, it is the overnight. So I, okay. So let's go back. We have to pick between those two. I'm picking early flight. Sorry. I have to think through all this don't I? Yeah. Okay. All right. Last one of the easy ones. This should scare you because we've, we've hit some pretty hard ones.
local street food or fine dining.
So I like the idea of local street food, but I get overwhelmed with the choices and then like, you just don't know what to pick. So I think I enjoy, I enjoy fine dining more. So I think if we have somebody that can guide you through and help you make choices, especially like, if you're going to somewhere in Asia that is,
like Thailand or the Philippines where they're kind of known for some of their street food. If you had someone that was helping you navigate that, I think I'd prefer that over fine dining. Okay. Yeah, I can see that. We also have a funny thing in our family, a kind of a joke where it's like, if you haven't sat down, like, is it really a meal?
And that kind of started with our daughter. So it's just kind of funny joke, but we even joke that like, you don't enjoy as much like going to Epcot and walking around the countries, especially when we have a lot of people, cause like nobody can decide and you have all the lines. And so you're just always like, let's book a restaurant and there's a million to pick. Right. So, yeah, that's a conundrum. All right. So that, that winds up the first half of our this or that. And like I said, those were the easy ones.
Hopefully you're playing along as you listen to this. And you might want to think about using this as an application when deciding to travel with someone new. And like I said, if there's any of these that you disagree with us on, send Melissa an email. So that's melissa at sunshine travelers.com or engage with us on social media and let us know what you are thinking. I think we have to post some of these. These are really good.
a lot of good discussion. All right. So let's get started now on the next set. So Melissa, would you do the guided museum tour or would you skip it and wonder the museum on your own? So we've done several of these like guided museum or guided place tours recently, and it's so helpful because like you know what you're looking at. And I think you even if I mean, neither way you're going to
see everything, but this way, like you see the important things and maybe learn more. So I think the guided museum tour, if I'm going to do a museum and that's available, if it works out, like I'm not going go out of my way though to do it. So let me give you a great example is when we were in Cairo, we went to the museum, we had our own guide who was taking us through and not only was she telling us about the things that we were seeing, she was helping us understand the history around it. So we got this bigger
picture, I guess. And then we went to the new museum and like she was seeing it kind of for the first time herself because it was just that brand new and it just felt more like we were wandering around. Although she could tell us a lot about the artifacts, it just didn't seem to have the same as when she was taking us through the other museums.
Yeah, and I think sometimes museums can just be overwhelming, right? So if you have like hit the highlights. So, yeah. And a couple of good ones, you know, if you... There's not a guided museum tour. Like Rick Steves has a lot of good audio ones, right? That are completely free. You just get them on your phone and a couple... The examples are like the British Museum, right? There's so many things to look at. The Louvre, where... I mean, you can't cover... I do like the audio tours though, where you can just...
type in the number and it tells you. And so if you want to listen to that, that's fine. If not, just go on to the next thing that really interests you.
We talked about this one briefly and some of the others, but would you rather sleep in or catch the first tour of the day?
So, I mean, that probably again depends on where you're going, but a lot of times when you catch that first tour of the day, you can get there before it gets super crowded and super crazy. So I would say if I'm gonna do a tour, and I'm specifically thinking of like the...
the Vatican, right? Where we went early and we had the first tour and it wasn't crowded. Because if you wait past a certain time, it's just super crowded. So what about you? Well, I will say in Iceland, it worked in our favor to go after the tours. So like the tours had already come and gone in some of these locations and moved on. And then we were just behind them. Okay. So, but yes.
That's a really good thought. So neither of those, but coming at the end, that also worked really well for us on Montserrat. Everybody was leaving and we had that. And we did that in Pompeii too. But I will agree with you. I'm catching, if I'm taking it The Vatican is definitely one that you want to do that first tour of the day. How about this one? We talk about this one on our travels a lot.
Would you rather learn a few foreign language phrases before you travel or wing it with hand gestures? Definitely try to learn a few phrases because I think they really appreciate that. And then we've been to some places, you know, in Kenya, like every lodge that we transferred to, they were, let me teach you a few words. And so, that was really cool.
No matter where you go, they appreciate it when it's, simple greetings and please and thank you and you're welcome and... Just remember when you use your hands, you gotta talk louder. How about traveling somewhere new or returning to a favorite place? Traveling somewhere new, it gets as higher on the list. But that's for us. Yeah.
We know people that they would be shattered if they didn't go to their favorite place every year. Like this traveling all around the world is like a foreign language to them. They do not understand that. They've got their favorite beach that they travel to and every year this is what they look forward to. Yeah. And I'm not going say it's not fun. I mean, we have some places like Cancun of all places.
is interesting because of all the years that we've gone there. And then we go to the same restaurants. like, it's the same, you know, some of the same servers or, we've been to St. John a couple of times now. so it is neat to see that. But if you're going to rank those two things for me, there's always that allure of discovering somewhere new, I think. about this one? Carry on only or a checked back.
You know, I think that I'm going to become more and more of the carry on only. When we went to Pittsburgh recently, that was what we did. My bag fit fine. It was just so much easier. And then I also in that situation, I thought, you know, my flight was delayed. Was I going to make the connection in Atlanta? It was like iffy. And so, but that bag would have been checked.
and I would have had to stay at a hotel. have family at Atlanta and I called them. But just the thought of not having any of your, toiletries or whatever, like that kind of trip, I don't really pack for overnight, you know, in a carry-on bag. And it happened in Barcelona. Thankfully, I had packed like an overnight bag. It just seems to be like more and more of where it's just like if I could have that bag and one backpack and carry both of them on.
and just not have that worry how much easier it would be. I think the only thing about carrying stuff on and I'm one of those that is pretty much always carry on. But one of the challenges about it is making sure you can get on that plane early enough where all the cabin space is not gone. Yeah, because then you still run into the same problem where they're going to check it to your final destination. Or, it ends up in the back of the plane, you're in the front of the plane.
And so now when we land, you got to work your way all the way to the back or wait till everybody leaves the plane. So those are, think, are some of the challenges. And then I see it all the time where people are just bringing bags on that are not carry on bags. Yeah. So. How about tour guide or wonder solo? I can't pick both because I really do enjoy.
learning so much from a tour guide in some aspect. And I think we've gotten to that point where for something we try to do a tour guide or some kind of experience to where you can interact with a local, even if it's not the whole time, so maybe not tour guide like the whole trip, but at least booking one that gives you a different perspective of the place from a local.
But I mean, I think there's so much benefit from having some time on your trip to just wander solo and discover things that you wouldn't otherwise Yeah, I I think it depends on where you're going For example our trip to Cairo. We would not recommend that anybody tried to do that on their own We've got a great tour guide reach out to us. We will connect you with her
or her little small network of people that she has as well. That's one of those places where you really need a tour guide. I think India is a place where you need a tour guide, right? There's a number of different places. In Italy, just take off, start roaming, go. But when you get to maybe some of the historical spots,
like the Colosseum and stuff like that. It's so much better in a tour. I don't know that you would really understand everything just trying to do it on your own. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I'm glad you made that point about it does depend on where you go because yeah, Egypt was so much more enjoyable for us just not having to worry about a lot of the headaches I think other people talk about. So, good point. Let me give you a little short break for just a second. I'm going to give you an easy one. Souvenirs.
Or memories only? I mean, mostly memories only. If we, and recently I would say we have tried to bring back something like handmade. We have been a few places where like little things have been given to us as well. And the grandkids this weekend, you have them on a little shelf in your office. and they wanted to look at every little thing. Show me that top. Show me the little...
bobble doll, bobble head doll. Show me the truck. You bought a truck, an airplane made out of aluminum can and Rhodes called it a trash truck, a trash airplane or something like that. so, but little things and they spent so much time and I didn't realize it and I think they've done that before when we've been gone. And so saying, this is from
Kenya and this is from South Africa and this is and they're just little bitty things and most of them are handmade but no I don't want a t-shirt that says whatever or a hat there's nothing wrong with that I just don't personally want that. And we take a lot of photos as well and so we can go back through and reminisce through those photos over time and when we're sitting down talking to people about different places we'll often break out our phone and say well let me show you a few pictures
so I, agree. I think the, memory is only plus we're usually stressing for, space in our bags. so, bringing back souvenirs just creates another challenge for you. Yeah. And sometimes I like to do, I don't, mean, I don't know if these are really souvenirs, not really shopping.
So then it's something I'm gonna wear forever, right? It might be a pair of sandals or a pair of shoes, or it might be an outfit or it might be, and I'll wear that forever. And then be like, oh, I got this and I had a shirt in Paraguay. And I told Stephanie, was like, remember when we went to Greece? Like, I don't know, eight years ago, I got this at Zara and she was like, oh my God, do still have that shirt? know? And so, but just having those, it's almost like those are memories, but it's something that you wear and not just something you won't use. I know that's random.
Well, how about spontaneous travel or working from a planned itinerary?
So I don't know how spontaneous or planned you mean. I would say mostly planned. Like for us, like I want to know like where I'm going to stay and at least an outline of what I'm going to do or what there is to do. But not like I don't have to have all the meals planned necessarily as long as I know there's going to be like a, you know, place to whatever and we can kind of pick something out. What do think? Well, I think you've
Kind of adopted that. would say that many years ago, you would plan every second of the trip. And that was always my thing is, I wish we had just a little bit of downtime so that we could just enjoy being wherever we were. so I think we've found a good mix now where we have enough stuff planned so that we're not just like constantly, Hey,
What do you want to do? I don't know. Yeah. and then ended up doing nothing because you can't agree on something. but then having enough time it doesn't have to be that you just sit around and zombie out. you can be spontaneous and do something that you had not planned. we always say, ask a local, what should I do? and so I think you have to have a good mix of that.
Yeah, I think that's a really good point because it is hard if you don't have here's at least a few or even a few choices. I know that we've in the past couple of years taken turns a little bit like planning some itineraries and I know you plan like Curacao for example and so you researched okay here's a list of kind of beaches that we could go to right here's some places that we could stop for food and so we may not have had it like you said planned down to the whatever.
Another good kind of tip is like if you're going to be doing tours, like not more than one a day. So like in Italy, for example, don't try to book like the Vatican in the morning, the Coliseum in the afternoon, like your head would just explode and you'd be tired of water and you just can't absorb it. You can't enjoy it. You can't absorb it. So have enough days to where like you can do one one day. And that's another good example. Like we went and okay, catacombs, we could go visit if it worked out, right?
taxi driver took us there and then we knew the Appian Way was close. We're like, hey, let's just wander, let's just wander this. it was a great little, we got stuck behind a log gate and we had to figure out the Italian to get, and so, but we have those memories. So yeah, I think having it mostly planned just for your peace of mind, I think before too, you could,
I don't know, be very spontaneous about stuff maybe before the internet. But now when everything is bookable online, especially in high season, And then some places that you go, like if you don't book, and I know I always use the same examples, but if you don't book the La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona ahead of time, you're probably not get to go. Or, you know, try to find a tour, like the last supper, we found a tour last minute. But, you know, we still kind of plan that out ahead of
So. All right. One more question here. Pack early or shove stuff in a bag as you head out the door. So if you pack early, you can get away with under packing or just right packing. I like to call it. And you can get away with maybe a carry on only. But if you wait till the last minute, you're just like, I don't know what I'm going to want. And then you end up with so much stuff.
think for me it depends on the type of trip that we're going on. So like the safari and the walking tour where we knew we had some luggage weight requirements and stuff like that. I was much more purposeful in packing early and thinking through everything that I put in there. But like on business trips, packing is ahead out the door. you can, but you are literally fine. Like you can do that.
and have everything you need. Until I'm not. Until you forget your belt or your shirt. you know, do kind of a joint trip where it's work and play and end up only having work clothes. Yeah, that's all right. Done that before, right? Yes. I think he used an excuse to like, oh, go shopping and go. I grew up where my dad and stepmom would always say,
you don't have it with you, there's always Walmart. Yeah, that's true. I tell you what, that was really fun. I think we need to do some of this with our listeners and on social media. Maybe we can do a this or that week and get people to weigh in on comments or add their own this or that to the list. Sounds fun.
Thanks for playing along with us on this lighthearted round of this or that travel edition. And whether you agreed with our picks or shouted no way at your phone, we hope it got you to at least start thinking about your own travel style. If you've got strong opinions or even funny stories tied to any of these choices, we would love to hear them. Email me at scottatsunshinetravelers.com. And until next time,
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