This episode we’re going to cover traveling, working on the road and working during extended stays, and staying healthy while doing it.
We cover our must-haves while traveling.

Hey, this is getting there with Mike and Amy and we are a travel podcast for the health minded nomads and entrepreneurs.

Mike:
So, uh, Amy you came to me about starting this podcast and I was really grateful because I’ve been wanting to, um, but we, the big thing we have in common is traveling, right? So your type of travel is, is kind of you just pick up and move and go work somewhere for a long time and it’s really awesome. Yes, I do. Yeah. So, and mine, I just love traveling and I love to incorporate health and wellness in my travel because that’s, that’s like my passion is outside of travel is just being healthy and uh, you know, coming from an unhealthy guy to being unhealthy, a healthy guy makes a big difference. So I like to find fun ways to incorporate that. So, um, today, uh, what are we talking about today, Amy?

Amy:
Well, today we’re going to be talking about traveling and working and staying healthy while you do so. Um, because like you said, I do like to pick up a move and go for long periods of time to travel. But I also have to do work. Um, I have a self employed, but that business still needs to get done. And eating in a different environment isn’t always the healthiest thing to do. So, you know, like so many of us go on a work trip or a vacation and end up eating and overeating just because we can, you know, we want to try new things, we want to enjoy our new surroundings, but how do we do it in a healthier way?

Mike:
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, uh, the, I think that’s, if anybody is even considering that, that’s top of the mind, you know, and I would, I would argue that a lot of people are considering that. So, uh, what are are some of your trip, uh, some of your tips to doing that? And, and I guess we should frame this, um, around, around your situation. What are some of your tips when you actually are going somewhere for, uh, I mean, you go for two, three months at a time, huh?

Amy:
I do. So the last three years I’ve gone South to Alabama, um, to get out of the middle of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cold and we travel there and we got a condo and we pack up our car. So we move, basically sell for three months. The trick about the South is the food is really yummy. Um, but it is so high in calories and I end up getting about 10 to 15 pounds every winter.

Mike:
You’re supposed to lose weight when you go into sunny places, the fact that you’re gaining only 10 to 15 pounds. When you go to the South and you’re not a Southern person. I think of that as a win. I mean it’s obviously not the same win as staying neutral or losing, but that’s a win. So, uh, because what we’ve talked about this before, even with your type of travel you have, um, it’s in your head that like, Oh, well we’re, we’re on a trip. You know, we’ll have these snack foods for this or we’ll have, uh, we’ll have to, we want to go out to this place and that place you want to hit all the places as if you’re there for a week. Um, is that, is that a situation that still goes on?

Amy: (03:20)
Oh gosh. Yeah. And then we now going back to the same area, we go to orange beach, there is our favorites now on top of it. And then we’re like now we have to explore new places because you know.

Mike: (03:33)
You don’t wanna make your favorite bartender mad. But you also want to go.

Amy: (03:36)
right. It could can potentially be kind of dangerous. Um, or sometimes you just want to get out of the condo cause you’re like in this little tiny box and you’d been working in it all day and you’re like, we got to leave and do something.

Mike: (03:48)
Now, speaking of let’s, if you’re okay with this, can we back up to the condo? Cause I think that’s a big part of, of any travel. Like we do Airbnbs when we just go somewhere for a week or two. But when you’re staying somewhere for a long period of time, you have to really consider, um, you have to really consider

Amy: (04:05)
a lot of things.

Mike: (04:07)
Yeah. Yeah. From, from comfort, like sitting on the couch watching TV to being able to have a usable kitchen with usable things in it. So talk a bit, a little bit about what you look for in that situation.

Amy: (04:17)
So when we travel for a month or more at a time, um, my husband has a bad back, so comfort is a big issue and I look for a lot of things, the number of things, a few things that automatically get a place eliminated is if the furniture looks like it comes from IKEA, just super uncomfortable. Right.

Mike: (04:40)
Look how great the print is, Oh, it’s going to be feel comfortable on that zebra print.

Amy: (04:44)
Exactly. For about an hour. Um, so that’s one thing that eliminates it almost immediately. Now, number two thing for us is glass tables. We have to work and a lot of times our workspaces are tables and glass is not easy to use with a mouse or round tables for square wood tables.

Mike: (05:04)
Interesting. And why square of around?

Amy: (05:07)
Well round is makes it kind of uncomfortable and then it puts your arm in an odd position. And I do a lot of mouse work, so it’s not a long term great, um, experience. So we look for square. Um, usually, and our social life revolves around playing board games. So we’d like to have a table. It’s big enough to play a board game on as well. Yeah. And that’s two main things I look for. Of course the bedroom gotta have a decent bed and I look for reviews. I’d say the bed was comfortable. Um, and then the kitchen has to be well-stocked cause we do bring our own stuff with us that we love and we’re, we’re going to bring with us no matter what, but we need to have stuff in that kitchen. Cause I’ve been to somewhere like there’s not a spatula but there’s a pan.

Mike: (05:53)
Yeah. Yeah. I, same thing. Uh, we just recently traveled all of the Airbnbs we went to, you could tell they were totally stocked by Ikea, but there would be a single pan and they were big beer countries. They didn’t even have like a glass that was big enough to fit a beer. And uh, it was really odd. You know, it’s a, but aside from that, they were cool places, just they didn’t expect you to eat in the, in the house.

Amy: (06:16)
Right. And I think a lot of people don’t expect you to eat most of your meals, but when you’re booking for a month or two 80% of your meals or are cooked in, so you have to be able to cook. And the other thing I look for is storage. Cause I’ve been a few where there is nowhere to put your food, you’re going to the grocery store and you’re like, I guess it stays on the counter. So very definete things to look for. And then after that just kind of look at location. I love a view. So if I can get a view, that’s great. Um, it’s, you know, if they’re, if it’s six, seven floors, does it have an elevator? Um, just because we’re hauling up so much equipment, you were, you know, one time I think a shopping cart, I think we took five shopping cart loads up. Oh man. That’s not something I really want to lug up five, you know, set of the stairs. Um, so just different things like that. Um, we always like to have an extra bedroom just in case somebody does want to stay with us or come and visit cause we encourage it.

Mike: (07:23)
Yeah. I keep that in mind for next time. You have invited me before by the way. I’ll remember. I do remember that. I think it was, Hey Mike, come cook for me for a week.

Amy: (07:34)
Yeah. That would be great. Super healthier that way. Um, but when we’ve learned by going to places like the South, there is where I would say good majority of the food is fried. Um, or it’s like yummy cream sauces. Um, we have to look at the restaurant menu before we go because there’s been times where we’ve actually had to leave the restaurant because there’s no option on there that wasn’t fried. Yeah. Um, and so I’ve done it our first year traveling to the South after two months of being there on my way home, my feet swelled up so bad driving home that I was in pain and I was

Mike: (08:15)
The old cankles. They get ya.

Amy: (08:19)
A three day trip. Home with cankles was not, you know, advisable.

Mike: (08:25)
Kim got cankles so bad one time. Just side note, you gotta you gotta love a good side story. She got cankles so bad in Ireland one time. Our first morning there, we were walking across the street and there’s these little middle dividers that you stand in while you’re waiting to get across again in, in Dublin. And she’s bending over looking at her cankles going, Oh my goodness, why are my feet so are my ankles so fat? And I yanked her head out of the road. She almost got hit by a double Decker bus looking at her cankles so if you don’t yeah, if you don’t think cankles kill, they do. They have the potential to be dead. A good tombstone. But yeah. So the cankles like the, the inflammation you get and then travel does that to begin with sitting in a, in one single spot, traveling for hours on end. We’ll do that anyways. And uh, when you have all of that inflammation from food, wow. It’s such a double edged sword. Uh, yeah. Yeah. And it just causes so much damage on so many levels. Um, that takes like a week or two to recover from when you get home.

Amy: (09:29)
Oh gosh. Yeah. And even like I’ve noticed it, you know, when traveling now I watch my sodium like a hawk. Like it is my number one thing I watch just because I don’t want the swollen ankles when I travel home or even a flight. It’s just not comfortable.

Mike: (09:46)
Yes. Yeah. And oddly enough, oddly enough for me, I’m the opposite of that. I need to make sure I have enough salt intake or else I will have more issues. Um, all, all sorts of issues. But, but yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. We’re all so different. We’re little, little snowflakes. Um, the second part I wanted to touch on that you mentioned is your car. So you generally are in a car going from one place to another, which means, so, so like I do this whole big travel thing where I talk about air travel and packing as light as possible. However, when there’s a car involved, I literally scratch everything off and I just say pack it all. I’m pretty sure I scream, just pack it all and put everything you have in that car that’s gonna make your life better just in case its not there when you need it.

Amy: (10:36)
yeah, exactly. Um, yeah, we travel by car most we, most people think we’re a little insane. We’ve gone down to Florida, uh, Alabama takes three days for us cause we don’t take, we could get there in two, but we don’t do it that extreme. But we just went to the East coast, visited Mike. Had a lot. The car was still packed even though we were only going to be there for a week and a half. We were like, Nope, the car is going to be packed just in case we need it. I’m, I’m with ya. It’s too easy to overpack a car. Um, but when you have it for three, two, three months, you have to be very careful cause that car gets full fast and you gotta make sure it fits. Cause I’ve had it where I could barely see the back and I still gotta drive through snow to get down there. I kinda have to be able to see. Um, so those are some of the things we do in a car. Um, but I do pack a lot of food with me. That’s number one. Would I do, um, or I always bring my Vitamix. Got to go with it.

Mike: (11:35)
Yes. If you don’t have a blender in your car. I mean my, I just about put a blender in my one bag that I pack for the plane.

Amy: (11:44)
It’s so nice to have it when you need it. Um, cause usually you get those $10 blenders. If you’re lucky in a condo you’re like, Oh what is this?

Mike: (11:54)
I’ll make Bulletproof coffee when I travel sometimes, which is just butter and coconut oil and coffee and you have to blend it. But I have had entire kitchens covered with coffee and butter. Just Kim wakes up, we’re in, we’re in Spain and Kim wakes up and walks out, has beautiful view overlooking the ocean and I’m covered in coffee and that she woke up because of a yelp. Of course I scream hot coffee hitting everywhere.

Amy: (12:19)
I must’ve been a sight. It was fun that you didn’t do that the next morning

Mike: (12:26)
Nope nope I grabbed a towel and held. I held it all over the top of the, uh, I ruined one of their towels for sure, but I mean I had a death grip on this towel, holding it over the blender the whole time. The rest of the trip we were there. So it was worth it.

Amy: (12:39)
Yeah. And that’s the thing too, like when we went out to New Jersey, we were there for business. So we were meeting with a group of people and we didn’t choose our restaurants. We just said like, everybody’s a meeting here and you’re like, Oh, okay, great. I’m going to an Italian place now. What do you do? You know, it’s like, it’s kind of tricky when you go on those food adventures with places that you didn’t get to choose. And then find the best option on that menu. Usually there’s a vegetarian or something that I’ll go to or try to find it, but sometimes tricky.

Mike: (13:15)
Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. And for me, I always tell people like there’s always meat on a menu and if you’re vegetarian or vegan, I’m sorry, I can’t help very, very well. But there’s always meat on a menu. There’s always fish, there’s always chicken or eggs or something. So even even for vegetarians, you know, you can stock up a plate with vegetables and I’m from Pittsburgh, so we put dippy eggs on things, not sunny side up eggs. So not over easy. We put dippy eggs on them and uh, so like dippy eggs just make flavor and uh, th that good orange yolk can make anything taste good. You have butter. Again, if you’re vegetarian, you can do butter, um, and a and S like sea salt and pepper and all these, all the different spices. So you can still end up with really healthy food without doing a whole lot of, uh, of maneuvering with the waiters and, uh, and chefs to make something really crazy for you. So.

Amy: (14:07)
And the best thing I watched is when I got to go to Pittsburgh and, and join my first summer outings. You guys always pack stuff with you. What do you bring?

Mike: (14:20)
We call that purse products TM. We are a, it’s not yet, not yet trademarked, but we keep throwing the TM out there. So we, um, any given time throughout the week, we will cook a whole bunch of chicken thighs, hard boiled eggs. Heck, I will put a steak on extra or, uh, some lamb or ground meat, whatever, and we’ll cut it up, chop it up, put it in baggies, and it goes in my wife’s purse or in my book bag. I, I actually carry a book bag a lot. Um, with that, we always carry some kind of sea salt or Redmond’s real salt, Celtic salt, one of those. And then we also, um, almost always have Kerrygold butter with us. So when you have those three things, the salt, the butter and any amount of meat, you can make a meal. Anywhere you go, just order a salad, like a plain salad, you order veggies or you just sit down in the restaurant next to all your friends and eat your purse food and ask for a plate.

Mike: (15:14)
We go to, we get a random, uh, events here, like, uh, Mmm, nonprofits and things. And we will look at the, uh, look at the buffet, the menu, whatever. And generally we just get a plain, a blank plate and put our food on it. And, and yes, I did say blank plate, empty plate, and we just put our food on it and [inaudible] mid, like it never ceases to amaze me that every single time we do that people are eyeballing our food. And they’re like, Oh, where’d you get that? Oh, that looks so good. And the, what is that? Well, it’s lamb. It’s cold lamb. Are you okay with cold lamb yet? Purse products. TM man, though we’ve also been known to take ’em, uh, we, we don’t drink pop or sodas, but we drink Zivia. So pop is another Pittsburgh and an Eastern thing. So no, we don’t drink sodas, but we drink Zivia, which is a Stevia flavored, um, or Stevia sweetened soda. And, uh, it’s, we’ve, we’ve actually called ahead for events at like Penguins games and concerts that we get to go to and we’ll call ahead and say, Hey, we have, you know, some food, food intolerances, can we bring food in? And almost always they let us in and we just have to go through a certain gate and they just say, yeah, come on in and you’re on the list, which makes you feel even cooler when they’re saying you’re on the list. So, but that’s,

Amy: (16:37)
I was gonna say that’s a really good tip to call ahead and see if you could have food on specifications that are like, things that you need to bring with you that to get permission.

Mike: (16:46)
Yeah. And we’ll even for parties, for events, uh, weddings. I’ve, I was in her wedding recently, I actually called ahead that week and asked if there was a, any, any food options I could eat because I was going to be there from 9:00 AM until midnight and I couldn’t pack that much food for myself. I was in the party so I couldn’t really carry a book bag around. So, uh, not only did they totally take care of me, they were incredibly grateful that I called ahead. I mean, they were like, they were telling people how happy they were with me and I just, because I called ahead and asked about it because normally people just go and they’re not there. They’re rude about it. They just want somebody to take care of them even though they never knew they had an issue. So, uh, so always be courteous and kind and you know, give as much time ahead as you can. That’s the best way to go with as those things.

Amy: (17:33)
That’d be great. Even in a business conference or a business environment, who, where you are going to that restaurant to let the people that are coordinating it, that you do have either food allergies or restrictions and what your food needs are. That would make it so much easier. I’m maybe wouldn’t go to an Italian restaurant if you are gluten free.

Mike: (17:53)
Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s a good point too. They, um, they would find a better option potentially or, uh, or we’ve had people even call ahead for us and make sure, like when we’re in those situations where it’s, uh, work, work events and things, they’ll actually call ahead for us. Um, but, but again, almost every menu has something, uh, it’s kinda hard at like Chinese and Thai restaurants and things where they usually have everything made ahead of time in sauces. But even still, most places will have a grilled chicken on the menu in a, and a steamed vegetable. Um, that sounds a little bland, but honest to goodness, have butter and, and salt in your purse and it makes everything better.

Amy: (18:33)
You are. Yes, you do. I agree. Well when I was with you. So one of the other things that you guys had with you is, was it activated charcoal or what was it after you ate?

Mike: (18:53)
Yeah, so we will take activated charcoal with us, which you can get on Amazon, you can get at most any CVS, Rite aid, Walmart, whatever, uh, and all that is, is they, they take charcoal from, uh, from you. They usually burn down like coconut shells or something and they, they take the charcoal from that and it has the ability to bind to toxins and all sorts of things. So if you have just for me, for instance, if I have my food cooked in weird oils, I kind of get brain fog and I have some inflammation that happens that I noticed really bad. And what that does is just helps bind to it. And even even just like this is the fun stuff. Even when you go to restaurants and you find that you’re gassy afterwards, it’s a food thing. So you take activity, charcoal and that will actually help reduce that.

Mike: (19:36)
Um, other things we take are some enzymes and probiotics that, um, that we, we spend big money to make sure we have just the right ones and uh, and that really work well for us. And it’s a matter of maybe spending a couple dollars here and there, trying different ones to see what works for you. But man, when you get the right ones, you just feel better after, you know, if you have a couple glasses of wine or some, some cocktails and, um, you know, sugary stuff with alcohol tends to make me kind of fog, foggy headed as well. So

Amy: (20:05)
I think that makes most people, but you remember we had that dairy free ice cream and I don’t know what happened.

Mike: (20:13)
Uh, it was amazing, but my eyes were almost crossing. I was so fuzzy from that. And uh, I see you were like three foot from me. I couldn’t look at you in the eyes. I had to look past you. I don’t know why, but I threw some charcoal back and 10 minutes later I was fine. So, um,

Amy: (20:32)
yeah, it’s amazing some of these options that are coming out. And I mean I grew up in, you know, dairy land, you know, basically, and having a dairy free ice cream that wasn’t

Amy: (20:42)
common back when I was a kid. So experiencing that now and I honestly thought it tasted better and I didn’t get the reactions because I’m lactose intolerant as well. Yeah, that was fabulous. And those are the things too is like I’ve found over my travels not to be embarrassed by my food restrictions or what I need to have to feel my body while I travel or when I’m with a group of people fire and be like, Oh everybody’s getting a drink. I’ll get a drink. Well I’m allergic to, alcohol. Not a smart thing to do cause then I get all red and assert sweating. It’s great. But everybody knows something’s going on with Amy. So now I’ve gotten more comfortable like, Nope, I’m good. You guys can have a drink. I don’t need one because I don’t want to be the weirdo in the corner just sweating and just like wanting to leave the room. You don’t like that. Hold on, have fun.

Mike: (21:43)
So I’m, I used to think, I used to be so nervous whenever I would like ask for switches on the menu, if, you know, if things were possible to change this for that. Um, and I realized no one cares. And usually once my food comes, the people at the table that were like kind of weirded out by me asking questions, they’re jealous. So the, in, in all in, in reality, you are the one that worries more than anybody else when you’re asking when you’re, when you’re double checking for these things. So, uh, there’s no, no need to be self conscious about it. It does take a little time to work into it, but, uh, all you can do is try it once or twice and then you get used to asking the questions. So yeah and be fully aware that, you know, if you go to a restaurant, they don’t have to make changes for you and that’s okay. So, uh, I always let them know, like, if you can’t, that’s fine. You know, we can go somewhere else. It’s not a big deal. Uh, it’s, I’m not offended by anything. So,

Amy: (22:38)
and like you said earlier, most restaurants, even if they won’t do alterations, they’ll put a plain piece of chicken and like some broccoli on a plate, you know, they’ll charge you a full rate,

Mike: (22:50)
charge me whatever. You have to, I’ll, I just need to eat right now. I want food and, and I’m here, so charge me.

Amy: (22:56)
Exactly. And that’s, they’re usually more than willing to accommodate that. Mmm. And it’s good that I’ve gotten more confident. Like I’m like you in our group environments to do that. Not everybody thinks that I was just being picky. Um, because when you go back to your hotel room or your Airbnb, you got to get up the next morning, do more business, or see these people. And if you’re not feeling well, that’s a lot harder to do.

Mike: (23:26)
Yup. Here’s the other other way of looking at it is you’re paying for a service and a product. Who cares if you’re being picky? Like, I want exactly what I want. You know, like I’m paying for this so I could go to whole foods and buy like a $20 steak and go home and cook it. Uh, and, and have a far better meal with steak and wine, you know, make it like 20 or $30 versus $100 at a restaurant. And. I like it all tasted exactly how I wanted because I didn’t have to worry about somebody else messing it up. So, um, so when I go out, I’m really, you know, I have, I have high standards but I don’t expect everybody to, to ace it either. So, um, because because I am being a weirdo and asking all the questions.

Amy: (24:10)
Yeah, exactly. Um, and I know my sister just did this too, like she went on a work trip and because work was paying for it, she bought like the most expensive thing on the menu because she could write like I didn’t even like it and I had all this extra food and I should just kept something simple.

Mike: (24:28)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s hard when work’s paying for it. So, so do you have, do you ever have times when work’s paying for your food as well?

Amy: (24:40)
Not often cause I’m self-employed. Um, but there are a few work trips. Like I’m coming up, I’m going to be going to LA. Well that’d be craft food. So I have to investigate what the craft food will be cause it’ll be in a soundstage. And so that’ll be a little different because it’s catered to you. Um, but luckily I’m kind of the lead in the project, so I hopefully have some say in what that craft food will be.

Mike: (25:07)
Sure, sure. That’d be great. Huh? Just how beef jerky on the table. I’m fine. Just give me all the meat. That would be your dream. The whole plate. A chicken thighs and beef jerky. Put some, some, a sushi Nori on there and some, a primal kitchen. Mayo. Cause like why not? That’s all you need in life and hard boiled eggs. I’ll, I’ll just sit there and eat. I won’t do anything else

Amy: (25:31)
as you haven’t guessed already. Michael loves his meat.

Mike: (25:34)
I love food, meat, meat especially. It’s just really, it’s just the, uh, the workhorse of our bodies. It’s just makes everything so,

Amy: (25:45)
so I’m really hoping that we can have control over that craft food, but it’ll be my first time having to pay for it and while just being in LA in general for work. But that’ll be a new experience, um, to enjoy. Yeah. But yeah, who knows. It’ll be very fun to experience that.

Mike: (26:06)
Yeah, we definitely will have to do an update on that one because I would love to have just 20 minutes on how to, how to get a craft, a craft table set up the way you want it. Right. Like who to talk to and how to do that. And uh, and how many actors do you rub shoulders with? So, elbows. Yeah. Um, I can tell higher hand models. Oh, nice. I mean, I’m just saying aside from a couple of scars, minor looking. Okay. Darn right. I do, I’ll pack it in one bag, no pain for overhead, nothing, nothing. Uh, I

Amy: (26:44)
love for traveling.

Mike: (26:45)
It’s the best. So, uh, is there anything else we want to cover today?

Amy: (26:50)
Um, I do not believe so. I mean

Mike: (26:53)
just

Amy: (26:53)
business in general and making sure like where my background is, I love business and I love going everywhere and doing business. And you don’t always have to like, like we’re talking about traveling and going, like, when I go to Alabama, I don’t always do business in Alabama, but I get to do my business there. Yeah. So having that freedom to be able to travel all over and try new places, that’s where I get in trouble with food. So this was a great, um, reminder of how to control some of those excitements. Yeah. Ooh. Like when I went, so I like what’s a poboy

Mike: (27:32)
yeah, you got to know what I’m, Oh boy is my goodness. Yeah.

Amy: (27:35)
Right. So I’m like, I have to try it. Oh my gosh. No. And I said, I hope you burn. I’m like, not great for me. I guess if you grew up with it, Hey, fabulous. In the Midwest,

Mike: (27:54)
like pierogis in, Pittsburgh, if you come to Pittsburgh, I will give you a Pierogi. I don’t care because it is so necessary to eat a Pierogi you once in your life. Especially the way, the way they do it in Pittsburgh. You will not see me eat a Pierogi only because I know what my body, the way my body reacts to it. Um, I’ve eaten thousands and thousands of Pierogis in my life, but uh, but I just can’t do it now. Yeah, I just can’t do it now. It’s unfortunate. So, but uh, but yeah, in the South, even in the South, I’ve, we were in new Orleans recently and we were able to travel through new Orleans and find amazing places to eat. Uh, amazing. Um, like charcuterie. If you find a good butcher that has charcuterie of any kind for the most part, you can get salamis and, uh, different types of cuts and cheeses that are great.

Mike: (28:41)
And, and um, one place in particular, I can’t remember the name, but you literally, it’s an old wine store. You order your, your, uh, your meats in the front along with your wine. You go out back, grab a bucket of ice, put your wine in it, and then they bring your cheese and meat platter out for you. And it’s so good jazz band in the corner. It’s like somebody’s backyard. And uh, and then they had uh, you know, an actual kitchen to, to order from. It was also terrific, but anywhere you go you can find really good food. Um,

Amy: (29:09)
you’re lucky I didn’t do so good in our so hungry. I just kind of wandered throughout the district and I’m like, finally I’m like, just go in anywhere right now. So hungry.

Mike: (29:22)
My wife Kim is really good at planning ahead so she’ll put like 20 different pin drops on our, on our Google map and we’ll have like an idea of any of the places we really want to hit and we’ll try to schedule those. We check ahead to see if they need reservations, things like that. And if they do need reservations and we know that we want to go there, we’ll try to set, um, and if they don’t have reservations, then we try to find out when they open and get there immediately when they open. So that way we’re, cause we like to go into empty restaurants and we’d like to be there while it fills up. I, it’s such a, it’s, it’s like this cute little date night thing we love doing. We just sit there forever and go through like two bottles of wine. Okay. You know, a nice meal. And then by the time we, we stop looking at each other and we realize like, Holy cow, there’s people all around us and it’s always just this fun. It’s like a fun little surprise. It gets to happen a few times a year. So that’s like our favorite thing when we’re out in another city.

Mike: (30:18)
Yeah, that was, yeah, that was just like, that was like a realization I had as I was saying it. So yeah, I’m a, I like, I like the early bird dinners so,

Amy: (30:31)
well the South has specials for you then.

Mike: (30:34)
Terrific. Uh, when that snowbirds are there. Yeah. So how about we wrap this up with, uh, what are your top three favorite things to bring in your car when you travel? Since you can take everything from your house in your car and you, I’ll give you, I’ll give you one out. You already said blender so you don’t have to pick blender so you could actually get four.

Amy: (30:59)
Okay. Um, if it weren’t for the kitchen, I’m obviously, I have my entire mobile office but and then the kitchen, I always have a cookie sheet, a small cookie sheet. That’s one of them. Cause all that’s lacking in most. A spatula, like I said earlier. And I have a pampered chef, clay round pot with a lid, I always bring that I have to bubble wrap that thing so it doesn’t break, but it’s totally worth bringing.

Mike: (31:25)
For sure. I can imagine some of this stuff you can make in there.

Amy: (31:30)
Oh yeah, you can make everything in there and it’s so easy. So those are kinda my favorite utensils or things to bring. Um, and they don’t, they’re usually the first things packed cause they take up a little more space.

Mike: (31:44)
So my friend recently, we had a big, there’s probably about 15 of us. They’re all health coaches from the same, same health coaching, uh, uh, certification. And we ended up in the Poconos for a weekend. And, uh, my friend brought an air fryer, he drove up from Richmond and brought an Air Fryer and he like, I could smell, he was next door to me. I could smell the bacon when I’d walk by his house at like noon or by him, by his room at noon. And I was so jealous. I was so jealous, but it was so, so I’ve, I’ve not actually, uh, Kim and I have not done, that’s my wife Kim. We have not done a lot of travel recently in a, in cars. But, uh, so for that trip, what I did, I took, I have a little coffee maker that’s like a, um, a camp stove.

Mike: (32:37)
Mmm. Percolator coffee maker. So you saw, you saw the little one. I have a little, a stainless one, right? Yep. So it’s made to shoot one little espresso shot into a cup that sits, you know, the percolator bottom hose that goes up and the cup sits on the platform. So, um, Kim for my birthday, that weekend was my birthday. We went out there, she surprised me with, uh, one of those is four times the size, so it makes a coffee cup full of espressos. So I took that with me and I was the happiest man ever. Uh, we will always grind our own coffee and take with us because we’re very w we have a lot of weird issues and we are very susceptible to molds in coffee. So we’ll get brain fog and uh, from coffee and Kim will actually get tired from coffee if they aren’t like the top of the line, uh, pure in terms of, uh, mold toxins, uh, and, and, or just organic for the most part, but not all organic coffees are even good for us.

Mike: (33:32)
So, so we take our own coffee, our own coffee maker, and then generally since I gave you four, I’m going to take four. We will have some sort of really good jerky. I like, uh, there’s a brand that makes biltong, it’s called Ayoba-Yo. And biltong is a South American, uh, no South African jerky that’s super lean meat, really thinly sliced. And so when I was looking at them, I found another version they have called droëwors. So I Ayoba-Yo, uh, it’s actually U S company, they make these droëwors that are natural casings. They’re like the size of your pointer finger and they’re so good and they’re super high in protein. Um, so we will have that with us and then we’ll always have some sort of dark chocolate that’s like way dumb, expensive that we should never have bought because it’s so expensive. But that way we only eat a couple of squares at a time when we’d come home. And uh, yeah, so, so those are my four things. Yeah,

Amy: (34:27)
those sound amazing. I know your, your coffees were really good, so I could see how that with, that would be great. Um, even though like I remember you’re a little tiny one, you’ve spilled all over the counter and your bigger one would be better. Multiple people.

Mike: (34:47)
It still has to sit on that. On that torch though, that camp stove, it’s still, so it’s really big and still sits on that thing. So I have to, uh, maybe I need to make a stand. It’s really top heavy. So,

Amy: (35:00)
well, I think that kind of concludes our day. I mean, there’s so much more that we can talk about and I’m looking forward to our future podcasts.

Mike: (35:10)
We’ll have to come up with a classy tagline for, for some other time, but Oh, well for now. Exactly. Well that’s it. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And, uh, we, uh, you can definitely expect these podcasts to be, you know, anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. We don’t want to take up your whole day. If you don’t like how long these are, find a podcast player that you can put on high speed and listen to us talk very, very fast. So

Speaker 1: (35:37)
that’s all for us. Uh, this is Mike and Amy and we’ll look forward to our next one. Have a great day guys. []