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Welcome to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint! I’m a former Spanish teacher turned travel advisor, passionate about curating unforgettable experiences. My expertise lies in European adventures (with a special love for Spain), cruising, and all-inclusive Caribbean getaways. I specialize in creating tailored trips for families, multi-generational groups, and teachers—whether they’re traveling solo, with colleagues, or leading student groups.
In this podcast, we celebrate the joy of travel, uncover hidden gems, share practical tips and tricks, and embrace the spirit of adventure. Each episode features inspiring conversations with fascinating guests from all walks of life as they share their unique travel stories, lessons, and favorite destinations. Whether you're planning your next getaway or simply love to dream about the possibilities, this is your place to explore the world from wherever you are.
Let’s embark on this journey together! 🌍✈️
What's the most meaningful gift you've ever received? Chances are it wasn't something wrapped in a box. It was a moment, an experience, a memory that stayed with you long after the day passed. Absolutely. And today we are going to be talking about one of the best gifts you could ever receive, the gift of travel, not just vacations, but life -changing moments that will shape who we are. We're exploring why experiences matter more than things, how travel creates deeper connections, and we'll even share some of the moments that changed our lives. There's a science and a psychology. behind this. Experiences, and that's why experiences outlast material gifts, because the brain changes and reorganizes based on our experiences. It's called neuroplasticity. And new experiences strengthen neural pathways, which is always good for your health as your mind assigns meanings to different experiences. And travel taps into our emotions, and it helps us make connections and personal growth. through exposure to new things. It's the feeling of being part of something bigger. Like when you visited places that you've read about, you know, for example, I can think of, you know, just being in high school and going on my first trip and reading about, you know, the different places that I was going to be going to. And then you actually see the place in person. And then you're just, you know, it's different. It does. It hits different for sure. You know, can you think of any experiences that one thing that's coming to mind is when I first moved out to Vegas and me and my friends took that road trip. We went to the Grand Canyon and granted, we went to the west side of it, which. Looking back on it now, yes, probably go to the north or south if you want to do any actual hiking, but just seeing pictures of it online does not do it justice. Yes, it is a big hole in the ground, but it was just surreal seeing that for the first time. I just was like, damn, we really made it. We're really here. This is so cool. And you know, I don't know. I feel like when you look up a place and you see it in person, like there's a lot of hype and, you know, build up in your head about, oh my God, what's it actually going to be like? And then you get there and you're like, wow, this is amazing. And you kind of can't stop smiling. Assuming it's a positive experience, which hopefully it is. Yes. Yes, indeed. But yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. You know, another thing that comes to mind is going to Teotihuacan with you and your siblings back in, I don't even know what year it was. You were four, I think, at the time, so. 2000. Okay, thank you. And I think about that because I just remember all of those steps back in the day when you could climb the steps to Teotihuacan, the pyramid to the sun and the pyramid to the moon. And, you know, you read about those things and they don't, necessarily feel real to you until you actually, you know, get to see them in person. And so that was that was one of the things that that really stood out in my mind and, you know, builds core memories. I don't know if you remember the climbing up or down. I don't. I think I was a little too young there. Probably. Yeah. But your siblings, I'm sure, remember it because it was it was quite a day. I bet we were. Oh, my God, I cannot imagine. Yeah, one of the pyramids with three kids. Well, I had a little help, you know. And then I remember also going to the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza. You weren't with me for that one. But, you know, you read about these civilizations that lived so many, you know, hundreds of years, thousands of years before you did. And then you get to see you get to see that actually in person. It's just, it's mind -blowing and there's no way it's not going to change you, you know? It's a way to witness history. Absolutely. Different than a museum, for sure. Like, obviously a museum is still a great experience, a great way to learn new things, but seeing something like pyramids or the historical landscape the first time, it's just, it's crazy. It's cool. It's awesome. It's everything it should be. Yeah. And I think, I just wish, I wish schools had a way to incorporate more of that experiential learning. so that kids could get more engaged. You know, I think that that would make a real big difference for that off the phones. Go see. Oh, my God. Yes. You know, and the other thing is that people are definitely shifting towards experience based gifting. People are ready to take in the meaning behind travel and so they can have some of that that experience, have some personal growth. And, you know, sustainability is a really big thing. I don't want to say it's a trend, but it's become more, people are becoming more aware. Yeah, I think it's a bigger factor now. Yeah, absolutely. I even say for myself, I definitely bought into the experiences of gift -giving. I, oh my God, I don't know, me and my friends, we were, there were like a good three years we were getting each other Christmas gifts. You just start running out of stuff to get people. And you don't wanna give somebody a gift and they don't even want it, they don't even use it, they resell it or something like that. So I feel like it's just better and easier to just make memories and have fun. You can't put a price on that. Absolutely. And you know, and the thing is, like, I don't need another t -shirt. No, no, I don't need another candle. Like, dude, I don't nobody needs that. I don't know. Right. Absolutely. Like, generally, just for me, I was just like, I'd rather have a less materialistic holiday and actually spend time with people that I care about, you know. That's way more fun. Absolutely. You know, and, you know, I think one of the things for me, as far as experience experiences over over things came when, you know, I was taking my students on trips, we were going to different places, you know, we were doing these, we a trip in a catalog and then we would just, it would be like a march, just to get where we were going. And I don't think they really thought about it as much. I mean, it was cool to go on a trip, like to go to Europe and everything. Yeah, that's cool. And then, but are you really experiencing it? And I think that was a thing for me that really, pushed it over the edge and made me realize that I had to start doing things differently so that they could actually have some experiences. I mean, they still bought a lot of stuff, but that's okay. They were high school kids. You know, you expect that. You want to do more than just buy stuff. You want to soak in some culture, some experiences, some knowledge. Yeah. And I think that's why when we did the homestay experience, that was a game changer for us. And those kids really, really You could tell they got something out of the trip, you know, I mean just talking to them about it and all of that kind of stuff, you know, I mean it was very It was just very eye -opening, you know, absolutely. Yeah, definitely So that yeah there there there always has to be there always has to be something that you can that you can take those That you can do with your trip and make it more memorable memorable. Absolutely. Absolutely So, you know, I think That's why people are coming to travel advisors and asking about different, you know, finding them different experiences, helping them shape a tour so that it's got more experiences and - Not just stuff. Absolutely. Not just buying stuff. Absolutely. So we can all probably think of a time when, you know, we just had a great trip and those memories, they come flooding back and you don't, you know, I mean, Instead of, you know, if I have a friend that goes on a trip, I don't want I don't want you to buy me a T -shirt as a memento. Just please tell me about your trip and then maybe I'll plan one of my own. You know? Absolutely. Yeah. So I used to, you know, and I used to think history class was so boring when I was in high school. I don't know about you. Yes. Not a fan. Right. And but then, you know, when I started traveling, I was just like, wow, this is really, you know, look at all this history. And and then I started reading about things. And when people are scandalous and You know? Extremely. Extremely. Yes. And, you know, and it takes me back, like, this was, I just think about this as an example. We went on, and this was a planned tour, but this excursion we went on was so amazing. So, in other words, when I say it was a planned tour, I'm talking about, like, I found a, you know, a catalog tour with my students. My students went on a catalog tour and they, you know, We stayed in hotels and we ate whatever food the hotel was serving us. So it wasn't really when I, you know, that's what I mean about a catalog tour. It wasn't very cultural. You got to do generic things. And it's a great starter, but it's just not it's just not what I want to do. But on this particular trip, we went to Père Lachaise Cemetery. And oh, my God, it was so amazing because You know, we got Rick Steves, one of those travel travel guides. Yeah. And it was all about like taking your own tour through this cemetery. It was amazing. We saw Jim Morrison's grave, which R . I . P. , which was not as, you know, you would you would imagine it would be just really ornate. It was super plain because people had, I don't know, done so many things. I think they were stealing his tombstone because they just wanted to see of, I don't know why, but that was just something that they kept, people kept vandalizing it. So I think they have it roped off now. And it's very plain marker. Not only that, but we saw, oh, so many people, Oscar Wilde and Josephine Baker. We just saw all of these different all of these different tombstones. And Josephine Baker's was really amazing to me because it was covered, it was about the size of this table, the slab in front of it, and it was filled with fresh flowers. And I don't know how often, but I don't remember anymore who it was that supplied the flowers, but somebody supplies flowers to that grave every maybe week or so, something like that. So I just thought that was really cool. a light went off and it's just like, this is the way we have to do this. You know, we have to make it something memorable for kids. Like, cause I, you know, I'm never going to forget that, you know, just, and then the stories behind it. And, you know, that's how the history ties in just the stories behind these people is just super interesting. All plays a part. Absolutely. So, and we've had our opportunities to do a lot of bonding through travel, I would say. you know, family trips, those kinds of things, especially multi -gen trips. We took one last summer. July, yeah. Yeah. And that way, and we took, so it was, it was you, your sister, your niece and nephew. And so, and it was us and your cousins and aunts. And so that's, that was three generations, right? Four generations, wait. Three, right? Three generations. It was three generations. And it was just so fun because the kids got a chance to see it. part of the country that they hadn't seen before. They got to do all kinds of fun things with family members that they don't always see and with family members of different ages, getting to connect with each other and, you know, finding a common ground between us, you know, and that's, to me, I thought it was, it meant the world. And I know that, that the grandkids are never gonna forget that. I mean, well, Erin might, because she's only three. So we're gonna have to do it again. A few more times. Yeah, we'll have to do it like regularly. And I just think that's a great way. Travel is a great way for families to bond with each other. Absolutely. And, you know, we don't get to see our aunt that lives out there very often. So it's a good experience that way, too. It's been too long. Oh, my God, it was so much fun. And I got to swim in the ocean for the first time. Yeah, core memories. And I remember when you were little, you got to, we took a multi -gen trip with my parents, your grandparents, with us, and with you and your siblings, we went to Disney World. And that was my first time going to Disney. And I was an adult, which I don't know how that happened, but you know, I think I was probably 40 at the time, and going to Disney for the first time, and it was magical, I have to say. I do remember parts of the Disney trip being so much fun. And, you know, those are things that you're just never going to forget. And if if I had bought, you know, I don't need to buy a T -shirt to remember that. Right. I can just I can think back to those turkey legs. Do you remember those turkey legs? I've seen like pictures of them online. Yeah. I don't remember it from back then. They're so good because I mean. No. Well, my thing about the turkey leg. How are you going to eat that before you got to get on the next ride? You know what I mean? You'd have to dedicate like a good chunk of your park experience to eating. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I just eat really slow. Well, and it's a lot. It's a lot. food. I think you're going to get like you eat a whole turkey leg and then you go on like the Tower of Terror or something. First of all, terror for your stomach. Yes, that is true. But first of all, I don't think what I think those turkey legs are like for a family of four. I hope. But how do you cut it up? I don't know, you just pass it around. Pass it around, everybody takes a bite. I mean, that's what we did. And why not? Honestly, I think we might have bought two of them and I don't even know if we needed that many. Two is excessive. That was, it was excessive. Two might be a bit much, but that's OK. Yeah. So and, you know, travel gifts. When you think about you want to do something for a family member, a gift of travel, the gift of travel is a great way to to share it with someone instead of buying them meaningless things. Meaningless t -shirts, coffee mugs, stuff that's gonna go on the shelf. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. Don't get me wrong. I like a little souvenir every now and then, but it's just not my thing. There's only so many key chains you could give a person or get from people. I only have one pair of keys. I mean, especially nowadays, there's digital key locks. I feel like you really only are gonna carry around a car key. There's not enough, there's too many key chains with your name on it from a place, it becomes too much. And then it weighs down your keys, turns into a whole other thing. I don't know. I think that there's good ways to gift travel. You plan a trip, I really want to plan a DC trip and go to the Smithsonian, as many Smithsonian's, free museums as I can. I want to do that with my friends so bad. I think that would be a great time. I would encourage you. I encourage you to do that because I've I did that. I went to D . C. and got to do I don't know how many Smithsonian's but it was. That That should be me. It should be. That will be me. There you go. It is amazing. It's so much fun. D . C. is so and it's so walkable, you know? Yeah, that's important, too. You know, you want to be able to get around easily without a lot of hassle. I don't like having to rent a car if I'm traveling. If I can avoid it. I agree. And they have good public transportation, as I recall. It's been it's been a minute, but. but I recall it being very easy to get around. Yeah. An important thing. So I think for me, I'm thinking back to some of my travel experiences. And I want to say that I think I would have to say that the one travel experience that shaped me and definitely changed my worldview was my first trip to Europe when I was in high school. So it was a graduation. I guess you could call it a graduate travel gift because My parents made me go, it was like their gift to me. And we went to all these countries, and I've talked about it before on the podcast, but just getting to go to all of those countries and seeing so many things. I didn't appreciate it fully, but I did appreciate it, and I learned a lot from it. If I were able to do that again, I really would have gotten so much more out of it. But that comes with age and experience. I think I've said this to you before, but the year we went was the year Charles and Diana got married. Princess Diana married Prince Charles. That must've been 81. And it was so funny because it was, before we even left for Europe, it was just all over the news. It was everywhere, even in the United States. It was just the royal wedding, the royal wedding and everything. And so they had these, like if you went to a shop and bought a souvenir, You would have the bag that they put it in was like a month. or whatever you wanna call that. Yeah, and it had the date. And so I bought, I don't even know what I bought, but I still had that bag. And I'll show it to you. But I just remember, and it was just so cool because the day before their wedding was the day we were leaving to go back home, but they had a dress rehearsal. for the wedding, when I say dress rehearsal, I'm sorry, what do you call it? A processional, a practice processional with all of the cars that they were gonna use. And it was so cool. And so everybody was lining the streets. I'm sure they did the same thing the following day, but everybody was lining the streets. And so we were right there. I was like very close to the front. And you could just take pictures of all the different cars. Obviously Charles and Diana weren't there, but we got to see what it was gonna be like. And then the next day we watched it We got home in time to watch it the next day, you know, so it was just it was just very surreal. I'm never going to forget that. And, you know, and again, that trip, I think, changed my worldview because I think it did. It helped me know that I want to travel to be a part of my life. And I didn't know when I was going to get back again. But. I'm made away wanted to. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I think that really shaped me into becoming a teacher and then eventually becoming a travel advisor. So being able to share that experience with others. Mm hmm. That was a person. Absolutely. How about you? Do you have any any travel experiences that that you think shaped you or had an impact on you? I would say definitely the first trip to Spain. I don't know how old I was. I just know I got on the plane and went. But I know I think back to that now. Like, I can still remember, like, some of the apartments that we stayed at, things that we watched on TV, going to the store. My sister saying I didn't wash the dishes. good enough. I remember one apartment, I don't know, we were staying, I think it was in Barcelona, and it had mold, black mold. Do you remember that? Do you know what I'm talking about? There was some place we stayed where - That was Barcelona. Yes, there was some black mold and we had to, yeah, we didn't stay there, obviously. But I think about that, like I distinctly remember that. I remember being in Granada and going swimming on a rooftop pool with Alex, like some, I don't know, just different small bits and pieces that I'm just like looking back on it now, I'm like, wow, I was extremely lucky to be able to experience that. And thankful, grateful, absolutely. There's obviously a lot of travel that I haven't gotten to do yet that I really, really want to and do plan to do. So I think that definitely was setting a good foundation for like, wow, this is how good things could be for me if I start traveling and going places. Yeah, and I think back to the time we went to the wedding, to Lloyda's wedding. That was, oh my God, that was an amazing experience. Yes. So that was a great chance to see, like, I never thought I'd be going to a wedding in a different country, in a different language, you know, than my native one. Right. It's one thing, you know, for like, you know, your American friend to plan a destination wedding somewhere, but to be able to actually go to Spain and experience a wedding from Spain, you're like, that was so cool. It really was. Yeah. Yeah. And so we got to see their traditions and things like that. So. That was a learning experience. Had a fun time. Really good. Really good. Good food, too. Yes, indeed. If you're loving this conversation and thinking about those travel moments in your own life, make sure you subscribe to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint. You don't want to miss an episode. So make sure you hit that bell, that subscribe button and give us a thumbs up. And why don't you go ahead and just write us a comment? Let us know the best trip that you've ever taken or someplace that you'd like to go to. I would love that. I would love for that to happen. So we can't wait. about travel, not just as itineraries, but as transformation. So like Brittany said, hit that subscribe button. Hit it. So you never miss an episode. It's right there or over there. It's somewhere down here. So I guess we should talk about how we can gift travel to other people. Thousand percent. I think if you're going to stay local, a little staycation, for example, if you're in Vegas, you could rent out a little hotel room on the strip if you want to. pretend to be a tourist for a little bit, do some strip experiences, have fun there. I think that'd be one way. Or even, I mean, smaller casinos, something off -strip, that's an option too. Just getting a change of sceneries, definitely. Definitely. And I like a good road trip, like a one -tank trip. You find a destination not too far from you and you'd make a weekend of it. And that way it's not necessarily a staycation because you might go from here, go to California. go to Utah. You could do a day trip from Vegas to if you go to Burbank, you could go to Universal. That's a good, oh, fun little day trip. We've done that a few times. Oh, absolutely. Oh, my God. I want to do it again. Warner Brothers Studios as well. I haven't been to that one yet. I would like to one day. And I know that one of the things that you enjoy doing is snowboarding. So that's always good to have a little trip. You know, there's so many snowboarding resorts in the season time. Well, when it's wintertime, you can have a little three hour drive to Bryan Head, Utah. shred the gnar, you know, have a really good time snowboarding or skiing if that's what you're into. There's so many different ski resorts, like in proximity to Vegas specifically, but all over the world too. And not just in the United States, like I've heard of some in Chile, some in Japan, like there's so many, so many good spots for that. Granted, that's a little bit further than a weekend getaway or a staycation, but it'd be a good time nonetheless. Absolutely. You know, day trips and spas. There's lots of spas and things like that. Relax. Something like that. Yeah. And you can gift and you can give people gift cards for future travel. You can think about what that person in your life enjoys doing. You could even one thing that's kind of fun is like doing a cooking class, a workshop through that, you know, paint. Mm hmm. Yeah. Paint and sips. They have all those kinds of things. Napa. Oh, a trip to Napa? A trip to Napa to do some wine tasting. I would also say the Amtrak. I feel like, oh, my God, I don't remember the name of the route, but there's one that goes all along like the PCA or like up down from like LA up to like Washington, something like that. Okay, maybe I'm wrong. I think I'm a little bit correct though. It goes a long way. You could have, I think you can get there within three days. You can stay overnight on the train. I want to do that. There's also one in Colorado. Cannot remember the name of it right now. It is completely escaping me, but like a little trip through Colorado on a train. It looks so nice. Yeah. So, I mean, these, these, these things, can be big or small. When you gift vacations or travel experiences, they don't have to be huge things. Absolutely not. But they can be if you want them to be. And if you want them to be, a great way to book that, get with your travel agent. They can guide you, let you know the best way to do things. They can let you know of good spots to eat, good places to stay. So don't forget that Cheryl over here is a travel advisor. She can hook you up with some great deals. We're going to have some details in our description below. Don't forget to check that out. Thank you. Thank you. So, you know, what I would say is like if you know what somebody's love language is or you know their personality, kind of tap into that and think about how you can combine that with travel. For example, one of the things that we did when we were doing our trips with our students for the homestays, every we would take them every other year to Spain and every other year the Spaniards would come to the United States. So on the years that we went to Spain, we would talk to our students. Once we knew who the group was gonna be, we would get together and find out about their interests so we could shape the trip for what they wanted to do. And I remember one year in particular, the kids were really into sports. And so we found a soccer stadium. We got a chance to go there and we got a chance to visit the stadium. just all kinds of activities there. Another year we went to, they wanted to learn dance. So we found a dance studio and they got a chance to do some dance lessons. I don't remember what type of dance it was, but it was super fun. And I know they're never gonna forget that. I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that right now. So yeah, those are just some ideas for things that you can do if you're looking for, this is kind of the time of year when people are looking for gift -giving ideas, so. Yeah, yeah, make it meaningful. Absolutely. And make it something you can enjoy too. I mean, if you're gonna gift it to somebody, might as well tag along. Yes, absolutely. Have you ever experienced any challenges when trying to gift travel and what are some ways that you could navigate that or go about that? You know, one thing that came to mind for me was, I know my mom, and so I planned a trip for your grandmother and my grandmother and my aunt. And one of the things, so this was a multi -gen trip. We weren't going to Spain. My grandmother and aunt had not been out of the country yet. And so one of the things that we did that we found out was that she didn't have a passport, so we needed to get her one. My mom, being a librarian, was all into research and all of those kinds of things. So she took the wheel with that and had to get her actually a birth certificate first so she could get her passport. And because of my grandmother's age, I don't know how that worked, you know, I don't know what year she was born. I can't remember off the top of my head, but she would be in her hundreds right now. So she had to find, she did all the research, got her birth certificate so she could get her passport and she got it done really quickly. quickly, I believe, because I don't know how much time she had once we started the planning. But anyway, we went and we had just an amazing experience. It made me very happy because Grandma Lydia had never been out of the country before, and she was so proud. that she got a chance to leave the country. And it's an exciting moment. Yeah. And she she said to me more than once, she was just like, I don't if I never do anything ever again, I got a chance to go to Spain. And that means so much to me. You know, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, we definitely have some memories that we still talk about to this day. I remember we were I don't know, we were near the beach, but we were not on the beach. We were probably a block away. So we were on a sidewalk. And this man, you know, I don't know why or what the situation was, but he was totally naked, just walking down the street like it was no big deal. And okay, just kind of interesting. And it is what we're doing over here. And my grandma, Lydia, Eva, and I were just taking it back. I'm taking it back. And I don't know how your grandmother didn't see it. but she did not see it. Yeah. That's actually crazy. It was. It was kind of crazy. Sometimes you just got to mind your business. Yeah, for sure. Only way you can move about things, yeah. Because that is nuts. Yeah. And then, you know... It's where your clothes are. What? Like, what do you mean? I don't know. And I mean, it's like, you're too far from the beach to be... Yeah. There's no sand right here, sir. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. How about, have you ever been on trips with people that were not necessarily compatible with you? And how did you, if that's the case, what did you do? I feel like, yes, and you just kind of, while you're on the trip, I guess you have no choice but to deal with it and try to compromise and figure out something that works. I think most of the time, though, thankfully, I have been compatible with the people I've traveled with, whereas I thought ahead of time it might be a problem going into it. It was never a huge issue for me, except for occasionally, you know, sometimes you'll have a moment where, oh, this person wants to go out and do something, but then everybody, somebody else wants to stay back. And it's just like, OK, well, what are we going to do now? I'll just go by myself, I guess, or, you know, it just depends on what that situation looks like. But I think that. I don't know if that's something you can really figure out ahead of time. You're right. Sometimes, yes. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious that, okay, I'm obviously, maybe we shouldn't take that trip together, but sometimes I think you don't find out until you're on the trip. Yeah, because they seem like normal people and then they just flip out. And you just never know. Because to me, my thing, and that's why I think the two of us travel so well together. That we do. We really do because we, I don't know, maybe we just know each other's what's on each other's mind, and we know when to step back. And yeah, we've never had an argument or, you know, gotten on each other's nerves or anything like that. And so you can travel back in time. me anytime. Girl, same. No, but I hear people talk about it. Like I remember one of my friends was talking about a trip she went on with another friend. And I think one of them is just more itinerary based than the other. And she had everything planned right down to the minute. Oh, no. And see, that don't work for me. I know right there. Like if you are trying to plan a trip like that, I can tell we're not going to go well together. I don't think we should go on that trip. Absolutely. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not like a super go with the flow kind of person, but I like to have some structure. I like to say, OK, this day, if we have nothing else going on, here's at least two things we could do if we don't have anything else that we're actively doing or working on. Right, yeah, just kind of figure out your flow, you know? Absolutely. And I think we did that in, when we were in Barcelona, I know there was a moment where we were going to meet up with, oh my God, what is that app called? Meetup? Meetup. Yeah, it was a meetup group for people who spoke different languages. And I remember being so tired and you were like, come on, let's just do it. And I was like, okay, let's go. And I had so much fun. I'm so glad I went. Yeah, you were the life of the party. It was a really good time. Sometimes you gotta get out of your comfort zone. Yeah, and do things even, cause yeah, and that same trip, I remember we were gonna go to Girona and we were thinking, let's just not go, right? We were, we thought we were gonna go and we didn't go. I don't know the reason we didn't wanna go. I think it was timing, just the timing. And then we got there and had just the most fun. Yeah, you gotta be adaptable. Absolutely, yeah. And you know, pack your patience. Absolutely, cause oh my God, there are few things as testing as going to the airport. It is just, I mean, for, I don't know how everybody else feels, but for me, that is an infuriating experience. Being in the airport? Yes, it is. Just the experience of being there? Yes. Specifically, like, the Las Vegas airport is so overstimulating to me, because why am I hearing a slot machine, like, all the time? That's so annoying. That's not a problem. anywhere else. I mean, I don't know. Obviously, I haven't been to every airport in the world or anything, but where else? Like, are you going to the airport and like, there's just slot machines just making noise? Like, can we at least turn the volume down on them? Why do they have to make noise? I don't know. And you know, that's never, I've never even noticed the noise. I can't, I can't do anything but notice the noise. Like, I'd rather hear a crying baby at the airport than a slot machine. I would. Okay. Cause the crying baby gonna stop. Yes. Probably. And crying babies don't bother me. Me neither. I mean, you just want to deal with it. Yeah. Part of life. Interesting. I didn't know this about you. Yes. I just. I will definitely keep it in mind. And maybe we should take more advantage of the lounges. That is an option. That is an option. I've yet to go to an airport lounge. So one of these days. Yeah. We'll get my points up. We'll do that next time. Yeah. Just go with me. I'll take you to the lounge. Go ahead. For sure. Well, let's talk about gifting travel and where to start. Absolutely. So obviously the first thing I would recommend contact your travel advisor, they'll be able to hook you up with some deals. They really take that stress out of the equation. You know, you don't have to feel like planning the entire thing is on you. You have somebody that has expertise and knowledge and they're able to kind of guide you and say, OK, here's what I would recommend for, you know, your style of travel, what you plan to do, where you want to go can take a lot of that stress off your shoulders and just make things easier for you as a whole. And you can tell your travel advisor what the person that you're gifting the travel is like so they can kind of steer you in the right direction. Absolutely. Someone's got a seafood allergy, maybe don't, you know, send them to a place that's heavy on seafood, stuff like that. They can advise you of those kinds of things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's all kinds of different things. There's staycations. We talked about that. One tank road trips, a train ride. You know, I think we talked about all of those things. I think also Vegas specific. no matter what side of town you live on, if you're looking for just something fun to do for the afternoon, going to Hemingway Park near Lake Mead, I believe it's by Lake Mead, you know, that's just I think depending on where you're coming from, I think for me it'd be about a like 30, 45 minute drive to get there, but just a good way to spend the afternoon, hang out, you know. You don't have to. Look at the mountain sheep. Yes. So cool. There's so many different little things you can do around town like that. Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, small experiences can definitely spark big change. Absolutely. You know, it doesn't have to be huge things, but you know, they help you shape your perspectives and they help you to want to go out and do more. Because I know one trip makes you want to go on another trip. And you can expand your horizons that way. The post -vacation blues are real. So, you know, you just have to find the next place to go and hope for the best. Yes, indeed. Well, we hope today's conversation reminded you that the most meaningful gifts that you can give are travel experiences and moments. Absolutely. And if you love talking about travel the way we do, make sure you subscribe to Cheryl's Travel Blueprint. We've got more stories, more inspiration and more ways to bring meaningful travel into your life. You don't want to miss out. So make sure you hit that subscribe button. Give us a like, comment, share this video everywhere you can think of. We appreciate you guys watching. Thank you so much.