Speaker 1: Hey, there're folks from Europe, specifically door No Robock and
Speaker 1: I come into you from Italy April sprits in hand
Speaker 1: and in this episode, what to do when vacation styles clash.
Speaker 1: Also the value of alone time, plus the latest travel
Speaker 1: trend we are seeing everywhere and we might still need
Speaker 1: somebody to explain to us. And also a question to
Speaker 1: help everybody out there understand how much you truly like
Speaker 1: your partner. And with that, Robock, will you please set
Speaker 1: the scene here for everybody that's listening. They might hear
Speaker 1: a little background noise, but hopefully it's a bird chirping
Speaker 1: or a church rail going off.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. So this is the first time I've
Speaker 2: ever done this. I was inspired by my daughters who've
Speaker 2: been traveling on a dime throughout Europe. They've been very
Speaker 2: fortunate to just have some time in between studies and
Speaker 2: they are all about airbnb and verbos no hotels, So
Speaker 2: you get a feeling of like you're a part of
Speaker 2: the community. You're like in the middle of a city,
Speaker 2: but it's like you have an apartment versus a hotel,
Speaker 2: and it's a lot cheaper. And so we've done that
Speaker 2: for the first time, and we have a nice balcony
Speaker 2: and we have six. There are a lot of balconies.
Speaker 2: They're very small, like some of them are just like
Speaker 2: for two people to barely walk outside. But yes, I
Speaker 2: think officially there are six, but we have like the
Speaker 2: sights and the sounds and the heat of Rome right
Speaker 2: now is crazy.
Speaker 1: We swapped one heat wave for another.
Speaker 2: It's yes. I can't believe that there are two heat
Speaker 2: waves going on where we were and where we are,
Speaker 2: but that is happening. It was one hundred degrees in
Speaker 2: Rome but today, but the humidity is half of what
Speaker 2: it is in New York. So I'm good, like I
Speaker 2: feel good and you hilariously, so everyone else is like
Speaker 2: they have umbrellas and hats. TJ walks out into the
Speaker 2: blazing sun. He's like that feels good? Like what that
Speaker 2: the shade feels good? You love this heat? I love it.
Speaker 1: I have so much space to walk on these days
Speaker 1: because everybody's trying to crowd into the shaded areas of
Speaker 1: the street in the sun.
Speaker 2: You're like, this feels and yes, and most people don't
Speaker 2: look like you here, so you are an anomal that
Speaker 2: most people don't have your skin color here we've noticed there, Yes,
Speaker 2: so that was of distinction on our way here. I've
Speaker 2: been to Italy a couple of times before, but I
Speaker 2: don't think I had noticed how white it is here?
Speaker 1: Are you noticing?
Speaker 2: You pointed it out?
Speaker 1: I didn't point out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he just said, like, we don't really come to Italy.
Speaker 2: I was like, wait what? And then now that you've
Speaker 2: mentioned it, you guess it's confirmed. It's not a destination
Speaker 2: for a lot of I don't know, people of a
Speaker 2: certain color. I don't know why, what's up? Why why
Speaker 2: not Italy? Why was that not on your list?
Speaker 1: It just wasn't on my list. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of places I would probably prefer to go before coming
Speaker 1: to and making an official trip to Italy or to Rome.
Speaker 1: It's just not it would be way way. It would
Speaker 1: be a long time before I got to it. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of places before, before Rome, before Italy, and
Speaker 1: places gorgeous. The history here is, I mean, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just astonishing to see what Rome with Italy.
Speaker 1: It's what this country is. I mean, we are we
Speaker 1: celebrate what we're going to be two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: years old here in a couple of years the United
Speaker 1: States of America and see places that have been around
Speaker 1: for thousands of years. It's just it's unreal. So I appreciate,
Speaker 1: I appreciate. Just one on my listeners is there.
Speaker 2: So why did you come?
Speaker 1: Because you wanted to come here and you weren't wouldn't
Speaker 1: stop hooting and hollering about it. So here we are.
Speaker 2: What do you think? What do you think of the country,
Speaker 2: the Roman Empire and what it was and what it's
Speaker 2: meant to us and all of that. And just like
Speaker 2: I don't know the.
Speaker 1: Foods the food, you went. You went from asking me
Speaker 1: about the Roman Empire and to break down my feelings
Speaker 1: on it to food in modern day.
Speaker 2: Gave you a wide, wide runway. You can say whatever
Speaker 2: you'd like about the country.
Speaker 1: It's it's hot, the pasta is good. That's all I got.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 1: This is why I'm staying in the moment, and that's
Speaker 1: the moment, and that's what's happening. But it's it's just
Speaker 1: we were saying as well, it's just not a We
Speaker 1: see a lot of people travel, and we've traveled a
Speaker 1: lot in our lives, sometimes with family, most of the
Speaker 1: time with kids. It seems it has been, but to
Speaker 1: take a trip like this, we've I don't know, we
Speaker 1: kind of relish it at this point, and I think
Speaker 1: even more so these days, just the ability to be
Speaker 1: able to walk outside and hold hands, keep you had
Speaker 1: a pie, and not worry and be proud. So it's
Speaker 1: never want to forget that.
Speaker 2: I have also felt like, I know we all get
Speaker 2: in different stages of our lives, but I'm at a
Speaker 2: place now where I am an empty nester. So it's
Speaker 2: kind of funny. I've got both of my daughters nearby
Speaker 2: in the area. One is in a country over and
Speaker 2: one is actually in Italy, but just in a different city.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think up until this past year,
Speaker 2: all my big vacations have been with them. And you
Speaker 2: get to a place where, yes, you'll still have those moments,
Speaker 2: but you get to kind of reinvest in your personal
Speaker 2: life outside of being a mother or a father, and
Speaker 2: so yes, we like to be able to have this
Speaker 2: time together. I think a lot of couples it's hard,
Speaker 2: like you've got kids and responsibilities and you're trying to
Speaker 2: juggle and you want to show them the world. And
Speaker 2: so we've seen a lot of those families around it
Speaker 2: hasn't been lost on me how lucky we are to
Speaker 2: just be here together knowing our kids are good because
Speaker 2: Sabine went away to summer camp, so she is safely
Speaker 2: and excitedly immersed in her own world of her experience
Speaker 2: of kind of coming up her coming of age moments,
Speaker 2: and those are exciting ones. And my daughters are in theirs,
Speaker 2: and so we actually get the opportunity to be alone,
Speaker 2: which is I think a huge, huge thing that I
Speaker 2: think a lot of people forget to focus on, or
Speaker 2: I definitely have, but like, it's awesome to be able
Speaker 2: to just be here with you without thinking about anything
Speaker 2: other than just us.
Speaker 1: Uh. And we say that after we took two Zoom
Speaker 1: meetings yesterday and that's funny, that's really funny. We were
Speaker 1: sitting at this exact table just yesterday outside no April spirts,
Speaker 1: and hey, that was business. We had to handle those.
Speaker 1: But but yes, to your point, this is this isn't
Speaker 1: I but this is so much time together. I wonder
Speaker 1: if people, how many people listen to hearing our voices
Speaker 1: think about the person they're with and they want more
Speaker 1: of this kind of time, or they don't want any
Speaker 1: more of this kind of time, because it's a lot.
Speaker 1: You and I have been together twenty four to seven
Speaker 1: since what well' suppose the past several days at least
Speaker 1: four or five were together a lot, but you get
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. We have not been able to be
Speaker 1: away from each other.
Speaker 2: I have not been able to be I love the
Speaker 2: way you pointed out.
Speaker 1: I wanted to get away from you. I could not.
Speaker 2: You're stuck with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I am. There's nowhere else I would rather be.
Speaker 1: And the thing I said, the question I would. We
Speaker 1: were talking about this the other day, but it is
Speaker 1: such an interesting question because we do do so much
Speaker 1: stuff together. If you're in a relationship, ask yourself, think
Speaker 1: about the favorite things you like to do daily, eating,
Speaker 1: watching a show on Netflix. Maybe it's cooking, Maybe it's
Speaker 1: going for a run. Your favorite things you like to do,
Speaker 1: And now think who is the person you prefer to
Speaker 1: do that thing with? Like who is your answer? That's
Speaker 1: it's just who When I think about that, and it
Speaker 1: came up, like you are that answer to me on
Speaker 1: all of those things. If it's a football game, if
Speaker 1: it's going to a bar to watch a basketball to
Speaker 1: the final four, if it's going I still I can
Speaker 1: kick it with you better than anybody.
Speaker 2: I think that's what's been so cool for me about
Speaker 2: all of this, Like I get it, like we've been
Speaker 2: through a lot of life before we got together, and
Speaker 2: I think that has been a a part of my journey.
Speaker 2: But it has been so interesting because yeah, like I
Speaker 2: think a lot of times I would have said my
Speaker 2: girlfriends or you know, like you're looking for other people
Speaker 2: to fill those different moments, and that's great, Like that's
Speaker 2: all a part of whatever you choose. But for the
Speaker 2: first time in my life, the answer is always you.
Speaker 2: So yeah, to be able to just be with you,
Speaker 2: to just chill with you and hang with you.
Speaker 1: And you made a face and I was almost going
Speaker 1: to be offended, but I see where you were coming from.
Speaker 1: Now folks didn't see it, but it's almost like you
Speaker 1: frown like ell to you. Now, I know that's not
Speaker 1: where you're coming from. But it's an odd thing to go. Really,
Speaker 1: it seems gross to say out loves especially me. Yes,
Speaker 1: I would rather you name the sport, you name the event,
Speaker 1: you named pretty much anything. I would like for you
Speaker 1: to be, to be the partner I'm doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's like, that's a crazy new, amazing thing.
Speaker 2: But I think when I look back at our friendship,
Speaker 2: like you were always a person I wanted to hang with,
Speaker 2: and so it makes sense now that we're together, like
Speaker 2: I just want to experience and see and hear and
Speaker 2: listen and watch all of those things with you. So
Speaker 2: this has been really cool to just like our girls
Speaker 2: are all exactly where they're supposed to be right now,
Speaker 2: all happy and entertained and figuring out life and like
Speaker 2: and without our intervention in any way. So like, you
Speaker 2: actually can't even talk to Sabine right now.
Speaker 1: It sucks and really hard. It really sucks because as
Speaker 1: much as I am used to all day every day
Speaker 1: with Sabine, it's just it's weird and can only get
Speaker 1: a call from her. I think per week just one
Speaker 1: can send care packages, but but to your and I
Speaker 1: don't know if a lot of other people do this.
Speaker 1: We planned every trip we have planned entire summer, had
Speaker 1: to go around the kids' schedules, Like to put all
Speaker 1: this together is kind of nuts, but that's what we
Speaker 1: can have a peace of mind and actually enjoy the
Speaker 1: trip because we know everybody's okay.
Speaker 2: And so yes, so you are not able to speak
Speaker 2: to Sabine, which you know, I went through this with
Speaker 2: my girls when they were younger in summer camp, and
Speaker 2: it is really hard at first. I always feel like
Speaker 2: the first few days are really tough, and then you
Speaker 2: kind of it's like there's a freedom like okay, wow,
Speaker 2: like I'm not responsible, so like, actually, okay, she's good
Speaker 2: and I get to be good and like let's just
Speaker 2: do this and it's healthy for everybody. So it's an
Speaker 2: amazing thing to go through. And yeah, so I'm excited
Speaker 2: that we're going through this right now together and we're
Speaker 2: having fun exploring something that you wouldn't have chosen and
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have necessarily chosen. There was a compromise. The
Speaker 2: compromise was that we stay in one city the entire
Speaker 2: time and we find ways to explore. I am a
Speaker 2: more like jumping from place to place to place. But
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is I have now really embraced your
Speaker 2: way of traveling where you are saying, hey, yes it's
Speaker 2: an adventure, Yes it's a trip, but there can be
Speaker 2: a vacation in there as well, meaning you don't have
Speaker 2: to switch urbos or hotel rooms or cities. Actually just
Speaker 2: stay in one place and kind of just immerse yourself
Speaker 2: in that place. I've never done that before.
Speaker 1: How was this the compromise? How was Rome the compromise
Speaker 1: for me? For you?
Speaker 2: For me immersing myself in one place is not what
Speaker 2: I typically do?
Speaker 1: Wait? What was the other thing you wanted to do?
Speaker 2: Jump around? Jump around, jump around. I would have gone
Speaker 2: to a million different cities. I would have hopscotched all
Speaker 2: across the Mediterranean. And the cool thing is no, I'm saying,
Speaker 2: you're doing things you wouldn't have done, and I'm doing
Speaker 2: things I wouldn't have done. And isn't that cool that
Speaker 2: we're doing them together?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it's so cool.
Speaker 2: It is the thing.
Speaker 1: We clash on though. You say, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's vacation styles necessarily, Well I guess it is. We
Speaker 1: don't travel the same. I have traveled all over the world,
Speaker 1: all kinds of adventures, has done some volunteer trips, even
Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff. But when it's time to take
Speaker 1: a vacation, I would like to take a vacation, which
Speaker 1: means I would go like to do nothing, nothing but leisure,
Speaker 1: nothing but leisure. And that's how I describe a vacation
Speaker 1: now this vacation has yet to start for me, because
Speaker 1: I've been going up and down the hills and steps
Speaker 1: and past fountains that don't work, and getting hit by
Speaker 1: vespas and all kinds of stuff. You have me all
Speaker 1: in lines in churches with you know, writings. I can't
Speaker 1: read it. Just this is what's happened so far, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you for this experience that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have otherwise had my love. Thank you for it.
Speaker 2: Please share because this was so fun for me. We
Speaker 2: went to castles on Angelo I had never been, and
Speaker 2: you just walk around. There's ruins, there's just like you know,
Speaker 2: like basically like pieces of travertine and marble that have
Speaker 2: engravings on it, like with Roman numerals. SoJ TJ walks
Speaker 2: past them yesterday and says to me, why do I
Speaker 2: feel like I'm in the first peer one ever? And
Speaker 2: I was like, wow, like actually, like that's fair. Like
Speaker 2: I was looking at what he was saying. I was like,
Speaker 2: I might be able to buy that for twenty nine
Speaker 2: ninety nine at peer one. Like it was actually hilarious,
Speaker 2: And you made a very good point. Okay, there's nothing
Speaker 2: new under the sun. There's the place was cool. It
Speaker 2: was I enjoyed. That was the the Pantheon. The Pantheon,
Speaker 2: which is what it's a church and it's like a
Speaker 2: kind of like a sun dial all in one.
Speaker 1: Cool as all.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: It is absolutely amazing. Colosseum. Loved it, fantastic. That was
Speaker 1: a four loves. The other one.
Speaker 2: Oh, we went to the Vatican, right, Okay, we went
Speaker 2: to the Vatican. But let me just say this, so
Speaker 2: it was this is so funny, this is so TJ.
Speaker 2: So he's like, Okay, I'm cool going to Saint Peter's
Speaker 2: Square and I can see the Basilica. That's cool. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't need to go to the Vatican Museum. I
Speaker 2: don't need to see the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I can imagine. We went to a couple
Speaker 2: other basilicas, like it's probably the same. So yeah, we went,
Speaker 2: we saw we didn't go inside.
Speaker 1: That's okay, which is okay. Yeah, but I enjoyed, I
Speaker 1: appreciate it, and I'm glad we went. I told you
Speaker 1: the Coliseum Vatican were the two things that were on
Speaker 1: the list absolutely have to do. Yeah, after that I
Speaker 1: really can't spend the rest of my time in entire
Speaker 1: country walking up and down Copplestone.
Speaker 2: Streets and eating pasta and.
Speaker 1: Homemade pasta, drinking the best wine apple sprits. I could
Speaker 1: spend the rest of my time doing that, all.
Speaker 2: Right, So Italy's good so far at.
Speaker 1: Least great if how much more of that is there?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: And the I need to get a ticket type stuff.
Speaker 2: So we are going to traverse a little bit more
Speaker 2: in day trips of the country because it is really
Speaker 2: hot here and so I just wanted to get a
Speaker 2: little bit of a break from the heat wave. It
Speaker 2: was one hundred degrees today, So yeah, I'd like to
Speaker 2: see the seaside a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, but the touring the next do
Speaker 1: we need a ticket? You need to get and I.
Speaker 2: Understand that that's not your jam. So we've got we
Speaker 2: do have a ticket, a train ticket, but I can
Speaker 2: say we don't have to go to anything else that's
Speaker 2: ticketed at this point.
Speaker 1: Have you done enough a babe, of what you want
Speaker 1: to do as far as you go see another thing
Speaker 1: somewhere and a painting of some kind somebody did great
Speaker 1: value and important.
Speaker 2: No, I don't I don't need to see anything else good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just don't want really, seriously, I
Speaker 1: don't ever want you to feel like you miss out
Speaker 1: on some type of vacation experience because you're with a
Speaker 1: guy who doesn't vacation the same way.
Speaker 2: No, I'm good. I have seen. I have seen all
Speaker 2: that I need to see.
Speaker 1: Thank god, because that's what's.
Speaker 2: But we still have to run, you know that, we
Speaker 2: still have to run, Like running in Rome is actually
Speaker 2: a little bit of a challenge, just so you know.
Speaker 2: We're also training for the Chicago Marathon, so that's fun
Speaker 2: in a heat wave as well. But yeah, we're figuring
Speaker 2: it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are out. We are outdo we really are?
Speaker 1: On the balcony. If y'all can hear that? That? What?
Speaker 1: What animal is that? Seagull?
Speaker 2: That's very loud and funny?
Speaker 1: All right? The last thing here, I it's a thing backpacks. Yes,
Speaker 1: you all help me and tell me. We were seeing
Speaker 1: it so much trobes that we thought something was up.
Speaker 1: But I guess maybe it makes some sense.
Speaker 2: Well, we've had a We actually would love for people
Speaker 2: to help us figure out what it is actually that's
Speaker 2: going on. So never have I seen so many tourists
Speaker 2: traveling around with backpacks on their front, so not in
Speaker 2: the back, which would make sense because they're backpacks. But
Speaker 2: I thought that it was a measure of safety, Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: so I'm in a city, I'm in Rome, I'm wherever
Speaker 2: in Italy where it's potentially like pickpocketers, et cetera. So
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put it in my front and that way
Speaker 2: I know my stuff is safe. My wallet, my passport,
Speaker 2: whatever I've got, it's all safe. But you thought that
Speaker 2: maybe something else was going on.
Speaker 1: Well, I didn't know. If you're carrying the bag around
Speaker 1: for so long, if it's so if it's on your back,
Speaker 1: you're just giving yourself your body that muscle group that's
Speaker 1: being used to carry the backpack on your back, you're
Speaker 1: giving yourself a little bit of a break carrow on
Speaker 1: the front. For a while, I thought maybe that had
Speaker 1: something to do with as well. The theft thing makes sense.
Speaker 1: There were just so many I don't even want to
Speaker 1: go with fifty percent, but it seemed like it was
Speaker 1: that many folks.
Speaker 2: It might have been fifty percent. I think that's fair.
Speaker 2: But did you also think there was a fashion element
Speaker 2: associated with it? No, you just thought it was a
Speaker 2: pain management situation, and I thought it was a safety
Speaker 2: management but fashion situation. But never fashion. No, no, no, no, no, no, okay,
Speaker 2: because it's not like what we've seen with the sweaters
Speaker 2: or the hoodies that are now no longer wrapped around
Speaker 2: the waist or wrapped around the shoulders, but now the
Speaker 2: trend is to diagonally put them between the waist and
Speaker 2: the shoulder. But that's not what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: It's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: You're laughing because you know it's one of the more
Speaker 2: annoying trends that I personally.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I bothered you so much.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry it does. Why because when I do it myself,
Speaker 2: I start laughing so hard and I can't follow through.
Speaker 2: I don't I've never done it, Okay, I just saw it.
Speaker 2: I've like joked and put it like, Okay, what would
Speaker 2: this look like if I did this when I walked
Speaker 2: out the door. And I haven't done I have done
Speaker 2: it in the mirror before. Yeah, but then I'm like laughing,
Speaker 2: So I don't do it. I don't wear it out anyway.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it looks really cool on everyone else. It
Speaker 2: looks stupid on me.
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we got them hopping around to do.
Speaker 2: We have more to explore. We'll have more, I think
Speaker 2: to share based on what you think of this amazing
Speaker 2: country that you've not really explored before. I can't wait
Speaker 2: to hear all of your thoughts.
Speaker 1: More thoughts, I think we might. What would you think
Speaker 1: you want to do another episode or two while we're
Speaker 1: on the trip.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1: That is, folks, you can keep up with. Actually, maybe
Speaker 1: we should post a couple of pictures from here on
Speaker 1: our official show Instagram page. That's at Amy and TJ Podcast.
Speaker 1: Maybe we should get to you with the diagonald I
Speaker 1: could try it. We'll try that and we'll get that posted.
Speaker 2: Good plan if you do it with me.
Speaker 1: All right, folks, thank you all for listening. As always,
Speaker 1: let's talk to all real SA