WEBVTT - Thou Shalt Keep Holy The High And Low 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.760 Welcome to Everywhere, a production of I Heart Radio. Hi. 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:08.680 I'm Daniel Scheffler, and I have some strong feelings about travel. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:14.520 This is Everywhere weekly. He'll hear me talk about the 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.959 travel commandments. And as much as commandments sound like a 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:22.360 religious thing in my context, they are not. They are, however, 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.880 laced with a touch of ethics and a splash of 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.880 moral imperentive. But please take these with a large pinch 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.319 of salt and then throw it over the wing of 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.800 the plane or wherever. What they really are intended to 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.320 do is to offer up a suggestion. So feel free 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:41.400 to use them and add them to your travel life. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.519 For me, they've done wonders. You will also notice my 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:50.559 commandments on the positive, thou shalt opposed to the usual negative. 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.200 So by all means go fromth and shelter away, and 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:58.520 let's see what happens this week. Perhaps thou shalt keep 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:08.720 holy the high end low of travel. I hear the 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:13.880 word luxury much too often in the travel world. Luxury experiences, 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:20.120 luxury hotels, luxury linens, luxury beaches, luxury. This luxury that 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.200 the best, the finest, the most, the mostest. To me, 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:29.240 somewhere between common sense and lunacy. We misappropriated this word 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.479 luxury and we now use it as a door stuff 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.880 for pretty much everything. Luxury has lost its luster, and 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.080 it's very much all of our fault. The word luxury 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:46.200 originates from the words lust and interestingly enough lucherers, but 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.040 it's now used to describe anything that vaguely resembles wealth 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.200 or perceived affluence, or even just something that seems nice. 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.120 But what most people don't realize is that the word 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.840 is laden with so much more than just a development 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:07.400 of overly shiny condos in Mexico or Florida. Back in 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:11.120 twenty eleven, the BBC premiered a mini series on the 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.880 history of luxury and its ambiguous meaning. Cambridge University academic 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.360 and host of the show, Michael Scott said, luxury isn't 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.080 just a question of expensive and beautiful things for the 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:28.000 rich and powerful. It feeds into ideas about democracy, patriotism 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.160 and social harmony, as well as our values in our 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:36.040 relationships with the divine. I'm taking divine as a britishness 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.280 and much less of a Christian theme. The problem is 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.320 luxury is just not special anymore. Real luxury isn't what 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.160 the travel industry has force fed us real luxury is personal. 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:56.640 It's actually something truly special. It's understanding space, time, and freedom. Actually, stop, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:05.320 listen to those three words, roll over my tongue, space time, freedom. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.520 What does that mean to you? If you can find 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:13.520 that somewhere in your deepest cabins, you've touched luxury something 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:18.080 money couldn't assist with and conn out right by. We 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.560 travel for those three things, not to be an opulence 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.440 or splendor, because in the end that's immaterial to the 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.880 full I don't know human experience. So yeah, like a hotel, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:34.960 for instance, the Amanoi in Vietnam, upon these beautiful pink 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:39.080 cliffs overlooking the East Sea, would never have been built 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.839 if it wasn't for a giant monetary investment to get 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.760 roads to this place. And yes, it takes an iconic 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.760 hotel group with drew imagination to show us how to 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.080 find this space, time, and freedom. And then note how 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:59.720 cautious those starry eyed leaders are of the wood luxury. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.680 Yet again, if you understand the power of this word 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.000 and the ones who do use it very wisely, So 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.240 basically I want to reclaim the word. I want to 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.920 use it when it's truly a thing of I don't know, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.400 great comfort or grand ear. Maybe the luxury police could 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.320 come and check out its overuse and gently tapped the 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.400 knuckles of the overusers, because that hotel and that experience 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.280 in that spa, like it is in luxury, it's just 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.640 a room or I don't know, car ride or massage 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:35.360 table with bad background music, without the consciousness that people 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:40.120 actually deserve more. Of course, the luxury is personal. It's 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.040 a feeling and you can anoint anything you'd like with it. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:48.360 But the word organic and artisanal they've stopped meaning anything 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:55.560 at all. I'm calling on you in Brooklyn, and that's 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.640 why travel is better when you take it from high 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.800 and low. If you always do it on the high, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.880 you're missing the real moments from the ivory tower of 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.479 your hotel and your black limo, you can't see the 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.880 beauty that's right in front of you. But I'm not 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.479 saying that you shouldn't stay at nice hotels, because I 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.680 love a gorgeous hotel. But then come eat on the street, 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.280 or stay on the street I don't know, at an 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.040 air By and B or a tiny inn run by locals, 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:30.000 and book one meal at that incredible Michelin star Chef's restaurant. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.280 If we all use the word luxury less, perhaps then 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.640 we'll be able to reclaim it as I suggested, and 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.360 only utter the word when things are really and truly 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.160 luxurious for you, like when you're on the road and 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:50.680 that feeling of magic washes over you. You're not remembering 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:55.520 the luxury, You're remembering the lessons, the stories, the people 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.880 you've met. Because as it stands now, the word means enough. 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.200 And that's where the country of Estonia fits the bill perfectly. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.280 Estonia is this land of odd sagas and dizzying fables, 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:16.479 some sultry and some truly tragic, the most northern of 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.880 the less explored Baltics and one of the least populous 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.839 countries in Europe is the continents most serially underrated. I 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.799 think in Paris I met Merint, a forest born, beautiful 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.960 Estonian nymph who had singlehandedly stopped all the traffic around 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.440 the Arc de Triomphe. I've seen it again and again. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.320 She told me these enchanting stories about her home country, 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.400 and I was mesmerized. For a country that's the most 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.200 tech in all of Europe. Mythology and sharing of folk 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.600 history is what locals just do instead of watching bad 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:55.280 television or fixating on their smartphones. Elders share stories like 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.719 the child who came from an egg, or the classic 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:00.880 the young Man who would have liked to have his 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:05.480 eyes opened. The real housewives have nothing on these stories. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.240 In fact, Estonian mythology dates back to pre Christian times, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.280 and it's largely dotted in traveler's accounts or told to 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.520 you by your great grandmother. Of course, in some runic song, 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.520 picture this a Viking singing about giants and animistic beliefs. 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.720 The world of Lord of the Rings feels so tame 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:31.360 and dull after you spend some time with Estonian blood. Luckily, 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.320 the old world prevails, and it brings about a great 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.480 touch of supernatural. And that's what I was seeking out. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.040 Determined to see the entire country and how its inhabitants 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.080 differ from the rest of the world, I decided to 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.480 drive from north to south, from east to west, and 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.920 everywhere else I could possibly squeeze a tiny car through. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:56.480 The roads lapped me right up. With the post recession glow, 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.520 Estonia has managed to pull itself up by its proverbial 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:05.160 foot straps and renew the country's appeal through infrastructure, updates, 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.200 a new entrepreneurial visa program, and keeping it all under 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.480 wraps for the die hearts willing to venture beyond stuffy 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:17.120 Paris and already seen Budapest, and really just being the 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:25.560 final frontier of unexplored Europe. It has its advantages. The 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.800 country is easily criss crossed, and as it's mostly flat 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.160 in the good sense. The earlier lies not in the 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.559 overt scenery from the freeways, but it's revealed that every 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:40.480 little town, donning little steeples, cobbled streets and the soft 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.520 surrounding meadows. It's understandable if you want to just jump 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.920 out of the car and go lie in these fields 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.800 with the farm animals around you, napping or escaping if 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.880 you will. It's that kind of place. Your weirdness and 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.000 firm attachment to nature will make you fit right in. 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.400 Tallin the country's capital, is where I commenced my explorations. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.280 After a plush night of deep sleep at this gorgeous hotel, 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:14.240 a former wartime post office, I contemplated Estonia's resistance during 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.960 World War One and their second independence after the wreckage 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.160 of the Soviet Union and today Russia is waiting on 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.680 their doorstep. I wonder what Nabokov would say about this 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:29.679 little tryst. So it makes sense to me that the 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:34.000 country that invented Skype sees communication and the Internet as 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.800 the ultimate delivery of the independence. In fact, they often 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.720 commended for being one of the most wide countries in Europe. 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.480 Take that Russia. Okay, but enough of this. The open 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:53.440 road called que the opening scene from cruel intentions. Driving 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.319 along the northern coastlines of Estonia, with Finland just in 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:00.560 the distance. Across the sea, the bottomless forests come assumed me. 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.440 Locals called these forests traveling forests, as they believe that 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.360 when people are cruel in some place, the forests will 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:14.120 leave the area. The smell of briny ocean air mixed 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.880 with deep scents from pine trees is so unique and 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:21.719 filtered into my car and right into my mind. It 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.839 should have probably been bottled by some chic French perfumer, 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.480 if they haven't already done that, because in a world 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.200 of stereotypical smells, this one felt worth spraying behind my 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.800 knees and my ears. I very seldom saw people along 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.600 the roads walking by, and only in the many petite 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.880 towns were stopping for a rhubarb pie or swig of kaffer, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:48.880 which they call peam. Some smiling, shy residents appeared. The 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.559 car found this comfortable pace as I headed with no agenda, 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.960 through villages and villages that could easily car pool their 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.880 entire population. The RADI you love traditional music for some reason, 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:07.600 and so this tribal fantasia overtook the airwaves. I was 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:16.000 in trance. That was magic. Estonians are beautiful and big eyed, 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.760 homely people, and as I got out in these small 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:24.680 villages call them hamlets deep inside the forest like the hula, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:30.120 I saw how people lived here comfortably, with fresh produce 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.560 picked from the forests, and the family all around for 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:38.440 connecting all the time. Most homes have a sauna. And 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.800 nearby neighbor told me and we started to chat about 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.839 Estonia and all its many secrets. I of course love secrets, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.240 so I was eagerly leaning in to hear it all. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.760 I've decided to hold some of these to keep you 0:11:55.040 --> 0:12:02.040 at the edge of your seat for now. The holder 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.880 of secrets guided me to a nearby bog called Veru Raba, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.320 which is a maya that accumulates peat and moss. And 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:14.360 creates this incredible ecosystem like nothing on the planet. How appropriate, 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.400 of course, Estonia creatures of the yawn its forest seemed 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.280 to watch from the trees as I explored this strange 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:26.960 marsh like water Ali Khara, Visaya, the Estonian healing elf 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.880 of the springs, or Savanna, the Estonian guardian spirit of 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:35.600 the wetlands might be on sun lounges nearby. Estonia is 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.200 just like that, just when you don't expect it, a 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:43.120 strange ecosystem, more mythical creature or abandoned manor house, or 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.960 sometimes a sort of operational lighthouse or wink it you 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.640 and nowhere, and nobody has mentioned the word luxury to me. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.480 The custom here is to stop for coffee and fishing, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.480 with big signs on every road indicating with this can 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.280 be best done. It did take me a while to 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.160 figure out what these signs meant. Fished with coffee has 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.720 never been first on my sort of pallid of fancy. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.960 I decided to venture further south to explore the Setoma district, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.880 and en route I found locals happily sitting at a 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.160 rest stop with a hot drink in hand, perhaps hoping 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.040 for the catch of the day come on. You cannot 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.400 possibly slow down more than this, and if you need 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.920 of more of a substantial rest stop. Estonia has this 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.720 culture of courts or beer halls that are located every 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.560 couple of miles. Locals meet here from all over the 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.480 country on their way somewhere to laugh and share local 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.480 delicacies like smoked or pickled herring and a potato salad 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.920 with of course, deer sausages. A few of these respits 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.080 and you can get totally drunk, overly fed, and with 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.640 a collection of new friends from all over the country. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.360 Set Tomm is in habited by the Center people in 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.800 an area in the southeastern part of the country. Here 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:11.880 locavore and handmade is original and not manufactured as an 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.760 shortage in Brooklyn. Besides their protected culture, they also have 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.880 their own kingdom and appointed a new king a few 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.360 years ago who happily rules this odd little patch of 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:27.440 the world with utmost charm. I tried to get his counsel, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:30.600 but he was busy milking goats with no time for 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:36.160 a New Yorker. Set Us listed by UNESCO as part 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:40.240 of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage. Live without the rest 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.040 of the world for the most part, they have carved 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.440 out their own vision and here live out of the 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:51.040 dreams of their ethnic and linguistic minority, as they should, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.960 and not in that we hate the world. Let's wear 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.280 white sheets of our heads and only allow white people way. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.680 It's respectful and inclusive of and beautiful. And their language, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.320 which is part of the uralic language, is sounded less Russian, 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:12.040 less finish, and definitely less Estonian to me, the generous 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.680 and fascinating woman dressed in red embroidered long dresses are 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.520 everywhere and overly friendly, just about to enjoy a feast 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:25.600 with anyone, So please bring your happiest self hair ready 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:32.000 for anything. I was naturally invited to sit down at 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.280 a long wooden table and indulge as much as possible, 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.560 and several pies stuffed with pretty much anything the land produces, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.680 and enough potatoes to feed a small colony of lemurs. 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.680 I think I may be still recovering from this meal. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.600 Of course, there's no fancy hotel here. You stay in 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.200 a little cottage in a family's garden, or you rent 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.480 a tiny house on the lake, all decked out and 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.720 everything you may need in a loving family providing home 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:08.400 cooked meals this is luxury. Sitting cross legged with some 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.520 locals around a fire, I signently listened to their local language. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.800 I wasn't understanding anything except that I think there was 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.920 a meal being lovingly prepared another meal. The most maternal 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.800 of the group, a beautiful alder woman who had lived 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.240 a whole life and said to mar took my hand 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:29.320 and started telling me a fable in her native language. 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.480 She looked me in my eyes and said, you either 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:39.600 with nature or against nature? Life is? That's simple. The 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.040 translation came from someone sitting next to me, and I 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.480 sat quietly, mesmerized by the country's love for a simple 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:52.400 life of pure sharing the fable as they do taught 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.920 me again to see the little magic in the simplest things, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.560 and to heat wisdom when it comes to your norse. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.760 The world could only see that religion won't help them, 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:09.479 only nature can and shall, and that I think it's 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.199 real luxury. I'm gonna pause this right here for a 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.600 moment for our sponsors to weigh in, but do come 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.000 back to hear more about where I've been scooting around 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:27.879 this week. You've just been somewhere. What say we go everywhere? 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:38.439 Let's dive right in with me today, is Holly a 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.840 real connoisseur of luxury? I don't know if that's the case. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.840 I don't think of myself as a particularly luxury human, right, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.440 I mean I'm pretty like relaxed and groovy. I don't 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.080 need fancy things. Yeah, but that's the whole point. Like, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.320 you celebrate luxury in a way that's not the conventional 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.879 way I think of you. The way that you luxuriate 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:05.159 your life by sewing and making your home beautiful in 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:09.840 ways that I think it's very luxurious. It's very self indulgent, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.679 which I think is luxurious in its own way. Like 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.280 my husband and I always say that, like weird grown 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.280 ups and we're defining what that is. So if we 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.520 want to have a house that looks like a giant cartoon, 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:22.800 that's fine, and it's us and to us, that feels 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.600 very luxurious. But that's about reclaiming luxury, right, It's about 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.320 being Like, for instance, I think all travel is luxurious. 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.119 The very idea that you could travel and get on 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.520 an airplane or a boat or a mechanism that gets 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.200 you from A to B. That's luxurious. Yeah. That well, 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.639 it's interesting because you get into a place very quickly 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.960 of comparative luxury. Right, Like, if you traveled back to 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.280 seventeen sixty and you told someone how much you travel 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.320 in a year, they would think you're a sorcerer. Right. 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:59.480 Whereas now technology and in some places not everywhere, prosperity 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.200 has led a point where things that we once thought luxurious, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.359 like traveling all over the world, are now much more 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.119 accessible to a lot more people. So a lot of 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:11.080 these experts in luxury and I have to use the 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.800 air quotes there because that gets into a weird thing 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:15.920 of like how do you become an expert on luxury? 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.959 And what does that mean? Right? The meaning shifts a 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:23.560 lot of their kind of predictions is that luxury has 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.240 stopped being about acquiring a lot of things. It's much 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.359 more about a bespoke experience that is yours and yours alone, 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:33.480 Which is interesting because I think that's kind of more 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.840 in line with what you want to reclaim, but I 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:40.920 also know it will get commercialized. Well now everybody wants 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:45.240 to have that experience, so it's a reproduction of that thing. Right. 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.240 Whereas I have this theory that what you need to 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.760 do is you need to fall in love with life 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:56.680 and luxury for yourself will come from that. Like I'll 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.600 give you a perfect example. Michael and I went to Lapaz, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:06.800 Puerto Cortez, this incredible little place um north of crazy 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.880 Baja California, Mexico. And the beauty of the whole thing 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.000 was you could go down to the harbor, get a 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:19.720 boat for hardly any money, and head out into the 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:26.280 open gulf basically and see whale sharks and park off 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.280 at a deserted island really, which is like a remote 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:35.960 nature reserve, park off, barbecue on the beach, fresh seafood, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:40.280 which you just caught yourself with no one around. So 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:44.479 that ties in with my whole thing about time, space 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.800 and freedom. It was giving me all these things, and 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.399 it ties into your thing about experiential like that is 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.679 the experience. No one should want to replicate that. They 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.280 should only want to go have their own version of that. 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.040 And that's what makes it special because then you're in 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.840 love with your life. That's the thing too, that rob's 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.159 what could be luxury travel of its luxuriousness is it 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:11.000 becomes a little bit performative. Right. I have these little 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.880 things that I always tell people that that make travel 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:19.440 more luxurious in a very personal way. For instance, you've 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.280 been to many of my hotel rooms. I always bring 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.959 my own little coffee set up, grind, a little packet 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.880 of beans and a V sixty so I can make 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:32.320 coffee as if I'm at home. I can make any 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:36.600 hotel room like that. If I'm staying at a bad hotel, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.760 I take little spa goodies with me. And it sounds silly, 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.639 but if I haven't a stick of incense which I 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:47.800 got from India from the Ashram, and maybe a candle 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:52.879 and maybe some essential oils, suddenly my room becomes the 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:58.879 essence of healing and wellness. And that's where luxury needs 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.480 to be reclaimed for those things are luxurious. Like I've 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:05.600 seen what you travel with you you make home and nest. 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.040 So I'm messy, so it spreads out in like twelve 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:10.760 seconds when I walk in the room, so it looks 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:14.320 nesty and constable. Like I also travel with a kikoi 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:17.760 ois and a kickoi. Is this thing from Africa. It 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:21.560 comes from like an Indian slash African tradition of having 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.560 a cloth which is big you can wear. The Indians 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:27.800 wear it like a lungi around their waist in the 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.399 south of India, but in Kenya. Kikois are like what 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:36.760 African women would wear around their bodies. It's basically a towel, 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:42.399 a hair scarf, a next scarf, a little bag. You 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.560 can make it into a tote, and I always travel 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.080 with one. Sometimes I have it so Ella has something 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.639 to lie on. I put it on the plane to 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:54.920 sit on. So the KIKOI becomes this luxurious item from home. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.480 That item brings me home. Anyway I am on the road, 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.959 I I'm thinking about you cause me to reflect on 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:08.199 what like the most luxurious experience I have had is, 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:12.240 And what keeps coming to mind is kind of surprising 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.000 even to myself right, Like it's not a thing where 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:16.720 I would be like, this is a legal experience you 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:18.800 have to have. Um. Have you ever been to the 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:24.919 Dolly Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida? So I went last 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:26.960 year with two of my best friends. We just ran 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.280 down there. The Museum of Fine Art there was doing 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:33.959 an exhibit that we wanted to see about Star Wars costumes. Um, 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.360 but we also wanted to hit the Dolly Museum. And 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:41.120 that museum is fascinating for many reasons. It's an wonderfully 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:46.040 strange architectural achievement, but also whether or not you love 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:50.840 Salvador Dolly and his work. It's a very interesting space 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.960 and in terms of how the docents tell his life 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:57.320 story as they're leading people through the galleries, it's really lovely. 0:23:57.359 --> 0:23:59.719 But for me, the moment that keeps springing to my 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:02.840 mind is when I first turned around this edge and 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.240 saw in person for the first time the hallucinogenic tory 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:11.440 a Door, which is a painting, I mean, a painting 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:14.080 that will rock you back one. It is massive, and 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:17.720 there's always like just the the very nuts and bolts 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:19.800 kind of wonder of like how does anyone work at 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.479 this scale? But too, I mean, that's just a painting 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:24.679 that I really love anyway, and I had seen it 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:27.439 reproduced many many times. You know, it's got a lot 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:30.760 of interesting visual things going on, where things are not 0:24:30.840 --> 0:24:33.600 quite what they look like at first glance, and when 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:36.560 you look deeper you see multiple different things in there, 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:39.320 you know, faces hidden in them. And but what felt 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.200 very what keeps jumping to my mind that felt luxurious 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:43.960 about it, is that I was very taken with it. 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.080 And this I am not what I would call a 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:49.359 snootie art person. I don't need to know who painted it. 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:51.280 I mean, I eventually want to find out, but if 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:52.720 I see a piece of art that I connect to, 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:55.000 it usually has nothing to do with knowing its history. 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:58.560 Like it's just visceral. It's like falling in love and 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:01.919 standing before this painting, which is like immense, It's the 0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:05.159 size of a room. It's huge. Just I mean, I 0:25:05.200 --> 0:25:07.440 was almost frozen on the spot. And the greatest thing 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:09.320 to me, and what made it feel luxurious is that 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:12.280 as I'm there and I'm talking and I'm drinking it 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:15.639 with my eyes, the docents that are leading tours around 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:18.920 just keep like making sure that they lead their people 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:21.000 and leave me a little space. Like they're not moving me. 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:23.359 They're not They're just letting me be with that painting 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:25.440 for like way longer than most people are going to 0:25:25.480 --> 0:25:27.040 stand there and look at it. And to me, I 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:30.840 was like this is it felt very luxurious because like 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:32.920 I was just being allowed, even in a space with 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:35.360 a lot of other people, to just have my personal 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:38.560 interaction with this thing that I was shocked at how 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:41.119 deeply it moved me. So to me, that's like a 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:45.040 moment of deep luxury. And it's not a particularly expensive trip, 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:47.760 you know, it's just even if you put all of 0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:50.040 the pieces of like your travel down there, staying at 0:25:50.040 --> 0:25:52.560 a hotel for a couple of days. As trips go, 0:25:52.640 --> 0:25:55.879 I doubt people are like, this is my apex luxury trip, 0:25:56.640 --> 0:25:59.440 But to me it was a very luxurious I love 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:02.600 that holly hour of my life. Well, that's the whole point. 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:07.000 It's about finding ways to reclaim that yourself, which is 0:26:07.040 --> 0:26:10.520