WEBVTT - Getting Creative with Vacation Plans #227 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.920 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt, 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:25.840 and today we're discussing getting creative with vacation ideas. Joel Man, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.159 if there is ever a summer, if there's ever a 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.000 time when folks are gonna get more creative when it 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.800 comes to how they're spending their time off, it's gonna 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.280 be now. Right with COVID with a pandemic altering how 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.640 we live. It's you know, obviously not only affecting our 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.680 ability to go to restaurants and going to the stores 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:43.879 and stuff like that in school. So obviously, um, we're 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:45.519 feeling that less now that school has been out, but 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.440 like we went almost the entire spring without school being 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.000 in session. But now we're also seeing how it's affecting 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.560 our summer travels, how we vacation. And so I'm excited 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.200 that we're talking about this topic here in the middle 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:00.400 of summer to hopefully give our listeners some different idea, 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.320 some some out of the box ways to think about 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.760 how they should go about taking their time off. Yeah, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.120 especially like you said, because of COVID, it's gonna have 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.280 to change how we take our time off. And we 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.840 still think it's important for people to take time off, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.319 you know, and so we'll talk about that too. But yeah, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:16.880 before we get to that, Matt, I wanted to to 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.399 let you know I had a rental property. One of 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.640 my rental properties just recently come up. One of my 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.080 tenants is buying a home just just for the Yeah. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.000 I love it when my tenants stay in the neighborhood. 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.040 It's kind of so fun. I see him around jogging 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.360 or at a restaurant when we go to restaurants again someday. 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:34.520 How far away are they moving from that house? So 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.360 I think it's just just over a mile, not far. Okay, 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.320 not bad, I've got your beat. I had to send 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.399 it at one of our houses close by, and they 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.080 moved literally four houses away. They purchased the house that 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.640 was right around the corner from the rental, which totally 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.600 the same thing, same sort of mentality. It made me 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.640 so happy that they love the neighborhood so much. And 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:55.920 of course they probably saw that house and knew about 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:57.880 it because they're just out for a walk. I saw 0:01:57.920 --> 0:01:59.640 the sign in the front yard, like, oh, I can 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:01.680 stay in the neighborhood. Known something. It makes me feel 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:04.080 good about the house and about the neighborhood as well, 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.040 and I'm glad just to see that they're still kind 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.000 of in the neighborhood, you know, being a part of it, 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.079 investing in the neighborhood to make Atlanta better. Yeah, I 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.640 completely agree. But I had to go through the relisting 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.080 process right and find some new tenants and a couple 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.359 of things. One I got poison ivy while I was 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.400 trying to do the weeding in the front yard. I 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.640 still see the scabs on your arms. Dude, It's terrible. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.320 I'm so susceptible to poison ivy. I really got to 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.440 stop digging around in the yard like that, or you 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.200 just need to get better at recognizing it. Do or 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.720 wearing long sleeves no matter what when I'm doing that stuff. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:36.959 But yeah, I get it so bad. It was ridiculous 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.359 with some like chin on my arms on my legs. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:41.400 So yeah, I'm gonna watch out for that next time. 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.360 But I also I learned something else besides the dangerous 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.160 of playing in poison ivy. I learned that Zillo is 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.160 now charging landlords to list their property. Yes they are. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.120 They're charging ten bucks per week every time you need 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.880 to realist a property and up until this point in time, 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.760 it's been free to list your property, and so I've 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:04.799 constantly used Zillo. I've had a great experience. I always 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:06.880 been able to find good tenants. They end up dispersing 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:08.880 that listing to a bunch of other websites where where 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.679 people look, including hot pads and Trulia, And so I'm 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.320 I'm kind of frugal, right, maybe borderline cheap, And so 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:16.920 I figured I would run an experiment. What if instead? 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.040 I've heard people having good results from posting their rental 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:23.440 property on Facebook yard sale, So I figured I'd give 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:24.920 that a shot. I had plenty of time, I had 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.320 a nice window of two months to find a new tenant, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.960 and so I held off on posting on Zillo and 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.519 I just posted on Facebook yard sale and crickets. I 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.720 didn't get anybody reaching interest, no interest at all, nobody 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.720 inquiring about touring the home. So yeah, I let that 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.600 run for a couple of weeks and got nobody. And 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.960 so I realized, all right, I'm not to buy the bullet, 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.360 pay the ten bucks for a week and hop on Zillo. Dude, 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.240 instantaneous emails, It's like turning this picket on. It's completely 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.880 worth the ten bucks. I had ten showings over basically 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.360 essentially one morning and one person in an afternoon. And 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:02.200 so yeah, over just two hours of showing them home, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.760 had all these people coming in found a great tenant. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.040 So for all the landlords out there who are trying 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:08.720 to figure out where to list your properties, now that 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.200 Zillo cost money, maybe Facebook yard Tale will work out 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.200 for you. It didn't for me. I ended up having 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:15.880 to pay the ten bucks. But ten bucks for a 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.520 week when you're talking about finding a great tenant and 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.039 being out there in front of as many potential tenants 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.320 as possible, that's small potatoes. That's a price worth thing. Yeah, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.159 more than anything, I feel like what it does is 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:28.520 it kind of removes from the clutter because the problem 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.159 with Zillo and a lot of these listing services is 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.080 that folks would just leave their properties up there and 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.520 it just clutters the results. And so folks who are 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.800 looking for properties, they're kind of spinning their wheels on 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.600 chasing after these properties that aren't even available, or or 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.279 ones that aren't actual listings. They're just I don't know 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.680 why they're up there, but people leave listings up there's 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.520 fake listings everywhere, But it cuts the clutter, you know, 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.440 and so like I'm more than happy to pay ten 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.640 bucks a week. I mean, like, what's two three weeks 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.240 like thirty bucks? You know, like even two months eighty bucks? 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.160 Eighty bucks is nothing to find a really qualit city 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.480 tendant if that's how long it takes. And I really 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.040 was able to do it in only weeks, so I 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:05.800 only had to pay with ten bucks. So well, some 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.360 unsolicited advice, if you've got that many inquiries in one day, 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.520 maybe you need to like raise the price a little 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.719 bit there. Well, I will say supply and demand, Tolmie. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.320 That's a good point. But out of all the responses 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.240 I got and the ten people touring, only one person 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.039 wanted to sign on the dotted line. So I think 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:21.960 I did kind of hit the sweet spot, I think, so, 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:23.720 I think so yeah, But I think I agree. Zillo 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.160 is great because they push out their listenings to hot 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.159 pads to truly as some of these other companies that 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.760 they own, they all source from Zillo. And Zello is 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:34.800 great too, man, because when you log into as a 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.640 property manager, they save your account and so you just 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:39.200 all you have to do is log back in, you 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.680 reactivate that account, and so from a landlord perspective, it's 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.720 great for that reason. At the other end of the 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:49.159 spectrum of what we would not recommend you doing is Craigslist. Craigs. 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.520 This is the worst, dude. Not only do you have 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.440 to create that listing every single time, but I have 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.800 never had a serious applicant uh for a property through Craigslist. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.440 And you're listing is always it ripped off on Craigslist, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.880 you know, like some scammer will uh will rip your photos, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.279 steal your copy, create a new listing for like five cheaper, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.839 and it will have have a different, different headline, so 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:11.920 it's not easy to find. But I've had folks show 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.160 up to the property before while I'm showing it to 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.200 two folks who have contacted via the real listing, and 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.760 they're like, Hey, is this the house for seven? I'm like, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.400 oh no, no, no, it's uh where did you see this? 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.960 There's a huge problem with those scams listening. And I 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.880 think Craigslist is charging for some listings now too, I 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:32.960 think potentially even for rental properties. I know they are 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.200 probably to clean up all their listings. Yeah, and I 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.240 know they are when you're when you're listing like a 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.160 car for sale. So yeah, that's another thing. If you're 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.640 gonna pay money, your money is better spent on a 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.920 service where everybody's flocking, you know that you're actually gonna 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.760 find the most potential tenants. Definitely. Yeah, heads up for 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:50.919 all the landlords out there. All right, let's mention the 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.080 beer that we're having on this show today. We're drinking 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.320 a beer called Finnizy Swamp Thing by Savannah River Brewing Company. 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.839 This was sent to us by listener Jeff and Matt. 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:01.880 This beer comes out of your hometown of Augusta, Georgia. 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.920 Another one from Savannah Brewing Company. Yeah, so this one's 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:09.440 called Finnizy Swamp Thing, Fantasy Fantasy, that's how we say it. Well, so, yeah, 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.720 you mentioned right before we we started recording that that's 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.000 a local swamp and Augusta. Have you been there? Yeah, 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:16.640 so it's a swamp. And you know what's funny is 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:18.840 that I know that name because there are some kids 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.480 in my high school and they named their band Fantasy. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.560 What's a good name. Yeah, pretty good name. I think 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.360 they're kind of going with a jam band kind of feel. 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.680 I was gonna say, emo, Oh yeah, we weren't quite 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:32.240 in that emo era just yet. But no, I actually 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.280 have never been to that swamp before. And I was 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.840 looking at some pictures online, and we're planning a trip 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.320 to Augusta pretty soon here, and that might be another fun, 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.760 little little day trip, you know, other than visiting family, 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.720 of course, but getting out and seeing a cool local destination, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.200 like a like a cool swamp like that. That might 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:49.920 sound boring to some folks, but mayeah, let's right up 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:54.240 my alley. So wherever you go all the swamps. I 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.320 got a little swamp checklist. You would have visit all 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:57.920 the swamps in off Ffty states. I wouldn't put it 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.080 a past youre alright. But Matt actually brings us perfectly 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:02.880 to the topic that we're going to discuss on the 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:07.880 show today, getting creative with vacation ideas. And obviously COVID 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.240 has changed summer planes for so many people, and it's 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.520 time to get creative if you have hopes of having 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.320 a decent little vacation. Uh, so many people have had 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.120 their previously planned vacation canceled all together. Right, my neighbors, 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.080 they were supposed to go to Italy to celebrate their 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.200 fifteenth anniversary in early April Italy. That of course didn't 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:29.000 pan out. Yeah, that's when things were the worst, especially Italy. Yeah. 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.240 So and then we go to Italy and the hit 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.600 up Spain. Oh not the time for that. Yeah, and 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.040 we had travel experts. Scott kais on a recent episode 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.959 to discuss refunds and the safety of air travel. But 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.440 getting on an airplane to travel while actually being decently 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.040 safe still isn't something many people want to do. So 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.280 we're going to explore some creative options for summer travel 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.800 that will be fun and also super affordable. That's what 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:53.640 we're going to get into today. Yeah. I mean, you know, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.400 the CEO of Airbnb, you know, he said that travel 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.839 will never be the same again, that it'll never get 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.679 back to the way that it was pre COVID, And 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:03.600 you know, I appreciate what he's saying, although I'm not 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.439 completely convinced that he's right. Uh. He also mentioned how 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.680 more people aren't getting on planes and flying to you know, 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.000 the different touristy cities, but instead are getting in their 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.800 cars and driving too smaller cities and outdoor destinations. This 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:19.760 is one trend that I hope really sticks, because like, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.079 this is the type of travel that really resonates with me. 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.240 But either way, you might already have a week off 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.080 from work that you have planned, and it's important to 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.560 still take that time off. Like we mentioned earlier, even 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.319 if your plans may have changed due to COVID, don't 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.680 abandon that vacation altogether. Instead, we would recommend you to 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.840 get creative. Yeah, man, we we recently talked about avoiding 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.960 burnout and how close to half of stressed out employees 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.320 avoid taking time off of work in order to kind 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.120 of be seen as a quote unquote work martyr. But 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.360 the studies show that this is actually a bad thing, right, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.360 and it tends to lead more towards occupational burnout and 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.600 potentially even clinical depression not taking time off from work, 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.520 especially considering the incredibly stress environment COVID is created for 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.400 so many people, so many individuals, so many families too. 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.120 It's a recipe for higher stress levels and lower levels 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:12.520 of productivity. So really we need breaks, and in particularly 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.400 in a high stress season, we need breaks even more 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.800 than we typically do. So I think for foregoing a 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:23.679 vacation in is an even worse idea than it typically is. Yeah, man, 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.679 I couldn't agree more. And so, you know, what does 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.760 it look like? To think creatively when your travel plans 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.960 abroad are canceled. Some folks may not feel comfortable getting 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.839 out of town and going on vacations. So what we 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.240 would recommend for folks to do is to start with 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.640 small ways to to make their summer and their time 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.640 off feel a bit more special. Think through some new 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.240 traditions or special treats that you wouldn't normally you know, participated, 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.839 or that you wouldn't normally buy. So, for example, U 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.680 there are several neighbors nearby that have purchased these outdoor 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.200 movie screens. Basically, it's like this giant white screen and 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.040 you know, you're able to project a movie or you know, 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.760 project TV on there. I'm not even kidding. Two houses 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.640 down on one side of me, uh, they've got one 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.360 set up. Four houses down on the other side they've 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:05.880 got one set up as well, and you can kind 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:07.240 of hear the movie at night. It's kind of cool. 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.440 But I don't think these are things that our neighbors 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.720 would have done if it weren't for COVID, right, Like, instead, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.160 they would normally be off traveling somewhere, but instead they're 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.560 looking to find ways to make home a little more fun. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.320 Because they know they're they're kind of stuck at home 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.440 a little bit, at least for the time being. Yeah, 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.559 my coworker Kim, bought some sort of projector that is 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.000 about the size of this beer can actually, and she 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.240 said it's great. They're watching movies outside all the time. 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.040 She's got this decent sized above ground pool. They'll hang 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.120 out in the pool and watch a movie night, yeah, 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.040 which is pretty great. So, yeah, those are the kind 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.360 of things right the outside of the box thinking that 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.640 it really takes to make sure you're able to create 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.080 some fun memories. This summer, Matt, we bought like this 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.959 inflatable pool that we sit in the front yard and 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.040 I've I've played in it, I know you have. And 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.200 we've got a slide and the girls just pour water 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.640 down it. I've slid down it, and it's just so fun. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.040 We break out the beach chairs, we pop open the umbrella. 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:00.680 We kind of make it feel like we went to 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.720 a destination. It costs almost no money, and we get 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.439 so much use out of something like that. Just every 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.280 time we set it up. We're playing it for you know, 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.240 three or four days in a row, and it's kind 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.079 of become this mainstay, right, This staycation fun creative way 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.079 to to enjoy summer together when we're just not going 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.520 nearly as many places. Yeah, Plus we've gotten so much 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.400 rain lately. I bet that thing's overflowing if you just 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:22.640 leave it out for a little bit and gets that 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:24.440 fresh water in there, the fresh rain of brain water. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.079 But yeah, that's an example I feel like of you're 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.439 sticking to the same location, but you're you're basically changing 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.920 your mindset, You're changing how you're viewing your time at home, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.240 and that's got to be probably the most affordable way 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.440 to make it feel like vacation even though you're not 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.560 really going anywhere and you do. Another option too, is 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.960 like just the technology that we have at our fingertips. Right. 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.080 I'm not talking about, you know, going down to Google 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.560 Rabbit trail of of dumb stuff, but like different local 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.280 companies are hosting free guided tours of city landmarks. Uh, 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.959 the Museum of Natural History they're doing Facebook Live. There 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.400 are different virtual VECSE and guided experiences EA tourism that 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.640 folks are doing, you know. Or if you want even 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:02.320 more skin in the game, you can even look into 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.360 getting something like a masterclass membership. I was looking on 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.560 there and you can learn how to do some Texas 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.800 style barbecue from Aaron Franklin. You've heard of Franklin's barbecue. 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:12.960 He's the master. I want to go to Franklin so bad. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.439 But like, there's some big time folks on their Natalie 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.760 Portman's doing acting has a whole course on acting. I 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:20.439 saw Danny Elfman that kind of dove into it a 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.439 little more. Danny Elfman, have you heard of him? He's 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.400 a composer. I know the name. You know him because 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.280 he does a lot of the soundtracks for Tim Burton movies. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.560 So how cool would it be to sit through a course, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:31.960 you know of all these classes where he just dives 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.120 into you know, what goes into his process and how 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.440 you can kind of think through that. Super fascinating. I 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.840 find that really interesting. Yeah, that's that sounds awesome. Man. 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.400 That sounds like kind of a fun thing to participate 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.199 in to check out. Plus, I want you to level 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.079 up your your your meat smoking game out there on 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:47.839 the front port I gotta get better at that. I mean, 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.920 you know, I'm I'm I'm hitting like doubles right now, 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:51.360 but I want to hit a home run at some point. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.280 You can do that with Aaron Franklin. But most of 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:56.040 us are probably sick of sitting in front of our 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.880 screens on zoom calls. So so maybe learning about stuff 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.320 online it's probably not what you have in mind. Yeah, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.920 virtual vacation isn't something that sounds appealing to me at all. Yeah, 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:06.760 it's not idea. I don't want to do that. Right, 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:08.960 Maybe I'll think a master class, but that's that's not 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.520 my idea of a creative vacation idea. Right, So, if 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.200 you are looking to take some time off, you'll likely 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.040 want to get out of the house some So you're 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.840 gonna need to look to getting creative exploring locally. And 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:21.840 so later on we're gonna talk about taking a bigger 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:23.760 trip and what that might look like. But first let's 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:25.960 get into kind of stay cations and how you can 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.880 maximize your off time, your downtime near where you actually live. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:41.760 We'll get to that right after the break. All right, man, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.200 we are back from the break, and we're talking essentially 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.080 right now about stay cations. Right, we're talking about getting 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:51.120 creative with your summer vacation ideas. Uh, and we're gonna 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.160 talk about starting basically hyper local, right, one of the 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.720 best things that we've been able to discover is how 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.520 many great destinations that we have that are within our 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.200 neighborhoo in our part of Atlanta. You know, we've always enjoyed, uh, 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.680 this little local quote unquote farm that we can easily 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.880 walk to. It's actually between your house and my house. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.760 But when you can't or you don't want to visit 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.920 a more typical destination that might be a bit crowded, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.400 having spots like this to explore, Man, they are amazing 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.440 and they've really been priceless during this difficult times, during 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.920 this pandemic. Yeah, we've enjoyed hitting up some spots that 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.600 we normally hit up, but at the same time, we've 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.080 kind of challenged ourselves to get even more creative and 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.680 to explore locally places that we we haven't even thought 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.240 to look at yet. And we've uncovered some hidden gems 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.480 right that we basically we missed until COVID hit and 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.520 we found the need to to think more outside of 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:41.680 the box and do some more digging into places that 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.440 we could go to have some fun. And I kind 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.000 of had like this small list going of nearby places 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.400 that I wanted to explore, and because of COVID. It's 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.480 gotten longer and longer as I've heard from from more people, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.200 cool things to do, you know, around town, and we've 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.080 actually been able to put some of a dent in it. 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.920 Because of social distancing and and our normal calendar being 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.120 completely upended, we've been able to enjoy some really cool 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.560 spots around Georgia and in particular around Atlanta that we 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.440 otherwise like just probably would have avoided or wouldn't have 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.440 thought about. Yeah, man, you know, COVID it's forced us 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.000 out of sort of like our typical routines, right, like 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.280 the routines and the ruts that we often find ourselves in. Uh. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.400 For example, if it wasn't for COVID, like we wouldn't 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.240 know about this this tiny little nature preserve where like 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.160 there's all sorts of wildlife, there's beavers, all sorts of 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.080 other birds that you don't normally see like find around 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.160 the houses. Um, and you can also go there and 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.800 you can pick blackberries and figs. Man, it's amazing. But 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:33.800 you know, maybe you're listening to this and like that's 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:35.560 not something that you have, and so for you, maybe 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.880 that's just getting out and exploring a local park in 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.840 your neighborhood, but just challenging yourself to to look beyond 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.000 what you would normally do because that's essentially what you've 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:45.600 always done, or you know, that's what all the other 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.000 families in the neighborhood do, or that's what your friends do. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.000 I do feel like this is one rare bright spot 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.200 of COVID is that it's forced us out of our 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.000 normal routines. Yeah, for so many people, it's just opened 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.280 their eyes into how much stuff is really in dobly 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.240 local to where they are, how many experiences that are 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.240 free or cheap that they can easily partake in and 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.840 that they don't have to travel very far to enjoy. 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:10.920 I know that's been the case for us, Like there 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:12.720 are so many things so we've been able to find 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.119 out about and enjoy in large part because we've been 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.360 forced to and so and that's been kind of Yeah, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:18.959 I agree. One of the one of the highlights, one 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.840 of the perks. Yeah, one more I'm thinking of two 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.879 is that like we were going to go together as 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.960 a family to the state park, which is maybe for 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.199 some folks kind of like, uh, not an ordinary thing 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.440 to do, but for us we love state parks. But 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.000 we got there and it was closed. This is like 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.239 early on during COVID when everything was shut down. All 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.840 the state parks were closed in Georgia. And even that 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.000 allowed us to kind of look outside what we normally do, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.880 which is instead of going to like a state park, 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:42.879 we kind of went to this park that we've always 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.960 kind of seen from the road. Uh it's on Pons Daily, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.080 on like one of the major roads in Atlanta, and dude, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:49.679 it's one of our favorite parks. Now. It's got like 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.560 bridges and creeks and these huge, massive trees that have 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:54.639 fallen across the creek that the girls are able to 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.400 walk across on. There's like this giant field for dogs 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.560 to run around in if you've got a dog. But like, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:01.879 even that was able to allow us to kind of 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.119 look outside what we would normally do and kind of 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.360 expand our horizons a little bit. And now we've got 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.520