Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to enjoy whatever is special about the
Speaker 1: places where you find yourself. There is no point getting
Speaker 1: distracted by what's not available. Reveling in what is available
Speaker 1: can make life more enjoyable. This past summer, I spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time eating funnel cakes because three of
Speaker 1: my kids chose to spend their one on one mommy
Speaker 1: days with me at an amusement park. If you are
Speaker 1: at an amusement park, eating funnel cakes is just what
Speaker 1: you do, so that is what we did. We also
Speaker 1: spent Labor Day weekend in Maine. I ate lobster every
Speaker 1: day there because hey, when in Maine, when I'm home,
Speaker 1: I go weeks or months without eating lobster, so getting
Speaker 1: it fresh is a real highlight. I feel like that
Speaker 1: is a pretty straightforward approach to travel. Eat barbecue in Memphis,
Speaker 1: have traditional French food in France. If you are at
Speaker 1: a restaurant on the water, probably you should order the seafood.
Speaker 1: And yet I have been around people who do not
Speaker 1: feel this way. I was once overseas on a trip
Speaker 1: where someone in our group complained about our group's plan
Speaker 1: to eat at a restaurant serving the local cuisine, and
Speaker 1: he high tailed it to a ubiquitous fast food restaurant afterwards.
Speaker 1: Now I am a fan of that fast food restaurant too,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but it struck me as strange
Speaker 1: since he could have eaten at that restaurant every single
Speaker 1: day back home, but he was unlikely to return to
Speaker 1: that particular country anytime soon. There will always be opportunities
Speaker 1: in the future to eat at chain restaurants or to
Speaker 1: have lucky charms for breakfast. When you find yourself somewhere new,
Speaker 1: it is better to get excited about what they do
Speaker 1: have than what they don't have. That means reveling in
Speaker 1: the excellent beers you can get in Eastern Europe, for instance,
Speaker 1: And then if the breakfast they served there isn't your favorite, well,
Speaker 1: oh well. This mindset can make exploring the world more fun,
Speaker 1: even if that is just local exploration. If you go
Speaker 1: to a brew pub with a friend, there is really
Speaker 1: no point getting upset about the limited wine list. Why
Speaker 1: on earth would you be ordering the wine. When you
Speaker 1: go to Memphis order the barbecue. There is no point
Speaker 1: lamenting you'd rather have seafood and you are disappointed in
Speaker 1: the offerings. You can eat all sorts of seafood next
Speaker 1: time you go to a coastal destination. Of course, this
Speaker 1: is one thing with travel. It is a little harder
Speaker 1: when you feel something is missing more permanently. Maybe you
Speaker 1: have moved from the city to the suburbs and are
Speaker 1: sad that you can't pop into an art gallery on
Speaker 1: your lunch break or discover a new Ethiopian restaurant on
Speaker 1: your way to the subway. I get that, and yet
Speaker 1: we are still better off focusing on the good in
Speaker 1: where we are while making a plan to get what
Speaker 1: we're missing. Chances are you can still visit whatever spot
Speaker 1: you are missing from time to time if you've got
Speaker 1: friends there, set up regular get togethers, and be sure
Speaker 1: to do whatever it is that you're missing while you
Speaker 1: are there, and then enjoy yourself in your current home.
Speaker 1: Find the spots everyone loves, enjoy what you can do.
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of huge suburban grocery stores
Speaker 1: where I can easily maneuver a cart down the aisle,
Speaker 1: a little pleasure I rarely experienced when we lived in
Speaker 1: New York City. I'd even go so far as to
Speaker 1: say that once you move somewhere, you should go all
Speaker 1: in on where you are. Even if you are a
Speaker 1: lifelong fan of a different football team, you can get
Speaker 1: your football fixed by watching the local team play. If
Speaker 1: you live near snowy mountains, learned to ski. Even if
Speaker 1: you're usual fun involves going to symphonies. If there are
Speaker 1: no symphonies near those rural snowy mountains, there's just no
Speaker 1: point worrying about it. You probably aren't going to start
Speaker 1: a symphony yourself, So get symphony ticket whenever you go
Speaker 1: to a big city and take advantage of the fun
Speaker 1: you do have wherever you are. I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: about what's special about the place where you are, so
Speaker 1: I'll know what to seek out if I visit there
Speaker 1: one day. You can tell me about it at Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's B e the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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