Whizz Air, Marmite Sandwiches, and Other Travel Tales

Debbie Travis  0:00  
Hi, I'm Debbie Travis.

Tommy Smythe  0:02  
And I'm Tommy Smith.

Debbie Travis  0:03  
And this is trust me. I'm a decorator.

Tommy Smythe  0:07  
Well, hello Debbie Travis.

Debbie Travis  0:09  
Well, how do you smell as

Tommy Smythe  0:12  
you look like you have like a hesitant look on your face. I want to tell you something before we get started. I was in your old stomping ground yesterday, Patrick and I traveled to Montreal to see the solar eclipse. Oh, okay. Oh, wow. Well, here's how it happened. We were on Sunday morning. So the Eclipse was on a Monday, on the Sunday morning, Patrick said, you know, it's going to be cloudy in southern Ontario. And I really want to see this. So I think we need to go to where it's going to be sunny. So he figured out that Montreal was in the path of totality. So where you can see the full effect of the solar eclipse. And the forecast was perfect in terms of blue skies and sunshine and no clouds. So we talked a little bit about the ways in which you can get from Toronto to Montreal. And what I have always found so interesting is that basically, it's a five hour journey, whether you fly or whether you drive or whether you take the train, it's more or less the same thing because by the time you get from your house, to the airport, to the airplane to the airport to the other hotel like so, in my view, the the least stressful way to get there is to go on Via Rail. So we booked Via Rail tickets. And then here's my second favorite thing is when you get to Montreal on Via Rail, the Fairmont Hotel is up the escalator. It is literally built on top of the train station. So if you're looking for convenience,

Debbie Travis  1:35  
and that's the famous hotel where they did the John Lennon sleeping,

Tommy Smythe  1:38  
John and Yoko did their bed in in that hotel. So it's a mid century modern hotel. And so we had the most delightful experience and Patrick planned all of this for us. So thank you, Patrick. It was just couldn't have been better. We got in a very short Uber to the to Union Station in Toronto, got on the train. We watched movies, we caught up on emails, there was full Wi Fi we went business classes only like a $45 upgrade or something crazy. And so we had a lovely meal. We had free flowing drinks, like it was just couldn't have been more pleasurable, versus being in a car and being stressed out by other drivers. And you know, it's an ugly car drive. It's not pretty. So it was just amazing. And then we went upstairs to our beautiful room in the Fairmont. We got organized. We had a nice dinner in Montreal at one of my favorite places sushi, Momo. And we had the perfect Eclipse. And then we got home last night at about, I guess almost one in the morning. But it couldn't have been better. Why did you watch the Eclipse? We watched it in Parklife on time. Okay, so Patrick wanted to be this was a great sort of thing that he did was he organized this so that we could be among people, because it's such an interesting collective, you know, to experience collective all in the world is just such a rare thing to be able to do. And so we definitely knew that we wanted to be around other people. But he also wanted to be somewhere fairly natural, like where there were trees and grass and where there were animals and things like that. So the park was really perfect. It's in a beautiful neighborhood in Montreal. It has beautiful restaurants around it. So we got a little picnic pizza picnic, and brought it into the park and had this beautiful moving collective experience for the Eclipse. And then we hopped on the train and went back home and it was just easy as could be. Wow,

Debbie Travis  3:30  
see had a lovely time.

Tommy Smythe  3:32  
I did yeah. terribly happy for us. What?

Debbie Travis  3:37  
No, I'm good. I'm bitter and twisted and mean and harder because I'm so this is what happened to me while you were having such a jolly time with Patrick having lovely meals and drinks and hanging out with strangers and all that stuff. So I was flying from a tiny airport called Peruggia, which is in the middle of kind of Italy. Little local airport Ryanair usually not bad into Stansted, which is anybody who's listening to this who knows is a living nightmare which is very of me. It's an hour and a half to my house but Ryanair often flies into because one of the things you have to be careful with Ryan areas they say, Oh yeah, we're going into Paris, for instance, but exactly five hours outside Paris. That's where the anyway, so I get to project airport and it's a nine o'clock flight. And I'm coming to London because I've sold my house and I have literally to pack everything up single handedly. Pretty much and so I'm on my own so we get there. And as they jam everybody's an old airport hangar. So it's not very big, you know, like army airport thing. And the jam everybody and then they tell you, Oh, it's well it ended up three hours late. So then the toilets closed. You can't get out to passport control and and there's no conveniences. There's no the vending machines are outside, so you can't even get some water anyway. So it's really miserable. Luckily, in the airport, I bumped into somebody I knew film writer who's really nice. And so we we kind of shot the breeze and everything. But then I would like to, I would like to do an entire podcast on etiquette and murder maybe. So I get jam packed, but it's only a two hour flight. So it's not the end of the world. So we get on the flight. And they're very nice. And I'm sitting next to a guy and I'm very, very sensitive, like a lot of people are today after COVID. I was always like that of people who make disgusting noises and do things right. So this guy starts sniffing. So I'm trying to read my book, and then I'm giving him the side eye, which I'm very good at as almost a glaring at him. But his cold progressed, as the two hours went. So he started off with a sniff, then he's dripping, and then all over, you know, everything. And then he starts sneezing. And he sneezed for an hour and a half. I mean, literally did not stop all over the place. I had to actually give him I didn't I had wipes, I didn't have any tissues or anything. So I'm sitting because of course, didn't take a mask and sitting with it. Because the last thing you want to do, you've got all this stuff planned. All the things you you know, I've got a couple of parties that while I'm here I'm seeing and the last thing I want is to get a bloody cold, right. So you

Tommy Smythe  6:29  
are gonna get a cold, I think, yeah.

Debbie Travis  6:33  
Well, I you know, I don't know, it's all your immune system. But, you know, if you had to be somebody I knew he'd have been you would have hit you over the back of their head and said, Could you breathe in another direction, Tommy, please. But then no, this guy, so just glared at him. And he didn't care. And then he would sneak as he sneezed, he turned on to me every single time. So I'm like, God, butchering this thing. So, so that was disgusting. And then we got into the airport at two in the morning, and it was Bedlam at Stansted. Oh my God, no more people there than I've ever seen people because that you know what they're also the early flights is nowhere to go. And it's so hard to get to this airport. Remember, London has like seven airports. And it's cheap flights. So all the backpackers are there, and they're sleeping on the floor. So you know, hundreds of people all over because they're waiting for the early flights. And then I came in here, and the heating is off the waters of there's no water to drink. It's like, so then i i bought a cleaning lady for seven in the morning. So I didn't want to wake her up. She didn't turn up. Why? So I really don't care at all. But no, she still hasn't turned up. She's not coming. So it was just one of those days. And all I have are boxes piled up, you know, ready to start taping and all that get the pens or this or that. And it's I think packing is like one of the hardest things because it's not a matter of just putting stuff. Where does that go? Does that? Are you giving that to a friend? Or are you you know, keeping that I can't keep all this? You know, there's nothing no,

Tommy Smythe  8:03  
I mean part of packing. I've done it so many times. And I'm a well known Packer. I'm very good at it. And I always think you know, to myself as I'm doing it. The key to a successful unpacking is the packing process. So you don't pack anything that you don't want to keep. The big mistake that most people make is they just throw everything in boxes and think I'll deal with it on the back end. You don't want to deal with it on the back end. Yeah, purge it, get rid of it, send it to a charity shop, get somebody to pick it up, put it out on the road. Somebody's one person's trash is another person's treasure. Yeah. And it'll be gone in five seconds. And you'll be so much more glad that you did that. But my question for you is how did you end up doing this by yourself? Where is your family?

Debbie Travis  8:48  
So my family who were also staying here have left me all their rubbish and all their laundry and all that kind of stuff. I hope that listening. We're having a baby. So you can't say anything? Or Oh, that's true. Yeah. First baby in the family. And Hans is actually driving with Billy because he can't take Billy on the flight. Right. So because there's no European flights can can take dogs, and I don't think he'd be very good on it anyway, but so he's driving, so he'll arrive next week. And also he's the kind of person who's like no, you can't take that. Oh, I love that. That's my favorite shirt in the whole world.

Tommy Smythe  9:22  
Oh, yeah. No, you don't need him around.

Debbie Travis  9:25  
I don't him around so I can get everything out and thrown. We have the dump down the road where you've been here at Christmas. Yeah, yeah. So it's not a very big house. And it's been it's actually been a great little house in London because it's, you know, because my kids are humanitarians and they travel a lot, you know, to third world countries. They came back here because they couldn't afford to get a house a place in London before and so they would use this as a base and they've been also written now they have a house but they've been renovating that but they've been staying here while they were renovating so and also I have no fridge kitchen I show you this hope That

Tommy Smythe  10:00  
house has really served as my fridge. Oh my god, where's the fridge?

Debbie Travis  10:05  
They took it. So I go to the fridge last night I'm going to use the fridge.

Tommy Smythe  10:11  
Who took it the kids, the kids didn't take the kettle, or all that they've stolen. I feel like that's your husband's fault hands is for anybody who doesn't know, he's a little bit mysterious because he never makes visual appearances. But hands is the most generous person. Yeah, but he

Debbie Travis  10:33  
see he doesn't discuss it. So when I cleaned up this morning, and I thought I'd said the previous one. He says, oh, yeah, just took it. That's

Tommy Smythe  10:40  
what I'm saying. He's incredibly generous, and like, telling

Debbie Travis  10:45  
me just go in and think, oh, some water must be something. And it is

Tommy Smythe  10:49  
occasionally there is a person behind the scenes who suffers from the other person's sense of generosity. And

Debbie Travis  10:56  
you know, there's a big difference between real estate here and in North America, because in Europe, you take everything you

Tommy Smythe  11:05  
take your appliances, yes. You take all your major appliances. Yeah, you stove, your cooker, your washer

Debbie Travis  11:10  
and dryer. I don't think you'd ever do that in America or Canada, which you? Absolutely

Tommy Smythe  11:14  
not. No, it's always you always transition. And the other thing is that I think the standardization sort of system is different in the UK. So everything usually fits where you're taking it. Whereas here, everybody renovates, there's 30,000 Different appliance companies, they all make different sized things. You know, there's some standardization, but it's not a given that your cooker is gonna fit.

Debbie Travis  11:37  
Here. The problem is that when you move, because of all the oil and gas things, you know, because of global warming, you're not allowed oil anymore. And so if you've got an agar which are fabulous and cost a fortune, and so people move into these beautiful houses, you can't even give them away, and they're the new Argos are all electric, but this price of a car. So things have changed so that it's like cars, there's certain things you can't drive anymore, and all that. So it's all quite you know, you sit there when you're packing. And you're just like every corner you thinking about through that. I've got to do that. I've got to do that. Oh, and then I arrived and you know, I have these two beautiful olive trees outside that. Oh, yes, I know. They so the driver who is is a friend who picks me up. It was great guy who nearly fell asleep at the wheel because it was so late. He goes where the olive trees. And that was like the beginning of the meltdown. You know, it's like, oh, they

Tommy Smythe  12:31  
weren't there. When you got there. He gets

Debbie Travis  12:33  
he's given them away. He said I gave them to my painter. I'm like, you know, they don't ask.

Tommy Smythe  12:40  
This is the thing. You have such an incredibly generous husband. But he doesn't tell you. Yeah, exactly.

Debbie Travis  12:46  
Next few weeks without strangling and murdering somebody, oh,

Tommy Smythe  12:49  
you're just fit to be tied right now. Because you've got all this work ahead of you. I always say when packing. When it looks like you're done. You're about half done. Because it just seems you things start coming off walls and get condensed into boxes. You think, Oh, I've made so much progress. Yeah, really. It's kind of like driving through Florida. You hit the border of Florida. And then you think, Oh, we're in Florida. We're there. But they're to Miami. And yet it's like a 10 day drive. Yeah. So you're good. You're definitely in the marathon. Yeah.

Debbie Travis  13:20  
And it's, you know, because in Italy, it's also we're very, very busy. Because we're getting ready, you know, for your arrival with all the guests and everything. And, and so it's like, first of April was holiday Easter Monday and then second of April. It was like everybody's arrived. So everybody's scrubbing and paint enough. Do you know I paint every room every year this time of year?

Tommy Smythe  13:42  
So having been multiple times to the villa I can I actually because I am also a professional in the design world. I can tell ya, and I don't think that other people notice. Well,

Debbie Travis  13:54  
I think they do subconsciously. And I hope they noticed when they go to, you know really big, I won't name them but really big fancy places that they're paying a fortune for. And the scuff marks on the walls and all that kind of stuff. It doesn't really cost that much to go around with a paintbrush and just check everything and make sure everything looks really fresh and lovely. And I'm really proud of that because the guy was there for three days. And he said it's amazing that you do this and that's it, you know, for what it costs and the pleasure it brings people there's no suitcase marks there's you know, so that's all being done all that

Tommy Smythe  14:28  
immaculate like when you get there. It's immaculate and as you've said so many times on the on this podcast and in conversations that we've had on Instagram. The people who come to these retreats are coming for a once in a lifetime experience. And details matter. The fact that you put fresh flowers and vases in every single room the fact that you paint every year before the season starts and touch ups throughout the fact that everyone is turned And out and dressed in pressed shirts and ready to receive guests. Like there's something very, very special about that. And if it wasn't special, it wouldn't work.

Debbie Travis  15:07  
We're going to take a quick break be right back

spring here in southern Europe is long, you know, in North America well in Canada and you know, the northern states spring hits really quickly doesn't it and open here it's this beautiful unfolding of, of nature, and it's quite remarkable. I mean, all the daffodils, the tulips, the blossom is just all the almond blossom, which comes out first. It's just and you're watching it. I mean, you're literally seeing leaves.

Tommy Smythe  15:48  
And ears. I'm gonna see the puppies. Puppies may

Debbie Travis  15:52  
Yeah, so there, there may now it's, it's, it's really just, you know, all the greenery kind of happening. And it's, it's every day. I mean, I could literally put a camera outside and it's just unfolding in front of me. And so and the weather has been great. It's like 2425 but I you know, I love Spring. And you know, we did a podcast with Anya, who's got a book out? Yes. And garden. Carrie. Yeah. So she does free gardening. So free gardening means how to propagate, you know how to get ask a friend or a neighbor, kind of a piece of that plant or whatever, and how to grow it for nothing. And she's really good. And her book is fantastic. So she taught me on our podcast how to propagate roses. Oh, yes. So I did 50. So they're basically 50 strokes and I put them into pots. And you put a little bit of pot of propagating white stuff on. And one is

Tommy Smythe  16:46  
it lime or calcium or something slight

Debbie Travis  16:48  
something like that, you know, bone meal, it's bone meal. Yeah. And then the and then the roots come out? Well, hoping is listening because one out of 50 works.

Tommy Smythe  16:56  
Oh my god. So.

Debbie Travis  16:58  
So you have to look at this, like how much time which is my time worth? For all the time I spent doing this like days. And I could have gone and bought a rosebush for like 10 bucks, you know, I mean,

Tommy Smythe  17:10  
gardening takes patience, but it's also so rewarding to do it yourself. And her tips like I follow her on Instagram, obviously, she's very good. The tips that that she has that are not just necessarily about propagating, but even just the other day. So when the Helleborus come out, that's one of my favorite flowers. And they can be a little bit wilty like the the heads on them can can sort of like bow down a little bit. She had this tip where if you slice all the way along the stem up to the flower head on both sides and put them in a vase of water, they stay bolt upright, and the rattle. And I love this because I've loved hellebores for forever, but I've never really known how to properly put them in a vase and keep them for a long time. So she all of her tips and her her tricks are just so useful. But I think everything that you do takes practice and certainly with gardening, as you know, because you've been building this garden at the villa for so many years. And also you're British and there's such a great tradition of gardening in Britain. It takes patience. We

Debbie Travis  18:11  
haven't even turned irrigation on in Italy because we haven't needed to and it's expensive, but it has to go on this week because now it's getting really dry. But England uses perfect it's got the the ideal it's the number one climate in the world for gardens. And that's why, you know, the Emerald isles, you know, Ireland you fly over Ireland people gasp from the plane because it's this. Well, you've been you know, it's fluorescent green. And, you know, so that's the upside from having a lot of rain. But the funny thing is, is, you know, we did this live podcast, which was fabulous, right? I

Tommy Smythe  18:45  
know today I'm thinking to myself, where's our audience? Where's the laughter? Where's, right?

Debbie Travis  18:49  
It just makes you so giddy. It's like being a comedian on the stage. And with me particularly I know, you're much more restrained than I am but polite, but it's like plugging you in. You know, I have no restraint and, and first of all, I forgot we were being taped. So I got Rhoda and then the slurry of that story about the carrots. I mean, literally, I really felt like a comedian because people were roaring when they read laughter It's a great story. Six packages of carrot seeds came through and some very rude pictures. So thank you very much everybody. And I will plant them. But But yeah, that was a really great experience. I'd love to do that again. You know,

Tommy Smythe  19:36  
the whole reason that we moved out of the live format into the podcast pre recorded format is so that you don't get cancelled? Yeah.

Debbie Travis  19:45  
Exactly. You know,

Tommy Smythe  19:46  
you're you're in your element. I mean, I loved being with with you in front of a live audience because you do come alive. And and there's something about the spontaneity of that where there's no safety net that is exciting and exhilarating. For sure. I was

Debbie Travis  19:59  
lovely. And also it was an audience that's probably really not on typical audience. So there were a lot of guys, they're very young people, which was really lovely. And you know, they're not really sure. And then, and then it was like, if you want to ask a question, but we don't answer decorating questions, and they were like, Why are we here then? And then we entertain them for an hour. And I think it was more than an hour, isn't it? And it was great. And you know, when you're seeing, you know, some great big lump of a guy sitting on the front row looking like, Why the hell am I here? And he's tears running down his face. You know, none of them came up to me afterwards and said, it's not what I expected, you know, you know, and so I thought that was lovely. So do we do have to do another one? When I'm, when I do the book tour,

Tommy Smythe  20:46  
I wanted to ask you speaking of sort of our spring travel conversation today, how are you feeling about our cruise that we're going on together? Are you excited about going to Budapest? I've never been to Budapest?

Debbie Travis  20:59  
No, neither have I. And I haven't been to any of the places that. So so just so people know, Tommy had done this before, and then mentioned to me, why don't you do it? And I said, No, I don't do cruises. And you know, no, not a chance, not a chance not to chance. And then somehow you put the chains on me and made me do it. Anyway. So we're doing it. We're meeting in Budapest, right? Yep. And it's on a river. So it's not like one of those great big ships, and you go down the Danube? Yeah, that's right. And then we end up in Nuremberg. You know, it's funny, because I mean, we both you and I absolutely love travel. And when you travel with somebody, we'd like a friend or a partner or whoever. There's always one person. So often, in your case, like yesterday, when you saw the clips, you know, Patrick organized it. All right, you did, yeah. And if you ask anybody who's very good at this kind of stuff, they'll be quite ruthless about it, because they get so fed up of you seeing where we going next. And when we do that, you're because they they've taken on that role of the organizing. For somebody like me, it is an absolute treat, to have somebody just go do this. And it reminds me a few years ago, I went with a bunch of girlfriends to India, and we went to the south of India, which is a little calmer, to say the right word a little easier on you know, the northern India, which is quite, you know, rough, quite strong on the eye. And we stayed in is in Kerala, which is kind of the Wii at the bottom. And then we went up the coast to a brand new place. It was a yoga retreat, even though I don't do yoga. So I just wanted to go to girls doing yoga, but and then we went up the coast on a train. And I was quite excited about this, but my friend Jackie, who you know very well, so my best friend organises it all, I was so busy. I'll do it. I'll do it. But every five minutes, I'm asking her a question. Well, where are we going now? And what is it? So she was getting and she you know, she's very patient. She is very patient. So we arrived at this train station. And that morning, we were in a kind of British style type hotel in this town, as we were leaving. I said, Well, how long is the train ride? And she said, Well, it's eight hours. I said, Well, I'm not eating the food. I'm not eating. I'm not eating that food on the train. She said, Well, what are we going to do to receipt hours? And I said, Well, let's ask the hotel to make us a picnic. And we can have that on the train.

Tommy Smythe  23:29  
Very smart move. Actually, that's a good travel tip in general, because

Debbie Travis  23:32  
well, well, it wasn't. Well, because we were English. They came they were very nice. And you know, they nod their heads and they said, we've made you a very nice picnic. Very nice picnic. And they said, Thank you so much. So I opened it up. And it's Marmite white bread sandwiches. So my.

Tommy Smythe  23:48  
But I mean, you're just people famous famously like Marmite.

Debbie Travis  23:51  
Well, you're, you know, they say you're either Marmite or not. Anyway, so they make this stuff. When we get to the train station. We're coming down the steps towards the tracks, and you literally had to stop and breathe. I have never. I mean, Stansted last night was bad. I have never seen so many people in my life ever. So we're going down is an Indian train station. And on the tracks are men who was very sad with lime, and they're throwing the lime onto the tracks to kill.

Tommy Smythe  24:25  
Oh my god. Okay,

Debbie Travis  24:27  
the smelly stuff that comes out the train. Okay. Okay. And quite shocking, you know, to see. And they're quite disfigured because the lion eats into their fingers. Well, anyway, so I'm beginning to panic. And I say, Jackie, so fed up with me. So I said, I hope we're in first class. And she she stops Lansdowne the suitcases and she says, we're in cheer class. I said, she said it's the only thing I could get is the only thing there is an eye or whatever. And I said, What's cheer class? She was Oh, you'll get a bloody chair. Shut up. I think it was true because if you weren't in j plus you were on either on the roof or in this just open wagon. Anyway, we get on this train and the eight of us look, you know, the middle aged blonde women looking very like Oh god. Oh god, we're pathetic. Anyway we sit down and you know you clutching your stuff and I'm not using the toilet don't use the toilet don't yet God, did you bring water oh my god to drink, make sure you know, and you're just being very Western. We stop at the first station. And a woman gets on or a bunch of women beautifully dressed in their saris. And there's little tables, where were you sitting and everybody, all the Indians brought their tables down. And on each table, they put a huge leaf like a rubber plant leaf.

Tommy Smythe  25:45  
Oh, beautiful. And

Debbie Travis  25:46  
I'm like, no think No, I don't eat leaves, the train goes off. And the people get off though the people who were putting the leaves down, they get off, it's their stop. Anyway, 20 minutes later, the train stops again, and another bunch of women get on. And this time, they have huge steaming things of rice. Now we're getting a bit hungry and the more might sound really awful. So they scoop it on with their hands and they put a blob on each leaf to Jackie says, cuz she took the leaf. I thought you were supposed to eat the leaf and the leaf is a plate. So a couple of the friends said, oh, we'll have some rice and smell at this beautiful jasmine rice and everything and I'm not eating it. I love your sandwich. Give me your Marmite sandwich, you know, 10 minutes later, we stop at another station. And now this curry comes on like a veggie very vegetarian, you would love it is very, very vegan down there. And then a vegetable curry comes on and some pickle. And of course I'm just getting hungrier and hungrier and everybody else is slipping into this stuff. And by the time we got to the 10th station where the next courses were coming, I was like, oh, whatever, I'll eat it. So it was kind of bizarre. So it was a really amazing kind of journey. But then when we got off, we were very good. And we packed up all our rubbish really nicely. And when we got off, we had some drivers waiting with a couple of vans for us. And we said, what do we do with our rubbish? And he said, Oh, you'll give it to me. You'll give it to me. And then you throw it over a wall.

Tommy Smythe  27:13  
Oh my god.

Debbie Travis  27:16  
Okay, we tried. That's what I love, love about traveling. Sometimes it's nice to kind of go rustic. But when we've got to this hotel was actually fabulous. The beach what must have been 300 miles long, white, and all forests of palm trees. Because you know, when you go to the Caribbean that's not natural to the Caribbean apart.

Tommy Smythe  27:37  
No, it's not no, they're not very, they're not indigenous plants floated

Debbie Travis  27:41  
over from India or Africa. And so when we arrived, it was fabulous. I mean, they had never run a restaurant before. So they had no clue. And it's pretty much a dry state, which was also another panic attack. So they had to go up and look for alcohol, which got I think it was some kind of rubbing alcohol they gave us but it was quite nice with a bit of lime juice in it. That was okay, but the one before that we stayed and they were little huts and it would look really nice on their website little huts on the beach. And I'd gone on ahead and I got there first before everybody and I thought I'll choose the best huts. So I said to this guy, would you Will you show me all that to me all my hopes. And then everybody else arrived and Jackie said, I bet you've checked them all out first. Zero, she paid a bit more to get one to share with a friend that had two floors, but the top floor was about eight inches high. So you helped deliver on your side you couldn't it was so hot.

Tommy Smythe  28:39  
It was just like a loft.

Debbie Travis  28:43  
But it is really an experience. It really is. It's marvelous in so many ways. And then we go we see the beach at this after the train. I check it oh my god, look at that page. I've never seen anything so picturesque in my life. So we're we're walking early in the morning along the beach and they have round fishing boats there that are bobbing in the water and it's so beautiful. And you know because all the colors in India, you know the beautiful color oranges and reds and so we've got the little sails and how we're like, oh my god, marigolds. Yeah, and the men you see they wear these like long skirts that tie at the front where a very ironed beautifully crisp, very clean shirt. So we're walking along the beach, and I've never seen anything so beautiful so lucky in the locals look at the mall or crouching looking at the view looking out to the sea and Jackie says they're having a shit. Fisherman I guess that's where they go. So you know, it was great, very

Tommy Smythe  29:43  
fish out of water. I think you'll be a little less fish out of water in your in the parts of Europe that we're going to be in together then you were in India. I mean, I'm really looking forward to starting in Budapest but I'm also looking forward to Vienna and Nuremberg and all the little places. In between that we're going to be visiting, are you gonna go off shore and do some biking with me? And I'm gonna do the biking,

Debbie Travis  30:03  
definitely. But I think what we'll do is because we're not sure about the Wi Fi and stuff, so we won't do a podcast while we're on the boat. But as soon as we get back because you're coming to my place, we'll do a podcast there while it's all fresh in our heads, right? Yes. And then we'll give everybody some tips and places to go. And maybe we'll

Tommy Smythe  30:21  
have Jackie on as well, because she'll be there with us at the villa. Yeah, you're gonna be so sick of me by the end of that. Probably a week on the Danube followed by a week at the villa. Yeah. And

Debbie Travis  30:33  
we're on our own. If you get a bit strangling me, I do have my own room.

Tommy Smythe  30:37  
Oh, my God. Yes, of course. Yes. Yes. How

Debbie Travis  30:39  
many? We could do to head Heads?

Tommy Smythe  30:44  
Heads? No, they'll give you a beautiful room. And it's really quite a lovely experience. I mean, the food is delicious. And, you know, everything is done for you. And it's just so pleasurable, and the people are usually really, really nice. So it'll be a nice experience, I promise. Oh,

Debbie Travis  30:57  
I'd be really good. But it'd be nice to make some notes and then share them with everybody, wouldn't it? And know for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Just from a complete naive kind of point of view, you know, I've traveled since I was, you know, a teenager when I left home. And literally was kind of 19 When I went to Japan, to work with Jackie. And you know, how, when I look back on those days, I'm like, Oh, my God, you know, how did I dare do all that? But my mother wasn't a helicopter mother, like I am. You know, I think a lot of people are nervous about travel, and maybe even more. So now. I

Tommy Smythe  31:34  
think it's changed a lot too, though. I mean, it's very, there's so many of these discount air carriers, and the airports are not as efficient as they used to be because there's so much more crowded than they used to be. And, you know, I love the fact that travel is more for everywhere now and that it's accessible, but also with that access comes a lot of its own problems. And I mean, what was the airline that you've got me flying from? You've got a company

Debbie Travis  31:59  
that has been voted for the last 10 years as the worst airline.

Tommy Smythe  32:07  
You to so here you don't know. You

Debbie Travis  32:09  
know what the name is wiz who is fly on an aeroplane called whiz? Who is dead said is it only

Tommy Smythe  32:17  
listen. So my manager Chris Brunton said to me that when he was booking your travel, you said the one airline I will not fly is when you booked? You booked me on?

Debbie Travis  32:32  
direct flight. Wasn't that cheap in the end?

Tommy Smythe  32:36  
You know, both were laughing on the phone for a good 10 minutes over that when I

Debbie Travis  32:40  
was booking I was biting my nails going cons after what I saw. Tommy just never go on this airline. And you know, when they do you know best in the worst of everything. The worst of everything worse for losing luggage. Worst for delays worse. I was so worried. So we'll have to find out if it's that bad. And maybe it's not maybe it'd be great because you sent me like an hour and a half. So it's not like you're on a 10 to short

Tommy Smythe  33:03  
haul flight. And I've got plenty of time to get to the airport. And it's just I thought it was so funny that you had said very firmly to Chris I will not fly on with the only airline I won't fly put me on any discount carrier you like but not with and you know,

Debbie Travis  33:18  
in the newspaper, they're always doing the worst of everything you know, and I love it was country to live in Best Country Living I love those things, because they're all rubbish, you know, which always comes out on top. Airline, top of the bottom. Oh, good. So yeah, so we'll chat about that. And I'm sure if that's if we come back in in one piece. Yeah,

Tommy Smythe  33:38  
if I actually make it to the villa will have will. Still on with a could be still on

who is by the time there are tweets over? are still looking around for my luggage. Well.

Debbie Travis  33:51  
And the other thing that might happen when you're there is we might be doing the book reveal. So

Tommy Smythe  33:55  
that Oh, yes, yes. That's so fun. So

Debbie Travis  33:59  
I think that would be really good. Be nice. If you were there. And when you see it. I would love

Tommy Smythe  34:03  
to celebrate that with you. Yeah. And hence will of course have champagne around Prosecco. Yeah, we'll do a little toast. Well,

Debbie Travis  34:10  
they're just doing the late. It's a really nice stage for me, because it's when you get all the text and the layouts are coming on when I left you in Toronto, and I spent a week in the recording studio and doing the

Tommy Smythe  34:21  
the audio version of your book. Yeah. I remember when I saw you. You said I have to go now because I have to stop talking. Yeah. Which is very difficult for you to

Debbie Travis  34:30  
say the advice. Well, those are our travel plans. And I hope everybody else is either dreaming or booking travel, getting excited and packing up and ready to go. I think it's the most marvelous thing anybody can do any age to experience the world. Tell us

Tommy Smythe  34:47  
where you want to travel on Instagram at the trust me pod or leave us a voice note at the trust me pod.com

Debbie Travis  34:55  
Please rate us sending a review and make sure you're subscribed on Apple pod podcasts, Spotify iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tommy Smythe  35:04  
I picked something up while I was in Montreal, this great little expression. Bon voyage.

Debbie Travis  35:08  
Bon voyage. Safe travels. I'll see you on wizard. Oh my god