Hello, and welcome to all things travel. This week's episode joins me and a friend Coleen as we share some travel stories in November's alive episode. We take you to Africa and Greece for some funny stories, some impactful stories and some tips on visiting these great destinations. Come on and join us on November's live.
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https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist
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Hello, and welcome to all things travel. This week's episode joins me and a friend Coleen as we share some travel stories in November's alive episode. We take you to Africa and Greece for some funny stories, some impactful stories and some tips on visiting these great destinations. Come on and join us on November's live.
~~~~~~~
Grab Ryan's free download for planning the ultimate family all-inclusive vacation: https://bit.ly/allinclusivevacationtoptips
Grab Julie's free download for a baby and toddler vacation packing list:
https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist
Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!
Join the travel conversations and the fun in the All Things Travel Show Facebook group!
Hello, and welcome to all things travel. This week's episode joins me and a friend Coleen as we share some travel stories in November's alive episode. We take you to Africa and Greece for some funny stories, some impactful stories and some tips on visiting these great destinations. Come on and join us on November's live.
Ryan:Hey everybody, how you doing? Welcome tonight to our live with all things travel. We do this every month and as with travel, best laid plans. You know, it it doesn't always work. I had a lineup of really awesome guests. And we have somebody stuck in Chicago, and we have another person dealing with internet issues. But we do have our good friend Colleen here. Welcome, Colleen. Thank you for being here today.
Coleen:Sure. Glad I was actually able to
Ryan:Ah, there you go. So, so we may have Mike jumping in later to talk about our time in Greece. If you remember all the way back to last summer, we heard Colleen on a very special All Things Travel episode. It was our trip to Cancun. Hey Facebook user, we are glad that you're here. Thanks for tuning in tonight. It was our Cancun episode and it was on Michelle's patio. Do you remember that, Colleen? What a cool place to record an episode.
Coleen:I was just thinking to myself as the countdown was coming on. I was like, this is a slightly different view than when I was on this show last time.
Ryan:Exactly. Oh, it's Wendy. Alright, so hey Wendy, we're glad you are here with us. But my favorite part of that episode, Colleen, was about halfway through, we actually had a waiter come over and take our order while we were recording, and we ended the episode when the drinks actually came back. So, you know, what a good illustration of an all inclusive resort, right? You're sitting there on the patio, and drinks arrive.
Coleen:That was, that was perfect.
Ryan:Well, hey, tonight we just want to talk about some different travel stories. We meet each other because Colleen is obviously a travel advisor with Creating Magic Vacations as well. And so we meet each other throughout the year and we have these great travel stories. Some we've shared on the podcast, some we haven't. And I just want to spend some time talking about some fun travel stories. And Colleen Specifically with you, this is something I wanted you to talk about on the podcast for a long time. Several years ago, you had an amazing African trip experience. Give us the context of what that trip was.
Coleen:So it was the summer of 2019 and it had started out because I was going to join the Bucket List family on one of their family expeditions. They called them their group expeditions. They are, you know YouTube, Instagram family. I met them through following them on Disney and anyway, they were hosting these and I was like, I want to go. And that portion of the trip was only going to be four days. And I decided that, well, if I'm going to go to Africa, I'm not going to go for only four days.
Ryan:Do you even get over the jet lag in that first four
Coleen:I doubt it. It was a long trip over. So I added an extra three days on to that trip that I was by myself for my first three days in Africa. And then I joined up with a group and there ended up being I think about 12 of us plus the bucket list family at a safari resort. I guess they're kind of called resorts.
Ryan:they are kind of glamping camping
Coleen:You're, at a 10.
Ryan:Yes. Yes. Yes.
Coleen:It was amazing. It was, it's yes, it was a bucket list trip that I will probably do again. So it was that
Ryan:good. Well the trip I want to talk about tonight is and and again if mike was here he was my travel partner with this and we actually had the opportunity in 2021 a brand new cruise line called Atlas Ocean Voyages offered us some spots on their inaugural cruise. We actually, along with the owners of Creating Magic Vacations the two of us went on this cruise and it was a Greek Isles cruise. It left from Athens, went all through the Greek Isles and then went down to Egypt of all places. So we were in Cairo. I know Colleen. During that trip, you were kind of kicking yourself. Like, why did I not go on
Coleen:the jealousy was so there. It was so there. But now I do remember that the, your trip got changed just a
Ryan:It did. We had, we had some COVID issues because we were obviously still in travel COVID times. What's that?
Coleen:And Ukraine issues, too,
Ryan:well, originally, yes, so originally the cruise was going to go to the Ukraine and then they got switched to the Greek Isles cruise, which was absolutely amazing. So I'm going to tell some stories from that. And, and you folks know that I like to give Julie a hard time, right? This is what I did to Colleen during the cruise. I, said, hey, Colleen, the food here is really good. And I sent her a screenshot of every single menu from the cruise just so she could have FOMO even
Coleen:It just kept going and going and going and going and I'm like,
Ryan:man, what a jerk. What a jerk.
Coleen:Oh yeah, what a jerk. I know. And the, the original dates were dates that weren't going to work in my schedule. Then as it turned out, when you guys actually went, I kept thinking to myself, why am I not on this trip?
Ryan:Yes.
Coleen:It was because the dates were different originally.
Ryan:Yep, There was a lot of shuffling around. But it all worked and it was an amazing trip. The first question I have for you, and then I'll answer for the Greek trip is, what was that surprise moment during the travel trip, like, oh my gosh, I'm actually here in Africa.
Coleen:The whole thing, I kind of felt like I was almost in a dream for the entire trip because it really was like, oh my gosh, I'm really here. Like every single time we turned around and I what he did. But one of the coolest things that I did was so the first day you fly in, you spend the night there in Arusha, and then my three extra days I spent up at the Naurangoro Crater, I had my own guide, and he had taken me up there, it's a couple hours away, and dropped me off at my hotel, and was going to pick me up the next day, and we're going to go on our first safari, and you could kind of, you've seen animals here and there, but we drop into the Naurangoro Crater. Which is a old volcano that has I don't know, it's somehow like closes up itself and so it kind of creates this big crater and it was like 10 miles in diameter is the size of this. It's yeah, it's about 100 square miles, but it's 10 miles in diameter. But then it's, I mean, happened so long ago, all, you know, vegetation and all of these different things are there. And of course then all of the animals are kind of in this one location. It's really a great place to find them all. Right. So we drop in and at first it's just so amazing. Like we, we drive in and he was like, Oh, there's some lions sleeping over there. And I was like, Oh, Oh my gosh, that's so cool. We'd been seeing all kinds of, oh, we saw bamboo and we entered into the park and our baboons and then zebras. And, and so we're driving a little bit and we take some, we're taking some pictures and I'm pointing different things out and he's like, Oh, Oh, he's like, sit. And he's like, there's a an adult male lion up walking around. This was in the morning. And he's like, this doesn't happen very often. So we like kind of rush off. Right. And you're in this like. Jeep kind of truck thing and it was since it was just with my guides I eat I was sitting in the front with him and the like top opens up and you just stand up and you're like looking out the top of the Jeep, right? So he drives up and again, all the guides are talking to each other So that's who's passing on the information of where the animals are So we kind of drive up and there's all of these trucks Already parked alongside the road, they're watching this lion walk Because they sleep so much, you don't get to see him walking around that often. So he kind of drives past all of the trucks, And we kind of park like the front of this group, I stand up, and I turn around, And the lion's kind of walking up On his side of the truck, and I look at the people behind me and we're like, oh my gosh, this is so cool. And this lion walked in between our two trucks and then I couldn't see him because he walked in between our two trucks. I was like, where is he? And they're like, he's right
Ryan:Oh my gosh.
Coleen:so he, then he walks on my side of the truck.
Ryan:And just for clarification, this is your first full day in Africa?
Coleen:I haven't even been in this crater for 30 minutes
Ryan:ha ha ha ha ha! Wow!
Coleen:literally we drop into the crater and we've been there for maybe 30 minutes and this lion walks next to my truck. He's so close. I can't even take a picture of him because I had my zoom lens on. I mean, he was so close. So then he walks around the front of my truck. Then he decides to just stand right next to my truck my guide was like, here, unlock your cell phone. I gave him my cell phone. He takes pictures out the, out of his driver's side window. And there's the lion basically with his tail, like kind of like on the hood of my
Ryan:Oh my gosh.
Coleen:And he just stood there for a while. He was just kind of like checking things out. I don't know if he was getting, he's like. A little tush warmed by the engine or what was happening? He just stood there.
Ryan:is a I am in Africa story. Absolutely.
Coleen:and then he walked away. And then he laid down there right there. And so I have selfie pictures with him. And I mean it was the most amazing thing. And eventually he got up and walked away. He had two female lions in the back. And kind of walked back to his ladies. And all of that happened in the matter of maybe somewhere between like, I don't know, five to 10 minutes, all of this happened. Probably about 10 minutes long. And so then he's walking away and that's, I got video of him walking away. I sat down and we started driving again and I just started crying. That was just like,
Ryan:Wow
Coleen:that just happened. That was just so crazy. That's my, I'm in Africa
Ryan:that's awesome. Before the cruise we were gonna be in Athens for about For a half day a full day and a half day kind of if you want to think about it that way and And so I knew we didn't have a lot of time, and I had been to Greece before, I had been to Athens before, and so I said, Hey, I know where we want to stay. We want to be in the Plaka area of Athens, that's kind of the old town, if you will. It's very touristy, but it's also very close to everything that's there. I told the folks that we were traveling with, I said, I know the hotel we want to stay at, we want to stay at the Hotel Plaka, and they're like, okay, you've been there, that's fine. And the reason I chose this place, Colleen, is it has a rooftop bar with an unobstructed view of the Parthenon. And so at night, you're sitting up there having a drink, and you can just see this, it's illuminated, it's gorgeous it's definitely the FOMO place where you want to FaceTime people or take pictures and say, oh, by the way, look what's behind me It's just a fabulous place, that was the, oh my gosh, I'm in Greece again, I love this place seeing that right away when you're there is pretty cool,
Coleen:That's awesome. Yeah, that's amazing. I FaceTimed people when I was at Stonehenge for the
Ryan:yeah, absolutely.
Coleen:was like, look at what's behind me.
Ryan:So tell me, one of the questions I had for you was, what was an impactful story when we travel, we pick up these things, right? They're either lessons or they're experiences that just kind of say, wow, this is why we do this. What, what was that for you?
Coleen:It partly was that whole experience with the lion happening. It was just like, I mean, that was the first time I cried while I was on that particular trip. Even beyond that, it was the animals, it was the country, it was everything. I was in the middle of the Lion King. Like, seriously, I found myself humming, circle of life so often because, we see all these animals, but we see them in a zoo or you see them on the safari and they're still like, they're separated, you know, whether there's a group of them or not, they're all kind of separated. They've got their own little places to be, right? But when you're over there, there's no separation, like, it's all just there. You look out and you see, 5, 000 wildebeest and a thousand zebras are in with the wildebeest and, and you're like, what is, what is that pink out there? Oh, that's like a flock of flamingos. A flock of flamingos is like 10, 000 birds. Like seriously, and it's just like this pink on the horizon out there, you know, and all these different antelopes and birds and and then lions are out there too, and everybody's just hanging out. Like everybody knows that they're there, the animals,
Ryan:bet it's so
Coleen:of keep an eye on them.
Ryan:Yeah.
Coleen:It was so overwhelming, you're just really like. Oh man, that, that song, The Circle of Life, it, it really is a circle of life over here, like they are just like all up in here with each other and everybody knows where the wire, they're all just hanging out. That was what was just so impactful to me, I almost forgot this. The second half of my trip when I was with the Bucket List family, they always go to this particular lodge called Tassa Lodge, and part of the Tassa Lodge experience allows and it's because a lot of their workers come from this particular village they took us to one of their villages. And so we got to actually see, where, Some of their families live and where they grew up and you can go in there like they're little, I think they're called Duomo's, but maybe that's not quite the word, you know, they're little huts and stuff, this is like real ones, you know, they have them over there where you can, like, tourists can go to them and they're a little bit different. And this was like, Okay, this is the real living that's over here. So that was pretty amazing. They did a couple of things for us. They're men that are in the group when they're becoming warriors it's all about jumping straight up and down and just like how you can jump up so high. Yeah. We got to see that and do it with them. And I was not a very good dumper, but,
Ryan:I wouldn't, I wouldn't have been either,
Coleen:That was so interesting. And then some of the people who work for Tasa Lodge, we have these, this was called a sundowner where you actually got to see the sun go down. They had let this huge like bonfire out on a safari. We were in the Serengeti reserve, not in the national park, which is why they could do this at night. And then some of their guides told us stories about when they, they're not allowed to do this anymore. But when they went out to and killed a lion, like that's how they. Become a lawyer is they know a lion with, with just spears and that's it. We got to hear two different stories from that, which was like, wow. Okay. This used to happen and not that long ago,
Ryan:amazing.
Coleen:The lodge that we went to was just so cool because of the locals that actually work there and you get to like really hear that kind of real life it was just amazing. It was so, so cool.
Ryan:that's really neat the story that comes to mind for me and and again mike would agree with this 100 are the first island that we visited in greece was the island of patmos And in the morning, we took kind of a highlights of Patmos tour, and that was very, very nice. But we knew we wanted to see a specific place. And so after lunch, we actually went to the Cave of the Apocalypse. And that is part of a monastery that is there on the island of Patmos. And the Cave of the Apocalypse is where the revelation for revelations was given. It's a very sacred place in Christianity. You treat it with reverence. And I remember as we walked in, st. John received the revelation while he was praying in this cave. And so you walk in, and You kind of funnel over to the side, and Mike and I are being respectful, as you are in these types of places, and it's quiet, and it's somber, and you kind of work your way through to the corner that, he was praying, and what's really frustrating is you they ask you not to take pictures They ask you not take video and of course people are I find that disrespectful but as we left We walked by this chapel that was carved in the cave and Happening while we were in there, this young girl was being baptized in the Greek Orthodox tradition and literally I'm standing, oh, two feet away from her family standing there with her as she's having this experience and I'm just like, it was It was the most uncomfortable, awesome, strange, amazing experience to have because you're like, should I be here right now? The idea that, Mike and I were there. As part of this and remember this and these people, obviously they have no idea who we are and, we have this connection through this travel experience and, and Mike and I, I think every time we see each other at some point, we, we bring that up that we had that really neat, awe inspiring experience.
Coleen:Yeah, that is awe inspiring. Like, that is really cool. I didn't, I didn't know anything about that cave, and then and then to have experienced that along with it, that is so cool. really special. You're just at the right
Ryan:Yeah, absolutely. Sometime. And that played out. Well, hey, we have Julie with us. So Julie's not able to join us because of family goings on. And so she wanted to make sure to jump in. Hi, friends. I'm enjoying your travel stories. What a cool experience, Ryan. So thank you very much, Julie. And we're glad that you were here, of course. So, Colleen, my next question is what's a funny story from your Africa trip?
Coleen:So my funny story, obviously, Ron and I know each other from Disney
Ryan:Just a little bit. We've had a little bit of experience.
Coleen:Of course when you're going to Africa, you, you kind of were like, oh my gosh, how much like the you know, animal kingdom and the safari is this gonna
Ryan:yeah. Where's the Harambe market?
Coleen:I was asking my travel my tour guide, Zaid, this was in the first part where it was just me and him. Like, I get to do whatever I wanted because it was just me and him. And I asked him on our way up Naurangoro crater, excuse me hey are we going to pass by a baobab tree? And he was just like, kind of looks at me like, how do you know what the heck a baobab
Ryan:hmm. And, and tell, and tell us what that is for the folks that aren't following you.
Coleen:So, it's a, it's a, I don't, it's just a big tree, and
Ryan:it's upside down.
Coleen:it usually looks like they're upside down because for, like nine or ten months out of the year, it doesn't have leaves on it. Of course, the two months I was there is when it had leaves, so it doesn't even look like it, but they have huge trunks, and it stores all of its water in the trunk, they have one quote unquote on the safari and an animal kingdom and so I wanted to see a real one. So he was thinking about it and was like, Oh, there's this one that's kind of a pretty good size one. So we stopped by on the side of the road and took a picture there. And, and also while we were driving up to the Norongoro crater, guess what I saw on the sides of the roads? termite mounds, which are also built into the safari and so I'm taking pictures of these and he's like looking and he kind of pulls to the side of the road I go, they're termite mounds. And I'm like, excited about it. He's like, Yeah, they're, again, how do you know they're termite mounds? I try to explain to him, well, I've been to Disney World and Animal Kingdom, they have the safari and he's kind of looking at me like Disney World, what are you talking about?
Ryan:Wow.
Coleen:And I was like, You know, Disney. And, and then I go, you know, Mickey Mouse. And he's like, yeah, no, I don't know what you're talking about at all. And I was
Ryan:like, after Coca Cola, you would think that Mickey Mouse and Disney would be like, the second, brand that everybody in the world would know. Ha ha ha
Coleen:are people out there in the world that don't know what Mickey Mouse and Disney World are. So I was like, okay.
Ryan:you start singing It's a Small World to him to see if he recognized
Coleen:no, I didn't
Ryan:ha ha ha ha ha
Coleen:Like, how do you explain Disney World? How do you How do you explain Animal Kingdom and the safari on Animal Kingdom to somebody who lives in Africa? So he was just like shaking his head. I can't imagine what he
Ryan:That is hilarious. That is
Coleen:after that, telling him about this park with animals and wives and what? You do what? So anyway, that's my, that's my funny
Ryan:No, that's
Coleen:that happened on that trip.
Ryan:You know both Mike and I and so believe it or not, with this trip that Mike and I took, we were in Athens for, three days, and then we went on a ten day cruise, and then we were in Athens for another day and a half. And it was very intense because as you know, with European hotel rooms and state rooms and cruise ships, even if the beds are apart, they're literally like this far apart. Our last night, we were actually at a hotel by the airport in Athens I'm like he's so far away. I don't know what to do with myself. So anyway, like we literally We had texted back and forth and I think zoomed back and forth, but we did not physically Meet each other until we were at O'Hare airport ready to get on an eight hour flight to Athens And then it's kind of like, okay, we're spending the next two weeks together and we just Luckily because it could have been a flipping disaster, right? Luckily and this won't surprise you because you know, both of us mike and I just clicked right? It was like Our travel styles clicked, our sense of humor clicked, what we were excited about clicked. It was a lot of fun. And on one of our first nights on the cruise, Mike was kind of getting itchy. He kind of itchy, wanted something to do and everything like that. And so one night he said, you know, he was looking out at the water and it was completely black. He goes, I just, I want to throw something in the water. I just, I need a piece of fruit that I want to throw in the water. And I kind of look at him like. You want a piece of fruit to throw in the water? Yeah, I just, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna throw something into the, into the ocean here so I can, I can leave something. And I said, well I actually have an apple in my backpack from Indianapolis. Do you want that which I don't really even know if I was supposed to have that apple traveling with me from indiana, all the way to greece and so There is an apple in the mediterranean ocean all the way from indianapolis that mike, Threw into the water there.
Coleen:That's funny.
Ryan:and you know me you've joked about it many times. What do I always travel with? I
Coleen:you have an apple in your backpack.
Ryan:apple is the perfect travel snack Coleen, you've learned that by now
Coleen:And, and who does not pack apples? Me.
Ryan:Hey as we wrap up tonight Just give us kind of a if somebody is thinking about a trip to Africa. What's a tip?
Coleen:A tip is you're not going to see everything and, and just know that pick out what it is that you want to see. There's so many different countries over there, right next door, the Bucket List family, when we met up with them, they had just come back to Tanzania from Uganda and Rwanda, and they had done chimpanzee trekking and gorilla trekking. It's like specialty in each of those two countries. There's some places that have beaches, Zanzibar in Tanzania. You've got the waterfalls down in South Africa. And so it's about, picking what it is that you want to see. And that helps you kind of narrow down the part of Africa that you want to go to. And then the other thing is, I know we're both travel advisors, but work with a travel advisor because, we have connections to tour companies because I would not have wanted to do that at all on my own the fact that I had a guide with me taking me to everything Picking me up dropping me off taking me to the airport. You just want to have that This is the one place
Ryan:that support, right?
Coleen:You do, you just do. And there's so many little things that, it's like, oh, this is a great little roadside stand to, to stop and get some, local souvenirs and these little things, those are some of my big tips, think about what you want to do that helps you narrow down what country you want to go to. And then work with a travel advisor or some sort of a tour operator to, to help you like kind of customize your
Ryan:great. great. So my tip is with Greece, don't be intimidated by Greece. When many people think about Europe, unless they have a family connection or they have a specific interest in that history, they don't necessarily think about Greece. But I can tell you, I've been To many places in Europe and Greece has been one of my favorites and one of the most welcoming places I've ever been They are happy that you're there Things are priced very practically a lot of people that interact with tourists can speak very good English It's very easy to navigate but you still feel like you're immersed in something different It's not like it's all tourist bland. That's not what i'm saying at all I'm, just saying some of those barriers that you may be worried about are not there in my experience And the other tip is the first time I was in greece it was completely on land and the second time I was there I was mostly in the islands Take the time to do a balance of both, even if you just go to Mykonos and Santorini, one of those big islands with a small island, and then you spend time in Athens or the Peloponnese Peninsula, try to find a way that you can do both, because you really can appreciate both sides of Greece.
Coleen:That makes a lot of sense. So much history mainland. And then you've got, all of the islands have got all of their own little
Ryan:absolutely. And I will tell you, Santorini and Mykonos, look, there's no photoshopping. It looks exactly like what you see in all those Instagrammers pictures. It is the most amazing places in the world.
Coleen:Awesome, awesome. Yeah, they're It's on my list. It's on my list.
Ryan:Well, hey, Colleen, if people want to reach out to you and ask you about your time in Africa, or work with you as a travel advisor, how can they do that?
Coleen:Yeah, they can send me an email at Colleen C-O-L-L-E-E-N, at creating magic vacations.com. Or sign me on Instagram. I am at traveling with Coleen.
Ryan:Wonderful. All right. Well, hey folks. Thank you so much for joining us tonight on our November live? we will be back the first Sunday of December with our next live and Julie will be joining us again. And who knows maybe we'll have some more travel friends and talk about a really fun travel topic Bye folks