When to splurge and go big when it comes to travel

In all of the conversations we’ve had this season, a couple of threads keep resurfacing:  how much we appreciate the ability to travel, and how to really maximize a trip. Well, we thought it was high time to devote an episode specifically to this! Out Travel the System host Nisreene Atassi dives into the idea of splurging while traveling, and how that can mean different things to different people. She is joined by expert travel planner Sarah Groen, host of the Luxury Travel Insider podcast, as well as Tomiko Harvey, Vice President of the Black Travel Alliance, and writer at Passports and Grub. They’ll take you through how a splurge – whether it’s adding on a private tour, upgrading your seat on a flight, or making sure your home away from home has everything you need – can make or break the way you remember your travels. Sarah shares how to plan out the ‘arc’ of a trip (hint, save the best hotels for last), and Tomiko talks about building travel planning into every day life. So go ahead, book that second massage at your vacation hotel, line up that private tour, and borrow a page out of Sarah’s book by really upgrading your rental vehicle – take this episode as the encouragement you need to say yes to your next travel splurge!

Expedia Travel Podcast

When to splurge and go big when it comes to travel

Nisreene Atassi: I’m a pretty avid traveler, and I have been for a while. But over the years, my travel style has really evolved, the way my life has evolved. So when I was in my early 20s, it was all about seeing the world the cheapest way possible. I’m talking hostels, budget airlines, cheap eats, you name it. But as I got older, I’ve come to realize that it’s worth it to splurge every now and again for that added comfort or even peace of mind. It got me thinking, as I was preparing for this episode, about the last trip that I took that was really sort of my biggest splurge. And it was actually a couple years ago and it was a last- minute trip that I booked to Sri Lanka. Now, before everybody gets wild out there, I wasn’t flying from the United States. I was living in Dubai at the time. So Sri Lanka was not a super far- off place, less than a five- hour flight. I was super, super burnt out from work, it just had been a really, really busy month, and my husband and I just felt like we really needed a break. So I picked up the phone, I made some calls, and I ended up booking a four- night stay at the Anantara Peace Haven Resort in Tangalle, which is in the coast of Sri Lanka. And let me tell you, it was absolute magic. It was a five- star resort that had everything from activities, to a guy cutting fresh coconuts by the pool, to Ayurveda spa treatments. I mean, it was just an absolute dream, and it was a trip that I will never forget, and it was 100% worth the splurge. Because mentally, I needed it. And you know what? That’s actually a good enough excuse if you ask me. I’m Nisreene Atassi, and this is Out Travel the System. As we’ve tackled a range of topics this season, we find ourselves drawn into lots of conversations about how to maximize your trip. So we decided we needed to do a full episode about when to splurge on that next travel. I’ve invited two expert travelers to join me in this discussion today. First, I’ve got Sarah Groen. She’s the host of the Luxury Travel Insider podcast, and is no stranger to planning a trip for anyone looking to splurge. Welcome to Out Travel the System, Sarah.

Sarah Groen: Thanks for having me.

Nisreene Atassi: Also here with us is Tomiko Harvey. Tomiko blogs at passportsandgrub.com. And she’s also the vice president of the Black Travel Alliance, which is an amazing organization created to really amplify the voices of black content creators. Thanks for coming on the show today, Tomiko. It’s so great to have you.

Tomiko Harvey: Thank you. I am so blessed to be here. Looking forward to talking with everybody.

Nisreene Atassi: So before we get too deep into this, I want to actually first start by asking you ladies on what your most recent big splurge was when traveling. Sarah, why don’t we start with you? You recently took a trip, which a lot of people would consider to be a bit of a splurge. So tell us a little bit about it.

Sarah Groen: Yeah. Well, it happens to be my life now since I work in luxury travel. So I’m like, ” All of my trips are a little splurgy these days.”

Nisreene Atassi: Must be nice. Must be nice.

Sarah Groen: I also have done the backpacking thing, and traveled to really remote countries, and love all that too. But splurge- wise, I actually, for my 10- year anniversary, planned it completely differently than I would have pre- COVID, but just did something a little bit local. Normally, I wouldn’t splurge on a domestic trip, but I did. So we stayed at the best hotels in the Bay Area, had a really, really, really nice rental car, which I’ve never done before.

Nisreene Atassi: Was it a Mercedes convertible? Because when I think of a splurge on a rental car, it always is a convertible. I don’t know why.

Sarah Groen: It wasn’t a convertible, but it was a Maserati.

Nisreene Atassi: Whoa!

Tomiko Harvey: Oh wow. What?

Nisreene Atassi: 100% not what I thought you were going to say. I thought you were going to be like, ” We upgraded to the Mustang.” I feel like things are on next level now. Okay.

Sarah Groen: Yeah.

Tomiko Harvey: Okay. That threw me for a loop right there.

Nisreene Atassi: Okay. Okay.

Sarah Groen: So we had to go domestic, which isn’t us, but we splurged on a couple things here.

Nisreene Atassi: I love that.

Tomiko Harvey: Wow.

Nisreene Atassi: Tomiko, what a tough one to follow, but go ahead.

Tomiko Harvey: No, I’m not going to be able to beat that one, unfortunately.

Nisreene Atassi: You don’t have to beat it. The next question is going to be how we actually define splurging. So tell us a little bit about what you considered to be a splurge for you, and then we can dig in a little bit about how we define splurging.

Tomiko Harvey: I just got back from Cabo, Mexico. And for that trip, I decided that my splurge was going to be, I was going to have a driver for the entire trip.

Nisreene Atassi: So nice.

Tomiko Harvey: We’re still in COVID and we’re still having to be safe. So how can I still do everything that I want to do, but do it in a safe way? It was just so great to be able to pick up the phone and they were there in 10 minutes taking us everywhere we wanted to go. It was just me and my best friend in the car. Moving forward, that’s probably what I’m going to do now, is just have a driver everywhere I go.

Nisreene Atassi: I would definitely consider that a splurge because to be honest, Sarah’s splurge was obviously what a lot of people would consider to be the quintessential splurge. But Tomiko, what you just described to me is also a splurge. Because frankly, that’s probably a little bit more money than what someone would normally pay, but it gives you that added to convenience or the added sense of luxury. And so I feel like both of these are equally deserving of the word splurge. So Tomiko, you’re an incredibly busy woman. You have a family, you have basically two jobs that you’re doing. To me, getting something that would add convenience to your trip and reduce a hassle, feels like it would probably be absolutely splurge- worthy. How do you define splurging? Is it all about time- saving? Is it about convenience? Or do you usually equate it with a little bit of money?

Tomiko Harvey: For me, it’s about convenience. So I’d rather spend a little bit money on a luxury hotel that’s going to be in the thick of things than me staying out farther, and then having to catch a taxi or a bus or whatever it is to get where I’m going to go.

Nisreene Atassi: Sarah, what about you? How do you talk about the different ranges of splurging? You’re obviously in the hyper luxe travel category, but if you’ve got people who come to you and they’ve got a limited budget or things like that, how do you help define what is worth splurging on?

Sarah Groen: Yeah. I think it’s a really good question. And I think about it a lot, not only with my clients, but also on my show. Everyone will come to me with very different things. So I’ve asked questions 100 times to hundreds of different clients, like, ” What is most important to you on this trip and why?” So for some people it’s convenience. They’re so busy in their daily lives. They just don’t want any hassles. Some people really like a great hotel. I had a client one time tell me, ” I love to read a book. I really want a nook in my room, a seat to sit on that isn’t just the bed so I can read,” and that’s their little splurge. So it’s super customized for every different person. And I think the definition of luxury travel is changing so much or has already changed, let’s just say. It’s now no longer high- thread count sheets. It’s personalization, and customization, and access to things that you might not otherwise get access to.

Nisreene Atassi: Yeah. I think that’s a really smart way of looking at it. Tomiko, you mentioned splurging as one example, having a ‘ hood closer in proximity to a lot of things. What are some other examples of ways that you or people you know have splurged to get them that element of convenience, or to help save them time or things like that when traveling?

Tomiko Harvey: Even not even saving time on traveling. When I was in Jamaica, I had a private butler and a chef. That was something that we wanted to do. We didn’t want to stay at one of the resorts, but we still wanted to have authentic food, and we didn’t want to have to go and spend $ 200 per meal. So we hired a private chef that was coming in and cooking three meals for us per day. And while it seems like it’s something that’s ultra luxury, if you’re splitting that cost with another couple, it’s really not as expensive as one would think it is. When you do the math and you think about, you’re going to eat at three different restaurants or you’re staying at an all- inclusive, which is going to charge you 18 arms and your child’s kidney to stay there, counted down to the dollars and cents, you’re probably coming out a little bit cheaper by having a personal chef. I’m not having to go out. I’m not having to do all of that extra figuring out which restaurant I’m going to eat at, which one I’m not. It’s already done for you.

Nisreene Atassi: Ooh. I love that. And that’s actually something that I’ve never done because it does feel just so luxe. But you’re totally right. I never think about how much money am I going to spend on all of my meals. We did an episode on cruises and we were talking about how people don’t factor in that budget. But when they’re booking a cruise, those things are all all- inclusive. So they don’t realize that that money is already bundled together. But you’re totally right. It probably does end up being the same once you add in tip, or maybe you have to take an Uber or a Lyft or something like that to that restaurant. It does all really add up. So I think that may not actually be that much more money than what you would normally spend or budget for.

Tomiko Harvey: Especially if you are a family or something like that that’s traveling. I mean, we went to Turks and Caicos two years ago. And it wasn’t a fancy restaurant, it was just a little pub on one of the main streets, and the burger was $ 55.

Nisreene Atassi: Stop.

Tomiko Harvey: That didn’t include fries or a drink or anything. And for myself, my mom and my husband, it was $ 300 for lunch.

Nisreene Atassi: Oh my gosh. That is insane. But I guess that’s Turks and Caicos, it’s a small little island.

Tomiko Harvey: Right.

Nisreene Atassi: So it probably cost a lot for them to get those ingredients in. Holy smokes. All right. Sarah, the recent trip that you just mentioned, you said it was for your anniversary. Do you find that a lot of people that come to you looking for these splurge- worthy trips are doing it because they’re tying it to a specific date or a milestone?

Sarah Groen: Yeah, of course. We do honeymoons, and we have milestone trips that we help people with, birthdays or other anniversaries. But really, I think the majority of our work is just helping super busy professionals take the time away. I went to a winery once, maybe 10 years ago. We were thinking, ” Well, what special occasion are we going to have to actually open this really expensive bottle of wine?” They said, ” Every day is a special occasion.” And I still think about that. And I think for these families and folks that we’re helping to take these amazing trips for them, it’s their one summer that they’re going to have that their kids are 10 and 12. It’s their one holiday trip that they’re going to take before their kids graduate from high school and move to college. Every trip is a special occasion, regardless of whether it’s tied to a milestone.

Nisreene Atassi: It really just all boils down to being present in the moment and appreciating what you’ve got when you’ve got it. Because I think people have a tendency to ignore the small wins in life or the small joys that you’ve got. And we have this expectation that things worth celebrating have to be so big, and we don’t deserve to celebrate every day or anything like that. I love that phrase, every day is worth celebrating or there’s something to celebrate every single day. You can do a staycation and upgrade your rental car or even just get a rental car or just get a suite for one night. Give yourself a reason to celebrate something. I love that. I think that it’s just a great theme for how I hope people start to think about travel coming out of the pandemic and appreciate everything that it can really deliver.

Tomiko Harvey: I do think that the pandemic has brought this new mindset around travel. It’s no longer that this is something that I’m going to do once a year or I’m going to save up a ton of money. You can travel. And even like you said, the local travel. My husband and I went up to Memphis for the weekend. We stayed at a nice hotel, got a suite, like you said, and we spent two days just having a little staycation. I think people just think of travel as this luxury thing that I’m not going to be able to do or I’m going to start doing it once I save all of my money and I retire. But by then, we all know our bones don’t work the way they used to. So are you really going to hike? Are you really going to do all of those things that you had planned on doing? Probably not.

Nisreene Atassi: Yeah, no, I think that’s a fair point for sure. Clearly, splurging on travel means something different for everybody. Some people might think that it’s very much spur of the moment, the way my Sri Lanka trip was. But others might be planning a couple years out because the nature of the trip just requires that length of planning or they want to save. I’m curious, Sarah, from perspective, do you see any trends in this area in terms of booking lead times for splurge- worthy trips? Or do you have recommendations for if people really want to go big, how far out they should start planning?

Sarah Groen: COVID, unfortunately, has made these booking windows really short. I’m sure you guys see that in your data as well, but I’m trying to encourage people to try to keep thinking in advance. Number one, if you want to have a splurge trip, it’s going to cost you less money if you plan further in advance. All these top hotels are using what they call dynamic pricing. Their pricing will go up as their demand goes up, just like you have seen for years and decades in airline to get pricing. So you can get better pricing if you plan in advance. And then if you don’t have an expert to reach out to, just do a little bit of research. I’m sure you can find that on there, certain particular trips need more lead time. One example is the Galápagos over the holidays. At least 18 months, I tried to plan it for… I did plan it this holiday season for a family last January, and literally got the last hotel rooms available on the mainland.

Nisreene Atassi: Oh wow.

Sarah Groen: So yeah, it was really, really tough to get everything together. So there are some safari trips, for example. Even at not the luxury lodges, they’re all small because they’re offering these amazing experiences. They may have six or seven or eight rooms. And if you really want a particular spot in a particular national park or private reserve, you only have a small chance to get that. So those are other trips to plan far in advance. Something that we really think about for our trips is the arc of the trip. And if you don’t give yourself enough time to plan in advance, you can’t plan a proper arc.

Nisreene Atassi: Oh.

Sarah Groen: It’s two things, having a smooth entry and then building your hotels throughout the trip, and a smooth exit. So there’s a lot of tricks that we think about when we’re planning a trip. If you don’t plan far enough in advance, you can’t plan for that arc because you may not have availability and you may not be putting your logistics together properly.

Nisreene Atassi: Now, I’m really curious. I’ve got questions.

Sarah Groen: Yeah. Okay. Smooth entry, for me, is super important. Whether you’re planning with me or you’re planning on your own, think about that moment when you arrive in the country and make sure it goes really smoothly. And that, again, is going to be different for different people. So one example, I’m going to South Africa, I land at three or four o’clock in the morning. The first thing I did after I booked my flight, is I reached out to my partner there and I was like, ” You got to get me this VIP arrival service.” So there’s a service at the airport in Johannesburg, which is usually kind of a mess, they’ll meet you at the plane side. And I’m going to be half asleep, and they’re just going to take me to whatever I need to do, process my COVID paperwork, take me to the place where I need to get another COVID test because I’m going to Zimbabwe the next day. So someone’s going to handle that for me. So I don’t have to worry about it.

The other splurge there for a smooth entry is, I’m just booking a night at the simple airport hotel for that night. So while you may say, ” Hey, I’m not sleeping there that night. I’m arriving at 4: 00 AM,” I’m going to be able to actually go to that hotel and get a couple hours of sleep. And then the rest of the arc, I like to have hotels build in quality over time so that you’re not doing your nicest hotel in the beginning, and then going down from there. So if you can build your trip to where you have your nicest hotel at the end, and the busyness of your itinerary start out really busy when you’re excited and fresh, and then decrease over time, then hopefully by the end, you’re in your nicest hotel, you have a little bit more free time to enjoy it, you’re recapping, you’re having gratitude for your trip, you’re thinking about it, and hopefully, you’re having a glass of champagne on a fabulous balcony or something.

Nisreene Atassi: That first 24 hours of your trip can probably set the tone for the rest of your vacation. And so if you wanted to really start things off on a positive note, really thinking about what that’s going to mean for you, I think, is really important. So I love that you brought that up. So Sarah, you talked a little bit about budgeting. It’s a really important part of this entire conversation, I feel like. Because it’s not necessarily a matter of going in with the mindset of, there is no budget. And if you’re going to have a splurge- worthy trip, it means sky’s the limit and you spend all of your cash. There are obviously different variations of that. Tomiko, where are some of the places in your budget where you try to save a little bit so that you can splurge somewhere else?

Tomiko Harvey: For me, it’s on airfare. So I know some people think they have to stay in first- class or business- class. I’ll do coach or where they do the extended leg room, and that’s about it. I’d rather have my splurge on the hotel and food when I get there. For me, it’s all about where I’m going to lay my head, the food I’m going to eat, my surroundings when I get there. All of those are splurge- worthy things to me.

Nisreene Atassi: Okay. All right. I like that. Good process. Sarah, what about you? How do you approach the budgeting process? Where do you start when you’re planning for someone else?

Sarah Groen: Depends on the person. That’s why I spend so much time getting to know them upfront and trying to figure out what’s important to them or what’s going on in their life that they are vacationing from and everything else. But one of the things that we haven’t mentioned is guides. So I ask every new potential client to tell me a favorite memory from a past trip. So over hundreds of these, I can tell you, pretty much, all of them will say something about an experience or a really great guide that they had. Most of them aren’t talking about the hotels.

So while I am obsessed with luxury hotels, of course, if I have a client who comes with a budget and doesn’t have room for all of it, I would gear more towards amazing private guides than I would towards a hotel. So I’d say, ” Let’s do a couple of four- star hotels or bed and breakfasts to lower the budget so that you can fit in these great guides.” And they tell stories about the destination, they get you experiences that you couldn’t otherwise, walk you into a friend’s house to say, ” Let’s have a quick drink with my friend who lives in this village.” It’s kind of like your friend for the day in the destination.

Nisreene Atassi: Yeah. Well, it all goes back to asking the question, what’s the most important thing for you? And making sure that you are not skimping on the things that are the most important to you, and maybe being a little bit more budget conscious for the things that you don’t really care as much about. So whether that’s activities versus hotels or first- class versus economy, it really just depends on what’s going to help make the best trip for you and help you really get the most out of that experience. We’re only halfway through this episode, ladies, and I’m already getting this massive urge to want to go and plan another trip. But I’m pretty sure our listeners are going to want to hear more from our guests. So everybody just stay with us. We will be right back.

Nisreene Atassi: I’m Nisreene Atassi, and this is Out Travel the System. Season Three means new goals and new inspirations. We’re taking our deep- dive destination episodes overseas to places like Spain and France, and spotlighting amazing American cities with our ‘Only I’n series. Along the way, we’re sharing our best tips and tricks to make the most out of your vacations, and even pondering ‘to cruise or not to cruise.’ Like and subscribe on your favorite podcast player for answers to questions like these, and to make sure you get every episode right when it drops. All right, welcome back. We are here with inclusive travel expert, Tomiko Harvey, and Luxury Travel Insider podcast host, Sarah Groen. So ladies, before the break, we talked about how paying for little splurges, like a driver or a personal chef, can really help save you time and create that added convenience. Sarah, what are some of the splurges that you can suggest to our listeners that can help them create that feeling of Luxe on a vacation? Maybe let’s start with things that are maybe in a little bit more of an affordable price point, and we can then work our way up.

Sarah Groen: Yeah. So I think I had mentioned before one of the things that is coming up more and more in terms of people’s definition of luxury is access to experiences that it feels like not everyone else can get. And we have lots of those at the very high price point, of course. But there are many of them at lower price points too, and these are things like doing a cooking class in a local’s home, having your guide take you to their local pub and introducing you to his or her friends. It’s a little maybe splurgy because you have that private guide or you’re doing that cooking class. But it’s an interesting way to get an insight into people’s lives, and to learn more about the culture and have something that you feel like not everybody else gets to do without spending a ton of money.

Tomiko Harvey: I think cooking classes are just amazing. I did a farm- to- table cooking class in Cabo. We went and we harvested our own vegetables, and food, and created craft cocktails, and then went to the kitchen. It was just one of those feelings that you’re with local people, you’re actually experiencing the destination, as opposed to being at a super luxe resort and laying out sunning. You’re actually getting the feel of what the destination is about. So to me, splurge, they make you feel alive when you can go to a destination and have authentic food and speak with the locals. To me, that is the best experience you can have.

Nisreene Atassi: What about the things on the higher price point? Give me some examples of more expensive things that are splurge- worthy. But then I also want to hear what is the most expensive thing you have ever added onto a trip for one of your clients?

Sarah Groen: If you have the money and you have somebody who is just willing to ask, you can pretty much come up with anything. So one of the most expensive things, add- ons that we’ve done is a behind- the- scenes at the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. So everybody, including me, when I went, was standing outside the gate, like, ” Ooh, yay,” like, ” It’s very cool. What’s happening in there?” You can pay to be inside for that. You can pay to privatize the Louvre and have a tour with the curator of the museum at night.

I just got off recording an episode of the show with one of my partners in Romania. And this is so interesting. It probably didn’t actually cost that much, but she had a traveler who came through, who was really interested in history and really esoteric interesting ancient artifacts. So they found out that there were these stone tablets in Romania that people and scientists are thinking might be one of the very first examples of written language in the world, and it’s in an archive being researched in a museum.

She was able to get her travelers access to get to go in and see these. They took them out of the archives and they got to see them with the curator of the museum, just explaining it to them. So the more focused you are in terms of your interests, the more really interesting things we can do. I could go on and on. Another of my guests on the show from Egypt, talked about a traveler he had who was just very interested in irrigation for whatever reason.

Nisreene Atassi: What?

Sarah Groen: Yeah.

Nisreene Atassi: Okay. Yeah.

Sarah Groen: And so he wanted to meet all the foremost experts in both ancient Egyptian irrigation and modern Egyptian irrigation, and he made a whole trip out of it. So the answer’s always no if you don’t ask.

Nisreene Atassi: Okay. Tomiko, how do you create that feeling of luxe in splurging on a trip up?

Tomiko Harvey: It is really the activities. I think sometimes we see activities, it’s 500 people on a boat. I went to the Amalfi coast. And of course, I had to see the grottos. Because when you go to the Amalfi coast, that’s what you do. And I was being cheap. We got on one of the boats that had maybe 50 other people going to see the grotto. And so we’re all crammed on this boat. And at the end of the day, it probably wasn’t worth skimping on that because I really didn’t get the experience that I was looking for.

Nisreene Atassi: I love any sort of activity that can really give you the best of both worlds on that one. And I think Expedia has recently, we all started to sell a lot of activities. And every year, it grows and grows. Now, before I go on a trip, I’m going to go to Expedia, and I’m just going to search through all the activities. And you would be so surprised at the volume of absolutely amazing, immersive experiences that are available, whether it’s a guided tour for tacos around San Diego or a guided tour of pubs, like what you were talking about, Sarah, or these cooking classes. And I think people forget the value that sometimes these little activities can actually add. And they, some are $ 100, some are 50, some are 500, but they all add that little extra touch.

So that’s my big tip for everybody, is I would encourage you to go and look at the activities that are available. And find the ones that you can add that can, I think, put that extra little splurge for your vacation. It’s not always the Disneys that add that extra element. There are all of these extra things that can immerse you in the culture and feel like you’re really splurging on your trip.

We’ve been talking about adding the extras to a trip, like activities and things like that. But we haven’t really talked about things that are imperative not to skimp on, if that makes sense. So there’s things that we want to add on that are extra, but then there are also a whole slew of things where it’s like, you probably don’t want to go for the cheapest route because it’s not going to yield the best vacation. So Sarah, why don’t we start with you? What are some portions of a travel experience that you definitely do not want to skimp on?

Sarah Groen: Yeah. So there’s all these little moments within a trip that can make it smooth and memorable, which is what you want, or they can go wrong and then color the rest of your trip in a bad way. So I would say those are the things not to skimp, like we talked about the smooth entry. But smooth entry also means if your travel advisor or your friends or somebody else recommends taking a pre- planned transfer to your hotel on that first day, and you say, ” Nah, I’m just going to take a taxi,” that can sometimes be one of those points where it’s not going to blow your budget, it’s not like it’s going to be super expensive or that much more than a taxi, but it might just help you get into your trip more easily.

Nisreene Atassi: Yeah. I mean, it goes back to time. If time is your biggest currency, you don’t want to skimp on things that are going to basically waste your time. Or if you only have five vacation days to use, don’t spend them and book a flight that’s going to take you 24 hours to get to your destination, and then you lose two days traveling. So it’s all about what is your greatest currency, and don’t skimp on the things that are going to really drain that piece. Because at the end of the day, that’s going to make or break your trip. I feel like I always have to tell people this because people come to me and they’ll ask me for tips. They’re like, ” Oh, you work at Expedia. I’m planning. Any tips on that kind of stuff?” And I always tell them, I was like, ” Listen, if you have a very short amount of time, get there the quickest way possible. If you’re only going for four days, this is not the time to take that connecting flight that has a six- hour layover that’s going to take you 12 hours where you could just take a direct flight and be there in four.” For me personally, I absolutely can’t skimp on my accommodations anymore. I just have a tendency to get really grossed out in a place where I feel like it just, I get the sense that it might be dirty or I just get the sense that I feel unsafe. I’m just not going to rest and my whole trip will be ruined. So you just have to think about what all of those things are for you, and what circumstance is, and just make sure that you don’t skimp on the things that are basically going to ruin your whole trip. All right, ladies. Well, I feel like I need to go and get my credit card warmed up for my next trip because I am absolutely ready to go, and I feel like I’ve got a good sense of what I want to splurge on next. You both have given me some really good ideas that I’ve never actually really thought about. I mean, I’m absolutely going to get a private chef for my next big trip. So I’m excited. All right. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. It has been an absolute pleasure.

Sarah Groen: Thank you so much.

Nisreene Atassi: Tomiko, thank you to you as well for coming and joining us on Out Travel The System today. It has been an absolute pleasure.

Tomiko Harvey: Thank you.

Nisreene Atassi: All right. I’m Nisreene Atassi, and this is Out Travel the System brought to you by Expedia. Listen in next time as we head to France and mark how la vie est belle there with everything to explore and eat. Until then, happy travels.

Show links: Expedia // Expedia Social Media: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook // Sarah’s links: Luxury Travel Insider podcast // Tomiko’s links: passportsandgrub.com, Black Travel Alliance

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