90. 10 Things to Know About Working With Me for Luxury Travel & Beyond

Looking to level-up your travel in 2025? In this episode, I'm sharing 10 personal insights that make me a trusted travel adviser for your next luxury travel trip. You'll get a peek behind the curtain into my life...my upcoming trips, some vulnerabilities, and even some big hairy audacious goals! By the end, you'll learn how I can help you plan your best trip yet!

Mentioned in this episode:
My Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/michelevisitsmickey?isPublicView=true

Connect with Michele on IG: @jetsettingwithmichele or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/MMTinsiders

Contact Michele to plan your next vacation: www.makinmemoriestravel.co/contact

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Hello, jetsetters, and welcome back to another episode of jetsetting with me. Today, I am going to give you 10 personal insights that make me a trusted travel adviser, and I'm gonna take you behind the scenes of my life on this very special 90th episode of jet setting with me. So last week, you got to hear a rewind of one of my very favorite episodes ever. It was on packing in a carry on, and spoiler alert. Since that episode aired the first time, I have successfully and consistently packed for up to 7 days, even one to a cold weather climate and bulkier clothes in my cool life carry on and my packing cubes. So if you wanna see what I have successfully packed in, where the zippers are working and all the goods, They are on my Amazon storefront. The link is in the show notes. I don't care if you really buy it from me.

I don't really earn anything. I mean, pennies, literally pennies to your purchase, but you can see what I have made work for me. Over Christmas, mister jet setting with me, and I went to Williamsburg for a, quote, cold weather holiday. I was in cold weather training for my trip that I'm on right now as you're listening to me blabber on about myself. I'm above the Arctic Circle, and I'm so happy. And more about that trip will be coming soon, because if you're game from for some very cold temperatures, I wanna go again in January 2026. Bring mister setting with me along, and you are definitely invited for that trip. But back to Williamsburg, it is very true what Eliza says at the end of Hamilton when she's singing about why does every other founding father get a story.

It really felt like he'd been erased from our founding history. So, of course, I couldn't wait to come home and watch the movie. I know you're wondering what this has to do with travel. Stay with me. And I've been playing the soundtrack nonstop as I recover from some surgery, which is why you may hear me talking a little funny and why there was a rewind episode last week. And I told very, very few people about my surgery, and it occurred to me, as I've been singing the 10 Tool Commandments to myself, that there are at least 10 things about me that I assume that you know, but in fact, you probably don't. So let's do the 10 things you don't know enough about to hate about me. Okay.

I know I mixed up pulp culture references, but if you're an empty nester, you probably get both of them. And, PS, Julie, I know you're listening because you tell me that you listen and you text me. That's for you because I watched the 10 things I hate about you with you, and you taught me that it was really the taming of the shrew. Who knew? So here we go. 1, I am an only child, and I managed to visit 49 out of the 50 states before I was married. This is because when I was younger, it was less expensive for my parents to throw me into the back seat of the family station wagon than it was to send me to summer camp. So I would claim the way back, as I called it, is a mini bedroom. You know, you throw the back seats down, and you have all that space.

I would claim it as my mini bedroom and move right in. I had sleeping bags. I had stuffed animals. I had my pillow, and I even brought my own snack salon. It was awesome, and that is how I managed to see so many states. It was out of the way back of the family station wagon. Whatever happened to station wagons, by the way? And, PS, I have now graduated from the way back to, more than likely, premium economy air travel, and the longest road trip I've done in decades was from Austin to New Orleans, which is approximately 8 to 10 hour 8 to 10 hours, I think, and we split it into 2 days. Yes.

Not so much for the road trips in me anymore. I cannot and I will not ever be able to tell you my best trip. This is number 2, by the way, if you're keeping track. It comes down to the memories that I have made on all of them. I usually will just pick my most recent trip because my most recent memories are in the forefront. And I can tell you this, though. I am still an annual pass holder to Walt Disney World, and I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of Universal's Epic Universe. My two favorite cities in the world are Maui and London.

I still have yet to visit Paris, France, and that really needs to change soon. And my preferred mode of travel is by cruise, either river or ocean. Number 3. I am a history, pop culture, and royals buff. Anywhere that we can travel to anything that will help me to understand history or make peace with it, like the World War 2 Memorial in Berlin or, as I said, Williamsburg, Virginia. I'm all in. I loved visiting the Hobbiton in New Zealand. You've heard me mention that before on the podcast, even though I'm not a Lord of the Rings person, and I will forever treasure my photo on the stoop of Carys Brownstone in New York City.

And I have already mentioned that London is one of my favorite cities in the world. That would be because of all the pictures and royals and tea with a royal and all the fabulous things you can do there. History. I mean, American history started there. Right? Okay. Number 4. I also love food. I can't eat much of it at a time because I have had weight loss surgery, but I love it.

I love food. I'm also a known danger to myself and others in the kitchen, and therefore, strictly banned from my own with the exception of using my Keurig to make my morning coffee. But anytime I can do a cooking class or a food tour, anytime I'm traveling, I am all in. One of the coolest ones I've done was the bagel tour in New York City by the Bagel Ambassador. Shout out to Sam. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever done in New York City, and that's saying something because there is a shit ton of cool stuff to do in New York City. But I've done food tours or cooking experiences and places as different as Peru, Costa Rica, New York City, Morocco, Copenhagen, the Dominican Republic, and Nashville, Tennessee. My daughter and I did a biscuit making class that was awesome.

I also did one where we ate around the Magic Kingdom and learned fun facts, like why the churros at Disneyland are so much better than the ones in Florida. I'll know if you're listening if you hit me up to ask me why. I try to add one to every single trip that I create for myself, and I always ask if that's something of interest to my clients. And, PS, the answer should always be yes. There is no better way to understand a culture than through its food. 5. I am a sucker for a good BTS behind the scenes tour. Yes.

I am a sucker for a good BTS behind the scenes tour. Yes, please, to anything that gives me a special look that others don't get. My favorite BTS tours are the ones on cruise ships. They're pricey. You have to consider them another excursion. But you get to see, like, where the performers have literally as big as a crawl space to change into their costumes. The commercial kitchens are amazing, and especially the bridge. Like, you would not believe, like, the size of the actual steering wheel that captains use.

It's like, the size of a pop socket. Each one, I've done them on 3 different cruise ships, and they're all different, and they've been 100% worth it. And if you could go on any of them, I would recommend it. So if you could go BTS anywhere in the world, where would it be? I would love to hear. Number 6. I'm getting truly vulnerable with you here. I see your photos on Facebook. Yes.

I see when you've taken a trip that I didn't have the privilege of helping you plan. It hurts my feelings. Many advisers get really snarky, and they rave in our closed Facebook groups about how their friends and their family don't use them. I never do that. I honestly, I just get sad. I feel as if you don't trust me to help you create magical and life changing travel experiences. Maybe you think it might have been such a quick trip, or you planned it very last minute, or you knew exactly what you wanted, or there was, like, 5 different people paying, or whatever it was that you thought you didn't need to use a professional. Let me tell you, straight up, between us, it is never a bother to ask me to look something up, ask me a question, or having me book something from you.

It's never a bother to have more than 1 person paying and to ask me to split the invoice or to make sure that you get cabins together or that you wanna know the best tour guide when you go somewhere. It is literally how I make my living. This is my own business, and I want you to trust me. I want you to be a part of how I make my living. You would never think it is the bother to ask a question of your accountant before tax time. You might question how much that's going to cost you to ask that question, but you will still ask it because it will save you from being audited later on. So same with me. Ask me.

If I can't make your vacation better than what you were expecting, I will tell you. But please give me that chance. Number 7. When you do give me the chance to help you with those memories, I can offer you some really cool, awesome stuff, like perhaps onboard ship credits, a hotel upgrade you might not have been expecting, the absolute best private driver in London, Italy, or vast number of other places, or that underground party you didn't even know about on that Virgin Voyages cruise, About where to go in Italy to get your shoes molded to your feet in 30 minutes, I mean, I've got some connections. Granted, I also have a lot of colleagues who have similar connections, and we work as a community instead of a competition. I spend my time and my own money traveling to places so that I can create more of these connections and learn from the locals, so I can share all of that information with you, my fabulous pod family and clients, to borrow a friend's hashtag. I know because I go, and I get true joy and pleasure out of passing my knowledge onto you. Number 8.

I am a true 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, and even cooler to me, I'm a 6 degree of Princess Kate Middleton. I did tell you I'm a royal fanatic. Right? I love to network online and in person. It is my jam. But I'm actually an introvert, and I need lots of downtime to get my energy up for socializing and trips. Number 9, my love languages gifts. I love to give them. Of course, I also don't mind receiving them, but truly, I love to give them.

I never show up at anyone's house empty handed. The Jewish mother in me always wants to send gifts of food when you're happy, sad, ill, or as a thank you for being my client. If you'd rather have money on your onboard ship account, you have to tell me. Otherwise, you will end up with a refillable popcorn bucket and treats in your room. And that brings us to number 10. I am so heartfelt and grateful and overjoyed for all of you who have stuck with me from the beginning. And those of you who are new to this podcast, I cannot believe this is episode number 90. When I first started getting to episode number 10 was the goal.

And because I fully believe in the energy of the universe and manifestation, and I'm in the middle of my January 21 Day Guide to Jump Start the Year with Gabby Bernstein. And, you know, I'm recovering from surgery, whatever it is. It's January 7th as I record this, and I'm going to be very vulnerable with you and share some of my big, hairy, audacious 2025 goals. Please hold me accountable, and maybe you can help me get there. I wanna grow my travel business sales to be able to be attend GTN. It is the preeminent travel advisor conference, and you have to have a 7 figure book of business. So that would be my goal for 2025. I want this podcast audience to triple or even quadruple in size by the end of this year.

And, really, most importantly, I would love to take you on a trip with me. If there is somewhere that you are dying to go or you are ready to go with someone other than me, click the link in the show notes to get in contact with me, and let's get planning. Until next time, safe travels, jetsetters.