100. Special Appearance from Mr. Jet Setting with Me

Mr. Jet Setting with Me (aka my husband) joins me on the podcast today and puts me in the hot seat! We talk about the time my phone got left behind on vacation, what our bucket-list destinations are, and what I wish my clients would be honest about. Tune in for some juicy stories and witty banter between me and my other half!

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

Michele:

Hello, Jetsetters, and welcome back to episode 100. I can hardly believe we have made it. It has been, I think, more than two years, but here we are celebrating. And because it is such a special occasion, I have my number one silent investor who is not gonna be so silent today. A very warm welcome from my heart to mister jetsetting with me. Say hello, mister jetsetting with me.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Hello, mister jetsetting with me, and congratulations on reaching episode number 100.

Michele:

So for those of you who don't get the joke, mister jet setting with me is AKA my husband, and he is going to interview me today. So without further ado, mister Husband, take it away.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Well, welcome everybody. And the first question, what is your favorite travel accessory that you cannot, cannot leave home without?

Michele:

Well, that would be my camera, but

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

that is because my camera is attached to my phone. And we very much learned how important it is for me to have

Michele:

my phone when we were going on our very first Virgin Voyages. You may remember.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Really? What happened? Please tell us.

Michele:

Well, my camera stayed right here on the countertop in the kitchen of Making Memories Travel Central, and we went to the airport. And I went to pull up my mobile boarding pass, and I had no phone with me. And on Virgin Voyages, it's even doubly important because, like, you do everything on their mobile app. But even more importantly, like, I take a lot of pictures when I travel to post for all my listeners, and I didn't have that. So we had to

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

All was not lost. What happened when we reached lovely Miami?

Michele:

Oh my god. We had to, like, turn ourselves into knots to find a store that had the phone in stock. And then I had to then go to Target to get the right size case. And but by the time we boarded, man, I had a new phone.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

And what happened with the old phone? Oh, wait. Wait. That was no longer useful when we got back home.

Michele:

I think we gave it to one of the kids.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Nah. Don't think so.

Michele:

Did we not? I think we did. I think we gave it to one of the kids. But the funny thing I remember is that I sent Mira a text from my laptop, like an iMessage from my laptop saying, I don't have my phone. Communicate with your dad because Mira and her then boyfriend were going on that cruise with us. And I remember she started texting me back, like, what? You don't have your phone? You don't have your phone? I'm like, what about don't text me? Did you not again?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Well, thank you. And speaking of Virgin Voyages, what's your favorite Virgin Voyages ship?

Michele:

Well, we haven't been on all four. We've only been on two out of the four. So I definitely I think I liked Resilient better than Scarlet, but I can't wait to go on the brand new Brilliant. Little did you know that there's a Foul Foliage cruise around, you know, just before my birthday

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

that would be fabulous. I'm sure there are cruises on the new ship happening almost weekly.

Michele:

But you and I disagree about what our favorite cruise lines are, don't we?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

I didn't ask about cruise lines. You mentioned Virgin Voyages.

Michele:

I did.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Now if you wanna expand on that, how many different cruise lines have you actually cruised on?

Michele:

Okay. Well, let me see. There was the big red boat, AKA Carnival, when I was, like, 20, never ever to be done ever again. Then there was Celebrity, which we went on our honeymoon, which is lovely and nice. We've done Princess a lot. So Princess Cruise Line, Oceania, which I think is probably my favorite, but we

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

don't get to do it very often. Disney,

Michele:

which I love, but you maybe less less love.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

I'm perhaps not the target audience for a Disney cruise.

Michele:

You were so good to me watching me run up and down the stairs for two hours while you took photos. Like, you would go and stand in line for me. It was so romantic. And then I feel like I'm forgetting some. We did a Holland America. Neither one of us. That

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

was fine.

Michele:

It was fine. Obviously, Virgin.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

You did a three day on MSC.

Michele:

Which I didn't love. And then we also just did that one on the on them, that big sea thing, the sea cloud. Didn't really love that one. And then Royal Caribbean, which I think both of us were like, okay, this is great. Let's not do it again.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Okay. And those are ocean going ships. You've also been on a few river cruises. Which lines have you been on? Which ones do you want to go on?

Michele:

Scenic and Avalon, and I would definitely do Avalon again. No. Wait. We're aiming for

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

that one in The US, I believe.

Michele:

Oh, yeah. It doesn't exist anymore. It went out of business. American Queen went out of business. They were taken over by American Cruise Line, and I wouldn't I wouldn't do them again. American Cruise Line. Like, I really enjoyed my American Queen, the, like, traditional paddle boat, but I would not do an American Cruise Line. Their service is scary.

Michele:

Anyway but let me turn the tables on you, mister jet setting with me. What's your favorite cruise line? Like, if you were saying, Michele, you have an unlimited budget for us to plan

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

There are cruise lines we haven't been on because we don't have an unlimited budget. Okay. You have a tagline. We've never had a butler, but it's been so there are cruise lines where you get a butler, which I believe would be somebody that's in the closet. You open the closet, you go, hey, butler. Come and do something for me. I know that's just a a really

Michele:

Would you even do that?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Like, seriously, would

Michele:

you love to try that?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

But that's not happening anytime soon.

Michele:

Alright. Well, of the ones that we have filled

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

list. This great list of all these lines you've been on. Which of the lines you haven't been on are you hoping to go on?

Michele:

I would definitely love to see something on, Seaborn or Silver Sea.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Are they they're different? They're part

Michele:

of different lines. They're part of different lines. And I've had friends slash clients go on Silversea who really like it, but I actually really like the sales team that I work with at Seaborn. So if I had to pick one, I would probably go with Seabourn just because I like to work with people that are consistent that I like to work with. I guess so. I mean, honestly, I don't think does I don't Oceania does butlers, and we haven't sailed at that level in Oceania, but that could be an amazing I mean, I really love that those cruises. I like their country club casual, so there's no, like, formal nights on a like, on a princess ship where we decide we have to go get pizza instead.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

The specialty restaurants are?

Michele:

All included. All included.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Yeah. And another thing about them, not that we're trying to promote them at this particular call here, is that they don't bug you about the little things that some of the larger cruise lines do.

Michele:

Right. Which is another reason to love Virgin Voyages. I know. We differ on that. Like, all things being equal, I would choose virgin and you would probably choose celebrity. Am I right?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Oh, Oceania was pretty nice.

Michele:

Well, yeah. That's not all things being equal. That's like a step above, I think.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Are virgin and celebrities on the same?

Michele:

Yeah. They're both yeah. They're both considered premium lines. So yeah. Yeah.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

In terms of cost per per cruise in general.

Michele:

I just priced it out for some clients and Celebrity was actually a little higher, which that's just because they don't include all the same things that Virgin includes. And because they don't give the same perks to me to give back to my clients that Virgin does, but they're pretty similar.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Okay. Speaking of providing for your clients, what is something you like about your current job? That is your job sitting here at home in the making memories travel jet setting with me office.

Speaker C:

I love well, so yesterday and today, I've been working on an itinerary for some honeymooners who are going to be in Italy and France. And I have absolutely loved researching the best excursions for them to go on that can make it extra magical. They're gonna get a private photographer to take some engage some pictures of them on their honeymoon behind these beautiful Italian architectural wonders. They're gonna go for a wine tasting on Mount Vesuvius. I mean, just some really, really cool things. I love that part. I live knowing that I am creating trips that are truly going to be specific to them, that nobody else could create for them or duplicate and have the same exact vacation, and that that's gonna be a memory that they'll always have. I still remember our honeymoon.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

That sounds really neat. So speaking from the side of your potential or actual clients, how can your clients help you help them best?

Michele:

Be honest about a budget. Be honest. If you can't afford and I'm just pulling this out of my air. If you can't afford a four day trip at Disney in a deluxe accommodation, then say that at the outset or say I have 5,000 to 7,000 to spend on this trip, and that includes airfare for four. That would be for Disney, by the way. You can't get to Europe for less than 7,000 a week right now. Although that could change soon. We don't know.

Michele:

But so I just think having realistic expectations about what you have to spend on these experiences. And my advice is always spend if you have to cut somewhere, I would rather you spend less on accommodations and more on the experiences, and I can help you with that. But if I research and give you a proposal, like this honeymoon, for example, and you've told me that you have 7,000 to spend and I do it at 7,000 and I work really hard to get it to 7,000, then you look at it and you're like, oh, wait, we've priced everything out and we really only have 5,000, then I don't know where to cut necessarily without damaging the experience.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

K. And how would you say your clients are so far in terms of being honest with you? Has this been an issue?

Michele:

No. I really have the best clients in the world. The worst thing I get is ghosted. When Define. Well, I charge a fee. And sometimes I am very sweet or I know the people, and I don't necessarily charge it upfront. And I'll go ahead and do some preliminary research to give an idea before I charge the fee. And then I just get ghosted.

Michele:

I get no response. Like, I don't get a thank you for the research. I don't get a we've decided to go in another direction. I get nothing. And then I'm out those two hours that I spent on that preliminary research because I expected that you were gonna book with me, and I haven't charged you my fee yet. So that's frustrating. But other than that, I have amazing clients.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

And you have now planned amazing trips for all these wonderful clients, perhaps trips you haven't been on yourself. Which of these trips are you most wishing to go on? Pick one, pick two, pick whatever you wish.

Michele:

Okay. Well, so my hashtag, which you wouldn't know because I know you're not on any type of social media. He's on LinkedIn folks, but that's it. Is hashtag I know because I go. So it is actually kinda hard for me to sell things that I am not intimately familiar with. I make sure to get lots of help on that from other esteemed mentors and colleagues. But I think you know what's at the top of my bucket list, which I have not planned for anyone.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Is this conversation gonna go south really quick?

Michele:

Yes. Yes. Yes. And even post sea cloud, I still wanna go to Antarctica.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

And by boat.

Michele:

I do because there are luxury, seaborne and silversea and atlas ocean and adventure. Like, there are some luxury liners that go there. And it would be okay if

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

you small ships, which could be subject to Not sailing. Vagaries. Not sailing yacht. The vagaries.

Michele:

They have stabilizers. They have stabilizers. Yeah. I know. But that's definitely something I wanna plan. I would love to have people come with, but, yeah, I really wanna do that. But then I also want to see the Far East. Like, I felt like we were really close to getting to Japan before COVID hit.

Michele:

Like, we had talked about it, we were thinking about it, and then COVID hit. And it's never been back on the list, which I know is my fault because I always find new and exciting places for you to spend your vacation time. But that's definitely I would love to get over to Japan.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Well, thank you for that. Let's come all the way back to where we started. You talked about leaving on a trip without your phone. So what is, one bit of advice for people when they're preparing to travel? What's one thing that would be really helpful?

Michele:

Well, my husband taught me

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

pretty pretty wide ranging because preparing to travel incorporates, you know Yeah.

Michele:

That's what

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

everything from working with you to getting time off to buying things that are necessary to packing for the trip to leaving for the airport.

Michele:

All of the above. But you have taught me, and, you know, I mean, this is the man, PS, who had notes when he proposed. He had a list of things he wanted to make sure and and cover to keep a list. So now I have a list. It's in my Evernote. So I can pull it up on my phone usually twice before I go, and I check it. I've learned now since I have left things abroad. I've also learned to check it coming home that to make sure that I've packed everything, and it's all coming home with me as well.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

K.

Michele:

Yes. I learned that from you.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

From me?

Michele:

And you also since I have left my phone, that was a couple years ago.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Coming up on three

Michele:

was a freshman in college.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Over three years ago. Sophomore.

Michele:

She was sophomore? She was a freshman. But anyway, you still check things off as we're walking out the door. Do you have your phone? Do you have your Kindle? Do you have your chargers? Do you have your business cards? It used to be, do you have your vaccination card? Like, so

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Do I still carry my vaccination card?

Michele:

I do too. It's in my passport. Yeah.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Absolutely. And pictures of all these things.

Michele:

Yes. I also have those. So if you

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

have your phone with me. If I if I remember my phone, I have my digital copies of all my documents. Yes. Driver's license, passport.

Michele:

Yes. And the new thing that I have since reminded you of is you cannot just travel abroad with an American Express card because lots of places in Europe don't take it.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

It's not just abroad. It's even places in closer to home like The Caribbean.

Michele:

That's abroad.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

It's It's not in The US. It's not The US.

Michele:

You need a passport to go there. That's abroad. Right?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Yes. But sometimes we've needed our passports to go on cruises to The Caribbean, and we've never gotten off the ship to any of the ports.

Michele:

A really great trip. I thought that was in Mexico, though, but still. That was awesome. People ask me where the ship was going, and I

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

was like, to the spa? Because that was the only place I went on the entire ship was to meals and the spa. It was amazing. Loved it.

Michele:

That was during COVID.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

So when you do get off of these large cruise ships, not ones that are potentially less seaworthy, how do you decide what sort of excursions to go on? I mean, the cruise ships offer all sorts of wonderful options. Do you have a recommendation?

Michele:

I do all kinds of research, and it is very, very rare that I will ever do an excursion that is offered by the ship. There are few very select exceptions to that. One is in Alaska because different cruise lines own different islands. And so, like, when you get off the ship, it it starts with Icy Strait Point, which is the celebrity cruise line in Alaska. There's their island. You have to do an excursion with them or you might as well stay on board. And then also, Virgin Voyages does have a lot of select. They call them shore things that they do that no other cruise line does, and that's because of their relationships that Richard Branson has with some people.

Speaker C:

So they have some cooking classes that are by basically personal chefs who are friends of his that have been next level amazing. But other than that, I do a lot of research, and I have a great Rolodex of people to contact and find. And, like, for example, we're going to Amsterdam on our our cruise this summer. And to me, that is some place that I am super excited to go to. I've dreamed of seeing the Anne Frank home and that closet and walking in her footsteps since I was eight years old and first read her diary. And it was too important to leave that excursion to chance. So I went to my suppliers, and I was like, okay. Who can do exactly what we need, and who can be our boots on the ground so that I don't have to wake up at exactly six weeks out and pray that we get tickets? Like, I wanted someone to secure those for us.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

No. Sounds like you're preparing for your own excursions, not using the cruise line. Excellent advice. Excellent advice.

Michele:

That's what people pay me to do.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

So you travel and visit a large number of airports. Let's just stick to The United States. What's one of your favorite airports in The United States and why?

Michele:

Okay. For all of you listeners, you cannot see the dagger shooting out of my eyes at mister jot sitting with me, AKA Hubstone, right now because there is no such thing. Like, I hate airports. I hate them. The Austin Airport is nice. It's too small, so it's overcrowded, but we have good restaurants. Like, we have an Amy's ice cream in our airport. Like, that's something.

Michele:

The lounges in the Miami Airport are nice, but I hate the Miami Airport. And God knows when coming home from an international trip, that is the worst place to clear customs. Dallas isn't great. The Denver Airport didn't have TSA pre check for so long. It was annoying. So the closest airport, you have to take a tram. Orlando, you have to take a tram. Like,

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

I don't know why The US has horrible airports, but Okay. Let's flip this around. Airports, no like. What's a tip from the travel expert to make your time in these airports more enjoyable or as enjoyable as possible?

Michele:

I love a good lounge. Get that lounge access. Get the credit card that gives you lounge access. Buy it for a day if you need. Yeah. Definitely get lounge access.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Alright.

Michele:

That's my advice.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Gonna throw it open for a moment. What question have I not asked you that you've just been waiting this entire period to answer?

Michele:

I wanted you to ask me what my most annoying habit is because I think I know what you will say.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

And I wanna see if I'm correct. It's your podcast.

Michele:

I wanna know if I'm right, What you think is my most annoying

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

podcast. I have to tell you now while all these people are listening.

Michele:

Well, I know you hate the way I brush my teeth, but that's not what I think you would say. I turned the water on twice, and it for some reason, that just doesn't sit well with my husband. You think I talk too loud?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Only when you're on the phone, dear.

Michele:

Was I right, though? Is that what you would say is my most annoying habit?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

I'm not keeping a list.

Michele:

He does too keep a list, but he's being very sweet. That's it. I mean, wild card. Anything else?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Any last things you wanna say to wrap up this beautiful one hundredth, one hundredth episode of your podcast.

Michele:

I do.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Folks, that's 100.

Michele:

I do wanna know, like, we already have all of your vacation time planned out for this year, but, like, are you excited to go to The Laplands with me in February of twenty twenty six?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

We're going to The Laplands in February 2026?

Michele:

That. Like, seriously I

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

am shocked.

Michele:

Where if I actually allowed you to choose where you wanna go on vacation, US, out of The United States, because you're very close to all 50 states. But so out of The US,

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

where would you 49.

Michele:

Where would you wanna go?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Oh, that is such a difficult question. We're gonna catch up on some of Europe we haven't been to, which is a good thing. We haven't been to some parts of Eastern Europe. Not sure about that. Maybe the Far East is probably right, but the Far East encompasses way too many countries to list. I mean, you mentioned Japan, but there's Korea, there's Vietnam, there's Indonesia, there's Hong Kong.

Michele:

Yeah. Well, I I know I mean Of course.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

There's the

Michele:

Can only go to one at a time, I think.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Huge and sprawling subcontinent of India. Just a lot of places.

Michele:

Okay. So any place that, like, Antarctica, for example, that you'd know you don't wanna go. Would you do a safari with me in Africa?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Oh, Africa. That's the continent I haven't been to. And somehow, I believe you have been to Africa.

Michele:

Guy you beat on that one. But, you know, even Moroccans don't consider themselves a part of Africa. They say they're part of the Middle East.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Morocco? Middle East?

Michele:

That's what I mean, I'm just saying that they don't consider themselves

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

a real western side of Africa.

Michele:

They don't consider themselves a part of Africa. They say they have more in common with The Middle East.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

They may have more in common. That's

Michele:

But would you go to Tanzania with me?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Are we climbing Kilimanjaro? No.

Michele:

Well, I'm not.

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Are we looking for the headwaters of the Nile?

Michele:

Is that a movie?

Mr. Jet Setting With Me:

Doctor Livingston, I presume. We'll have to consider all of that. Too many places left in the wonderful world to visit.

Michele:

And that Jet Setters is the one hundredth episode. You should be so excited. I had to twist his arm, but I'm so happy that mister Jet Setting with me was here. And I hope you enjoyed hearing from him and our conversation. And until then, jetsetters, happy travels.