Where I've Traveled - Top Travel Destinations and Tips from Living Abroad

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin: Today's episode is sponsored by me. Did you know you can now shop my favorite remote work tools, video production equipment, and travel accessories directly from your Amazon account? It's true. Just go to TravelingwithKristin.com/amazon to check out all the products I use and love.  

Kristin:    00:00:50    Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Badass Digital Nomads podcast. I am just recording this today. It's not a live stream, but I am about to leave for a two week Vipassana meditation retreat so I won't be able to do podcasts for two weeks. So therefore I am recording. I don't know if that's important, but we'll put it there. So today's podcast is just a recap of some of the places that I traveled to in 2019 and a couple of things that I learned or travel tips about each place, travel, tips, insights so that you can decide if you want to travel there in the future. And a lot of the places I went this year I had never been to before. A couple places I repeated. So I'll just talk about briefly some of the highs and maybe lows of each place and I hope that this helps you with your travel plans.  

Kristin:    00:01:59    So I will be, actually, I have all of my trips logged in an app called Polar Steps, which I wasn't that active on this year, but I did use it a lot in 2018 and I recommend checking it out. It's free if you like, having like a scrapbook of where you traveled. So I'm just basically gonna be looking at my Polar Steps list of everywhere that I went and then that's what gonna be the prompts. This is unscripted guys. It's just gonna be me telling you off the top of my head what I liked and what I didn't like about each place and if I think you should go and if I recommend it <laugh>. So you don't know what's gonna happen. For people who are watching this as a video, I'll show you what Polar Steps looks like. Lemme just open it. So here on this left side we have all my trips.  

Kristin:    00:03:00    You can add photos and you can even see exactly where you went, like how many kilometers you traveled. So right now I've only been doing this for two years. So it says 19 countries and it shows your statistics like how many places you've been to, how many days, how many kilometers. It says that I went around almost 80,000 kilometers, although not everything is logged in there, but that's kind of a lot for two years I guess. So that's what that looks like. Okay, so the first place that I went in 2019 is I was trying to stay outside of the US for at least 330 days last year because I wanted to qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion so I could pay less taxes since I'm rarely in the US anyway. However, I didn't end up qualifying for it because I came back and I spent more time than I expected in the us.  

Kristin:    00:04:03    That being said, I flew on December 31st from Austin, Texas to Florida to Amsterdam to get out of the country's borders on time. So I actually spent New Year's Eve of 2018 to 2019 on an airplane <laugh> going to Amsterdam. Um, it was actually quite calm and pleasant. I really liked it and I wasn't hung over the next day. So starting off, the flights on New Year's Eve are really cheap and not full <laugh> and yeah, you can just get good seats, good rates, and you can uh, start out your year in a new location without going through the whole partying and spending money and all of that stuff. So I do recommend traveling on New Year's Eve, not necessarily the day before or the day after but on exactly New Year's Eve. And it's kind of cool to be up in the sky in the atmosphere when the clock strikes midnight and technically you're kind of crossing time zones so you get to celebrate it as many times as you want depending on how far you're going.  

Kristin:    00:05:11    So I started off in Amsterdam, very jet lagged, and then I made the decision to spend the winter in Bulgaria. So I was in Bansko, Bulgaria from January 5th or sixth until March 12th. And I chose Bulgaria because I wanted to go somewhere that was low cost. I had kind of spent a lot of money last year on traveling. So I wanted to save money and I wanted to go snowboarding. And Bansko, Bulgaria is a really nice um, ski town. It's actually the top ski resort in the region of the Balkans in Eastern Europe. So there's a lot of people from Greece, from Macedonia, Turkey, Israel, like all over that region. So it was really interesting because from my ethnocentric perspective in the United States you don't see that many people from around the world. It's like mostly people from North America. And so it was really interesting to be living in Bulgaria during that time.  

Kristin:    00:06:20    Um, my rent cost was between 350 and 500 euro per month and my ski pass was, I wanna say it was like around, I think it's seven or 800 euro for the whole season, but you can also get a half pass. I think I got the half one that was maybe 600 because I wasn't gonna be there the whole time. How did I like it? Okay, I went to write my book 'cause I needed a place to be very quiet and do focused work without a lot of distractions and get in a good routine. So I do recommend it for that. I also recommend it for coworking because co-working Bansko is there, so there's a lot of um, other foreigners and other remote workers around. So there's always things going on. You can um, always have a ski buddy or a snowboarding buddy and so it's really great for that.  

Kristin:    00:07:15    The resort itself is very small, so if you're like a professional skier or snowboarder, I think you could get a little bit bored <laugh> because it is just a small mountain and I wish that there was more snow, it didn't snow that many times while I was there. Um, I kind of wish there was more snow and I kind of wish the mountain was bigger but it was perfect for the purposes that I wanted to use it for, which was to snowboard for a few hours in the morning, walk home and then work in the afternoon. So the way Bansko is set up is you can get an apartment right next to the gondola, just like walk there. It's very low maintenance, you don't have to really have a car or anything like that and it's really cheap. So if you're looking for an affordable ski destination in Europe, low cost, low maintenance, I recommend it but it's not gonna be like a massive place like Vail or Aspen Snowmass or something like that for rental properties.  

Kristin:    00:08:20    If you wanna go to Bulgaria during the winter, um, I used RPM, my property manager's RPM, I will link to that in the show notes. His name is Miroslav. You can also use Airbnb but you'll pay a lot more. I recommend using the local property managers and renting a car. I did rent a car, it was about $500 per month and I liked having a car but it's not necessary and it's about two hours from Sophia so I pretty much just stayed in Bansko the whole time. I spent about a week in Sophia and that's also a really cheap place if you wanna check it out. I did a lot of apartment tours on YouTube during this time in both Bansko and Sophia and my Airbnb and Sophia was like $30 a night or something like that. So check those out if you're interested. Um, moving on after Bulgaria, I went to the French Alps for a music festival.  

Kristin:    00:09:21    I went to the first ever tomorrow land winter, which was in a town called <inaudible> and it was super cool. I would definitely go again, it's best to go in a group and if I were to go again, I stayed at a, a little village away from the music festival because they basically take over the entire region and I would next time pay more to stay right at the site of the music festival because I got stuck on a bus that would take sometimes like hours to get back and forth from the music festival to my accommodations. So yes to Tomorrowland. If you ever have the chance to go to uh, a music festival that is organized by Tomorrowland, really well done, highly recommend it. They have them in Belgium and throughout Europe and I think they might also have one in Croatia, maybe in eastern Europe, yes to Tomorrowland Winter.  

Kristin:    00:10:16    They also have in the summer. Um, but if you do go to Tomorrowland Winter, just stay on site and I think in the summer there's like camping and stuff like that. So I flew into Leon then had to drive, so I did rent a car in France and I felt like the skiing in <inaudible> was okay, but the weather conditions weren't that good and it was really foggy and windy a lot of the days so we couldn't go to the peak of the mountain, but we weren't really there for the skiing and snowboarding. We did go but we were mostly there to go and dance and listen to music and stuff. And then from like, I don't think I would go there specifically to go snowboarding or skiing. I would go for the music festival, but I think that there's better resorts around the world that I didn't feel like there was a big competitive advantage to going to that particular spot.  

Kristin:    00:11:11    Um, then after that I drove to Cheval a town called Cheval 1850, which is a very ritzy, high-end ski resort. Also in the French Alps there's three different towns of Portugal or three different elevations and the most expensive is at the top and then it gets cheaper as you go down. I went there for a bachelorette party and I thought that the conditions were better. I think it's a higher elevation than Alta was, but it was one of the most expensive places I've ever been <laugh>. So unless you wanna spend 80 euro on a hamburger, don't go there. I mean I think our Airbnb, we were splitting it with a lot of girls but it must have been a thousand or maybe it was even $2,000 a night, something insane like that. So I don't think I'll be going back there unless I start making like millions of dollars a year, um, because it was that expensive but it was really pretty.  

Kristin:    00:12:19    Although you can stay in the lower towns, which I would definitely do, I would go back and stay like at the middle section or the lower section. You can get some cheap flights directly from big airports in Europe to get there. So you wouldn't need to rent a car. And there were a lot of Brits there. There's also a lot of Brits in Bansko. You can get really cheap flights from London, um, I think on Ryanair and different airlines to Bansko. So basically, yeah, probably otherwise would not go back to um, to Portugal. But let me think if I have any other tips from being there. I have a lot of live streams about, 'cause I was live streaming every day for the first 90 days of the year. So I did some live streams at like the app pre ski in Cheval. So if you wanna see what that looks like, you can check that out.  

Kristin:    00:13:12    But unless you're going to see and be seen, it's not necessary to go there. Also getting in and out of Leon in France, that airport, I didn't have good luck at all. All of my flights were delayed or canceled. So after that I ended up getting stranded. I think three of my flights got canceled in France and then I got stranded in Milan and then I finally made it back to Amsterdam, which was kind of my home base for the year. And I recommend that if you are a traveling long term, you definitely have a home base somewhere at some point in time because if you are traveling for too long without roots, then you can just feel very ungrounded. And I know people who are starting out with traveling might think that that sounds crazy, but a few years into it, you'll know what I mean.  

Kristin:    00:14:05    So Amsterdam one of my favorite cities in the world, despite the high cost of living and despite the um, high housing prices. So I recommend going to Amsterdam during the shoulder seasons. So in the spring or the fall where you can get better availability, you just want to avoid going during big events like Amsterdam dance event, which happens in October because the prices go up a lot. And if you're interested in traveling to Amsterdam, I have a few videos on what it's like to live and work there. And I also have an Amsterdam travel guide if you want that travel guide. It's not for sale <laugh> or it's not available online. I just give it to my clients who I relocate to Amsterdam. But if you want to know my favorite restaurants and what type of uh, where to get your internet cards, like your sim cards and where to work and all of those sorts of insider local tips, where to get the best coffee or what are the best coffee shops to work in one of my favorite coworking spaces.  

Kristin:    00:15:12    If you want that, then send an email to hello@TravelingwithKristin.com or send me a message on social media at Traveling with Kristin on Instagram and Facebook or at where's Kristin on Twitter? And if enough people want this Amsterdam guide, then maybe I will just make it available online. Um, so let me know after Amsterdam, I came back to the US for a month or so just to work in between trips, uh, which I recommend for long-term travelers. And then I went to Paris, France for a writing workshop and this was a workshop led by Rolf Potts who wrote the book Vagabonding. I've had him on the podcast. And this was the book that inspired Tim Ferris to write the 4-Hour Work Week. And so if you're interested in learning how to write uh, or be a travel writer, I really recommend his Paris writing workshops that you can look up online and we'll link to it in the show notes as well.  

Kristin:    00:16:18    Um, he holds them every summer. I think he's been doing it for like 10 years and I really learned a lot while I was there and I met a lot of cool people from all around the world. If you're going to Paris, I've been to Paris a couple times, it's one of my favorite cities. There's a lot of really cool neighborhoods there. I stayed near the arc to Triumph in the, I was in the eighth Aronde Mint, let me check where I was. I believe I was around the 17th Aronde Mint. Uh, the neighborhoods in Paris are split up by Aronin. I think I'm saying that right. So I was on the west side of the city and the Sun River kind of cuts through the middle of the city and splits it in half. My classes were at a place called Horizons University, which is kind of in like the Northeastern side and that was in the ninth or 10th Aronin.  

Kristin:    00:17:17    So if you go to Paris, one of the more popular areas is the Marais or Marais location and that is where everybody was staying and I really wish that I was staying there. I think that is one of the more walkable areas. I did get a really good deal on my Airbnb. If you're going to Paris, it has the most expensive hotels in the world on average. So I do recommend renting an apartment if possible, not just on Airbnb, but you can also find them on HomeAway and VRBO and FlipKey, I think I found mine on FlipKey. But check all of the vacation rentals websites and on average for every hotel that's like $200 or $150 a night, it could cost only $50 a night to get a full apartment. So I do recommend doing that If you're headed to Paris, you'll save a lot of money that way and you'll feel more at home.  

Kristin:    00:18:20    A lot of people like the area around Malt Mart, which is the, um, the church. I personally thought it was pretty touristy, so I don't think I would wanna stay around there. But I really like the, uh, third Aron Desant for rentals. You wanna avoid the champs say in that area because it's just so ritzy and pricey and touristy and anything around the Eiffel Tower. Um, one of my favorite things to do in Paris hands down is to go to the Sun River at sunset with a bottle of wine, a baguette and some cheese. It's basically free. You can get bottles of wine for like a couple Euro and bread for like a Euro or whatever. Go sit down there, watch the sunset, meet new people, watch out for Pickpockets, bring some friends with you or like a partner and just enjoy the evening. It's the highlight.  

Kristin:    00:19:19    Every time I go to Paris, I'm always with different people. I always do the same thing. I always go to like a different spot. There's the Alexander Bridge, uh, ENT arts, uf, and then also this island which is called Il St. Louis. And I recommend all of those locations really any of the bridges or along the waterfront, but those are some of the best ones. Um, if you get too far east, it's a little bit less residential and kind of more spread out and less picturesque. So that, those are the areas I recommend in the center for the Eiffel Tower. I actually did go and film there a couple times and I went running there. I didn't go up the Eiffel Tower, but if you want to go and see it, um, you can book your ticket online. If you don't wanna go in, you just wanna go at a certain time when it's not really crowded outside, then I recommend going in the morning.  

Kristin:    00:20:21    Actually in the morning it's super quiet. You can like rent a little scooter to get around. Um, you can take an Uber, you can walk and you could even bike. Actually they have the city bikes there, but I found that sunset's really nice if you can be there to see it start lighting up, it lights up once per hour at night. That's really beautiful. And then also in the morning, but sometimes during the afternoon it's just super crowded. So that's my tip for Paris. Another tip, if you are flying into Paris and you wanna save money, check out their other airport with the low cost carriers. So I think it is called Orley. There's Charles Tagal airport and then there is another one that's outside of town that you can get to by bus orally airport. So if you wanna save some money, um, I actually flew from that airport directly to Vilna Lithuania right after and it was faster and cheaper to go there.  

Kristin:    00:21:29    Oh no, I went to Paris, Bo Bau airport, B-E-A-U-V-A-I-S. So there's Bau, Beau Orley and Charles Tagal. So Charles Tagal is the main international one, but if you want to just hop a short flight somewhere else in Europe in the region, uh, check that one out, you'll get your low cost carriers there. So my next trip was to Vilna Lithuania and it was a really cool trip. It was very quiet and laid back and really nice. So if you're looking for a lot of action and excitement, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. But if you're looking for a low cost place to base yourself out of, uh, for a couple months, it's a good option if you just wanna go and work. And I won't say too much about it otherwise. Uh, besides that, my Airbnb, like you can get a room in an Airbnb for 10 euro per night.  

Kristin:    00:22:27    My Airbnb was like $30 a night and I had this amazing, beautiful waft there. So it's super good value for the money. My Uber from the airport to town was like $7 or something. The food is really cheap, like everything's really cheap there 'cause it's in the Baltics, so it's like northern Europe but not Scandinavia. So, uh, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia are quite affordable with the exception of Talon, the capital of Estonia, which is pretty expensive. But if you wanna learn more about Vil Lithuania, I have two super detailed videos. A uh, cost of living guide and a travel guide and vlog on Traveling with Kristin on YouTube. So if you're interested in learning more, you can check that out. And after that I went back to Florida for a while via London. So a lot of the times what I do when I'm going on these big trips, instead of getting a really expensive around the world trip or instead of booking my exact location and exact dates really far in advance, I'll get round trip tickets in and out of the major hubs in Europe like London or Amsterdam, um, or even France.  

Kristin:    00:23:39    Um, but you can use Google Flights or Kiwi or even Skyscanner to search entire regions or entire countries for your dates. So if you're flexible on dates and you're flexible on location, you can book your round trip ticket in and out of one of the big airport hubs. And then you could take a low cost direct carrier and fly anywhere within the European region for much cheaper than if you came direct, let's say from the US or Canada to get to Talon Estonia or Vilna Lithuania, you would probably have three layovers and it would just be really expensive and take a really long time. But if you just took a direct flight from the US to London or even Iceland or Dublin or somewhere at one of the big airports, from there you can just put your own layover in and then you can take a separate flight within the continent.  

Kristin:    00:24:42    So that is a really useful travel tip that saves me a ton of money every time I go back and forth hopping across the pond. Um, so that's what I did to get to and from Europe three or four times this year <laugh> and also the tickets from Europe to the US and back are a lot cheaper than the other way around. So I actually, instead of booking a one-way ticket or like an open-ended ticket, I'll just book it really far out on the cheapest day possible using different search combinations on Google flights and Kiwi. And then I will pick the cheapest day, even if I'm not sure exactly that, that's when I'll be traveling. You can always change it and you can just pay like the $200 change fee or something if needed. So I have a flight going back to Europe this year in March, um, and it is a direct flight into Oslo.  

Kristin:    00:25:40    And then from there I can just take a train or a short haul flight to anywhere else in the continent and you can get anywhere in Europe within a couple hours pretty much or a few hours. So check out those sites when you're booking your travel this year, Kiwi and Google flights. And you can search anywhere. You can search a whole country, you can search a whole state and just kind of play around with it and see what you find or your flights. And beware of the, the low cost airlines if you're bringing bags because sometimes your baggage can cost more than buying a more expensive ticket that includes your baggage with you. Um, my next trip was to Norway and Iceland and actually on this trip I discovered how to get to the Futon islands of Norway, which I are in the Arctic Circle and I made a lot of mistakes getting there.  

Kristin:    00:26:34    So I'll tell you what I found and also I found out that SAS airlines, Scandinavian Airlines has a whole new brand like brand new fleet of planes and their like business class fair is quite affordable and they have like the best airline food I've ever had <laugh>. So I've never flown on them before. I ended up flying on them like six or seven times this year and I really had a good experience. The planes were like brand new, super quiet, like that's the culture of Scandinavia. There's like very quiet, very polite and um, great food. So check them out. I was going to futon Norway to the Arctic Coworking Lodge and my flights got canceled because of Hurricane Dorian and I learned that because I booked my flight while the hurricane was still in the Atlantic Ocean <laugh> even before it was a hurricane, it was just a tropical storm.  

Kristin:    00:27:33    I could not get reimbursed for my travel plans changing. So that's another thing if you are booking a trip somewhere and there is like a tropical wave or a tropical storm, be careful because if that storm turns into a hurricane and if it does affect your travel plans, your insurance might not cover it. So if you are looking for some good travel insurance plans, um, I have a link to the ones that I use the most. SafetyWing and World Nomads that are in the show notes. You can check those out. Those are pretty much the only ones that I've been using for the past few years. I don't blame them for that. That was uh, with World Nomads. I don't blame them for the hurricane. I just did not know. But now I do and now I'm sharing it with you guys <laugh>. So be careful.  

Kristin:    00:28:22    Um, and then the LUTs and Islands are in the north in the Arctic Circle of Norway and there's a lot of ways to get around Norway. It's a very vertical country, very large country. Um, but I would just recommend flying because it's the fastest way and it ends up being the cheapest way when you add together the cost of like different trains and ferries and stuff like that. Look at all of the major airports in Norway if you are looking to get around there. And if you are going to the Arctic Coworking Lodge, then try to fly into Leknes. L-E-K-N-E-S. I was coming from London and I flew from London to a town called Trondheim and then I had to buy another flight with like three layovers and I should have just flown directly from London to Leknes, skipped Oslo, skip Tron time, skip Buddha, skip all of the other places.  

Kristin:    00:29:19    So if you find yourself in Norway, especially coming from another country, check out flying. It's not carbon neutral, but you can offset that. And another option is a ferry. So if you have a lot of time you can actually take a boat even with a car or an RV all the way from the north of Lufton, Norway all the way to Oslo <laugh>. So that is a really cool option as well. It takes longer, but it's cheaper and it's um, probably a lovely voyage. Norway is a must visit destination in my opinion. It's one of my favorite countries in the world. And for anybody who loves the outdoors nature hiking, you will love it. I was there during the fall, so I got to see the Northern Lights. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I can't even put it into words, I only saw a few of the nights that I was there, but it really is not all hype.  

Kristin:    00:30:22    It's really beautiful, it's really amazing and it's like some of the best hiking I've ever done in my life. So there's not a lot of information. I feel like there's not a lot of hype about going to Norway, but it's a stunning country with great food, lots of salmon. If you're into like healthy food like that, it's really nice. Alcohol's very expensive. But other than that, the cost of living is not so bad. I also rented a car for $500 a month in Norway, which was the same thing I paid in Bulgaria. And from there I went to the West Fjords of Iceland to a town called Borðeyri. So I flew from Norway into Reykjavík and then to Borðeyri. It is in the west fjords of Iceland in the Northwestern area. And I flew from, I went to Keflavík, which is the main airport in Iceland.  

Kristin:    00:31:17    And then I took a bus, which I highly recommend, don't take a taxi in Iceland. It's way too expensive. Um, I took a bus from Keflavik to Reykjavik Airport and then that is the domestic airport. And from there I took another flight to a town called east of Yoder. And from there got another car and went to Borðeyri. So this town in the northwestern part of Iceland, you won't see any tourists, at least I didn't see any tourists when I was there. Um, in the winter it can actually be cut off from anyone from roads, from grocery. There's no grocery store in the town. You have to like drive 30 minutes or so to get to the grocery store. So it's a very, very remote place. But if you're looking for a place to just be quiet and think or work, you can check out the Blue Bank, which is there.  

Kristin:    00:32:07    And it is a incubator and coworking and co-living space in the remote west fjords of Iceland. So there's really not much to do there. There's some hiking, but it's, it's, it was a nice place to set up for a little while. I would also mention that I used an Oslo. I did not rent a car. I only used the public transportation. The bus systems are really good getting to and from the airport there, the 4G sim cards in Norway were unusable, so bring your own internet with you. And same with with Iceland. I actually didn't buy a local sim card, so it's good in those countries to travel with your internet with you. After that, it was back to the US and I spent the last couple months of the year, October, November, and December in California, Austin, Texas and Florida, uh, working and uh, doing some stuff with family and some business stuff.  

Kristin:    00:33:10    So I didn't do that much international travel the last couple months of the year, but that was by design because my goal this year was to slow down a little bit. I don't know if anybody wants any US travel tips, but if you haven't been to LA or San Diego, it's definitely worth going to California once in your life because it's just such a beautiful spot and the lifestyle is so nice there. I was in a town called Cardiff by the Sea, which is near another town called Encinitas, and they're just like your quintessential California beach towns, um, sunsets, beautiful sunsets every day, people riding by on skateboards with surfboards and wearing yoga clothes and eating acai bowls and green juices. It was great. Oh, the best coffee shop I've literally ever been to, I would say in the West Coast, possibly in the world, but maybe in America at least.  

Kristin:    00:34:14    Philz coffee, P-H-I-L-Z if you haven't heard of Philz yet, which I had not, it started in San Francisco and is expanding throughout California. They make every cup of coffee from scratch fresh by hand. They have the biggest coffee menu I've ever seen and they will consult with you on your cup of coffee. And I went there almost every day <laugh>. So it's actually, I think all of the startup people in the VC tech, people in Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area frequent that place. And I think some of them might be investors as well, but it's an amazing concept. I hope it's replicated everywhere. So if you ever get the chance to go to a Philz coffee, then definitely go. I popped up on my like map or Yelp or something like that and I'm glad I stumbled across it. So that's my top tip for you there.  

Kristin:    00:35:09    Also, I tried to take the train from San Diego to LA but it got canceled for maintenance. But if you are in California and you don't wanna rent a car, the train system is actually really good along the coastal railway, um, with Amtrak and then in LA they have a metro system and then of course Ubers and those sorts of things are really plentiful there, so that is really nice. You don't even really need a car in California anymore, which is nice. And then I ended my year in Miami, which I can give you a couple of travel tips there. I always find it more of a local experience when I'm staying in downtown Brickell area of Miami or in North Miami or Miami Beach, I kind of try to avoid South Beach because it's so crowded, so expensive and so touristy. But if you are headed to Miami, then check out some hotels in North Miami, Miami Beach or in the downtown area of Brickell.  

Kristin:    00:36:13    Um, it's only a 20 minute drive over to the beach. And I went there because I am a ambassador member of IHG hotels. I will pull up the information for you. I found out about the Intercontinental Ambassador program when I lived in Costa Rica sometime around maybe 2009, 2010, because there was an intercontinental in my neighborhood in Escazu. And basically you just pay an annual fee, it's $200 per year, but you get benefits like guaranteed room upgrades, early check-in 4:00 PM checkout free internet. You always get free stuff in the room like welcome gifts and amenities and water and fruit baskets and chocolate and stuff like that. Um, you get Platinum Elite status with IHG, which also gives you access to like a lot of these early check-in late checkout options and bonuses and free internet at all of the IHG hotels, which includes all the Holiday Inn brands, Crown Plaza, Kimpton, and Intercontinental.  

Kristin:    00:37:25    Um, and then you also get a complimentary weekend night. So that $200 pays for itself during the year because you get all of these perks, plus you get a free night at any Intercontinental hotel. Um, I found that I just book an off weekend. So if you check in on a Saturday and leave on a Monday instead of a Friday to a Sunday, you get cheaper rates because most people are like checking out on Sunday so you can get even cheaper. And I also try to book my stay most years in like, um, a shoulder season in a destination or in a country that is maybe off the beaten path like the Intercontinental in Sophia, Bulgaria. If you wanna stay at a luxury hotel for a low cost, just go to <laugh>, a country in Eastern Europe or Russia or somewhere in like a developing area that's not very touristy.  

Kristin:    00:38:26    So not like Bora Bora or Tahiti or something like that. But um, you can always find really good value for luxury hotels if you are going outside of the major cities like Paris and Tokyo and Sydney and London. Um, it's, it's crazy the difference, like you can get a five star hotel for like a hundred dollars a night or $150 a night and that same hotel would cost like 500 a night or a thousand dollars a night in Hong Kong. Um, this goes the same in Philippines. You can stay at the Peninsula for like a hundred dollars or $200 a night, which is, you know, again that you'd be paying five times more if you are staying at a peninsula in a big city. So that is a, a really good perk for anyone who's interested. And so that is my full summary run through of the places that I went in 2019 and some of the top tips and things that stuck out from that time.  

Kristin:    00:39:27    If you have any questions, then hit me up on social media at Traveling with Kristin on Instagram and Facebook or of course subscribe to my YouTube channels youtube.com/TravelingwithKristin and Digital Nomad. I read every single comment, I reply to every single comment as long as it's not, you know, using bad words, <laugh> or you can, uh, catch me on Twitter at where's Kristin or join my Facebook group, Long-Term Digital Nomad Success. So that is our podcast for the day. Happy, happy travels in 2020 and if you have any requests for a certain destination guide or video, then let me know and I'll see you guys next week. ccia, for now, thanks so much for listening to help support this podcast and help it grow. Please leave a review in the Apple podcast and send this or your favorite episode to a friend for weekly travel videos, live streams, and even more interviews. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channels at youtube.com/digital nomad and Traveling with Kristin. See you soon.  

Kristin:    00:41:08    BP is working to bring more lower carbon energy to the UK, like designing two hydrogen plants and we are keeping oil and gas flowing from the North Sea. It's, and not all, that's how BP is backing Britain. While today we're mostly in oil and gas, we increased the proportion of our global annual investment that went into our lower carbon and other transition businesses from around 3% in 2019 to around 23% in 2023. bp.com/andnotall.