Our 5 BIGGEST Travel Mistakes… and how to avoid them

[@jillgates3401]

My worst (and best) mistake was not paying attention when boarding a tour boat in Capri (after a night of drinking grappa!). I ended up on the Italian speaking tour boat instead of English and didn't realize until we were already out of the harbor. The captain figured out what happened and invited me upstairs and gave me a private tour in broken English....now I have a story!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

A night a grappa also sounds like the first mistake, Jill! But how cool that it turned out so well! I love this for you! Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your "mistake"!! -Judy

[@stephanieduston7490]

I don't feel you two have ANY reasons to feel embarrassed about any of these "mistakes"! Because that's all they are.....that, and lessons. And I am so grateful you are sharing them with us to hopefully save us from repeating them. I am certain we will make plenty of others on our own! lol Love your channel as well as both of you and your candor!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Stephanie, you are SO kind to say this! We definitely learned a lot from our experiences. Of course we wish we could be expert travelers, but we all are always learning. That is the interesting part of travel-never a dull moment! We are so glad that you found us and we hope you can sidestep some of the things we've done wrong! -Judy

[@reluctantlawyer517]

The problem of being too nice is something that Erin and I talk about a lot. The missed bus that Erin mentioned partly happened because we weren’t comfortable with Spanish yet (I have largely fixed that) but also because we did not want to continuously bug the bus coordinator because it seemed rude to our Western sensibilities. We have learned that unfortunately you sometimes have to act in a way that we might think is rude to avoid the scammers. Rather than calling it rude, I like to think of it as being direct. “I don’t want your stuff and I am going to leave now.” It is unfortunate but sometimes necessary.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Stan, you are exactly right. We had an incident in an airport parking lot (maybe in Cambodia or Hanoi) where a taxi was pushing us to get into his taxi when we were trying to book a Grab. I had visions of our experience at the Cairo airport where we allowed ourselves to get roped into an overpriced situation because we were overwhelmed and the person who approached us was way too assertive. I probably overreacted somewhat, but I refused to put myself in a similar situation where I might be allowing someone to take advantage of us because they thought we might be confused or overwhelmed. We knew what we were doing, we had a plan, and I wasn't about to be derailed by some assertive stranger. But those hard lessons have made us better, more savvy travelers, and it sounds like the same is true for you. Direct is a good word. Thanks so much for weighing in and adding more color to how you have learned to navigate travel. -Judy

[@joannemberube]

We were recently in Malaga, Spain and decided to travel to Alicante (via Madrid by train)on Holy Thursday and return on Easter Sunday! We did it, but we almost didn’t get a train back to Malaga and we paid the price for travelling during holy week. Lesson learned! I hope you realize that your video is going to make your viewers feel better about their mistakes.☺️

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Wow, Joanne, Thank you so much for sharing your own hiccup! It takes vulnerability, but what a great lesson. ♥️ We don't ever want to create the illusion of being perfect or having everything figured out. These were truly embarrassing, frustrating mistakes, but they happen. We also deliberately have chosen not to overly plan all the details of everything we do anymore, so there are a few silly consequences (like the Senso-ji Temple) that come with certain types of travel. -Judy

[@miazw516]

Had the same problem on train from Munich to Zurich. I only reserved the tickets but not seats 😮

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Oops! Thanks for letting us know we are not alone in that one! It's not that way in other parts of Europe, so it's an easy mistake! -Judy

[@elizaC3024]

Oh my goodness, I am laughing so hard 🤣 . We have had some travel lessons learned as well. As soon as you said overnight train and Vienna in the same sentence I was already laughing. We had planned a month in Europe, startingin Italy, with numerous cities, booked multiple Airbnbs. Then my nephew and his wife are getting a job transfer to Stuttgart, Germany. So of course his favorite aunt will come to visit them.😊😮😮. Then I have to figure it out. No problem right?😂😂😂😂 So I didn't change any reservations in Venice or Rome, which flipping dates would have been great. We landed in Milan and in a rainstorm trekked through streets to arrive on time for a tour to see the last supper. After a 6 hour flight delay in Lisbon and getting to our airbnb at 10:30pm. A misunderstanding with the host, and we missed the early train. The ticket machine at station didn't work, so got fined when paying for it on the train, even though I showed him pictures of the non-working machine. After the tour, we again were trekking in rainstorm to the train station to catch train to Venice. We nearly missed the train getting tied up buying a sim card. We couldn't get it to work, because wifi on train needed local phone number to sign on, ugh. We arrived in Venice to find boat service strike. One day only. Did I mention that we have 2 50 lb suitcases, 25 pound backpacks and a totebag, plus cross body bags, and we are still damp? So our host meets us, frustrated that we hadn't been responding to her messages, again no internet. So 11 bridges, no lie, 11, later we are climbing up 2 flights of marble stairs, beautiful stairs, except they are damp, and down goes my husband. 😮😮ouch. We finally got internet, then went to locate a restaurant, or grocery store, or any food but the Google maps wouldn't work, but we kept walking on trying. Finally stumbled upon a store. The next day we did sightseeing using the hosts map. 5days later we go to head to Rome, and find our phone card won't work. And we can't load the app to check whats left. So we get to Rome, construction at the train station nearest airbnb, so you come out somewhere different than the directions. We are lost,no internet. After pleading with numerous people asking for help, a young girl opened Google maps, typed in address, and sends us in the right direction. Then the host is mad, for having to wait 😮. Okay we are tired of this day, week. So we solve internet problems with a travel router. A week later back to Venice to catch the overnight train 🚆 to Vienna, for a 2 night stay, stupid as it was, before heading to Stuttgart. Okay no sleeper bedrooms available, so we book 2 lower berths. The pictures looked very nice. Yeah, don't trust pictures. They used a 1940s, I swear ,sleeper car. Narrow velvet cushioned couch was bed. Not wide enough to lie flat, so on your side. But the best part is the stops, 14 stops 😅😂😂😂. And if you don't wedge yourself, you will fall off the couch. So no sleep for us. Then no hot water in the morning so no coffee 😮. We arrive in Vienna to a rainstorm, of course. At this point we are passed fatigued, we are punch drunk, slap happy. And we only have 6 hours until check in. We learned a lot from our trip. My engineer hubby is taking a much more proactive approach with this year's trip. And now he helps me go over the details of the trip. Fingers crossed 🤞.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Wow, Eliza, What a horror story and series of mishaps! I'm so glad your husband wasn't injured in his fall and that you can laugh about it now and have so many lessons from it! We actually have an international plan for our phones that is based in the US so we don't have to deal with eSIMs. When we first started traveling internationally in 2011 we had to use a MiFi internet device, which was a pain to keep charged and had to screen shot our routes because of unreliability of Google maps. Thank goodness wifi is more accessible these days, but when it doesn't work, it's horrible! I don't know which part of this series of travel is worse. Can any part be worse than another when it's all bad?! Thank you SO MUCH for giving us a laugh and a few stunned faces. We felt so foolish and embarrassed over our poor planning, but sometimes you have to roll with it and laugh and make the best of it. Sounds like you both did exactly that! -Judy

[@thedoc3550]

OMG I was in Cairo with my mother and we ran into that SAME man with the art store and he dragged us down from the main street to the underpass area on our way to the museum also with the same crap!!! We were clued in quickly and declined both the tea and the "gift" - we just left!!!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

You are way wiser than us, @thedoc3550. But it was a great, huge life lesson for us to experience early in our full-time travels. We are so much wiser from having the encounter. Bravo to you! And what a small world! -Judy

[@nicolelazotravel]

You’re Cairo story cracked me up because the was a scam I experienced there too. I was in Cairo for three weeks when I was 18 and learned a lot! I basically don’t trust anyone now and I have no problem with giving someone a hard no. Live and learn!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Nicole, Cairo is a great teaching ground. Sorry that you had some bad experiences. We try to keep an open mind while also being cautious. And yes, we are much likely to give hard nos these days! Thank you so much for watching! -Judy

[@txteach]

Laughing with you, not at you!❤Helpful tips about things to be aware of.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much. We love that we are able to laugh and also be vulnerable. We hope others will learn and be better, but at the same time, some missteps will always come from so much travel. Especially now that we are full-time travelers, we choose not to overly structure everything. It's incredibly time consuming and takes us away from some of the experiences we want to have and we are working alongside our travel and sightseeing, so we strike a balance around how much deep planning we do. Of course, that can get us into a little trouble at times. Fortunately, other than feeling incredibly stupid at times, there hasn't been anything too serious that has happened. We appreciate having you on this journey with us! -Judy

[@jillsteves4765]

Thanks Judy and Kevin for your honesty and helping us learn some important lessons and be prepared. We know things can't always go smoothly. You are great travel partners!❤

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much, Jill! It's brutal honesty that would be easier to hide under the rug, so thank you for your kind comment. We let a lot roll off of our backs and try not to sweat the small stuff. Fortunately, having a KZbin channel gives us permission to make mistakes so we can pass our learnings along to others! And we do have a blast with each other! -Judy

[@boldmover]

I had forgotten I needed a visa for Azerbaijan, although I had been there before. I spent an extra 4 hrs at the airport getting it done.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Oh gosh! Ugh! Hopefully you were going to be there for a meaningful amount of time so that you didn't lose much time from your trip. We made a similar mistake before we traveled to Australia in 2019. We weren't full-time travelers and fortunately we arrived early enough at the US airport that it could be sorted before we needed to catch our plane, BUT we feel your pain. Thanks for sharing your experience! Would you recommend Azerbaijan? Someone recently recommended Georgia to us, but that area feels too unstable right now. -Judy

[@CKology]

Fabulous insights! Great sharing

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much for watching, CK! We're glad to share our mistakes in the hopes that others will be able to dodge them. It actually hurts a little bit less knowing that someone else might benefit from the things we learned the hard way! -Judy

[@Mr.DJones]

Thank you for your time and posting.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks for watching, David! We hope that our viewers can learn from our mistakes and avoid them for themselves, or at the very least understand that some mistakes can happen regardless of how travel savvy you might be. Keeping a sense of humor can sometimes put it all in the proper perspective! -Judy

[@owlscoffeecats]

🏔️😊 No, sleeper, no problem! 😂 that would be creepy having someone watching you sleep. This was a wonderful video about mistakes and just going with it and learning. The "art" donation was kind of you to still do, even though he was tricking you. The visa is the most important! 😮this is something I think is on the top of the list. Thank you for explaining all of this.😊 Wanted to add love Judy said "the penalty" or the "penalty " 😂

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Well, Carolann, it certainly is humbling, but if someone can learn from us, it's worth some shame and potentially being judged. 🤷‍♀️ These (nearly) all are major learnings, so we are glad to be able to pass them along. The visa issue is one that still hurts. Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. -Judy

[@Travel_Explore_Grow]

Great travel mistake stories! We are building up our own list of travel mistakes.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

We wish you all the best, Dale! It's not the most fun way to learn, but you'll learn the most from your mistakes! -Judy

[@MPirritano]

I once traveled by train from Stuttgart to Lienz, Swizerland instead of my intended destination...Lienz, Austria 😊

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Mark. Oh boy. That is a tough one! Thank you for sharing and for watching our mishaps. We tip our hats to you there. 🎩 🎩 Was it only when you arrived that you realized you were in the wrong place? Live and learn. Hopefully you are able to chuckle about it now! -Judy

[@ruthduncan6256]

I can relate to your Egyptian art story, we also purchased the same papyrus scroll, however, one important factor, always check how much they are charging when paying by card, they actually put a few more 000 onto the amount, didn’t realise until checking several days later..😅

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Ugh, so sorry for you to have had that "surprise." We were fortunate to not have had that happen to us. You gave great advice. For the most part, even when we were taken advantage of, we have so much more than many of the people we met who all were trying to make a living and support their families. Of course, it's never okay, but we are grateful to be able to travel the way we do and experience the world in a way that many other countries' residents cannot. -Judy

[@Equal-k7q]

Great content and advice from your guys travel journey and of course the best recommendations ❤

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much for watching. We're pretty vulnerable in this one, so we appreciate your kind words! -Judy

[@bw5911]

Great video!❤

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much for watching, BW! You are a well-seasoned traveler. Do you have any travel mistakes to share? Is there one of ours that resonated most? -Judy

[@bw5911]

@@FindingGinaMarie Well, I am abroad right now and have been traveling for two months and just arrived at my 20th country in the two months I’ve been traveling.😂 I do so many things different now and much better than I used to, but the basic thing is to just not be so sure that nothing‘s gonna happen so you don’t get lazy and take more care of important things like passport, money, and things like that. I don’t assume something is going to happen, but I know it can so I’m just so much more extra careful now. I cross my t’s and dot my I’s and I keep track of my stuff I think so much better. I i’m doing this trip with only a 30 L backpack so I travel lighter now and I stay way more organized. I think maybe one of the most important things you said (and I always feel this) is if something does go wrong just to remember it’s really first world problems. Almost nothing is that big a deal and it’s fixable. And to always keep in mind just how lucky I am to be able to be doing this in the first place so if something does go wrong, I take it as something to learn from and to just keep things in perspective.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

WOW. I can't imagine that amount of fast travel! That's three days in each country (or less counting how much travel is involved in getting from one country to the next)! Is most of this travel by train or car? Your advice is great. Thank you so much! I also can't imagine getting our packs down that light, but it's impressive that you are doing it! -Judy

[@fumeokid]

Your editing with the prices shown are very helpful. Thank you!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thanks for letting us know! We're more than happy to do the extra work if it adds value for our viewers. We know that prices will change from year to year, but at least it's a starting point. -Judy

[@lindab5789]

I enjoyed your video and honesty about your 'mistakes'. We try to research everything as much as we possibly can, yet there are always things that are different than expected or somehow just seem to not go as planned. I always figure that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes though. But, it sure can be stressful! Thanks for sharing!!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much, Linda! It's not always fun to be so vulnerable especially when just taking an extra few minutes to double check some things would prevent issues. But you are absolutely right that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Great advice! -Judy

[@owlscoffeecats]

🦉 ☕️ 😊

[@FindingGinaMarie]

What?! You are TOO kind, Carolann. Thank you so very much! We appreciate you! - ♥️ Judy & Kevin

[@anna_m59]

I was so far only once scammed all these years. And that was in Chiang Mai last year. I was walking to the main bus station to get to a temple on the mountain. It’s 15 min from the city. A red bus driver stoped while I was walking. He offered to take me for 3500 tbh waiting for me and take me back to city.. I accepted the offer without do my homework ... The grab would take me for 160 tbh which I fought out later .. I hope he used the money wisely that made on this scam.. and I learn my lesson.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Anna, We've been fairly fortunate overall. We put together this article on our website to highlight a few of the scams we've encountered. They're frustrating when you see them happen and it's easy to become disillusioned and judge an entire country by the actions of a few people. We try to shrug it off when we can because overall, our positive experiences far outweigh the negative ones. I'm so sorry this happened to you! -Judy 📝 Travel Scams Unveiled: How to Dodge the Friendship Bracelet Con and More: findingginamarie.com/articles/beware-of-these-six-scams-while-traveling?rq=scam

[@LiveLoveLaughEveryday]

Oh, don't drink tea or anything offered by strangers unless it's in restaurants.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Are you referring to the custom of drinking tea at vendor establishments where you then feel obligated to buy something because you drank tea? Don't ever feel that obligation! We do know there will be a pitch that comes with that tea, but we have learned not to allow that to sway us! Where were you when you learned that lesson, and is there a story you want to share? -Judy

[@janiekcarney5482]

I would have had a melt down if that happened to me. I mean full tears. You are brave. I had a visa to visit Russia but we were flying stand by and we weren’t guaranteed a seat so I bought a refundable flight to a different country. It worked out. We got on the original flight and we got the refund. It was complicated.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @janiekcarney5482, Are you referring to our Vietnam visa experience? Yeah, that was not our most shining moment. And had I stopped by the visa office when we first arrived, it would all have been resolved immediately. But I was uncomfortable trying to figure out how to sort it out and rationalized that I could work it out more easily later. All bad plans. We personally know people who have overstayed their Schengen time in Europe and have lucked out. We know that probably wouldn't be us. It wasn't a great situation at all, but we learned some really valuable lessons, which is something that will happen to everyone at some point. Mistakes will happen regardless of how seasoned of a traveler you are-hopefully not *this* mistake, but there will be ones that make you hang your head in shame. So glad your flight to Russia worked out. You did a good job hedging your bets. Sometimes that's the approach you have to have, so bravo! We could only choose to travel to countries where we are the most comfortable, but we want our experiences to be broader than that. The challenges might be greater at times, but so are the rewards. -Judy

[@CathyTalksMiami]

Great video! I guess when you travel ao often and full time like you guys it’s only normal to overlook some things 😅 Glad everything worked out very well at the end! I am a carry-on only traveler and my biggest travel mistake is still packing more than needed, I am trying to pack less and less, and washing everything every 7-10 days… But I have still some learning to do… Also, finding just the “right” Shows and tennis shoes… Thanks for a wonderful content!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Cathy, Yes, when we vacationed, we had everything laid out in the greatest of detail, but as full-time travelers, that's been less practical and not how we want to over schedule. We try to treat everything as part of the grand adventure so long as we stay out of jail and don't cause anyone real harm. A few of these are just stupid mistakes when you know better! As far as packing, have you checked out our gear list? We have more than we need and are always ditching things along the way as well. One of the things we recommend most is clothes from Wool& (and for guys Wool&Prince). They don't sponsor us, but we do have affiliate links for them-but only because I was obsessed and after changing out all my clothes to theirs, I decided that if I was such a superfan, then maybe being an affiliate isn't so bad. We can go weeks without doing laundry, including in the summer and during the heat of Southeast Asia! Our packing list is geared for three/four seasons of full-time travel. I don't pretend to be a fashionista, but for shoes I think you can get by with a pair of white tennis shoes and a pair of sandals (if you are traveling in warm weather). I also carry some Hoka Clifton 9s that also are very comfortable. They aren't necessarily the prettiest, but they have great traction, and most importantly, I can do tons and tons of walking without hurting my feet. -Judy 🎥 What we're Packing in 2024: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3WQZWieeM-EopI 📝 GEAR LIST: findingGinaMarie.com/gear

[@livingworkingoutsidebox]

Thanks for sharing 👍 😊 Didn't remember a 2 ticket for German trains. (30 years ago) ticket and ticket for seats?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Reservations are required on some international connections or night trains in Germany, but not all of them. Unfortunately, they were required on one of our legs in addition to our Glacier Express train. Scrambling to book a seat wasn't the most fun we've had on a train! Thanks for watching! -Judy

[@fumeokid]

Oh yes.. if you don’t make a mistake that means you are not exploring properly! I got lost in Tokyo Station for 2 hours after the subway shut down. Then I got lost in Düsseldorf Germany in a car park.. It took me 40 minutes to get my car back out.. I couldn’t find the entrance!

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Yes, we don't pretend to have it all figured out and expect that we'll make many more mistakes. Despite how embarrassing they can be we hope it makes others feel like they aren't the only ones messing up. Because at times we want to kick ourselves and say that we should know better about some of these things by now, but nope! How were you able to get out of the Tokyo station? I would think that would have been very scary! And I can totally related to finding a car in a car park, although that has happened to me in a mall parking lot in the US. There's actually an entire Seinfeld episode about this very thing! You are in good company! Thanks so much for sharing!-Judy

[@fumeokid]

@@FindingGinaMarie Using my broken Japanese and 3 different transit workers we made our way out. It was super embarrassing. Every time we turned around.. it seemed like we made a giant circle! But having been to Japan numerous times it hasn’t happened since.. but..never say never! :)

[@FindingGinaMarie]

I'm so glad that you found transit workers. Can you imagine if it was totally deserted and you had to spend the night there?! -Judy

[@danle3085]

Hello Kevin and Judy, I am planning to to take the train from Krakow to Vienna in coming October. I did not understand your comment clearly. Did you say "DO NOT" take the train since it is such a small area for 6 guests? Do you suggest for fly from Krakow to Vienna instead? Did you book the first class ticket train? Thank you for your suggestion/advice. Danny

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Dan, That's actually not what we said. Because we had to do so much backtracking (we ideally should have arranged our path to be from Switzerland to Vienna and then from Vienna to Kraków). Since we were visiting Kraków first, we needed to take an overnight train. We waited too long to book a sleeping car and thus the seats we had were just facing other strangers, which was a bit icky. If they were traditional train seats (two or three to a row facing the backseats of the passengers in front of us), that would have been fine, but these were seats that faced each other without much distance across and not even a table between us. An airline row gives you much more privacy than these seats did. BUT if we would have traveled during the day, traditional coach seats would probably have been just fine. If the price is right, we bump to first class seats on trains, but we're fine if the prices are prohibitive to be in second class. I hope this helps and we hope you love Vienna! -Judy 🎥 Vienna-Yes, we did the touristy things!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3i8qZeNpp2ZfZY 🎥 Poland video series: kzbin.info/aero/PLNT98lWfwdF25fcJb3dV-DCVUsqOTKTMH

[@VincentiaOrozco]

I showed up on a bus trip from Milan to Switzerland one day early, lucky the tur guide was so nice and let me joined the group anyway. So it was a good mistake

[@FindingGinaMarie]

You are lucky that worked out so well, Vicentia! It's so much better that you arrived early for a tour versus the actual trip to Switzerland! Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your travel mistake with us! -Judy

[@merrillmixer1190]

Oh no! Don't remind me. I've made some of these mistakes and others as well. (I don't keep a list though.) Hopefully, I learn from each one before I try and block out the frustrating memory.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Merrill, Yes, these are all things we wish we could forget. but we made decisions very early in our travels on KZbin that we would be as transparent as possible and embarrass ourselves at times if it means that we could help others. We may be laughing, but we are sharing some serious vulnerability here! Thanks for letting us know we're not alone on some of these! -Judy

[@Property2030sg]

Thks for this video ! Oftentimes, situations may arise similar to your Egypt incident. In a foreign city, we may need to ask for directions, and a kind soul may offer to lead us along the way. Should we follow him / her? Any advice ? :)

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Great question, and thanks for watching, Mike. In our Egypt situation, this person approached us and offered directions. I would consider that much different than asking directions. From everything we've read about, there are a lot of scams where people try to be helpful and tell you things are closed, or offer to take you somewhere (there's a big issue with Tuk-Tuks taking you to either a gemstone place or a custom tailor and then overcharging by a lot and possibly stranding you on top of it all). I would always be extremely wary of those sorts of things. But we've never had a problem with anyone taking advantage of us when we're asking for directions. Your chances of finding Good Samaritans is high in those instances. I've learned through a few different experiences to be very adamant, direct, and self-assured whenever someone tries to solicit their service in some way without being asked (e.g., taxi services, etc. who want to grab your bags and take you to their cab). They are looking to take advantage of your lack of confidence and overwhelm. -Judy

[@erinaustin9968]

We missed a bus in Mexico because we didn’t understand Spanish and relied on the bus coordinator to help us. He didn’t.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Ugh. How frustrating, Erin. Whenever we can, we try to follow along with the route on either Apple or Google maps (when they work). It's not foolproof, but sometimes you get lucky and it works as intended. Thanks for sharing. -Judy

[@danbulowski7013]

Very funny episode 😂👏 My favourite story was the revisiting of the Tokyo museum 😂. Don’t feel bad, I have friends who did something worse. They went on an overnight travel journey. It started in northern Spain somewhere, they had to cross the French border at some point. When they had to cross back into Spain, they realised something was up. They had spent two days, and hundreds of euros, to travel to the next town a 15 minute train ride away from where they had just been staying 😂🤦‍♂️

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you for this laugh, Dan! Oh boy, that had to have been so frustrating for your friends when they realized what they did! As for us, we felt very foolish! So glad we could give you a chuckle as well! -Judy

[@danbulowski7013]

@@FindingGinaMarie I’m really excited to see your Taiwan episodes…I can’t wait 😀

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Our first one is coming this Saturday, Dan! -Judy

[@danbulowski7013]

@@FindingGinaMarie I was wondering what the costs of living are in Taiwan these days? When I traveled there, 21 years ago, they had a slightly higher standard of living when compared with Australia. Back then, only Japan and Taiwan could boast that. But these days, Japan has become a cost effective holiday destination for Aussies, so I was wondering if Taiwan has followed a similar trajectory?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Yes, definitely, Dan. Between the local night markets and local eateries, food is cost effective. Depending on what tours you chose, some of those could get pricey. We didn't end up doing day trips anywhere, so we definitely would like to come back and explore more, but there's so much you can do on your own that you don't actually have to book tours. Our Airbnb wasn't as cheap as in some parts of Southeast Asia, but it was cheaper than Thailand. The trains also are very affordable, so you can travel easily without racking up huge travel costs. -Judy

[@normairisflores3641]

When I travel with my husband, he is the good cop and I am the bad cop, I am the one saying no to all the vendors😂😂😂the time share sellers😂😂😂, the tour offers😂😂😂.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@normairisflores3641: We are both the bad cops at this point, but probably me more than Kevin. After our experiences in Egypt, I refuse to let anyone even attempt to touch my luggage and offer us a taxi ride! 🤣 I think travel is all a learning process. Love that you have worked out a system together! -Judy

[@enriquesanchez2001]

We all make TRAVEL MISTAKES - they are great - because they are LESSONS! 🤣🤣

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Thank you so much, Enrique! You are right and we don't ever want to pretend that we are perfect or have all of this figured out. Our travel style now that we are on the road full time is much more laid back and unstructured than it was when we would travel for a vacation, so mistakes are inevitable. Hopefully they won't ever be ones that get us into real trouble. We learned our lesson on the Vietnam visa! -Judy

[@enriquesanchez2001]

@@FindingGinaMarie ♥ Ahhh 😄

[@LuleMillones]

Kevin, are you related to John McArthur? You look like you could be his brother :)

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi @LuleMillones, No relation whatsoever! Thanks for watching! -Judy

[@loveRP_Penasco]

Lol on first mistake never tell her

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Haha, we had a good laugh about it, so there's that! Thank you so much for watching! -Judy

[@owlscoffeecats]

Do you carry a copy of your passport and visa with you photocopy everywhere you go? Just wondering about if you were stopped and asked to present paperwork to show how long you have left on your visa if you just have a photocopy with you.? 🤔 🛂

[@FindingGinaMarie]

Hi Carolann, this is a great question and one Kevin and I have been talking about in depth recently. It also was discussed in our La Famiglia forum. We haven't always carried our passports with us, but we have been lucky and have been able to use an electronic version most of the time. However, we are going to be in Italy in a few weeks and we will start carrying them around all the time since we hear about how often people are stopped by the police. There are a lot of reasons that it makes sense to carry it in any country you're visiting for many reasons: (1) in case of a natural disaster or civil unrest; (2) in case of an injury; (3) for tax-break purposes when you are making large purchases; and (4) in the event you get stopped by any sort of police or security officer). While there are worries that you'll misplace it, there are more reasons to have it on your person. Kevin wears a style of tech cargo pants that have a generous zippered front pocket that he uses for our passports, so we don't have to worry about having a purse or backpack getting stolen. Having it on your person is ideal if you can manage it. We rarely go anywhere separately, so that's been working well for us. -Judy

[@owlscoffeecats]

Going to check out those pants for my husband, that's a great idea! Thank you. One more question 🙋‍♀️ do you prefer or are you allowed to say what VPN service you feel most comfortable with?

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@@owlscoffeecats They've worked really well for Kevin and they come in several colors. We use two different VPNs. I love NordVPN, which costs around $3.99 per month and it's been super reliable for us. Kevin uses ExpressVPN, which we acquired when we were in Egypt since NordVPN didn't work there. It's closer to $10.99 per month. We have both because our contracts overlapped. I think you'd be just as happy with NordVPN. We use it for both privacy as well as for watching US channels in foreign countries and for language learning (watching Italian television from other countries). -Judy

[@owlscoffeecats]

That's great about the Italian learning! 😊 🇮🇹. The NordVPN & ExpressVPN were what we were searching so thank you for this information.

[@FindingGinaMarie]

@@owlscoffeecats Here's our affiliate link to NordVPN if you're interested in using it. I just had it created, so know that we recommend it and have used it since we were living in San Francisco! 🔗Nord VPN: go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=104768&url_id=902