We took a vacation to work on the business

We kick off season three with a new theme: shining a light on women who are turning left and choosing their next phase with intention. A milestone birthday trip turns into a 10-day London, Bordeaux, and Champagne adventure that strengthens our partnership and clarifies what we want for the next decade of business.

• Setting the season three theme around women making bold left turns
• Taking a real vacation while still working on the business vision
• Learning how travel reveals partnership dynamics and trust
• London highlights including walking tours, palaces, pubs, and high tea
• Noticing female leadership threads in British history and culture
• Planning Bordeaux and Champagne with a wine travel company
• Favorite Bordeaux moments including wine school, tours, and tasting dinners
• Champagne history with Widow Clicquot, riddling, and rosé origins
• The shock of the underground chalk cellars and how champagne ages
• Travel anxiety versus overplanning and how we balance each other

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Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

Transcript

Season Three Kickoff And New Theme

0:35

That's okay. We're starting we're starting again. No, we're not. We're just starting with a long time. No, I mean we're starting the season, a new season, and we're in season three. Woohoo! Well, here we are. We're back at our Living Laugh podcast. And I knew that it would be we'd get here to season three. I know. We've missed it a bit, I feel, we were saying. I yeah, I do miss it a little bit. I I do also think it's kind of fun that we've just continued. So anyone, if you think you just want to do one of these things, I think the best thing is just to just try. Yeah. Just turn on and start recording, and maybe some interesting magic happens. Not every week. Yeah. And we've been in, we've been liking this. So here we go. We're to season three. And we're gonna our theme for season three will be uh less about we've talked a lot about us in the in the first two seasons and personal elements of being a middle-aged professional woman in this lovely world. And we want to talk more and more about women who are turning left. So talk about others, like shine some light on women doing really fantastic things, making fantastic choices, leading with vigor, leaning into this next phase of their life. So that's what we're hoping to talk about in the next few um episodes. But for right now, we do need to talk about something really exciting we did that well, we leaned left and we took off so right. So if we listen to the last episode, we talked about me turning 50 and my big half-century tour trip that I took and party and and things like that. And so we need to give we're back. We need to give people like a recap. So why don't you tell me? You I went away for two weeks and then you came and you met me in London. Yes. So first time in London, first time in London, loved it. Um, yeah, I think it's there were a few things. I don't know what you want to start initially talking about, but I do think a big part of it was the two of us kind of we spend a lot of time together. Um, but traveling together for 10 days, um, you know, and and we both took holidays. So usually oftentimes when I'm in Europe, I'm working a good portion of it, to be honest. So this was actually no work. Um, so leaving the team to to manage, and as as we're not surprised, they did an amazing job, and we'll talk a little bit about that. But yeah, I met you at the the third leg of your European half-century tour um and got to spend a few days in London with you and your oldest, who I adore. So let's hold on, pause, pause for one second before we go. Sure. So we took it as vacation so that we could extricate ourselves from the business. A hundred percent. However, our intention was to strengthen our relationship as business partners. Yes, and we knew we were gonna have discussions, so we didn't want to work in the business. Yes. I always say that wrong. Work on the we want to work, we wanted to work on the business, not in the business.

Vacation Rules And Partner Alignment

3:57

So when I say vacation, thank you for clarifying, we removed ourselves from the work in the business, meaning no emails were responded to, no client, like they knew the team knew if they needed us urgently, text us. But beyond that, there was to be no work in the business. We went with actually a slightly loose agenda on some key things we wanted to talk about, working on the business, which we actually enjoy doing that. I don't consider that work, in my opinion. It is work, but you and I tend to do that naturally when we're going on our walks and we're having conversations. I would say nine and a half times out of 10, we're talking about left turn, future, our vision, et cetera. It's because we're dreamers. We like to think about things and like to plan. Well, you're sure. I'd say you're more the dreamer, and I'm more the I like that dream. Okay, how do we make that dream work? But we just naturally go there. So we knew that there was going to be an element of that. And I think what we were curious about, um, and you're so very good at this, is you know, we knew removing ourselves from a creativity standpoint, from uh not being mired by decision making because of fires and stuff that's happening, you know, what could we talk about? And I think it's what you said, getting to know one another. I mean, our lives are full on all levels. So while we're talking about our kids and our lives and work and just to have none of that, and just to say, what does Tanya and Anne-Marie want? And what are we like? And what does this look like? I think was was beautiful, in my opinion. And I we've had many jokes, and I think we're gonna have them for many years. You and I have not spent that much time, just the two of us, like we were right, we spend time thinking and planning and working together, but we don't spend like 10 days together, 10 days with anyone is is like an adventure. Yeah, yeah. Well, I was gonna it's easy, it's an adventure, it's like you learn things about each other. Then you and I know each other very well. In the way it's almost like traveling with your spouse, in that you that's how I felt like, yeah, like you love that person, you like that person. There's little things you're like, oh, I didn't know they did that. That's that's fantastic, or that's annoying, or whatever. Like there's that's a lot of time to spend together. And I was I had so much fun, which I think is critical. Um, and there's little things like, and again, because you my relationship with you is probably one of the healthiest relationships I have in my life, where you can say, like, stop that. Yes. We I think we both equally we're like, um, that's annoying. Or I'm gonna, I'm gonna push you on the road. No, I I saved you. You didn't push on the road. I pulled you back from the road. You know, one would think in the amount of travel I've done to European countries, I will have learned to actually look left and not right. You don't know, look left and not whichever way. The way that you looked, you looked right, and I was like, I will look in the wrong. I almost got killed in France. Yeah, this is not anything new. Anyone who's traveled with me in Europe would agree they've saved money. Because you are okay, we'll go back to what we did, but like you so it just very we see the world very different. Yes. I it's okay. We haven't talked about this, is this is my opinion. I just thought of it right now. Sure. I believe I look at the world, I'm observing the world, and I'm like taking it in and I'm like piecing it together, and I'm put like finding a pattern, and I'm like, oh, okay. You are moving through the world the way that you move through the world, like you just go the way you want to go. Yeah, and sometimes you there you're not looking. I run into trouble. Yes, because you're like, Because the world doesn't work this shit work. I'm just gonna go through like trying to get onto the metro in Paris for a small example. She's just like, you're like, that is not gonna work. I'm like, let's just try it. Oh no, and then I got stuck. It didn't work. And I'm like, there's a line here for a reason. We need to get the little pass. Like, no, we don't, no, we don't, no, we don't. So I'm again, I don't think I'm angry in that. You're like, no, we don't. I was like, I don't think we need to. It's more of a my response is typically a flightier response. Yeah, I think it will be okay. With a sense of um commitment direction that I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm gonna sound like I do it. And I'm gonna so you wind up, I'm waiting in the long line. I have to give up my spot in line. You did, I know. You were very calm about that. And then you go and you don't get the pat, but your spaghetti through and you don't. So you have to lift your big giant suitcase back over, and I'm like, getting the foot of the. Well, then we learn for sure. And then I don't believe there was ever a oh that you were right. There was not a suit case. No, I'm always very good at saying you were right. I know I definitely did say that. I can admit when I'm wrong. I just just feel like I'm sure there's a solution. That doesn't have to be that solution for everyone in that line. That seems ridiculous to me. Oh, because they need a ticket. Yeah, you need a ticket to pay the two years for the city. I think I came off London. In fairness, everybody, I came up London, which is brilliant, where you just use your credit card for everything. I was like, why can't it just be like this? Yeah, the tube in country tube in London is fan was fantabulous. That works for my short attention span. I think that's really what it is. I just don't have the patience to do that. So that's where you and I work really well together because you'll uh pay attention to the details. I'm just like, I don't know. Let's just try and figure it out. Serves me well a lot of times, and in other cases gets me in a bit of trouble. But that's okay. Yeah, it's well, that's what we're a good team. We're a good team. So, okay, so we went to London, you met us in London. Yes. So I was there first, you joined us, and I was worried that you were gonna be in this new country all by yourself early. I'm texting you. Are you okay? Are you good? You landed. I think you're gonna be. I thought you I thought you were going early so you could get a good rest. Dear listeners, she did she went early so she could bar hop and like find these amazing experiences, which you had an amazing experience. And I realized, oh, I did not need to be worried about her at all. She's fine. Yes, I will. I mean, listen, I do a lot of travel, but I'm not really a solo traveler. Like I'm usually I'm solo traveling on the plane to meet someone, typically. So that I've done a ton of flights by myself, that sort of thing. Um, so I was nervous, but at the same time, I've done it enough that uh I'm okay with just finding a random place. I like to like, I'm in a new place. I want to find food and drinks. That's like fun and really kick off my vacation. So I did go to bed early. I was jet legged, so that's why I went early, was to try and beat

Travel Personalities And Street Safety

10:52

the jet lag. But I wasn't gonna sit stay in the little Airbnb by myself all night. I was like, let's find a bar. I was thrilled. I would do, I would have been like, awesome. I'm finding some food, I'm tucking in, I'm going to bed. Yeah. But you found great cocktails. And then I went out. I did. I had great cocktails and this like random pasta place that was recommended to me where I'm eating pasta with a heater and like a large glass of red wine. Actually, it was the most, it was one of the more glorious times. I think it's because it's the high. You're on the high of landing in a new place. So I didn't want to not have that. So that was fun to do by myself. Could I do that? Like how people do that for a long time. I don't know. I was happy you were arriving the next day. I could have maybe done two days by myself, and then I think I get a little bit more. And you would have had so the point of the paying attention to details and the keeping safe, like you would need to do more of that if you were on your own. Yeah, which I think I would have. You left your drink at the bar and then you came back and the bar drink's not there, and the bartender had taken it away because it wasn't safe for you to sit there. Exactly. You're like, I was like, oh, that's a good point. That's right. I tell my daughter to do that, and I never really thought of doing it myself. Yeah. Um, agreed, I think, and navigating, like I was able to navigate the tube and get there. But if I don't have to and I can just follow someone's lead, yeah, I'm happier than doing that. But yeah, so I met you guys, you guys arrived, and then we did a few days um in London, which I really enjoyed that city, like that was amazing. Um, what was your favorite part? Oh my god, that's such a tough question. So I did love the tour. I love a good walking tour. You did a big walking tour. I love that. So um I that was good because we jammed all the things into an afternoon. Yeah, I've um tours have become my jam. I just think that's just a really nice way. I like listening to people and learning. I don't like reading and learning. I like someone talking and telling stories, and we got really lucky that she was an amazing um storyteller. Uh, but I also really enjoyed um, well, I enjoyed just the history because it we were kind of close to it in our understanding of, you know, it's probably one of the the country histories that I'm more familiar with. If you think of we're we live in a British country, totally exactly, yeah. So to actually like see places and know that, you know, Diana lived here, stuff like that. Like, I'm like, wow, you know, you're just kind of seeing it in real life. I love that. And then I love the food and I love a good pub. Like, there wasn't anything, I mean, other than it was flipping expensive. Um, London is crazy. Uh, beyond that, I would go back in a heartbeat. Like a heartbeat. If given the opportunity to go back to London, I will be saying yes. Yeah, it's a well-designed city, too. It's really well designed. You get around easily. Yeah, yeah. We did some historical stuff. We did the tour, which was awesome. Big walking tour. We did Tower of London. Kensington Palace was lovely. Yes, and we got to have the high tea. That was that was so nice and was actually a really nice day. That was a highlight. That was that was a highlight. I would say that was super special. And then we walked around Notting Hill, yeah, wound up in a pub. That was like a fun kind of casual afternoon. What did we do after the Tower of London? We did, Kenzie did. No, we didn't. We went to the Tower of London. Oh no, because we were the Lauren. Oh, we went to the back to that pub. Oh, yeah, that was really good. Briars something. Anyway. It was lovely. We had a great time. Oh, and then we met up with my friend again for dinner. Oh, see, that was lovely. I did enjoy that. That was a nice little, those were little extras I feel like you coordinated that just made it even more fun because I think you meet different people. I think that's the other thing about travel. So you liked meeting someone local. So yeah, so there's an old high school friend of mine that lives in London. Yes. Who would have been like my friend when I was my daughter's age. So that was amazing. It's always fun to meet your friends' friends because you get to see a side, right? Yeah. But one

London Highlights, Tours, And High Tea

15:12

thing I've learned about myself, which I would have said I was not this human, is I enjoy meeting strangers and chatting with like new people and just hearing their story, even for like an hour. I think it makes so many times I traveled without talking to anyone other than my ex-husband. Like we were very like, we would didn't make friends on vacation. Not that you need to make friends, but you know what I mean. Well, it really enhances your experience, it totally enhances your experience when we talk to you. Let me tell you, we did a lot of travel for 20 years. You never talked to anybody? No. So, and now that likely is because I'm managing two children and I'm exhausted, and we're trying to figure that out. And even if I am just with my ex-husband at the time, like I don't want to talk to anyone because I barely want to talk to him because I'm exhausted, and that's why I'm on vacation. Like, I'm sure there is that. So I'm I'm saying this to women out there, like, I think your capacity for that is one thing. Um, secondly, I think it it is you feed off the person you're traveling with. So, in my travels in the last two years, I've been traveling with someone who is the polar opposite of that, like wants to sit at a table with strangers and just start chatting. So you kind of learn to lean into that. And I have realized that A, I'm very good at it, and B, I like really enjoy it. This is great. I'm gonna send you in all the new biz things now. So send you into a room and send you into a room. Okay, you don't know anyone. Oh god. Um, but yeah, I've I've gotten a lot. I there's been growth in that area, so yeah, maybe as a solo traveler, I could do it knowing that, but I also do enjoy having a wingman. That's good to learn that about yourself and interesting to learn that about yourself later in life. Yeah, 100%. It does enhance your travel, I think, if you can talk to people. So we didn't meet that many people from London, but we talked to people like we talked to weight staff and we talked to my friend and we talked to We did. I would say we did uh because I think there were enough people. A, we had Lauren for a little bit, right? Then we had your friend, and then we were on a tour. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe we were in Kensington Palace and Nottinghill, we were kind of just the two of us, but that's fine. Like it doesn't have to be all of the time. But even with the tour guides and stuff, I do just enjoy that. So that is something I recognize. I do believe it enhances. So if anyone hasn't really leaned in to that, one of the things I liked about England too, um, just from a left-turn perspective, is there's a lot of female leadership. Like when you look at La Royals, yes, and then as our tour guide called her, Queen Vicky, which is hilarious. She's now now my favorite. Queen Vicky. By the way, there's a movie on Netflix, I haven't finished it yet, but um, it's Queen Victoria and Emily Blunt is Victoria. Oh, did I know this? It's like 2010, it's old, it's like 15 years old. I'm gonna look it up. Young Victoria, and you know, we we learned because we went through her quarters in the palace where she grew up, and she was the first person to live in Buckingham Palace. Um, because she moved out of Kensington Palace when she was like 18. To get away from her mother who made her sleep in the same bedroom. Weird. Yeah, I know. Well, in the movie, it's all about like Is it? Okay, I'm gonna watch this. And about falling in love with Prince Albert, who was her first cousin. Same situation. It's all the sordid details I love. That's the stuff about it. This is all gossipy, it's all gossipy. It's funny, yeah. But then you're walking around you anyway. So there's but there's like obviously Queen Elizabeth, and then we've got like the leadership of and and demise of Diana, and you've got all interesting, like that's and those in the relatively last kind of 300 years. Like that's yeah, that's very true. You also have um like Mar Margaret Thatcher, who wasn't, you know, we've had a female prime minister for one minute. Yes. Uh, you know, like it's kind of interesting to see that's a really good point. I mean there's a lot of female power not in comparison to the amount of male power, but of course to our female examples. And you know, it's just nice that in the narrative and the storytelling and the history, there's just a lot of of that, those examples. I think it would be boring otherwise if we're just talking about the men. Yeah. Well, in lots of countries, there is only men. Yeah, 100%. So I enjoyed that. Like I'm with you. I think that was uh that was that was lovely. Um, and it's just cool. You just feel cooler when you're in London. You just do. I don't know if I felt cool when it rains. I did. I felt like it was like it was a cool place. I was like, I could live here. It would make me cooler if I lived in London. Obviously, people can spend a longer amount of time. Yeah. 100% and see if that was something you could do. Yeah, so London is a must-go to 100%. Then we had to leave it. Yeah, then we went to go with a goal to drink some wine

Meeting People And Noticing Women Leaders

20:12

and learn about wine. And this is the part I feel many of our friends are like, ooh, that's the part I should have done. And I think we have already influenced many people who are going to do at least go to Champagne. 100%. So we went to France, we went to Bordeaux, and we went to Champagne, and we use anyone who asked how do we plan it? Because I like to plan this stuff, so usually this would be something I would plan. Um same, same. But since we were going together and it was the last leg of my trip, and I was like, oh, I don't know. Sometimes it's harder to know. I didn't know if the things I picked you would like because we hadn't traveled really together yet. So we decided to use a company that specializes in wine trips. So they booked all the accommodations, the tours, the kind of our flight and train, and kind of made the recommendations. And actually, that was just so good. That's a treat. That was such a treat because we didn't have to worry about that. You literally, I felt like how my husband feels when we travel. He's like, Oh, where's the agenda? Because I literally do an agenda. I just don't have my own app. Like this is what are you doing? Yeah, this is how our children end probably. I would I haven't asked it, but I would imagine because I think of all of the things, and every day everyone's like, Where are we going today? And I've of course planned it, but this was a treat. It was planned for us, and what a gift! Like, what a gift to just have it done. And then the only things that weren't done were a couple of dinners, and I that's the one thing I said to you. I'm leaving those dinners in your control. You plan those dinners. Um, and then we had we had meals that were not planned as well, but you planned two really great spots, and we zipped on a plane and we wound up in Bordeaux. We flew to Bordeaux, a quick, relatively quick flight for relatively quick. It was pretty everything look not well. I'm knocking on wood, but everything was seamless. Like it really, we didn't, and I think there were things going around on around us, but we got very lucky because you never know with travel. Listen, travel is just luck of the timing. Like I was on, I don't know if I told you this, but I was on the plane coming home with you, obviously, but I was ahead of you because of my travel anxiety, and then I overheard a Woman who was saying she was supposed to fly out the day before at a Heathrow, and there were some issues with the machines and the immigration. She missed her flight. So I think there was some stuff that was happening the day before. You gotta travel with me because as my friend Leslie always said when we traveled, when we backpacked, she'd always say, You have a horseshoe up your ass. Well, then I get knocked onward. I usually get you never know lucky-ish. Yeah. So anyway, we were pretty, everything was very seamless, which was lovely given um there were some transitions that needed to happen. But no, that was a treat, and definitely recommend that. So we land in Bordeaux. So anyone who's familiar, so Bordeaux is about a

Bordeaux Plans, Fancy Meals, And Wine School

23:12

two-hour train ride south of Paris, just from location. So it's on the western side of Paris. And we land there, and it looks and feels like Paris. I had been in Paris a couple of weeks a week before. It's just a smaller version. And so what we learned is that the people who built Paris and architects of they were from Bordeaux, they built Bordeaux. Bordeaux inspired. It was the inspiration for the development of so that's why it looks and feels it's much smaller on a scale, and it has a river much like Paris running through it. And so we get to this lovely hotel, we drop off our stuff, and we go to a restaurant literally around the corner. And at first, so we sat, they were a little snooty at the beginning, but we sat down and we had the plat plat de jour, like the the meal, the lunch of the day, and we're we were like blown away. Like in came the soup. We had the soup and then the main course. The soup was like a mousse. Remember how delicious? Yes, we were. We were like, and it was like beautiful. We're like looking around. Was there like a Michelin star here? And we didn't know. Like we were on on the not balcony, patio with our rose enjoying, and then the soup thing shows up, and we're like, oh my god, it was so everything felt very fancy. We did feel very fancy. Right off our flight, and then had a nice lunch, and then we're like, Oh, what else is gonna happen here? Yeah, this is it just upped the level of bikery. It's a it's a nice, it's a very lovely town. Then we went for dinner, and that night you had already coordinated this tasting dinner, like in honor of my birthday, which was super special as well. That was lovely, all paired with wines, like that was lovely. Like 10 out of 10. Yeah, that was Michelin. That one was Michelin, which we figured out after. It was fancy. I thought it was Michelin like when I read the reviews. I thought it wasn't quite Michelin, or maybe it had a certain number of stars, but that one was nice. It was pretty fancy, it was pretty fancy. And then honestly, though, one of my fave is the wine school. I could have stayed there all flipping day. That was a recommend from one of Amory's internet friends. Well, probably friends of the polypologist. I know, but I meant through she's Instagram and said, You need to go to this. If you're there, you need to go here. And it was amazing. I still don't understand why. So, why it's so great. Like it's a wine school, so I think there must be they just have access to all the wine, so they can variety of wine at a lesser cost. At a lesser cost, you could sit there for huge bottles, like glasses of wine. So you could get wine that you would typically for a glass, if you paid for the bottle, right? In a restaurant, you would pay substantially more, but an actual glass of said bottle was quite reasonable, and that was the value in from that standpoint, anyways. It was just great. Yeah, drinking wine, all drinking wine experiences in France were amazing. Yeah. So then that was and then we did two tours. Two tours. So we went to there's a left, just like in Paris, there's a left bank and a right bank, there's a left bank and a right bank. So we drove half an hour east for the right bank, which is um towards the area of Saint Emilion, and that we did with um the female tour guy, yeah. And we went how many places? Three. Three, maybe. And we had like a little lesson. Yeah, yeah. And then the next day we had like a full-on tour of Bordeaux with this great guy. Yeah, he was amazing. He was fantastic, young guy, surfer, like not surfer, scuba diver kind of. Scuba diver. Very cool guy. And we learned so much from him just walking around. And then we also started drinking wine at like 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock, and eating cheese. Loved it. We were tasting the jambon, yeah, the Rama Jambon. So good. And then drinking wine with that, and then we had cheese and we had wine, and we had then we went to the wine school, and then we had to. With the same guy. We have to get in a bus. He's like, Well, he and they waited for it. We were only one minute late. We were one but we get there and he could tell that he had dropped us at 10, and here we are at two. Much happier. Much happier. That was fun. That was good too. Yeah, and then we had like Irish and US. US people on that tour. Yeah. Um which is nice too when you meet new like people. So that was lovely. That was that was just drinking our way through France. Well, Bordeaux was really red wine. Like that's it. And it's which was fine. I like red wine. Me too. Rose is making a massive comeback, and so the red wine producers are starting to make less red wine because rose is coming in. Yeah. But anybody from Bordeaux turns their nose up at the rose because they think we're just silly. But red wine I find hard to drink all day. I can't drink all day, totally. Not that we should drink it all day. No, I know. But it was easier in France to drink red wine all day, just so we're clear. Yeah, but it's it is. And then, and so then we spent two days, and then that was so fun and lovely, and just highly recommend that little town. And then we got on the train. That was your big first train trip. Yes, and that was easy. No, it was super easy. The training, so we had to take the train up to Paris and then switch go on the on the on the metro that you didn't think we needed to take it for. And also, for the record, uh, we also have big suitcases. Can we just discuss? So we have two big suitcases, which I wish, and I was gone for four weeks. I needed a big suitcase, but I really and I had given some of my stuff to Lauren, so it wasn't to hold. But somewhere along the way, one of my wheels turned into a wonky wheel, and so I had like a shopping cart issue. Felt like I go wonky shopping cart. So, and the cobblestones and the weight of the and up and down the escalators, and I was a little slower because my bag would not cooperate. So actually, my bruise and my arm just started to go away over the week. Oh dear when I fell down the escalator, but yeah. Almost fell down the escalator. Well, yeah, I tipped. I mean my bag tipped, but we rectified that. So, anyway, so we had to move those bags through the trains, which was fine, but it was all an adventure, and on the metro, which was fine, but an adventure, once we realized we needed the ticket, and then we got on the quick, it was such a quick train from Paris to Champagne. So that's my big thing. Anyone going to Paris should get on the flipping train and go to Champagne or for the day, just go for the day. It's a 40-minute direct

Champagne By Train And The Big Houses

30:12

train ride. It's and because people travel, right? Like they travel for work or they don't want to live in Paris and they come in. Yeah, and it is um wonderful and super easy. 40 minutes, and then you do champagne for the day and take the train back. Yeah, so there's two towns, Champagne, and then where did we stay? No, we were in um uh remember it's called Rans, but it's a REM or you said we were in Rennes when we were in Bordeaux. We were not. Where were we when we were in Bordeaux? We were in Madoc in Bordeaux, was the second. We went, we were in, yeah. Madoc was the left bank. Yeah, St. Emilia, that area was the right bank, and then yeah, Rem. Rem is where we were. Rem, uh, but if we were, which I've told ever we've told everyone, where you want to go is to Epinais. Epinais, am I saying it wrong? Which the Rue with the Rue de Champagne. De Champagne. So that is like if we were to do, we did it, it made sense because we could walk to the train station, which again was someone with travel anxiety, was brilliant, that I didn't have to worry about getting to the train station. It was literally a 10-minute walk. So that for that reason made sense since we were there for such a short period of time. Um, however, if I were to do it again, I would want to stay 20 minutes out uh because that Rue de Champagne looked lovely. And you literally just walk down the road and there's champagne houses on either side, and you just yeah. I would say FNA is like going to Niagara and the lake, yeah, versus maybe Niagara Falls or Hamilton. Yeah, it's way nicer though. Like a way nicer, but I'm like, Rem is nicer than Niagara Falls. Rem is way nicer. And Rem has so for everybody, everyone who loves so Vuve Cluket Clucot, the bright oh, I should have, where's my hat? I should have worn my hat. You should totally have worn your hat. Wait a second. I'm gonna should I get it? No, because we're on a podcast. Well, where is it? In my room. Just quickly go into your room. Okay, okay, wait. Everyone, hold for two seconds because we're gonna go. Well, you can tell a story while I keep talking. Okay. Keep talking. So say something. So the first thing we do, yeah. So as soon as we get back to um or get to Rem, we're like, okay, we had it was actually a nicer day too. So we knew we wanted to go out and go to Viv Clico first and maybe hit one or two, but we only had enough time to go to Viv. Uh so we walked what 35 minutes there. There she is. She's back with money that she spent ridiculous amounts of money on, but that's okay. We go to Viv Clico and everything's like insane, but it's fine. We want one thing. Well, my hat was the least expensive thing. Yeah, we had to go for the the least expensive things. But anyway, so we walked the 35 minutes. We show up. It's a brand brilliance for any marketers or anyone who appreciates it. It was so lovely. And we couldn't get a tour. Um, but we were able to just sit on the cafe and we had a flight, and we were able to drink some beautiful champagne and then walk around. But I think if I were to go back, I would do the tour. You have to book it months in advance. Months in advance. You weren't even last minute when you looked. No, I tried at least two months ahead. Yeah, so fully booked. But we could get on the on the patio and we got to try the flight, which was amazing. Yeah, which was amazing. La Grande Dame champagne, I think, is the most famous one. Yeah. That's what they call her, right? They call did you explain what that vote was? No, I hadn't have a chance. You were literally at 30 seconds, not even. You were fast. Um, but that's I think what we did enjoy about Champagne was again, if we think of female owners, female entrepreneurs, um, the story with uh widow Clico, and you had told me to watch the series on whatever it was, Netflix, which was lovely, which was amazing. And apparently, as we were just Googling before this, this is a thing in Champagne Country, um, where these women would marry into these champagne houses and their husbands would die inevitably. And they would meet it and they get to inherit it. So that is the story. So um widow Clico is very much uh the pioneer, she's the one the pioneer who who who created champagne, I guess. Um, she created can I clarify? Yeah, of course. So everybody knows the big why it explodes, right? And you get it and it explodes. Um, so you may have seen on TV that the way that they age it is that they age it on an angle. And so before widow Cliqueau, Vuve Cluga Clucot, she it was champagne was murky with all the settlement that was in it. So she invented a way to get all the sediment, settlement to the bottle. And if you ever see they're like triangular um holders with holes, and they put the bottles in, and it's

Widow Clicquot And How Champagne Works

35:17

called riddling. That's what she invented, the term of rental, which is like you're twisting it and tipping it at a higher thing. I don't know how many times it has to twist. They taught us on the they did, and I can't remember that stat now. Anyway, she invented riddling, which then all the sediment goes to the neck, then they pop off the top, which is just like a bottle cap, take out the sediment, and then they they put like the actual cork that we have we're familiar with with with sparkling wines, yeah. And then that ages with the proper cork on it for like 18 months or longer. Or longer. She invent invented that riddling thing so that it and she also invented the rose. Yes, that's what I do remember. She put her skins in, and she was she invented that. So she was pretty amazing, remarkable. Yeah, but there were apparently a lot of the French guys would die before and the women, there's like three or four that we just googled. I'm sure there's more of you know, well-known champagne houses where the um woman kind of took it on and brought it forward. So I thought that was pretty awesome as a story. It was definitely the place that surprised me the most, I think, of all of it, just in the storytelling and the history. And I realized how little I knew about champagne, the process, um, all of that. And champagne, another I what I thought was remarkable, and I was excited about it, but I couldn't imagine what it was like. I didn't have a visual, was the underground chalk cellars. Yeah, that's so underground. So in the next town, Epinay, which is where most of the champagne houses are, and when we say houses, it's like winery. We would say winery here, they call them maison or chateau or house. And so the Rue de Champagne, if this is why we wish we had more time, you could just walk up and down the street and pop into every little place and try a sample at every house. But underneath the ground, it's these massive long kilometer long, like they have 28 kilometers of cellars, which are chalk, and they've been there for hundreds of years. Um, and when you walk, like there people get lost, like there's like subways almost underneath, like big pathways, and each champagne house kind of works collaboratively to have a space and not go into the others, but yeah, they're safe. But and then in during the world wars, they actually those were bunkers down there, like people stayed down there. But when you walk around, like we were walking around for the full tour of Moet, yeah, and it's shocking, like like tens of thousands of bottles are just like in this corner. Then you go to the and have been for years. Like, I'm like, when are we just gonna drink this? I know, not just one or two years, like decades. No, decades. It's crazy, it's crazy. So that I really enjoyed. Like, I think that doing a tour and learning about champagne, which I don't know that a lot of people would know. Um, because you're usually focused on wine. Like people know a wine and they probably know a little bit more. It was a pleasure. Like it was, I really enjoyed walking around those cellars and just that was in France. They call it, they'll ask you, do you want still or champagne? Like when they talk about regular wine, they call it still wine. Yeah, that's funny. Which I think is interesting, right? So, like Chardonnay, I think of as we would just call that Chardonnay, but over there, that's still wine because champagne is mostly Chardonnay. So that's champagne. So it's really interesting. So that was fun. Yeah, we and I really enjoyed that. That was probably one of the highlights, I would say, was the day. Like, I mean, the cliqueau was amazing, but really the day uh at Moet. And then we got to go like see the fields like or the vineyards. Yes. That was and we went to small producers as well. We didn't just go to low big ones. Yes, so we went to a couple of small ones, which is nice to see that actually it's not just 300-year-old brands, yeah, but it's actually young couples running a business, much like you would see anywhere else in the world. Yeah, but it has the um cachet of being and pushing and pushing and being progressive in what's next when it comes to champagne, which I thought it was cool as well. Yeah. So that was lovely. And then we had to leave, and that was sad. And then we went back to London, which was fun. We did that for a day. Yeah, back for one day. And then we go home. What did you think was the most so I think also as friends and business owners, like to me, like we're coming up on 10 years of business. Yeah. So I mean, there was a lot of milestones for us. Like, obviously, we talked before about my big birthday, but we have a big work uh milestone, and just like any relationship, like it shifts just like good champagne, like it needs to, it needs to age and things happen and it's gonna taste differently than like so. I think that this was such a great chance for us to travel together, kind of not become reacquainted, but to become reacquainted, right? Like as ourselves without the hindrance and the weight of the day-to-day agreed business, and to really just talk about like what do you want to do next? Like, what do you where do you see yourself in 10 years? Where

Ten-Year Business Reflections And Next Steps

41:02

do you see the business in 10 years? Where you know, and and just kind of have the time. Have the time. I agree. And when you're drinking a lot of wine, you talk about a lot of things. I do. Yeah, I mean, I do think like it for for me anyway, and I I think for you too, it it did validate and you know, reaffirm kind of the strength that we know in our partnership uh and relationship. And you know, it invigorates you to really think about kind of the future and go, okay, like I'm willing, this is good. Like, let's look now to what's the next 10 years, which is really the discussion, right? Because 50, even though I'm a slightly older than 50, but 50 is just a nice wrap in all of it to your point, 10 years in the business. Okay, what's the next 10 years gonna look like? Um, and it's nice to know that when after 10 days you're kind of traveling with someone and you're like, okay, I can see the next 10 years with you, right? Like, and so we can have, we don't have to have uh, we can get to the meat of the conversations, which listen, we didn't always have that. You know, we've had another partner, like there's been, there's been, we've been through a lot of COVID, there's been a lot of ups and downs through it. And and not to say that there won't be in the next 10 years, that I'm not saying that at all, but I do think that in um some really heavy and hard times of our um of this business, we were just getting to know one another. So what's really nice is knowing that like I truly believe that whatever may come, like I'm standing beside the right person. Like, there's no question. I don't know that I've ever felt as confident in that. I mean, over the years I have, but this trip just reaffirmed that in all of our discussions and we were aligned in everything. Yeah, this is what we're doing. It there was no, it was easy in the of course this is what we're doing next. Yeah. See, if I was sitting beside you, I'd hug you right now, but I'm not. But it's like we like each other, yes, and I think you have to invest in that friendship. You have to invest, you have to invest and also it's a strong, secure, like just it's just like um another relationship in the same way, like you want to invest in yourself so everybody's good. So your kids are all good, your kids are all happy. I think it's important for us, and to be honest, I don't know if our team actually said, Oh, that's a great idea, you guys should go. Like, I don't I don't know if they were probably like, oh my gosh, you're both gonna be away for the same amount of time, and you're that was probably, but I also think they were perfectly fine without us. No, they were great, they were great, they're probably interested. Um, but I think it's important for us to invest, and I know that they see that value, yeah. Um, for us to invest in that friendship, invest in that relationship. Because yeah, if you don't have that, that would make running the business a lot harder. A lot harder. And listen, it happens. Not everyone's like besties in running a business. Like, we're just lucky. We're lucky. We have a lot of trust. Yeah, we have a lot of trust. But that doesn't, that's not always the case, right? So and you could still like someone, and you might have been like, I don't want to spend 10 days. In fact, off you go. I would could use a break. Like, yeah, that uh, you know, we uh I think a you and I recognize that this is a special situation and not one that we think we don't is necessary, we don't take for granted or is necessary to run a successful business. That's not what we're saying, but we are very um and we have said it over the years. Works for us, and I think. That we've been able to do what we have had to do with the business as we look at kind of colleagues and other business owners because of the relationship that we have. So now it's like, okay, how do we level up? Like, what do we do next? Like, what's holding us back? So it is quite a beautiful thing. Um, so yeah, we'll have to do it again. Like, this certainly better not be our last trip together. No, no. What did you find the most surprising traveling with you? How quiet you are. I've said this before. You're much more quiet, but you're not in your head. I could tell. Like you're like, I know you enough. It's what you said. We both know one another, so nothing was like surprising. But I was like, I just felt like I was so chatty. I was like blah blah blah blah blah the whole time. I mean, you're just like not saying anything. Huh. So interesting, right? No, okay. So here's the thing. You were probably saying as much as a normal human would. The point is, is the Anne Marie, when you're like going, it's like you're leading the conversation, right? Like you are going. You have questions, you're little. So you were asking that, but you were more in your head over it. It was interesting. Yeah. So I think it's just how you process those things. I know when you talk a little flightier about it, I'm like, doo-doo doo doo doo. Which way do I have to look? Like, I don't, I'm in the experience in the moment. Like, I am like in it, and then it leaves my head. Like, I just I bounce. But you I could see there was a depth to the experience. Yes, I know. We would and I'd be like, so what do you think about blah blah blah? And what we just learned, and you're like, What? What did we learn? Don't don't test me now. Am I having a quiz? But I did remember a lot, and that I know because I was genuinely interested. Like, yeah, wine and food. Of course I'm gonna remember those stats. That's not a problem. I know. Well, we chose topics we weren't. We chose topics we'd be interested in, but yes, that is true. I kind of can be very like in it and then out. Whereas you're still processing at the end, and I'm like, we're over that, we're moving on to the next thing. Yeah, I think I'm still processing. You are, of course. I've stacked a lot of things in that period of time. You also listen, had two weeks before, like yeah. You know, I was coming in at a different like fresh and excited. I was still fresh and excited because each level was a little different. Of course. But how about you? What was most surprising for you? Um before we close this off. My most surprising maybe it was that you were the opposite. You were the chatty, like you and what you like, yeah. And it's interesting to like learn about tolerances, like what you need to feel

Travel Anxiety, Planning Styles, And Wrapping Up

47:12

kind of comfortable, yeah, and what you don't need, and some of them are opposite, yeah. Ours are opposite, which is not surprising. No, that part's not surprising to me. No. Um, I'm a little, I feel like I'm probably more laid back in the travel. Okay, short of the travel thing. Okay, no, but let me write a thing around this. Okay. When it comes to the travel, meaning the actual transportation, high anxiety. 100% you learned that really quick. That I need to do certain things or I'm gonna lose my you know what. Yes. But when it when I land, like I'll tell you, like, I and I do this to a few people I travel. I'm like, my anxiety just went from 100. Okay, we're down to 75, we're down to 55. Like, I can feel it in my body. But once I get there, I'm like, whatever, let's just walk around, let's just sit on a patio. Let's like, I'm just like, once I get there, I'm like my travel laid back self, I way prefer. I'm like much better. But the but the transportation part, I can't get past that. And I wish I could chill about that as I do when I'm actually in my three to four days. Like I'm happiest. And then my anxiety will increase. Like you'll probably note it towards the end because I know other people who've traveled with me, one man in particular, he knows immediately. He's like, Oh, I can just feel it in you. You're vibrating at a level now because I'm I like tomorrow morning, we have to get up and get on. Yes, and so in hindsight, so here's this in we're the reverse. I don't the travel part so chill the travel part. It drives it was fine, but you were very chill in the travel part. And then I have overplanned because I like to plan for all of the options so that when I get to the place, I'm not worried or thinking about what I need to do so I can actually relax. Yes. So I feel I get there and I'm like, okay, I already know what's gonna happen. So I'm I'm my worrying, if you want to call it that, is before I even leave. Yes. The month before I left, like I was because I had documents at all these charts of what I was doing every day. Yes. Um, but then when I'm there though, I don't find I feel like since it's already planned, I can relax. Yes. So I do that as a Yes. So that's awesome I think we jammed well because we were both relatively relaxed when we're on it. Um, like in the actual vacation. But yeah, there's certain things. But I did so that's my surprise. Here's my thing. It's like we moved, right? You flew in, then we took another flight, then we took another train, took another train, took another train, took another flight. So I love that kind of moving. Yeah, I did not realize how like that was gonna cause you stress. Yeah, I well, I knew that because I know that about myself. And listen, I manage it, it's not like I know I totally do it, but maybe I am heightened in those things. So maybe I would have planned less movement. Yeah. The tr thank god it wasn't all flights. I think I would have been at a slightly different trains, actually, I didn't mind. They were pretty good, right? They were good. That was they run so firmly, they're very, very easy to place. I don't mind that. I think it I think that's a good thing. If it was all flights, I think that would have been difficult because it would have just eaten into my day before. So here's the question. If you went on a cruise, since I went on a cruise at the beginning, uh you've unpacked in your, but you have to keep catching that boat at the end of every day. Would that stress? I was fine with that. No, because I've done that. I've done that with two children. That doesn't bother me. If I can control it, we're fine. Like I know I need to get to the boat part. That's easy. I can get there. Um, it's it's flights. Like I've I've just experienced a lot of delays and shit. So that stuff just it's just something I I have yet to learn how to manage. And I get through it. It's just, yeah, I I I've seen a lot of incidents. I think once you do, then you're just, oh, what's gonna happen now? Security's not gonna be as easy. What if there's a delay? I'm like, I like to be there three to four hours in advance. Like, I just that's the shit I need to do. Yeah. But overall, I think that was it. Yeah, you did witness it. Like running down the street, running down the street in the rain to the to the tube on the last day to London, and we're running, and I'm like, oh, this is crazy. Oh my god, she's like, and I'm like look left is on the red, and you're like, no, and I might have I was like, I am going to go, but I might have possibly shouted at my daughter. Yes, well, left turn paid for this, so we're taking the picture. Take the flipping picture. I'm like, I'm not going in that picture. I well, that's the stress part. I'm like, because I always like to, you never know what's gonna happen. You never know. So I'd rather just be there and be sitting in the lounge having a drink than because I that's happened, and then you're like, oh, I didn't expect this. That added 30 minutes here, 20 minutes there. It's like a thing. I just I can't get past it. I try to. It's okay. It's okay. Just keep turning left and eventually. But we managed it together. That is good. I think we we each kind of leaned in, lent whatever, as we needed to. So one took over as the other. It was good. I just think it was it was easy peasy. I look forward to the next trip. Yeah, me too. Fun. So there you go. There's a little recap for anyone. There's a recap if anyone's interested. I don't the first couple of weeks, my weeks were terrific. We don't need to go into them. But they was straight. I've I've come back after a month. I'm still kind of discombobulated because now I'm back to life and I like life, but being on vacation is so much better. Life in Europe is so much better. That's what I said. The biggest thing learning too for Emery is now you know why I flee to the other side of the pond every chance I get. Yeah. That distance is and it's a good reminder for mothers in particular that life does go on when you're not here. Yes. It does. It might not go the way that you would do it, but it goes on, it continues. And physical removal is distance matters. Yeah. Like it really I'm not saying like listen, dude, of course, not you don't have to take a plane to, but there's certain privilege and luxury in that, sure. But if you can do it and you've been thinking about doing it, it just your mindset it it there is something about it. Yeah. That just well, my first one week I went with two girlfriends who I think also struggled to to leave the the confines and responsibilities at home. Yeah, of course. And wholly relaxed everybody was. Yes. So it's just it's it's something we need to fight for more. Yeah, we do. We all have to fight for more. Prioritize as much as we can. That's possible. Yeah. All right, Anne Marie. So this is the kickoff of season three. We next um podcast will have maybe insight into who are some of our next guests will be, but we're looking forward to it. Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Turning left.