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Youtube Shortsleeve Travel with Kat Shortsleeve
Hello, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Short Sleeve Travel podcast. I am your host, Kat Shortsleeve. Short Sleeve Travel is your compass, pointing you to experiences that are elevated and luxury, all while on a budget. We are here to redefine luxury travel and help you fill in your life with as much travel as you desire. If you are watching this on YouTube, you will notice I am in a new location today. I am in Brooklyn, New York. And if you're listening to this, wherever you get your podcasts, I recommend check out my YouTube channel and you can see this gorgeous apartment. So to give you a little bit of an overview of what this place is like, because it's actually the apartment of my dreams. It has 12. No, I actually want to say 20 foot ceilings. Who knows? I need to check, but they are extremely high ceilings. It's a lofted industrial apartment with exposed brick, these beautiful floors, and it's huge. Having a place this big in New York city is. actually unfathomable and I'm doing a little bit of a staycation here. So I have lived in New York City for the past two years but I have lived in the West Village as well as in the Upper West Side and both of those places you cannot get an apartment that is A lot bigger than a shoe box. And so it's nice to do a little staycation and come over here. It's a great place where I can just work and spread out I haven't done too many staycations, but one of the first times that I did was during COVID and I realized it's such a nice thing to be able to do, but at the same time, So many of my friends that work in sustainability would absolutely love if I would promote this and talk about this a bit more because it's sometimes even more relaxing to have a staycation where you just go somewhere else in your own city or in your own state. Because you don't have all the expense of the travel, you don't lose all that time where you're traveling and you can feel like you're just so far away from home. And so while I'm only a few miles from where my apartment actually is right now, I feel as though being here and being in this new space just is helping me to be more creative and helping me to relax and just get into my work a little bit deeper. And so I'm only here for the next three days but it's going to be so nice just to enjoy this space and explore the neighborhood over here and get to know Williamsburg a little bit more because I have not given Williamsburg or Brooklyn enough of a chance. I've stuck a lot to the West Side and New York, there's just so much to offer, so I need to get out and explore a lot more like this. I think it'd be fun to do another staycation maybe Upper East Side at some point or even farther out on Long Island. But this will be the first of many. This morning I went on a run through Williamsburg and through Greenpoint and I love to run in the city because Actually in any city that I'm visiting because it helps me to kind of get my surroundings, get me oriented and I can see so much so quickly. And I think the same about biking except I can't bring my bike everywhere with me wherever I go. And so running is an easy way to do that something I'm excited to do while I'm here in Williamsburg is go to a bunch of the different vintage shops. So I'm staying in East Williamsburg and there are so many vintage shops right around me. Let me tell you some of the names of them. So I'm going to go check out Friends NYC, Beacon's Closet. That's a chain where a lot of people do go and there are a bunch of those all over the city. I'm going to go to Urban Jungle and then Lipoint Value Thrift. These are all within just a few blocks of each other and then I do have this really famous coffee shop blocked off of my map that I want to go to. It's called say S E Y and these are all within a few blocks. I'm just going to go check it out. So I will let you know what I find. I'm looking for maybe a long black trench because I'm going to Berlin soon. And I think that could be a great little vibe. Okay. But anyways, we are not here to discuss New York city. We are actually here to discuss a great trip that I have planned and have upcoming to South America. What I'm really looking for now, and I think other people are really looking for this too, is an increased level of adventure and activity. Rather than just going to a European city and walking around, going to nice dinners, maybe you go to have some cocktails, you go see the top ten sites, you go see some history, learn some history, take a walking tour. That's one experience. Whereas other experiences that I've had, skiing in Japan or hiking through The Amazon rainforest by myself, but also by myself, yes, but with these Beijing scientists or going horseback riding through Columbia, or even when I'm up in Maine during the summertime with my family and there's no service and we're just swimming and on the boat and going to different islands. It's those raw adventure. Experiences that I really love. Oh, one of my favorite things is going to Greece and taking a Vespa and driving all around and cliff jumping. These are absolutely amazing experiences and oftentimes they're going to be less expensive than going to nice restaurants in a beautiful city. And so I want to do much more of those things and I notice other people do too. So what I'm looking for is more adventure, multi sport things. I want to go horseback riding, I want to go camping, I want to go hiking, I want to go cross country skiing. I love all of those things, and if there are trips where I'm able to combine a bunch of them, rather than, I don't want to go horseback riding for eight days on end, but do a couple days of each activity, and go biking, go mountain biking, go snowshoeing, just have some intense experiences and do it with other people. Because I don't want to do it alone. My family does not want to do this with me. And a lot of times, our friends don't have the same time off that we have. And so I'm looking to create a community of other people, like minded people who want to get out there, have some crazy adventures, and don't want to break the bank while doing it. And I've also realized the magnitude of getting groups together. So if you have 12 people or 10 people, 8 people going to do this experience all together, you can do it for much less money and it can be a lot cheaper than if you try to do it just with one other person. So the magnitude of getting groups together, kind of pooling funds and creating experiences that way. So for example, the reason why it's less expensive to go with eight people is because the cost of the guide, let's say it's a thousand dollars a week to have a guide with you or more, that entire cost is going to be on one to two people. Whereas if you have a larger group, then it's only going to It's going to be smaller amounts, 150 maybe per person to have a guide, a local guide and expert with you to take you and do these incredible things. So that is my goal to bring these groups together. But to back up a little bit, I want to tell you how I got here, and I guess here is to the point where I'm planning a trip to South America so I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time traveling throughout the U. S. and traveling through Europe, and I'm very comfortable traveling in both of those spaces. I'm able to travel on my own quite a bit, and just earlier this year I booked a one way ticket to Norway, and I just had the flight to go there and no plans once I arrived. So I landed in the morning because I took a red eye, which is my favorite way to get to Europe because you just sleep overnight and arrive for the next day. I woke up As we landed in Norway and I just went on my phone and looked for where's the downtown and which hostel do I want to book or which hotel do I want to book. Actually, I think I ended up staying in an Airbnb. But anyways, then I just hop on the local transportation, take the train, the commuter train really from the airport to go downtown and go find my Airbnb. And I'm very comfortable doing those types of things. But I noticed that I probably would not book a one way flight to Lima, Peru. And... upon arrival, just book a hotel once I got there. And I kind of feel a little bit lame because I pride myself on being a great traveler. I feel a little bit lame that I don't feel as though I'm able to do that. And I started to think about why that might be the case. Because I just have more exposure to Europe and I've gone there more times, I guess I'm more comfortable going on my own. But then again, earlier this year I also did go to South America on my own. I went to Ecuador and I was going through the Amazon rainforest. But, all of that was completely planned out all the activities were very organized, and I had a local guide with me the entire time. So yes, I went on my own, I was staying on my own, a lot of free time by myself, and I had to get there by myself, and things like that. But I was very much so taken care of, meals were taken care of. And, so then I started to think further about, you know, why wouldn't I just buy a flight and go to Rio? And I think there are a few reasons that make South America just slightly different, in my opinion, first of all, I think it comes down to infrastructure and transportation. There just seems to be so much more built in infrastructure for tourism and for moving around throughout Europe than there is in South America. The train system that connects Europe it's a massive web and everything's very connected to each other. It's easy to move between these major cities. They're not too far away from each other. And so that's another difference. South America is much more spread out and to go from one side of South America to the other just is, it requires a lot more planning, more money. And you can't just hop on a train and go. Even for example, right now I'm trying to figure out how to go from Rio all the way over to Cusco. So Rio, Brazil over to Cusco, Peru. And it's a really long travel day. It's going to be an entire day. I think about 9 hours. Two different flights. Whereas in Europe, if you're trying to go from Germany to France, you can just hop on a train. Or even if you want to go from the top of... You're up all the way down to the bottom, whereas you're going from, let's say, Copenhagen all the way down to Italy, you can still go by train, or you can hop on a Ryanair flight, and it'll cost you about 20 bucks. Okay, maybe not 20 bucks. Maybe about a hundred bucks, but still. So that's one piece of it. I think the second piece is more of a language barrier, so... You can often find English wherever you are in Europe, it's not very difficult. And if you make a little bit of effort to speak the local language, have some local language greetings when you're in Europe, you're going to be just fine. Whereas in South America, you kind of do need to know a bit more of the language I've found, and from my experience, or be with someone who does know the local language. So, I speak a little bit of Spanish, but I'm not fluent in Spanish, I'm not fluent in Portuguese, and so, it just requires more planning. And more thoughtfulness about where you're staying, I think. My dad's biggest concern is always safety, and so I think there are slightly elevated safety concerns when you're in South America. I'm skeptical to say that because I think that South America is simply uncharted for me and uncharted for my family. No one in my family has ever been there. Um, and I don't think there's an excuse. I think it's a perceived level of comfort. And while something might be just a little bit more difficult or unchartered, there's no reason not to go try to explore it and do it in a very safe way. So that was step one, realizing that I really wanted to get to know South America more and there are so many beautiful places, beautiful countries there that I need to explore and now I really want to explain to you this incredible trip that I have up coming into Peru. So the dates are April 7th to April 14th. It is eight days and seven nights. And at the end, I'm going to talk about the cost. So stay tuned for that. I've been working on this itinerary for a long time, perfecting it and making it absolutely perfect for our group, and so I'm so excited to share it with you. I want to just read this little overview of what the trip is going to be like to you, and then I'll get into some more of the details of each and every day. So this is a custom trip that I built with the collaboration of this other company, and it is called the Laris Trek with Short Sleeve Travel. So let me read this description. The Laras Trek is one of the most popular alternative treks to the classic Inca Trail in Peru, offering a fantastic hike through magical landscapes and an in depth look at the local life in this Andean region. You'll have the chance to soak up the magic of Cusco before setting off for the Valley of Laras, where the trek begins. On this four day Lara's Trek that takes you deep into the heart of the Andes with your professional guides to a remote landscape of towering mountains, shimmering mountain lakes, and staggering views, you'll spend the first two days on horseback and the third and fourth days on foot or hiking. You'll also experience the living traditions of the local people as you pass through ancient villages of agricultural and alpaca farmlands, meeting friendly people who will Be happy to share their culture with you. And then of course, onto your final destination, Machu Picchu. You'll arrive there on day four and we'll have plenty of time to explore this magnificent Inca citadel, one of the seven new wonders of the world. To top off this epic adventure, you'll hop on two wheels to explore the wonders of Maras and Moray by bike on day seven, before returning to Cusco for your final overnight and farewell celebration. So let's get into the nitty gritty a little bit more, but also what I do want to say is there are seven nights, two of which will be spent camping in the gorgeous mountains, which I'm so excited for. Like I said, that is not something I could do on my own, I could not do with my family, could not do it with any of my friends really, so I'm excited for that. But then the other five nights, we are spending four of which in one hotel and one of which in another. Both of these hotels are four stars, very beautiful, Gorgeous, very Instagram worthy. Um, and one of the hotels has a hot tub on the roof overlooking the city. So I'm so excited to go there. Okay. So day one arrival in colorful Cusco. When you land at the airport we will have transportation for you. They will take you right downtown to the hotel. So You don't have to worry about a thing, we will have a welcome meeting that day that will be organized by our guide for our group, which will give us a brief outline of the next week ahead. That day can be spent exploring Cusco, which is the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, set in the Andes Mountains. We'll discover Spanish churches and mansions that sit alongside Inca remains and enjoy the vibrant nightlife of Cusco. Or, we can dine on classic Peruvian cuisines, and in my opinion, why not both? Also, I want to note that the airport and the hotel are only 20 minutes from each other, so it's not too far. Okay, on to day two, we are going to get to know Cusco. So breakfast is included this day as it is every single day, and we can have a free day to explore Cusco and just get used to the altitude. There is so much history in Cusco. There are a bunch of markets and I think it'd be a great time to go take a walking tour. There are a bunch of free walking tours of the city and just have some good food and kind of rest up before the next adventures ahead. Okay, day three. This is when we begin on horseback. So we will be picked up early in the morning at 5am in Cusco and then it's off to Calca. It's a one hour bus ride to this small town in the Sacred Valley. So again, this is such a unique experience to be able to kind of go off the grid, do something super remote and not just go to Cusco and not just go to Machu Picchu, Machu Picchu and go to Lima. Actually just get out there in nature and that's really what I'm looking for. So we will stop in Calca for a little bit and after that we will drive for about three hours in the direction of Lares. This is going to be the alpaca region so it'll be tons of rolling hills, farmland, and native people. We will then descend into the valley of Lares where we'll reach a small town and we can make the most of the local hot springs which are famous in the Cusco region. These are healing hot springs and There are tons of myths and legends about these things if you believe them, and I'm definitely going to lean in. We will have lunch in Lara's, and then we'll get ready to begin the trek. We have specialized chefs on our trek who not only produce the most delicious food, but they use locally sourced ingredients from nearby villages, so that we can directly contribute to the area where this trek takes place. From Lara's, we will saddle up and head off on horseback towards this town called Huahuasca, a colorful little town of adobe houses and roaming llamas. We will ride there. And we will enjoy dinner and camp for the night. Huwakawasi is a traditional weaving community and so we'll be able to spend some time watching the weavers at work and we might even get to go at it ourselves. So this day we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner included, and we will be riding for three hours. Okay, on to day four. Another early start with a hearty breakfast so we get our energy levels up for probably what will be the toughest day of the trek. We have a steep uphill climb on horseback to a mountain pass. And this will be the highest point on our Laris Trek. Gorgeous views, I'm so excited for this. You'll look out around the surrounding mountains and down at the beautiful lake below. We will actually head straight down to the lake and then our horses can grab a quick drink there and we'll pass on through some conservation areas. all while learning about the area along the ride. There are many different rare bird species, which our guides will be able to tell us about in this area. And then we'll have lunch on one of the banks of the pretty lakes. After lunch, our group will continue downhill until reaching the village of Montenay, our second campsite. Here we will be able to interact with the local villagers again and see how they live their lives in these remote areas. Such a unique experience, I'm so excited. In Montenay, we will have a tasty dinner and then head to bed because we're probably going to be exhausted from this day of five to six hours of riding. And again, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all included. Heading into day five, this will be a relatively easy day on foot because we will be trekking for four to five hours. We will leave Montenay after breakfast and head towards the pretty colonial town of Yonahurara. We'll pass through some spectacular scenery where the Incas once roamed, and the weather should be a bit warmer here because we're descending down through some of the White Corn Valley region. We will have our last meal together with the trekking team, and at this point, the cooks and the porters will leave our group in the hands of our guide. This marks the end of the Larus Trek. From here, the group will travel by minibus to the wonderful Inca archaeological site called Olay Tempu. I'm sure I'm pronouncing this incorrectly, but this is one of the most famous ruins in the Cusco region. After exploring these extensive ruins, we'll take the train to Aguas Calientes, where we will have dinner at a local restaurant and spend the night in a hotel not far from our final destination, which is the magnificent Citadel. Again, today we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner included, and we will have 4 to 5 hours of hiking. It'll probably be more like 4 hours. On to Day 6. We will get up early in the morning so that we can get to the Citadel in good time. We will have breakfast first, and then our guide will pick us up from the hotel around 5. 40 in the morning. We will walk to the bus departure point. and it'll be a zigzagging ascent up the road to Machu Picchu. We pass through the gates into Machu Picchu archaeological site and we'll begin our guided walking tour with a very experienced and highly knowledgeable guide. Our tour of Machu Picchu will last about two hours and will take us to the most famous and most spectacular parts of the extensive archaeological complex. You can check the website and It'll show you all of the different sites that we'll see in Machu Picchu as well as this detailed itinerary. But as we walk around there will be so many sites for us to see and it's so special to have a guide with you to explain everything and just make it that much more meaningful. After the guided tour, we'll have some time to explore on our own and what I'll want to do is walk to some of the less explored and less visited parts of Machu Picchu such as the Inca Bridge. So if anyone wants to come with me, please do. Day seven, this is going to be our Maras and More tour. So this will be the biking tour. Okay, so much adventure. I think everyone's going home absolutely exhausted, but I love that. So the biking tour will begin and we will be picked up from our hotel in Cusco at around 730 in the morning. We will drive to this little town and we'll have the chance to visit there briefly before getting on our bikes and setting off. After an hour and a half of biking, we will reach Moray, which we will have plenty of time to explore, and then we'll cycle onwards to Maras. This is where there are 38 colonial doors, which is a very artisan local town. We will learn how to prepare some chicha, the local fermented corn brew, and around 1pm we will enjoy a boxed lunch and then set on towards the salt evaporation ponds where the group can take in this miraculous landscape and we will also learn a little bit about the salt evaporation process. After we soak up the sights, we will cycle on to this gorgeous bridge where the bike tour ends around 3 p. m. After lunch, it's time to jump back onto the vehicle. We have a bus, and that will take us back to Cusco for the final night of the tour. Our guide will also be more than happy to help us organize a special farewell dinner that will be at one of Cusco's top restaurants, if we'd like. And then the next day, after breakfast, again, that's included, everyone will be given some transportation back to the airport, and... Again, just a 20 minute ride onto the airport. So that is going to be our epic trip to Peru and I am so excited to get this organized. Like I said, minimum 6 people, maximum 12. I already have a handful of people who have heard about this through my social media and have reached out to me and I'm so excited to organize it. So I will provide the link for you on my website. To all the information about this trip and on there, you'll be able to see what is included, what is not included, but overall the price for this trip is just under 2, 000. And that includes all the accommodation, all the meals, our guides, everything that I've talked about, except some things that aren't included, of course, our visas, your flight to actually arrive in Peru, gratuities, if you buy yourself some little souvenir things. And a couple other things. So check out the website. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I am thrilled. I cannot wait for this. And I hope that you join. Thank you all for listening and thank you for hanging out with me. I really appreciate all of you who do come listen each and every week. And if you enjoyed this, please subscribe to the Short Sleeve Travel Podcast. Of course, new episodes coming out each and every week. You can follow me on any platform, whether it's Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat. Kat, K A T, Shortsleeve, if you want to see what I'm up to. And you can also find my website linked on all of those different platforms. Please reach out to me, email me at katshortsleeve at gmail. com. Can't wait for next episode. Thank you all and cheers.