S01E01 with Nina Miles on world travel, organizing her business, letting go of vases and more...

In this episode, I chat with Nina Miles about lifelong friendships - including ours - we met when we were only seven years old! Nina has amazing energy which I know you're going to love. She shares how she has manifested all her life (even before we called it that!) She shares some of her ideas for creating your best life. She's been married to her wonderful husband for forty-three years and they have a  beautiful family together. Nina is an avid world traveler and the CEO of Miles To Travel - a luxury travel boutique. She curates amazing honeymoons, vacations, and adventures for her clients. Nina travels a lot and she has designed a way to take ONLY a carry-on for a two-week trip! She shares her travel-organizing secrets, so STAY TUNED...

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Transcript

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Hi, I'm Lauren Pearl, and welcome to Let's Unpack It, where we talk about physical, mental, and emotional clutter. It's easy to see physical clutter, not so easy to see the mental and emotional clutter that we have. Packed away, but we can feel it and it's a heavy load to carry. Want to talk about how you can become aware of what you've packed away? How to let go of it to find your calm, joy, productivity, organization, and a lot more. I'm a huge fan of organizing. I started organizing when I was about six years old. I loved putting my books in descending height order. It was very calming for me. Growing up in a chaotic home that wasn't calm at all, organizing felt good to me and I came to turn it into a business. Fifteen years ago I founded Pearl Concierge Services and I have since helped hundreds of clients, primarily female clients. To get unpacked, to get decluttered and organized. So there's so many interesting conversations that we're going to be having. And I really look forward to you sharing in all of it. So let's unpack it. I am so excited to be speaking with Nina Miles today. Nina is an amazing person. She is an avid world traveler. I think she's been just about everywhere and she took her passion and her interest and she turned it into an amazing business. So she is. CEO of miles to travel, which is a luxury travel boutique. And Nina curates the most exceptional and exclusive experiences for her clients. She meticulously plans every detail of her client's journey, being sure that she listens and understands her client's preferences and interests and desires so that she can tailor each itinerary to their specific needs. Nina believes in the transformative power of travel, and so she inspires others to embrace new cultures and diverse experiences and create lasting connections all over the world. So, not only does she Help her clients to create lasting connections all over the world. She also has some beautiful connections right here at home with a 43 year marriage to her, her wonderful husband, her beautiful family. And I'm going to throw myself in there because Nina and I have had a friendship that started when we were. Seven years old and it's still going strong. So I can't wait to say hi to Nina Miles. Very first episode and I'm honored to have my very first guest, Nina Miles. Good morning, Nina. Good morning, Lauren. Thank you for having me on your very first podcast. I feel honored myself. My pleasure. You are a very busy woman. So thank you for making the time. I appreciate it. I will always have time for you, as you have had for me. Thank you. There are so many reasons why I'm so excited to have you as my first guest. You are my oldest friend. And by that, I mean, I want to be very clear, very clear, please. I'm very clear. You are vastly younger than me. I am. It's a world of difference, my darling. Three weeks is a world of difference. It is a world of difference. I go into it. I test it out. I let you know it's good. Come along. That's why we've been friends since seven years old. That's why. You also are the person who referred me to my very first client for Pearl Concierge Services. Yeah. Did I? Yeah, you did. Yes. The person I was driving. I was driving him because he wasn't able to drive. And he was my very first client. We had the most amazing conversations and his wife needed assistance because she had surgery. So I assisted her post op, and then my business grew and morphed and changed. But you gave me my very first client. So thank you for that. Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. And I know that they loved you. Oh, I loved it. She was a kick. He was a kick too. She's, I believe, 92 or 94. I think 92. And she's still a kick. Yeah, I'm sure. Very feisty. Lots of energy. So speaking of energy, you little missy, you have the most amazing energy and you've always had it. And it's, it's something that just, uh, you know, attracted me to you for all these years. You're inspirational and you know, a million people and a million people love you and want to be around you. Everybody wants to be around you because of your energy, such success in your life, really in everything. Your beautiful long marriage. How old were you when you got married? I did have a driver's license. I actually got married a couple of months after I turned 21. A very, very long, right? How many years? August 17th will be 43 years. Yeah. And the most beautiful family, the presence of you to know at such a young age, I didn't make that decision lightly. I thought about it. I thought about that. I actually went down to the beach with the yellow pad and Ellen asked me to marry him a few times. And I said, no, I'm too young. I'm too young. And that all in my mind was that I was too young. Yeah. I went down to the beach with the yellow pad and I put a line through it and I went pros and cons and the pros so far outweighed. The cons which were age and at the time, no money. And that was about it because I had this wonderful human being. And I said, so I'm young. What if I wait and say, no, I really need another 10 years. And there's not another human being like him. And so I said, yeah, I'm doing it 21. I'm doing it. And it was the best decision I ever made. Cause he's an angel. Yes. I adore him. Yes. A very special guy. I love him too. And you have a beautiful family, beautiful children and grandchildren. And you are an amazing entrepreneur. You are such a manifester. You are a world traveler. You've had several successful businesses that you have built. From Scratch, your CEO of Miles to Travel, where you plan, and I've actually heard you planning these amazing luxury experiences and vacations for people, yachting in the Mediterranean, and wine tours in Tuscany, and African safaris. I love. what you do. Everybody wants some travel tips, which we'll get to, but first let's go back. Do you want to tell the story of how we met? Lauren and I met in first grade, second grade, second grade. Are we seven in second grade? Seven. Back then there was, um, a room monitor and that day I was the room monitor and over the loudspeaker come booming through is, could you please send your room monitor down to the office? I was the room monitor. So I went. Of course you were. Yeah, right. I was thrilled to get out of the room for a few minutes. And I walk in. Right. Right. Right. And there's my Lauren Pearl. And they said, Lauren is new to the school and we would like you to show her around and be her companion. And I took that to heart because I have never given that up and I never would. Just like I picked the right husband, I picked the right friend. And somehow we figured that out way back when and have watched our lives. Children. I know. Marriages. Deaths. We've been through it all. Yeah, we really have a lot. Look what I found. Oh my gosh. Stop. Yeah. So wait a second. Oh my gosh. I need you to send that. Nina. You look exactly the same. That is Nina. The little ball of energy. Oh my gosh. That is so funny. That is me. I see you. Oh, look how cute you are with your haircut. I know. Wilbur Avenue School, Tarzana, California, April 1967. Mrs. Tomashoff. Tomashoff. People ask me because in my business, I help people to let go and declutter and say goodbye to things. People say to me, are you a minimalist? You know, is your house like a museum? No and no. You know, I'm a very sentimental person. I don't keep everything for sure, but some things I keep. So I also have a stack of cards that you've given me over the years that say happy birthday to, from your much younger friends. I have to keep those. I would buy sometimes a card a year in advance, because as long as it's sent to my older friend or your much younger friend, it was coming home with me. And speaking of being sentimental, I also have a card that your wonderful mommy. gave me when I was little to my pearl of a girl. I adore her. And that's what we called her today. We don't think of Lauren without saying pearl of a girl. My mom refers to her still pearl of a girl. That's why I'm wearing my pearls today. Ah, we're having a pearl fest. So, so tell me what it was like you're growing up your childhood. I am the second oldest of six kids. And as Lauren said, She, she thinks I have a lot of energy, which I guess I do kind of go, go, go. I'm not good at sitting still, but that would describe my entire family. It was the most fun growing up with six loud kids around a dinner table. We always sat down to have dinner together. It was a time we would all talk and it was. Very intimidating for other people because we were so loud and everybody was talking and there was so much conversation going on that they would, they would just like, what am I, what did I just get into? And we would say, If you're sitting at our dinner table, you have to participate in conversation. And it was just a lot of fun. We shared rooms growing up two, two, two. And until we got into our teens and everyone got my mom's little art studio, we were really fortunate to grow up with a really positive, outgoing. Mom, my dad was from an abusive home and he was completely the opposite. He was calm. He was gentle. I think he chose my mom because of her. And so he comes in and has six loud kids. It was just a lot of commotion all the time, but all in love. And we're very lucky to be able to say we're all. Friends, not just siblings. We all really enjoy each other's company. We're so grateful to have had that. I think that was the way our parents guided us and loved us. And, and you do have, you know, Rogue personalities. But in general, we were really lucky to grow up in a very positive environment. I always loved coming to your house because the energy and the commotion feels like there was always something going on. There was something going on and it was, um, Even sharing a room with my sister and the times we'd get in a fight, we would talk constantly until we fell asleep. We were fighting. Right. We, one of us, we had books we'd put down the middle of our room. And you're not allowed to come on my side of the room and you're not allowed to come on my side of the room. Well, I have the door to get out and go to a different bathroom. I did that with my sister, but I don't think, but I didn't stick with it as long. Cause there was three of us. So it was me, my sister, my brother. I somehow was able to convince my sister and brother that they should share a room. So I have my own room. You do. I would love to hear about your travel business. How did you get started? What brought you to that? My husband and I had a legal recruiting firm for many years. A high end boutique. Just worked with lawyers, mergers, and partners. A great business. We loved it. We loved having our own business. Very successful. You just created it. We did. We did. I remember sitting at the dinner table, you know, uh, I had done recruiting for another industry. My husband, he was transitioning out of a music business. And I said, I think you'd be really good at this. And I introduced him to a legal recruiting firm and he worked for a little bit for them. And then we both said. Let's do our own thing. But I remember sitting at the dinner table and Alan said, you know, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to be working all the time. I'm not going to be able to sit down to dinners like this and, and be the baseball coach. And I said, no, that's completely wrong. That's not how we're running our business. I said, if this is our business, we make our own decisions. So we're going to end at a certain time in the evening. And you're going to have dinner with your family and you are still going to be the. And that's how we're going to create our business. And that's exactly what happened. We just, so I guess when you'd say manifesting, I don't know, I just knew I wasn't going to put up with certain things. I'm not going to have an absent father, right? So we did that and it was the best thing ever. My daughter. Was a gymnast and she would be in the gym sometimes. So nine o'clock at night, but guess what? We all sat down at nine o'clock at night and ate dinner then, because they just wanted us all at least that time together. So having our own business was the best decision we ever made. And we did not fall into the trap of that's consumes our life. I always traveled. I love traveling. I tried using luxury travel advisor and they just. Without knowing anything about me, created a trip, and it was so not me. They had me in these fancy hotels that were not me. I love a fancy hotel, ladies and gentlemen. Don't get me wrong, but at the time to not get her wrong. At the time it was, yeah, it was not me at the time, and nor did I have that kind of money. It was an eye-opener. She did not ask me anything about me. She did not understand me. My personality, what I wanted, she just did what was her agenda. So I remembered that. And I always did my own thing after that. And then my daughter was on an airplane coming back. She had volunteered for a surgical mission mission, um, in Guatemala. And there's a gentleman sing across the aisle from her. They started talking. Of course, he's going to flirt with a cute girl. I mean, they started talking and they They talked the entire flight home. He says, you're going to come into the travel business with me. And she said, no, I'm on my way to New York. She was accepted at what's that little school, uh, Columbia. I was accepted for her graduate degree. That one. Yeah. It slipped my mind. And she's like, no, I'm off. I'm leaving for New York. And he said, um. Nah, that's not you. You're going to come be a travel agent with me. He says, I promise. And she says, yeah, whatever. And he gave her a card and that was that she goes to Columbia. It was so not her. So she called him and she said, you know, if I'm going to do it, I'm bringing my mom in who loves to travel. So we met for lunch. And that was the start of my career. Carly and I became partners. We had very little education at the time in the area, but a lot of mentoring. And I said, You know, car, if we're going to do this, we're going all in. I'm not going to do what this other woman did to me years ago. It's stuck in my head. Right. All in or nothing. That's how you live your life. Which is, uh, you know what I'm saying? You're all in. You just, your heart goes in, your energy goes in. You see it. I believe in manifestation. I believe that we create positive and negative based on how we're feeling. I can give you a silly, funny example. Yeah, totally off topic. Yesterday I went with my girlfriend to go gamble together, only for a few hours, once or twice a year. It's fun. She lives paycheck to paycheck. And so she, it's a lot for her to even take a little bit of money aside and gamble with it. So, but it's just our fun and we laugh and it's just a date for us. In the past, she's. Lost her money and it's been very upsetting for her. And it was, she always goes in going, I really need to win. I really need to win. Cause she really wanted to, she had a good fortune of somebody leaving her some money. She feels more comfortable. So now switch of attitude, she comes in thinking I can lose this money and it's fine. Now I'm just going to enjoy my day. One, one big, she won. Attitude shift was, I'm going to have fun. I know this sounds so silly, but I do believe if you approach with anger, if you approach, it's comes back or you can't break through. But if you go from joyous, even if it's forced. If you go and try with joy, it just changes. Yeah. I think it just changes everything outcome. Like it actually didn't matter. She was there. Cause it exactly feel good. It was funny. Cause we did have this conversation. We actually sat down and had that conversation about her energy shift. And it, you know, It goes to anything. So it's ironic that we're talking this morning and I just had that kind of a conversation. Energy shifting. One of the things that I love in my work is helping people to have that energy shift because, um, when people are cluttered and packed up in heads and in minds, it blocks the energy flow. When I help them and get them unpacked in their mind, And then decluttered in their homes. First of all, they say I can breathe again, which is nice, right? I love that. Our weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Or it may be my friend, but I've actually hired you and insisted it was a hiring because I needed the help. I love what I do. I'm. Very good at what I do. And that the, the two things, you know, and I'll get back to your helping me, but the two things that I, as I was listening to you is the interesting thing about both of our careers is. The joy we feel when we see what we've done for a client. And when you have cleared out their space and given them breathing room again, that is a joy to you. It's not a job. It's, I made an impact on that person's life. As I do when they come back from a trip, I just got a text from my clients that brought her granddaughter to London and she keeps texting me after every day to tell me about her day. I'm loving that she's having this time together and having such a wonderful, um, you know, experience and we give that to them. But you have come into my house because I'm not a hoarder, but I don't make the time to clean my space. I don't take the, I'm not, and I'm not a shopper. So I have stuff from forever and you add into the closet and you add it, but do you take out what you're not wearing? It was so cumbersome and so heavy weighing on me that I said, I need you, you need to come to me and work your magic. There's so many things I do on a daily basis that I channel you. It just, you know, a simple thing of when I pull up, bring the mail in. Make a decision right there, open it up and make a decision, don't throw it on the counter and decide later or just say, Oh, that maybe I'll read that magazine later, or, you know, so there's, that has changed. It's 180, it's the opposite now, I bring it in, I look at it, I shred it, I throw it away, I got a new shredder. I'm like, no, make decisions. And that has been such. A tremendous help. And it's what you said, it's free, it's free, right? Oh, I'm so happy and not hold on to things. I thought I should, I'll give you an example. Okay. Please. You went into the closet lore and you must've had 25 vases, maybe four. Yeah. She took every one of them on the floor floor and said, you can pick one of each style. You do not need all of these. I was looking at my vases. I'm going, I'm never going to use that. It was so fun, but I wouldn't have done that on my own. I put everything in boxes and what I wasn't going to take, I, I gave away and it was, Oh, you mean. I could part with those things because I still have a half a dozen. How many times do I need them? That's just one of many examples that stick in my head. And I still go through things, but not to the extent that Pearl does. So I continue to need. You had mentioned the other day, a couple of examples of where you helped clients to, um, get unpacked. I was telling Lauren, there's two experiences that, um, come up. I had a family, a multi gen, the sisters, their kids, and even some of their kids. I think there were maybe 10 of them or so. And their mother was from Montenegro, just outside of Croatia. Their whole life. The mom had been saying, I want to take you to see my family. I want to take you to see where I was from. I want to tell you about my life. They said it was a recurring conversation they would have. Right. They never made it. Mom passed away and they referred to me and they said, you know, we, we want to do, we want to go back with, they were all left a little money. And they said, we think that the best thing we could do with this is to visit mom's country. Wow. And do what she always dreamed. I just, I just, I got chills. I know. Oh my gosh, I need to make this. So it's such a special moment for them. I need to make sure I get this right, because, you know, this was obviously it was emotional, but at the same time, you know, it was a life they're fulfilling a lifelong dream. I was able to. Find out from their pastor locally where the church her mom used to attend and where her family lives. So I was able to get a private guide that, uh, took them both to the church and then to their family that still lives there. Speak no English. So the guides did the translation and they had this. magical moment of feeling this is what mom wanted us to do and that she was in the room with them. They said it was just the most incredible experience and it was emotional and they knew they had to do it but they to have it come out the way it did and to have them have that time even though it wasn't with their mom it was just really special but it was a lot for them and I knew I had to deal delicately with you know everyone's emotions and and So make the fun as well, not to be heavy. Did a lot of sightseeing as well. Don't worry. They started off with having so much in their heads and in their hearts about this situation. I'm sure it was, you know, hard, very hard to, to actually press like the go button and say, yes, we're actually going. Cause they weren't going the way their mom wanted it to be. And so you were able to help them get past that. Took a lot of conversation, a lot of listening and understanding and, you know, I'll give you another example that and then I'll tie it in because at the end it does take. Walking somebody through to understand, you know, the other side. And I have a mom taking her son to Africa. They are leaving in a couple of weeks and a lifelong dream for her. And, um, one of my favorite, favorite places to take people is, is Africa. Yeah. So we, we sat down and you know, I, for anyone that's gone, you have, most people will either do South Africa or they'll do East Africa. Right, depending on what personal priorities are. We've sat down and had An hour and a half conversation about what their expectations were. What is it that they want out of Africa? What are they about? What are they like? And we concluded East Africa was best for them. They were, we want authentic. We want to be with tribesmen. We want to see some migration. East Africa was the right choice for them. So once East Africa, she said, you know, it's always been a dream of mine to go gorilla tracking. And we said, you're in East Africa. That's exactly where we can make it happen. We start you in Uganda and you go gorilla tracking, and then we get you over to start your safari. She got super excited. She's like, Oh my gosh, that's been a dream of mine. We have this beautiful itinerary together. And all of a sudden she says, Oh my God. I don't think I could do it. You don't understand. I'm in my 60s. I'm not in great shape. I'm a little heavy. You can't tell because I'm sitting. I'm heavy. I don't think I could do it. What am I doing? I You can't tell because I'm sitting. She seriously. Yeah. She was just. You know, panicked. I walked her through and I said, yes, you can do this. This is a dream. Let's forget about what you may think you're going to experience because you don't know if it's going to be difficult to not or not. Right, right. But you can do it and you will do it and you're imagining and putting a block in before you're even trying. Why don't you instead imagine the feeling after? And you've been to Africa so you know. I'm hyperventilating because I want to go back so badly. My dad and I went to Tanzania on a tour and during the great migration we saw gazillion animals and we stayed in these tents that were like out of the movie out of Africa. It's unbelievably special. I mean, yeah, the people and the animals and the, the food and it's like no place on earth. So if you have not been, and you want to go on an amazing trip, I suggest you contact Nina Miles. I don't think people realize how special and what that, uh, the emotional part of that experience. And what happened? So I'm sure I'm still walking her off the ledge right now and she leaves in two, but she's very, very excited, but I'm more excited to hear about when she's back from gorilla trekking and to know she's accomplished it. And to hear that the joy, cause I already know it's coming. That's a given to go in with that. What if I can't do it is, um, it's unfortunate. I'm working on that and I'm sure you experienced that when someone said, I can't let that go. I can't possibly get rid of that. People block themselves. I work with people. They're often very depressed, down, panicked and overwhelmed. Their energy is very blocked for, so it is a lot of talking. I am not a therapist. I studied psychology in school. I am not a therapist. I'm not trying to therapize anybody. But having said that, we, I do spend a lot of time as you do talking to my clients because there's a history to everything, right? And even though I actually loved Marie Kondo's book, the one thing that became her like huge tagline is, if it sparks joy, keep it. With all due respect, I totally disagree. Because a lot of things spark joy for people, but what people don't realize is the greater joy that they're going to have when they let some of it go. Like you and your vases. I love vases too. I love vases, but there's something to be said. We love flowers, right? So love arranging flowers, but you let go and you have no idea. Like you say goodbye to this joy and then you get like exponential joy. Cause you have space and freedom. I think that people don't realize that or they, that part of the mentality and what I've done and you've. Share. You've helped me with this as well as you got joy out of that piece of clothing, that piece of furniture, whatever, fill in the blank, right? It's not working for you now. You don't need to hold onto it and somebody else will have joy from that. I've parted with some amazing dish sets that I thought, Oh, I have to have, I'm never going to use them. Right. But they belong to my grandma. I'm never going to use them and no one in my family was going to use them. I'm like, okay, okay. It's got to go. I don't think back about it. I feel grateful that I finally made a decision, but it's painful and hard. It's not like I'm not going like, ah, here you go. But there's still a joy when you've done it. It's weird. Yeah. You know, cause it's hard to pull the trigger. Yes, it is. We attach, um, humanness. To objects, right? So, I mean, it makes sense. These are your grandmother's dishes. We all do. I also have my grandmother's, some of my grandmother's dishes. They're my cousin Lil's. Like, deep meaning to those dishes. So, it makes sense. But I think that, you know, part of the fear of letting go of certain things is that feeling like we're dishonoring the person. Like they, we hurt them in some way, and let's say they're deceased because most of the time we're talking about things from we've inherited. So, but that we're going to somehow dishonor them or hurt their feelings or be disrespectful or lose that person because we let go of her dishes. I'm sentimental. I'm not a minimalist. Let me say that. I'm not a minimalist because I love things and you know, there is something to be said for adventures over things. So I would love to know where is your favorite place you've ever been. So we just discussed it. My favorite place is Africa. I, you know, so I've been all over the world, but all over Asia, been three times to Africa, Bali, Thailand. I, Europe. I love, love, love to travel. And this is what I tell my clients. Cause I'm always asked what's your favorite. Right. And I say, I love all my experiences. There's something I take home with me everywhere. I am game to try whatever their cultural food is. I want to talk to the people. I just soak it in wherever I go. So with that being said, anywhere you pick, I will make it magical. But if you're going to pin me to a wall, I'm pinning you, pinning you, it's Africa. Africa. Africa, Africa, Africa. I will say it all day long. You cannot describe in words the emotional feeling of being, this is where these animals are from. We're in their land. We are. You wanna be a fly on the wall, go to Africa, you are a fly on the wall in your little Jeep. You are the fly and you are watching this miracle of life around you. Nothing like it. And the people. Yeah. Oh my God, they're so lovely and so, so warm. Yeah. My clients just got back at Honeymooners in, in, uh, South Africa, and they just got back a few days ago, and I, I had them finish in Mozambique. It's on the, they have the time finished, so they have quiet time to reflect on this. Unbelievable experience. They just have it. So she started texting me while she was sitting on the beach and she said, I cried when I left, we were planning our trip back already. I had no idea the emotional feeling I would have. I told her before she left, you're going to leave a little piece of your heart. People go back cause they have to keep finding where that heart is. That is exactly. And if I tell you that I have so many people that's, that's how they say it. You're right. A piece of my heart's still there because that's my favorite, but don't get me wrong. I love everywhere. I love the act of getting on a plane. I don't get excited until I'm sitting on the plane. I just flew to, I was just in Dubai in the Maldives and it was a, an hour flight and it was good. Oh my God. You're going to be miserable if I go. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be in heaven. That's my checkout time. I watch movies. I sleep. I have my cocktails I have nobody calling me. Nobody asking me to do a favor. Don't I just have me time Are you most looking forward to going where you've never been? So i've sent a lot of people to japan and I have not been yet I had a few opportunities, but then Japan shut down. They only just really opened up early this year. Right. And so I'll get there. Um, I'm very interested to go there. Alex and Danielle, my son and daughter in law, just went to Japan. And they said that if all of us, the family, would move to Japan, they are ready to move. They loved it. They said it was so beautiful and so clean and the people were amazing and the food. They just, they loved it. Both of them. They were like, we are ready to go. That's definitely on the list. I know my clients just love it. I just had clients that, uh, I actually landed this morning. Oh, I haven't checked their schedule. Sure. They got there. Let's talk about organizing. How do you keep everything organized? I used to have sleepless nights because it was so swirling in my head. And so I'd wake up and I would start putting everything in my phone. I have a tracking sheet. I have a tickler file. I. I am extremely detailed oriented, much more so in my business life than in my personal because I did just clean my desk the other day. It was awful. Uh, with deadlines and payment schedules, all the details of trains and planes and guides and everything. I tell my clients, all you have to do is get yourself to the airport. I take over from there. You're not going to have to think about one thing until you get back on that airplane and back to your house. The rest is me. Yeah. I keep my sheet log and I would go through it. But my best thing that I did, and it took me a long time to do this was I hired my daughter in law who is an MBA and brilliant. She has given me MBA. Cleverness that I didn't have. So I feel even more and more organized than ever, because I could have 15 trips going in a month or more. And I get bombarded. I have about seven, Italy, Italy, Switzerland, different trips that are for October, November. So I have an Excel sheet. I put everything. I put the dates they're going to go. I put where they're going and we daily look. What's coming up, what's prioritizing, what comes first? I'm a certified travel agent. And in my certification, one of the things they said is. Make your list of everything. And then you one, two, three, it ABC it, whatever your method is. Prioritize what is essential. What can wait to the end of the day? What can wait a week? It really makes sense. A client doesn't understand. I had somebody text me yesterday. He says, I'm starting to panic that I don't have my boat day set up in Capri. She's going at the end of August. And I said, you're, don't worry about it, you're fine. Right. But she's like, no, no, I don't, I don't, I'm worried about it'cause it's so busy. And I said, I, I know. So I get that a client can be anxious. You probably come up with some of this too. Oh yeah. But, um, huge anxiety to start. Yeah. So, and they, they have, they learn. But I know it to trust us, your clients learn. Exactly. If they don't already know, they learn quickly that they can trust you. And relax. That is a lot of it, Laura. A lot of it is trust. And so, you know, once they do, and also managing a client's anxieties, for me it's being heard. It's not ignoring it. The other day, I sent off some emails and just say, don't think I'm not, I've forgotten about that. We're taking it in order. We have plenty of time, you're going to be fine. So I just want you to know that we're getting to it. Yeah. So you're, you're constantly calming people on top of keeping track of a gazillion. I'm using that word again, so many details. I am very excited that I am going to Turkey. I have never been there. My son in law's dad's parents came from Turkey, immigrated here. It looks gorgeous. I'm very excited. So I need your help. I want to, I don't even know if it's possible, but I want to wait, hold up your mug for a second, please. Because your mug has something to do with possibilities, right? Can you read it? Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined. I love that. So the life I want to live is helping people and I want to travel a lot. I love traveling before I leave my home and I'm about to walk out with my suitcase. I always look around and say, okay, bye house. And when I get back, I'm going to be different. I don't know how, but I'm gonna be different in some way, so it's just so, such an amazing thing, I, I feel. But anyway, I would love to do, it's a, I'm gonna be gone for two weeks, and I would like to take only a carry on. Is it possible? I, 99 percent take a carry on. Okay, how? I... How do you do it? Because... People have asked me and and people want to know because I think everybody will do a carry on versus checking in, right? Ideally, if you could, well, for a number of reasons. I mean, it's nice not to lug it around through the airport. But of course, with wheels now, it's so easy. But, um, this is an unprecedented time of travel. If once COVID lifted the pandemic. The amount of travel, the amount of delays of cancellations of lost luggage is higher than we've ever seen. So number one, and I'll get to the packing part. Number one, I always say, even if you're taking a carry on, because you never know if a plane is going to be full, if they're go, if a overhead is going to be small, some smaller, uh, European flights. Their bins are really small, so they make you check your carry on. I just had that happen for the first time, and I had only a carry on. Wow. And they said, sorry, the overhead is full, you have to check it in. I was like, what? And I had to. So there's two things I say to that. Because of that, I AirTags. And you throw it in your luggage and you are always going to know where your luggage is. So that and a TSA lock. I was just speaking to my friend this morning. She said, please ask Nina about what to do with your toiletries. I hadn't even heard of AirTag. One of the best things she's ever purchased because she travels a lot. And she said she loves because now she knows where her baggage is at all times. I have so many little packing tips, but my clients last summer, Italy is ridiculous right now with the amount of tourism. My client was flying into Naples to spend time on the Amalfi coast. And then from Naples, he was going to be, they were flying to Spain and then they were going to do another trip in Spain and then they were going home. Fly into Naples, no bags. No bags. No bags. They wait for a couple hours. Nothing. They finally leave. They got their bags three days later, three days later, because this is before they got their air tax. Oh, they're flying to Spain. They go, we have PTSD. I'm so panicked about our, um, luggage. And I said, what's the chances of lightning striking twice? Oh no. And you have no choice. Right. Well, I don't know what the chances are of lightning striking twice, but it did. He gets to Spain, no backs, but they got him 24 hours later. So they did get it not three days later. They got the next day. So he, they are now, Oh my God, we're now we're panicked about when we go home to LA. And I said, you're in Spain, you're in Barcelona, find an Apple store, Barcelona, go buy air tags right now, throw them in your bags and be done with it. Does and by the way, I never care once you're going home. Don't put any essentials in your bag But check a bag once you're going home It does if you if you want because at that point you're not needing your vacation, right? So they bought the air tax they threw them in their bag and guess what? Lightning struck three times. Oh my god. They get to LA, no bag. No bags. They actually didn't get their bags for another three days. But when they said, we don't know where their bags are, sorry, we're looking for them. They had the air tags and they said, what do you mean sorry, you're looking for them? This is exactly where they were. So they got in their car, they went to LAX and they found them themselves. Because they have the air tag in there. This has been a great, um, a great shout out for air tags. I keep one on my key chain. So, you know, my husband has dementia, ladies and gentlemen, but my, um, I'm in a group and we had a conversation the other day and some of the, some of the partners go out and wander and they get really concerned and that's a big scare for them. I've said, air tags, stick it in a pocket. Stick it in a pouch. Oh my God, that's exactly, put it in your keys, put it in your wallet. You can take a little bit of control. You know, I, when I have my luggage, it even will tell me when I've left the hotel, Oh, you've left your luggage behind. Yeah, I did. Cause I don't need it. Right. That's amazing. And I literally just found out about that today from, from Julia and from you. That's really funny. I'm going to absolutely get AirTag before I buy a set of, um, uh, four on Amazon. I think it's like 99 bucks and have them. Okay. I'm writing it down on my to do list. Packing a couple of things. Yeah, if you're not doing a carry on, then, so I just have, I have a bag that has a bottom that unzips, but I always bring, uh, obviously a larger carry on and, uh, but I mean a soft side of it, maybe I throw it over my shoulder. I keep a, I always have a change of clothes, and if you're going to warm weather, pack your bathing suit, but one change of clothes, a bathing suit, if needed, and my toiletries, my computer. My chargers, my, you know, plugs that goes in my carry-on. I also, in fact, when I went to Africa the first time, my bag was lost for 48 hours before I heated my own advice. So I had my toiletries, I didn't have a change of clothes. You had go out and get something. So now I tell everybody one change of clothes. I love that. I never do that. The trees, I've never thought of it. I'll have like a sweater with me, but I never think to put a bathing suit and a change of clothing in my bag. So thank you. That's a fantastic tip. Well, and like you say, with this sweater, one of the other things that I, I always get cold on a plane. Yeah. I also like to be comfy. So I have this wonderful, warm. Wrap that, you know, a shawl, but it's a large enough that it also acts as a blanket. So I always bring that either in my carry on, or if it's already chilly, I just wear it. Right. But I get on the plane and. You know, I have a blanket right away. So brings me to the packing part of it. Yeah, I 1000 percent believe in the cube packing cubes. I roll everything up. I have a packing cube for undergarments for my regular clothes for some shirts, or if it's workout, I Don't unpack necessarily. I may hang some things up, but I throw them right in a drawer. If I'm going to be somewhere for a length of time and not take it out. Cause you could see everything it's rolled up. The best thing to do is choose a color palette. And just mix and match, especially if you're picking up and going to another location, you just plan to wear the same thing. So I really do think out I maybe right. I'm right. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, what am I doing? What do I think I would want to wear? And then I go down and on the fourth day, okay, I can rewear that. I keep it. Basically to the same tones. So I don't have to come up with a million things, which brings me to the other point shoes. The biggest mistake women do is I have to have a different. Yes. That's a tough one for me too. It is the toughest for most people. I do color coordinating and mixing and matching, but when it comes to shoes, what do I do? Cause shoes are bulky. They're bulky because you're bringing heels or you're bringing, you know, a wedgie. You're bringing this like a wedgie. It's called a wedge. No, I didn't say wedgie. No more multi shoe thing. And my sister is packing for Europe. She's going to be gone for 16 days. I just, she just came over, picked up my bags, picked up my cubes, and I gave her an education on how to pack. So I said, shoes. Wear your bulk. If you truly want a bulky shoe, you wear it on the plane. Otherwise, you're doing a really cute, that can double as, as like fancy or everyday, a flat sandal. You bring flip flops if you're going to be by water. Just your regular, you know, rubber flip flops so you have something that can get wet. So, a cute sandal, um, I always wear, I bring a really cute pair of white. Tennis shoes. That's going to go with everything. So I feel like it's stylish on one hand. On the other hand, it's, you know, uh, it's going to be comfortable. Right. So I wear those on the plane and, um, I got just a very neutral with a little heel. It's super easy. It's very little, uh, a little, um, Sandal that has a little heel. So I feel like, okay, I have a little, a little dressy, but what happens is, uh, women make, and I do a lot of honeymoons, oh, I want to look really cute on my wedding. So I'm going to bring this shoe and I'm going to bring that shoe and I'm going to wear this outfit. You can do that without putting big bulky. I believe that's one of the biggest mistakes is the amount of shoes. Yeah, you're right. I will definitely have your voice in my head as you have mine in yours. But what do you do about toiletries? My girlfriend was saying just the thought of packing her toiletries. It literally gives her anxiety. We were talking about it this morning. I wish I knew. Yes. Her heart. I told her she'll need to listen to this. So, but what do you suggest? Okay. There is on Amazon. They're different kinds of sets. So you could look and see what pertains to you. They're little pouches, but they're, uh, Not plastic, whatever the, uh, environmentally sound, um, texture it is. I'm completely going blank, but you can buy a packet of it. Um, I probably would Google plastic. Oh, wait, I can look up in my past orders on Amazon. Anyway, I feel hard. Is it a little hard container or it's more of a pouch, a soft pouch? It's a soft pouch. You feel, I put my eye makeup remover. I put my toner, I put, um, and it, it stays flat and it lasts more than two weeks because I go for two weeks, fill them up. So I put them just in a little carry on pouch. I slide them in there. It's so easy and it's changed my life. No bottles. Shampoos and you don't get stopped and have things taken away from you because I've had that going to Yes, it's the right amount. Oh my god You are this is actually Yeah, this is a life changer it is honestly it is now travel pouch can be one of our sponsors, too So, here you go, it's really bad, right it's bad, but I mean it gives me I know I Got there Yeah, I love it. Do you see these little pouches? Yeah, they're pouches. They're little pouches that has a tube if you want to pour it in, travel pouches, game changer. I'm writing it down. It's a game changer. So I'm going to go one step further. This is my fun organizational thing, but I call my sister, uh, we call her gadget girl because she'll likes to buy a gadget under the sun, but they're always something useful. So she got me a while back, a label maker. Yes, it is one of my favorite toys. So if I label all my pouches My toner, here's my eye makeup remover, this is sunscreen, because you think when you're doing it, I don't remember that, I know what that is, no you don't, no you don't. Label it. Because they all look the same. Even if you have to take a magic marker. Take a magic, but put what it is on there, but I promise you, you will be thanking me when you start filling those pouches up and, and they're lightweight. I have not run out on anything. I have a travel bag ready. So when I'm going to go away, I literally just pick it up and it's ready to go, right? That's for me. Cause I travel so, and, and I just look, see what's low and I fill it. But I'm usually when I go away, I'm gone. For a couple of weeks. I was just in the Maldives and, uh, Dubai for two weeks, carry on. And then I was in Greece prior to that two weeks, carry on. I've just, you, you don't understand how easily you can roll and roll up. I've actually, I've found because I'm, I'm always trying different ways to organize, uh, drawers, dressers and drawers. And so I've tried a million different ways and I have found for myself and for clients that the best way to do it is to roll in a drawer, roll your pajamas or because it just, you can, you open a drawer. And you can see everything in a drawer. You can, you open it, you see everything. And when you take one thing out, you just take it out and it doesn't disrupt everything versus like stacking and you pull something from the bottom and the whole stack goes everywhere. So I'm a big fan of rolling. It is exactly the same thing for packing. You just going to do it in a cube. And it wrinkles less as well in my closet. Once you cleaned out my closet, um, I do the same, you know, I want to put my pants instead of hanging up my pants. I have some shelves and I roll them up and I like literally some of them are just in a pyramid, but I can just take out the pair of pants. It is. So much better than that old stacking way. People go, what if I need this? Well, what if I need that? And, you know, as my husband used to say, as long as you have your passport and you're not in a third world country, right. You can get whatever you need that you forgot. Not that we want to do that. Right. So my basic thing is if you've got a good pair of walking shoes, pair of pants. a top, you need a sweater, a neck wrap, and you're going to be okay for anything. Don't, don't do the what if. If there was a what if, for me, I held on to things in my home, well, what if I need to use that? Well, what if I need to use that? And you help me. Realize that a what if does not need to take up space in your house, and it so I think about that. And when I've gotten rid of something been times when I go, oh darn I just threw that thing away. Right. It wasn't the end of my world. I got another one or I may do with something else. The bulk of it was all unnecessary and trust me, I need another round, but, um, Oh, my, my pleasure any time. I'm curious to know, there were a couple of questions. I was a guest on a podcast in, uh, in Denver, which was a great experience, which made me feel that I just want to talk. To interesting people all the time, which is why I know that's what travel does. She asked me, she asked me, what was my favorite movie. So I'm going to ask you, what is your favorite movie. I springing this question on you. I don't know the answer to that, but I will tell you my childhood favorite movie, the sound of music coming from a family of six and watching this big family and watching that. I was such a huge sound of music fan and I watched that so many times that it still sticks. And so when you said that, that jumped to my head, I don't know if it's because it was one of my favorites or because. I'm currently doing, um, it happens to be my sister, but I do this for a number of people. My sister and her best friend, Sound of Music was their favorite movie and they watched it a million times together. Their dream was one day we're going to go to Salzburg and do the Sound of Music tour together one day. So fast forward, they said, you know what? That's our 55th birthday present to ourselves. Yeah. And they're leaving on Friday, creating a dream for somebody that they're gonna, they're so excited. They're excited about the whole trip, but they cannot believe they're going to go and walk the steps of the Sound of Music. So it's really fun. That's a really fun tour. I've done it. That's so amazing. Yeah. That I asked you that. Yeah. I just love that movie so much. I love that movie. Yeah. It's very hard to say when. So When you were a little girl, what did you dream to be? Imagine your life, what did you want to be or do? I think I'm an odd human being that I never fantasized about weddings, being the bride and I'm going to go in a wedding dress. I never thought about that. I was a tomboy. I trained horses. That was my life. I loved that. Probably my dream was to be just in being able to Ride horses my whole life. I did for some reason. I always say I just want to have my kids young Don't ask me why, because now I'm like, why? I never thought about the wedding part of it. In my mind, I'm like, Oh, I would like to have kids young for whatever reason. No romantic thinking about the girly stuff about a wedding. Never cared. In fact, I had a backyard wedding. It was probably 5, 000 bucks. And it was my favorite thing ever. So you had a beautiful wedding. And it was just what I wanted. Just what I do. Is as best as I can is actually live in the moment, as cliche as that sounds, I'm so grateful for my life. And believe me, I've had tragedies, but having a glass half full outlook, I think has gotten me through those. And so I am grateful, even with those, that's all a part of life. We can't get past that, but to really have gratitude. You know, my husband, we have, we built a pool and a jacuzzi We would use that jacuzzi until he became ill. Every single night and every single night we would get in there. It was our time to talk and relax. There wasn't a night that Alan didn't say, I love our house. I love our yard. This jacuzzi was the best thing we ever did. I just love it. And it was his gratitude every day. And so today I still think about it. I get in there and I think about those times, especially if you're having a bad time to find that gratitude. And. Honestly, no pun intended here, the creating the space. That's why I think what you do is so invaluable and so emotional. That it, it gives us that freedom. It, you don't know that emotion you're going to feel when you go to Africa. You don't understand the emotion you feel when you go, Oh my gosh, my house. It feels so lean. It feels so manageable. It is. Absolutely a difference. So I think that it's, um, such a tremendous gift to give yourself is a Lauren is a Pearl concierge. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. That's why I wholeheartedly for the minute I hear somebody say something, I go, I have the person for you. I thank you for your service. And your friendship and what you mean to me for me to beyond words you and your whole family and your mommy who I just. The door beyond words and your husband, so you give him a hug and a kiss from me. And I'm going to go do that. I thank you so, so, so much for your time. This was just magical. So I love you. I love you. It is really hard to pick just a few takeaways from my conversation with Nina. I hope that you loved listening as much as I loved having that conversation with her. So here are a few takeaways. Number one, when you allow in positive thoughts, you can manifest everything. Just allow it in. Number two, air tags are a must. I just ordered mine. I've never used them before. They are fantastic for keeping track of your suitcase. Takeaway number three, you really can pack just to carry on for a two week trip. Nina travels all over the world, and time and time again, she has taken just a carry on for a two week trip. So if she can do it, so can we. Takeaway number four, build your business to match your life, not the other way around. Nina and her husband did this, so if they could do it, so can you. And takeaway number five is, go to Africa. It is the most amazing place, so if you haven't been, you must go, and if you've been, go again. Thank you for listening. I feel so blessed to have these amazing conversations and then share with you. So, if you feel something that we spoke about resonated with you or would with someone that you know, you're welcome. More than welcome to share and please follow us free to leave comments. I'd love to know your thoughts Thank you so much