The Matt Chambers Show
Welcome to The Matt Chambers Show, where we explore the world of traveling, living and doing business internationally. Hosted by Matt Chambers, this podcast connects people, places, and ideas, offering inspiring stories and practical insights to help you design a life beyond borders. Whether you're seeking adventure, remote work tips, retirement ideas, or entrepreneurial guidance, each episode brings you closer to turning your global dreams into reality.
The Matt Chambers Show
Mastering The Art of World Travel
Have you ever wondered how to balance the chaos of remote work with the thrill of cultural exploration? In this episode I interview Cheryl Marquez, a seasoned traveler who shares her experience. From the enchanting streets of Portugal to the fast-paced energy of New York, discover the contrasting lifestyles as I speak with Cheryl about her upcoming travel plans, including a family wedding in Arizona. The digital nomad life comes alive through these stories, offering a glimpse into the joys and realities of remote work on the go.
Struggling with spotty Wi-Fi while traveling? You're not alone. We tackle the universal woes of internet connectivity on the road, especially in regions like Latin America.. Learn how to ensure you're never left in the lurch again with tips on checking Wi-Fi speeds before you book and embracing digital nomad communities. Hear about Cheryls seamless connectivity experiences in Portugal and London, a hotspot success in Aruba, and the invaluable perks of AT&T's international plan. These insights aim to keep every traveler connected without missing a beat.
Packing light doesn't have to mean sacrificing style or essentials. Cheryl unpacks her minimalist packing secrets from a two-month Aruba adventure, armed with just a carry-on and backpack. From Marie Kondo-style folding to the art of packing cubes, discover how to maximize space without compromising on necessity. Her travel essentials list includes electronics, versatile footwear, and clothing that adapts to any climate. Through her social media handle "to work and wander," She share these insights to inspire and empower fellow remote workers to explore the world without the burden of unnecessary baggage.
Hello and welcome to Matt Chambers Connects, a podcast hosted by Matt Chambers. This is the podcast that transcends boundaries, empowers cross-cultural connections and fosters a more connected world. I'm your host, matt Chambers, and I invite you to join us on this quest to expand our understanding and build bridges between my two favorite places on the planet Latin America and the United States. I've been traveling, living and doing business in Latin America for nearly two decades. Go from there, but anyway, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1:Good, good. Yeah, I'm glad you came on. Yeah, it's been a good morning.
Speaker 2:for me it's been quite busy actually. Oh, what was going on?
Speaker 1:No, nothing. I just had a bunch of work to do and then just the phone's been ringing all morning. You know it's interesting when you have something important to do, like this podcast, all of a sudden you get a million people calling. But if I don't have anything to do, no one calls and I can't get anyone to answer me. But all of a sudden today, because we had this noon my time I'm in Brazil, you know everybody decided to call all morning, so it's been kind of hectic.
Speaker 2:But so time I'm in Brazil. Everybody decided to call all morning, so it's been kind of hectic. So what's going on your way? Where are you? We're back in New York, so we're back in our home base, and this weekend, I guess, the company that I work for had decided they were going to update our computers, and so this morning it was asking for a recovery key. I'm actually not even on my computer, I'm on Jack's computer. And we actually have a hard stop at 1145 because he has a call at noon.
Speaker 1:So I have to get his computer back.
Speaker 2:And I was hoping to have IT fix it, and this is kind of the things that go on when you're working remotely, right.
Speaker 1:For sure. I feel like I'm constantly having some form of tech issue and you know, right now I'm in the need of a new computer. I have a Mac. That man, this computer has been incredible and I don't think I could ever own anything other than a Mac. Now that I've had this is my second one, but every one of them lasts like eight, 10 years, and this one's still fine. It's just to the point where you know now that I'm doing podcasting and editing and all this stuff. I mean, I don't do the editing at this point, but a more powerful computer would certainly help, and you know, the newer stuff has better cameras too, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would definitely recommend a MacBook Pro, which is what I'm on right now, which actually worked out really a lot better. I have a brand new MacBook Air that is from my company, but it doesn't quite have the oomph that this one has.
Speaker 1:Do you have the M3 chip in there? Which chip do you recommend? I was looking at that.
Speaker 2:Whatever the latest one is. So they sent me a brand new one earlier this year, because my last one just died. It couldn't.
Speaker 1:So what was it? A couple grand, or the top end? One goes up to about three grand, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I don't think you need that much. I think you just need whatever the, maybe the entry level MacBook pro. I don't know what size computer you have, but I think the 13 inch should be fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's be fine. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's kind of what I was looking at. Getting it the one I was looking at comes out to about 1700 bucks, but I wanted to wanted to speak with someone at Apple and let them know what I'm doing and have them kind of walk me through the process and make sure I'm getting the right one. But have you guys been doing any traveling lately at all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just got back from Portugal. So we spent some time in London for a wedding and then flew straight to Portugal after that and as soon as we got on the plane I was ready to book another flight back and we were back in town because my daughter is getting married in Arizona next month. So I just want to make sure we're in town. I have to get my dress altered. So we're going to have a couple of weeks where we're at home and then we head to Arizona. We're in Arizona for I think, two, two and a half weeks and then I'm looking at maybe booking a flight to back to Portugal, but not until next year. So we're looking at maybe going to Porto, madeira and exploring some more of Europe sometime after February.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you like Portugal. Huh, you know everyone. They did that golden visa thing a few years back and maybe that was right around the pandemic and so many people took advantage of that. I've never been over there, I'm just addicted to South America. For some reason can't get out of South America to go anywhere else. But yeah, I've heard a lot about Portugal. Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:Well, I think Portugal is nice and it might be a nice transition for you from coming from South America, especially Brazil. I know that the Portuguese is a little bit different but, in Portugal.
Speaker 2:It's really favorable for digital nomads because there's a lot of co-working spaces. The lifestyle is a little bit slower than if you're, like we're, used to being in New York. The company I work for is in California, so the pace is a little nicer. Company I work for is in California, so the pace is a little nicer If I'm. If you're working for an American company, you don't have to start work until maybe one or two and then you get still uh, probably two or three hours of quiet time, so I can get almost the entire day's work done in those three, four hours.
Speaker 2:And then I start my meetings, and after meetings we head off to dinner and then maybe work for an hour or two after we get back from dinner. But it just felt like I wasn't rushing around, I had time for myself. We had time to go and tour in the morning, you know. So you know, we went to go see the ruins of a castle one weekend.
Speaker 2:We went to sintra, which is only 40 minutes outside of Lisbon, and that's beautiful because it's got a microclimate similar to San Francisco and so you're seeing a lot of fog and haziness. And there are these castles that are up in the mountains and or maybe they're more like hills, but because there's haziness, it kind of feels like a whole like fairy tale vibe. So, um, but yeah, when we went there we were unprepared, we didn't realize it had a different micro climate, so we ended up having to buy. I bought a shawl and my partner he got a sweatshirt and you know, after the end of like, right after lunch, that burns off. So then you can kind of see everything much more clearly and on a beautiful day you can see the ocean from like Pena Palace or the Moorish Castle. So that's, I think that's one of the great things. Also, it's so affordable compared to here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean everywhere, is right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then there's a variety of food, so it's not just Portuguese food. You can. You know, there's a lot of fusion foods that you can try there. Um, we, I think we just barely even scratched the surface, and how long were you there?
Speaker 2:Like, uh, we're probably there for two weeks and it's not enough. I would definitely say at least a month or two. And because even in Lisbon itself there's the Castle of St George and that's ruins, so we can go there in the morning, go explore it. There's the elevator that's sent to Utah or something.
Speaker 1:What's the elevator? I've never heard of that.
Speaker 2:So this elevator is? It takes you. It's an elevator, but it takes you from one street level and you go up to another level and then you cross through this walkway to another square.
Speaker 1:That must be a thing, a Portuguese thing, because Brazil also has several of those elevators like.
Speaker 2:So it feels like you're always kind of walking uphill, downhill and some people maybe some people are unable to walk the hills, so they take these elevators.
Speaker 1:What was your favorite food there? The Portuguese food.
Speaker 2:You know, I think this one thing that we tried was called a tap. It was almost, it was called tapioca tapioca yeah yeah, but it wasn't what I was expecting. It was almost like a quesadilla so it was a tapioca and I actually have video of a woman making it, where you you take the. She said you just take the tapioca, a little bit of salt and water, and you mix it up into this big container and then they take it and they put it on a dry pan and they just press it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then they flip it over, and then they fill it like you would a quesadilla, you know, with meats, cheeses, vegetables, whatever, and then you fold it and it's like a sandwich. I thought that was one of the my favorite things there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, those are all over Brazil, so that's that's the thing. I happen to know that tapioca very well and do they do them there with sweet stuff, like one of my favorites in Brazil is like strawberries and chocolate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can get the hazelnut and the strawberry. They had other flavors. You could have the mango in it, and I don't remember what combination it was.
Speaker 1:Basically anything you want can go inside of this tapioca, which is their version of quesadillas. I think you hit it perfect. I've been telling people tacos, but it's more like a quesadilla.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a quesadilla or, if you think, in French terms it's like a crepe, because crepe has some sweet and savory applications.
Speaker 1:Do they have? Did you see crepiocas there?
Speaker 2:No, what is that?
Speaker 1:So in Brazil they have crepiocas, and it's the same idea as the tapioca you just explained, but it's done with eggs, so it's the. The outer shell of it is egg and cheese, so it's similar. It's between a tapioca that you just explained and an omelet and, frankly, in my opinion, it's better than both of them.
Speaker 2:So do you pick it up and eat it like a sandwich? No, you eat it like a.
Speaker 1:you eat it like an omelet, like just with a fork or knife, fork whatever you eat an omelet with and they stuff it with like seasoned chicken. I mean you can get basically anything inside of it. It's incredible. I didn't even know what it was. I was at a gym one day I mean a gym that I frequent in in Rio and became really good friends with the girl that owns the little cafe in there and I had. I continued to. Every night after my workout I'll get an omelet, because she just wanted some protein. I was hungry. And then one day, once we became friends, she was like, why don't you try a crepioca? If you don't like it, I'll pay for it. And I'm like, cause she owns the place. And I was like, okay, I tried crepioca. I have never had an omelet after that. Like, I eat crepioca almost every day, every day that I go to the gym.
Speaker 2:Do you know how they make it?
Speaker 1:I didn't watch her make it, but just in looking at it every day it looks like you just make it exactly like an omelet and I don't know what makes the outer shell of it the eggs, taste so much different than a regular omelet. Whatever it is they do, it works. It's better than an omelet. It's not as boring as an omelet. It doesn't really have an egg taste at all, but that's what it is.
Speaker 2:You know, I really wish that I had tried that, because I'm not really a fan of egg flavors and but that sounds fantastic. I would definitely try that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's. It's incredible Brazil. Brazil has a lot of stuff that you know. I assume most of the influence comes. Well, I mean, it comes from African influence, because they have a lot of African influence in the country, and then obviously Portuguese, and I think they even have some Italian, if I'm not wrong on that. But yeah, every single region of Brazil is completely different, Every state, every city. You never get bored traveling around Brazil, for sure, Because if you get bored you just go somewhere else and it's completely different.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a huge country, right.
Speaker 1:It is. I was looking the other day. It's 86% the size of the United States in terms of land area. The only thing is the majority of that land is the Amazon, where there's like nothing going on but trees and rivers.
Speaker 2:Well, we need the rainforest.
Speaker 1:Oh no, absolutely. All I'm saying is like there's not. It's not all inhabited like the US is. It's a lot of desolate, desolate land. But yeah, so were you working remotely while you were doing all your travels?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when we were in London, I was off for the week, so we did a lot more touristy things.
Speaker 2:Like you know, take the tube, go to.
Speaker 2:I have a handful of restaurants that we went to that were in rooftops and with views of the city, and then I worked a week and then in Portugal, so we worked and had time to tour.
Speaker 2:So, yeah it's, the balancing of the work hours is a little bit different and even before we left, we just kind of well, because I work for a West coast company, I knew how much time I would have in the mornings in order to get work done before the West Coast came on and I had meetings, so I would start around one o'clock, which is probably like five in the morning for the West Coast. So I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to get like half a day's worth done before they start meetings at 9 am Pacific. So it's been really great at 9 am Pacific. So it's been really great. And even when I'm in New York, I get a three-hour difference where I get to get everything done before the West Coast comes online, and that helps with work-life balance or being able to see things in the daytime and feeling like you have a life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you have any Wi-Fi issues when you were traveling? That's one of the things that I know plagues. It plagues me in Latin America, for sure, and it plagues a lot of people, depending on where they travel, and screws me up quite often.
Speaker 2:No, no. So we actually have a checklist of things that we look for before we choose an area. So before we go, and even everywhere that we've checked, we'll call the hotel, we'll call the Airbnb and we'll find out. Hey, you know how fast is your Wi-Fi? And that's a major, major point for us. So if the Wi-Fi is too slow, we just won't pick that area or we won't pick that location. But in London we had fast Wi-Fi, 5g speeds.
Speaker 1:Of course in London. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was the easiest. And then in Portugal even, we stayed initially in the Intendente area and then we moved down to Caixa de Sojourn and both areas had great wi-fi. We even so, on laundry day, you know, we took a walk over to the laundry place and just a couple doors down, so we dropped off our laundry and it was fluff and fold service. So they're like. They're like come back in three or four hours and your laundry will be done. I'm like great, 10 euros and we did laundry when we arrived and it cost 20 euros for me to do it myself when I found this place. They wash it, dry it, fold it and then so you come and pick it up and you're done.
Speaker 2:A couple doors down from where we dropped off the laundry was a cafe and it was open air and it was breezy and beautiful, the food was fantastic, the wifi was great and then, um, after that, we left and we went to a coworking cafe um called outside. So I'm a member of outside and you can pop in. I think it was 17 euros for a day pass, but because I'm a member, I didn't have to pay for it and I had a guest, so my partner and I stayed there for free and then they offer you know, there's water, coffee, there's conference rooms, there's um phone booths, there's, so you can book the meeting rooms if you want a meeting room or if you have a call that you need to do.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like a WeWork.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's a little bit less commercial because outsites have co-working, co-living. So this one that was right down the street from where we dropped off the laundry, you could book to stay there. So I was actually looking to book to stay there because if I was able to get a reservation we probably would have stayed a month. But we weren't able to find reservations and then, you know, just thinking about my daughter's wedding, I was like we should probably get back and get prepared.
Speaker 1:Sure. So I, in regards to Wi-Fi, you know I do those same things in terms of calling the Airbnb and asking about the Wi-Fi and confirming all that what I find and obviously Europe's much different right, I mean it's very first world and Western. So if somebody tells you it's 200 megs of Wi-Fi, it's 200 megs. Maybe on a bad day you get 185, but there's still plenty to do whatever you need to get done.
Speaker 1:Um, in Latin America, though, I mean people tell me they have 200 meg wifi and I get in and they have 24, you know, or they have. I mean I got in one in Sao Paulo a couple of months back and it took me like five days to get it fixed. Um, it was coming in at like three or four was completely screwed up because they had these old routers, and so they'll tell you that they and I think these people actually do purchase, well, sometimes the the wi-fi that they say if they, they say 200, I think they purchased 200, but for whatever reason they, they just have these old routers that they don't replace, or so I'm constantly having Wi-Fi issues in many parts of Latin America. I would say Colombia is probably the best Wi-Fi that I've had, which doesn't make sense, because Brazil is a much richer country than Colombia, so you would think that Brazil would be advanced with that, but I've had more issues in Brazil with wifi than than any other, any other country, and even when I have it, it's not very good.
Speaker 2:Well, I wonder if Columbia is better because they have more of a digital nomad population.
Speaker 1:Well, that's new. That's new that they didn't. They didn't really have that. Well, I mean, I think they do. Maybe they always have had well, not always. But Columbia just became a thing around 2014, 2015 timeframe. But the digital nomad thing blew up there in 2020, 2019, 2020. I mean, it blew up big time. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean I don't know if they've just invested more. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if they've just invested more, I don't know. Yeah, you know, when we were in Aruba, the initial town. So we spent almost two months in Aruba during the pandemic and when we got to the first location they said they had a certain amount of Wi-Fi, but, and it was fine as long as we were downstairs, but if you're upstairs you didn't get that speed. So we called the Airbnb host and they brought over a hotspot, so, and the hotspot was fantastic. So do you have hotspot availability or 5G?
Speaker 1:I do. I have there's a really good plan. At&t has a really good plan. I don't know if you know about this, but and you may not need it if you don't travel Latin America but a few years back AT&T came out with a plan that's only like if it's just you on the plan, it's like 85 bucks, but if you have family members it starts coming down and it covers you a hundred percent in 19 Latin American countries. So basically everywhere I travel, I can use my AT&T plan.
Speaker 1:However, for some reason, my hotspot just doesn't do very well down here, so I just haven't had a lot of luck with it at all. So what I typically end up doing is, when I get to a new area, you know, I'll go to a coffee shop that I think might have good internet, and then, if it sucks, I'll just keep going to different coffee shops, like those first couple of days. I feel like I always spend a lot of wasted time figuring out which place has good wifi, and then, once I find it, I'm there every day, right, and then I become best friends with the waitresses because I'm there every day.
Speaker 2:So your, your Airbnbs or hotels don't have Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1:No, they do, but, again, a lot of them aren't always great. And I don't like staying in the house. I don't like being in the house, no matter where I am, whether I have good internet or bad internet. I like to get outside and see people and get fresh air. So I'm always trying to work from cafes and, you know, I think that's probably an issue for me. I just, I don't know, just never liked staying inside.
Speaker 1:And for people to like staying inside, I'm sure life's a lot easier, right, you just figure out the Airbnb. But in Latin America, again, like you know, people lie to you and they'll tell you that the Internet's great and it might be great for them. But coming from Western countries where we're just a little bit ahead, right, when it comes to things like Internet and infrastructure, coming from the Western world into Latin America, we're just a little more demanding with those types of things than they are. They're a lot more chill than we are, and if they get disconnected and miss 20 minutes of work, no one cares, whereas in the States, if you miss two minutes of work, they're ready to fire you.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a lot of Zoom meetings, so for me, having the right fast internet is so important, and which is one of the reasons why a lot of the time I won't be in a cafe if I have meetings, so I just can't. And then I I need well, I mean, I use virtual backgrounds all the time.
Speaker 1:Uh, my current background is real background, so mine's actually real right now too, which is cool. Um, oh, awesome, mine are always different. I just haven't found a good way to do a virtual background. I use a Riverside which is, uh, you know, focused on podcasting, and they don't have virtual backgrounds yet. Um, but I'm going to be happy when they do, cause I've done a lot of podcasts and I don't love the background.
Speaker 2:Well, we actually travel with a pop-up background.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, you told me that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll show you after we're done here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, hey, I want to get into. I saw on your website you have mastered packing. I want to talk about that.
Speaker 2:I have. You have mastered packing. I want to talk about that. I have so. So when we went to Aruba, we were there for almost two months and we went with a carry on bag each and a backpack each, and in that backpack I still managed to bring. So I pack my, my track pad, I have my keyboard, my laptop riser and then obviously lighting for Zoom, and we usually pack an extension cord so we can pack multiple things in it. And then clothes. I mean certain locations. You can get away with different types of clothing. So I recently switched over to merino wool, like I'm wearing a merino wool t-shirt, so I need less t-shirts because you can wear it multiple times and just hang it up to dry, or hang it up after you wear it, and then it just kind of airs out the next day.
Speaker 2:You're fine to wear it again, or I usually alternate days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you don't see the same person by accident. They're like hey lady wears the same stuff all the time.
Speaker 2:She never changes her clothes. Yeah, but you know I have different toppers like a sweater or a shirt or a scarf or something to change up the look, and I also have like silk dresses, and that takes up hardly any space and those are really easy because you can hang them up in the bathroom or the shower and I just wet my hands and then wet the wrinkles and then go to the shower and then just leave it in there to steam. By the time I come back to go get ready, it's completely wrinkle free. But I use a combination of the Marie Kondo style folding, uh, and I'll send you an example of that. So what you do is you fold something in thirds lengthwise, so it's third third, like lengthwise, and then you fold it into thirds so it makes a packet that's probably about like this big right, wow, that's.
Speaker 1:one shirt makes a.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one shirt, and it's really thin. So then I just I put them all together and I think in my bag I probably have 14. No, not 14. There's probably 10 tops and four dresses in one packing cube.
Speaker 2:Wow, there's probably 10 tops and four dresses in one packing cube Wow. And then you know undergarments in a separate packing cube and then I have probably three pairs of pants and two dresses in another packing cube. I have if we're going somewhere cold, then I'll just wear the jacket, and if I'm wearing if I'm then I'll just wear the jacket, and if I'm wearing, if I'm bringing sneakers, I wear the sneakers, and then I have like smaller flat shoes, you know slides and ballet slippers that just fold to practically nothing. But yeah, a lot of the things we bring are very travel friendly.
Speaker 1:Wow. So do you have a video or anything that I? Do Do you really so? Is it something that would be good to post on social media?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that'd be cool.
Speaker 2:I already posted one of my videos where I was packing. We were leaving Portugal and I was packing everything into my packing cubes and I had it in a time lapse. So you can just see me folding everything, putting everything away, zipping it up, and then you can see all the packing cubes that I had.
Speaker 1:So, on your social media now, is it just personal stuff, or do you actually have social media geared towards all this, the packing and the travel?
Speaker 2:Yes, so all of my social media is focused on helping digital or helping remote employees become digital nomads.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, what's your? I want to follow you. What's your? What's your handles on all this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, On Instagram and TikTok. It's to work and wander.
Speaker 1:To work and wonder. Wander yeah On Instagram and TikTok. It's to work and wander. To work and wonder.
Speaker 2:Wander, yeah, like wandering around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like that. I'm going to add you right now to work and wander, and then there's a blue logo. Oh wonder, with an A.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that makes sense.
Speaker 1:I'm putting in wonder, like w-o-n-d-e-r. No wonder, oh, I got you probably.
Speaker 2:I'll probably have to buy that domain and then redirect it to mine, in case people mishear me yeah, you just started this instagram page, huh I did yeah, that's nice, cool, cool, cool cool yeah, um, I'm doing, uh, I'm working on a carousel to help people renew their passports, so I one of the other reasons why we're back is because I have to renew my passport and if there's a bunch of different guidelines that you have to follow. But if you meet all of the guidelines, you can renew it completely online and you don't have to send your passport in.
Speaker 1:Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to post that pretty soon. And the other thing too is we have global entry, we have TSA pre-check. So even coming back from Portugal, there was this long line and I made a huge mistake. So I didn't realize that when you're at the airport in Portugal. We went to the A&A lounge and I thought the lounge was inside the gates already, but it wasn't, so I kind of fell asleep in the lounge.
Speaker 2:My partner was like we got to go. We have like it's a 20 minute walk to get over to our gate. I'm like, oh my God, okay, let's go. So we go. And there was this long line and I said we're not waiting in that. But fortunately we walked all the way to the front and then I realized there was this guy saying. He's like did you get your passport stamped on the way in? And we said yes. So we went into a separate line for US passports and that was an e-gate. And we did this in London as well. We were able to go through London security when we arrived in less than 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So we were waiting in line and our flight was already boarding and I was a little frazzled but trying to stay calm, and we probably got through the line in about 15, maybe 17 minutes and then you take your passport, you scan it on the reader and then you walk up to the front and then there's this other machine that just goes like this and it scans your face and then it lights up a green light and then you can go through and then the guy stamps your passport and then you go. But we basically had to run to our gate to catch our flight and my partner was like that was the first time I was seeing you move that fast, because he's like we're not going to make the flight. We're not. I'm like we are going to make this flight.
Speaker 1:He's like we're not going to make the flight. We're not. I'm like we are going to make this flight, don't worry.
Speaker 2:We got there. And then and then, another thing that I didn't really understand, and it was different in the Lisbon airport, because I'm not used to this use. You know, in the U S, basically you get off of the plane and that's your gate, go through the runway or the jetway and you're, you're there, but, um, we go downstairs and you have to board a bus. And then the board, the bus drives around and it brings you to your plane. So I think we drove around. I don't know, maybe it was like 10 minutes, I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, is this plane waiting for us? But it was. And, um, since we were the last ones to board the bus, we're the first ones off, so we're able to, and the bus driver parked us right in front of you know the stairs, so we took the stairs up. It was so seamless after that, able to put our carry on bags up in the overhead bin and settle in before other people were able to board on that plane.
Speaker 1:So how are you? Are you monetizing your travel knowledge now? Are you planning to do that, or is this just something you're doing for fun, or what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm starting monthly workshops for remote and hybrid employees to learn how they can combine their PTO with working remotely in order to go and stay at a destination for a month. So you take two weeks of vacation, you take two weeks where you work remotely. Like a friend of mine, she works for Apple and this is something that she's able to do because they're only allowed to work four weeks remotely, so so sounds like prison. Well, what I'm trying to say is that even even corporate employees can do this, and so what she does is she takes two weeks of vacation, and whether she takes those two weeks together, or she works one week and takes a week off and then works another week and takes a week off, she's able to stay someplace for a month. She's actually currently in Panama right now, and we were FaceTiming the other day because she was showing me the place that she was staying and it has like ocean views.
Speaker 1:Panama was one of my least favorite places really why yeah, I mean, um, it's beautiful, by the way, like aesthetically it's, it's truly amazing. Um, I, I just found, uh, I I didn't get a very good reception there I found, um, you know, I like the true latin American experience and I feel like Panama is probably so Americanized that I just didn't feel like I was in Latin America. I've probably traveled I don't know 20 countries, 15, 20 countries in Latin America and you know, I like that warm Latino feeling of hey, you know, you're welcome and family type. I think that's probably what keeps me connected to Latin America is just the love you get daily from everyone because they're just so fun, loving and welcoming, warm people. And then in Panama they're definitely not that I mean yeah and I mean yeah, they're just not. They just don't give us, they couldn't care less if you're there or not. Right, kind of like going to the U S. They don't really care if you're there or not. They have too much other stuff to do and maybe it's because they're busy.
Speaker 1:I never really figured it out, but I just never felt that warm, welcoming feeling in Panama and a beautiful place. I have some of my most beautiful videos and photos from there. I took an ex-girlfriend down there and we went to Red Frog Beach and some other really well-known destinations and we had an incredible experience, rented boats and got to see most of the islands and it was great as far as the aesthetics of the island, but I think it was just the just not feeling welcome, feeling like you know they just didn't even really want you there, kind of. So I think for that reason I don't have any reason to go back to Panama. I would go back and experience it again. I just don't. I'm not running to hop on a plane to go there, unless someone wants to buy that trip for me.
Speaker 2:Well, so the reason that they went there is because what they did was they actually looked at flights and they went to see where can we catch a flight that is pretty inexpensive? So you know, sometimes we pick our destinations with. You know, where can we get a deal during the time frame that we're looking for? So we may, you know, look to see. Okay. So she found that she was going to get a good deal in Panama or for her airfare, and then they looked at Airbnbs and found a good deal, and that's why they're there there, yeah, yeah, no, I get it, and I've had people go there and absolutely loved it For sure, just for me.
Speaker 1:I just, I don't know. I mean, I think when you have, I don't know, maybe maybe this is it, maybe it's not, but again, I, what drew me to Latin America, what continues to draw me to Latin America, is just that welcoming, warm feeling and I just never felt that penultimate at all. And you know, for that reason, I'm just not in a rush to go back. Um, I don't hate it, I'm not and I'm not opposed to going back and spending time, um, and learning more, because, you know, I've had a million people tell me, you know, when you, when you go to France, uh, those people in Paris are really jerks. And then that's what they say. You know, you hear that on the news or you hear that on the YouTube or whatever, and then you talk to 20 people that say, you know, had an incredible experience in Paris. I didn't experience that at all. So all of these things you have to go, experience yourself in order to to really know. Um, but that was just my, my personal opinion, opinion in Panama.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I haven't been, so I don't have an opinion. It was just an example of one of my corporate friends who was able to go and travel and spend extended periods of time there by being able to use PTO and the work from home policy to work for them.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome. I love this whole new remote work thing. I think it's changed the world and it's given us people like us the ability to do what we probably always wanted to do anyway.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I heard that Amazon had to go back into the office five days a week, starting in 2025.
Speaker 1:Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a lot of people quitting Amazon.
Speaker 2:Huh, Maybe that's what they want.
Speaker 1:For sure, For sure. So would you suggest anyone that wants to reach out to you for this to reach out on your social medias, or what's the best way to get in touch medias?
Speaker 2:or what's the best way to get in touch? Yeah, if they go to work and wander on Instagram, I have a link there where you can get onto my email list and you can sign up for our workshops.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome, so, um, hey, thanks for coming on. I know you have to go, uh, in a couple of minutes, so I really appreciate it. I think it went really well. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Matt Chambers Connects. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes where we'll dive deeper into these two fascinating worlds. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, matt Chambers Connects. You can also find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts, youtube Music and many other major podcast platforms, so you don't miss a show. Also, please join us on our social media channels so you can connect with other listeners and ask your most pressing questions and also tell us what types of guests you'd like to see on the show. Thanks again, and I'll see you next time.