What If The Only Thing You Had Was Pockets

I'm on vacation this week, so I hope you enjoy this replay of one of my favorite episodes!

This episode is a little bit of everything—life updates, a few laughs, and practical travel tips you can actually use. I share what's been happening with my cancer treatment, some funny moments from everyday life, and then we switch gears into simple ways to make your next trip a little safer and a lot less stressful.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What daily pill chemotherapy has been like and how I'm navigating treatment one day at a time.
• Staying active, managing the tough days, and dealing with the not-so-glamorous side effects.
• Self-Care Sunday...and a disposable razor story that didn't exactly go as planned.
• A hilarious poolside conversation that somehow turned into a halftime show debate.
• Haircuts, saying goodbye to a longtime family home, and finding meaning in life's transitions.
• Upcoming theater plans and a fun connection to Helen Hunt.
• Why you should keep your seatbelt fastened until you reach the gate.
• Flight safety tips that most travelers overlook, including why closed-toe shoes matter during takeoff and landing.
• How to prepare for an emergency by locating the nearest exit and actually paying attention to the safety briefing.
• Why your phone, wallet, and keys should stay with you before landing.
• TSA PreCheck, passport renewals, and an easy pre-travel checklist.
• International driving permits, handling foreign currency, helpful travel apps, and advice for first-time international travelers.
• How to pack lighter with a carry-on, packing cubes, coordinated clothing, and a few favorite travel tricks.

Most of all, I hope this episode reminds you to keep living your life, even when it throws you a few curveballs. Get out there, try something new, take the trip, and do something positive today.

If you enjoy the show, I'd love it if you'd leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts and share it with a friend.

Thanks for listening, enjoy the replay, and I'll be back soon with brand-new episodes!

Transcript

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Vacation Break And Replay Note

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey everyone, just a quick heads up before we get started with today's episode. I'm taking a couple of weeks off for little vacations, but I don't want you to worry I didn't disappear. I just decided laundry and sunscreen deserved a break for me. While I am away, I picked a few episodes that I really love and thought were worth another listen. If you missed this one the first time around, you're in for a treat. And if you've heard it before, you might catch something you missed. I'll be back in a couple weeks with brand new episodes, new adventures, and knowing me, probably a few opinions nobody asked for. Thanks for hanging out with me. Now let's dive into today's episode.

Chicago Morning And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Hello, and welcome to Inside Marcy's Mind. My name is Marcy Backis, and I'm your host. Well, good morning on this freezing, freezing, freezing, freezing cold morning here in Chicago. If it's warm where you're living, yay for you. We're on our way up from the negatives. So we're getting there. But it's been a bit of cold couple of days. I'm all cozy in my little sheerling wrap here, and I've got my hot peppermint tea. It's still dark out, but the sun's coming up. I usually record this on Wednesday mornings. That is always my goal. Does it always work? No. But today we are here on a Wednesday. So I hope this podcast is finding you happy, healthy, and warm wherever you are. We have an interesting um episode today. I I don't know about you, but there's been a lot, a lot of plane crashes. And then I know, not a lot, like four, but that's a lot. And um one of them was just in Canada where the plane flipped over on landing. So I have some really basic information to give you, but important information that may make you think twice about how you get dressed, how you prepare, and how you take your next flight. Craig and I are heavy flyers. I mean, Craig has flown over 3 million miles on American Airlines and a million on United in his lifetime. I'm in the hundred thousand on American in my lifetime. I take probably five to six flights a year this year because of cancer. I'm cut, my wings have been clipped and I don't like it, but it is what it is. Um again, I think this is important information. Is it fun information? No. Is it hacks? No. It's just really straightforward. I found this article and I thought it was really great information to share

Chemo Update And Daily Routine

SPEAKER_01 2:43

with you. So that being said, let's check in on my cancer journey. Yay! Two weeks into chemo. 10 more to go, then radiation, then 12 more weeks of chemo. If you've missed my episodes, I'm doing a pill form of chemo, which means I take chemo every day. 13 pills most days, 29 pills once a week. I am finishing my second week, which means I go into my next week taking less pills. I have one week out of every three that I take less. So that's good because yesterday really sucked. Um, I get really bad heartburn, heartburny esophagus. I don't know what it is, but every once in a while it hits me. Yesterday was the day. I did make it to the gym yesterday morning. Our gym's pool has been closed for a few days, which sucks. But I was there yesterday. I'll go today. So I am keeping up on my exercise. I'm doing my best eating the best I can. Eating has become quite an issue, obviously. And uh so I'm doing my best. So as my nephew Chris says, I'm here just doing my best. Let's

Self Care Sunday And Razor Fail

SPEAKER_01 4:00

see. I've got some funny things to share. So I um when this whole prop process started, I hired cleaning crew every two weeks. And I guess when they were in my bat shower cleaning my shower, they dropped my razor, which is fine. It's a throwable, it's a disposable razor, but apparently the head can come on and off of this disposable razor, and they put the head back on, stuck it back on my shelf. Well, I went in the other day, this was a week or so ago, and I do, I don't know about you, but I have a self-care day. I have self-care Sundays, so we'll talk about that for a second. If you don't have a self-care day, you should. Mine is Sundays. I take most of my showers at the gym because I'm in the pool five times a week. So Sundays is my shower day at home in the evening. I do my dry brushing, I do eye masks, I do, I do all that scrubby, rubby, dubby woo-hoo stuff on Sundays. So Sunday is also shave day. One of the good things about being older, a woman of a certain age, and um going through menopause and probably now chemo, my hair doesn't grow nearly as fast on my legs or under my arms, or nearly do I have as much TMI, but it's like it's a non-issue. So I thought this day I was going to shave my legs. So I'm shaving and I'm 5'11 with really long legs. It takes a while to get to these babies and get them all done. So I'm all done, and I'm thinking, that razor just felt so smooth. Well, holy cow, when the gal put my razor back together, she put it upside down, so I didn't shave a darn thing. So I wasted like 10 minutes, and I had to redo it. And I did, oh, anyways, it was pretty funny to me. Um, let's see.

Pool Talk And Halftime Debate

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Um, I was in the pool, um, and there was a lady next to me. She comes every once in a while. She's not one of our regulars. And uh Michael, the instructor, had asked how we liked the halftime performance. And I loved it. I thought it was very on trend, on point, on time. There was a lot of subtle innuendos in there, I understand. Even speaking to my son afterwards and telling him about this pool thing. I learned a lot more about Kendrick Lamar and his vision and who he is, and et cetera. But nonetheless, Michael was standing right between the two of us and he says, How did everybody like the halftime show? And I said, I really liked it. And this woman looked at me and she goes, You did? And I go, Well, yeah. She asked me that again three times. You did, you did. Made me get so defensive. I hated it. Like, and she had a bad Dorothy Hamill haircut, too. I'm just gonna say it. Just a bad Dorothy. I mean, you're 60 or maybe 70 years old. Get rid of the Dorothy Hamill. Anyways, that's my that's my old lady conflict in the last couple weeks. I I just I finally gave up. I didn't say much more. I didn't feel like I should have been put in a defensive position. I did enjoy it. I I saw a lot of info. Oh, and she told me it was mean-spirited. And so, whatever. Nonetheless, that was my pool argument. I already talked about how flipping cold it is here. Yesterday was very cold. Negative 20 with the wind chill factor. Made me take a drink of my peppermint tea. Um, yeah. Cold. Uh

Haircuts, Goodbyes, And Theater Plans

SPEAKER_01 7:50

let's see. We went, Craig and I did. We went and got haircuts. Um on Monday, I said to him, Oh, it's nine degrees. Let's go. We have a gal up here, um, Sherry, that does our hair at Supercuts. Yes. Ex-hairdresser gets her hair cut at Supercuts because they are trained extremely well. And I know because I used to train them in hair color. And I know what training they go through. And I found a gal there named Sherry a year or so ago, maybe two years ago now, who's been with them for like 25 years. She gives me a great haircut, gives Craig a great haircut. We go together. We're yes, we are those people now that go get their haircut together. It's so weird. His was so long, it was like shearing a sheep. I had four haircuts to his one haircut. Does that tell you anything? Yeah, crazy. But we did go get our haircuts, and we both look very nice now. We're all cleaned up and spiffy. This weekend on Saturday night, Craig and his siblings met at their family home. It will be closing today. There will be new young owners who love the house. It's a very unique house. It was designed, I think I talked about this before by Craig's dad. So we had dinner there and we ate our final meal at the family table. We had Chinese food, which his mom used to love us to go pick up when we were visiting. And I know was one of her favorites. She loved egg fuund. And this Chinese place in Mokina has egg fuel. So we had dinner, lots of laughs, lots of talking, lots of baby stories because Erin was there and she's pregnant. That's um Anne's daughter-in-law and her husband, her son Eric were there. Our kids got to say goodbye to grandma's house when they were here in November. Um, we knew we were putting it on the market, so they got to go spend an afternoon out there and say their goodbyes. It's hard, but it's not so hard when you know somebody's buying it that loves it and is gonna treat it right. That's the cats talking to each other. Sorry about that. Got a couple of plays to go to this weekend, going to see Betrayal with Helen Hunt here in Chicago. Uh, a little bit of trivia. In the 80s, I was Helen Hunt's hair colorist at the syndicate in Encino. I worked as a hair colorist there, and Joey was her stylist, and I was her colorist. And I've sent her a personal note to the theater to see if maybe I could just say hi. I'd love to say hi. Um, we were both very young when I used to do her hair color, and we are now ladies of a certain age. But I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm going with my friend Joan and my friend Mary. So that'll be a fun afternoon. And then the next day, Craig and I are going to see another play, Fun Home, at uh the Pickwick. I'm not sure. I can't remember. I think the Pickwick Theater here in Chicago. One of the nicest things about living downtown here is you have theater. And, you know, we, I don't think I talked about this because I meant to. Craig and I also, two weeks ago on a Friday night, went to uh Lyric Opera Hall, which is just a gorgeous old theater. And we saw Singing in the Rain. The orchestra played the score, and the movie played as it, you know, as it would. You could hear the the lines and everything from the actors, but all of the music, the scene setting music, as well as the musical numbers was all played by the orchestra. It was fabulous. So there is some perks to living here in downtown Chicago, and that is there's many, many, many, many. But that is one. Well, that's what's been going on with me. I

Living Through Treatment With Support

SPEAKER_01 11:40

hope your life is interesting. I I tread lightly as I go through this journey of cancer. Any of you that are going through the journey or have been through the journey know where I'm at. Some days are good, some days are not. And the pill form of chemo is something I don't have anybody to talk to about. Everybody I know has done the port chemo. And although they're the same, they are different. I will tell you that trying to poison yourself on a daily basis by taking your own pills, knowing what they're doing, and knowing how they make you feel is not easy. There's days I wish I had a port that they could just hook me up to, but unfortunately, my body cannot sustain a port. So this is what I'm stuck with. But I am grateful that there is technology and doctors and science to keep us healthy. My goal is to not have cancer again, just like all of us people with cancer or have had cancer. So doing my best here, looking forward to my son and his girlfriend coming to visit in a couple weeks. They are not coming to just visit, they are coming to take care of me, which is very nice because I have a husband that doesn't quite do that. It's not in Craig's wheelhouse. He's very self-centered. So I say that in the most nice way I can. But the world revolves around Craig, and we're just lucky to be in it. So my kids check on me, and uh my friends are great. So I am very blessed.

Flight Safety Rules That Matter

SPEAKER_01 13:15

All right, let's talk about some not-so-fun stuff, some some aviation tips for us flyers with these, you know, they don't happen very often, but uh you might as well be ready when you're on a plane and not be caught off guard. If you saw the people being shoved off that plane, a few of them look like they were caught off guard. So let's not do that. Let's talk about some things we can do. Hang in then. I'll be right back with you. All right, so flying, a lot of people have a fear of flying. And it's fair. Although we all know the logistics. Driving in your car, you're a lot less safe than you are on a plane. But in the last few weeks, we've seen a lot of scary accidents. The chances for an accident happening are greater at takeoff and landing, and two of these big crashes happen at landing. There's been a few small plane crashes as well. But in one, there was nothing anybody could do. In the second one, if you saw the one in Canada, you saw the video the guy took of people getting off the plane. Well, first of all, how horrifying to be stuck upside down. So you've made it through the crash. You've got your seatbelt on, which we're going to talk about in a minute, but you're hanging upside down. The only way to release yourself is to release that seatbelt and fall to the ceiling of the plane and then get off. I'd probably get hurt dropping to the bottom of the, you know, the top of the plane. But nonetheless, there are things you can do to minimize and to be prepared without being neurotic and without being fearful. So you should always follow the flight attendant's directions and keep your seatbelt fastened. Listen to me. I know how many of you, the minute you hit the ground, release that seatbelt so you can jump up and stand in the aisle for an hour until you get off the plane. We also saw a plane get hit sitting on a runway. That was um in Scottsdale. It was just sitting on the runway. I don't think anybody was in it, but people could have been in it. If you didn't have your seatbelt on, you're in trouble. So I find it hysterical that people take their seatbelts off during the most crucial time. You're on an active runway. You're let me say that again. You are on an active runway. Keep that seatbelt till you can't till you know you are at the gate and you hear ding. Good lord, people, saving time. So the people that had either not had their seatbelt on tight enough or had already released their seatbelt on like because they they were just touching down as the whole thing started. So there's people that click their seatbelt off at touchdown. Those people are the ones that are injured, those are the people that are hurt. Keep your seatbelt on. Now, this is interesting because I don't do this, and I'm I'm thinking I'm gonna need to change that. If you watch the people, number one, get out of that plane, climbing over all that debris and everything and the debris outside, and then they walked into snow and freezing cold temperatures. So obviously, you're not gonna be wearing sandals on a flight like that. Or you may have been coming home from Hawaii and thought, oh, it's so fun, we're just gonna go in the airport and we're gonna get in our Uber and go home. Well, passengers should always wear close-toed shoes and keep them on. Do not take your shoes off, especially during takeoff and landing. If you must evacuate the craft quickly, you don't want to be in flip-flops or worse, bare feet. Could you imagine if you had planned to put your shoes on as you were taxiing or something? So that's some really good advice. Close-toed shoes, keep them on. If you're on a long haul flight, take them off, but always for takeoff and landing, have those shoes on. Always eat a meal before you get on a flight. If an emergency happens, you don't want to be sluggish because you didn't eat. Never would have thought of that. Probably a really good point. Once you board the aircraft and take to your seat, be sure to note the closest exit, even if it's behind you. They tell you to do that. Do you? I do. Craig and I, if we're not in first class, nine times out of ten, we're in the exit row. I look at that every time because each door is different. I want to know how to do that door. I it's no joke to sit there and have them ask you that question. How do you think those people felt in the exit row when they had that plane flipped? They better have known what they were doing. Okay, so don't take safety like, oh, I've flown so many times. I doubt you've flown more than me, and I doubt you've flown more than Craig. It's important to look at those things. Make sure you can navigate your way out of the plane. Make sure if that exit is behind you, you know how many rows. Pay attention to the flight attendant, safety briefing. It's really frustrating, and it is for me too. People have their ear pods, nobody's paying attention. You have my safety in your hands too. Pay frickin' attention. Listen to what they're saying. It makes a difference. And here is the next thing. If you have to evacuate and they tell you this in the safety briefing, you get to take nothing with you. So maybe upon landing, before you land, you should have your wallet in your pocket, your phone in your pocket, your car keys in your pocket. That way, if something happens, you have exactly what you need on your person and you can get out. You can't take anything. If you've seen the video of people getting off that flight, that Delta flight in Canada, the stewardess is yelling at them to leave it. Leave it like a dog, leave it. People are wanting to take stuff. You cannot take stuff. You can get out with what's on your person. So you may well might want to make sure you have your if you're landing in a snowy cold area, you may want to make sure you have that jacket on at landing. Okay, so not to be alarmist, and I'm not being an alarmist. I just want you to be safe and smart. Some of these advices I need to take. I pack my jacket and put it on when I get in the um, I pack it in my carry-on. So it's something for me to think about when we're landing in the cold here in Chicago, one of the busiest airports. Well, these are some basic thoughts, some basic ideas. But I think you can add to it. Just I especially like my my main thing is put your wallet, your keys, your phone in your pockets. If anything happens, you have that with you. You have your keys to leave the airport or to get into your home, excuse me. You have money and you have your phone. Now, as much as I appreciate the gentleman or woman, whoever did the videoing as they were getting out, it's probably not the smartest thing to do, but it was um interesting to watch that.

Travel Readiness Checklist Before You Go

SPEAKER_01 20:49

While we're on the subject of traveling, let's talk about some other things here. I think I've got I've got a few tips. I think I've got eight here before you travel. So if you don't have TSA pre-check, you can get that. Uh active passport. I just renewed my passport. You can now renew online. Take your own photo. You'll have to answer some questions. If you qualify, you can renew online. So I did everything online and I got my passport within two weeks. Cost me, I think, $135. So make sure if you're going to be traveling out of the country, you have to have number one, a passport that's good for six months. So if you don't, they won't let you go, which is really stupid, in my opinion. But make sure you've got an updated passport, make sure you have TSA pre check, and then in the United States you have to either have a passport or I can't think of what that thing is they're calling on your driver's license in order to fly within the United States. So Yeah, know that. I wish I knew what that was called. Sorry, I've got the hiccups now. Um so as you prepare to travel, you can call the 800 numbers for the airlines and get information about where you're flying, what you might need. They'll give it to you. So those 800 numbers are super handy for information. Um check the expiration date. Here it is on your passport. Make sure you've got that. Get an international driver's permit. If you're planning to drive overseas, make sure that you have an international driver's permit. Um, there are some countries that require one. So I'm not sure what they are. Your United States driver's license obviously works in Canada and Mexico, but with the current administration, who long knows how long they'll let us do that there. Triple A is a really great thing to have. If you don't have AAA, get AAA and they can help you out with a lot of these things. I am a really big one for this booking the first flight of the day on an airline. I uh especially if it's an airline that's not based in your city. If it's an airline based in your city, they've got a boatload of backup airlines like um airplanes. Uh, I fly out of Chicago. American Airlines is based here. So I'm pretty good, but I still take the first morning flight. It's rarely runs late, and I usually get upgraded to first class because people miss their flight. So, because of my gold status with American, I get put on the upgrade list, and I've been several times upgraded on that one.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Research your local currencies and exchange rates of where you're going, search on tipping etiquette. And make sure you have a lot of apps, apps for when you're traveling, apps for all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Just app yourself up where you're going. You can use it for sightseeing and things like that, but get get lots of apps. Find

Packing Light And Building A Wardrobe

SPEAKER_01 24:20

your apps that are gonna help you. Travel light, people. I you know I've said this before. I travel with just a carry-on and then a backpack, even for three weeks. Almost, almost three weeks in Greece, and that's all I had. Like being traveling light is easy. You only need a couple bottoms. You need some tops. Um, unless you're planning to be really sweaty, get some quick dry pants. I've got a couple of cute pairs of quick dry pants that take nothing, and you can add those in. But a couple of bottoms, more tops, plenty of underpants. I don't know why people I've we've talked about this before. I know we have. I have such a thing about people washing their underwear on a trip. How much room does an underwear take? Or how big are your granny panties? Because I mean, I'm not a tiny girl, but my underwear does not take up much room. And I always take enough for every day plus two. And it does not take up much room in my luggage. So if you're skipping on your underpants to bring another pair of jeans, shame on you. Try to travel light, try it a couple times. Um, create a color scheme. My color scheme is always black and white, and then one key color: hot pink, teal, some color that looks good on me. But my color theme, my base theme is usually black and white. And this isn't the time to bring all the clothes that you haven't worn at home, anyway. You know, bring what you're comfortable in, bring what looks good on you, and do a color theme, bring scarves. Scarves are a great accessory and make things look different. I always take a couple of scarves. Again, they don't take up much room, but they dress up an outfit, they make you look better. So those are my handy packing tips. I use packing cubes, I've told you that before. But again, uh, this is also gonna be the summer of the dress for me. I because I'll have had radiation at the end of spring, I'm gonna have to stay out of the sun. So the best way to cover the legs, I think, is a dress. So I ordered some summer shift dresses, really cute dresses, and I'm gonna do the summer of the dress. And if you're gonna wear dresses on a trip, that's even easier packing. Pack all dresses if you're going on a warm trip. You don't need shorts. You can just wear summer dresses. It's an outfit all in one. So there you go. That's my handy dandy information. But fly safe, be safe, people. I don't want you to be in one of these accidents and not be ready. I don't want to not be ready. Again, take off and landing. All

Travel Fun Facts And Closing

SPEAKER_01 27:12

right, we're gonna land ourselves right into a fun fact of the day. Hang in there. All right, I have five travel fun facts. The world's largest commercial flight took around 30 hours. It's called the Devil Sunrise Service by Qantas from Australia to Sri Lanka. Now, I can tell you, Craig and I on our honeymoon went to Australia from California. That is a long flight. Long flight. There was a lot of meals on that flight. The shortest commercial flight takes less than two minutes. It goes um somewhere in Scotland in the Orkney Islands. You go up, you go down. Japanese railways hand out certificates for delays of more than five minutes. Could you imagine? That's amazing. The most expensive airport for a city taxi ride costs around 190. I think those are pounds. I'm not sure. And it is in Tokyo, I think. So that's I'm not sure what that $235 American one way from Tokyo's airport into the city. This is crazy. This is crazy. India's trains transport roughly 23 million passengers each day. 23 million every day. Crazy, crazy train. Literally. All right, everybody. There's a few little travel fun facts. And I hope you got something out of this episode. We continue into another week. I look forward to talking to you next week and see what we have going on then. And remember, go out and do something positive.