EP 110 The view from a neurodivergent traveller; world's most crowded hotspots & duty-free shopping tips

Airports are one of the most stressful places we'll find ourselves, and this week, we're looking at travel from the viewpoint of a neurodivergent traveller.  

Sarah Maree Cameron is a radio and TV presenter, writer and comedian. She presents the House of Wellness on Nine Radio, and in Melbourne, the Weekend Break with Grubby on 3AW and TravelOz on Channel 7. 

With that job description, she's constantly on the road, and we chat about how she manages her hectic schedule while juggling a number of dietary and health issues. Listen for her top tips on staying stress-free and healthy. Follow Sarah Maree on instagram for more wellness tips 

Also, which are the most crowded tourist destinations in the world?  A couple are particular favourites for Australian travellers, according to new analysis from  Deluxe Holiday Homes. 

And Kadi Luggage reveals how to get the best bang for your buck when shopping duty-free at airports. 

Sarah Maree's tips include:

Listening to sleep stories with the Calm app 

Hotteeze heat pads 

Chapters

• 2:50 The most overcrowded tourism destinations
• 8:15 Neurodivergent traveller Sarah Maree Cameron
• 37:39 Best bang for your buck when duty-free shopping at airports

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:02

Welcome to The World Away. Travel tales to inspire your wanderlust. Welcome back to The World Awaits. How is everyone? I hope you're all well. How's your week been, Belle?

SPEAKER_00: 0:14

Oh, you know, it's like just a turgid mess of things that I haven't yet done. But what I am doing, I have actually filed stories about my bargain basement flight with AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. Let me tell you, if you want to carve your flight bill down to nothing, go on an airline that gives you nothing. And it's a beautiful thing, right? You get to carry I mean, you know, you get what you pay for.

SPEAKER_01: 0:40

Isn't

SPEAKER_00: 0:41

that raw dogging? I did write it as the airline best for raw dogging because it's like you're like eight hours, you know, seven hours from KL to Melbourne, no screens, no blankets, no eye masks, no food, nothing. But you get to bring all your own food on, which can I just say, I'm going to do a little plug for the interview later on, is a great thing if you're traveling with dietaries and you're BYO and nobody frowns at you when you pull out your little pack of sandwiches or whatever. Sorry, I was writing about that one for the Sydney Morning Herald. Also, I've been writing about the Block Arcade, which is one of the National Trust Victoria's listed gems of Melbourne because shopping and design are a match made in heaven, don't you think? Interestingly, it is modelled on the Galleria Vittoria in Manuel in Milan. And here's another budget tip. If you don't have the money for a plane ticket to Italy, the Block Arcade is the next best thing. So there you go. I'm giving it my all to So what about you, Kirsty? What have you been up to?

SPEAKER_01: 1:42

Well, actually, as this goes to air, I would have just recently returned from Noosa, so I'm doing a bit of time travelling. I actually haven't been to the Sunshine Coast region, to this resort region town, if anyone doesn't know. I'm sure everybody knows and has heard about Noosa. Even Kiwis love Sunshine Coast. But I haven't been to Noosa for more than 15 years. Isn't that embarrassing? Isn't that so shocking? So anyway, I can't wait to go back and it's whale season. So we're going to do some whale watching and all the things I love. We're doing hiking and biking and kayaking. So it's like a dream weekend for me. So yeah, can't wait.

SPEAKER_00: 2:22

Oh, that sounds awesome. Love whale watching. You know, I swam with them down on the South coast, New South Wales last year. Very, very nippy. I think you're going to have much nicer, warmer, warmer weather in Noosa. So I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts. It should be pretty quiet too, because you're out of school holidays, yay. Not that ever, like Noosa would ever compare to the overcrowded likes of, you know, like Venice and Barcelona, which brings us, segue, insert segue here, which brings us to the latest data from Deluxe Holiday Homes, which has analysed the annual international visitors at top tourism destinations to show you the top hotspots to skip in 2025.

SPEAKER_01: 3:03

Yes, and sadly, top of us is one of my favourite destinations, which is Phuket, although I have to say, I do love the quieter parts of Phuket. We normally go west Phuket when we go. But the data found that it is actually the most crowded city. So one to avoid this summer. I was actually surprised about this. And it says that they have more than 840,000 visitors per square kilometre. And with 3,392 attractions and an average summer temperature of 27.4 degrees Celsius, it can feel pretty packed. And the fact that many scenes in White Lotus were actually also filmed in Phuket means that it's no doubt going to get even busier. I mean, Thailand generally is going to get busier, right, because of the rise of set jetting.

SPEAKER_00: 3:47

Yeah, and you know, the second destination on the list was another Thai destination, and that's the city of Pattaya. And it has nearly 180,000 visitors per square kilometre, so it's nowhere near as crowded as Phuket. But Pattaya still sees a large number of visitors because, as it says, it's got the best of both worlds, a bustling nightlife, and beaches. And because a lot of the expats live there, I also thought that the certain particular bars were very much a drawcard for Pattaya as well. The food is also subsequently really diverse as well with expats and Thais there in the one destination.

SPEAKER_01: 4:25

Yeah. And third on the list was Paris, which it sees has 166,600 visitors per square kilometre. So while that doesn't match the density of Bruket or Pattaya, the city still has massive crowds because of its landmarks and we all know this. Paris has 10,000 tourist attractions, which is amazing, right? 10,000 tourist attractions. And also a slightly cooler summer temperature, it says, of close to 20 degrees, so it makes it a bit more comfortable than the southeastern places, but it still was number three on the not-to-go list.

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

Yeah, well, I mean, Paris is, you know, it is the most visited city, just, you know, not in not in terms of density, but the most visited city in the world. So there's no surprises there. Barcelona, of course, follows Paris with 65,000 visitors per square kilometre. So it's a lot less crowded. But of course, anybody who follows travel would be across the mass protests there across Barcelona, thanks to Overtourism. And the report says that it actually has nearly 6,000 attractions and the summer temperature is a whole lot nicer than Paris at nearly 24 degrees Celsius. It is going to be popular again. So those numbers aren't going to slow next year when Sagrada Familia's structural towers are supposed to be scheduled for completion. I have to say, I was chasing them for those dates of completion and they were like, oh yes, that's what some people say. Like this was the press office for Sagrada Familia. They say, yes, that's what they're saying. And I'm like, what are you saying exactly? So yeah, so there are reports that construction on the longest running construction site in the after that.

SPEAKER_01: 6:09

Yeah, and just like what you said, Belle, we had the same feedback when we were there last year. The local guides were saying, they were saying, there's no way it's going to be finished. And they were saying that a lot of it is because of the locals, you know, the locals are opposing a lot of the extensions because there's some houses around there. And the locals weren't happy about it. So that's what the local guides were saying, which was really interesting. And rounding out the top five is Miami, which ranked was close to 57,000 visitors per square kilometre, although visitors to the US are dropping because of the Trump era. Actually, the Flight Centre recently released some stats saying that it's had a 10% drop in profit due to backlash to Trump's controversial tariff and entry policies.

SPEAKER_00: 6:59

I don't know. I mean, I see different reports coming out every week about this, and some say that it's business as usual for Australians. Others say that there's been a massive drop. So, I mean, I think, you know, you can see definitely between Canada and the U.S., like that is a clear and definite drop. But I don't know. There's just so much research coming out that even though, you know, Flight Centre with that big drop is there, but then, you know, they had a very strong May. But, you know, if you're talking anecdotally, we had those U.S. digital nomads on the other week. Scroll back on the podcast and have a listen. And they said that the full impact to tourism in the US is years away from being felt. Others on that top tourist hotspots to avoid the summer are Kuala Lumpur, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan and Portugal. Probably put Greece on there at the moment because it has had such bad press from all of those terrible bushfires that are happening in the high temperatures. But look, if you're going to go to these places, the key is just to consider the fact that it will be busy and plan ahead. So you can always make attempts to avoid the crowds. I mean, Eiffel Tower in peak season in the Oh, don't know about that one. This week, my guest is Sarah-Marie Cameron. She is a presenter on TV and radio. She's a writer and a comedian. The girl has got a hectic schedule. She presents the House of Wellness, which is networked around the nine radio. And locally in Melbourne, she does the weekend break with Grubby each Sunday on 3AW from 1pm. She also writes for Body and Soul as a freelance writer. And you might see her on Channel 7 with Trouble Oz.

SPEAKER_01: 8:48

Oh, I love Sarah Marie. She's just so vivacious. So it seems the obvious question, but what made you want to interview her on the pod?

SPEAKER_00: 8:56

Well, apart from being so vivacious. And, you know, a lot of people all know her from her work with Travelers and Radio. She is on the road constantly. But what you might not know is she manages this incredibly hectic schedule while juggling a number of health and dietary issues. So we are touching on how she manages as a neurodivergent traveller. And she shares some really fantastic tips as well for anybody who's looking to make their travel smoother for whatever reason. So take a listen. Sarah-Marie, welcome to The World Awake. It is so exciting to have you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 9:33

I honestly can't believe you asked me to join. The calibre of guests that you have had on, I love listening to the podcast. And I was beyond chuffed when you invited me on, so thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 9:43

No, we love having you on here because, I mean, part of the reason is that you bring the drama and you bring the resolutions as well, because today we're going to talk, we're talking about being healthy and traveling healthily. And, you know, there are so many things that we just take, some people take for granted. I take the ability to sleep standing up for granted, but that's not the case for everybody as we're going to find out as we chat to you. So let's dive into it. Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into the media industry and in general and travel specifically.

SPEAKER_01: 10:19

I've been working in media for just shy of two decades now, predominantly in radio and in the last couple of years been doing a lot more focusing on television as well. Plus there's over the course of the time, there's new media that comes into the fold. So social media is part of that. And I had a bit of a moment a couple of years ago, I thought that I needed to get away from radio and just have a break. I felt like I'd been in a studio talking to myself for far too many years. years. And over the years, like I've done different radio shows and different hours, but I'd been working at Triple M and I just thought, you know what, I just need to get out and need to do something different. And the entire time that I had been doing radio and television and a lot of sports presenting as well and emceeing, I was also writing. So I lived over in Canada, lived right across Australia, moving a lot for media and you get in contact with local publications, local newspapers. There was also a bit of a writing element with some of the radio stations that I worked for. So writing content for their platforms. And I wanted to do a lot more focusing on that as well. A long time ago, I had a blog. I ended up canceling that and just deleting that for a while. And I thought, you know what? I really want to go back to writing. I love it so much. And through comedy, I get to do a lot of writing as well. So I just wanted to dig deep and was super fortunate that Jammo hired me at Get Lost Travel Magazine. And I was there as the assistant editor And it was so much fun. And then I ended up going freelance and still write freelance and now write for Body and Soul as well. And I'm unbelievably fortunate to be one of the co-hosts for the House of Wellness, which is on Nine Radio on a Sunday morning with the divine Gerald Quigley. I just got so lucky having him as a co-host. So that's where I am now. So that's the shortest version of 20 years in media.

SPEAKER_00: 12:17

There you go. In a nutshell. One of the really interesting things when we first started talking about this was I saw on one of your socials, you were talking about negotiating travel as somebody who's neurodivergent. And I kind of hadn't thought about this a lot. And then I thought, hang on, I'm putting myself into an airport. The most stressed I am in my life is that hour before you get to the airport. I am absolutely beside myself no matter how many times I do it. And I thought, that is such a stressful environment. How does anybody negotiate it? Talk to me about being a neurodivergent traveller.

SPEAKER_01: 12:56

Yeah, so my husband now knows that we've got a set procedure if we are flying domestically or internationally. The first time that we flew internationally together, he couldn't understand why I wanted to get to the airport so early. We got there so early that the checking counter wasn't even open. How early are we talking here? Oh, it was just over three hours. I think we had to wait about 10 or 15 minutes with a check-in counter to open. And he was so unhappy. He was so unhappy. Anyway, got our coffees. We checked in. It was divine. And we got through, you know, customs and all that kind of stuff. And you just don't know what's going to happen depending on the country that you're in. We were fortunate enough to have a credit card that would give us access to a lounge. So we went in and we just chilled out there. And he was like, why? Why all of this? And I was like, this is why I need to sit here now and relax. like it's done the things the heavy lifting I want to do the big jobs first so that it's not weighing down on me so yeah I get to the airport a full three hours before an international flight and if it's a domestic flight I'm usually at the airport with an hour and a half to go because I want to have about an hour in the lounge beforehand again just to chill out and allow myself time I got caught in traffic just the other day when I was flying domestically and so that chewed into my time, which didn't make me feel good in the car. But I just need to be on time. I don't want to be having anxiety about being late. I don't want to have anxiety about missing a flight. I've only missed two flights in my life, a domestic and an international flight. Kills me, kills me to this day that I've missed those two flights. And I just can't have that again. So when you're neurodivergent, anxiety can be something that you were just living with and you don't realize that you are high functioning in that area and that other people don't think like that or start rolling those scenarios. And it's just about trying to alleviate as much stress as possible. So it's getting there early. It's packing the night before. Packing shelves, the best things ever. Again, my husband couldn't understand why I was making these investments in packing shelves, but he's 100% on board. Travel toiletries so that I've got my skincare. I've got skincare that I take on the plane as well. So as we know, we can have all that moisture suck down on our skin when we're flying. So if I'm doing a long haul flight, I actually take, actually I'd take eye patches on domestic flights as well, but I'll take my face mask and my eye patches. And you know, when they say, you know, that we're about to start our descent, give or take what, about 40 minutes if you do international. Yeah. Yeah. So that is where I get rolling. That's where the face mask comes out. That's where the toner comes out. I'm landing with the best face that you could see. I don't fly with makeup on either, but the Those are just things that make me feel better while I'm flying. I've just got to feel clean and ready to go and have my toothbrush and some sanitary wipes and be clean and organized.

SPEAKER_00: 16:01

How's that different to somebody just being kind of organized as well? I mean, I've got my little routines and stuff like that and things that I do. And yes, I have put those, you know, the under eye patches. Yeah, I've done those in flight. I don't think that I've done a full face mask, but a on a day flight in economy and I had to like where everyone had fallen asleep woke up I had my daughter with me and she woke up like screech you know the full Anthony Hopkins look going on right beside her scared the pants off me but I'm back to the seriousness of it with somebody who's neurodivergent I mean how what if it doesn't go right what's the ramifications

SPEAKER_01: 16:44

well it's not a good one that's for sure um I guess what makes it different is that there's an order that all of that has to take place and it's the same. It is like clockwork. I also travel with earplugs as well. So once I start to become really overstimulated, the earplugs have to go in and my husband knows that as well. And yeah, I've got to distract myself. I've also got the Calm app, which was probably one of the best investments that I ever made. A friend of mine actually said to me, this is a couple of years ago, I was traveling around Australia, just doing all the comedy festivals. And I was really struggling to sleep on flights. I was just really anxious at that time and I couldn't calm down. Normally I can sleep on flights, but I couldn't. And he just said to me, we tried listening to sleep stories and that changed my life. So I bought the Calm app. There's a bunch of sleep stories that I have. I don't listen to any new ones when I need them. If I'm on a plane, it's one that I'm already familiar with that I love and I'll usually be asleep or calm and rested within 10 minutes just to help me self soothe basically. And so if something does go wrong, And I don't know, it's a flight delay or my luggage hasn't turned up. That's happened a couple of times. I've got, you know, air tags in my luggage, which is super handy to know because sometimes they haven't known when my luggage is and I've been able to tell them where my luggage is. So when those sorts of things happen, car map is on. I start listening to, if it's not sleep stories, it's something else. Try and have a moment, meditate, do mindfulness. I have to do things to try and re Otherwise, I become an awful, agitated person.

SPEAKER_00: 18:26

Right. Okay. So you've mentioned a couple of things and I'm just going to pull them back out because I did want to talk to you about sleep. We have talked about sleep. I think being five foot three helps me with the whole sleep thing because, you know, if you're a six foot seven person trying to cram yourself and I was literally, I was on an AirAsia flight. I was writing a review for it this morning and there was a guy beside me who was about six foot and he really broad shoulders. I mean, so I don't have those problems of cramming myself into a little puddle, but let's talk about how you sleep successfully on flights because I think you've got loads in there. You've mentioned the Calm app. Is that, and I'll put these in the show notes as well, but also what's a sleep story?

SPEAKER_01: 19:11

Sleep stories are just beautiful stories that have been recorded by lots of different people. There's so many different celebrities that have done it over the years and you can find them on YouTube as well. You don't need to have the Calm app, but if I'm just opening my Calm app right now and if I go to sleep and then I'll go to sleep stories there's a whole bunch of people or actually one lady I love Tabitha Brown I adore her I don't know if you know her she's a wonderful cooking influencer online and she's just got a gorgeous voice and it's just soothing you know it's just a gorgeous soothing voice my favorite sleep story that I listen to quite often this is my I have tried everything else and nothing is working this is the sleep story that puts me to sleep every time. It's called Blue Gold and the voiceover for it is Stephen Fry.

SPEAKER_00: 20:03

Right. Okay. I'm with you on this one now. So if you're sat on, you've got headphones or do

SPEAKER_01: 20:10

you use earpods? Yeah, I use headphones. Yeah. I've just found one from Scotty Pippin. Hey, is that your jam? You can listen to a sleep story from Scotty Pippin. I get it. He's got the voice for a sleep story. So, you know, they talk closer to the microphone. They really pull you in. They try and make you feel safe and secure so that you can sleep. They talk like that.

SPEAKER_00: 20:31

It's a bedtime story. Okay. Right. It is. It's a bedtime story for adults and it's the best. Okay. I'm with you now. So headphones or earpods?

SPEAKER_01: 20:44

I'm an earbuds kind of gal. I'm old school. Plug in earbuds. That's me.

SPEAKER_00: 20:51

Right. Okay. And are you a sleep mask person, a non-sleep mask? Because I've got to say, for me, if you're going to sleep, you need to do sensory deprivation.

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

Yes, I am just really good at sleeping now. So I don't need a sleep mask. I've got a large head. So sometimes they just simply don't fit on my head. Thank you to the airlines that have gifted them to me. In the toiletry packs, they don't often fit this head of mine. But I can just, you know, when you adjust the headrest on the plane, like even just economy, you're sitting up straight, I can sleep Melbourne to Sydney. I can sleep Melbourne to Adelaide. I can sleep Melbourne to Launceston. Okay. Bye. can sleep. If I've got time and I'm out, I have flown domestically eight, 10 times this month already. I've slept on just about every single plane and missed the food and coffee service every single time.

SPEAKER_00: 21:45

I don't think you're missing much with the coffee service myself. But anyway, that is an impressive, that is a really impressive track record. But interestingly, I mean, missing the food, missing the coffee is one thing, missing the food is another one. But that brings me into the next question because You also travel with dietries, don't you? I do. How does that work?

SPEAKER_01: 22:07

Yeah, so gluten-free. Tell us your dietries, gluten-free. Yeah, gluten-free. I have a shellfish allergy and I don't have pork. So those are my dietries. I often just go for a vegetarian meal when I'm traveling. And, for instance, if I'm flying, I fly with Virgin a lot. I recently flew with Qantas, but I just have my aligned preference, with Velocity. When I go into the Melbourne lounge, they've got gluten-free food. They'll make me a gluten-free toasty. Just go line up and ask them very nicely and you'll have a lovely little gluten-free toasty, which they make behind the counter away from everybody else. So if you're celiac, that's actually really fantastic. For me, I have an intolerance, so cross-contamination, I'm fine. But I'm really impressed by the snacks and the lengths that Virgin go to in their lounge for that. So yeah, I'll just go get myself a little gluten-free toasty. That's probably why I'm able to sleep on the flight because I've already eaten and done everything thing of the lounge. And then if I've got a thousand things that I need to do, I write that out on a notepad, empty my brain, and then I get onto the flight and I'm good to go. In terms of international, look, it can vary. Sometimes you can fly an airline and they've got a great stir fry and you can have that and that's okay. And then there are other times where there isn't necessarily a meal available, very few and far between, but it does happen. It does happen. But if I'm just going for, say, a vegetarian gluten-free meal, I think that that is way more common these days.

SPEAKER_00: 23:35

Yeah, I think the pork thing is interesting because I noticed I've been, you know, I've lived on and off in the Middle East and then coming back to Australia and you'd find Qantas, like those choices, you know, you don't think, you wouldn't think about it, but they've just got, you know, pork and pork on it, you know, you've got a pork sausage and then you've got some bacon on the side and you'd be like, yeah, look at that, I can have four types of pork now, yum. So that has kind of struck me, you know, coming from a very non-pork, society back into a reintroduction to something where ham is a vegetable, basically. Do you travel with snacks in your bag as well? What do you throw in there?

SPEAKER_01: 24:14

I normally have gluten-free bars of some description, just as a safety precaution. If it's a long haul, if it's short, it's fine. If it's anything under six hours, I'm going to be okay. I'm not going to be malnourished on the other end. But if the flight's longer than that, then yeah, I'll normally have a couple of snacks. And I think it was when my husband and I were coming back from Canada and then I had to declare the ones that I hadn't eaten because the food was great. When I was flying back, it was perfect and suited my dietary requirements. My husband's like, can you just put it in the bin? I don't want to line up in the declaration. So I just get rid of it. So I just binned it, walked away, let it go. But yeah, I have to fly with snacks. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 24:52

Yeah. Yeah. And I think anyone who's ever flown with children has always got like a nose bag that they're emptying out at the other end of half eaten snacks from their kids and stuff. Been pinged by the dogs too many times that I can't count. In your role, you've been in the public eye for many years and part of that is you're an ambassador for a number of organisations that deal with health conditions. Those health conditions, I told you, she brings the drama, but those health conditions also impact upon how you travel. Tell us about those organisations that you are an ambassador for.

SPEAKER_01: 25:29

I've been an ambassador with the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation since 2011, I think, towards the end of 2011 is when I jumped on board with them. And then for Endometriosis Australia, I want to say that was around 2015 that I became an ambassador with them. And I'm fit and healthy now and super thankful with the journey that I went on when I had cervical cancer. I was diagnosed very young when I was 22. And it just opened me up to a whole world of different, you you know, gynecological issues that people born with female reproductive organs can experience. Then going down the diagnosis route of endometriosis, that can be a little problematic for some. Some people have it and they don't even know that they've got it until they're trying to have babies. And then you've got other people who have it and are acutely aware of it and it affects every second that they are awake. And I guess I've experienced both ends of those spectrums. I think I had a memory pop up today. Actually, my last laparoscopy was three years ago today for a clean out, as we call them, for some excision surgery. So you can experience lower back pain, abdominal pain, endometriosis can grow wherever it wants. It's most often found within the pelvis and in tricky little spots called like the pouch of Douglas, which is between your bladder and your bowel. And I think just about anybody can experience bowel issues when they're flying because it of the pockets that you get, the air pressure, also the food that you might be eating as well. So try and combine that with somebody who has growths and lesions and cysts from endometriosis. It can be quite difficult. So that's another thing that I'm very wary of. I pull back on food. I can't get too excited when I'm flying. You know, some people want to get on, they want to have the shampoos and they want to have the food. And I remember the first time that I flew business, I was like, oh my gosh, this is going to be so exciting. And then I saw the food. I was like, I can't, this is too much. It's too heavy. I'm going to struggle at the other end. So I have to just be conscious of the amount that I'm eating, what I'm eating and find things that are basically easy to digest for me while I'm traveling to make that flight and the day that I land a lot easier, particularly on a long haul flight. And you can even take things like hotties. I love hotties. They're Stick on heat patches. Don't stick them directly onto your skin because they warm up so much that you can get blisters. But if you wear a cami underneath and you can stick it on top of the cami. When I'm flying, sometimes I have them shoved down the back of my high waist jeans. You'd never even know. You just get them from Chemist Warehouse in a pack and I love them and I travel with hotties. Actually, I learned the hard way. When you're in America and maybe in other countries, by the way, I'd need to double check this. There is a limit as to how many you can travel with. And I entered America. Anyway, they pulled my bag aside. They said, you can't travel with all of this. Like, this is ridiculous. And I was like, oh, sorry. And I had a medical letter from my doctor for my medications and it stipulated on the letter that I had endometriosis. And the woman who was going through my bag, she looked at me and she's like, all right, but never again. She's like, you definitely have brought too many of these into the country. She's like, you know we sell these here. I was like, I panicked. I didn't know if you did. But of course they do it, like a sneaky yes. Of course. Anyway, I travel with those and they're fantastic because sometimes my pelvis and my lower back can get a little bit sore and a little bit tight, more than your average person. So I've got to try and keep it warm and keep it limber.

SPEAKER_00: 29:16

Yeah,

SPEAKER_01: 29:16

right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 29:17

For me, I feel like I've been traveling in a beautiful bubble. I'm really learning. I always learn a lot when I'm talking to you as well. So straight back at you. Yeah. Bringing nothing here. I mean, yes, I I've changed babies in toilets in airplanes. Gosh. And I'll tell you what, that is a steep learning curve. You know, interestingly, I was traveling through Istanbul last year and it's got a new airport, gorgeous new airport. One of the things I noticed there, and I've been looking for them since then in other airports, and I think I saw the other in Qatar as well, and they are quiet rooms. Oh. Yeah. So. Oh, my God. That one in Istanbul. is actually it was written on the front it was a low stimulus room um for travelers with with dementia and for travelers that suffer from you know suffered in in an overstimulated environment and like in Qatar I spent eight hours in that airport and every every announcement was done in three languages and after three hours that starts to feel old but coming at it from from your point of view that would be like a an absolute nightmare for you wouldn't it

SPEAKER_01: 30:30

yeah Yeah, definitely can be. And that's why those rooms are so fantastic. And I'm even noticing sporting stadiums having those now. There's a friend of mine who runs a charity called Friend in Me. And one of the things that she raises funds for is they're kind of like transit vans, I guess. And then she decks them out as a quiet space and they go to fates so that children can go and have time out. They go to festivals and create these beautiful spaces for people and children to have that chill out time and it's incredible what it does there are so many people like oh who needs them well not the person who's asking the question but for so many other people you know it's it's actually not that hard to make travel accessible and if it is by adding a room like that to help people regulate their nervous system and to cool their jets basically if they're overstimulated it is such a fantastic addition and like oh the airport in Doha Seriously, one of the best. It's so great. And it's so spacious. And you do have those places just to calm yourself before you get on the plane. You definitely don't want to be getting on the plane agitated. That goes for anybody, whether you're neurodivergent or not. You could have just had a really tough time. And I look at airports as one of the most magical places in the world. I love being in an airport. There's a side that stresses me out, but I find them so beautiful. And there's gorgeous stories happening in and out of terminals and arrivals and departures, but there's also harrowing ones as well. And while you and I and so many other people, we get to travel because of a positive, some people are traveling because of a negative. And so if you put yourself in their shoes for a moment and then they've got this room and this space just to center themselves and gather themselves before getting on that flight to do whatever it is that they need to do, I

SPEAKER_00: 32:25

think that that's

SPEAKER_01: 32:26

beautiful.

SPEAKER_00: 32:27

That's an amazing way to look at it. Really Really, really well cooked. Thanks for that, Sarah-Marie. I'm going to use this to steer to our last question, which is the question we ask all our guests, and I reckon you're going to bring a good one to the table. What is your most bizarre travel experience?

SPEAKER_01: 32:48

Okay, this is the first one that sprung to mind. We could probably call it a few other things, but this was my first foray into solo travel. I made a decision that I was going to pack up, leave, go work overseas and backpack. And between making that decision and leaving was approximately five weeks. So no real time for my family to adjust to that. I just took off. Anyway, I was super pumped and excited and had all the bravado of somebody my age would. Friends out of uni and wanting to go tackle the world and learn and grow up as quickly as possible, basically. And I had to hop my way to America. So it was Melbourne to Auckland, first Auckland over to LA. Anyway, I had my boarding pass. I was traveling with a couple of other people and I looked at my boarding pass and I saw that there was a weird code on my boarding pass that looked just a little bit different to the code that they had. The other people had the same code. I did not have that code. And And when I landed in Auckland, I was swiftly taken away. And I was taken into a room and I was moments away from being stripped and searched due to what I believe was mistaken identity with someone that has a very similar name to me. And it wasn't until I was hysterical and then they checked my birth date and then they realized that I was not involved in any unbecoming activities. And they eventually let me go, but I had to go through a full interrogation and nearly missed my connecting flight to America and then I saw that code again I think I must have been in New York when that happened and by that stage I just got ready for it like I braced and I thought okay I'm going to get taken away here into a room and I did it was by no means as terrifying as what happened to me in Auckland that's nothing against people in Auckland like they're doing their job my name came up as something for whatever reason and on that in entire trip it did and it was a big trip um so I definitely don't hold anything against them and I've been to Auckland airport numerous times with many other carriers and everybody is wonderful and delightful and I can't wait to go there again but when you're going through that alone and you know this is 2006 for me so we you know we weren't connected we didn't have an iPhone are you joking I probably had like a Nokia 5210 I don't know what I had but whatever it was it wasn't calling mum and dad you know I didn't have a phone call to them I just just had to go through the motions of being taken away from customs and going into this random room and nearly being strip searched so i mean that'll stay with you i love a good strip

SPEAKER_00: 35:37

search story i do and it stayed with you the whole way through i wonder what the other person had actually done

SPEAKER_01: 35:42

they just uh they just made traveling in 2006 very difficult for me but i got there and funnily enough when i got into canada it didn't happen when i when i got to canada It was just, yeah, New York and, yeah, Auckland were the two locations where I got pulled aside. I still have the boarding pass with the code, by the way. And I now know because these articles have come out, like if you have this code on your boarding pass. What's the code? What's the code? Oh, now I need to Google. I feel like it's a, is it SSSX?

SPEAKER_00: 36:19

Hang on. That

SPEAKER_01: 36:19

sounds

SPEAKER_00: 36:19

dodgy in itself. Okay. So people, if you've got this code, chances are that you're going to be... Maybe not strip searched. Oh, you might have a check on you from AusPol or something like that. Sarah-Marie, it was awesome to talk to you today. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences because they're not ones that you hear every day. It's not just a chat about where you went on your holidays. Thanks so much for going deep into that and for giving us some resolutions as well. And we're going to put those ideas in the show notes as well. So have a look in there and Thanks again for coming on The World Awaits.

SPEAKER_01: 36:51

Thank you so much for having me. And I'm all about sharing tips and tricks. I feel like that is the purpose to life. If you can make something a little bit easier for somebody else, then absolutely. And getting to speak with people like yourself who've been in the industry for such a long time, I feel so blessed. So thank you. Thanks again. Gosh, it's so interesting hearing how Sarah-Marie manages her anxiety while travelling and some really good tips in there too for people, you know, with any sort of anxiety issues really. And we will put all the information in the show notes. And you can follow her on Instagram at Sarah-Marie Life.

UNKNOWN: 37:30

Music

SPEAKER_00: 37:42

Our tip this week is for getting the best bang for your buck when shopping duty-free. And a new study from Aussie travel brand Caddy Luggage reveals that some of Australia's busiest airports are actually, come on, let's be shocked people, charging more than national retailers like BWS, Chemist Warehouse and Sephora for popular duty-free items, sometimes more than$50 for one single item.

SPEAKER_01: 38:08

Yeah, and sadly, I am not surprised. So I used to, decades ago probably, used to buy all my perfume duty free because it was so cheap. And then after prices just started going up and up and, you know, in the last sort of five, 10 years, I've just stopped doing it because it's just so much cheaper to get it at the shopping malls.

SPEAKER_00: 38:28

Yeah. And because we're not the ABC, we can name names everywhere. I think too, you know, it's taken a bit of the romance out of buying perfume, hasn't it? So the report backs your experiences, Kirsty, not that this might be your go-to perfume, but as Estee Lauder's beautiful Eau de Parfum is$30 more expensive in Adelaide and Cairns airports than at Chemist Warehouse.

SPEAKER_01: 38:50

Yes, no, I'm an Yves Saint Laurent girl. In case you want to buy me some perfume. But yeah, mine is definitely at least$30 cheaper at the chemist than the airport. And the report also found that Penfold's Bin 8 wine is the same price or more expensive at five of the seven airports when compared to Dan Murphy's. And also Clinique Lipstick, I love a bit of Clinique, is$10 more at Gold Coast Airport than any of the other airports.

SPEAKER_00: 39:19

Oh my goodness. And most of the perfumes I like are out of my own price range. So I just wash myself in them at the duty-free. But for the best deal, the report says, try Sydney Airport for that same Estee Lauder fragrance, which sells for just$112, which is a$57 saving compared to the most expensive airport that was in the list. Perth Airport has the best single bottle price for Johnny Walker Black Label, which is a one litre, of course. Always important to remember when you're buying alcohol duty-free, you get the one litre ones, not those$750 50 mil, like, little testers that they sell at the BWS. So at Perth, it was that Johnny Walker was$75, which is a decent saving over BWS's$82. And the real value comes in again at Sydney Airport where bundle deals make it one of the rare duty-free wins. Two bottles of Johnny Walker, so you've got to love it, obviously. Two bottles for$119, which you would be coughing up$164 at BWS. And if you want to buy three, it's a you 77 bucks. So there you go. Whiskey lovers. Personally, I do. You've really got to love it. I do what I call the gindex, which is when I check out how much the Tanqueray is. I take it as a measure all around the world. I'm like, today the gindex is$37 in Muscat. There you

SPEAKER_01: 40:48

go. I was going to say, don't ever say that the World Awakes podcast doesn't bring you the best deals. And if you're listening on playback, I'm sure that the relativity will be the same. So Clinique lipstick, do you love a bit of lippy? And you, my friend, are synonymous with the red lippy. Totally. Absolutely. So Clinique's cult, Clinique's cult favorite, almost lipstick, is identical in price at Gold Coast Airport and Sephora, both charging$48. But that's a$10 markup compared to nearly every other airport where the same product is just$38. So if you're flying out of Gold Coast, you're paying$10 more for the same lipstick.

SPEAKER_00: 41:29

Oh, sacrilege. Right. Actually, I wear a MAC one, which is what all of the Virgin Australia girls wear as well.

SPEAKER_01: 41:37

Oh, yes. And didn't you ask them about that when we were at the tennis?

SPEAKER_00: 41:42

Oh, the Qatar girls. I always talk lipstick with them. I love talking lipstick with air hostess. So, because I've always got, you know, their lips stay on. They do. In a 14-hour flight. So, I always ask them and I've got to say, look, secret. They always look gorgeous. The secret is, Kosti, I'm going to share it with you, lip paint. Lip paint. So you whack a lip paint on underneath, you put the color over the top, and then a sealer if you need it, and you don't need to touch up until you touch down. So let me see. What else did we find out from that report? Oh, look, here we go. We've got some more bargains coming in here. One of the few products where Duty Free actually delivers is Grey Goose. The one liter was consistently cheaper than BWS, which at at$105. And if you are in airports, you will pick it up for$86 in Perth and$89 in Melbourne or Brisbane. The catch is it wasn't available online at the time of research at Sydney or the Gold Coast. So we're kind of limiting your options if you're flying out from those hubs. But why don't you make it always drop us a line and tell us your great duty-free wins. I would love to hear that.

SPEAKER_01: 42:51

Yes, I would too. So the key takeout from all of this, sadly, the days of cheap duty-free are over, my friends. Do your homework and price things up before you go so you know if you're being ripped off. Next week, I'm going to take you to sunny Queensland to talk all things Noosa. You can expect whale watching, biking, hiking, and I'll explain exactly why a weekend in this popular Sunshine Coast resort area should be on your travel to-do list.

SPEAKER_00: 43:17

And we'd love it if you joined us on socials. You'll find us at the World Awaits podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and on LinkedIn. So feel free to drop us a line at hello at the World Awaits And if you are enjoying this episode, give us a rating or a review. And don't forget, we still have got a giveaway of Ultimate Dive Sites, which is by our guest Todd Stineos from a couple of weeks ago. So if you need to know where to dive around the world, that is a book for you. Jump on the Instagram and put your name in to win. That's a wrap for The World Awaits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favourite pods. Thanks for listening. See you next week.