Wine, World Travel, and Red Flags

Travel can be glorious, traumatic, or all the above in the same trip. Meghan & Brittany break down the essential travel debates through their signature "Red Flag Green Flag" game, revealing what scenarios signal danger or delight when you're globetrotting.

Pack your bags (carry-on only if you're smart) & grab your passport! Join these 2 blondes as they share their unfiltered travel tales to help you avoid international disasters.

🎙️fearlesslyfemaleuncensored@gmail.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Fearlessly Female
• 1:03 Getting a Massage
• 3:26 Group Travel
• 7:16 Checked Bags
• 10:04 Street Food

Transcript

Welcome to Fearlessly Female

Meghan 0:00

Welcome to Fearlessly Female, where two blondes make a right, and today we're taking a trip around the world sort of. We are Meghan and Brittany, the hosts of Fearlessly Female. This podcast was born out of ambition, drive and a lot of wine. We're two powerhouse comedic women having uncensored conversations about topics that affect women. We're airing all the dirty laundry, so grab your favorite drink and give us a listen.

Brittany 0:23

Make sure your bags are packed, because today's episode is all about traveling the good, the bad and the should. We really be doing this? We're bringing back our favorite game of red flag green flag travel edition, so you're definitely going to want to have a drink handy for this.

Meghan 0:37

That's right. We're breaking down travel related scenarios, deciding if they're a major red flag or glowing green flag. We've posted some red and green drink recipes from around the world on our Instagram for you all to try out too. Warning calm your tits. Offense will not be taken here. So grab your passports, grab your favorite drink, burn your bra and let's get into it.

Brittany 1:03

All right, first up I see this is a fan favorite of Meghan Getting a massage or really any service in another country. Red flag or green flag.

Meghan 1:11

Red flag!

Brittany 1:13

Oh, this one's tricky. I'm going to say green flag, but maybe with some caution tape wrapped around it. Maybe if the place has actual reviews. Towels that don't look like they've seen a world war green flag, fuse towels that don't look like they've seen a world war green flag. But if someone's trying to upsell you on some, maybe special techniques while giving you the side eye, maybe not. Meghan, you seem pretty hard set on red flag. Why is that?

Meghan 1:33

You know. It's amazing that I'm still friends with the person I went to China with after that trip, and it could be its own podcast, really. But we decided to get a massage and there was, of course, a language barrier there. But our tour guide took us to the hotel, did all the negotiation and told us how much to pay and she said this is the full price. You don't give them anything else. She was really specific about saying like you're completely paid up, do not give them any more money.

Meghan 2:01

So we go to get the massage. We were in the same room all of our clothes on which, honestly, thank God, at that point it was foreshadowing there and these were pretty rough massages. I mean, at one point my friend asked me how do you say lighter? But I had an elbow in my back and could barely breathe and I was about to lose it laughing. So I couldn't even tell her, not that I knew. Anyways, fast forward to the end of the abuse and we're putting our shoes on and getting ready to leave and both of the massage therapists are standing in front of the door. So now this has become like a light hostage situation. At this point they're speaking in Chinese, I'm conferring with my friend what to do and they are not letting us out of the room. So finally, we just forked over some more money, which they told us not to do, and they let us out. And when we were walking back to the tour group, I noticed the bruises on my arm from the massage.

Brittany 2:55

Oh my, god, this must have been that special technique. They were trying to upsell you, huh.

Meghan 3:01

Let's just say they found muscles I didn't even know I had. It was like they were auditioning for wwe, right there on my back, before taking us into a mild hostage situation.

Meghan 3:12

That's not the only bad massage I've had, but we have to stay on topic.

Brittany 3:16

I'm glad you guys were like fully clothed though, because I'm like trying to like picture you guys leaving and like if this had been a different massage, like like just laughing.

Meghan 3:23

Glad my clothes were on the whole time.

Brittany 3:26

Note to self, I will be sure not to book a massage on my next international trip. Goodness, all right. Speaking of light hostage, let's talk about group travel.

Meghan 3:34

Yes, agreed, Traveling with a group can be what seems a hostage situation. But before I reveal too much, Brittany, what do you think about traveling with a group? Red flag or green flag?

Brittany 3:45

For me green flag, but only when it's my designated travel group. There's been a long and thorough vetting process with multiple steps, so definitely green flag, I know what to expect.

Meghan 3:57

Yellow flag. Honestly, the ultimate green flag is being the planner, like myself. Plan the itinerary with all the fun stuff you want to do. I have a lot of friends that just ask how much money they need to send and when they should show up. They love that aspect and agree with the vetting process. You have to have people that want to travel the same as you and want the same outcomes.

Brittany 4:18

Definitely I didn't get on a 10-hour flight to travel with mediocre people.

Brittany 4:26

We're going to have an unforgettable experience.

Meghan 4:27

I did it twice with a company where I only knew one person going in a group of 20. And one of those scenarios turned out mostly good and one turned out not as great. The first one was in Tanzania. It was a bit intense because when we landed the group was held up by guns. Talk about trauma bonding with these strangers. But after that experience we were all family. But the one person on that trip that I knew ended up getting a little wild at the end and wanting her own room and space. We had separate beds, but it was a humanitarian mission and so sacrifice is part of it. But looking back I honestly think it was just an overload of change and she just really needed that recharge space. So we did make it through that trip, okay.

Brittany 5:04

Well, note to self and our listeners if you're looking for a real life escape room, travel with Meghan that's too hot for the situation so far and I know in fact she has another one. But yeah, you learn a lot when you travel, sometimes like new stresses pop up that you know would just not normally set you out of whack. But if you're in a new element, there's a lot of change going on. You're just in a completely different element and culture.

Meghan 5:28

Agreed.

Meghan 5:29

I mean, they didn't even have toilets, so it was a bit of change for all of us, and how one person handles it versus another may be different. Hence the yellow flag. How about you, Brittany?

Brittany 5:42

Yeah, yeah, no toilets. That's rough, that'll definitely put you over the edge. Well, for me there were toilets. But we ended up going to Paris and we went to the weekend concert with one of my girlfriends, and so it was at the football stadium and that place was packed, like so packed, and so we were trying to leave the concert and the police had like blocked off all the streets so like no ubers were allowed to come, no cars. It was way too far to walk. It was probably like I don't know like five miles at least just to get to like an uber point, and the subway was packed. And forget what time their like train closes. Let's just say they close at 11.

Brittany 6:15

I for some reason thought it was going to be open at least, you know, to midnight or one after the concert. You know people are gonna go to the bar and drink whatever, but uh, it's like 10: 50, 10: 55 and we're talking like wall-to-wall people and we're trying to like get on the subway because there's only one more train that's leaving. You know the area and I'm not down to walk five miles. I mean, it's way too late at night, and so me and my girlfriend are like elbowing our way through and this is just like not something I do in like another country, and we ended up just like jumping the turnstiles and I'm like F this, like I'm not staying out here, like we're getting on that train, and we like muscled our way on the train and we ended up making it, but it was just like, oh my God, her and I were like freaking out and we're just having a moment.

Brittany 6:57

We're like all right, we're getting the f out of this place

Meghan 6:59

At least she was ready to jump the turnstile with you, otherwise that would have turned into a red flag.

Brittany 7:04

For sure, I probably would have left her, but she's one of those friends where she's like down for anything and if it's like a situation like that, she's like all right, you tell me what we need to do and like we're getting through this.

Checked Bags

Meghan 7:14

Definite green flag.

Meghan 7:16

All right, here's a classic debate checking a bag red flag or green

Brittany 7:20

Well?

Brittany 7:21

I know what Megan's going to say on this one, and probably many of our listeners do too. For me, red flag Since I downsized my life, I ended up moving and getting rid of a lot of stuff. I just honestly don't think I'll have enough to fit all my clothes in a check bag anyways.

Brittany 7:35

Megan?

Meghan 7:36

Red flag hard stop. If you check a bag, you're basically asking the universe to lose it. And side note, I'm not waiting at baggage claim with you.

Meghan 7:44

I love the freedom of not hauling my entire life through security.

Brittany 7:47

That is probably one of my worst fears is like waiting at baggage claim in a foreign country and then the carousel just stops and your bag just doesn't show up. Like my philosophy is, you can always buy stuff you forget, like a toothbrush toothpaste whatever, but having a change of clothes is always nice.

Meghan 8:10

I traveled to Greece for two weeks with my carry-on luggage and backpack. It was summer and shorts take up less space, full disclosure, and I didn't bring anything to do my hair or makeup and my clothes were really ripe by the end of it. But, um, I, I managed to make it with two weeks and I also got an awesome backpack that just fits so much. I went to Fiji this past summer and, under the threat of death, told my cousins they are not checking a bag. We did end up having to check our bags, which is another story, but that was not my fault.

Brittany 8:40

I have like two like opposite like stories for this and they're just really bizarre. But the first one we were going to Denver and we had a layover in Denver. We were going to California back to see my family and you know we're leaving Miami and worst case it's, you know, 70, 75 in Miami, like whatever. So we get to Denver and it's like freaking snowing outside and we have, like, our dog with us. So we travel with him a lot and I'm like, okay, we checked our bags because it's Thanksgiving, you know, we're in California, we're bringing a lot of clothes, bulky clothes, because, I agree, shorts don't take up that much room. And yeah, yeah, we missed our connecting flight and we only had our check like luggage and all I had in there was pretty much like shorts and I didn't have a jacket for my dog and he's freezing his little tuchus off in like the snow in Denver, poor guy. So, yes, never again checking a bag.

Brittany 9:32

And then the opposite I was going to Europe. I think I was traveling to Italy with my girlfriends. I ended up checking a bag but it was an empty, checked bag and I packed all my stuff in my carry-on because I was afraid they were going to lose my bag. So I was like, okay, cool, I can put my dirty clothes in my checked bag when I come back. And then if I ended up like buying you know stuff for people too, I had a whole extra suitcase for that. So that was kind of fun.

Meghan 9:53

That's an awesome tip.

Meghan 9:55

To bring it full circle if you and your friends are checking a bag double red flag, I will be at the hotel with a drink in my hand waiting for you.

Street Food

Meghan 10:03

Probably two.

Brittany 10:04

Oh my gosh, yes, oh, speaking of drinks, I think we should maybe talk about some food, trying street food in another country, red flag or green flag?

Meghan 10:18

Green flag, but I do have a stone stomach, so nothing's upsetting that sucker.

Brittany 10:19

I can hear my stomach gurgling now, but I'm going to go with green flag. Tell me what was the best street food that you've tried.

Meghan 10:24

Well again. China's come up quite a bit in this podcast episode, but when I was in China I was asking for food recommendations, local things, and they kept trying to point me to Burger King and McDonald's, which I don't even eat when I'm in America. I definitely am not going to eat it when I'm in China. But I ended up finding this really super cool space. It was this like beer garden, so the center was like all these picnic tables and then all around it was all of these food booths, and so I was searching all of the different food booths and I found some scorpions and thought, well, why not? There were three of them on a stick, kind of like a kebab, and it took quite a bit of beer to get up the courage, but they were absolutely delicious.

Brittany 11:06

Oh, my gosh, I'm like visualizing you like pounding this ginormous beer with these like three ginormous scorpions on this stick, like okay, I got it, we're going to do this. Please tell me you have a picture of this so we can post it on social media.

Meghan 11:19

I'm pretty sure I have video and it tasted like a Lay's potato chip and I ended up eating all three gosh.

Brittany 11:25

I thought you were gonna say chicken, so I'm glad you didn't.

Meghan 11:28

I think that's like snake or alligator, not scorpions. How about your street food?

Brittany 11:33

We were in El Salvador and we were driving on one of the highways. There's a bunch of traffic and so they had like people selling stuff, whatever. And there's this one guy that had these like really thin, I don't know, like waffle. They look like little strooping waffle things, right, but they were red and I was like what's that? So we flagged him down and got some and oh my gosh. We should have probably thought about the poor food handling involved because it was like a bagillion degrees outside and they were going through a heat wave and uh I got like violently ill like there was a neon situation happening, there were hives, it was just like all bad so uh yeah.

Meghan 12:15

So I know the answer to this, but I want my listeners to know are you going to go back for round two when you go to El Salvador next month?

Brittany 12:23

Oh yeah, actually. So yes, I haven't learned my lesson the first time, but I was looking at more things to do and they have like night street food and day street food and I'm like, all right, well, let's go back and try it again, because I mean, normally my stomach's pretty like rock solid iron, like here in the States, but I haven't been to a third world country in a while.

Meghan 12:45

The lesson was not learned here people.

Brittany 12:47

Oh my gosh, but certainly hold on, let me. Lesson was definitely not learned. Last, but certainly not least, staying at an Airbnb, red flag or green flag?

Meghan 12:57

Green flag with reviews. If the listing doesn't have reviews, it's basically a gamble. You could end up with a dreamy villa, or you could end up sharing a bathroom with the host's pet, iguana.

Brittany 13:08

I'm going to say red flag for sure, I'm definitely the one sharing a bathroom with the pet iguana. Even after looking at the reviews, I don't know how, Meghan, you always seem to have really good luck with Airbnbs.

Meghan 13:18

Yeah, I mean, I really haven't had bad luck. There are some that are just eh, but I was only staying there for a night. However, when I'm traveling somewhere I'm not familiar with, I make sure I look at all of the reviews. When I went to Greece, this helped me narrow it down, based on safe neighborhoods, because I had never been there before. So reading the reviews just really helped me figure out the best places to stay. Also, I can sleep like a champ anywhere. Britt, why is it a red flag for you?

Brittany 13:43

Apparently, I'm not good at interpreting the reviews Seems to be my problem but so during the whole food poisoning situation by the street food, we were staying at an Airbnb and I had ended up like wrapping myself in the bedsheets or whatever, and that led to like a whole like hives situation.

Brittany 14:01

So the next night we were going back to the main city and we're staying at a hotel, but as we're leaving we saw out back that they had a plancha which is pretty much like a stone thing where you wash clothes or whatever by hand. Well, they were using like Jack's dish soap to wash the bedsheets, which probably led to the hives, anyway. So I ended up having to get like calamine lotion and I'm just like at this point, like covered like head to toe in like calamine lotion and I'm just like bright pink and then I turned like ghostly white after. And when we left the hotel, they ended up charging us a cleaning fee because the room was so dirty, but it's because I've used like so much towels, like get the calamine lotion off and then like reapply it, and stuff like that. It was so bad, just so bad.

Meghan 14:45

I don't know, Brittany, you know I have an Airbnb and I'm kind of on Airbnb's side for extra charges on this one

Brittany 14:52

No, this was the hotel charging as extra, not the Airbnb.

Brittany 14:58

They obviously didn't charge us extra because they were using the Jack's dish soap.

Meghan 15:02

Well, that's our take on travel red flags and green flags. Whether you're dodging sketchy massages, group drama or questionable street food, traveling is always an adventure.

Brittany 15:13

Let us know how many of our flags matched up, and check out our recipes on Instagram. What is funny, though, I don't know if Megan and I would mesh traveling together. We only ever visit each other's living locations the yellow flag for sure. We should book something, cheers.

Meghan 15:28

Sounds like a plan. We know that we'll be at the hotel with our drinks because we won't have checked bags. If you yourself have ambition, drive and booze in your system, we would love to have you as a guest or hear your ideas. Email us at fearlesslyfemaleuncensored@gmail. com or message us on Instagram @fearlesslyfemale_ uncensored.