Tray Tables and Time Zones

A European Winter Adventure Part 3: London and the Journey Home

• Josh Bogle • Episode 10

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Join me, Josh Bogle, as I travel from Stockholm to the bustling streets of London, wrapping up a whirlwind trip across northern Europe. 

Step into the vibrant heart of London, where I explore the delightful chaos of Soho. The city's energy carries you through lively Regent, Oxford and Carnaby Streets, offering a taste of its cultural allure and unmatched shopping. As I prepared for my journey home, Heathrow's Terminal 2 proved to be a soothing wind-down, with the United Club providing a perfect haven for relaxation ahead of the skies. 

I recap the adventure and look ahead to the upcoming travel opportunities and podcast episodes for the remainder of 2025!

Speaker 1

Flight 527 , runway 8K . You're cleared for takeoff . This is your captain speaking . If you love travel and we know you do , buckle your seatbelts and keep your tray tables in the upright position . You should be seeing the illuminated fun signs throughout the aircraft because we're about to take off on a chat of epic proportions . Welcome to Tray Tables and Time Zones , the podcast where travel isn't just about taking vacations , it's about enriching your life . We'll dive into the highs , the lows and the downright absurd moments that come with exploring the world . Whether it's food poisoning on a long-haul flight , trekking to Mount Everest base camp or traveling to Disney parks worldwide , we cover it all Serious at moments , but mostly we're here to laugh and share some brutally honest travel stories . So let's do it one time zone at a time . This is Trey Tableson , time Zones , and this is your host . Josh Bogle , tables and Time Zones , and this is your host .

Speaker 2

Josh Bogle . Hey everyone , and welcome back to another episode of Trade Tables and Time Zones . I'm your host , josh Bogle , and today is part three and the wrap-up of my trip through Finland , sweden and the UK . So I hope everybody's doing well . I'm back home now .

Speaker 2

I have been home for about a week now and , just kind of reflecting on the trip , it was a whirlwind because there was so much movement involved in it . I was kind of on every type of transportation possible . But to get to the last part of the trip and then give my overall thoughts , I flew out of Stockholm on the Friday of my trip . So I checked out of my hotel on that Friday and headed to the Stockholm airport via the Arlanda express , which is the express train from Stockholm central to the airport , and that was a really nice ride . It's only , I believe , 18 minutes . It's a fast ride , it's easy , it's very convenient and I found Stockholm airport to be nice and easy to deal with . You know , no , no big issues . Seems like those airports up there are pretty efficient , pretty easy to deal with , given that the initial flight from Stockholm was over to Zurich and then I had about a hour and 45 minute layover in Zurich and then on to Gatwick in London , and those flights were pretty uneventful , pretty short , pretty easy , no big deal . They were on Swiss Airlines , or actually they were on Helivectic , which is a regional carrier for Swiss Airlines . So the only issue I did find was that when I was getting ready to board my flight from Zurich to London , they had a secondary passport check . So when I came through the airport in Zurich , I had to go through passport control and was actually stamped out because I was going over to a gate where there was a flight in the non Schengen zone and so I had to go through passport control there , which was fine , that was very quick and very easy . So I got stamped out in Switzerland and then proceeded down the stairs to the departures area and when I got there there was a guy that was doing passport checks going into the UK , which was fine , ain't no big deal , whatever , I just assumed they were checking them again , or you know whatever . Anyway , handed him my passport , you know whatever .

Speaker 2

Anyway , handed him my passport and , as a lot of you may know , if you pay attention to that , in kind of the travel news of the day , the UK instituted basically a traveler's pass , almost like a visa right To enter into the UK from certain countries . The US is one of those countries . Obviously , I'm traveling on a U ? S passport and I had seen that . I know I think it was instituted January 6th , but I had done it , you know , before Christmas I had gone on the website , actually downloaded the app and put in all the information you know , provided pictures of my passport and all that , and it specifically said in the email that I received from the UK that all of this information you know , the travel authorization , the ETA , the UK electronic travel authorization was going to be tied to my passport and therefore I didn't need a copy of the email from the approval or any other documents you know , whether printed or saved on my phone or whatever , to prove that I had an ETA , that it was tied to my passport .

Speaker 2

So when I got to Zurich I was going through that secondary check and the guy was like , do you have the UK ETA ? And I said yes , you know , I've got . I've got it approved . It's via the passport . And he wanted to see some type of documentation showing that I had approval and I luckily had the email that I had received from the UK in my phone , so I was able to bring up that email and show him and he goes on some spiel about in March they're requiring that you have to have a form off the website or something .

Speaker 2

I didn't really understand what he was . What he was trying to get at it was I guess it was some other type of proof . Really understand what he was trying to get at . I guess it was some other type of proof . But it's weird because directly from the UK they're like no , you don't need any type of documentation because the approval is tied with your passport number . So I will just give this little heads up , fyi nugget of information .

Speaker 2

I don't know how it will evolve over the coming year or so with this ETA required to go into England , but I will give you the heads up that if you are going to the UK whether you're coming directly from the US or whether you're going to include it as part of a trip somewhere else in the world , especially other parts of Europe , I would go ahead and make sure that I had one , a copy of the approval email or any other forms that the UK's app or website provided at the end when you're approved . Just make sure you have those forms with you . In fact I'd probably print them out because I did notice that he was taking photos of , like my passport and then the form and he had to take the photo off of my phone . Basically he was taking a picture of my phone screen . Like I said , the UK says you don't have , you don't have to have any of that , but you know , as as it's implemented in Europe and other places , you might want to do that just to make sure . So that's my little FYI traveler's tip for the UK for the foreseeable future is just make sure you kind of over document the approval to travel into England or to the UK , because you don't know what you're going to be asked for at the airport or at the gate or whatever , and you want to have those , those documents , readily available . So I would definitely have , you know , electronic records of it on my phone , but I would also print out a couple of uh , uh hard copies just to have and that way it doesn't turn into a thing , because I I saw that turn into some issue with some folks .

Speaker 2

That was on my flight . So anyway , got onto the flight no problem , got that worked out and flew into Gatwick and this was my first time flying into Gatwick . It was fine . It was easy in and out , nothing spectacular , but you know it wasn't hard . Of course , going through immigration in the UK is super easy . You scan your passport on one of the electronic machines If you're a US passport holder . I think there's several countries that you can do this go through electronic passport gates , the US being one of them . So that's very easy . You literally scan in your passport and it takes a picture and you're done and you go right in . So that was very easy .

Speaker 2

Because it was later in the day and I had a fairly decent ride into town . I went ahead and grabbed a car into town , which was nice . It was nice to have that set up and and to have the ease of just riding in the car into the town instead of having to take the Gatwick Express or another train service you know in and then have to transfer at Victoria Station or Paddington or wherever those go into . So it was just easier , especially since it was later in the day . You know , if it would have been an earlier flight I may have been less inclined to do so and would have just jumped on the train and made my way there . But since it was later in the day , I was ready to get there .

Speaker 2

So , as far as hotels go , so I was staying in Soho , which is , if you know , london . Soho is the area of Regent Street , oxford Street , carnaby Street , piccadilly Circus , oxford Circus , all of that area , right . So it's where , like Liberty of London is , and Selfridges and I believe a John Lewis is there . A lot of big time stores and shopping and such are in that area . And the reason I stayed there is because it was close to Liberty and I was going to get my wife fabric , so it would be easy , it was like a five minute walk .

Speaker 2

And also I wanted to go to Dishoom , which is an Indian restaurant . There's several of them in London , for sure , and I don't know if they've expanded out from London yet . I can't remember . But I've been trying to go to this place for either lunch or dinner forever . The first time we had the kids with us and it was our first time in the UK and we kind of ran out of time . Right , we were in a , we didn't . We didn't really have the time or the inclination for it at that point . Then , the second time I tried to go , I had the food poisoning episode that I've talked about on here , and so that kind of nixed that little plan because I was in no position to eat much , let alone Indian food , at the time , and so I had made reservations for breakfast . I wanted to try their breakfast , I'd heard about it before and was actually able to get reservations and go .

Speaker 2

So there was just a lot of reasons to stay and stay in Soho . I also wanted to go to Hamley's , the toy store and pick up some stuff for the kids and you know just , it was just an easy spot to be in . So I stayed at the hub by Premier Inn . If you know , if you know the UK , you know Premier Inn . It's kind of like a moderate , budget slash , moderate hotel , nothing fancy . It usually has a restaurant which is nice , it's clean , you know . They're reasonably priced , they're not crazy , you know pricing .

Speaker 2

And since I was only going to be there essentially for two nights and I was more worried about location than I was , like you know , having a really nice hotel or anything like that , I chose the hub and it worked out great . I mean , it was very easy to get to all the things I wanted to . Nothing was more than like a 20 minute walk , I think . So it worked out really good . I really enjoyed staying there . Like I said , no hassle whatsoever , it was easy . There was a co-op grocery store small grocery store on the corner so I could get drinks and snacks and stuff really easily . It was a very short walk . Over to Liberty to Dishoom . There was several restaurants around , so it worked out great . Over to Liberty to Dishoom there were several restaurants around , so it worked out great . It was a good spot to stay and , like I said , it was reasonably priced and obviously a pretty expensive city , so it was great . I really enjoyed staying there .

Speaker 2

As for Dishoom , I will talk about Dishoom . So , like I said , I finally went and this location is in Carnaby street and man , it lived up to the hype . Like it was so good . I . I got what's called the big bombay and it's basically the full english fry up , but with uh , an indian twist , right , so the uh eggs had more spice in them . The baked beans were like Marsala beans , so they had , you know , like Marsala spicing in them and then it came with bacon and sausage and tomatoes . You know that you would expect it was really really , really good . The coffee I had there was really good . I had their chai , which was fantastic , so it was just a phenomenal meal . I was really happy to finally make it .

Speaker 2

It was a nice slow paced breakfast . It was packed in there , every table was full . You definitely needed a reservation even to go eat breakfast , so it's super popular . But it was really really good and , and I am stoked , I got to go there and now I want to go back for dinner because if you know , if breakfast is that good , I'm assuming dinner is probably spectacular and everyone I've ever talked to that's gone has just raved about it . So I'm joining that list of raving about the restaurant because it is just a thing of beauty . It's really well done . The interior is very , very nice . Good wait staff , really , you know , really helpful but not too pushy . You know I never needed any refills . They were right there on getting me , you know , drink refills or more coffee or whatever I needed . So it was really good , really good experience , and I would recommend if you like Indian type food , that subcontinent kind of food , then man , try out Dishoom . It's really really good and I think you'd enjoy it . It's a nice way to kind of enter that world of Indian food in a really nice setting and more of a kind of a slightly , you know , upper scale restaurant . It was really good .

Speaker 2

So , as far as London goes , just being in the city look , I adore London it was packed , I will say , of course I was , you know , in the heart of one of the shopping districts in London . I mean Soho area is a huge draw for people wanting to shop because of the stores , so it was really busy in Soho . So went to Liberty and all of the fabrics my wife wanted they did not have , like they were either no longer available or , you know , it was from a previous season or whatever . So that was kind of a disappointment because I really wanted to track down the ones she specifically wanted . But I was able to get some for her , some pre-cut stuff that actually included one of the fabrics she was after and I didn't even realize it when I got it . I bought it based on color , more than the colors that she had been looking for , so got that . And then there was some new fabrics that I saw that I just happened to like . I thought they looked nice and would look good on a quilt , so I grabbed some of those and it turned out she was really happy with that . So luckily I guessed right and at least brought her back some stuff that she can use and helped replenish her liberty supply a little bit . So that worked out good .

Speaker 2

Went to Hamley's and that was actually the first time I had gone to Hamley's and man , that place is crazy . Like it is a proper toy store , right . I mean there's employees in there that are playing with the toys that are basically like hawkers . You know they're wanting you to come over and check out , you know , this toy that they're playing with or using and it's loud and it's it's rambunctious and the kids are having a blast and it was . It was fun , it was . It was a neat place to go and if you're into like funko , pops or Pop Mart or Lego especially for somebody like me , I'm into all those things they have a really cool selection of Funko , pops and Pop Mart stuff in the basement and then on the very top floor they have an amazing Lego section With a lot of Lego sets that are either retired or certainly almost impossible to find because of their past seasons .

Speaker 2

I saw the Ghostbusters car was boxes looked a little worn . They were original boxes , unopened lego sets from just you know from the past , and it was really cool to see that they had all that . One thing I did grab besides some pop mart stuff for myself and for the kids was they had the london exclusive double decker red bus lego small Lego set , and so I grabbed one of those for my son because he's he digs Legos like I do , and so that was a cool little set to add to the collection . So Hamley's was a lot of fun , spent quite a bit of time in there just kind of looking around and taking it all in . There's a lot of neat stuff in there and if you're a kid , especially , or if you're a kid at heart or you you know you dig some of those collectible things . They have some of that . And then let's see what else did I go check out ?

Speaker 2

I went to Selfridges because my daughter wanted some of the Jolly Cat it's like a stuffed animal kind of thing , small ones , big ones . They're really soft , really fluffy , kind of a rage and she was hoping to get one of those . And so I went down there to Suffrage's because they have a big setup of them on their top floor which is kind of like their kids and their toy section and , man , that section of the store was crazy . There was people everywhere getting these little stuffed animals and things and they have all types . They had like a stuffed skateboard , like sports equipment right , they had that . They had bunnies and bears and I got my son a little snake and my daughter actually got this little gray rain cloud . It was really cute this fluffy little rain cloud that she was really stoked about getting . It's got this little face on it , kind of like a sad , not sad , but almost like a disappointed face . Anyways , it's really funny and so that was really cool .

Speaker 2

And they actually have a setup there where you can make reservations and go up to this counter and get what they call , basically these Jolly Cat fish and chips or Jelly Cat . I keep calling it Jelly Cat , jelly Cat , jelly Cat fish and chips . And so they have like the food for fish and chips , like the fish and you know , chips and all that stuff in like little stuffed , plushy kind of form . And there was a huge line of like standby people waiting , uh , and they were basically cutting that line off because they were full for the rest of the day on reservations . Like it was crazy . I mean it was how popular that was and people were waiting , you know , with the reservations , to go up and pick out their little , their portions of the of the fish and chips thing and it was really kind of funny to see . It was very cool though I mean , don't be wrong reservations to go up and pick out their little , their portions of the of the fish and chips thing , and it was really kind of funny to see . It was very cool though I mean , don't get me wrong , I'm not not dogging it . I mean I I love that exclusive stuff and and the unique experiences . So this was kind of funny to see it .

Speaker 2

But Selfridges itself was pretty amazing . I took the time to kind of stroll through that store and boy it is huge Multiple stories , you know it's just a big , big department store . So seeing those , those department stores in London were really neat . You know . Then just kind of strolled around Soho . I had just one full day really strolled around , you know , walked in and out of some shops , took in the city a little bit , just enjoyed being in London , right , just the kind of the busyness and the activity of London is always great to be in , so kind of soaked it all in and then prepared to go back to the hotel , pack up my stuff and fly home .

Speaker 2

So got up the next morning and went out to Heathrow Terminal 2 , which I really enjoy . Terminal 2 . It's actually really nice , really easy . Got my bags checked , got through security and everything really quickly , no hassles there . Got into the terminal , went straight to the Harrods store because they have some cookies and snacks and stuff that my wife and my kids really like . So I picked up a bunch of stuff there and then headed on . The only thing that I don't necessarily like about Terminal 2 is the long , long trek out to the gates where United and some other Star Alliance flights go out of . That's a bit of a hike out there too , I mean , there's people , movers , thank God , but it's still it's a pretty long walk . Bit of a hike out there too , I mean , there's people , movers , thank god , but it's still it's a pretty long walk . So strolled out that way .

Speaker 2

Um went up to the united club , which I will say , if you're ever in london and you have like united passes or whatever to use , it is worth it to use them at the united club in lond . It's not like a typical United Club . You know , my home airport is George Bush Intercontinental here in Houston and you know the United Clubs here , even though we're a major hub , they have a few food items throughout the day . There's not a huge amount of choice , you know . They do have a bar and coffee machines and things like that . They're nice , don't get me wrong . It's better than sitting at the gate , but it's just that right . It's nothing spectacular .

Speaker 2

The one in London is totally different To me . It's closer to the Polaris lounge than it is to the United Club . It's not quite the Polaris but it's certainly . It's certainly up several levels from the United clubs in the U S . So it's , it's really nice . They have , you know , really nice big buffet . They have really nice big bar , uh , multiple coffee machines . The bathroom's really nice because they're individual . So it's like an , a bathroom room you walk into . It's got like a sink , a little stool , sitting area to put your stuff down and everything inside the bathroom and that's all private space . So that's really nice . And they also have showers if you need a shower , which is always nice to have , especially on a long layover or something like that . So if you have some of those passes or whatever , I highly recommend using those if you're in London and you're flying , you know , star Alliance or United , because it's a really nice lounge and it's it's certainly , like I said , better than what you would expect in the U ? S . So don't let the name fool you it's it's closer to a Polaris lounge than it is to a United club lounge in the US .

Speaker 2

Anyway , got on the flight , flight home was pretty routine , direct from London into Houston . Got home , you know , got my bags , got through immigration and all that mess and wrapped up the trip and you know I was . I was certainly tired , it was a . It was a long trip and it involved a lot of a lot of different types of travel and a lot of walking and everything like that . But all in all , this was an absolutely phenomenal trip .

Speaker 2

I had been wanting to get back to all the Scandinavian countries ever since we did a Northern Europe-Baltic cruise a couple of years ago . That really piqued my interest and at that time we had several of the capitals that we were going to get to go to on that cruise cut out because of the issues that popped up in Ukraine and Russia's involvement in those , and therefore the ships weren't going very far up in the Baltic and so we lost places like Helsinki and Stockholm . So I was really really happy to get back there and go to those locations for the first time , because I had really fallen in love with Oslo in Norway and had hoped that Stockholm and Finland , helsinki , helsinki especially would be kind of that way , you know that that feel of the Scandinavian countries and and , uh , uh , just everything about them we really enjoyed and you know they certainly lived up to that . Helsinki was a lovely city , compact , enjoyable , you know , even with the weather being as it was , cold and snowy , you know , the city was alive and people just went about their days . It was really really great and it felt really safe . It was really clean . I really enjoyed it . It was . It was a lovely city and certainly a place I would like to go back to , as is the areas up north in Finnish Lapland .

Speaker 2

When I went to Rovomenity and that area , it was so spectacular up there , I mean it was bitterly cold . I think when I got off the train in Rovomenity it was negative 18 Celsius and when I left it was negative 23 Celsius , I think that's around negative 10 . And it was just . It was just remarkable , though it's so pretty and so much of the activities that you can do in the snow up there are are just a blast , right , I mean they ? You can go on reindeer sleigh rides and snowmobile tours and go out on an ice breaker and , you know , chase the Northern lights and all those things . Uh , it's got a ton of activities that you can do in the snow and in the winter , and obviously , you know , when it's nicer weather and longer days in the summer . So it's really just , you know , a really cool place that you can kind of make . Make it however you want .

Speaker 2

To me , being a person that really digs the cold and winter , I enjoyed it , even with the fight of trying to adjust because of the levels of sunlight or lack thereof , right , that took its toll on me a little bit , but I eventually got through it , but it's certainly something you have to get used to , almost more than the time . The time really didn't bother me , but the sunlight sure did , but anyway . So Finland , you know , hats off to Finland . It's a lovely country . I really enjoyed it and I want to go back .

Speaker 2

The same can be said for Stockholm and Sweden . I didn't get to go anywhere else . I didn't have time to go anywhere else but Stockholm in Sweden , just just limitations on time , obviously . But Stockholm really , really captured my , my heart and my interest . It's one of those cities that just feels good strolling around in , right , it's like you can . You don't have to do a specific thing in Stockholm to enjoy it . You can just literally walk out onto the street , go for a stroll , stop in and have a pastry and a coffee , you know kind of watch the world , go , go by and it just it feels right . Right , it feels comfortable and enjoyable and stockholm has , you know , everything that you could want as far as a , I guess , a scandinavian and a european city . You know it has the , the classic architecture , but it also has modern elements . You know the public transportation is fantastic .

Speaker 2

The museums are amazing . I mean , look , the Vasa Museum in Stockholm is right at the very top of museums . For me , I mean , I've been to a lot of museums , including , you know , all the great ones of the Smithsonian museums in the US and and several museums overseas . But I will say , as far as me personally , and just the , I don't know the intrigue and the amazement of what you're looking at . You know of something that was this giant warship right from the 1600s , but also that it's sitting there in front of you in pretty much its original form , completely intact . It's just , there's tons of levels of amazement that occur , at least in my brain , while I was looking at it , and , and so it it is worth your time . You know , I heard , uh , somebody when I was looking into Stockholm , talk about the Vasa and they said I think they had been to Stockholm five times and every single time they had gone to the Vasa . I wholeheartedly agree with that .

Speaker 2

I don't think I could go to Stockholm and have any any amount of time that I could do it and not go to the Vasa . Like if I had just enough time I would go to the Vasa again just to see that , because it's just , I mean , it's spectacular . And I went when it first opened in the morning , so it wasn't very busy and I just got to linger and it was , you know , it wasn't crowded , it wasn't , you know , loud . I just got to linger and stare at it and think about all the things that had happened and what would have happened on that ship and all the work that it took to build it , and I mean it's just spectacular . But you know the food in Stockholm . You know the traditional Swedish meatballs that I had in Gamla Stan was amazing and the people that worked at that restaurant were so friendly and welcoming and enjoyable . Just to sit in there and leisurely have a meal and take my time I just really enjoyed it .

Speaker 2

It's a lovely , lovely city . It it's . It's a lovely , lovely city and I again go back to like the transportation things you know of getting to . You know , go on the trains , like in Finland , and go on the ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm , like it . Just having those options right and taking advantage of those locations to have those , have those ways of transport between the cities and not necessarily have to drive or have to get in a car , was really nice . It was a cool , cool experience that I really really enjoyed and would do again in a heartbeat . It was , it was just a blast .

Speaker 2

And of course , you know , wrapping the trip up with London like I've told you guys many , many times , I love London . It's such a magical city Just the history and the beauty of that city , it's so vibrant . It's always worth getting to spend some time in London . I almost don't know that I could come to Europe and not figure out a way to at least swing through London on the way out or the way in and spend a day at least . You know , because I haven't even gotten close to the surface of exploring London and there's so many different types of trip I want to do there . You know , eventually I would love to go and do a , you know , multi-game English Premier League trip where I go to , you know , several of the stadiums there in London even just in London there's tons and go see , you know , some soccer and things like that . I mean , that's just one of those trips , you know . And then there's the you know trips where you could go to the museums and , you know , shop and there's tons of things to do in London , and so I adore London and and so that was certainly worth getting to spend the day in London . So the trip was great .

Speaker 2

I I love solo trips . I think they're a lot of fun . I'm always massively excited to come home because I get to see my wife and my kids again . It's always fun to come home and see them and and reconnect and bring them things and and everything . Um , because it's , you know , it's it's great to see your family and those that you love again after you've been gone for a while . So , you know , traveling is always great and the anticipation is always fun to go . And then , coming home , it's great to have those people to come home to , because it's great to see them and I love that coming home as well .

Speaker 2

So , like I've always said , travel is such a worthy experience and such a game changer in your worldview and the way that you experience life . It's so good . It's such an amazing way to just to build yourself right , to understand yourself , build yourself , recreate yourself . It's it's worth it and and it's always worth coming home because you get to see those ones that you love . So , you know , having my wife bring my kids with her to the airport to pick me up was really exciting and enjoyable and even though I was probably didn't show it well enough because I was tired and coming off of a flight and everything I that meant the world to me and I would encourage you guys .

Speaker 2

You know , look , I know it's kind of hard sometimes to try to find the time for solo travel and we kind of talked about that on another podcast . You know that was all about solo travel , but it really is something that I wish everyone would give a shot . I mean it's not for everyone , not everyone's going to enjoy it , and I get that and that's okay . I mean , if you don't , if you don't enjoy , if it's not your type of travel , then then great , but give it a shot , you know , and at least try , uh , because it is very fulfilling and it is an interesting way to see the world and it really kind of opens you up , right . I mean , it kind of forces you to open up and take a different look at things . And since you've got your own time and you're kind of in your own thoughts , you can think about things and contemplate things that you see and that you experience , and so that's kind of a a deeper way to travel , right , you , you have more time to contemplate what you've seen or what you've experienced or how you feel , and that's that's that's a important thing and it makes makes you a better person and a better traveler . So , whether it , you know , works out that you like solo travel or not , it'll certainly give you some perspectives to consider as you go forward .

Speaker 2

I mean , not every trip is a learning trip , you know . Some trips are just relaxation and fun , and those are worth it too , I mean , believe me . But uh , there's . There's a lot to be learned out there as well , along the way , on the road , in this big-ass world of ours , there's a lot to see and a lot to do and a lot to experience . So definitely get out there and try it . So that's my rant about solo travel and about this trip . Like I said , amazing trip . I love it . It was a blast . It was a ton of different things to experience and ways to travel and it was just a blast . So what's coming up the rest of this year ? Well , I will tell you on the podcast . We are getting ready to start a Disney series .

Speaker 2

If you don't know , you will soon know that I am a huge Disney fan . Now , when I say Disney fan , I mean Disney parks fan , right , I mean the movies are great . I've watched them with my kids . I've watched them , you know , when I was growing up and I love the movies . But my focus , my joy with Disney is the parks , right , or what they call parks and experiences , because I have to throw in Disney Cruise Line , because I love , love , love Disney Cruise Line . So just to give you a little primer here real quick I started going to Disney when I was a young kid .

Speaker 2

My parents took me , uh , when I was elementary school or junior high one of those two , I can't remember , I think it was elementary school anyway um , to Disney world . So I started going to Disney world when I was pretty young and fell in love with it , and I was lucky enough to have parents that , when they were younger , lived in San Diego . My dad was in the Navy and they were stationed in San Diego and so they would get cheap Disneyland tickets through the Navy and they would drive up to Orange County and go to Anaheim and go to Disneyland , and so they really kind of got some exposure to it . As a young couple living in California , they got to exposure to it and really , really got to love it . So they kind of transferred that love to me .

Speaker 2

The more I went right , the more it just built I . I fell more and more in love with it and I found things that made me like it more , as like your collectibles and , uh , different experiences and and all those things . It wasn't just the rides , you know , then it was characters and it was , you know , all of the things that are new , and then the classic rides right , it was just , it was all of it , and so I am a pretty , pretty big Disney person and my wife has become a pretty big Disney person and my kids are certainly big Disney people . I mean , my daughter practically learned to walk on the deck of a Disney ship and they've been on several cruises and been to several parks , both , obviously , parks in the US , and now they've been to the parks in Japan , and my wife and I have been to all those parks plus Hong Kong , and so we're only missing two . We haven't been to Paris yet and we haven't been to Shanghai , but it's a pretty awesome love affair I have with Disney , and so I want to talk about that and I want to talk about , um , the parks , and I want to talk about cruise line .

Speaker 2

And then I want to talk about international right . I want to talk about going to the parks overseas , um , because it's different . Obviously it's different and it it . It requires more of you to get to those places , especially , you know , if you're US based , or hell , even if you're , you know , european based or wherever , south American based , wherever If you're going to , like Tokyo right , or Hong Kong or China , especially , those are long haul places and usually you're workingney in with a larger trip , so kind of how you do that you know little tips and tricks that I've picked up over the years , experiences that I've had , you know just those types of things .

Speaker 2

I'd like to break that into into a couple of different shows , probably three , I'm thinking . Probably us parks is one , foreign parks is another and then cruise line is the third and hopefully that will be a series that you enjoy . Um , like I said , I love to travel the world but , man , I love traveling to disney too . In fact , we have a cruise coming up here in march on disney to go check out the new island or new island area for disney , the um , the lookout key , and so that'll be our first time going there . So I'm really looking forward to , you know , to that , and that cruise also includes castaway key , which is Disney's original private Island , so it's going to be a lot of Disney property built into that cruise and so that'll be a lot of fun . It's certainly core travel location .

Speaker 2

Travel experience for me is is involved with Disney parks and cruise line , and so I'd really enjoy talking about that and , uh , uh , maybe those , those podcasts , will inspire or help you , you know , plan some trips or provide little insight here and there that that will make it all uh easier to uh plan , you know , easier to plan , you know , trips to Disney properties or Disney experiences , because it has certainly gotten so big compared to when I started that there's so much more there's , you know , there's more parks , there's more hotels , there's more people , there's more everything Right , and so it's it's a lot more involved than it used to be , but there's still , you know , time , tested , time , honored , tricks and and things that can help make the experience at disney the best it can be . So hopefully I can share some of that . Obviously there's a ton of disney podcasts there and a lot of those are really good , but certainly I want to add just my little take on some things and hopefully those will help . You know , people have a better experience , listeners have a better experience . So anyway , that's what to look forward to . Coming up is going to be that Disney series .

Speaker 2

I'm going to start working on that and get that out there to you all , and then the next thing will be most likely a trip to South Africa in the fall , and we're doing that as part of a group through my wife's work , but it's a group that involves several couples that we've traveled with before . On the Iceland podcast I talked about traveling with this group and it's the same folks that we went to Iceland with . We're going to South Africa with and that'll involve Cape Town and Stellenbosch , you know , the wine region and Kruger National Park and some safari , and so there's going to be some pretty cool things come out of that . It'll be my first time in Africa , so I'm excited about that . That will be cool to say I've been to the African continent and it will be really neat to to experience some of those , those things in South Africa . I mean , cape town looks beautiful and , of course , you know Kruger national park and getting to experience safari and seeing some of those animals in their natural habitat would be spectacular . So I'm really excited about that . And , who knows , there might be some other little trips pop in . We've talked about doing some some other trips .

Speaker 2

You never know what's going to end up on the itinerary , but I will say that I've always got plenty of things to talk about and to say as it relates to travel . So don't worry , I'm going to have plenty of podcasts to put out there and to chat about different things too as we go throughout the year . So I'm really excited about this year of the podcast and the first full year of the podcast since we got started pretty late last year . So that's going to do it with this kind of wrap up and look forward . I hope everybody is having a great start to the 2025 year .

Speaker 2

I know you know this trip that I just got back from certainly helped kick the year off , so I hope everybody else is doing well , that your year is going great so far , that you've got many plans for many awesome travels this year and please and please , you know , continue to tune in , and there's always going to be some information out there that hopefully will help you in those travels and , if nothing else , maybe I'll entertain you with my travel stories and and bullshit antics that I tend to get into . So , anyway , thanks everybody for listening . I'll talk to you on the next one . As always , please follow , subscribe on Apple Podcasts , on Spotify , even on YouTube . Please leave us a rating and review , if you can , wherever it allows you to do that . That would be hugely helpful . Check out the Instagram . I'm still posting things from this last trip on Instagram and I try to keep that pretty current , so check that out Also if you have any comments or questions or anything .

Speaker 2

There is the email address down in the information below the episode that you can go to and shoot me a note and just share the show if you get a chance . You know , if there's anybody out there that you know that enjoys travel and likes to listen to podcasts about especially about travel and has interest in it , man , let them know about this podcast . Let them know about trade tables and time zones . We'd love to have them on board in this little travel community we've we're building and so please share it . And we'll continue this thing going forward and hopefully grow and grow and grow . And we'll continue this thing going forward and hopefully grow and grow and grow . So again , thanks everybody for listening . I really appreciate all the support . Thanks again . I'll talk to you soon and we'll see you on the next one . Bye .

Speaker 1

This has been Trade Tables and Time Zones . Worldwide travel is one of the funnest things you can do in life and it's our passion to talk about the good , the bad , the funny and the ugly . Nothing is off limits . We hope you've enjoyed the show . If you did , make sure to like , rate and review . We'll be back soon , but in the meantime , find us on Instagram at Trade Tables and Time Zones , and for questions or comments , send your email to Take care and see you next time on Trade Tables and Time Zones .

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Josh Bogle

Host