EXTREME MICRO-CATIONS

Picture this, you want to go for lunch, only thing is your choice for lunch is 600 miles away! would you take one of these trendy Extreme Micro-Cations ? 

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Good morning. It is August the 24th, 2026, and straight from the Highly Cabinet studio. This is according to Willie B, and I, Will Bryce, will be your host for the next half hour. What could I possibly have in store for you today? When I ran across this subject, I didn't believe it. I actually did some research. I'm like, that doesn't even it doesn't even sound feasible for one. I mean, yeah, I guess it could at first glance, but it doesn't look like something I wanted to do until I looked into it. Or what am I talking about? All right, let's jump into it. Now, before I get started, do not forget that we have the new line set up for you guys to text. Any questions, any windows, suggestions, complaints, whatever the case may be. And that number is 910-710-2259. And of course, this number will be in the podcast description. So check it out. Let me know what's on your mind. Let me know it's maybe a new subject that you'd like to hear, something maybe I haven't covered. I'm always open for new ideas, as just was the case for today's episode. Check this out. Here's my question, and was also incidentally title of today's show. Would you fly somewhere just for lunch? Yes, you heard that correctly. Would you fly somewhere just for lunch? Hear me out. What if I told you that your next vacation starts at 5 AM tomorrow morning and that you'll be sleeping in your own bed tomorrow night? No hotel, no suitcase, no check luggage, no three day weekend. Maybe not even a toothbrush, depending on what you're having for lunch. Maybe take the toothbrush. But this is actually a thing. You get up before sunrise, drive to the airport, catch the first flight out. A couple hours later, you're walking around a city you've never visited before. You grab breakfast somewhere local, see something you've always wanted to see, walk around downtown, find some incredible place for lunch, maybe hit one more attraction, have an early dinner, possibly, and head back to the airport. Catch the last flight home. And sometime around midnight, you walk back into your house. Yesterday you went to work. Today you had lunch 700 miles away. Tomorrow you're back to normal life. Welcome to the world of the extreme day trip. Yes, that is actually a thing now. And it just blew my mind when somebody brought it up to me. And I'm like, that's that doesn't even that doesn't sound and then I did my research. Apparently, people have decided that regular vacations aren't complicated enough. So now we're speed running them. Now you've heard of speed dating, but now they're speed vacationing, they're called extreme day trips, 24-hour vacations or microcations, as they are trying to build that term. Whatever you want to call them, and this is just coming from me, but this is not just three people on TikTok trying to get more views. Expedia released research in 2026 saying that one in four, one in four U.S. Millennial and Gen Z travelers surveyed plan to take a one-day sit-down for this one international trip this year. I mean, think about that. Not overnight, not a weekend, one day. And nearly half of the travelers in Expedia's research are already traveling carry-on only. So here's a whole travel mentality developing around get me there, let me experience it, and get me home. And when I first heard, I thought this is ridiculous. And then I thought about it for about 11 seconds and I went, I kind of want to do that. Here's the question I want you thinking about during this entire episode. Would you get up at four o'clock in the morning, drive to the airport, go through security, get on the airplane, fly several hundred miles just to have lunch? Because when I phrase it that way, it sounds completely ridiculous. But let's change the wording. What if you found a $79 round trip ticket to a city you've never visited? First flight leaves around six o'clock in the morning. You land at 8 a.m. Last flight leaves at 9 o'clock that night. You've got maybe 8, 9, 10 hours to explore. Now what do you think? Because suddenly I'm interested. One of my favorite parts of this whole idea is that there's no luggage. Maybe a small backpack. That's it. Phone, wallet, portable charger, sunglasses, light jacket, medication if you need it, and whatever else that you cannot absolutely survive 12 hours without. No check bag, no baggage claim, no rental car, no hotel, no wondering whether your underwear is currently currently vacationing in Cleveland. You get off the airplane and you go. That's an incredible feeling. Because think about how much of the traditional travel revolves around stuff. Packing, unpacking, hotel, check-in, check-out, dragging bags around, waiting for a room, waiting at baggage claim, extreme day trip. Boom. Plane city explore. Plane home. I kind of like the sound of that. And there's another interesting piece of this. Now, keep this thought in mind because we're going to talk about this. The hotel bill disappears. That is significant at the price of the average hotel now. $175, $200, $300 for a hotel room. But no resort fee, no parking fee, and no hotel breakfast that you're pretending tastes like it's worth $28. No little bottle of water sitting on the nightstand that you're afraid to touch because it might cost $11. Now, that doesn't automatically make an extreme day trip cheap, does it? Because flights cost money. Airport parking costs money. Transportation, food, attractions. What if you miss your flight home? Congratulations. You've invented the overnight vacation. But eliminate eliminating lodging can change the economic considerably. Now you can't just throw a dart at a map and expect to go there. Some destinations make much better extreme day trips than others. And the first thing I want is a nonstop flight. Because every connection creates another opportunity for something to go wrong. Trust me. If I've only got nine hours in a city, I don't want to spend three of them sitting in Atlanta waiting for my connection. Second, I want an airport with easy transportation into town or wherever the main attractions are. Whether it be train, subway, quick ride share, Uber, whatever the case may be, I want to be able to get to where I need to get to quickly and back quickly. Because an inexpensive flight isn't much good if I land and I discover the city that I want to explore is still an hour and a half away. Third, I want options for getting home. If there's only one flight back that evening, I'm nervous. If there are several, I'm a little more comfortable. And finally, I want a city that I can experience something meaningful in a relatively compact area. Because I don't want to spend my entire microcation sitting in traffic. Here's where I think that we can mess this up. We land and we say, we've got eight hours. Let's see everything. Museum, monument, restaurant, observation deck, historic district, boat tour, shopping, another museum. Go, go, go, go. No. Because now you're not traveling. You're competing on the amazing race. Pick one or two things that really matter. Because there's one attraction that you've always wanted to see. Do that. And then walk, explore. Eat something local. Sit somewhere for 20 minutes. Watch the city revolve around you. Because otherwise you come home with 400 pictures and absolutely no memory of actually being there. And you know where my brain exact immediately went? Food. Could food alone justify an extreme day trip? For me, absolutely. Here's case in point for you. I love jerk chicken. And no one can do jerk chicken like they do it in Jamaica. So my brain automatically went, huh? 6 a.m. flight, four hours on the plane. I'm there at noon just in time for lunch. I just stay right in Montego Bay, have some jerk chicken, do a little exploring, a little sightseeing, check out the beach, back to the airport, which is just right down the street, and I can fly back home and have jerk chicken for lunch. Wow. That's crazy. But there are parameters that around that that we will discuss. So absolutely, you know, to me, food alone could justify one of these microocations. Or extreme microcasions, I think we really need to call it. So imagine waking up and saying, you know what? I'm going to lunch. Except that lunch happens to be 600 miles away. Now, that is a massive according to Willie Bee adventure. Fly somewhere, eat something the city is known for, walk through a neighborhood, talk to some locals, maybe even shoot some culinary highway footage, grab another bike before heading back and fly home. That does sound fun to me. But now let's talk reality. Your flight leaves at 6 a.m. Perfect. Except that it doesn't. There's a mechanical issue, weather, crew delay, whatever the airline dreams up. And now it's 8:30. You land two and a half hours later than expected. Your 10-hour adventure just became seven. Then transportation to the city takes longer than expected. Now you're down to six. You gotta leave enough time to get back through airport security, so now you're down to five. And suddenly we flew across the country for a sandwich. A sandwich. That better be one heck of a sandwich. There's something psychologically different about doing this without a hotel reservation. When you're on a normal vacation and something goes wrong, okay, cool. We'll adjust tomorrow and make it up. On one of these extreme micro occasions, listen to me. There is no tomorrow. The last flight home matters. And I wouldn't plan something where I have to sprint to the airport 20 minutes before departure. No, thank you. The whole point is to have an adventure, not ending the evening recreating a scene from home alone. You gotta build in a buffer because missing that flight can take your cute little inexpensive day trip and turn it into hotel, toiletries, new flight, possibly miss work, and explaining to your boss on Monday why you're still in Chicago. Now, here's where things really get interesting. I told you I was gonna dig deeper. People aren't limiting these trips to domestic locations. Expedience 2026 data specifically looked at one day international travel. Among destinations that Americans are considering for these trips, are you ready for this list? Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Nassau, told you, jerk chicken, Cancun, Mexico City, and others. Think about that. Wake up in America and have lunch in another country and then sleep in your own bed that night. I gotta say there's something undeniably cool about that. But international changes the equation. Passports, customs, immigration, international check-in requirements, more opportunities for delays, trust me. So if I were trying this for the first time, I'd start domestic. Learn how you personally handle that pace. Then decide when you're ready to move up to something more ambitious. But now I want to ask a different question. Is this actually a vacation? Because when I think vacation, I think slowing down, sleeping in, exploring, sitting somewhere with a cup of coffee, finding something you weren't looking for, making that wrong turn and realizing the wrong turn was better than what you had planned. An extreme day trip is almost the impossible the opposite. Alarm clock, airport flight, clock starts, go, explore, eat, go, airport flight home. That sounds exciting. Don't get me wrong, it really does. But does it sound relaxing? No, not particularly, and maybe that's okay. Maybe we need two definitions of travel or two definitions of vacation. I've talked on this show before about letting the trip unfold. Not every minute needs to be planned, and I still believe that. But maybe we're talking about two different kinds of travel. Sometimes you travel because you want to know a place, spend several days there, learn neighborhoods, find your favorite coffee shop, go back to the restaurant that you liked. You wander around, you start understanding the rhythm of the place. An eight-hour visit, I can't give you that. But sometimes you simply travel because you want to experience a place. Just taste it, walk through it, see something, eat something, feel it, and go. And you know what? Maybe that's where you have the thought of I need to come back here. So maybe an extreme day trip isn't the vacation, maybe it's the audition for the vacation. I like that idea. Think about how many places are on your list where you're thinking, I'd like to see it, but I don't know if I want to spend four days there. Perfect. Give the city eight hours. Okay, Cincinnati, you're up. Show me what you got. Pittsburgh, you're next. Chicago, you got nine hours. Impress me. But you already know they could because they got that deep dish pizza. So there's that. And maybe you leave thinking, that was fun. I'm glad I came. I don't necessarily need to come back. That's okay. Or you get halfway through the day and say, Oh, we're coming back here. Now you've discovered your next real vacation. Here's another question. Would you rather do this alone with your spouse, with a friend, or with a group? Because solo extreme day travel actually makes a lot of sense. Nobody else to coordinate, eat wherever you want, walk where you want, change plans wherever you want. But then there's something fun about turning to somebody at your left or right and saying, at five o'clock in the morning, are we ready? Are we really flying? Are we ready to really fly to another state for lunch? I got me and my I told I told you there might not, there might be a word salad. We can never rule out word salads, they're like flight delays, they're just on the schedule. So there's that. That's a memory. And I think not the word salad, the flying to another state for lunch. That's a memory. And I think that the right travel partner would make something like this even better. The wrong travel partner? You're gonna discover that around 6-12 in the morning. I'd also calculate the entire cost before calling one of these day trips cheap. Because remember, airfare, airport parking, transportation at the destination, meals, attractions, maybe priority secure uh security if you're paying for something like that. Because a $79 airline ticket does not necessarily mean a $79 adventure. And there's other costs. If you wake up at 3:30 in the morning, spend the day walking, fly home late, and get into bed at 1 a.m. You may have technically have avoided taking a vacation day. But Monday morning, you don't look like you've been kidnapped. So there's a price for squeezing a vacation into a single day. So I know some of you are asking, would I do it? And I think you all know the answer. Yes, I would, absolutely, at least once. Because this scratches an itch that I have about travel. I love the idea that adventure doesn't always require a huge commitment. You don't need two weeks necessarily. Yes, and I do love it. But you also don't need thousands of dollars, you don't need six months of planning. Sometimes you just need a day. Hear me on the next one. A cheap flight, comfortable shoes, a phone charger, and enough curiosity to say I've never been there before. Let's go. If I were planning one tomorrow, here would be my rules. Nonstop flight, it was that's a non-negotiable. First flight out, late but not recklessly late flight home, no check luggage, easy transportation, one major thing that I want to do or see, and one meal I absolutely want to eat. Everything else, I'll have this mindset let the trip unfold. Because even on an eight-hour trip, I still don't want to schedule every breath. If I walk past a restaurant that smells incredible, plans can change. If somebody says you have to go see this, maybe I go see it. Maybe I spend another hour there. Because the whole reason I travel was to experience something, not complete a checklist. So now I want to hear from you. You get one day, first flight out, last flight home, no hotel, no suitcase. Where are you going? And would you fly to Chicago for that cheap dish pizza? Either way, or Boston for seafood. I'm getting hungry. Would you leave the country like Toronto or Montreal? Or would you do domestic? Let me know. You have the number 910-710-2259. Let me know where would you fly to on a one-day extreme microcation? This is Willie B. I'll talk to you again next week, right here behind this big old mic. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to incapate and conquer. Bye bye.