New England Exploration: Could We Move Here?

Exploring New England: Our East Coast Adventure and Reflections

In this episode of the We Should Move Here travels podcast, hosts Brittany and Josh review their recent East Coast trip. They discuss their experiences in Ipswich, Salem, Portland, and Burlington, sharing what they loved about each location and the unique aspects of New England. Besides exploring the scenic beauty, local food spots, and historical tours, they also reflect on broader topics like the feasibility of moving within the U.S. given current socio-political conditions, and the appeal of other states and countries. They end with thoughts on how this trip might shape their future travel plans and potential relocations.

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast

00:19 Reflecting on the East Coast Trip

02:12 Exploring New England

02:56 Memorable Moments in Ipswich and Salem

05:04 Portland and Burlington Highlights

07:38 Considering Relocation

09:28 Thoughts on Living in the US vs. Abroad

12:56 Future Travel Plans and Reflections

23:12 Genuine Niceness in Ipswich

23:42 The Art of Goodbyes: Irish vs. Midwestern

25:42 Southern States: Bugs and Policies

27:20 Top US States to Live In

30:33 Exploring the US vs. Europe

34:07 Future Travel Plans and Reflections

44:22 Concluding Thoughts and Social Media

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh

brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. Today we're gonna review the East coast trip that we just went on and just talk about, how it went, how we liked the trip, what we would change, maybe what we'll change on future trips and just review it. So

josh 0:34

yeah, I think we can start off right away by both saying that we really enjoyed it.

brit 0:39

Yeah.

josh 0:40

Yeah.

brit 0:41

It was an amazing trip.

josh 0:42

Mm-hmm.

brit 0:43

It was better than I could have ever expected.

josh 0:46

Yeah, for sure. I wasn't a hundred percent sure about it coming right back from our really long Europe trip that we did. Yeah. Having two weeks off and then going on this three week long trip on the East Coast.

brit 1:01

No, I was so nervous about that too. I was like, we are crazy people for doing this.

josh 1:08

And it was really a spur of the moment kind of booking how we planned it.

brit 1:15

It was

josh 1:16

because we both decided to do the podcast full time. We set up the Europe trip and then, I don't know exactly how it came about. Maybe it was you, you were like, uh, you know what I would love to do next is go to Salem for Halloween. And I'm pretty sure I was just like, why don't we just go this year? And then we looked at it and,

brit 1:33

and I was like, are you serious? We can do that this year. Okay, let's do it.

josh 1:37

And we both just agreed that, two weeks and a couple days was plenty of time to recover from. A month in Europe.

brit 1:46

yeah. Looking back, probably not enough time. Mm-hmm. But I still really appreciated the trip and loved being on the East Coast. It was, it was just a really, really cool vibe out there. I really appreciated the food, the environment, all of the nature. Just really great people. It's just a great place. Great place to be.

josh 2:12

Yeah. The whole New England. Yeah, I was just gonna say the whole New England area is. Just amazing. Mm-hmm. And I was very confused when everyone was like, oh, welcome to Eng New England. I'm like, how are we always in New England? How is that? Yeah. I didn't really realize it was just this collection of area. I, I never paid attention to that much. So.

brit 2:37

No. It's like a, it's like five different states. Six

josh 2:41

I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly. I just know we were always in New England everywhere. Yeah. Yeah.

brit 2:46

From

josh 2:46

Massachusetts to Maine to Vermont. We were

brit 2:49

in New England in New, yeah. I think Connecticut and Rhode Island are also in there.

josh 2:54

Oh, I'm sure.

brit 2:55

Yeah.

josh 2:56

So looking back on this trip, if you could point to a couple things that you really enjoyed about it or that are really just gonna stick with you about this trip. Whether it's a place we went, uh, a place we stayed, something we did on this trip that you enjoyed versus other trips. Anything really a couple things that really stick out to you?

brit 3:19

Yeah, first of all, Ipswich was incredible. I loved the small town kind of Gilmore Girls esque environment. It was really beautiful. We went during the fall, which I really appreciated those colors. We did that crane estate. Tour. Oh yeah. And that was so fun being like different characters. I was Amelia Earhart, so I was, flying the plane and got to tour as her. So that was really fun. I think I will always look back and remember that with you. I also really loved in Ipswich all of the local food spots and stores. It wasn't like a bunch of,

josh 4:08

Chains.

brit 4:09

Yeah, chains. Um, I loved the meadery there. That was so fun. I also really loved Salem. That was a blast going to Salem. I don't know if I would recommend it on Halloween, but during a weekday, before Halloween would definitely recommend it. It was so fun to be there. And just like explore all of the things. I think I'll always remember the, uh, the tour that we did and also the Ouija Board Museum. That was so great. Like, I didn't know there was so much that goes along with Ouija boards, so we learned so much from the gentleman John who runs the place. So he was amazing and very passionate about it.

josh 5:00

yeah, really good history lesson there.

brit 5:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think Portland also had a lot to offer with it being, on the water and it's so walkable. And then also of course, the lobster rolls there were just incredible. Like, they were so good. And then Burlington, I think I'll always remember there being fall leaves and we also got snow there. it's hard to pick just one thing, but I think those are the things that I look back and I will always remember about this trip. What about you?

josh 5:35

As far as the trip as a whole, I really like the fact that we switched it up from six days in each place to, well, we did six, three and three, um, but even the six days in Ipswich was great because we spent two full days in Salem.

brit 5:56

Yeah.

josh 5:57

For Halloween and just another day to be in Salem wasn't Halloween, which was a really great choice. I'm really glad we did that.

brit 6:04

Me too.

josh 6:05

And then, yeah, just having those three days in Portland, Maine, and Burlington, Vermont was the perfect amount of time. we got a good vibe of the cities right away. Got time to explore, walk around and Be a little bit touristy, be a little bit local, find some little known places, some popular places, and just explore. And I really enjoyed that. I also really enjoyed the driving between each state was really great. Like you said, thank

brit 6:40

God you enjoy the driving.

josh 6:42

Like you said, it was so beautiful and. Just a wonderful time to explore the coast.

brit 6:50

Yeah.

josh 6:51

In one of the other episodes we talked about how it was my first time touching the ocean, so that was great. That was a memorable experience, at least the first time touching the ocean that I remember. So for sure as an adult. And just lots of mountains and that's

brit 7:08

so many mountains.

josh 7:10

It's always something great that you and me enjoy and lots of great people we talk to so many wonderful people. Yeah. On the East Coast, and I would just love to go back in could be a year, could be longer, maybe run into some of the same people, maybe just meet some new people.

brit 7:32

Yeah.

josh 7:33

So there is so much about this trip that was really great and really special.

brit 7:37

I agree. And we also hadn't explored the US a whole lot for a while. Like we, every trip we were going on was out of the country. Mm-hmm. So it was an interesting feeling to be in the country that we live in.

josh 7:54

Mm-hmm.

brit 7:55

And, be exploring because we always tend to leave the country. Yeah. And while our country doesn't currently fit a lot of our criteria I do think that it, it was beautiful out on the East Coast and I think they're trying to do a lot of good things out there. So I. I don't know that I would fully consider moving out there. I think a lot would have to change within the us mm-hmm. For me to want to do that.

josh 8:28

I don't know how to describe it. It's an interesting thought or question that I can consistently ask myself as we do this podcast. Yeah. Is what would make it worth it for us to move to a different state in the US because where we are right now is fantastic. Wisconsin is an amazing place to live for so many reasons. We're gonna have to do a episode on Wisconsin.

brit 8:57

We will. Yeah. Soon enough. We'll have to explore a lot of Wisconsin and do, do a whole episode on it.

josh 9:02

Right. So people that aren't in Wisconsin, never been to Wisconsin, might listen to that episode and know, But what it would have to take for us to even consider moving to another state, I'm not even sure.

brit 9:17

Yeah,

josh 9:17

because I'm not sure if we've met that yet. Ipswich was fantastic. Love it would consider moving there, but it's not someplace I would consider right now.

brit 9:27

No. Yeah, I think right now with where the US is currently at, we are more so looking at out of the country, at countries that have, universal healthcare, that have good public transportation, that, you know, take care of their people. And it feels like the US does not currently do that. I think that's the main reason why we are looking outside of the country. However, exploring within the country was. Also really cool. So, there's a certain level of love that I do have for the country given, we lived here, we've always lived here, and I wish that it could be different. And when you love something, you wanna fight for it, right? You wanna, you want it to be better. And that's how I feel about it. However, if things get worse, I could see us leaving the country.

josh 10:24

Yeah, absolutely. You and me have talked about this extensively, you know, what it would take for us to want to leave the country. And it's hard because right now it it feels like we're constantly creeping towards that line.

brit 10:39

Yeah. I mean, there's certain limitations that I have expressed to you that I'm like, if these things happen, we're out. Oh,

josh 10:47

absolutely.

brit 10:48

We're gone. They're pretty extreme, but it doesn't seem farfetched at this point. Mm-hmm. Anyways, that took a turn.

josh 11:01

I mean, Similar to the East coast. We are very privileged in Wisconsin to be able to have direct access to another country.

brit 11:11

Yeah.

josh 11:11

Within a couple hours. And that's one thing that we talked about the East coast a lot, that if we were to live in a Maine, a Vermont, or Massachusetts, we're kind of in the same spot. We are only a couple hours from another country.

brit 11:25

Yeah. Which is great. Mm-hmm.

josh 11:27

And

brit 11:27

makes me feel much safer, I think. Which I think is interesting if you're listening to this from another country, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this conversation just because I don't know that people in other countries really feel that way. So I, I would just be curious to hear your thoughts if you're from another country listening to this.

josh 11:49

No. Yeah. Same. I'd be interested to hear a place like Finland, you know mm-hmm. Borders, Russia, and really any of those countries that border Russia or are in very close proximity. How nerve wracking is it to have a neighboring country like that? Is it really blown outta proportion by the United States media or, is it as bad as we hear about along the border? There's a whole bunch of countries like that and yeah. I would like to hear from someone in another country saying it's not all it's cracked up to be all the time. Yeah. Maybe we're, again, just very privileged and lucky to have a bordering country like Canada as a neighbor. You know, So thank you. And

brit 12:41

Canada's great. Yeah. We love Canada. Mm-hmm. So

josh 12:44

I was gonna say thank you Canada. If you're listening out there.

brit 12:47

Thank you Canada.

josh 12:48

Mm. Love

brit 12:49

you. You're our safe neighbors to the north. Mm. Anyways, back to the trip. I do think that this trip was a life-changing trip for both of us.

josh 13:02

Yeah.

brit 13:03

And I would definitely do it again.

josh 13:06

Yeah, same. I think it also made us look at location of a state in the United States if we were to move outta Wisconsin.'cause there were plenty of times that we were in Massachusetts and Maine and we were driving along and we were talking, oh, this is so beautiful being right here by the ocean. And how great would it be to be not that far away?

brit 13:31

Yeah.

josh 13:32

Also you have to then take and consider the climate aspects. Yeah. The potential of a dangerous storm coming along the coast and changing your life in that aspect, you know?

brit 13:47

Yeah. That is definitely something that we would consider if we were talking about moving out there. For sure. I do think that with Ipwich I liked it enough.

josh 13:57

Mm-hmm.

brit 13:58

That I would consider that. I don't know how I would move past the hurricane aspect Of that.'Cause you are like 10 minutes from the ocean. Yeah. So, uh, Dunno. But I do think I would love it out there. I'm curious, is there anything that you would want to change about this trip?

josh 14:22

As much as I loved being in Salem for Halloween, which was amazing. It was on our bucket list to be there for Halloween.

brit 14:32

Yeah.

josh 14:33

I would have loved to have been there, not during Halloween, because a lot of locals were saying it's a completely different place. Not in, I think they were talking the two and a half months before Halloween. Yeah. And immediately after Halloween they said Salem is a completely different place. There's lots more to do here. We didn't choose Salem as a place to potentially live in the future for the podcast. But after going on this trip and talking to people who said Salem is a great place outside of the two and a half months and immediate days following Halloween, it's a completely different place than what you see during Halloween.

brit 15:16

Yeah.

josh 15:16

And you should come back. And while we were there, we really liked Salem.

brit 15:21

Loved it. Yeah. I loved it so much there.

josh 15:25

Mm-hmm.

brit 15:25

I don't know that I could do the two and a half months of the tourist season. Because that was insane on Halloween. It was pretty crazy.

josh 15:35

Mm-hmm. So, but it's a very like, localized event. It's a very, mm-hmm. Small area where everyone is located. Maybe not small area, but it's very compact. Everyone squeezes into this one spot. So it's not as though the entirety of Salem is just filled with people, but this one spot is. Yeah. But I get what you're saying. For two and a half months, that'd still be quite a lot.

brit 16:04

It would to

josh 16:04

be like, oh, we can't go down this street, or we can't get anywhere near here on the weekend because. It's gonna be a bit busy. A bit wild. But it seemed like a really great place to be and I would like to maybe go back in the future, not around Halloween and take a look at it.

brit 16:24

Yeah.

josh 16:24

But that, that doesn't change the aspect of it being near the coast and potentially having to deal with hurricanes or extreme weather events because it is on the coast.

brit 16:36

Yeah.

josh 16:36

And potential, climate change aspects that may affect it as a near coastal town. I would also have liked us to go up into the more northern parts of Maine. Mm. Because those parts are more inland, much closer to Canada. You are surrounded by Canada once you get into the northern part of Maine.

brit 17:05

Yeah. So, no, that would've been really cool.

josh 17:08

I think that's cool. I'm would love to know how people. live up there in like Caribou or Fort Fairfield, Ashland Eagle Lake. Those are some towns way up in the northern part of Maine.

brit 17:24

That would be so fun. Maybe we should go visit when we go to Montreal and Toronto again.

josh 17:30

Yeah.'cause it would be so easy for us. We could do a road trip up to the northern part of Wisconsin, the up into Canada Road trip to Ottawa, Montreal, like you said, Quebec City. Mm-hmm. Would be right along the way. And then we're, we can be into Maine that way, and then also we can get to Nova Scotia.

brit 17:51

How cool. Yeah. That would be amazing. We should do that. I am down for that. Maybe not in the winter, just because of all of the driving up north. I feel like there would be so much snow and it would be very dangerous. Mm-hmm. So maybe we wait for spring, summer, but I agree with those points. I do think that with Salem though I really did enjoy being there that Wednesday, the Friday, that was Halloween day. That was crazy. I don't think I would do that again. But the Wednesday before Halloween. Was so much fun. And there were still like the characters out, you know, like, people dressed up as spooky characters from like scary movies and stuff. That was so much fun.

josh 18:40

It was, it was. I would definitely

brit 18:42

do that again.

josh 18:42

Yeah.

brit 18:43

I think some things that I would change is where we stayed in Vermont. I did love Burlington, don't get me wrong, loved it there. Mm-hmm. However, I think that within Vermont, there are smaller cities that we could go to that maybe would give us more of that Vermont kind of vibe. Um, not that Burlington didn't, but it was just, it was a bigger town and a, college town. I just didn't really expect that. And, I just wonder what smaller towns within that kind of area look like. I think I, I would appreciate a smaller town in Vermont and also in Maine, like you were saying, like the up north area. I would love to go explore that.

josh 19:35

Mm-hmm.

brit 19:36

That would be so fun. We would have a blast doing that. Like, that sounds like a trip we would enjoy so much. So what did we learn on the trip?

josh 19:47

I think we confirmed some things that we knew because our favorite town on this three state trip was Ipswich. We loved it. Yeah. And it was because it was such a small, cutesy town sort of vibe.

brit 20:04

Mm-hmm.

josh 20:06

And places that we have marked in our top three or have just loved previously are kind of that small cutesy town vibe. Maybe not small population-wise, but might give you that feeling.

brit 20:23

I mean, Stockholm and Toronto are not small.

josh 20:26

No but Portree is smaller and Ghent has a large population, but it gives you the smaller town vibe. I think it does. when we look at places, a town like Ipswich might be something. That we use as a blueprint of a place we're looking for, because even Ipswich had a train stop where we could use public transportation if we wanted to go further north or further south.

brit 20:54

Mm-hmm.

josh 20:54

And for, United States, it's kind of a rare thing to have, a train that can take you a great distance and it be useful anyways, versus a car.

brit 21:07

I feel like it's more available on the east coast.

josh 21:11

Yeah. I think it's the coasts,

brit 21:13

yeah. And yeah, we did that in, uh, in,

josh 21:18

we went from

brit 21:18

Portland to Seattle. On the, on the West coast.

josh 21:21

Yeah. Portland, Oregon. Yep.

brit 21:23

Yeah.

josh 21:23

Kind of using Ipswich as this is the kind of style of place we like, but also that's a privileged thought because Ipswich is very expensive.

brit 21:34

It's so expensive. Yeah.

josh 21:36

It is a beautiful place. It's located in a great spot. It's beautiful.

brit 21:42

Yeah.

josh 21:42

You know, how do we replicate that to other places in the United States or around the world? I'm sure we can,

brit 21:52

I think it is more of the small town kind of environment that we love. Mm-hmm. I don't necessarily know that it's, the most expensive cities or the most bougie foods or places to stay. Mm-hmm. That's not necessarily, I don't think what. What interests us into these places? I think it's the small town kind of vibes.

josh 22:17

Right.

brit 22:18

In progressive places. Yeah. In places that feel like they want to take care of their people.

josh 22:24

Yeah. We mentioned it a lot on your Europe trip and on this, there are certain places just feel like they were made for people.

brit 22:33

Yeah. Made for people to get around, made for people, to bike, to drive to walk. And there are some places that it just feels like people are kinder. Mm-hmm. Not that wisconsinites aren't kind.'cause we have a different kind of kindness. I don't know that everybody knows this, but there's like a Midwestern niceness That isn't always real or true. Mm-hmm. And so, like, we're nice to everyone. However, sometimes it's hard to read if that's genuine.

josh 23:12

We're looking for a place with people, genuine niceness, and you could never really know if a random person is being nice to you. Genuinely.

brit 23:22

Yeah.

josh 23:23

But you get a better feeling about it. And I think we got that from lots of people in Ipswich.

brit 23:29

We did. Yeah. People were genuinely kind there.

josh 23:32

Yeah. We got invited to places. People wanted to stop and talk to us. People engaged with us directly. Whereas we've been to other places and you could kind of feel a almost. Is it Irish goodbye sort of feeling? People just wanted to like cut off the middle conversation and go. You're like, oh, okay.

brit 23:56

Which I love more power to. You do an Irish goodbye. It will change your life. It will. If you don't know what an Irish goodbye is, it is leaving without saying a word to anyone, leaving a party, a person's house, whatever. Without saying anything to anyone, it is very empowering. You should do it.

josh 24:17

Otherwise. There's the other side of it where we have the Midwestern or Wisconsin goodbye, which is you gotta plan to say your goodbye

brit 24:27

two hours before you leave.

josh 24:28

I was gonna say an hour to two hours before you actually wanna walk out the door.

brit 24:33

And then you're talking in the parking lot for another hour. Yeah.

josh 24:36

You're talking at the door talking the parking lot. Getting the last few words and catching up with people.

brit 24:43

That's why Irish goodbyes are making a comeback, because When I say goodbye, I mean goodbye. My God, my Midwestern niceness is not coming out right now. Is it

josh 24:54

I was gonna say, every friend, family member's gonna listen to this if they listen to this and be like, oh,

brit 25:00

it's just when I'm done peopling, I am done peopling. Okay.

josh 25:04

That's fair.

brit 25:05

I gotta recharge at home. I'm An introvert.

josh 25:09

Yeah.

brit 25:09

you like that though? You like the talking in the parking lot?

josh 25:14

Yeah.

brit 25:15

Yeah. Mm-hmm. You're a Midwestern guy.

josh 25:17

born and raised, maybe that's kind of a northern state sort of thing.'cause we got those similar, more authentic, genuine niceness from people. But who knows? We haven't been to a ton of southern states to experience it really.

brit 25:43

I mean, when I think of southern states. I don't necessarily think of the most progressive communities. Mm-hmm. And I also think of bugs. So I think those are things that are deterring me. Mm. From going there, I would definitely make a trip. You know, if there's a cheap flight or something we can head on out there, but I don't know that I would heavily consider it unless if I absolutely fell in love with the place, but then like we would have to deal with cockroaches. Ew. No big ass beetles. spiders. No, thank you.

josh 26:20

You're right there. There are the potential for those in some places, but I think we could do some research and find places. But I agree with you. There's a balance of wanting. Progressive policies that we want in a place. Mm-hmm. That if you were to look at a map of the United States, you wouldn't get that in a ton of the

brit 26:45

Southern states.

josh 26:45

Southern states specifically. Yeah. The south, Southeast.

brit 26:49

Yeah.

josh 26:50

Not a ton of that. So you can get pockets and you get a lot of major cities that are In most states. But as a whole, the state not so much. And that's kind of what we have to look at when comparing states to countries.

brit 27:09

Yeah.

josh 27:09

Because most of our states are as big as some of the European countries that we're looking at.

brit 27:19

No, that's, that's very fair.

josh 27:21

so what was some of the big things you learned on this trip?

brit 27:24

I learned that I can feel the feeling in a state within the us. I didn't necessarily think that I was going to. Hmm. And so for me, that was kind of surprising, but, and

josh 27:38

you're talking about Massachusetts, right?

brit 27:41

Yeah.

josh 27:41

Okay.

brit 27:42

And also Vermont. I think I would in Maine, if we went more north, I feel like in Portland it was just, I feel like the traffic just made it so, like the parking mm-hmm. Made it so difficult for me to feel that.'cause I was like, there's no fucking way I would live here.

josh 27:59

I assume most people in Portland would probably agree with you. They're might be like, yeah,

brit 28:03

the parking was insane us. Um, I just really appreciated, you know, being on this trip and having the feeling in multiple states within the us. Mm-hmm. I think that was, that was pretty cool. I could envision myself there. Yeah. And who knows, maybe. Maybe more policies will change within the US and we will want to stay here and then we'll have to, explore more places here and we will, we'll explore more of the US to see where else we could envision ourselves, but mm-hmm. I really considered putting Massachusetts on my top three.

josh 28:45

Yeah.

brit 28:46

Which was so surprising for me. My top three right now are Portree Scotland, Ghent, Belgium, and Stockholm, Sweden. Those are really difficult ones to beat for me. Mm-hmm. Um, but as far as like a US list, maybe we should add that. I don't know. Hmm. Let us know if you wanna see that. But as far as a US list, I think Massachusetts would be number one for me. Yeah. And maybe Vermont number two.

josh 29:15

Yeah.

brit 29:16

Yeah. How would you rank yours?

josh 29:18

Massachusetts would be pretty high. This is excluding Wisconsin because I feel like unless we leave Wisconsin, Wisconsin has to be number one.

brit 29:27

Yeah.

josh 29:27

So excluding Wisconsin after that would be, actually, it's not one that we have gone on a recent trip, but probably Oregon. Oregon would probably be one, Massachusetts, and then I would have to think about it longer between Vermont, Washington, and Maine. Mm. Yeah. I feel like we've spent quite a bit of time in Washington, so there's a little bit of an unfair advantage there.

brit 29:52

Yeah. We've spent time in like Seattle and surrounding Seattle areas. Mm-hmm. But we haven't spent a whole lot of time outside of that area.

josh 30:01

Right, so tho but those three would be really close. I dunno which one I would pick,

brit 30:07

so. Hmm. Okay.

josh 30:09

Probably Washington, to be honest. So

brit 30:11

So what, how does your list go? Oregon?

josh 30:13

Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington.

brit 30:16

Ah, okay.

josh 30:17

Yeah. I really enjoy those places. I think they're great. I think there's, playing for us to explore on the East Coast. I think it's amazing. I think there's wonderful people. I think the same about the West Coast. So

brit 30:32

yeah. do you think that we are going to change the structure of our future trips based on the what happened or what we learned on this trip?

josh 30:41

Well, I think we've talked about it before. In reviewing the places we went, and I mentioned a little bit at the beginning is being three full days in a place seemed really great.

brit 30:54

Yeah.

josh 30:54

Seemed like a great amount of time to do that. I think it might solidify more that we need to spend an extended period of time in one state or one country and go around for like two weeks in that country to multiple places.

brit 31:13

But

josh 31:13

it's so hard'cause I want to visit so many states and so many countries, so

brit 31:18

Yeah. I know

josh 31:19

it's, It's hard to make that commitment to one state or one country.

brit 31:24

Mm-hmm.

josh 31:25

Or I guess one state for sure. Because of how more accessible that is.

brit 31:32

Do you think that that is partially some of your ego talking, wanting to go to all of these different places and you know, being able to say, I've, I went to how many different countries and stuff? Or do you think that's genuinely wanting to explore different countries because you would still be exploring within the same country or state for the two weeks or whatever?

josh 31:59

I don't think it's an ego thing for me. I think I genuinely want to experience different countries as far the states for sure. we've driven through so many states and.

brit 32:12

There's nothing like out in Kansas, nothing.

josh 32:15

I wouldn't say nothing. There's plenty of people there, but there's not a lot to see and there's plenty of people in Kansas that we have met that are like, yeah, it's

brit 32:27

nothing

josh 32:28

kinda cornfield there, and not to hate on anyone else's state because there's plenty of things not to like about, Wisconsin as well, and plenty of things not to like about the states that we've been.

brit 32:37

Yeah.

josh 32:38

But as far as other countries, there's just so many. So using up our youthful clock, you know? Mm. to spend extended periods of time in one country. I love. I also wanna just keep experiencing places until we're like, we loved this place. We could go back there all the time. Or we could move there.

brit 33:07

Yeah. No, I, I feel that too. I do feel like, personally it's a bit of an ego thing for me. That's why I asked you, because like, I want to, we have a map where we scratch off all of the places that we've been, and I really want to scratch off like a shit ton of countries is just like the whole thing is scratched off, you know? Right. Yeah. Um. So I feel like in that way it's a bit of an ego thing, but I also really do love exploring different countries. And I, I also do love being in one place, like in Scotland when we were there for two weeks, that was one of the best trips we've ever taken. Yeah. Right. Like, that was, that was incredible. It was life changing. So, I don't know. It's a, it's a delicate balance that I feel like we have to, mess with a little bit, but mm-hmm. Uh, I don't think there's a wrong way to do it.

josh 34:05

No, there's not. You know what would make it easier if we just lived in the center of Europe,

brit 34:13

that would make it so much easier.

josh 34:15

It would. If we were able to go to a different country every weekend.

brit 34:22

Yeah. Like

josh 34:22

how people in the United States can go to a different state every weekend. It would be incredibly easy to travel throughout.

brit 34:30

Mm-hmm.

josh 34:30

All the countries. What if we did that? What if we moved over there, spent a couple years just hitting up everywhere?

brit 34:40

Hey, that's an idea. I mean, maybe we could, I think we can get like a 12 month visa so we could do it for a year if we wanted. I think we're a little far ahead of ourselves. I mean, why not? I mean, this is, I mean, expense wise, like

josh 34:59

Yeah. Yeah. If you were to look at a map of Western Europe, which is where a lot of people traveled to, where a lot of great countries are, and mainly when I talk about comparing European countries to the size of states in the United States, I'm talking about Western Europe. If you were to live in Germany and use Germany as a base and travel to all these other countries, we could get to Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus. And you could even drive up Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland.

brit 35:43

We could,

josh 35:44

and then it's a short plane ride to. The uk, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland.

brit 35:49

Like,

josh 35:49

there's just so

brit 35:51

much. There is. There is so much. And I think depending on how the pod does within the next year, like we'll see, to be frankly honest, like I, I don't know that we can do that right now, can we?

josh 36:10

Yes. No. We've talked so much about how soon we wanna move, how soon we don't wanna move. It's, it ebbs and flows.

brit 36:19

Yeah.

josh 36:19

Because something could happen tomorrow and we would be like, we gotta move. We gotta pick some place. Yeah. And we gotta go there. And

brit 36:27

where would that place be?

josh 36:29

Well, it's hard to say. I think at this moment we both have a little bit of an argument. But our top two match, and then it would just be which one we would want to go to. And I, Scotland, see, I would say, I think we would have to settle on Ghent, Belgium or No

brit 36:47

Scotland,

josh 36:47

or we might even have to go to Canada if it's something like,

brit 36:52

if it's something really extreme where we had to leave,

josh 36:54

it's like, how do we get out here in a week? It's Canada.

brit 36:57

Yeah. Yeah.

josh 36:58

But those would be pretty extreme circumstances. But how, how do you think this trip has impacted the pod?

brit 37:06

Yeah. I mean, similar to what you said, I think that I really appreciated the three days in each spot. I think we were able to get a good gauge of the cities, the states and I also could see us doing a long amount of time in one state, right? Like you said, it kind of ebbs and flows and we gotta figure it out. Um, but I don't think that it was a bad thing to have just three days mm-hmm. In each place. That way we got to see more, we got to experience more, explore more places. Not that we wouldn't, if we, for instance, just stayed in Massachusetts, like we would've explored a lot more of Massachusetts. Right. And there's always so much more to see. So again, I don't think that we can do it wrong.

josh 37:56

Right.

brit 37:57

I also think that, because I got the feeling in two out of three of these places, that we could explore more of the US and just see what else is there because we haven't explored a whole lot of the us. Like we've done some, but not a ton. Yeah. So I think that we could consider more of the US to explore as well.

josh 38:25

if you had to pick a new state right now to go to, to explore, what would it be?

brit 38:30

Massachusetts,

josh 38:31

a new state.

brit 38:33

A new state,

josh 38:34

A new state.

brit 38:35

Hold on, let me pull up a map. You know, I, I do think that Montana would be incredible given how much we love mountains. Mm-hmm. That would be so much fun. Mm-hmm. I also think that New York would have a lot to offer And I do think that one of the other states within New England, like Connecticut or Rhode Island, um, or New Hampshire, I think one of those could be really beautiful as well.

josh 39:04

Mm-hmm.

brit 39:04

So any of those I would choose. What about you?

josh 39:08

I think California's gotta be one.

brit 39:11

Yeah. California is a big one for me as well. I think for me, the wine would be amazing and the mountains. Mm-hmm. And then also just like exploring California, like we've never been over there, so. I think it would just be fun to see what it's like over there.

josh 39:29

Yeah.

brit 39:30

I don't necessarily see ourselves in California. No.

josh 39:35

yeah. That's why I was kinda, but we

brit 39:36

don't know until we don't know.

josh 39:37

That's why I was a little apprehensive to say California, but also. We dunno.

brit 39:43

Yeah. No, it's definitely out there for me.

josh 39:45

I think it's one that we've talked about that we have to go check out and see

brit 39:52

in-person research baby

josh 39:53

gotta do the in-person research. Is there anything about this trip that you think should change how we structure the trips?

brit 40:01

I think that given how much we love the small towns

josh 40:07

mm-hmm.

brit 40:08

I think we should make more of an effort to stay in small towns. Mm-hmm.

josh 40:12

Mm-hmm.

brit 40:13

that is something that we both have really enjoyed. So I think it would make sense to stay in smaller places. However, I mean, in big cities there's so much more to do, I think often. And I do think that how flights are and stuff, if we're flying, we're probably gonna stay in a bigger city. Or rent a car and travel around, like say California, I don't wanna make that drive. That would be insane. that's like a 24 hour drive straight,

josh 40:45

depending where you're going in California. But yeah, it's a long drive.

brit 40:48

Oh my God. But I think that if we flew to LA then we would probably rent a car and travel throughout California and then come back to LA and leave out of la. I think that's a good way to do it. That's how we've done it in previous trips and mm-hmm. I think it's worked well.

josh 41:08

We could also, Appleton flies direct to Portland, so we could go to Portland and then take a train down

brit 41:13

Portland, Oregon.

josh 41:14

Yeah.

brit 41:16

Oh yeah. It's hard because we've been to both Portlands now, so it's confusing.

josh 41:24

Oregon. Yeah,

brit 41:26

that would make more sense to take a train from Portland to

josh 41:30

Oregon. I mean, you could fly out to Portland, Maine, and there's probably a train that eventually gets you to Portland, Oregon to, oh gosh, California. That would make no sense.

brit 41:42

Um, Yeah, I mean that would be really fun. I think that would be a blast. And then we could do some of Oregon as well. Yeah.

josh 41:51

But you think focusing on smaller towns is. Where we're headed towards.

brit 41:59

I think so I think it would make more sense to do that and then stop in the bigger towns and maybe stay for a night or two nights and do what we wanna do there. Mm-hmm. Eat the good food. Like we're going to New York City for sure. Mm-hmm. Because I have so many spots that we need to go eat food at.

josh 42:16

No, I agree. And we've kind of been mentioning that along the way in this episode and it's just a more homey vibe.

brit 42:25

Yeah, I agree.

josh 42:27

It's comfortable. I think we both grew up in very small. Towns cities as well, or did some of our growing up in very small towns or cities. And it's just also the layout. I think Portland, Maine is a little on top of each other, everyone's really close together. Mm. Which isn't bad, I just don't think that's where we feel comfortable.

brit 42:52

I like to have, some space and have it not be consistently busy and like if we need to go drive that, it's not gonna be insane driving. Mm-hmm.

josh 43:03

I think again, I just have to point out that it was really nice being Ipswich and there being the train there. That's really nice. I love that about the place because even though it wasn't like the public transportation could get us around a bunch of places in Ipswich or Massachusetts in general, but it could get us to some major hubs north and south. Yeah. Was very nice and convenient. And if a place we were at had that availability, I think we would definitely use it more.

brit 43:40

I agree. I think we would.

josh 43:41

So a place that would have, that would be nice. And looking at our list Portree doesn't have that unfortunately, but Portree a beautiful exception to, to our cryo

brit 43:52

beautiful, to our

josh 43:53

criteria

brit 43:54

exception. Stunning exception.

josh 43:57

But both of our other places, Ghent Stockholm, Sweden for you Toronto, Canada, for me both have more extensive public transportation.

brit 44:09

Yeah.

josh 44:10

So I, I think that's something, pairing those two is a difficult task, but I think it's something that we can try to prioritize when looking at places.

brit 44:21

I agree.

josh 44:22

Yeah.

brit 44:22

Don't forget to follow along on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Make sure you subscribe and follow, and also share any comments that you might have, any feedback, or if you want us to travel to places, please let us know.

josh 44:37

Don't forget also that you can check out our website, wsm h travels.com, where you can get some information and see some pictures from our recent travels.

brit 44:48

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.