The Vacation Trap: Hungover in Paradise

Ever notice how alcohol can make even the most beautiful place feel weirdly… the same?

In this episode of The Alcohol Myth Podcast, coaches Jonathan Ball and Ellen Biggs talk about alcohol and travel, and the big lie most of us believed: that drinking makes trips more fun, more romantic, and more special. In reality, alcohol has a superpower, it turns your vacation into the same loop you run at home, just with different scenery.

We unpack free wine on flights, the 5 PM countdown, drinking-focused itineraries, the sneaky “me time” pattern, resentment on family trips, and why alcohol-free travel can feel like a total upgrade once you actually try it.

In this video, you’ll learn:
- Why alcohol makes every place feel the same
- The “free wine on the flight” trap and what it costs you
- How travel can expose the hidden routines of overdrinking
- Why alcohol-free travel often feels calmer, clearer, and more joyful
- How to spend the alcohol budget on experiences you actually remember
- A simple plan for your first alcohol-free trip (without white knuckling)
- Why treats matter: do not remove alcohol and go treatless

Quick takeaway:
If you want travel to feel new again, remove the thing that makes every day predictable.

Tiny FAQ:
Q: What if I’m scared my trip will be less fun without alcohol?
A: Run a smaller experiment. Pick the first 1–3 days alcohol-free, plan one fun activity, and collect real evidence.

Q: What should I drink instead?
A: Anything that feels like a treat. Mocktails, alcohol-free beer, sparkling drinks, special coffee, dessert. Build it in on purpose.

Connect with us:
Email: thealcoholmyth@gmail.com
Jonathan: https://livecreativeaf.com/
Ellen: https://ellenbiggscoaching.com/

Subscribe for more episodes on pulling back the curtain on the alcohol myth.

Chapters
0:00 The travel lie: “it makes it special”
1:22 What we’re talking about today: alcohol + travel
2:04 Free wine on flights and the fear of sober travel
3:31 “Best kept secret”: what changes when you travel alcohol-free
4:20 A ticking clock to 5 PM: planning your day around drinking
6:23 Work travel as “me time” and drinking alone
8:33 Disney, Epcot, and making alcohol the mission
9:11 Alcohol’s superpower: making everywhere feel the same
10:22 The patio fantasy, and why it’s not different than home
11:36 Spend the alcohol money on real experiences (Cape Cod)
12:57 Ads sell the highlight reel, not the 3 AM wakeups
15:22 The mind noise disappears: travel gets easier
16:26 Resentment on family trips and hiding behavior
19:45 Travel disrupts your routine, and shame shows up
22:19 The “two glasses of water” moment that busted the pattern
25:00 Alcohol isolates you, even in a crowd
26:34 The mask: “fun party person” vs how you actually feel
28:41 Safe spaces: practice taking the mask off in community
32:39 Practical plan: pick a target, plan fun, stay curious
35:01 Travel tip: do not start your trip in withdrawal
37:19 Future casting for success (airport treats, museums, plans)
38:42 Build treats on purpose and explore alcohol-free options
40:13 Closing and invitation to share the episode

#AlcoholFreeTravel #SoberTravel #QuitDrinking #SoberCurious #AlcoholMythPodcast #ThisNakedMind #Mocktails #HabitChange

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I just think that's really important what you said about how it just makes everything the same. And then we go to these exotic, beautiful places and we bring the sameness of whatever we've been doing elsewhere and we call it special. And no wonder, right? I mean, we're we're we're duped because look at every single advertis advertisement out there. You're at the beach and you're laughing and you're, you know, you're romantic and you're we don't remember, you know, the waking up at three in the morning and tossing and turning all night and being super hungover the next day and needing a, you know, a bloody Mary at 10 a.m. just to get through that next day on holiday, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Why does the world act like alcohol is the answer, even while it is creating problems of its own?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

On the alcohol myth podcast, we pull back the curtain so you can see what's really going on with alcohol and what life could be like without it.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

We are coaches trained in this naked mind and effective liminal psychology who fell for the alcohol myth for decades. Now we help people take back control of their lives by changing their relationship with alcohol from the inside out.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

You don't need to wait for a rock bottom. You don't need more willpower, you just need a new way to understand what you are feeling and why you are reaching for that next drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

So let's dig in. Welcome to our show. I'm Jonathan Ball, uh habit and addiction coach, and I'm joined with Ellen. Hey, Ellen!

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Hey, Jonathan, great to see you.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Uh, wonderful to see you. And today we are talking about alcohol and travel and alcohol-free travel and the role that alcohol plays in travel and all of the stories that we are told and believe about alcohol and travel and how it makes travel so much better, more fun. And um, we're here to get into all of it. So when we talk about alcohol and travel, Ellen, you just came back from a big long trip.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

I did. I just got back from I was gone for maybe eight days, a couple days in Boston with my kids, and um some time in Belgium with my sister-in-law and baby. And, you know, there were some long-haul flights in that, which used to, you know, the wine is free on those flights. So, I mean, there was a time where you could not stand between me and my free wine on a flight. Meanwhile, it's like the cheapest, nastiest, most headache-inducing thing. But free free wine on a flight going on holiday was I was all about that. So um, yeah, it's still so I'm two, I'm almost two years alcohol free. I've taken now many, many trips alcohol free. And I continue to be just what's the right word? Astounded, like uh the the the level of like energy I am able to sustain and the the natural joy of actually experiencing the thing that I went to experience. I had so much fear around traveling alcohol free. I thought that it would be no fun. I thought that I would miss out on everything. I thought that it was gonna be I it I had all these preconceived ideas about just how terrible it was gonna be. And then I I'm just always like, oh my gosh, I who knew it could be this, like it's really the best kept secret. It's it's the thing, you know, that clients actually talk about a lot. Like, well, I'll be alcohol free in October, but I have a trip in November, so I know I'm gonna be drinking then, right? It's the thing that we hold on to so tightly that we can't travel without alcohol because we need it, we want it. It's like it's it's part of it, right? And to come on the other side of that and be like, because I was that too, you know? And to be like, oh my God, I was diminishing all of my experiences by being, you know, basically numbed out and hung over for the whole trip. So yeah, that's that's how I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And Ellen, you're you're a big time traveler. I mean, you've traveled the globe.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Yeah, I've had a lot of a lot of trips, a lot of traveling hung over, a lot of um ideas about I have been to a lot of places and spent a lot of time in bars at a lot of places. Uh I mean, I've done the other things too. I traveled a lot with my kids and you know, we did go out and see the things, but there was always this there's a ticking time in your in your brain towards five o'clock every day, right? It's like I'm limited to what I can do during the day so that I can be somewhere where I can drink at five o'clock. And it just yeah, it just being alcohol-free traveling is it just opens it up so much for me. I I'm curious about you and your experience with alcohol and travel and whether it be pleasure travel, work travel, like what is the what kind of traveling have you done both with alcohol and without?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

I think one of the biggest things that comes to mind when I think about alcohol and travel has been like I'm I'm at a position in my life where I'm in the trenches, I'm I'm working a lot. And like, you know, I'm I'm in my career. And so it's rare that I get to travel for fun, um, because it's rare that I take any time off. A lot of the times when I take time off, I'm actually working on another business or consulting or to doing something like that. Um, so on the rare times when I do travel for fun, uh historically, it was that was definitely the time to turn up full throttle, you know, like it's gotta be um around alcohol. Um, and that was kind of like the the event, right? Like it's like, oh, we're going here and drinking. It'd be like, we're going, um, we're going to the mountains and drinking. We're going, I I would go see my um friends from college and we would go get a cabin and drink. And that's like all we did, right? That was like kind of the event. Um, but I think especially for me, the rare times when I would be traveling for work or like sent to a conference or something, like those would be times where I wasn't really beholden to anyone else. Like, you know, I'm I'm traveling without my my wife, my animals. I'm, you know, I may most of the time I wouldn't even see people from work um there. And it's just like I'm, you know, it's just me out here. I'm a totally free agent. What am I gonna do in this strange new place? Uh what what could the night hold for me? You know, like who might I who might I meet? What might I see? And just like kind of that and there is like this this sense of like the exotic, you know, like, oh, this is a different kind of experience, because I'm I'm never I never am in that situation. And in actuality, what it would result in is me just uh sitting in my hotel room getting super drunk watching the new Twin Peaks TV show because it's too weird for my wife, right? Like, and I wanted to see it, right? It's like it's it's stuff like that, which is just um kind of pathetic. Like it was I was looking at it as a thing that was like uh this is me time, like that was a big thing for me for alcohol. I I I'm beginning to realize that it was me time, it was time where I wasn't beholden to anyone else, and this was like something I did for me to relax. And even my like um home drinking pattern would be like um I would drink beforehand, but then you know, my lovely wife would go to bed, and then it was me time, right? And then, you know, I could I could really tie it on, right? And um that pattern definitely included traveling, um, which is such a shame because I've been to some beautiful places and um you know had some really cool opportunities, and like I I was sent to Disney World, like and what did I do there? The the one hour that I had where the park was still open, I was at the um in the Epcot area future late, I don't know what it's called, but they have like the different they have alcohol from around the world kind of arranged in the park, and that was my mission, right? I'm gonna go and do that. And it was it was so much about like I didn't even enjoy it because it was just like go, go, go. I don't know, I feel like I'm rambling a little bit, but like it the thing is like that with the alcohol, no matter where you are, it has this incredible superpower of making wherever you are kind of more of the same because alcohol has the same effect on you, whether you're sitting on your couch at home or whether you're um you know sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower, physically, neurobiologically, chemically, it's doing the same thing. And so you take this moment and make it so samey, no matter where you are. And uh that's that's what comes to mind for me when it we talk about alcohol and travel.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah. Oh my gosh, there's so many things in there that you said that just was like like, oh my gosh, this, this, this. Uh I I love what you're pointing to around it, how it just makes everything the same. Because I think I didn't that didn't that penny didn't drop for quite a while for me, you know. I I believed that it made everything more special. I, you know, so to to go from believing that it made everything more special to that it made everything actually the same, that was a leap for me. But once I saw it, you you can't really unsee it. I remember having a conversation. This was during my journey. My this was my first weekend that I was alcohol free on a trip. And in preparation for it, I was working with a coach and um and I wasn't committed at that point to be alcohol free, but I was like, I just can't see it. I don't I she's like, Well, what do you what do you want to do on the trip? I'm like, well, I I just envision like being on a patio and having conversation and you know, drinking a glass of wine and the sun, and it'll be beautiful, and there's water, and I'll just be looking at the water. And she's like, Okay, like I I can see like that sounds like there's some relaxation, there's some connection, there's some things that you you know are interested in that. But like, how is that different than you know, being at your local, your local restaurant where you sit outside on the path, like you know, like I mean, really with genuine curiosity, like tell me how that might be different. And like, wow, but the water, and that you know, but it's like, yeah, it's different water. I know, it's it's really not that different. And and and I was like, Oh yeah, I guess I'm just going to some other location to do the exact same thing I do every day at home. And and she really encouraged me. She was like, What if you took all the money you would spend on alcohol in restaurants, which adds up on a trip, by the way? It's not like your $10 to $15 bottle of wine at home, it's $10 to $15 a glass, you know, and you're on holiday, so you're drinking many glasses. So she's like, What if you add up what you might theoretically spend on alcohol and find something fun to do? And so it was on Cape Cod. I did the whole thing. I we ended up going on a whale watching trip. We ended up signing up for like a dune buggy ride through the dunes there. I took my daughter out for her first lobster ever. Like I it it was like it doesn't when we take away alcohol, it's like all the other things are are there and we it's like we can't see them because we're so focused on the alcohol. And yeah, I just think that's really important what you said about how it just makes everything the same. And then we go to these exotic, beautiful places and we bring the sameness of whatever we've been doing elsewhere, and we call it special. And no wonder, right? I mean, we're we're we're duped because look at every single advertising advertisement out there. You're at the beach and you're laughing and you're, you know, you're romantic and you're uh you know, and we've had the experience or what we believe to be the experience of oh, I had some really fun times on vacation with the with the wine. We don't remember, you know, the waking up at three in the morning and tossing and turning all night and being super hungover the next day and needing a you know a bloody merry at 10 a.m. just to get through that next day on holiday, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Like Yeah. I'm thinking about how often we give alcohol the credit for something that is just awesome, just by itself. Like sitting on the beach with your boo, looking at the waves and the bright signing shun. That by and the sun white that that by itself is awesome. And then, you know, we think that it's awesome because we have a fruity drink that has a little umbrella in it, and you know, like we can't taste the booze, right? Like, and then oh, like that drink really made that great. Um, you're in paradise. Maybe paradise made it great, right? Like, and then that's with so much that's with so many different things, you know. Like I've um I've talked about going to festivals on here before. Like maybe the festival is awesome, and maybe you shouldn't give credit to the super expensive poison that you're like obsessed with getting, right? Like maybe it's not that.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Um yeah, even like a Friday night, right? We think a Friday night, oh, we we have a drink to relax. That's what makes it so good. And it's like, well, maybe it's just Friday night, and it means you don't have to work tomorrow, and that's why you're happy, and that's why you feel good and relaxed, you know? But we give it the credit to the booze that happy hour on Friday, that's what's fun.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Um, when it comes to traveling alcohol-free, another thing that I've been really appreciating uh since not drinking is the I when I was drinking, I always had this like kind of low-level simmering anxiety and kind of mind fuzz experience that like a drink would set to rights. But other than that, there was like this low-level kind of simmer of like, well, I you know, like I wonder how much I'll drink and when, and you know, where and is how's that gonna work out? Um and just kind of nerves, you know. But the the thing with the thing since not drinking that I've experienced while traveling is like since that mind noise isn't there anymore, um the stressful parts of traveling are a lot more easy to navigate. So um coming up with plans and making sometimes some decisions that are gonna impact how you're, you know, like what how you're navigating the rest of your day, or like are you gonna make it to XYZ thing on time and stuff like that? It's just easier and it's less um, I don't know. I just I really can't understate how much noise there was with when are you gonna have your next drink, where is it gonna come from? As you're making your plans, there's this whole other layer of plans that I'm you know subconsciously or consciously trying to deal with, and having that clarity has been really nice.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about with that low-level noise about like when can I drink, how much can I drink, all of that, how that impacted me traveling with kids was ending up feeling a level of resentment towards my kids and towards my husband for getting in the way of the drinking that I wanted to do on the holiday. So it's like I need to go do this thing with the children because that's what's expected of me. But what I really want to do is just go to the pool bar or go to the, you know, whatever, have my have my drinks. And it ended up creating this unnecessary feeling in in myself towards the people that I love the most and brought on vacation with me to to share with this experience. And then I was resenting them for getting in the way of me and my booze. And I can remember, I mean, you had talked a little bit about like that the me time, you know. Like I can remember being so happy when my husband and I were seated in different sections of the plane because then I could have as much wine on the plane as I wanted because I wouldn't be worried about him judging how much I was drinking, because it was probably a little bit more than was appropriate when you're traveling with children. Right. So I was like, it was like this this kind of sneaky freedom feeling. And then we but then we would all be staying in a hotel room together, and I wouldn't be able to be sneaking my extra drinks without it being really obvious. And then I would be like resenting my family for being in the same place as me because I wanted to be able to have as many drinks as I wanted, and I knew that that was more than what's really appropriate for a family vacation, and it was just always this constant push-pull of like, I want to enjoy my vacation, but these things are getting in the way, and it just created all of this angst and negativity. And and sometimes I would be like, wow, I actually drank less on the holiday than I do at home because they wouldn't let me drink, you know? Or it was my own like fear of being judged that would that wouldn't let me drink, and it just like all of that noise, it just so much gets in the way of the connection and the joy and the ability to like be present in a foreign country or in a different city or state or wherever you are on holiday.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah. Oh wow, Alan. I mean, just I so I so resonate with what you're talking about with the resentment part. And like, thank you for sharing that because it's very vulnerable to be like, hey, these people I love, I was mad at them secretly in my head because they were between me and my drinking, like um, very much the same experience because my wife isn't much of a drinker, and so I would always be like, Oh, I don't want to, you know, like really show her what's going on right here, right? Um, for fear that she would be freaked out or judge me, or God forbid, ask me to slow down or stop, right? Like that would be the worst if it was like actually talked about in the open. Um but yeah, and it it's funny that like travel brings out those situations because like your normal pattern of operating as somebody that's drinking more than they want to is disrupted, right? And like you're good as long as you're locked into your routine where I know I can do this, and then I can go over here and I can have this drink over here, and you know, like it's it's kind of predictable, but then you're on vacation, you're in a different place, you can't get up to your same old tricks of um drinking more and hiding it from the people that we love and stuff like that. And so um that's another interesting wrinkle with alcohol and travel is that it's disrupting your routine.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, and the level of shame that comes with that, you know, to be.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

That, you know, I'm prioritizing my drinks over my family or this experience that I paid a lot of money for, you know, like we we plan these trips and we we make them special and then and then often the things that we plan were hung over to, you know, or like Jones and for our next drink. Or, you know, sometimes I would be like, you know, you guys go. I'm gonna stay back. I just want to read my book, you know. Code for, you know, I've smuggled away some wine here in the fridge, and I can have a couple glasses before dinner if you guys go do that thing. That, you know, if you guys go look at the stuff at the beach, which I would miss out on. I missed out on things, a lot of things, because I was choosing my drinks over the cool things that I went to that location for.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yeah. That thinking about travel and alcohol and how it disrupts like your normal routine, and then that leading to like a confrontation with like the shame, you know, like in a in a different way than like the daily way that people who are drinking more than they want to experience. Um, it reminds me of what we've talked about before with the unwelcome invitation, right? Like that'd be like a really um I talk about an unwelcome invitation if you're confronting yourself about missing out on this experience with your family because you're choosing to have a drink instead of going.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

be with them and then you know open up the floodgates of shame and um self-flagellation you know could lead to a hey is this really what I want to be doing yeah so true so true I mean I was thinking about I wanna I can remember this one girls' trip I did when I was living in in Shanghai and there was like six or seven of us and we were all staying in this place together and I had in my mind this is gonna be great we're just gonna drink and it's gonna be a big party and coming up I know there's only a couple of those ladies that really like to drink any more than a glass of wine a night you know maybe two over the course of the evening. So it became this like this dilemma in my mind like either I'm just gonna be like I don't care I'm on holiday I'm gonna have as much as I want and just put it all out there or I'm gonna like not have what I want and kind of suffer through the the vacation yeah and and I can remember one night I did have a lot and I snuck some I managed to well I managed to I don't know if I managed to or not I I thought I was sneaking some so it wasn't as obvious how much I was drinking but I was clearly drinking. And I remember we went to bed that night and my routine was always when I was traveling to take two full glasses of water to bed with me because I knew I would wake up in the middle dehydrated. I knew I'd be taking some Advil either before bed or in the middle of the night and this was my surefire plan to be less crappy in the morning right if I could flood my system with water in the night.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

And I remember one of the women looking at me take this water to bed and she's like Ellen what are you what are you doing with all that water and I was just and it I I busted yay busted but she didn't she genuinely didn't know and and and so I was like oh I just get thirsty at night and I don't want to have to come out and get it you know I don't have to I usually have to pee at night you know I made up my my little story but then I thought and I saw her go to bed without any water no water okay well that's just normal I was like what is that can you imagine a life where you can go to bed and not have a glass of water by your I mean I it I it it was really talk about an unwelcome invitation I was like what would it be like to be her what would that book look like where I didn't have to sneak my wine I didn't have to bring two full glasses of water I didn't have to know I was gonna wake up in the middle of the night to pee two or three times because I was drinking all this water I mean I I did I had this thought like wow what would that be like you know yeah and also like you're she she's on vacation and just seeing this odd behavior from you and um and meanwhile you're living this like secret experience that you know like nobody else is privy to and I think like time and again something that is like I'm confronting with this conversation is just how isolated insular cut off alcohol makes you right like we've talked about how it makes you resent your loved ones while you're on vacation because you can't have a drink it it makes you like go to all these extents and to you know have your drink and then like not let somebody know why you've got two glasses of water I plan on being really dehydrated and feeling like crap right like I mean um but it just it just cuts you off so like I mean I'm thinking about like me on a work trip right like it wasn't I might go on a work trip right I go and have like one drink at the bar and you know in some cool bar in some cool place and then feel really uncomfortable and anxious because I'm always anxious because foreign environment strange place you know like all this and I'm constantly anxious if I'm drinking and so then I leave and go be by myself right like I mean it's just like it's so isolating being in the grip of drinking more than you want to drink.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

It's so true. And that just yeah it it just brought me back like viscerally to that feeling of just how alone I felt how because I was so ashamed I I wouldn't talk about it with anyone and I was pretending constantly pretending that I was fine but it was all good that I was like yeah I like my drinks but it was all happy there was nothing to see here you know and people liked you know people responded to that too it's like oh she's fun she'll she's always good up for a party you know like that was my MO but but meanwhile it was just a mask you know it was a mask that only felt comfortable after the first drink or two you know yeah and the the rest of the 22 hours of the day I was feeling pretty yeah alone and and and yeah isolated for sure that's a good word.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

I really like that image of the mask right like it's it's because it's it's what it's covering up and I'm struck by this like idea of the like a smiling mask right like you can just put that over anybody but it's static and it's lifeless and behind that mask is like I mean I know I was experiencing um an enormous amount of discomfort and pain and just like unresolved stuff and I could I felt like I could avoid dealing with my stuff if I had the mask on because as long as I had the mask on people were responding to the mask and like what would happen if they saw who I really was and what I was really feeling and going through and um yeah I for me figuring out that alcohol was kind of standing in between me and um being able to show up as who I really am um started to that's one of the things that started to make the mask um not a source of comfort anymore but actually like grading and and tolerable. Yeah and and I think the thing about the masks is it's so um I was so afraid to take the mask off for fear of what people would see and if I would still be accepted right if I would still be have belonging if I would still be lovable you know and I I think one of the really powerful things about these alcohol free spaces whether it be joining a community or you know something like you know Annie Grace's path or some place where you can actually talk about how you're what you're experiencing with people that get it so that you can actually experiment with taking that mask off and talking about how alcohol is really affecting you and to be met with not just understanding but compassion and acceptance and and love and support like that for me my first experience in a community of a sober minded community was like one of the more profound things in my life to be honest to be able to to to put take off this mask that I was wearing and realize that I didn't have to fear what would happen if I showed myself you know and it took a lot of practice and I practiced with this sober community being myself for a really long time before I started to take off the mask in my real life you know like it's it's not it's not it it's it takes courage to take off the mask when you've been wearing it and and hiding behind it for as long as I had been yeah it makes me think about how like how it does take courage and it feels dangerous and scary to take off the mask not because it actually is dangerous and scary but because it's so wildly unfamiliar and you know we crave stability and familiarity and um like that it keeps us alive as a species a lot of times yeah I I love I love how you put like practicing taking off the mask in that spot so that you could almost kind of like build those reps and build that comfort and capacity for doing it where it really matters like in your real life.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Yeah and I think one of the reasons it was so important for me was this fear of being labeled an alcoholic this fear of being told that you need to stop drinking you know if I were to show what was actually happening there were re there were real repercussions that I was afraid of right like so I wanted to hold I held really tightly onto that mask because I didn't the the the alternative was label of alcoholic shouldn't be drinking as much people would start to watch what I'm doing you know somebody might want to send me to rehab none of the things that I I was open to in the slightest bit and so being able to be in a safe place to talk about what I was experiencing and not feel judged or shamed or like I was flawed or um you know and also to be given the the the tools and the resources to be able to start to make the changes I wanted to make, but without all of that external pressure and judgment and and shame.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Well Ellen, what would you say to someone who is listening to this and either looking down the barrel of some alcohol free travel or um is thinking about I mean maybe we even take it to the conversation around the mask, right? Like um what what advice would you give to somebody what practical next steps could somebody take um if the if this conversation is resonating with them?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Yeah I um gosh there's a lot of different ways to go with that. I mean I'm gonna put the mask on hold for a minute and think about alcohol free travel because that's kind of how we started this conversation. And I um I just I would invite anyone who has an upcoming uh trip planned where they are considering trying it alcohol free to put a plan in place where so say you're gonna be gone for the next three or four five days, right? Somewhere nice and and if you are someone that has always believed that you need alcohol see if you can suspend that belief and just get really curious. Like if you can really just get really curious about what you like about being on holiday. And if if if if it's too much to think about the whole trip alcohol free, give yourself the first day the first two days the first three days some like small target in there that you feel like is manageable and doable. And if you need that reward that if I really want it at the end I can drink like totally fine. But give yourself the chance to experience what it's like to be more present more rested not tied to a five o'clock curtain when things have to change and shift towards drinking you know waking up with energy not having that low level am I going to drink am I not going to drink all day long like and and take the money that you would have spent on alcohol and plan something really fun for yourself you know whether it be an adventure or a massage or whatever floats your boat but think about creating an experience for yourself that might start to give you the evidence that you need to embrace more alcohol free travel because I I didn't believe it. I I I you know I was very reluctant and very resistant and kind of like I don't finally I got to the point where I got to try it because everybody keeps saying it you know you go on all these alcohol free podcasts and communities and everyone's like alcohol free travel is the best and I was like bullshit I was like okay I'm gonna try I'm gonna try and then I had that experience and it was like oh my gosh sleep through the night on vacation like when had I done that in the last 15 years I mean wake up rested feel calm have energy I mean it it's it's really a remarkable thing. And I will also say that if you go into it completely hung over from a week of drinking you're you're probably not going to experience it as being great. You're gonna be tired you're gonna be in withdrawals so I mean plan accordingly right give yourself a little bit of window of two or three days before you go not drinking and experience and just just give it a try because I mean over and over again with this experience I could hear it from other people but I didn't believe it until I experienced it for myself. I needed that evidence and so we can sit here all day and tell you how great it is but until you experience it for yourself you you're probably not going to believe it. What what about you? What would be your best tip?

SPEAKER_00 35:54

I really like how practical that advice is like if you are you know going on a week long bender and then just jumping onto a plane and you're like my first day alcohol free right coming straight off of that it's just a recipe for disaster. So like be mindful of how alcohol works in the body and just like that it needs time to process out and just be be kind to yourself as you're beginning to get curious and explore in these areas. I um I co-sign everything that you just said I think it's I think it's a wonderful thing to do to plan for yourself activities that like try to plan an activity for your vacation that like you'd be kind of bummed out if you were not feeling very well for it. I like to do physical things. So like for me if I was you know going to be flying out to Colorado or something I would be looking forward to a really cool hike and knowing that well I'm not gonna be drinking because that's going to make that hike extra miserable um you can kind of like pick your activities based on that. Maybe it's um I don't know there's all kinds of stuff to do. I'm not gonna you know make stuff up but I would also say on the lead up to your trip you could spend some time doing some future casting of what it's going to be like to not be drinking on this trip. Right. So um imagine yourself okay I'm waiting in the airport lobby the bar's over there but I'm not drinking instead I'm gonna walk across the tarmac and I'm gonna get a Cinnabon and I'm gonna eat my Cinnabon and that's gonna be my me time. That's gonna be my treat to myself right so like think about things that you would normally do or think about things to do instead of what you would normally do if drinking is what you would normally do. Um you know even even as far as like taking yourself on that vacation imagine okay I'm gonna be in this cool place I'm gonna be in downtown Boston what a beautiful place what a historically alcohol like centric place. Here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go to these museums. I'm gonna picture myself there not hung over I'm gonna picture myself and while I'm picturing myself at the museum I'm not gonna picture myself at the museum wishing I was drinking. I'm gonna picture myself at the museum totally immersed in the history that I'm surrounded with stuff like that. Like you know go ahead like future cast for success I think is a is a good um alcohol free travel tip.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

I love that I think that's so important because if we go into it thinking it's gonna be miserable it's gonna be miserable I mean that that is a recipe for for misery. So spending some time thinking about how much we're looking forward to discovering the joys of alcohol free travel and I also love this Cinnabon idea like build in treats for yourself if alcohol is a is considered a treat for you don't just remove it and be treatless. Like build in other treats you know I mean God when's the last time you had a Cinnabon at the airport that sounds amazing I'm gonna do that next time like you know when you get to the restaurant like go for a really nice brunch you know treat yourself to a really special coffee whatever is feels like a treat to you make sure that you're still giving yourself plenty of treats yeah for me definitely early early on in my journey dessert it was like you know that was that was the go-to um and less so now like especially like early on I was like I need a replacement for all these like empty carbs that I'm used to consuming.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

And for a little while it was dessert and now it's not and you know it's good.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah same. I mean I relied on it very heavily initially and it has just kind of naturally fallen away thankfully so you know don't if you're if you're leaning on it heavily initially don't freak out and panic you know it's totally okay it's okay and there's lots of alcohol free drinks too like the the mocktail selection and the alcohol free beer selection nowadays is pretty in amazing. So you it's not like you have to not drink anything fun.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Yeah absolutely all right Ellen what a wonderful conversation I hope that you enjoyed this podcast and if you did if it resonated with you let us know if you if this podcast or this topic made you think of anyone then I hope that you will share this episode and thank you for being here. Well until next time thanks everybody bye thanks for listening to the Alcohol Myth Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

If this episode sparked something for you we'd love to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Send your questions stories or ideas for future episodes to thealcoholmyth at gmail.com we read every message we really do. Take good care of yourself we'll see you next time