August 28, 2020
A fun interview with Leah Thrapp, a luxury travel planner who manages to juggle her business with being a mother of two young children and a wife to a fellow wanderlust inclined man. She shares some of her flipflop adventure stories about Ireland, Scotland, and Italy on the latest podcast.
Flip Flops And Adventure Stories With Leah Thrapp:
Growing up in Austin, Leah always had the need to travel, and unlike most people I’ve met, it wasn’t really something inherited from her parents. Recognizing her need to travel, she focused on finding work that could further her travels and basically worked in order to earn travel money.
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Highlights of the podcast include:
- Family life and wanderlust at a young age.
- Why flip flops and adventures?
- Her first proper introduction in the form of being an au-pair to two young children.
- Finding herself on a plane with said children on her way to Spain.
- Focusing on jobs that would allow travel, or quitting if she had no choice.
- Her love for off the beaten track adventure and starting a blog to document her various journeys.
- Her readers wanting the same kind of adventures, eventually leading to her new business.
- What makes her curated luxury travel adventures different from others in a crowded field.
- Food, and wine as an important component of any travel and to help capture the essence of a place.
- Some of the highlights of travel in Tuscany and a few other places.
- Out of the ordinary activities included in some of her trips.
- Incorporating the children into her travels with ease despite the fact that she had been told that it would be a mission impossible.
- How the coronavirus has had a devastating effect on her business.
- Canceled plans, postponed research trips with no end in sight.
- Her plight and others in the same industry.
- Anger at the uncertainty of it all, and if/when it all comes to an end.
- How she is coping with it all.
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Listen to the flip flops and adventure stories podcast here, or on any listening platform like Spotify or iTunes, and please subscribe.
Where to find Leah Thrapp:
Other podcasts of interest:
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Travel Worries these days:
Travel is most likely forever changed for everyone. I see people still fighting it, trying for a sense of normalcy (like coronavirus won’t stop me from traveling), but it’s clear that it’s grasping at straws. Travel planning now includes questions that were unheard of before March of this year. Real legitimate questions like:
- Will l be able to enter when l arrive at my destination? Is your point of origin banned from entry, for example, a visitor from the U.S not being allowed into Spain for instance? Even if you have a layover only, it might be forbidden.
- Will l have to self-quarantine once there? Imagine having a two week holiday and having to spend those two weeks in a hotel room. Even in the U.S., it differs from state to state.
- Will l have to pay to quarantine? Countries such as Australia and Cambodia require a $3,000 deposit fee upfront for the quarantine.
- Do you need a negative COVID test to travel, and what is the window of the test?
- Social distancing measures in the new place. Masks?
These are just some of the initial worries. The biggest one is probably the chances of the borders closing while you’re on holiday. All these just make me worry, and would prevent me from having a restful holiday. All we can do right now is just hope for the best.
Do you have any travel plans, including local ones? A staycation of sorts? How are you handling your wanderlust?
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Another fun podcast! I can relate to the days when I worked and then I traveled. And if I couldn’t get time off, I quit and found another job when I got home! That just seems normal to me. I went to travel school and worked in the travel industry for about 5 or 6 years until I decided it was time to find a better paying job. There are lots of perks to people in the travel industry, free and reduced, but the workers are so low paid that even if you can fly to London on your free pass, you probably don’t have enough money to do anything once you get there. And the travel perks were so much better in the early nineties. Once computers and printers became normal in households, anyone could create business cards using a fictional (or real) travel company.
These days, I’m really glad not to be working in the travel industry anymore because it’s been so hard hit.
The tours Leah leads sounds like fun, but nothing at all about them on the website?! There are a lot of people who’d be interested in smaller tours like that where all the arrangements are made and they’re experiencing wonderful places off the beaten track that they might not have discovered on their own.
I keep hoping they’ll open the land border soon between Canada and the US for travelers/daytrippers without quarantines. Somehow I don’t think it’s going to happen this year, but I wonder if it might reopen in time for Christmas just as a good political move on the parts of both countries. Trump has been OK for months about reopening the border – yay! Canada is the problem and wants the border to stay closed until coronavirus more under control. Saw on the news today that Canadians can travel to Portugal without quarantining, so at least not spending money and time inside a hotel room for 2 weeks. But they still get hit with a quarantine when they come home. People just don’t have a month or more they can take off work, especially when 2 to 4 weeks is quarantine either at their destination country or when they come home.
I love that you have so many fond memories of past travel. Especially nowadays when everyone is basically locked in. It makes me thankful that we took the opportunity to travel extensively, and so l don’t feel like l am missing out. I know about the low pay in that industry, it sucks doesn’t it? Even with the free perks, I think l would much prefer a higher pay. I always laugh and say the internet is good for so many things, but it basically destroyed so many other things, like travel agents, mom and pop shops and photography (Fede felt it as every tom dick, and harry bought a camera and became a “pro”).
Perhaps there is a different website for her tours. I always use the main one, but it’s not unusual for people to have more than one or four, or even more l find. Insane l know. I can barely handle one, worth getting in touch with her to inquire. I love smaller tours myself. More intimate, and less hassle.
Too much work to travel plan right now. So many sudden changes, and it’s a moving target as far as the rules and regulations. I can’t help but think we might be headed for another lockdown despite what they say. The good news is the majority of the infected seem to be asymptomatic, so that is not so bad. The rate of hospitalization has crept up to 5% from 2, so that is not so good. Oy vai, we will be in for the flim-flam for a very long time. I also wonder if your borders might open in time for the holidays. Everything else has been political, so why not that? :-(.
Great podcast, as always! I guess for me too it was reading that made me love travel (read a ton of Jules Verne in my youth and dreamed about exploring the world). Never really thought about this until hearing Leah mention it. I’ve also been a fan of these private, organized tours led by somebody who really knows the area and not a generic travel agency that cares only about the numbers. This is something that I might do sometime in the future, when the waters are calmer 🙂
Regarding travel and the questions that you now ask (and you didn’t before), I always ask myself: would I feel comfortable during my holiday or trip or whatever? Right now, the answer is “no”. Too much stress and what ifs to really enjoy my time. So I am personally in the group that will wait a bit longer before starting to travel again – and probably even more so before hopping into a plane or train or bus. I never really enjoyed driving but… things change :))
I have to admit to never having read anything by Jules Verne but l have seen a variety of around the world in 80 days interpretations. I can completely understand why it would spur a sense of wanderlust. I also enjoy private tours and think it’s the way to go when you travel. I think even for the guides. You always see the constant waiting for the stragglers when you observe those groups. The smaller ones are so much more fun and give you a chance to meet people.
I am completely with you on the travel front. Not worth it for me right now, as the worry would be too much, especially with the quarantines. Even in the Valencia region, there are some counties that have been shut as of yesterday, and people can’t move in or out because they had a big spike in numbers. We are in for a really long haul l think with this one. Thank god the numbers haven’t reached the Spanish flu territory, but it is worrisome all the same. We can only do our best, and hope everyone else does their part.
Another terrific podcast with a super interesting and inspiring guest. I’d love to join one of Leah’s tours as I know how much work and time it take to research places, find adventures (especially ones that offer something different), book rooms, arrange flights and tickets, etc. I can’t imagine doing it for a group of people and trying to find things that will please the majority!!
I ran across a t-shirt with a saying I know you’ll appreciate: “Wine (noun). The glue holding this 2020 shitshow together” and know that you can totally relate to this. 2020 has been a year of cancelled hopes, dreams and plans and, knock on wood, we’re the lucky ones who have continued health and a reliable income. It’s hard to envision travel anytime soon but I’m hoping to explore more of Portugal with a trip up north in October and another over the winter. That way, wherever I am, I’m just a short trip from home. Still thinking about and dreaming of Italy and Croatia … we’ll see if 2021 is the year!
Keep healthy and hugs to both you and Fede!
Thanks Anita. Yes, it is a real chore coming up with ideas for travel for more than a couple of people and then executing it all to perfection. Sometimes it’s nice to sit back and let someone do all the work and you only have to show up. The trips sound like fun.
I certainly find the t-shirt humorous! Hahaha! It’s been such a weird, time-warp kind of year, and l am afraid it might just get weirder. I never forget to count my blessings either, there are so many people hurting right now and all over the world. Seems no one is immune, be it financial, or health-wise. I can’t picture travel for myself anytime soon.
Your plans sound nice, short trips it will be for us too when we finally muster up the courage. I am definitely still dreaming of Italy. Let’s hope the gods allow it in the near future. Stay safe, have fun, and hopefully will see you soon. Hugs! :-).