#302: Top 3 Places We've Visited

0:00Emma You're listening to the Beautiful Mess podcast, your cozy comfort listen. I'm your host, Emma Chapman. Elsie And I'm your host, Elsie Larson. Emma And this week we're sharing the top places that we visited, as well as places that we think might be overrated, and we have a listener hot take about faux plants. Elsie Oh man, fake plants. The tea is hot. Emma Don't come after my fake plants. No, you can come after. Elsie She's already defensive.

0:13Emma All right, I am. I'm like, wait a second. Elsie Okay, so in this episode we're going to cover the best places we've traveled to, best trips before kids, best trips after kids, or with kids, and then overrated places, which are so funny. I had to think about this for a long time. All right, so on my list of top three places, I'm gonna start off with Paris. So, the reason why I want to put Paris is because I know a lot of people in this world put Paris on their list of overrated cities, and I strongly disagree with that. When people say it in front of me, you can't see it, but my teeth are just grinding the entire time. You can see me because I'm just squinting, like the emoji that's got the squinty eyes and the straight mouth. That one, yeah. Paris is everything. It is everything, the food, the vintage shopping, like some of the greatest flea markets in the entire world, and you know, the history, the art, there's just.. I mean, I just can't think of anything bad about it. It's like it's.. it's one of the best cities in the world, but even better, like, I don't know, so when people call it overrated, I'm like, maybe

0:26for you, and I just assume that they don't like any of the things I like, and I clock that, and I'm like, okay, so you're in to what sports, what else, what else. Emma So I will say, I don't think either of us went to Paris with our partners, now that I'm thinking about it, I haven't yet. No, and yeah, I totally would. It's not like I'm like it's a.. it's not a place for couples. Have you ever heard he would say that? Like, I think it's usually described as like one of the most romantic cities in the world since so many movies, and it's, you know, very romantic. And I agree. When I, when I was like 20, it wasn't with anyone, I was with a friend, but I still thought it was like one of the most romantic places I had ever been. I don't know why, but the vibes are romantic in such a fun way. But actually, I don't know if it would be like a top spot that my husband would want to go to. Like, I don't necessarily view it as like, oh, us as a couple, that's where we would want to go. Like, I'm like, I don't know, I think we'd like it, but I actually feel like it would make a better girl trip or someday family trip. My

0:38kids are too little right now, it's too far of a plane ride for us. If you like that, that's great, but I'm like, no, on the plane ride for right now. But I loved it as a 20 year old who just like went randomly. I was living in London one summer studying, and some of the girls I was bunking with, I'd never met them before. They were just in the same dorm, and one of the girls was like, I'm gonna go to Paris this weekend, we have four day weekend, and I was like, I want to go to Paris too, so we both went, her name was Michelle, and I knew her somewhat well, I mean, we had met on this trip, and she was delightful and very fun, and we just had the best time just tooling around Paris with very little money, because we were just 20 year old kids, students, but it was a blast, and such a gorgeous place, and at that time I didn't even have a smartphone, so I will say there was a lot of like buying food, and I didn't know what they were gonna bring, didn't really read it, but I was like, well, we'll just, whatever, whatever, so cute, there was a lot of that going on, like I feel like we went and saw a movie and it ended up being in

0:49Japanese or something, but then the subtitles were in French, and we were both like, "Oh, because we don't think either, that's like just nice, just very, you know, just whatever. But it was a blast, and gorgeous, and easy to walk around. We did use the subway system, I want to say underground, they don't call it the underground. We did use that, and that was easy to use and great. Yeah, and there's, in particular, one pastry that I bought, just like randomly at a bakery one morning, and I was eating it for breakfast, and I still think about this pastry to this day. And, like, I said, this was 20 years ago, I was 20 years old, I'm 40 now, like, it was a delicious.. if you're like Paris doesn't necessarily have. no, you're wrong. They do amazing. The food is good, a little bit life-altering.

0:57Elsie Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been twice. I want to go 100 times more. I think this is one of my old people dreams, is that once my.. once I'm.. my kids are kind of.. I don't know, like older. I think I want to go to Europe, like kind of as much as I want, I think that's like my main old person dream, is I want to just like go for fun all the time, sporadically. Yeah, obviously, like I love art, I love museums, I love flea markets, but also I just like walk, I just like the walks, like even if I couldn't go to any museum, any, like, couldn't buy a single thing, just to like take the walks would be enough for me.

1:04Emma That's what I loved about Venice, which is different but there's no cars, because the canals, that's more the transportation, and so it's just great walking. Elsie That's on my list too but yeah, I just think Paris is absolutely not overrated, and I do see, I do see your point, though. Like, I think my husband will, would enjoy it, and I think he would have fun, and he supports my, like, love of art. He, he likes museums, but he doesn't - he's not obsessed with them, you know. And so I do think that it's probably, like, even better as a girls' trip, just because there are so many, like, niche experiences that I want to.

1:13Emma Like flea market shopping, my husband will definitely do that, but it's not really on his list of things he wants to do, he just goes with me, you know, but so if that's a main part of the trip, it's like, oh, it's kind of more of a sister trip or a girl trip, or you know, whatever. Elsie Yeah, and there's also, I think, there's also like a way to do it with kids that is also completely different. Yeah, it's just magical. I have to tell you, this is unrelated, but when we went to Arkansas last weekend, and we got into the museum, Marigold yelled real loud, "Where's the Mona Lisa? Yes, that is so cute.

1:21Why? But their faces were read that they don't have the Mona Lisa. There it's an American art museum too. Emma It is a really good museum, but no, it doesn't have to. Elsie There's no European people anyway. Okay, so do you have a best place or do you want to? Emma Yes, my favorite place of all time was in Norway. The area is called Lofoten, Lofoten, I think it's called Lofoten, but it's spelled Lofoten, if you're American like me, Midwestern like me. And so it's very, very north. It's when we went there, it was kind of off season, it was very, very cold. It's not arctic, but it's like headed in that direction. And I love really cold places. I also, I love the northern lights. I love seeing the northern lights, and I also just love bundling up. I love wearing like winter clothes, and I like photographing really interesting and different from where I live landscapes. And so we did a lot of like hiking and driving around, and just like photographing landscapes, and it was really, really fun, and everyone was super friendly, and it was very cute, and like I said, it was kind of off season, so a lot of

1:36restaurants were actually closed. We ended up kind of like making food quite a bit more than we were expecting. Did we do enough research before we went? No. Did we have a great time? Yes, because this part of the world is just gorgeous in my opinion. But yeah, it was just a trip with my husband we did years ago, and I loved it. It was a little bit random, but it was one of my favorite places I've ever been, and I would love to go back. I would actually love to go back to, in the summer, it's very green and lush.

1:41It's still, it's not like hot, it's not tropical ever, but like it's not always freezing, freezing there. It's like it does get very green and beautiful too. I think that would be fun and different, so I'd love to go then as well. Elsie Ooh, love that. Yeah, I would love to go someday. That's interesting. It's kind of like Iceland, because you've been there. It's like that. Iceland is fun. Okay, so my next one is New Orleans. So I think if I have to pick, which you never kind of do, but my favorite American city, I'm gonna pick New Orleans, and it is hard, like there are quite a few up there, and it's like hard to put anything above New York, because you know historically New York's gonna kind of have the most going on for it, but New Orleans, so we went pretty recently, like I think in 2025.

1:51Emma Like a year and a half ago, or a year ago, a year ago, yeah. Elsie And it was, it was one, a wonderful trip. We need to do more girls' trips to New Orleans, but Marigold wants to go really bad, so we need to take her next time. Like, Marigold just wants to go on every one of our trips, she's just the food ones, she did not all of them, she wants to go to the cities that have pastries, the cities that are famous for pastries. So, yes, to Paris, and yes, New Orleans. But, yeah, we, the last time we went, we got our palms red. That was really special, actually. I think, did I get the palm, and you got the tarot. I think. And then I want to get the tea leaves red, because I know you can. What is the place called? Do you remember?

2:01Emma Bottom of the Cup? Elsie Yeah. Emma I think that's where we went. Elsie if you go to New Orleans and you're not opposed to things like that, do make an appointment. It was my favorite woo woo hour of my life. I just absolutely loved this palm reading experience. So, yeah, Marigold must do that too, and of course, yeah, and the walks are good. It is kind of a place where you have to be careful of your season, because it can be very hot, but when we went, it was perfect. It was March, and it was just like incredible, and obviously it's a foodie city, and don't let. 100% sober, but like I think relatively sober. Yeah, we had one drink each whole time we were there at the carousel bar, and it was kind of a thing.

2:15Emma It was fun. Elsie So I don't think that it has to be tied to drinking, but I do think it is tied to drinking. So if you're a person who wants like a big party, it definitely has that to offer. But we didn't get too much into that. We're just not in that era of our lives right now. But yeah, I just.. I love the history of it, and we had this Uber driver, I'm sure we probably talked about at the time, but before I die, and I'm like recounting, I swear, this Uber driver, I'm probably gonna be like, there was this one time, because he just was.. he was going off, like, he. we probably had a 10 minute drive, and he told us every bit of gossip he could about Anne Rice. Yes, and then he told us where the real literal 2026 vampires are hanging out in New Orleans, and it was just like a wonderful experience.

2:26Emma He kept going, we were like, "Tribe us around the block, we're at the bookstore we wanted to go to, but go ahead, yes, keep going, yeah, yeah, it was a great trip when we went, and then another time that I went to New Orleans, I love New Orleans, another time I went, these are very touristy, but I thought they were worth doing, my husband, I did a bicycling food tour, okay, and it was so charming, so you're with a group, I should get a little nervous on a bike, I learned to ride a bike later in my childhood, and I'm not the best. Am I not good on wheels? I am not good on wheels, that is a good way of putting it.

2:33So, if you're like, oh, I don't know if I'm athletic, it's not that kind of thing. It was a very easy bike ride, and you're kind of with a group, so if you're nervous about cars or that you'll go in the wrong part, you won't, because you're with a group. So, even I could do it, so trust me, and our tour guide was adorable. He was like the perfect amount of like snooty, but wanted us to have a good time, like he would kind of like kind of put down certain restaurants, and then, but he also like was very inviting to all of us obvious tourists who were just wanting to learn about New Orleans cuisine, and it was super fun.

2:39We had like, I think there are four or five courses, and so it took like a whole afternoon, and it was super fun, super cute. And then another time I went with some friends, they had booked a gator ride where you go on this like kind of swamp boat, and you get to see alligators, and they will like feed them deli meat, and they'll like half jump up on the boat, and that was honestly really fun, and I think my, no, love it. Oh my gosh, I would hate that. I think my sons would like love it slash hate it in a way, like maybe scream, but like it was it was a thing. And if I ever write something that's about being in a swamp, like now I'm like, well, I know what that's like, a little bit, because I had never been like somewhere like that before, I don't grow up somewhere like that, so it's very different from the Midwest, and I was like, this is interesting, and never seen, an alligator this close, or crocodile, I don't even know, it was, it was cool, and I think worth doing, if that sounds up your alley, then you probably would love it, and else he's like, hard no, so you get it, it's like, a, you know, if you should do that, you just know your instincts will tell

2:50you. Would you agree with me that New Orleans is like the US city that feels least like you're in the US still? Yeah, yeah, it feels very like European or something, like, you know, a little bit French, a little bit. It does feel southern, though. Yeah, so it's got this like very weird mix to it. Elsie It's unique. Emma Yeah. It is. It's a very unique place. Okay, my next one is Iceland. Ooh, which Elsie and I've been to together, and then I went another time with friends. And Iceland is nowhere near where I live, so the fact that I've been there twice, I think, kind of tells you how much I love that place. I just think it's, it's much like what I was saying with Norway, it's northern lights, there's beautiful things to photograph, there's lots of like outdoor hiking. It also, depending what time of year you go, can be very, very, very cold, or it can be like mild and chilly, like wear a thick jacket, but you're fine, you know. It depends when you go, but I just love, I just love the landscape. I love taking pictures of landscapes. I love the new lights, and I just really love cold places, apparently. So, Iceland's like a place that I loved. I've been

3:04twice. I would love to go again. Elsie Yeah, I would say I did put this on my overrated list, so I'm gonna just say, oh, I.. it's not that I think it's okay. I think you have to go at the right season, because I think that when we went, it was very cold, and I wasn't dressed for.. I wasn't prepared for it, because we did what a lot of people do, where we tacked it on with the layover, so they have this like a stopover, this stopover thing, where you can stop in Iceland, you can kind of like tack it onto a Europe trip, and that's how a lot of people from the US end up going, and I just like was not dressed correctly for it, and then also we did this like tour guide day where I felt like I was like tortured. It was like it was a torturous experience. The snowmobile almost killed me. It was so terrifying. And then. Just being out in like the freezing cold with the wrong clothes on for the entire day was like psychologically it was all just completely wrong. Yeah, but I loved the city, I loved the Blue Lagoon. I would definitely go back, I would be more prepared. So I'm actually, I didn't

3:16want to put on my overrated. I had a hard time picking the overrated places because I don't really.. I think most places I go are wonderful. Yeah, same. And I'm not even.. I don't even want to say that. I just want to say, like, dress for it, dress correctly. I wore Vans, that was not right. Emma You need boots. Yeah, you need thick socks. Elsie And coats, and like.. and I kind of think it's like its own trip where you need like an extra suitcase for it, but yeah, it was wonderful. We had the best time. Okay, my last one is Venice slash Florence, because I just couldn't. Florence for the museum, Venice for the walks, and the canals, and it, like, I think my kids would be like interests. I think Venice is very. it's the most like real life Disneyland. It's just so magical, like it feels like you're in a movie. It's, it's just like so cinematic. And then the Peggy Guggenheim house was an incredible experience. So I can't really separate those two places, because we went on them on the same trip, and I just like couldn't choose, but I think a lot close there, and they're both pretty small, so they're both hard to recommend. In that, I've heard people say about both

3:30of them, like there's not enough to do, or whatever, but it's like that is like an attitude thing. It's like, if you love art, and you love food, and you love taking walks, which are all the things we love, you will love these places. Emma I can waste a lot of time just sitting around drinking coffee, honestly. So you are not gonna bore me if you're just a beautiful chill place, like I am very entertained by that. Elsie I loved it. I want to go to every city in Italy. I think that Italy might just be like my zone, in like I just love it, like I've never seen anything bad happen in Italy, like everything is beautiful, everything is inspiring, there's so much art history that, and the food, the food, I forgot to mention, the food is, yeah, tough food, yeah. So that was a wonderful, wonderful trip. Okay, my third place is Switzerland. Oh, I went to Switzerland too, when for Nathan and Jenny's wedding. Oh, that's right, and I loved it too. Go ahead.

3:42Emma Yes, so I went for my honeymoon, and I just thought it was.. so I got married in June, so when we went to Switzerland, it was obviously summertime. I feel like every story I'm like, so I was there during the off season, and I'm like, I don't know why that, that am I a cheap person or am I just a bad planner? I'm not sure, but at any rate. Elsie Out of those two, you're a cheap person. Emma Yeah, like I'm like, hmm, but anyway, we were there in the off season, and we were at this little hotel, so we're in two places. We stayed in the city for a little bit. We went to like this weird bath house, and it was like a wonderful experience, but very European, very strange. I have some stories like that in Iceland too. And then we went to the countryside, and we kind of did it. Felt like we were in a Wes Anderson movie, where we were at this little hotel that really almost no one was there. It was just us, because it was the off season, but it was so charming and cute, and they would set out this huge, like, adorable breakfast just for us, which made me feel actually really self-conscious. But it's very sweet and

3:57very fun, and just like what they do, it's just like part of the thing. And we would go, we would ride a little cable car up the mountain, and it was terrifying in a way, because it's wild that that is the technology in use, because you're just kind of swinging in this little car up the mountain, but it's what you do, you see goats, and you're, and then you're up there, and just walk around hiking, and it was so pretty. Switzerland looks like a movie, like it was so, so pretty. And while we were there, it was very warm, like there I have pictures where I'm like in shorts. There was a day we went, we took another cable car, so two cable cars, and we were high enough that there was snow, and it was chilly, but it wasn't like skiing time of year, it was off season. So, anyway, but I thought it was gorgeous, and I'm not a skier, so it was the perfect time of year for me, because I would much rather hike. I love hiking, and it just looked like the sound of music, it was just so, so gorgeous. Like every picture was just like, wow. Where are we?

4:07So, I would love to go back there sometime. I would even go to the same place, and the little hotel we stayed at was like a tiny little town, and they had like all these little statues around. It felt very just adorable. We went to a place that, like, made their own cheese, and a place that, like, made its own chocolates, and you know, just kind of hung out, and it was fun. It was great. Elsie I love it. Yeah, magical. I thought it was beautiful too. I'd love to go back.

4:13Emma Okay, so now our overrated places. Elsie Okay, I only could think of two, and I do want to say the caveat that I love. Both of these places, I just don't think they're right for a vacation. Emma Mine's more about the experience. Elsie Like you had a particularly bad experience. Emma Yeah, I'm not really dissing the place. Elsie Say yours first, I want to hear it. Emma So mine was in Mexico. I don't think it was Cancun, but it might have been. It was basically like we stayed at a very fancy resort. We did this for our fifth wedding anniversary, and it had like a bungalow that was like above water, and it had a glass floor where you could see the water, so it was very like beautiful, but I just don't really like resorts, and yeah, I like it. So I've been there with Trey's family, like all the kids, you know, cousins, and like honestly, it's kind of like a cruise, but on land, and that's good. I feel like that's actually a good fit for a family trip, because you can kind of all have your own space, your little hotel room, but then you can all have dinner together, and if some people want to go to the beach

4:34and some people want to go do an excursion, great. So, I feel like it's a good fit for, like, kind of a big, bigger family trip. Great, love a, love a, you know, resort, but for just us, a couple, it just was such a waste of money, like we really think it's the most expensive vacation we've ever been on. We enjoyed it the least by a lot, like it was just kind of.. I don't think I'm a huge beach person either. I like it fine, like I'm not dissing a beach, but it's just not my top, as you heard from my, my three top places, they're all like kind of cold, like hiking, and like, no beach, really. I'm just not a big.. I mean, if I'm at the beach, I'm like at the Iceland beach, like I'm just like, you know, not a big want to be out on the beach person. So yeah, I just.. yeah, we were just really bored, and I don't like people coming in my hotel room constantly to like bring me things I don't like, that I like to just have my own space. I don't like feeling weighted on hand and foot. I actually hate that. I find it very makes me anxious, so I kind of felt like anxious all the time. And I would be like, okay, so they're gonna come in at like 9am and bring us our coffee, so let's

4:45make sure we're up, and you know, like it was just like I just was like I actually would really rather just no one be around me for a few days, that's that's vacation to me, like I don't want you know, I don't, I don't know, so it just was not our thing at all. Elsie Do you feel like there wasn't enough to explore, or like you wanted to leave the resort? Emma I think we just aren't really, I feel so.. I had this similar experience. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Do you remember when I bought a Chanel handbag and it came in the mail and I held it, and I was like no.

4:54Elsie It was when our app got 10 million views or sorry, views, downloads. We were trying to celebrate, so I was like, oh, I'm gonna get my first used designer bag, Emma This was used, it was a vintage Chanel, yeah, but it was expensive. It was quite expensive. It's a luxury item, and I was just like, I'm gonna, I've never bought myself a luxury, you know, bag before. I'm going to do it. And so I, I researched, and I picked the one I wanted, and I bought it, and I held it in my hand when it came to the mail, and I was like, I'm returning this, because it just wasn't for me. I was just like, I don't, I don't really care.

5:03Elsie You just knew. Emma Yeah. It just wasn't, didn't spark joy. And in the same way, I think we were, it was our fifth wedding anniversary, and we were trying to do something really special that we'd never done before. So, like, let's go to this special resort that's supposed to be really luxury. I don't know if it's really a luxury. Elsie But it's like fancy in the wrong places for you. Emma Yeah, I just was like, "Oh, I don't like this, I'm so bored, and I feel like kind of anxious. How many people come in our room all day long to bring us stuff, and I just like, don't want to be here. It was not good. I was still like, we had fun together as a couple, like, we went on a kayak time, and yeah, it was okay, but it just wasn't. We just compared to other vacations we've been on, we're like, we don't like this. We kind of like staying at, like, an Airbnb, and like buying groceries when we get there, like we kind of like that level of travel. Okay, so what are yours?

5:18Elsie Okay, this is hilarious. I hope that every, I hope everyone appreciates this. Okay, so the place I would not go, would not recommend going on for vacation is Nashville, where I lived for eight years. Um, the reason why I actually.. okay, so it.. I have down two places, Nashville and Los Angeles, and both these places I love. I go there often. I've spent a lot of time there, and there's lots and lots and lots to do there, but let me explain. So, the reason why, so Nashville, I think, is a tricky vacation, and the reason why is because there is some infrastructure issues. The city has grown incredibly fast, and the so the downtown area and the downtown hotels are a certain vibe that is kind of dominated by drunk people, right. So if you are on a bachelorette trip, which a lot of it seems to be about this very popular bachelorette bachelor weekend destination, but yeah, anytime you go downtown you'll see. Lots of people with like the sashes and the veils and stuff, and I just feel like I think that Nashville is hard for me because I love it so much, and I think it has so many hidden gems, but I feel like people all go to the

5:30same places and they're not necessarily like places that people who live there ever go, and maybe, so maybe that's just a perspective. I don't know. I hear a lot of people, they like go, they have this big drunk weekend, and then they move there, and then they're like surprised that no one who lives there likes doing that stuff. Yeah, and it's so it's like it's two different worlds. It's like maybe it's like if you lived in like Las Vegas or something, there's like the restaurants where the tourists go, and then there's like all the other restaurants, which are like most people would think way better. So, anyway, Nashville, if you're gonna go, make sure you make your reservations ahead of time, make sure you stay some if you don't want to be around like lots of screaming drunk people, and make sure you don't stay downtown, and make sure that you, I just think you have to have everything like every minute booked.

5:39It's hard to find a place anymore where you can like park, where you can walk. It's just very, very crowded. So, I would personally go in the middle of the week, like I like being as a tourist now that I don't live there. I like to go on the weekdays. Emma Yeah, yeah, I feel like Austin's a little bit like that to me too, where it's a little tricky to get around because I think it just boomed so much, and I think they kind of like are preserving a lot of of their nature too, so there's so there's that element to the infrastructure, but yeah, I kind of think cities like that, like LA, Austin, to me it's like I like to go there because there's like a concert I'm going to, or a football game, and then I like knowing that wherever I'm staying, there's probably gonna be something good around me, and so I just, everything else is a better, always will be, so it's like I came for this concert or this football game, or whatever it was we came for, and then everything else is a bonus, we'll just see, we'll see what restaurants are around and see if there's any stand-up tonight, or whatever, you

5:51know, and it's like everything else is a bonus, so it's just whatever. Elsie Yeah. And then sort of like similar but different about Los Angeles is just like, I think you just need like a reason to be going there. I don't think you should just go there and just like explore, it's just not the kind of place that you just explore, like, you need to, like, know exactly what you're doing. You need to have your reservations, and yeah, like, yes, there's like some of the best, like, most amazing places, you know, in the country, but they're all very.. it's very spread out, and there's gonna.. you're gonna have a lot of, like, time in an Uber, and so it just needs to be very well planned, so whenever I go to LA, I actually like to more just like stay in the neighborhood that I'm in and do the thing, and I don't think when I was younger I would try to see every friend and I would try to like go all these different places and like now I just don't do that anymore, like we just kind of do, you don't go into like this little part of town, see what they have that's fun, and then next time we'll do a different, you know, part, but it's kind

6:03of like a whole bunch of towns squished together, yeah, almost, you know what I mean. So, anyway, but I don't know if it's.. I would say it's overrated, like I hate.. I think that overrated is so mean, so I wouldn't say that, actually, I. Nashville, maybe, because it's like it's just such a, it's just so confusing. How it became so popular for bachelorette parties. I don't know, I've never been downtown and not seen a bachelorette party while I was there. And you have to go downtown, like, there's a lot of good stuff to do, restaurants downtown, and like venues, and like, if, you want to go to a concert, you'll probably go downtown. So, anyway, yeah, that's my advice, but I, I'm sure, yeah, every both of those cities, I don't even want to put them on there, though, because I bet that they have like so many little hidden places, I would just want to stay in those places.

6:12Emma We're not saying no one go there, we're just saying like here's what I liked, I mean, it's not like everyone in the world would like going to Norway, I did. I'll tell you about it, but like, I don't know. Elsie Yeah, I love like when I am going to a new city. I love it when I can sit, like, or sorry, when I can like be delivered to my hotel or BNB in an Uber, and then I can kind of like walk from there to various things, and there's certain cities where that's possible, and there's certain cities where that's never going to happen, so I think knowing which one you're in is good. Yes. Okay. So our last topic is travel diaries, best trip before and with kids. So my before kids, before we had kids, we went to Palm Springs every year, and I miss it so much. We haven't been since Nova was a toddler, but it was also like a different time in our relationship, because now my husband is 100% sober, and I drink not much at all, and so it's just like I'm just not sure how it would be. It was our new lifestyle, yeah, for the things we used to enjoy doing. It was perfect for the things we enjoy doing now. I'm not sure, so yeah, I miss Palm Springs, but

6:25that was definitely our before kids spot. What about you? Emma Trying to think, because a lot of the places I listed as my top were places we went before kids, like big trips, because they're all big trips. Elsie Oh yeah, Norway was probably a before kids. Emma They were all before kids, because we haven't taken our kids to Europe, and I didn't list any US places. Yeah, one time we did a month long trip to LA. Oh yeah, and that was really fun, and we were still working, like it wasn't like we took the month off, but we definitely like did fun things the whole time we were there. That was kind of the point, and I think that that was also just fun. That I'm glad we did that before we had kids, because it was so much easier to do something like that before we had kids. We took one of our dogs, and I think I even like brought my desktop computer, because I didn't have a laptop at the time. I just like bubble wrapped it in the car. It's like, and that was super, super fun, and I do love LA. I lived there for three years after college, and I love it, but I do think it's tough for a short trip

6:40because it is so spread out, so there is a lot of driving or being an Uber. So I do think you have to be strategic about what you want to do and try to like be in that area, but for being there for a month it felt really nice because it was like we stayed in an Airbnb, and we got to know, like, the neighborhood there, like the coffee shop that we could walk to, and things like that. And then we would go do fun things here and there, like every week we'd go do a couple things that were like go to the beach, or go to a show, or go to, you know, whatever. And it was super fun.

6:46Elsie No, that sounds really good. Okay, with kids, I'm just gonna do a full Disney, and I think any Disney is the greatest thing I think that I've done with kids, just because it's so magical for them, and it's just such a happy memory, but I also love just like any place where we can be in a walkable situation, where there's a lot of little things to do, like I want there to be like an ice cream shop, or a donut shop, or like a place to have breakfast that you can all walk to. I think that's kind of the key for, for us traveling with our kids, because they are very good walkers now. But, yeah, they don't like to spend a lot of time in the car, and they don't like to spend a lot of time in Ubers. Yeah, and yeah, the more walking the better. So, I kind of feel like small places is kind of where we're more leaning right now, but we are planning to take the kids to Paris, and that'll be scared, but I'm also excited.

6:56Emma Yeah, our kids are still so little, so we have taken Oscar to Costa Rica, and we've also been to Nashville a bunch of times, especially before you move. We went to Dallas one time, we were in the city proper, and then we also went to a lake house that his cousin has, and yeah, I feel like we've done like a good amount of road trips, and then a few Costa Rica trips with Oscar. Hugo hasn't got to travel as much yet for Hugo, but he's turning well to this summer. He's, it's coming along, it's coming, buddy, he's already got his passport, but I feel like we haven't quite found our groove with kid trips. Previous episode, we were talking about our summer bucket list, and I was mentioning taking them to Branson, Missouri, which is like 30 minutes from where we live. I'm just kind of trying to figure out more. Like, I feel like we want to do these epic cool things with our kids, but they're just an age where it's like the less travel time and the less logistics for us as parents, the better, because they still have car seats, especially Hugo.

7:07They still, you know, there's just still like a lot of stuff, and so I feel like that's part of my goal with this summer and moving forward, is and they're going to age and age, and we're going to do bigger and bigger trips as they get bigger, but while they're still little, I'm like, let's try to do like an easier trip, because they honestly like doing almost anything, like they're an age where they like anything, they don't know, you know, like what beach we're at, like, so it's like, let's just make this easier for us as parents, but kind of also for them, less, you know, flight time, less drive time, as much as possible, but still something they're gonna enjoy, because I think that will be a better fit.

7:14Elsie No, you should take them to Seaside. That's really fun with little kids. Yeah, they would probably love that a bunch, and it's not too big. Okay. Well, I hope this episode was helpful. I'm sorry for roasting my own special place where I live for eight years. Emma She's stressed about it. Elsie I am, but I also kind of think that most people that live there would agree with me. I don't know. Emma I feel like you're mostly saying heads up, there's a lot of bachelorette parties. Also, if you're planning a bachelorette party, definitely go there, like it's like both of those things at the same time.

7:25Elsie No, no, it's both. It just started getting a lot of people who would have gone to Las Vegas, like the airport got weird. Emma Here's my review on Las Vegas. Liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Elsie Really? Emma Yeah, and I also was like, this actually would work as a kid trip, because I went just with my husband, and I was like, we could definitely bring kids, because, like, our hotel had this very, like, kid-friendly multiple pools, and like, it's one flight from where we. Live, which is wow, and it had an enough walkability, as far as, like, what are you doing? You're going to a show, or a restaurant, or a play area, or whatever. When we went to Meow Wolf, which I think my kids would love, so I was like, actually, this would be a pretty good family trip, which I would never have thought, oh, what's a great family trip, Las Vegas, but I'm like, actually, I think it would work really well, oddly enough. So, but it was fun as a couple, too. But I was surprising my husband, that was a surprise trip for his birthday one year. It was just like something that, again, you can have one flight. We had a lot of fun. It was great. I liked it a lot

7:42more than I thought it would. Elsie Cute, good. Emma Yeah, it was just silly and fun. Elsie Okay, let's do Heather's hot take, which is fake plants are tacky and should not be in your house. Emma's already having her defensive face, so I'll let you go. Emma I have a giant fake plant in my entryway as soon as you walk in. Yeah, I really only have one real plant in my whole house, and it is this little planter pot of carrots that Oscar got in his Easter basket, because he really wants to grow something, and so the Easter bunny brought him this little planter of carrots, which I was like, it'll grow or it won't, whatever, and it's been growing like crazy, but it has not produced any carrots, but anyway, he's he's very pleased with his carrot plant, and everything else in my house is fake. We don't even have that many fake plants, but everything else that is a plant is fake, and I like them. I think they're great. Tacky, maybe, I don't know, I suppose, but I like them.

7:58Elsie In our previous house we had like 10 times more fake plants, and there was like every kind of trees and every kind, so I feel like I have a lot of experience with this subject, and my opinion is fake plants that look fake are tacky, and fake plants that you don't notice are perfectly fine. There's so many that you just don't notice, and I think that that is fine, especially if you like go the extra mile to like fill the pot with dirt, like when you know there's just like little things you can do to make it look a little bit more real, and I just think it's fine. I think that having real plants is great if you enjoy doing it, and if you can keep up with it, but you do have to have both of those things, and yeah, everyone has that.

8:06Emma I think for some people, it's kind of their hobby, which I think is great, is not my hobby, yeah. So I don't want it to become my hobby. Elsie I would love for it to become my hobby, but I have not. I'm starting slow. I have two small little plants, and I don't have that many fake plants in my house, but I do have a few, and I am not ashamed of them. Emma I kind of think I'm not so interested in plants in my house. I would be interested to have a garden someday outside, like, and have it be like, I just like the idea of going out there and, like, doing what I need to be doing, you know, whatever, depending what time of year it is, and stuff. I like that, but, like, having plants inside my house, I don't know why. It just doesn't really appeal to me, and that's just me, obviously. If you have a ton of plants in your house, great. I love that for you. Couldn't care less, but I just don't really want any in my house. So, for me, having a fake few fake plants here and there, like in corners that just kind of need something, I think is nice. If you want to think of it as a weird sculpture, a

8:21cheap sculpture, go ahead, because that's kind of how I think of it, honestly. Just, here's my suggestion: buy them, okay? If you're buying them online, look at the customer photos. Yes, if you're buying them in person, stand back and really look at it, like, really look, by the way, if you buy anything online and there's customer photos, look at those photos, because that's really how you know. And shout out to everyone taking these photos and putting them on websites. I know free. Thank you. Who does it? I know I've never done it. I've never done it, but I've looked at so many. So, thank you, everyone, because you're doing the work.

8:28Elsie Okay, we're gonna toss it over to Nova for a joke and a fact with Nova before we go. Hey, Nova, what do you have for us this week? Nova A joke,. Elsie A joke. Okay, I'm ready. Nova Knock, knock. Elsie Who's there? Nova Ben. Elsie Ben, who Nova Been knocking on this door for the whole day. Bye. Elsie bye. Have a good week. Thank you so much for listening. If you have any topic ideas for future podcast episodes, or requests, or hot takes, we love to hear them. Email us anytime at podcast at abeautifulmess.com.