Isaac: Hello everyone and welcome to Full Time to Travel Time. I am your co host Isaac and I’m here with Kim.
Kim: Hello.
Isaac: And we’re really excited to be launching this first episode of our podcast.
Kim: On this podcast we’ll be sharing with you how we went from working over full time to being able to travel the world whenever we want.
Isaac: Wow, you know, now that we have been traveling continuously for six years straight, one thing that we’ve learned is that it’s actually the journey that causes the joy, growth, and outrageousness, not the destination. So throughout this podcast, we are going to be sharing with you our stories, Lessons learned and how you can start taking steps to travel time.
Kim: It sounds like it’s going to be a freaking awesome podcast, Isaac. I am so excited for all of you to join us in experiencing the wild ride of traveling full time.
Isaac: So Kim, I want to know who is this podcast for?
Kim: Well, are you interested in travel, Isaac?
Isaac: I am.
Kim: Then I’d say it’s for you! Oh, nice! That’s great!
I honestly think it’s as simple as that. Maybe you I’m going to listen
Isaac: to this podcast as soon as we record it, because it’s for me.
Kim: Wow, I could hear the crack in your voice. You are excited. I’m pretty excited. Authentically. So Isaac, on that note, what is this show about?
Isaac: So this show is really going to be digging into how to start traveling now.
We’re going to be exploring extensively the U. S. and road tripping around the U. S. We’re going to be exploring all of the amazing national parks that the U. S. have. And we’re also going to be dropping tips on how to travel internationally as well. So, we’re going to have all these different tips. We’re also going to be talking a lot about how to free up your time to be able to travel more.
Kim: Yes.
Isaac: What we really learn is systems are key. So we’re going to be talking about systems and we’re going to be talking about people in different phases of their lives. We’re going to be talking to entrepreneurs who want to grow their business and systemize their business and allow them to travel full time like we have.
We’re going to be talking to people who work full time and still want to travel and figure out how can they create systems in their lives to allow that travel to run smoothly and enjoyably.
Kim: That sounds like some pretty exciting content, Isaac. Oh, well,
Isaac: thank you. So next up. I want to ask you, Kim, because we’re going to be covering a lot of topics on this podcast.
Can you tell me three things you’re really excited about covering that are going to be on upcoming podcasts?
Kim: Ooh, juicy. Alright, rapid fire. Number one, road tripping the national parks. That is super exciting, especially exciting to people who maybe have never visited a national park.
Isaac: Vroom, vroom.
Kim: Number two, systems is my life.
So just the fact that I get to Tell and teach you guys about how to use systems. Maybe you don’t know what the heck a system is we’re gonna let you know. It’s awesome. It’s gonna free up so much time. Number three all the just Tips and tricks that this genius man next to me isaac. I call him the navigational wizard the navigation wizard That we get to share with you.
I’m really excited about those, those tips and tricks that we get to share with you guys to figure out how the heck you travel like us. You know, at this point we’re traveling six to maybe eight months out of the year.
Isaac: Yeah, awesome.
Kim: Yeah, and what about you Isaac? What are three things that you’re really excited about to share?
Isaac: Yeah, so, you know as Kim said i’m really excited to share about road tripping, you know Of all the different types of travel i’ve done in my life I love road tripping and america is one of the best countries in the world to do awesome road trips on One of the most amazing things about America is that we have almost every single landscape you could imagine within our country, which is quite rare compared to most other countries.
You know, we have literally gone from 100 degree heat to 70 degree heat in a matter of hours, you know, just from driving up a mountain. Oh yeah, that’s a
Kim: story for another day. Throwing snowballs and hanging out in sunshine. That was a day.
Isaac: That was a day. So I’m also really excited to dive into a lot of the tips that we’ve learned about how to live a travel lifestyle You know, we’ve been able to create a life and a business that revolves around us being able to travel full time wherever we want You know, whenever we go on a vacation It’s not really a vacation.
We call it exploration People are like, oh, was that for business or was it for pleasure? And it was like
Kim: For life both whatever we wanted
Isaac: to be
Kim: We hiked to 13 000 mountains in one day. We’ve driven through a herd of elk We climbed the second tallest mountain in the 48 states and we had the best chicken ever in a peruvian place In Utah of all places.
Isn’t that nuts?
Isaac: Absolutely. So we’re excited to jump in, but first and foremost, I want to introduce my co host Kim Coates. She actually went to school. She knew from a young age, she really wanted to help animals and she was able to accomplish that quite early in her career because she was able to get a vet tech degree and then serve as a vet tech for eight years, I believe.
Nine years. Nine years. Oh
yeah.
She really loved it. However, we found that she was actually going more into debt every single year, and I wanted to teach
her a new way of making money. So I introduced her to entrepreneurship, so she was able to learn about entrepreneurship, transition into entrepreneurship, and now she’s the COO of our company, lofi.
Before I let her kind of tell you her story, I just want to say one unique thing I love about Kim is she makes really cute noises on a regular basis, and I hope that shows up on the podcast. Let’s find out. Let’s see how that sounds. So without further ado, Kim, why don’t you tell us your story?
Kim: Well, thank you, Isaac.
Who am I? Well, let’s find out together, shall we? So, thank you, Isaac for telling my story in a nutshell. But yes, like Isaac said, I have always loved animals, even since I was a little girl, like four years old, I had my fake stethoscope and things. I wanted to work in the animal field, so I went to college for veterinary medicine And accomplished what I felt was my life goal in my young twenties.
I already had a career. I was so happy working in this field. However, after doing the routine, you know, for quite a few years at that point, going to work, going home, going to work, going home, I kind of just felt like something was missing. You know, I was convinced that I’d be doing this for the rest of my life, but I didn’t really understand or know what else was out there.
So. So fast forward, I decided on a whim to move to Arizona from Indiana. This was a big deal, you guys. I’m sure some of you have moved cross country. It’s scary. A little less scary when your mom has moved there maybe three to four months before you did. Thanks, Mom! So, on that note, Mom actually worked at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
And After working there and I lived in Arizona, she called me one day and was like, Hey Kim. I think I found out what may be wrong with you. Now, let’s rewind.
Isaac: Always a good thing when your mom says that to you. Yeah, that, right, right. I think, I think
Kim: there’s something wrong with you. Dang. She meant it out of sweetness.
Always
Speaker 4: brains your day.
Kim: So, you know, I was actually born with my chest concave, like it was sunken in. And as I got older and older, it kept getting deeper and deeper. And I would randomly black out sometimes, and I was just really tired all the time. But mom actually heard some other people having my symptoms, and sure enough, guess what guys?
I had a pretty serious issue. My heart was pancake shaped. Right, it’s not supposed to be flat.
Isaac: Right, and your parents had taken you to see doctors while you were growing up and you kept getting misdiagnosed where, in your hometown.
Kim: Oh yeah, they were like, oh have some antidepressants, you’ll be fine. You guys, you’ll get to know me.
I’m like the happiest ray of sunshine maybe you’ll ever meet. But no, it was crazy. So eventually they were like, hey, you need to get into surgery ASAP. Thank you mom for finding out what was wrong with me. I have more energy to live at anywho. I’m very excited and grateful for what has been diagnosed, but since I had that surgery, So in 2016, I had my first surgery to fix my flat heart.
They actually had two steel bars put into my chest to brace up my ribcage, So that my heart could be normal shape and I didn’t black out anymore. And when that happened, obviously that was a, that was a doozy of a surgery. It hurt pretty bad for a little while, but with that, I was still working in the vet field.
And guess what happens when you’re around animals who aren’t particularly fond of getting their blood drawn. I got kicked in the chest a couple of times. It hurts so freaking bad. Like, I can feel it just talking about it right now, how bad that And then I would come home from work and I’d be in pain because I’ve been kicked by dogs and cats and things.
So actually after I had my first surgery in 2016, apparently I was mean. Let me just say, I was on a lot of hardcore drugs, so I didn’t feel the pain, and like, even my family was like, Kim, I You’re not very nice right now. So, sorry guys. Isaac was actually so nice and supported me through this tough time.
And
Isaac: Do you remember the first meal I cooked you?
Kim: No, tell me.
Isaac: Really? You don’t even know what that is? I was on
Kim: drugs! It
Isaac: was the first time you told me you loved me, but she was not happy to tell you. Oh,
Kim: that sounds about right. It involved food. Yes, I love you. Yeah,
Isaac: so it was like, Cajun cauliflower tacos.
Aw, snap.
Kim: Dude, those are so good. We’ll have to share the recipe to people, too. But yes, on on that note I was visiting my aunt and uncle’s house. Isaac was with me. And I think we may have been pet sitting, perhaps. Right, this is a
Isaac: few months later where we’re actually dating at this point.
Kim: Right, kind of dating.
I’m still not into commitment super much, but anyways. So I, I’m working at the vet field, I come back to the house, and Isaac’s like, Kim, I have a surprise for you. And the computer is open, and he shows me a website that he created. And it’s like a picture of a warm, like, orange, glowy sunset with a silhouette of a woman with a ponytail walking a dog.
And I was like What’s this about? And so you guys know I’m really terrible at connecting the dots. I’m also really terrible at receiving jokes. That should be another podcast. So with that being said, you guys, obviously he made me a website, but the question is, Isaac, why, what was your thought process in making me a pet sitting website?
Well, it wasn’t a
Isaac: joke, Kim. So, you know, Kim and I had, I think we I think at this point we were either living together or we were certainly dating and you were coming home from work every day just in a lot of pain because you just couldn’t do the same job you were able to do before the surgery as you were recovering from the surgery.
And so I, you know, came up with a creative way for you to supplement the income and I wanted to introduce you to this concept that you could make money without working for somebody else. And so I built her her first pet web, I pet sitting website. And I, I really just built two things. I built her Google my business profile and her pet wedding, but I can’t even say, man,
Kim: is this a tongue tester pet sitting website?
There you go. There it’s, and
Isaac: And from that, you know, within a matter of months you were able to completely supplement all of your vet tech income with pet sitting and pet sitting was. aggressive on your physical body than,
Kim: Being a vet tech was. Oh my gosh, yeah. Most of them were snuggly. They just wanted to, like, lay in my lap and let me pet them.
But
Isaac: because you had your degree and you were so good with animals, you were getting great, great jobs, you know? Oh
Kim: my gosh, yeah. Isaac, that’s, that’s really heartfelt. That was, like, so extremely thoughtful of you. It was pretty thoughtful. And honestly, I don’t know where I’d be right now if You know, I was still working in the veterinary field.
I’d probably be exhausted and And maybe a little sad. Like, I loved what I did, and I really contributed, but I’m so like, happy and excited for the life we have built now. And that we get to share with all of you, so thank you, Isaac. And with that, I want to pass the mic over to my co host, Isaac. But I want to spitfire rapid fire some fun facts about Isaac.
Number one, his dad ran the International Mask and Puppet Museum. Yes, you heard that correct. That means Isaac knows how to stilt. He knows how to juggle. He even made money from juggling. And yes, he was the butt end of an elephant, correct?
Isaac: But an elephant costume.
Kim: Oh, I should be more specific. It was
Isaac: a puppet.
It was a
Kim: puppet. This is not rapid fire. Number two,
he
can play the didgeridoo. You don’t know what the didgeridoo is? Yes. Look it up. Good luck spelling it. Number three, he’s actually really great at producing music. That intro that you heard on the podcast today and all future music you will hear in the podcast is created by yours truly, not me, but Isaac.
The Elusive Dragons. So, with that, Isaac, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Isaac: Well, first though, I gotta tell a story because it’s just pretty funny. So, she comes home and I show her this website and she’s with her cousin at the time, Katie, and I decided to do some mind reading mind reading magic trick
Kim: on them.
Oh my god. And you know, it’s a pretty
Isaac: cool magic trick and so I did it to both of them and I’m blowing the minds.
Kim: I only half believe Isaac at this point. He’s really smart, guys. And guys, it’s a
Isaac: magic trick. Of course I’m not reading their minds. Right, it has to be fake
Kim: or something. But,
Isaac: so previously, Kim and I had actually just gone back from a camping trip with a bunch of friends and while we were camping, Kim tells me, she goes, oh, by the way, I hid something in your room.
You’re never gonna find it. Do you remember what you said to me?
Kim: I also regret telling you this. I honestly am terrible at surprises, and I hid something in Isaac’s room, and I was like so freaking psyched about this, but then I kept thinking about it, and I was like, man, I want to tell him so bad, but Yeah, so I do remember I did tell you told
Isaac: you told me that if I didn’t find it in three months You’d let me know where it was.
Oh, yeah, super confident. I was not gonna find it
Kim: It was gonna take you like years. All
Isaac: right, so we get back from this camping trip. I go into my room I’m unpacking and I suddenly remember what Kim said And so I just do a quick scan of my room and I remember saying scanning the room and being like, Oh, it could be over there.
And then keep scanning it. And my eyes fell on a picture frame. She had given me with a picture of us in it. It was like
Kim: one of our first trips ever to the green Canyon. Right.
Isaac: And I was like, I bet you, she hid something in the back of this picture frame. It’s literally the First place I go and check. It
Kim: was the only thought in my mind.
So
Isaac: I go into check. And honestly, I thought that’d be a risque picture of you in the back of that. You wish, but wouldn’t, it wouldn’t have been mad. Damn next present. But what she actually left was much sweeter and very caring. And it was an entire list and it read the 50 things I love about Isaac. And it was really, really touching, honestly, and one of those things I kept with me for as long as I could, I don’t know where it went at some point, but whenever I was having a bad day, honestly, I pulled it out, and, and read it, and just made me feel a lot better, so, it was a very, very thoughtful gift, and me seeing how thoughtful this gift was, thought, hmm.
She doesn’t think I’m ever gonna find this. I can use it in the future, so I’m not gonna tell her that I found it yet. So here we go, back to me reading their minds. And so, they don’t really believe I’m reading their minds, but they’re also both like, how are you doing this? And I was like, alright, alright, let’s forget about, you know, this trick I just did.
I’m just gonna read directly from your mind, and And
Kim: then he stared into my eyes. I stared in, and I was like,
Isaac: you told me there’s something hidden in my room. And I’m never going to find it. Do you remember that? And she’s like, yeah, I was like, I just want you to think about what that was. And I’m going to try and
Kim: He was trying to mentally explain.
And
Isaac: so she’s thinking, I see her thinking about it. I was like, alright, so is Is the number 50 involved?
Kim: Now I’m starting to freak out.
Isaac: Kim’s mouth just drops open. I’m thinking too hard. She’s like, how are you doing this? And so like, I don’t entirely remember what I said, but there was different things on the list, and I was like Oh, he
Kim: was being full out.
He shut his eyes. He’s like, I think I see I see a dresser and I was like, oh my god, oh my god. I was like, where is this going? Like you were well and I even have one
Isaac: of the things you say That you loved about me is I always smell like mint because I use mint And so I was like, I feel like there’s a smell coming to me like is Is there something about peppermint?
You know, so I was really looking at it and kim was freaking out because she in her mind has Couldn’t believe that I had found This thing and I still didn’t tell her and I kept doing this and even more my cousin
Kim: Katie was looking at me Freaking out because I was freaked right cuz you’re like Katie. I swear.
I didn’t tell him any of this So, yeah,
Isaac: that was fun Yeah, I mean,
Kim: when did you eventually tell me?
Isaac: It was weeks and weeks later, because every once in a while, I think I’d like read your mind again. Like, oh, something, I think something else just came through. You’d like
Kim: read something off of the 50 list, and I’d be like, I’m baffled.
Yeah,
Isaac: yeah, she didn’t know I was reading her mind. So,
Kim: I have no idea how we got to that story, but it’s a good story. It’s a
Isaac: good story. So. Getting back to the podcast. That
Kim: was my rewind noise.
Isaac: What is up? As I grew up, I actually graduated from college. I got an executive HR position at Target. I was doing quite well.
I actually got my story to be one of the top scores in the whole district. But I knew something was wrong. And I actually left Target because, you know, my life just wasn’t, you know, There was something odd, and I started going through just medical testings, and I found I had severe sleep apnea. So I was waking up over 40 times an hour, and I hadn’t gotten REM sleep in over two years.
And that part of my life, I really call like, a gray moment, because I couldn’t really see color for that period of time. You know, my parents were very supportive. They let me move back home as I figured things out. And I went on a two year journey. Of Get Isaac Healthy as F. As F.
Kim: Healthy A F. A F.
Isaac: And did a lot of different things to switch my whole life. And from there, I really started exploring entrepreneurship. And honestly, one of the number one things I did during this time that made such a huge difference is I kept learning. And so I was actually learning a lot from one of my favorite teachers, Pat Flynn
Kim: Shout out.
And,
Isaac: I learned all about how to create residual revenue, how to create, you know, courses, podcasts, you know, all of this stuff. And so it’s very fitting now that 10 years plus later, I actually joined Pat Flynn’s community, took his podcast course and launching a podcast. So that’s pretty awesome. And
Kim: where are you from Isaac?
Isaac: I’m from Syracuse, New York.
Kim: Also, just so you know, folks, I obviously know this. I’ve been with Isaac almost 10 years, but so, you know, yeah. He also traveled from upstate New York all the way to Arizona where we met.
Isaac: Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a goal of mine once. I was actually living in Australia for a while and I was talking to Ozzie once and I was like, you know, I’ve traveled around your country more often than you, and he’s like, yeah, but I bet you I’ve traveled across America more than you have, and I was like,
Kim: burn.
Isaac: Damn. And so from that moment, I had a goal to drive across the country, and I was able to accomplish that, and I think 2017, 16. We can’t remember,
Kim: but Isaac got distracted because he came to Arizona and I guess there was like a pretty girl or something that, or something, or something. So he never left, but I
Isaac: leave, I leave all the, I
leave all the time.
Kim: That is a fair point. Let me, let me ask you that. We we migrate with the birds, we
Isaac: just come back in winter here. So
Kim: it’s not a bad place to come back.
Isaac: And so, you know, So when I really wanted to start traveling more extensively, I wanted to help Kim be able to transition. And so I surprised her, like he said, with a website and really to help her kind of both learn how to be an entrepreneur and like, you know, something that she could actually do as she was recovering from surgery.
She was able to supplement all the money she would have worked as a vet tech into her babysitting company, babysitting, pet sitting company,
Kim: little fur babies. Within
Isaac: just a few months. I set up a Google My Business profile, which if you have a business and you don’t have one of those, you’re missing out on a lot of free traffic.
Kim: Oh, that’s in a future podcast. We’ll talk about it. Yeah, we kind
Isaac: of know a little bit about that stuff. Yeah, Google is awesome. And and then a website. And that was really it. Those are the two main things. You know, assets. It took me about three or four hours to build both of those. Were you out one day for you?
Kim: I will say it was a terrifying start, but like really exciting, you know, what a smooth transition out of the animal world into the animal world, into the marketing world.
Isaac: So that’s really how, how we got started. And after she experienced it, she was like, Oh, like there’s this thing on entrepreneurship. And that’s when Kim and I really decided, Well, we’re jumping ahead a little bit here.
We are,
Kim: but I think what Isaac’s trying to say, honestly, is I had no idea that doing something outside of what I’m used to Could create so much more time freedom. Like I was pet sitting, I was staying in people’s houses and mansions and pet sitting. And I’m like, I’m not working 12 to 14 hour shifts. What do I do with myself?
Which is really exciting. I’ve always loved nature and Isaac has always loved nature. And we kind of combined all of our loves and passions into travel. So, yeah. So what’s, what’s coming with that transition? I want to talk about what is coming. Whoa,
Isaac: Kim. Do you hear that noise?
Kim: What could
Isaac: it mean?
Kim: I think it’s time for National Park Adventure Quest!
Isaac: And what game is that?
Kim: Where we quest for questions, obviously about national parks, right? Let’s do this! Alright,
Isaac: so the rules of this game are simple. I’m going to ask you a question, and I don’t want the best answer. I want the first thing that pops into your mind.
Kim: Ooh, it might get weird. Alright,
Isaac: question number one.
Kim: Commence.
Isaac: Which national park do you think offers the best hiking trails?
Kim: Oh, Rocky Mountain National Park, obviously. I’m biased because it’s my favorite, but yes, it has the best.
Isaac: Okay.
Kim: My turn. Isaac. Are there any national parks you’d like to visit in the future? And obviously the answer is yes, so why?
Isaac: There are 23 national parks I want to visit in the future, because that would complete all of our 63 national parks. Wow, that’s a lot. I really am excited for a lot of the parks in Alaska. A Denali, and I’m excited for we haven’t been to Glacier yet, which is everyone’s favorite national park. Let’s go
Kim: to Montana.
What’s in Montana? I have no idea. Glacier. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
Isaac: Okay. Kim.
Kim: Yes.
Isaac: What is your favorite food you’ve eaten in a national park?
Kim: Oh my gosh. He told me to, oh wait, it’s in a national park. Ooh, what if I just say, Isaac, ah, I’m freaked out! Information overload in my head, it’s overflowing! For some reason, the only thing I can think of is Isaac’s favorite meal, which is ironic.
I know you asked mine. But it honestly is the first thing that comes to mind. Okay, hey, that’s
Isaac: a great meal. So
Kim: we’re in Yellowstone. And I’m pretty sure, like, everything was shutting down because it was late at night. Yeah, we
Isaac: barely made it to the, like, the dining hall before it closed. And we’re in Yellowstone.
There’s nowhere else to eat.
Kim: And legitimately, we had to run. Like, we run down the pathway. I think it’s, like, Lakeshore Lodge or something. It’s on the lake. It was really beautiful. We finally get there. Isaac decides to get a pot roast. I got the pot
Isaac: roast, and I don’t know why, but it was calling to me. I’m
Kim: sure there’s people out there who like pot roasts, it’s just not something I’ve ever sought out myself.
Yeah, yeah. You know? But from what you’ve told me, Isaac, this was like melt in your mouth to die for. I gave you
Speaker 4: a bite. Yeah, so I’m describing
Kim: it. It was melt in your mouth to
die for. From what I heard and
Isaac: tasted. It was wild though, I’m eating this being like, what am I eating right
now that is so
good?
I was like. I was like, Kim, I know you don’t want to try a bite of this, but I’m gonna make you try a bite of this. I really didn’t want to, like,
Kim: pot roast doesn’t sound like a sexy appetizing food, you know?
Isaac: One of, you’re right, it was the best pot roast I’ve ever had in my life, and one of the best meals we’ve ever had in any national park.
I don’t even remember.
Kim: He lost his breath. I don’t even
Isaac: remember what you ate. No
recollection.
Kim: No, and I’m really good at remembering fantastic meals, you guys, so.
Isaac: Alright. That was a bit of a sidetrack. Yeah, sidetrack. My turn.
Kim: Isaac, what activities do you enjoy most when visiting national parks? Yeah,
Isaac: well I love the scenic drives.
Almost every single national park has a scenic drive. We usually do it on like day two, right? Cause the first day we do some heavy hiking, and the next day we want to give our legs a break, so we do a scenic drive. That’s a tip! That’s
Kim: a tip! Write it down!
Isaac: Tip alert! Tip alert!
Kim: When you’re exhausted and your legs are killing you, do the scenic drive the next day.
Yeah,
Isaac: so yeah, I, I, the scenic drives in the national parks really blow me away, and so yeah, that’s one of my favorite things. That’s fantastic! Yeah. I think we have completed our first round of Wait, wait, let’s high five. That is probably way too loud for listening to at home. Sorry, let’s, let’s, We’re gonna mute that that clap quieter.
Kim: We’re gonna do it quieter. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, we did
Isaac: it. That was the game. What was the game name again?
Kim: We Quest for Questions, the National Park Adventure Quest!
Isaac: I like it when you said the tagline first. Yeah,
Kim: I think it works better that way. Into the game. That’s a good one. Yeah, it’s good, especially the noise.
Alright, well awesome. Awesome. Sweet. Now, I don’t just want to share what’s coming on this podcast, but I’m really excited to be able to give you guys something you can actually use right now. I’m talking today.
So let’s
talk about it, Isaac. Let’s give these people what they want. So Isaac, if somebody wants to start traveling right now, you know, today, tomorrow, what advice can you give them?
Isaac: Well, the number one advice, and this really helped us on our journey, was to actually find stuff near you first and start traveling. Traveling locally. I honestly thought until my late 20s that you had to travel abroad to see something amazing But what i’ve learned about traveling all across the u. s Is there something within two hours of you that is freaking epic
Kim: and isaac?
How did you learn because honestly I just want to touch on this because it’s kind of funny How did you learn that there’s cool things in america?
Isaac: Honestly, you know You know, obviously I did travel, some travel growing up, but it was our, our first and second trips we took together. Our first trip was to Sedona and the Grand Canyon, like, whoa.
Then our second trip, we tried to get into The Wave, which is one of the most photographic areas in the world, but they only let 20 people in a day. And so we went to the, the in person auction.
Kim: The lottery. The lottery. Yeah.
Isaac: And we lost.
Kim: And even dogs count as people, so it’s like, come on.
Isaac: So after losing I’m talking to one of the rangers and being like, what else should we do?
And they directed us to Bryce Canyon, which is about an hour drive from where we were at the time. Worth
Kim: it.
Isaac: Man, when we got into Bryce Canyon, I was like, wait a second, we have Is every national park this epic? Like, I just thought the Grand Canyon was like, something like, unique, and it is. It’s very unique, but like every national park is epic and that was really what launched our like, whoa, we need to start seeing every single one.
Kim: Right, and we need to help you guys be able to see these awesome magnificent pieces of the United States, whether you live in the U. S. or not, to be honest.
Isaac: So going back to the question though, how do you find something local that’s epic near you? So one of the things I always search for is national parks and national monuments.
Kim: Where do you search for them?
Isaac: I mean if you go just on to Google, Google Maps, I use a lot. I’d say 70 percent of my research is done just through Google Maps. Thank you, Google. And yeah, so if you just search for national parks, national monuments, It will pop up, you know, either parks or monuments in the area.
Not always a hundred percent accurately, honestly, but You know, so that’s one of the main things I searched, but honestly, one of the things I searched for a lot is tourist attractions near me. I know it sounds kind of weird, but there’s so many cool things and a lot of different things. We found some amazing art museums because of that search.
You know, piers, scenic spots, like you find all sorts of very cool Things when you type that in tourist attraction is a
Kim: very broad term So I can totally understand how you find very strange wonderful things
Isaac: What’s key is, you know You don’t want to just search it from a zoomed out portion in your map because that will bring you to the closest city But if you’re trying to travel outside of cities, which are a lot of very cool things outside of cities You know, you actually want to scroll to up on the road to like different areas that you’ll be hitting on your road trip and redo that search within that square on Google Maps and new things will pop up.
I mean, one day, you know, we woke up, Kim never knows where I’m bringing her the next day. Right. And I’m like, well we’re going to go to the world’s smallest church, you know, I was like,
Kim: great. What does that mean? And also I’m so ready. Right.
Isaac: So we went to the world’s smallest church. It had
Kim: two pews.
Isaac: Yep.
Kim: Yeah.
Isaac: You know, we’ve done all sorts of things that we’ve found because of that search, so And that
Kim: was because you typed in tourist attraction?
Isaac: Yeah, it’s really, it’s Wild. It’s, that’s like the number one search I find that pops things up. Also search scenics scenic views. You know, that will give you like overlooks on different highways, and that’s a good search.
A lot of times I search hot springs near me, because I want to find hot springs. That only works sometimes
Kim: too though, right? Hot springs, it gets confused you guys, because like hot springs are amazing, but there’s a surprising amount of places called hot springs. Yeah, so,
Isaac: so you actually have to again do my method of zooming in to a specific part of the map and searching.
Kim: Yeah, very true. But Isaac, you mentioned scenic views, right? Well, one thing I know we both really love is scenic drives, right? You want to enjoy the journey, not just the destination, you guys. So with that, you know, how do you Isaac find the most scenic drives when you’re planning out our road trips?
Isaac: Right. So this is, it’s kind of going to sound silly, but it really works well. So if I know my destination and I’m trying to plot out the route I’m going to take the destination, I honestly just go onto Google maps again and I look for squiggly lines. I look for switchbacks. So if the road is making like a lot of S looks and, and squiggling back and forth, that usually means it’s a scenic road.
And if it has switchbacks, you know, which look a little bit different than like squigglies, because some squigglies will be following a river, right? Some squigglies will be going down or up a hill, but if you see switchbacks, which are kind of like consistent S’s, that almost always means you’re going up a mountain.
Kim: Mountains lead to beautiful views. Is that what you’re trying to say?
Isaac: Yes. Yes. We’re gonna go with that one. That’s super cool though. So, so yeah, I always look and you can find some amazing things. Now one thing, if I really want to, you know, kind of see a little bit more what the road looks like, on Google Maps, I’ll actually go to satellite view.
And that will zoom in, because sometimes it will look like a squiggly ride, but I can see that there’s trees everywhere that I’m just going to be driving through a forest and see anything. You know, sometimes I see it’s non paved road, which we love doing non paved roads, but we want to know before we get into it Yeah, I’d like to be
Kim: prepared before I drive on to that.
So yeah,
Isaac: that’s one of my top tips You know, I’ll find the squiggly roads, I’ll scroll alongside the squiggly roads consistently searching for tourist attractions near me or scenic spots or hiking and you know, we’ve we’ve found so many the What is it? The belly of the dragon. Oh my gosh.
Kim: Yeah. Isaac took us I’ll, I’ll keep it short, but essentially he took us off the side of a road.
It wasn’t even a trailhead or anything. And I was like, where are we going? Cause you know, I drive, he navigates, this is our system that works. And he was like, Kim, we’re going to the belly of the dragon. And I was like okay. And I just follow him. And we end up in like a giant tunnel. Made from what?
Water erosion. Yeah.
Isaac: I think it was. They, they essentially built the tunnel to allow floods to not like knock out the highway above it. Right? Because this under is the highway, under the highway, but you can’t even hear the highway. I mean, you’re buried deep into the ground.
Kim: We are buried . But you guys know, put that one on your list that, I mean, what state were we even in Utah, maybe.
I think it may by senior city. May,
Isaac: may have been Utah. Yeah. That was.
Kim: But you see what I’m getting at. He finds all sorts of crazy, strange, wonderful, like jaw dropping things just by using Google, by using Google, Google maps. You guys can do that right now. Like do it in your area and find out all the things that you don’t know are around you.
Isaac: Yeah, I mean you’ll be amazed. Within two hours there’s something epic that you probably have never either seen or heard about or never visited. And
Kim: what a great idea, Isaac, for, you know, within two hours. That’s a pretty, you know, great, solid start for beginner travelers as well who are like, Oh, I don’t know if I can give up a whole weekend or, you know, take a day trip.
This is a great first step to taking your first adventure, which we are super excited to hear about if you ever feel like sharing it with us. Thanks everyone for listening, and in next time’s episode, we’ll be talking about our favorite scenic drives and, even more exciting, the origin story of our first trip together.
Isaac: Yeah, Kim, I’m really excited to talk about that. And I do want to let everyone know, if you want to find out more about Belly of the Dragon and how to get to it, you can go to our website. FullTimeToTravelTime. com And we will have a whole piece about how to access the belly of the dragon. Until next time, It’s Full Time to Travel
Kim: Time!
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