Desiree Brown: 0:00

Hey, y'all, hey. So in today's episode we're gonna be talking about one of our favorite things, and that is travel. Now, the crazy part about travel is that we actually do it a lot, but our ideas of like what's a vacation are quite different. There's a whole lot of conversation going on in that case, right there.

Vernon Brown: 0:21

One of us likes to travel, kind of be relaxed and laid back, whereas the other wants to do crazy things and jump off of cliffs. So the question today is how in the world can you plan your dream vacation when you have somebody with you that doesn't know how to vacation?

Desiree Brown: 0:35

well, We'll find out who actually knows how to vacation. Join us for Conversations at the Well We'll see you there.

Vernon Brown: 0:41

Before we get started with our next episode, I want to encourage you, if you're watching us on YouTube, to go down to the little thumbs up button, like the video and get subscribed, so you get notifications whenever we drop new content. Also, if you are joining in with us on Facebook or on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, make sure that you're subscribed there, leave a five review as well as drop a comment so we know that you are listening. All right, welcome back to Conversations at the. Well, my name is Vernon Brown and I'm Desiree Brown, and today we are talking about, we said, our favorite thing, but I really think it's her favorite thing, which is what?

Vernon Brown: 1:19

Traveling, traveling, traveling. Let me let you in on a little secret. So, when first got married, everybody talks about the things that the wife's supposed to do go out and shop all the time and spend all of this money. My wife isn't a shopper. No, she's not putting on a bunch of makeup all the time. None of those things. But I tell you, traveling is her non-negotiable yeah, absolutely so it came up.

Desiree Brown: 1:43

Yeah, so we were putting together our budget. That would be another topic for another day we need to talk about budget.

Vernon Brown: 1:47

Yeah, how do you budget for a wife?

Desiree Brown: 1:50

We were trying to figure out where our money should go, because we were trying to, like, pay down some things, and you know, and I'm trying to be a good steward.

Vernon Brown: 1:59

So I'm like, OK, we need to save this. I wasn't a good saver, but she was teaching me how to save. So, I was like we're going to save all of this and set all this aside. And she took her little thumb and went down to budget and said where is travel?

Desiree Brown: 2:11

It was at zero dollars and I was like, oh, this is not a budget that works for me, so we had to figure that out.

Vernon Brown: 2:26

Ultimately, I conceded because the whole purpose was to be able to pay off one of our cars. So the car's paid off now and now we can go. Now let me give you the real. She said it all nice and dignified, but she was not nice and dignified at that time.

Vernon Brown: 2:34

She was hot when I took cause we used to have a travel budget a specific amount of money that we set aside for travel every month, and the idea was we had a goal of paying off one of the cars, and so I was like we can get it paid off much more quickly if we just do away with this little thing here.

Desiree Brown: 2:50

and she hit the roof, y'all I mean, he was taking away my food and water so I just, yeah, I didn't feel appreciated in that moment but which in hindsight makes a little bit more sense because, like I said, she doesn't shop, she didn't do a lot of other stuff.

Vernon Brown: 3:01

Traveling is her thing, that thing.

Desiree Brown: 3:02

That's my thing, but in the moment.

Vernon Brown: 3:03

I certainly I was expecting good job, husband, for trying to blaze a path for our family. What'd you get instead? I got slapped in the head, nodding, but anyways. Today we're talking about vacationing, and one of the things that we've learned through our marriage and through the vacations that we've taken is, although we love to vacation together, vacationing and how each one of us perceives it or would want to do it looks completely different.

Desiree Brown: 3:30

Or maybe not so different. We'll talk about that. We'll figure out. We might have some more common ground than we think right, I don't like your vacations. Well, let's figure this out.

Vernon Brown: 3:39

All right.

Desiree Brown: 3:39

Okay, so Vernon Brown.

Vernon Brown: 3:43

Jr so.

Desiree Brown: 3:44

Vernon Brown Jr. Tell the people, when you think of the word vacation and you kind of have in your mind what vacation is, what kind of activities does that entail?

Vernon Brown: 3:58

So my perfect vacation, the vacation I would want, has a few things. Number one it has some lounging. But lounging for me is not out on a beach in a hot sun baking like a fish in grease no, no, no. Lounging for me is looking at the beach from my balcony with the doors open and the air condition blasting on my back, and then maybe I have my laptop doing some work, maybe I have a book or something. Did y'all hear that? What?

Desiree Brown: 4:23

And then maybe I have my laptop doing some work, maybe I have a book or something. Did y'all hear that? What Laptop doing some work? Is that vacation, yeah?

Vernon Brown: 4:28

it's vacation because it's what I choose to do. Vacation for me is being able to do whatever I want to do, not what I have to do. So if I choose to want to work on a website or, you know, write out something or even look at a business plan, that's what I want to do and so I want to do that okay, keep going now.

Vernon Brown: 4:46

Let me tell y'all this has been a sore spot for us, because she'll walk in and be like why are you on your laptop? You need to get off your laptop and stop doing this, that and the third.

Desiree Brown: 4:55

Yeah, that's how I vacation. Like our whole marriage, it's been a thing. Our honeymoon, this man brought his laptop and I enjoyed, enjoyed our honeymoon.

Vernon Brown: 5:04

But what I don't understand I'm about to start sweating here what I don't understand is why can't I have a laptop but you can read a book, I mean.

Desiree Brown: 5:15

I think it's different. You can read a book too.

Vernon Brown: 5:17

You want me to vacation your way, which is completely wrong.

Desiree Brown: 5:20

Okay.

Vernon Brown: 5:20

Tell us more about your vacation. I'm on the balcony, okay, relaxing with my laptop and strong wifi.

Desiree Brown: 5:27

Thank you very much.

Vernon Brown: 5:31

So no remote places for you? Well, remote can have wifi. Starlink, they got internet everywhere, oh, so you're going to keep? Yes, it needs wifi. It needs wifi.

Desiree Brown: 5:40

Not negotiable.

Vernon Brown: 5:42

Okay, okay. So part of it's going to be relaxing on a balcony overlooking some water. I think that's probably the first 25%. Maybe the next 50% will be doing activities Like you know. I want to go see some cool stuff, I want to do some hiking, I want to do some like jumping off of stuff, what's cool stuff.

Desiree Brown: 6:01

You say you want to see cool stuff. So what kind of stuff do you like?

Vernon Brown: 6:03

so like when we went to mexico we saw chichen itza, yeah, like the little pyramids they had there and seeing that kind of thing.

Desiree Brown: 6:09

So you like like historical things historical, but not the way you like it, like you want to read and sit still and watch and I don't know.

Vernon Brown: 6:18

I just want to look at it and be like that's cool, get a good picture, and it keep moving.

Desiree Brown: 6:22

But you want to stop and linger and then you come back, you're like I don't even know what that was. Delete, that's what google is for. Ah, come on.

Vernon Brown: 6:29

Okay, I want to see things I don't necessarily want to read about them okay go ahead we can have a tour guide. A tour guide can walk us through and tell us all the stuff we need to know. Okay, as long as no reading is involved it sounds like you have a.

Desiree Brown: 6:41

uh, you do not want to read at all. You don't want to read a book, you don't want to read a sign at the museum.

Vernon Brown: 6:47

I don't like where this is going Anyway. So tour guide, that's a good happy medium, I can learn, but I don't got to sit there and sit still and read, okay, okay. So then that I want to do some like fun stuff, like maybe what do we do in the lake and um the, the lake, the, when we went down the river and the tubes.

Desiree Brown: 7:07

What's that called?

Vernon Brown: 7:07

rafting. Oh, whitewater rafting okay, canoeing, not canoeing kayaking because canoeing is heavy, like it takes a lot of work, but kayaking stuff like that's fun yeah that'll be about 50 percent, and then the remaining 25 percent would probably be like experience, like food and culture it's like getting away from the touristy spots and seeing what it's really like to live in these particular towns. Yeah and um, like getting to know. Maybe getting to know people I would love like.

Vernon Brown: 7:29

One thing that's on my bucket list is I want to vacation in a place long enough to pick up the language yeah I think that's just a completely different way to look at it, whereas you're not a tourist anymore, but you're actually living and enjoying and seeing what it's like to live here. One of my favorite trips which you hate is our trip to Barcelona, and that was my favorite trip because we got an Airbnb. We were away from all the tourist traps and we were just in the town hanging out with people, kids running in the middle of the night.

Desiree Brown: 7:57

It was really cool. Barcelona was cool and I did not dislike the trip because of Barcelona. It was our ideas on how that vacation should go and the disagreement that arose.

Vernon Brown: 8:09

We argued the whole time because she wouldn't listen to me and I don't even remember what the argument was about. I remember you do, yeah, okay, we don't need to talk about that. It's probably about me, no no, no, it was not.

Desiree Brown: 8:18

It was actually. It's kind of weird when you think about it, because I wanted to plan out some things, like okay, we're going to go here and there, whatever, and you were like no, we're on vacation, let's just like go, and I'm like it was a huge departure from what you usually do.

Vernon Brown: 8:35

She presented me with a 20 page, nine points dissected by 15 minute increments plan.

Desiree Brown: 8:42

That's not even me and I was like it by 15 minute increments plan. That's not even me, and I was like let's just flow, let's just usually that's. We switch places, and I didn't like it. I'm like let's, let's just go. I mean, we just might run into something that this, that's my way a huge, huge argument.

Vernon Brown: 8:58

But but for me, I compartmentalized, so we argued. But barcelona was beautiful and amazing and like my favorite place on earth other than rome.

Desiree Brown: 9:06

We maybe need to redo barcelona, because right now it's not barcelona it was great for me. Okay, we need to redo it so you can go back to one of your favorite places and I can maybe make it mine. Okay, so, we can? We can add that to our list of places we need to, because I enjoy it.

Vernon Brown: 9:21

I love it. The only other things I would probably add is I I think I'm about 60 sure that my perfect vacation would be with a bunch of friends. That they're not staying in the same house with us like they got other houses somewhere else, but we gotta come together and hang out like eat, talk and then go on our own merry way maybe share some of the experiences like that I think I think I added up to 100%, maybe like 5% of the time, like doing some of those fun outgoing activities with them versus random people, because some of our trips we've taken with like tour groups.

Vernon Brown: 9:54

They were cool but they weren't like us in a lot of different ways. So being able to travel with a group of friends, I think would be really cool. And there are no kids on any of my fucking vacations that's my vacation. Tell us about what it looks like for you. Okay for other kids um if so, I'm dream vacation?

Desiree Brown: 10:14

no, not on the dream vacation. Maybe when they're like adults, I mean, maybe I love them but uh it's a whole. It's not a vacation when they're there, no, it's just we're parenting in another city. Um, so let's see my dream vacation. It's interesting because you mentioned water, like you meant, which isn't cool, yeah, um, I don't know, and I've been thinking about this, like, is it ocean or is it mountains?

Desiree Brown: 10:43

like, I do love the ocean a lot of mountain stuff we haven't, but I remember when we went to breckenridge in colorado north of denver right, I don't know.

Vernon Brown: 10:53

It's close to denver, I don't know if it's north, I just don't know if it's north, but anyway, we flew and, yeah, flew into denver.

Desiree Brown: 11:00

We went to breckenridge. We were going skiing and snowboarding. That's a. That's okay. I almost died guys, but um, we expect to sneak the uh, snowshoeing, snowshoeing, skiing is not your thing.

Vernon Brown: 11:17

It's not your thing to me. I married her because she's cute, y'all not because she's coordinated, so you'all Not because she's coordinated. So you know. Wait, wait, george, george, oh, stop, watch out for that tree.

Desiree Brown: 11:30

Yeah, man, I was literally looking at the tree. They said don't look at the tree she looked at the tree.

Vernon Brown: 11:34

I looked at the tree and she became very well acquainted with the tree.

Desiree Brown: 11:36

It was yeah, I know that tree far too well.

Vernon Brown: 11:40

Okay, I wonder if I got videos of that. I hope not. It'd be cool to post.

Desiree Brown: 11:44

Anyways, keep going anyway, so, or ocean, yeah, okay. So warm weather, I'm gonna go with the warm weather option because you can do I think you can do more, more activities I like to do. So, yes, ocean is involved, or a lake, I think, as long as it's like to have some type of movement in there. I don't want to be in a swamp, that's for sure. No swamps, and a pool is not enough.

Vernon Brown: 12:05

Okay, so it's a big lake in Atlanta, north of Atlanta. Is that the lake you want to go to?

Desiree Brown: 12:10

no, all my, all my Georgia natives know what I'm talking about. You don't, we don't go there, we don't go there yeah, so um, but I think an ocean is probably the best ocean. Clear ocean, dirty ocean, oh, absolutely Clear, clear. I love the, I love the Gulf, the Gulf area, like near where we are in between.

Vernon Brown: 12:32

Texas and Florida.

Desiree Brown: 12:35

I mean, yeah, I guess that's where the Gulf is, but that water tends to be clearer to me than the Atlantic, and then definitely the Caribbean is just like amazing. So, and I prefer warm weather. Um, I don't mind being a little hot, cause you are miserable in the heat, but I, I enjoy it, not terribly hot, but where I can wear, you know, some nice little sundresses or maybe some shorts, tanks, that kind of thing. Um, I, I Actually believe it or not I don't like baking in the sun. Yes, you do. No, I can.

Vernon Brown: 13:09

I've been to the beach with you. You like baking in the sun.

Desiree Brown: 13:12

But it's always covered. There's like a canopy of sorts. It's still hot, that's fine. I said I could deal with heat, but I don't want to be direct sun, so we need to have a canopy. If you don't want to bakeburn, so indirect heat on a spit got it nice um warm weather, nice warm breeze it's coming through. I got my book and I got my bob marley playlist.

Vernon Brown: 13:42

It's like a thing for me like the first time I went on vacation with this woman and she sat there and listened to Bob Marley, the whole time.

Desiree Brown: 13:53

That is vacation for me.

Vernon Brown: 13:54

And I just knew it would be a matter of time before she lit something she never did. I was just like I was so baffled by it. I never thought you would like Bob Marley.

Desiree Brown: 14:03

It just puts me in vacation mode. Like that's like the soundtrack for like just while you're spinning rotisserie style in an oven no, I'm sitting reading my book in the shaded heat okay, yeah, is this a?

Vernon Brown: 14:18

is this a tangible page book or just like an ebook reader?

Desiree Brown: 14:22

you know that's similar to a laptop no, actually my preference is a good old hard book that turns pages. That's my preference. But if I can't have that or if it's just too much to carry, I'll get my Kindle paper watt, oh a Kindle. That does not ding, it does not ring. That's why I like it A.

Vernon Brown: 14:38

Kindle, kind of like a tablet or laptop. Huh, I'm sorry Continue.

Desiree Brown: 14:41

Yeah, it's my Kindle e-reader. Thank you. Tablet, yes, but not a laptop. I ain't working, that's for sure. It's not work, if you enjoy it. So I might get a little leisure book going on, and sometimes I find myself reading self-help books.

Vernon Brown: 14:56

Sounds like work. To me Sounds like work, doesn't it?

Desiree Brown: 14:58

Yeah, I'm like trying to cut that out. I don't want no help on vacation.

Vernon Brown: 15:04

All right, so we talked about ocean, maybe mountains, but ocean. Yeah, that's the place that's the temperature, not eating or drinking a book, but reading a book.

Desiree Brown: 15:12

Yeah, maybe a nice drink, maybe a frozen drink or something or some water, because it's hot, because you got your bacon. Yeah.

Vernon Brown: 15:28

Actually, I don't prefer to drink alcohol when I'm like baking, because it makes you feel really dizzy.

Desiree Brown: 15:30

So what kind of activities? If anything Dizzy, I said doozy Dizzy what kind of activities? Mostly lounging, okay. So that's like what I like to do the most Outside baking. And I love snorkeling. Okay, I love, like you know, I like water activities, snorkeling, I like jet skiing. I love, like you know, I like water activities, snorkeling, I like jet skiing, I like parasailing. So we went snorkeling.

Vernon Brown: 15:55

Was that our honeymoon?

Desiree Brown: 15:56

Yes, we went snorkeling on our honeymoon After I got him off the laptop and I had some vision of what snorkeling was like.

Vernon Brown: 16:04

But so she plans this whole snorkeling adventure. And I'm excited because my wife is playing something for me, we're going to go snorkel the reefs. And I don't know what I thought. But this man brought me on a boat, me and my wife, and he just drove, drove and drove in the boat and drove and drove, and when I looked up again there was no land to be seen. We were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, on the equator, from all I know, just in the water. And then he going to tell me get out the boat.

Desiree Brown: 16:35

And what's so funny to me is like I have zero fear of that, like I this is great ocean. What else are you going to?

Vernon Brown: 16:41

snorkel. I thought it would just be offshore. Like you know, there's like five feet and then the other part.

Desiree Brown: 16:48

I'm glad I got to introduce you to some new things because that you can snorkel.

Vernon Brown: 16:52

I was so scared, y'all.

Desiree Brown: 16:53

There are some, but they took us to like the bigger reef so we could see all the fish. And then last story Did you enjoy it? No, I did, okay. Okay, I got a video from it.

Vernon Brown: 17:05

Yeah, but last story together. But we're in mexico, we're somewhere, and they have what's called a cenote which is like a huge natural hole in the earth of water, right, it's a natural pool, a natural pool, yeah.

Vernon Brown: 17:19

And so we're walking to this cenote and my was this honeymoon, or this is on the honeymoon, right? So we just got married and I'm bringing my wife to the cenote and she wants to get in, which usually is fine, but I look on the wall and it says 347 feet deep. Was it the number? It was somewhere around.

Vernon Brown: 17:38

It was a lot it was more than 200. And she wants to get in this hole where you can't see the bottom and I'm just like. What happened? Did something happen to you Now? I got to endanger my life because you want to go swim in the cenote. We got a pool at the hotel.

Desiree Brown: 17:54

Let's give context here, okay.

Vernon Brown: 17:56

Okay. Were there life jackets, so you didn't wear a life jacket, did you? I did wear a life jacket.

Desiree Brown: 18:03

But did you want to or did I make you? Probably made me, but I'm like like I could swim like the from something grabbed her. Then I got to jump in.

Vernon Brown: 18:13

He was like the lockness I cannot go back to atlanta without this woman and tell her daddy that I left her in the cenote. So I got to either jump in and save her or just never come back to the states well, I had on a life jacket. You put me in that situation and I enjoyed myself.

Desiree Brown: 18:33

Meanwhile, you're over there panicking. I had a great time. So, yeah, I like adventure In 40 feet. So here's the thing. But you, okay, let's talk about your adventure, this isn't about me, this is about you.

Vernon Brown: 18:44

Our very very first trip I'm trying to remember where you're going what trip.

Desiree Brown: 18:52

We went to las vegas, okay and there's a thing in vegas, seattle space needle it's supposed to be, it's kind of like that, and there were people jumping off this thing and he said, babe, do it with me. And I politely declined because I don't jump off a building, although she jumps out of planes. I have done that and that was crazy, but I enjoyed it, but I'm never doing it again. That was before she met me and got some sense.

Desiree Brown: 19:17

Yeah, well, you jumped off a building but it was all harnessed and stuff. It was safe. Again, you jumped off a building. That is not my idea of fun, but I do like adventure things. I don't like heights, so that's not my thing if it's high up, except for parasailing, because I feel like I'm floating, not falling. Um, like, if I feel like I'm falling, I'm not about that never try parasailing, really it's like just ocean.

Vernon Brown: 19:43

Are you me in the ocean?

Desiree Brown: 19:45

nah, bruh me and the ocean are friends, so, yeah, so those are the type of activities like pretty much anything in the water. I do like boring. I do like some museums. They have to make sense. I've been to like contemporary art type of museums and I was like this is not for me. I just don't get it like history uh, some, I'm not of history, like let me find out about history.

Vernon Brown: 20:08

I'm not like that type of person she'll drag me to a museum and read every word on the wall.

Desiree Brown: 20:13

It's like since we're here, I might as well learn something, but okay, actually, I mean, I get, maybe I do. I like culture. I think that's what it is so like how people lived at a different time, like what was important to them. I like learning more about that because I think that's fascinating and interesting. So it's not like the historical part, but it's more like the what's it called, like anthropology kind of like, like the ways in which people lived and worked and played and all of that five syllable word. I think that's it. Y'all correct me if that's not it, but yeah, I like doing that kind of thing and so that that is why I would like a museum type of thing.

Vernon Brown: 20:51

Museums are not for me if I go to a museum, I just want to walk through at a steady pace and just see it all and then we can leave.

Desiree Brown: 20:59

Okay, I'm like, what is it? Why is it here until I have to read and find out? But my other thing and you know this probably should have been at the top of my list is food. I absolutely love um. I love different foods from different places and just like that's part of the how people live and how they like what's important to them, all that. So that's kind of like a cultural element that I really really enjoy exploring um she ain't smiling me the whole time.

Desiree Brown: 21:29

She's showing all her teeth well, I mean I, I really enjoy that but you know that, um. So that would be probably like the other important element and as far as like, who to travel with, like, you're my favorite travel partner, oh, by far.

Vernon Brown: 21:47

Um, and would you go with friends or no?

Desiree Brown: 21:52

yeah, I would go with friends your ideal, perfect vacation.

Desiree Brown: 21:55

You would go with friends um one shot to have your perfect vacation, friends or no? Maybe like another couple, but not like a group you went to a group, so just one other couple I think so and the reason why is because I've gone on group trips, even with friends, and I feel like there's always like this push and pull of like, oh well, this interests you like, because people like to shop and that's not my thing and I'm like I can absolutely not ever step into a store and be fine on this vacation?

Vernon Brown: 22:25

do you think that's because you're not comfortable with being like? No, I'm not.

Desiree Brown: 22:29

Yeah, I don't like conflict, and so I'll just go along, and then I end up doing something for a few hours I don't want to do you know like yeah, that's a great idea.

Vernon Brown: 22:36

Y'all will really enjoy that, yeah go enjoy.

Desiree Brown: 22:42

Um, so for me, it's just that that push and pull of like the different, like ideas of fun, and some people want to relax by lounging, some people want to relax by shopping or by going to do all the things, and sometimes I just don't feel like doing those things and I'm not a confrontational person, so I'll be like, oh, okay, sure, not really wanting to do it, like if it were my vacation, whereas I think you and I I think we understand one another and I there is some give and take there too, but I think that we, we understand one another. So it's like okay, I know that on this trip I need to make time to do these type of things, because I know that's what vernon likes. Um, he knows I like to do this, so he's gonna leave me alone for a few hours so I could just like lay out and do nothing. It's not begging, baby. I'm reading, okay, reading. So couples trip, not a group trip, just dream vacation. Yeah, I'm going back and forth on like, is it just us?

Vernon Brown: 23:42

I think what she's coming to is she don't want a vacation with y'all, I think that's what she's saying. Okay, dream vacation one shot to have your one shop. It's gonna be just us really.

Desiree Brown: 23:52

Yeah, that's awesome, oh you. Why do you think that's awesome? Because you want to vacation with me, that's awesome always, but even if it was a group, it would still be with you.

Vernon Brown: 24:00

Yeah, but I mean barcelona I don't know that you were too. We're gonna redo barcelona. We're gonna redo that okay that would be good.

Desiree Brown: 24:07

So where do you want to travel next? Like what's on your list.

Vernon Brown: 24:11

Where do I so?

Desiree Brown: 24:12

let's do international. We're talking about dream vacation.

Vernon Brown: 24:14

Yeah, now you're saying where do I want to travel next? Because those two things.

Desiree Brown: 24:17

Yeah, they're different, so which one do you want? I want? Where do you want to travel next? Next for me international and domestic I so domestically.

Vernon Brown: 24:26

Lake tahoe, because I've heard amazing things about, I've seen amazing pictures. Yeah, um, and I kind of fantasize about like lake life and what that would look like. Um, it's something that I don't think we often see in our community specifically, but, um, I would, I would like to try it out and see, like get a boat place with a boat and see what that whole thing is like. You know, we've been working on the kids being able to swim, so the kids will probably come, but I think that's really important, and then just to see if we enjoy that, if that's a lifestyle that we want to keep. So, lake Tahoe, if it was domestic where is that?

Desiree Brown: 24:58

Is it Utah? It's kind of like in the corner, so somewhere over there. Yeah, so the Western of the western part of the country?

Vernon Brown: 25:06

okay, yeah lake tahoe and then internationally. My next trip let's see coming in the winter. I've been talking about bali for a long time you have because I think it's.

Vernon Brown: 25:20

I think it's a really cultured place, yeah, I think it's a cheap place to vacation, yeah, and they just have some amazing things. I was watching a show I'm on, I think, netflix, about amazing airbnbs and they just had some awesome places to stay. Now I do think it's really hot and really humid, so I may end up like really regretting that decision, but bali, or if I had to choose something a little bit less exotic, it would be um oh um. What's the c town over in italy?

Desiree Brown: 25:51

oh, um, oh my gosh, until you're off the coast there, you go somewhere over there. Yeah, that, yeah. I can sneak over to rome too, because that's pretty close. Yeah, yes, because I love rome. We've been to rome. Rome was amazing, rome was awesome.

Vernon Brown: 26:02

But yeah, mafie coast or um bali, one of those two. Okay, what about for you?

Desiree Brown: 26:06

I love that.

Vernon Brown: 26:07

You got Japan on there.

Desiree Brown: 26:08

Japan is definitely on there For your next trip, for yeah, well, I mean it may not be my next trip, but if I were to choose, it would be yeah, I want to go to Tokyo specifically. I don't know. It just seems like such a cool place and it has. I don't even think they have an ocean, which is kind of weird for me.

Vernon Brown: 26:32

So weird for me, but your next trip you would do tokyo. Yeah, why not?

Desiree Brown: 26:34

because there's other places that are probably more viable that you would go. I mean, they're this is to say next, and then the next after that could be all the other places. It's just for some reason I just really wanted to go to japan, and japanese culture is fascinating, is that?

Vernon Brown: 26:46

a japanese.

Desiree Brown: 26:47

Oh, it is kind of it is kind of like asian influenced, with the high collar um and the flowers interesting, I didn't even think about that. But their culture is like fascinating um is. There's like a lot of beautiful aspects to it.

Vernon Brown: 27:04

Um, yeah, yeah, um, like they believe in beauty and nature and all of that kind of stuff it's very peaceful, like that's a really big part, I think that's what I, that's what I imagine it like, not necessarily tokyo, but tokyo's.

Desiree Brown: 27:20

I want that to be part of the vacation, but I would love to like explore some other parts of japan too. Just, it just seems like very different and very I think I would like it. I think I would like it a lot.

Vernon Brown: 27:35

I don't know if I would risk a whole vacation on Tokyo.

Desiree Brown: 27:38

And you like Japanese food, babe. Oh, that changed your, it just changed.

Vernon Brown: 27:44

No, no, no, but then also like what we understand to be Japanese food. I don't think it's Japanese food.

Desiree Brown: 27:48

I think it's Japanese food.

Vernon Brown: 27:50

Yeah, I think they got some hibachi over there.

Desiree Brown: 27:52

Okay, I'm in, let's go all right. Yeah, so I I mean the it's like, there's like. I can't think of a reason that I wouldn't like it, um other than we would be the only people that look like us there. You never know. You never know nah, we know japanese jeff. Japan is full of japanese people yeah, what about domestically?

Vernon Brown: 28:12

where would you go? Lake tahoe really. You know, you got that idea for me I did, but that doesn't mean we'll be on the same page about. No, I want to go to okay I think you I don't think you're thinking about really next, I think you're just thinking about where it would be cool to go, that's actually what I'm thinking, but that's where I am right now.

Desiree Brown: 28:28

So, because I don't know what's next, I don't know next might be like I don't know Atlanta, where we're from exactly. So like where do we go next? Or where do we go to vacation? Denver, bahamas would be on my list. It's not domestic, is it no? But as far as like a next trip, that's like a, a hop skip jump. You know, it's not like man, did you? We, when we were cruised where we stopped in Nassau.

Vernon Brown: 28:55

Oh yeah, what was that place? I want to go Atlantis, atlantis.

Desiree Brown: 28:58

That place looks really cool. It looks amazing. Yeah, I've been there before.

Vernon Brown: 29:01

It is amazing.

Desiree Brown: 29:02

So that might be like an actual next I went with my family, okay, my mom and dad, okay, yeah, sure you weren't over there with jerome anyway. And then domestically would be lake tahoe. Okay, and the reason, the reason why, interestingly enough, I've googled best places in the us to visit every single time, every single list lake tahoe is number one. I might change mine why?

Vernon Brown: 29:28

um well, I do want to go to Lake Tahoe, but I've also heard like awesome things about the west west coast of California. Ok, and how there's like mountains and you go a little bit lower, there's beaches, you go a little bit lower there's wineries.

Desiree Brown: 29:40

And.

Vernon Brown: 29:41

I know we've seen the wineries, but not the mountains and the skiing up there, did we?

Desiree Brown: 29:52

Well, not the skiing, but we did the big trees, the redwood forest. So we went. When we remember, but remember where we went. I don't even know how we got there, but there was a beach. I was with you, you always. You don't remember, you never remember stuff. I don't know it was you, it was burning, so there was an ocean, but right behind, like it was mountains, it was ocean, beach.

Vernon Brown: 30:08

And then, right, behind the beach mountains I don't think they were snow topped.

Desiree Brown: 30:12

I'm not talking about big hills when I say mountains but they weren't say mountains I mean like snow on top, like skiing, and so it's not a mountain if there's no snow it's just a big hill every big mountain has snow.

Vernon Brown: 30:24

Okay, it's also like in a different like it's like northern right Anyway. California coast, and then I've seen some of the winding roads next to the cliffs. I think that would be really cool.

Desiree Brown: 30:40

It's terrifying, but it's pretty. You're not driving. I'm not driving, absolutely not, yeah, so either Lake Tahoe or the California coast.

Vernon Brown: 30:49

Okay, and then internationally, you're saying Japan or Bahamas.

Desiree Brown: 30:58

You added some of yours in there, but that's cool.

Vernon Brown: 31:00

I mean, bahamas is cheaper than where I was going to go, so it's cheaper than Bali.

Desiree Brown: 31:04

Keep Bali on the list. Maybe that's like a couple years from now and Sedona, arizona or Phoenix Arizona seems like a cool place now, and sedona, arizona or phoenix arizona seems like a cool place yeah, it is a cool uh desert but it's hot, but they have like spas and like relaxation type stuff and they're very like zen. So I think that would be cool.

Vernon Brown: 31:28

I think the desert is a great place for a girl's trip.

Desiree Brown: 31:33

You might actually love it, though, in the desert you, you might love it. You don't go in the middle of summer.

Vernon Brown: 31:39

That would be an awful time to go it sounds like an awful time anytime you go to a desert no, I've heard well again, it's like number two on the list of places to go in the us.

Desiree Brown: 31:47

so those are my two. Okay, but there's so much to see here. I've done a. I feel like I've seen more of other places than I have of our own country, and the reason for that would be so.

Vernon Brown: 31:58

When we first got married, we came upon a companion pass in which, for those of you who don't know what a companion pass is, it's like a promotional thing that airlines give you in which, wherever you travel, whatever ticket you buy, you can bring somebody along for free. So I don't know when it was in our marriage we got a companion pass, and so we're traveling all over the US.

Desiree Brown: 32:17

We went to.

Vernon Brown: 32:18

California. I think that was when we went to. We might have gone to Vegas, we went all over the US and then it's coming around October and I feel really accomplished because my wife loves to travel and I feel really accomplished, because my wife loves to travel and we have traveled all over this great nation of the United States and my wife utters out of her lips well, are we going to take any trips this year? Because we haven't traveled. And I looked at her and this was not a loving look at all.

Desiree Brown: 32:45

I apologize, I was so disgusted.

Vernon Brown: 32:48

But what I came to find out is that if it's not international, it doesn't count.

Desiree Brown: 32:53

So since we've had this epiphany, I said I ain't taking you nowhere in the us.

Vernon Brown: 32:59

So if it's not international we ain't going, unless we got to go for family or something.

Desiree Brown: 33:03

I've matured, okay, I I have more of a longing to see this great nation and see what's here, um, and yeah, I've developed a new love for smaller towns too. So now that we live here like it's, it's a charm that comes with, like some of the um, smaller towns, maybe some of the more rural areas. It's just, I don't know From your bougie, I know Like who am I? I don't know You're coming away from your bougie, I know Like who am I?

Desiree Brown: 33:30

I don't even recognize myself. But yeah, so, okay, back to this dream vacation, All right. Yeah, so we're talking about ocean. It has an ocean, it has to have fun activities to do, so it can't just be just like Boring, boring yeah just like boring, boring, yeah, and it has to have food for me. I've always wanted to go to what's the place with the overwater places?

Vernon Brown: 33:56

there's a few there's some um the real one um the maldives there you go. The maldives seems like an amazing place. Just google like videos of the maldives it is breathtaking, yeah overwater bundle bungalows are breathtaking, but that's all that's there to do there, and so with the vacation like that, I feel like I would enjoy it for the first couple of days, but then I would be miserable, and I don't know if they have wi-fi well, and we don't know what else is there, there is to do there, or have you looked that up?

Vernon Brown: 34:18

I have.

Desiree Brown: 34:19

Oh okay, it's not like you're literally on an island and you're just there and you're in your bungalow there and eat. I always wonder what happens if it rains you. You get wet. No, that's not my idea, Finn. That's not it for me.

Vernon Brown: 34:32

So we talked about the dream vacation. Now the question I have is I think as a society, we often think about vacationing or retiring as this great moment at the end in which we can do things and enjoy life, and you know, that's what we're trying to aspire to. But there's no rule that says you can't enjoy your life now. So what components of your vacation, or your dream vacation, could you do in your life right now, without perhaps even taking off work?

Vernon Brown: 35:00

Like set aside the whole work thing. You got to work. You got to make your money. Ok, you're going to have to do that. But but what parts of your vacation could you do on the weekend or could you do after work to bring a little vacation into your everyday life? You?

Desiree Brown: 35:09

know that's a really good question because we live like where we are. We do have access to lakes anyway. We don't have the ocean's about four hours away in the backyard. You talking about that? Lake not that one, but like um. Well, the reservoir is like okay, yeah, it's not a real lake, it's, but it's a rebel. It looks like a lake. It's the reservoir boat in that?

Desiree Brown: 35:29

can you? People boat. We always see boats in there, water like drinking water, but people are literally always in there. I'm not swimming in there because I've also seen gators. So there's that, it's enough. I mean, there's more the baby one, there could be more, I'm just not trying to find out, so I'm good on that but, like you know, just maybe go into a spot, take a lounge chair out there and just like read my book. You know that might be something, but if the kids are there then that's a mute point.

Vernon Brown: 35:57

So there's no reading, there's no silence well, I mean, we're right now, the kids are in atlanta, so is are you planning on spending any time, quote unquote, vacationing here, or are you gonna work yourself to death?

Desiree Brown: 36:11

not to death, but I hadn't taken, I hadn't planned any time away which, thanks to this conversation, could change bonus question I will. You have to answer the question too.

Vernon Brown: 36:26

Okay, what's the question?

Desiree Brown: 36:27

like what can you do in your like more regular life to incorporate vacation elements? So you already work, you already have your laptop, so you do that all the time, so you're always on vacation.

Vernon Brown: 36:39

Issue with like sitting outside? Is I like sitting outside with air condition and it doesn't hit the same if I have to pay for the air condition okay that's an issue, although I do. I really do enjoy sitting on our front or back porch when it's not like direct sunlight yeah but um, I just wish I can add in the air condition without the cost of it um so that's one thing okay a second thing would be I guess I really haven't given where we live a chance to kind of find activities.

Vernon Brown: 37:07

Yeah, I kind of just chalk it up to there's nothing to do, but I'm sure there are some things to do I've seen kayaking, kayaking, even um a couple weeks ago I was looking at surla tab or table yeah, to do like cooking classes well that would be fun.

Vernon Brown: 37:20

Yeah, we used to do cooking classes and, like we did, a glass blowing class like just finding stuff like that, like it would be really fun day trips, oh, not even day trips, because it's not that far, it's like just in jackson right well, the glass blowing is not I think that's in like meridian or hattiesburg or something fireplace and some sand. You could do it at home okay, sir.

Vernon Brown: 37:40

No, we're not doing that but, yeah, just, I just, you know, spending and putting forth more time to to create those experiences, because I think and it's not to blame it on the kids, but I think, as your kids get older, you tend to think more about what they want to do, more so than the things that you want to do, and I think, um, we and I, specifically, could do a better job of finding those types of outings and fun things to do, like more like what we used to yeah, yeah, that'd be good.

Desiree Brown: 38:07

Maybe we should look up something for this weekend.

Vernon Brown: 38:09

You should, and which is leads me into my next question is we haven't talked over a few weeks about this, but are you sabbathing tomorrow? Yeah are you prepared?

Desiree Brown: 38:19

I don't know, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Okay, I've been really and okay so and we did some travel recently and we I did Saturday. That Saturday was like pretty busy, so I didn't consider that the Sabbath, but I did Sabbath on Sunday. I don't think I told you, but I was like I'm resting.

Vernon Brown: 38:44

I apparently was not a part of this experience but okay, I am resting.

Desiree Brown: 38:48

No, but seriously, I made a concerted effort to like yeah, we went to church oh, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, yeah, okay. That makes sense it was pretty chill that make okay, okay.

Vernon Brown: 38:59

Well, I think it's really important that you communicate about a sabbath, because I was like sitting in the house like why are we doing nothing?

Vernon Brown: 39:07

oh, I don't even think we were talking that day that much I was talking anyways but so in this episode we talked a little bit about traveling and we want to hear from you, like what is your idea of a travel now? And I don't want you to just like come up with whatever comes on the top of your mind, but spend some time thinking and thinking outside of the box to say where in the world could I go if money wasn't an issue, if time wasn't an issue, if I could do or see anything? What is one thing that I wish I could see?

Desiree Brown: 39:39

yeah, and we would love to know, now that you know kind of like our highlights and what we need in our vacation, if you have recommendations of places yeah that we could go that would incorporate those things that are cheap or not, you know, because we budget for that now.

Desiree Brown: 39:56

We need to get back to that actually. Anyway, we would love to hear from you. So is this? It is that the end? Well, that's the end, guys. Thank you so much for joining us for Conversations at the Well. Again, I'm Desiree Brown, and this is Vernon Brown. And we are so glad that you came Bye.

Vernon Brown: 40:14

See you soon.