DIPLO | Antarctica Expedition | Day 1

Day 1 on Insider Expeditions and Wonder and Wander Diplo Expedition to Antarctica.

Ever had one of those travel mishaps that turned into an unforgettable adventure? Well, I'm about to regale you with tales of mine, and trust me, they're quite something! From showing up at the wrong terminal to carrying the wrong passport, I've experienced it all. But rather than dwelling on the mishaps, I’ve turned them into lessons that not only made my subsequent travels smoother.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Seen and Heard podcast, helping you enhance your connection, evolve your mindset and emerge confidently as your true self, living a life feeling aligned, activated and energized. I'm your host, pruaja, international photographer, motivational speaker and alignment strategist. Hey, I am dialing in from Santiago, chile. I left today Funny enough, it's 7am on the 12th of December from Brisbane Airport, flew to Melbourne Airport and then a 12 hour flight over to Santiago, and it's pretty much the same time that I left Melbourne. It really still trips me out that stuff, and I was just thinking before do we actually travel as fast as the earth spins when we're doing these long, long trips? Anyhow, I am on the first day of this incredible expedition, run by insider expeditions, and wonder and wonder. So it's a first of its kind trip with Diplo and all these health and wellness experts and creatives on the world voyage on the seventh continent on earth, around Antarctica for the next seven days. And so a lot of people were saying that they wanted to hear every little part of this adventure. So here I am, sharing the very first leg of it as it goes. So so far, so good, except the fact that I got very confused around which terminal to get my flight this morning. Obviously I'm going in international flight, but I had to get a domestic flight from Brisbane to Melbourne first, and so I had to go to the domestic airport. And you know, usually with domestic it's an hour before your flight and they said 90 minutes before, and so I booked parking there and they didn't realize it's going to take actually 15 minutes from the car park to the terminal. So when I got there I was literally on the minute of 90 minutes too, and I just nearly had a breakdown of thinking I missed the first leg of the flight and it's all over. Luckily they tell you 90 minutes and it is actually only an hour, but going forward, any international flights that I get, I am aiming to get the three hours before it leaves.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Some people who have been following me know that I did went on this incredible brand design mastermind business retreat in Fiji back in October and I will do a podcast episode about it, because it was a really incredible opportunity to learn and work on rebranding myself, as well as making lifelong deep and meaningful connections with other incredible business owners. Anyhow, I got to the airport for that one in Brisbane. I live in Byron Bay, so it's a two and a half hour drive there and was with my friend Lena and we were lining up chatting along, just super excited to go on this trip, and handed over my passport and the guy behind the counter goes mellifant, we don't have a mellifant on this trip and realize I bought my daughter's passport with me Such an idiot. So under the pump with that. There was no time to get my passport from Byron up to Brisbane in that time, so I quickly booked another flight and then spent a couple of hours coordinating how the hell to get my passport up to Brisbane airport and luckily I got a courier to the Gold Coast airport and then borrowed Lena's car to go and get it. Anyway, that's another story.

Speaker 1: 3:53

I've also missed flights by a whole day home, once from Sri Lanka and then also once when I went to Africa on a leadership program with the Hunger Project. I didn't realize if you're getting a flight, say a connecting flight, for example. I was a flew to Uganda via Dubai and while I was in Uganda I met this chick and we decided to go to Zanzibar together. You know, when you're in Africa might as well go to somewhere else, cool way or there. And I thought, you know, I'll just book a flight from Tanzania up to Dubai and jump on that extra leg of the flight back to Melbourne. Well, no, I got to Dubai at 2am and had to buy a whole nother flight. So just a heads up when traveling, you have to get your connecting flight from the first point of call, where it actually started. And that reminds me when I was coming home from Fiji, because I had to book another flight with a different airline on my return flight. They almost didn't give it to me because I didn't take the first leg of it on that same ticket. So things to note here get to the airport super, super early, check your passport I know that's obvious and you have to get every single leg of the flight. Why we're on this?

Speaker 1: 5:16

I actually want to share a couple of other travel hacks, because I haven't traveled for about four years because of COVID and all that, and it's nice to get back into it, but also super conscious about the environmental impact. So you know making sure that I'm not just frivolously booking flights here and there, and this one is a huge once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn't say no to. As soon as I heard about this trip, I was like the next step after this is actually pretty much going to the moon. I have to go on this and pretty much manifest of it to happen. So my other travel hacks I used to laugh at people that wore socks and sandals and I remember going camping once my friend was wearing socks and Birkenstocks and I was just like, what are you doing?

Speaker 1: 6:09

And so I wore big, chunky boots for this trip, because we're literally going to be dancing at night to DJs and going out for dinner, but then also, you know, trekking around too, so they're really heavy. Didn't want to put them in my luggage because I've only got 23 kilos, including carry on, and so I actually wore these slides, really light, pretty much don't weigh anything by Holstub. They're a bit more narrow than Birkenstocks what I like as well and they're obviously lighter, so great for travel. So I took my boots off on the flight and just wore these with socks and met my feet, could breathe. But also I wanted to slip them up while sleeping to be comfortable, but if I wanted to go to the bathroom, you know, I saw some people walk around their socks and it was kind of grossing me out a bit of the germs that you pick up on the plane. I'm not a germphobia, I don't have a germphobia, but I just yeah, they're a bit gross aeroplanes. So I will always take these on international flights going forward. I love them.

Speaker 1: 7:18

And then also Bluetooth headphones. So noise cancelling headphones. I've got my earbuds in here, but when you've got over the head ones these ones I've bought during lockdown times Actually take an auxiliary cable with them so that you can plug them in to the video screen on the flight and watch the movie instead of what you know using those disposable which I hope they get recycled, but the ones at the air the airline supplies with you too, because these ones actually are noise cancelling so you can watch a movie and just fall asleep and it just cuts out all that extra sound on the flight. So remember to take the cable, because obviously you can't connect via Bluetooth on the flight. These were an absolute lifesaver during lockdown when I was doing home schooling well, mila was pretty much schooling herself, but having her at home while I was also trying to work and reconfigure how I was running my photography business, because obviously you couldn't do any face-to-face work, but you know how your kids just come up to you and just start talking at you and you might be in a train of thought and it just kind of jabs and then it takes you a lot longer to get back to what you're thinking about. So I found wearing these, setting that boundary, going. When I'm wearing these, it means that I can't hear you, but I'll let you know when I'm available and we can chat about what you need then, or just come and stand by my desk and I can check in with you, and that's when I also use the Pomodoro timer. So the four 25 minute working block. So then after 25 minutes I'd go and check in with her, hang out, see if she needed any help with anything as well.

Speaker 1: 9:03

And two other things that I always, always, travel with is a water bottle, and luckily a lot of airports have water filters that you can fill them up with. And I just filled mine up on the plane as well because I have the big bottles of water there. One of the things I used to travel in my 20s, especially in Asia just the amount of plastic water bottles there are and how many people just buy plastic water bottles and how polluting and unnecessary they are. In you know, 2023, nearly 2024, like I don't know why we still have them. There should be water filter stations absolutely everywhere in hotels, airbnb's, restaurants and be readily available. And the other thing is my coffee cup, my travel cup, because you can just get hot water. I also bring a few herbal teas with me, so especially a sleepy time tea from the airplane, so you can always get hot water. Put that in there, but also if you're getting coffee or tea on the go also, I've discovered they're really good if you're camping or at festivals to keep your wine in, because it keeps it cool, and especially if you've got a good one, if a good lid that doesn't spill or anything. So that is my first little update. I'm very excited to be here in Santiago, chile, south America. It's my first time ever in South America and as soon as I got my baggage I came and got a beer. I feel like nothing says you've landed like icy, cold, local beer in the country you've just landed in. So I'm enjoying this, waiting for Sarah and Olivia to arrive, and then we'll do our next leg to the south of Chile, to Pontos Aranas, and I will update you again tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 11:02

You have been listening to the Seen and Heard podcast with me, proaja. If you found this episode inspiring or motivating, make sure to hit subscribe and if you believe it could help someone else, I encourage you to share it with your community, because you never know who might need to hear these words today. Each month, I give away a personal one-on-one align and energize strategy session to one of the listeners that writes a review. It's your chance to get back on track and living your best life. If you're ready to take the next step in your journey, head over to ProAjacom. There you'll find my links to upcoming tour dates for photo shoots, strategy sessions and the exclusive retreat and breath taking fire and bang. Plus. If you're planning an event and need a motivational speaker to inspire your audience, I would love to connect with you.