Why You Should Live and Work Abroad

Jenn: [00:00:00] Hey everyone and welcome back to the Travel Mug podcast. Today we are pleased to be joined by Ryan Floyd. Ryan is a portfolio manager and founder of Barca Capital, an investment firm out of Massachusetts. So besides his investment business, Ryan is a lifelong season traveler, having traveled extensively in India, starting in his early twenties, and has continued traveling throughout his life for work and personal reasons.

So he is joining us today to talk about his many travels and, uh, to, to discuss what it's like living and working abroad. Welcome to the show, Ryan.

Ryan: Thanks for having me. Looking forward to it.

Meggan: Our pleasure.

Jenn: Yeah. So talk to us about what seems like your first big adventure out into the world in your early twenties, moving to Mumbai. So why did you choose to move there? How impactful was that experience on your life?

Ryan: Uh, it was, it had a huge impact on my life. So I decided to [00:01:00] move to india in 2002. Uh, it would've been the fall of 2002. In a a crazy idea I thought, not many knew that much about India, uh, as crazy as that is now, it really wasn't a country on the cover of magazines.

I was interested in international issues and international business, and I thought for my lifetime I wanted some kind of an adventure and not that many people know about India. So it'd be a good place to go. I asked the college counseling department, uh, what are my chances of getting a paid job in India? And they said it's really low. They were really bad. They just kind of advised everyone to do consulting and investment banking.

Meggan: Right.

Ryan: And I said, how low?

And they said, I don't know. It's crazy low, like 1%. And I just thought, well, if I contact a thousand people, that's probably 10 really good leads. And that's [00:02:00] basically what happened. And I'm very pleased with that.

Jenn: Yeah. That's awesome. Not, I feel like not many people would take that, uh, answer and decide, heck, let's just go for it and see how many people I can contact and let's get a yes out of this.

Meggan: It's one of those scenarios like, so you're saying there's a chance.

Ryan: Yeah. That's right. A lot of my life is kinda like that, honestly. It's kind of, it's a meme I throw around to my buddies a lot. It's totally true. I.

Meggan: As it honestly as it should be.

Jenn: Yeah,

Meggan: we understand you learned Hindi, so did you learn that

Ryan: I did.

Meggan: prior to moving or did you learn it during your time there? And how difficult was that to learn? Did you take classes, learn on your own? Talk to us about that experience.

Ryan: Thanks for asking. I'm not great at languages. I took German in school. I had the choice of German, uh, French and Spanish. I did German fifth through 12th grade and then one and a half years in college and then [00:03:00] thought, I'll try Spanish, for some reason. And I was alright at it. I never got that great. I spent one summer in Spain working for a law firm when I was in college and took some Spanish classes. I was kind of passable by the end of that summer, but wasn't really fantastic.

I liked the idea that. I wouldn't be an expat, I wouldn't be going to these fancy clubs or, uh, I don't uh, I wearing some fancy sweaters or something. I would try to live like anybody else with a middle class job as a 22-year-old. I did, honestly, I had friends whose parents were from India, but I really didn't know that much about the country. There weren't many classes in college about South Asia as crazy as this sounds, and it was kind of starting from scratch.

I had a, a teacher that had been in the foreign service, and he really liked the idea, [00:04:00] and he said, yeah, you should just do this this, you know, go for it. believe it or not, the way Americans learn languages is, doesn't really work. And this won't surprise anyone that is taking a language in middle school or as an adult that taking a class like 30 minutes a day, four days a week you don't learn very much. By the time you sit down, you stand up and neighbor is poking you you're bored. Uh, you kind of forget it by summer, you get a, I mean, unless you're good, my wife is really good at languages and, you're not that good at it, you, you, you can get alright. But after 10 years, you'd think you'd be an expert. But actually not really. So he said, and it sounds kind of crazy, he said, look, uh, don't go to some language school and don't take it your senior year. You're probably not gonna get that far.

Uh, you wanna take a language class with [00:05:00] a missionary church, which I didn't belong to, or uh, a immigrant community community center that really wanted their kids and grandkids to learn the language. And I like advice that's strange, you know, it's kind of unusual you don't get it in a book, and I thought that sounds good. So I took I just started emailing tons of people. And I kind of made a deal with my, my parents wanted me outta the house but my grandfather had just gotten car accident and separated his shoulder, we kind of had a deal that if I took him to and from, uh, PT that they would pay for language classes at an Indian cultural center, maybe an hour away.

So it was very difficult because in the very beginning the language was, why did I choose Hindi? India has I don't know, 40 main languages or so?

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: So uh, so it was kind of more [00:06:00] out of pride than anything else. I wanted to work in Bombay, the financial center, but actually. They speak kind of Bombay Hindi, that is not real, you know, it's not really right, like real Hindi don't really respect it. And real language is, is Marathi and then there are a lot of Gujaratis there, so it wasn't really the best. I just thought, look, if a third of the people, 350 million people speak this language, why not learn it?

So it's, it's a phonetic language though, which is a huge benefit. So once you learn alphabet. Which took a lot of time, you can get up to speed with, with reasonable ability. Um, I, it was hard to learn. It's not really an alphabet. There's no song. It's not like a, B, C, it's, it goes like kaka G. There are words where you're breathing out and that was kind of difficult. And there's no song. There's [00:07:00] some letters that actually are not really in the alphabet, but they're like, like, you should probably know these, one is a nasal sound. But you know, it's not frequent, but you should know it. But I got pretty decent. It was about three or four hours a day, for four days a week for eight weeks. And I remember very proudly going the hotel when I first checked in and I arrived in Bombay and started speaking hindi to the guy and he just spoke English right back. I mean, we've all had this experience. I

Jenn: Yeah.

Ryan: That feels confident in a foreign language. Uh, you know, you go to Paris, you speak your French or

Jenn: Yeah.

Ryan: They, uh, speak English back to you. But I felt very proud. I never got that excellent. I got a Hindi tutor in my apartment complex. I really liked uh, ghazal, which is a type of music. It's in Urdu but then I, I didn't realize that hindi and Urdu are kind 80% of the same, so I, I learned the Urdu script, which I've since [00:08:00] lost. But anyway, it's a long, answer to your, your question, but it's a nice, it's a nice question. I'm very proud that I can still read it. The fun fact that it only has five or six irregular verb. Anyone who knows a romance language will really envy this, that if, you know, uh, to give, to go, to be, and a few others of the rest fall into a pattern. So it's just a matter of memorizing them with flashcards. So anyway. A nice, it's a nice question. 'Cause that was actually a big part of that experience and there aren't that many random white guys from suburban Baltimore that could speak Hindi, so I was quite proud of that.

Jenn: Yeah, for sure. I think that, you're totally right that like our kind of North American way of like learning languages, especially with like the rise of like DuoLingo and those types of things, like they can be helpful, but like even if you have like your thousand day Duolingo [00:09:00] you know, streak you can't really go to Spain and speak Spanish like you might be able to get at a few phrases, but I mean, myself, I took French immersion from grade seven to grade 12 and like Mo, most of my classes were in French. And my French is still like, I mean, I don't use it that much anymore. Um, but similar to you, like my reading comprehension is very good, but my like being, being able to conjugate verbs and like make a sentence takes a long time in my brain. It takes a long time. And, uh, you know, especially where we live in Nova Scotia, you know, we have some native French speakers that speak like a, it's pretty like Franglais it's very like French and English together.

And then going to Quebec is like a whole different beast. And then going to France is like a whole other French. So it is like, uh, you know, same language, quote unquote, but it is. Uh, a very different,

Meggan: Yeah, the nuances for a real.

Jenn: yeah.

Ryan: It's a funny, you know, the [00:10:00] funny experience is, now looking back on 2002, it seemed like maybe 10 or 20 of my very, very close friends were planning some similar adventure.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: This was just part of the water in the time. It wasn't at an American arrogance. It was kind of the opposite. I think flights were little cheaper than they were maybe in the 80s

Jenn: mm-hmm.

Ryan: Relative to income. And there wa, the internet had made it a little easier to find a job, even though it wasn't easy. And maybe we were all just a little bored of our existence. But at the time, I had friends that found jobs in Greece and Italy, Cuba, even Peru, china, Japan I mean, that's probably, that was probably half of my closer friends.

It's really funny now talking to 20 year olds at similar colleges, that is just not part of [00:11:00] the discussion at all. It's kind of like. A binary. Move to California or not. Like that's maybe the major discussion and that's about it. And then there's maybe the bucket list of travel and Angkor Wat and this and that. But it's, I dunno that I'm very, I think i i'm lucky that I came of an age during a time that encouraged, let's say an adventurous spirit

Meggan: Yes.

Ryan: I'm not against people reinvesting in their community. I think that's absolutely wonderful. It's a little sad, I would say that maybe it's not part of the lexicon for a 21-year-old to even think at all how could I try to live and work abroad at some point?

Jenn: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Even like when I graduated, um, college and high school, like a couple years after that, it, it was, I mean, and I also live in rural Canada, but it was very much like you [00:12:00] graduate college, you go get your grownup job and you live your life. And I wish that I'd had more people at that point push me. You know, when you're like 20, 22, 23, 24, like, you don't need to settle down and buy a house right now. Like you can go out and have a big adventure and, uh, do that before you, you know, get all of the responsibilities of, of owning a home and owning a business and, and all of that stuff.

Ryan: I, I agree with that. I, I don't know if you have any young people that are listening. I would sort of give a PSA, which is something like there's a lot of focus on on credentialism, that you absolutely have to do this and that. Even that you can't take this or that class because you can't get an A or an A minus. It's quite difficult. And why would you not do this or that thing that leads to this or that credential?

It's pretty disappointing. I mean, I think most of us have found, certainly. By 25, certainly 30, I'm now [00:13:00] 40 something. 30, 40, is that, believe it or not, even in an age of ai, can really read and learn a lot a lot on your own, independent of classes. And that seems like an impossibility, I think, to talk to a lot of 20 year olds. Like, oh my gosh, if I don't follow this path, just lands me in the specific spot, I can't really do anything. But gosh, you could just say, well, now it's easier than ever before to reach out to someone on LinkedIn or otherwise and say.

Meggan: Yes.

Ryan: What is your life like? How has it been? Do you recommend this path or not? I often tell young people just do this. They kind of think I'm a crazy person, but probably like 10, 20% will respond and do a five or 15 minute call and then just read. I mean, I think you can kind of teach yourself all kinds of things in your twenties. That is quite difficult to do, I think, in your forties, but you could do it in your twenties and build up a real sense [00:14:00] of things that you don't necessarily need to get out of undergrad. Anyway, sorry about the PSA, but

Jenn: No,

Ryan: right now. I.

Jenn: No. I think that's really important and I think that obviously the world has changed a lot from like my parents' generation where you, you know, went to college, you got it. My dad got a job out of college and worked there un unfortunately, until the company shut down, and then he had five more years until retirement where he had to find another job. But, you know, for, for kind of our generation, we span a couple decades here, but like, we're, we're kind of switching things up. We're like, you know, teaching ourselves things, we're learning new things as we get older. And I think that you don't have to be married to that first job or career type that you got out of college. Like you can explore new things. Um, and I, I, I think that's really important to highlight for sure.

Ryan: Yeah, for sure.

Oh.

Meggan: India, especially the big cities, and I, my husband and I watch a lot of like [00:15:00] YouTubers who travel to India a lot. So not that I've been, but seeing a little bit of that insight, um, it can even seem overwhelming, even just watching in terms of the amount of people. So talk to our listeners about your experience in regards to navigating this as a westerner. Like how were you able to adapt to the people, the noise, or did you adapt? Talk to us about that experience.

Ryan: Fun fact is that I arrived with Poison ivy, so, uh, uh, it was very hot. And I had poison ivy all over myself.

Jenn: Oh no,

Ryan: and so that was an adjustment I had to just like lather, calamine lotion all over myself. I think in the very earlier days, I wasn't taking the bus or the train as much. I had stayed in a hotel and I was going into the office to kind of sign HR forms. There was this horrible government office, kind of like our DMV in the United States for getting a license that just [00:16:00] required an unlimited number of appointments in order to sign up. Kind of like a work visa, I guess, for foreigners. It was horrible, but that, that was like an initial. If you think about a story, that period ended after about two weeks, and I remember at 22 I was negotiating this lease in a different currency with a friend of a friend that ended up being my landlord. His wife and children in the room, as I was kind of trying to do numbers in my head of what I was making, which was not a lot, in dollars and then taxes, and then paying this rent and how I would commute. Eventually figured out a deal and I just remember like, I'm sure all 22-year-olds feel this way right? Like, oh my gosh. I'm in the real world negotiating rent. I mean, a lot of people don't do that, right? They stay at home and they're on their parents' health insurance until they're 45 or something like this. But for me it was kind of. I had no choice. What [00:17:00] was I going to do? I had to figure out, and he was driving a hard bargain. Eventually I just said, I don't know how I'm gonna make this happen, but I don't really have a a choice from there. I commuted by car with a a friend, uh, from our apartment complex. It was a huge apartment complex. Maybe it was many thousands of people.

I had my own apartment. I cooked, uh, myself breakfast. I really like these idlis, is like a of spongy material that you heat up in a pressure cooker, and I would put it into these spicy, spices, so I did that. Got in the car. The commute to was maybe 45 minutes an hour, frankly, was the same as as in New York City.

There were a lot of people. I think what I really liked, honestly, I really liked it and kind of fell in love with with this. There was, I'm not gonna call it happiness, and I'm not gonna to say people kind of love having challenging jobs. But I [00:18:00] think Indian people, and people that live in Mumbai would all agree there was definitely a a spirit. There is a spirit that you really take pride in your craft, whatever that is. If you're a shoe cobbler or if you're, um, um, managing, a small shop or if you're going in to be a auditor. I mean, all those jobs people really took pride in it. You're kind of in it together trying to make it happen. I worked, i don't remember, let's say nine to to nine to 6 45. I didn't stay late. I wanted to get outta there, and i commuted by bus. There were usually two or three buses and there were stops along the way. I never believe it or not figured out how to read the letters because they don't have a pattern to them. Uh, it's not like 29, 39, 49 59, and I could never, I just figured out the shapes of the buses, the, the,

Meggan: whatever works.

Ryan: [00:19:00] but the buses were packed and I absolutely had to push onto the bus. Packed in my, my duffel bag on the way there, maybe half of the bag was these, used books. Uh, I kind of bought these, let's call them capital G, great books that I wanted to read and then many kind of Indian classics, let's say. And so I remember I was sort of holding on to the bus as it would move around and reading my. I mean, in hindsight it seems like this kind of ridiculous scene of this guy reading Edward Gibbon on an Indian bus, but whatever. I did, yeah. I was who I was and I own that and that's fine. But reading, decline and Fall of the Roman Empire or these ancient Indian classics like Kautilya's Arthashastra or something like this.

I mean, people gave me really weird looks. Definitely the only white guy within a very long way. I was able to [00:20:00] communicate with people. There was this funny mechanism for tickets. You had to keep the ticket in order to get on the next bus. That was a long journey. It was probably an hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes home. And then I cooked, uh, my my friend taught me me how to cook, didn't really know. how to chop onions the the right way. cooked dahl every night. Basically was vegetarian more or less for two years. dahl, spicy veg, spicy vegetables and rice dahl chana sabzi is what we would say in Hindi, and I loved it. I read my book. Sometimes I would hang out with them in the apartment complex and I would have some sort of mango or pomegranate at a, as a dessert every night.

My now wife went to rural India so she visited me here and there. There were a lot of Indian holidays, so sometimes, i'd say often I was alone. Sometime I wasn't alone. It was nice to be with her. [00:21:00] but um, but anyway. Anyway, it was was great. There are a lot of sensory delights. There's a lot, but it wasn't overwhelming. I didn't feel like,

Meggan: Cool.

Ryan: it's a personality thing, like, oh my gosh, it's too much. I can't handle it. It was kind of like, oh wow. Eyes wide open. Just taking it all in. I appreciate the question.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah. I think that, you know, I currently live in a town of like 3000 people, and so like thinking about, and I, you know, I've traveled to some, some pretty big cities, um, but like living in a city where it's like constantly busy is like just so different from what I am used to. And so, you know, obviously people who live there are used to it.

And where I live, people are also used to that. So I guess it's just what you, what you experience, right?

Ryan: I adjusted. I don't really remember, but I, it didn't take that long for me to adjust. I really was kind of leaning into,

Jenn: Yeah.

Ryan: [00:22:00] this is a new part of my life. I kind of think if you move to any place when you're 22 out of college, it's a shock to your system, right?

Jenn: Yeah,

Ryan: you need to. I call it kind of being potty trained, like men have to put, you can't just wear a sweatshirt, with mustard stains on it that I would often find myself in the dining hall. You know, you gotta get dressed. You gotta comb your hair. Not wearing sweat. Everyone now wears sweatpants. Know, you you can't do that. Have. Have shoes that look normal. That is a shock for a lot of 22 year olds. So why not do here or there or, some other place? I mean, it's,

Jenn: yeah.

Ryan: didn't really know any better.

In hindsight. It was kind of this wonderful learning experience. But I think at the time, if I would've been living in downtown Baltimore, it would've been a huge adjustment too.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah. And so do, can you think of like maybe what the hardest part was of, of moving abroad in your twenties and maybe what you taught that taught you about yourself as a, [00:23:00] a young human in the world?

Ryan: Hardest part. Really the hardest part was keeping a budget. Taxes took about a third, then rent took another quarter of what was left or so. So I, I wish I kept the notes, the but I remember my parents. Well, when you know, your father and I were first married, kept track of all of our expenses uh, and that helped know where the money was going, and so I had these little notebooks I would write down every single expense and it was very difficult. Like going out to a restaurant was insanely expensive. For me, it was a, an extreme, uh, it was, it's hard to describe, but it was like an extreme fancy thing and having a beer maybe I could have one beer every two or three weeks. It felt like, uh, like the equivalent of like a hundred [00:24:00] dollars or something. It was just a huge sum. You just think like that. I don't know. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Or like going to the movies maybe was a once every two to four weeks and it was hard to get there. You couldn't really take a bus. You had to take a bus, then a taxi. Taxis weren't cheap. Um, so that was, that was, was difficult.

dahl was a pretty inexpensive protein source, and rice was pretty inexpensive the spices were pretty inexpensive and coffee too. So, but little things like I would often shower with no hot water because the, the hot water was pretty expensive. Or wouldn't turn on the hot water to shave in the morning, i heat it up on the gas stove. That I was anyway using to make idli. Look, I'm i'm trying to, claim that it was a choice, right?

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: This is is play, it's not really fair for me to say it was so difficult because obviously hundreds of millions Of Indian people were living like this.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: But, certainly it gave certain a [00:25:00] humility for real and an ability, I think, to manage a budget. And it was kind of a shock to come back to the United States and do the conversion in my head, like those jeans would've cost me a month's rent or something, you know, it, ah, makes me kind of sad in hindsight, because now I wouldn't even really think about buying some and this or that pair of jeans. But like, at the time it was, it was very, very tricky. Those, and that was good. Now I work in investing in businesses that are catering to consumers like this. So it really helps, uh, having had that experience as a consumer. Here's another one, is just the washer dryer situation was very challenging.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: So the dryer basically ripped up the clothes, so there was always this, even the washer just wasn't great. So I remember rolling into my time in India let's say with the skeptical nineties outlook. So we were all kind [00:26:00] of told the nineties. Like, everything's stupid, man, you know, it's all dumb. You should just check out. And consumerism is lame and it's all dumb. Usually told by kids whose parents have a pretty good job. By the way.

Meggan: of course.

Ryan: So you're yeah, check out. Well, here I was primed with of that philosophy let's say, just thinking like, oh my gosh, if only I could afford a nice washer dryer, like would change my life. Now it's like ripping up my pants once every other week. Like a nice consum or, or, you know, I, I buy this dahl that has some bugs in it. If only it would, you, maybe I should buy the dahl that has a brand that's 40% more. Like, is it worth me paying for that or not? it, I quickly kind of, I lost that nineties it's all lame, man. You know, it's, I, maybe I didn't. [00:27:00] Maybe I still feel that way. I don't know. I can't help it. This child of the nineties, you know, I still have this, uh.

Meggan: lost it temporarily.

Ryan: Reality Bites, monologue a little bit, but, uh, you, you kind of just see it's sort of hypocritical. Like, or like Cameron and my kids watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, like Cameron and Ferris Bueller's Day off, like his dad seems horrible, but maybe his dad was just like, well, I don't know. Maybe. maybe I shouldn't say that i'll get canceled for saying his dad wasn't that bad, but. Anyway. I think like growing up in that era, certainly I wouldn't have appreciated that, uh, a nice washing machine actually is like a nice material good that's worth saving for.

Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The days you start, you know, agreeing with the parents in the movies, you're like, oh, okay.

Meggan: that's where I'm at.

Jenn: Okay. For sure. So you've traveled a lot, not just to India, but for work. So talk. Talk to us. [00:28:00] Uh, about the difference in your mind between work and leisure travel, and how do you kind of make the most of being somewhere new while also like navigating working?

Ryan: It is a good question. So, uh, before the kids were born, my wife and I would take trips that I had to do for work. So we went to Vietnam, we went to Indonesia, and I would often meet people for work purposes, and then we would have some delightful trip and that, that was really nice. It's much harder with kids along, but we've kind of thought like, can we combine these worlds in some capacity without it being like a very snob, I don't know how to say this, like a snobby thing that's like, oh wow, you brag about it, you know, my dad travels for work or something like this.

So, uh, honestly, when I, when I I take a trip for work. I don't hang back and just read a book on the beach. I've never been able to do that with or without kids. Like, [00:29:00] I don't know. don't, really enjoy that kind of thing very much, I don't enjoy the beach very much personally. I mean, it's a full disclosure. I've never really liked that, and so I'm just not gonna be the type

Jenn: yeah.

Ryan: Back. What I have done is hired this or that tour guide. So when I was Athens, I hired a tour guide to take me this or that place, or, uh, um, I recently went to São Paulo, this is a really first time, but i'm real believer in adult sports like, uh, and, and I play the piano. Like these not things that we do from age seven to 13 and then you quit and you just watch Netflix the rest of your life. The things that generally speaking are good when you're 12 or good when you're 42 also. So uh, a friend helped organize a pick soccer game i'm like solidly mediocre soccer player. Like I can make myself dangerous, but I am not that, I don't know, I'm not that great. But it was amazing to play these six on six games. It was in the evening, [00:30:00] so it didn't detract from actual work work that I had to be there for. And my goodness, I, I had, I had I had a a sense that and usually cultural generalities aren't, aren't amazing because you kind of get them off. And as a foreigner you might only, see one side. I'm don't think I'm wrong in saying, I've been to Brazil a handful of times and there is something really wonderful about a culture of, I think it's kindness, kindness, openness. I didn't prepare this in advance, but the kind of openness, sense of humility. Sense of humor and things like sports and music is just top notch. It it was really lovely to combine these as in an evening and not get too badly banged up or embarrassed or anything like this. So

Meggan: even better.

Ryan: What I've tried to do here and there is I just kind of insert it in a way that is, say, culturally [00:31:00] relative because doing business in different countries, it really matters, uh, that you understand the place so you don't bump into things that, or that's not the right word, but so you don't do something stupid, which Americans always do. So I'm always trying, reasonably sensitive and, and also it's just fun. It's fun to do things beyond just, oh wow, there's a clock tower and, uh, don't know, let's have a Caipirinha and, um, I don't know, sit on the beach. Like that's just not really, that's not so much my style.

Meggan: And I love that like I think, you know, being able to know the people in truly the place and what people there enjoy doing while you're also doing business is is an amazing way to look at it. And if you were to flip things around then, Ryan, what would you say is, you know, a place or places, favorite places for leisure travel? When you're not working, where do you like to go on actual vacation?

Ryan: I like, i'm, [00:32:00] I live in New England and I really like, let's say the lungs of New England. There are all of these tall trees. I only really recently, figured out that there was this fight between the colonists and Great Britain over the tall trees in New Hampshire because they were the mast of the British Navy throughout the whole world. And traveling New Hampshire you certain feel, certainly feel that way. I'm not against just getting in the car putting on the Allman Brothers and finding a diner, and now these days an Airbnb I dunno I don't know this or that silly family thing. Uh, maybe, I don't know, a craft brewery or something. I mean, I, I don't think I'm, that terribly special in that respect.

I have been sort of thinking gosh, if I've been to all these places, um, it would be nice to kind of route, route the family in this direction in some way that [00:33:00] they can see some of this excitement and experience in the same way that my wife have too. My wife and I have. And That's kind. Of, that's happening. And that's, that's been nice. Not having any car seats helps.

Jenn: Yeah,

Ryan: but I think I think terms of what what kind of preferences I have it's the same preferences as anybody else. Although someone told me the other day, that this is unusual. One thing I do like to do when I go to place, I really like eating the sweets and and I i'm a reasonably healthy guy, so I don't have any blood pressure issues or anything like this. Um, but I love how the sweets are different each country. Most countries have coffee, which I enjoy. But the Indian sweets or like if I was in Georgia the country a couple years ago. Uh, the sweets in Georgia are really delicious. Brazil has these bakeries all the the place. Often I'll kind of arrive in the morning and [00:34:00] it's like, leave no sweets behind. I feel kind of bad. I feel sort of, maybe it's not the healthiest example, but I think, I think, I think it's great. It's like each, you know, often I'll show up bakery uh, the person behind the bakery will kind of have a twinkle in his or her eye. I know you're not from around here. People usually don't eat this much at once. Uh, like, what are you doing here, buddy? Um, kind of the kind of coffee walk. and I don't really love, I mean, I mean, honestly, even for work, like I don't love stopping and having these long I don't know, sandwich type lunches.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: but I, I don't mind loading up on some sort of set of pastries or something in a different place.

Jenn: Yeah.

Um.

Meggan: Sugar to fuel your day. I

Jenn: Oh

Meggan: I'm here for it.

Jenn: Yeah, like a hundred percent. We're going to Copenhagen later this year, and I already have a list of like bakeries and I'm like, should we do this like [00:35:00] pastry food tour? We probably should do a pastry food tour. I mean, why not?

Ryan: I would say yes, absolutely.

Meggan: I don't think Ryan's

Ryan: Yeah.

Meggan: steer you in a different direction at this

Jenn: No,

Meggan: this about him

Jenn: no,

Ryan: Absolutely.

Jenn: no. That's a great idea.

Ryan: For sure. I don't have any secrets for this. Like I had thought AI would help find this bakery or something. But like the, the map functionality is not perfect. You can kind of get a very rough idea like, well, I shouldn't go in that direction. I should go in that direction. And it's just driving by. I'll just say, Hey, stop. You know, I gotta get out and, uh. Just tell the taxi guy, like, hop out and buy some things. Yeah. I've never i've been a huge fan of, I think maybe it's personality style, like uh, sit and and just kind of chill abroad and take pictures on i'm not on Instagram, but like, take pictures and, you know, just say how awesome it is, chilling. Like, [00:36:00] that's just never been, never been my style. I like weird museums. Like walking around. I really like, I don't know honestly, I don't, I don't, I don't mind just having journal after a long day, often will ask a host or a friend, like, I don't want to go to a white tablecloth place. Like, where's a place your grandmother would go?

Meggan: Yeah.

Ryan: And it usually is a lot of meat. I don't know why, but like sitting with a journal and maybe a beer and a big thing of protein, or even dahl and rice or something is like, uh, one of life's great pleasures to me.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: I, I, you're definitely a friend of the podcast, Ryan, because we enjoy like very much of the same

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: I, and I've been to New England so many times, I can't count. And I think it's a beautiful part of America for sure. And I think that the idea, we talk about this a lot on the podcast, is travel doesn't have to be international travel could also and [00:37:00] should also be local.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: Exploring where you live, supporting businesses and, and people where you live is also really important. So I think that that's an important point as well. It doesn't always have to be a grand trip somewhere. It can

Ryan: Yeah, absolutely.

Jenn: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um,

Ryan: yeah, I, i, i, I have of have two sides where, on one hand I walk around with my eyes up, seeing the things around me and really loving it and appreciating it, but sometimes I, it's hard to get outta my own head. Maybe we all feel like that.

Meggan: Yeah.

Ryan: When you're walking around a new place that's that's different. I think I think probably generally being, your own head all the time is not a great way of living all the time. So being in a new in a place wherever that is with this or that diner or this or that, know, walk into the woods is, is is generally a good way to be.

Jenn: Yes. I love that. A hundred percent. Agreed. So you have been to over 80 countries, is that right? Yeah. So [00:38:00] is there a country that surprised you the most in terms of it being maybe not what you expected it to be before you went?

Ryan: I I think everybody everywhere is kind of like that. Uh, I would say to the positive. There is a kind of the joy of new things.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: This maybe, maybe not everybody feels this way. Some people just wanna be with their cat, you know, in their living room all the time. But maybe, I think probably we were all like a hub and a spoke where you want that. You that time. But then you wanna go out and and just push yourself a little bit and get outside of your comfort zone. So I think everywhere, I don't remember the line. It might be from Tennyson. It's like I am everywhere that I've been or

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: Everywhere that you go is a little different than you really expect.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: And that's wonderful. I'll say it been fun just randomly being pulled to [00:39:00] off the top of my head, like I really like Peru that you have Spanish architecture sitting right on top of Incan architecture, which is just a great metaphor for the way. I don't know. The world evolves. Uh, history is often like that where maybe you only, you only really see the Spanish part and you don't see foundations. But it's really neat actually to see those two.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: Uh, combined. I've really enjoyed visiting Tbilisi in Georgia, which is just a beautiful city with all these coffee shops, uh, the Georgian. I'm, I don't know what it would be called, but let's say art or design or kind of these bright colors all the place. Women's scarves. Uh, that, that was a real treat. Also, uh, i've been Lagos, Nigeria handful of times. I love the sort of spirited-ness of the people. So friendly, but also like a go-get him attitude that I really like. Um, I had [00:40:00] never been to Vietnam until, I don't know, thirties or so, and I really liked going there too. Just people in incredibly friendly, also really hardworking, I don't know. The food is just so good

Meggan: Yeah.

Ryan: There are so many little spots. I love it when a country has like a bazillion towns, each town is different. You can take a train or a car there, each one kind of open your eyes. Oh wow, this is totally different.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: Um, but gosh, the list, you know, is en is, is, really endless.

Jenn: Yeah.

Ryan: I've really, I mean, I know I keep saying this, but I've enjoyed, I didn't grow up in New England, but I've enjoyed exploring New Hampshire and Vermont in particular with a lot of little towns and tall trees.

Meggan: Yeah, it's beautiful. So beautiful there. And speaking of lists, so where do you have next, if you do, on your list, that, of a place you'd like to be that go and travel to that you've not done yet?

Ryan: Oh gosh. It's a good question. I'm enjoying [00:41:00] exploring Central Asia, which is a place that I hadn't really spent much time there. I've been a bit, so I'm, I don't know, decided to get know that region of the world a little bit better. I think I think one, it's not a a place, but I, am going to, I really enjoyed playing soccer for an evening in Brazil, which was brand new. And maybe I'll never do that again. Or maybe that's the beginning of something else. So I had this idea of like a hotel chain that had pickup games attached to it, and that's not gonna happen. But I I just love that idea, like, hello, Mr. Floyd, you signed up for volleyball at 7:00 PM followed by three on three basketball, and then you'll have a nightcap with shuffleboard. Uh, welcome. I just think that would be absolutely amazing. Uh, but obviously there's no brand doing that, but I kind of thought like gosh, it would would to do adult sports in some pickup game or [00:42:00] so. At least once a year.

Jenn: Mm-hmm.

Ryan: Uh, wherever I'm going. And, let's see if i. If I'm able to do that. But that, I think that is probably the thing that I'm, will try to do. I play lacrosse, it doesn't age that well, but I still play and I hadn't realized it's, it's going to be an Olympic sport and there are some hundred countries that actually have a team.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan: On what that looks like. If I could play coach something, that while traveling.

Jenn: Yeah, that, I think that's a really great idea. And I think that, um, it kind of highlights something that a lot of people are missing in their lives, which is like community, like getting out there and doing something with other people. I, I, you know, I think that our lives have generally trended to be like home and like you, like I, I don't know about you, but like I work from home and then I finish work for the day. I go downstairs, my [00:43:00] husband also works from home. We cook dinner and then it's like, okay, now what are we gonna do? And you know, sometimes it's like six 30 and it's like, okay, I can't start watching Netflix at six 30 for like three hours. Like, that's a waste of my life. So I need to find something to do. And so finding things, you know, I'm not so much sporty, but like, um, finding groups of people who like to craft and like going together and like knitting together and chatting and having a pot of tea. And like, we actually had someone join our crafternoon recently who was traveling from um, BC and she saw the Post online and like came and hung out with us for an afternoon and like

Ryan: I love that.

Jenn: Lovely that was. For, for us and for her to be able to just have someone new to, to talk with and hear their perspective. Yeah. So,

Ryan: What do you make in the,

Jenn: um, well I'm, I'm learning to knit, so my goal is to knit socks. So I think I'm ready. I've made like a thousand dish cloths, so I think, I think I'm ready to move on from dish cloths.

Ryan: How hard is the [00:44:00] hinge?

Jenn: It's like, I mean, it's, it's not too bad. Like I think I'll find out like,

Meggan: get back to you on that

Jenn: yeah, yeah,

Ryan: That sounds awesome.

Jenn: Yeah. So I think that that's, that is something that people maybe don't think of when they're traveling to think to like, oh, hey, I like to play soccer. Maybe I'll look and see if I join like a pickup game or hey, I like to craft, maybe there's a group that I can join for an afternoon. Um, so I love that tip and I'm gonna take that forward and think about how I can apply that.

Ryan: Sounds great. Yeah, that, I mean, it was a blast.

Jenn: Yeah,

Ryan: it helps that I'm not that good.

Jenn: yeah.

Ryan: uh, I mean it's like enthusiasm goes a long way in life. I think he is sort of the goofy guy.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Uh, awesome. So is there anywhere online that people can find you or if people want to, um, follow up with you about your [00:45:00] business or anything like that?

Ryan: Sure, sure, sure. So just compliance wise, it's not an offer to buy or sell anything. Obviously I'm not promoting any stocks or anything like that. Um, but if you wanna reach out and say hi, and talk about where you're traveling or interesting things that you're doing. I'm on LinkedIn my name's Ryan Floyd, and uh, my company's website is Barca, B-A-R-C-A, capital.com. And feel free to reach out.

Jenn: Awesome.

Meggan: Well, thank you so much for joining us, Ryan.

Ryan: Yeah. Thank you guys. It was really nice talking with you.

Meggan: You too. It's a really insightful conversation. I think a lot of good snippets that people can take away and try to think about as they travel out into the world as well. So thank you for that. and as for us, you can find us on our website travel mug podcast.com, on social Media Travel Mug podcast. We'd love it if you showed us some love by leaving us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. You can support the show through bias of coffee or share the show with a travel [00:46:00] loving pal. And until next time, bye everyone.

Jenn: Bye bye.

Ryan: Bye bye. Thanks so much.

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