Consider Safety When Planning Travel

TTT - Safety
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Meggan: Hey everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of Travel Tip Tuesday. We are so glad that you are here. I am joined as always by Jenn. How are you today lovely?

Jenn: I'm doing well. How are you?

Meggan: I am good. I'm excited for the weather to warm up this week as they tell us it shall, so I'm looking forward to that.

Jenn: Yay.

Meggan: As a lot of you know, I mentioned some episodes ago that sadly we weren't going too far in terms of travel in 2025 after our trip to Mexico in January. Now we have booked because we can't sit home, I

mean.

Jenn: no, no, no, no.

Meggan: Good Lord.

That's crazy. talk. We have booked a mostly new Brunswick Road trip for June. Is it 2020 again? No, but that's still where we're going. We have booked some really cool locations, including like a lighthouse to stay in. Like there's some really cool stuff that we've booked.

And I have to say, and I'm gonna be honest, it does include a few nights in our beloved Bar Harbor, USA, however, as the months, months tick by, we will be reevaluating as needed and making adjustments if we feel that it's best to do so. As of right now, we are of the mindset that we have people and businesses that we care about there that we wanna support, but we will adjust it if we have to for sure. And we have some time. So I feel like by June things will either be better or completely off the rails. So our decision will likely be pretty easy. That's sort of my prediction.

Jenn: I, yeah, I agree.

Meggan: If you can predict the unpredictable that is. Now, having said that, I do want to talk about traveling to safe locations in 2025. So we've talked before on episode in the past about the Canadian government or governments around the world putting out lists of places they caution you not to travel. That's pretty standard.

However, I got to thinking about this more because this past weekend, as we pondered. What we will do with the rest of our vacation time this year, and I refuse after June to do another road trip.

I just do, I'm I'll stay home. , we're not staycation people, but I am not doing it. So we did pull up just for, just for gigs, Google flights to see where we could get some direct flights from Halifax. And there happened to be a few more options than normal, which got our wheels turning a little bit, however. One of the wheels that did turn for me was where the will the world be like next week? Um, but also in three to six months, like no one knows, but are the few places that we're pondering potentially going safe? I know this is a question that's unknown and anything can happen, but it got me thinking a bit deeper about that question.

I. It turns out I've never had an original thought in my whole life because there is a list that's put out by several websites, including Travel Pulse Canada with the safest places to travel in 2025. Now is the place we are pondering on that list. You ask, No. Thanks for asking. And I'm not gonna reveal the place because it may not even happen for us, but here are a few of the top spots that are on the list. Iceland is number one, so congratulations to 2024 Meggan. I went to the safest place last year. Now from there the list includes Ireland. Uh, pat, pat on the back, Canada, New Zealand, Austria and Singapore to name a few. If safety is a top priority for you, this list gives you a great breakdown. And there's other lists that encompass even more places than this one does, and we will include the list that I'm referring to in the show notes so you can check it out for yourself. And honestly, this year there's so much uncertainty, more than normal it feels like. So sticking close to home could be the safest idea, but we, you know, am I supposed to put my whole life on hold because of the what ifs? It's a

big question.

You know what I mean?

And I think it does come down to personal decisions and what you feel is best for you and what makes you most comfortable, but now more than ever. So I think some research and also some self-reflection is going to be key as we make these decisions. So, Jenn, I know for you, you have been toying with the idea of international travel this year.

As you look around the world right now and think about the fact that it could get worse, where is your head at right now with this?

Jenn: Hmm. What a complicated question, Meggan. Um, yeah, we, we haven't booked anything and we've been toying with going to Ireland, which I think I've definitely mentioned to you. I don't know if I've mentioned on the podcast, but, uh, that's still. A possibility, and I'm happy to see that it's on that list of

Meggan: Yes.

Jenn: countries.

So that's, uh, that's reassuring. Uh, we're also toying with the idea of staying in Canada and maybe going to Newfoundland or something like that. I'm not sure. I don't know what we're doing. And of course, like safety does play into our choice. We're choosing not to visit Disney right now, um, complicated decisions, and it's not all because I'm worried about safety.

It's partially that our dollar sucks and it's expensive.

Meggan: That's right. There's that to consider as well.

Jenn: Yeah. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of things to consider before you, uh, book a plane ticket.

Meggan: Definitely, and I think that it's important too to not, and I'm not saying this because we're pondering Bar Harbor, but I think, you know, especially right now there's a lot of like push to Travel Canada and buy Canadian. And I think that that honestly could never be more important. But I also am going to choose to not. Uh, quote, unquote care and other people about it. Like, I I can't make decisions for other people. And if they feel that that's what they wanna do, then that's completely up to

them. Uh, travel's a really personal choice. Um, spending

our dollars here, I think is going to be really important this year though.

So if you can, I hope you do. Even if it's locally, I mean. weekend getaways, whatever the case might be. I think it's really important to support, but it's all your decision. That's what free will is. well that is it for this week's travel tip Tuesday. We aren't here to convince you to travel or convince you to stay home, but instead just give you some information, something to think about or research for yourself.

If you do travel this year, maybe 2025 is your year to visit Beautiful Canada. We are on the safe list, so.

Come on down. Now no matter what you do out there though in 2025, take care of yourself and just be kind to others as you're doing it. . You can find us, as always in social media at Travel Mug Podcast on our website travelmugpodcast.com, which is also a great way to reach out to us. If you have a question or a guest idea for the show, we'd love to hear from you. We actually just got an email recently from a listener wanting to know all about Nova Scotia. They have a trip planned. It was kind of cool to receive that and ask for advice, which we love sharing.

Jenn: Yeah,

Meggan: You can also find the show on Spotify, apple Podcasts and other platforms, and you can support us through the Buy Us a Coffee Link in the show notes. And

until next time, safe travels and bye.

Jenn: Bye