Solo Travel & Owning An AirBnb

TMPE 51
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Meggan: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the travel mug podcast. We are so excited this week to be joined by Kat who runs an amazing Airbnb here in Nova Scotia called Luna Rosa chalet. Welcome Kat.

Thank you so much for being here.

Kat: Thank you !

Meggan: You're welcome. So we wanted to invite you on the show. You know, we know you've traveled a lot yourself. You've worked in different spots, including the hostel scene and not hostile hostels. And you are back home in Nova Scotia for now, and you run your family Airbnb.

So we thought it would be interesting for us to let our listeners sort of learn what it's like to actually run a vacation spot. It can't be easy and sort of all that goes into that. But first and foremost and Jenn and I were talking about this before the recording, cause he read a little bit of what you wrote.

We're both like we're chickens because this is amazing. We're like, we're both just chickens. So we want us to sort of like you to walk us through first and foremost, like tell us some about where you've traveled because it's incredibly interesting.

Kat: Oh, wow. Thank you. That's a huge compliment. One thing I find about traveling is sometimes you get so humbled by what other people have done.

And other times you're like, wow, like I have done a lot or I got to experience a lot more than some people get to. And it's, it's, I'm traveling's humbling, I think, at the end of the day. And yeah, but it's thank you for that compliment because I've got friends where I'm like, gosh, I've done nothing or I'm a scaredy cat.

So yeah, it's just, it's all what you're comfortable with and that, and taking opportunities and making opportunities. And I've been really fortunate to, to be able to. I've I've also worked, you know, I think some of my friends think I just traveled, they never asked me, like, where are you traveling to?

I've been working for years, you know that. But anyway so I've, I, I was really, when I was 18, I was very fortunate to, with my best, one of my best friends their family had always had exchange students. And when I was 18, just sort of high school I actually, I grew up on a family farm and I was able to take August off, which was a big deal.

And I got to go with my best friend to France to visit the exchange student that had been with their family a few years before. So I actually was pretty young when I first left and my thinking back, my parents are pretty cool. Just let me do that. And we, we road tripped around France. We were 18, 19 and 30, the three of us, and it was just so fantastic and freeing and I was hooked.

And then, you know, university and working came in there and but I worked through university and I saved for few years and then I kind of. I'll take August off

for a few summers. I sort of did the European circuit thing. I did a few tours. I don't know if you've ever heard of Contiki, but I did some Contiki travel tours. Cause I was like, oh, I can hit up things and see things. And I, you know, I would, I would never do that again, but at the time it was perfect and I got to meet so many amazing people.

There were a lot of Australians, Austrians have a very dear spot in my heart. And what I think, like talking about traveling and growth into it is like I, on these things, like sure you're on the bus and you're going from place to place and they're telling you where your sleep, but, and you kind of figure out where you're eating with your pals, but there was so much free time.

And I also learned a lot about myself on that. It's like, I liked the group atmosphere and having people to hang out with in the day, but I really loved going off on my own and exploring. And that taught me to how to use subways, because we don't have those in Nova Scotia and, and all that. So it really built up my travel confidence of navigating.

And I always think back to I was in Greece was in Athens. I was like, I've got the full day before I have to be anywhere, meet anybody I had I ripped out the map from my lonely planet, nothing. And then I was walking down and I was like, look at the map, look at the street signs. It's like the street signs are all in Greek and my map is in English.

So I really ripped up the map. I just let my, my sense of direction guide me. So I've done some traditional European stuff then going around. I've also been to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia the Baltics up there, and that was really exciting. So I traveled there on my own, but I joined backpacking group.

Just because the language was, I, I was never going to learn three, three languages like that. And then I, after that, it felt like kinda needed a little more challenge. So my 25th birthday, I landed in Bogota, Colombia, and I hiked around there.

Meggan: Did you go to Columbia by yourself?

Kat: No. I actually went with, I met up with a guy I was dating at the time. Yeah.

Meggan: Gotcha.

Kat: He was Australian.

I know.

And so yeah, we traveled around backpacking, just using the local transport the whole time in Columbia and doing some pretty awesome hikes. And then the next year I was like, I need to do something. So I went to Morocco and that was really great. It was, it was a really good kind of cultural, not shock, but just like to really shake it up that way.

Lovely. Lovely. And then the people you meet along the way, just they make the trip to. Right. I've been to Brazil a couple of times. We've had friends of the family that were living and working there. So I got to travel down there and stay with them, but then it was kind of on my own, so to speak. But kind of had that base to go back to.

Meggan: Right. Don't leave out Spain, we need to talk about Spain.

Kat: Yeah. So I've, I've walked two Caminos. So do you guys know what the Caminos are?

Jenn: Yeah, yeah.

Kat: Yeah. So I've walked to Caminos, like what, not the traditional one that most people see in the movie the way the Camino de Santiago I walked the Camino Primitivo, which is a little shorter, it's 400 and more through the mountains.

And I've done the Camino del Nortes. So from the border with France and the north of Spain and through the Basque country all the way down to Santiago. Wow. Have you done a Camino? You're looking like you have Jenn.

Jenn: No! It's on my bucket list for sure.

Kat: Which one?

Jenn: I don't know. Like I just, I love the idea of it. I love the idea of like all that walking and we're going to Scotland and my best friend's parents are going with us as well. And they've done like a walk from Glasgow up to Fort William as well. And I'm like, that's just so cool. Like I just can't, I can't imagine how it is walking every day.

Kat: Oh my gosh. If you want to meet some great people, if you're an Inverness, a really lovely couple of great, great friends of mine, Jamie and Sarah they're there. They're there in

exchange it after.

We should meet up for coffee if you ever want to check Caminos because it's life changing in a way. And I, the Camino, they say like, it sounds hokey, but like the Camino gives you what you need, not what you want. And it's so true. And there's just so much of life you can take out of it.

And yeah, I recommend it.

I don't know if I can really take credit for that word by word, but but yeah, I've just that, that was really an awesome on both occasions and they were back to back, but at very different times in my life as well I was going through a pretty big change out. With the second one. And funny enough, the second Camino just kind of felt like a safe place for me to go to kind of bridge the gap between leaving life as I knew it and starting something new Yeah. And I've also moved into reunion islands and I lived in the panhandle. So in Northern Northwestern, Florida for quite a few years, and I've wrote trips that allowed me to road trip around the the Southeast of the states a bit. And then I also done a big sort of route 66 trip, more focused on the, the Southwestern part of the states.

And that is so awesome.

Meggan: So that is a ton. So I know this question is going to be difficult. So if you could narrow it down what would you say is your favorite destination? I know that's going to be so hard, but what would you say

Kat: Spain's very near and dear to my heart. I would probably say Réunion island right now. It's just, it's such a paradise. You don't think paradise can exist, but it does. And it kind of suits everything you need it for me as my travel style. So I, I love swimming and I love the beach, but I'm not a beach bum, but you've got that. You just have to watch it for sharks. But then you've got all the hiking and the tropical rainforest and mountains. So it's really just a great blend of everything. And the island is so tiny. It's I think it's 60 by 45 kilometers. So you could probably fit it in kind of like the Cabot trail region or like, from Whycocomagh up to Meat Cove, of Cape Breton and just put it into perspective and I spent a month there.

And I didn't even get everything off the bucket list, so, yeah. And there's how you had, that was just a really amazing trip. Yeah. It's also the furthest I was ever from home too. So that's kinda neat.

Meggan: Is that off the coast of Africa?

Kat: Is it's off, it's a little island owned by France and it's off Madagascar.

Mauritius is a little bit more well-known but reunion islands there. So yeah, that's

Meggan: one of my dad's friends about has actually gone there. He's a fish broker and I think he had actually, yeah. And I think he had traveled to reunion island, which is the only reason I knew anything about it, but it sounds amazing.

Kat: Yeah. You think you guys are, I think everyone would love it and it's, you know, if you speak a little French, you get by. I was kind of a few months off of Spain where I really worked hard at my Spanish, like the year before going. And I was really confusing the locals because they'd be like, where are you from?

And I'd be like, I'd start speaking in Spanish and then have to switch. And they'd be like, what, why you're from Canada? Why are you speaking Spanish?

It was just a paradise. And I got to see a volcano erupts and it was just completely off, not planned, not planned at all. Piton de la Fournaise had been erupting for a couple of weeks before I was going. But not when I was landed. And then so I had a friend, actually the exchange student that my friend and I went to go visit in France.

He and I stayed really good friends over the years and he's he was living and working there and he said like, come down. It's so amazing. And it was his second time living there actually. And did, because he's an adrenaline junkie man. Like he's one of those people that makes me feel like I haven't done anything.

So since it was the second time living in the island within 10 years, he was like, I'm not going to get a house. I'm going to convert a van.

Meggan: Of course he was.

Kat: And he, yeah, he converted to like a FedEx little delivery MPW van into a home. So it was just like the perfect travel, because I also got to like live out my dream of living in a van, but I also have my own time. Cause then when he had to go to work, I had to be on my own and then we'd meet up. And like, I got to do my own thing as a solo traveler, but then had that local influence and yeah, just some cool stuff you never would have found on your own.

Jenn: So we're talking about like, you know, you traveling solo what's it like to be like a female solo traveler because Megan and I have not done it.

Kat: Okay. I was, I was curious if you guys had or not. Well, I think it's really beautiful to travel as a woman. I've never traveled as a man.

no, but I think traveling as a woman is actually a really beautiful experience. You know, I think off the cuff, everyone thinks like, oh, you're going to be so vulnerable out there and stuff. But at the end of the day, we're all human. There's more openness, I think when you travel solo as a woman so let's say I've been traveling with a friend who's a male or a significant other I, I find people just, they kind of gravitate to you a little more.

It's like, they want to make sure you're okay. They want to make sure you're not lonely. And it really opens the door to getting to know more local people or just having a chat. And then that leads to something else is, as you guys know, whether you're traveling with someone or not just how the randomness of traveling can can happen.

So, yeah, and like I used to get into on the second Camino in the north, especially through the Basque country Yeah, the Abuelita's little grandmothers be hanging out their laundry and you know, you'd be walking through their backyard basically. And these small, small, small, rural towns, like, like Meggan knows where I live and that's pretty rural, but like it's pretty much the same and a little more rural.

And they're always like tu estás solo. Like, you're solo like, you're alone. Are you okay? You need a strong Spanish man. You know, you could just say like, oh, you know, as your Spanish improved you'd be like, well, I'm single. Do you have a grandson?

By the time you call them, I'll only be 5k down the road. It just a lot of this, like this little cute banter and they were so curious about why you were traveling alone and, or just sometimes like when I, if I'm out alone, I go to dinner. We'll have to eat. But I'll have to intake my journal and, and writing with the day or what I'm thinking or feeling or do some planning. I just find people start chatting and you can just find out so much about people and spaces and what to see and do and, and that, and love it. Or you end up at like this cool underground poetry readings in Barcelona because they're they're poets and they're reading later that night.

Meggan: You never know where it's going to take you some random, random things. So

I think, and i, I, I think you described it perfectly and I, I can only imagine that it, at times it must be a really beautiful experience. Is there advice in particular though, or that you would give someone who maybe is a little timid to do it, or has reservations?

Like what would, if you could give a major piece of advice, what would that be to assist a female who's maybe looking to get out there or anybody really who wants to travel solo?

Kat: I guess the one big thing takeaway, and that would be always trust your spidey senses and like I said that goes for everybody.

So, you know, the more you're out there and trying new things or in different places you know, you do have to, you're not in Nova Scotia, right? So you do, if you, if you trust your sense and your gut and your heart's not telling you something's right, or on the opposite, if it is telling you like, it's right, go for it.

Yeah, just trust your gut instincts. And I've been really fortunate traveling as a woman. But I don't think that's just on luck. I think it's also feeling this something's not right here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna check it in and, and, you know, it's yeah, I can go into more detail if you want, where it's not explicit, but one time at near the end of the Camino Del Norte thing.

And there was this town that just had this weird energy and it kind of like popped into the woods and you're walking on this highway, like secondary road into this town and there's actually this stunning sunset. We feel the sunflowers and like, that was great. But then this car went by and stopped and backed up way behind me and then backed up again and like right away, I was. That's not right. People would often stop. And just say like, whether you were male or female, like, oh, do you need water? Do you have a place to stay? Do you need something? Just sort of camaraderie, especially these towns along the Camino, because they know people need support sometimes. Right? Well, you know, the guy rolled down his window.

Like he barely fit this little car and it's just, he was like, he asked me, so on the Camino, you collect stamps where you stay and it's kind of a little Momento in this Camino passport you have at the end. And he asked me in Spanish, like, do you want to stamp it? It's like, no, I don't need a stamp.

And he's like, then he started asking me like, am I alone? And where was I going? And, and all that. And I, I, I don't lie. I never lie, but I lied then. And I said like, oh my boyfriend's in the woods. And then he's like, thank goodness. I knew a bit of the language. Right. And he's like, why is he in the woods?

Not with you. He should be with you. I told her. Yeah, I know. I made him drive off because I told him my boyfriend's in the woods taking a poop.

I didn't have a boyfriend in the woods, but he drove off,

I guess. Yeah. I got rid of it. Got rid of the creeper. But like tip number two, know, a little bit of the local language. It can get you out of a jam. You'll also meet a lot of great people, but it'll get you out of a jam. And then things just continued to get weirder. I got to town and it was like getting to be sunset.

So I had to stay there. I checked into this pension, like Albergues and the county, but there was no one else there. And the woman was very friendly and nice, but then she started to ask, but it was unlike a Spanish grandmother. She was like, are you alone? Do you want to be alone? Like, things like this.

And I was like, yeah, I'm just tired. I want to go and have some dinner. Where do you recommend? She's like, oh, you have to go to this bar. So like I went to this bar, cause I think there was only two places. You could have dinner when you walk like 20, 30 K you're pretty hungry.

So I went in, I think it was having a burger and a beer and there was no one else there. It was a female bartender. And then the phone rang and the bartender picked it up and she was like, and she kind of like, did the side-eye yeah, she's here. She's here. Okay. Okay. Hung up the phone. So again, know little of the language and then all of a sudden every Tom Dick and Harry started to show up at the bar.

I know you probably think I'm making this up, but it's like,

Meggan: well, you don't lie.

Kat: Maybe, maybe eight, maybe eight o'clock the local happy hour. I don't know this. Everyone came over and started asking me if I wanted a drink and the bartender started putting like free drinks in front of me. And I just, I didn't even finish my meal and I didn't want to be rude.

Oh. And then one guy comes over and he's like, oh, why don't you have a drink? It's my birthday. And I'll be so upset. I was just like . And just to like save face, I like paid for my meal and I told the bartender, like, here's an extra, like a little bit by the birthday guy, a drink and I

Meggan: oh, that's way nicer that's so much nicer than you needed to be.

Kat: Well, you also got to like, you know, you don't want to piss off the locals.

Meggan: That's also a good point. That should be tip number three.

Kat: You know, it's like. They probably know where I'm sleeping because they knew where I was eating. So I yeah, I just, I had, I was still hungry and luckily there was this little corner store and I remember like buying a bunch of Kit-Kats and take it to my roots.

Meggan: I had to leave my burger, so I needed to get some chocolate bars

Kat: protein carbs. Yeah. But you know, it was one of those I'm not too paranoid traveling, but again, like I remember, like I barricaded my door that day. It was just a little weird. The whole town was weird. And then like, again, it was a spidey sense, just like something's weird. And it was just all accumulated to being uber weird. But the funny thing is just so you know, I'm not crazy. The next day in the next town, I met up with some travelers that I knew and that I'd run into on the Camino, like over multiple days, over multiple weeks. And they were like, where did you stay last night? Where are you? I was like, oh, I stayed in this Bornito and they're like, oh man, we walked through there. And that place was just weird. I was like, let me tell you a story.

Meggan: You don't know anything?

Kat: I'm like, yeah. You walked through there at two in the afternoon and thought it was weird. Yeah,

Meggan: you should have saw it after sunset.

Kat: Those sunflowers were deceiving.

Jenn: I think. I think, I love that you kind of said before that you started with like a bus tour type situation and kind of like built yourself up into doing these like solo trips where you were truly solo and kind of planning your own. Cause I think that's a good way for people to get out there and try like solo travel, where you're not really on your own, but you're on your own and outside of your comfort zone, I think that's a really good way for people to like build up into doing, into doing solo travel.

Meggan: Definitely,

Kat: definitely agree. And you know, it they're called shakeup trips. So a motorcyclist with call it a shakeup trip. For instance, I've always wanted to do the Appalachian trail. So going to where you're really like your tent and everything on your back doing it, we're on the Camino. You don't have to have camping gear.

There actually isn't any camping officially in the north of Spain. So, so like for me, I was like, oh, like doing a Caminos could have a shakeup trip for like the long distance walking and carrying a pack and stuff to build up to doing the Appalachian trail. So yeah, I guess, yeah. I think just go with, go with what you're comfortable with, or, you know, even if you're traveling with your partner or a good friend, just go have a day on your own.

If you're curious about it and traveling solo is very freeing, I find, but again, like as much as I've done on my own or camping on my own, it's also great when you have people at the end of the day to meet up with, or those random encounters that you have. I think it just leaves you more open to meeting more people. And you've also learned more about yourself too.

Meggan: I can imagine now. I'm sure things. Haven't always been perfect though. So we did a couple episodes not long ago. And so talk to us about maybe a travel fail that you've had. It all sounds, it all sounds like beautifully, strange experiences you've had, but tell us about travel.

Kat: Oh gosh. I'm sure I've had a bigger one. But it's actually kind of embarrassing to talk about this because I knew better, man. I knew better if we have what we all so my significant other and I at the time we're in Guatemala and we only had seven or eight days, which was a very shorter vacation times than we were used to, and Guatemala is have either of you been to Guatemala. So you arrive in Antigua at the Capitol, but then it's like all roads lead to Rome, all roads lead to Antigua. And to get off the other roads, you have to go through Antigua. And I guess I was, I learned a lot that trip. They had done a lot of research and planned and made up a nice little itinerary.

And I was like, no, let's just wing it. Mistake number one. Yeah. I will forever eat that mistake, but it taught me, I learned from it. Um, And anyway, since we're short on time, Really wanted to hike in volcano. And there was Acatenango I might've said it wrong, but Acatenango it's the third highest peak, but again, we're short on time.

We've just spent two days at the beach. And again, I mentioned this because that's zero altitude. Okay. Right. Antigua sleep, spend the day, do a little hike to a volcano, which was very easy and I think it was rated moderate. Okay. But now we got to do the big one and still hit everything else up with like three or four days. Meanwhile, always coming back to Antigua. So you have to take a guided hike to do Acatenango , and it sits at about 13,000 feet when you're at the, at the peak. So 4,000 meters give or take, and it's about a kilometer and a half straight up from the little village that you start out. So you do need a guide and stuff.

They recommend that you do it over two days. So you'd go up three quarters of the way, sleep at a little base camp, adjust to the altitude and then go up. But we're like, oh, it's rated difficult. Yesterday's was moderate. We'll be fine. We're fit we're good. Well, again, everything was kind of last minute thanks to me. And we signed up as like the office was closing for this tour company. So we're like, yeah, we'll be here at five in the morning for you to take us up the mountain. Right. And then like, there was no restaurants open, no shops or anything. There was just like corner stores with candy and crap.

So we bought some water, like two liters, each, maybe six liters between us. And we had like Oreo type cookies, Guatemalan, Oreo, and we thought, oh, there'll be something like a little bakery opening as we make our way back here. You know? No,

we show up at five in the morning, we're sitting in Antigua waiting for the, the little van to come to take us up. Eating some cookies, into our stash already. And, oh, it's just dreadful thinking. And anyway, the van was late. I think it got there at five 30 and we start up, we're going up the mountain going through towns.

And then because Guatemala was very volcanic and mountainous because the roads are so narrow. The van has to like pull over for these like transport trucks to get by. Don't we stink down off the curb, into the sand gets stuck.

Yeah. And again, you're supposed to start at the base of this volcano around seven, so you're not doing it in high noon right. So we're, we're stuck there for like a good hour and then a Pepsi truck came and pulled us out, which was pretty epic. Yeah, I think you Pepsi or like, oh yeah, that would be like beat Coke on any Superbowl commercial

you saved the gringos Pepsi. Yeah. And then we get to the bottom of the volcano. We start up. We're like, okay, we're here. We're good for going sure it's eight 30, but we'll be fine. Yeah. So if you have you hiked a volcano,

Jenn: not hiked a volcano,

Kat: it's like Meggan, it's like Franey times 20.

Meggan: We've both done that!

Kat: Franey times 20, but put a lot of gravel in there the whole way for the first I'd say like probably the first kilometer up, it was just, oh, gravel. So you're like two steps forward. One slide. So you exert a lot of energy at the start and you know, water, hot sun. Oh gosh. Like rookie, rookie mistakes. We should not of made. I should not of made. So we did that. Then we kind of get to this like little shaded area. We're very low on water. And also you have a tour guide. He was prepared for himself, but not that well, but then what you, Guatemala they had at that time, maybe they still do is the guide would have to take someone from the local village up as well.

So it's like one-to-one for people. And it also gives some money to the local community and the kid, he was like 18 in rubber boots. Like he'd just come out of the barn and it started up with us and yeah, and he's doing this thing in rubber boots, no water, nothing. And you can tell he's suffering. So, so we actually gave him like one of our spare bottles of water.

So we were sharing two liters, which isn't two liters anymore.

Jenn: Oh my gosh. Oh,

Kat: No, so we're going up and then we hit this little patch of what you'd expect a volcano to be like, kind of lush and foresty and like hard mud paths. We're like, okay, we're gaining some, here we go. And then boom, we're out in the sun and it's all up again. No gravel. But at this point I also haven't mentioned how much altitude we're gaining.

Meggan: Right. So

Kat: we're starting to feel a bit sick, a little headache, and you know, those internal thoughts you have when you're hiking at any time, it's kinda like, geez, why am I going slow? Why do I feel so weak? I know it's not just the water, like, you know, your body. And I remember that the guide would be like, okay, okay you're only 500 meters or so we're like, okay, well, 500 meters is actually pretty long when you're feeling

Meggan: would be. Yeah.

Kat: So anyway, everyone's hurting, like even the guide who's done this, like hundreds of times, even the kid who lives at the base of it in his rubber boots, but you're not going to complain because you're like, I'm not in rubber boots. So at least I have some water and cookies, but

what we're going up and we get there to the first call there, but then there's another little one to go to. And the guide is like, you know what? We've got to be back down to the van in three hours. Because even though our time was cut short, getting there, we still do back. And he's like, let's just rest.

And he's like, if you guys want to go up to the top, like one of us will go with you because they had to. Yeah. And my partner at the time, he was like, I'm about to lose my cookies. I'm tapping out,

Jenn: literally lose his cookies

Kat: and he didn't. But but I was like this far, I'm going, oh man, ego check Kat ego check.

So I went up and then the poor guy in the rubber boots had to come with me and we went up and it was maybe another. 50-100 meters up. Right. So I'm doing it. And it's like, I've never had to stop like every 10 paces and rests. It was, it was the out cause I hadn't ever experienced altitude sickness and know what that felt like, or even done any research on it.

And I remember at one point, like I could see, like I was close to the top and I remember lying down flat being like, is this worth a heart attack? Anyway, I rested. And then I kind of sat up and I was like, I'm so close. And I went ahead and I finished and the I think it was called, Volcan Fuego, there was a volcano that was putting out smoke at the time we were there and you could see it.

So I got there and I saw, I got the picture and didn't I turn around and the poor kid in the rubber boots who lives at the base of the mountain, he was throwing up.

I just thought like, oh my God, what have I done? What have I done

Meggan: that poor kid?

Kat: I know Kat the slave driver.

So anyway, we come down, but then it, I can't remember exactly the timeframe, but I think it was probably like three and a half, four and a half hours up. But we came down in a boat an hour and a half cause we had to make that van. So again, think about going from this Altitude down a kilometer and a half very quickly and we were sliding in gravel and everything and oh my gosh. And then you have to take a van back to Antigua and that's when it really, really hit me where I was like about to hang out the van and traffic. And it really messed up the trip for the next few days because your body just wasn't right. And all the dust, I didn't mention the dust. It was like, my hair was so caked and matted and dust.

We were, we were brown like, oh, My hair's pretty thin, but this is like a Shishi poopoo. That's an aunt where she says she is like a Shishi poopoo moment. I had traveling that kind of makes it all worth it. It's like, I was like, I'm never going to wash this out myself. So I went this little, we were staying at a hostel, there, went around the corner and there was a salon and they washed it out and they were like, oh, they're like, you wouldn't hike to volcano

Meggan: for us to fix it.

Kat: They were like, fixed me up. And they were like, don't come back.

It was miserable. I've never been, I have hiked across Spain and that was easier than this damn volcano.

Meggan: That sounds awful.

Jenn: That does sound um,

Kat: yeah, a lot of lessons learned. So like, yeah, like I can't say I'm proud of it, but I learned a lot of lessons that I have not repeated

Jenn: that's so funny. Talk to us about working in a hostel Meggan and I have both never stayed in hostels. So yeah, tell us a little, it was like to, to work in one

Kat: it was really incredible. Just such a formative experience at a time where you're I was in my early twenties, I was fresh out of university, landed the gig.

I'm just forever grateful for the owner and his wife seeing something in me and having me there. And so this, it was a little hostel up when Cape Breton island was one of the first ones there. I think it was the second or third officially. Yeah. Yeah. It's under different ownership now and such but I hear it's doing well, which is lovely.

And it was just great because you were also there when the hostel industry in Nova Scotia was just getting started and it was fairly unknown and the people I got to meet through it, whether travelers or fellow workers and other hostels and stuff, and the friendships that last through til today it's amazing.

And it gave me a taste of what it's like to run your own business. And just so inspiring, like again, going back to how we kind of opened here and you're like, you know, different experiences and different tastes of travel and that and it's like, I got to meet so many people that were doing crazy things and it was inspiring like some of my favorite guests I remember to this day, there was this 80 year old woman from Switzerland. She has always wanted to go to Nova Scotia rented a car who was going around the Cabot trail and stayed with us for a few days. And I'll never forget Paul from Minnesota. He was in his mid eighties. He comes up in this big pickup truck and he's got lovely, like Midwestern accents and he's just like, yeah, I'm just traveling around now. He's like, I keep a suit in the back. And my kids know if I go, just put me in the suit and bury me and where I ended and it's just

please don't die here. But like,

Jenn: oh my God,

Kat: it was just such a really fun time too. I went to university in Halifax. So, you know, you've got the whole Halifax scene and university tends to take five years before. And it it was really neat because I was really missing being out in nature. And yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I enjoy a city exploring, but I'm not a city person.

So, so yeah, you just get to meet a lot of different people. You get to learn how to interact with a lot of different people from different walks of life and learn a lot, get to learn about

Meggan: really similar to, in regards to like it's a perfect segue into like your Airbnb. So is that kind of like, was your inspiration to like open your own Airbnb? Or how did you get to that point? Like what made you decide to want to do that?

Kat: The hostel definitely planted the seeds. Let's say that. And when I left that life and moved on to other things, it was always in my back of my mind that I would love to have my, my own hostel one day. Airbnb by the time I left was starting was not as well known coach surfing was kind of the big thing.

Yeah. And then I, I traveled through the states and then I landed in Florida and I coach surfed there. Like I was hosting coach surfers there, and also there's a, a bicycle network and sort of like coach surfing. We can host cyclists. So I do a little bit of that and got to meet some great people. Like, and then When I moved back to Canada, I continued the coach surfing thing.

And then the first coach surfer was Jamie from Scotland, who I will hook you up with him and his wife, Sarah. And I mean like, wow, what a friendship that's come from that. But it was always in the back of my mind. And then I think by the time I was back in Canada, it was like, yeah, I think like Airbnb would be more of a thing to do in the hostel. And you'd have a little bit more of your own time and your life a little bit more separate let's say. Doing the Caminos in Spain, I think the ultimate goal would be like to be retired, run an albergues hostel for hikers on a Camino . Yeah. So I think that would just be so like soul nourishing to like give back to what you've experienced and the luck you've had.

So yeah, to run the Airbnb, I guess it's always just sort of been there and the opportunity, and to be honest, a lot of unfortunate things had to happen to get back to Nova Scotia and, and be here, but, you know, it's, it just seemed right to stay. And the fact that we had the family property that we could share with others and, yeah.

So that's, I hope I answered the question.

Meggan: Well, no, definitely. And I think like too, you know, in regards to the Airbnb, so Jen's not been had the experience. Okay, she's going to go. I think, you know, three or four times at this point, and I love it so much. And there's a photo album in there of like, you know, your pictures of building the chalet and your family.

And you really do get a sense that it's a family, you know, place where you've shared so much, and now you are sharing it with other people, which I think is a blessing. But the one thing I want to talk about that I know so well is that you put so many personal touches into that place for each guest that comes and stays. I'm sure you do the same. I'm sure it's not just me. But it really does make

Oh, sorry. It's just me. But all those little things don't happen at every Airbnb and it is what makes your, not only the family vibe, but the, what you do there. People don't know until they go, I guess, but once you've been, you're like, wow, that's above and beyond. So talk to us about how you come up, like with your ideas and why those important or little touches are important to you because it doesn't happen everywhere.

Okay. I can't see, honestly, I can't see doing it any other way. Because I think it would kind of go against my vision for, for the experience. So. Before starting Luna Rosa in 2019, I wrote down some core values of like, why I'm doing it. And I really come back to those. I'll read them throughout the season, I'll read them over the winter and just to always stay true to it.

when we decided as a family to start sharing it, it it's it's more about the experience than just a place to sleep. And I think as you guys, as travelers, like we're not just traveling to see things we're traveling to experience. And I try and look at travel and staying at Luna Rosa as a sensual experience.

So it's what you're going to see what you're going to taste, what you're going to smell, what you're going to feel, what you're going to. I mean, I don't have control over a lot of those elements, but I try and just think about the simple life. Like am very into like a minimal life and like less is more.

And just how to kind of share that. Not, not, not pressuring it on anybody just to slow down. I think we all, like, no matter how busy your life is or complicated I just think we all need a safe space to escape to, and that's, I think what the world needs right now even before COVID like, we just need to get away and unplug. I only got a cell phone when I started Luna Rosa. So like the whole phone thing being kind of attached to my phone from June through December is a whole new experience for me. And I re I really see like how important unplugging is. But yeah, I, I just think. It's about embracing the slow life and taking in nature.

And I guess my ideas just kind of come from nature and the senses and feeling, and experience and some past travel experiences too.

Right. That's beautiful. Yeah. And

Jenn: it sounds like such a special place. So it's been in your family for, for a long time. How did yeah, did it,

Kat: I think it's 30 years this year that dad broke ground.

Jenn: Oh my goodness.

Kat: It started to raise the rafters. Yeah. I think it's 30 so I have to look at the photo album, Megan, and check that. I'm pretty sure there's some 92 on those, on those photos, which is probably dating myself as well, was big mom and dad bought the land in 90, 90-ish. And yeah, part of the reason Luna Rosa exists is because my family has a farm. So to go on vacations and travel is wasn't didn't happen. So to be able to get a little piece of land and a lake, and my parents were from Montreal and my dad and his brothers would go with their family, usually in the summer to an uncle's cottage in Ontario. And I think dad just kind of wanted to recreate that experience for us all a little bit. So. Most people went to church on Sundays and we finished chores and we all hopped in the trucks and went to the lake. . A lot of memories there and. Yeah, so it's. Yeah, so my parents bought the land, my dad built it and I think some people sometimes walk in and think it was finished like five years ago.

But it's well, if you look at the countertop and the handles and the kitchen, you know, it's a little more nineties style, but I mean, really that stuff might've been bought, but it was never in place. I mean, I was done in a way and I think they kind of finished it all inside. Probably maybe 10 years ago.

Meggan: Oh, yeah, it looks fantastic. Like it's held up over the years, like it's and it is the cleanest airbnb I've ever stayed in. We make jokes when we go because the wood is piled inside. There's a, there's a stove you need to in the colder months, build a fire. And we like, there's not even any like little sprigs of anything from the wood that's fallen on the floor. I'm like, does she vacuum the wood? Like, I don't understand how this is even possible. And we're just like, oh, that's just Kat doing her thing. It's pristine. And it's perfect.

Kat: Oh yeah. A lot of pressure now leading up to season.

Meggan: I'm not worried about you at all.

Jenn: Oh my goodness. Is there anything you want people to know about running an Airbnb that they might not realize? Just being on the booking side instead of the running side?

Kat: There's a lot to it in when I first started traveling, it took me a few times as a traveler to kind of catch on to the site and everything that's in there and in the listing and in the photos, like the photos have captions, who knew? I did once I started hosting.

But there's a lot of information in those photos. Yeah. I think the one thing to really hit home and I can say this from chatting with quite a few other hosts is that it's our homes. It's, it's something in the family, you know, there's, there's a lot of people that are building their tiny home dream or they're putting up a, yurt dream or a dome because it's something they've always dreamed of doing or a cottage and sharing it with the world.

And I think just don't ever forget that it's someone's home. And I think as the platform grows and the guest base grows things can start to get treated a little bit more like hotel, let's say. No one should ever leave a hotel disastrous. Let's just say that, but there's no excuse, right? I think that there's times where like, there's so much newness to Airbnb, that people are treating it more like an Expedia website to book a hotel and not realizing that it's someone's home and property. And a lot of love goes, goes into them. A lot of them. Yeah. And everyone's unique. Right? So you there's the whole rating system with Airbnb and I that's a little controversial with a lot of people hosts and guests alike because every Airbnb is unique. That's what Airbnb is based on unique home stays so you can't really compare apples to oranges, so yeah, but it's, there's people's homes and they're yeah. They're fun. They're fun. So yeah. What would you guys look for in an Airbnb when you go like.

Meggan: Go Jenn you say

Jenn: honestly, like we haven't done a lot of Airbnbs. I had like a not great experience the first time we stayed in one in a condo in Toronto and it's like, it had put me off of it for a long time, but I think treating them as what I would use it for now is a unique stay. Like I, when we stayed in Toronto, we were just looking for somewhere to stay and it really didn't matter. But we, we did have a bad experience, but the now when I'm looking for somewhere, like we have one book for Isle of Skye and then another one booked for Fort William. And so we were looking for a location, but also we were looking for a bigger space because we're, we're doing a little bit of group travel in Scotland as well.

So having a space where we can all be together and kind of like sharing that experience and having a kitchen and like that sort of thing is definitely amazing.

Meggan: I think for me, it's either unique experience, like staying in an old church or, you know, like something like that, or the other one for me is unplugging. So I'm either looking for like one or the other, so something different if I see and everybody is different, but for me personally, if it's just someone's house in a residential neighborhood, that's not what I'm ever looking for, unless I just need somewhere to stay. So for me, if I am booking something like that, it's definitely for the unique piece of it. Or like I said, just to get away from it all. So that's usually sort of what I'm looking for.

Kat: Yeah. There's so many gems in Nova Scotia.

Meggan: There are

Kat: time or two where I can get away, especially the last few years. No, it's just like, it's just, everything's so unique and wonderful and creative. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of funny it's like, you know, people like to look into other people's homes. It's just kind of like getting into the door. Travel curiosity

Jenn: We're all little nosy.

Kat: Well, that's what makes us travelers. We're curious.

Jenn: Curious. That's a good way to put it.

Oh my gosh. This is just like filled my heart so much. I love talking travel. Thank you so much, Kat, for coming on and telling, telling your travel stories and sharing your insights. It's been, it's been really, really lovely.

Kat: It's been a new experience for me. Yeah. I'm not a good public speaker. So I'm sure you'll have lots of edits

Jenn: whatever. No big deal. Thank you everyone for listening to this episode, as always, if you enjoyed the show you could leave us a review on Spotify or apple podcasts. You can chat with us on Facebook or Instagram and share the show with a travel loving pal. And we will talk to you soon. Bye everyone!