We’ve been asked for a while now to feature our kids on the podcast, so it’s time for their takeover! Thanks to the Instagram community for sending questions over and we hope you enjoy this episode!
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Transcript
Santi: Welcome to the Jetsetting Family Travel Podcast. I’m Jess. And I’m Rod. And today we’re gonna be talking about how amazing our kids Santi and Nora are. They’re really amazing because they cooperate and they also take photos for us sometimes, and they also do good when we take photos of them and they behave well when they’re on trips.
So, kids come on over here. Hi guys. I’m Santi. I’m Nora, and we’re sorry, but sadly our parents are interview interviewing us today. Yeah, we’re here.
Jess: Yeah, we’re here! The kids wanted to start out our podcast impersonating us. But today we’re here and we’re excited to finally be able to ask our kids questions you guys sent in.
It seems like yesterday, guys, we were interviewing the famous Rick Steve’s son Andy Steves about what it was like to go on the road. And if you haven’t listened to that podcast, check that one out. But it felt like when we interviewed him, it seemed like a lifetime away that my kids would be old enough to be interviewed themselves about what they felt like living life on the road. But here we are.
Nora: Yeah!
Rod: And it’s crazy because when we first started, Santi was five years old, Nora was two, and it’s been really fascinating trying to figure out what they actually remember about our time when we traveled full-time. What do they remember from the pictures and the videos that we’ve collected and have shown them throughout the years and what are some of their favorite things about travel? So today, we are actually opening up a very special mail bag. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been asking people on Instagram to send over questions that Santi and Nora can answer today. So we are really excited.
Nora: Yay. We get to answer questions!
Jess: You guys ready?
Santi: Kinda, yeah, sort of.
Jess: Okay guys, before we open up the grab bag of mystery questions, I’m gonna start with a mom question. Looking back at our life on the road, it was a very unique experience. Do you regret that mommy and daddy took you on this adventure or do you look back and you’re grateful for the times?
Santi: I don’t regret the adventure. Like I, I did really enjoy it if we’re being honest here, but I also enjoy our life in Florida right now, so I enjoyed the journey and the destination.
Nora: I liked it. Wait, what was the question?
Jess: Are you happy that we full-time traveled or do you wish we never had?
Nora: Kind of, because I like Florida, I’m playing with my friends. And I also like where I used to live and stuff. So like kind of a mix.
Rod: All right. We’re actually starting now with the first question from Instagram. This one is from @rebuilding.joy, and the question is, what is the thing you remember the most from traveling?
Santi: Probably the Dominican Republic for two reasons. The first reason is because it wasn’t too long ago. It was maybe like four to six months ago. So I can still remember it, but the second reason is because we literally got to do like circus things and it was just something else. Like, it was amazing and I, and I do wish that we could go back there again sometime.
So Club Med: If you want, if you need someone to take photos for you, we’re, we’re open, so please, please hire us again, please.
Nora: Thailand. Cause I remember, we feed elephants their bananas, but it wasn’t my favorite place. We’ve been to the thing that Santi said. That was my favorite place I’ve been to.
Jess: Okay guys, next question comes from @char_check. We’ll start with you. Favorite thing to do on a Royal Caribbean ship?
Santi: I kind of like, just like the being on the ship in general because they have a lot of fun activities. Like there’s the Ultimate Abyss, the kids club and, and many more. Like I could go on for a while, but those are just some of the highlights.
And I also just like taking photos in general because like they’re, they’re not the most fun to do, but looking back I kind of enjoy that we did them because they look really cool in the end. How about you Nora?
Nora: Um, I liked because I loved all the slides there and it was fun.
Jess: Oh nice. That’s cool. I’m gonna continue with Royal cause we got another royal question from @amandabautista1: Do you guys like the kids Club on Royal Caribbean?
Santi: I do because I get to socialize with other kids around my age and I also get to, and there’s also like some video games I get to play and, but it’s mainly because I get to socialize.
Jess: What about the favorite game? You always rave about gaga ball?
Santi: I don’t, I, I used, I used to, they don’t really do it as much.
How about you, Nora? Do you like the kids club?
Nora: Not as much cause I won’t see my mom and dad
Rod: Aw, that’s so sweet.
Jess: But you do go?
Nora: Yeah, because you want me to .
Santi: Valid. Valid. I don’t want to go some most of the time though. Okay. Like I, I would go with my free will.
Jess: You always ask to go every morning. When’s the kids’ club open?
Rod: All right. Do we have any more royal questions?
Okay. I’ve got a couple here that are all about traveling. So the first one comes from @emmy_and_spoo, and that is, what do you like to bring with you on a plane for a long? Nora, you can go first.
Nora: I love to ring my teddy bear in my iPad. Oh yeah. Mostly my iPad.
Rod: Yeah. Is that the thing that you do most on an airplane?
Nora: Yeah. Always. and what about you Santi?
Santi: Electronics, like I just bring a bunch of electronics chargers, so I’m, I’m pretty much like I just carry a bunch of tech, have another one round. So I just opened up my backpack, grab out my Nintendo Switch, start playing. When the battery gets low, I just bring out my charger, plug it into the USB thing that the plane has and then just don’t worry about it.
Nora: I also like reading Piggy and Gerald books on the plane.
Rod: Piggy and Gerald. Yeah. Those are your new favorite books.
Jess: It’s funny because the kids actually, we limit their technology during the week, which Santi is not a fan of, but that’s the house rule ,
Santi: And I wish I could get rid of that rule.
Jess: And the one time we’re very lenient with technology is on planes. So Santi when he was, when we were full-time traveling and on longer. Was always so excited to get on a plane
Santi: If the plane ride was like 10 hours, yeah. I would be so happy because I would just get to play for like nine hours and then not for one.
Jess: Yeah. And Santi would be like, every time he’d be like, how long’s this flight?
I’m like, it’s only three hours. He’d be so disappointed. But if it was a long flight, he’d be stoked. They do take their Kindles or books and read.
Santi: I, I’m more into like, actual books now, though. Not the Kindle. Kindle just hurts my eyes.
Okay. I read actual books now. The only disadvantage is that I need actual light source. Wis what the Kindle had.
Rod: Very true. Okay, next question. Comes from @jaquesonaplane. What were your favorite activities to do at Airbnbs and hotels when traveling?
Santi: Nora you go first. I go first a bunch.
Nora: Um, I play my Barbies most of the time.
Santi: I, for me, the things that I do most of the time at an Airbnb Is either take photos, a, do my iPad, B, and then C read, which is the second most common thing. I also like reading.
Jess: Nora, actually she didn’t say this, but Nora loves to draw in color. That’s something she does quite well.
Nora: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lemme put that in it.
Jess: Next question. This is from @carekip: I wanna know what you think the best part about flying on an airplane is. Since you already said we love technology, name something else.
Santi: The snacks. I like the snacks and because usually I, I get like Cheeto puffs or gummy bears and stuff, but I also like the snacks that the flight attendants give out. I also like the turbulence.
The turbulence is fun. You get like a rollercoaster for your rollercoaster. Cause one time we were flying with our grandma and then, and then there was turbulence and it. Up, down, up, down, like, like a hill.
Nora: I liked snacks and reading. My favorite snacks is Takis. And I also like eating my gummy bears.
Rod: I’ve got a question over here. This one comes from @jc_4242. What are some interesting things that you have learned from travel?
Santi: I’ve learned a bunch of like different cultures and that not everywhere is the same place, so you can’t just judge a book by its cover. Because like for example, Mexico, when people think of Mexico, they probably think of tacos and other stuff, but it’s actually very different than that.
Rod: Okay. What’s some, what’s something else that you’ve learned, about culture?
Santi: That every country is different. How, so? What are some differences that you’ve seen? Like, for example, some countries, like they do different things because of the different climates. Like for example, in like Colorado, like they, they do different things there because it’s usually snowing and cold out while other people like, while in other places like Florida.
like people do other things because it’s hot. And they can never swim. In Colorado, people go skiing, but in Florida people jump in pools, , that’s very true. Yeah. In Colorado, no one would dare to jump in a pool.
Rod: Okay. Nora, what’s something you’ve learned?
Nora: I learned that in Colorado there’s bases, um, and in Florida you can’t take bases cuz it’ll just dig water. I mean basement, basement.
Rod: Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s true.
Jess: What did you learn from going to different places.
Nora: I don’t know. Actually.
Santi: I can’t blame. I can’t blame her. She was only like two.
Jess: Do all countries speak the same language?
Nora: No. Do all people speak Spanish? They speak French.
Santi: They speak French.
Jess: Do all countries dress the same? Okay. @mrsgossett1 wants to know: was it overwhelming for you not knowing what type of culture or place you were gonna go to next?
Santi: Yes and no because like, yes, because it was, it was like harder to socialize and like find things in common.
But no, because like, there’s some things that a lot of people have in common, like a lot of people in most countries, like we all, they, they all, we all play video games and stuff. Like, I, like, I’ve, I’ve met a lot of people who played Roblox on the road, so I would just like, make a bunch of, so I would just friend a bunch of people on Roblox. So, so that’s one thing that helped me socialize.
Jess: Do you know what I remember about you being a little kid on the road? What you had one game that was super simple and everyone in the world seemed to understand how to play it and it only involved one tool. Do you, can you think of what it was that you played?
Santi: Oh, bottle flip.
Jess: I remember that you played bottle flip all over the world with so many different people.
Rod: Yeah. I remember you playing in Vietnam. No, actually in Vietnam. We were just walking down the street and you saw this crowd of people that were playing bottle flip and you just walked up to that group, even though we couldn’t speak the language.
And you asked if you could play. And then the one thing I do remember, these were, I think teenagers, probably like 16 to 18 years old. They gave you the bottle and you flipped it and you landed it on the first try.
Nora, did you get overwhelmed when we go to a new place? You get nervous when we fly to a new destination?
Nora: Yeah, sometimes. What do you get nervous about? That my tummy hurts.
Why does your tummy hurt? Because I got car sick.
Jess: Oh yeah. No. Nora’s our car sick kiddo.
Santi: I’m the kiddo who doesn’t usually get car sick, but when I do, I get very car sick.
Jess: Speaking of food and tummy aches. @the_wandering_four wants to know what is the your favorite food you’ve ever eaten while traveling?
Nora:Tacos. Tacos. Where’d you eat Tacos?
Jess: Where’d you eat Tacos?
Nora: Florida.
Rod: In Mexico too!
Nora: I like tacos in Florida instead of Mexico.
Jess: Oh, you like tacos everywhere? Santi. What is your favorite food you’ve eaten? Santi’s A very picky eater, so this is a hard question.
Santi: It used to be chicken nuggets, but after what happened in Colombia not too long ago, that did change pretty quickly.
Rod: Tell us what happened in Colombia. So what happened?
Santi: Like I, I went to the mall with my sister and my mom. And there was a McDonald’s, like a lot, we all liked McDonald’s. And then we had some McDonald’s. I got a bunch of chicken nuggets and I got lots of five minutes. Like five minutes later we went home because Nora’s stomach was hurting.
And then that night we, we went, we went to bed. Nora threw up I, and then I threw up. But the point is that we were all throwing up that night and we assumed that it was because of McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
Jess: So guys. Santi is one of the world’s pickiest eaters. It’s just a fact. It was a very big challenge for us on the road, and one of our travel moments that maybe he doesn’t remember, but I will not forget, was we had been dreaming for years for Santi to try mac and cheese.
It was not happening. We offered it all over the world. And finally this one place…
Santi: It was like Tex, it was in Texas, I’m pretty sure. I remember Texas being in the name.
Jess: Yes. Accurate statement. But it was in the country of, can you think? Ireland. We were in Ireland at this random restaurant called, did you remember
Rod: I don’t remember the name, but it was in Killarney, Ireland and it had the name, it had Texas in it, it with Southern Texas Food, which was had Texas in name to us and it had Texas in the name.
Jess: But he had told us that. I’m willing to try mac and cheese. And I remember we were like, where are we gonna find mac and cheese here in Ireland?
And we like Googled mac and cheese on Google Maps. This random restaurant with the name Texas came up and we took him there.
Santi: I think it was Southern Texas Kitchen.
Jess: And Santi ate his first bowl of mac and cheese ever. And he loved it.
Santi: I still prefer Kraft. I still prefer Kraft mac and cheese. And also when he tried mozzarella sticks, Oh yeah, mozzarella sticks.
Jess: Do you remember where you tried mozzarella sticks for the first time?
Santi: Um, I’m pretty sure it was in New Mexico. Nope, we were in Hawaii
Jess: Nope, we were in Hawaii. We were in Paia, Hawaii, but okay, moving on. Food’s been a tricky challenge for our family, especially, well, not for Nora. Nora will eat street food from anywhere in the world.
Nora: I tried shrimp, but then I liked it and then I had a ketchup and then I didn’t like it.
Rod: Okay. I found the place, it wasn’t Killarney, it was Kilkenny, and the place was called Paris, Texas
Santi: Yeah. So that would explain why there was escargot there. I’m pretty sure.
Rod: Okay. Next question. This one’s gonna be an interesting one. It comes from @mskatecita: Do you ever get sick of working or being involved in and helping with your parents’ job?
Santi: For sure, yes. Like that, that I cannot say no to that like honest, if we’re being honest here. Like, cause, because a lot of the times it’s like, it’s, it’s just so frustrating. But my parents are just like, Okay. One more photo and then we’ll be done.
And then it takes like another hour to get that one photo I’m doing, I’m doing air quotes here by the way. So, because then we, and then they’re like, oh no, we, we actually, oh no, we have to do this many more photos. And then it takes so much longer because like, I’m like, yes, we’re almost done with this. And, and then we have to do more and, and then, and it’s just so aggravating.
Yeah. And practicing.
Rod: Well, do you wish you hadn’t done that?
Santi: I still do enjoy it. It’s just that sometimes I don’t necessarily enjoy it. Because there’s other times where I don’t want to do it, but I still have to do it.
Rod: Yeah. Do you remember the thing that we always tell you whenever we’re going somewhere and have to work because of it?
Santi: That you guys would pay me?
Rod: Yeah. That’s true. We do, we do pay you.
Santi: Yeah. Yeah. So, so I do get paid if like, so, so I don’t just do this because I don’t like, because I don’t want to, like, I still get. So that’s one motivation I have.
Rod: And the other thing that we tell you is we don’t get to travel to those places unless we work most of the time.
So yeah, it was a decision of we can either go and work or we can just not go. And a lot of the times we choose to go because we end up having these amazing experiences.
Jess: What do you like about working?
Santi: I like that we get to go to different places and that we get special perks there sometimes. Like what? Um, like at Atlantis, I’m pretty sure that we got free things from the bar and no, I did not get beer. I just got a whole ton of Shirley Temples and cherries. Oh, my parents got beer. No, either my dad got beer or my mom got a mojito or they both got beer.
Jess: What perks do you get on other trips?
Santi: We get to do stuff when there, when there’s no one else there, so it’s more enjoyable and we also get to go for free.
Rod: Yeah. Well, how about you, Nora? Well, what’s, do you ever get sick of working or being involved in helping with your parents’ job?
Santi: Be honest, Nora, be honest.
Nora: I like helping mommy and daddy.
Jess: Okay. I have a question. Here’s a mommy question: would you rather stay home and not do cool trips or would you rather go on a cool trip and have to work?
Santi: well, it depends like where would we be going and how long would it be for.
Jess: Like most of our trips, Club Med, Royal Caribbean for seasons, like those types of trips.
Santi: If it was Club Med or Royal Caribbean, then definitely. But if it was like Four Seasons or like the Hilton, then probably not. So, Club Med and Royal Caribbean. If you wanna hire us, like I, I’m fine with going, so please invite us like, I’m, I’m open, so like I, I could, I could change my schedule. I’m happy to go.
Rod: All right, so I have one more question here from Instagram.
This one comes from @seasons11. They asked: what is a place that you dream of going to?
Santi: For me, it’s definitely Tokyo. Like I’ve always wanted to go on Tokyo. It’s on the top of my bucket list. I see there’s a lot of cool tech there. There’s also like a bunch of cool stuff there.
Like when I was younger, I was a very big fan of Pokemon and Tokyo invented like Poxcket Monsters. They used to call it Pocket Monsters because like you could fit a Pokemon in your pocket and they were kind of like monsters, but they’re not scary. But I always would see videos in Tokyo. Well, not in Tokyo, but like about Tokyo and, and there would always be this one thing every year called the Pikachu Parade, where it would just be a bunch of Pikachu costumes marching around Tokyo for like three or four days.
And I always wanted to see it, but I had to see it through videos because we would never be able to go. Hopefully this year we might be able to go, like my parents said that we might be able to go this year.
Rod: That’s what we’re hoping, but we’ll see about that
Jess: We had plans to go in 2020, and then 2021, but it’s been closed to covid. If you had a second place you’d like to visit, where would it be?
Santi: Egypt. Probably like the pyramids of Giza, like I hear, like I hear a lot of cool things about it.
Rod: That’s cool. All right. Nora, your turn.
Nora: I don’t really know…
Jess: So is there something you’d like to do? Like do you want to go zip lining, swim with dolphins, hike, ski. Is there something on your list that you would like to do?
Nora: Zipline. Zipline. Woohoo. Zip lining!
Rod: Well that is it for our mail bag.
Jess: Wait, one more mommy question.
Jess: What do you think about your pictures being posted publicly? Let’s see. Nora, you go first.
Nora: I love them.
Santi: Why?
Nora: I dunno, I just love them.
Jess: Yeah. Nora loves to, on the weekends, watch our old YouTube videos on repeat and scroll through Instagram on just our page. She can’t see other people’s stuff. What about you, Santi?
Santi: It really depends on like what the photo is and where it’s posted. Like, for example, if it’s, if it’s like an embarrassing photo, then for sure not like, no. But if it’s like a cool photo that I like, then I would definitely be happy. Kind of like on how we made it onto the Royal Caribbean page.
The cruises are actually fun. This, this video isn’t sponsored by it, but you, you should go on. They’re fun. But we made the front, but I made the front page and I did enjoy it cause it was actually one of the good photos I liked.
Jess: Well, what embarrassing photos do we post?
Santi: I don’t know. Like, I don’t know. There, there’s just some photos I don’t really like and I don’t want them to be posted.
Jess: Yeah. Santi has gotten a little bit pickier about being on our stories and being featured and as he’s getting older, we really respect when he says, No.
Santi: Because like, I, I wanna try and start like my own career.
It kind of like, I’m trying to make some YouTube videos right now, like it’s still in progress, like in development, but I, I still do want to do it, so I kind of don’t want to have like more of an advantage over some other people who were trying to be it. Now I’m, I’m kind of pickier because I want to be in my own videos a little bit more.
Jess: Okay. One last, last question. This is like me with my photos.
Santi: Yeah, that’s, that’s you with your photos, . One last photo. One last last photo. Next thing you know there’s gonna be five more questions. Okay.
Jess: Would you ever want to travel full-time?
Santi: Not necessarily like full-time, but maybe like if it’s during a break, I, I’d be fine with like traveling for a month or two, but just like, not the entire break or not the entire like time because I enjoy like having an actual community where I could make and keep friends. Like, because I have actual good friends, but whenever I would travel, like I would make friends and I would lose friends.
Jess: That’s valid. Nora, would you ever want to travel full-time again?
Nora: I’ll lose friends that I make like Santi and I’ll also miss my friends here cause I always love playing with them. Because I always ask you if I can go run to their house and play with them.
Jess: Yeah. So you guys wanna keep our home base, but maybe do trips from here?
Santi: Yeah. Like, like not like every week, but like maybe every now and.
Jess: Do you think as adults you’ll still travel a lot?
Santi: Probably.
Rod: Well, this has been a really fun time because we did very little prep with the kids. Most of these questions that we asked, we just said them out loud, let you think about them and answer them.
So, you are getting as about a raw type of experience from our kids. It’s really fun being able to interview you guys and have, get your thoughts on what your opinions of travel and living here in Florida now are so, yeah. I hope you all enjoyed this. This has been a really special episode, but we look forward to being able to continue to feature both of you kiddos in our podcast sometime in the future.
Maybe from now on we can do little facts of places that you’ve learned. That’s something that we used to do before when you were younger.
Santi: Yeah, I remember like, we would do them in our videos. Like I would give three fun facts about different countries.
Rod: Yeah. And if y’all have any other questions for our kids or questions about our travel life plans, destinations, places that you’re looking to visit and you want some advice or tips, then always reach out to us.
You can find us @thejetsettingfamily on Instagram, or you can email us at hello [at]thejetsettingfamily.com. As always, if you have enjoyed this podcast, make sure that you are subscribing. That way you can get new episodes delivered straight to you every Tuesday
Jess: And thank you guys for being our guests!
Santi: There’s also two additional things I have to say. Not only like are we only on YouTube and Instagram, but we also have our own official website that we created. And the second thing is a lot of you are gonna think that this is like scripted, but no, almost every part of this video is raw, except for the intro. That was scripted. Although we did like the idea, we did like the idea.
Rod: Yep. You’re right about that.
Jess: Santi has always been our old soul, and I think once he turns 12, he might be our business manager.
Santi: Hey, I’m already studying finance.
Jess: Yeah, Santi loves to keep us informed. He always is yelling at me that YouTube doesn’t have followers.
It’s subscribers. Subscribers and I should know these things.
Santi: Like, and it’s true because it’s like, it’s pretty much if you were say like if I walked around saying that people on Instagram have subscribers, not followers, like it would be kind of annoying. Yeah, technically. Well, at least I find it annoying.
Jess: Okay, well, we want to thank you guys for listening. So, until next time, Happy Jetsetting!
