Wine Down Wednesday: Sakala Rutherford

Wine Down Wednesday: Sakala Rutherford

Aired: September 8th, 2021

Audio and Photo Source: Sakala Rutherford and Instagram

 

Episode Summary

This Wine Dine Wednesday is riddled with travel gems. If you're a travel newbie or even a travel vet, this is not a WDW you want to miss. Orion and Sakala chat about the the places worth going again and again, the best ways to group travel and find travel friends, trip budgeting and leveraging reward points and so so so much more. Y'all, Orion's and Sakala's conversation was so jam packed with travel hacks, we might just have to start calling them the Travel Tip Team. Tune in and let us know if the name fits!

 

 

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Episode Transcript

Wine Down Wednesday: Sakala Rutherford

 

Orion:

It's Wednesday. We are about to kick off Wine Down Wednesday, I'm so excited because this week was short but still somehow long. This is where we are at? Hello, for those of you who don't know me my name is Orion, I'm the founder and CEO of Black Travel Box and this is Wind Down Wednesday. We are going to be kicking it, talking all things, travel, I wine, baby, I need it. Our guest is here, hello.

Sakala Rutherford:

Hello, how are you?

Orion:

Good, how are you doing?

Sakala Rutherford:

Good, can't complain.

Orion:

Tell me how to pronounce your name, is it, Sakala or Cicala.

Sakala Rutherford:

Sakala, you were right the first time.

Orion:

Sakala, okay cool and folks are joining us. Thank you so much for joining us guys, we are about to kick it. I don't know if you all drink but I got my glass of Rosa right here, so cheers wait, there we go, I love it. So every week we do this, we bring in some fun-folks, last week we didn't because schedules are crazy but every week we do this. I've been doing this since, I want to say June of last year because COVID, the Rona took away our favorite thing which is to travel and it made me so sad and I was like, you know what, we need to just talk about it. So Sakala thank you for joining us, the way I love to introduce people is like, tell us your name, where you live, where you're from, if they're two different places, what's your nine to five, and then how many stamps do you have on your passport?

Sakala Rutherford:

Well, if I forget any of those parts, I'm going to ask you. So my name is Sakala, I live in Washington DC, so the MP girl, although I went to Hampton and here we are, but I'm from Charlestown, West Virginia and I am a learning experience designer, so I create online training for a large corporation and what was the last question? How many stamps? I think 20 stamps have been some places.

Orion:

I got some street credit over here.

Sakala Rutherford:

Been [cross-talking 00:02:45] there more than once.

Orion:

Look, I'm not mad at that either, I just say how many places you've been once because sometimes you find a good place you like, I need to explore more, I need more of that, I love that. And so you mentioned going back to places, do you have personal criteria for places that you're willing to go back to? And you just like, if you like it, you love it, you're going back.

Sakala Rutherford:

For the most part, if I like it then I'm going to go back but if I connect with the place, connect with the people, love the food, love the culture then nine times out of 10, I'm going back. It's going to be high up on that list but if it's just somewhere that was cute, for example, everyone loves going to Paris and Paris just reminds me of DC or New York, I live here, I don't want to vacation here, so it's not on my list of things that I want to get back but we can go to Southern France all day because I had a good time in Cannes.

Orion:

We've got to come back to that, we're going to come back to that. So, I think that the first criteria are please don't give me more of what I already have, give me something different.

Sakala Rutherford:

Exactly.

Orion:

I visited a few places multiple times, sometimes it was for work. So it was sort of fine but one of the things that I do like to do, if it's a place that I like and I haven't had a chance to fully explore it, then it goes on my go-back list. So whether it is more of the same or anything like that, I think there's just something about when you go to a place and you have that feeling like, I'm not going to get to see all of it, I refuse to feel sad. I'm like, I just have to come back that's when things happen.

Sakala Rutherford:

If I'm ready to go home, I'm not coming back.

Orion:

And that was a good point but I found that there are some places where you go like Vegas, it's like that's a three-day weekend, that's a solid three days by four hours into the fourth day. I'm like, I can't, I need to get out of here. No shot, no slight to Vegas; Vegas is dope but in the strip and all of the energy and all that, I just don't have enough energy for all of that. But other places I'll be on a 10-day trip and I'll be like, I can stay another week. [Cross-talking 05:12].

Sakala Rutherford:

What makes you want to stay another week somewhere?

Orion:

For me, it's comfort level and when I say comfort level, it's just coming in and being like I think it's lack of anxiety. I hate to put it that way, but Ireland is always on my list and I always talk about this pretty much every week. I love Ireland, I was looking at Trinity College like, do I need a Ph.D.? What do I need to do? And it was because it was such a comfortable space and so there's a lot of new stuff and a lot of different things that I'd never seen. But even just from the space of wanting to be around the people, wanting to eat the food, like to me, it's like, can I get a meal that I want? Can I have great conversations? Can I connect? But I was curious because what are some of the places that you've gone back to that would make you go back again and again. Are you like, I give those a couple of times and now I'm done or are there like, whenever I have a weekend trip, it's got to be to this place whenever I have if I ever go to Asia, then I always got to stop here. What are some of those mechanics that you have?

Sakala Rutherford:

So I know I just said, I wasn't like the city traveler but when I did go to Asia; it's not only an Asia trip, I went to Tokyo. I went to Tokyo and I went to Sapporo. I went to Sapporo for the snow festival, 2020 the world shut down and there was so much Olympic stuff. I should have known that's a collector's item at this point because it didn't happen.

Orion:

Well, you didn't know, you not psychic, you know I am Miss Cleo.

Sakala Rutherford:

We knew that COVID was real when people were wearing face masks, but that's just normal there but Tokyo was just so fun. There were so many things to do, I felt like I could explore a whole part of town and not even see everything. The culture is just so cool and so one of the places that I love going to, and I think I've been four times at this point is Costa Rica. I love going to Costa Rica, the food is delicious, my Spanish is all right but I make it back and it's just a good time, the people are nice, you can dance all night. I've made it to the point where I know if I go there, I'm going to go to my farmer's market and get this little coconut cake that I love. I'm going to go over here and I'm going to get like the [inaudible 07:32], I'm going to go to this little beach bar here, The Wild Panda. I don't know if you've been, but it's delicious there.

Orion:

I haven't and now it going on my list.

Sakala Rutherford:

It's in Tamarindo and it's so good. So I started making a little itinerary of places that I got to go to when I'm here now and I'm like, this just feels like New York now I need to go over here, I need to go over there somewhere like Atlanta, you know what I mean?

Orion:

And that's interesting because that's almost like it's home away from home kind of stuff where you're just like, I know what to expect, I know exactly the type of vacation I'm going to get out of this and it's all stuff that I enjoy.

Sakala Rutherford:

Exactly!

Orion:

That's awesome. So what are some of the places that are in the passport that you have on your list to go back to and you haven't done it yet?

Sakala Rutherford:

Ghana. So when I was in college, I did a study abroad at the University of Ghana. So I was there for six weeks, I study Politics in Developing Countries and we got to explore a lot while I was there, that's where my artwork comes from and that's one of my things now when I travel places, I pick up art or something from my house so that I can look at it and remember where I'm going or where I've been or where I want to go back but yes, I would love to go back to Ghana. There are a lot more places in Africa that I'd like to go to, one of my girlfriends, I think she might be on here, we are going to Seychelles next year and that's been on my bucket list forever. So I'm excited about that.

Orion:

I am so jealous.

Sakala Rutherford:

Come on the boat.

Orion:

Well, don't tempt me because I've got four trips in mind for next year, because I'm turning 40, so I need one for each decade. Girl, we can get along perfectly, I'm not mad at this at all, that's amazing. What made you guys choose that location?

Sakala Rutherford:

Honestly, so Christina has done yacht week before she did it in Croatia, so is Jasmine. And I think that honestly, I'm one of those friends that you asked me if I want to go somewhere and I do, then I'll say yes. So I don't know how they came across the location, but I know they didn't want to do Croatia again. So when they asked me, I said, well yes, I want to go there. So that's what’s up.

Orion:

So are these travel friends that you already know, your vibe and you know how they like to travel and all of that stuff, is that where some of that trust comes from?

Sakala Rutherford:

I think so. I realized earlier this year or even last year, you can't travel with everybody, not everyone's your speed, you don't have the same things that you like to do. Christina and I have been traveling together, well, we've been friends since college and we've been traveling together since we graduated college in 2012, so she's probably gone to Costa Rica with me once or twice. We've been to Puerto Rico multiple times and I met her friends, Jasmine, and a whole bunch of other people on a trip in Puerto Rico and so that's how we met; traveling. And we'd [inaudible 10:39] traveling, but we still like to travel together. You have to get plans to like who has similar interests and that you can stand being around for seven days and not have any issues, that is so important.

Orion:

But you know what? You just dropped a life hack right there; find your travel friends while you're traveling because you know, they're about that and what they travel like. So the brilliant thing about that is this is like dating without commitment. You can kick it with them while you travel but everybody's traveling separately, so you can get a sense of how do they travel? How do you travel? Do you jive? Are you both like let's go to this place; great let's go together or is it like, well, we'll catch you all next time and then you have you've got your initial idea together, that's smart, I love that. That's going on my list, travel friends, I love it.

Sakala Rutherford:

There's no shade to the people you can't travel with. Everybody has a different, purpose in your life. It's just not to go places, maybe go to lunch and then go home but let's not go to Rome because that's not our purpose.

Orion:

That's not our ministry together [inaudible 00:11:56]. We can go to brunch in the states and show pictures to each other of the places we went. It's like taking a vegetarian, you're like, I just want to go out for cheeseburgers, it's no slight against the vegetarian. So just don't bring your vegetarian friends, bring somebody that gets down with the baconator or whatever, now I got the percolator stuck in my head.

Sakala Rutherford:

It’s time for the percolator

Orion:

It's time for the bacon.

Sakala Rutherford:

It's time for the Baconator.

Orion:

Exactly, it was like lady Gaga with her meat dress on but it's all made out of fried bacon because we don't do that raw bacon stuff we will mess with the [inaudible 12:40]. So it sounds like you've had several girls' trips or friends' trips, what has been some of your highlights in terms of some of the best places to go and kick it as a group?

Sakala Rutherford:

A lot of times I'll travel with just one other person and sometimes we'll travel with multiple people. I think when you're traveling with a larger group, you want to think about the fact that not everyone does have the same interests and so make sure that your itinerary has something that can be good for everyone, kind of communicate. The most important part of traveling with people is communication, if you go on a solo trip, you do what you want to do when you want to do it but if you go on a trip with other people, you do have to be mindful of what those other people's interests may be. But if you're going with someone else and you guys are on the same wavelength, some of my most fun trips have not been planned at all. We went to Puerto Rico for a week earlier this year and then we went to Miami for a week, back to back and we had nothing planned when we went to Puerto Rico. We would normally book an excursion or two; the only thing we booked was a boat because we like boating.

Orion:

I am on a boat, that's a dinner reservation

Sakala Rutherford:

A boat and a dinner reservation that was it but we had a blast, we had a whole little walking tour of this neighborhood in San [inaudible 14:06] which is where all the murals are, it's like Wynwood in Miami, so we did that. We went out to have drinks, we found a little cafe that we liked and went there, we found a little beach bar that we liked and went there, sometimes just ask what the locals like to do but you have to communicate, you can't have that trip with someone that's type A and likes the plan.

Orion:

I will say, so I'm somewhere in the middle because I do like plans, but I have a system. So what I'll do is if you say you need to go to a specific city, let's say Tokyo and you're like, alright, you've got Osaka Castle, you've got robot bar, you've got sushi spot, I will put them all on my Google map and save it as an offline map. This is a gem, save it as an offline map. I found all the places that I wanted to go to when I went to Japan, put them on the offline map but I didn't create an itinerary. So I said, I know I have a hotel for these nights and I have a friend to stay with for these nights, and then I want to go to a different city for these nights. And then it was like, let's get outside and see what's what, and then I'd just look at the map and be like, I'm hungry now and we're a block away from such and such, I guess, noodles win; boom. So it's a mix between type A, I do like to have at least one or two dinner reservations booked, if it's a place that has good restaurants that are like, we're over now, then I'm like, alright. Whatever day we can get in, let's get in, let's book that three months ahead and then the rest of it, its great street meat, save that money for that big dinner.

Sakala Rutherford:

And honestly, I've had some of the best meals in these little off-the-road areas, some people are afraid to eat off the streets now, prepare yourself just in case, get some Pepto-Bismol but don't be afraid that's where you get the best food sometimes.

Orion:

That is so true. One of my very first trips outside of the country was to Jamaica and I was there with a local and well, one, he just desensitized me because he was picking up everything off the ground and out of trees and being like here, eat that and it was all amazingly good. We're at St. Elizabeth, St. Bess it is the breadbasket so a lot of people growing carrots and all kinds of things around, there are mango trees. I found a mango tree not technically it was slightly fallen but I did climb it. There's a photo somewhere but so that desensitized me. After all, in the states, it's like rinse all the fruit off because it's been exposed to all of these things unless you've been in the country. Now, the country it's just snacks everywhere but between that, and what's that?

Sakala Rutherford:

I'm from West Virginia.

Orion:

Yes, we can talk about that too but the thing that was dope for me was going through the Black River area and there are these women on the road, they had open flame, big cauldron pot, pepper pot shrimp, and they put it in a sandwich bag for you. It's not even a Ziploc sandwich bag, it is like tucks over. So I got a bag of shrimp from a lady on the road and my toes curled. I was like, I'm eating all the street food. When I was at Jillian, I wouldn't eat the food in New York, you know the guys, the hot dogs, now I'm like, let's eat all of it, I'm ready.

Sakala Rutherford:

I think my American standards are different than my traveling standards. I'm still not going to eat the food in New York on the street but that's because they got all these big rats and I'm not here for that. But at the same time, when I was in Ghana, we used to have a night market right across the street from our hostel; they called Darwin's Hostel there. So we had a night market right there and my girlfriend would sit here and cut a mango for me. I'd always get this green mango, it had a beetle in there, I'm pretty sure I had one in it. They would cut it and they don't have that mango in the states but they also sell in the grocery or the convenience store. So they don't have that in the states either. So you just do what you need to do, t probably sounds gross as I'm saying it, I'm like, I did that but no, I did and it was delicious.

Orion:

But that's not organic life that's what people are paying extra to go to Whole Foods to get. They’re not trying to get the worms, but if the worms going to eat it, you know you are going to like it, just don't eat the worm, straight, it works out.

Sakala Rutherford:

You kind of sought out the mangoes [inaudible 18:52] ones.

Orion:

So mangoes are one of those fruits across the globe, whether you're going to Africa, whether you're in the Caribbean, they're just the yummiest thing. As long as you don't have an allergy, live that mango life, I highly recommend it.

Sakala Rutherford:

I have to recommend don't cancel me because I told you about the mango with the worms. I promise you on my standard.

Orion:

I'm not mad with the mango with the worms and two it sounds yummy and I'm like now I want a mango last year or something that's probably the closest thing that I can get that would be refreshing and happy. In Denver I'm landlocked so tell us about this art because I'm a huge art lover and not in the snobby. I do go to galleries if we can walk around and drink, not a lush, we have first Fridays here in Denver, I don't know if they're doing them this year and in other places where you can. Philly, you can go around at galleries and it's just a great way to get a sip and look around but when I travel, art can be so beautiful. And especially the locals that are creating it, hopefully, they are knocking on wood, creating it. So tell us about some of the places that you've collected art from and what drew you to that?

Sakala Rutherford:

So I started when I was in Ghana, honestly, it was pretty cheap and that was one of the things I said, I can get these beautiful little canvas pictures or whatever and I can give them away as gifts, they're $5.It's beautiful hand-painted, probably cost $40 in the states and so I started there and then when I have most of my art is from there. And then when I came back, years later, I started collecting magnets everywhere but then I realized the magnets were falling off the refrigerator and breaking and doing all kinds of things. And so it wasn't a sustainable thing and honestly was getting on my nerves to find these broken magnet pieces everywhere. So I started to collecting art but the other pool being when you're in other countries, you can negotiate the price.

Sakala Rutherford:

And I highly recommend if you ever go anywhere, negotiate the price, US people don't love to negotiate the price and the price was already hired. But my neighbor, who's a diplomat, he's in the Foreign Service, when he travels places, he picks things up and he's been to Thailand, he's in Senegal right now, he's been in Brazil. He brings things home like stools, beautiful pieces of art and I said, that's a good idea because those pieces depreciating value, if you look at the net worth of Jay Z and other very wealthy people, a lot of their net worth is based in art. So it's a good way to diversify your portfolio and that type of thing, so maybe I should get into that. And my friend, I think you had her on the show Ebony Capella, she's recently started the budget art collector and that's one of my good friends, even though she went to Howard. We know everybody makes a mistake sometimes, but we [cross-talking 22:04] Hampton’s going to beat Howard next weekend and I'm looking forward to it.

Orion:

[Inaudible 22:09] and hot dogs, I'll show up and cheer for whoever gives me food first.

Sakala Rutherford:

Well, if you come to my house I will give you a Taco.

Orion:

Boom! Taco is a Mexican hot dog, you all don't come from me, but it kind of is.

Sakala Rutherford:

Its bread and meat in the middle

Orion:

And in Chicago, we put vegetables and stuff on top too, so It's balanced. I love this idea of using art as a form of investment for appreciation. How do you, or do you identify pieces that you think will be valuable later? And because there's a ton of people that are selling stuff that like, what's his name, China, I don't know or they're selling a lot of the same pieces. If you go to a marketplace, you might see it four booths down, and then you pissed because you paid too much, that's why you got to haggle the price because somebody else is selling it for cheaper. But when you do find original art, how do you assess value and where would you even think about liquidating that value if you were to at some point.

Sakala Rutherford:

That's a good question. So I haven't necessarily thought about the liquidation piece, I love my pieces and I want to keep them, but I'm also that's how I invest. I'm not for the short-term gains I'm for the long-term strategy and so with my art, I do look around where I'm at. Say, for instance, I'm at a market or something like that, and they're selling artwork, how many more pieces of these do they have in India? How many different color variations? And I might go back a couple of times, I may go over two to three weeks and see, but if I see something I grabbed it because it's not going to be there the next day. It's got to be unique but it also has to speak to me and speak to my way because I could find the Mona Lisa and I think the Mona Lisa is not the most beautiful picture in the world and so I would never buy it but I could buy it because other people want it. But is it going to make me happy because it has to be in my house at some point, it has to bring me joy, Marie Kondo. I need to finish that series and get the rest of my life together, but she helped. That's essentially it, it has to speak to me, it has to be something that looks one of a kind and energizes my soul. And then it has to be unique and different, I don't want a reprint of something, I want the original.

Orion:

And that's the trick too; that’s the trick. It took me a few international trips to catch on to that, not everybody that says I painted it, painted it. I think I was in Turkey and saw something that I saw in Africa and I was like, wait a minute and I'm like, okay. So everybody's ordering from the same folks but that's a good way of thinking about it. It's what things give you energy and then just being able to reflect on trips and use that as a walk down the [inaudible 25:28] lane as well. If you said, most of my art came from Ghana; most of your answers have been around Ghana. Ghana was very impactful on your trip, no, but it's a beautiful thing. It was impactful in a way that you think about and look at travel, so having things that remind you of that is key.

Sakala Rutherford:

Exactly, it's parched away.

Orion:

Exactly, so I don't know how you all are feeling about the Rona and the Delta and the new and the Kappa and the Lambda and the other Greeks but where are you besides Seychelles next year? Are there any other places that you are looking forward to going to soon or are you pushing it further out?

Sakala Rutherford:

So I am going, my best friend is getting married in February, so I'm her maid of honor and so I'm planning her bachelorette party in Puerto Rico, which is another place that, this is going to be the third trip and I got it down packed, I already know where I'm going to eat. So I'm planning that and that'll be in November and then her wedding in February, that's when she's getting married, I should know that and I'm going to be there. I hope she's not on here, please don't ask me the date.

Orion:

I put you on the spot, it's not her fault. I put her on the spot, she just was trying to think of them, carry the one. It's Wednesday, it's fine.

Sakala Rutherford:

It is and we had some lunch; my notes. So I'm still trying to figure out where is that? I do want to go next year, Seychelles is going to be expensive, so we're going to be looking at some cheap weekend trips. If I find a quick flight sale, if it's, a ticket under 300 and I think I can swing, whatever, having a budget when you travel is important because things can add up very quickly, and even having a budget, knowing how much you want to spend here, there, everywhere, and your budget might be higher than the person you're with, it might be lower but you need to know where you're comfortable and so that's one of my keys. I want to make sure that I stay within my means and don't go above my means when I go somewhere but also I'm going to have a good time and I'm not sure I am going home broke, that's not cute.

Orion:

[Inaudible 27:38].

Sakala Rutherford:

Exactly, that's the other thing, when we were planning Seychelles, we said, look, we're not splitting bills, we're not doing this, and we’re not itemizing things. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's not what we're doing because it just makes things more difficult and so make sure that you have the budget to do what you want to do.

Orion:

And I have to say it is a stressor to me to have to split bills when I'm on vacation because the way I think about it is the most that I want to think about it, I got the tab this time, you got the tab that time, that's the most math that I would even consider. And that' just, if we had to swim-up bar which one of you all was smart enough to put your credit card in your group leader area so you could pull it out, whoever gets to it first we'll figure the rack-up later. But I've been on trips and was surprised and then I realized that's just how that person operates, but they're like itemized it, here I put together a spreadsheet of all our receipts since we didn't get a chance to do it while we were sitting there and here, look, just go ahead and take it, well, you owe me $4. Are you serious, or do I owe you $4, dog keep the $4 that's a trip somewhere, it's not even that serious?

Sakala Rutherford:

Exactly and everybody budgets differently and I don't want to shame anybody who does but when I traveled that's not how I operate. I'm not in that mode even in life, when my girlfriends and I go out, maybe they'll cover something, I'll cover something, it all evens out at the end of the day as long as I know what my budget category is and how much money I have to spend because I'm not about to be out here covering the $250 tab. Now, look out that, go some cards in here. This is not that kind of party and I ain't got that card.

Orion:

Why do you want to have that emergency money too, you want to be able to be in case something goes down and we're stuck with a $250 cab and he's going to either have us arrested or we just pay him, do we have a way to do that, which may or may not have happened before?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Funny story so, I was in the Bahamas with my friend, Christina again and Krystal and my debit card got stolen about a week before and it didn't get in the mail in time for me to actually like take it on the trip. So I had zero cash, but I have my credit cards, but I just had no access to cash. And so we decided to like, leave the resort and go to the fish fry in the Bahamas. And I think we might have had like $70 cash, but at the fish fry, they don't have credit card machines. Everywhere else I was able to get to my cards, not at the fish fry, I have no idea how in the world, we got to and from the fish fry, which was about a $30 cab ride both ways, ate something and had drinks. I mean, it does pay to be pretty my grandfather said my looks aren't going to get me anywhere, but they did that time.

 

Orion:

Lies, lies it’s going to get your faith.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

But we really needed that emergency cash in that moment. But God make He blesses babies and fools. And we were some fools. And a little bit…

 

Orion:

So one thing to remember is, especially if you have a good card that has like travel points or anything like that, but if it's like a major credit card, you can do a cash advance on your credit card from a foreign ATM. Obviously, you don't pay all the interest on it. But if you ever need emergency money, or that fish smell real good, and you don’t have no leg to show, go ahead and get that cash advance on the card.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I did try to do a cash advance but the ATM was broke. We were just stuck like that it was…I need to tell the story, don't be like me. Don’t go nowhere without no money.

 

Orion:

So it depends. So like one of the things that I do kind of play the exchange rate game to see what the exchange rate is going to be when I get in country. Hotel versus bank that kind of stuff but, to have a little bit of USD in some hidden pockets isn't a terrible idea either. But it's one of those things that like when you say you had somebody took your debit card. I was in the Bahamas and went to go use my card. And they were like, nope, and we locked all your accounts because it was all at the same bank. And I was like but what? And I get on the phone, good thing they always have 800 numbers. And they're like, Oh, we noticed fraud on your card a week ago in Mexico and I was like a week ago. I was in Chicago. Why didn’t you guys say anything? Well, it'll take some time and then we'll have to you know, do a screen…No boo. I'm out of the country, you need to find me some money and make it available to me right now. But I was panicked because I was like I went on the trip, set aside the money that I want it.

 

So to your point for budgeting, I take what else we'll do this for safety reasons, I have two checking accounts. And so what I'll do is the petty cash like you can spend whatever you want to until runs out on this card. That's the account that I take the card for, I'd never take my main account like where my, salary come in or anything like that, because somebody steals a card, they got access to all of that and it is so hard to like get that money back. But it's also hard to be in places that are more rural and don't have credit cards everywhere. So I had that little second card and the other thing is if you use online banking, you can go back to your hotel or a coffee shop go to your Wi Fi and move money onto the card so you don't even have to carry more than $50 or $100 at a time and so somebody snatch it, good luck with that they bout to snatch you up bro because I just took your money out. Miss Linton says that she lets the bank and credit card companies know that she's going out of country. I do the same thing AMEX actually knows that they'll see that I've purchased a flight and they'll be like, yeah, we already know you're out of the country. We don't care. We've already got all your itinerary because we're creepy.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Yeah, Amex does and Capital One does too actually.

 

Orion:

Yeah, yeah, that's very good. Well, I'm sorry. What are you about to say?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Well actually, hold on somebody asked what kind of why we're sipping on. I have the McBride Sisters red blend.

 

Orion:

Oh McBride Sisters. I do love. I don't have my black own wine today. I do have it's a low carb line called Bev. So three carbs. So it works in my little keto, and it's pretty solid. I'm not a big rose a fan but I like it. It's balanced. It's not too dry. Not too sweet. There's no added sugar and I think its 11% ABV. So a little dab will do you.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Not too shabby, but so I was going to say is I when I was in Ghana, another Ghana story. I was one of the breaches and so I had a local bank. That like is the type. In Charleston. It’s the type of bank that will literally call and leave you a voicemail. But not send you a text message or an email. And so I had no idea that my debit card had been compromised because I wasn't using it that often. I get breached but I called them in advance to your point and let them know that I wasn't in the country and I was going to be gone for six weeks. And so and I was getting all of these like foreign transaction fees when I would take money outside it was very mindful not to use that card often. My mom checked my voicemail. And then she called me and she was you know, explaining to me that this happened, we had to do a three way call, they wouldn't unlock my account until I got back because she wasn't on the account. And it's a small bank, you have to, do whatever. So, I was trying to figure out how to get money because I was supposed to go to Togo and Benin, literally that weekend, I ended up cancelling the trip because I believe in omens and stuff but

But, let me tell you what I did. I didn't realize that bank of America is part of the same Corporation as Barclays and Barclays, as you know, was International. And so I was able to get to put some money on my bank of America card and I was able to eliminate most of those foreign transaction fees. So if I was smart, I would have looked this up at the time and saved myself $4 every time I pull money out.

 

Orion:

But you know what, what you're doing is you're blessing lives by learning that lesson for everybody else. So that let's sum it up here people look at the places that you bank, even if it's not your primary bank, check out what their international footprint is and if they have a presence in the country that you're going to because you can always transfer money in the states that won't cost you anything. One thing I will say though is if you're transferring between banks it can take several days so do this like two weeks before you go just to make sure it's moved or physically take your card into the bank. You can do this on a debit card it doesn't have to be a credit card, you can go in and say I want a cash advance on my Visa or on my MasterCard they will pull the cash off of it it's just like debiting out cash and then you can deposit it right back into that bank, especially if you are a customer of that bank. So, look, transaction fees that's one drink, two drink, three drink that's a whole fish fry right there that you'd have spent on exactly making it rain for some bank that you don't even know.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I was their play bonus though.

 

Orion:

We're not about that life we're not about that no, my gosh. So you talk about like well one, my head is still on fish fry I am not going to lie I'm a little hungry. Trying to do this keto life, but…

 

Sakala Rutherford:

You can have fry fish. Fry food is keto.

 

Orion:

That's true. It's just the cornmeal you can't have but you don't want though. The thing is, they don't often like they don't bread stuff like we do here in the states and a lot of places so that oil on that meat is good girl don't tell me that. Watch me…

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Fry pork rinds. And I don’t eat meat, but I’m fish so you crunch up some pork rinds and give you that salty flavor get the barbecue ones, you probably even have a better experience.

 

Orion:

Just to shit. I don't eat meat, but I think them cracklings were going to be good on it battered up. I love that. I love that. And that is on my recipe list is because that's got to happen. What is the best meal you have ever had on a trip? Where your toes were all the way curl?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

So I was in Monte Carlo.

 

Orion:

Oh, shit. Okay. Yeah.

Sakala Rutherford:

I was in Monte Carlo. We were supposed to go on. I think in my mind on this trip, we were going to go like to wine country. I don't know how we were going to do that with the five day trip. But we were.

 

Orion:

By the grace of God by the grace of God.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

So, we didn't get our wine tasting in. So we decided that we were going to make on the walk from, we were staying at the Fairmont Monte Carlo and we went into the city bit. So on the walk home, we were going to.

 

Orion:

Hold up. Question? Fairmont like we have in the states Fairmont. Like motel Fairmont. They have a motel in Monte Carlo?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

It's not a motel. I think it's like five star hotel.

 

Orion:

Okay. So, it's not the US Fairmont?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

It is the US but it's like the upper tier of it. It's very nice.

 

Orion:

Oh see this is why we can't discriminate based on the name. Yeah. Okay, five star Fairmont.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

This was like, I mean, the family is amazing. I'll say that it was while it was beautiful. I mean, it had Nikki Beach on the rooftop. It was dated. It was really dated like it was just green ugly carpet. But anyway, we decided to make our own wine tasting through Monte Carlo and stop at every restaurant and make them pure us a glass of wine. Not a good idea, but it was awesome.

 

Orion:

…or we just went out the next day?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I was intoxicated. To the nth power it was a good time we had a blast we went and like gambled at the Monaco Casino. Took some pictures in front of some Bentleys. It was really nice. But before all of that happened, we went to this restaurant where all of the wine drinking started I had this beautiful winery it was like an Avignon. I think it's Avignon AC with just the brand I took a picture of the bottle. I can't find it here. I've been trying to find it ever since. And I had this like, lobster pasta, and I've never had more delicious lobster pasta in my life. It was like in a lobster shell like it had real pieces of lobster meat. Oh my gosh, it was so good. And I think that like lifted my spirits and gave me the courage that I needed to go into a close restaurant and ask them for a glass of wine and they gave it to me because they knew the energy that I was bringing to the table.

 

Orion:

I had lobster pasta. My spirit whole therefore.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

It is. Pure me a glass of wine.

 

Orion:

Blow it up. Those are some of the magical moments where things that don’t seem like they will never happen in reality and it doesn’t even have to be like crazy stuff. It could be fairly mundane like getting a glass of wine from a. But it’s like what, I am magical. What is this? What is happening? Oh my God.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I think that that black girl magic won I think it was inspired by this trip.

 

Orion:

I love it. I love it. One of my favourite meals, I messed up the restaurant. I was on a business trip to Spain and on the way back I was like, you know it is cheaper if you all make me take a layover in Amsterdam. It was my birthday. So rather than being in flight. It was like $5.00 cheaper so I was like let me layover in Amsterdam. I had like an 11 or 15 hour layover or something like that and I was like what is Amsterdam known for; like obviously it’s canals and stuff like that. So I'll stop at the coffee shops are they but I want like a really good birthday dinner. And so evidently, Amsterdam is one of the places in the world. It's like second only to Indonesia for Indonesian food. And I was like what, really? And having travelled to places you know, I talked about Ireland a lot. I had the one of the best slices of pizza I've ever had in my life in Ireland. I had some of the best Chicken Tikka and it's because people immigrate and they bring like their family recipes when they create these restaurants and stuff. So I was like alright, let me see what the deal is with this Indonesian food. Let me get up in here. I booked the place, I go to look it up find the directions walk through the Red Light District you all sign. They open a real open, I mean but not like I would say not nasty. It's like it was definitely playboy not hustler. But it was just very it was very interesting. And the place that I went to was like it was like a little side alley but it's like Michelin star and I was like alright cool so it's off the alley in the Red Light District and without going into all the details but it was almost like a hole in the wall type building because the buildings are older and it's like I would say almost set up like a residential building where you're going up like the stairwell, and it's like each floor they put tables in like sort of the hallways and like it was crazy. I get there, girl it wasn't halfway into this meal I realized I went to the wrong restaurant and they just were nice enough to seat me anyway. Because I was like wait the name is wrong. It was similar but it wasn't the same place that and I was also like this don't look like Indonesian food. I don't think it is I hadn't really had Indonesian food.

But it was so good and it was definitely like we all joke about like are you seeing on TV? Someone get a gourmet meal it's like one little piece of something on a big plate and you're like they don't be hungry girl I have like a five course meal. I had glasses of wine that were just my waiter spoke no fewer than like six or seven languages and I could actually hear him as you went from table to table go through each language because Amsterdam has so many different people. And every little thing every little plate they brought me I was like you all see how thick I am. Why did you bring me this little thing? Baby. It was so good. I don't even know what I honestly couldn't identify half of it. I know there's some seafood in there. I know some other stuff. Little things wrapped up with sprigs and stuff. It was so pretty. Oh it was so pretty. I felt I feel like a grown up you all. I felt like that was like my 36th birthday and I felt like a grown up 35th birthday.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Do you remember the name?

 

Orion:

I don’t know. You know what though? So here's the beautiful thing again about Google, especially if you use Google Photos. If you save your stuff to Google Photos, it keeps all the Google Map information about where you were. So you can go back to it later and pinpoint the location.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Yeah, there we go.

 

Orion:

It was so good. It was good. The pani cookie was okay. I was like, Okay, fine. I wouldn't have a low cafe coffee and like, Okay, I'm like the people. I don’t really love coffee like them. But that meal, I slept good that night. I slept so good. And I stayed at a Doubletree. Again, in other countries, these hotels is a whole different game. So save up your points, even if you're like, yeah, but I use those points for something else, transfer them over to a hotel chain that has really dope hotels abroad, and you can get legit setups legit.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

That is true. That's really like what I do when I travel. A lot of times I try to use points as much as possible. I mean, it really helps me because every component of traveling adds up. Every component, and so the Ramada in India is five stars girl, what? The Ramada in North Carolina is no five stars.

 

Orion:

All I know is Ramada has red carpet. But that red carpet has been there since 1981. Like it was dope in 1981. But I'm like so but that's it. That's the plug right there. You all take note Ramada India is like five star when you said Fairmount was like, or Fairfield or whatever.

Sakala Rutherford:

The hotel is different than the Fairmont. The Fairmont is nice. It's like a $500 nightstand in DC.

 

Orion:

Woo. So okay, okay, I'm thinking Fairfield and not Fairmont. Okay. Got you. Because I was like, I made the mistake on a business trip, getting to Fairfield and it was the only thing that we had near our production facilities. I was working in food, and we had a production facility and most of them, you know, like most of those plants and stuff around suburbs, and like way out from the big cities. We got there. And it was a kind of motel that had it, one is a motel with an M not h. So the door was outside.  I’m like, alright, that’s cool. Let's not have it. But then they had that like janky railing. I was like, I've seen these movies. The only time I mean you all have a shot... Right? Exactly. Exactly. And poltergeists when they have to leave their house they went to a motel and put the TV outside the room but I'm just aging myself now so I’m going to stop. But there is something I stayed at a Ritz Carlton talking on the side note was talking about deals. I stayed at a Ritz Carlton in Tokyo. That was oh not in Tokyo I'm sorry it was a we were in Osaka; Ritz Carlton Osaka It was not it was like 200 something a night it was not bad. They had a cigar lounge they had I was like why it's so awesome. Look at some of these high end hotels as well because you never know. You know some of these destinations and locations they have some crazy deals and again points are our friends.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Wait, how did you enjoy Osaka because it's on my list the next time I'll tell you this Osaka was too cold. I’m notgo back there.

 

Orion:

Did you do the spa though? Did you like sit in a hot tub and like watch the snowfall kind of thing?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

No.

 

Orion:

That spa is blowing my mind.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

So like, I mean, they literally had these huge ice sculptures I mean, they had I don't know there's a half a player. He's half Japanese half black he plays for the Washington Wizards. They had his big head of him like an ice sculpture they had like horses…

 

Orion:

It’s literally a big head.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

And his mouth was open and you could walk through it. So it was weird. It was really cool. I had a broken toe so it was not where I wanted to be it was like negative 15 degrees outside I wasn't here for NBC

 

Orion:

All that and your broke bones.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

It wasn’t the best trip for a handicapped person. But it was really cool. If you have a proper coat I think you actually do we like me to be able to brave those elements. I say go for it but I never going again. But, I would prefer to go to Osaka because I want to go to the beach not trying to go nowhere nobody snow I don't want to ski.

 

Orion:

So you do you do you mean Okinawa because Osaka I don't think there's any beaches in Osaka?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

There’s no beach in Osaka?

 

Orion:

Osaka is just south of Kyoto. I'm not quite so Okinawa is and I've been to Okinawa as well. I didn't go to the beach because I think the time of year was spring and it wasn't hot, hot and I want it to be hot, hot when I'm at the beach. I don't like being half naked and chilly. Like that's just weird. Like, I don't know. It's like it's a breeze. I should just put clothes on but you don't want to sit on the beach in clothes and then it gets weird and the sand in the whole thing. But Okinawa was hot, but it was so it was like in the 80s and super, super humid but it would get like breezy and kind of like shady but there's tons of beaches there. And because there's so many army bases there, you all learn our history. There's so many army bases there you get a lot of American culture and Japanese culture sort of mixed up so there's some really cool things in Okinawa.

I liked Okinawa I think it was a little like Midwestern suburban to me except for the beach. But like in terms of the field it was we hit all the fast food joints because you have to like I'm a big fan of trying fast food in other countries not because it's like what's familiar to me but because they do stuff so different. Girl the cheese burgers at McDonald's for all you all don't know the cheese burgers at McDonald's in Japan. I feel like they're all Kobe beef but it's so good. It's so good. It tastes completely different. They had this chili garlic burger which I think was like sort of the equivalent of a double cheeseburger and it had this chili garlic oil with pieces of garlic in it that had been sautéed and brown I looked at the burger before I ate it like I went in there like what's going on. Somebody sautéed some garlic in some spicy chili oil, squirted it on there and get the burger goes a long fate. I was eating in the car trying to split it because we just wanted to taste it and I was like I can't believe this I think I had McDonald this twice in Japan just because it was so good.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

And I was like from there and it was pretty good but my favourite thing you know I know convenience store food always gets a bad rap but, oh my god is so good. They have these little it's a rice roll. What is it called? Oh no, no, it was like a roll of rice it's in a triangle and they put like a piece of like seaweed on it and I guess and then it was salmon in there.

 

Orion:

It's like a Maki but it's just a different shape or it's just like a ham roll. It's like a hand roll is so good.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

It’s the most delicious thing.

 

Orion:

At 7/11. I wouldn’t trust it if they made it here. Hungary she said. So 711 was amazing. I ate sandwiches out of plastic bags that rocked my world like they literally have a sandwich made. This is every little third grade American child's dream they had cut all the edges off of it so it's just the bread and it's got like either like peanut butter jelly or cheese in the middle or a good egg salad sandwich you don't trust egg salad sandwich from nobody I mean it's all my mama I will you trust her to make her sound I don't know where it's been. I don't know how long it's been sitting out. It was so good.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

…Like dessert sandwiches where they have like Kiwi and Mandarin fruit and strawberries with whipped cream tastes like nothing but it was so cute I had to get it.

 

Orion:

It depends. They have a cheesecake there that's to be really light. This rosé is sparkling I'm not going lie. It's got me burping like nobody's business. But it's really good. So I'm over here like trying not to but I'm like I'm also on camera it's hard to see it. But yeah, like we went to this cheesecake place the cheese tastes looked and smelled amazing. They didn't taste like much but the other thing is we have to remember in the states we over sugar salt in fact everything so we're used to like heavy impact food. But man I could sit there and smell those cheese cakes all day like seriously and they were so gorgeous and they do like they're spongy. And they kind of jiggle a little bit. Japan is amazing.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Next time you go to Japan hit me up you know I might be…

 

Orion:

I feel like you know what I keep talking to people about so I talked about travel every week and like I've already got a contingent of girls that we were going down south sometime next year. We're going to do New Orleans we have one chick who's like I've never been down south so we're like we got to go. I was like I just loved New Orleans we're going, if we go for the food, and then I'm like Japan needs to happen again because it's amazing. It's so different in so many different places. I cried when I saw Mount Fuji like full tear, one thug tear, plaster face plaster to the to the train. Thug tears It was so amazing.

And you asked me about Osaka. So Osaka is an interesting city because it's like a giant mall. Osaka is a giant mall, so it's outdoor, but it's also not. If you've ever seen any 80s movie about the future, where it's sort of gritty and everything's packed in together. And there's a lot of like commerce and stuff going on. Like I think Blade Runner for those of who are old like me, Blade Runner. It's like Blade Runner, except there's more food and the bars are really fun. And then you go to Kyoto and there's temples and it's like oh, I just. Yes. Yes. Just love Japan.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

That sounds like a good time like Sapporo kind of it was covered for the most part like the downtown area. And then it was like you were walking through a mall and I thought that was the craziest thing like you should their…

 

Orion:

That’s what I mean Osaka is like that it's covered but it's also open air just like full streets.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

But it was really nice because like, I want to tell you my toe was broken. I was like literally in a booth and I busted my butt in the streets of Tokyo I was walking on a manhole and like completely fell in the middle of the deck one morning. If Godzilla is on top of this movie theatre and he down on me. It was like oh man, Godzilla going to come, I'm busting my butt. This isn't fun let me get up and then I can’t get up because the booth doesn’t have no back. So I'm sitting here trying to struggle to get up.

 

Orion:

You should take one of those little scooter things.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

And slide on the ice?

 

Orion:

Oh right. It was icy oh, oh had. What took you to Sapporo? Like why were you in Japan?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

We were there for 24 hours my best friend wanted to go to the Snow Festival in Sapporo and like literally they didn't do it last year I don't know if they'll do it again this year. But like she wanted to go. That's literally the reason we went. I personally would have preferred.

 

Orion:

Writing that down Snow Festival.

Sakala Rutherford:

And yes the vending machines in Japan are amazing and have like the best drinks the best food. Vending machines here don't do it the same.

 

Orion:

Well, you know what our vending machines here it's like you get something out of a vending machine it's been there for six years. It's like that Twinkie is technically still sweet and creamy. But it's also a six year old Twinkie. Their stuff they will put stuff that can go basically bad within a day in these vending machines and it's fresh when you get it oh my god. You know you're American in Japan when you're walking around drinking alcoholic beverages just because you can everybody else is like you drink in the middle of the day. Because I saw a vending machine and it have booze in it and it did with the can and I just wanted to be able to say I did it.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Yeah, let me tell you people think I'm crazy because I'm literally considering getting a Japanese toilet. And those things are like $400 but they do not understand the magic of walking home and sitting on a warm toilet seat. There is something about that it is amazing the little bidet attachment the little dryer to never have to touch anything.

 

Orion:

Wait the music, the music. Have you hit the music button? So, let's keep it real, let's keep it real you know, you go to somebody's house you got to do the poop, turn the water on. So the bidet toilet actually has music that plays now it's very annoying and it's not in English and it's like…but it's loud enough that people can't hear you poop. So if you have explosive diarrhea because you ate the street meat and you didn't take your pepto? You just turn that on you do you do, you hit the squirt button, clean it all up. Turn the fan on dry it all up and you don't need to touch anything. Woo hot everything's clean. You can adjust where the squirts should go. You can move it and I mean if you bored even on a date in a while you can just move in whatever way you need to do.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I’m thinking about getting one. Wonder if it’s going to be on sale for Black Friday?

 

Orion:

Treat yourself and great point in the comments you can get the topper it's not quite the same it's not quite as like intricate but you can get the bidet toppers that go on most toilet. So, boom Black Friday I get that bidet treat yourself. Its good money but its good money well spent. It's good money well spent and it's not as expensive as getting the whole toilet like getting the whole separate like thing but oh man I mean that's a great note to end on. Yeah, treat yourself squirt your booty. Play some music. It's going to be alright. This was so much fun. I've had so much fun talking to you.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

I did too thank you so much thanks for inviting me.

Orion: You got to come back again. We got to get more stories we're going to get some more stories out the wood work. Hell, we might need to travel at some point so we going to be in touch.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Well, come to Seychelles. We got room on the boat.

 

Orion:

When you all going to Seychelles?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Come on now. It’s September

.

Orion:

I don't believe I have a trip in September. I am going to Antarctica at the end of the year. But that's a whole other conversation. So…

 

Sakala Rutherford:

That fun. It's September 17 through 24th.

 

Orion:

Oh snap. Oh snap.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

My birthday is this coming Saturday? It's September 11. So you know we celebrate on the boat.

 

Orion:

Happy. Happy Birthday

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Thank you am going to be 21 again.

 

Orion:

Woo, I know that. Like that's right. It's right. Yeah, it's the anniversary of turning 21 Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been dope, it's been so dope. I hope everybody in the comments chatting and saying stuff. And I love it. The full kicker tube of what we just did. I mean, we've been on here for an hour, going here for an hour kicking it, talking about nothing in something all at once. This is the power of travel. This is why I created Black Travel Box because we want to be able to be as present and in the moment and enjoy these moments and be able to share them later. Like you don't want to be telling people how he was running around with products and all this other stuff. I'm not trying to make it a sales pitch just telling you like that's why I created it. I was like, why am I spending time away from the fine waiter. I'm just going to say the good food, the beautiful view the beach, the My Thai, the Daiquiri over here looking for some hair gel. We don't need that in our lives. So this has been so much fun. I hope you all love unwind as much as I am. If nothing else, this is cathartic for me. This is my second therapy of the week, y'all. But I appreciate you. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week ahead. Oh, before I forget, where can everybody find you online like or do you post photos of your adventures? Or what you're doing?

 

Sakala Rutherford:

You can follow me @sakalalynn. It's SAKALYNN so just follow up my account is private because the Bitcoin people find me I don't know why they want to trade with me but I’m not trading with them.

 

Orion:

So you're going to have to message her and say I saw you on Wind Down with Black Travel Box. Can I be your friend and see all this fun stuff that you've been doing? I ain't mad at it because it's this crazy stuff that flies to the DMs. But I really appreciate you coming. This was so much fun. You edified my week. Hopefully, everybody else's and you got something out of it, too.

 

Sakala Rutherford:

Yes.

 

Orion:

I appreciate. You appreciate it. Thank you so much. Cheers. Cheers. Alright, y'all have a great week. We will see you next week next Wednesday for Wine Now. Bye, bye.

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