Episode 5: The “Rules” Of Adventuring The Salisbury Way
Whenever you start out on an adventure, you never know what you are going to get, BUT you know a good story will always result. Maybe you ran into someone you grew up with thousands of miles away. Maybe you got pickpocketed, and had to figure out how to get your ID and/or money to get home. Maybe you were the first one in the ferry line up because you missed the last ferry by 10 seconds? You never know what adventures are going to appear before you, but when they do, be ready to roll with them. Adapt. Know yourself enough to bring extra granola bars and some kleenex. Be careful what you wish for in your adventures!
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Full Episode Transcription
Welcome to My Life as a Landlord, where we untangle all things housing and educate the curious. If
you're looking for some entertainment with some honest, awkward conversations, you've come to the
right show. I'm your host, Dr. Jennifer Salisbury. This is my life as a landlord. Welcome to it. Well, hello
there. Welcome to my life as a landlord. I'm your host, Dr. Jen Salisbury. And on today's episode, we're
going to visit the fifth content Bucket on our podcast that is, other Salisbury Adventures. And I always
have to laugh when I say this, because when you get to stories between Michael and I, you never know
what you're going to get. And so I've done a podcast on the rules of the other four Content Buckets, and
that is as a tenant, as a landlord, as a real estate investor, and also as a real estate developer, which are
valid content buckets. But Michael and I have been through so many incredible adventures. That I
can't not include that I can't not include that in this podcast. We've done some pretty crazy, amazing
things. We've had some incredible opportunities. And sometimes they're hard to believe that they weren't
set up in advance. Many of the opportunities that we've had, they just sort of appeared. And what is it?
Success is when preparedness meets opportunity. And maybe it's the adventure also. So sometimes these
adventures, they're horrific, sometimes they're terrifying, but there's a lot of laughter, a lot of insanity.
Usually food is involved and at all times, the result is one hell of a story. So I thought I would do our first
podcast about the Salisbury Advent is Unwritten Rules. That whatever we have planned, or maybe not
planned, but we're ready for an adventure. So let's just jump right into the first rule. Rule number one be
careful what you wish for. Be careful what you wish for. There's several times where Michael or I
have been out of the country and somebody's made a wrong turn or we've not known the language or
we've traveled through different areas and what was funny in one area was not funny in another area.
You have to really be careful what you wish for. When are doing adventures, when you're traveling or
when you're interacting with other people, you've got to make sure that you're respectful always, of
course, and especially when you are in other places and other cultures. But rule number one be careful
what you wish for. If you're asking for an adventure, the universe is going to hear you. They're going to
give you an adventure and it very likely will not be what you asked for. It's going to be something else.
Rule number two when you're planning for an adventure, or maybe you're not, try your best to educate
yourself in advance. Michael and I have discussed that we might be wanting to take a worldwide
cruise. We've been saving some money, and we've discussed maybe we should take one of those long
haul cruises that go almost all the way around the world or partway around the world. I'm a huge
Egyptology fan. I love ancient technologies. The previous cultures, previous generations that didn't
have smartphones were way smarter than us. I find it really interesting. And so when we are educating
ourselves with cruises and train trips and Egyptology and just cool places to travel, we often find
ourselves looking at YouTube. And while we're looking at YouTube, we'll be looking at the apps on our
phones saying, okay, so, for example, we'll be watching Mike on Downey Live. That's one of our
favorites. And he's traveling across the US. On train called the California Zephyr. Well, I'll be on the
Amtrak app going, well, if I was going to take the California Zephyr tomorrow, what would that cost us?
What would that look like? What kind of room would we get? Do we need a bedroom? Do we want a
sleeper? Do we want just some seats? And so we try to educate ourselves. But also during there was one
opportunity that we had when we were in Dublin, Ireland. My uncle had told me the one time, he said,
if you go to Dublin, go to Trinity College and see the Book of Kels. Now, when he said that, I didn't
know what any of those words meant, none. I just know that Trinity College Book of Kels. Okay, fine.
So he threw it in Google, realized that Trinity College was one of the stops on the hop on hop off buses
in Dublin. So was the Guinness factory, by the way. And so we said, Mike, we got to go to this Trinity
College. We got to do this. And so we get to Trinity College, and the line to get in is wrapped around the
building. And I just went, oh, my gosh, this is going to take forever. So I forget what we did. We went
and got a coffee or something. We did something, and I just said, you know, let me pull this up and let
me see if there's a way we can get tickets or get a reservation or something that we don't have to stand for
hours in this line. So I pull up Trinity College and they go, yeah, you can buy reservations. The next
reservation was in, what do you know, five minutes, and it was free. 1s Well, I said, okay, sign me up for
that. So we got reservations. I walked right up to the front door, bypassed every person in line, showed
them my app. Sure enough, we had to. Now, of course, I had to pay for it, same as the people in line, but
we didn't have to wait in line. So educate yourself when you are going on some kind of adventure,
whether it's at home or abroad, educate yourself before, during, and very likely after. 2s Make sure that
you kind of know where you're going and make sure you've got good cell coverage, things like that.
Now, I must tell you, when you go on an adventure abroad, make sure you understand how your cell
phone provider provides coverage for you. The last thing you want to do is get a huge bill from your cell
phone company because of roaming charges or texting or FaceTiming or whatever you're doing. Make
sure you understand what your cell phone provider will include in your current plan. Maybe you need to
change your plan, maybe you need to change your phone. But educate yourself before you leave on
phones, so that's a good thing. So rule number one careful what you wish for. Rule number two educate
yourself as much as you possibly can. Rule number three. Be ready to roll. You've got to adapt. It is
never going to happen the way you want. And I know this is very similar to rule number one, but it's
important, honestly. Be be prepared to pivot. Be prepared when you get a flat tire. Be prepared when you
miss your train. You need to make sure if you are someone that gets hangry, make sure you have a few
granola bars in your backpack. Just understand, like if you know you get cold a lot, make sure you have a
very simple thin beach towel that you can wrap yourself up if you happen to get on a bus station or a
train or something that you're cold that you can wrap up in. These are the kind of little bit of a trick that
you've got to know, but you've got to be able to roll with whatever comes your way. You ask for an
adventure, you never know what you're going to get. One of the other things is when you are educating
yourself and you're going on an adventure in particular and abroad, this is just an aside, you need to make
sure you have educated yourself on some of the tricks and traps of tourists. Tourists very likely are
standing out like sore thumbs right now. I'm operating on Maui and I can spot a tourist a mile away. I can
spot them from their attitude, their rental car, how white they are. Usually they're not sunburned or
maybe they are really sunburned. So they've already been here a couple days. But you can spot them just
with mannerisms. When you go to another country, you're no different. The locals will be able to spot
you and make sure you are aware of some of the tricks that you might be pickpocketed. There is a safety
issue here. You want to make sure that you're being smart as you can. And with social media these days,
YouTube channels and Instagram, TikTok, all these things, there are lots of people who have traveled
and are Vlogging video logging where you are likely going to be. And they're probably going to tell you
at least a few pointers on how to avoid having an issue, having a problem. They're going to tell you some
of the lessons learned, which okay, so that could be part of educate yourself before you go while you're
there. But it's all part of it. But you've got to adapt. I've lost my wallet when I was traveling abroad. It
was absolutely awful. But I had to figure out what was I going to do, how do I cancel my credit cards,
how do I get a new ID? All of these things. But in all of it, you've got to remind yourself that this is all
part of the adventure. Now, for those of you listening to my podcast, at the very end of each podcast, I
always do a call to action. Mike and I have had many adventures, and we'll continue to have adventures.
One thing that we do that I'm going to challenge you to do is keep a journal, write in your journal. You're
going to feel you're going to see things, you're going to do things, and you're going to react in ways that
you did not expect. And if you journal on these adventures, especially every day, or if you've got some
downtime, even for 5 minutes, that is so powerful, when you get home and people want to know what
you did, what you saw, what you learned, what you felt, even 20 years later, you will be able to show
them the journal. How do I know this? As a midshipman, I traveled to Star City, Moscow. I kept the
journal religiously. Religiously. I wrote in it two or 3 hours every single night, and I was only there for
ten days. And I saw some amazing things. I was shocked at some of the 1s monuments that were there.
I was shocked by the really long escalators going down into the subway, which turned out to be fallout
shelters. Some of the stuff, it was just jaw dropping. But it's all in my journal. And even today, I still
have that journal of when I traveled to Moscow, and I can still read it now, going, oh, my gosh, I
completely forgot about things. And I'm no artist, but I tried really hard to draw 1s some of the pictures
and some of the like, for example, the jacks, they have anti tank jacks, and anybody who's been around
any kind of war anything will recognize these jacks. Well, they have some of these jacks in I forget
somewhere in Moscow. I forget where it was, but I remember just being in awe, driving by these jacks
and then going down this huge escalator, knowing that if world war III had happened and a nuclear
weapon had gone off in Moscow, that the population was trained to go to the subway as a fallout shelter.
All of that became incredibly real for me, soberingly real. As a result, I have this incredible memory, and
I have all of these reactions in my journal. So I encourage you, when you are traveling, even if you're
traveling in your home country, that's cool. But also make sure you keep a journal. Really record
everything you're seeing, doing, feeling. The lessons learned that you take from your adventures will be
priceless decades after you do them. And that's it for our first podcast. The rules on the other Salisbury
adventures. Be careful what you wish for, educate yourself and then be ready to roll. Thank you for
joining us this week. To view the complete show notes and all the links mentioned in today's episode,
visit our website at www.mylifeasalandlord.com. If you're looking for educational resources for getting
into real estate investing, becoming a landlord, or even a bed tenant, then I have a page on my website to
get you started looking for a solution to the pickle that you're in? I have suggestions for that too. You can
throw your situation on my Facebook group, My Life Is a Landlord, and let our community help you
with solutions. Also, before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new
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podcast on, or you you can sign up at www.MyLifeasalandlord.com. Thank you again for joining
me, Dr. Jennifer Salisbury, in this episode of My Life as a Landlord. I'll see you next time.