The Travel Expert Sarah Slattery chats with her husband about the pros and cons of bringing kids on a skiing holiday. Sarah is an avid skier but her husband isn't a fan. Find out their top tips for bringing kids on their first skiing holiday, how to enjoy après-ski with kids, where to stay and what to bring.
The Travel Expert Sarah Slattery chats with her husband about the pros and cons of bringing kids on a skiing holiday. Sarah is an avid skier but her husband isn't a fan. Find out their top tips for bringing kids on their first skiing holiday, how to enjoy après-ski with kids, where to stay and what to bring.
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Travel Podcast Brought to you by travel expert
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Welcome to the Travel Podcast Episode one I'm Sarah Slattery from The Travel Expert.ie. On every month I will bring you around the world of travel via the travel podcast For those of you who don't know me, I was a travel agent for 24 years before starting my own travel website five years ago. So I have travelled extensively and like to think I am a travel expert. However, one thing I've learned is that travel is a very personal experience. The Thais holidays that I like maybe may not necessarily be the same for you. So I think it's important that I invite guests to join me and on my travel podcast so we can discuss various types of travel in a group for mush. I plan to have podcasts on family holidays, cruises, honeymoon destination city breaks on holidays in Ireland, too. But if there's anything in particular you want to know about, please email me at podcast at the travel expert, daddy or message, meet by instrument on Facebook and I will try to have a podcast about that in the near future. Today's podcast is about family skiing. I figured I would try and keep it fresh. Excuse the pawn, but I'm just back from a family. Steve Cipto, Austria, where we went for New Year. I thought I would ask my husband Cormac, to join me today because he has completely different views on skiing to May. I love skiing. He okay, so I
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don't really understand why you would put two casts on your feet and then attach them to sticks and then go out and freezing cold and slipping on ice all over the place. Just don't get it.
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okay. Well, there go that's honesty for you, anyway. But that said, I won't have Cormac here all the time. I will have a few professional guests travel gas in the future, and no offence Bush. And for this particular case, I think it's good to get two different perspectives on skiing on the pros and palms on DH. Some tips about bringing your kids skiing for the first time. So let's get started. There s a travel podcast Episode one is family skiing chips.
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Yes. So my first we don't go.
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Yeah, I suppose. Cormack, I knew you wouldn't be that into it anyway, You We skied before as a couple 20 years ago, and you weren't that mad about them. And so I've skied a few times since then, and I absolutely love it. I mean, I could go on for and I are talking about how much I love ski. I just think it's the fresh air being on top of the mountain. I completely switched off. And unlike a sun holiday on a sun lounger and picked up my phone, I'm looking at, you know, on the mansion you just want to keep on the sunny
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holiday. You dictate the time frames on a ski holiday. You're open eight o'clock in the morning to go to catch the ball's in your gear. Hope for your skin is like going to school again.
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Well, okay, that's one way of looking at this Bush on. One thing I should say is that I think that's probably should be the ski chip. Number one like don't necessarily feel you have to ski every single day, and I booked the lessons for us. You don't have to if you don't want. If you have lessons, well, you do have to do ski lessons But you don't necessarily have to do today to talk in the morning or 10 o'clock in the morning and be up that early if you don't want to. You can book private lessons if you want. I mean, I suppose one thing about skiing is it's not cheap. So it's all relative, really, depending on what you want to spend. Bush. If you don't want to get up early in the morning, you can book private lessons. And
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the first morning could we talk about the first morning? Okay, when you get all your stuff,
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okay, let's go. Let's start. That's another tip that I would say is if you can try and book a morning flights and when you arrive in the resource, get your skis and boots and everything organised so that the first day on the mention your ski lesson you have your boots, you have your skis. You can literally just rock up head for your lesson. The main thing with with ski resorts is they nearly all have the same changeover day such days and Sundays. So everybody is skiing for the first time together. So the result the lifts are crazy, busy. Everybody's trying to get their skis and boots on the first day on. I can kind of be a sort of a bad first impression to skiing if you've never skied before.
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I would put it down to being like the first day of the joinery sales.
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They're probably a bit like that. It is kind of crazy busy, but if you can get there, we had an afternoon flights that we had no choice. They were closed when we arrived, so we had to go the first morning on End up. Meaning we're better. NARAL Age for our ski lesson. Despite knowing how busy would be and we went extra Lee, we were still about a narrowly for the scene.
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So there's the four of us only about one another. Yeah,
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so if you can book the flight the day before on, DH said, get everything the night before and be ready. And the only thing to point out, a lot of people feel you have to be beside the ski lifts because, um, they don't want to. You don't be looking skis and boots, and believe me, they're really heavy, right? So if you're golden, small kids, they won't be up to carry, so you don't have to be beside the ski lift. But if you're if you're not, make sure you rent lockers at the ski lifts again. This is the first thing to do because it could be very busy on the first morning. You may not get lockers, so try and do that straight away, because the last thing you want to be doing is getting on the skee. Ball's trying to carry T two sets of skis and two sets of boots each. It's it's
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a holes on gloves. Helmets.
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Yeah, that's
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a worst wearing the Sala pets on the ski jacket and you're on a bus. So you're like, you're sweating. Breathing?
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Yeah, so definitely lockers are almost if you're not staying beside the ski lifts. Absolutely 100%. But I wouldn't let that dictate where you stay. Once those lockers, there wouldn't matter if you were staying in 10 or 15 minutes away from them from the lifts. That's another thing to 150.8, and before you go it all, I recommend to go taking a lesson on the dry slope. If you have kids of Nazi before, especially view of skeet and they haven't. It's going just to get them used to the skis and the boots and all that. They're very heavy. The kids will think that the two ties, they want to change them. Like if you're open top of the mountain, you're not going to want to go back to the shop and change the boots. Where's at least if they've bean? Even if it was one lesson in the dry, so pink ulterior and at least you can they feed, They know what the boots are like. They feel like they know them when they get to resource what it's like. Plus, you'd be amazed what they kick up on one or two lessons. It might mean that by the end of the week, they're able to ski down the mountain with you guys because they're not complete beginners. They've had a few lessons before they got there, so why would I would recommend that as well
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you mentioned Kilternan there. Just so you know, that's the dry slope in Dublin.
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Oh, yeah, yeah.
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So dry slopes wherever they are near you.
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Yeah. So, um yeah, that's kind of getting started. And with regard to the lessons you mentioned that already? A corner.
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You happen to
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have lessons
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before you do that? Somebody said to me that Get the boots. So if your size nine for whatever you are, get 10 get 1/2 size bigger on your boots if you can, because very few people take into consideration. That take sucks. There were on DH also when I got my boots cheque for insults because I struggled and suffered for two days because there was two pairs of insults at the bottom of my boots, which caused the pulse, my fief, to ache for the two days, which just compounded the fact that wasn't very interesting.
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Yeah, well, I think that that's
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like the opera, Steve.
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I've never heard of that before. Now that's the first time I've heard of anybody within cells. But they go, You never know what's supposed. I'm sure you're getting the feeding here. The core Marcos family skiing like seriously, like you sound like the biggest moment honest to God and Bush anyway, So that's a couple of things to point with regard to the lessons. I definitely recommend the ski school, like if you think that the kids are gonna be skiing with you on the first day. If you ski before and they haven't like, it's just not gonna happen. So put them in the ski school. Definitely. They love it. The kids, the same age. You can meet him for lunch you can ski with later on in the afternoon. And if none of you have skied before, it might be worthwhile getting a group private lesson. That way you can ski when you want to, and he could do half days and on your are altogether.
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But but also the I mean, we saw the panic and iron structures face on the first morning because there was so such diversity in the levels of skiing. Yet we've done it before. I haven't done it for 15 years. You did earlier last year? Yeah, on DH. So you'd be better skier than I am both kind. Like riding a bike. I kind of came back to me a bit, but the kids had only had a couple of hours up on the slopes, try slopes, so they were a little bit lower. So very difficult for the structure to
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absolutely no
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kindergarten things that the kids called Henderson
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the ski kindergarten is an absolute most ifyou've speech on the kid's happened speech, if the only way I would suggest maybe a private lesson for everybody together is if none of you had skied before and then that's a different storey Bush otherwise, definitely is the see kindergarten. Also, there's different levels so usually like for babies. You know, two and three. The kindergarten won't be just all skiing. They'll be playing in the snow and things like that. And then some kids, they sit age six upwards would be a bit more structured. So there's different types of ski kindergartens in each resource. We went to Saul in Austria, by the way, which is great. Skip the ski school. There was really, really gorged. There's good to bargain runs for kids as well. Fairly scary, no Nazi. Particularly easy to bargain on. It's also on that ski vouch regional suit. There's loads of different skiing resort. You can ski in the notion that you're a good skier. There's loads of ski runs to do. Not a huge amount of kind of blue, easier on sport, plenty off of Romans. If you're kind of into me
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and proficient enough you, Khun, Scheme to the other time? Yeah,
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It's really good for fancy gorgeous restaurants as well, by the way. Something Yeah, on DH. Great apparatus. Keep calm. I will vote for that. Absolutely. Didn't On 31 day and in the morning and post with regards to the restaurants. This is another tip ski chip number. I don't know what we're on there, three or four and we never go half force. I'm just hazy eating at the same place every night. Like no matter you where we are. I always like to have different restaurant choices, so we always go. You
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have a little look around,
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but I do think for a ski holiday, particularly for young kids like you're fairly wrecked in the evening. You probably do a couple of hours about a press key from the four o'clock in the afternoon. Usually all the bars of families in them and music, plane and everything. So you probably go off the mountain and do that for a couple of errors. Go back to your hotel room or your apartment out of 86 or seven. So getting changed to tobacco to look for a restaurant, your call kind of tired. The kids just want to relax, So I would actually say which is totally against what I ever, ever say. Put on the skiing holiday with kids. Half board is probably a better option down South casing. And so that's the tip. I would say it's just handy to be able to go downstairs and east on, then have an early night and get up early in the morning. And most of the bars, like with regard to operate ski and kids. Actually, a few people have asked me about that. Like the kid. You're generally not in the bars later tonight with him, but you will do the operation. He initially when it was supposed to be after your speech from about 4 to 67 Lots of families around them
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there was, but I think, didn't get to be a boat. Pulls by was 99 o'clock. We're all born
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yet, so generally I mean on speak. Sometimes you might go for dinner on your way home from the whisky, and that's another tip whether Rahm number four on our five and clothes don't bring anything dressy people don't dress up Half the time you go to the restaurant if they're still on their ski here, which was like So you know, you really, I would say you need, if anything, maybe Maura long sleeve chops that layers that you could, rather than big woolly jumpers. Or because you will be warm and the bars and restaurants after. It is nice to be if you are in your salad pets. At least if you're in like a just a long sleeve T shirt or a long sleeve chuck underneath, you can wear it out and then just put layers on
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over both. It's probably worth mentioning about the, like the language, because this stuff is
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Yeah, it is bulky, and we brought way too much like we didn't all the stuff we brought you really Look, all you're wearing is your speaker, like you really are. Once or twice, you might go out and, you know, apparent, but you'll still you wear your your snow boots with your jeans, or you're if you're going out at night time as well. So you know you don't need to bring your snow boots is all you really need. You don't need to bring anything else as well
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What about those packing bags?
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Yeah, you
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make small small.
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Yeah, they're they're hunting for your salad pats and your ski jackets are quite bulky. So if you have those and I think what they're called now but the the bag's basically that you consult the arrows, they're handy for trying. Teo, approximately two packs small damn with regard to the ski and resorts at this. I mean, there's so many Khun choose from I like that region there for a couple of reasons that a that you can ski into all the different resorts. And I like all the food to the Austrian food graced. The restaurants are good on DH. There's a lot of airport choices. It's an hour and 1/2 from Munich and Salzburg. And so I like some of the resorts, are like three are transfers from the airport and all that. Like which I mean, I wouldn't want to do it on my own or a minder kid, So just watch out for the resorts also, maybe pick, you know, there is an off chance that your kids might like skiing ours. Did Bush like that time did you maybe pick a resort that has maybe one of those water parks and indoor water park. Or if you're hotel, has a pool, or maybe think about things to do order than skiing as well. So really probably just has the bargain on was really more chance to do s o just depend, You know, maybe factor that in as well and just having a look. I'm just trying to think there
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was also a health insurance. Make sure you have your travel insurance.
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It's the insurance you need to pay extra for winter sports corpus. So make sure you know, why don't you be like a fire or extra something like that? But just make sure you have us
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every day at the top of the left, at the top of the gondola. We're kind of everybody meets before the dispersal, radius, slopes and whatever. There wasn't a day went by that we didn't see the ski. What you call those things. The jet skied the motor, but no. Yeah, attracting the insurgency and
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basically honest,
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going telling a stretcher with somebody
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on, you know it's injuries is obviously horrific, and you obviously don't want that to happen. Bush and people you know just because you're in Europe. Don't just use your European health cards because, like that one corporate, if you need an air ambulance rent like that's like travel insurance. It's so cheap, like King is so expensive. Insurance is nothing compared to what you can to spend on the ski elder, so definitely make sure you have it.
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Well. One of the instructor himself was saying how he wants getting off. Peace does, he said himself on a black slope. He had to be held lifted off the mountain, which costs like a high five figures
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freeze. And also, you know, with with skiing with insurance weather like you're obviously going to be our adverse weather like you. You know, you could miss your flight. You could get snowed in there, you know. So insurance is like speaking of missing your flight and we went for New Year on DH. Of course, the whole world like everybody's on holidays after Christmas. Munich. Yeah, that's Saturday before, and that's actually after Christmas, when everybody's coming home and the traffic is crazy. Now. We we were coming from so to Munich, but I would imagine it's pretty much the same around
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Europe. Put into perspective. The Munich from Munich to sell was 90 minutes on the way down. Yeah, on the way back,
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it was three and 1/2 hours,
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three and 1/2 hours.
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So we basically Mr Flight, but only
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with the grace of
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God start a group of tough like people were in the same position, and they managed to get a lingers to hold the plane for So we were blessed, Bush. And
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if we had rocked up, just the eight of us in the 59 people played around the plane, we were playing totally screwed if you want to go home,
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so just make sure if you are looking at yourself independently, dash, you leave, get go extra early with the transfer. Call my home because you never know what the weather going to be like and on, you know, a narrow have transfer, even if it's not Christmas at any time. I would book extra, really coming home and know that that's probably the last thing on talk about is the difference between booking it independently and booking a package. And now, as you know, I was a travel agent for years. I'm a big fan of travel agents. So I was always kind of recommend you talk to a travel agent anyway. And before you book anything in our particular case, neat. The prices for New Year are very, very dear. So it did work out cheaper to Bukhara Lingus flights into Munich. I booked them back and Fabri. They were, like 120 hours each or something. Exiles burger for hundreds, like at the time. So I did forget separately. I booked the flights that Air Lingus. I booked accommodation separately on DH transfers, so I that's that's worked out best for us at that particular time. I would say most of the time it's probably better off to go. If you're gone for a week to book the package, book your lessons, you could book your live power. Sometimes they did deals on live passes, buy one, get one free and stuff like that through topflight crystal and the different ski operators, and so obviously depends a bit old. For a short stay, three or four nights might be better to do it independently. Poor definitely for a week, and I'll always cheque with the travel agent first because the B plus you know you've got the transfer is booked, everything's arranged. There's no stress about missing flights around like that. Likelihood so, yeah. I mean, you just way off the two together and just New Year that there was a massive difference employee. So that's why we did it that way. But normally I would go the other way.
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The entertainment factor, AP risky. Yeah. The bonds are, you know, the 77 place. And so we pretty much stopped. 03
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7777 restaurants. But this there's no bars as well,
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way blown away by the quality of the mounds on the start. Their plane was great and combined that with a couple of points on the crack
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is Yeah. No, it is. Good
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point. You get locked out of your hotel o'clock in the morning. That's it's minus five degrees and I drink it.
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Yeah, that's that all happened. All right, Sam?
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Yeah, it was great, right?
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Yeah. You know
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the bloc's new friends.
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I went skiing in Soll a lot of kids in February and was wild like that. The night that operates at nighttime is amazing, but it's like it's goats during the day with the kids too, you know? And you know what is Another thing that's great is when you're there, is taste the local food. The food star Michelle got on like the goulash is and things like that. The big hearty grow up on the mountain like you're born absolutely gorgeous on DH like loads of kids were loved Vienna schnitzel thing all the time. Gross stole is a lovely local dish. It's like potatoes with bacon on DH onions, I think. And then there's a fried egg on top. Absolutely gorgeous. Real, real hearty group When you're after working out the mountain, eso definitely don't, you know, go for the local stop. Exactly. Not a huge man. Kids menus in a lot of places, actually. So we're so the Vienna schnitzel and chips is probably half the price. Is if you went for, like, a bargaining chips like that on the kids love him. So just be a bit adventurous when you're there. Is that everything? I
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can't think of anything else. Um,
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yes. I hope you got some tips there on DH. That's what I'll be Yeah, going family skiing Now. After that, don't let Carmen put your coffee just he's not into exercise anyway. You like fresh air and
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you won't break a leg. Order a margarita with people you
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Don't let. Don't let him put you off because he's just he's Most people love skiing if you like exercise and like being out in the fresh air. And you know the old saying, if the kids are happy, you're happy too. So
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if you like like music, though I can't fault you live music in every bar every night. They're fantastic. The bears go to
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There you go. Okay. So, look, tune in for the next tour. Next month will keep you posted on DH. Any queries or Tom's ups and all those kind of things? If you want to send an email podcast asked the travel expert Dottie on DH. Yeah, Be in touch soon. Thanks for listening.
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Well, would have been following this
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way. Follow me on Instagram
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Teo fell 12
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Yeah, that underscore travel underscore experts on instagram on their travel expert on Facebook on Twitter, about everything you find me
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if you go to travel, experts say the only thing so there All right until the next time. Bye