TWiT+ Club Shows 737 Transcript
Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-free version of the show.
TWiT.tv [00:00:00]:
This is Twit.
Leo Laporte [00:00:03]:
Hello, all you club members. It's time to jet on out of here with the man, the myth, the legend, Johnny Jet. Hey, you got a good shirt, Johnny. Look at that.
Johnny Jet [00:00:14]:
Yeah, this is for you.
Leo Laporte [00:00:16]:
Oh, well, let me show you what I'm wearing. I got a kitty cat.
Johnny Jet [00:00:19]:
Oh my God.
Leo Laporte [00:00:21]:
Space age kitty cats. That's awesome.
Johnny Jet [00:00:24]:
It's a cross between the Jetsons and like Something else.
Leo Laporte [00:00:28]:
You know what I have over here? I could run over and get it, but then I have to run over. There is a new TWA Hotel, which I'm sure you're very familiar with.
Johnny Jet [00:00:38]:
I've stayed in it.
Leo Laporte [00:00:39]:
It's in New York. Is it New York or LA?
Johnny Jet [00:00:41]:
JFK.
Leo Laporte [00:00:42]:
JFK. And we mentioned it on one of the shows and they sent me a care package.
Johnny Jet [00:00:47]:
Oh.
Leo Laporte [00:00:47]:
So I have a— Oh, you have probably the same. I don't have that. That's cool. That's a TWA little—
Johnny Jet [00:00:54]:
I was just cleaning out my desk and I was like, what should I do with this?
Leo Laporte [00:00:56]:
Oh, it's got lotions and stuff.
Johnny Jet [00:00:58]:
Toiletries.
Leo Laporte [00:00:59]:
I have a TWA, for some reason they sent me a towel.
Johnny Jet [00:01:03]:
Okay.
Leo Laporte [00:01:04]:
And a giant bag and a bunch of stickers and stuff. So is it a cool hotel?
Johnny Jet [00:01:11]:
Yeah, it's totally cool if you're an aviation geek. The walls are thin and it's expensive, but—
Leo Laporte [00:01:17]:
Is it an old hotel that they just kind of took over? Is that the idea?
Johnny Jet [00:01:21]:
They redesigned it. I mean, it's the old, who designed the building?
Leo Laporte [00:01:26]:
It's like a hill. Oh, it's Euro Serenades place. Yes, yes, yes.
Johnny Jet [00:01:30]:
Oh. Has these long hallways, red carpet.
Leo Laporte [00:01:32]:
So you do very '60s. It matches my shirt.
Johnny Jet [00:01:35]:
You do a lot of walking. So we just stayed there last summer and we came back from Greece and we're flying from Greece to Nantucket and we had a night in New York and I'm like, we land at 8 o'clock at night, my kids are gonna be tired. Unfortunately, the pool was closed and it was 100 degrees that day.
Leo Laporte [00:01:49]:
Oh, yikes.
Johnny Jet [00:01:50]:
I guess someone deposited something in the pool.
Leo Laporte [00:01:53]:
So no, it's really okay. Look at that. That used to be a lot. That used to be a flight lounge.
Johnny Jet [00:02:00]:
Yes.
Leo Laporte [00:02:00]:
And that old TWA terminal at JFK, which I've flown out of there, that's the towel they sent me. So I guess that's why they sent me a towel.
Johnny Jet [00:02:08]:
Oh, it's, it's so cool, especially if you want to go have drinks there. But again, it's overpriced. It's a lot of walking. The walls are thin.
Leo Laporte [00:02:16]:
That cracks me up.
Johnny Jet [00:02:17]:
This, I asked the pilot, he said he liked it, but you know, it's great for the convenience because literally you don't have to go most of the hotels, all the hotels, but this one at JFK, you have to take a shuttle and it's just a nightmare.
Leo Laporte [00:02:29]:
So far, do you recommend staying at the hotel in the airport? I know they have one in Frankfurt. They have one at San Francisco now.
Johnny Jet [00:02:38]:
I mean, they have at most airports. I've stayed— we stayed one.
Leo Laporte [00:02:41]:
I like being on the airport. Yes. Have you stayed at this hotel on Singapore's airport? Yeah, that's supposed to be amazing.
Johnny Jet [00:02:47]:
Well, there's a few in Singapore. Yeah, they're right across— they're right across the street. What's nice about the Singapore airport, they have a— and also the Frankfurt airport, they have a grocery store, full-on grocery store in the basement. I mean, the Singapore airport is the best airport in the world, hands down. Anyone will tell you that.
Leo Laporte [00:03:06]:
We are going to— we've made travel plans. Good. You get out. Finally. This is a trip we booked in 2021, which we had to cancel. It was going to be the Viking Mississippi.
Johnny Jet [00:03:21]:
Right.
Leo Laporte [00:03:21]:
Because I thought, oh, it'd be really cool to go up the Mississippi River. See America. But then I've read some reviews that it's not ideal.
Johnny Jet [00:03:30]:
Right.
Leo Laporte [00:03:31]:
That for one thing, the river is basically berms all the way up. You can't see anything because it floods. So they've built giant levees. So you're just kind of going down this, up this muddy river with no, with just mud on each side. So that was one thing. And then apparently that they, because of the shallow draft of the boat, they have to use this kind of eggbeater propulsion system, which vibrates and is noisy, and they only travel at night. So all night long it's noisy and vibrates. Anyway, I read a number of reviews and I thought, you know what, we had to cancel anyway.
Leo Laporte [00:04:05]:
We got the travel vouchers. By the way, always get travel insurance. Thank goodness.
Johnny Jet [00:04:10]:
So you got it from the travel insurance company, not from Viking?
Leo Laporte [00:04:13]:
No, we got it from Viking in this case. You paid for the travel insurance? Party service because my wonderful Jane travel agent at Travel Store Jane Z says, if the cruise line goes bankrupt, you don't want to have the travel insurance with the cruise line. But I don't think Viking's going bankrupt anytime soon. So, and then I was telling Lisa, no, no, Viking's for rivers. You don't want to go on the ocean cruises. And you told me last month—
Johnny Jet [00:04:44]:
That's not true.
Leo Laporte [00:04:45]:
They're great.
Johnny Jet [00:04:46]:
Definitely.
Leo Laporte [00:04:47]:
So we're going to do a Viking Ocean cruise in the fall.
Johnny Jet [00:04:49]:
Awesome.
Leo Laporte [00:04:50]:
So we're going Bangkok to Bali.
Johnny Jet [00:04:52]:
Oh my gosh. Can I go?
Leo Laporte [00:04:57]:
Unfortunately, the, the pre and post trips are booked because the Bangkok trip starts in Bangkok. But I wanted to go to Siem Reap and see Angkor Wat, the great temple complex.
Johnny Jet [00:05:10]:
Yes. And I've been— it's amazing.
Leo Laporte [00:05:12]:
But is it, is it worth it?
Johnny Jet [00:05:14]:
Yeah, but they're having problems right now between Cambodia and Thailand.
Leo Laporte [00:05:18]:
That's one of the wars the president stopped.
Johnny Jet [00:05:21]:
Yes. He stopped 8, I think.
Leo Laporte [00:05:23]:
Yes. So I'm not worried. So, um, really? So you think there'll be problems?
Johnny Jet [00:05:30]:
No, I mean, listen, you just keep it monitored. If the ship's going, it's going to be fine. They're not going to—
Leo Laporte [00:05:34]:
well, that's why we're going to get insurance again, just in case. Peace breaks out. But I do think I've got to see Angkor Wat, and I don't think I'll have another option, another chance.
Johnny Jet [00:05:46]:
Go early morning. Obviously, all these places that are popular tourist places, you got to get there right when they open.
Leo Laporte [00:05:53]:
The Instagrammers have discovered it, haven't they?
Johnny Jet [00:05:55]:
I mean, yes, of course.
Leo Laporte [00:05:57]:
Anyway, so I wanted to do that. And then, and so then we're gonna be in Singapore. That's what made me think of this, for overnight in Singapore, which will be really fun.
Johnny Jet [00:06:06]:
Well, you got to go downtown. Don't stay at the airport.
Leo Laporte [00:06:09]:
Well, we're not in the airport, we're in a boat. Oh, so I don't think they can.
Johnny Jet [00:06:14]:
So they're going to spend the night in the— on the ship, in the air, in the—
Leo Laporte [00:06:19]:
in the— okay, whatever, the port.
Johnny Jet [00:06:21]:
But you can still— you still can get a hotel.
Leo Laporte [00:06:24]:
I mean, I don't know, we'll stay in the boat, but I will definitely— we'll go into town, of course. Uh, I've been to Singapore before, many, many years ago, and I love Singapore. And my brother lives there, so, uh, I think I'll have family there, so that'll be fun. He married a Singaporean woman and they're very happily— they love living there. We also go to Kuala Lumpur because we'll be going on the way. We'll go to Malaysia and then we end up in Bali. And I thought it'd be nice to go to Ubud and stay on the beach. Do you approve?
Johnny Jet [00:06:54]:
Of course. Although the beaches in Bali are overrated, in my opinion.
Leo Laporte [00:06:58]:
Oh, maybe we don't need— what would you do if you were involved?
Johnny Jet [00:07:01]:
I would go to Ubud. Ubud's not in the—
Leo Laporte [00:07:03]:
Oh, it's out of the—
Johnny Jet [00:07:04]:
It's, it's, yeah, that's where you want to go. Well, that's very touristy too, but, um, there's, there's a lot of places that are great to see. The food's amazing. The people are some of the nicest people I hear.
Leo Laporte [00:07:15]:
I hear that. Yeah, I really want to see that.
Johnny Jet [00:07:18]:
Um, Natalie and I went there on our honeymoon.
Leo Laporte [00:07:19]:
We've been a couple times.
Johnny Jet [00:07:21]:
Oh, we stayed at the Iman Hotel.
Leo Laporte [00:07:23]:
I told Lisa this is our last trip, so we're going to enjoy ourselves. The only reason we can even afford it is we paid for this 5 years ago. When a dollar was worth something. And, and we have to use these vouchers before they expire. So that's, that's why we're going to do it. But I said, Lisa, we got to really enjoy this and see some places that we'll probably never get back to. I don't know if I'll ever get back to—
Johnny Jet [00:07:47]:
I don't know why you say never get back to, but are you going to go to Penang? I'm just looking at my map right now.
Leo Laporte [00:07:52]:
No, it's, it's a strange trip. There's a lot of sea days. I can't remember where we're going, but I don't think we're going to—
Johnny Jet [00:08:01]:
And you're going to Kuala Lumpur, you said?
Leo Laporte [00:08:02]:
Kuala Lumpur we're going to. Okay. Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:08:04]:
So make sure you go up in the—
Leo Laporte [00:08:06]:
I don't bring this up to make people jealous. And I know sometimes people hear this and they go, well, must be nice. But I love to travel. And this is a part of the— I've been to a lot of the world and this is one of the places in the world I have never been to. And I thought before I go, which could be any minute now, I want to go. Let's hope not. I want to go to Thailand and Cambodia. Cambodia was the most bombed country in history thanks to the Vietnam War.
Johnny Jet [00:08:34]:
I did not know that.
Leo Laporte [00:08:35]:
I don't know if they're still mad at us. I hope not. I know Vietnam has forgiven us, which is wild.
Johnny Jet [00:08:41]:
Yeah. I'd never been to Vietnam. I really want to go.
Leo Laporte [00:08:43]:
Me too. So maybe I will have to go back.
Johnny Jet [00:08:47]:
Natalie and I took a train from Bangkok to Singapore. Through Malaysia.
Leo Laporte [00:08:51]:
So that's what I'm thinking for the future traveling. I want to do it much more economically. This is ridiculous. I want to go to a place and stay there for a month or a few weeks anyway, so really get a sense of it rather than these expensive trips. I just want to go somewhere. You go to Italy for a month, you do an Airbnb. It's not so expensive.
Johnny Jet [00:09:14]:
I rented one this summer. It's $1,000 for a week.
Leo Laporte [00:09:18]:
Yeah. See, I think that's going to be my future traveling. This is the last kind of luxury trip. And it's only because we have this travel voucher we got to use.
Johnny Jet [00:09:31]:
Well, I can't wait to hear about it because I have not been back to Asia since the pandemic.
Leo Laporte [00:09:37]:
Well, that's the thing. Right, exactly. And I don't know what the state of the world's going to be for much longer. Do you ever get that sense that are you glad you traveled as much as you did When you did?
Johnny Jet [00:09:47]:
I mean, I'm so fortunate. I used to be afraid to fly, afraid to leave the house. I got over my fear, and I remember being in college and the professor would always ask, who's been to this place or here? And everyone would raise their hand but me because I'd never been anywhere.
Leo Laporte [00:10:01]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:10:01]:
And it was such a huge monkey. When I did my first international trip, my girlfriend in college's parents lived in Hong Kong, and I went with her, and my gosh, it was like a huge monkey off my back.
Leo Laporte [00:10:11]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:10:12]:
And now I'm so fortunate I can almost raise my hand for every place because I've been to so many countries now.
Leo Laporte [00:10:16]:
But once the dam broke, you you just boom.
Johnny Jet [00:10:19]:
I got addicted to travel and addicted to my miles. And, um, and people are addicted to flying, and I was for a little while.
Leo Laporte [00:10:27]:
I enjoy it. I really enjoy it. Um, I'm not— I'm not— I'm not scared. Uh, I don't like airports. I hate airports. But I like to fly somewhere. By the way, they want me to ask you about, uh, Lombok in Indonesia. Have you been there?
Johnny Jet [00:10:44]:
Lombok. You know, I don't think I've been—
Leo Laporte [00:10:46]:
it's an island in the West Nusa Tenggara province.
Johnny Jet [00:10:49]:
Yeah, I've never been to Lombok, but one of my friends have, and I remember—
Leo Laporte [00:10:53]:
that's why I'm just trying to think, because I'm like, it's a circular island with a tail. Um, that sounds like fun. I might want to go to Lombok maybe instead of Ubud, because the Ubud trip is booked, as is the Angkor Wat trip. I'm waiting to see if there'll be cancellations. Then I'm— get a good travel agent. By the way, I have a great travel agent. She said, don't worry, Leo, we'll put it— we'll put a tour together for you. We'll get it all set up for you.
Johnny Jet [00:11:17]:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure my friend Terry, um, yeah, my friend Terry Ward, I think, went to Lombok.
Leo Laporte [00:11:22]:
I'm gonna ask Jane about Lombok. This is beautiful. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean, you say that Bali doesn't have great beaches. That looks like a pretty nice beach in my opinion.
Johnny Jet [00:11:35]:
I mean, I've only been twice, but And I've been around, but we were like, this is not great. This beach.
Leo Laporte [00:11:41]:
Yeah. You know, you think Bali is calling. You think it's going to have, you know, the South Pacific thing going on. This is— this looks beautiful. Lombok. There's the island with the tail.
Johnny Jet [00:11:53]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:11:54]:
So, okay. Burke says I should go here. Oh, they look— oh, I don't know what I'm looking at now. There's 27 pictures of Lombok on the Wikipedia. So tell me about this. Mark Rober. This is from the JohnnyJet.com site. Okay.
Leo Laporte [00:12:14]:
Mark Rober says what travelers have been told about bedbugs is totally false.
Johnny Jet [00:12:20]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:12:22]:
So I love Mark Rober. He's the former NASA scientist who did the glitter bombs, and now he's a huge YouTube star. In fact, he's even got a TV show, I think, on Hulu.
Johnny Jet [00:12:31]:
So Netflix. Netflix. Yeah, I know this because my son loves Mark Rober. He's 9 years old. And so, you know, I don't know if I heard of Mark Rober until my son came home from school one day.
Leo Laporte [00:12:42]:
It was like, Dad, you know about Mark Rober? And he says he's a superstar.
Johnny Jet [00:12:48]:
Yeah, I mean, he's amazing. And we've seen almost all of his videos. And actually, we were just watching this one on bed bugs, which is at least a year old, this video, but You know, on YouTube, we're just going through some of them.
Leo Laporte [00:12:59]:
This is for a while. This was everybody was saying, oh, don't go, you know, don't go to New York City. There's bedbugs. Everybody's worried about bedbugs. What's the, what's the truth?
Johnny Jet [00:13:08]:
Listen, I stayed in thousands of hotels.
Leo Laporte [00:13:10]:
I've never seen a bedbug.
Johnny Jet [00:13:11]:
Knock on wood. I've never seen one. I've, there could have been, but I've never had, never had marks on my back.
Leo Laporte [00:13:17]:
I have to say, I was, when I, I was staying at my mom's house and a bee bit me. But other than that, I was lying in bed. I woke up in the morning and it's like, what the hell is a dead bee underneath me?
Johnny Jet [00:13:30]:
In Rhode Island.
Leo Laporte [00:13:31]:
In Rhode Island. So, but no bed bugs.
Johnny Jet [00:13:34]:
Big welt from the bee?
Leo Laporte [00:13:35]:
Yeah, still.
Johnny Jet [00:13:36]:
Oh, God.
Leo Laporte [00:13:38]:
It's a permanent scar.
Johnny Jet [00:13:39]:
Oh my gosh.
Leo Laporte [00:13:41]:
It's slowly going away. I'd show you, but, you know, we got people watching. So what did Mark say? What is the truth about bed bugs? I mean, So he's not as bad as you think.
Johnny Jet [00:13:52]:
Correct. And he's, you know, he, he tells people like what most people do, pull the bed, pull back the bed sheets when you get in there, you look at the mattress seams and the corners and the headboards.
Leo Laporte [00:14:01]:
Can you see bed bugs? Because they're not— okay, so they're not so small that they're invisible, like little ticks. Okay, so you got partnered with Dr. Wong.
Johnny Jet [00:14:12]:
Yeah, this guy, this guy, I mean, this guy's supposed to be the expert at Rutgers, the world's foremost bed bug expert. Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:14:18]:
And did an experiment, right, to see how to get rid of bed bugs.
Johnny Jet [00:14:24]:
And he put them on his arm, and, you know, he didn't have any marks. Some people are allergic to them. That's the only time you're gonna—
Leo Laporte [00:14:29]:
Oh, that's the problem. They don't bite you?
Johnny Jet [00:14:31]:
They do bite, and they will turn red. They'll suck your blood like a mosquito, but they don't transmit any diseases like—
Leo Laporte [00:14:38]:
Not like a mosquito. Okay, correct. Okay.
Johnny Jet [00:14:41]:
Um, so anyway, you gotta watch a video. It's about 20 minutes, but, you know, what if you're traveling You know, they say, you know, pull back the bed sheets, make sure there's nothing there. Uh, keep a luggage rack, keep your stuff on a luggage rack, your, your clothes, or on a, in the bathtub, the whole bag. Don't ever put it, unpack it and put it in your drawers because they love the wood.
Leo Laporte [00:15:02]:
And they really, he says diatomaceous earth.
Johnny Jet [00:15:04]:
Yes.
Leo Laporte [00:15:05]:
Get rid of bed bugs.
Johnny Jet [00:15:07]:
Yeah. That's a crushed up shells. So you can, you can flat. So if it's ever, and it doesn't hurt you, it doesn't bother you. No, he's like, that, that's what the truth is. They don't spend money on all these sprays and stuff. They tell you, you either put this real light dusting of this— I can't even say the word—
Leo Laporte [00:15:24]:
diatomaceous earth.
Johnny Jet [00:15:26]:
Earth. And you put it all around the bed, or if you have it, and they don't like high heat, so you could, you know, put everything, put everything in the dryer 100 at high, or you can hire someone if you have a really bad infestation in your house, and someone will come in and they'll, they'll heat the whole house to 120 degrees, I think, for 4 hours, and it kills them instantly.
Leo Laporte [00:15:46]:
Oh, see, it's not a big deal.
Johnny Jet [00:15:48]:
So no, bedbugs have never stopped me. And there was a while there I would always check. I haven't checked lately, but I probably will now that you brought it up.
Leo Laporte [00:15:59]:
Okay, we've got an assignment. But actually, that's definitely worth a watch. It's a little creepy looking. You put some pictures. If you go to johnnyjet.com, by the way, this is Johnny's wonderful website, and there's a link there. Uh, he does such great travel tips and all sorts of information. Uh, I thought it was kind of interesting that for about 5 minutes, uh, the Department of Homeland Security said, oh, because of the government shutdown, we're going to shut down TSA PreCheck and Global Entry. And then they changed their mind.
Johnny Jet [00:16:33]:
Well, Global Entry is still shut down.
Leo Laporte [00:16:35]:
Oh, it is?
Johnny Jet [00:16:35]:
Yeah. So you can't enroll or use it, but that's not good. A great alternative is the Mobile Passport Control, MPC app. So it's not about—
Leo Laporte [00:16:45]:
do that. I thought they stopped doing that.
Johnny Jet [00:16:46]:
No, no, no, no. And, and when you go through immigration in Canada, they actually have a big sign saying, you want to speed through immigration, download the app. And Natalie, one day, her, her, um, she didn't match up her— she changed her name legally like a year ago, and she didn't update.
Leo Laporte [00:17:04]:
She now is Natalie Jet.
Johnny Jet [00:17:06]:
Yes, Natalie Jett. But anyway, use the MPC app. Just download it in advance, put all your information in, and then when you land, you need to have an internet connection, but there should be no problem. And then all you do is put in your flight info and you can just usually speed right through. And I know a lot of people in San Francisco who say the MPC line is quicker than Global Entry anyway.
Leo Laporte [00:17:29]:
You know, that's sometimes, you know, I see sometimes I look at the CLEAR line and think, oh, I wish it— and then it's longer than the regular TSA line. And sometimes I'll look at Global Entry and it's longer than the regular customs line.
Johnny Jet [00:17:41]:
It's like, definitely. Well, I have CLEAR too.
Leo Laporte [00:17:44]:
You know, it's nice to have the choice, I guess.
Johnny Jet [00:17:46]:
Definitely. So if you have a premium credit card, get CLEAR. They pay for it.
Leo Laporte [00:17:49]:
Right.
Johnny Jet [00:17:49]:
So whatever, whatever the premium credit card is, just double check with them to see they'll reimburse you. But with that card and then—
Leo Laporte [00:17:55]:
if you have TSA Pre, isn't that better than CLEAR or no?
Johnny Jet [00:17:59]:
No, because CLEAR, there's a long line for TSA Pre or security. They walk you to the front. Front of it with CLEAR.
Leo Laporte [00:18:05]:
Okay.
Johnny Jet [00:18:06]:
And you don't even need your ID because it's already in the system. So if you don't have a real ID, but your passport's in the system, they just do your eye. They just do your eyes.
Leo Laporte [00:18:15]:
Now I have to admit, when I, I got CLEAR when it first started way back when, you're right. And I was so embarrassed. I used it once because I go up, I say, oh, hey, and they do your eye and they go, okay. And they take your stuff. Yeah, put it in the tray, and they walk in front of all these people and say, excuse me, pardon me, pardon me. Yeah, big shot coming through, big time, and put you in the front. And I said, I'm never doing that again. That's embarrassing.
Leo Laporte [00:18:41]:
Oh, I felt bad for all the people.
Johnny Jet [00:18:46]:
I was like, hey, you're not cutting, you're paying for a service. You're smart is what that is.
Leo Laporte [00:18:50]:
Oh yes.
Johnny Jet [00:18:51]:
So, so one hack is if you're ever, you know, if there's ever a really long line Yeah, and you're running late or whatever, you can sign up for CLEAR at the airport. They usually give you a 2-week trial for free. You have to double-check with that, but it only takes 5 minutes to sign up, and you can do it at one of their kiosks. Usually the kiosk that's in the, um, that the head house, right? You know, walk into the airport by check-in, but not the ones by security because they usually have 2 sets, one to sign up and one to process you through security. But no, it's great. And when you have— when you travel with kids, you know, they don't have to have it because they're with you. Yeah, but they double-check that, you know, they always ask my kids all kinds of questions like, what's your name? Who are these people?
Leo Laporte [00:19:36]:
Are they your parents?
Johnny Jet [00:19:38]:
Are they— they just say, what, who is this person?
Leo Laporte [00:19:40]:
You know, it's funny, I don't know if you need this, but I do remember when traveling with our kids, we'd get a— like, if I were traveling alone with my daughter and son, I'd get a letter from their mom saying this is, this is their father, I am their mother, and it's okay.
Johnny Jet [00:19:55]:
They have to get it notarized. Isn't that— yes, if you're traveling internationally. Is that international or is that domestic?
Leo Laporte [00:20:01]:
I think it was international.
Johnny Jet [00:20:02]:
It's international.
Leo Laporte [00:20:02]:
Yeah, just to be safe, it's probably a good idea. I never knew that.
Johnny Jet [00:20:06]:
But what's crazy about that, it's usually the other countries that require it. The US, they'll let you go out, but when you're coming back, that's when you're gonna— they're gonna ask for the letter.
Leo Laporte [00:20:16]:
Isn't that funny?
Johnny Jet [00:20:18]:
Through my— this is according to my friends. I have never done it. I've always traveled with my wife, knock on wood, with my kids.
Leo Laporte [00:20:24]:
And yeah, actually, it was, I think, I can't remember. Yeah, I think. Oh, yeah, it was because we were, I think my— so we were in France visiting my daughter who was going to school at the time, going to high school in France. And my wife left her passport in the ladies' room. And so she had to stay in Paris to go to the consulate in the morning and get a new passport. And Henry and I, my son and I, went home. That's why we needed that, because I was traveling back in the United States out of France.
Johnny Jet [00:21:02]:
Well, Natalie lost her passport once in Estonia. We were on a Seabourn cruise. We went on a bike ride and she had it in her back pocket. I go, What were you doing with the passport in your back pocket?
Leo Laporte [00:21:13]:
Okay, this is a big question.
Johnny Jet [00:21:15]:
Yes.
Leo Laporte [00:21:16]:
On a cruise ship, as often happens, hotels sometimes too, they take your passport.
Johnny Jet [00:21:20]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:21:20]:
If you're on a cruise ship and you're getting off in a country and you don't have your passport, you don't— shouldn't you have your passport with you?
Johnny Jet [00:21:27]:
Well, we were in Estonia and they required it, so they actually— the ship had our passports and they handed it back. They give them back to you as you go and they said you need them for this day. Right. And but no one ever checked it. But you just have it just in case. Just in case. But anyway, she lost it. We went back to the ship and we had dinner with the, with the captain the night before.
Johnny Jet [00:21:47]:
We were invited to the captain's dinner table because we were guests of the ship.
Leo Laporte [00:21:50]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:21:50]:
Anyway, I was like, there's gonna be no problem. You already have— she had an old passport with her. She had a photocopy of it, digital copy. Anyway, the guy's like, I'm sorry, but we're going to Poland next. You are not allowed on the ship. I go, what if she just stays, stays off? She just stays in the cabin. They're like, sorry, we cannot go into another country Without your passport, they threw her off. We'll be fined $1 million.
Johnny Jet [00:22:13]:
And I was like, what? All of a sudden I still get goosebumps. Anyway, we had to scramble to the Canadian embassy because Natalie is Canadian. Well, she's American now, but, um, she had to scramble in the consulate there. They didn't have a full embassy, they just had a satellite office. She's like, all I can do is cancel your passport and issue a new one, emergency one, and you have to go straight home. And we were just, we were on this, you know, dream trip. And, and you have to buy your own airfare to get back. She had to go right to Canada.
Johnny Jet [00:22:44]:
It's $1,700 for a last-minute ticket. And, you know, obviously she expects me to go with her, and I'm like, I'm staying on the ship. I'm sorry. This is before we got married. Anyway, long story short, the, the embassy was like, or the consulate said, well, I'll check one more time with the police department. And she's like, someone must be watching you because someone just turned it in.
Leo Laporte [00:23:04]:
Oh, thank goodness. That's because the Estonians are good people. I love Estonians. They're very nice people.
Johnny Jet [00:23:11]:
The captain held the ship for 1 hour for us, so we made it back. I still get goosebumps. No, no, it was just because they will do that. They'll do that for some people.
Leo Laporte [00:23:22]:
Look at this. I have my passport now in my iPhone. It's my digital ID.
Johnny Jet [00:23:28]:
Me too.
Leo Laporte [00:23:28]:
So if I lose my passport, does that count?
Johnny Jet [00:23:32]:
Uh, not internationally.
Leo Laporte [00:23:33]:
I will tell you right now, but it could happen. It's still going to throw you off before they go to Poland.
Johnny Jet [00:23:37]:
But if you're traveling domestically, yes, and you need a real ID, that will help.
Leo Laporte [00:23:41]:
This could help. And then I, uh, when I got a passport, I ordered the passport card.
Johnny Jet [00:23:47]:
Yep.
Leo Laporte [00:23:48]:
Which they say don't try to travel overseas with this, but you can go to Mexico or Canada or Canada driving across the border. Yeah, right. Driving or walking.
Johnny Jet [00:23:57]:
We can't fly. Cruise, and cruise, I think you can do it. You got to double-check on that.
Leo Laporte [00:24:01]:
So what is that passport card really good for?
Johnny Jet [00:24:03]:
So it's— no, we have one. We all have one. And what— we don't travel with it. We keep it at home just in case, God forbid, we lose our passports.
Leo Laporte [00:24:11]:
That's what I figured.
Johnny Jet [00:24:12]:
And we have to get to Canada to go see her family last minute. You know, we can, we can drive.
Leo Laporte [00:24:16]:
I also figured if I were in Estonia, lost my passport, and I had a passport card, it'd be easier to get a replacement. No.
Johnny Jet [00:24:24]:
I mean, it should help, but again, somehow you need a physical form. If you're going to a place that has a United States embassy, yeah, a full embassy, not like a little satellite office, although I think, I think the current administration is cutting a lot of those back. I know some places, so it might be more difficult. But one of the hacks in the old days used to be if you're running out of pages of your passport, you could go to an embassy overseas and they would just add pages. And it would be—
Leo Laporte [00:24:51]:
not anymore.
Johnny Jet [00:24:52]:
Yeah, that's, that's all done.
Leo Laporte [00:24:53]:
You can't do that anymore. That's why when I got my, my passport renewed— you told me this last year, a couple years ago— I got the big one.
Johnny Jet [00:25:01]:
Always check the bookmark for the big one.
Leo Laporte [00:25:03]:
There's no extra—
Johnny Jet [00:25:05]:
there's no extra cost for that.
Leo Laporte [00:25:06]:
It's super thick.
Johnny Jet [00:25:07]:
But, but, and then going back to CLEAR, by the way, you know, the nice thing about CLEAR is that, um, if you have— if there's a— if there's a long line of CLEAR you can just skip it. I mean, you just have the option, but if there's a long line at TSA Pre, you go to CLEAR and then they'll bring you right to the front.
Leo Laporte [00:25:24]:
And again, again, you feel like a jerk.
Johnny Jet [00:25:26]:
No, the best— you'll feel smart because if you have a premium credit card, you're not paying for it. Your credit card's reimbursing you. So it costs you nothing.
Leo Laporte [00:25:33]:
It costs you nothing. That's all those people you're jumping ahead of.
Johnny Jet [00:25:38]:
Listen, they can do it. That most of these people have these credit cards anyway. And speaking of premium credit cards, my brother is stuck in the Dominican Republic right now. He's actually on his way home. Because of the big storm in New York. He lives in Connecticut.
Leo Laporte [00:25:48]:
Yeah, so he, he—
Johnny Jet [00:25:50]:
but right when I heard there was a storm and he was flying home on Monday, I called him on Friday, said, listen, you better change your flight.
Leo Laporte [00:25:55]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:25:56]:
He's like, oh, we'll be okay. Anyway, Saturday comes around, he gets an email from Delta saying that, uh, your flight's been canceled. He goes, I can't get home now to Thursday, there's nothing till Thursday and the kids need to be in school and everything. I go, well, listen, there's nothing I can do. He's like, I could try and buy another ticket, but there's crazy expensive on another airline. It only helps me a day. So anyway, I said, which credit card did you book your trip?
Leo Laporte [00:26:18]:
Oh, clever.
Johnny Jet [00:26:19]:
He had a premium credit card. And I said, call them, find out what they'll cover. So they will cover $500 per day per traveler for reasonable expenses. You just need to have all your receipts. So now instead of being out all this money, because he had this credit card, he pretty much has the next 3 days for free.
Leo Laporte [00:26:38]:
Oh my. And in Dominican, where it's not snowing, it's beautiful.
Johnny Jet [00:26:42]:
Totally. So he made out like a bandit. But the point is, you get these premium credit cards and—
Leo Laporte [00:26:48]:
So this one is ridiculously expensive. Yeah, I cut mine because it's $1,000 a year now. They raised it from $400. So I'm going to probably cancel it. But I got it originally because they had— they would airlift you out of the country if anything bad happened.
Johnny Jet [00:27:06]:
Right.
Leo Laporte [00:27:06]:
And so I thought, well, that's probably a good thing to have, but I don't think I'm going to get $1,000 worth of value unless I get stuck in the Dominican.
Johnny Jet [00:27:12]:
Well, then there are some good values on those and they do give you—
Leo Laporte [00:27:15]:
I think if you get one of these premium cards, you should really study up on what the benefits are and use them.
Johnny Jet [00:27:22]:
Definitely.
Leo Laporte [00:27:22]:
Because otherwise you're paying money to use a credit card, which makes no sense. Now, I want to show you, this is, this is the extra thick passport I got, right? Super thick, but they don't stamp passports anymore.
Johnny Jet [00:27:37]:
I know, I know. In most places in Europe, Europe's gonna be all empty pages.
Leo Laporte [00:27:43]:
Mount Rushmore's nothing.
Johnny Jet [00:27:44]:
Europe's stopping that. It used to drive me nuts when the US would stamp your passport coming in. I used to beg the guy, please don't stamp my passport.
Leo Laporte [00:27:51]:
Why?
Johnny Jet [00:27:52]:
Because I didn't have enough pages back then.
Leo Laporte [00:27:54]:
Okay.
Johnny Jet [00:27:55]:
And I, and I still had a thick passport.
Leo Laporte [00:27:57]:
I got 50 pages and I don't even need it.
Johnny Jet [00:28:01]:
Yeah, that was one of the joys of looking, of traveling, is getting different stamps.
Leo Laporte [00:28:05]:
I have, you know what, when I got my new passport, I saved the old one. They punch a hole through it and send it back to you. And I saved it because it's got all those great stamps.
Johnny Jet [00:28:13]:
I think I have one right here.
Leo Laporte [00:28:15]:
It's so cool. Now, I did something I found out later that was a bad thing when I was in Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of South America, of Chile. They have a post office there right on the tip. It says the southernmost post office in the world because the next stop is Antarctica. And they stamped my passport.
Johnny Jet [00:28:37]:
Don't do it.
Leo Laporte [00:28:38]:
I know. I found out later you shouldn't. Oh, boy. You can get in a lot of trouble. Why?
Johnny Jet [00:28:43]:
Well, because they will deem it— it's not— It's not a real—
Leo Laporte [00:28:48]:
I did it at Machu Picchu, too.
Johnny Jet [00:28:49]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:28:50]:
Everywhere it does it. So is it okay now that people don't do stamps?
Johnny Jet [00:28:54]:
I don't think so. Two things. They did it once for me in the Cook Islands. I was at, I think it's one—
Leo Laporte [00:29:01]:
I thought that was kind of cool.
Johnny Jet [00:29:03]:
Anyway, I did too. So I got it stamped and I later found out, oh my God, your passport could be no good. And when my son was 1 years old, he got a hold of my wife's passport, tore out the last page, which was a blank page. And I told my wife, I go, oh my God, this passport is no longer valid. She's like, what are you talking about?
Leo Laporte [00:29:20]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:29:20]:
So anyway, She called the Adelaide jet.
Leo Laporte [00:29:23]:
Your passport is broken.
Johnny Jet [00:29:24]:
So she had to get it.
Leo Laporte [00:29:25]:
She had to get a whole new one.
Johnny Jet [00:29:27]:
Yeah, you have to get a new one.
Leo Laporte [00:29:29]:
So you got to treat your passport like it's important.
Johnny Jet [00:29:32]:
Totally. When you travel, you know, on the black market, these things can go up for $5,000 depending on the country. So you really want to make sure you protect it.
Leo Laporte [00:29:39]:
Somebody was asking that in the Discord chat. They were saying, well, why would anybody steal a passport?
Johnny Jet [00:29:43]:
American passport, you could, you know, you know what, I need to find out from the Mythbusters. Although they're not around anymore. If that's a myth, I'm going to see Adam Savage next week.
Leo Laporte [00:29:53]:
I'll ask.
Johnny Jet [00:29:54]:
Are you really? My kid, my son loves the MythBusters.
Leo Laporte [00:29:57]:
He likes all that stuff.
Johnny Jet [00:29:59]:
I introduced him to some of the shows. There's some he cannot watch, but he loves it.
Leo Laporte [00:30:04]:
Yeah. Actually, just told me yesterday that he's going to be a speaker at the conference that Steve Gibson and I are going to. He's going to be the keynote. So if I get a chance, I'll ask Adam.
Johnny Jet [00:30:13]:
If you asked Adam to say hello to my son, Jack, he will.
Leo Laporte [00:30:17]:
Oh, I will.
Johnny Jet [00:30:17]:
In a little video message.
Leo Laporte [00:30:19]:
Oh, okay. If I get, if I get a moment with Adam, Jack would be so happy. I will do a selfie and I'll say, can you just say hi to Jack? And he'll say hi to Jack. And then, and then, and then Jack will say, who the hell is that other guy with him?
Johnny Jet [00:30:33]:
No, he knows who you are. He definitely knows who you are.
Leo Laporte [00:30:36]:
What is the new ESS process for entering Europe now?
Johnny Jet [00:30:41]:
That's a good question. So I think they—
Leo Laporte [00:30:44]:
What's ESS?
Johnny Jet [00:30:46]:
It's the new electronic. You know what I should—
Leo Laporte [00:30:50]:
is that, is that on the European side? It's not an American. It's an American.
Johnny Jet [00:30:52]:
Yes. So you do have to have— let me just double check before I give any wrong information.
Leo Laporte [00:30:57]:
And you also now have to travel with a real ID. You're—
Johnny Jet [00:31:01]:
that's domestically.
Leo Laporte [00:31:03]:
Yes. You can't get on an airplane, although you, it turns out you can.
Johnny Jet [00:31:06]:
You just use your passport or you pay $48 and you're golden. Well, that's not— that's only good for 10 days. So, so, so if your trip is 2 weeks, on the way home you have to pay for the same price, same thing if it's domestically.
Leo Laporte [00:31:20]:
But what's the point of requiring a real ID and then letting any schmuck pay $40 and get out of it?
Johnny Jet [00:31:29]:
Depends who he has. But, you know, they— it depends who he has. It's also, you know, this was—
Leo Laporte [00:31:34]:
they put this off again and again and again, and they still are kind of weaseling it.
Johnny Jet [00:31:39]:
I mean, they started— they announced this, I think, in 2004 or '05, and forever— it did take forever.
Leo Laporte [00:31:45]:
And the idea was what, fighting terrorism? So you have a real somehow extra special identity papers?
Johnny Jet [00:31:53]:
Yes, it's a long process. And, you know, I need to do some more research on this ESS because they, they delayed it. And, uh, I used to know it off the top of my head, but I'm spacing right now.
Leo Laporte [00:32:05]:
Anthony Nielsen says he doesn't have his real ID. Anthony, we're going to Florida on Monday.
Johnny Jet [00:32:10]:
Does he have a passport?
Leo Laporte [00:32:11]:
He has a passport.
Johnny Jet [00:32:12]:
Bring the passport. Not a problem.
Leo Laporte [00:32:14]:
Lisa always travels with her passport. I don't want to lose my passport.
Johnny Jet [00:32:18]:
I always travel with my passport.
Leo Laporte [00:32:19]:
And I don't want some renegade ticket agent giving it, putting a stamp in it. So I don't— oh, that's another thing I hate on the cruise ships. They stick stickers on your passport and then it's all gummed up.
Johnny Jet [00:32:30]:
No, that's not a bad problem.
Leo Laporte [00:32:35]:
It's a big problem. I have to get Gooby Gone and degoo my passport. But see how pristine it is now?
Johnny Jet [00:32:41]:
I like them. I keep mine on. Well, actually, no, I keep them on from different countries.
Leo Laporte [00:32:45]:
Country, that's fine.
Johnny Jet [00:32:46]:
Let me see if I can find mine.
Leo Laporte [00:32:48]:
When I was a kid, we went to Europe in 1967 for the summer because my dad was a professor, so he had sabbatical. I was 11 or 10. And we did that thing. Volkswagen, I don't know if they still do it, but Volkswagen at the time, you could buy a Volkswagen and pick it up at the Volkswagen plant in, what is it, Wolfsburg or whatever. You pick it up.
Johnny Jet [00:33:13]:
I've been to Wolfsburg.
Leo Laporte [00:33:14]:
Yeah. So we bought a Volkswagen and picked up the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg and drove it around Europe. And it was a station wagon, so it had all this window space. So everywhere we get stickers. By the time we were done, we had the back windows were covered because you used to in every country and every town would have a decal. Yeah, you're still on. Oh, he doesn't hear us, I think. Have I— did you get unplugged, John? Can you hear me? Oh, no.
Leo Laporte [00:33:40]:
Show's over, everybody. John, he broke his computer. There's his holy passport. See, if you get it stamped at the Vatican, it really would be a holy passport. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Johnny Jet [00:33:54]:
How about now? Can you hear me?
Leo Laporte [00:33:55]:
Yeah, you fixed it, but now you're on your laptop mic, but that's—
Johnny Jet [00:34:01]:
How about now?
Leo Laporte [00:34:02]:
I'm gonna have to send Burke down to Huntington Beach or wherever it is. I always get the beach wrong. Long Beach, whatever beach he's at.
Johnny Jet [00:34:14]:
How about now?
Leo Laporte [00:34:16]:
I'm just glad this isn't the radio show. I can sort of hear you. It's okay. Just shout. I should never reach for my passport, but we got, we got the car, drove all the way around Europe for a, uh, he can't hear me.
Johnny Jet [00:34:34]:
Can't hear me. Can't actually— this is not even my old one.
Leo Laporte [00:34:36]:
He's lost every— he's lost everything.
Johnny Jet [00:34:41]:
Is Anthony in there?
Leo Laporte [00:34:48]:
You unplugged the whole thing. "You need to switch back to the Scarlett." See, he can't hear me, Anthony. Well, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you for joining us for Jet Set with Johnny Jet. Everybody should go to— I'm just glad it's the club. You guys, you guys are more patient. There, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?
Johnny Jet [00:35:14]:
Yes.
Leo Laporte [00:35:14]:
It's like a Verizon commercial.
Johnny Jet [00:35:16]:
I can hear you.
Leo Laporte [00:35:17]:
Okay. We barely hear you, but that's okay.
Johnny Jet [00:35:19]:
How about now?
Leo Laporte [00:35:20]:
Now I hear you great. Look at you, fixed it.
Johnny Jet [00:35:22]:
So I had my passport in a little bucket underneath the Scarlett microphone system. Anyway, so I lifted it. It must've just tweaked the wire.
Leo Laporte [00:35:32]:
It unplugged the whole thing.
Johnny Jet [00:35:33]:
Yeah. No, it didn't unplug it. So I unplugged everything and put it back in.
Leo Laporte [00:35:39]:
So, all right.
Johnny Jet [00:35:41]:
So I was saying, I was trying to see your passport. This is one of my old passports.
Leo Laporte [00:35:44]:
It's got a hole in it. I could tell. Yeah. And it's all beat up, too, by the way. I like that. Well, yeah, that's what James Bond's passport looks like.
Johnny Jet [00:35:53]:
Actually, my, my really old one is back there and it's this thick.
Leo Laporte [00:35:57]:
Oh, but in the old days you could add pages.
Johnny Jet [00:36:00]:
I said it to them not to.
Leo Laporte [00:36:02]:
Oh, look at that.
Johnny Jet [00:36:03]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:36:04]:
You were running out of room.
Johnny Jet [00:36:06]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:36:06]:
So, yeah, when I— by the passport I had in the early 2000s when I was going back and forth to Canada between 2004 and 2008, I was going back and forth every month.
Johnny Jet [00:36:18]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:36:19]:
It was so full. And they, I even had some sort of letter from the Canadian consulate said, it's okay, this guy can come in. It was all folded up and stapled into the passport. And I had, and of course I would get stamped. That thing was full. I hope I have that somewhere. Because that was like, boy, that, that those 4 years I was traveling.
Johnny Jet [00:36:42]:
Well, one tip I have about passport stamps, I think this is going to be outdated now because most of them are going electronic. If you have a thick passport or they stamp it with a really, um, light stamp.
Leo Laporte [00:36:54]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:36:54]:
And you have a lot of stamps in there. I almost missed the flight because in Frankfurt or Munich I could not read it. They couldn't find where I entered from because I was, I was going to, I was going to the Middle East. They're like, where did you enter?
Leo Laporte [00:37:07]:
Customs guys could not find it.
Johnny Jet [00:37:09]:
And they were such sticklers. Some, some, some agents don't even look at it or just stamp here somewhere.
Leo Laporte [00:37:15]:
I know it's in here somewhere. Look at what we do in America. We put these— I guess this is for anti-counterfeiting purposes, but there's these pretty pictures of American scenery.
Johnny Jet [00:37:27]:
Yeah. You know what? I think most countries do that.
Leo Laporte [00:37:29]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:37:30]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:37:31]:
Well, I only have one passport, unlike you.
Johnny Jet [00:37:34]:
Because Canada, they have it too.
Leo Laporte [00:37:38]:
Yeah. Passports should be a pretty, pretty thing.
Johnny Jet [00:37:41]:
It's a beautiful thing.
Leo Laporte [00:37:44]:
What did you come with anything to talk about? Because I've kind of monopolized the conversation.
Johnny Jet [00:37:48]:
No, that's all right.
Leo Laporte [00:37:49]:
Listen, I can talk about anything, but I know this is what's fun about talking to you.
Johnny Jet [00:37:54]:
There's, you know, a lot of people have been asking me, should they go to Mexico right now?
Leo Laporte [00:37:58]:
Okay, so I'll give you the insight from Paul Theriot, who is in Mexico City, lives there.
Johnny Jet [00:38:03]:
Okay. He says no problem, no problem.
Leo Laporte [00:38:07]:
Nothing's going on. And his and His compadre on Windows Weekly, Richard Campbell, has a place, a timeshare in Puerto Vallarta they go to all the time. He says, no, it's no problem.
Johnny Jet [00:38:19]:
In Puerto Vallarta? Because Puerto Vallarta, I would say you might want to wait a couple more days or so.
Leo Laporte [00:38:23]:
I wouldn't rush there.
Johnny Jet [00:38:25]:
Right.
Leo Laporte [00:38:25]:
But as usual, these things are fairly localized.
Johnny Jet [00:38:30]:
Right. But I do, I do subscribe to this one intelligence thing. I'm trying to find these.
Leo Laporte [00:38:36]:
Oh, you've mentioned this before on the radio show. You would we talk about this. And I got an email today because, you know, I think they stopped sending out— they used to send out— the State Department used to send out bulletins. They don't do that anymore, emails.
Johnny Jet [00:38:49]:
Well, I also get the UK one, which I think was what you're alluding to. So you can sign up for the UK. They used to get it all the time. Yeah, but I had it ready for my newsletter and I closed the window.
Leo Laporte [00:39:03]:
You're saying cross-reference the government travel advisories. Always cross-check, you know, look at Canada before you go, look at UK before Russia. And this even says what areas are dangerous and what aren't. You know, there's, there's a few do not travel areas down here. Those are the dark red ones.
Johnny Jet [00:39:22]:
But I did save this thing, I just cannot find it. Anyway, um, my— I would ask a local if you're friends with anyone like you are before you go.
Leo Laporte [00:39:33]:
Look at, you know, all of Russia is level 4, do not travel, which I I would not go to Russia. I think that it's too bad. I really enjoyed—
Johnny Jet [00:39:41]:
Me too.
Leo Laporte [00:39:42]:
When we went to St. Petersburg many, many years ago, the way they did the passport, you'd get off the boat and they put a red card, red, big red plastic card in there. And you damn well better have that big red plastic card in the passport when you want to get back on the boat or that you wouldn't be able to leave Russia.
Johnny Jet [00:40:01]:
Right.
Leo Laporte [00:40:02]:
Right. They were, they were very—
Johnny Jet [00:40:04]:
And you couldn't walk around without a guide. If you're running.
Leo Laporte [00:40:06]:
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:40:07]:
So I guess I won't go to Russia. So the Solis Global Intelligence World Watch Monitor, I get their emails.
Leo Laporte [00:40:13]:
Yeah.
Johnny Jet [00:40:14]:
And they wrote the killing of a senior cartel boss has sparked a wave of violence across Mexico. While this has subsided, there is a realistic possibility of cartel splintering, which would likely result in further violence.
Leo Laporte [00:40:26]:
So in other words, we're going to the mattresses and it's going to be a gang war. So it's funny because Russia is dark red, do not travel. But China is, you know, be careful, a little increased caution. It's like one of the lower levels, level 2.
Johnny Jet [00:40:41]:
But all my friends who are living in Mexico right now say there's no problem.
Leo Laporte [00:40:44]:
It's overblown.
Johnny Jet [00:40:46]:
Yeah, right. And I have one last fun one to at least talk about.
Leo Laporte [00:40:50]:
Yes, sir.
Johnny Jet [00:40:51]:
You know, hotels are removing bathroom doors and—
Leo Laporte [00:40:54]:
Yeah, I saw that. I saw that. What the hell is that all about? I've been in It's embarrassing. We traveled— Lisa and I traveled with our, our son, who was at the time like 12, and he was really embarrassed. He said, I don't want to see your butt.
Johnny Jet [00:41:07]:
Totally. Take a shower, or worse of all, in the toilet, the bathroom.
Leo Laporte [00:41:11]:
What's the deal? Why do they take it?
Johnny Jet [00:41:12]:
Or they— it's because they're trying to save money, and the door costs that much money. Yeah, cleaning. And so, and they all— they try to say it's design and a design issue, which is all BS, but there's a There's a website called bringbackdoors.com that a traveler created that tells you which hotels, and you can add to it.
Leo Laporte [00:41:32]:
A lot of hotels in New York City do not have doors in their bathrooms.
Johnny Jet [00:41:36]:
I mean, listen, it's embarrassing.
Leo Laporte [00:41:38]:
I, I want a door, or they, or they have a clear door, which is not any better. Totally.
Johnny Jet [00:41:46]:
I like a thick wood door. Yes, we demand That's what I want.
Leo Laporte [00:41:52]:
Wood door. You deserve privacy. So, but now if you're traveling alone, who cares? But if you are totally, yeah, but most people are not traveling alone. Right.
Johnny Jet [00:42:03]:
And if you travel with kids and you're sharing with your spouse, I don't think you're, you, I don't think at least I don't, you know, I'm not ready for like a double toilet.
Leo Laporte [00:42:13]:
You know, it's kind of my worst. I actually have nightmares. I have nightmares about going places and there's, you know, I'm on a toilet in the middle of a living room or somewhere. It's like a nightmare. So this is— this— I can get this. Who is the person behind it, so to speak? Is this Sadie?
Johnny Jet [00:42:36]:
Yeah, I don't know her, but I just read about her.
Leo Laporte [00:42:38]:
She believes in public shame. And shame on you hotels for getting rid of the doors. And you can actually go there and submit a doorless hotel for people to avoid. Avoid. Yeah, Sadie at bringbackdoors.com. Wow. Well, wait a minute, here's hotels with no bathroom doors.
Johnny Jet [00:42:57]:
Yeah, there's a lot.
Leo Laporte [00:42:58]:
I've been, I've been in some of them, and they have it rated from zero privacy to, to 50% to 80% privacy.
Johnny Jet [00:43:07]:
So, and I also don't like the showers that don't have doors or half doors, and they— yeah, I don't get it, the flood. It's like, come on.
Leo Laporte [00:43:13]:
Yeah, look at all the hotels Do never stay at the number one hotel, Brooklyn Bridge. No door, no wall, or wall with a window. Never stay there. See, we're going to publicly shame them. Bringbackdoors.com. I love that. Johnny Jet is at johnnyjet.com. You should all go there.
Leo Laporte [00:43:33]:
It's a great read. And do you still have all— what? No, that's somebody else. I was like, wow, it's John D. Cook. I don't know how I got there.
Johnny Jet [00:43:44]:
Uh, uh, so the newsletter, yes, you still have the newsletter.
Leo Laporte [00:43:47]:
Can I go? Can I, can I click this button? Yeah, subscribe, give it your email.
Johnny Jet [00:43:51]:
So I, I used to do a daily tip. I, I've slowed that down. So now I usually just do that one twice a week, but I have one that I do once a week, the main one. So if you sign up right there, it'll go, it'll be once a week.
Leo Laporte [00:44:02]:
Never use your hotel coffee machine again.
Johnny Jet [00:44:05]:
Well, this this influencer, or, you know, she talked about this hack that a flight attendant mentioned a long time ago, where if you really need to clean your underwear, you put it in a hotel coffee maker. No, hot water. No. Yes.
Leo Laporte [00:44:21]:
I'm never using it again.
Johnny Jet [00:44:23]:
I'm like, are you joking? This is— so I, I don't— first of all, I don't drink coffee, but my wife drinks tea and she will not use one of them because of this. And it's, it's been going, it's been going around for—
Leo Laporte [00:44:33]:
I have every time Oh, man, I always use the—
Johnny Jet [00:44:37]:
So she carries it. She brings a portable one.
Leo Laporte [00:44:40]:
That's what my wife does. She brings a AeroPress, portable travel AeroPress with her. In fact, she grinds the coffee ahead of time. And because it turns out drug mules often put the drugs in coffee so the dogs don't smell it, right? She says she's smart. She says, hey, honey, would you carry my coffee for me?
Johnny Jet [00:45:00]:
Oh, my gosh.
Leo Laporte [00:45:01]:
And I always get searched and I finally found out why.
Johnny Jet [00:45:04]:
We're going to see on Border Security.
Leo Laporte [00:45:06]:
You ever watch Border Security? You, you're getting the special attention. Come here.
Johnny Jet [00:45:11]:
I love those shows, by the way. They're on Nat Geo. There's an Australian one that I really love, the Border Security, and they just show all behind the scenes what people trying to break in. Oh, and especially the ones in, in Peru or Colombia, they have it. And these people are going to jail for at least 15 years because They smuggle drugs in the lining of the suitcase. They melt it down so you can't tell. Don't ever take anything from anyone.
Leo Laporte [00:45:38]:
No, even your wife.
Johnny Jet [00:45:40]:
We were just in Tahiti at Thanksgiving. I saw a guy trying to get people to take his surfboard because he didn't want to pay for it. They're like— and everyone's like, no. I'm like, are you out of your mind? This guy's like, will you check my surfboard for me? No, don't even know. I gave him such a look at him and asked me, what do you think you were going to say?
Leo Laporte [00:45:59]:
That's hysterical.
Johnny Jet [00:46:01]:
Yeah.
Leo Laporte [00:46:01]:
So that's hysterical. Okay. So by the way, influencer speaks out after she slammed for washing underwear in hotel coffee maker. So she got her just desserts.
Johnny Jet [00:46:15]:
She should be.
Leo Laporte [00:46:16]:
I mean, she got her just desserts. It is a good hack. Don't do it. Okay.
Johnny Jet [00:46:21]:
It's a good hack. It's not a good hack. It's a terrible hack.
Leo Laporte [00:46:24]:
Do not wash your underwear.
Johnny Jet [00:46:26]:
Wash it in the bathtub.
Leo Laporte [00:46:27]:
And here's the hotel I'm never staying in.
Johnny Jet [00:46:32]:
Oh gosh.
Leo Laporte [00:46:33]:
I think there's a real reason they do this. And somebody suggested in the Discord, actually Anthony did, it's to keep people from sharing rooms. If it, you know, to save money, they share rooms.
Johnny Jet [00:46:45]:
I mean, how many, how many people actually share a room.
Leo Laporte [00:46:48]:
I know, how often does that happen? Johnnyjet.com. Johnny, always a pleasure. Let's do this again next month. What do you say?
Johnny Jet [00:46:55]:
I would love it, whenever you like.
Leo Laporte [00:46:56]:
Jet Set with Johnny Jet. You bring little Jack to get his haircut. I'm gonna go get my haircut, and we'll see you next month. And thanks especially to all of our Club Twit members. You couldn't do this without you. That's really— you're the reason we do special shows like this with Johnny Jet.
Johnny Jet [00:47:14]:
Johnny Jet, Have a wonderful, uh, I'll copy the chat room and I'll read it. So if anyone has any questions, they can email me johnny@johnnyjet.com and I'll, and I'll do my best to respond. I respond to everything, but it might take me a while.
Leo Laporte [00:47:25]:
He's a nice guy and subscribe to his newsletter too. Thank you, John.
Johnny Jet [00:47:29]:
Thank you.
Leo Laporte [00:47:29]:
Take care. Take care, everybody.
