December Trip Ideas

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I'm Johnny Mack and travel is back
from Travel and Leisure dot com Best places

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to travel in December. I took
a look at this list and it's a

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pretty good one. You know,
traveling this time of year is awesome.

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All the cities are decorated, ice
skating rinks pop up in parks. The

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weather's kind of right, especially if
you hit certain parts of the country little

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snow. You know, it's fun
now. First up on their list is

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London. I wouldn't have considered that. What, as they say, December

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is a festive time in London with
lights, decorations, markets, ice skating

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and holiday entertainment. The holiday classic
of the Nutcracker will be presented by the

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English National Valet. In Trafalgar Square, visitors can see the Christmas Tree,

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which is an annual gift from Norway. Did not know that? In Hyde

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Park Winter Wonderland festivities begin this week
and Q Gardens lights up for the holidays.

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Also this week, Hotwarts at Warner
Brothers Studio celebrates Christmas in the wiziting

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world. The net History Museum ice
Riek is already back and we'll be there

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until mid January. International travels open
back up. Maybe it's time to hit

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London. I'm going to be hitting
London next summer, so that'll make for

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an episode. Tell you about that
down the road, Travel and Leisure suggests

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Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
No, if you're a New Yorker heading

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down to Florida when it's cold,
yeah, we do do that. But

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Travel and Leisure says you can get
it too the holiday spirit with the Fort

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Lauderdale Wichterfest boat parade that's December eleventh, the Nutcracker at the Miami City Vallet

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December ten through to thirtieth. Or
if you want to go the other way,

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they suggest the Mandarin Oriental in Miami. It features a private Infinity edge

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pool, bayside dining spa, and
five star luxury. Sounds a little pricey

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for me. How about Saint Lucia. You weren't thinking about Saint Lucia,

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were YOUA? No? This lovely
island, located in eastern Caribbean, as

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a diverse landscape that includes a tropical
rainforest, volcano, Jemma Mountains and beaches.

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Figeon Island Park and the North offers
hiking trails, snorkeling, kayaking,

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and a glimpse into Saint Luci's history
and the ruins of an old fort.

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Deceparate. Thirteenth is the feast day
of the island's patron, Saint Lucia,

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and the National Festival of Lights and
Renewal in her honor. Harold's the coming

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Christmas season New York, New York, I can't disagree. Festive lights,

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holiday markets, ice skating rinks,
decorated store windows, special events, Broadway

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shows aren't back. Baby. You'll
love the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza

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as well as the towering light laden
Christmas tree overhead. Yeah, the New

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York City Christmas tree lighting is a
big thing. The big giant tree right

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there in Rockefeller Plaza and you go
ice skating there. Another place that you

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go ice skating is in Bryant Park
that's on forty second Street and sixth Avenue.

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They do a pop up brink every
year. I assume they're doing it

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this year. It is pretty cool. There's also a Christmas tree there as

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will. If you're from out of
town, walk fifth Avenue and look at

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the shops. Everybody decorates and you
might as well pop in a make season.

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Go see the Santa because that's like
thing you do now. If you're

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from New York, maybe you did
that when you're five years old and you

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never did it again. But if
you're from out of town and you pop

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in New York, spend the ten
minutes, go into Macy's and see the

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Santa. It's an iconic thing.
New York City at Christmas time is pretty

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cool. It's usually hacked. I
remember when I worked in midtown Manhattan boy

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in December, you couldn't even find
space on the sidewalk post COVID. We'll

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see how that shakes out. How
about Lost Cabos Mexico. The Celebration of

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Las Posadas from December sixteenth through the
twenty fourth commemorates the journey of Mary and

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Joseph with candle at processions. December
who also sees the arrival of an estimated

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to five thousand to ten thousand whales
from the cold waters of the Bearing Sea

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as they prepare for the journey north
in spring. Will sharks also arrive in

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winter and swimming with these gentle creatures
can be a thrilling experience if you want

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to set that up. Travel and
Leisure also suggests Washington, DC, outside

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the National Portrait Gallery in Smithsonian American
Art Museum. The Downtown Holiday Market offers

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seasonal music, artistan gifts, locally
roasted coffee and snacks. Self guide and

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holiday tours of the White House are
memorable, but you gotta make requests from

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your congressmen three weeks in advance,
so get cracking on that. The National

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Christmas Tree at the White House and
the US Capitol Christmas Tree are always spectacular.

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The lighting of the world's largest menorah
will take place on November twenty eighth.

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That kicks off Hanaka, a new
candle illuminated on each of the eight

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days of the Festival of Lights.
At the historic Ford's Theater, They'll be

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presenting a Christmas carol from November twenty
fourth through December twenty seventh. However,

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I was suggest don't sit next to
anyone named Lincoln to suit. Continuing to

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look at travel and leisures suggestions for
December trips, how about believes You're like?

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Where's Belize? Belize bordered on the
north by Mexico, to the south

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and west by Guatemala, and to
the east by the Caribbean. Now you

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know where Valize is. It's the
second smallest country in Sexual America. It

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is diverse, with a variety of
distinctive environments. In the north, the

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ecosystem consists of jungles, rainforests,
and lagoons. The central part of the

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country is home to waterfalls, caves
and dense jungle, archaeological sites, ruins,

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and ancient temples from the Mayan Empire. You can also go diving and

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snorkeling. The world's second largest barrier
reef. I didn't know that this is

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attracting me as I tell you about
its several coral eats holes and the Great

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Blue Hole, which is a geological
wonder. You gotta see what this thing

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looks like. It is gorgeous.
I will foast a picture on Instagram at

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travels back pot. The Greek Blue
Hole is a world class destination for recreational

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scuba divers, attracted by the opportunity
to dive in crystal clear waters at see

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myriad species of marine life, including
tropical fish and sptec on a coral formations.

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The hole is circular in shape like
holes are over three hundred cross one

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hundred and twenty five meters deep.
It is the world's largest natural formation of

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its kind. Glynn Collinson is a
NASA scientist who recently dived at the Greek

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Blue Hole and described it as this. It was the deepest deep blue hole

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imaginable, a chasm that fell away
deep into the deep, dark blue.

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It had been forged out of solid
rock as caverns hundreds of thousands of years

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ago during the Last Ice Age.
For eons, water filtered through the rock

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and into these great stone cathedrals,
reading multicolored stalactolites and stalagmites. Then,

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one by one that collapsed in on
each other, creating a chasm four hundred

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feet deep. As Earth's swollen folar
ice caps receded, the warm Caribbean Ocean

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swept in to fill the chasm with
boiling white hands. The last rays was

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suddenly struck the chasm's floor. Then, as the limestone broke down, it

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began to read tiny fragments of rock
which slowly began to fill the Greek glue

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of hole. I'm gonna guess Glenn
Collinson thought about that and didn't just say

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that off the top of his or
her head. Where were we other than

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in Belize. The holiday Boparade on
December fifth takes place on evergriss Key,

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ending in Central Park with a prize
for the best decorated vote. Whilst there's

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a Christmas Tree of Market a caroling
competition. That sounds like a good time.

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How about Aspen in Colorado? Been
there? I'll have to do a

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full episode on that. If you
can get to Aspen and it's not cheap

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and it's not easy to get to, Aspen is absolutely gorgeous. I've been

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there twice, enjoyed at both times. Aspen Mountain Snow Mass open for the

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season November twenty fifth, Aspen Highlands
and Buttermilk open December eleventh. Travel and

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Leisure reminds us there's more to do
than skiing. You may want to experience

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the Breathtaker Altline coaster now thanks,
or try snowbiking to being a dog sledding

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or a snowshoet tour that is more
money speed if you're in Aspen and you

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can afford it. The hotel Jerroom
includes a variety of accommodations at its historic

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property. It is a gorgeous hotel. You can also consider these Saint Regis

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Aspen Resort, featuring a heated outdoor
pool with views of Aspen Mountain. Boy,

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I'm thinking back of my trip to
Aspen, and I want to go

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back just reading about this, But
he needs to have a comedy festival so

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I can get there. In my
other life, I host a daily podcast

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called Daily Comedy News, and that's
what I do for a living. So

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that's why I mentioned a comedy festival. There used to be an Aspen comedy

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festival. That's why I got to
Aspen twice. Travel and Leisure also suggests

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Arlington, Texas. Arlington is home
to the Texas Chris Kindall Market, inspired

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by German traditions. German Christmas markets
are a lot of fun. Six Flags

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celebrates with Holiday in the Park featuring
seasonal attractions, entertainment, light shows,

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and at Christmas Tree, Texas Live, a year round dining and entertainment area.

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It gets a makeover during the holidays
with Illuminova Holidays. That reminds me

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and author in a vote here for
Hersheet Pennsylvania, the family and I go

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every year and we go and they
have the Chocolate Museum and they have this

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like really basic but stupidly fun chocolate
ride with the World of Chocolate. And

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I went up making fun of the
World of Chocolate for about an hour and

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so my family wants to get sick
of me, and then we go in

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a Hershey park. Now come November
December, the bigger roller coasters are closed

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because you know, it's cold and
stuff. But a lot of like the

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fun more traditional rides like the carousel, and you know me, I'll go

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on any carousel I see, So
we go on stuff like that. It's

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decorated, it's lights, it's just
kind of a nice afternoon. If you're

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looking for full on th row Park, well delt Hershey in the winter,

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but if you just want to walk
around and like have a good day,

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Hershey in December November is a great
time. And finally from Travel and Leisure

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and I'm glad this is on their
list because I was going to bring it

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up if they didn't. Chicago,
Illinois. Now by the time you hear

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this, I will be on my
way to Chicago with myfordable recorder. I

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tend to chronicle my entire journey to
Chicago, and if you go back in

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this feed, episode one is a
look at Chicago and what I like to

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do there. But this time I'm
going to record the actual trip to Chicago

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as I drive Frost Interstate. FEEDE
Chicago in the winter is fantastic. The

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Magnificent Mile Lights Festival and Zoo Lights
at Lincoln Parks Zoo to light visitors with

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holiday events and dazzling illumination. German
style outdoor crystal Kimmel Market takes shoppers to

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your traditional pretzels, brockworst hot spice, wine and products from around the world.

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I know what I just added to
my list for the weekend. Millennium

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Parks Ice skating rink opens in December. That is an awesome time. Do

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that. That's down by the bean. I know you make Chicago. It's

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cold and you're right, but don't
be scared by it. I have walked

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seriously all over Chicago in December.
Just bundle up, you'll be fine.

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So I usually end with what if
it were me, what would I do

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well? I live in New Jersey. Sagon in New York City is a

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little boring for me. That's what
I do for work. So if I

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had to pick from this list,
I mean, I pick London, but

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London it's not free. I'll pick
Chicago. It's just it's a good time

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and I really like that skating rink
in Millennium Park. Travel this back follow

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the show on Apple Podcasts, Google
Podcasts, Spotify, good bods, wherever

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you get your podcasts. All right, if all was well, Next week

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Chicago road trip, and don't worry, I didn't forget about the Desert road

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trip. We will do that,
but I wanted to get the December trip

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in before December actually appeared. You
know what I mean. Doing the December

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trip episode in January doesn't do any
of us any good. See you next week