In this episode Jill, Aja, and Laiya discuss their summer adventures. Jill shares and epic trip she took with her son Jett for his 13th birthday, a BroMitzfa. Epic trips require epic planning, here’s a resource for getting a quick jumpstart on starting your vacation fund. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/best-money-saving-apps
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Welcome to Jay dot Il, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey everybody, this is Jail Scott. Thank you so much for continuing to listen to Jay dot L the podcast. So we're sharing our favorite episodes, and mine would have to be the episode where Jet and I went on his bro Mitzvah. The reason why it's my favorite is because one I had a chance to experience something really really amazing with my son, you know, offering him a piece of world, you know what a wonderful experience, and me coming from North Philly, like I never imagined that I would be able to even do something like this, but we went to Paris, we went to Botswana on two separate safaris, one in the Kylajadi, the other in the Okavango Delta, and the last experience was in Amsterdam. And you get an opportunity listening to this episode to just to be there with us, and hopefully it inspires you to want to create some kind of bromts for or sis Miths forward, you know, for your kid. You know, we have an opportunity to bless our little people. And it doesn't matter if it's a trip to New York or a trip to anywhere just giving them something that sparks their interests and enriches their lives. Thank you so much. Enjoy Hi everyone, it's Amber the producer here. I just want to give a quick disclaimer before we jump into the show, and this episode the ladies make reference to some of their personal health choices related to COVID nineteen. He wants you to know The jedi El Podcast would like to clarify that we are not authorized to give any medical advice or recommendations. Any of our opinions are our own and not a reflection of the views of I hear media. Well them. Well, I'm going back to j dot el podcasts. It's been a whole minute, not too long, but it's long, you know. Um, Welcome back to j dot Ilga podcast. I'm sitting here with my sister friends Liars, Saint Clair, the loud one. My bad. It sounds so ladylike, it sounds genteel. It's like Saint Clair, I don't know what to do. I've got the wrong silver well or you need to call Liars. Saint Clair shouldn't tell you what to do. Oh, I love it. You a whole character, honey, And that would be means she Jill, what is she? You're a name? Her name? Do her name? My name sounds like somebody's third grade teacher. It's a graden Dangeler, Dunsler. It sounds like I've run a nonprofit. I can definitely, you don't have to talk about what Jill Scott sound like. That's that's it. My mother made sure I got a job. She was like, she said, they ain't gonna know, They're not not gonna know till you show up, baby girl, until she put that exclamation point on it. Then it was like, well, wait a minute, who's that hold up now? Jill? It sounds like somebody drunk, That's what it sounds like. Yo. You know how many people thinks to the show putting exclamation points on their babies names. I'm just gonna tell you it's happening. It's happening. Listen. I wouldn't put nothing past. Like I told you. There's a brother on a TikTok that talks about African Americans and linguistics and our language, which which is affectionately called now aa vee, which is African American vernacular English m the language, the language or the words. It's a thing I think it's been a lot of new language and words while we've been inside. I don't know if it's just me, I don't like what like what covid E? Girl, like what you just said? A B E T T A V E. I feel like, since covid, did we get a couple more letters for the LBGTQ community. Oh plus, Yeah, you just go plus, you just go. Well, I noticed that the plus is there now that I didn't know about that before. But don't think because we just found out it was it hasn't been there for a long time. Oh yeah, well they and they ended up adding some more eyes and a's, and so when you start doubling up on letters, you might as well just throw that plus up. And now, just not to confuse the layman rights, all the sys, all the cis heteros out here, right, But then also too, one of my children was like putting me down that there's not as multiple flags too. God, Hey, now, well all right, that makes sense. I listen. I know it confuses everybody else, but I enjoy it. I like people. See. One of the one of the quands of principles is name yourself, defining yourself for yourself. And so I feel as if if you are defining yourself for yourself. I am with you. A cheerleader, I've been with you in them, so I am too. Yes, I'm with you. Listen, y'all. We we had a we had a we had a summer. I know it's um, it's kind of early in the game far as summer's concerned. UM, but we really did have quite the summer. This is the first time that the three of us have really and truly been outside outside. But for you too, you haven't been going anywhere. Everybody's been staying close to home. You know, we're we're being mindful. We're not really you know, throwing parties like that, but you know, we're not having gatherings like that. But we're back. You know. I see on the news that the COVID cases are rising again, and we have to be mindful. Nobody wants to wear a mask. I don't either. I thought I was gonna do it for the rest of my life. I don't want to talk. I don't think you do. Yeah, it's not fun, but it's to me. It's just the back and forth and the deciding about winning, where and how long and what you're gonna do. That's where I get confused, where I'm like, all right, when I'm going in and out of stores, that's a habit, right, So I don't even have to think about that. I put it on, right I get on an airplane, absolutely not going bare faced on the airplane. Forget that you're good they are a good one. I can't believe people, I'm gonna put it on, you know, I'm gonna put it on on that good people's airplane. But if I'm in a restaurant, you know what I'm saying, and there's nobody in there, and I gotta eat anyway, I gotta take it off to eat. It's about when you walk into your seat. When you walk into your seats, right, I keep it on and then I go eat. But then I'll be thinking to myself where I'm eating it. So that's where I get confused. I'm just being honest, and I'm definitely pro masking. I'm definitely pro vacs. You don't have to get into you know, and nobody got to hit me up on the side. Yeah, that's what we did. We're about that. But my point is as as I'm as we're moving towards like you know, the rest of this, you know, navigating the outside. Those are the things that sometimes get me a little frazzled. I won't lie, what should I do? You know, It's like I'm jumping into the jump rope. Like, just think about aerosol and somebody and somebody aerosol in your mouth, and how convenient is it for them the aerosol in your mouth within six feet is that they would then six set taking aerosol in your mouth, especially if they're facing you. There you go, that's it. Aerosol in your mouth, jill face, sick fall in your mouth. I don't know the scientific way to say. And I'm done. I'm just I'm two weeks over to the COVID, so I'm like, yeah, I'm back to being massed up. And I did two days at the goddamn Roots pic Neck and didn't get the motherfucking COVID. I got to say, I must attribute this to colloridial silver. I am learning. Shout out to Suzanne Christine who told me that if you spray the collordial silver and your mouth, you will keep the virus off. So I think it worked at the Roots Picnic. Then I got bougie and comfortable, went to the real cute seats at the Hollywood Bowl for juneteenth and got the goddamn COVID on June teenth and didn't spray the collordial silver. So I'm just saying to the people, I ain't saying it's secure, but I think that it may work. Clover and silver. It's powerful, like rubbing it in. Yeah, for like I heard, sometimes it helps your scars and stuff. He'll quick, quick, good to know, good to know. So yeah, so yeah, I got I got the COVID. I mean, luckily, I feel blessed because I'm like, you know, triple boost and so I just headaches and chills and fever for a day. But being inside for seven days that ain't cool. That it's not fun, I will have to say. But I will say that, you know, having to kind of get out and experience the world has also been a part of people's self care over being locked up for a couple of years. And I have to say, of all that this summer that we made up for quite a bit. Okay, okay, yeah, can you please tell us what you have done this for summer thus far? Oh? I mean that's I mean work, y'all know, I'm a traveler, so I don't let the virus stop that. So I've been doing that a little bit. Yeah, I've been. Yeah, because like like Asia said, mask and whatnot? Yeah, no U. But yeah, I don't know. I think, like I said when I went to the Rootspecking, that was the first time going out to an outdoor concert for real, for real, and that felt so good. That felt like a whole reunion of sorts. And yeah, I'm just been I've been outside. Just don't stuff ride my bike doing it, you know, I don't think. To be honest, I haven't. The only new thing I did was be around people. And I'm about to go somewhere again. I'm fed to travel, even though I'm kind of magic and they lifting these mandates and I'm not liking that. I like going places where they make you get tested before you leave and then nice yes, yes, he's like, because we kind of want to know. Yeah, and before you get on the plane, we let me see your paper, sir, so that way you know everybody on the plane. We're good for this plane. But I'm gonna still keep my mask on. Yeah I missed that. I'm here for your storage, Jill. I want to know all about the June. Look at your face. Your face immediately just went into relaxed and enjoying us when she said your June, I love it coming to it. Okay, friends, I am certain that I had the best trip of my entire life. Jet turned thirteen. That's my son. For anybody who doesn't know, he turned thirteen. And I was like, damn black boys in America, you know, or around the world, except for maybe Africa. Obviously, they don't have a writer passage. You know. If you're Zulu, you know, you go up the mountain and for anybody who knows what that is, you know what that is? Where from from what I understand, if you go up the mountain, you go up the mountain and there's men there and they teach you how to do important things that help to establish your manhood. And by the time you get back to your village, you're a young man and people treat you as such. Right for Jewish boys, you got your brab mentzvah. You have to learn a passage in Hebrew. That's not easy. You know, you have a big old party, everybody celebrates you, and brab mitzvahs are a lot of fun. But I was like, what do you do? You know, wait till our kids are like sixteen to have a sweet sixteen or fifteen for King Tiniera with some people do. So I decided a couple of years ago I started putting money away. And I know, I know people will hear me say something like that, like I started to put money away, But I need you to understand that I saved for the things that I want to do, okay, and I compartmentalized money the same way that I compartmentalized my emotions sometimes. So I wanted to do it big and I took I took money out of everything that I earned, and I put it towards this trip for Jet. I called it a bro Metzvah. I saw that on Blackish once and I thought that that was really fly. I was like, okay, a bro metzvah. But we didn't want to. I didn't want to do a party because it's been two years. Kids haven't really been hanging out like that. So I'm gonna have a bunch of awkward kids in the space, and I'm gonna pay a whole bunch of money to have them look weird at each other. I decided Jet had been talking about Paris for quite some time. So how we flew to Paris. This was his first time on like in business class. He was just like, the chair was so fuss, all the buttons, all the button the chair was so fun. And I was like, this is about to be dope. Okay, that's when I got excited. I was like, look and then the food came. He looked at this meal like, m this is great. We've been on first class tablecloth on my table. We've we've even flown private you know before, but this is our first time flying overseas together ever. Um. He had a passport when he was seven weeks old, but not not one you know that he could be recognized. So now he's thirteen and he's got this passport with his real pictures. So he's like that. I think they have every movie ever. Was mom could watch movies, discuss many movies. I want to yes, just the just I took a video of him when he realized that the chair turned into a bed. It was it was it was like reliving that moment all over again. For for me, I was like, this is great, this is gonna be great. So we arrived in Paris and we just took it really easy. We stayed at the Four Seasons because I told y'all I put money aside from I saved for this. We walked in there, it was flowers everywhere. It was so god darn beautiful. Jet was. He just kept saying, dang, Mom, Wow, my mom almost like yeah, this is He's like, oh, I need to know where the flowers were. All the flowers were. We were like wow. And all the people were so fancy and they were dressed so sharp. This this one guy walked by and Jet was like, oh, I looked the dude's suit was tailored so well in the fabric. Jet was like, dang, mom, that man looked nice. I was like, totally look nice. Okay. So we get into our room. It's all frenchy dingy. It's super frank frenchy dingy. What is that? Even me? I love it? And and and yellow with with um rich kinds of like deep fabrics and swear up in this this beautiful room. And we're like, okay, we're tired, so we're taking that anyway. I'm not going to do this, see because it's so much um. We get out into the world. It's beautiful day. Paris is just is bright and it's it's exciting because the everything is so damn pretty. The ark, the streets are like, oh, you know. The breakfast we ate was like, oh, what was the first breakfast? Wait, give me something I need? I need to breakfast. It was simple. We just had like, um, scrambled egg on on bread. But French scrambles be different. French scrambled eggs be different. Right there, It's like they just stay there, just rise in the paint. I don't know. Fluffy had to close my eyes and hold on something because the French butter, my friends, the French the botter. Oh, I said, well, I mean we've had a bunch of moments now. We were walking out. They were sitting in the park, looking at the Eiffel Tower, walking around, you know, the neighborhoods, looking at people's dope ass houses, doing dope as stuff. You know. I'm a boyer, so I'm all looking in windows like look at you know, and Jetta is right along with me. He's fun. You're gonna get us apprestive. So we had this conversation about two things because we ended up going to two major cities, and I was like, hey, listen, you know we we're looking at the TikTok's and stuff. He's sending these things and he's like, we went to Paris and we went to amstam Um and he was like, Mom, we have to be really mindful of pick pockets and in the real you know, towards the areas. Okay. So we've we've we've been talking about this a lot, like if I have to go on my purse, I'm gonna need you to be like a mere cat and look in every direction. He was like, what's a mirrorcat? I was like, boy, so he had to look up a mirrorcat that was see first of all, youse, haven't you seen a lion king? Yes? Thank you? Huh yes, So a mirrorcat is Timon Timona and Pomba Timona is Americat and Poomba is a ward hall. Okay, I knew that part. Okay, thank you. And mirrorcats you jump out of the sand and they look here and they look and we're looking out for each other. We put the little bands on our phone so we can have our phones around our wrists because we've heard that people will run by a snatch your phone and keep going. So we're trying to be mindful of all of these things and have a really good time. And um Jack became like my little hey, I'm saying, he became he's taller than me now, but he became like my protector. And when he had an inkling that something was wrong, I said, We're going to follow these things wholeheartedly, no matter where we go. If we feel like it's time to go, if you feel that deep in your spirit and you just want to leave, we leave in It's not a discussion. It's not a discussion. If I tell you jet walk to me, slowly, walk to me slowly, don't be like mom, we'n what you don't look club. I don't want to hear all of that. It's important, Yeah, travel, etiquette, safety. We're gonna do this because it's you and me and nobody else in the world right now. Like we don't know anybody. We don't we don't have any friends in Paris, we don't you know, so all right, and we've seen taken exactly. Listen, I'm just saying, and Auntie Aga does not have a certain set of skills. Okay, I know somebody that know somebody. I know somebody that knows somebody that do though, So we go to the Eiffelhower. That was dope. We went at midnight so we could see it light up, you know, and it was it was lovely. It just was lovely. And we also saw a very big rat and we were like wow. I was like, yep, this city, homie, don't forget damn big like a raccoon. Oh like New York, like past New York. Ill, but you know, it's it's a big city. It's like you said, you gotta you can you take the romance saying the you know, the practicality. So it was sean delize all of that. And then we went to the Louver and this was this was a moment for me. Um. First of all, the Louvers is gigantic. It is the premier art gallery of the world. And first things first, we went straight to Egypt. So we go there and Jet says, Mom, you know if if if you dig up somebody's grave, they call it grave Robin right, like it really wrong. And I said, I say, that's my said. This trip is about this. This this trip is about hearing him out and him opening his mind and seeing things and tasting things and discovering that the world is just amazing and huge. You better kill Monger that joint. You better kill Monger that joint. Listen, I told you what time we was in the museum. I was in a museum with the twins one time and they had like a room where there was a mummy and Lana was just like, yeah, it's gonna be a no for that. She was like, she said, they didn't disturb that person's spirit and the rest, and we're not going. She was like an old black lady. She was like, oh no, no, no, no, we need to get a byt of here. We can't go in there. I was like okay, I said, okay, So we left and then we went and we saw the Victorian design and all the rich fabrics and all of that stuff. That was real cool. And then we went to see Mona Lisa, and you know, we took a picture in front of that thing and he was just like, I was like, that's what I said. It was like, it's really a man. It's really a man kind of moment. Yeah, that is so interesting. That is so interesting because twenty years twenty one years before when I first started traveling a bit, I'm gone to this Senegalese restaurant called Lovey Lodge on Lovy Lodge, and I was like, I want, I wonder if they're still open on them They were still open, same place and everything. He went and had a wonderful Senegalese meal. Um, it was awesome and it was this painting of a lion and a cub and I was like getting on emotional. I was like the sign, you know, I know, look they don't be knowing, but your little heartbeat heart just be going all of this. He you know, he he had rather TWI and you know, he closed his eyes and he was like, my god, my god. I looked and I was saying, yes. He said, he's such an old man. I love j child like he is. I just yeah, my god, oh my god. I was like, okay, it was so delicious. I had no idea what rather tweet was. I saw the movie. I don't know what it is. I'm not gonna lie and squash. It's vegetables and some kind of sauce and I don't know who prepared it, but they put angel dust in that thing, some kind of fairy juice, and it was so tender and delicious. I was like Okay, I ain't no girl, more real talk after the break. We love Paris, Okay, all right, so let's get to the to the other part of this trip. We leave Paris and we head to South Africa. I forgot about that part. We get to South Africa, told him, I said, hey, listen, this was a trick. Okay, yeah, how long a trip is a well, from Paris to South Africa. It was about ten or eleven hours. Okay, I'm not too bad, but this is new for him. He's never flown this long before the ETA was broken. So he was like, I know, I slept for eight hours, Mom, I know I did. How is it still four? How is it all this time left? And I was like, it's not right. Okay, just relax, you got a little bit time left again. The flight was great, um, the whole deceeding and all that other stuff. He loved it and thought it was so dope. He kept looking at me like, damn girl. You know, he kept giving me the damn girl, look that thing good. Anyway, we go from South Africa and we take a little flight to my womb um that's in Butuana. So thus far he's gotten three stamps on his passport, one to Paris, one to South Africa, and one to Butwana. So we're back where I was pregnant. Why, oh god, that's a lot. I know you was crying. I just was watching most and the arrangement you must have made based on your knowledge of that area, like, oh right, So being able to go back and having it not be a new experience for you so that you could be the we discussed things together. So I'm gonna say that I went to Paris. We went to Paris first because he really wanted to go to Paris. He wanted to see what it was hit before. And I think that we had a great meandering of streets and walk of thinnes. We definitely had some walk of thinness. You know. He got to those ceilings. Friends, if you have not been to the Louver and in Paris that art museum, the detail, even the wood on the floors, the ceilings, your camera will never quite do justice. It gives a good idea what you saw, but it doesn't really give you the dimensions of things. And he also had an opportunity to see that the moors were present around Jesus consistently in those in those paintings. I was like, you know, pointing out the moors, pointing out the brown skin you know, all over the place is particularly you know in Greek uh in some of the Greek ared we saw a lot of brown people. That's not an accident, that's not time, that's not discoloration. I was like, wow, okay, did they get Jesus's color right now? Hello? Those hotels, those those images are in abatment of the Vatican. Oh oh, okay, the afro downstairs, but the press out is upstairs. I got you, I got you. So now we're in my own and then we take a helicopter. Yep, we took a helicopter to the Okavanga Delta. It's the jungle of Bruttara. We're going on. Oh, I can't wait to see what we land. I can't wait to see what we end up coming, right because man, we went to see what man did with all of this amazing architecture and this beautiful artwork and these the sculptures and all of this stuff. Making hair of a blow with stone like that was really truly beautiful. A jill, can you spell that? Could we could? We want to look as you're talking, I'm sorry, what's what you spell that for me, it's really what it sounds like, okay va delta, Okay, oh thank you, or they or they all say okavango. I think American says okavango, but it's okay, yeah, I'm about to go on this tour with you. As you talking, you didn't know that, but I'm here for this. Just like people say Botswana, but it's really Botswana. It really is. When you twa, we know that Asian and I now we're we're aware now, but you we did not know prior to the Jay do Ill podcast. Botswana, Zambia, Mozam no Mozam beach and Botswana, so let us speak about our mother land. That's when I learned all of the African countries and that song. Right there, I'm in the helicopter with Jet and we're watching the earth change. It went from my womb and it's it feels kind of uh, it feels like a beach town, but there's no beach and we're flying over and all of a sudden, there's absolutely nothing for as far as the yay I can see. And he just understand how big Batuana is and then how big the Okavanga delta is. So we we flew for an hour on a helicopter too. We all of a sudden there was water and you can see crocodiles doing what crocodiles, dude. You can see um impala and key do and elephants and zebra and everything. It's right below us and Jet I could you know, I'm kind of you know, looking at the corner of my eye to see what he's doing. And he's just got his mouth open like this is real. I said, I'm gonna take you to Lion King, okay, And that's where we're going. So we get we laying there and they have a van a truck waiting for us. You know, you've seen them on TV, the Safari trucks. So we get in. Of course they're going to offer us beverages because when I tell you, when you go on Safari, the one thing that they're going to do two things for sure. Um, they're definitely going to feed you like crazy. I want to know what that is. Okay too, I want to eat a half bath. And you're going to go on Safari at least three times a day because it's it's literally never the same show twice. I mean, I see that okay, so walk us through these things, Jill. I need to know what the food is. I needn know what the different things you saw in the safari. Yeah, what y'all eat? I guess lounge if you will. Everything is on is on a platform, so we're not on the ground the tents because we stayed in a tent. The tenths that we're in are not on the ground. Everything is like a bridge. Right, we're high up. Um, not too high. UM, maybe about a good ten feet off the ground. Um. Right. So that's all like really pretty. Everything is just really well done. And it's what you imagine with the white curtains and the um. It doesn't have heat, it doesn't have air condition. Um. At night, it gets very very cold, depending on the time that you go. But they put what they call bush babies in your in your bed um and and bush babies are hot water bottles that are covered in something fuzzy and it keeps your bed nice and warm. So every night there's bush babies in your bed and you're it's so happy to have them because this brick is really really cold in the desert at night. But the dag on foods, you know, I'm here with it. The lady comes out and when I tell you, everybody's so pretty, like they're just pretty. That's that was one of Jet's first observations. He's like, Mom, everybody's just so pretty. I said, this is crazy, right, just crazy. All different kinds of faces. Um, some some with really big guys, some with slanted eyes, some some really fair skinned, some some wide nose, some big lips, some one big lip, one small lip, some freckles, some balls. You know, this is people. People come in all different shapes and sizes, but that there's something else that is attached to these folks. It's like a light within that is just you can't ignore it. So the pretty lady comes out and I can't remember her name, it was it was like four syllables forgive me. And she comes out and she says, today I have prepared for you and ted Acle, I'm soup with a fresh crema and a sparticles. And then she goes on and we're like just amazed, just like look, I'm like, oh, whatever you say, you know, we're gonna eat it. Why was it even better than Paris? Of course? Because way better, like way better of course we got because these them seasons there is just incredible and they feed you breakfast, lunch, dinner, and high tea. They typically have like an English breakfast, which is some baked beans, eggs, sausage. Um. They had beef sausage, they had chicken sausage. I was like, thank you so much. Um. And I don't recall eating like fresh muffins and things like that. But they made omelets. They made. The thing that Jet loved the most was porridge. He loved porridge. Just ate it slow and looked at the spoon and he was like, this is crazy porridge. He loved porridge. Okay, so we go out on safari and you know, I'm a little nervous because now I'm second guessing myself. Did I just bring my cup out here to get epped by something? Because you do have to sign a waiver saying that if you happen to die itself, the fault that you fully knew that you were coming to an area where they're a wild and honey mouths. That's a moment. They make sure that you know as much as possible. How you know, they take every precaution, every procution to make sure that you're safe, and you have to follow the dog on rules. Don't go off the damn bridge and decide you're gonna take a walk. You're not safe, dummy, you know, but bab boon could kill you. Mind you. They're babboons outside of our room, and they are we just sitting on the deck and just watch them play. And the baboons and the zebra and the impala and the kid. They're all together because you know, they're not out here eating meat. They're just chilling, just chilling. It's so much to say. We saw a leopard. They had killed a zemina and had a piece of the legs up on the tree, and she just looks She looked so satisfied. She looked so satisfied. Her legs were gapped over, and I said, wow. Our guide, his name was Kambungle. We also Delta, Delta just he wanted to make sure. I told him while we were there, and he really made sure to educate Jet and Tom to go as close as possible. We were so close to lions. I just was like, I prayed the whole time. We also had a flat tire while we were in the tall brush all bush. It was during the day, but that means nothing. And the lions. The lions are the exact same color as the bush. And I stood up and Jet was like, what are you doing? And I said, I'm looking like a mere cat, and he was like, here you go with this meercat. I was like, I'm watching because all I could think of was if a lion happens to come out and God for big killed come bonga, the wheels off. And even if I could drive this truck, I don't know where to go. We started an hour ago, an hour in every direction, you still have not reached them. The delta is so big. We saw hippopotamus, we saw ostrich, We saw babylons, we saw leopard, we saw lions, we saw so many. We saw eagles, white eagles. I didn't know they existed. We saw my favorite animals, the key due. We saw loads of them with their pretty selves, whatever kind of mixture they are. We saw jackals, we saw oh boy, we saw it off, and we saw morning, noon, tonight. Because the show is never the same, like the animals are always doing something. Yeah, they're living, They're okay. So this is my first example. Oh god, oh my god, a freedom. This is what freedom looks like. This is there's no confines here. This is what freedom. It's like You're able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want, for as long as you want. Period. Okay, So um at night that the sky turns read sometimes it's purple, sometimes it's it's it's the orange. Like we can't fathom the way that the moon shines and the way that the pictures do no justice. There's no camera I think that could capture what these colors really look like. So we spent four days there with them. Then we took a helicopter to um the Kalajadi desert. Wow. At this point, can I just ask an American question, Jill? At this point, how are you guys avoiding the bites, the bug bites these things? Are you still buck bite free? Because y'all was standing in it's also fabric all around you to make sure that you're that you don't get bitten. They have the spray called boom in the room. UM, so you can spray boom just in case if you you know, you feel away. But I make it a point to go um if and when I traveled to to Putuana, I'm not going in there summer. I go in the winter, okay, So, and that's June and July are the best times to travel to me. And and at winter the weather it's still what in June July and what is done. It's reasonably warm during the day, but it's a different sun there. It's a whole different sun there. Okay, So warm is you know, eighties, upper eighties um during the day and at night somewhere under twenties. We slept in sweatsuits and fuzzy socks. Well yeah, I mean, and I heard that the desert can't get really cold, but I didn't think you're that cold, not that cold, and that less it's the bugs because they don't be around in the cold, that's true. So at least you know when you're sleeping, they ain't gonna get you in that sleep. So that experienced. They laid out the carpet and then then there was one moment when they wanted to tell me how they felt, and I didn't see it coming, and it was very emotional. They were just talking about my time there as modern mostway and um in front of jet which was really awesome. You know that I had introduced Patuana too so many to the world. That was very emotional and they were like, we love you. And they told jet Um. You hear about these stories when when somebody says you're in Africa, welcome home. But they were like, jet you were, you were created here, you were, you were created here, Welcome home. They knew that. Wow, you know. And I was three three weeks pregnant when I when I got there, and I know they wanted to give you all the advice and all of the things. So yeah, I'm sure they were heavily invested. I mean, that's just so beautiful. That's so beautiful. It's still bugging me out how how beautiful it all was. So I'm gonna try to make it brief because I've been talking my head off. No, this is good because he is going to this is going He's going to open up bits and pieces of this gift over the years. You know what I'm saying. It's going to continue to kind of gift him forward. And it's it's good for people to hear it because because you're also creating like goals for people in a way like I never thought about doing that. Okay, like Jill did. I might have to say, my ducks because that sounds really cool. Right, And that's that's the cool You're giving people a very real kind of you know, just this moment where they can say I can come up with the thing and create it and then follow through and that these are all the elements to what it would look like and feel like. And then it goes with with whatever budget you have that if we can't if we're not doing the big party, you know, if we're not doing the walk with all the men, you know, and they take the boy away for you know, a week's time or whatever the case, if we're not doing those things and we have to do something to acknowledge, you know, that they're going into their manhood and that they're going into their womanhood as well. Like these things are super valuable, you know, I think. Anyway, So we're in the Kalajadi. This is the most luxurious shit. Honestly, I've ever seen this tent. The tent is a mansion, baby, Okay. The fabrication of the tent is rich. That there's there's um Persian rugs all over, Moroccan rugs all over the floors, the sculptures, the mahogany beds. We both have four post mahogany beds um. The bathroom has a as a chaise la ounge in it, made with yellow velvet. The toilet is an absolute throne of mahogany. Like you gotta be kidding me. Ye, Look, we had our private pool, our punge pool. We had an outdoor shower and an outdoor toilet and they were separate from each other, just in case you felt like taking the poop in the bush. We went on safari twice a day because we were like, we're a little bit We took naps in between. So we got up in five three. We had an amazing breakfast. Every day we went out, saw all the things in the desert. It's different. So we're now we're looking at we're looking at we're looking at the sky, we're looking at the animals. Of course, we ended up bumping into a very large lion, like okay, I don't understand what a bump a bump. He just happened to turn the corner. He was there in the car. We had a cage around. There's no cage around the car. So he saw us, we saw him, and then we just sat quietly and he did He was like oh uh, and went on about his business doing what he was doing because he's free and living without fear. There's nobody there to shoot him or hunt him or kill him. Right, So he was like, oh, there's one of these things, huh. And he's not hungry so because and we're also not exactly on the menu, um, but there is. I've heard many times, um that people get killed in Safari because they don't follow the rules. They get out the van, they get out the Safari jeep, they go and want to take a picture with the lion like it's freaking simble. It ain't and ain't. I can guarantee you they ain't got this brown on their arms. I can guarantee you those people, girl, Because what we're gonna do is follow the rules. We're gonna do. We're gonna take a quick break and then we'll be right back. We're we're in the Kalajadi. They're serving meals that are so beautiful. Give us wine, Come on, jil, give us, come on. They said, we've have we have fried chicken and a lintil salad. And I was like, oh, okay, I don't know what to expect this chicken. I don't know they fried the chicken. It was so light and crispy um and it was just the moistest pieces of chicken. I need to take a picture of LA's face. I'm sorry I got lost. Don't nobody talk about food like Jill. You know that it'd be like close your eyes, y'all. Just the salad was cold and the chicken was hot. And they have something called pi pi. He said. The salad was going and the chicken was hot, like it was a surprise. I'm sorry, y'all's eyes is closed, and y'all look like y'all two seconds away from a whole moment. But it's fine. Popo sae. It's an oil. It's an oil with all these peppers in it. It's like a vinical oil with a lot of peppers. And you just marinated and I poured that hot. It was. It was hot, but it was like the righteous hot. It wasn't It was hot, and you with a hint of sweet at the end, not burning. It was sweet at the end. I was like, oh, th friend, I ate Pilly Pilly popo and everything. I couldn't stop myself. Sometimes I just did a piece of bread and put some pill. Somebody give me something to stop this up with, please, somebody got a little piece of bread please, so so so so so so so so so so that was the meal for me. I ate it all. And I watched the sea with Jimmy. He ate it all, and we just looked at each other like, this is what's happening. Okay, you talked about the food, but can you just tell us did you have any cocktails? Did you have any? Every day? Every day? They serve your dreams all day long. And I never knew how good a Gin and Tonic was. I was never a Gin and Tonic girl. Now I am. That is the perfect summertime refreshing, just a little hint to get your tipsy, just a little. I love a Gin and Tonic. Now I'm in with a splash of lemon. I'm in lemon on line, Okay, lemon on live. And if I can get Botswana gin, that's what that's really amazing, all right? All right? So we go for a walk with the bushmen. They're called by saddleway. Fine, they look like Asian folks. They look like Asian folks, but they're really brown, and they they're titties is out? Okay? And I just get the bushmen, know, right, or the bush bushmen and women you know how you know how patriarch is of course, yeah, we don't get a work. Won't get a word, right, man, don't get a full word. But there are women and of all eighties, um and you know, titties out, and beautiful necklaces like string beads are all over their bodies, and they have very short hair that looks just like the earth. I swear it does, like from a distance in the helicopter when you look down on the earth, it's the exact same textures. Come on and they take us for a walk. They speak, they are one hundred thousand of them left. This is it. This is it because the world is coming and the kids want to experience other things, you know, and there's very few, you know, one hundred thousand left that really want to. I guess hold on to that. But they're trying. They're trying. So they take us out for this walk and they're they're all of a sudden, you know, they're digging, and they're telling us about all the earth and all the stuff. You get this take this dug a hole and found some big ass thing. And they were like, boil this is for pains. And I was like, damn, I wish I could take this whatever, this thing it's with me? Right, you did notice cell bring foil? Right? A scorpion, right, this big scorpion they dug out the ground and now they're playing with it. And I was like, you know, I'm allergic to be stings, so now you know. But they're they're telling us they didn't really they didn't really speak English. We had a translator who had to live with them in order to learn how to speak the language, because people who speak Paddi, people who speak Zulu pulsa, I don't know how to say that. Right, whatever the language is, this is not that. This is old, old, old, old, okay, And it takes a lot of time, and you have to live, you have to be completely immersed in it in order to learn it. And even still our guide spoke six or seven languages, but he said he lived with them and still struggles. He said, I can hear, but I can't speak as well as I wish I could. I was like, damn, okay. So they play with the scorpions. The guy this this, the bushman puts the scorpion in his mouth. I'm never I'm bugged out. I'm bugged out. He was like, there, there are friends, there are toys. We play with them. And they dug another hole, put their dude away and buried him. And I was like, it's scorpions in this damn doesn't really big factas right underneath us. So now Jet and I are looking everywhere because we are a little bit scared. Now, yeah, I'm going back to meercat status. You know, have thorns in our socks and trying to act like everything is cool because their barefoot. Why aren't they stopping to take thorns out of this socks because it hurts. How you got you got shoes on the right, Yeah, but there's there. These thorns are coming up under the under the hands or something I don't know, and getting stuck like a tiny mean needle, like a mean little needle. Well, this is the reality also of nature and being outside and you know, different terrain. We struggled with that one because every few steps it was a new mean needle. And when we didn't want to, we didn't want to play ourselves like you y'all don't have no shoes on, how are you not getting stuck by mean needles? I was like, yeah, so they made fire out of jackal dung. How you make fire to dodo, I don't know, but what we watched it, we were amazed. We were mazed. I mean I never even seen the jackal. Wait fire, I mean out of the jackal, I'm dung. Wow. Okay, there's a gas or something that comes off of poople. Well they mashed it up and it was like soft because there's a like a like like hey, it turns into kind of like hey, so you know, enough friction it became fire. We were like damn happy too. And it's crazy. The pictures that we took with the with the bushmen, they came out black, all of them in that crazy what you feel like some things weren't meant to be seen or you can't see their faces. And the pictures in between are there, but the pictures directly with them standing next to them are black. And we were like, oh wow, in that dope. They bring us our lunch outside. It's so it's so jazzy, it's so special, it's so extra okay, all the things, and then we take ATVs into the salt flats. A TVs are those four wheels vehicles. The salt flats are as big as Switzerland. It's where your water used to be, but no more, right, and so it's like it's like white on the ground with the big cracks. Yes, and we went directly into the salt flass beautiful on the a TVs where we sped like crazy. The guy was like a valet. He was like, you want to go fast style? Jed was like yes, because he's driving himself for the first time. Yes, and that was dopeest shit. We get out, We get way out there. We drove for like an hour into the salt flats. That's what I'm saying. That's how big it is, Okay, And then we get off and he says, find an area by yourself. And I noticed that as I'm walking, there's really no sound out there. There's no sound. Yeah, I felt like that. Well, it's not the same, but like out in the desert when you go to like Arizona and stuff like that, Like you get out to a certain point and it's like standing in like a studio or something like, it's like flat, no sound. It was deep and I honestly started to feel a little fear because I'm not accustomed to not hearing any sounds. But I was safe. I knew I was safe because we're an hour away from any trees or vegetation. Animals are not walking out there. They'll die, they know better. Yeah, there's nothing growing out there. So he says, all right, now, lay down, and we're in three different places, and he says, enjoy the sunset. And the sky turned peach and then it turned blue and then and then all of a sudden, there were stars just popping up. I've seen you know, obviously, we've all seen stars before, but they turned colors. They were green and red and yellow. I've never seen a rainbow of stars before. And then they were shooting stars in between, not one, not twelve, not fifty, just so so, so many. And he says, all right, now after and now realize that we have to ride back. Yeah, there's there's lights on the ATVs, but we also have to ride through the bush on these ATVs. The driver, i mean the guide valet shout out the valet. He's in the front, jets in the middle, and I've decided to take the back because I figured I'm gonna protect him. And I got his back. I said, my god, what am I gonna do something? Decided to jump on my chad, where which direction to do? Out? What does something jump on me? And Jet is gunning it. He's gunning it hard. Just I got a gun it too, But also not get in his dust because if I'm in his dust, I can't see, you know. And we're just out here in the middle of all of this, you know. And I figured, Okay, maybe the noise will distract and they won't want to, you know, fuck with us. But I was scared. I was very, very scared. But we arrived back at our jeep and then we rode on to camp and had a wonderful meal, met people from all over the world. Most of them were Americans, which was really surprising. And then we left. We out there, any chips out there, any chips, any American chips out there? No, but I want you to go. I know you do. We're gonna working on it, just to see that. See what. So the first part of the trip was so Jack to see what men can do in Paris with the architecture and the artes. This next part is for him to see what God does and what God can do. We couldn't capture what the stars did. We only could look at it with our eyes and be humbled by it. Yeah, magnificence, like the true definition of creativity. Nothing better than this, nothing from the animals, to the trees, to the all of the things. Okay, so we leave this wonderful experience just floating. We've learned so much. We'll be back after the break. Now we're on our way to Amsterdam, and we get to one of my favorite cities in the world, and we kicked it. We walked the dogs, we ate the waffles. We went to fabric the Luminesque, a light museum, and that was freaking phenomenal because the light it was what's his name, Gustav Clement his artwork, which is very, very colorful. They had it everywhere. It just became all around you. They have a black warehouse and they created these freaking dope ass lights and the art was all over you, everywhere you look. It was amazing. We must have stayed in there for at least an hour, like it was fresh. You can ride your bike everywhere. We took a canal. I wanted to Heineken because Heineken is better overseas. I gotta Heineken and I was like, you want a beer, and he was like Mom, Mom, I'm not I'm a child. I said, okay, and the guy says, well, I mean we have Heineken zero. I said, what's Heineken zero? He was like, just no alcohol in it? And I was like, you got a coastin He was like I do. So we enjoyed a beer together and we did that multiple times, his Heineken zero or my Heineken, and we you know, chatting it up and enjoying ourselves. We sat on park benches. He's like, mom, I don't think or a little cafe tables. He was like, Mom, I don't think we could sit here. Where's the restaurant? I said, exactly, their seats here because people need to sit. There'sh lollipops here, because people get drug out there. It's like, you know what I'm saying, Like, there's it's a conscious consideration of what people want in this place. So we got a chance to experience three different kinds of creativity and freedom, which is hopefully, you know, the goal to inspire. He bought some dope shit. I gave him a budget. I watched he found his style between Parish, some good shopping and Amsterdam too. Oh yeah, for sure, he found his thing. He was like, this is apparently Hugo Bosses is where the boy lives. I was like, oh, I said, you know what this means, right, you know what this means? He was like, what is it me? You good job? You gonna shot. You gotta get that good good good. We go into stories. He's like, oh, those sneak is mom, No, sneak is fresh. Oh man, oh man. I looked at the price. I was like, oh, look at your taste. He was like, you're gonna be taking care of mama. Okay, good. Ain't like it, you know? So we we did all of those things. He had a burger in a place, Oh my god, Cannibal royal. I think that's what it was called Royal Cannibal. They made a veggie burger for that child. I watched my son have his first food orgasm, and I loved it. He did. He absolutely lost himself. He didn't speak for forty five He kept looking at it and shaking his head. He rolled his eyes back, he closed his eyes, he looked at it again. He bit it slow. I said, this is that's it. That's what I'm looking And he is his mother's child. That is truly. We're establishing your taste as well. Okay, I see how you get there. So yeah, And when in the Amsterdam, we also went to the Torture Museum and all of this understanding when you take these trips that this is really about the education of our kid, you know what I mean, You want to broaden their horizons and help him understand. So we got in there and when I tell you the medieval shit that was going on, the time it took to create some of that maniacal, vicious, brutal shit, Jet says, Wow, So it's always been like that. That's what I was just thinking that you were saying. I was like the mind, the way these minds work. They had a piece of wood, piece of wood, a big triangle, right, This was the one that got me. I think all of them were crazy and way too freaking much, but this thing was a big triangle. And what they do is they put the triangle way up and you gotta get on a ladder to get up on the triangle. Then they sit your raw neked ass on the triangle and add weights to your arms and your feet. Oh so it just hurts on your ass, like you're just just digging into your ass. Like it did slowly, ah, slowly. These others are so creative with their torture. Wow, we saw oh they cutting titties off. They was all kinds of crazy, extra brutal. And the museum was only, you know, maybe about a thirty minute visit. But we walked out of there like damn. Yo. Shout outs to Jill because into all the people listening, y'all gotta understand, Jill just broke down Amsterdam heavily without using the word cannabis or red light district. And that is truly beautiful because it is so much more, because it's so much more to these cities. She didn't even say to it. So look they had on June teenth, because we were there for June Tea on Juneteenth um, they had DJ's on every block. So in the areas where people were eating and shopping, there were DJs. Now we took it as it was June Teeth for us, like this was but will know why y'all doing this, But this is June teeth. They play Biggie and my son and I blacked out dancing in the streets, dancing in the street. It was so fun and so what again, free free can I remind people as they as people listen to your story. I want to also remind people that, you know, not for nothing, most of us have a friend or some type of family member that works for the airline, and most of us tend to use those advantages that we take to go to like Miami or California, where I like to remind people that if you got access to some type of flying privileges, you need to use those internationally. Use some of this stuff that Jill is saying, use it internationally. It's cheaper, it's cheaper, it gives you more of a discount. I just want to remind people that people who think they can't everybody knows somebody to work for the airline. Think about it. Well, I've been traveling for forty something years and I used my mama's flight attendant privileges. But I'm you're saying it's a blessing. I just think it's closer than people think it is. It's always yeah, I mean, you can you can accumulate miles in a bunch of different ways these days, and also to like even through your credit cards to all kinds of different things. But you know, but then also too, like there's a bunch of different travel hacks and a bunch of different websites and Instagram and TikTok pages around being black and traveling solo and traveling with kids. You know, there's a blog called the Traveling Child. I believe it's called there's a black woman who travels with her young daughters all the time and they've been everywhere together, traveling Noir, which is another good one, and so just just like a lot of different you know, so it's ways to travel and make it more affordable and travel with kids. You know, I have six kids, even though I wish they would give y'all your own plane sometimes, but that's fine. I'm here. I'm here for it. I mean, it's a thing. In restaurant Cannonball Royale, they played a hip hop they played hip hop in Dutch and they got veggie burgers and it's called cannabaun. I love that. I got a chicken sandwich and they put a chicken wing on it, on top of it, and I was like, why I would just what made you do that? I don't know who's back there and whatever that mustard is, fuck you, fuck you for that mustard. Fuck you, but that mustard I wanted to. I wanted to lay down in it. I wanted to lick it off of someone I love deep. Now I want to look it on somebody I love dearly. I was like, that's that's that should be the caliber of sauce you should have or anything from now warm. Yeah, that's a new standard. It's definitely the standard. That's the standard of sauces from now war. Oh what a wonderful time you got, Like food, culture, art, nature, It's all all these really beautiful things that I kind of incorporated, and then so much more. Like I said, well, it'll probably unfold over time all the things, you know what I mean, It's gonna take me, take me some time to do that. But we're gonna, you know what, We're gonna end this podcast today because you know, it's been kind of long, and we're just talking about this one thing so much. You feel long because you've been talking, but it's been great. Please take your time and unwrap these thoughts that our children deserve to have some kind of right of passage into their maturation. We are their parents, We are their aunts and uncles, were their grandparents. And this was what I chose to do with the means that I had, But it's it's fair to say that our kids deserve to have something really really special around this time. And guess what you can do it. You can do it. You can do it, Just figure out how you want to do it. If that means a lake house, an airbnb for a week with family and friends, or just all your kids friends, that's dope. If it means a trip to New York City, you know, all lights and all the fast pace and energy. If that's what it means to that, oh yeah, a Broadway show. Take your kids to a Broadway. So thank you so much for listening to j Elba podcast, and we're going to continue this conversation. How do you eat an elephant? One by? It time? Hello listeners, It's Amber the producer here. I have a two year old son, and after listening to this, I'm starting a travel fund. Like now, speaking of travel funds, you do not have to be rich to see the world, just intentional. I'm going to share with you in an article from Nerdwallet that outlines a couple of the best apps for saving money. I personally use capital to build my little travel fund and I love it. I'm saving and I don't even realize it. It allows you to create rules around your spending habits. For example, like if I get a coffee, it'll automatically put two dollars into my savings. I'll also drop in links to some of the incredible places Jill visited on her trip. I hope we all get to see a zebra soon. Hi. If you have comments on something we said in this episode, call eight six sis. Hey Jill, if you want to add to this conversation, that's eight six SIGs four three nine five four five five. Don't forget to tell us your name and the episode you're referring to. You might just hear your message on a future episode. Thank you for listening to Jail Scott Presents Jay dot Ill. The podcast JA dot Ill is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.