Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | YouTube

Welcome to the Travel Transformation Podcast, where we talk all things travel and all things transformation. I'm Jessica Grace Coleman and I'm your host, and today is just going to be a very quick podcast episode because I wanted to talk about a trip I went on recently to London. 

So, I recently attended the World Travel Market event in London, which was held at the London Excel Conference Centre, and it was my first time going. I hadn't really heard about this until a few months ago when I really started getting into the travel industry and I started searching for events that I could go to. I saw this one, and it seemed to be a really good one. People from all over the world go to it every year and it happens to be in London and I happen to be in the UK, so I thought it would be a great idea to go.

It's mainly for travel professionals, so you have to apply, but it's free to go to, which I think is great. They obviously make their money from the people who pay to have booths and stuff there, but you have to be a travel professional to go. So this was kind of a test, I guess, because I'd only just started my Flip the Script Travel Transformation Services business,

 and you had to put in all the information about your business, the name of it, employees if you have any, website, social media, all that stuff. And then they sort of verify it and send you your information and a badge that you need to print out to take with you – if they accept you. 

And this is a big mindset thing for me, all this kind of stuff. I sort of see it as a challenge because, in the past, if I didn't really believe in myself enough – which happens a lot, used to happen a lot more – then I probably would have stopped myself from even applying for something like this because I would talk myself out of it. I'd be like, “Well, I'm not really in the travel industry yet, I'm kind of pivoting into it and I'm not like a big company, I'm not a travel agent, I'm not a tour guide, I'm not all these kind of things.” And I would sort of put myself down a bit, I guess, and I wouldn't even apply for it.

So, I thought, it's a free event – I'll give it a go. Loads of different people from all over the world, different backgrounds and different businesses are going, so what have I got to lose? So I signed up, they sent me my stuff, and I booked accommodation in London. 

Now, because it's a huge event and because people from all over the world are coming, obviously, and because it's London anyway, all the hotels in the area were really expensive – at least expensive to me. I'm happy to pay to stay in a nice place, but I would rather spend money on activities and doing things and flights and things to get to places rather than really expensive accommodation; I'd rather spend it on other stuff. 

So I was looking at these hotels and they were like £300 a night minimum, if I wanted to be anywhere near the Excel Centre. And I wanted to be close by; I didn't really want to be getting the Tube back and forward all the time, and I wanted to be able to get there and get back and go back to my room if I needed to. So I stopped looking at the hotels that they recommended on the site – because I wasn't going to pay that much per night, especially considering I probably wasn't going to be there much – and I looked on trusty Airbnb.

Now, I'm a big fan of Airbnb. I know some people have had bad experiences with it, but I hadn't really. All the places I've stayed before have been great, the hosts have been really great, really nice, really helpful, and I've never really had a problem… and I didn't have a problem this time because I knew what I was signing up for. 

I found a place. It was a room in some lady's house and it was literally a few minutes’ walk from the Excel Centre and also from the DLR Station, Prince Regent Station, and Custom House. It was a perfect location. And, more importantly, it was £50 a night, which for that area of London, when this event was on, I thought was brilliant. There were loads of really good reviews from businessmen and women who had stayed there to go to events at the Excel, saying that it was a great location and that the host was wonderful. And I thought, yes, quick, book it.

So I did, and it was true. The woman was really nice, really helpful, though we got our wires crossed a little bit at the end. She thought I was leaving at 06:00 a.m., and I meant 06:00 p.m., and she was banging on the door really early because she was worried I was going to miss my flight or something, bless her. 

The area was fine, the house was fine, I just got what I expected to get for £50 for a night. T was another guest staying there in a different room – although I never saw him, I just heard him – and it was under a flight path and I didn't get much sleep and the room was a bit dark and dingy… but what are you going to say for £50 a night in London? 

So, I was glad that I had the room, but it also made me realize something. If I'm on my own, I will try and spend the least amount of money possible, because, like I say, if it's a hotel room, you're not necessarily going to be there the whole time. If I'm going away with friends and we're staying in a nice Airbnb and we're going to be spending a lot of time in the place, then, yes, I might splash out a bit, especially if there's more of you to share the cost with.

That works out really well, but on my own, I'd rather save money. 

That was until I stayed in this room. And again, nothing against the lady, she was absolutely lovely, but I was sort of sitting in this room, with like a really dingy light bulb, a bit of a musty smell… It actually reminded me of a hotel I stayed in in Manchester once with my friends when we went to a zombie run, like a zombie event outside, and we all dressed up as Shaun of the Dead. 

But anyway, we stayed in a cheap hotel there again just for the location, really, and we were looking at the reviews. I can't remember what site it was on, Booking.com or something, and some woman had said the hotel is very cheap, very shabby. And she said something that stuck in my mind because neither me nor my friends knew what the hell she was talking about, but she said it was full of ‘foist’ and ‘crambles’. We don't know if she meant crumbs or if she meant a sort of musty smell – that's what foist reminds me of, actually, sounds more like moist, but I don't know – but it's what I've used ever since. If I've stayed somewhere that hasn't been particularly super modern and clean and all that stuff, I say it's full of foist and crambles, it sort of smells a bit foisty and there could be piles of crambles, whatever they are, in the corner.

And, sitting there in this room, I thought if ever there was a place that was full of foist and crambles, it is this room. And it made me rethink a little bit. I'm going to another business event in London in March and one of my mentors – one of the people I really look up to, the author and money mindset mentor Denise Duffield-Thomas – is going, and if you are one of the first 50 people to get tickets through her link, then you get to go to this breakfast with Denise Duffield-Thomas. And I assume you get to meet her. So I'm really happy that I'm going to that. And I was like, I really don't want to stay in a foist and cramble bedroom in someone's house, because it just made the whole thing not very nice. Like, I didn't really want to touch anything because I felt kind of unclean. Maybe this is me, maybe I have stupid standards, I don't know… I'm quite happy somewhere like a Travel Lodge or a Premier Inn. They're modern, they're clean, they're light, they usually have everything you need, it's fine. And I would much rather spend a little bit more money to stay somewhere like that than get the cheapest possible place.

So, I have booked a Premiere Inn when I go to London, when I go to Wembley in March, and I'm so happy that I have. And again, this is not a diss on Airbnb. I love Airbnb. I use it for most of my accommodation, I would say, if I'm not using colivings and things like that. But, yeah, it was kind of an epiphany. I was just like, I would much rather spend more money to stay somewhere that isn't full of foist and crambles.

Anyway, that's not to do with the event at all. Also not to do with the event was the fact that this is the first time I've been to London since the pandemic – since before the pandemic... I actually can't remember how many years it's been, maybe three or something. And it's the first time I've been since the Elizabeth Line opened. The new purple tube line. Purple is my favourite colour, so I got stupidly excited about this, but, oh my gosh, it's so nice. 

The tube is so handy, obviously, when you're in London, and I'm very grateful for it, but just the really, really old stations that are super hot and claustrophobic and the trains are all rickety and they're not particularly clean, or they don't seem clean because they're so old and all that stuff… I always sort of dread going on the tube a little bit, especially if it's winter and you're all bundled up in lots of layers and then you go in and you're boiling and you've got a suitcase with you and… it's all too much! 

But the Elizabeth Line was like a dream. The station is much more open, it's not like a tiny tunnel, it has huge ceilings, everything's obviously new, clean, and shiny. They have the Perspex stands as you're waiting for the train, so you don't get blown off the platform every time a train comes along. And it was just a really nice experience.

I did a few things while I was in London. I went to Leicester Square and Covent Garden for a bit, and I went to Westfield Shopping Centre to do some shopping, and every time I got to get the Elizabeth Line, I was like, “Yes!” Anyway, if you haven't been to London recently, go on the Elizabeth Line. I really enjoyed it. I don't know if that's lame, but it was a nice way to get away from my foisty crambly room. It was a nice change to go on something new and nice and shiny.

Anyway, so the event itself… I said this was going to be a quick episode and, as usual, I'm rambling on, so sorry about that. 

Monday morning, I left my room – my foisty crambly room – and walked to the Excel Centre. It was all very well organised and everything like that. I got my lanyard and my little case to put my badge in. It had my name and ‘Flip the Script Travel Transformation Services’ and a little QR code that people could zap if they wanted to go to your website and that kind of thing. I had my business cards on me, I had some flyers for my podcast, and I went in.

First impressions? It was really cool. There were countries from all over the world that had their own stands, their own booths… but they weren't just booths, they were like huge constructions. Egypt had this massive kind of Egyptian monolithic building with fake hieroglyphs all up it and a little sort of throne on one side, a little chair you could sit in. There were people doing cooking demonstrations, giving out alcohol from their country, there were people dancing, there were people playing instruments as you walked around. Obviously a lot of businessmen and women walking around, lots of places to eat and drink. And it was just a really cool atmosphere. There were lots of people dressed up in their traditional clothes, and, if I wasn't already into travel, it would have made me want to go travelling right then and there. 

Now, a lot of people who go there are travel agents or tour guides, and they're there to network and have meetings and make business deals with hotels and tourist boards and that kind of thing. I am not at that level yet. In the future, I'd like to run retreats and things, in which case the World Travel Market will be a really good place for me to go in the future. So maybe next year I will go in with that plan in mind and set up some meetings and that kind of thing. But for me, because it was my first one, because I'm still starting out, I wanted to just go there, scope it out, see what was going on, and just get some ideas and inspiration. 

And also I went in with the intention – because this is all about intentional travel and intentional activities and intentional visits to places – I went in with the intention of getting as much content as I could for social media. So I took lots of pictures, I took lots of videos, and I wasn't the only one. There were quite a few travel influencers walking around, talking to themselves on their phones and stuff like that. So that was my intention: to go in there, check it out, see what was going on, come up with ideas for what I could do in the future if I went back there, see what everyone else was doing, and gather content that I could use on my social media and my website and on my podcast… like I'm doing now.

So that was my intention, really. It wasn't to have meetings, it wasn't to do a lot of networking… although some networking would be good. And, actually, as I find with most things in life, the most networking got done at the bar.

I met quite a few people when I was waiting in line for the bar and I exchanged business cards and followed them on Instagram and that kind of thing. So, even if you go and you don't have any meetings planned – you don't have any specific reason to network with people, like with me, I haven't started the whole retreat thing yet, so I didn't have that to talk about with people – you can still obviously network with people, get to know people, exchange information, and it's just a really great way to meet people in your industry, no matter what industry you're in. I'm sure there are similar conferences in places like London and I'm sure New York, LA… all the big cities, really. It's worth travelling to, I would say.

I sent some pictures and videos to my friends while I was there, including my friend Vicki, who I met in Colorado, when we both went to the University of Colorado in Boulder. I was explaining what it was and showing pictures and stuff and she said it reminded her of when we did an international festival while we were there, when we all had booths and me, my friend Vicki, Katie, and a couple of others, we did an English booth. You had to do a certain dish for each booth related to your country. We did scones or scones, however you say it – because we didn't have to cook them. Thank God the kitchen cooked them and they could only do certain things. So we had to do scones rather than anything else. I’m not sure what else we would have done… maybe fish and chips, British cuisine… I can’t really think of many things!

Anyway, we had that and then we had some props. We had a sort of fake wall behind us that we'd done in a kind of old-fashioned, tacky, British pub style. And yeah, when I told Vicki about this, she said it sounded like the International Festival on steroids, which actually is kind of accurate; it was exactly like what we did in Colorado University, but times a thousand. It was amazing. Yeah, definitely would recommend it.

It was really good for vegan food as well, because they're obviously really into sustainability and saving the planet and going plant-based and that kind of stuff. So they had quite a few vegan sections, which was really cool for me. I'm not vegan, but I'm vegetarian, so that was great.

I also got my steps in when I was there, so that's always good; I did a lot of walking around while I was checking out all the stands and taking my content and everything, so that's always a good thing as well. 

Also, when I was in Westfield Shopping Centre – this is just an aside – I walked past the comedian Rosie Jones. She was doing some shopping. You might have seen her on… well, she's been on loads of stuff, but I know her best from The Last Leg and doing presenting work for them. She's a comedian and presenter. Anyway, that was cool – always nice to see a celebrity. 

And, talking of celebrities, they had lots of talks and discussions and presentations as well.

And I went to see Levison Wood Talk on the Future Stage, although the E had fallen down on the sign for Future Stage, so it said Future Stag, which everyone found quite funny. It's the little things. And if you don't know who Levison Wood is, he's a British explorer and author.

He used to be in the army. He's a really tough guy. He's done crazy things like walking the entire length of the Nile. I've just read his book, Walking the Himalayas, and he does lots of endurance walking and exploring a lot. Really dangerous stuff. And he's nearly died several times on these expeditions and he keeps doing them. 

He was there, he was interviewed, and then people in the crowd got to ask questions and it was really interesting to hear him talk about all this stuff. And I didn't know this, but he actually used to own a company where they did tours. Like, he was a tour guide doing expeditions in mountains, walking, hiking, that kind of thing. So he was on the same level as a lot of people who were there attending, who were also tour guides and travel agents, and it was just really interesting to know that he could go from that to doing what he does now, which is he goes on expeditions that he sort of comes up with himself. He writes a book about it, he has TV shows about it. He obviously has brand deals, sponsorships, things like that.

And he's doing a new one, Walking with Elephants – or Walking with the Elephants, I can't remember – and he shared a sort of sneak peek of that with us, which looks really cool, in Africa. And it was just really inspiring and it really made me want to go and do something cool. Not quite as crazy as walking the length of the Nile, but just going and seeing these talks, it was just really inspiring, and I'm so glad I went to that one. 

He was sort of walking off at the end and he got cornered by a few people who had been sitting near the front and he was so nice, bless him. He just stood there and talked to everyone while a massive queue formed behind him. And I'd been sitting near the front, so I managed to get in quite quick. I met him, I took a selfie, and I asked him for his business card – because a few other people had been doing that, and it doesn't have his number on or anything, but it has his email address and it's the coolest business card I've ever seen.

It's just totally black with like a shiny silver lion, a lion or a wolf… now I can't remember… on the front and the details on the back and it was just really nice. 

The me of a few years ago might not have… well, I probably would have gone and talked to him because I love seeing celebrities in the wild and getting pictures with them, but I might not have asked for his business card. And, yeah, it shows how much more confident I've become since I've really started travelling intentionally, which is what my new book is all about, which is coming out soon: Intentional Travel Transformation. I kind of wish I'd been able to finish the book before then, so I could have taken some copies with me, but never mind; there's always next year. I didn't want to rush it just for that reason. I wanted to take my time with it and do it properly.

Anyway, that was mostly what happened. I made a reel of a lot of videos I'd done and I'm going to be posting more content on my social media – you can find me on Instagram @traveltransformationcoach.

And, oh, another thing. I was walking through the sort of middle bit of the conference centre. So there are two massive halls either side of the central walkway where there are lots of bars and restaurants and toilets and everything else. And I was walking from one hall to another and I heard music, so I followed it and I saw these Indian dancers. They were from the India booth, the India stand, and they were doing this amazing dancing wearing amazing clothes. The ladies had amazing, colourful skirts that flew out as they were dancing, as they were twirling, and it just looked really nice.

So I stood there and took some video and watched them, just thinking, ‘Oh, it's really nice to see this, and it's great content. It looks really fun and vibrant and colourful and energetic.’

And I nearly walked away after they'd done a couple of dances. And then I thought, ‘No, I'll stay till the end. It's really, really cool.’

And then my worst nightmare happened. A couple of ladies joined them from the crowd and I thought, ‘Oh, are they meant to do that? That's a bit weird.’ They weren't really on a stage; they were just on the floor, and we were all on the same level. And then another woman joined them. And then one of the dancers walked up to me because I was right at the front and beckoned me onto the dance floor and I was like, ‘No!’ – which is usually what I do when someone asks me to dance when I'm not drunk. If I'm drunk, I'll be like, “Yes!” but no… I’m very self-conscious of people watching me dancing. And there was a big crowd watching these dancers, people from all over the world, most of them with their phones out recording it. And I was like, ‘Oh, God, no. Thank you, but no.’

But she would not take no for an answer. I think they just wanted as many people to join them as possible, and a lot of people were not doing it. I had my big tote bag with me, full of my programmes and everything, and I was just like, ‘No, no.’ But then I thought, ‘Why the hell not? I don't know anyone here.’ I wasn't there with anyone. I went on my own and the dances were really cool and it looked fun, and I just thought, ‘Why not?’ 

So I went there and I did some terrible dancing and I posted it on some of my personal social media. I had a video of them dancing when I was watching. And then I had the video when I was dragged onto the dance floor and my phone was still recording and it's you can see it going up and down when I'm sort of, like, clapping my hands, and it's just chaotic when everyone else joined in and no one knew what was happening – it was quite funny.

But again, the me of several years ago would just not have done that, not in a million years. I would have said no the first time and then just walked away very, very quickly to make sure it didn't happen. But again, since travelling and building my confidence and that kind of stuff, you just start thinking, ‘Well, why not? Yeah, I might look like an idiot – I probably will look like an idiot – but these people don't know me. And even if they get me on camera, who cares?’ And I know to a lot of people that probably doesn't seem like a big deal, you would just go and do it. But to someone who's very introverted, and not just introverted but like, shy, quiet, and doesn't like being the centre of attention, dancing in public is one of my worst nightmares. But I did it.

I had a good time and then the music ended and everyone walked away and I just sort of scuttled away. I did actually see them dancing again later on their stage, the India stage, and they were doing some of the same kind of dancing and it looked really cool. And then one of the dancers locked eyes with me, the same one from before, and I was like, ‘I'm just going to go now, just in case they do start pulling people on,’ because once was fun, but twice… I don't know. I needed to work my way up to that a bit. So I did quickly skedaddle at that point, but I had a really great time and it was just a really nice vibe there and I can't wait to go again next year. 

So that's what I wanted to say, really. It's gone on a lot longer than I meant it to, but if anyone's in the industry, I would highly recommend going. And again, like I say, whatever industry you're in, I would recommend looking to see if there are any events like this. I just googled it and then I think I was on the London Excel calendar and I just signed up and that was that. And a lot of these things, trade shows and that kind of stuff, are free – so no excuses, and just book your accommodation well in advance so you don't have to stay in a foisty crambly room. 

I do feel kind of bad talking about the foist and crambles of it all, but it was worth it because it made me realise that next time I'm going to spend a little bit more to get a nice, new, modern, foistless, crambleless room to stay in. So we live and we learn and, as I say, I've had lots of nice Airbnbs where I've had the whole place to myself or my friends, and they've been wonderful.

But when you're staying in someone else's house, you are staying in someone else's house. There are going to be other people around, there's going to be noise, and you don't know what state things are going to be in. Someone had a shower at like 03:00 a.m. and I was right next to the bathroom, so I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ But yeah, I just wanted to slip that in there because sometimes it's worth spending a little bit more money not to be surrounded by foist and crambles.

Okay, that's it for now! I will see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening, and until next time, I'll catch you on the flip side, bye! 

Do you want to learn how you can use travel – and travel-related principles – to completely change your life?

Written by Travel Transformation Coach Jessica Grace Coleman, this guide walks you through 10 ways you can transform yourself – and your life – through travel... even when you can't travel!

Intrigued? Get your free guide right now!