Stacking Adventures: Every Traveler Has a Story

Joe went to college in Charleston, and the city has changed almost beyond recognition since then, mostly for the better. This episode is a real, specific itinerary from a recent trip back: where to stay to make the whole visit walkable, the sandwich shop worth splitting one order at, the speakeasy-style bar where the bartender builds you a custom drink from two words, a sunset catamaran cruise with zero history lessons, and the single best meal Joe has had in the city across dozens of visits.
What You'll Walk Away With
Why staying centrally in downtown Charleston, even at a premium, saves money and hassle compared to a cheaper hotel in the suburbs
A specific, walkable itinerary anchored around the historic market, Rainbow Row, and the Battery
Where to get a massive, shareable sandwich near Hampton Park, a mile and a half from downtown
How The Gin Joint's "choose two words" bartender's-choice drink actually works, and why it's worth doing twice
Why a sunset booze cruise, the kind of touristy thing Joe avoided as a college student, turned out to be one of the trip's best experiences
The case for splurging on Circa 1886's chef's tasting menu, including why it's worth pairing it with wine and sharing both menus with a companion
A day-trip pairing for anyone with a car: America's largest tea plantation and a nearby vineyard making an unexpectedly good Moscato-Cabernet blend
Why This Trip Is Worth Planning
Charleston rewards visitors who splurge selectively rather than evenly. Spending more on a centrally located hotel buys back time, parking hassle, and the ability to walk nearly everywhere, while plenty of the best experiences, a sandwich shop, a tea plantation tour, a bar with a clever drink menu, cost very little. Knowing where the real value is, and where it's genuinely worth spending more, turns a good trip into a great one.
Resources Mentioned
Hotel Emeline — boutique hotel in Charleston's historic district, centrally located with free loaner bikes
The Porchetta Shop — meat market and deli near Hampton Park, known for oversized sandwiches
The Gin Joint — speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a "choose two words" bartender's choice menu
Circa 1886 — fine dining restaurant in a historic carriage house, known for its chef's tasting menus
Charleston Tea Garden — America's largest tea plantation, with free tours and tastings
Deep Water Vineyard — muscadine grape winery near the tea garden, offering wine tastings Tuesday through Saturday

Joe takes Crystal (and you) through a whirlwind stretch of a bigger East Coast trip: Boston to Newport to New York City, three nights near Times Square, a Michelin-rated pizza spot that fries its crust before baking it, a Brooklyn dinner with a Manhattan skyline view worth the splurge, and a crash course in seeing The Metropolitan Museum of Art without getting hopelessly lost in it. Plus: an all-time hotel front desk story, a lesson on Amtrak seating strategy, and the case for finally doing the museums you've skipped on every previous New York trip.
What You'll Walk Away With
Why booking an assigned Amtrak seat is worth the extra step, especially on a busy route like Boston to New York
A real, specific pizza recommendation (Don Antonio) for a fried-then-baked Italian-style crust that's genuinely different from classic New York style
Why The River Café is worth the splurge and the dress code, especially for a sunset reservation facing the Manhattan skyline
The single best strategy for tackling The Metropolitan Museum of Art: a docent-led highlights tour first, then free time on your own
A candid, mixed review of the Frick Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art, including when each one is (and isn't) worth your limited time
Why skipping the wine at a Broadway theater is one of the easiest money- and disappointment-savers of the whole trip
A great tip for finding a genuinely excellent independent board game store in Manhattan, for anyone who loves games as much as Joe does
Why This Trip Is Worth Planning
New York rewards people who slow down enough to actually do the things they've always meant to get around to, the museum, the splurge dinner, the neighborhood pizza place with no line. This trip report is proof that even after "a million visits," there's still a version of the city you haven't seen yet, and a little planning (booking assigned train seats, reserving a docent tour, checking a museum's pay-what-you-wish day) makes all the difference between a rushed checklist and an actual, memorable few days.
Resources Mentioned
The Time Hotel New York — boutique hotel near Times Square, booked with Hyatt points
Don Antonio — Michelin-rated pizza restaurant known for its fried-then-baked crust
The River Café — waterfront fine dining under the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO
The Frick Collection — the former Henry Clay Frick mansion, now an art museum near Central Park
The Metropolitan Museum of Art — recommend booking a guided highlights tour
Whitney Museum of American Art — contemporary American art on the waterfront
The Compleat Strategist — iconic NYC board game and tabletop gaming store, open since 1975

Crystal Hammond went to TravelCon -- a conference for travel content creators that merged this year with TGA, a travel gear organization -- and came home with enough swag to outfit a small expedition, a new appreciation for Utah's low humidity, strong opinions about how many tacos is never enough, and a story about getting lost that she promised to tell and we are absolutely holding her to. This episode is the full debrief: what TravelCon actually looks like from the inside, how Crystal built a nearly self-funding trip budget, and what Salt Lake City has to offer the traveler who didn't know they wanted to go there.
What You'll Walk Away With
Why flying out of a farther airport and arriving at the Chase Lounge at 6 AM is sometimes exactly the right call -- even if it costs you your mimosa window
What a fam trip actually is and why choosing Monday arrival over weekend extension saved Crystal a significant chunk of hotel budget
The Holiday Inn Express strategy: free breakfast eaten twice, a refrigerator for snacks, and a microwave that turned a conference food budget into almost nothing
What three local Salt Lake City breweries taught Crystal about Utah's two-drink rule, the story behind every craft brewery, and why she almost mailed herself a cider home
The TravelCon adventure games: speed packing to exactly six pounds, currency trivia, luggage shuffleboard, Velcro golf, boulder climbing, and the speed packing relay that is exactly as chaotic as it sounds
Why Crystal went boulder climbing before the Black Diamond party drinks -- and why the best tacos of her life appeared immediately afterward at an outdoor party in Utah of all places
The one session that changed how Crystal thinks about solo travel content creation -- and the Dorothy moment that connects traveling somewhere new to resources you already have
What Joe's Great Basin National Park dark sky experience reveals about why Utah deserves more credit as a travel destination than most people give it
Why the wheels on luggage go rogue exactly like the bad shopping cart -- and why that becomes a competitive disadvantage in luggage shuffleboard
What Crystal wishes she'd done differently -- and why five tacos will forever be her biggest Salt Lake City regret
Why This Matters Now
You don't have to be a travel content creator to steal Crystal's playbook here. The airport lounge hack, the hotel selection strategy, the free breakfast double-dip, and the fam trip logic all apply to any traveler trying to get more out of a trip budget. Salt Lake City is also genuinely worth the trip -- and this episode makes the case better than any listicle could.
Resources Mentioned
TravelCon -- annual conference for travel content creators; now merged with TGA travel gear; travelcon.com
TGA (Travel Gear Association) -- travelgearassociation.com
Black Diamond Equipment -- outdoor gear and apparel; blackdiamondequipment.com
Chase Sapphire Reserve / Priority Pass -- Dulles Eithad Chase Lounge referenced; prioritypass.com
Salt Lake City brewery tour -- three local breweries visited; names coming in show notes at stackingadventures.com
Great Basin National Park -- dark sky experience referenced; nps.gov/grba
Stacking Adventures gear store -- stackingadventures.com/gotd
Share your Utah story -- stackingadventures.com/mystory

The trip was planned. The Airbnb was booked. The dinner reservations were made. Then a text arrived Monday night: broken clavicle, ravine, emergency room. Five days before departure, everything was off. What followed was two and a half hours of Joe and Cheryl bouncing across the globe on a map, racing a midnight cancellation deadline, and trying to figure out where in the world to go instead. This episode is the story of how it all unfolded -- in real time, the night before they had to leave.
What You'll Walk Away With
Why a friend's injury at exactly the "right moment" (although there is NEVER a true "right" moment for a severe injury) turned out to be the most accidentally perfect timing of the whole debacle
The last-minute flight deal pages that most airlines hide -- and why they didn't help this time
How to think about sunk costs when a trip falls apart: the simple reframe that unlocked the whole decision
What to do when the helpful airline representative is... not that helpful
The one credit card perk that opened up the entire map at midnight and changed everything
Why sometimes the best travel decision is the one you make at 11:15 PM
Crystal's pick if money were no object -- and why Joe agrees it's a great choice for a future trip
The new Stacking Adventures format: short stories, over-under timelines, and listeners guessing how long Joe will talk
The New Format
This episode introduces something new -- shorter story episodes where Joe or Crystal share what's happening in their travel lives right now. Listeners are invited to guess how long the story will run. This one was supposed to land at 15 minutes. Joe clocked in at 21. Place your bets accordingly for next time, when Crystal takes her turn.
Resources Mentioned
Stacking Adventures gear store -- stackingadventures.com/gotd
Share your travel story -- stackingadventures.com/mystory
Where in the World is Crystal? -- stackingadventures.com/mystory

Karen Cordaway of the Everyday Bucket List booked Amsterdam almost on a whim after watching a Ted Lasso episode. She stayed in the Jordaan neighborhood -- one of the swankiest in the city -- walked to the Anne Frank House, spent an afternoon at the Van Gogh Museum, took a canal tour in the rain, and nearly got knocked into the water by a cyclist who apparently had the right of way. She brings back everything: what surprised her, what moved her, what to eat, and what to watch out for when you're standing anywhere near a bike lane.
What You'll Walk Away With
Why Karen almost ended up in a canal -- and the unofficial rule of Amsterdam that puts pedestrians firmly at the bottom of the hierarchy
What the Anne Frank House actually feels like to walk through, including the real bookcase, the original sink, and the room where a 12-year-old pinned up pictures of movie stars
How Karen did the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, and a canal tour all in one day -- and why she recommends spreading them out if you can
The Napoleon window tax story: why those narrow, vertical Amsterdam houses may have been built to avoid paying taxes on frontage
Why spring is Karen's pick for the best time to visit -- and the hop-on hop-off tulip bus that takes you to what she calls the Disney World of flowers
The open curtains culture: the Calvinist transparency theory versus the "showing off wealth" theory, and why the canal tour guide had a very different take
Where to find Dutch pancakes with bacon embedded in the middle -- and why Karen thinks Amsterdam's food scene is surprisingly international
The red light district at noon: what it's actually like to walk through, and the one rule that absolutely applies whether it's day or night
Why Amsterdam works well for a 7-day trip with day trips built in -- and how to get to the Zaanse Schans windmills for free on a bus
What kind of traveler Amsterdam is perfect for -- and why it's a harder trip with small children than you might expect
Where in the World is Crystal?
Adventure Annette tries to guess whether Crystal is in Tokyo. 
Resources Mentioned
Everyday Bucket List -- Karen Cordaway's podcast and travel content; Amsterdam playlist linked in show notes
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam -- advance tickets required; no photography inside; annefrank.org
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam -- advance tickets required; vangoghmuseum.nl
Zaanse Schans windmill village -- free entry, about one hour by bus from central Amsterdam; zaanseschans.nl
Jordaan neighborhood -- recommended area to stay; central, walkable, canal access
Keukenhof tulip gardens -- seasonal (spring); hop-on hop-off bus available from Amsterdam; keukenhof.nl
Eating With Todd -- food content creator mentioned for Amsterdam restaurant recommendations; search on TikTok and Instagram
Tony Chocolonely -- Dutch ethical chocolate brand; flagship store in Amsterdam; tonyschocolonely.com
Stacking Adventures gear store -- stackingadventures.com/gotd
Where in the World is Crystal? -- stackingadventures.com/mystory