We Answer Your Questions

[00:00:06] Malorie Mackey: Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to Mallory's Weird World Adventures, the podcast. I'm your host, Mallory. [00:00:12] Michael Maldonado: And I'm your host, Michael. [00:00:14] Malorie Mackey: And we're here to show you just how weird this world of ours really is. If this is your first time tuning in, make sure you check out our TV show Weird World Adventures on Amazon Prime. And visit MallorySadventures.com for more. [00:00:29] Michael Maldonado: Follow your your social for complete nonsense. [00:00:34] Malorie Mackey: Mallory's Adventures also have Mallory Mackie TikTok. We're Mallory Mackie Facebook. We're Weird World Adventures. Michael doesn't like social media. It's true. [00:00:50] Michael Maldonado: I just don't use it for. For. [00:00:54] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I get it. [00:00:55] Michael Maldonado: The business stuff's good. You can find me at Michael Maldonado or that's not even right. [00:01:01] Malorie Mackey: His on Facebook. It's Mike Meldon on Facebook and Maldonado MD3 on Instagram. I got you. [00:01:09] Michael Maldonado: You'll have to friend me though, because it's all private. Because they're just personal accounts. [00:01:13] Malorie Mackey: Anyways, so we did a fun. Speaking of social media, we did a fun Q and A across Instagram and Facebook. Just asking you guys to ask us anything so we could talk about it here on the podcast. You guys sent in your questions. I have not really done any like setup for it because I wanted to kind of be on the spot and see what organically comes out organic. [00:01:37] Michael Maldonado: That's good too. [00:01:38] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I like it. So Michael's gonna ask the questions and then we're both going to answer accordingly. [00:01:43] Michael Maldonado: Well, you'll answer and then if it's relevant for me to also chime in as the occasional host. [00:01:50] Malorie Mackey: The most. Most host. [00:01:52] Michael Maldonado: The host of the most. [00:01:53] Malorie Mackey: The ghost host. [00:01:55] Michael Maldonado: That's not me at all. The ghost. I'm not the ghost. I'm the not ghost guy. [00:01:59] Malorie Mackey: I got excited about the Haunted Mansion. I was just rolling with it because the ghost host takes you through it's master fantasy. Yeah. [00:02:05] Michael Maldonado: Okay. It's been a while. [00:02:06] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:02:07] Michael Maldonado: All right. Are these in any particular order? [00:02:11] Malorie Mackey: Nope. [00:02:13] Michael Maldonado: Question number one. You don't have. Who wrote these in? Right? [00:02:16] Malorie Mackey: I don't. [00:02:16] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:02:17] Malorie Mackey: Sorry. But thank you guys for sending them. [00:02:18] Michael Maldonado: Well, thank you for sending them. If this is your question number one, what's your favorite place you have visited thus far for Weird World Adventures? [00:02:29] Malorie Mackey: That's already a hard one because I love so many places that I've gone to. My favorite. See, I like lot of different places I travel to for different reasons, but if I had to pick one right now, I just organically like that word organically. I'm leaning towards the Winchester Mystery House because it kind of. First of all, I'd always wanted to go there, so it was something that I had been. It had been on my radar for many, many, many, many years before I did that. And it was my first time going when we did the tour, so that was really exciting. And it also kind of encompasses, like, some of the interesting and weird history that I like to feature. So it did a little bit of weird history. It did a little bit of the ghosts. It was very educational, and we got to kind of do the tour and move through the space. So as far as, like, filming wise, I really felt like that was a treasure. [00:03:32] Michael Maldonado: Mm. I was not at that one, but I did learn a lot from watching you on tv. [00:03:37] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. If I want to go. That's season one. If I want to go into. [00:03:43] Michael Maldonado: Look at you. Look at you getting yourself an extra choice here. Look at this. You can answer it again. I just want to point out that she's cheating by giving herself one per season. [00:03:55] Malorie Mackey: Gosh. I. This season, I think I'm gonna go overall with Salem, just in general Salem, because it's always been on my radar. It is weird as shit. Just so weird in a variety of different ways. And we had such a fun time there. [00:04:22] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, it was good. [00:04:25] Malorie Mackey: What about you? [00:04:26] Michael Maldonado: Well, I'll caveat it first by saying I haven't been on all of the places, so I've been maybe half. Maybe half. And it wasn't. I wasn't there for season one, and I went on maybe 2/3 of season two. So take that for what it's worth. I mean, I think I gotta go just Romania, it was kind of on my list of places to see in life. So it worked out well that we filmed an episode there. Bran Castle's iconic, and it also probably had one of my favorite, if not favorite, just complete unknown sleeper hit, Selena Turta. I had not heard of it before. And you know, who doesn't want to go to an amusement park hundreds and hundreds of feet underground in a giant salt mine built in, like, 1200? [00:05:12] Malorie Mackey: That's true. And there was that moment where we were in Sigishoara. That just stuck with me. Where we're having dinner out right outside where. Where Vlad Tepes was born. And it starts pouring down, raining, while we're outside eating, and we're just, like, kind of tucked in this umbrella, and it starts thunderstorming, and there's just lightning and rain, and we're sitting there like, wow, this is. This is Romania, right? This is Transylvania. This is what I expect in Transylvania. [00:05:41] Michael Maldonado: It was cool. [00:05:41] Malorie Mackey: It was very cool. [00:05:43] Michael Maldonado: They were all cool. It's hard to say, but it is. Yeah. [00:05:47] Malorie Mackey: Dracula's castle was good too. I. When I started conceptualizing Weird World, I said if we got Annabelle, like the. The Warrens people, Dracula's Castle, the Winchester house and Elf School. Because I was freakishly drawn to that elf school for some reason, the show would be made like. That was my week. If we get these, I'm happy with the show. [00:06:12] Michael Maldonado: By the way, for Elf School, we have like two and a half. It's like a two and a half hour interview. [00:06:17] Malorie Mackey: It is. [00:06:18] Michael Maldonado: It is a. It is a. It is a long. [00:06:21] Malorie Mackey: I gotta cut it down to like 15 minutes. [00:06:24] Michael Maldonado: We'll have to find a way to post like a very. The whole. The whole thing. [00:06:29] Malorie Mackey: An expanded version after the. [00:06:30] Michael Maldonado: After the show. [00:06:31] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, definitely. [00:06:31] Michael Maldonado: It's worth having the whole version out there. [00:06:34] Malorie Mackey: Definitely. On the website. [00:06:34] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:06:35] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, for sure. [00:06:38] Michael Maldonado: I'll throw in a bonus answer. [00:06:40] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:06:40] Michael Maldonado: I get to get a bonus. Hopefully this is not a later question. Cause I also haven't looked at them yet. I can tell you the place I'm most excited to see for Weird World in a future episode was kind of my baby. The Japan episode. [00:06:54] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:06:55] Michael Maldonado: I want to go to Japan and I want to try to track down the actual historical mass immune. The Hanjo mass immune. Very famous samurai sword I want to track down. Because I'm a huge nerd and it's always. In every video game, it's always an end game named Sword the Masamune since I was a little kid. But apparently it really existed. And there is a paper trail back in like the 1500s. I don't know when it like ends, but of people buying and selling this thing and then disappears. Anyways, I'm sure we won't find it because I'm sure many people have looked for it. [00:07:29] Malorie Mackey: But. [00:07:29] Michael Maldonado: But it's a good excuse to go see samurai culture, samurai towns there, look for this cool sword. And bonus, you get to see the studio Ghibli. [00:07:38] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I was gonna say you get to Ghibli. [00:07:39] Michael Maldonado: Ghibli. [00:07:40] Malorie Mackey: Ghibli. You get to nerd out about the sword and I get to nerd out about Totoro. Yes, yes. I'm very excited. [00:07:47] Michael Maldonado: And I wanna take our family and our daughter for that part. [00:07:50] Malorie Mackey: Definitely. [00:07:51] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:07:51] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Plus, like, there's those weird karaoke boxes and stuff. There's a lot of strange things in Japan. [00:07:58] Michael Maldonado: They have the very. From our US Aesthetic. Weird. [00:08:04] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:08:05] Michael Maldonado: Demon. Demonology. Urani. What? It is something like that. [00:08:09] Malorie Mackey: Oh, yes, I know what you're talking about. It's the. [00:08:12] Michael Maldonado: It's very cool. It's very, very unusual looking creatures. [00:08:17] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:08:18] Michael Maldonado: And there's areas in major cities that kind of like back alleys where they have just that aesthetic set up all over. Anyways, I lived in Okinawa as a kid growing up, but I've actually never seen mainland Japan. [00:08:33] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, that would be very cool. [00:08:35] Michael Maldonado: So anyways, I'd like to take like family there too. I know my parents, my parents have. Did live in mainland Japan before I was born and I know they would love to see it again. [00:08:44] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Anyways, that'll be good. That'll be good. [00:08:48] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. What about you? [00:08:50] Malorie Mackey: Oh, gosh, that might be a question later. [00:08:52] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Oh, dude, I don't. [00:08:54] Malorie Mackey: It's good you pre answered it. [00:08:55] Michael Maldonado: Pre answered it. [00:08:56] Malorie Mackey: Oh, no, it's okay. It's okay. Okay, I'll answer it later. [00:08:58] Michael Maldonado: All right. All right. [00:08:59] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:09:00] Michael Maldonado: Number two, how do you prepare for a trip? What essential things do you do prior to leaving? [00:09:09] Malorie Mackey: So I have OCD and it's gotten better. We'll start with that. [00:09:13] Michael Maldonado: Has it? [00:09:14] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:09:14] Michael Maldonado: This is better. This is better. Metal version. Wow. [00:09:18] Malorie Mackey: I used to plan out a month in advance of just like, okay, I'm gonna have my suitcase out and I'm gonna like pack little pieces of it every day so I don't forget anything. So like put things in that I'm not gonna need and then as I get closer, leverage the essentials. [00:09:33] Michael Maldonado: See, to me that would be, that would be counterproductive because I would start so early that by the time it was ready to go, I wouldn't remember if I had packed the thing or not. [00:09:43] Malorie Mackey: Now I have a list, an aggro list printed out. You see what I'm saying? I have a list that I. Oh, dammit. [00:09:48] Michael Maldonado: I packed my laptop a month early. Now I need it every day. [00:09:51] Malorie Mackey: In between that time, the essentials don't get packed. And I would also create an itinerary which is really important for filming. But I would do it on the fun life trips too. [00:10:04] Michael Maldonado: So back, nothing says fun like an 18 page document mapping out every minute of your funsy day. [00:10:12] Malorie Mackey: The. The first time I went overseas on a funzi trip, I. It was when GPSs were not like on your phone. So it wasn't just, I'm gonna bring my phone and type in the place I need to go like I do now. Right? So I had to print out like a map of, I'm gonna go here and this time and Then move to here at this time and here and like have a map basically showing me walking directions of like if I'm in the city to get to here to here to here to here to here to here. And I'm gonna do all these things and this is a nearest Starbucks and this is this. So it would be in depth because of that. And then if I was driving, here's my directions on MapQuest to get from here to here, Rome to Rio. Now I get from here to here. And it was a full schedule of okay, I'm going to start here and it's going to take me from 12 until 2pm to get from here to here. And then I'm going to be here for this many hours. And these are the hours. This is open in case something goes wrong. [00:11:07] Michael Maldonado: I'm already not having fun on this trip just hearing about it. [00:11:11] Malorie Mackey: Well, my point is it slowly got less crazy the more I traveled because who has time for that, right? I can't do it for every trip we go on now and I have a GPS in my phone that tells me where I need to be and everything's good. So it has gotten a lot better. But preparing for a trip, I do like to have some kind of itinerary or at least idea of what I'm gonna do. So I'll have like a daily breakdown of what the plan is, who a contact is if we're filming. Like I'm gonna be here at this time. This is the contact, this is how long it's gonna take me to get from point A to point B. And this is the contact at this place. So there's still an itinerary, but it's only like four pages now instead of 30 pages. And I will if it's just a fun day, like oh, explore this city and then I'll leave it at that. Here's some points of interest. [00:12:01] Michael Maldonado: If it's a fun day, it only gets two pages in the document. [00:12:04] Malorie Mackey: Well, it might just have points of interest and not like a schedule, if that makes sense. [00:12:10] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, it does make sense. Except. Except I've been handed these itineraries and they're, they're, they're more than ideas. They're like strongly opinionated in color coding. [00:12:23] Malorie Mackey: That's fair. They are color coded. Yeah, I know they are color coded. [00:12:27] Michael Maldonado: That doesn't seem you've handed me fun days that really read non optional. Well, the all caps ready text doesn't make me feel like it's an option to not do this thing. [00:12:42] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, well, itinerary I put together a plan and I plan out packing. I mean, I'm so bad at that now that I just throw my suitcase together at the last second. I'm not good at it. But I do have a list which can be found on MallorySadventures.com, by the way. [00:12:59] Michael Maldonado: She's. She's really. She's really trying to give herself a lot of I'm just going with the flow credit. She still has that suitcase out a couple days in advance. There's no throwing it together last minute. This is coming from the person who forgot to bring underwear to the beach a year ago. And we had to go buy underwear at the beach. [00:13:18] Malorie Mackey: Yes, but it's better, you know. Well, it came from my love of the list. Like, the packing list came from when I went to South Africa because I was going to be working with the penguins for like a month. And they provide a. Here's the things you need for the research work and the expedition. And, like, here's the things we strongly recommend you bring for yourself. So I liked that because it made me feel secure. Like, okay, well, I know that I have everything. That's where the gumboots came from. [00:13:50] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:13:51] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. So. [00:13:53] Michael Maldonado: So an itinerary. [00:13:54] Malorie Mackey: An itinerary and a strong packing list. And having those feelings like a security blanket to me, like, I'm gonna be okay on the trip. [00:14:02] Michael Maldonado: I do feel obligated to point out that you wrote an essential packing item list. I did a guide on Mallory's adventures dot com. [00:14:10] Malorie Mackey: I just said that you weren't listening. Wow. [00:14:17] Michael Maldonado: Whoops. [00:14:19] Malorie Mackey: But thank you for the plug. [00:14:23] Michael Maldonado: What did you. You recently forgot something on a trip. [00:14:27] Malorie Mackey: I did. [00:14:28] Michael Maldonado: It was a trip that I wasn't on because you texted me and I said, well, you should have read this great what to pack guide on this website I've been looking at. [00:14:37] Malorie Mackey: I can tell you exactly what it was because I felt so stupid, because this is something I always pack and have never forgotten and couldn't believe that I did it. It's because I missed my electronics. I didn't bring the converter. [00:14:50] Michael Maldonado: Oh, yeah. [00:14:51] Malorie Mackey: And that's a problem. That's a problem because when you try to order something on Amazon to the hotel in Germany, it goes to American Amazon. So my guide there actually had to order it for me. [00:15:05] Michael Maldonado: Could you order it using a vpn, though? [00:15:08] Malorie Mackey: Probably. I didn't have a VPN at the time, but now I probably could have. Well, no, because our Amazon account is. [00:15:15] Michael Maldonado: The US you could make a new account. Right. [00:15:18] Malorie Mackey: It would probably take some finagling But I probably could have put in the time to do that. [00:15:22] Michael Maldonado: VPNs on a total tangent here. Can be useful for travel. Oh, definitely for travel planning. [00:15:29] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because you can actually lower the cost of a trip based on where you. [00:15:32] Michael Maldonado: Are, which is a way to, like, first. It's insane that the tickets cost different. [00:15:38] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:15:38] Michael Maldonado: Depending on where I'm buying it from, not necessarily where I'm leaving from. Right, right. [00:15:42] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:15:44] Michael Maldonado: It doesn't make any sense to me anyways. [00:15:45] Malorie Mackey: But you can. [00:15:46] Michael Maldonado: They're potentially useful, so. [00:15:48] Malorie Mackey: And clear your cache before you look for a flight. [00:15:52] Michael Maldonado: Mmm. [00:15:52] Malorie Mackey: That's really important, because if they see that you've been looking for a flight a lot, they'll charge you more for it. [00:15:59] Michael Maldonado: Wow. [00:15:59] Malorie Mackey: Yep. [00:16:00] Michael Maldonado: Wow. I did not know that. [00:16:01] Malorie Mackey: Oh, yeah. [00:16:02] Michael Maldonado: That's a pro tip. [00:16:02] Malorie Mackey: It is a pro tip. All right, guys are getting some good pro tips here. Number three. [00:16:11] Michael Maldonado: What's one item you cannot travel without? [00:16:15] Malorie Mackey: Hmm. If we're. I'm gonna. I'm gonna say this doesn't include just essentials like your phone. Cause that's something that you just need to get around. [00:16:24] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. I would exclude necessities. Your phone, a wallet, money, cash, credit card, if you're going out of the country, a passport. Those are just. You can't leave without them, so you need them. [00:16:39] Malorie Mackey: I always bring a stuffed animal. Not useful at all. I'm gonna go completely not useful here. I always bring a stuffed animal. Usually it's Doyle. I have a stuffed dog named Doyle that I've had since I was a kid. So usually. [00:16:52] Michael Maldonado: How old are you now? [00:16:53] Malorie Mackey: I'm still a child dog. [00:16:56] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:16:57] Malorie Mackey: At heart. [00:16:58] Michael Maldonado: At heart. [00:17:00] Malorie Mackey: Normally it's Doyle, but if not, I will usually pick up a stuffed animal for our daughter, and then I'll, like, snuggle it on the trip. I need to hold something while I'm sleeping, so. And it was always Wishbone. I loved Wishbone as a child. The TV show. And I have my stuffed wishbone dog, and he just fit so perfectly. But I won't bring him with me because if something went wrong, like, I don't want to lose Wishbone on this. [00:17:25] Michael Maldonado: You don't misinterpret this. She still has that wishbone. It just doesn't travel anymore. [00:17:29] Malorie Mackey: No. Because I don't want. If something happened to Wishbone while I was traveling, I would never forgive myself. So now. Poor Doyle. I love Doyle, too, but Doyle takes his place and comes with me while I travel. [00:17:41] Michael Maldonado: I don't have favorite children. I'm just saying, one of you is expendable. [00:17:50] Malorie Mackey: That. So Doyle is my. But also a book. I mean, I have to be. Or like an ebook. I have to be reading something. [00:17:57] Michael Maldonado: Book was mine. [00:17:58] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:17:59] Michael Maldonado: I have to have a book with me. I might not even touch the book. I will say I do usually touch the book because I read a lot, but I have, I cannot. And it has to be with me not packed in the suitcase. I have to bring it on my carry on. And it has to be physically with me to the point where if we're going on a car ride that I think will take me more than half an hour to get there and I'm the passenger, I will bring a book. [00:18:20] Malorie Mackey: He brings a security book to go to the car. It is a security. [00:18:23] Michael Maldonado: I know, I know I do. [00:18:24] Malorie Mackey: And I'm like, do you really think in this five minute journey you're gonna be reading in the car? [00:18:28] Michael Maldonado: I might. [00:18:29] Malorie Mackey: Okay, I'll get a page or two done. Alright. It's strange that you can read in the car at all. In fact, I was just editing our episode in. Was it California? I think it's when we were on the road trip in California and I'm like sassing you about bringing a book to read in the car and how that's not normal and maybe 5% of the people in the world could do that. And you were like, what are you talking about? I think it's like half. I want to put a poll out there and see how many people are capable of reading in the car. Because I guarantee it's not my message. [00:18:59] Michael Maldonado: Yes, messenger, yes. And tell us, do you read in the car or are you asking if they do or are they even capable of reading? I know some people get emotions like, my mom can't read in the car. [00:19:09] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I can't read in the car. We're gonna make a poll. Do you read in the car? [00:19:13] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:19:14] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Okay, I'm curious now. So book. And I will say my plain fun thing is to switch back and forth between books and Sudoku. I, for some reason I never, ever play Sudoku except when I'm on a plane. And I love playing Sudoku on a plane. [00:19:28] Michael Maldonado: I've never seen you play Sudoku. [00:19:30] Malorie Mackey: I play on the plane. [00:19:30] Michael Maldonado: All I'm sleeping on the plane. I don't like flying, so I usually intentionally knock myself out with Benadryl and whatever I can get my hands on and go to sleep on the plane. [00:19:42] Malorie Mackey: So I guess, I guess I can't. [00:19:44] Michael Maldonado: Criticize what you're doing on the plane. [00:19:45] Malorie Mackey: And when we were going To New Orleans. I definitely. You were like laughing at me for doing it. And then I said, okay, well you, you try it. And you just were like. [00:19:56] Michael Maldonado: I've done it. I just don't remember how to. I don't remember how to do it. [00:19:59] Malorie Mackey: I remember explaining it. And then you tried and then you got mad at it. [00:20:08] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. The next thing I would probably bring is I always have to have some kind of electronic form of entertainment. Ever since my first Game Boy as a kid. Bring like the Switch or something again. [00:20:20] Malorie Mackey: And then if we're locally traveling. You pack your PlayStation. [00:20:25] Michael Maldonado: I do. It's a problem. [00:20:26] Malorie Mackey: 17 games. [00:20:27] Michael Maldonado: It's a big problem. I will forget underwear, but I will have 18 forms of gaming paraphernalia with me at all times. Went to the beach. I brought my PlayStation. I brought my Switch too. I brought about 10 games for each of them. I brought five books. I loaded up my phone with audio books. Brought the nice noise canceling headphones. [00:20:52] Malorie Mackey: A bunch of actual games. Like tabletop games. [00:20:55] Michael Maldonado: Yes. I brought like six or seven tabletop games, several magazines, and read half of one of the books. That's what I did because I was at the beach. [00:21:08] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:21:08] Michael Maldonado: Having fun with the family. [00:21:09] Malorie Mackey: That was fun. [00:21:09] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, I know. I don't regret it. I'm just saying. [00:21:11] Malorie Mackey: But you have to have it in case. That's your safety net. Why would you. Stuffed animal. Yours is games. [00:21:15] Michael Maldonado: If on the off chance it rains, I have to have access to 18 different video games. So I have a choice. A boy's got to have choices. [00:21:24] Malorie Mackey: All right, all right. Do you do. All right, next question. [00:21:32] Michael Maldonado: How do you protect yourself, slash, keep yourself safe during solo travel? [00:21:38] Malorie Mackey: You know, I have a funny story with this one, actually. Back when I was still a theater student at vcu, I was paid to do effectively background slash audience work at for it was a missionary training video where I had to sit in a seminar like I'm being trained to be a missionary. But they. But they actually filmed. It was a real. [00:22:04] Michael Maldonado: That kind of missionary. [00:22:06] Malorie Mackey: Yes, that kind of missionary. And they, they filmed the whole thing. So we had to sit through the whole lecture about as like the whole day of training on how to be a. Like how to. And the whole point was like how to protect yourself while traveling to teach others about God. Right. But I will say it taught me a lot of valuable things about protecting yourself when you travel. It was useful in that regard. And the big takeaway? [00:22:33] Michael Maldonado: Carry a crucifix. [00:22:34] Malorie Mackey: Exactly. You get to protect vampires and people. [00:22:38] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:22:39] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. The one thing that I feel like is just common sense, but no one really thinks about it. Just look like you know where you're going. If you look like you know where you're going. And I walk fast, so if I just keep my, you know, my eyes straight ahead, I walk fast, I look like I mean business, and I know exactly where I'm going. And people don't bother you when you're looking like a tourist and you're. You're looking all over and you're snapping pictures and you look like you don't belong there is when you get targeted. [00:23:10] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, it's. It's akin to my philosophy for work, which is always look annoyed because it makes you look busy. And people that don't bother you. [00:23:23] Malorie Mackey: You. [00:23:23] Michael Maldonado: Can'T look approachable or you're gonna get more work dumped on you. You have to sit there and kind of look a little bit salty the whole time and just overworked. [00:23:37] Malorie Mackey: And you kind of have to have that with travel, you have to be a little bit salty because people are gonna try to. Oh, let me tell you this. Let me do this. Especially in places like Egypt, where people are going to try to, oh, that reservations wrong, your hotel's canceled. We need to come over here instead. And. And people will try anything to get you to stop and talk to them and buy things. And people from the US Generally feel obligated and are so nice about it. Like, no, you just say no or you don't say anything at all. My go to is don't even acknowledge someone speaking to you. I know that sounds rude and terrible, but if you're somewhere you're not familiar with and people are trying to pull you around, acting like you're beelining it, you have a plan and you're not even really being engaged with is the best way to go. [00:24:19] Michael Maldonado: You think that sounds unusual to me. That's just my kind of life philosophy. Well, I probably won't even respond to my own name until someone said it two or three times. It's a common enough name where I assume somebody else feel like you're calling for somebody else. [00:24:34] Malorie Mackey: That's fair. [00:24:36] Michael Maldonado: I don't know. I will say ignores my. My go to. [00:24:40] Malorie Mackey: It's the way to go. And it has. It has protected me because I watched somebody get robbed in Paris outside the Opera House. There was like, an Asian couple that was. That looked like tourists that had the selfie stick. And these two people just came up and, like, grabbed the girl's bag and ran off. Right. Like, you. You have to. And also, I think another Good tip with that is wearing backpacks. Because it's a hell of a lot harder to get a backpack off someone is than it is to just snatch a purse or a handbag. Yeah. If I am going somewhere where I really don't feel safe, I'll wear a money pouch that, like, attaches to my bra. So it's, like, under your clothes. So, like, it's just not anywhere someone could grab. And even if they try to pickpocket you, it's not there. [00:25:22] Michael Maldonado: I've been pickpocketed. [00:25:23] Malorie Mackey: Oh. [00:25:24] Michael Maldonado: In New York. [00:25:25] Malorie Mackey: Really? [00:25:26] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. On a subway. [00:25:27] Malorie Mackey: Wow. [00:25:28] Michael Maldonado: Went up there for a bachelor party. Me and my buddy. [00:25:30] Malorie Mackey: Mm. [00:25:33] Michael Maldonado: Took a bus up there. And then we were on the sub getting to the. You know, going to the hotel, whatever. And I got off the hotel and had no wallet. [00:25:40] Malorie Mackey: Wow. [00:25:41] Michael Maldonado: Which was a problem because I don't my ID anymore. [00:25:44] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:25:44] Michael Maldonado: To get into bar, you know. [00:25:46] Malorie Mackey: Wow. [00:25:46] Michael Maldonado: Fortunately, I had a second friend who was driving up himself later that day. [00:25:51] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:25:51] Michael Maldonado: And lived in town where, you know, live local to me. And my parents brought him my passport because I didn't have any other. I only. They took my driver's license with the wallet. So I had to get a new license. But I had a passport. I had another photo id so he brought that up with him, and it was good enough to get me into whatever we were doing. [00:26:11] Malorie Mackey: That's another thing, too, is the backpack that I usually bring. That, like, pleather piece of crap that's been in Penguin Nest and just needs to go. It's like this pleather backpack. It has a pouch in the backside where my back would be. So it has a small pouch for me to put my money or my passport. And it's in the side that's pressed against my back so that people can't just. You know, if someone wants to open the front pouch and take things out and I'm not paying attention, it's. They can't do that because it's not there. It's literally pressed against my body. [00:26:40] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Things like that. A chain wallet that patches on your inside would be useful, potentially. [00:26:46] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:26:46] Michael Maldonado: Don't use. Don't use your back pockets. I don't use my back pockets. I got pickpocketers just from the side pocket. But. [00:26:52] Malorie Mackey: Wow. [00:26:53] Michael Maldonado: I mean, in the sub, you know, in the subway, you're just crammed in there, so how are you gonna know? [00:26:57] Malorie Mackey: Right? It's true. And my. My first time. [00:27:01] Michael Maldonado: I hate that city. [00:27:04] Malorie Mackey: My first time ever leaving the States was when I studied in Serbia, in Belgrade. And we Were unfortunately, the only group of people in my group that I. My roommates and me. Where we were in New Belgrade, and the rest of everybody else was in old Belgrade with theater. So we had to actually either take a bus or, like, get a cab to get back to our place every night. And the cat. The bus station was, like, in a dark. I'm not even kidding. It was, like, in a dark alley in a really strange part of town where nobody was. And there was a couple times where I had to actually go by myself at, like, 10pm to the bus station. And I'm like, okay, well, I need to look like I mean business. [00:27:51] Michael Maldonado: That must have been hard for you. [00:27:53] Malorie Mackey: Wow. You've seen me walk through New York City. I move fast. You walk fast. [00:27:57] Michael Maldonado: You walk fast. [00:27:58] Malorie Mackey: And I look like I know where I'm going. [00:28:00] Michael Maldonado: Sure. [00:28:01] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I do. [00:28:02] Michael Maldonado: Okay. All right, next. Where are we? 5. What's the most scared you've ever been while filming for your show? [00:28:14] Malorie Mackey: This is gonna be silly, but I can tell you what it is, because. And a lot of people would think it would be the ghost stuff, and it's not. I find that stuff fascinating. I don't think I've ever really been that genuinely scared doing a lot of the ghost stuff. For me, it was doing the interview with the Warrens and meeting Annabelle, and not for the ghost reasons. [00:28:35] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:28:37] Malorie Mackey: Not for any of the reasons that you would expect it to be. The interview itself was very important to me because that was the one that made me feel like we have a show, and if I can have this interview, like, people will watch my show. This is something that's, like, fascinating, and it was very relevant with the conjuring movie have just coming out, all that. It was very. It was very appropriate, and I felt a lot of pressure of just doing a good job and being present for it. And so I was very anxious. I don't think I slept, like, leading up to it, because I was so anxious about just it going well and feeling that responsibility of all of that weight of the show being on me. Like, I'm the point of contact. I'm the one that has to be responsible for everything. And that was the first time I experienced that treatment. So for me, that was the most scared I've been for it. And I have had an irrational fear, Raggedy Ann, my entire life. So for Annabelle, like, it's already intimidating because it's one of the most, like, famous cursed objects of all time, you know? But it was the fact that she's Raggedy Ann to Me? Really? Just. [00:29:53] Michael Maldonado: So the fact that it's a Raggedy Ann amps up. [00:29:55] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:29:57] Michael Maldonado: The fear to you, yes. [00:30:00] Malorie Mackey: Raggedy Ann looks horrifying. [00:30:03] Michael Maldonado: But are you afraid of Raggedy Ann's before? For Annabelle? [00:30:06] Malorie Mackey: Yes. Yes. [00:30:07] Michael Maldonado: Your fear of reggae predates your, like, Annabelle knowledge. [00:30:11] Malorie Mackey: Oh, I didn't even know Annabelle was a real doll. Like, the. The story was based on a real doll until, I want to say, 2018. It was very 2017. It was very recently. And Jimmy told me, my best friend Jimmy, while he just happened to bring it up, like, I knew it. And then when I didn't, he was like, oh, you don't know this. And I thought he was messing with me until I looked it up myself. I didn't know that. When I was 2 or 3, one of the first memories I have, I had a Raggedy Ann doll and I had her on the foot of my bed. And you know when you're sleeping and everything looks like it's kind of moving a little bit when you're a kid? I swear she was, like, talking to my other toys. And I became so paranoid about it that I made my mom, like, get rid of her. [00:31:04] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, now she's at the Warrens. [00:31:06] Malorie Mackey: Well, then my sister chased me around the house with her because she found out I didn't like her. So that made it a lot worse. And then I started having reoccurring nightmares that Raggedy Ann was trying to kill me. I mean, regular reoccurring nightmares. From the age of like, three until I was at least 10. I mean, I just continually dreamed that this doll was out to get me. [00:31:28] Michael Maldonado: Come play with me, Mallory. Why don't you play with me anymore? [00:31:32] Malorie Mackey: Oh, my God. And then maybe this is too dark for me to stand on our podcast here. I had a dream and I was only like 5 years old, so this says a lot. Maybe I shouldn't tell this story. [00:31:47] Michael Maldonado: Why would we not tell the story? [00:31:48] Malorie Mackey: Okay, I had a dream that Raggedy Ann and Andy were, like, life sized and living with my family. And I was terrified of them, okay. And I was so afraid and paranoid, like, they're gonna get me that I wanted to get them first, right? So I told Raggedy Andy. I, like, convinced him that he should jump off the roof of the house. [00:32:10] Michael Maldonado: You morded him. [00:32:12] Malorie Mackey: And then, well, it didn't go through. It didn't wind up happening because then, Brett, my dream told on me because she, at the time, she was going through her, like, tattletale phase. This is your cousin? Yes, and my mom and I Got in trouble, and then I woke up. [00:32:27] Michael Maldonado: So you. You tried to. You tried to murder these guys? [00:32:31] Malorie Mackey: I did. They tried to murder me first. Okay. I had some. [00:32:34] Michael Maldonado: No, I don't know if they did. I don't know if they did. [00:32:36] Malorie Mackey: Not in that dream, but in so many previous dreams. [00:32:40] Michael Maldonado: You can't just blame somebody. That's a different dream. [00:32:45] Malorie Mackey: I've never liked Raggedy Ann, so when I found out about Annabelle, I thought I was being messed with. And then I found out that. No, it was like a true. You know, there's a real Annabelle doll. It's a Raggedy Ann and a kitty. [00:32:55] Michael Maldonado: Even I know that. I mean, as the. As the curmudgeonly skeptic that has zero belief or particular interest in really any of the haunty type stuff, it's just famous. It's like knowing what the Chucky doll is. Right. I guess just pop culture. [00:33:13] Malorie Mackey: Then when I found out about her, was like, well, I have to. I have to do this. It was when I started conceptualizing the show, I'm like, well, I have to do this because I have to face my fear. [00:33:23] Michael Maldonado: Did you tell her to kill herself? [00:33:24] Malorie Mackey: No, I didn't. [00:33:26] Michael Maldonado: Too dark. [00:33:26] Malorie Mackey: Too dark. I grew out of that phase, the murder phase. [00:33:32] Michael Maldonado: But by nine, I was not murdering people anymore. [00:33:36] Malorie Mackey: People are dolls. [00:33:38] Michael Maldonado: That's what you think. Trapped souls. [00:33:45] Malorie Mackey: Meeting Annabelle was facing that fear that little Mallory had. [00:33:50] Michael Maldonado: Okay, so you were more afraid because it's a big deal. And then also, you don't like the doll. [00:33:58] Malorie Mackey: Yep. [00:33:58] Michael Maldonado: Okay, got it. [00:33:59] Malorie Mackey: Yep. [00:34:00] Michael Maldonado: Mine is very boring for this. I don't like flying. I'm definitely the most, like, just flying. The flight itself is when I'm definitely the most afraid. [00:34:12] Malorie Mackey: Definitely. [00:34:13] Michael Maldonado: None of the. The ghost stuff doesn't even move the needle for me. [00:34:16] Malorie Mackey: Nope. [00:34:18] Michael Maldonado: And then maybe the second most would be when the guy went crazy because I was like, I might be getting into a fight right now. Like, I might actually be getting into an altercation on this. [00:34:28] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:34:28] Michael Maldonado: TV show. Yep. [00:34:30] Malorie Mackey: Yep. [00:34:30] Michael Maldonado: The flying. By far. [00:34:32] Malorie Mackey: Yep. [00:34:33] Michael Maldonado: Next. What's an episode you haven't filmed yet that is the top of your wish list to do? Oh, I already answered yours. [00:34:41] Malorie Mackey: You answered yours. Okay. Yeah. I guess since you took Japan, that's a good one. Mine would be Paris because Two reasons. One is the catacombs. So if people don't know the catacombs under Paris stretch on for 200 miles, it's not just the tiny little mile that you can walk through. It's actually this whole underground city under the city. And there's A group of people called Cataphiles that have a working map online that has different entrances that they have like a. Like here, you can enter here, you can enter here, and they're always changing. And you can actually go down under there. And there's a movie theater down there. There's old World War II bunkers. Like, there's fountains. There's crazy things down there that you can only find if you have, like, this map and you know where they are. And it's also a situation where if you don't have a guide or you don't know where you're going, you could very well die and never make it back up, because it's that expansive and it's so sealed off where there's only, like, certain entrances that you could very well get lost down there. So I would want to hire a Cataphile and get to actually experience. Experience the catacombs of Paris. [00:35:58] Michael Maldonado: That's pretty good. [00:35:58] Malorie Mackey: Mm. And my. And parts of it are, like, underwater to get in there too. Like, some of sometimes, like, there's things that go up to, like. Yeah, you're, like, waist deep in water in certain parts. I mean, like, it's. It's a real adventure. It's a real adventure, depending on how you enter and where you go. I did enough research on that for a while. Clearly, like, oh, this is good. And the other is. I know. Dracula's my favorite book. Other favorite book. My. My other. From that. From that time. [00:36:26] Michael Maldonado: I don't know if you get a second. [00:36:27] Malorie Mackey: Well, they're like one and two. I don't know. Is Phantom of the Opera. [00:36:31] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Oh, same place. You're saying different. [00:36:34] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, yeah. [00:36:34] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Got it, got it, got it. [00:36:35] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Same place. This is the same episode. I'm talking about books. My favorite book is Dracula. My other favorite book is Phantom of the Opera. And, you know, I love the musical, but. Oh, but. [00:36:45] Michael Maldonado: Oh, I do. [00:36:46] Malorie Mackey: But the book. [00:36:47] Michael Maldonado: Check out her. Her Instagram. [00:36:50] Malorie Mackey: We're going to see Masquerade, a demonstration. [00:36:52] Michael Maldonado: Of just how much she loves the musical. [00:36:55] Malorie Mackey: But the book is very interesting. It's highlighted very well in the musical and also very much its own thing. And Gaston le Breu, in the beginning of the book, swears that this really happened. There really was an opera ghost. And, like, these. What you're about to read is a true story. And within the pages of the book, when he talks about the things that the Phantom does to, like, mess with the people in the theater, he gives very specific instances, like, they're supposed to be one of the columns in box five that's empty that he was, like, leaving notes in and things like that. So there's a bunch of things in that book that could be deconstructed. And I would want to visit the Paris Opera and kind of do an investigation on is this actually plausible? Are these things that are in this book, are they capable of being accurate and really deconstruct that? Because the one piece of it I do know is, you know, the whole thing about the chandelier falling is a big part of Phantom. The chandelier never actually fell in that time, But a piece of, like, one of the weights from the chandelier did fall at that time and killed a woman. So, like, there's. There's pieces of it that kind of like. And then it got blown up into a bigger story. So I would want to just go through and, like, deconstruct the mystery and kind of see what's real and what's not. [00:38:20] Michael Maldonado: We'll do both. [00:38:20] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:38:21] Michael Maldonado: For that episode. [00:38:21] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I think it's gonna be great. Yep. [00:38:25] Michael Maldonado: Good, good. Next one. Where do you see the future of your travels going with and beyond your show? [00:38:36] Malorie Mackey: Well, we've given some clues now as to where it might go with our show. We have just a huge list of places all over the world. [00:38:43] Michael Maldonado: We have about 30 actually fleshed out ideas. So enough for at least three seasons right now? [00:38:52] Malorie Mackey: Yes, and all over the world. So for the show, we're gonna go everywhere and investigate as many myths and weird historical facts and cool, strange places as we can possibly find for life. I have traveled so much for work now as far as for the show, which I love, and for the blog and some of the magazines I've written for. I've worked with so many tourism boards and kind of done the touristy stuff so much that whenever I get to travel for myself, I want to give back, basically. So I've been working with Earthwatch for my fun trips, which is basically just going out and volunteering on scientific expeditions. That's like, my future of my personal travel is to get to, you know, go on and volunteer and help at different expeditions around the world. And I'll always go where there's penguins. [00:39:47] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, that's where mine will go to. We're both members of the Explorers Club, and my whole background is, you know, the science. The science side of things. So I would definitely gear it towards more exploration, scientific endeavors. I want to see the Arctic. I want to see Antarctica. Hard. Kind of hard to reach places. And, you know, if we could Roll that into some kind of science y thing. Great. [00:40:13] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, my. My big one. Aside from the penguins, I have this whole thing about wanting to take the family to work on penguin expeditions together, but is there's an expedition in an Amazon riverboat through the Peruvian Amazon. [00:40:29] Michael Maldonado: That'd be a good one. [00:40:30] Malorie Mackey: And, yeah, that one's really exciting to me because it hits that jungle cruise, like, you know. [00:40:36] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, here we go. [00:40:38] Malorie Mackey: And it's like an old 1920s steamboat that's been turned into, like, you know, an expedition boat. And it has. You have your own bathroom. You have a nice little room there. But then you get to work with bats and pink river dolphins, and I think that's cool. [00:40:52] Michael Maldonado: Okay. You just want. You just want to be in the movie. [00:40:56] Malorie Mackey: Emily Blunt in that movie is my spirit animal. [00:40:59] Michael Maldonado: You just want to be on the boat with the rock. [00:41:03] Malorie Mackey: For some reason, I have so much more respect for him after that movie because he produced that. He made that movie happen. And I'm like, you took the effectively lamest ride at Disney and made it into such a good movie. And. Good as in, like, it's fun and it's silly, but it's also good somehow. I didn't. I expected nothing from that movie, I think. And I was so surprised. [00:41:31] Michael Maldonado: You and the rest of the world. [00:41:32] Malorie Mackey: I think I loved it. And they make. Make fun of the Explorers Club a little bit in the beginning, so I like that, too. [00:41:41] Michael Maldonado: All right, number eight. How can you sustain this much travel and afford to keep traveling? [00:41:49] Malorie Mackey: Well, we just recently wrote a book about that. [00:41:53] Michael Maldonado: That's true. [00:41:56] Malorie Mackey: If you go on Amazon, you can purchase Wanderlust, where the S is a dollar sign. So Wanderlust, how to make money while traveling. [00:42:05] Michael Maldonado: Yes. Or search your name as an author. [00:42:08] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, you can just go to my author profile, too, and that'll be there. And it kind of breaks that down. I mean, it's really about having a platform, being able to monetize that platform, which includes, you know, for us, it's the blog and selling ad space and knowing how to do that and also working with tourism boards and places that, you know, cover your trips for you in exchange for your coverage. [00:42:34] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, there's a lot of quid pro quo, you know, a lot of we'll write an article or you'll be featured on the show. Can we get into your museum for free? Just small things like that. I mean, the big. The big costs are flying. [00:42:51] Malorie Mackey: I mean, and if you work with certain tourism boards and you have that relationship, they will cover your flights. [00:42:58] Michael Maldonado: Yes. And if it's a legit business trip. It's also, and you are, say you're self employed and it's a legit business trip through the company. It's tax deductible from the business. It's a write off for the, it's a expense business expense. So it can come off at least your gross profits if you have any for your business and I use it or it's a loss potentially. [00:43:23] Malorie Mackey: That's true. [00:43:24] Michael Maldonado: Anyways, seek your qualified tax professional for more information. But a lot of it, if it's done for legit business through, through your business, you can be the business, you know, a sole proprietor. It's tax deductible that saves you some money that's you know, depending on what tax bracket you're in, some money off the trip. [00:43:43] Malorie Mackey: And I used to work for a magazine that would pay for me to do these things. [00:43:47] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, sure. Even better. [00:43:48] Malorie Mackey: So there's a bunch of different ways and it is a button of mine when people see me traveling everywhere and just assume that like oh well, she's spoiled or she's privileged or she's this when it's actually a lot of times it's for work and I don't often travel for my just myself and when I do I usually just volunteer on expeditions and things. So normally a lot of the, you know, trips and travel and things that I put out there are things that I'm doing as a business for work. [00:44:22] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, you have multiple, you have multiple different work related kind of pathways to a lot of travel. Some of it the tourism boards will fully cover if you're there for an actual press event which is really cool. And some of it is through Weird World, the company that we run for the TV show where it's kind of, I mean it's kind of just an expense to us. But you know, you can at least deduct part of it. You can at least kind of share the cost on your, you know, business expense side of things. And yeah, if you can get some of the small stuff covered, you know, comped by writing an article, you know, it's well worth it. [00:45:02] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, definitely. [00:45:03] Michael Maldonado: To a place that's trying to get their name out there a lot of the time to be like, well yeah, sure, we'll cover your room for the night and you write an article about our lodge or whatever. Right. [00:45:15] Malorie Mackey: It's a lot. [00:45:16] Michael Maldonado: Helps both people. [00:45:17] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:45:18] Michael Maldonado: And we don't stay, I mean we're not staying in like five star resort type stuff. I don't even like that. I like the adventure side. So we tend to stay in just less known, almost like, you know, Airbnb stuff. Not really through Airbnb, but. Yeah. Smaller places, and they're just usually not that crazy costly. And a lot of the things we do are. A lot of the stuff you can do is just free. I mean, we've seen a lot of stuff that there isn't. Not just free because you're writing an article about it, just free because it's free. [00:45:49] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. So really, it's. I mean, I guess to answer the question about how to. I mean, it's because I'm an entrepreneur and I've worked hard and built what we're doing up into something that has become valuable to be able to travel. [00:46:08] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Yeah. The businesses. [00:46:11] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:46:12] Michael Maldonado: A lot of what it makes goes back into. [00:46:14] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:46:15] Michael Maldonado: Into more episodes of the TV show, essentially. Right, Exactly. We're not living off the. [00:46:20] Malorie Mackey: No, there's no. [00:46:21] Michael Maldonado: Basically all the business just goes back into the TV show. [00:46:23] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Building and growing and becoming an empire of travel. [00:46:27] Michael Maldonado: Oh, yes. You can also play games with credit card points for flying miles. If you use credit cards and you're diligent about paying them off, you. That's the most effective way to get kind of cash back. Rewards is usually miles. If you are a traveler, I build. [00:46:47] Malorie Mackey: Those flyer miles aggressively. [00:46:50] Michael Maldonado: There's a whole bunch of. There's. [00:46:52] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:46:52] Michael Maldonado: There are people who have. Their whole business is talking about, you know, travel. Like our credit card hacking. [00:46:58] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:46:58] Michael Maldonado: So I'm not gonna. People have done it way better than I can explain it. But that's also a thing. [00:47:02] Malorie Mackey: People play games, and I'm like, I thought you were making a joke about all those commercials. I just won $500 on this game on my phone. And I was like, are you making a joke? And then I caught up with the conversation. [00:47:11] Michael Maldonado: I wish I had made that joke now. [00:47:13] Malorie Mackey: Now that's what I thought was happening, and then I got there. [00:47:17] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Okay, next one. What would you say to encourage someone to travel who may be afraid to do so? [00:47:28] Malorie Mackey: Hmm. That's pretty good. You know, I find the greatest value for me, at least in life, is learning about other cultures, seeing things from a completely different perspective, and realizing the world doesn't all operate in the same way. And that's something that I feel like has changed me in a different person, and it has helped me grow tremendously. And I think fear is our own worst enemy. And the greatest things exist on the other side of fear. And it is so worth it to be able to get past that. And find the value in everything that's out there that you don't. And the unknown. People are so afraid of the unknown. And there's so much value in there when you get to it. And I think it reassures people because it surprised me. Many, many, many, many people have told me or asked me, like, how are you so brave? I was called brave by several people not that long ago. And I was. [00:48:41] Michael Maldonado: I was. [00:48:44] Malorie Mackey: But it rubbed me in a way where I'm like, what are you talking about? I do not see myself as a brave person. I was kind of put off by that for a second, and then I. It helped me to realize that, I guess being brave is not letting fear control you. It's not the absence of fear. Because there are so many times that I've gone out and done things for the show or traveled by myself, especially in the beginning where I was terrified, But I just didn't let it stop me from doing things. And I guess I'm like, well, that was. I was thinking, well, I have so much of this fear. What do you mean? I'm brave. And then it helped me learn that lesson of, okay, well, bravery is actually facing the fears and getting to the other side of them. It's not. Not having that fear. [00:49:31] Michael Maldonado: Fear is the mind killer. [00:49:33] Malorie Mackey: Fear is a life killer because it'll stop you from doing anything. Just trying to quote Dune. I know, I know you just want to quote Dune, but I. I mean, I guess it's that you're not alone in experiencing fear, but it feels so good to be able to just move past it and experience the wonderful things that are out there. There's so much more value there. [00:49:58] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. I'll add a couple points. I don't like flying, so just the reward of seeing the new place is just worth it to just kind of force myself into that position. I know I'm going to be uncomfortable the whole flight, hence why I try to, you know, pop a few Benadryl and pass out on the plane. But. But, yeah, as far as maybe some practical ideas, like, say, somebody who does want to travel but is afraid. I mean, go with a trusted friend your first time. I mean, you know, maybe don't make your first travel experience also a solo to, like, a foreign country. Not that you shouldn't do that necessarily in the future, but if you're already hesitant, you know, maybe go with a family member or a friend or somebody. Start small. Maybe, you know, you don't have to fly across the world to travel. [00:50:55] Malorie Mackey: No. Travel somewhere near your home. [00:50:57] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Go somewhere that's, you know, a few states away, if you're in the U.S. for example, and stay a weekend. [00:51:06] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. And if you're looking to go to another country, Iceland is a lot closer than you think it is. If you're on the east coast or if you're down south, Mexico's right there. You know, there's a. If you're up north, Canada's right there. [00:51:18] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Pick something that really interests you. So that kind of reward, you know, you can. You can have like a, you know, your eye on a prize to kind of overcome the fear. And in my experience, at least, even the trips that go wrong for a variety of reasons can be something. They can be some of the most memorable. [00:51:39] Malorie Mackey: That's a real adventure. [00:51:40] Michael Maldonado: And having those memories is so worth the discomfort in the moment. Just great. I mean, it makes for great story, great stories, great memories. It's stuff you'll never forget, stuff you can share with other people. It does teach you a lot just to see how different places and cultures are. [00:52:00] Malorie Mackey: And, yeah, you will. You will remember. But if you go on the same beach vacation every year, it's great to do that. But sometimes they start to blend together. [00:52:10] Michael Maldonado: Right. [00:52:10] Malorie Mackey: Because it's all the same thing. When you go somewhere new or even familiar and something goes wrong and you're challenged to, okay, well, I need to do something outside of my comfort zone or step outside my box here and figure this out. That is the stuff you remember, and that's what becomes an adventure to me. [00:52:26] Michael Maldonado: Yes. [00:52:27] Malorie Mackey: Something in the unknown. We were like, well, that was exciting. [00:52:31] Michael Maldonado: Very good. Next one. How do you balance your work, travel, and home life? [00:52:38] Malorie Mackey: The answer is not, well. Yeah, I'm still finding that balance, to be quite honest, because I'm all about work all the time, and a lot of that requires travel, and it is traveling. And I refuse to say no to opportunity. So I overbook myself because I just have a fear of closing the door on something that could be an adventure, could be valuable, and then I lose that. Home life, like personal time, decompression time. So this is something that I'm still working on, and I'm hoping. I'm always hoping to find it after the next hurdle. But I will say, with the second season of the show done and the three books we wrote this year so. [00:53:26] Michael Maldonado: Far behind us, with one coming up. [00:53:31] Malorie Mackey: With one coming up. I'm hoping to take a bit of time off because we're not immediately trying to have another season out within the year. So I'm hoping to take a Little bit of time to find that balance and still be able to work on the show. Just not as aggressively as we have been. [00:53:51] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And I'm hopeful that some of our future travel, we can at least incorporate the family with. [00:53:58] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:53:58] Michael Maldonado: You know, we'll plan to have them, Our daughter, for example, with us. Not necessarily for the show, I mean, but if we bring my daughter and, you know, our parents, they can watch her the day we film, and then we can have it, you know, kind of mix. Mix of both. But, yeah, we're. We'll answer this question when we have an answer for this question, because we have struggled with this quite a bit. [00:54:22] Malorie Mackey: It's a very difficult thing because I find the people that are out there working in the field or for a show or for anything that would require you to get out there, and the people that do love that travel are the people that don't say that. Can't say no to. [00:54:42] Michael Maldonado: I'm not good at saying no. [00:54:44] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:54:44] Michael Maldonado: I was kind of taught. Just keep saying yes to stuff. And I have a hard time, you know, leaving something on the table. Not even money. The same like leaving money on the table, but it's just leaving opportunity on the table. [00:54:56] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:54:57] Michael Maldonado: And then it ends up. You get in a position where at some point you're overbooked and it detracts from everything. You're not enjoying any of it. It's all, you know, you're just trying to get through it. And that's. That's certainly where I have a tendency to end up, which is not a good thing. So pulling that back a bit, we'll have to start saying no to probably some stuff or at least spacing it out. [00:55:16] Malorie Mackey: Spacing it out. It needs to be spaced out, because I feel like the opportunities we have been given are so great and I appreciate them so much. And I can't even imagine saying no to them because they're things that I want so badly. Otherwise, I would say no. [00:55:32] Michael Maldonado: And life is. Can be clumpy. You know, randomness is clumpy. Life can be clumpy. You know, we wanted to write a book for a while, and then we kind of had three fall into. Our three offers fall into. Right. At the same time in the same month. I'm not gonna say. I've been saying for years I want to do this, and now I have three of them, so I'm just gonna say yes to all of them. And it's like, all right, well, yeah, yeah. [00:55:53] Malorie Mackey: But we're finding that balance. I feel like things are starting to fizzle out a bit. [00:55:59] Michael Maldonado: Regression to the mean. [00:56:00] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:56:01] Michael Maldonado: No book offers. [00:56:04] Malorie Mackey: That came in from our good friend Brian Dunning. [00:56:08] Michael Maldonado: All right. A married couple privileged to work together on such a personal project is about the coolest thing imaginable. Which came first? [00:56:18] Malorie Mackey: Well, that's a complicated question. Is it? Because we've known each other since we were children, so our relationship came first as far as, like, knowing each other and being friends. [00:56:35] Michael Maldonado: I'll give a one sentence synopsis and then you can go into the detail. Our relationship with each to each other in life came first. Our marriage to each other came after the project show came much later. Yes. After the inception of it. [00:56:55] Malorie Mackey: Yes. I had been working on the show for many years before we reconnected. [00:57:00] Michael Maldonado: Yes. [00:57:00] Malorie Mackey: But I will say I do think we're privileged to get to work together on something that we both love to do. But I also don't think that's an accident because both of us are very passionately driven people that will always find ways to create projects and do things we want to do. And for me, that includes doing them with the people I care about. So it's something. I feel like we created an environment, or at least I created an environment when I first started it, and I feel like it's still been upheld where this is something that I have held strong on no matter what. This is my baby. This is something that I will do my way. I will have the things I want in it, and I'm not going to settle. And that includes an environment of working with my friends and working with my husband and working with people that enrich the experience, because why shouldn't we enjoy it? [00:58:03] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Yes. So, yeah. I've known you since you were 9 and I was 11. You were my sister's best friend her whole life. My sister passed away several years ago, but, yeah, we've had, I guess, a relationship, knowing each other almost our whole lives. [00:58:28] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:58:31] Michael Maldonado: Your inception of the show predates us reconnecting. You lived on the other side of the country. [00:58:38] Malorie Mackey: And I think I started conceptualizing the show in 20. The idea came about in 2017. I started conceptualizing it through 2018, and we filmed the pilot in 2019. [00:58:49] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Yeah. So the show predates our romantic relationship. [00:58:55] Malorie Mackey: It does. [00:58:56] Michael Maldonado: And, yeah. It's probably no accident we end up getting married because so many of our ambitions and goals and interests overlap. [00:59:06] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:59:06] Michael Maldonado: I started working on the show with you before we were married. [00:59:11] Malorie Mackey: Yes. Yes. [00:59:13] Michael Maldonado: While we were still dating. [00:59:15] Malorie Mackey: Yes. And, yeah. I mean, I'm never not going to have the people closest to me involved in my passion projects. Unless they don't want to be. Because for me, that's part of the joy of it is I like inviting the people I trust into the things that I love to do. [00:59:35] Michael Maldonado: Oh, yeah. I mean, you talk about that. Yeah. And we have an article coming out about kind of a married couple with overlapping but different ideas. Because I definitely also have a. I have a way more science background and you have a more creative. [01:00:01] Malorie Mackey: Creative theater and theater in writing. Not that you're not a writer, but. [01:00:05] Michael Maldonado: I'm a technical writer. [01:00:05] Malorie Mackey: Professionally creative. Creatively. Right. [01:00:08] Michael Maldonado: And yeah, we wrote an article talking about kind of the different personality traits. We were asked to write it about Wicked since part two. [01:00:17] Malorie Mackey: It's gonna be in the Skeptical Inquirer in November issue about Wicked. [01:00:23] Michael Maldonado: Because while many of our ambitions and goals and interests overlap, the way we approach a lot of the things has differed a great deal. [01:00:31] Malorie Mackey: The way we see the world and approach the world and act upon the world is very different. [01:00:37] Michael Maldonado: X Filesy, except I'm the girl's the skeptic. Right. I always get this one in the original show, Scully's the skeptic and Scully's the girl. [01:00:45] Malorie Mackey: Mulder. Yes. [01:00:46] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [01:00:46] Malorie Mackey: And Mulder is the believer. [01:00:48] Michael Maldonado: So in this marriage, I am Scully and you are Mulder. [01:00:53] Malorie Mackey: Yes. And it's very reflected and wicked with. We write a piece about which, you know, we won't get too much away, but Elphaba being the skeptic and Glinda being the believer. And we kind of approach the world from very different viewpoints, but work towards the same goals, and somehow it works well. [01:01:13] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And then. [01:01:13] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [01:01:14] Michael Maldonado: I mean, we both are in the Explorers Club because we both like adventuring, exploration and science. [01:01:22] Malorie Mackey: Yes. And if you're not with somebody that you. You don't want to be doing, you're bringing into your passions and doing your passions with, and you're not enjoying working on the things you love together. I think there's a problem. [01:01:36] Michael Maldonado: It just depends. I mean, you don't have to have all. Everything overlapping. [01:01:40] Malorie Mackey: No, but I feel like you're. When the. When the. [01:01:43] Michael Maldonado: You can be your own person. [01:01:44] Malorie Mackey: You can be your own person, but having. Having you should. [01:01:49] Michael Maldonado: In fact, I would say you probably should be your own person. But it's nice to have overlapping interests. [01:01:55] Malorie Mackey: When it's something that's that important to you, though, it's. I feel like, important to bring your partner into that conversation. [01:02:02] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [01:02:02] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [01:02:04] Michael Maldonado: We have a good system kind of for this. And co writing as well. [01:02:11] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [01:02:12] Michael Maldonado: Because we also have different writing styles that have worked so far well, pretty complementary. You are very good at putting out a lot of, you know, volume of things quickly in a very approachable way. And I have a way. I have way more ponderous in my writing and way more analytical. My background's in, you know, scientific writing more. So it just takes me a long time to get that first sentence. [01:02:42] Malorie Mackey: There's an episode in the middle about. [01:02:44] Michael Maldonado: That, but it works really well where we kind of co create an idea and kind of dialogue it out together. And she'll do a lot of the early heavy lifting and I'll do more of the late game heavy lifting once a lot has been put on paper. Yes, something like that works well. It has worked well so far. [01:03:05] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [01:03:06] Michael Maldonado: Which is nice. [01:03:07] Malorie Mackey: Yes. When I was approached by someone at the Monroe Institute early on about what my talents were bringing in for the work that I was doing, my response is, well, I take a lot of your sciency and over. Over. I know, sciencey, sciencey stuff. [01:03:23] Michael Maldonado: Although what they did was very sciencey. Good. [01:03:26] Malorie Mackey: Over verbose, like, you know, critical language that you're using. And I make it relatable to everyone. I decipher your language and I make it. [01:03:36] Michael Maldonado: I dumb you down for everyone. [01:03:39] Malorie Mackey: But in a very engaging way. [01:03:42] Michael Maldonado: But in a cute way. Yeah, yeah. Okay. [01:03:45] Malorie Mackey: Anyway, that was much longer than anticipated, but I hope our answers were exciting and interesting and of any value to you at all. [01:03:55] Michael Maldonado: Otherwise this whole endeavor might be over, including the marriage. [01:04:01] Malorie Mackey: Well, do you have anything else to add to any of all of this? And so we're in. So forth and what have you. [01:04:09] Michael Maldonado: No, I think that's good. [01:04:10] Malorie Mackey: Great. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in today. I'm your host, Mallory. [01:04:14] Michael Maldonado: And I'm your host, Michael. [01:04:16] Malorie Mackey: And until next time, everybody stay weird.