Tonys Favorite Travel Destinations, Hacks, and Mistaken Identity
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - We actually talk a lot about travel on the show.
00:00:07.320 | I'm imagining you've been to,
00:00:09.200 | I don't know, countless countries.
00:00:10.320 | I don't know if you even keep track.
00:00:12.520 | Is there a favorite?
00:00:14.160 | Is there, are there places that you love going
00:00:15.880 | and going back to that, you know,
00:00:17.720 | aside from just the skating there
00:00:19.200 | might inspire people listening to?
00:00:21.040 | - Iceland is amazing because
00:00:24.400 | the landscape is so diverse.
00:00:28.400 | I can't explain it, but you, like, you go there,
00:00:31.640 | as soon as you leave the airport,
00:00:33.000 | it looks like you're on the moon.
00:00:35.360 | And there's just all of these,
00:00:36.800 | all of this moss covering these rocks,
00:00:39.980 | and there's the Blue Lagoon.
00:00:42.040 | And, and then as you drive South,
00:00:45.280 | it completely changes into like,
00:00:48.640 | almost like a farm setting.
00:00:50.520 | And then, and then it changes again,
00:00:51.920 | like another half hour into the drive.
00:00:53.760 | And, and yeah, I mean, it can get really cold there,
00:00:56.680 | but it's really, it's an amazing place.
00:00:59.000 | And so my wife and I went there a long time ago,
00:01:04.440 | almost, almost 15 years ago now,
00:01:06.920 | and it felt very untapped.
00:01:10.160 | Definitely wasn't a tourist destination.
00:01:12.240 | And now it feels much more like there is tourism,
00:01:15.800 | but if you just drive out of the city,
00:01:17.920 | you can see some amazing sights.
00:01:19.760 | - My general rule is if you go,
00:01:21.600 | not when everyone else goes and leave a little bit outside,
00:01:25.200 | you can have a very different experience.
00:01:26.520 | - Yeah, we're not afraid to,
00:01:28.080 | to go way off the beaten path, which we do a lot.
00:01:32.200 | Other than that, Japan is just so, so surreal.
00:01:36.240 | It feels like a video game.
00:01:37.600 | - We just did an episode on Japan,
00:01:41.280 | and the episode was like three,
00:01:45.160 | we were like three hours in
00:01:46.160 | and we covered Tokyo and Kyoto, like with, and Japan.
00:01:49.240 | - Oh yeah.
00:01:50.080 | - We couldn't even get kind of close
00:01:51.560 | to comprehending the entire country.
00:01:53.400 | And the guy I was talking to had been there 20 times
00:01:56.160 | or something, and like, he's just still like every,
00:01:58.400 | everywhere I go, I see something new.
00:02:00.160 | - Oh, every time.
00:02:01.120 | Yeah.
00:02:01.960 | And we brought our kids when they were all,
00:02:04.040 | I brought all of them when they were pretty young,
00:02:05.520 | but we brought them all when they were, you know,
00:02:08.880 | just before they were teenagers
00:02:11.240 | and they were all mesmerized.
00:02:13.640 | Like it was fascinating.
00:02:14.640 | Even the, even Disneyland is, you know,
00:02:19.120 | it's still the magic kingdom, but it's very different.
00:02:21.800 | - Japan's one of the coolest places.
00:02:23.680 | Early on, you traveled a lot as a skater
00:02:26.640 | before you'd hit the kind of success you've had now.
00:02:30.000 | I got to ask a question I know everyone is thinking
00:02:32.120 | because multiple people said I should ask,
00:02:34.360 | were you racking up all these miles?
00:02:36.880 | 'Cause I know you weren't making a lot in the early days,
00:02:40.800 | especially in that kind of mid part of your career.
00:02:43.440 | What was that like?
00:02:45.360 | You know, you were tall, you started getting tall,
00:02:47.600 | uncomfortable, were using points,
00:02:48.920 | were you trying to get status and upgrades?
00:02:50.680 | - I honestly, I didn't fly first class
00:02:54.560 | until I was in my thirties.
00:02:57.840 | - Were you optimizing things when you traveled thinking,
00:03:00.120 | okay, I'm gonna rack up a bunch of miles.
00:03:02.120 | - Yeah, but also just,
00:03:03.240 | I just learned how to travel more efficiently
00:03:05.680 | and a little bit lighter
00:03:07.360 | and how to navigate airports and lines
00:03:13.200 | and, you know, where the best security checkpoint is
00:03:17.280 | instead of the one where everyone's just being fed into,
00:03:19.840 | just stuff like that.
00:03:21.560 | I guess I learned how to be a better traveler in those days,
00:03:25.440 | but I learned the value of frequent flyer miles
00:03:29.760 | through those years.
00:03:31.240 | Especially when I wasn't making very much money,
00:03:36.240 | but I did still have to travel to go do stuff,
00:03:40.720 | I collected a lot of miles.
00:03:41.960 | Yeah, I mean, I was a million miler on United very early on.
00:03:48.200 | - You know what they sent me for that?
00:03:50.800 | Luggage tax.
00:03:51.960 | - That was gonna be my guess.
00:03:52.880 | Like it's not a very rewarding experience.
00:03:56.240 | Here you go.
00:03:57.080 | 10 bucks.
00:03:57.920 | What would some of the things
00:04:00.840 | if you were telling your favorite travel hacks
00:04:02.960 | to how you make your life efficient when you travel,
00:04:05.160 | whether it's, you know, a secret neck pillow
00:04:07.120 | or some crazy, you know, eye mask?
00:04:10.560 | - Well, let's see.
00:04:11.400 | I just flew home from New York and it was last minute.
00:04:16.240 | And so I'm in the bulkhead.
00:04:17.760 | I do like, I don't know, it's not some great hack,
00:04:22.760 | but if you want to travel with your laptop or anything else,
00:04:27.520 | 'cause you know, you have to put your backpack
00:04:28.840 | up in the overhead.
00:04:30.040 | We're getting into the weeds here,
00:04:31.000 | but if you're in the bulkhead,
00:04:33.960 | take your laptop out and put it right under your feet
00:04:37.880 | so that half of it's kind of under your own seat.
00:04:41.280 | And then the other half,
00:04:42.200 | you just kind of lightly put your heels on it.
00:04:43.960 | It'll hide it from the flight attendants.
00:04:46.360 | And then you have your laptop.
00:04:47.280 | You don't have to go up and get it,
00:04:49.080 | which is like kind of a hassle, right?
00:04:50.120 | - Yeah, if you have one of those laptop sleeves,
00:04:52.360 | I like to get like a black one
00:04:53.480 | 'cause then it just blends in everywhere.
00:04:55.080 | - Yeah, I'm pretty good at just hiding it all together.
00:04:59.040 | And then usually, like, I'll have a little bag.
00:05:01.200 | It's usually actually my toiletry kit.
00:05:03.280 | And then I just stuff like my headphones
00:05:06.200 | and my iPhone cable, you know.
00:05:09.680 | - Everything you need.
00:05:10.640 | - Everything I need, but just put that
00:05:12.000 | and then put that on the side of the seat
00:05:13.080 | so they don't see that either.
00:05:14.000 | That's my bulkhead hack for you.
00:05:15.760 | - Love it, yeah.
00:05:17.800 | - But as far as other travel,
00:05:19.800 | I think I learned also just to, you know,
00:05:25.000 | it's not like I carry some big wardrobe or anything,
00:05:27.640 | but I do try to keep it down to a carry-on and a backpack.
00:05:32.640 | If I can, at all costs,
00:05:36.600 | 'cause I don't want to check bags.
00:05:37.880 | I can't, I'll tell you that the biggest travel hacks
00:05:41.360 | for skateboards and, you know,
00:05:43.800 | people will travel with skateboards,
00:05:45.240 | but you can travel with a skateboard
00:05:47.880 | and put it in the overhead anywhere in the U.S.
00:05:50.520 | If you're making a connection,
00:05:53.680 | say in Frankfurt or London or even Tokyo,
00:05:58.680 | you, is it Tokyo?
00:06:02.880 | Yeah.
00:06:03.960 | You can't carry your skateboard on the plane
00:06:08.160 | through those airports.
00:06:10.280 | So I have been told,
00:06:13.360 | I've been told a couple of times,
00:06:16.080 | I've actually gotten away with it once,
00:06:17.200 | but, and I learned the hard way,
00:06:19.480 | like going through London,
00:06:21.320 | you're in the terminal, you're connecting, right?
00:06:24.520 | But you know how they have to,
00:06:25.680 | you have to go through another security checkpoint?
00:06:29.800 | You can't bring your skateboard.
00:06:30.840 | So you have to go outside the airport
00:06:33.160 | on a connecting flight and check it in.
00:06:35.320 | - And probably miss your flight, maybe.
00:06:37.320 | - Oh yeah, yeah.
00:06:38.160 | And I've actually thrown a skateboard away because of that.
00:06:40.240 | - Yeah.
00:06:41.080 | - In London, they said, "Oh, you got to check in."
00:06:42.480 | I go, "I don't have time."
00:06:43.720 | They go, "Well, I don't know what to tell you."
00:06:45.080 | And then I put it in the trash can
00:06:47.520 | at the security checkpoint.
00:06:49.280 | Okay.
00:06:50.600 | I'm done.
00:06:51.440 | - Do you think it's a safety risk?
00:06:52.280 | Do they think it's a weapon or?
00:06:54.360 | Like what is it?
00:06:55.200 | - I assume, yeah.
00:06:56.040 | I mean, also Mexico too, surprisingly,
00:06:58.280 | you can't carry a skateboard on the airplane in Mexico.
00:07:01.480 | So every time we travel with the kids to Mexico,
00:07:03.600 | we've got to put them all in plastic bags.
00:07:06.000 | So we're just this, we're a disaster coming back
00:07:08.680 | 'cause we're just a bunch of luggage.
00:07:10.480 | So yeah, that's my advice.
00:07:13.840 | I don't know if it's a hack, it's just my advice.
00:07:15.320 | Like if you're going to travel through Europe,
00:07:17.600 | don't carry your skateboard onto the plane
00:07:19.960 | that is connecting.
00:07:21.160 | - That could probably apply to other items.
00:07:23.960 | There are some, I can't remember,
00:07:25.400 | not that it's the end of the world
00:07:26.680 | to replace things like nail scissors,
00:07:29.400 | but there's some nail clippers.
00:07:30.880 | There's some country where you can't bring nail clippers
00:07:32.800 | on your plane, 'cause I remember,
00:07:33.760 | or if it has that like slide out file thing.
00:07:36.720 | And I've definitely gotten dinged on that.
00:07:39.200 | So I would say if the hack is to look up
00:07:42.720 | what are the security requirements
00:07:44.520 | for the country you're transiting through,
00:07:47.040 | or I try at all costs to fly direct
00:07:50.680 | just to avoid these problems when possible.
00:07:52.840 | - Yeah, yeah.
00:07:53.760 | Yeah, there used to be, I live in San Diego,
00:07:57.280 | but I live in North County and you used to be able to fly
00:07:59.800 | from Carlsbad Airport to LAX.
00:08:02.520 | And so basically you could go anywhere from LAX, right?
00:08:05.760 | So that was always like the best way to do it.
00:08:09.360 | But many times our Carlsbad flight would be canceled
00:08:13.240 | and we just have to drive,
00:08:15.320 | literally drive to Carlsbad Airport.
00:08:16.720 | Like if your flight's canceled,
00:08:18.240 | just keep going North to LAX.
00:08:20.360 | But yeah, it's funny with the skateboard thing.
00:08:26.120 | I remember, so my wife and I usually carry our skateboards
00:08:31.440 | when we go places, 'cause we like to skate around cities,
00:08:34.400 | you know, just as transportation,
00:08:36.560 | if we're going by ourselves.
00:08:38.480 | And we were coming back from,
00:08:40.840 | oh man, I can't remember where, somewhere.
00:08:43.080 | And I think we were coming back from Brazil maybe.
00:08:49.600 | And we were coming through the,
00:08:52.120 | where you hand them your customs form.
00:08:55.760 | And the guy, I'll never forget this.
00:08:59.080 | He grabbed my customs form
00:09:00.400 | and he saw my skateboard in his peripheral
00:09:04.320 | and immediately was like, "Go that way, to secondary."
00:09:07.880 | 'Cause he saw my skateboard.
00:09:10.000 | It was so obvious the way that his, you know what I mean?
00:09:12.840 | I just saw his wheelchair and I'm like,
00:09:14.000 | "Oh, he's a problem, he's a skateboarder."
00:09:16.000 | And he looked up and he saw my face and he recognized it,
00:09:18.640 | but he'd already handed me this red card
00:09:21.080 | to go to secondary.
00:09:22.440 | And he goes, "Oh, oh, you know what?
00:09:24.400 | "Just tell them you're in a hurry."
00:09:26.480 | I said, "Oh, is that gonna work for me?
00:09:28.400 | "You're sending me to secondary
00:09:29.400 | "where they're gonna go through all my stuff
00:09:30.400 | "and I'm gonna tell them I'm in a hurry.
00:09:32.240 | "That's probably not the best approach."
00:09:34.960 | And then my wife and I got into secondary,
00:09:36.320 | they wouldn't let us go to the bathroom.
00:09:37.720 | They wouldn't, you know, we were like,
00:09:39.800 | we were very much being interrogated.
00:09:44.400 | - Yeah, I mean, you've told lots of stories.
00:09:46.040 | I'll encourage anyone here to go check out the internet
00:09:48.560 | for all the stories of you getting recognized
00:09:50.600 | as other people.
00:09:52.200 | Is there a good one you don't share?
00:09:54.720 | Or a good one you haven't shared?
00:09:55.880 | - Yeah, yeah, it still happens all the time.
00:10:00.880 | And it's weird now because obviously,
00:10:03.360 | as you would know, that meme kind of took off.
00:10:08.480 | Or not the meme, but just me telling my story.
00:10:12.840 | Like all the stories I tell are absolutely true, 100%.
00:10:17.160 | But it started happening so,
00:10:19.720 | it would happen pretty frequently and I was sharing it.
00:10:21.920 | And at some point people thought I was making it up.
00:10:23.560 | So I kind of stopped sharing these incidents
00:10:25.920 | because people were just like, "Come on, like really?"
00:10:28.800 | But now it's gotten to a point where it's like this,
00:10:32.040 | this vicious cycle where people now want to say it,
00:10:35.520 | even though they know who I am all the time.
00:10:39.160 | So I would say that happens probably three times a day.
00:10:43.520 | That interaction, like anyone ever tell you,
00:10:45.960 | you look like Tony Hawk?
00:10:47.600 | Yep, and you're the first today.
00:10:49.960 | But then it happens genuinely at least once or twice too.
00:10:53.800 | And when it happens genuinely,
00:10:57.160 | if people were following me around,
00:10:58.280 | they wouldn't believe it 'cause you know what I mean?
00:11:00.440 | Like they just, they hear about it and it's just like,
00:11:03.000 | "All right, like enough with this non, you know,
00:11:05.840 | this whole, I don't even know what you'd call it,
00:11:09.200 | mistaken identity thing."
00:11:12.080 | - Yeah.
00:11:13.200 | - But the, so yes, it still happens.
00:11:15.960 | It happens as a joke.
00:11:16.920 | It happens for real.
00:11:18.840 | I think my favorite one as of late
00:11:21.520 | was that I was sitting at a gate
00:11:24.000 | and this guy was sitting across from me at the gate
00:11:27.960 | and he looked, he came over, he's like,
00:11:30.560 | "Man, you look just like Tony Hawk."
00:11:33.200 | Said, "Oh yeah, I know, I've heard that."
00:11:34.920 | He's like, "That's crazy."
00:11:36.280 | And then he went and sat back down
00:11:37.960 | and then a group of people came who did recognize me
00:11:41.920 | for real and wanted autographs and pictures.
00:11:45.640 | And the whole time he's watching me laughing
00:11:49.120 | because he's in on the joke that it's not really me.
00:11:54.080 | Do you know what I mean?
00:11:54.920 | Like he and I are sharing this inside joke somehow
00:11:57.280 | that these people are crazy and they're mistaken,
00:12:00.440 | but he just thought it was hilarious.
00:12:02.400 | - Did you ever tell him at the end or did he ever?
00:12:04.520 | - No, I don't, I just, it's up to them to,
00:12:07.400 | you know what I mean?
00:12:08.240 | To either decide that or to ask me.
00:12:10.440 | It drives my daughter crazy because a lot of times
00:12:13.920 | people will say, "Oh, you look like Tony Hawk."
00:12:15.760 | I'm like, "Yeah, yeah."
00:12:17.280 | And they're like, "Oh, that's cool."
00:12:18.240 | And they walk away and my daughter's like,
00:12:19.280 | "Why didn't you tell him?"
00:12:20.200 | I go, "He didn't ask."
00:12:21.880 | - So if someone asks, you'll say, "Yeah."
00:12:23.240 | - Of course, yeah.
00:12:24.240 | - All right.
00:12:25.080 | Well, I hope whoever was sitting across from me
00:12:25.920 | at the airport is listening and they can finally
00:12:28.360 | come to terms with the fact that that was-
00:12:29.560 | - No, I think he had way more fun
00:12:31.880 | in his mind making fun of people.
00:12:34.080 | - Yeah.
00:12:34.920 | - Like that was his thing.
00:12:36.200 | So I just let him run with it.