Women Who Travel Podcast: A Solo Work Trip to Cannes, France

LA: Shouting. And I was like-

ZG: Ew.

LA: … “I’m fine. You’re not.”

ZG: Exactly. Don’t project your insecurities onto me and make your aloneness my problem. I hate that.

LA: It was awful, but honestly, being serenaded by a full band sounds worse.

ZG: Yeah.

LA: What are your tips and takeaways from doing a solo work trip that now you’ve done this one that you’d share with other people?

ZG: Yes. So yeah, my tip would be know your itinerary, because I literally was just like, “Oh…” I didn’t realize how much free time I would have. And so if I could do it again, I try to be a no regrets person, but if I’m just being honest, I think I would’ve done a little bit more research because then I would’ve known to book some of these fancy places ahead of time so that I could be like, “I have a reservation, bitch.” I feel like be flirty. I just like to flirt, and I feel like flirting is a spectrum. There’s platonic flirting, meaning you’re just open, you’re asking questions, you’re curious, and then I don’t know. I’m not a little romantic, wink-wink flirt. Me and the bartender ended up… Oh, yeah, getting just in the day.

LA: I mean, I was just going to say… I haven’t asked a follow-up. Where did you guys end up?

ZG: Okay. So the band left me alone, and I was honestly a little shaken. I was like, “I’m too high for this.” And then I was like, “This is my cue to leave. I’ve been here for a few hours.” And so I started to leave, and the bartender was like, “Oh, you’re leaving?” And I said, “Yes.” And then it’s like, “Well, can I get your number? Blah, blah, blah.” Oh, yeah, that’s another tip. Always have WhatsApp.

LA: That’s a great tip. Yeah.

ZG: Yes. And so we exchanged numbers, and I had a few glasses of wine, and I was like, “Fuck it. Yeah, let’s meet up for a drink.” And then, yeah, no, we had a lovely conversation.

LA: And we’ll leave it there.

ZG: We will leave it there.

LA: If listeners want to listen to you talk to other people about their dating escapades, where can they find Hang Up and where can they find you on the internet?

ZG: So you can find me, Zakiya, on Instagram, @zak_sauce, Z-A-K underscore sauce. You can find Hang Up, the show that I host on all the socials, @hangupshow. You can find Hang Up wherever you get your podcasts. That’s two words, Hang Up.

LA: Zakiya, this was such a joy. Thank you for taking me along for the ride in Cannes or Cannes, however we want to say it. And I want to get you back on to talk about group trips because it sounds like you would have plenty of learnings and insights.

ZG: Oh my gosh, I would love that. I have been on some harrowing adventures that I would love to talk to you about, but thank you so much for having me. This was so fun.

LA: Next week, another solo adventure when we travel to seven South American countries in six months, including a trip along the Amazon. Thank you for listening to Women Who Travel. I’m Lale Arikoglu, and you can find me on Instagram, @lalehannah. Our engineers are Jake Lummus and Vince Fairchild. The show is mixed by Amar Lal at Macro Sound. Jude Kampner from Corporation for Independent Media is our producer with help from Michele O’Brien. Stephanie Kariuki is our executive producer. Chris Bannon is Condé Nast’s head of global audio.